UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 THE 
 
 RIGHTS 
 
 OP THE 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY 
 
 VINDICATED. 
 
 WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO POLITICAL DOCTRINES 
 
 OF THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, AND OF OTHER 
 
 PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 BY JOHN PERN TINNEY, Esq. 
 
 ■WT£ Zeuf HuJ'o; s^w/.H', 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 PRINTED Bf AND FOR C. AND R. BALDWIN, NEW BRIDGE-STREETj 
 AND FOR BK.ODIE AND CO, SALISBURi". 
 
 b667 ^ _^_ 
 
 1809.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 -I 
 
 J This Publication was hemm in November, 
 
 CO 
 
 ^i^hut ivas suspended on account of Mr. JVhar- 
 
 "^ tons intended worh, of which the Author was 
 
 ^apprized, 
 
 ^ That ivorh has appeared, and been very 
 
 favourably received. As the Authors plan 
 
 was somewhat more extensive than Mr, 
 
 Wharton Sy he hat ventured to proceed in the 
 
 S execution of it. Recent events have shewn 
 
 the infinite importance of the subject. It will 
 
 , he a sufficient reward to him, if, by his feebler 
 
 efforts, he may contiibute to that triumph of' 
 
 reason which can only be effected, at this 
 
 alarming crisis, by the zealous and active co- 
 ca 
 
 ~ operation of all the friends of our antient 
 X institutions. 
 
 tic"3a*7' 
 
 29999^
 
 TO THE 
 
 REV. WILLIAM COXE, A.M. 
 
 Archdbacon of Wilts, Canon Residentiary of 
 Salisbury, &c. &c. 
 
 In the following pages I have endea- 
 voured, as v^ell by some discussion of the 
 fatal influence of certain grovring opinions, 
 as by reference to past events recorded in* 
 authentic history, to defend the institutions 
 of society, against a sect of reformers, still 
 militant among us. 
 
 I am anxious to obtain the approba- 
 tion of those, whose superior judgment and 
 extensive knowledge, entitle them to decide 
 the important controversy ; and chiefly of 
 one whom posterity will regard as a distin- 
 guished promoter of sound philosophy and 
 liberal science, and consult as the most emi- 
 nent historian of the present age. 
 
 In the hope of that approbation, per- 
 mit me, Sir, to lay the following pages before 
 you; and in acknowledgement of that friend- 
 ship, by which I have been* gratified and 
 improved, to subscribe myself^ 
 
 Jour most obliged and faithful servant, 
 
 J. P. TINNEY.
 
 TABLE OF THE CONTENTS. 
 
 . . PART THE FIRST. 
 
 Of the Jffairs of Spain, 
 
 INFLUENCE of Public Opinion iTTTTT 1 
 
 Political Doctrines of the Edinburgh Review .......... 5 
 
 Difficulties and Prospect of the Patriots of Spain 7 
 
 The Statement of the Reviewers upon that Subject. ..... 15 
 
 Refutation of their Statement of Facts 18 
 
 The Nature of the Spanish Monarchy 20 
 
 The Proceedings in Spain similar to those in England in 
 
 16"88 21 
 
 The Present State of the Parties in Spain ; 31 
 
 Examination of the Anti-monarchical Doctrine of the Re- 
 viewers ^3 
 
 Opinions tending to establish the Aristocracy of Talents . 38 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 Of the Aristocracy of Talents, 
 
 Origin and Progress of Political Opinion 43 
 
 The Elder Philosophers, practical 45 
 
 Origin of Society -. 47 
 
 The Foundation of the Republic of Letters 52 
 
 Their earliest Proceedings to weaken Personal Respect to- 
 wards Superiors , 53 
 
 Their Impious and Immoral Doctrines 55 
 
 Their Speculative Doctrine of the Rights of Man 56 
 
 Their Resemblance to the Catilinarian Conspiracy 59 
 
 The Foundation of the Aristocracy of Talents and Origin 
 
 of Jacobinism 60 
 
 Its Necessary Effects ; -. 63 
 
 Louis XVI. guided by that Aristocracy — his Character and 
 
 Fate 64, 
 
 Short Triumph of the Philosophers 68 
 
 The Unprecedented Principles of the Revolution 69 
 
 Its Tendency to Military Despotism 74 
 
 Rise, Character, and Government of Bonaparte 78 
 
 Favoured by the Aristocracy of Talents 95 
 
 The Literature of England, and its System of Education . . 97 
 
 Application to the Proceedings in Spain 105
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 Of the British Constitution. 
 
 Statute of Merton Z,. 107 
 
 Magna Charta , 110 
 
 Antiquity of the Constitution Ill 
 
 The Privileges of the Subject llS 
 
 Prerogative of the Crown 119 
 
 Influence of the Crown 120 
 
 sin Parliament. 121 
 
 Privileges and Uses of the Peerage 135 
 
 The Right of Universal Suffrage and Elective Franchise . . 1 43 
 
 The House of Connmons 149 
 
 Case of the Duke of York 151 
 
 instances of the Predominating Influence of Popular Opi- 
 nion on our Government 155 
 
 Apostacy of the Authors of the Political Register and Edin- 
 burgh Review 15/ 
 
 PART THE FOURTH. 
 
 Of the Present Danger of the Constitution, 
 
 State of the Public Mind in 1792 l60 
 
 Pacific System of Mr. Pitt l6l 
 
 Reviewers' Statement of the War of 1793 l63 
 
 Origin and Nature of that War 1 64 
 
 Unbounded Ambition of France 179 
 
 Our Immediate Duties 184 
 
 Censures of Government and the Established Authorities 
 
 by Disaffected Writers 186 
 
 Their Attacks of the Higher Orders 187 
 
 Their own Partisans exempted 193 
 
 Their Insiduous Object 197 
 
 Public Thanks to Mr. Wardle and his Minority 198 
 
 Interference of the People with their representatives, un- 
 constitutional 199 
 
 Revolutions unfavourable to Intellectual Improvement, 
 
 historically proved 202 
 
 Present Freedom and Prosperity of Britain 205 
 
 To be presened by Resistance to the Advocates of Jacobi- 
 nical Reform , 208
 
 THE 
 
 RIGHTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 X HE History of the World will prove, that, 
 although the opinions of mankind may be much 
 influenced by the nature of political institutions,' 
 and by circumstances which are independent of 
 human policy, yet the stability, and in most 
 cases, the origin of all such institutions, depend 
 upon the course of popular sentiment, which is 
 often powerfully impelled and directed, by those 
 who claim and exercise a sort of despotic sway in 
 matters of literature and philosophy. The proud- 
 est domination ever exercised over the human 
 mind, and over the governments of nations, 
 was raised on the foundation of opinion. Its 
 authority was never limited, nor did its grandeur 
 fade, till -the spirit of rational inquiry raised 
 in the seminaries of the learned, was from thence 
 diffused through the various departments of so- 
 ciety. Then the support of opinion was gradually 
 withdrawn from the Roman hierarchy ; and after 
 a thousand years, during which it had held kings 
 in bondage, and disposed of empires with fearless 
 prodigality, it fell before the assault qf an obscure 
 
 B
 
 Augustin monk. In our own day, the most an- 
 tient and the proudest monarchy in Europe, which 
 was rooted in the ordinances of distant generations, 
 and had long been matured in power and splen- 
 dour by the provisions of a sound and vigorous 
 policy, has fallen without resistance, when it no 
 longer rested upon the basis of opinion. The 
 domestic difficulties whic'i preceded the uproar of 
 the French revolution, might have happened at 
 any preceding period without endangering the 
 state : all parties will agree, that at last it pro- 
 ceeded from a great change in the opinions of 
 the people ; and " it is difficult to deny that the 
 ** philosophers were instrumental in bringing about 
 *' that change ; that they had attracted the public 
 " attention to the abuses of government, and 
 " spread very widely among the people the senti- 
 " ments of their grievances and their rights." * 
 
 The philosophers had attracted the public at- 
 tention to every thing in the government which 
 wore the aspect of abuse ; deceived by their in- 
 struction and seduced by their example, the 
 people were irritated by imaginary grievances and 
 flattered by fictitious rights. Their influence was 
 not limited to PVance, but had extended over the 
 whole Continent of Europe, as widely as the phi- 
 losophy which they promulged, and the litera- 
 ture over which they presided. In all countries, 
 the people instructed by those philosophers, con- 
 sidered the war which was occasioned by the 
 excesses of the revolution, as an unnatural struggle 
 between the supporters of anrient despotism and 
 the assertcrs of the newly discovered rights of 
 man. The most formidable enemies of the allied 
 
 • l.Edin. Rev. 8. The article is a review of Monoier's 
 " Traitc de 1' Influence attribuee aux Philosophes/' and is 
 well worthy uf perusal.
 
 sovereigns were their own disaffected subjects. 
 The disastrous progress and fatal termination of 
 that contest, too plainly shewed what an awful 
 change of popular opinion had been effected in 
 every country ; and how vain are the efforts of 
 princes unaided by such opinion. 
 
 Convinced not only thjat the manners of society 
 are eminently influenced by its literature, but 
 also that all political institutions must yield to a 
 similar operation, no one who venerates the con- 
 stitution of this country, and the loyalty and 
 morality of its people, can observe with indif- 
 ference the doctrines continually advanced by 
 certain writers, who, from whatever cause, pos- 
 sess a powerful influence over the public mind. 
 In other states popular opinion does not operate 
 with a constant and equal effect upon the adn;ii- 
 nistration of affairs. Government being less in- 
 timately connected with its subjects, and the 
 people having no civil function to discharge, the 
 state proceeds in its ordinary course without that 
 controul, and the public voice is seldom heard, 
 but when raised with the clamour of disaffection 
 for purposes of revolution. In England, the 
 government is in all its proceedings, much in- 
 fluenced by the course of public sentiment. As 
 at every period of its highest glory it was borne 
 in that elevation by the favour of a generous and 
 enthusiastic commonalty, in like manner, when 
 deprived of that support, every measure of ad- 
 ministration has been weak and indecisive, and 
 ultimately, with whatever reluctance, ministers 
 have been compelled to yield their own will and 
 pohcy to the dictates of such opinion. In former 
 periods, revolutions have ensued from a contrary 
 determination on the part of the established 
 powers J at present, a similar result, or at least
 
 some great national calamity might be appre- 
 hended, if the pubhc will should become de- 
 cidedly adverse to the existing government. 
 
 From this habitual and necessary conformity of 
 government to public opinion, and from the wis- 
 dom and moderation with which that opinion 
 has been formed, since the free exercise of our 
 constitiuion was effectuated by King William, 
 have we derived the energy which has enabled 
 us gloriously to prevail in many arduous contests. 
 To that cause we may attribute our present pros- 
 perity, such as our forefathers could never anti- 
 cipate ; and the enjoyment of domestic advan- 
 tages, which nothing would so much endanger 
 as national disunion. To that alone can we 
 rationally look for support in our present contest, 
 far more arduous than those of preceding ages ; 
 and for transmitting to future times the blessings 
 enjoyed by us. Therefore, we cannot regard 
 without alarm, a co-operation of political writers, 
 ^'ho, like the philosophic inventors of the anarchy 
 of the French revolution, are soliciting the pub- 
 lic mind to mistrust and dissatisfaction ; who call 
 our attention to imputed grievances, not upon 
 any principle of a constitutional redress, but upon 
 a speculative foundation of injured rights ; who 
 not only censure the administrators of authority 
 for indiscretion, incompetence, and abuses, but 
 question its validity and object to its fundamental 
 laws. These active and loquacious complainants 
 have acquired no inconsiderable influence over 
 the public mind. ** They have excited a very 
 " general spirit of discontent, distrust, and con- 
 " tempt for public characters, among the more 
 " intelligent and resolute portion of the inferior 
 " ranks of society. The seeds of a revolution may 
 " be seen /n the present aspect and temper of
 
 " the nation, and though one looks forward to it 
 " with other feehngs and other dispositions," 
 than those who triumphantly predict it, and labour 
 to accomplish their own prediction ; though one 
 trusts that those seeds are not widely disseminated, 
 and may yet be rooted out by those who love the 
 peace of their country and value its prosperity, 
 " yet one is not the less sensible of the hazard 
 " in which we are placed."* 
 
 The editors of the Edinburgh Review have 
 lately pubUshed doctrines not hostile to that revo- 
 lution which at one time they seemed to dread. 
 From the skilfulness of their criticism, their repu- 
 tation for extensive learning, the popularity of 
 many subjects which they have selected for con- 
 sideration, their fame for disinterested judgment, 
 and the high character which they justly acquired 
 by their earlier publications, they now enjoy an 
 important pre-eminence over other journalists and 
 literary reviewers. Their authority may be less 
 extensive than they desire, or probably believe, 
 and with the learned and well-informed, is not 
 promoted by those extraneous political disquisi- 
 tions, which they make an essential part of their 
 work. Yet undoubtedly they have much influence 
 upon the unlettered and the unsuspicious ; upon 
 .those whose opinions must be formed upon the 
 reasoning of others, and those who w^ill give 
 credit to a " high tone of patriotism and inde- 
 " pendence."-|-' 
 
 They have made a particular discussion of the 
 affairs of Spain, in the review of a sixpenny pam- 
 phlet published by Mr. Whitbread, and a state 
 paper of Don Pedro Cevallos, compiled for the 
 
 • 10. Edin. Rev. — Review of Cobbett's Politital Register. 
 + 10. Edin. Rev. 387.
 
 use of the Spanish patriots. Those performances 
 had no connection with hterature or science, and 
 might have been exempt from critical exami- 
 nation, without any breach of the duty of a 
 reviewer. If worthy of such supervision, the 
 Kdinbursh reviewers had undertaken to deliver 
 their judgment upon them, although the details 
 must be political, yet the inquiry might have 
 been confined to the foreign relations subsisting 
 between the countries referred to. General de- 
 clamation seems obtrusive ; far less necessary was 
 an introduction of principles upon contested points 
 of constitutional doctrine, which convulse the 
 passions of men, and have never yet afforded any 
 |)ractical advantage. 
 
 In their original adverrisemcnt, they proposed 
 " to confine their notice to works thay cither 
 " should attain or deserve a certain portion of 
 •* celebrity." The title of their publicarion is that 
 of a *' Critical Journal." Their plans are much 
 affected by their newly professed fondness for 
 **■ radical reform, change, and revolution." Spe- 
 culations are now attached to the titles of little 
 ephemeral tracts, the ebullitions of party spirit, 
 which the press daily pours forth, and which, 
 without their notice, would, like bubbles of 
 troubled water, burst and be forgotten. And 
 thus they make up the farrago of their work ; 
 and having announced the title of any publica- 
 tion, upon any subject of which they chuse to 
 treat, *' they feel it scarcely necessary to lay before 
 ** their readers any abstract of the tale unfolded 
 •* by their author, and hasten to express their 
 ** own reflections."* 
 
 In October last, having made some remarks 
 upon the personal history and character of Don 
 
 ♦ J3. Edin. Ret. 2l6.
 
 Pedro, they proffer a series of melancholy reflec- 
 tions upon the prodigious difficulties to be ovct- 
 come by the patriots of Spain, in their present 
 generous warfare ; and notwithstanding the great 
 advantages which had then been gained over 
 the armies of France, " they forebode, that it 
 *^ will lead to the subjugation of the most gallant 
 "people in the world." 
 
 Formidable indeed are those difficulties ; delu- 
 sive and treacherous to the gallant patriots of 
 Spain, and to their generous allies the patriots of 
 England, would be that counsel, which should 
 promise an easy or speedy termination to the im- 
 portant warfare. The palm for which they con- 
 tend is placed upon a stupendous height, and 
 guarded by that mighty power, which, ever 
 watchful, and ever active, as yet has never known 
 a failure of his gigantic purposes. It is secured 
 by all sorts of obstacles and premunitions, which 
 may indeed be surmounted by patience of labour, 
 by endurance of hardship and privation, by sub- 
 mission to all sorts of peril and necessity, and by 
 
 ■-that unyielding firmness in contempt of disaster 
 and defeat, which none but heroes can acquire. 
 It is only to be gained by a struggle with all man- 
 ner of difficulties, by a contempt of slaughter and 
 devastation during a long probation of calamity and 
 fearful enterprize. But the noble achievements 
 made by the patriotic phalanx in their unimproved 
 condition, and the lessons of experience taught by 
 history in many a similar conjuncture, may even 
 
 • yet afford us a fairer hope and a more consoling 
 
 .expectation. 
 
 The late failure of the British expedition, though 
 it concluded with a victory hardly less brilliant 
 
 ithan that obtained at Agincourt by the retreating 
 army of Henry V. seems to have abated our 
 hopes, and our generous interest in Spanish affairs.
 
 We forget the flight of the usurper from Madrid, 
 the surrender of Dupont, and the ever memorable 
 defences of Zaragoza. We forget that, when the 
 enemy had obtained possession of half that town, 
 and proffered " la capitulation," the answer of its 
 brave inhabitants was " Guerra al cuchillo." We . 
 forget that Palafox, whose name will adorn the 
 page of history, and his brave council, resolved, 
 " that those quarters of the city in which the 
 '* Arragonese yet maintained themselves, should 
 *' continue to be defended with the same firmness 
 ** which had hitherto been so conspicuous; should 
 " the enemy at last prevail, the people were im- 
 " mediately to retire by the bridge over the Ebro 
 " into the suburbs, and having destroyed the 
 ** bridge, to defend the suburbs till they perished." 
 We forget that the parts of the city not possessed 
 by the enemy were gallantly defended, and that 
 his inglorious flight " terminated the first siege of 
 ** Zaragoza; which, whether it be considered with 
 " reference to the superiority of the means of 
 " annoyance in possession of the enemy, to the 
 " utter incapability of the place to resist a regular 
 " and continued attack, to the instances of col- 
 " lective and individual courage, to the patience 
 ** and heroism of its defenders of either sex, and 
 " in every situation of hfe, can be deemed second 
 •* to none recorded in the annals of antient or 
 '* modern times:"* or second only to that more 
 recent defence, which has not been equally suc- 
 cessful, though equally heroic and exemplary. 
 
 The patriotic forces have displayed in adversity 
 and success, that temperance and firmness, which 
 have often secured the fruits of victory, and 
 broken the violence of misfortune. In the day 
 of triumph they have remembered, that the iate 
 
 • See Vaughan's Account of the Siege of Zarago^u
 
 9 
 
 Qf war is undetermined, while the enemy remains 
 in hostile array, and have not, hke vulgar minds, 
 broken out in unmannerly exultation. 
 
 ** Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futarae, 
 " £t servare cnoduiu rebus sublata secundis." 
 
 In the severer probation of defeat, they have 
 not lost their fortitude, equanimity, and hope. 
 They have shewn that they can bear the discipline 
 of calamity, though they are deserving of success, 
 brilliant as heroic virtue ever achieved. They 
 have proved, that in their mind the spirit of li- 
 berty is associated with patience, foresight, and 
 prudence; and whatever may be their ultimate 
 destiny, they have already offered a brilliant ex- 
 ample, which their posterity will long remember. 
 
 Thus associated, the spirit of liberty is uncon- 
 querable. It was that spirit of liberty which ani- 
 mated the barons of this nation when they exacted 
 the great charter of our immunities, at a period 
 when all the rest of Europe languished in unlettered 
 and contented bondage: and by which, during seven 
 succeeding centuries, the fabric of our free con- 
 stitution has been gradually reared. That spirit, 
 perfected by long possession, and regulated by 
 the wisdom of the legislature, produces in our 
 minds a generous sympathy, with whatever pccole 
 struggling in the same cause shall solicit our 
 assistance. Not that we can sympathize with the 
 exertions of those, who, even after long servi- 
 tude and oppression, shall make the name of free- 
 dom a watch-word for insurrection, and a pretence 
 for outrage and cruelty, as contrary to our, spirit 
 of liberty, as to that moral restraint proceeding 
 from constitutional government, without which 
 liberty cannot subsist. Neither the ferocious 
 multitudes, who exercised the majesty of the
 
 10 
 
 people in the excesses of the French revolutiorr, 
 nor the Negro insurgents of" San J^omingo, not 
 less savage and licentious, when they broke the 
 fetters of their subjection, could obtain from us 
 assistance and fraternal counsel. The people of 
 England, enthusiastic in the cause of liberty, but. 
 equally attached to government and order, wifl 
 sustain with a powerful hand the efforts of any 
 nation soliciting its co-operation against a cruel 
 foreign usurper, preparing to enchain them with 
 oppressive and unlawful bonds : but if that soli- 
 citation were made by insurgent rebels, or accom- 
 panied by jargon proclamations of equality and 
 the rights of men, and by sophistical declarations 
 of the club-house orators and preachers of the 
 new principles of sedition, our government would 
 never be misled by a shew of political advantage 
 to fraternize our brave soldiery with the advocates 
 of such a cause : nor would our loyalty induce us 
 to approach the throne with a pledge of unlimited 
 supplies for the furtherance of such revolution. 
 
 A great people, determined in any cause what- 
 ever, to emancipate itself from any species of 
 tyranny, or to secure its national independence 
 against a foreign invader, will finally succeed in its 
 undertaking if history speak truth. 
 
 When the Athenians could no longer defend 
 their city and their domestic gods against the 
 overpowering force of the Persian barbarian, in 
 ihe last extremity, rather than yield their liberties 
 which they preferred to life itself, instructed by their 
 oracle, and led by Themistocles, their great com- 
 mander, they abandoned their native soil and took 
 refuge in their ships. The fierce invader could 
 drive them from their strong holds, possess their 
 towns, plunder their temples, and rass their defence- 
 less villages : but at last convinced that the uncon
 
 11 
 
 Mjuerabie spirit of independence was too strong 
 >even for his mighty force, when his ambition was 
 -lowered by many fruitless efforts to subdue a 
 people animated by that spirit, .he, Xerxes, the 
 great invader, fled from the despised Greeks, dis- 
 comfited and disgraced. His army perish edy and 
 he alone, whose arrogance had vaunted that he 
 would conquer Greece and enchain the. «ea itself, 
 returned in a fishing bark to recite the tale of his 
 great overthrow, which happily has reached poste- 
 rity a memorable, lesson to all tyrants and "a 
 ' " cheering example to every people." .i . 
 
 iv Not less worthy of recollection arc instances 6f 
 -the triumph of that same spirit in the records of 
 imodern history. The powers of Europe, confe- 
 rderated rby the league of Cambray, and aided by 
 • him, whom a senseless superstition endued with 
 more than mortal power, with military preparation, 
 .such as the world had not before witnessed, could 
 not overcome the resistance of the little Venetian 
 republic. The unbroken power of the Spanish 
 monarch could not quell the spirit of indepen- 
 dence, which placed the illustrious family of 
 Braganza upon the throne of Portugal. The vir- 
 tuous peasantry of the Helvetic mountains, in the 
 most righteous of all causes, established their in- 
 dependent union in defiance of the gigantic power 
 of the House of Austria. The Scottish nation, 
 impelled by William Wallace, preserved its free- 
 dom against one of the mightiest of our English 
 monarchs. Not the energy, nor the profusion, 
 nor the deep policy of Phihp the Second could 
 avail against that hardy race, which estabhshed 
 under the heroic prince of Orange the republic of 
 the United States. In later times, the people of 
 .America determined to abandon their allegiance 
 to our imperial crown, and all the efforts of this 
 great nation could not reduce them to their for-
 
 n 
 
 mer dependence ; while they retained their forests 
 and their spirit of independence, not the utmost 
 force of the British empire, by Lord Chatham pro- 
 nounced capable of achieving any thing but impos- 
 sibilities, assisted by its Indian auxiliaries, was able to 
 subdue them. The French nation itself has afforded 
 examples never to be overlooked. The victories 
 of Cressy, of Poitiers, and of Aziiicourt, and the 
 possession of their capital were ineffectual in older 
 times to subject them to an English prince. After 
 ia contest, the longest which history records, 
 marked by the greatest misfortunes, and apparently 
 desperate in its whole continuance, the resolution 
 of the people never to yield, at last saved the mo- 
 narchy ; and their virtue and vigour were rewarded 
 with complete success. In like mannes did that 
 nation retain a chivalrous hardihood of indepen- 
 dence after their discomfiture in the field of Pavia, 
 where their gallant king, without the loss of honor, 
 passed from the glory of arms to bondage in his 
 Tival's capital. The monarch retained the majesty 
 of his title, and the people their undaunted resolu- 
 tion to mamtain it. He was at last rewarded witli 
 recovering his freedom, and his royalty unimpaired ; 
 and they, at no distant period, with victories over 
 the imperial house which blotted out the stain, if 
 "ttny stain there wer«, of their defeat at Pavia. The 
 jame nation has given a recent instance of the 
 effect of that same spirit ; (lamentable indeed for the 
 crime and the delusion which occasioned it!) 
 The democracy of France having provoked the 
 continental war, was in contest with powerful 
 states on every «ide justly jealous of their first ad- 
 vances towards that greatness which now eclipses 
 the greatness of all other potentates. The angry 
 multitude were taught that their independence 
 ttras in danger; they never despaired, although 
 ihey were without a general, without an army, an4
 
 13 
 
 Without finance. Their enemy formed the ^yrand- 
 *^st alliance which Europe could afford, supphcated, 
 encouraged, and assisted by all the rank, power, 
 property, and consideration of the ancient monar- 
 chy. The enerEry of the people saved the French 
 republic. Although we never sympathized with 
 that success, yet it affords the last living proof that 
 a great nation determined to be independent of 
 foreign rule must accomplish its purpose. 
 
 Let us not be taught that the changes effected 
 by the greatness and example of France have so 
 powerful a controul over moral nature and human 
 affairs, that now the enthusiasm of a bold and hardy 
 nation can be successful only in an unrighteous 
 cause. Let us trust that the spirit of liberty so nobly 
 displayed in the proceedings of the Spanish nation, 
 though it did not shew itself in outrage, tumult, and 
 massacre, though it was accompanied by a faithful 
 adherence to the principles of order and justice, 
 and though it was associated with a loyal attach- 
 ment to a lawful and injured sovereign, may prevail, 
 as the same spirit in so many former instances has 
 prevailed, against the machinations and force of a 
 cruel, treacherous, and hated usurpation. 
 
 Though the events of the last campaign did not 
 ansvi'er the hopes which were inspired by its glori- 
 ous commencement, and ths capital of Spain is 
 now in the possession of France, yet the people of 
 England are too much dispirited by recent cala- 
 mities. Immediate triumph could not be rationally 
 expected. Numberless as are the Spanish patriots, 
 and undaunted as they have shewn themselves in 
 the spirit which animates them, it was impossible 
 that in a short period they could consolidate an in- 
 structed and disciplined force sufficient to contend 
 with the concentrated armies dispatched against 
 them by military France. Our hope ought to be 
 prospective. We may be sure that the usurper
 
 14 
 
 Will gam many victories, but we must trust that 
 l}is power will not extend far beyond the limits of 
 the conquered field. If the Spanish population 
 remain hostile to his interests, (and what event 
 should make us mistrust their perseverance ?) an 
 opposing army must inevitably grow, which shall 
 at last tear the laurels from the victor's brow, and 
 drive" away the hosts of his slaves, the instruments 
 of his boundless ambition. 
 
 The success of his usurpation would, undoubt- 
 edlv, be a greater calamity than any other which 
 •could happen to the continent of Europe. > It 
 \Vould more firmly rivet the chains which an un- 
 exampled despotism has fastened upon the van- 
 quished nations, and would be the proudest mili- 
 tary triumph in the annals of the modern con- 
 queror. It would extinguish the last apparent 
 hope of loyalty and ancient honor, and might fix 
 upon an unassailable rock the throne of the cham- 
 pion of revolutions. 
 
 In the early jacobinism of France, there wa^ 
 nothing national or particular. Its leaders in their 
 first success looked far beyond the overthrow of 
 the greatest monarchy in Europe, and valued that, 
 their first achievement, but as the means of ex- 
 tending the conflagration of revolution to the four 
 corners of the world. For the furtherance of that 
 object they were reconciled to all the misery by 
 which society was desolated and afflicted, and never 
 felt " the compunctious visitings of nature" for 
 their abundant share in producing it. Whoever 
 has adopted the notions of their morality, and will 
 assent to the purchase of probable advantage at the 
 expcnce of certain evil, (which assent I conceive to 
 be a fundamental abomination of the new philoso- 
 phy ;) that person will estimate the most aweful 
 events of the moral world as the gradations of an 
 arithmetical process ; and will consider the ac^
 
 15 
 
 rount not unfavorable if the balance calculated ac- 
 cording to the modern valuation of the natural 
 rights of men, and the comparative worthlessness 
 of all the domestic duties, be on the side of the 
 natural rights. The Edinburgh reyiewers can turn 
 their view from the calamities to result from a fai- 
 lure of the cause of the patriots in Spain, and be 
 comforted *' by contemplating the effects of the 
 " struggle upon civil liberty, and that the rather' 
 " because a part of those good consequences are 
 '* likely to ensue from the glorious efforts already 
 ** made, although it should terminate unsuccess- 
 '* fully." 
 
 They tell us that " the resistance to France has 
 " been entirely begun and carried on by the peo- 
 " pie in Spain. Their kings betrayed them, fled, 
 " and rushed, with the whole of their base cour- 
 " tiers, into the arms of the enemy. Their nobles 
 *' followed, and it is painful to reflect, that some 
 " of the most distinguished of this body, after at- 
 " tending Ferdinand to Bayonne, returned in the 
 " train of Joseph, and only quitted his service when 
 " the universal insurrection of the common peo-^ 
 ** pie drove him from his usurped throne. The 
 *' people, then, and, of the people, the middle, 
 *^ and, above all, the lower orders have alone the 
 " merit of raising this glorious opposition to the 
 ** common enemy of national independence. Those 
 ** who had so little of what is commonly termed 
 *^' interest in the country, those who had no stake 
 " in the community (to speak the technical Ian-' 
 " guage of the aristocracy,) the persons of no con- 
 ** sideration in the state, they who could not 
 " pledge their fortunes, having only lives and li- 
 ** berties to lose, the bulk, the mass of the people, ' 
 "nay the very odious, many headed beast, the' 
 " multitude, the mob itself, alone uncalled, un-' 
 *^ aided- by tlie^higher classes, and in direct oppo-*
 
 id 
 
 < 
 
 ** sition to them, as well as to the enemy whom 
 *' they so vilely joined, raised up the standard of in- 
 " 8urrection, bore it through massacre and through 
 *' victory, until it chased the usurper away, and 
 *' waved over his deserted courts. Happen what 
 •* will in the sequel, here is a grand and perma- 
 *' nent success, a lesson to all governments, a 
 " warning to all oligarchies, a cheering example to 
 ** every people. Not a name of note in Spain was 
 *^ to be seen in the records of the patriotic pro- 
 " ceedings, until the cause began to flourish ; and 
 *f then the high orders came round for their share 
 ** in the success. The Spaniards then owe their 
 *' victory, whether it unhappily stops short at its 
 " present point, or ends in the expulsion of the 
 " invaders, wholly to the efforts of the people. 
 
 *' Suppose for a moment that they succeed ; 
 ** that France gives way before she tries the issue 
 " of the impending contest ; or is finally defeated, 
 " and Spain freed : will the gallant people, after 
 ** performing such wonders, quietly open the doors 
 " of the Escurial to the same herd of crowned or 
 '* titled intriguers, who first, by misruling the mo- 
 " narchy, and then by deserting it in that utmost 
 " need into which their misrule had brought it, 
 " had rendered necessary all the effusion of blood, 
 " and had almost rendered it vain ? Having shed 
 *' their best blood in rescuing their house from a 
 *' banditti admitted by the cowardice or treachery 
 *' of the watchmen, will the Spaniards be such 
 *' fools as to restore those poltroons and traitors to 
 ** their former posts, and renew a confidence so 
 " universally abused ? No man can hesitate one 
 " instant in saying, that this thing neither ought 
 ** to be, nor will be. Common justice demands 
 ** such a change of government as will give the 
 *' people who have saved the state, who have re- 
 " conquered it, a fair salvage, a large share in its
 
 17 
 
 ** future management. Common sense requites 
 " an alteration in the political constitution of the 
 "monarchy, sufficiently radical to guard it against 
 " a recurrence of the late crisis. And if all con- 
 " sidcration of justice and of prudence were out 
 " of the question, the Spanish court may be as- 
 " sured of this, that the feelings of our common 
 " nature, the universal sentiments of right and 
 ** of pride which must prevail among a people ca- 
 " pableofsuch gallant deeds, will prevent the re- 
 " petition of the former abuses, and carry reform, 
 " change, revolution (we dread not the use of this 
 ^' word, so popular in England before the late reign 
 " of terror) salutary, just, and necessary revolu- 
 *' tion, over all the departments of the state. 
 
 " Such, we may be assured, will be the immedi- 
 " ate consequence of the Spaniards ultimately tri- 
 '' umphing over their enemies, and restoring the 
 '' peninsula to independence. Whether Ferdi- 
 " nand or Charles be the monarch, we care not ; 
 " or whether a new stock be brought from Ger- 
 *' many for a breed. That they should have a king '' 
 " every one must admit, who believes that an h'e- 
 ", reditary monarch, well fettered by the constitu- 
 " tion, is the best guardian of civil liberty. But 
 *' who the monarch is, must be a matter of little 
 " moment, provided he is sufficiently controuled 
 •" in the exercise of his delegated and responsible 
 '•trust. And whatever may be the form of the 
 " checks iniposed upon him, we shall be satisfied, 
 *' provided the basis of a free constitution is laid 
 "** deep and steady in a popular representation. 
 " Many years must elapse before this can be cor- 
 *' rupted, and betray the people to the crown ; for 
 •"the general sentiments of liberty, of contempt 
 . " for bad rulers, of resistance to all enemies, fo- 
 ** reign and domestic^ the universal feeling of their 
 
 D
 
 18 
 
 «* own powers from the recollection ot their great 
 ** actions, will long remain among the Spanish 
 * People, and shake to atoms every court intrigue 
 " hostile to their rights." 
 
 In these passnges there is much speculative 
 doctrine, and some historical narration. 
 
 The speculative doctrine is the same that flowed 
 from our disaffected clubs in England, and from 
 that great vortex of revolutionary principles, the 
 club, which exercised the powers of Government 
 in France, after the final overthrow of royalty. 
 My immediate purpose will be to shew, that the 
 matter of the historical narration is altogether 
 unfounded in fact, and grossly libellous of the 
 character of the Spanish nation. 
 
 And first I presume to inquire, whether any 
 proclamation or proceeding of any of the assem- 
 blies which have most wisely conducted the grand 
 movement of the Spanish nation, was made upon 
 the principle which melancholy experience has 
 rendered too familiar to us, of ** reform, change, 
 " and revolution." None such is quoted by the 
 Edinburgh Reviewers ; if any such have taken 
 place, the English nation has been much deceived. 
 
 If that transaction was a great simultaneous ef- 
 fort of every order and degree of the universal 
 Spanish nation, in opposition to an unprincipled 
 usurper, and his intriguing courtiers, mide in the 
 name and in the cause of him whom they consi- 
 dered their lawful sovereign, the narration of the 
 reviewers seems to bear little re^eniblance to the 
 authentic fact. It is a distorted portraiture highly 
 colored and strongly delineated, but not designed 
 from any existing features of the cliaracter dis- 
 played by that magnanimous confederacy. It is 
 a shapeless and unnatural monster, such as the 
 world never saw,, but in the triumph of traitors 
 
 5
 
 at the downfal of the French monarchy, suited to 
 the abominable idolatry of that triumph, but littl-e 
 calculated to obtain the homage of the British 
 public. 
 
 In a plain concise relation of the remote causes 
 and the circumstances of that transaction, there 
 is nothing to gratify the wishes of those among 
 us who pant for revolution, but much to console 
 the drooping spirits of such as lament the subju- 
 gation of the continent, and of such as retain 
 unimpaired their love and admiration of that or- 
 der and liberty which the constitution of this coun- 
 try has perfectly combined. It is an interesting 
 spectacle, at this period of great calamity, to be- 
 hold a pov/erful nation, which were among the 
 first to bend in fatal homage to the terrific su- 
 premacy ot France, and endeavoured to conciliate 
 that insatiate power by yielding their richest co- 
 lonies to its sovereignty, by sustaining its prodi- 
 gTility with their treasure, by recruiting its armies 
 from their population, by endeavouring to main- 
 tain its maritime strength by their navy, by a pa- 
 tient submission to the ingratitude, insult, and in- 
 dignity, which, in return for such services, were 
 every hour accumulated to prepare their minds for 
 absolute' subjection ; to behead that nation, like 
 the lion when he turns upon his hunters, roused 
 to destructive vengeance. They were the first to 
 check the tyrant in his course ; and while their 
 manly purpose, for the first time, convulsed his 
 mind with just alarm, tliey afforded the first great 
 national proof that the new principles of anarchy 
 are not universal, and that a people may be ter- 
 rible to a usurper, without disloyalty or faction. 
 
 To such as admire the British constitution, and 
 can applaud those firm and moderate measures, 
 which led to its completion in ld88, there appear* 
 in that spectacle a similarity of circums-tance and
 
 20 
 
 design, which is alike honorable to this country, 
 which gave the great exan)ple, and to that which 
 has wisely followed it. The principle of both 
 those events is the same: not that of "reform, 
 " radical change, and revolution ;" unless the 
 amendment of some abuses, contrary to established 
 law, be meant by the word " reform ;" unless 
 the substitution, for an uncapable and abdicated 
 prince, of him who was immediate heir to the 
 other, and by the establislied law had a claim to 
 the succession, can be considered as a radical 
 change ; unless a complete recurrence to all the 
 provisions of the ancient and unimpaired constitu- 
 tion of the country, properly deserves the name 
 of revolution; a name attributed to such an event 
 by our English historians, when the word was not 
 significant of all that which will hereafter render 
 it a name of horror. 
 
 The governments of the continent of Europe 
 were all gradually formed out of those feudal in- 
 stitutions in which the power of the paramount 
 chief had originally more splendor than solidity. 
 The privileges of the nobles, and the territorial 
 lords, v.'ere a perpetual check, upon ail the en- 
 croachments of the sovereign, and not unfre- 
 quently upon the exercise of his legitimate prero- 
 gative. The barons were the great council of tiie 
 nation, individually claiming a natural equality 
 with their supreme head, and collectively assert- 
 ing a constitutional superiority to his authority*. 
 In the progress of commercial opulence, tliecom- 
 inons acquired in many countries a share, and in 
 
 " " We," said the Justiza of Arragon, in the name of tlie 
 'nobility to the king, when they swore allegiance to him," who 
 are each of ui so good as you, and are altogether more pow- 
 erful than you, promise obedience to your government, if you 
 maintain our rights and liberties j but if not, not." Butler's 
 •llcvol, of tlie G. tmp. 275.
 
 21 
 
 some a full and adequate proportion of the legis- 
 lative function. Thus, in none of those states 
 was the original constitution that of a despotic 
 monarchy, the prerogative of the prince being 
 subject to restraint and limitation, by a power, at 
 least equivalent to his own. 
 
 But the royal prerogative being uniformly exerted, 
 and the powers of the nobles being less tolerable 
 than that of the sovereign, whose undivided sway 
 was to the great mass of the community a refuge 
 fro^n the oppression and exactions of a number ; 
 the assemblies of the states fell into general dis- 
 use, and the great kingdoms were consolidated 
 under the uncontrouled government of a monarch. 
 In all these kingdoms the government of the 
 
 , monarch, though without the controul of those 
 assemblies which had originally exercised a large 
 portion of the public authority, was yet subject 
 to the fundamental laws of the constitution; the 
 authority of the states, though disused, was not 
 obsolete ; though not in exercise, was never aban- 
 doned by the nation nor disavowed by the crown. 
 So that whatever occasion might arise in any of 
 them to ameliorate the constitution, to improve 
 the condition of society, to limit more strictly the 
 royal prerogative, or to change any of the estab- 
 lished institutions, there was never wanting a 
 power in the constilution lawfully to effect all 
 those purposes, and fully competent, when brought 
 into action, to give and secure to the people the 
 full enjoyment of practical liberty. 
 
 The Spanish monarchy was composed of many 
 nations which had never, ^iven in form, been 
 united by the feudal bond, but which, by various 
 agcidents of conquest and succession, had passed 
 under the domination of the same sovereign. 
 Spain never enjoyed one supreme legislative as- 
 
 - sembly acting for the. whole nation. Its assem-
 
 22 
 
 4>lies of the Cortes were all of provincial autho- 
 lity, and its provinces had various laws and privi- 
 Jege?s with no institution, in common, but that 
 ctf the government of an hereditary monarch. 
 
 Such being the constitution of the Spanish mo- 
 narchy, the crown had acquired a vast preroga- 
 4ive, not subject to any immediate practical check, 
 ir-om an efficient national legislative assembly ; but 
 it was nevertheless, bound by all the fundamental 
 Tules of the original feudal constitution, variously 
 anodified by the peculiar institutions of the re- 
 spective provinces. 
 
 In England, previous to the abdication of King 
 James, there was an actual suspension of the con- 
 stitutional powers. The crown had become sub- 
 ject to the influence of a foreign potentate. The 
 functions of parliament had been usurped by the 
 reigning prince, who attempted in violation of the 
 essential principles of the government to suspend 
 the established laws, to abrogate the Protestant re- 
 ligion, to violate the chartered privileges of his 
 people, to evade the trial by jury, to rule without 
 the aid of legislative counsel, to raise an indepen- 
 dent revenue, and to exercise the yxnvers of an ab- 
 solute sovereign. Thus circumstanced, our an, 
 <!estors, in that great crisis of their affairs, took re- 
 fuge in the ancient principles of the British con- 
 stitution. 
 
 King James fled from the wrath of his awakened 
 subjects ; the executive power was wholly lost ; 
 an efficient member of the legislature was want- 
 ing ; there was a breach in the constitution. 
 
 The three orders of the realm instantly as- 
 sembled in cowvention. They resolved that King 
 James, " having endeavoured to subvert the con- 
 " stitution of the kingdom, by breaking the ori- 
 *■* ginal contract between king and people, and 
 ** having, by the advice of Jesuits, and other
 
 ** wicked persons, violated the fundamental law»» 
 '■ and withdrawn himself out qf the kingdom, he 
 '• had abdicated the government, and the throne 
 " was thereby become vacant." This was their 
 preliminary step to that act by which they con- 
 ferred the crown upon King William and Qiieen 
 Mary ; she being the next in the line of succession 
 to the late king, and to the infant prince of 
 Wales, who was incapable of exercising the pow- 
 ers of government, and whom his father hacl 
 t^en out of the realm to be educated in those 
 principles of arbitrary power and superstition, 
 which were found incompatible with, the princi- 
 ples of the English monarchy. 
 
 The Spanish nation was recently placed in cir- 
 cumstances certainly far more difficult and peril- 
 ous, but in kind resembling those which this 
 country experienced in 1688. 
 
 In the constitution of that monarchy, composed 
 of several independent kingdoms, the principles of 
 ancient freedom, though far more obscure than in 
 our constitution, were yet sufficiently legible. 
 Civil liberty was their original birth-right and pos» 
 session, and was the comer stone of their na- 
 tional establishment, though it had never been 
 assimilated and combined, as it was at an early 
 period in this country, with all the principles of a 
 pure jurisprudence, an enlightened legislation, a 
 liberal national religion, and the various institutions 
 of an improved civil polity. Their freedom, though 
 ancient and indubitable, was, in its best days, that 
 of a community not perfectly associated, and hav- 
 ing to acquire, rather than to enjoy, the complicated 
 advantages of a government, strong by the laws 
 which it enforces, and by the liberties which it 
 protects. 
 
 Spain had not the advantages which we derive 
 from our insular situation. Whatever differencef
 
 04 
 
 have arisen in our state, cither among contentliiig 
 parties, or between the diflerciit orders of the com- 
 monwealth, lliev have been determined without the 
 intervention of foreign force, or tlie inthiencc of 
 any other government. In the dissensions of the 
 rival families of Lancaster and York; in the grand 
 rebellion, when parliament opposed itself to the 
 king's prerogative ; and at the^ change of 1688, 
 when the whole nation was in resistance to th6 
 mi^uided and bigotted tyranny of King James; 
 no armies were sent from abroad to controal the 
 national will, or to promote a cause adverse to our 
 general interests. In Spain it has been otherwise. 
 The Pyrenean mountains have proved no barrier 
 against the intrigues or attacks of a foreign po- 
 tentate. Long before the demise ot Charles III. 
 the counsels of that monarchy were controuled 
 by foreign influence. At the failure of his line, 
 the disputed succession was settled, after a long 
 war, by the military force of France, which has 
 since, with little interruption, maintained its un*; 
 due controul over all the affairs of that country.- 
 We now observe with what peculiar difhcnlty and 
 hazard an independency from that galliiig yoke 
 can be asserted by the Spanish nation. 
 
 Since the accession of the Bourbon line to the 
 Spanish throne, the royal fcn)ily yielded vas- 
 salage to the monarchy of France, and assumed 
 an indifference to the public will of its own sub- 
 jects, alike inconsistent with the grandeur and^ 
 riches of the inheritance, and with the ancient; 
 laws and spirit of that nation. In all her foreign- 
 relations, Spain was identified with France. To 
 that disgraceful alliance were sacrificed the 
 dignity of the crown, the interests and wishes 
 of the people, even the forms of the constitution,' 
 and almost the name of independence. Weak- 
 ened and degraded, restrained by the fear and
 
 a5 
 
 liatred of the popular will, and bound by the 
 furce of the established vassalage, not even the 
 French revolution, and the slaughter of the elder 
 branch of the royal line could stimulate the court 
 of Madrid to break the fetters of its bondage. 
 After a feeble resistance to the new power raised 
 in France, it passed almost voluntarily to a hu- 
 miliation and servitude far more oppressive thaa 
 that which it had long borne ; because its new 
 servitude was imposed by a tyranny far more 
 relentless, and violated the sense of honor, the 
 ties of natural affinity, the hopes of Europe, the 
 plainest interests of the state, and the universal 
 security of all nations. 
 
 That last humiliation was marked by the rule 
 of a low-born unprincipled favourite, whose unde- 
 served elevation the influence of France sustained. 
 He displayed his authority by arrogance and pride, 
 such as great and unexpected promotion is apt to 
 generate in a vulgar mind. The King and the 
 Queen, like gilded puppets, appeared, and spoke, 
 and acted as he the manager of the drama direct- 
 ed them. The heir to the monarchy he kept 
 in obscurity and inaction. The great nobles of 
 the realm he degraded and insulted, the laws of 
 the state he violated, its treasures he squandered 
 with wanton profusion, the means of its defence 
 and potency he sacrificed in unnecessary and fatal 
 warfare. He committed spoil upon the revenues 
 of the church, he trampled upon the lives and 
 fortunes of the lower orders, he sent away the 
 military force upon distant expeditions, inconsist- 
 ent with any sound policy, and introduced into 
 the heart of the country, hordes of a foreign sol- 
 diery to maintain him in his exercise of authority 
 which every Spaniard detested and despised. Such 
 was the overbearing power of the proi^cj minion, 
 
 E
 
 i6 
 
 tTiat Pie arrogated to himself the rights and the 
 splendor of royalty, and made the sovereign a mere 
 instrument of his administration. 
 
 By his misrule and boundless pretensions, dis- 
 satisfaction and hatred were excited in every 
 mind ; there appeared, through the whole nation, 
 a disposition to revolts The king's authority was 
 reduced to absolute insigniricance. The heir to 
 the throne, whom the favourite had injured, in- 
 sulted, and reviled, was beloved on that account, 
 and for the vigorous aud patriotic policy which he 
 openly approved. The nobles, and the people 
 looked to him as a leader in the approaching crisis, 
 which the folly and the excesses of the upstart ra- 
 pidly accelerated. Tlie gathering storm was about 
 to burst, in whidi the King could only depend for 
 succour upon the French government, for whose 
 service he had lost the affections of all his people. 
 He was unwilling to oppose himself, with such aid, 
 and in such a cause, to the indignation and re- 
 sentment of the nation, and hoped, by abdication, 
 |o avert every danger. 
 
 ' But the emperor of France foresaw that the 
 government of Ferdinand viould have no reseinv- 
 blance to the pusillanimous misrule of his prede- 
 cessor. By anticipation he saw the youthful mo- 
 narch stimulated and assisted by a gallant nobi- 
 lity to regain the independence of his crown ; and 
 already trembled, lest the etforts and example of 
 a patriot king of Sf)ain should limit that universal 
 empire, which he labours to establish, or ultimately 
 shake tiie foundations- of that throne from which 
 he issues his mandates to the prostrate nations. 
 
 When the great interests of the present event- 
 ful period shall be overwhelmed in the current of 
 time, when the majesty of empire shall no longer 
 cast a fallacious splendor upon atrocious usurpa- 
 tion, aud the abasement of lui^fortune shall not
 
 lessen the due honour and estimation of sufFering 
 merit; whenever it shall be important to display 
 the natural deformity of injustice, cruelty, and 
 treachery, for purposes of useful example, and 
 to excite a noble emulation in the infant breast, 
 by recounting deeds of heroic resolution and manly 
 enterprise, accomplished by patriots in defiance 
 of danger and difficulty for their lawful and glo- 
 rious purposes ; then will the historian dwell upon 
 all the circumstances of the present awful crisis, 
 in the affairs of Spain. Hatred and indignation 
 will accompany his long recital, from the hrst in- 
 terference of the tyrant, till the consummation 
 ' of his perfidy by the imprisonment o<f his royal 
 victims at Bayoune. The simple and explicit re- 
 lation of Don Pedro Cevallos may be his guide 
 -and instruction. At present every incident of the 
 complicated scheme is impressed upon the heart, 
 and it would be an unnecessary task to enumerate 
 all the crimes and artifices which, at length, ex- 
 cited the resentment of all Spaniards, and occa- 
 sioned their resistance to the aggressors of the 
 common enemy of all established government. 
 
 The successful issue of that complicated scheme 
 was the second abdication of the monarchy by 
 the late king, a compelled abandonment of his 
 title by Ferdinand, (whose right was immediate 
 upon the abdication of his father) and a procla- 
 mation of Joseph, the revolutionary king of 
 Naples, and the brother of the tyrant of France. 
 
 In this emergency ths Spanish nation c|losely 
 .pursued the steps of the English, at their memo- 
 rable change of 1688. Their late king had made 
 a formal abdication ; they generously rested upon 
 that circumstance, and avoided the painful neces- 
 sity of a judicial scrutiny of the errors, or the 
 faults of his government Though there was 
 abundant evidence ^^ of his having endeavoured
 
 in 
 
 ^' to subvert the constitution of bis kingdom by 
 *' breaking the original contract between king and 
 " people, and by having violated the fundamental 
 " laws," yet with moderation, similar to that of our 
 convention, they thought it sufficient to recog- 
 iiise his abdication, and to acknowledge the ac- 
 cession of Ferdinand. 
 
 That great national proceeding was not the act 
 of the irritated mob of the capital, goaded by op- 
 pression to tumult and to massacre, and taking 
 the name of their unfortunate prince as a watch- 
 word for union, in a business of popular insur- 
 rection. In that case, all the dignity of the trans- 
 action would have been wanting ; nor would it have 
 fasted upon those principles of honor, justice, and 
 public virtue, which claim our applause and co- 
 operation. Then the tocsin would have once 
 more affrighted us as a signal for new outrages, 
 pillages, and murders. The idol of the rights of 
 the people again instated in his polluted sanctuary, 
 must have been again appeased by appropriate vic- 
 tims ; the work of confiscation, proscription, ca- 
 lumny, and judicial slaughter would have proceeded 
 in the ferocious excesses of a capricious, cruel, 
 and tumultuous sedition. Then should we have 
 heard that all the orders of distinction were abo- 
 lished, and that the inheritance of the church was 
 seized by rr.pacious hands for the use of the eman- 
 cipated nation ; that religious sentiment was ex- 
 tinguished, and nftoral restraint disowned ; that 
 the laws and ordinances of justice were lost in the 
 provisions of an ostentatious declaration of un- 
 founded rights ; that the executioner was al-» 
 ready weary in the exercise of his liberalized func- 
 tions under those provisions ; that terror and de- 
 struction had loosened every tie of affinity and 
 friendship, and that the passions, which always 
 triumph in treason and rebellion, were raging willi
 
 29 
 
 tlie honored attributes of autliority. Then it 
 might have been said, without a gross violation 
 of historic truth, that there was ''an insurrection 
 ' " of the common people, of the middle, and, 
 *' above all, of the lower orders ;" "that the bulk, 
 ** the mass of the people, tiie very odious many 
 *' headed beast, the multitude, the mob itself, had 
 *' raised the standard of insurrection, and had 
 *' borne it through massacre and through victory/* 
 Then might some men have exulted in that mas- 
 sacre, and that victory ; " as a grand and perma- 
 *' nent success, as a lesson to all governments, a 
 " warning to all ohgarchies, and a cheering ex- 
 " ample to every people." 
 
 But in that case the English nation would 
 have felt a less universal sympathy with the mo- 
 tives and the object of that enterprise. We 
 should have paused before we united in action 
 and interest with snch an ally as " the multitude 
 ^* or the mob ;" of any country whatsoever, in any 
 cause. Those principles of order to which we 
 have hitherto adhered in many vicissitudes of 
 fortune, and in the support of v^hich we have 
 laboured for the rescue of all Europe from its de- 
 pression under a power founded in their destruc- 
 tion, we should not have abandoned on slight 
 political considerations. Strenuously contending 
 against those who attribute the formation and the 
 permanence of all rightful government to such 
 fearful anarchy, there are those among us who 
 would not have sacrificed the moral question of 
 the contest to the precarious advantage which 
 turbulent and unlawful power might have pro- 
 mised; there are those who would prefer to fall 
 under the sword of the usurper, rather than adopt 
 any step which would legalise the revolution by 
 sucti confederacy.
 
 30 
 
 It is not the irrlratcd mob to whom we at- 
 ' tribute that grand proceeding of the universal 
 Spanish nation. In every province of the king- 
 dom there was formed a junta, composed of 
 whatever was most respectable for rank, property, 
 energy, talent, character, and moral considera- 
 tion. Those base courtiers, who were the crea^ 
 tures of the favorite, could not participate in the 
 labour or the glory of that cause. The public 
 functionaries whom he had made the tools of his 
 corrupt administration, who had helped *^ to ren- 
 *' der necessary the effusion of blood, and had al- 
 " most rendered it vain," were necessarily excluded 
 from the patriotic duty. But we may rejoice for 
 the honor of the ancient nobility of Europe, 
 that the nobles of Spain had their full weight and 
 consideration in the national councils. When 
 we read the names of Infantado, the Palafoxes, 
 Florida BJanca, Romana, and many other dig- 
 nitaries who would augment the lustre of any 
 chivalrous body in the best days of society ; when 
 we recollect that the governors of the great towns, 
 the commanders of the fleets, and the leaders of 
 tlie armies, gave their earliest support to the 
 principles of that cause, and became its distin- 
 guished leaders, we rejoice that, although " the 
 ^* herd of titled intriguers, who had misruled the 
 '* monarchy, and had deserted it in its utmost 
 " need," had fled from their posts ; to receive the 
 reward of crime and treachery in the court of 
 the foreign usurper ; there, like the profligate suit- 
 ors at the palace of Ulysses, converted into a house 
 of riot, at the expence of the^rightful exiled king 
 
 " To feast, to dance, ani raise the mirthful songj" 
 yet there remained a great mass of the honor" 
 and consideration of the land which had never * 
 participated in that crime, and would perish in tlie 
 7
 
 31 ♦ 
 
 noble cause wTiicb they espouse, rather than aban- 
 don their fidelity to their only lawful lord. 
 
 In that suspension of the powers of govern- 
 ment, the provincial assemblies, without discuss- 
 ing one revolutionary question ; without making 
 one change in the political order of the state ; 
 without assuming a right to make such change, 
 proceeded to restore the various authorities in the 
 departments of justice, of finance, and of the pub- 
 lic force. Having no object in view but to save 
 the country, and to call forth its utmost energies 
 in that day of peril, they happily concurred in 
 that resolution which, if their motives had not 
 . been altogether patriotic, or if there had been 
 among them the least particle of vanity, selfish- 
 ness, ambition, or pride, they would never have 
 entertained. They ordered the convocation of » 
 supreme central junta, which was to decide the 
 fate of the country, if that decision could be 
 made by any civil authority. 
 
 The central junta assembled and became the 
 point of union for the patriotism, the loyalty, 
 and the valour of all Spain. Their declarations 
 of rights were not like the inflamed manifestos, 
 fabricated in the commune of Paris, and at Chalk- 
 farm ; they were unaffected, rational, and du- 
 tiful. They will hereafter be the best examples 
 to be observed by every great nation that shall 
 be warlike, without being unjust, and be in pa- 
 triotic commotion without disorder or licentious- 
 ness. Their first measure was to ratify the title 
 of king Ferdinand VII. In his name they pro- 
 ceeded to exercise the powers of majesty, and to 
 confirm every fundamental principle and institu ^ 
 tion of the Spanish monarchy. 
 
 If there was any division of the public senti- 
 ment of the Spanish nation at that crisis, if the
 
 32 
 
 expression adopted by his Britannic majesty of the 
 universality of the patriotic feeling will not be 
 hereafter adopted by him who shall record the 
 circumstances of that eventful period, still the 
 statement of the Edinburgh reviewers will not 
 pass into the historic page. It will be remem- 
 bered that, upon that important question, there 
 were on the one side the abdicated king and his 
 queen ; the crafty minister, to whose crimes and 
 intrigues the national calamities will be charged; 
 and the abandoned creatures of that minister, few 
 in number, decorated with undeserved honors, 
 still devoted to that cause of indignity and bondage 
 in which alone they can hope for distinction, and 
 always prepared, for base reward, to sacrifice their 
 sovereign and the state. On the other side was 
 the youthful monarch, languishing irr the impri- 
 sonment of the relentless tyrant, who, like the 
 malignant monster, imagined in romantic fable, 
 betrayed even kings to his treacherous hospitality, 
 and by magic force retained them to be the slaves 
 of his guilty grandeur. Then came the heredi- 
 tary nobles, the magistracy, the clergy, the whole 
 of the ancient military force, and whatever. could 
 constitute the public will, territorial and commer- 
 cial. All those, pure in honor and faithful to 
 duty, were united with the antique spirit of knjght- 
 hood, to break the adulterate spell of their de- 
 tested enemy, to liberate his royal victim, to re- 
 store the ancient glory of their dejected country, 
 and to bear the standard of heroic virtue till it 
 waves triumphantly in the courts of that same 
 gloomy castle where their king was circumvented 
 by wicked artifice. Subordinately to all those was 
 the aristocracy of talents, not there prostituted to 
 the service of faction, nor attejnpting to justify the 
 atrocious actions of the usurper. Far less enthu-
 
 Sfastic at that time was the multitude, then al- 
 most deaf at the call of loyalty, or coming slowly 
 forward to recruit the arrhies of the legitimate 
 government, and to participate in their proper 
 function for the overthrow of an odious despotism 
 under which all orders would grban alike. 
 
 " Whether Ferdinand or Charles be the mo- 
 " narch," the Edinburgh reviewers " care not, or 
 *' whether a new stock be brought from Germanjr^ 
 ** for a breed." The allusion to our English roy- 
 alty is not obscure. To them that personal at'- 
 tachment to the prince which makes submissioci 
 noble, which results from confidence and bene- 
 fits experienced, which introduces every domes- 
 tic affection intaour public relations, which makes 
 the obligation of social hfe as the filial tribute 
 which a virtuous mind delights to pay, and renders 
 the splendor of power a common property and 
 consideration ; for that loyalty of the heart, these 
 philosophic speculators care not at all. The lineage, 
 the character, the temper, and the mental quali- 
 ties of the reigning family are to them unworthy 
 of regard. " That the Spaniards should have a 
 " king, every one must admit, who believes that 
 ''an hereditary monarch, well fettered by the con- 
 " stitution, is the best guardian of civil liberties." 
 They leave the question undecided, whether any 
 monarch is wanted for that guardianship; but if 
 he be admitted upon any terms, '' he must be well 
 " fettered by the constitution, he must be suffic^- 
 "ently controuled in the exercise of his delegated* 
 " and responsible trust ;" and being well fettered, 
 and sufficiently controuled, who the monarch is, 
 whether he be Charles, who has ruined and be- 
 trayed the state, or Ferdinand, his legitimate and 
 beloved successor, or one of a German race ; 
 whether he be wise or weak, just or cruel, brave 
 
 p
 
 34 . 
 
 or pusillanimous, an elected or an hereditary 
 prince, it signifies nothing to them. Provided 
 the people retain '* an universal feeling of their 
 "own powers," they little care. The cause which 
 they have advocated will then triumph and he per- 
 manent ; the king holding his trust and dignity 
 at the caprice of the multitude, having no inde- 
 j)€ndent prerogative, insulted every day by the 
 remonstrances of those to whom he is responsible, 
 and reminded every hour that he has but a dele- 
 gated function ; this pennyless, impotent, disho- 
 noured phantom of royalty, the creature of a 
 factious, restless, insolent, omnipotent demo- 
 cracy, of merely noiainal consideration, may slum- 
 ber, or may rage with powerless indignation upon 
 his civic throne. His subjects will keep alive " the 
 '•' recollection of their great actions," and be al- 
 ways alert *' to shake to atoms every intrigue 
 " hostile to their imputed rights." 
 
 But tlie monarchy to which they will assent 
 would be of short duration. A wise sovereign, 
 claiming by succession and by legal title, will na- 
 turally feel that the first duty of his office is to 
 promote the greatness and the happiness of the 
 people, and that by the discharge of that duty he 
 will most augment the splendor of his crown, and 
 the solidity of his power, and will perpetuate the 
 inheritance to his children's children. In the exer- 
 cise of his prerogative, strengthened and defined, 
 but not reduced, impoverished, ajid opposed by 
 the prudent provisions of the law, he will not 
 find himself in every act of government curtailed 
 of all judgnient and discretion by the paramount 
 privileges of a jealous commonalty. He will feel 
 tliat, uaUke inferior functionaries, he has a no- 
 bler duty to perform than tliat of a literal execu- 
 tion of his constitutional powers, and that just- 
 
 4
 
 35 
 
 ice, prudence, and public principle, which are all 
 of them expressive of a liberal discretion, must 
 naturally be the objects of his high ministration. 
 These combined, but not restrained, by a faith- 
 ful observance of the constitutional rights of all 
 the orders of the state will, at once, appear tb 
 him as his dignified interest and imperious 
 duty. . 
 
 The prince, who i^ no more than a factitious 
 magistrate, who is fettered and controuled in every 
 .act of national beneficence and generous specula- 
 tion, whose natural object it must be to destroy 
 that constitution over which another power pre- 
 sides, and which he is not called upon to pro- 
 tect, who must always regard his people with the 
 fear of dependant impoteiace, or the hatred of 
 jealous rivalship ; such a prince may be suited to 
 the philosophy of speculative short-sighted re- 
 formers ; but he is not suited to the grandeur and 
 generosity of an opulent and magn?inimous nation-. 
 His existence, permitted, and not necessary, os 
 terJtatious and not useful, will be of precarious, 
 unquiet, and short duration ; the form of the 
 
 .government will hastily verge towards the cha- 
 racter of absolute democracy, or be changed to 
 an ungracious and unqualified despotism. If hfe 
 be of a firm, persevering, enterprising, cruel, 
 and relentless ambition, he will soon triumph over 
 the restraints of law, and establish in his own per- 
 son an unbending, uncontrouled supremacy. If 
 he be meek and gentle, easily entreated, upright 
 
 • and forgiving, true to his engagements, and 
 more averse to the shedding the blood of the 
 rebellious than to the diminution of his feeble 
 authority, then, like Louis XVI., he will yield bis 
 life upon the scaffold to infuriated traitors, and
 
 ao 
 
 the destruction of his power will make way for 
 a sanguinary, merciless, and upstart usurpation. 
 Though the efforts of patriotism, assisted by the 
 counsel and protection of this country, should 
 unhappily fail of saving the Peninsula from the 
 unrelaxing gripe of the usurper, the Spanish mo- 
 narchy may yet survive in its opulent and exten- 
 sive dependencies. The royal house of Portugal 
 yet reigns in its transatlantic territories, and has 
 afforded an example which ought not to be una- 
 vailing to the Government of Spain. In that case, 
 the question with respect to the colonies in South 
 America will not be, as the Edinburgh reviewers 
 have stated, *' yvhether they shall remain as be- 
 " fore, attached to that monarchy, or, in other 
 " words, shall become the property of Napoleon, 
 " or whether those colonies under the protection of 
 " Great Britain shall be enabled to constitute them- 
 " selves a free and independent nation."* The 
 question will be whether or not we shall sustain 
 the rightful title of King Ferdinand to those 
 possessions, or " become a party to revolution- 
 " ary measures," and support the cause of jaco- 
 binism in the new world. 
 
 An affected dread of the power of France is' 
 expressed by the reviewers ; but their counsel, 
 whatever it might be, is founded on an opinion 
 Jaboriously inculcated, that none but revolution- 
 ary principles can be opposed to that power 
 with any hope of success. Instead of being 
 an honest ally of Ferdinand, to whom we have 
 pledged our faith, they require us to assimilate 
 our policy to that of the usurper. He has 
 claimed the crown ; we are counselled to de- 
 stroy its prerogative. He strives to possess its 
 
 * 5ee the last number of the Edinburgh Review, page 1299.
 
 it 
 
 European territories; we are to revolutionize those 
 in America. We, under the mask, of alli- 
 ance, are to perpetrate a crime which hostility 
 would not justify, and to inflict a more deadly 
 blow upon the rights of the Spanish royalty, 
 than the avowed enemy has presumed to d[e- 
 puntiate. 
 
 The progress of human affairs announces to 
 the philosophic eye a great revolution, the na- 
 ture and consequences of which the boldest 
 imagination cannot calculate. Thtf new world, 
 advancing in population, science, and civilization, 
 will not always continue in dependance upon the 
 gtates of Europe. The establishment of the fe- 
 deral republic, and the emancipation of San 
 Domingo, are but a commencement of that 
 change which will hereafter give a new direc- 
 tion to the policy of all nations, and open new 
 sources of power and intelligence. The wrongs 
 of the untaught natives of Mexico and Peru 
 will, probably, at no distant day, be retributed by 
 mighty states, which will be established on the 
 separation of those vast provinces from the coun- 
 tries which subdued them. Time which can 
 effectuate, without violence, those transitions 
 which the rash precipitancy of mankind cannot 
 produce without accumulated evils, will, in due 
 course, loosen the fetters of subjection which 
 bind the nations of America. Even to the poor 
 Indian shall be imparted the blessings of know- 
 ledge, liberty, and power. A wise man would 
 not wish to wrest to himself the management 
 of the important work. An attempt to do so 
 will originate in presumption, be executed in 
 crime, and, whatever may be the ultimate result, 
 must terminate in immediate calamity. 
 
 If France should accomplish her purpose of
 
 conquering Spain, the American colonies will ap- 
 pertain by sound principles of justice to Ferdinand, 
 or the lawful claimant of his house. An indepen- 
 dence will then be insured to the provinces with- 
 out revolution, and the usurper, acquiring the 
 immediate object of his ambition, will be without 
 the golden prize which impelled his cupidity. The 
 object of the Edinburgh Reviewers willbe equally 
 frustrated. The republican example of the United 
 States of America which dazzles their eye, will not 
 have been followed, and revolution in the spirit 
 of loyalty and honour will, in their view, be with- 
 out merit or commendation. 
 
 One favourable result from the resistance of 
 Spain to the wanton enmity of France, cannot be 
 lost to mankind. Whatever may be the imme- 
 diate result of the contest, her great example will 
 remain to animate the nations, apparently in hope- 
 less bondage, to assert their independence. The 
 hostile spirit of those countries, which have an 
 habikial hatred to the domination of France,! hough 
 broken, cannot be annihilated. Italy, the states of 
 Germany, and Russia, must be indignant at their 
 common humiliation. Though as yet they may 
 be unable to renew the contest with their cruel 
 conqueror, yet a day must come, when they will 
 again appeal to arms. The power of France founded 
 in error will be shaken to its base, if the people 
 on the continent -should acquire an opinion that 
 her armies are not invincible. 
 
 It is not necessary to extract the whole of the 
 illustrations and applications of the doctrine al- 
 ready quoted from the Edinburgh Reviewers, and 
 continued through fourteen closely printed pages 
 of their number published in October. The whole 
 of that article seems to refer to England rather 
 than to Spain, and to the domestic state of the 
 English government, as much as to its foreign
 
 39 
 
 policy. They exult " that they can now once 
 " more utter the word liberty and people, without 
 ".starting at the echo of their , own voices, or 
 "looking rq|||nd the chamber for some spy or 
 "officer of government;* they anticipate a most 
 "salutary change in public opinion, from the ex^- 
 " ample of Spain." They state that " tlie Spanish 
 " Revolution places the cause of freedom and 
 " reform upon a much better footing than it had 
 " even at the beginning of the French Revolution/ 
 " because the country, government, and people, 
 " are committed with the Spanish Patriots, which 
 " they never were with those of France ; " they 
 observe, " that the cause of the Spaniards is so 
 " obviously that of the people, the desertion of 
 " the court and nobles is so manifest ; the con- 
 /' nexion between the success of the patriots and 
 " a radical change of the government is so neces- 
 " sary, that whoever has wished well to them 
 " f«els intimately persuaded that he has been es- 
 " pousing the popular side of the greatest question 
 " of the present day, that he has been praying 
 " most fervently for the success of the people 
 " against their rulers ; that he has in plain terms 
 "been as far as in him lay, a party to revolu- 
 " tionary measures ;" "that he has admitted the 
 " right of the people to call their rulers to account 
 " and choose their own constitution ;" " men of all • 
 " descriptions, of all ranks in society, of every party, 
 "have joined almost unanimously in the same 
 " generous and patriotic sentiments, and have ex- 
 " pressedr them loudly and manfully ;" "the nation ' 
 " has formally taken part in the cause of Spain," 
 " after recognizing in the most solemn manner the 
 "revolutionary government." "They sincerely 
 " believe that the success of that cause would 
 " not only save the continent, but vvould. infallibly
 
 40 
 
 " purify the internal constitution both of this and 
 " the other countries of Europe." ** They would 
 '* extravagantly rejoice in any conceivable event, 
 " which must reform the constitutiof^of England, 
 " by reducing the overgrown influence of the 
 " crown, by curbing the pretensions of the privi- 
 " legcd orders in so far as this can be effected, 
 " without strengthening the royal influence, by 
 " raising up the power of real talents and work, 
 " the true nobility of a country, by exalting the 
 *'mass of the community, and giving them under 
 ** the guidance of that virtual aristorcracy, to 
 " direct the councils of England." *' Whoever be- 
 " lieves that an event leading to such glorious 
 ** consequences as these, would not give them the 
 " most heartfelt joy, must have read but few of 
 ** the pages of their journal, or profited but little 
 " by what he has read.** 
 
 There are doctrines advanced and ably sup- 
 ported in earlier Publications of the Edinburgh 
 Keview which have no resemblance to the prin- 
 ciples here detailed. Those who have read their 
 former political treatises and profited by what they 
 read, will be astonished at the apparent inconsis- 
 tency of sentiment, which now expresses heartfelt 
 joy at that prospect of revolution, from which in 
 J 807, those same reviewers anticipated little, "but 
 " general degradation and misery ; and stepped 
 " beyond the limits of their duty to express their 
 " horror at the suggestion, and to contribute their 
 " aid to rouse and to undeceive those who may 
 *' have been misled by different anticip^ition." * 
 An attempt will be made in the course of these 
 pages, to exhibit "some instances of what has 
 " certainly appeared as a most glaring and out- 
 " rageous contradiction ;"♦ and what is of far more 
 * 10 Edin. Rev. 421. Rnwiw of Cobbett.
 
 41. 
 
 importance to inquire whether the effects of the 
 new doctrines of the Review " are likely to h^ 
 " pernicious or salutary, to detect what is dele-j 
 /«« terious in the nostrum that is just handing out 
 ** among the multitude, and to exhibit an antidote 
 "to the poison of which the doses are at this 
 « moment making op." * 
 
 While they maintained any character for loyalty, 
 and confined themselves to that censure of thg 
 operations of government, which in a free country 
 must always be tolerated, though it was much la- 
 mented that their discussions of public questions 
 contained little justice or moderation, yet the 
 effect of them was not greatly dreaded : though 
 their argument was neither sound nor generous, 
 yet its fundamental principles were not plainly 
 adverse to the constitution of the country: though 
 they wandered far in the licentiousness of political 
 debate, and censured the measures of ministers 
 without civility or reserve, yet they abstained from 
 an open denial of the rights of the established 
 government, and were not argumentatively opposed 
 to the principles of the English Monarchy, or o£ 
 English Liberty. Happily they have cast aside 
 the veil which obscured the mysterious secrets of 
 their doctrine. They imagin«d that the Spanish 
 cause was revolutionary, and that its principles 
 were adopted by the English nation ; as if touched 
 by the spear of Ithuriel ; " up they start discover- 
 ed ; " they abandon the reptile form of conceal- 
 ment, in which they whispered seductive casuistry 
 to our disordered fancy, and in the terrific magni- 
 tude of their natural form, like the first apostate, 
 they disclose their whole design and treachery ; 
 - with haughty disdain they revile and censure the 
 
 • Review of Cobbett. 
 
 G
 
 42 
 
 superior powers which hitherto they had feared ; 
 they appear the bold assertors of revolutionary 
 freedom ; they offer their public homage to the 
 principles of the French Rebellion, and to the 
 principles which they falsely impute to the Spanish 
 Insurrection ; in uniequivocal language they fer- 
 vently pray for the success of the people against 
 their rulers ; their rhapsody of declamation they 
 lipply to the constitution of England ; they pro- 
 claim themselves of that party which is for reducing 
 the influence of the crown, for curbing the pre- 
 tensions of the nobles, and for establishing the 
 philosophic rule of the mass of the community 
 under the guidance of an aristocracy of talents. 
 It is happy that they gallantly stand forth in de- 
 clared hostility to the existing powers of the state ; 
 and that all pretence of admonitory censure and 
 
 deceitful counsel is laid aside : 
 t 
 
 " An open foe may prove a curse, 
 *' But a pretended friend is worse." 
 
 J5ND OP PART I.
 
 ^3, 
 THE 
 
 RIGHTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 A HE Edinburgh Reviewers*^ would extravagantly 
 " rejoice in any conceivable event which should 
 *' raise up the power of talents and worth, the true 
 ** nobility of a country, and exalt the mass of the 
 " community by giving them under the guidance of 
 " that virtual aristocracy to direct the councils of 
 " England." A principle similar to this prevailed in 
 France twenty years ago. It is worthy of inquiry 
 whether reason or experience will induce us to 
 sympathize with this wish of the Edinburgh Re- 
 viewers, in favour of the aristocracy of talents. 
 
 The progress of political opinion in the stated 
 of civilized Europe may be traced from its earliest 
 origin, when governments resulted from the per- 
 sonal choice of the rude warriors, in a sort of 
 partial election, to that happier period when 
 liberty was fixed in the provisions of jurisprudence, 
 and power was rendered sacred and independent 
 by the authority of law. Under the fostering care 
 of a learned and opulent superstition, science had 
 escaped from the rigourous bondage of the darker 
 ages, and was majestically seated in the seminaries 
 ■ of education. Her pupils, honorably endowed by
 
 44 
 
 the munificence of pious and liberal founders, wei'e 
 no longer solicitous of the dole of private bounty, 
 and pursued their useful labours in academic tran- 
 ' quillity and unassuming independence. From that 
 dignified retirement, they were called to accom- 
 plish the plans of enlightened monarchs, and to 
 ameliorate the condition of mankind, by a wise 
 and temperate application of the principles of 
 practical legislation to the fundamental ordinances 
 of the state. 
 
 Favoured and honorably employed by the 
 prince^ whom they served, and revered by the 
 great mass of the community, whose duties they 
 illustrated, and whose interests they promoted, 
 these eminent personages, as law-givers, as magis- 
 trates, as divines, and as statesmen, in the unre- 
 strained exercise of their distinguished functions, 
 developed a great system of social philosophy, 
 which undoubtedly gave a peculiar character to 
 the ages in which they flourished. Into their 
 hands the proudest monarchs yielded the rod of 
 despotic power, and arbitrary kings submitting to 
 their restraints^ renounced the rights of conquest, 
 claimed abetter title than that of military prowess, 
 jmd became the legal sovereigns of the nations 
 which they ruled. Europe was for ever saved 
 from that uncontrouled imperial sway, under 
 which the Roman world had lain in subjection ; 
 much less danger was there of that feeble, sump- 
 tuous, and licentious effeminacy of royalty by 
 which the eastern nations have been degraded in 
 ^almost every age. By the influence of example 
 ftod preceptive counsel, and by that persuasive 
 authority which subdues the heart while it libe- 
 rates and refines the manners of a savage race, 
 tjjey persuaded subjects that submission to the 
 fews is not concession to force, but a civil 
 
 1
 
 4i 
 
 obligation, and a principle of generous loyalty* 
 The exercise of magistracy through their nunis- 
 tration was no longer sustained by the display of 
 warlike array, but was secured by the inoffensive 
 symbols of public justice. Obedience to benefi- 
 cent authority was the result of virtuous principle 
 and enlightened choice, and was entirely unmixed 
 with that slavish terror, which tyrants only would 
 inspire, and to which ignorance and vice only can 
 submit. 
 
 The names of those illustrious sages, although 
 they are not found in the temple of motlern 
 reason, nor in the margins of our books of the 
 modern philosophy, are yet not wholly forgotten 
 in the present great uproar of the world. Thes 
 founders of that raging anarchy which has dis- 
 solved the ancient ties of society, and wt^kene<l 
 the respect which the nations were accustomed tti 
 pay to- Bacon and to More, to Grotius and ta 
 Puffendorf, to L'Hopital, to D'Argensseau, and 
 to Pothier, and to the rest of the venerable series* 
 which it would be tedious to enumerate, have not 
 acquired a countervailing influence and authority, 
 so universally predominant, but that there are those" 
 in every country, and many in the British Empire^ 
 who will yet render homage to their venerable 
 names, and will defend the institutions vi^hich they 
 established and adorned. 
 
 The maxim which was the deepest root of their 
 philosophy, was that of practical improvement- 
 They proceeded upon no system of experimental 
 speculation, nor ever conceived an imaginary cal- 
 culation of political advantages, balanced against 
 moral evils, to justify counsel not immediately 
 beneficial. Where any people vv^as found in the re- 
 straint of a barbarous bondage, they invented laws 
 to coerce the tyrannizing power. Where th«
 
 4« 
 
 arm of magistracy Was too weak to restrain the 
 licentiousness of crime, or to call forth the na- 
 tional energies in the time of peril, there they 
 strengthened it by new prerogative. All abstract 
 principle they avoided. The uniform tenor of 
 their writings and their unvaried practice prove, 
 beyond controversy, what was their opinion of 
 such discussions ; notorious grievances they ex- 
 posed and ultimately redressed; actual abuses they 
 censured and gradually remedied ; not by violent 
 innovation and subversion of subsisting institu- 
 tions, but by bending the form of the established 
 power to meet the new necessity. That power, 
 whatever it was, they made the basis of good 
 government; they supplied its defects, if any ap- 
 peared, by novel applications of acknowledged 
 principles ; they corrected its excesses, whatever 
 they were, by the authority of some undoubted 
 provision of the original constitution, which they 
 extended and defined to meet every novel exi- 
 gency. Thus were all the crude and savage re- 
 gulations of the primitive barbarians, who founded 
 the European Commonwealth, converted into 
 mild and beneficent institutions, in which the 
 supremacy of the laws was paramount to all privi- 
 lege, and the good of the community was the great 
 purpose of government. 
 
 Society itself they considered as a natural insti- 
 tution, arising out of the primitive character of 
 mankind, necessary to their tranquillity and safety, 
 and ordained by that same providence which gave 
 to the human race its intellectual dignity, witl^ 
 that sense of duty, universal love, and mutual 
 obligation, which displays itself at the earliest 
 dawn of reason. They did not consider jnan ear 
 sent into life for that dreary and precarious exist- 
 ence which lifts been imagined to precede th©
 
 47 
 
 Institutions of civil government. The rade savag'4e 
 ivho subsists by his individual strength, destitute 
 of knowledge and intellectual power, timid, 
 ifepeechless, naked, and abandoned, a slave to the 
 caprices of the seasons, the sport and prey of the 
 beasts, which, like him, roam for slaughter, and 
 are stronger though not more ferocious than 
 himself;- such a poor miserable, ignorant, inca- 
 pable, forlorn, and hopeless wretch, they never 
 thought fit to idolize as the founder of social phi- 
 losophy, and the author of legal obligation ; they 
 pever taught that their magnificent and humane 
 institutions of national polity were established in 
 the imaginary absurd convention of beings so base 
 and comfortless as he ; nor did they recognize 
 in that extreme brutality and weakness, those 
 natural rights of man which are proper to be the 
 foundation of civil liberty.* 
 
 Therefore they adopted as a principle, that so- 
 ciety was not a civil institution; but that, combined 
 by some sort of jurisprudence under some form of 
 government, it was coeval with the reason of 
 mankind. They did not acknowledge that any 
 possibility of right, or any pretension to power, 
 could be derived in the social state, from that 
 condition of savage independence, which licentious 
 
 *The learned reader will recollect an eloquent passage of 
 PufFendorf, illustrative of the condition of savage man. lib 1, 
 c. 3. *' FinganQUs hominem, citra omnem ab aliis hominlbu* 
 accedentem curam et culturam, ad robustam aetatem provec- 
 tum, cui nihil sit scientiae, nisi quod ex proprio ingenio velut 
 ultro pullulavit,eundemque ab omni aliorum ope atqiieconsortio 
 in solitudine destitutum. Sane vix roiserabilius animal deprehen- 
 detur. Elingue nimirum, ac nudum, cui nihil aliud relictum 
 ^uara herbas radicesque vellera aut sponte natos fructus legere, 
 sitira fonte, flumine aut lacuna obvia levare, repellendis aeris 
 injuriis antra subire, aut niusco gramineve corpus utcunqu© 
 tegere, tempus taediosissimum per otium exigere, ad quemvis 
 strepitum aut alterius animantiS Qccursnm exhorrescere, denique 
 iacie^ frigore, •^«^ ger feram bestiana demur*-* fif^-'-rs,"
 
 48 
 
 imapnation has pourtrayed as existing antece- 
 dently to the social union. The compact which 
 prescribes the privileges and the duties of all thcs 
 orders in a natiorial confederation, they considered 
 9S formed in the social state, and not as prior to 
 its constitution ; and they never conceived that 
 any interpretation of that compact or any assump- 
 tion of fights anterior to its establishment, and 
 independent of its provisions, could release the 
 civilized man from its obligations or deprive him 
 of its protection, like "the unaccommodated man, 
 *' which* is no more than a poor, bareforked ani- 
 f mal." 
 
 The social compact was a law and a bond of 
 union, to ascertain and confirm the powers and 
 prerogatives of the different orders, to ensure their 
 respective advantages, to enforce their reciprocal 
 duties, and to hold them in mutual dependance. 
 To every order and individual it assigned its pecu- 
 liar function, with responsibility to the law, and 
 without any right to violate and to destroy the 
 function and privilege of any other order or indi- 
 vidual. Every community of men is, a great 
 complex corporation, in which the supreme head 
 exercises his superior function under the ascer- 
 tained provisions of the social code, with royal 
 dignity and independence, and he is bound to 
 discharge the duties attached to his pre-eminence 
 and power; every individual in his subordinate 
 class has also his peculiar function, to be exer- 
 tised in the exigences of the state, with corres- 
 ponding privileges which are sacred in the law, 
 and with duties which are essential to the well- 
 being of the comironwealth. 
 
 In their social economy, every degree was inte- 
 gral and independent, from the monarch whose 
 power and irresponsibility were the consummation
 
 4g 
 
 of the complicated structure, to the hardy pea- 
 santry, whose lowliness was not despised in their 
 regard to pubhc happiness. Neither the monarcli 
 in his higti elevation, nor the superior orders in 
 their dignity and privilege, far less the mass of 
 the peasantry, and the multitude, had any judicial 
 function over the other constituted authorities, 
 either for inquiry, chastisement, or correction. 
 The penalties of jurisprudence are devised for 
 personal offenders, and its process can only be 
 directed against those who may be obnoxious to 
 censure and to punishment ; but the orders of the 
 state acknowledge no tribunal competent to cite 
 them to judgment, or to visit their malefactions in 
 vengeance, or for example. The lower alass i$ 
 least of all endowed with such a power, although 
 it possesses the largest portion of brute force, and 
 is exceedingly numerous; because it is destitute 
 of temperance and prudence, and is naturally dis- 
 abled from exercising any constitutional function, 
 except by agency and delegation. In their esti- 
 mate of national rights, the usurpation of the 
 prince, the insolence of presumptuous nobles, and 
 the restless violence of an insurgent commonalty, 
 were alike unlawful. 
 
 But their notions of public law had respect to 
 the vicissitudes of temporal affairs, and to that 
 frailty of our mortal nature which will contaminate 
 the most provident institutions of human policy. 
 Therefore they assignee! to all the orders of the 
 state, combined in legislative action, a power to 
 make such changes of law as the exigencies of 
 affairs might require ; and they did not withhold 
 from the sound and uncorrupted members of 
 the commonwealth^ acting in legislative union, 
 the power of supplying for them.selves a lawful 
 chief, if by manifest transgression of the funda- 
 
 H ' ' ..■ ■ <• , ^
 
 50 
 
 mental laws, or by unquestioned abdication, there 
 should be a suspension of the supreme authority. 
 The weak and demolished parts of the social fabric 
 were at all times to be strengthened and restored ; 
 the folly or the crime of the presiding functionary 
 was not to loosen the bond of society, nor to 
 liberate men from all wholesome restraint to 
 roam in anarchy till they might again be bound 
 by legal obligation, or coalesce in orderly arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 A sublimer branch of their philosophy held, that 
 all communities of men are bound by a law supe- 
 rior to any social obligation, whether it be pre- 
 scribed by the authority of paramount legislation, 
 or result from implied convention. They consi- 
 dered that as in private life, no caprice of passion, no 
 prospect of enjohiment, and no excess of resent- 
 ment palliates a breach of the national law, so in 
 the public relations, no certainty of immediate, 
 far less a probability of contingent benefits can 
 justify any member of the commonwealth in a vio- 
 lation of that universal law, which, for the good of 
 mankind, has ordained the inviolable sanctity of 
 constituted authority. Tliat law of our nature 
 may be traced to a divine original, if there be any 
 principle which can be deduced from that sacred 
 source. It is a rule applicable to all the relations 
 of peace and war. It ordains that truth and jus- 
 tice shall direct us in every domestic and public 
 transaction ; tiiat obedience and respect are a tri- 
 bute due to those who exercise the powers of go- 
 vernment ; and that treachery, violence, and mas- 
 sacre are not less atrocious, as the measures of a 
 powerful community in resistance to authority, 
 than as the acts of lauless individuals. 
 'These illustrious men were the companions and 
 counsellors of princes, and the preceptors of their
 
 51 
 
 people. The J flourished under that patronage 
 which was not yet extended to the sciolist and 
 logician. Their deep erudition and practical 
 philosophy, tending to the improvement and in- 
 struction of mankind, procured for them active and 
 honorable duty, for which they would have been 
 less qualified by an ostentatious talent for specula- 
 tion and declaiming. They were placed high in 
 rank and function; not for qualities of imagination 
 and moral experiment, but for those of a vigorous, 
 sound, and upright understanding ; capable of sus- 
 taining and adding new props to the fabric of the 
 laws, and of strengthening the foundations of hap- 
 piness and order upon which that fabric rests. 
 
 There was no splendor of station and no species 
 of poyver to which these men bowed in servile ho- 
 mage. If they were required, by an usurping 
 master, to acknowledge an unlawful title of domi- 
 ' nation, like More they would suffer on the scaf- 
 fold, rather than be the slaves of the proud tyrant. 
 If a lawless multitude exacted from them a more 
 degraded adulation, like De Witte they would sub- 
 mit to the same fate, and calmly expire amid the 
 insolent revilings of an outrageous^ sanguinary 
 mob. 
 
 The diffusion of literature, and the facility of ac- 
 quiring a superficial knowledge of philosophy, the 
 gradual refinement of the modern languages, and 
 the wide extension of corrupted taste among all 
 classes, though they may have been productive of 
 some advantages, which it would be absurd to deny, 
 or to lament, have not been of pure and unmixed 
 benefit to mankind. The ancient languages have 
 become rather the ornamental appendage of polite- ^ 
 education than the foundation of solid and exten- 
 sive learning. So great has been the change, that
 
 32 
 
 cvevi in the superior classes, it is rare to meet with 
 any one who has attempted even to peruse the 
 writings of those great masters of knowledge, 
 whose elaborate works are poorly supplied by the 
 more elegant productions of this enlightened age. 
 A flippant and unsubstantial literature is preferred 
 to deep and useful science. This revolution of 
 taste had begun before the conclusion of the seven- 
 teenth century, when, with the dogmatism of re- 
 ligious contest, and the pedantry of scholastic 
 learning, science, morality, and religion, were 
 likewise excluded from the circles of fashion which 
 moved round the mistresses of the courts of Lon- 
 don and Versailles. Imagination, licentiousness, 
 and wit, were then permitted to exercise a marked 
 controul in the councils of nations. 
 
 At that time was founded the republic of letters, 
 in which all the dignity of rank and fortune was 
 made subservient to the distinctions of authorship 
 and poetry. Unfading laurels were tendered 
 without the hazard of noble cnterprize, or the 
 labor of great acquirement, to such princes as would 
 acknowledge that republic. Its favor was solicited 
 by warriors, by magistrates, and by all ranks of 
 people ; and children were taught to hold the re- 
 compence of fame which they bestowed, in higher 
 estimation than the political recompencc which 
 statesmen could confer. But not from princes 
 alone did the members of that wide institution 
 exact their suit and homage. The rewards of 
 princes might be resumed at pleasure, and were 
 ehjoyed by a precarious and dependant tenure. 
 They invented a more honorable, secure, and pro- 
 fitable vassalage, and conceived the idea of a new 
 sovereignty to become triumphant by the warfare 
 of political reformers, and to be administered by 
 <* an aristocracy of talents."
 
 53 
 
 Ambition is an innate quality of the human 
 mind. .There is no station so low, and no under- 
 standing so'tibased, as not to be sometimes actua- 
 ted by the love of personal consideration and the 
 desire of power. The scholar, in his privacy, toils 
 for popularity and fame. Much more ardent is the 
 thirst of preeminence which impels the loquaci* 
 ous theorist and speculator ; he lives but for the 
 applause of those whom his doctrines have se- 
 duced ; he is jealous of the honor which he sees 
 conferred upon talents of which he thinks con- 
 temptuously, more useful though lessglittering than 
 his own ; he despises the precedence which the 
 wisdom of our ancestry confirmed to fortune and 
 factitious rank : in the riot of his imagination he 
 conceives himself qualified to wield the sceptre of 
 dominion, and to direct the affairs of nations. 
 
 It was an early effort of the literary crew to cast 
 into contempt whatever was most venerable for 
 antiquity of institution or permanence of esta- 
 blishment. The frailties of princes, the profligacy 
 of courtiers, the errors of ministers, and all the 
 abuses, which are unhappily inseparable from 
 power, however constituted, they made the perpe- 
 tual theme of sarcastic observation, and studiously 
 obscured the uses and the benefits which are de- 
 rived from regular government. They obtruded 
 upon the view whatever was offensive and impure, 
 and concealed whatever was noble, moral, or or- 
 namental. The safety of the monarch is endan- 
 gered when he stands exposed to the public eye 
 deprived of those robes of honor with which he 
 was wisely invested to hide the weakness and de- 
 fects of personal character. Those robes they de- 
 filed, and indignantly tore away to shew the vulgar, 
 that like them, he was mortal and imperfect. And
 
 54 
 
 not from the sovereign alone did they strip the 
 decent garniture of office; hut the nobility, the 
 priesthood, the magistracy, whatever was reve- 
 rend, or of public service, they exposed in its natu- 
 ral frailty and nakedness, to be the scorn and ri- 
 dicule of the pampered multitude. Every thing 
 they reduced to the level of debased humanity, and 
 exulted in the comparison of their own vain supe- 
 riority to the powers which they degraded, and the 
 dignities which they reviled. 
 
 History has created her tribunal to judge the 
 actions and designs of princes without respect to 
 their dignity of station, or to the brilliancy of their 
 power. It is for the happiness of mankind that 
 the tyrant, whose throne is surrounded by the vic- 
 tims of unbounded ambition, or whose empire is 
 raised on the ruins of subjugated states, cannot 
 Ipng exult in that fallacious glory which his para- 
 sites and the companions of his guilt extol. In 
 the records of the historic page, his crimes will be 
 faithfully ejjumerated ; and he will not be permitted 
 to claim that respect which is due only to virtue 
 and beneficence ; nor shall his name be enrolled 
 among the benefactors of mankind. The judg- 
 ment of history will be impartial, unsolicited by fac- 
 tion and conspiracy, and unbiassed by the faceti- 
 ousness of humour or the treacherous illusions of 
 interested eloquence. Such judgment cannot pass 
 upon the living monarch. His own subjects are 
 incapable of the'necessary inquiry; because the re- 
 spect which is due to his power and prerogative 
 will not allow them to entertain the accusation; 
 and the safety of society will not tolerate a jurisdic- 
 tion before which the necessary evidence could be 
 aduced and indifferently weighed. A claim to such 
 jurisdiction will be always an instrument of treason, 
 or the excuse of prejudiced disaffection. Mucii
 
 55 ' 
 
 less to be tolerated is that unspecific accusation in 
 which conspirators alone can indulge, though it 
 is issued from the press in the form of critical re>- 
 search or periodical political observation. 
 
 If all governments were annihilated, and 
 men were liberated from the coercion of human 
 justice, to obey the impulses of passion, and to 
 gratify the lusts of corrupted nature ; yet if the re- 
 verence of almighty power, which most effectnallv 
 controuls the wandering of desire and the excess 
 of appetite, should not be obliterated from the mind, 
 if the fear of future judgment should interposexto 
 stay the hand of guilt, or if the restraints of mo- 
 rality should remain to correct the tumultuous 
 principles of selfish independence ; men would 
 soon be weary of savage liberty, and would revert to 
 som*j form of jurisprudence for their mutual safety 
 and correction. The original founders of revolu- 
 tion perceived, that while the dread of a superiqr 
 providence, or a belief in immortality, or a sense of 
 moral obligation should influence society, so long 
 the authority of human laws (which seems to be 
 reduced from a nobler origin than human wisdom) 
 would be respected by mankind. Their earliest 
 attack therefore was against religion. They first 
 assailed the christian revelation by serious argu- 
 ment and sarcastic ridicule. Then in treatises of 
 deep philosophy they disputed and denied a crea- 
 tive power, attempted to prove the eternity of the 
 universe, and attributjed the harmony of the natural 
 world, without any acknovvledgffientofthegoodness 
 and intelligence of a presiding deity, to the laws of 
 mechanism and the necessary qualities of matter. 
 Then they decried the established maxims of 
 morality, and contended that all our social obliga- 
 tions are founded in general convention and in 
 long experience of fitness and utility : lastly, they'
 
 56 
 
 removed the only remaining principle of moral 
 science, b)' casting into doubt, and disowning the 
 immaterial existence of the soul, and that prospect 
 of future retribution which is the only consolation 
 of afflicted virtue, and the only terror of triumph- 
 ant guilt. By this vast project of atheism and im- 
 morality to which they devoted the flights of 
 genius, the speculations of science, the poignancy 
 of sutire, and the cunning ingenuity of reasoning, 
 they hoped to invalidate the solid foundations of 
 the social structure, and to prepare the minds of 
 men for that influence of talent by which they 
 hoped to be raised above the competition of power 
 and the authority of religion. 
 
 The foundations of reverence and attachment 
 being thus withdrawn from lawful government, 
 they promulgated a new principle the most seduc- 
 tive that was ever tendered to a corrupted people. 
 It was the doctrine of the rights of man, by which 
 every subsisting establishment was reprobated as a 
 flagrant usurpation, and the title of sovereignty 
 was vested unalienably in the great mass of the 
 people numerically taken. They asserted that all 
 power is derived from that mass, that a majority 
 might delegate and resume it at pleasure, and that 
 no law or ordinance whatever can bind that ma- 
 jority. This principle invented by philosophers, 
 who pretended to be lovers of concord, whose tears 
 would flow at the carnage of war, and who bewail- 
 ed the miseries of mankind with bitter lamentation, 
 who professed to be destitute of all selfishsess, 
 meek, merciful, and unassuming, was edited as an 
 integral maxim of the social compact, and it was 
 instantly echoed in every country, as with the hun- 
 dred voices of the Cumoean prophetess. Then 
 Was the commencement of revolution. Then the 
 thrones of kin^ tottered upon their base.. Then
 
 57 
 
 imight have been predicted the subsequent events 
 cf that process of insurrection, the course of which 
 -cannot yet be limited. To tUit malignant houi: 
 \ve may attribute the calamities which Europe has 
 endured, and the triumph of that prodigious ty- 
 ranny which threatens the civilized world. 
 
 This captivating dogma was proffered at a period 
 when the popular nvind was free from immediat« 
 interest and admirably prepared for its reception* 
 The controversies of the reformation had ceased 
 to occupy its attention. On one side the spirit of 
 religious persecution was extinct ; on the other an 
 indifference to the truth bad succeeded to sectat 
 rean zeal. Hie perfect settlement of the balance 
 of power, and the tranquil disposition of the greater 
 monarchies, had allayed the heat of national rivals 
 ship. The progress of commercial opuknce, and 
 the g"cneral -prosperity of Europe, had created a new 
 class of men desirous of political consideration, 
 who were certainly too little favored in the strict 
 establishments of the continent. That pro^erity> 
 and the example of the great, at the same time, af- 
 forded the pernicious means of luxury, and created 
 a general taste /or pleasure «nd dissipation. A re^ 
 laxation of manners which removed all reproach 
 from profligacy and vice, had ensued. The urba* 
 nity of polished life had introduced a spirit of equa*- 
 iity which lowered tl\e barriers of social distinction 
 without making them less odious to those who 
 wished to overleap them. Morality had long 
 been without honor in the circles of rank, and 
 fashion ; the obscene works of fancy^ and the fal- 
 lacious discussions of impure philosophy, which 
 the men of letters carefully threw into common 
 circulation, had contaminated the mass of society. 
 The hateful demon of infidelity was no longer 
 chained in a gloomy obscurity, or njarked with de>> 
 
 I
 
 58 
 
 testation when he dared to obtrude himself upon 
 public notice. He now appeared, smiling and fa- 
 cetious, in gay attire, and with gaudy ornament ; 
 he was caressed by princes and flattered at their 
 courts ; and was entertained with no less favor in 
 the subordinate walks of life. Whoever was emu- 
 lous of distinction for politeness, humour, con- 
 tempt of prejudice, and liberality of sentiment, and 
 above all, those who panted for literary reputation, 
 were anxious to scoff at that which the virtuous 
 and the wise adore, and to proclaim their predilec- 
 tion for the novel system which disowned rerela- 
 tion, and questioned the being of a God, 
 
 It was in alikeconjunctureof affairs, and in a like 
 temper of public mind, that an attempt at si- 
 milar revolution was made for the destruction of 
 the Roman commonwealth. The historian who 
 related the object and the circumstances of that 
 conspiracy, has detailed a corresponding laxity of 
 morals and prevalence of impiety. To a nation 
 sunk in profligacy, luxury, and disaffection, Cati- 
 line proclaimed the anti-social levelling principle. 
 *' Omnes quos fiagitium, egestas, conscius ani- 
 ** mus agitabat, hi Catilinae proximi familiaresque 
 " erant." To them the Roman jacobin promised a 
 reward not different from that which has more fa- 
 tally seduced the nations in this latter age. *' Quin 
 *' igitur expergiscemini ? En ilia, ilia, quam siepe 
 *' opt&stis, libertas : praeterea divitiae, decus, gloria 
 *' in oculis sita sunt : fortuna ea omnia victoribus 
 -•' proemia posuit. Res, tempus, pericula, egestas, 
 " belli spolia magnifica,magis quam oratio mea, vos 
 " hortentur." 
 
 Had it not been that a great statesman, then 
 charged with the destinies of the Roman work!, 
 foresaw and estimated the perils of that sedition, 
 the crimes and calamities of tlig present day might
 
 59 
 
 not have been without example. His provident 
 and capacious mind detected the danger and pre- 
 pared the remedy. His undaunted virtue over- 
 awed those corrupted senators who were friendly 
 to the principles of the insurrection, and presumed 
 to ridicule his apprehensions. His firmness and 
 perseverance were a terror to the public enemy, 
 and eventually vanquished all resistance ; to him 
 his grateful country was indebted that she was not 
 overwhelmed by treason and democratic faction at 
 that awful crisis. 
 
 But during a whole century, Europe produced 
 no such statesman, to ascertain a peril far more 
 evident, and beyond calculation more tremendous. 
 There TKere indeed a few private, powerless charac- 
 ters, ^ose, sagacity perceived the approaching 
 conflict^ but they, like the Trojan prophetess, were 
 inspired in vain. 
 
 •"" " Tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra fiituris 
 " Ora, Dei jussu non unquam credita Teucris." 
 
 But there was not one sovereign in Europe with, 
 prudence to observe the gathering tempest, and 
 with courage to provide against its fury. Posterity 
 shall be perplexed with fearful astonishment, to 
 know that kings were the pupils and the nursing 
 patrons of those philosophers who since have 
 hurled them from their thrones. They shall hear 
 with alarm that the jargon of equality, and the 
 rights of man, disguised in song and folly, and 
 passing by the names of philanthropy and free- 
 dom of opinion, was an exercise of elocution 
 among the descendants of the hardy warriors who 
 purchased their honorable distinction by virtue and 
 by valour. They shall learn with surprize and in- 
 dignation, that ministers of state, grave counsellors, 
 and magistrates bearing the sword of justice, were 
 content to be eulogized by th^se crafty preachers
 
 6o 
 
 ©f sedition whom they ought to have snppre5!iedf 
 and punished. The virtue of one individual saved" 
 Rome ffom impending ruin. Unhappv Europe 
 shaU attribute her downfal to the pusillanimity, 
 the blindness, and the treachery of those who, en- 
 trusted with her safety, mighthave detected the con- 
 spirators in preparing that vast mine which burst 
 at last with a ruinous and irresistible explosion. 
 
 The rebellion against the king of France was 
 triumphant, and the rights of the people brougiit 
 into actual exercise, by the mm of letters and phi- 
 losophers; by those successful rebels who establish- 
 ed " une constitution qui a eu la perHdie d'exclure 
 du premier rang Kintrigiie et Topulence, pour y 
 placer deux divinites long temps obscures, /e talent 
 €t la vertu^* And then under the immediate guid- 
 Jince of the aristocracy of talents was practically 
 promulgatedyin aid of the political dogma, a moral 
 doctrine, without which the project of the revolu- 
 tion might have failed. The necessity of the case 
 occasioned the horrid monstrous conception. Like 
 the portentous progeny of the arch-riend, it was 
 the natural generation of that philosophy which 
 was then active in bold conspiracy. 
 
 " Likest to thee in shape and coont'nnnte bright^ 
 ♦* Thea shining heav'nly fair, a goddess arm d 
 *'^.CX»t of thy head I sprung ; ann;izement send 
 '* All th' host of heav'n — Back they recoil' d, airaid 
 " At first, and call'd rate Sin. " ^ 
 
 _ The doctrine alluded to is a fundamental principle 
 of jacobinism. It has been variously described by 
 those who were unacquainted with its nature, and 
 Ijy those who wished to^ conceal its innate horror 
 
 * Mercure Hist, et Pol : Octobre 1791. Pastoret, dans \a 
 Seance de lAssemblee Nat. 25 Octobre. The whole assembly 
 despised the pretensions of wealth and hereditary distinction, 
 a|id pretended to associate in their £llthy idolatry " the poucr* 
 **' of talents and worth,"
 
 ^1 
 
 and deformity by wilful misrepresentation ; biit 
 the essential nnaxim, without any complexity of 
 phrase, is that " it is lawful to pursue a political 
 " advantage by means of actual crime." 
 
 This doctrine was not confined to that certainty 
 of beneficial result which, in practice, will too often 
 mislead the judgment of the sincerest lovers q£ 
 truth and virtue. In ordinary cases, we are too 
 apt to think it not unlawful to do a little evil that 
 great and certain good may come of it ; a far more 
 fatal error was that proclaimed and carried into 
 complete effect by the moralists of France. They 
 were satisfied to do the greatest positive evil for 
 an end considered good only by themselves, and 
 deprecated by virtuous minds; and even that end 
 not to be certainly attained, but only restii^ in- 
 probable and even distant contingency. By these 
 means the private and the public judgment was 
 liberated from rule and precedent, and raised to a 
 function of conclusively determining the nature and 
 result of its own decisions. That deteria^iination 
 might be made in the heat of vengeance, the de- 
 ception of error, the thirst of emolument, the per- 
 version of selfishness, or under the iniluenc6 of 
 any other passion which convulses the mind of 
 darkens the understanding. The intention and 
 the motive of any action being an end of great 
 contingent advantasje, that was abundantly suffi- 
 cient, and whatever apparent or necessary evil 
 might be involved in its natural or immediate con- 
 sequences, it w^as adjudged to be lawful and mwi- 
 / torious. 
 
 In the political convulsions of preceding ages, 
 whether the struggle was on a question of succes- 
 sion, or for the establishment of one form of go- 
 xnernment in preference to another ; a revolution 
 being eftectuated, or a rebellion being terminated.
 
 62 
 
 there was an end to the rancour and evil tendency 
 of such contention. Whatever crimes had been 
 perpetrated in the course of civil warfare, the brazen 
 tablets of the moral code were left by both parties 
 unmutilated and unimpaired. Respect to religi- 
 ous principle was invariably kept inviolate. The 
 fury of the storm having subsided, the usual tran- 
 quillity of nature was restored ; and in that tran- 
 quillity the gentle affections of the heart and the 
 amiable restraints of monil discipline were resumed 
 by a people whom the calamities of domestic dis- 
 cord had not corrupted. 
 
 But it was otherwise of necessity in the proceed- 
 ings of the French revolution. The torrent was 
 impetuous, and became deeper and more tempes- 
 tuous in its destructive course; but it has never 
 deviated from its own peculiar law: it has dis- 
 played no phenomenon of nature, except that of its 
 original existence. A revolution begun by an im- 
 mense population united in the same pernicious 
 sentiment, unfettered and uncontrouled, endued 
 with sovereign authority, liberated from all re- 
 straint of justice and compunction, taught that 
 crimes were the lawful implements of its power, 
 and that no institution, civil or religious, was inde- 
 pendent of its will, organized by law in permanent 
 insurrection; such a revolution naturally proceeded 
 in the manner which history relates. After the 
 first usurpation of the aristocracy of talents, it was 
 natural that the people should be capricious in loy- 
 alty to their original literary leaders. Ambition 
 not being confined to the compilers of dictionaries 
 of science and literary journals, of philosophical 
 treatises and of moral disquisitions, it was natural 
 that another set of men who had still greater fa- 
 cilJticB of obtaining popular support, should suc- 
 ceed to the power and influence of that aristocracy.
 
 63 
 
 It was natural that the publishers of iiewspapers 
 and of weekly registers, the fabricators of calumny 
 and falshood in the shape of useful intelligence, 
 the calculators of almanacs, the writers of pam- 
 phlets, the orators of debating clubs, the managers 
 of petty parochial litigation, the sturdy defenders 
 of opinion at ale houses, and in the public squares, 
 and all the presumptuous intriguing candidates for 
 low municipal function, should in due time assert 
 their claim to the succession of the sovereignty; 
 and that the multitude, more assiduously courted 
 by these latter demagogues, with whom they could 
 fraternize in more perfect assimilation, should 
 withdraw their favor from the great original aris- 
 tocracy. 
 
 The literary faction was finally triumphant in 
 France on the ever-memorable days of the tenth 
 of August and the second of September, 1792. 
 They could not tolerate the name of royalty, though, 
 the whole power of the state was vested in their 
 hands as the leaders of a factious democratic natio- 
 nal assembly, while the civic crown rested without 
 independent function or respect on the brow of a 
 .patient unresisting prince, whose injuries proceeded 
 ■from the submissive mildness and the beneficence 
 of his heart, and whose virtues will be recorded 
 among the misfortunes of this disastrous age. 
 
 The early and incurable faijlt of that monarch, 
 a quality at first commended with high eulogium, 
 and afterwards discredited by an ungrateful people, 
 was a confidence in the "professions of the men 
 of letters and philosophers, with a great desire to 
 Ameliorate the condition of his subjects, upon their 
 principles of reformation rather than by the exer- 
 cise of his legitimate hereditary prerogative.— 
 Thence it was that the first measures of his go- 
 vernment were the pardon and recal of the Due de
 
 Clu)i&eul and the factious members of the parlia*. 
 ment, whom his predecessor had punished with 
 cjtile for 6rst pronuilging, in bold remonstrance, 
 the doctrines of the rights of man and of resistance 
 to authority. The storm of rebellion would have 
 been raised by those men but for the firm loyalty 
 of the chancellor Maupeou ; by whose counsel 
 Louis XV. had adopted measures of rigour and as- 
 serted the rights of his crown. 
 
 The youthful sovereign was not guided by the 
 eagc precepts left for his instruction by his father 
 the Dauphin, who met with premature death in 
 J 7 65. That enlightened prince,at that early period, 
 had ascertained the principles of the philosophers, 
 and the dangers which their influence occasioned. 
 ,** I have studied them," said he ; "I have examined 
 " their principles and their consequences. In some 
 " I have discovered a spirit of libertinism and cor- 
 <' ruption, interested in decrying that morality 
 *' whicli imposes a restraint on their eflTorts ; and 
 ** in casting doubts on the existence of a future 
 " state, the apprehension of which fills them with 
 " alarm : others, led away by the ridiculous vanity 
 ♦* of erecting a system of their own, seek, to reduce 
 " the Deity to a level with their own understand- 
 ** iug, anul to reason on his attributes and his mys- 
 *' teries, in the same manner as it is permitted to 
 *' reason on his. works. They maintain that the 
 X* throne was the work of violence, and that what 
 "^* was raised by force may by force be pulled down 
 '" and destroyed; that the people can only lend, 
 '* not cede, their authority, which they h^ve a right 
 ** to delegate and to recal, as personal interest, 
 ** thejr sole master, requires. What our passions 
 " would barely insinuate, our philosophers openly 
 *' teach ; that a prince may do whatever he can, 
 ^* and that he has discharged his duty when he has
 
 65 
 
 " Satisfied his desires; for, in truth, if this law of 
 " interest, that is to say, of the caprice of human 
 " passions, should be generally adopted, so as to 
 "cause the law of God to be forgotten, then all 
 ** ideas of justice and injustice, virtue and vice, 
 *• moral good and evil, would be effaced and anni- 
 " hilated in the human mitid ; thrones would tot- 
 " ter; subjects would become factious and intract- 
 *'able; sovereigns would lose their benevolence 
 " and humanity; the people would be always in a 
 " state of revolt or a state of oppression."* 
 
 Louis XVI. regardless of that precept, called 
 to his council the known patrons and con- 
 federates of that pernicious sect. He checked 
 the zeal of the archbishop of Paris and the clergy 
 to controul their machinations. He gave estab- 
 lishment to the principles of rebellion in America, 
 by the aid he afforded to the revolted colonies ; 
 he allowed free scope to seditious inquiry, by the 
 varions projects ot reform which he recommend- 
 ed to his assemblies of the notables ; while he pro- 
 moted the hopes and facilitated the means of con- 
 spiracy, by the confidence which he reposed in 
 Turgot, Necker, and Calonne, who were at once 
 the administrators and the betrayers of his power. 
 
 Immediately after the commencement of the 
 commotions he yielded the dignity of his crown 
 and the rights of his prerogative to the mercy of a 
 tumultuous usurping democracy. He rejected the 
 assistance of those who would have died in his 
 cause, and at the instigation of traiterous counsel- 
 lors he contributed by his proclamations to debauch 
 the fidelity of his troops. He permitted his illus- 
 trious relations and the natural supporters of his 
 authority to be vilified, robbed, degraded, and 
 
 • Vie de Dauphin's Pere de Louis XVI. par L'Abbe froyart. 
 Pages 74 et 78.
 
 65 
 
 driven into exile. He renounced the liereditary 
 title of his monarchy, and ctnisented, by a new de- 
 nomination, to accept a powerless sceptre from the 
 hands of traitors and assassins- To that execrable 
 faction acting in the name of the new phi.losophy, 
 he sacrificed his family, his clergy, his nobility, 
 his magistracy, and all orders of privilege and an- 
 tient institution. He was content to become an 
 impotent pageant of royalty, the mockery of his 
 unprincipled enemies, and the toal of irreconcile- 
 able conspirators against every species of lawful 
 authority, when he announced to all the world, by 
 a letter under his own, hand, that he had volun- 
 tarily accepted the constitution of 1 79^. 
 
 To all the subsequent commands and solicita- 
 t.ions of the inveterate foe, he was equally compli- 
 ant. He gave his assent to the declaration of war 
 against those sovereigns who allied to restore him 
 to liberty and power. To every vindictive measure 
 against the princes of his house, and the loyal emi- 
 grants who were armed in his defence, he gave the 
 sanction of his namej and linally, at the consum- 
 mation of treason in the unprovoked rebellion of 
 the tenth of August, he put himself and his fami- 
 ly in the power of the conspirators, and became a 
 prisoner of the National Assembly. 
 
 The character of Louis XVI. is sanctified by his- 
 misfortunes. His errors, alike fatal to himself and 
 to his people, were such as a generous mind will 
 not now severely censure. Incapable of deceptioa 
 or evil design, he had confided in the sincerity of 
 those who professed themselves the friends of 
 truth and virtue, and the supporters of the rights 
 and duties of mankind. His mind, endued with 
 gentleness and unbounded humanity, was incapa- 
 Ijleof that hardihood and vigour by which alone 
 h? could counteract the perils which surrounded 
 
 5
 
 67 
 
 liim. Rather than that one human being should 
 saffer in his cause, he submitted to the loss of 
 power, of reputation, and of life, and by his un- 
 wise Forbearance, inspired with courage the aspir- 
 ing propagators of that new doctrine which attacked 
 the foinidations of his government, and at last was 
 sealed by his blood. Our children, while they 
 lament the weakness of his judgment, must revere 
 the mildness., patience, fortitude, and pious resig- 
 nation with which he endured the rage of persecu- 
 tion and all his unequalled calamities. When their 
 indignant tears shall flow at the recital of his last 
 ^uflerings, they will honour him as a martyr in the 
 canr,e of order and religion, and that mercy with 
 which he forgave theguilt of his relentless murder- 
 ers, will cast into temporary oblivion whatever evil 
 effect has resulted and shall result to mankind from 
 the amiable and benignant qualities of his heart. 
 Had there been any sense of gratitude in the 
 minds of his enemies, they would not have im- 
 molated a prmce, to whose virtues they were in- 
 debted for the power which they so flagrantly 
 abused. But the spirit of jacobinism is startled 
 at no enormity of crime, and never feels remorse. 
 It was enough to excite their hatred, that Louis 
 had the title of a King, and that, by his destruc- 
 tion, they might hope to enjoy all the powers 
 -of sovereignty. They proceeded by calumny, 
 by avowed sedition, and by a massacre, of which 
 the cruelty surpasses whatever is related of sa- 
 vages in their wildest excesses, to overthrow his 
 throne, and to declare the establishment of a re- 
 public. At the first sitting of the convention, 
 royalty was for ever abolished in France, and the 
 republic, one and indivisible, was proclaimed. 
 
 Then the philosophers imagined that their 
 triumph was complete. In the legislative body, 
 ^,h£ir influence was without limit. The e?.ecy«
 
 68 
 
 tive power was wholly confided to their hands. 
 The convention was opened with an adulatory 
 harangue from Manuel, who boasted that in ad- 
 dressing that representation of the people, he 
 stood before an assembly of philosophers, whose 
 occupation it would be to labour for the welfare of 
 the world. " 11 voyoitdans la reunion des repre- 
 " sentans du peiiple, une assemblee de phiiosophes 
 " occupcs a preparer le bonheurdu tnonde."* 
 
 But the oligarchy of the men of letters disco- 
 vered too late, that a people habituated to prin- 
 ciples of insurrection will fluctuate in opinion, 
 and that their change of favor is destructive. 
 " Rerum potiri volunt. Honores quos quiet^ re- 
 " publicadesj)erant, perturbala, conaequi se posse 
 " arbitrantur." But those honors, when they had 
 attained them, could not be permanent. They wish- 
 ed to deny the affiliation of that fearful democracy 
 and its legitimate issue, the infuriated phantom 
 of jacobinism, which, like the Satanic oti'spring, 
 began to torment and threaten its natural sire, 
 ** with pangs unfejt bvifo re.** 
 
 " I know thee not, nor ever saw till now, 
 '•' Sight more detestable than him and thee." 
 
 Their horror and unnatural abandonment of 
 the unquestionable lineage were vain. In vain 
 did Brissot and the philosophical conspirators 
 <5omplain of ** laws without execution, constituted 
 "authorities impotent or disgraced, crimes unpu- 
 " nished, property attacked, personal safety vio- 
 *' lated, the morals of the people corrupted, no 
 "constitution, no goverinncnt, no justice: aH 
 ** which are the true features of anarchy. "-(- Thesoi 
 were thecrimes^by which the men of letters had 
 advanced themselves to power. They had hoped 
 
 * Journal HUtorique et Politique, 17 September, 1792. 
 f jSrissol's Letter to hU Constituents.
 
 69 
 
 to " ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm.** 
 But another party, upon their own principles and 
 with equal rights, wrested from them their im- 
 plements of revolutionary agency, and they fell 
 detested and unpitied. 
 
 The abstract principle, now commended by 
 the Edinburgh Reviewers, is identi'jal with that 
 which was then asserted by the prevailing faction 
 in France, when *' the bulk, the mass of the 
 ** people, nay, the very odious many headed beast, 
 '* the multitude, the mob itself, in despite of the 
 " higher classes, and in direct opposition to them, 
 " raised up the standard of insurrection, and bore 
 *^ it through massacre, and through victory." Ex- 
 perience was, at that time, feeble to guide the 
 judgment upon this new principle of rebellion. 
 Civilized society had been often convulsed, ty- 
 ranny had been resisted and subdued by insur- 
 rection, and the condition of mankind had been 
 ameliorated by prudent and just resistance to law- 
 less oppression. Such an example was afforded 
 in our own history at the ever-memorable esta- 
 blishment of King William and Oueen Mary 
 upon our imperial throne. But never before was 
 there a national attempt to give to the multitude, 
 at large, a right to cashier their governors, and 
 to change their government at will. 
 
 Modern history aftbrds but two instances, 
 which can be interpreted as precedents of that 
 case. It was the insurrection of the Anabap- 
 tists in Germany, in the early part of the six- 
 teenth century, and the rebellion of the English 
 colonies of America. 
 
 In the great contest between the Roman Ca- 
 tholics and the Reformers, in consequence of the 
 rapid diffusion of the new tenets, the most in- 
 veterate hatred and jealousy reigned between the 
 two parties, and with the antipathy natural to
 
 70 
 
 rcligiftus disputes, each suspected the hostile ih- 
 tentions of tlie other. Perhaps this mutual dis- 
 Irust was on neither side without foundation ; but 
 the Catholics, in p:^^ticular, were justly alarmed 
 vith thb application to secular affairs of the 
 new principles in regard to religion. Men of 
 ardent imaginations and licentious characters in- 
 dulged themselves in the wildest speculations, 
 and committed the most abominable disorders. 
 Muncer and Store, originally disciples of Luther, 
 became the chiefs of the sect of Anabaptists ; 
 they arrogated the gift of prophecy, formed a 
 kingdom of the elect on earth, introduced a com- 
 munity of goods and wives, abjured all civil, as 
 well as religious authority, a-nd threw off all re- 
 straintiS, divine and h\iman. The emissaries of 
 thesti fanatics spread among the peasants, and 
 foundlittle difficulty in rousing against the no- 
 bles, magistrates., and clergy, a class of men, who 
 groaned under all the oppressions of feudal des- 
 potism. (1524.) Rebellions at once broke out, as 
 if by concert, in almost every part of Germany. 
 The peasants took the field hi numerous bodies, 
 and giving full scope to the sentiments of ven- 
 geance which tiiey had long" suppressed, spared 
 neither sex nor age, and rendered the ])rovinces, 
 which they over-run, a dreadful scene of devasta- 
 tion and carnage. But the sovereigns of both 
 parties, uniting to crush a rebellion, which equally 
 affected the rights and safety of all, the sect of 
 Anabaptists was broken and dispersed.. Miincer, 
 their chief, received on the scaffold the reward 
 of his crimes; and the peasants were reduced to 
 obedience, after no less than J 00,000 had fallen 
 in various encounters.-* 
 
 * This account is eztracteU from Cogis's House of Austria^ 
 I5t vol. 476".
 
 Tliat antisocial rebellion founded in fanaticisms, 
 nnd fipplicd to secular aftUjrs, was not to effectuate 
 a scheme of Atheism and general immorality, but 
 to establish what was believed to be a tnumpli 
 of religion, and the dominion of the saints^ and 
 had little resemblance in motive, or in ob- 
 ject, to the modern revolution ; if it had any sucU 
 resemblance, its early application to the new 
 crisis might have been beneficial, as a warning 
 and an example ; as a warning to the leaders of 
 insurrection, to divert them from prosecuting their 
 execrable designs ; as an example to all sove- 
 reigns to suspend all partial differences, and intw 
 stanLly to unite with all their forces for the sup- 
 pression of so dangerous a commotion. 
 
 The principle of rebellion, adopted by the 
 United States of America, had no resemblance 
 whatsoever to the doctrine then triumphant ia 
 France, and now asserted in this country. 'That 
 revolution was attempted to be justified by the 
 alleged tyranny of the English government. It 
 was preceded originally by complaint and petition 
 in language sufficiently decorous ; nor did it as- 
 sume the character of national resistance to autho- 
 rity, till every expedient of prayer and of remon- 
 strance had been ineffectually tried. At last, the 
 declaration of independence, which they made the 
 foundation of the constitutional law then adopted^ 
 was published by congress. That instrument con- 
 tained a long enumeration of grievances, which, 
 if they had been true, would have amounted ta 
 an abdication of the government, such as they 
 asserted to have taken phice ; of those grievances 
 there was no hope of redress, and the emanci- 
 pation would have been justifiable by the necessity 
 of the case. But in that proceeding there was 
 little appearance of popular sedition. In the con-
 
 7'2 
 
 gress wr.5. found all that part of the Arnerican 
 nation, which was capable of sound delil)eration, 
 of exercising judgment, and acting with such 
 discretion as is necessary to legalize any national 
 act, and to express the public will. The ancient 
 constitutional assemblies of the provinces, the 
 property and influence of the great commerci;d 
 towns, and the weight of the liberal professions 
 were present in adequate representation ; but there 
 was no claim asserted in favour of the great mass 
 of the community, nor was it assumed by that 
 enlightened body, tlrat their separation from the 
 British empire could rest noon any other basis 
 than that of oppressive and hopeless grievance, 
 and absolute necessity. The federal government, 
 then provided, was to be permanently independent 
 of popular will, and to be of perpetual force in 
 the United States of America.* 
 
 Such was not the prevailing dogma of the 
 French revolution. By the abstract principle of 
 that proceeding, neither dignity of station, opu- 
 lence, hereditary or acquired, the merit of past 
 service, or the validity of local reputation were 
 allowed to confer any national privilege or pre- 
 eminence ; but the unalienable power of sove- 
 reignty was held to appertain to the vilest and 
 the most elevated, to the most wretched and the 
 most opulent, to the most ignorant and the 
 most enlightened, to the basest and the most vir- 
 tuous members of society, with equal title, and 
 in equal participation. 
 
 Though experience was almost silent as to the ef- 
 fective operation of such a maxim of anarchy and 
 
 ♦ The reader roay consult the declaration, by the repre- 
 sentatives of the United States of America, in general con- 
 gress assembled, 4th July, 1770\ iu which the coir'ectneis of 
 the above statement will appear.
 
 n 
 
 disorder, yet that which did Immediately erlsete \ 
 might have been anticipated by the common sa- 
 gacity of an incorrupted mind. The people, at 
 large, in every possible condition of society, 
 called to the exercise of power, must be impelled 
 by passion, and cannot be guided by reason. 
 They cannot deliberate, nor can they foresee and 
 regulate those numberless contingencies of hu- 
 man affairs, upon the least of which the welfare 
 of the state, and the happiness of its subjects, 
 must daily and hourly depend. In their council, 
 wisdom may be silenced and dishonoured, whilq; 
 
 — " the rattling tongue 
 " of saucy and audacious eloquence*' 
 
 is heard with rapturous applause. By their just- 
 ice, the virtue of an Asistides may be punished 
 with ostracism, and the parasites and retainers of 
 a Philip be supported and commended. In the 
 little republic of Geneva, there was once an in- 
 stance of prudence and moderation in such an 
 assembly. There was a law which provided that, 
 at the end of every live years, a convention of 
 the |)eople should be held with sovereign power. 
 That convention met but once, (17 12) and then 
 it afforded a remarkable proof of the virtue and 
 good sense which sometimes influenced the pub- 
 lic judgment, before philosophy had raised its 
 standard. Its first and only resolution was, that 
 it should meet no more. Unhappily the example 
 of that democracy is solitary. AH other demo- 
 cracies have been found as ambitious as they 
 were restless and unwise. In the natural world, 
 disorder and ruin must instantly ensue, but for 
 the provident care of that presiding intelligence 
 which constituted and maintains the universal har- 
 mony and dependence. So, in our political con- 
 stitutions, if the combining principle of a supe- 
 
 I.
 
 74 
 
 rior power be withdrawn, and the various orders 
 liberated from thecontroul of superintending wis- 
 dom, and cast into elemental strife, a wild and fatal 
 uproar must succeed. Whether the disorganizing 
 dogma be promulgcd by a Catiline from personal 
 depravity, by a Muncer, and a Store, from religious 
 enthusiasm, or by men of letters and philosophers, 
 from a more dangerous vanity and ambition, the 
 same destructive results must inevitably follow. 
 
 The Edinburgh Reviewers would, nevertheless, 
 encourage the trial of an additional experiment. 
 They promise that " the example of one revolu- 
 " tion will prevent a repetition of its enormities in 
 *^ the progress of the other."* The French phi- 
 losophers were equally liberal in promise, and 
 confident in hope. It is better to trust to ex- 
 perience and the reason of things, than to be 
 guided by that counsel of the EdinburgVi Re- 
 viewers. 
 
 It was natural, and seems to be a sort of retribu- 
 tivejustice, that the learned aristocracy of France 
 should expiate its guilt and presumption by that 
 same instrument of death, which they had em- 
 ployed in the indiscriminate slaughter of the 
 innocent and loyal. It was natural that the ex- 
 cess of turpitude, cruelty, and oppression, should 
 rage during many successive years in the triumph 
 of the various factions which successively pre- 
 vailed. After a long duration of anarchy and 
 terror, it was natural that the people, weary of 
 their own fatal pretences to a sovereignty, 
 which they could not exercise, should feel just 
 resentment towards all its bold asscrters. That 
 they should finally abandon the revolutionary 
 principle, and submit to the rule of some triun)pli- 
 
 * Page 223.
 
 75 
 
 ant wnrriofr, wlio sliould consoUdaJe in his own 
 title all the claims of philosophy, and perpetrate 
 the abominable doctrines of jacobin morality, by 
 making it the basis of his public law. 
 
 The whole military force of France, without 
 hesitation, at his command abandoned the repub- 
 lican institutions. The men of letters had forgot- 
 ten the lessons of history, and the example of 
 Cromwell, in the preceding century. Armies 
 must hare a military chief, and are never faith- 
 ful to democratic command. The National As- 
 sembly had shewn little sagacity in their notion 
 of the soldiers of liberty, and in their institu- 
 tion of the national troops, and of the municipal 
 guards. Mirabeau did not exercise his usual 
 foresight and penetration, when he demanded 
 in atone of triumph and of defiance, " et que sent 
 •* ces troupes si non les Troupes de la Liberte ? 
 '^ pourquoi les avons nous instituees si elles ne sont 
 *' pas eternellement destinees a conserver ce qu'elles 
 ** ont conquis ?" His unsoldier-like, motley, un- 
 disciplined hordes of insurgents were at that 
 time animated with the ardor of insurrection, and 
 with democratic zeal ; but they were no sooner 
 converted, by the necessities of war, into a true 
 and well-disciplined militia, than they became 
 conscious of the dignity and power of arms. 
 They acquired contempt for the turbulent, ty- 
 rannizing municipalities of manufacturers and arti- 
 ficers, which sometimes affected to be their 
 masters, and sometimes courted them to con- 
 federate in their plans of sedition. They rather 
 adhered to the order of military nature. The 
 glory of a triumphant liberal leader, who knew bet- 
 ter how to touch the springs of their affection, and 
 promised to gratify them with substantial reward, 
 they naturally preferred to the insolent pretensions 
 f
 
 76 
 
 of a vulgar democracy, whose unsubstantial 
 thanks, given with jealousy and mistrust, were 
 the only recompense in their means to bestow.* 
 TheFrench revolution which was planned by the 
 men of letters, a hundred years ago, that the eman- 
 cipated nations might be under their guidance 
 and controul ; the principles of which, during 
 all the intei-vening period, they insidiously and 
 laboriously inculcated in books of science and 
 of amusement, in the schools, and upon the 
 stage, and by whatever other means, and wher- 
 ever else opinion might be influenced, till at 
 last the public mind was contaminated through- 
 out from the throne of the monarch to the 
 
 * The prophetic wisdom of that prodigy of our nature, 
 Mr. Burke, distinctly anticipated this termination of the revo- 
 lution. 
 
 " It is known that armies have hitherto yielded a very pre- 
 " carious and uncertain obedience to any senate or popular 
 " authority ; and they will, least of all, yield it to an as- 
 " sembly, which is to have only the continuance of two 
 *' years. The officers must totally lose the characteristic dis- 
 " position of military men, if they see with perfect submis- 
 '' sion, and due admiration, the dominion of pleaders j es- 
 *' pecially when they find, that they have a new court to 
 ". pay to an endless succession of those pleaders, whose mili- 
 '* tary policy, and the genius of whose command (if they 
 " should have any) must be as uncertain as their duration is 
 " transient. In the weakness of one kind of authority, 
 " and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of an army will 
 " remain, for some time, mutinous and full of faction, 
 *' until some popular general, who understands the art of 
 " conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses a true spirit of 
 " command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. 
 " Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no 
 *^ other way of securing military obedience in ibis state of 
 " things. But the moment in which that event shall hap^ien, 
 " the person, who really commands the army, is your master ; 
 " the master'(that is little) of your king, the master of your 
 '* assembly, the master of your whole republic." 
 • See that immortal publication, his Reflections upon tbe 
 french Revolution. Page '3^0, of the last octavo edition.
 
 77 
 
 peasant's cottage ; that revolution, which at la&t 
 broke out in the form of a supreme National As- 
 sembly for the correction of abuses and the rege- 
 nerating the state, has terminated, as was predicted, 
 and as it inevitably must terminate, in the establish- 
 ment of a military tyranny, the most absolute that 
 ever enchained mankind. The moral doctrine of 
 jacobinism is triumphant in the person of the 
 most unrelenting conqueror that ever desolated 
 the earth. 
 
 In the histories of those warriors, who were 
 able to subdue all Europe by the terror of their 
 arms, we are taught that the atrocities, which 
 they committed in their career of victory, are 
 palliated, in degree, by the barbarism of the 
 ages in which they flourished. Ferocious as 
 they were, their ravages and cruelties were com- 
 mitted in the tumult of battles, and upon those 
 whom they had attacked in open and declared 
 hostility. When the capital of the Christian 
 world was taken and sicked, by the Gothic 
 Alaric, he encouraged his troops boldly to seize 
 the rewards of their valour, and to enrich them- 
 selves with the spoils of a wealthy and effemi- 
 nate people. But he exhorted them to spare 
 the lives of the unresisting citizens, and to re- 
 spect the churches of the apostles as holy and 
 inviolable sanctuaries. * The savage mind of the 
 Scythian Attila was not inaccessible to pity. 
 His suppliant enemies might contlde in his as- 
 surance of peace or pardon ; and he was consi- 
 dered by his subjects, as a just and indulgent 
 master. He delighted in war, but he founded 
 his vast monarchy on the basis of popular super- 
 stition, which, however offensive it might be to 
 the sceptics of this enlightened age, is far pre- 
 
 *^V. Gibbon's Decline and Fall. Chap, xxxi.
 
 ferable to that impiety which gives force and 
 permanence to all our malignanl pas-ions. * 
 
 Napoleon, of humble station and obscure origin, 
 was born at Ajacio, in a little dependency of the 
 French crown. He received his subsistence and 
 education from the noble beneficence of the king 
 of France, and was an el^ve of that unfortunate 
 monarch in his military school at Brienne, at the 
 commencement of the revolution. His heart was 
 never warmed by the sense of gratitude towards 
 any benefactor. He very early forgot the benefit 
 which he had received in his youth, and entered 
 into the service of those who had murdered his 
 patron and abolished royalty. He became a sol- 
 dier of the republic, and took an oath of allegiance 
 to the sovereignty of the nation. 
 
 His mind, astute in project and daring in execu- 
 tion, was fitted for revolutionary warfare. He was 
 distinguished at the siege of Toulon, and acquired 
 the favour of Barras, by whom he was promoted 
 to the rank of a general. Under the command of 
 that representative, he headed the troops whicli 
 massacred the inhabitants of Paris, and ^tablished 
 the memorable revolution of the fourth and fift 
 of October, 1795, when the constitution of the 
 third year was enacted, to which he took an oath 
 of fidelity. 
 
 The revolution of the fourth of September, 
 J 797 J hy which that constitution was violated and 
 destroyed, the Directory were enabled to effectuate 
 by his concurrence, counsel, and promise «of sup- 
 port. In an address to his army in Italy, where 
 he then commanded, he had just said, " let us 
 <* swear, fellow soldiers, by the manes of the pa- 
 " triots who have died by our side, eternal hatred 
 
 • V. Gibbons Decline and Fail. Chap, xxxiv.
 
 " to the enemies of the constitution of the third 
 "year.'* 
 
 . The details of his Italian campaigns are worthy 
 of being recorded, as they will be, in a less perisha- 
 ble work. Here it is sufficient to observe, that 
 history does not unfold any system of warfare, ia. 
 any age, more detestable for cruelty, extortion, 
 and pillage, than that which established his fame, 
 and led to his gigantic grandeur. The great prin- 
 ciple of that warfare was to excite the passions of 
 the lower classes against their governors and su- 
 periors. It was a continual appeal to the preva- 
 lent immorality of the age, and was successfully 
 made " to procure the solemn acknowledgement 
 ** of the rights of nations, and to change the form 
 *' of every government/'* 
 
 In that campaign, among numberless other acts 
 of unprecedented violence, it may be remembered, 
 that, in the excess of unprovoked fury, he directed 
 the indiscriminate massacre of eight hundred of 
 the inhabitants of the town of Benasco, which he 
 rased from its foundations, and delivered the whole 
 country on the borders of the Mincio to the 
 plunder of his ferocious soldiery. In every state 
 the churches and religious institutions were pil- 
 laged by his army, without distinction. Every fund 
 consecrated by ancient piety to charitable uses, he 
 fearlessly confiscated. He seized every public 
 treasure ; he subjected every village to rapine and 
 robbery ; the sacred priesthood, and all the forms 
 of public worship he derided, insulted and abolish- 
 ed ; the temples and the holy mysteries he muti- 
 lated and profaned^ and by a proclamation made 
 in his own name, he ordered the troops to shoot 
 whoever had not taken an oath of obedience to 
 
 ♦ Redacteur Official. 30 June, 1797-
 
 80 
 
 his authority^ and to burn every place wliere the 
 tocsin should be sounded, and to put its inhabi- 
 tants to death. 
 
 The overthrow of the papacy, brought about by 
 intrigues, in direct violation of the solemn assur- 
 ances of friendship, and actually subsisting treaty, 
 was accompanied with a savage disdain of the ve- 
 nerable character of the aged pontiff, whose piety 
 and virtues would have adorned a purer profession 
 of Christianity ; and was a new evidence that the 
 adventurous soldier had adopted all the principles 
 of the revolution, and that sanctity of life, integ- 
 rity of heart, and the decrepitude of years, made 
 sacred by wisdom and benevolence, were naturally 
 the contempt and hatred of the illuminated advo- 
 cate of the new morality. 
 
 The expedition, to wrest from the Ottoman do- 
 minion, with whom the republic was in profound 
 peace, Egypt, its richest dependency, and thereby 
 to gratify the ambition and mark the contempt of 
 treaties which distinguished the counsels of the 
 Directory, was his peculiar project. Then it was 
 that he openly renounced the sect of Christianity, 
 and proclaimed " that he venerated more than the 
 " Mamlucs, God his prophet and the Koran."* 
 
 His warfare in Egypt, as it is recorded by Uenon, 
 an authentic narrator, under his immediate direc- 
 tion, from his own imperial press, abounded with 
 acts of deliberate murder, violence, and pillage, 
 which no history whatsoever can parallel. Upon 
 landing at Alexandria " he put all his adversaries 
 " to death at the breach." " His soldiers, heated 
 " by wine and by the climate, inspired so much 
 *• terror among the lower classes, that they kept 
 ** their females in concealment." (page-()0, vol. i.) 
 
 * See bis first Proclacoaiioji.
 
 81 
 
 Such was their wanton oppression, that ''' the timid 
 ^' Egyptians soon begair* to regret their former 
 "tyrants." (page 335.) To crush resistance "a 
 " great carnage of the rebels was made by General 
 ** Damas." ** Under the pretence of seeking for 
 '* provisions, the bmtal soldiery sought the grati- 
 " iications of their impetuous lust, and for want of 
 " being able to explain their object, and to Aiake 
 " themselves understood, they killed the furious 
 "natives." (Vol. ii. Page 12.) '-'They put to 
 " the sword a thousand of the deluded natives, 
 " who pursued their march to give them the im- 
 " pression of their being vindictive, and to con- 
 '* vince them that they should punish severely 
 " those who v/ere disposed to doubt that all they 
 " did was finally for their own good." (Page 37.) 
 " If the poor inhabitants did not express that 
 ; " doubt, but supplied the wants of the army, they 
 " saw their provisions eaten with regularity, and 
 " might come in for their portion of them, pre- 
 " serving a part of their dwellings from being 
 " burnt, and but a few of their wives and daugh- 
 " ters were ravished." (Page 46.) Let it be re- 
 "membered that these atrocities were perpetrated 
 un^er Bonaparte, m a country with which he was 
 not at war, with the pretence of friendly regene- 
 ration, to carry on the grCat work of the revolu- 
 tion ; and were sanctioned by the counsel of an 
 aristocracy of talents which accompanied him in 
 that expedition !* 
 
 The massacre of three thousand eight hundred 
 Turkish prisoners, at Jaffa, and the poisoning of 
 five hundred and eighty of his own diseased sol- 
 
 * These extracts, from Denon's Travels in Egypt, during the 
 campaign of General Bonaparte, are the same which are quoted 
 from Dr. Aikin's translation, in the account of that woik given 
 in the first volume of the Edinburgh Review. 
 
 M
 
 81 
 
 then?, al the same place, as related by Sir Robert 
 Wilson, are not instances of greater atrocity than 
 those which, in his magnanimity, or his contempt 
 of virtuous reputation, he permitted his own his- 
 torian to relate, with all the ostentation and em- 
 bellishment of a national work. 
 
 These were the heroic actions on which the 
 great Napoleon founded his early reputation for arts, 
 policy, and military prowess. By the fame which 
 he had thus acquired, he was enabled at length to 
 overthrow that government of which he was at the 
 last moment the sworn supporter, and to the glory 
 of which he had dedicated the splendor of his suc- 
 cess and the fruits of all his labors. In a barba- 
 rous age, the nations which yielded to Alaric and 
 to Attila were already familiar with the excesses of 
 their savage conqueror ; but the excesses of all 
 other conquerors were mild, moderate, and conci- 
 liating, compared with the systematic proceedings 
 of Bonaparte, in an age the most distinguished for 
 civilization, learning, manners, and humanity. 
 Those proceedings are not the less atrocious for 
 being accompanied by a declared infidelity to the 
 compacts of society, on which alone the security of 
 nations can rest, and by an open abandonment of 
 all religious institution, on which alone the hopes 
 and the liappiness of individuals can find stability. 
 
 Ewabled to crush the constitution, and to as- 
 sume the exercise of the supreme power, he still 
 maintained his duplicity and contempt of moral 
 obligation. In the Council of the Ancients, on the 
 8th of November, 1799, ^^^ exclaiujed in the pre- 
 sence of two of the Directory, " we demand a re- 
 " public founded on the principles of liberty, equa- 
 '* lity, and national representation." At that in- 
 stant the republic was sinking into annihilation 
 with all the host of assassins, libellers, and traitors.
 
 •83 
 
 who in''its name had tortured mankind. The de- 
 structive phantom of the liberty, equality, and na- 
 tional representation of the reforming patriots of 
 the insurrection against Louis XVI. having com- 
 pleted his part in the drama, and blasted all the ex- 
 pectations of such as imagined he had any act of 
 goodness to perform, was then about to quit the 
 stage for ever, and to give place to triumphant 
 despotism. On the following day, Bonaparte hav- 
 ing completed his military preparations, gave the 
 Assembly to understand, that, *^ the God of war, 
 '* and his good fortune would protect him." Then 
 Murat, since promoted to kingly honor, dispersed 
 the legislative body, and with the bayonet drove 
 the members through all the avenues of their hall. 
 A remnant of that body, the same night, decreed 
 that the directory had ceased to exist, and created 
 the provisional power of the consulate. 
 
 Whatever was most guilty and pernicious in the 
 spirit of jacobinism ; whatever principles of disloy- 
 alty, rebellion, treachery, perjury, and usurpation, 
 had marked the progress of the revolution from its 
 earliest commencement to this its natural termi- 
 nation, appeared as a distinctive feature of the 
 consulate of Bonaparte. Had the French nation, 
 torn by faction, desolated by crime, weary of the 
 tumultuous tyranny of crafty atheistical regicides, 
 and impelled by remorse ; had it begun to mourn 
 its miseries with penitence, and to sympathize with 
 the suffering nations which were depressed by that 
 relentless tyranny ; in such a state of mind had it 
 passed under thq rule of a bold and resolute 
 master, whose stern power should have awed fac- 
 tious conspirators, and whose severe but just ad- 
 ministration should have repressed an habitual 
 fondness of his people for rapine, slaughter, and 
 disorder; then there might have been some hope
 
 84 
 
 that such vigorous despotism would havxj some 
 respect to public law ; that the sense and thcTC- 
 straints of piety and justice might be restored even- 
 tually to the embruted multitude.; and that in the 
 process of moral amelioration, a time might come 
 when France would resume her station in civilized 
 society, when her greatness might be compatible 
 with the safety of other nations, and when her 
 people would join to lament and to repair the ruin 
 and devastation which had been perpetrated by a 
 savage democracy. 
 
 But in the consular power of Bonaparte, and in 
 the imperial rule of the great Napoleon, are still 
 perceived the lineaments of pure, unadulterated 
 jacobinism. In an elaborate work, by Hauterive, 
 who washis foreign minister, (** Chef de Relations 
 *' exterieurs") published by his authority, immedi- 
 ately after his accession to the consular dignity, 
 it was distinctly announced to all the world, that 
 the federative system which he adopted was that 
 same upon which all the preceding revolutionary 
 authorities had acted. It was founded in the same 
 disregard of treaties and public law, the same prin- 
 ciples of universal insurrection, the same means of 
 robbery, plunder, and confiscation, the same maxim 
 of appealing to the people in all countries against 
 the authority of their legitimate sovereigns. *' If 
 " France cannot otherwise extend the relations of 
 " her continental federative system, she will em- 
 " ploy the only means which the folly of the states 
 *' that have abandoned her alliance, and the obsti- 
 " nac)' of those wl,'iich persist in a sanguinary war, 
 *' have left at her disposal. For federative sub- 
 " sidies, she will substitute military subsidies ; and 
 ** if princes disregard the voice of self interest, 
 " which dictates an alliance, she will virtually ally 
 ^* l^erself tQ,their countries, which they are inca-
 
 ft5 
 
 *' pable of defending, and will convert into auxi- 
 *' liaries all the means of subsistence and of de- 
 *' fence that can by any ways be furnished by. the 
 " territory which her armies may occupy." 
 
 How successfully the tyrant has proceeded upon 
 his grand federative maxim of jacobinism, it would 
 be painful, and is not necessary to detail. Let 
 that task devolve upon the future historian, whose 
 narrative will not excite the horror and the virtuous 
 hatred which must accompany our present observa- 
 tion, and our interest in the result of those awe- 
 ful events. It suffices here to call to mind the 
 mission of Sebastiani, during the short period of 
 tranquillity which followed the treaties. of Luneyille 
 and Amiens, instituted to continue the project of 
 the Egyptian expedition, and to revolutionize 
 Greece and the islands of the ArchipeUgo ! Then 
 the enslaving of the republics of the Helvetic con- 
 federacy ! Then the establishment of Louis and 
 Joseph Bonaparte upon the thrones of Holland 
 &nd Naples ! Then the assuming of the iron 
 crown of Lombardy ! Then the establishment of 
 Jerom, the fugitive from America, in the new 
 formed kingdom of Westphalia ! Then the depo- 
 sitions and new creations of the submissive princes 
 who did rule, and of the more submissive upstarts 
 who now rule in the states of the Confederation of 
 the Rhine, which followed the dissolution of the 
 ancient Germanic empire ! Then the attempt to 
 prevent all possible recurrence to the ancient law 
 of Europe, by the perpetual exclusion of England 
 from the councils of princes 1 Then the project of 
 changing the old maritime law and system of neu- 
 trality for our more effectual destruction ! And, 
 lastly, that act of usurpation, the perfidy and atro- 
 city of which no former act had equalled, the de-^ 
 
 •iCvTk,^' •!:;)iJ'lD01 .flvidyi-.
 
 66 
 
 gradation and imprisonment of the royal family of 
 Spain, and the inauguration of Joseph upon their 
 throne. 
 
 As concise may be the allusion to the moral 
 qualities of Jacobinism still triumphant in the 
 practice of the imperial government. Such was 
 the treacherous murder of Toussaint, the posses- 
 sion of whose person was obtained by a solemn 
 pledge and assurance of safety and protection ! 
 Then the execrated seizure of theDuke D'Enghien, 
 that distinguished member of his illustrious house, 
 and the hope of all the remnant of the antient 
 honor of France, in a neutral territory, by a furi- 
 ous banditti in the silence of the night ; taken 
 from his rest, the last which he was ever to enjoy, 
 while unconscious of danger, and unsuspicious of 
 attack ; hurried to the capital of his great enemy ; 
 brought without a moment's repose before a fero- 
 cious military inquisition ; his person being iden- 
 tified, doomed to immediate death, and that doom 
 instantly executed by a band of Italian merce- 
 naries ! his persecutor denied him the last conso- 
 lation of our mortal nature ; 
 
 " Cut off even in the blossoms of his sin i 
 " Unhouzzled, disappointed, nnanneal'd; 
 " No reckoning made, but sent to his account 
 " With all his imperfections on his head ! 
 
 Then the judicial execution of the pauper, Palm, 
 of too mean condition for imperial vengeance, but 
 murdered in a foreign state, to shew to all the 
 world, that the thoughts of men must be bound 
 by his tyranny, and that the lowest of mankind 
 must suffer for presuming to proclaim the truth, 
 or to assert the freedom of the press ; (our own 
 peculiar boast, secured by the sacred safeguard of 
 our laws ! ) Lastly, the recent transactions of the 
 Spanish revolution. The murder of the sixteen
 
 87 
 
 English soldiers in cold blood, triumphantly an- 
 nounced in the imperial bulletin^ and published in 
 the gazette of France! the burning of the town of 
 Benevente, and the massacre of its inhabitants ! 
 and the rest of the atrocious actions which make 
 up the long catalogue of crimes, in that violation 
 of the rights of an independent sovereign. 
 
 If the French revolution had been originally and 
 essentially political, and had been welcomed into 
 being by its enthusiastic admirers, as an instru- 
 mental means of diffusing universally the prin- 
 ciples of any species of republican institution, 
 it is hardly possible that the outrage with which 
 it commenced and proceeded should have beea 
 tolerated and applauded by those who profess 
 themselves the advocates of general liberty. In 
 that case it is incredible, that those whose literary 
 labours prepared th.e public mind for the vast 
 convulsion, should have long basked in the sun- 
 shine of royal favour, and that even kings should 
 have become their disciples, and have zealously 
 contributed to their success. The heads of the 
 antient monarchies would have shewn an earlier 
 and more resolute resistance to a licentious demo- 
 cracy, and would have waited till the last extre- 
 mity of subjugation, before they would have 
 acknowledged its principles of rebellion, and have 
 sent their envoys in flattering submission to con- 
 federate and fraternize with such a species of 
 sovereignty. We can hardly be persuaded that 
 there would have existed a party in all countries, 
 which should invariably have opposed itself to 
 whatever was hostile to France, and have made 
 an outcry for peace at every period of the revo- 
 lutionary war. Those men shewed little indig- 
 nation at the violation of property, the degradation 
 and extirpation of rank, the robbery and assassi- 
 4 '
 
 d8 
 
 nation of the ministers of religion: they wit- 
 nessed without any expression of alarm the pro- 
 clamation of atheism, and the abandonment of 
 all established morality in public transactions or in 
 private life : they were not appalled at the over- 
 throw of thrones, and the subjugation of powerful 
 commonwealths, nor at the methods of treachery 
 and rapine, by which the dominion of France was 
 extended on every side : they did not censure 
 the institutions of anarchy and licentiousness, 
 which followed the martyrdom of Louis XVI ; 
 nor were they less favourable to the ministration 
 of the Committee of Public Safety established in 
 the capital, to overawe the National Convention 
 itself, and of its dependant committees of Jsurveil- 
 lance organized throughout the republic, to make 
 the reign of terror universal.* They never exulted 
 in any interruption of the victorious career with 
 which the revolutionary banner vi'as borne by tiie 
 triumphant armies ; nor did they reprobate the 
 violence of the conscription, nor the oppression 
 of the taxation, which recruited and paid these 
 prodigious establishments. If the question was 
 fundamentally political, could the tyranny of Ro- 
 berspierre be reconciled to republican zeal } or 
 were the insolent domination and gaudy decora- 
 tions tDf the five directors consistent with the 
 simplicity of a democratic contitution ? We must 
 search deeper than political sentiment, to unravel 
 the mystery of that unvaried applause, which all 
 the actors of the interesting drama have obtained 
 in succession, and to account for that uniform ap- 
 
 * The expence of these establishments, and of the revoh:- 
 tionary tribunals, which judged the unfortunate persoui 
 doomed to die by these Committees, was not less than tbiriv 
 two millions sterling per annum. Tench's Corresp, 18.<).
 
 eg 
 
 probalion which has been bestowed upon the 
 apparent inconsistencies of the plot. 
 
 If the revolution was purely of a moral quality, 
 if it originated in a great conspiracy to establish 
 a domination of the aristocracy of talents by the 
 destruction of all religion and all moral obligation, 
 then those who adopted the principles and partici- 
 pate in the ambition of that aristocracy, might 
 without inconsistency applaud the early outrages of 
 the multitude, when they were instigated by Bailly 
 and La Fayette, to demand a constitution orna- 
 mented with a shadow of degraded loyalty.but com- 
 pleted upon the foundation of the imputed Rights 
 of Man ; they might equally applaud their mas- 
 sacres and thirst for judicial slaughter, when 
 guided entirely by the philosophers, by Roland, 
 Brissot and Petion, they asserted the dogmas of 
 natural equality, and framed a republican form of 
 government. Their approbation would not fail 
 when the vsame multitude roused to greatef 
 energy by Roberspierre, Danton, and Marat, 
 claimed the unalienable exercise of power, and 
 declared themselves in permanent insurrection. 
 That uninterrupted fervor of the great proceed ing,, 
 in all its tragical and tumultuous progress, was 
 natural to those, whose hatred to th^ establish- 
 ments of Christianity is paramount to all other 
 considerations ; who regard no weariness or cala- 
 mity, in their labor to exalt a shapeless infidelitv 
 as a triumphant national profession ; and apj)ly 
 ttie utmost force of depraved yet powerful intellect, 
 to break through the restraints of morals, and to 
 be liberated from the bondage of conscience, 
 justice, and ancient law. The scheme is still 
 progressive ; and whatsoever other scenes and 
 changes are to come, as yet involved in 
 
 N- : • ^ ■ ' -
 
 99 
 
 *'■ shadows, clouds, and darkness," the same 
 commendation and contempt of all its horrors, 
 will be afforded by its cold-blooded speculative 
 admirers. The past transactions were almost 
 necessary to its successful crburse, and must not 
 therefore be severely scrutinized by those who 
 think that " it is lawful to pursue a moral and 
 *' pohtical advantage by mean» of actual crime." 
 It is that principle alone which gave toleration to 
 the excesses of the extinct democracy, and can 
 now reconcile any man to tl>e threatening tyranny 
 of the power subsisting in France* 
 
 Among all the conquerors who have desolated 
 the earth in the revolutions of empires. Napoleon 
 has a peculiar character and fortune. Alexander 
 was the hereditary possessor of a state, which had 
 already been distinguished for vigour and pru- 
 dence. He triumphed over the nations sunk in 
 slothful effeminacy, and carried with him the 
 sciences of Greece, The Romans, in their career 
 of glory, wrested their independence from the 
 provinces they subdued, but in return they im- 
 parted laws, opulence, and civilization. Mahomet 
 directed the tide of conquest over countries un- 
 worthy of freedom, and ?o abased in ignorance 
 and barbarism, that even his religion and heroic 
 mandates ennobled and enlightened them. The 
 ravages of war in all those instances, were compen- 
 sated by the splendour and security of the aug- 
 mented monarchy. It was the ultimate design 
 of the conqueror to establish his government in 
 peace, and to disguise his military prowess in the 
 beneficence of civil institutions. 
 
 The history of the world affords no instance of 
 a power similar in principle, extent, and object, to 
 that concentrated in the person of Napoleon. 
 In his pursuit of imperial and universal supremacy, 
 
 3
 
 91 
 
 li« regards neither the happiness of nations, the 
 bonds of society, nor the terrors of futurity ; 
 
 *' Quern nee fama Deum, nee fulmina, nee minitanti . 
 " Murmure compressit ccclura." 
 
 With no title but that of the sword which he 
 wields, he reigns over an immense population, 
 diverted from all the pursuits of peaceful life, and 
 taught by the spirit of all their institutions, that 
 war is to be their habitual energy, and conquest 
 their continual glory. To military service they 
 sacrifice domestic feeling, personal gratification, 
 and natural affection, and regard the honours of 
 the camp, as the only means of particular ad- 
 vancement. The utmost terrors of an unrelenting 
 conscription, the apprehension of dishonour, in- 
 separably fixed by the law to the tranquil pursuits 
 of industry and commerce, and extended from 
 the reluctant individual to all his family, friends, 
 and neighbours, with the hope of fame and bril- 
 liant reward, to be acquired in the tented field, 
 impel the youthful mind to despise the peasant's 
 lowly life, and make the empire of France a vast 
 martial confederacy. 
 
 A patriotic pride characteristic of our cour^ 
 try, with an attachment to civil authority and 
 an enthusiastic love of liberty, derived from long 
 experience of their benefits, inspires hatred ra- 
 ther than terror of the despot, who opjwses his 
 prodigious force to our independence, government, 
 and civil freedom. A Briton will not disown that 
 prejudice which renders him averse to the enemies 
 of his sovereign ; he will not sympathise with 
 the arrogance and presumption of that warrior, 
 whose glory is to be cgmpleted by our subjugation, 
 and whose warfare, not carried on in generous 
 rivalship, proceeds from malignant jealousy and 
 ierocious pride.. That philosophy which regards
 
 th(J love of our country as a vulgar and illiberal 
 limitation of universal philanthropy, and would 
 lower our national indignation at the pretensions, 
 as well as the crimes of our aspiring foe, wc shall 
 consider as a fraudulent principle, which may 
 weaken resistance and prop that ambition which 
 it is our duty and interest to repress. 
 
 It is attributed to Louis the Fourteenth, that 
 his wars were undertaken upon a project of uni- 
 versal domination, which he would inevitably have 
 executed but for the energetic opposition of the 
 ^rand alliance led by this country under King 
 Willia?Ti, for the general safety of Europe. The suc- 
 cess of that scheme would have been disgraceful 
 and disastrous to the commonwealth of nations. 
 Under all imaginable circumstances subjection to 
 a foreign conqueror is degrading and oppressive. 
 The noble sentiments of the heart are extinguished 
 by the remembrance of defeat, and the pressure 
 of inglorious bondage. The character of mankind 
 vilified and debased in such humiliation, never 
 ?oars to loyalty, honour, patriotism, or the ad- 
 miration or practice of heroic virtue. Slavish 
 submission, treachery, selfishness, cruelty, and 
 meanness, are the qualities of those who tremble 
 at a tyrant's frown, and flatter his vanity and pride. 
 
 Had Louis been able to accomplish his plan of 
 universfil monarchy, Europe, in the privation of 
 its natural sovereigns, privileges and independence, 
 would have sustained an irreparable calamity, but 
 would not have incurred the lowest indignity of 
 bondage. It would have passed under the rule of 
 a prince, who acknowledged the obligations of 
 law, and the restraints of piety. Afterwards his 
 greatness was to be established, and his glory to 
 result from the happiness a«d prosperity of all his 
 people. Very different is the evil which the mo- 
 dern usurper has inflicted on other states, and
 
 9» 
 
 threatens to inflict on us. His triuniph not only 
 deprives the conquered nations of their laws, 
 liberties, and independence, but fastens on them 
 an unrelaxing tyranny which no laws can bind, 
 which holds in no consideration the property and 
 the lives of its subjects, and always acts by abso- 
 lute merciless military despotism. All other mo- 
 narchs have considered their glory augmented, 
 and their strength consolidated by promoting tho 
 morals, prosperity, and happiness of the states 
 they govern. Napoleon despises such antiquated 
 policy. The temper which he cultivates is wholly 
 and peculiarly that of savage warfare. The en- 
 dearing blandishments of peace he does not 
 permit to assuage the hardihood of the soldier's 
 stern contempt of danger. He only desires to 
 be the leader of an unnumbered host, which bears 
 his triumphant eagles through every region, and 
 spreads the terror of his name among every 
 people. Commerce, and the refinements of po- 
 lished life he discourages, because they might 
 arrest the ruffian hand of the undaunted warrior, 
 » and beget the gentler affections, of our nature; 
 but he permits and patronizes a gross licentious- 
 ness of manners, and an abandonment of morals, 
 because they- are consistent with that ferocious tem- 
 per which favours his ruthless ambition, limited 
 by no boundaries, and qualiiied by no beneficence. 
 The older governments of Europe, civil by 
 institution, and in war tempered by justice 
 and hu-nanity, had encouraged those arts which 
 refine the manners, and had established a moral 
 community of interests, to reconcile, without de- 
 stroying the national distinctions which appeared 
 to separate mankind. Though ambition had some-* 
 times disturbed the general harmony, and awak- 
 ened the fears of an upright observer, as in the 
 usurpations of Prussia and Russia, and the dis-
 
 1^ 
 
 meinbcmient of Poland, yet the proudest and 
 most powerful of all the European sovereigns had 
 abstained from making war the habitual temper- 
 ament of mankind, and from incorporating with 
 liic rescripts of diplomacy, the language of de- 
 fiance and hostile denunciation. Hostilities were 
 considered and deprecated as the la^^t unhappy 
 result of opposing claims which negotiation could 
 not balance, as the disease of the body politic, 
 pernicious and destructive in its course. At every 
 termination of liostilities, the contending sove- 
 reigns resumed a conciliatory and confidential 
 intercourse, and the soldier was remitted to the 
 ploughshare and the loom. An awful change 
 has been eflectcd by Napoleon. Europe will iio 
 more revert to that happy state and disposition, 
 Tshen society was secure in the faith of political 
 engagements; when sovereigns wittj armies for a 
 guard of honour, rather than for hostile prepa- 
 ration, were anxious to rule in love, and maintain 
 their people in domestic peace and the pursuits 
 of useful industry. 
 
 The conventions and promises of Napoleon, 
 hardly pacific in denomination, do not quell the 
 hostile mind, or allay the terror of his arms. In 
 all circumstances he maintains alike his prodigious 
 military establishment, composed of the whole 
 population of France, always ready for aggression, 
 and prqiared in an instant to enforce his most 
 arrogant demands. The main spring of his diplo- 
 nnacy is an army which vaunts itself to be irresist- 
 ible and clamours for employment. The dread- 
 ful example imposes upon all other countries the 
 necessity of equal preparation. That confidential 
 imtercourse from which the display of superiority, 
 and the insolence of power were excluded, which 
 diffused universally a spirit of concord and alli- 
 ance, and extended the affections of philanthropy
 
 and brotherhood from one end of Europe to the 
 other can never be restored. The new diplomacy, 
 which substitutes violence for right., terror for 
 luim^nity, and arrogant ferociousness for the dig- 
 nified courage of our chivalrous institutions, is the 
 work of the illustrious Napoleon. 
 
 Napjleon was welcomed to his imperial ele* 
 vation by the aristocracy of talents. Under 
 his despotism they expected to acquire, a second 
 time, their predominance in the state. They an- 
 ticipated that their aid would be solicited to 
 maintain an usurpation which the ancient loyal- 
 ist must scorn, the pure republican detest^ the 
 anarchist desire to overthrow, and the man of 
 
 -noble origin, or honor^ible mind be ashamed to 
 acknowledge. The emperor could only depend 
 upon the support of his legions, and upon that 
 of the opinion created in his favor by the men of 
 letters and philosophers. He had no ancient no- 
 bility to claim his honors, no independent ma- 
 gistracy to participate in his power, no privi- 
 lege to be opposed to his will. He was known 
 
 . to be vainly as desirous of eminence in literature 
 and the sciences, as of martial glory and im- 
 perial power. He had declared himself a pa- 
 tron of learning and the arts. Secure of^hia 
 favor, the literary republic lost no time in ten-" 
 dering to him their homage and adulation. T'hey 
 havt attributed to him the valour of Alexander, 
 the judgment of Caesar, the philosophy of An- 
 toninus, and whatever qualities of heroism, 
 prudence, wisdom, and philanthropy ever aug- 
 mented the splendor of a crown. The fancy of the 
 painter and the poet, the art of the theatre, and 
 the labor of the press, are all exerted to eulogize 
 the power of the great monarch, to commend his 
 taste, to magnify his glory, and to extol" him for 
 the admiration of a prostrate world.
 
 9« 
 
 The men of letters who had floiirislied, dur- 
 ing the early uproar of the national assembly, 
 and had opened the revolution with their specu- 
 lations, the philosophers who had matured the 
 important scheme at the hall of the jacobins, 
 and in the national convention, all those who 
 had borne the part of counsel in any period of 
 the revolution ; as many of them as had es- 
 caped the assassin's knife, and the sliver of the 
 guillotine ; planned, or eulogized the Consular 
 and the Imperial Government, and have enjoyed 
 its favor. Talleyrand, St. Jean D'Angely, Fouche, 
 Mounier, Lameth, Rcederar, Sieyes, Barrere, 
 David, Regnalt, and many others, were pro- 
 moted to honor and employment. They were 
 now willing to abstain from discussion of the 
 rights of man, and the principles of natural 
 equality ; and they found, in the patronage of 
 the First Consul and of the Emperor, other, and 
 less perilous means of personal advancement. 
 They no longer declaimed against the tyranny 
 of all personal rule, and the barbarous oppres- 
 sion of privilege and distinction. They disputed 
 no more of the propriety of the people, at 
 pleasure, degrading their rulers, and passing 
 judgment of death upon them by a process of 
 national supremacy. Napoleon was able to sus- 
 pend the knotty controversy of the contending 
 parties. All claim to the nominal honor of 
 combat they renounced in his favor ; the idol 
 of the golden calf of sovereignty, for which 
 they had fought and bled, they yielded to him* 
 hut each was to receive from his bountiful 
 hand the recompence of service: 
 
 " Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere litei ; 
 " Et vitulii tu dignus et hie :" 
 
 Each party was content with his decision and
 
 97 
 
 liberal promise, and chaunted to the melody of 
 imperial civism, 
 
 " Eris raihi Magnus Apollo." 
 
 Let it not be thought that all the profes- 
 sors of science, Jlnd the: admirers of polite and 
 useful literature, who flourish, and have flou- 
 rished in this enlightened age, are united in 
 counsel, or would participate in reward with that 
 republic of letters which have atterripted and at- 
 tempts to disorganize society. This country 
 has hitherto been peculiarly indebted to its po- 
 etry, its romance, and its philosophy. Thd 
 moroseness and hypocrisy, which were once in- 
 grafted into our character by the calamitous 
 effects of the great rebellion, was pared away by 
 the keen humour of Butler's immortal poem. 
 That enthusiastic spirit of constitutional liberty, 
 which ensured our protestant succession, was 
 fanned to its utmost energy, when it seemed to 
 languish, by the patriotic sentiments of the tra- 
 gedy of Cato. A deep foundation of sound mo- 
 rality, combined with the elegancies of orna- 
 mental literature, was completed by the Spectator, 
 the Guardian, and the Rambler. The coarseness 
 and vulgarity of our old English squire was ef- 
 fectually cured by being faithfully exposed in the 
 history of Tom Jones ; and the model of a per- 
 fect gentleman, just without severity, polite with- 
 out ostentation, and liberal without profusion ; a 
 character almost peculiar to the English nation, 
 and to modern times, was successfully presented io 
 imitation in the persons of Al worthy and Sir 
 Charles Grandison. That general refinement of our 
 principles and manners, in which the untainted 
 modesty of the female sex is made essential to 
 their loveliness and influence, was effected by
 
 9« 
 
 the interestiiTg tales of Pamela and Clarissa ; while 
 the licentiousness and impurity of the female 
 character to which the savageness of the revolu- 
 tion may be in part attributed was, undoubt- 
 edly, much promoted on the continent, by the 
 grossness, the intrigue, and the flimsy morality 
 of the Maid of Orleans, the Emilius, and the 
 new Eloisa. 
 
 But though our literature is still 'employed 
 in accumulating treasures of useful knowledge 
 and important truth, though iji theology, ethics, 
 history, science, and discoveries, the learned men 
 who yet flourish among us have rendered their 
 age illustrious, nevertheless it is impossible not to 
 apprehend some pernicious effect from the wide 
 diffusion of productions equally detrimental to 
 sound religion, morality, and loyalty. Those 
 whose understanding is matured, and whose taste 
 is refined by l^eral education, are gratified and 
 instructed by new and important works, in every 
 branch of human knowledge ; but of the mul- 
 titude, who read only the lighter productions of the 
 day, how many derive all their morals from licenti* 
 ous romance, all their science from reviews and ma- - 
 gazines, all their notions of government from the 
 Political Register and disaffected pamphlets, and 
 all their religion from the innumerable tracts of 
 Calvinistic or Arminian doctrine, which are pro- 
 fusely distributed among the lower and unlet- 
 tered classes. The tendency of all those publi- 
 cations is, of course, various and distinct ; but 
 their influence, whatever it may be, (and that it 
 is inconsiderable no calm observer will assert} 
 must be highly prejudicial to the manners, sub- 
 ordination, and rational piety of such as with 
 better instruction may become the strength and 
 ornament of society.
 
 §9 
 
 In the universities of this kingdom, we still 
 enjoy the example, and are benefited by the 
 precepts of true philosophers, who, having ex- 
 plored the most secret recesses of nature, and 
 weighed the heavens in a balance, have taught 
 that the world was made in wisdom, and that un- 
 bounded goodness and design are apparent in the 
 meanest offices of creation. They teach that our 
 duties rest upon the basis of divine institution, 
 that the christian revelation is able, and that it 
 was ordained, to sustain the morals and the hopes 
 of mankind, and that it is the only true and 
 solid foundation of our social, moral, and religi- 
 ous obligations. We look to the parental go- 
 vernment of this mighty country, with confidence-^ 
 that its power will prevail against the gigantic ef- 
 forts of its adversary. At the same time we con,- 
 fide in our venerable universities, and in all our 
 other seminaries instituted for the promotion of 
 piety and useful learning, with hope, that, under 
 their fostering care and liberal instruction, our 
 youth may long be worthy of their illustrious an- 
 cestry ; and that England, in distant times, may 
 afford to the world a glorious example of power, 
 exercised with^ justice, of science subservient to 
 .religion, of philosophy contributive to virtue, and 
 of reason submissive to that revelation which 
 surpasseth human understanding. 
 
 There are no means of creating or controul- 
 ing the force ©f public opinion, equally effica- 
 cious with those afforded in the education of 
 youth. The infant mind, unresisting and unsus- 
 pecting," may be tutored to virtuous sentiment 
 and manly capability, or be perverted to base 
 desire and slothful ignorance. We . are taught 
 the infinite importance of captivating the heart, 
 while it is yet uncorrupted by passion^ and un-
 
 1^ 
 
 influenced by error, in the example of one who, 
 being wiser than the sons of men, commanded 
 ** that little children should be brought unto 
 *' him, and forbade them not." Though laws 
 may be severe to detected criminals, and civil 
 institutions be liberal in reward to ascertained 
 merit, yet the influence of correct precept, in- 
 fused into the youthful breast, is far more opera- 
 tive than the terror of punishment, or the more 
 generous stimulant of hope. 
 
 The men of talent in France were equally 
 aware of that powerful means of executing their 
 peculiar project. While they introduced their 
 savage doctrines into treatises of abstruse science, 
 taste, and literature, they extended their influ- 
 ence, and secured their triumph, by empoisoning 
 the sources of opinion in the establishments of 
 education. It was the boast of Condorcet, " that 
 " they made philosophy descend from the thrones 
 *' into the very universities." * Not satisfied 
 with that success, they instituted their village 
 schools, and, in the appointment of schoolmas- 
 ters, paid from the royal treasury, they secured 
 the corruption of the children of the peasantry. 
 They thought it no degradation to lower their 
 flight of philosophy, that they might have dis- 
 ciples in the humble dwellings of the husband- 
 man and the artisan, and composed petty per- 
 formances suited to the unlettered classes for 
 cheap and gratuitous distribution, to corrupt the 
 her.rt and the understanding of infants, to sub- 
 vert the riational religion, and to vilify the laws, 
 
 England is indebted, in no mean degree, for 
 that liberality and consistency of sentiment, which 
 
 ♦ Preface to bis edition of Paschal's Thoughts, 1. Bar. 
 Mem; 341.
 
 101 
 
 may perpetuate her freedom and her establish- 
 ments, civil and religious, to a system of edu- 
 cation, which was maintained among us by men 
 eminent for learning, piety, and virtue, who 
 flourished at the time of our reformation. Those 
 illustrious fathers, who in persecution displayed the 
 virtues of martyrdom, and at a happier period per- 
 fected an establishment which is dignified without 
 impurity, and pious without fanaticism ; and those 
 who incorporated that establishment with the 
 state, in union, and not merely by alliance ; 
 were indebted for their deep erudition, their 
 rational religion, and their heroic patriotism, to 
 that system of education, which yet flourishes 
 among us : in which, learning is made the strong 
 foundation of truth and knowledge, and in which, 
 morality and piety, like inseparable sisters, concur 
 in training the character to the utmost excel- 
 lence which our frailty will permit us to attain.. 
 
 The learned languages, which in the Political 
 Register, are represented as worse than useless, 
 in a system of general education, are a part of 
 that foundation ; not only because the acquir- 
 ing of them is an exercise, which fortifies the un- 
 derstanding, and because they have a powerful 
 influence to form the taste and ameliorate the 
 temper of the heart, but because they contain 
 the most splendid treasures of sound philosophy, 
 the brightest examples of exalted virtue, the most 
 liberal lessons of philanthropy and moral science, 
 and the most decisive instances of the vigour of the 
 human intellect : and, withal, they are an evi- 
 dence of the necessity of wisdom superior to 
 that of unenlightened nature, and strengthen our 
 capacity to learn and comprehend the depth of 
 that wisdom which cometh only from above. 
 
 }{ the love of classical literature, and that re- 
 finement of taste, which results from polite learn-
 
 102 
 
 j»g, be not a part of our virtue, yet they en- 
 noble our habits, and embellish our manners. 
 That heart is of mean conception, and vulgar 
 ftfehng, which is not roused by the majeity of 
 Homer, or the more temperate dignity of Virgil; 
 which does not vibrate with loyalty, patriotism, 
 and the sense of honor, in the contentions of 
 the Iliad ; which cannot sympathize with the suf- 
 ferings of Ulysses, exemplary of patience, forti- 
 tude, contempt of voluptuousness, and degrading 
 folly, and unyielding love of justice ; or which 
 does not mark with enthusiastic admiration the pru- 
 dence, temperance, filial duty, and religious re- 
 signation of the pious ^^neas. In the critical 
 disquisitions of Aristotle and Longinus, the philo- 
 sophy of Plato, the invigorating effusions of 
 Demosthenes, the more polished eloquence of 
 Cicero, and in all those productions of science 
 and taste which illustrated the schools of Athens, 
 and the Roman commonwealth, are deposited the 
 principles of that knowledge, which enlarges 
 and adorns the human understanding, gives new 
 dignity to worldly honor, breaks the force of 
 calamity, moderates the malignant passions, and 
 kindles the virtuous affections. We must de- 
 spise that ignorance or sloth which does not 
 acknowledge the value of such resources, or 
 omits to acquire them in their native mines, pure 
 and unmixed in the servile process of translation; 
 treacherous is that precept which would substitute 
 for them the flimsy, unsubstantial fictions of mo- 
 dern philosophy, or the licentious poetry of tlie 
 modern school. Ill-exchanged for that literature 
 would be the language of the French academy, 
 even as it was refined by the reforming philoso- 
 phers, and its politics and morals as they are at- 
 tempted to be naturalized among us by the legis- 
 lators of revolutions.
 
 103 
 
 The system of education, established in our 
 public seminaries, is reprobated, not only by 
 those who are incapable of estimating its value, 
 or of imbibing its loyal and honorable sentiments, 
 but, also, by a sect which is rapidly increasing 
 among us ; which begins to raise its clamour with 
 formidable force, and seems to be actuated by 
 principles similar to those of the Puritans and 
 German anabaptists : a sect which originated in 
 the vanity of presumptuous dogmatists, and has 
 been, at all times, insolent in subjection, and in- 
 tolerant in power. 
 
 In our schools we do not permit the specu- 
 lations of casuistry to inflame the infant mind, 
 at a time, when it is better disciplined in the pur- 
 suits of useful and ornamental knowledge and 
 solid principle. We do not neglect the ele- 
 ments of religious doctrine, indispensable to 
 complete the mental and moral character as 
 they are prorided in the church catechism with 
 the illustrations of Seeker, and with the aid of 
 those manuals of rational and sound Christianity, 
 which our divines have prepared and adapted to 
 the capacity of the infant understanding. We 
 have also in use the Treatise of the learned Gro- 
 tius de veritate Religionis Chrtstiance. Instead 
 of the abstruser controversy, we put in the 
 hands of our youth the volume of holy scrip- 
 ture ; and in the simple precepts of christian 
 morality, we think that we afford a system of 
 divinity, practical rather than profound, far better 
 suited to the untainted innocence of childhood, 
 thaa that disputatious learning which seems less 
 conducive to gentleness, diffidence, and love. 
 We teach them that goodness is better than pro- 
 fession ; that religion is not a matter of intellect, 
 but a disposition of the heart ; that benevolence 
 
 1
 
 104 
 
 >s its basis and perfection ; and that, though the 
 mysteries of faith, and the hope of glory, are 
 the evidences and the effect ©f pure and per- 
 fect piety, yet that charity which embraces 
 whatever can pass by the name of virtue, is greater 
 than these, and is the root and the flourishing 
 branch of all true religion. 
 
 Happy will it be if a system of education, 
 which has flourished under the safeguard of our 
 social liberty, and the protection of our liberal 
 church, may long continue to produce the lu- 
 minaries of science, the defenders of religion, 
 and the preceptors and patterns of morality. But 
 while on the one hand it is undermined by 
 the enemies ef the constitution, and abused by 
 the querulous advocates of infidelity, it is vio- 
 lated by a great confederacy who affect peculiar 
 sanctity, make an ostentatious display of devout 
 attitude and prostration, and arrogate to them- 
 selves ** evangelical" distinction, even while they 
 assail the solid foundations of practical be- 
 neficence. The power and the influence of that 
 sect is widely extended by the means of edu- 
 cation. Its schools, like those of the French 
 philosophers, are raised in contemptuous oppo- 
 sition to the ministers of the national religion ; 
 their instruction is gratuitous, and is diffused by 
 means of pamphlets and cheap publications, in- 
 dustriously circulated among the lower classes. 
 
 The tendency of their instruction is to create a 
 sour, malignant, self-suflficiency ; their little pu- 
 pils are taught that the knowledge which we 
 cultivate and value is the vanity of human wis- 
 dom, that the righteousness which we inculcate 
 is as filthy rags, that our morality is impure and 
 worthless, that the doctrine of which we treat 
 in humility and submission, as being hard to
 
 105 
 
 be miderstood, and which our divines considec 
 as too exalted for perfect understanding, is to be 
 boldly preferred to our preceptive moral lessons, 
 that it is better than piety, and will supply the 
 want of active merit. Influenced by Such tui- 
 tion, the lower classes are made to think meanly 
 of their superiors in fortune, function, and dig«> 
 nity, to despise the coercion of the laws, and to 
 pant for that political change which is to elevate 
 their sanctity, at least, to equality with merit 
 recognized by law, and with profession ascer- 
 tained by beneficence. 
 
 In the late proceedings of the Spanish nation, 
 we shall, in vain^ seek for any resemblance to 
 the events and principles which have here been 
 slightly sketched, as an historical summary of 
 the Revolution in France. In Spain we have 
 witnessed the energy of noble minds, displayed 
 in patriotic language, to animate and to sustain 
 the vigour of a great people struggling for inde- 
 pendence in a cause of loyalty and national ho- 
 nour ; but we have not heard of the pedantic 
 effusions of false philosophy, conducive only to 
 traitorous insurrection : there has been no dispo- 
 sition shewn, by means of violence, " to reduce 
 " the overgrown influence of the crown, to 
 " curb the pretensions of the privileged orders, 
 ^' to raise up the power of real talents and worth, 
 ** to exalt the mass of the country, and to 
 ** give them under the guidance of that aris- 
 *^ tocracy, to direct the councils of the country 
 " according to the spirit as well as the form" 
 of a revolutionary government. The exulta- 
 tion of the reviewers therefore is at least prema- 
 ture; if, unhappily, it were justified by events, 
 such exultation would belong only to those who 
 might share the honors of that arisiocrac}'. But
 
 10(5 
 
 in trutii it would be of short duration. A re- 
 volution in Spain, or in England, brought about 
 by such means, would infallibly j roceed in like 
 manner as did its prototype in France. The 
 spirit of democracy, thus called again into active 
 iife, would rapidly degenerate into pure jacobin- 
 ism. Then would commence another long and 
 furious struggle between honor and infamy, 
 opulence and pillage, power and rebellion, wis- 
 dom and vanity, public principle and the abo- 
 mination of licence and misrule. That struggle 
 would endure through a long period of terror 
 and calamity, and must inevitably terminate in 
 the establishment of a pure military despotism, 
 Onder which the men of letters might have 
 ttleir little portion of disgraceful dependent patron- 
 age, but all other men of civil rank and func- 
 tion must groan in hopeless bondage and affliction. 
 ' Such a revolution has not been attempted in 
 Spain, and to that circumstance, the author of the 
 l^olitical Register attributes the triumph of the 
 usurper, and the discomfiture of the patriotic 
 forces. The usurper's triumph may be of short 
 "duration ; and the patriotic forces may by many 
 Instances of success, similar to their early vic- 
 tories and to that recent glory achieved at Vigo, 
 •s|iew tl)at tholigh driven from the field, they may 
 rally and must at last prevail. Such is tlie hope 
 '^and confidence of this county, in firm alli- 
 Snce with Ferdinand Vll. It remains now to in- 
 <juire whether the English constitution in its 
 principles, or abuses', is become so oppressive, that 
 "we stand in need of " the reform, the radical 
 "change, and revolution," recommended by the 
 Edinburgh Reviewers, in order "to raise up aiiiong 
 " us, the power of real talents and worth." 
 
 SXD SF FART II.
 
 107 
 
 THE 
 
 RIGHTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 IN the year 1235, when the bishops proposed 
 to the Lords of Parliament, that the canon law 
 should be accepted in England, in lieu of the 
 antlent laws and constitution, we are told in the 
 language of the antient statute, " omnes comites 
 *«etbarones mi^ voce 'responderunt quod nplunt 
 " leges Angliae mutari quaa usitatae sui^t et appro- ' 
 ^'batae."* 
 
 At that early period the English nation rejected 
 all change upon speculative principle. The accus- 
 tomed and approved law which they had received 
 from their fore-fathers by a title of inheritance, 
 and by long experience had found to be beneficial, 
 they would not yield to the counsel of the learned 
 prelates, who attempted to introduce into this 
 country the laws then recently adopted in foreign 
 nations, and by the means of that reformation, 
 were supposed to aim at personal rule, and to 
 claim the prei^eminence of an aristocracy of talents. 
 
 That propbsed innovation was not in favour of 
 crude and speculative principle, unsanctioned by 
 
 • Statute of Merton_, 20 Hen, 111. The direct proposal of 
 the Bishops was to legitimatize children born before mar- 
 riage, their object to introduce the authority of the canon law»«
 
 108 
 
 experience and unpromising of beneficial result. 
 It was in deference to a system of laws compiled 
 upon the basis of that admirable code, whicii the 
 Roman jurists had skilfully adapted to all the 
 necessities of their vast and flourishing empire ; 
 and had constructed for the imitation and applause 
 of all civilized communities. That code had been 
 already nriade the basis of jurisprudence by every 
 other European monarchy ; its beneficial eflfects 
 upon the progress of learning, the refinement of 
 manners, the establishment of moral equality in 
 the administration of justice, and the correcting 
 the barbarous institutions of that savage race 
 which had founded the western nations, is not to 
 be denied. Its unimpaired authority in many en- 
 lightened states, and the respect with which its 
 maxims are regarded, wherever reason and equity 
 are admitted to co-operate in the ministration of 
 civil justice, are an evidence of its intrinsic excel- 
 lence. In this country we are impelled by natural 
 feeling, and are bound by the unshaken judgment 
 of many ages, to extol the unrivalled superiority 
 of our own laws, in comparison with whatever 
 form or system of social polity the wisdom of 
 sages has imagined or the world has witnessed. 
 But we should be wanting in gratitude to the clergy 
 of that dark period if we did not commend and 
 venerate their zeal and unwearied diligence, their 
 learning and philanthropy, their love of order and 
 moral discipline, by which they gradually subverted, 
 in the states of the continent, the customs and 
 institutions of feudal barbarism and effectuated 
 the revival of that general jurispru^.ence, which 
 after the darkness of ignorance and oppres- 
 sion, came as the early dawn of literature and 
 science, and led in a succeeding age to the me- 
 ridian splendour of government, social freedomj 
 and universal civilization.
 
 log 
 
 In a far happier condition was the English nation. 
 Its laws and custonms, however compounded, or from 
 whatever source derived, were of high antiquity : 
 They were not committed to a perishable record, 
 but were deeply engraven in the hearts of a virtuous 
 and-heroic people. They had subsisted immemo- 
 rially ; they had weathered the rude shock of the 
 Norman conquest, and were endeared to every or- 
 der, because they were universally known, and were 
 excellently adapted to their wants, their affections, 
 their innate prejudices, and their acquired habits. 
 They had long flourished under the supremacy of 
 a potent monarch, whose greatness was essential 
 to the vigour of public justice, and to the energy 
 of a martial race, but was restrained by numberless 
 controuiing checks from violating the privileges 
 of the superior ranks, or entrenching on the fran- 
 chises of the lovvjer. They were the natural growth 
 of that antient spirit of liberty which had ani- 
 mated the whole body of the state ; and while it 
 had confirmed their due weight and consideratiou 
 to wealth, and to noble origin, had made the poor 
 ' man's cottage his castle of defence, unassailable 
 by violence and unimpregnable by lawless power. 
 As the work and labour of a remote ancestry, 
 who were independent, bold, and provident, the 
 people of that day regarded them with pious vene- 
 ration ; they valued them as a rich inheritance, to 
 be loved with a generous pride when enjoyed in 
 tranquil times, and to be valiantly defended, if 
 occasion required, with life itself. They considered 
 it as not less than a natural obligation, and an im- 
 portant branch of their parental duty, to transmit 
 inviolate, to their children, the same laws and cus- 
 toms, which might for ever pass as the birthright 
 of the country ; to be prized for its incomparable 
 excellence, and to be revered for its distant origin.
 
 no 
 
 Not many years before that period, the great 
 charter of England had been obtained by the same 
 patriotic nobles, actuated by the same attachment 
 to the antient laws and institutions. By that me- 
 morable statute created as a perpetual barrier 
 against the arbitrary power of a prince, among 
 various other franchises connected with the feudal 
 forms of the constitution at that time prevailing, 
 the freedom which we now enjoy was fundamen- 
 tally enacted. To all the municipalities of the - 
 realm, were conceded their antient liberties and 
 customs, (cap. ix.) And by the most compendious 
 legislative provision upon record, the liberty of the 
 person, the security of property, the supremacy of the 
 law, the trial by jury, with the full, free, and prompt 
 administration of justice and of right, which seem 
 to be the cardinal points of the glorious consti- 
 tution under which we have the happiness to live, 
 were amply secured. (Cap. xxix.) '* Nullus liber 
 ** homo capiatur vel imprisonetur aut disseisiatur 
 " de libero tenemento suo vel libertatibus vel 
 " liberis consuetudinibus suis, aut utlagetur aut 
 " exulet aut alicjuo modo destraatur, nee super eum 
 "ibimu? 'nee super eum mittemus, nisi per legale 
 ''judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terras. 
 ** NuUi vendemus nulli negabimus aut difFeremus 
 *' rectum vel justitiam." 
 
 It was in favour of such laws, the early boast of 
 our country, that the admirable union of govern- 
 ment and freedom was tf^nfirmed, at a time when 
 other nations were coerced by power, and accepted 
 wholesome restraint as the grace of magistracy. 
 It was for such a system that our ancestors pro- 
 claimed, "quod Bolunt leges Angliae mutare." 
 
 During the lapse of six hundred years, the wis- 
 dom displayed in the Parliament of Merton, has 
 been un4uestioned and revered. la all the contests
 
 in 
 
 bf a doubtful succession, ofresisance to oppres- 
 sion, of religious innovation, and every other in- 
 stance of political contention, which our eventful 
 history commemorates, that wisdom seems to have 
 been the active principle of every hational pro- 
 ceeding. It was not permitted by our ancestors 
 to be deduced by inference, nor to appear only in 
 the annals of their age, as a fact of historical im- 
 portance* When they established their own system 
 of law, in preference to that which next to their 
 own, every nation has regarded as the wisest and 
 the best, they did not sufFe rtheir resolution to pass, 
 like all other matters of negation, without legisla- 
 tive memorial ; they caused it to be recorded among 
 the statutes of the realm, that they would not 
 change the accustomed and approved laws, and 
 gave an example of attachment to the constitution, 
 which has been observed in all subsequent trans- 
 actions ; hitherto, whatever violations of liberty 
 might have followed the ambitious projects of an 
 usurpation, or the violent outrage of a rebellion, 
 or the fatal zeal of a religious persecution, in their 
 temporary triumph ; in all those circumstances, 
 the national sentiment has remained unaltered. 
 That reverence to our noble progenitors, which 
 naturally makes the mind of heroic and loyal 
 temper like their's, a feeling rather than a judg- 
 ment, with which we were inspired when our 
 infant hearts were first impressed to admire and to 
 imitate great and virtuous example, has hitherto 
 been the characteristic quality of our nation. It is 
 altogether novel among us to assert a different 
 principle in our domestic politics, to impair and to 
 calumniate that inborn reverence, and to raise the 
 recent clamour for radical reform^ for change, and 
 £or revolution. 
 
 . 4
 
 If that choice of our illustrious ancestors was 
 unwise and iniprovident ; if they ought to have 
 clipped the wings ©f royal prerogative which are 
 said to overshadow the liberties of the people, and 
 to have taught their king, that so far from enjoy- 
 ing an independent supremacy, conferred by the 
 constitution, to protect and to consolidate the 
 rights of the nation, he was no more than a ser- 
 vant of the state with a delegated and responsible 
 trust ; if they ought to have abandoned their own 
 privilege and distinction, which are incompatible 
 with an equality of rights, and to have submitted 
 to the rule and direction of that natural demo- 
 cracy iti which we are now told an unalienable 
 sovereignty is vested ; in that case let us abandon 
 the instruction of history ; let us deprecate that 
 example which our fathers, the slaves of prejudice, 
 commanded us to revere ; and let us reprobate as 
 injustice and usurpation, that very proceeding, 
 which we have been taught to applaud as a glorious 
 effort of honour and virtue, because it gave sta- 
 bility to the liberties of the subject, by uniting 
 them in right and title to the lawful authority of 
 the prince. 
 
 . That liberty which is the foundation and the 
 golden summit of our British constitution, as it was 
 ordained by the oldest statute of the realm, our law- 
 givers certainly did not derive from " the bulk, and 
 " the mass of the people, of the multitude, and of 
 "the mob itself." During the long period in 
 which the course of legal franchise has fertilized, 
 strengthened, and adorned, the native soil of Eng- 
 lishmen, it has proceeded in a pure and tranquil 
 current ; not turbid and tempestuous, like tliat 
 which originates in the violent and outrageous 
 gulph of wild democracy; but calm, salutary, and 
 auspicious, like that which derives its source from
 
 wisdom, order, and the law. If the choice of the 
 multitude, and of the mob, be the only legitimate 
 spring of social liberty, then our uninstructed an- 
 cestors were mistaken in their constitutional pro- 
 visions ; and we their descendar)ts being blessed 
 with a purer doctrine, and initiated into a sounder ' 
 philosophy, should no longer perpetuace their 
 errors, nor exult in the beneficence of their politic 
 regulations. 
 
 Then we may cease to extol the patriotism of ah 
 Alfred, the valour of an Edward and a Henry, the 
 prudence of an Elizabeth, and the sageness and the 
 heroism of King William. The virtues which have 
 so often illustrated the royal line, and illumine our 
 English annals, can no more be of practical advan- 
 tage. Then we shall no more commend the firm- 
 ness, the vigour, the loyalty, and the love of liberty^ 
 which formed the character of our antient nobles. 
 Those who shall acquire greatness in the new 
 regimen by less honorable qualities, (for in every 
 form of society, some men will acquire greatness) 
 cannot be stimulated by their example, nor by^^ 
 their hope of dignity, to assert like them the 
 lawful rights of every order, in contempt of the 
 unlawful pretensions of a tyrannizing power ; nor 
 like them to lead the gallant armies of the country 
 in defiance of difficulty and danger, to wrest by 
 manly enterprize, from a presumptuous enemy^ 
 the palm of victory and glory. Then we may 
 no longer search for lessons of jurisprudence in 
 the proceedings of our venerable judges, vvho 
 maintained the pre-eminence of the law over all 
 privilege and prerogative, and rendered our English 
 courts the sanctuaries of truth and justice. Then 
 the elaborate writings, which were compiled to 
 illustrate and perpetuate the excellent provisions 
 .»f our uawritten law, and the great volume of our
 
 114 
 
 «»tatutes, with Magna Charta, and the bill of 
 Rights, and the act of Habeas Corpus, and the 
 act of Settlement, and all the other ordinances 
 which parliaments have in wisdom provided to 
 establish our liberties on a solid foundation, may 
 Jdc abrogated and annulled. Then we shall no 
 more boast of an inheritiince derived from an ances- 
 try, who matured the constitution by deliberative 
 counsel, who gloriously contended for it in battle, 
 and thought it the noblest reward of their success, 
 when they left it perfect for our enjoyment. Their 
 hallowed tombs, rudely emblazoned by trophies of 
 generous heroism, achieved in the service of their 
 sovereign, we shall no longer approach with reve- 
 rential awe ; we shall not pant for opportunity to 
 emulate their virtues ; and w^e shall despise as ro- 
 mantic fiction, the engraven records of their fame. 
 
 In the flood of light, which the aristocracy of 
 talents will open, the beneficence of kings, the 
 virtues of nobles, the wisdom of judges, the pro- 
 vidence of parliaments, the force of great example, 
 and all tl)e lessons of experience, will become as 
 the remnant of an obsolete superstition, the ridi- 
 cule of refonners, and the contempt of triumphant 
 innovators. The modern philosophy will discover 
 that patriotism was unknown in England, till it 
 shall then appear in the form of insurrection, under 
 the guidance of the new aristocracy. The doctrine 
 of the rights of the people, to exalt the mass of 
 the community under that guidance, shall beggar 
 the wisdom of all our progenitors, and shall show 
 that they, with the means of acquiring perfect free- 
 dom, were content to temperate a power which 
 vfAs radically oppressive, and which, however mode- 
 rated, can only exist as a distemper, as a nuisance, 
 and a violation of natural right. 
 
 Such may be the opinions of tho^ who inritc
 
 115 
 
 our people to disaffection and conspiracy. They 
 may not fear a comparison of their own intelligence 
 anel pretensions, with all the wisdom, the prudence 
 and the loyalty, which have benefited this illustriou$ 
 nation from Alfred's day to the present, to govern 
 and influence its counsels. They may fondly imagine 
 that the smartness of repartee, the quaintness of 
 humour, the facetiousness of satire, the keenness 
 of reproach ; or to give higher commendation, 
 where it may be claimed, that the grave discus- 
 sions of scientific and philosophical researches, 
 compiled for the editor of the Edinburgh Review, 
 and the sturdy declamation of the Political Regis- 
 ter, will, in the public judgment, hold an advanta- 
 geous competition vs'ith the qualities of all the states- 
 men, patriots, vvarriors,and advocates of legal order, 
 who reared and embellished the British constitution 
 as it is now by law established. Anxious at whatever 
 risque, to enter upon the important duties of 
 making and .'idministering laws, they may believe 
 themselves well qualified to act in all the various 
 relations of our foreign and domestic policy ; dis- 
 daining the labours of their less bold precursors 
 in the art of government, they may he willing to 
 level at one Wow, a fabric venerable for its dura- 
 tion of at least a thousand years, and will "extra- 
 " vagantly rejoice" at an opportunity to proclaim 
 their new constitution, which they have pilfered, 
 with their declaration of rights, from the philoso- 
 phers of the Paris committees, and tlie legislators 
 of the revolutionary tribunal. 
 
 , • But such are not yet the opinions of the British 
 public. They will not so hastily condemn as un- 
 wise and improvident, the choice of our ances- 
 tors, hitherto approved and confirmed by the 
 choice of all their posterity. Illuminated as we 
 are by the new notions of philosopiiy and national
 
 n6 
 
 policy, not one of which can be deduced from 
 the practice or the principles of our forefathers, 
 we shall pause before we enter upon that work 
 of destruction, by which alone our modern the- 
 ory can be put to experiment. Even though 
 that natural piety, which sanctifies the precepts 
 and the example of the illustrious dead, may 
 no longer hold its rank among the civic duties, 
 yet, in prudence if not in virtue, we shall esti- 
 mate the value of the inheritance we possess, 
 and endeavour to calculate the advantages of 
 the rights we are invited to assume. Though, 
 on the one side, there is nothing but promise 
 and possibility, and perhaps little chance of ulti- 
 mate benefit; and no security at all, yet we shall 
 not conclude the bargain till we have deliberated 
 upon the price to be paid for the distant and 
 contingent amelioration. 
 
 In that deliberation it will first occur to us, 
 that a foundation for the inquiry ought to be 
 laid in grievance, unlawful, hopeless, and op- 
 pressive. The constitution established, was de- 
 signed for the redress of all ordinary grievance ; 
 and has even by that memorable event of 1688, 
 provided a Remedy for the most extreme case of 
 oppression and usurpation, which is recorderl in 
 our annals. If the existence of the monarchy 
 -be necessarily oppressive, if the legislative faculty 
 of the three estates be an intolerable grievance, 
 if the establishment of the church, and the ad- 
 ministration of justice, by the king's appointed 
 delegates, be naturally an abuse of public rights, 
 then let our modern reformers openly avow, that 
 it is their object to abrogate the monarchy, to 
 destroy the functions of parliament, to overthroiv 
 the church, to annul the authority of magistrates, 
 ^nd to establish a new constitution suited to their 
 
 1
 
 117 
 
 own notion of propriety and right. For all other 
 grievances the subsisting constitution has provided 
 appropriate remedy, by means of those same in- 
 stitutions. But when the Edinburgh Reviewers 
 propose " to exalt the mass of the community,- 
 " and to give them under the guidance of the 
 *' aristocracy of talents, to direct the councils 
 *' of England," and qualify their proposal by ad- 
 ding, ** that it is according to the spirit as well 
 *' as the form of our invaluable constitution," 
 it is an insinuation, false, impudent, and trea- 
 cherous. That constitution is invaluable, be- 
 cause il has provided its remedies, for every pos- 
 sible grievance, without recurring, in any case, to 
 the iiias-? of the community ; because, in all or- 
 dinary cases, those remedies are found in the 
 orderly exercise of the functions of parliament ; 
 because, in an extreme case, a remedy will be 
 found in the right of resistance, to be then 
 only exercised in the last necessity, by the con- 
 stituted authorities of the realm, and never m 
 any case vesting in the mass of the community. 
 
 Let those who would " extravagantly rejoice" 
 in that assumption of right by the multitude 
 and the mob, candidly avow, that instead of 
 acting under the sanction of the British con- 
 stitution, they assert a principle never imagined 
 by our ancestors, and destructive of our laws. 
 "Let them know that " as far as in them lays* 
 " they are a party to revolutionary measures^'* 
 
 It is better to meet the question fully, and to 
 consider whether or not the British constitution 
 as transmitted to us, be a nuisance and an op- 
 pression ; and whether or not, on the ground of 
 grievance, we stand in need of any sort of re- 
 medy to be afforded by the mass of the com- 
 ' munity. 
 
 Jn that inquiry vve shall find that all the iuj-
 
 118 
 
 p©rtant pflrposes for which government can be 
 constituted, or liberty be valued, are in this 
 country abundantly enjoyed, and effectually se- 
 cured. We have, in its highest possible degree, 
 that right of personal security, which consists in 
 tlie legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of life, 
 limbs, body, health, and reputation. Our per- 
 sonal liberty is not less sacred in the consider- 
 ation of our law ; so that we have no functionary, 
 howsoever potent, who can, with impunity, im- 
 pose the least unlawful restraint upon > :ie mean- 
 est subject of the realm, either by colour of 
 justice, or in open violation of its rules. The 
 right of property is so sacred, that no pretence 
 of state necessity can justify the sovereign him- 
 self, for the smallest exaction, either to main- 
 tain the dignity of his power, or to support 
 the authority of his government, without the 
 sanction of the estates of the realm in parlia- 
 ment assembled. Our taxation heavy, as we think 
 it, is admitted to be lighter than that of any 
 other country in Europe ; with a system of col- 
 lection infinitely less vexatious and oppressive. * 
 The freedom of the press, terrible to all ty- 
 ranny, and incompatible with all abuse of power, 
 is among us so sacred, that it is permitted to 
 approach to licentiousness, and that every week, 
 without legal interference, we are offended by an 
 obtrusion of opinions and assertions the most sedi*. 
 tious, scandalous, and false. Our religious tolera- 
 tion is complete. No man is questioned for any 
 sentiments, religious or political, which are not 
 
 ♦ Seethe last No. of the Edinburgh Review, 449. Tb^ 
 fact simply stated, might be ati appropriate motto to the lirt 
 •of the 125 members of Mr. Wardle's minority, which Mr. 
 Cobbett " will have printed upon fine and stout paper, ca- 
 ** pable of being framed, so that it may be hung up, and 
 " read as one si is before the fire." See the Political Register, 
 ^*l April, 1809.
 
 1J0 
 
 immediately destructive of the peace of society, 
 and do not endanger the public safety. What 
 other nation can boast of equal franchises ? Will 
 the new philosophy afford us more substantial 
 •liberty ? For the perpetual defence and preserva- 
 tion of all these rights, we have the security 
 of parliament, the ascertained limitations of the 
 royal prerogative, the unsuspected purity of pub* 
 lie justice, the privilege of petitioning the Uirone, 
 and the two houses of the legislature, upon 
 any imputed grievance, or any apparent neces- 
 sity ; and what was never elsewhere entrusted 
 to the subject under any form of government 
 whatever, but is here sanctioned and declared 
 by a fundamental statute, * " that the subjects, 
 ** which are protestants, may have arms for their 
 ** defence, suitable to their condition, and as 
 *' allowed by law." 
 
 Our hereditary monarchy is endued with am- 
 ple prerogative. The sovereign has not only 
 the power of calling into action the legislative 
 estates, but it is by his assent alone, that their 
 decision acquires the force of law. From 
 him is derived the whole of the judicial func- 
 tion, and in his person is vested entire the exe- 
 cutive branch of government. The public ex- 
 penditure is exclusively under his direction : he 
 has the sole command of the public forces, mili- 
 tary and maritime : to him belongs the ma- 
 nagement of all foreign relation, both in war 
 and peace. In the exercise of these attributes, 
 he owes responsibility to none. But, neverthe- 
 less, the constitution has provided, with suffi- 
 cient care, that he shall be powerful, only 
 for the public good ; and that in the minis- 
 tration of his high office he shall, not only by 
 
 * Declaration of Rights, 1 WiUiam md Mary* c. ^.
 
 120 
 
 construction of law, but from absolute neces- 
 sity, be incapable of doing wrong. His ministers 
 and advisers are, without exception, responsible 
 for his transgression, and are amenable for obey-* 
 ing his unlawful mandates. They are not less 
 answerable for their counsel, if it be detrimental 
 to the public interest ; and can never plead the 
 royal prerogative for measures illegal or impo- 
 litic. If the policy, which the monarch will pur- 
 sue, be plrfmly adverse to the sentiments of the 
 nation, or, if he persevere in retaining minis- 
 ters, who do not enjoy the confidence of parlia- 
 ment, the Commons have the means of dic- 
 tating, even in the exercise of his prerogative, 
 by withholding the ordinary supplies. The po- 
 tency of his sceptre is as weakness, and the 
 splendor of his crown is of faded lustre, without 
 the aid and approbation of his parliament. He 
 has no force to maintain his vast prerogative, 
 much less to invade the rights of his people, 
 without that supply which he can only obtain from 
 the' beneficence of his parliament. 
 
 But it is said that the sovereign may accom- 
 plish, by influence, that which he dares not at- 
 tempt by prerogative; and the Edinburgh Re- 
 viewers would " extravagantly rejoice in any con- 
 " ceivable event which should reduce the over- 
 " grown influence of the crown.'* 
 
 The history of the reign of the present so- 
 vereign, in which that influence is said to have 
 arrived at prodigious excess, will confute the 
 charge. Was the monarch able to overcome 
 Mr. Wilkes, an obscure individual, though the 
 whole power of the state was directed against him. 
 " The rays of royal indignation, collected upon 
 " him, served only to illuminate, but could not 
 " consume." * Could the undivided power of go- 
 * Juniu6> Letter to the King.
 
 121 
 
 vernment, sanctioned by the votes of pafliament^ 
 and upheld by popular opinion, avail against th6 
 persons charged with treason, in 1794. The ac^ 
 cased persons had the benefit of the law, arid 
 rested upon the trial by jury. However guilty, 
 updn that rock they defied the prosecution^ and / 
 were placed where no ififluence has yet attempted 
 to obtain conviction without conclusive evidence,- 
 to distort the truth, or to pervert the judgment. • 
 
 Complaint is made of the influence of th6 
 crown in the deliberations of parliament. Five- 
 
 * and-t\venty years ago, the House of Commofts 
 asserted, not without censure, that such influ- 
 ence existed ; * that to a certain degree it does 
 exist, it would be vain to deny ; perhaps, it 
 is irrational to lament. It may be A benefit, in- 
 stead of an injury, to the commonwealth, and 
 otight not to be condemned till it is found de- 
 trimental. 
 
 The iTiembers of a popular assembly, always' 
 capable, by means of its privileges, of usurping 
 the powers of sovereignty, subject to the ini- 
 pulse of faction, and naturally controuled or led 
 by the spirit of its most aspiring leaders, must 
 be always liable to tumult and aggression. 
 However constituted, whether composed of men- 
 who sit by hereditary right, or are dele- 
 gated by popular election, having the means 
 at pleasure, of grasping the emoluments^, and 
 of claiming the dignity of office, and of ex^* 
 cising the attributes of government, some pati' 
 
 > of that assembly must be subject to absolut-^tf 
 restraints, or be guided by gentler means ; othtlf** 
 ii'ise they will, at some time or oth6r^ be? a^^'' 
 
 • By the vote made on Mr. Cunning's motion *^ that the 
 *' influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and 
 5* ooght to be diniinished."
 
 112 
 
 ated by that ambition of which societies are not 
 less susceptible than individuals. All the mem- 
 ber3 of the House of Commons were, at one 
 time, strictly independent. Its pretensions ad- 
 vanced in constant opposition to the monarch ; 
 and at last it aimed, with complete success, at the 
 dissolution of the state, and at arrogating to it- 
 self all the authority and the revenues of go- 
 vernment. The acknowledged prerogative of 
 King Charles, was not less extensive than that 
 at present appertaining to the crown. That un- 
 fortunate prince, with whatever reluctance, 
 yielded to the republican ardour which grew out 
 of the absolute independence of the Commons, 
 and at last made every concession which was 
 necessary to their constitutional freedom, or com- 
 patible with any limitation of royalty. But they 
 would be satisfied with no concessions. Pos- 
 sessing the treasure of the nation, and allowing 
 none of it to go in aid of the king's govern- 
 ment ; being desirous of permanent and inde- 
 pendent power, they proceeded step by step, 
 till they compelled their sovereign to become 
 their rival, their enemy, their prisoner, and their 
 victim ; and till all privilege and franchise of 
 the subject was their sport and plunder. 
 
 After the restoration, the members of the 
 house were equally independent of the influence 
 of the crown. The prince became jealous of their 
 privileges* A contest ensued between preroga- 
 tive, which aimed at tyranny, and the just rights 
 of parliament. That contest terminated in the 
 happy accession of King William, when the 
 greatness of the sovereign, and the privileges of 
 the legislature were made compatible, and were 
 permanently united in a beneficial concord. 
 
 If parliament lost any portion of its collect- 
 ive independence, or were subject to the mandate
 
 123 
 
 of the sovereign, the essential vigour of the con- 
 stitution would be lost, and the forms of Hberty 
 would only serve to bring to painful recollection 
 the inestimable blessing which we had lost. The 
 Roman Senate, though in abased servility, sur- 
 vived the liberties of their country, but being 
 subject to a stern master, they only served to 
 reconcile the degraded country to the galling 
 yoke of personal despotism. It was by the 
 collision of parties, and the triumph of faction 
 in that august assembly, that the public mind 
 was prepared for the practical subversion of the 
 Koman constitution. If, in the House of Com- 
 mons, there was no one by influence or interest, 
 bound to maintain its harmony with the other 
 branches of the legislature, vehement opposition 
 might soon arise out of relentless faction ; liberty 
 would be lost in the conflicts of party ; and go- 
 vernment must soon assume the character of an 
 absolute monarchy, or of a less tolerable oli- 
 garchy. 
 
 It may be said, that a House of Commons, 
 subject to such influence, is but an organ of 
 royalty, a delusive phantom of public liberty, and 
 an unnecessary incumbrance to the state. Such 
 it would be, most truly, if its decisions were 
 dictated by the crown, and its deliberations 
 controuled by authority. But that influence to 
 which some of its members are subject, is limited, 
 and cannot be directed beyond the ordinary ad-r 
 ministration of affairs. It can never aim at any 
 object injurious to the public welfare, or at any 
 increase of the royal power ; but is naturally 
 and invariably confined to those objects which 
 are strictly within the view and intention of the 
 British constitution. 
 
 It is a maxim of that constitution, that the 
 King shall have the appointment of the execur
 
 124 
 
 tivc servants of the itate. If the members of 
 the House of Commons were all of them uncon- 
 nected with any interest but that of their own 
 house, would they not more frequently assume the 
 right to which a minority is always devoted, and at 
 which, once at least in the present reign, a ma- 
 jority directly aimed ; that of controuling the 
 King's nomination, and of imperiously fixing 
 their own leading members in the several de- 
 partments of office ? Would the ministers ap- 
 pointed by the vote, and dependent upon the 
 favor of that house be most solicitous of serv- 
 ing the king, their nominal master, or of ob- 
 ^ining popular applause, and the contiaued 
 support of their constituent majority ? In such 
 n case the honor of the crown would be titular, 
 9nd its power extinct ; while the nation, in- 
 stead of the security of a powerful and per- 
 manent administration, responsible to parlia- 
 fnent, would be governed by ministers, consti- 
 tuted by the House of Commons, without any 
 responsibility, and without any possibility of long 
 retaining their appc^miment ; and ail parties 
 would be perpetually distrrcted by the uproar 
 and the disorders, inseparable from a state of 
 fection, and political contention. 
 
 Those who lament that the members of the 
 House of Commons are some of them subject 
 to royal influence, should examine the human 
 heart before they proceed to complaint and cen- 
 sure. Do they fondly believe that a numerous 
 ^ody, drawn promiscuously by any process of de- 
 legation, from any order of society, shall possess, 
 individually, intelligence and virtue to be placed 
 above delusion or indirect controul ? In what 
 age or country, under any imaginable mode of 
 formation, has such an assembly Ijeen constituted? 
 In the con!ir:(f . ifiairs of life, for the manage- 
 ment of municipal transactions, or of village-
 
 115 
 
 interests, w]iarever indepen4ent power is lodged 
 in a numerous meeting, some leader invariably 
 {irises, whom it would be ridiculous to honour as 
 possessing a purer heart, or a more able under- 
 standing, th^n those who subrnit to his direc- 
 tion. The nature" of man is not chang'ed by el^ 
 vated rank, or by political function. That spi- 
 rit of intrigue, faction, and i^mbition, which dis- 
 tracts the vestry of a parish , and the corpora- 
 tion of a borough, will actuc^te the heart of the 
 legislator and the statesman. To complain that 
 every individual pi^mber of parliament does not 
 rest upon his own intelligence and knowledge, 
 is to betray ^ gross ignorance of the faculties 
 pnd temper which are common to all mankind. 
 To raise ary outcry, that soiue men are influt- 
 enced by the j^uthority pf a government which 
 h^S shewn itself just and patriotic, while praise 
 is bestowed upon others who oppose that go- 
 vernment by a slavish adherence to a leader of 
 factious principles and unsuccessful ambition, 
 plainly shews, that aversion to the established qu,- 
 thority occasions the objection ; and that such 
 complaint would cease when that authority should 
 yield to opposition. 
 
 The royal influfnce never yet maintained a mi- 
 nister who wanted other free support, nor ever 
 protected his conduct from the strict and hos- 
 tile inspection of a vigilant opponent ; who be- 
 ing once able to. affix stigma to his name, or 
 to impute to hiin the least corruption or mal- 
 versation, instantly became the leader of £^ trium- 
 phant majority. The influence of office, the sup- 
 port of an unsuspected coadjutor, the weight of 
 personal friendship, and the merit of laborious 
 duty, w^re all insufficient to rescue Lord Mel- 
 ville from accusation and public trial, when sus- 
 picion of corrupt transaction was raised against 
 him. The recent investigation of crinainal charges
 
 n6 
 
 brought against a distinguished member of the 
 ro)'al house, is another conclusive proof, that, of 
 whatever nature the influence of the crown may 
 be, it can sheher no man, of whatever power 
 or rank, from that parliamentary inquiry which 
 a public accuser demands. 
 
 The free sanction of parliamentary confidence 
 is necessary to the support of every minister ; 
 for without it no one has yet attempted to 
 maintain himself in the service of the King. 
 The abdication of Sir Robert VValpole, and 
 the frequent changes which followed that ab- 
 dication in the last reign ; the versatility of 
 counsel during the earlier part of the present 
 reign ; the resignation of Lord North ; the failure 
 of the famous coalition ; and the secessioa of Mr. 
 Addington's ministry, all bhew that the influence 
 of the crown is not paramount ; and that it can- 
 not controul the sense of parliament when 
 plainly hostile to any administration. That sense 
 is not always declared by a majority of votes, 
 but is sometimes not less equivocally expressed ; 
 and when it is evidently evinced, the most reso- 
 lute minister must yield his own judgment, and 
 conform to measures prescribed by his opponents. 
 In the vigour of his power, Mr. Pitt was guided 
 by that sense, when he assented to the repeal 
 of the shop-tax, his earliest^ and favorite project 
 of finance ; and, six years afterwards, when he 
 submitted to the policy of his rival, and assented 
 to the peace between Turkey and Russia, upon 
 terms which he thought incompatible with the in- 
 terests of this country. By the sense of parlia^ 
 ment was dictated the dismemberment of the 
 empire at the acknowledgement of the inde- 
 pendence of America. The peace of Amiens, 
 fruitful of those disasters against which we at pre- 
 sent struggle, was made in obedience to the sense
 
 \17 
 
 of parliament. The act of the last session for 
 limiting the patronage of the crown, in the grant 
 of reversionary appointments, was obtained by 
 the House of Commons in direct opposition to 
 the former sentiments of the sovereign, of his 
 ministers, and of the upper house. The consti- 
 tuting of the various committees to inquire into 
 the ministration of every public department, 
 is a proof that, at this instant, whatever the 
 influence of the crown may be, it cannot check 
 that investigation of abuses, which is an import- 
 ant parliamentary function. 
 
 Let those who complain of that influence in 
 parliament maintain their cause, by shewing ac- 
 tual grievance, occasioned by its exercise. If 
 they can shew that from the operation of that 
 cause, the Commons have neglected their im- 
 portant duties ; that they have lent their aid for 
 the persecution of innocence, or for the pro- 
 tection of convicted guilt ; that they have assented 
 to measures of injustice or oppression, or omit- 
 ted to dictate measures of justice and public 
 utility ; if they have permitted the laws to be 
 violated, foreign war to be prosecuted for vain 
 glory, or fatal ambition ; or domestic advantages 
 to be sacrificed to personal interest, prejudice, 
 or humour ; if they have abandoned, in a single 
 instance, their own privileges, or one item of tha 
 public liberties, then that complaint may not be 
 without foundation : but while that influence 
 shall be usefully applied for constitutional pur- 
 poses, and shall never be directed to oppression 
 or national detriment, so long we may hope that 
 the public ear will be deaf to such complaint. 
 The argument may be well-suited to those shal- 
 low understandings, which are not satisfied with 
 solid and permanent utility, without external form 
 and splendour j it is still better adapted to those
 
 1^ 
 
 whose object \t iS, not to rendvate, but to dfeStroy 
 the constitution ; vf ho \tould 6ftff)6ok its cdH- 
 veniencie« rfnd ;fdvantajG^es, ^aluiiini^tft whatevet 
 differs from their pccuHar theory, and represent 
 as defective and pefnicious, whaftevef is opposed 
 to their scheme and poHcy. ft will never be 
 adopted by tho^e who consider that the great 
 end of all gov^rrtftlent is the public good, and 
 ^il) be satisfied with an in^titufion which is found 
 conducive to that important end. 
 
 When the passions of mankind shall be sub- 
 dued by roason, and the understanding, unclouded 
 by error, shall be called to deliberate and resolve 
 unbiassed by vjmity and interest ; (a jx;riod, 
 v-hich the past measures of reformers have not 
 seemed to accelerate;) then it may become a 
 practical principle of the British constitution, 
 that every individual member of the lower 
 house shaUbe in personal independence, not only 
 df the crown, but of the nation which he re- 
 presents. The complaint of influence has been 
 chiefly applied to that of the King and of his mi- 
 i^isters ; and all those who have composed the ma- 
 jority in favor of any system of administration, 
 are despised as the slaves of power, or the cor- 
 rupt tools of interest. But there is another iiW 
 iiuence by which the deliberations of parliament 
 are swayed. There are pretended patriots who,- 
 mipellcd by more dangerous ambition, will sacriw 
 fice duty and judgment to acquire the support of 
 popular applause. Will such men, when they" 
 gain the palm for which they contend, be still 
 the advocates of public liberty ? Or, will they* 
 not, as in former instances, when possessed of 
 the power of the state by means of their po- 
 pularity, cease to be panders to tht* vices of the 
 people? Will net they, too, shew that intrigue 
 and corruption are complained of by reformers
 
 4»9 
 
 ^'ithout sincei'ity ? and, that when the favor of 
 the multitude can no longer serve the purposes 
 pf the aspiring demagogue, he, too, will bean 
 advocate of power, and call for confidence angl 
 submission? 
 
 Knowledge, foresight, prudence, and virtue, 
 are necessary to qualify the independent legis- 
 lator for his important duty. Where shall we 
 find, in society, six hundred men known to be 
 entitled by such qualities, to regulate the affairs 
 i>f the British empire.; and if they were fouodi 
 jby what means shall we obtain their delegation tp 
 .parliament by any description of constituents. Suc^i 
 ipnen will not flatter .the ignorant and tumultuoutS 
 ilfiultitude of electors ; which, as it should be more 
 jaumerous by an extension of the elective franchise, 
 would become more ignorant, and tumultuous. 
 They will not stoop to the base contrivances of 
 iin election contest, nor court the grovelling pas- 
 sions of the vulgar, by traducing the state, and 
 scandalizing rank and property. They will not make 
 promises of public benefits, inaproperto be made, 
 and impossible to be performed ; nor will they 
 represent the necessary restraints of law as vio- 
 lations of the constitution, and of the natural 
 rights of man. Against them the more loquacious 
 popular candidate has an incalculable advantage. 
 Hi^ professions are liberal, because they are in- 
 sincere, and his interest is powerful because he 
 ^applies to the venal and corrupt. 
 
 It is altogether hopeless, that parliament should^ 
 be wholly composed of men, whose exalted vir- 
 • tue and enlightened minds render them above 
 ./controul and influence, and superior to error. 
 iThe senate being tinctured with the frailty of hu* 
 .man nature, never can be exempt from those mo- 
 "lives which actuate the heart in every relation of
 
 ISO 
 
 life. Constituted as in this country, it is directly 
 exposed to the influence of two opposing powers, 
 that of the crown on the one side, and of 
 the people on the other. 
 
 The influence of the crown, whatever it may 
 be, like the prerogatives attached to the regal 
 office, is administered by persons who are res- 
 ponsible for the use to which they apply it, and 
 "are personally interested in making only such ap- 
 plication of it as may be consistent with the pub- 
 lic service. By becoming the servants of Go- 
 yfernment, they are not deprived of their personal 
 'interest in the privileges of parliament, and the 
 liberties o( the subject. By those privileges they 
 ^inay chiefly hope, permanently, to possess their 
 high situations ; for, in the appointment of minis- 
 ters, the confidence of the commons has been 
 known to outweigh the predilection of the King. 
 Deprived of that support, their master might be- 
 come their tyrant, and their only remaining se- 
 curity would be the continued favor of a prince, 
 who might not only drive them from office, but 
 subject them to the disgrace of Wolsey, and the 
 'martyrdom of More. Ministers can never be 
 'indifferent to those franchises in which they have 
 an interest in common with all their fellow sub- 
 jects ; and'^it is highly improbable, that parlia- 
 ment can ever be induced, by such influence, 
 to concur in any violation of the constitution. 
 The members have a more direct personal interest 
 even than ministers, to preserve it unimpaired ; 
 and by conceding it to an ambitious sovereign, 
 they would not only lose their share in the li- 
 berties of the country, but more immediately 
 the pre-eminence of their legislative function, 
 with all security of life, rank, and property. 
 Nor wbUld a scheme so fatal and foolish be un- 
 dertaken by parliament itself, with any probability
 
 J3l 
 
 of success. That popular opposition, which, in 
 former instancCvS, has prevailed orer Ihe united 
 opinions of government and the legislature, would 
 instantly become more vigorous, and would ulti- 
 mately triumph in a contest, destructive of all those 
 who had rashly and wickedly provoked it. 
 
 The influence of the people may, even now, be 
 perceived in parliament. How many accusations 
 of distinguished merit, aspersions of honorable 
 character, proposals of insecure peace, and pro- 
 jects of dangerous innovation, have proceeded from 
 that cause. If it were ev^r to prevail over the in- 
 fluence of constituted authority, it would be admi- 
 nistered without discretion, justice, or understand- 
 ing. Subject to deception, versatility, and humour ; 
 and called into energy by insidious demagogues, its 
 dictates would be rash and perilous. The com- 
 mon restraints of government, which the multitude 
 often deem oppressive, they would require to be 
 moderated or abandoned. The policy of important 
 and necessary warfare, not understood by them, 
 they vi'ould, by the direction of servile adulators, 
 like the Athenian orators, in the pay of a foreign 
 enemy, reprobate and counteract. Their judg- 
 ment, seldom impartial and enlightened, would 
 commonly be directed by passion, caprice, and 
 vengeance. The parliament subject to such in- 
 fluence must, like them, be unjust, capricious, and 
 vindictive. No administration could be strong, 
 permanent, or prudent ; society must perpetually 
 be convulsed by contending factions, and the con- 
 stitution must soon yield, to the hostility of aspir- 
 ing democrats. 
 
 The editor of the Weekly Register, vehemently 
 complains of the admission of the king's ministers 
 and other servants of state, to sit in the House 
 of Commons, and at a late election, where he was 
 entitled to a vote, he demanded of the candidates
 
 13^ 
 
 a pledge that they would never accept of office 
 under his majesty, if thoy should obtain the re- 
 presentation of the county of Hants. 
 
 The exclusion of the king's ministers wonld give 
 fd the electors the nomination of ten or twelve 
 persons less immediately connected with the crown, 
 than those who bear the high offices of state. Is it 
 probable that any important public question, to be 
 decided by a division, would depend essentially 
 upon that nomination ? The editor of the Weekly 
 Register will hardly advance so ridiculous a posi- 
 tion. If a constitutional jealousy of ministers will 
 justify the excluding of those twelve persons from 
 having voices in the legislature, it ought to proceed 
 much further than to banish them from parlia- 
 ment, and not to stop till a government is esta- 
 blished, the members of which may have_, at least, 
 as much confidence and respectability as the no- 
 minee of the Duke of Bedford, or any other bo- 
 rough-proprietor, or as the champion of popular 
 rights, deputed by the electors of Westminster. 
 A government, which is not only to be watched 
 but to be suspected, and without proof of malver- 
 saation, or the formality of a criminal charge, to be 
 mistrusted, and to be shut out from the great 
 council of the nation ; and that not to produce 
 any beneficial effect in the proceedings of parlia- 
 ment (for that cannot be pretended) but to impress 
 upon the public mind, that it never should confide 
 in those whom the sovereign has selected on ac- 
 count of their wisdom and their ascertained merits, 
 to assist him in the exercise of his duties ; such a 
 government had better he at once superseded. 
 Ministers that are not loved, honored, or respected ; 
 that are to attend the legislature in a capacity of 
 servitude, without partaking of its privileges or 
 functions; that when questioned, are to stand at 
 its bar, rather as criminals than as having in their
 
 188 
 
 hands the exercise of the royal power, and are 
 there to wait the scorn, reviling, and accusation of 
 every vain pretender to political science, and of 
 every candidate for popular esteem, bound to silent 
 and indignant submission, till the house shall per- 
 mit them to assert their innocence, or to defend 
 their ministration ; such a body of men must be 
 inadequate to the purposes of their institution. 
 Their tempers being soured by reproach to which 
 they must not reply, and full of resentment for in* 
 suits offered through them to the crown itself, they 
 can never love that parliament; but if they have the, 
 courage and understanding, which in their situa- 
 tions they ought to have, they may think that they 
 afford to their master faithful service, by advising 
 him to render his authority independent of that 
 harsh and unmannerly controul. 
 
 Ministers admitted to the legislature are now 
 anxious to sustain the honor of a body to which 
 they belong, and in whose confidence and appro- 
 bation tiiey seek for a high reward, which their 
 sovereign has not to bestow. They sit among the 
 representatives of the nation with a dignity confer- 
 red upon them for the public good, not to dictate 
 but to counsel, not to speak with power but to in- 
 form with authority. Most conversant with the 
 complicated bearings of the questions brought into 
 consultation, and peculiarly competent to gire in- 
 struction upon the probable result of the various 
 measures which are proposed, their opinion is sel- 
 dom heard without compliance, and never without 
 respect. There they confer with the mass of the 
 community, through the medium of their repre- 
 sentatives ; suggest useful laws, and acquire an in- 
 timate acquaintance with the wants, the wishes, 
 and the opinions of the nation. It is their natu- 
 ral and peculiar duty to guard the institutions of
 
 , 134 
 
 the state, which are rarely affected by t!i6 specu- 
 lations of the adventurous innovator, without caus- 
 ing injury to that pubHc whom he intends to 
 court. 
 
 In the last parliament holden by King William, 
 the jealousy of the Commons was excessive, and 
 they introduced into the net of settlement, an in- 
 discriminate exclusion of all persons holding any 
 office or pl/ice of profit under the King, or receiv- 
 ing any pension from the crown, from serving as 
 members of their house. The restriction, as far 
 as it affected the great officers of state, was in- 
 stantly found inconvenient and pernicious; and the 
 exclusion was revoked by the Whig Parliament 
 which met in the fourth year of Queen Anne. 
 
 The experimental legislators of the national as- 
 sembly in France, excluded the ministers of their 
 dishonored king from taking place among them. 
 It was their purpose to degrade the royalty, and to 
 arrogate to themselves all honor and power. That 
 exclusion corresponded with their general design. 
 Under that regulation, there was no sympathy 
 among the various departments of the state, no 
 union of counsel, and no co-operation. The mi- 
 nistry was at the mercy of every new cabal ; every 
 day calumniated and accused, without the means 
 of justification or defence. When their power was 
 insulted and resisted by a licentious mob, they ap- 
 peared as supplicants for the ordinary aid of the 
 Jaws ; when the treasury was exhausted, they came 
 down with the humility of beggars ; and when 
 their counsel was questioned, and their measures 
 traduced, they stood as vilified and helpless crimi- 
 nals, to apologize for their counsel, to justify their 
 policy, and to implore the forbearance of their 
 presumptuous, ignorant, and mistrustful judges. 
 
 The officers of state in the meaner depart-
 
 135 
 
 mcnts, and all persons holding any office cre- 
 ated since the accession of Queen Anne, or 
 holding any place or pension at the pleasure of 
 the crown, are excluded from the House of Com- 
 mons, and even from the elective franchise. 
 Whether the exclusion should be farther ex- 
 tended is a question of policy, to be agitated 
 by the people, when under the pressure of actual 
 grievance, they shall be without hope of redress, 
 through the medium of parliament, owing to the 
 hostile opposition of persons connected with the 
 court. Till then it is a mere matter of expe- 
 diency, to be considered, like all other matters of 
 legislation, -with reference, not only to the evil 
 actually sustained, but also to tl>e benefit of the 
 ^projected alteration; and itis to be so considered by 
 the legislature itself, and not to be decided by men 
 . of speculation ; or by those who, unaccustomed 
 \to the duties of government, are too powerfully 
 ■guided by abstract theory, and forget that in ba- 
 
 • lancing the rights of our national orders and 
 ,f degrees, no principle whatever is worthy of re- 
 rspect but on account of the practical advantages 
 
 • to result from its operation. Without the ground 
 of hopeless grievance, the complaint is nugatory 
 
 ^and absurd. It is a contention for a phantom of 
 :^|)urity, which, in its success, might put to ha- 
 zard that power of the monarchy, with which 
 i, the liberties of the people are consolidated, and 
 
 • the energies of the country identified. 
 
 It is desired " to curb the pretensions of the 
 ., " privileged orders so far as that can be effected 
 ** without strengthening the royal influence." 
 
 In ignorance of any pretensions, inconsistent 
 ::. with law and established usage, advanced by the 
 Lprivileged orders of this country, those who read 
 i.the Edinburgh Review, with a wish to understand
 
 3S6 
 
 its meaning, must lament, that in this instance at 
 least, their mode of expression is unintelligible. 
 Tlie privileged orders claim no exemption from 
 taxation, justice, or public duty ; they exact not 
 the least personal service from the meanest of their 
 fellow subjects ; they exercise no precedency in 
 public function, in magistracy, or military com- 
 mand ; but they are in absolute equality with all 
 the other orders of the state, in every species of 
 civil right and obligation. What pretensions do 
 they advance which require to be curbed ? 
 
 Obscurity of expression is not chosen by the 
 learned without design. The reviewers, in tbis in- 
 stance, preferred that their meaning should be 
 drawn by ingenious inference, and that their ob- 
 jection to the pretensions of the privileged orders 
 should be understood, as undoubtedly it is intend- 
 ed, to aim at all the privileges of the higher orders. 
 
 The Lords, by virtue of their rank, have merely 
 titular distinction. The principal privileges which 
 they claim, equally appertain to the members of 
 the lower house, and they enjoy them as peers 
 of parliament. The Catholic lords, and those 
 who are not peers of parliament, do not claim those 
 privileges. 
 
 If the parliamentary trust, dignity, and duties 
 of the upper house be objected to, it is -an attack 
 upon ** the spirit, as well as the form, of our inva- 
 " luable constitution ;" which originally gave 
 precedency of name, and has confirmed an equa- 
 lity of right to the lords, spiritual and temporal. 
 
 The authority of that house is less immediately 
 operative in the affairs of state, because it does not 
 rest on the same foundation witii that of the com- 
 mons, who by means of enjoying the exclusive 
 right of proposing taxation, arc, in all cases called 
 to concur in the measures of the sovereign, and in 
 
 5
 
 137 
 
 extraordinary cases, have been able to controul hil 
 counsels. The Lords, with more apparent dignity, 
 are beneficial to the public service in a different 
 respect. They exercise the function of guarding 
 the state from innovation, by their delibera- 
 tive wisdom. In all ordinary affairs, they readily 
 give sanction to the proceedings of the lower cham- 
 ber, -and have never pertinaciously persisted in op- 
 posing any measure which was considered of gene- 
 ral utility ; but they have it in their power to send 
 back, for further consideration, whatever they dis- 
 approve ; and thus to prevent the effects of that 
 popular zeal, which might otherwise hastily and 
 indiscreetly give birth to unwise and pernicious 
 laws. 
 
 When the Lords of Parliament oppose them- 
 selves to any grand proceeding of national polity 
 essentially conducive to the public service ; when 
 they oppose their privileges to the common justice 
 of the realm, or shew a disposition to violate those 
 common rights in which, as subjects, they partici- 
 pate, and have an interest to defend ; w^hen they 
 are found wanting in their spirit of equity, purity of 
 character, and legislative discretion, which have 
 hitherto been unsuspected, then whatever advan- 
 tages the sovereign and the people at present de- 
 rive from their dignity and power, may be renounc- 
 ed in favour of our own more valuable privileges. 
 But while they shall continue beneficially to 
 give weight and example to the proceedings of the 
 lower house ; to contribute by their character and 
 influence, in supporting the common justice ofth© 
 realm, and in manfully defending the common 
 rights, as hitherto they have ever done, without 
 attempting to violate any of them ; while, in all 
 their deliberations, they shall be fownd to display 
 an equitable temper, a perfect purity, and a sound
 
 Us 
 
 discretion, which may moderate the zeal, but can- 
 not be surpassed in degree by the corresponding 
 qualities of the Commons; so long it may be hoped 
 that the people of England will not be jealous of 
 those privileges which are eminently conducive to 
 the dignity, tranquillity, and security of the state. 
 The personal rank and dignity of a superior 
 order are approved by our constitution, because of 
 their political and moral utility. The Lords are 
 the hereditary representatives of the property of 
 the nation, ^and give union, permanence, charac- 
 ter, weight, and a sort of corporate existence to 
 the whole body of the landed interest. God for- 
 bid, in a state which is indebted, above all others, 
 to the successful industry and speculations of com- 
 mercial adventure, and has derived from its ex- 
 tended traffic, the means of maintaining its power 
 and pre-eminence above the surrounding nations, 
 that the merchant and the manufacturer should be 
 without political consideration. Their encourage- 
 ment creates and supports a prodigious population, 
 gives life to agriculture, liberally supplies the ne- 
 cessities of government, introduces the splendor 
 of polished life, and affords to the poorest cot- 
 tager whatever comforts he enjoys. The opulent 
 traders among us, almost exclusively enjoy the 
 honour and advantages of municipal rank, and local 
 magistracy. It will be shewn, in the sequel, how 
 large a portion of parliamentary interest belongs 
 to them. Common observation may prove, that 
 of the influence, power, and precedence, derived 
 from personal opulence and a liberal expenditure, 
 they have a very large proportion. To promote 
 their interests, the legislature readily provides its 
 statutes of encouragement and restriction, of 
 bounty and prohibition, (many of which are of 
 doubtful policy in a view of » political economy.)
 
 12Q 
 
 Complaint has never yet been heaid of their being 
 despised or overlooked, or of their wanting an aug- 
 mentation of influence in the public counsels. 
 
 But the landed interest of England, crowned by 
 its hereditary peerage, claims equal regard. The 
 bold peasantry, the virtuous yeomanry, the liberal 
 minded gentry, and the dignified nobles, have in- 
 terests and feelings distinct, and not less worthy of 
 public care than those of the commercial class. 
 Those interests are peculiarly protected, and those 
 feelings are principally consulted in the upper 
 house of parliament. In that assembly, the pro- 
 jects of the speculative economist are made sub- 
 servient to the staple interests of the country, and 
 the welfare of the agriculturist and the proprietor, 
 are more naturally protected. There the value of 
 exchanges is more correctly balanced against the 
 sacrifice of dignity and alliance, with which it may 
 be solicited, and the public honour, which none 
 but the slavish and the interested will openly con- 
 temn, is there more studiously regarded. There 
 the spirit of the country is least affected by the 
 meaner influence of colonial or commercial views. 
 The love of glory, the pride of national superio- 
 rity, the affections of generous sentiment, and the 
 disdain of all sordid and selfish consideration in 
 that house, eminently prevail. 
 
 The institutions ot honour afford to government 
 the means of conferring a cheap, but most envied 
 recompence upon heroic and meritorious charac- 
 ter. By the hope of permanent distinction, the 
 heart is stimulated to valour and deeds of noble 
 enterprize. Who shall object to the elevation which 
 his sovereign bestows upon the triumphant war- 
 rior, who having overcome the public enemy, is 
 raised, with the concurrence of a grateful country, 
 to permanent pre-eminence ? Who shall traduce
 
 uo 
 
 the rank of the considerate statesman, who having 
 saved the nation by prudent counsel, is called to 
 bear its honours ? Who shall be jealous of the just 
 and learned magistrate, who having faithfully ad- 
 ministered the laws in the seat of judgment, is 
 placed in that high tribunal, where his knowledge 
 and example may be more conspicuous, and of 
 more extended benefit ? It is fit that personages 
 of exalted merit should be raised above the com- 
 monalty ; that their moral distinction may be more 
 illustrious, that others, in the hope of similar ad- 
 vancement, may emulate their virtues ; and that 
 they, in an elevated station, may render the most 
 important services to an admiring people. 
 
 Far less dignified and useful is any other mode 
 of conferring national reward. The enthusiasm 
 of the heart will not be raised by the hope of pe- 
 cuniary advantage. Industrv, speculation, and la- 
 bour are well rewarded by that sordid recoiT)pence ; 
 but contempt of weariness and dringer, patience of 
 difficulty, indifference to life, the ardour of enter- 
 prize, and that spirit which imparts heroic qualities 
 to every one within its influence and observation, 
 are to be excited and remunerated by different 
 means. Those who are er. '.ue! ^^ith genius and 
 valour, despise the luxuries/f wealth, and will not 
 be satisfied with the capricious adulation of a 
 thoughtless multitude ; but they will be inspired 
 to achieve whatever is manly, generous, and ho- 
 norable, by the prospect of that permanent distinc- 
 tion, which will raise them above the sphere of 
 vulgar life, and will descend to their posterity, il- 
 lustrative of the father's glory, and a motive to 
 emulate his virtues. 
 
 The commonalty of England engrossing the 
 power of local map;istracy, and by the lower hoose 
 liaving a principal weight in the public counsels.
 
 141 
 
 and in affairs of legislation, are naturally impressed 
 with greater respect for the wisdom of their repre- 
 sentatives by the concurrence of the Lords. It is 
 the temper of a social being to feel deference, for 
 the decisions of superiors, and to stand in awe of 
 their judgment, especially when they are known ta 
 inquire with candour, and to decide with impar- 
 tiality. In the proceedings of the Commons, tte 
 spirit of party frequently appears, and creates mis- 
 trust of the prudence and rectitude of their deci- 
 sions, in those whose opinions and interests attri- 
 bute the better argument to the unsuccessful mi- 
 nority. The calmer deliberation and correspond- 
 ing approbation of the Lords, have a tendency to 
 remove doubt, and to conclude the controversy. 
 Possessing a great mass of property, and having 
 higher interests ttian those of property to protect, 
 they are able and inclined to reconcile the unpre- 
 judiced country resident to that policy, and to those 
 measures of government which they have sane ■ 
 tioned in parliament. In their several counties, 
 they oppose themselves with effect to the discon- 
 tented caviller, and the shallow objecter. The 
 influence of their estate, rank, and connections is 
 powerful to support those institutions which are 
 conducive to the peace and prosperity of society. 
 
 The prime object of every social constitution is 
 to make strong and efficient the power of magis- 
 tracy. Its secondary, but not minor consideration, 
 is to secure against the encroachments of that 
 power, the rights and liberties of the people. In 
 England, we have the royal dignity in which that 
 power is wholly vested with ample prerogative; 
 the privileges of the Commons are also established 
 as a sufficient barrier against the unlawful preten- 
 sions of the crown. But the Commons may aim 
 to weaken that prerogative, as probably, and with 
 
 1
 
 142 
 
 quite as fatal effect as the crown may attempt to 
 violate those privileges. The iii8titution of the 
 upper house is calculated to guard against either 
 danger. Attached to the sovereign as the fountain 
 of honour, and having no other security than in his 
 supremacy against the hostile jealousy of the Com- 
 mons, that branch of the legislature is destined to 
 protect the king's power and dignity from impeach- 
 ment or violation. United to the people by affec-^ 
 tion, affinity, and common interest, they have 
 always joined in resistance to tyranny and usurpa- 
 tion ; and have concurred in every measure neces- 
 sary to maintain inviolate the public liberties. 
 
 The constitution of England, therefore has 
 wisely preserved an hereditary peerage, which, 
 without the means of arrogating to itself oppressive 
 privilege, or of violating the rights, property, or 
 just pretensions of the lower orders, is calculated to 
 give stability, honour, and popularity to the national 
 institutions, to fortify the royal dignity, and to 
 maintain the franchises of the subject. 
 
 " A wish to reduce the overgrown influence of 
 •* the crown, and to curb the pretensions of the 
 ^ privileged orders," proceeds in its natural sourse, 
 ** to raise up the power of real talents and worth, 
 ".to eialt the mass of the community, and to give 
 •* them under the guidance of that virtual aristoc- 
 " racy to direct the counsels of England." The 
 form and the spirit of our constitution, has given 
 to the sovereign exclusively to direct those coun- 
 sels ; subject to the influence and occasional con- 
 troul of parliament. That wish is altogether sub- 
 versive of that constitution, which has united in 
 legislation, but not in direct counsel, the royalty, 
 nobility, and national representation ; and has 
 placed the mass of the community in subor- 
 dination and dependence, where its interests will
 
 U3 
 
 be best promoted, and its influence have due effect; 
 but where it is not admitted to direct or to con«- 
 troul the state. 
 
 '*' The mass of the community" is an expression 
 not much used in political discussion ; but having 
 the authority of the Edinburgh Reviewers, it will 
 probably hereafter be current with those of le peu- 
 ple souverain, the majesty of the people, the uni- 
 versal suffrage, and the other expressions used in 
 France, and in the British corresponding societies, 
 from which it varies in form and not in substance. 
 Its meaning is identical with the expressions used 
 as a signal for insurrection, and as a justification 
 of all the excesses which have distinguished the 
 war of the Revolution. 
 
 Considering that right of any sort in political 
 application is a matter of substance, and not of 
 form, it is nugatory to refute that abstract right 
 of universal suffrage, which levels its deadly aim at 
 every sort of social institution. Philosophy is a 
 treacherous guide to useful legislation. " Philo- 
 " sophi proponant multa, diciu pulchra^ sed ah usu 
 ** remota.'* It is pregnant with danger to apply 
 any apophthegm, moral or political, to regulate 
 society, without looking to its practical result. 
 The illuminated lodges of the continent were de*^ 
 sirous of giving universal prevalence to their dis- 
 organizing doctrines, indiff^erent to the means ne- 
 cessary to that effect, and to the incurable ruin 
 which must follow their ultimate success. Anxi- 
 ous to reduce mankind, by rapid gradations, to that 
 savage independence from which we were rescued, 
 by the introduction of property, laws, and govern- 
 ment, they made abstract principle the founda- 
 tion of their conspiracy, and avowed their contempt 
 of the happiness and prosperity of nations. 
 
 The adventurous politician, when he accedes ta
 
 144 
 
 abstract principle, without regard to its effectt?, is 
 little aware to what tremendous consequences he 
 may ^ield his implied and irrevocable assent. If 
 we admit that the mass of the community is en- 
 titled, by natural right, to be raised to politic func- 
 tion, and that the powers of sovereignty are vested 
 in that mass, the process of the principle cannot 
 cease till it disorganizes society. If the mass of 
 the community cannot be bound by a superior 
 authority, because of thenatural right of each in^ 
 dividual, to concur in making those laws to which 
 he must conform ; that right is equally violated 
 when a minority is bound by the will of a greater 
 number. The philosophers, who founded the re- 
 volution, perceived that necessary result, and all 
 the awful effects to which it necessarily led. In 
 the excess of their prodigious wickedness, they 
 were bold enough to justify if. " All that we have 
 ** done for you hitherto," said the impious Bieder- 
 man to his besotted pupils, ** was only to prepare 
 " you to co-operate in the annihilation of all ma- 
 *' gistracy, all governments, all laws, and all civil 
 " society ; of every republic, and even democracy, 
 ** as well as of every aristocracy or monarchy." 
 " All men are equal and free, this is their impre- 
 " scriptible right, but it is not only under the do- 
 ** minion of kings that you are deprived of the ex-' 
 " ercise of these rights; they are annulled wher- 
 " ever man recognizes any other law than his own 
 " will." " What right has the people to subject 
 *' me and the minority to the decrees of its ma- 
 ** jority ? Are such the rights of nature ? Did 
 " the sovereign or legislative people exist any 
 ** more than kings or aristocratic legislators, when 
 " man enjoyed his natural liberty and equality J" 
 " Democratic governments are not more conso- 
 " nant with nature than any others. If you ask
 
 145 
 
 ** how it will be possible for men assembled in 
 *' towns, to live in future without laws, magistrates, 
 " or constitutetl authorities ? The answer is clear. 
 " Desert your towns and villages, and fire your 
 *' houses. Did men build houses, villages, or 
 ** towns, in the days of the Patriarchs ? They were 
 " all equal 'and free, the earth belonged to them 
 ** all.", ** Their country was the world, and not a 
 " monarchy or republic in some corner of it.'* 
 " Gould you but appreciate equality and liberty as 
 ** you ought, you would view with indifference 
 " Rome, Vienna, Paris, London, or Constantino- 
 *' pie in flames, or any of those towns, boroughs, 
 " or villages, which you call yovir country."* 
 
 The sagacity of the German philosopher direct- 
 ed him to the ultimate object of the revolutionary 
 principle ; his candour disclosed it to the world j 
 his extreme depravity reconciled him to the mo- 
 tive, means, and end of the vast conspiracy of 
 which it was the original source. But he and all 
 those who adopt any maxim of the system pro- 
 claimed by him in final maturity, conceal that fun- 
 damental fact of the moral history of mankind, 
 which by imposing the immutable duties of society, 
 abrogated the rights of nature. The solitary in- 
 , habitant of the desert, has a right to that savage 
 independence which he may enjoy without dispute, 
 not impaired by any duty which he is required or. 
 is able to perform ; but confer upon him the com- 
 mon relations of life, those of a father, a child, or 
 a brother, or even that which is necessary for the 
 sustenance and continuation of our kind, and the 
 duties then resulting from the law of nature, con-, 
 elude that state of independence. The affections 
 
 .1^ Biederman's Critical Inquiry towards the end. : i ci> t o '" 
 1 i ! ]Baur«rs Memoirs of Jacobinism, Par^ iii.jPage ^^2* y i n
 
 146 
 
 of paternal love, filial homage, fraternal regard, 
 and general benevolence, instantly impose the 
 social duties, and the right of personal indepen- 
 dence is for ever lost. Those isacred obligations 
 prevail over all the privileges of the wilderness, 
 and give rise to the institutions of society, in the 
 course of property, laws, and government, not 
 upon the basis of natural right, but upon that of 
 natural affection and necessary duty. No abstract 
 doctrine, no contempt of wealth, parentage, kin- 
 dred, and civil attachment ; no traitorous abandon- 
 ment of the wisdom, virtue,. and happiness, result- 
 ing from our complicated social character, can 
 justify any one to exclaim with the impious Con- 
 dorcet — " perish the universe, but may our prin- 
 *'ciple remain." 
 
 The formation of society, which is a law of our 
 nature, not to be abrogated by any process of 
 sophistry or depravity of heart, terminates for ever 
 the rights of natural freedom and equality ; in the 
 constitution then to be established, the future be- 
 nefit of mankind, and not the abrogated abstract 
 right is to be exclusively regarded. " In jure non 
 ** remota causa sed proxima spectatur." 
 
 To form a correct judgment of our political 
 institutions, we are to keep exclusively in view, 
 the end for which they exist, and that end is the 
 virtue, happiness, and security of the state. "Finis 
 " enim et scopus, quem leges intueri atque ad 
 " quem Jussiones etSanctiones suas dirigere debent 
 ** non alius est, quam ut cives feliciter elegant : id 
 " fiet, si pietate et religione recte instituti ; mori- 
 " bus honesti ; armis adversus hostes externos tuti ; 
 " legum auxilio adversus seditioneset privatas inju- 
 " riasmuniti; imperiiset magistratibusobsequentes; 
 " copiis et opibus locupletes et fiorentes fuerint. 
 " Harum autem rerum instrumenta et nervi sunt 
 f
 
 147 
 
 ** leges." * We ought to be gratefully content, if 
 by the constitution of our House of Commons, 
 from which our legislation principally flows, the 
 purpose for which it ought to exist has completely 
 been attained, and is not yet found to fail : if our 
 citizens live happily, religiously, morally, secure 
 from foreign hostility, domestic sedition, and pri- 
 vate injury, obedient to the laws and magistrates, 
 opulent and flourishing. 
 
 That we may long enjoy these advantages of go- . 
 yernment,that house was endued with its legislative 
 function ; that it may answer the end of its insti- 
 tution, it is a delegation from the whole nation, 
 with respect to estate, municipal privilege, com- 
 niercial opulence, and popular interest. It com- 
 prises an adequate representation of whatever 
 might want legislative care, or be fitted to express 
 national opinion. It is not necessary that the 
 suffrage of every individual, should be given to 
 depute his own representative. The minority on 
 the poll at a contested election, are effectually 
 represented by the successful candidate, who when 
 elected, is not the exclusive representative of his 
 immediate constituents, but is a member of that 
 assembly, which constitutionally and collectively^ 
 represents the whole British nation. 
 
 Whether or not the elective franchise is too 
 strictly limited, and ought to be extended, is a 
 question of expediency, and not of right. In the 
 latter view it has no claim to any, in the other it 
 requires but little consideration. 
 
 As on the one side the limitation of it to pro- 
 prietors of estate, would give to the landed interest 
 an undivided and uncontrouled power, so on the 
 other an illimitable extension of it to every house- 
 
 * Ba9on ,de Justitia UniverRali sive de fontibus Juris. 
 
 ..o^t^ii'i ■ y-'^'-i- 'Mil' i>
 
 148 
 
 liolder, would deprive property of its necessary- 
 weight, and expose us to the uncertain and im- 
 provident influence of the multitude and the mob. 
 If the elective corporations were laid open the 
 commercial class might want an adequate influ- 
 ence, and by a disfranchisement of the Boroughs, 
 the gross population might be deprived of all share 
 in counsel. But the franchise being variously dis- 
 tributed, every prevailing interest has its just weight 
 in the representation, and vi^ith the checks and 
 powers provided in the other branches of the legis- 
 lature, a beautiful harmony is secured, such as 
 never elsewhere belonged to a balanced and free 
 constitution. The counties depute their members 
 to represent the landed property, and permanent 
 local interests ; the corporations delegate those 
 who express the wants and wishes of traders and 
 manufacturers; the boroughs and the great towns, 
 select the men of talents, and the candidates for 
 popular fame ; and the universities, are admitted to 
 send a very small number, peculiarly expected to 
 watch over the interests of learning and the 
 church. 
 
 The patronage of boroughs, and the corruption 
 of electors, occasion censure and complaint. As 
 immoral, censure cannot be too loud ; as illegal, 
 punishment cannot be too severe, when such 
 abuses are detected ; for they lead to a breach of 
 the most sacred obligations. But the extent of 
 the evil is much less than the enemies of the 
 constitution assert, and in the degree in which it 
 exists, its effect is very different from what they 
 assume. The appropriated boroughs are not found 
 to give a dangerous preponderance to the families 
 which enjoy that patronage ; from the correction of 
 that evil, a greater might ensue, in the reduction 
 of the interest of the fixed property of the coun-
 
 149 
 
 try, which rather requires augmentation. By the 
 corruption of the electors, the men of acquired 
 wealth and mere personal consideration, have an' 
 access to Parliament, where some of them ought 
 to be, but to which they would not so probably 
 come, by a mode of election altogether pure. 
 
 Theoretical defect in this instance, as in many 
 others, is practical perfection. In vain would 
 speculators devise a plan of election to afford 
 advantages, similar to those derived from the 
 varied rights and customs of franchised places. 
 J3y no other means could we bring into union and 
 co-operation a great body of legislators, whose 
 interests, opinions, and prejudices, are those of 
 every description of people, composing the body 
 politic, some of whom are jealously alert to defend 
 their particular order from the minutest inequality 
 of public burthen, and all of whom from a con- 
 viction of individual weakness, are watchful of 
 their common liberties. By perseVering in that 
 course which our ancestors ran before us, we may 
 retain the prize of practical liberty : by yield- 
 ing to the illusion of parliamentary reform, we 
 may like Atalanta be deprived of our substantial 
 object, in stooping for a golden bauble. 
 
 " nitidique cnpidine pomi 
 *' Declinat cursus5 aurumque voiubile tollit. 
 
 The House of Commons, practically, is an 
 assembly, not only legislative in conjunction with 
 the other estates, in which capacity it is truly re- 
 presentative of the people, but is also, with re- 
 spect to the ordinary affairs of government, me- 
 diative between the subject and the prince, in 
 vvhich character, having a power irresistible by 
 either party, it ought in degree to be representa- 
 tive both of the crown and the nation! That 
 latter faculty it acquired incidentally from the pe-
 
 150 
 
 cuniary dependence of government upon the 
 rontributions of the commonalty, and though it 
 is not strictly conformable with our original con- 
 stitution, its operation has been beneficial in the 
 highest degree. Its beneficial operation com- 
 menced with that period when contention be- 
 tween the people and the sovereign was happily 
 concluded, and the executive government was 
 admitted indirectly to join in the deliberations,* 
 9nd to have some weight in the decisions of par- 
 liament. Necessarily controuled by the wisdom 
 of the legislature, it is now permitted by means 
 of its proper advocates, sometimes, to instruct 
 that wisdom, and always to prevent precipitancy 
 of decision. If by the entire exclusion of all 
 persons connected with the state, no other voice 
 but that of the people could be heard in the 
 lower house ; a great and injurious change would 
 ensue in our practical constitution. The people 
 would then acquire an absolute supremacy, to 
 be exercised so long as it might endure, with- 
 out check or responsibility. Their claims, how- 
 ever inordinate, in all measures of government, 
 foreign and domestic, would not be stated as 
 admonitory counsel or solicitation, but would 
 be imperiously advanced to awe and to decide ; 
 and the monarchy, if it could subsist in any 
 form conjunctively with such democratic domi- 
 nation, must subsist in subjection to its dictates, 
 opinions, and caprices. 
 
 The House of Cogimons now bears the pro- 
 claimed censure of a very large portion of the 
 people, occasioned by the result of a late im- 
 portant inquiry, unfavourable to the wishes, and 
 opposed to the principles of those who are most 
 active in procuring tliat censure. The original 
 promoter of that inquir)- is distinguished by pub-
 
 151 
 
 lie approbation, in a manner which casts reflec- 
 tion on the whole representative body, and thd 
 several minorities who voted in opposition to the 
 propositions of ministers on that occasion par- 
 ticipate in such approbation. What were the mo- 
 tives of that honourable commoner in bringing 
 forward his accusations against this illustrious 
 personage ; and what was the force of the evi- 
 dence adduced in support of it, however im- 
 portant for the consideration of the multitudes 
 who now oppose the sense of parliament, ex- 
 pressed with regard to that evidence, will not 
 here be discussed. Such opposition may be di- 
 rected, by designing men, to objects infinitely 
 more important than the character of the dis- 
 tinguished commoner, or of the high function- 
 ary whom he has stigmatized, or even of that 
 tribunal which decided the case upon full and 
 laborious consideration. The question is already 
 raised into permanent national importance: it 
 is involved with the matter of parliamentary re- 
 form now asserted to be evidently necessary ; it 
 is adduced as conclusive proof of ^ system of 
 corruption, loathsome and universal ; and in its 
 tendency it threatens to alienate the confidence of 
 the people from their legislative rulers. 
 
 If the whole mass of accusation brought into 
 parliament against the Royal Duke were admitted 
 to be true, though the evidence adduced in 
 support of it certainly did not establish the 
 half of that accusation ; or, if implicit credit be 
 given to the whole of that evidence, informal, in- 
 sufficient, and inconclusive as it was, there would 
 yet be wanting ground to maintain the illimit- 
 able effects which some men derive from it. Such 
 admission, however it might inculpate the Duke 
 of York, would not establish as a fact, even that 
 
 u7
 
 152 
 
 liis military administration was altogether corrupt. 
 It could be tortured no farther than to prove 
 that, in the several cases mentioned in the accu- 
 sation, respect had been paid in ten or twelve in- 
 stances of patronage and official regulation, to 
 the venal recommendation of a mistress. 
 
 " The very head and front of his offending 
 " Hath this extent : no more." 
 
 |f the number of thosp cases were gratuitously 
 ten times rpultiplipd, the concession would not 
 amount to the alleged result, nor would it war- 
 rant an inference that an hundredth part of thp 
 patronage of the army was tainted by that cor- 
 ruption. Nor by any possibility of fair inference 
 would it warrant a suspicion that such corrup- 
 tion extended to any other servant of the state. 
 Rigorous justice might, indeed, exact that the 
 royal Duke should no longer retain his high em- 
 ployment ; the virtue of those who fill high 
 official situations, should be, like that of Cxsar's 
 wife, atpye suspicion ; but that end being accom- 
 plished by his resignation, nothing remains in 
 the whole mass of accusation to affect the char 
 racter of government. 
 
 Such admission may lead to one farther con- 
 sequence, affecting the decision of a majority of 
 the lower house of parliament, which, though 
 not strictly corresponding with the tenor of the 
 evidence, might be ground of inculpation against 
 them. But it is unworthy of this generous na- 
 tion to judge harshly of their representatives in a 
 matter of such extreme delicacy and importance. 
 The royal Duke had been pursued unrelentingly 
 to disgrace ; and the event has proved that, how- 
 ever he might be clear, in conscience, of not me- 
 riting such disgrace, yet he could not be sheltered
 
 153 ^ 
 
 from it by authority, influence, or prerogative, 
 It was no longer possible for him under the 
 odium attached to his ministration to retain the 
 exercise of power. He solemnly declared his in- 
 nocence, and obtained a formal exculpation, but 
 nevertheless yielding to the ascertained judgment 
 of the country, without admitting its correctness, 
 he withdrew from an appointment which he 
 could no longer hold with unsuspected honour. 
 Is parliament to be censured, in this case, for not 
 pursuing their victim in defiance of all forms of 
 law, all rules of evidence, and all principles of 
 equity, to absolute destruction ? For having some 
 respect to the feelings of a beloved sovereign, and 
 to that fond personal attachment to the royal 
 house, which the nation, their constituents, have 
 so often professed at the foot of the throne ? For 
 feeling some reluctance to enter upon their jour- 
 nals, an indelible accusation of infamy against him 
 who is so near the throne, and may eventually 
 fill it ; and for declining to drag him as a culprit, 
 under circumstances which at least were doubtful, 
 before a tribunal of justice, there to vindicate 
 his character, confronted with a shameless har- 
 lot ? The House of Commons in its accusative 
 capacity does not strictly exercise a representative 
 function, but is to discharge a judicial duty, tem- 
 pered by sound political consideration. Though 
 the effervescence occasioned by a proceeding so 
 extraordinary as yet prevents a calm consideration 
 of the motives which justify the decision of par- 
 liament, and there are those who artfully direct 
 the public eye to a partial view of it, yet the day 
 may come when an undivided people shall consider 
 that the national vengeance has been sufficiently 
 severe, and that any further measure which might 
 Ipwer the dignity of royalty itself, and slxQke the 
 
 X
 
 154 
 
 inain pillar of the constitution, would be peri- 
 lous and unwise, not required by justice, rejected 
 by generosity, and hoped for only by those who 
 extend their view very far beyond the punishment 
 o{such guilt, as that imputed to the Duke of York. 
 ;; A great part of the majority in parliament, 
 upon that interesting question, is accused of vot- 
 ing under the influence of appointment, place, 
 or pension, or of connection with those who have 
 tbem ; and every one supposed subject to such 
 influence being excluded from that list of the 
 Votes, it is alleged that the present minority 
 would have obtained the decision by a surplus 
 of eight or nine votes. Are we to admit that 
 all persons enjoying the bounty of the crown, 
 and voting with ministers, are corruptly influenced 
 by that bounty, while in the ranks of opposition 
 we see many who have enjoyed the liberal fa- 
 vour of their sovereign, and who shewed little 
 reluctance to cast censure upon the royal Duke ? 
 May we not also doubt whether in thoi:e ranks 
 there were none but patriots as pure and un- 
 daunted as Mr. Wardle is supposed to be ? May 
 not some be found there, who supported him un- 
 der the influence of -the love of popularity, or 
 of the hope of personal advancement in the 
 series of prodigious events which may now com- 
 mence. It betrays a beggarly ignorance of the 
 human heart to believe that all the opponents of 
 illustrious station are of perfect integrity and pa- 
 triotism, and at the same time to charge all those 
 ^ho derive any benefit from the patronage of 
 their king with always acting in selflsli consider- 
 ation of that benefit, without any sense of just- 
 ice, honour, or propriety. 
 
 What new reasons fof a reform of parliament 
 arisQ out of this case, viewed in tiie light in
 
 165 
 
 which generosity and justice place it, faction 
 itself cannot allege. If corruption had crept 
 into tlie office of the Commander in Chief, it 
 has been the effect of the late proceedings to 
 root it out. The proceedings of the legislature 
 in the course of that inquiry were unawed by 
 power, and its decision was the most deliberate 
 which any popular assembly ever made. That 
 legislature is busily employed to search out every 
 abuse, in every part of the public administration, 
 and shews a disposition, honestly and effectually, 
 to cure it. What more can be expected from 
 any description of parliament. Attached to the 
 constitution, not for its vices, but for its excel- 
 lencies, let us hope that the clamour for reform, 
 now excited by those who for twenty years have eu- 
 logized revolutions and censured all the measures 
 of government, may speedily subside in good 
 sense and generous loyalty ; and that as little 
 may now be accomplished by those who would 
 sacrifice substantial benefit to theoretical amend- 
 ment as in former times, when the countrv 
 sought and found its safety in other measures, 
 and from other counsellors. 
 
 In England there is a power of popular opinion, 
 which has at all times controuled the policy of go» 
 , vernment, and the counsels of the legislature, and 
 affords an ample security for the public liberties. 
 Europe cannot boast of the existence of thet power 
 excepting in theBritish Isles. In all her other states, 
 she languishes under a ferocious despotism, which 
 exacts implicit obedience and slavish adulation, 
 to a stern and low born conqueror. It is England 
 alone, illustriously seated upon her unshaken rocks, 
 which yet retains the antique flame of liberty, 
 to be regulated but not repressed by reason and by 
 law; a flame which can never be extinguished while 
 it draws its supply from popular opinion.
 
 156 
 
 The force of that opinion will never suffer the 
 rights of the subject to be violated or impaired by 
 any parliament or prince. That would be its wise 
 and constitutional application, but such is its irre- 
 sistible power, that in many instances it has ope- 
 rated even in opposition to the sounder policy of 
 government. The inadequate stipulations of the 
 peace of Utrecht, which gave rise to subsequent 
 desolating wars, and to the present preponderance 
 of France, were made in compliance with that 
 opinion. The impolitic war with Spain in I739, 
 in obvious opposition to the wisdom of ministers, 
 and the true interests of the empire was occasioned 
 by that opinion. In the peace of IT^S, the ad- 
 vantages of our most successful and glorious war- 
 fare in the four quarters of the globe, were con- 
 ceded to the same operating cause. The peace of 
 J 782, and that which suspended for a short period 
 the present eventful contest, were also produced 
 by an application of the same power. VVhen the 
 people of England raise their voice in clamorous 
 petition and remonstrance, the power of parliament 
 itself is compelled to yield its better judgment, 
 and the prerogative of the crown is abandoned to 
 the demand of popular opinion. 
 
 The great Roman statesman pronounced the 
 form of the British constitution, to surpass in ex- 
 cellence, whatever else could be devised. ^'Statuo 
 " ^sse optime constitutam Rempublicam quae ex 
 " tribus generibus illis, regaii, optimo, et populari, 
 " modic^ confusa."* Tacitus adopted his opinion, 
 but having surveyed the various governments of 
 nations, and considered the nature of the human 
 heart, in its essential principles and temper, un- 
 changeable in time or place, he thought that the 
 mixed government of England, was rather a crea- 
 ture of imagination than a political possibility ; and 
 
 * Ciceronis Fragmenta.
 
 157 
 
 that if it could be established by a fortunate and 
 unlooked-for concyrrence of circumstances, it 
 must be of short duration. *' Cunctas nationes et 
 ** urbes, populus, autpriores, aut singuli regunt. 
 " Delecta ex his et constituta reipublicae forma, 
 " laudari facilius quam evenire ; vel si evenit, baud 
 ** diuturna esse potest."* But many centuries have 
 rolled away since this nation began to flourish 
 under that form of government. It yet flourishes 
 under that form, because a destructive collision of 
 the opposing powers is practically prevented, with- 
 out impairing that actual balance from which the 
 excellence of the institution results. 
 
 If the features of the British constitution have 
 been faithfully, though hastily delineated, in these 
 observations, can the upright sentiment of the 
 candid inquirer dissent from that judgment which 
 has hitherto prevailed in all countries, of the un- 
 rivalled excellence of our government, and the 
 practical perfection of our liberties. If under that 
 government those liberties have been matured, 
 while the nation has uniformly advanced in power 
 and dignity, and now stands unequalled in glory, 
 arts, and commerce, defying the hostility of a con- 
 federated world, and majestically serene during 
 those convulsions, which subvert the surrounding 
 states ; how guilty are those conspirators, who by 
 calumny and falsehood asperse the character, and 
 vilify the conduct of that sage and patriotic insti- 
 tution 1 What horror and indignation perturb the 
 British heart, while the atrocious libellers conti- 
 nually invite us to ''change radical reform and 
 revolution." 
 
 The apostacy of Mr. Cobbett and the Edin- 
 burgh Reviewers, is an aggravation of their crime. 
 
 * Tadit, Ann. lib. iv. 
 1
 
 158 
 
 ^Theirs is not the sin of ignorance. The early 
 pubhcations of the PoHtical Register, displayed 
 sentiments of general loyalty ; and were calculated 
 to appease the threatening storm of jacobinism in 
 this happy country. Mr. Cobbett had abandoned 
 that honourable course, and was the avowed ad- 
 vocate of revolution, when the reviewers justly 
 censured his infamous attacks upon all our social 
 establishments. They told us only eighteen months 
 ago, " That there was such a vast overbalance of 
 " good in our situation, as was well worth a strug- 
 *' gle to preserve, and that revolution or conquest 
 " were to be regarded with the utmost abhorrence 
 ** and dismay." l^ey assured us " that we had 
 " attained a greater portion of happiness than had 
 " ever before been enjoyed by any other nation ; 
 " and that the frame and administration of our 
 " polity, was the most perfect and beneficial of 
 /* any that men had yet invented and reduced to 
 '* practice." " That as the good which we already 
 " have, greatly exceeds that of which we imagine 
 " we are deprived, it would be in the highest 
 " degree criminal and imprudent to expose it to 
 " any considerable hazard, for the desperate chance 
 ** of increasing it by the uncertain issue of a revo- 
 " lution." Admitting the complaints of venal elec- 
 tors, and a parliament subject to the influence of 
 the crown, they stated " that so far from being of 
 " opinion, that the alteration of those parts of our 
 *' system would cure this or any other evil, they 
 " were persuaded that such a measure would have 
 " a contrary effect." They asserted that ** in point 
 ** of fact, the parliament actually possessed the re- 
 *' quisites on which its substantial value depends." 
 They thought that " a certain infusion of the 
 " influence of the crown and peers, in the House 
 " of Commons, was essential to the existence of
 
 159 
 
 ** our mixed government,'* and, " that the exclu- 
 ** sion from the parliament of the official advisers 
 " of the sovereign, would degrade the legislature, 
 *• without purifying it in the smallest degree.'* 
 They cdnsidered it " mere faction, to say that the 
 *' sinecure places and pensions, or the sums lost 
 " by speculation, made any sensible addition to 
 " ihe burthens of the nation." They expressed 
 *' their indignation at Mr. Cobbett's schemes of 
 " reform, and at his attempts to weaken the respect 
 " and attachment of the people to forms and esta- 
 " blishments, without which there would be no 
 " security for their freedom." '* From a revolution 
 " they could then anticipate little but general de- 
 " gradation and misery." 
 
 Such were the sentiments of the Edinburgh Re- 
 viewers, eighteen months ago. Such sentiments 
 they had not hastily adopted, nor did they then for 
 the first time announce them. In April, 1805, they 
 told us that " our House of Commons is made up," 
 as they said it ought to be, " by the individuals, 
 who by birth, fortune, or talents, possess singly the 
 greatest influence over the rest of the people." * 
 Their present outcry is for change, radical re- 
 form, and revolution : the same with that still rais- 
 ed by Mr. Cobbett. May the British nation, indig- 
 nant at their shameless apostacy, and too wise to 
 abandon at their suggestion, the beneficent institu- 
 tions of our forefathers, with one voice reply to their 
 treacherous counsel like the Earls and Barons of 
 King Henry's time, ** quod nolunt leges Angliae 
 " mutare quiB usitatse sunt et approbatae." May we 
 still be tranquil and prosperous under the govern- 
 ment of a patriotic monarch, and cherish those in- 
 valuable liberties, which are ascertained and pro- 
 tected by the law. 
 
 • See their Review of the */ Memoires de Bailly." 
 BND OF PART Hi.
 
 i(5a 
 
 THB 
 
 RIGHTS 
 
 or THE 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 PART THE FOURTH. 
 
 X HE moral revolution in Europe was complete 
 long before there was any appearance of political 
 convulsion. The men of letters, as writers of his- 
 tory and fable, of poetry and romance, of philo- 
 sophy and science, of religion and rational re- 
 search, had effected an important change in the 
 opinions, manners, and prejudices of mankind. 
 Their co-operation, during a long time, was without 
 confederacy, but nevertheless they were severally 
 employed in the pursuit of the common object, 
 and by their incessant activity and varied ingenuity, 
 they constituted at an early period, that vast con- 
 epiracy which now triumphs in the overthrow of 
 thrcmes, the subversion of morals, and the ineffici- 
 ency of religious restraint. 
 
 At the commencement of those political con- 
 vulsions, which have desolated Europe, and |)ros- 
 •trated so many states; which have subjected mighty 
 rations to the revolutionary sword, and given to 
 France a preponderance hardly desired, and never 
 anticipated by her most ambitious kings ; there 
 were in this country two parties, the one bold, mi- 
 Jitant^ and conspiring, which aimed at subverting
 
 I6i 
 
 the government and causing a revolution, similair 
 in principle and object to that which then raged 
 Upon the continent ; the other timid, hardly con-^ 
 scious of the danger, and disposed to be quiescent. 
 It wished rather to evade a contest, than to crush 
 the hostility threatened by its presumptuous enemy. 
 Those who at that period conducted the affair* 
 of England) were attached to the spirit of liberty^ 
 natural to their countrymen^ and did not readily 
 perceive that the licentiousness of France had a 
 different origin and temper. Mr. Pitt had been 
 nursed in the whig principles of this country. In 
 infancy he had been taught to admire, and to 
 cherish those popular rights which are engrafted 
 in the British constitution. The popularity of his 
 great name, was augmented by his early and con- 
 tinued efforts in vindication of those rights. Even 
 in office he had been a strenuous advocate of par- 
 liamentary reform, and was justly esteemed an 
 . able and sincere supporter of that freedom, which 
 Englishmen regard as their boast and birthright. 
 From habitj principle^ character, and interest^ he • 
 was a friend to general liberty, and certainly was 
 hot the first to feel indignation, at the excesses of 
 the insurgents in France. When fatal experience 
 had given irresistible proof of the malignity of the 
 new doctrines, even then he did not estimate the 
 extent of the threatening peril. Wedded to his 
 pacific system, he reluctantly abandoned it when 
 imperious circumstances dictated a different policy. 
 Mr. Pitt was devoted to maintain the established 
 peace, that his sinking fund, and other schemes of 
 economy, might haVe a permanent operation, and 
 that the flourishing cotnmerce, and extended re- 
 sources of the country, might still progressively 
 increase. When the war had actually broken out 
 in Europe, he refused to unite with the Emperor 
 
 Y
 
 16-2 
 
 and the King of Prussia. In the spring of 1702, 
 he made a reduction of the military and naval 
 establishments, and discontinued the subsidy of 
 alliance, paid to the Landgrave of Hesse. On the 
 21 St of February, he expressed in parliament his 
 expectation, that the peace would continue at least 
 fifteen years. In" May, a proclamation was issued 
 prohibiting all persons from accepting letters of 
 service from the enemies of France, which the 
 French government acknowledged as an evidence 
 *' of the sentiments of humanity, justice,and peace, 
 " at that time manifested by his Britannic Ma- 
 ** jesty ;" and at the prorogation of parliament in 
 June, the king " expressed his confidence of pre- 
 ** serving to his people the uninterrupted blessings 
 "of peace. 
 
 That pacific conduct on the part of this country 
 was pursued, when the proceedings of the National 
 Assembly in France had already assumed a cha- 
 racter incompatible with the safety of society*. 
 The philosophers of this country had hailed the 
 revolution as the day-star of liberty ;* the British 
 constitution was already reprobated as an institu- 
 tion of tyranny, corruption, and oppression. Affi- 
 liated societies were established to confederate 
 with France, and to apply among ourselves the 
 doctrine of universal insurrection. An outcry was 
 begun ** for change, radical reform, and revolu- 
 " tion." 
 
 It is upon indelible record, that the ministers 
 of this country were driven from their pacitic 
 system, by tiie violence and the direct aggression 
 of the revolutionary power, then directing the af- 
 fairs of France. The war of defence which Mr. 
 Pitt was compelled to undertake, then saved the 
 state ; and the object of the conspiracy was for a 
 time defeated. 
 
 * Mr. Roscoe'8 Revolutionary Song. 1
 
 l63 
 
 Bat the restless spirit of jacobinism when crush- 
 ed, is not suhtlued ; checked, but not overcome by 
 . the vigour of Mr. Pitt's administration, it yet lives 
 and labois in its unalterable purpose. It yet 
 struggles for pre-eminence, it has abandoned none 
 of its original pretensioris, it still Brilheres to its 
 abstract principles of anarchy, and its means are 
 the same with ythose originally adopted in tlie 
 conspiracy. 
 
 The conspirators in this country are still active 
 in promulgating the delusive, execrable doctrine 
 of the Rights of Man, to justify rebellion. Many 
 of them, and among them the Edinburgh Review- 
 ers, attempt to weaken the national resentment 
 against the enemy, by applauding the policy and 
 conduct of France, during the war of the revolu- 
 tion, and bycensure and condemnation of the allies. 
 The operations of our warfare they stigmatize and 
 oppose ; the domestic policy of government, they 
 asperse and vilify. Persons of the highest rank 
 they indiscriminately accuse, calumniate, and tra- 
 duce. They complain of the restraints of the law 
 . upon outrageous libellers, as violations of the 
 liberty of the press ; and in all their proceedings 
 they provoke the most malignant passions of the 
 lowest classes, and would incite them to discontent, 
 disaffection, and outrage. 
 
 The Edinburgh Reviewers commenced their 
 discussion of Spanish affairs, by asserting dogma- 
 tically, *' that France was not always the aggressor 
 - *' in any point of view. For example, the first 
 , ** coalition against the revolution was a maoiiest 
 "war of aggression on the part of the allies." 
 *' The blame which men always attach to the party 
 " who first breaks the peace, fell constantly upon 
 " the enemies of France ; and it did so happen 
 " that her conduct at the treaties which generally 
 ■ '^followed those disastrous campaigns, was suflj,-
 
 1(54 
 
 ^'ciently moderate, considering her enormous 
 "victories, to keep up the same impression. 
 ** Every thing bore the appearance of France 
 " being forced into hostilities, by the jealousy, 
 " the fears, or the restlessness of her neighbours, 
 ** acting under the influence of England ; having 
 *' been compelled to beat them from one end of 
 '* Europe to the other; and then taking as little as 
 ** she well could of their territory, as a punish- 
 ** ment for their past aggressions, and a security 
 ♦* for their keeping the peace in future." 
 
 Those bold assertions, made at a time when 
 France was insolently sporting with the fragments 
 of the powerful countries which coalesced in the 
 first ajliance, and when the great monarchs of 
 Europe, plundered, oppressed, and enchained by 
 their triumphant foe, seemed to retain no other 
 hope or consolation, than that derived from the 
 justice of their cause, were a harsh and unchari- 
 table judgment. At every former period, when 
 the English nation sympathized with all the mis- 
 fortunes which strength could inflict upon the- 
 weak, and placed itself as if impelled by its gener- 
 ous nature, in hatred and opposition to every 
 proud oppressor, such a statement would have 
 been regarded as a cruel mockery of the afflicted, 
 and an insult to suffering merit. Two hundred 
 years ago, the case of the elector Palatine, the 
 relative and ally of King James, to whom alone 
 he could look for succour in his extreme calamity, 
 was not scrutinized so strictly. When the mag- 
 tianimous resolution of Maria Theresa was almost 
 the only hope of her subjects, against that torrent 
 of hostility which threatened to overwhelm them, 
 and when the King of Prussia in the next war, 
 was reduced to a lower state of weakness 'and 
 necessity, the English nation in either case, would 
 not have tolerated a doubt, far less an unqualified
 
 1(55 
 
 condemnation of the justice of those potentates, 
 whose safety was to result from our cordial friend- 
 ship and assistance. • To compassionate the fate, 
 and to aid the etForts of those whom any tyranny 
 would bind in fetters, and to curb the insolent 
 boasting of any usurpation, were formerly not 
 only the policy of our government, but the ge- 
 nerous and enthusiastic desire of our undivided 
 people, Those whose arguments would maintaia 
 the haughty conqueror in his schen^ of aggran- 
 dizement, approve the pretences of his warfare, and 
 take no sympathy with the subjugated states which 
 fell beneath his sword, were little likely to meet 
 with the applause and acquiescence of th^Britisli 
 public. 
 
 If the time approaches when the suffering na* 
 tipns, following the ejcample of Spain, will be 
 roused by the spirit of loyalty and patriotism, to. 
 drive away the creatures of despotism, whom the 
 great usurper has elevated to rule them ; in that 
 case, this country must not consider their present 
 humiliation "as a punishment for their past ag- 
 "gressions." Our people will be slow to institute 
 that process of inquiry and crimination, which 
 raises the enemy of England to be a dispenser of 
 national justice, and sanctifies the violence and 
 treachery, which render him the arbiter of Europe. 
 We remain unconquered and undismayed. Rather 
 than by an uncalled for judgment, to break the 
 hopes of those, who may at this instant with anxi- 
 ous desire require our help, to contend again with 
 the hordes of the tyrant, and to regain their inde*- 
 pendence, let our mind be impressed with a con- 
 viction, that their bondage originated in the un- 
 provoked aggression of an implacable foe, whose 
 great acquirements mu^t in justice be restored to 
 their rightful possessors, and whose power must be 
 balanced and restrained within reasonable limits,
 
 l65 
 
 before we can expect or hope to extinguish the 
 torch of war, or to have security against his un- 
 bounded amhition. 
 
 The justice of the cause of the allies might at 
 one time have been obscured by the passions and 
 prejudices of men ; but now the narration of the 
 circumstances in which that war originated, is 
 clear and unequivocal. History and philosophy 
 have pronounced their joint arbitration upon the 
 important question, and no one assuirjing to him- 
 self a (dictatorial function superior to the councils of 
 his sovereign, and the unanimous protestations of 
 faithful co-operation made by our loyal nation 
 at the €ommencement of that eventful contest, 
 not yet concluded, can pronounce that the war 
 was " a manifest war of aggression on the part 
 ** of the allies," but in absolute opposition to truth 
 and reason. 
 
 It was the habitual policy of all the founders of the 
 revolution to pursue their project without ever 
 yielding to the proofs or the reasoning of their op- 
 ponents. The demonstration of innocence or merit, 
 was no shield against their calumnies and enmity. 
 Theauthority of truth,in refutation of their specu- 
 lations, never reduced them to silence and submis- 
 sion. Those who adopt their speculations and la- 
 bour in the same cause, by the same means of sedi- 
 tious argument and false narration, will argue in 
 defiance of conviction and narrate in opposition 
 to established fact. 
 
 The question of the war of the revolution, cannot 
 now be advanced as a matter of curiosity, or his- 
 toric doubt; it is moved, and pertinaciously retain- 
 ed, because it involves the most important matters 
 that can interest mankind. As a question of fact, 
 it is equally important with any other matter of 
 authentic history : with patient investigation and 
 perfect impartiality, it behoves us to form a judg-
 
 167 
 
 ment in that view of the subject. There is ano- 
 ther view in which, impelled by every national 
 interest, and every moral obligation, we become in- 
 dift'erent even to the results of historic inquiry, aa 
 they are limited only to a scientific purpose. When 
 we perceive that the established law of Europe in 
 the balance of the respective powers, for the order 
 and the security of the whole was then contested ; 
 that the legal bond which united men in social 
 relation, was then disputed ; and that every funda- 
 mental maxim of magistracy was in violent litiga- 
 tion, it becomes a more imperious duty to weigh 
 that question with the utmost force of our reason- 
 ing faculties, and the most extended scope of free 
 inquiry. It is not then our duty to inquire with 
 impartiality, because he who is impartial upon that 
 subject is already of corrupted judgment, ancJin 
 effect has decided favourably to the regicides of 
 France. t 
 
 Hostilities commmenced in Europe in April, 
 179*2, when the National Assembly declared war 
 against the King of Hungary and Bohemia. 
 
 At the formation of the National Assembly, 
 France was at peace with the whole world ; bound 
 in many federal relations by which her ambition 
 ought to have been restrained, while her interests 
 and dignity were promoted. Austria, her antient 
 military rival, united to her by close family alli- 
 ance, had reposed so firmly in the solidity of her 
 friendship, that the iron frontier of the Nether- 
 lands was dismantled, and the country exposed to 
 all her incursions. In the empire she still main- 
 tained h,er accustomed preponderance, and was re- 
 garded as the natural protector of the protestant 
 league. England, her most formidable opponent, 
 humbled in the war of the American emancipation, 
 and weakened by the struggles of domestic faction, 
 which were occasioned by that contest, had shewn
 
 16« 
 
 li fletermination to persevere in a system of policy 
 the most pacific, and was already bound to tier by 
 intinDate ties of friendship. Spain was her ready 
 coadjutor in war and negotiation, and held the re- 
 sources of lier opulence and her vastempire,to pro* 
 mote her views, and succour her pretensions. The 
 princes of Italy were busily employed in plans of le- 
 gislative regulation, to ameliorate the condition of 
 their subjects, to improv^e their fiscal institutions^ 
 and territorial riches. The Dutch republic, harassed 
 by an improvident contest with England, theif 
 natural ally, and by the civil intrigues for power, 
 between the Stadtholder and the States, was dis- 
 posed to pursue in peace their commercial sjjecu- 
 lations, and to repair the disastrous efl^ects of their 
 recent impolicy. The whole of the European 
 confederacy was animated by one universal disposi- 
 tion to improve their established relations in per* 
 feet amity, and to pursue the first duty of sove- 
 reigns, in providing for the happiness and prospe- 
 rity of the people, uninterrupted by the clamours 
 of war, and not diverted from that beneficent 
 policy by projects of ambition and vain glory. 
 
 The monarchy of France, though less solicitous 
 of that foreign domination, to which its former 
 sovereigns had aspired, was nevertheless far more 
 prosperous, and apparently rested on more solid 
 foundations than at any earlier period. With 
 respect to its martial array, both military and ma- 
 ritime, it was secure from danger, superior to in- 
 flult, and fearless of attack. The government with 
 all its faults and defects, (for what human institu- 
 tion is without faults and defects!) was well suited 
 to the natural disposition of the French people. 
 The king was exceedingly beloved, and his per- 
 sonal prerogative not unpopular. All the powers 
 of the state had shewn a prevailing inclination to 
 remedy, even by great sacrifice*, whatever abuses
 
 l«9 
 
 IjacVbeon occasioned by the ignorance of a darker 
 period, or tlie corruption naturally incident to 
 all great establishments. Property was protected 
 by the laws ; personal liberty was rarely violated by 
 prerogative, and might be said to be sacred and in- 
 violate, and freedom of religious opinion, though not 
 absolutely legal, was practically tolerated. The 
 courts of justice were filled by enlightened magis- 
 trates, whose decisions are at this day resjjected, 
 even in the tribunals of this country; they were far 
 above the controul of power, and entirely unsus- 
 pected of venality, or a slavish respect to any species 
 of authority. The commerce of the great towns, 
 sustained by an industrious and increasing popu- 
 lation, had given life to a flourishing agriculture, 
 and to all manner of useful speculations. The 
 political structure of that great community, seemed 
 to be fixed on deep foundations ^ its various ar- 
 rangements were calculated for the dignity and 
 decent accommodation of all the classes, which 
 constitute a well ordered society, while no proof 
 was wanting, that the state and all its orders were 
 in an ameliorated and improving condition. To the 
 merely political observer, that government shewed 
 no symptom of weakness or decay. Its finances 
 indeed had fallen into disorder, but they were not 
 ■dilapidated. It felt the pernicious effects of past 
 improvidence, which economy of ex pence might 
 speedily have cured, or a prudent management of . 
 receipt might have removed. But its ministers 
 were of the school of theExperimental Philosophy, 
 and made the necessities of the state, the means 
 of giving birth to their beloved child of promise, 
 generated in the excesses of vanity and licentious- 
 iiess. Though the boundless prodigality of the 
 succeeding powers, has shewn what vast resources 
 rnjght have been commanded by thel monarchy.
 
 no 
 
 wisely and vigourously administered, yet those 
 treacherous speculators would exert none of tho 
 legal energies, which belonged to the sovereign 
 for his constitutional support, but hastened to 
 place him in dependence upon the third chamber 
 of the states general of the kingdom. 
 
 The monarchy, in temper and interest, was be- 
 come entirely pacific. The National Assembly was 
 a power hitherto unknown in Europe, created to 
 acquire a new interest in war and in public com-t 
 motion ; naturally of a temper to pursue all its 
 projects, indifferent to all the consequences which 
 they might eventually occasion. 
 
 The first principle which was adopted by the 
 National Assembly, was to make itself a sovereign 
 revolutionary power, which annulled every species 
 of authority and jurisdiction appurtenant to the 
 established government, and created for itself an 
 unexampled supremacy, equally inconsistent with 
 all the domestic institutions, and all the foreign 
 relations of France. In the abolition of all eccle- 
 siastical and territorial rights, they had compre-r 
 hended those of the German States, in Alsace, 
 Franche Comtd and Loraine, and the other pro- 
 vinces ceded to Louis the Fourteenth ; though 
 those rights had been solemnly confirmed by the 
 peace of Westphalia, and by every subsequent 
 treaty between France and the Rmpire, and had 
 been respected amidst all the wars which had 
 agitated Europe. This positive violation of trea- 
 ties, and unprecedented attack upon independent 
 states, occasioned a series of complaints from the 
 Emperor and the Germanic Diet. On the part of 
 France, the assembly absolutely refused to abrogate 
 their unjust proceedings, or to give satisfaction 
 for the injury committed, and voted a great aug- 
 mentation of the military force. 
 7
 
 171 
 
 At this conjuncture of affairs, the forcible occu- 
 pation of Avignon convinced the worlds that the 
 French government were meditating a more dan- 
 gerous system of encroachment and hostility, than 
 that which had formerly threatened the indepen- 
 dence of the empire and of Europe. But the 
 emperor dreaded to involve himself in the horrors 
 of war, from which he had recently delivered his 
 country, and raised the wonder of all Europe, by 
 his anxiety to remove every pretext for attack.. He 
 withdrew his troops from the French frontier, re- 
 duced his army, and laboured to allay the ferment 
 excited in the Diet, by the injustice of the Na- 
 tional Assembly.* 
 
 It is most important hereto remember, that what- 
 ever questions were yet in discussion, between the 
 Germanic empire and the new revolutionary power, 
 they were purely occasioned by^ the direct aggres- 
 sions of France on the rights of those independent 
 princes, and were wholly unconnected with any 
 consideration of the antisocial principles, already 
 developed in the proceedings of the National As- 
 sembly. The emigration of the loyal and perse- 
 cuted nobility and proprietors, of that lacerated 
 ahd disjointed commonwealth, had yet scarcj^ly 
 begun ; no standard was yet raised, round which 
 the exiled and virtuous gentry might rally to re- 
 deem their country ; nor had any potentate what- 
 ever, imagined the necessity of opposing the revo- 
 lutionary torrent, by that resistance which wal 
 adopted unhappily at too late a period. 
 
 New and decided proofs of hostility were dis- 
 played by the ruling power in France. The pre- 
 liminaries of a defensive alliance were concluded 
 i« July 1791, between the Emperor and the King 
 of Prussia, with a view to unite the other great 
 * Coxe's House of Auutria.
 
 1/2 
 
 monarchies, in a plan for tlielr general safety. In 
 August was issued the declaration of Pilnitz, gene- 
 ral and unspecific, which led to no important con- 
 sequences.* On the acceptance of the constitution, 
 by Louis the Sixteenth, the emperor formally 
 acknowledged the validity of the revolution, re- 
 ceived the French ambassador, revoked his circular 
 letter to the sovereigns of Europe, and admitted the 
 revolutionary flag into hrs ports ; he rejected alt 
 plans of hostile aggression, received with coolness 
 the expostulations of the empress Catharine, and 
 scarcely deigned to listen to the chivalrous pro- 
 jects of the King of Sweden. 
 
 A series of insults and provocations, and a sys- 
 tematic plan of hostility were pursued on the part 
 of France. New subjects for invective were dis- 
 covered by the Brissotines, and new pretences 
 devised for precipitating the nation into that con- 
 flict, to which they looked forward as the means 
 of establishing their darling republic, and extend- 
 ing the empire of their baleful principles. The 
 king was swept away by the torrent. The revolu- 
 tion triumplied over all opposition : no language 
 of moderation, or complaint of calumny, made by 
 the emperor, could avert the calamities of the 
 
 • " Deseratit, pour la forme, a la scnsibilite, aux instances 
 " importunes des freres de Louis XVf, TEmpereur et le Roi do- 
 " Prusse. signe:«nt cette convention insignifiante et superllue, 
 " donl ies dernidres demarches du Roi de Erailce * faisoent 
 " tomber I'obje't. Contens de cette demonstration d'interet^ 
 " que Ies refugies se h^rorent de repandre comme un mani— 
 *' fesie decisit, Ies deux soiiverains se replierent in contment 
 ** sur iKUr precedente neutialitc : pas ud de leurs soldats ne s*e- 
 *' braiila , la constitution refue par la Roi de iTance an sortie 
 " de ta prison et sous peine du dctronemeni, paralysa cet ac- 
 " cord de Pilnitz,que le» politiques ont range dans la classe deft 
 •* comedies angustcs." Merrure Hist, et pol. Janvier 1792. 
 
 * The acdeptaucc and proclimation of the new constitution of Loui^ 
 the Sixteenth.
 
 173 
 
 projected war. The terrific tumult every day ac- 
 quired new violence, till at length the National 
 Assembly, with only seven dissenting voices, 
 amidst the plaudits of a senseless and debased 
 multitude, decreed war against the King of Hun- 
 gary and Bohemia.* 
 
 The Brissotines, who then decided the councils 
 of l^rance, were not willing to lose the reputation 
 of wholly provoking the contest, nor did they 
 pretend that it was a manifest war of aggression 
 on the part of the allies. Their object was to be 
 obtained by offensive hostility against the sove- 
 reigns of Europe, and they never dreamt of for- 
 bearance in that vast project of their ambition. In 
 October, 1791, Brissot exclaimed in the assembly, 
 *' il ne faut pas vous dcfendre; il hit': attaquer 
 " vous m^me." In December, he exclaimed " la 
 '• guerre est actuellement un bienfait national, et 
 " la seule calamity qu'il y ait a redouter, c'est de 
 ** n'avoir pas la guerre." Legendre said, ''la liberte 
 " doit rouler les tyrans dans la poussiere, et fouler 
 ** les trones qui ont ecrase le monde." In January, 
 Brissot announced, *' une guerre est indispensable 
 " pour consommer la revolution, voici le moment 
 *' ou nous allons publier la guerre." " II faut 
 
 * Apology is due for introducing matter known to all Europe, 
 but if falsehood be a thousand times advanced with the confi- 
 dence of established truth, it will be necessary a thousand times 
 to refute it. The above relation is partly drawn from Coxe'» 
 History of the House of Austria, the only woik yet published 
 in this country which brings narrative with the dignity and cor- 
 rectness of history to the establishment of the French republic. 
 That Historian justly appreciates his reputation for candour and 
 authenticity, and has closed his work when he found it impos- 
 sible " to compile from imperfect documents, and amidst the 
 *' misrepresentations of passion and prejudice, a faithful account 
 *' of those portentous revolutions which have totally changed 
 *' the political relations and importance of Austria, and con- 
 *' founded all the antient connexions of Europe." Preface ia 
 his history of the House of Jmtria.
 
 174 
 
 "romprc avec tons les cabinets/' said Cambori. 
 *' II faut incendier les quatre coins de I'Europe :-- 
 " notre salut est la,"saidBrissot to his constituents. 
 If direct proof of their hostile determination, were 
 not abundantly supplied by their own positive de- 
 clarations, too numerous and too frequent to admit 
 of doubt or misconstruction, the whole scheme of 
 their revolution is decisive of the fact. The war 
 was the necessary result of their policy, their free 
 and natural choice, and their own unprovoked 
 aggression.* 
 
 Although the crime of actual aggression had 
 been doubtful with respect to France, yet the 
 allies would have been justified by the law of na- 
 tions, by the force of treaties incorporated into 
 that law, by the precedents of other times, and 
 the natural rights of self preservation, for a hostile 
 interference to overcome by force, when it might 
 have been overcome, an aspiring power whose 
 existence was incompatible with their safety. They 
 ought not to have waited till that power was ma- 
 tured and able to execute his destructive purpose. 
 The whelp of the lion is not to be spared, because 
 as yet he has not sallied from his mother's den. 
 Happy had it been for mankind, if the great sove- 
 reigns of Europe, had sooner mistrusted the cant- 
 ing and false professions of the first rebels, against 
 lawful authority in France. The revolutionary 
 monster came into being without fair natural pro- 
 
 ♦ The statements of the Rev. Herbert Marsh, in" his Historj^ 
 " of the Politicks of Great Britain and France," afford a body 
 of unquestionable and conclusive evidence upon this point. 
 It is much to be lamented, thai after the publication of ihat in* 
 comparable work, any writer who lays claim to honesty and 
 information, should dare to inculpate the allied powers for the 
 guilt of tlxe revolutionary war. Some of the above quotations 
 from the speeches and writings of the revolutionary authors of 
 <he war were noticed by Mr. Marsh.
 
 175 
 
 portions, and bore In his aspect the demonstrations 
 of innate hopeless depravity, which plainly shewed 
 " that he was come to bile the world." With no 
 proeternatural spirit, it might have been foretold 
 even at that hour * 
 
 ** That many ap old man's sigh, and many a widows, 
 "And many an orphan's water-standing eye ; 
 " Men for their sons, wives for their husbands* fate, 
 " And orphans for their parents* t-meless death 
 *' Should rue the hour that £ver ha was born." 
 
 It is a right of nature to prevent the ppproach 
 of danger by all measures of precaution. Jt is a 
 natural duty and a fundamental principle of human 
 justice, to prevent the triumph and repetition of 
 great crimes by early vindictive visitation. If Ra- 
 villac or Damien, after the assassination of a king 
 of France, or Ankerstroom after the murder of a 
 King of Sweden, pr the projector of the great 
 treason against our protestant government in the 
 reign of King James, had been detected lurking 
 in some obscure corner, meditating without re- 
 morse upon his past atrocity, and sharpening a 
 deadly vveapon to perpetrate another crime of 
 equal magnitude, who would censure as unjust 
 or unnecessary, the disarming and punishment 
 of that great offender, by any human autho- 
 rity ? When the crime committed was the over- 
 throw of the mightiest monarchy in Europe, and 
 the massacre of its loyal supporters, upon a prin- 
 ciple which naturally leads to the overthrow of all 
 states, and the massacre of all sovereigns ; and 
 that crime was perpetrated by a huge association 
 qf merciless conspirators, exulting in their guilt, 
 and making prodigious preparations to accomplish 
 many more acts of similar atrocity, shall the rule 
 of justice fail, because of the power and the num- 
 ber of the criminals .'' It would be vain to quote 
 the publicists who have decided a question so
 
 ir<5 
 
 rimple and obvious; but it may be useful by 
 way of illustration, to avail ourselves of an autho- 
 rity drawn from the Edinburgh Review, which 
 has recently prcnounced the war to be a manifest 
 pggresfion on the part q^ the allies. 
 
 " The right of national interference (a late 
 *' refinement of this right of proportional im- 
 '' provement) has, like all other valuable and 
 " sacred principles, been called in question. It 
 ^* has been denied, that the total overthrow of 
 •* all regular government in the greatest nation 
 " of Europe ; the abolition of every salutary 
 " restraint upon the operations of the multi- 
 *' tude ; the erection of a standard to whicli 
 " every thing rebellious and unprincipled miy;ht 
 " repair; the open avowal of anarchy, atheism, 
 '* and oppression as a public creed : — it has been 
 " denied, that the existence of this grand nui- 
 " sance gave the vicinage (to use Mr. Burke's 
 " apposite illustration,) a right to interfere. 
 " Yet it is difficult to conceive what national 
 ** changes, except the introduction of the pes- 
 *' tilence, could give a better right to the 
 " neighbourhood to reject all intercourse with 
 " so infected a niass as France then was. And, 
 " if such defensive measures were absolutely 
 ** necessary, it is evident, that the slightest ag- 
 *' gression on the part of this neighbour, justi- 
 " fied that open war, which was so loudly pre- 
 " scribed by the slightest chance of its leading 
 ** to a restoration of order. The immense ac- 
 " quisition of power, which the French govern-: 
 " ment acquired by the Revolution ; the gene- 
 " ral levy and arming that immediately took 
 " place, would have justified all neighbours in 
 ** extending their resources upon the common 
 " principles of the modern system. Now, if
 
 177 
 
 " this increase of French power- had taken 
 •* place on the Spanish, instead of the north 
 " side of the Pyrenees ; if it had been not a 
 " sudden augmentation of internal resources, 
 " but an increase of territory arid power by con- 
 ** quest ; no one doubts the propriety of an im- 
 " mediate interference ; nay, if this increase had 
 " only been in contemplation, no one would 
 ** hesitate to consider the formation of the plan, 
 " as sufficient cause for war ; so thought our 
 " forefathers at least, when they attacked Louis 
 " XIV. a hundred years ago. But, what difFer- 
 *' ence is there, as to foreign states, whether 
 " such an augmentation of power takes place 
 ** at the expence of the Spanish, the Bourbons, 
 ** or at the least of the other branch of that 
 ** illustrious house ? Whether this sudden change 
 " in the aspect of one powerful rival neighbour 
 " is the consequence of her foreign conquests, 
 " or of her rapid internal changes ? Whether 
 ♦* the addition is drawn from the pillaged pro- 
 " vinces of Spain, or the overthrow of all the 
 " peaceful institutions, and the plunder of all 
 " the wealthy orders at home ? When such a 
 *' sudden and prodigious increase of resources 
 " takes place in one country, as can only be 
 " matched by a similar revolution, developing 
 " equal powers in the neighbouring nations, 
 " those neighbours are exactly in this dilemma ; 
 "either they must wade through all manner 
 of turbulence and danger, to the sudden pos- 
 session of resources sufficient to balance this 
 new power; or they must submit to this new 
 power. One mode of escape only remains 
 from alternatives equally cruel : they may unite 
 against this common nuisance ; they may in- 
 terfere, and abate it. If France had con- 
 A A 
 
 «<
 
 17« 
 
 " quered the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, who 
 
 " doubts that Britain and Austria miglit have at- 
 
 *' tacked licr, though neither of them are friends 
 
 " of Spain: But this was not absolutely neces- 
 
 ** sary ; for, first, tliey might have perhaps saved 
 
 " themselves by defensive alliance, and the peace- 
 
 **^ able improvement of their internal resources ; 
 
 *' or secondly, they might certainly have ac- 
 
 ** quired in Holland, or Denmark, or Spain it- 
 
 '* self, an extent of territory, equal to that 
 
 " g-uned by France. But the former measure 
 
 "would have been dangerous,; thelattcrboth dan- 
 
 *' gerous and unjust. In like manner Britain and 
 
 " Austria might liave met the crisis of their af- 
 
 '* fairs arising from the new^'ind sudden acquisi- 
 
 " lion of ^resources which France made at the 
 
 " Revolution. First, they might have united dc- 
 
 " fensively, as ancient allies, and worked all the 
 
 " while to improve their internal resources; or, 
 
 " secondFy, they might have revolutionized, and 
 
 'f follovved the French example. The first, how- 
 
 " ever, of these plans would have been dangcr- 
 
 '* ous ; the latter both dangerous and unprin- 
 
 *' cipleJ. One alternative remained ; a union 
 
 •* against the nnlieard of nuisance. 
 
 '^^* \Vc hesitate not, then, to lay it down as a 
 
 " principle, applicable to this extreme case, that 
 
 •* whcnevt-ra sudden and great change takes place 
 
 '* iq the internal structure of a state, dangerous 
 
 " in a^^ high degree to all neighbours, they 
 
 *<■ have a right to'atlempt by hostile interference,. 
 
 '^ .the restoration of an order of things safe to 
 
 " themselves; or, at least to counterbalange, by 
 
 *' active aggressioa the new force suddenly 
 
 '/ acquired. "If a highwayman pulls out a pistoi 
 
 " from his bosom, shall we wait till he loads 
 
 " and pp'sonf^ it, before we kill and disarm
 
 379 
 
 ^"^ him ? Shall we not attack hi ai with like arms 
 *' if he displays such weapons, whether he takes 
 " them from his own stores or seizes them 
 " from some other person in our sight ? We 
 " do not attack a neighbouring nation for plun- 
 ** dering or conquering a third povver, because 
 ** we wish to avenge or redress the injury, but 
 " because we shall be ourselves* affected by its 
 " consequences. Shall we be less injured by 
 " the same consequences, because the dangerous 
 •* power of doing us mischief, is developed from 
 " its recesses witrtin, and not forcibly snatched 
 " from without ?" 
 
 Never did the press send forth a more ample 
 refutation of the principles recently advanced by 
 the Edinburgh Reviewers, nor has the natural 
 incurable guilt of the revolution been, at any 
 time, more justly illustrated than in the preced- 
 ing extract taken faithfully from an article upon 
 Segur's work, * Sur la Politique de tons les Cabi- 
 *-^ nets" in the review published in January, 1602. 
 At the time of that publication, the coalition of 
 the princes of Europe was no recent occurrence, 
 but all the causes and circumstances of that im- 
 portant transaction had been completely developed. 
 ^ Nothing has more recently transpired to blot 
 that fair reputation of the grand alliance, and to 
 cast a veil of purity over " the anarchy, atheism, 
 ** and oppression" of the French Republic. 
 
 That war, which originated in the anarchy, 
 atheism, and oppression of the French Republic, 
 never ceased to rage, till the gigantic efforts of 
 the revolution overcame all resistance, and esta- 
 blished the throne of a mighty conqueror upon 
 the ruins of the surrounding states. Are we 
 now told that " France having been forced into 
 '* those hostilities, and having been compelled
 
 180 
 
 *' to beat the allies from one end of Europe to 
 " the other, then took as little as she well could 
 " of their territory as a punishment for their past 
 '^ aggressions, and a security for their keeping 
 " the peace in future r" Never should we have 
 imagined that the prodigious strides of the new 
 tyranny made upon every side of its vast territory, 
 breaking down every ancient barrier, and prevail- 
 ing against all the efforts of confederated Eu- 
 rope, to limit its encroachments, would be cha- 
 racterized, at this^ day, as an instance of mode- 
 rate ambition. Habituated to the principles of 
 the system, which that tyranny has subverted, in 
 which the weakest states were secure of their 
 little territories, from the prevailing sense of 
 justice, and the common interest by which the 
 strongest were restrained ; little did we expect 
 even, that the first robbery of the Pope, by 
 the seizure of Avignon, and the appropriation of 
 the German territories, within the limits of 
 France, made by the first national assembly, 
 would have admitted such justification ! But 
 having seen that tyranny, growing to more 
 insatiable injustice, sending forth ferocious ar- 
 mies on the territories of every neighbouring 
 state, to advance like the torrent, which, with 
 resistless impetuosity, sweeps away all the land- 
 marks of ancient right, but never retires to its 
 -lawful channel : having witnessed the conquest 
 and incorporation of the Netherlands, which 
 were the bulwark of Europe, on that side, and 
 of Savoy, which was the defence of Swisserland, 
 and the rest of Italy ; then looking to the sub- 
 jugation of the United States, and to the devas- 
 tation and plunder of the whole Italian penin- 
 sula; then remarking the overthrow of the HeU 
 vetic confederacy, that great monument of the
 
 i8l 
 
 -vigour and virtue of an heroic people in a distant 
 age ; then beholding the Emperor, while he 
 still bore the sceptre of Charlemagne, brought 
 to a disgraceful pacification, and yielding to tri- 
 umphant regicide, the richest parts of his domi- 
 nions, and the securities ©f what he was able to 
 retain ; afterwards observing the dissolution of 
 the empire itself, and the parcelling of its impo- 
 verished states, among new created powers and 
 principalities, subject to the will, and dependent 
 upon tlie support of the haughty victor : when 
 all this had been prescribed in treaty, and was con- 
 firmed as national law, by the desolating sword, 
 and the treacherous counsels of an unexampled 
 usurpation ; when that usurpation had crushed all 
 its enemies, and was flattered by the homage of 
 all the powers of the continent, soliciting, at its 
 footstool, a frail permission to retain the mere 
 semblance of their glimmering independence ; 
 then observing that the thirst of dominion was 
 yet unsatisfied, that the glories of the great 
 Frederick, must' be extinguished, and Prussia un- 
 dergo the common fate of servitude, which, by 
 pusillanimous concession, she had vainly hoped 
 to escape : In that aweful record of successful 
 and overwhelming crimes, we cannot readily per- 
 ceive one instance of that pacific temper, and 
 *' sufficient moderation," which France was 
 " compelled" by the allies to abandon. What- 
 ever were " the aggressions" of the allies, the 
 vindictive wrath of their stern adversary seems 
 to have felt little moral restraint. When we 
 groan in sympathy with the palpitating victims, 
 yet writhing under the scourge of their oppressor, 
 which draws the life at every stroke, we neither 
 acknowledge justice nor humanity, in that opi- 
 nion, which considers such visitation as any spe-
 
 182 
 
 cics " of punishment," for any past unproved 
 " aggression." 
 
 The war, on the part of this country, was 
 equally inevitable. Soon after the fatal events of 
 the tenth of August, the French legislature ap- 
 plied the principles of that insurrection to every 
 monarchy in the world. On the 22d of that 
 month, Dorat Cubieres, in a discourse upon the 
 eloquence of the French language, said to the 
 Assembly, " Depuis que vous nous avez deiivres 
 " da mal des rois, de ce mal qui infecte encore 
 " la plupart de> contrees de TEurope, et dont 
 " j'espere que le genre humain sera bientot de- 
 " livrc a son tour, grace a vos sublimes decrets." 
 On the 4th September, the assembly took an 
 oath ; •' Les representans du peuple jureni indi- 
 " viduellement haine aux, rois, et a la royaute. 
 " lis les combattront jusqu*a leur dernier sou- 
 " pir." 
 
 ' The convention, which soon after assembled, 
 adopted all that republican ardour and universal 
 hostility to kings. By their famous decree of 
 the 19th November, they declared " que la na- 
 *' tion Franqoise accordera fraternite et secours 
 ** a tons les peuples qui voudront recouvrerleur 
 " liberte ; et le pouvoir executif est charge de 
 ** porter secours a ces peuples, et defendre les 
 *' citoyens qui auroient ete vexes ou qui pourroient 
 " I'etre pour la cause de la liberte." This de- 
 cree was instantly followed by assurances of co- 
 operation to the seditious societies of England^ 
 whose deputies appeared at the bar of the con- 
 vention. On the l5th December, by another 
 decree, it was declared " que la nation Franqoise 
 " traitera comme ennemi le peuple qui refusant 
 "la liberte et Tegalite, ou y renonqant vondrait 
 *' conserver, rappeller, ou traiter avec le prince
 
 183 
 
 '* et les castes privil6gies." On the igtli De- 
 cember, Barailon observing that the English go- 
 vernment had taken just ofFence at these obnox^^ 
 ious decrees, proposed, that they should be ex- 
 pressly restrained in their operation to those 
 countries, " aux tyrans dcsquels la nation Fran-, 
 ** qoise sera enguerre." But the convention 
 decreed " n'y avoir pas lieu adeliberer." 
 
 The Joiu'nal Historique et Politique, a paper, 
 at that time,, considered as an authentic repo- 
 sitory 4)f the sentiments of .the French govern- 
 nient, on the IQth November, contained a con--, 
 sideration of the affairs of Ireland, which conr, 
 eludes with this remarkable passage.-. " Le peuple. 
 ** Anglois ne permettra y^as sans doute k son gou-^ 
 *' verneraent de tenir I'lrlande, comme par li^ 
 **' passe, dans le depouillement des droits 1^^, 
 " plus sacres des hommes et des peuples. Ma;?. 
 " en supposant que ces deux isles soht ou se-' 
 *' ront bientot deterrainees a agir d'egale ^ egalcj 
 " elles ont a trailer des questions bien interest 
 " santes. l". Resteront elles sous une seule organi- 
 ** sation sociale, oi^ le canal St. George en fero^^. 
 " il deux peuples et deux souverains ? Dans le^ 
 " cas oii I'union durera, continu^ront elles S^ 
 " avoir deux pouvoirs legislatifs et un seul poq-. 
 " voir executif, ou bien etabliront elles I'unite en-^ 
 " tiere de legislation comme d'execution ? Enfinil 
 " continueront elles la Royunte? ,1 
 
 " On a beau faire ; tous les contrats politiqu^s 
 *' des nations vont etre renouvelles." 
 
 The same paper, on the 23d November, pub- 
 lished the following article ; " Grande Bretagne. 
 " Point de Lords I Point de chambre haute I 
 " point de Roi ! tel est le cri du peuple Anglois 
 *' dans les rues de Londres, dans les rues des, 
 " autres villes d'Angleterre ; tel est le cri qui rer *
 
 184 
 
 " tentit dans les montagnes de I'Ecosse, et dans 
 ** les plaines de I'lrlande. Piiritains et Catho- 
 " liques leurs paroissent avoir ce meme dogme 
 " politique. II n'y a que le roi d'Angleterre et 
 ** peut-6tre quelques vieux Lords, hon6ttes gens, 
 *' et quelques fripons de cour qui professent 
 " une autre religion sociale. Le parlement est 
 " proroge jusqu'au mois de Janvier. Mais le 
 " mois de Janvier arrivera bient6t, et bient6t il 
 " faudra que George TIL fasse un nouveau traite 
 *' avec I'Angleterre qui lui donnera sftrement une 
 " bonne pension s*il se resigne k une revolution 
 " inevitable avec prudence." Let any candid 
 mind, after noticing these extracts from the pro- 
 ceedings of the French legislature, and a govern- 
 ment paper of France, decide u'hether or not the 
 war was inevitable on the part of this country ; 
 and with what truth the Edinburgh Reviewers can 
 say, that with us it was a manifest war of ag- 
 gression ? 
 
 . The present circumstances of Europe impose 
 upon us a duty more imperious and important than 
 at any preceding period. If, by any means, 
 Europe can be rescued from her present degrading 
 subjection, to us are confided her hope and des- 
 tiny. The patriots of Portugal and Spain, not 
 declined in courage and resolution, nor appalled at 
 the prospect of future difficulties, but yet loyal 
 to their rightful sovereigns, look to us for libe- 
 ral assistance. The King of Sweden, our ally, 
 who in better times would have been regarded as 
 the hero of Christendom, may yet repel mis- 
 fortune, and demand our support. The Austrian 
 Emperor, driven to renew that warfare from which 
 he retired with the loss of dignity and domi- 
 nion, and from which he can retire no more, even 
 with a worthless remnant of independence muist 
 
 4
 
 iiope to prosper in this his last effort, by th« 
 succour to be/lerived from our alliance. Contend- 
 ing in a common cause with us for the duties 
 and the rights of all nations, he is entitled to 
 expect it at onr hands. The success of his efforts 
 would inspire with new hope, the prostrate and 
 desolated states which groan under the scourge of 
 France, and after twenty years of unparalleled 
 calamity, Europe might recover her freedom. It 
 is only in that freedom that England can be 
 securdly and permanently great. Though France 
 may not soon be able to wrest from us " our 
 " ships, colonies, and commerce," which are the 
 ultimate object of her policy, and for which she 
 considers no price too great ; and though in one 
 series of events it will be our magnanimous reso* 
 lution to defend that object in unextinguishable 
 war, yet the fate of battle is precarious, and the 
 acquisitions of victory are insecure, while con- 
 tention lasts. Providence does not assure a 
 triumphant result to any mortal undertaking : 
 
 ■ — " Sua cuique exorsa laborem 
 *' Fortunamque ferent : Rex Jupiter omnibvis idem." 
 
 Our humanity sickens at the thought of unsuc- 
 cessful or interminable war ; our hope of renewed 
 tranquillity, not less than our peculiar interest, 
 animates us to co-operate with any sovereign 
 opposed to France, if such co-operation increase 
 the means of abating that gigantic power. 
 
 Great will be our guilt and folly after seven- 
 teen years of unrelenting opposition to revolu- 
 tionary hostility, rewarded as they are with una- 
 bated prosperity and augmented potency, if we 
 should now abandon that hope and interest, and 
 sinking into the gulph of faction, should desert 
 the government which has conducted us to 
 
 B B
 
 1^6 
 
 ^reatnessand glory, and should disappoint the hopes 
 of Europe. This is not a time to parley about ques- 
 tions of abstract right, and to disunite the mein- 
 bers of the state in matters of partial grievance. 
 When the combined powers of all the orders 
 should be exclusively devoted to combat an ene- 
 my which rejoices in our disunion, and would 
 complete his triumph by promoting it, is it 
 a less crime than that of political suicide to 
 separate the people from their rulers, in action or 
 affection, or to divert the public mind from 
 hostility to France, by provoking its hostility to 
 individuals at home ; and by agitating questions 
 of domestic policy, upon which we never can ac- 
 cord ? Let us wait till Europe and ourselves are 
 »a\^d from the impending ruin, and till we can 
 discuss domestic variances without gratifying the 
 public enemy. 
 
 " Turn certare odiis, turn res rapuisse licebit ; 
 *' Nunc sinite, et placitum Iceti componite fadus." 
 
 In the course of the last war, and of the pre- 
 sent,, none of the operations of our warfare have 
 escaped the censure of disaffected writers. Their 
 attempts have been unremitting to censure mi- 
 nisters for their plan? ; and frequently command- 
 ers^ for the execution of those military enterprises, 
 which were entrusted to their direction ; while it 
 was impossible that opinion could yet be founded 
 on rational ground, or surmise.be justified by evi- 
 dence. The consprrators ctideavour to root out 
 of the public mind all confidence \n the zeal 
 and understanding of their rulers. Eminent 
 success has been no shield against accusation. 
 The triumph at Copenhagen projected am\ 
 achieved, in a manner, which proved the energy 
 and prudence of ministers, and added new glory 
 to our martial character, was condemned upon
 
 *S7 
 
 fallacious 'j^outtds 6T national jiwtice, thougk 
 no candid mind could doubt that the custody 
 of the Danish fleet was necessary to prevent 
 its falling into the hands of the common enemy, 
 to be used by him for the invasion of this coun- 
 try. The Orders of Council made subsequently 
 to similar regulations on the part of France, are 
 condemned, though they are known to be the 
 only means of checking a licentious neutral com- 
 merce, unjustifiable by the acknowledged law of 
 nations, detrimental to the essential interests of 
 our trade, and exclusively contributive to the 
 • resources of France. In just hostility they wer6 
 introduced to shew to all the world that our 
 rights, warranted by public law, cannot be vio- 
 lated with impunity, and that neutral nations, 
 neglecting the duties, must forfeit the rights of 
 neutrality ; that acceding to the unjust preten^* 
 sions of the enemy, they must participate in the 
 punishment which we are able to inflict upon 
 his temerity. The gallant conqueror at Vimiera 
 was scandalized before it was possible to estimate 
 the value of his services. Before any information 
 had arrived to disclose the circumstances of the 
 convention which closed that campaign, (by which, 
 undoubtedly, " the hopes and expectations of 
 " the country were disappointed,") an unprece- 
 dented clamour was excited, and punishment 
 denounced without inquiry. To complain of pub- 
 lic discussion in this country would betray igno- 
 rance of the constitution, and of the infinite va- 
 lue of the freedom of the press : but those 
 public writers who, uniformly, with one voice, 
 condemn all the measures of ministers, without 
 the possibility of exercising a fair judgment ; and 
 labor to lower, in the estimation of the country, 
 both the government and the legislature for dc-^
 
 188 
 
 feet of talent, and of rectitude of intention, may 
 justly be suspected of the worst design^ They 
 certainly may produce a most fatal result, at ^. 
 time when all our united energies should be di- 
 rected against that foe, whose triimiphs, in other 
 countries have been occasioned by the disunion 
 of the people. 
 
 The measures pursued to break the vast com- 
 bination of disaffected persons, which was or- 
 ganized in the affiliated societies, at the com- 
 mencement of the last war, are stigmatized as 
 " the English reigu of terror."* Those societies 
 were, at that time, established in perfect union 
 throughout the empire for the avowed purpose of 
 bringing about ** radical reform," upon the prin- 
 ciples then prevalent in France, and were in cor- 
 respondence with the public enemy. The saga- 
 cious mind of Mr. Pitt detected that formidable 
 conspiracy before it had acquired irresistible force, 
 and being armed with extraordinary power, his 
 vigilance and vigour, at that aweful crisis, saved 
 the monarchy, the legislature, and the laws. Let 
 us not forget that he performed that difficult task 
 without one capital conviction, without entrench- 
 ing on the privileges of parliament, without dis- 
 pensing with the trial hyjury, aud without the 
 detention of one accused individual, except on 
 suspicion founded on sufficient testimony. The 
 constitution being saved, that extraordinary power 
 was instantly surrendered, and the public liberties - 
 which, in practice, had never been violated, were 
 perfectly restored. It is astonishing that a de- ^ 
 signation appropriate to that cruel tyranny which- 
 under the blood-thirsty Roberspierre had tortured 
 mankind, should now be applied to characterize 
 
 * 13 Edinburgh Review.
 
 W9 
 
 those measures. It is impossible that those who 
 Jove, the British constitution, can denonsrinate, "as 
 
 / }' the reign of terror," that period, when with 
 the united voice of all loyal men, the govern- 
 ment was impelled, by the necessities of an alarm- 
 ing peril, to assert the utmost majesty of the laws, 
 and by the aid of parliament, -was enabled, ^^ith- 
 oiit the shedding of blood, to quell bold sedition, 
 and repress traitorous conspiracy. When the 
 Edinburgh Reviewers ostentatiously reprobate 
 the proceedings of that day as '* the English 
 " reign of terror," they make themselves confe- 
 derate with those who were then repressed, they 
 oppose themselves to the principles then main- 
 tained by parliament, and avow the whole of 
 their political system in its hugest deformity. 
 With like asperity, the conduct of government 
 in every department is now vilified and con- 
 demned. The wisdom and purity of parlia- 
 ment are disowned by a charge of corrMptioUj 
 venality, and weakness. The church, and its 
 possessions are regarded with malignant jealousy, 
 as the degrading appendage of an obsolete and 
 expiring superstition, and an usurpation of men 
 without utility or merit. The local magistrates, 
 and the judges, whose uprightness might chal- 
 lenge investigation, are regarded with little re- 
 verence, and calumniated as the agents of op- 
 pressive laws. Without the possibility of truth, 
 and in opposition to^the statements of those who 
 speak from authority and knowledge, the vulgar 
 are persuaded that honor and promotion in the 
 state, the army, and the navy, are not the re- 
 
 • ward of merit and the prize of service, 'but the 
 acquirement of corruption, artifice, and intrigue. 
 Opinion, which supersedes the powers of empire, 
 and the institutions of antiquity, influenced by
 
 writers, who are popular because they nre licen- 
 tious, saps the fountJations of established order, 
 flud threatens the superstructure of government. 
 
 But the most formidable engine of disaffection 
 is the aspersion of character virulently applied 
 to personages of exalted rank and illustrious sta- 
 tion. 
 
 The profound wisdom of our subsisting in- 
 stitutions appeared in the separation of those 
 classes, which are to exercise rule and magistracy, 
 from the great mass of the community ; that in 
 their elevation of rank and superiority of function, 
 the defects of personal character might be less 
 apparent, and the imperfections of nature be lost 
 in the splendour and dignity of factitious honour. 
 It is not given to mortal power to purify the 
 human heart by any political device from appe- 
 tite, passion, and caprice, which near observers 
 will always deplore in personages of the most 
 exalted station. It is somewhere remarked, that 
 no man is a philosopher in the eye of his own 
 domestics. Such is our incurable frailty, that 
 neither brilliancy of descent, magnificence of ap- 
 pointment, responsibility of trust, the influence 
 of education, nor the possession, of great and 
 useful virtues, will eradicate from the mind many 
 human qualities which cannot be exposed to 
 common observation without exciting ridicule 
 and contempt. The British constitution did every 
 thing which human prudence could devise, by 
 providing a veil of honour to be cast over that 
 weakness and vice which inevitably exist in the 
 highest characters, and by taking care that the 
 purity of the laws should never be blemished in 
 the hands of those who may be unhappily defiled 
 by natural errors and offences. 
 
 It is important that we regard those whom the
 
 391 
 
 kw has made superior to iis, with reverential alwe- 
 By levelling their moral qualities to the vulgar 
 view, that object of our national policy is de- 
 feated. A learned writer * has insinuated, that the 
 pious Massillon and the philosophic Fenelon may 
 be classed among the conspirators against kingly 
 government. In the Petit Car^me, and in the 
 Telemaque, which afforded useful lessons to the 
 youthful princes for whom they were compiled, 
 the wickedness and infamy of an oppressive, ex- 
 travagant, and voluptuous reign, were forcibly 
 and eloquently expressed. Their observations 
 and recitals were pressed by corrupt writers 
 Dpon the observation of a licentious age, and 
 were applied, unhappily, to the monarchy of 
 France. If Massillon and Fenelon, whose works 
 were marked with sound religion and pure phi- 
 lanthropy, and were evidently intended to pro- 
 duce the most salutary effects, are justly 
 chargeable with contributing to the greatest ca- 
 lamity that ever scourged the world, what judg- 
 ment shall be passed on writers, whose daily 
 employment and delight it is, to expose in 
 shame and nakedness the foibles and the vices of 
 illustrious persons, without, in any instance, com- 
 mending their amiable qualities, or doing honour 
 to their virtues. 
 
 He is indeed a parasite to power, and incapable 
 of honorable sentiment, who considers wealth ab 
 privilege for transgression, or distinguished rank 
 a cloak for immorality. The laws of England 
 have not formed such a judgment ; nor have they 
 ordained one rule of conduct for the meaner 
 classes, and another for the great and powerful. 
 Our justice unsullied and severe, acknowledges 
 
 * Batler'i Berolutions of the Germanic empire, p, S^O. 
 
 4 
 
 • I
 
 192 » 
 
 no distmction. Bat severe as is that justice to- 
 wards those who shall he brought to its tribunal, 
 it affords no sanction to the mean, unprincipled 
 traducer, whose censure is intended not for 
 punishment or moral reprobation, but for the 
 political object of destroying all reverence and 
 attachment of the lower classes towards the per- 
 sons of authority and superior station. The mo- 
 ralist will always assert that equality of duty 
 which exacts equal obedience from the monarch 
 and the peasant. It is the office of the satirist 
 peculiarly to chastise the licentiousness of the 
 great, and to seek for the victims of his just 
 reproach among the most elevated circles of po- 
 lished life. But neither the moralist nor the sa- 
 tirist presumes to make his censure an instrument 
 of political complaint ; nor does he vilify the liv- 
 ing character, or descend to personal abuse. The 
 great Roman satirist, whose keen and manly ex- 
 posure of the corruption of an abandoned age is 
 a model to admire and imitate, was better ac- 
 quainted with the nature of his duty. 
 
 " — — experiar, quid concedatur in rllos 
 
 " Quorum Flarainia tegitur cinis, atque Latina." 
 
 Neither his example, nor that of any other, 
 whose name may be ranked with the founders 
 of sound and moral satire, will justify the 
 fearless libeller, who exposes vjce, not to chastise 
 but to torture, and censures, not to improve but 
 to destroy. 
 
 When in the reflections of the Weekly Register, 
 and other disaffected pamphlets obtruded upon our 
 notice, we observean illustration and frequent reca- 
 pitulation of the errors and vices of the great, parad-- 
 ed with an ostentatious display of sarcasm and ridi- 
 cule; when they teach us to believe that the charac- 
 tf r of the higher classes is altogether licentious and
 
 corrupt; without one quality ofgoodness ; we per- 
 ceive that such reflections are dictated without just- 
 ice or candour.When such men are indiscriminately 
 scandalized, and the scandal terminates with an 
 invitation to change, reform, and revolution, the 
 motive of such calumny is obvious, and we detect 
 the ultimate hope of the treacherous libeller. 
 
 If an honorable abhorrence of crime, and zeal 
 for moral reformation occasioned complaint of that 
 licentiousness, which in the present age pervades 
 all classes, and from which the highest are not 
 exempt, (always to be excepted from such conces- 
 sion is that pattern of goodness, who, notwith- 
 standing the malignant insinuations of incorrigible 
 slanderers, has long reigned in the love and vene- 
 ration of his people :) however we may lament the 
 natural tendency of such bold censure, yet we 
 should regard it without personal indignation. But 
 if the reviler selects, for his canting reprobation, 
 those only to whom he is politically opposed, and 
 can extol the virtues of such as belong to his own 
 party, indifferent to their faults of similar quality 
 and complexion, we may be sure that his motives 
 are not pure, nor his censure liberal. In France 
 at the commencement of the Revolution, the 
 members of the royal house, and the whole 
 order of the nobility, were reprobated for whatever 
 laxity of manners their conduct disclosed, or malice 
 could attach to th6ir reputation ; while the infa- 
 mous Duke of Orleans, whose palace was the re- 
 sort of persons blackened by all debasing and abo- 
 minable crimes, was extolled for his justice and 
 patriotism. In England, while the licentiousness 
 of certain individuals is made a perpetual theme of 
 ranconrous condemnation, a late departed states- 
 man, the leader of his party, (to whom allusion is 
 tnade, rather than to the living, because the dead
 
 194 
 
 CJUinot suffer from reproach, and to whose many 
 great and virtuous qualities, an impartial judg- 
 ment is bound to render homage and admira- 
 tion :) that able and eloquent advocate of the 
 new maxims of philosophy is applauded for his 
 fidelity to the public cause, and his unalterable love 
 ofliberty, with little notice of those immoralities, 
 faults, and imperfections, which our generosity 
 would forget or pardon, but which a rigid mo- 
 ralist must severely censure. While the per- 
 sonal transgressions of our higher classes are 
 . depicted in glaring colours, and with merci- 
 less precision, the atrocities which have ac- 
 companied the career of revolution pass without 
 allusion ; there are those who would excite our 
 commonalty to insurrection.. because a prince of 
 the blood permitted his mistress to preside at a 
 birth-day dinner, and because the lady, who was 
 bound to another royal duke in illegal marriage, 
 enjoys a pension from the crown ;* (and it would 
 be disgraceful to the country if she were without 
 such provision.) With the sensibility of unsullied 
 innocence, and with the rigour of stoical perfec- 
 tion, they detect and would slay the delinquent, 
 however elevated, whom natural appetite has led 
 beyond the limits of strict morality ; but they ex- 
 press no apprehension of the fraud, intrigue, false-: 
 hood, outrage, murder, and oppression, insepara- 
 ble from Jacobinical revolution. 
 
 Appeal to the multitude upon questions which 
 the law refers to a liighcr tribunal, and the publi- 
 cation of doubt and insinuation upon matters in 
 which the lower classes are incompetent to form 
 correct opinion, (and they are most prosperous and 
 happy when their judgment is undisturbed by such 
 
 * Cobbett's Political Register, t^bruaiy I8O9.
 
 bold casuistry,) whether made by the public enemy, 
 or by the author of the Political Register, is equally 
 pernicious. They can never be safely raised to the 
 function of the national censor. The order of 
 nature is by such means inverted. The subject is 
 raised above his prince, and moral and political 
 disorder must ensue. As the fluid will never as- 
 cend higher than its source, the judgment of the 
 mob, in cases of that sort, will be low and abased, 
 like the passion which suggests it; nor are they 
 more able to dive for those merits which are deeply 
 involved in perplexity and design. The substan- 
 tial worth of the statesman sinks out of the fathom 
 of their observation, while the shining tinsel of 
 the shallow pretender floats on the surface to daz- 
 zle and betray them. At this time, to submit the 
 vital principles of government, and the claims of 
 the law, to the inquiry of such a judicature, is to 
 destroy in the mind of the commonalty, the feel- 
 ings of fidelity, respect, and love, necessary to our 
 power and safety, and to prepare it for disastrous 
 revolution and ignominious conquest. 
 
 The cold blooded calculator, who may fancy that 
 he is raised above the generosities of our nature, 
 who cannot sympathize vv'ith the affections of the 
 heart, and who derives all his sense 'of duty from 
 a comparfson of advantage and compensation, may 
 scoff at the moral feelings of mankind, and limit 
 the social obligations by his sordid view of benefit 
 and price. He may instruct the English natiou 
 that loyalty is a selfish principle, and patriotism an 
 interested bias. In the language of Mr. Cobbett, 
 he may state, '^ that loyalty is an empty sound, 
 " unconnected with the general good ; that perso- 
 *' nal friendship to a king forms no ingredient of 
 " loyalty ; that the motive to resist Napoleon, and 
 ^* to make sacrifices for that purpose^ will at last
 
 19^ 
 
 '^ come to this ; to save ourselves fmm heing in a 
 •** worse situation than we are in under the family of 
 " Brunswick ; but that Napoleon could not carry 
 " the land to France, nor the goods; nor could he 
 •* unstring the arms of a labourer, nor would it be 
 *' his interest so to do."* He may also demand 
 with the authority of adverse assertion, ^* how, in 
 ** what manner a king can evince paternal feelings 
 " towards the country," and may point with cruel 
 sarcastic question at the " age, infirmity, and 
 ** illness" of a venerable sovereign.-}- He may 
 traduce the active friends of government, as hire- 
 ling, needy, and profligate antijacobins, the sup- 
 porters of fraud and corruption from ignorance, 
 imbecillity, or baseness ; and he may represent our 
 attachment to the state, and our terror of insur- 
 rection as " the foolish, the cowardly fear of re- 
 " volution. ^'''^ 
 
 But such reflections are traitorous to that con- 
 stitution, which we defend, not only for the sake of 
 personal benefit, but jealously, with our lives and 
 fortunes ; they are incompatible with that duty 
 which unites us to the prince by filial homage, as 
 flrmly as by strict obligation, and relaxes the stern- 
 ness of power in the kinder aff^ections of parental 
 love ; they are an abandonment of that patriotism 
 which submits to all personal privation, rather than 
 to national indignity ; they are contrary to the 
 example of our heroic ancestors, who at every 
 period, sustained their sovereign as generously with 
 the pledge of love as with the tribute of duty ; 
 who might have fallen, in his service, under the 
 sword of ari enero^y, but could never speculate 
 ]Lipon the productive quality of the joil, which con- 
 
 ♦ Political Register, March 11, 180.g. 
 ■\ Political Register, March 25, I8O9. 
 X Political Register, April 1, 180.9.
 
 /quest might not impair, or upon the interest which 
 the victor would have in their future prosperity. 
 Hopeless will be our condition when we shall ba- 
 lance that interest against the benignant protection 
 which we have enjoyed, and yet enjoy under the 
 family of Brunswick. 
 
 It is not probable that the British nation i3 
 deeply infected with that hostile spirit which labors 
 to subvert the state. The revolutionary yviiters 
 know that the people, collectively taken, are en- 
 thusiastically devoted to the constitution, zealously 
 attached to the sovereign, and to his illustri- 
 ous family, and conscious of the benefits they de- 
 rive under the present establishments. By factious 
 outcry, they may obtain the votes of municipal 
 and provincial meetings, to censure ministers and 
 statesmen, and to circulate the jargon of jacobinism 
 in the form of public resolutions ; yet they know 
 that the authority of parliament still rests in the 
 confidence and approbation of the weightier part 
 )of the country, which, upon any vital question, 
 would give its voice, by vast majorities, in support 
 of the legislature and the laws. They aim to make 
 the people revolutionary upon' questions subordi- 
 nate and unimportant. By obtaining the censure 
 of one member of the royal house, they think to 
 cast disgrace upon the whole of it. By the appro- 
 bation of a few active members of the lower house, 
 (active only in opposition) they intend to pledge 
 the nation in mistrust of the rest of parliament. 
 By vehemence and loquaciousness in debate, the 
 instant publication of their noisy eloquence, and an 
 ostentatious enumeration of their numbers at as- 
 semblies, where the friends of government are 
 hooted at, or dare not express their sentiments, 
 they would appear to express the opinion of the 
 great body of the people. While conspirators arc 
 ',' ■ 7 
 
 \
 
 198 
 
 active, it behoves the virtuous to be vigilant, lest 
 their clamour, uncontradicted, may pass for truth, 
 their voices unopposed have the force of unanimity, 
 and their force unresisted obtain an easy conquest. 
 As when the lion slumbers, he is easily entoiled 
 in the hunter's net, as the citadel may be surprized 
 by ruffians, if the garrison, however numerous, de- 
 sert their posts, so may government, not upon its 
 guard, be overturned in an instant, and the state 
 be seized in contempt of its unsuspecting defend- 
 ers. The nobles and the gentry are primarily 
 bound to u^atch. Their rights and reputation are 
 the first objects of attack, by those who have begun 
 their hostility, in attempting by calumny and false 
 aspersion to lower them in the estimation of the 
 country. 
 
 We rarely meet with unmixed evil in the temper 
 of mankind. If our virtues shine with diminished 
 lustre, intermixed with error and infirmity, our 
 vices are moderated and polished by honour, loyalty, 
 and truth. Whatever faults may be attributed to 
 individuals, among the illustrious families ofEng- 
 lanVl, they may boast of qualities which claim re- 
 gc^rd and admiration. In parliament, they are dis- 
 tinguished for their jealousy ' of the least viola- 
 tion of the public liberties, for their dutiful 
 attachment to the laws, and their inflexible love 
 of justice. In private life, they are not want- 
 ing in the duties of munificence, hospitality, dig- 
 nity, and benevolence : while the censor may 
 have ground for reprobation, the candid examiner 
 will find more ample cause for generous com- 
 mendation. 
 
 The offerings of thanks which are profusely 
 tendered from the counties and corporations to 
 Mr. Wardle, and the 125 members of his mi- 
 nority, may be considered as a symptom that the
 
 199 
 
 publlp mind is already in a degree infected with 
 that revolutionary principle which originates in 
 contempt of constituted authority. With any 
 principle of the .British constitution they can- 
 not be reconciled. At present the public caa 
 only err ignorantly, irritated by mistaken zeal, 
 or misled by artful intrigue ; but their measures 
 may unhappily contribute to the triumph of des- 
 perate conspirators, who dare not as yet un- 
 fold their deep design.'' If the people, in public 
 assemblies, may applaud in opposition to the 
 sense of parliament, they may also censure. The 
 hope of such applause, and the apprehension 
 of such censure must influence the legislator's 
 mind, which for every beneficial purpose ought 
 to be entirely independent of that seductive re- 
 compence, and that formidable condemnation. 
 Over the elected member of parliament, his con- 
 stituents have no right to exercise direct controul, 
 or to exert immediate influence. To judge his 
 past conduct, to reward him with their conti- 
 nued trust, or to reject his future service with 
 indignant displeasure, will be their function, 
 when they shall be lawfully called to exercise the 
 elective franchise. In parliament he is a repre- 
 sentative of the whole nation, to be governed* by 
 no instruction from those who delegated him ; it 
 is his part to deliberate impartially for the <^om- 
 monweal of the undivided empire, and to de- 
 cide honestly, unrestrained by the fear of the 
 very few whose displeasure he ought not to dread; 
 and not impelled by the hope of their favour, 
 with which his duty is wholly unconnected. 
 Such was the judgment of Mr. Burke, when 
 he acted as the avowed advocate of the rights of 
 the people ; and upon that principle he was de- 
 puted to represent them by the popular party of
 
 100 
 
 the electors of Bristol ; such will ever be the 
 judgment of those who estimate the value of a 
 supreme unawed natronal legislature. 
 
 The people have a right to influence the de- 
 liberations of parliim^nt, by respectful petition, 
 adtlress, remonstrance, and complaint, and for 
 iiw.h purposes they may meet m public assembly, 
 consult, and determine. Their constitutional pri- 
 vilege extends no further. To extol a minority, 
 to confer honour upon those whose counsel 
 parliament has rejected, and to denunciate ven- 
 geance upon any one for his vote in parliament, 
 whether that vote was ultimately sanctioned by 
 the decision of a majority, or otherwise, or to 
 question a determination of either house, to cast 
 degrading censure upon its proceedings, and to 
 express resentment against any member for the 
 part which has belonged to him in such proceed- 
 ings, is a violation of the independence of the 
 mdividual member, a breach of the privileges of 
 the legislature, an usurpation of a function 
 which the law has not conferred, and an assump- 
 tion of principle whidi tends to subvert the con- 
 stitution, and to wrest the powers of delibera- 
 tion und counsel from the authorities which now 
 exercise them, to be vested, as in the tumultuous 
 times of the revolution in France, in local con- 
 ventions, municipalities, and self-constituted com- 
 mittees. 
 
 Tlte Commune of Paris, which was an assem- 
 bly of the electors of that department, claimed 
 ai>d exercised tFie right of instructing its deputies, 
 o( conferring civic honours upon those legislators 
 whom they deemed patriotic, and of denouncing 
 national vengeance upon such as were not in 
 their judgment sufficiently revolutionary. They 
 afx^uired a power far superior to that of the legis-
 
 2di 
 
 iative body, and dictated its decisions. They 
 became the main spring of the vast machincj 
 .which carried on the process of anarchy, slaugh- 
 ter, and devasiatioti. May they be Remembered 
 by us as a fearful example! 
 
 The censure of Mr. Cobbett may be directed 
 ; against these pages, as the work of a driveller, a 
 minion adulator of rank, an enemy to freedom, 
 or a shallow-pated courtier ; ** of a trading anti- 
 *' jacobin, ot* anti-every thing that is calculated 
 " to draw the people together, and to afford 
 *' them a chance of cotlimunicating their ideas ; 
 " anti-every thing which does not tend to abso- 
 ** lute subjection."* Such an accusation and 
 statement may captivate the vulgar ear, and create 
 turbulent contempt of parliament, and of all those 
 who are honest enough in these times to disre- 
 gard a temporary popularity, and fearlessly to pro- 
 claim their sentiments of duty towards a rtierito- 
 rious government. Such may be the effect in^ 
 tended to be produced by the calumnies and as- 
 persions of the Political Register. It were happy^' 
 indeed, if the scornful and unjust lash of that 
 severity were only used to torture critically, or 
 personally to traduce those who are yet bold 
 enough to defend the principles of national order 
 established by the British constitution. While it 
 is extended to every member of the royal house, 
 and to every personage of illustrious rank, to 
 every legislator who supports the government, to 
 every minister of the national church, to the 
 sage and learned persons who administer and ex- 
 ecute the laws in every tribunal of justice how- 
 ever dignified, to every servant of the state how-* 
 
 * Political Register, 2 ?d April, I8O9.
 
 €vef distinguished : while to bear the splenetic 
 abuse of that hcentious pen, 
 
 " Is but the fate of place, and the rough brake ^ 
 
 " That virtue must go tljrough." 
 
 . it were mean to be silent in terror of the indis- 
 criminate slanderer, or to retire in apprehension 
 of his coarse illiberal satire. 
 
 It is frequently maintained by the friends of revo- 
 lution, that the tranquillity of permatient govern- 
 ment relaxes the character of mankind, and thatge- 
 ftius languishes in the orderly ministration of affairs. 
 The convulsions of states are alleged to produce 
 heroic qualities, and to afford the means of ad- 
 vancement and exertion to whatever is most able 
 and meritorious in the whole mass of society. 
 There was never a statement more contrary to the 
 trutji of history ; for although in the perplexity of 
 changes, and in the tumult of civil discord, there 
 have often appeared aspiring characters of prodi- 
 gious capacity, who have raised themselves and 
 their country far above the common level, yet the 
 menial improvement of the world has been most 
 conspicuous under different circumstances. After 
 the termination of the religious wars, and the set- 
 tlement of the balance of powers, a long period 
 ensued in which all Europe enjoyed the security 
 of regular government, and temperate orderly pros- 
 perity. During that period her advancement, in 
 all science, 'martial and civil, her fertility of cha- 
 racter and genius in every department, her acqui- 
 sitions of successful experiment and discovery, and 
 the universal prevalence of taste and literature in 
 all countries, prove decisively that the tran- 
 quillity of lawful government is exceedingly pro- 
 pitious to the growth and cultivation ofhunjan 
 intellect. - 7
 
 2b3: 
 
 Convulsive revolutions have rather a natural 
 tendency to debase the human mind, and to checic 
 its progress towards improvement. The fathers of 
 English poetry and the founders of the language 
 had flourished under the patronage of the Planta- 
 genets, before the civil wars occasioned by the 
 doubtful title of the Lancastrian kings. The min- 
 strejs had already chaunted their melodies; Pierce 
 Ploughman, Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate, had 
 perpetuated their harmonies in verse which we yet 
 , admire. The gloomy interval between the reigns of 
 Henry V. and Henry VIII. does not furnish us with 
 a single name, among the natives of England, de- 
 serving of much notice. Soon after, a period com- 
 menced when the lights of their own and future 
 generations broke out in meridian splendor. In 
 philosophy, divinity, natural science, poetry, and 
 general literature, there arose a crowd of masters 
 who yet preside in their several departments. 
 There were More, Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, the 
 translators of the Bible, the reforming fathers. 
 Lord Verulam, eminent in all knowledge, Massin- 
 ger, Spencer, Shakspeare, (in genius the mightiest 
 among the mighty), Jonson, and their illustrious 
 cotemporaries, whose fame has augmented in each 
 succeeding age. Milton, if we do not refer his 
 name to the same brilliant period, was yet the pro- 
 digy of an immediately succeeding day, and pub- 
 lished his sublime productions to a revolutionary 
 people, which had lost the judgment to discern, 
 and the taste to rjeiish the celestial harmony of his 
 song. 
 
 Then came the puritanical and republican re- 
 bellion, to which the Edinburgh Reviewers, as re- 
 ibrming politicians, may attempt to reconcile us,* 
 
 f See their review oi tjie life of Col. Hutehinson, Oct. 1804.
 
 2(04 
 
 but on which, as critics and lovers of literature and 
 science they cannot lavish theircommendation. The 
 savage violence of the factious parliament, the stern 
 protectorate of Cromwell, and the gaudy but op- 
 pressive despotism of Charles, and James, all alike 
 feverish and insecure, were unfavourable to the 
 production or advancement of deep erudition and 
 abstruse science ; learning and taste seemed to 
 languish under the controul of arbitrary power, or 
 were strangled in the contentions pf political 
 parties. 
 
 At last came the glorious accession of King 
 William, who having assured to us the blessings 
 of sound government, rational religion, and gene^ 
 ral freedom, the mind delivered from th^e yoke of a 
 restricted press, seemed to tower with energies un- 
 known before, to the utmost height of intelligence 
 and science. 
 
 Then arose a host of scholars, rational divines, 
 deep philosophers, mathematicians, and poets, 
 which afforded a lasting lustre to their time and 
 country. There were Bentley, Poyle, Newton, 
 Stillingfleetj and Locke, each supreme in his de^ 
 partment. Then appeared Addison, Steele, Pope, 
 Swift, Bolingbroke, and the writers who perfected 
 the language, and justified the appellation of an 
 Augustan age, attributed to that happy period. 
 And this nation is yet illustrioqs in arts, literature, 
 and science, as it is powerful in arms. 
 
 The monarchy of France, to the last moment of 
 its downfal, was likewise renowned for liberal and 
 profound knowledge, though its patronage wa^ 
 chiefly engrossed by wits and ostentatious theorists. 
 The military despotism, which, in that country, 
 has succeeded to popular faction, cannot be pro- 
 pitious to genius and literature. They will faint, 
 ((ud perhaps expire under the pressure of a savage
 
 20». 
 
 tyranny, which dares not permit the interchange, 
 of opinions, or the free exercise of thought. Such; 
 }s the natural and universal effect of revolution, 
 and of the harsh nialignant rule of an aspiring solr? 
 dier, in which revolution naturally terminates. 
 If we love the knowledge and mental pre-eminence 
 which are at present our most amiable distinction, 
 we shall dread the commencement of political dis- 
 cord, in which the brutality of ferocious ignorance 
 may triumph over genius and learning, and whea 
 all the patronage of power will be engrossed by 
 martial achievement. 
 
 ^.^Our wildest speculators, who complain of the 
 oppression of the revenue, and the corruption and 
 imbecillity of the public administration, wilfully 
 obscure our vast national opulence growing with 
 that revenue, and the power and political pre-emi-^ 
 pence which are secured in that admiuistration, 
 While the capital becomes more splendid and en- 
 larged ; while other flourishing towns are created 
 and extended ; while a hardy population advances 
 to fructify the soil, to convert the sterile deserts 
 into fruitful plains, and to sustain the useful and 
 ornamental arts ; while the opulence of the higher 
 classes, by a liberal expenditure, is devoted to en-^ 
 courage agriculture and commerce, awd to reward 
 the labor and ingenuity of the virtuous peasantry ; 
 while the seas, covered with a triumphant ma-r 
 rine, sustain the riches of the whole earth floating 
 to our shores, and bear the terrors of our prowess 
 to appal our most distant enemies ; in such pros^ 
 perous circumstances, we may presume that tlie 
 burthens of taxation are not generally oppressive, 
 and that our governors are not altogether corrupt 
 and unwise. Political science, though imperative 
 as to our duties, yet as to questions of public right, 
 js rather practical than speculative. The reform
 
 20(5 
 
 which Xvlll not augment the public prosperity and 
 happiness, is not worth the blotted shreds of paper 
 which are employed to recommend it. It behoves 
 those who vilify and invalidate our establishments, 
 to promise, as the price of revolution, a milder, 
 more powerful, and happier system of government 
 than that which they would subvert. They should 
 entitle themselves to trust and support, not by fic- 
 titious imagery, but by assurance of real practical 
 benefit. They should announce, as the reward of 
 radical change, a greater magnificence of national 
 institutions for public service and domestic accom- 
 modation ; a more numerous and happier popula- 
 tion ; a more productive cultivation ; more adven- 
 turous and prosperous manufactures ; more ability 
 of profusion to the higher, and more productive 
 industry to the lower classes of society ; a wider 
 extent of advantageous and honorable traffic ; and 
 a prouder maritime dominion. 
 
 Publications evidently intended to produce re- 
 volution without any pretence of promising such 
 results, the tendency of which mast be injurious 
 by endangering our present advantages, obtain cur- 
 rency among us by means of the freedom of the 
 press. That privilege, the exclusive glory of our 
 country, and the safeguard of our liberties, was 
 the effect of King William's liberal government, 
 which in 1693, permitted the restrictive statute 
 of Charles the Second to expire. 
 
 It is the right of publishing our sentiments upon 
 all sorts of subjects in free discussion, without re- 
 straint or previous licence, which creates the power 
 of popular opinion terrible to tyrants, and, we trust, 
 calculated to ensure the fabric of our constitution 
 to the latest j)osterity. If that right were violated, 
 there would be wanting a mejus of preventing 
 those abuses which never can reach to a perilout»
 
 207 
 
 height, while the public voice, with threatening 
 authority, controuls the hand of innovation. 
 'I'hough great evils have resulted from the abuse 
 of that right; though the measures of government, 
 the wisdom of parliament, the independence of 
 private reputation, and the particular interests of 
 the community are often attacked by factious men, 
 through the medium of the press ; yet, as it is an 
 essential branch of our constitution, and a sure 
 preservation of the public liberties, there is no. 
 danger which will justify an abandonment of the 
 important and invaluable franchise. Of all the 
 rights which mankind enjoy, the freedom of the 
 mind is that which ranks the highest. It is that 
 which has imparted to the temper of our country 
 its undaunted valour, its patriotism, and magna- 
 nimity. 
 
 While every one of noble mind, impressed withi 
 an ardent love of the public liberties, will tenaci- 
 ously assert that freedom of the press, the palladium 
 of England, he will nevertheless lament that the 
 ministers of the laws have not always been suffici- 
 ently active in repressing its licentiousness. Works 
 of impiety and immorality, false pretences for dis- 
 affection, and incitements to sedition have been 
 published with boundless profusion. That evil may 
 again recur ; every good man will then call upon 
 those who exercise authority to be vigilant awd 
 severe, not in restraining the freedom of publica- 
 tion, but in bringing to justice, and punishing 
 those who, by such means, strike at the vitals of 
 the commonwealth. 
 
 By the law of England, men are answerable for 
 what they publish, and if it be an attack upon 
 private character, or of dangerous tendency, they 
 are obnoxious to legal penalty. 
 
 The Weekly Register, which has lately ap-
 
 208 
 
 proaclied the utmost limit of free remark, compa- 
 tible with public safety, complains of that restraint, 
 and laments that the truth of libel should not be 
 admissible in its defence in criminal prosecution. 
 A member of parliament, on a late occasion, insi- 
 nuated that the king's law officers were by no 
 means slow to prosecute, nor the judges moderate 
 to punish persons accused of libel. Those who 
 have read the contemptuous and accusative asper- 
 sions recently cast upon the royal dignity, upon 
 the highest personages in the state, and upon the 
 public functionaries of all descriptions, and who 
 witness the existing clamour for " change, radi- 
 '^cal reform, and revolution,'* may estimate upon 
 what foundations are raised that opinion of Mr; 
 Cobbett, and that suggestion of the honorable 
 member. 
 
 As the imagination is more active than reason, 
 and we often cast away a blessing which we pos- 
 sess, with the hope of obtaining something which 
 fancy represents of higher value, it behoves us to 
 be strictly on the watch, lest the advocates of ja- 
 cobinism, assuming in this country the dialect and 
 character of persons devoted to constitutional li- 
 berty, should enamour us of that guilty fiend which 
 has betrayed so many nations to destruction. She 
 will solicit our love with insidious smiles, and 
 charm us with what resembles celestial harmony. 
 But like another Circe, her sumptuous hospitality 
 and envenomed cup will be the fraudful means to 
 deprive us of all dignity and hope, to reconcile us 
 to the husks on which we must ever after feed, and 
 to level us with the embruted wretches already 
 transformed by her accursed enchantment. Rather 
 than yield to such seduction, let us trust to the 
 antidote provided by the laws ; if that should fail^
 
 ~ 209 
 
 " Soon as she strikes her wand and gives the word, 
 ''■'Draw forth and brandish our refulgent «\vord j 
 " And menace death : those menaces shall move 
 " Her altered mind to blandishment and love." 
 
 Critical and avveful are the times. Of all the na- 
 tions which have been assailed by the treacherous 
 artifice of the anti-social philosophy, England 
 alone retains her liberty unimpaired, and her laws^ 
 triumphant. She alohe has fixed a barrier which 
 the destroying angel cannot overleap, and has set 
 a limit which he has not attempted to surpass. 
 Faithful to the principles in which her safety has 
 been found during a long and arduous contest, let 
 her continue to defend her antient institutions, 
 and to dread revolution. Let her children, like 
 their gallant forefathers, declare to the whole 
 world their attachment to their country and its 
 laws, and to the presumptuous innorator, " un^ 
 *' voce respondeant quod nolunt leges Angliae mii- 
 " tare quae usitatae et approbatae sunt." With fi- 
 delity to their sovereign and to their own honour, 
 they may long defy their relentless enemy, and 
 undismayed by the misfortunes of war, may at 
 last prevail over his open hostility and the more 
 formidable danger of domestic sedition. Remote 
 posterity may attribute to them a glory greater 
 than that of saving themselves and society from 
 the political degradation which threatens the 
 whole civilized world. It may be their peculiar 
 honour, even yet, to rescue government, reason, and 
 religion from the consuming gulph of false and 
 cruel philosophy. It may be their lasting triumph, 
 more to be desired than 
 
 " The spoils of nations and the pomp of wars, " 
 
 by the exercise of manly sense, the maintenance 
 of lawful authority, the force of rational an^ reli- 
 
 E B
 
 210 
 
 gious truth irresistible where it is appHed, and the 
 spirit of patriotism ennobled by an union with that 
 of loyalty and valour, even yet to crush the con- 
 spiracy of that restless, rebellious, impious, and 
 antisocial crew ; (much to be dreaded in arms, but 
 most when they creep and whisper with fawning 
 flattery, and smile with unwrinkled brow in sem-. 
 bl^nce of philanthropy) 
 
 " Qui ratione sua disturbent maenia mundi 
 " Praeclarumque velint cceli restinguere Solenij 
 *' Iramortalia mortali sermone notantes." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 C. •»«! R. BakHt-in, Prititen, 
 Mew Bridge-Street, London.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 8, Line 29, for second read inferior. 
 
 20, 8, for iincapable read incapable 
 
 — — 35, 4, after combined insert with 
 
 47, Note, for veller.a read vellere, and insert a COnuna 
 
 48, Line 12, for bareforked read bar*, forked, 
 
 65, Note, for Daupliin's read Dauphin 
 
 73, Line 16, /or Asistides read Aristides 
 
 74, 31, for pretences read pretensions 
 
 ■ 75, 3, /or jacobin rea(2 Jacobinical 
 
 86, 25, for unanneal'd read unannell'd 
 
 104, 1 6, after infidelity insert on the other 
 
 105, 29, for country read community 
 
 • 107, 7, for mutari read mutare 
 
 109, 24, for unimpregnable read impregnable 
 
 Ill, 20, for might read may 
 
 - — 145, Note, for Baurel read Baruel 
 
 146, Line 14, for to exclaim read in exclaiming 
 
 151, 5 from the bottom, for be read were 
 
 1S2, 28, for though read thought 
 
 29, for corresponding read correspond 
 
 172, Note, for deserant read deferant 
 
 ' for contens read contents 
 
 t 183, Line 29, for Royunte read Royaute.
 
 Lately Published hj the same Author, 
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 ON 
 
 SOME QUESTIONS RELATIVE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PRESENT STATE 
 
 OP THE 
 
 NATION, , 
 
 IN A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Rev. Dr. RANDOLPH. 
 
 " What damned error but some sober brow 
 " Shall bless it, 4nd approve it with a text, 
 *' Hiding the grossness with fair ornament." 
 
 8»S7
 
 SOUTHERN BEC-O^ALUBBAB,^ ^^,.,3^ 
 
 •WW"'"'. *rrhttm"«rt.no .h. «wnf 
 
 
 FormL-S 
 
 inm-3.'Sl>(T7RI) 
 
 UNIVEIiSri Y OF CAIJKURNU 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS AIsGELES 
 
 UBRARY
 
 JC 
 327 Tinney- 
 T49r The rlglits of 
 
 the sovereignty. 
 
 AA 000120 210 
 
 JC 
 327 
 
 T49r 
 
 I.