BOHX'S STANDARD LIBRARY 
 
 BURKE'S WORKS 
 
 I 
 
GEORGE BELL & SONS, 
 
 LONDON: YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN. 
 CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. 
 NEW YORK : THE M ACM ILL AN CO. 
 BOMBAY ; A. H. WHEELER & CO, 
 
THE WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 EDMUND BURKE, 
 
 VOL. V. 
 
 CHARGE AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS CONCLUDED. 
 POLITICAL LETTERS. 
 
 #^ 
 
 ^\ 
 
 # 
 
 :V.^ 
 
 <i 
 
 O' 
 
 .•>J.V 
 
 -v 
 
 ;^. 
 
 fiS 
 
 .^^' VX'^^ 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GEORGE BELL & SONS 
 
 1903 
 
HtSTORn ''^ 
 
 llieprinicd from Stereotype plates.} 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 VOL. V. 
 
 Ar.TicLES OF Charge of High Crimes and Misdemeanol'rs 
 AGAINST Warren Hastings, Esquire, late Governor-Ge- 
 neral OF Bengal; presented to the House of Commons 
 UPON the 4th day of April, 1786: continued: — 
 
 XX. Maliratta War, and Peace - . 2 
 
 XXI. Correspondence . . 22 
 
 XXII. Rights of Fyzoola Khan, &c. before the Treaty of Lall- 
 
 Dang . . . . 24 
 
 Rights of Fyzoola Khan, tinder the Treaty of Lall-Dang 29 
 Guarantee of the Treaty of Lall-Dang . 31 
 
 Thanks of the Board to Fyzoola Khan . . 38 
 
 Demand of Five Thousand Horse . . , 39 
 
 Treaty of Chunar . . .46 
 
 Consequences of the Treaty of Chunar . . 50 
 
 Pecuniary Commutation of the stipulated Aid . . 53 
 
 Full Vindication of Fyzoola Khan, by Major Palmer and 
 Mr. Hastings . . . . . .59 
 
 Appendix to Vlllth and XVIth Charges; Letter from Warren 
 
 Hastings to William DevajTies . - i . .63 
 
 Letter to William Elliot, Esquire, occasioned by a Speech made in 
 
 the House of Lords by the **** of ****** . . .07 
 
 Thoughts and Details on Scarcity .... S3 
 
 K Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble 
 V,ord, on the Attacks made upon him and his pension in the 
 House of Lords, by the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lau- 
 derdale . . . .110 
 
 Three Letters addressed to a Member of the present Parliament, on 
 the proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France : 
 
 Letter I. On the Overtures of Peace . 152 
 
n CONTENTS. 
 
 PAO« 
 
 Letter II. On the Genius and Character of the French Revo- 
 lution as it regards other Nations . . . 231 
 III. On the Rupture of the Negotiation ; the Terms of 
 Peace proposed ; and the Resources of the Country 
 for the Continuance of the War . . 261 
 Letter from Lord Auckland to the Right Hon. Edmund Burke . 355 
 Letter from the Right Hon. Edmund Burke to Lord Auckland ib. 
 Letters on a Regicide Peace, continued — Letter IV, To the Earl 
 Fitzmlliam ....... 358 
 
 Letter to the Empress of Russia, dated November, 1791 . 434 
 
 Letter to Sir Charles Bingham, Bart., dated October, 1773, on the 
 Irish Absentee Tax ...... 437 
 
 Letter to the Honourable Charles James Fox, dated October, 1777, 
 on the American War ...... 446 
 
 Letter to the Marquis of Rockingham, dated January, 1777, on a 
 proposed Secession from Parliament of Members who had op- 
 posed the American War ...... 454 
 
 A proposed Address to the King, on the same subject . . 460 
 
 Address to the British Colonists in North America . . . 476 
 
 Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Perry, Speaker of the 
 House of Commons of Ireland, dated July, 1778, on a Bill for 
 the Relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic Subjects in Ireland . 486 
 
 Letter to Thomas Burgh, Esq., dated New-Year's Day, 1780, in 
 Vindication of the Author's Parliamentary Conduct, relative to 
 the Affairs of Ireland . . . . . ,491 
 
 Letter to John Merlott, Esq., an eminent Merchant of Bristol, dated 
 April, 1780, on the same subject as the preceding Letter . 510 
 
 Letters (to the Lord Chancellor, to the Earl Bathurst, and to Sir 
 Grey Cooper) with Reflections on the Executions of the Rioters 
 in 1780 ....... 513, 514 
 
 Letter to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, one of His Majesty's 
 principal Secretaries of State, dated Easter Monday Night, ^792 ; 
 with the Sketch of a Negro Code . . . . . 52J 
 
 i 
 
CHARGES 
 
 WARREN HASTINGS, 
 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 XX. 
 
 MAHEATTA WAE AND PEACE 
 
 ^^ wu V. 
 
2 ABTICLES or CHAEGB 
 
 XX. MAHRATTA WAE, AND PEACE. 
 
 I. 
 
 That by an act passed in 1773 it was expressly ordered 
 and provided, " that it should not be lawful for any president 
 and council at Madras, Bombay, or Bencoolen, for the time 
 being, to make any orders for commencing hostilities, or 
 declaring or making war, against any Indian princes or 
 powers, or for negotiating or concluding any treaty of peace, 
 or other treaty, with any such Indian princes or powers, 
 without the consent and approbation of the governor-general 
 and council first had and obtained, except in such cases of 
 imminent necessity as would render it dangerous to postpone 
 such hostilities or treaties, until the orders from the go- 
 vernor-general and council might arrive." — That neverthe- 
 less the president and council of Bombay did, in December, 
 1774, without the consent and approbation of the governor- 
 general and council of Fort William, and in the midst of pro- 
 found peace, commence an unjust and unprovoked war against 
 the Mahratta government ; did conclude a treaty with a cer- 
 tain person, a fugitive from that government, and proscribed 
 by it, named Eagonaut Eow, or Eagoba ; and did, under 
 various base and treacherous pretences, invade and conquer 
 the island of Salsette, belonging to the Mahratta government. 
 
 II. 
 
 That "Warren Hastings, on the first advices received in 
 Bengal of the above transactions, did condemn the same in 
 the strongest terms ; declaring, that " the measures adopted 
 by the presidency of Bombay had a tendency to a very ex- 
 tensive and indefinite scene of troubles ; and that their con- 
 duct was unseasonable, impolitic, unjust, and unauthorized." 
 
 And the governor-general and council, in order to put 
 
 a stop to the said unjust hostilities, did ajipoint an ambas- 
 sador to the peshwa or chief of the Mahratta state, resident 
 uz Poena ; and the said ambassador did, after a long negotia- 
 tion, conclude a definitive treaty of peace with the said peshwa 
 on terms highly honourable and beneficial to the East-India 
 Company, who by the said treaty obtained from the M^h- 
 
AOAiyST WARIiEN HASTIJfGS. 3 
 
 rattas a cession of considerable tracts of country, the Mali- 
 ratta share of the city of Broach, twelve lacks of rupees for 
 the expenses of the said unjust war, and particularly the 
 island of Salsette, of which the presidency of Bombay had 
 possessed themselves by surprise and treachery ; that in 
 return for these extraordinary concessions, the articles prin- 
 cipally insisted on by the Mahrattas, with a view to their 
 own future tranquillity and internal quiet, were that ?io 
 assistance should be given to any subject or servant of the 
 peshica, that should cause disturbances or rebellion in the 
 Mahratta dominions, and particularly that the English should 
 not assist Ragonaut Row, to whom the Mahrattas agreed 
 to allow five lacks of rupees a year, or a jaghire to that 
 amount, and that he should reside at Benares ; that never- 
 theless the presidency of Bombay did receive and keep 
 Eagonaut Eow at Bombay, did furnish him with a co]i- 
 siderable establishment, and continue to carry on secret 
 intrigues and negotiations with him, thereby giving just 
 ground of jealousy and distrust to the Mahratta state : that 
 the late Colonel John Upton, by whom the treaty of Poorun- 
 der was negotiated and concluded, did declare to the govern- 
 or-general and council, " that while Eagonaut Eow resides 
 at Bombay in expectation of being supported, the ministers 
 can place no confidence in the council there ; which must 
 now be productive of the greatest inconveniencies, and per- 
 haps in the end of fatal consequences." That the said 
 Warren Hastings, concurring with his council, which tlien 
 consisted of Sir John Clavering, Eichard Barwell, and Philip 
 Francis, Esquires, did, on the 18th of August, 1777, declare 
 to the presidency of Bombay, that " he could see no reason 
 to doubt, that the presence of Eagoba at Bombay would 
 continue to be an insuperable bar to the completion of the 
 treaty concluded with the Mahratta government ; nor could 
 any sincere cordiality and good understanding be established 
 with them, as long as he should appear to derive encourage- 
 ment and support from the EDglish." That Sir John 
 Clavering died soon after, and that the late Edward Wheler, 
 Esquire, succeeded to a seat in the supreme council. That 
 on the 29th of January, 1778, the governor-general and 
 council received a letter from the presidency of Bombay, 
 dated 12th December, 1777, in which they declared, "that 
 
 B 2 
 
4 ARTICLES OF CHAEGE 
 
 they had agreed to give encouragement to a party formed in 
 Bagoba's favour, and flattered themselves they should meet 
 with the hearty concurrence of the governor-general and 
 council in the measures they might be obliged to pursue in 
 consequence." That the party so described was said to con- 
 sist of four principal persons in the IMahratta state, on 
 whose part some overtures had been made to Mr. William 
 Lewis, the resident of Bombay, at Poena, ybr the assistance 
 of the Company to bring Ragoha to Poona. That the said 
 Warren Hastings, immediately on the receipt of the preced- 
 ing advices, did propose and carry it in council, by means of 
 his casting voice, and against the remonstrances, arguments, 
 and solemn protest of two members of the supreme council, 
 that the sanction of that government should be given to the 
 plan, which the president and council of Bombay had agreed 
 to form with the Mahratta government ; and also, that a 
 supply of money (to the amount of ten lacks of rupees) 
 should be immediately granted to the president and council of 
 Bombay ybr the support of their engagements above inentioned ; 
 and also that a military force should be sent to the presi- 
 dency of Bombay. That in defence of these resolutions the 
 said Warren Hastings did falsely pretend and affirm, " that 
 the resolution of the presidency of Bombay was formed ou 
 such a case of imminent necessity, as would have rendered it 
 dangerous to postpone the execution of it until the orders 
 from the governor-general and council might arrive ; and 
 that the said presidency of Bombay were ivarranted by the 
 treaty of Poorunder to join in a plan for conducting Rago- 
 naut Row to Poona on the application of the ruling part of 
 the Mahratta state ; " whereas the main object of the said 
 treaty on the part of the Mahrattas, and to obtain which 
 they made many important concessions to the India Com- 
 pany, was, that the English should withdraw their forces 
 and give no assistance to Ragoba, and that he should be ej.» 
 eluded for ever from any share in tlieir government, being a 
 person universally held in abhorrence in the Mahratta em- 
 pire ; and if it had been true (instead of being, as it was, 
 notoriously false) that the ruling part of the administration 
 of the Mahratta state solicited the return of Ragonaut Row to . 
 Poona, liis return in that case miglit have been efl:ected by actgi 
 of their own, without the iuterpositiou of the English powen^ 
 
AGAIXST WAEltEN HASTIKOS. O 
 
 and without our interference in their affairs. That it was the 
 special duty of the said Warren Hastings, derived from a 
 special trust reposed in hitn, and power committed to him bv 
 parliament, to have restrained, as by law he had authority to 
 do, the subordinate presidency of Bombay from entering into 
 hostilities with the Mahrattas, or from making engagements, 
 the manifest tendency of which was to enter into those hos- 
 tilities, and to have put a stop to them, if any such had been 
 begun. That he was bound by the duty of his office to pre- 
 serve the faith of the British government, pledged in the 
 treaty of Poorunder, inviolate and sacred, as well as by the 
 special orders and instructions of the East-India Company 
 to fix his attention to the 'preservation of peace throughout 
 India ; all which important duties the said Warren Hastings 
 did wilfully violate, in giving the sanction of the governor- 
 j general and council to the dangerous, faithless, and ill-con- 
 j certed projects of the president and council of Bombay here- 
 I inbefore mentioned, from which the subsequent Mahratta 
 ' war, with all the expense, distress, and disgraces, which have 
 j attended it, took their commencement ; and that the said 
 i AVarren Hastings therefore is specially and principally 
 , answerable for the said war, and for all the consequences 
 i thereof. That in a letter dated the 20th of January, 1778, 
 I the president and council of Bombay informed the govern or- 
 I general and council, that in consequence of later intelligence 
 received from Poona, they had imynediatehj resolved, that 
 \ nothing further could be done, unless Saccaram Bahoo the 
 \ principal in the late treaty [of Poorunder] joined in making 
 ; a formal application to them. That no such application was 
 I ever made by that person. That the said AYarren Hastings 
 I finding, that all this pretended ground for engaging in an 
 I invasion of the ]Mahratta government had totally failed, did 
 I then pretend to give credit to, and to be greatly alarmed by, 
 1 the suggestions of the president and council of Bombay, that 
 I the Mahrattas were negotiating with the Prench, and had 
 I agreed to give them the port of Choul, on the ]Malabar coast, 
 ' and did affirm, that the Prench had obtained possession of that 
 port ; that all these suggestions and assertions were false ; 
 and if they had been true, would have furnished no just oc- 
 casion for attacking either the Mahrattas or the Prench, with 
 both of whom the British nat/on was then at peace : — thai 
 
G RETICLES OF CHAEGE 
 
 the said VVirren Hastings did then propose and carry the 
 following resolution in council, against the protest of two 
 members thereof, that, "for the purpose of granting you 
 [the presidency of Bombay] the most effectual support in 
 our power, we "have resolved to assemble a strong military 
 force near Calpee, the commanding officer of which is to be 
 ordered to march by the most practicable route, to Bombay, 
 or to such other places as future occurrences, and your 
 directions to him, may render it expedient." And with re- 
 spect to the steps said to be taking by the French to obtain a 
 settlement on the Malabar coast, tlie said Warren Hastings 
 did declare to the presidency of Bombay, " that it was the 
 opinion of the governor-general and council, that no time 
 ought to be lost in forming and carrying into execution such 
 measures as might most effectually tend to frustrate such 
 
 dangerous designs:" that the said AVarren Hastings 
 
 therefore, instead of fixing his attention to the preservation 
 of peace throughout India, as it was his duty to have done, 
 did continue to abet, encourage, and support the dangerous 
 projects of the presidency of Bombay, and did thereby mani- 
 fest a determined intention to disturb tlie peace of India, by 
 the unfortunate success of which intention, and by the con- 
 tinued efforts of the said Hastings, the greatest part of India 
 has been for several years involved in a blood}^ and calamitous 
 war. That both the court of directors and court of proprie- 
 tors did specially instruct the said AYarren Hastings, in all 
 his measures, " to make the safety and prosperity of Bengal 
 his principal object," and did heavily censure the said AVar- 
 ren Hastings for having employed their troops at a great 
 distance from Bengal in a war against the Eohillas, which 
 the House of Commons have pronounced to be 
 25th Dec. im! iniquitous, and did on that occasion expressly de- 
 clare, " that they disapproved of all such distant 
 expeditions as might eventually carry their forces to any 
 situation too remote to admit of their speedy and safe return 
 to the protection of their own provinces, in case of emerg- 
 ency." That the said AV'arren Hastings nevertheless ordered 
 a detachment from the Bengal army to cross the Jumna, and 
 to proceed across tlie Peninsula by a circuitous route though 
 tho Hiauiond country of Bundle Cund, and through the do- 
 miiiious of the iiajah of Berar, situated iu the centre of 
 
AGAINST WAETIEN HASTINGS. 7 
 
 Hindostan, and did thereby strip the provinces subject to the 
 government of Fort William of a considerable part of their 
 established defence, and did tliereby disobey tie general in- 
 structions and positive orders of the court of directors, 
 (given upon occasion of a crime of the same nature com- 
 mitted by the said Hastings,) and was guilty of a high crime 
 and misderiieanour. 
 
 That the said Warren Hastings, having taken the measures 
 hereinbefore described for supporting those of the presidency 
 of Bombay, did, on the 23rd of March, 1778, " invest the said 
 presidency with authority to form a new alliance with Ragoba, 
 and to engage with him in any scheme, which they should deem 
 expedient and safe for retrieving his affairs." That the said 
 Hastings was then in possession of a letter from the court of 
 directors, dated the 4th of July, 1777, containing a positive 
 order to the presidency of Bombay, in the following words : 
 "Though that treaty (meaning the treaty of Poorunder) is not, 
 upon the whole, so agreeable to us as we could wish, still we 
 are resolved strictly to adhere to it on our parts. You must 
 therefore be particularly vigilant, while Ragoba is with you, 
 to prevent him from forming any plan against what is called 
 the ministerial party at Poona; and we hereby positively 
 order you not to engage with him in any scheme whatever in 
 retrieving his affairs, without the consent of the governor- 
 general and council, or the court of directors." That the 
 said Eagoba neither did or could form any plan for his restora- 
 tion but what was and must be against the ministerial party 
 at Poona, who held and exercised the regency of that state 
 in the infancy of the peshwa ; and that, supposing him to have 
 formed any other scheme^ in conjunction with Bombay, ybr 
 retrieving his affairs, the said Hastings, in giving a previous 
 general authority to the presidency of Bombay to engage 
 \vith E-agoba in any scheme for that purpose, without know- 
 ing what such scheme might be, and thereby relinquishing 
 and transferring to the discretion of a subordinate govern- 
 ment that superintendence and control over all measures tend- 
 ing to create or provoke a war, which the law had exclusively 
 vested in the governor- general and council, was guilty of a 
 high crime and misdemeanour. That the iuiid Warren Hast- 
 ings, having first declared, that the measures taken by him were 
 for the support of the engagements made by the presidency 
 
I 
 
 8 AETICLES or CHAEGE i 
 
 of Bombay in favour of Eagoba, did afterwards, wben it ap- 
 peared tbat those negotiations were entirely laid aside, de- 
 clare, tbat his apprehension of the consequence of a pretend- 
 ed intrigue between the Mahrattas and the French ivas the sole i 
 motive of all the late measures taken for the support of the \ 
 presidency of Bombay ; but that neither of the preceding j 
 declarations contained the true motives and objects of the 
 said Hastings, whose real purpose, as it appeared soon after, f 
 was to make use of the superiority of the British power \ 
 in India to carry on offensive wars, and to pursue schemes I 
 of conquest, impolitic and unjust in their design, ill-con- 1 
 certed in the execution, and which, as this House has resolved, 
 have brought great calamities on India, and enormous expenses J 
 on the East-India Company. That the said "Warren Hast- j 
 ings, on the 22nd of June, 1778, made the following declara- 
 tion in council : "much less can I agree, that, with such su- 
 perior advantages as we possess over every power which { 
 can oppose us, we should act merely on the defensive. On the 
 contrary, if it be really true, that the British arms and influ- 
 ence have suffered so severe a check in the Western world, it 
 is more incumbent on those, who are charged with the in- 
 terests of Great Britain in the East, to exert themselves for 
 the retrieval of the national loss. We have the means in our 
 power, and if they are not frustrated by our own dissensions, 
 I trust, that the event of this expedition will yield every ad- 
 vantage /br the attainment of ivhich it was undertaken" That 
 in pursuance of the principles avowed in the preceding de- 
 claration, the said Warren Hastings, on the 9th of July, 1778, 
 did propose and carry it in council, that an embassy should be 
 sent from Bengal to Moodajee Boosla, the Eajah of Berar, 
 falsely asserting that the said Rajah was, by interest and 
 inclination, likely to join in an alliance with the British go- 
 vernment; and suggesting, that two advantages might be 
 offered to him, as the inducements to it : first, the support of 
 his pretensions to the sovereign power [viz. of the Mahratta 
 empire] ; second, the recovery of the captures made on his 
 dominions by Nizam Ally." That the said Hastings, having 
 already given full authority to the presidency of Bombay to 
 engage the British faith to Kagonaut Row, to support him in 
 his pretensions to the government, or to the regency of the 
 ^lahratta empire, was guilty of a high crime and misde- 
 meanour in proposing to engage the same British faith to 
 
AGATFBT WAEEEN HASTIIfGS. 9 
 
 iupport the pretensions of another competitor for tlie same 
 object ; and that in ofifering to assist the Eajah of Berar to 
 recover the captures made on his dominions by the Nizam, 
 the said Hastings did endeavour, as far as depended on him, 
 to engage the British nation in a most unjust and utterly 
 unprovoked Avar against the said Nizam, between Avhom and 
 the East-India Company a treaty of peace and friendship did 
 then subsist, unviolated on his part ; notwitlistandiug the 
 8aid Hastings well knew, that it made part of the East-India 
 Com])any's fundamental policy to support that prince against 
 the Mahrattas, and to consider liim as one of the few remain- 
 ing chiefs, who were yet capable of coping with the Mahrattas ; 
 and that it a^ as the Company's true interest to preserve a good 
 understanding with him. That by holding out such offers to 
 the Eajah of Berar, the said Hastings professed to hope, that 
 the Eajah would ardently catch at the objects presented to his 
 ambitioji ; and although the said Hastings did about this 
 time lay it down as a maxim, that there is always a greater 
 advantage in receiving solicitations than in making advances, 
 he nevertheless declared to the said Eajah, that in the whole 
 of his conduct he had departed fro7n the common line of policy ^ 
 and had made advances where others in his situation ivould 
 have waited for solicitation ; that the said unjust and dan- 
 gerous projects did not take effect, because the Eajah of 
 Berar refused to join or be concerned therein ; yet so earnest 
 was the said Hastings for the execution of those projects, 
 that in a subsequent letter he daringly and treacherously as- 
 sured the Eajah, " that if he had accepted of the terms offered 
 him by Colonel Goddard, and concluded a treaty with the 
 government of Bengal upon them, he should have held the 
 obligation of it superior to that of any engagement formed 
 by the government of Bombay, and should have thought it 
 his duty to maintain it, &c. against every consideration even 
 of the most valuable interests and safety of the English posses- 
 sions intrusted to his charge." That all the offers of the said 
 Hastings were rejected with slight and contempt by the Ea- 
 
 i*ah of Berar ; but the same being discovered, and generally 
 :nown throughout India, did fill the chief of the princes and 
 states of India with a general suspicion and distrust of the 
 ambitious designs and treacherous principles of the British 
 governmeat^ and with an universal hatred of the British 
 
10 ARTICLES OF CHAEGE 
 
 nation ; that tlie said princes and states were tlierelj io 
 thoroughly convinced of the necessity of uniting amongst 
 themselves to oppose a power, which kept no taith with any 
 of them, and equally threatened them all, that renouncing all 
 former enmities against each other, they united in a common 
 confederacy against the English ; viz. the peshwa, as repre- 
 sentative of the Mahratta state, and Moodajee Boosla, the 
 E-ajah of Berar, that is, the principal Hindoo powers of India, 
 on one side ; and Hyder Ally, and the Nizam of the Deccaii, 
 that is, the principal Mahommedan powers of India, on the 
 other ; and that in consequence of this confederacy Hyder 
 Ally invaded, over-ran, and ruined the Carnatic ; and that 
 Moodajee Boosla, instead of ardently catching at the objects 
 presented to his ambition by the said Hastings, sent an army 
 to the frontiers of Bengal ; M'hich army the said AYarren 
 Hastings was at length forced to buy off with twenty-six 
 lacks of rupees, or £300,000 sterling, after a series of negotia- 
 tions with the Mahratta chiefs, who commanded that army, 
 founded and conducted on principles so dishonourable to the 
 British name and character, that the secret committee of the 
 House of Commons, by whom the rest of the proceedings in 
 that business were reported to the House, have upon due 
 consideration thought it proper to leave out the letter of in- 
 structions to Mr. Anderson, viz. those given by the said AVar- 
 ren Hastings to the representative of the British government ; 
 and concerning which the said committee have reported in 
 the following terms : — " The schemes of policy, by which the 
 governor-general seems to have dictated the instructions he 
 gave to Mr. Anderson, [the gentleman deputed,] will also 
 appear in this document, as well respecting tho particular 
 succession to the rauje, as also the mode of accommodating 
 the demand of Chout, the establishment of which was ap- 
 parently the great aim of Moodajee' s political manoeuvres, 
 while the governor-general's wish to defeat it was avowedly 
 more intent on the removal of a nominal disgrace, than on 
 the anxiety or resolution to be free from an expensive, if an 
 unavoidable, encumbrance." 
 
 That while the said Warren Hastings was endeavouring 
 to persuade the Rajah of Berar to engage with him in a 
 scheme to phice tlie said Ilajah at the head of the INIahratta 
 empLi-e, the presidency of Bombay, by virtue of the puwere 
 
AGAIKST WAEREN HASTINGS. 11 
 
 Bpecially vested in them for that purpose by the said Hast- 
 ings, did really engage with Eagonaut Eow, the other com- 
 petitor for the same object, and sent a great part of their 
 military force established for the defence of Bombay, on an 
 expedition with Eagonaut Eow, to invade the dominions of 
 the peshwa, and to take Poona, the capital thereof; that this 
 army being surrounded and overpowered by the Mahrattas 
 was obliged to capitulate ; and then, through the moderation 
 of the Mahrattas, was permitted to return quietly, but very 
 disgracefully, to Bombay. That supposing the said AVarren 
 Hastings could have been justified in abandoning the project 
 of reinstating Eagonaut Eow, which he at first authorized, 
 and promised to support, and in preferring a scheme to place 
 the Eajah of Berar at the head of the Mahratta empire, he 
 was bound by his duty, as well as in justice to the presidency 
 of Bombay, to give that presidency timely notice of such his 
 intention, and to have restrained them positively from re- 
 suming their own project ; that on the contrary the said 
 AYarren Hastings did, on the 17th of August, 1778, again 
 authorize the said presidency " to assist Eagoba with a 
 military force to conduct him to Poona, and to establish him 
 in the regency there ; " and, so far from communicating his 
 change of plan to Bombay, did keep it concealed from that 
 presidency, insomuch that, even so late as the 19th of Febru- 
 ary, 1779, AYilliam Hornby, then governor of Bombay, de- 
 clared in council his total ignorance of the schemes of the 
 said Hastings, in the following terms : " The schemes of the 
 governor-general and council, with regard to the Eajah of 
 Berar, heing yet unknown to us, it is impossible for us to 
 found any measures on them ; yet I cannot help now ob- 
 serving, that if, as has been conjectured, the gentlemen of 
 that presidency have entertained thoughts of restoring, in 
 his person, the ancient Eajah government, the attempt seems 
 likely to be attended witli no small difficulty : " that where- 
 as the said AVarreu Hastings did repeatedly affirm, that it 
 was his intention to support the plan formed by the presi- 
 dency of Bombay in favour of Eagoba, and did repeatedly 
 authorize and encourage them to pursue it, he did neverthe- 
 less, at the same time, in his letters and declarations to the 
 peshwa, to the nizam, and to the Eajah of Berar, falsely and 
 perfidiously affirm, that it never was nor is designed by the 
 
12 AETICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 English chiefs to give svpport to Ragonaut Row ; that he, 
 Hastings, had no idea of supporting Ragonaut Row: and that 
 the detachment he had sent to Bombay ivas solely to awe the 
 French, without the least design to assist Ragonaut Row ; that 
 supposing it to have been the sole professed intention of the 
 said Hastings, in sending an army across India, to protect 
 Bombay against a French invasion, even that pretence wasfalse, 
 and used only to cover the real design of the said Hastings, 
 viz. to engage in projects of war and conquest with the Rajah 
 of Berar. That on the 11th of October, 1778, he informed 
 the said Eajah, "that the detachment would soon arrive in his 
 territories, and depend on him, Moodajee Boosla, for its sub- 
 sequent operations:" that dn the 7th of December, 1778, 
 
 the said Hastings revoked the powers he had 
 \pNoreinher before given 1 to the presidency of Bombay over 
 
 the detachment, declaring, that the event of 
 Colonel Groddard's negotiation with the Eajah of Berar ivas 
 likely to cause a very speedy and essential change in the desigji 
 and operations of the detachment ; and that on the 4th of 
 ^Earch, 1779, the said Hastings, immediately after receiving 
 advice of the defeat of the Bombay army near Poona, and 
 when Bombay, if at any time, particularly required to be 
 protected against a French invasion, did declare in council, 
 that he wished for the return of the detachment to Berar, and 
 dreaded to hear of its proceeding to the Malabar coast ; and 
 therefore, if the said Hastings did not think, that Bombay 
 was in danger of being attacked by the French, he was guilty 
 of repeated falsehoods in affirming the contrary for the pur- 
 pose of covering a criminal design ; or, if he thought that 
 Bombay was immediately threatened with that danger, he 
 then was guilty of treachery in ordering an army, necessary 
 on that supposition to the immediate defence of Bombay, to 
 halt in Berar, to depend on tiie itajah of Berar for its sub- 
 sequent operations, or on the event of a negotiation witli that 
 prince, which, as the said Hastings declared, was likely to 
 cause a very speedy and essential change in the design and 
 operations of the detachment ; and finally in declaring, that 
 he dreaded to hear of the said detachment s proceeding to the 
 Malabar coast, whitlier he ought to have ordered it without 
 delay, if, as he has solemnly alfirmed, it was true, that he had 
 told by the highest authority, that a powerful armament 
 
AGAINST WAEEE5- HASTIS^GS. 18 
 
 had beer- prepared in France, the first object of which was an 
 attack upon Bombay ; and that he knew with moral certainty, 
 that all the powers of the adjacent continent were ready to 
 join the invasion. 
 
 That through the whole of these transactions the said 
 Warren Hastings has been guilty of continued falsehood, 
 fraud, contradiction, and duplicity, highly dishonourable to 
 the character of the British nation ; that, in consequence of 
 the unjust and ill-concerted schemes of the said Hastings, 
 the British arms, heretofore respected in India, have suffered 
 repeated disgraces, and great calamities have been thereby 
 brought upon India, and that the said "Warren Hastings, as 
 well in exciting and promoting the late unprovoked and un- 
 justifiable war against the Mahrattas, as in the conduct 
 thereof, has been guilty of sundry high crimes and misde- 
 meanours. 
 
 ■ That by the definitive treaty of peace concluded with the 
 Mahrattas at Poorunder, on the 1st of March, 1776, the 
 Mahrattas gave up all right and title to the island of Sal- 
 sette, unjustly taken from them by the presidency of Bom- 
 bay ; did also give up to the English Company for ever all 
 right and title to their entire shares of the city and purgun- 
 nah of Broach ; did also give for ever to the English Com- 
 pany a country of three lacks of rupees revenue, near to 
 Broach ; and did also agree to pay to the Company twelve 
 lacks of rupees, in part of tlie expenses of the , j^gj^oi^tion 
 English army; and that the terms of the said of the House of 
 treaty ^ were honourable and advantageous to the S™ ygl; "^^^^ 
 India Company. 
 
 That Warren Hastings having broken the said treaty, and 
 forced the Mahrattas into another war, by a repeated in- 
 vasion of their country, and having conducted that war in 
 the manner hereinbefore described, did, on the 17th of May, 
 1782, by the agency of Mr. Da^dd Anderson, conclude an- 
 other treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance with the 
 Mahrattas, by which the said Hastings agreed to deliver up 
 to them all the countries, places, cities, and forts, particularly 
 the island of Bassein, (taken from the peshwa, during the war,) 
 and to relinquish all claim to the country of three lacks of 
 rupees, ceded to the Company by the treaty of Poorunder : 
 that the said Warren Hastings did also at the same time, by 
 
14 AKTICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 a private and separate agreement, deliver up to INIadajee 
 Scindia the whole of the city of Broach : that is, not only 
 the share in the said city which the India Company acquired 
 by the treaty of Poorunder, but the other share thereof, 
 which the India Company possessed for several years before 
 that treaty ; and that among the reasons assigned bv Mr. 
 David Anderson for totally stripping the presidency of Bom- 
 bay of all their possessions on the Malabar coast, he haa 
 declared, that " from the general tenor of the rest of the 
 treaty, the settlement of Bombay would be in future put on 
 such a footing, that it might weii become a question, whether 
 the possession of an inconsiderable territory, without forts, 
 would not be attended with more loss than advantage, as it 
 must necessarily occasion considerable expense, must re- 
 quire troops for its defence, and might probably in the end 
 lead, as Scindia apprehended, to a renewal of war." 
 
 That the said Warren Hastings, having in this manneT 
 put an end to a war commenced by him ^\4thout provocation, 
 and continued by him without necessity, and having for that 
 purpose made so many sacrifices to the Mahrattas in points 
 of essential interest to the India Company, did consent and 
 agree to other articles utterly dishonomable to the British 
 name and character, having sacrificed or abandoned every one 
 of the native princes, who by his solicitations and promises 
 had been engaged to take part with us in the war ; and that 
 he did so without necessity, since it appears, that Scindia, 
 the Mahratta chief, who concluded the treaty, in every pari 
 of his conduct manifested a hearty desire of establishing a 
 peace with us ; and that this was the disposition of ali the 
 parties in the Mahratta confederacy, who were only kept 
 together by a general dread of their common enemy, the 
 English, and who only waited for a cessation of hostilities 
 with us to return to their habitual and permanent enmity 
 against each other. That the governor-general and council, 
 in their letter of 31st August, 1781, made the following de- 
 claration to the court of directors : " The IMahrattas have 
 demanded the sacrifice of the person of liagonaut liow, the 
 surrender of the fort and territories of Ahmcdabad, and of 
 the fortress of (lualior, which are not ours to give, and which 
 we could not wrest from the proprietors withoiit the great' 
 est violation of public faith. No state of afiUirs, in our 
 
AGAINST WAERZy HASTINGS. 15 
 
 opinions, could warrant our acquiescence to such requisition ; 
 and we are morally certain, that, had we yielded to them, 
 such a consciousness of the state of our affairs would have 
 been implied, as would have produced an effect the reverse 
 from that, for which it was intended, by raising the presump- 
 tion of the enemy to exact yet more ignominious terms, or 
 perhaps their refusal to accept of any ; nor, in our opinion, 
 would they have failed to excite in others the same belief, 
 and the consequent decision of all parties against us, as the 
 natural consequences of our decline." That the said Hast- 
 ings himself, in his instructions to Mr. David Anderson, after 
 authorizing him to restore all, that we had conquered during 
 the war, expressly excepted Ahmedabad, and the territory 
 conquered for Futty Sing Grwicowar." That nevertheless 
 the said Hastings, in the peace concluded by him, has yielded 
 to every one of the conditions reprobated in the preceding 
 declarations as ignominious, and incompatible with public 
 faith. 
 
 That the said AYarren Hastings did abandon the Eana of 
 Gohud in the manner already charged ; and that the said 
 Rana has not only lost the fort of Grualior, but all his own 
 country, and is himself a prisoner. — That the said Hastings 
 did not interpose to obtain any terms in favour of the Xabob 
 of Bopaul, who was' with great reason desirous ^ Anderson's 
 of concealing from the Mahrattas the attachment letter of 26th 
 he had borne to the English government ; the said ^^^^^' 
 Nabob having a just dread of the danger of being exposed to 
 the resentment of the Mahrattas, and no dependence on the 
 faith and protection of the English. That by the 9th article 
 of the treaty with Eutty Sing it was stipulated, that, when a 
 negotiation for peace shall take place, his interest should be 
 primarily considered ; and that Mr. David Anderson, the 
 minister and representative of the governor-general and 
 council, did declare to Scindia, that it was indispensably in- 
 cumbent on us to support Futty Sing's rights. 
 
 That nevertheless every acquisition made for or by the 
 said Futty Sing during the war, particularly the fort and 
 territories of Ahmedabad, were given up by the said Hast- 
 ings : that Futty Sing was replaced under the subjection of 
 the peshwa, (whose resentment he had provoked by taking 
 part with us in the war,) and under an obligatior :d pay a 
 
16 ARTICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 tribute, not specified, to the peshwa, and to perform sucb 
 services, and to be subject to such obedience, as had long 
 been established and customary; and that, no limit being 
 fixed to such tribute or services, the said Futty Sing has 
 been left wholly at the mercy of the Mahrattas. 
 
 That mth respect to Kagoba the said Hastings, in his in- 
 structions to Mr. Anderson, dated 4th of November, 1781, 
 contented himself with saying, " "We cannot tt tally abandon 
 the interests of Eagonaut Eow. Endeav^dur to obtain for 
 him an adequate provision." — That Mr. Anderson declared 
 1 Anderson's ^^ Madajco Sciudia,^ " that as we had given Ea- 
 letterof 2^th goba protection as an independent prince, and 
 February, 1782. ^^^ hrought him iuto our Settlement as a prisoner, 
 we could not in honour pretend to impose the smallest re- 
 straint on his will, and he must be at liberty to go wherever 
 he pleased ; that it must rest with Scindia himself to prevail 
 on him to reside in his country ; all that we C07 Jd do, was to 
 agree, after a reasonable time, to withdraw our protection 
 from him, and not to insist on the payment of the stipend to 
 him, as Scindia had proposed, unless on the conditio u of his 
 residing in some part of Scindia's territories." 
 
 That, notwithstanding all the preceding declarations, and 
 in violation of the public faith repeatedly pledged to Eagoba, 
 he was totally abandoned by the said Hastings in the treaty, 
 no provision whatever being made even for his subsistence, 
 but on a condition, to which he could not submit without the 
 certain loss of his liberty, and probable hazard of his life, 
 namely, that he should voluntarily, and of his own accord, re" 
 pair to Scindia and quietly reside with him. That such 
 treacherous desertion of the said Eagoba is not capable of 
 being justified by any plea of necessity ; but that in fact no 
 such necessity existed ; since it appears, that the Nizam, who 
 of all the contracting parties in the confederacy was person- 
 ally most hostile to Eagoba, did himself propose, that Ragoba 
 might have an option given him of residing within the Com- 
 pany's territories. — That the plan of negotiating a peace 
 with the Mahrattas, by application to Scindia, and through 
 his mediation, was earnestly recommended to the said Hast- 
 ings by the presidency of Bombay so early as in February, 
 1779, who stated clearly to him the reasons why such ap- 
 plication ought to be made to Scindia in preference to auy 
 
AGA.INST WARREN HASTn^GS. 17 
 
 other of the Mahratta chiefs, and why it would probably be 
 •uccessful ; the truth and justice of which reasons were fully 
 evinced in the issue, when the said Hastings, after incurring, 
 by two years' delay, all the losses and distresses of a calamit- 
 ous war, did actually pursue that very plan with much lesa 
 effect or advantage than might have been obtained at the 
 time the advice was given. That he neglected the advice 
 of the presidency of Bombay, and retarded the peace, as well 
 as made its conditions worse, from an obstinate attachment 
 to his project of an alliance offensive and defensive with the 
 Rajah of Berar, the object of which was rather a new war, 
 than a termination of the war then existing against the 
 peshvra. 
 
 That the said Hastings did further embarrass and retard 
 the conclusion of a peace by employing different ministers at 
 the courts of the several confederate powers, whom he sever- 
 ally empowered to treat and negotiate a peace. — That these 
 ministers not acting in concert, not knowing the extent of 
 each other's commissions, and having no instructions to com- 
 municate their respective proceedings to each other, did, in 
 I effect, counteract their several negotiations. — That this want 
 , of concert and of simplicity, and the mystery and intricacy in 
 j the mode of conducting the negotiation on our part, was 
 I complained of by our ministers as embarrassing and discon- 
 I certing to us, while it was advantageous to the adverse party, 
 ' who were thereby furnished with opportunity and pretence 
 i for delay, when it suited their purpose, and enabled to play 
 ! off one set of negotiators against another ; that it also created 
 Ijealousy and distrust in the various contending parties, with 
 jwhom we were treating at the same time, and to whom we 
 jwere obliged to make contradictory professions, while it be- 
 jtrayed and exposed to them all our own eagerness and im« 
 jpatience for peace ; raising thereby the general claims and 
 I pretensions of the enemy. That while Dalhousie Wather- 
 !:8ton. Esquire, was treated at Poonah, and David Anderson, 
 jEsouire, in Scindia's camp, with separate powers applied to 
 jthe same object, the minister at Poonah informed the said 
 IWatherston, that he had received proposals for peace from 
 the Nabob of Arcot with the approbation of Sir Eyre Coote ; 
 that he returned other proposals to the said Nabob of Arcot, 
 ;who had assured him, (the minister,) that those propcsali 
 
 U VOL. V. C 
 
18 AETICLES OF CHAEGE 
 
 would he acceded to, and that Mr. Macpherson would set out 
 for Bengal^ after which orders should be immediately de- 
 spatched from the honourable the governor-general and council 
 to the effect he wished. That the said Nabob " had promised 
 to obtain and forward to him the expected orders from Ben- 
 gal in fifteen days, and that he was therefore every instant in 
 expectation of their arrival ; and observed, tliat, when Gre- 
 neral Goddard proposed to send a confidential person to 
 Poonah, he conceived, that those orders must have actually 
 reached him : " that therefore the treaty, formally concluded 
 by David Anderson, w^as in eftect and substance the same 
 with that offered, and in reality concluded, by the Nabob of 
 Arcot, with the exception only of Salsette, which the Nabob 
 of Arcot had agreed to restore to the Mahrattas. That the 
 intention of the said Warren Hastings in pressing for a 
 peace with the Mahrattas on terms so dishonourable, and by 
 measures so rash and ill-concerted, was not to restore and 
 establish a general peace throughout India, but to engage 
 the India Company in a new war against Hyder Ally, and to 
 make the Mahrattas parties therein. That the eagerness and 
 passion, with which the said Hastings pursued this object, 
 laid him open to the Mahrattas, who depended thereon for 
 obtaining whatever they should demand from us. — That in 
 order to carry the point of an oftensive alliance against 
 Hyder Ally, the said Hastings exposed the negotiation for 
 peace with the Mahrattas to many difficulties and delays. 
 That the Mahrattas were bound by a clear and recent en- 
 gagement, which Hyder had never violated in any article, to 
 make no peace with us which sliould not include him ; that 
 they pleaded the sacred nature of this obligation in answer 
 to all our requisitions on this head, while the said Hastings, 
 still importunate for liis favourite point, suggested to them i 
 various means of reconciling a substantial breach of tlieir 
 engagement with a formal observance of it, and taught them 
 how they might at once be parties in a peace with Hyder 
 Ally, and in an offensive alliance for immediate hostility 
 against him. That these lessons of public duplicity and 
 artifice, and these devices of ostensible faith and real treach- 
 ery, could have no effect but to degrade the national charac-- 
 ter, and to inspire the Mahrattas themselves, with whom w^ 
 were in treaty, with the distrust in our sincerity and good 
 
 
AOAllfST WAREEN HASTINGS. 19 
 
 (alth. — That the object of this fraudulent policy {viz. the 
 utter destruction of Hyder Ally, and a partition of his do- 
 minions) \\as neither wise in itself, or authorized by tlie 
 orders and instructions of the Company to their servants; 
 that it was incompatible with the treaty of peace, in which 
 Hyder Ally was included, and contrary to the repeated and 
 best understood injunctions of the Company ; being, in the 
 first place, a bargain for a new war, and, in the next, aiming 
 ' at an extension of our territory by conquest. That the best 
 and soundest political opinions on the relations of these 
 states, have always represented our great security against 
 I the power of the Mahrattas to depend on its being balanced 
 I by that of Hyder Ally ; and the Mysore country is so ])laced 
 I as a barrier between the Carnatic and the Mahrattas, as to 
 j make it our interest rather to strengthen and repair that 
 I barrier, than to level and destroy it. That the said treaty 
 I of partition does express itself to be eventual with regard to 
 I the making and keeping of peace ; but through the whole 
 course of the said Hastings's proceeding he did endeavour 
 to prevent any peace with the Sultan or Nabob of Mysore, 
 TippA Saheb, and did for a long time endeavour to frustrate 
 all the methods, which could have rendered the said treaty 
 of conquest and partition wholly unnecessary. 
 I That the Mahrattas having taken no effectual step to 
 I oblige Hyder Ally to make good the conditions, for which 
 i they had engaged in his behalf, and the war continuing to 
 ;be carried on in the Carnatic by Tippoo Sultan, son and 
 j successor of Hyder Ally, the presidency of Fort St. Greorge 
 (undertook, upon their own authority, to open a negotiation 
 I with the said Tippoo ; which measure, though indispensably 
 j necessary, the said Hastings utterly disapproved and dis- 
 countenanced, expressly denying that there was any ground 
 I or motive for entering into any direct or separate treaty 
 with Tippoo ; and not consenting to or authorizing any ne- 
 ' gotiation for such treaty, until after a cessation of hostilities 
 I had been brought about with him by the presidency of Fort 
 I St. George, in August, 1773, and the ministers of Tippoo 
 ihad been received and treated with by that presidency, and 
 •commissioners, in return, actually sent by the said presi- 
 dency to the court of Poonah ; which late and reluctant 
 iconsent and authority were extorted from him the said 
 
 c 2 
 
20 ARTICLES OF CHAEOE 
 
 Hastings in consequence of the acknowledgment of hi§ 
 agent at the court of Madajee Scindia (upon whom the said 
 Warren Hastings had depended for enforcing the clauses of 
 the Mahratta treaty) of the precariousness of such depend- 
 ence, and of the necessity of that direct and separate treaty 
 with Tippoo, so long and so lately reprobated by the said 
 Warren Hastings, notwithstanding the information and en- 
 treaties of the presidency of Fort St. Greorge, as well as the 
 known distresses and critical situation of the Company's 
 affairs. — That, though the said Warren Hastings did at 
 length give instructions for negotiating and making peace 
 with Tippoo, expressly adding, that those instructions extend- 
 ed to all the points, which occurred to him or them as capable 
 of being agitated or gained upon the occasion ; — though the 
 said instructions were sent after the said commissioners by 
 the presidency of Fort St. George, with directions to obey 
 tliem ; — though not only the said instructions were obeyed, 
 but advantages gained, which did not occur to the said 
 Warren Hastings ; — though the said peace formed a con- 
 trast with the Mahratta peace, in neither ceding any terri- 
 tory possessed by the Company before the war, or delivering 
 u p any dependent or ally to ihe vengeance of his adversaries, 
 but providing for the restoration of all the countries that 
 had been taken from the Company and their allies ; — though 
 the supreme council of Calcutta, forming the legal govern- 
 ment of Bengal in the absence of the said Warren Hastings, 
 ratified the said treaty, yet the said Warren Hastings, then 
 absent from the seat of government, and out of the province 
 of Bengal, and forming no legal or integral part of tho 
 government during such absence, did, after such ratification, 
 usurp the power of acting as a part of such government (as 
 if actually sitting in council with the other members of the 
 same) in the consideration and unqualified censure of the 
 terms of the said peace. That the Nabob of Arcot, with whom 
 the said Hastings did keep up an unwarrantable clandestine 
 correspondence, without any communication with the presi- 
 d(mcy of Madras, wrote a letter of complaint, dated the 27th 
 of March, 1784, against the presidency of that place, with- 
 out any commmunication thereof to the said presidency, the 
 Baid complaint being addressed to the said Warren Hastings, , 
 the substance of which complaint was, that he (the Nabob) i 
 
AGAINST AVAKTIEN HASTINGS. 21 
 
 had not been made a party to the late treaty : and although 
 his interest had been sufficiently provided for in the said 
 treaty, the said Warren Hastings did sign a declaration on 
 the 23rd of May, at Lucknow, forming the basis of a new 
 article, and making a new party to the treaty, after it had 
 been by all parties (the supreme council of Calcutta included) 
 completed and ratified, and did transmit the said new stipu- 
 lation to the presidency at Calcutta solely for the purposes, 
 ' and at the instigation, of the Nabob of Arcot ; and the said 
 declaration was made without any previous communication 
 with the presidency aforesaid, and in consequence thereof 
 ! orders were sent by the council at Calcutta to the presidency 
 of Fort St. Greorge, under the severest threats in case of dis- 
 obedience ; which orders, whatever were their purport, would, 
 as an undue assumption of and participation in the goverii- 
 j ment, from which he was absent, become a high misde- 
 I meanour ; but, being to the purport of opening the said treaty 
 ; after its solemn ratification, and proposing a new clause, and 
 . a new party to the same, was also an aggravation of such 
 i misdemeanour, as it tended to convey to the Indian powers an 
 I idea of the unsteadiness of the councils and determinations 
 of the British government, and to take away all reliance on 
 i its engagements, and as, above all, it exposed the affairs of 
 I the nation and the Company to the hazard of seeing renewed 
 ' all the calamities of war, from whence by the conclusion of 
 the treaty they had emerged, and upon a pretence so weak 
 ' as that of proposing the Nabob of Arcot to be a party to the 
 same — though he had not been made a party by the said 
 Warren Hastings in the Mahratta treaty, which professed to 
 ' be for the relief of the Carnatic ; — though he was not a 
 ! party to the former treaty with Hyder, also relative to the 
 ! Carnatic ; — though it was not certain, if the treaty were once 
 ; opened, and that even Tippoo should then consent to that 
 Nabob's being a party, whether he (the said Nabob) would 
 agree to the clauses of the same, and consequently whether 
 the said treaty, once opened, could afterwards be concluded 
 I — an uncertainty, of which he the said Hastings should have 
 ' learned to be aware, having already once been disappointed 
 by the said Nabob's refusing to accede to a treaty, which he 
 the said Warren Hastings made for him with the Dutch, 
 about a vear before. 
 
22 AETICLES OF CHAEGE 
 
 That the said Warren Hastings having broken a solemn 
 and honourable treaty of peace by an unjust and unprovoked 
 war; having neglected to conclude that war when he might 
 have done it without loss of honour to the nation ; having 
 plotted and contrived, as far as depended on him, to engage 
 the India Company in another war, as soon as the former 
 should be concluded ; and having at last put an end to a most 
 unjust war against the Mahrattas by a most ignominious 
 peace with them, in which he sacrificed objects essential to 
 tlie interests, and submitted to conditions utterly incom- 
 patible with the honour, of this nation, and with his own de- 
 clared sense of the dishonourable nature of those conditions ; 
 and having endeavoured to open anew the treaty concluded 
 with Tippoo Sultan, through the means of the presidency of 
 Tort St. George, upon principles of justice and honour, and 
 which established peace in India ; and thereby exposing the 
 British possessions there to the renewal of the dangers and 
 calamities of war — has by these several acts been guilty of 
 sundry high crimes and misdemeanours. 
 
 XXI. COERESPONDENCE. 
 
 That by an act of the 13th year of his present Majesty, 
 entitled, " An act for establishing certain regulations for the 
 better management of the affairs of the East-India Company, 
 as well in India as in Europe," "The governor-general and 
 council are required and directed to pay due obedience to all 
 such orders as they shall receive from the court of directors 
 of the said united Company, and to correspond from time to 
 time, and constantly and diligently transmit to the said court 
 an exact particular of all advices or intelligence, and of all 
 transactions and matters whatsoever, that shall come to their 
 knowledge, relating to the government, commerce, revenues, 
 or interest of the said united Company.'* 
 
 That, in consequence of the above-recited act, the court of 
 directors, in their general instructions of the 29th March, 
 1774, to the governor-general and council, did direct, " that 
 the correspondence \^'ith the princes or country powers in 
 
AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 23 
 
 India should be carried on througli the governor-general 
 only ; but that all letters to be sent by him should be first 
 approved in council; and that he should lay before the 
 council, at their next meeting, all letters received by him in 
 the course of such correspondence for their information." 
 
 And the governor-general and council were therein further 
 ordered, " That in transacting the business of their depart- 
 ment they should enter with the utmost perspicuity and ex- 
 actness all their proceedings whatsoever ; and all dissents, 
 if such should at any time be made by any member of their 
 board, together with all letters sent or received in the course 
 of their correspondence ; and that broken sets of such pro- 
 ceedings, to the latest period possible, be transmitted to 
 them (the court of directors) ; a complete set at the end of 
 every year, and a duplicate by the next conveyance." 
 
 That in defiance of the said orders, and in breach of the 
 above-recited act of parliament, the said Warren Hastings 
 has, in sundry instances, concealed from his council the cor- 
 respondence carried on between him and the princes or 
 country powers in India, and neglected to communicate the 
 advices and intelligence he from time to time received from 
 the British residents at the different courts in India to the 
 other members of the government : and w^ithout their know- 
 ledge, counsel, or participation, has despatched orders on 
 matters of the utmost consequence to the interests of the 
 Company. 
 
 That, moreover, the said AVarren Hastings, for the purpose 
 of covering his own improper and dangerous practices from 
 his employers, has withheld from the court of directors, upon 
 sundry occasions, copies of the proceef.ings had, and the cor- 
 respondence carried on by him in his official capacity, as 
 governor-general, whereby the court of directors have been 
 kept in ignorance of matters which it highly imported them 
 to know, and the affairs of the Company have been exposed 
 to much inconvenience and injury. 
 
 That in aU such concealments and acts done or ordered 
 without the consent and authority of the supreme council, 
 the said Warren Hastings has been guilty of high crimes and 
 misdemeanours. 
 
24 ARTICLES OF CHABOl 
 
 XXII. EIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHAN, &c. BEFORE 
 THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG. 
 
 I. 
 
 That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, who now holds of the vizier 
 the territory of Rampore, Shawabad, and certain other dis- 
 tricts dependent thereon, in the country of the Rohillas, is 
 the second son of a prince, renowned in the history of Hin- 
 dostan under the name of Ali Mohammed Khan, some time 
 sovereign of all that part of Rohilcund, which is particularly 
 distinguished by the appellation of the Kutteehr. 
 
 II. 
 
 That after the death of Ali Mohammed aforesaid, as Fy- 
 zoola KhAn, together with his elder brother, was then a 
 prisoner of war at a place called Herat, " the Rohilla chiefs 
 took possession of the ancient estates" of the captive princes; 
 and the Nabob Fyzoola Khdn was from necessity compelled 
 to waive his hereditary rights for the inconsiderable districts 
 of Rampore and Shawabad, then estimated to produce from 
 six to eight lacks of annual revenue. 
 
 III. 
 
 That in 1774, on the invasion of Rohilcund by the united 
 
 armies of the vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Company, the 
 Nabob Fyzoola Khan, " with some of his people, was present 
 at the decisive battle of St. George," where Hafiz Rhanet, 
 the great leader of the Rohillas, and many others of their 
 principal chiefs, were slain ; but, escaping from the slaughter, 
 Fyzoola KhAn " made his retreat good towards the mountains, 
 with all his treasure." He there collected the scattered re- 
 mains of his countrymen ; and as he was the eldest surviving 
 son of Ali Mohammed Khan, as too the most powerful ob- 
 stacle to his pretensions was now removed by the death of 
 Hafiz, he seems at length to have been generally acknow- 
 ledged by his natural subjects the undoubted heir of hif 
 father's authority. 
 
AOAIWST WAEBEK HASTIlfQS. 25 
 
 IV. 
 
 That, " regarding the sacred sincerity and friendship of the 
 English, whose goodness and celebrity is everywhere known, 
 who dispossess no one,'^ the Nabob Fyzoola Khan made early 
 overtures for peace to Colonel Alexander Champion, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Company's forces in Bengal : that he 
 did propose to the said Colonel Alexander Champion, in 
 three letters, received on the 14th, 24th, and 27th of May, 
 to put himself under the protection either of the Company 
 or of the vizier, through the mediation, and with the guaran- 
 tee, of the Company ; and that he did offer " whatever was 
 conferred upon him, to pay as much without damage or de- 
 ficiency, as any other person would agree to do ; " stating at 
 the same time his condition and pretensions hereinbefore 
 recited, as facts, " e^adent as the sun; " and appealing, in a 
 forcible and awful manner, to the generosity and magnanmity 
 of this nation, " by whose means he hoped in Grod, that he 
 should receive justice ; " and as " the person who designed 
 the war, was no more ; " as " in that he was himself guilt- 
 less ; " and as " he had never acted in such a manner as for 
 the vizier to have taken hatred to his heart against him ; 
 that he might be reinstated in his ancient possessions, the 
 country of his father." 
 
 v. 
 
 That on the last of the three dates above mentioned, that 
 is to say, on the 27th of May, the Nabob Eyzoola Khan did 
 also send to the commander-in-chief a vakeel, or ambassador, 
 who was authorized on the part of him (the Nabob Fyzoola 
 Khan, his master) to make a specific offer of three proposi- 
 tions ; and that by one of the said propositions " an annual in- 
 crease of near £400,000 would have accrued to tne revenues 
 of our ally, and the immediate acquisition of above £300,000 
 to the Company, for their influence in effecting an accommo- 
 dation perfectly consistent with their engagements to the 
 vizier,'* and strictly consonant to the demands of justice. 
 
 VI. 
 
 That BO great was the confidence of the Nabob Fyzoola 
 Khan in the just, humane, and liberal feelings of Englishmen, 
 66 to " lull him into an inactivity *' of the most essentia? 
 
26 ARTICLES or CIIARGIE 
 
 detrimeut to his interests ; since, " in the hopes, ^TLich ho 
 entertained from the interposition of our government," he 
 declined his invitation of the Mogul to join the arms of his 
 Majesty and the Mahrattas, " refused any connexion with the 
 Seiks," and did even neglect to take the obvious precaution 
 of crossing the Granges, as he had originally intended, while 
 the river was yet fordable, a movement, that would have en- 
 abled him certainly to baffle all pursuit, and probably " to 
 keep the vizier in a state of disquietude for the remainder of 
 his Hfe." 
 
 VII. 
 
 That the commander-in-chief. Colonel Alexander Cham- 
 pion aforesaid, " thought nothing could be more honourable 
 to this nation than the support of so exalted a character ; 
 and whilst it could be done oix terms so advantageous, sup- 
 posed it very unlikely that the vakeel's preposition should 
 be received with indifference ; " that he did accordingly refer 
 it to the administration through AYarren Hastings, Esquire, 
 then governor of Fort William and president of Bengal ; 
 and he did at the same time enclose to the said Warren 
 Hastings a letter from the Nabob Fyzoola Khan to the said 
 Hastings ; which letter does not appear, but must be sup- 
 posed to have been of the same tenor with those before 
 cited to the commander-in-chief; of which also copies were 
 sent to the said Hastings by the commander-in-chief; and he, 
 (the commander-in-chief aforesaid,) after urging to the said 
 Hastings sundry good and cogent arguments of policy and 
 prudence, in favour of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, did conclude 
 by " wishing for nothing so much as for the adoption of some 
 measure, that might strike all the powers of the East with ad- 
 miration of our justice, in contrast to the conduct of the 
 vizier." 
 
 YIII. 
 
 Tliat in answer to such laudable wish of the said com- 
 mander-in-chief, the president (Warren Hastings) preferring 
 his own prohibited plans of extended dominion to the mild, 
 equitable, and wise policy inculcated in the standing orders 
 of liis superiors, and now enforced by the recommendation 
 of the commander-in-chief, did instruct and " desire" bini, the 
 
iiOAINST WAEBEIf HASTINGS. 27 
 
 Baid commander-in-chief, " instead of soliciting tbe vizier to 
 relinquish his conquest to Fvzoola Khan, to discourao^e it 
 as much as \yas in his power; " although the said Hastings 
 did not once express, or even intimate, any doubt whatever 
 of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's innocence as to the origin of 
 the war, or of his hereditary right to the territories, which he 
 claimed ; but to the said pleas of the IS'abob Fyzoola KhAn, 
 as well as to the arguments both of policy and justice ad- 
 vanced by the commander-in-chief, he the said Hastings did 
 solely oppose certain speculative objects of imagined expe- 
 diency, summing up his decided rejection of the proposals 
 made by the Nabob Fyzoola Khiln, in the following re- 
 markable words : 
 
 " With respect to Fyzoola Khan, he appears not to merit 
 our consideration. The petty sovereign of a country estimated 
 at six or eight lacks ought not for a moment to prove an impe- 
 diment to any of our measures, or to affect the consistency oj 
 our conduct.'^ 
 
 IX. 
 
 That in the aforesaid violent and arbitrary position, the 
 said Warren Hastings did avow it to be a public principle ot 
 his government, that no right, however manifest, and no 
 innocence, however unimpeached, could entitle the weak to 
 our protecion against others, or save them from our own 
 active endeavours for their oppression, and even extirpation, 
 should they interfere with our notions of political expedi- 
 ency ; and that such a principle is highly derogatory to the 
 justice and honour of the English name, and fundamentally 
 injurious to our interests, inasmuch as it hath an immediate 
 tendency to excite distrust, jealousy, fear, and hatred against 
 us among all the subordinate potentates of Hindostan. 
 
 X. 
 
 That, in prosecution of the said despotic principle, the 
 president (Warren Hastings aforesaid) did persist to ob- 
 struct, as far as in him lav, every advance towards an accom- 
 modation between the Yizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the 
 Nabob Fyzoola Khln ; and particularly on the 16th of Sep- 
 tember, only eight days after the said Hastings, in conjunc- 
 tion with the other members of the select committee oi 
 
28 AHTICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 Bengal, bad publicly testified bis satisfaction in tbe prospect 
 of an accommodation, and bad hoped, tbat bis Excellency 
 (tbe vizier) " would be disposed to conciliate tbe afiections 
 (of tbe Robillas) to bis government by acceding to lenient 
 terms ;^^ be, tbe said Hastings, did nevertbeless write, and 
 witbout tbe consent or knowledge of bis colleagues did 
 privately despatcb a certain answer to a letter of tbe com- 
 niander-in-cbief ; in wbicb answer tbe said Hastings did ex- 
 press otber contradictory hopes, namely, tbat tbe commander- 
 in-cbief had resolved on prosecuting the war to a final issue, 
 " because (as tbe said Hastings explains bimself ) it appears 
 very plainly, tbat Fyzoola Khan, and bis adherents, lay at 
 your mercy ; because I apprehend mucb inconveniency from 
 delays; and because lam morally certain that no good will 
 be gained by negotiating ;"" — there jy artfully suggesting bis 
 wishes of what might be, in bis hopes of what had been, re- 
 solved ; and plainly, thougb indirectly, instigating tbe com- 
 mander-in-chief to mucb effusion of blood in an immediate 
 attack on tbe E-obillas, posted as they were " in a very 
 strong situation," and "combating for all." 
 
 XI. 
 
 Tbat tbe said Hastings, in tbe answer aforesaid, did 
 further endeavour to inflame tbe commander-in-chief against 
 tbe Nabob Fyzoola Khan, by representing tbe said Nabob 
 as "highly presuming, insolent, and evasive ;" and knowing 
 tbe distrust, wbicb the Nabob Fyzoola Khan entertained of 
 tbe vizier, the said Hastings did " expressly desire it should 
 be left wholly to tbe vizier to treat with tbe enemy by his 
 awn agents, and in his own manner ;'' though be the said 
 Hastings " by no means wished tbe vizier to lose time by 
 seeking an accommodation, since it would be more eftectual, 
 more decisive, and more consistent with his dignity, indeed 
 with his honour, which he has already pledged, to abide by 
 his first offers to dictate tbe conditions of peace, and to ad- 
 mit only an acceptance witbout reservation, or a clear refusal 
 from bis adversary;" thereby affecting to bold up, in oppo- 
 sition to, and in exclusion of, tbe substantial claims of justice, 
 certain ideal obligations of dignity and honour, tbat is to 
 Bay, tbe gratification of pride, and the observance of au iir- 
 rogaut determination once declared. 
 
▲GAINST WAEBEN HASTINOB. 20 
 
 XII. 
 
 That although the said answer did not reach the com- 
 mander-in-chief until peace was actually concluded; and 
 although the dangerous consequences to be apprehended 
 from the said answer were thereby prevented, yet by the 
 sentiments contained in the said answer, Warren Hastings, 
 Esquire, did strongly evince his ultimate adherence to all the 
 former violent and unjust principles of his conduct towards 
 the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, which principles were disgraceful 
 to the character, and injurious to the interests, of this nation : 
 and that the said Warren Hastings did thereby, in a par- 
 ticular manner, exclude himself from any share of credit for 
 *' the honourable period put to the Eohilla war, which has in 
 some degree done away the reproach so wantonly brought 
 on the English name." 
 
 EIGHTS OE EYZOOLA KHAN UNDER THE 
 
 TREATY OF LALL-DANG. 
 
 I. 
 
 That notwithstanding the culpable and criminal reluct- 
 ance of the president Hastings, hereinbefore recited, a 
 treaty of peace and friendship between the Vizier Sujah ul 
 Dowlah and the Nabob Eyzoola Khan was finally signed and 
 sealed, on the 7th October, 1774, at a place called LaU-Dang, 
 in the presence, and with the attestation, of the British com- 
 mander-in-chief. Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid; and 
 that for the said treaty the Nabob Eyzoola Khan agreed to 
 pay, and did actually pay, the valuable consideration of half 
 his treasure, to the amount of 15 lacks of rupees, or £1.50,000 
 sterling, and upwards. 
 
 II. 
 
 That by the said treaty the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was estab- 
 lished in the quiet possession of Rampore, Shawabad, and 
 "some other districts dependent thereon," subject to certain 
 conditions, of which the more important were as follow : 
 
 " That Fyzoola Khan should retain in his service 5,000 
 troops J and not a single man more : 
 
30 ARTICLES OF CHAKOB 
 
 " That with whomsoever the vizier should make w&r, Fy- 
 zoola Khan should send two or three thousand men, according 
 to his abiliti/y to join the forces of the vizier : 
 
 " And that, if the vizier should march in person, ryzoola 
 Khan should himself accompany him with Mb troops." 
 
 III. 
 
 That from the terms of the treaty above recited it doth 
 plainly, positively, and indisputably appear, that the Nabob 
 Fyzoola Klian, in case of war, was not bound to furnish more 
 than three thousand men under any construction, unless the 
 vizier should march in person. 
 
 lY. 
 
 That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was not positively bound 
 to furnish so many as 3000 men, but an indefinite number, 
 not more than three, and not less than two, thousand ; that, 
 of the precise number within such limitations, the ability of 
 Fyzoola Khan, and not the discretion of the vizier, was to be 
 the standard ; and that such ability could only mean that, 
 which was equitably consistent not only with the external 
 defence of his jaghire, but with the internal good manage- 
 ment thereof, both as to its police and revenue. 
 
 V. 
 
 That even in case the vizier should march in person, it 
 might be reasonably doubted whether the personal service of 
 the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, " with his troops," must be under- 
 stood to be, with all his troops, or only with the number 
 before stipulated, not more than three, and not less than 
 two, thousand men ; and that the latter is the interpretation 
 finally adopted by A¥arren Hastings aforesaid, and the coun- 
 cil of Bengal, who, in a letter to the court of directors, dated 
 April 5th, 1783, represent the clauses of the treaty relative 
 to the stipulated aid, as meaning simply, that Fyzoola KhAn 
 " should send 2 or 3000 men to join the vizier's forces, or 
 attend in person in case it should be requisite." 
 
 VI. 
 
 That from the aforesaid terms of the treaty it doth not 
 speciiically appear of what the sti|)ulated aid should consist, 
 
AGAINST -WAEEEN HASTINGS. 31 
 
 whether of horse or foot, or in what proportion of both ; but 
 that it is the recorded opinion, maturely formed by the said 
 Hastings and his council in January, 1783, that even " a 
 single horseman included in the aid, which Fyzoola Khan 
 might furnish, would prove a literal compliance with the 
 stipulation." 
 
 yji. 
 
 That, in the event of any doubt fairly arising from the 
 terms of the treaty, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in consider- 
 ation of his hereditary right to the whole country, and the 
 price by him actually paid for the said treaty, was in equity 
 entitled to the most favourable construction. 
 
 I YIII. 
 
 I That, from the attestation of Colonel Champion aforesaid, 
 the government of Calcutta acquired the same right to in- 
 I terpose with the vizier for the protectiou of the Nabob Fyzoola 
 Khan, as they the said government had before claimed from 
 : a similar attestation of Sir Eobert Barker to assist the vizier 
 j in extirpating the whole nation of the said Fyzoola KhAn ; 
 I more especially as in the case of Sir Eobert Barker it was 
 I contrary to the remonstrnnces of the then administration, 
 I and the furthest from the intentions of the said Barker him- 
 ! self, that his attestation should involve the Company ; but 
 I the attestation of Colonel Champion was authorized by all 
 '. the powers of the government, as a " sanction" intended " to 
 i add validity" to the treaty: that they the said government, 
 and in particular the said Warren Hastings, as the first ex- 
 ecutive member of the same, were bound by the ties of natural 
 justice duly to exercise the aforesaid right, if need were ; and 
 that their duty so to interfere was more particularly enforced 
 I by the spirit of the censures past both by the directors and 
 i proprietors in the Eohilla war, and the satisfaction expressed 
 i by the directors " in the honourable end put to that war." 
 
 aUAEANTEE OF THE TEEATT OF LALL-DANG. 
 
 That during the life of the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah, and 
 for some time after his death, under his son and successor 
 
32 AETICLE8 OF CHAltGE 
 
 Asoph ul Dowlah, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did remain 
 without disturbance or molestation : that he did all the 
 while imagine his treaty to be under the sanction of the 
 Company from Colonel Champion's affixing his signature 
 thereto as a witness, " which signature, as he (Fyzoola Khan) 
 supposed," rendered the Company the arbitrators between 
 the vizier and himself, in case of disputes ; and that being 
 *' a man of sense, but extreme pusillanimity, a good farmer, 
 fond of wealth, not possessed of the passion of ambition,'^ he 
 did peaceably apply himself to "improve the state of his 
 country ; and did by his own prudence and attention, increase 
 the revenues thereof beyond the amount specified in Sujah 
 ul Dowlah's grant." 
 
 II. 
 
 That in the year 1777, and in the beginning of the year 
 1778, being "alarmed at the young vizier's resumption of a 
 number of jaghires granted by his father to different persons, 
 and the injustice and oppression of his conduct in general ;" 
 and having now learned (from whom does not appear, but 
 probably from some person supposed of competent authority) 
 that Colonel Champion formerly witnessed the treaty as a 
 private person, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did make frequent 
 and urgent solicitations to Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, 
 then resident at Oude, and to Warren Hastings aforesaid, 
 then governor-general of Bengal, "for a renovation of his 
 (the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's) treaty with the late vizier, and 
 the guarantee of the Company," or for a "separate agree- 
 ment with the Company for his defence ;" considering them 
 {the Company) as " the only power, in which he had con- 
 fidence, and to which he could look up for protection." 
 
 III. 
 
 Tliat the said resident Middleton, and the said governor- 
 general Hastings, did not, as they were in duty bound to do, 
 endeavour to allay the apprehensions of the Nabob Fyzoola 
 Khan by assuring him of his safety under the sanction of 
 Colonel Champion's attestation aforesaid; but by their 
 cnminal neglect, if not by positive expressions, (as there is 
 just ground from their subsequent language and conduct to 
 believe,) they, the said Middleton and the said Hastings, did 
 
AQATSST WABREX HASTiyos. 33 
 
 ttt least keep alive and confirm (whoever may have originallv 
 su^rgested) the said appreliension ; and that such neglect 
 alone was the more highly culpable in the said Hastings, in- 
 asmuch as he the said Hastings, in conjunction with other 
 members of the select committee of the then presidency of 
 Bengal, did, on the 17th of September, 1774, write to Colonel 
 Champion aforesaid, publicly authorizing him the said 
 Colonel Champion to join his sanction to the accommoda- 
 tions agreed on (between the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and 
 the Nabob Fyzoola Khan) to add to their validity ; and on 
 the 6th of October following did again write to the said 
 Colonel Champi3n more explicitly, to join his sanction, 
 " either by attesting the treaty, or acting as guarantee on 
 the part of the Company for the performance of it;" both 
 which letters, though they did not arrive until after the 
 actual signature of the said Colonel Champion, do yet incon- 
 trovertibly mark the solemn intention of the said committee, 
 (of which the said Hastings was president,) that the sanc- 
 tion of Colonel Champion's attestation should be regarded 
 as a public, not a private, sanction ; and it was more pecu- 
 liarly incumbent on such persons, who had been members of 
 the said committee, so to regard the same. 
 
 IV. 
 
 That the said Warren Hastings was further guilty of much 
 criminal concealment for the space of " twelve months," inas- 
 much as he did not lay before the board the frequent and 
 urgent solicitations, which he the said Hastings was continu- 
 ally receiving from the Xabob Fyzoola Khan, until the 9th 
 of March, 1778: on which day the said Hastings did com- 
 municate to the council a public letter of the aforesaid Mid- 
 dleton, resident at Oude, acquainting the board, that he (the 
 said Middleton) taking occasion from a late application of 
 Fyzoola Khan for the Company's guarantee, had deputed Mr. 
 Daniel Octavus Earwell (assistant resident at Benares, but 
 then on a ^isit to the resident Middleton at Lucknow) to 
 proceed with a special commission to Eampore, there to in- 
 quire on the spot into the truth of certain reports circu- 
 lated to the prejudice of Fyzoola Khan, which reports how- 
 ever the said Middleton did afterwards confess nimself to 
 have " always'' thought " in the highest degree improbably 
 
 VOL V. D 
 
34 ARTICLES OF CHABQE 
 
 . That the said resident Middleton did " request to know 
 whether, on proof of Fyzoola Khan's innocence, the honour- 
 able board would be pleased to grant him (the resident) per- 
 mission to comply with his (Fyzoola Khan's) request of the 
 Company's guaranteeing his treaty with the vizier." And the 
 said Middleton, in excuse for haying irregularly "availed 
 himself of the abilities of Mr. Daniel Barwell," who belong- 
 ed to another station, and for deputing him with the afore- 
 said commission to Bampore without the predous knowledge 
 of the board, did urge the plea "q/" immediate necessity ;'■ '* 
 and that such plea, if the necessity really existed, was a 
 strong charge and accusation against the said Warren Hast- 
 ings, from whose criminal neglect and concealment the ur- 
 gency of such necessity did arise. 
 
 Y. 
 
 That the governor-general, "VVarren Hastings aforesaid, 
 did immediately move, " that the board approve the deputa- 
 tion of Mr. Daniel Barwell, and that the resident (Middle- 
 ton) be authorized to offer the Company's guarantee for the 
 observance of the treaty subsisting between the vizier and 
 Fyzoola Kh&n, provided it meets vdth. the vizier's concur- 
 rence;" and that the governor-general's proposition was 
 resolved in the affirmative ; the usual majority of council 
 then consisting of Eichard Barwell, Esquire, a near relation 
 of Daniel Octavus Barwell aforesaid, and the governor- 
 general Warren Hastings, who, in case of an equality, had 
 the casting voice. 
 
 YI. 
 
 That on receiving from Mr. Daniel Barwell full and earlj 
 assurance of Fyzoola Khan's " having preserved every article; 
 of his treaty inviolate," the resident Middleton applied foi 
 the vizier's concurrence, which was readily obtained ; tht 
 vizier however premising, that he gave his consent, " taking 
 it for granted, tliat on Fyzoola Khan's receiving the treaty 
 and khelaut, (or robe of honour,) he was to make him a re 
 turn of the complimentary presents usually oftered on sue! 
 occasions, and of sunk an amount as should be a ma?ii/estatio) 
 of Fi/zoola Khan's due sense of his friendship, and suitable U 
 his Excellency's rank to receive ; " and that the resident Mid 
 
AGAINST WAliJiEi^ HASTINGS. 35 
 
 dleton " did make himself in some measure responsible for 
 the said presents being obtained," and did write to Mr. 
 Daniel Harwell accordingly. 
 
 YII. 
 
 That, agreeably to the resolution of council hereinbefore 
 recited, the solicited guarantee, under the seal of the resi- 
 dent Middleton, thus duly authorized on behalf of the Com- 
 pany, was transmitted, together with the renewed treaty, to 
 Mr.* Daniel Barwell aforesaid at Eampore ; and that they 
 were both by him, the said Barwell, presented to the Nabob 
 Fyzoola Khan with a solemnity not often paralleled, " in 
 the presence of the greatest part of the Nabob's subjects, 
 who were assembled, that the ceremony might create a full 
 behef in the breasts of all his people, that the Company 
 would protect him as long as he strictly adhered to the letter 
 of his treaty." 
 
 YIII. 
 
 That in the conclusion of the said ceremony the Nabob 
 Fyzoola Khan did deliver to the said Barwell, for the use of 
 the vizier, a nuzzer (or present) of elephants, horses, &c., 
 and did add thereto a lack of rupees, or £10,000, and up- 
 wards ; which sum the said Barwell, " not being authorized 
 to accept any pecuniary consideration, did at first refuse;" 
 but upon Fyzoola Khan's urging, that on such occasions it 
 I was the invariable " custom of Hindostan, and that it must 
 on the present be expected, as it had been formerly the cane'' 
 ; (but when, does not appear) ; he the said Barwell did accept 
 ' the "said lack in the name of the vizier," our ally, "in 
 I whose wealth (as Warren Hastings on another occasion 
 I observed) we should participate," and on whom we at that 
 I time had an accumulating demand. 
 
 IX. 
 
 ; That, over and above the lack of rupees thus presented to 
 
 I the vizier, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did likewise offer one 
 
 other lack of rupees, or upwards of £10,000, more for the 
 
 Company, "as some acknowledgment of the obligation he 
 
 received : that although such acknowledgment was not pre- 
 
 i tended to be the invariable custom of Hindostan on such 
 
SS ARTICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 occasions, however it might on the present be expected," 
 Mr. Daniel Barwell aforesaid (knowing probably the dis- 
 position and views of the then actual government at Cal- 
 cutta) did not, even at first, decline the said oifer, but, as he 
 was not empowered to accept it, did immediately propose 
 taking a bond for the amount, until the pleasure of the 
 board should be known. 
 
 That the offer was accordingly communicated by the said 
 Barwell to the resident Middleton, to be by him the resident 
 referred to the board ; and that it was so referred ; that in 
 reply to the said reference of the resident Middleton, the 
 governor-general (Warren Hastings) did move and carry a 
 vote of council, " authorizing Mr. Middleton to accept the 
 offer made by Fyzoola Khan to the Company of one lack of 
 rupees," without assigning any reason whatever in support 
 of the said motion, notwithstanding it was objected by a 
 member of the board, '' that, if the measure was right, it be- 
 came us to adopt it without such a consideration ;" and that 
 " our accepting of the lack of rupees as a recompence for 
 our interposition is beneath the dignity of this government, 
 (of Calcutta,) and will discredit us in the eyes of the Indian 
 powers." 
 
 That the acceptance of the said sum, in this circumstance, 
 was beneath the dignity of the said government, and did 
 tend so to discredit us ; and that the motion of the said 
 Hastings for such acceptance was therefore highly deroga- 
 tory to the honour of this nation. 
 
 X. 
 
 That the aforesaid member of the council did further dis- 
 approve altogether of the guarantee, " as unnecessary ;" and 
 that anotlier member of council, Eichard Barwell, Esquire, 
 the near relation of Daniel Octavus Barwell, hereinbefore 
 named, did declare, (but after the said guarantee had taken 
 place,) that " this government (of Calcutta) was in fact en- 
 gaged, by Colonel Champion's signature being to the treaty 
 with Fyzoola Khan," that the said unnecessary guarantee 
 did not only subject to a heavy expense a prince, whom we 
 were bound to protect, but did further produce in his mind 
 the following obvious and natural conclusion; namely, ^^that 
 *ite signature of ani/ person, in nhatever public capacity he 
 
AGAINST WABREy HASTINGS, S7 
 
 at present appears, tcill not be valid and of effect, as soon as 
 some other shall Jill his station ;" a conclusion, however, im- 
 mediately tending to the total discredit of all powers dele- 
 gated from the board to any individual servant of the Com- 
 pany, and consequently to clog, perplex, and embarrass in 
 future all transactions carried on at a distance from the seat 
 of government, and to disturb the securitj" of all persons 
 possessing instruments already so ratified ; yet the only con- 
 clusion left to Fyzoola Khan, which did not involve some 
 affront either to the private honour of the Company's 
 servants, or to the public honour of the Company itself; and 
 that the suspicions, which originated from the said idea in 
 the breast of Fyzoola Khan to the prejudice of the resident 
 Middleton's authority, did compel the governor-general, 
 "Warren Hastings, to obviate the bad effects of his first 
 motion for the guarantee by a second motion, namely, " that 
 a letter be written to Fyzoola Khaj. from myself, conjirming 
 the obligations of the Company, as guarantees to the treaty 
 formed between him and the vizier ; which will be equivalent 
 in its effect, though not in form, to an engagement sent him 
 with the Company's seal affixed to it." 
 
 XII. 
 
 That whether the guarantee aforesaid was or was not 
 necessary ; whether it created a new obligation, or but more 
 fully recognised an obligation previously existing; the govern- 
 or-general, barren Hastings, by the said guarantee, did, in 
 the most explicit manner, pledge and commit the public faith 
 of the Company, and the nation ; and that by the subsequent 
 letter of the said Hastings, (which he at his own motion 
 wrote, confirming to Fyzoola Khan the aforesaid guarantee.) 
 the said Hastings did again pledge and commit the public 
 faith of the Company and the nation, in a manner (as the 
 said Hastings himself remarked) " equivalent to an engage- 
 ment with the Company's seal affixed to it ;" and more par- 
 ticularly binding the said Hastings personally to exact a due 
 observance of the guaranteed treaty, especially to protect the 
 Nabob Fyzoola Khan against any arbitrary construction, or 
 unwarranted requisition of the vizier. 
 
33 AETICLES or CHABGi 
 
 THANKS OF THE BOAED TO FYZOOLA KHAN. 
 
 That soon after the completion of the guarantee, in the 
 Bame year 1778, intelligence was received in India of a war 
 between England and France ; that on the first intimation 
 thereof the Nabob Fyzoola Kh^n, "being indirectly sounded," 
 did show much " promptness to render the Company any as- 
 sistance within the bounds of his finances and ability ;" and 
 that by the suggestion of the resident Middleton, hereinbe- 
 fore named, he (the Nabob Fyzoola Kh^n) in a letter to the 
 governor-general and council did make a voluntary " offer to 
 maintain 2000 cavalry (all he had) for our service ;" " though 
 he was under no obligation to furnish the Company with a 
 single man." 
 
 II. 
 
 That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did even " anticipate the 
 wishes of the board;" and that " on an application made to 
 him by Lieutenant- Colonel Muir," the Nabob Fyzoola Khan 
 did, "without hesitation or delay," furnish him (the said 
 Muir) with 500 of his best cavalry. 
 
 That the said conduct of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was 
 communicated by the Company's servants, both to each 
 other, and to their employers, with expressions of " pleasure" 
 and "particular satisfaction," as an event "even surpassing 
 tlieir expectations:" that the governor-general, Warren 
 Hastings, was officially requested to convey " the thanks of 
 the board;" and that, not satisfied with the bare discharge 
 of his duty under the said request, he the said Hastings did, 
 on the 8th of January, 1779, write to Fyzoola, " that in hut 
 own name," as well as " that of the board, he (the said Hast- 
 ings) returned him the warmest thanks for this instance of 
 his faithful attachment to the Company and the English 
 nation." 
 
 IV. 
 
 That, by the strong expressions above recited, the said 
 "Warren Hastings did deliberately and emphatically add his 
 own particular confirmation to the general testimony of the 
 
AGAIWST WAREEK liASTIJfGS. 39 
 
 Nabob Fyzoola Khdn's meritorious fidelity, and of his con- 
 sequent claim on the generosity, no less than the justice, of 
 the British government. 
 
 DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HOUSE. 
 
 I. 
 
 That notwithstanding his own private honour thus deeply 
 emgaged, notwithstanding the public justice and generosity 
 of the Company and the nation thus solemnly committed, 
 disregarding the plain import and positive terms of the 
 guaranteed treaty, the governor-general, Warren Hastings 
 aforesaid, in November, 1780, (while a body of Fyzoola 
 Khan's cavalry, voluntarily granted, were still serving under 
 a British officer,) did recommend to the vizier " to require 
 from Fyzoola Khan the quota of troops stipulated by treaty 
 to be furnished by the latter for his (the vizier's) service, 
 being riTE thousand hoese;" though, as the vizier did 
 not march in person, he was not, under any construction of 
 the treaty, entitled by stipulation to more than " two or 
 three thousand troops''' horse and foot, " according to the 
 ability of Fyzoola Kh4n ; " and that, Avhereas the said War- 
 ren Hastings would have been guilty of very criminal perfidy 
 if he had simply neglected to interfere as a guarantee against 
 a demand thus plainly contrary to the faith of treaty, so he 
 aggravated the guilt of his perfidy, in the most atrocious 
 degree, by being himself the first mover and instigator of 
 that injustice, which he was bound by so many ties on him- 
 self, the Company, and the nation, not only not to promote, 
 but by every exertion of authority, influence, and power, to 
 control, to (fivert, or to resist. 
 
 II. 
 
 That the answer of Fyzoola Khan to the vizier did repre^ 
 Bent, with many expressions of deference, duty, and allegi- 
 ance, that 
 
 The whole force allowed him was but " five thousand men,'* 
 and that '* these consisted of two thousand horse and three 
 
40 AETICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 thousand foot ; which (he adds) in consequence of our inti- 
 mate connexion are equally yours and the Company's ; " 
 though he does subsequently intimate, that " the three 
 thousand foot are for the management of the concerns of hia 
 jaghire, and without them the collections can never be made 
 in time." 
 
 That on the communication of the said answer to the go- 
 vernor-general, Y/arren Hastings, he the said Hastings 
 (who, as the council now consisted only of himself and 
 Edward Wheler, Esquire, " united in his own person all the 
 powers of government") was not induced to relax from his 
 unjust purpese, but did proceed with new violence to record, 
 that 
 
 " The Nabob Eyzoola Khan had evaded the performance 
 of his part of the treaty between the late Nabob Sujah ul 
 Dowiah and him, to which the honourable Company were 
 guarantees, and upon which he was lately summoned to 
 furnish the stipulated number of troops, which he is obliged 
 to furnish on the condition, by which he holds the jaghire 
 granted to him." 
 
 That by the vague and indefinite term of evasion, the said 
 Warren Hastings did introduce a loose and arbitrary princi- 
 ple of interpreting formal engagements, which ouglit to be 
 regarded, more especially by guarantees, in a sense the most 
 literally scrupulous and precise. 
 
 That he charged with such evasion a moderate, humble, 
 and submissive representation on a point, which would have 
 warranted a peremptory refusal and a positive remonstrance ; 
 and that in consequence of the said imputed evasion he in- 
 dicated a disposition to attach such a forfeiture as in justice 
 could only have followed from a gross breach of treaty ; 
 though the said Hastings did not then pretend any actual 
 infringement even of the least among the conditions, to 
 which, in the name of the Company, he the said Hastings 
 was the executive guarantee. 
 
 III. 
 
 That however " the number of troops stipulated by treaty 
 may have been understood," at the period of the original 
 demand, " to be five thousand horse," yet the said Warren 
 Hastings, at the time when he recorded the supposed evasion 
 
AGAINST WAREEN HASTINGS. 41 
 
 of Fyzoola Khan's answer to the said demand, could not be 
 unacquainted with the express words of the stipulation, as 
 a letter of the vizier, inserted in the same consultation, re- 
 fers the governor-general to enclosed copies " of all engage- 
 ments entered into by the late vizier and by himself (the 
 reigning vizier) with Fyzoola Khan;" and that the treaty 
 itself therefore was at the very moment before the said War- 
 ren Hastings ; which treaty (as the said Hastings observed 
 with respect to another treaty, in the case of another per- 
 son) " most assuredly does not contain a syllable observations 
 to justify his conduct ; but by the unexampled on Mr. Bris- 
 latitude, which he assumes in his cons^"nictions, ^°^ ^ ^ ^^^^' 
 he may, if he pleases, extort this or any other meaning from 
 any part of it." 
 
 lY. 
 
 That the vizier himself appears by no means to have been 
 persuaded of his own right to five thousand horse under the 
 treaty ; since in his correspondence on the subject he (the 
 vizier) no where mentions the treaty as the ground of his 
 demand, except where he is recapitulating to the governor- 
 general, AVarren Hastings, the substance of his (the said 
 Hastings's) own letters ; on the contrary, the Adzier hints 
 his apprehensions lest Fyzoola KhAn should appeal to the 
 treaty against the demand, as a breach thereof, in which case 
 he (the vizier) informs the said Hastings of the projected 
 reply : " Should Fyzoola Khan (says the vizier) mention any- 
 thing of the tenor of the treaty, t/ie first breach of it has 
 been committed by him, in keeping up more men than allowed 
 of by the treaty : / have accordirighj sent a person to settle 
 that point also. In case he should mention to me an}i;hing 
 respecting the treaty, I will then reproach him with having 
 kept up too many troops, and will oblige him to send the 
 five thousand horse;" thereby clearly intimating, that as a 
 remonstrance against the demand, as a breach of treaty, 
 could only be answered by charging a prior breach of treaty, 
 on Fyzoola Kh^n, so, by annulling the whole treaty, to re- 
 duce the question to a mere question of force, and thus 
 " oblige l^'yzoola Khan to send the five thousand horse : " " for 
 (continues the vizier) if, when the Company's afiairs, on 
 which mj honour depends, require it, Fyzoola Khan -will not 
 
42 ARTICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 lend his assistance, what use is there to continue the country 
 to him f *» 
 
 That the vizier actually did make his application to Fy- 
 zoola Khan for the 5000 horse, not as for an aid, to -which 
 he had a just claim, but as for something over and above the 
 obligations of the treaty, something " that would give in- 
 crease to their friendship, and satisfaction to the nabob go- 
 vernour," (meaning the said Hastings,) whose directions he 
 represents as the motive " of his call for the 5000 horse to 
 be employed " not in his (the vizier's) but in the " Company's 
 service." 
 
 And, that the aforesaid Warren Hastings did therefore, in 
 recording the answer of Fyzoola Khan as an evasion of 
 treaty, act in notorious contradiction not only to that, which 
 ought to have been the fair construction of the said treaty, 
 but to that, which he the said Hastings must have known 
 to be the vizier's own interpretation of the same, disposed as 
 the vizier was " to reproach Fyzoola Khan with breach of 
 treaty," and to " send up persons who should settle points 
 with him." 
 
 Y. 
 
 That the said Warren Hastings, not thinking himself jus- 
 tified, on the mere plea of an evasion, to push forward his 
 proceedings to that extremity, which he seems already to 
 have made his scope and object, and seeking some better 
 colour for his unjust and violent purposes, did further move, 
 that commissioners should be sent from the vizier and the 
 Company to Fyzoola Khan, to insist on a clause of a treaty, 
 which nowhere appears, being essentially diiferent from the 
 treaty of Lall-Dang, though not in the part on which the 
 requisition is founded : and the said Hastings did then, in a 
 style unusually imperative, proceed as follows : 
 
 " Demand immediate delivery of 3000 cavalry ; and if he 
 should evade, or refuse compliance, that the deputies shall 
 deliver him a formal protest against him for breach of treaty , 
 and return, making this report to the vizier, which Mr. Mid- 
 dleton is to transmit to the board." 
 
 VI. 
 
 That the said motion of the governor-general Hastings 
 was ordered accordingly, the council, as already has been 
 
AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 43 
 
 berein related, consisting but of two members, and the said 
 Hastings consequently " uniting in his own person all the 
 powers of government." 
 
 YII. 
 
 That, whflm the said Hastings ordered the said demand 
 for 3000 cavalry, he the said Hastings well knew, that a 
 compliance therewith, on the part of the Nabob Fyzoola 
 Khan, was utterly impossible; for he, the said Hastings, 
 had at the very moment before him a letter of Fyzoola Khan, 
 stating, that he, Fyzoola Khan, had "but two thousand 
 cavalry" altogether; which letter is entered on the records 
 of the Company, in the same consultation, immediately pre- 
 ceding the govemor-general's minute. That the said Hast- 
 ings therefore knew, that the only possible consequence of 
 the aforesaid demand necessarily and inevitably must be a 
 protest for a breach of treaty ; and the court of directors 
 did not hesitate to declare, that the said demand " carried 
 the appearance of a determination to create a pretext for de- 
 priving him (Fyzoola Khan) of his jagliire entirely, or to 
 leave him at the mercy of the vizier." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 That Richard Johnson, Esquire, assistant resident at 
 Oude, was, agreeably to the afore-mentioned order of coun- 
 cil, deputed commissioner from Mr. Middleton and the 
 vizier to Fyzoola Khan ; but that he did early give the most 
 indecent proofs of glaring partiality, to the prejudice of the 
 said Fyzoola Khan ; for that the very next day (as it seems) 
 after his arrival, he the said Johnson, from opinions imbibed 
 in his journey, did state himself to be "unwilling to draw 
 any favourable or flattering inferences relatively to the ob- 
 ject of his mission;" and did studiously seek to find new 
 breaches of treaty ; and -without any form of regular inquiry 
 whatever, from a single glance of his eye in passing, did take 
 upon himself to pronounce " the Eohilla soldiers, in the dis- 
 trict of Rampore alone, to be not less than 20,000," and the 
 grant of course to be forfeited. And that such a gross and 
 palpable display of a predetermination to discover guilt did 
 argue in the said Johnson a knowledge, a strong presump- 
 tion or a belief, that such representations would be agreeable 
 
'14 ARTICLES or ClIAT^GE 
 
 to the secret wishes and views of the said Hastings, ander 
 wliose orders he the said Johnson acted, and to whom all 
 his reports were to be referred. 
 
 IX. 
 
 That the said Eichard Johnson did soon after proceed to 
 the immediate object of his mission, " which (the said John- 
 son relates) was short to a degree." The demand was made, 
 and " a flat refusal " given ; the question was repeated Avith 
 like effect. The said Johnson, in presence of proper wit- 
 nesses, then drew up his protest, " together with a memo- 
 randum of a palliative offer made by the Nabob Fyzoola 
 Khan," and inserted in the protest : 
 
 "That he would in compliance with the demand, and in 
 conformity to the treaty, luhich specified no definitive number 
 of cavalry or infantry, only expressing troops, furnish 3000 
 men ; viz. he would, in addition to the 1000 cavalry already 
 granted, give 1000 more, when and wheresoever required, 
 and 1000 foot;" together with one year's pay in advance, 
 and funds for the regular payment of them in future. 
 
 And this (the said Eichard Johnson observes) " I put down 
 at his (the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's) particular desire, but other- 
 wise useless, as my orders (which orders do not appear) were 
 not to receive any palliation, but a negative or affirmative ;'* 
 though such palliation, as it is called by the said Johnson, 
 might be, as it was, in the strictest conformity to the treaty. 
 
 X. 
 
 That in the said offer the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, instead 
 of palliating, did at once admit the extreme right of the 
 vizier, under the treaty, by agreeing to furnish 3000 men, 
 when he (Fyzoola Khan) would have been justified in plead- 
 ing his inability to send more than two thousand. That 
 Buch inability would not (as appears) have been a false and 
 evasive plea, but perfectly true and valid ; as the three 
 thousand foot maintained by Fyzoola Khan were for the 
 purposes of his internal government, for which the whole 
 three thousand must hr.ve been demonstrably necessary ; 
 and that the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, by declining to avail 
 himself of a plea so fair, so well founded, and so consonant 
 to the indulgence expressly acknowledged in the treaty, and 
 
AOArS-ST WAEEEX HASTINGS. 45 
 
 by thus meeting the specific demand of the vizier as fidly as, 
 according to his own military establishment, he could, did 
 for tl\e said offer deserve rather the thanks of the said vizier 
 and the Company, than the protest, which the aforesaid 
 Johnson, under the orders of AVarren Hastings, did deliver. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Tliat the report of the said protest, as well as the former 
 letter of the said Johnson, were by the resident Middleton 
 transmitted to the board, together with a letter from the 
 vizier, founded on the said report and letter of the said John- 
 son, and proposing in consequence " to resume the grant, 
 and to leave Fyzoola Khan to join his other faithless bre- 
 thren, who were sent ac-ross the Ganges." 
 
 That the said papers were read in council on the 4th of 
 June, 1781, when the governor-general, AVarren Hastings, 
 did move and carry a vote to suspend a fijial resolution on 
 the same ; and the said Hastings did not express any disap- 
 probation of the proceedings cf the said Johnson ; neither 
 did the said Hastings assign any reason for his motion of 
 suspension, which passed without debate. That in truth the 
 said Hastings had then projected a journey up the country 
 to meet the vizier, for the settlement of articles relative to 
 the regulation of Oude and its dependencies, among which 
 was included the jaghire of Fyzoola Khan; and the said 
 Hastings, for the aforesaid purposes, did on the 3rd of July, 
 by his own casting vote, errant to himself, and did prevail on 
 his colleague, Edward AVheler, Esquire, to grant a certain 
 illegal delegation of the whole powers of the governor-gener- 
 al and council ; and on the seventh of the same month did 
 proceed on his way to join the vizier at the place called 
 Chunar on the borders of Benares ; and that the aforesaid 
 vote of suspending a final resolution on the transactions with 
 Fyzoola Khan was therefore in substance and efi"ect a refer. 
 ence thereof by the said Hastings, from himself in council 
 with his colleague A\"heler, to himself in conference and ne- 
 gotiation with the vizier, who from the first demand of the 
 5000 horse had taken every occasion of showing his inclina- 
 tion to dispossess Fyzoola Khan, and who before the said 
 demand (in a letter, which does not appear, but which the 
 vizier himself votes as antecedent to the said demand) had 
 
46 AETICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 complained to the said Hastings of the " injury and irregu- 
 larity in the management of the provinces bordering on 
 Rampore, arising from Pyzoola Khan having the uncontrolled 
 dominion of that district." 
 
 TEEATY OF CHUNAE. 
 
 That the governor-general, Warren Hastings, being vested 
 with the illegal powers before recited, did, on the 12th of 
 September, 1781, enter into a treaty -v\dth the vizier at 
 Chunar; which treaty (as the said Hastings relates) was 
 drawn up " from a series of requisitions presented to him 
 (the said Hastings) by the vizier," and by him received " with 
 an instant and unqualified assent to each article ; " and that 
 the said Hastings assigns his reasons for such ready assent 
 in the following words : " I considered the subjects of his 
 (the vizier's) requests as essential to the reputation of our 
 government, and no less to oiu* interest than his." 
 
 11. 
 
 That in the said treaty of Chunar the third article is as 
 follows : 
 
 " That as Fyzoola Khan has by his breach of treaty for- 
 feited the protection of the English government, and causes 
 by his continuance in his present independent state great 
 alarm and detriment to the Nabob vizier, he be permitted, 
 when time shall suit, to resume his lands, and pay him in 
 money, through the resident, the amount stipulated by treaty, 
 after deducting the amount and charges of the troops he 
 stands engaged to furnish by treaty ; which amount shall be 
 passed to the account of the Company during the continu- 
 ance of the present war." 
 
 III. 
 
 That for the better elucidation of his policy in the several 
 articles of the treaty above mentioned, the said Hastings did 
 iend to the council of Calcutta (now consisting of Edward 
 
AGAINST WAEEE>' nASTIKOS. 47 
 
 Wheler and John Macpherson, Esquires) two different copies 
 of the said treaty, with explanatory minutes opposed to each 
 article ; and that the minute opposed to the third article is 
 thus expressed : 
 
 " The conduct of Fyzoola Khan, in refusing the aid de- 
 manded, though ^ not an absolute breach of treaty, was evasive 
 and uncandid. * The demand was made for 5000 cavalry. 
 ' The engagement in the treaty is literally for 5000 horse and 
 foot. Fyzoola Khan could not be ignorant, that we had no 
 occasion for any succours of infantry from him, and that 
 cavalry would be of the most essential service. ^ So scrupulous 
 an attention to literal expression, when a more liberal inter- 
 pretation would have been highly useful and acceptable to us, 
 strongly marks his unfriendly disposition, though it may not 
 impeach his fidelity, and leaves him little claim to any exertio7is 
 from us for the continuance of his jaghires. But ^ I am of 
 opinion, that neither the vizier's nor the Company's interests 
 would be promoted by depriving Fyzoola Khan of his inde- 
 pendency, and I have ^therefore reserved the execution of this 
 agreement to an indefinite term ; and our government may 
 always interpose to prevent any ill effects from itV 
 
 lY. 
 
 That in his aforesaid authentic evidence of his own pur- 
 poses, motives, and principles, in the third article of the 
 treaty of Chunar, the said Hastings hath established divers 
 matters of weighty and serious crimination against himself. 
 
 1st, That the said Hastings doth acknowledge therein, 
 that he did, in a public instrument, solemnly recognise, " an 
 a breach of treaty,'' and as such did subject to the consequent 
 penalties, an act, which he the said Hastings did at the same 
 time think, and did immediately declare, to be 
 " no breach of treaty ; " and by so falsely and un- ^^^^1^;;?^°"^ 
 justly proceeding against a person under the 
 Company's guarantee, the said Hastings, on his own con- 
 ^ession, did himself break the faith of the said guarantee. 
 
 2ndly, That in justifying this breach of the Company's 
 faith, the said Hastings doth wholly abandon his second per^ 
 emptory demand for the 3000 horse, and the protest consequent 
 thereon ; and the said Hastings doth thereby himself con- 
 demn the violence and injustice of the same. 
 
48 AETIPLES or CHARGE 
 
 3rdly, That in recurring to the oris^inal demand of five 
 thousand horse as the ground of his justification, the said 
 Hastings doth falsely assert "the engao:ement in the treaty 
 to be literally five thousand horse arvdfoot" whereas it is in 
 fact for TWO or three thousand men ; and the said Hastings 
 doth thereby wilfully attempt to deceive and mislead his em- 
 ployers, which is a high crime and misdemeanour in a serv- 
 ant of so Gjreat trust. 
 
 4thly, That with a view to his further justification, the 
 said Hastings doth advance a principle, that " a scrvpulous 
 attention to the literal expression" of a guaranteed treaty 
 " leaves^' to the person so observing the same " but little 
 claim to the exertions'^ of a guarantee on his behalf; that such 
 a principle is utterly subversive of all faith of guarantees, 
 and is therefore highly criminal in the first executive member 
 of a government, that must necessarily stand in that mutual 
 relation to many. 
 
 5thly, That the said Hastings doth profess his opinion of 
 an article, to which he gave an ^Hnstant and unqualified as- 
 sent^' that it was a measure, " by which neither the vizier's nor 
 the Company^'s interests ivould be promoted,^' but from which, 
 without some interposition, " ?7Z effects must be expected;** 
 and that the said Hastings doth thereby charge himself with 
 a high breach of trust towards his employers. 
 
 6thly, That the said Hastings having thus confessed, that 
 consciously and wilfully (from what motives he hath not 
 chosen to confess) he did give his formal sanction to a mea- 
 sure both of injustice and impolicy, he the said Hastings 
 doth urge in his defence, that he did at the same time insert 
 words " reserving the execution of the said agreement to an 
 indefinite term ;" with an intent, that it might in truth be 
 never executed at all ; but " that our government might al- 
 ways interpose," without right, by means of an indirect and 
 undue influence, to prevent the ill effects followmg from a 
 collusive surrender of a clear and authorized right to inter- 
 pose ; and the said Hastings dotli thereby declare himself to 
 have introduced a ])rinciple of duplicity, deceit, and double- 
 dealing, into a public engagement, which ought in its essence 
 to be clear, o])en, and explicit ; that such a declaration tends 
 to shake and overthrow the confidence of all in tlie most 
 Bolemn instruments of any persou so declaring, and is there- 
 
AGAINST WARREN HaSI'INGS. 49 
 
 fore a high crime and misdemeanour in the first executivo 
 member of f;overnment, by whom all treaties and other eu- 
 gagements of the state are principally to be conducted. 
 
 Y. 
 
 That by the explanatory minute aforesaid the said Warreu 
 Hastings doth further, in the most direct manner, contradict 
 his ovrn assertions in the very letter which enclosed the said 
 minute to his colleagues ; for that one of the articles, to which 
 he there gave " an instant and unqualified assent, as no less 
 to our interest than to the vizier s,'' he doth here declare un- 
 equivocally to be neither to our interests nor the viziers ; and 
 the ''unqualified assent " given to the said article is now so 
 qualified, as wholly to defeat itself. That by such irrecon- 
 cilable contradictions the said Hastings doth incur the sus- 
 picion of much criminal misrepresentation in other like cases 
 of unwitnessed conferences ; and in the present instance (as 
 far as it extends) the said Hastings doth prove himself to 
 have given an account both of his actions and motives, by his 
 own confession untrue, for the purpose of deceiving his em- 
 ployers, which is a high crime and misdemeanour in a serv- 
 ant of so great trust. 
 
 VI. 
 
 That the said third article of the treaty of Chunar. as it 
 thus stands explained by the said Hastings himself, doth on 
 the whole appear designed to hold the protection of the Com- 
 pany in suspense ; that it acknowledges all right of interfer- 
 ence to cease, but leaves it to our discretion to determine 
 when it will suit our conveniency to give the vizier the 
 liberty of acting on the principles by us already admitted : 
 that it is dexterously constructed to balance the desires of 
 one man, rapacious and profuse, against the fears of another, 
 described as "of extreme pusillanimity, and wealthy : " but 
 that, whatever may have been the secret objects of the arti- 
 fice and intrigue confessed to form its veiy essence, it must 
 on the very face of it necessarily implicate the Company in a 
 breach of faith, whichever might be the event, as they must 
 equally break their faith, either by withdrawing their gua- 
 rantee unjustly, or by continuing that guarantee in contra- 
 diction to this treaty of Chunar ; that it thus tends to hold 
 
50 AETICLE8 OF CHABGE 
 
 out to India, and to the whole world, that the public princi- 
 ple of the English government is a deliberate system of in- 
 justice, joined with falsehood ; of impolicy, of bad faith and 
 treachery ; ai^d that the said article is therefore in the high- 
 est degree derogatory to the honour, and injurious to the in- 
 terests, of this nation. 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAE. 
 
 That in consequence of the treaty of Chunar, the govern" 
 or-general, Warren Hastings, did send official instructions* 
 respecting the various articles of the said treaty, to the said 
 resident Middleton ; and that, in a postscript, the said Hast- 
 ings did forbid the resumption of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's 
 jaghire, " until circumstances may render it more expedient, 
 and easy to be attempted, than the present more material 
 pursuits of government make it appear; " thereby intimat- 
 ing a positive limitation of the indefinite term in the explan- 
 atory minute above recited ; and confining the suspension 
 of the article to the pressure of war. 
 
 II. 
 That soon after the date of the said instructions, and with- 
 in two months of the signature of the treaty of Chunar, the 
 Baid Hastings did cause Sir Elijah Impey, Knight, his Ma- 
 jesty's chief justice at Fort William, to discredit the justice 
 of the crown of Oreat Britain by making him the channel of 
 unwarrantable communication ; and did, through the paid 
 Sir Elijah, signify to the resident Middleton his (the said 
 Hafitings's) " approbation of a subsidy from Fyzoola Khan." 
 
 III. 
 
 That the resident, in answer, represents the proper equiva- 
 lent for 2000 horse, and 1000 foot, (the forces ofiered to Mr. 
 Johnson by Fyzoola Khan,) to be twelve hu-ks, or £120,000 
 pterling, and upwards, each year; which the said resident 
 8ii|)p()8e« is considerably beyond what he (Fy^^^^^ Khan) 
 wUi voluntarily pay • "however, if it is your Aish that tb? 
 
IGAIIfST WABEEN nASTI>'G3. 
 
 51 
 
 clAim should be made, I am ready to take it up, and you may 
 be assured nothing in my power shall be left undone to carry 
 xt through:' 
 
 lY. 
 That the reply of the said Hastings doth not appear ; but 
 that it does appear on record, that " a negotiation (Mr. 
 Johnson's) was begun for Fyzoola Khan's cavalry to act with 
 General Goddard, and, on his (Fyzoola Khan's) evading it^ 
 thjit a sum of money was demanded.'* 
 
 V. 
 
 That in the months of February, March, and April, the 
 resident Middleton did repeatedly propose the resumption of 
 Fyzoola Khan's jaghire, agreeably to the treaty of Chunar ; 
 and that driven to extremity (as the said Hastings supposes) 
 *• by the public menaces and denunciations of the resident 
 and minister," Hyder Beg Khan, a creature of the said 
 Hastings, (and both the minister and resident acting pro- 
 fessedly on and under the treaty of Chunar,) " the Nabob 
 Fyzoola Khan made such preparations, and such a disposition 
 of his family and wealth, as evidently manifested either an 
 intended or an expected rupture:* 
 
 VI. 
 
 That on the 6th of May the said Hastings did send his 
 confidential agent and friend, j\Iajor Palmer, on a private 
 commission to Lucknow ; and that the said Palmer was 
 charged with secret instructions relative to Fyzoola Khan, 
 but of what import cannot be ascertained, the said Hastings 
 in his public instructions having inserted only the name of 
 Fyzoola Khan, as a m.ere reference (according to the explan- 
 ation of the said Hastings) to what he had verbally com- 
 municated to the said Palmer ; and that the said Hastings 
 was thereby guilty of a criminal concealment. 
 
 YII. 
 
 That some time about the month of August an engage- 
 ment happened between a body of Fyzoola Khan's cavalrv', 
 and a part of the vizier's army, in which the latter were beaten, 
 and their guns taken ; that the resident Middleton did repre- 
 sent the same but as a slight and accidental afiray ; that it 
 
 E 2 
 
52 ARTICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 was acknowledged the troops of the vizier were the aggress- 
 ors ; that it did appear to the board, and to the said Hast- 
 ings himself, an affair of more considerable magnitude, and 
 that they did make the concealment thereof an article of 
 charge against the resident Middleton, though the said resi- 
 dent did in truth acquaint them with the same, but in a 
 cursory manner. 
 
 YIII. 
 
 That, immediately after the said "fray" at Daranagur, 
 the vizier (who was "but a cipher in the hands" of the 
 minister and resident, both of them directly appointed and 
 supported by the said Hastings) did make of Fyzoola Khan 
 a new demand, equally contrary to the true intent and mean- 
 ing of the treaty, as his former requisitions ; which new de- 
 mand was for the detachment in garrison at Daranagur to 
 be cantoned as a stationary force at Lucknow, the capital of 
 the vizier; whereas he (the vizier) had only a right to de- 
 mand an occasional aid to join his army in the field, or in 
 garrison, during a war. But the said new demand being 
 evaded, or rather refused, agi'eeably to the fair construction 
 of the treaty by the Nabob Eyzoola Khan, the matter was 
 for the present dropped. 
 
 IX. 
 
 That in the letter, in which the resident Middleton did 
 mention " what he calls the fray " aforesaid, the said Middle- 
 ton did again apply for the resumption of the jaghire of 
 Eampore ; and that, the objections against the measure being 
 lunv removed, (by the separate peace with Scindia.) he de- 
 sired to know if the board " would give assurances of their 
 support to the vizier, in case, which (says the resident) 1 
 think very probable, his (the vizier's) own strength should he 
 found unequal to the undertaking. 
 
 X. 
 
 That although the said Warren Hastings did make the 
 foregoing application a new charge against the resident 
 Middleton, yet the said Hastings did only criminate the said 
 ]M iddleton for a proposal tending " at such a crisis to in- 
 crease the niunber of our enemies ; " :md did in no degree, 
 either in his articles of charge, or in his accompanying 
 
AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 5.H 
 
 minutes, express any disapprobation whatever of the prin- 
 ciple ; that in truth the whole proceedings of the said resi- 
 dent were the natural result of the treaty of Chunar : that 
 the proceedings were from time to time communicated to the 
 said Hastings. That as he nowhere charges any disobedi- 
 ence of orders on Mr. Middleton with respect to Fyzoola 
 Khan, it may be justly inferred, that the said Hastings did 
 not interfere to check the proceedings of the said Middleton 
 on that subject ; and that by such criminal neglect the said 
 Hastings did make the guilt of the said Middleton, whatever 
 it misfht be, his own. 
 
 PECUNIAEY COMMUTATION OF THE 
 STIPULATED AID. 
 
 I. 
 
 That on the charges and for the misdemeanours above 
 specified, together with divers other accusations, the governor- 
 general, Warren Hastings, in September, 1782, did remove 
 the aforesaid Middleton from his office of resident at Oude, 
 and did appoint thereto John Bristow, Esquire, whom he 
 had twice before, without cause, recalled from the same ; and 
 that about the same time the said Hastings did believe the 
 mind of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan to be so irritated, in con- 
 sequence of the above-recited conduct of the late resident 
 Middleton, and of his (the said Hastings's) own criminal 
 neglect, that he the said Hastings found it necessary to write 
 to Fyzoola Khan, assuring him " of the favourable disposi- 
 tion of the government toward him, while he shall not have 
 forfeited it by any improper conduct." But that the said 
 assurances of the governor-general did not tend, as soon 
 after appeared, to raise much confidence in the Nabob, over 
 whom a public instrument of the same Hastings was still 
 holding the terrors of a deprivation of his jaghire, and an 
 exile " among his other faithless brethren across the 
 Granges." 
 
 II. 
 
 That on the subject of Fyzoola Khan the said Hastings, 
 in his instructions to the new resident Bristow, did leave 
 
54 AETICLES OF CIIARGT. 
 
 him to be guided by bis own discretion ; but (be adds) "be 
 careful to prevent the vizier's affairs from being involved 
 with new difficulties, while he has already so many to op- 
 press him ;'' thereby plainly hinting at some more decisive 
 measures whenever the vizier should be less oppressed with 
 difficulties, 
 
 III. 
 
 That the resident Eristow, after acquainting the governor- 
 general with his intentions, did under the said instructions 
 renew the aforesaid claim for a sum of money, but with 
 much caution and circumspection, distantly sounding Allif 
 Khsin, tlie vackeel (or envoy) of Fyzoola Khan at the court 
 of the vizier : that Allif Khan wrote to his master on the 
 subject, and in answer he was directed not to agree to the 
 granting of " any pecuniary aid." 
 
 IV. 
 
 That the resident Bristow did then openly depute Major 
 Palmer aforesaid, with the concurrence of the vizier, and the 
 approbation of the governor-general, to the Nabob Fyzoola 
 Khan, at Eampore ; and that the said Palmer was to "en- 
 deavour to convince the Nabob, that all doubts of his attach- 
 ment to the vizier are ceased ; and whatever claims may be 
 made on him are founded upon the basis of his interest and 
 advantage, and a plan of establishing his right to the posses- 
 sion of his jaghire.'" That the sudden ceasing of the said 
 doubts, without any inquiry of the slightest kind, doth war- 
 rant a strong presumption of the resident's conviction, that 
 they never really existed, but were artfully feigned, as a pre- 
 tence for some harsh interposition ; and that the indecent 
 mockery of establishing, as a matter of favour, for a pecuni- 
 ary consideration, rights, which were never impeached but 
 by the treaty of Chunar, (an instrument recorded by "War- 
 ren Hastings himself to be founded on falsehood and injus- 
 tice,) doth powerfully prove the true purpose and object «)f 
 all the duplicity, deceit, and double-dealing, with which that 
 treaty was projected and executed. 
 
 V. 
 
 That the said Palmer was instructed by the resident 
 Bristow, with the subsequent approbation of the governor- 
 
AGAITI8T WAKREN HASTINGS. 55 
 
 general, "to obtain from Fyzoola Khan an annual tribute ;" 
 to which the resident adds : " if you can procure from him, 
 over and above this, a peshcush {or Jin e) of at least Jive lacks, 
 it would be rendering an essential service to the vizier, and 
 add to the confdence his Excellency u-ould hereafter repose in 
 the attachment of the Nabob Fyzoola Khany 
 
 And that the said governor-general Hastings did give the 
 following extraordinary ground of calculation, as the basis of 
 the said Palmer's negotiation for the annual tribute aforesaid : 
 
 " It was certainly understood at the time the treaty was 
 concluded, (of which this stipulation was a part,) that it ap- 
 plied solely to cavalry ; as the Xabob vizier, possessing the 
 service of our forces, could not possibly require infantry, and 
 least of all such infantry as Fyzoola Khan could furnish ; 
 and a single horseman included in the aid, ivhich Fyzoola Khan 
 might furnish, would prove a literal compliance with the said 
 stipulation. The number therefore of horse implied by it 
 ought at least to be ascertained ; ice ivill suppose Jive thou- 
 sand, and allowing the exigency for their attendance to exist 
 only in the proportion of one year in Jive, reduce the demand 
 to one thousand for the computation of the subsidy, which at 
 the rate of fifty rupees per man, will amount to fifty thousand 
 per mensem. This may serve for the basis of this article in 
 the negotiation upon it." 
 
 VI. 
 
 That the said "Warren Hastings doth then continue to in- 
 struct the said Palmer in the alternative of a refusal from 
 Fyzoola Khan. 
 
 " If Fyzoola Khan shall refuse to treat for a subsidy, and 
 claim the benefit of his original agreement in its literal ex- 
 pression, he possesses a right, which we cannot dispute, and it 
 will in that case remain only to fix the precise number of 
 horse which he shall furnish, which ought at least to ex- 
 ceed 2500." 
 
 Til. 
 
 That in the above-recited instructions, the said "VVarren 
 Hastings doth insinuate, (for he doth not directly assert.) 
 
 1st, That we are entitled by treaty to 5000 troops, which 
 he says were undoubtedly intended to be all cavalry, 
 
 2nd, Thai the said Hastings doth then admit, that a singl« 
 
5t) 
 
 ARTICI.F.S OF CHARGE 
 
 horseman, included in the aid furnished by Fyzoola Khan^ 
 Mould prove a literal compliance. 
 
 3rd, That the said Hastings doth next resort again to the 
 supposition of our right to the whole 5000 caTalry. 
 
 4th, That the said Hastings doth afterwards think, in the 
 event of an explanation of the treaty, and a settlement of the 
 proportion of cavalry, instead of a pecuniary commutation, it 
 will be all ws can demand, that the number should at least 
 exceed 2500. 
 
 5th, That the said Hastings doth, in calculating the sup- 
 posed time of their service, assume an arbitrary estimate of 
 one year of war to four of peace ; which (however moderate 
 the calculation may ap])ear on the average of the said Hast- 
 ings'. s own government) doth involve a principle in a con- 
 siderable degree repugnant to the system of perfect peace, 
 inculcated in the standing orders of the Company. 
 
 Gth, That, in estimating the pay of the cavalry to be com- 
 muted, the said Hastings doth fix the pay of each man at 50 
 rupees a month ; which on 5000 troops, all cavalry, (as the 
 said Hastings supposes the treaty of Lall-Dang to have 
 meant,) would amount to an expense of 30 lacks a year, or 
 between £300,000 or £400,000. And this expense, 'strictly 
 resulting (according to the calculations of the said Hastings) 
 from the intention of Sujah ul Dowlah's grant to Fyzoola 
 Khan, was designed to be supported out of a jaghire, valued 
 at 15 lacks only, or something more than £150,000 of yearly 
 revenue, just half the amount of the expense to be incurred 
 in consideration of the said jaghire. 
 
 And that a basis of negotiation so inconsistent, so arbitrary, 
 and so unjust, is contrary to that uprightness and integrity, 
 which should mark the transactions of a great state, and is 
 highly derogatory to the honour of this luition. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 That notwithstanding the seeming moderation and justice 
 of the said Hastings, in admitting the clear and undoubted 
 right of Fyzoola Khan to insist on liis treaty, the head of 
 instruction immediately succeeding doth atVord just reason 
 for a violent presumption, that such apj>arent lenity was but 
 policy, to give a colour to his conduct ; he the said Hustings, 
 m the very next paragraph, bringiiig fortli a new engine of 
 oppression, as follows : 
 
AGAINST WAEEEN HASTINGS. 57 
 
 " To iemand the surrender of all the reiats (or peasants) 
 of the Nabob vizier's dominions, to whom Fyzoola has given 
 protection and service, or an annual tribute, in compensation 
 for the loss svsfnined by the Nabob vizier in his revenue, thus 
 transferred to Fyzoola Khan. 
 
 " You have stated the increase of his jaghire, occasioned 
 by this act. at the moderate sum of fifteen lacks. The tribute 
 ought at least to be one third of that amount. 
 
 " We conceive, that Fyzoola Khan himself may be dis- 
 posed to yield to the preceding demand, on the additional 
 condition of being allowed to hold his lands in ultumgaw 
 (or an inheritable tenure) instead of his present tenure bv 
 jagheer (or a tenure for life). This we think the vizier can 
 have no objection to grant, and we recommend it ; but for 
 this a fine or peshcush ought to be immediately paid in the 
 customary proportion of the jumma, estimated at 30 lacks.''' 
 
 IX. 
 
 That the resident Bristow (to whom the letter containing 
 ISfajor Palmer's instructions is addressed) nowhere attri- 
 butes the increase of Fyzoola Khan's revenues to this pro- 
 tection of the fugitive reiats, subjects of the vizier: that 
 the said Warren Hastings was, therefore, not warranted to 
 make that pretext of such a peremptory demand ; that as an 
 inducement to make Fyzoola Khan agree to the said de- 
 mand, it is offered to settle his lands upon a tenure, which 
 would secure them to his children ; but that settlement is to 
 bring with it a new demand of a fine of thirty lacks, or 
 £300,000 and upwards; that the principles of the said de- 
 mand are violent and despotic, and the inducement to ac- 
 quiescence deceitful and insidious ; and that both the demand 
 and the inducement are derogatory to the honour of this 
 nation. 
 
 X. 
 
 That Major Palmer aforesaid proceeded under these in- 
 structions to Eampore, where his journey " to extort a sum of 
 money'' was previously known from Alliif Khan, vakeel of 
 Fyzoola Khan at the vizier's court ; and that, notwithstand- 
 ing the assurances of the friendly disposition of government 
 given by the said Hastings, (as is herein related,) the Xabob 
 Fyzoola Khan did express the most serious and desponding 
 apprehensions, both by better and through his yakeel, to the 
 
58 ABTICLE8 or CHARGE 
 
 resident Bristow, who represents them to Major Palmer in 
 the following manner : 
 
 " The Nabob Fyzoola Khan complains of the distresses 
 he has this year suffered from the drought. Tlie whole col- 
 lections have, with great management, amounted to about 
 twelve lacks of rupees, from which sum he has to support 
 his troops, his family, and several relations and dependents of 
 the late Hohilla chiefs. He says it clearly appears to be in- 
 tended to deprive him of his country, as the high demand you 
 have made of him is inadmissible. Should he have assented 
 to it, it would be impossible to perform the conditions, and 
 then his reputation would be injured by a breach of agree- 
 ment. AlUff Khan further represents, that it is his master's 
 intention, in case the dema^id should not be relinquished by 
 you,jirst to proceed to Lucknow, where he proposes having an 
 intervieiv with the vizier and resident; if he shotdd not be able 
 to obtain his own terms for a future possession ofhisjaghire, he 
 will set off for Calcutta in order to pray for justice from the 
 honourable the governor-general. He observes, it is the custom 
 of the honourable Company, when they deprive a chief of 
 his country, to grant him some allowance. This he expects 
 from Mr. Hastings's bounty ; but if he should be disappointed^ 
 he will certainly set off upon a pilgrimage to Mecca and 3/e- 
 dina, and renounce the cares of the world." 
 
 " He directs his vakeel to ascertain whether the English in- 
 tend to deprive him of his country ; for if they do, he is ready 
 to surrender it, upon receiving an order from the resident." 
 
 XI. 
 
 That after much negotiation the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, 
 "being fully sensible, that an engagement to furnish mili- 
 tary aid, however clearly the conditions might be stated, must 
 be a source of perpetual misunderstanding and inconvenien- 
 cies," did at length agree with INIajor Palmer to give fifteen 
 lacks, or £150,000 and upwards, by four instalments, that 
 he might be exempted from all future claims of military 
 service : that the said Palmer represents it to be his belief, 
 " that no person, not hnoicn to possess your (the said Hast- 
 ings's) confidence and support in the degree, that I am sup* 
 posed to do, would have obtained nearly so good terms;'* 
 but from \\hat motive "terms so good" were granted, and 
 how the conlidence and support of the said Hastings did 
 
AOAINST WARREX HASTINGS. 59 
 
 truly operate on the mind of Fyz )ola Khan, doth appear to 
 be better explained by another passage in the same letter, 
 where the said Palmer congratulates himself on the satisfac' 
 Hon which he gave to Fyzoola Khan in the conduct of this 
 negotiation, as he spent a month in order to effect '• by 
 argument and persuasion, what he could have obtained in an 
 hyur by threats and compulsions.'^ 
 
 FULL YIXDICATION OF FTZOOLA KHAN BY 
 MAJOE PALMEE AXD ME. HASTINGS. 
 
 I. 
 
 That in the course of the said negotiation for establishing 
 the rights of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, Major Palmer afore- 
 said did communicate to the resident Bristow, and through 
 the said resident to the council-general of Bengal, the full 
 and direct denial of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan to all and 
 every of the charges made or pretended to be made against 
 him, as folloAvs : 
 
 " Fyzoola Khan persists in denying the infringement on 
 his part of any one article in the treaty, or the neglect of 
 any obligation, which it imposed upon him. 
 
 " He does not admit of the improvements reported to be 
 made in his jaghire; and even asserts, that the collections 
 this year will fall short of the original jumma (or estimate) 
 by reason of the long drought. 
 
 " He denies having exceeded the limited number of Eo- 
 liillas in his service ; 
 
 "And having refused the required aid of cavalry, made by 
 Johnson, to act with Greneral Groddard. 
 
 " He observes, respecting the charge of evading the A-izier'a 
 requisition for the cavalry, lately stationed at Daranagur, to 
 be stationed at Lucknow, that he is not bound by tr^^aty to 
 maintain a stationary force for the sem'ce of the vizier, but 
 to supply an aid of 2000 or 3000 troops in time of war. 
 
 " Lastly, he asserts, that so far from encouraging the ryots 
 (or peasants) of the vizier to settle in his jaghire, it has been 
 his constant practice to deliver them np to the aumil of Bo« 
 hilcund, whenever he could discover them." 
 
60 ARTICLES OF CHARGE 
 
 II. 
 
 That, in giving his opinions on the aforesaii denials of the 
 Nabob Fyzoola Khan, the said Palmer did not controvert 
 any one of the constructions of the treaty advanced by the 
 said Nabob. 
 
 That although the said Palmer, " from general appearances 
 as well as universal report, did not doubt, that the jumma of 
 the jaghire is greatly increased,'' yet he the said Palmer did 
 not intimate, that it was increased in any degree near the 
 amount reported, as it was drawn out in a regular estimate, 
 transmitted to the said Palmer expressly for the purposes of 
 his negotiation ; which was of course by him produced to the 
 Nabob Fyzoola Khan, and to which specifically the denial of 
 Fyzoola Khan must be understood to apply. 
 
 That the said Palmer did not hint any doubt of the de- 
 ficiency affirmed by Fyzoola Khan in the collections for the 
 current year : and. 
 
 That if any increase of jumma did truly exist, whatever it 
 may have been, the said Palmer did acknowledge it " to have 
 been solemnly relinquished (in a private agreement) by the 
 vizier." 
 
 That although the said Palmer did suppose the number of 
 Kohillas (employed "in ordinary occupations) in Rampore 
 alone, to exceed that limited by the treaty for his (Fyzoola 
 Khan's) service," yet tlie said Palmer did by no means imply, 
 that the Nabob Fyzoola Khan maintained in his service a 
 single man more than was allowed by treaty ; and by a par- 
 ticular and minute account of the troops of Fyzoola Khan, 
 transmitted by the resident Bristow to the said Palmer, the 
 number was stated but at 5840, probably including officers, 
 who were not understood to be comprehended in the treaty. 
 
 That the said Palmer did further admit it " to be not clearhj 
 expressed in the treaty, whether the restriction included Ko- 
 hillas of all descriptions ;" but at any rate he adds, " it does 
 not appear, that their number is formidable ; or that he (fy- 
 zoola Khan) could hif any means subsist such numbers as could 
 cause any serious alarm to the viier ; neither is there any ap- 
 pearance of their entertaining any views beyond the quiet pos- 
 Bession of tlie advantages, whicli they at present enjoy." 
 
 And that in a subsequent letter, in which the said Palmei 
 
 i 
 
AOAtNST WABEEN HASTINGS. 61 
 
 thought it prudent " to vindicate himself from any p )ssible in- 
 sinuation, that he meant to sacrifice the vizier's interest," he, 
 the said Palmer, did positively attest the new claim on 
 Fyzoola Khan for the protection of the vizier's ryots to be 
 wholly without foundation ; as the Nabob Fyzoola Khan 
 "had proved to him (Palmer) by producing receipts of vari- 
 ous dates, and for great numbers of these people surrendered 
 upon requisition from the vizier's officers." 
 
 III. 
 
 That over and above the aforesaid complete refutation of 
 the different charges and pretexts, under which exactions 
 had been practised, or attempted to be practised, on the 
 Nabob Fyzoola Khan, the said Palmer did further condemn 
 altogether the principle of calculation assumed in such exac- 
 tions (even if they had been founded in justice) by the fol- 
 lowing explanation of the nature of the tenure, by which, 
 under the treaty of Lall-Dang, the Nabob Fyzoola KhAn 
 held his possessions as a jaghiredar. 
 
 '' There are no precedents in the ancient usage of the 
 country for ascertaining the nuzzerana (customary present) 
 or peshcush (regular jBne) of grants of this nature : they were 
 bestowed hy the prince as rewards or favours ; and the accus- 
 tomary present in return was adapted to the dignity of the 
 donor rather than to the value of the gift ; to which it never, 
 I believe, bore any kind of proportion ^ 
 
 lY. 
 
 That a sum of money (" which of course was to be received 
 by the Company") being now obtained, and the ''interest* 
 both of the Company and the vizier^'' being thus much " better 
 promoted'''' by " establishing the rights'' of Fyzoola Khan, than 
 they could have been by " depriving him of his independ- 
 ency ;'' when every undue influence of secret and criminal 
 purposes was removed from the mind of the governor- 
 general, "Warren Hastings, Esquire, he the said Hastings did 
 also concur with his friend and agent, Major Palmer, in the 
 vindication of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, and in the most 
 ample manner. 
 
 That the said "Warren Hastings did now clearly and ex- 
 plicitly understand the clauses of the treaty, " that Fyzoola 
 
62 AETICLE3 OF CH iKOE, ETC. 
 
 Khan should send two or three (and not^rc) thousand men, 
 or attend in person, in case it was reqmsiteT 
 
 That the said Warren Hastings did now confess that the 
 right of the vizier, under the treaty, was at best " but a pre^ 
 carious and unserviceable right; and that he thought 15 
 lacks, or £150.000 and upwards, an ample equivalent," (or, 
 according to the expression of Major Palmer, an excellent 
 bargain,) as in truth it was, " for expunging an article of 
 such a tenor, and so loosely worded." And finally, that the 
 said Hastings did give the following description of the 
 general character, disposition, and circumstances of the Na- 
 bob Fyzoola Khan. 
 
 " The rumours, which had been spread of his hostile de- 
 signs against the vizier, were totally groundless, and if he 
 had been inclined, he had not the means, to make himself 
 formidable ; on the contrary, being in the decline of life, and 
 possessing a very fertile and prosperous jaghire, it is more 
 natural to suppose, that Fyzoola Kh^n wishes to spend the 
 remainder of his days in quietness, than that he is preparing 
 to embark in active and offensive scenes, which must end in 
 his own destruction." 
 
 V. 
 
 Yet that, notwithstanding this virtual and implied crimin- 
 ation of his whole conduct toward the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, 
 a*Ad after all the aforesaid acts systematically prosecuted in 
 open violation of a positive treaty against a prince, who had 
 an hereditary right to more than he actually possessed, for 
 whose protection the faith of the Company and the nation 
 was repeatedly pledged, and who had deserved and obtained 
 the public thanks of the British government, when, in allu- 
 sion to certain of the said acts, the court of directors had 
 expressed to the said Hastings their wishes " to be considered 
 rather as the guardians of the honour and property of the 
 native powers, than as the instruments of oppression ;" he, 
 tl'C said Hastings, in reply to the said directors, his masters, 
 did conclude his official account of the final settlement with 
 F^'zoola Khan, with the following indecent, because unjust, 
 exultation : 
 
 " Such sire the measures, which we shall ever wish to ob- 
 Rerve towards our allies or dependents upon our frontiers." 
 
*.* As the Lettei referred to in the Vlllth and XVIth Articlei 
 of Charge is not contained in any of the Appendixes to the Reports of 
 the Select Committee^ it has been thought tieceasary to annex it at an 
 Appendix to these Cliarges. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 TO THE VIIIth a>-d XVIth CHAEGES. 
 
 Copy of a LETTER from Warren Hastings, Esquire, to "William 
 DevajTies, Esq., Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East 
 India Company, dated Cheltenham, 11th of July, 1785; and 
 printed by Order of the House of Commons. 
 
 lo TVilliam Devaj-nes, Esquire, Chairman of the Honourable the 
 Court of Directors. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 The honourable court of directors, in their general letter to 
 Bengal, by the Surprise, dated the 16th March, 1784, were pleased 
 to express their desire, that I should inform them of the periods 
 when each sum of the presents, mentioned in my address of the 
 22nd May, 1782, was received, what were my motives for withhold- 
 ing the several receipts from the knowledge of the council, or of the 
 court of directors, and what were my reasons for taking bonds for 
 part of these sums, and for pajing other sums into the treasury as 
 deposits on my own account. 
 
 I have been kindly apprized, that the information required as 
 above is yet expected from me. I hope, that the circumstances of 
 my past situation, when considered, will plead my excuse for having 
 thus long withheld it. The fact is, that I was not at the presidency 
 when the Surprise arrived ; and when I returned to it, my time and 
 attention were so entirely engrossed to the day of my final depar- 
 ture from it by a variety- of other more important occupations, of 
 which. Sir, I may safely appeal to your testimony, grounded on the 
 large portion contributed by myself of the volumes, which compose 
 our consultations of that period, that the submission, which my re- 
 spect would have enjoined me to pay to the command imposed on 
 me, was lost to my recollection, perhaps from the stronger irapres- 
 
64 JLETTCLES OF CHAUGE AGAINST 
 
 sion, which the first and distant perusal of it had left on my mintl, 
 that it was rather intended as a reprehension for something, which 
 had given offence in my report of the original transaction, than as 
 expressive of any want of a further elucidation of it. 
 
 I will now endeavour to reply to the different questions, which 
 have been stated to me, in as explicit a manner as I am able. To 
 such information as I can give, the honourable court is fully en- 
 titled, and where that shall prove defective I will point out the 
 easy means, by which it may be rendered more complete. 
 
 First, I believe I can afhrm with certainty, that the several sums 
 tnentioned in the account transmitted with my letter, above men- 
 tioned, were received at or within a very few days of the dates, 
 which are prefixed to them in the account ; but as this contains 
 only the gross sums, and each of these was received in different 
 payments, though at no great distance of time, I cannot tliercfore 
 assign a greater degree of accuracy to the account. Perhaps the 
 honourable court will judge this sufficient for any purpose, to 
 which their inquiry was directed; but if it should not be so, I will 
 beg leave to refer for a more minute information, and for the means 
 of making any investigation, which they may think it proper to di- 
 rect, respecting the particulars of this transaction, to Mr. Larkins, 
 your accomptant-general, who was privy to every process of it, and 
 possesses, as I believe, the original paper, Avhich contained the only 
 account that I ever kept of it. In this each receipt was, as I recol- 
 lect, specifically inserted, with the name of the person by whom it 
 was made ; and I shall write to him to desire, that he Avill furnish 
 you with the paper itself, if it is still in being, and in his hands, or 
 with whatever he can distinctly recollect concerning it. 
 
 For my motives for withholding the several receipts from the 
 knowledge of the council, or of the court of directors, and for taking 
 bonds for part of these sums, and paying others into the treasury 
 as deposits on my own account, I have generally accounted in ray 
 letter to the honourable the court of directors of the 22nd May, 
 1782; namely, that "I either chose to conceal the first receipts 
 from public curiosity, by receiving bonds for the amount, or possibly 
 acted without any studied design, which my memory, at that distance 
 of time, could verify ; and that I did not think it worth my care to 
 obsei-ve the same means with the rest." — It will not be expected, that 
 I should be able to give a more correct explanation of my intentions 
 after a lapse of three years, having declared at the time, that many 
 particulars had escaped my remembrance ; neither shall I attempt 
 to add more than the clearer affirmation of the facts implied in 
 that report of them, and such inferences as necessarily, or with a 
 strong probability, follow them. I have said, that the tliree first 
 sums of the account were paid into the Company's trcasin-y without 
 passing through my hands. The second of these was forced into 
 notice by its destination and application to the oxnensc of a detach- 
 
¥ 
 
 WAEHEN HASTINGS. — APl'ENDTX. 65 
 
 ment, which was formed and employed against Madajee Scindia, 
 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Camac, as I particularly 
 apprized the court of directors, in my letter of the 29th November, 
 1780. The other two were certainly not intended, when I received 
 them, to be made public, though intended for public service, and 
 actually applied to it. The exigencies of the government were at 
 that time my own, and every pressure upon it rested with its full 
 weight upon my mind. Wherever I could find allowable means of 
 relieving those wants, I eagerly seized them ; but neither could it 
 occur to me as necessary to state on our proceedings every little aid, 
 which I could thus procure, nor do I know how I could have stated 
 it, without appearing to court favour by an ostentation, which I 
 disdain, nor without the chance of exciting the jealousy of my col- 
 leagues by the constructive assertion of a separate and unpartici- 
 pated merit, derived from the influence of my station, to which they 
 might have laid an equal claim. I should have deemed it particu- 
 larly dishonourable to receive for my own use money tendered by 
 men of a certain class, from whom I had interdicted' the receipt of 
 
 f resents to my inferiors, and bound them by oath not to receive them, 
 was therefore more than ordinarily cautious to avoid the suspicion 
 of it which would scarcely have failed to light upon me, had I suf- 
 fered the money to be brought directly to my own house, or to that 
 of any person known to be in trust for me ; for these reasons I 
 caused it to be transported immediately to the treasury. There, 
 you well know, Sir, it could not be received without being passed to 
 some credit, and this could only be done by entering it as a loan, 
 or as a deposit ; the first was the least liable to reflection, and 
 therefore I had obviously recoui-se to it. Why the second sum was 
 entered as a deposit. I am utterly ignorant; possibly it was done 
 without any special direction from me ; possibly because it was the 
 simplest mode of entry, and therefore prefeiTed, as the transaction 
 itself did not require concealment, having been already avowed. 
 
 Although I am firmly persuaded, that these were mv sentiments 
 on the occasion, yet I will not affirm that they were. 'Though I feel 
 their impression as the remains of a series of thoughts retained on 
 my memory, I am not certain, that they may not have been pro- 
 duced by subsequent reflection on the principal fact, combining with 
 it the probable motives of it. Of this I am certain, that it was my 
 design originally to have concealed the receipt of all the sums, 
 except the second, even from the knowledge of the court of directors. 
 They had answered my purpose of public utility, and I had almost 
 totally dismissed them from my remembrance. But when fortune 
 threw a sum in my way of a magnitude, which could not be con- 
 cealed, and the peculiar delicacy of my situation at the time, in 
 which I received it, made me more circumspect of appearances, I 
 chose to apprize my employers of it, which I did hastily and gener- 
 
66 ARTICLES OF rHA.EGE, ETC. 
 
 aily ; hastily, perhaps to prevent the vigilance and activity of secret 
 calumny ; and generally, because I knew not the exact amount of the 
 sum, of which I was in the receipt, but not in the full possession: 
 1 promised to acquaint them with the result as soon as I should be 
 in possession of it, and in the performance of my promise I thought 
 it consistent with it to add to the account all the former appropri- 
 ations of the same kind; my good genius then suggesting to me, 
 with a spirit of caution, which might have spared me the trouble of 
 this apology, had I universally attended to it, that if I had suppressed 
 them, and they were afterwards known, I might be asked, what 
 were my motives for withholding part of these receipts from the 
 knowledge of the court of directors, and informing them of the rest. 
 
 It being my wish to clear up every doubt upon this transaction, 
 which either my own mind could suggest, or which may have been 
 suggested by others, I beg leave to suppose another question, and 
 to state the terms of it in my reply, by informing you, the endorse- 
 ment on the bonds was made about the period of my leaving the 
 presidency, in the middle of the year 1781, in order to guard against 
 their becoming a claim on the Company, as part of my estate, in 
 the event of my death occurring in the course of the service, on 
 which I was then entering. 
 
 This, Sir, is the plain history of the transaction. I should be 
 ashamed to request, that you would communicate it to the honour- 
 able court of directors, whose time is too valuable for the intrusion 
 of a subject so uninteresting, but that it is become a point of indis- 
 pensable duty ; I must therefore request the favour of you to lay it, 
 at a convenient time, before them. In addressing it to you per- 
 sonally, I yield to my own feelings of the respect, which is due tc 
 them as a' body, and to the assurances, which I derive from your 
 experienced civilities, that you will kindly overlook the trouble im- 
 posed by it. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 Your very humble and most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) Wabren Ha8TIK0« 
 Cheltenhmn, 
 
 Xlth July, 1786. 
 
 \ 
 
LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 i>CCASl!DNED BY THE ACCOUNT 6I\'EN IN A NEWSPAPER OF TE£ 
 SPEECH MADE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, BY THE * * • * OP 
 •**•♦**, IN THE DEBATE CONCERNING LORD FITZWILLLIM. 
 
 795. 
 
 BeaconsfieJd, May 2QtJi, 1795. 
 
 Mt Dear Sir, 
 
 I have been told of the voluntary, which, for the en- 
 tertainment of the House of Lords, has been lately played 
 by his Grace the **** of ******=*, a great deal at my 'ex- 
 pense, and a little at his own. I confess I should have liked 
 the composition rather better, if it had been quite new. But 
 every man has his taste, and his Grace is an admirer of an- 
 cient music. 
 
 There may be sometimes too much even of a good thing. 
 A toast is good, and a bumper is not bad ; but the best toast 
 may be so often repeated as to disgust the palate, and cease- 
 less rounds of bumpers may nauseate and overload the 
 stomach. The ears of the most steady -voting politicians may 
 at last be stunned with "three times three." I am sure I 
 have been very grateful for the flattering remembrance made 
 of me in the toasts of the Eevolution Society, and of other 
 clubs formed on the same laudable plan. After giving the 
 brimming honours to citizen Thomas Paine, and to citizen 
 Dr. Priestley, the gentlemen of these clubs seldom failed to 
 bring me forth in my turn, and to drink, " 'Mr. Burke, and 
 thanks to him for the discussion he has provoked." 
 
 I found myself elevated with this honour ; for, even by 
 the collision of resistance, to be the means of striking out 
 sparkles of truth, if not merit, is at least felicity. 
 
 Here I might have rested. But when I found that the 
 r St 
 
68 A LETTEB TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 great advocate, Mr. Erskine, condescended to resort to these 
 bumper toasts, as the pure and exuberant fountains of poli- 
 tics and of rhetoric, (as I hear he did, in three or four speeches 
 made in defence of certain worthy citizens,) I was rather let 
 do^vn a little. Though still somewhat proud of myself, I was 
 not quite so proud of my voucher. Though he is no idolater 
 of fame, in some way or other, Mr. Erskine will always do 
 himself honour. Methinks, however, in following the pre- 
 cedents of these toasts, he seemed to do more credit to his 
 diligence as a special pleader, than to his invention as an 
 orator. To those who did not know the abundance of his 
 resources, both of genius and erudition, there was something 
 in it that indicated the want of a good assortment, with re- 
 gard to richness and variety, in the magazine of topics and 
 common-places which I suppose he keeps by him, in imita- 
 tion of Cicero and other renowned declaimers of antiquity. 
 
 Mr. Erskine supplied something, I allow, from the stores 
 of his imagination, in metamorphosing the jovial toasts of 
 clubs into solemn special arguments at the bar. So far the 
 thing showed talent : however, I must still prefer the bar of 
 the tavern to the other bar. The toasts at the first hand 
 were better than the arguments at the second. Even when 
 the toasts began to grow old as sarcasms, they were washed 
 down with still older pricked election port ; then the acid of 
 the wine made some amends for the want of anything piquant 
 in the wit. But when his Grace gave them a second trans- 
 formation, and brought out the vapid stuff, which had wearied 
 the clubs and disgusted the courts ; the drug made up of the 
 bottoms of rejected bottles, all smelling so woefully of the 
 cork and of the cask, and of everything except the honest 
 old lamp, and when that sad draught had been further in- 
 fected with the gaol pollution of the Old Bailey, and was 
 dashed and brewed, and ineffectually stummed again into a 
 senatorial exordium in the House of Lords, I found all the 
 high flavour and mantling of my honours, tasteless, fiat, and 
 stale. Unluckily, the new tax on wine is felt even in the 
 greatest fortunes, and his Grrace submits to take up with the 
 heel-taps of Mr. Erskine. 
 
 I have had the ill or good fortune to provoke two great 
 men of this age to the publication of their opinions ; I mean, 
 wtizen Thomas Paine, and his Grace the **** of *****•#. I 
 
A LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 69 
 
 »m not so great a leveller as to put these two great men 
 on a par, either in the state, or the republic of letters - 
 but, "the field of glory is a field for all." It is a large 
 one indeed, and Ave all may run, God knows where, in chase 
 of glory, over the boundless expanse of that wild heath, 
 whose horizon always flies before us. I assure his Grace, 
 (if he vrill yet give me leave to call him so,) whatever may 
 be said on the authority of the clubs, or of the bar, that 
 citizen Paine (who, they will have it, hunts with me in 
 couples, and who only moves as I drag him along) has a 
 sufficient activity in his own native benevolence to dispose 
 and enable him to take the lead for himself. He is ready to 
 blaspheme his God, to insult his king, and to libel the con- 
 stitution of his country, without any provocation from me, 
 or any encouragement from his Grace. I assure him, that I 
 shall not be guilty of the injustice of charging jMr. Paine's 
 next work against religion and human society, upon his 
 Grace's excellent speech in the House of Lords. I further 
 assure this noble Duke, that I neither encouraged nor pro- 
 voked that worthy citizen to seek for plenty, liberty, safety, 
 justice, or lenity, in the famiue, in the prisons, in the decrees 
 of convention, in the revolutionary tribunal, and in the guil- 
 lotine of Paris, rather than quietly to take up Avith what he 
 could find in the glutted markets, the unbarricadoed streets, 
 the drowsy Old Bailey judges, or, at worst, the airy, whole- 
 some pillory of Old England. The choice of coimtry was 
 his own taste. The writings were the effects of his own 
 zeal. In spite of his friend Dr. Priestley, he was a free 
 agent. I admit, indeed, that my praises of the British go- 
 vernment, loaded vrith all its encumbrances ; clogged with its 
 peers and its beef; its parsons and its pudding; its com- 
 mons and its beer ; and its dull slavish liberty of going about 
 just as one pleases ; had something to provoke a jockey of 
 Aorfolk,^ who was inspired with the resolute ambition of 
 becoming a citizen of Prance, to do something which might 
 render him worthy of naturalization in that grand asylum of 
 persecuted merit ; something which should entitle him to a 
 place in tlie senate of the adoptive country of all the gallant, 
 generous, and humane. This, I say, was possible. But the 
 truth is, (with great deference to his Grace I say it,) citizen 
 Mr. Paiae is a Norfolk man, frcm Thetford. 
 
70 A LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 Paine acted without any provocation at all ; he acted solely 
 from the native impulses of his own excellent heart. 
 
 His Grace, like an able orator, as he is, begins with 
 giving me a great deal of praise for talents which I do not 
 possess. He does this to entitle himself, on the credit of 
 this gratuitous kindness, to exaggerate my abuse of the parts 
 which his bounty, and not that of nature, has bestowed 
 upon me. In this, too, he has condescended to copy Mr, 
 Erskine. These priests (I hope they will excuse me ; 1 
 mean priests of the rights of man) begin by crowning me 
 with their flowers and their fillets, and bedewing me with 
 their odours, as a preface to their knocking me on the head 
 with their consecrated axes. I have injured, say they, the 
 constitution; and I have abandoned the Whig party and 
 the Whig principles that I professed. I do not mean, my 
 dear Sir, to defend myself against his Grace. I have not 
 much interest in what the world shall think or say of me ; 
 as little has the world an interest in what I shall think or 
 say of any one in it ; and I wish that his Grace had suffered 
 an unhappy man to enjoy, in his retreat, the melancholy 
 privileges of obscurity and sorrow. At any rate, I have 
 spoken, and I have written, on the subject. If I have writ- 
 ten or spoken so poorly as to be quite forgot, a fresh apology 
 will not make a more lasting impression. " I must let the tree 
 lie as it falls." Perhaps I must take some shame to myself. 
 I confess that I have acted on my own principles of govern- 
 ment, and not on those of his Grace, which are, I dare say, 
 profound and wise ; but which I do not pretend to under- 
 stand. As to the party to which he alludes, and which has 
 long taken its leave of me, I believe the principles of the 
 book which he condemns are very conformable to the opinions 
 of many of the most considerable and most grave in that de- 
 scription of politicians. A few indeed, who, I admit, are 
 equally respectable in all points, differ from me, and talk his 
 Grace's language. I am too feeble to contend with them. 
 They have the field to themselves. There are others, very 
 young and very ingenious persons, who form, probably, the 
 largest part of what his Grace, I believe, is pleased to con- 
 sider as that party. Some of them were not born into the 
 world, and all of them were children, when I entered into 
 that connexion. I give due credit to the censorial brow, to 
 
A LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 71 
 
 the broad phylacteries, and to the imposing gravity of those 
 magisterial rabbins and doctors in the cabala of political 
 science. I admit that " wisdom is as the grey hair to man, 
 and that learning is like honourable old age." But, at a 
 time when liberty is a good deal talked of, perhaps 1 might 
 be excused, if I caught something of the general indocility. 
 It might not be surprising, if I lengthened my chain a link 
 or two, and, in an age of relaxed discipline, gave a trifling 
 indulgence to my own notions. If that could be allowed, 
 perhaps I might sometimes (by accident, and without an 
 unpardonable crime) trust as much to my own very careful, 
 and very laborious, though, perhaps, somewhat purblind dis- 
 quisitions, as to their soaring, intuitive, eagle-eyed authority. 
 But the modern liberty is a precious thing. It must not be 
 profaned by too vulgar an use. It belongs only to the 
 chosen few, who are born to the hereditary representation of 
 the whole democracy, and who leave nothing at all, no, not 
 the offal, to us poor outcasts of the plebeian race. 
 
 Amongst those gentlemen who came to authority as soon, 
 or sooner, than they came of age, I do not mean to include 
 his Grrace. AVith all those native titles to em.pire over our 
 minds which distinguish the others, he has a large share of 
 experience. He certainly ought to understand the Britisli 
 constitution better than I do. He has studied it in tlie 
 fundamental part. For one election I have seen, he has 
 been concerned in twenty. Ts^obody is less of a visionary 
 theorist ; nobody has drawn his speculations more from 
 practice. ISTo peer has condescended to superintend with 
 more vigilance the declining franchises of the poor Commons. 
 " With thrice great Hermes he has outwatched the bear." 
 Often have his candles been burned to the snuff, and glim- 
 mered and stunk iu the sockets, whilst he grew pale at hia 
 constitutional studies ; long sleepless nights has he wasted ; 
 long, laborious, shiftless journeys has he made, and great 
 sums has he expended, in order to secure the purity, the in- 
 dependence, and the sobriety of elections, and to give a check, 
 if possible, to the ruinous charges that go nearly to the de- 
 struction of the right of election itself. 
 
 Amidst these his labours, his Grrace will be pleased to for- 
 give me, if my zeal, less enlightened to be sure than his by 
 midnight lamps and studies, has presumed to talk too favour- 
 
72 A LETTER TO WI],LTAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 ably of this constitution, and c\cn to say something sound- 
 ing like approbation of that body which has the honour to 
 reckon his Grace at the head of it. Those who dislike this 
 partiality, or, if his Grace pleases, this flattery of mine, have 
 a comfort at hand. 1 may be refuted and brought to shame 
 by the most convincing of all refutations, a practical refuta- 
 tion. Every individual peer for himself may show that I 
 was ridiculously wrong : the whole body of those noble ]jer- 
 sojis may refute me for the whole corps: If they please, they 
 are more powerful advocates against themselves, than a 
 thousand scribblers like me can be in their favour. If I 
 were even possessed of those powers which his Grace, in 
 order to heighten my offence, is pleased to attribute to me, 
 there would be little difference. The eloquence of Mr. 
 Krskine might save Mr. **** from the gallows, but no 
 eloquence could save Mr. Jackson from the eflects of hia 
 own potion. 
 
 In that unfortunate book of mine, which is put in the 
 index expurgatorius of the modern "Whigs, I might have 
 spoken too favourably not only of those who wear coronets, 
 but of those who wear crowns. Kings, however, have not 
 only long arms, but strong ones too. A great northern 
 potentate, for instance, is able in one moment, and with one 
 bold stroke of his diplomatic pen, to eftace all the volumes 
 which I could write in a century, or which the most laborious 
 publicists of Germany ever carried to the fair of Leipsic, as 
 an apology for monarchs and monarchy. AVhilst I, or any 
 other poor, puny, private sophist, was defending the declara- 
 tion of Pilnitz, his Majesty might refute me by the treaty of 
 Basle. Such a monarch may destroy one republic because it 
 had a king at its head, and he may balance this extraordinary- 
 act by founding another republic that has cut oft' the head 
 of its' king. I defended that great potentate for associating 
 in a grand alliance for the preservation c>f the old govern- 
 ments of Europe ; but he puts me to silence by delivering up 
 all those governments (his own virtually included) to the new 
 system of France. If he is accused before the Parisian 
 tribunal (constituted for the trial of kings) for having i)ol- 
 luted the soil of liberty by the tracks of his disciplined slaves, 
 he clears himself by surrendering the finest parts of Ger- 
 many (with a handsome cut of his own territoricB) to the 
 
A LETTER TO "WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 73 
 
 offended Majesty of the regicides of France. Can I resist 
 this ? Am I responsible for it, if, with a torch in his hand, 
 and a rope about his neck, he makes amende honorable to 
 the Sans-Culotterie of the republic, one and indivisible ? lu 
 that humiliating attitude, in spite of my protests, he may 
 supplicate pardon for his menacing proclamations ; and, as 
 an expiation to those whom he failed to terrify with his 
 threats, he may abandon those whom he had seduced by his 
 promises. He may sacrifice the royalists of France whom he 
 had called to his standard, as a salutary example to those 
 who shall adhere to their native sovereign, or shall confide 
 in any other who undertakes the cause of oppressed kings 
 and of loyal subjects. 
 
 How can I help it, if this high-minded prince will sub- 
 scribe to the invectives which the regicides have made against 
 all kings, and particularly against himself ? How can I help it, 
 if this royal propagandist will preach the doctrine of the 
 rights of men ? Is it my fault if his professors of literature 
 read lectures on that code in all his academies, and if all the 
 pensioned managers of the newspapers in his dominions dif- 
 fuse it throughout Europe in an hundred journals ? Can it 
 be attributed to me, if he will initiate all his grenadiers, and 
 all his hussars, in these high mysteries ? Am I responsible, 
 if he will make le droit de Vhomme, or la souverainete du 
 peuple, the favourite parole of his military orders ? Xow that 
 his troops are to act with the brave legions of freedom, no 
 doubt he will fit them for their fraternity. He "will teach 
 the Prussians to think, to feel, and to act, like them, and to 
 emulate the glories of the regiment de V tchafaud. He will 
 employ the illustrious citizen Santerre, the general of his 
 new allies, to instruct the dull G-ermans how they shall con- 
 duct themselves towards persons who, like Louis the XYIth 
 (whose cause and person he once took into his protection,) 
 shall dare without the sanction of the people, or with it, to 
 consider themselves as hereditary kings. Can I arrest this 
 great potentate in his career of glory ? Am I blamable m 
 recommending virtue and religion as the true foundation of 
 ftll monarchies, because the protector of the three religions 
 of the Westphahan aiTangement, to ingratiate himself witli 
 the republic of philosophy, shall abolish all the three ? It 
 is not in my power to prevent the grand patron of the re- 
 
74 A LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 fonned churcb, if he chooses it, from annulling the Calvinls- 
 tic sabbath, and establishing the decadi of atheism in all 
 his states. He may even renounce and abjure his favourite 
 mysticism in the temple of reason. In these things, at least, 
 he is truly despotic. He has now shaken hands with every- 
 thing which at first had inspired him with horror. It would 
 be curious indeed to see (what I shall not however travel so 
 far to see) the ingenious devices, and the elegant transparen- 
 cies, which, on the restoration of peace, and the commence- 
 ment of Prussian liberty, are to decorate Potzdam and 
 Charlottenburgh festigiante. What shades of his armed an- 
 cestors of the house of Brandenburgh will the committee of 
 illumines raise up in the opera-house of Berlin, to dance a 
 grand ballet in the rejoicings for this auspicious event ? Is 
 it a grand master of the Teutonic order, or is it the great 
 elector ? Is it the first king of Prussia or the last ? or is the 
 whole long line (long, I mean, a parte ante) to appear like 
 Banquo's royal procession in the tragedy of Macbeth ? 
 
 How can I prevent all these arts of royal policy, and all 
 these displays of royal magnificence ? How can I prevent 
 the successor of Frederick the Grreat from aspiring to a new, 
 and, in this age, unexampled kind of glory ? Is it in my 
 power to say, that he shall not make his confessions in the 
 style of St. Austin or of Eousseau ? That he shall not as- 
 sume the character of the penitent and flagellant, and, graft- 
 ing monkery on philosophy, strip himself of his regal purple, 
 clothe his gigantic limbs in the sackcloth and the hair-shirty 
 and exercise on his broad shoulders the discipliiiar\^ scourge 
 of the holy order of the sans-culottes ? It is not in me to 
 hinder kings from making new orders of religious and mar- 
 tial knighthood. I am not Hercules enough to uphold those 
 orbs which the Atlases of the world are so desirous of shift- 
 ing from their weary shoulders. What can be done against 
 the magnanimous resolution of the great, to accomplish the 
 degradation aud the ruin of their own character and situ- 
 ation ? 
 
 What I say of the German princes, that I say of all the 
 other dignities and all the other institutions of the holy Ko- 
 man empire. If they have a mind to destroy themselves, 
 they may put their advocates to silence and their advisers to 
 whame I have often praised the aulick council. It is very 
 
A LETTEE TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 75 
 
 true I did so. I thought it a tribunal, as well formed as 
 human wisdom could form a tribunal, for coercing the great, 
 the rich, and the powerful ; for obliging them to submit their 
 necks to the imperial laws, and to those of nature and of 
 nations ; a tribunal well conceived for extirpating peculation, 
 corruption, and oppression, from all the parts of that vast, 
 heterogeneous mass, called the G-ermanic body. I should 
 not be inclined to retract these praises upon any of the ordi- 
 nary lapses into which human infirmity will fall ; they might 
 still stand though some of their conclusums should taste of 
 the prejudices of country or of faction, whether political or 
 religious. Some degree, even of corruption, should not make 
 me think them guilty of suicide ; but if we could suppose, 
 that the aulick council, not regarding duty or even common 
 decorum, listening neither to the secret admonitions of con- 
 science, nor to the public voice of fame, some of the members 
 basely abandoning their post, and others continuing in it 
 only the more infamously to betray it, should give a judg- 
 ment so shameless and so prostitute, of such monstrous and 
 even portentous corruption, that no example in the history 
 of human depravity, or even in the fictions of poetic imagin- 
 ation, could possibly match it ; if it should be a judgment 
 which with cold unfeeling cruelt}'", after long deliberations, 
 should condemn millions of innocent people to extortion, to 
 rapine, and to blood, and should devote some of the finest 
 countries upon earth to ravage and desolation — does any one 
 think that any servile apologies of mine, or any strutting and 
 bulljdng insolence of their own, can save them from the ruin 
 that must fall on all institutions of dignity or of authority, 
 that are perverted from their purport to the oppression of 
 human nature in others, and to its disgrace in themselves ? 
 As the wisdom of men makes such institutions, the folly of 
 men destroys them. Whatever we may pretend, there ia 
 always more in the soundness of the materials, than in the 
 fashion of the work. The order of a good building is some- 
 thing. But if it be wholly declined from its perpendicular, 
 if the cement is loose and incoherent, if the stones are scaling 
 with every change of the weather, and the whole toppling on 
 \ )ur heads, what matter is it whether we are crushed by a 
 \ Corinthian or a Doric ruin ? The fine form of a vessel is a 
 Qiatter of use and of delight. It is pleasant to see her de- 
 
76 A LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 coral ed with cost and art. But what signifies even the ma- 
 thematical truth of her form ? What signify all the art and 
 cost with which she can be can'ed, and painted, and gilded, 
 and covered with decorations from stem to stern? what 
 signifies all her rigging and sails, her flags, her pendants, and 
 her streamers ? what signify even her cannon, her stores, and 
 her provisions, if all her planks and timbers be unsound and 
 rotten ? 
 
 Quaryivis Pontica pinus 
 
 Silv ccf-lia 7iob His 
 
 Jactes et genus et nomen inutile. 
 
 I have been stimulated, I know not how, to give you this 
 trouble by what very few, except myself, would think worth 
 any trouble at all. In a speech in the House of Lords, I 
 have been attacked for the defence of a scheme of govern- 
 ment, in which that body inheres, and in which alone it can 
 exist. Peers of Great Britain may become as penitent as 
 the sovereign of Prussia. They may repent of what they 
 have done in assertion of the honour of their king and in favour 
 of their own safety. But never the gloom that lowers over 
 the fortune of the cause, nor anything which the great may 
 do towards hastening their own fall, can make me repent of 
 what I have done by pen or voice (the only arms I possess) 
 in favour of the order of things into which I was born, and 
 in which I fondly hope to die. 
 
 In the long series of ages which have furnished the matter 
 of history, never was so beautiful and so august a spectacle 
 presented to the moral eye, as Europe afforded the day be- 
 fore the Revolution in France. I knew indeed that this 
 prosperity contained in itself the seeds of its own danger. 
 In one part of the society it caused laxity and debility ; in 
 the other it produced bold spii'its and dark designs. A false 
 philosophy passed from academies into courts ; and the great 
 themselves were infected with the theories which conducted 
 to their ruin. Knowledge, which in the two last centuries 
 either did not exist at all, or existed solidly on right princi- 
 ples and in chosen hands, was now diffused, weakened, and 
 perverted. General wealth loosened morals, relaxed vigil- 
 ance, and increased presumption. Men of talent began to 
 compare, in the partition of the common stock of public 
 prosperity, the proportions of the dividends with the merita 
 
A LETTEB TO WTLLI.vM ELLICT, ESQ. 77 
 
 of tlie claimants. A3 usual, they found their portion not 
 equal to their estimate (or perhaps to the public estimate) of 
 their own worth. AVhen it was once discovered by the 
 Eevolution in France, that a struggle between establishment 
 and rapacity could be maintained, though but for one year, 
 and in one place, I was sure that a practicable breach was 
 made in the whole order of things and in every country. 
 Eeligion, that held the materials of the fabric together, waa 
 first systematically loosened. All other opinions, under the 
 name of prejudices, must fall along with it ; and property, 
 left undefended by principles, became a repository of spoils 
 to tempt cupidity, and not a magazine to furnish arms for 
 defence. I knew, that, attacked on all sides by the infernal 
 energies of talents set in action by A-ice and disorder, au- 
 thority could not stand upon authority alone. It wanted 
 some other support than the poise of its own gravity. Situa- 
 tions formerly supported persons. It now became necessary 
 that personal qualities should support situations. Formerly, 
 where authority was found, wisdom and virtue were pre- 
 sumed. But now the veil was torn, and, to keep off sacrile- 
 gious intrusion, it was necessary that in the sanctuary of 
 government something should be disclosed not only venerable 
 but dreadful. Government was at once to show itself full 
 of virtue and full of force. It was to invite partisans, by 
 making it appear to the world that a generous cause was to 
 be asserted ; one fit for a generous people to engage in. 
 From passive submission was it to expect resolute defence ? 
 IS'o ! It must have warm advocates and passionate defenders, 
 which a heavy, discontented acquiescence never could pro- 
 duce. ^Tiat a base and foolish thing is it for any consoli- 
 dated body of authority to say, or to act as if it said, " I will 
 put my trust not in my own virtue, but in your patience ; 
 I will indulge in effeminacy, in indolence, in corruption ; I 
 "vrill give way to all my perverse and vicious humours, be- 
 cause you cannot punish me without the hazard of ruining 
 yourselves !" 
 
 I wished to warn the people against the greatest of all 
 evils, — a blind and furious spirit of innovation, under the 
 name of reform. I was indeed well aware that power rarely 
 reforms itself. Sc it is undoubtedly when all is quiet about 
 it. But I was in hopes that provident fear might prevent 
 
78 A LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 fruitless penitence. I trusted that danger might produce at 
 least circumspection ; I flattered myself, in a moment like 
 this, that nothing would be added to make authority top- 
 heavy ; that the very moment of an earthquake would not be 
 the time chosen for adding a story to our houses. I hoped 
 to see the surest of all reforms, perhaps the only sure reform, 
 the ceasing to do ill. In the mean time I wished to the 
 people, the wisdom of knowing how to tolerate a condition 
 which none of their efforts can render much more than toler- 
 able. It was a condition, however, in which everything was 
 to be found that could enable them to live to nature, and, 
 if so they pleased, to live to virtue and to honour. 
 
 I do not repent that I thought better of those to whom I 
 wished well, than they will suffer me long to think that they 
 deserved. Far from repenting, I would to God that new 
 faculties had been called up in me, in favour not of this or 
 that man, or this or that system, but of the general, vital 
 principle, that whilst it was in its vigour produced the state 
 of thiDgs transmitted to us from our fathers ; but which, 
 through the joint operation of the abuses of authority and 
 liberty, may perish in our hands. I am not of opinion that 
 the race of men, and the commonwealths they create, like 
 the bodies of individuals, grow effete and languid and blood- 
 less, and ossify by the necessities of their own conformation, 
 and the fatal operation of longevity and time. These analo- 
 gies between bodies natural and politic, though they may 
 sometimes illustrate arguments, furnish no argument of 
 themselves. They are but too often used under the colour 
 of a specious philosophy, to find apologies for the despair of 
 laziness and pusillanimity, and to excuse the want of aU 
 manly efforts, when the exigencies of our country call for 
 them the more loudly. 
 
 How often has public calamity been arrested on the very 
 brink of ruin by the seasonable energy of a single man! 
 Have we no such man amongst us ? I am as sure as I am of 
 my being, that one vigorous mind without office, without 
 situation, without public functions of any kind, (at a time 
 when the want of such a thing is felt, as I am sure it is,) I 
 say, one such man, confiding in the aid of God, and full of 
 just reliance in his own fortitude, vigour, enterprise, and 
 perseverance, would first draw to him some few like himself 
 
A LETTER TO WILL£AM ELLIOT, ESQ. 79 
 
 and then that multitudes, hardly thought to be in existence, 
 would appear, and troop about him. 
 
 If I saw this auspicious beginning, baffled and frustrated 
 as I am, yet on the very verge of a timely grave, abandoned 
 abroad and desolate at home, stripped of my boast, my hope, 
 my consolation, my helper, my counsellor, and my guide, 
 (you know in part what I have lost, and would to G-od I 
 could clear myself of all neglect and fault in that loss,) yet 
 thus, even thus, I would rake up tlie fire under all the ashes 
 that oppress it. I am no longer patient of the public eye ; 
 nor am I of force to win my way, and to justle and elbow in 
 a crowd. But, even in solitude, something may be done for 
 society. The meditations of the closet have infected senates 
 with a subtle phrensy, and inflamed armies with the brands 
 of the furies. The cure might come from the same source 
 with the distemper. 1 would add my part to those who 
 would animate the people (whose hearts are yet right) to 
 new exertions in the old cause. 
 
 Novelty is not the only source of zeal. Why should not 
 a Maccabeus and his brethren arise to assert the honour of 
 the ancient law, and to defend the temple of their forefathers, 
 with as ardent a spirit, as can inspire any innovator to de- 
 stroy the monuments of the piety and the glory of ancient 
 ages ? It is not a hazarded assertion, it is a great truth, 
 that when once things are gone out of their ordinary course, 
 it is by acts out of the ordinary course they can alone be re- 
 established. Eepublican spirit can only be combated by a 
 spirit of the same nature ; of the same nature, but informed 
 with another principle, and pointing to another end. I would 
 persuade a resistance both to the corruption and to the re- 
 formation that prevails. It will not be the weaker, but much 
 the stronger, for combating both together. A victory over 
 real corruptions would enable us to baffle the spurious and 
 pretended reformations. I would not wish to excite, or even 
 to tolerate, that kind of evil spirit which invokes the powers 
 of hell to rectify the disorders of the earth. No ! I would 
 add my voice with better, and I trust, more potent charms, 
 to draw down justice, and wisdom, and fortitude from heaven, 
 for the correction of human vice, and the recalling of human 
 error from the devious ways into which it has been betrayed. 
 I would wish to call the impulses of individuals at once to 
 
80 A LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 
 
 the aid and to the control of authority. By this which I call 
 the true republican spirit, paradoxical as it may appear, 
 monarchies alone can be rescued from the imbecility of courts 
 and the madness of the crowd. This republican spirit would 
 not suffer men in high place to bring ruin on their country 
 and on themselves. It would reform, not by destroying, but 
 by saving, the great, the rich, and the powerful. Such a re- 
 publican spirit, we perhaps fondly conceive to have animated 
 the distinguished heroes and patriots of old, who knew no 
 mode of policy but religion and virtue. These they would 
 have paramount to all constitutions ; they would not suffer 
 monarchs, or senates, or popular assemblies, under pretences 
 of dignity, or authority, or freedom, to shake off those moral 
 riders which reason has appointed to govern every sort of 
 rude power. These, in appearance loading them by their 
 weight, do by that pressure augment their essential force. 
 The momentum is increased by the extraneous weight. It is 
 true in moral, as it is in mechanical science. It is true, not 
 only in the draught, but in the race. These riders of the 
 great, in effect, hold the reins which guide them in their 
 course, and wear the spur that stimulates them to the goals 
 of honour and of safety. The great must submit to the 
 dominion of prudence and of virtue ; or none wdli long sub- 
 mit to the dominion of the great. 
 
 " Dis te jninorem quod geris iynperas." 
 This is the feudal tenure which they cannot alter. 
 
 Indeed, my dear Sir, things are in a bad state. J do not 
 deny a good share of diligence, a very great share of ability, 
 and much public virtue, to those who direct our affairs. But 
 they are encumbered, not aided, by their very instruments, 
 and by all the apparatus of the state. I think that our min- 
 istry (though there are things against them, which neither 
 you nor I can dissemble, and which grieve me to the heart) 
 is by far the most honest and by far the wisest system of 
 administration in Europe. Tlieir tall would be no trivial 
 calamity. 
 
 Not meaning to depreciate the minority in parliament, 
 whose talents are also great, and to whom I do not deny vir- 
 tues, their system seems to me to be fundamentally wrong. 
 
A. IBTTJCH to WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. 81 
 
 But whether wrong or right, they have not enough of cohe- 
 rence among themselves, nor of estimation with the public, 
 nor of numbers. They cannot make up an administration. 
 Nothing is more visible. Many other things are against 
 them, which I do not charge as faults, but reckon among ]ia- 
 tional misfortunes. Extraordinary things must be done, or 
 one of the parties cannot stand as a ministry, nor the other 
 even as an opposition. They cannot change their situations, 
 nor can any useful coalition be made between them. I do 
 not see the mode of it, v^^- the way to it. This aspect ol 
 things I do not contemplate with pleasure. 
 
 I well know that everything of the daring kind which I 
 speak of is ciitical;^ — but the times are critical. New things 
 in a new world ! I see no hopes in the common tracks. If 
 men are not to be found who can be got to feel within them 
 Bome impulse, 
 
 " quod nequeo inonstrare, et sentio tantum," 
 
 and which makes them impatient of the present ; if none can 
 be got to feel that private persons may sometimes assume 
 that sort of magistracy which does not depend on the nomin- 
 ation of kings, or the election of the people, but as an inhe- 
 rent and self-existent pow er which both would recognise ; I 
 see nothing in the world to hope. 
 
 If I saw such a group beginning to cluster, such a« they 
 are, they should have (all that I can give) my prayers and 
 my advice. People talk of war, or cry for peace — Have they 
 to the bottom considered the questions either of war, or 
 peace, upon the scale of the existing world ? No, I fear they 
 have not. 
 
 Why should not you yourself be one of those to enter your 
 name in such a list as I speak of? Ton are young ; yoti have 
 great talents, you have a clear head ; you have a natural, 
 fluent, and unforced elocution ; your ideas are just, 30 ur 
 sentiments benevolent, open, and enlarged — but this is too 
 big for your modesty. Oh ! this modesty in time and place 
 is a charming virtue, and the grace of all other virtues. But 
 it is sometimes the worst enemy they have. Let him, whose 
 print I gave you the other day, be engraved in your memory ! 
 Had it plenged Providence to have spared him for the trying 
 BituiitioGs that seem to be coming on, notwithstanding thit 
 
82 A LETTER TO WILMAM ELLIOT, KSQ. 
 
 he was sometimes a little dispirited by the disposition which 
 we thought shown to depress him and set him aside, yet he 
 was always buoyed up again ; and, on one or two occasions, 
 he discovered what might be expected from the vigour and 
 elevation of hia mind, from his unconquerable fortitude, and 
 from the extent of his resources for every purpose of specu- 
 lation and of action. Remember him, my friend, who in the 
 liighest degree honoured and respected you ; and remember 
 that great parts are a great trust. Remember, too, that mis- 
 taken or misapplied virtues, if they are not as pernicious aa 
 vice, frustrate at least their own natural tendencies, and dis- 
 appoint the purposes of the great Griver. 
 
 Adieu. My dreams are finished* 
 
THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCARCITY. 
 
 ORIGiyALtT PRESENTED TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HOXOURABLE WILLIAM PITT, 
 
 IN THE MONTH OF NOTEMBEE, 1795. 
 
 Of all things, an indiscreet tampering \vith the trade o/ 
 provisions is the most dangerous, and it is always worst in 
 the time when men are most disposed to it ; that is, in the 
 time of scarcity. Because there is nothing on which the 
 passions of men are so violent, and their judgment so weak, 
 and on which there exists such a multitude of ill-founded 
 popular prejudices. 
 
 The great use of government is as a restraint ; and there 
 is no restraint which it ought to put upon others, and upon 
 itself too, rather than that which is imposed on the fury of 
 speculating under circumstances of irritation. The number 
 of idle tales, spread about by the industry of faction, and by 
 the zeal of foolish good-intention, and greedily devoui'ed by 
 the malignant credulity of mankind, tends infinitely to aggra- 
 vate prejudices, which, in themselves, are more than suffici- 
 ently strong. In that state of aifairs, and of the public with 
 relation to them, the first thing that government owes to us, 
 the people, is information ; the next is timely coercion : — 
 the one to guide our judgment ; the other to regulate our 
 tempers. 
 
 To provide for us in our necessities is not in the power of 
 government. It would be a vain presumption in statesmen 
 to think they can do it. The people maintain them, and not 
 they the people. It is in the power of government to prevent 
 much evil ; it can do very little positive good in this, or per- 
 haps in anything else. It is not only so of the state and 
 statesman, but of all the classes and descriptions of the rich 
 •—they are the pensioners of the poor, and are maintained bf 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THOUGHTS A>'D DETAILS ON SCAECITT. 
 
 their superfluity. They are under an absolute, hereditary, 
 and indefeasible dependence on those who labour, and are 
 miscalled the poor. 
 
 The labouring people are only poor,* because they are 
 numerous. Numbers in their nature imply poverty. In a 
 fair distribution among a vast multitude none can have 
 mucb. That class of dependent pensioners called the rich is 
 so extremely small, that if all their throats vrere cut, and a 
 distribution made of all they consume in a year, it would not 
 give a bit of bread and cheese for one night's supper to those 
 who labour, and who in reality feed both the pensioners and 
 themselves. 
 
 But the throats of the rich ought not to be cut, nor their 
 magazines plundered; because in their persons they are 
 trustees for those who labour, and their hoards are the bank- 
 ing houses of these latter. AVhether they mean it or Dot, 
 they do, in eftect, execute their trust — some with more, some 
 with less, fidelity and judgment. But, on the whole, the 
 duty is performed, and everything returns, deducting some 
 very trifling commiission and discount, to the place from 
 whence it arose. When the poor rise to destroy the rich, 
 they act as wisely for their own purposes, as wlien they burn 
 mills, and throw corn into the river, to make bread cheap. 
 
 When I say, that we of the people ought to be informed, 
 inclusively I say, we ought not to be flattered ; flattery is 
 the reverse of instruction. The poor in that case would be 
 rendered as improvident as the rich, which would not be at 
 all good for them. 
 
 Nothing can be so base and so wicked as the politi^-al 
 canting language, "The labouring jooor." Let compassion 
 be shown in action, the more the better, according to every 
 man's ability ; but let there be no lamentation of their condi- 
 tion. It is no relief to their miserable circumstances ; it is 
 only an insult to their miserable understandings. It arises 
 from a total want of charity, or a total want of thought. 
 Want of one kind was never relieved by want of any other 
 kind. Patience, labour, sobriety, frugality, and religion, 
 should be recommended to them ; all the rest is downright 
 fraud. It is horrible to call them " The once happy labourer." 
 
 Whether what may be called the moral or philosoj)hical 
 happiness of the laborious classes is increased or not, 1 can- 
 
THOUGHTS AND DETAILS OS SCARCITY. 85 
 
 not Bay. The seat of that species of happiness is in the mind 
 and there are few data to ascertain tlie comparative state of 
 the mind at any two periods. Philosophical happiness is, to 
 want little. Civil or vulgar happiness is, to want much, and 
 to enjoy much. 
 
 If the happiness of the animal man (which certainly goes 
 somewhere towards the happiness of the rational man) be 
 the object of our estimate, then I assert without the least 
 hesitation, that the condition of those who labour (in all de- 
 scriptions of labour, and in all gradations of labour, from the 
 highest to the lowest inclusively) is on the whole extremely 
 meliorated, if more and better food is any standard of me- 
 lioration. They work more, it is certain ; but they have the 
 advantage of their augmented labour ; yet whether that in- 
 crease of labour be on the whole a good or an evil, is a con- 
 sideration that would lead us a great way, and is not for my 
 present purpose. But as to the fact of the melioration of 
 their diet, I shall enter into the detail of proof whenever I 
 am called upon : in the mean time, the known difficulty of 
 contenting them with anything but bread made of the finest 
 flour, and meat of the first quality, is proof sufficient. 
 
 I further assert, that even under all the hardships of the 
 last year, the labouring people did, either out of their direct 
 gains, or from charity, (which it seems is now an insult to 
 them,) in fact, fare better than they did in seasons of common 
 plenty, fifty or sixty years ago ; or even at the period of my 
 English observation, which is about forty-four years. I even 
 assert, that full as many in that class as ever were known tc 
 do it before continued to save money ; and this I can prove, 
 so far as my own information and experience extend. 
 
 It is not true that the rate of wages has not increased with 
 the nominal price of provisions. I allow it has not fluctu- 
 ated with that price, nor ought it ; and the squires of Norfolk 
 had dined, when they gave it as their opinion, that it might 
 or it ought to rise and fall with the market of provisions. 
 The rate of wages in truth has no direct relation to that 
 price. Labour is a commodity like every other, and rises or 
 falls according to the demand. This is in the nature of things ; 
 however, the nature of things has provided for their necessi- 
 ties. Wages have been twice raised in my time ; and they 
 
86 TnouGHTs Ayr details on scaecitt. 
 
 bear a full proportion, or even a greater than formerly, to the 
 medium of provision during the last bad cycle of tvrenty 
 years. They bear a full proportion to the result of their 
 labour. If we were wildly to attempt to force them beyond 
 it, the stone which we had forced up the hill would only fall 
 back upon them in a diminished demand, or, what indeed is 
 the far lesser evil, an aggravated price, of all the provisions 
 which are the result of their manual toil. 
 
 There is an implied contract, much stronger than any in- 
 strument or article of agreement between the labourer in 
 any occupation and his employer — that the labour, so far as 
 that labour is concerned, shall be sufficient to pay to the 
 employer a profit on his capital, and a compensation for his 
 risk ; in a word, that the labour shall produce an advantage 
 equal to the payment. AVhatever is above that is a direct 
 tax; and if the amount of that tax be left to the will and 
 pleasure of another, it is an arbitrary tax. 
 
 If I understand it rightly, the tax proposed oq the farm- 
 ing interest of this kingdom is to be levied at what is called 
 the discretion of justices of peace. 
 
 The questions arising on this scheme of arbitrary taxation 
 are these, — Whether it is better to leave all dealing, in 
 which there is no force or fraud, collusion or combination, 
 entirely to the persons mutually concerned in the matter 
 contracted for ; or to put the contract into the hands of those 
 who can have none, or a very remote interest in it, and little 
 or no knowledge of the subject. 
 
 It might be imagined that there would be very little diffi- 
 culty in solving this question ; for what man of any degree of 
 rejection can think, that a want of interest in any subject 
 closely connected with a want of skill in it, qualifies a person to 
 intermeddle in any the least affair ; much less in affairs that 
 vitally concern the agriculture of the kingdom, the first of 
 aU its concerns, and the foundation of all its prosperity in 
 every other matter by which that prosperity is produced. 
 
 Q''he vulgar error on this subject arises from a total con- 
 fusion in the very idea of things widely different in them- 
 selves ; — those of convention, and those of judicature. When 
 a contract is making, it is a matter of discretion and of in- 
 terest between the parties. In that intercourse, and in 
 
THOUGHTS AWD DETAJI.S ON SCAHCITT. 87 
 
 Hfhat is to arise from it, the parties are the masters. If 
 they are not completely so, they are not free, and therefore 
 their contracts are void. 
 
 But this freedom has no further extent, when the contract 
 is made ; then their discretionary powers expire, and a new 
 order of things takes its origin. Then, and not till then, 
 and on a difference between the parties, the office of the 
 judge commences. He cannot dictate the contract. It is 
 his business to see that it be enforced ; provided that it is 
 not contrary to pre-existing laws, or obtained by force or 
 fraud. If he is in any way a maker or regulator of the con- 
 tract, in so much he is disqualified from being a judge. But 
 this sort of confused distribution of administrative and judi- 
 cial characters, (of which we have already as much as is 
 sufficient, and a little more,) is not the only perplexity of 
 notions and passions which trouble us in the present hour. 
 
 What is doing supposes, or pretends, that the farmer and 
 the labourer have opposite interests ; that the farmer op- 
 presses the labourer; and that a gentleman, called a justice 
 of peace, is the protector of the latter, and a control and 
 restraint on the former ; and this is a point I wish to ex- 
 amine in a manner a good deal different from that in which 
 gentlemen proceed, who confide more in their abilities than 
 is fit, and suppose them capable of more than any natural 
 abilities, fed with no other than the provender furnished by 
 their own private speculations, can accomplish. Legislative 
 acts attempting to regulate this part of economy do, at least 
 as much as any other, require the exactest detail of circum- 
 stances, guided by the surest general principles that are 
 necessary to direct experiment and inquiry, in order again 
 from those details to elicit principles, firm and luminous ge- 
 neral principles, to direct a practical legislative proceeding. 
 
 First, then, I deny that it is in this case, as in any other 
 of necessary implication, that contracting parties should 
 originally have had different interests. By accident it may 
 be so undoubtedly at the outset ; but then the contract is 
 of the nature of a compromise ; and compromise is founded 
 on circumstances that suppose it the interest of the parties 
 to be reconciled in some medium. The principle of compro- 
 mise adopted, of consequence the ii^teresta cease to be dif* 
 fereut. 
 
88 THOUGHTb AKD DETAILS ON SCAKCITT. 
 
 But in the case of the farmer and the labourer, their in- 
 terests are always the same, and it is absolutely impossible 
 that their free contracts can be onerous to either party. It 
 is the interest of the farmer, that his work should be done 
 with efiect and celerity ; and that cannot be, unless the 
 labourer is well fed, and other^^'ise found with such neces- 
 earies of animal life, according to his habitudes, as may keep 
 the body in full force, and the mind gay and cheerful. For 
 cf all the instruments of his trade, the labour of man (what 
 the ancient writers have cabled the instrumentum vocale) is 
 that on which he is most to rely for the repayment of his 
 capital. The other two, the semivocale. in the ancient classi- 
 fication, that is, the working stock of cattle, and the instru- 
 mentum mutum, such as carts, ploughs, spades, and so forth, 
 though not all inconsiderable in themselves, are very much 
 inferior in utility or in expense ; and, without a given portion 
 of the first, are nothing at all. For in all things whatever, 
 the mind is the most valuable and the most important ; and 
 in this scale the whole of agriculture is in a natural and just 
 order ; the beast is as an informing principle to the plough 
 and cart ; the labourer is as reason to the beast ; and the 
 farmer is as a thinking and presiding principle to the la- 
 bourer. An attempt to break this chain of subordination in 
 any part is equally absurd ; but the absurdity is the most mis- 
 chievous in practical operation, where it is the most easy, that 
 is, where it is the most subject to an erroneous judgment. 
 
 It is plainly more the farmer's interest that his men should 
 thrive, than that his horses should be well fed, sleek, plump, 
 and fit for use, or than that his waggon and ploughs should 
 be strong, in good repair, and fit for seiv'ce. 
 
 On the other hand, if the farmer cease to profit of the la- 
 bourer, and that his capital is not continually manured and 
 fructified, it is impossible that he should continue that 
 abundant nutriment, and clothing, and lodging, proper for 
 the protection of the instruments he employs. 
 
 It is therefore the first and fundamental interest of the 
 labourer, that the farmer should have a full incoming profit 
 on the product of his labour. The proposition is self-evident, 
 and nothing but the malignity, perverseness, and ill-governed 
 passions of mankind, and particularly the envy they bear to 
 each other's prosperity, could prevent their seeing and ao 
 
THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCAECITT. SO 
 
 knoMledgmg it, with thankfulness to the benign and wise 
 Disposer of all things, who obliges men, whether thej will 
 or not, in pursuing their own selhsh interests, to connect tlie 
 general good with their own individual success. 
 
 But who are to judge what that profit and advantage 
 ought to be ? Certainly no authority on earth. It is a 
 matter of convention dictated by the reciprocal conveniences 
 of the parties, and indeed by their reciprocal necessities.— 
 But, if the farmer is excessively avaricious ? — why so much 
 the better — the more he desires to increase his gaiuo, th© 
 more interested is he in the good condition of those, upon 
 whose labour his gains must principally depend. 
 
 1 shall be told by the zealots of the 5*ect of regulation, that 
 this may be true, and may be safely committed to the con- 
 vention of the farmer and the labourer, when the latter is in 
 the prime of his youth, and at the time of his health and 
 vigour, and in ordinary times of abundance. But in calam- 
 itous seasons, under accidental illness, in declining life, and 
 with the pressure of a numerous offspring, the future nour- 
 ishers of the community, but the present drains and blood- 
 suckers of those who produce them, what is to be done ? 
 AVhen a man cannot live and maintain his family by the 
 natural hire of his labour, ought it not to be raised by au- 
 thority ? 
 
 On this head I must be allowed to submit, what my opin- 
 ions have ever been ; and somewhat at large. 
 
 And, first, I premise that labour is, as 1 have already in- 
 timated, a commodity, and, as such, an article of trade. If 1 
 am right in this notion, then labour must be subject to all 
 the laws and principles of trade, and not to regulations foreign 
 to them, and that may be totally inconsistent with those 
 principles and those laws. ^V'hen any commodity is carried 
 to market, it is not the necessity of the vender, but the 
 necessity of the purchaser, that raises the price. The extreme 
 want of the seller has rather (by the nature of things with 
 which we shall in vain contend) the direct contrary operation. 
 If the goods at market are beyond the demand, they fall in 
 their value ; if below it, they rise. The impossibility of the 
 subsistence of a man, who carries his labour to a market, i» 
 totally beside the question in this way of viewing it. The 
 only question is, what is it worth to the buver P 
 
90 THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCARCITY; 
 
 But if authority comes in and forces the buy(T to a pnce, 
 ■what is this in the case (say) of a farmer who buys the 
 labour of ten or twelve labouring men, and three or four 
 handy-crafts, what is it, but to make an arbitrar}- division of 
 his property among them ? 
 
 The whole of his gains, I say it witli the most certain con- 
 viction, never do amount anything like in value to what he 
 pays to his labourers and artificers ; so that a very small ad- 
 vance upon what one man pays to many may absorb the 
 whole of what he possesses, and amount to an actual parti- 
 tion of all his substance among them. A perfect equality 
 will indeed be produced ; — that is to say, equal want, equal 
 wretchedness, equal beggary, and on the part of the peti- 
 tioners, a woeful, helpless, and desperate disappointment. 
 Such is the event of all compulsory equalisations. They pull 
 down what is above. They never raise what is below : and 
 they depress high and low together beneath the level of what 
 was originally the lowest. 
 
 If a commodity is raised by authority above what it will 
 yield with a profit to the buyer, that commodity will be the 
 less dealt in. If a second blundering interposition be used 
 to correct the blunder of the first, and an attempt is made to 
 force the purchase of the commodity, (of labour for instance,) 
 the one of these two things must happen, either that the 
 forced buyer is ruined, or the price of the product of tlie 
 labour, in that proportion, is raised. Then the wheel turns 
 round, and the evil complained of falls with ago^ravated 
 weight on the complainant. The price of corn, which is the 
 result of the expense of all the operations of husbandry 
 taken together, and for some time continued, will rise on the 
 labourer, considered as a consumer. The very best will be, 
 that he remains where he was. But if the price of the corn 
 should not compensate the price of labour, what is far more 
 to be feared, the most serious evil, the very destruction of 
 agriculture itself, is to be apprehended. 
 
 Nothing is such an enemy to accuracy of judgment as a 
 coarse discrimination ; a want of such classification and dis- 
 tribution as the subject admits of. Increase the rate of 
 wages to the labourer, say the regulators — as if labour was 
 but one thing, and of one value. But this very broad, ge- 
 neric term, labour, admits, at least, of two or tlirce speciific 
 
THOUGHTS ATfD DETAILS ON SCARCITY. 91 
 
 descriptions : and these will suffice, at least, to let gentlemen 
 discern a little the necessity of proceeding with caution in 
 their coercive guidance of those, whose existence depends 
 upon the observance of still nicer distinctions and sub-divi- 
 sions, than commonly they resort to in forming their judg- 
 ments on this very enlarged part of economy. 
 
 The labourers in husbandry may be divided: 1st, into 
 those who are able to perform the full work of a man ; that 
 is, what can be done by a person from twenty-one years of 
 age to fifty. I know no husbandry work (mowing hardly 
 excepted) that is not equally within the power of all persons 
 within those ages, the more advanced fully compensating by 
 knack and habit what they lose in activity. Unquestionably, 
 there is a good deal of dilierence between the value of one 
 man's labour and that of another, from strength, dexterity, 
 and honest applicati )n. But I am quite sure, from my best 
 observation, that any given five men will, in their total, afford 
 a proportion of labour equal to any other five Avithin the 
 periods of life I have stated ; that is, that among such five 
 men there will be one possessing all the qualifications of a 
 good workman, one bad, and the other three middling, and 
 approximating to the first and the last. So that in so small 
 a platoon as that of even five, you A\dll find the full comple- 
 ment of all that five men can earn. Taking five and five 
 throughout the kingdom, they are equal : therefore, an error 
 with regard to the equalisation of their wages by those who 
 employ five, as farmers do at the very least, cannot be con- 
 siderable. 
 
 2dly, Those who are able to work, but not the complete 
 task of a day-labourer. This class is infinitely diversified, 
 but will aptly enough fall into principal divisions. Men, from 
 the decline, which after fifty becomes every year more sen- 
 sible, to the period of debility and decrepitude, and the mala- 
 dies that precede a final dissolution. Women, whose em- 
 ployment on husbandry is but occasional, and who differ 
 more in effective labour one from another, than men do, on 
 account of gestation, nursing, and domestic management, 
 over and above the difference they have in common with men 
 in advancing, in stationary, and in declining life. Children^ 
 who proceed on the reverse order, growing from less to 
 greater utility, but with a still greater disproportion of nu« 
 
% THOUGHTS AKD DETAILS OK SCARCITT. 
 
 trimeut to labour than is foimd iu the second of these sub-divi* 
 fiions ; as is visible to those who will give themselves the trouble 
 of examining into the interior economy of a poor-house. 
 
 This inferior classification is introduced to show, that laws 
 prescribing, or magistrates exercising, a very stiff and often 
 inapplicable rule, or a blind and rash discretion, never can 
 provide the just proportions between earning and salary on 
 the one hand, and nutriment on the other: whereas interest, 
 habit, and the tacit convention, that arise from a thousand 
 nameless circumstances, produce a tact that regulates with- 
 out difficulty, what laws and magistrates cannot regulate at 
 all. The first class of labour w ants nothing to equalise it ; 
 it equalises itself. The second and third are not capable of 
 any equalisation. 
 
 But what if the rate of hire to the labourer comes far short 
 of his necessary subsistence, and the calamity of the time is 
 so great as to threaten actual famine ? Is the poor labourer 
 to be abandoned to the flinty heart and griping hand of base 
 self-interest, supported by the sword of law, especially when 
 there is reason to suppose that the very avarice of farmers 
 themselves has concurred with the errors of government to 
 bring famine on the land ? 
 
 In that case, my opinion is this : "Whenever it happens 
 that a man can claim nothing according to the iniles of com- 
 merce and the principles of justice, he passes out of that de- 
 partment, and comes within the jurisdiction of mercy. In 
 that province the magistrate has nothing at all to do : hia 
 interference is a violation of the property which it is his 
 office to protect. Without all doubt, charity to the poor is 
 a direct and obligatory duty upon all Christians, next in 
 order after the payment of debts, full as strong, and by 
 nature made infinitely more delightful to us. Pufiendorff, 
 and other casuists, do not, I think, denominate it quite pro- 
 perly, when they call it a duty of imperfect obligation. But 
 the manner, mode, time, choice of objects, and proportion, are 
 left to private discretion ; and, perhaps, for that very reason 
 it is performed with the greater satisfaction, because the 
 discharge of it has more the appearance of freedom ; recom- 
 mending us besides very specially to the Divine favour, as 
 the exercise of a virtue most suitable to a being sensible ol 
 its own infirmity. 
 
THOUGHTS A^D DETAILS ON SCAECITT. 93 
 
 The cry of the people in cities and towns, though unfor- 
 tunately (from a fear of their multitude and combination) 
 the most regarded, ought, iu fact, to be the least attended to 
 upon this subject; for citizens are in a state of utter ignor- 
 ance of the means by which they are to be fed, and they con- 
 tribute little or nothing, except in an infinitely circuitous 
 manner, to their own maintenance. They are truly, " Fruges 
 consumere natir They are to be heard with great respect 
 and attention upon matters within their province, that is, on 
 trades and manufactures ; but on anything that relates to 
 agriculture, they are to be listened to with the same rever- 
 ence which we pay to the dogmas of other ignorant and pre- 
 sumptuous men. 
 
 If any one were to tell them, that they were to give in an 
 account of ail the stock in their shops ; that attempts would 
 be made to limit their profits, or raise the price of the labour- 
 ing manufacturers upon them, or recommend to government, 
 out of a capital from the public revenues, to set up a shop ot 
 the same commodities, in order to rival them, and keep them 
 to reasonable dealing, they would very soon see the im- 
 pudence, injustice, and oppression of such a course. They 
 w^ould not be mistaken ; but they are of opinion, that agricul- 
 ture is to be subject to other laws, and to be governed by 
 other principles. 
 
 A greater and more ruinous mistake cannot be fallen into, 
 than that the trades of agriculture and grazing can be con- 
 ducted upon any other than the common principles of com- 
 merce ; namely, that the producer should be permitted, and 
 even expected, to look to all possible profit, which, without 
 fraud or violence, he can make ; to turn plenty or scarcity to 
 the best advantage he can ; to keep back or to bring forward 
 his commodities at his pleasure ; to account to no one for hia 
 stock or for his gain. On any other terms he is the slave ot 
 the consumer ; and that he should be so is of no benefit to 
 the consumer. No slave was ever so beneficial to the master, 
 as a freeman that deals with him on an equal footing by con- 
 vention, formed on the rules and principles of contending 
 interests and compromised advantages. The consumer, if he 
 were suffered, would in the end always be the dupe of hia 
 own tyranny and injustice. The landed gentleman is never 
 to forget, that the farmer is his representative. 
 
94 TUOITGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCARCITY. 
 
 It ip a ])erilous thing to try experiments on the farmer. 
 The farmer's capital (except in a few persons, and in a very 
 few places) is far more feeble than commonly is imagined. 
 The trade is a very poor trade ; it is subject to great risks 
 and losses. The capital, such as it is, is turned but once in 
 the year ; in some branches it requires three years before the 
 money is paid. I believe never less than three in the turnip 
 and grass land course, which is the prevalent course on the 
 more or less fertile, sandy and gravelly loams, and these com- 
 pose the soil in the south and south-east of England, the 
 best adapted, and perhaps the only ones that are adapted, to 
 the turnip husbandry. 
 
 It is very rare that the most prosperous farmer, counting 
 the value of his quick and dead stock, the interest of the 
 money he turns, together with bis own wages as a bailiff or 
 overseer, ever does make 12 or 15 per centum by the year on 
 his capital. I speak of the prosperous. In most of the 
 parts of England which have fallen within my observation, I 
 have rarely known a farmer who to his own trade has not 
 added some other employment or traffic, that, after a course 
 of the most unremitting parsimony and labour, (such for the 
 greater part is theirs,) and persevering in his business for a 
 long course of years, died worth more than paid his debts, 
 leaving his posterity to continue in nearly the same equal 
 conflict between industry and Avant, in which the last pre- 
 decessor, and a long line of predecessors before him, lived 
 and died. 
 
 Observe that I speak of the generality of farmers, who 
 have not more than from one hundred and fifty to three or four 
 hundred acres. There are few in this part of the country 
 within the former, or much beyond the latter extent. Un- 
 questionably in other places there are much larger. But, I 
 am convinced, whatever part of England be the theatre of 
 his operations, a farmer, who cultivates twelve hundred acres, 
 which I consider as a large farm, though I know there are 
 larger, cannot proceed, wiih any degree of safety and effect, 
 with a smaller capital than ten thousand pounds : and that 
 he cannot, in the ordinary course of culture, make more upon 
 that great capital of ten thousand pounds, than twelve liun- 
 dred a year. 
 
 As to the weaker capitals, an easy judgment may be formed 
 
THOUGHTS A.ND DETAILS ON SCAKCllT. 95 
 
 by what very small errors they may be further attenuated, 
 enervated, rendered unproductive, and perhaps totally de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 This constant precariousness, and ultimately moderate 
 limits of a farmer's fortune, on the strongest capital, I press, 
 not only on account of the hazardous speculations of the 
 limes, but because the excellent and most useful works of 
 my friend, Mr. Arthur Young, tend to propagate that error, 
 (such I am very certain it is,) of the largeness of a farmer's 
 profits. It is not that his account of the produce does often 
 greatly exceed, but he by no means makes the proper allow- 
 ance for accidents and losses. I might enter into a con- 
 vincing detail, if other more troublesome and more necessary 
 details were not before me. 
 
 This proposed discretionary tax on labour militates with 
 the recommendations of the board of agriculture : they re- 
 commend a general use of the drill culture. I agree with 
 the board, that where the soil is not excessively heavy, or en- 
 cumbered with large loose stones, (which however is the 
 case with much otherwise good land,) that course is the 
 best, and most productive ; provided that the most accurate 
 eye, the most vigilant superintendence, the most prompt 
 activity, which has no such day as to-morrow in its calendar, 
 the most steady foresight and pre-disposing order to have 
 everybody and everything ready in its place, and prepared to 
 take advantage of the fortunate, fugitive moment, in this 
 coquetting climate of ours — proWded, I say. all these com- 
 bine to speed the plough, I admit its superiority over the 
 old and general methods. But under procrastinating, im- 
 provident, ordinary husbandmen, who may neglect or let 
 slip the few opportunities of sweetening and purifying their 
 ground with perpetually renovated toil, and undissipated at- 
 tention, nothing, when tried to any extent, can be worse, or 
 more dangerous : the farm may be ruined, instead of having 
 the soil eiu-iched and sweetened by it. 
 
 But the excellence of the method on a proper soil, and 
 conducted by husbandmen, of whom there are few, being 
 readily granted, how, and on what conditions, is this culture 
 obtained ? Why, by a very great increase of labour ; by an 
 augmentation of the third part, at least, of the hand-labour, 
 lo say nothing of the horses and machinery eniployed in or-. 
 
B6 THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCARTITY. 
 
 dinary tillage. Now, every man must be sensible how litti 
 becoming the gravity of legislature it is to encourage a board 
 which recommends to us, and upon very weighty reasons uii' 
 questionably, an enlargement of the capital we employ in the 
 operations of the hand, and then to pass an act, w}'ich taxei 
 that manual labour, already at a very high rate ; thus com- 
 pelling us to diminish the quantity of labour which in tha 
 vulgar course we actually employ. 
 
 What is true of the farmer is equally true of the middle 
 man; M'hether the middle man acts as factor, jobber, sales- 
 man, or speculator, in the markets of grain. Q'hese trader? 
 are to be left to their free course ; and the more they make, 
 and the richer they are, and the more largely they deal, the 
 better both for the farmer and consumer, between whom 
 they form a natural and most useful link of connexion ; 
 though, by the machinations of the old evil counsellor, Envy^ 
 they are hated and maligned by both parties. 
 
 I hear that middle men are accused of monopoly. AVith- 
 out question, the monopoly of authority is, in every instance 
 and in every degree, an evil ; but the monopoly of capital is 
 the contrary. It is a great benefit, and a benefit particu- 
 larly to the poor. A tradesman who has but an hundred 
 pounds capital, which (say) he can turn but once a year, 
 cannot live upon a 'profit of 10 per cent, because he cannot 
 live upon ten pounds a year; but a man of ten thousand 
 pounds capital can live and thrive upon 5 per cent, profit in 
 the year, because he has five hundred pounds a year. The 
 same proportion holds in turning it twice or thrice. These 
 principles are plain and simple ; and it is not our ignorance, 
 so much as the levity, the envy, and the malignity of our 
 nature, that hinders us from perceiving and yielding to 
 them : but we are not to suffer our vices to usurp the place 
 of our judgment. 
 
 The balance between consumption and production makes 
 price. The market settles, and alone can settle, that price. 
 Market is the meeting and conference of tlie consumer and 
 producer, when they mutually discover each other's wants. 
 Nobody, I believe, has observed with any refiection what 
 market is, without being astonished at the truth, the Cv*- 
 rectness, the celerity, the general equity, with which th« 
 balance of wants is settled. They, who wit?L the destruetioii 
 
THOrOHTS AND DETAILS OX SCARCFTY. 97 
 
 of that balance, and would fain by arbitrary regulation de- 
 cree, that defective production should not be compensated 
 by increased price, directly lay their axe to the root of pro- 
 duction itself. 
 
 They may, even in one year of such false policy, do mis- 
 chiefs incalculable ; because the trade of a farmer is, as I 
 have before explained, one of the most precarious in its ad- 
 vantages, the most liable to losses, and the least profitable of 
 any that is carried on. It requires ten times more labour, 
 of vigilance, of attention, of skill, and, let me add, of good 
 fortune also, to carry on the business of a farmer with suc- 
 cess, than what belongs to any other trade. Seeing things 
 in this light, I am far from presuming to censure the late 
 circular instruction of council to lord-lieutenants — but I 
 confess I do not clearly discern its object. I am greatly 
 afraid that the inquiry will raise some alarm as a measure, 
 leading to the French system of putting corn into requisi- 
 tion. For that was preceded by an inquisition somewhat 
 similar in its principle, though, according to their mode, 
 their principles are full of that violence, ivhich here is not 
 much to be feared. It goes on a principle directly opposite 
 to mine : it presumes, that the market is no fair test of 
 plenty or scarcity. It raises a suspicion, which may affect 
 the tranquillity of the public mind, " that the farmer keeps 
 back, and takes unfair advantages by delay ;" on the part of 
 the dealer, it gives rise obviously to a thousand nefarious 
 speculations. 
 
 In case the return should on the whole prove favourable, 
 is it meant to ground a measure for encouraging exportation 
 and checking the import of corn ? If it is not, what end 
 can it answer ? And, I believe, it is not. 
 
 This opinion may be fortified by a report gone abroad, 
 that intentions are entertained of erecting public granaries, 
 and that this inquiry is to give government an advantage in 
 its purchases. 
 
 I hear that such a measure has been proposed, and is 
 under deliberation; that is, for government to set up a 
 granary in every market town, at the expense of the state, in 
 order to extinguish the dealer, and to subject the farmer to 
 the consumer, by securing com to the latter at a certain and 
 Bteady price. 
 
 VOL. V. ■ 
 
98 THOUGHTS AND DETAILS OK SCAROITr. 
 
 If such a scheme is adopted, I should not like to answer 
 for the safety of the granary, of the agents, or of the town 
 itself, in which the granary was erected — the first storm of 
 popular phrensy would fall upon that granary. 
 
 So far in a political light. 
 
 In an economical light, I must observe, that the construc- 
 tion of such granaries throughout the kingdom would be at 
 an expense beyond all calculation. The keeping them up 
 would be at a great charge. The management and attendance 
 would require an army of agents, store-keepers, clerks, and 
 servants. The capital to be employed in the purchase of 
 grain would be enormous. The waste, decay, and corruption, 
 would be a dreadful drawback on the whole dealing ; and the 
 dissatisfaction of the people, at having decayed, tainted, or 
 corrupted com sold to them, as must be the case, would be 
 serious. 
 
 This climate (whatever others may be) is not favourable to 
 granaries, where wheat is to be kept for any time. The best, 
 and indeed the only good granary, is the rick yard of the 
 farmer, where the corn is preserved in its own straw, sAveet, 
 clean, wholesome, free from vermin and from insects, and 
 comparatively at a trifle of expense. This, and the barn, 
 enjoying many of the same advantages, have been the sole 
 granaries of England from the foundation of its agriculture 
 to this da/. All this is done at the expense of the under- 
 taker, and at his sole risk. He contributes to government, 
 he receives nothing from it but protection, and to this he has 
 a claim. 
 
 The moment that government appears at market, all the 
 principles of market will be subverted. I don't know whe- 
 ther the farmer will suffer by it as long as there is a tolerable 
 market of competition ; but I am sure that, in the first place, 
 the trading government will speedily become a bankrupt, 
 and the consumer in the end will suffer. If government 
 makes all its purchases at once it will instantly raise Ihe 
 market upon itself. If it makes them by degrees, it must 
 follow the course of the market. If it follows the course of 
 the market, it will produce no effect, and the consumer may 
 as well buy as he wants — therefore all the expense is incuried 
 gratis. 
 
 But if the object of thia acheme should be, what I euspect 
 
THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCARCITY. 99 
 
 it ifi, to destroy the dealer, commonly called the middle man, 
 and by incurring a voluntary loss to carry tlie baker to deal 
 with government, I am to tell them that they must set up 
 another trade, that of a miller or a mealman, attended with a 
 now train of expenses and risks. If in both these trades 
 tliey should succeed, so as to exclude those Avho trade ou 
 natural and private capitals, then they will have a monopoly 
 in their hands, which, under the appearance of a monopoly of' 
 capital, will, in reality, be a monopoly of authority, and will 
 ruin whatever it touches. The agriculture of the kingdom 
 cannot stand before it. 
 
 A little place like Greneva, of not more than from twenty- 
 five to thirty thousand inhabitants, which has no territory, 
 or next to none ; which depends for its existence on the 
 good-will of three neighbouring powers, and is of course 
 continually in a state of something like a siege, or in the 
 speculation of it, might find some resource in state granaries, 
 and some revenue from the monopoly of what was sold to 
 the keepers of public-houses. This is a policy for a state too 
 small for agricultm'e. It is not (for instance) fit for so great 
 a country as the Pope possesses, where, however, it is adopted 
 and pursued in a greater extent, and with more strictness. 
 Certain of the Pope's territories, from whence the city of 
 Eome is supplied, being obliged to furnish Eome and the 
 granaries of his Holiness with corn at a certain price, that 
 part of the papal territories is utterly ruined. That ruin 
 may be traced with certainty to this sole cause, and it appears 
 indubitably by a comparison of their state and condition with 
 that of the other part of the ecclesiastical dominions not 
 subjected to the same regulations, which are in circumstances 
 highly flourishing. 
 
 The reformation of this evil system is in a manner im- 
 practicable ; for, first, it does keep bread and all other pro- 
 visions equally subject to the chamber of supply, at a pretty 
 reasonable and regular price, in the city of Eome. This 
 preserves quiet among the numerous poor, idle, and naturally 
 mutinous people of a very great capital. But the quiet of 
 the town is purchased by the ruin of the country, and the 
 ultimate Avretchedness of both. The next cause which ren- 
 ders this evil incurable, is, the jobs which have grown out of 
 it, and which, in spite of all precautions, would grow out of 
 
 H 2 
 
100 THOUGHTS AND DETAILS oy SCARCITY. 
 
 such things, even under governments far more potent than 
 the feeble authority of the Pope. 
 
 This example of Eome, which has been derived from the 
 most ancient times, and the most flourishing period of the 
 Roman empire, (but not of the Eoman agriculture,) may- 
 serve as a great caution to all governments, not to attempt 
 to feed the people out of the hands of the magistrates. If 
 once they are habituated to it, though but for one half year, 
 they will never be satisfied to have it otherwise. And hav- 
 ing looked to government for bread, on the very first scarcity 
 they will turn and bite the hand that fed them. To avoid 
 that evil, government will redouble the causes of it ; and 
 then it will become inveterate and incurable. 
 
 I beseech the government (which I take in the largest 
 sense of the word, comprehending the two Houses of parlia- 
 ment) seriously to consider that years of scarcity or plenty 
 do not come alternately, or at short intervals, but in pretty 
 long cycles and irregularly, and consequently that we cannot 
 assure ourselves, if we take a wrong measure, from the tem- 
 porary necessities of one season ; but that the next, and pro- 
 bably more, will drive us to the continuance of it ; so that, 
 in my opinion, there is no way of preventing this evil, which 
 goes to the destruction of all our agriculture, and of that 
 part of our internal commerce which touches our agriculture 
 the most nearly, as well as the safety and very being of 
 government, but manfully to resist the very first idea, specu- 
 lative or practical, that it is within the competence of govern- 
 ment, taken as government, or even of the rich, as rich, to 
 suppl}"" to the poor those necessaries which it has pleased 
 the Divine Providence for a while to withhold from them. 
 We, the people, ought to be made sensible, that it is not iu 
 breaking the laws of commerce, which are the laws of na- 
 ture, and consequently the laws of Grod, that we are to place 
 our hope of softening the Divine displeasure to remove any 
 calamity under w^hich we suffer, or which hangs over us. 
 
 So far as to the principles of general policy. 
 
 As to the state of thino^s which is urged as a reason to 
 deviate from them, these are the circumstances of the harvest 
 of 1794 and 1795. With regard to the harvest of 1794, in 
 ^elation to the noblest grain — wheat, it is allowed to have 
 been somewhat short, but not excessively ; and, iu quality, 
 
THOUGHTS AND D1:TaILS 05 SCAHCITT. lOl 
 
 for the seven-and-twenty years, during which I have been a 
 farmer, I never remember wheat to have been so good. The 
 world were, however, deceived in their specuUitions upon it 
 — the farmer as well as the dealer. Accordingly the price 
 fluctuated beyond anything I can remember ; for, at one 
 time of the year, I sold my wheat at £14 a load, (I sold ofl 
 all I had, as I thought this was a reasonable price,) when at 
 the end of the season, if I had then had any to sell, I might 
 have got thirty guineas for the same sort of grain. I sold all 
 that I had, as I said, at a comparatively low price, because I 
 thought it a good price, compared with what I thought the 
 general produce of the harvest ; but when I came to consider 
 what my own total was, I found that the quantity had not an- 
 swered my expectation. It must be remembered, that this 
 year of produce, (the year 1794,) short, but excellent, fol- 
 io wed a year which was not extraordinary in production, nor 
 of a superior quality, and left but little in store. At first 
 this was not felt, because the harvest came in unusually early 
 — earlier than common, by a full month. 
 
 The winter, at the end of 1794, and beginning of 1795, 
 was more than usually unfavourable both to corn and grass, 
 owing to the sudden relaxation of very rigorous frosts, fol- 
 lowed by rains, which were again rapidly succeeded by frosts 
 of still greater rigour than the first. 
 
 Much wheat was utterly destroyed. The clover grass 
 suffered in many places. "What 1 never observed before, the 
 rye-grass, or coarse bent, suffered more than the clover. 
 Even the meadow-grass in some places was killed to the very 
 roots. In the spring, appearances were better than we ex- 
 pected. All the early sown grain recovered itself, and came 
 up with great vigour ; but that which was late sown, was 
 feeble, and did not promise to resist any blights in the 
 spring, which, however, with all its unpleasant vicissitudes, 
 passed off very well ; and nothing looked better than the 
 wheat at the time of blooming : — but at the most critical 
 time of all, a cold, dry east wind, attended with very sharp 
 frosts, longer and stronger than I recollect at that time of 
 year, destroyed the flowers, and withered up, in an astonish- 
 ing manner, the whole side oi the ear next to the wind. At 
 that time I brought to town some of the ears, for the pur- 
 vose of showing to my friends the operation of those mi- 
 
 DEPARTMENT Ul' 
 
102' Tfibu6'aTS'' ak-d details ox scaecitt. 
 
 natural frosts, and according to their extent I predicted a 
 great scarcity. But such is the pleasure of agreeable pros- 
 pects, that my opinion was little regarded. 
 
 On threshing, I found things as I expected — the ears not 
 filled, some of the capsules quite empty, and several others 
 containing only withered, hungry grain, inferior to the ap- 
 pearance of rye. My best ears and grains were not fine ; 
 never had I grain of so low^ a quality — yet I sold one load 
 for £21. At the same time I bought my seed wheat (it waa 
 excellent) at £23. Since then the price has risen, and 1 
 have sold about two loads of the same sort at £23. Such 
 was the state of the market when I left home last Monday. 
 Little remains in my barn. I hope some in the rick may 
 be better ; since it was earlier sown, as well as I can recol- 
 lect. Some of my neighbours have better, some quite as 
 bad, or even worse. I suspect it Avill be found, that, wher- 
 ever the blighting wind and those frosts at blooming time 
 have prevailed, the produce of the wheat crop will turn out 
 very inditferent. Those parts which have escaped will, I 
 can hardly doubt, have a reasonable produce. 
 
 As to the other grains, it is to be observed, as the wheat 
 ripened very late, (on account, I conceive, of the blights,) 
 the barley got the start of it, and was ripe first. The crop 
 was with me, and wherever my inquiry could reach, excel- 
 lent ; in some places far superior to mine. 
 
 The clover, which came up with the barley, was the finest 
 I remember to have seen. 
 
 The turnips of this year are generally good. 
 
 The clover sown last year, where not totally destroyed, 
 gave two good crops, or one crop and a plentiful feed ; and 
 bating the loss of the rj^e-grass, I do not remember a better 
 produce. 
 
 The meadow-grass yielded but a middling crop, and neither 
 of the sown or natural grass was there in any farmer's pos- 
 session any remainder from the year worth taking into ac- 
 count. In most places, there was none at all. 
 
 Oats with me were not in a quantity more considerable 
 than in commonly good seasons ; but I have never known 
 them heavier than they were in other places. The oat was 
 not only a heavy but an uncommonly abundant crop. My 
 ground under pease did not exceed au acre, or thereabouid, 
 
•rn OUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCAEtlTT. 103 
 
 but the crop was great indeed. I believe it is throughout 
 the country exuberant. 
 
 It is however to be remarked, as generally of all the grains, 
 80 particularly of the pease, that there was not the smallest 
 quantity in reserve. 
 
 The demand of the year must depend solely on its own 
 produce ; and the price of the spring-corn is not to be ex- 
 pected to fall very soon, or at any time very low. 
 
 Uxbridge is a great corn market. As I came through that 
 town, I found that, at the last market-day, barley was at 
 forty shillings a quarter ; oats there were literally none ; and 
 the innkeeper was obliged to send for them to London. I 
 forgot to ask about pease. Potatoes were 5*. the bushel. 
 
 In the debate on this subject in the House, I am told tliat 
 a leading member of great ability, little conversant in these 
 matters, observed, that the general uniform dearness of 
 butcher's meat, butter, and cheese, could not be owing to a 
 defective produce of wheat ; and od this ground insinuated a 
 suspicion of some unfair practice on the subject, that called 
 for inquiry. 
 
 Unquestionably the mere deficiency of wheat could not 
 cause the dearness of the other articles, which extends not 
 only to the provisions he mentioned, but to eveiy other with- 
 out exception. 
 
 The cause is indeed so very plain and obvious, that the 
 wonder is the other way. When a properly directed inquiry 
 is made, the gentlemen who are amazed at the price of these 
 commodities will find, that when hay is at six pounds a load, 
 as they must know it is, herbage, and for more than one year, 
 must be scanty, and they w411 conclude, that if grass be 
 scarce, beef, veal, mutton, butter, milk, and cheese, must be 
 dear. 
 
 But to take up the matter somewhat more in detail-^if 
 the wheat hai'\'est in 1794, excellent in quality, was defective 
 in quantity, the barley harvest was in quality ordinary 
 enough, and in quantity deficient. This was soon felt in the 
 price of malt. 
 
 Another article of produce (beans) was not at all plentiful 
 The crop of pease was wholly destroyed, so that several 
 farmers pretty early gave up all hopes on that head, and cut 
 the green haiilm as fodder for the cattle, then perishing foi 
 
lOi THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCARCITY. 
 
 want of food in that dry and burning summer. I myself 
 came off better than most — T had about the fourth of a crop 
 of pease. 
 
 It will be recollected, that, in a manner, all the bacon and 
 pork consumed in this country (the far largest consumption 
 of meat out of towns) is, when growing, fed on grass, and on 
 whey, or skimmed milk ; and when fatting, partly on the 
 latter. This is the case in the dairy countries, all of them 
 great breeders and feeders of swdne ; but for the much 
 greater part, and in all the corn countries, they are fattened 
 on beans, barley meal, and pease. AVhen the food of the 
 animal is scarce, his jQesh must be dear. This, one would 
 suppose, would require no great penetration to discover. 
 
 This failure of so very large a supply of flesh in one species, 
 naturally throws the whole demand of the consumer on the 
 diminished supply of all kinds of flesh, and, indeed, on all the 
 matters of human sustenance. Nor, in my opinion, are we 
 to expect a greater cheapness in that article for this year, 
 even though corn should grow cheaper, as it is to be hoped 
 it will. The store swine, from the failure of subsistence last 
 year, are now at an extravagant price. Pigs, at our fairs, 
 have sold lately for fifty shillings, which, two years ago, 
 would not have brought more than twenty. 
 
 As to sheep, none, I thought, were strangers to the general 
 failure of the article of turnips last year ; the early having 
 been burned, as they came up, by the great drought and 
 heat ; the late, and those of the early which had escaped, 
 were destroyed by the chilling frosts of the winter, and the 
 wet and severe weather of the spring. In many places a full 
 fourth of the sheep or the lambs were lost ; what remained of 
 the lambs were poor and ill-fed, the ewes having had no 
 milk. The calves came late, and they were generally an 
 article, the want of which was as much to be dreaded as any 
 other. So that article of food, formerly so abundant in the 
 early part of the summer, particularly in London, and which 
 in a great part supplied the place of mutton for nearly two 
 months, did little less than totally fail. 
 
 All the productions of the earth link in with each other. 
 All the sources of plenty, in all and every article, were dried 
 or frozen up. The scarcity was not, as gentlemen seem to 
 tuppose, in wheat only. 
 
THOUGHTS A5D DETAILS ON SCAECITT. 105 
 
 Another cause, and that not of inconsiderable operation, 
 tended to produce a scarcity in flesh provision. It is one 
 that on many accounts cannot be too much regretted, and 
 the rather, as it was the sole cciuse of a scarcity in that 
 article, which arose from the proceedings of men themselves. 
 I mean the stop put to the distillery. 
 
 The hog? (and that would be sufficient) which were fed 
 with the waste wash of that produce, did not demand the 
 fourth part of the corn used by farmers in fattening them. 
 The spirit was nearly so much clear gain to the nation. It 
 is an odd way of making flesh cheap, to stop or check the 
 distillery. 
 
 The distillery in itself produces an immense article of 
 trade almost all over the world, to Africa, to Xorth America, 
 and to various parts of Europe. It is of great use, next to 
 food itself, to our fisheries and to our whole navigation. A 
 great part of the distillery was carried on by damaged corn, 
 unfit for bread, and by barley and malt of the lowest quality. 
 These things could not be more unexceptionably employed. 
 The domestic consumption of spirits produced, without com- 
 plaints, a very great revenue, applicable, if we pleased, in 
 bounties to the bringing corn from other places, far beyond 
 the value of that consumed in making it, or to the encourage- 
 ment of its increased production at home. 
 
 As to what is said, in a physical and moral view, against 
 the home consumption of spirits, experience has long since 
 taught me very little to respect the declamations on that 
 subject — Whether the thunder of the laws, or the thunder of 
 eloquence, " is hurled on gin,'^ always I am thunder proof. 
 The alembic, in my mind, has furnished to the world a far 
 greater benefit and blessing, than if the opus maximum had 
 been really found by chemistry, and, like Midas, we could 
 turn everything into gold. 
 
 Undoubtedly there may be a dangerous abuse in the ex- 
 cess of spirits ; and at one time I am ready to believe the 
 abuse was great. AVhen spirits are cheap, the business of 
 drunkenness is achieved with little time or labour ; but that 
 evil I consider to be wholly done away. Observation for the 
 last forty years, and very particularly for the last thirty, has 
 furnished me with ten instances of drunkenness from other 
 causes, for one from this. Ardent spirit is a great medicine, 
 
106 THOTTGHTS ATfD DETAILS ON SCA-IICITY. 
 
 often to remove distempers — much more frequently to pre- 
 rent them, or to chase them away in their beginnings. It is 
 not nutritive in any great degree. But, if not food, it greatly 
 alleviates the want of it. It invigorates the stomach for the 
 digestion of poor meagre diet, not easily alliable to the 
 human constitution. Wine the poor cannot touch. Beer, 
 as applied to many occasions, (aa among seamen and fisher- 
 men for instance,) will by no means do the business. Let 
 me add, what wits inspired with champaign and claret will 
 tarn into ridicule — it is a medicine for the mind. Under 
 the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, 
 men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some 
 physical aid to their moral consolations, — wine, beer, opium, 
 brandy, or tobacco. 
 
 I consider therefore the stopping of the distillery, econo- 
 mically, financially, commercially, medicinally, and, in some 
 degree, morally too, as a measure rather well meant than well 
 considered. It is too precious a sacrifice to prejudice. 
 
 G-entlemen well know whether there be a scarcity of par- 
 tridges, and whether that be an effect of hoarding and com- 
 bination. All the tame race of birds live and die as the 
 wild do. 
 
 As to the lesser articles, they are like the greater. They 
 have followed the fortune of the season. Why are fowls 
 dear? was not this the farmer's or jobber's fault? I sold 
 from my yard to a jobber, six young and lean fowls, for four 
 and twenty shillings ; fowls, for which, two years ago, the 
 same man would not have given a shilling apiece. — He sold 
 them afterwards at Uxbridge, and they were taken to Lon- 
 don to receive the last hand. 
 
 As to the operation of the war in causing the scarcity of 
 provisions, I understand that Mr. Pitt has given a particular 
 answer to it — but I do not think it worth powder and shot. 
 
 I do not wonder the papers are so full of this sort of mat- 
 i^iT, but I am a little surprised it shoula be mentioned in 
 parliamBut. Like all great state questions, peace and war 
 may be discussed, and different opinions fairly formed, on 
 political grounds, but on a question of the present price of 
 provisions, when peace with the regicides is always upper- 
 most, I can only say that great is the love of it. 
 
 After all, have we not reason to be thankful to the Giver 
 
THOUGHTS AND DEIAILS OX SCABCITT. 107 
 
 of all good ? In our history, and whea the " labourer of 
 England is said to have been once happy," we find con- 
 stantly, after certain intervals, a period of real famine ; by 
 which a melancholy havoc was made among the human race. 
 The price of provisions fluctuated dreadfully, demonstrating 
 a deficiency very different from the worst failures of the 
 present moment. Never, since I have known England, have 
 I known more than a comparative scarcity. The price of 
 wheat, taking a number of years together, has had no very 
 considerable fluctuation, nor has it risen exceedingly until 
 within this twelvemonth. Even now, I do not know of one 
 man, woman, or child, that has perished from famine ; fewer, 
 if any, I believe, than in years of plenty, when such a thing 
 may happen by accident. This is ou-ing to a care and super- 
 intendence of the poor, far greater than any I remember. 
 
 The consideration of this ought to bind us all, rich and 
 poor together, against those wicked writers of the news- 
 papers, who would inflame the poor against their friends, 
 guardians, patrons, and protectors. Not only very few (I 
 have observed that I know of none, though I live in a place 
 as poor as most) have actually died of want, but we have 
 seen no traces of those dreadful exterminating epidemics, 
 which, in consequence of scanty and unwholesome food, in 
 former times, not imfrequently wasted whole nations. Let 
 us be saved from too much Avisdom of our o^vn, and we shall 
 do tolerably well. 
 
 It is one of the finest problems in legislation, and what 
 has often engaged my thoughts whilst I followed that pro- 
 fession, " What the state ought to take upon itself to direct 
 by the public wisdom, and what it ought to leave, with as 
 little interference as possible, to individual discretion," 
 Nothing, certainly, can be laid down on the subject that will 
 not admit of exceptions, many permanent, some occasional. 
 I But the clearest line of distinction, which I could draw, 
 whilst I had my chalk to draw any line, was this ; that the 
 state ought to confine itself to what regards the state, or the 
 creatures of the state, namely, the exterior establishment of 
 its religion ; its magistracy ; its revenue ; its military force 
 by sea and land ; the corporations that owe their existence to 
 its fiat ; in a word, to everything that is truly and property 
 public, to the public peace, to the public safety, to the pub- 
 
108 THOUGHTS A.>'D DETAILS OW SCARCITY. 
 
 lie order, to the public prosperity. In its preventive police 
 it ought to be sparing of its efforts, and to employ means, 
 rather few, unfrequent, and strong, than many, and frequent, 
 and, of course, as they multiply their puny politic race, and 
 dwindle, small and feeble. Statesmen who know themselves 
 will, with the dignity which belongs to wisdom, proceed only 
 in this the superior orb and first mover of their duty steadily, 
 vigilantly, severely, courageously : whatever remains will, in 
 a manner, provide for itself. But as they descend from the 
 state to a province, from a province to a parish, and from a 
 parish to a private house, they go on accelerated in their fall. 
 They cannot do the lower duty ; and, in proportion as they 
 try it, they will certainly fail in the higher. They ought to 
 know the different departments of things ; what belongs to 
 laws, and what manners alone can regulate. To these, great 
 politicians may give a leaning, but they cannot give a law. 
 
 Our legislature has fallen into this fault as well as other 
 governments ; all have fallen into it more or less. The once 
 mighty state, which was nearest to us locally, nearest to us 
 in every way, and whose ruins threaten to fall upon our 
 heads, is a strong instance of this error. I can never quote 
 France without a foreboding sigh — EIIETAI 'HMAP ! Scipio 
 said it to his recording G-reek friend amidst the flames of the 
 great rival of his country. That state has fallen by the 
 hands of the parricides of their country, called the revolu- 
 tionists, and constitutionalists, of France, a species of traitors, 
 of whose fury and atrocious wickedness nothing in the annals 
 of the plirensy and depravation of mankind had before furn- 
 ished an example, and of whom I can never think or speak 
 without a mixed sensation of disgust, of horror, and of detest- 
 ation, not easy to be expressed. These nefarious monsters 
 destroyed their country for what was good in it : for much 
 good there was in the constitution of that noble monarchy, 
 which, in all kinds, formed and nourished great men, and 
 great patterns of virtue to the world. But though its ene- 
 mies were not enemies to its faults, its faults furnished them 
 with means for its destruction. My dear departed friend, 
 whose loss is even greater to the public than to me, had 
 often remarked, that the leading vice of the French mon- 
 archy, (which he had well studied,) was in good intention ill- 
 directed, and a restless desire of governing too much. Tho 
 
THOUGHTS A>-D DETAILS OS SCAEOITT. 109 
 
 hand of authority was seen in everything, and in every place. 
 All, therefore, that happened amiss in the course even of 
 domestic affairs, was attributed to the government ; and as 
 It always happens in this kind of officious universal interfer- 
 eiice, what began in odious power, ended always, I may say 
 without an exception, in contemptible imbecility. For this 
 reason, as far as I can approve of any novelty, I thought 
 well of the provincial administrations. Those, if the superior 
 power had been severe, and vigilant, and vigorous, might 
 have been of much use politically in removing government 
 from many invidious details. But as everything is good or 
 bad, as it is related or combined, government being relaxed 
 above as it was relaxed below, and the brains of the people 
 growing more and more addle with every sort of visionary 
 speculation, the shiftings of the scene in the provincial 
 theatres became only preparatives to a revolution in the 
 kingdom, and the popular actings there only the rehearsals 
 of the terrible drama of the republic. 
 
 Tyranny and cruelty may make men justly wish the 
 downfal of abused powers, but I believe that no government 
 ever yet perished from any other direct cause than its own 
 weakness. My opinion is against an over-doing of any sort 
 of administration, and more especially against this most mo- 
 mentous of all meddling on the part of authority ; the med- 
 dling with the Bubsisteuce of the people. 
 
i 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE, 
 
 TO A. NOBLE LOED, 
 
 ON THE ATTACKS MADE UPON HIM AND HIS PENSION, IN THE 
 HOUSE OF LORDS, BY THE DUKE OF BEDFORD AND THE EARL OF 
 LAUDERDALE, EARLY IN THE PRESENT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 1796. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I could hardly flatter myself with the hope, that so 
 very early in the season I should have to acknowledge obli- 
 gations to the Duke of Bedford, and to the Earl of Lau- 
 derdale. These noble persons have lost no time in confer- 
 ring upon me that sort of honour, which it is alone within 
 their competence, and which it is certainly most congenial to 
 their nature, and to their manners, to bestow. 
 
 To be ill spoken of, in whatever language they speak, by 
 the zealots of the new sect in philosophy and politics, of 
 which these noble persons think so charitably, and of which 
 others think so justly, to me, is no matter of uneasiness or 
 surprise. To have incurred the displeasure of the Duke of 
 Orleans or the Duke of Bedford, to fall under the censiu'e of 
 citizen Brissot or of his friend the Earl of Lauderdale, I 
 ought to consider as proofs, not the least satisfactory, that I 
 have produced some part of the effect I proposed by my en- 
 deavours. I have laboured hard to earn, what the noble 
 lords are generous enough to pay. Personal offence I have 
 given them none. The part they take against me is from 
 zeal to the cause. It is well ! It is perfectly well ! I have 
 to do homage to their justice. I have to thank the Bedfords 
 wid the Lauderdales for having so faithfully and so fully ac- 
 
A LETTEB TO A NOBLE LORD, 111 
 
 quitted towards me whatever arrear of debt was left undis- 
 charged by the Priestleys and the Paines. 
 
 Some, perhaps, may think them executors in their own 
 wrong : I at least have nothing to complain of. They have 
 iTone beyond the demands of justice. They have been (a 
 little perhaps beyond their intention) favourable to me. 
 They have been the means of bringing out, by their invec- 
 tives, th«; handsome things which Lord Grenvilie has had 
 the goodness and condescension to say in my behalf. Eetired 
 as I am from the world, and from all its affairs and all its 
 pleasures, I confess it does kindle, in my nearly extinguished 
 feelings, a very vivid satisfaction to be so attacked and so com- 
 mended. It is soothing to my wounded mind, to be com- 
 mended by an able, vigorous, and well-informed statesman, 
 and at the very moment when he stands forth with a manli- 
 ]iess and resolution, worthy of himself and of his cause, for 
 the preservation of the person and government of our sove- 
 reign, and therein for the security of the laws, the liberties, 
 the morals, and the lives of his people. To be in any fair 
 way connected with such things, is indeed a distinction. 
 No philosophy can make me above it : no melancholy can 
 depress me so low, as to make me wholly insensible to such 
 an honour. 
 
 Why will they not let me remain in obscurity and in- 
 action ? Are they apprehensive, that if an atom of me 
 remains, the sect has something to fear ? Must I be anni- 
 hilated, lest, like old John Zisca's, my skin might be made 
 into a drum, to animate Europe to eternal battle, against a 
 tyranny that threatens to overv»helm all Europe, and all the 
 human race ? 
 
 My Lord, it is a subject of awful meditation. Before this 
 of France, the annals of all time have not furnished an in- 
 stance of a complete revolution. That Eevolution seems to 
 have extended even to the constitution of the mind of man. 
 It has this of wonderful in it, that it resembles what Lord 
 Yerulam says of the operations of nature. It was perfect, 
 not only in its elements and principles, but in all its mem- 
 bers and its organs from the very beginning. The moral 
 scheme of France furnishes the only pattern ever known, 
 which they who admire will instaiHly resemble. It is indeed 
 an inexhaustible repertory of one kind of examples. In my 
 
112 A LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD. 
 
 wretched condition, though hardlj to be classed with the 
 living, I am not safe from them. They have tigers ^o fall 
 upon animated strength. They have hyenas to prey upon 
 carcasses. The national menagerie is collected by the first 
 physiologists of the time ; and it is defective in no descrip- 
 tion of savage nature. They pursue even such as me, into 
 the obscurest retreats, and haul them before their revolution- 
 ary tribunals. Neither sex, nor age, nor the sanctuary of 
 the tomb, is sacred to them. They have so determined a 
 , hatred to all privileged orders, that they deny even to the 
 [ departed the sad immunities of the grave. They are not 
 wholly without an object. Their turpitude purveys to their 
 malice ; and they unplumb the dead for bullets to assassin- 
 ate the living. If all revolutionists were not proof against 
 all caution, I should recommend it to their consideration, 
 that no persons were ever known in history, either sacred or 
 ])rofane, to vex the sepulchre, and, by their sorceries, to call 
 up the prophetic dead, with any other event, than the pre- 
 diction of their own disastrous fate. — " Leave me, oh leave 
 me to repose !" 
 
 In one thing I can excuse the Duke of Bedford for his 
 attack upon me and my mortuary pension. He cannot 
 readily comprehend the transaction he condemns. What I 
 have obtained was the fruit of no bargain ; the production 
 of no intrigue ; the result of no compromise ; the effect of 
 no solicitation. The first suggestion of it never came from 
 me, mediately or immediately, to his Majesty or any of his 
 ministers. It was long known that the instant my engage- 
 ments would permit it, and before the heaviest of all calami- 
 ties had for ever condemned me to obscurity and sorrow, I 
 had resolved on a total retreat. I had executed that design. 
 I was entirely out of the way of serving or of liurting any 
 statesman, or any party, when the ministers so generously 
 and so nobly carried into effect the spontaneous bounty of 
 the crown. Both descriptions have acted as became them. 
 When I could no longer serve them, the ministers have con- 
 sidered my situation. When I could no longer hurt them, 
 the revolutionists have trampled on my infirmity. My 
 gratitude, I trust, is equal to the manner in which the benefit 
 was conferred. It came to me indeed, at a time of life, and 
 in a state of mind and body, in wliich no circumstance o( 
 
A LETTEE TO A TTOBLE LOKD. 113 
 
 fortune could afford me any real pleasure. But this was no 
 fault in the royal donor, or in his ministers, who were pleased, 
 in acknowledging the merits of an invalid servant of the 
 public, to assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man. 
 
 It would ill become me to boast of anything. It would as 
 ill become me, thus called upon, to depreciate the value of a 
 long life, spent with unexampled toil in the service of my 
 country. Since the total body of my services, on account of 
 the industry which was shown in them, and the fairness of 
 my intentions, have obtained the acceptance of my sovereign, 
 it would be absiu'd in me to range myself on the side of the 
 Duke of Bedford and the corresponding society, or, as far as 
 in me lies, to permit a dispute on the rate at which the 
 authority appointed by our constitution to estimate such 
 things has been pleased to set them. 
 
 Loose libels ought to be passed by in silence and con- 
 tempt. By me they have been so always. I knew that as 
 long as I remained in public, I should live down the calumnies 
 of malice, and the judgments of ignorance. If I happened 
 to be now and then in the wrong, (as who is not ?) like all 
 other men, I must bear the consequence of my faults and 
 my mistakes. The libels of the present day are just of the 
 same stuff as the libels of the past. But they derive an im- 
 portance from the rank of the persons they come from, and 
 tte gravity of the place where they were uttered. In some 
 way or other I ought to take some notice of them. To as- 
 sert myself thus traduced is not vanity or arrogance. It is 
 a demand of justice ; it is a demonstration of gratitude. If 
 I am unworthy, the ministers are worse than prodigal. On 
 that hypothesis, I perfectly agree with the Duke of Bedford. 
 
 For whatever I have been (I am now no more) I put mv- 
 self on my country. I ought to be allowed a reasonable free- 
 dom, because I stand upon my deliverance ; and no culprit 
 ought to plead in irons. Even in the utmost latitude of de- 
 fensive liberty, I wish to preserve all possible decorum. 
 Whatever it may be in the eyes of these noble persons 
 themselves, to me their situation calls for the most pro- 
 found respect. K I should happen to trespass a little, which 
 I trust I shall not, let it always be supposed, that a con- 
 fusion of characters may produce mistakes ; that, in the 
 masquerades of the grand carnival of our age, whimsical ad- 
 
114 A LETTER TO A KOBLE LOBD. 
 
 Tentures happen ; odd things are said and pass off. If I 
 should fail a single point in the high respect I owe to those 
 illustrious persons, I cannot be supposed to mean the Duke 
 of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale of the House of 
 Peers, but the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale 
 of Palace-Yard ! — The Dukes and Earls of Brentford. There 
 they are on the pavement ; there they seem to come nearer 
 to my humble level ; and, virtually at least, to have waived 
 their high privilege. 
 
 / Making this protestation, I refuse all revolutionary tribu- 
 nes, where men have been put to death for no other reason, 
 than that they had obtained favours from the Crown. I 
 claim, not the letter, but the spirit, of the old English law, 
 that is, to be tried by my peers. I decline his Grace's juris- 
 diction as a judge. I challenge the Duke of Bedford as a 
 juror to pass upon the value of my services. Whatever his 
 natural parts may be, I cannot recognise, in his few and idle 
 years, the competence to judge of my long and laborious 
 life. If I can help it, he shall not be on the inquest of my 
 quantum meruit. Poor rich man! He can hardly know 
 anything of public industry in its exertions, or can estimate 
 its compensations when its work is done. I have no doubt of 
 his Grrace's readiness in all the calculations of vulgar arith- 
 metic ; but I shrewdly suspect, that he is little studied in 
 the theory of moral proportions ; and has never learned the 
 rule of three in the arithmetic of policy and state. 
 
 His Grrace thinks I have obtained too much. I answer, 
 that my exertions, whatever they have been, were such as 
 no hopes of pecuniary reward could possibly excite ; and 
 no pecuniary compensation can possibly reward them. Be- 
 tween money and such services, if done by abler men 
 than I am, there is no common principle of comparison; 
 they are quantities incommensurable. Money is made for 
 the comfort and convenience of animal life. It cannot 
 be a reward for what mere animal life must indeed sus- 
 tain, but never can inspire. With submission to his 
 Grace, I have not had more than sufficient. As to any 
 noble use, I trust I know how to employ, as well as he, a 
 much greater fortune than lie possesses. In a more confined 
 application, I certainly stand in need of every kind of relief 
 aad easement much more tlian he does. When I say I have 
 
A LETTEE TO A NOBLE LORD. 115 
 
 not received more than I deserve, is this the language I hold 
 to Majesty ? No ! Far, very far, from it ! Before that pre- 
 sence, I claim no merit at all. Everything towards me is-/ 
 favour, and bounty. One style to a gracious benefactor;^ 
 another to a proud and insulting foe. 
 
 His Grace is pleased to aggravate my guilt, by charging 
 my acceptance of his Majesty's grant as a departure from my 
 ideas, and the spirit of my conduct with regard to economy. 
 If it be, my ideas of economy were false and ill-founded. 
 But they are the Duke of Bedford's ideas of economy I have 
 contradicted, and not my own. K he means to allude to 
 certain bills brought in by me on a message from the throne 
 in 1782, I tell him that there is nothing in my conduct that 
 can contradict either the letter or the spirit of those acts. 
 Does he mean the pay-office act ? I take it for granted he 
 does not. The act to which he alludes, is, I suppose, the 
 establishment act. I greatly doubt whether his Grrace has 
 ever read the one or the other. The first of these systems 
 cost me, with every assistance which my then situation gave 
 me, pains incredible. I found an opinion common through 
 all the offices, and general in the pubKc at large, that it 
 would prove impossible ta r^orm and methodize the office of 
 paymaster-general. J^ undertook it, however ; and I succeed- 
 -edjlnmy undertaking. Whether the military service, or 
 whether the general economy of our finances, have profited 
 by that act, I leave to those who are acquainted with the 
 army, and Avith the treasury, to judge. 
 
 An opinion full as general prevailed also at the same time, 
 that nothing could be done for the regulation of the civil-list 
 eatabHshmeni. The very attempt to mtroduce method into 
 it, and any limitations to its services, was held absurd. I had 
 not seen the man, who so much as suggested one economical 
 principle, or an economical expedient, upon that subject. 
 Nothing but coarse amputation, or coarser taxation, were 
 then talked of, both of them without design, combination, or 
 the least shadow of principle. Blind and headlong zeal, or 
 factious fury, were the whole contribution brought by the 
 most noisy on that occasion, towards the satisfaction of the 
 public, or the relief of the Crown. 
 
 IjCt me tell my youthful censor, that the necessities of that 
 tiiue required something verv different ifrom what others then 
 
 I 2 
 
116 A LET TEE TO A XOBLE LOED. 
 
 suggested, or what his Grrace now conceives. Let me inform 
 him, that it was one of the most critical periods in our annals. 
 
 Astronomers have supposed, that if a certain comet, whose 
 path intercepted the ecliptic, had met the earth in some (I 
 forget what) sign, it would have whirled us along with it, in 
 its eccentric course, into Grod knows what regions of heat 
 and cold. Had the portentous comet of the rights of man, 
 (which "from its horrid hair shakes pestilence and war," and 
 " with fear of change perplexes monarchs,") had that comet 
 crossed upon us in that internal state of England, nothing 
 human could have prevented our being irresistibly hurried, 
 out of the highway of heaven, into aU the vices, crimes, hor- 
 rors, and miseries of the French Revolution. 
 
 Happily, France was not then Jacobinised. Her hostility 
 was at a good distance. "We had a limb cut off; but we pre- 
 served the body. AVe lost our colonies ; but we kept our 
 constitution. There was, indeed, much intestine heat ; there 
 was a dreadful fermentation. "Wild and savage insurrection 
 quitted the woods, and prowled about our streets in the name 
 of reform. Such was the distemper of the public mind, that 
 there was no madman, in his maddest ideas, and maddest 
 projects, who might not count upon numbers to support his 
 principles and execute his designs. 
 
 Many of the changes, by a great misnomer called parlia- 
 mentary reforms, went, not in the intention of all the pro- 
 fessors and supporters of them, undoubtedly, but went in their 
 certain, and, in my opinion, not very remote effect, home to 
 the utter destruction of the constitution of this kingdom. 
 Had they taken place, not France, but England, would have 
 had the honour of leading up the death-dance of democratic 
 revolution. Other projects, exactly coincident in time with 
 those, struck at the very existence of the kingdom under any 
 constitution. There are who remember the blind fury of 
 Borae, and the lamentable helplessness of others ; here, a tor- 
 pid confusion, from a panic fear of the danger ; there, the 
 same inaction from a stupid insensibility to it ; here, well- 
 wishers to the mischief; there, indifierent lookers-on. At 
 the same time, a sort of national convention, dubious in its ^ 
 nature, and perilous in its example, nosed parliament in the 
 very seat of its authority ; sat with a sort of superintendence 
 oTer it ; and little less than dictated to it, not only laws, but 
 
A LETTEK TO A KOBLE LOED. 117 
 
 the very form and essence of legislature itself. In Ireland 
 things ran in a still more eccentric course. Government 
 was unnerved, confounded, and in a manner suspended. Its 
 equipoise was totally gone. I do not mean to speak disre- 
 spectfully of Lord North. He was a man of admirable parts; 
 of general knowledge ; of a versatile understanding fitted for 
 every sort of business ; of infinite wit and pleasantry ; of a 
 delightful temper; and with a mind most perfectly disin- 
 terested. But it would be only to degrade myself by a weak 
 adulation, and not to honour the memory of a great man, to 
 deny that he wanted something of the vigilance and spirit of 
 command, that the time required. Indeed, a darkness, next 
 to the fog of this awful day, loured over the whole region. 
 For a little time the helm appeared abandoned — 
 
 Ipse diem noctemque negat discernere coslo. 
 Nee meminisse vice medid PaliJiurus in undd. 
 
 At that time I was connected with men of high place in 
 the community. They loved liberty as much as the Duke of 
 Bedford can do ; and they understood it at least as well. 
 Perhaps their politics, as usual, took a tincture from their 
 character, and they cultivated what they loved. The liberty 
 they pursued was a liberty inseparable from order, from 
 virtue,^ from morals, and from religion; and was neither 
 hypocritically nor fanatically followed. They did not wish, 
 that liberty, in itself one of the first of blessings, should in 
 its perversion become the greatest curse which could fall 
 upon mankind. To preserve the constitution entire, and \ 
 practically equal to all the great ends of its formation, not j 
 in one single part, but in all its parts, was to them the first ' 
 object. Popularity and power they regarded alike. These 
 were with them only different means of obtaining that ob- 
 ject ; and had no preference over each other in their minds, 
 but as one or the other might afford a surer or a less certain 
 prospect of arriving at that end. It is some consolation to 
 me in the cheerless gloom, which darkens the evening of my 
 life, that with them I commenced my political career, and 
 never for a moment, in reality, nor in appearance, for any 
 length of time, was separated from their good wishes and 
 good opinion. 
 
 By what accident it matters.not, nor upon what desert, 
 
118 A LETTER TO A TfOBLE LOED. 
 
 but just then, and in the midst of that hunt of obloquj, 
 which ever has pursued me with a full cry through life, I 
 had obtained a very considerable degree of public confidence. 
 X know well enough how equivocal a test this kind of popular 
 opinion forms of the merit that obtained it. I am no strangei 
 to the insecurity of its tenure. I do not boast of it. It is 
 mentioned to show, not how highly I prize the thing, but 
 my right to value the use I made of it. I endeavoured to 
 turn that short-lived advantage to myself into a permanent 
 benefit to my country. Far am I from detracting from the 
 merit of some gentlemen, out of office or in it, on that occa- 
 sion. No ! — It is not my way to refuse a full and heaped 
 measure of justice to the aids that I receive. I have, through 
 life, been willing to give everything to others ; and to re- 
 serve nothing for myself, but the inward conscience, that I 
 had omitted no pains to discover, to animate, to discipline, 
 to direct the abilities of the country for its service, and to 
 place them in the best light to improve their age, or to adorn 
 it. This conscience I have. I have never suppressed any 
 man ; never checked him for a moment in his course, by any 
 jealousy, or by any policy. I was always ready, to the height 
 of my means, (and they were always infinitely below my de- 
 sires,) to forward those abilities which overpowered my ovm. 
 He is an ill- furnished undertaker, who has no machinery but 
 his own hands to work with. Poor in my own faculties, I 
 ever thought myself rich in theirs. In that period of diffi- 
 culty and danger, more especially, I consulted, and sincerely 
 co-operated with, men of all parties, who seemed disposed to 
 the same ends, or to any main part of them. Nothing to 
 prevent disorder was omitted : when it appeared, nothing to 
 subdue it was left uncounselled, nor unexecuted, as far as I 
 could prevail. At the time I speak of, and having a moment- 
 ary lead, so aided and so encouraged, and as a feeble instru- 
 ment in a mighty hand — I do not say I saved my country ; 
 I am sure I did my country important service. There were 
 few, indeed, that did not at that time acknowledge it, and 
 that time was thirteen years ago. It was but one voice, that 
 no man in the kingdom better deserved an honourable pro- 
 vision should be made for him. 
 
 So much for my general conduct through the whole of the 
 portentous crisis from 1780 to 1782, and the general sense 
 
A LETTEB TO A NOBLE LOED. 119 
 
 then entertained of that conduct by my country. But mr 
 character, as a reformer, in the particular instances whicL 
 the Duke of Bedford refers to, is so connected in principle 
 with my opinions on the hideous changes, which have since 
 barbarized France, and, spreading thence, threaten the poli- 
 tical and moral order of the whole world, that it seems tc 
 demand something of a more detailed discussion. 
 
 My economical reforms were not, as his Grace may think, 
 the suppression of a paltry pension or employment, more or 
 less. Economy in my plans was, as it ought to be, secondary, 
 subordinate, instrumental. I acted on state principles. I 
 found a great distemper in the commonwealth ; and, accord- 
 ing to the nature of the evil and of the object, I treated it. 
 The malady was deep ; it was complicated, in the causes and 
 in the symptoms. Throughout it was full of contra-indicants. 
 On one hand government, daily growing more invidious from 
 an apparent increase of the means of strength, was every 
 day growing more contemptible by real weakness. 'Nov was 
 this dissolution confined to government commonly so called. 
 It extended to parliament ; which was losing not a little in 
 its dignity and estimation, by an opinion of its not acting 
 on worthy motives. On the other hand, the desires of the 
 people (partly natural and partly infused into them by art) 
 appeared in so wild and inconsiderate a manner, with regard 
 to the economical object, (for I set aside for a moment the 
 dreadful tampering with the body of the constitution itself,) 
 that, if their petitions had literally been complied with, the 
 state would have been convulsed; and a gate would have 
 been opened, through which all property might be sacked 
 and ravaged. Nothing could have saved the public from 
 the mischiefs of the false reform but its absurdity ; which 
 would soon have brought itself, and with it all real reform, 
 into discredit. This would have left a rankling wound in the 
 liearts of the people, who would know they had failed in the 
 accomplishment of their wishes, but who, like the rest of 
 mankind in all ages, would impute the blame to anything 
 rather than to their own proceedings. But there were then 
 persons in the world, who nourished complaint ; and would 
 have been thoroughly disappointed if the people were ever 
 satisfied. I was not of that humour. I wished that they 
 thould be satisfied. It was mj aim to give to the people the 
 
^-^ -A- I-ETTER TO A NOBLE LORD. 
 
 Bubstance of what I knew they desired, and what I thouo^ht 
 ^^j-^^'^j 'Z'^^^^'®'' *^^^ desired it or not, before it had been 
 modified for them into senseless petitions. I knew that 
 there is a manifest, marked distinction, which ill men with 
 ill designs, or weak men incapable of any design, will con- 
 stantly be confounding, that is, a marked distinction between 
 change and reformation. The former alters the substance of 
 the objects themselves; and gets rid of all their essential 
 good, as well as of aU the accidental evil, annexed to them. 
 Change is novelty ; and whether it is to operate any one ol 
 the eftects of reformation at all, or whether it may not con- 
 tradict the very principle upon which reformation is desired, 
 cannot be certainly known beforehand. Eeform is, not a 
 change m the substance, or in the primary modification, of 
 the object, but, a direct application of a remedy to the griev- 
 ance complained of. So far as that is removed, all is sure. 
 It stops there ; and, if it fails, the substance which under- 
 went the operation, at the very worst, is but where it was. 
 
 All this, in effect, I think, but am not sure, I have said 
 elsewhere. It cannot at this time be too often repeated ; 
 line upon line ; precept upon precept ; until it comes into 
 tlie currency of a proverb, toinnovate.is not to reform. The 
 \ ± rench revolutionists complained of everything ; they refused 
 to reform anything ; and they left nothing, no, nothing at aU 
 y,nchanged. The consequences are before us,— not in remote 
 history ; not in future prognostication : they are about us • 
 they are upon us. They shake the public security ; they 
 menace private enjoyment. They dwarf the growth of the 
 young ; they break the quiet of the old. If we travel they 
 stop our way. They infest us in town ; they pursue us to 
 the country. Our business is interrupted; our repose is 
 troubled ; our pleasures are saddened ; our very studies are 
 poisoned and perverted, and knowledge is rendered worse 
 than Ignorance, by the enormous evils of this dreadful in- 
 novation. The revolution harpies of Trance, sprung from 
 night and hell, or from that chaotic anarchy, which generates 
 equivocaUy "all monstrous, all prodigious things," cuckoo- 
 like, adulterously lay their eggs, and brood over, and hatch 
 them m the nest of every neighbouring state. These obscene 
 harpies, who deck themselves in I know not what divine at- 
 tributes, but who in reality are foul and ravenous birds of 
 
A LETTER TO A ^OBLE LOED. 121 
 
 prey, (both mothers and daughters,) flutter over our heads, 
 and souse down upon our tables, and leave nothing unrent, 
 unrifled, unravaged, or unpolluted with the slime of their 
 filthy offal.i 
 
 If his Grace can contemplate the result of this complete 
 innovation, or, as some friends of his will call it, reform, in 
 the whole body of its solidity and compounded mass, at which, 
 as Hamlet says, the face of heaven glows with horror and in- 
 dignation, and which, in truth, makes every reflecting mind, 
 and every feeling heart, perfectly thought-sick, without a 
 thorough abhorrence of everything they say, and everything 
 they do, I am amazed at the morbid strength or the natural 
 infirmity of his mind. 
 
 1^ was then not my love, but my hatred, to innovation, 
 that produced my. plan of reform. Without troubling my- 
 self with the exactness of the logical diagram, I considered 
 them as things substantially opposite. It was to prevent 
 that evil, that I proposed the measures, which his Grace is 
 pleased, and I am not sorry he is pleased, to recall to my re- 
 collection. I had (what I hope that noble duke will re- 
 member in all its operations) a state to preserve, as well as a 
 state to reform. I had a people to gratify, but not to in- 
 flame, or to mislead. I do not claim half the credit for what 
 I did, as for what I prevented from being done. In that 
 situation of the public mind, I did not undertake, as was 
 then proposed, to new-model the House of Commons or the 
 House of Lords ; or to change the authority under which 
 any officer of the Crown acted, who was suffered at all to 
 exist. Crown, Lords, Commons, judicial system, system of 
 
 ' Tristius baud illis monstrum, nee saevior ulla 
 Pestis, et ira Deum Stygiis sese extulit \indis. 
 Virginei volucrum vultus ; faedissima ventris 
 Proluvies ; uncaeque manus ; et pallida semper 
 Ora fame 
 
 Here the poet "breaks the line, because he (and that he is Virgil) had not 
 verse or language to describe that monster even as he had conceived her. 
 Had he lived in our time, he would have been more overpowered with the 
 reality than he was with the imagination. Virgil only knew the horror of 
 the times before him. Had he lived to see the revolutionists and con- 
 stitutionalists 0. France, he would have had more horrid and disgusting 
 features of his harpies to aescribe, and more frequent failures in the at- 
 tempt to describe them. 
 
122 k LETTER TO A KOBLE LOED. 
 
 administration, existed as they had existed before ; and in 
 the mode and manner in which they had always existed. 
 My measures were, what I then truly stated them to the 
 House to be, in their intent, healing and mediatorial. A 
 complaint was made of too much influence in the House of 
 Commons ; I reduced it in both Houses ; and I gave my 
 reasons article by article for every reduction, and showed 
 why I thought it safe for the service of the state. I heaved 
 the lead every inch of way I made. A disposition to expense 
 was complained of; to that I opposed, not mere retrench- 
 ment, but a system of economy, which would make a random 
 expense, without plan or foresight, in future not easily 
 practicable. I proceeded upon principles of research to put 
 me in possession of my matter ; on principles of method to 
 regulate it ; and on principles in the human mind and in civil 
 aflairs to secure and perpetuate the operation. I conceived 
 nothing arbitrarily ; nor proposed anything to be done by 
 the will and pleasure of others, or my own ; but by reason, 
 and by reason only. I have ever abhorred, since the first 
 dawn of my understanding to this its obscure twilight, all 
 the operations of opinion, fancy, inclination, and will, in the 
 affairs of government, where only a sovereign reason, para- 
 mount to all forms of legislation and administration, should 
 dictate. Government is made for the very purpose of oppos- 
 ing that reason to will and caprice, in the reformers or in the 
 reformed, in the governors or in the governed, in kings, in 
 senates, or in people. 
 
 On a careful review, therefore, and analysis, of all the 
 component parts of the civil list, and on weighing them 
 against each other, in order to make, as much as possible, all 
 of them a subject of estimate, (the foundation and corner- 
 stone of all regular provident economy,) it appeared to me 
 evident, that this was impracticable, whilst that part, called 
 the pension list, was totally discretionary in its amount. 
 For this reason, and for this only, I proposed to reduce it, 
 both in its gross quantity, and in its larger individual pro- 
 portions, to a certainty ; lest, if it were left without a general 
 limit, it might eat up the civil-list service ; if sufl'ered to be 
 granted in portions too great for the fund, it might defeat 
 its own end ; and, by unlimited allowances to some, it might 
 disable the Crown in means of providing for others. The 
 
A LETTER TO A NOBLE LOED. 123 
 
 pension list was to be kept as a sacred fund ; but it could 
 not be kept as a constant, open fund, sufficient for growing 
 demands, if some demands would wholly devour it. The 
 tenor of the act will show that it regarded the civil list ow/y, 
 the reduction of which to some sort of estimate was my great 
 object. 
 
 No other of the Crown funds did I meddle with, because 
 they had not the same relations. This of the four and a 
 half per cents, does his G-race imagine had escaped me, or 
 had escaped all the men of business, who acted with me in 
 those regulations ? I knew that such a fund existed, and 
 that pensions had been always granted on it, before his 
 Grace was born. This fund was full in my eye. It was full 
 in the eyes of those who worked with me. It was left on 
 principle. On principle I did what was then done ; and on 
 principle what was left undone was omitted. I did not dare 
 to rob the nation of all funds to reward merit. K I pressed 
 this point too close, I acted contrary to the avowed principles 
 on which I went. Grentlemen are very fond of quoting me ; 
 but if any one thinks it worth liis while to know the rules 
 that guided me in my plan of reform, he will read my printed 
 speech on that subject ; at least what is contained from page 
 230 to page 241 in the second volume of the collection which 
 a iriend has given himself the trouble to make of my publica- 
 tions. Be this as it may, these two bills, (though achieved 
 with the greatest labour, and management of every sort, both 
 within and without the House,) were only a part, and but a 
 small part, of a very large system, comprehending all the ob- 
 jects I stated in opening my proposition, and, indeed, many 
 more, which I just hinted at in my speech to the electors of 
 Bristol, when I was put out of that representation. All 
 these, in some state or other of forwardiiess, I have long 
 had by me. 
 
 But do I justify his Majesty's grace on these grounds ? I 
 think them the least of my services ! The time gave them 
 an occasional value. What I have done in the way of politi- 
 cal economy was far from confined to this body of measures. 
 I did not come into parliament to con my lesson. I had 
 earned my pension before I set my foot in St. Stephen's 
 chapel. I was prepared and disciplined to this political 
 warfare. The first session I sat in parliament, 1 found it 
 
124 A LJITTEH TO A KOBLE LOED. 
 
 necessary to anal^^ze the whole commercial, financial, con- 
 Btitutional, and foreign interests of Great Britain and its 
 empire. A great deal was then done ; and more, far more, 
 would have been done, if more had been permitted by events. 
 Then, in the vigour of my manhood, my constitution sunk 
 under my labour. Had I then died, (and I seemed to myself 
 very near death,) I had then earned for those who belonged 
 to me, more than the Duke of Bedford's ideas of service are 
 of power to estimate. But, in truth, these services I am 
 called to account for are not those on which I value myself 
 the most. If I were to call for a reward, (which I have 
 never done,) it should be for those in which for fourteen 
 years, without intermission, I showed the most industry, and 
 had the least success ; I mean in the affairs of India. They 
 are those on which I value myself the most ; most for the 
 importance ; most for the labour ; most for the judgment ; 
 most for constancy and perseverance in the pursuit. Others 
 may value them most for the intention. In that, surely, they 
 are not mistaken. 
 
 Does his Grace think, that they, who advised the Crown 
 to make my retreat easy, considered me only as an economist ? 
 That, well understood, however, is a good deal. If I had not 
 deemed it of some value, I should not have made political 
 economy an object of my humble studies, from my very early 
 youth to near the end of my service in parliament, even be- 
 fore (at least to any knowledge of mine) it had employed the 
 thoughts of speculative men in other parts of Europe. At 
 that time it was still in its infancy in England, where, in the 
 last century, it had its origin. Great and learned men thought 
 my studies were not wholly thrown away, and deigned to 
 communicate with me now and then on some particulars of 
 their immortal works. Something of these studies may ap- 
 pear incidentally in some of the earliest things I published. 
 The House has been witness to their effect, and has profited 
 of them more or less for above eight and twenty years. 
 
 To their estimate I leave the matter. T was not, like his 
 Grace of Bedford, swaddled, and rocked, and dandled into a 
 legislator; '^ JVitor in adversu?n'^ is the motto for a man like 
 me. I possessed not one of the qualities, nor cultivated one 
 of the arts, that recommend men to the favour and protec- 
 tion of the great. I was not made for a minion or a tool 
 
A LETTEE TO A 50BLE LORD. 125 
 
 As little did I follow the trade of winning the hearts, by im- 
 posing on the understandings, of the people. At everj' step 
 of my progress in life, (for in every step was I traversed and 
 opposed,) and at every turnpike I met, I was obliged to show 
 my passport, and again and again to prove my sole title to 
 the honour of being useful to my country, by a proof that I 
 was not wholly unacquainted with its laws, and the whole 
 system of its interests both abroad and at home. Otherwise 
 no rank, no toleration, even for me. I had no arts but 
 manly arts. On them I have stood, and, please God, in 
 spit€ of the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale, to 
 the last gasp w-ill I stand. 
 
 Had his Grrace condescended to inquire concerning the 
 person, whom he has not thought it below him to reproach, 
 he might have found, that, in the whole course of my life, I 
 have never, on any pretence of economy, or on any other 
 pretence, so much as in a single instance, stood between any 
 man and his reward of service, or his encouragement in use- 
 ful talent and pursuit, from the highest of those services and 
 pursuits to the lowest. On the contrary I have, on an 
 hundred occasions, exerted myself with singular zeal to for- 
 ward every man's even tolerable pretensions. I have more 
 than once had good-natured reprehensions from my friends 
 for carrying the matter to something bordering on abuse. 
 This line of conduct, whatever its merits might be, was partly 
 owing to natural disposition ; but I think full as much to 
 reason and principle. I looked on the consideration of 
 public service, or public ornament, to be real and very 
 justice : and I ever held a scanty and penurious justice to 
 partake of the nature of a wrong. I held it to be, in its 
 consequences, the worst economy in the world. In saving 
 money, I soon can count up all the good I do ; but when, 
 by a cold penury, 1 blast the abilities of a nation, and stunt 
 tlie growth of its active energies, the ill I may do is beyond 
 all calculation. Whether it be too much or too little, what- 
 ever I have done has been general and systematic. I have 
 never entered into those trifling vexations, and oppressive 
 details, that have been falsely, and most ridiculously, laid to 
 my charge. 
 
 Did I blame the pensions given to Mr. Barre and Mr. 
 Dunning between the proposition and execution of my plan ? 
 
126 A LETTEE TO A NOBLE LOED. 
 
 No ! surely no ! Those pensions were within my principles. 
 I assert it, those gentlemen deserved their pensions, their 
 titles — all they had ; and more had they had, I should have 
 been but pleased the more. They were men of talents ; they 
 were men of service. I put the profession of the law out of 
 the question in one of them. It is a service that rewards it- 
 self. But their public service, though, from their abilities 
 unquestionably of more value than mine, in its quantity and 
 its duration was not to be mentioned with it. But I never 
 could drive a hard bargain in my life, concerning any matter 
 whatever ; and least of all do I know how to haggle and 
 huckster with merit. Pension for myself I obtained none ; 
 nor did I solicit any. Yet I was loaded with hatred for 
 everything that was withheld^ and with obloquy for every- 
 thing that was given. I was thus left to support the grants 
 of a name ever dear to me, and ever venerable to the world, 
 in favour of those, who were no friends of mine or of his, 
 against the rude attacks of those who were at that time 
 friends to the grantees, and their own zealous partisans. I 
 have never heard the Earl of Lauderdale complain of these 
 pensions. He finds nothing wrong till he comes to me. 
 This is impartiality, in the true, modern, revolutionary 
 style. 
 
 Whatever I did at that time, so far as it regarded order 
 and economy, is stable and eternal ; as all principles must 
 be. A particular order of things may be altered ; order it- 
 self cannot lose its value. As to other particulars, they are 
 variable by time and by circumstances. Laws of regulation 
 are not fundamental laws. The public exigencies are tlie 
 masters of all such laws. They rule the laws, and are not to 
 be ruled by them. They who exercise the legislative power 
 at the time must judge. 
 
 It may be new to his Grace, but I beg leave to tell him, 
 that mere parsimony is not economy. It is separable iu 
 theory from it ; and in fact it may, or it may not, be a part 
 of economy, according to circumstances. Expense, and great 
 expense, may be an essential part in true economy. If par- 
 simony were to be considered as one of the kinds of that 
 virtue, there is however another and a higher economy. 
 Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving, 
 but in selection. Parsimony requires no providence, nc 
 
A LETTEE TO A NOBLE LORD. 127 
 
 Bagacity, no powers of combination, no comparison, no judg- 
 ment. Mere instinct, and that not an instinct of the noblest 
 kind, may produce this false economy in perfection. The 
 other economy has larger views. It demands a discriminat- 
 ing judgment, and a firm, sagacious mind. It shuts one 
 door to impudent importunity, only to open another, and a 
 wider, to unpresuming merit. If none but meritorious 
 service or real talent were to be rewarded, this nation has 
 not wanted, and this nation will not want, the means of re- 
 warding all the service it ever will receive, and encouraging 
 all the merit it ever will produce. ISo state, since the 
 foundation of society, has been impoverished by that species 
 of profusion. Had the economy of selection and proportion 
 been at all times observed, we should not now have had an 
 overgrown Duke of Bedford, to oppress the industry of 
 bumble men, and to limit, by the standard of his own con- 
 ceptions, the justice, the bounty, or, if he pleases, the charity 
 of the Crown. 
 
 His Grace may think as meanly as he will of my deserts 
 in the far greater part of my conduct in life. It is free for 
 him to do so. There ^vill always be some difference of opinion 
 in the value of political services. But there is one merit of 
 mine, which he, of all men living, ought to be the last to call 
 in question. Ihave supported with very great zeal, and I 
 am told with some degree of success, those opinions, or if hia 
 Grace likes another expression better, those old prejudices, 
 which buoy up the ponderous mass of his nobility, wealth 
 and titles. I have omitted no exertion to prevent him and 
 them from sinking to that level, to which the meretricious 
 French faction, his Grace at least coquets with, omit no 
 exertion to reduce both. I have done all I could to dis- 
 countenance their inquiries into the fortunes of those, who 
 hold large portions of wealth without any apparent merit of 
 their own. I have strained every nerve to keep the Duke of 
 Bedford in that situation, which alone makes him my superior. 
 Your Lordship has been a witness of the use he makes oi 
 that pre-eminence. 
 
 But be it, that this is virtue ! Be it, that there is virtue 
 in this well-selected rigour ; yet all virtues are not equally 
 becoming to all men and at all times. There are crimes, 
 undoubtedly there are crimes, which in all seasons of our ex« 
 
128 A LETTER TO A NOBLE LOED. 
 
 istence, ouglit to put a generous antipatliy in action ; crimes 
 that provoke an indignant justice, and call forth a warm and 
 animated pursuit. But all things that concern, what I may 
 call, the preventive police of morality, all things merely 
 rigid, harsh, and censorial, the antiquated moralists, at whose 
 feet I was brought up, would not have thought these the 
 fittest matter to form the favourite virtues of young men of 
 rank. What might have been well enough, and have been 
 received with a veneration mixed with awe and terror, from 
 an old, severe, crabbed Cato, w^ould have wanted something 
 of propriety in the young Scipios, the ornament of the Eoman 
 nobility, in the flower of their life. But the times, the morals, 
 the masters, the scholars, have all undergone a thorough »e- 
 volution. It is a vile illiberal school, this new French 
 academy of the sans culottes. There is nothing in it that i« 
 fit for a gentleman to learn. 
 
 Whatever its vogue may be, I still flatter myself, that the 
 parents of the growing generation will be satisfied with what 
 is to be taught to their children in Westminster, in Eton, or 
 in Winchester: I still indulge the hope that no grown 
 gentleman or nobleman of our time will think of finishing at 
 Mr. Thelwall's lecture Avhatever may have been left incom- 
 plete at the old universities of his country. I would give to 
 Lord Grenville and Mr. Pitt for a motto, what was said of a 
 Roman censor or praetor (or what was he ?) who, in virtue of 
 a Senatus consultum, shut up certain academies, 
 
 " Cludere ludum impudentia Jussit.'* 
 
 Every honest father of a family in the kingdom will rejoice 
 at the breaking up for the holidays, and will pray that there 
 may be a very long vacation in all such schools. 
 
 The awful state of the time, and not myself, or my o\nti 
 justification, is my true object in what I now write ; or in 
 what I shall ever write or say. It little signifies to the 
 world what becomes of such things as me, or even as the 
 Duke of Bedford. What I say about either of us is nothing 
 more than a vehicle, as you, my Lord, will easily perceive, to 
 ^nvey my sentiments on matters far more worthy of your 
 attention. It is when I stick to my apparent first subject 
 that I ought to apologize, not when I depart from it. I 
 therefore must beg your Lordship)' s pardon for again resuin 
 
A LETTER TO A yOBLE LORD. 129 
 
 mg it after this very short digression ; assuring you that I 
 shall never altogether lose sight of such matter as persons 
 abler than I am may turn to some profit. 
 
 The Duke of Bedford conceives, that he is obliged to call 
 the attention of the House of Peers to his Majesty's grant 
 to me, which he considers as excessive, and out of all bounds. 
 
 I know not how it has happened, but it really seems, that, 
 whilst his Grace was meditating his well-considered censure 
 upon me, he fell into a sort of sleep. Homer nods ; and the 
 Duke of Bedford may dream ; and as dreams (even his 
 golden dreams) are apt to be ill-pieced and incongruously 
 put together, his G-race preserved his idea of reproach to me, 
 but took the subject-matter from the Crown grants to his 
 own family. This is " the stuff of which his dreams are 
 made." In that way of putting things together his Grrace is 
 perfectly in the right. The grants to the house of Russell 
 were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even 
 to stagger credibility. The Duke of Bedford is the leviathan 
 among all the creatures of the Crown. He tumbles about 
 his unwieldy bulk ; he plays and frolics in the ocean of the 
 royal bounty. Huge as he is, and whilst " he lies floating 
 many a rood," he. is still a creature. His ribs, his fins, his 
 whalebone, his blubber, the very spiracles through which he 
 spouts a torrent of brine against his origin, and covers me 
 all over with the spray, — everything of him and about liim 
 is from the throne. Is it for him to question the dispensa- 
 tion of the royal favour ? 
 
 I really am at a loss to draw any sort of parallel between 
 the public merits of his Grace, by which he justifies the 
 grants he holds, and these services of mine, on the favour- 
 able construction of which I have obtained what his Grace 
 BO much disapproves. In private life, I have not at all the 
 honour of acquaintance with the noble Duke. But I ought 
 to presume, and it costs me nothing to do so, that he abund- 
 antly deserves the esteem and love of all who live with him. 
 But as to public service, why truly it would not be more ri- 
 diculous for me to compare myself in rank, in fortune, in 
 splendid descent, in youth, strength, or figure, with the Duke 
 of Bedford, than to make a parallel between his services and 
 my attempts to be useful to my country. It would not be 
 gross adidation, but uncivil irony, to say, that he has any 
 
130 A LETTER TO A XOBLr, LOED. 
 
 public merit of his own to keep alive the idea of the services, 
 by which his vast landed pensions were obtained. My 
 merits, whatever they are, are original and personal ; his are 
 derivative. It is his ancestor, the original pensioner, that 
 has laid up this inexhaustible fund of merit, which makes 
 his Grace so very delicate and exceptions about the merit 
 of all other grantees of the Crown. Had he permitted me 
 to remain in quiet, I should have said, 'tis his estate ; that's 
 enough. It is his by law ; what have I to do with it or 
 its history ? He would naturally have said on his side, 'tis 
 this man's fortune. — He is as good now as my ancestor was 
 two hundred and fifty years ago. I am a young man with 
 very old pensions ; he is an old man with very young pen- 
 sions, — that's all. 
 
 Why will his Grrace, by attacking me, force me reluctant- 
 ly to compare my little merit with that which obtained from 
 the Crown those prodigies of profuse donation, by which he 
 tramples on the mediocrity of humble and laborious indi- 
 viduals ? I would willingly leave him to the herald's college, 
 which the philosophy of the sans culottes (prouder by fur 
 than all the Garters, and Norroys, and Clarencieux, and 
 E-ouge Dragons, that ever pranced in a procession of what 
 his friends call aristocrats and despots) will abolish with con- 
 tumely and scorn. These historians, recorders, and blazoners 
 of virtues and arms, differ whollyfrom that other description of 
 historians, who never assign any act of politicians to a good 
 motive. These gentle historians, on the contrary, dip their 
 pens in nothing but the milk of human kindness. They 
 seek no further for merit than the preamble of a patent, 
 or the inscription on a tomb. AVith them every man cre- 
 ated a peer is first a hero ready made. They judge of 
 every man's capacity for office by the offices he has filled ; 
 and the more offices the more ability. Every general officer 
 Avith them is a Marlborough ; every statesman a Burleigh ; 
 every judge a Murray or a Yorke. They who, alive, were 
 laughed at or pitied by all their acquaintance, make as good a 
 figure as the best of them in the pages of Guillim, Edmond- 
 6on, and Collins. 
 
 To these recorders, so full of good nature to the great 
 and prosperous, I would willingly leave the first Baron Kus- 
 eell^ and Earl of Bedford, and the merits cf his grants. 
 
A LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD. 131 
 
 But the aulnager, the weigher, the meter of grants, will not 
 suffer us to acquiesce in the judgment of the prince reigning 
 at the time when they were made. They are never good to 
 those who earn them. Well then ; since the new grantees have 
 war made on them by the old, and that the word of the sove- 
 reign is not to be taken, h t us turn our eyes to history, in 
 which great men have always a pleasure in contemplating the 
 heroic origin of their house. 
 
 The first peer of the name, the first purchaser of the 
 grants, was a3Ir. Eussell, a person of an ancient gentleman's 
 family raised by being a minion of Henry the Eighth. As 
 there generally is some resemblance of character to create 
 these relations, the favourite was in all likelihood mucli 
 such another as his master. The iirst of those immoderate 
 grants was not taken from the ancient demesne of the Crown, 
 but from the recent confiscation of the ancient nobility of 
 the land. The lion having sucked the blood of his prey, 
 threw the ofial carcass to the jackal in waiting. Having 
 tasted once the food of confiscation, the favourites became 
 tierce and ravenous. This worthy favourite's first grant 
 was from the lay nobility. The second, infinitely improving 
 on the enormity of the first, was from the plunder of the 
 church. In truth his Grace is somewhat excusable for his 
 dislike to a grant like mine, not only in its quantity, but in 
 its kind so difterent from his own. _ 
 
 * Mine was from a mild and benevolent sovereign ; his from J 
 Henry the Eighth. 
 ^ Mine had not its fund in the murder of any innocent 
 person of illustrious rank,^ or in the pillage of any body of 
 unoffending men. His grants were from the aggregate and 
 consolidated funds of judgments iniquitously legal, and from 
 possessions voluntarily surrendered by the lawful proprietors, 
 with the gibbet at their door. 
 
 The merit of the grantee whom he derives from was 
 that of being a prompt and greedy instrument of a levelling 
 tyrant, who oppressed all descriptions of his people, but 
 who fell with particular fury on everything that was great 
 and noble. Mine has been, in endeavouring to screen every 
 man, in every class, from oppression, and particularly in 
 
 * See the history of the melancholy catastrophe of the Duke of Buck* 
 inghain. Temp. Hen. 8. 
 
 1L 9 
 
132 A LETTER TO A Is'OBLE LORD. 
 
 defending the high and eminent, who in the bad times of con- 
 fiscating princes, confiscating chief governors, or confiscating 
 demagogues, are the most exposed to jealousy, avarice, and 
 envy. 
 
 The merit of the original grantee of his Grace's pensions 
 was in giving his hand to the work and partaking the spoil 
 with a prince, who plundered a part of the national church 
 of his time and country. Mine was in defending the whole 
 of the national church of my own time and my own country, 
 and the whole of the national churches of all countries, from 
 the principles and the examples which lead to ecclesiastical 
 pillage, thence to a contempt of all prescriptive title*, 
 thence to the pillage of all property, and thence to universal 
 desolation. 
 
 The merit of the origin of his Grace's fortune was in 
 being a favourite and chief adviser to a prince, who left no 
 liberty to their native country. My endeavour was to obtain 
 liberty for the municipal country in which I was born, and 
 for all descriptions and denominations in it. Mine was to 
 support with unrelaxing vigilance every right, every privi- 
 lege, every franchise, in this my adopted, my dearer, and 
 more comprehensive country ; and not only to preserve 
 those rights in this chief seat of empire, but in every nation, 
 in every land, in every climate, language, and religion, in the 
 vast domain that is still under the protection, and the larger 
 that was once under the protection, of the British Crown. 
 
 His founder's merits were, by arts in which he served his 
 master and made his fortune, to bring poverty, wretched- 
 
 rness, and depopulation on his country. Mine were, under a 
 benevolent p rince^ iii promoting the commerce, manufactures, 
 and agriculture of his kingdom ; in which liis Majesty showa 
 an eminent example, who even in his amusements is a patriot, 
 and in hours of leisure an improver of his native soil. 
 
 His founder's merit was the merit of a gentleman raised 
 by the arts of a court, and the protection of a Wolsey, to 
 the eminence of a great and potent lord. His merit in that 
 eminence was, by instigating a tyrant to injustice, to provoke 
 a people to rebellion. My merit was, to awaken the sober 
 part of the country, that they might put themselves on 
 their guard against any one potent lord, or any greater num- 
 ber of potent lords, or any combination of great leading 
 
A LETTER TO k NOBLE LOED. 133 
 
 men of any sort, if ever they should attempt to proceed in 
 the same courses, but in the reverse order ; that is, by in- 
 stigating a corrupted populace to rebellion, and, through that 
 rebellion, introducing a tj-ranny yet worse than the tyranny 
 which his Grace's ancestor supported, and of which he pro- 
 fited in the manner we behold in the despotism of Henry the 
 Eighth. 
 
 The poKtical merit of the first pensioner of his Grace's 
 house was that of being concerned as a counsellor of state in 
 advising, and in his person executing, the conditions of a 
 dishonourable peace with France; the surrendering the 
 fortress of Boulogne, then our out-guard on the continent. 
 By that surrender, Calais, the key of France, and the bridle 
 in the mouth of that power, was, not many years afterwards, 
 finally lost. My merit has been in resisting the power and 
 pride of France, under any form of its rule ; but in opposing 
 it with the greatest zeal and earnestness, when that rule ap- 
 peared in the worst form it could assume ; the worst indeed 
 which the prime cause and principle of all evil could possibly 
 give it. It was my endeavour by every means to excite a 
 spirit in the House where I had the honour of a seat, for 
 carrying on, with early vigour and decision, the most clearly 
 just and necessary war, that this or any nation ever carried 
 on ; in order to save my country from the iron yoke of its 
 power, and from the more dreadful contagion of its principles ; 
 to preserve, while they can be preserved, pure and untainted, 
 the ancient, inbred integrity, piety, good nature, and good 
 humour of the people of England, from the dreadful pestil- 
 ence, which, beginning in France, threatens to lay waste the 
 whole moral, and in a great degree the whole physical, world, 
 having done both in the focus of its most intense malignity. 
 
 The labours of his Grace's founder merited the curses, not 
 loud but deep, of the Commons of England, on whom he and 
 his master had effected a complete parliamentary reform, by 
 making them, in their slavery and humiliation, the true and 
 adequate representatives of a debased, degraded, and undone 
 people. My merits were, in having had an active, though 
 not alwavs an ostentatious, share, in every one act, without 
 exception, of undisputed constitutional utility in my time, 
 and in having supported, on all occasions, the authority, the 
 efficiency, and the privileges of the Commons of Great 
 
134 A LETTER TO A KOBLE LORD. 
 
 Britain. I ended mj services by a recorded and fully 
 reasoned assertion on their own journals of their constitu- 
 tional rights, and a vindication of their constitutional con- 
 duct. I laboured in all things to merit their inward appro- 
 bation, and (along with the assistance of the largest, the 
 s^reatest, and best of my endeavours) I received their free, 
 unbiassed, public, and solemn thanks. 
 
 Thus stands the account of the comparative merits of the 
 Crown grants which compose the Duke of Bedford's fortune 
 as balanced against mine. In the name of common sense, 
 why should the Duke of Bedford think, that none but of the 
 House of Russell are entitled to the favour of the Crown? 
 AV^hy should he imagine that no king of England has been 
 capable of judging of merit but King Henry the Eighth ? 
 Indeed, he will pardon me ; he is a little mistaken ; all virtue 
 did not end in the first Earl of Bedford. All discernment 
 did not lose its vision when his Creator closed his eyes. Let 
 him remit his rigour on the disproportion between merit and 
 reward in others, and they will make no inquiry into the 
 origin of his fortune. They will regard with much more 
 .satisfaction, as he will contemplate with infinitely more ad- 
 vantage, whatever in his pedigree has been dulcifted by an 
 exposure to the influence of heaven in a long flow of genera- 
 tions, from the hard, acidulous, metallic tincture of the 
 spring. It is little to be doubted, that several of his fore- 
 fathers in that long series have degenerated into honour and 
 ^ irtue. Let the Duke of Bedford (I am sure he will) reject 
 with scorn and horror the counsels of the lecturers, those 
 wicked panders to avarice and ambition, who would tempt 
 liim, in the troubles of his country, to seek another enormous 
 fortune from the forfeitures of another nobility, and the 
 plunder of another church. Let him (and I trust that yet 
 lie will) employ all the energy of his youth, and all the re- 
 i^ources of his wealth, to crush rebellious principles which 
 have no foundation in morals, and rebellious movements that 
 have no provocation in tyranny. 
 
 Then will be forgot the rebellions, which, by a doubtful 
 priority in crime, his ancestor had provoked and extinguished. 
 On such a conduct in the noble Duke, many of his country- 
 men might, and with some excuse might, give way to the 
 enthusiasm of their gratitude, and» in the dashing style of 
 
A LETTER TO A ^'^OBLE LOIiT). 133 
 
 some of the old deelaimers, cry out, that if the fates had 
 found no other ^yay in which thev couM give a' Duke of 
 Bedford and his opulence as props to a tottering world, then 
 the butchery of the Duke of Buckingham might be tolerated ; 
 it might be regarded even with complacency, whilst in the 
 heir of confiscation they saw the sympathizing comforter of 
 the martyrs, who suffer under the cruel confiscation of this 
 day ; whilst they behold with admiration his zealous protec- 
 tion of the virtuous and loyal nobility of France, and his 
 manly support of his brethren, the 3'et standing nobility and 
 gentry of his native land. Then his Grace's merit would be 
 pure, and new, and sharp, as fresh from the mint of honour. 
 As he pleased he might reflect honour on his predecessors, or 
 throw it forward on those who were to succeed him. He 
 might be the propagator of the stock of honour, or the root 
 of it, as he thought proper. 
 
 Had it pleased God to continue to me the hopes of succes- 
 sion, I should have been, according to my mediocrity, and 
 the mediocrity of the age 1 live in, a sort of founder of a 
 ^mily : I should have left a son, who, in all the points in 
 which personal merit can be viewed, in science, in erudition, 
 in genius, in taste, in honour, in generosity, in humanity, in 
 every liberal sentiment, and every liberal accomplishment, 
 would not have shown himself inferior to the Duke of Bed- 
 ^rd, or to any of those whom he traces in his line. His 
 Grace very soon would have wanted all plausibility in his 
 attack upon that provision which belonged more to mine 
 than to me. HE would soon have supplied every deficiency, 
 and symmetrized every disproportion. It would not have 
 been for that successor to resort to any stagnant wasting re- 
 servoir of merit in me, or in any ancestry. He had in him- 
 self a salient, living spring of generous and manly action. 
 Every day he lived he would have re-purchased the bounty of 
 the Crown, and ten times more, if ten times more he had re- 
 ceived. He was made a public creature ; and had no enjoy- 
 ment M'hatever, but in the performance of some duty. At 
 this exigent moment, the loss of a finished man is not easily 
 supplied. 
 
 But a Disposer whose power we are little able to resist, 
 and whose msdom it behoves us not at all to dispute, hsa 
 * ^t si D?n aliam venturo fata Neroni, &c. 
 
136 A tETTEE TO A XOBLE LOED. 
 
 ordained it in another manner, and (whatever my querulous 
 weakness might suggest) a far better. The storm has gone 
 over me ; and I lie like one of those old oaks which the late 
 hurricane has scattered about me. I am stripped of all my 
 honours, I am torn up by the roots, and lie prostrate on the 
 earth ! There, and prostrate there, I most unfeignedly re- 
 cogiuse the Divine justice, and in some degree submit to it. 
 But whilst I humble myself before Grod, I do not know that 
 it is forbidden to repel the attacks of unjust and inconsider- 
 ate men. The patience of Job is proverbial. After some of 
 the convulsive struggles of our irritable nature, he submitted 
 himself, and repented in dust and ashes. But even so, I do 
 not find him blamed for reprehending, and with a consider- 
 able degree of verbal asperity, those ill-natured neighbours of 
 his, who visited his dunghill to read moral, political, and 
 economical lectures on his misery. I am alone. I have none 
 to meet my enemies in the gate. Indeed, my Lord, I greatly 
 deceive myself, if in this hard season I would give a peck of 
 refuse wheat for all that is called fame and honour in the 
 world. This is the appetite but of a few. It is a luxury, it 
 is a privilege, it is an indulgence for those who are at their 
 ease. But we are all of us made to shun disgrace, as we are 
 made to shrink from pain, and poverty, and disease. It is 
 an instinct ; and under the direction of reason, instinct is 
 always in the right. I live in an inverted order. They who 
 ought to have succeeded me are gone before me. They who 
 should have been to me as posterity are in the place of an- 
 cestors. I owe to the dearest relation (which ever must 
 subsist in memory) that act of piety, which he would have 
 performed to me ; I owe it to him to show that he was not 
 descended, as the Duke of Bedford would have it, from an 
 unworthy parent. 
 
 The Crown has considered me after long service : the 
 Crown has paid the Duke of Bedford by advance. He has 
 had a long credit for any service which he may perform here- 
 after. He is secure, and long may he be secure, in his ad- 
 vance, whether he performs any services or not. But let 
 him take care how he endangers the safety of that constitu- 
 tion which secures his own utility or his own insignificance ; 
 or how he discourages those, who take up, even puny arms, 
 to defend an order of things, which, like the sun of heaven, 
 
A LETTEB TO A XOBLE LOED. 137 
 
 ihines alike on the useful and the worthless. H.s grants are 
 ingrafted on the public law of Europe, covered ^vith the 
 awful hoar of innumerable ages. They are guarded by the 
 sacred rules of prescription, found in that full treasury of 
 jurisprudence from which the jejuneness and penury of our 
 municipal law has, by degrees, been enriched and strength- 
 ened. This prescription I had my share (a very full share) 
 in bringing to its perfection.^ The Duke of Bedford will 
 stand as long as prescriptive law endures : as long as the 
 great stable laws of property, common to us with all civilized 
 nations, are kept in their integrity, and without the small- 
 est intermixture of laws, maxims, principles, or precedents 
 of the grand devolution. They are secure against all changes 
 but one. The whole revolutionary system, institutes, digest, 
 code, novels, text, gloss, comment, are, not only not the 
 same, but they are the very reverse, and the reverse funda- 
 mentally, of all the laws, on which civil life has hitherto 
 been upheld in all the governments of the world. The 
 learned professors of the rights of man regard prescription, 
 not as a title to bar all claim, set up against aU possession 
 — but they look on prescription as itself a bar against the 
 possessor and proprietor. They hold an immemorial posses- 
 sion to be no more than a long-continued, and therefore an 
 aggravated injustice. 
 
 Such are their ideas ; such their religion, and such their 
 law. But as to our country and our race, as long as the 
 well-compacted structure of our church and state, the sanc- 
 tuary, the holy of holies of that ancient law, defended by re- 
 verence, defended by power, a fortress at once and a temple,^ 
 shall stand inviolate on the brow of the British Sion — as 
 long as the British monarchy, not more limited than fenced 
 by the orders of the state, shall, like the proud Keep of 
 Windsor, rising in the majesty of proportion, and girt with 
 the double belt of its kindred and coeval towers, as long as 
 this awful structure shall oversee and guard the subjected 
 land — so long the mounds and dykes of the low, fat Bedford 
 level will have nothing to fear from all the pickaxes of all 
 tlie levellers of France. As long as our sovereign lord the 
 king, and his faithful subjects, the Lords and Commons of 
 
 Sir Geoi ge Savile's Act called The Nidlum Tempus Act. 
 Templum in modum arcit. Tacitus, of the Temple of JerusalesE. 
 
138 A LETTER TO A T^OBLE LORD. 
 
 this realm, — the triple cord, which no man can break ; the so- 
 lemn, sworn, constitutional frank-pledge of this nation; the 
 firm guarantees of each other's being, and each other's rights ; 
 the joint and several securities, each in its place and order, 
 for every kind and every quality, of property and of dignity ; 
 — as long as these endure, so long the Duke of Bedford is 
 safe : and we are all safe together — the high from the 
 blights of envy and the spoliations of rapacity ; the low from 
 the iron hand of oppression and the insolent spurn of con- 
 tempt. Amen ! and so be it : and so it will be, 
 
 Dum domus JEnecB Capitoli immobile saxiim 
 Accolet; imperiumque pater Romamis habebit. — 
 
 But if the rude inroad of G-allic tumult, with its sophis- 
 tical rights of man, to falsify the account, and its sword as a 
 make-weight to throw into the scale, shall be introduced in- 
 to our city by a misguided populace, set on by proud great 
 men, themselves blinded and intoxicated by a frantic ambi- 
 tion, we shall, all of us, perish and be overwhelmed in a com- 
 mon ruin. If a great storm blow on our coast, it will cast 
 the whales on the strand as well as the periwinkles. His 
 Grrace will not survive the poor grantee lie despises, no, not 
 for a twelvemonth. If the great look for safety in the ser- 
 vices they render to this Grallic cause, it is to be foolish, even 
 above the weiglit of privilege allowed to wealth. If his 
 G-race be one of these whom they endeavour to prose- 
 lytize, he ought to be aware of the character of the sect, 
 whose doctrines he is invited to embrace. With them insur- 
 rection is the most sacred of revolutionary duties to the 
 state. Ingratitude to benefactors is the first of revolu- 
 tionary virtues. Ingratitude is indeed their four cardinal 
 virtues compacted "and amalgamated into one; and he will 
 find it in everything that has happened since the commence- 
 ment of the philosophic Revolution to this hour. If he 
 pleads the merit of having performed the duty of insurrec- 
 tion against the order he lives, (Grod forbid he ever should,) 
 the merit of others will be to perform the duty of insurrec- 
 tion against him. If he pleads (again God forbid he sliould, 
 and I do not suspect he will) his ingratitude to the Crown 
 for its creation of his family, others will plead their right 
 and duty to pay him in kind. They will laugh, indeed thev 
 will laugb, at his parchment and his wax. His deeds wiU 
 
A LETTEB TO A HOBLE LORD. 139 
 
 be drawn out \vith the rest of the lumber of his evidence 
 room, and burnt to the tune of ga ira in the courts of Bed- 
 ford (then Equality) house. 
 
 Am I to blame, if I attempt to pay his Grace's hostile 
 reproaches to me witn a friendly admonition to himself? 
 Can I be blamed, for pointing out to him in what manner he 
 is likely to be affected, if the sect of the cannibal philoso- 
 phers of France should proselytize any considerable part of 
 this people, and, by their joint proselytizing arms, should 
 conquer that government, to which his Grace does not seem 
 to me to give all the support his own security demands ? 
 Sui'ely it is proper, that he, and that others like him, should 
 know the true genius of this sect ; what their opinions are, 
 what they have done ; and to whom ; and what (if a prog- 
 nostic is "to be formed from the dispositions and actions of 
 men) it is certain they will do hereafter. He ought to know, 
 that they have sworn assistance, the only engagement they 
 ever will keep, to all in this country, who bear a resemblance 
 to themselves, and who think as such, that The whole duty of 
 wow^onsi&ts in destruction. They are a misaliied and dispar- 
 aged branch of the house of Ximrod. They are the Duke of 
 Bedford's natural hunters ; and he is their natural game. 
 Because he is not very profoundly reflecting, he sleeps in 
 profound security : they, on the contrary, are always vigilant, 
 active, enterprising, and, though far removed from any 
 knowledge which makes men estimable or useful, in all the 
 instruments and resources of evil, their leaders are not 
 meanly instructed, or insufiiciently furnished. In the French 
 Eevolution everything is new ; and, from want of preparation 
 to meet so unlooked-for an evil, everything is dangerous. 
 Kever, before this time, was a set of literary men converted 
 into a gang of robbers and assassins. Never before did a den 
 of bravoes and banditti assume the garb and tone of an aca- 
 demy of philosophers. 
 
 Let me tell his Grace, that an union of such characters, 
 monstrous as it seems, is not made for producing despicable 
 enemies. But if they are formidable as foes, as friends 
 they are dreadful indeed. The men of property in Frances 
 confiding in a force, which seemed to be irresistible, because/ 
 it had never been tried, neglected to prepare for a conflict 
 with their enemies at their own weapons. They were' 
 
14C A LETTEH TO A NOBLE LORD. 
 
 found in such a situation as the Mexicans were, when tliey 
 were attacked by the dogs, the cavalry, the iron, and the gun- 
 powder, of a handful of bearded men, whom they did not 
 know to exist in nature. This is a comparison that some, I 
 think, have made ; and it is just. In France they had their 
 enemies within their houses. They were even in the bosoms ol 
 many of them. But they had not sagacity to discern their sav- 
 age character. They seemed tame, and even caressing. They 
 had nothing but douce humanite in their mouth. They could 
 not bear the punishment of the mildest laws on the greatest 
 criminals. The slightest severity of justice made their flesh 
 creep. The very idea that war existed in the world disturbed 
 their repose. Military glory was no more, with them, than a 
 splendid infamy. Hardly would they hear of self-defence, 
 which they reduced within such bounds, as to leave it no de- 
 fence at all. All this while they meditated the confiscations 
 and massacres we have seen. Had any one told these un- 
 fortunate noblemen and gentlemen, how, and by whom, the 
 grand fabric of the French monarchy under which they flour- 
 ished would be subverted, they would not have pitied him as 
 a visionary, but would have turned from him as what they 
 call a mauvais plaisant. Yet we have seen what has hap- 
 pened. The persons who have suffered from the cannibal 
 philosophy of France, are so like the Duke of Bedford, that 
 nothing but his Grace's probably not speaking quite so good 
 French could enable us to find out any difference. A great 
 many of them had as pompous titles as he, and were of full 
 as illustrious a race : some few of them had fortunes as ample : 
 several of them, without meaning the least disparagement to 
 the Diike of Bedford, were as wise, and as virtuous, and 
 as valiant, and as well educated, and as complete in all the 
 lineaments of men of honour, as he is : and to all this they 
 had added the powerful out-guard of a military profession, 
 which, in its nature, renders men somewhat more cautious 
 than those, who have nothing to attend to but tlie lazy en- 
 joyment of undisturbed possessions. But security was their 
 ruin. They are dashed to pieces in the storm, and our shores 
 are covered with the wrecks. If they had been aware that 
 such a thing might happen, such a thing never could have 
 happened. 
 
 I assure his Grace, that if I state to him the desiguB c( 
 
i. LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD. 141 
 
 his enemies, in a manner wliicli may appear to bim ludicrous 
 and impossible, I tell bim notbing tbat bas not exactly hap- 
 pened, point by point, but twenty -four miles from our own 
 8hore. I assure bim tbat tbe Frencbified faction, more 
 encouraged, than others are warned, by what bas happened 
 in France, look at him and his landed possessions as an 
 object at once of curiosity and rapacity. He is made for 
 them in every part of their double character. As ro bbers, to ^ 
 them lie is a noble booty ; as speculatists, he is a glorious sub- / 
 ject for their experimental philosophy. He afiords matter ( 
 for an extensive auaK'sis. in all the branches of their science, 
 geometrical, physical, civil, and political. These philosophers 
 are fanatics ; independent of any interest, which if it oper- 
 ated alone would make them much more tractable, they are 
 carried with such a headlong rage towards every desperate 
 trial, that they would sacrifice the whole human race to the 
 slightest of their experiments. I am better able to enter 
 into the character of this description of men than the noble 
 Duke can be. I have lived long and variously in the world. 
 "Without any considerable pretensions to literature in myself, 
 I have aspired to the love of letters. I have lived for a 
 great many years in habitudes with those who professed 
 them. I can form a tolerable estimate of what is likely to 
 happen from a character, chiefly dependent for fame and for- 
 tune on knowledge and talent, as well in its morbid and 
 perverted state, as in that which is sound and natural. 
 Katurally men so formed and finished are the first gifts of 
 Providence to the world. But when they have once thrown 
 off the fear of God, which was in all ages too often the case, 
 and the fear of man, which is now the case, and when in that 
 state they come to understand one another, and to act in 
 corps, a more dreadful calamity cannot arise out of bell to 
 scourge mankind. Xothing can be conceived more hard than 
 the heart of a thoroughbred metaphysician. It comes nearer 
 to the cold malignity of a wicked spirit than to the frailty 
 and passion of a man. It is like that of the principle of evil 
 himself, incorporeal, pure, unmixed, dephlegmated, defecated 
 evil. It is no easy operation to eradicate humanity from the 
 human breast. AVhat Shakspeare calls " the compunctious 
 visitings of nature" will sometimes knock at their hearts, and 
 protest against their murderous speculations. But they have 
 
 \ 
 
142 A LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD, 
 
 a means of compounding with tlieir nature. Their humanity 
 is not dissolved. They only give it a long prorogation. 
 They are ready to declare, tliat they do not think two thou- 
 sand years too long a period for the good that they jjursue. 
 It is remarkable, that they never see any way to their pro- 
 jected good but by the road of some evil. Their imagination 
 is not fatigued v^ith the contemplat'on of human suifering 
 through the wild waste of centuries added to centuries of 
 misery and desolation. Their humanity is at their horizon 
 — and, like the horizon, it always flies before them. The 
 geometricians, and the chemists, bring, the one from the dry 
 bones of their diagrams, and the other from the soot of their 
 furnaces, dispositions that make them worse than indifferent 
 about those feelings and habitudes, which are the support of 
 the moral world. Ambition is come upon them suddenly ; 
 they are intoxicated with it, and it has rendered them fear- 
 less of the danger, which may from thence arise to others or 
 to themselves. These philosophers consider men in their 
 experiments, no more than they do mice in an air pump, or 
 in a recipient of mephitic gas. Whatever his Grace may 
 think of himself, they look upon him, and everything that 
 belongs to him, with no more regard than they do upon the 
 whiskers of that little long-tailed animal, that has been long 
 the game of the grave, demure, insidious, spring-nailed, 
 velvet-pawed, green-eyed philosophers, whether going upon 
 two legs, or upon four. 
 
 His Grrace's landed possessions are irresistibly inviting to 
 an agrarian experiment. They are a downright insult upon 
 the rights of man. They are more extensive than the terri- 
 tory of many of the Grecian republics ; and they are without 
 comparison more fertile than most of them. There are now" 
 republics in Italy, in Germany, and in Switzerland, which do 
 not possess anything like so fair and ample a domain. There 
 is scope for seven philosophers to proceed in their analyti- 
 cal experiments, upon Harrington's seven different forms of 
 republics, in the acres of this one duke. Hitherto they have 
 been wholly unproductive to speculation ; fitted for nothing 
 but to fatten bullocks, and to produce grain for beer, still 
 more to stupify the dull English understanding. Abbe 
 Sieves has w^hole nests of pigeon-holes full of constitutions 
 ready made, ticketed, sorted, and numbered ; suited to every 
 
A. LETTER TO A yOBf.E LORD. Ii3 
 
 j)er3on and every fancy ; some with the top of the pattern at 
 the bottom, and some with the bottom at the top ; some 
 plain, some flowered ; some distinguished tor their simplicity, 
 others for their complexity ; some of blood colour ; some of 
 boue de Paris ; some with directories, others without a direc- 
 tion ; some with councils of elders, and councils of young- 
 sters ; some without any council at all. Some where the 
 electors choose the representatives ; others, where the repre- 
 sentatives choose the electors. Some in long coats, and 
 some in short cloaks ; some with pantaloons ; some without 
 breeches. Some with tive-shilliug qualifications ; some to- 
 tally unqualified. So that no constitution-fancier may go 
 unsuited from his shop, provided he loves a pattern of pillage, 
 oppression, arbitrary imprisonment, confiscation, exile, revo- 
 lutionary judgment, and legalized premeditated murder, in 
 any shapes into which they can be put. What a pity it is, 
 that the progress of experimental philosophy shoidd be 
 checked by his Grace's monopoly ! Such are their senti- 
 ments, I assure him ; such is their language, when they dare 
 to speak ; and such are their proceedings, when they have 
 the means to act. 
 
 Their geographers and geometricians have been some time 
 out of practice. It is some time since they have divided 
 their own country into squares. That figure has lost the 
 charms of its novelty. They want new lands for new trials. 
 It is not only the geometricians of the republic that find him 
 a good subject, the chemists have bespoken him after the 
 geometricians have done ^vith him. As the first set have an 
 eye on his Grace's lands, the chemists are not less taken with 
 his buildings. They consider mortar as a very anti-revolu- 
 tionary invention in its present state ; but properly employed, 
 an admirable material for overturning all establishments. 
 They have found that the gunpowder of ruins is far the fittest 
 for making other ruijis, and so ad injinitum. They have cal- 
 culated what quantity of matter convertible into nitre is to 
 be found in Bedford House, in AVoburn Abbey, and in what 
 bis Grace and his trustees have still suff'ered to stand of that 
 foolish royalist Inigo Jones, in Covent Garden. Churches, 
 play-houses, coff'ee-houses, all alike are destined to be mingled, 
 and equalized, and blended into one common rubbish ; and, 
 well sifted and lixiviated, to crystallize into true, demo- 
 
144 A LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD. 
 
 cratic, explosive, insurrectionary nitre. Their academy del 
 Cvnento (per antiphrasin) with Morveau and Hassenfrata 
 at its head, have computed that the brave sans culottes 
 may make war on all the aristocracy of Europe for a 
 twelve-month, out of the rubbish of the Duke of Bedford's 
 buildings.^ 
 
 "While the Morveaux and Priestleys are proceeding with 
 these experiments upon the Duke of Bedford's houses, the 
 Sieyes, and the rest of the analytical legislators, and con- 
 stitution-venders, are quite as busy in their trade of decom- 
 posing organization, in forming his Grace's vassals into 
 primary assemblies, national guards, first, second, and third 
 requisitioners, committees of research, conductors of the 
 travelling guillotine, judges of revolutionary tribunals, legis- 
 lative hangmen, supervisors of domiciliary visitation, exactors 
 of forced loans, and assessors of the maximum. 
 
 The din of all this smithery may some time or other pos- 
 sibly wake this noble Duke, and push him to an endeavour to 
 save some little matter from their experimental philosophy. 
 If he pleads his grants from the Crown, he is ruined at the 
 outset. If he pleads he has received them from the pillage 
 of superstitious corporations, this indeed will stagger them a 
 little, because they are enemies to all corporations, and to all 
 religion. However, they will soon recover themselves, and 
 
 * There is nothing, on which the leaders of the republic, one and in- 
 divisible, value themselves, more than on the chemical operations, by 
 which, through science, they convert the pride of aristocracy to an instru- 
 ment of its OAvn destruction — on the operations by which they reduce the 
 magnificent, ancient country seats of the nobility, decorated with the 
 feudal titles of Duke, Marquis, or Earl, into magazines of what they call 
 revolutionary gunpowder. They tell us, that hitherto things " had not yet 
 been propei-ly and m. d. revolutionary manner explored." — "The strong 
 chateaus, those feudal fortresses that were ordered to be demolished, at- 
 tracted next the attention of your committee. Nature there had secretly 
 regained her righta, and had produced saltpetre for the purpose, as it 
 should seem, of facilitating the execution of your decree by preparing tta 
 means of destruction. From these ruins, which still frown on the libertiei 
 of the republic, we have extracted the means of producing good ; and those 
 piles, which have hitherto glutted the pride of despots, and covered the 
 plots of La Vendee, will soon furnish wherewithal to tame the traitors, and 
 to overwhelm the disaffected." — " The rebellious cities, also, have aftbrded 
 a large quantity of saltpetre. Commune Affranchie, (that is, the noble city 
 of Lyons reduced in many parts to a heap of ruins,) and Toulon, will pay 
 a second tribute to our artillery." Report, 1st February, 1794. 
 
A LETTEE TO A NOBLE LORD. MC 
 
 will tell his Grace, or his learned council, that all such pro- 
 perty belongs to the natioji ; and that it would be more \Nise 
 for him, if he wishes to live the natural term of a citizen, 
 (that is, according to Condorcet's calculation, six months ou 
 an average,) not to pass for an usurper upon the national pro- 
 perty. This is what the Serjeants at law of the rights of man 
 will say to the^xxny apprentices of the common law of England. 
 
 Is the genius of philosophy not yet known ? Tou may aa 
 well think the garden of the Tuilleries was well protected 
 with the cords of ribbon insultingly stretched by the Xationnl 
 Assembly to keep the sovereign canaille from intruding ou 
 the retirement of the poor king of the French, as that such 
 flimsy cobwebs will stand between the savages of the Eevolu- 
 tion and their natural prey. Deep philosophers are no 
 triflers ; brave sans-culottes are no formalists. They will no 
 more regard a Marquis of Ta^dstock than an Abbot of Tavis- 
 tock ; the Lord of Woburn will not be more respectable in 
 their eyes than the Prior of Woburn ; they will make no dif- 
 ference between the superior of a Covent Grarden of nuns, 
 and of a Covent Garden of another description. They will not 
 care a rush whether his coat is long or short ; whether the 
 colour be purple or blue and buff. They will not trouble 
 their heads, with what part of his head his hair is cut from ; 
 and they will look with equal respect on a tonsure and a 
 crop. Their only question will be that of their Legendre, or 
 some other of their legislative butchers, how he cuts up ? 
 how he tallows in the cawl, or on the kidneys ? 
 
 Is it not a singular phenomenon, that whilst the sans-culol te 
 carcass-butchers, and the philosophers of the shambles, are 
 pricking their dotted lines upon his hide, and, like the print 
 of the poor ox that we see in the shop-windows at Charing 
 Cross, alive as he is, and thinking no harm in the world, 
 he is divided into rumps, and sirloins, and briskets, and into 
 all sorts of pieces for roasting, boiling, and stewing, that 
 all the while they are measuring him, his Grace is measur- 
 ing me ; is invidiously comparing the bounty of the Crown 
 with the deserts of the defender of his order, and in the 
 same moment fawning on those who have the knife half out 
 of the sheath — poor innocent ! 
 
 " Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flow'ry food. 
 And licks the hand just raised to shed his bioo4 *' 
 
146 A LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD. 
 
 No man lives too long, who lives to do with spirit, and 
 suffer with resignation, what Providence pleases to com* 
 mand, or inflict ; but indeed they are sharp incommoditiea 
 which beset old age. It was but the other day, that, on put- 
 mg in order some things which had been brought here on my 
 taking leave of London for ever, I looked over a number of 
 fine portraits, most of them of persons now dead, but whose 
 society, in my better days, made this a proud and happy 
 place. Amongst these was the picture of Lord Keppel. It 
 was painted by an artist worthy of the subject, the excellent 
 friend of that excellent man from their earliest youth, and a 
 common friend of us both, with whom we lived for many 
 years without a moment of coldness, of peevishness, of 
 jealousy, or of jar, to the day of our final separation. 
 
 I ever looked on Lord Keppel as one of the greatest and 
 best men of his age ; and I loved and cultivated him ac- 
 cordingly. He was much in my heart, and I believe I was in 
 his to the very last beat. It was after his trial at Portsmouth 
 that he gave me this picture. With what zeal and anxious 
 affection I attended him through that his agony of glory, 
 what part my son took in the early flush and enthusiasm of 
 his virtue, and the pious passion with which he attached him- 
 self to all my connexions, with what prodigality we both 
 squandered ourselves in courting almost every sort of enmity 
 for his sake, I believe he felt, just as I should have felt such 
 friendship on such an occasion. I partook indeed of this 
 honour, with several of the first, and best, and ablest in the 
 kingdom, but I was behindhand with none of them ; and I am 
 sure, that if to the eternal disgrace of this nation, and to the 
 total annihilation of every trace of honour and virtue in it, 
 things had taken a difterent turn from what they did, I 
 should have attended him to the quarter-deck with no less good 
 will and more pride, though with far other feelings, than I 
 partook of the general flow of national joy that attended the 
 justice that was done to his virtue. 
 
 Pardon, my Lord, the feeble garrulity of age, which loves 
 to difl'use itself in discourse of the departed great. At my 
 years we live in retrospect alone : and, wholly unfitted for 
 the society of vigorous life, we enjoy the best bidni to all 
 wounds, the consolation of friendship, in those ojily whom 
 we have lost for ever. Feeling the loss of Lord Keppel at 
 
A. LETTER TO A KOBLfi LOBD. 147 
 
 all times, at no time did I feel it so much as ou the first da/ 
 when I was attacked in the House of Lords. 
 
 Had he lived, that reverend form would have risen in its 
 place, and, with a mild, parental reprehension to his nephew 
 the Duke of Bedford, he would have told him that the 
 favour of that gracious Prince, who had honoured his \'ir- 
 tues with the government of the navy of Great Britain, and 
 with a seat in the hereditary great council of his kingdom, 
 was not undeservedly shown to the friend of the best por- 
 tion of his life, and his faithful companion and counsellor 
 under his rudest trials. He would have told him, that to 
 whomever else these reproaches might be becoming, thev 
 were not decorous in his near kindred. He would have told 
 liim, that when men in that rank lose decorum they lose every- 
 thing. 
 
 On that day I had a loss in Lord Keppel ; but the public 
 loss of him in this awful crisis — ! I speak from much know- 
 ledge of the person, he never would have listened to any 
 compromise with the rabble rout of this sans-culotterie of 
 France, His goodness of heart, his reason, his taste, his 
 public duty, his principles, his prejudices, would have re- 
 pelled him for ever from all connexion with that horrid med- 
 ley of madness, vice, impiety, and crime. 
 
 Lord Keppel had two countries ; one of descent, and one 
 of birth. Their interest and their glory are the same ; and 
 liis mind was capacious of both. His family was noble, and 
 it was Dutch : that is, he was of the oldest and purest nobility 
 that Europe can boast, amoug a people renowned above all 
 uthers for love of their native land. Though it was never 
 shown in insult to any human being, Lord Keppel was some- 
 thing high. It was a wild stock of pride, on which the 
 tenderest of all hearts had grafted the milder virtues. He 
 valued ancient nobility ; and he was not disinclined to aug- 
 ment it with new honours. He valued the old nobility and 
 the new, not as an excuse for inglorious sloth, but as an in- 
 citement to virtuous activity. He considered it as a sort of 
 cure for selfishness and a narrow mind ; conceiving that a 
 man born in an elevated place in himself was nothing, but 
 everv'thing: in what went before and what was to come after 
 him. AVithout much speculation, but by the sure instinct of 
 ingenuous feehngs, and by the dictates of plain, unsophisti* 
 
 i. 2 
 
148 A LETTEE TO A NOBLE LOED. 
 
 cated, natural understanding^, lie felt, that no great common- 
 wealth could by any possibility long subsist, without a body" 
 of some kind or other of nobility, decorated with honour, 
 and fortified by privilege. This nobility forms the chain 
 that connects the ages of a nation, which otherwise (with 
 Mr. Paioe) would soon be taught that no one generation can 
 bind another. He felt that no political fabric could be well 
 made without some such order of things as might, through a 
 .scries of time, afford a rational hope of securing unity, co- 
 herence, consistency, and stability to the state. He felt that 
 nothing else can protect it against the levity of courts, and 
 the greater levity of the multitude. That to talk of here- 
 ditary monarchy, without anything else of hereditary rever- 
 ence in the commonwealth, was a low-minded absurdity, fit 
 only for those detestable "fools aspiring to be knaves," who 
 began to forge in 1789 the false money of the French con- 
 stitution — That it is one fatal objection to all neio fancied 
 and new fabricated republics, (among a people, who, once 
 possessing such an advantage, have wickedly and insolently 
 rejected it,) that the prejudice of an old nobility is a thing 
 that cannot be made. It may be improved, it may be cor- 
 rected, it may be replenished : men may be taken from it or 
 aggregated to it, but the thing itself is matter of inveterate 
 opinion, and therefore cannot be matter of mere positive in- 
 stitution. He felt that this nobility in fact does not exist 
 in wrong of other orders of the state, but by them, atid for 
 them. 
 
 I knew the man I speak of: and, if we can divine the 
 future, out of what we collect from the past, no person living 
 would look with more scorn and horror on the impious par- 
 ricide committed on all their ancestry, and on the desperate 
 ^^ attainder passed on all their posterity, by the Orleans, and 
 ;' the Eochefoucaults, and the Fayettes, and the Viscomtes de 
 Noailles, and the false Perigords, and the long et ccetera of 
 the perfidious sans-culottes of the court, who like demoniac^, 
 possessed with a spirit of fallen pride, and inverted ambition, 
 abdicated their dignities, disowned their families, betrayed 
 the most sacred of all trusts, and, by breaking to pieces a 
 great link of society and all the cramps and holdings of the 
 state, brought eternal confusion and desolation on their 
 \ country. For the fate of the miscreant parricides themse'vea 
 
A J.ETTER TO A NOBLE LOliD 149 
 
 he would have had no pity. Compassion for the myriads of 
 men, of whom the world was not worthy, who by their means 
 have perished in prisons, or on sealiolds, or are pining in 
 beggary aud exile, would leave no room in his, or in any 
 well-formed mind, for any such sensation. We are not made 
 at once to pity the oppressor and the oppressed. 
 
 Looking to his Batavian descent, how could he bear to be- 
 hold his kindred, the descendants of the brave nobility of 
 Holland, whose blood, prodigally poured out, had, more than 
 all the canals, meres, and inundations of their country, pro- 
 tected their independence, to behold them bowed in the 
 basest servitude to the basest and vilest of the human race ; 
 in servitude to those who in no respect were superior in 
 dignity, or could aspii'e to a better place than that of hang- 
 men to the tyrants, to Avhose sceptered pride they had op- 
 posed an elevation of soul, that surmounted, and overpowered, 
 the loftiness of Castile, the haughtiness of Austria, and the 
 overbearing arrogance of France ? 
 
 Could he with patience bear, that the children of that 
 nobility, who would have deluged their country and given it 
 to the sea, rather than submit to Louis XIY., who was then 
 in his meridian glory, when his arms were conducted by the 
 Turennes, by the Luxembourgs, by the Boufflers ; when his 
 councils were directed by the Colberts, and the Louvois ; 
 when his tribunals were filled by the Lamoignons and the 
 Daguessaus — that these should be given up to the cruel 
 «|)ort of the Pichegrus, the Jourdans, the Santerres, under 
 the Eolands, the Brissots, and Grorfas, and Eobespierrea, the 
 Eeubels, the Carnots, and Talliens, and Dantons, and the 
 whole tribe of regicides, robbers, and revolutionary judges, 
 that, from the rotten carcass of their own murdered country, 
 have poured out innumerable swarms of the lowest, and at 
 once the most destructive, of the classes of animated nature, 
 which, like columns of locusts, have laid waste the fairest 
 part of the world ? 
 
 "Would Keppel have borne to see the ruin of the virtuous 
 patricians, that happy union of the noble and the burgher, 
 who, with signal prudence and integrity, had long governed 
 the cities of the confederate republic, the cherishing fathers 
 of their country, who, denying commerce to themselves, made 
 it flourish in a manner unej^ampled under their protection ? 
 
150 A LETTER TO A NOBLE LOED. 
 
 Coiild Keppel have borne that a vile faction should totally 
 destroy this harmonious construction, in favour of a robbing 
 democracy, founded on the spurious rights of man ? 
 
 He was no great clerk, but he was perfectly well versed 
 in the interests of Europe, and he could not have heard with 
 patience, that the country of Grotius, the cradle of the law 
 of nations, and one of the richest repositories of all law, 
 should be taught a new code by the ignorant flippancy of 
 Thomas Paine, the presumptuous foppery of La Fayette, 
 with his stolen rights of man in his hand, the wild, profligate 
 intrigue, and turbulency, of Marat, and the impious sophistry 
 of Condorcet, in his insolent addresses to the Batavian re- 
 public. 
 
 Could Keppel, who idolized the house of Nassau, who waa 
 himself given to England along with the blessings of the 
 British and Dutch revolutions ; with revolutions of stability ; 
 with revolutions which consolidated and married the liberties 
 and the interests of the two nations for ever, could he see 
 the fountain of British liberty itself in servitude to France ? 
 Could he see with patience a Prince of Orange expelled as a 
 sort of diminutive despot, with every kind of contumely, 
 from the country, which that family of deliverers had so 
 often rescued from slavery, and obliged to live in exile in 
 another country, which owes its liberty to his house ? 
 
 Would Keppel have heard with patience, that the conduct 
 to be held on such occasions was to become short by the kneea 
 to the faction of the homicides, to entreat them quietly to 
 retire ? or, if the fortune of war should drive them from their 
 tirst wicked and unprovoked invasion, that no security should 
 be taken, no arrangement made, no barrier formed, no alliance 
 entered into for the security of that, which under a foreign 
 name is the most precious part of England ? "What would 
 he have said, if it was even proposed that the Austrian 
 Netherlands (which ought to be a barrier to Holland, and 
 the tie of an alliance, to protect her against any species of 
 rule that might be erected, or even be restored in France) 
 should be formed into a republic under her influence, and 
 dependent upon her power ? 
 
 But above all, what would he have said, if he had heard it 
 made a matter of accusation against me, by his nephew the 
 Duke of Bedford, that I was the author of the war ? Had I 
 
A LETTER TO i >'OBLE LORD. 
 
 161 
 
 a mind to keep that high distinction to myself as from pride 
 I mi^ht but from justice I dare not, he would have snatched 
 his share of it from my hand, and held it with the grasp of a 
 dvius convulsion to his end. ^ 
 
 * It would be a most arrogant presumption m me to assume 
 to mvself the glory of what belongs to his Majesty, and to 
 his ministers, and to his parliament, and to the far greater 
 maioritv of his faithful people : but had I stood alone to 
 counsel", and that all were detei-mined to be guided by my 
 advice and to follow it implicitly— then I should have been 
 the sole author of a war. But it should have been a war on 
 my ideas and my principles. However, let his Grace think 
 as he may of my demerits with regard to the war with regi- 
 cide he will find my guilt confined to that alone. He never 
 shall with the smallest colour of reason, accuse me ot being 
 the author of a peace ^vith regicide. But that is b^t^ mat- 
 ter • and ought not to be mixed with anything of so little 
 moment, as what may belong to me, or even to the Duke 
 
 ot Bedford. ^ ^ , ^ v p 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 EDMUND BUEKB. 
 
THREE LETTERS 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 A ^lEMBEE OF THE PRESENT PAELIAMENT. 
 
 THE PROPOSALS FOR PEACE WITH THE REGICIDB 
 DIRECTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 1796. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 on the overtures of peace. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Our last conversation, though not in the tone of abso« 
 lute despondency, was far from cheerful. We could not easily 
 account for some unpleasant appearances. They were re- 
 presented to us as indicating the state of the popular mind ; 
 and they were not at all what we should have expected from 
 our old ideas even of the faults and vices of the English 
 character. The disastrous events, which have followed one 
 upon another in a long, unbroken, funereal train, moving in 
 a procession that seemed to have no end, — these were not 
 the principal causes of our dejection. AVe feared more from 
 what threatened to fail within, than what menaced to oppress 
 us from abroad. To a peo])le who have once been proud and 
 great, and great because they were proud, a change in the 
 national spirit is the most terrible of all revohitious. 
 
 I shall not live to behold tlie unravelling of tlie intricate 
 plot, which saddens and perplexes the awful dramti of Pro- 
 vidence, now acting on the moral theatre of tlie world. 
 Whether for thought or for action, I am at the end of my 
 career. You are in the middle of yours. In what part of 
 its orbit the nation, with which we are carried along, move* 
 
LETTEE3 OX A BEGICIPE PEACE. 153 
 
 at this instant, it is not easy to conjecture. It may, per- 
 haps, be far advanced in its aphelion. — But when to returns. 
 Not to lose ourselves in the infinite void of the conjectural 
 world, our business is with what is likely to be affected, for 
 tlie better or the worse, by the wisdom or weakness of our 
 plans. In all speculations upon men and human affairs, it 
 is of no small moment to distinguish things of accident from 
 permanent causes, and from effects that cannot be altered. 
 It is not every irregularity in our movement that is a total 
 deviation from our course. I am not quite of the mind of 
 those speculators, who seem assured, that necessarily, and 
 by the constitution of things, all states have the same periods 
 of infancy, manhood, and decrepitude, that are found in the 
 individuals who compose them. Parallels of this sort rather 
 furnish similitudes to illustrate or to adorn, than supply ana- 
 logies from whence to reason. The objects which are at- 
 tempted to be forced into an analogy are not found in the 
 same classes of existence. Individuals are physical beings 
 subject to laws universal and invariable. The immediate 
 cause acting in these laws may be obscure ; the general 
 results are subjects of certain calculation. But common- 
 wealths are not physical but moral essences. They are arti- 
 ficial combinations, and, in their proximate ef&cient cause, 
 the arbitrary productions of the human mind. We are not 
 yet acquainted with the laws which necessarily influence the 
 stability of that kind of work made by that kind of agent. 
 There is not in the physical order (with which they do not 
 appear to hold any assignable connexion) a distinct cause by 
 which any of those fabrics must necessarily grow, flourish, 
 or decay; nor, in my opinion, does the moral world produce 
 anything more determinate on that subject, than what may 
 serve as an amusement (liberal indeed, and ingenious, but 
 still only an amusement) for speculative men. I doubt 
 whether the history of mankind is yet complete enough, if 
 ever it can be so, to furnish grounds for a sure theory on 
 the internal causes which necessarily affect the fortune of a 
 state. I am far from denying the operation of such causes : 
 but they are infinitely uncertain, and much more obscure, 
 and much more difficult to trace, than the foreign causes 
 that tend to raise, to depress, and sometimes to overwhelm 
 a community. 
 
164 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 It is often impossible, in these political inquiries, to find 
 any proportion between the apparent force of any moral 
 causes we may assign and their known operation. We are 
 therefore obliged to deliver up that operation to mere chance, 
 or, more piously, (perhaps more rationally,) to the occasional 
 interposition and irresistible hand of the Great Disposer. 
 "We have seen states of considerable duration, which for ages 
 have remained nearly as they have begun, and could hardly 
 be said to ebb or flow. Some appear to have spent their 
 vigour at their commencement. Some have blazed out in 
 their glory a little before their extinction. The meridian of 
 some has been the most splendid. Others, and they the 
 greatest number, have fluctuated, and experienced at difler- 
 ent periods of their existence a great variety of fortune. At 
 the very moment when some of them seemed plunged in un- 
 fathomable abysses of disgrace and disaster, they have sud- 
 denly emerged. They have begun a new course and opened 
 a new reckoning ; and, even in the depths of their calamity, 
 and on the very ruius of their country, have laid the founda- 
 tions of a towering and durable greatness. All this has 
 happened without any apparent previous change in the ge- 
 neral circumstances which had brought on their distress. 
 The death of a man at a critical juncture, his disgust, his re- 
 treat, his disgrace, have brought innumerable calamities on a 
 whole nation. A common soldier, a child, a girl at the door of 
 an inn, have changed the face of fortune, and almost of nature. 
 
 Such, and often influenced by such causes, has commonly 
 been the fate of monarchies of long duration. They have 
 their ebbs and their flows. This has been eminently the 
 fate of the monarchy of France. There have been times in 
 which no power has ever been brought so low. Few have 
 ever flourished in greater glory. By turns elevated and de- 
 pressed, that power had been, on the whole, rather on the 
 increase ; and it continued not only powerful but formidable 
 to the hour of total ruin of the monarchy. This fall of the 
 monarchy was far from being preceded by any exterior symp- 
 toms of decline. The interior were not visible to every eye ; 
 and a thousand accidents might have prevented the operation 
 of what the most clear-sighted were not able to discern, nor 
 the most provident to divine. A very little time before ita 
 dreadful catastrophe, there was a kind of exterior splendour 
 
LETTERS 0^ A EEGICIPE PEACE. 155 
 
 in the ftituation of the Crown, which usually adds to govern- 
 ment strength and authority at home. The Crown seemed 
 then to have obtained some of the most splendid objects of 
 state ambition. None of the continental powers of Europe 
 were the enemies of France. They were all, either tacitly 
 disposed to her, or publicly connected with her ; and in those 
 who kept the most aloof there was little appearance of 
 jealousy ; of animosity there was no appearance at all. 
 The British nation, her great preponderating rival, she had 
 humbled ; to all appearance she had weakened ; certainly 
 had endangered, by cutting off a very large, and by far the 
 most growing, part of her empire. In that its acme of hu- 
 man prosperity and greatness, in the high and palmy state 
 of the monarchy of France, it fell to the ground without a 
 struggle. It fell without any of those vices in the monarch, 
 which have sometimes been the causes of the fall of king- 
 doms, but which existed, without any visible effect on the 
 state, in the highest degree in many other princes ; and, far 
 from destroying their power, had only left some slight stains 
 on their character. The financial difficulties were only pre- 
 texts and instruments of those who accomplished the ruin 
 of that monarchy. They were not the causes of it. 
 
 Deprived of the old government, deprived in a manner of 
 all government, France fallen as a monarchy, to common 
 speculators might have appeared more likely to be an object 
 of pity or insult, according to the disposition of the circum- 
 jacent powers, than to be the scourge and terror of them all : 
 but out of the tomb of the murdered monarchy in France 
 has arisen a vast, tremendous, unformed spectre, in a far 
 more terrific guise than any which ever yet have overpowered 
 the imagination, and subdued the fortitude of man. Going 
 straight forward to its end, unappalled by peril, unchecked 
 by remorse, despising all common maxims and all common 
 means, that hideous phantom overpowered those who could 
 not believe it was possible she could at all exist, except on 
 the principles, which habit rather than nature had persuaded 
 them were necessary to their own particular welfare, and to 
 their own ordinary modes of action. But the constitution 
 of any political being, as well as that of any ]>hysical being, 
 ought to be known, before one can venture t ) say what ia 
 fit for its conservation, or what is the proper means of it* 
 
156 LETTERS ON A HEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 power. The poison of other states is the food of the new 
 republic. The bankruptcy, the very apprehension of which 
 is one of the causes assigned for the fall of the monarchy, 
 was the capital on which she opened her traffic with the 
 world. 
 
 The republic of regicide with an annihilated revenue, with 
 defaced manufactures, with a ruined commerce, with an un- 
 cultivated and half-depopulated country, with a discontented, 
 distressed, enslaved, and famished people, passing with a 
 rapid, eccentric, incalculable course, from the wildest an- 
 narchy to the sternest despotism, has actually conquered the 
 finest parts of Europe, has distressed, disunited, deranged, 
 and broken to pieces all the rest ; and so subdued the minds 
 of therulers in every nation, that hardly any resource presents 
 itself to them, except that of entitling themselves to a con- 
 temptuous mercy by a display of their imbecility and mean- 
 ness. Even in their greatest military efforts, and the greatest 
 display of their fortitude, they seem not to hope, they do 
 not even appear to wish, the extinction of what subsists to 
 their certain ruin. Their ambition is only to be admitted 
 to a more favoured class in the order of servitude under that 
 domineering power. 
 
 This seems the temper of the day. At first the French 
 force was too much despised. Now it is too much dreaded. 
 As inconsiderate courage has given way to irrational fear, 
 so it may be hoped, that, through the medium of deliberate 
 sober apprehension, we may arrive at steady fortitude. Who 
 knows whether indignation may not succeed to terror, 
 and the revival of high sentiment, spurning away the delu- 
 sion of a safety purchased at the expense of glory, may not 
 yet drive us to that generous despair, which has often sub- 
 dued distempers in the state for which no remedy could be 
 found in the wisest councils ? 
 
 Other great states, having been without any regular, cer- 
 tain course of elevation, or decline, we may hope that the 
 British fortune may fluctuate also ; because the public mind, 
 which greatly influences that fortune, may have its changes. 
 We are therefore never authorized to abandon our country 
 to its fate, or to act or advise as if it had no resource. 
 There is no reason to apprehend, because ordinary means 
 threatened to fail, that no others can spring up. Whilst 
 
LETTEHb ON A KEGICIDE PEACE. 157 
 
 our heart is whole, it will find means, or make them. The 
 heart of the citizen is a perennial spring of energy to the 
 state. Because the pulse seems to intermit, we must not 
 presume that it will cease instantly to beat. The public 
 must never be regarded as incurable. I remember in the be- 
 ginning of what has lately been called the seven years' war, 
 that an eloquent writer and ingenious speculator, I)r. Brown, 
 upon some reverses which happened in the beginning of 
 that war, published an elaborate philosophical discourse, to 
 prove that the distinguishing features of the people of 
 England had been totally changed, and that a frivolous 
 effeminacy was become the national character. Nothing 
 could be more popular than that work. It was thought a 
 great consolation to us, the light people of this country, 
 (who were and are light, but who were not and are not ef- 
 feminate,) thai we had found the causes of our misfortunes 
 in our vices. Pythagoras could not be more pleased with his 
 leading discovery. But whilst in that splenetic mood we 
 amused ourselves in a sour, critical speculation, of which we 
 were ourselves the objects, and in which every man lost his par- 
 ticular sense of the public disgrace in the epidemic nature of 
 the distemper ; whilst, as in the Alps, Goitre kept Goitre in 
 countenance ; whilst we were thus abandoning ourselves to a 
 direct confession of our inferiority to France, and whilst 
 many, very many, were ready to act upon a sense of that 
 inferiority, a few m^onths efi'ected a total change in our vari- 
 able minds. We emerged from the gulf of that speculative 
 despondency ; and were buoyed up to the highest point of 
 practical vigour. JS'ever did the masculine spirit of Eng- 
 land display itself with more energy, nor ever did its genius 
 soar with a prouder pre-eminence over France, than at the 
 time when frivolity and effeminacy had been at least tacitly 
 acknowledged as their national character, by the good peo- 
 ple of this kingdom. 
 
 For one, (if they be properly treated,) I despair neither 
 of the public fortune, nor the public mind. There is much 
 to be done undoubtedly, and much to be retrieved. We 
 must walk in new ways, or we can never encounter our 
 enemy in his devious march. We are not at an end of our 
 struggle, nor near it. Let us not deceive ourselves : we 
 are at the beginning of great troubles. I readily acknow- 
 
158 LETTERS ON A EEGICIBE PEACE. 
 
 ledge tbat the state of public affairs is infinitely mor*^ un- 
 promising, than at the period 1 have just now allud .4 to 
 and the position of all the powers of Europe in re] .tion to 
 us, and in relation to each other, is more intricate i nd criti- 
 cal beyond all comparison. DifBcult indeed is our 'tuation. 
 In all situations of difficulty men will be iufluenceu o tho 
 part they take, not only by the reason of the case, but by 
 the peculiar turn of their own character. The same waya 
 to safety do not present themselves to all men, nor to the 
 same men in different tempers. There is a courageous wis- 
 dom : there is also a false, reptile prudence, the result not 
 of caution, bur of fear. Under misfortunes it often happens 
 that the nerves of the understanding are so relaxed, the 
 pressing peril of the hour so completely confounds ail the 
 faculties, that no future danger can be properly provided 
 for, can be justly estimated, can be so much as fully seen. 
 The eye of the mind is dazzled and vanquished. An abject 
 distrust of ourselves, an extravagant admiration of the 
 enemy, present us with no hope but in a compromise with 
 his pride, by a submission to his will. This short plan of 
 policy is the only counsel which will obtain a hearing. We 
 plunge into a dark gulf with all the rash precipitation of 
 fear. The nature of courage is, without a question, to be 
 conversant with danger: but in the palpable night of their 
 terrors, men under consternation suppose, not that it is the 
 danger, which, by a sure instinct, calls out the courage to 
 resist it, but that it is the courage which produces the dan- 
 ger. They therefore seek for a refuge from their fears in the 
 fears themselves, and consider a temporizing meanness as tho 
 only source of safety. 
 
 The rules and definitions of prudence can rarely be exact , 
 never universal. I do not deny, that, in small, truckling 
 states, a timely compromise with power has often been the 
 means, and the only means, of drawling out their puny 
 existence : but a great state is too much envied, too much 
 dreaded, to find safety in humiliation. To be secure, it must 
 be respected. Power, and eminence, and consideration, are 
 tilings not to be begged. They must be commanded: and 
 they, who supplicate t-jr mercy from others, can never hope 
 for justice through themselves. What justice they are to ob- 
 ia'm, as the alu>s of an enemy, depends upon his character : 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGlCIDE PEACE. 159 
 
 and that tliey ought well to kuovv before they implicitly con- 
 fide. 
 
 Much controversy there has been in parliament, and not a 
 little amongst us out of doors, about the instrumental means 
 of this nation towards the maintenance of her dignity, and 
 the assertion of her rights. On the most elaborate and cor- 
 rect detail of facts, the result seems to be, that at no time has 
 the wealth and power of Great Britain been so considerable 
 as it is at this very perilous moment. We have a vast inter- 
 est to preserve, and we possess great means of preserving it : 
 but it is to be remembered that the artificer may be encum- 
 bered by his tools, and that resources may be among impedi- 
 ments. If wealth is the obedient and laborious slave of vir- 
 tue and of public honour, then wealth is in its place, and has 
 its use : but if this order is changed, and honour is to be sacri- 
 ficed to the conservation of riches, riches, which have neither 
 eyes nor hands, nor anything truly vital in them, cannot long 
 survive the being of their vivifying powers, their legitimate 
 masters, and their potent protectors. If we command our 
 wealth, we shall be rich and free : if our wealth commands us, 
 we are poor indeed. We are bought by the enemy with the 
 treasure from our o^vn coffers. Too great a sense of the value 
 of a subordinate interest may be the very source of its danger, 
 as well as the certain ruin of interests of a superior order. 
 Often has a man lost his all because he would not submit to 
 hazard all in defending it. A display of our wealth before 
 robbers is not the way to restrain their boldness, or to 
 lessen their rapacity. This display is made, I know, to 
 persuade the people of England that thereby we shall awe 
 the enemy, and improve the terms of our capitulation : it is 
 made, not that we should fight with more animation, but 
 that we should supplicate with better hopes. We are 
 mistaken. We have an enemy to deal with who never re- 
 garded our contest as a measuring and weighing of purses. 
 He is the Gaul that puts his sivord into the scale. He la 
 more tempted with our wealth as booty, than terrified with 
 it as power. But let us be rich or poor, let us be either in 
 what proportion we may, nature is false or this is true, that 
 where the essential public force (of which money is but a part) 
 is in any degree upon a par in a conflict between nations, that 
 etate, which is resolved to hazard its existence rather than to 
 
160 LETTEllS 05»' A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 abandou its object, must have an infinite advantage over that 
 which is resolved to yield rather than to carry its resistance 
 beyond a certain point. Humanly speaking, that people 
 whicb bounds its efforts only with its being, must give the 
 law to that nation which will not push its opposition beyond 
 its convenience. 
 
 If we look to nothing but our domestic condition, the state 
 of the nation is full even to plethory : but if we imagine 
 that this country can long maintain its blood and its food, as 
 disjoined from the community of mankind, such an opinion 
 does not deserve refutation as absurd, but pity as insane. 
 
 I do not know that such an improvident and stupid 
 selfishness deserves the discussion, which, perhaps, I may be- 
 stow upon it hereafter. We cannot arrange with our enemy 
 in the present conjuncture, without abandoning the interest 
 of mankind. If we look only to our own petty peculium in the 
 war, we have had some advantages ; advantages ambiguous 
 in their nature, and dearly bought. We have not in the 
 slightest degree impaired the strength of the common enemy 
 in any one of those points in which his particular force con- 
 sists ; at the same time that new enemies to ourselves, 
 new allies to the regicide republic, have been made out of 
 the wrecks and fragments of the general confederacy. So 
 far as to the selfish part. As composing a part of the com- 
 munity of Europe, and interested in its fate, it is not easy 
 to conceive a state of things more doubtful and perplexing. 
 When Louis XIV. had made himself master of one of the 
 largest and most important provinces of Spain ; when he 
 had in a manner overrun Lombardy, and was thundering at 
 the gates of Turin ; when he had mastered almost all Ger- 
 many on this side the Rhine ; when he was on the point of 
 ruining the august fabric of the empire ; wl en, with the 
 elector of Bavaria in his alliance, hardly anything interposed 
 between him and Vienna ; when the Turk hung with a mighty 
 force over the empire on the other side ; I do not know, that 
 in the beginning of 1704 (that is, in the third year of the 
 renovated war with Louis XIV.) the state of Europe was so 
 truly alarming. To England it certainly was not. Holland 
 (and Holland is a matter to England of value niestimable) 
 was then powerful, was tnen indepencuuii, and, though great- 
 ly endangered, was then full of energy and spirit. But th< 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. IGl 
 
 great resource of Europe was in England : not in a sort oT 
 England detached from the rest of the world, and aiiuisjug 
 herself with the puppet-show of a naval power, (it can be no 
 better, whilst all the sources of that power, and of every sort of 
 power, are precarious,) but in that sort of England, who con- 
 sidered herself as embodied with Europe ; but in that sort of 
 England, who, sympathetic with the adversity or the happi- 
 ness of mankind, felt that nothing in human affairs was 
 foreign to her. We may consider it as a sure axiom, that, 
 as on the one hand no confederacy of the least effect or dura- 
 tion can exist against Erance, of which England is not only 
 a part, but the head, so neither can England pretend to cope 
 with France but as connected with the body of Christendom. 
 
 Our account of the war, as a ivar of communion, to the 
 very point in which we began to throw out lures, oglings, 
 and glances for peace, was a war of disaster and of little else. 
 The independent advantages obtained by us at the beginning 
 of the war, and which were made at the expense of that com- 
 mon cause, if they deceive us about our largest and our surest 
 interest, are to be reckoned amongst our hea\dest losses. 
 
 The allies, and Great Britain amongst the rest, (and per- 
 haps amongst the foremost,) have been miserably deluded 
 by this great fundamental error : That it was in our power 
 to make peace with this monster of a state, whenever we 
 chose to forget the crimes that made it great, and the de- 
 signs that made it formidable. People imagined that 
 their ceasing to resist was the sure way to be secure. 
 This "pale cast of thought" sicklied over all their enter- 
 prises, and turned all their politics awry. They could not, 
 or rather they would not, read, in the most unequivocal 
 declarations of the enemy, and his uniform conduct, that 
 more safety was to be found in the most arduous war, than 
 in the friendship of that kind of being. Its hostile amity 
 can be obtained on no terms that do not imply an inability 
 hereafter to resist its designs. This great, prolific error (I 
 mean that peace was always in our power) has been the cause 
 that rendered the allies indifferent about the direction of 
 the war ; and persuaded them that they might always lisk a 
 choice, and even a change in its objects. They seldom im- 
 proved any advantage ; hoping that the enemy, affected bv 
 it, would make a proffer of peace. Hence it was, that all 
 
162 LETTtKS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE 
 
 their early victoi'ies have been followed almost immediately 
 with the usual effects of a defeat ; wliilst all the advantages 
 obtained by the regicides have been followed by the conse- 
 quences that were natural. The discomfitures, which the re- 
 public of assassins has suffered, have uniformly called forth 
 new exertions, which not only repaired old losses, but pre- 
 pared new conquests. The losses of the allies, on the con- 
 trary, (no provision having been made on the speculation of 
 such an event.) have been followed by desertion, by dismay, 
 by disunion, by a dereliction of their policy, by a flight ^'rom 
 their principles, by an admiration of the enemy, by mutual 
 accusations, by a distrust in every member of the alliance of 
 its fellow, of its cause, its power, and its courage. 
 
 Great difficulties in consequence of our erroneous policy, 
 as I have said, press upon every side of us. Far from de- 
 siring to conceal, or even to palliate, the evil in the repre- 
 sentation, I wish to lay it down as my foundation, that never 
 greater existed. In a moment when sudden panic is appre- 
 hended, it may be wise for a while to conceal some great 
 public disaster, or to reveal it by degrees, until the minds of 
 the people have time to be recollected, that their under- 
 standing may have leisure to rally, and that more steady 
 councils may prevent their doing something desperate under 
 the first impressions of rage or terror. But with regard to 
 a gejieral state of things, growing out of events and causes 
 already known in the gross, there is no piety in the fraud 
 that covers its true nature ; because nothing but erroneous 
 resolutions can be the result of false representations. Those 
 measures, which, in common distress, might be available, in 
 greater, are no better than playing with the evil. That the 
 effort may bear a proportion to the exigence, it is fit it should 
 be known ; known in its quality, in its extent, and in all 
 the circumstances which attend it. Grreat reverses of for- 
 tune there have been, and great embarrassments in council : 
 a principled regicide enemy possessed of the most important 
 part of Europe, and struggling for the rest : within ourselves 
 a total relaxation of all authority, whilst a cry is raised against 
 it, as if it were the most ferocious of all despotism. A worse 
 phenomenon ; — our government disowned by the most ef- 
 ficient member of its tribunals ; ill supported by any of their 
 constituent parts; and the highest tribunal of all, (front 
 
LETTERS O'S A EEQICTDE PEADE. 163 
 
 causes not for our present purpose to examine,) deprived of 
 all that dignity and all that efficiency which might enforce, 
 or regulate, or, if the case required it, might supply the want 
 of every other court. Public prosecutions are become little 
 better than schools for treason ; of no use but to improve 
 the dexterity of criminals in the mystery of evasion ; or to 
 show with what complete impunity men may conspire against 
 the commonwealth ; with what safety assassins may attempt 
 its awful head. Everything is secure, except what the laws 
 have made sacred ; everything is tameness and languor that is 
 not fury and faction. Whilst the distempers of a relaxed fibre 
 prognosticate and prepare all the morbid force of convulsion 
 in the body of the state, the steadiness of the physician ia 
 overpowered by the very aspect of the disease.^ The doctor 
 of the constitution, pretending to underrate what he is not 
 able to contend with, shrinks from his own operation. He 
 doubts and questions the salutary but critical terrors of the 
 cautery and the knife. He takes a poor credit even from 
 his defeat ; and covers impotence under the mask of lenity. 
 He praises the moderation of the laws, as, in his hands, he 
 sees them baffled and despised. Is all this, because in our 
 day the statutes of the kingdom are not engrossed in as firm 
 a character, and imprinted in as black and legible a type, as 
 ever ? No ! the law is a clear, but it is a dead letter. Dead 
 and putrid, it is insufficient to save the state, but potent to 
 infect and to kill. Living law, full of reason, and of equity 
 and justice, (as it is, or it should not exist,) ought to be 
 severe and awful too ; or the words of menace, whetlier 
 written on the parchment roll of England, or cut into the 
 brazen tablet of Borne, will excite nothing but contempt. 
 How comes it, that in all the state prosecutions of magnitude, 
 from the Eevolution to within these two or three years, the 
 Crown has scarcely ever retired disgraced and defeated from 
 its courts ? Whence this alarming change ? By a connexion 
 easily felt, and not impossible to be traced to its cause, all 
 the parts of the state have their correspondence and consent. 
 They who bow to the enemy abroad will not be of power to 
 subdue the conspirator at home. It is impossible not to ob- 
 serve, that, in proportion as we approximate to the poisonous 
 jaws of anarchy, the fascination grows irresistible. In pro. 
 
 ' " Mussabat taciiu raedicina timore." 
 M 2 
 
164 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 portion as we are attracted towards the focus of illegarity, 
 irreligion, and desperate enterprise, all the venomous and 
 blighting insects of the state are awakened into life. The 
 promise of the year is blasted, and shrivelled, and burned up 
 before them. Our most salutary and most beautiful institu- 
 tions yield nothing but dust and smut : the harvest of our 
 law is no more than stubble. It is in the nature of these 
 eruptive diseases in the state to sink in by fits, and re-appear. 
 But the fuel of the malady remains ; and in my opinion is 
 aot in the smallest degree mitigated in its malignity, though 
 it waits l^e favourable moment of a freer communication 
 with the source of regicide to exert and to increase its 
 force. 
 
 Is it that the people are changed, that the commonwealth 
 cannot be protected by its laws ? I hardly think it. On the 
 contrary, I conceive, that these things happen because men 
 are not changed, but remain always what they always were ; 
 they remain what the bulk of us must ever be, when abandon- 
 ed to our vulgar propensities, without guide, leader, or con- 
 trol ; that is, made to be full of a blind elevation in prosperity; 
 to despise untried dangers ; to be overpowered with unex- 
 pected reverses ; to find no clue in a labyrinth of difficulties, 
 to get out of a present inconvenience with any risk of future 
 ruin ; to follow and to bow to fortune ; to admire successful 
 though wicked enterprise, and to imitate what we admire ; 
 to contemn the government which announces danger from 
 sacrilege and regicide, whilst they are only in tlieir infancy 
 and their struggle, but which finds nothing that can alarm 
 in their adidt state, and in the power and triumph of those 
 destructive principles. In a mass we cannot be left to our- 
 selves. We must have leaders. If none will undertake to 
 lead us right, we shall find guides who will contrive to con- 
 duct us to shame and ruin. 
 
 "We are in a war of a peculiar nature. It is not with an 
 ordinary community, which is hostile or friendly as passion 
 or as interest may veer about : not with a state which makes 
 war through wantonness, and abandons it through lassitude. 
 AVe are at war with a system, which, by its essence, is inimi- 
 cal to all other governments, and which makes peace or war, 
 as peace and war may best contribute to their subversion. 
 It is with an armed doctrine that we are at war. It has, by 
 
LETTERS Oy A EEGICIDE PEACE. 1G5 
 
 its essence, a faction of opinion, and of interest, and of en- 
 thusiasm, in every country. To us it is a Colossus which 
 bestrides our channel. It has one foot on a foreign shore, 
 the other upon the British soil. Thus advantaged, if it can 
 at all exist, it must finally prevail. Nothing can so com- 
 pletely ruin any of the old governments, ours in particular, 
 as the acknowledgment, directly, or by implication, of any 
 kind of superiority in this new power. This acknowledg- 
 ment we make, if, in a bad or doubtful situation of our affaire, 
 we solicit peace ; or if we yield to the modes of new humilia- 
 tion, in which alone she is content to give us a hearing. By 
 that means the terms cannot be of our choosing ; no, not in 
 any part. 
 
 It is laid in the unalterable constitution of things : — ]S'one 
 can aspii'e to act greatly, but those who are of force greatly 
 t suffer. They who make their arrangements in the first 
 run of misadventure, and in a temper of mind the common 
 fruit of disappointment and dismay, put a seal on their 
 calamities. To their power they take a security against any 
 favours which they might hope from the usual inconstancy 
 of fortune. I am therefore, my dear friend, invariably of 
 your opinion, (though full of respect for those who think 
 differently,) that neither the time chosen for it, nor the 
 manner of soliciting a negotiation, were properly considered ; 
 even though I had allowed, (I hardly shall allow,) that with 
 the horde of regicides we could by any selection of time, or 
 use of means, obtain anything at all deserving the name of 
 peace. 
 
 In one point we are lucky. The regicide has received our 
 advances with scorn. AVe have an enemy, to whose virtues 
 we can owe nothing ; but on this occasion we are infinitely 
 obliged to one of his vices. "U'e owe more to his insolence 
 than to our own precaution. The haughtiness by which the 
 proud repel us, has this of good in it ; that in making us 
 keep our distance, they must keep their distance too. In 
 the present case, the pride of the regicide may be our safety. 
 He has given time for our reason to operate ; and for British 
 dignity to recover from its surprise. From first to last he 
 has rejected all our advances. Far as we have gone, he has 
 Btill left a way open to our retreat. 
 
 There is always an augury to be taken of what a peace is 
 
186 LETTEES 0?r A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 likely to be, from tlie preliminary steps that are made to 
 briii^ it about. We may gather somethino; from the time in 
 which the first overtures are made ; from the quarter whence 
 they come ; from the manner in a\ hieli they are received. 
 These discover the temper of the parties. If your enemy 
 offers peace in the moment of success, it indicates that he is 
 satisfied with something. It shows that there are limits to 
 his ambition or his resentment. If he offers nothing under 
 misfortune, it is probable, that it is more painful to him to 
 abandon the prospect of advantage than to endure calamity. 
 If he rejects solicitation, and will not give even a nod to the 
 Buppliants for peace, until a change in the fortune of the 
 war threatens him with ruin, then I think it evident, that he 
 wishes nothing more than to disarm his adversary to gain 
 time. Afterwards a question arises, which of the parties is 
 likely to obtain the greater advantages, by continuing dis- 
 armed and by the use of time. 
 
 With these few plain indications in our minds, it will not 
 be improper to reconsider the conduct of the enemy together 
 with our own, from the day that a question of peace has been 
 in agitation. In considering this part of the question, I do 
 not proceed on my own hypothesis. I suppose, for a moment, 
 that this body of regicide, calling itself a republic, is a politic 
 person, with whom something deserving the name of peace 
 may be made. On that supposition, let us examine o^ir own 
 proceeding. Let us compute the profit it has brought, and 
 the advantage that it is likely to bring hereafter. A peace 
 too eagerly sought is not always the sooner obtained. Tlie 
 discovery of vehement wishes generally frustrates their at- 
 tainment ; and your adversary has gained a great advantage 
 over you when he finds you impatient to conclude a treaty. 
 There is in reserve, not only something of dignity, but a great 
 deal of prudence too. A sort of courage belongs to negotia- 
 tion, as well as to operations of the field. A negotiator must 
 often seem willing to hazard the whole issue of his treaty, if 
 he wishes to secure any one material point. 
 
 The regicides were the first to declare war. We are the 
 first to sue for peace. In proportion to the humility and 
 perseverance we have shown in our addresses, has been the 
 obstinacy of their arrogance in rejecting our suit. The 
 patience of their pride seems to have bfeu worn out with 
 
LETTEliS Oy A BEGICIDE PEACE. 107 
 
 the importunity of our courtship. Disgusted as they are 
 with a conduct so difterent from all the sentiments by which 
 they are themselves filled, they think to put an end to our 
 vexatious solicitation by redoubling their insults. 
 
 It happens frequently, that pride may reject a public ad- 
 vance, while interest listens to a secret suggestion of ad- 
 vantage. The opportunity has been afforded. At a very 
 early period in the diplomacy of humiliation, a gentleman 
 was sent on an errand,' of which, from the motive of it, 
 whatever the event might be, we can never be ashamed. 
 Humanity cannot be degraded by humiliation. It is its 
 very character to submit to such things. There is a consan- 
 guinity between benevolence and humility. They are virtues 
 of the same stock. Dignity is of as good a race ; but it be- 
 longs to the family of fortitude. In the spirit of that be- 
 nevolence, we sent a gentleman to beseech the directory of 
 regicide, not to be quite so prodigal as their republic had 
 been of judicial murder. "W^e solicited them to spare the lives 
 of some unhappy persons of the first distinction, whose 
 safety at other times could not have been an object of solicit- 
 ation. They had quitted France on the faith of the declar- 
 ation of the rights of citizens. They never had been in the 
 service of the regicides, nor at their hands had received any 
 stipend. The very system and constitution of government 
 that now prevails was settled subsequently to their emigra- 
 tion. They were under the protection of Grreat Britain, and 
 in his Majesty's pay and service. Xot an hostile invasion, but 
 the disasters of the sea, had thrown them upon a shore more 
 barbarous and inhospitable than the inclement ocean under 
 the most pitiless of its storms. Here was an opportunity to ex- 
 press a feeling for the miseries of war ; and to open some sort 
 of conversation, which, (after our public overtures had 
 glutted their pride.) at a cautious and jealous distance, might 
 lead to something like an accommodation. What was the 
 event ? A strange uncouth thing, a theatrical figure of the 
 opera, his head shaded ^vith three-coloured plumes, his body 
 fantastically habited, strutted from the back scenes, and, after 
 a short speech, in the mock heroic falsetto of stupid tragedy, 
 delivered the gentleman who came to make the representa- 
 tion into the custody of a guard, with directions not to lose 
 ' Mr. Bird sent to state the real situation of the Due de Choiaeul. 
 
168 LETTEES ON A REGTCIDE PEACB. 
 
 Biglit of him for a moment ; and then ordered him to be sent 
 from Paris in two hours. 
 
 Here it is impossible, that a sentiment of tenderness should 
 not strilte athwart the sternness of politics, and make us re- 
 call to painful memory the difference between this insolent 
 and bloody theatre, and the temperate natural majesty of a 
 civilized court, where the afflicted family of Asgill did not in 
 vain solicit the mercy of the highest in rank, and the most 
 compassionate of the compassionate sex. 
 
 In this intercourse, at least, there was nothing to promise 
 a great deal of success in our future advances. AVhilst the 
 fortune of the field was wholly with the regicides, nothing 
 was thought of but to follow where it led ; and it led to every- 
 thing. Not so much as a talk of treaty. Laws were laid 
 down with arrogance. The most moderate politician in their 
 clan ^ was chosen as the organ, not so much for prescribing 
 limits to their claims, as to mark what, for the present, they 
 are content to leave to others. They made, not laws, not 
 conventions, not late possession, but physical nature, and po- 
 litical convenience, the sole foundation of their claims. The 
 Ehine, the Mediterranean, and the ocean, were the bounds 
 which, for the time, they assigned to the empire of regicide. 
 What was the chamber of union of Louis the Fourteenth, 
 which astonished and provoked all Europe, compared to this 
 declaration? In truth, with these limits, and their prin- 
 ciple, they would not have left even the shadow of liberty or 
 safety to any nation. This plan of empire was not taken up 
 in the first intoxication of unexpected success. You must 
 recollect that it was projected, just as the report has stated 
 it, from the very first revolt of the faction against their mon- 
 archy ; and it has been uniformly pursued, as a standing 
 maxim of national policy, from that time to this. It is, ge- 
 nerally, in the season of prosperity that men discover tlieir 
 real temper, principles, and designs. But this principle, sug- 
 gested in their first struggles, fully avowed in their pros- 
 perity, has, in the most adverse state of their affairs, been 
 tenaciously adhered to. The report combined with their 
 conduct, forms an infallible criterion of the views of this re- 
 public. 
 
 In their fortune there has been some fluctuation. We ar« 
 ' Buissy d'Anelaa. 
 
LETTEBS ON A EEGICTDE PEACE. 1G9 
 
 fco see how their minds have been affected with a change. 
 Some impression it made on them undoubtedly. It pro- 
 duced some oblique notice of the submissions that were made 
 by suppliant nations. The utmost they did, was to make 
 some of those cold, formal, general professions of a love of 
 ' peace which no power has ever refused to make ; because 
 they mean little, and cost nothing. The first paper I have 
 bten (the publication at Hamburgh) making a show of that 
 pacific disposition, discovered a rooted animosity against this 
 nation, and an incurable rancour, even more than any one of 
 their hostile acts. In this Hamburgh declaration, they choose 
 to suppose, that the war on the part of England, is a war of 
 governmeyit, begun and carried on against the sense and inter- 
 ests of the people ; thus sowing in their very overtures to- 
 wards peace the seeds of tumult and sedition : for they never 
 have abandoned, and never will they abandon, in peace, 
 in war, in treaty, in any situation, or for one instant, their 
 ' old, steady maxim of separating the people from their go- 
 1 vernment. Let me add — and it is with unfeigned anxiety for 
 i the character and credit of ministers that I do add — if our 
 ! government perseveres in its as uniform course of acting 
 , under instruments with such preambles, it pleads guilty to the 
 [ charges made by our enemies against it, both on its own 
 part, and on the part of parliament itself. The enemy must 
 succeed in his plan for loosening and disconnecting all the in- 
 ternal holdings of the kingdom. 
 
 It was not enough, that the speech from the throne, in the 
 opening of the session of 1795, threw out oglings and glances 
 of tenderness. Lest this coquetting should seem too cold 
 and ambiguous, without waiting for its effect, the violent 
 passion for a relation to the regicides produced a direct mes- 
 sage from the Crown, and its consequences from the two 
 Houses of Parliament. On the part of the regicides these 
 declarations could not be entirely passed by without notice ; 
 but in that notice they discovered still more clearly the 
 bottom of their character. The offer made to them by the mes- 
 sage to parliament was hinted at in their answer ; but in an 
 obscure and oblique manner, as before. They accompanied 
 their notice of the indications manifested on our side, with 
 e"\ery kind of insolent and taunting reflection. The regicide 
 directory, on the day which, in their gipsy jargon, they call 
 
170 LETTERS OK A EEGIClDE iPEACE. 
 
 the 5tli of Pluviose, in return for our advances, charge us 
 with eluding our declarations under " evasive formalities and 
 frivolous pretexts." AVhat these pretexts and evasions 
 were, they do not say, and I have never heard. But they do 
 not rest there. They proceed to charge us, and, as it should 
 seem, our allies in the mass, with direct perfidy ; they are so 
 conciliatory in their language as to hint that this perfidious 
 character is not new in our proceedings. However, notwith* 
 standing this our habitual perfidy, they will ofi"er peace " on 
 conditions as moderate" — as what ? as reason and as equity 
 require ? No ! as moderate " as are suitable to their 7iational 
 dignity.''^ National dignity in all treaties I do admit is an 
 important consideration. They have given us a useful hint 
 on that subject : but dignity, hitherto, has belonged to the 
 mode of proceeding, not to the matter of a treaty. Never 
 before has it been mentioned as the standard for rating the 
 conditions of peace ; no, never by the most A^olent of con- 
 querors. Indemnification is capable of some estimate : dig- 
 nity has no standard. It is impossible to guess what acquisi- 
 tions pride and ambition may thmk fit for their dignity. But 
 lest any doubt should remain on what they think for their 
 dignity, the regicides in the next paragraph tell us, " that 
 they will have no peace with their enemies, until they have 
 reduced them to a state, which will put them under an im- 
 possibility of pursuing their wretched projects;" that is, in 
 plain French or English, until they have accomplished our 
 utter and irretrievable ruin. This is their pacific language. 
 It flows from their unalterable principle in whatever language 
 they speak, or whatever steps they take, whether of real war, 
 or of pretended pacification. They have never, to do them 
 justice, been at much trouble in concealing their intentions. 
 We were as obstinately resolved to think them not iji earnest ; 
 but I confess jests of this sort, whatever their urbanity may 
 be, are not much to my taste. 
 
 To this conciliatory and amicable public communication, 
 our sole answer, in effect, is this — " Citizen regicides ! when- 
 ever you find yourselves in the humour, you may have a peace 
 with us. That is a point you may always command. AVe 
 are constantly in attendance, and nothing you can do shall 
 hinder us from the renewal of our supplications. You may 
 turn us out at the door ; but we will jump in at the wuidow." 
 
LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 171 
 
 To those who do not love to contemplate the fall of hu- 
 man greatness, I do not know a more mortifying spectacle, 
 than to see the assembled majesty of the crowned heads of 
 Europe waiting as patient suitors in the ante-chamber of re- 
 gicide. They wait, it seems, until the sanguinary tyrant Car^ 
 not shall have snorted away the fumes of the indigested blood 
 of his sovereign. Then, when, sunk on the down of usurped 
 pomp, he shall have sufficiently indulged his meditations with 
 what monarch he shall next glut his ravening maw, he may 
 condescend to signify that it is his pleasure to be awake ; and 
 that he is at leisure to receive the proposals of his high and 
 mighty clients for the terms on which he may respite the exe- 
 cution of the sentence he has passed upon them. At the open- 
 ing of those doors, what a sight it must be to behold the pleni- 
 potentiaries of royal impotence, in the precedency which 
 they will intrigue to obtain, and which Avill be granted to 
 them according to the seniority of their degradation, sneak- 
 ing into the regicide presence, and, with the relics of the 
 smile, which they had dressed up for the levee of their mas- 
 ters, still flickering on their curled lips, presenting the faded 
 remains of their courtly graces, to meet the scornful, ferocious, 
 sardonic grin of a bloody ruffian, who, whilst he is receiving 
 their homage, is measuring them with his eye, and fitting to 
 their size the slider of his guillotine ! These ambassadors 
 may easily return as good courtiers as they went ; but can 
 they ever return from that degrading residence, loyal and 
 faithful subjects ; or with any true aifection to their master, 
 or true attachment to the constitution, religion, or laws of 
 their country ? There is great danger that they, who enter 
 smiling into this Triphonian cave, will come out of it sad and 
 serious conspirators ; and such will continue as long as they 
 live. They will become true conductors of contagion to every 
 country which has had the misfortune to send them to the 
 source of that electricity. At best they will become totally 
 indifl:erent to good and evil, to one institution or another. 
 This species of indifference is but too generally distinguish- 
 able in those who have been much employed in foreign courts; 
 but in the present case the evil must be aggravated without 
 measure ; for they go from their country, not with the pride 
 of the old character, but in a state of the lowest degradation ; 
 and what must happen in their place of residence can have 
 
172 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEA.CE. 
 
 no effect in raising them to the level of true dignit}^ or of 
 chaste self-estimation, either as men, or as representatives of 
 crowned heads. 
 
 Our early proceeding, which has produced these returns of 
 affront, appeared to me totally new, without being adapted 
 to the new circumstances of affairs. I have called to my 
 mind the speeches and messages in former times. I find 
 nothing like these. You will look in the journals to find 
 whether my memory fails me. Before this time, never was 
 a ground of peace laid, (as it were, in a parliamentary re- 
 cord,) until it had been as good as concluded. This was a 
 wise homage paid to the discretion of the Crown. It w^as 
 known how much a negotiation must suffer by having any- 
 thing in the train towards it prematurely disclosed. But, 
 when those parliamentary declarations were made, not so 
 much as a step had been taken towards a negotiation in any 
 mode whatever. The measure was an unpleasant and un- 
 seasonable discovery. 
 
 I conceive that another circumstance in that transaction 
 has been as little authorized by any example ; and that it is 
 as little prudent in itself; I mean the formal recognition of 
 the French Ecpublic. AVithout entering, for the present, 
 into a question on the good faith manifested in that measure, 
 or on its general policy, I doubt, upon mere temporary con- 
 siderations of prudence, whether it was perfectly advisable. 
 It is not within the rules of dexterous conduct to make an 
 acknowledgment of a contested title in your enemy, before 
 you are morally certain that your recognition will secure his 
 friendship. Otherwise it is a measure worse than thrown 
 away. It adds infinitely to the strength, and consequently 
 to the demands, of the adverse party. He has gained a 
 fundamental point without an equivalent. It has hapi^ened 
 as might have been foreseen. No notice whatever was taken 
 of this recognition. In fact, the directory never gave them- 
 selves any concern about it ; and they received our ac- 
 knowledgment with perfect scorn. With them it is not for 
 the states of Europe to judge of their title : the very reverse. 
 In their eye tlie title of every other power depends wholly 
 on their pleasure. 
 
 Preliminary declarations of this sort, thrown out at random, 
 and sown, as it were, broad cast, were never to be found in 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGlCIDE PEACE. 173 
 
 the mode of our proceeding with France and Spain, whilst 
 the great monarchies of France and Spain existed. I do not 
 say, that a diplomatic measure ought to be, like a parliament- 
 ary or a judicial proceeding, according to strict precedent: 
 I hope I am far from that pedantry. But this I know, 
 that a great state ought to have some regard to its ancient 
 maxims : especially where they indicate its dignity ; where 
 they concur with the rules of prudence ; and, above all, 
 where the circumstances of the time require that a spirit of 
 innovation should be resisted, which leads to the humilia- 
 tion of sovereign powers. It would be ridiculous to assert, 
 that those powers have suffered nothing in their estimation. 
 I admit that the great interests of a state will for a moment 
 supersede all other considerations : but if there was a rule 
 that a sovereign never should let down his dignity without a 
 sure payment to his interest, the dignity of kings would be 
 held high enough. At present, however, fashion governs in 
 more serious things than furniture and dress. It looks as if 
 sovereigns abroad were emulous in bidding against their es- 
 timation. It seems as if the pre-eminence of regicide was 
 acknowledged ; and that kings tacitly ranked themselves be- 
 low their sacrilegious murderers, as natural magistrates and 
 judges over them. It appears as if dignity were the prero- 
 gative of crime ; and a temporizing humiliation the proper 
 part for venerable authority. If the vilest of mankind are 
 resolved to be the most wicked, they lose all the baseness of 
 their origin, and take their place above kings. This example 
 in foreign princes, I trust, will not spread. It is the concern 
 of mankind, that the destruction of order should not be a 
 claim to rank, that crimes should not be the only title to pre- 
 eminence and honour. 
 
 At this second stage of humiliation, (I mean the insulting 
 declaration in consequence of the message to both Houses of 
 Parliament,) it might not have been amiss to pause ; and not 
 to squander away the fund of our submissions, until we knew 
 what final purposes of public interest they might answer. 
 The policy of subjecting ourselves to further insults is not to 
 me quite apparent. It was resolved, however, to hazard a 
 third trial. Citizen Earth elemi had been established on the 
 part of the new republic, at Basle ; where, with his procon- 
 sulate of Switzerland and the adjacent parts of Germany, ho 
 
174 LETTERS OX A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 was appointed as a sort of factor to deal in the degradation 
 of the crowned heads of Europe. At Basle it was thought 
 proper, in order to keep others, I suppose, in countenance, 
 tliat Great Britain should appear at this market, and bid with 
 the rest, for the mercy of the people-king. 
 
 On the 6th of INIarch, 1796, jMr. Wickham, in consequence 
 of authority, was desired to sound France on her disposition 
 towards a general pacification ; to know whether she would 
 consent to send ministers, to a congress at such a place as 
 might be hereafter agreed upon ; whether there would be a 
 disposition to communicate the general grounds of a pacifica- 
 tion such as France (the diplomatic name of the regicide 
 power) would be willing to propose, as a foundation for a 
 negotiation for peace with his Majesty and his allies; or to 
 suggest any other way of arriving at the same end of a general 
 pacification ; but he had no authority to enter into any ne- 
 gotiation or discussion with citizen Barthelemi upon these 
 subjects. 
 
 On the part of Great Britain this measure was a voluntary 
 act, wholly uncalled for on the part of regicide. Suits of 
 this sort are at least strong indications of a desire for ac- 
 commodation. Any other body of men but the directory 
 would be somewhat soothed with such advances. They 
 could not however begin their answer, which was given with- 
 out much delay, and communicated on the 28th of the same 
 month, without a preamble of insult and reproach. " They 
 doubt the sincerity of the pacific intentions of this court." 
 She did not begin, say they, yet to " know her real interests," 
 " she did not seek peace with good faith."" This, or some- 
 thing to this eftect, has been the constant preliminary ob- 
 servation (now grown into a sort of ofiice-form) on all our 
 overtures to this power : a perpetual charge on the British 
 government of fraud, evasion, and habitual perfidy. 
 
 It might be asked, from whence did these opinions of our 
 insincerity and ill faith arise ? It was, because the British 
 ministry (leaving to the directory however to propose a bet- 
 ter mode) proposed a congress for the purpose of a general 
 pacification, and this they said " would render negotiation 
 endless." From hence they immediately inferred a fraudu- 
 lent intention in the offer. Unquestionably their mode of 
 giving the law would bring matters to a more speedy con- 
 
LETTERS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. 175 
 
 elusion. As to any otlier method more agreeable to them 
 than a congress, an alternative expressly proposed to them, 
 they did not condescend to signify their pleasure. 
 
 This refusal of treating conjointly with the powers allied 
 against this republic furnishes matter for a great deal of 
 serious reflection. They have hitherto constantly declined 
 any other than a treaty with a single power. By thus dis- 
 sociating every state from every ether, like deer separated 
 from the herd, each power is treatt-:d with, on the merit of 
 his being a deserter from the comunon cause. In that light 
 the regicide power fiiuling each of them insulated and un- 
 protected, with great facility gives the law to them all. By 
 this system, for the present, an incurable distrust is sown 
 amongst confederates ; and in future all alliance is rendered 
 impracticable. It is thus they have treated with Prussia, 
 with Spain, with Sardinia, with Bavaria, with the Ecclesiasti- 
 cal State, with Saxony ; and here we see them refuse to treat 
 with Great Britain in any other mode. They must be worse 
 than blind who do not see with what undeviating regularity 
 of system, in this case and in all cases, they pursue their 
 scheme for the utter destruction of every independent power ; 
 especially the smaller, who cannot find any refuge whatever 
 but in some common cause. 
 
 Renewing their taunts and reflections^ they tell Mr. "Wick- 
 ham, " that their policy has no guides but openness and good 
 faith, and that their conduct shall be conformable to these 
 principles." They say concerning their government, that 
 " yielding to the ardent desire by which it is animated to 
 procure pea-ce for the French republic and for all nations, it 
 will not fear to declare itself openly. Charged by the con- 
 stitution with the execution of the laws, it cannot make or 
 listen to any proposal that would be contrary to them. The 
 constitutional act does not permit it to consent to any aliena- 
 tion of that which, according to the existing laws, constitutea 
 the territory of the republic." 
 
 "AVith respect to the countries occupied hy the French 
 armies^ and which have not been united to France, they, as 
 well as other interests political and commercial, may become 
 the subject of a negotiation, which will present to the direc- 
 tory the means of proving how much it desires to attain 
 speedily to a happy pacification. That the directory is ready 
 
176 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 lo receive iu this respect any overtures that shall be juac, 
 reasonable, and compatible with the dignity of the republic^ 
 On the head of what is not to be the subject of negotiation, 
 the directory is clear and open. As to what may be a mat- 
 ter of treaty, all this open dealing is gone. She retires into 
 her shell. There she expects overtures from you — and you 
 are to guess what she shall judge just, reasonable, and, above 
 all, compatible with her dignity. 
 
 In the records of pride there does not exist so insulting a 
 declaration. It is insolent in words, in manner, but in sub- 
 stance it is not only insulting but alarming. It is a speci- 
 men of what may be expected from the masters we are pre- 
 paring for our humbled country. Their openness and candour 
 consist in a direct avowal of their despotism and ambition. 
 "We know that their declared resolution had been to sur- 
 render no object belonging to France previous to the war. 
 They had resolved, that the republic was entire, and must 
 remain so. As to what she has conquered from the allies 
 and united to the same indivisible body, it is of the same 
 nature. That is, the allies are to give up whatever conquests 
 they have made or may make upon France, but all wliicli 
 she has violently ravished from her neighbours, and thought 
 fit to appropriate, are not to become so much as objects of 
 negotiation. 
 
 In this unity and indivisibility of profession are sunk ten 
 immense and wealthy provinces, full of strong, flourishing, 
 and opulent cities, (the Austrian Netherlands,) the part of 
 Europe the most necessary to preserve any communication 
 between this kingdom and its natural allies, next to Holland 
 the most interesting to this country, and without which 
 Holland must virtually belong to France. Savoy and Nice, 
 the keys of Italy, and the citadel in her hands to bridle 
 Switzerland, are in that consolidation. The important terri- 
 tory of Liege is torn out of the heart of the empire. All 
 these are integrant parts of the republic, not to be subject to 
 any discussion, or to be purchased by any equivalent. Why H 
 Because there is a law which prevents it. What law ? The 
 law of nations ? The acknowledged public law of Europe ? 
 Treaties and conventions of parties ? No ! not a pretence 
 of the kind. It is a declaration not made in consequence of 
 any prescription on her side, not on any cession or derelic- 
 
LETTEBS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 177 
 
 hon, actual or tacit, of other powers. It is a declaration 
 vendpnte Hie in the middle of a war, one principal object of 
 which was originally the defence, and has since been the re- 
 covery, of these very countries. 
 
 This strange law is not made for a trivial object, not for a 
 single port, or for a single fortress, but for a great kingdom; 
 for the religion, the morals, the laws, the liberties, the lives, 
 and fortunes of millions of human creatures, who, without 
 their consent, or that of their lawful government, are, by an 
 arbitrary act of this regicide and homicide government, which 
 they call a law, incorporated into their tyranny. 
 
 In other words, their will is the law, not only at home, 
 but as to the concerns of every nation. "Wlio has made that 
 law but the regicide republic itself, whose laws, like those of 
 the jMedes and Persians, they cannot alter or abrogate, or 
 even so much as take into consideration ? Without the least 
 ceremony or compliment, they have sent out of the world 
 whole sets of laws and lawgivers. They have swept away 
 the very constitutions under which the legislators acted, and 
 the laws were made. Even the fundamental sacred rights of 
 man they have not scrupled to profane. They have set thia 
 holy code at nought with ignominy and scorn. Thus they 
 treat all their domestic laws and constitutions, and even 
 what they had considered as a law of Nature ; but whatever 
 they have put their seal on for the purposes of their ambition, 
 and the ruin of their neighbours, this alone is invulnerable, 
 impassible, immortal. Assuming to be masters of everything 
 human and divine, here, and here alone, it seems they are 
 limited, "cooped and cabined in;" and this omnipotent 
 legislature finds itself wholly without the power of exercising 
 its favourite attribute, the love of peace. In other words, 
 they are powerful to usurp, impotent to restore ; and equally 
 by their power and their impotence they aggrandize them- 
 selves, and weaken and impoverish you and all other nations. 
 ' Nothing can be more proper or more manly than the state 
 j publication called a note on this proceeding, dated Downing 
 I Street, the 10th of April, 1796. Only that it is better ex- 
 I pressed, it perfectly agrees with the opinion I have taken 
 I the liberty of submitting to your consideration.^ I place it 
 
 ' *' This Court has seen, with regret, how far the tone and spirit of 
 hat answer, the nature m-.d extent of the demands which ,it contam«» 
 you V. M 
 
its LETTERS Olf A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 below at full length, as my justification in thinking that 
 this astonishing paper from the Directory is not only a di- 
 rect negative to all treaty, but is a rejection of every princi- 
 ple upon which treaties could be made. To admit it for a 
 moment were to erect this power, usurped at home, into a 
 legislature to govern mankind. It is an authority that on a 
 thousand occasions they have asserted in claim, and, when- 
 ever they are able, exerted in practice. The dereliction of 
 this whole scheme of policy became, therefore, an indis- 
 pensable previous condition to all renewal of treaty. The 
 remark of the British cabinet on this arrogant and tyran- 
 nical claim is natural and unavoidable. Our ministry state, 
 " That while these disposUiotis shall be persisted in, nothing 
 ts left for the King but to prosecute a war that is just and 
 necessary.''^ 
 
 It was of course, that we should wait until the enemy 
 showed some sort of disposition on his part to fulfil this con- 
 dition. It was hoped, indeed, that our suppliant strains 
 might be suffered to steal into the august ear in a more pro- 
 pitious season. That season, however, invoked by so many 
 vows, conjurations, and prayers, did not come. Every de- 
 claration of hostility renovated, and every act pursued with 
 double animosity — the over-running of Lombardy — the sub- 
 
 and the manner of announcing them, are remote from any dispositions 
 for peace. 
 
 *'The inadmissible pretension is there avowed of appropriating to Franc« 
 all that the laws existing there may have comprised under the denomina- 
 tion of French territory. To a demand such as this is added an express 
 declaration that no proposal contrary to it will be made, or even listened 
 to. And even this, under the pretence of an internal regulation, the pro- 
 visions of which are wholly foreign to all other nations. 
 
 "While these dispositions shall be persisted in, nothing is left for the 
 King, but to prosecute a war equally just and necessary. 
 
 " Whenever his enemies shall manifest more pacilic sentiments, his 
 Majesty will, at all times, be eager to concur in them, by lending himself, 
 in concert with his allies, to all such measures as shall be calculated to re- 
 esiablish general tranquillity, on conditions just, honourable, and per- 
 manent, either by the establishment of a general congress, which has 
 been so happily the means of restoring peace to Europe, or by a prelimin- 
 ary discussion of the principles which may be proposed, on either side, as 
 a foundation of a general pacification ; or, lastly, by an impartial examina- 
 tion of any other way which may be pointed out to him for arriving at tkt 
 •auie salutary end." 
 
 Downing Street, AprU 10, 1796. 
 
LETTERS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. 179 
 
 jugation of Piedmont — the possession of its impregnable 
 fortresses — the seizing on all the neutral states of Italy — 
 our expulsion from Legliorn — instances for ever renewed, 
 for our expulsion from Grenoa — Spain rendered subject to 
 them and hostile to us — Portugal bent under the yoke — 
 half the emj)ire over-run and ravaged, were the only signs 
 which this mild republic thought proper to manifest of her 
 pacific sentiments. Every demonstration of an implacable 
 rancour and an untameable pride were the only encourage- 
 ments we received to the renewal of our supplications. 
 
 Here therefore they and we were fixed. Nothing was left 
 to the British ministry but " to prosecute a war just and 
 necessary " — a war equally just as at the time of our engaging 
 in it — a war become ten times more necessary by every- 
 thing which happened afterwards. This resolution was soon, 
 however, forgot. It felt the heat of the season and melted 
 away. ]S"ew hopes were entertained from supplication. No 
 expectations, indeed, were then formed from renewing a 
 direct application to the French regicides through the agent- 
 general for the humiliation of sovereigns. At length a st^p 
 was taken in degradation which even went lower than all the 
 rest. Deficient in merits of our own, a mediator was to be 
 sought — and we looked for that mediator at Berlin ! The 
 king of Prussia's merits in abandoning the general cause 
 might have obtained for him some sort of influence in favour 
 of those whom he had deserted ; but I have never heard that 
 his Prussian Majesty had lately discovered so marked an 
 affection for the court of St. James's, or for the court of 
 Vienna, as to excite much hope of his interposing a very 
 powerful mediation to deliver them from the distresses into 
 w^hich he had brought them. 
 
 If humiliation is the element in which we live, if it is be- 
 come not only our occasional policy but our habit, no great 
 objection can be made to the modes in which it may be di- 
 versified ; though I confess I cannot be charmed with the 
 idea of our exposing our lazar sores at the door of every 
 proud servitor of the French republic, where the court-dogs 
 will not deign to lick them. AVe had, if I am not mistaken, 
 a minister at that court, who might try its temper, and re- 
 eede and advance as he found backwardness or encourago- 
 
 M 2 
 
180 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ment. But to send a gentleman there on no other errand 
 than tliis, and with no assurance whatever that he should 
 not find, what he did find, a repulse, seems to me to go far 
 beyond all the demands of a humiliation merely politic. I 
 hope it did not arise from a predilection for that mode of 
 conduct. 
 
 The cup of bitterness was not, however, drained to the 
 dregs. Basle and Berlin were not sufficient. After so many 
 and so diversified repulses, we Avere resolved to make another 
 experiment, and to try another mediator. Among the un- 
 liappy gentleirven, in whose persons royalty is insulted and 
 degraded at the seat of plebeian pride and upstart insolence, 
 there is a minister from Denmark at Paris. AVithout any 
 previous encouragement to that, any more than the other 
 jiteps, w^e sent through this turnpike to demand a passport 
 for a person who on our part was to solicit peace in the me- 
 tropolis, at the footstool of regicide itself. It was not to be 
 ex])ected that any one of those degraded beings could have 
 influence enough to settle any part of the terms in favour of 
 the candidates for further degradation ; besides, such inter- 
 vention would be a direct breach in their system, which did 
 not permit one sovereign powder to utter a word in the con- 
 cerns of his equal. — Another repulse. — We were desired to 
 apply directly in our persons. — We submitted and made the 
 application. 
 
 It might be thought that here, at length, we had touched 
 the bottom of humiliation ; our lead was brought up covered 
 w^ith mud. But "in the lowest deep, a lower deep" was to 
 open for us still more profound abysses of disgrace and shame. 
 However, in we leaped. We came forward in our own name. 
 The passport, such a passport and safe-conduct as would be 
 granted to thieves who might come in to betray their ac- 
 complices, and no better, was granted to British supplication. 
 To leave no doubt of its spirit, as soon as the rumour of this 
 act of condescension could get abroad, it was formally an- 
 nounced wath an explanation from authority, containing an 
 invective against the ministry of Great Britain, their habitual 
 f]'auds, their proverbial, punic perfidy. No such state paper, 
 as a preliminary to a negotiation for peace, has ever yet ap- 
 peared. Very few declarations of wiiv have ever showji so 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 181 
 
 much and so unqualified animosity. I place it below* as a 
 diplomatic curiosity, and in order to be the better under* 
 
 • Official Note, extracted from the Journal of the Defenders of the 
 Country. 
 Executive Directory. 
 
 ♦'Different Journals have advanced that an En2:lish plenipotentiary had 
 reached Paris, and had presented hitnself to the Executive Directory, 
 but that liis propositions not having appeared salisfaclory, he had leceived 
 orders instantly to quit France. 
 
 " All these assertions are equally false. 
 
 "The notices given, in the English papers, of a minister having been 
 sent to Paris, there to treat of peace, bring to recollection the overtures 
 of Mr. Wickham to the ambassador of the republic at Basle, and the ru- 
 mours circulated relative to the mission of ^Ir. Hammond to the com-t of 
 Prussia. 'Y\\e insignificayice, ov rather the subtle duplicity, the PUNIC 
 style of Mr. Wickham's note, is not forgotten. According to the partisans 
 of the English ministry, it was to Pans that Mr. Hammond was to come 
 to speak for peace : when his destination became jtublic, and it w^as known 
 that he went to Prussia, the same writer repeated that il was to acceler- 
 ate a peace, and, notwiihstanding the object, now well known, of this ne- 
 gotiation, was to engage Prussia to break her treaties with the Republic, 
 and to return into the coalition — the court of Berlin, laiihful to its en- 
 gagements, repulsed ihese 2)^>'fdioiis propositions. But in converting this 
 intrigue into a mission for peace, the English ministry joined to the hope 
 of giving a new enemy to France, that of justifying the continuance of the 
 war in the eyes of the English nation, and of throwing all the odium of it 
 on the French government, buch was also the aim of Mr. Wickham's note. 
 Such is still that of the notice give7i at this time in the English papers. 
 
 " This aim will appear evident, if we reflect how difficult it is, that the 
 ambitious government of England should sincerely wish lor a peace that 
 would snatch from it its maritime prepondcrancy, icoidd re-establish the 
 freedom of the seas, tcould give a new impulse to the !Spa7iish, Dutch, and 
 French 7narines, and would carry to the highest degree of prosperity the 
 industry and commerce of those nadons in which it has always found 
 rivals, and which it has considered as enemies of its commerce, when they 
 were tired of being its dupes. 
 
 " But there will 7io longer be any credit given to the pacific intentions of 
 the English miyiistry, when it is known, that its gold and its intrigues, 
 its open practices and its iiisimiations, besiege more than ever the cabinet of 
 Vienna, and are one of the principal obstacles to the negotiation which 
 that cabinet would of itself be induced to enter on for peace. 
 
 " They will no longer be credited, finally, when the moment of the 
 rumour of these overtures being circulated is considered. The English 
 nation supports impatiently the co7itinuance of the war, a reply must be 
 made to its complaints, its reproaches ; the parliament is about to re-open 
 its sittings ; the mouths of the orators who will declaim against the Avar 
 must be shut, the demnd of new taxes must be justified ; and to obtain 
 these results, it is necessary to be enabled to advance, that the FrcDch 
 gOTernment refuses every reasonable proposition of peace." 
 
182 LETTEES OS A KEUICIDE PEACE. 
 
 stood, in the few remarks I have to make upon a piece, 
 which indeed defies all description — " None but itself can be 
 its parallel " 
 
 I pass by all the insolence and contumely of the perform- 
 ance, as it comes from them. The present question is not how 
 we are to be affected with it in regard to our dignity. That 
 is gone. I shall say no more about it. Light lie the earth 
 on the ashes of English pride. I shall only observe upon it 
 politically/, and as furnishing a direction for oui* own conduct 
 in this low business. 
 
 The very idea of a negotiation for peace, whatever the in- 
 ward sentiments of the parties may be, implies some confidence 
 in their faith, some degree of belief in the professions which 
 are made concerning it. A temporary and occasional credit, 
 at least, is granted. Otherwise men stumble on the very 
 threshold. I therefore wish to ask what hope we can have 
 of their good faith, who, as the very basis of the negotiation, 
 assume the ill faith and treachery of those they have to deal 
 with ? The terms, as against us, must be such as imply a 
 full security against a treacherous conduct — that is, such 
 terms as this directory stated in its first declaration, to place 
 lis " in an utter impossibility of executing our wretched pro- 
 jects." This is the omen, and the sole omen, under which 
 we have consented to open our treaty. 
 
 The second observation I have to make upon it, (much 
 connected undoubtedly with the first,) is, that they have in- 
 formed you of the result they propose from the kind of peace 
 they mean to grant you ; that is to say, the union they pro- 
 pose among nations, with the view of rivalling our trade and 
 destroying our naval power, and this they suppose (and with 
 good reason too) must be the inevitable effect of their peace. 
 It forms one of their principal grounds for suspecting our 
 ministers could not be in good earnest in their proposition. 
 They make no scruple beforehand to tell you the whole of 
 Avhat they intend; and this is what we call, in the modern 
 style, the acceptance of a proposition for peace ! In old lan- 
 guage it would be called a most haughty, olfensive, and in- 
 solent rejection of all treaty. 
 
 Thirdly, they tell you what they conceive to be the per- 
 fidious policy wliich dictates your delusive ofK-'r ; that is, tlie 
 design of cheating, not only them, but the people of England, 
 
LETJTEEa OV A. EEaiCIDE PEACE. 189 
 
 against whose interest and inclination this w ar is supposed 
 to be carried on. 
 
 If we proceed in this business, under this preh'minary de- 
 claration, it seems to me, that we admit, (now for the third 
 time,) by something a great deal stronger than words, the 
 truth of the charges of every kind which they make upon 
 the British ministry, and the grounds of those foul imputa* 
 tions. The language used by us, which in other circum- 
 stances would not be exceptionable, in this case tends very 
 strongly to confirm and realize the suspicion of our enemy. 
 I mean the declaration, that if we do not obtain such terms 
 of peace as suits our opinion of what our interests require, 
 then, and in that case, we shall continue the war with vigour. 
 This offer so reasoned, plainly implies, that, without it, our 
 leaders themselves entertain great doubts of the opinion and 
 good affections of the British people ; otherwise there doeg 
 not appear any cause, why we should proceed under the 
 scandalous construction of our enemy upon the former offer 
 made by Mr. Wickham, and on the new offer made directly 
 at Paris. It is not, therefore, from a sense of dignity, but 
 from the danger of radicating that false sentiment in the 
 breasts of the enemy, that I think, under the auspices of this 
 declaration, we cannot, with the least hope of a good event, 
 or, indeed, with any regard to the common safety, proceed in 
 the train of this negotiation. I wish ministry would seriously 
 consider the importance of their seeming to confirm the 
 enemy in an opinion, that his frequent use of appeals to the 
 people against their government has not been without its 
 effect. If it puts an end to this war it will render another 
 impracticable. 
 
 "Whoever goes to the directorial presence under this pass- 
 port, with this offensive comment, and foul explanation, goes, 
 in the avowed sense of the court to which he is sent, as the 
 instrument of a government dissociated from the interests 
 and wishes of the nation, for the purpose of cheating both 
 the people of France and the people of England. He goes 
 out the declared emissary of a faithless ministry. He has 
 perfidy for his credentials. He has national weakness for 
 his full powers. I yet doubt whether any one can be found 
 to invest himself with that character. If there should, it 
 would be pleasant to read hia instructions on the answer 
 
184 LETTEES OX V RECIICIDL TE-VCE. 
 
 which he is to give to the directory, in case they should fe» 
 peat to him the substance of the -manifesto which he carries 
 with him in his portfolio. 
 
 So much for the _/rVs^ manifesto of the regicide court which 
 went along with the passport. Lest this declaration should 
 seem the effect of haste, or a mere sudden eff*Lision of pride 
 and insolence, on full deliberation, about a week after comes 
 out a second. This manifesto is dated the fiftli of October, 
 one day before the speech from the throne, on the vigil of 
 the festive day of cordial unanimity so happily celebrated 
 by all parties in the British parliament. In this piece the 
 regicides, our worthy friends, (I call them by advance and 
 by courtesy what by law I shall be obliged to call them here- 
 after.) our worthy friends, I say, renew and enforce the 
 former declaration concerning our faith and sincerity, which 
 they pinned to our passport. On three other points, which 
 run through all their declarations, they are more explicit 
 than ever. 
 
 first, they more directly undertake to be the real repre- 
 sentatives of the people of this kingdom : and on a supposi- 
 tion, in which they agree w'itli our parliamentary reformers, 
 that the House of Commons is not that representative, the 
 function being vacant, they, as our true constitutional organ, 
 inform His Majesty and the world of the sense of the nation. 
 They tell us that " the English people see with regret his 
 Majesty's government squanderuig away the funds which had 
 been granted to him." This astonishing assumption of the 
 public voice of England is but a slight foretaste of the 
 usurpation which, on a peace, we may be assured they will 
 make of all the powers in all the parts of our vassal consti- 
 tution. " If they do these things in a green tree, what shall 
 be done in the dry ? " 
 
 Next they tell iis as a condition to our treaty, that " this go- 
 vernment must abjure the unjust hatred it bears to them, and 
 at last open its ears to the voice of humanity." — Truly this 
 is, even from them, an extraordinary demand. Hitherto it 
 seems we have put wax into our ears to shut them up against 
 the tender, soothing strains, in the affetliwso of humanity, 
 warbled from the throats of Keubel, Carnot. Tallien, and the 
 whole chorus of confiscators, domiciliary visitors, committee- 
 men of research, jurors and presidents of revolutionary tri- 
 
LETTERS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. 185 
 
 bunals, regicides, assassins, massacrers, and septembrisers. 
 It is not difficult to discern what sort oi' liunianity our go- 
 vernment is to learn fiom these syren singers. Our govern- 
 ment also, I admit with some reason, as a step towards the 
 proposed fraternity, is required to abjure the unjust liatred 
 which it bears to this body of honour and virtue. I thank 
 Grod I am neither a minister nor a leader of opposition. 1 pro- 
 test 1 cannot do what they desire. I could not do it if I were 
 under the guillotine ; or as they ingeniously and pleasantly 
 express it, "looking out of the little national window." 
 Even at that opening 1 could receive none of their light. I 
 am fortified against all such affections by the declaration of 
 the government, which I must yet consider as lawful, made 
 D on the 29th of October, 1793,^ and still ringing in my ears. 
 
 • " In their place has succeeded a system destructive of all public order, 
 maintained by rroscripiions, exiles, and confiscations without number ; by 
 arbitrary imprisonment ; by massacres which cannot be remembered with- 
 out horror ; and at length by the execrable murder of a just and beneficent 
 sovereign, and of the illustrious princess, who, with an unshaken firmness, 
 has shared all the misfortunes of her royal consort, his protracted suf- 
 ferings, his cruel captivity, and his ignominious death." — " They (the allies) 
 have had to encounter acts of aggression without pretext, open violation of 
 all treaties, unprovoked declarations of war; in a word, whatever corrup- 
 tion, int'.igne, or violence could eflFect for the purpose, openly avowed, 
 of subverting all the institutions of society, and of extending over all the 
 nations of Europe that confusion, "which has produced the misery of 
 France." — 
 
 *' This state of things cannot exist in France, without involving all the 
 surrounding powers in one common danger, without giving them the right, 
 without imposing it upon them as a duty, to stop the progress of an evil, 
 which exists only by the successive violation of law and all property, and 
 which attacks the fundamental principles by which mankind is united in 
 the bonds of civil society." — " The king would impose none other than 
 equitable and moderate conditions, not such as the expense, the risks, and 
 the sacrifices of the war misht justify ; but such as his Majesty thinks 
 himself under the indispensable necessity of requiring, with a view to 
 these considerations, and still more to that of his own security and of the 
 future tranquillity of Europe. His Majesty desires nothing more sincerely 
 than thus to terminate a war, which he in vain endeavoured to avoid, and 
 all the calamities of which, as now experienced by France, are to be at- 
 tributed only to ambition, the perfidy, and the violence of those, whose 
 crimes have involved their own country in misery, and disgraced all civiliz- 
 ed nations." — " The king promises on his part the suspension of hostilities, 
 friendship, and (as far as the course of events will allow, of which the 
 will of man cannot dispose) security and protection to all those who, by 
 declaring for a monarchical form of government, shall shake oti" the yoke 
 
186 LETTERS OV A UEttlCIDE PEACE. 
 
 This declaration was transmitted not only to all our com* 
 manders by sea and land, but to our ministers in every 
 court of Europe. It is the most eloquent and highly fin- 
 ished in the style, the most judicious in the choice of topics, 
 the most orderly in the arrangement, and the most rich in 
 the colouring, without employing the smallest degree of ex- 
 aggeration, of any state paper that has ever yet appeared. 
 An ancient writer, Plutarch, I think it is, quotes some verses 
 on the eloquence of Pericles, who is called " the only orator 
 that left stings in the minds of his hearers." Like his, the 
 eloquence of the declaration, not contradicting, but enforcing 
 sentiments of the truest humanity, has left stings that 
 have penetrated more than skin deep into my mind ; and 
 never can they be extracted by all the surgery of murder : 
 never can the throbbings they have created be assuaged by all 
 the emollient cataplasms of robbery and confiscation. I can- 
 not love the republic. 
 
 The third point, which they have more clearly expressed 
 than ever, is of equal importance with the rest ; and with 
 them furnishes a complete view of the regicide system. For 
 they demand as a condition, Avithout which our ambassador 
 of obedience cannot be received with any hope of success, 
 that he shall be " provided with full powers to negotiate a peace 
 between the French republic and Great Britain, and to con- 
 clude it defirdtively between the two powers." With their 
 spear they draw a circle about us. They will hear nothing 
 of a joint treaty. We must make a peace separately from 
 our allies. We must, as the very first and preliminary step, 
 be guilty of that perfidy towards our friends and associates, 
 with which thty reproach us in our transactions with them our 
 enemies. We are called upon scandalously to betray the 
 
 of sanguinary anarchy ; of that anarchy which has broken all the most 
 sacred bonds of society, dissolved all the relations of civil life, violated 
 every right, confounded every duty ; which uses the name of liberty to 
 exercise the most cruel tyranny, to annihilate all property, to seize on all 
 possessions; which founds its power on the pretended consent of the peo- 
 ple, and itself carries fire and sword through extensive provinces for hav- 
 ing demanded their laws, their religion, and their lawful sovereign." 
 
 Declaration sent by his Majesty's command to the commanders of hia 
 Majesty's fleets and armies employed against France, and to 'i.s Ma- 
 jesty's ministers employed at foreign sourts. 
 
 Whitehall, Oct. 29th, 1793. 
 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACH. 187 
 
 fundamental securities to ourselves and to all Lations. In 
 my opinion, (it is perhaps but a poor one,) if we are meanly 
 bold euough to send an ambassador such as this official note 
 of the enemy requires, we cannot even despatch our emissary 
 without danger of being charged with a breach of our alli- 
 ance. Government now understands the full meaning of the 
 passport. 
 
 Strange revolutions have happened in the ways of thinh- 
 ing and in the feelings of men : but, it is a very extraordin- 
 ary coalition of parties indeed, and a kind of unheard-of 
 unanimity in public councils, which can impose this new-dis- 
 covered system of negotiation, as sound national policy, on 
 the understanding of a spectator of this wonderful scene, who 
 judges on the principles of anything he ever before saw, 
 read, or heard of, and, above all, on the understanding of a 
 person who has in his eye the transactions of the last seven 
 years. 
 
 I know it is supposed, that if good terms of capitulation 
 are not granted, after we have thus so repeatedly hung out the 
 •white flag, the national spirit will revive with tenfold ardour. 
 This is an experiment cautiously to be made. Reculer pour 
 mieux sauter, according to the French by-word, cannot be 
 trusted to as a general rule of conduct. To diet a man into 
 weakness and languor, afterwards to give him the greater 
 strength, has more of the empiric than the rational physi- 
 cian. It is true that some persons have been kicked into 
 courage ; and this is no bad hint to give to those who are 
 too forward and liberal in bestowing insults and outrages 
 on their passive companions. But such a course does not at 
 first view appear a well-chosen discipline to form men to a 
 nice sense of honour, or a quick resentment of injuries. 
 A long habit of humiliation does not seem a very good pre* 
 parative to manly and vigorous sentiment. It may not leave, 
 perhaps, enough of energy in the mind fairly to discern what 
 are good terms or what are not. Men low and dispirited 
 may regard those terms as not at all amiss, which in another 
 state of mind they would think intolerable : if they grow 
 peevish in this state of mind, they may be roused, not against 
 the enem.y whom they have been taught to fear, but against 
 the ministry,^ who are more within their reach, and who have 
 * Ut iethargicas hie, cum fit pugU, et luedicum urget. — Uor. 
 
188 LETTERS OS A REQICTDE PEACE. 
 
 refused conditions that are not unreasonable, from power that 
 they have been taught to consider as irresistible. 
 
 if all that for some months I have heard have the least 
 foundation, I hope it has not, the ministers are, perhaps, not 
 quite so much to be blamed, as their condition is to be 
 lamented. I have been given to understand, that these pro- 
 ceedings are not in their origin properly theirs. It is said 
 that there is a secret in the House of Commons. It is said 
 that ministers act not according to the votes, but according 
 to the dispositions, of the majority. I hear that the minority 
 has long since spoken the general sense of the nation ; and 
 that to prevent those vpho compose it from having the open 
 and avowed lead in that House, or perhaps in both Houses, it 
 was necessary to pre-occupy their ground, and to take their 
 propositions out of their mouths, even with the hazard 
 of being afterwards reproached with a compliance which it 
 was foreseen would be fruitless. 
 
 If the general disposition of the people be, as I hear it is, 
 for an immediate peace with regicide, without so much as 
 considering our public and solemn engagements to the party 
 in Prance whose cause we had espoused, or the engagements 
 expressed in our general alliances, not only Avithout an 
 inquiry into the terms, but with a certain knowledge that 
 none but the worst terms will be offered, it is all over with us. 
 It is strange, but it may be true, that as the danger from 
 Jacobinism is increased in my eyes and in yours, the fear of 
 it is lessened in the eyes of many people who formerly re- 
 garded it with horror. It seems, they act under tlie im- 
 pression of terrors of another sort, which have frightened 
 them out of their first apprehensions. But let their fears, 
 or their hopes, or their desires, be what they will, they should 
 recollect, that they who would make peace without a pre- 
 vious knowledge of the terms, make a surrender. They are 
 conquered. They do not treat ; they receive the law. Is 
 this the disposition of the people of England? Then the 
 people of England are contented to seek in the kindness of 
 a foreign systematic enemy, combined with a dangerous 
 faction at home, a security which they cannot fuid in their 
 own patriotism and their own courage. Tliey are willing to 
 trust to the sympathy of regicides the guarantee of tho 
 British monarchy. Tliey are content to rest their religion 
 
LETTKHfl OV A. REGICIDE PEACE. 189 
 
 on the piety of atheists by establishment. They are satisfied 
 to seek in the clemency of practised murderers the security 
 f)f their lives. They are pleased to confide their property to 
 the safeguard of those who are robbers by inclination, inter- 
 est, habit, and system. If this be our deliberate mind, truly 
 we deserve to lose, what it is impossible we should long re- 
 tain, the name of a nation. 
 
 In matters of state, a constitutional competence to act is 
 in many cases the smallest part of the question. Without 
 disputing (God forbid I should dispute) the sole competence 
 of the king and the parliament, each in its province, to de- 
 cide on war and peace, I venture to say, no war can be long 
 carried on against the will of the people. This war, in par- 
 ticular, cannot be carried on unless they are enthusiastically 
 m favour of it. Acquiescence will not do. There must be 
 . zeal. Universal zeal in such a cause, and at such a time as 
 I this is, cannot be looked for; neither is it necessary. Zeal 
 I in the larger part carries the force of the whole. Without 
 I this, no government, certainly not our government, is capable 
 i of a great war. iSTone of the ancient, regular governments 
 ; have wherewithal to fight abroad with a foreign foe, and at 
 home to overcome repining, reluctance, and chicane. It 
 I must be some portentous thing, like regicide France, that 
 ' can exhibit such a prodigy. Yet even she, the mother of 
 monsters, more prolific than the country of old called Ferax 
 monstrorum, shows symptoms of being almost effete already; 
 and she will be so, unless the fallow of a peace comes to re* 
 eruit her fertility. But whatever may be represented con- 
 cerning the meanness of the popular spirit, I, for one, do not 
 think so desperately of the British nation. Our minds, as 
 I said, are light, but they are not depraved. We are dread- 
 fully open to delusion and to dejection ; but we are capable 
 of being animated and undeceived. 
 \ It cannot be concealed : we are a divided people. But in 
 I divisions, where a part is to be taken, we are to make a 
 i muster of our strength. I have often endeavoured to com- 
 ; pute and to class those who, in any political view, are to be 
 I called the people. AVithout doing something of this sort we 
 : must proceed absurdly. We should not be much wiser, if 
 we pretended to very great accuracy in our estimate ; but I 
 think, in the calculation I have made, the error cannot be 
 
190 LETTERS OK A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 very material. In England and Scotland, I compute tliat those 
 of adult age, not declining in life, of tolerable leisure for such 
 discussions, and of some means of information, more or less, 
 and who are above menial dependence, (or what virtually is 
 such,) may amount to about four hundred thousand. There 
 is such a thing as a natural representative of the people. 
 This body is that representative ; and on this body, more 
 than on the legal constituent, the artificial representative 
 depends. This is the British public ; and it is a public very 
 numerous. The rest, when feeble, are the objects of protec* 
 tion ; when strong, the means of force. They, who affect to 
 consider that part of us in any other light, insult while they 
 cajole us; they do not want us for counsellors in delibera- 
 tion, but to list us as soldiers for battle. 
 
 Of these four hundred thousand political citizens, I look 
 upon one-fifth, or about eighty thousand, to be pure Jacobins ; 
 utterly incapable of amendment ; objects of eternal vigilance ; 
 and, when they break out, of legal constraint. On these, 
 no reason, no argument, no example, no venerable authority, 
 can have the slightest influence. They desire a change ; and 
 they will have it if they can. If they cannot have it by 
 English cabal, they will make no sort of scruple of having it 
 by the cabal of France, into which already they are virtually 
 incorporated. It is only their assured and confident ex- 
 pectation of the advantages of French fraternity, and the 
 approaching blessings of regicide intercourse, that skins over 
 their mischievous dispositions with a momentary quiet. 
 
 This minority is great and formidable. I do not know 
 whether, if I aimed at the total overthrow of a kingdom, I 
 should wish to be encumbered with a larger body of parti- 
 sans. They are more easily disciplined and directed than if 
 the number were greater. These, by their spirit of intrigue, 
 and by their restless agitating activity, are of a force far 
 superior to their numbers ; and, if times grew the least cri- 
 tical, have the means of debauching or intimidating many of 
 those who are now sound, as well as of adding to tlieir force 
 large bodies of the more passive part of the nation. This 
 minority is numerous enough to make a mighty cry for 
 peace, or for war, or for any object they are led vehemently 
 to desire. By passing from place to place with a velocity 
 incredible, and diversifying their character and description, 
 
LETTEHS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 191 
 
 they are capable of mimicking the general voice. "We must 
 not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the 
 noise of the acclamation. 
 
 The majority, the other four-fifths, is perfectly sound ; 
 and of the best possible disposition to religion, to govern- 
 ment, to the true and undivided interests of their country. 
 Such men are naturally disposed to peace. They who are in 
 possession of all they wish are languid and improvident. 
 With this fault (and I admit its existence in all its extent) 
 they would not endure to hear of a peace that led to the 
 ruin of everything for which peace is dear to them. How- 
 ever, the desire of peace is essentially the weak side of that 
 kind of men. All men that are ruined, are ruined on the 
 side of their natural propensities. There they are unguard- 
 ed. Above all, good men do not suspect that their destruc- 
 tion is attempted through their virtues. This their enemies 
 are perfectly aware of: and accordingly, they, the most tur- 
 bulent of mankind, who never make a scruple to shake the 
 tranquillity of their country to its centre, raise a continual 
 cry for peace with France. " Peace with regicide, and 
 war with the rest of the world," is their motto. From the 
 beginning, and even whilst the French gave the blows, and 
 we hardly opposed the vis inertice to their efforts, from that 
 day to this hour, like importunate Gruinea-fowls crying one 
 note day and night, they have called for peace. 
 
 lu this they are, as I confess in all things they are, per- 
 fectly consistent. They, who wish to unite themselves to 
 your enemies, naturally desire, that you should disarm your- 
 self by a peace with these enemies. But it passes my con- 
 ception, how they, who wish well to their country on its 
 ancient system of laws and manners, come not to be doubly 
 alarmed, when they find nothing but a clamour for peace, in 
 the mouths of the men on earth the least disposed to it in 
 their natural or in their habitual character. 
 
 I have a good opinion of the general abilities of the Jaco- 
 bins : not that I suppose them better born than others ; but 
 strong passions awaken the faculties ; they sufier not a par- 
 ticle of the man to be lost. The spirit of enterprise gives to 
 this description the full use of all their native energies. If 
 I have reason to conceive that my enemy, who, as such, must 
 iiave an interest in my destruction, is also a person of di*- 
 
I 
 
 192 LETTERS ON A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 cernment aud sagacity, then I must be quite sure, that, in a 
 coutest, the object he violently pursues is the very thing by 
 which my rain is likely to be the most perfectly accomplish- 
 ed. Why do the Jacobins cry for peace ? Because they 
 know, that, this point gained, the rest will follow of course. 
 On our part, why are all the rules of prudence, as sure as 
 the laws of material nature, to be at this time reversed ? 
 How comes it, that now, for the first time, men think it 
 right to be governed by the counsels of their enemies ? 
 Ought they not rather to tremble, when they are persuaded 
 to travel on the same road, and to tend to the same place 
 of rest ? 
 
 The minority I speak of is not susceptible of an impres- 
 sion from the topics of argmnent to be used to the larger 
 part of the community. I therefore do not address to them 
 any part of what I have to say. The more forcibly I drive 
 my arguments against their system, so as to make an impres- 
 sion where I wish to make it, the more strongly I rivet them 
 in their sentiments. As for us, who compose the far larger, 
 and what I call the far better, part of the people ; let me 
 say, that we have not been quite fairly dealt with when 
 called to this deliberation. The Jacobin minority have been 
 abundantly supplied with stores and provisions of all kinds 
 towards their warfare. No sort of argumentative materials, 
 suited to their purposes, have been withheld. Palse they 
 are, unsound, sophistical ; but they are regular in their di- 
 rection. They all bear one way, and they all go to the sup- 
 port of the substantial merits of their course. The others 
 have not had the question so mnch as fairly stated to them. 
 
 There has not been in this century any foreign peace or 
 war, in its origin, the fruit of popular desire ; except the war 
 that was made with Spain in 1739. Sir Eobert Walpole 
 was forced into the war by the people, who were inflamed to 
 this measure by the most leading politicians, by the first 
 orators, and the greatest poets, of the time. For that war, 
 Pope sung his dying notes. For that war, Johnson, in more 
 energetic strains, employed the voice of his early genius. 
 For that war, Grlover distinguished himself in the way in 
 which his muse was the most natural and happy. The crowd 
 readily followed the politicians in the cry for a war, which 
 threatened little bloodshed, and which promised victorie* 
 
t.'ETTERS ON A PEGICTDE PEACE. 193 
 
 that were attended with something more solid than glory. 
 A war with Spain was a war of plunder. In the present 
 conflict with regicide, IMr. Pitt has not hitherto had, nor will 
 perhaps for a few days have, many prizes to hold out in the 
 lottery of war, to tempt the lower part of our character. 
 He can only maintain it by an appeal to the higher; and to 
 those, in whom that higher part is the most predominant, 
 lie must look the most for his support. Whilst he holds out 
 no inducements to the wise, nor bribes to the avaricious, he 
 may be forced by a vulgar cry into a peace ten times more 
 ruinous than the most disastrous war. The weaker he is in 
 the fund of motives which apply to our avarice, to our lazi- 
 ness, and to our lassitude, if he means to carry the war to 
 any end at all, the stronger he ought to be in his addresses 
 to our magnanimity and to our reason. 
 
 In stating that AValpole was di'iven by a popular clamour 
 into a measure not to be justified, I do not mean wholly to 
 excuse his conduct. My time of observation did not exactly 
 coincide with that event ; but I read much of the controver- 
 sies then carried on. Several years after the contests of 
 parties had ceased, the people were amused, and in a degree 
 warmed, with them. The events of that sera seemed then 
 of magnitude, which the revolutions of our time have re- 
 duced to parochial importance ; and the debates, which then 
 shook the nation, now appear of no higher moment than a 
 discussion in a vestry. When I was very young, a general 
 fashion told me I was to admire some of the writings against 
 that minister ; a little more maturity taught me as much to 
 despise them. I observed one fault in his general proceed- 
 i ing. He never manfully put forward the entire strength of 
 j his cause. He temporized, he managed, and, adopting very 
 I nearly the sentiments of his adversaries, he opposed their 
 I inferences. This, for a political commander, is the choice of 
 a weak post. His adversaries had the better of the argu- 
 ment, as he handled it, not as the reason and justice of his 
 i cause enabled him to manage it. I say this, after having 
 j seen, and with some care examined, the original documents 
 ' concerning certain important transactions of those times. 
 ' They perfectly satisfied me of the extreme injustice of that 
 Vrar, and of the falsehood of the colours, wliich to his own 
 ruin, and guided by a mistaken policy, he suffered to bf 
 
194 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDB PEACE. 
 
 daubed over that measure. Some years after, it was my for- 
 tune to converse with many of the principal actors against 
 that minister, and with those who principally excited that 
 clamour. JSTone of them, no not one, did in the least defend 
 the measure, or attempt to justify their conduct. They con- 
 demned it as freely as they would have done in commenting 
 upon any proceeding in history, in which they were totally 
 unconcerned. Thus it will be. They who stir up the people 
 to improper desires, whether of peace or war, will be con- 
 demned by themselves. They who weakly yield to them \vill 
 be condemned by history. 
 
 In my opinion, the present ministry are as far from doing 
 full justice to their cause in this war, as Walpole was from 
 doing justice to the peace which at that time he was willing 
 to preserve. They throw the light on one side only of their 
 case ; though it is impossible they should not observe, that 
 the other side which is kept in the shade has its importance 
 too. They must know, that France is formidable, not only 
 as she is France, but as she is Jacobin France. They knew 
 from the beginning that the Jacobin party was not confined 
 to that country. They knew, they felt, the strong disposi- 
 tion of the same faction in both countries to communicate 
 and to co-operate. For some time past, these two points 
 liave been kept, and even industriously kept, out of sight. 
 France is considered as merely a foreign power ; and the sedi- 
 tious English only as a domestic faction. The merits of the 
 war with the former have been argued solely on political 
 grounds. To prevent the mischievous doctrines of the latter 
 fi-om corrupting our minds, matter and argument have been 
 supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit, on the excellency 
 of our own government. But nothing has been done to 
 make us feel in what manner the safety of that government 
 is connected with the principle and with the issue of this 
 war. For anything which in the late discussion has appear- 
 ed, the war is entirely collateral to the state of Jacobinism ; 
 as truly a foreign war to us and to all our home concerns, as 
 i he war with Spain in 1739, about Garda- Castas, the Madrid 
 Convention, and the fable of Captain Je?ikins's ears. 
 
 Whenever the adverse party has raised a cry for peace 
 with the regicide, the answer has been little more than this, 
 ** that the administration wished for such a peace, full M 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 195 
 
 much as the opposition ; but that the time was not con- 
 venient for making it." Whatever else has been said was 
 much in the same spirit. Reasons of this kind never touched, 
 the substantial merits of the war. They were in the nature 
 of dilatory pleas, exceptions of form, previous questions. 
 Accordingly all the arguments against a compliance with 
 what was represented as the popular desire, (urged on with 
 all possible vehemence and earnestness by the Jacobins,) 
 have appeared flat and languid, feeble and evasive. They 
 appeared to aim only at gaining time. They never entered 
 into the peculiar and distinctive character of the war. They 
 spoke neither to the understanding nor to the heart. Cohl 
 as ice themselves, they never could kindle in our breast j» 
 spark of that zeal, which is necessary to a conflict with an 
 adverse zeal ; much less were they made to infuse into our 
 minds that stubborn, persevering spirit, which alone is capa- 
 ble of bearing up against those vicissitudes of fortune, 
 which will probably occur, and those burthens, which 
 must be ine\'itably borne, in a long war. I speak it em- 
 phatically, and with a desire that it should be marked, in a 
 long war ; because, without such a war, no experience has 
 yet told us, that a dangerous power has ever been reduced 
 to measure or to reason. I do not throw back my view to 
 the Peloponnesian war of twenty-seven years ; nor to two of 
 the Punic wars, the first of twenty-four, the second cf 
 eighteen; nor to the more recent war concluded by the 
 treaty of AVestphalia, which continued, I think, for thirty. 
 I go to what is but just fallen behind living memory, and im- 
 mediately touches our own country. Let the portion of our 
 history from the year 1689 to 1713 be brought before us. 
 We shall find, that in all that period of twenty-four years, 
 there were hardly five that could be called a season of peace ; 
 and the interval between the two wars was in reality nothing 
 more than a very active preparation for renovated hostility. 
 During that period, every one of the propositions of peace 
 came from the enemy : The first, when they were accepted, 
 at the peace of E-yswick ; the second, where they were re- 
 jected, at the congress at Gertruydenburgh ; the last, when 
 the war ended by the treaty of Utrecht. Even then, a very 
 great part of the nation, and that which contained by far the 
 most intelligent statesmen, was against the conclusion of the 
 
 2 
 
196 LETTEBS OS A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 war. I do not enter into the merits of that question as be- 
 tween the parties. I only state the existence of that opinion 
 as a fact, from whence you may draw such an inference as 
 you think properl}^ arises from it. 
 
 It is for us at present to recollect what we have been ; 
 and to consider what, if we please, we may be still. At the 
 period of those wars, our principal strength was found in 
 the resolution of the people ; and that in the resolution of 
 a part only of the then whole, which bore no proportion 
 to our existing magnitude. England and Scotland were 
 not united at the beginning of that mighty struggle. When, 
 in the course of the contest, they were conjoined, it was in a 
 raw, an ill-cemented, an unproductive union. For the whole 
 duration of the war, and long after, the names and other out- 
 ward and visible signs of approximation, rather augmented 
 than diminished our insular feuds. They were rather the 
 causes of new discontents and new troubles, than promoters 
 of cordiality and affection. The now single and potent 
 Great Britain was then, not only two countries, but, from 
 the party heats in both, and the divisions formed in each of 
 them, each of the old kingdoms within itself, in eftect, was 
 made up of two hostile nations. Ireland, now so large a 
 source of the common opulence and power, and which wisely 
 managed might be made much more beneficial and much 
 more effective, was then the heaviest of the burtjiens. An 
 army, not much less than forty thousand men, was drawn 
 from the general eflfort, to keep that kingdom in a poor, un- 
 fruitful, and resourceless subjection. 
 
 Such was the state of the empire. The state of our finances 
 \?ras worse, if possible. Every branch of the revenue became 
 less productive after the Eevolution. Silver, not as now a 
 sort pf counter, but the body of the current coin, was reduced 
 80 low, as not to have above three parts in foiu* of the value 
 in the shilling. In the greater part the value hardly amount- 
 ed to a fourth. Jt required a dead expense of three millions 
 sterling to renew the coinage, Public credit, that great but 
 ambiguous principle, which has so often been predicted as 
 the cause of our certain ruin, but which for a century has 
 been the constant companion, and often the moans, of our 
 prosperity and greatness, had its origin, and was cradled, I 
 jaay say, in bankruptcy and beggary. At this day we have 
 
LITTERS OK A EEGICIDE PEACE. 197 
 
 seen 'parties contending to be admitted, at a moderate pre- 
 mium, to advance eighteen millions to the exchequer. Foj 
 : infinitely smaller loans, the chancellor of the exchequer o| 
 that day, Montagu, the father of public credit, counter- 
 securing the state by the appearance of the city with tha 
 lord mayor of London at his side, was obliged, like a soli- 
 citor for an hospital, to go cap in hand from shop to shop, to 
 borrow an hundred pounds, and even smaller sums. "When 
 made up in driblets as they could, their best securities were 
 at an interest of 12 per cent. Even the paper of the 
 Bank (now at par with cash, generally preferred to it) wag 
 often at a discount of 20 per cent. By this the state of 
 the rest may be judged. 
 
 As to our commerce, the imports and exports of the na- 
 tion, now six and forty millions, did not then amount to ten. 
 The inland trade, which is commonly passed by in this sort 
 of estimates, but which, in part growing out of the foreign, 
 and connected with it, is more advantageous, and more sub- 
 ; stantially nutritive to the state, is not only grown in a pro- 
 j portion of near five to one as the foreign, but has been aug- 
 I mented, at least in a ten-fold proportion. "When I came to 
 1 England, I remember but one river navigation, the rate of 
 I carriage on which was limited by an act of parliament. It 
 I was made in the reign of AVilliam the Third ; I mean that of 
 I the Aire and Calder. The rate was settled at thirteen pence. 
 So high a price demonstrated the feebleness of these begin- 
 nings of our inland intercourse. In my time, one of the 
 longest and sharpest contests I remember in your House, 
 and which rather resembled a violent contention amongst 
 national parties than a local dispute, was, as well as I can 
 recollect, to hold the price up to three pence. Even this, 
 which a very scanty justice to the proprietors required, was 
 done with infinite difficulty. As to private credit, there were 
 not, as I believe, twelve bankers' shops at that time out of 
 London. In this their number, when I first saw the country, 
 I cannot be quite exact ; but certainly those machines of 
 domestic credit were then very few. They are now in almost 
 every market town : and this circumstance (whether the 
 thing be carried to an excess or not) demonstrates the aston- 
 ishing increase of private confidence, of general circulation, 
 and of internal commerce ; an increase out of aU proportion 
 to the growth of the foreign trade. Our naval strength ia 
 
J 98 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 the time of King William's war was nearly matched by that > 
 of France ; and, though conjoined with Holland, then a 
 maritime power hardly inferior to our own, even with that 
 force we were not always victorious. Though finally sape- 
 rior, the allied fleets experienced many unpleasant reverses 
 on their o^\^l element. In two years three thousand vesst^ls 
 were taken from the English trade. On the continent we 
 lost almost every battle we fought. 
 
 In 1697, (it is not quite a hundred years ago,) in that 
 state of things, amidst the general debasement of the coin, 
 the fall of the ordinary revenue, the failure of all the extra- 
 ordmary supplies, the ruin of coiimierce and the almost total 
 extinction of an infant credit, the chancellor of the exchequer 
 himself, whom we have just seen begging from door to door 
 — came forward to move a resolution, full of vigour, in which, 
 far from being discouraged by the generally adverse fortune, 
 and the long continuance of the war, the Commons agreed to 
 address the Crown in the following manly, spirited, and truly 
 animated style. 
 
 "This is the EIGrHTH year in which your Majesty's most 
 dutiful and loyal subjects the Commons in parliament assem- 
 bled, have assisted your Majesty with large suppKes for car- 
 rying on a just and necessary war, in defence of our religion, 
 and preservation of our laws, and vindication of the rights 
 and liberties of the people of England." 
 
 Afterwards they proceed in this manner : — " To show to 
 your Majesty and all Christendom, that the Commons of 
 England will not be amused or diverted from their firm reso- 
 lutions of obtaining, by war, a safe and honourable peace, 
 we do, in the name of those we represent, renew our as- 
 surances to support your Majesty and your government 
 against all your enemies at home and abroad ; and that we 
 will effectually assist you in carrying on the war against 
 Erance." 
 
 The amusement and diversion they speak of was the sug- 
 gestion of a treaty proposed hy the enemy, and announced 
 from the throne. Thus the people of England felt in the 
 eighth, not in the fourth year of the war. No sighing or 
 panting after negotiation ; no motions from the opposition 
 to force the ministry into a peace ; no messages from minis- 
 ters to palsy and deaden the resolution of parliament or the 
 spirit of the nation. Tl.ey did not so much as advise the 
 
LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 109 
 
 king to listen to the propositions of the enemy, nor to seek for 
 peace, but through the mediation of a vigorous war. This 
 ' address was moved in a hot, a divided, a factious, and, in a 
 great part, disaffected House of Commons, and it was carried 
 nemine contradicente. 
 
 While that first war (which was ill smothered by the 
 treaty of Eyswick) slept in the thin ashes of a seeming 
 peace, a new conflagration was in its immediate causes. A 
 fresh and a far greater war was in preparation. A year had 
 hardly elapsed when arrangements were made for renewing 
 the contest with tenfold fury. The steps which were taken 
 at that time, to compose, to reconcile, to unite, and to disci- 
 pline, all Europe against the growth of France, certainly 
 , furnish to a statesman the finest and most interesting part in 
 li the history of that great period. It formed the master-piece 
 j of King William's policy, dexterity, and perseverance. Pull 
 of the idea of preserving, not only a local civil liberty, united 
 I with order, to our country, but to embody it in the political 
 i liberty, the order, and the independence of nations united 
 j under a natural head, the king called upon his parliament to 
 I put itself into a posture " to preserve to England the weight 
 '< and influence it at present had on the councils and affairs 
 j A.EROAD. It will be requisite Europe should see you will not 
 be wanting to yourselves," 
 
 Bafiled as that monarch was, and almost heart-broken at 
 the disappointment he met with in the mode he first pro- 
 i posed for that great end, he held on his course. He was faith- 
 ' ful to his object ; and in councils, as in arms, over and over 
 again repulsed, over and over again he returned to the charge. 
 All the mortifications he had suffered from the last parliament, 
 and the greater he had to apprehend from that newly chosen, 
 were not capable of relaxing the vigour of his mind. He 
 was in Holland when he combined the vast plan of his foreign 
 negotiations. AVhen he came to open his design to his minis- 
 ters in England, even the sober firmness of Somers, the un- 
 daunted resolution of Shrewsbury, and the adventurous spirit 
 of Montagu and Orford, were staggered. They were not yet 
 mounted to the elevation of the king. The cabinet, then the 
 regency, met on the subject at Tunbridge AVells the 28th of 
 August, 1698 ; and there Lord Somers holding the pen, after 
 expressing doubts on the stale of the continent, which thej 
 
200 LETTERS OS A REQICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ultimately refer to the king, as best informed, they give him 
 a most discouraging portrait of the spirit of this nation. " So 
 far as relates to England," say these ministers, " it would be 
 want of duty not to give your Majesty this clear account, that 
 there is a deadness and want of spirit in the nation u?iiversaUi/, 
 so as not to be at all disposed to entering into a new war. 
 That they seem to be tired out with taxes to a degree beyond 
 what was discerned, till it appeared upon occasion of the laU 
 elections. This is the truth of the fact, upon w^hich your Ma- 
 jesty will determine what resolution ought to be taken." 
 
 His Majesty did determine; and did take and pursue his 
 resolution. In all the tottering imbecility of a new govern- 
 ment, and with parliament totally unmanageable, he persevered. 
 He persevered to expel the fears of his people by his forti- 
 tude — to steady their fickleness by his constancy — to expand 
 their narrow prudence by his enlarged wisdom — to sink their 
 factious temper in his public spirit. — In spite of his people he 
 resolved to make them great and glorious ; to make England, 
 inclined to shrink into her narrow self, the arbitress of Europe, 
 the tutelary angel of the human race. In spite of the 
 ministers, who staggered under the weight that his mind 
 imposed upon theirs, unsupported as they felt themselves 
 by the popular spirit, he infused into them his own soul, he 
 renewed in them their ancient heart, he rallied them in the 
 same cause. 
 
 It required some time to accomplish this work. The peo- 
 ple were first gained, and, through them, their distracted re- 
 presentatives. Under the influence of King AVilliam, Hol- 
 land had rejected the allurements of every seduction, and had 
 resisted the terrors of every menace. With Hannibal at her 
 gates, she had nobly and magnanimously refused all separate 
 treaty, or anything which might for a moment appear to di- 
 vide her affection or her interest, or even to distinguish her 
 in identity from England. Having settled the great point of 
 the consolidation (which he hoped would be eternal) of the 
 countries made for a common interest, and common sentiment, 
 the king, in his message to both Houses, calls their attention 
 to the affairs of the States General. The House of Lords 
 was perfectly sound, and entirely impressed \\dth the wisdom 
 and dignity of the king's proceedings. In answer to the 
 message, which you will observe was narrowed to a single po'iit. 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 201 
 
 (the danger of the States Q-eneral,) after the usual profes- 
 sious of zeal for his service, the Lords opened themselves at 
 large. They go far beyond the demands of the message. 
 They express themselves as follows : " We take this occasion 
 further to assure your Majesty, that we are sensible of the 
 great and imminent danger to which the States General are ex- 
 posed. And we perfectly agree with them in believing that their 
 safety and ours are so inseparably united, that whatsoever is 
 ruin to the one must be fatal to the other. 
 
 '• We humbly desire your Majesty will be pleased not only 
 to make good all the articles of ^nj former treaties to the 
 States Gi-eneral, but that you will enter into a strict league, 
 offensive and defensive, with them, /or their common preserv- 
 ation ; and that you will invite into it all princes and states 
 icho are concerned in the present visible danger, arising from 
 the union of France and Spain. 
 
 " And we further desire your Majesty, that you will be 
 pleased to enter into such alliances with the emperor as your 
 Majesty shall think fit, pursuant to the ends of the treaty of 
 1689 ; towards all which we assure your Majesty of our 
 hearty and sincere assistance ; not doubting, but whenever 
 your Majesty shall be obliged to be engaged for the defence 
 of your allies, and securing the liberty and quiet of Europe, 
 Almighty Grod will protect your sacred person in so righteous 
 a cause. And that the unanimity, wealth, and courage of 
 your subjects will carry your Majesty with honour and suc- 
 cess through all the difficulties of a just war." 
 
 The House of Commons was more reserved ; the late popu- 
 lar disposition was still in a great degree prevalent in the re- 
 presentative, after it had been made to change in the consti- 
 tuent body. The principle of the grand alliance was not 
 directly recognised in the resolution of the Commons, nor the 
 war announced, though they w^ere well aware the alliance was 
 formed for the war. However, compelled by the returning 
 sense of the people, they went so far as to fix the three great 
 immovable pillars of the safety and greatness of England, as 
 they were then, as they are now, and as they must ever be to 
 the end of time. They asserted in general terms the necessity 
 of supporting Holland, of keeping united with our allies, 
 and maintaining the liberty of Europe ; though they restrict- 
 ed their vote to the succours stipulated by actual treaty. 
 
202 LETTEHS OS A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 But now they were fairly embarked, they were obliged to go 
 with the course of the vessel ; and the whole nation, split 
 before into an hundred adverse factions, with a king at its 
 head evidently declining to his tomb, the whole nation, lords, 
 commons, and people, proceeded as one body, informed by one 
 soul. Under the British union, the union of Europe was con- 
 solidated ; and it long held together with a degree of cohe- 
 sion, firmness, and fidelity, not known before or since in any 
 political combination of that extent. 
 
 Just as the last hand was given to this immense and com- 
 plicated machine, the master workman died : but the work 
 was formed on true mechanical principles, and it was as truly 
 wrought. It went by the impulse it had received from the 
 first mover. The man was dead ; but the grand alliance sur- 
 vived in which King William lived and reigned. That heart- 
 less and dispirited people, whom Lord Somers had represented, 
 about two years before, as dead in energy and operation, con- 
 tinued that war to which it was supposed they were unequal 
 in mind, and in means, for nearly thirteen years. 
 
 For what have I entered into all this detail ? To what 
 purpose have I recalled your view to the end of the last cen- 
 tury ? It has been done to show that the British nation was 
 then a great people — to point out how and by what means 
 they came to be exalted above the vulgar level, and to take that 
 lead which they assumed among mankind. To qualify us for 
 that pre-eminence, we had then a high mind and a constancy 
 unconquerable ; we were then inspired with no flashy passions, 
 but such as were durable as well as warm, such as corre- 
 sponded to the great interests we had at stake. This force 
 of character was inspired, as all such spirit must ever be, from 
 above. G-overnment gave the impulse. As well may we fancy, 
 that of itself the sea will swell, and that without winds the 
 billows will insult the adverse shore, as that the gross mass 
 of the people will be moved, and elevated, and continue by a 
 steady and permanent direction to bear upon one point, 
 without the influence of superior authority, or superior mind. 
 
 This impulse ought, in my opinion, to have been given in 
 this war ; and it ought to have been continued to it at every 
 instant. It is made, if ever war was made, to touch all the 
 great springs of action in the human breast. It ouglit not 
 to have been a war of apology. The minister had, in thii 
 
LETTERS OS A EEOICIDE PEACE. 208 
 
 conflict, wherewithal to glory in success ; to be consoled ir, 
 adversity ; to hold high his principle in all fortunes. If it 
 were not given him to support the falling edifice, he ought to 
 bury himself under the ruins of the civilized world. All the 
 art of Greece, and all the pride and power of Eastern mon- 
 archs, never heaped upon their ashes so grand a monument. 
 
 There were days when his great mind was up to the crisis 
 of the world he was called to act in.^ His manly eloquence 
 was equal to the elevated wisdom of such sentiments. But 
 the little have triumphed over the great : an unnatural, (as it 
 should seem,) not an unusual victory. I am sure you cannot 
 forget with how much uneasiness we heard, in conversation, 
 the language of more than one gentleman at the opening of 
 this contest, " that he was willing to try the war for a year 
 or two, and if it did not succeed, then to vote for peace." 
 As if war was a matter of experiment ! As if you could take it 
 up or lay it down as an idle frolic ! As if the dire goddess that 
 presides over it, with her murderous spear in her hand, and 
 her gorgon at her breast, was a coquette to be flirted with ! 
 We ought with reverence to approach that tremendous 
 divinity, that loves courage, but commands counsel. War 
 never leaves where it found a nation. It is never to be 
 entered into without mature deliberation ; not a deliberation 
 lengthened out into a perplexing indecision, but a delibera- 
 tion leading to a sure and fixed judgment. When so taken 
 up, it is not to be abandoned without reason as valid, as fully, 
 and as extensively considered. Peace may be made as un- 
 advisedly as war. Nothing is so rash as fear; and the 
 councils of pusillanimity very rarely put off", whilst they 
 are always sure to aggravate, the evils from which they 
 would fly. 
 
 In that great war carried on against Louis XIV., for 
 near eighteen years, government spared no pains to satisfy 
 the nation, that though they were to be animated by a desire 
 of glory, glory was not their ultimate object ; but that every- 
 thing dear to them, in religion, in law, in liberty, everything 
 which as freemen, as Englishmen, and as citizens of the great 
 commonwealth of Christendom, they had at heart, was then 
 at stake. This was to know the true art of gaining the 
 affections and confidence of a high-minded people ; this ^/lm 
 ^ See the Declaration. 
 
204 LETTERS Ojf A ftEGlClDE PEACE. 
 
 to understand human nature. A danger to avert a danger 
 -^a present inconvenience and suffering to prevent a foreseen 
 future and a worse calamity^these are the motives that be- 
 long to an animal, who, in his constitution, is at once ad- 
 venturous and provident, circumspect and daring; whom 
 his Creator has made, as the poet says, " of large discourse, 
 looking before and after." But never can a vehement and 
 sustained spirit of fortitude be kindled in a people by a wai 
 of calculation. It has nothing that can keep the mind erect 
 under the gusts of adversity. Even where men are willing; 
 as sometimes they are, to barter their blood for lucre, to 
 hazard their safety for the gratification of their avarice, the 
 passion which animates them to that sort of conflict, like all 
 the short-sighted passions, must see its objects distinct and 
 near at hand. The passions of the lower order are hungry 
 and impatient. Speculative plunder ; contingent spoil ; 
 future, long adjourned, uncertain booty ; pillage which must 
 enrich a late posterity, and which possibly may not reach to 
 posterity at all; these, for any length of time, will never 
 support a mercenary war. The people are in the right. The 
 calculation of profit in all such wars is false. On balancing 
 the account of such wars, ten thousand hogsheads of sugar 
 are purchased at ten thousand times their price. The blood 
 of man should never be shed but to redeem the blood of man. 
 It is well shed for our family, for our friends, for our God, 
 for our country, for our kind. The rest is vanity ; the rest 
 is crime. 
 
 In the war of the grand alliance, most of these considera- 
 tions voluntarily and naturally had their part. Some were 
 pressed into the service. The political interest easily went 
 in the track of the natural sentiment. In the reverse 
 course the carriage does not follow freely. I am sure the 
 natural feeling, as I have just said, is a far more predominant 
 ingredient in this war, than in that of any other that ever 
 was waged by this kingdom. 
 
 If the war made to prevent the union of two crowns upon 
 one head was a just war ; this, which is made to prevent the 
 tearing of all crowns from all heads which ought to wear 
 them, and with the crowns to smite off the sacred heads 
 rhemsolves, this is a just war. 
 
 If a war to prevent Louis XIV. from imposing his religion 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGTCIDE PEACE. 205 
 
 was just, a war to prevent the murderers of Lous XVI. from 
 imposing their irreligion upon us is just; a war to prevent 
 the operation of a system, which makes life without dignity, 
 and death without hope, is a just war. 
 
 If to preserve political independence and civil freedom to 
 nations was a just ground of war ; a war to preserve national 
 independence, property, liberty, life, and honour, from cer- 
 tain, universal havoc, is a war just, necessary, manly, pious : 
 and we are bound to persevere in it by every principle, Di- 
 vine and human, as long as the system which menaces them 
 all, and all equally, has an existence in the world. 
 
 You, who have looked at this matter with as fair and im- 
 partial an eye as can be united with a feeling heart, you will 
 not think it a hardy assertion, when I affirm, that it were far 
 better to be conquered by any other nation, than to have 
 this faction for a neighbour. Before I felt myself authorized 
 to say this, I considered the state of all the countries in 
 Europe for these last three hundred years, which have been 
 obliged to submit to a foreign law. In most of those I 
 found the condition of the annexed countries even better, 
 certainly not worse, than the lot of those which were the 
 patrimony of the conqueror. They wanted some blessings 
 — but they were free from many great evils. They were 
 rich and tranquil. Such was Artois, Flanders, Lorrain, Al- 
 satia, under the old government of France. Such was Silesia 
 under the king of Prussia. They, who are to live in the 
 vicinity of this new fabric, are to prepare to live in perpetual 
 conspiracies and seditions ; and to end at last, in being con- 
 quered, if not to her dominion, to her resemblance. But 
 when we talk of conquest by other nations, it is only to put 
 a case. This is the only power in Europe by which it is 
 possible we should be conquered. To live under the con- 
 tinual' dread of such immeasurable e^'ils is itself a grievous 
 calamity. To live without the dread of them is to turn the 
 danger into the disaster. The influence of such a France is 
 equal to a war, its example was more wasting than a hostile 
 irruption. The hostility with any other power is separable 
 and accidental ; this power, by the very condition of its ex- 
 istence, by its very essential constitution, is in a state of 
 hostility with us, and with all civilized people.^ 
 
 > See D3claration, Whitehall, October 29, 1793. 
 
206 lETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEA.Cl. 
 
 A government of the nature of that set up at our very 
 door has never been hitherto seen, or e^^en imagined, in Eu- 
 rope. "What our relation to it will be cannot be judged by 
 other relations. It is a serious thing to have connexion with 
 a people, who live only under positive, arbitrary, and change- 
 able institutions ; and those not perfected, nor supplied, nor 
 explained, by any common acknowledged rule of moral 
 Bcience. I remember that in one of my last conversations 
 with the late Lord Camden, we were struck much in the 
 same manner with the abolition in France of the law, as a 
 science of methodized and artificial equity. France, since 
 her revolution, is under the sway of a sect, whose leaders 
 have deliberately, at one stroke, demolished the whole body 
 of that jurisprudence which France had pretty nearly in com- 
 mon with other civilized countries. In that jurisprudence 
 were contained the elements and principles of the law of 
 nations, the great ligament of mankind. AVith the law they 
 have of course destroyed all seminaries in which jurisprudence 
 was taught, as well as all the corporations established for its 
 conservation. I have not heard of any country, whether in 
 Europe or Asia, or even in Africa on this side of Mount 
 Atlas, which is wholly without some such colleges and such 
 corporations, except France, No man in a public or private 
 concern, can divine by what rule or principle her judgments 
 are to be directed ; nor is there to be found a professor in 
 any university, or a practitioner in any court, who will 
 hazard an opinion of what is or is not law in France, in 
 any case whatever. They have not only annulled all their 
 old treaties, but they have renounced the law of nations, 
 from whence treaties have their force. With a fixed design 
 they have outlawed themselves, and to their power outlawed 
 all other nations. 
 
 Instead of the religion and the law by which they were in 
 a great politic communion with the Christian world, they 
 have constructed their republic on three bases, all funda- 
 mentally opposite to those on which the communities of Eu- 
 rope are built. Its foundation is laid in regicide, in Jaco- 
 binism, and in atheism ; and it has joined to those principles 
 a body of systematic manners, which secures their oper- 
 ation. 
 
 If I am asked, how I would be understood in the use of 
 
 I 
 
LETTERS Oy A REGICIDE PEACE. 207 
 
 these terms, regicide, Jacobinism, atheism, and a system ot 
 corresponding manners, and their establishment ? I will 
 tell you : 
 
 I call a commonwealth regicide, which lays it down as a 
 fixed law of nature, and a fundamental right of man, that all 
 government, not being a democracy, is an usurpation. ^ That 
 all kings, as such, are usurpers ; and for being kings may 
 and ought to be put to death, with their wives, families, and 
 adherents. The commonwealth which acts uniformly upon 
 those principles, and which, after abolishing every festival of 
 religion, chooses the most flagrant act of a murderous regi- 
 cide treason for a feast of eternal commemoration, and which 
 forces all her people to observe it — this I call regicide hy 
 establishment. 
 
 Jacobinism is the revolt of the enterprising talents of a 
 country against its property. When private men form them- 
 selves into associations for the purpose of destroying the 
 pre-existing laws and institutions of their country ; when 
 ■ they secure to themselves an army, by dividing amongst the 
 , people of no property the estates of the ancient and lawful 
 I proprietors ; when a state recognises those acts ; when it 
 : does not make confiscations for crimes, but makes crimes for 
 I confiscations ; when it has its principal strength, and all its 
 j resources, in such a violation of property ; when it stands 
 I chiefiy upon such a violation ; massacring by judgments, or 
 ' otherwise, those who make any struggle for their old legal 
 ' government, and their legal, hereditary, or acquired posses- 
 I sions — I call this Jacobinism by establishment. 
 
 I call it atheism by establishment, when any state, as such, 
 shall not acknowledge the existence of God as a moral go- 
 vernor of the world ; when it shall ofler to him no religious 
 or moral worship ; — when it shall abolish the Christian reli- 
 gion by a regular decree ; — when it shall persecute with a 
 cold, unrelenting, steady cruelty, by every mode of confisca- 
 
 ' Nothing could be more solemn than their promulgation of this prin- 
 ciple as a preamble to the destructive code of their famous articles for tho 
 decomposition of society, into whatever country they should enter. " La 
 Convention Nationale, apres avoir entendu le rapport de ses comites de 
 finances, de la guerre et diplomatiques reunis, fidelle au principe de souve- 
 fainete de peitples qui ne lui permet pas de reconnoitre auciuie institution, 
 
 fui y porteatteinte" &c. &c. DCcret sur le Rapport de Cairbon., Dec. 18, 
 792, and see the subsequent pruclamation. 
 
208 LETTEES 0>' A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 tion, imprisonment, exile, and death, all its ministers ; — when 
 it shall generally shut up or pull down churches ; when the 
 few buildings which remain of this kind shall be opened only 
 for the purpose of making a profane apotheosis of monsters, 
 whose vices and crimes have no parallel amongst men, and 
 whom all other men consider as objects of general detesta- 
 tion, and the severest animadversion of law. When, in the 
 place of that religion of social benevolence, and of individual 
 self-denial, in mockery of all religion, they institute impious, 
 blasphemous, indecent theatric rites, in honour of their 
 vitiated, perverted reason, and erect altars to the personifi- 
 cation of their own corrupted and bloody republic ; — when 
 schools and seminaries are founded at the public expense to 
 
 Eoison mankind, from generation to generation, with the 
 orrible maxims of this impiety ; — when wearied out with 
 incessant martyrdom, and the cries of a people hungering 
 and thirsting for religion, they permit it, only as a tolerated 
 evil — I call this atheism by establishment. 
 
 AVhen to these establishments of regicide, of Jacobinism, 
 and of atheism, you add the correspondent system of mamierSy 
 no doubt can be left on the mind of a thinking man concern- 
 ing their determined hostility to the human race. Manners 
 are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great 
 measure, the laws depend. The law touches us but here and 
 there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, 
 corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by 
 a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that 
 of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and 
 colour to our lives. According to their quality, they aid 
 morals, they supply them, or they totally destroy them. Of 
 this the new French legislators were aware ; therefore, with 
 the same method, and under the same authority, they set- 
 tled a system of manners, the most licentious, prostitute, and 
 abandoned, that ever has been known, and at the same time 
 the most coarse, rude, savage, and ferocious. Nothing in 
 the Hevolution, no, not to a phrase or a gesture, not to the 
 fashion of a hat or a shoe, Avas left to accident. All has been 
 the result of design; all has been matter of institution. ]No 
 mechanical means could be devised in lavour of this incredi- 
 ble system of wickedness and vice, that has not been em- 
 ployed. The noblest passions, the love of glory, the love of 
 
LETTERS 0» A EECHCIDE PEACl. 209 
 
 country, have been debauched into means of its preservation 
 and its propagation. All sorts of shows and exhibitions, cal- 
 culated to inflame and vitiate the imagination, and pervert 
 I the moral sense, have been contrived. They have sometimes 
 brought forth five or six hundred drunken women, calling at 
 the bar of the Assembly for the blood of their own cl.ii- 
 ) dren, as being royalists or constitutionalists. Sometimes 
 ' they have got a body of wretches, calling themselves fathers, 
 i to demand the murder of their sons, boasting that Eome had 
 but one Brutus, but that they could -show five hundred. 
 ' There were instances, in which they inverted, and retaliated 
 I the impiety, and produced sons, who called for the execution 
 i of their parents. The foundation of their republic is laid in 
 moral paradoxes. Their patriotism is always prodigy. All 
 those instances to be found in history, whether real or fabul- 
 I ous, of a doubtful public spirit at which morality is perplexed, 
 I reason is staggered, and from which affi'ighted nature recoils, 
 I are their chosen, and almost sole, examples for the instruc- 
 , tion of their youth. 
 
 The whole drift of their institution is contrary to that of 
 I the wise legislators of all countries, who aimed at improving 
 instincts into morals, and at grafting the virtues on the 
 \ stock of the natural affections. They, on the contrary, have 
 I omitted no pains to eradicate every benevolent and noble 
 i propensity in the mind of men. In their culture it is a rule 
 I always to graft virtues on vices. They think everything un- 
 i worthy of the name of public virtue, unless it indicates vio- 
 I lence on the private. All their new institutions (and with 
 I them everything is new) strike at the root of our social na- 
 i ture. Other legislators, knowing that marriage is the origin 
 j of all relations, and consequently the first element of all du- 
 I ties, have endeavoured, by every art, to make it sacred. The 
 I Christian religion, by confining it to the pairs, and by ren- 
 dering that relation indissoluble, has by these two things 
 done more towards the peace, happiness, settlement, and 
 civilization of the world, than by any other part in this whole 
 scheme of Divine Wisdom. The direct contrary course has 
 been taken in the synagogue of antichrist, I mean in that 
 forge and manufactory of all evil, the sect which predo- 
 minated in the Constituent Assembly of 1789. Those 
 monsters employed the same, or greater industry, to de« 
 
210 LETTEBS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. 
 
 secrate and degrade that state, which other legislators have 
 used to render it holy and honourable. By a strange, uu- 
 called-for declaration, they pronounced, that marriage was 
 no better than a common, civil contract. It was one of their 
 ordinary tricks, to put their sentiments into the mouths of 
 certain personated characters, which they theatrically ex- 
 hibited at the bar of what ought to be a serious assembly. 
 One of these was brought out in the figure of a prostitute, 
 whom they called by the affected name of " a mother with- 
 out being a wife." This creature they made to call for a 
 repeal of the incapacities, which in civilized states are put 
 upon bastards. The prostitutes of the Assembly gave to 
 this their puppet the sanction of their greater impudence. 
 In consequence of the principles laid down, and the manners 
 authorized, bastards were not long after put on the footing 
 of the issue of lawful unions. Proceeding in the spirit of 
 the first authors of their constitution, succeeding assemblies 
 went the full length of the principle, and gave a licence to 
 divorce at the mere pleasure of either party, and at a month's 
 notice. With them the matrimonial connexion is brought 
 into so degraded a state of concubinage, that I believe, none 
 of the wretches in London who keep warehouses of infamy, 
 would give out one of their victims to private custody on so 
 short and insolent a tenure. There was indeed a kind of 
 profligate equity in giving to women the same licentious 
 power. The reason they assigned was as infamous as the 
 act; declaring that women had been too long under the 
 tyranny of parents and of husbands. It is not necessary to 
 observe upon the horrible consequences of taking one half 
 of the species wholly out of the guardianship and protection 
 of the other. 
 
 The practice of divorce, though in some countries permit- 
 ted, has been discouraged in all. In the East, polygamy and 
 divorce are in discredit ; and the manners correct the laws. 
 In Kome, whilst Borne was in its integrity, the few causes 
 allowed for divorce amounted in eftect to a prohibition. 
 They vere only three. The arbitrary was totally excluded, 
 and accordingly some hundreds of years passed, without a 
 single example of that kind. When manners were corrupted, 
 the laws were relaxed ; as the latter always follow the torm- 
 er, when thev are not able to regulate them, or to vanquish 
 
LETTERS OX A REGICIDE PEACE. 211 
 
 them. Of this circumstance the legislators of vice and crime 
 were pleased to take notice, as an inducement to adopt their 
 regulation ; holding out a hope, that the permission would 
 as rarely be made use of. They knew the contrary to be 
 true ; and they had taken good care, that the laws should be 
 well seconded by the manners. Their law of divorce, hke all 
 their laws, had not for its object the relief of domestic un- 
 easiness, but the total corruption of all morals, the total dis- 
 ' connexion of social life. 
 
 It is a matter of curiosity to observe the operation of this 
 I encouragement to disorder. I have before me the Paris 
 I paper, correspondent to the usual register of births, mar- 
 j riages, and deaths. Divorce, happily, is no regular head of 
 registry amongst civilized nations. With the Jacobins it is 
 i remarkable, that divorce is not only a regular head, but it 
 I has the post of honour. It occupies the first place in the 
 j list. In the three first months of the year 1793, the number 
 of divorces in that city amounted to 562. The marriages 
 were 1785 ; so that the proportion of divorces to marriages 
 ; was not much less than one to three ; a thing unexampled, 
 ■ I believe, among mankind. I caused an inquiry to be made 
 at Doctors' Commons, concerning the number of divorces : 
 ! and found, that all the divorces (which, except by special 
 ; act of parliament, are separations, and not proper divorces) 
 ! did not amount in all those courts, and in a hundred years, 
 ' to much more than one-fifth of those tliat passed, in the 
 single city of Paris, in three months. I followed up the in- 
 quiry relative to that city through several of the subsequent 
 months until I was tired, and found the proportions still the 
 ' same. Since then I have heard that they have declared for 
 a revisal of these laws ; but I know of nothing done. It ap- 
 ' pears as if the contract that renovates the world was under 
 no law at all. From this we may take our estimate of the 
 havoc that has been made through all the relations of life. 
 "With the Jacobins of France, vague intercourse is without 
 reproach ; marriage is reduced to the vilest concubinage ; 
 children are encouraged to cut the throats of their parents ; 
 mothers are taught that tenderness is no part of their 
 character, and, to demonstrate their attachment to their 
 party, that they ought to make no scruple to rake with their 
 
 F 2 
 
212 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 bloody hands in tlae bowels of those who came from their 
 own. 
 
 To all this let us join the practice of cannibali<im, with 
 which, in the proper terms, and with the greatest truth, their 
 several factions accuse each other. By cannibalism, I mean 
 their devouring as a nutriment of their ferocity, some part of 
 the bodies of those they have murdered ; their drinking the 
 blood of their victims, and forcing the victims themselves to 
 drink the blood of their kindred slaughtered before their 
 faces. By cannibalism, I mean also to signify all their name- 
 less, unmanly, and abominable insults on the bodies of those 
 they slaughter. 
 
 As to those whom they suffer to die a natural death, they 
 do not permit them to enjoy the last consolations of man- 
 kind, or those rights of sepulture, which indicate hope, and 
 which mere nature has tauglit to mankind, in all countries, 
 to soothe the afflictions, and to cover the infirmity, of mortal 
 condition. They disgrace men in the entry into life, they 
 vitiate and enslave them through the whole course of it, and 
 they deprive them of all comfort at the conclusion of their 
 dishonoured and depraved existence. Endeavouring to per- 
 suade the people that they are no better than beasts, the 
 whole body of their institution tends to make them beasts of 
 prey, furious and savage. For this purpose the active part 
 of them is disciplined into a ferocity which has no parallel. 
 To this ferocity there is joined not one of the rude, un- 
 fashioned virtues, which accompany the vices, where the 
 whole are left to grow up together in the rankness of un- 
 cultivated nature. But nothing is left to nature in their 
 systems. 
 
 The same discipline which hardens their hearts relaxes 
 their morals. Whilst courts of justice were thrust out by 
 revolutionary tribunals, and silent churches were only the 
 funeral monuments of departed religion, there were no fewer 
 than nineteen or twenty theatres, great and small, most of 
 them kept open at the public expense, and all of them crowd- 
 ed every night. Among the gaunt, haggard forms of famine 
 niid nakedness, amidst the yells of murder, the tears of af- 
 tiietion, and the cries of despair, the song, the dance, the 
 mimic scene, the buffoon laughter, went on as regularly ai 
 
t^tttES (yy A HEGICtDE tfiACE. 213 
 
 ^ in the gay Lour of festive peace. I have it frorn good au- 
 thority, that under the scaffold of judicial murder, and the 
 gaping planks that poured down blood on the spectat/^rS, the 
 space was hired out for a show of dancing dogs. 7. think, 
 without concert, we have made the very same remark on 
 reading some of their pieces, which beins^ written for other 
 purposes, let us into a view of their social life. It struck us 
 that the habits of Paris had no resemblance to the finished 
 Virtues, or to the polished vice, and elegant, though not 
 blameless, luxury, of the capital of a great empire. Their 
 society was more like that of a den of outlaws upon a doubt- 
 ful frontier; of a lewd tavern for the revels and debauches 
 of banditti, assassins, bravos, smugglers, and their more des- 
 I perate paramours, mixed with bombastic players, the refuse 
 |aad rejected offal of strolling theatres, puffing out ill-sorted 
 verses about virtue, mixed with the licentious and blasphem- 
 ous songs, proper to the brutal and hardened course of life 
 ; belonging to that sort of -wretches. This system of manners 
 ' in itself is at war with all orderly and moral society, and is 
 I in its neighbourhood unsafe. If great bodies of that kind 
 I were anywhere established in a bordering territory, we 
 should have a right to demand of their governments the 
 I suppression of such a nuisance. "What are we to do if the 
 i government and the whole community is of the same de- 
 ' scription ? Yet that government has thought proper to in- 
 vite ours to lay by its unjust hatred, and to listen to the voice 
 of humanity as taught by their example. 
 I The operation of dangerous and delusive first principles 
 I obliges us to have recourse to the true ones. In the inter- 
 ' course between nations, we are apt to rely too much on the 
 I instrumental part. "\Ve lay too much weight upon the 
 I formality of treaties and compacts. We do not act much 
 i more wisely when we trust to the interests of men as gua- 
 rantees of their engagements. The interests frequently 
 t^ar to pieces the engagements ; and the passions trample 
 upon both. Entirely to trust to either, is to disregard our 
 own safety, or not to know mankind. Men are not tied to 
 one another by papers and seals. They are led to associate 
 by resemblances, by conformities, by sympathies. It is with 
 nations as with individuals. Nothing is so strong a tie of 
 amitjr between nation and nation as correspondence in laws, 
 
214 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 castoms, manners, and habits of life. They have more than 
 the force of treaties in themselves. They are obligations 
 written in the heart. They approximate men to men, with- 
 out their knowledge, and sometimes against their intentions. 
 The secret, unseen, but irrefragable bond of habitual inter- 
 course holds them together, even when their perverse and 
 litigious nature sets them to equivocate, scuffle, and fight, 
 about the terms of their written obligations. 
 
 As to war, if it be the means of wrong and violence, it is 
 the sole means of justice amongst nations. Nothing can 
 banish it from the world. They who say otherwise, intend- 
 ing to impose upon us, do not impose upon themselves. But 
 it is one of the greatest objects of human wisdom to mitigate 
 those evils which we are unable to remove. The conformity 
 and analogy of which I speak, incapable, like everything 
 else, of preserving perfect trust and tranquillity among men, 
 has a strong tendency to facilitate accommodation, and to 
 produce a generous oblivion of the rancour of their quarrels. 
 With this similitude, peace is more of peace, and war is less 
 of war. I will go further. There have been periods of time 
 in which communities, apparently in peace with each other, 
 have been more perfectly separated than, in latter times, 
 many nations in Europe have been in the course of long and 
 bloody wars. The cause must be sought in the similitude 
 throughout Europe of religion, laws, and manners. At bot- 
 tom, these are all the same. The writers on public law have 
 often called this aggregate of nations a commonwealth. They 
 had reason. It is virtually one great state having the same 
 basis of general law, with some diversity of provincial cus- 
 toms and local establishments. The nations of Europe have 
 had the very same Christian religion, agreeing in the funda- 
 mental parts, varying a little in the ceremonies and in the 
 subordinate doctrines. The whole of the polity and economy 
 of every country in Europe has been derived from the same 
 sources. It was drawn from the old Germanic or Gothic 
 custumary, from the feudal institutions which must be con- 
 sidered as an emanation from that custumary ; and the wliole 
 has been improved and digested into system and disciphne 
 ])y the Eonian law. From hence arose the several orders, 
 with or without a monarcli, (which are called states,) in 
 every European country ; the strong traces of wh'ch, where 
 
LETTERS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. 21S 
 
 monarchy predominated, were never wholly extinguished or 
 merged in despotism. In the few places where monarchy 
 was cast off, the spirit of European monarchy was still left. 
 Those countries still continuea countries of states ; that is, 
 of classes, orders, and distinctions such as had before sub- 
 sisted, or nearly so. Indeed the force and form of the in- 
 stitution called states continued in greater perfection in 
 those republican communities than under monarchies. From 
 all those sources arose a system of manners and of education 
 wliich was nearly similar in all this quarter of the globe ; and 
 which softened, blended, and harmonized the colours of the 
 whole. There was little difference in the form of the uni- 
 versities for the education of their youth, whether with re- 
 gard to faculties, to sciences, or to the more liberal and 
 elegant kinds of erudition. From this resemblance in the 
 modes of intercourse, and in the whole form and fashion of 
 life, no citizen of Europe could be altogether an exile in any 
 part of it. There was nothing more than a pleasing variety 
 to recreate and instruct the mind, to enrich the imagination, 
 and to meliorate the heart. AVhen a man travelled or re- 
 sided for health, pleasure, business, or necessity from his own 
 country, he never felt himself quite abroad. 
 
 The whole body of this new scheme of manners, in support 
 of the new scheme of politics, I consider as a strong and de- 
 cisive proof of determined ambition and systematic hostility. 
 I defy the most refining ingenuity to invent any other cause 
 for the total departure of the Jacobin republic from every one 
 of the ideas and usages, religious, legal, moral, or social, of 
 this civilized world, and for her tearing herself from its com- 
 munion with such studied violence, but from a formed resolu- 
 tion of keeping no terms with that world. It has not been, 
 as has been falsely and insidiously represented, that these 
 miscreants had only broke with their old government. They 
 made a schism with the whole universe, and that schism ex- 
 tended to almost everything great and small. For one, I 
 wish, since it is gone thus far, that the breach had been so 
 complete, as to make all intercourse impracticable: but 
 partly by accident, partly by design, partly from the resist- 
 ance of the matter, enough is left to preserve intercourse, 
 whilst amity is destroyed or corrupted in its principle. 
 
 This violent breach of the community of Europe we must 
 
216 LETTERS ON A RKOtCTDE PEACE. 
 
 conclude to have been made (even if they had not expressly 
 declared it oAcr and over again) either to force mankind into 
 an adoption of tlieir system, or to live in perpetual enmity 
 with a community the most potent we have ever known, 
 (.^an any person imagine, that, in offering to mankind this 
 desperate alternative, there is no indication of a hostile mind, 
 hecause men in possession of the ruling authority are sup- 
 posed to have a right to act without coercion in their own 
 territories ? As to the right of men to act anywhere ac- 
 cording to their pleasure, without any moral tie, no such 
 right exists. Men are never in a state of total independence 
 of each other. It is not the condition of our nature : nor is 
 it conceivable how any man can pursue a considerable course 
 of action without its having some effect upon others ; or, of 
 course, without producing some degree of responsibility for 
 his conduct. The situations in which men relatively stand 
 produce the rules and principles of that responsibility, and 
 aftbrd directions to prudence in exacting it. 
 
 Distance of place does not extinguish the duties or the 
 rights of men : but it often renders their exercise impractic- 
 able. The same circumstance of distance renders the noxious 
 effects of an evil system in any community less pernicious. 
 But there are situations where this difficulty does not occur; 
 and in which, therefore, these duties are obligatory, and these 
 rights are to be asserted. It has ever been the method of 
 public jurists to draw a great part of the analogies, on which 
 they form the law of nations, from the principles of law which 
 prevail in civil community. Civil laws are not all of them 
 merely positive. Those, which are rather conclusions ot 
 legal reason than matters of statutable provision, belong to 
 universal equity, and are universally applicable. Almost the 
 whole praetorian law is such. There is a Law of Neighbotir' 
 hood which does not leave a man perfectly master on his own 
 ground. When a neighbour sees a new erect on, in the na- 
 ture of a nuisance, set up at his door, he has a right to re- 
 present it to the judge ; who, on his part, has a right to order 
 the work to be stayed ; or, if establislied, to be removed. On 
 this head the parent law is express and clear, and has made 
 many wise provisions, which, without destroving, regulate 
 and restrain the riglit of ownership, by the right of viciiu 
 age. No innovation is permitted that may redouml, even i 
 
LEtTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACH. 2l7 
 
 secondan'iy, to the prejudice of a neighbour. The 'whole 
 doctrine of that important head of praetorian law, " De novi 
 operis nunciatione'' is founded ou the principle, that r^onew use 
 should be made of a man's private liberty of operating upon 
 his private property, from whence a detriment may be justly 
 apprehended by his neighbour. This law of denunciation ia 
 prospective. It is to anticipate what is called damnum in- 
 fectum, or damnum nondum factum, that is, a damage justly 
 apprehended, but not actually done. Even before it ia clearly 
 known, whether the innovation be damageable or not, the 
 judge is competent to issue a prohibition to innovate, until 
 the point can be determined. This prompt interference is 
 grounded on principles favourable to both parties. It is 
 preventive of mischief difficult to be repaired, and of ill blood 
 difficult to be softened. The rule of law, therefore, which 
 comes before the evil, is amongst the very best parts of 
 equity, and justifies the promptness of the remedy ; because, 
 as it is well observed, Res damni infecti ccleritatem desiderata 
 etpericulosa est dilatio. This right of denunciation does not 
 hold, when things continue, however inconveniently to the 
 neighbourhood, according to the ancient mode. For there is 
 a sort of presumption against novelty, drawn out of a deep 
 consideration of human nature and human affairs ; and the 
 maxim of jurisprudence is well laid down, Vetustas pro lege 
 semper habetur. 
 
 Such is the law of civil vicinity. Now, where there is no 
 constituted judge, as between independent states there is 
 not, the vicinage itself is the natural judge. It is, prevent- 
 ively, the assessor of its own rights, or remedially, their 
 avenger. Neighbours are presumed to take cognizance of 
 each other's acts, " Vicini vicinorum facta presumuntur 
 icireT This principle, which, like the rest, is as true of na- 
 tions as of individual men, has bestowed on the grand vicin- 
 age of Europe a duty to know, and a right to prevent, any 
 capital innovation which may amount to the erection of a 
 dangerous nuisance.' Of the importance of that innovation, 
 
 ' " This state of things cannot exist in France without involving all 
 the surrounding powers in one common danger, without giving them the 
 right, without imposing on them as a duty, to stop the progress of an evil 
 which attacks the fundamental principles by which irankind is united ia 
 Civil society." Declaration, 29th Oct. 1793. 
 
218 LETTEES OK A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 and the mischief of that nuisance, they are, to be sure, 
 bound to judge, not litigiously ; but it is in their competence 
 to judge. They have uniformly acted on this right. "What 
 in civil society is a ground of action, in politic society is a 
 ground of war. But the exercise of that competent juris- 
 diction is a matter of moral prudence. As suits in civil 
 society, so war in the political, must ejrer be a matter of great 
 deliberation. It is not this or that particular proceeding, 
 ])icked out here and there, as a subject of quarrel, that will 
 do. There must be an aggregate of mischief. There must 
 be marks of deliberation, there must be traces of design, 
 there must be indications of malice, there must be tokens of 
 ambition. There must be force in the body where they ex- 
 ist, there must be energy in the mind. When all these cir- 
 cumstances are combined, or the important parts of them, 
 the duty of the vicinity calls for the exercise of its com- 
 petence ; and the rules of prudence do not restrain, but de- 
 mand it. 
 
 In describing the nuisance erected by so pestilential a 
 manufactory, by the construction of so infamous a brothel, 
 by digging a night-cellar for such thieves, murderers, and 
 house-breakers, as never infested the world, I am so fiir from 
 aggravating, that I have fallen infinitely short of the evil. 
 No man who has attended to the particulars of what has 
 been done in France, and combined them with the principles 
 there asserted, can possibly doubt it. AVhen I compare with 
 this great cause of nations, the trifling points of honour, the 
 still more contemptible points of interest, the light ceremo- 
 nies and undefinable punctilios, the disputes about pre- 
 cedency, the lowering or the hoisting of a sail, the dealing in 
 a hundred or two of wild cat-skins on the other side of the 
 globe, which have often kindled up the flames of war between 
 nations, I stand astonished at those persons, who do not feel 
 a resentment, not more natural than politic, at the atrocious 
 insults that this monstrous compound oflers to the dignity of 
 every nation, and who are not alarmed with what it threatens 
 to their safety. 
 
 I have therefore been decidedly of opinion, with our de- 
 claration at Whitehall, in the beginning of this war, that the 
 vicinage of Europe had not only a right, but an indispens- 
 able duty, and an exigent interest, to denuuciate this new 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 219 
 
 work before it had produced the danger we have so sorelj 
 felt, and which we shall long feel. The example of what is 
 done by France is too important not to have a vast and ex- 
 tensive influence ; and that example, backed with its power, 
 must bear with great force on those who are near it ; especi- 
 ally on those who shall recognise the pretended republic on 
 the principle upon which it now stands. It is not an old 
 structure which you have found as it is, and are not to dis- 
 pute of the original end and design with which it had been 
 80 fashioned. It is a recent wrong, and can plead no pre- 
 scription. It violates the rights upon which not only the 
 community of France, but those on which all communities 
 are founded. The principles on which they proceed are 
 general principles, and are as true in England as in any other 
 country. They, who (though with the purest intentions) 
 recognise the authority of these regicides and robbers upon 
 principle, justify their acts and establish them as precedents. 
 It is a question not between France and England. It is a 
 question between property and force. The property claims ; 
 and its claim has been allowed. The property of the nation 
 is the nation. They, who massacre, plunder, and expel the 
 body of the proprietary, are murderers and robbers. The 
 state, in its essence, must be moral and just : and it may be 
 so, though a tyrant or usurper should be accidentally at the 
 head of it. This is a thing to be lamented : but this not- 
 withstanding, the body of the commonwealth may remain in 
 all its integrity and be perfectly sound in its composition. 
 The present case is different. It is not a revolution in 
 government. It is not the victory of party over party. It 
 is a destruction and decomposition of the whole society; 
 which never can be made of right by any faction, however 
 powerful, nor without terrible consequences to all about it, 
 both in the act and in the example. This pretended republic 
 is founded in crimes, and exists by wrong and robbery ; and 
 wrong and robbery, far from a title to anything, is war with 
 mankind. To be at peace with robbery is to be an accom- 
 plice with it. 
 
 ]Mere locality does not constitute a body politic. Had 
 Cade and his gang got possession of London, they would not 
 have been the lord mayor, aldermen, and common council. 
 The body politic of France existed in the majesty of ita 
 
220 LETTERS ON A EE&lClDE PEACE. 
 
 throne, in the dignity of its nobility, in the I onour of itg 
 gentry, in the sanctity of its clergy, in the reverence of it8 
 magistracy, in the weight and consideration due to its landed 
 property in the several bailliages, in the respect due to its 
 moveable substance represented by the corporations of the 
 kingdom. All these particular moleculcB united form the 
 great mass of what is truly the body politic in all countries. 
 They are so many deposits and receptacles of justice ; be- 
 cause they can only exist by justice. Nation is a moral 
 essence, not a geographical arrangement, or a denomination of 
 the nomenclator. France, though out of her territorial pos- 
 session, exists ; because the sole possible claimant, I mean the 
 proprietary, and the government to which the proprietary 
 adheres, exists, and claims. Grod forbid, that if you were 
 expelled from your house by ruffians and assassins, that 1 
 
 should call the material walls, doors, and windows of , 
 
 the ancient and honourable family of . Am I to 
 
 transfer to the intruders, who, not content to turn you out 
 naked to the world, would rob you of your very name, all 
 the esteem and respect I owe to you ? The regicides in 
 France are not France. France is out of her bounds, but 
 the kingdom is the same. 
 
 To illustrate my opinions on this subject, let us suppose a 
 case, which, after what has happened, we cannot think ab- 
 solutely impossible, though the augury is to be abominated, 
 and the event deprecated with our most ardent prayers. 
 Let us suppose then, that our gracious sovereign was 
 sacrilegiously murdered; his exemplary queen, at the head 
 of the matronage of this land, murdered in the same 
 manner ; that those princesses, whose beauty and modest 
 elegance are the ornaments of the country, and who are the 
 leaders and patterns of the ingenuous youth of their sex, 
 were put to a cruel and ignominious death, with hundreds of 
 others, mothers and daughters, ladies of the first distinction ; 
 — that the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, princes 
 the hope and pride of the nation, with all their brethren, 
 were forced to fly from the knives of assassins — that the whole 
 body of our excellent clergy were either massacred or robbed 
 of all, and transported — the Christian religion in all its deno- 
 minations, forbidden and persecuted — the law totally, funda- 
 mentally, and in all its parts destroyed — the judges put tc 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 221 
 
 death by revolutionary tribunals — the peers and (^ommona 
 robbed to the last acre of their estates ; massacred if they 
 stayed, or obliged to seek life in flight, in exile and in beg- 
 gary — that the whole landed property should share the very 
 same fate— that every military and naval officer of hon- 
 our and rank, almost to a man, should be placed in the 
 same description of confiscation and exile — that the principal 
 merchants and bankers should be drawn out, as from a hen- 
 coop, for slaughter — that the citizens of our greatest and 
 most flourishing cities, when the hand and the machinery of 
 the hangman were not found sufficient, should have been col- 
 lected in the public squares, and massacred by thousands 
 with cannon ; — if three hundred thousand others should have 
 been doomed to a situation worse than death in noisome and 
 pestilential prisons ; — in such a case, is it in the faction of 
 robbers I am to look for my country ? AVould this be the 
 England that you and I, and even strangers, admired, hon- 
 oured, loved, and cherished ? Would not the exiles of Eng- 
 land alone be my government and my fellow-citizens ? Would 
 not their places of refuge be my temporary country ? Would 
 not all my duties and all my afl'ections be there, and there 
 only ? Should I consider myself as a traitor to my country, 
 and deserving of death, if I knocked at the door and heart 
 of every potentate in Christendom to succour my friends, 
 and to avenge them on their enemies ? Could I, in any way, 
 show myself more a patriot ? What should I think of those 
 potentates who insulted their suffering brethren ; who treated 
 them as vagrants, or at least as mendicants ; and could find 
 no allies, no friends, but in regicide murderers and robbers ? 
 What ought I to think and feel, if, being geographers instead 
 of kings, they recognised the desolated cities, the wasted 
 fields, and the rivers polluted with blood, of this geometrical 
 measurement, as the honourable member of Europe called 
 England? In that condition what should we think of 
 Sweden, Denmark, or Holland, or whatever power afforded us 
 a churlish and treacherous hospitality, if they should invite us 
 to join the standard of our king, our laws, and our religion, if 
 they should give us a direct promise of protection — if, after 
 all this, taking advantage of our deplorable situation, which 
 left us no choice, they were to treat us as the lowest and vilest 
 of all mercenaries ? If they were to send us far from the aid 
 
222 LETTERS OS A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 of our kin^, and our suffering country, to squander us away 
 in the most pestilential climates for a venal enlargement of 
 their own territories, for the purpose of trucking them, when 
 obtained, with those very robbers and murderers they had 
 called upon us to oppose with our blood ? What would be 
 our sentiments, if in that miserable service we were not to 
 be considered either as English, or as Swedes, Dutch, Danes, 
 but as outcasts of the human race ? "Whilst we were fight- 
 ing those battles of their interest, and as their soldiers, hov. 
 should we feel if we were to be excluded from all their car- 
 tels ? How must we feel, if the pride and flower of the 
 English nobility and gentry, who might escape the pestilen- 
 tial clime, and the devouring sword, should, if taken prisoners, 
 be delivered over as rebel subjects, to be condemned as 
 rebels, as traitors, as the vilest of all criminals, by tribunals 
 formed of Maroon negro slaves, covered over with the blood 
 of their masters, who were made free and organized into 
 judges, for their robberies and murders ? What should we 
 feel under this inhuman, insulting, and barbarous protection 
 of Muscovites, Swedes, or Hollanders ? Should we not obtest 
 Heaven, and whatever justice there is yet on earth ? Op- 
 pression makes wise men mad ; but the distemper is still the 
 madness of the wise, which is better than the sobriety of 
 fools. The cry is the voice of sacred misery, exalted not in- 
 to wild raving, but into the sanctified phrensy of prophecy 
 and inspiration — in that bitterness of soul, in that indig- 
 nation of suffering virtue, in that exaltation of despair, 
 would not persecuted English loyalty cry out, with an aw- 
 ful warning voice, and denounce the destruction that waits 
 on monarchs, who consider fidelity to them as the most de- 
 grading of all vices ; who suffer it to be punished as the most 
 abominable of all crimes ; and who have no respect but for 
 rebels, traitors, regicides, and furious negro slaves, whose 
 crimes have broke their chains ? Would not this warm 
 language of high indignation have more of sound reason in 
 it, more of real affection, more of true attachment, than all 
 the lullabies of flatterers, who would hush monarchs to sleep 
 in the arms of death ? Let them be well convinced, that if 
 ever this example should prevail in its whole extent, it will 
 have its full operation. Whilst kings stand firm on their 
 base, though under that base there is a sure-wrought mine, 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 223 
 
 I here will n at be wanting to their levees a single person of 
 hose who are attached to their fortune, and not to their 
 •)ersons or cause : but hereafter none will support a totter- 
 ng throne. Some will fly for fear of being crushed under 
 ;he ruin, some will join in making it. They will seek in the 
 lestruction of royalty, fame, and power, and wealth, and the 
 lomage of kings, with Beubel, with Carjwt, with Bevelliere, 
 md with the Merlins and the TaUiens, rather than suffer 
 3xile and begs^ary with the Condes or the Broglios, the 
 Castries, the D'Avrais, the Serrents, the Cazales, and the 
 long line of loyal suffering, patriot nobility, or to be but- 
 chered with the oracles and the victims of the laws, the 
 D'Ormesons, the D' Espremenils, and the Malesherbes. This 
 example we shall give, if instead of adhering to our fellows 
 in a cause which is an honour to us all, we abandon the law- 
 ful government and lawful corporate boay of France, to hunt 
 for a shameful and ruinous fraternity, with this odious usurp- 
 ation that disgraces civilized society and the human race. 
 
 And is then example nothing ? It is everything. Ex- 
 ample is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no 
 other. This war is a war against that example. It is not a 
 war for Louis the Eighteenth, or even for the property, 
 • virtue, fidelity of France. It is a war for George the Third. 
 for Francis the Second, and for the dignity, property, hon- 
 our, virtue, and religion of England, of Germany, and of all 
 nations. 
 
 I know that all I have said of the systematic unsociabi- 
 lity of this new-invented species of republic, and the impos- 
 sibility of preserving peace, is answered by asserting that 
 the scheme of manners, morals, and even of maxims and 
 principles of state, is of no weight in a question of peace or 
 war between communities. This doctrine is supported by 
 example. The case of Algiers is cited, with a hint, as if it 
 were the stronger case. I should take no notice of this sort 
 of inducement, if I had found it only where first it was. I 
 do not want respect for those from whom I first heard it — 
 but having no controversy at present with them, I only think 
 it not amiss to rest on it a little, as I find it adopted, with 
 much more of the same kind, by several of those on whom 
 such reasoning had formerly made no apparent impression. 
 If it had no force to prevent us from submitting to this ne- 
 
22-1 LETTERS OX A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 cessury war, it furnishes no better ground for our making ai|i| , 
 unnecessary and ruinous peace. ''''' 
 
 This analogical argument drawn from the case of Algiers 
 would lead us a good way. Tlie fact is, we ourselves with a 
 little cover, others more directly, pay a tribute to the repub- 
 lic of Algiers. Is it meant to reconcile us to the payment 
 of a tribute to the French republic ? That this, with other 
 things more ruinous, will be demanded hereafter, I little 
 doubt ; but for the present, this will not be avowed — though 
 our minds are to be gradually prepared for it. In truth, the 
 arguments from this case are worth little, even to those who 
 approve the buying an Algerine forbearance of piracy. There 
 are many things which men do not approve, that they must 
 do to avoid a greater evil. To argue from thence, that they 
 are to act in the same manner in all cases, is turning ne- I 
 cessity into a law. Upon what is matter of prudence, the 
 argument concludes the contrary way. Because we have 
 done one humiliating act, we ought with infinite caution to 
 admit more acts of the same nature, lest humiliation should 
 become our habitual state. Matters of prudence are under 
 the dominion of circumstances, and not of logical analogies. 
 It is absurd to take it otherwise. 
 
 I, for one, do more than doubt the policy of this kind of 
 convention with Algiers. On those who think as I do, the T 
 argument ad hominem can make no sort of impression. I ' 
 know something of the constitution and composition of this f 
 very extraordinary republic. It has a constitution, I admit, 
 similar to the present tumultuous military tyranny of 
 France, by which a handfid of obscure ruffians domineer over 
 a fertile country and a brave people. For the composition, j 
 too, I admit the Algerine community resembles that ofl) 
 France ; being formed out of the very scum, scandal, dis- ' 
 grace, and pest of the Turkish Asia. The Grand Seignior, , 
 to disburthen the country, suffers the dey to recruit in his 
 dominions the corps of janizaries, or asaphs, which form the 
 directory and council of elders of the African republic onu 
 and indivisible. But notwithstanding this resemblance, 
 which I allow, I never shall so far injure the janizarian re- 
 public of Algiers as to put it in comparison for every sort 
 of crime, turpitude, and oppression, with the Jacobin repub- 
 lic of Paris. There is no (question with me to which oi the 
 
LETTERS OK A REOICIDE PEACE. 225 
 
 WO I should choose to be a neighbour or a subject. But 
 ituated as I am, I am in no danger of becoming to Algiers 
 ither the one or the other. It is not so in my relation to 
 he atheistical fanatics of France. I am their neighbour ; 
 may become their subject. Have the gentlemen, who bor- 
 owed this happy parallel, no idea of the different conduct to 
 »e held with regard to the very same evil at an immense dis- 
 ance, and when it is at your door ? when its power is enor- 
 iious, as when it is comparatively as feeble as its distance is 
 emote ? when there is a barrier of language and usages, 
 vhich prevents corruption through certain old correspond- 
 'Hces and habitudes, from the contagion of the horrible 
 lovelties that are introduced into everything else ? I can' 
 •outemplate, without dread, a royal or a national tiger on 
 he borders of Pegu. I can look at him, with an easy curio- 
 lity, as prisoner within bars in the menagerie of the Tower. 
 But if, by habeas corpus, or otherwise, he was to come into 
 :he lobby of the House of Commons whilst your door was 
 )pen, any of you would be more stout than wise, who would 
 lot gladly make your escape out of the back windows. I 
 :ertainly should dread more from a wild cat in my bed- 
 ihamber, than from all the lions that roar in the deserts be- 
 i^ind Algiers. But in this parallel it is the cat that is at a 
 liistance, and the lions and tigers that are in our ante-cham- 
 ibers and our lobbies. Algiers is not near ; Algiers is not 
 powerful ; AJgiers is not our neighbour ; Algiers is not in- 
 fectious. Algiers, whatever it may be, is an old creation ; 
 land we have good data to calculate all the mischief to be ap- 
 prehended from it. When I find Algiers transferred to 
 Calais, I will tell you what I think of that point. In the 
 mean time, the case quoted from the Algerine reports will 
 Qot apply as authority. We shall put it out of court ; and 
 30 far as that goes, let the counsel for the Jacobin peace take 
 QOthing by their motion. 
 
 When we voted, as you and I did, with many more whom 
 you and I respect and love, to resist this enemy, we were 
 .providing for dangers that were direct, home, pressing, and 
 not remote, contingent, uncertain, and formed upon loose 
 analogies. We judged of the danger with which we were 
 menaced by Jacobin France, from the whole tenor of her 
 conduct ; not from one or two doubtful or detached acts or 
 
 [ vol- V. Q^ 
 
226 XETTEBS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 expressions. I not only concurred in the idea of combining 
 with Europe in this war, but to the best of my power even 
 stimulated ministers to that conjunction of interests and of 
 efforts. I joined them with ail my soul, on the principles 
 contained in that manly and masterly state-paper, which I 
 have two or three times referred to,^ and may still more fre- 
 quently hereafter. The diplomatic collection never was morei 
 enriched than with this piece. The historic facts justify 
 every stroke of the master. "Thus painters write their 
 names at Co." 
 
 Various persons may concur in the same measure on vari- 
 ous grounds. They may be various, without being contrary 
 to or exclusive of each other. I thouglit the iusolent, un- 
 provoked aggression of the regicide upon our ally of Holland, 
 a good ground of war. I think his manifest attempt to 
 overturn the balance of Europe, a good ground of war. As 
 a good ground of war, I consider his declaration of war on 
 his Majesty and his kingdom. But though I have taken all 
 these to my aid, I consider them as nothing more than as a 
 sort of evidence to indicate the treasonable mind within. 
 Long before their acts of aggression, and their declaration of 
 w^ar, the faction in France had assumed a form, had adopted 
 a body of principles and maxims, and had regularly and sys- 
 tematically acted on them, by which she virtually had put 
 herself in a posture, which was in itself a declaration of war 
 against mankind. 
 
 It is said by the directory in their several manifestoes, 
 that we of the people are tumultuous for peace ; and that 
 ministers pretend negotiation to amuse us. This they have 
 learned from the language of many amongst ourselves, whose 
 conversations have been one main cause of whatever extent 
 the opinion for peace with regicide may be. But I, who 
 think the ministers unfortunately to be but too serious ill 
 their proceedings, find myself obliged to say a little more on 
 this subject of the popular opinion. 
 
 Before our opinions are quoted against ourselves, it i«, 
 proper that, from our serious deliberation, they may be wortl, 
 quoting. It is without reason we praise the wisdom of oui 
 constitution, in putting under the discretion of the Crowr, 
 the a'^ful trust of war and peace, it' the ministers of the Crowi 
 » Declaiation, Wlut-^iall, Oct. 29, 1793. 
 
LETTERS OS A HEOICIDE PEACE. 227 
 
 rirtually return it again into our hands. The trust was 
 placed there as a sacred deposit, to secure us against popular 
 rashness in plunging into wars, and against the eflects of 
 popular dismay, disgust, or lassitude, in getting out of them 
 as imprudently as we might first engage in them. To have 
 no other measure in judging of those great objects than our 
 momentary opinions and desires, is to throw us back upon 
 that very democracy which, in this part, our constitution wa« 
 formed to avoid. 
 
 It is no excuse at all for a minister, who at our desire 
 takes a measure contrary to our safety, that it is our own 
 iact. He who does not stay the hand of suicide, is guilty of 
 I murder. On our part, I say, that to be instructed, is not to 
 be degraded or enslaved. Information is an advantage to 
 us : and we have a right to demand it. He that is bound to 
 act in the dark cannot be said to act freely. "U'hen it ap- 
 pears evident to our governors that our desires and our in- 
 - terests are at variance, they ought not to gratify the former 
 I at the expense of the latter. Statesmen are placed on an 
 t eminence, that they may have a larger horizon than we can 
 I possibly command. They have a whole before them, which 
 ' we can contemplate only in the parts, and often without the 
 f necessary relations. Ministers are not only our natural 
 i rulers, but our natural guides. Eeason clearly and manfully 
 ■ delivered, has in itself a mighty force ; but reason in the 
 mouth of legal authority, is, I may fairly say, irresistible. 
 I admit that reason of state will not, in many circum- 
 I stances, permit the disclosure of the true ground of a public 
 ! proceeding. In that case silence is manly, and it is wise. It 
 is fair to call for trust when the principle of reason itself 
 suspends its public use. I take the distinction to be this : 
 j The ground of a particular measure, making a part of a plan, 
 ■' it is rarely proper to divulge ; all the broader grounds of 
 policy, on which the general plan is to be adopted, ought as 
 rarely to be concealed. They, who have not the whole 
 cause before them, call them politicians, call them people, 
 call them what you will, are no judges. The difficulties of 
 the case, as well as its fair side, ought to be presented. This 
 ought to be done ; and it is all that can be done. TV'hen we 
 have our true situation distinctly presented to us, if thou we 
 resolve, with a blind aid headlong violence, to resist the ad- 
 
228 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 monitions of our friends, and to cast ourselves into tTio hands 
 of our pr^ient and irreconcilable foes, then, and not till then, 
 the ministers stand acquitted before Grod and man, for what- 
 ever may come. 
 
 Lamenting as I do, that the matter has not had so full and 
 free a discussion as it requires, I mean to omit none of the 
 points which seem to me necessary for consideration, pre\nous 
 to an arrangement which is for ever to decide the form and 
 the fate of Europe. In the course, therefore, of what I shall 
 have the honour to address to you, I propose the following 
 questions to your serious thought : — 1. Whether the present 
 system, which stands for a government in France, be such as 
 in peace and war affects the neighbouring states in a manner 
 different from the internal government that formerly pre- 
 vailed in that country ? — 2. Whether that system, supposing 
 its views hostile to other nations, possesses any means of 
 being hurtful to them peculiar to itself? — 3. Whether there 
 has been lately such a change in France, as to alter the 
 nature of its system, or its effect upon other powers ? — 4. 
 Whether any public declarations or engagements exist, on 
 the part of the allied powers, w^hich stand in the way of a 
 treaty of peace, which supposes the right and confirms the 
 power of the regicide faction in France ? — 5. What the state 
 of the other powers of Europe will be with respect to each 
 other, and their colonies, on the conclusion of a regicide 
 peace ? — 6. Whether we are driven to the absolute necessity 
 of making that kind of peace ? 
 
 These heads of inquiry -will enable us to make the applica- 
 tion of the several matters of fact and topics of argument, 
 that occur in this vast discussion, to certain fixed principles. 
 I do not mean to confine myself to the order in which they 
 stand. I shall discuss them in such a manner as shall ap- 
 pear to me the best adapted for showing their mutual bear- 
 ings and relations. Here then I close the public matter of 
 my letter ; but before I have done let me say one word in 
 apology for myself. 
 
 Jn wishing this nominal peace not to be precipitated, I am 
 sure no man living is less disposed to blarie the present 
 ministry than I am. Some of my oldest friends (and I wish 
 I could say it of more of them) make a ])art in that ministry. 
 There are some indeed, " whom my dim eyes in vain ei» 
 
LETTERS OX A REGICIDE PEACE. 229 
 
 plore.*' In my mind, a greater calamity could not have falle^' 
 3n the public than the exclusion of one of them. But ] 
 drive away that, with other melancholy thoughts. A great 
 deal ought to be said upon that subject, or nothing. As to 
 the distinguished persons to whom my friends who remain 
 are joined, if benefits, nobly and generously conferred, 
 ought to procure good wishes, they are entitled to my best 
 vows ; and they have them all. They have administered to 
 me the only consolation I am capable of receiving, which is to 
 know that no individual will suifer by my thirty years service 
 |to the public. If things should give us the comparative hap- 
 Ipiness of a struggle, I shall be found, I was going to say 
 fighting, (that would be foolish,) but dying by the side of Mr. 
 Pitt. I must add, that if anything defensive in our do- 
 mestic system can possibly save us from the disasters of a 
 iregicide peace, he is the man to save us. If the finances in 
 such a case can be repaired, he is the man to repair them. If 
 I should lament any of his acts, it is only when they appear 
 to me to have no resemblance to acts of his. But let him 
 not have a confidence in himself, which no human abilities 
 can warrant. His abilities are fully equal (and that is to 
 say much for any man) to those which are opposed to him. 
 But if we look to him as our security against the conse- 
 I quences of a regicide peace, let us be assured, that a recricide 
 peace and a constitutional ministry are terms that will not 
 agree. With a regicide peace the king cannot long have a 
 minister to serve him, nor the minister a king to serve. If 
 the Great Disposer, in reward of the royal and the private 
 virtues of our sovereign, should call him from the calamit- 
 ous spectacles, which will attend a state of amity with regi- 
 cide, his successor will surely see them, unless the same Pro- 
 vidence greatly anticipates the course of nature. Thinking 
 thus, (and not, as I conceive, on light grounds,) I dare not 
 flatter the reigning sovereign, nor any minister he has or can 
 have, nor his successor apparent, nor any of those who may 
 be called to serve him, with what appears to me a false state 
 of their situation. We cannot have them and that peace 
 together, 
 
 I do not forget that there had been a considerable difier- 
 ence between several of our friends, (with my insignificant 
 
230 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 self,) and the ^^reat man at the head of ministry, in an early 
 stage of these discussions. But I am sure there was a period 
 in which we agreed better in the danger of a Jacobin existence 
 in France. At one time he and all Europe seemed to feel 
 it. But why am not I converted with so many great powers, 
 and so many great ministers ? It is because I am old and 
 slow. — I am in this year, 1796, only where all the powers of 
 Europe were in 1793. I cannot move with this precession 
 of the equinoxes, which is preparing for us the return of 
 some very old, I am afraid no golden, a&ra, or the commence- 
 ment of some new sera that must be denominated from some 
 new metal. In this crisis I must hold my tongue, or I must 
 speak with freedom. Falsehood and delusion are allowed in 
 no case whatever : but, as in the exercise of all tlie virtues, 
 there is an economy of truth. It is a sort of temperance, 
 by which a man speaks truth with measure that he may 
 speak it the longer. But as the same rules do not hold in 
 all cases — what would be right for you, who may presume 
 on a series of years before you, would have no sense for me, 
 who cannot, without absurdity, calculate on six months of 
 life. What I say, I must say at once. Whatever I write is 
 in its nature testamentary. It may have the weakness, but 
 it has the sincerity, of a dying declaration. For the few 
 days I have to linger here, I am removed completely from the 
 busy scene of the world ; but I hold myself to be still re- 
 sponsible for everything that I have done whilst I continued 
 on the place of action. If the rawest Tyro in politics has 
 been influenced by the authority of my grey hairs, and led 
 by anything in my speeches, or my writings, to enter into 
 this war, he has a right to call upon me to know why I have 
 changed my opinions, or why, when those I voted with have 
 adopted better notions, I persevere in exploded error ? 
 
 AVhen I seem not to acquiesce in the acts of those I re- 
 spect in every degree short of superstition, I am obliged to 
 give my reasons fully. I cannot set my authority against 
 their authority. But to exert reason is not to revolt against 
 authority. Eeason and authority do not move in the same 
 parallel. That reason is an amicus curice who speaks deplano^ 
 not pro tribunali. It is a friend who makes an useful sug- 
 gestion to the court, without questioning its jurisdiction. 
 
LETTERS OS A EEGICIDE PEACE. 231 
 
 ^ilst he acknowledges its competence, he promotes its effi 
 iency. I shall pursue the plau I have chalked out in m^ 
 stters that follow this. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTIOH 
 AS IT REGARDS OTHER NATIONS. 
 
 1796. 
 
 Mt DEAR Sir, 
 
 I closed my first letter with serious matter, and I 
 ope it has employed your thoughts. The system of peace 
 oust have a reference to the system of the war. On that 
 jround, I must therefore again recall your mind to our 
 >riginal opinions, which time and events have not taught me 
 o vary. 
 
 My ideas and my principles led me, in this contest, to 
 encounter France, not as a state, but as a faction. The vast 
 «rritorial extent of that country, its immense population, 
 ts riches of production, its riches of commerce and conven- 
 ion — the whole aggregate mass of what, in ordinary cases, 
 institutes the force of a state, to me were but objects of 
 jecondary consideration. They might be balanced ; and they 
 lave been often more than balanced. Great as these things 
 ire, they are not what make the faction formidable. It is 
 he faction that makes them truly dreadful. That faction is 
 ;he evil spirit that possesses the body of Prance ; that in- 
 forms it as a soul; that stamps upon its ambition, and upon 
 all its pursuits, a characteristic mark, which strongly distin- 
 guishes them from the same general passions, and the same 
 general views, in other men and in other communities. It 
 is that spirit which inspires into them a new, a pernicious, a 
 desolating activity. Constituted as France was ten years 
 ago, it was not in that France to shake, to shatter, and to 
 overwhelm Europe in the manner that we behold. A sure 
 destruction impends over those infatuated princes, who, in 
 
232 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 tne conflict with this new and unheard-of power, proceed as 
 if they were engaged in a war that bore a resemblance to 
 their former contests; or that they can make peace in the 
 spirit of their former arrangements of pacification. Here 
 the beaten path is the very reverse of the safe road. 
 
 As to me, I was always steadily of opinion, that this dis- 
 order was not in its nature intermittent. I conceived that 
 the contest, once begun, could not be laid down again, to be 
 resumed at our discretion ; but that our first struggle with 
 this evil would also be our last. I never thought we could 
 make peace with the system ; because it was not for the sake 
 of an object we pursued in rivalry with each other, but with 
 the system itself, that we were at war. As I understood the 
 matter, we were at war not with its conduct, but with its 
 existence ; convinced that its existence and its hostility were 
 the same. 
 
 The faction is not local or territorial. It is a general 
 evil. Where it least appears in action, it is still full of life. 
 In its sleep it recruits its strength, and prepares its exertion. 
 Its spirit lies deep in the corruption of our common nature. 
 The social order which restrains it, feeds it. It exists in 
 every country in Europe ; and among all orders of men in 
 every country, who look up to France as to a common head. 
 The centre is there. The circumference is the world of Eu- 
 rope wherever the race of Europe may be settled. Every- 
 where else the faction is militant ; in France it is triumph- 
 ant. In France it is the bank of deposit, and the bank of 
 circulation, of all the pernicious principles that are forming 
 in every state. It will be folly scarcely deserving of pity, 
 and too mischievous for contempt, to think of restraining it 
 in any other country whilst it is predominant there. War, 
 instead of being the cause of its force, has suspended its 
 operation. It has given a reprieve, at least, to the Christian 
 world. 
 
 The true nature of a Jacobin war, in the beginning, was, 
 by most of the Christian powers, felt, acknowledged, and 
 even in the most precise manner declared. In the joint 
 manifesto, published by the emperor and the king of Prussia, 
 on the 4th of August, 1792, it is expressed in the clearest 
 terms, and on principles which could not fail, if they had 
 adhered to them, of classing those monarchs with the first 
 
LETTERS ON A EEQICTDE PEACE. 233 
 
 benefactors of mankind. This manifesto was published, as 
 they themselves express it, " to lay open to the present ge- 
 neration, as well as to posterity, their motives, their inten- 
 tions, and the disinterestedness of their personal views ; 
 taking up arms for the purpose of preserving social and 
 political order amongst all civilized nations, and to secure to 
 each state its religion, happiness, independence, territories, 
 and real constitution." — " On this ground, they hoped that 
 all empires and all states would be unanimous ; and becom- 
 ing the firm guardians of the happiness of mankind, that they 
 could not fail to unite their efforts to rescue a numerous 
 nation from its own fury, to preserve Europe from the re- 
 turn of barbarism, and the universe from the subversion 
 and anarchy with which it was threatened." The whole of 
 that noble performance ought to be read at the first meeting 
 of any congress, which may assemble for the purpose of paci- 
 fication. In that piece " these powers expressly renounce 
 all views of personal aggrandizement," and confine them- 
 selves to objects worthy of so generous, so heroic, and so 
 perfectly wise and politic an enterprise. It was to the prin- 
 ciples of this confederation, and to no other, that we wished 
 our sovereign and our country to accede, as a part of the 
 commonwealth of Europe. To these principles with some 
 trifling exceptions and limitations they did fully accede.^ 
 And all our friends who took oflice acceded to the ministry, 
 (whether wisely or not,) as I always understood the matter, 
 on the faith and on the principles of that declaration. 
 
 As long as these powers flattered themselves that the 
 menace of force would produce the effect of force, they acted 
 on those declarations : but when their menaces failed of suc- 
 cess, their efi'orts took a new direction. It did not appear 
 to them that virtue and heroism ought to be purchased by 
 millions of rix-dollars. It is a dreadful truth, but it is a 
 truth that cannot be concealed ; in ability, in dexterity, in 
 the distinctness of their views, the Jacobins are our supe- 
 riors. They saw the thing right from the very beginning. 
 TNTiatever were the first motives to the war among politi- 
 cians, they saw that in its spirit, and for its objects, it was a 
 civil war ; and as such they pursued it. It is a war between 
 the partisans of the ancient, civil, moral, and political order oi 
 ' See Declaration, Whitehall, Oct.ber 29, 1793. 
 
234 LTITTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 Europe, against a sect of fanatical and ambitious atheistn 
 which means to change them all. It is not France oxtend* 
 ing a foreign empire over other nations ; it is a sect aiming 
 at universal empire, and beginning with the conquest of 
 France. The leaders of that sect secured the centre of Eu- 
 rope; and that secured, they knew, that whatever might be 
 the event of battles and sieges, their cause was victorious. 
 Whether its territory had a little more or a little less peeled 
 from its surface, or whether an island or two was detached 
 from its commerce, to them was of little moment. The con- 
 quest of France was a glorious acquisition. That once well 
 laid as a basis of empire, opportunities never could be want- 
 ing to regain or to replace what had been lost, and dreadfully 
 to avenge themselves on the faction of their adversaries. 
 
 They saw it was a civil war. It was their business to 
 persuade their adversaries that it ought to be a foreign 
 war. The Jacobins everywhere set up a cry against the 
 new crusade ; and they intrigued with effect in the cabi- 
 net, in the field, and in every private society in Europe. 
 Their task was not difficult. The condition of princes, 
 and sometimes of first ministers too, is to be pitied. The 
 creatures of the desk, and the creatures of favour, had 
 no relish for the principles of the manifestoes. They pro- 
 mised no governments, no regiments, no revenues from 
 whence emoluments might arise by perquisite or by grant. 
 In truth, the tribe of vulgar politicians are the lowest of our 
 species. There is no trade so vile and mechanical as govern- 
 ment in their hands. Virtue is not their habit. They are 
 out of themselves in any course of conduct recommended 
 only by conscience and glory. A large, liberal, and prospect- 
 ive view of the interests of states passes with tliem for ro- 
 mance ; and the principles that recommend it, for the 
 wanderings of a disordered imagination. The calculators 
 compute them out of their senses. The jesters and buffoons 
 shame them out of everything grand and elevated. Little- 
 ness in object and in means, to them appears soundness and 
 sobriety. They think there is nothing worth pursuit, but 
 that which they can handle ; which they can measure with a 
 two-foot rule ; which they can tell upon ten fingers. 
 
 Without the principles of the Jacobins, perhaps without 
 any principles at all, they played the game of that faction. 
 
LETTERS ON A EE&ICIDE PEACE. 235 
 
 There was a beaten road before them. The powers of Eu- 
 rope were armed ; France had always appeared dangerous ; 
 the war was easily diverted from France as a faction, to 
 France as a state. The princes were easily taught to slide 
 back into their old, habitual course of politics. They were 
 easily led to consider the flames that were consuming France, 
 not as a warning to protect their own buildings, (which were 
 without any party wall, and linked by a contignation into 
 the edifice of France,) but as a happy occasion for pillaging 
 the goods, and for carrying ofi" the materials, of their neigh- 
 bour's house. Their provident fears were changed into ava- 
 ricious hopes. They carried on their new designs without 
 seeming to abandon the principles of their old policy. They 
 pretended to seek, or they flattered themselves that they 
 sought, in the accession of new fortresses, and new territo- 
 ries, a defensive security. But the security wanted was 
 against a kind of power, which was not so truly dangerous 
 in its fortresses nor in its territories, as in its spirit and its 
 principles. They aimed, or pretended to aim, at defending 
 themselves against a danger, from which there can be no 
 security in any defensive plan. If armies and fortresses 
 were a defence against Jacobinism, Louis the Sixteenth 
 would this day reign a powerful monarch over a happy 
 people. 
 
 This error obliged them, even in their offensive operations, 
 to adopt a plan of war, against the success of which there 
 was something little short of mathematical demonstration. 
 They refused to take any step which might strike at the 
 heart of affairs. They seemed unwilling to wound the enemy 
 in any vital part. They acted through the whole, as if they 
 really wished the conservation of the Jacobin power, as 
 what might be more favourable than the lawful government 
 to the attainment of the petty objects they looked for. They 
 always kept on the circumference ; and the wider and re- 
 moter the circle was, the more eagerly they chose it as their 
 sphere of action in this centrifugal war. The plan they 
 pursued, in its nature demanded great length of time. In 
 its execution, they, who went the nearest way to work, were 
 obliged to cover an incredible extent of country. It left to 
 the enemy every means of destroying this extended line of 
 weakness. Ill success in any part was sure to defeat the 
 
236 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 effect of the whole. This is true of Austria. It is still more 
 true of England. On this false plan, even good fortune, by 
 further weakening the victor, put hii i but the further off 
 from his object. 
 
 As long as there was any appearance of success, the spirit 
 of aggrandizement, and consequently the spirit of mutual 
 jealousy, seized upon all the coalesced powers. Some sought 
 an accession of territory at the expense of France, some at 
 the expense of each other, some at the expense of third par- 
 ties ; and when the vicissitude of disaster took its turn, they 
 found common distress a treacherous bond of faith and 
 friendship. 
 
 The greatest skill conducting the greatest military ap- 
 paratus has been employed ; but it has been worse than use- 
 lessly employed, through the false policy of the war. The 
 operations of the field suffered by the errors of the cabinet. 
 If the same spirit continues when peace is made, the peace 
 will fix and perpetuate all the errors of the war; because it 
 will be made upon the same false principle. AYhat has been 
 lost in the field, in the field may be regained. An arrange- 
 ment of peace in its nature is a permanent settlement ; it is 
 the effect of counsel and deliberation, and not of fortuit- 
 ous events. If built upon a basis fundamentally erroneous, 
 it can only be retrieved by some of those unforeseen dis- 
 pensations, which the all-wise but mysterious Grovernor of 
 the world sometimes interposes, to snatch nations from ruin. 
 It would not be pious error, but mad and impious presump- 
 tion, for any one to trust in an unknown order of dispensa- 
 tions, in defiance of the rules of prudence, which are formed 
 upon the known march of the ordinary providence of God. 
 
 It was not of that sort of war that I was amongst the 
 least considerable, but amongst the most zealous advisers ; 
 and it is not by the sort of peace now talked of, that I wish 
 it concluded. It would answer no great purpose to enter 
 into the particular errors of the war. The whole has been but 
 one error. It was but nominally a war of alliance. As the 
 combined powers pursued it there was nothing to hold an 
 alliance together. There could be no tie of honour, in a 
 society for pillage. There could be no tie of a common 
 interest \s\\Qv<d the object did not ofter such a division amongst 
 the parties as could well give them a warm concern in the 
 
LETTEES CN A REGICIDE PEACE. 237 
 
 rains of each other, or could indeed form such a hody of 
 equivalents, as might make one of them willing to abandon 
 \ separate object of his ambition for the gratification of any 
 )ther member of the alliance. The partition of Poland 
 offered an object of spoil in which the parties might agree, 
 rhey were circumjacent, and each might take a portion con- 
 venient to his own territory. They might dispute about the 
 i^alue of their several shares, but the contiguity to each of 
 the demandants always furnished the means of an adjust- 
 ment. Though hereafter the world will have cause to rue 
 ibhis iniquitous measure, and they most who were the moat 
 jconcerned in it, for the moment, there was wherewithal in the 
 lobject to preserve peace amongst confederates in wrong. But 
 |the spoil of France did not afford the same facilities for ac- 
 Icommodation. What might satisfy the house of Austria in 
 ja Flemish frontier, afforded no equivalent to tempt the cu- 
 jpidity of the king of Prussia. What might be desired by 
 Grreat Britain in the West Indies, must be coldly and re- 
 motely, if at all, felt as an interest at Vienna ; and it would be 
 jfelt as something worse than a negative interest at Madrid. 
 lAustria, long possessed with unwise and dangerous designs 
 ,on Italy, could not be very much in earnest about the con- 
 'servation of the old patrimony of the house of Savoy ; and 
 jSardinia, who owed to an Italian force all her means of shut- 
 ting out France from Italy, of which she has been supposed 
 to hold the key, would not purchase the means of strength 
 upon one side by yielding it on the other. She would not 
 readily give the possession of Novara for the hope of Savoy. 
 No continental power was willing tc lose any of its conti- 
 'nental objects for the increase of the naval power of Grreat 
 I Britain ; and Grreat Britain would not give up any of the 
 objects she sought for as the means of an increase to her 
 naval power, to further their aggrandizement. 
 
 The moment this war came to be considered as a war 
 merely of profit, the actual circumstances are such that it 
 never could become reaUy a war of alliance. Nor can the 
 peace be a peace of alliance, until things are put upon their 
 i right bottom. 
 
 I do not find it denied, that when a treaty is entered into 
 for peace, a demand will be made on the regicides to sur* 
 render a great part of their conquests on the continent 
 
238 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 "Will they, in the present state of the war, make that sur- 
 render without an equivalent? This continental cession 
 must of course be made in favour of that party in the alli- 
 ance that has suffered losses. That party has nothing to 
 furnish towards an equivalent. What equivalent, for instance, 
 has Holland to offer, who has lost her all ? AVhat equivalent 
 can come from the Emperor, every part of whose territories 
 contiguous to France is already within the pale of the regicide 
 dominions ? AVhat equivalent has Sardinia to offer for Savoy 
 and for Nice, I may say for her whole being ? What has 
 she taken from the faction of France ? she has lost very near 
 her all ; and she has gained nothing. What equivalent has 
 Spain to give ? Alas ! she has already paid for her own ran- 
 som the fund of equivalent, and a dreadful equivalent it is, to 
 England and to herself. But I put Spain out of the ques- 
 tion ; she is a province of the Jacobin empire, and she must 
 make peace or war according to the orders she receives from 
 the directory of assassins. In effect and substance, her crown 
 is a fief of regicide. 
 
 Whence then can the compensation be demanded ? Un- 
 doubtedly from that power which alone has made some con- 
 quests. That power is England. Will the allies then give 
 away their ancient patrimony, that England may keep islands 
 in the West Indies ? They never can protract the war in 
 good earnest for that object ; nor can they act in concert with 
 us, in our refusal to grant anything towards their redemption. 
 In that case we are thus situated. Either we must give 
 Europe, bound hand and foot, to France ; or we must quit 
 the West Indies without any one object, great or small, to- 
 wards indemnity and security. I repeat it, without any ad- 
 vantage whatever: because, supposing that our conquest 
 could comprise all that France ever possessed in the tropical 
 America, it never can amount in any fair estimation to a 
 fair equivalent for Holland, for the Austrian Netherlands, for 
 the lower Grermany, that is, for the whole ancient kingdom or 
 circle of Burgundy, now under the yoke of regicide, to say no- 
 thing of almost all Italy under the same barbarous domination. 
 If we treat in the present situation of things, we have nothing 
 in our hands that can redeem Europe. Nor is the Emperor, 
 •8 I have observed, more rich in the fund of equivalents. 
 
 If we look to our stock in the eastern world, our most valu- 
 
LETTERS ON A EEaiCIDE PEACE. 239 
 
 able and systematic acquisitions are made in that quarter. 
 It is from France they are made ? France has but one or 
 two contemptible factories, subsisting by the offal of the 
 private fortunes of English individuals to support them, in 
 any part of India. I look on the taking of the Cape of 
 Grood Hope as the securing of a post of great moment. It 
 does honour to those who planned, and to those who executed, 
 that enterprise : but I speak of it always as comparatively 
 igood ; as good as anything can be in a scheme of war that 
 repels us from a centre, and employs all our forces where no- 
 thing can be finally decisive. But giving, as I freely give, 
 j every possible credit to these eastern conquests, I ask one 
 i question, — on whom are they made ? It is evident, that if 
 jwe can keep our eastern conquests, we keep them not at the 
 I expense of France, but at the expense of Holland our ally ; 
 !of Holland, the immediate cause of the war, the nation whom 
 ! we had undertaken to protect, and not of the republic which 
 'it was our business to destroy. If we return the African 
 1 and the Asiatic conquests, we put them into the hands of a 
 nominal state (to that Holland is reduced) unable to retain 
 them ; and which will virtually leave them under the direc- 
 tion of France. If we withhold them, Holland declines still 
 I more as a state. She loses so much carrying trade, and that 
 means of keeping up the small degree of naval power she 
 holds ; for which policy alone, and not for any commercial 
 gain, she maintains the Cape, or any settlement beyond it. 
 In that case, resentment, faction, and even necessity, will 
 throw her more and more into the power of the new, mis- 
 chievous republic. But on the probable state of Holland I 
 , shall say more, when in this correspondence I come to talk 
 over with you the state in which any sort of Jacobin peace 
 will leave all Europe. 
 
 So far as to the East Indies. 
 
 As to the West Indies, indeed as to either, if we look for 
 matter of exchange in order to ransom Europe, it is easy to 
 I show that we have taken a terribly roundabout road. I can- 
 not conceive, even if, for the sake of holding conquests there, 
 we should refuse to redeem Holland, and the Austrian Ne- 
 therlands, and the hither Germany, that Spain, merely as she 
 is Spain, (and forgetting that the regicide ambassador go- 
 , verns at Madrid,) will see, with perfect satisfaction, Gretit 
 
240 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 Britain sole mistress of the isles. In truth it appears to me^ 
 that, when we come to balance our account, we shall find in 
 the proposed peace only the pure, simple, and unendowed 
 charms of Jacobin amity. AVe shall have the satisfaction of 
 knowing, that no blood or treasure has been spared by the 
 allies for support of the regicide system. AVe shall reflect at 
 leisure on one great truth, that it was ten times more easy 
 totally to destroy the system itself, tlian, when established, it 
 would be to reduce its power ; and that this republic, most 
 formidable abroad, was of all things the weakest at home ; 
 that her frontier was terrible, her interior feeble ; that it wa» 
 matter of choice to attack her where she is invincible, and to 
 spare her where she was ready to dissolve by her own internal 
 disorders. AVe shall reflect, that our plan was good neither 
 for ofleuce nor defence. 
 
 It would not be at all difficult to prove, that an army of a 
 hundred thousand men, horse, foot, and artillery, might have 
 been employed against the enemy on the very soil which he 
 has usurped at a far less expense than has been squandered 
 away upon tropical adventures. In these adventures it was 
 not an enemy we had to vanquish, but a cemetery to conquer. 
 In carrying on the war in the West Indies, the hostile sword 
 is merciful ; the country in which we engage is the dreadful 
 enemy. There the European conqueror finds a cruel defeat 
 in the very fruits of his success. Every advantage is but a 
 new demand on England for recruits to the West Indian 
 grave. In a AVest India war, the regicides have, for their 
 troops, a race of fierce barbarians, to whom the poisoned air, 
 in which our youth inhale certain death, is salubrity and 
 life. To them the climate is the surest and most faithful 
 of allies. 
 
 Had we carried on the war on the side of France which 
 looks towards the Channel or the Atlantic, we should have 
 attacked our enemy on his weak and unarmed side. We 
 should not have to reckon on the loss of a man, who did not 
 fall in battle. We should have an ally in the heart of the 
 country, who, to our hundred thousand, would at one time 
 have added eighty thousand men at the least, and all animated 
 by principle, by enthusiasm, and by vengeance ; motives 
 which secured them to the cause in a very difterent manner 
 from, some of those allies whom we subsidized w ith millions. 
 
LETTERS OJf A BEGICIDE PEACE. 241 
 
 This ally, (or rather this principal in the war,) by tlie con- 
 fession of the regicide himself, was more formidable to him 
 ;than all his other foes united. Warring there, we should 
 have led our arms to the capital of Wrong. Defeated, we 
 could not fail (proper precautions taken) of a sure retreat. 
 Stationary, and only supporting the royalists, an impenetrable 
 barrier, an impregnable rampart, would have been formed 
 between the enemy and his naval power. We are probably 
 the only nation who have declined to act against an enemy, 
 when it might have been done in his own country ; and who 
 liaving an armed, a powerful, and a long victorious ally in 
 tliat country, declined all effectual co-operaticn, and suffered 
 him to perish for want of support. On the plan of a war in 
 i'rance, every advantage that our allies might obtain would 
 b<- doubled in its effect. Disasters on the one side might 
 liave a fair chance of being compensated by victories on the 
 other. Had we brought the main of our force to bear upon 
 tliat quarter, all the operations of the British and Imperial 
 crowns would have been combined. The w^ar would have 
 had system, correspondence, and a certain direction. But as 
 the war has been pursued, the operations of the two crowns 
 Ijave not the smallest degree of mutual bearing or relation. 
 
 Had acquisitions in the AYest Indies been our object, on 
 ^UL•cess in France, everything reasonable in those remote 
 parts might be demanded with decorum, and justice, and a 
 :-ure effect. Well might we call for a recompence in America, 
 for those services to which Europe owed its safety. Having 
 abandoned this obvious policy connected with principle, we 
 liave seen the regicide power taking the reverse course, and 
 making real conquests in the West Indies, to which all our 
 dear-bought advantages (if we could hold them) are mean 
 and contemptible. The noblest island within the tropics, 
 worth all that we possess put together, is, by the vassal 
 Spaniard, delivered into her handt?. The island of Hispaniola 
 (of which we have but one poor corner, by a slippery hold) 
 IS perhaps equal to England in extent, and in fertility is far 
 superior. The part possessed by Spain, of that great island, 
 made for the seat and centre of a tropical empire, was not 
 improved, to be sure, as the French division had been, before 
 .t was systematically destroyed by the cannibal republic j 
 
242 LETTERS OS A REGICIDE PEA.OE. 
 
 but it is not only the far larger, but the far more salubrioua 
 and more fertile part. 
 
 It was delivered into the hands of the barbarians without, 
 as I can find, any public reclamation on our part, not only in 
 contravention to one of the fundamental treaties that com- 
 pose the public law of Europe, but in defiance of the funda- 
 mental colonial policy of Spain herself. This part of the 
 treaty of Utrecht was made for great genera] ends unques- 
 tionably ; but whilst it provided for those general ends, it 
 was in affirmance of that particular policy. It was not to 
 injure, but to save Spain by making a settlement of her 
 estate, which prohibited her to alienate to France. It is 
 her policy, not to see the balance of West Indian power 
 overturned by France or by Great Britain. Whilst the 
 monarchies subsisted, this unprincipled cession was what the 
 influence of the elder branch of the house of Bourbon never 
 dared to attempt on the younger : but cannibal terror has 
 been more powerful than family influence. The Bourbon 
 monarchy of Spain is united to the republic of France, by 
 what may be truly called the ties of blood. 
 
 By this measure the balance of power in the West Indies 
 is totally destroyed. It has followed the balance of power 
 in Europe. It is not alone what shall be left nominally to 
 the assassins that is theirs. Theirs is the whole empire of 
 Spain in America. That stroke finishes all. I should be 
 glad to see our suppliant negotiator in the act of putting his 
 feather to the ear of the directory, to make it unclinch the 
 fist ; and, by his tickling, to charm that rich prize out of the 
 iron gripe of robbery and ambition ! It does not require 
 much sagacity to discern, that no power wholly bafiied and 
 defeated in Europe can flatter itself with conquests in the 
 West Indies. In that state of things it can neither keep 
 nor hold. No ! It cannot even long make war if the grand 
 bank and deposit of its force is at all in the West Indies. 
 But here a scene opens to my view too important to pass 
 by, perhaps too critical to touch. Is it possible tiiat it 
 should not present itself in all its relations to a mind habitu- 
 ated to consider eithe3r war or peace on a large scale, or as 
 one whole ? 
 
 Unfortunately other ideas have prevailed. A remote, an 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 243 
 
 expensive, a murderous, and, in the end, an unproductive ad- 
 venture, carried on upon ideas of mercantile knight-errantry, 
 , without any of the generous wildness of Quixotism, is con- 
 sidered as sound, solid sense ; and a war in a wholesome 
 climate, a war at our door, a war directly on the enemy, a 
 war in the heart of his country, a war in concert with an in- 
 ternal ally, and in combination with the external, is regarded 
 as folly and romance. 
 
 My dear friend, I hold it impossible that these consider- 
 ations should have escaped the statesmen on both sides of 
 the water, and on both sides of the House of Commons. How 
 a question of peace can be discussed without having them in 
 view, I cannot imagine. If you or others see a way out of 
 these difficulties I am happy. I see, indeed, a fund from 
 whence equivalents will be proposed. I see it. But I can- 
 not just now touch it. It is a question of high moment. It 
 opens another Iliad of woes to Europe. 
 
 Such is the time proposed for making a common political 
 peace, to which no one circumstance is propitious. As to 
 the grand principle of the peace, it is left, as if by common 
 consent, wholly out of the question. 
 
 Viewing things in this light, I have frequently sunk into 
 a degree of despondency and dejection hardly to be de- 
 scribed ; yet out of the profoundest depths of this despair, 
 an impulse, which I have in vain endeavoured to resist, has 
 urged me to raise one feeble cry against this unfortunate 
 coalition which is formed at home, in order to make a coali- 
 tion with Erance, subversive of the whole ancient order of 
 the world. No disaster of war, no calamity of season, could 
 ever strike me with half the horror which I felt from what is 
 introduced to us by this junction of parties, under the sooth- 
 ing name of peace. We are apt to speak of a low and pusil- 
 lanimous spirit as the ordinary cause by which dubious wars 
 terminated in humiliating treaties. It is here the direct 
 contrary. I am perfectly astonished at the boldness of cha- 
 racter, at the intrepidity of mind, the firmness of nerve, in 
 those who are able with deliberation to face the perils of 
 Jacobin fraternity. 
 
 This fraternity is indeed so terrible in its nature, and in 
 its manifest consequences, that there is no way of quieting 
 our apprehensions about it, but by totally putting it out oi 
 
 E 2 
 
214 LETTERS OK A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 sight, by substituting for it, througb a sort of periphrasis, 
 something of an ambiguous quality, and describing such a 
 connexion under the terms of " the usual relations of peace 
 and amity*' By this means the proposed fraternity is 
 hustled in the crowd of those treaties, which imply no change 
 in the public law of Europe, and which do not upon system 
 aifect the interior condition of nations. It is confounded 
 with those conventions in which matters of dispute among 
 sovereign powers are compromised, by the taking off a duty 
 more or less, by the surrender of a frontier town, or a dis- 
 puted district, on the one side or the other ; by pactions in 
 which the pretensions of families are settled, (as by a con- 
 veyancer, making family substitutions and successions,) with- 
 out any alterations in the laws, manners, religion, privileges, 
 and customs, of the cities, or territories, which are the sub- 
 ject of such arrangements. 
 
 All this body of old conventions, composing the vast and 
 ■voluminous collection called the corps diplomatique, forms 
 the code or statute law, as the methodized reasonings of the 
 great publicists and jurists from the digest and jurispru- 
 dence of tlie Christian world. In these treasures are to be 
 found the usual relations of peace and amity in civilized 'Eu- 
 rope ; and there the relations of ancient Erauce were to be 
 found amongst the rest. 
 
 The present system in Erance is not the ancient Erance. 
 It is not the ancient Erance with ordinary ambition and or- 
 dinary means. It is not a new power of an old kind. It is 
 a new power of a new species. AVhen such a questionable 
 shape is to be admitted for the first time into the brother- 
 hood of Christendom, it is not a mere matter of idle curiosity 
 to consider how far it is in its nature alliable with the rest, 
 or whether "the relations of peace and amity" with this 
 new state are likely to be of the same nature with the usual 
 relations of the states of Europe. 
 
 The Revolution in Erance had tlie relation of Erance to 
 other nations as one of its principal objectSi The changes 
 made by that Eevolution were not the better to accommo- 
 date her to tlie old and usual relations, but to produce new 
 ones. The lievolution was made, not to make Erance free, 
 but to make her formidable ; not to make her a neighbour, 
 but a mistress: not to make her more observant of laws, b it 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 243 
 
 to put her in a condition to impose them. To make France 
 truly formidable it was necessary that France should be 
 new-m Ddelled. They, who have not followed the train of the 
 late proceedings, have been led by deceitful representations 
 (which deceit made a part in the plan) to conceive that this 
 totally new model of a state, in which nothing escaped a 
 change, was made with a view to its internal relations only. 
 
 In the Eevolution of France two sorts of men were prin- 
 cipally concerned in giving a character and determination to 
 its pursuits : the philosophers and the politicians. They 
 took different ways, but they met in the same end. The phi- 
 losophers had one predominant object, which they pursued 
 with a fanatical fury, that is, the utter extirpation of religion. 
 To that every question of empire was subordinate. They 
 had rather domineer in a parish of atheists, than rule over a 
 Christian world. Their temporal ambition was wholly sub- 
 servient to their proselytizing spirit, in which they were not 
 exceeded by Mahomet himself. 
 
 They, who have made but superficial studies in the natural 
 history of the human mind, have been taught to look on re- 
 ligious opinions as the only cause of enthusiastic zeal and 
 sectarian propagation. But there is no doctrine whatever, 
 on which men can warm, that is not capable of the very same 
 effect. The social nature of man impels him to propagate 
 his principles, as much as physical impulses urge him to pro- 
 pagate his kind. The passions give zeal and vehemence. 
 The understanding bestows design and system. The whole 
 man moves under the discipline of his opinions. ^Religion is 
 among the most powerful causes of enthusiasm. When any- 
 thing concerning it becomes an object of much meditation, 
 it cannot be indifferent to the mind. They who do not love 
 religion, hate it. The rebels to Grod perfectly abhor the 
 author of their being. They hate him " with all their heart, 
 with all their mind, with all their soul, and with all their 
 strength. " He never presents himself to their thoughts, but 
 to menace and alarm them. They cannot strike the sun out 
 of heaven, but they are able to raise a smouldering smoke 
 that obscures him from their own eyes. Not being able to 
 revenge themselves on God, they have a delight in vicariously 
 defacing, degrading, torturing, and tearing m pieces, his 
 inage in man. Let no one judge of them by what he bai 
 
246 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 conceived of them, when they were not incorporated, and had 
 no lead. They were then only passengers in a common 
 vehicle. They were then carried along with the general 
 motion of religion in the community, and, without being 
 aware of it, partook of its influence. In that situation, at 
 worst, their nature was left free to counterwork their prin- 
 ciples. They despaired of giving any very general currency 
 to their opinions. They considered them as a reserved 
 privilege for the chosen few. But when the possibility of 
 dominion, lead, and propagation, presented itself, and that 
 the ambition, which before had so often made them hypo- 
 crites, might rather gain than lose by a daring avowal of their 
 sentiments, then the nature of this infernal spirit, which has 
 " evil for its good," appeared in its full perfection. Nothing 
 indeed but the possession of some power can with any cer- 
 tainty discover what at the bottom is the true character of 
 any man. Without reading the speeches of Yergniaux, 
 Fran^ias of Nantz, Isnard, and some others of that sort, it 
 would not be easy to conceive the passion, rancour, and 
 malice of their tongues and hearts. They worked themselves 
 up to a perfect phrensy against religion and all its professors, 
 They tore the reputation of the clergy to pieces by their in- 
 furiated declamations and invectives, before they lacerated 
 their bodies by their massacres. This fanatical atheism left 
 out, we omit the principal feature in the French Eevolution, 
 and a principal consideration with regard to the effects to be 
 expected from a peace with it. 
 
 The other sort of men w^ere the politicians. To them, who 
 had little or not at all reflected on the subject, religion was 
 in itself no object of love or hatred. They disbelieved it, and 
 that was all. Neutral with regard to that object, they took 
 the side which in the present state of things might best 
 answer their purposes. They soon found that they could 
 not do without the philosophers ; and the philosophers soon 
 made them sensible, that tlie destruction of religion was to 
 supply them with means of conquest first at home, and tlien 
 abroad. The philosophers were the active internal agitators, 
 and supplied the spirit and principles : the second gave the 
 practical direction. Sometimes the one predominated in the 
 composition, sometimes the otlier. The only diflerence be- 
 tween them was iu the necessity of concealing tlie geuer;il 
 
LETTERS Oy A REGICIUK tEACE. 217 
 
 design for a time, and in their dealing with foreign nations ; 
 the fanatics going straight forward and openly, the politicians 
 by the surer mode of zigzag. In the course of events this, 
 ; among other causes, produced fierce and bloody contentions 
 between them. But at the bottom they thoroughly agreed 
 in all the objects of ambition and irreligion, and substantially 
 in all the means of promoting these ends. 
 I Without question, to bring about the unexampled event of 
 ! the French Eevolution, the concurrence of a very great 
 ! number of views and passions was necessary. In that stu- 
 j pendous work, no one principle, by which the human mind 
 i may have its faculties at once invigorated and depraved, was 
 left unemployed ; but I can speak it to a certainty, and sup- 
 I port it by undoubted proofs, that the ruling principle of those 
 I who acted in the Eevolution as statesmen, had the exterior 
 I aggrandizement of France as their ultimate end in the most 
 I minute part of the internal changes that were made. We, 
 ! who of late years have been drawn from an attention to 
 ■ foreign affairs by the importance of our domestic discussions, 
 ! cannot easily form a conception of the general eagerness of 
 ' the active and energetic part of the French nation, itself the 
 j most active and energetic of all nations, previous to its Re- 
 I volution, upon that subject. I am convinced that the foreign 
 speculators in France, under the old government, were twenty 
 to one of the same description then or now in England ; and 
 few of that description there were, who did not emulously 
 set forward the Eevolution. The whole official system, par- 
 ticularly in the diplomatic part, the regulars, the irregulars, 
 down to the clerks in office, (a corps, without all comparison, 
 more numerous than the same amongst us,) co-operated in it. 
 All the intriguers in foreign politics, all the spies, all the in- 
 telligencers, actually or late in function, all the candidates for 
 that sort of employment, acted solely upon that principle. 
 
 On that system of aggrandizement there was but one 
 mind : but two violent factions arose about the means. The 
 first wished France, diverted from the politics of the continent, 
 to attend solely to her marine, to feed it by an increase of 
 commerce, and thereby to overpower England on her own ele- 
 ment. They contended, that if England were disabled, the 
 powers on the continent would fall into their proper subordin- 
 fttiou J that it was England which deranged the whole conti- 
 
248 LETTERS 0^' A RLwrCIDE PEACE. 
 
 nental system of Europe. The others, who were by far the 
 more numerous, though not the most outwardly prevalent at 
 court, considered this planfor France as contrary toher genius, 
 her situation, and her natural means. They agree as to the 
 ultimate object, the reduction of the British power, and, if 
 possible, its naval power ; but they considered an ascend- 
 ency on the continent as a necessary preliminary to that un- 
 dertaking. They argued, that the proceedings of England 
 herself had proved the soundness of this policy. That her 
 ';;reatest and ablest statesmen had not considered the support 
 of a continental balance against France as a deviation from 
 the principle of her naval power, but as one of the most 
 effectual modes of carrying it into effect. That such had 
 been her policy ever since the Revolution, during which pe- 
 riod the naval strength of Grreat Britain had gone on increas- 
 ing in the direct ratio of her interference in the politics of 
 the continent. With much stronger reason ought the politics 
 of France to take the same direction ; as well for pursuing 
 objects which her situation would dictate to her, though Eng- 
 land had no existence, as for counteracting the politics of that 
 nation ; to France continental politics are primary ; they 
 looked on them only of secondary consideration to England, 
 and, however necessary, but as means necessary to an end. 
 
 What is truly astonishing, the partisans of those two op- 
 posite systems were at once prevalent, and at once employed, 
 and in the very same transactions, the one ostensibly, the 
 other secretly, during the latter part of the reign of Louis 
 XV. Nor M'-as there one court in which an ambassador re- 
 sided on the part of the ministers, in which another, as a spy 
 on him, did not also reside on the part of the king. They 
 who pursued the scheme for keeping peace on the continent, 
 and particularly with x\.ustria, acting officially and publicly, 
 the other faction counteracting and opposing them. These 
 private agents were continually going from their function to 
 the Bastile, and from the Bastile to employment, and favour 
 again. An inextricable cabal was formed, some of persons of 
 rank, others of subordinates. But by this moans the cor[)s of 
 politicians was augmented in number, and the whole formiil 
 a body of active, adventuring, ambitious, discontented peopli', 
 despising the regular ministry, despising the courts at which 
 they were employed, despising the court which employed them. 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 240 
 
 The unfortunate Louis the Sixteenth^ was not the tirst 
 cause of the evil by which he suffered. He came to it, as to 
 a sort of inheritance, by the false politics of his immediate 
 predecessor. This system of dark and perplexed intrigue 
 had come to its perfection before he came to the throne : 
 and even then the Eevolution strongly operated in all its 
 causes. 
 
 There was no point on which the discontented diplomatic 
 politicians so bitterly arraigned their cabinet, as for the de- 
 cay of French influence in all others. From quarrelling with 
 tlie court, they began to complain of monarchy itself, as a 
 system of government too variable for any regular plan ot 
 national aggrandizement. They observed, that in that sort 
 of regimen too jnuch depended on the personal character of 
 the prince ; that the vicissitudes produced by the succession 
 of princes of a different character, and even the vicissitudes 
 ])roduced in the same man, by the different views and inclina- 
 tions belonging to youth, manhood, and age, disturbed and 
 , , distracted the policy of a country made by nature for exten- 
 ( j sive empire, or, what was still more to their taste, for that 
 I ' sort of general over-ruling influence which prepared em- 
 ( pire or supplied the place of it. They had continually in 
 { their hands the observations of Machiavel on Liiy. They 
 i had Montesquieu'' s Grandeur et Decadence des Romains as a 
 I manual ; and they compared, with mortification, the sys- 
 i tematic proceedings of a Eoman senate with the fluctuations 
 ! of a monarchy. They observed the very small additions of 
 i territory which all the power of France, actuated by all the 
 
 ! ' It may be right to do justice to Louis XVI. He did what he could lu 
 
 j destroy the double diplomacy of France. He had all the secret correspond- 
 
 I ence burnt, except one piece, which was called, Conjectures raisoimees sur 
 
 ' la Situation de la France dans le Systeme Politique de V Europe ; a work 
 
 ' executed by M. Favier, under the direction of Count Broglie. A single 
 
 i copy of this was said to have been found in the cabinet of Louis XVI. It 
 
 ' was published with some subsequent state papers of Vergennes, Turgot, 
 
 I and others, as " a new benefit of the Revolution ; " and the advertisement 
 
 , to the publication ends with the following words : " // sera facile de se con- 
 
 I vaincre, qu' y compris meme la revolution, en grande partie, on trouvk 
 
 , DANS CES MEMOIRES ET SES CONJECTURES LE GERME DE TOUT CE QL ' 
 
 ' ARRivA aujourd' hui, et quon ne pent, sans les avoir lus, etre bien au fait 
 des iyiterets, et meme des vues actuelles des diverses puissa?ices de I' Europe." 
 I The book is entitled, Politique de tous les Cabinets de V Europe pendant 
 i IcM regnes de Louis XV. et Louis XVI. It is altogether very curious, and 
 ! worth reading. 
 
250 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ambition of Prance, bad acquired in two centuries. The Ro- 
 mans bad frequently acquired more in a single year. Tbey 
 severely and in every part of it criticised the reign of Louia 
 XIV., whose irregular and desultory ambition had more 
 provoked than endangered Europe. Indeed, tbey who will be 
 at the pains of seriously considering the history of that pe- 
 riod will see that those French politicians had some reason. 
 Tbey who will not take the trouble of reviewing it through 
 all its wars and all its negotiations, will consult the short 
 but judicious criticism of the Marquis de Montalembert on 
 that subject. It may be read separately from his ingenious 
 system of fortification and military defence, on the practical 
 merit of which I am unable to form a judgment. 
 
 The diplomatic politicians of whom I speak, and who 
 formed by far the majority in that class, made disadvantage- 
 ous comparisons even between their more legal and formaliz- 
 ing monarchy, and the monarchies of other states, as a sys- 
 tem of power and influence. They observed that France not 
 only lost ground herself, but, through the languor and un- 
 steadiness of her pursuits, and from her aiming tlirough 
 commerce at naval force which she never could attain without „ 
 losing more on one side than she could gain on the other, that 
 three great powers, each of them (as military states) capable 
 of balancing her, had grown up on the continent. Eussia and 
 Prussia had been created almost within memory ; and Austria, 
 though not a new power, and even curtailed in territory, 
 was, by the very collision in which she lost that territory, 
 greatly improved in her military discipline and force. Dur- 
 ing the reign of Maria Theresa the interior economy of ' 
 the country was made more to correspond with the support 
 of great armies than formerly it had been. As to Prussia, a 
 merely military power, they observed that one war had 
 enriched her with as considerable a conquest as France had 
 acquired in centuries. Russia had broken the Turkish 
 power by which Austria might be, as formerly she had been, 
 balanced in favour of France. They felt it with pain, that 
 the two northern powers of Sweden and Denmark were in 
 general under the sway of Russia ; or that, at best, France 
 kept up a very doubtful conflict, with many fluctuations of ■ 
 fortune, and at an enormous expense, in Sweden. In Hol- 
 land, the French party seemed, if not extinguished, at least 
 
LETTEES Oy A EEGICIDE PEACE. 251 
 
 tierly obscured, and kept under by a stadtholder, leaning 
 »r support sometimes on Great Britain, sometimes on 
 irussia, sometimes on both, never on France. Even the 
 Dreading of the Bourbon family had become merely a family 
 jcommodation ; and had little effect on the national politics, 
 his alliance, they said, extinguished Spain by destroying 
 1 its energy, without adding anything to the real power of 
 I ranee in the accession of the forces of its great rival. In 
 taly, the same family accommodation, the same national in- 
 gnificance, were equally visible. What cure for the radical 
 icakness of the French monarchy, to which all the means 
 jhich wit could devise, or nature and fortune could bestow, 
 Dwards universal empire, was not of force to give life, or 
 jigour, or consistency, — but in a E-epublic ? Out the word 
 ame ; and it never went back. 
 
 I AVhether they reasoned right or wrong, or that there was 
 pme mixture of right and wrong in their reasoning, I am 
 Lire, that in this manner they felt and reasoned. The dif- 
 ?rent effects of a gi^eat military and ambitious republic, and 
 if a monarchy of the same description, were constantly in 
 !beir mouths. The principle was ready to operate when op- 
 ortunities should offer, which few of them iudeed foresaw in 
 ;he extent in which they were afterwards presented ; but 
 ihese opportunities, in some degree or other, they all ardent- 
 y wished for. 
 
 ' When I was in Paris in 1773, the treaty of 1756 between 
 mstria and France was deplored as a national calamity : 
 ecause it united France in friendship with a power, at whose 
 xpense alone they could hope any continental aggrandize- 
 lent. AYhen the first partition of Poland was made, in 
 irhich France had no share, and which had further aggrandiz- 
 'd every one of the three powers of which they were most 
 'salons, I found them in a perfect phrensy of rage and in- 
 ignation: not that they were hurt at the shocking and un- 
 ;oloured violence and injustice of that partition, but at the 
 ebility, improvidence, and want of activity, in their govern- 
 'lent, in not preventing it as a means of aggrandizement to 
 heir rivals, or in not contriving, by exchanges of some 
 :ind or other, to obtain their share of advantage from that 
 obbery. 
 In that or nearly in that state of things and of opinioaa, 
 
252 LETTERS Oy A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 came ihe Austrian matcli ; w hich promised to draw the knot, 
 as afterwards in effect it did, still more closely between the 
 old rival houses. This added exceedingly to their hatred 
 and contempt of their monarchy. It was for this reason 
 that the late glorious queen, who on all accounts was formed 
 to produce general love and admiration, and whose life was 
 as mild and beneficent as her death was beyond examplt 
 great and heroic, became so very soon and so very much thi 
 object of an implacable rancour, never to be extinguishei. 
 but in her blood. When I wrote my letter in answer to 
 M. de Menonville, in the beginning of January, 1791, 1 had 
 good reason for thinking that this description of revolution- 
 ists did not so early nor so steadily point their murderous 
 designs at the martyr king as at the royal heroine. It wat 
 accident, and the momentary depression of that part of the 
 faction, that gave to the husband the happy priority in death 
 
 From this their restless desire of an over-ruling influence 
 they bent a very great part of their designs and efforts tt 
 revive the old French party, which was a democratic part} 
 in Holland, and to make a revolution there. They wen 
 happy at the troubles which the singular imprudence o 
 Joseph the Second had stirred up in the Austrian Nether 
 lands. They rejoiced when they saw him irritate his sub 
 jects, profess philosophy, send away the Dutch garrisons 
 and dismantle his fortifications. As to Holland, they neve 
 forgave either the king or the ministry, for suffering tha 
 object, which they justly looked on as principal in their de 
 sign of reducing the power of England, to escape out of thei, 
 hands. This was the true secret of the commercial treaty, 
 made, on their part, against all the old rules and principle! 
 of commerce, with a view of diverting the English natior 
 by a pursuit of immediate profit, from an attention to th 
 progress of France in its designs upon that republic. Th 
 system of the economists, which led to the general openin 
 of commerce, facilitated that treaty, but did not produce il 
 They were in despair when they found that by the vigour c 
 Mr. Pitt, supported in this point by Mr. Fox and the opp( 
 aition, the object, to which they had sacrificed their mam 
 factures, was lost to their ambition. 
 
 This eager desire of raising France from the conditio 
 into which she had fallen, as they couceived, from her nior 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 253 
 
 rckical imbecility, had been the main-spring of their pre- 
 
 edent interference in that unhappy American quarrel, the 
 
 ad effects of which to this nation have not, as yet, fully dis- 
 
 losed themselves. These sentiments had been long lurking 
 
 i their breasts, though their views were only discovered now 
 
 nd then, in heat and as by escapes ; but on this occasion 
 
 hey exploded suddenly. They were professed with ostenta- 
 
 iou and propagated with zeal. These sentiments were not pro- 
 
 uced, as some think, by their American alliance. The Ameri- 
 
 ican alliance was produced by their republican principles and 
 
 lepublican policy. This new relation undoubtedly did much. 
 
 'he discourses and cabals that it produced, the intercourse 
 
 hat it established, and, above all, the example, which made 
 
 r seem practicable to establish a republic in a great extent 
 
 •f country, finished the work, and gave to that part of the 
 
 evolutionary faction a degree of strength, which required 
 
 •ther energies than the late king possessed, to resist, or 
 
 •veu to restrain. It spread everywhere ; but it was nowhere 
 
 nore prevalent than in the heart of the court. The palace 
 
 ')f Versailles, by its language, seemed a forum of democracy. 
 
 'Co have pointed out to most of those politicians, from their dis- 
 
 )ositions and movements, what has since happened, the fall of 
 
 heir own monarchy, of their own laws, of their own religion, 
 
 \ ould have been to furnish a motive the more for pushing 
 
 or ward a system on which they considered all these things 
 
 IS encumbrances. Such in truth they were. And we have 
 
 ;eeii them succeed not only in the destruction of their mon- 
 
 irchy, but in all the objects of ambition that they proposed 
 
 Vom that destruction. 
 
 When I contemplate the scheme on which France is 
 prmed, and when I compare it with these systems, with 
 ■which it is, and ever must be, in conflict, those things, whicli 
 "seem as defects in her polity, are the very things which make 
 bie tremble. The states of the Cnristian world have grown 
 lup to their present magnitude in a great length of time, and 
 ,by a great variety of accidents. They have been improved 
 !to what we see them Avith greater or less degrees of felicity 
 •and skill. Not one of them has been formed upon a regular 
 plan or with any unity of design. As their constitutions 
 jare not systematical, they have not been directed to any pe- 
 \culiar end, eminently distinguished, and superseding every 
 
254 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 other. The objects which they embrace are of the greatesl 
 possible variety, and have become in a manner infinite. Ir 
 all these old countries, the state has been made to the peo- 
 ple, and not the people conformed to the state. Every state 
 has pursued not only every sort of social advantage, but il 
 has cultivated the welfare of every individual. His wants 
 his wishes, even his tastes, have been consulted. This com- 
 prehensive scheme virtually produced a degree of personal 
 liberty in forms fhe most adverse to it. That liberty vvat 
 found, under monarchies styled absolute, in a degree un- 
 known to the ancient commonwealths. From hence the 
 powers of all our modern states meet, in all their movements, 
 with some obstruction. It is therefore no wonder, that 
 when these states are to be considered as machines to operate 
 for some one great end, this dissipated and balanced force is 
 not easily concentred, or made to bear with the whole force 
 of the nation upon one point. 
 
 The British state is, without question, that which pursues 
 the greatest variety of ends, and is the least disposed tc 
 sacrifice any one of them to another, cr to the whole. It 
 aims at taking in the entire circle of human desires, and 
 securing for them their fair enjoyment. Our legislature has 
 been ever closely connected, in its .nost efficient part, with 
 individual feeling, and individual interest. Personal liberty 
 the most lively of these feelings and the most important oi 
 these interests, which in other European countries has rather 
 arisen from the system of manners and the habitudes of life, 
 than from the laws of the state, (in which it flourished more 
 from neglect than attention,) in England, has been a direct 
 object of government. 
 
 On this principle England would be the weakest power in 
 the whole system. Fortunately, however, the great riches ol 
 this kingdom arising from a variety of causes, and the dis- 
 position of the people, which is as great to spend as to a<v 
 cumulate, has easily afforded a disposable surplus that gives 
 a mighty momentum to the state. This difficulty, with these 
 advantages to overcome it, has called forth the talents of the 
 English financiers, who, by the surplus of industry ])ouied 
 out by prodigality, have outdone everything wliich has been 
 accomplished in other nations. The present minister has 
 outdone his predecessors ; and, as a minister of revenue, i« 
 
LETTEBS OS A EEOICIDE PEACE. 256 
 
 ifar above my power of praise. But still there are cases in 
 whicli England feels more than several others (though they 
 all feel) the perplexity of an immense body of balanced ad- 
 ; vantages, and of individual demands, and of some irregularity 
 in the vrhole mass. 
 
 I France differs essentially from all those governments, which 
 ;are formed without system, which exist by habit, and which 
 jare confused with the multitude, and with the complexity of 
 their pursuits. What now stands as government in France 
 is struck out at a heat. The design is wicked, immoral, im- 
 ] pious, oppressive ; but it is spirited and daring ; it is system- 
 iatic; it is simple in its principle; it has unity and consist- 
 jency in perfection. In that country entirely to cut off a 
 I branch of commerce, to extinguish a manufacture, to destroy 
 jthe circulation of money, to violate credit, to suspend the 
 I course of agriculture, even to burn a city, or to lay waste a 
 I province of their own, does not cost them a moment's anxiety. 
 To them the will, the wish, the want, the liberty, the toil, 
 the blood of individuals, is as nothing. Individuality is left 
 lout of their scheme of government. The state is all in all. 
 ' Everything is referred to the production of force ; afterwards, 
 'everything is trusted to the use of it. It is military in its 
 'principle, in its maxims, in its spirit, and in all its move- 
 jments. The state has dominion and conquest for its sole 
 ; objects ; dominion over minds by proselytism, over bodies by 
 
 arms. 
 
 j Thus constituted, with an immense body of natural means 
 I which are lessened in their amount only to be increased in 
 'their effect, France has, since the accomplishment of the 
 
 E/Cvolution, a complete unity in its direction. It has de- 
 Istroyed every resource of the state, which depends upon 
 I opinion and the good-will of individuals. The riches of con- 
 I vention disappear. The advantages of nature in some measure 
 I remain : even these, I admit, are astonishingly lessened ; the 
 ! command over what remains is complete and absolute. We 
 
 go about asking when assignats will expire, and we laugh at 
 I the last price of them. But what signifies the fate of those 
 i tickets of despotism ? The despotism will find despotic 
 
 means of supply. They have found the short cut to the 
 
 productions of nature, while others, in pursuit of them, are 
 ! obliged to wind through the labyrinth of a very intricate 
 
256 LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 state of society. They seize upon the fruit of the labour 
 they seize upon the labourer himself. Were France but 
 half of what it is in population, in compactness, in applica- 
 bility of its force, situated as it is, and being what it is, it 
 would be too strong for most of the states of Europe, con- 
 stituted as they are, and proceeding as they proceed. Would 
 it be wise to estimate what the world of Europe, as well as| 
 the world of Asia, had to dread from G-enghiz Khan, upon a 
 contemplation of the resources of the cold and barren spot 
 in the remotest Tartary, from whence first issued that scourge 
 of the human race ? Ought we to judge from the excise and 
 stamp duties of the rocks, or from the paper circulation of 
 the sands of Arabia, the power by w^liich Mahomet and his 
 tribes laid hold at once on the two most powerful empires of 
 the world ; beat one of them totally to the ground, broke to 
 pieces the other, and, in not much longer space of time than 
 I have lived, overturned governments, laws, manners, re-' 
 ligion, and extended an empire from the Indus to the 
 Pyrenees ? 
 
 Material resources never have supplied, nor ever can sup- 
 ply, the w-ant of unity in design, and constancy in pursuit. 
 But unity in design, and perseverance and boldness in pur- 
 suit, have never wanted resources, and never will. AYe have 
 not considered as we ought the dreadful energy of a state, in 
 which the property has nothing to do with the government. 
 Eeflect, my dear Sir, reflect again and again, on a govern- 
 ment, in which the property is in complete subjection, and 
 wliere nothing rules but the mind of desperate men. The 
 condition of a commonwealth not governed by its property 
 was a combination of things, which the learned and ingenious 
 speculator Harrington, who has tossed about society into all 
 forms, never could imagine to be possible. We have seen 
 it; the world has felt it; and if the world will shut their 
 eyes to this state of things, they will feel it more. The 
 rulers there have found their resources in crimes. The dis. 
 covery is dreadful ; the mine exhaustless. They have eveiv- 
 thing to gain, and they have nothing to lose. They have a 
 boundless inheritance in hope ; and there is no medium for 
 them, betwixt the highest elevation, and death with infamv. 
 Never can they, who, from the miserable servitude of the 
 desk, have Veen raised to empire, rgain submit to the bon(la;4e 
 
LETTERS Oy A BEGICIDE PEACE. 25t 
 
 i)f a starving bureau, or the profit of copying music, or writ- 
 ng plaidoyers by the sheet. It has made me often smile in 
 bitterness, when I have heard talk of an indemnity to such 
 nen, provided they returned to their allegiance. 
 
 From all this, what is my inference ? It is, that this new 
 ivstem of robbery in France cannot be rendered safe by any 
 I'rt ; that it must be destroyed, or that it will destroy all 
 flurope ; that to destroy that enemy, by some means or 
 )ther, the force opposed to it should be made to bear some 
 maiogy and resemblance to the force and spirit which that 
 system exerts ; that war ought to be made against it, in its 
 i'ulnerable parts. These are my inferences. In one word, 
 kith this republic nothing independent can co-exist. The 
 i^rrors of Louis XYI. were more pardonable to prudence, 
 than any of those of the same kind into which the allied 
 i'ourts may fall. They have the benefit of bis dreadful ex- 
 imiple. 
 
 The unhappy Louis XYI. was a man of the best intentions 
 
 ■hat probably ever reigned. He was by no means deficient 
 
 In talents. He had a most laudable desire to siipply by 
 
 i^eneral reading, and even by the acquisition of elemental 
 
 iinowledge, an education in all points originally defective ; 
 
 j)ut nobody told him, (and it was no wonder he should not 
 
 iiimself divine it,) that the world of which he read, and the 
 
 vorld in which he lived, were no longer the same. Desirous 
 
 )f doing everything for the best, fearful of cabal, distrusting 
 
 lis own judgment, he sought his ministers of all kinds upon 
 
 oublie testimony. But as courts are the field for caballers, 
 
 ;:he public is the theatre for mountebanks and impostors. 
 
 , irhe cure for both those evils is in the discernment of the 
 
 brince. But an accurate and penetrating discernment is what 
 
 ' In a young prince could not be looked for. 
 
 i His conduct in its principle was not unwise ; but, like 
 
 aiost other of his well-meant designs, it failed in his hands. 
 
 ^t failed partly from mere ill-fortune, to which speculators 
 
 ire rarely pleased to assign that very large share to which 
 
 »he is justly entitled in all human affairs. The failure, perhaps, 
 
 n part was owing to his suffering his system to be vitiated 
 
 md disturbed by those intrigues, which it is, humanly speak- 
 
 ng, iir possible wholly to prevent in courts, or indeed imder 
 
 my form of government. However, with these aberratioi^mi 
 
258 LETTERS ON A RECrlCIDE PEACE. 
 
 he gave himself over to a succession of the statesmen of 
 public opinion. In other things he thought that he might 
 be a king on the terms of his predecessors. He was conscious 
 of the purity of his heart and the general good tendency of 
 his government. He flattered himself, as most men in his 
 situation will, that he might consult his ease without danger 
 to his safety. It is not at all wonderful that both he and 
 his ministers, giving way abundantly in other respects to in- 
 novation, should take up in policy with the tradition of their 
 monarchy. Under his ancestors the monarchy had subsisted, 
 and even been strengthened, by the generation or support of 
 republics. First, the Swiss republics grew under the 
 guardianship of the French monarchy. The Dutch re- 
 publics were hatched and cherished under the same incuba- 
 tion. Afterwards, a republican constitution was, under tlie 
 influence of France, established in the empire against the 
 pretensions of its chief. Even whilst the monarchy of France, 
 by a series of wars and negotiations, and lastly by the treaties 
 of Westphalia, had obtained the establishment of the Pro- ; 
 testauts in G-ermany as a law of the empire, the same; 
 monarchy under Louis XIII. had force enough to destroy • 
 the republican system of the Protestants at home. ■ 
 
 Louis XVI. was a diligent reader of history. But the ■ 
 very lamp of prudence blinded him. The guide of human | 
 life led him astray. A silent revolution in the moral world . 
 preceded the political, and prepared it. It became of more i 
 importance than ever what examples were given, and what 
 measures were adopted. Their causes no longer lurked in 
 the recesses of cabinets, or in the private conspiracies of the 
 factious. They were no longer to be controlled by the force 
 and influence of the grandees, who formerly had been able to 
 stir up troubles by their discontents, and to quiet them by 
 their corruption. The chain of subordination, even m cabal 
 and sedition, was broken in its most important links. It 
 was no longer the great and the populace. Other interests 
 were formed, other dependencies, other connexions, other j 
 communications. The middle classes had swelled far beyond J 
 their former proportion. Like whatever is the most effect- ■ 
 ively rich and great in society, these classes became the seat 
 of all the active politics ; and the preponderating weight to 
 decide on them. There were all the energies by which for* 
 
lETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 259 
 
 tune is acquired ; there the consequence of their success. 
 Tliere were all the talents which assert their pretensions, and 
 are impatient of the place which settled society prescribes to 
 them. These descriptions had got between the great and 
 the populace ; and the influence on the lower classes was 
 with them. The spirit of ambition had taken possession of 
 this class as violently as ever it had done of any other. They 
 , felt the importance of this situation. The correspondence of 
 ! the monied and the mercantile world, the literary intercourse 
 ; of academies, but, above all, the press, of which they had in 
 I a manner entire possession, made a kind of e.ectric com- 
 munication everywhere. The press in reality has made 
 every government, in its spirit, almost democratic. Without 
 it the great, the first movements in this Eevolution could 
 i not, perhaps, have been given. But the spirit of ambition, 
 I now for the first time connected with the spirit of specula- 
 : tion, was not to be restrained at will. There was no longer 
 any means of arresting a principle in its course. When 
 Louis XY I., under the influence of the enemies to monarchy, 
 i meant to found but one republic, he set up two. When he 
 I meant to take away half the crown of his neighbour, he lost 
 the whole of his own. Louis X.YJ. could not with impunity 
 I countenance a new republic : yet between his throne and that 
 I dangerous lodgment for an enemy, which he had erected, he 
 I had the whole Atlantic for a ditch. He had for an out-work the 
 English nation itself, friendly to liberty, adverse to that mode 
 . of it. He was surrounded by a rampart of monarchies, most 
 I of them allied to him, and generally under his influence. 
 ! Yet even thus secured, a republic erected under his auspices, 
 I and dependent on his power, became fatal to his throne. 
 1 The very money which he had lent to support this republic, 
 j by a good faith, which to him operated as perfidy, was punc- 
 ; tually paid to his enemies, and became a resource in the 
 , hands of his assassins. 
 
 With this example before their eyes, do any ministers in 
 i England, do any ministers in Austria, really flatter them- 
 I selves, that they can erect, not on the remote shores of the 
 i Atlantic, but in their view, in their vicinity, in absolute con- 
 ' tact with one of them, not a commercial but a martial repub- 
 lic — a republic not of simple husbandmen or fishermen, but 
 I of intriguers, and of warriors — a republic of a character the 
 
 a 2 
 
260 LETTEES OS A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 most restless, the most enterprising, the most impious, the 
 most fierce and bloody, the most hypocritical and perfidious, 
 the most bold and daring, that ever has been seen, or indeed 
 that can be conceived to exist, without bringing on their own 
 certain ruin ? 
 
 Such is the republic to which we are going to give a place 
 in civilized fellowship : the republic, which, with joint cou- 
 Bent, we are going to establish in the centre of Europe, in a 
 post that overlooks and commands every other state, and 
 which eminently confronts and menaces this kingdom. 
 
 You cannot fail to observe, that I speak as if the allied 
 powers were actually consenting, and not compelled by 
 events to the establishment of this faction in France. The 
 words have not escaped me. You will hereafter naturally 
 expect that I should make them good. But whether in 
 adopting this measure we are madly active, or weakly pas- 
 sive, or pusillanimously panic struck, the eifects will be the 
 same. You may call this faction, which has eradicated the 
 monarchy, — expelled the proprietary, persecuted religion, 
 and trampled upon law,^ — you may call this France if you 
 please : but of the ancient France nothing remains but its 
 central geography ; its iron frontier ; its spirit of ambition ; 
 its audacity of enterprise ; its perplexing intrigue. These, 
 and these alone, remain : and they remain heightened in 
 their principle and augmented in their means. All the 
 former correctives, whether of virtue or of weakness, which ex- 
 isted in the old monarchy, are gone. No single new correct- 
 ive is to be found in the whole body of the new institutions. 
 How should such a thing be found there, when everything 
 has been chosen with care and selection to forward all those 
 ambitious designs and dispositions, not to control them? 
 The whole is a body of ways and means for the supply of 
 dominion, without one heterogeneous particle in it. 
 
 Here I suffer you to breathe, and leave to your meditation 
 what has occurred to me on the ge7ims and character of the 
 French Revolution. From having this before us, we may be ■ 
 better able to determine on the first question I proposed, . 
 that is, how far nations, called foreign, are likely to be affect- 
 ed with the system established within that territory. I iu- 
 jtended to proceed noxt on the question of her facilities, from 
 ' See our Declaration. 
 
I LETTERS Oy A REGICIDE PEACE. 2G1 
 
 ike internal state of other nations, and particularly of this^ 
 for obtaining her ends: but I ought to be aware, that my 
 notions are controverted. — I mean, therefore, in my next 
 letter, to take notice of what, in that way, has been recom« 
 mended to me as the most deserving of notice. In the ex- 
 amination of those pieces, I shall have occasion to discuss 
 ' some others of the topics to which I have called your atten- 
 i tion. Tou know that the letters which I now send to the 
 press, as well as a part of what is to follow, have been in 
 their substance long since written. A circumstance which 
 I your partiality alone could make of importance to you, but 
 i which to the public is of no importance at all, retarded their 
 I appearance. The late events which press upon us obliged 
 ' me to make some additions ; but no substantial change in 
 j the matter. 
 
 I This discussion, my friend, will be long. But the matter 
 I is serious ; and if ever the fate of the world could be truly 
 said to depend on a particular measure, it is upon this peace. 
 Fa* the present, farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE NEGOTIATION ; THE TERMS OF PEACE 
 
 PROPOSED ; AND THE RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY 
 
 FOR THE CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 
 
 1797. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I thank you for the bundle of state-papers which I 
 received yesterday. I have travelled through the negotia- 
 tion ; and*^ a sad, founderous road it is. There is a sort of 
 standing jest against my countrymen, that one of them on 
 his journey having found a piece of pleasant road, he pro- 
 posed to his companion to go over it again. This proposal with 
 regard to the worthy traveller's final destination, was cer- 
 tainly a blunder. It was no blunder as to his immediate 
 
262 LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 latisfaction ; for the way was pleasant. In the irKB<»ine 
 journey of the regicide negotiations it is otherwise : our 
 " paths are not paths of pleasantness, nor our ways the ways 
 to peace." All our mistakes, (if such they are,) like those 
 of our Hibernian traveller, are mistakes of repetition; and 
 they will be full as far from bringing us to our place of rest, 
 as his well-considered project was from forwarding him to 
 his inn. Yet I see we persevere. Fatigued with our former 
 course, too iistiess to explore a new one, kept in action by 
 inertness, moving only because we have been in motion, with 
 a sort of plodding perseverance, we resolve to measure back 
 again the very same joyless, hopeless, and inglorious track. 
 Backward and forward ; oscillation, not progression ; much 
 going in a scanty space ; the travels of a postillion, miles 
 enough to circle the globe in one short stage ; we have been, 
 and we are yet to be, jolted and rattled over the loose, mis- 
 placed stones, and the treacherous hollows of this rough, ill 
 kept, broken up, treacherous French causeway ! 
 
 The declaration, which brings up the rear of the papers 
 laid before parliament, contains a review and a reasoned 
 summary of all our attempts, and all our failures ; a concise 
 but correct narrative of the painful steps taken to bring on 
 the essay of a treaty at Paris ; a clear exposure of all the 
 rebuffs we received in the progress of that experiment ; an 
 honest confession of our departure from all the rules and all 
 the principles of political negotiation, and of common pru- 
 dence, in the conduct of it ; and to crown the whole, a fair 
 account of the atrocious manner in which the regicide ene- 
 mies had broken up what had been so inauspiciously begun 
 and so feebly carried on, by finally, and with all scorn, driv- 
 ing our suppliant ambassador out of the limits of their 
 usurpation. 
 
 Even after all that I have lately seen, I was a little sur- 
 prised at this exposure. A minute display of hopes formed 
 without foundation, and of labours pui^sued without fruit, is 
 a thing not very flattering to self-estimation. But truth has 
 its rights, and it will assert them. The declaration, after 
 doing all this with a mortifying candour, concludes the 
 whole recapitulation wMth an engagement still more extraor- 
 dinary than all the unusual matter it contains. It says, 
 "That his Majesty, who had entered into chis negotiation 
 
LETTEE3 ON i. EEQICIDE PEACE. 263 
 
 With good faith, who has suffered no impedinent to prevent 
 his prosecuting it with earnestness and sincerity, has now only 
 to lament its abrupt termination, and to renew in the face of 
 all Europe the solemn declaration, that whenever his enemies 
 shall be disposed to enter upon the work of a general paci- 
 fication in a spirit of conciliation and equity, nothing shall 
 be wanting on his part to contribute to the accomplishmeut 
 of that great object." 
 
 K the disgusting detail of the accumulated insults we 
 have received, in what we have properly called our " solicit- 
 ation," to a gang of felons and murderers, had been produced 
 as a proof of the utter inefficiency of that mode of proceed- 
 ing with that description of persons, I should have nothing 
 at all to object to it. It might furnish matter conclusive in 
 argument, and instructive in policy : but with all due sub- 
 mission to high authority, and with all decent deference to 
 superior lights, it does not seem quite clear to a discernment 
 no better than mine, that the premises in that piece con- 
 duct irresistibly to the conclusion. A laboured display of 
 ' the ill consequences which have attended a uniform course 
 ' of submission to every mode of contumelious insult, with 
 ' which the despotism of a proud, capricious, insulting, and 
 implacable foe has chosen to buffet our patience, does not ap- 
 pear, to my poor thoughts, to be properly brought forth as a 
 preliminary to justify a resolution of persevering in the very 
 same kind of conduct, towards the \evj same sort of person, 
 and on the very same principles. "We state our experience, 
 and then we come to the manly resolution of acting in con- 
 tradiction to it. All that has passed at Paris, to the moment 
 of our being shamefully hissed off that stage, has been no- 
 thing but a more solemn representation, on the theatre ot 
 the nation, of what had been before in rehearsal at Basle. 
 As it is not only confessed by us, but made a matter ol 
 charge on the enemy, that he had given us no encouragement 
 to believe there was a change in his disposition or in his 
 policy at any time subsequent to the period of his rejecting 
 our first overtures, there seems to have been no assignable 
 motive for sending Lord Malmesbury to Paris, except to ex- 
 pose his humbled country to the worst indignities, and the 
 first of the kind, as the declaration very truly observes, that 
 have been known in the world of negotiation 
 
264 lETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 All honest neighbour of mine is not altogether unhappy 
 •in the application of an old common story to a present occa- 
 sion. It may be said of my friend, what Horace says of a 
 neighbour of his, '■'■ garrit aniles ex re fabellasP Conversing 
 on this strange subject, he told me a current story of a 
 simple English country 'squire, who was persuaded by cer- 
 tain dilettanti of his acquaintance to seethe world and to be- 
 come knowing in men and manners. 
 
 Among other celebrated places, it was recommended to; 
 him to visit Gonstantinople. He took their advice. After j 
 various adventures, not to our purpose to dwell upon, he hap- \ 
 pily arrived at that famous city. As soon as he had a little ; 
 reposed himself from his fatigue, he took a walk into the • 
 streets ; but he had not gone far, before a " malignant and a 
 turban'd Turk " had his choler roused by the careless and as- 
 sured air, with which this infidel strutted about in the me- 
 tropolis of true believers. In this temper he lost no time in 
 doing to our traveller the honours of the place. The 
 Turk crossed over the way, and with perfect good- will gave 
 \\\\Vi i^Q or three lusty kicks on the seat of honour. To resent . 
 or to return the compliment in Turkey was quite out of the 
 question. Our traveller, since he could no otherwise ac- 
 knowledge this kind of favour, received it with the best grace 
 in the world — he made one of his most ceremonious bows, 
 and begged the kicking mussulman " to accept his perfect as- 
 surances of high consideration." Our countryman was 
 too wise to imitate Othello in the use of the dagger. He 
 thought it better, as better it was, to assuage his bruised 
 dignity with half a yard square of balmy diplomatic diachy- 
 lon, lu the disasters of their friends, people are seldom 
 wanting in a laudable patience. When they are such as do 
 not threaten to end fatally, they become even matter of plea- 
 santry. The English fellow-travellers of our sulferer. tind- 
 ing him a little out of spirits, entreated him not to take so 
 slight a business so very seriously. They told him it was 
 the custom of the country ; that every country had its 
 customs ; that the Turkish manners were a little rough ; but 
 that in the main the Turks were a good-natured people ; 
 that what would have been a deadly aiiront anywhere else, 
 was only a little freedom there ; in short, they told him to 
 think no more of the matter, and to try his fortune in an* 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PKAf?E. 205 
 
 '-» other promenade. But the 'squire, though a little cWiiish, 
 had some home-bred sense. What ! have I come, at all this 
 expense and trouble, all the "way to Constantinople only to 
 be kicked ? Without going beyond my own stable, my groom, 
 for half-a-crown, would have kicked me to my heart's con- 
 tent. I don't mean to stay in Constantinople eight-and-forty 
 hours, nor ever to return to this rough, good-natured people, 
 that have their own customs. 
 
 In my opinion the 'squire was in the right. He was satis- 
 fied with his first ramble and his first injuries. But reason 
 of state and common sense are two things. If it were not 
 for this difference it might not appear of absolute necessity, 
 after having received a certain quantity of buffe tings by 
 advance, that we should send a peer of the realm to the scum 
 of the earth, to collect the debt to the last farthing ; and to 
 receive, with infinite aggravation, the same scorns which had 
 been paid to our supplication through a commoner : but it 
 was proper, I suppose, that the whole of our country, in all ita 
 orders, should have a share of the indignity ; and, as in reason, 
 that the higher orders should touch the larger proportion. 
 
 This business was not ended, because our dignity was 
 wounded, or because our patience was worn out with con- 
 tumely and scorn. We had not disgorged one particle of 
 the nauseous doses with which we were so liberally crammed 
 by the mountebanks of Paris, in order to drug and diet us 
 into perfect tameness. No ; we waited, till the morbid 
 strength of our boulimia for their physic had exhausted the 
 well-stored dispensary of their empiricism. It is impossible 
 to guess at the term to which our forbearance would have ex- 
 tended. The regicides were more fatigued with giving blows 
 than the callous cheek of British diplomacy was hurt in re- 
 ceiving them. They had no way left for getting rid of 
 this mendicant perseverance, but by sending for the beadle, 
 and forcibly driving our embassy " of shreds and patches,'* 
 with all its mumping cant, from the inhospitable door of 
 Cannibal Castle — 
 
 " Where the gaunt mastifl", growling at the gate, 
 AflFrights the beggar whom he longs to eat." 
 
 I think we mignt have found, before the rude hand of inso- 
 lent office was on our shoulder, and the staff of usurped au« 
 
266 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEAOE. i 
 
 *bnrity brandished over our heads, that contempt of the su|j 
 pliant is not the best forwarder of a suit; that nationi 
 disgrace is not the high road to security, much less to pow€ 
 and greatness. Patience, indeed, strongly indicates the lo\ 
 of peace: but mere love does not always lead to enjoymen 
 it is the power of wanning that palm which insures our weai 
 mg it. Virtues have their place; and out of their plac; 
 they hardly deserve the name. They pass into the neigl 
 bouring vice. The patience of fortitude and the enduranc 
 of pusillanimity are things very different, as in their princ 
 pie, so in their effects. 
 
 In truth this declaration, containing a narrative of tli 
 first transaction of the kind (and I hope it will be the last 
 in the intercourse of nations, as a composition, is ably drawi 
 It does credit to our official style. The report of the speec 
 of the minister in a great assembly, which I have read, is 
 comment upon the declaration. AVithout inquiry how fa; 
 that report is exact, (inferior I believe it may be to what i; 
 would represent,) yet still it reads as a most eloquent an, 
 finished performance. Hardly one galling circumstance C' 
 the indignities offered by the directory of regicide to th; 
 supplications made to that junto in his Majesty's name ha 
 been spared. Every one of the aggravations attendant o 
 these acts of outrage is, with wonderful perspicuity and ordei: 
 brought forward in its place, and in the manner most fitte: 
 to produce its effect. They are turned to every point of vie> 
 m which they can be seen to the best advantage. All th 
 parts are so arranged as lo point out their relation, and t; 
 furnish a true idea of the spirit of the whole transaction. ^ 
 
 This speech may stand for a model. Never, for th 
 triumphal declaration of any theatre, not for the decoratic. 
 of those of Athens and Home, nor even of this theatre c, 
 Paris, from the embroideries of Babylon or from the loom c 
 the Grobelins, has there been sent any historic tissue, b 
 truly drawn, so closely and so finely wrought, or in whicV 
 the forms are brought out in the rich purple of such glowiDj 
 and blushing colours. It puts me in mind of the piece o 
 tapestry, with which Virgil proposed to adorn the theatre h 
 was to erect to Augustus, upon the banks of the Mineic. 
 who now hides his head in his reeds, and leads his slow an« 
 laelancholy windings through banks wasted by the barbarian 
 
LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 2G7 
 
 f Gaul. He supposes that the artifice is such, that the 
 gures of the conquered nations in his tapestry are made to 
 lay their part, and are confounded in the machine : 
 
 " utqtiP. 
 
 f Purpurea intexti tollant aulcea Britanni;" 
 
 \r as Dryden translates it somewhat paraphrastically, but 
 !iot less in the spirit of the prophet than of the poetj 
 
 "Where the proud theatres disclose the scene, 
 Which, interwoven, Britons seem to raii^e, 
 ; And show the triumph which their shame displays." 
 
 I It is something wonderful, that the sagacity shown in the 
 jleclaration and the speech (and, so far as it goes, greater wa-s 
 iiever shown) should have failed to discover to the writer, 
 md to the speaker, the inseparable relation between the 
 oarties to this transaction ; and that nothing can be said to 
 lisplay the imperious arrogance of a base enemy, which does 
 ;iot describe with equal force and equal truth the contemptible 
 igure of an abject embassy to that imperious power. 
 
 It is no less striking that the same obvious reflection 
 mould not occur to those gentlemen who conducted the op- 
 !)Osition to government. But their thoughts were turned 
 |mother way. They seem to have been so entirely occupied 
 vith the defence of the French directory, so very eager in 
 inding recriminatory precedents to justify every act of its 
 ntolerable insolence, so animated in their accusations of 
 ninistry for not having, at the very outset, made concessions 
 proportioned to the dignity of the great victorious power we 
 lad offended, that everything concerning the sacrifice in this 
 pusiness of national honour, and of the most fundamental 
 iDrinciples in the policy of negotiation, seemed wholly to have 
 ;'scaped them. To this fatal hour, the contention in parlia- 
 iient appeared in another form, and was animated by another 
 [jpirit. For three hundred years and more, we have had wars 
 ^ith what stood as government in France. In all that 
 'oeriod the language of ministers, whether of boast or of 
 ipology, was, that they had left nothing undone for the as- 
 sertion of the national honour; the opposition, whether 
 ■patriotically or factiously, contending, that the ministers had 
 been oblivious of the national glory, and had made improper 
 
2G8 LETTERS OS A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 sacrifices of that public interest, which they were bound nc 
 only to preserve, but by all fair methods to augment. Ihi 
 total change of tone on both sides of your House forms itsel 
 no inconsiderable revolution; and I am afraid it prognost, 
 cates others of still greater importance. The ministers ei 
 hausted the stores of their eloquence in demonstrating, tha 
 they had quitted the safe, beaten high-way of treaty betwee 
 independent powers ; that to pacify the enemy they had mad 
 every sacrifice of the national dignity ; and that they ha 
 offered to immolate at the same shrine the most valuable c 
 the national acquisitions. The opposition insisted, that th 
 victims were not fat not fair enough to be offered on th 
 altars of blasphemed regicide ; and it was inferred from thenc( 
 that the sacrificial ministers, (who were a sort of intruders i 
 the worship of the new divinity,) in their schism atical devc 
 tion, had discovered more of hypocrisy than zeal. The 
 charged them with a concealed resolution to persevere i 
 what these gentlemen have (in perfect consistency, indeec 
 with themselves, but most irreconcilably with fact an 
 reason) called an unjust and impolitic war. 
 
 That day was, I fear, the fatal term of local patriotisn 
 On that day, I fear, there was an end of that narrow schem 
 of relations called our country, with all its pride, its prejudices 
 and its partial affections. All the little quiet rivulets, tha 
 watered an humble, a contracted, but not an unfruitful fielc 
 are to be lost in the waste expanse, and boundless, barre: 
 ocean of the homicide philanthropy of France. It is n 
 longer an object of terror, the aggrandizement of a neA 
 power, which teaches as a professor that philanthropy i: 
 their chair ; whilst it propagates by arms, and establishes h 
 conquest, the comprehensive system of universal fraternitj 
 In what light is all this viewed* in a great assembly ? Th 
 party which takes the lead there has no longer any appreher 
 sions, except those that arise from not being admitted to th 
 closest and most confidential connexions with the metropoh 
 of that fraternity. That reigning party no longer touches oi 
 its favourite subject, the display of those horrors, that mus 
 attend the existence of a power, with such dispositions am 
 principles, seated in the heart of Europe. It is satisfied t 
 find some loose, ambiguous expressions in its former declara 
 lions, which may set it free from its professions and ei gage 
 
lettehs j>' l regicide peace. 269 
 
 'lents. It always speaks of peace with the regicides as a 
 Teat and an undoubted blessing ; and such a blessing as, if 
 btained, promises, as much as any human disposition of 
 hings can promise, security and permanence. It holds out 
 othing at all definite towards this security. It only seeks, 
 y a restoration, to some of their former owners, of some 
 ragments of the general wreck of Europe, to find a plausible 
 ilea for a present retreat from an embarrassing position. As 
 
 the future, that party is content to leave it, covered in a 
 Jght of the most palpable obscurity. It never once has 
 iTitered into a particle of detail of what our own situation, or 
 jhaJ; of other powers, must be, under the blessings of the 
 j«eace we seek. This defect, to my power, I mean to supply ; 
 ihat if any persons should still continue to think an attempt 
 jt foresight is any part of the duty of a statesman, I may 
 ontribute my trifle to the materials of his speculation. 
 
 1 As to the other party, the minority of to-day, possibly the 
 :iajority of to-morrow, small in number but full of talents 
 nd every species of energy, which, upon the avowed ground 
 f being more acceptable to France, is a candidate for the 
 :elm of this kingdom, it has never changed from the begin- 
 ling. It has preserved a perennial consistency. This would 
 e a never-failing source of true glory, if springing from just 
 md right ; but it is truly dreadful if it be an arm of Styx, 
 i'hich springs out of the profoundest depths of a poisoned 
 |oil. The French maxims were by these gentlemen at no 
 iime condemned. I speak of their language in the most 
 aoderate terms. There are many who think that they have 
 ,one much further ; that they have always magnified and ex- 
 pUed the French maxims ; that not in the least disgusted or 
 iscouraged by the monstrous evils which have attended 
 these maxims from the moment of their adoption both at 
 lome and abroad, they stDl continue to predict, that in due 
 ime they must produce the greatest good to the poor human 
 Ace. They obstinately persist in stating those evils as mat- 
 ler of accident ; as things whoUy collateral to the system. 
 
 j It is observed, that this party has never spoken of an ally 
 (f G-reat Britain with the smallest degree of respect or re- 
 ard ; on the contrary, it has generally mentioned tbem under 
 pprobrious appellations, and in such terms of contempt or 
 Ixecration, as never had been heard before, because no such 
 
270 LETTERS Oy ± BEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 would have formerly been permitted in our public assemblies. 
 The moment, however, that any of those allies quitted thia ||j 
 obnoxious connexion, the party has instantly passed an act |ij 
 of indemnity and oblivion in their favour. After this, no y|j 
 sort of censure on their conduct ; no imputation on their il: 
 character ! From that moment their pardon was sealed in » |i. 
 reverential and mysterious silence. With the gentlemen of { =j 
 this minority, there is no ally, from one end of Europe to j : 
 the other, with whom we ought not to be ashamed to act. ' 
 The whole college of the states of Europe is no better thant 
 gang of tyrants. ^\'ith them all our connexions were broken 
 off at once. We ought to have cultivated France, and 
 France alone, from the moment of her Eevolution. On that | 
 happy change, all our dread of that nation as a power was to j 
 cease. She became in an instant dear to our affections, <, 
 and one \vith our interests. All other nations we ought to , 
 have commanded not to trouble her sacred throes, whilst in 
 labour to bring into a happy bii'th her abundant litter of 
 constitutions. AVe ought to have acted under her auspices, , 
 in extending her salutary influence upon every side. From that . 
 moment England and France were become natural allies, and 
 all the other states natural enemies. The whole face of the 
 world was changed. What was it to us if she acquired Hol- 
 land and the Austrian Netherlands ? By her conquests 
 she only enlarged the sphere of her beneficence ; she only 
 extended the blessings of liberty to so many more foolishly 
 reluctant nations. AVhat was it to England, if by adding 
 these, among the richest and most peopled countries of the 
 world, to her territories, she thereby left no possible link of ;^ 
 communication between us and any other power with whom , 
 we could act against her ? On this new system of optimism,, 
 it is so much the better ; — so much the further are we removed'; 
 from the contact with infectious despotism. Xo longer t 
 thought of a barrier in the Netherlands to Holland against 
 France. All that is obsolete policy. It is fit that France 
 should have both Holland and the Austrian Netherlands too> 
 as a barrier to her against the attacks of despotism. She can- 
 not multiply her securities too much ; and as to our security, 
 it is to be found in hers. Had we cherished her from the be» 
 ginning, and felt for her when attacked, she, poor good soul, j 
 wouhl never have invaded any foreign nation ; never murdered , 
 
 I 
 
LETTERS ON A HEGTCIDE PEACE 271 
 
 er sovereign and his family ; never proscribed, never exiled, 
 ever imprisoned, never been guilty of extrajudicial mas- 
 n-re, or of legal murder. All would have been a goWen 
 - \ full of peace, order, and liberty ! and philosophy, ray- 
 out from Europe, would have warmed and enlightened the 
 , .verse: but unluckily, irritable philosophy, the most irrit- 
 ble of all things, was put into a passion, and provoked into 
 mbition abroad, and tyranny at home. They find all this 
 ery natural and very justifiable. They choose to forget, 
 hat other nations, struggling for freedom, have been attacked 
 'V their neighbours ; or that their neighbours have otherwise 
 nterfered in their affairs. Often have neighbours interfer- 
 d in iiivour of princes against their rebellious subjects ; 
 nd often in favour of subjects against their prince. Such 
 ases fill half the pages of history ; yet never were they used 
 s an apology, much less as a justification, for atrocious 
 ruelty in princes, or for general massacre and confiscation on 
 he part of revolted subjects ; never as a politic cause for 
 ufiering any such powers to aggrandize themselves without 
 imit and without measure. A thousand times have we seen 
 t asserted in public prints and pamphlets, that if the nobil- 
 ty and priesthood of France had staid at home, their pro- 
 )erty never would have been confiscated. One would think 
 :hat none of the clergy had been robbed previous to their 
 ieportation, or that their deportation had, on their part, been 
 I voluntary act. One would think that the nobility and 
 ;:entry, and merchants and bankers, who staid at home, had 
 enjoyed their property in security and repose. The assertors 
 Df these positions well know, that the lot of thousands who re- 
 uained at home was far more terrible ; that the most cruel 
 inprisonment was only a harbinger of a cruel and ignomini- 
 3US death ; and that in this mother country of freedom there 
 ^vere no less than Three Hujidred Thousand at one time in 
 prison. I go no further. I instance only these representa- 
 tions of the party, as stating indications of partiality to that 
 feect, to whose dominion they would have left this country no- 
 thing to oppose but her o^sti naked force, and consequently 
 'subjected us, on every reverse of fortune, to the imminent 
 danger of falbng under those very evils in that very system, 
 which are attributed, not to its own nature, but to the per- 
 Terseness of others. There is nothing in tlie world so diffi* 
 
272 LETTEE3 ON A EEOICIBE PEACI. 
 
 cult as to put men in a state of judicial neiftralit}'. A lei 
 ing there must ever be, and it is of the first importance 
 any nation to observe to what side that leaning inclines— 
 whether to our own community, or to one with which it is ir 
 a state of hostility. 
 
 Men are rarely without some sympathy in the sufferings oli 
 others ; but in the immense and diversified mass of huraanj 
 misery, which may be pitied, but cannot be relieved, in the] 
 gross, the mind must make a choice. Our sympathy is al- 
 ways more forcibly attracted towards the misfortunes of cer- 
 tain persons, and in certain descriptions : and this sympathe-i 
 tic attraction discovers, beyond a possibility of mistake, our 
 mental affinities, and elective affections. It is a much surer 
 proof, than the strongest declaration, of a real connexion and 
 of an over-ruling bias in the mind. I am told that the active 
 sympathies of this party have been chiefly, if not wholly, at- 
 tracted to the sufferings of the patriarchal rebels, who were' 
 amongst the promulgators of the maxims of the French Re- 
 volution, and who have suffered, from their apt and forward 
 scholars, some part of the evils, which they had themselves 
 so liberally distributed to all the other parts of the com- 
 munity. Some of these men, flying from the knives which ' 
 they had sharpened against their country and its laws, rebel- 
 ling against the very powers they had set over themselves by 
 their rebellion against their sovereign, given up by those 
 very armies to whose faithful attachment they trusted for 
 their safety and support, after they had completely debauched 
 all military fidelity in its source ; some of these men, I 
 had fallen into the hands of the head of that family, the most- 
 illustrious person of which they had three times cruelly ira-i 
 prisoned, and delivered in that state of captivity to thosO' 
 hands from which they were able to relieve neither her, nor) 
 their owe nearest and most venerable kindred. One of 
 these men, connected with this country by no circumstance of 
 birth ; not related to any distinguished families here ; re- 
 commended by no service ; endeared to this nation by no 
 act or even expression of kindness ; comprehended in no 
 league or common cause; embraced by no laws of public • 
 hospitality ; this man was the only one to be found in Eu- 
 rope, in whose favour the British nation, passing judgment, ji 
 without hearing, on its almost only ally, was to I'orce (and 
 
LETTERS ON JL REGICIDE PEACE. 278 
 
 ifcbat not by soothing interposition, but with every reproach 
 'for inhumanity, cruelty, and breach of the laws of war) from 
 orison. We were to release him from that prison out of 
 livhich, in abuse of the lenity of government amidst its rigour, 
 ind in violation of at least an understood parole, he had at- 
 ;eraptec*an escape; an escape excusable, if you will, but na- 
 turally productive of strict and vigilant confinement. The 
 I'arnestness of gentlemen to free this person was the more 
 extraordinary, because there was full as little in him to raise 
 iidmiration, from any eminent qualities he possessed, as there 
 |.vas to excite an interest, from any that were amiable. A 
 jjerson, not only of no real civil or literary talents, but of no 
 Ijpecious appearance of either; and in his military profession 
 pot marked as a leader in any one act of able or successful 
 i?nterprise — unless his leading on (or his following) the 
 jiUied army of Amazonian and male cannibal Parisians to 
 Irersailles, on the famous fifth of October, 1789, is to make 
 |iis glory. Any other exploit of his, as a general, I never 
 !ieard of. But the triumph of general fraternity was but the 
 inore signalized by the total want of particular claims, in 
 Ihat case; and by postponing all such claims, in a case where 
 i:hey really existed, where they stood embossed, and in a 
 |nauner forced themselves on the view of common, short- 
 Idghted benevolence. "Whilst, for its improvement, the hu- 
 manity of those gentlemen was thus on its travels, and had 
 ijot as far oflT as Olmutz, they never thought of a place and a 
 berson much nearer to them, or of moving an instruction to 
 iLord Malmesbury in favour of their own suffering country- 
 inan. Sir Sydney Smith. 
 
 This officer, having attempted with great gallantry to cut 
 )ut a vessel from one of the enemy's harbours, was taken 
 ifter an obstinate resistance; such as obtained him the 
 inarked respect of those who were witnesses of his valour, 
 'uid knew the circumstances in which it was displayed. 
 jUpon his arrival at Paris, he was instantly thrown into pri- 
 iion; where the nature of his situation will best be under- 
 iitood by knowing, that amongst its mitigations was the 
 permission to walk occasionally in the court, and to enjoy 
 I he privilege of shaving himself. On the old system of feel- 
 ngs and principles his sufferings might have been entitled 
 consideration, and even, in a comparison with those of 
 
 VOL. V. T 
 
 F 
 
27i LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 Citizen la Fayette, to a priority in the order of compassion. 
 If the miniaters had neglected to take any steps in his fa- 
 vour, a declaration of the sense of the House of Commons 
 would have stimulated them to their duty. If they had 
 caused a representation to be made, such a proceeding would 
 have added force to it. If reprisal should be thought advis- 
 able, the address of the House would have given an addition- 
 al sanction to a measure which would have been, indeed, 
 justifiable without any other sanction than its own reason, 
 i^ut no. Nothing at all like it. In fact, the merit of Sii 
 Sydney Smith, and his claim on British compassion, was ol 
 a kind altogether different from that which interested sc 
 deeply the authors of the motion in favour of Citizen h 
 Payette. In my humble opinion, Captain Sir Sydney Smitl 
 has another sort of merit with the British nation, and some- 
 thing of a higher claim on British humanity, than Citizen \i 
 Payette. Faithful, zealous, and ardent in the service of hif 
 king and country; full of spirit; full of resources; going oul 
 of the beaten road, but going right, because his nncommoi 
 enterprise was not conducted by a vulgar judgment; — in bif 
 profession vSir Sydney Smith might be considered as a dis- 
 tinguished person, if any person could well be distinguishec 
 in a service in which scarcely a commander can be namec 
 without putting you in mind of some action of intrepidity 
 skill, and vigilance, that has given them a fair title to con 
 tend with any men, and in any age. But I will say nothing 
 further of the merits of Sir Sydney Smith: the mortal ani 
 mosity of the regicide enemy supersedes all other panegyric 
 Their hatred is a judgment in his favour without appeal. A 
 present he is lodged in the tower of the Temple, the las 
 prison of Louis the Sixteenth, and the last but one of Mari. 
 Antonietta of Austria; the prison of Louis the Seventeenth 
 the prison of Elizabeth of Bourbon. There he lies, unpitie* 
 by the grand philanthropy, to meditate upon the fate of thost 
 who are faithful to their king and country. Whilst thi 
 prisoner, secluded from intercourse, was indulging in thes" 
 cheering n^flections, he might possibly have had the furthe 
 consolation of learning, (by means of the insolent exultatioi 
 of his guards,) that there was an I'^nglisli ambassador a 
 Paris ; he might have had the proud comfort of hearing tha 
 this ambassador had the honoiu' of passing his mornings u 
 
LETTERS ON A liEGlCIDE PEACE. 275 
 
 ! respectful attendance at the office of a regicide pettifogger; 
 and that in the evening he relaxed in the amusements oi the 
 opera, and in the spectacle of an audience totally new ; an 
 audience in which he had the pleasure of seeing about him 
 not a single face that he could formerly haA^e known in 
 Paris; but, in the place of that company, one indeed more 
 than equal to it in display of gaiety, splendour, and luxury ; 
 'a set of abandoned wretches, squandering in insolent riot the 
 spoils of their bleeding country. A subject of profound re- 
 flection both to the prisoner and to the ambassador. 
 ! Whether all the matter upon which I have grounded my 
 opinion of this last party be fully authenticated or not, must 
 jbe left to those who have had the opportunity of a nearer 
 iview of its conduct, aud who have been more attentive in 
 jtheir perusal of the writings which have appeared in its 
 'favour. But for my part, I have never heard the gross facts 
 !on which I ground my idea of their marked partiality to the 
 jreigning tyranny in France in any part denied. I am not 
 ^surprised at all this. Opinions, as they sometimes follow, so 
 ithey frequently guide and direct the affections; and men 
 may become more attached to the country of their prin- 
 jciples than to the country of their birth. What I have 
 Istated here is only to mark the spirit which seems to me, 
 ithough in somewhat different ways, to actuate our great 
 'party leaders; and to trace this first pattern of a negotiation 
 to its true source. 
 
 ! Such is the present state of our public counsels. Well 
 imight I be ashamed of what seems to be a censure of two 
 great factions, with the two most eloquent men which this 
 country ever saw at the bead of them, if I had found that 
 either of them could support their conduct by any example 
 ;in the history of their country. I should very much prefer 
 their judgment to my owti, if I were not obliged, by an infi- 
 Qitely overbalancing weight of authority, to prefer tlie col- 
 lected wisdom of ages to the abilities of any two men living. 
 j[ return to the declaration with which the history of the 
 kbortion of a treaty with the regicides is closed. 
 ' After such an elaborate display had been made of the in- 
 ustice and insolence of an enemy who seems to have been 
 rritated by every one of the means which had been com- 
 aionly used with effect to soothe the rage of intemperate 
 
 T 2 
 
276 LETTERS ON A KE(ilL'lDE PEACE. 
 
 power, the natural result would be, that the scabbard, in 
 which we in vain attempted to plunge our sword, should 
 have been thrown away with scorn. It would have been 
 natural, that, rising in the fulness of their might, insulted 
 majesty, despised dignity, violated justice, rejected supplica- 
 tion, patience goaded into fury, would have poured out ali 
 the length of the reins upon all the wrath which they had sc ' 
 long restrained. It might have been expected, that, emulous 
 of the glory of the youthful hero* in alliance with him/ 
 touched by the example of what one man, well formed and 
 well placed, may do in the most desperate of affairs, con- 
 vinced there is a courage of the cabinet full as powerful and 
 far less vulgar than that of the field, our minister woulc 
 have changed the whole line of that useless, unprosperous pru- 
 dence, which had hitherto produced all the effects of tht 
 blindest temerity. If he found his situation full of danger ; 
 (and I do not deny that it is perilous in the extreme,) he 
 must feel that it is also full of glory ; and that he is placec 
 on a stage, than which no muse of fire, that had ascendec 
 the highest heaven of invention, could imagine anything 
 more awful and august. It was hoped, tliat, in this swell- 
 ing scene in which he moved with some of the first poten- 
 tates of Europe for his fellow-actors, and with so many ol 
 the rest for the anxious spectators of a part, which, as he 
 plays it, determines for ever their destiny and his own, hke^ 
 Ulysses in the unravelling point of the epic story, he would 
 have thrown off" his patience and his rags together; and. 
 stripped of unworthy disguises, he would have stood forth ic 
 the form and in the attitude of an hero. On that day, it' 
 was thought, he would have assumed the port of Mars; that 
 he would bid to be brought forth from their hideous kenneV 
 (where his scrupulous tenderness had too long immuree' 
 them) those impatient dogs of war, whose fierce regard^' 
 affright even the minister of vengeance that feeds them ; that 
 he would let them loose, in famine, fever, plagues, and death, 
 upon a guilty race, to whose frame, and to all whose habit, 
 order, peace, religion, and virtue are alien and abhorrent. 
 It was expected that he would at last have thought of active 
 and efl'ectual war; that he would no longer amuse the 
 British lion in the chase of mice and rats; that he would no 
 ' The Archduke Ciiarles of Ausiiia. 
 
LETTERS OX A REGICIDE PEACE. 277 
 
 llonger employ the whole naval power of Great Britain, once 
 the terror of the world, to prey upon the miserable remains 
 of a pedling commerce, which the enemy did not regard, and 
 from which none could profit. It was expected, that he 
 would have reasserted the justice of his cause ; that he 
 would have reanimated whatever remained to him of his 
 allies, and endeavoured to recover those whom their fears 
 had led astray; that he would have rekindled the martial 
 ardour of his citizens; that he would have held out to them 
 the example of their ancestry, the assertor of Europe, and 
 ithe scourge of French ambition; that he would have remind- 
 ied them of a posterity which, if this nefarious robbery, under 
 jthe fraudulent name and false colour of a government, should 
 iin full power be seated in the heart of Europe, must for ever 
 (be consigned to vice, impiety, barbarism, and the most igno- 
 iminious slavery of body and mind. In so holy a cause it 
 'was presumed that he would (as in the beginning of the 
 war he did) have opened all the temples ; and with prayer, 
 with fasting, and with supplication, (better directed than to 
 the grim Moloch of regicide in France,) have called upon us 
 to raise that united cry which has so often stormed heaven, 
 ,and with a pious violence forced down blessings upon a re- 
 pentant people. It was hoped that when he had invoked 
 ■upon his endeavours the favourable regard of the Protector 
 of the human race, it would be seen that his menaces to the 
 enemy, and his prayers to the Almighty, were not followed, 
 but accompanied, with correspondent action. It was hoped 
 that his shrilling trumpet should be heard, not to announce 
 la show, but to sound a charge. 
 
 I Such a conclusion to such a declaration and such a speech 
 iwould have been a thing of course : so much a thing of 
 icourse, that I will be bold to say, if in any ancient history, 
 the Eoman for instance, (supposing that in Eome the mat- 
 ter of such a detail could have been furnished,) a consul had 
 igone through such a long train of proceedings, and that 
 .there was a chasm in the manuscripts by which we had lost 
 the conclusion of the speech and the subsequent part of the 
 narrative, all critics would agree, that a Freinshemius would 
 have been thought to have managed the supplementary 
 .business of a continuator most unskilfully, and to have 
 i supplied the hiatus most improbably, if he had not filled u| 
 
278 LETTEES (jN^ V yi^mriJ)^ PEACE. 
 
 the gaping space in a manner somewhat similar (though 
 better executed) to what I have imagined. But too often 
 different is rational conjecture from melancholy fact. This 
 exordium, as contrary to all the rules of rhetoric as to 
 those more essential rules of policy which our situation would 
 dictate, is intended as a prelude to a deadening and disheart- 
 ening proposition ; as if all that a minister had to fear in a 
 war of his own conducting, was, that the people should pur- 
 sue it with too ardent a zeal. Such a tone, as I guessed the 
 minister would have taken, I am very sure is the true, un- 
 suborned, unsophisticated language of genuine, natural feel- 
 ing, under the smart of patience exhausted and abused. Such 
 a conduct, as the facts stated in the declaration gave room tc 
 expect, is that which true wisdom would have dictated undei 
 the impression of those genuine feelings. Never was there 
 a jar or discord between genuine sentiment and sound policy. 
 Never, no never, did Nature say one thing and Wisdom say 
 another. Nor are sentiments of elevation in themselves 
 turgid and unnatural. Nature is never more truly herselJ 
 than in her grandest forms. The Apollo of Belvedere (if tht 
 universal robber has yet left him at Belvedere) is as much ir 
 nature as any figure from the pencil of Eembrandt, or any 
 clown in the rustic revels of Teniers. Indeed, it is when i 
 great nation is in great difficulties, that minds must exall 
 themselves to the occasion, or all is lost. Strong passior 
 under the direction of a feeble reason feeds a low fever 
 which serves only to destroy the body that entertains it 
 But vehement passion does not always indicate an infirn 
 judgment. It often accompanies, and actuates, and is ever 
 auxiliary to, a powerful understanding ; and when they botl 
 conspire and act harmoniously, their force is great to destro) 
 disorder within, and to repel injury from abroad. If ever thert 
 was a time that calls on us for no vulgar conception of things 
 and for exertions in no vulgar strain, it is the awful hour thai 
 Providence has now appointed to this nation. Every littlf 
 measure is a great error ; and every great error will bring oi 
 no small ruin. Nothing can be directed above the mark that w< 
 must aim at ; everything below it is absolutely thrown away 
 Except with the addition of the unheard-of insult offeree 
 to our ambassador by his rude expulsion, we are never t< 
 foreret that the point on which the negotiation with De L 
 
liKTTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 279 
 
 Croix broke off, was exactly that which had stifled in it<» 
 cradle the negotiation we had attempted with Barth61emy. 
 Each of these transactions concluded with a manifesto upon 
 our part : but the last of our manifestoes very materially 
 differed from the first. The first declaration stated, that 
 " nothing was left but to prosecute a war equally just and 
 necessary" In the second, the justice and necessity of the 
 iwar is dropped ; the sentence importing that nothing was 
 left but the prosecution of such a war disappears also. In- 
 stead of this resolution to prosecute the war, we sink into a 
 i whining lamentation on the abrupt termination of the treaty. 
 j"We have nothing left but the last resource of female weak- 
 jness, of helpless infancy, of doting decrepitude, — wailing and 
 I lamentation. We cannot even utter a sentiment of vigour — 
 "His Majesty has only to lament." A poor possession, to 
 I be left to a great monarch ! Mark the effect produced on our 
 i councils by continued insolence and inveterate hostility ! 
 AYe grow more malleable under their blows. In reverential 
 silence, we smother the cause and origin of the war. On 
 that fundamental article of faith, we leave every one to 
 abound in his own sense. In the minister's speech, glossing 
 'on the declaration, it is indeed mentioned; but very feebly. 
 (The lines are so faintly drawn as hardly to be traced. They 
 jOuly make a part of our consolation in the circumstances 
 ;which we so dolefully lament. AYe rest our merits on the 
 humility, the earnestness of solicitation, and the perfect good 
 I faith of those submissions which have been used to persuade 
 I our regicide enemies to grant us some sort of peace. Not a 
 ■ word is said which might not have been full as well said, 
 ^and much better too, if the British nation had appeared in 
 the simple character of a penitent, convinced of his errors 
 and offences, and offering, by penances, by pilgrimages, and 
 'by all the modes of expiation ever devised by anxious, rest- 
 less guilt, to make all the atonement in his miserable power. 
 I The declaration ends, as I have before quoted it, vnth a 
 solemn voluntary pledge, the most full and the most solemn 
 I that ever was given, of our resolution (if so it may be called) 
 it-o enter again into the very same course. It requires no- 
 I thing more of the regicides than to furnish some sort ot 
 lexcuse, some sort of colourable pretext for our renewing the 
 j supplications ef innocence at the feet of guilt. It leaves tha 
 
280 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 moment of negotiation, a most important moment, to the 
 choice of the enemy. He is to regulate it according to the 
 convenience of his affairs. He is to bring it forward at that 
 time when it may best serve to establish his authority at 
 home, and to extend his power abroad. A dangerous assur- 
 ance for this nation to give, whether it is broken, or whether 
 it is kept. As all treaty was broken off, and broken off in 
 the manner we have seen, the field of future conduct ought 
 to be reserved free and unencumbered to our future discre- 
 tion. As to the sort of condition prefixed to the pledge, 
 namely, " that the enemy should be disposed to enter irto 
 the work of general pacification with the spirit of reconcilia- 
 tion and equity," this phraseology cannot possibly be con- 
 sidered otherwise than as so many words thrown in to fill 
 the sentence, and to round it to the ear. We prefixed the 
 same plausible conditions to any renewal of the negotiation, 
 in our manifesto on the rejection of our proposals at Basle. 
 AVe did not consider those conditions as binding. We 
 opened a much more serious negotiation without any sort 
 of regard to them ; and there is no new negotiation which 
 we can possibly open upon fewer indications of conciliation 
 and equity than were to be discovered when we entered 
 into our last at Paris. Any of the slightest pretences, any 
 of the most loose, formal, equivocating expressions, would 
 justify us, under the peroration of this piece, in again sending 
 the last or some other Lord Malmesbury to Paris. 
 
 I hope I misunderstand this pledge ; or that we shall show 
 no more regard to it than we have done to all the faith that 
 we have plighted to vigour and resolution in our former 
 declaration. If I am to understand the conclusion of the 
 declaration to be what unfortunately it seems to me, we make 
 an engagement with the enemy without any correspondent 
 engagement on his side. We seem to have cut ourselves off 
 from any benefit which an intermediate state of things might 
 furnish to enable us totally to overturn that power, so little 
 connected with moderation and justice. By holding out no 
 hope, either to the justly discontented in France, or to any 
 foreign power, and leaving the re-commencement of all treaty 
 to this identical junto of assassins, we do in effect assure 
 and guarantee to them the full possession of the rich finiits 
 of their confiscations, of their murders of men, women, anil 
 
LETTERS OS A EEGICIDE PEACl?. 2^1 
 
 children, and of all the multiplied, endless, nameless iniqui- 
 ties by which they have obtained their power. We guarantee 
 to them the possession of a country, such and so situated as 
 France, round, entire, immensely perhaps augmented. 
 
 Well ! some will say, in this case we have only submitted 
 to the nature of things. The nature of things is, I admit, a 
 I sturdy adversary. This might be alleged as a plea for our 
 ; attempt at a treaty. But what plea of that kind can be al- 
 leged, after the treaty was dead and gone, in favour of this 
 ! posthumous declaration ? Xo necessity has driven us to that 
 I pledge. It is without a counterpart even in expectation. 
 j And what can be stated to obviate the evil which that soli- 
 tary engagement must produce on the understandings or the 
 I fears of men ? I ask, what have the regicides promised you 
 i in return, in case i/ou should show what fhei/ would call dis- 
 I positions to conciliation and equity, whilst you are giving 
 I that pledge from the throne and engaging parliament to 
 : counter-secure it ? It is an awful consideration. It was on 
 ': the very day of the date of this wonderful pledge,^ in which 
 I we assumed the directorial government as lawful, and in 
 i which we engaged ourselves to treat with them whenever 
 ! they pleased ; it was on that very day the regicide fleet was 
 I weighing anchor from one of your harbours, where it had re- 
 j mained four days in perfect quiet. These harbours of the 
 ! British dominions are the ports of France. They are of no 
 use but to protect an enemy from your best allies, the storms 
 I of heaven, and hrs own rashness. Had the Pfest of Ireland 
 I been an unportuous coast, the French naval power would 
 ! have been undone. The enemy uses the moment for hostil- 
 I ity, without the least regard to your future dispositions of 
 I equity and conciliation. They go out of what were once 
 ' your harbours, and they return to them at their pleasure. 
 ' Eleven days they had the full use of Bantry Bay, and at 
 ' length their fleet returns from their harbour of Bantry to 
 I their harbour of Brest. Whilst you are invoking the pro- 
 ; pitious spirit of regicide equity and conciliation, they an- 
 I swer you with an attack. They turn out the pacific bearer 
 I of your "how do you do's," Lord Malmesbury ; and they 
 return your visit, and their " thanks for your obliging in- 
 quiries," by their old practised assassin Hoche. They coipe 
 ' Dec. 27 1796. 
 
282 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 to attack — "Wtat ? A town, a fort, a naval station ? They 
 come to attack your king, your constitution, and the very 
 being of that parliament which was holding out to them 
 these pledges, together with the entireness of the empire, 
 the laws, liberties, and properties of all the people. We 
 know that they meditated the very same invasion, and for 
 the very same purposes, upon this kingdom ; and, had the 
 coast been as opportune, would have effected it. 
 
 Whilst 1/ou are in vain torturing your invention to assure 
 them of 2/our sincerity and good faith, they have left no 
 doubt concerning their good faith, and their sincerity towards 
 those to whom they have engaged their honour. To their 
 power they have been true to the only pledge they have 
 ever yet given to you, or to any of yours, I mean the solemn 
 engagement which they entered into with the deputation of 
 traitors who appeared at their bar, from England and from 
 Ireland, in 1792. They have been true and faithful to the 
 engagement which they had made more largely ; that is, 
 their engagement to give effectual aid to insurrection and 
 treason, wherever they might appear in the world. We 
 have seen the British declaration. This is the counter-de- 
 claration of the Directory. This is the reciprocal pledge 
 which regicide amity gives to the conciliatory pledges of 
 kings ! But, thank Grod, such pledges cannot exist single. 
 They have no counterpart ; and if they had, the enemy's 
 conduct cancels such declarations ; and, I trust, along with 
 them cancels every thing of mischief and dishonour that 
 they contain. 
 
 There is one thing in this business which appears to be 
 wholly unaccountable, or accountable on a supposition I dare 
 not entertain for a moment. T cannot help asking. Why all 
 these pains to clear the British nation of ambition, perfidy, 
 and the insatiate thirst of war ? At what period of time 
 was it that our country has deserved that load of infamy, of 
 which nothing but preternatural humiliation in language and 
 conduct can serve to clear us ? If we have deserved this 
 kind of evil fame from anything we have done in a state of 
 prosperity, I am sure that it is not an abject conduct in ad- 
 versity that can clear our reputation. Well is it k.uown that 
 ambit lui. can creep as well as soar. The pride of no person 
 in a flourishing condition is more justly tc be dreaded than 
 
LETTEES ON A BEGICIDE PEACE. 283 
 
 ^'hat of him who is mean and cringing under a doubtful and 
 mprosperous fortune. But it seems it was thought neces- 
 sary to give some out-of-the-way proofs of our sincerity, as 
 Neil as of our freedom from ambition. Is then fraud and 
 falsehood become the distinctive character of Englishmen ? 
 Whenever your enemy chooses to accuse you of perfidy and 
 11 faith will you put it into his power to throw you into the 
 ourgatory of self-humiliation ? Is his charge equal to the 
 inding of the grand jury of Europe, and sufficient to put 
 rou upon your trial ? But on that trial I will defend the 
 English ministry. I am sorry that on some points I have, on 
 i;he principles I have always opposed, so good a defence to 
 (uake. They were not the first to begin the war. They did 
 jiot excite the general confederacy in Europe, which was so 
 properly formed on the alarm given by the Jacobinism of 
 France. They did not begin with an hostile aggression on 
 phe regicides, or any of their allies. These parricides of their 
 Dwn country, disciplining themselves for foreign by domestic 
 violence, were the first to attack a power that was our ally 
 oj nature, by habit, and by the sanction of multiplied treaties. 
 t[s it not true that they were the first to declare war upon 
 ohis kingdom ? Is every word in the declaration from Down- 
 jug Street, concerning their conduct, and concerning ours and 
 chat of our allies, so obviously false, that it is necessary to 
 '^ive some new invented proofs of our good faith in order to 
 ?xpunge the memory of all this perfidy ? 
 i We know that over-labouring a point of this kind has the 
 direct contrary effect from what we wish. We know that 
 ;:here is a legal presumption against men quando se nimis 
 bvrgitant ; and if a charge of ambition is not refuted by an 
 iiffected humility, certainly the character of fraud and per- 
 idy is still less to be washed away by indications of mean- 
 aess. Fraud and prevarication are servile vices. They some- 
 '.imes grow out of the necessities, always out of the habits, 
 of slavish and degenerate spirits; and on the theatre of the 
 Ivorld it is not by assuming the mask of a Davus or a Geta 
 bhat an actor will obtain credit for manly simplicity and a 
 .iberal openness of proceeding. It is an erect countenance, 
 t is a firm adherence to principle, it is a power of resisting 
 raise shame and frivolous fear, that assert our good faith and 
 [lonour, and assure to us the confidence of mankind. There- 
 
284 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 fore all these negotiations, and all the declarations -wilh 
 which they were preceded and followed, can only serve to 
 raise presumptions against that good faith and public in- 
 tegrity, the fame of which to preserve inviolate is so much 
 the interest and duty of every nation. 
 
 The pledge is an engagement "to all Europe." This is 
 the more extraordinary, because it is a pledge which no 
 power in Europe whom I have yet heard of has thought 
 proper to require at our hands. I am not in the secrets ot 
 office ; and therefore I may be excused for proceeding upon 
 probabilities and exterior indications. I have surveyed all 
 Europe, from the east to the west, from the north to the 
 south, in search of this call upon us to purge ourselves ol 
 " subtle duplicity and a punic style " in our proceedings. I 
 have not heard that his Excellency the Ottoman ambassa- 
 dor has expressed his doubts of the British sincerity in our 
 negotiation with the most unchristian republic lately set 
 up at our door. What sympathy, in that quarter, may have 
 introduced a remonstrance upon the want of faith in this 
 nation, I cannot positively say. If it exists, it is in Turkish 
 or Arabic, and possibly is not yet translated. But none ot 
 the nations which compose the old Christian world have I 
 yet heard as calling upon us for those judicial purgations 
 and ordeals, by fire and water, which we have chosen to go 
 through ; — for the other great proof, by battle, we seem to 
 decline. 
 
 For whose use, entertainment, or instruction, are all those 
 overstrained and over-laboured proceedings in council, in 
 negotiation, and in speeches in parliament, intended ? What 
 royal cabinet is to be enriched with these high-finished pic- 
 tures of the arrogance of the sworn enemies of kings, and 
 the meek patience of a British administration ? In what 
 heart is it intended to kindle pity towards our multiplied 
 mortifications and disgraces ? At best it is superfluous 
 What nation is unacquainted with the hauglity disposition 
 of the common enemy of all nations ? It has been more 
 than seen, it has been felt; not only by those who have 
 been the victims of their imperious rapacity, but, in a degree, 
 by those very powers who have consented to establish this 
 robbery, that they might be able to copy it, and with im* 
 punity to make new usurpations of their own. The king 
 
LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 285 
 
 of Prussia has hypothecated in trust to the regicides his 
 rich and fertile territories on the Rhine, as a pledge of his 
 zeal and affection to the cause of liberty and equality. He 
 has seen them robbed with unbounded liberty, and with the 
 itnost levelling equality. The woods are wasted, the country is 
 ravaged, property is confiscated, and the people are put to 
 bear a double yoke, in the exactions of a tyrannical govern- 
 pent, and in the contributions of an hostile irruption. Is it 
 to satisfy the court of Berlin, that the court of London is to 
 give the same sort of pledge of its sincerity and good faith to 
 ithe French directory ? It is not that heart full of sensibility, 
 j — it is not Luchesini, the minister of his Prussian Majesty, 
 |the late ally of England, and the present aUy of its enemy, 
 iw'ho has demanded this pledge of our sincerity, as the price 
 bf the renewal of the long lease of his sincere friendship to 
 jthis kingdom. 
 
 i It is not to our enemy, the now faithful ally of regicide, 
 late the faithful ally of Glreat Britain, the Catholic king, 
 that we address our doleful lamentation ; it is not to the 
 iPrince of Peace, whose declaration of war was one of the 
 'Urst auspicious omens of general tranquillity, which our 
 dove-like ambassador, with the olive-branch in his beak, was 
 Isaluted with at his entrance into the ark of clean birds at 
 Paris. 
 
 I Surely it is not to the Tetrarch of Sardinia, now the faith- 
 :ful ally of a power who has seized upon all his fortresses, 
 jind confiscated the oldest dominions of his house ; it is not 
 to this once powerful, once respected, and once cherished ally 
 of G-reat Britain, that we mean to prove the sincerity of the 
 beace which we offered to make at his expense. Or is it to 
 tiim we are to prove the arrogance of the power who, under 
 phe name of friend, oppresses him, and the poor remains of 
 bis subjects, with all the ferocity of the most cruel enemy ? 
 I It is not to Holland, under the name of an ally, laid 
 ander a permanent military contribution, filled with their 
 iiouble garrison of barbarous Jacobin troops, and ten times 
 inore barbarous Jacobin clubs and assemblies, that we find 
 iDurselves obliged to give this pledge. 
 
 Is it to G-enoa that we make this kind promise ; a state 
 .tvhich the regicides were to defend in a favourable neutraiit^r-, 
 but whose neutrality has been, by the gentle influence of 
 
286 LETTEltS ON A EEGtCIDE PEACE. I 
 
 Jacobin authority, forced into the trammels of an alliance;- 
 whose a.liance has been secured by the admission of French! 
 garrisons; and whose peace has been for ever ratified by a* 
 forced declaration of war against ourselves ? ? 
 
 It is not the G-rand Duke of Tuscany who claims this 
 declaration ; not the grand duke, who for his early sincerity, i 
 for liis love of peace, and for his entire confidence in the. 
 amity of the assassins of his house, has be(^n complimented 
 in the British parliament with the name of " the ivisest sove-l 
 reign in Europe:^' — It is not this pacific Solomon, or his; 
 philosophic, cudgelled ministry, cudgelled by English aud; 
 by French, whose wisdom and philosophy between them' 
 have placed Leghorn in the hands of the enemy of the Aus^; 
 trian family, and driven the only profitable commerce oj' 
 Tuscany from its only port. It is not this sovereign, a far 
 more able statesman than any of the Medici in whose chair- 
 he sits: it is not the philosopher Carletfi, more ably specu-j 
 lative than Galileo, more profoundly politic than Machi- 
 a I el, that call upon us so loudly to give the same happy 
 proofs of the same good faith to the republic, always the; 
 same, always one and indivisible. 
 
 It is not Venice, whose principal cities the enemy haj' 
 appropriated to himself, and scornfully desired the state t( 
 indemnify itself from the emperor, that we wish to convince 
 of the pride and the despotism of an enemy, who loads uf; 
 with his scofi's and bufii'ets. ■ 
 
 It is not for his Holiness we intend this consolatory de-l 
 claration of our own weakness, and of the tyrannous tempei. 
 of his grand enemy. That prince has known both the one 
 and the other from the beginning. The artists of the FrencI 
 Revolution had given their very first essays and sketches o' 
 robbery and desolation against his territories, in a far mow' 
 cruel "murdering piece" than had ever entered into th( 
 imagination of painter or poet. AVithout ceremony the}' 
 tore from his cherishing arms the possessions which he hel(' 
 for five hundred years, undisturbed by all the ambition of al i 
 the ambitious monarchs who, during that period, have rciguec 
 in France. Is it to him, in whose wrong we have in our lat.< 
 negotiation ceded his now unhappy countries near the Ehoue 
 lately amongst the most flourishing (perhaps the most Hour 
 iahiug for their extent) of all the countries upon earth, tha 
 
LETTERS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. 287 
 
 we are to prove the sincerity of our resolution to make peace 
 with the republic of barbarism ? That venerable potentate 
 and pontiff is sunk deep into the vale of years ; he is half 
 disarmed by his peaceful character ; his dominions are more 
 tlian half disarmed by a peace of two hundred years, defended 
 R6 they were, not by force, but by reverence ; yet in all 
 these straits, we see him display, amidst the recent ruins and 
 'the new defacements of his plundered capital, along with the 
 ■mild and decorated piety of the modern, all the spirit and 
 .magnanimity of ancient Eome ! Does he, who, though him- 
 isclf unable to defend them, nobly refused to receive pecu- 
 iniary compensations for the protection he owed to his people 
 (of Avignon, Carpentras, and the Yenaisin ; — does he want 
 jproofs of our good disposition to deliver over that people 
 iwithout any security for them, or any compensation to their 
 Isovereign, to this cruel enemy ? Does he want to be satisfied 
 jof the sincerity of our humiliation to France, who has seen 
 his free, fertile, and happy city and state of Bologna, the 
 icradle of regenerated law, the seat of sciences and of arts, so 
 ihideously metamorphosed, whilst he was crying to Great 
 Britain for aid, and offering to purchase that aid at any price ? 
 lis it him. who sees that chosen spot of plenty and delight 
 jconverted into a Jacobin ferocious republic, dependent on the 
 ihomicides of France ? Is it him, who, from the miracles of 
 !his beneficent industry, has done a work which defied the 
 power of the iioman emperors, though with an enthralled 
 |world to labour for them ; is it him, who has drained and 
 icultivated the Pontiyie Marshes, that we are to satisfy of our 
 icordial spirit of conciliation, with those who, in their equity, 
 lare restoring Holland again to the seas, whose maxims poison 
 imore than the exhalations of the most deadly fens, and uho 
 Iturn all the fertilities of nature and of art into a howling 
 idesert? Is it to him that we are to demonstrate the good 
 ifaith of our submissions to the cannibal republic; to him 
 jwho is commanded to deliver into their hands Ancona and 
 jCivita Yecchia, seats of commerce, raised by the wise and 
 jliberal labours and expenses of the present and late pontiffs ; 
 (ports not more belonging to the Ecclesiastical State than to 
 the commerce of Great Britain ; thus wresting from his hands 
 the power of the keys of the centre of Italy, as before they 
 had taken possession of the keys of the northern part, from 
 
2S8 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACB. 
 
 the hands of the unhappy king of Sardinia, the natural ally 
 of England ? Is it to him we are to prove our good faith in 
 the peace which we are soliciting to receive from the hands 
 of his and our robbers, the enemies of all arts, all sciences, 
 all civilization, and all commerce ? 
 
 Is it to the Cispadane or to the Transpadane republics, 
 which have been forced to bow under the galling yoke of, 
 French liberty, that we address all these pledges of our sin- 
 cerity and love of peace with their unnatural parents ? 
 
 Are we by this declaration to satisfy the king of Naples, 
 whom we have left to struggle as he can, after our abdication 
 of Corsica, and the flight of the whole naval force of England 
 out of the whole circuit of the Mediterranean, abandoning 
 our allies, our commerce, and the honour of a nation, once 
 the protectress of all other nations, because strengthened bv 
 the independence, and enriched by the commerce, of them 
 all ? By the express provisions of a recent treaty, we had 
 engaged with the king of Naples to keep a naval force in 
 the Mediterranean. But, good Grod ! was a treaty at al" 
 necessary for this ? The uniform policy of this kingdom as 
 a state, and eminently so as a commercial state, has at al 
 times led us to keep a powerful squadron and a commodious 
 naval station in that central sea, which borders upon, anc 
 which connects, a far greater number and variety of states 
 European, Asiatic, and African, than any other. Withoul 
 such a naval force, France must become despotic mistress o: 
 that sea, and of all the countries whose shores it washes 
 Our commerce must become vassal to her, and dependent or 
 her will. Since we are come no longer to trust to our force 
 in arms, but to our dexterity in negotiation, and begin to pa} 
 a desperate court to a proud and coy usurpation, and hav*; 
 finally sent an ambassador to the Bourbon regicides ai 
 Paris ; the king of Naples, who saw that no reliance was t< 
 be placed on our engagements, or on any pledge of our ad 
 herence to our nearest and dearest interests, has beer 
 obliged to send his ambassador also to join the rest of tin 
 squalid tribe of the representatives of degraded kings. Thii 
 monarch, *surely, does not want any proof of the sincerity o 
 our amicable dispositions to that amicable republic, int( 
 whose arms he has been given by our desertion of him. 
 
 To look to the powers of tlio w«>»<th, it is not to the Dan is! 
 
LKTTEliS OX A REOTCIDi: 1>EACE. 289 
 
 I ambassador, insolently treated in liis own character and in 
 'ours, that we are to give proofs of the regicide arrogance, 
 land of our disposition to submit to it. 
 
 I AVith regard to Sweden, I cannot say much. The 
 i French influence is struggling with her independence ; and 
 'they who consider the manner in which the ambassador of 
 that power was treated not long since at Paris, and the man- 
 jner in which the father of the present king of Sweden 
 '(himself the victim of regicide principles and passions) 
 would have looked on the present assassins of France, will 
 not be very prompt to believe that the young king of 
 Sweden has made this kind of requisition to the king of 
 Great Britain, and has given this kind of auspice of his new 
 government. 
 
 I speak last of the most important of all. It certainly 
 
 was not the late empress of Russia at whose instance we 
 
 I have given this pledge. It is not the new emperor, the in- 
 
 I heritor of so much glory, and placed in a situation of so 
 
 i much delicacy, and diificulty for the preservation of that in- 
 
 'heritance, who calls on England, the natural ally of his 
 
 ' dominions, to deprive herself of her power of action, and to 
 
 j bind herself to France. France at no time, and in none of its 
 
 I fashions, least of all in its last, has been ever looked upon as 
 
 the friend either of Russia or of Great Britain. Everything 
 
 ! good, I trust, is to be expected from this prince ; whatever 
 
 may be without authority given out of an influence over his 
 
 mind, possessed by that only potentate from whom lie has 
 
 anything to apprehend, or with whom he has much even to 
 
 discuss. 
 
 This sovereign knows, I have no doubt, and feels, on what 
 
 sort of bottom is to be laid the foundation of a Russian 
 
 throne. He knows wdiat a rock of native granite is to form 
 
 the pedestal of his statue, who is to emulate Peter the 
 
 Great. His renown will be in continuing with ease and 
 
 j safety what his predecessor was obliged to achieve through 
 
 mighty struggles. He is sensible that his business is not 
 
 I to innovate, but to secure and to establish ; that reformations 
 
 i at this day are attempts at best of ambiguous utility. Ho 
 
 will revere his father with the piety of a son ; but in his go- 
 
 vernment he will imitate the policy of his mother. His 
 
 father, with many excellent qualities, had a short rei^n ; b©« 
 
 VOL, v. ^ 
 
 I 
 
290 li:tti:rs on a regicide peace. 
 
 cause, being a native Russian, he was unfortunately advised 
 to act in tlie spirit of a foreigner. His mother reigned over 
 Russia three and thirty years with the greatest glory ; be- 
 i-ause, with the disadvantage of being a foreigner born, she 
 made herself a Russian. A wise prince like the present will 
 improve his country ; but it will be cautiously and progress- 
 ively, upon its own native ground-work of religion, man- 
 uers, habitudes, and alliances. If I prognosticate right, it 
 is not the emperor of Russia that ever will call for extras a- 
 gant proofs of our desire to reconcile ourselves to the irre- 
 concilable enemy of all thrones. 
 
 I do not know why I should not include America among 
 the European powers, because she is of European origin; 
 and has not yet, like France, destroyed all traces of man- 
 ners, laws, opinions, and usages, which she drew from Eu- 
 rope. As long as that Europe shall have any possessions 
 either in the southern or northern parts of that America, 
 even separated as it is by the ocean, it must be considered 
 as a part of the European system. It is not America, 
 menaced with internal ruin from the attempts to plant 
 Jacobinism instead of liberty in that country ; it is not Ame- 
 rica, whose independence is directly attacked by the Erench, 
 the enemies of the independence of all nations, that calls 
 upon us to give security by disarming ourselves in a trea- 
 cherous peace. By such a peace we shall deliver the Ame- 
 ricans, their liberty, and their order, without resource, to the 
 mercy of their imperious allies, who will have peace or neu- 
 trality with no state which is not ready to join her in war 
 against England. 
 
 Having run round the whole circle of the European sys- • 
 tern wherever it acts, I must affirm, that all the foreign 
 powers who are not leagued with France for the utter 
 destruction of all balance through Europe and throughout 
 the world, demand otlier assurances from this kingdom than 
 are given in that declaration. They require assurances, not 
 of the sincerity of our good dispositions towards tlie usurp- 1 
 ation in France, but of our ailection towards the college 
 of the ancient states of Europe, and pledges of our constancy, 
 our fidelity, and of our fortitude in resisting to the last the 
 power that mena<;es them all. The apprehension from which 
 they wish to be delivered, cannot be from anything they 
 
LETIERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 291 
 
 dread iu the ambition of England. Our power must be their 
 strength. They hope more from us than they fear, I am 
 sure the only ground of their hope, and of our hope, is iu 
 the greatness of mind hitherto shown by the people of this 
 nation, and its adherence to the unalterable principles of its 
 ancient policy, whatever government may finally prevail in 
 France. I have entered into this detail of the wishes and 
 expectations of the European powers, in order to point out 
 more clearly, not so much what their disposition, as (a con- 
 sideration of far greater importance) what their situation de- 
 mands, according as that situation is related to the regicide 
 republic and to this kingdom. 
 
 Then if it is not to satisfy tbe foreign powers we make this 
 assurance, to what power at home is it that we pay this hu- 
 miliating court ? Not to the old Whigs or to the ancient 
 Tories of this kingdom ; if any memory of such ancient 
 divisions still exists amongst us. To which of the principles 
 of these parties is this assurance agreeable ? Is it to the 
 Wliigs w^e are to recommend the aggrandizement of Prance, 
 and the subversion of the balance of power ? Is it to the 
 Tories we are to recommend our eagerness to cement our- 
 selves with the enemies of royalty and religion ? But if these 
 parties, which by their dissensions have so often distracted 
 the kingdom, which by their union have once saved it, and 
 which by their collision and mutual resistance have pre- 
 served the variety of this constitution in its unity, be (as I 
 believe they are) nearly extinct by the gro^vth of new ones, 
 which have their roots in the present circumstances of the 
 times — I wish to know to which of these new descriptions 
 this declaration is addressed ? It can hardly be to those 
 persons, who, in the nevr distribution of parties, consider 
 the conservation in England of the ancient order of things 
 I as necessary to preserve order everywhere else, and who re- 
 '■ gard the general conservation of order in other countries as 
 I reciprocally necessary to preserve the same state of things in 
 I these islands. That party never can wish to see G-reat 
 ! Britain pledge herself to give the lead and the ground of 
 I advantage and superiority to the France of to-day in any 
 treaty which is to settle Europe. I insist upon it, that, so 
 I far from expecting such an engagement, they are generally 
 
292 LETTERS OX A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 Btupified and confounded with it. That the other party 
 which demands great changes here, and is so pleased to see 
 them everywhere else, which party I call Jacobin, that this 
 faction does, from the bottom of its heart, approve the de- 
 claration, and does erect its crest upon the engagement, there 
 can be little doubt. To them it may be addressed with pro- 
 priety, for it answers their purposes in every point. 
 
 The party in opposition within the House of Lords and 
 Commons, it is irreverent, and half a breach of privilege, 
 (far from my thoughts,) to consider as Jacobin. This party 
 has always denied the existence of such a faction ; and has 
 treated the machinations of those whom you and I call 
 Jacobins, as so many forgeries and fictions of the minister and 
 his adherents, to find a pretext for destroying freedom, and 
 setting up an arbitrary power in this kingdom. However, 
 whether this minority has a leaning towards the Trencli 
 system, or only a charitable toleration of those who lean that 
 way, it is certain that they have always attacked the sincerity 
 of the minister in the same modes, and on the very same 
 grounds, and nearly in the same terms, with the directory. 
 It must, therefore, be at the tribunal of the minority, (from 
 tlie whole tenour of the speech,) that the minister appeared 
 to consider himself obliged to purge himself of duplicity. It 
 was at their bar that he held up his hands ; it was on 
 their sellefte that he seemed to answer interrogatories; it 
 was on their principles that he defended his whole conduct. 
 They certainly take Avhat the French call the haute du pave. 
 They have loudly called for the negotiation. It was accorded 
 to them. They engaged their support oi'the war with vigour, 
 in case peace was not granted on honourable terms. Peace 
 was not granted on any terms, honourable or shameful. 
 Whether these judges, few in number but powerful in juris- 
 diction, are satisfied ; whether they, to whom this new pledge 
 is hypothecated, have redeemed their own ; whether they 
 have given one particle more of their support to ministry, or 
 even favoured them with their good opinion, or their candid 
 construction, I leave it to those who recollect that memor- 
 able debate to determine. 
 
 The fact is, that neither this declaration, nor tlie negotiation i '. 
 which is its subject, could serve any one good purpose, foreign 
 or dtunestic ; it could conduce to no end, either with regiU'd 
 
LETTEBS ON A EEGICIDE PEAC2. 293 
 
 to allies or neutrals. It tends neither to bring back the mis- 
 led ; nor to give courage to the tearful ; nor to animate and 
 confirm those who are hearty and zealous in the cause. 
 
 I hear it has been said (though I can scarcely believe it) 
 by a distinguished person in an assembly, where, if there be 
 less of the torrent and tempest of eloquence, more guarded 
 expression is to be expected, that, indeed, there was no just 
 ground of hope in this business from the beginning. 
 
 It is plain that this noble person, however conversant in 
 negotiation, having been employed in no less than four em- 
 bassies, and in two hemispheres, and in one of those negotia- 
 tions having fully experienced what it was to proceed to treaty 
 without previous encouragement, was not at all consulted in 
 this experiment. For his Majesty's principal minister de- 
 clared on the very same day in another House, " His Ma- 
 jesty's deep and sincere regret at its unfortunate and abrupt 
 termination, so different from the wishes and hopes that were 
 entertained ; " — and in other parts of the speech speaks of this 
 abrupt termination as a great disappointment, and as a fall 
 from sincere endeavours and sanguine expectation. Here 
 are, indeed, sentiments diametrically opposite, as to the hopes 
 with which the negotiation was commenced and carried on, 
 and what is curious is, the grounds of the hopes on the one 
 side, and the despair on the other, are exactly the same. The 
 logical conclusion from the common premises is, indeed, in 
 favour of the noble lord, for they are agreed that the enemj'- 
 was far from giving the least degree of countenance to any 
 such hopes; and that they proceeded, in spite of every discour- 
 agement which the enemy had thrown in their way. But 
 there is another material point in which they do not seem to 
 differ ; that is to say, the result of the desperate experiment 
 of the noble lord, and of the promising attempt of the great 
 minister, in satisfying the people of England, and in causing 
 discontent to the people of France ; or, as the minister ex- 
 presses it, " in uniting England and in dividing France." 
 
 For my own part, though I perfectly agreed with the noble 
 lord, that the attempt was desperate, so desperate indeed as 
 to deserve Ms name of an experiment, yet no fair man can 
 possibly doubt that the minister was perfectly sincere in his 
 proceeding, and that, from his ardent wishes for peace with 
 the regicides, he was led to conceive nopes which were founded 
 
294 LETTERS OS A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 rather in his vehement desires, than in any rational ground 
 of pohtical speculation. Convinced as 1 am of this, it had 
 been better, in my humble opinion, that persons of great 
 name and authority had abstained from those topics which 
 had been used to call the minister's sincerity into doubt, and 
 had not adopted the sentiments of the directory upon the 
 subject of all our negotiations ; for the noble lord expressly 
 says that the experiment was made for the satisfaction of 
 the country. The directory says exactly the same thing. 
 Upon granting, in consequence of our supplications, the 
 passport to Lord Malmesbury, in order to remove all sort of 
 hope from its success, they charged all our previous steps, 
 even to that moment of submissive demand to be admitted 
 to their presence, on duplicity and perfid} ; and assumed, that 
 the object of all the steps we had taken, was that " of justi- 
 fying the continuance of the war in the eyes of the English 
 nation, and of throwing all the odium of it upon the French :" 
 — " The English nation (said they) supports impatiently the 
 continuance of the war, and a reply must be made to its com- 
 plaints and its reproaches ; the parliament is about to be 
 opened, and the mouths of the orators who will declaim against 
 the war must be shut ; the demands for new taxes must be justi" 
 Jied ; and, to obtain these results, it is necessary to be able to 
 advance, that the French governnient refuses every reasonable 
 proposition for peace y 1 am sorry tliat the language of the 
 friends to ministry and the enemies to mankind should be so 
 much in unison. 
 
 As to the fact in which these parties are so well agreed, 
 that the experiment ought to have been made for the satis- 
 faction of this country, (meaning the country of England,) 
 it were well to be wished that persons of eminence would 
 cease to make themselves representatives of the people of 
 England, without a letter of attorney, or any other act of 
 procuration. In legal construction, the sense of the people 
 of England is to be collected from tlie House of Commons; 
 and, though I do not deny the possibility of an abuse of this 
 trust as well as any other, yet I think that, without the 
 most weighty reasons, and in the most urgent exigencies, it 
 is liighly dangerous to suppose that tlie House speaks any- 
 thing contrary to the sense of the people, or that the repre- 
 ftentative is silent w hen the sense of the constituent, strongi> , 
 
LETTEHS OS A BEGICIDE PEACE. 205 
 
 decidedly, and upon long deliberation, speaks audibly upon 
 any topic of moment. If there is a doubt, whether the 
 ; House of Commons represents perfectly the whole Commons 
 I of Great Britain, (I think there is none,) there can be no 
 1 question but that the Lords and the Commons together repre- 
 i sent the sense of the whole people to the Crown and to the 
 i world. Thus it is when we speak legally and constitutionally. 
 I In a great measure, it is equally true when we speak prudeuti- 
 ally; but I do not pretend to assert, that there are no other 
 ■ principles to guide discretion than those which are or can be 
 I fixed by some law, or some constitution ; yet before the legally 
 i presumed sense of the people should be superseded by a siip- 
 I position of one more real, (as in all cases, where a legal 
 I presumption is to be ascertained,) some strong proofs ought 
 ! to exist of a contrary disposition in the people at large, and 
 I some decisive indications of their desire upon this subject. 
 i There can be no question, that previously to a direct message 
 from the Crown neither House of Parliament did indicate any- 
 I thing like a wish for such advances as we have made, or such 
 negotiations as we have carried on. The parliament has 
 ! assented to ministry ; it is not ministry that has obeyed the 
 I impulse of parliament. The people at large have their 
 I organs through which they can speak to parliament and to 
 the Crown by a respectful petition, and, though not with ab- 
 ! solute authority, yet with weight, they can instruct their 
 I representatives. The freeholders and other electors in this 
 ! kingdom have another and a surer mode of expressing their 
 I sentiments concerning the conduct which is held by mem- 
 I bers of parliament. In the middle of these transactions, 
 i this last opportunity has been held out to them. In all 
 these points of view I positively assert, that the people have 
 : nowhere, and in no way, expressed their wish of throwing 
 '. themselves and their sovereign at the feet of a wicked and 
 rancorous foe. to supplicate mercy, which, from the nature of 
 j that foe, and from the circumstances of affairs, we had no 
 I sort of ground to expect. It is undoubtedly the business 
 I of ministers very much to consult the inclinations of tlie 
 people, but they ought to take great care that they do nut 
 receive that inclination from the few persons who may hap- 
 pen to approach them. The petty interests of such gentle- 
 men, their low conceptions of things, their fears arising from 
 
296 LLTTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACS. ' 
 
 the danger to wliich the very ai-duous and critical situation 
 of public affairs may expose their places ; their apprehen- 
 sions from the hazards to which the discontents of a few , 
 popular men at elections may expose their seats in parlia- 
 ment ; all these causes trouble and confuse the representa- ; 
 tions which they make to ministers of the real temper of; 
 the nation. If "ministers, instead of following the great in-! 
 dications of the constitution, proceed on such reports, they; 
 will take the wliispers of a cabal for the voice of the people,: 
 and the counsels of imprudent timidity for the wisdom of a' 
 nation. 
 
 I well remember, that when the fortune of the war began '■ 
 and it began pretty early, to turn, as it is common and ; 
 natural, we were dejected by the losses that had been sus- : 
 tained, and with the doubtful issue of the contests that were ■ 
 foreseen. But not a word was uttered that supposed peace, ; 
 upon any proper terms, was in our power, or therefore that 
 it should be in our desire. As usual, with or without reason, i 
 we criticised the conduct of the war, and compared our for-; 
 tunes \\ith our measures. The mass of the nation went no i 
 further. For I suppose that you always understood me ast 
 speaking of that very preponderating part of the nation,, 
 which had always been equally adverse to the French princi- ; 
 pies, and to the general progress of their Eevolution through-; 
 out Europe ; considering the final success of their arms andi 
 the triumph of their principles as one and the same thing. \ 
 
 The first means that were used, by any one professing ouf ; 
 principles, to change the minds of this party upon that sub-'; 
 ject, appeared in a small pamphlet circulated with consider-- 
 able industry. It was commonly given to the noble person 
 himself, who has passed judc^ment upon all hopes fromi: 
 negotiation, and justified our late aborti\e attempt only n»i 
 an experiment made to satisfy the country ; and yet that 
 pamphlet led the way in endeavouring to dissatisfy that very, 
 country with the continuance of tlie war, and to raise in the 
 people the most sanguine expectations from some such' 
 course of negotiation as has been fatally pursued. Tliis 
 leads me to suppose (and I am glad to have reason for sup-' 
 posing) that there was no foundation for attributing the' 
 performance in question to that author; but without men-' 
 tioning his naDie in the title-pag^^, it passed for his, and does ' 
 
LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 207 
 
 ptill pass uncontradicted. It was entitled, " Eeinarks on the 
 apparent Circumstances of the War in the fourth Week of 
 , October, 1795." 
 
 j This sanguine little kingfisher (not prescient of the storm, 
 ! as by his instinct he ought to be) appearing at that uncer- 
 > tain season, before the riggs of old Michaelmas were yet 
 , well composed, and when the inclement storms of winter 
 ! were approaching, began to flicker over the seas, and was as 
 ; busy in building its halcyon nest as if the angry ocean had 
 been soothed by the genial breath of May. Very unfor- 
 tunately this auspice was instantly followed by a speech 
 from the throne, in the very spirit and principles of that 
 pamphlet. 
 
 I say nothing of the newspapers, which are undoubtedly 
 j in the interest, and which are supposed by some to be 
 j directly or indirectly under the influence, of ministers, and 
 I which, with less authority than the pamphlet which I speak 
 i of, had indeed for some time before held a similar language, 
 i in direct contradiction to their more early tone : insomuch, 
 I that T can speak it with a certain assurance, that very many, 
 , who wished to administration as well as you and I do, 
 I thought that in giving their opinion in favour of this peace, 
 I they followed the opinion of ministry — they were conscious 
 i that they did not lead it. My inference therefore is this 
 ' that the negotiation, whatever its merits may be, in the 
 : general principle and policy of undertaking it, is, what every 
 j political measure in general ought to be, the sole work of 
 ! administration ; and that if it was an experiment to satisfy 
 I anybody, it was to satisfy those, whom the ministers were in 
 I the daily habit of condemning, and by whom they were daily 
 I condemned ; I mean, the Leaders of the Opposition in Par- 
 I liament. I am certain that the ministers were then, and are 
 i now, invested with the fullest confidence of the major part 
 I of the nation, to pursue such measures of peace or war as 
 I the nature of things shall suggest as most adapted to the 
 I public safety. It is in this light therefore as a measure 
 ' which ought to have been avoided, and ought not to be re- 
 peated, that I take the liberty of discussing the merits of 
 this systemx of regicide negotiations. It is not a matter of 
 I light experiment that leaves us where it found us. Peace 
 I or war are the great hinges upon which the very being of 
 
298 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 nations turns. IsTegotiations are the means of making 
 peace or preventing war, and are therefore of more serious 
 importance than ahnost any single event of war can pos- 
 sibly be. 
 
 At the very outset I do not hesitate to affirm, that this 
 country in particular, and the public law in general, have 
 suffisred more by this negotiation of experiment, than by all 
 the battles together that we have lost from the commence- 
 ment of this century to this time, when it touched so nearly 
 to its close. I therefore have the misfortune not to coincide 
 in opinion with the great statesman who set on foot a ne- 
 gotiation, as he said, " in spite of the constant opposition he 
 had met with from France." He admits, " that the difficulty 
 in this negotiation became most seriously increased indeed, 
 by the situation in which we were placed, and the manner 
 in which alone tlie enemy would admit of a negotiation." 
 This situation so described, and so truly described, rendered 
 our solicitation not only degrading, but from the very outset ' 
 evidently hopeless. 
 
 I find it asserted, and even a merit taken for it, " that this' 
 country surmounted every difficulty of form and etiquette: 
 which the enemy had thrown in our way." An odd way of 
 surmounting a difficulty by cowering under it! I find it 
 asserted that an heroic resolution had been taken, and 
 avowed in parliam.ent, previous to this negotiation, " iliat no' 
 consideration of etiquette should stand in the way of it." ' 
 
 Etiquette, if 1 understand rightly the term, which in any' 
 extent is of modern usage, had its original application to: 
 those ceremonial and formal observances practised at courts, 
 which had been established by long usage, in order to 
 preserve the sovereign power from the rude intrusion ot: 
 licentious familiarity, as well as to preserve majesty itselt 
 from a disposition to consult its ease at tlie ex])ense of its' 
 dignity. Tlie term came afterwards to have a greater latU 
 tude, and to be employed to signify certain formal methodi", 
 used in the transactions between sovereign states. ! 
 
 In the more limited as well as in the larger sense of tht 
 term, without knowing what the etiquette is, it is impossible' 
 to determine whether it is a vain and captious punctilio, or 
 a form necessary to preserve decorum in character aiul ordei' 
 in business. I readily admit, that nothing tends to fa<.'ilitatt 
 
LETTEES 0>' A EEGICIDE PEACE. 209 
 
 \e issue of all public transactions more than a mutual 
 fsposition, in the parties treating, to waive all ceremony. 
 !it the use of this temporary suspension of the recognised 
 }odes of respect consists in its being mutual, and in the 
 ;irit of conciliation, in which all ceremony is laid aside. 
 «Q the contrary, when one of the parties to a treaty in- 
 i?nches himself up to the chin in these ceremonies, and will 
 ]^t on his side abate a single punctilio, and that all the 
 mcessions are upon one side only, the party so conceding 
 ces by this act place himself in a relation of inferiority, and 
 Hereby fundamentally subverts that equality which is of 
 "je very essence of all treaty. 
 
 After this formal act of degradation, it was but a matter 
 d course, that gross insult should be offered to our ambas- 
 iior, and that he should tamely submit to it. He found 
 knself provoked to complain of the atrocious libels against 
 K public character and his person, which appeared in a 
 jper under the avowed patronage of that government. The 
 i^cide directory, on this complaint, did not recognise the 
 Jper ; and that was all. They did not punish, they did not 
 nmiss, they did not even reprimand, the writer. As to our 
 abassador.'this total want of reparation for the injury was 
 ^issed by under the pretence of despising it. 
 
 jln this but too serious business, it is not possible here to 
 roid a smile. Contempt is not a thing to be despised. It 
 iiy be borne with a calm and equal mind, but no man by 
 king his head high can pretend that he does not perceive 
 U scorns that are poured down upon him from above. All 
 tj?se sudden complaints of injury, and all these deliberate 
 ^ibmissions to it, are the inevitable consequences of the 
 sjuation in which we had placed ourselves ; a situation 
 vierein the insults were such as nature would not enable us 
 tbear, and circumstances would not permit us to resent. 
 
 It was not long, however, after this contempt of contempt 
 vpn the part of our ambassador (who by the way repre- 
 s.ited his sovereign) that a new object was furnished for 
 ciplaying sentiments of the same kind, though the case was 
 iiinitely aggravated. Xot the ambassador, but the king 
 Inself, was libelled and insulted ; libelled, not by a creature 
 Cj the directory, but by the directory itself. At least so 
 Ijrd Malmesburv understood it, and so he answered it io 
 
SOO LETTERS ON A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 bis note of the 12th December, 1796, in which he eaye 
 " With regard to the offensive and injurious insinuation 
 which are contained in that paper, and which are only calci; 
 lated to throw new obstacles in the way of that accommodr 
 tion, which the French government profess to desire, TH" 
 KING HAS DEEMED IT FAE BENEATH HI 
 DIGNITY to permit an answer to be made to them on h 
 part, in any manner whatsoever.*' 
 
 T am of opinion, that if his Majesty had kept aloof froi 
 that wash and off-scouring of everything that is low an 
 barbarous in the world, it might be well thought unwortl 
 of his dignity to take notice of such scurrilities. They mu 
 be considered as much the natural expression of that kind 
 animal, as it is the expression of the feelings of a dog to bar. 
 but when the king had been advised to recognise not on ' 
 the monstrous composition as a sovereign power, but, in co 
 duct, to admit something in it like a superiority ; when tl' 
 bench of regicide was made, at least, co-ordinate with 1 
 throne, and raised upon a platform full as elevated, tl 
 treatment could not be passed by under the appearance 
 despising it. It would not, indeed, have been proper to ke, 
 up a war of the same kind, but an immediate, manly, a 
 decided resentment ought to have been the consequen" 
 "We ought not to have waited for the disgraceful dismis; 
 of our ambassador. There are cases in which we may p: 
 tend to sleep : but the wittol rule has some sense in it, JV 
 omnibus dormio. AVe might, however, have seemed ignon 
 of the affront ; but what Mas the fact ? Did we dissemble ; 
 pass it by in silence ? When dignity is talked of, a languf ' 
 which I did not expect to hear in such a transaction, I m; 
 say what all the world must feel, that it was not for the kin } 
 dignity to notice this insult, and not to resent it. T.J 
 mode of proceeding is formed on new ideas of the coi • 
 spondence between sovereign powers. 
 
 This was far from the only ill eflect of the policy of • 
 gradation. The state of inferiority in which we were pla i 
 in this vain attempt at treaty, drove us headlong from err 
 into error, and led us to wander far away, not only froml 
 the paths which have been beaten in the old course of pel,- 
 cal communication between mankind, but out of the w.» 
 even of the most common prudence. Against all rules, af 
 
LETTERS Oy A REGICIDE PEACE. 30l 
 
 re had met nothing but rebuffs in return to all our proposals, 
 s'e made two confidential communications to those in whom 
 ve had no confidence, and who repoi?ed no confidence in us. 
 What was worse, we were fully aware of the madness of the 
 tep we were taking. Ambassadors are not sent to a hostile 
 )0wer, persevering in sentiments of hostility, to make candid, 
 ^confidential, and amicable communications. Hitherto the 
 ,Vorld has considered it as the duty of an ambassador in such a 
 •ituation to be cautious, guarded, dexterous, and circumspect. 
 Lt is true that mutual confidence and common interest dis- 
 nense with all rules, smooth the rugged way, remove every 
 )bstacle, and make all things plain and level. TThen, in the 
 ast century, Temple and De Witt negotiated the famous 
 riple alliance, their candour, their freedom, and the most 
 confidential disclosures, were the result of true policy. 
 'Vccordingly, in spite of all the dilatory forms of the complex 
 government of the United Provinces, the treaty was con- 
 cluded in three days. It did not take a much longer time 
 10 bring the same state (that of Holland) through a still 
 inore complicated transaction, that of the Grand Alliance. 
 |But in the present case, this unparalleled candour, this un- 
 bardonable want of reserve, produced, what might have been 
 [expected from it, the most serious evils. It instructed the 
 |3nemy in the whole plan of our demands and concessions. 
 It made the most fatal discoveries. 
 
 ' And first, it induced us to lay down the basis of a treaty 
 ■ivhich itself had nothing to rest upon ; it seems, we thought 
 live had gained a great point in getting this basis admitted — 
 that is, a basis of mutual compensation and exchange of con- 
 quests. If a disposition to peace, and with any reasonable 
 Assurance, bad been previously indicated, such a plan of 
 lirrangement might with propriety and safety be proposed, 
 because these arrangements were not, in efl:ect, to make the 
 basis, but a part of the superstructure, of the fabric of 
 ^pacification. The order of things would thus be reversed. 
 The mutual disposition to peace would form the reasonable 
 base, upon which the scheme of compensation upon one side 
 or the other might be constructed. This truly fundamental 
 base being once laid, all differences arising from the spirit 
 bt huckstering and barter might be easily adjusted. If 
 the restoration of peace, with a view ta, itW>- astablishment 
 
 ^l\t... 
 
 nFPAKTMEST OF 
 
302 LETTEIlS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ionali 
 
 of a fair balance of power in Europe, had been made the 
 basis of the treaty, the reciprocal value of the compensationa 
 could not be estimated according to their proportion to each 
 other, but according to their proportionate relation to that 
 end: to that great end the whole would be subservient.' 
 The effect of the treaty would be in a manner secured' 
 before the detail of particulars was begun, and for a plain ^ 
 reason, because the hostile spirit on both sides had beeu 
 conjured do\vn ; but if, in the full fury and unappeasedj 
 rancour of war, a little traffic is attempted, it is easy to divinej 
 what must be the consequence to those who endeavoured to^ 
 open that kind of petty commerce. 
 
 To illustrate what I have said, I go back no further thai- 
 to the two last treaties of Paris, and to the treaty of Aix-la-. 
 Chapelle, which preceded the first of these two treaties o1, 
 Paris by about fourteen or fifteen years. I do not meai. 
 here to criticise any of them. My opinions upon some 
 ])articulars of the treaty of Paris in 1763 are published in s 
 pamphlet,' which your recollection will readily bring int( 
 your view. I recur to them only to show that their basi? 
 liad not been, and never could have been, a mere dealing o1 
 truck and barter, but that the parties being willing, fron. 
 common fatigue or common suffering, to put an end to j 
 war, the first object of w^hich had either been obtained oi 
 despaired of, the lesser objects were not thought worth th< 
 price of further contest. The parties understanding on( 
 another, so much was given away without considering fron 
 whose budget it came, not as the value of the objects, but a^ 
 the value of peace to the parties might require. At thi'j 
 last treaty of Paris the subjugation of America being dei. . 
 spaired of on the part of Great Britain, and the independenc* i 
 of America being looked upon as secure on the part of France 
 the main cause of the war was removed ; and then the con 
 quests which France had made upon us (for we had mad» 
 none of importance upon her) were surrendered with suffi 
 cient facility. Peace was restored as peace. In America th«i 
 parties stood as they were possessed. A limit was to b<i 
 settled, but settled as a limit to secure that peace, and not 
 at all on a system of equivalents, for which, as we then stoo< '| 
 with the United States, there w^ere little or no materials. i i| 
 * Observations on a Late State of the Nation. i U 
 
'letters Oy A REGICIDE PEACE. 303 
 
 At tlie preceding treaty of Paris, I mean that of 1763, 
 
 lere was nothing at all on which to fix a basis of compensa- 
 
 on from reciprocal cession of conquests. They were all 
 
 1 cue side. The question with us was not what we were to 
 
 ■ceive, and on what consideration, but what we were to keep 
 
 T indemnity, or to cede for peace. Accordingly no place 
 
 .'iug left for barter, sacrifices were made on our side to 
 
 ?aoe ; and we surrendered to the French their most valuable 
 
 issessions in the West Indies without any equivalent. The 
 
 St of Europe fell soon after into its ancient order ; and 
 
 le Grerman war ended exactly where it had begun. 
 
 I The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was built upon a similar 
 
 iasis. All the conquests in Europe had been made by 
 
 Vance. She had subdued the Austrian jSTetherlands, and 
 
 I'oken open the gates of Holland. We had taken nothing 
 
 1 the West Indies, and Cape Breton was a trifling business 
 
 icleed. France gave up all for peace. The allies had given 
 
 p all that was ceded at Utrecht, Louis the Fourteenth 
 
 lade all, or nearly all, the cessions at Kyswick, and at 
 
 ameguen. In all those treaties, and in all the preceding, 
 
 5 well as in the others wbich intervened, the question never 
 
 ad been that of barter. The balance of power had been 
 
 \ er assumed as the known common law of Europe at all 
 
 imes, and by all powers; the question had only been (as it 
 
 uist happen) on the more or less inclination of that balance. 
 
 . This general balance was regarded in four principal points 
 
 |f view : — the great middle balance, which comprehended 
 
 jlreat Britain, France, and Spain ; the balance of the 
 
 iroRTH ; the balance, external and internal, of GtEBMant ; 
 
 nd the balance of Italy. In all those systems of balance, 
 
 ilugland was the power to whose custody it was thought it 
 
 light be most safely committed. 
 
 , France, as she happened to stand, secured tbe balance, or 
 •ndangered it. Without question she had been long the 
 lecurity for the balance of Germany, and, under her auspices, 
 ihe system, if not formed, had been at least perfected. She 
 Vas so in some measure with regard to Italy, more than 
 occasionally. She had a clear interest in the balance of the 
 lorth, and had endeavoured to preserve it. But when we 
 })egan to treat with the present France, or more properly 
 [o prostrate ourselves to her^ and to try if we should be 
 
304 LETTERS 0^* A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 admitted to ransom o\ir allies, upon a system of mutua 
 concession and compensation, we had not one of the usua 
 facilities. Eor first, we had not the smallest indication of ; 
 desire for peace on the part of the enemy ; but rather th. 
 direct contrary. Men do not make sacrifices to obtain wha 
 they do not desire ; and as for the balance of power, it wa 
 so far from being admitted by France either on the genera 
 system, or with regard to the particular systems that I hav. 
 mentioned, that in the whole body of their authorized o 
 encouraged reports and discussions upon the theory of th' 
 diplomatic system, they constantly rejected the vei-y idea o 
 the balance of power, and treated it as the true cause of al 
 the wars and calamities that had afflicted Europe : and thei 
 practice was correspondent to the dogmatic positions the 
 had laid down. The Empire and the Papacy it was thei 
 great object to destroy, and this, now openly avowed am 
 stedfastly acted upon, might have been discerned with ver 
 little accuteness of sight, from the very first dawnings of th 
 Kevolution, to be the main drift of their policy. For the 
 professed a resolution to destroy everything which can hoi 
 states together by the tie of opinion. 
 
 Exploding, therefore, all sorts of balances, they avow thei 
 design to erect themselves into a new description of empire 
 wliich is not grounded on any balance, but forms a sort c 
 impious hierarchy, of which France is to be the head and th 
 guardian. The law of this their empire is anything rathe 
 than the public law of Europe, the ancient conventions of it 
 several states, or the ancient opinions which assign to ther' 
 superiority or pre-eminence of any sort, or any other kind (I 
 connexion in virtue of ancient relations. Tliey permit, an:: 
 that is all, the temporary existence of some of the old con 
 m unities : but whilst they give to these tolerated states thi' 
 temporary respite in order to secure them in a condition C 
 real dependence on themselves, they invest them on ever; 
 side by a body of republics, formed on the model, and depenc 
 ent ostensibly, as well as substantially, on the will, of th 
 mother republic, to which they owe their origin. These ar 
 to be so many garrisons to check and control the stater 
 which are to be permitted to remain on the old model, uiit ' 
 they are ripe for a change. It is in this manner that Fraucr 
 on ii(;r new system, means to form an universal empire, b! 
 
! LETTERS Olf A EEGICIDE PEACE. 805 
 
 producing an universal revolution. By this means, forming 
 a new code of communities according to what she calls the 
 uatural rights of man and of states, she pretends to secure 
 eternal peace to the world, guaranteed by ner generosity and 
 justice, which are to grow with the extent of her power. To 
 talk of the balance of power to the governors of such a 
 country, was a jargon which they could not understand even 
 through an interpreter. Before men can transact any affair, 
 :hey must have a common language to speak, and some com- 
 iion recognised principles on which they can argue ; other- 
 '.rise all is cross-purpose and confusion. It was, therefore, 
 |in essential preliminary to the whole proceeding to fix, w^he- 
 |:her the balance of power, the liberties and laws of the empire, 
 Inid the treaties of different belligerent powers in past times, 
 j,vhen they put an end to hostilities, were to be considered as 
 l:he basis of the present negotiation. 
 
 ' The whole of the enemy's plan was knowTi when Lord 
 .Malmesbury was sent with his scrap of equivalents to Paris. 
 Tet, in this unfortunate attempt at negotiation, instead of 
 jxing these points, and assuming the balance of power and 
 he peace of Europe as the basis to which all cessions on all 
 i;ides were to be subservient, our solicitor for peace was 
 llirected to reverse that order. He was directed to make 
 inutual concessions, on a mere comparison of their market- 
 ible value, the base of treaty. The balance of power was to 
 ;)e thrown in as an inducement, and a sort of make- weight to 
 upply the manifest deficiency, which must stare him and the 
 vorld in the face, between those objects which he was to 
 iequire the enemy to surrender, and those which he had to 
 i>ffer as a fair equivalent. 
 
 I To give any force to this inducement, and to make it 
 •.newer even a secondary purpose of equalising equivalents 
 laving in themselves no natural proportionate value, it is 
 upposed, that the enemy, contrary to the most notorious 
 i'lct, did admit this balance of power to be of some value, 
 |Teat or small; whereas it is plain that in the enemy's 
 istimate of things, the consideration of the balance of power, 
 8 we have said before, was so far from going in diminution 
 f the value of what the directory was desired to surrender, 
 r of giving an additional price to our objects offered in ex- 
 hange, that the hope of the utter destruction cf that balance 
 I to;., y X 
 
306 LETTEES ON A BEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 became a new motive to the junto of regicides for preserviLg, 
 as a means for realizing that hope, what we wished them 
 to abandon. 
 
 Thus stood the basis of the treaty on laying the first stone 
 of the foundation. At the very best, upon our side, the 
 question stood upon a mere naked bargain and sale. Un- 
 thinking people here triumphed when they thought they had 
 obtained it, whereas when obtained as a basis of treaty, it 
 was just the worst we could possibly have chosen. As to 
 our offer to cede a most unprotitable, and, indeed, beggarly, 
 chargeable counting-house or two in the East Indies, we ought 
 not to presume that they could consider this as anything 
 else than a mockery. As to anything of real value, we had 
 nothing under heaven to offer (for which we were not our- 
 selves in a very dubious struggle) except the island of Mar- 
 tinico only. When this object was to be weighed against the ' 
 directorial conquests, merely as an object of a value at market, 
 the principle of barter became perfectly ridiculous ; a single 
 quarter in the single city of Amsterdam was worth ten Mar- 
 tinicos ; and would have sold for many more years' purchase 
 in any market overt in Europe. How was this gross and 
 glaring defect in the objects of exchange to be supplied?— 
 It was to be made up by argument. And what was thai 
 argument ? — The extreme utility of possessions in the Wesi 
 Indies to the augmentation of the naval power of Prance. A . 
 very curious topic of argument to be proposed and insisted 
 on by an ambassador of Great Britain. It is directly anc 
 plainly this — " Come, we know that of all things you wish i 
 naval power, and it is natural you should, who wish to destro^^ 
 the very sources of the British greatness, to overpower ou 
 marine, to destroy our commerce, to eradicate our foreigi 
 ■influence, and to lay us open to an invasion, which at oni, 
 stroke may complete our servitude and ruin, and expunge u, 
 from among the nations of the earth. Here I have it in ni_ 
 budget, the infallible arcanum for that purpose. You are bu 
 novices in the art of naval resources. Let you have i\\. 
 West Indies back, and your marithne preponderance is se 
 cured, for which you would do well to be moderate in you 
 demands upon the Austrian Netherlands." 
 
 Under any circumstances, this is a most extraordinar 
 topic of argument ; but it is rendered by much the mor. 
 
l"" LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 307 
 
 iunaccouLtable, when we are told tha-fc if the war has been 
 diverted from the great object of establishing society arid 
 ^ood order in Europe by destroying the usurpation in France : 
 this diversion was made to increase the naval resources and 
 power of Great Britain, and to lower, if not annihilate, those 
 3f the marine of France. I leave all this to the very serious 
 reflection of every Englishman. 
 
 1 This basis was no sooner admitted, than the rejection of a 
 treaty upon that sole foundation was a thing of course. The 
 3uemy did not think it worthy of a discussion, as in truth it 
 Ivvas not ; and immediately, as usual, they began, in the most 
 JDpprobrious and most insolent manner, to question our sin- 
 berity and good faith. Whereas, in trutb, there was no one 
 JBymptom wanting of openness and fair dealing. What could 
 ;be more fair than to lay open to an enemy all that yoii 
 !;dshed to obtain, and the price you meant to pay for it, and 
 bo desire him to imitate your ingenuous proceeding, and in 
 ;he same manner to open his honest heart to you ? Here 
 tvas no want of fair dealing, but there was too evidently a fault 
 of another kind ; there was much weakness — there was an 
 ?ager and impotent desire of associating with this unsocial 
 , lower, and of attempting the connexion by any means, how- 
 ever manifestly feeble and ineffectual. The event was com* 
 knitted to chance ; that is, to such a manifestation of the 
 lesire of France for peace, as wonld induce the directory to 
 brget the advantages they had in the system of barter. Ac- 
 ';ordingly, the general desire for such a peace was triumph- 
 tntly reported from the moment that Lord Malmesbury had 
 jet his foot on shore at Calais. 
 
 , It has been said, that the directory was compelled against 
 {ts will to accept the basis of barter (as if that had tended 
 'o accelerate the work of pacification !) by the voice of all 
 rVance. Had this been the case, the directors would have 
 ontinued to listen to that voice to which it seems they were 
 |o obedient ; they would have proceeded with the negotia- 
 lion upon that basis. But the fact is, that they instantly 
 !>roke up the negotiation, as soon as they had obliged our 
 'mbassador to violate all the principles of treaty, and weakly, 
 ashly, and unguardedly to expose, without any counter- 
 jToposition, the whole of our project with regard to our- 
 ielves and our allies, and without holding out the smallest 
 X 2 
 
308 LETTERS ON A HEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 hope that they would admit the smallest part of our pre- 
 teDsions. 
 
 When they had thus drawn from us all that they could 
 draw out, they expelled Lord Malmesbury, and they ap- 
 pealed, for the propriety of their conduct, to that very 
 France which, we thought proper to suppose, had driven 
 them to this fine concession : and I do not find that in 
 either division of the family of thieves, — the younger branch, 
 or the elder, or in any other body whatsoever, — there was 
 any indignation excited, or any tumult raised, or anything 
 like the virulence of opposition which was shown to the 
 king's ministers here, on account of that transaction. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, it seems a hope is still enter- 
 tained that the directory will have that tenderness for the 
 carcase of their country, by whose very distemper, and on 
 whose festering wounds, like vermin, they are fed; that 
 these pious patriots will of themselves come into a more 
 moderate and reasonable way of thinking and acting. In 
 the name of wonder, what has inspired our ministry with 
 this hope any more than with their former expectations ? 
 
 Do these hopes only arise from continual disappointment ? 
 Do they grow out of the usual grounds of despair ? What 
 is there to encourage them in the conduct, or even in the 
 declarations, of the ruling powers in France, from the first 
 formation of their mischievous republic to the hour in which 
 I write ? Is not the directory composed of the same junto ? 
 Are they not the identical men, who, from the base and 
 sordid vices which belonged to their original place and situa- 
 tion, aspired to the dignity of crimes ; and from the dirtiest, 
 lowest, most fraudulent, and most knavish, of chicaners, as- 
 cended in the scale of robbery, sacrilege, and assassination 
 in all its forms, till at last they had imbrued their impious 
 hands in the blood of their sovereign ? Is it from these 
 men that we are to hope for this paternal tenderness to 
 their country, and this sacred regard for the peace and 
 happiness of all nations ? 
 
 But it seems there is still another lurking hope, akin to 
 that which duped us so egregiously before, when our de- 
 lightful basis was accepted; we still flatter ourselves that 
 the public voice of France will compel this directory to 
 more moderation. Whence does this hope arise? Wht* 
 
tlETfEll^ 0^ A feEOlClDE tEACE. 309 
 
 public voice is there in France? There are, indeed, some writers 
 who, since this monster of a directory has obtained a great, 
 regular, military force to guard them, are indulged in a suf- 
 ficient liberty of writing, and some of them write well un- 
 doubtedly. But the world knows that in France there is 
 Qo public, that the country is composed but of two descrip- 
 tions, — audacious tyrants, and trembling slaves. The con- 
 tests between the tyrants is the only vital principle that can 
 be discerned in France. The only thing which there apj^eara 
 like spirit, is amongst their late associates, and fastest 
 ifriends of the directory, the more furious and un tameable 
 jpart of the Jacobins. This discontented member of the 
 jfaction does almost balance the reigning divisions ; and it 
 threatens every moment to predominate. For the present, 
 however, the dread of their fury forms some sort of security 
 ito their fellows, who now exercise a more regular, and there- 
 fore a somewhat less ferocious, tyranny. Most of the slaves 
 choose a quiet, however reluctant, submission to those who 
 are somewhat satiated with blood, and who, like wolves, are 
 a little more tame from being a little less hungry, in prefer- 
 ence to an irruption of the famished devourers, who are 
 prowling and howling about the fold. 
 
 I This circumstance assures some degree of permanence to 
 jthe power of those, whom we know to be permanently 
 our rancorous and implacable enemies. But to those very 
 enemies, who have sworn our destruction, we have ourselves 
 given a further and far better security, by rendering the 
 cause of the royalists desperate. Those brave and virtuous, 
 ;but unfortunate adherents to the ancient constitution of 
 their country, after the miserable slaughters which have 
 been made in that body, after all their losses by emigration, 
 are still numerous, but unable to exert themselves against 
 the force of the usurpation, evidently countenanced and 
 upheld by those very princes who had called them to arm 
 ;for the support of the legal monarchy. Where then, after 
 chasing these fleeting hopes of ours from point to point of 
 ithe political horizon, are they at last really found ? Not 
 where, under Providence, the hopes of Englishmen used to 
 be placed, in our own courage and in our own virtues, but 
 in the moderation and virtue of the most atrocious monsters 
 ;that have ever disgraced and plagued mankind. 
 
310 ».^x.l.KS ON A It£OIClD£ PEACE. 
 
 The only excuse to be made for all our mendicaufc diplo- j 
 macy is the same as in the case of ail other mendicancy ;— ' 
 namely, that it has been founded on absolute necessity. 
 This deserves consideration. Necessity, as it has no law, so 
 it has no shame : but moral necessity is not like metaphysical 
 or even physical.- In that category it is a word of loose 
 isignification, and conveys different ideas to diiferent minds 
 To the low-minded, the slightest necessity becomes an invin- 
 cible necessity. " The slothful man saith, There is a lion ir 
 the way, and I shall be devoured in the streets." But wher i 
 the necessity pleaded is not in the nature of things, but ii I 
 the vices of him who alleges it, the whining tones of common 
 place beggarly rhetoric produce nothing but indignation 
 because they indicate a desire of keeping up a dishonourabk 
 existence, without utility to others, and without dignity t( 
 itself; because they aim at obtaining the dues of labou. 
 without industry ; and by frauds would draw from the com 
 passion of others what men ought to owe to their own spiri 
 and their own exertions. 
 
 I am thoroughly satisfied that if we degrade ourselves, i 
 is the degradation which will subject us to the yoke of neces 
 sity, and not that it is necessity which has brought on oui 
 degradation. In this same chaos, where light and darknesi 
 are struggling together, the open subscription of last year 
 with all its circumstances, must have given us no littl< 
 glimmering of hope ; not (as I have heard, it was vainlj 
 discoursed) that the loan could prove a crutch to a lam« 
 negotiation abroad ; and that the whiff and wind of it mus' 
 at once have disposed the enemies of all tranquillity to i 
 desire for peace. Judging on the face of facts, if on them r 
 had any effect at all, it had tlie direct contrary effect ; fot 
 very soon after the loan became public at Paris, the nego. 
 tiution ended, and our ambassador was ignominiously ex 
 pelled. My view of this was different : I liked the loan no" 
 from the influence which it might have on the enemy, bu' 
 on account of the temper which it indicated in our owi 
 people. This alone is a consideration of any importtince 
 because all calculation formed upon a supposed relation o 
 the habitudes of others to our own, under the present cir 
 oumstances, is weak and fallacious. The adversary nmst b« 
 judged, not by what we are, or by what we wish him to be 
 
LITTERS ON A KEaiCIDE PEACE. 311 
 
 Irntby what we must know he actually is : unless we choose 
 
 to shut our eyes and our ears to the uniform tenor of all 
 
 his discourses, and to his uniform course in all his actions. 
 
 : We may be deluded ; but we cannot pretend that we have 
 
 been disappointed. The old rule of Ne te qiicBsiveris extra, 
 
 is a precept as available in policy as it is in morals. Let us 
 
 leave off speculating upon the disposition and the wants of 
 
 I the enemy. Let us descend into our own bosoms ; let us 
 
 ask ourselves what are our duties and what are our means 
 
 bi discharging them. In what heart are you at home ? — 
 
 I How far may an English minister confide in the affections, 
 
 i in the confidence, in the force of an English people ? What 
 
 I does he find us when he puts us to the proof of what English 
 
 ! interest and English honour demand ? It is as furnishing an 
 
 I answer to these questions th-at I consider the circumstances 
 
 i of the loan. The effect on the enemy is not in what he may 
 
 I speculate on our resources, but in what he shall feel from 
 
 our arms. 
 
 The circumstances of the loan have proved beyond a doubt 
 
 ! three capital points, which, if they are properly used, may 
 
 ! be advantageous to the future liberty and happiness of 
 
 I mankind. In the first place, the loan demonstrates, in re- 
 
 I gard to instrumental resources, the competency of this king- 
 
 I dom to the assertion of the common cause, and to the 
 
 I maintenance and superintendence of that, which it is its duty 
 
 i and its glory to hold and to watch over — the balance of 
 
 j power throughout the Christian world. Secondly, it brings 
 
 i to light what, under the most discoiu*aging appearances, I 
 
 j always reckoned on ; that with its ancient physical force, not 
 
 i only unimpaired, but augmented, its ancient spirit is still 
 
 I alive in the British nation. It proves, that for their appli- 
 
 ' cation there is a spirit equal to the resources, for its energy 
 
 ' above them. It proves that there exists, though not always 
 
 ' visible, a spirit which never fails to come forth whenever it 
 
 I is ritually invoked ; a spirit which will give no equivocal re- 
 
 [ spouse, but such as will hearten the timidity, and fix the 
 
 irresolution, of hesitating prudence ; a spirit which will be 
 
 ready to perform all the tasks that shall be imposed upon it 
 
 by pubhc honour. Tliirdly, the loan displays an abundant 
 
 confidence in his Majesty's government, as administered by 
 
 his present servants, in the prosecution of a war which the 
 
312 lETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 i 
 
 people consider, not as a war made on the suggestion of' 
 ministers, and to answer the purposes of the ambition or 
 pride of statesmen, but as a war of their own, and in defence ; 
 of that very property which they expend for its support ; a 
 war for that order of things, from which everything valuable 
 that they possess is derived, and in which order alone it can : 
 possibly be maintained. , 
 
 I hear in derogation of the value of the fact, from which I \ 
 draw inferences so favourable to the spirit of the people and 
 to its just expectation from ministers, that the eighteen; 
 million loan is to be considered in no other light, than as 
 taking advantage of a very lucrative bargain held out to the ] 
 subscribers. I do not in truth believe it. All the circum- j 
 stances which attend the subscription strongly spoke a^ 
 diiferent language. Be it, however, as these detractors say. i 
 This with me derogates little, or rather nothing at all, from i 
 the political value and importance of the fact. I should be ! 
 very sorry if the transaction was not such a bargain ; other-i] 
 wise it would not have been a fair one. A corrupt andi 
 improvident loan, like everything else corrupt or prodigal, i 
 cannot be too much condemned : but there is a short-sighted j 
 parsimony still more fatal than an unforeseeing expense.! 
 The value of money must be judged like everything else fromj* 
 its rate at market. To force that market, or any market, is ' 
 of aU things the most dangerous. For a small temporary 
 benefit, the spring of all public credit might be relaxed for ' 
 ever. The monied men have a right to look to advantage in 
 the investment of their property. To advance their money, 
 they risk it ; and the risk is to be included in the price. If 
 they were to incur a loss, that loss would amount to a tax on 
 that peculiar species of property. In effect, it would be thei, 
 most unjust and impolitic of all things — unequal taxation, i 
 It would throw upon one description of persons in the com-i 
 munity, that burden which ought by fair and equitable dis-- 
 tribution to rest upon the whole. None on account of their 
 dignity should be exempt ; none (preserving due proportion) 
 on account of the scantiness of their means. The moment a 
 man is exempted from the maintenance of the community, ; 
 he is in a sort separated from it. He loses the place of a 
 citizen. 
 
 So it is in all taxation : but in a bargain, when teruii of 
 
! LBTTEUS ON A KEGICIDE PEACE. 3l3 
 
 loBB are looked for by the borrower from the lender, compul- 
 sion, or what virtually is compulsion, introduces itself into 
 the place of treaty. "When compulsion may be at all used 
 : by a state in borrowing, the occasion must determine. But 
 the compulsion ought to be known, and well defined, and 
 weL distinguished: for otherwise treaty only weakens the 
 energy of compulsion, while compulsion destroys the freedom 
 i of a bargain. The advantage of both is lost by the confusion 
 ' of things in their nature utterly unsociable. It would be to 
 introduce compulsion into that in which freedom and exist- 
 I ence are the same ; I mean credit. The moment that shame, 
 i or fear, or force, are directly or indirectly applied to a loan, 
 I credit perishes. 
 
 I There must be some impulse besides public spirit, to put 
 private interest into motion along with it. Monied men 
 ! ought to be allowed to set a value on their money ; if they 
 I did not, there could be no monied men. This desire of 
 accumulation is a principle without which the means of their 
 service to the state could not exist. The love of lucre, 
 though sometimes carried to a ridiculous, sometimes to a 
 vicious, excess, is the grand cause of prosperity to all states. 
 1 In this natural, this reasonable, this powerful, this prolific 
 I principle, it is for the satirist to expose the ridiculous : it is 
 j for the moralist to censure the vicious ; it is for the sympa- 
 thetic heart to reprobate the hard and cruel ; it is for the 
 judge to animadvert on the fraud, the extortion, and the 
 ' oppression ; but it is for the statesman to employ it as he 
 : finds it, with all its concomitant excellencies, with all its 
 I imperfections on its head. It is his part, in this case, as it 
 I is in all other cases, where he is to make use of the general 
 I energies of nature, to take them as he finds them. 
 ! After all, it is a great mistake to imagine, as too commonly, 
 almost indeed generally, it is imagined that the public bor- 
 rower and the private lender are two adverse parties with 
 different and contending interests ; and that what is given to 
 the one, is wholly taken from the other. Constituted as 
 i our system of finance and taxation is, the interests of the 
 contracting parties cannot well be separated, whatever they 
 may reciprocally intend. He who is the hard lender of 
 to-day, to-morrow is the generous contributor to his own 
 i payment. For example, the last loan is raised on public 
 
814 LETTEES ON A RE SIC IDE PEACE. 
 
 taxes, ■whicli are designed to produce annually two millioni 
 sterling. At first view, this is an annuity of two millions 
 dead charge upon the public in favour of certain monied 
 men ; but inspect the thing more nearly, follow the stream 
 in its meanders, and you will find that there is a good deal 
 of fallacy in this state of things. 
 
 I take it, that whoever considers any man's expenditure 
 ol his income, old or new, (I speak of certain classes in life,) 
 will find a full third of it to go in taxes, direct or indirect. 
 If so, this new-created income of two millions will probably 
 furnish £665,000 (I avoid broken numbers) towards the 
 payment of its own interest, or to the sinking of its own 
 capital. So it is with the whole of the public debt. Suppose 
 it any given sum, it is a fallacious estimate of the affairs of 
 a nation to consider it as a mere burthen : to a degree it is so 
 without question, but not wholly so, nor anything like it. 
 If the income from the interest be spent, the above propor- 
 tion returns again into the public stock : insomuch, that 
 taking the interest of the whole debt to be twelve million 
 three hundred thousaud pounds, (it is something more,) not 
 less than a sum of four million one hundred thousand pounds 
 comes back again to the public through the channel of 
 imposition. If the whole, or any part, erf that income be 
 saved, so much new capital is generated ; the infallible 
 operation of whicli is to lower the value of money, and con- 
 sequently to conduce towards the improvement of public 
 credit. 
 
 1 take the expenditure of the capitalist, not the value of 
 the capital, as my standard ; because it is the standard upon 
 which, amongst us, property, as an object of taxation, is 
 rated. In this country, land and ofiices only excepted, we; 
 raise no faculty tax. We preserve the faculty from the 
 expense. Our taxes, for the far greater portion, lly over the 
 heads of the lowest classes. They escape too, who, with 
 better ability, voluntarily subject themselves to the harsh 
 discipline of a rigid necessity. With us, labour and fru- 
 gality, the parents of riches, are spared, and wisely too. 
 The moment men cease to augment the common stock, the 
 moment they no longer enrich it by their industry or their 
 self-denial, their luxury and even tlieir ease are obliged to 
 pay contribution to the public ; not because they are vicioua 
 
LETTERS OS A EEGTClDE PEACE. 816 
 
 imnciples, but because they are unproductive. If, in fact, 
 the interest paid by the public had not thus revolved again 
 into its ov;n fund, if this secretion had not again been ab- 
 sorbed into the mass of blood, it would have been impossible 
 for the nation to have existed to this time under such a debt. 
 But under the debt it does exist and flourish ; and this 
 flourishing state of existence in no small degree is ownng to 
 the contribution from the debt to the payment. Whatever, 
 therefore, is taken from that capital by tco close a bargain, 
 is but a delusive advantage, it is so much lost to the public 
 in another way. This matter cannot, on the one side or the 
 other, be metaphysically pursued to the extreme, but it is a 
 consideration of which, in all discussions of this kind, vre 
 ought never wholly to lose sight. 
 
 It is never, therefore, wise to quarrel with the interested 
 views of men, whilst they are combined with the public 
 I interest and promote it : it is our business to tie the knot, if 
 : possible, closer. Eesources that are derived from extra- 
 i ordinary virtues, as such virtues are rare, so they must be 
 i unproductive. It is a good thing for a monied man to pledge 
 , his property on the welfare of his country ; he shows that he 
 i places his treasure where his heart is ; and, revolving in this 
 ! circle, we know that " wherever a man's treasure is, there his 
 ! heart will be also." For these reasons, and on these prin- 
 ciples, I have been sorry to see the attempts which have been 
 [ made, with more good meaning than foresight and consider- 
 , ation, towards raising the annual interest of this loan by 
 \ private contributions. TTherever a regular revenue is estab- 
 ' lished, there voluntary contribution can answer no purpose, 
 I but to disorder and disturb it in its course. To recur to such 
 I aids is, for so much, to dissolve the community, and to return 
 i to a state of unconnected nature. And even if such a supply 
 i should be productive, in a degree commensurate to its object, 
 i it must also be productive of much vexation and much op- 
 I pression. Either the citizens, by the proposed duties, pay 
 j their proportion according to some rate made by public 
 I authority, or they do not. If the law be well made, and the 
 contributions founded on just proportions, everything super- 
 added by something that is not as regular as law, and as 
 ! uniform in its operation, will become more or less out of pro- 
 portion. If, on the contrary, the iaw >*» ^a*^ made upon 
 
316 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 proper calculation, it is a disgrace to the public vrisdom, 
 which fails in skill to assess the citizen in just measure, anH 
 according to his means. But the hand of authority is not 
 always the most heavy hand. It is obvious, that men may 
 be oppressed by many ways, besides those which take their 
 course from the supreme power of the state. Suppose the 
 payment to be wholly discretionary. Whatever has ita 
 origin in caprice, is sure not to improve in its progress, nor 
 to end in reason. It is impossible for each private individual 
 to have any measure conformable to the particular condition 
 of each of his fellow-citizens, or to the general exigencies of 
 his country. 'Tis a random shot at best. 
 
 When men proceed in this irregular mode, the first con- 
 tributor is apt to grow peevish with his neighbours. He is 
 but too well disposed to measure their means by his own envy, 
 and not by the real state of their fortunes, \vhich he can 
 rarely know, and which it may in them be an act of the 
 grossest imprudence to reveal. Hence the odium and las- 
 situde, with which people will look upon a provision for the 
 public, which is bought by discord at the expense of social 
 quiet. Hence the bitter heart-burnings, and the war of 
 tongues, which is so often the prelude to other wars. Nor ia 
 it every contribution called voluntary, which is according to 
 the free will of the giver. A false shame, or a false glory, 
 against his feelings, and his judgment, may tax an individual 
 to the detriment of his family, and in wrong of his creditors. 
 A pretence of public spirit may disable him from the perform- 
 ance of his private duties. It may disable him even from 
 paying the legitimate contributions which he is to furnish 
 according to the prescript of law; but what is the moat 
 dangerous of all is, that malignant disposition to which this \ 
 mode of contribution evidently tends, and which at length 
 leaves the comparatively indigent to judge of the wealth,' 
 and to prescribe to the opulent, or those whom they conceive 
 to be such, the use they are to make of their fortunes. From . 
 thence it is but one step to the subversion of all property. 
 
 Far, very far, am I from supposing that such things enter 
 into the purposes of those excellent persons whose zeal has 
 led them to this kind of measure; but the measure itself 
 will lead them beyond their intention, and what is begun | 
 with the best designs, bad men will perversely improve to the 
 
I LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 317 
 
 worst of their purposes. An ill-founded plausibility in great 
 affairs is a real evil. In France we have seen the wickedest 
 and most foolish of men, the constitution-mongers of 1789, 
 pursuing this very course, and ending in this ver}-^ 3vent. 
 These projectors of deception set on foot two modes of volun- 
 tary contribution to the state. The first they called pa- 
 triotic gifts. These, for the greater part, were not more 
 ; ridicule as in the mode, than contemptible in the project. 
 The other, which they called the patriotic contribution, was 
 expected to amount to a fourth of the fortunes of individuals, 
 i but at their o\vn will and on their own estimate ; but this 
 i contribution threatening to fall infinitely short of their hopes, 
 ! they soon made it compulsory both in the rate and in the 
 i levy, beginning in fraud, and ending, as all the frauds ot 
 i power end, in plain violence. All these devices to produce 
 ! an involuntary will, were under the pretext of relieving the 
 i more indigent classes ; but the principle of voluntary contri- 
 bution, however delusive, being once established, these 
 lower classes first, and then all classes, were encouraged tc 
 ' throw off the regular methodical payments to the state aa 
 ' so many badges of slavery. Thus all regular revenue failing, 
 these impostors raising the superstructure on the same 
 ; cheats with which they had laid the foundation of their 
 ' greatness, and not content with a portion of the possessions 
 i of the rich, confiscated the whole, and, to prevent them from 
 reclaiming their rights, murdered the proprietors. The 
 i whole of the process has passed before our eyes, and been 
 ; conducted indeed with a greater degree of rapidity than 
 could be expected. 
 
 My opinion then is, that public contributions ought only 
 to be raised by the public will. By the judicious form of our 
 constitution, the public contribution is in its name and sub- 
 stance a grant. In its origin it is truly voluntary ; not volun- 
 tary according to the irregular, unsteady, capricious will of in- 
 dividuals, but according to the will and wisdom of the whole 
 popular mass, in the only way in which will and wisdom can 
 go together. This voluntary grant obtaining in its progress 
 the force of a law, a general necessity which takes away aU 
 merit, and consequently all jealousy from individuals, com- 
 presses, equalises, and satisfies the whole ; suffering no man 
 to judge of his neighbour, or to arrogate anything to biin« 
 
918 LETTERS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. i 
 
 self. If their will complies with their obligation, the groat 
 end is answered in the happiest mode ; if the will resist the 
 burthen, every one loses a great part of his own will as a 
 common lot. After all, perhaps contri^^utlons raised by & 
 charge on luxury, or that degree of convenience which ap- 
 proaches so near as to be confouniied with luxury, is the 
 only mode of contribution whic^i may be with truth termed 
 voluntary. 
 
 I might rest here, and take the loan I speak of as leading 
 to a solution of that question, which I proposed in my first 
 letter : " AVhether the inability of the country to prosecute 
 the war did necessitate a submission to the indignities and 
 the calamities of a peace with the regicide power?" But 
 give me leave to pursue this point a little further. 
 
 I know that it has been a cry usaal on this occasion, as it 
 has been upon occasions where such a cry could have less 
 apparent justification, that great distress and misery have 
 been the consequence of this war, by the burthens brought 
 and laid upon the people. But to know where the burthen ; 
 really lies, and w here it presses, we must divide the people. 
 As to the common people, their stock is in their persons , 
 and in their earnings. I deny that the stock of their per- 
 sons is diminished in a greater proportion than the common 
 sources of populousness abundantly fill up ; I mean, constant 
 employment ; proportioned pay according to the produce of ; 
 the soil, and, where the soil fails, according to the operation ; 
 of the general capital; plentiful nourishment to vigorous 
 labour ; comfortable provision to decrepid age, to orphan in- ; 
 tancy, and to accidental malady. 1 say nothing to the , 
 policy of the provision for the poor, in all the variety of 
 faces under which it presents itself. This is the matter of : 
 another inquiry. I only just speak of it as of a fact, taken i 
 with others, to support me in my denial, that hitherto any 
 one of the ordinary sources of the increase of mankind is > 
 dried up by tliis war. I aflirm, what I can well prove, that ; 
 the waste has been less than the supply. To say that in • 
 war no man must be killed, is to say that there ought to be 
 no war. This they may say, who wish to talk idly, and who 
 would display their humanity at the expense of their honesty, ! 
 or their understanding. It' more lives are lost in this war 
 than necessity requires; they are lost by mis(,'onduc;t or mi»- 
 
LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 813 
 
 take ; but if the hostility be just, the error is to be correctf d, 
 the war is not to be abandoned. 
 
 That the stock of the common people, in numbers, is not 
 lessened, any more than the causes are impaired, is manifest, 
 ' without being at the pains of an actual numeration. An 
 ; improved and improving agriculture, which implies a great 
 ; augmentation of labour, has not yet found itself at a stand, 
 ! no, not for a single moment, for want of the necessary hands, 
 ' either in the settled progress of husbandry, or in the occa- 
 ' sional pressure of harvests. I have even reason to believe that 
 I there has been a much smaller importation, or the demand 
 I of it, from a aeighbouring kingdom, than in former times, 
 I when agriculture was more limited in its extent and its 
 I means, and when the time was a season of profound peace. 
 j On the contrary, the prolific fertility of country life has 
 I poured its superfluity of population into the canals, and into 
 j other public works, which of late years have been undertaken 
 I to so amazing an extent, and which have not only not been 
 I discontinued, but, beyond all expectation, pushed on with 
 redoubled vigour, in a war that calls for so many of our men, 
 ; and so much of our riches. An increasing capital calls for 
 j labour : and an increasing population answers to the call. 
 ! Our manufactures, augmented both for the supply of foreign 
 I and domestic consumption, reproducing, with the means of 
 : life, the multitudes which they use and waste, (and which 
 ; many of them devour much more surely and much more 
 ! largely than the war,) have always found the laborious hand 
 i ready for the liberal pay. That the price of the soldier is 
 ; highly raised is true. In part this rise may be owing to some 
 I measures not so well considered in the beginning of this war ; 
 i but the grand cause has been the reluctance of that class of 
 j people from whom the soldiery is taken, to enter into a 
 mihtary life, not that but, once entered into, it has its con- 
 veniences, and even its pleasures. I have seldom known a 
 I soldier who, at the intercession of his friends, and at their no 
 small charge, had been redeemed from that discipline, that in 
 a short time was not eager to return to it again. But the 
 true reason is the abundant occupation, and the augmented 
 stipend, found in to^^^lS, and villages, and farms, which leaves 
 a smaller number of persons to be disposed of. The price oi 
 
! 
 
 820 lETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. f 
 
 men for new and untried ways of life must bear a proportiop 
 to the profits of that mode of existence from whence they 
 are to be bought. 
 
 So far as to the stock of the common people, as it consists 
 in their persons. As to the other part, which consists in 
 their earnings, I have to say, that the rates of wages are 
 very greatly augmented almost through the kingdom. In 
 the* parish where I live, it has been raised from seven to 
 nine shillings in the week for the same labourer, performing 
 the same task, and no greater. Except something in the 
 malt taxes, and the duties upon sugars, I do not know any 
 one tax imposed for very many years past, which affects the 
 labourer in any degree whatsoever ; while, on the other hand, 
 the tax upon houses not having more than seven windows 
 (that is, upon cottages) was repealed the very year before 
 the commencement of the present war. On the whole, I am 
 satisfied that the humblest class, a^cd that class which touchea 
 the most nearly on the lowest, out of which it is continually 
 emerging, and to which it is continually falling, receives far 
 more from public impositions than it pays. That class re- 
 ceives two milKons sterling annually from the classes above it. 
 It pays to no such amount towards any public contribution. 
 
 I hope it is not necessary for me to take notice of that 
 language, so ill suited to the persons to whom it has been 
 attributed, and so unbecoming the place in which it is said 
 to have been uttered, concerning the present war as the 
 cause of the high price of provisions during the greater part 
 of the year 1796. I presume it is only to be ascribed to 
 the intolerable licence with which the newspapers break not 
 only the rules of decorum in real life, but even the dra- 
 matic decorum, when they personate great men, and, like 
 bad poets, make the heroes of the piece talk more like us 
 Grub Street scribblers, than in a style consonant to persona 
 of gravity and importance in the state. It was easy to de- 
 monstrate the cause, and the sole cause, of that rise in the 
 grand article and first necessary of life. It would appear 
 that it had no more connexion with the war, than the moder- 
 ate price to which all sorts of grain were reduced, soon 
 after the return of Lord Malmesbury, had with the state of 
 politics and the fate of his Lordship's treaty. I have quite 
 
LETfEKS ON A HEGICIDE PEACE. 321 
 
 I as good reason (that is, no reason at all) to attribute this 
 abundance to the longer continuance of the war, as the gen- 
 tlemen who personate leading members of parliament have 
 had for giving the enhanced price to that war, at a more 
 early period of its duration. Oh, the folly of us poor crea- 
 tures, who, in the midst of our distresses, or our escapes, 
 are ready to claw or caress one another, upon matters that 
 '80 seldom depend on our wisdom or our weakness, on our 
 Igood or evil conduct towards each other ! 
 j An untimely shower, or an unseasonable drought ; a frost 
 jtoo long continued, or too suddenly broken up, wdth rain and 
 jtempest ; the blight of the spring, or the smut of the harvest ; 
 |will do more to cause the distress of the belly, than all the 
 icontrivances of all statesmen can do to relieve it. Let go- 
 Ivemment protect and encourage industry, secure property, 
 repress violence, and discountenance fraud, it is all that they 
 have to do. In other respects, the less they meddle in these 
 affairs the better ; the rest is in the hands of our Master and 
 theirs. We are in a constitution of things wherein — " Modo 
 \tol nimius, modo corripit imbery But I will push this matter 
 :\o further. As I have said a good deal upon it at various 
 i:imes during my public service, and have lately written 
 l^omething on it, which may yet see the light, I shall content 
 inyself now with observing, that the vigorous and laborious 
 •'lass of life has lately got, froui the bon ton of the humanity 
 )f this day, the name of the " labouring poor.''^ We have 
 leard many plans for the relief of the '" labouring poor.^ 
 This puling jargon is not as innocent as it is foolish. In 
 neddling with great affairs, weakness is never innoxious, 
 ^iitherto the name of poor (in the sense in which it is used 
 jo excite compassion) has not been used for those who can, 
 |»ut for those who cannot, labour — for the sick and infirm, 
 jor orphan infancy, for languishing and decrepit age ; but 
 ^ben we affect to pity, as poor, those who must labour or 
 jhe world cannot exist, we are trifling with the condition of 
 jiankind. It is the common doom of man that he must eat 
 ^s bread by the sweat of his brow, that is, by the sweat of 
 lis body, or the sweat of his mind. If this toil was inflictea 
 s a curse, it is — as might be expected from the curses of the 
 leather of all blessnigs — it is tempered with many allevia- 
 jions, many comforts. Every attemnt to fly from it, and tc 
 
 i TOL. V. V 
 
322 LETTEES O^ A EEGICIDE PEACJfi. 
 
 refuse the very terms of our existence, becomes much mor* 
 truly a curse, and heavier pains and penalties fall upon thoa 
 who would elude the tasks which are put upon them by th< 
 great Master AVorkman of the world, who, in his dealing 
 with his creatures, sympathizes with their weakness, anc 
 speaking of a creation wrought by mere Ts-ill out of nothing.' 
 speaks of six days of labour and one of rest. I do not call a. 
 healthy yoang man, cheerful in his mind, and vigorous in hit, 
 arms, I cannot call such a man, jooor; I cannot pity my kind; 
 as a kind, merely because they are men. This affected pit}j 
 only tends to dissatisfy them with their condition, and t<, 
 teach them to seek resources where no resources are to b(i 
 found, in something else than their own industry, anc; 
 frugality, and sobriety. Whatever may be the intentior 
 (which, because 1 do not know, I cannot dispute) of thos( 
 who would discontent mankind by this strange pity, thej' 
 act towards us, in the consequences, as if they were oui' 
 worst enemies. 
 
 In turning our view from the lower to the higher classes _ 
 it will not be necessary for me to show at any length tha ■ 
 the stock of the latter, as it consists in their numbers, ha;, 
 not yet suffered any material diminution. I have not seei 
 or heard it asserted : I have no reason to believe it : there i ' 
 no want of officers, that I have ever understood, for the nev; 
 ships which we commission, or the new regiments which W"; 
 raise. In the nature of things it is not with their persons' 
 that the higher classes principally pay their contingent to th 
 demands of war. There is another, and not less im])ortan 
 part, which rests with almost exclusive weight upon them 
 They furnish the means, 
 
 -How war may best upheld, 
 
 Move by her two main uerves, iron and gold, 
 In all her equipage." 
 
 Not that they are exempt from contributing also by thei 
 personal service in the fleets and armies of their country 
 They do contribute, and in their full and fair proportion, a( 
 cording to the relative proportion of their numbers in iV 
 community. They contribute all the mind that actuates tl 
 whole machine. The fortitude required of them is vei 
 different from the unthinking alacrity of the common scldiei 
 
LETTERS OX A KEGICIDE PEACE. 323 
 
 or common sailor, in the face of danger and death ; it is not 
 a passion, it is not an impulse, it is not a sentiment ; it is a 
 cool, steady, deliberate principle, always present, always 
 equable; having no connexion with anger; tempering hon- 
 our with prudence ; incited, invigorated, and sustained, by a 
 generous love of fame ; informed, moderated, and directed 
 by an enlarged knowledge of its own great public ends ; 
 flowing in one blended stream from the opposite sources of 
 the heart and the head ; carrying in itself its own commission, 
 and proving its title to every other command, by the first 
 and most difficult command, that of the bosom in which it 
 resides : it is a fortitude which unites with the courage of 
 the field the more exalted and refined courage of the council ; 
 which knows as well to retreat as to advance ; which can 
 conquer as well by delay as by the rapidity of a march, or 
 the impetuosity of an attack ; which can be, with Eabius, the 
 black cloud that lowers on the tops of the mountains, or with 
 Scipio, the thunderbolt of war ; which, undismayed by false 
 shame, can patiently endure the severest trial that a gallant 
 spirit can undergo, in the taunts and provocations of the 
 enemy, the suspicions, the cold respect, and " mouth-honour" 
 of those from whom it should meet a cheerful obedience ; 
 which, undisturbed by false humanity, can calmly assume 
 that most awful moral responsibility of deciding, when 
 victory may be too dearly purchased by the loss of a single 
 life, and when the safety and glory of their country may 
 demand the certain sacrifice of thousands. Different stations 
 of command may call for different modifications of this forti- 
 tude, but the character ought to be the same in all. And 
 never, in the most "palmy state" of our martial renown, did 
 it shine with brighter lustre, than in the present sanguinary 
 ind ferocious hostilities, wherever the British arms have 
 been carried. But, in this most arduous and momentous 
 conflict, which from its nature should have roused us to new 
 !md unexampled eff'orts, I know not how it has been, that we 
 laave never put forth half the strength which we have 
 |?xerted in ordinary wars. In the fatal battles which have 
 irenched tlie continent with blood, and shaken the system 
 of Europe to pieces, we have ne^er had any considerable 
 irmy of a magnitude to be compared to the least of those by 
 vhich, in former times, we so gloriously asserted our place ai 
 
 Y 2 
 
824 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACX. 
 
 protectors, not oppressors, at the bead of the great comraon* 
 wealth of Europe. We have never manfully met the danger 
 in front : and when the enemy, resigning to us our natural 
 dominion of the ocean, and abandoning the defence of his 
 distant possessions to the infernal energy of the destroying 
 principles, which he had planted there for the subversion of 
 the neighbouring colonies, drove forth, by one sweeping law 
 of unprecedented despotism, his armed multitudes on every 
 side, to overwhelm the countries and states, which had for 
 centuries stood the firm barriers against the ambition of 
 Vrance ; we drew back the arm of our military force, which 
 }iad never been more than half raised to oppose him. From 
 that time we have been combating only with the other arm 
 of our naval power ; the right arm of England 1 admit ; but 
 wliich struck almost unresisted, with blows that could never 
 reach the heart of the hostile mischief. From that time, - 
 without a single effort to regain those outworks, wiiich ever 
 till DOW we so strenuously maintained, as the strong frontier 
 of our own dignity and safety, no less than the liberties of 
 Europe ; with but one feeble attempt to succour those brave, 
 faithful, and numerous allies, whom, for the first time siue« 
 the days of our Edwards and Henrys, we now have in the 
 bosom of France itself; we have been intrenching, and for- 
 tifying, and garrisoning ourselves at home: we have been 
 redoubling security on security, to protect ourselves from 
 invasion, which has now first become to us a serious object 
 of alarm and terror. Alas ! the few of us who have pro- 
 tracted life in any measure near to the extreme limits of our j 
 short period, have been condemned to see strange things ; 
 new systems of policy, new principles, and not only new men, 
 but what might appear a new species of men. I believe that 
 any person who was of age to take a part in public aflairs 
 forty years ago, (if the intermediate space of time were 
 expunged from his memory,) would hardly credit his senses, 
 when he should hear from the highest authority, that an 
 army of two hundred thousand men was kept up in this 
 island, and that in the neighbouring island there were at 
 least fourscore thousand more. But when he had recovered 
 from his surprise on being told of this army, which has not 
 its parallel, what must be his astonishment to be told aga'n, 
 that this mighty force was kept up for the mere purpose of 
 
iUTTEES ON A REGICIDE PLACE. 325 
 
 an inert and passive defence, and that in its far greater part, 
 it was disabled by its constitution and very essence from 
 defending us against an enemy by any one preventive stroke, 
 or any one operation of active hostility? What must his 
 j reflections be on learning further, that a fleet of five hundred 
 • men of war, the best appointed, and to the full as ably com- 
 manded as this country ever had upon the sea, was for the 
 j greater part employed in carrying on the same system of 
 ' unenterprising defence ? what must be the sentiments and 
 feelings of one who remembers the former energy of Eng- 
 land, when he is given to understand that these two islands, 
 with their extensive and everywhere vulnerable coast, should 
 be considered as a garrisoned sea-town ? what would such a 
 raan, what would any man think, if the garrison of so strange 
 ' a fortress should be such, and so feebly commanded, as never 
 I to make a sally ; and that, contrary to all which has hitherto 
 I been seen in war, an infinitely inferior army, with the shat- 
 tered relics of an almost annihilated na^T, ill found and ill 
 manned, may with safety besiege this superior garrison, and, 
 i without hazarding the life of a man, ruin the place, merely 
 ' by the menaces and false appearances of an attack ? Indeed, 
 indeed, my dear friend, I look upon this matter of our de- 
 ; fensive system as much the most important of all consider- 
 ations at this moment. It has oppressed me with many 
 anxious thoughts, which, more than any bodily distemper, 
 have sunk me to the condition in which you know that I am. 
 ; Should it please Providence to restore to me, even the late 
 ; weak remains of my strength, I propose to make this matter 
 : the subject of a particular discussion. I only mean here to 
 I argue, that the mode of conducting the war on our part, be 
 I it good or bad, has prevented even the common havoc of 
 I war in our population, and especially among that class, 
 ' whose duty and privilege of superiority it is, to lead the way 
 ' amidst the perils and slaughter of the field of battle. 
 j The other causes, which sometimes afiect the numbers of 
 the lower classes, but which I have shown not to have existed 
 i to any such degree during this war, — penury, cold, hunger, 
 nakedness, — do not easily reach the higher orders of society. 
 I do not dread for them the slightest taste of these calamities 
 , from the distress and pressure of the war. They have much 
 I more to dread in that way from the confiscations, the rapines, 
 
326 LETTERS Oy A JIEGICIUE PEACE. 
 
 the burnings, and the massacres that may follow in the traili •^ 
 of a peace, which shall establish the devastating and depopu- 
 lating principles and example of the "French regicides in 
 security, and triumph, and dominion. In the ordinary course 
 of human affairs, any check to population among men in ease 
 and opulence is less to be apprehended from what they may 
 suffer, than from what they enjoy. Peace is more likely to 
 be injariaus to them in that respect than war. The excesses 
 of delicacy, repose, and satiety, are as unfavourable as the ex- 
 tremes of hardship, toil, and want, to the increase and multi- 
 plication of our kind. Indeed, the abuse of the bounties of 
 nature, much more surely than any partial privation of them, 
 tends to intercept that precious boon of a second and dearer 
 life in our progeny, which was bestowed in the first great 
 command to man from the All-gracious Giver of all, whose 
 name be blessed, whether he gives or takes away. His hand, 
 in every page of his book, has written the lesson of modera- 
 tion. Our physical well-being, our moral worth, our social 
 happiness, our political tranquillity, all depend on that con- 
 trol of all our appetites and passions, which the ancients 
 designed by the cardinal virtue of Temperance. 
 
 The only real question to our present purpose with regard 
 to the higher classes is, how stands the account of their 
 stock, as it consists in wealth of every description ? Have 
 the burthens of the war compelled them to curtail any part ot 
 their former expenditure; which, I have before observed, af- 
 fords the only standard of estimating property as an object of 
 taxation ? Do they enjoy all the same conveniences, the same 
 comforts, the same elegancies, the same luxuries, in the same, 
 or in as many different modes, as they did before the war ? 
 
 In the last eleven years, there have been no less than three 
 solemn inquiries into the finances of the kingdom, by three 
 different committees of your House. The first was in the year 
 1786. On that occasion, I remember, the report of the com- 
 mittee was examined, and sifted and bolted to the bran, by a 
 gentleman whose keen and powerful talents I have ever ad- 
 mired. He thought there was not sufficient evidence to 
 warrant the pleasing representation which the committee 
 had made, of our national prosperity. He did not believe 
 that our public revenue could continue to be so productive 
 aa they had assumed. He even went the length of record- 
 
lETTEHS OS A IlIGICIDE PEACE, Ji'27 
 
 ing bis own inferences of doubt, in a set of resolutions, which 
 DOW stand upon your journals. And perhaps the retrospect, 
 on which the report proceeded, did not go far enough back, 
 to allow any sure and satisfactory average for a ground of 
 solid calculation. But what was the event ? When the next 
 committee sat in 1791, they found that, on an average of the 
 last four years, their predecessors had fallen short in their 
 lestimate of the permanent taxes, by more than thi'ee hundred 
 and forty thousand pounds a year. Surely then if I can 
 sliow that, in the produce of those same taxes, and more 
 particularly of such as affect articles of luxurious use and 
 consumption, the four years of the war have equalled those 
 four years of peace, flourishing, as they were, beyond the 
 most sanguine speculations, I may expect to hear no more 
 of the distress occasioned by the war. 
 
 The additional burdens which have been laid on some of 
 those same articles might reasonably claim some allowance 
 to be made. Every new advance of the price to the con- 
 , sumer is a new incentive to him to retrench the quantity of 
 I his consumption : and if upon the whole he pays the same, 
 his property, computed by the standard of what he volun- 
 tarily pays, must remain the same. But I am willing to 
 • forego that fair advantage in the inquiry ; I am willing that 
 I the receipts of the permauent taxes which existed before 
 : January, 1793, should be compared during the war, and 
 i during the period of peace which I have mentioned. I will 
 go further. Complete accounts of the year 1791 were separ- 
 ately laid before your House. I am ready to stand by a com- 
 parison of the produce of four years up to the beginning of 
 the year 1792, with that of the war. Of the year immedi- 
 ately previous to hostilities, I have not been able to obtain 
 any perfect documents ; but I have seen enough to satisfy me 
 that, although a comparison includinor that year might be less 
 favourable, yet it would not essentially injure my argument. 
 You will always bear in mind, my dear Sir, that I am not 
 considering whether, if the common enemy of the quiet of 
 Europe had not forced us to take up arms in our own de- 
 fence, the spring-tide of our prosperity might not have flowed 
 higher than the mark at which it now stands. That con- 
 sideration is connected with the question of the justice and 
 the necessity of the war. It is a question which I have long 
 
328 LETTERS ON A. REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 since discussed. I am now endeavouring to ascertain whether 
 there exists, in fact, any such necessity as we hear every day 
 asserted, to furnish a miserable pretext for counselling us to 
 surrender, at discretion, our conquests, our honour, our 
 dignity, our very independence, and, with it, all that is dear , 
 to man. It will be more than sufficient for that purpose, if 
 I can make it appear that we have been stationary during ( 
 the war. What then will be said, if in reality it should be. 
 proved that there is every indication of increased and in- 
 creasing wealth, not only poured into the grand reservoir of . 
 the national capital, but diffused through all the channels of 
 all the higher classes, and giving life and activity, as it passes, . 
 to the agriculture, the manufactures, the commerce, and the, 
 navigation of the country ? 
 
 The finance committee, which has been appointed in this 
 session, has already made two reports. Every conclusion 
 that I had before drawn, as you know, from my own observ-' 
 ation, I have the satisfaction of seeing there confirmed by^ 
 that great public authority. Large as was the sum by which, 
 the committee of 1791 found the estimate of 1786 to have 
 been exceeded in the actual produce of four years of peace, 
 their own estimate has been exceeded, during the war, by a 
 sum more than one-third larger. The same taxes have! 
 yielded more than half a million beyond their calculation.' 
 They yielded this, notwithstanding the stoppage of the dis-; 
 tilleries, against which, you may remember, I privately re-' 
 monstrated. "With an allowance for that defalcation, they 
 have yielded sixty thousand pounds annually above the actual, 
 average of the preceding four years of peace. I believe 
 this to have been without parallel in all former wars. If re-' 
 gard be had to the great and unavoidable burthens of the. 
 present war, I am confident of the fact. 
 
 But let us descend to particulars. The taxes which go 
 by the general name of assessed taxes comprehend the 
 whole, or nearly the whole, domestic establishment of the 
 rich. They include some things which belong to tlie mid- 
 dling, and even to all but the very lowest classes. They jio\s 
 consist of the duties on houses and windows, on male ser- 
 vants, horses, and carriages. They did also extend to cot- 
 tages, to female servants, waggons, and carts used in hus- 
 bandry, previous to the year 1792 ; when, with iriOH 
 
LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 329 
 
 enlightened policy, at the moment that the possibility of war 
 could not be out of the contemplation of any statesman, the 
 wisdom of parliament confined them to their present objects. 
 'I shall give the gross assessment for five years, as I find it in 
 ' the appendix to the second report of your committee. 
 
 1791 ending 5tli April 1792 . 
 
 £ 1,706,334 
 
 1792 . . . 1793 . 
 
 1,585.991 
 
 1793 . . . 1794 . 
 
 1,597,623 
 
 1794 . . . 1795 . 
 
 1,608,196 
 
 1795 . . . 1796 . 
 
 1,625,874 
 
 Here will be seen a gradual increase during the whole 
 progress of the war : and, if I am correctly informed, the 
 rise in the last year, after every deduction that can be made, 
 affords the most consoling and encouraging prospect. It is 
 enormously out of all proportion. 
 
 There are some other taxes, which seem to have a refer- 
 ence to the same general head. The present minister, many 
 years ago, subjected bricks and tiles to a duty under the ex- 
 cise. It is of little consequence to our present considera- 
 tion, whether these materials have been employed in build- 
 ing more commodious, more elegant, and more magnificent 
 habitations, or in enlarging, decorating, and remodelling 
 those, which sufficed for our plainer ancestors. During the 
 first two years of the war, they paid so largely to the public 
 revenue, that in 1794 a new duty was laid upon them, which 
 was equal to one half of the old, and which has produced 
 upwards of £165,000 in the last three years. Yet, notwith- 
 standing the pressure of this additional weight,^ there has 
 
 * This and the following tables on the same construction are compiled 
 from the reports of the finance committee in 1791 and 1797, with the 
 addition of the separate paper laid before the House of Commons, and 
 ordered to be printed on the 7th of February, 1792. 
 
 BRICKS AND TILES. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 
 1788 . 
 
 1789 . 
 
 1790 . 
 
 791 
 
 £ 
 
 94,521 
 
 96,278 
 
 91,773 
 
 104,409 
 
 £386,981 
 
 Yrs. of War. £ 
 1793 . 122,975 
 
 1794 
 1795 
 1796 
 
 106,811 
 
 83,804 
 
 94,668 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 £408,258 £21,277. 
 
 115,382 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1/91 
 £407,842 £416. 
 
330 
 
 LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 been an actual augmentation in the consumption. The onlj ' 
 two other articles which come under this description, are 
 the stamp duty on gold and silver plate, and the customs on 
 glass plates. This latter is now, I believe, the single instance 
 of costly furniture to be found in the catalogue of our im- 
 ports. If it were wholly to vanish, I should not think 
 we were ruined. Both the duties have risen, during the 
 war, very considerably in proportion to the total of their 
 produce. 
 
 We have no tax among us on the most necessary articles 
 of food. The receipts of our Custom-house, under the head 
 of Groceries, aiford us, however, some means of calculating 
 our luxuries of the table. The articles of tea, coffee, and 
 cocoa-nuts, I would propose to omit ; and to take them in- 
 stead from the excise, as best showing what is consunied 
 at home. Upon this principle, adding them all together, 
 (with the exception of sugar, for a reason which I shall after- 
 wards mention,) I find that they have produced, in one 
 mode of comparison, upwards of £272,000, and in the other 
 mode, upwards of £165,000 more during the war than in 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 
 1788 . 
 
 1789 . 
 
 1790 . 
 
 1791 . 
 
 £ 
 
 22,707 
 23,295 
 22,453 
 18,483 
 
 £86,938 
 
 PLATE. 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1795 . 
 
 1796 . 
 
 31,523 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 £ 
 
 25,920 
 23,637 
 25.607 
 28,513 
 
 Increase to 179C 
 
 £103,677 £16,739. 
 
 Increase to 1 79J 
 £95,754 £7923. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 
 1788 . 
 
 1789 . 
 
 1790 . 
 
 1791 . 
 
 5,496 
 4,686 
 6,008 
 
 £16,190 
 
 GLASS PLATES. 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1 793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1795 . 
 1796 
 
 £ 
 
 5,655 
 5,456 
 5,839 
 
 8,871 
 
 £25,821 
 
 7,880 4 Yis. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £24.070 £1751. 
 
LETTEKS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 33 i 
 
 teaee.^ An additional duty was also laid in 1795 on lea, an- 
 )ther on coffee, and a third on raisins, an article, together with 
 jurrants, of much more extensive use than would readily be 
 magined. The balance in favour of our argument would 
 lave been much enhanced, if our coffee and fruit ships from 
 ;he Mediterranean had arrived, last year, at their usual season 
 They do not appear in these accounts. This was one conse- 
 j J GROCERIES. 
 
 Yrs 
 
 frs. of Peace. 
 
 £ 
 
 1787 
 
 . 167,389 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 . 133.191 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 . 142.871 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 . 156.311 
 
 £ 599,762 
 
 ofW 
 
 ar. £ 
 
 1793 
 
 . 124,655 
 
 1794 
 
 . 195,840 
 
 1795 
 
 . 208,242 
 
 1796 
 
 . 159,826 
 
 
 
 
 £688,563 £88,801. 
 
 1791 
 
 jVrs. of Peace. 
 I 1787 . . 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 236,727 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £ 669,100 £19,463. 
 
 £ 
 . 424,144 
 
 . 426,660 
 . 539,575 
 . 417,736 
 
 £1,808,115 
 
 TEA. 
 Yrs. of War. £ 
 
 1793 . 477,644 
 
 1794 . 467,132 
 
 1795 . 507.518 
 
 1796 . 526,307 
 
 ■ Increase to 1790 
 
 £1,978,601 £170,486. 
 
 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 448,709 4 Yrs. to 1791 £1,832,680 £145,921. 
 
 The additional duty imposed in 1795, produced in that vear £137,656, 
 •and in 1796 £200,107. 
 
 COFFEE AND COCOA NUTS. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 £ 
 
 Yrs. of War. £ 
 
 1787 , . 
 
 . 17,006 
 
 1793 . 36,846 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 . 30,217 
 
 1794 . 49,177 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 . 34,784 
 
 1795 . 27,913 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 . 38,647 
 
 1796 . 19,711 
 
 
 £120,654 
 
 £133,647 £12,993. 
 
 
 Decrease to 1791 
 
 1791 . . 
 
 . 41,194 4 Y 
 
 rs. to 1791 £144,842 £11,195. 
 
 The additional duty of 1795 in that year gave £16."75, and in 1796 
 £15,319. 
 
332 
 
 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACB. 
 
 quence arising (would to God that none more afflicting to 
 Italy, to Europe, and the whole civilized world had arisen !) 
 from our impolitic and precipitate desertion of that important 
 maritime station. As to sugar,* I have excluded it from the 
 groceries, because the account of the customs is not a perfect 
 criterion of the consumption, much having been re-exported 
 to the north of Europe, which used to be supplied by France ; 
 and in the official papers which I have followed, there are no 
 materials to furnish grounds for computing this re-exporta- 
 tion. The increase on the face of our entries is immense 
 during the four years of war, — little short of thirteen hundred 
 thousand pounds. 
 
 The increase of the duties on beer has been regularly pro- 
 gressive, or nearly so, to a very large amount.^ It is a good 
 deal above a million, and is more than equal to one-eighth of 
 the whole produce. Under this general head, some other 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 
 1788 . 
 
 1789 . 
 
 1790 . 
 
 1791 
 
 . 1,065,109 
 
 . 1,184,458 
 
 . 1,095,106 
 
 . 1,069,108 
 
 £4,413,781 
 
 ' SUGAR. 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 . 1,473,139 
 
 1794 . 1,392,965 
 
 1795 . 1,338,246 
 
 1796 . 1,474,899 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 £5,679,249 £1,265,468. 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 1,044,053 4 Yrs. to 1791 £4,392,725 £1,286,524. 
 
 There was a new duty on Sugar in 1791, which produced in 179-4 
 £234,292, in 1795, £206,932, and in 1796 £245,024. It is not clear liom 
 the report of the Committee, whether the additional duty is included in 
 the account given above. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . . 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 1791 
 
 » BEER, &c. 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 . 1,761,429 
 
 . 1,705,199 
 
 . 1,742,514 
 
 . 1,858,043 
 
 £7,067,185 
 
 1793 
 1794 
 1795 
 1796 
 
 , 2,043,902 
 
 . 2,082,053 
 
 . 1,931,101 
 
 2,294,377 
 
 £8,351,433 
 
 [ncreaseto 1791 
 £1,284,248. .; 
 
 Increase to 1791' 
 ,8^0,478 4 Yrs to 1791 £7,186,234 £1,165,199. 
 
LErTERS ON A REGICTDE PEACE. 
 
 338 
 
 ;iquors are included, — cider, perry, and mead, as well as 
 nnegar and verjuice ; but these are of very triflin^ con- 
 sideration. The excise duties on AVine, having sunk a little 
 during the two first years of the war, were rapidly recovering 
 i:heir level again. In 1795, a heavy additional d\ity was im- 
 posed upon them, and a second in the following year ; yet 
 
 i'rs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . . 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 1789 . . 
 I 1790 . . 
 
 1791 
 
 £ 
 219,934 
 215,578 
 252,649 
 308,624 
 
 £996,785 
 
 WINE. 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 1795 
 1796 . 
 
 £ 
 
 222,887 
 283,644 
 317,072 
 
 187,818 
 
 Increase to 179»^ 
 
 £1,011,421 £14,636. 
 
 Decrease to 1791 
 336,549 4 Yrs. to 1791 £1,113,400 £101,979. 
 
 QUANTITY IMPORTED. 
 
 r™. of Peace. Tons. Yrs. of War. Tons. 
 
 22,788 
 
 27,868 
 32,033 
 19,079 
 
 The additional duty of 1795 produced that year £730,871, and in 1796 
 £394,686. A second additional duty which produced £98,165 was laid 
 ji 1796. 
 
 of Peace. Tons. 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1787 
 
 . . 29,978 
 
 1793 . 
 
 1788 
 
 . . 25,442 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1789 
 
 . . 27,414 
 
 1795 . 
 
 1790 
 
 . . 29,182 
 
 1796 . 
 
 Fre, of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 
 1788 . 
 
 1789 . 
 
 1790 . 
 
 1791 
 
 £ 
 
 11,167 
 
 7,375 
 
 7,202 
 
 4,953 
 
 £30.697 
 
 SWEETS. 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1795 . 
 
 1796 . 
 
 11,016 
 10,612 
 13,321 
 15,050 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 £49,999 £19,302. 
 
 13,282 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £32,812 £17,1S7. 
 
 ' In 1795 an additional duty "was laid on this article, which produced 
 that year £5679, and in 1796 £9443, and in 1796 a second to com- 
 mence on the 20th of June ; its produce in that year was £23"25. 
 
334i LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 being compared with four years of peace to the end of 1790." 
 they actually exhibit a small gain to the revenue. And low a*' 
 the importation may seem in 1796, when contrasted with an}^ 
 year since the French treaty in 1787, it is still more than 300( 
 tons above the average importation for three years previous tc' 
 that period. I have added Sweets, from which our factitiouj 
 wines are made ; and I would have added spirits, but that the 
 total alteration of the duties in 1789, and the recent inter- 
 ruption of our distilleries, rendered any comparison im- 
 practicable. 
 
 The ancient staple of our island, in which we are clothed 
 .s very imperfectly to be traced on the books of the Custom- 
 house : but I know that our AVoollen manufactures flourish 
 I recollect to have seen that fact very fully established lasi 
 year, from the registers kept in the West-Eiding of York 
 shire. This year in the west of England, I received a similar 
 account, on the authority of a respectable clothier in tha 
 quarter, whose testimony can less be questioned, because, ii 
 his political opinions, he is adverse, as I understand, to tht 
 continuance of the war. The prmcipal articles of fenialt 
 dress, for some time past, have been Muslins and Calicoes. 
 These elegant fabrics of our own looms in the East, whicl 
 serve for the remittance of our own revenues, have latei\ 
 been imitated at home, with improving success, by tht 
 ingenious and enterprising manufacturers of Manchester 
 Paisley, and Glasgow. At the same time the importatioi 
 from Bengal has kept pace with the extension of our owr 
 dexterity and industry ; while the sale of our printed goods 
 of both kinds, has been with equal steadiness advanced, by tht 
 
 » MUSLINS AND CALICOES. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 1791 . 
 
 £ 
 
 . 129,297 
 . 138,660 
 . 126,267 
 . 128,364 
 
 Yrs. of War. £ 
 
 1793 . 173.050 
 
 1794 . 104,902 
 
 1 795 . 103,856 
 
 1796 . 272,541 
 
 Increase to 179 
 
 £654,352 £131,764. 
 
 
 £522,588 
 
 Tliig table begins with 1788. Tlie net produce of the preceding yc 
 ift not in the report whence the table ia taken 
 
LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 335 
 
 flste and execution of our designers and artists.* Our wool- 
 ms and cottons, it is true, are not all for the home market, 
 ''hey do not distinctly prove what is my present point, our 
 wn wealth by our own expense. I admit it : we export 
 hem in great and growing quantities : and they, who croak 
 hemselves hoarse about the decay of our trade, may put as 
 luch of this account as they choose to the creditor side of 
 iioney received from other countries in payment for British 
 kill and labour. They may settle the items to their own 
 king, where all goes to demonstrate our riches. I shall 
 ne contented here with whatever they will have the good- 
 j.ess to leave me ; and pass to another entry, which is less 
 mbiguous ; I mean that of Silk.^ The manufactory itself 
 i3 a forced plant. AVe have been obliged to guard it from 
 breign competition by very strict prohibitory laws. What 
 |re import is the raw and prepared material, which is worked 
 lip in various ways, and worn in various shapes by both 
 
 PRINTED GOODS. 
 
 rs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 
 1788 . 
 
 1789 . 
 
 1790 . 
 
 1791 
 
 £ 
 
 142,(100 
 154,486 
 153,2U2 
 167,156 
 
 £616,844 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 
 1794 
 1795 
 1796 
 
 191,566 
 
 190.554 
 
 197,416 
 
 230,530 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 £810,066 £193,222. 
 
 £191,489 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £666,333 £143.733. 
 
 These duties for 1787 are blended w-ith several others. The p-opor- 
 ion of printed goods to the other articles for four years was found "O be 
 ne-fourth. That proportion is here taken. 
 
 Trs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 , 1788 . , 
 
 1789 . , 
 1 1790 . 
 
 1791 
 
 £ 
 
 159,912 
 123,998 
 157,730 
 212,522 
 
 £654,162 
 
 2 SILK. • 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1795 . 
 
 1796 . 
 
 £ 
 
 209,915 
 221,306 
 210,725 
 221,007 
 
 £862,955 
 
 Increase to 179C 
 
 £208,793. 
 
 379,123 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £773,378 £89,577. 
 
33G T.T?,TTEKB ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 sexes. After wbat we have just seen, you will probably be 
 surprised to learn that the quantity of silk imported during 
 the war has been much greater than it was previously in 
 peace ; and yet we must all remember to our mortification, 
 that several of our silk ships fell a prey to citizen Admira. 
 Richery. You will hardly expect me to go through the tape 
 and thread, and all the other small wares of haberdashery 
 and millinery to be gleaned up among our imports. But I 
 shall make one observation, and with great satisfaction, re- 
 specting them. They gradually diminish, as our own manufac- 
 tures of the same description spread into their places ; while 
 the account of ornamental articles which our country does 
 not produce, and we cannot wish it to produce, continues 
 upon the whole to rise, in spite of all the caprices of fanev 
 and fashion. Of this kind are the different Furs' used for 
 muffs, trimmings, and linings, which, as the chief of the kind, 
 I shall particularize. You will find them below. 
 
 The diversions of the higher classes form another, and the 
 only remaining, head of inquiry into their expenses. I 
 mean those diversions which distinguish the country and the 
 town life; which are visible and tangible to the statesman; 
 which have some public measure and standard. And here 
 when I look to tlie report of your committee, I for the first 
 time perceive a failure. It is clearly so. Whichever way 
 I reckon the four years of peace, the old tax on the sports 
 of the field has certainly proved deficient since the war. The 
 same money, however, or nearly the same, has been paid to 
 government ; though the same number of individuals have 
 
 » FURS. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 £ 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 £ 
 
 1787 . . 
 
 . 3,463 
 
 1793 . 
 
 2,829 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 . 2,957 
 
 1794 . 
 
 3,353 
 
 1789 . 
 
 . 1,151 
 
 1795 . 
 
 3,266 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 . 3,328 
 
 1796 . 
 
 6,138 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 
 £10,899 
 
 
 £15,586 £4687. 
 
 
 Increase to 179 
 
 1791 . . 
 
 . £5,731 4 Yi 
 
 s. to 1791 
 
 £13,167 £2419. 
 
 The skins h(fre selected from the custom-house accounts are, Bladk 
 Bear, Ordinn-y '■\ r, Marte7i, Mink, Musqt(ash, Otter, Raccooji, and IVolf. 
 
LETTERS ON A BEGICIDE PEACE. 887: 
 
 at contributed to the payment. An additional tax was laid 
 I 1791, and during the war has produced upwards oj 
 1 61.000; which is about £4000 more than the decrease of 
 lie old tax, in one scheme of comparison ; and about £4000 
 :ss, iu the other scheme. I might remark that the amount 
 : the new tax, in the several years of the war, by no means 
 3ar9 the proportion which it ought to the old. There seems 
 j) be some great irregularity or other in the receipt : but I 
 not think it worth while to examine into the argument. 
 : am willing to suppose that many who, in the idleness of 
 pace, made war upon partridges, hares, and pheasants, may 
 jDW carry more noble arms against the enemies of their 
 j)untry. Our political adversaries may do what they please 
 jith that concession. They are welcome to make the most 
 K it. I am sure of a very handsome set-oiF in the other 
 iranch of expense, — the amusements of a town life. 
 i There is much gaiety, and dissipation, and profusion, 
 hich must escape, and disappoint, all the arithmetic of 
 Dlitical economy. But the theatres are a prominent feature, 
 ihey are established through every part of the kingdom, at 
 icost unknown till our days. There is hardly a provincial 
 ipital which does not possess, or which does not aspire to 
 bssess, a theatre-royal. Most of them engage, for a short 
 me at a vast price, every actor or actress of name in the 
 ietropolis ; a distinction which, in the reign of my old 
 iend Grarrick, was confined to very few. The dresses, the 
 ,!enes, the decorations of every kind, I am told, are in a 
 ew style of splendour and magnificence ; whether to the 
 ivantage of our dramatic taste, upon the whole, I very 
 uch doubt. It is a show and a spectacle, not a play, that 
 i exhibited. This is undoubtedly in the genuine manner of 
 lie Augustan age, but in a manner which was censured by 
 16 of the best poets and critics of that or any age : 
 
 migravit ab aure voluptas 
 
 Omnis ad incertos oculos, et gaudia vana: 
 Quatuor aut plures aulsea premuntur in horas, 
 Dum fugiunt equitum turmae, peditumque catervae 
 
 ' must interrupt the passage, most fervently to deprecate 
 id abominate the sequel, 
 
 Mox trahitur manibus regiim fortima retoiUa. 
 
 I VOL. V- 2. 
 
938 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 I hope tliat no Trencli fraternization, which the relations c 
 peace and amity with systematized regicide would assuredly 
 sooner or later, draw after them, even if it should overtun 
 our happy constitution itself, could so change the hearts o 
 Englishmen, as to make them delight in representations anc 
 processions, which have no other merit than that of degrad 
 ing and insulting the name of royalty. But good taste, 
 manners, morals, religion, all fly, wherever the principles o 
 Jacobinism enter : and we have no safety against them bu 
 in arms. 
 
 The proprietors, whether in this they follow or lead wha 
 is called the town, to furnish out these gaudy and pompou. 
 entertainments, must collect so much more from the public 
 It was but just before the breaking out of hostilities, tha 
 they levied for themselves the very tax, which, at the clos 
 of the American war, they represented to Lord North a 
 certain ruin to their affairs to demand for the state. Th 
 example has since been imitated by the managers of ou 
 Italian Opera. Once during the w^ar, if not twice, (I woul 
 not willingly mistate anything, but I am not very accurat 
 on these subjects,) they have raised the price of their sut 
 Bcriptiou. Yet I have never heard that any lasting dissatie 
 faction has been manifested, or that their houses have bee 
 unusually and constantly thin. On the contrary, all th 
 three theatres have been repeatedly altered, and refitted, an 
 enlarged, to make them capacious of the crowds that nightl 
 flock to them ; and one of those huge and lofty piles, whic 
 lifts its broad shoulders in gigantic pride, almost emulous ( 
 the temples of God, has been reared from the foundation i 
 a charge of more than fourscore thousand pounds, and y( 
 remains a naked, rough, unsightly heap. 
 
 I am afraid, my dear sir, that I have tired you with thes 
 dull though important details. But we are upon a subjee, 
 which, like some of a higher nature, refuses ornament, an 
 is contented with conve}ang instruction. I know, too, tfc 
 obstinacy of unbelief in those pers^rted minds which ha\ 
 no delight but in contemplating the supposed distress, an 
 predicting the immediate ruin, of their country. Thej 
 birds of evil presage, at all times, have grated our ears wit 
 their mela3io»ioly song; and, by some strange f\italitv ( 
 other, it has generally happened, that fchey have poured fort 
 
LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 881^ 
 
 leir loudest and deepest lamentations at the periods of our 
 ■lost abundant prosperity. Very early in my public life, I hr»d 
 t'casion to make myself a little acquainted with their natural 
 listory. My first political tract in the collection, which a 
 •iend has made of my publications, is an answer to a very 
 loomy picture of the state of the nation, which was thought 
 have been drawn by a statesman of some eminence in his 
 Ime. That was no more than the common spleen of disap- 
 ointed ambition : in the present day, I fear that too many 
 re actuated by a more malignant and dangerous spirit, 
 fhey hope, by depressing our minds with a despair of our 
 jieans and resources, to drive us, trembling and unresisting, 
 jito the toils of our enemies, with whom, from the beginning 
 if the Eevolution in France, they have ever moved in strict 
 bncert and co-operation. If, with the report of your 
 jnance committee in their hands, they can still affect to 
 lespond, and can still succeed, as they do, in spreading the con- 
 igion of their pretended fears among well-disposed, though 
 eak men; there is no way of counteracting them, but by 
 'xing them down to particulars. Nor must we forget that 
 'ley are unwearied agitators, bold assertors, dexterous sophis- 
 '?rs. Proof must be accumulated upon proof to silence them. 
 IVith this view I shall now direct your attention to some 
 jfcher striking and unerring indications of our flourishing 
 ondition ; and they will, in general, be derived from other 
 ources, but equally authentic ; from other reports and pro- 
 eedings of both Houses of Parliament, all of which unite with 
 'onderful force of consent in the same general result. Hi- 
 •lerto we have seen the superfluity of our capital discovering 
 self only in procuring superfluous accommodation and en- 
 pyment, in our houses, in our furniture, in our establish- 
 'lents, in our eating and drinking, our clothing, and our 
 'ublic diversions : we shall now see it more beneficially em- 
 loyed in improving our territory itself: we shall see part of 
 lur present opulence, with provident care, put out to usury 
 |)r posterity. 
 
 ; To what ultimate extent it may be wise, or practicable, to 
 'ush Inclosures of common and waste lands, may be a ques- 
 on of doubt, in some points of view : but no person thinks 
 jiem already carried to excess ; and the relative magnitude 
 f the sums laid out upon them gives us a standard of esti- 
 
840 LETTEES O^ A KEGICIDE PEACi 
 
 mating the comparative situation of the laL ei Inteiesi 
 Your House, this session, appointed a committee :n wast 
 lands, and they have made a report by their chairman, a 
 honourable baronet, for whom the minister the other da 
 (with very good intentions, I believe, but with little real pn 
 fit to the public) thought fit to erect a board of agriculture 
 The account, as it stands there, appears sufficiently favom 
 able. The greatest number of inclosing bills, passed in an 
 one year of the last peace, does not equal the smallest annuj 
 number in the war; and those of the last year exceed, b 
 more than one half, the highest year of peace. But whf 
 was my surprise, on looking into the late report of the secrc 
 committee of the Lords, to find a list of these bills during th 
 war, diftering in every year, and larger ' on the whole, b 
 nearly one third ! I have checked this account by the statut< 
 book, and find it to be correct. "What new brilliancy the 
 does it throw over the prospect, bright as it was before ! Tt 
 number during the last four years has more than doubled thi 
 of the four years immediately preceding ; it has surpassed tl 
 five years of peace, beyond which the Lords' committees ha^ 
 not gone ; it has even surpassed (I have verified the fact) t) 
 w^iole ten years of peace. I cannot stop here. I cannot a( 
 vance a single step in this inquiry, without being obliged t 
 cast my eyes back to the period when I first knew the coui 
 try. These bills, which had begun in the reign of Quae 
 Anne, had passed every year in greater or less numbers froi 
 the year 1723 ; yet, in all that space of time, they had nc 
 reached the amount of any two years during the present wai 
 and though soon after that time they rapidly increased, stil 
 at the accession of his present Majesty, they were very ft 
 short of the number passed in the four years of hostilities. 
 
 ' Report of the Lords' Committee of Secrecy, ordered to be prime 
 28th April, 1797, Appendix 44. 
 
 INCLOSURE BILLS. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 
 1 789 . . 
 
 . 3.3 
 
 1793 . . 
 
 60 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 . 25 
 
 1794 . . 
 
 73 
 
 1791 . . 
 
 . 40 
 
 1795 . . 
 
 77 
 
 1792 . . 
 
 . 40 
 
 1796 . . 
 
 72 
 
 138 
 
 282 
 
LETTERS ON'- A REGICIDE PEACE. 341 
 
 ! In my first letter I mentioned the state of our Inland 
 ravigation, neglected as it had been from the reign of King 
 William to the time of mj observation. It was not till the 
 resent reign, that the Duke of Bridgewater's canal first ex- 
 ted a spirit of speculation and adventure in this way. This 
 Dirit showed itself, but necessarily made no great progress, 
 1 the American war. When peace was restored, it began of 
 ourse to work with more sensible efiect ; yet, in ten years 
 •om that event, the bills passed on that subject were not so 
 lany as from the year 1793 to the present session of parlia- 
 lient. From what I can trace on the statute-book, I am con- 
 jdent that all the capital expended in these projects during 
 |ae peace, bore no degree of proportion (I doubt on very 
 rave consideration whether all that was ever so expended 
 ;-as equal) to the money which has been raised for the same 
 jurposes, since the war. ^ I know, that in the last four years 
 if peace, when they rose regularly and rapidly, the sums 
 pecified in the acts were not near one-third of the subsequent 
 mount. In the last session of parliament, the grand junction 
 ompany, as it is called, having sunk half a million, (ot 
 rhich I feel the good effects at my own door,) applied to 
 our House for permission to subscribe half as much more 
 imong themselves. This grand junction is an inosculation 
 ;f the grand trunk : and in the present session, the latter 
 ompany has obtained the authority of parliament, to float 
 wo hundred acres of land, for the purpose of forming a 
 eservoir, thirty feet deep, two hundred yards wide at the 
 ead, and two miles in length ; a lake which may almost vie 
 >'ith that which once fed the now obliterated canal of 
 rjanguedoc. 
 I The present war is, above all others, (of which we have 
 
 ' NAVIGATION AND CANAL BILLS. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 I 1789 ... 3 
 
 1790 ... 8 
 I 1791 ... 10 
 
 1792 ... 9 
 
 30 
 Money raised £2,377,200 
 
 Yrs 
 
 .ofWai 
 
 
 
 1793 
 
 . . . 28 
 
 
 1794 
 
 . . . 18 
 
 
 1795 
 
 . . . 11 
 
 
 1796 
 
 . . . 12 
 69 
 
 
 , 
 
 £7,415,100 
 
842 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACa. 
 
 heard or read,) a war against landed property. That de> 
 Bcription of property is in its nature the firm base of every 
 stable government ; and has been so considered by all the 
 wisest writers of the old philosophy, from the time of the 
 Stagyrite, who observes that the agricultural class of all 
 others is the least inclined to sedition. We find it to have 
 been so regarded in the practical politics of antiquity, where 
 they are brought more directly home to our understandings 
 and bosoms in the history of Bome, and above all, in the 
 writings of Cicero. The country tribes were always thought 
 more respectable than those of the city. And if in our o^vn 
 history there is any one circumstance to which, under God, 
 are to be attributed the steady resistance, the fortunate 
 issue, and sober settlement, of all our struggles for liberty, 
 it is, that while the landed interest, instead of forming a 
 separate body, as in other countries, has, at all times, been 
 in close connexion and union with the other great interests 
 of the country, it has been spontaneously allowed to lead, 
 and direct, and moderate, all the rest. I cannot, therefore, 
 but see with singular gratification, that during a war whicli 
 has been eminently made for the destruction of the landed 
 proprietors, as well as of priests and kings, as much has been 
 done, by public works, for the permanent benefit of their 
 stake in this country, as in all the rest of the current cen- 
 tury, which now touches to its close. Perhaps, after this, it 
 may not be necessary to refer to private observation ; but I 
 am satisfied, that, in general, the rents of lands have been 
 considerably increased : they are increased very considerably 
 indeed, if I may draw any conclusion from my own little 
 property of that kind. I am not ignorant, however, where 
 our public burdens are most galling. But all of this class will 
 consider who they are that are principally menaced ; how 
 little the men of their description in other countries, where 
 this revolutionary fury has but touched, have been found 
 equal to their own protection ; how tardy, and unprovided, 
 and full of anguish, is their flight, chained down as they are 
 by every tie to the soil ; how helpless they are, above all 
 other men, in exile, in poverty, in need, in all the varieties 
 of wretchedness ; and then let them well weigh what are 
 the burdens to which they ought not to submit for their 
 own salvation. 
 
lettehs on a regicide peace. 
 
 343 
 
 Many of the authorities which I have already adduced, or 
 . which I have referred, may convey a competent notion ol 
 lome of our principal manufactures. Their general state 
 all be clear from that of our external and internal commerce, 
 hrough which they circulate, and of which they are at once 
 he cause and effect. But the communication of the several 
 ,)arts of the kingdom with each other, and with foreign 
 'ountries, has always been regarded as one of the most 
 •ertain tests to evince the prosperous or adverse state of our 
 !rade in all its branches. Recourse has usually been had to 
 Ihe revenue of the post-office with this view. I shall include 
 [he product of the tax which was laid in the last war, and 
 ivhich will make the evidence more conclusive, if it shall 
 I'lfford the same inference : — I allude to the post-horse dut)% 
 jvhich shows the personal intercourse within the kingdom, as 
 ihe post-office shows the intercourse by letters, both within 
 ind without. The first of these standards, then, exhibits an 
 ncrease, according to my former schemes of comparison, 
 j'rom an eleventh to a twentieth part of the whole duty.' The 
 ;30st-office gives still less consolation to those who are miser- 
 able, in proportion as the country feels no misery. From the 
 commencement of the war, to the month of April, 1796, the 
 j>ross produce had increased by nearly one- sixth of the 
 i.vhole sum, which the state now derives from that fund. I 
 ind that the year endmg 5th of April, 1793, gave £627,592, 
 md the year ending at the same quarter, 1796, £750,637, 
 ,ifter a fair deduction having been made for the alteration, 
 i(which, you know, on grounds of policy I never approved,) 
 'n your privilege of franking. I have seen no formal docu- 
 Iment subsequent to that period, but I have been credibly 
 
 ' POST-HORSE DUTY. 
 
 ¥rs, of Peace. 
 
 £ 
 
 
 
 Yrs. of War. £ 
 
 1787 . . 
 
 . 169,410 
 
 
 
 1793 . 191,488 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 . 204,659 
 
 
 
 1794 . 202,884 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 . 170,554 
 
 
 
 1795 . 196,091 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 . 181,155 
 £725,778 
 
 
 
 1796 . 204,061 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 £795,124 £69,346. 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 
 1791 . . 
 
 . 198,634 
 
 4> 
 
 ^rs 
 
 . to 1791 £755,002 £40,122. 
 
su 
 
 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 informed there is verj good ground to believe, that tlnf 
 revenue of the pot^t-office • still continues to be regularly an( 
 largely upon the rise. 
 
 What ia the true inference to be drawn from the annua 
 number of bankruptcies, has been the occasion of mud 
 dispute. On one side, it has been confidently urged as i 
 sure symptom of a decaying trade : on the other side, it hai 
 been insisted, that it is a circumstance attendant upon j 
 thriving trade ; for that the greater is the whole quantity o 
 trade, the greater of course must be the positive number o 
 failures, while the aggregate success is still in the samt 
 proportion. In truth, the increase of the number may arist 
 from either of those causes. But all must agree in on< 
 conclusion, that, if the number diminishes, and, at the samt 
 time, every other sort of evidence tends to show an augment 
 ation of trade, there can be no better indication. We havt 
 already had very ample means of gathering, that the yeai 
 
 ' The above account is taken from a paper which was ordered by Um 
 House of Commons to be printed, 8th December, 1796. From the gros.! 
 produce of the year ending 5th April, 1796, there has been deducted n! 
 that statement the sum of £36,666, in consequence of the regulation oij 
 franking, which took place on the 5th May, 1795, and was computed a*] 
 £40,000 per ann. To show an equal number of years, both of peace anc' 
 war, the accounts of two preceding years are given in the following table ! 
 from a Report made since Mr. Burke's death, by a committee of the; 
 House of Commons appointed to consider the claims of Mr. Palmer, thd 
 late Comptroller-general ; and for still greater satisfaction, the number o i 
 letters, inwards and outwards, have been added, except for the yeai 
 1790—1791. The letter-book for that year is not to be found. 
 
 Number of Letters. 
 
 POST OFFICE. 
 
 Inwards. 
 
 Outwards. ' 
 
 Gross Revenue. 
 
 
 
 . 1791 
 
 . 575,079 . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 . 1792 
 
 585,432 . . 
 
 6,391,149 
 
 5,081,344 i. 
 
 . 1793 
 
 627,592 . . 
 
 6,584,867 
 
 5,041,137 
 
 . 1794 
 
 . 691,268 . . 
 
 7,094,777 
 
 6,537,234 i 
 
 . 1795 
 
 . 705,319 . . 
 
 7,071,029 
 
 7,473,626 : 
 
 . 1796 
 
 750,637 . . 
 
 7,W1,077 
 
 8,597,167 
 
 Apr. 1790 
 1791 
 1792 
 1793 
 1794 
 1795 
 
 From the last-mentioned Report it appears that the accounts have not 
 been completely and authentically made up, for the years ending 5th 
 April, 1796 and 1797, but on the Receiver-general's book there is ar 
 increase of the latter year over the former, equal to something more thas 
 5 per cent. 
 
tETTEES OK A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 346 
 
 1796 was a very favourable year of trade, and in tliat year 
 the number of bankruptcies was at least one-fifth below the 
 usual average. I take this from the declaration of the lord 
 chancellor in the House of Lords. ^ He professed to speak 
 from the records of chancery; and he added another very 
 striking fact, that on the property actually paid into his court, 
 (a very small part, indeed, of the whole property of the king* 
 'dom,) there had accrued in that year a net surplus of eight 
 hundred thousand pounds, which was so much new capitad. 
 
 But the real situation of our trade, during the whole of 
 ithis war, deserves more minute investigation. I shall begin 
 'with that, which, though the least in consequence, makes 
 perhaps the most impression on our senses, because it meets 
 our eyes in our daily walks ; — I mean our retail trade. The 
 (exuberant display of wealth in our shops was the sight which 
 'most amazed a learned foreigner of distinction who lately 
 resided among us: his expression, I remember, was, that 
 ''^ they seemed to be bursting with opulence i?ito the streets.'* 
 The documents which throw light on this subject are not 
 ! many ; but they all meet in the same point : all concur in 
 exhibiting an increase. The most material are the general 
 licences 2 which the law requires to be taken by all dealers 
 ;in excisable commodities. These seem to be subject to 
 i considerable fluctuations. They have not been so low in 
 any year of the war, as in the years 1788 and 1789, nor ever 
 BO high in peace, as in the first year of the war. I should 
 next state the licences to dealers in spirits and wine, but 
 the change in them which took place in 1789 would give an 
 
 ' In a debate, 30th December, 1796, on the return of Lord Malmes- 
 bury. — See Woodfall's Parliamentary' Debates, vol. xiii. page 591. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . . 
 
 1788 . , 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 1791 
 
 2 GENERAL LICENCES. 
 
 44,030 
 
 40,882 
 39,917 
 41,970 
 
 £166,799 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1795 . 
 
 1796 . 
 
 £ 
 
 45,568 
 42,129 
 43,350 
 41,190 
 
 £170,23: 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 £^38. 
 
 44,240 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £167,009 £3228. 
 
346 
 
 LETTEES 0^' A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 unfair advantage to my argument. I shall therefore content 
 myself with remarking, that from the date of that change 
 the spirit licences kept nearly the same level t.ll the stop- 
 page of the distilleries in 1795. If they dropped a little, 
 and it was but little, the wine licences, during the same 
 time, more than countervailed that loss to the revenue ; and 
 it is remarkable with regard to the latter, that in the year 
 1796, which was the lowest in the excise duties on wine it- 
 self, as well as in the quantity imported, more dealers in 
 wine appear to have been licensed than in any former year, ex- 
 cepting the first year of the war. This fact may raise some 
 doubt, whether the consumption has been lessened so much 
 as, I believe, is commonly imagined. The only other retail- 
 traders, M'hom I found so entered as to admit of being se- 
 lected, are tea-dealers and sellers of gold and silver plate ; 
 both of whom seem to have multiplied very much in propor- 
 tion to their aggregate number.^ I have kept apart one set 
 of licensed sellers, because I am aware that our antagonists 
 may be inclined to triumph a little, when I name auctioneers 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . . 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 1791 
 
 ' DEALERS IN TEA. 
 
 £ 
 10,934 
 11,949 
 12,501 
 13,126 
 
 £48,510 
 
 Yrs 
 
 , of War. 
 J 793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1795 . 
 
 1796 . 
 
 £ 
 13,939 
 14,315 
 13,956 
 14,830 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 £57,040 £8530 
 
 13,921 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £51,497 £5543. 
 
 SELLERS OF PLATE. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 1787 . 
 
 1788 . 
 
 1789 . 
 
 1790 . 
 
 1791 . 
 
 £ 
 
 6,593 
 7,953 
 7,348 
 
 7,988 
 
 £29,882 
 
 Yrs. of War. 
 
 1793 . 
 
 1794 . 
 
 1795 . 
 1796 
 
 £ 
 8,178 
 8,296 
 8,128 
 8,835 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 £33,437 £3555. 
 
 8,327 4 Vrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1794 
 £31,616 £1.821. 
 
LETTERS OJr A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 847 
 
 and auctions. They may be disposed to consider it as a sort 
 of trade, which thrives by the distress of others But if 
 they will look at it a little more attentively, they will find 
 their gloomy comfort vanish. The public income from these 
 licences has risen with very great regularity, through a 
 series of years, which all must admit to have been years of 
 prosperity. It is remarkable too, that in the year 1793, 
 iwhich was the great year of bankruptcies, these duties on 
 auctioneers and auctions * fell below the mark of 1791 ; 
 and in 1796, which year had one-fifth less than the ac- 
 Icustomed average of bankruptcies, they mounted at once 
 Ibeyond all former examples. In concluding this general 
 jhead, will you permit me, my dear sir, to bring to your 
 {notice an humble, but industrious and laborious set of 
 ichapmen, against whom the vengeance of your House has 
 Isometimes been levelled, with what policy, I need not stay 
 jto inquire, as they have escaped without much injury.^ 
 
 'AUCTIONS AND AUCTIONEERS. 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 £ 
 
 Yrs. of War. £ 
 
 1787 . . 
 
 . 48,964 
 
 1793 . 70,004 
 
 1788 . . 
 
 . 53,993 
 
 1794 . 82,659 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 . 52,024 
 
 1795 . 86,890 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 . 53,156 
 
 1796 . 109,594 
 
 Increase to 1790 
 
 i 
 
 £208,137 
 
 £349,147 £141,010. 
 
 1791 . 
 
 70,973 4 Yrs. to 1791 
 
 Increase to 1791 
 £230,146 £119,001. 
 
 j ' Since Mr. Burke's death, a fourth Report of the Committee oi Finance 
 
 :has made its appearance. An account is there given from the Stamp -office 
 
 of the gross produce of duties on Hawkers and Pedlars, for four years of 
 
 peace and four of war. It is therefore added in the manner of the othet 
 
 tables. 
 
 I HAWKERS AND PEDLARS. 
 
 Yrs. of War. £ 
 
 1793 . . . 6,042 
 
 1794 . . . 6,104 
 
 1795 . . 6,795 
 
 1796 . . 7,882 
 
 Yrs. of Peace. 
 
 £ 
 
 1789 . . 
 
 . 6,132 
 
 1790 . . 
 
 . 6,708 
 
 1791 . . 
 
 . 6,482 
 
 1792 . . 
 
 . 6,008 
 
 £25,330 
 
 Increase in 4 Years of War 
 
 £26,823 
 £1.493 
 
348 LETTERS ON A REGHCIDE l^EACE. 
 
 The hawkers and pedlars, I am assured, are still doing well, 
 though from some new arrangements respecting them made 
 in 1789j it would be difficult to trace their proceedings in 
 any satisfactory manner. 
 
 When such is the vigour of our traffic in its minutest 
 ramifications, we may be persuaded that the root and the 
 trunk are sound. "When we see the life-blood of the state 
 circulate so freely through the capillary vessels of the system, 
 we scarcely need inquire, if the heart performs its functions 
 aright. But let us approach it ; let us lay it bare, and watch 
 the systole and diastole, as it now receives, and now pours 
 forth, the vital stream through all the members. The port 
 of London has always supplied the main evidence of the state 
 of our commerce. I know, that amidst all the difficulties 
 and embarrassments of the year 1793, from causes uncon- 
 nected with, and prior to, the war, the tonnage of ships in 
 the Thames actually rose. But I shall not go through a de- 
 tail of official papers on this point. There is evidence which 
 has appeared this very session before your House, infinitely 
 more forcible and impressive to my apprehension, than all 
 the journals and ledgers of all the inspectors-general from 
 the days of Davenant. It is such as cannot carry with it 
 any sort of fallacy. It comes, not from one set, but from 
 many opposite sets of witnesses, who all agree in nothing 
 else ; witnesses of the gravest and most unexceptionable; 
 character, and who confirm what they say, in the surest 
 manner, by their conduct. Two different bills have been 
 brought in for improving the port of London. I have it, 
 from very good intelligence, that when the project was first 
 suggested from necessity, there were no less than eight 
 different plans, supported by eight different bodies of sub*- 
 scribers. The cost of the least was estimated at twc^ 
 hundred thousand pounds, and of the most extensive, a1 
 twelve hundred thousand. The two, between which tht, 
 contest now lies, substantially agree (as all the others must: 
 have done) in the motives and reasons of the preamble : but 
 I shall confine myself to that bill which is proposed on th( 
 part of the mayor, aldermen, and common council, because ] 
 regard them as the best authority, and their language in it: 
 self is fuller and more precise. I certainly see them com-, 
 plain of the "great delays, accidents, damages, losses, anc 
 
LETTERS Oy A EEGICIDE PEACE. 849 
 
 ' extraordinary expenses, which are almost continually sua. 
 tained, to the hindrance and discouragement of commerce, 
 and the great injury of the public revenue." But what aie 
 the causes to which they attribute their complaints ? The 
 first is, " That fkom the tert GEEAT and PROGEES- 
 SIYE IXCEEASE of the :^UMBEE and SIZE of ships 
 
 AND OTHEE vessels TEADING TO THE PORT OF LONDON ; the 
 
 I river Thames is, in general, so much crowded, that the 
 navigation of a considerable part of the river is rendered 
 tedious and dangerous ; and there is much want of room for 
 ,the safe and convenient mooring of vessels, and constant ac- 
 icess to them." The second is of the same nature. It is the 
 I want of regulations and arrangements, never before found 
 i necessary, for expedition and fecility. The third is of an- 
 ; other kind, but to the same effect; "that the legal quays 
 'are too confined, and there is not suf&cient accommodation 
 for the landing and shipping of cargoes." And the fourth 
 and last is still different ; they describe " the avenues to the 
 legal quays" (which, little more than a century since, the 
 great fire of London opened and dilated beyond the measure 
 of our then circumstances) " to be now much too narrow and 
 incommodious for the great concourse of carts and other 
 carriages usually passing and repassing there." Thus our 
 trade has grown too big for the ancient limits of art and 
 nature. Our streets, our lanes, our shores, the river itself, 
 which has so long been our pride, are impeded, and obstruct- 
 ed, and choked up by our riches. They are, like our shops, 
 "bursting with opulence." To these misfortunes, to these 
 distresses and grievances alone, we are told it is to be imputed 
 that still more of our capital has not been pushed into the 
 channel of our commerce, to roll back in its reflux still more 
 abundant capital, and fructify the national treasury in ita 
 course. Indeed, my dear sir, when I have before my eyes 
 this consentient testimony of the corporation of the city of 
 London, the West-India merchants, and all the other mer- 
 chants who promoted the other plans, struggling and contend- 
 mg which of them shall be permitted to lay out their money 
 in consonance with their testimony ; I cannot turn aside to 
 examine what one or two violent petitions, tumultuously 
 voted by real or pretended liverymen of London, may have said 
 of the utter destruction and annihilation of trade. 
 
850 LETTEES OW A JlEGiClDE PEACE. 
 
 This opens a subject on which eyery true loper of hig 
 country, and, at this crisis, every friend to the liberties oil 
 Europe and of social order in every country, must dwell andi 
 expatiate with delight. 1 mean to wind up all my proofs oi 
 our astonishing and almost incredible prosperity with the 
 v'aluable information given to the secret committee of the 
 Lords by the inspector-general. And here I am happy that, 
 I can administer an antidote to all despondence, from the 
 same dispensary from which the first dose of poison was sup-! 
 posed to have come. The report of that committee is generally ' 
 believed to have derived much benefit from the labours of the 
 same noble lord, who was said, as the author of the pamphlet 
 of 1795, to have led the way in teaching us to place all oui 
 hope on that very experiment, which he afterwards declared 
 in his place to have been from the beginning utterly without 
 hope. We have now his authority to say, that, as far as oui 
 resources were concerned, the experiment was equally with-; 
 out necessity. . 
 
 "It appears," as the committee has very justly and satis«j 
 factorily observed, "by the accounts of the value of the! 
 imports and exports for the last twenty years, produced bj' 
 Mr. Irving, that the demand for cash to be sent abroad''' 
 (which by the way, including the loan to the Emperor, was 
 nearly one-third less sent to the continent of Europe than ir i 
 the seven years' war) "was greatly compensated by a verji 
 large balance of commerce in favour of this kingdom ; greatei' 
 than was ever known in any preceding period. The value oj! 
 the exports of the last year amounted, according to the va-, 
 luation on which the accounts of the inspector-general ar( 
 founded, to £30,424,184 ; which is more than double what it 
 was in any year of the American war, and one-third more^ 
 than it was on an average during the last peace, previouf' 
 to the year 1792 ; and though the value of the imports t(! 
 this country has, during the same peace, greatly increased] 
 the excess of the value of the exports above that of the im-'; 
 ports, which constitutes the balance of trade, has augment*: 
 ed even in a greater proportion." These observations luiglil 
 perhaps be branched out into other points of view, but ], 
 shall leave them to your own active and ingenious mind 
 There is another and still more important light in whi * 
 the inspector-general's information may be seen ; and t' 
 

 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 351 
 
 IB, as affording a comparison of some circumstances in this 
 war, with the commercial history of all our other wars in the 
 present century. 
 
 In all former hostilities, our exports gradually declined in 
 value, and then (with one single exception) ascended again, 
 till they reached and passed the level of the preceding peace. 
 But this was a work of time, sometimes more, sometimes less, 
 I slow. In Queen Anne's war which began in 1702, it was an 
 j interval of ten years before this was effected. Nine years 
 j only were necessary in the war of 1739 for the same opera- 
 j ticn. The seven years' war saw the period much shortened : 
 I hostilities began in 1755 ; and in 1758, the fourth year of the 
 I war, the exports mounted above the peace-mark. There was, 
 I however, a distinguishing feature of that war, that our ton- 
 j nage, to the very last moment, was in a state of great depres- 
 sion, while our commerce was chiefly carried on by foreign 
 j vessels. The American war was darkened with singular and 
 peculiar adversity. Our exports never came near to their 
 i peaceful elevation, and our tonnage continued, with very little 
 I fluctuation, to subside lower and lower.^ On the other hand, 
 ! the present war, with regard to our commerce, has the white 
 , mark of as singular felicity. If from internal causes, as well 
 I as the consequence of hostilities, the tide ebbed in 1793, it 
 j rushed back again with a bore in the following year; and from 
 I that time has continued to swell, and run, every successive 
 year, higher and higher into all our ports. The value of our 
 I exports last year above the year 1792 (the mere increase of 
 ; our commerce during the war) is equal to the average value 
 1 of all the exports during the wars of William and Anne. 
 I It has been already pointed out, that our imports have not 
 I kept pace with our exports ; of course, on the face of the 
 I account, the balance of trade, both positively and com- 
 , paratively considered, must have been much more than ever 
 in our favour. In that early little tract of mine, to which I 
 have already more than once referred, I made many observa- 
 I tions on the usual method of computing that balance, as well 
 ; as the usual objection to it, that the entries at the custom- 
 
 ' This account is extracted from different parts of Mr. Chalmerj*' esti- 
 mate. It is but just to mention, that, in Mr. Chalmers' estimate, the 
 Bums are uniformly lower than those of the same year in Mr. living's 
 Mcount 
 
352 LETTEES ON A BEtUCiDE PEACE. 
 
 
 house were not always true. As you probably remember 
 them, I shall not repeat them here. On the one hand, ] 
 am not surprised that the same trite objection is perpetuj 
 ally renewed by the detractors of our national affluence ; and ; 
 on the other hand, I am gratified in perceiving that th«, 
 balance of trade seems to be now computed in a manne]i 
 much clearer than it used to be from those errors which ], 
 formerly noticed. The inspector-general appears to hav«, 
 made his estimate with every possible guard and caution. Hi;; 
 opinion is entitled to the greatest respect. It was in sub 
 stance, (I shall again use the words of the Report, as mucl 
 better than my own,) " That the true balance of our trade, 
 amounted, on a medium of the four years preceding January 
 1796, to upwards of £6,500,000 per annum, exclusive of tht 
 profits arising from our East and West-India trade, whicl, 
 he estimates at upwards of £4,000,000 per annum, exclusiv 
 of the profits derived from our fisheries." So that, includin; 
 the fisheries, and making a moderate allowance for the ex : 
 ceedings, which Mr. Irving himself supposes, beyond hi, 
 calculation, without reckoning what the public creditors them; 
 selves pay to themselves, and without taking one shillint, 
 from the stock of the landed interest ; our colonies, ou , 
 Oriental possessions, our skiU and industry, our commerce i 
 and navigation, at the commencement of this year, we; 
 pouring a new annual capital into the kingdom ; hardly h; 
 a million short of the whole interest of that tremendous debi 
 from which we are taught to shrink in dismay, as from ai 
 overwhelming and intolerable oppression. 
 
 If then the real state of this nation is such as I have 
 scribed, and I am only apprehensive that you may think 
 have taken too much pains to exclude all doubt on thi 
 question ; if no class is lessened in its numbers, or in it 
 stock, or in its convenience, or even its luxuries ; if the; 
 build as many habitations, and as elegant and as comnK 
 dious as ever, and furnish them \\^th every chargeable decorj 
 ation, and every prodigality of ingenious invention that cai 
 be thought of by those who even encumber their necessitie 
 with superfluous accommodation; if they are as numerousl; 
 attended ; if their equipages are as splendid ; if they regal 
 at table with as much or more variety of plenty than ever ; i 
 they are clad in as expensive and changeful a diversity accord 
 
 ■J 
 
LETTERS OS A BEGICIDE PEACE. 353 
 
 \g to their tastes and modes ; if they are not deterred from 
 • e pleasures of the field by the charges -which government has 
 'Isely turned from the culture to the sports of the field ; if 
 te theatres are as rich, and as well filled, and greater, and 
 f a higher price than ever ; and (what is more important 
 Ian all) if it is plain from the treasures which are spread 
 (cr the soil, or confided to the winds and the seas, that there 
 ae as many who are indulgent to their propensities of parsi- 
 nny, as others to their voluptuous desires, and that the 
 ]cuniary capital grows instead of diminishing ; on what 
 ^ound are we authorized to say that a nation, gamboling in 
 {i ocean of superfluity, is undone by want ? "With what face 
 (!a we pretend, that they who have not denied any one 
 j'atification to any one appetite, have a right to plead poverty 
 i| order to famish their virtues, and to put their duties on 
 jjort allowance ? That they are to take the law from an im- 
 j'rious enemy, and can contribute no longer to the honour of 
 leir king, to the support of the independence of their 
 (iintry, to the salvation of that Europe, which, if it falls, 
 list crush them with its gigantic ruins ? How can they 
 J ect to sweat, and stagger, and groan, under their burthens, 
 tj whom the mines of Xewfoundland, richer than those of 
 }exico and Peru, are now thrown in as a make- weight in the 
 fide of their exorbitant opulence ? What excuse can they 
 Ive to faint, and creep, and cringe, and prostrate them- 
 s.ves at the footstool of ambition and crime, who, during a 
 sort though violent struggle, which they have never support- 
 c with the energy of men, have amassed more to their 
 enual accumulation, than all the well-husbanded capital 
 tit enabled their ancestors, by long, and doubtful, and 
 Cistinate conflicts, to defend, and liberate, and vindicate the 
 c|ilized world ? But I do not accuse the people of England. 
 i to the great majority of the nation, they have done what- 
 €?r in their several ranks, and conditions, and descriptions, 
 vs required of them by their relative situations in society ; 
 fijd from those the great mass of mankind cannot depart with- 
 ot the subversion of all public order. They look up to that 
 ^vernment which they obey that they may be protected. 
 ^ ey ask to be led and directed by those rulers whom Pro- 
 vlence and the laws of their country have set over them, 
 ai under their guidance to walk in the ways of safety aDd 
 
 i 01^ V. U A 
 
3/)4 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACI. 
 
 honour. They have again delegated the greatest trust whid L 
 they have to bestow, to those faithful representatives wh( * 
 made their true voice heard against the disturbers and de 
 stroyers of Europe. They suffered, with unapproving acqui 
 escence, solicitations, which they had in no shape desired, t< 
 an unjust and usurping power, whom they had never pro 
 voked, and whose hostile menaces they did not dread. Whei' 
 the exigencies of the public service could only be met b », 
 their voluntary zeal, they started forth with an ardour whic' 
 outstripped the wishes of those who had injured them b ' 
 doubting whether it might not be necessary to have recourai|^ 
 to compulsion. They have in all things reposed an endmiii 
 ing, but not an unreflecting, confidence. That confidenci ;.i 
 demands a full return, and fixes a responsibility on the mirJ ri 
 isters entire and undivided. The people stands acquitte«; :ii 
 if the war is not carried on in a manner suited to its object i 
 If the public honour is tarnished ; if the public safety suffeii 
 any detriment ; the ministers, not the people, are to anawij ill 
 it, and they alone. Its armies, its navies, are given to thei 1 
 without stint or restriction. Its treasures are poured out :l 
 their feet. Its constancy is ready to second all their effort i 
 They are not to fear a responsibility for acts of manly a| 
 venture. The responsibility which they are to dread is, lei 
 they should show themselves unequal to the expectation of i 
 brave people. The more doubtful may be the constitutioDj 
 and economical questions upon which they have received j 
 marked a support, the more loudly they are called upon 
 support this great war, for the success of which their count \ 
 is willing to supersede considerations of no slight importan( 1 1] 
 Where I speak of responsibility, I do not mean to exclu i 
 that species of it which the legal powers of the country ha j 
 a right finally to exact from those who abuse a public trus ? 
 but high as this is, there is a responsibility which attach I: 
 on them, from which the whole legitimate power of tl; ' 
 kingdom cannot absolve them ; there is a responsibility • " 
 conscience and to glory ; a responsibility to the existi ; 
 world, and to that posterity, which men of their eniinei ' 
 cannot avoid for glory or for shame; a responsibihty t<« 
 tribunal, at which, not only ministers, but kings and pari- 
 ments, but even nations themselves, must one day anaweij J^|, 
 
 n 
 
 i 
 
 15: 
 
LETTEES Oir i. EE6ICIDE PEACE. 355 
 
 LETTER FROM LORD AUCKLAND TO THE RIGHy 
 HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE. 
 
 Eden Farm, Kent, Oct, 2Sth, 1795. 
 iMt Deae Sie, 
 
 I Thougli in tlie stormy ocean of the last twenty-three 
 jars we have seldom sailed on the same tack, there has been 
 jithing hostile in our signals or manoeuvres ; and, on my 
 ]lrt at least, there has been a cordial disposition towards 
 iendly and respectful sentiments. Under that influence I 
 ij'W send to you a small work, which exhibits my fair and~ 
 ijU opinions on the arduous circumstances of the moment^ 
 *!is far as the cautions necessary to be observed will permit 
 i]3 to go beyond general ideas." 
 
 .Three or four of those friends with whom I am most con- 
 rcted in public and private life, are pleased to think that 
 1e statement in question (which at first made part of a 
 (|nfidential paper) may do good : and, accordingly, a very 
 Ij'ge impression will be published to-day. I neither seek to 
 fjow the publication, nor do I wish to disavow it. I have 
 1' anxiety in that respect, but to contribute my mite to do 
 trnce, at a moment when service is much wanted. 
 I I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 I most sincerely yours, 
 
 |E* H^^« Edm^ Burke. Auckland. 
 
 LETTER FROM THE RIGHl HONOURABLE EDMUND 
 BURKE TO LORD AUCKLAND. 
 
 iMy Deae Loed, 
 
 \ I am perfectly sensible of the very flattering honour 
 ju have done me in turning any part of your attention to- 
 'irds a dejected old man, buried in the anticipated grave of 
 2 A 2 
 
3*56 LETTERS OS A BEOICIDE PEACE- | 
 
 a feeble old age, forgetting, and forgotten, in an obscure wj 
 melancholy retreat. ; 
 
 In this retreat, I have nothing relative to this world to i] 
 but to study all the tranquillity that in the state of my mi 
 I am capable of. To that end I find it but too necessary ^ 
 call to my aid an oblivion of most of the circurastanc'' 
 ]:)leasant and unpleasant, of my life ; to think as little, a 1. 
 indeed to know as little, as I can, of everything that is doi; 
 about me ; and above all, to divert my mind from all pi( 
 sagings and prognostications of what I must (if I let if 
 speculations loose) consider as of absolute necessity to hii 
 pen after my death, and possibly even before it. Tour s. 
 dress to the JPublic, which you have been so good as to send ) 
 nie, obliges me to break in upon that plan, and to look a lit.? 
 on what is behind, and very much on what is before, me. t 
 creates in my mind a variety of thoughts, and all of thi 
 unpleasant. 
 
 It is true, my Lord, what you say, that through our p' • | 
 lie life we have generally sailed on somewhat different tac I 
 We have so, undoubtedly, and we should do so still, if I li | 
 continued longer to keep the sea. In that difference, ; i 
 rightly observe, that I have always done justice to your s 1 
 and ability as a navigator, and to your good intentions *• i 
 wards the safety of the cargo, and of the ship's company, i : 
 cannot say now that we are on different tacks. There wcid 
 be no propriety in the metaphor. I can sail no longer, y 
 vessel cannot be said to be even in port. She is wh<v ^i 
 condemned and broken up. To have an idea of that vesi, 
 you must call to mind what you have often seen on e 
 Kentish road. Those planks of tough and hardy oak, lit 
 used for years to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay, >e 
 now turned, with their warped grain and empty trunn'4« 
 holes, into very wretched pales for the enclosure of a wreia* 
 ed farm-yard. ! , 
 
 The style of your pamphlet, and the eloquence and poi;3r 
 of composition you display in it, are such as do great hoDtr ] 
 to your talents ; and in conveying any other sentimi ts |{ 
 would give me very great pleasure. Perhaps I do not "• ry \ 
 riertectly comprehend your purpose, and the drift of V-^ i 
 arguments. If I do not — pray do not attribute my luis'te 
 
LETTERS UN A REGICIDE PEACE. 357 
 
 I) want of candour, but to want of sagacity. I confess your 
 Idress to the Public, together with other accompanying 
 rcumstances, has filled me with a degree of grief and dis- 
 lay, which I cannot find words to express. If the plan of 
 lolitics there recommended, pray excuse my freedom, should 
 ie adopted by the King's Councils, and by the good people 
 ,f this kingdom, (as so recommended undoubtedly it will,) 
 jothing can be the consequence but utter and irretrievable 
 jin to the Ministry, to the Crown, to the Succession, to the 
 jnportance, to the independence, to the very existence of 
 lis country. This is my feeble, perhaps, but clear, positive, 
 ecided, long and maturely-reflected, and frequently declared, 
 pinion, from which all the events which have lately come 
 
 pass, so far from turning me, have tended to confirm be- 
 jond the power of alteration, even by your eloquence and 
 uthority. I find, my dear Lord, that you think some per- 
 Dns, who are not satisfied with the securities of a Jacobin 
 leace, to be persons of intemperate minds. I may be, and I 
 Bar I am, with you in that description : but pray, my Lord, 
 ecoUect, that very few of the causes which make men in- 
 ,3mperate can operate upon me. Sanguine hopes, vehement 
 lesires, inordinate ambition, implacable animosity, party 
 ittachments, or party interests ; — all these with me have no 
 ixistence. For myself, or for a family, (alas ! I have none,) 
 
 have nothing to hope or to fear in this world. I am 
 jttached by principle, inclination, and gratitude to the King, 
 •nd to the present Ministry. 
 
 ; Perhaps you may think that my animosity to Opposition is 
 he cause of my dissent, on seeing the politics of Mr. Pox 
 iwhich, while I was in the world, I combated by every instru- 
 jient which God had put into my hands, and in every situation, 
 n which I had taken part) so completely, if I at all understand 
 iou, adopted in your Lordship's book : but it was with pain 
 , broke with that great man for ever in that cause — and I 
 Issure you, it is not without pain that I differ with your 
 ijordship on the same principles. But it is of no concern. 
 : am far below the region of those great and tempestuous 
 lassions. I feel nothing of the intemperance of mind. It 
 3 rather sorrow and dejection than anger. 
 
 1 Once more, my best thanks for your very polite attention, 
 
358 lETTEES OK A KEGICIDE PEACE. f 
 
 and do me tbe favour to "believe me, with the most perfe< „,, 
 
 eentimenta of respect and regard, ; j 
 
 My dear Lord, ; ,^^ 
 
 your Lordship's " 
 
 most obedient and humble servant, 1 
 
 Edm. Bxjbk; , 
 
 Beaconsfield, Oct SOtk, 1795. g 
 
 Friday Evening. ' j ■■ 
 
 LETTEE IV. 
 TO THE EARL FITZWILLIAM. 
 
 My Deae Loed, ' 
 
 I am not sure that the best way of discussing any su 
 ject, except those that concern the abstracted sciences, isn; 
 somewhat in the way of dialogue. To this mode, howeve. 
 there are two objections ; the first, that it happens, as in tl; 
 puppet-show, one man speaks for all the personages. li 
 unnatural uniformity of tone is in a manner unavoidabl; 
 The other and more serious objection is, that as the auth; 
 (if not an absolute sceptic) must have some opinion of Ij 
 own to enforce, he will be continually tempted to enervate t'; 
 arguments he puts into the mouth of his adversary, or ] T 
 place them in a point of view most commodious for their refi ! ' 
 ation. There is, however, a sort of dialogue not quite : i 
 liable to these objections, because it approaches more near , 
 to truth and nature: it is called controteest. Here t .. 
 parties speak for themselves. If the writer, who attac 
 another's notions, does not deal fairly with his adversary, t 
 diligent reader has it always in his power, by resorting • 
 the work examined, to do justice to the original author ar 
 to himself. Eor this reason you will not blame me, if in r 
 discussion of the merits of a Eegicide Peace, I do not choc 
 to trust to my own statements, but to bring forward alo 
 with them the arguments of the advocates for that measu: 
 If I choose puny adversaries, writers of no estimation ^ 
 authority, then you will justly blame me. I might as w 
 
liETTEBS OJf A liEGICIDE PEACE. 359 
 
 )ring in at once a fictitious speaker, and thus fall into all tlie 
 uconveniences of an imaginary dialogue. This I shall avoid; 
 Old I shall take no notice of any author, who, my friends in 
 :own do not tell me, is in estimation with those opinions he 
 lupports, 
 
 A piece has been sent to me called, " Remarks ou the 
 A-pparent Circumstances of the War in the fourth Week of 
 October, 1795," with a French motto, Que faire encore uni 
 ^ois dans une telle nultf — Attendre le jour. The very title 
 iieemed tc me striking and peculiar, and to announce some- 
 |ching uncommon. In the time I have lived to, I always 
 iseem to walk on enchanted ground. Everything is new, 
 :ind, accord \ng to the fashionable phrase, revolutionary. In 
 former days authors valued themselves upon the maturity and 
 fulness of their deliberations. Accordingly they predicted 
 (perhaps with more arrogance than reason) an eternal dura- 
 tion to their works. The quite contrary is our present 
 fashion. Writers value themselves now on the instability of 
 their opinions and the transitory life of their productions. 
 
 'On this kind of credit the modern institutors open their 
 schools. They write for youth, and it is sufficient if the in- 
 struction " lasts as long as a present love, — or as the painted 
 
 ieilks and cottons of the season." 
 
 I The doctrines in this work are applied, for their standard, 
 with great exactness to the shortest possible periods both of 
 
 conception and duration. The title is, " Some Eemarks on 
 the Apparent Circumstances of the War in the fourth Week 
 
 \of October, 1795." The time is critically chosen. A month 
 
 ;or so earlier would have made it the anniversary of a bloody 
 
 , Parisian September, when the French massacre one another. 
 
 j A day or two later would have carried it into a London 
 November, the gloomy month, in which it is said by a 
 
 ' pleasant author, that Englishmen hang and drown themselves. 
 In truth, this work has a tendency to alarm us with 
 
 j symptoms of public suicide. However, there is one comfort 
 to be taken even from the gloomy time of year. It is a 
 
 I rotting season. If what is brought to market is not good, 
 
 ' it is not likely to keep long. Even buildings run up in haste 
 with untempered mortar in that humid weather, if they are 
 
 . ill-contrived tenements, do not threaten long to encumbef 
 
 I the earth. The author tells us tod I believe he is the veir 
 
360 LETTEES ON' A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 I 
 
 first author that ever told such a thing to his readers) " that 
 the entire fabric of his speculations might be overset by un- 
 foreseen vicissitudes;" and what is far more extra ordinarv, 
 " that even the whole consideration might be varied whilst he 
 was writing those pages'' Truly, in my poor judgment, this 
 circumstance formed a very substantial motive for his not 
 publishing those ill-considered considerations at all. He 
 ought to have followed the good advice of his motto : Que 
 faire encore dans une telle nuit ? — Attendre le jour. He 
 ought to have waited till he had got a little more daylight : 
 ou this subject. Night itself is hardly darker than the fogs 
 of that time. 
 
 Finding the la^t week in October so particularly referred '■ 
 to, and not perceiving any particular event relative to the 
 war, which happened on any of the days in that week, I . 
 thought it possible that they were marked by some astro- ; 
 logical superstition, to which the greatest politicians have 
 been subject. I therefore had recourse to my Eider's ; 
 Almanack. There I found indeed something that character- i 
 ized the work, and that gave directions concerning the sudden 
 political and natural variations, and for eschewing the mala- • 
 dies that are most prevalent in that aguish intermittent 
 season, " the last week of October." On that week, the 
 sagacious astrologer, Rider, in his note on the third column \ 
 of the calendar side, teaches us to expect " variable and cold \ 
 weather;'' but instead of encouraging us to trust ourselves 
 to the haze and mist and doubtful lights of that changeable 
 week, on the answerable part of the opposite page he gives 
 us a solitary caution (indeed it is very nearly in the words 
 of the author's motto) : " Avoid (says he) being out late 
 at night, and in foggy weather, for a cold now caught may 
 last the whole winter." ^ This ingenious author, who dis 
 dained the prudence of the Almanack, walked out in the 
 very fog he complains of, and has led us to a very un- ' ,.i 
 seasonable airing at that time. Whilst this noble writer, j' 
 by the vigour of an excellent constitution, formed for the ! | 
 violent changes he prognosticates, may shake off the iin- 
 
 ' Here I have fallen into an unintentional mistake. Rider's Almanack for 
 1794 lay before me ; and, in truth, I then had no other. For variety that 
 sage astrologer has made some small changes on the weather side of 1795] 
 but the caution is the same ou tlie opposite page oi" instruction. 
 
 M 
 
lETTDHS OK A EEGICTDE PEACE. 361 
 
 Iporlunate rheum and malignant influenza of this disagreo- 
 Dle week, a whole parliament may go on spitting, and 
 mivelling, and wheezing, and coughing, during a whole ses- 
 sion. All this from listening to variable hebdomadal poli- 
 liciaES, who run away from their opinions without giving 
 IS a month's warning; and for not listening to the wise 
 md friendly admonitions of Dr. Cardanus Eider, who never 
 apprehends he may change bis opinions before his pen is out 
 of his hand, but always enables us to lay in, at least, a 
 jyear's stock of useful information. 
 
 I At first I took comfort. I said to myself, that if I should, 
 is I fear I must, oppose the doctrines of the last week of Octo- 
 ber, it is probable that, by this time, they are no longer those 
 JDf the eminent writer to whom they are attributed. He gives 
 4S hopes, that long before this he may have embraced the 
 direct contrary sentiments. If I am found in a conflict with 
 those of the last week of October, I may be in full agree- 
 ment with those of the last week in December, or the first 
 week in January 1796. But a second edition, and a Erench 
 translation, (for the benefit, I must suppose, of the new re- 
 ^cide directory,) have let down a little of these flattering 
 iliopes. "We and the directory know that the author, what- 
 :?ver changes his works seemed made to indicate, like a 
 iweather-cock grown rusty, remains just where he was in the 
 last week of last October. It is true that his protest 
 against binding him to his opinions, and his reservation of a 
 right to whatever opinions he pleases, remain in their full 
 force. This variability is pleasant, and shows a fertility of 
 fancy ; 
 
 Qualis in aethereo felix Vertiimnus Olytnpo 
 Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet. 
 
 Yet, doing all justice to the sportive variability of these 
 weekly, daily, or hourly speculators, shall I be pardoned, if 
 [ attempt a word on the part of us simple country folk ? It 
 »s not good for us, however it may be so for great statesmen, 
 that we should be treated with variable politics. I consider 
 :]ifferent relations as prescribing a different conduct. I 
 allow that, in transactions ^vith an enemy, a minister may, 
 md often must, vary his demands with the day, possibly 
 with the hour. "With an enemy, a fixed plan, variable ar- 
 rangements. This is the rule the nature of the transaction 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 i 
 
 prescribes. But all this belongs to treaty. All these shift* < ni 
 mgs and changes are a sort of secret amongst the parties, , ij 
 till a definite settlement is brought about. Such is the :]t 
 spirit of the proceedings in the doubtful and transitory state i?> 
 of things between enmity and friendship. In this change n 
 the subjects of the transformation are by nature carefully . ti 
 wrapt up in their cocoons. The gay ornament of summer is; i ti 
 not seemly in his aurelia state. This mutability is allowed « tk 
 to a foreign negotiator ; but when a great politician con- « ati 
 descends publicly to instruct his own countrymen on a 
 matter, which may fix their fate for ever, his opinions ought 
 not to be diurnal, or even weekly. These ephemerides ot 
 politics are not made for our slow and coarse understandings. 
 Our appetite demands a piece of rcsista?ice. We require 
 some food that will stick to the ribs. "We call for sentiments 
 to which we can attach ourselves ; sentiments in which we 
 can take an interest ; sentiments on which we can warm, od 
 which we can ground some confidence in ourselves or iu 
 others. We do not want a largess of inconstancy. Pooi 
 souls, we have enough of that sort of poverty at home. 
 There is a difference too between deliberation and doctrine • 
 a man ought to be decided in his opinions before he attempte 
 to teach. His fugitive lights may serve himself in some un- 
 known region, but they cannot free us from the effects oj 
 the error into which we have been betrayed. His active 
 Will-o' -the- Wisp may be gone nobody can guess where, 
 whilst he leaves us bemired and benighted in the bog. 
 
 Having premised these few reflections upon this new 
 mode of teaching a lesson, which whilst the scholar is getting 
 by heart the master forgets, I come to the lesson itself. Oe 
 the fullest consideration of it, I am utterly incapable of say-i 
 ing with any great certainty what it is, in the detail, thai 
 the author means to affirm or den}'-, to dissuade or recom- 
 mend. His march is mostly oblique, and his doctrine rathei 
 in the way of insinuation than of dogmatic assertion. It is 
 not only fugitive in its duration, but is slippery in tht 
 extreme whilst it lasts. Examining it part by part, it seenu 
 almost everywhere to contradict itself; aud the author whc 
 claims the privilege of varying his opinions, has exercisec \ 
 this privilege iu every section of his remarks. For thiii 
 reason, amongst others, I follow the advice which the abl«. 
 
LETTERS ON A EEQICIDE PEACE. 363 
 
 writer gives in Lis last page, which is " to consider the 
 impresbton of what he haiS urged, taken from the whole, and 
 not from detached paragraphs." That caution was not 
 absohitely necessary. I should think it unfair to the author 
 and to myself, to ha^-e proceeded otherwise. This author's 
 whole, however, like every other whole, cannot be so well 
 comprehended without some reference to the parts ; hut 
 they shall be again referred to the whole. Without this 
 latter attention, several of the passages would certainly 
 remain covered with an impenetrable and truly oracular 
 obscurity. 
 
 The great general pervading purpose of the whole pam- 
 phlet is to reconcile us to peace with the present usurpation 
 in France. In this general drift of the author I can hardly 
 be mistaken. The other purposes, less general, and subser- 
 vient to the preceding scheme, are to show, first, that the 
 time of the Eemarks was the favourable time for making 
 that peace upon our side ; secondly, that on the enemy's 
 side their disposition towards the acceptance of such terms, 
 as he is pleased to offer, was rationally to be expected ; the 
 third purpose was to make some sort of disclosure of the 
 terms, which, if the regicides are pleased to grant them, this 
 nation ought to be contented to accept : these form the 
 basis of the negotiation, which the author, whoever he is^ 
 proposes to open. 
 
 Before I consider these Eemarks along with the other 
 reasonings, which I hear on the same subject, I beg leave to 
 recall to your mind the observation I made early in our cor- 
 respondence, and which ought to attend us quite through the 
 discussion of this proposed peace, amity, or fraternity, or what- 
 ever you may call it ; that is, the real quality and character 
 of the party you have to deal with. This, I find, as a thing 
 of no importance, has everywhere escaped the author of the 
 October Eemarks. That hostile power, to the period of the 
 fourth week in that month, has been ever called and con- 
 sidered as an usurpation. In that week, for the first time, 
 it changed its name of an usurped power, and took the sim- 
 ple name of France. The word France is slipped in just as 
 if the government stood exactly as before that revolution, 
 which has astonished, terrified, and almost overpowered 
 Europe. " France," says the author, " will do this ;" " it ia 
 
364 lETTEES OS A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 the interest of France ;" "the returning honour and gene- 
 rosity of Erance," &c., &c., always merely France ; just as 
 if we were in a common political war with an old recognised 
 member of the commonwealth of Christian Europe ; and as 
 if our dispute had turned upon a mere matter of terri- 
 torial or commercial controversy, which a peace might settle 
 by the imposition or the taking off a duty, with the gain or 
 the loss of a remote island, or a frontier town or two, on the 
 one side or the other. This shifting of persons could not be 
 done without the hocus-pocus of abstraction. We have 
 been in a grievous error ; we thought that we had been at 
 war with rebels against the lawful government, but that we 
 were friends and allies of what is properly Erance ; frienda 
 and allies to the legal body politic of Erance. But by slight 
 of hand the Jacobins are clean vanished, and it is Erance we 
 have got under our cup. Blessings on his soul, that first in- 
 vented sleep, said Don Sancho Pancha the w4se ! All those 
 blessings, and ten thousand times more, on him, who found 
 out abstraction, personification, and impersonals. In certain 
 cases they are the first of all soporifics. Terribly alarmed we 
 should be if things were proposed to us in the concrete ; and 
 if fraternity was held out to us with the individuals who com- 
 pose this Erance by their proper names and descriptions : if 
 we were told, that it was very proper to enter into the closest 
 bonds of amity and good correspondence with the devout, 
 pacific, and tender-hearted Sieyes, with the all-accomplished 
 Rewbel, with the humane guillotinists of Bourdeaux, Tallien 
 and Isabeau ; with the meek butcher Legendre, and with " the 
 returned humanity aud generosity" (that had been only on a 
 visit abroad) of the virtuous regicide brewer Santerre. This 
 would seem at the outset a very strange scheme of amity 
 and concord ; — nay, though we had held out to us, as an 
 additional douceur, an assurance of the cordial fraternal 
 embrace of our pious and patriotic countryman Thomas Paine. 
 But plain truth would here be shocking and absurd ; there- 
 fore comes in abstraction and personification. " Make your 
 peace with Erance." That word France sounds quite as 
 well as any other ; and it conveys no idea but that of a very 
 pleasant country, and very hospitable inhabitants. Nothing 
 absurd and shocking in amity and good correspondence with 
 France, Permit me to say, that I am not yet well acquainted 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 3(>5 
 
 with this new-coined France, and without a careful assay 1 
 ■ am not willing to receive it in currency in place of the old 
 i Louis d'or. 
 
 I Having therefore slipped the persons with whom we are 
 i to treat out ot view, we are next to be satisfied, that the 
 ! French Revolution, which this peace is to fix and consolidate, 
 ' ought to give us no just cause of apprehension. Though the 
 I author labours this point, yet he confesses a fact (indeed he 
 
 could not conceal it) which renders all his labours utterly fruit- 
 i less. He confesses, that the regicide means to dictate a pacifi- 
 I cation, and that this pacification, according to their decree 
 i passed but a very few days before his publication appeared, is 
 I to " unite to their empii*e, either in possession or dependence, 
 I new barriers, many frontier places of strength, a large sea- 
 I coast, and many sea-ports :" he ought to have stated it, that 
 I they would annex to their territory a country about a third 
 I as large as France, and much more than half as rich ; and in 
 ) a situation the most important for command, that it would 
 
 be possible for her anywhere to possess. 
 
 To remove this terror, (even if the regicides should carry 
 
 their point,) and to give us perfect repose with regard to 
 ( their empire ; whatever they may acquire, or whomsoever 
 I they might destroy, he raises a doubt " whether France will 
 
 not be ruined by retaining these conquests, and whether she 
 I will not wholly lose that preponderance which she has held 
 I in the scale of European powers, and will not eventually be 
 I destroyed by the effect of her present successes, or, at least, 
 I whether, so far as the political interests of England are coU' 
 \ eemed, she [France] will remain an object of as much jealousy 
 j and alarm as she was under the reign of a monarch." Here 
 I indeed is a paragraph full of meaning ! It gives matter for 
 j meditation almost in every word of it. The secret of the 
 j pacific politicians is out. This republic at all hazards is to 
 
 be maintained. It is to be confined within some bounds if 
 I we can ; if not, with every possible acquisition of power, it is 
 I still to be cherished and supported. It is the return of the 
 
 monarchy we are to dread, and therefore we ought to pray 
 
 for the permanence of the regicide authority. Esto perpetua 
 
 is the devout ejaculation of our Fra Paolo for the repubnC 
 
 one and indivisible. It was the monarchy that rendered 
 i France dangerous — Eegicide neutralizes all the acrimony of 
 
366 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 that power, and renders it safe and social. The October 
 speculator is of opinion, that monarchy is of so poisonous a 
 quality, that a moderate territorial power is far more danger- 
 ous to its neighbours under that abominable regimen than 
 the greatest empire in the hands of a republic. This is Ja^ 
 cobinism sublimed and exalted into most pure and perfect 
 essence. It is a doctrine, I admit, made to allure and capti- 
 vate, if anything in the world can, the Jacobin directory, to 
 mollify the ferocity of regicide, and to persuade those 
 patriotic hangmen, after their reiterated oaths for our extir- 
 pation, to admit this well-humbled nation to the fraternal 
 embrace. I do not wonder that this tub of October has 
 been racked off into a French cask. It must make its for- 
 tune at Paris. That translation seems the language the 
 most suited to these sentiments. Our author tells the 
 French Jacobins, that the political interests of Grreat Britain 
 are in perfect unison with the principles of their government; 
 that they may take and keep the keys of the civilized world, 
 for they are safe in their unambitious and faithful custody. 
 "We say to them, — we may, indeed, wish you to be a little 
 less murderous, wicked, and atheistical, for the sake of 
 morals : we may think it were better you were less new- 
 fangled in your speech, for the sake of grammar : but, as 
 politicians, provided you keep clear of monarchy, all our 
 fears, alarms, and jealousies are at an end: at least they 
 sink into nothing in comparison of our dread of your de- 
 testable royalty. A flatterer of Cardinal Mazarin said, when 
 that minister had just settled the match between the young 
 Louis XIV. and a daughter of Spain, that this alliance had 
 the effect of faith, and had removed mountains ; — that the 
 Pyrenees were levelled by that marriage. You may now 
 compliment E-ewbel in the same spirit on the miracles of 
 regicide, and tell him, that the guillotine of Louis XVI. had 
 consummated a marriage between Great Britain and France, 
 which dried up the Channel, and restored the two countries 
 to the unity, which, it is said, they had before the unnatural 
 rage of seas and earthquakes had broke off their happy junc- 
 tion. It will be a fine subject for the poets, who are to pro- 
 phesy the blessings of this peace. 
 
 I am now convinced, that tlie Remarks of the last week of 
 October cannot come from the author to whom they are 
 
LETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 3G7 
 
 Igiven; they are such a direct contradiction to the style of 
 manly indignation, with which he spoke of those miscreants 
 and murderers in his excellent Memorial to the States of 
 iHolland — to that very state, which the author, who presumes 
 ito personate him, does not find it contrary to the political 
 interests of England to leave in the hands of these very mis- 
 creants, against whom on the part of England he took so 
 imuch pains to animate their republic. This cannot be ; and, 
 if this argument wanted anything to give it new force, it is 
 strengthened by an additional reason that is irresistible. 
 I Knowing that noble person, as well as myself, to be under 
 ivery great obligations to the Crown, I am confident he would 
 !not so very directly contradict, even in the paroxysm of his 
 izeal against monarchy, the declarations made in the name 
 land with the fullest approbation of our sovereign, his master, 
 I and our common benefactor. In those declarations you will 
 I see that the king, instead of being sensible of greater alarm 
 ; and jealousy from a neighbouring crowned head than from 
 these regicides, attributes all the dangers of Europe to the 
 latter. Let this writer hear the description given in the 
 Royal Declaration of the scheme of power of these miscreants, 
 j as " a system destructive of all public order ; maintained by 
 \ proscriptions, exiles, and confiscations, without number; by 
 \ arbitrary imprisonments ; by massacres, which cannot be re- 
 membered without horror ; and at length by the execrable 
 murder of a just and beneficent sovereign, and of the illustrious 
 princess, who with an unshaken firmness has shared all the 
 misfortunes of her royal consort, his protracted sufferings, his 
 : cruel captivity, and his igjiominious death." After thus de- 
 scribing, with an eloquence and energy equalled only by its 
 i truth, the means by which this usurped power had been ac- 
 quired and maintained, that government is characterized 
 with equal force. His Majesty, far from thinking monarchy 
 in France to be a greater object of jealousy than the regicide 
 usurpation, calls upon the Erench to re-establish " a mon- 
 archical government " for the purpose of shaking off " the 
 yoke of a sanguinary anarchy ; of that anarchy, ivhich has 
 broken the most sacred bonds of society, dissolved all the rela- 
 tions of civil life, violated every right, confounded every duty ; 
 which uses the name of liberty to exercise the most cruet 
 tyranny y to annihilate all jDroaerty, to seize on all possessions 
 
368 LETTERS ON A BEQICIDE PEiLCE. 
 
 which founds its power on the pretended consent of the people J\ ' 
 and itself carries fire and sivord through extensive province* 
 for having demanded their laws, their religion, and their 
 rightful sovereign.^^ 
 
 " That strain I heard was of an higher mood." That de-! 
 claration of our sovereign was worthy of his throne. It is 
 in a style, which neither the pen of the writer of October, ' 
 nor such a poor crow-quill as mine, can ever hope to equal. 
 I am happy to enrich my letter which this fragment of nerv- 
 ous and manly eloquence, which, if it had not emanated from • 
 the awful authority of a throne, if it were not recorded 
 amongst the most valuable monuments of history, and con-' 
 secrated in the archives of states, would be worthy as a^ 
 private composition to live for ever in the memory of men. 
 
 In those admirable pieces does his Majesty discover this 
 new opinion of his political security in having the chair of 
 the scorner, that is, the discipline of atheism, and the block 
 of regicide, set up by his side, elevated on the same platform, 
 and shouldering, with the vile image of their grim and bloody 
 idol, the inviolable majesty of his throne? The sentiments' 
 of these declarations are the very reverse : they could not be 
 other. Speaking of the spirit of that usurpation, the royal 
 manifesto describes, with perfect truth, its internal t^Tanuy 
 to have been established as the very means of shaking the 
 security of all other states ; as " disposing arbitrarily of the 
 property and blood of the inhabitants of France, in order to 
 disturb the tranquillity of other nations, and to render all 
 Europe the theatre of the same crimes and the same misfor- 
 tunes'^ It was but a natural inference from this fact, that 
 the royal manifesto does not at all rest the justification of 
 this war on common principles: '' That it ivas not only to 
 defend his own rights, and those of his allies,'' — but " that all^ 
 the dearest interests of his people imposed upon him a duty 
 still more important — that of exerting his efforts for the pre- 
 servation of civil society itself as happily established among 
 the nations of Europe.'' On that ground, the protection 
 offered is to those, who, by " declaring for a monarchical 
 government, shall shake off the yoke of a sanguinary anarchy." 
 — It is for that purpose the Declaration calls on them to 
 join tlie standard of an ^'hereditary monarchy ;" declaring, 
 that tiie safettj and peace of this kingdom and the powers ol 
 
LETTEBS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ilurope " materially depend upon the re-establishment of order 
 n France." His Majesty does not hesitate to declare, that 
 the re-establishment of monarchy in the person of Louis 
 IVII., and the lawful heirs of his crown, appears to him 
 his Majesty] the best mode of accomplishing these just and 
 jlutnry vieivs." 
 
 This is what his Majesty does not hesitate to declare re- 
 iitive to the political safety and peace of his kingdom and 
 f Europe, and with regard to France under her ancient 
 ereditary monarchy in the course and order of legal succes- 
 ion ; — but in comes a gentleman in the fag end of October, 
 iripping with the fogs of that humid and uncertain season, 
 |id does not hesitate in diameter to contradict this wise and 
 list royal declaration ; and stoutly, on his part, to make a 
 punter-declaration, that France, so far as the political inter- 
 ijts of England are concerned, will not remain, under the 
 !?spotism of regicide, and with the better part of Europe in 
 ■?r hands, so much an object of jealousy and alarm, as she 
 ,as under the reign of a monarch. When I hear the master 
 ;ad reason on one side, and the servant and his single and 
 ^supported assertion on the other, my part is taken. 
 I This is what the Octoberist says of the political interests 
 i' England, which it looks as if he completely disconnected 
 |ith tb^sp. of all other nations. But not quite so ; he just 
 ^lows it possible (with an " at least ") that the other powers 
 .ay not find it quite their interest that their territories 
 tiould be conquered and their subjects tyrannized over by 
 le regicides. No fewer than ten sovereign princes had, 
 ijme the whole, all a very considerable part, of their do- 
 ijinions under the yoke of that dreadful faction. Amongst 
 ijese was to be reckoned the first republic in the world, and 
 I'e closest ally of this kingdom, which, under the insulting 
 ],me of an independency, is under her iron yoke ; and, as long 
 { a faction averse to the old government is suffered there 
 t| domineer, cannot be otherwise. I say nothing of the 
 j|istrian Netherlands, countries of avast extent, and amongst 
 tj3 most fertile and populous of Europe ; and, with regard 
 t! us, most critically situated. The rest will readily occur 
 t you. 
 
 But if there are yet existing any people, like me, old- 
 f.liioned enough to consider that we have an important 
 
 ^OL. V. 2b 
 
870 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 part of our very existence beyond our limits, and who there- 
 fore stretch their thoughts beyond the Pomoerium of Eng- 
 land, for them too he has a comfort, which will remove all 
 their jealousies and alarms about the extent of the empire ot 
 regicide. " These conquests eventually will be the cause of 
 her destruction^ So that they who hate the cause ol 
 usurpation, and dread the power of France under any form., 
 are to wish her to be a conqueror, in order to accelerate hei ' 
 ruin. A little more conquest would be still better. "Will 
 he tell us what dose of dominion is to be the quantum suf 
 ficit for her destruction, for she seems very voracious of th( 
 food of her distemper ? To be sure she is ready to perisl 
 with repletion ; she has a boulimia, and hardly has boltec 
 down one state, than she calls for two or three more. Then 
 is a good deal of wit in all this ; but it seems to me (witl ' 
 all respect to the author) to be carrying the joke a gre;i ' 
 deal too far. I cannot yet think that the armies of the allie ■ 
 were of this way of thinking ; and that, when they evacuatec 
 all these countries, it was a stratagem of war to deco;.' 
 Erance into ruin ; — or that, if in a treaty we should surrsD' 
 der them for ever in the hands of the usurpation, (the lease 
 the author supposes,) it is a master-stroke of policy to eftce 
 the destruction of a formidable rival, and to render her ii 
 longer an object of jealousy and alarm. This, I assure th; 
 author, will infinitely facilitate the treaty. The usurper' 
 will catch at this bait, without minding the hook which thi 
 crafty angler for the Jacobin gudgeons of the new director 
 has so dexterously placed under it. 
 
 Every symptom of the exacerbation of the public malad 
 is, with him, (as with the Doctor in Moliere,) a happy proi 
 nostic of recovery. Flanders gone — Tant mieux. lloUai. 
 subdued — Charming ! Spain beaten, and all the hither Go 
 many conquered — Bravo ! Better and better still ! But the 
 will retain all their conquests on a treaty ! — Best of al 
 What a delightful thing it is to have a gay physician, wl 
 sees all things, as the French express it, coulcur de rest 
 What an escape we have had, that we and our allies we: 
 aot the conquerors! By these conquests, previous to hi 
 utter destruction, she is " wholly to lose that preponderam 
 which she held in the scale of the European powers." Ble 
 me ! this Jiew system of France, after changing all other la\« 
 
LETTERS OK A REGICIDE PEACE. 371 
 
 Ireverses the law of gravitation. By throwing in weight after 
 weight her scale rises ; and will, by and by, kick the beam. 
 Certainly there is one sense in which she loses her prepon- 
 derance: that is, she is no longer preponderant against the 
 sountries she has conquered. They are part of herself. But 
 I beg the author to keep his eyes fixed on the scales for a 
 moment longer, and then to tell me, in downright earnest, 
 whether he sees hitherto any signs of her losing preponder- 
 ance by an augmentation of weight and power. Has sh<" 
 lost her preponderance over Spain by her influence in Spain ": 
 (Are there any signs that the conquest of Savoy and Nict 
 begins to lessen her preponderance over Switzerland and tht. 
 jltalian states, — or that the canton of Berne, Genoa, and Tus* 
 !cany, for example, have taken arms against her, — or that Sar- 
 jdinia is more adverse than ever to a treacherous pacification ? 
 iVVas it in the last week of October that the German state; 
 'showed that Jacobin France was losing her preponderance . 
 Did the king of Prussia, when he delivered into her safe 
 custody his territories on this side of the Ehine, manifest 
 any tokens of his opinion of her loss of preponderance ? 
 Look on Sweden and on Denmark : is her preponderance less 
 ivisible there ? 
 
 I It is true that in a course of ages empires have fallen, 
 land, in the opinion of some, not in mine, by their own 
 weight. Sometimes they have been unquestionably embar- 
 rassed in their movements by the dissociated situation of 
 their dominions. Such was the case of the empire of Charles 
 the Fifth and of his successor. It might be so of others. 
 But so compact a body of empire — so fitted in all the parts 
 ■for mutual support ; with a frontier by nature and art so im- 
 jpenetrable ; with such facility of breaking out, with irresist- 
 ible force, from every quarter — was never seen in such an 
 extent of territory from the beginning of time, as in that 
 empire, which the Jacobins possessed in October, 1795, and 
 yhich Boissy d'Anglois, in his Eeport, settled as the law for 
 lEurope, and the dominion assigned by nature for the repub- 
 lic of regicide. But this empire is to be her ruin, and to 
 take away all alarm and jealousy on the part of England, 
 and to destroy her preponderance over the miserable remains 
 pf Europe. 
 
 I These are choice speculations, with which the authoi 
 2 £ 2 
 
372 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. | 
 
 amuses himself, and tries to divert us, in the blackest hours' 
 of the dismay, defeat, and calamity of all civilized nations. 
 They liave but one fault, that they are directly contrary tc 
 the common sense and common feeling of mankind. If I 
 had but one hour to live, I would employ it in decrying thig 
 wretched system, and die with my pen in my hand to mark 
 out the dreadful consequences of receiving an arrangement 
 of empire dictated by the despotism of regicide to my owd 
 country, and to the lawful sovereigns of the Christian world. 
 
 I trust I shall hardly be told, in palliation of this shame- 
 ful system of politics, that the author expresses his senti- 
 ments only as doubts. In such things it may be truly said, 
 that " once to doubt is once to be resolved." It would be a 
 strange reason for wasting the treasures and shedding the 
 blood of our country, to prevent arrangements on the part' 
 of another power, of which we were doubtful whether thejii 
 might not be even to our advantage, and render our neigh- 
 bour less than before the object of our jealousy and alarm/ 
 In this doubt there is much decision. JS^o nation would con-: 
 sent to carry on a war of scepticism. But the fact is, thig' 
 expression of doubt is only a mode of putting an opinion.' 
 when it is not the drift of the author to overturn the doubt. 
 Otherwise, the doubt is never stated as the author's own. 
 nor left, as here it is, unanswered. Indeed, the mode ol; 
 stating the most decided opinions in the form of questions is! 
 so little uncommon, particularly since the excellent queries* 
 of the excellent Berkeley, that it became for a good while «; 
 fashionable mode of composition. ' 
 
 Here then the author of the fourth week of October is 
 ready for the worst, and would strike the bargain of peace 
 on these conditions. I must leave it to you and to every' 
 considerate man to reflect upon the effect of this on any: 
 continental alliances, present or future, and whether it would 
 be possible (if this book was thought of the least authority) 
 that its maxims, with regard to our political interest, must 
 not naturally push them to be beforehand with us in the fra- 
 ternity with regicide, and thus not only strip us of any steadj 
 alliance at present, but leave us without any of that commu- 
 liiou of interest which could produce alliances in future. In- 
 deed, with these maxims, we should be well divided from Ihcj 
 world. 1 
 
 1 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 373 
 
 Notwithstanding this new kind of barrier and security 
 that is found against her ambition in her conquests, yet in 
 the very same paragraph he admits, that, " for the present at 
 least, it is subversive of the balance of power." This, I con- 
 fess, is not a direct contradiction, because the benefits, which 
 he promises himself from it, according to his hypothesis, are 
 (future and more remote. 
 
 ! So disposed is this author to peace, that, having laid a 
 comfortable foundation for our security in the greatness of 
 her empire, he has another in reserve, if that should fail, 
 iupon quite a contrary ground ; — that is, a speculation of her 
 icrumblin*^ to pieces and being thrown into a number of 
 llittle sei'arate republics. After paying the tribute of hu- 
 imanity to those who will be ruined by all these changes, on 
 the whole he is of opinion, that " the change might be com- 
 jpatible ^\ ith general tranquillity, and with the establishment 
 of a peaceful and prosperous commerce among nations." 
 Whether France be great or small, firm and entire, or dissi- 
 pated and divided, all is well, provided we can have peace 
 iwrith her. 
 
 But, without entering into speculations about her dis- 
 imemberment, whilst she is adding great nations to her 
 i^mpire, is it then quite so certain that the dissipation of 
 jFrance into such a cluster of petty republics would be so 
 t^ery favourable to the true balance of power in Europe, as 
 this author imagines it would be, and to the commerce of 
 jiatious ? I greatly differ from him. I perhaps shall prove 
 n a future letter, with the political map of Europe before 
 my eye. that the general liberty and independence of the 
 jgreat Christian commonwealth could not exist with such a 
 jlismemberment ; unless it Avere followed (as probably enough 
 it would) by the dismemberment of every other considerable 
 iJountry in Europe: and what convulsions would arise in 
 lihe constitution of every state in Europe, it is not easy to 
 Conjecture in the mode, impossible not to foresee in the 
 inass. Speculate on, good my Lord ! provided you ground 
 10 part of your politics on such unsteady speculations. But, 
 s to any practice to ensue, are we not yet cured of the 
 nalady of speculating on the circumstances of things totally 
 lifferent from those in which we live and move? Five yeart 
 laa this monster continued whole and entire in all itg 
 
374 LETTEE8 OX A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ii 
 
 members. Far from falling into a division •within itself, itiii Uk 
 augmented by tremendous additions. We cannot bear to '^ 
 look that frightful form in the face as it is, and in its own 3'' 
 actual shape. We dare not be wise. We have not the 
 fortitude of rational fear; we will not provide for our future' i, 
 safety ; but we endeavour to hush the cries of present 'H'^ 
 timidity by guesses at what may be hereafter, — " To-morrow ' ;Jf2' 
 and to-morrow and to-morrow." — Is this our style of talk,: '!^ 
 when " all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to : 
 dusty death ? " Talk not to me of what swarm of republics 
 may come from this carcass! It is no carcass. Now, now,' 
 whilst we are talking, it is full of life and action. What say 
 you to the regicide empire of to-day ? Tell me, my friend, 
 do its terrors appal you into an abject submission, or rouses 
 you to a vigorous defence ? But do — I no longer prevent' 
 it — do go on — look into futurity. Has this empire nothings 
 to alarm you, when all struggle against it is over, when man- 
 kind shall be silent before it, when all nations shall be' 
 disarmed, disheartened, and trul?/ divided by a treacherous: 
 peace ? Its malignity towards human kind will subsist with 
 undiminished heat, whilst the means of giving it effect must' 
 proceed, and every means of resisting it must inevitably and; 
 rapidly decline. I 
 
 Against alarm on their politic and military empire these, 
 are the writer's sedative remedies. But he leaves us sadly' 
 in the dark with regard to the moral consequences, which he 
 states have threatened to demolish a system of ci\alization,. 
 under which his country enjoys a prosperity unparalleled in' 
 the history of man: — AVe had emerged from our first terrors,' 
 but here we sink into them again; however, only to shake them 
 off upon the credit of his being » man of very sanguine hopes/ 
 
 Against the moral terrors of this successful empire oi 
 barbarism, though he has given us no consolation here, in 
 another place he has formed other securities ; securities, 
 indeed, which will make even the enormity of the crimes 
 and atrocities of France a benefit to the world. We are tc 
 be cured by her diseases. We are to grow proud of oui 
 constitution upon the distempers of theirs. Governments' 
 throughout all Europe are to become much stronger bj 
 this event. This too comes in the favourite mode of' 
 doubt, and perhaps. "To those," ho says, "who medi- 
 
LETTEfiS ON A BEGICIDE PEACE. 375 
 
 U^.... .„, 
 
 ■perhaps arise, whether the effects which I have described," 
 ,'namely, the change he supposes to be wrought on the 
 public mind with regard to the French doctrines,] '* thoucrh 
 at present a salutary check to the dangerous spirit of inno- 
 v^ation, may not prove favourable to abuses of power, by 
 creating a timidity in the just cause of liberty." Here the 
 burrent of our apprehensions takes a contrary course. In- 
 stead of trembling for the existence of our government from 
 the spirit of licentiousness and anarchy, the author would 
 jmake us believe we are to tremble for our liberties from the 
 Igreat accession of power which is to accrue to government. 
 j I believe I have read in some author, who criticised the 
 jproductions of the famous Jurieu, that it is not very wise in 
 ipeople, who dash away in prophecy, to fix the time of ac- 
 jcomplishment at too short a period. Mr. Brothers may me- 
 ditate upon this at his leisure. He was a melancholy prog- 
 nosticator, and has had the fate of melancholy men. But 
 ;they who prophesy pleasant things get great present ap- 
 iplause ; and in days of calamity people have something else 
 ,to think of: they lose, in their feeling of their distress, all 
 I memory of those who flattered them in their prosperity. 
 iBut, merely for the credit of the prediction, nothing could 
 ihave happened more unluckily for the noble Lord's sanguine 
 expectations of the amendment of the public mind, and the 
 consequent greater security to government from the ex- 
 ; amples in France, than what happened in the week after the 
 publication of his hebdomadal system. I am not sure it 
 was not in the very week, one of the most violent and dan- 
 I gerous seditions broke out that we have seen in several 
 I years. — This sedition, menacing to the public security, en- 
 ' dangering the sacred person of the king, and violating in the 
 raost audacious manner the authority of parliament, sur- 
 , rounded our sovereign with a murderous yell and war-whoop 
 for that peace which the noble Lord considers as a cure for 
 1 all domestic disturbances and dissatisfactions. 
 I So far as to this general cure for popular disorders. As 
 for government, the two Houses of Parliament, instead of 
 being guided by the speculations of the fourth week in 
 October, and throwing up new barriers against the danger- 
 ous power of the Crown which the noble Lord considered 
 
876 
 
 LETTEKS OX A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ae no unpiausible subject of apprehension, the two Housee : i' 
 
 of Par lament thought fit to pass two acts for the furS ^ ^ 
 
 strengthening ol that very government against a most (C! J :il 
 
 gerous and wide-spread faction. 4 
 
 fW^''"^^^*?'' ^i^^' ^^^^ ^^ sanguine speculation, on ' ^ 
 the very first day of the ever-famed - last week of October '• • 
 a large, daring, and seditious meeting was publicly held ! 
 from which meeting this atrocious attempt against the 
 sovereign publicly originated. ^ , 
 
 No wonder that the author should tell us, that the whole > 
 consideration might be varied whilst he was writing those 
 pages In one, and that the most material, instance hia 
 speculations not only might be, but were at that very time ' 
 entirely overset. Their war-cry for peace with France was 
 the same with that of this gentle author, but in a dif- 
 terent note. He is the gemifus ColumbcE, cooing and wooina ' 
 fraternity: theirs the funeral screams of birds of nic^ht calf- 
 iDg lor their ill-omened paramours. But they are both : 
 songs of courtship. These regicides considered a regicide • 
 peace as a cure for all their evils ; and, so far as I can find 
 they showed nothing at all of the timidity which the noble 
 Lord apprehends m what they call the just cause of liberty 
 However, it seems that, notwithstanding these awkward 
 appearances with regard to the strength of government, he 
 has still his fears and doubts about our liberties. To a free 
 people this would be a matter of alarm, but this physician 
 ot October has m his shop all sorts of salves for all sorts of 
 sores It IS curious that they all come from the inex- ' 
 haustible drug shop of the regicide dispensary. It costs 
 bim nothing to excite terror, because he lays it at his pleasure. 
 He finds a security for this danger to liberty from the wou- 
 derful wisdom to be taught to kings, to nobility, and even to 
 the lowest of the people, by the late transactions. 
 
 I confess I was always blind enough to regai-d the French 
 Kevolution m the act, and much more in the example, ns one 
 ot the greatest calamities that had ever fallen upon mankind. 
 1 now find that in its effects it is to be the greatest of all '; 
 Dlessmgs. If so, we owe amende honorable to the Jacobins. ^ 
 Ihey, It seems, were right— and if they were right a little ' 
 earlier than we are it only shows that they exceeded us in ,i 
 sagacity. If they brought out their right ideas somewhat '! 
 
LETTERS OK A EEGICIDE PEACE. 377 
 
 Q a disorderly manner, it must be remembered that great 
 eal produces some irregularity ; but, when greatly in the 
 ight, it must be pardoned by those who are very regularly 
 nd temperately in the wrong. The master Jacobins had 
 old me this a thousand times. I never believed the masters ; 
 or do I now find myself disposed to give credit to the disci- 
 le. I will not much dispute with our author, which party 
 I as the best of this Revolution ; — that which is from thence 
 learn wisdom, or that which from the same event has ob- 
 ained power. The dispute on the preference of strength to 
 fisdom may perhaps be decided as Horace has decided the 
 bntroversy between art and nature. I do not like to leave 
 |U the power to my adversary, and to secure nothing to my- 
 !?lf but the untimely wisdom that is taught by the conse- 
 iuences of folly. I do not like my share in the partition, 
 lecause to his strength my adversary may possibly add a 
 'ood deal of cunning, whereas my wisdom may totally fail in 
 reducing to me the same degree of strength. But to de- 
 fend from the author's generalities a little nearer to mean- 
 !ig, the security given to liberty is this, " that governments 
 ill have learned not to precipitate themselves into embar- 
 iissments by speculative wars. Sovereigns and princes will 
 lot forget that steadiness, moderation, and economy, are the 
 lest supports of the eminence on which they stand." There 
 ;ems to me a good deal of oblique reflection in this lesson. 
 3 to the lesson itself, it is at all times a good one. One 
 ould think, however, by this formal introduction of it as a 
 ^commendation of the arrangements proposed by the author, 
 , had never been taught before, either by precept or by ex- 
 prience ; and that these maxims are discoveries reserved for 
 jregicide peace. But is it permitted to ask, what security 
 ; affords to the liberty of the subject, that the prince is 
 icific or frugal ? The very contrary has happened in our 
 story. Our best securities for freedom have been obtained 
 iom princes who were either warlike, or prodigal, or both. 
 I Although the amendmt nt of princes, in these points, can 
 live no effect in quieting our apprehensions for liberty on 
 ;' count of the strength to be acquired to government by a 
 :gicide peace ; I allow that the avoiding of speculative wars 
 lay, possibly, be an advantage, provided I well understand 
 bat the author means by a speculative war. I suppose he 
 
378 LETTERS OS A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 means a war grounded on speculative advantages, and not, 
 wars founded on a just speculation of danger. Does he 
 mean to include this war which we are now carrying on, 
 amongst those speculative wars which this Jacobin peace is 
 to teach sovereigns to avoid hereafter ? If so, it is doing the 
 party an important service. Does he mean that we are tc 
 avoid such wars as that of the grand alliance, made on si 
 speculation of danger to the independence of Europe? 1 
 suspect he has a sort of retrospective view to the Americar 
 war, as a speculative war, carried on by England upon cm. 
 side, and by Louis XVI. on the other. As to our share 
 of that war, let reverence to the dead, and respect to tht 
 living, prevent us from reading lessons of this kind at thai] 
 expense. I don't know how far the author may find him' 
 self at liberty to wanton on that subject, but, for my part. 
 I entered into a coalition, which, when I had no longer i. 
 duty relative to that business, made me think myself bounC: 
 in honour not to call it up without necessity. But if h 
 puts England out of the question, and reflects only on Louii; 
 XVI., I have only to say, "Dearly has he answered it." .' 
 will not defend him. But all those who pushed on the Eevo 
 lution by which he was deposed, were much more in faul 
 than he was. They have murdered him, and have divide( 
 his kingdom as a spoil ; but they who are the guilty are no 
 they who furnish the example. They who reign through hi; li 
 fault are not among those sovereigns who are likely to b< {\ 
 taught to avoid speculative wars by the murder of their mas j g 
 ter. I think the author will not be hardy enough to asser^ l| 
 that they have shown less disposition to meddle in the con 
 cerns of that very America than he did, and in a way no )[ 
 less likely to kindle the flame of speculative war. Here i i , 
 one sovereign not yet reclaimed by these healing examplef | 
 Will he point out the other sovereigns who are to be reforme i j 
 by this peace ? Their wars may not be speculative. But th <\^ 
 world will not be much mended by turning wars from uuprc, j , 
 fitable and speculative to practical and lucrative, whether th | 
 liberty or the repose of mankind is regarded. If the author' [j 
 new sovereign in France is not reformed by the example c f 
 his own Eevolution, that Revolution has not added much t; Jtj, 
 the security and repose of Poland, for instance, or tauglit tbi j 1 
 three great partitioning powers more moderation i^i tbei jij, 
 
LETTERS ON A BEGICIDE PEACE. 379 
 
 Becond, tban they had shown in their first division of that 
 devoted country. The first division which preceded these 
 destructive examples, was moderation itself, in comparison of 
 what has been done since the period of the author's amend- 
 ment. 
 
 This paragraph is written with something of a studied 
 obscurity. If it means anything, it seems to hint as if 
 'sovereigns were to learn moderation, and an attention to the 
 (liberties of their people, from the fate of the sovereigns who 
 \have suffered in this war, and eminently of Louis XVI. 
 
 Will he say, whether the king of Sardinia's horrible tyranny 
 was the cause of the loss of Savoy and of Nice ? What 
 i lesson of moderation does it teach the pope ? I desire to 
 know whether his Holiness is to learn not to massacre his 
 I subjects, nor to waste and destroy such beautiful countries 
 jas that of Avignon, lest he should call to their assistance 
 that great deliverer of nations, Jour dan Couptete ? What 
 lesson does it give of moderation to the emperor, whose 
 predecessor never put one man to death after a general 
 rebellion of the Low Countries, that the regicides never 
 spared man, woman, or child, whom they but suspected ot 
 I dislike to their usurpations ? What, then, are all these 
 i lessons about the softening the character of sovereigns by 
 'this regicide peace? On reading this section, one would 
 imagine that the poor tame sovereigns of Europe had been 
 a sort of furious wild beasts, that stood in need of some 
 uncommonly rough discipline to subdue the ferocity of their 
 ; savage nature. 
 
 ! As to the example to be learnt from the murder of Louis 
 I XVL, if a lesson to kings is not derived from his fate, I do 
 ! not know whence it can come. The author, however, ought 
 not to have left us in the dark upon that subject, to break 
 our shins over his hints and insinuations. Is it then true 
 , that this unfortunate monarch drew his punishment upon 
 ' himself by his want of moderation, and his oppressing the 
 I liberties of which he had found his people in possession ? 
 I Is not the direct contrary the fact ? And is not the exanjple 
 of this Revolution the very reverse of anything which can 
 lead to that softening of character in princes which the 
 author supposes as a security to the people ; and has brought 
 forward as a recommendation to fraternity with those who 
 
880 LETTERS OS A REGICIDE PEACE. V 
 
 have administered that happy emollient in the murder of 
 their king, and the slavery and desolation of their country? 
 
 But the author does not confine the benefit of the regicide 
 lesson to kings alone. He has a diftusive bounty. Nobles 
 and men of property will likewise be greatly reformed. 
 They too will be led to a review of their social situation and 
 duties ; " and will reflect, that their large allotment of 
 worldly advantages is for the aid and benefit of the whole." . 
 Is it then from the fate of Juignie, archbishop of Paris, or * 
 of the Cardinal de Eochefoucault, and of so many others, 
 who gave their fortunes, and, I may say, their very beings to 
 the poor, that the rich are to learn that their " fortunes are 
 for the aid and benefit of the whole ?" I say nothing of 
 the liberal persons of great rank and property, lay and 
 ecclesiastic, men and women, to whom we have had the 
 honour and happiness of affording an asylum, — I pass by 
 these, lest I should never have done, or lest I should omit 
 some as deserving as any I might mention. AVhy wiU the 
 author then suppose that the nobles and men of property in 
 France have been banished, confiscated, and murdered, on 
 account of the savageness and ferocity of their character, and 
 their being tainted with vices beyond those of the same 
 order and description in other countries? No judge of a 
 revolutionary tribunal, with his hands dipped in their blood, 
 and his maw gorged with their property, has yet dared to 
 assert what this author has been pleased, by way of a moral 
 lesson, to insinuate. 
 
 Their nobility and their men of property, in a mass, had 
 the very same virtues, and the very same vices, and in the 
 very same proportions, with the same description of men in 
 this and in other nations. I must do justice to suffering 
 honour, generosity, and integrity. I do not know that any 
 time, or any country, has furnished more splendid examples 
 of every virtue, domestic and public. I do not enter into 
 the councils of Providence : but, humanly speaking, many of 
 these nobles and men of property, from whose disastrous 
 fate we are, it seems, to learn a general softening of charac- 
 ter, and a revision of our social situations and duties, appear 
 to me full as little deserving of that fate, as the author, who- 
 ever he is, can be. Many of them, I am sure, were such aa 
 1 should be proud indeed to be able to compare myself wiik, 
 
LETTERS ON A. EEGICIDE PEACE. 381 
 
 h\ knowledge, in integrity, and in every other virtue. My 
 feeble nature might shrink, though theirs did not, from the 
 iproof ; but my reason and my ambition tell me that it would 
 ibe a good bargain to purchase their merits with their fate, 
 i For which of his vices did that great magistrate, D'Espre- 
 menil, lose his fortune and his head ? What were the 
 ibominations of Malesherbes, that other excellent mao^istrate, 
 l^'hose sixty years of uniform virtue was acknowledged, in 
 the very act of his murder, by the judicial butchers who 
 i?ondemned him ? On account of what misdemeanours was 
 pe robbed of his property, and slaughtered with two gener- 
 litions of his offspring ; and the remains of the third race, 
 jkTith a refinement of cruelty, and lest they should appear to 
 declaim the property forfeited by the virtues of their an- 
 cestor, confounded in an hospital with the thousands of 
 those unhappy foundling infants who are abandoned, without 
 I'elation and without name, by the wretchedness or by the 
 Profligacy of their parents ? 
 
 ; Is the fate of the queen of France to produce this soften- 
 'ng of character ? Was she a person so very ferocious and 
 bruel, as, by the example of her death, to frighten us into 
 |2ommon humanity ? Is there no way to teach the emperor 
 ii softening of character, and a review of his social situation 
 •md duty, but his consent, by an infamous accord with regi- 
 ;ide, to drive a second coach with the Austrian arms through 
 :he streets of Paris, along which, after a series of preparatory 
 lorrors, exceeding the atrocities of the bloody execution 
 tself, the glory of the Imperial race had been carried to an 
 Ignominious death ? Is this a lesson of moderation to a de- 
 ,5cendant of Maria Theresa drawn from the fate of the daugh- 
 ter of that incomparable woman and sovereign ? If he learns 
 ';his lesson from such an object, and from such teachers, the 
 nan may remain, but the king is deposed. If he does not 
 ;arry quite another memory of that transaction in the inmost 
 recesses of his heart, he is unworthy to reign, he is unworthy 
 ;:o live. In the chronicle of disgrace he will have but this short 
 !;ale told of him, " he was the first emperor of his house that 
 'embraced a regicide : he was the last that wore the imperial 
 )urple." — Far am I from thinking so ill of this august sove- 
 I'eign, who is at the head of the monarchies of Europe, and 
 kho is the trustee of their dignities and his own. 
 
382 LETTERS OK A EEGICIDE PEACE. l 
 
 What ferocity of character drew on the fate of Elizabeth, , 
 the sister of King Louis XVI. ? For which of the vices of J 
 that pattern of benevolence, of piety, and of all the virtues, , | ! 
 did they put her to death? For which of her vices did '5? 
 they put to death the mildest of all human creatures, the j^ 
 Duchess of Biron ? What were the crimes of those crowds 
 of matrons and virgins of condition, whom they massacred, 
 with their juries of blood, in prisons and on scaftblds? ■ 
 What were the enormities of the infant king, whom they 
 caused, by lingering tortures, to perish in their dungeon, ' 
 and whom, if at last they des])atched by poison, it was in > 
 that detestable crime the only act of mercy they have ever / 
 shown ? ' 
 
 What softening of character is to be had, what review of 
 their social situations and duties is to be taught, by these i 
 examples to kings, to nobles, to men of property, to women, 'r'^ 
 and to infants ? The royal family perished because it was ! I ^ 
 royal. The nobles perished because they were noble. The , ™ 
 men, women, and children, who had property because they 1^ 
 had property to be robbed of. The priests were punished 
 after they had been robbed of their all, not for their vides, f, 
 but for their virtues and their piety, which made them au 
 honour to their sacred profession, and to that nature, vi 
 which we ought to be proud, since they belong to it. My 
 Lord, nothing can be learned from such examples, except the 
 danger of being kings, queens, nobles, priests, and children, * 
 to be butchered on account of their inheritance. These are ^° 
 things at which not vice, not crime, not folly, but wisdom, '"J 
 goodness, learning, justice, probity, beneficence stand aghast. '^ 
 By these examples our reason and our moral sense are not : ^^ 
 enlightened, but confounded; and there is no refuge for )-.^] 
 astonished and alirighted virtue, but being annihilated in j^' 
 humility and submission, sinking into a silent adoration of | '" 
 the inscrutable dispensations of Providence, and flying )* 
 with trembling wings from this world of daring crimes,' ,^^'| 
 and feeble, pusillanimous, halt-bred, bastard justice, to the 
 asylum of another order of tilings, in an unknown form, but : 
 in a better life. ' 
 
 Whatever the politician or preacher of September or of 
 October may think of the matter, it is a most comfortless,' 
 disheartening, desolating example. Dreadful is the example 
 
lETTEES ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 383 
 
 jf ruined innocence and virtue, and the completest triumph 
 Df the completest villany that ever vexed and disgraced man- 
 jiind ! The example is ruinous in every point of view, re- 
 iligious, moral, civil, political. It establishes that dreadful 
 maxim of Machiavel, that in great affairs men are not to be 
 ftucked by halves. This maxim is not made for a middle 
 iort of beings, who, because they cannot be angels, ought to 
 [thwart their ambition, and not endeavour to become infernal 
 spirits. It is too well exemplified in the present time, where 
 'the faults and errors of humanity, checked by the imperfect 
 jtimorous virtues, have been overpowered by those who have 
 |?topped at no crime. It is a dreadful part of the example, 
 that infernal malevolence has had pious apologists, who read 
 their lectures on frailties in favour of crimes ; who abandon 
 jthe weak, and court the friendship of the wicked. To root 
 'out these maxims, and the examples that support them, is a 
 wise object of years of war. This is that war. This is that 
 moral Avar. It was said by old Trivulzio that the battle of 
 Marignan was the battle of the giants, that all the rest of 
 .jthe <many he had seen were those of the cranes and pygmies. 
 This IS true of the objects, at least, of the contest. For the 
 Igreater part of those which we have hitherto contended for, 
 in comparison, were the toys of children. 
 I The October politician is so full of charity and good na- 
 ture, that he supposes that these very robbers and murderers 
 themselves are in a course of melioration ; on what ground I 
 cannot conceive, except on the long practice of every crime, 
 and by its complete success. He is an Origenist, and be- 
 lieves in the conversion of the devil. All that runs in the 
 place of blood in his veins is nothing but the milk of human 
 jkindness. He is as soft as a curd, though, as a politician, 
 ,he might be supposed to be made of sterner stuff. He sup- 
 poses (to use his own expression) " that the salutary truths 
 which he inculcates are making their way into their bosoms." 
 Their bosom is a rock of granite, on which falsehood has 
 llong since built her stronghold. Poor Truth has had a 
 hard work of it with her little pickaxe. JS^othing but gun- 
 powder will do. 
 
 j Asa proof, however, of the progress of this sap of Truth, 
 jhe gi\ es us a confession they had made not long before he 
 wrote. " Their fraternity " (as was lately stated bj the^- 
 
884 LETTEES ON A. EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 selves in a solemn report) " has been the brotherhood of 
 Cain and Abel, and they have organized nothing but Bank- 
 ruptcy and Famine." A very honest confession truly ; and 
 much in the spirit of their oracle, Eousseau. Yet, what is 
 still more marvellous than the confession, this is the very 
 fraternity to which our author gives us such an obliging in- 
 vitation to accede. There is, indeed, a vacancy in the fra- 
 ternal corps ; a brother and a partner is wanted. If we 
 please, we may fill up the place of the butchered Abel ; and, 
 whilst we wait the destiny of the departed brother, we may 
 enjoy the advantages of the partnership, by entering without 
 delay into a shop of ready-made bankruptcy and famine. 
 These are the douceurs by which we are invited to regicide 
 fraternity and friendship. But still our author considers 
 the confession as a proof that " truth is making its way into 
 their bosoms." iS^o ! It is not making its way into their 
 bosoms. It has forced its way into their mouths ! The evil 
 spirit by which they are possessed, though essentially a liar, 
 is forced, by the tortures of conscience, to confess the truth ; 
 to confess enough for their condemnation, but not for their 
 amendment. Shakspeare very aptly expresses this kind of 
 confession, devoid of repentance, from the mouth of an usurp- 
 er, a murderer, and a regicide — 
 
 — " We are ourselves compelled, 
 Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, 
 To give in evidence." 
 
 1 
 
 Whence is their amendment ? AVhy, the author writeSj 
 that, on their murderous insurrectionary system, their own ' 
 lives are not sure for an hour ; nor has their power a greater 
 stability. True. They are convinced of it ; and accordingly ' 
 the wretches have done all they can to preserve their lives, 
 and to secure their power ; but not one step have they taken 
 to amend the one, or to make a more just use of the other. 
 Their wicked policy has obliged them to make a pause in the 
 only massacres in which their treachery and cruelty had 
 operated as a kind of savage justice, that is, the massacre of 
 the accomplices of their crimes : they have ceased to shed 
 the inhuman blood of their fellow-murderers ; but when thev • 
 take any of those persons who contend for their lawful go- i 
 vcrnmcnt, their property, and their religion, notwithstand* t 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 385 
 
 ng tlie truth which this author says is making its way into 
 heir bosoms, it has not taught them the least tincture of 
 nercy. This we plainly see by their massacre at Quiberon, 
 vhere they put to death, with every species of contumely, 
 md without any exception, every prisoner of war who did 
 lot escape out of their hands. To have had property, to 
 lave been robbed of it, and to endeavour to regain it — these 
 'ire crimes irremissible, to which every man who regards his 
 )roperty, or his life, in every country, ought well to look in 
 ill connexion with those with whom to have had property 
 jvas an offence, to endeavour to keep it a second offence, to 
 littempt to regain it a crime that puts the offender out of 
 'ill the laws of peace or war. Ton cannot see one of those 
 yretches without an alarm for your life as well as your goods. 
 jChey are like the worst of the French and Italian banditti, 
 kho, whenever they robbed, were sure to murder. 
 ! Are they not the very same ruffians, thieves, assassins, and 
 i'egicides, that they were from the beginning ? Have they 
 liversiiied the scene by the least variety, or produced the 
 I'ace of a single new villany ? Tcedet harum quotidian arum 
 %rmarum. Oh ! but I shall be answered, it is now quite 
 |inother thing : — they are all changed : — you have not seen 
 'hem in their state dresses : — this makes an amazing differ- 
 i;nce: — the new habit of the directory is so charmingly 
 ancied that it is impossible not to fall in love with so well- 
 Iressed a constitution : — the costume of the sans-culotte con- 
 titutionof 1793 was absolutely insufferable The committee 
 or foreign affairs were such slovens, and stunk so abominably, 
 ;.hat no muscadin ambassador of the smallest degree of deli- 
 racy of nerves could come within ten yards of them : — but 
 low they are so powdered and perfumed, and ribanded, and 
 iashed, and plumed, that, though they are grown infinitely 
 nore insolent in their fine clothes, even than they were in 
 heir rags, (and that was enough,) as they now appear, there 
 is something in it more grand and noble, something more 
 jiuitable to an awful Eoman senate, receiving the homage of 
 ilependent tetrarchs. Like that senate (their perpetual 
 nodel for conduct towards other nations) they permit their 
 ^assals (during their good pleasure) to assume the name of 
 lings, in order to bestow more dignity on the suite and rc- 
 rinue of the sovereign republic by the nominal rank of their 
 
 VOL. V. 2 c * 
 
386 LETTERS ON A EEOICIDE PEACE. 
 
 slaves — Ut habeant instrumenta servitutis et reges. All ttii 
 is very fine, undoubtedly ; and ambassadors, whose hands are 
 almost out for want of employment, may long to have their 
 part in this august ceremony of the republic one and indi- 
 visible. But, with great deference to the new diplomatic 
 taste, we old people must retain some square-toed predilec- 
 tion for the fashions of our youth. I am afraid you will 
 find me, my Lord, again falling into my usual vanity ir 
 valuing myself on the eminent men whose society I onct 
 enjoyed. I remember, in a conversation I once had with m\ 
 ever dear friend Garrick, who was the first of actors, because ; 
 he was the most acute observer of nature I ever knew, ]| 
 asked him, how it happened that, whenever a senate ap! 
 peared on the stage, the audience seemed always disposed t( 
 laughter ? He said the reason was plain : the audience wa ; 
 well acquainted with the faces of most of the senators. The; i 
 knew that they were no other than candle-snuffers, revolu 
 tionary scene-shifters, second and third mob, prompters | 
 clerks, executioners, who stand with their axe on thai; 
 shoulders by the wheel, grindere in the pantomime, murder; 
 ers in tragedies, who make ugly faces under black wigs; i:' 
 short, the very scum and refuse of the theatre; and it wa 
 of course, that the contrast of the vileness of the actors wit' " 
 the pomp of their habits naturally excited ideas of contemp « 
 and ridicule. 
 
 So it was at Paris on the inaugural day of the constitutio 
 for the present year. The foreign ministers were ordered t 
 attend at this investiture of the directory ; — for so tliey ca 
 the managers of their burlesque government. The diplomacv 
 who were a sort of strangers, were quite awe-struck wit » 
 *' the pride, pomp, and circumstance" of this majestic senate n 
 whilst the sans-culotte gallery instantly recognised their ol 
 uisurrectionary acquaintance, burst out into a horse-laugh ! 
 their absurd finery, and held them in infinitely greater coi 
 tempt than whilst they prowled about tlie sti*eets in tl 
 pantaloons of the last year's constitution, when their legisla 
 ors appeared honestly, with their daggers in their belts, ai 
 their pistols peeping out of their side-pocket holes, like 
 bold brave banditti, as they are. The Parisians (and I a 
 much of their mind) think that a thief with a crape on b 
 visage is much worse than a barefaced knave ; and that am 
 
j LETTERS 0>' A T^EGTCIDF PEACE. 3S7 
 
 Tobbers richly deserve all the penalties of all the black acts. 
 In this their thin disguise, their comrades of the late abdi- 
 cated sovereign canaille hooted and hissed them ; and from 
 : that day have no other name for them than %vhat is not 
 quite so easy to render into English, impossible to make it 
 very civil English : it belongs, indeed, to the language of the 
 Holies ; but, without being instructed in that dialect, it waa 
 I the opinion of the polite Lord Chesterfield, that no man 
 could be a complete master of French. Their Parisian 
 brethren called them Gueux plumees, which, though not 
 I elegant, is expressive and characteristic : — ''feathered scoun- 
 \ drels" I think, comes the nearest to it in that kind of English. 
 i But we are now to understand, that these Gueux, for no 
 . other reason that I can divine, except their red and white 
 \ clothes, form, at last, a state with which we may cultivate 
 I amity, and have a prospect of the blessings of a secure and 
 1 permanent peace. In effect, then, it was not with the men, 
 I or their principles, or their politics, that we quarrelled. Our 
 ; sole dislike was to the cut of their clothes. 
 I But to pass over their dresses — Grood Grod ! in what habits 
 did the representatives of the crowned heads of Europe 
 ^ appear, when they came to swell the pomp of their humilia- 
 ition, and attended in solemn function this inauguration of 
 j regicide? That would be the curiosity. Under what robes 
 did they cover the disgrace and degradation of the whole 
 college of kings ? What warehouses of masks and dominos 
 furnished a cover to the nakedness of their shame ? The 
 shop ought to be known; it will soon have a good trade. 
 Were the dresses of the ministers of those lately called 
 potentates, who attended on that occasion, taken from the 
 wardrobe of that property man at the opera, from whence 
 my old acquaintance Anacharsis Cloots, some years ago, 
 equipped a body of ambassadors, whom he conducted, as 
 fi*om all the nations in the world, to the bar of what was 
 j called the constituent assembly ? Among those mock minis- 
 ;ters, one of the most conspicuous figures was the representa- 
 itive of the British nation, who unluckily was wanting at the 
 late ceremony. In the face of all the real ambassadors of 
 the sovereigns of Europe was this ludicrous representation of 
 their several subjects, under the name of oppressed iove* 
 a c 2 
 
 li 
 
388 LETTEBS ON A BEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 reigns} exhibited to the assembly ; that assembly received 
 an liarangue, in the name of those sovereigns, against their 
 kings, delivered by this Cloots, actually a subject of Prussia, 
 under the name of ambassador of the human race. At that 
 time there was only a feeble reclamation from one of the 
 ambassadors of these tyrants and oppressors. A most gra- 
 cious answer was given to the ministers of the oppressed 
 sovereigns : and they went so far on that occasion as to 
 assign them, in that assumed character, a box at one of their 
 festivals. ■ 
 
 I was willing to indulge myself in a hope, that this second i 
 appearance of ambassadors was only an insolent mummery 
 of the same kind ; but alas! Anacharsis himself, all fanatid 
 as he was, could not have imagined that his opera procession 
 should have been the prototype of the real appearance of the | 
 representatives of all the sovereigns of Europe themselves,: 
 to make the same prostration that was made by those who 
 dared to represent their people in a complaint against them. 
 But in this the French republic has followed, as they always, 
 affect to do, and have hitherto done with success, the example 
 of the ancient Romans, who shook all governments by listen- 
 ing to the complaints of their subjects, and soon after 
 brought the kings themselves to answer at their bar. At 
 this last ceremony the ambassadors had not Cloots for their 
 Cotterel — Pity that Cloots had not had a reprieve from the 
 guillotine till he had completed his work ! But that engine 
 fell before the curtain had fallen upon all the dignity o) 
 the earth. 
 
 On this their gaudy day the new regicide directory sent 
 for their diplomatic rabble, as bad as themselves in principle 
 but infinitely worse in degradation. They called them oul 
 by a sort of roll of their nations, one after another, much ii 
 the manner in which they called wretches out of their pri 
 son to the guillotine. When these ambassadors of infaiiiN 
 appeared before them, the chief director, in the name of tht 
 rest, treated each of them with a short, affected, pedantic- 
 insolent, theatric laconium ; a sort of epigram of contempt 
 When they had thus insulted them in a style and language 
 
 ' Souvereins Opprimees — S^e the whole proceeding in the proces^i veiba; 
 of the National Assembly. 
 
 I 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 389 
 
 whic'a never before was heard, and which no sovereign would 
 for a moment endure from another, supposing any of them 
 frantic enough to use it, to finish their outrage, they drum- 
 med and trumpeted the wretches out of their hall of audi- 
 ence. 
 
 Among the objects of this insolent buffoonery was a per- 
 son supposed to represent the king of Prussia. To this 
 worthy representative they did not so much as condescend 
 to mention his master ; they did not seem to know that he 
 ,had one ; they addressed themselves solely to Prussia in the 
 labstract, notwithstanding the infinite obligation they owed 
 ito their early protector for their first recognition and 
 ! alliance, and for the part of his territory he gave into their 
 ;hands for the first-fruits of his homage. None but dead 
 imonarchs are so much as mentioned by them, and those 
 jouly to insult the livuig by an invidious comparison. They 
 told the Prussians they ought to learn, after the example of 
 ■Frederick the G-reat, a love for France. "What a pity it is, 
 that he who loved France so well as to chastise it was not 
 mow alive, by an unsparing use of the rod (which indeed he 
 , would have spared little) to give them another instance of 
 ihis paternal affection. But the directory were mistaken, 
 i These are not days in which mouarchs value themselves 
 'upon the title oi great : they are grown philosophic : they are 
 satisfied to be good. 
 
 ' Tour Lordship will pardon me for this no very long re- 
 flection on the short but excellent speech of the plumed 
 director to the ambassador of Cappadocia. The imperial 
 'ambassador was not in waiting, but they found for Austria a 
 good Judean representation. With great judgment his 
 ! Highness, the Grand Duke, had sent the most atheistic cox- 
 comb to be found in Florence, to represent, at the bar of im- 
 piety, the house of apostolic Majesty, and the descendants 
 jOf the pious, though high-minded, Maria Theresa. He was 
 I sent to humble the whole race of Austria before those grim 
 I assassins, reeking with the blood of the daughter of Maria 
 Theresa, whom tkey sent half-dead, in a dung cart, to a cruel 
 execution ; and this true-born son of apostasy and infidelity, 
 this renegado from the faith, and from all honour and all 
 humanity, drove an Austrian coach over the stones which 
 were yet wet with her blood ; — with that blood which drop- 
 
390 LETTEES ON A EEGIC-DE PEACE. 1 
 
 ped every step through her tumbrel all the way she wat 1 
 drawn from the horrid prison, in which they had finished all ' 
 the cruelty and horrors, not executed in the face of the sun! 
 The Hungarian subjects of Maria Theresa, when they drew 
 their swords to defend her rights against France, called her, ' 
 with correctness of truth, though not with the same correct- 
 ness, perhaps, of grammar, a king : Moriamur pro rege nostra 
 Marie Theresa. — She lived and died a king, and others will 
 have subjects ready to make the same vow, when in either 
 sex they show themselves real kings. 
 
 When the directory came to this miserable fop, they be- 
 stowed a compliment on his matriculation into f/ieir philoso- : 
 phy ; bat as to his master, they made to him, as was reason- ' 
 able, a reprimand, not without a pardon, and an oblique 
 hint at the whole family. What indignities have been' 
 offered through this wretch to his master, and how well ! 
 borne, it is not necessary that I should dwell on at present. ' 
 I hope that those who yet wear royal, imperial, and ducal i 
 crowns, will learn to feel as men and as kings ; if not, 
 I predict to them, they will not long exist as kings or as 
 men. 
 
 Great Britain was not there. Almost in despair, I ho;^ 
 she will never, in any rags and coversluts of infamy, be seei 
 at such an exhibition. The hour of her final degradation 
 not yet come; she did not herself appear in the regicide! 
 presence, to be the sport and mockery of those bloody 
 buffoons, who, in the merriment of their pride, were insult- 
 ing, with every species of contumely, the fallen dignity of 
 the rest of Europe. But Britain, though not personally ap- 
 pearing to bear her part in this monstrous tragi-comedy, was 
 very far from being forgotten. The new-robed regicides 
 found a representative for her. And who was this repre- 
 sentative P Without a previous knowledge, any one would 
 have given a thousand guesses, before he could arrive at a 
 tolerable divination of their rancorous insolence. They 
 chose to address what they had to say concerning this nation 
 to the ambassador of America. They did not apply to thii 
 ambassador for a mediation : — that, indeed, would have indi-8 
 eated a want of every kind of decency ; but it would haW 
 indicated nothing more. But, in this their American apo*i( 
 trophe, your Lordship will observe, they did not so much 
 
 as; 
 
 i 
 
LBtTE&S O^* A fttOTCIDE PEACE. 391 
 
 'pretend to hold out to us directly, or through any mediator, 
 though in the most humiliating manner, any idea whatsoever 
 of peace, or the smallest desire of reconciliation. To the 
 States of America themselves they paid no compliment. 
 They paid their compliment to Washington solely ; and on 
 what ground ? This most respectable commander and ma- 
 gistrate might deserve commendation on very many of those 
 iqualities, vrhich they who most disapprove some part of his 
 proceedings, not more justly, than freely, attribute to him ; 
 but they found nothing to commend in hira, " but the hatred 
 \he bore to Great Britain."" I verily believe, that in the 
 iwhole history of our European wars, there never was such a 
 jcompliment paid from the sovereign of one state to a great 
 'chief of another. Not one ambassador from any one of 
 jthose powers, who pretend to live in amity with this king- 
 'dom, took the least notice of that unheard-of declaration ; 
 'nor will Great Britain, till she is known with certainty to 
 be true to her own dignity, find any one disposed to feel for 
 the indignities that are offered to her. To say the truth, 
 those miserable creatures were all silent under the insults 
 that were offered to themselves. They pocketed their 
 I epigrams, as ambassadors formerly took the gold boxes, and 
 miniature pictures set in diamonds, presented them by sove- 
 reigns at whose courts they had resided. It is to be pre- 
 sumed, that by the next post they faithfully and promptly 
 transmitted to their masters the honours they had received. 
 I can easily conceive the epigram, which will be presented 
 to Lord Auckland, or to the Duke of Bedford, as hereafter, 
 according to circumstances, they may happen to represent 
 this kingdom. Few can have so little imagination, as not 
 readily to conceive the nature of the boxes of epigrammatic 
 lozenges that will be presented to them. 
 
 But, hce raigcB seria ducwit in mala. The conduct of the 
 regicide faction is perfectly systematic in every particular, 
 and it appears absurd only as it is strange and uncouth ; not 
 as it has an application to the ends and objects of their 
 policy. When by insult after insult they have rendered the 
 character of sovereigns vile in the eyes of their subjects, they 
 know there is but one step more to their utter destruction. 
 All authority, in a great degree, exists in opinion : royal 
 authority most of all. The supreme majesty of a monar(;h 
 
392 LETTEBS OS A EEGICIDE PEACE. | 
 
 cannot be allied with contempt. Men would reason not iin..; 
 plausibly, that it would be better to get rid of the monarchy 
 at once, than to suffer that, which was instituted, and well 
 instituted, to support the glory of the nation, to become the, 
 instrument of its degradation and disgrace. i 
 
 A good many reflections will arise in your Lordship'i: 
 mind upon the time and circumstances of that most insult-; 
 ing and atrocious declaration of hostility against this king-: 
 dom. The declaration was made subsequent to the noble i 
 Lord's Encomium on the new Eegicide Constitution; after; 
 the pamphlet had made something more than advances toi 
 wards a reconciliation with that ungracious race, and had; 
 directly disowned all those who adhered to the original de- 
 claration in favour of monarchy. It was even subsequent tc 
 the unfortunate declaration in the speech from the throne., 
 (which this pamphlet but too truly announced,) of thi 
 readiness of our government to enter into connexions o1' 
 friendship with that faction. Here was the answer, froni 
 the throne of regicide, to the speech from the throne ol; 
 Grreat Britain. They go out of their way to compliment 
 General Washington on the supposed rancour of his heart 
 towards this country. It is very remarkable, that they makf 
 this compliment of malice to the chief of the United States 
 who had first signed a treaty of peace, amity, and commerct 
 with this kingdom. This radical hatred, according to their 
 way of thinking, the most recent, solemn compacts of friend- 
 ship cannot or ought not to remove. In this malice t( 
 England, as in the one great comprehensive Wrtue, all other 
 merits of this illustrious person are entirely merged. — Foi 
 my part, I do not believe the fact to be so. as they represeni 
 it. Certainly it is not for Mr. Washington's honour as t 
 gentleman, a Christian, or a president of the United States 
 after the treaty he has signed, to entertain such sentiments 
 I have a moral assurance, that the representation of tin 
 regicide directory is absolutely false and groundless. If i' 
 be, it is a stronger mark of their audacity and insolence, anc 
 still a stronger proof of the support they mean to give to tlu 
 mischievous faction they are laiown to nourish there, to thf 
 ruin of those States, and to the end that no British aflectioni 
 should ever arise in that important part of the world, whicl 
 would naturally lead to a cordial, hearty British alliance 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 393 
 
 Upon the bottom of mutual interest and ancient afTeotion. 
 It shows in what part it is, and with what a weapon, they 
 mean a deadly blow at the heart of Great Britain. One 
 really would have expected, from this new constitution of 
 theirs, which had been announced as a great reform, and 
 which was to be, more than any of their former experimental 
 schemes, alliable with other nations, that they would, in their 
 I very first public act, and their declaration to the collected 
 representation of Europe and America, have aifected some 
 degree of moderation, or, at least, have observed a guarded 
 Isilence with regard to their temper and their views. No 
 isuch thing; they were in haste to declare the principles 
 jwhich are spun into the primitive staple of their frame. They 
 {were afraid that a moment's doubt should exist about them. 
 jIn their very infancy they were in haste to put their hand 
 ion their infernal altar, and to swear the same immortal 
 'hatred to England, which was sworn in the succession of all 
 the short-lived constitutions that preceded it. With them 
 everj'thing else perishes almost as soon as it is formed ; this 
 .hatred alone is immortal. This is their impure vestal fire, 
 that never is extinguished ; and never will it be extinguished 
 Iwhilst the system of regicide exists in France. AYhat ! are 
 :we not to believe them ? Men are too apt to be deceitful 
 lenough in their professions of friendship, and this makes a 
 wise man walk with some caution through life. Such pro- 
 fessions, in some cases, may be even a ground of further dis- 
 trust. But when a man declares himself your unalterable 
 enemy ! No man ever declared to another a rancour towards 
 ;him which he did not feel. Falsosin amore odia noJi Jivgere^ 
 isaid an author, who points his observations so as to make 
 jtbem remembered. 
 
 I Observe, my Lord, that, from their invasion of Elanders 
 and Holland to this hour, they have never made the smallest 
 signification of a desire of peace with this kingdom, with 
 •Austria, or, indeed, with any other power, that I know of. 
 jAs superiors, they expect others to begin. We have com- 
 plied, as you may see. The hostile insolence with which 
 they gave such a rebufi" to our first overture in the speech 
 from the throne, did not hinder us from making, from the 
 dame throne, a second advance. The two Houses, a second 
 itime, coincided in the same sentiments with a degree ol 
 
394 LETTERS OS A. REGICIDE PEACE. ' 
 
 apparent unanimity (for there was no dissentient voice but j bJ' 
 yours) with which, wlien they reflect on it, they will be as i rl 
 much ashamed as I am. To this our new humiliating over- \ \^ 
 ture (such, at whatever hazard, I must call it) what did the j :li 
 regicide directory answer ? Not one public word of a readi- j :/i 
 ness to treat. No, they feel their proud situation too well. ] -^ 
 They never declared whether they would grant peace to yoli ' f I 
 or not. They only signified to you their pleasure as to the ] n 
 terms on which alone they would, in any case, admit you to iijii 
 it. You showed your general disposition to peace, and, to j idt 
 forward it, you left everything open to negotiations. As to l-;| 
 any terms you can possibly obtain, they shut out all nego- m 
 tiation at the very commencement. They declared, that they ' ' n 
 never would make a peace, by which anything that ever be- -3 
 longed to France should be ceded. "W"e would not treat ,1 jii 
 with the monarchy, weakened as it must obviously be in any ))'4 
 circumstance of restoration, without a reservation of some- ; :jtl 
 thing for indemnity and security, and that too in words of j 'm 
 the largest comprehension. You treat with the regicides ; I'ii 
 without any reservation at all. On their part, they assure j n 
 you formally and publicly that they will give you nothing in 1 m 
 the name of indemnity or security, or for any other purpose. : ^^i 
 It is impossible not to pause here for a moment, and to ]^ 
 consider the manner in which such declarations would have \ ;i| 
 been taken by your ancestors from a monarch distinguished 1 -^i 
 for his arrogance ; an arrogance which, even more than his « ^i; 
 ambition, incensed and combined all Europe against him. ij 
 AVhatever his inward intentions may have been, did Louis loj 
 XIV. ever make a declaration, that the true bounds of France tie 
 were the Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Rhine ? In any ijjjt 
 overtures for peace, did he ever declare, that he would make • ^xiHi 
 no sacrifices to promote it ? His declarations were always ' Jn 
 directly to the contrary ; and at the peace of Ryswick his ! 'jI^i, 
 actions were to the contrary. At the close of the war, almost . :^, 
 in every instance victorious, all Europe was astonished, even; ![y]^ 
 those who received them were astonished, at his concessions.: • jjip 
 Let those who have a mind to see how little, in comparison, |t( 
 the most powerful and ambitious of all monarchs is to be 
 dreaded, consult the very judicious, critical observations on 
 the Politics of that Reign, inserted in the Military Treatise 
 of the Marquis de Moutalamberfc. Let those who wish to 
 
LETTERS OS A. EEGICIDE FEACE. 395 
 
 !iow what is to be dreaded from an ambitious republic con- 
 ilt no author, no military critic, no historical critic. Let 
 
 em open their own eyes, which degeneracy and pusillan- 
 •lity liave shut from the light that pains them, and let them 
 :)t vainly seek their security in a voluntary ignorance of 
 ■ eir danger. 
 
 To dispose us towards this peace,— an attempt, in which 
 ♦ir author has, I do not know whether to call it, the good or 
 1 fortune to agree with whatever is most seditious, factious, 
 i^d treasonable in this country, we are told by many dealers 
 I speculation, but not so distinctly by the author himself, 
 00 great distinctness of affirmation not being his fault,) — 
 lit we are told, that the French have lately obtained a very 
 •etty sort of constitution, and that it resembles the British 
 •institution as if they had been twinned together in the 
 I3mb — mire sagaces fallere ho^pites discrimen obscurum. It 
 ay be so ; but I confess I am not yet made to it ; nor is 
 ■e noble author. He finds the " elements " excellent ; but 
 16 disposition very inartificial indeed. Contrary to what 
 •e might expect at Paris — the meat is good, the cookery 
 jominable. I agree with him fully in the last ; and if I 
 ere forced to allow the first, I should still think, with our 
 '.d coarse by-word — that the same power which furnished 
 i their former restorateurs, sent also their present cooks. I 
 ive a great opinion of Thomas Paine, and of all his produc- 
 3ns ; I remember his having been one of the committee for 
 rming one of their annual constitutions ; I mean the admir- 
 )le constitution of 1793, after having been a chamber counsel 
 ^ the no less admirable constitution of 1791. This pious 
 itriot has his eyes still directed to his dear native country, 
 :3twith standing her ingratitude to so kind a benefactor. This 
 itlaw of England, and lawgiver to Prance, is now, in secret 
 'obably, trying his hand again : and inviting us to him by 
 aking his constitution such as may give his disciples in 
 ngland some plausible pretext for going into the house 
 !at he has opened. We have discovered, it seems, that all 
 hich the boasted wisdom of our ancestors has laboured to 
 "ing to perfection for six or seven centuries, is nearly, or 
 together, matched in six or s^ven days, at the leisure houri 
 id sober intervals of Citizen Thomas Paine. 
 
ltd 
 
 396 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 '* But though the treacherous tapster Thomas, j jIll' 
 
 Hangs a new Angel two doors from us. I ||jj 
 
 As fine as daubers' hands can make it, 
 In hopes that strangers may mistake it ; 
 We think it both a shame and sin 
 To quit the good old Angel Inn." ' |^ 
 
 Indeed, in this good old house, where everything, at leasi 
 is well aired, I shall be content to put up my fatigued horsei 
 and here take a bed for the long night that begins to darke ! 
 upon me. Had I, however, the honour (I must now call ?! 
 Bo) of being a member of any of the constitutional clubs, ' 
 should think I had carried my point most completely. It i' 
 clear by the applauses bestowed on what the author cali 
 this new constitution, a mixed oligarchy, that the differenc 
 between the clubbists and the old adherents to the monarch 
 of this country is hardly worth a scuffle. Let it depart i- 
 peace, and light lie the earth on the British constitution! 
 By this easy manner of treating the most difficult of a 
 subjects, the constitution for a great kingdom, and by lettini 
 loose an opinion, that they may be made by any adventurer f| 
 in speculation in a small given time, and for any country, a 
 the ties, which, whether of reason or prejudice, attach mar; 
 kind to their old, habitual, domestic governments, are not 
 little loosened: all communion, which the similarity of thj 
 basis has produced between all the governments that corr.: 
 pose what we call the Christian world and the republic ci 
 Europe, would be dissolved. By these hazarded speculatioD' 
 France is more approximated to us in constitution than i ; 
 situation ; and in proportion as we recede from the ancien' 
 system of Europe, we approach to that connexion, whic 
 alone can remain to us, a close alliance with the new-dit 
 covered moral and political world in France. j 
 
 These theories would be of little importance, if we did no; 
 ouly know, but sorely feel, that there is a strong Jacobi ' 
 faction in this country, which has long employed itself i' 
 speculating upon constitutions, and to wliom the circun:; 
 stance of their government being home-bred and prescriptiv' 
 seems no sort of recommendation. What seemed to us t 
 be the best system of liberty that a nation ever enjoyed, t 
 them seems the yoke of an intolerable slavery. This specu 
 lative friction had long been at work. The French lievolu' 
 tion did not cause it j it only discovered it, increased it, aoi! 
 
 ,i 
 
LETTERS OB" A EEGICIDE PEACE. 897 
 
 are fresh vigour to its operations. I have reason to be per- 
 uaded that it was in this country, and from English writers 
 nd English caballers, that France herself was instituted in 
 his revolutionary fury. The communion of these two factions 
 .pon any pretended basis of similarity is a matter of very seri- 
 us consideration. They are always considering the formal dis- 
 ributions of power in a constitution : the moral basis thej 
 ionsider as nothing. Very different is my opinion : I con- 
 ider the moral basis as everything ; the formal arrange- 
 ments, further than as they promote the moral principles of 
 rovernment, and the keeping desperately wicked persons as 
 he subjects of laws and not the makers of them, to be of 
 jittle importance. AVhat signifies the cutting and shuffling 
 jif cards, while the pack still remains the same ? As a basis 
 jor such a connexion as has subsisted between the powers 
 if Europe, we had nothing to fear, but from the lapses and 
 'railties of men, and that was enough ; but this new pre- 
 , ended republic has given us more to apprehend from what 
 ,hey call their virtues, than we had to dread from the vices 
 jtf other men. Avowedly and systematically they have 
 jiven the upper hand to all the vicious and degenerate part 
 jtf human nature. It is from their lapses and deviations 
 jrom their principle that alone we have anything to hope. 
 I I hear another inducement to fraternity with the present 
 ulers. They have murdered one Eobespierre. This Eobes- 
 jierre, they tell us, was a cruel tyrant, and now that he is 
 )ut out of the way, all will go well in France. Astraea will 
 '.gain return to that earth from which she has been an emi- 
 ,jrant, and all nations will resort to her golden scales. It is 
 ery extraordinary, that the very instant the mode of Paris 
 3 known here, it becomes all the fashion in London. This 
 s their jargon. It is the old bon ton of robbers, who cast 
 heir common crimes on the wickedness of their departed 
 Lssociates. I care little about the memory of this same 
 liiobespierre. I am sure he was an execrable villain. I 
 I'ejoiced at his punishment neither more nor less than I should 
 'it the execution of the present directory or any of its mem- 
 )ers. But who gave Eobespierre the power of being a 
 yrant ? and who were the instruments of his tyranny ? 
 jChe present virtuous constitution- mongers. He was a 
 iyrant, they were his satellites and his hangmen. Theii 
 
898 LETTERS ON A ItEGlCIDE PEACB. 
 
 sole merit is in the murder of their colleague. They hare esidei 
 expiated their other murders by a new murder. It has al- jje^n 
 ways been the case among this banditti. They have always |,erefo 
 had the knife at each other's throats, after they had almost bribed 
 blunted it at the throats of every honest man. These people jjj 
 thought that, in the commerce of murder, he was like to p;t 
 have the better of the bargain, if any time was lost : they 
 therefore took one of their short revolutionary methods, and 
 massacred him in a manner so perfidious and cruel, as would 
 shock all humanity, if the stroke was not struck by the 
 present rulers on one of their own associates. But this last 
 act of infidelity and murder is to expiate all the rest, and to 
 qualify them for the amity of an humane and virtuous sove- 
 reign and civilized people. I have heard that a Tartar be- 
 lieves, when he has killed a man, that all his estimable 
 qualities pass with his clothes and arms to the murderer; 
 but I have never heard that it was the opinion of any savage 
 Scythian, that, if he kills a brother villain, he is, ipso facto, 
 absolved of all his own offences. The Tartarian doctrine is 
 the most tenable opinion. The murderers of Eobespierre, 
 besides what they are entitled to by being engaged in the 
 same tontine of infamy, are his representatives, have inherit- 
 ed all his murderous qualities, in addition to their own 
 private stock. But it seems we are always to be of a party 
 with the last and victorious assassins. I confess I am of a 
 different mind; and am rather inclined, of the two, to think Ji 
 and speak less hardly of a dead ruffian, than to associate 
 with the living. I could better bear the stench of the gib- 
 beted murderer than the society of the bloody felons who 
 yet annoy the world. Whilst they wait the recompense due 
 to their ancient crimes, they merit new punishment by theijji , 
 new offences they commit. There is a period to the oftenocal , 
 of B/obespierre. They survive in his assassins. Better 8L , J 
 living dog, says the old proverb, than a dead lion : not scr, j 
 here. Murderers and hogs never look well till tliey ar<bL 
 hanged. From villany no good can arise, but in the examplcl ,, .^' 
 of its fate. So I leave them their dead Kobespierre, eitnerj .j^.^J 
 to gibbet his memory, or to deify him in their pantheon wit! 
 their Marat and their Mirabeau. 
 
 It is asserted that this government promises stability a ^ 
 God of his mercy forbid! If it should, nothing upon earM •■' 
 
 CO' 
 
 ithm 
 
 uch 
 it 
 oarcli] 
 rfruli 
 r'tor 
 indie 1 
 »nial ; 
 tagt' 
 iidai 
 kdir 
 tliiDj 
 
 id a I 
 lOrHo 
 I'feitj 
 It is 
 56 stal 
 
 mm 
 njdoii 
 iTDe 
 
LETTERS 05" k REGICIDE PEACE. 39€ 
 
 \=^ide3 itself can be stable. "We declare this stability to be 
 e ground of our making peace with them. Assuming it, 
 eretbre, that the men and the system are what I have de- 
 ribed, and that they have a determined hostility against 
 is country, an hostility not only of policy but of predilec- 
 311 ; then I think that every rational being would go along 
 ith me in considering its permanence as the greatest of all 
 )ssible evils. If, therefore, we are to look for peace with 
 eh a thing in any of its monstrous shapes, which I deple- 
 te, it must be in that state of disorder, confusion, discord, 
 larchy, and insurrection, such as might oblige the moment- 
 y rulers to forbear their attempts on neighbouring states, 
 ■ to render these attempts less operative if they should 
 ndle new wars. AVhen was it heard before, that the in- 
 rnal repose of a determined and wicked enemy, and the 
 reugth of his government, became the wish of his neighbour, 
 id a security against either his malice or his ambition ? 
 je direct contrary has always been inferred from that state 
 . things; accordingly, it has ever been the policy of those 
 ho would preserve themselves against the enterprises of 
 ;.ch a malignant and mischievous power, to cut out so much 
 Drk for him in his own states, as might keep his dangerous 
 ; tivity employed at home. 
 It is said, in vindication of this system which demands 
 e stability of the regicide power as a ground for peace 
 ■th them, "that when they have obtained, as now it is said 
 hough not by this noble author) they have, a permanent 
 )vernment, they will be able to preserve amity with this 
 'nL^dom, and with others who have the misfortune to be in 
 ' eir neighbourhood. Grranted. They will be able to do so, 
 \thout question; but are they willing to do so? Produce 
 ie act, produce the declaration. Have they made any 
 ligle step towards it ? Have thev ever once proposed to 
 l3at ? 
 
 The assurance of a stable peace, grounded on the stability 
 < their system, proceeds on this hypothesis, that their 
 hstility to other nations has proceeded from their anarchy 
 I home, and from the prevalence of a populace which their 
 pvernment had not strength enough to master. This I 
 rterly deny. I insist upon it as a fact, that in the daring 
 imm'encement of all their hostilities, and their astonishing 
 
400 LETTERS OS A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 perseverance in them, so as never once in any fortune, higl 
 or low, to propose a treaty of peace to any power in Europe.Jil 
 they have never been actuated by the people: on the con'<l|i 
 trary, the people, I will not say, have been moved, but im- 
 pelled by them, and have gradually acted under a compulsion 
 of which most of us are as yet, thank Grod. nnable to form ar 
 adequate idea. The war against Austria was formally de-| 
 clared by the unhappy Louis XVI.; but who has ever con-i 
 sidered Louis XVL, since the Revolution, to have been th(J 
 government ? The second regicide Assembly, then the only 
 government, was the author of that war, and neither thi 
 nominal king, nor the nominal people, had anything to dc 
 with it, further than in a reluctant obedience. It is to de-i 
 hide ourselves to consider the state of France, since theii; 
 Kevolution, as a state of anarchy ; it is something far worse; 
 Anarchy it is undoubtedly, if compared with government , 
 pursuing the peace, order, morals, and prosperity of th( 
 people. But regarding only the power that has really 
 guided from the day of the revolution to this time, it ha^; 
 been of all governments the most absolute, despotic, anc 
 effective that has hitherto appeared on earth. Never wen; 
 the views and politics of any government pursued with hal 
 the regularity, system, and method, that a diligent observ^i 
 must have contemplated with amazement and terror ii 
 theirs. Their state is not anarch}'-, but a series of short: 
 lived tyrannies. We do not call a republic with annua > 
 magistrates an anarchy; theirs is that kind of republic ; bui 
 the succession is not effected by the expiration of the terir; 
 of the magistrate's service, but by his murder. Every ne\N! 
 magistracy, succeeding by homicide, is auspicated by accuS' 
 ing its predecessors in the office of tyranny, and it continues 
 by the exercise of what they charged upon others. 
 
 This strong hand is the law, and the sole law, in thei 
 state. I defy any person to show any other law, or if an^ 
 such should be found on paper, that it is in the smallest de 
 gree, or in any one instance, regarded or practised. In al 
 their successions, not one magistrate, or one form of magis 
 tracy, has expired by a mere, occasional, popular tumult 
 everything has been the effect of the studied machination* 
 of the one revolutionary cabal, operating within itself upoi 
 itself. That cabal is all in all, France has no public; i 
 
LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 401 
 
 u the only nation I ever heard of, where the people are 
 , absolutely slaves, in the fullest sense, in all alfairs public and 
 j private, great and small, even down to the minutest and 
 ( most recondite parts of their household concerns. The 
 inelots of Laconia, the regardants to the manor in Kussia 
 i and in Poland, even the negroes in the AVest Indies, know 
 , nothing of so searching, so penetrating, so heart-breaking a 
 ' slavery. Much would these servile wretches call for our 
 pity under that unheard-of yoke, if for their perfidious and 
 \ unnatural rebellion, and for their murder of the mildest of 
 i all monarchs, they did not richly deserve a punishment not 
 I greater than their crime. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, I take it to be a great mistake 
 I to think that the want of power in the government furn- 
 ished a natural cause of war : whereas the greatness of its 
 power joined to its use of that power, the nature of its 
 system, and the persons who acted in it, did naturally call 
 for a strong military resistance to oppose them, and rendered 
 ^ jit not only just, but necessary. But at present I say no 
 : I more on the genius and character of the power set up in 
 ; , France. I may probably trouble you with it more at large 
 ' I hereafter ; this subject calls for a very full exposure ; at pre- 
 ! sent it is enough for me, if I point it out as a matter well 
 I ! worthy of consideration, whether the true ground of hos- 
 ' tility was not rightly conceived very early in this war, and 
 ' whether anything has happened to change that system, ex- 
 i cept our ill success in a war, which in no principal instance 
 ! had its true destination as the object of its operations. That 
 * ' the war has succeeded ill in many cases is undoubted ; but 
 I then let us speak the truth and say we are defeated, ex- 
 I hausted, dispirited, and must submit. This would be intelli- 
 igible. The world would be inclined to pardon the abject 
 i conduct of an undone nation. But let us not conceal from 
 ourselves our real situation, whilst by every species of humi- 
 jliation we are but too strongly displaying our sense of it to 
 I the enemy. 
 
 : The writer of the Eemarks in the last week of October 
 appears to think that the present government in France 
 contains many of the elements, which, when properly ar- 
 : ranged, are known to form the best practical governments ; 
 and that the system, whatever may become its particular 
 
 VOL, V. 2 o 
 
102 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 form, 19 TLo longer likely to be an obstacle to negotiation. If 
 its form now be no obstacle to such negotiation, I do not 
 know why it was ever so. Suppose that this government 
 promised greater permanency than any of the former, (a 
 point on which I can form no judgment,) still a link is want- 
 ing to couple the permanence of the government with the 
 permanence of the peace. On this not one word is said : nor 
 can there be, in my opinion. This deficiency is made up by 
 strengthening the first ringlet of the chain that ought to be, 
 but that is not, stretched to connect the two propositions.; 
 All seems to be done if we can make out that the last French' 
 edition of regicide is like to prove stable. 
 
 As a prognostic of this stability, it is said to be accepted 
 by the people. Here again I join issue with the fraternizers. 
 and positively deny the fact. Some submission or other has, 
 been obtained by some means or other to every government; 
 that hitherto has been set up. And the same submissioi 
 would, by the same means, be obtained for any other projecl; 
 that the wit or folly of man could possibly devise. The con- 
 stitution of 1790 was universally received. The constitutioi i 
 which followed it, under the name of a convention, was uni 
 versally submitted to. The constitution of 1793 was uni, 
 versally accepted. Unluckily, this year's constitution, whicl: 
 Mas formed, and its genethliacon sung by the noble autho;; 
 while it was yet in embryo, or was but just come bloodjj 
 from the womb, is the only one which, in its very formationi 
 has been generally resisted by a very great and powerfu' 
 party in many parts of the kingdom, and particularly in th\ 
 capital. It never had a popular choice even in show ; tho&j 
 who arbitrarily erected the new building out of the old ma 
 terials of their own convention were obliged to send for aj 
 army to support their work : like brave gladiators, thei 
 fought it out in the streets of Paris, and even massacre 
 each other in their house of assembly in the most edifyin 
 manner, and for the entertainment and instruction of thei 
 Excellencies the foreign ambassadors, who had a box in thi 
 constitutional amphitheatre of a free people. 
 
 At length, after a terrible struggle, the troops prevaile 
 over the citizens. The citizen soldiers, the ever-tamed Ni ij 
 tional Guards, who had deposed and murdered their sovi; . tjj 
 .reign, were disarmed by the inferior trumpeters of that n, fiij^i 
 
 
Ly.TTEPvS Oy A TJEOTCTDE PEACE i(Xi 
 
 bullion. Twenty thousand regular troops garrison Paris. 
 
 Thus a complete military government is formed. It has the 
 
 strength, and it may count on the stability, of that kind of 
 
 power. This power is to last as long as the Parisians think 
 
 proper. E^ery other ground of stability but from military 
 
 force and terror is clean out of the question. To secure 
 
 them further, they have a strong corps of irregulars ready 
 
 ! armed. Thousands of those hell-hounds called Terrorists. 
 
 whom they had shut up in prison on their last Pevolution 
 
 I as the satellites of tyranny, are let loose on the people. The 
 
 ! whole of their goyernment, in its origination, in its continu- 
 
 : ance, in all its actions, and in all its resources, is force ; and 
 
 j nothing but force. A forced constitution, a forced election, 
 
 i a forced subsistence, a forced requisition of soldiers, a forced 
 
 j loan of money. 
 
 They differ nothing from all the preceding usurpations, 
 ; but that to the same odium a good deal more of contempt is 
 > added. In this situation, notwithstanding all their military 
 ; force, strengthened w ith the undisciplined power of the Ter- 
 I rorists, and the nearly general disarming of Paris, there 
 ; would almost certainly have been before this an insurrection 
 I against them, but for one cause. The people of Prance lan- 
 i guish for peace. They all despaired of obtaining it from the 
 I coalesced powers, whilst they had a gang of professed regi- 
 ' cides at their head ; and several of the least desperate repub- 
 i licans would have joined with better men to shake them 
 I wholly off, and to produce something more ostensible, if they 
 t had not been reiteratedly told, that their sole hope of peaee 
 i was the very contrary to what they naturally imagined ; that 
 I they must leave off their cabals and" insurrections, "which could 
 I serve no purpose but to bring in that royalty which was 
 i wholly rejected by the coalesced kings ; that to satisfy them 
 ;they must tranquilly, if they could not cordially, submit 
 themselves to the tyranny and the tyrants they despised and 
 ' abhorred. Peace was held out by the allied monarchies to 
 I the people of France, as a bounty for supporting the repub- 
 ' lie of regicides. In fact, a coalition, begun for the avowed 
 purpose of destroying that den of robbers, now exists only 
 for their support. If evil happens to the princes of Europe 
 ifrom the success and stability of this infernal business, it is 
 I their owji absolute crime. 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 LETTEES ON A EEGICIBE PEACE. I 
 
 We are to understand, however, (for sometimes so the i 
 author hints,) that something stable in the constitution of s: 
 regicide was required for our amity with it; but the noble ;| a 
 Eemarker is no more solicitous about this point, than he is i « 
 for the permanence of the whole body of his October specu- i 
 lations: "If," says he, speaking of the regicide, "they can w 
 obtain a practicable constitution, even for a limited period of !, pa 
 time, they will be in a condition to re-establish the accus- jj i 
 tomed relations of peace and amity." Pray let us leave this J in 
 bush fighting. What is meant by a limited period of time ? i ■ litl 
 Does it mean the direct contrary to the terms, an unlimited !i( 
 period ? If it is a limited period, >vhat limitation does he fix 
 as a ground for his opinion ? Otherwise, his limitation is un- 
 limited. If he only requires a constitution that will last 
 while the treaty goes on, ten days' existence will satisfy his 
 demands. He knows that France never did want a prac- 
 ticable constitution, nor a government which endured for a 
 limited period of time. Her constitutions were but too : j i 
 practicable ; and short as was their duration, it was but too • ; ilsl 
 long. They endured time enough for treaties which benefit- ; | d 
 ed themselves, and have done infinite mischief to our cause. / m 
 But, granting him his strange thesis, that, hitherto, the mere ti 
 form or the mere term of their constitutions, and not their rfl 
 indisposition, but their instability, has been the cause of their ( 
 not preserving the relations of amity, — how could a constitu- , (yg 
 tion, which might not last half an hour after the noble Lord's » 
 signature of the treaty in the company in which he must jjj 
 sign it, insure its observance ? If you trouble yourself at all ' ^ 
 with their constitutions, you are certainly more concerned • uj 
 with them after the treaty than before it, as the observance j 
 of conventions is of infinitely more consequence than thei 
 making them. Can anything be more palpably absurd and 
 senseless, than to object to a treaty of peace, for want o1 
 durability in constitutions, which had an actual duration, and; 
 to trust a constitution, that at the time of the writing haci 
 not so much as a practical existence? There is no way o:' 
 accounting for such discourse in the mouths of men of sense 
 but by supposing that they secretly entertain a liope that the 
 very act of having made a peace with the regicides will givti 
 a stability to the regicide system. This will not clear tb«i 
 discourse from the absurdity, but it will account for the con 
 
LKtTEES OJf A ElJGtCtDfi PEACE. ^01 
 
 li duct which such reasoning so ill defends. What a round- 
 about way is this to peace ; to make war for the destruction 
 of regicides, and then to give them peace in order to ensure 
 a stability that will enable them to observe it. I say nothing 
 of the honour displayed in such a system. It is plain it 
 militates with itself almost in all the parts of it. In one 
 
 , part it supposes stability in their constitution, as a ground 
 
 ! of a stable peace ; in another part we are to hope for peace 
 in a diiFerent way ; that is, by splitting this brilliaut orb into 
 
 i little stars, and this would make the face of heaven so fine. 
 
 ' No, there is no system, upon which the peace, which in 
 humility we are to supplicate, can possibly stand. 
 
 I I believe, before this time, that the mere form of a consti- 
 
 I tution in any country never was fixed as the sole ground of 
 objecting to a treaty with it. With other circumstances it 
 may be of great moment. What is incumbent on the as- 
 
 I sertors of the fourth week of the October system to prove, is 
 not whether their then expected constitution was likely to be 
 stable or transitory, but whether it promised to this country 
 and its allies, and to the peace and settlement of all Europe^ 
 more good will or more good faith than any of the experi- 
 ments which have gone before it. On these points I would 
 willingly join issue. 
 
 Observe, first, the manner in which the Remarker describes 
 (very truly as I conceive) the people of France under that 
 auspicious government, and then observe the conduct of that 
 government to other nations. " The people without an?, 
 established constitution ; distracted by popular convulsions ; 
 in a state of inevitable bankruptcy ; without any commerce ; 
 with their principal ports blockaded ; and vritliout a fleet 
 that could venture to face one of our detached squadrons.'' 
 Admitting, as fully as he has stated it, this condition of 
 France, I would fain know, how he reconciles this condition 
 with his ideas of ani/ kind of a practicable constitution, or 
 duration, for a limited period, which are his sine qua non of 
 peace. But passing by contradictions, as no fair objections 
 to reasoning, this state of things would naturally, at other 
 times, and in other governments, have produced a disposition 
 to peace, almost on any terms. But, in that state of their 
 country, did the regicide government solicit peace or amity 
 with other nations, or even lay any specious grounds for it 
 
406 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE 
 
 iu propositions of affected moderation, or m t>ie most loose 
 and general conciliatory language ? The direct contrary. It 
 was but a very few days before the noble writer had com- 
 menced his remarks, as if it were to refute him by anticipa- 
 tion, that his Erance thought fit to lay out a new territorial 
 map of dominion, and to declare to us and to all Europe 
 what territories she was willing to allot to her own empire, 
 and what she is content (during her good pleasure) to leave 
 to others. 
 
 This their law of empire was pi'omulgated without any re- 
 quisition on that subject, and proclaimed in a style, and upon 
 principles, which never had been heard of in the annals of 
 arrogance and ambition. She prescribed the limits to her 
 empire, not upon principles of treaty, convention, possession, 
 usage, habitude, the distinction of tribes, nations, or lan- 
 guages, but by physical aptitudes. Having fixed herself as 
 the arbiter of physical dominion, she construed the limits of 
 nature by her convenience. That was nature, which most 
 extended and best secured the empire of France. 
 
 I need say no more on the insult offered not only to all 
 equity and justice, but to the common sense of mankind, in 
 deciding legal property by physical principles, and establish- 
 ing the convenience oi' a party as a rule of public law. The 
 noble advocate for peace has, indeed, perfectly well exploded 
 this daring and outrageous system of pride and tyranny. I 
 am most happy in commending him when he writes like him- 
 self. But here, still further, and in tlie same good strain, 
 the great patron and advocate of amity with this accom- 
 modating, mild, and unassuming power, when he reports to 
 you the law they give, and its immediate effects : — '' They 
 amount," says he, "to the sacrifice of powers that have been 
 the most nearly connected with us : tiie direct, or indirect, 
 annexation to France of all the parts of the continent, from 
 Dunkirk to Hamburgh; an immense accession of territory; 
 and, in one word. The abandonment of the independ- 
 ence OF Europe !" This is the law (the autlior and I use 
 no different terms) which this new government, ahnost as 
 Boon as it could cry in the cradle, and as one of the very first 
 acts by which it auspicated its entrance into function ; the 
 pledge it gives of the firmness of its policy ; such is the law 
 that this proud power prescribes to abject nations. What ia 
 
LtTTEES Oy A. EEGlCllJE i^BACE. 407 
 
 be comment upon this law by the great jurist who recom- 
 lends us to the tribunal which issued the decree ? " An 
 bedience to it would be (says he) dishonourable to us, and 
 xbibit us to the present age, and to posterity, as submitting 
 the law prescribed to us by our enemy." 
 
 Here I recognise the voice of a British plenipotentiary : I 
 egin to feel proud of my country. But, alas ! the short 
 ate of human elevation ! The accents of dignity died upon 
 is tongue. This author will not assure us of his sentiments 
 3r the whole of a pamphlet ; but in the sole energetic part 
 f it he does not continue the same through a whole sen- 
 ence, if it happens to be of any sweep or compass. In the 
 ery womb of this last sentence, pregnant, as it should seem, 
 rith a Hercules, there is formed a little bantling of the 
 aortal race, a degenerate, puny parenthesis, that totally 
 rustrates our most sanguine views and expectations, and 
 isgraces the whole gestation. Here is this destructive 
 arenthesis, " unless some adequate compensation be secured 
 > t«" — To us! The Christian world may shift for itself, 
 Jurope may groan in slavery, we may be dishonoured by re- 
 eiving law from an enemy, but all is well, provided the com- 
 ensation to us be adequate. To what are we reserved ? An 
 dequate compensation " for the sacrifice of powers the most 
 early connected with us ;" — an adequate compensation "for 
 tie direct or indirect annexation to France of all the ports 
 f the continent, from Dunkirk to Hamburgh ;" — an adequate 
 ompensation " for the abandonment of the independence of 
 Surope!" "Would that when all our manly sentiments are 
 bus changed, our manly language were changed along with 
 hem ; and that the English tongue were not employed to 
 tter what our ancestors never dreamed could enter into an 
 nglish heart ! 
 
 But let us consider this matter of adequate compensation. 
 -Who is to furnish it ? From what funds is it to be drawn ? 
 8 it by another treaty of commerce ? I have no objections 
 treaties of commerce upon principles of commerce. — 
 'raffic for trafiic ; — all is fair. But commerce, in exchange 
 or empire, for safety, for glory ! We set out in our dealing 
 ith a miserable cheat upon ourselves. I know it may be 
 %id, that we may prevail on this proud, philosophical, 
 ailitary republic, which looks down with contempt on trade, 
 
408 LETTEES OS A. EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 to declare it unfit for the sovereign of nations to be eundem d 
 Negociatorem et Dominum ; that, in virtue of this maxim of i ii'' 
 her state, the English in France may be permitted, as the > ^"^ 
 Jews are in Poland and in Turkey, to execute all the little u"' 
 inglorious occupations ; to be the sellers of new and the U 
 buyers of old clothes ; to be their brokers and factors, and to , JK' 
 be employed in casting up their debits and credits, whilst ': U 
 the master republic cultivates the arts of empire, prescribes i Fw 
 the forms of peace to nations, and dictates laws to a subject- part; 
 ed world. But are we quite sure that, when we have sur- jow 
 rendered half Europe to them in hope of this compensation, Tl 
 the republic will confer upon us those privileges of dishonour, i^j tolo 
 Are we quite certain that she will permit us to farm the if kt 
 guillotine ; to contract for the provision of her twenty thou- ij li 
 sand bastiles ; to furnish transports for the myriads of her \m 
 exiles to Gruiana ; to become commissioners for her naval i \ ito, 
 stores, or to engage for the clothing of those armies which ; i to 
 are to subdue the poor relics of Christian Europe ? No ! i j tie 
 She is bespoke by the Jew subjects of her own Amsterdam j-Spaii 
 for all these services. ;' iljef 
 
 But if these, or matters similar, are not the compensations ' h 
 the Bemarker demands, and that on consideration he finds i Out 
 them neither adequate nor certain, who else is to be the chap- , ri 
 man, and to furnish the purchase-money, at this market of ; ip 
 all the grand principles of empire, of law, of civilization, of i rii 
 morals, and of religion ; where British faith and honour are ; gj 
 to be sold by inch of candle ? Who is to be the dedecorum i rt 
 pretiosus emptor ? Is it the Navis Hispancp Magister ? Is Ik 
 it to be furnished by the Prince of Peace ? Unquestionably. ' 
 Spain as yet possesses mines of gold and silver, and may > 
 give us in pesos duros an adequate compensatiou for oun 
 honour and our virtue. When these things are at all to be: 
 sold, they are the vilest commodities at market. 
 
 It is full as singular as any of the other singularities in 
 this work, that the Bemarker, talking so much as he does of: 
 cessions and compensations, passes by Spain in his general ' 
 Bettlement, as if there were no such country on the globe ; as if 
 there were no Spain in Europe, no Spain in America. Buti 
 this great matter of political deliberation cannot be put outi 
 of our thoughts by his silence. She has furnished compensa- 
 tions j — not to you but to France. The regicide republic 
 
L 
 
 LETTERS ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 409 
 
 d the stil nominally subsisting monarchy of Spain are 
 united, and are united upon a principle of jealousy, if not of 
 bitter enmity to Great Britain. The noble writer has here 
 another matter for meditation. It is not from Dunkirk to 
 Hamburgh that the ports are in the hands of France : they 
 are in the hands of France from Hamburgh to Gibraltar. 
 How long the new dominion will last, I cannot tell ; but 
 France the republic has conquered Spain, and the ruling 
 party in that court acts by her orders, and exists by her 
 power. 
 
 j The noble writer, in his views into futurity, has forgotten 
 jto look back to the past. If he chooses it, he may recol- 
 jlect that on the prospect of the death of Philip IV., and 
 ; still more on the event, all Europe was moved to its founda- 
 jtions. In the treaties of partition that first were entered 
 [into, and in the war that afterwards blazed out, to prevent 
 those Crowns from being actually, or virtually, united in 
 the house of Bourbon, the predominance of France in 
 I Spain, and above all in the Spanish Indies, was the great 
 object of all those movements in the cabinet and in the field. 
 , The grand alliance was formed upon that apprehension. — 
 ! On that apprehension the mighty war was continued during 
 I such a number of years, as the degenerate and pusillanimous 
 i impatience of our dwindled race can hardly bear to have 
 reckoned : — a war equal, within a few years, in duration, and 
 not perhaps inferior in bloodshed, to any of those great con- 
 1 tests for empire, which in history make the most awful matter 
 of recorded memory. 
 
 Ad confligendum venientibus undique Poenis, 
 Omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu 
 Horrida contremuere sub altis setheris auris, 
 In dubioque fuit sub utrorum regna cadendum 
 Omnibus humanis esset terraque marique — 
 
 "WTien this war was ended, (I cannot stay now to examine 
 how,) the object of the war was the object of the treaty. 
 When it was found impracticable, or less desirable than be- 
 fore, wholly to exclude a branch of the Bourbon race from 
 that immense succession, the point of Utrecht was to pre- 
 vent the mischiefs to arise from the influence of the greater 
 upon the lesser branch. His Lordship is a great member 
 of the diplomatic body ; he has, of course, all the fiinda- 
 
410 LETTERS ON A BEGICtDE PEAdB. 
 
 ineiital treaties, which make the public statute law of Europe, kH 
 by heart : and, indeed, no active member of parliament ought ■ ''I 
 to be ignorant of their general tenor and leading provisions. 
 Tn the treaty which closed that war, and of Avhich it is a fund- j i 
 amental part, because relating to the whole policy of the ', 'Ji 
 compact, it was agreed that Spain should not give anything , :[ 
 from her territory in the West Indies to France. This arti- , :i 
 cle, apparently onerous to Spain, was in truth highly bene- i J 
 ficial. But, oh the blindness of the greatest statesman to ; i 
 the infinite and unlooked-for combinations of things which 
 lie hid in the dark prolific womb of futurity ! The great 
 trunk of Bourbon is cut down ; the withered branch is worked 
 up into the construction of a French regicide republic. Here 
 we have, formed, a new, unlooked-for, monstrous, heteroge- 
 neous alliance ; a double-natured monster ; republic above, i h 
 and monarchy below. There is no centaur of fiction, no i 3 
 poetic satyr of the woods, nothing short ( f the hieroglyphic ; k 
 monsters of Egypt, dog in head and man in body, that can ' 
 give an idea of it. None of these things can subsist in na- i 
 ture (so at least it is thought) ; but the moral world admits * 
 monsters which the physical rejects. i 
 
 In this metamorphosis the first thing done by Spain in f 
 the honey-moon of her new servitude was, with all the hardi- i 
 hood of pusillanimity, utterly to defy the most solemn treaties i 
 with Great Britain and the guarantee of Europe. She has ! 
 yielded the largest and fairest part of one of the largest j 
 and fairest islands in the AVest Indies, perhaps on the globe, j 
 to the usurped powers of France. She completes the title J 
 of those powers to the whole of that important central island 
 of Hispaniola. She has solemnly surrendered to the regi- 
 cides and butchers of the Bourbon family what that court 'j 
 never ventured, perhaps never wished, to bestow on the pa- '] 
 triarclial stock of her own august house. j 
 
 The noble negotiator takes no notice of this portentous'! 
 junction and this audacious surrender. The efiect is no lessl 
 than the total subversion of the balance of power in the j I 
 West Indies, and indeed everywhere else. This arrange- ij iis 
 ment, considered in itself, but much more as it indicates a ! lit 
 complete union of France with Spain, is truly alarming. Iitli 
 Does he feel nothing of the change this makes in that part i j 1' 
 of his description of the state of France, where he suppose! ■ §4 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 411 
 
 r not able to face one of our detached squadrons ? Does 
 
 feel nothing for the condition of Portugal under this new 
 
 >alition ? Is it for this state of things he recommends our 
 
 unction in that common alliance as a remedy ? It is surely 
 
 ready monstrous enough. We see every standing principle 
 
 f policy, every old governing opinion of nations, completely 
 
 pne ; and with it the foundation of all their establishments. 
 
 an Spain keep herself internally where she is with this 
 
 i :)nnexion ? Does he dream that Spain, unchristian, or even 
 
 i jacatholic, can exist as a monarchy ? This author indulges 
 
 \ iimself in speculations of the division of txe French repub- 
 
 |c. I only say that with much greater reason he might spe- 
 
 I Ulate on the republicanism and the subdivision of Spain. 
 
 I It is not peace with France which secures that feeble 
 
 jovernment ; it is that peace which, if it shall continue, de- 
 
 [.sivcly ruins Spain. Such a peace is not the peace which 
 
 jie remnant of Christianity celebrates at this holy season. 
 
 !q it there is no glory to God on high, and not the least 
 
 » incture of good-will to man. "What things we have lived 
 
 !) see ! The king of Spain in a group of Moors, Jews, 
 
 lad renegadoes, and the clergy taxed to pay for hi^s conver- 
 
 |on ! The Catholic king in the strict embraces of the 
 
 jiost unchristian republic ! I hope we shall never see his 
 
 Lpostolic Majesty, his Faithful Majesty, and the King, de- 
 
 ;nder of the faith, added to that unhallowed and impious 
 
 I'aternity. 
 
 i The noble author has glimpses of the consequences of 
 ieace as well as I. He feels for the colonies of G-reat Bri- 
 jiin, one of the principal resources of our commerce and our 
 aval power, if piratical France shall be established, as he 
 Inows she must be, in the West Indies, if we sue for peace 
 'n such terms as they may condescend to grant us. He 
 '?els that their very colonial system for the interior is not 
 pmpatible with the existence of our colonies. I tell him, 
 nd doubt not I shall be able to demonstrate, that, being 
 j'hat she is, if she possesses a rock there, we cannot be safe, 
 las this author had in his view the transactions between 
 le regicide republic and the yet nominally subsisting mon- 
 rchy of Spain ? 
 
 I bring this matter under your Lordship's consideration, 
 iat you may have a more complete view than this authoi 
 
412 LETTERS 05 A EEGICIDE PEACX. 
 
 chooses to give of the true France you have to deal with, a 
 tn its nature, and to its force and its disposition. Mark i1 
 my Lord, France, in giving her law to Spain, stipulated fo'\ 
 none of her indemnities in Europe, no enlargement whatevej 
 of her frontier. Whilst we are looking for indemnities fror'; 
 France, betraying our own safety in a sacrifice of the inde' 
 pendence of Europe, France secures hers by the most import | 
 ant acquisition of territory ever made in the AVest Indie* 
 since their first settlement. She appears (it is only in ap: 
 pearance) to give up the frontier of Spain, and she is com, 
 pensated, not in appearance, but in reality, by a territor, 
 that makes a dreadful frontier to the colonies of Grreaj 
 Britain. 
 
 It is sufficiently alarming, that she is to have the posses 
 sion of this great island. But all the Spanish colonie;' 
 virtually, are hers. Is there so puny a whisper in the/>ctt/ 
 form of the school of politics, who can be at a loss for th'; 
 fate of the British colonies, when he combines the Frenc ■ 
 and Spanish consolidation with the known critical an' ;'!' 
 dubious dispositions of the United States of America, a ^ 
 they are at present, but which, when a peace is made, whe ^ 
 the basis of a regicide ascendency in Spain is laid, will n " 
 longer be so good as dubious and critical ? But I go 
 great deal further; and on much consideration of the cond! 
 tion and circumstances of the West Indies, and of the geniii' 
 of this new republic, as it has operated, and is likely t' 
 operate on them, I say, that if a single rock in the Wesj 
 Indies is in the hands of this transatlantic Morocco, we hav 
 not an hour's safety there. i 
 
 The Remarker, though he slips aside from the main cor! 
 sideration, seems aware that this arrangement, standing t\ 
 it does in the West Indies, leaves us at the mercy of th; 
 new coalition, or rather at the mercy of the sole guidinj 
 part of it. He does not, indeed, adopt a supposition sue! 
 as I make, who am confident that anything which can givi 
 them a single good port, and opportune piratical static' 
 there, would lead to our ruin; the author proceeds upon a 
 idea that the regicides may be an existing and cousiderab 
 territorial power in the West Indies, and, of course, ht' 
 piratical system more dangerous and as real; however, fc 
 that desperate case he has an easy remedy ; but surely, i 
 
 
 at 
 
 [jis; 
 m 
 
 alt 
 ik 
 aiti 
 It- 
 
 !tOI 
 
 ini 
 * 
 if 
 
 w 
 
 i 
 ilk 
 
 ij'jf 
 
I 
 
 LETTEES ON A EEGICTDE PEACE. 413 
 
 is whole shop, there is nothing so extraordinary It is, 
 hat we three, France, Spain, and England, (there are no 
 •ther of any moment,) should adopt some " analogy in the 
 uterior systems of government in the several islands which 
 re may respectively retain after the closing of the war." — 
 This plainly can be done only by a convention between the 
 parties, and I believe it would be the first war ever made to 
 lenninate in an analogy of the interior government of any 
 .ountry, or any parts of such countries. Such a partnership 
 jn domestic government is, I think, carrying fraternity as far 
 U it will go. 
 
 It will be an affront to your sagacity to pursue this matter 
 |nto all its details ; suffice it to say, that if this convention 
 for analogous domestic government is made, it immediately 
 ^ves a right for the residence of a consul (in all likelihood 
 j>ome negro, or man of colour,) in every one of your islands : 
 !i regicide ambassador in London will be at all your meetings 
 of West-Iudia merchants and planters, and, in effect, in all 
 pur colonial councils. JN'ot one order of council can here- 
 after be made, or any one act of parliament relative to the 
 ,West-Tndia colonies even be agitated, Avhich will not always 
 iafford reasons for protests, and perpetual interference ; the 
 jregicide republic will become an integral part of the colonial 
 legislature ; and, so far as the colonies are concerned, of the 
 British too. But it will be still worse ; as all our domestic 
 affairs are interlaced more or less intimately with our external, 
 ithis intermeddling must everywhere insinuate itself into all 
 other interior transactions, and produce a copartnership in 
 tour domestic concerns of every description. 
 
 Such are the plain inevitable consequences of tliis arrange- 
 ment of a system of analogous interior government. On the 
 lother hand, without it, the author assures us, and in this I 
 .heartily agree with him, " that the correspondence and com- 
 ,munications between the neighbouring colonies will be great; 
 that the disagreements will be incessant ; and that causes 
 jeven of national quarrels will arise /row day to day." Most 
 true. But, for the reasons I have given, the case, if possible, 
 will be worse by the proposed remedy, by the triple fraternal 
 interior analogy ; — an analogy itself most fruitful, and more 
 ifoodful than the old Ephesian statue with the three tier of 
 breasts. Tour Lordship must also observe how infiaitely 
 
414 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 ; 0^ 
 this business must be complicated by our interference in= M^t 
 the slow-paced Saturniau movements of Spain, and thei lere 
 rapid parabolic flights of France. But such is the disease, i^ stall 
 8uch is the cure, such is and must be the eflfect of regicide |. into i 
 ^>icinity. -I fltor 
 
 But what astonishes me is, that the negotiator, who has, rffi 
 certainly an exercised understanding, did not see that every jaati 
 person habituated to sacli meditations must necessarily lufaic 
 pursue the train of thought further than he has carried it;lw! 
 and must ask himself whether what he states so truly of ^kn 
 the necessity of our arranging an analogous interior govern-, iftlii 
 ment, in consequence of the vicinity of our possessions in /toloti 
 the "West Indies, does not as extensively apply, and much • tk 
 more forcibly, to the circumstance of our much nearer vi- If] 
 cinity with the parent and author of this mischief. I defy i k 
 even his acuteness and ingenuity to show me any one point # 
 in which the cases differ, except that it is plainly more ne- :m 
 cessary in Europe than in America. Indeed, the further we, i 
 trace the details of the proposed peace, the more your Lord-i iia 
 ship will be satisfied, that I have not been guilty of any II 
 abuse of terms, when I use indiscriminately (as I always do' 4foii 
 in speaking of arrangements with regicide) tlie words peacei Ijf 
 and fraternity. An analogy between our interior govern-- jl 
 ments must be the consequence. The noble negotiator sees, -g^ 
 it as well as I do. I deprecate this Jacobin interior analogy.' {l 
 But hereafter perhaps I may say a good deal more upon this ;'j)j| 
 part of the subject. Hid 
 
 The noble Lord insists on very little more than on the, (]fjj 
 excellence of their constitution, the hope of their dwindling Sm 
 into little republics, and this close copartnership in govern- 
 ment. I hear of others, indeed 
 ments to reconcile us to 
 regicides, they say, have reno 
 of Man, and declared equal 
 strange than all the rest. 
 
 apostasy. Tliey are renegadoes from that imp 
 which they subverted the ancient government, murderec, 
 their king, and imprisoned, butchered, coniiscated, and ban* 
 ished their fellow-subjects, and to which they forced every* 
 man to swear at the peril of his life. And now, to recoucili, 
 themselves to the world, they declare this creed bought bj 
 
I LETTEES OS A REOTCIDE PEACE. 4\,'5 
 
 f'BO much blood to be an imposture and a chimera. 1 liave 
 no doubt that they always thought it to be so, when they 
 were destroying everything at home and abroad for ita 
 establishment. It is no strange thing to those who look 
 into the nature of corrupted man to find a violent perse- 
 cutor a perfect unbeliever of his own creed. But this is the 
 very first time that any men, or set of men, were hardy enough 
 ito attempt to lay the ground of confidence in them, by an 
 acknowledgment of their own falsehood, fraud, hypocrisy, 
 treachery, heterodox doctrine, persecution, and cruelty. 
 jEverything we hear from them is new, and to use a phrase 
 jof their own. revolutionary ; everything supposes a total re- 
 [volution in all the principles of reason, prudence, and moral 
 ifeeling. 
 
 ! If possible, this their recantation of the chief parts in the 
 iCanon of the Eights of Man is more infamous, and causes 
 [greater horror, than their originally promulgating and 
 forcing down the throats of mankind that symbol of all 
 evil. It is raking too much into the dirt and ordure of 
 human nature to say more of it. 
 
 ! I hear it is said, too, that they have lately declared in 
 jfavour of property. This is exactly of the same sort with 
 Ithe former. What need had they to make this declaration, 
 jif they did not know that by their doctrines and practices 
 !they had totally subverted all property ? What government 
 of Europe, either in its origin or its continuance, has 
 thought it necessary to declare itself in favour of property ? 
 The more recent ones w^ere formed for its protection against 
 former violations : the old considered the inviolability of 
 property and their own existence as one and the same 
 {thing; and that a proclamation for its safety would be 
 'sounding an alarm on its danger. But the regicide banditti 
 jknew that this was not the first time they have been obliged 
 !bo give such assurances, and had as often falsified them, 
 iriiey knew that, after butchering hundreds of men, women, 
 |ind children for no other cause than to lay hold on their 
 [property, such a declaration might have a chance of en- 
 couraging other nations to run the risk of establishing a 
 commercial house amongst them. It is notorious that these 
 irery Jacobins, upon an alarm of the Shopkeeper of Paris, 
 inudi^ this declaration in favour of property. These brave 
 
 li 
 
416 LETTEES ON A EEGICIDE PEACB. 
 
 fellows received the apprehensions expressed on that head 
 with indignation ; and said that property could be in no 
 danger, because all the world knew it was under the protec- 
 tion of the saiis-culottes. At what period did they not give 
 Ifiis assurance ? Did they not give it when they fabricated 
 their first constitution ? Did they not then solemnly declare it 
 one of the rights of a citizen (a right, of course, only declared, 
 and not then fabricated,) to depart from his country, and 
 choose another domicilium, without detriment to his property? 
 Did they not declare that no property should be confiscated 
 from the children for the crime of the parent ? Can they now 
 declare more fully their respect for property than they did 
 at that time ? And yet was there ever kno^Mi such horrid 
 violences and confiscations, as instantly followed under tlie 
 very persons now in power, many of them leading members 
 of that assembly, and all of them violators of that engagement 
 which was the very basis of their republic, — confiscations in 
 which hundreds of men, women, and children, not guilty of 
 one act of duty in resisting their usurpation, w^ere involved ? 
 This keeping of their old is, then, to give us a confidence in 
 their new engagements. But examine the matter, and you 
 will see that the prevaricating sons of violence give no relief 
 at all, where at all it can be wanted. They renew their old 
 fraudulent declaration against confiscations, and then thej 
 expressly exclude all adherents to their ancient lawful go- 
 vernment from any benefit of it : that is to say, they promise 
 that they will secure all their brother plunderers in their 
 share of the common plunder. The fear of being robbed by 
 every new succession of robbers, who do not keep even the 
 faith of that kind of society, absolutely required that they 
 should give security to the dividends of spoil ; else they could 
 not exist a moment. But it was necessary, in giving security 
 to robbers, that honest men should be deprived of all hope 
 of restitution ; and thus their interests were made utterly 
 and eternally incompatible. So that it appears that thia 
 boasted security of property is nothing more than a seal put 
 upon its destruction : this ceasing of confiscation is to secure 
 the confiscators against the innocent proprietors. That very 
 thing which is held out to you as your cure, is that which 
 makes your malady, and renders it, if once it happens, utterly 
 incurable. You, my Lord, who possess a considerable, though 
 
LETTEES ON A REGICIDK PEACJ?. 417 
 
 not an invidious, estate, may be well assured that, if by beinj! 
 engaged, as you assuredly would be, in the defence of your 
 religion, your king, your order, your laws, and liberties, that 
 estate should be put under confiscation, the property would 
 be secured, but in the same mauner, at your expense. 
 
 But, after all, for what purpose are we told of this re- 
 formation in their principles, and what is the policy of al' 
 this softening in ours, which is to be produced by theij 
 example ? It is not to soften us to suffering innocence and 
 j virtue, but to mollify us to the crimes and to the society of 
 j robbers and ruffians. But I trust that our countrymen will 
 I not be softened to that kind of crimes and criminals ; for if 
 1 we should, our hearts will be hardened to everything which 
 ! has a claim on our benevolence. A kind Providence has 
 I placed in our breasts a hatred of the imjust and cruel, in 
 order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and in- 
 justice. They who bear cruelty are accomplices in it. The 
 pretended gentleness, which excludes that charitable rancour, 
 produces an indifi'erence which is half an approbation. They 
 never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate 
 where they ought to hate. 
 
 There is another piece of policy, not more laudable than 
 tills, in reading these moral lectures, which lessens our hatred 
 to criminals, and our pity to sufferers, by insinuating, that it 
 has been owing to their fault or folly that the latter have 
 become the prey of the former. By flattering us that we 
 are not subject to the same vices and follies, it induces a con- 
 fidence, that we shall not suffer the same evils by a contact 
 with the infamous gang of robbers who have thus robbed and 
 butchered our neighbours before our faces. We must not 
 be flattered to our ruin. Our vices are the same as their:*, 
 neither more nor less. If any faults we had, which wanted 
 this French example to call us to a " softening of character, 
 and a review of our social relations and duties," there is yet 
 no sign that we have commenced our reformation. "We seem, 
 bv the best accounts I have from the world, to go on just as 
 formerly, " some to undo, and some to be undone." There 
 is no change at all : and if we are not bettered by the suffer- 
 ings of war, this peace, which, for reasons to himself best 
 known, the author fixes as the period of our reformation, 
 must have something very extraordinary in it ; bocause 
 Toi.. y. % s 
 
418 LETTERS ON A. EEGICIDK PISACK. 
 
 Iiitlierto ease, opulence, and their concomitant pleasure have 
 never greatly disposed mankind to that serious reflection 
 and review which the author supposes to be the result of 
 the approachiug peace with vice and crime. I believe he 
 forms a right estimate of the nature of this peace ; and that 
 it will want many of those circumstances which formerly 
 characterized that state of things. 
 
 If I am right in my ideas of this new republic, the differ- 
 ent states of peace and war will make no difterence in her 
 pursuits. It is not an enemy of accident that we have to 
 deal with. Enmity to us and to all civilized nations is wrought 
 into the very stamina of its constitution. It was made to 
 pursue the purposes of that fundamental enmity. The de- 
 sign will go on regularly in every position and in every re- 
 lation. Their hostility is to break us to their dominion : 
 their amity is to debauch us to their principles. In the 
 former we are to contend with their force ; in the latter, 
 with their intrigues. But we stand in a very different pos- 
 ture of defence in the two situations. In war, so long as 
 government is supported, we fight with the whole united 
 force of the kingdom. When under the name of peace the 
 war of intrigue begins, we do not contend against our ene- 
 mies with the whole force of the kingdom. No — we shall 
 have to fight, (if it should be a fight at all, and not an igno- 
 miuious siu-render of everything which has made our country 
 venerable in our eyes and dear to our hearts,) we shall have 
 to fight with but a portion of our strength against the whole 
 of theirs. Gentlemen w^ho not long since thought with us, 
 but who now recommend a Jacobin peace, were at that time 
 sufficiently aware of the existence of a dangerous Jacobin 
 faction within this kingdom. A while ago they seemed to 
 be tremblingly alive to the number of those who composed 
 it to their dark subtlety, to their fierce audacity, to their 
 adfniration of everything that passes in France, to their eager 
 desire of a close communication with the mother fjiction 
 there. At this moment, when the question is upon the 
 opening of that communication, not a word of our English i 
 Jacobins. That faction is put out of sight and out of thought. 
 *' It vanished at the crowing of the cock." Scarcely had the 
 Gallic iiarbinger of peace and light begun to utter his lively 
 jiotes, than all the cackling of us poor Tory geese to alara 
 
T.ETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 419 
 
 the garrison of the Capitol was forgot.' There was enough 
 of indemnity before. Now a complete act of oblivion m 
 passed about the Jacobins of England, though one would 
 naturally imagine it would make a principal object in all 
 lair deliberation upon the merits of a project of amity witli 
 ihe Jacobius of France. But however others may choose 
 ro forget the factiou, the faction does not choose to forget 
 ittself", nor, however gentlemen may choose to flatter them- 
 selves, it does not forget them. 
 
 Xever in any civil contest has a part been taken with 
 more of the warmth, or carried on with more of the arts, of 
 a party. The Jacobins are worse than lost to their country. 
 Their hearts are abroad. Their sympathy with the regicides 
 ^^f France is complete. Just as in a civil contest they exult 
 ^.n ail their victories, they are dejected and mortified in all 
 rheir defeats. jSTothing that the regicides can do (and they 
 liave laboured hard for the purpose) can alienate them from 
 their cause. Ton and I, my dear Lord, have often observed 
 on the spirit of their conduct. AVhen the Jacobins of France, 
 by their studied, deliberated, catalogued files of murders 
 - ith the poiguard, the sabre, and the tribunal, have shocked 
 latever remained of human sensibility in our breasts, then 
 was thej^ distinguished the resources of party policy. They 
 did not venture directly to confront the public sentiment : 
 t'vv a very short time they seemed to partake of it. They 
 began with a reluctant and sorrowful confession : they de- 
 plored the stains which tarnished the lustre of a good cause- 
 After keeping a decent time of retirement, in a few days 
 crept out an apology for the excesses of men cruelly irritated 
 by the attacks of unjust power. Grown bolder, as the first 
 i'eelings of mankind decayed and the colour of these horrors 
 began to fade upon the imagination, they proceeded from 
 apology to defence. They urged, but still deplored, the ab- 
 solute necessity of such a proceeding. Then they made a 
 bolder stride, and marched from defence to recrimination. 
 They attempted to assassinate the memory of those whose 
 bodies their friends had massacred, and to consider their 
 murder as a less formal act of justice. They endeavoiu'ed 
 even to debauch our pity, and to suborn it in favour of cruei- 
 
 * --H!c auratis volitans argenteus anser 
 Portkibus, Gallos iii limine adesse canebat. 
 2 £ 2 
 
420 LETTERS OK A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 f r ThPv wGDt over the lot of those who were driven by the 
 
 senth«ents of benignity and just.ce. Then t^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 r!LlKi'rtt"c^a:L%X tha^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 the regicides might pass for a -—g-f by the hand" 
 
 \^fa foreign powers, so long as tney \\eic c^^^j 
 Grtat Britam in^his contest, so long they ^vere treated » 
 ttlrt abandoned tyrants, -^ indeed, he bases of the 
 human race The moment any of them quits tne cause oi 
 l:rro~ent and of^all go~ , ^ 
 
 ^rrobrarrs'n?rr;ofrr 
 
 '%V.r~:y n°ottt'r they look on this war aa . ' 
 ,.ivTl war^ and the Jacobins of France as of their P^rty and, , 
 
 rn;:^r"Z"l.'^:buX *>. ad.Lt.ge .ui. 
 
LETTEES ON A BEGICLDE PEACE. 421 
 
 sucli a party affords to regicide France in all her views ; and, 
 on the other hand, what an advantage regicide France holds 
 out to the views of the republican party in England. 
 Slightly as they have considered their subject, I think this 
 can hardly have escaped the writers of political ephemerides 
 for any month or year. They have told us much of the 
 amendment of the regicides of France, and of their return- 
 ing honour and generosity. Have they told anything of the 
 reformation, and of the returning loyalty of the Jacobins of 
 England ? Have they told us of their gradual softening to- 
 wards royalty ? have they told us what measures they are 
 taking "for putting the crown in commission," and what 
 approximations of any kind they are making towards the old 
 constitution of their country ? Nothing of this. The silence 
 of these writers is dreadfully expressive. They dare not 
 touch the subject : but it is not annihilated by their silence 
 nor by our indifference. It is but too plain that our con- 
 stitution cannot exist with such a communication. Our 
 humanity, our manners, our morals, our religion, cannot 
 stand %vith such a communication : the constitution is made 
 by those things, and for those things : without them it can- 
 not exist ; and without them it is no matter whether it ex- 
 ists or not. 
 
 It was an ingenious parliamentary Christmas play, by 
 which, in both Houses, you anticipated the holidays ; — it 
 was a relaxation from your graver employment ; — it was a 
 ■pleasant discussion you had, which part of the family of the 
 constitution was the elder branch ? — whether one part did 
 not exist prior to the others; and whether it might exist 
 and flourish if "the others were cast into the fire?"^ In 
 order to make this Saturnalian amusement general in the 
 family, you sent it down-stairs, that judges and juries might 
 partake of the entertainment. The unfortunate antiquary 
 and augur who is the butt of all this sport, may suffer in 
 the roistering horse-play and practical jokes of the servants' 
 hall. But whatever may become of him, the discussion it- 
 self, and the timing it. put me in mind of what I have read, 
 (where, I do not recollect,) that the subtle nation of the 
 Greeks were busily employed, in the church of Santa Sophia, 
 
 ' See Debates in Parliament npon Motions, made in both Houses, 6n 
 prose uting Mr. Reeves for a Libel upon the Constitutioii, Dw. ^f^ I C [in Ml A 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF 
 
422 LETTERS ON A KEGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 in a dispute of mixed natural philosophy, metaphysics, and 'ii , 
 theology, whether the light on Mouut Tabor was created or 'JL 
 iinprpnted anfl were readv to massacre the holders of ihf> ' ' 
 
 I 
 jji 
 ii! 
 I 
 le 
 iiii' 
 III 
 tie 
 h 
 i 
 & 
 sit 
 n 
 
 (21 
 
 F 
 
 uncreated, and were ready to massacre the holders of the 
 uufashiouable opinion, at the very moment w"hen the fero- 
 cious enemy of all philosophy and religion, Mahomet tlie 
 Second, entered through a breach into the capital of the 
 Christian world. I may possibly suffer much more than Mr. 
 Reeves, (I shall certainly give much more general offence,) 
 for breaking in upon this constitutional amusement concern- 
 ing the created or uncreated nature of the two Houses of 
 Parliament, and by calling their attention to a problem which 
 may entertain them less, but which concerns them a great 
 deal more, that is, whether, with this Gallic Jacobin frater- 
 nity, which they are desired by some writers to court, all the ! 
 parts of the government, about whose combustible or incom- j 
 ])ustible qualities they are contending, may " not be cast ' 
 into the fire " together. He is a strange visionary (but he is : 
 nothing worse) who fancies that any one part of our con- 
 stitution, w4iatever right of primogeniture it may claim, or 
 whatever astrologers may divine from its horoscope, can pos- ' 
 sibly survive the others. As they have lived, so they will 
 die, together. I must do justice to the impartiality of the 
 Jacobins. I have not observed amongst them the least predi- \. 
 lection for any of those parts. If there has been any difference || ^ 
 in their malice, I think they have shown a worse disposition ™ 
 to the House of Commons than to the Crown. As to the 
 House of Lords, t]>ey do not speculate at all about it ; and for 
 reasons that are too obvious to detail. 
 
 The question will be concerning the effect of this Erench 
 fraternity on the whole mass. Have we anything to appre- ■ 
 hend from Jacobin communication, or have we not? If we 
 have not, is it by our experience before the war, that we are 
 to presume that after the war no dangerous comnnniion can 
 exist between those, wiio are well afl'eeted to the new con* 
 fltitution of France, and ill affected to the old constitution 
 here ? 
 
 In conversation I have not yet found, nor heard of, any 
 persons except those who undertake to instruct the public, 
 so unconscious of the actual state of things, or so little pre- 
 scient of the future, who do not shudder all over, and feel a 
 eetret horror at the auproach of this communication. I do 
 
 k 
 Id 
 f 
 il 
 ifi 
 
LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 423 
 
 not except from this observation those who are willing, morw 
 than I find myself disposed, to submit to this fraternity. 
 Never has it been mentioned in my hearing, or from what I 
 ^, can learn in my inquiry, without the suggestion of an Alien 
 I Bill, or some other measures of the same nature, as a defence 
 r against its manifest mischief. Who does not see the utter 
 , insufficiency of such a remedy, if such a remedy could be at 
 I all adopted ? "We expel suspected foreigners from hence, and 
 r , we suffer every Englishman to pass over into France to be 
 ' initiated in all the infernal discipline of the place ; to cabal, 
 ! and to be corrupted by every means of cabal and of corrup- 
 tion ; and then to return to England, charged with their worst 
 dispositions and designs. In France he is out of the reach 
 ; of your police ; and when lie returns to England, one such 
 j English emissary is worse than a legion of French, who are 
 j either tongue-tied, or whose speech betrays them. But the 
 i worst aliens are the ambassador and his train. These you 
 I cannot expel without a proof (always difficult) of direct 
 I practice against the state. A French ambassador, at the 
 ! head of a French party, is an evil which we have never ex- 
 , perienced. The mischief is by far more visible than the 
 I remedy. But, after all, every such measure as an Alien Bill 
 I is a measure of hostility, a preparation for it, or a cause ot 
 I dispute that shall bring it on. In effect it is fundamentally 
 I contrary to a relation of amity whose essence is a perfectly 
 I j free communication. Everything done to prevent it will pro- 
 I yoke a foreign war. Everything, when we let it proceed, will 
 i ; produce domestic distraction. We shall be in a perpetual 
 dilemma ; but it is easy to see Avhich side of the dilemma 
 will be taken. The same temper which brings us to solicit 
 a Jacobin peace will induce us to temporize with all the evils 
 of it. By degrees our minds will be made to our circum- 
 j stances. The novelty of such things, which produces half 
 I the horror and all the disgust, w411 be worn off. Our ruin 
 I will be disguised in profit, and the sale of a few wretched 
 [ baubles will bribe a degenerate people to barter away tlie 
 I most precious jewel of their souls. Our constitution is not 
 '. made for this kind of warfare. It provides greatly for our 
 , happiness, it furnishes few means for our defence. It is 
 I formed, in a great measure, upon the principle of jealousy of 
 j the Crown; and as things stood, when it took that turn, 
 
424 LETTERS ON A. REGICIDE PEACE. I 
 
 witli very great reason. I go further ; it must keep alive ■. 
 some part of that fire of jealousy eternally and chastely 
 burning, or it cannot be the British constitution. At va- , J 
 rious periods we have had tyranny in this country, more than ", 
 enough. We have had rebellions with more or less justifica- j I 
 tion. Some of our kings have made adulterous connexions 1 
 abroad, and trucked away for foreign gold the interests and i "^ 
 glory of their crown. But before this time our liberty has ; ["' 
 never been corrupted. I mean to say that it has never been ; f 
 debauched from its domestic relations. To this time it has 
 been English liberty, and English liberty only. Our love of ; . 
 liberty and our love of our country were not distinct things. 
 Liberty is now, it seems, put upon a larger and more liberal jl ^^ 
 bottom. We are men, and as men, undoubtedly, nothing ; ^! 
 human is foreign to us. We cannot be too liberal in our ! 
 general wishes for the happiness of our kind. But in all ! JJ 
 questions ou the mode of procuring it for any particular com- 
 munity, we ought to be fearful of admitting those who have 
 no interest in it, or who have, perhaps, an interest against 
 it, into the consultation. Above all, we cannot be too cau- 
 tious in our communication with those, who seek their hap- 
 piness by other roads than those of humanity, morals, and 
 religion, and whose liberty consists, and consists alone, in "^P 
 being free from those restraints which are imposed by the : "^ 
 virtues upon the passions. | ™ 
 
 When we invite danger from a confidence in defensive j n 
 measures, we ought, first of all, to be sure that it is a species i J^' 
 of danger against w^hich any defensive measures that can j ™' 
 be adopted will be sufticient. Next we ought to know, that i 
 
 ks 
 
 the spirit of our laws, or that our own dif positions, which j ^l" 
 are stronger than laws, are susceptible of all those defensive .' "^ 
 measures which the occasion may require. A third con- i ^^ 
 si deration is, whether these measures will not bring more 'PP' 
 odium than strength to government ; and the last, whether i, """'' 
 the authority that makes them, in a general corruption ot 
 manners and principles, can insure their execution P Let no 
 one argue from the state of things, as he sees them at pre- 
 sent, concerning what will be the means and capacities of 
 government, when the time arrives which shall call for re« 
 medies commensurate to enormous evils. 
 
 It is an obvious truths that no constitution can defend 
 
 tlOD, 
 
LETTERS 0>' A REGICIDE PEACE. 426 
 
 itself: it must be defended by the wisdom and fortitude of 
 men. These are what no constitution can give : they are 
 the gifts of God ; and he alone knows whether we shall 
 possess such gifts at the time we stand in need of them. 
 Constitutions furnish the civil means of getting at the 
 natural ; it is all that in this case they can do. But our 
 constitution has more impediments than helps. Its excel- 
 lencies, when they come to be put to this sort of proof, may 
 be found among its defects. 
 
 Nothing looks more awful and imposing than an ancient 
 
 fortification ; its lofty embattled walls, its bold, projecting, 
 
 . rounded towers, that pierce the sky, strike the imagination, 
 
 I and promise inexpugnable strength. But they are the very 
 
 ; things that make its weakness. You may as well think of 
 
 I opposing one of these old fortresses to the mass of artillery 
 
 j brought by a French irruption into the fiekl, as to think of 
 
 I resisting, by your old laws and your old forms, the new de- 
 
 ' struction, which the corps of Jacobin engineers of to-day 
 
 ! prepare for all such forms and all such laws. Besides the 
 
 debility and false principle of their construction to resist 
 
 the present modes of attack, the fortress itself is in ruinous 
 
 repair, and there is a practicable breach in every part of it. 
 
 Such is the work. But miserable works have been de- 
 fended by the constancy of the garrison. Weather-beaten 
 ships have been brought safe to port by the spirit and alert- 
 ness of t^ie crew. But it is here that we shall eminently 
 fail. The day that, by their consent, the seat of regicide 
 has its place among the thrones of Europe, there is no longer 
 a motive for zeal in their favour ; it will at best be cold, 
 unimpassioned, dejected, melancholy duty. The glory will 
 seem all on the other side. The friends of the Crown will 
 appear not as champions, but as victims ; discountenanced, 
 mortified, lowered, defeated, they will fall into listlessness 
 and indifference. They will leave things to take their course ; 
 enjoy the present hour, and submit to the common fate. 
 
 Is it only an oppressive night-mare with which we have 
 been loaded ? Is it then all a frightful dream, and are there 
 no regicides in the world ? Have we not heard of that pro- 
 digy of a ruffian, who would not sufler his benignant sove- 
 reign, with his hands tied behind him, and stripped for execu- 
 tion, to say one parting word to his deluded people j — oi 
 
426 LETTERS OS A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 I 
 
 Sauterre,who commanded the drums and trumpets tu strike up 
 to stifle his voice, and dragged him back^N ard to the machine 
 of murder ? This nefarious villain (for a few days I may call 
 him so) stands high in France, as in a republic of robbers 
 and murderers he ought. AVhat hinders this monster from 
 being sent as ambassador to convey to his Majesty the first 
 compliments of his brethren, the regicide directory ? They 
 have none that can represent them more properly. I anti-l 
 cipate the day of his arrival. He will make his public entry ' 
 into London on one of the pale horses of his brewery. As 
 he knows that we are pleased with the Paris taste for the 
 orders of knighthood,' he will fling a bloody sash across his 
 shoulders with the order of the Holy Gruillotine, surmount-' 
 ing the crown, appendant to the riband. Thus adorned, he* 
 will proceed from AVhiteehapel to the further end of Pall-' 
 Mall, all the music of London playing the Marseillois hymu! 
 before him, and escorted by a chosen detachment of the 
 Legion de V Echaffaud. It were only to be wished that nc 
 ill-fated loyalist for the imprudence of his zeal may stand i 
 the pillory at Charing Cross, under the statue of King 
 Charles I., at the time of this grand procession, lest some 
 the rotten eggs, which the constitutional society shall l 
 fly at his indiscreet head, may hit the virtuous murderer 
 nis king. They might soil the state dress which the min 
 isters of so many crowned heads have admired, and in whicl 
 Sir Clement Cotterel is to introduce him at St. James's. 
 
 If Santerre cannot be spared from the constitutional 
 butcheries at home, Tallien may supply his place, and, iil'i" 
 point of figure, with advantage. He has been habituated t«' a.' 
 commissions ; and he is as well qualified as Santerre for this' } ! 
 Nero wished the Roman people had but one neck. The wisl' i 
 of the more exalted Tallien, when he sat in judgment, wa|. 
 tliat his sovereign had eighty-three heads, that he might seniii * 
 one to every one of the departments. Tallien will make aj;|< ' 
 excellent figure at Guildhall at the next sherift"s feast. H ' ' 
 may open the ball with my Lady Mayoress. But this wi 
 be after he has retired from the public table, and gone int 
 
 ' *' Tn the costume assumed btj the members of the legislative bodrj, ti 
 almost behold the revival of the extinguished insignia of knighthood," A'. 
 *c. N/>e A View ot the relative Stale ol' Great Bril4iu aud i''rauce at 111 
 commencemeut of the year 1796. L 
 
LETTERS ON A EEGICrDE PEACI. 42? 
 
 tlie private room for the enjoyment of more social and unre- 
 I served conversation with the ministers of state and the 
 ! judges of the bench. There these ministers and magistrates 
 , will hear him entertain the worthy aldermen with an in- 
 ' striicting and pleasing narrative of the manner in which he 
 made the rich citizens of Bourdeaux squeak, and gently led 
 them by the public credit of the guillotine to disgorge their 
 I anti-revolutionary pelf. 
 
 All this \\ill be the display and the town-talk when our 
 regicide is on a visit of cerem.ony. At home nothing^ will 
 I equal the pomp and splendour of the Hotel de la Republique. 
 I There another scene of gaudy grandeur will be opened. 
 ; When his Citizen Excellency keeps the festival, which Qxevy 
 h citizen is ordered to observe, for the glorious execution of 
 i Louis XYL, and renews his oath of detestation of kings, a 
 grand ball of course will be given on the occasion. Then 
 what a hurly-burly ; — what a crowding ; — what a glare of a 
 thousand flambeaus in the Square ; — what a clamour of foot- 
 ,men contending at the door; — what a rattlins^ of a thousand 
 i coaches of duchesses, countesses, and Lady Marys, choking 
 the way, and overturning each other, in a struggle w^ho 
 I should be first to pay her court to the Citoyenne, the spouse 
 ;of the twenty-first husband, he the husband of the thirty-first 
 I wife, and to hail her in the rank of honourable matrons, before 
 the four days' duration of marriage is expired! — Morals, as 
 they were : — decorum, the great outguard of the sex, and 
 the proud sentiment of honour, which makes virtue more 
 .respectable where it is, and conceals human frailty where 
 virtue may not be, will be banished from this land of pro- 
 priety, modesty, and reserve. 
 
 We had before an ambassador from the Most Christian 
 I king. We shall have then one, perhaps two, as lately, from 
 the most antichristian republic. His chapel will be great 
 !and splendid ; formed on the model of the Temple of Eeason 
 I at Paris, while the famous ode of the infamous Chenier will 
 I be sung, and a prostitute of the street adored as a goddess. 
 ■ We shall then have a French ambassador without a suspi- 
 cion of Popery. One good it will have : it will go some way 
 lin quieting the minds of that synod of zealous Protestant lay 
 I elders, who govern Ireland on the pacific principles of po- 
 'lemic theology, and who now, from dread of the pope, cuu- 
 
428 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 
 
 not take a cool bottle of claret, or enjoy an innocent par-ij"''' 
 lianientary job, with any tolerable quiet. 
 
 ISo far as to the French communication here :— what will 
 be the effect of our communication there ? We know that 
 our new brethren, whilst they everywhere shut up the 
 churches, increased in Paris, at one time at least four-fold, 
 the opera-houses, the play-houses, the public shows of all 
 kinds ; and even in their state of indigence and distress, no 
 expense was spared for their equipment and decoration. 
 They were made an affair of state. There is no invention 
 of seduction, never wholly wanting in that place, that has! 
 uot been increased; brothels, gaming-houses, everything.; 
 And there is no doubt but when they are settled in a tri-' 
 umphant peace they will carry all these arts to their utmost: 
 perfection, and cover them with every species of imposing, 
 magnificence. They have all along avowed them as a parti 
 of their policy ; and whilst they corrupt young minds through- 
 pleasure, they form them to crimes. Every idea of corporal; 
 gratification is carried to the highest excess, and wooed withj 
 all the elegance that belongs to the senses. All elegance oti 
 mind and manners is banished. A theatrical, bombastic, i 
 windy phraseology of heroic virtue, blended and mingled upi 
 with a worse dissoluteness, and joined to a murderous and; 
 savage ferocity, forms the tone and idiom of their language 
 and their manners. Any one who attends to all their own 11 
 descriptions, narratives, and dissertations, will find in that'|»' 
 whole place more of the air of a body of assassins, banditti, I sf 
 house-breakers, and outlawed smugglers, joined to that of a;j|» 
 gang of strolling players, expelled from and exploded orderly 
 theatres, with their prostitutes in a brothel, at their de- 
 bauches and bacchanals, than anything of the refined and 
 perfected virtues, or the polished, mitigated vices of a great 
 capital. 
 
 Is it for tliis benefit we open " the usual relations of peace 
 and amity ? " Is it for this our youth of both sexes are to 
 form themselves by travel ? Is it for this that with expense 
 and pains we form their lisping infant accents to the lan- 
 guage of France ? I shall be told that this abominable med- 
 ley is made rather to revolt young and ingenuous minds. 
 So it is in the description. Sc perhaps it may in reality to 
 a chosen few. So it may be when the magistrate, the law. 
 
 
 r ,■ 
 
 l;| 
 
liETTEES ON A SEOrCIDE PEACE. 429 
 
 and the church, frown on such manners, and the wretches to 
 whom they belong; when they are chased from the eye of 
 day and the society of civil life into night-cellars, and caves, 
 ! and woods. But when these men themselves are the magis- 
 trates ; when all the consequence, weight, and authority of a 
 great nation adopt them ; when we see them conjoined with 
 , victory, glory, power, and dominion, and homage paid to 
 ! ! them by every government, it is not possible that the down- 
 hill should not be slid into, recommended by everything 
 : which has opposed it. Let it be remembered that no young 
 ! man can go to any part of Europe without taking this place 
 i of pestilential contagion in his way : and whilst the less act- 
 j I ive part of the community will be debauched by this travel, 
 I ! whilst children are poisoned at these schools, our trade will 
 ' j put the finishing hand to our ruin. No factory will be set- 
 I tied in France that will not become a club of complete French 
 I Jacobins. The minds of young men of that description will 
 I receive a taint in their religion, their morals, and their poli- 
 ' I tics, which they will in a short time communicate to the 
 [j whole kingdom. 
 
 [ Whilst everything prepares the body to debauch, and the 
 
 1 1 mind to crime, a regular church of avowed atheism, estab- 
 
 t lished by law, with a direct and sanguinary persecution of 
 
 [ I Christianity, is formed to prevent all amendment and re- 
 
 I i morse. Conscience is formally deposed from its dominion 
 
 i i over the mind. What fills the measure of horror is, that 
 
 ! schools of atheism are set up at the public charge in every 
 
 I part of the country. That some English parents will be 
 
 i wicked enough to send their children to such schools there 
 
 I is no doubt. Better this island should be sunk to the bot- 
 
 j torn of the sea than that (so far as human infirmity admits) 
 
 j it should not be a country of religion and morals. 
 
 ', With all these causes of corruption we may well judge 
 
 what the general fashion of mind will be through both sexes 
 
 ! and all conditions. Such spectacles and such examples will 
 
 I overbear all the laws that ever blackened the cumbrous vo- 
 
 ,' lumes of our statutes. When royalty shall have disavowed 
 
 ' itself; when it shall have relaxed all the principles of its 
 
 own support ; when it has rendered the system of regicide 
 
 ! fashionable, and received it as triumphant in the very persons 
 
 I who have consolidated that system by the perpetration of 
 
430 LETTERS O^ A. HEGICIDE PEACTR. 
 
 every crime ; who have not only massacred the prince, but 
 the very hiws and magistrates, which were the support ot' 
 royalty, and slaughtered with an indiscriminate proscription, 
 without regard to either sex or age, every person that was 
 suspected of an inclination to king, hiw, or magistracy, — 1 
 say, will any one dare to be loyal ? Will any one presume, 
 against both authority and opinion, to hold up this unfashion- 
 able, antiquated, exploded constitution ? 
 
 The Jacobin faction in England must grow in strength and 
 audacity ; it will be supported by other intrigues and sup- 
 plied by other resources than yet we have seen in action. 
 Confounded at its growth, the government may fly to par- ' 
 liament for its support. But who will answer for the tem- 
 per of a House of Commons elected under these circum- 
 stances ? Who will answer for the courage of a House of. 
 Commons, to arm the Crown with the extraordinary powers 
 tliat it may demand ? But the ministers will not venture to ' 
 ask half oi' what they know they want. They will lose half i 
 of that half in the contest : and when they have obtained : , , 
 their nothing, they will be driven, by the cries of faction, V ! 
 either to demolish the feeble works they have thrown up in • 
 a hurry, or, in eflect, to abandon them. As to the House of. f 
 Lords, it is not worth mentioning. The Peers ought natur- : 5 
 ally to be the pillars of the Crown; but when their titles; .'^ 
 are rendered contemptible, and their property invidious, and; 
 a part of their weakness, and not of their strength, they will :• 
 be found so many degraded and trembling individuals, who | ^ 
 will seek by evasion to put olf the evil day of their ruin.i^ j* 
 Both Houses will be in perpetual oscillation between' 
 abortive attempts at energy, and still more unsuccessful at- 
 tempts at compromise. You will be impatient of your dis-j ^' 
 ease, and abhorrent of your remedy. A spirit of subterfuge. '*' 
 and a tone of apology will enter into all your proceedings,, i^ 
 whether of law or legislation. Your judges, who now sus- 
 tain so masculine an authority, will a])pear more on their 
 trial than the cul[)rits they have before them. The awful' 
 frown of criminal justice will be smoothed into the sillyi 
 smile of seduction. Judges will tliink to insinuate and 
 soothe the accused into conviction and condemnation, and to 
 wheedle to the gallows the most artlul of all delinquents. 
 But they will uot be so wheedled. They will not submit 
 
LITERS 0-S A llEGtClDE PEACE. 4^1 
 
 even to the appearance of persons on their trial. Thiir 
 claim to this exemption will be admitted. The place in 
 Nvliich some of tiie greatest names which ever distinn^uished 
 the history of this country have stood, will appear beneath 
 their dignity. The criminal will climb from the dock to the 
 side-bar, and take his place and his tea with the counsel. 
 From the bar of the counsel, by a natural progress, he will 
 ascend to the bench, which long before had been virtually 
 abandoned. They who escape from justice, will not suffer a 
 question upon reputation. They will take the crown of the 
 causeway ; they will be revered as martyrs ; they will 
 triumph as conquerors. Xobody will dare to censure that 
 popular part of the tribunal, whose only restraint on mis- 
 judgment is the censure of the public. They who find fault 
 with the decision, will be represented as enemies to the in- 
 stitution. Juries that convict for the Crown, will be loaded 
 with obloquy. The juries who acquit, will be held up as 
 models of justice. If parliament orders a prosecution, and 
 fails, (as fail it will,) it will be treated to its face as guilty 
 of a conspiracy maliciously to prosecute. Its care in dis- 
 covering a conspiracy against the state will be treated as a 
 forged plot to destroy the liberty of the subject; every such 
 discovery, instead of strengthening goverimieut, will weaken 
 its reputation. 
 
 In this state things wnll be suffered to proceed, lest 
 measures of vigour should precipitate a crisis. The timid 
 will act thus from character ; the wise from necessity. Our 
 laws had done all that the old condition of things dictated 
 to render our judges erect and independent; but they will 
 naturally fail on the side upon which they had taken no pre- 
 cautions. The judicial magistrates will find themselves safe 
 as against the Crown, whose will is not their tenure ; the 
 power of executing their oflS^ce will be held at the pleasure of 
 those who deal out fame or abuse as they think fit. They 
 will begin rather to consult their own repose, and their own 
 popularity, than the critical and perilous trust that is in 
 their hands. They will speculate on consequences, when 
 they see at court an ambassador whose robes are lined with 
 a scarlet dyed in the blood of judges. It is no wonder, nor 
 are they to blame, when they are to consider how they shall 
 answer for their conduct to the criminal of to-day turned 
 into the magistrate of to-morrow. 
 
132 LETTERS out A EEOJCTDE PEACl 
 
 The presa — 
 
 The army — 
 
 AVheii thus the helm of justice is abandoned, a uaiversal 
 abandonment of all other posts will succeed. Government 
 will be, for a while, the sport of contending factions, who, 
 whilst they fight with one another, will all strike at her. 
 She will be bufi'eted and beat forward and backward by the 
 conflict of those billows ; until at length, tumbling from the 
 Gallic coast, the victorious tenth wave shall ride, like the 
 bore, over all the rest, and poop the shattered, weather- 
 beaten, leaky, water-logged vessel, and sink her to the bot- 
 tom of the abyss. 
 
 Among other miserable remedies that have been found in 
 the materia medica of the old college, a change of ministry 
 will be proposed ; and probably will take place. They who 
 go out, can never long with zeal and good-will support 
 government in the bands of those they hate. In a situation 
 of fatal dependence on popularity, and without one aid from 
 tlie little remaining power of the Crown, it is not to be ex- 
 pected that they will take on them that odium which more 
 or less attaches upon every exertion of strong power. The 
 ministers of popularity will lose all their credit at a stroke, 
 if they pursue any of those means necessary to give life, 
 vigour, and consistence to government. They will be con- 
 sidered as venal wretches, apostates, recreant to all their 
 own principles, acts, and declarations. They cannot preserve 
 their credit but by betraying that authority of which they 
 are the guardians. 
 
 To be sure no prognosticating symptoms of these things 
 have as yet appeared : nothing even resembling their begin- 
 nings. May they never appear ! may these prognostications- 
 of the author be justly laughed at and speedily forgotten. 
 If notliing as yet to cause them has discovered itself, let 
 us consider, in the author's excuse, that we have not yet 
 seen a Jacobin legation in England. The natural, declared, 
 sworn ally of sedition has not yet fixed its head-quarters in 
 London. 
 
 There never was a political contest, upon better or worse 
 grounds, that by the heat of party-spirit may not ripen into 
 civil confusion. If ever a party adverse to the Crown should 
 b(i in a condition here publicly to declare itself, and to divide, 
 ho\vev<ir unequally, the natural force of the kingdom, they 
 
LETTERS Olf A REGICIDE PEACE. 433 
 
 are sure of an aid of fifty thousand men, at ten days' warn- 
 ing, from the opposite coast of France. But against this in- 
 fusion of a foreign force the Crown has its guarantees, old 
 and new. But I should be glad to hear something said of 
 the assistance which loyal subjects in France have received 
 from other powers, in support of that lawful government 
 which secured their lawful property, I should be glad to 
 know, if they are so disposed to a neighbourly, provident, 
 and sympathetic attention to their public engagements, by 
 ' what means they are to come at us. Is it from the power- 
 ! ful states of Holland we are to reclaim our guarantee ? Is it 
 I from the king of Prussia, and his steady good affections, and 
 his powerful navy, that we are to look for the guarantee of 
 I our security ? Is it from the Netherlands, which the French 
 j may cover with the swarms of their citizen-soldiers in 
 twenty -four hours, that we are to look for this assistance ? 
 This is to suppose, too, that all these powers have no views 
 offensive or necessities defensive of their own. They will 
 cut out work for one another, and France will cut out work 
 for them all. 
 
 That the Christian religion cannot exist in this country 
 with such a fraternity, will not, I think, be disputed with 
 me. On that religion, according to our mode, all our laws 
 and institutions stand as upon their base. That scheme is 
 supposed in every transaction of life ; and if that were done 
 away, everything else, as in France, must be changed along 
 with it. Thus, religion perishing, and with it this constitu- 
 tion, it is a matter of endless meditation w^hat order of 
 I things would follow it. But what disorder would fill the 
 space betw^een the present, and that which is to come, in the 
 gross, is no matter of doubtful conjecture. It is a great evil, 
 ithat of a civil war, But in that state of things a civil war, 
 which would give to good men and a good cause some means 
 of struggle, is a blessing of comparison that England will 
 not enjoy. The moment the struggle begins, it ends. They 
 I talk of Mr. Hume's Euthanasia of the British constitution 
 ' gently expiring, without a groan, in the paternal arms of a 
 mere monarchy. — In a monarchy ! — fine trifling indeed — 
 There is no such Euthanasia for the British Constitution— » 
 
 The manusori^t copy of this Letter end^ W?, 
 
 VOL V. 2 F 
 
A lETTER 
 
 TO THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. 
 
 Madam, 
 
 The Comte de "Woronzow, your Imperial Majesty*! 
 minister, and Mr. Fawkener, have informed me of the very 
 gracious manner in which your Imperial Majesty, and, after 
 your example, the Archduke and Archduchess, have conde- 
 scended to accept my humble endeavours in the service of 
 that cause which connects the rights and duties of sove- 
 reigns with the true interest and happiness of their people. 
 
 If, confiding in titles derived from your own goodness, I 
 venture to address directly to your Imperial Majesty the ex- 
 pressions of my gratitude for so distinguished an honour, I 
 hope it will not be thought a presumptuous intrusion. I 
 hope, too, that the willing homage I pay to the high and 
 ruling virtues which distinguish your Imperial Majesty, and 
 which form the felicity of so large a part of the world, will 
 not be looked upon as the language of adulation to power 
 and greatness. In my humble situation I can behold ma- 
 jesty in its splendour without being dazzled, and I am capa* 
 ble of respecting it in its fall. 
 
 It is, Madam, from my strong sense of what is due to dig. 
 nity in undeserved misfortune, that I am led to felicitate 
 your Imperial Majesty on the use you have lately made of 
 your power. The princes and nobility of France, who 
 from honour and duty, from blood and from principle, are 
 attached to that unhappy Crown, have experienced your 
 favour and countenance : and there is no doubt that they 
 will finally enjoy the full benefit of your protection. The 
 generosity of your Imperial Majesty has induced you to 
 take ail interest iu their cause ; and your sagacity has mado 
 
LETTER TO THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. 435 
 
 you perceive that in the case of the sovereign of France the 
 cause of all sovereigns is tried ; that in the case of its church 
 ithe cause of all churches ; and that in the case of its nobility 
 is tried the cause of all the respectable orders of all society, 
 and even of society itself 
 
 Tour Imperial Majesty has sent your minister to reside 
 where the Crown of France, in this disastrous eclipse of roy- 
 ' alty, can alone truly and freely be represented ; — that is, in 
 its royal blood, — where alone the nation can be represented 
 , — that is, in its natural and inherent dignity. A throne 
 j cannot be represented by a prison. The honour of a nation 
 I cannot be represented by an assembly which disgraces and 
 I degrades it ; at Coblentz only the king and the nation of 
 France are to be found. 
 
 Your Imperial Ma_jesty, who reigns and lives for glory, has 
 I nobly and wisely disdained to associate your Crown with a 
 faction which has for its object the subversion of all thrones. 
 
 You have not recognised this universal public enemy as a 
 part of the system of Europe. You have refused to sully the 
 lustre of your empire by any communion with a body of 
 fanatical usurpers and tyrants, drawn out of the dregs of 
 society, and exalted to their evil eminence by the enormity 
 of their crimes ; an assemblage of tyrants, wholly destitute of 
 any distinguished qualification in a single person amongst 
 them, that can command reverence from our reason, or seduce 
 it from our prejudices. These enemies of sovereigns, if at 
 !all acknowledged, must be acknowledged on account of that 
 enmity alone. They have nothing else to recommend them. 
 
 Madam, it is dangerous to praise any human virtue before 
 ithe accomplishment of the tasks which it imposes on itself. 
 I But, in expressing my part of what I hope is, or will become, 
 ithe general voice, in admiration of what you have done, I run 
 no risk at all. AVith your Imj)erial Majesty, declaration and 
 ^execution, beginning and conclusion, are, at their different 
 'seasons, one and the same thing. 
 
 On the faith and declaration of some of the first potentates 
 of Europe, several thousands of persons, comprehending the 
 best men. and the best gentlemen, in France, have given up 
 their country, their houses, their fortunes, their professional 
 ieituation, their all ; and are now in foreign lands, struggling 
 under the most grievous distresses. Whatever appearances 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 LETTEK TO THE EMPEESS OF RTJSSIA. 
 
 niay menace, nobody fears that they can be finally abandoned 
 Such a dereliction could not be without a strong imputation 
 on the public and private honour of sovereignty itself, nop 
 without an irreparable injury to its interests. It would give 
 occasion to represent monarchs as natural enemies to each 
 other ; and that they never support or countenance any sub- 
 jects of a brother prince, except when they rebel against him. 
 We individuals, mere spectators of the scene, but who seek 
 our liberties under the shade of legal authority, and of course 
 sympathize with the sufferers in that cause, never can permit 
 ourselves to believe that such an event can disgrace the his- 
 tory of our time. The only thing to be feared is delay ; in 
 which are included many mischiefs. The constancy of the 
 oppressed will be broken ; the power of tyrants will be con- 
 firmed. Already the multitude of French officers, drawn 
 from their several corps by hopes inspired by the freely de- 
 clared disposition of sovereigns, have left all the posts, in 
 which they might one day have effectually served the good 
 cause, abandoiaed to the enemy. 
 
 Your Imperial Majesty's just influence, which is stiD 
 greater than your extensive power, will animate and expedite 
 the efforts of other sovereigns. From your wisdom other 
 states will learn that they who wait until all the powers of 
 Europe are at once in motion, can never move at all. It 
 would add to the unexampled calamities of our time, if the 
 uncommon union of sentiment in so many powers should 
 prove the very cause of defeating the benefit which ought to 
 flow from their general good disposition. No sovereign can 
 run any risk from the designs of other powers whilst engaged 
 in this glorious and necessary work. If any attempt could 
 be feared, your Imperial Majesty's power and justice would 
 secure your allies against all danger. INIadam, your glory 
 will be complete, if, after having given peace to Europe by 
 your moderation, you shall bestow stability on all its govern- 
 ments by your vigour and decision. The debt, which youp 
 Imperial Majesty's august predecessors have contracted to 
 the ancient manners of Europe, by means of which they 
 civilized a vast empire, will be nobly repaid by preserving 
 those manners from the hideous change with which they are 
 now menaced. By the ijitervention of liussia the wprld will 
 be preserved from barbarism and ruin. 
 
lETTEH to SIR CHAl{Ll:S BINGHAM. 437 
 
 A private individual, of a remote country, in himself 
 wholly without importance, unauthorized and unconnected, 
 not as an English subject, but as a citizen of the world, pre- 
 sumes to submit his thoughts to one of the greatest and 
 wisest sovereigns that Europe has seen. He does it without 
 fear, because he does not involve in his weakness (if such it 
 is) his king, his country, or his friends. He is not afraid 
 that he shall offend your Imperial Majesty ; because, se- 
 cure in itself, true greatness is always accessible ; and 
 because respectfully to speak what we conceive to be truth 
 is the best homage which can be paid to true dignity. 
 
 I am, Madam, with the utmost possible respect and 
 veneration, 
 
 Tour Imperial Majesty's 
 most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 Edm. Bueke. 
 Beaconsfield, 
 November Ist, 1791. 
 
 LETTEE to SIE CHAELES BINGHAM, BART. 
 
 ON THE IRISH ABSENTEE TAX.» 
 
 Bear Sir, 
 
 I am much flattered by your very obliging letter, and 
 the rather, because it promises an opening to our future 
 [correspondence. This may be my only indemnification for 
 very great losses. One of the most odious parts of the pro- 
 posed absentee tax is its tendency to separate friends, and 
 ;to make as ugly breaches in private society as it must make 
 in the unity of the great political body. I am sure that much 
 of the satisfaction of some circles in Loudon will be lost 
 
 ' From authentic documents found with the copy of this Letter among 
 Mr. Burke's papers it appears, that in the j'ear 1773 a project of im- 
 : posing a tax upon all proprietors of landed estates in Ireland, whose 
 ordinary residence should be in Great Britain, had been adopted and 
 avowed by his Majesty's ministers at that time. A remonstrance against 
 this measure, as highly unjust and impolitic, was presented to the min- 
 isters bv several of the principal Irish absentees, and the project waa 
 •ubsequently abandoned. 
 
438 liETTER TO SIR CHAELES BINGHAM. 
 
 by it. "Do you think that our friend Mrs. Vesey will suffer 
 her husband to Vote for a tax, that is to destroy the evenings 
 at Bolton Eow ? I trust we shall have other supporters of 
 !ihe same sex, equally powerful, and equally deserving to be 
 530, who will not abandon the common cause of their own 
 liberties and our satisfactions. We shall be barbarized on 
 both sides of the water if we do not see one another now 
 and then. We shall sink into surly, brutish Johns, and you 
 will degenerate into wild Irish. It is impossible that we 
 should be the wiser, or the more agreeable ; certainly we 
 shall not love one another the better for this forced separa- 
 tion, wliich our ministers, who have already done so much 
 for the dissolution of every other sort of good connexion, are 
 now meditating for the further improvement of this too well- 
 united empire. Their next step will be to encourage all the 
 colonies, about thirty separate governments, to keep their 
 people from all intercourse with each other and with the 
 mother country. A gentleman of ]\ew York, or Barbadoes, 
 will be as much gazed at as a strange animal from Nova 
 Zembla or Otaheite ; and those rogues the travellers >-ill tell 
 us what stories they please about poor old Ireland. 
 
 In all seriousness, (though I am a great deal more than 
 half serious in what I have been saying,) I look upon this 
 projected tax in a very evil light; I think it is not advisable; 
 I am sure it is not necessary ; and as it is not a mere mat- 
 ter of finance, but involves a political question of much im- i i 
 portance, I consider the principle and precedent as far worse \ Mr 
 than the thing itself You are too kind in imagining I can :•. pur 
 suggest anything new upon the subject. The objections to ii nej 
 it are very glaring, and must strike the eyes of all those ij| mcl 
 who have not their reasons for shutting them against evident i 
 truth. I have no feelings or opinions on this subject which 1 
 I do not partake with all the sensible and informed people f 
 that I meet with. At first I could scarcely meet with any 
 one who could believe '.hat this scheme originated from the 
 English government. They considered it not only as absurd, 
 but as something monstrous and unnatural. In the first iu» 
 stance it strikes at the power of this country ; in the end, i 
 at the union of the whole empire. I do not nu'an to ex» j 
 press, most certainly I do not entertiiin in my mind, any- 1 
 thing invidious concerning the superiutcnding authority cf 
 
LETTEE TO SIE CHARLES BLNGDAM. 439 
 
 Great Britain. But if it be true that the several Lodies 
 which make up this complicated mass are to be preserved as 
 one empire, an authority sufficient to preserve that unity, 
 and by its equal weight and pressure to consolidate the 
 various parts that compose it, must reside somewhere ; that 
 somewhere can only be in England. Possibly any one 
 member, distinctly taken, might decide in favour of that 
 residence within itself; but certainly no member would give 
 its voice for any other except this. So that I look upon the 
 residence of the supreme power to be settled here ; not by 
 force, or tyranny, or even by mere long usage, but by the 
 very nature of things, and the joint consent of the whole 
 body. 
 
 If all this be admitted, then without question this country 
 must have the sole right to the imperial legislation : by 
 which I mean that law which regulates the polity and 
 economy of the several parts, as they relate to one another 
 and to the whole. But if any of the parts which (not for 
 oppression but for order) are placed in a subordinate situa- 
 tion will assume to themselves the power of hindering or 
 checking the resort of their municipal subjects to the centre 
 or even to any other part of the empire, they arrogate to 
 themselves the imperial rights, which do not, which cannot, 
 belong to them, and so far as in them lies destroy the happy 
 arrangement of the entire empire. 
 
 A free communication, by discretionary residence, is neces- 
 sary to all the other purposes of commimication. For wliat 
 purpose are the Irish and plantation laws sent hither but as 
 means of preserving this sovereign constitution r Whether 
 such a constitution was originally right or wrong this is not 
 the time of day to dispute. If any evils arise from it, let us 
 not strip it of what may be useful in it. By taking the 
 English privy council into your legislature, you obtain a new, 
 a further, and, possibly, a more liberal consideration of all 
 your acts. If a local legislature shall by oblique means tend 
 to deprive any of the people of this benefit, and shall make 
 it penal to them to follow into England the laws which may 
 affect them, then the English privy council will have to de- 
 cide upon your acts without those lights that may enable 
 them to judge upon what grounds you made them, or how 
 far they ought to be modified, received, or rejected. 
 
440 LETTEK TO SIH CHARLT.S BINGHAM. 
 
 To what eud is the ultimate appeal in judicature lodged in 
 this kingdom, if men may be disabled from following their 
 suits here, and may be taxed into an absolute denial of 
 justice '^ You observe, my dear Sir, that I do not assert 
 that in all cases two shillings will necessarily cut oif this 
 means of correcting legislative and judicial mistakes, and 
 thus amount to a denial of justice. I might indeed state 
 cases in which this very quantum of tax would be fully 
 sufficient to defeat this right. But I argue not on the case, 
 but on the principle, and I am sure the principle implies it. 
 They who may restrain may prohibit. They who may im- 
 pose two shillings may impose ten shillings in the pound; 
 and those who may condition the tax to six months annual 
 absence, may carry that condition to six weeks, or even to 
 six days, and thereby totally defeat the wise means which 
 have been provided for extensive and impartial justice, and 
 for orderly, well-poised, and well-connected government. 
 
 What is taxing the resort to and residence in any place 
 but declaring that your connexion with that place is a 
 grievance ? Is not such an Irish tax as is now proposed a 
 virtual declaration that England is a foreign countrj^, and a 
 renunciation on your part of the principle of common 
 naturalization which runs through this whole empire ? 
 
 Do you, or does any Irish gentleman, think it a mean 
 privilege, that the moment he sets his foot upon this ground 
 he is to all intents and purposes an Englishman ? You will 
 not be pleased with a law which by its operation tends to 
 disqualify you from a seat in this parliament ; and if your 
 own virtue or fortune, or if that of your children, should 
 carry you or them to it, should you like to be excluded from 
 the possibility of a peerage in this kingdom ? If in Ireland 
 we lay it down as a maxim tliat a residence in Great Britain 
 is a political evil, and to be discouraged by penal taxes, you 
 must necessarily reject all the privileges and benefits which 
 are connected with such a residence. 
 
 I can easily conceive that a citizen of Dublin who looks 
 no further than his counter may think that Ireland will be 
 repaid for such a loss by any small diminution of taxes, or 
 any increase in the circulation of money that may be laid 
 out in tlie purchase of claret or groceries in his corporation. 
 In such a man an error of that kind, us it would be natural, 
 
LETTER TO SIR CHARtES BlITGlIAM. 441 
 
 woidd be excusable. But I cannot think that any educated 
 man. any man who looks with an enlightened eye on the in- 
 terest of Ireland, can believe that it is not highly for the 
 advantage of Ireland that this parliament, which, whether 
 right or wrong, whether we will or not, will make some lawa 
 to bind Ireland, should always have in it some persons, who 
 Iby connexion, by property, or by early prepossessions and 
 affections, are attached to the welfare of that country. I am 
 BO clear upon this point, not only from the clear reason of 
 jthe thing, but from the constant course of my observation 
 iby now having sat eight sessions in parliament, that I de- 
 jclare it to you as my sincere opinion, that (if you must do 
 'either the one or the other) it would be wiser by far, and far 
 ;better for Ireland, that some new privileges should attend 
 Ithe estates of Irishmen, members of the two Houses here, 
 'than that their characters should be stained by penal impo- 
 sitions, and their properties loaded by unequal and unheard- 
 of modes of taxation. I do really trust that when the matter 
 comes a little to be considered, a majority of our gentlemen 
 will never consent to establish such a principle of disqualifi- 
 jcation against themselves and their posterity, and, for the 
 'sake of gratifying the schemes of a transitory administration 
 of the cockpit or the castle, or in compliance with the light- 
 est part of the most vulgar and transient popularity, fix so 
 irreparable an injury on the permanent interest of their 
 country. 
 
 This law seems, therefore, to me to go directly against the 
 fundamental points of the legislative and judicial constitu- 
 tion of these kingdoms, and against the happy communion of 
 itheir privileges. But there is another matter in the tax pro- 
 posed, that contradicts as essentially a very great principle 
 necessary for preserving the union of the various parts of a 
 state ; because it does, in effect, discountenance mutual in- 
 termarriage and inheritance ; things that bind countries 
 .more closely together than any laws or constitutions what- 
 soever. Is it right that a woman who marries into Ireland, 
 and perhaps well purchases her jointure or her dower there, 
 should not after her husband's death have it in her choice 
 to return to her country and her friends without being taxed 
 for it ? 
 
 If an Irish h/^iress should marry into an English family 
 
442 LETTEE TO SIR CHARLES BIITGHAM. 
 
 and that great property in botli countries should thereby 
 come to be united in this common issue, shall the descend- 
 ant of that marriage abandon his natural connexion, his 
 family interests, his public and his private duties, and be 
 compelled to take up his residence in Ireland ? Is there 
 any sense or any justice in it, unless you affirm that there 
 should be no such intermarriage and no such mutual inherit- 
 ance between the natives ? Is there a shadow of reason 
 that because a Lord Eockingliam, a Duke of Devonshire, a 
 Sir George Saville, possess property in Ireland, which has 
 descended to them without any act of theirs, they should 
 abandon their duty in parliament, and spend their winters 
 in Dublin ? or, having spent the session in Westminster, 
 must they abandon their seats and all their fomily interests 
 in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and pass the rest of the year 
 in Wicklovv, in Cork, or Tyrone ? 
 
 See what the consequence must be from a m unicipal legis* 
 lature considering itself as an unconnected body, and at- 
 tempting to enforce a partial residence, A man may have 
 property in more ])arts than two of this empire. He may 
 have property in Jamaica and in North America as well aa 
 in England and Ii-eland. I know some that have property 
 in all of them. AVhat shall we say to this case ? After the 
 poor distracted citizen of the w'hole empire has, in compli- 
 ance with your partial law, removed his family, bid adieu to 
 his connexions, and settled himself quietly and snug in a 
 pretty box by the Liffey, he hears that the parliament of 
 Great Britain is of opinion that all English estates ought to 
 be spent in England, and that they will tax him double if ) 
 he does not return. Suppose him, then, (if the nature of 
 the two laws will permit it,) providing a tlyiug camp, and 
 dividing his year, as well as he can, between Enn;laiid and 
 Ireland, and at the charge of two town-houses and two coun- 
 try-houses in both kingdoms ; in this situation he receives 
 an account that a law is transmitted from Jamaica, and an- 
 other from Pennsylvania, to tax absentees from these pro- 
 vinces, which are iin[)overished by tlie European residence of 
 th^ possesjiors of their hinds, How is he to escape this 
 ricochet cross^rfiring of so many opposite batteries of police 
 and regulation? If lie attem[)ts to comply, he is likely to be ''ik\ 
 more a citizen of the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, thai* It 
 
LETTER TO SIE CHAELE3 BTS-GHAM. 44?^ 
 
 of any of tiiese countries. The matter is absurd and ridiou- 
 lous ; and, while ever the idea of mutual marriajres, inlierit- 
 ances, purchases, and privileges subsist, can never be carried 
 into execution with common sense or common justice. 
 
 1 do not know how gentlemen of Ireland reconcile such an 
 idea to their own liberties, or to the natural use and enjoy- 
 ment of their estates. If any of their children should be left 
 in a minority, and a guardian should think, as many do, (it 
 matters not whether properly or no,) that his ward had better 
 be educated in a school or university here than in Ireland, 
 is he sure that he can justify the bringing a tax of ten per 
 cent., perhaps twenty, on his pupil's estate, by giving what 
 in his opinion is the best education in general, or the best 
 for that pupil's particular character and circumstances ? Can 
 he justify his sending him to travel, a necessary part of the 
 higher style of education, and, notwithstanding what some 
 narrow writers have said, of great benefit to all countries, 
 but very particularly so to Ireland ? Suppose a guardian, 
 under the authority or pretence of such a tax of police, had 
 prevented our dear friend. Lord Charlemont. from going 
 abroad, would he have lost no satisfaction r AVould his friends 
 have lost nothing in the companion ? AYould his country 
 have lost nothing in the cultivated taste, with which he has 
 adorned it in so many ways ? His natural elegance of mind 
 would undoubtedly do a great deal ; but I will venture to 
 assert, without the danger of being contradicted, that he 
 adorns his present residence in Ireland much the more for hav- 
 ing resided a long time out of it. "VV'ill Mr. Flood himself think 
 he ought to have been driven by taxes into Ireland, whilst he 
 prepared himself, by an English education, to understand and 
 to defend the rights of the subject in Ireland, or to support 
 the dignity of government there, according as his opinions, 
 or the situation of things, may lead him to take either part, 
 upon respectable principles ? I hope it is not forgot, that an 
 Irish act of parliament sends its youth to England for the study 
 of the law, and compels a residence in the Inns of Court here 
 for some years. "Will you send out with one breath, and re- 
 call with another ? This act plainly provides for that inter* 
 course which supposes the strictest union in laws and policy, 
 in both which the intended tax supposes an entire separation. 
 
 It would be endless to go into aU the inconveniences this 
 
444 lETTEn TO SiE CHARLES BINGHAM. 
 
 tax will lead to, in the conduct of private life, and the use of 
 property. How many infirm people are obliged to change 
 their climate, whose life depends upon that change ! How 
 many families straitened in their circuinstauces are there, 
 who from the shame, sometimes from the utter impossibility, 
 otherwise of retrenching, are obliged to remove from their 
 country, in order to preserve their estates in their families ! 
 You begin, then, to burden these people precisely at the 
 time when their circumstances of health and fortune render 
 them rather objects of relief and commiseration. 
 
 I know very well that a great proportion of the money of 
 every subordiuate country will flow towards the metropolis. 
 This is unavoidable. Other inconveniencies too will result 
 to particular parts : — and why ? AVhy, because they are par- 
 ticular parts ; each a member of a greater, and not an whole 
 within itself. But those members are to consider, whether 
 these inconveniences are not fidly balanced, perhaps more 
 than balanced, by the united strength of a great and compact 
 body. I am sensible, too, of a diflf.culty that will be started 
 against the application of some of the principles which I 
 reason upon to the case of Ireland. It will be said that Ire- 
 land, in many particulars, is not bound to consider itself as a 
 part of the British body ; because this country, in many in- 
 Btances, is mistaken enough to treat you as foreigners, and 
 draws away your money by absentees, without suifering you to 
 enjoy your natural advantages in trade and commerce. No 
 man living loves restrictive regulations of any kind less than 
 myself; at best, nine times in ten, they are little better than 
 laborious and vexatious follies. Often, as in your case, they 
 are great oppressions, as well as great absurdities. But still 
 an injury is not always a reason for retaliation; nor is the 
 folly of others with regard to us a reason for imitating it with 
 regard to them. Before we attempt to retort, we ought to 
 consider whether we may not injure ourselves even more than 
 our adversary ; since, in the contest wlio shall go the greatest 
 length in absurdity, the victor is generally the greatest suf- 
 ferer. Besides, when there is an unfortunate emulation in 
 restraints and oppressions, the question of strength is of the 
 highest importance. It little becomes the feeble to be un- 
 just. Justice is the shield of tlie weak; and when they 
 ehooae to lay this down, and fight naked in the contest of 
 
LETTER TO SIE CHARLES BINGHAM. 445 
 
 mere power, the event will be what must be expected from 
 such imprudence. 
 
 I ought to beg your pardon for running into this length. 
 You want no arguments to convince you on this subject ; 
 and you want no resources of matter to convince others. I 
 ought too to ask pardon for having delayed my answer so 
 long ; but I received your letter on Tuesday in town, and I 
 was obliged to come to the country on business. From the 
 country I write at present ; but this day I shall go to town 
 again. I shall see Lord Eockingham, who has spared 
 neither time nor trouble in making a vigorous opposition to 
 this inconsiderate measure. I hope to be able to send you 
 the papers, which will give you information of the steps he 
 has taken. He has pursued this business with the foresight, 
 diligence, and good sense with which he generally resists 
 unconstitutional attempts of government. A life of disin- 
 terestedness, generosity, and public spirit are his titles to have 
 it believed, that the effect which the tax may have upon his 
 private property is not the sole nor the principal motive to 
 his exertions. I know he is of opinion that the opposition 
 in Ireland ought to be carried on with that spirit, as if no 
 aid was expected from this country ; and here, as if nothing 
 would be done in Ireland ; — many things have been lost by 
 not acting in this manner. 
 
 I am told that you are not likely to be alone in the ge- 
 nerous stand you are to make against this unnatural monster 
 of court popularity. It is said IMr. Hussey, who is so very 
 considerable at present, and who is everything in expecta- 
 tion, will give you his assistance. I rejoice to see (that very 
 rare spectacle) a good mind, a great genius, and public ac- 
 tivity united together, and united so early in life. By not 
 running into every popular humour, he may depend upon it 
 the popularity of his character will wear the better. 
 Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem ; 
 Ergo postque magisque viri nunc gloria claret. 
 
 Adieu, my dear Sir. G-ive my best respects to Lady 
 Bingham ; and believe me, with great truth and esteem, 
 Tour most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 Edm. Buekk 
 Beaconsjield, SOth October, 1773. 
 
 To Sir Chas. Bingham. 
 
446 LETTEB TO THE HONOUEABLE C. J. YOX, 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE HONOURABLE CHARLES JAMES FOX 
 
 My Dear Chaeles, 
 
 I am on many accounts exceedingly pleased with 
 your journey to Ireland. I do not think it was possible to 
 dispose better of the interval between this and the meeting 
 of parliament. I told you as much in the same general 
 terms by the post. My opinion of the infidelity of that 
 conveyance hindered me from being particular. 1 now sit 
 down with malice prepense to kill you with a very long letter, 
 and must take my chance for some safe method of conveying 
 the dose. Before I say anything to you of the place you 
 are in, or the business of it, on which, by the way, a great 
 deal might be said, I will turn myself to the concluding part 
 of your letter from Chatsworth. 
 
 You are sensible that I do not differ from you in many 
 things : and most certainly I do not dissent from the main 
 of your doctrine concerning the heresy of depending upon 
 contingencies. You must recollect how uniform my senti- 
 ments have been on that subject. I have ever wished a 
 settled plan of our own, founded in the very essence of the 
 American business, wholly unconnected with the events of 
 the war, and framed in such a manner as to keep up our 
 credit, and maintain our system at home, in spite of any- ^ 
 thing which may happen abroad. I am now convinced, by a 
 long and somewhat vexatious experience, that such a plan is 
 absolutely impracticable. I think with you, that some 
 faults in the constitution of those whom we nuist love and 
 trust are among the causes of this impracticability ; they 
 are faults too that one can hardly wish them perfectly cured 
 of, as I am afraid they are intimately connected with honest, 
 disinterested intentions, plentiful fortunes, assured rank, 
 and quiet homes. A great deal of activity and enterprise 
 can scarcely ever be expected from such men, unless some 
 horrible calamity is just over their heads ; or unless they 
 suffer some gross personal insults from power, the resent- 
 ment of which may be as unquiet and stimulating a principle 
 
LETTER TO THE nOyOURABLE C. J. FOX. 4-17 
 
 in their miuds as ambition is in those of a different com- 
 plexion. To say the truth, I cannot greatly blai»:e them. 
 We live at a time when men are not repaid id fame for 
 •what they sacrifice in interest or repose. 
 
 On the whole, when I consider of wh?« discordant, and 
 particularly of what fleeting, materials the opposition has 
 been all along composed, and at the same time review what 
 Lord Eockingham has done with that and with his own 
 shattered constitution for these last twelve years, I confess 
 I am rather surprised that he has done so much, and per- 
 severed so long, than that he has felt now and then some 
 cold fits, and that he grows somewhat languid and despond- 
 ing at last. I know that he and those who are much pre- 
 valent with him, though they are not thought so much de- 
 voted to popularity as others, do very much look to the 
 people ; and more than I think is wise in them, who do so 
 little to guide and direct the public opinion. "Without this 
 they act, indeed ; but they act as it were from compulsion, 
 and because it is impossible in their situation to avoid 
 taking some part. All this it is impossible to change, and 
 to no purpose to complain of. 
 
 As to that popular humour which is the medium we float 
 in, if I can discern anything at all of its present state, it is 
 
 ifar worse than I have ever known or could ever imagine it. 
 The faults of the people are not popular vices ; at least they 
 are not such as grow out of what we used to take to be the 
 English temper and character. The greatest number have a 
 Bort of a heavy, lumpish acquiescence in government, with- 
 
 , iOut much respect or esteem for those that compose it. I 
 really cannot avoid making some very unpleasant prognostics 
 from this disposition of ihe people. I think many of the 
 symptoms must have struck you ; I will mention one or two, 
 
 ^ that are to me very remarkable. You must know, that at 
 Bristol we grow, as an election interest, and even as a party 
 interest, rather stronger than we were when I was chosen. 
 |We have just now a majority in the corporation. In this 
 'State of matters what, think you, have they done ? They 
 have voted their freedom to Lord Sandwich, and Lord 
 Suffolk ! — to the first, at the very moment when the Ameri- 
 can privateers were domineering in the Irish Sea, and taking 
 
 >.the Bri.stol traders in the Bristol Channel; — to the latter, 
 
418 LETTEE TO THE HONOUKA.BLE C. J. FOX. 
 
 when his rernoustrances on the subject of captures were the 
 jest of Paris and of Europe. This fine step was taken, it 
 seems, in honour of the zeal of these two profound statesmen 
 in the prosecution of John the Painter ; so totally negligent 
 are they of everything essential, and so long and so deeply 
 affected with trash the most low and contemptible ; just as 
 if they thought the merit of Sir John Fielding was the most 
 shiniug point in the character of great ministers in the most 
 critical of all times, and of all others the most deeply inter- 
 esting to the commercial world ! My best friends in the 
 rorporation had no other doubts on the occasion, than 
 whether it did not belong to me, by right of my represent- 
 ative capacity, to be the bearer of this auspicious compli- 
 ment. In addition to this, if it could receive any addition, 
 they now employ me to solicit, as a favour of no small mag- 
 nitude, that after the example of Newcastle they may be 
 suffered to arm vessels for tlieir own defence in the Channel. 
 Their memorial, under the seal of Merchants Hall, is now 
 lying on the table before me. Not a soul has the least 
 sensibility, on finding themselves, now for the first time, 
 obliged to act as if the community were dissolved, and after 
 enormous payments towards the common protection, each 
 part was to defend itself, as if it were a separate state. 
 
 I don't mention Bristol, as if that were the part furthest 
 gone in this mortification. Par from it; I know that there 
 is rather a little more life in us than in any other place. In 
 Liverpool they are literally almost ruined by this American 
 war ; but they love it as they sufter from it. In short, from 
 whatever I see, and from whatever quarter I hear, I am 
 convinced, that everything that is not absolute stagnation 
 IS evidently a party spirit, very adverse to our politics, and 
 to the principles from whence they arise. There are mani- 
 fest marks of the resurrection of the Tory party. Tiiey no 
 longer criticise, as all disengaged people in the world will, 
 on the acts of government ; but they are silent under every 
 evil, aud hide and cover up every ministerial blunder and 
 misfortune, with the oflicious zeal of men who thiuk they 
 have a party of their own to support in power. The Tories 
 do universally think their power and consequence involved 
 in the success of this American business. The clergy are 
 astoaishingly wiirm iu it; ftud what the Tories are wheOi 
 
 .*t 
 
LETTEH TO THE IIOyOrEABLE C. J. EOX. 149 
 
 embodied and united with their natural head, the Cro!\Ti, 
 and animated by their clerg}% no man knows better than your- 
 self. As to the AVhigs, I think them far from extinct. They 
 are, what they always were, (except by the able use of oppor- 
 tunities,) by far the weakest party in this country. They 
 lave not yet learned the application of their principles to the 
 present state of things ; and as to the dissenters, the main 
 effective part of the Whig strength, they are, to use a favourite 
 expression of our American campaign style, "not all in force." 
 I They will do very little ; and, as far as I can discern, are 
 rather intimidated, than provoked, at the denunciations of the 
 court in the Archbishop of York's sermon. I thought that 
 sermon rather imprudent when I first saw it ; but it seems 
 to have done its business. 
 
 In this temper of the people I do not wholly wonder that 
 our northern friends look a little towards events. In war, 
 particularly, I am afraid it must be so. There is something 
 so weighty and decisive in the events of war, something that 
 so completely overpowers the imagination of the vulgar, that 
 all counsels must, in a great degree, be subordinate to, and 
 attendant on, them. I am sure it was so in the last war very 
 eminently. So that, on the whole, what with the temper of 
 the people, the temper of our own friends, and the domineer- 
 ing necessities of war, we must quietly give up all ideas of 
 ; any settled, preconcerted plan. We shall be lucky enough, 
 if, keeping ourselves attentive and alert, we can contrive to 
 ■j profit of the occasions as they arise ; though I am sensible 
 i that those, who are best provided with a general scheme, are 
 fittest to take advantage of all contingencies. However, to 
 ijact with any people with the least degree of comfort, I 
 i believe we must contrive a little to assimilate to their char- 
 acter. We must gravitate towards them, if we would keep 
 in the same system, or expect that they should approach 
 towards us. They are indeed worthy of much concession and 
 management. I am quite convinced that they are the 
 honestest public men that ever appeared in this country, and 
 I am sure that they are the wisest by far of those who appear 
 in it at present. iSTone of those who are continually com- 
 plaining of them, but are themselves just as chargeable witli 
 all their faults, and have a decent stock of their own into the 
 ^nrgain- They (our friends) are, I admit, as you very truly 
 
 ■OL. V * 2 Q 
 
450 LETTER TO THE HONOUEABLE C. J. EOX. 
 
 represent them, but indifferently qualified for storming a 
 citadel. After all, God knows whether this citadel is to be 
 stormed by them, or by anybody else, by the means they use, 
 or by any means. I know that as they are, abstractedly 
 speaking, to blame, so there are those who cry out against 
 them for it, not with a friendly complaint, as we do, but with 
 the bitterness of enemies. But I know, too, that those ^^ho 
 blame them for want of enterprise, have shown no activity at 
 all against the common enemy ; all their skill and all their 
 spirit have been shown only in weakening, dividing, and in- 
 deed destroying tlieir allies. What they are, and what we 
 are, is now pretty evidently experienced ; and it is certain 
 that, partly by our common faults, but much more by the 
 difficulties of our situation, and some circumstances of un- 
 avoidable misfortune, we are in little better than a sort of 
 cul-de-sac. For my part, I do all I can to give ease to my 
 mind in this strange position. I remember, some years ago, 
 when I was pressing some points with great eagerness and 
 anxiety, and complaining with great vexation to the Duke of 
 Eichniond of the little progress I make, he told me kindly, 
 and I believe very truly, that, though he was far from think- 
 ing so himself, other people could not be persuaded I had not 
 some latent private interest in pushing these matters, which I 
 urged with an earnestness so extreme, and so much approach- 
 ing to passion. He was certainly in the right. I am tho- 
 roughly resolved to give, both to myself and to my friends, 
 less vexation on these subjects than hitherto I have done ; — 
 much less indeed. 
 
 If you should grow too earnest, you will be still more in- 
 excusable than I was. Your having entered into affairs so 
 much younger ought to make them too familiar to you to be 
 the cause of much agitation, and you have much more before 
 you for your work. Do not be in haste. Lay your found* 
 ations deep in public opinion. Though (as you are sensible) 
 I have never given you the least hint of advice about joining 
 yourself in a declared connexion with our party, nor do I now ; 
 yet as I love that party very well, and am clear that you are 
 better able to serve tliem than any man I know, I \\ ish that 
 thiwgs should be so kept, as to leave you mutually very open 
 to one another in all changes and contingencies ; and I wish 
 tliis the rather, because, in order to be very great, as I aw 
 
LETTER TO THE HONOURABLE C. J. EOX. 451 
 
 auxious that you should he, (always presuming that you are 
 disposed to make a good use of power,) you will certainly 
 want some better support than merely that of the Crown. 
 For I much doubt whether, with all your parts, you are the 
 man formed for acquiring real interior favour in this court, or 
 in any ; I therefore wish you a firm ground in the country ; 
 and I do not know so firm and so sound a bottom to build on 
 as our party. Well, I have done with this matter ; and you 
 think I ought to have finished it long ago. Now I turn to 
 Ireland. 
 
 Observe, that I have not heard a word of any news relative 
 to it, from thence or from London ; so that I am only going 
 to state to you my conjectures as to facts, and to speculate 
 again on these conjectures. I have a strong notion that the 
 lateness of our meeting is owing to the previous arrangements 
 intended in Ireland. I suspect they mean, that Ireland 
 should take a sort of lead, and act an efficient part in this war, 
 both with men and money. It will sound well, when we 
 meet, to tell us of the active zeal and loyalty of the people 
 of Ireland, and contrast it with the rebellious spirit of 
 America. It will be a popular topic — the perfect confidence 
 of Ireland in the power of the British parliament. From 
 thence they will argue the little danger which any depend- 
 ency of the Crown has to apprehend from the enforcement of 
 that authority. It will be, too, somewhat flattering to the 
 country gentlemen, who might otherwise begin to be sullen, 
 to hold out that the burden is not wholly to rest upon them ; 
 and it will pique our pride to be told that Ireland has cheer- 
 fully stepped forward ; and when a dependant of this kingdom 
 has already engaged itself in another year's war, merely for 
 our dignity, how can wo, who are principals in the quarrel, 
 hold off? This scheme of policy seems to me so very obvious, 
 and is likely to be of so much service to the present system, 
 that I cannot conceive it possible they should neglect it, or 
 something like it. They have already put the people oi 
 Ireland to the proof. Have they not borne the Earl ol 
 Buckinghamshire ? the person who was employed to move 
 the fiery committee in the House of Lords, in order to stimulate 
 the ministry to this war; who was in the chair ; and who 
 moved the resolutions. 
 
 It is within a few days of eleven years since I was in 
 2 o 2 
 
452 lETTEE TO THE HONOURABLE C. J. VOX. 
 
 Ireland, and then after an absence of two. Those who hare 
 been absent from any scene for even a much shorter time, 
 generally lose the true practical notion of the country, and 
 of what may or may not be done in it. When I knew Ireland, 
 it was very different from the state of England, where govern- 
 ment is a vast deal, the public something, but individuals 
 comparatively very little. But if Ireland bears any re- 
 semblance to what it was some years ago, neither govern- 
 ment nor public opinion can do a great deal ; almost the 
 whole is in the hands of a few leading people. The populace 
 of Dublin, and some parts in the north, are in some sort an 
 exception. But the primate, Lord Hillsborough, and Lord 
 Hertford, have great sway in the latter, and the former may 
 be considerable or not, pretty much as the Duke of Leinster 
 pleases. On the whole, the success of government usually 
 depended on the bargain made with a very few men. The 
 resident lieutenancy may have made some change, and given 
 a strength to government which formerly, I know, it had not ; 
 still, however, I am of opinion, the former state, though in 
 other hands perhaps, and in another manner, still continues. 
 The house you are connected with is grown into a much 
 greater degree of power than it had, though it was very con- 
 siderable at the period I speak of. If the D. of L. takes a 
 popular part, he is sure of the city of Dublin, and he has a 
 young man attached to him who stands very forward in 
 parliament and in profession, and, by what I hear, with more 
 good-will and less envy than usually attends so rapid a pro- 
 gress. The movement of one or two principal men, if they 
 manage the little popular strength wliich is to be found in 
 Dublin and Ulster, may do a great deal, especially when 
 money is to be saved, and taxes to be kept oft'. I confess I 
 despair of your succeeding with any of them, if they cannot 
 be satisfied that every job which they can look for on account 
 of carrying this measure would be just as sure to them for 
 their ordinary support of government. They are essential 
 to government, which at this lime must not be disturbed ; 
 and their neutrality will be purchased at as high a price aa 
 their alliance oftensive and defensive. Now, as by support- 
 nig they may get as much as by betraying their country, it 
 must be a great leaning to turpitude that can make them 
 take a part in this war. I am satisfied, that if the Duke of 
 
 1 
 
LETTEH TO THE IloyoUEABLE C. J. FOX. 453 
 
 Leinster and Lord Shannon \vould act together, this business 
 could not go on ; or il' either of them took part with Ponson- 
 by, it would have no better success. Hutchinson's situation 
 is much altered since I saw you. To please Tisdall, he had 
 been in a manner laid aside at the Castle. It is now to be 
 seen whether he prefers the gratification of his resentment 
 and his appetite for popularity, both of which are strong 
 enough in him, to the advantages which his independence gives 
 him, of making a new bargain, and accumulating new offices 
 on his heap. Pray do not be asleep in this scene of action ; 
 at this time, if I am right, the principal. The Protestants of 
 Ireland will be, I think, in general, backward ; they form in- 
 finitely the greatest part of the landed and the monied in- 
 terests ; and they will not like to pay. The Papists are re- 
 duced to beasts of burden ; they will give all they have, 
 their shoulders, readily enough, if they are flattered. Surely 
 the state of Ireland ought for ever to teach parties modera- 
 tion in their victories. People crushed bylaw have no hopes 
 but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be 
 enemies to laws ; and those who have much to hope and 
 nothing to lose will always be dangerous, more or less. But 
 this is not our present business. If all this should prove a 
 dream, however, let it not hinder you from writing to me and 
 telling me so. You will easily refute, in your conversation, 
 the little topics which they will set afloat ; such as, that 
 Ireland is a boat, and must go with the ship ; that if the 
 Americans contended only for their liberties, it would be 
 different : but since thev have declared independence, and so 
 forth— 
 
 You are happy in enjoying Townshend's company. Ee- 
 member me to him. How does he like his private situation 
 in a country where he was the son of the sovereign ?— Mrs. 
 Burke and the two Eichards salute you cordially. 
 
 E. B. 
 Beaconsfield, 
 
 October ^th, 1777. 
 
454 LETTEE TO THE MABQTJI8 OF EOCKIIJGHAM. 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 TO THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM.* 
 
 My Deak Loed, 
 
 I am afraid that I ought rather to beg your pardon for 
 troubling you at all in this season of repose, than to apologize 
 for having been so long silent on the approaching business. 
 It comes upon us, not indeed in the most agreeable manner ; 
 but it does come upon us : and, I believe, your friends in 
 general are in expectation of finding your Lordship resolved in 
 what way you are to meet it. The deliberation is full of 
 difficulties ; but the determination is necessary. 
 
 The aifairs of America seem to be drawing towards a crisis. 
 The Howes are at this time in possession of, or are able to awe, 
 the whole middle coast of America, from Delaware to the 
 western boundary of Massachusetts Bay : the naval barrier on 
 the side of Canada is broken ; a great tract of country is 
 open for the supply of the troops ; the river Hudson opens a 
 way into the heart of the provinces ; and nothing can, in all 
 probability, prevent an early and offensive campaign. AVhat 
 the Americans have done is, in their circumstances, truly 
 astonishing ; it is, indeed, infinitely more than I expected from 
 them. But having done so much, for some short time I began 
 to entertain an opinion that they might do more. It is now, 
 however, evident that they cannot look standing armies in 
 the face. They are inferior in every thing, even in numbers ; 
 I mean in the number of those whom they keep in constant 
 duty and in regular pay. There seem, by the best accounts, 
 not to be above 10,000 or 12,000 men, at most, in their grand 
 army. The rest are militia, and not Monderfully well com- 
 posed or disciplined. They decline a general engagement, 
 
 ' This Letter, with the two Addresses which follow it, was written upon 
 occasion of a proposed secession from parliament of the members in both 
 Houses who had opposed the measures of government, in the contest be- 
 tween this country and the colonies in North America, from the lime of 
 the repeal of the Stamp Act. — It appears, from an endorsement written by 
 Mr. Burke on the manuscript, that he warmly recommended the measure, 
 but (for what reasons is not stated) it was not adopted. 
 
LF.TTEfe to THE ^ABQnS Of liOCtlKOfiAM. 455 
 
 prudently enough, if tbeir object had been to make the war 
 attend upon a treaty of good terms of subjection: but when 
 they look further, this will not do. An army that is obliged 
 at all times, and in all situations, to decline an engagement, 
 may delay theit ruin, but can never defend their country. 
 Foreign assistance they have little, or none, nor are likely 
 soon to have more. France, in effect, has no king, nor any 
 minister accredited enough, either with the court or nation, 
 to undertake a design of great magnitude. 
 
 In this state of things, I persuade myself, Franklin is come 
 to Paris to draw from that court a definitive and satisfactory 
 answer concerning the support of the colonies. If he cannot 
 get siich an answer, (and I am of opinion that at present he 
 cannot,) then it is to be presumed he is authorized to ne- 
 gotiate with liOrd Stormont on the basis of dependence on 
 the Crown. This I take to be his errand : for I never can 
 believe that he is come thither as a fugitive from his cause 
 in the hour of it^ distress, or that he is going to conclude a 
 long life, which has brightened every hour it has continued, 
 with so foul and dishonourable a flight. On this supposition, 
 I tliought it not wholly im|X)ssible that the AYhig party 
 might be made a sort of mediators of the peace. It is un- 
 natural to suppose that, in making an accommodation, the 
 Americans should not choose rather to give credit to those 
 who all along have opposed the measure of ministers, than 
 to throw themselves wholly on the mercy of their bitter, 
 uniform, and systematic enemies. It is indeed the victorious 
 enemy that has the terms to offer ; the vanquished party and 
 their friends are, both of them, reduced in their power; and 
 it is certain that those who are utterly broken aud subdued 
 have no option. But, as this is hardly yet the case of the 
 Americans, in this middle state of their affairs, (much im- 
 paired, but not perfectly ruined,) one would think it must be 
 their interest to provide, if possible, some further security for 
 the terms which they may obtain from their enemies. ]f the 
 Congress could be brought to declnre in favour of those terms, 
 for which 100 members of the House of Commons voted last 
 year, with some civilit}^ to the party which held out those 
 terms, it would undoubtedly have an eflect to revive the cause 
 of our liberties in England, aud to give the colonies some sort 
 of mooring and anchorage in this country. It seemed to me, 
 
460 LETTEE TO THE MAEQUIS OF EOCKINGHAM. 
 
 that Franldin might be made to feel tlie propriety of such a 
 step ; and as I have an acquaintance with him, I had a stron^^ 
 desire of taking a turn to Paris. Everjthiug else failing one 
 might obtain a better knowledge of the general aspect of 
 affairs abroad, than, I believe, any of us possess at present 
 Ihe Duke of Portland approved the idea. But when I had 
 conversed with tlie very few of your Lordship's friends who 
 were m town, and considered a little more maturely the con- 
 stant temper and standing maxims of the party, I laid aside 
 the design ; not being desirous of risking the displeasure of 
 those for whose sake alone I wished to take that fati^uino 
 journey at this severe season of the year. ^ ^ 
 
 The Duke of Portland has taken with him some heads of 
 deliberation, which were the result of a discourse with his 
 Grace and Mr. Montagu at Burlington House. It seems 
 essential to the cause, that your Lordship meet your friends 
 with some settled plan either of action or inaction. Your 
 friends will certainly require such a plan, and I am sure the 
 state of affairs requires it, whether they call for it or not. As 
 to the measure of a secession with reasons, after rolling the 
 matter in my head a good deal, and turning it a hundred ways, 
 I confess I still think it the most advisable, notwithstanding 
 the serious objections that lie against it, and indeed the ex- 
 treme uncertainty of all political measures, especially at this 
 time. It provides for your honour. I know of nothing else 
 that can so well do this : it is something, perhaps all, that can 
 be done in our present situation. Some precaution, in this 
 respect, is not without its motives. That very estimation 
 tor which you have sacrificed everything else, is in some 
 danger of suffering in the general wreck; and perhaps it is 
 likely to suffer the more, because you have hitherto confided 
 more than was quite prudent in the clearness of your in- 
 tentions, and in the solidity of the popular judgment upon 
 them. The former, indeed, is out of the power of events; 
 the latter is full of levity, and the very creature of fortune! 
 However, such as it is, (and for one I do not think I am in- 
 clined to overvalue it,) both our interest and our duty make 
 it necessary for us to attend to it very carefully, so loner aa 
 we act a part in public. The measure you take for *thfs 
 purpose may produce no immediate effect*; but with regard 
 to the party, and the principles for whose sake the partj 
 
LETTER TO THE MAEQriS OIT EOCKI^GHAM. dr^? 
 
 exists, all hope of their preservation or recoyeiy depends upon 
 your preserving your reputation. 
 
 By the conversation of some friends, it seemed as if they 
 ■were willing to fall in with this design, because it promised 
 to emancipate them from the servitude of irksome business, 
 and to afford them an opportunity of retiring to ease ana 
 ;;ranquillity. If that be their object in the secession and ad- 
 Iresses proposed, there surely never were means worse 
 chosen to gain their end ; and if this be any part of their 
 project, it were a thousand times better it were never under- 
 taken. — The measure is not only unusual, and as such critical, 
 but it is in its own nature strong and vehement in a high de- 
 gree. The propriety, therefore, of adopting it depends en- 
 tirely upon the spirit with which it is supported and followed. 
 To pursue violent measures with languor and irresolution is 
 not very consistent in speculation, and not more reputable or 
 safe in practice. If your Lordship's friends do not go to this 
 business with their whole hearts, if they do not feel them- 
 selves uneasy without it, if they do not undertake it with a 
 certain degree of zeal, and even with warmth and indignation, 
 it had better be removed wholly out of our thoughts. A 
 measure of less strength, and more in the beaten circle of 
 affairs, if supported with spirit and industry, would be, on all 
 accounts, infinitely more eligible. — "VVe have to consider what 
 it is, that, in this undertaking, we have against us : we have 
 the weight of King, Lords, and Commons, in the other scale : 
 we have against us, within a trifle, the whole body of the law : 
 we oppose the more considerable part of the landed and 
 mercantile interests : we contend, in a manner, against the 
 whole church : we set our faces against great armies flushed 
 with victory, and navies who have tasted of civil spoil, and 
 have a strong appetite for more : our strength, whatever it is, 
 must depend, for a good part of its effect, upon events not 
 very probable. In such a situation, such a step requires, not 
 only great magnanimity, but unwearied activity and perse- 
 verance, with a good deal, too, of dexterity and management, to 
 improve every accident in our favour. 
 
 The delivery of this paper may have very important con- 
 eequences. It is true that the coiu-t may pass it over in 
 silence, with a real or affected contempt. But this I do not 
 think so likely. If they do take notice of it, the mildest 
 
458 LETTER TO THE MAEQUIS OT EOCKIKGHAM. 
 
 course will be such an address from parliament as the House 
 of Commons made to the king on the London remonstrance 
 in the year 1769. This address will be followed by addresses 
 of a similar tendency from all parts of the kingdom, in order 
 to overpower you with what they will endeavour to pass as the 
 united voice and sense of the nation. But if they intend to 
 proceed further, and to take steps of a more decisive nature, 
 you are then to consider, not what they may legally and 
 justly do, but what a parliament, omnipotent in power, in- 
 fluenced with party rage and personal resentment, operating 
 under the implicit military obedience of court discipline, is 
 capable of. Though they have made some successful experi- 
 ments on juries, they will hardly trust enough to them to 
 order a prosecution for a supposed libel. They may proceed 
 m two ways, either by an impeacJiment, in which tlie Tories 
 may retort on the Whigs (but with better success, though in 
 a worse cause) the proceedings in the case of Sacheverel, or 
 they may, without this form, proceed, as against the Bishop 
 of Eochester, by a bill of pains and penalties more or less 
 gi'ievous. The similarity of the cases, or the justice, is (as 1 
 said) out of the question. The mode of proceeding has 
 several very ancient, and very recent, precedents. None of 
 these methods is impossible. The court may select three or 
 four of the most distinguished among you for their victims ; 
 and therefore nothing is more remote from the tendency of 
 the proposed act than any idea of retirement or repose. Ou 
 the contrary, you have all of you, as principals or auxiliaries, 
 a much better and more desperate conflict, in all probability, 
 to undergo than any you have been yet engaged in. Tlie 
 only question is, whether the risk ought to be run for the 
 chance (and it is no more) of recalling the people of England 
 to their ancient principles, and to that personal interest 
 which formerly they took in all public aflairs ? At any rate, I 
 am sure it is right, if we take this step, to take it with a full 
 view of the consequences ; and with minds and measures in a 
 state of preparation to meet them. It is not becoming that 
 your boldness should arise from a want of foresight. ]t is 
 more reputable, and certainly it is more safe, too, that it 
 should be grounded on the evident necessity of encountering 
 the dangers which you foresee. 
 
 Your Lordship will have tlie goodness to excuse me, if I 
 
LETTER TO THE MAEQUIS OF EOCKINGHAM:. 459 
 
 Btate in strong terras the difficulties attending a measure, 
 which on the whole I heartily concur in. But as, from mv 
 want of importance, I can be personally little subject to 
 the most trying part of the consequences, it is as little my 
 desire to urge others to dangers in which I am myself to 
 have so inconsiderable a share. 
 
 If this measure should be thought too great for our strength, 
 or the dispositions of the times, then the point will be to 
 consider what is to be done in parliament. A weak, 
 irregular, desultory, pee^•ish opposition there will be as much 
 too little as the other may be too big. Our scheme ought to 
 be such, as to have in it a succession of measures ; else it Lj 
 impossible to secure anything like a regular attendance ; 
 opposition will otherwise always carry a disreputable air ; 
 neither will it be possible, without that attendance, to per- 
 suade the people that we are in earnest. Above all, a motion 
 should be well digested for the first day. There is one thing 
 in particular I wish to recommend to your Lordship's con- 
 sideration ; that is, the opening of the doors of the House of 
 Commons. Without this, I am clearly convinced, it will be 
 in the power of ministry to make our opposition appear 
 without doors just in what light they please. To obtain a 
 gallery is the easiest thing in the world, if we are satisfied to 
 cultivate the esteem of our adversaries by the resolution and 
 energy with which we act against them : but if their satisfac- 
 tion and good humour be any part of our object, the attempt, 
 
 1 1 admit, is idle. 
 
 I I had some conversation, before I left town, with the J), of 
 M. He is of opinion, that, if you adhere to your resolution 
 of seceding, you ought not to appear on the first day of the 
 meeting. He thinks it can have no efiect, except to break 
 the continuity of your conduct, and thereby to weaken and 
 fritter away the impression of it. It certainly will seem odd 
 to give solemn reasons for a discontinuance of your attendance 
 in parliament, after having two or three times returned to it, 
 and immediately after a vigorous act of opposition. As to 
 [trials of the temper of the House, there have been of that sort 
 so many already, that I see no reason for making another 
 that would not hold equally good for another after that ; par- 
 ticularly, as nothing has happened in the least calculated to 
 alter the disposition of the House. If the secession were to 
 
4GC^ JLSDnESS TO TSE KIVO. 
 
 be general, such an attendance, followed by sucb an act, would 
 have force ; but being in its nature incomplete and broken, 
 to break it further by retreats and returns to the chase must 
 entirely destroy its effect. I confess I am quite of the D. of 
 M.'s opinion in this point. 
 
 I send your Lordship a corrected copy of the paper ; your 
 Lordship will be so good to communicate it, if you should 
 approve of the alterations, to Lord J. C. and Sir Gr. S. I 
 showed it to the D. of P. before his Grace left town, and at 
 his, the D. of P.'s desire, I have sent it to the D. of R. The 
 principal alteration is in the pages last but one. It is made 
 to remove a difficulty which had been suggested to Sir Gr. S., 
 and which he thought had a good deal in it. I think it much 
 the better for that alteration. Indeed it may want still more 
 corrections, in order to adapt it to the present or probable 
 future state of things. 
 
 What shall I say in excuse for this long letter, which 
 frightens me when 1 look back upon it ? Tour Lordship will 
 take it, and all in it, with your usual incomparable temper, 
 which carries you through so much both from enemies and 
 friends. My most humble respects to Lady E,, and believe 
 me, with the highest regard, ever, &c. 
 
 E. B. 
 
 I hear that Dr. Franklin has had a most extraordinary 
 reception at Paris from all ranks of people. 
 
 Beaconsfield, Monday nighty 
 Jan. 6, 1777. 
 
 AN ADDEESS TO THE KING.i 
 
 We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, several 
 of the peers of the realm, and several members of tlie House 
 of Commons chosen by the people to represent them iu 
 parliament, do in our individual capacity, but vrith hearts 
 filled with a warm affection to your Majesty, with a strong 
 ' See note, p. 454. 
 
 
ADDRESS TO THE KIITS. 4G1 
 
 attachment to your royal house, and with the most unfeigned 
 devotion to your true interest, beg leave, at this crisis of 
 your affairs, in all humility to approach your royal presence. 
 
 Whilst we lament the measures adopted by the public 
 councils of the kingdom, we do not mean to question the 
 legal validity of their proceedings. "We do not desire t( 
 appeal from them to any person whatsoever. "We do not 
 dispute the conclusive authority of the bodies in which w« 
 have a place over all their members. "We know that it 
 is our ordinary duty to submit ourselves to the determinations 
 of the majority in everything except what regards the just 
 defence of our honour and reputation. But the situation 
 into which the British empire has been brought, and the 
 conduct to which we are reluctantly driven in that situation, 
 we hold ourselves bound by the relation in which we stand 
 both to the Crown and the people clearly to explain to your 
 Majesty and our country. 
 
 AVe have been called upon in the speech from the throne 
 at the opening of this session of parliament, in a manner 
 peculiarly marked, singularly emphatical, and from a place 
 from whence anything implying censure falls with no common 
 weight,to concur in unanimous approbation of those measures 
 which have produced our present distresses, and threaten us 
 in future with others far more grievous. "We trust, therefore, 
 that we shall stand justified in offering to our sovereign and 
 the public our reasons for persevering inflexibly in our uniform 
 dissent from every part of those measures. AYe lament them 
 from an experience of their mischief, as we originally opposed 
 them from a sure foresight of their unhappy and inevitable 
 tendency. 
 
 AYe see nothing in the present events in the least degree 
 sufficient to warrant an alteration in our opinion. "We were 
 always steadily averse to this civil war — not because we 
 thought it impossible that it should be attended with victory ; 
 but because we were fully persuaded that in such a contest 
 victory would only vary the mode of our ruin ; and, by 
 making it less immediately sensible, would render it the more 
 lasting and the more irretrievable. Experience had but too 
 fully instructed us in the possibility of the reduction of a free 
 people to slavery by foreign mercenary armies. But we had 
 i^n horror of becoming the instruments in a design of which, 
 
462 AJ)DHESS TO THE KING. 
 
 in our turn, we might become tbe victims. Knowing the 
 inestimable value of peace, and the contemptible value of 
 what was sought by war, we wished to compose the distrac- 
 tions of oiu* country, not by the use of foreign arms, but by 
 prudent regulations in our own domestic policy. "VVe deplored, 
 as your Majesty has done in your speech from the thi'one, 
 the disorders which prevail in your empire : but we are con- 
 vinced that the disorders of the people, in the present time 
 and in the present place, are owing to the usual and natural 
 cause of such disorders at all times, and in all places, where 
 such have prevailed, — the misconduct of government ; — that 
 they are owing to plans laid in error, pursued with obstinacy, 
 and conducted without wisdom. 
 
 We cannot attribute so much to the power of faction, at 
 the expense of human nature, as to suppose, that in any part 
 of the world a combination of men, few in number, not con- 
 siderable in rank, of no natural hereditary dependencies, 
 should be able, by the efforts of their policy alone, or the 
 mere exertion of any talents, to bring the people of your 
 American dominions into the disposition which nas produced 
 the present troubles. "We cannot conceive that, without 
 some powerful concurring cause, any management should 
 prevail on some millions of people, dispersed over an whole 
 continent, in thirteen provinces, not only unconnected, but 
 in many particulars of religion, manners, government, and 
 local interest totally different and adverse, voluntarily to 
 submit themselves to a suspension of all the profits of in- 
 dustry and all the comforts of civil life, added to all the evils 
 of an unequal war carried on with circumstances of the i 
 greatest asperity and rigour. This, Sir, we conceive, could i 
 never have happened but from a general sense of some ' 
 grievance, so radical in its nature, and so spreading in its 
 effects, as to poison all the ordinary satisfactions of life, to 
 discompose the frame of society, and to convert into fear and ; 
 hatred that habitual reverence ever paid by mankind to an \ 
 ancient and venerable government. 
 
 That grievance is as simple in its nature, and as level to the ■ 
 most ordinary understanding, as it is powerful in affecting the 
 most languid passions ; — it is 
 
 "an attempt made to dispose of the PKOPEKTT 01 ' 
 
 k WHOLE PEOPLE WITHOUT THEIE CONSENT." 
 
 i 
 
ADDBESS TO TITE KiyO. 4G3 
 
 Tour Majesty's English subjects in the colonies, possessing 
 the ordinary faculties of mankind, know, that to live under 
 Buch a plan of government is not to live in a state of freedom. 
 Your English subjects in the colonies, still impressed with the 
 ancient feelings of the people from whom they are derived, 
 cannot live under a government which does not establish 
 freedom as its basis. 
 
 This scheme, being therefore set up in direct opposition to 
 the rooted and confirmed sentiments and habits of thinking 
 of an whole people, has produced the effects which ever must 
 result from such a collision of power and opinion. For we 
 beg leave, with all duty and humility, to represent to your 
 Majesty, (what we fear has been industriously concealed from 
 you,) that it is not merely the opinion of a very great num- 
 ber, or even of the majority, but the universal sense of the 
 whole body of the people in those provinces, that the practice 
 of taxing in the mode, and on the principles, which have 
 been lately contended for and enforced, is subversive of all 
 their rights. 
 
 This sense has been declared, as we understand on good 
 information, by the unanimous voice of all their assemblies ; 
 each assembly also, on this point, is perfectly unanimous 
 within itself. It has been declared as fully by the actual 
 voice of the people without these assemblies as by the con- 
 structive voice within them ; as well by those in that country 
 who addressed as by those who remonstrated ; and it is a3 
 much the avowed opinion of those who have hazarded their 
 all rather than take up arms against your Majesty's forces, as 
 of those who have run the same risk to oppose them. The 
 difference among them is, not on the grievance, but on the 
 mode of redress ; and we are sorry to say, that they who 
 have conceived hopes from the placability of the ministers, 
 who influence the public councils of this kingdom, disappear 
 in the multitude of those who conceive that passive com- 
 pliance only confirms and emboldens oppression. 
 
 The sense of a whole people, most gracious sovereign, never 
 ought to be contemned by wise and beneficent rulers ; what- 
 ever may be the abstract claims, or even rights, of the supreme 
 foii-er. We have been too early instructed, and too long 
 habituated to believe, that the ordy firm seat of all authority 
 
464 ADDRESS TO THE KTUfG. 
 
 is in the minds, affections, and interests of tlie people, to 
 change our opinions on the theoretic reasonings of speculative 
 men, or for the convenience of a mere temporary arrange- 
 ment of state. It is not consistent with equity or wisdom to 
 set at defiance the general feelings of great communities, 
 and of all the orders which compose them. Much power ia 
 tolerated, and passes unquestioned, where much is yielded to 
 opinion. All is disputed where everything is enforced. 
 
 Such are our sentiments on the duty and policy of con- 
 forming to the prejudices of a whole people, even where the 
 foundation of such prejudices may be false or disputable. 
 But permit us to lay at your Majesty's feet our deliberate 
 judgment on the real merits of that principle, the violation 
 of which is the known ground and origin of these troubles. 
 We assure your Majesty, that, on our parts, we should think 
 ourselves unjustifiable as good citizens, and not influenced by 
 the true spirit of Englishmen, if, with any effectual means of 
 prevention in our hands, we were to submit to taxes to which 
 we did not consent, either directly, or by a representation of 
 the people, securing to us the substantial benefit of an 
 absolutely free disposition of our own property in that im- 
 portant case. And we add. Sir, if fortune, instead of blessing 
 us with a situation where we m.ay have daily access to tlie 
 propitious presence of a gracious prince, had fixed us in 
 settlements on the remotest part of the globe, we must carry 
 these sentiments with us, as part of our being ; persuaded, 
 that the distance of situation would render this privilege iu 
 the disposal of property but the more necessary. If no 
 provision had been made for it, such provision ought to be 
 made or permitted. Abuses of subordinate authority increase, 
 and all means of redress lessen, as the distance of the subject 
 removes him from the seat of the supreme power. AVhat, in 
 those circumstances, can save him from the last extremes of 
 indignity and oppression but something left iu his own 
 hands, wliich may enable him to conciliate the favour and 
 control the excesses of government ? When no means of 
 power to awe or to oblige are possessed, the strongest ties 
 which connect mankind in every relation, social and civil, and 
 which teach them nuitually to respect each otlier, are broken. 
 —Independency, from that moment, virtually exists. Ita 
 
 f 
 
ADDEESa TO THE KXyO. 465 
 
 formal decljiration will quickly follow. Such must be oui 
 feelings for ourselves ; we are not in possession of another 
 rule for our brethren. 
 
 When the late attempt practically to annihilate that in- 
 estimable privilege was made, great disorders and tumults 
 very unhappily and very naturally arose from it. In this 
 state of things we were of opinion that satisfaction ought 
 instantly to be given ; or that, at least, the punishment of 
 the disorder ought to be attended with the redress of the 
 grievance. We were of opinion, that if our dependencies had 
 so outgrown the positive institutions made for the preserva- 
 tion of liberty in this kingdom that the operation of their 
 powers was become rather a pressure than a relief to the 
 Subjects in the colonies, wisdom dictated that the spirit of 
 the constitution should rather be applied to their circum- 
 stances, than its authority enforced with violence in those 
 very parts where its reason became wholly inapplicable. 
 
 Other methods were then recommended, and followed, as 
 infallible means of restoring peace and order. We looked 
 upon them to be, what they have since proved to be, the 
 cause of inflaming discontent into disobedience, and resistance 
 into revolt. The subversion of solemn fundamental charters, 
 on a suggestion of abuse, ^vithout citation, evidence, or hear- 
 ing : the total suspension of the commerce of a great maritime 
 city, the capital of a great maritime province, during the 
 pleasure of the Crown : the establishment of a military force, 
 not accountable to the ordinary tribunals of the country in 
 wiiieh it was kept up : — these and other proceedings at that 
 ti:rie, if no previous cause of dissension had subsisted, were 
 Bufficient to produce great troubles : unjust at all times, they 
 were then irrational. 
 
 W*e could not concei76, when disorders had arisen from 
 the complaint of one violated right, that to violate every other 
 was the proper means of quieting an exasperated people. It 
 leeeraed to us absui^d and preposterous to hold out, as the 
 [means of calming a people ma state of extreme inflammation, 
 and ready to take up arms, the austere law which a rigid con- 
 queror would impose, as the sequel of the most decisive 
 victories. 
 
 ^Recourse, indeed, was at the same time had to force ; and 
 we saw a force sent out, enough to menace liberty, but not tp 
 VOL V 2k 
 
466 ADDRESS TU THE KINO. 
 
 awe opposition ; tending to bring odium on the civil power, 
 and contempt on the military ; at once to provoke and en- 
 courage resistance. Force was sent out not sufficient to 
 hold one town ; laws were passed to inflame thirteen pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 This mode of proceeding by harsh laws and feeble armies 
 could not be defended on the principle of mercy and forbear- 
 ance. For mercy, as we conceive, consists, not in the weak- 
 ness of the means, but in the benignity of the ends. We 
 apprehend that mild measures may be powerfully enforced; 
 and that acts of extreme rigour and injustice may be attended 
 with as much feebleness in the execution as severity in the 
 formation. 
 
 In consequence of these terrors, which, falling upon some, 
 threatened all, the colonies made a common cause with the 
 sufferers ; and proceeded, on their part, to acts of resistance. 
 In that alarming situation, we besought your Majesty's 
 ministers to entertain some distrust of the operation of coer- 
 cive measures, and to profit of their experience. Experience 
 had no effect. The modes of legislative rigour were construed, 
 not to have been erroneous in their policy, but too limited in 
 their extent. New severities were adopted. The fislieries of 
 vour people In America followed their charters ; and their 
 mutual combination to defend what they thought their 
 common rights, brought on a total prohibition of their mutual 
 commercial intercourse. No distinction of persons or merits 
 was observed — the peaceable and the mutinous, friends and 
 foes, were alike involved, as if the rigour of the laws had a 
 certain tendency to recommend the authority of the legislator. 
 
 Whilst the penal laws increased in rigour, and extended in 
 application over all the colonies, the direct force was applied 
 but to one part. Had the great fleet and foreign army since 
 employed been at that time caUed for, the greatness of the 
 preparation would have declared the magnitude of the danger. 
 The nation would have been alarmed, and taught the necessity 
 of some means of reconciliation with our countrymen in 
 America, who, whenever they are provoked to resistance, 
 demand a force to reduce them to obedience full as destruc- 
 tive to us as to them. But parliament and the people, by a 
 premeditated concealment of their real situation, were drawn 
 into perplexities which furnished excuses for further arma- 
 
 t 
 
ADDEESS TO THE KING. 467 
 
 menrs ; and whilst tLey were taught to believe themselves 
 called to suppress a riot, they found themselves involved in a 
 mighty war. 
 
 At length British blood was spilled by British hands — a 
 fatal era, which we must ever deplore, because your empire 
 will for ever feel it. Your Majesty was touched with a sense 
 of so great a disaster. Tour paternal breast was affected 
 with the sufferings of your English subjects in America. In 
 your speech from the throne, in the beginning of the session 
 of 1775, you were graciously pleased to declare yourself in- 
 clined to relieve their distresses, and to pardon their errors. 
 You felt their sufferings under the late penal acts of parlia- 
 ment. But your ministry felt differently. Xot discouraged 
 by the pernicious effects of all they had hitherto advised, and 
 notwithstanding the gracious declaration of your Majesty, 
 they obtained another act of parliament, in which the rigours 
 of all the former were consolidated, and embittered by cir- 
 cumstances of additional severity and outrage. The whole 
 trading property of America (even unoffending shipping in 
 port) was indiscriminately and irrecoverably given, as the 
 plunder of foreign enemies, to the sailors of your navy. 
 This property was put out of the reach of your mercy. Your 
 people were despoiled ; and your navy, by a new, dangerous, 
 and prolific example, corrupted with the plunder of their 
 countrymen. Your people in that part of your domiuions were 
 put, in their general and political as well as their personal 
 capacity, wholly out of the protection of your government. 
 
 Though unwilling to dwell on all the improper modes of 
 ^carrying on this unnatural and ruinous war, and which have 
 led directly to the present unhappy separation of Great 
 'Britain and its colonies, we must beg leave to represent two 
 particulars, which we are sure must have been entirely con- 
 trary to your Majesty's order or approbation. Every course 
 ;of action in hostility, however that hostility may be just or 
 ;raerited, is not justifiable or excusable. It is the duty of 
 Ithose who claim to rule over others not to provoke them 
 beyond the necessity of the case ; nor to leave stings in their 
 minds which must long rankle, even when the appearance of 
 tranquillity is restored. — We therefore assure your Majesty, 
 that it is v^-ith shame and sorrow we have seen several acts of 
 iiostiiitv, which could have no other tendency than incurably 
 
 2 tt 2 
 
468 A-DDRESS TO THE KIITO. 
 
 to alienate the minds of your American subjects. To excite, 
 by a proclamation issued by your Majesty's governor, a 
 I universal insurrection of negro slaves in any of the colonies, 
 \ is a measure full of complicated horrors ; absolutely illegal ; 
 suitable neither to the practice of war nor to the laws of 
 peace. Of the same quality we look upon all attempts to 
 bring down on your subjects an irruption of those fierce and 
 cruel tribes of savages and cannibals, in whom the vestigea 
 of human nature are nearly effaced by ignorance and barbar- 
 ity. They are not fit allies for your Majesty in a war with 
 your people. They are not fit instruments of an English 
 government. These, and many other acts, we disclaim as 
 having advised or approved when done ; and we clear our- 
 selves to your Majesty, and to all civilized nations, from any 
 participation whatever, before or after the fact, in such un- 
 justifiable and horrid proceedings. 
 
 But there is one weighty circumstance which we lament 
 equally with the causes of war, and with the modes of carry- 
 ing it on — that no disposition whatsoever towards peace or 
 reconciliation has ever been shown by those who have di- 
 rected the public councils of this kingdom, either before the 
 breaking out of these hostilities, or during the unhappy con- 
 tinuance of them. Every proposition made in your parlia- 
 ment to remove the original cause of these troubles, by taking 
 ofi" taxes, obnoxious for their principle or their design, has 
 been overruled: every bill, brought in for quiet, rejected 
 even on the first proposition. The petitions of the colonies 
 have not been admitted even to a hearing. The very possi- 
 bility of public agency, by which such petitions could authen- 
 tically arrive at parliament, has been evaded and chicaned 
 away. All the public declarations which indicate anything 
 resembling a disposition to reconciliation, seem to us loose, 
 general, equivocal, capable of various meanings, or of none ; 
 and they are accordingly construed differently, at different 
 times, by those on whose recommendation they have been 
 made ; being wholly unlike the precision and stability of pub- 
 lic faith ; and bearing no mark of that" ingenuous simplicity, 
 and native candour and integrity, which formerly character- 
 ized the English nation. 
 
 Instead of any relaxation of the claim of taxing at the dis- 
 cretion of parliament, your ministers have devised a uew 
 
ADDRESS TO THE KING. 4()0 
 
 mode of enforcing that claim, much more offcctiir>l for the 
 oppression of the colonies, though not for your Majesty's 
 service, both as to the quantity and application, than any of 
 the former methods ; and their mode has been expressly held 
 out by ministers, as a plan not to be departed from by the 
 House of Commons, and as the very condition on \vhich the 
 legislature is to accept the dependence of the colonies. 
 
 At length, when, after repeated refusals to hear or to con- 
 ciliate, an act, dissolving your government by putting your 
 people in America out of your protection, was passed, your 
 ministers suffered several months to elapse without affording 
 to them, or to any community, or any individual amongst 
 them, the means of entering into that protection even on 
 unconditional submission, contrary to your Majesty's gra- 
 cious declaration from the throne, and in direct violation of 
 the public faith. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, agree to unite in new severities 
 against the brethren of our blood for their asserting an in- 
 dependency, to which, we know in our conscience, they have 
 been necessitated by the conduct of those very persons who 
 now make use of that argument to provoke us to a continu- 
 ance and repetition of the acts, which in a regular series 
 have led to this great misfortune. 
 
 The reasons, dread Sir, which have been used to justify 
 this perseverance in a refusal to hear or conciliate, have been 
 reduced into a sort of parliamentary maxims which we do 
 not approve. The first of these maxims is, "that the two 
 Houses ought not to receive (as they have hitherto refused 
 to receive) petitions containing matter derogatory to auy 
 part of the authority they claim." We conceive this maxim, 
 and the consequent practice, to be unjustifiable by reason or 
 the practice of other sovereign powers, and that it must be 
 .productive, if adhered to, of a total separation between this 
 kingdom and its dependencies. The supreme power, being in 
 ordinary cases the ultimate judge, can, as we conceive, suffer 
 nothing in having any part of his rights excepted to, or even 
 discussed, before himself. We know that sovereigns in other 
 countries, where the assertion of absolute regal power is as 
 high as the assertion of absolute power in any politic body 
 can possibly be here, have received many petitions in direct 
 opposition to many of their claims of prerogative ; have list- 
 
470 ADDRESS TO THE KHSQ. 
 
 eued to thei.i ; condescended to discuss and to give answers 
 to them. This refusal to admit even the discussion of any 
 part of an undefined prerogative will naturally tend to anni- 
 hilate any privilege that can be claimed by every inferior 
 dependent community, and every subordinate order in the 
 state. 
 
 The next maxim, which has been put as a bar to any plan 
 of accommodation, is, " that no offer of terms of peace ought 
 to be made before parliament is assured that these terms 
 will be accepted." On this we beg leave to represent to 
 your Majesty, that if in all events the policy of this kingdom 
 is to govern the people in your colonies as a free people, no 
 mischief can possibly happen from a declaration to them, and 
 to the world, of the manner and form in which parliament 
 proposes that they shall enjoy the freedom it protects. It is 
 an encouragement to the innocent and meritorious that they 
 at least shall enjoy those advantages which they patiently 
 expected, rather irom the benignity of parliament than their 
 own efibrts. Persons more contumacious may also see that 
 they are resisting terms of perhaps greater freedom and hap- 
 piness than they are now in arms to obtain. The glory and 
 propriety of offered mercy is neither tarnished nor weakened 
 by the folly of those who refuse to take advantage of it. 
 
 We cannot think that the declaration of independency 
 makes any natural difference in the reason and policy of the 
 offer. No prince out of the possession of his dominions, and 
 become a sovereign de jure only, ever thought it derogatory 
 'to his rights or his interests to hold out to his former sub- 
 jects a distinct prospect of the advantages to be derived from 
 his readmission, and a security for some of the most funda- 
 mental of those popular privileges in vindication of which 
 he had been deposed. On the contrary, such offers have 
 been almost uniformly made under similar circumstances. 
 Besides, as your Majesty has been graciously pleased, in 
 your speech irom the tlirone, to declare your intention of re- 
 storing your people in the colonies to a state of law and 
 liberty, no objection can possibly lie against defining what 
 that law and liberty are ; because those who ofter, and those 
 who are to receive, terms frequently differ most widely, and 
 most materially, in the signification of these words, and in 
 the objects to which they apply. 
 
ADDEESS TO THE KINO. 471 
 
 To say that we do not know, at this day, what the griev- 
 ances of the colonies are, (be they real or pretended,) would 
 be unworthy of us. But whilst we are thus waiting to be 
 informed of what we perfectly know, we weaken the powers 
 of the commissioners ; we delay, perhaps we lose, the happy 
 hour of peace ; we are wasting the substance of both 
 countries ; we are continuing the eifusion of human, of 
 Christian, of English blood. 
 
 We are sure that we must have your Majesty's heart 
 along with us, when we declare in favour of mixing some- 
 thing conciliatory with our force. Sir, we abhor the idea of 
 making a conquest of our countrymen. We wish that they 
 may yield to well ascertained, well authenticated, and well 
 secured terms of reconciliation ; not that your Majesty 
 should OAve the recovery of your dominions to their total 
 waste and destruction. Humanity will not permit ns to 
 entertain such a desire ; nor will the reverence we bear to 
 the civil rights of mankind make us even wish that questions 
 of great ditficulty, of the last importance, and lying deep in 
 the vital principles of the British constitution, should be 
 solved by the arms of foreign mercenary soldiers. 
 
 It is not, Sir, from a want of the most inviolable duty to 
 your Majesty, not from a want of a partial and passionate 
 regard to that part of your empire in which we reside, and 
 which we wish to be supreme, that we have hitherto with- 
 stood all attempts to render the supremacy of one part of 
 your dominions inconsistent with the liberty and safety of 
 all the rest. The motives of our opposition are found in 
 those very sentiments which we are supposed to ^-iolate. 
 For we are convinced beyond a doubt that a system of de- 
 pendence, which leaves no security to the people for any 
 part of their freedom in their own hands, cannot be establish- 
 ed in any inferior member of the British empire, without 
 consequentially destroying the freedom of that very body in 
 favour of whose boundless pretensions such a scheme is 
 adopted. We know and feel that arbitrary power ovep 
 distant regions is not within the competence, nor to be ex- 
 ercised agreeably to the forms, or consistently with the spirit, 
 of great popular assemblies. If such assemblies are called 
 to a nominal share in the exercise of such power, in order io 
 ■ere/ .11, under general participation, the guilt of desperate 
 
472 .5lDdeess to the ktsg^. 
 
 measures, it tends ouly the more deeply to corrupt the d^ 
 iiberative character of those assemblies, in trainiug them to 
 blind obedience ; in habituating them to proceed upon 
 grounds of fact, with which they can rarely be sufficiently 
 acquainted, and in rendering them executive instruments of 
 designs, the bottom of which they cannot possibly fathom. 
 
 To leave any real freedom to parliament, freedom must 
 be left to the colonies. A military government is the only 
 substitute for civil liberty. That the establishment of such 
 a power in America will utterly ruin our finances (though 
 its certain eftect) is the smallest part of our concern. It 
 will become an apt, powerful, and certain engine for the de- 
 struction of our freedom here. Great bodies of armed men, 
 trained to a contempt of popular assemblies representative of 
 an English people ; kept up for the purpose of exacting im- 
 positions without their consent, and maintained by that ex- 
 action ; instruments in subverting, without any process of 
 law, great ancient establishments and respected forms of 
 governments ; set free from, and therefore above, the ordinary 
 English tribunals of the country where they serve ; — these 
 men cannot so transform themselves, merely by crossing the 
 sea, as to behold with love and reverence, and submit with 
 profound obedience to the very same things in Great Britain 
 which in America they had been taught to despise, and had 
 been accustomed to awe and humble. All your Majesty's 
 troops, in the rotation of service, will pass through this dis- 
 cipline, and contract these habits. If we could flatter our- 
 selves that this would not happen, we must be the weakest 
 of men : we must be the worst, if we were indifferent 
 whether it happened or not. AVhat, gracious sovereign, is 
 the empire of America to us, or the empire of the wo'-M, if 
 we los'. our own liberties ? We deprecate this last of evils. 
 We deprecate the effect of the doctrines which must support 
 and countenance the government over conquered English- 
 men. 
 
 As it will be impossible long to resist the powerful and 
 equitable arguments in favour of the freedom of these un- 
 happy people that are to be drawn from the principle of our 
 own liberty ; attempts will be nmde, attempts have been 
 made, to ridicule and to argue away this principle ; and to 
 inculcate into the minds of your people other maxims of 
 
 ii 
 
ADDEESS TO THE KINO. 473 
 
 government and other grounds of obedience, than those 
 which have prevailed at and since the glorious revolution. 
 By degrees, these doctrines, by being convenient, may grow 
 prevalent. The consequence is not certain ; but a general 
 change of principles rarely happens among a people without 
 leading to a change of government. 
 
 Sir, your throne cannot stand secure upon the principles 
 of unconditional submission and passive obedience ; on 
 powers exercised without the concurrence of the people to 
 be governed ; on acts made in defiance of their prejudices 
 and habits ; on acquiescence procured by foreign mercenary 
 troops, and secured by standing armies. These may possibly 
 be the foundation of other thrones : they must be the sub- 
 version of yours. It was not to passive principles in our 
 ancestors that we owe the honour of appearing before a 
 sovereign who cannot feel that he is a prince without know- 
 ing that we ought to be free. The revolution is a departure 
 from the ancient course of the descent of this monarchy. 
 The people at that time re-entered into their original rights ; 
 and it was not because a positive law authorized what was 
 then done, but because the freedom and safety of the sub- 
 ject, the origin and cause of all laws, required a proceeding 
 paramount and superior to them. At that ever-memorable 
 and instructive period, the letter of the law was superseded 
 in favour of the substance of liberty. To the free choice, 
 therefore, of the people, without either king or parliament, 
 we owe that happy establishment, out of which both king 
 and parliament were regenerated. From that great principle 
 of liberty have originated the statutes, confirming and ratify- 
 ing the establishment from which your Majesty derives your 
 right to rule over us. Those statutes have not given us our 
 liberties ; our liberties have produced them. Every hour of 
 your Majesty's reign your title stands upon the very same 
 foundation on which it was at first laid ; and we do not 
 know a better on which it can possibly be placed. 
 
 Convinced, Sir, that you cannot have difi'erent rights and a 
 different security in different parts of your dominions, we 
 wish to lay an even platform for your throne ; and to give il 
 an unmovable stability, by laying it on the general freedom 
 of your people ; and by securing to your Majesty that eon- 
 fideuce and affection in aU parts of your dominions which 
 
474 ADDRESS TO THE KVSd. 
 
 makes your best security and dearest title in this the chiet 
 seat of your empire. 
 
 Such Sir, being amongst us the foundation of monarchy 
 itself, much more clearly and much more peculiarly is it the 
 ground of all parliamentary power. Parliament is a security 
 provided for the protection of freedom, and not a subtile 
 fiction contrived to amuse the people in its place. The 
 authority of both Houses can still less than that of the 
 Crown be supported upon different principles in different 
 places ; so as to be for one part of your subjects a protector 
 of liberty, and for another a fund of despotism, through 
 which prerogative is extended by occasional powers, when* 
 .ever an arbitrary will finds itself straitened by the restrictions 
 of law. Had it seemed good to parliament to consider itself 
 as the indulgent guardian and strong protector of the free- 
 dom of the subordinate popular assemblies, instead of exer- 
 cising its powers to their annihilation, there is no doubt that 
 it never could have been their inclination, because not their 
 interest, to raise questions on the extent of parliamentary 
 rights ; or to enfeeble privileges which were the security of 
 their own. Powers, evident from necessity, and not sus- 
 picious from an alarming mode or purpose in the exertion, 
 would, as formerly they were, be cheerfully submitted to; 
 and these would have been fully sufficient for conservation of 
 unity in the empire, and for directing its v/ealth to one com- 
 nion centre. Another use has produced other consequences; 
 and a power which refuses to be limited by moderation 
 must either be lost, or find other more distinct and satisfac- 
 tory limitations. 
 
 As for us, a supposed, or, if it could be, a real, participa- 
 tion in arbitrary power would never reconcile our minds to 
 its establishment. We should be ashamed to stand before 
 your Majesty boldly asserting, in our own favour, inherent 
 rights which bind and regulate the Crown itself, and yet in- 
 sisting on the exercise, in our own persons, of a more arbi- 
 trary sway over our fellow-citizens and fellow-freemen. 
 
 These, gracious sovereign, are the sentiments which wo 
 consider ourselves as bound, in justification of our present 
 conduct, in the most serious and solemn manner to lay at 
 your Majesty's feet. AVe have been called by your Majesty 'i 
 writs and proclamations, and we have been authoriijcd, 
 
ADDEESS TO THE KINO. 473 
 
 either by hereditary privilege, or the choice of your people, 
 to confer acd treat with your Majesty, in your highest coun- 
 cils, upon the arduous affairs of your kingdom. We are 
 sensible of the whole importance of the duty which this 
 constitutional summons implies. We know the religious 
 
 Suuctuality of attendance which, in the ordinary course, it 
 emands. It is no light cause which, even for a time, could 
 persuade us to relax in any part of that attendance. The 
 British empire is in convulsions which threaten its dissolu- 
 tion. Those particular proceedings which cause and inflame 
 this disorder, after many years' incessant struggle, we find 
 ourselves wholly unable to oppose, and unwilling to behold. 
 All our endeavours haA'ing proved fruitless, we are fearful at 
 this time of irritating, by contention, those passions which 
 we have found it impracticable to compose by reason. We 
 cannot permit ourselves to countenance, by the appearance 
 of a silent assent, proceedings fatal to the liberty and unity 
 of the empire ; proceedings which exhaust the strength of 
 all your Majesty's dominions, destroy all trust and depend- 
 ence of our allies, and leave us both at home and abroad 
 exposed to the suspicious mercy and uncertain inclinations 
 of our neighbour and rival powers ; to whom, by this despe- 
 rate course, we are driving our countrymen for protection, 
 and with whom we have forced them into connexions, and 
 may bind them by habits and by interest : — an evil which 
 no victories that may be obtained, no severities which may 
 be exercised, ever will or can remove. 
 
 If but the smallest hope should from any circumstances 
 appear of a return to the ancient maxims and true policy of 
 this kingdom, we shall with joy and readiness return to our 
 attendance, in order to give our hearty support to whatever 
 means may be left for alleviating the complicated evils 
 which oppress this nation. 
 
 If this should not happen, we have discharged our con- 
 sciences by this faithful representation to your Majesty and 
 our country ; and, however few in number, or however we 
 may be overborne by practices ,whose operation is but too 
 powerful, by the revival of dangerous, exploded principles, or 
 by the misguided zeal of such arbitrary factions as formerly 
 prevailed in this kingdom, and always to its detriment and 
 disgrace, we have the satisfaction of standing forth and re* 
 
476 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLOI^^ISTS 
 
 cording our names in assertion of those principles whoso 
 operation hath, in better times, made your Majesty a great 
 prince, and the British dominions a mighty empire. 
 
 ADDEESS 
 
 TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS IN NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 The very dangerous crisis, into which the British empire 
 is brought, as it accounts for, so it justifies, the unusual step 
 we take in addressing ourselves to you. 
 
 The distempers of the state are grown to such a degree of 
 violence and malignity as to render all ordinary remedies 
 vain and frivolous. In such a deplorable situation, an ad- 
 herence to the common forms of business appears to ua 
 rather as an apology to cover a supine neglect of duty, than 
 the means of performing it in a manner adequate to the 
 exigency that presses upon us. The common means we 
 have already tried, and tried to no purpose. As our last 
 resource, we turn ourselves to you. We address you merely 
 in our private capacity ; vested with no other autliority than 
 what will naturally attend those, in whose declarations of 
 benevolence you have no reason to apprehend any mixture 
 of dissimulation or design. 
 
 We have this title to your attention : we call upon it in 
 a moment of the utmost importance to us all. AVe find, 
 with infinite concern, that arguments are used to persuade 
 you of the necessity of separating yourselves from your 
 ancient connexion with your parent country, grounded on a 
 supposition that a general principle of alienation and enmity 
 to you had pervaded the whole of this kingdom ; and that 
 there does no longer subsist between you and us any com- 
 mon and kindred principles, upon which we can possibly 
 unite consistently with those ideas of liberty in which you 
 have justly placed your whole happiness. 
 
 If this fact were true, the inference drawn from it would 
 be irresistible. But nothing is less founded. We admit, 
 indeed, that violent addresses have been procured with un» 
 euiamon pains by wicked and designing men, purporting to 
 
IN NOHTH AMERICA. 477 
 
 fee tlie genuine voice of the whole people of England ; that 
 they have been published by authority here ; and made 
 known to you by proclamations ; in order, by despair and 
 resentment, incurably to poison your minds against the 
 origin of your race, and to render all cordial reconciliation 
 between us utterly impracticable. The same wicked men, 
 for the same bad purposes, have so far surprised the justice 
 of parliament, as to cut off all communication bet-vixt us, 
 except what is to go in their own fallacious and hostile 
 channel. 
 
 But we conjure you by the invaluable pledges, which 
 have hitherto united, and which we trust will hereafter last- 
 ingly unite us, that you do not suiFer yourselves to be per- 
 suaded, or provoked, into an opinion, that you are at war 
 with this nation. Do not think, that the whole, or even the 
 uninfluenced majority, of Englishmen in this island are ene- 
 mies to their own blood on the American continent. Muct 
 delusion has been practised ; much corrupt influence treach- 
 erously employed. But still a large, and we trust the 
 largest and soundest, part of this kingdom perseveres in the 
 most perfect unity of sentiments, principles, and aftections, 
 with you. It spreads out a large and liberal platform of 
 common liberty, upon which we may all unite for ever. It 
 abhors the hostilities which have been carried on against 
 you, as much as you who feel the cruel effect of them. It 
 has disclaimed, in the most solemn manner, at the foot of 
 the throne itself, the addresses, which tended to irritate your 
 sovereign against his colonies. We are persuaded that 
 even many of those who unadvisedly have put their hands 
 to such intemperate and inflammatory addresses, have not at 
 all apprehended to what such proceedings naturally lead ; 
 and would sooner die, than afford them the least countenance, 
 if they were sensible of their fatal eflfects on the union and 
 liberty of the empire. -.-^^ 
 
 For ourselves, we faithfully assure you that we have ever 
 considered you as rational creatures ; as free agents ; as men 
 willing to pursue, and able to discern, your own true interest. 
 "We have wished to continue united with you, in order that 
 a people of one origin and one character should be directed 
 to the rational objects of government by joint counsels, and 
 protected in them by a common force. Other subordination 
 
478 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLOTflSTS 
 
 iu you we require none. "We have never pressed that argu- 
 ment of general union to the extinction of your local, 
 natural, and just privileges. Sensible of what is due both 
 to the dignity and weakness of man, we have never wished 
 to place over you any government, over which, in great fun- 
 damental points, you should have no sort of check or control 
 in your own hands, or which should be repugnant to your 
 situation, principles, and character. 
 
 'No circumstances of fortune, you may be assured, will 
 ever induce us to form, or tolerate, any such design. If the 
 disposition of Providence (which we deprecate) should even 
 prostrate you at our feet, broken in power and in spirit, it 
 would be our duty and inclination to revive, by every prac- 
 tical means, that free energy of mind, which a fortune un- 
 suitable to your virtue had damped and dejected; and to 
 put you voluntarily in possession of those very privileges 
 which you had in vain attempted to assert by arms. Eor 
 we solemnly declare, that although we should look upon a 
 separation from you as a heavy calamity, (and the heavier, 
 because we know you must have your full share in it,) yet 
 we had much rather see you totally independent of this 
 Crown and kingdom, than joined to it by so unnatural a con- 
 junction as that of freedom with servitude: — a conjunction 
 which, if it were at all practicable, could not fail in the end 
 of being more mischievous to the peace, prosperity, great- 
 ness, and power of this nation, than beneficial, by an en- 
 largement of the bounds of nominal empire. 
 
 But because, brethren, these professions are general, and 
 such as even enemies may make, when they reserve to them- 
 selves the construction of what servitude and what liberty 
 are, we inform you, that we adopt your own standard of the 
 blessing of free government. We are of opinion that you 
 ought to enjoy the sole and exclusive right of freely grant- 
 ing, and applying to the support of your administration, 
 what Grod has freely granted as a reward to your industry. 
 And we do not confine this immunity from exterior coercion 
 in this great point solely to wliat regards your local estab- 
 lishment, but also to what may be thought proper for the 
 maintenance of the whole empire. In tliis resource we 
 cheerfully trust and acquiesce : satisfied by evident reason 
 that no other expectation of revenue can possibly be given 
 
IN NOrtTH AMEHTCA. 479 
 
 by free men ; and knowing, from an experience uniform both 
 on yours and on our side of the ocean, that such an expecta- 
 tion has never yet been disappointed. We know of no road 
 to your coffers but through your affections. 
 
 To manifest our sentiments the more clearly to you and 
 to the world on this subject ; we declare our opinion, that if 
 no revenue at all, which, however, we are far from supposing, 
 were to be obtained from you to this kingdom, yet as long 
 as it is our happiness to be joined with you in bonds of fra- 
 ternal charity and freedom, with an open and flowing com- 
 merce between us, one principle of enmity and friendship 
 pervading, and one right of war and peace directing, the 
 strength of the whole empire, we are likely to be, at least, as 
 powerful as any nation, or as any combination of nations, 
 'hich in the course of human events may be formed against 
 us. We are sensible that a very large proportion of the 
 wealth and power of every empire must necessarily be thrown 
 upon the presiding state. AVe are sensible that such a state 
 ever has borne, and ever must bear, the greatest part, and 
 sometimes the whole, of the public expenses : and we think 
 her well indemnified for that (rather apparent than real) 
 inequality of charge, in the dignity and pre-eminence 
 she enjoys, and in the superior opulence which, after all 
 charges defrayed, must necessarily remain at the centre of 
 affairs. Of this principle we are not without evidence in 
 our remembrance (not yet effaced) of the glorious and happy 
 days of this empire. We are, therefore, incapable of that 
 prevaricating style, by which, when taxes without your con- 
 eent are to be extorted from you, this nation is represented 
 as in the lowest state of impoverishment and public distress ; 
 but when we are called upon to oppress you by force of 
 Arms, it is painted as scarcely feeling its impositions, abound- 
 ing with wealth, and inexhaustible in its resources. 
 
 We also reason and feel as you do on the invasion of 
 your charters. Because the charters comprehend the essen- 
 tial forms by which you enjoy your liberties, we regard 
 them as most sacred, and by no means to be taken away or 
 altered without process, without examination, and without 
 hearing, as they have lately been. We even think that they 
 ought by no means to be altered at all but at the desire of 
 (the greater part of the people wno live under tbem. We 
 
480 ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS 
 
 canuot look upon men as delinquents in the mass ; much 
 less are we desirous of lording over our brethren, insulting 
 their honest pride, and wantonly overturning establishments 
 'udged to be just and convenient by the public wisdom of 
 this nation at their institution ; and which long and inveter- 
 ate use has taught you to look up to with affection and 
 reverence. As we disapproved of the proceedings with re- 
 gard to the forms of your constitution, so we are equally 
 tender of every leading principle of free government. We 
 never could think with approbation of putting the military 
 power out of the coercion of the civil justice in the country 
 where it acts. 
 
 We disclaim also any sort of share in that other measure 
 which has been used to alienate your affections from this 
 country, namely, the introduction of foreign mercenaries. 
 We saw their employment with shame and regret, especially 
 in numbers so far exceeding the English forces as in effect 
 to constitute vassals who have no sense of freedom, and 
 strangers who have no common interest or feelings, as the 
 arbiters of our unhappy domestic quarrel. 
 
 We likeWise saw with shame the African slaves, who had 
 been sold to you on public faith, and under the sanction of 
 acts of parliament, to be your servants and your guards, 
 employed to cut the throats of their masters. 
 
 You will not, we trust, believe that, born in a civilized 
 country, formed to gentle manners, trained in a merciful re- 
 ligion, and living in enlightened and polished times where 
 even foreign hostility is softened from its original sternness, 
 we could have thought of letting loose upon you, our late 
 beloved brethren, these fierce tribes of savages and cannibals, 
 in whom the traces of human nature are effaced by ignor- 
 ance and barbarity. We rather wished to have joined with 
 you in bringing gradually that unhappy part of mankind 
 into civility, order, piety, and virtuous discipline, than to 
 have confirmed their evil habits, and increased their natural 
 ferocity, by fleshing them in the slaughter of you, whom oui 
 wiser and better ancestors had sent into the wilderness, with 
 the express view of introducing, along with our holy religion, 
 its humane and charitable manners. AVe do not hold thai 
 all things are lawful in war. We should think tluit every 
 barbarity, in fire, in wasting, in murders, in tortures, an'' 
 
TS ITOETH AMEEICA. 481 
 
 other cruelties too horrible, and too full of tui-pitude, for 
 Christian mouths to utter, or ears to hear, if done at our in- 
 stigation by those who we know will make war thus if 
 they make it at all, to be to all intents and purposes as il 
 done by ourselves. We clear ourselves to you our brethren, 
 to the present age, and to future generations, to our king 
 and our country, and to Europe, which as a spectator be- 
 holds this tragic scene, of every part or share in adding this 
 last and worst of evils to the inevitable mischiefs of a civil 
 war. 
 
 We do not call you rebels and traitors. We do not call 
 for the vengeance of the Crown against you. We do not 
 know how to qualify millions of our countrymen, contending 
 with one heart for an admission to privileges which we have 
 ever thought our own happiness and honour, by odious and 
 unworthy names. On the contrary, we highly revere the 
 principles on which you act, though we lament some of 
 their effects. Armed as you are, we embrace you as our 
 friends, and as our brethren, by the best and dearest ties 
 of relation. 
 
 We view the establishment of the English colonies or: 
 principles of liberty as that which is to render this kingdom 
 venerable to future ages. In comparison of this we regard 
 all the victories and conquests of our warlike ancestors, or 
 of our own times, as barbarous, vulgar distinctions, in which 
 many nations, whom we look upon with little respect or 
 value, have equalled if not far exceeded us. This is the pe- 
 culiar and appropriated glory of England. Those who have 
 and who hold to that foundation of common liberty, whether 
 on this or on your side of the ocean, we consider as the true, 
 and the only true, Englishmen. Those who depart from it, 
 whether there or here, are attainted, corrupted in blood, 
 and wholly fallen from their original rank and value. They 
 are the real rebels to the fair constitution and just supremacy 
 of England. 
 
 We exhort you, therefore, to cleave for ever to those prin- 
 ciples, as being the true bond of union in this empire ; and 
 to show, by a manly perseverance, that the sentiments of 
 honour, and the rights of mankind, are not held by the un- 
 certain events of war, as you have hitherto shown a glorioua 
 and affecting example to the world that they are not 
 VOL. y. 2 1 
 
482 ADDBE88 TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS 
 
 dependent on the ordinary conveniences and satisfactions 
 of life. 
 
 Knowing no other arguments to be used to men of liberal 
 minds, it is upon these very principles, and these alone, we 
 hope and trust that no flattering and no alarming circum- 
 stances shall permit you to listen to the seductions of those, 
 who would alienate you from your dependence on the Cro^Ti 
 and parliament of this kingdom. That very liberty, which 
 you so justly prize above all things, originated here : and it 
 may be very doubtful whether, without being constantly fed 
 from the original fountain, it can be at all perpetuated or 
 preserved in its native purity and perfection. Untried forms 
 of government may, to unstable minds, recommend them- 
 selves even by their novelty. But you will do well to re- 
 member that England has been great and happy under the 
 present limited monarchy (subsisting in more or less \dgour 
 and purity) for several hundred years. None but England 
 can communicate to you the benefits of such a constitution. 
 We apprehend you are not now, nor for ages are likely to 
 be, capable of that form of constitution in an independent 
 state. Besides, let us suggest to you our apprehensions that 
 your present union (in which we rejoice, and which we wish 
 long to subsist) cannot always subsist without the authority 
 and weight of this great and long-respected body, to equi- 
 poise, and to preserve you amongst yourselves in a just and 
 fair equality. It may not even be impossible that a long 
 course of war with the administration of this country may 
 be but a prelude to a series of wars and contentions among 
 yourselves, to end, at length, (as such scenes have too often 
 ended,) in a species of humiliating repose, which nothing but 
 the preceding calamities would reconcile to the dispirited 
 few who survived them. We allow that even this evil ia 
 worth the risk to men of honour, when rational liberty is at 
 stake, as in the present case we confess and lament tliat it 
 is. But if ever a real security, by parliament, is given 
 against the terror or the abuse of unlimited power, and after 
 such security given you should persevere in resistance, we 
 leave you to consider whetlier the risk is not incurred with- 
 out an object; or incurred for an object infinitely diminished 
 by such concessions in its im])ortance and value. 
 
 Ai to oiber points of discussion, when these grand fundj^ 
 
Df NORTH AMERICA. 483 
 
 mentals of your grants and charters are once settled and 
 ratified by clear parliamentary authority, as the ground for 
 peace and forgiveness on our side, and for a manly and liberal 
 obedience on yours, treaty, and a spirit of reconciliation, will 
 easily and securely adjust whatever may remain. Of this 
 we give you our word, that so far as we are at present con- 
 cerned, and if by any event we should become more concern- 
 ed hereafter, you may rest assured, upon the pledges of hon- 
 our not forfeited, faith not violated, and uniformity of 
 character and profession not yet broken, we at least, on 
 these grounds, will never fail you. 
 
 Respecting your wisdom, and valuing your safety, we do 
 not call upon you to trust your existence to your enemies. 
 We do not advise you to an unconditional submission. With 
 satisfaction we assure you that almost all in both Houses 
 (however unhappily they have been deluded, so as not to 
 give any immediate effect to their opinion) disclaim that idea. 
 You can have no friends in whom you cannot rationally con- 
 fide. But parliament is your friend from the moment in 
 which, removing its confidence from those who have con- 
 stantly deceived its good intentions, it adopts the sentiments 
 of those who have made sacrifices, (inferior indeed to yours,) 
 but have, however, sacrificed enough to demonstrate the sin- 
 cerity of their regard and value for your liberty and prosperity. 
 
 Arguments may be used to weaken your confidence in 
 that public security ; because, from some unpleasant appear- 
 ances, there is a suspicion that parliament itself is somewhat 
 fallen from its independent spirit. How far this supposition 
 may be founded in fact we are unwilling to determine. But 
 we are well assured from experience, that even if all were 
 true that is contended for, and in the extent, too, in which it 
 is argued, yet as long as the solid and well-disposed forms of 
 this constitution remain, there ever is within parliament it- 
 self a power of renovating its principles, and effecting a self- 
 reformation, which no other plan of government has ever 
 contained. This constitution has therefore admitted innu- 
 merable improvements, either for the correction of the ori- 
 ginal scheme, or for removing corruptions, or for bringing 
 its principles better to suit those changes which have succes- 
 sively happened in the circumstances of the nation, or in the 
 manners of the people. 
 
 2 I a 
 
4S4l ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH COLONISTS 
 
 We feel that the growth of the colonies is such a change 
 of circumstances ; and that our present dispute is an exi- 
 gency as pressing as any which ever demanded a revision of 
 our government. Public troubles have often called upon 
 this country to look into its constitution. It has ever been 
 bettered by such a revision. If our happy and luxuriant in- 
 crease of dominion, and our diffused population, have out- 
 grown the limits of a constitution made for a contracted ob- 
 ject, we ought to bless Grod, who has furnished us with this 
 noble occasion for displaying our skill and beneficence in 
 enlarging the scale of rational happiness, and of making the 
 politic generosity of this kingdom as extensive as its fortune. 
 If we set about this great work, on both sides, with the same 
 conciliatory turn of mind, we may now, as in former times, 
 owe even to our mutual mistakes, contentions, and animosi- 
 ties, the lasting concord, freedom, happiness, and glory of 
 this empire. 
 
 Gentlemen, the distance between us, with other obstruc- 
 tions, has caused much misrepresentation of our mutual sen- 
 timents. We, therefore, to obviate them as well as we are 
 able, take this method of assuring you of our thorough de- 
 testation of the whole war ; and particularly the mercenary 
 and savage war carried on or attempted against you : our 
 thorough abhorrence of all addresses adverse to you, whether 
 public or private ; our assurances of an invariable affection 
 towards you; our constant regard to your privileges and 
 liberties ; and our opinion of the solid security you ought to 
 enjoy for them, under the paternal care and nurture of a 
 protecting parliament. 
 
 Though many of us have earnestly wished that the au- 
 thority of that august and venerable body, so necessary in 
 many respects to the union of the whole, should be rather 
 limited by its own equity and discretion, than by any bounds 
 described by positive laws and public compacts ; and though 
 we felt the extreme difficulty, by any theoretical limitations, 
 of qualifying that authority so as to preserve one part and 
 deny another; and though you (as we gratefully acknowledge) 
 had acquiesced most cheerfully under that prudent reserve 
 of the constitution, at that happy moment, when neither you 
 nor we apprehended a further return of the exercise of in- 
 vidious powers, we are now as fully persuaded as you can 
 
nf NOETH AMERICA.. 485 
 
 be, by the malice, inconstancy, and perverse inquietude of 
 many men, and by the incessant endeavours of an arbitrary 
 faction, now too powerful, that our common necessities do 
 require a full explanation and ratified security for your liber- 
 ties and our quiet. 
 
 Although his Majesty's coi.iescension in committing the 
 direction of his affairs into the hands of the known friends 
 of his family, and of the liberties of all his people, would, we 
 admit, be a great means of giving repose to your minds, as 
 it must give infinite facility to reconciliation, yet we assure 
 you, that we think, with such a security as we recommend, 
 adopted from necessity, and not choice, even by the unhappy 
 authors and instruments of the public misfortunes, that the 
 terms of reconciliation, if once accepted by parliament, 
 would not be broken. We also pledge ourselves to you, 
 that we should give, even to those unhappy persons, a 
 hearty support in effectuating the peace of the empire ; and 
 every opposition in an attempt to cast it again into disorder. 
 
 When that happy hour shall arrive, let us in all affection 
 recommend to you the wisdom of continuing, as in former 
 times, or even in a more ample measure, the support of your 
 government, and even to give to your administration some 
 degree of reciprocal interest in your freedom. We earnestly 
 wish you not to furnish your enemies, here or elsewhere, 
 with any sort of pretexts for reviving quarrels by too reserved 
 and severe or penurious an exercise of those sacred rights, 
 which no pretended abuse in the exercise ought to impair, 
 nor, by overstraining the principles of freedom, to make 
 them less compatible with those haughty sentiments in 
 others, which the very same principles may be apt to breed 
 in minds not tempered with the utmost equity and justice. 
 
 The well-wishers of the liberty and union of this empire 
 ialute you, and recommend you most heartily to tlie Divine 
 protection. 
 
486 LETTEE TO THE EIGHT HOK. EDMiJND PEBBT. 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND PERRY.* 
 
 Mt Deae Sie, 
 
 I received in due course your two very interesting and 
 judicious letters, which gave me many new lights, and ex- 
 cited me to fresh activity in the important subject they re- 
 lated to. However, from that time I have not been perfectly 
 free from doubt and uneasiness. I used a liberty with those 
 letters, which perhaps nothing can thoroughly justify, and 
 which certainly nothing but the delicacy of the crisis, the 
 clearness of my intentions, and your great good nature, can 
 at all excuse. I might conceal this from you ; but I think 
 it better to lay the whole matter before you, and submit 
 myself to your mercy ; assuring you at the same time, that 
 if you are so kind as to continue your confidence on this, or 
 to renew it upon any other occasion, I shall never be tempted 
 again to make so bold and unauthorized a use of the trust 
 you place in me. 1 will state to you the history of the 
 business since my last ; and then you will see how far I am 
 excusable by the circumstances. 
 
 On the 3rd of July I received a letter from the attorney- 
 general, dated the day before, in which, in a very open and 
 obliging manner, he desires my thoughts of the Irish Tolera- 
 tion Bill, and particularly of the dissenters' clause. I gave 
 
 ' This letter is addressed to Mr. Perry, (afterwards Lord Perry,) then 
 Speaker of the House of Commons of Ireland. It appears there had been 
 much correspondence between that gentleman and Mr. Burke, on the 
 subject of heads of a bill (which had passed the Irish House of Commons in 
 the summer of the year 1778, and had been transmitted by the Irish prity 
 council of England) for the relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjeclw 
 in Ireland. The bill contained a clause for exempting the Protestant 
 dissenters of Ireland from the sacramental test, which created a strong 
 objection to the whole measure on the part of the Engliijh govr'-nment 
 Mr. Burke employed his most strenuous eftbrts to remove the prejudica 
 which the king's ministers enteitained against the clause, but the bill waa 
 ultimately returned without it, and in that shape passed the Irish parlia- 
 ment. (I7th and 18th Geo. III. cap. 49.) In the subsequent session, 
 however, a separate act was passed for the relief of the Protestant lis 
 leutera of Irelana. 
 
LMTEE TO THE EIGHT HON. EDMUND PEEBr. 487 
 
 them to him by the return of the post at large ; but as the 
 time pressed, I kept no copy of the letter ; the general drift 
 was strongly to recommend the whole; and principally to 
 obviate the objections to the part that related to the dissent- 
 ers, with regard both to the general propriety and to the 
 temporary policy at this juncture. I took, likewise, a good 
 deal of pains to state the difference which had always sub- 
 sisted with regard to the treatment of the Protestant dissent- 
 ers in Ireland and in England ; and what I conceived the 
 reason of that difference to be. About the same time I was 
 called to town for a day ; and I took an opportunity in 
 "Westminister Hall, of urging the same points with all the 
 force I was master of to the solicitor-general. I attempted 
 to see the chancellor for the same purpose, but was not for- 
 tunate enough to meet him at home. Soon after my return 
 hither on Tuesda}-, I received a very polite and I may say 
 friendly letter from him, wishing me (on supposition that I 
 had continued in town) to dine with him as that day, in 
 order to talk over the business of the Toleration Act then be- 
 fore him. Unluckily I had company with me, and was not 
 able to leave them until Thursday; when I went to town, 
 and called at his house but missed him. However, in answer 
 to his letter, I had before, and instantly on the receipt of it, 
 written to him at large ; and urged such topics both with 
 regard to the Catholics and dissenters, as I imagined were 
 the most likely to be prevalent with him. This letter I 
 followed to town on Thursday. On my arrival I was much 
 alarmed with a report, that the ministry had thoughts of re- 
 jecting the whole bilL Mr. M'Xamara seemed apprehensive 
 that it was a determined measure ; and there seemed to be 
 but too much reason for his fears. JS'ot having met the 
 chancellor at home either on my first visit or my second 
 after receiving his letter, and fearful that the cabinet should 
 come to some unpleasant resolution, I went to the Treasury 
 on Friday. There I saw Sir Gr. Cooper. I possessed him of 
 the danger of a partial, and the inevitable mischief of the 
 total, rejection of the bill. I reminded him of the under- 
 stood compact between parties upon which the whole scheme 
 of the toleration originating in the English bill was formed ; 
 of the fair part which the Whigs had acted in a business 
 which, though first started by them, was supposed equally ac- 
 
488 leiteh to the right hon. edmitnd perbt. 
 
 •ceptable to all sides ; and the risk of which they took upon 
 themselves when others declined it. To this I added such 
 ■matter as I thought most fit to engage government, as go- 
 -vernment ; — not to sport with a singular opportunity which 
 offered for the union of every description of men amongst us, 
 in support of the common interest of the whole ; and I ended 
 by desiring to see Lord Xorth upon the subject. Sir Grey 
 Cooper showed a very right sense of the matter ; and in a 
 few minutes after our conversation, I went down from the 
 Treasury Chambers to Lord North's house. I had a great 
 deal of discourse with him. He told me that his ideas of 
 toleration were large, but that, large as they were, they did 
 not comprehend a promiscuous establishment, even in matters 
 merely civil ; — that he thought the established religion ought 
 to be the religion of the state ; — that, in this idea, he was not 
 for the repeal of the sacramental test ; — that indeed he knew 
 the dissenters in general did not greatly scruple it ; — but 
 that very want of scruple showed less zeal against the estab- 
 lishment ; and, after all, there could no provision be made by 
 human laws against those who made light of the tests, which 
 were formed to discriminate opinions. On all this he spoke 
 with a good deal of temper. He did not, indeed, seem to 
 think the test itself, which was rightly considered by dis- 
 senters as in a manner dispensed with by an annual act of 
 parliament, and which in Ireland was of a late origin, and of 
 much less extent than here, a matter of much moment. The 
 thing Avhich seemed to affect him most, was the offence that 
 would be taken at the repeal by the leaders among the church 
 clergy here, on one hand, and on the other the steps which 
 w^ould be taken for its repeal in England in the next session, 
 in consequence of the repeal in Ireland. I assured him with 
 great truth, that we had no idea among the Whigs of moving 
 the repeal of the test. I confessed very freely, for my own 
 part, that if it were brought in I should certainly vote for it; 
 but that I should neither use, nor did I think applicable, 
 any arguments drawn from the analogy of what was done in 
 other parts of the British dominions. We did not argue 
 from analogy, even in this Island and United Kingdom. 
 Presbytery was established in Scotland. It became no 
 reason either for its religious or civil establishment here. 
 In New England the Independent congregational ehurchea 
 
tETTEE TO THE EIGHT HO^". EDMTTin) PEEET. 489 
 
 had an established legal mainteDance ; whilst that country 
 continued part of the British empire, no argument in favour 
 of Independency was adduced from the practice of New 
 England'. Government itself lately thought fit to establish 
 the Eoman Catholic religion in Canada ; but they would not 
 Buffer an argument of analogy to be used for its establish- 
 ment anywhere else. These things were governed, as all 
 things of that nature are governed, not by general maxims, 
 but their own local and peculiar circumstances. Finding, 
 however, that though he was very cool and patient, I made 
 no great way in the business of the dissenters, I turned my- 
 self to try whether, falling in with his maxims, some modifi- 
 cation might not be found, the hint of which I received from 
 your letter relative to the Irish militia bill, and the point I 
 laboured was so to alter the clause, as to repeal the test 
 quoad military and revenue offices. For these being only 
 subservient parts in the economy and execution, rather than 
 the administration of affairs, the politic, civil, and judicial 
 parts would still continue in the hands of the conformists to 
 religious establishments: — without giving any hopes, he 
 however said that this distinction deserved to be considered. 
 After this, I strongly pressed the mischief of rejecting the 
 whole bill : — that a notion went abroad, that government was 
 not at this moment very well pleased with the dissenters, as 
 not very well affected to the monarchy : — that, in general, I 
 conceived this to be a mistake, — but if it were not, the re- 
 jection of a bill in favour of others, because something in 
 favour of them was inserted, instead of humbling and morti- 
 fying would infinitely exalt them. For if the legislature had 
 no means of favouring those whom they meant to favour, as 
 long as the dissenters could find means to get themselves 
 included, this would make them, instead of their only being 
 subject to restraint themselves, the arbitrators of the late of 
 others, and that not so much by their own strength, (which 
 could not be prevented in its operation,) as by the co-oper- 
 ation of those whom they opposed. In the conclusion I re- 
 commended that if they wished well to the measure, which 
 was the main object of the bill, they must explicitly make it 
 their own, and stake themselves upon it ; that hitlierto all 
 their difilculiies had arisen from their indecision, and their 
 wrong: measures : and to make Lord Xorth sensible of the 
 
iOO LETTER TO THE EIGHT HON. EDM^J^'D PEKBT. 
 
 necessity of giving a firm support to some part of the bill, 
 aud to add weiglity authority to my reasons, I read him your 
 letter of the 10th of July. It seemed in some measure to 
 answer the purpose which I intended. I pressed the neces- 
 yity of the management of the affair, both as to conduct and 
 as to gaining of men ; and I renewed my former advice, that 
 the lord-lieutenant should be instructed to consult and co- 
 operate with you in the whole affair. All this was apparently 
 very fairly taken. 
 
 In the evening of that day I saw the lord chancellor. 
 "With him, too, I had much discourse. You know that he is 
 intelligent, sagacious, systematic, and determined. At first 
 he seemed of opinion that the relief contained in the bill was 
 80 inadequate to the mass of oppression it was intended to 
 remove, t]\at it would be better to let it stand over, until a 
 more perfect and better digested plan could be settled. This 
 seemed to possess him very strongly. In order to combat 
 this notion, and to show that the bill, all things considered, 
 was a very great acquisition, and that it was rather a preli- 
 minary than an obstruction to relief, I ventured to show 
 him your letter. It had its effect. He declared himselt 
 roundly against giving anything to a confederacy, real or ap- 
 parent, to distress government : — that if anything was done 
 for Catholics or dissenters, it should be done on its own se- 
 parate merits, and not by way of bargain and compromise : — 
 that they should be each of them obliged to government, not 
 each to the other : — that this would be a perpetual nursery 
 of faction. In a word, he seemed so determined on not unit- 
 ing these plans, that all I could say, and I said everything I 
 could think of, was to no purpose. But when I insisted on the 
 disgrace to government w^hich must arise from their rejecting 
 a proposition recommended by themselves, because their op- 
 poiaers had made a mixture, separable too by themselves, I 
 was better heard. On the whole, I found him well disposed. 
 
 As soon as I had returned to the country, this affair lay 
 Bo much on my mind, and the absolute necessity of govern- 
 ment's making a serious business of it, agreeably to the seri- 
 ousness they professed, and the object required ; that I 
 wrote to Sir Gr. Cooper, to remind him of the principles 
 upon which we went in our conversation, and to press the 
 plan which was suggested for carrying them into execution. 
 
 
LETTEE TO THE RIGHT HON. EDMUyi) PEERT. 491 
 
 He wrote to me on the 20th, and assured me, "that Lord 
 North had given all due attention and respect to what you 
 said to him on Friday, and will pay the same respect to the 
 sentiments conveyed in your letter ; everything you say or 
 write on the subject undoubtedly demands it." Whether this 
 was mere civility, or showed anything effectual in their in- 
 tentions, time and the success of this measure will show. 
 It is wholly with them ; and, if it should fail, you are a wit- 
 ness that nothing on our part has been wanting to free so 
 large a part of our fellow-subjects and fellow-citizens from 
 slavery ; and to free government from the weakness and 
 danger of ruling them by force. As to my own particular 
 part, the desire of doing this has betrayed me into a step 
 which I cannot perfectly reconcile to myself. Tou are to 
 iudge how far, on the circumstances, it may be excused. I 
 think it had a good effect. Tou may be assured that I made 
 this communication in a manner effectually to exclude so false 
 and groundless an idea as that I confer with you, any more 
 than I confer with them, on any party principle whatsoever ; 
 or that in this affair we look further than the measure, which 
 is in profession, and 1 am sure ought to be in reason, theirs. 
 I am ever, with the sincerost affection and esteem, 
 My dear Sir, 
 Tour most faithful and obedient humble servant, 
 
 Edmtj>'d Bueke. 
 Beaconsjield, I8ih July, 1778. 
 
 I intended to have written sooner, but it has not been in 
 my power. 
 
 To the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons of Ireland. 
 
 A LETTEE TO THOiMAS BUEGH, ESQ.» 
 
 Mr Dear Sie, 
 
 I do not know in what manner I am to thank you pro* 
 perly for the very friendly solicitude you have been so good 
 
 * Mr. Thomas Burgh, of Old Town, was a member of the House o. 
 Commons in Ireland. 
 It appears from a letter written by this gentleman to Mr. Burke, 24th 
 
102 LETTER TO THO^fAS BUEQH, ESQ. 
 
 as to express for my reputation. The concern you bave done 
 me tlie honour to take in my affairs will be an ample indem- 
 nity from all that I may suffer from the rapid judgments of 
 those, who choose to form their opinions of men not from 
 the life, but from their portraits in a newspaper. I confess 
 to you, that my frame of mind is so constructed, I have in, 
 me so little of the constitution of a great man, that I am more 
 gratified with a very moderate share of approbation from 
 those few who know me, than I should be with the most 
 clamorous applause from those multitudes who love to ad<. 
 mire at a due distance. 
 
 I am not, however, stoic enough to be able to afHrm with, 
 truth, or hypocrite enough affectedly to pretend, that I am 
 wholly unmoved at the difficulty which you, and others of 
 my friends in Ireland, have found in vindicating my conduct 
 towards my native country. It undoubtedly hurts me in 
 some degree ; but the wound is not very deep. If I had 
 sought popularity in Ireland, when, in the cause of that 
 country, I was ready to sacrifice, and did sacrifice, a much 
 nearer, a much more immediate, and a much more advan- 
 tageous, popularity here, I should find myself perfectly un- 
 happy ; because I should be totally disappointed in my ex- 
 pectations ; because I should discover, when it was too late, 
 what common sense might have told me very early, that 1 
 risked the capital of my fame in the most disadvantageous 
 lottery in the world. But I acted then, as I act now, and 
 as I hope I shall act always, from a strong impulse of right, 
 and from motives in which popularity, either here or there, 
 has but a very little part. 
 
 With the support of that consciousness I can bear a good 
 deal of the coquetry of public opinion, which has her ca- 
 prices, and must have her way — Miseri, quibus i?itentata 
 nitet! I too have had my holiday of popularity in Ireland. 
 I have even heard of an intention to erect a statue.' I 
 believe my intimate acquaintance know how little that idea 
 
 December, 1779, and to which the following is an answer, that the part 
 Mr. Buikc had taken in the discussion winch the aflairs ol' Ireland had 
 nndeigone in the preceding sessions of i)arliiiinent in England, had been 
 grossly inisrepreseiited, and much censured in Ireland. 
 
 ' This inlentiun was communicated to Mr. Burke, in a letter from Mr 
 Pei ry, the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland. 
 
tETTEB TO THOMAS BTJEGH, ESQ. 493 
 
 was encouraged by me ; and I was sincerely glad that it 
 never took effect. Such honours belong exclusively to the 
 tomb — the natural and only period of human inconstancy, 
 with regard either to desert or to opinion : for they are the 
 very same hands which erect, that very frequently (and 
 sometimes with reason enough) pluck down, the statue. 
 Had such an unmerited and unlooked-for compliment been 
 paid to me two years ago, the fragments of the piece might, 
 at this hour, have the advantage of seeing actual service, 
 while they were moving, according to the law of projectiles, 
 to the windows of the attorney-general, or of my old friend 
 Monk Mason. 
 
 To speak seriously, — let me assure you, my dear Sir, that 
 though I am not permitted to rejoice at all its effects, there 
 is not one man on your side of the water more pleased to see 
 the situation of Ireland so prosperous, as that she can afford 
 to throw away her friends. She has obtained, solely by her 
 own efforts, the fruits of a great victory ; which I am very 
 ready to allow that the best efforts of her best well-wishers 
 here could not have done for her so effectually in a great 
 number of years ; and, perhaps, could not have done at all. I 
 could wish, however, merely for the sake of her own dignity, 
 that in turning her poor relations and antiquated friends 
 out of doors, (though one of the most common effects of new 
 prosperity,) she had thought proper to dismiss us with fewer 
 tokens of unkindness. It is true, that there is no sort of 
 danger in affronting men, who are not of importance enough 
 to have any trust of ministerial, of royal, or of national hon- 
 our to surrender. The unforced and unbought services of 
 humble men, who have no medium of influence in great 
 assemblies, but through the precarious force of reason, must 
 be looked upon with contempt by those, who by their wisdom 
 and spirit have improved the critical moment of their fortune, 
 and have debated ^vith authority against pusillanimous dis- 
 sent and ungracious compliance, at the head of 40.000 men. 
 
 Such feeble auxiliaries (as I talk of) to such a force, em- 
 ployed against such resistance, I must own, in the present 
 moment, very little worthy of your attention. Yet, if one 
 were to look forward, it scarcely seems altogether politic to 
 bestow so much liberality of invective on the Whigs of this 
 kingdom, as I find has been the fashion to do both in and 
 
404 LETTER TO THOMAS BUEOH, ESQ. 
 
 out of parliament. That you should pay compliments, in 
 some tone or other, whether ironical or serious, to the min- 
 ister, from whose imbecility you have extorted what you 
 could never obtain from his bounty, is not unnatural. In 
 the first effusions of parliamentary gratitude to that minister, 
 for the early and voluntary benefits he has conferred upon 
 Ireland, it might appear, that you were wanting to the tri- 
 umph of his surrender, if you did not lead some of his enemies 
 captive before him. Neither could you feast him with de- 
 corum, if his particular taste were not consulted. A minister, 
 who has never defended his measures in any other way than 
 by railing at his adversaries, cannot have his palate made all 
 at once to the relish of positive commendation. I cannot 
 deny, but that on this occasion there was displayed a great 
 deal of the good breeding which consists in the accommoda- 
 tion of the entertainment to the relish of the guest. 
 
 But that ceremony being past, it would not be unworthy 
 of the wisdom of Ireland to consider, what consequences the 
 extinguishing every spark of freedom in this country may 
 have upon your own liberties. You are at this instant flushed 
 with victory, and full of the confidence natural to recent and 
 untried power. We are in a temper equally natural, though 
 very different. "VVe feel as men do, who, having placed an 
 unbounded reliance on their force, have found it totally to fail 
 on trial. We feel faint and heartless, and without the smallest 
 degree of self-opinion. In plain words, we are cowed. When 
 men give up their violence and injustice without a struggle, 
 their condition is next to desperate. When no art, no. 
 management, no argument, is necessary to abate their pride 
 and overcome their prejudices, and their uneasiness only 
 excites an obscure and feeble rattling in their throat, their 
 final dissolution seems not far ofi". In this miserable state 
 we are still further depressed by the overbearing influence of 
 the Crown. It acts with the officious cruelty of a mercenary 
 nurse, who, under pretence of tenderness, stifles us with our 
 clothes, and plucks the pillow from our heads. Injectu 
 multce vestis opprimi senemjubct. Under this influence we 
 have so little will of our own, that, even in any apparent 
 activity we may be got to assume, I may say, without any 
 violence to sense, and with very little to language, we are 
 merely passive. We have yielded to your demands tliis 
 
 I 
 
LETTEE TO THOMAS BURGH, ESQ. 405 
 
 session. In the last session we refused to prevent them. I u 
 both cases, the passive and the active, our principle was the 
 Bauie. Had the Crown pleased to retain the spirit, .vith re- 
 gard to Ireland, which seems to be now all directed to America, 
 we should have neglected our own immediate defence, and 
 sent over the last man of our militia to fight with the last 
 man of your volunteers. 
 
 To this influence the principle of action, the principle of 
 policy, and the principle of union of the present minority, are 
 opposed. These principles of the opposition are the only 
 thing which preserv*es a single s>Tnptom of life in the nation. 
 That opposition is composed of the far greater part of the in- 
 dependent property and independent rank of the kingdom ; 
 of whatever is most untainted in character, and of whatever 
 ■ bility remains unextinguished in the people, and of all which 
 tends to draw the attention of foreign countries upon this. It 
 is now in its final and conclusive struggle. It has to struggle 
 against a force, to which, I am afraid, it is not equal. The 
 whole kingdom of Scotland ranges with the venal, the un- 
 principled, and the wrong-principled of this ; and if the 
 kingdom of Ireland thinks proper to pass into the same camp, 
 we shall certainly be obliged to quit the field. In that case, 
 if I know anything of this country, another constitutional 
 opposition can never be formed in it ; and if this be im- 
 possible, it will be at least as much so (if there can be degrees 
 in impossibility) to have a constitutional administration at 
 any future time. The possibility of the former is the only se- 
 curity for the existence of the latter. Whether the present ad- 
 ministration be in the least like one, I must venture to doubt, 
 even in the honeymoon of the Irish fondness to Lord North, 
 which has succeeded to all their slappings and scratchings. 
 
 If liberty cannot maintain its ground in this kingdom, I 
 am sure that it cannot have any long continuance in yours. 
 Our liberty might now and then jar, and strike a discord \Nith 
 that of Ireland. The thing is possible, but still the instru- 
 ments might play in concert. But if ours be unstrung, yours 
 will be hung up on a peg ; and both will be mute for ever. 
 Your new military force may give you confidence, and it 
 serves well for a turn ; but you and I know that it has not 
 root. It is not perennial, and. would prove but a poor sheltef 
 for your liberty, when this nation, having no interest in ill 
 
406 LETTEH TO THOMAS BUEQH, ESQ. 
 
 own, could look upon yours with the eye of envy and disgust. 
 I cannot, therefore, help thinking, and telling you what with 
 great submission I think, that if the parliament of Ireland 
 be so jealous of the spirit of our common constitution as she 
 seems to be, it was not so discreet to mix with the paneg}Tic 
 on the minister so large a portion of acrimony to the inde- 
 pendent part of this nation. You never received any sort of 
 injury from them, and you are grown to that degree of im- 
 portance, that the discourses in your parliament will have a 
 nuich greater effect on our immediate fortune than our con- 
 versation can have upon yours. In the end they will seriously 
 affect both. 
 
 I have looked back upon our conduct and our public con- 
 versations, in order to discover what it is that can have 
 given you offence. I have done so, because I am ready to 
 admit that to offend you without any cause would be as con- 
 trary to true policy as I am sure it must be to the inclina- 
 tions of almost every one of us. About two years ago Lord 
 Nugent moved six propositions in favour of Ireland in the 
 House of Commons. At the time of the motions, and dur- 
 ing the debate. Lord North was either wholly out of the 
 House, or engaged iu other matters of business or pleasantry 
 in the remotest recesses of the West Saxon corner. He took 
 no part whatsoever in the affair ; but it was supposed his 
 neutrality was more inclined towards the side of favour. 
 The mover being a person in office was, however, the only 
 indication that was given of such a leaning. We who sup- 
 ported the propositions, finding them better relished than at 
 first we looked for, pursued our advantage, and began to 
 open a way for more essential benefits to Ireland. On the 
 other hand, those who had hitherto opposed them in vain, 
 redoubled their efforts, and became exceedingly chimorous. 
 Then it was that Lord North found it necessary to come out 
 of his fastness, and to interpose between the contending 
 parties. In this character of mediator he declared tliat, if 
 anything beyond the first six resolutions should be attempt- 
 ed, he would oppose the whole ; but that if we rested there 
 the original motions should have his support. On this a sort 
 of convention took place between him and the managers of 
 the Irish business, in which the six resolutions were to bd 
 considered as a uti possidetis, and to be held sacred. 
 
 i 
 
LETTEE TO THOMAS BUEGH, ESQ. 497 
 
 By this time other parties began to appear. A good many 
 of the trading towns and njanufactures of various kinds took 
 the alarm. Petitions crowded in upon one another; and the 
 bar was occupied by a formidable body of council. Lord N. 
 was staggered by this new battery. He is not of a constitu- 
 tion to encounter such an opposition as had then risen, when 
 there were no other objects in view than those that were 
 then before the House. In order not to lose him, we were 
 obliged to abandon, bit by bit, the most considerable part ol 
 the original agreement. 
 
 In several parts, however, he continued fair and firm. For 
 my own part I acted, as I trust I commonly do, with de- 
 cision. I saw very well that the things we had got were of 
 no great consideration ; but they were, even in their defects, 
 somewhat leading. I was in hopes that we might obtain, 
 gradually and by parts, what we might attempt at once and 
 in the whole without success ; that one concession would 
 lead to another ; and that the people of England, discover- 
 ing by a progressive experience that none of the concessions 
 actually made were followed by the consequences they had 
 dreaded, their fears from what they were yet to yield would 
 considerably diminish. But that to which I attached myself 
 the most particularly was, to fix the principle of a free trade 
 in all the ports of these islands, as founded in justice, and 
 beneficial to the whole ; but principally to this, the seat of 
 the supreme power. And this I laboured to the utmost of 
 my might, upon general principles, illustrated by all the 
 commercial detail with which my little inquiries in life were 
 able to furnish me. I ought to forget such trifling things as 
 those with all concerning myself; and possibly I might have 
 forgotten them if the lord advocate of Scotland had not, in a 
 •^ery flattering manner, revived them in my memory, in a full 
 House in this session. He told me that my arguments, such 
 as they were, had made him, at the period I allude to, change 
 the opinion with which he had come into the House strongly 
 impressed. I am sure that at the time at least twenty 
 more told me the same thing. I certainly ought not to take 
 their style of compliment as a testimony to fact ; neither do 
 I. But all this showed sufficiently, not what they thought 
 of my ability, but what they saw of my zeal. I could say 
 more in proof of the eflfects of that zeal, and of the unceasing 
 
 VOL. v. 2 k 
 
498 LETTEB TO THOMAS BUEQH, ESQ. 
 
 industry with which I then acted, hoth in my endeavours 
 which were apparent, and those that were not so visible. 
 Let it be remembered, that I showed those dispositions while 
 the parliament of England was in a capacity to deliberate, 
 and in a situation to refuse ; when there was something to 
 be risked here by being suspected of a partiality to Ireland ; 
 when there was an honourable danger attending the profes- 
 sion of friendship to you, which heightened its relish, and 
 made it worthy of a reception in manly minds. But as for 
 the awkward and nauseous parade of debate without oppo- 
 sition, the flimsy device of tricking out necessity, and dis- 
 guising it in the habit of choice, the shallow stratagem of 
 defending by argument what all the world must perceive is 
 yielded to force — these are a sort of acts of friendship which 
 i am sorry that any of my countrymen should require of 
 their real friends. They are things not to my taste; and if 
 they are looked upon as tests of friendship, I desire for one 
 that I may be considered as an enemy. 
 
 What party purpose did my conduct answer at that time ? 
 I acted with Lord N. I went to all the ministerial meet- 
 ings — and he and his associates in office will do me the 
 justice to say, that, aiming at the concord of the empire, I 
 made it my business to give his concessions all the value of 
 which they were capable — whilst some of those who were 
 covered with his favours derogated from them, treated them 
 with contempt, and openly threatened to oppose them. If I 
 had acted with my dearest and most valued friends — if I 
 had acted with the Marquis of Eockingham or the Duke of 
 Richmond in that situation, I could have attended more to 
 their honour, or endeavoured more earnestly to give efficacy 
 to the measures I had taken in common with them. The 
 return which I and all who acted as I did have met with 
 from him does not make me repent the conduct which I 
 then held. 
 
 As to the rest of the gentlemen with whom I have the 
 honour to act, they did not then, or at any other time, make 
 a party affair of Irish politics. That matter was always 
 taken up without concert ; but, in general, from the opera- 
 tion of our known liberal principles, in government, in com- 
 merce, in religion, in everything, it was taken up favourably 
 for Ireland. When some local interests bore hard up en 
 
 i 
 
LETTER TO THOMAS BUEOH, ESQ. 499 
 
 the members, they acted on the sense of their constituents 
 upon ideas, which though I do not always follow I cannot 
 blame. However, two or three persons, high in opposition, 
 and high in public esteem, ran great risks in their boroughs 
 on that occasion. But ail this was without any particular 
 plan. I need not say that Ireland was in that affair mucli 
 obliged to the liberal mind and enlarged understanding of 
 Charles Fox, to Mr. Thomas Townshend, to Lord Middle- 
 ton, and others. On reviewing that affair, which gave rise 
 to all the subsequent manoeuvres, I am convinced that the 
 whole of what has this day been done might have then been 
 effected. But then the minister must have taken it up as a 
 great plan of national policy, and paid with his person in 
 every lodgment of his approach. He must have used that 
 influence to quiet prejudice, which he has so often used 
 to corrupt principle : and I know that if he had he must 
 have succeeded. Many of the most active in opposition 
 would have given him an unequivocal support. The cor- 
 poration of London, and the great body of the London 
 West India merchants and planters, which forms the great- 
 est mass of that vast interest, were disposed to fall in with 
 such a plan. They certainly gave no sort of discountenance 
 to what was done, or what was proposed. But these are 
 not the kind of objects for which our ministers bring out 
 the heavy artillery of the state. Therefore, as things stood 
 at that time, a great deal more was not practicable. 
 
 Last year another proposition was brought out for the 
 relief of Ireland. It was started without any communica- 
 tion with a single person of activity in the country party ; 
 and, as it should seem, without any kind of concert with 
 - government. It appeared to me extremely raw and undi- 
 gested. The behaviour of Lord N. on the opening of that 
 business was the exact transcript of his conduct on the 
 Irish question in the former session. It was a mode of pro- 
 ceeding which his nature has wrought into the texture of 
 his politics, and which is inseparable from them. He chose 
 to absent himself on the proposition, and during the agita- 
 tion of that business ; although the business of the House is 
 that alone for which he has any kind of relish, or, as I am 
 told, can be persuaded to listen to with any degree of at- 
 tention. But he was willing to let it take its course. If it 
 
 2 c 2 
 
500 LETTEE TO THOMAS BUBOH, ESQ. 
 
 should pass without any considerable difficulty, he wool*. 
 bring his acquiescence to tell for merit in Ireland, and he 
 would have the credit out of his indolence of giving quiet 
 to that country. If difficulties should arise on the part of 
 England, he knew that the House was so well trained, that 
 he might at his pleasure call us off from the hottest scent. 
 As he acted in his usual manner, and upon his principle, 
 opposition acted upon theirs, and rather generally supported 
 the measure. As to myself, I expressed a disapprobation at 
 the practice of bringing imperfect and indigested projects 
 into the House, before means were used to quiet the clamours 
 which a misconception of what we were doing might occasion 
 at home ; and before measures were settled with men of 
 weight and authority in Ireland, in order to render our acts 
 useful and acceptable to that country. I said, that the only 
 thing which could make the influence of the Crown (enorm- 
 ous without as well as within the House) in any degree toler- 
 able, was, that it might be employed to give something of 
 order and system to the proceedings of a popular assembly ; 
 that government being so situated as to have a large range of 
 prospect, and as it were a bird's-eye view of everything, they 
 might see distant dangers, and distant advantages, which were 
 not so visible to those who stood on the common level ; they 
 might, besides, observe them, from this advantage, in their 
 relative and combined state ; which people locally instructed, 
 and partially informed, could behold only in an insulated 
 and unconnected manner : — but that for many years past we 
 suffered under all the evils, without any one of the advan- 
 tages of a government influence : — that the business of a 
 minister, or of those who acted as such, had been still further 
 to contract the narrowness of men's ideas ; to confirm in- 
 veterate prejudices ; to inflame vulgar passions, and to abet 
 all sorts of popular absurdities, in order the better to de- 
 stroy popular rights and privileges: — that so far from me- 
 thodizing the business of the House, they had let all things 
 run into an inextricable confusion ; and had left affairs of 
 the most delicate policy wholly to chance. 
 
 After I had expressed myself with the warmth I felt on 
 seeing all government and order buried under the ruins of 
 liberty, and after I had made my protest against the insuffici- 
 ency of the propositions, I supported the principle of enlarge- 
 
LETTEE TO THOMAS BUEGH, ESQ. 501 
 
 ment, at which they aimed, though short and somewhat 
 wide of the mark ; giving, as my sole reason, that the more 
 frequently these matters came into discussion the more it 
 would tend to dispel fears and to eradicate prejudices. 
 
 This was the only part I took. The detail was in the 
 hands of Lord Newhaven and Lord Beauchamp, with some 
 assistance from Earl Nugent and some independent gentle- 
 men of Irish property. The dead weight of the minister 
 being removed, the House recovered its tone and elasticity. 
 We had a temporary appearance of a deliberative character. 
 The business was debated freely on both sides, and with 
 sufficient temper. And the sense of the members being 
 influenced by nothing but what will naturally influence men 
 unbought, their reason and prejudices, these two principles 
 had a fair conflict, and prejudice was obliged to give way to 
 reason. A majority appeared, on a division, in favour of the 
 propositions. 
 
 As these proceedings got out of doors, Glasgow and Man- 
 chester, and, I think, Liverpool, began to move, but in a 
 manner much more slow and languid than formerly. Nothing, 
 in my opinion, would have been less difficult than entirely to 
 have overborne their opposition. The London "West India 
 trade was, as on the former occasion, so on this, perfectly 
 liberal, and perfectly quiet; and there is abroad so much 
 respect for the united wisdom of the House, when supposed 
 to act upon a fair view of a political situation, that I scarcel} 
 ever remember any considerable uneasiness out of doors, when 
 the most active members, and those of most property and 
 consideration in the minority, have joined themselves to the 
 administration. Many factious people, in the towns I men- 
 tioned, began indeed to revile Lord North, and to reproach 
 his neutrality, as treacherous and ungrateful to those who 
 had so heartily and so warmly entered into all his views with 
 regard to America. That noble lord whose decided character 
 it is to give way to the latest and nearest pressure, without 
 any sort of regard to distant consequences of any kind, 
 thought fit to appear on this signification of the pleasure of 
 those his worthy friends and partisans, and putting himself at 
 the head of the Posse Scaccarii, wholly regardless of the dig- 
 nity and consistency of o ir miserable House, drove the pro* 
 
502 LETTER TO THOMAS BURGH, ESQ. 
 
 positions entirely out of doors by a majority newly summoned 
 to duty. 
 
 In order to atone to Ireland for his gratification to Man- 
 chester, he graciously permitted or rather forwarded two 
 bills ; that for encouraging the growth of tobacco, and that 
 for giving a bounty on exportation of hemp from Ireland. 
 They were brought in by two very w^orthy members, and on 
 good principles ; but I was sorry to see them ; and after ex- 
 pressing my doubts of their propriety, left the House. Little 
 also was said upon them. My objections were two ; the first, 
 that the cultivation of those weeds (if one of them could be 
 at all cultivated to profit) was adverse to the introduction 
 of a good course of agriculture. The other, that the encour- 
 agement given to them tended to establish that mischievous 
 policy of considering Ireland as a country of staple, and a 
 producer of raw materials. 
 
 When the rejection of the first propositions and the accept- 
 ance of the last had jointly, as it was natural, raised a very 
 strong discontent in Ireland, Lord Rockingham, who fre- 
 quently said that there never seemed a more opportune time 
 for the relief of Ireland than that moment, when Lord North 
 had rejected all rational propositions for its relief, without 
 consulting, I believe, any one living, did what he is not often 
 very willing to do ; but he thought this an occasion of mag- 
 nitude enough to justify an extraordinary step. He went 
 into the Closet ; and made a strong representation on the 
 matter to the king, which was not ill received, and I believe 
 produced good effects. He then made the motion in the 
 House of Lords which you may recollect, but he was con- 
 tent to withdraw all of censure which it contained, on the 
 solemn promise of ministry that they would, in the recess 
 of parliament, prepare a plan for the benefit of Ireland, and 
 have it in readiness to produce at the next meeting. You 
 may recollect that Lord Gower became in a particular man- 
 ner bound for the fulfilling this engagement. Even this did 
 not satisfy ; and most of the minority were very unwilling 
 that parliament should be prorogued, until something effec- 
 tual on the subject should be done ; particularly as w^e saw 
 that the distresses, discontents, and armaments of Ireland 
 were increasing every day, and that we are not so much lost 
 
LETTER TO THOMAS BUEGH, ESQ. 505 
 
 to common-sense as not to know the wisdom and efficacy of 
 early concession in circumstances such as ours. 
 
 The session was now at an end. The ministers, instead of 
 attending to a duty that was so urgent on them, employed 
 themselves, as usual, in endeavours to destroy the reputation 
 of those who were bold enough to remind them of it. They 
 caused it to be industriously circulated through the nation, 
 that the distresses of Ireland were of a nature hard to be 
 traced to the true source ; that they had been monstrously 
 magnified ; and that, in particular, the official reports from 
 Ireland had given the lie (that was their phrase) to Lord 
 Rockingham's representations. And, attributing the origin 
 of the Irish proceedings wholly to us, they asserted, that 
 everything done in parliament upon the subject was with a 
 view of stirring up rebellion ; " that neither the Irish legis- 
 lature, nor their constituents, had signified any dissatisfac- 
 tion at the relief obtained in the session preceding the last ; 
 that, to convince both of the impropriety of their peaceable 
 conduct, opposition, by making demands in the name of 
 Ireland, pointed out what she might extort from Great 
 Britain : that the facility with which relief was (formerly) 
 granted, instead of satisfying opposition, was calculated to 
 create new demands. These demands, as they interfered 
 with the commerce of Great Britain, were certain of being 
 opposed ; a circumstance which could not fail to create that 
 desirable confusion which suits the views of the party. 
 That they (the Irish) had long felt their own misery, with- 
 out knowing well from whence it came. Our worthy patriots, 
 by pointing out Great Britain as the cause of Irish distress, 
 may have some chance of rousing Irish resentment." This I 
 quote from a pamphlet, as perfectly contemptible in point of 
 writing as it is false in its facts, and wicked in its design : 
 but as it is written, under the authority of ministers, by one 
 of their principal literary pensioners, and was circulated 
 with great diligence, and, as I am credibly informed, at a 
 consideraJble expense to the public, I use the words of that 
 book to let you see in what manner the friends and patrons 
 of Ireland, the heroes of your parliament, represented all 
 effi3rts for your relief here ; what means they took to dispose 
 the minds of the people to vards that great object ; and what 
 encouragement they gave to all who should choose to exert 
 
504 LETTER TO THOMAS BUfiGH. ESQ. 
 
 themselves in your favour. Their unwearied endeavours 
 were not wholly without success, and the unthinking people 
 in many places became ill affected towards us on this ac- 
 count. Tor the ministers proceeded in your affairs just as 
 they did with regard to those of America. They always re- 
 presented you as a parcel of blockheads, without sense, or 
 even feeling; that all your words were only the echo of 
 faction here ; and (as you have seen above) that you had 
 not understanding enough to know that your trade was 
 cramped by restrictive acts of the British parliament, unless 
 w^e had, for factious purposes, given you the information. 
 
 They were so far from giving the least intimation of the 
 measures which have since taken place, that those who 
 were supposed the best to know their intentions declared 
 them impossible in the actual state of the two kingdoms : 
 and spoke of nothing but an act of union, as the only way 
 that could be found of giving freedom of trade to Ireland, 
 consistently with the interests of this kingdom. Even when 
 the session opened, Lord North declared that he did not 
 know what remedy to apply to a disease, of the cause of whicli 
 he was ignorant ; and ministry, not being then entirely re- 
 solved how far they should submit to your energy, they, by 
 anticipation, set the above author or some of his associates to 
 fill the newspapers with invectives against us, as distressing 
 the minister by extravagant demands in favour of Ireland. 
 
 I need not inform you that everything they asserted of the 
 steps taken in Ireland, as the result of our machinations, was 
 utterly false and groundless. For myself, I seriously protest 
 to you that I neither wrote a word or received a line upon 
 any matter relative to the trade of Ireland or to the politics 
 of it, from the beginning of the last session to the day that I 
 was honoured with your letter. It would be an affront to 
 the talents in the Irish parliament to say one word more. 
 
 What was done in Ireland during that period, in and out 
 of parliament, never will be forgotten. You raised an army 
 new in its kind, and adequate to its purposes. It affected 
 its end without its exertion. It was not under the authority 
 of law, most certainly ; but it derived from an authority still 
 higher ; and as they say of faith, that it is not contrary to 
 reason, but above it ; so this army did not so much contradict 
 the spirit of the law, as supersede it. What you did iu the 
 
LETTER TO THOMAS BUEGH, ESQ. 505 
 
 legislative body is above all praise. By your proceeding with 
 regard to the supplies, you revived the grand use and 
 characteristic benefit of parliament, which was on the point 
 of being entirely lost amongst us. These sentiments I never 
 concealed, and never shall ; and Mr. Fox expressed them with 
 his usual power when he spoke on the subject. 
 
 All this is very honourable to you. But in what light 
 must we see it ? How are we to consider your armament 
 without commission from the Crown, when some of the first 
 people in this kingdom have been refused arms, at the time 
 they did not only not reject but solicited the king's com- 
 missions ? Here to arm and embody would be represented 
 as little less than high treason, if done on private authority — 
 With you it receives the thanks of a privy counsellor of 
 Great Britain, who obeys the Irish House of Lords in that 
 point with pleasure ; and is made secretary of state the 
 moment he lands here, for his reward. You shortened the 
 credit given to the Crown to six months — Tou hung up the 
 public credit of your kingdom by a thread — You refused to 
 raise any taxes, whilst you confessed the public debt, and 
 public exigencies, to be great and urgent beyond example. 
 You certainly acted in a great style, and on sound and in- 
 vincible principles. But if we, in the opposition which fills 
 Ireland with such loyal horrors, had even attempted, what we 
 never did even attempt, the smallest delay or the smallest 
 limitation of supply, in order to a constitutional coercion of 
 the Crown, we should have been decried by all the court and 
 Tory mouths of this kingdom, as a desperate faction, aiming 
 at the direct ruin of the country, and to surrender it bound 
 hand and foot to a foreign enemy. By actually doing what we 
 never ventured to attempt, you have paid your court with 
 such address, and have won so much favour with his ^Majesty 
 and his cabinet, that they have, of their special grace and 
 mere motion, raised you to new titles ; and, for the first time, 
 in a speech from the throne, complimented you with the 
 appellation of "faithful and loyal," — and, in order to insult 
 our low-spirited and degenerate obedience, have thrown these 
 epithets and your resistance together in our teeth ! A\"hat do 
 you think were the feelings of every man who looks upon 
 parliament in a higher light, than that of a market overt fof 
 legalizing a base traffic of votes and pensions, when he saw 
 
606 LETTER TO THOMAS BURGH, ESQ. 
 
 jou employ such means of coercion to the Crown, in order to 
 coerce our parliament through that medium ? How much his 
 Majesty is pleased with hit part of the civility, must be left 
 to his own taste. But as to us, you declared to the world 
 that you knew that the way of bringing us to reason was to 
 apply yourselves to the true source of all our opinions, and 
 the only motive to all our conduct ! Now, it seems, you think 
 yourselves affronted, because a few of us express some indig- 
 nation at the minister who has thought fit to strip us stark 
 naked, and expose the true state of our poxed and pestilential 
 habit to the world ! Think or say what you will in Ireland, 
 I shall ever think it a crime, hardly to be expiated by his 
 blood. He might, and ought, by a longer continuance, or by 
 an earlier meeting of this parliament, to have given us the 
 credit of some wisdom in foreseeing and anticipating an 
 approaching force. So far from it. Lord Gower, coming out of 
 his own cabinet, declares, that one principal cause of his 
 resignation was his not being able to prevail on the present 
 minister to give any sort of application to this business. 
 Even on the late meeting of parliament nothing determinate 
 could be drawn from him, or from any of his associates, until 
 you had actually passed the short money bill ; which mea- 
 sure they flattered themselves, and assured others, you would 
 never come up to. Disappointed in their expectation at see- 
 ing the siege raised, they surrendered at discretion. 
 
 Judge, my dear Sir, of our surprise at finding your cen- 
 sure directed against those whose only crime was in accus- 
 ing the ministers of not having prevented your demands by 
 our graces ; of not having given you the natural advantages 
 of your country in the most ample, the most early, and the 
 most liberal manner ; and for not having given away author- 
 ity in such a manner as to insure friendship. That you 
 should make the panegyric of the ministers is what I expect- 
 ed ; because in praising their bounty you paid a just com- 
 pliment to your own force. But that you should rail at us, 
 either individually or collectively, is what I can scarcely 
 think a natural proceeding. I can easily conceive, that gen- 
 tlemen might grow frightened at what they have done ;— 
 that they might imagine they had undertaken a business 
 above their direction; — that, having obtained a state of 
 independence for their country, they meant to take the 
 
LETTER TO THOMAS BUEGH, ESQ. 507 
 
 deserted helm into their own hands, and supply bj their 
 very real abilities the total inefficacy of the nominal govern- 
 ment. All these might be real, and might be very justifiable, 
 motives for their reconciling themselves cordially to the 
 present court system. But I do not so well discover the 
 reasons that could induce them, at the first feeble dawning 
 of life in this country, to do all in their power to cast a cloud 
 over it ; and to prevent the least hope of our affecting the 
 necessary reformations which are aimed at in our constitu- 
 tion, and in our national economy. 
 
 But, it seems, I was silent at the passing the resolutions. 
 Why — what had I to say ? If I had thought them too much, 
 I should have been accused of an endeavour to inflame Eng- 
 land. If I should represent them as too little, I should have 
 been charged with a design of fomenting the discontents of 
 Ireland into actual rebellion. The treasury -bench represent- 
 ed that the affair was a matter of state : — they represented 
 it truly. I, therefore, only asked whether they knew these 
 propositions to be such as would satisfy Ireland ; for if they 
 were so, they would satisfy me. This did not indicate that 
 I thought them too ample. In this our silence (however 
 dishonourable to parliament) there was one advantage ; that 
 the whole passed, as far as it is gone, with complete unani- 
 mity ; and so quickly, that there was no time left to excite 
 any opposition to it out of doors. In the West India busi- 
 ness, reasoning on what had lately passed in the parliament 
 of Ireland, and on the mode in which it was opened here, I 
 thought I saw much matter of perplexity. But I have now 
 better reason than ever to be pleased A^-ith my silence. If I 
 had spoken, one of the most honest and able men* in the 
 Irish parliament woidd probably have thought my observa- 
 tion an endeavour to sow dissension, which he was resolved 
 to prevent ; and one of the most ingenious and one of the 
 most amiable men- that ever graced yours or any House of 
 parliament, might have looked on it as a chimera. In the 
 silence I observed, I was strongly countenanced (to say no 
 more of it) by every gentleman of Ireland that I had the 
 honour of conversing -^-ith in London. The only word, for 
 that reason, which I spoke, was to restrain a worthy county 
 
 ' Mr. Grattan. ' Mr. Hussey Burgh. 
 
508 LETTER TO THOMAS BUEGH, ESQ. 
 
 member,^ wbo had received some communication from a 
 great trading place in the county he represents, which, if it 
 had been opened to the House, would have led to a perplex- 
 ing discussion of one of the most troublesome matters that 
 could arise in this business. I got up to put a stop to it ; 
 and I believe, if you knew what the topic was, you would 
 commend my discretion. 
 
 That it should be a matter of public discretion in me to be 
 silent on the affairs of Ireland is what on all accounts I bit- 
 terly lament. I stated to the House what I felt ; and I felt, 
 as strongly as human sensibility can feel, the extinction of 
 my parliamentary capacity where I wished to use it most. 
 "When I came into this parliament, just fourteen years ago, 
 — into this parliament, then, in vulgar opinion at least, the 
 presiding council of the greatest empire existing, (and per- 
 liaps, all things considered, that ever did exist,) obscure and 
 a stranger as I was, — I considered myself as raised to the 
 highest dignity to which a creature of our species could 
 aspire. In that opinion, one of the chief pleasures in my 
 situation, what was first and uppermost in my thoughts, was 
 the hope, without injury to this country, to be somewhat 
 useful to the place of my birth and education, which, in 
 many respects, internal and external, I thought ill and im- 
 politically governed. But when I found that the House, 
 surrendering itself to the guidance of an authority, not 
 grown out of an experienced wisdom and integrity, but out 
 of the accidents of court favour, had become the sport of 
 the passions of men at once rash and pusillanimous ; — that 
 it had even got into the habit of refusing everything to 
 reason, and surrendering everything to force, all my power 
 of obliging either my country or individuals was gone ; all 
 the lustre of my imaginary rank was tarnished ; and I felt 
 degraded even by my elevation. I said this, or something 
 to this effect. If it gives offence to Ireland, I am sorry for 
 it : it was the reason I gave for my silence ; and it was, as 
 far as it went, the true one. 
 
 "With you, this silence of mine and of others was repre- 
 sented as factious, and as a discountenance to the measure 
 of your relief. Do you think us children ? If it had beeu 
 our wish to embroil matters, and, for the sake of distressing 
 Mr, Stanley, member for Lancashire. 
 
LETTER TO THOMAS BUHGH, ESQ. 509 
 
 ministry, to commit the two kingdoms in a dispute, we had 
 nothing to do but (without at all condemning the proposi- 
 tions) to have gone into the commercial detail of the objects 
 of them. It could not have been refused to us ; and you, 
 who know the nature of business so well, must know that 
 this would have caused such delays, and given rise during 
 that delay to such discussions, as all the wisdom of your fa- 
 vourite minister could never have settled. But indeed you 
 mistake your men. We tremble at the idea of a disunion of 
 these two nations. The only thing in which we differ with you 
 is this, — that we do not think your attaching yourselves to 
 the court, and quarrelling with the independent part of this 
 people, is the way to promote the union of two free countries, 
 or of holding them together by the most natural and salutary 
 ties. 
 
 You will be frightened when you see this long letter. I 
 smile, when I consider the length of it, myself. I never, 
 that I remember, wrote any of the same extent. But it 
 shows me that the reproaches of the country that I once 
 belonged to, and in which I still hare a dearness of instinct 
 more than I can justify to reason, make a greater impression 
 on me than I had imagined. But parting words are admit- 
 ted to be a little tedious, because they are not likely to be 
 renewed. If it will not be making yourself as troublesome 
 to others as I am to you, I shall be obliged to you if you 
 will show this, at their greatest leisure, to the Speaker, to 
 your excellent kinsman, to Mr. Grattan, Mr. Telverton, and 
 Mr. Daly ; — all these I have the honour of being personally 
 known to, except Mr. Telverton, to whom I am only known 
 by my obligations to him. If you live in any habits with 
 my old friend the provost, I shall be glad that he too sees 
 this my humble apology. 
 
 Adieu ! once more accept my best thanks for the interest 
 you take in me. Believe that it is received by a heart not 
 yet so old as to have lost its susceptibility. All here give 
 you the best old-fashioned wishes of the season, and believe 
 me, with the greatest truth and regard. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 Tour most faithful and obliged humble Servant, 
 Edmund Bfbke. 
 Beaconsjield, 
 
 Nev Years Day, 1780. 
 
510 LETTEB TO JOHN MEELOTT, ESQ. 
 
 I am frightened at the trouble I give you and oui friends *, 
 but I recollect that you are mostly lawyers, and habituated 
 to read long tiresome papers — and, where your friendship is 
 concerned, without a fee ; I am sure, too, that you will not 
 act the lawyer in scrutinizing too minutely every expression 
 which my haste may make me use. I forgot to mention my 
 friend O'Hara and others, but you will communicate it as 
 you please. 
 
 A LETTEE TO JOHN MEELOTT, ESQ.^ 
 
 Deae Sib, 
 
 I am very unhappy to find that my conduct in the busi- 
 ness of Ireland, on a former occasion, had made many to be 
 cold and indifferent, who would otherwise have been warm, 
 in my favour. I really thought that events would have pro- 
 duced a quite contrary effect ; and would have proved to all 
 the inhabitants of Bristol, that it was no desire of opposing 
 myself to their wishes, but a certain knowledge of the ne- 
 cessity of their affairs, and a tender regard to their honour 
 and interest, which induced me to take the part which 1 
 then took. They placed me in a situation which might en- 
 able me to discern what was fit to be done on a consideration 
 of the relative circumstances of this country and all its 
 neighbours. This was what you could not so well do your- 
 selves ; but you had a right to expect that I should avail myself 
 of the advantage which I derived from your favour. Under 
 the impression of this duty and this trust I had endeavoured 
 to render, by preventive graces and concessions, every act of 
 power at the same time an act of lenity ; — the result of Eng- 
 lish bounty, and not of English timidity and distress. l! 
 really flattered myself tliat the events which have proved 
 beyond dispute the prudence of such a maxim would have ob- 
 tained pardon for me, if not approbation. But if I have not 
 been so fortunate, I do most sincerely regret my great loss ; 
 
 ' An eminent merchant in the city of Bristol, of which Mr. Burke wa* 
 one of the representatives in parliament. — It relates to the same subjoct 
 as the preceding letter 
 
LETTEII TO JOHN MEBLOTT, ESQ. 511 
 
 With this comfort, however, that, if I have disobeyed my 
 constituents, it was not in pursuit of any sinister interest, 
 or any party passion of my own, but in endeavouring to save 
 them from disgrace, along with the whole community to 
 which they and I belong. I shall be concerned for this, 
 and very much so ; but I should be more concerned if, in 
 gratifying a present humour of theirs, 1 had rendered my- 
 self unworthy of their former or their future choice. I con- 
 fess, that I could not bear to face my constituents at the next 
 general election, if I had been a rival to Lord North in the 
 glory of having refused some small, insignificant concessiouy, 
 in favour of Ireland, to the arguments and supplications of 
 English members of parliament ; and in the very next ses- 
 sion, on the demand of 40,000 Irish bayonets, of having 
 made a speech of two hours long to prove that my former 
 conduct was founded upon no one right principle either of 
 policy, justice, or commerce. I never heard a more elabor- 
 ate, more able, more convincing, and more shameful speech. 
 The debater obtained credit ; but the statesman was dis- 
 graced for ever. Amends were made for having refused small 
 but timely concessions by an unlimited and untimely surren- 
 der, not only of every one of the objects of former restraints, 
 but virtually of the whole legislative power itself, which 
 had made them. For it is not necessary to inform you that 
 the unfortunate parliament of this kingdom did not dare to 
 qualify the very liberty she gave of trading with her own 
 plantations, by applying, of her own authority, any one of 
 the commercial regulations to the new traffic of Ireland, 
 which bind us here under the several acts of navigation. "VTe 
 were obliged to refer them to the parliament of Ireland, as 
 conditions ; just in the same manner as if we were bestow- 
 ing a privilege of the same sort on France and Spain, or any 
 other independent power, and, indeed, with more studied 
 caution than we should have used, not to shock the princi- 
 ple of their independence. How the minister reconciled the 
 refusal to reason, and the surrender to arms, raised in defi- 
 ance of the prerogatives of the Crown to his master, I know 
 not ; it has probably been settled, in some way or other, 
 between themselves. But however the king and his minis- 
 ters may settle the question of his dignity and Ins rights, I 
 thought it became me, by vigilance and foresight, to take car« 
 
512 LETTEll TO JOHN MEELOTT, ESQ. 
 
 of jours ; I thought I ought rather to lighten the ship in time 
 than expose it to a total -wreck. The conduct pursued 
 seemed to me without weight or judgment, and more fit for a 
 member for Banbury than a member for Bristol. I stood 
 therefore silent with grief and vexation on that day of the 
 signal shame and humiliation of this degraded king and coun- 
 try. But it seems the pride of Ireland in the day of her 
 power was equal to ours, when we dreamt we were powerful 
 too. I have been abused there even for my silence, which 
 was construed into a desire of exciting discontent in England. 
 But, thank Grod, my letter to Bristol was in print ; — my sen- 
 timents on the policy of the measure were known and deter- 
 mined, and such as no man could think me absurd enough to 
 contradict. "When I am no longer a free agent, I am obliged 
 in the crowd to yield to necessity ; it is surely enough that 
 I silently submit to power ; it is enough that I do not fool- 
 ishly affront the conqueror ; it is too hard to force me to sing 
 his praises whilst I am led in triumph before him ; or to make 
 the panegyric of our own minister, who would put me neither 
 in a condition to surrender with honour, nor to fight with the 
 smallest hope of victory. I was, I confess, sullen and silent 
 on that day ; and shall continue so until I see some disposi- 
 tion to inquire into this and other causes of the national dis- 
 grace. If I suffer in my reputation for it in Ireland, I am 
 sorry ; but it neither does nor can affect me so nearly as my 
 suffering in Bristol, for having wished to unite the interests 
 of the two nations in a manner that would secure the supre- 
 macy of this. 
 
 Will you have the goodness to excuse the length of thi.s 
 letter. My earnest desire of explaining myself in every 
 point which may affect the mind of any worthy gentleman in 
 Bristol is the cause of it. To yourself, and to your liberal 
 and manly notions, I know it is not so necessary. Believe me, 
 My dear Sir, 
 Your most faithful and obedient humble servant, 
 
 Edmund Buukg. 
 
 Beaconsfield, April 4M, 1780. 
 
 To John Merlott, Esq. BristoL 
 
LSTTSES OK THE ESECVTIOKS OF THE BIOTEBB. 818 
 
 LETTERS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE EXECUTIONS OF THE RIOTEUS. 
 IN 1780.^ 
 
 TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. 
 
 My Loed, 
 
 I hope I am not too late with the enclosed slight oh- 
 Bervations. If the execution already ordered cannot be pos^t- 
 poned, might I venture to recommend that it should extend 
 to one only ; and then the plan suggested in the euclofc*ed 
 paper may, if your Lordship thinks well of it, take place with 
 such improvements as your better judgment may dictate 
 As to fewness of the executions and the good effects of that 
 policy, I cannot, for my own part, entertain the slightest 
 doubt. 
 
 If you have no objection, and think it may not occupy more 
 of his Majesty's time than such a thing is worth, I should 
 not be sorry that the enclosed was put into the king's hands. 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord, 
 Your Lordship's 
 
 Charles Street, most obedient humble servant, 
 
 July 10, 1780. Edmukd Bueke. 
 
 TO THE EARL BATHURST, 
 
 loed peesideis't of the council. 
 My Loed, 
 
 I came to town but yesterday, and therefore did not 
 learn more early the probable extent of the executions, in con- 
 
 ' It appears by the following extract from a letter •vsTitten by the Earl 
 of Mansfield to Mr. Burke, dated the 17th July, 1780, that these Reflec- 
 tions had also beer, communicated to him — " I received the honour o 
 your letter and very judicious thoughts. Having been so greatly injured 
 myself, I have thought it more decent not to attend the reports, and con 
 Bequently have not beei present at any deliberatlDn upon the subject." 
 
 VOL. V. 2 1. 
 
614 LETTERS ON THE EXECUTIONS OF THE BIOTEES. 
 
 ^eauence of the late disturbances. I take the liberty of laying 
 before you, ^ith the sincerest deference to your judgment, 
 'hat appeared to me very early as reasonable m this busi- 
 ness. Further thoughts have since occurred to me I con. 
 fc^s my mind is under no small degree f so[^f ude and 
 anxiety on the subject; I am fully persuaded that a proper 
 use of mercy would not only recommend the ^vlsdom and 
 steadiness of government, but, if properly used, m.ght be 
 made a means of drawing out the principal movers in this 
 wicked business, who have hitherto eluded your scrutiny. I 
 beg pardon for this intrusion, and have the honour to be, 
 with great regard and esteem, 
 My Lord, 
 
 "Tour Lordship's 
 Charles Street, most obedient humble servant, 
 7^/; 18, m Ebmunb Bukke. 
 
 TO SIR GREY COOPER, BART.^ 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 According to your desire, I send you a copy ot the 
 few reflections on the subject of the W^^^f ^^"'^^'f'^'Z^ 
 which occurred to me in the earliest period of the late dis- 
 turbances, and which all my experience and observat on 
 since have most strongly confirmed The executicnis takmg 
 those which have been made, which are now ordered and 
 which may be the natural consequence of the convictions m 
 Surrey, will be undoubtedly too many to answer any good 
 purpose. Great slaughter attended the suppression of the 
 Lmllts; and this ought to be taken m ^-^^f J^^rth 
 executiok of the law. For Ood's sake entreat ol Lord Isoith 
 to take a view of the sum total of the deaths, before any are 
 ordered for execution ; for, by not doing ««^?;!^thing of this 
 kind, people are decoyed in detail into severities they never 
 would have dreamed of, if they had the whole ^ their view 
 at once. The scene in Surrey would have aliected the hard- 
 est heart that ever was in an human breast. Justice and 
 mercy have not such opposite interests as people arc apt to 
 imagine. I saw Lord Loughborough last night. He seen ed 
 strongly impressed with the sense ot what necessity obliged 
 » One of the secreiaries of the treasury. 
 
TKOlfGHTS ON THE APPEOACHIFG EXECUTIONS. 515 
 
 iiim to go through, and I believe will enter into our ideas 
 on the subject. On this matter you see that no time is to 
 be lost. Before a final determination, the first thing I would 
 recommend is, that if the very next execution cannot be dv- 
 layed, (by the way I do not see why it may not,) it may be 
 of but a single person; and that afterwards you should not 
 exceed two or three : for it is enough for one riot, where the 
 very Act of Parliament, on which you proceed, is rather a 
 little hard in its sanctions and its construction : not that 1 
 mean to complain of the latter, as either new or strained ; 
 but it was rigid from the first. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 Tuesday^ Your most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 ISthJuly, 1780. Edmund Buiikk. 
 
 I really feel uneasy on this business, and should consider 
 it as a sort of personal favour, if you do something to limit 
 the extent and severity of the law on tliis point. — Present 
 my best compliments to Lord North, and if he thinks that I 
 have had wishes to be serviceable to government on the late 
 occasion, I shall on my part think myself abundantly re- 
 warded, if a few lives less than first intended should be 
 saved ; I should sincerely set it down as a personal obliga- 
 tion, though the thing stands upon general and strong rea- 
 son of its own. 
 
 SOME THOUGHTS 
 
 ON THE APPEOACHINO EXECUTIONS, 
 
 HUMBLY OFFERED TO CONSIDERATION. 
 
 As the number of persons convicted on account or the 
 late unhappy tumults, will probably exceed what any one's 
 idea of vengeance or example would deliver to capital pun- 
 ishment, it is to be wished that the whole business, as well 
 with regard to the number and description of those who are 
 to sufi'er death, as with regard to those who shall be de- 
 livered over to lighter punishment, or wholly pardoned, 
 •hould be entirely a work of reason. , , . 
 
51G THOUGHTS ON THE APPEOACHINO EXEOUTIONS. 
 
 It has happened frequently, in cases of this nature, that 
 the fate of the convicts has depended more upon the acci- 
 dental circumstance of their being brought earlier or later 
 to trial, than to any steady principle of equity applied to 
 their several causes. Without great care and sobriety, cri- 
 minal justice generally begins with anger, and ends in negli- 
 gence. The first that are brought forward suffer the ex- 
 tremity of the law, with circumstances of mitigation in their 
 case ; and, after a time, the most atrocious delinquents 
 escape merely by the satiety of punishment. 
 
 In the business now before his Majesty, the following 
 thoughts are humbly submitted. 
 
 If I understand the temper of the public at this moment, 
 a very great part of the lower, and some of the middling, 
 people of this city are in a very critical disposition, and such 
 as ought to be managed with firmness and delicacy. In ge- 
 neral, they rather approve than blame the principles of the 
 rioters ; though the better sort of them are afraid of the 
 consequences of those very principles which they approve. 
 This keeps their minds in a suspended and anxious state, 
 which may very easily be exasperated by an injudicious se- 
 verity into desperate resolutions ; or by weak measures, on 
 the part of the government, it may be encouraged to the 
 pursuit of courses, which may be of the most dangerous 
 consequences to the public. 
 
 There is no doubt that the approaching executions will 
 very much determine the future conduct of those people. 
 They ought to be such as will humble, not irritate. Nothing 
 will make government more awful to them than to see that 
 it does not proceed by chance or under the influence of 
 passion. 
 
 It is therefore proposed that no execution should be made, 
 until the number of persons, which government thinks fit 
 to try, is comjdeted. When the whole is at once under the 
 oye, an examination ought to be made into the circumstances 
 of every particular convict ; and six, at the very utmost, of 
 the fittest examples may then be selected for execution, who 
 ought to be brought out and put to death, on one and the 
 same day, in six difterent places, and in the most solemn 
 manner that can be devised. Afterwards, groat care should 
 be taken, that their bodies may not be delivered to their 
 
THOUGHTS Olf THE APPEOACHrNG EXECUTIONS. 517 
 
 Iriends, or to others, wto may make tliem objects of compas- 
 Bion, or even veneration ; some instances of the kind have 
 happened \vith regard to the bodies of those killed in the 
 riots. 
 
 The rest of the other malefactors ought to be either con- 
 demned, for larger or shorter terms, to the lighters ; houses 
 of correction ; service in the navy , and the like, according 
 to the case. 
 
 This small number of executions, and all at one time, 
 though in different places, is seriously recommended ; be- 
 cause it is certain that a great havoc among criminals 
 hardens, rather than subdues, the minds of people inclined 
 to the same crimes ; and therefore fails of answering its 
 purpose as an example. Men, who see their lives respected 
 and thought of value by others, come to respect that gift of 
 God themselves. To have compassion for oneself, or to care, 
 more or less, for one's own life, is a lesson to be learned just 
 as every other ; and I believe it will be found, that conspira- 
 cies have been most common and most desperate where 
 their punishment has been most extensive and most severe. 
 
 Besides, the least excess in this way excites a tenderness 
 in the milder sort of people, which makes them consider go- 
 vernment in a harsh and odious light. The sense of justice 
 in men is overloaded and fatigued with a long series of exe- 
 cutions, or with such a carnage at once, as rather resembles 
 a massacre than a sober execution of the laws. The laws 
 thus lose their terror in the minds of the wicked, and their 
 reverence in the minds of the virtuous. 
 
 I have ever observed, that the execution of one man fixes 
 the attention and excites awe ; the execution of multitudes 
 dissipates and weakens the effect : but men reason them- 
 selves into disapprobation and disgust ; they compute more 
 as they feel less ; and every severe act, which does not ap- 
 pear to be necessary, is sure to be offensive. 
 
 In selecting the criminals, a very different line ought to be 
 followed from that recommended by the champions of the 
 Protestant xVssociation. They recommend that the offenders 
 for plunder ought to be punished, and the offenders from 
 principles spared. But the contrary rule ought to be fol- 
 lowed. The ordinary executions, of which there are enough 
 in conscience, are for the former species of delinquents ; bui 
 
618 THOUOHTS ON THB APrEOA-CHiyG EXECrTIONS. 
 
 such common plunderers would furnish no example in the 
 present case, where the false or pretended principle of reli- 
 gion, which leads to crimes, is the very thing to be dis- 
 couraged. 
 
 But the reason which ought to make these people objects 
 of selection for punishment, confines the selection to very 
 few. For we must consider that the whole nation has been, 
 for a long time, guilty of their crime. Toleration is a new 
 virtue in any country. It is a late ripe fruit in the best 
 climates. We ought to recollect the poison, which, under 
 the name of antidotes against Popery, and such like mounte- 
 bank titles, has been circulated from our pulpits, and from 
 our presses, from the heads of the Church of England, and 
 the heads of the dissenters. These publications, by degrees, 
 have tended to drive all religion from our own minds, and to 
 fill them with nothing but a violent hatred of the religion of 
 other people, and, of course, with a hatred of their persons ; 
 aud so, by a very natural progression, they have led men to 
 the destruction of their goods and houses, and to attempts 
 upon their lives. 
 
 This delusion furnishes no reason for suffering that abom- 
 inable spirit to be kept alive by inflammatory libels, or 
 seditious assemblies, or for government's yielding to it, in 
 the smallest degree, any point of justice, equity, or sound 
 policy. The king certainly ought not to give up any part 
 of his subjects to the prejudices of another. So far from it, 
 I am clearly of opinion, that on the late occasion the 
 Catholics ought to have been taken, more avowedly than 
 they were, under the protection of government, as the dis- 
 senters had been on a similar occasion. 
 
 But though we ought to protect against violence the 
 bigotry of others, and to correct our own too, if we have 
 any left, we ought to reflect that an offence, which in its 
 cause is national, ought not in its effects to be vindicated 
 on individuals, but with a very well-tempered severity. 
 
 For my own part, I think the fire is not extinguished; 
 on the contrary, it seems to require the attention of govern- 
 ment more than ever ; but as a part of any metliodical 
 l)hin for extinguishing this flame, it really seems necessary 
 that the execution of justice should be as steady and as cool 
 as possible. 
 
ADDITIONAL HEFLLCTIONS ON THE EXECUTIONS. 519 
 
 SOME ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS ON THE 
 EXECUTIONS. 
 
 TuE great number of sufferers seems to arise from the 
 misfortune incident to the variety of judicatures which have 
 tried the crimes. It were well if the whole had been the 
 business of one commission ; for now every trial seems as if 
 it were a separate business, and in that light each offence is 
 not punished with greater severity than single offences of 
 the kind are commonly marked : but in reality and fact this 
 unfortunate affair, though diversified in the multitude of overt 
 acts, has been one and the same riot ; and therefore the exe- 
 cutions, so far as regards the general effect on the minds of 
 men, ^vlll have a reference to the unity of the offence, and 
 will appear to be much more severe than such a riot, atro- 
 cious as it was, can well justify in government. I pray that 
 it may be recoljected, that the chief delinquents have hitherto 
 escaped; and very many of those who are fallen into the 
 hands of justice are a poor, thoughtless set of creatures, very 
 little aware of the nature of their offence. None of the list- 
 makers, the assemblies of the mob, the directors and ar- 
 rangers, have been convicted. The pieachers of mischief 
 remain safe, and are wicked enough not to feel for their 
 deluded disciples ; no, not at all. 
 
 I would not plead the ignorance of the law^ in any, even 
 the most ignorant, as a justification ; but I am sure that, 
 when the question is of mercy, it is a very great and power- 
 ful argument. I have all the reason in the world to believe 
 that they did not know their offence was capital. 
 
 There is one argument, which I beg may not be considered 
 as brought for any invidious purpose, or meant as imputing 
 blame anywhere, but which, I think, with candid and con- 
 siderate men, will have much weight. Tlie unfortunate de- 
 linquents were perhaps encouraged by some remissness on 
 the part of government itself. The absolute and entire 
 impunity attending the same offence in Edinburgh, which 
 was over and over again urged as an example and encourage- 
 ment to these unfortunate people, might be a means of de- 
 luding them. Perhaps, too, a languor in the beginning of the 
 nota here (which suffered the leaders to proceed, until very 
 
520 ADDITIONAL EEFLECTIOI^S ON TUE EXECUTIONS. 
 
 many, as it were by the contagion of a sort of fashion, were 
 carried to these excesses) might make these people think 
 that there was something in the case, which induced govern- 
 'nent to wink at the irregularity of the proceedings. 
 
 The conduct and the condition of the lord mayor ought, in 
 my opinion, to be considered. His answers to Lord Beau- 
 cliamp, to Mr. Malo, and to Mr. Langdale, make him appear 
 rather an accomplice in the crimes, than guilty of negligence 
 as a magistrate. Such an example set to the mob by the first 
 magistrate of the city tends greatly to palliate their oftence. 
 
 The licence, and complete impunity too, of the publica- 
 tions, which from the beginning instigated the people to such 
 actions, and, in the midst of trials and executions, still con- 
 tinues, does in a great degree render these creatures an ob- 
 ject of compassion. In the Public Advertiser of this morn- 
 ing there are two or three paragraphs strongly recommending 
 such outrages ; and stimulating the people to violence against 
 the houses and persons of Roman Catholics, and even against 
 tlie chapels of the foreign ministers. 
 
 I would not go so far as to adopt the maxim, guicquid 
 multis peccatur, inultum ; but certainly offences, committed 
 by vast multitudes, are somewhat palliated in the individuals^ 
 who, when so many escape, are always looked upon rather as 
 unlucky than criminal. All our loose ideas of justice, as it 
 affects any individual, have in them something of comparison 
 to the situation of others ; and no systematic reasoning can 
 wholly free us from such impressions. 
 
 Phil, de Comines says, our English civil wars were lesa 
 destructive than others ; because the cry of the conqueror 
 always was, " Spare the common people." This principle of 
 war should be at least as prevalent in the execution of justice. 
 The appetite of justice is easily satisfied, and it is best 
 nourished with the least possible blood. We may, too, recol- 
 lect that between capital punishment and total impunity 
 there are many stages. 
 
 On the whole, every circumstance of mercy, and of com- 
 
 I)arative justice, does, in my opinion, plead in fiivour of such 
 ow, untaught, or ill-taught wretches. But, above all, the 
 policy of government is deeply interested, that the punish- 
 ments should appear one solemn and deliberate act, aimed not 
 ftt random, and at particular offences, but done with a relation 
 
LETTEE TO TffE EIGHT HON. HENET DUNDXS. 521 
 
 to the general spirit of the tumults ; and they ought to be 
 nothing more than what is sufficient to mark and discounten- 
 ance that spirit. 
 
 CIECUMSTANCES FOR MERCY. 
 
 Not being principal. 
 
 Probable want of early and deTiberate purposes. 
 
 a ' j- where the highest malice does not appear. 
 
 Intoxication and levity, or mere wantonness of any kind. 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY DUNDAS, 
 
 ONE OF HIS majesty's PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE. 
 
 WITH THE SKETCH OF A NEGRO CODE. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I should have been punctual in sending you the sketch 
 I promised of my old African Code, if some friends from 
 London had not come in upon me last Saturday, and engaged 
 me till noon this day; I send this pacquet by one of them, 
 who is still here. If what I send be, as under present circum- 
 stances it must be, imperfect, you will excuse it, as being done 
 near twelve years ago. About four years since I made an 
 abstract of it, upon which I cannot at present lay my hands ; 
 but I hope the marginal heads will in some measure supply it. 
 
 If the African trade could be considered with regard to 
 itself only, and as a single object, I should think the utter 
 abolition to be, on the whole, more advisable than any scheme 
 of regulation and reform. Rather than suffer it to continue 
 as it is, I heartily ^vish it at an end. What has been lately 
 done has been done by a popular spirit, which seldom calls 
 for, and indeed very rarely relishes, a system made up of a 
 great variety of parts, and which is to operate its effect in a 
 great length of time. The people like short methods ; the con- 
 sequences of which they sometimes have reason to repent )f 
 Abolition is but a single act. To prove the nature of the 
 trade, and to expose it properly, required, indeed, a vast col- 
 
522 LETTEB TO THE RIGHT HON. HENEY DTTNDAS. 
 
 lection of materials, which have been laboriously collected, and 
 compiled with great judgment. It required also much per- 
 severance and address to excite the spirit which has been 
 ercited without-doors, and which has carried it through. The 
 greatest eloquence ever displayed in the House has been em- 
 ployed to second the efforts which have been made abroad. 
 All this, however, leads but to one single resolve. When this 
 w^as done, all was done. I speak of absolute and immediate 
 abolition, the point which the first motions went to, and 
 which is in effect still pressed; though in this session, accord- 
 ing to order, it cannot take effect. A remote and a gradual 
 abolition, though they may be connected, are not the same 
 thing. The idea of the House seems to me, if I rightly com- 
 prehend it, that the two things are to be combined ; that is 
 to say, that the trade is gradually to decline, and to cease 
 entirely at a determinate period. To make the abolition 
 gradual, the regulations must operate as a strong discourage- 
 ment. But it is much to be feared, that a trade continued 
 and discouraged, and with a sentence of death passed upon it, 
 will perpetuate much ill blood between those who struggle 
 for the abolition, and those who contend for an effectual con- 
 tinuance. 
 
 At the time w^hen I formed the plan which I have the 
 honour to transmit to you, an abolition of the slave trade 
 would have appeared a very chimerical project. My plan, 
 therefore, supposes the continued existence of that commerce 
 Taking for my basis, that I had an incurable evil to deal 
 with, I cast about how I should make it as small an evil as 
 possible, and draw out of it some collateral good. 
 
 In turning the matter over in my mind at tliat time, and 
 since, I never was able to consider the African trade upon a 
 ground disconnected with the employment of negroes in tlie 
 West Indies, and distinct from their condition in the plant- 
 ations whereon they serve. I conceived that the true 
 origin of the trade was not in the place it was begun at, but 
 at the place of its final destination. I therefore was, and 
 still am, of opinion, that the whole work ought to be taken 
 up together; and that a gradual abolition of slavery in the 
 AVest Indies ought to go hand in hand with anything which 
 should be done with regard to its supply from the coast of 
 Africa I could not trust a cessation of the demand for 
 
LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. HENRY DUNDAS. 523 
 
 this supply to the mere operation of any abstract principle, 
 (such as, that if their supply was cut off, the planters would 
 encourage and produce an effectual population,) knowinpj 
 that nothing can be more uncertain than the operation of 
 general principles, if they are not embodied in specific regu- 
 lations. I am very apprehensive that so long as the slavery 
 continues some means for its supply will be found. If so, I 
 am persuaded that it is better to allow the evil, in order to 
 correct it, than by endeavouring to forbid, what we cannot 
 be able wholly to prevent, to leave it under an illegal, and 
 therefore an unreformed, existence. It is not, that my 
 plan does not lead to the extinction of the slave trade ; but 
 it is through a very slow progress, the chief effect of which 
 is to be operated in our own plantations by rendering, in a 
 length of time, all foreign supply unnecessary. It was my 
 wish, whilst the slavery continued, and the consequent com- 
 merce, to take such measures as to civilize the coast of Africa 
 by the trade, which now renders it more barbarous ; and to 
 lead by degrees to a more reputable, and, possibly, a more 
 profitable, connexion with it, than we maintain at present. 
 
 I am sure that you will consider, as a mark of my confi- 
 dence in yours and Mr. Pitt's honour and generosity, that I 
 venture to put into your hands a scheme composed of many 
 and intricate combinations, without a full explanatory pre- 
 face, or any attendant notes, to point out the principles upon 
 which I proceeded in every regulation, which I have pro- 
 posed towards the civilization and gradual manumission of 
 negroes in the two hemispheres. I confess, I trust infinitely 
 more (according to the sound principles of those who ever 
 have at any time meliorated the state of mankind) to^ the 
 effect and influence of religion, than to all the rest of the 
 regulations put together. 
 
 Whenever, in my proposed reformation, we take our point 
 of departure from* a state of slavery, we must precede the 
 donation of freedom by disposing the minds of the objects to 
 a disposition to receive it without danger to themselves or 
 to us. The process of bringing free savages to^ order and 
 civilization is very different. When a state of slavery is 
 that upon which we are to work, the very means which 
 lead to liberty must partake of compulsion. The minds of 
 men being crippled with that restraint can do nothing for 
 themselves ; everything must be done for them. The regu- 
 
624 LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. HENRY DUyDAS. 
 
 lations can owe little to eoiiseut. Everything must be the 
 creature of power. Hence it is, that regulations must be 
 multiplied ; particularly as you have two parties to deal with. 
 The planter you must at once restrain and support ; and 
 you mast control, at the same time that you ease, the serv- 
 ant. This necessarily makes the work a matter of care, 
 labour, and expense. It becomes in its nature complex. 
 But I think neither the object impracticable nor the expense 
 intolerable ; and I am fully convinced that the cause of 
 humanity would be far more benefited by the continuance of 
 the trade and servitude, regulated and reformed, than by the 
 total destruction of both or either. AVhat I propose, how- 
 ever, is but a beginning of a course of measures, which an 
 experience of the effects of the evil and the reform will en- 
 able the legislature hereafter to supply and correct. 
 
 I need not observe to you, that the forms are often neg- 
 lected, penalties not provided, &c. &c. &c. But all this is 
 merely mechanical, and what a couple of days' application 
 would set to rights. 
 
 I have seen what has been done by the West Indian as- 
 semblies. It is arrant trifling. They have done little ; and 
 what they have done is good for nothing ; for it is totally 
 destitute of an executory principle. This is the point to which 
 I have applied my whole diligence. It is easy enough to say 
 what shall be done ; — to cause it to be done, — Hie labor, hoc 
 opus. 
 
 I ought not to apologize for letting this scheme lie beyond 
 the period of the Horatian keeping — I ought much more to 
 entreat an excuse for producing it now. Its whole value (if 
 it has any) is the coherence and mutual dependency of parts 
 in the scheme ; separately they can be of little or no use. 
 
 I have the honour to be, with very great respect and regard, 
 Dear Sir, 
 Tour most faithful and obedient humble servant, 
 BeaconsJieU, EdMUND BuEKE. 
 
 Easter -Monday night, \ 792. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE NEGEO CODE. 
 
 This constitution consists of four principal members. 
 1. The rules for qualifying a ship for the African trade 
 
SKETCH OF THE NEOEO CODE. 525 
 
 II. The mode of carrying on the trade upon the coast of 
 Africa, which includes a plan for introducing civilization in 
 that part of the world. 
 
 III. "What is to be observed from the time of shipping 
 negroes to the sale in the West India islands. 
 
 IV. The regulations relative to the state and condition of 
 slaves in the West Indies, their manumission, &c. 
 
 Whereas it is expedient, and conformable to p^g^^uj 
 the principles of true religion and morality, and 
 to the rules of sound policy, to put an end to all traflBc in 
 tlie persons of men, and to the detention of their said per- 
 sons in a state of slavery, as soon as the same may be effect- 
 ed without producing great inconveniences in the sudden 
 change of practices of such long standing ; and, during the 
 time of the continuance of the said practices, it is desirable 
 and expedient, by proper regulations, to lessen the inconve- 
 niences and evils attendant on the said traffic and state of 
 servitude, until both shall be gradually done away : 
 
 And whereas the objects of the said trade, and conse- 
 quential servitude, and the grievances resulting therefrom, 
 come under the principal heads following, the regulations 
 ought thereto to be severally applied ; that is to say, that 
 provision should be made by the said regulations, 
 
 1st, For duly qualifying ships for the said traffic ; 
 
 2nd, For the mode and conditions of permitting the said 
 trade to be carried on upon the coast of Africa ; 
 
 3rd, For the treatment of the negroes in their passage to 
 the West India islands ; 
 
 4th, For the government of the negroes which are or 
 shall be employed in his Majesty's colonies and plantations 
 in the West Indies : 
 
 Be it therefore enacted, that every ship or ships to be 
 trading vessel which is intended for the negro registered 
 trade, with the name of the owner or owners thereof, shall 
 be entered and registered as ships trading to the West 
 Indies are by law to be registered, with the further provi- 
 sions following : 
 
 1. The said entry and register shall contain an Measured aud 
 account of the greatest number of negroes, of surveyed, 
 all descriptions, which are proposed to be taken into th© 
 said ship or trading vessel ; and the said ship, before she is 
 permitted to be entered outwards, shall be surveyed by a 
 
526 SKETCH Of THE NEGEO CODE. 
 
 Bhip-carpenter to be appointed by the collector of the port 
 from which the said vessel is to depart, aud by a surgeon, 
 also appointed by the collector, who hath been conversant 
 in the service of the said trade, but not at the time actually 
 engaged or covenanted therein ; and the said carpenter aid 
 surgeon shall report to the collector, or, in his absence, to 
 the next principal officer of the port, upon oath, (which oath 
 the said collector or principal officer is hereby empowered to 
 administer,) her measurement, and what she contains in 
 builder's tonnage, and that she has feet of grated 
 
 port-holes between the decks, and that she is otherwise fitly 
 found as a good transport-vessel. 
 
 Number of 2. And be it enacted, that no ship employed 
 
 slaves limited. [^ ^ho Said trade shall upon any pretence take 
 in more negroes than one grown man or woman for one ton 
 and half of builder's tonnage, nor more than one boy or 
 girl for one ton. 
 
 „ . . 3. That the said ship or other vessel shall lay 
 
 Provisions. . . ^- j. A ^ • ■> x> ^\ 
 
 m, m proportion to the ship s company oi the 
 said vessel, and the number of negroes registered, a full and 
 sufiicient store of sound provision, so as to be secure against 
 all probable delays and accidents ; namely, salted beef, pork, 
 salt-fish, butter, cheese, biscuit, flour, rice, oatmeal, and white 
 peas ; but no horse beans, or other inferior provisions ; and 
 the said ship shall be properly provided with water-casks or 
 jars, in proportion to the intended number of the said ne- 
 groes ; and the said ship shall be also provided with a proper 
 and sufiicient stock of coals or fire-wood. 
 
 gj^j.^g 4. And every ship, entered as aforesaid, shall 
 
 take out a coarse shirt, and a pair of trowsers, 
 
 or petticoat, for each negro intended to be taken aboard ; as 
 
 also a mat, or coarse mattress, or hammock, for the use of 
 
 the said negroes. 
 
 The proportions of provision, fuel, and clothing, to be 
 regulated by the table annexed to this act. 
 Certificate 5. And be it enacted, that no ship shall be 
 
 thereof. permitted to proceed on the said voyage or adven- 
 ture, until the searclier of the port, from whence the said 
 vessel shall sail, or such person as he shall appoint to act for 
 him, shall report to the collector that he hath inspected 
 the said stores, and that the ship is accommodated and pro- 
 vided in the manner hei-eby directed. 
 
SKETCH or THE NEGEO CODE. 527 
 
 6, And be it enacted, that no guns be ex- ouns for trade 
 ported to the coast of Africa, in the said or any '° ^e inspected, 
 other trade, unless the same be duly marked with the maker's 
 name on the barrels before they are put into the stocks, and 
 vouched by an inspector in the place where the same are made 
 to be without fraud, and sufficient and merchantable arms. 
 
 7. And be it enacted, that before any ship ^^^^^^ ^^^ 
 as aforesaid shall proceed on her voyage, the masters to en- 
 owner or owners, or an attorney by them named, ^" '"*° '^°"'^^- 
 if the owners are more than two, and the master, shall se- 
 verally give bond, the owners by themselves, the master for 
 himself, that the said master shall duly conform himself in 
 all things to the regulations in this act contained, so far as 
 the same regards his part in executing and conforming to 
 the same. 
 
 TI. And whereas, in providing for the second object of 
 this act, that is to say, for tlie trade on the coast of Africa, 
 it is first prudent not only to provide against the manifold 
 abuses to which a trade of that nature is liable, but that 
 the same may be accompanied, as far as it is possible, with 
 such advantages to the natives as may tend to the civilizing 
 them, and enabling them to enrich themselves by means 
 more desirable, and to carry on hereafter a trade more advan- 
 tageous and honourable to all parties : 
 
 And whereas religion, order, morality, and virtue are the 
 elemental principles, and the knowledge of letters, arts, and 
 handicraft trades the chief means of such civilization and 
 improvement ; for the better attainment of the said good 
 purposes, 
 
 1. Be it hereby enacted, that the coast of Af- ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ 
 rica, on which the said trade for negoes may be established on 
 carried on, shall be and is hereby divided into *^^*^°^^^- 
 marts or staples as hereafter follows [here name the marts]. 
 And be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the master 
 of any ship to purchase any negro or negroes but at one of 
 the said marts or staples. 
 
 2. That the directors of the African company Governors 
 shall appoint, where not already appointed, a and counsel- 
 governor, with three counsellors, at each of the 
 
 said marts, with a salary of to the governor, and ol 
 
 to each of the said counsellors. The said govenor 
 
528 SKETCH OF THE NEOEO CODE, 
 
 or in nis absence or illness the senior counsellor, shall and is 
 hereby empowered to act as a justice of the peace, and they, 
 or either of them, are authorized, ordered, and directed, to 
 provide for the peace of the settlement, and the good regula- 
 tion of their station and stations severally, according to the 
 rules of justice, to the directions of this act, and the in- 
 structions they shall receive from time to time from the 
 said African company: and the said African company is 
 hereby authorized to prepare instructions, with the assent of 
 the lords of his Majesty's privy council, which shall be bind- 
 ing in all things not contrary to this act, or to the laws of 
 England, on the said governors and counsellors, and every 
 of them, and on all persons acting in commission with them 
 under this act, and on all persons residing within the juris- 
 diction of the magistrates of the said mart. 
 Ships of war 3. xlud be it enacted, that the lord high admi- 
 
 stationed. p^l, or commissioners for executing his office, 
 shall appoint one or more, as they shall see convenient, of 
 his Majesty's ships or sloops of war, under the command 
 severally of a post captain, or master and commander, to 
 each mart, as a naval station. 
 
 Inspectors 4. And be it enacted, that the lord high trea- 
 
 appointed. surer, or the commissioners for executing his 
 office, shall name two inspectors of the said trade at every 
 mart, w^ho shall provide for the execution of this act, accord- 
 ing to the direction thereof, so far as shall relate to them ; 
 and it is hereby provided and enacted, that as cases of sud- 
 den emergency may arise, the said governor, or first counsel- 
 lor, and the first commander of his Majesty's ship or ships 
 on tiie said station, and the said inspectors, or tlie majority 
 of them, the governor having a double or casting vote, shall 
 have power and authority to make such occasional rules and 
 orders relating to the said trade as shall not be contrary to 
 the instructions of the African company, and which shall be 
 valid until the same are revoked by the said African company. 
 Lands may be 5. That the said African company is hereby 
 
 purchased. authorized to purcliase, if tlie same may conveni- 
 ently be done, with the consent of the privy council, ajy 
 lands adjoining to the fort or principal mart aforesaid, not 
 
 exceeding acres, and to make allotments of the same. 
 
 Is'o allotment to one person to exceed (on pain of forfeiture) 
 • acres. 
 
SKRICH OF THE NEORO CODE. 529 
 
 6. That the African company phall, at each churches and 
 fort, or mart, cause to be erected, in a convenient and^JogpUar 
 place, and at a moderate cost, the estimate of to be erected, 
 which shall be approved by the treasury, one church, and 
 one school-house, and one hospital ; and shall ap- chaplain and 
 point one principal chaplain, with a curate or assistant, 
 assistant in holy orders, both of whom shall be recommended 
 by the lord bishop of London ; and the said chaplain, or 
 his assistant, shall perform divine service, and administer the 
 sacraments, according to the usage of the Church of England, 
 or to such mode, not contrary thereto, as to the said bishop 
 shall seem more suitable to the circumstances of the people. 
 And the said principal chaplain shall be the third member in 
 the council, and shall be entitled to receive from the direct- 
 ors of the said African company a salary of , and his 
 
 assistant a salary of , and he shall have power to ap- 
 point one sober and discreet person, white or cierkand 
 black, to be his clerk and catechist at a salary catechwr. 
 of . 
 
 7. And be it enacted, that the African com- gchooimaster 
 pany shall appoint one sufficient schoolmaster, 
 
 who shall be approved by the bishop of London, and who 
 shall be capable of teaching writing, arithmetic, surveying, 
 and mensuration, at a salary of . And the said Afri- 
 can company is hereby authorized to provide, for each settle- 
 ment, a carpenter and blacksmith, with such en- carpenter aha 
 couragement as to them shall seem expedient ; blacksmith. 
 who shall take each two apprentices from amongst Native 
 the natives, to instruct them in the several trades ; apprentices. 
 the African company allowing them, as a fee for each ap- 
 prentice, . And the said African company shall ap- 
 point one surgeon, and one surgeon's mate, who surgeon 
 are to be approved on examination at Surgeons' ^^^ ""»'«• 
 
 Hall, to each fort or mart, with a salary of for the 
 
 surgeon, and for his mate , and the said Native 
 
 surgeon shall take one native apprentice, at a apprentice. • 
 fee to be settled by the African company. 
 
 8. And be it enacted, that the said catechist. How 
 Bchoolmaster, surgeon, and surgeon's mate, as removeaWe. 
 well as the tradesmen in the company's service, shall be 
 obedient to the orders they shall from time to time receive 
 
 TOL. V. 2 m 
 
530 SKETCH OF THE KEOBO CODE. 
 
 from the governor and council of each fort ; and if they, op 
 any of them, or any other person, in whatever station, shall 
 appear, on complaint and proof to the majority of the com- 
 missioners, to lead a disorderly and debauched life, or use 
 any profane or impious discourses, to the danger of defeating 
 the purposes of this institution, and to the scandal of the 
 natives who are to be led, by all due means, into a respect 
 for our holy religion, and a desire of partaking of the bene- 
 fits thereof, they are authorized and directed to suspend the 
 said person from his office, or the exercise of his trade, and 
 to send him to England (but without any hard confinement, 
 except in case of resistance) with a complaint, with inquiry 
 and proofs adjoined, to the African company. 
 
 9. And be it enacted, that the bishop of London for the 
 time being shall have full authority to remove the said chap- 
 lain for such causes as to him shall seem reasonable. 
 
 ,,. , 10. That no governor, counsellor, inspector, 
 
 No public of- -, , . ° , ' , , V 11 vT 
 
 ficer to be con- chaplain, surgcon, or schoolmaster, shall be con- 
 n7"r?trad?^ ccrned, Or have any share, directly or indirectly, 
 in the negro trade, on pain of 
 
 11. Be it enacted, that the said governor and 
 letter-books to couucil shall keep a journal of all their proceed- 
 trans^mitted ^°S^» ^^^ ^ book, in which copics of all their 
 
 coiTespoudence shall be entered, and they shall 
 transmit copies of the said journals and letter-book, and 
 their books of accounts, to the African company, who, within 
 
 of their receipt thereof, shall communicate the same 
 
 to one of his Majesty *8 principal secretaries of state. 
 
 12. Ajid be it enacted, that the said chaplain,: 
 report^Kthe or principal minister, shall correspond with the 
 d?n °^ **^ ^^' bishop of London, and faithfully and diligently 
 
 transmit to him an account of whatever hathi 
 been done for the advancement of religion, morality, and 
 learning, amongst the natives. 
 Negroes to be ^^' ^^^ ^6 it enacted, that no negro shall be 
 attested before conclusively sold, uutil he shall be attested by 
 **'** the two inspectors and chaplain ; or, in case ol 
 
 the illness of any of them, by one inspector, and the gover- 
 nor, or one of the council ; who are hereby authorized and 
 directed, by the best means in their power, to examine into 
 the circumstances and condition of the persons exposed to sale 
 
 1 
 
SKETCH OF THE NEGRO CODE. 531 
 
 14. And, for the better direction of the said causes for 
 inspectors, no persons are to be sold who, to the rejection. 
 best judgment of the said inspectors, shall be above thirty- 
 five years of age, or who shall appear, on examination, stolen 
 or carried away by the dealers by surprise ; nor any person, 
 who is able to read in the Arabian or any other book ; nor 
 any woman who shall appear to be advanced three months 
 in pregnancy ; nor any person distorted or feeble, unless the 
 said persons are consenting to such sale ; or any person 
 afflicted with a grievous or contagious distemper. But 11 
 any person so offered is only lightly disordered, the said 
 person may be sold ; but must be kept in the hospital of the 
 mart, and shall not be shipped until completely cured . 
 
 15. Beit enacted, that no black or European Traders to be 
 factor or trader into the interior country, or on licensed by the 
 the coast, (the masters of English ships only ex- ^°^^'^"^"- 
 cepted, for whose good conduct provision is otherwise herein 
 made,) shall be permitted to buy or sell in any of the said 
 marts, unless he be approved by the governor of the mart in 
 which he is to deal, or, in his absence or disability, by the 
 senior counsellor for the time being, and obtaining a licence 
 from such governor or counsellor ; and the said traders and 
 factors shall, severally or jointly, as they shall be concerned, 
 before they shall obtain the said licence, be bound in a recog- 
 nizance, with such surety for his or their good behaviour as to 
 the said governor shall seem the best that can be obtained. 
 
 16. Be it enacted, that the said governor, or offences, how 
 other authority aforesaid, shall examine, as by to be tried and 
 duty of office, into the conduct of all such traders ^""^* ^ 
 and factors, and shall receive and publicly hear (with the 
 assistance of the council and inspectors aforesaid, and of the 
 commodore, captain, or other principal commander of one of 
 his Majesty's ships on the said station, or as many of the 
 Bame as can be assembled, two whereof, with the governor, 
 are hereby enabled to act) all complaints against them, or 
 any of them ; and if any black or white trader or factor, 
 (other than in this act excepted,) either on inquisition of 
 office, or on complaint, shall be convicted by a majority of 
 the said commissioners present of stealing or taking by 
 surprise any person or persons whatsoever, whether free, or 
 the slaves of others, without the consent of their masters ; 
 
 2 M 2 
 
$32 SKETCH OF THi: KEQRO CODE. 
 
 or of wilfully and maliciously killing or maiming any person ; 
 or of any cruelty (necessary restraint only excepted) ; or of 
 firing houses, or destroying goods ; the said trader or factor 
 shall be deemed to have forfeited his recognizance, and hia 
 surety to have forfeited his ; and the said trader or factor, 
 so convicted, shall be for ever disabled from dealing in any 
 of the said marts, unless the offence shall not be that 
 of murder, maiming, arson, or stealing or surprising the 
 person, and shall appear to the commissioners aforesaid to 
 merit only, besides the penalty of his bond, a suspension 
 for one year : and the said trader or factor, so convicted of 
 murder, maiming, arson, stealing or surprising the person, 
 shall, if a native, be delivered over to the prince to vrhom he 
 belongs, to execute further justice on him. But it is hereby 
 provided and enacted, that if any European shall be convicted 
 of any of the said offences, he shall be sent to Europe, to- 
 gether with the evidence against him ; and, on the warrant of 
 the said commissioners, the keeper of any of his Majesty's jaild 
 in London, Bristol, Liverpool, or Grlasgow, shall receive him, 
 until he be delivered according to due course of law, as if the 
 said offences had been committed within the cities and towns 
 aforesaid. 
 
 Negroes ex- -^'^* "^^ ^* further enacted, that if the said go- 
 
 posed to sale vernor, &c. shall be satisfied, that any person or 
 prolSilVf^* persons are exposed to sale who have been stolen 
 this act, how to or Surprised as aforesaid, or are not within the 
 qualifications of sale in this act described, they 
 are hereby authorized and required, if it can be done, to send 
 the persons so exposed to sale to their original habitation or 
 settlement, in the manner they shall deem best for their 
 security, (the reasonable charges whereof shall be allowed to 
 the said governor by the African company,) unless the said 
 persons choose to sell themselves ; and then, and in that case, 
 their value in money and goods, at their pleasure, shall be 
 secured to them, and be applicable to their use, without any 
 dominion over the same of any purchaser, or of any master, 
 to whom they may in any colony or plantation be sold, and 
 which shall always be in some of his master's colonies and 
 plantations only. And the master of the ship, in which such 
 person shall embark, shall give bond for the faithful execution 
 %f his part of the trust at the iahiud where he sliall break bulk. 
 18. Be it further enacted, that besides the liospitals on shore, 
 
SKETCH OF THE NEGHO CODE. 533 
 
 one or more hospital-ships shall be employed at each of the 
 said chief marts, wherein slaves taken ill in the trading ships 
 shall be accommodated until they shall be cured ; and then 
 the owner may reclaim, and shall receive them, paying the 
 charges, which shall be settled by regulation to be made by 
 the authority in this act enabled to provide such regulations. 
 III. And whereas it is necessary that regulations be made to 
 prevent abuses in the passage from Africa to the West Indies ; 
 
 1. Be it further enacted, that the commander siave-ship^ to 
 or lieutenant of the king's ship on each station be examined 
 shall have authority, as often as he shall see oc- °" *^^ '^°**^" 
 casion, attended with one other of his jfficers, and his surgeon 
 or mate, to enter into and inspect every trading ship, in order 
 to provide for the due execution of this act, and of any or- 
 dinances made in virtue thereof and conformable thereto by the 
 authorities herein constituted and appointed : and the said 
 officer and officers are hereby required to examine every 
 trading ship before she sails, and to stop the sailing of the said 
 ship for the breach of the said rules and ordinances, until the 
 governor in council shall order and direct otherwise ; and the 
 master of the said ship shall not presume, under the penalty 
 
 of , to be recovered in the courts of the West Indies, to 
 
 sail without a certificate from the commander aforesaid, and 
 one of the inspectors in this act appointed, that the vessel is 
 provided with stores and other accommodation sufficient for 
 her voyage, and has not a greater number of slaves on board 
 than by the provisions of this act is allowed. 
 
 2. And be it enacted, that the governor and Governor to 
 council, with the assistance of the said naval com- give special 
 
 T , n 1 , . I • 1 instructions. 
 
 mander, shall have power to give such special 
 
 written instructions, for the health, discipline, and care of the 
 
 said slaves, during their passage, as to them shall seem good. 
 
 2. And be it further enacted, that each slave, 
 at entering the said ship, is to receive some present, musical in- 
 
 not exceeding in value , to be provided ac- p^™^ed *" ^^ 
 
 cording to the instructions aforesaid; and musical 
 instruments, according to the fashion of the country, are to be 
 provided. 
 
 4. And be it further enacted, that the negroes Table of 
 on board the transports, and the seamen who navi- aiio^an'^e*'- 
 gate the same, are to receive their daily allowance, accord- 
 ing to the table hereunto annexed, together with a certaiij 
 
534 SKETCH OF THE KEGRO CODE. 
 
 quantity of spirits to be mixed with tlieir water. And it ii 
 enacted, that the table is to be fixed, and continue for one 
 week after sailing, in some conspicuous part of the said ship, 
 for the seamen's inspection of the same. 
 Negro superin- ^- -^^^ ^® i* cnactcd, that the captain of each 
 tendents to be trading vcsscl shall be enabled, and is required, to 
 appoin e . divide the slaves in his ship into crews of not less 
 than ten nor more than twenty persons each, and to appoint 
 one negro man to have such authority severally over each 
 crew, as according to his judgment, with the advice of the 
 mate and surgeon, he and they shall see good to commit to 
 them, and to allow to each of them some compensation, in 
 extraordinary diet and presents, not exceeding [ten shillings]. 
 6. And be it enacted, that any European officer 
 
 Comraunica- n • i p i • x- •.! 
 
 tion with fe- or scamau, having unlawiul communication with 
 male slaves, ^^y woman slavc, shall, if an officer, pay five 
 
 hov punished. -^ t . . i ^ xi • i i "^ j- 
 
 pounds to the use oi the said woman, on landing 
 her from the said ship, to be stopped out of his wages ; or, if a 
 seaman, forty shillings ; the said penalties to be recovered on 
 the testimony of the woman so abused, and one other. 
 Premium to ^- ^^^^ ^® ^* cuactcd, that all and every com- 
 
 conimanders of maudcr of a vcsscl or vcssels employed in slave 
 s a\e s ips. trade, having received certificates from the port oi 
 the outfit, and from the proper officers in Africa and the West 
 Indies, of their having conformed to the regulations of this 
 act, and of their not having lost more than one in thirty of 
 their slaves by death, shall be entitled to a bounty or premium 
 of [ten pounds]. 
 
 IV. And whereas the condition of persons in a state of 
 slavery is such, that they are utterly unable to take advantage 
 of any remedy which the laws may provide for their protec- 
 tion, and the amendment of their condition, and have not the 
 proper means of pursuing any process for the same, but are 
 and must be under guardianship : and whereas it is not 
 fitting that they should be under the sole guardianship of 
 their masters, or their attorney and overseers, to whom their 
 grievances, whenever they suffer any, must ordinarily be 
 owing ; 
 
 1. Be it therefore enacted, that his Majesty's 
 ral tJ"be pnT-^ attomcy-geueral for the time being successively 
 ^7^i °^"^' shall, by his ofiice, exercise the trust and employ- 
 ment of protector of negroes within the island. 
 
SKETCH OF THE NEGEO CODE. 635 
 
 in which he is or shall be attorney-general to his Majesty, 
 his heirs and successors: and that the said at- to inquire and 
 torney-general, protector of negroes, is hereby file informa 
 authorized to hear any complaint on the part of ^'°"'' ^-^ ''•^'<' 
 any negro or negroes, and inquire into the same, or to insti- 
 tute an inquiry ex officio into any abuses, and to call before 
 him and examine witnesses upon oath, relative to the sub- 
 ject matter of the said official inquiry or complaint ; and it is 
 nereby enacted and declared, that the said attorney-general, 
 protector of negroes, is hereby authorized and empowered, at 
 liis discretion, to file an information ex officio for any offences 
 committed against the provisions of this act, or for any mis- 
 demeanours or wrongs against the said negroes, or any of them. 
 
 2. And it is further enacted, that in all trials power to chai- 
 of such informations the said protector of negroes ^^"^^ jurors. 
 may and is hereby authorized to challenge, peremptorily, a 
 number not exceeding of the jury, who shall be im- 
 panelled to try the charge in the said information contained. 
 
 3. And be it enacted, that the said attorney- ^o appoint in- 
 general, protector of negroes, shall appoint in- specters of dis- 
 spectors, not exceeding the number of , at "'^ ^' 
 
 his discretion ; and the said inspectors shall be placed in con- 
 venient districts in each island severally, or shall twice in the 
 year make a circuit in the same, according to the direction 
 which they shall receive from the protector of negroes afore- 
 said ; and the inspectors shall, and they are hereby required, 
 twice in the year, to report in writing to the pro- 
 tector aforesaid the state and condition of the port ^lo him^ 
 negroes in their districts, or on their circuit ^garthenum 
 severally, the number, sex, age, and occupation of ber an/coiSi 
 the said negroes on each plantation; and the over- ^^^J^^^^ *^® 
 seer, or chief manager on each plantation, is here- 
 by required to furnish an account thereof, within [ten days] 
 after the demand of the said inspectors, and to permit the 
 inspector or inspectors aforesaid to examine into the same ; 
 and the said inspectors shall set forth, in the said report, the 
 distempers to which the negroes are most liable in the several 
 parts of the island. 
 
 4. And be it enacted, that the said protector instructions to 
 of negroes, by and with the consent of the gover- be formed for 
 nor and chief judge of each island, shall form in- ^ i^^p^^^ ob- 
 structions, by which the said inspectors shall discharge theii 
 
536 SKETCH OF THE NEGBO CODE. ^ 
 
 trust in the manner the least capable of exciting any un- 
 reasonable hopes in the said negroes, or of weakening the 
 proper authority of the overseer, and shall transmit them to 
 one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state ; and when 
 sent back with his approbation, the same shall become the 
 rule for the conduct of the said inspectors. 
 ^^ .^^^, 5. And be it enacted, that the said attorney- 
 
 general, protector of negroes, shall appoint an 
 office for registering all proceedings relative to the duty of his 
 place, as protector of negroes, and shall appoint his chief 
 
 clerk to be registrar, with a salary not exceeding . 
 
 Ports where 6. And be it enacted, that no negroes shall be 
 
 beSmfe^Ve^s- ^*^<i^^ ^^^ salo in any but the ports following ; 
 
 feels to be in- that is to say, ; and the collector of each 
 
 spected. q£ ^l^g g^l^ ports Severally shall, within 
 
 days after the arrival of any ship transporting negroes, report 
 the same to the protector of negroes, or to one of his in- 
 spectors ; and the said protector is hereby authorized and 
 required to examine, or cause to be examined by one of his 
 inspectors, with the assistance of the said collector, or his 
 deputy, and a surgeon to be called in on the occasion, the 
 state of the said ship an4 negroes; and upon what shall appear 
 to them, the said protector of negroes and the said collector 
 and surgeon, to be a sufficient proof, either as arising from 
 their own inspection, or sufficient information on a summary 
 process, of any contravention of this act, or cruelty to the 
 negroes, or other malversation of the said captain, or any of 
 Masters or ^^^ officers, the Said protector shall impose a fine 
 
 officers ofTend- qu him or them, not exceeding ; which 
 
 ing, o e lie . g^^j| ^^^^ howevcr, wcakcu or invalidate any 
 penalty growing from the bond of the said master or his 
 owners. And it is hereby provided, that if the said master, 
 or any of his officers, shall find himself aggrieved by the said 
 
 fine, he may, within days, appeal to the chief judge, if 
 
 the court shall be sitting, or to the governor, who shall and 
 are required to hear the said parties, and on hearing are to 
 annul or confirm the same. 
 
 Rates lespect- '^ ' ^^^ t)e it cuacted, that no sale of negroes 
 ing the sale of shall be made but in the presence of an inspector, 
 and all negroes shall be sold severally, or in 
 known and ascertained lots, and not otherwise ; and a paper 
 containing the state and description of each negro severally 
 
SKETCH OF TUB NEGIIO CODE. 537 
 
 ioid, and of each lot, shall be taken and registered in tho 
 office aforesaid ; and if on inspection or information it shall 
 be found that any negroes shall have, in the same sliip, or 
 any other at the same time examined, a wife, a husband, a 
 brother, sister, or child, — the person or persons so related, 
 shall not be sold separately at that or any future sale. 
 
 8. And be it enacted, that each and every of his Everj- island 
 Majesty's islands and plantations, in which ne- to be divided 
 groes are used in cultivation, shall be, by the '"*° istncts. 
 governor and the protector of negroes for the time being, 
 di-v^ded into districts, allowing as much as couvenieDce will 
 admit to the present division into parishes, and subdividing 
 them, where necessary, into districts, according to the number 
 of negroes. And the said governor and protector of negroes 
 shall cause in each district a church to be built in a church to be 
 a convenient place, and a cemetery annexed, and ^"^^ '° ^^*=^- 
 
 a house for the residence of a clergyman, with acres 
 
 of land annexed ; and they are hereby authorized to treat for 
 the necessary ground with the proprietor, who is hereby 
 obliged to sell and dispose of the same to the said use ; and in 
 case of dispute concerning the value, the same to be settled 
 by a jury as in like cases is accustomed. 
 
 9. And be it enacted, that in each of the said Appointment 
 districts shall be established a presbyter of the of a priest and 
 Church of England, as by law established, who *^ *^^ ' 
 shall appoint under him one clerk, who shall be a free negro, 
 when such properly qualified can be found, (otherwise a white 
 
 man,) with a salary, in each case, of ; and the said 
 
 minister and clerk, both or one, shall instruct the said ne- 
 groes in the Church catechism, or such other as shall be pro- 
 vided by the authority in this act named; and the said 
 minister shall baptize, as he shall think fit, all negroes not 
 baptized, and not belonging to the dissenters from the Church 
 of England. 
 
 10. And the principal overseer of each planta- 
 tion is hereby required to deliver annuallyunto the n^^a Hst of 
 minister a list of all the negroes upon his planta- ^^^lj^\^^ 
 tion, distinguishing their sex and age, and shall, to cause' them 
 
 under a penalty of , cause all the negroes v°ine s^^vMce.'**' 
 
 under his care, above the age of years, to 
 
 attend divine service once on every Sunday, except in case of 
 sickness, infirmity, or other necessary cause, to be given at 
 
638 SKETCH OH THE KEGBO CODE. 
 
 the time ; and shall, by himself or one of those who are under 
 him, provide for the orderly behaviour of the negroes under 
 him, and cause them to return to his plantation vrhen divine 
 service, or administration of sacraments, or catechism, is ended. 
 Minister to di- 11. And be it enacted, that the minister shall 
 mentTo"'Ss- ^^^® powcr to punish any negro for disorderly 
 orderly con- conduct during divine service, by a punishment 
 '^^'^^' not exceeding [ten] blows, to be given in one day, 
 
 and for one offence, which the overseer, or his under agent 
 or agents, is hereby directed, according to the orders of the 
 said ministers, effectually to inflict, whenever the same shall 
 be ordered. 
 
 Spirituous 12. And be it enacted, that no spirituous liquors 
 liquors not to of any kind shall be sold, except in towns, with- 
 in miles distant of any church, nor within 
 
 any district during divine service, and an hour preceding, and 
 an hour following, the same ; and the minister of each parish 
 shall and is hereby authorized to act as a justice of the peace 
 in enforcing the said regulation. 
 
 Re^ster of ^^' -^^^ ^^ ^^ enacted, that every minister shall 
 
 births, burials, keep a register of births, burials, and marriages 
 
 marriages. ^^ ^^^ DCgrocs and mulattocs in his district. 
 Synod to as- 14. And be it enacted, that the ministers of the 
 
 a1!"^and"to"* Several districts shall meet annually, on the 
 
 form reguia- day of , in a synod of the island, to which 
 
 tions. ^jjgy belong; and the said synod shall have for its 
 
 president such person as the bishop of London shall appoint 
 for his commissary ; and the said synod or general assembly 
 is hereby authorized, by a majority of voices, to make regu- 
 lations, which regulations shall be transmitted by the said 
 president or commissary to the bishop of London ; and when 
 returned by the bishop of London approved of, then, and not 
 before, the said regulations shall be held in force to bind the 
 said clergy, their assistants, clerks, and schoolmasters only, 
 and no other persons. 
 
 And to report 1^- And be it enacted, that the said president 
 to the bishop shall collcct matter in the said assembly, and shall 
 make a report of the state of religion and morals 
 in the several parishes from whence the synod is deputed, 
 and shall transmit the same, once in the year, in duplicate, 
 through the governor and protector of negroes, to the bishop 
 of Loudon. 
 
SKETCH OF THE NEOKO CODE. 539 
 
 16. And be it enacted and declared, that the 
 
 bishop of London for the time being shall be ?dn*'t*o be p»." 
 patron to all and every the said cures in this act *''"" °f '*^® 
 directed, and the said bishop is hereby required to 
 provide for the due filling thereof, and is to receive from the 
 fund in this act provided, for the due execution of this act, a 
 
 sum not exceeding for each of the said ministers, for 
 
 his outfit and passage. 
 
 17. And be it enacted, that on misbehaviour and to have 
 and on complaint from the said svnod, and on po^'e; of sus- 
 
 , . , ^ J • 1 • * J pending and 
 
 hearing the party accused m a plam and summary removing 
 
 manner, it shall and may be lawful for the bishop *"'"^s'«"- 
 of London to suspend or to remove any minister from his 
 cure, as his said offences shall appear to merit. 
 
 18. And be it enacted, that for every two dis- schools for 
 tricts a school shall be established for young ne- young ne- 
 groes to be taught three days in the week, and to ^^°^^' 
 
 be detained from their owner four hours in each day : the 
 number not to be m.ore or fewer than twenty males in each 
 district, who shall be chosen, and vacancies filled, by the 
 minister of the district ; and the said minister shall pay to 
 the owner of the said boy, and shall be allowed the same in 
 his accounts at the s^Tiod, to the age of twelve years old, 
 threepence by the day ; and for every boy, from twelve years 
 old to fifteen, five-pence by the day. 
 
 19. And it is enacted, that if the president of the synod 
 aforesaid shall certify to the protector of negroes, that any 
 boys in the said schools (pro\aded, that the number in no one 
 y*^ar shall exceed one in the island of Jamaica, and one in two 
 years in the islands of Barbadoes, Antigua, and Grenada, and 
 one in four years in any of the other islands) do Extraordinary 
 «how a remarkable aptitude for learning, the said abilities to be 
 protector is hereby authorized and directed to ^"'^'^"^^^ 
 purchase the said boy at the best rate, at which boys of that 
 age and strength have been sold within the year ; and the said 
 negro so purcnased shall be under the entire guardianship of 
 the said protector of negroes, who shall send him to the bishop 
 of London, for his further education in England, and may 
 charge in his accounts for the expense of transporting him to 
 England : and the bishop of London shall provide for the 
 education of such of the said negroes as he shall think proper 
 subjects, until the age of twenty-four years, and shall ordef 
 
640 SKETCH or THE NEGRO CODE. 
 
 those, who shall fall short of expectation after one year, to be 
 bound apprentice to some handicraft trade ; and when his 
 apprenticeship is finished, the lord mayor of London is hereby 
 authorized and directed to receive the said negro from his 
 master, and to transmit him to the island from which he 
 came in the AVest Indies, to be there as a free negro; subject, 
 however, to the direction of the protector of negroes, relatively 
 to his behaviour and employment. 
 Negroes of 20. And it is hereby enacted and provided, that 
 
 iissenters; ^ny planter or owner of negroes, not being of the 
 Church of England, and not choosing to send his negroes to 
 attend divine service in manner by this act directed, shall 
 give, jointly or severally, as the case shall require, security to 
 the protector of negroes, that a competent minister of some 
 Christian church or congregation shall be provided for the due 
 instruction of the negroes, and for their performing divine 
 service according to the description of the religion of the 
 master or masters, in some church or house thereto allotted, 
 in the manner and with the regulations in this act prescribed 
 with regard to the exercise of religion according to the Church 
 of England. 
 
 their mar- Provided always, that the marriages of the said 
 
 riages, &c. to negrocs belonging to dissenters shall be celebrated 
 
 be registered. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^.^ district, and that 
 
 a register of the births shall be transmitted to the minister of 
 the said district. 
 
 Regulations ^^- ^^^ whcreas a state of matrimony, and the 
 
 concerning government of a family, is a principal means of 
 marriage. forming men to a fitness for freedom, and to be- 
 
 come good citizens ; Be it enacted, that all negro men and 
 women, above eighteen years of age for the man, and sixteen 
 for the woman, who have cohabited together for twelve months 
 or upwards, or shall cohabit for the same time and have a 
 child or children, shall be deemed to all intents and purposes 
 to be married; and either of the parties is authorized to require 
 of the ministers of the district to be married in the face of 
 the church. 
 
 Concerning 22. And be it euactcd, that from and after the 
 the same. ^f ^11 ncgro men in a healthy con- 
 dition, and so reported to be, in case the same is denied, by a 
 surgeon and by an inspector of negroes, and being twenty-one 
 years old, or upwards, until fifty, and not being before married. 
 
SKETCH OF THE XEOEO CODS. 541 
 
 shall, on requisition of the inspectors, be provided by their 
 masters or overseers with a woman not having children living, 
 and not exceeding the age of the man ; nor in any case ex 
 ceeding the age of twenty-five years ; and such person shall 
 be married publicly in the face of the church. 
 
 23. And be it enacted, that if any negro shall concerning 
 refuse a competent marriage tendered to him, and ^^^ **™^- 
 shall not demand another specifically, such as it may be in 
 his master's power to provide, the master or overseer shall be 
 authorized to constrain him by an increase of work, or a 
 lessening of allowance. 
 
 24. And be it enacted, that the minister in each Adultery tc 
 district shall have, with the assent of the inspector, how to be 
 full power and authority to punish all acts of ^"°^* ^ ' 
 adultery, unlawful concubinage, and fornication, amongst 
 negroes, on hearing and a summary process, by ordering a 
 
 number of blows, not exceeding for each ofience ; and 
 
 if any white person shall be proved, on information in the su- 
 preme court, to be exhibited by the protector of negroes,to have 
 committed adultery with any negro woman, or to have cor- 
 rupted any negro woman under sixteen years of age, he shall 
 
 be fined in the sum of , and shall be for ever disabled 
 
 from serving the office of overseer of negroes or being attorney 
 to any plantation. 
 
 25. And be it enacted, that no slaves shall be concerning 
 compelled to do any work for their masters for ™arriage. 
 [three] days after their marriage. 
 
 26. And be it enacted, that no woman shall be concerning 
 obliged to field-work, or any other laborious work, pregnant 
 for one month before her delivery, or for six weeks 
 afterwards. 
 
 27. And be it enacted, that no husband and separation of 
 wife shall be sold separately if originally belong- ^^^^"nVchiL 
 ing to the same master, nor shall any children, dren', to be 
 under sixteen, be sold separately from their ^^o^**^*^- 
 parents, or one parent, if one be li\dng. 
 
 28. And be it enacted, that if a husband and concerning 
 wife, which before their intermarriage belonged to *^® ""'®- 
 different owners, shall be sold, they shall not be sold at such 
 a distance as to prevent mutual help and cohabitation ; and 
 of this distance the minister shaU judge, and his certificate of 
 
542 SKETCH OF THE IfEGEO COIE. 
 
 the inconvenient distance sliall be valid, so as to make such 
 sale unlawful, and to render the same null and void. 
 
 29. And be it enacted, that no negro shall be 
 woTk°on satur° Compelled to work for his owner at field-work, or 
 or sunda"°*^" any scrvicc relative to a plantation, or to work at 
 any handicraft trade, from eleven o'clock on 
 Saturday forenoon until the usual working hour on Monday 
 morning. 
 
 Other cases of ^^- ^^^ whereas habits of industry and so- 
 exemption brictv, and the means of acquirinor and preservinp^ 
 
 from labour. •' , j v.i i.- 
 
 property, are proper and reasonable preparatives 
 to freedom, and will secure against the abuse of the same ; Be 
 it enacted, that every negro man, who shall have served ten 
 years, and is thirty years of age, and is married, and has had 
 two children born of any marriage, shall obtain the whole of 
 Saturday for himself and his wife, and for his own benefit ; 
 and after thirty-seven years of age the whole of Friday for 
 himself and his wife; provided, that in both cases the minister 
 of the district, and the inspector of negroes, shall certify, that 
 they know nothing against his peaceable, orderly, and in- 
 dustrious behaviour. 
 
 Huts and land ^^' -^^^ ^® i* enacted, that the master of every 
 to be appro- plantation shall provide the materials of a good 
 ^"** ' and substantial hut for each married field negro; 
 
 and if his plantation shall exceed acres, he shall allot to 
 
 the same a portion of land not less than : and the said 
 
 hut and land shall remain and stand annexed to the said negro, 
 for his natural life, or during his bondage; but the same 
 shall not be alienated without the consent of the owners. 
 Property of ^2. And be it enacted, that it shall not be law- 
 
 negroes se- ful for the owner of any negro, by himself or any 
 ^^^ ' other, to take from him any land, house, cattle, 
 
 goods, or money, acquired by the said negro, whether by 
 purchase, donation, or testament, whether the same has been 
 derived from the owner of the said negro, or any other. 
 
 33. And be it enacted, that if the said negro shall die 
 possessed of any lands, goods, or chattels, and dies without 
 leaving a wife or issue, it shall be lawful for the said negro tfl 
 devise or bequeath the same by his last will : but in case tlie 
 said uegro shall die intestate, and leave a wife and children, 
 the same shall hi distributed amongst them, accorduigto the 
 
 I 
 
SKETCH OF THE NEGRO CODE. 543 
 
 usage under the statute, commonly called the Statute of 
 Distributions. But if the said negro shall die intestate 
 without w ife or children, then and in that case his estate shall 
 go to the fund provided for the better execution of this act. 
 
 34. And be it enacted, that no negro, who is married, and 
 hath resided upon any plantation for twelve months, shall be 
 sold either privately, or by the decree of any court, but along 
 with the plantation on which he hath resided, unless he should 
 himself request to be separated therefrom. 
 
 35. And be it enacted, that no blows or stripes, q^ j,,g punish. 
 exceeding thirteen, shall be inflicted for one of- ment of ne- 
 fence upon any negro, without the order of one of ^'°^' 
 
 his Majesty's justices of peace. 
 
 36. And it is enacted, that it shall be lawful for ^, 
 
 .1 j^ j^ J' r>. 1 • j_ Of the same. 
 
 the protector oi negroes, as oiten as on complamt 
 and hearing he shall be of opinion that any negro hath been 
 cruelly and inhumanly treated, or when it shall be made to 
 appear to him that an overseer hath any particular malice, to 
 order, at the desire of the suifering party, the said negro to 
 be sold to another master. 
 
 37. And be it enacted, that, in all cases of injury to member 
 or life, the offences against a negro shall be deemed and taken 
 to all intents and purposes as if the same were perpetrated 
 against any of his Majesty's subjects ; and the protector of 
 negroes, on complaint, or if he shall receive credible informa- 
 tion thereof, shall cause an indictment to be presented for 
 the same ; and in case of suspicion of any murder of a negro, 
 an inquest by the coroner, or officer acting as such, shall, if 
 practicable, be held into the same. 
 
 38. And in order to a gradual manumission of ofthemanu- 
 slaves, as they shall seem fitted to fill the offices mission of ne- 
 of freemen, Be it enacted, that every negro slave, ^™^^' 
 being thirty years of age and upwards, and who has had 
 three children bom to him in lawful matrimony, and who hath 
 received a certificate from the minister of his district, or any 
 other Christian teacher, of his regularity in the duties of 
 religion, and of his orderly and good behaviour, may purchase, 
 at rates to be fixed by two justices of peace, the freedom of 
 himself, or his wife or children, or of any of them separately, 
 valuing the wife and children, if purchased into liberty by 
 the father of the family, at half only of their marketable 
 
514 SKETCH OF THE NEOEO CODB. 
 
 values ; provided, that the said father shall bind him&elf in 
 
 a penalty of for the good behaviour of his children. 
 
 Of the same ^^' -^^^ ^® ^^ enacted, that it shall be lawful 
 for the protector of negroes to purchase the free- 
 dom of any negro, who shall appear to him to excel in any 
 mechanical art, or other knowledge or practice deemed liberal, 
 and the value shall be settled by a jury. 
 Free negroes, ^^- -^^^ ^® ^* enacted, that the protector of 
 how to be pun- ncgrocs shall be and is authorized and required to 
 '^^^ ■ act as a magistrate for the coercion of all idle, dis- 
 
 obedient, or disorderly free negroes, and he shall by office 
 prosecute them for the offences of idleness, drunkenness, 
 quarrelling, gaming, or vagrancy, in the supreme court, or 
 cause them to be prosecuted before one justice of peace, as 
 the case may require. 
 
 41. And be it enacted, that if any free negro 
 hath been twice convicted for any of the said mis- 
 demeanours, and is judged by the said protector of negroes, 
 calling to his assistance two justices of the peace, to be incor- 
 rigibly idle, dissolute, and vicious, it shall be lawful, by the 
 order of the said protector and two justices of the peace, to 
 sell the said free negro into slavery ; the purchase-money to 
 be paid to the person so remanded into servitude, or kept in 
 hand by the protector and governor for the benefit of his 
 family. 
 
 42. And be it enacted, that the governor in each 
 receiv^^and* colony shall be assistant to the execution of this 
 S^reVt"' ^^*' ^^^ shall receive the reports of the protector, 
 
 a repors ^^^ ^^^^ othcr account3,as he shall judge mate- 
 rial, relative thereto, and shall transmit the same annually to 
 one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state. 
 
 
 LOMDON: rRIKTKD BY WILLIAM CLOWKS AND SONS. LIMITKD, 
 BUKE BTKGKT. STAMFUUU rlTKKlIT, S.£., AND ORL'AT WINDMILL BTllCKT, 
 
AN 
 
 ALPHABETICAL LIST 
 
 OF BOOKS CONTAINED IN 
 
 BOHN'S LIBRARIES 
 
 Detailed Catalogue^ arranged according to the various 
 Libraries^ will be sent on application. 
 
 ADDISON S Works. With the 
 Notes of Bishop Hurd, Portrait, 
 and 8 Plates of Medals and Coins. 
 Edited by H. G. Bohn. 6 vols. 
 35. 6c/. each. 
 
 iESOHYLUS, The Dramas of. 
 Translated into English Verse by 
 Anna Swanwick. 4th Edition, 
 re\'ised. 5^. 
 
 The Tragedies of. Trans- 
 lated into Prose by T. A. Buckley, 
 B.A. zs. ed. 
 
 AGASSIZ and GOULDS Out- 
 Une of Comparative Physi- 
 ology. Enlarged by Dr. Wright. 
 With 390 Woodcuts. $s. 
 
 ALFIERI'S Tragedies. Trans- 
 lated into English Verse by Edgar 
 A. Bowring, C. B. 2 vols. 3^. 6d. 
 each. 
 
 ALLEN'S (Joseph, R. N.) Battles 
 of the British Navy. Revised 
 Edition, with 57 Steel Engravings. 
 2 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 AMMLANUS MAROELLINUS. 
 History of Roms during the 
 Reigns of Constantius, Julian, 
 Tovianus, Valentinian ?.nd Valens. 
 
 Translated by Prof. CD. Vonge, 
 M.A. 7 J. 6d, 
 
 ANDERSEN S Danish Legends 
 and Fairy Tales. Translated 
 by Caroline Peachey. With 120 
 Wood Engravings. 5^. 
 
 ANTONINUS (M. Aurelius), The 
 Thoughts of. Trans, literally, 
 with Notes and Introduction by 
 George Long, M.A. y. 6d. 
 
 APOLLONIUS RHODIUS. 
 'The Argonautlca.' Transl:.fed 
 by E. P. Coleridge, B.A. 
 
 APPIAN'S Roman History. 
 Translated by Horace White, 
 M.A., LL.D. With Maps and 
 Illustrations. 2 vols. 6s. each. 
 
 APULEIUS, The Works of. 
 Comprising the Golden Ass, God 
 of Socrates, Florida, and Dis- 
 course of Magic, ^s. 
 
 ARIOSTO'S Orlando Furioso. 
 Translated into English Verse by 
 W. S. Rose. With Portrait, and 2 \ 
 Steel Engravings. 2 vols. 5 j-. each. 
 
 ARISTOPHANES' Comedies. 
 Translated by W. J. Hiokie. 2 
 vols. 5j. each. 
 
An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 Bridgwater Treatises continued. 
 
 Kidd on the Adaptation of Ex- 
 ternal Nature to the Physical 
 Condition of Man. y, 6d. 
 
 Chalmers on the Adaptation 
 of External Nature to the 
 Moral and Intellectual Con- 
 stitution of Man. 5^. 
 
 BRINK (B. ten) Early English 
 Literature. By Bernhard ten 
 Brink. Vol. I. To Wyclif. Trans- 
 lated by Horace M. Kennedy. 
 3^. ed. 
 
 Vol. II. Wyclif, Chaucer, Ear- 
 liest Drama Renaissance. Trans- 
 lated by W. Clarke Robinson, 
 Ph.D. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Vol. III. From the Fourteenth 
 Century to the Death of Surrey. 
 Edited by Dr. Alois Brandl. 
 Trans, by L. Dora Schmilz. 
 
 Zs. ed. 
 
 Five Lectures on Shake- 
 speare. Trans, by Julia P'ranklin. 
 3^. 6d. 
 
 BROWNE'S (Sir Thomas) Works 
 Edited by Simon Wilkin. 3 vols. 
 3J-. 6d, each. 
 
 BQRKE'S Works. 8 vols. 3^. 6c/. 
 each. 
 
 I. — Vindication of Natural So- 
 ciety — Essay on the Sub- 
 lime and Beautiful, and 
 various Political Miscel- 
 lanies. 
 
 II. — Reflections on the French 
 Revolulion — Letters re- 
 lating to the Bristol Elec- 
 tion — Speech on Fox's 
 East India Bill, &c. 
 
 In. — Appeal from the New to the 
 Old Whigs— On the Na- 
 bob of Arcot's Debts — 
 The Catholic Claims, &c. 
 
 Burke's Works continued. 
 
 IV. — Report on the Affairs of 
 India, and Articles of 
 Charge against Warren 
 Hastings, 
 V. — Conclusion of the Articles of 
 Charge against Warren 
 Hastings — Political Let- 
 ters on the American War, 
 on a Regicide Peace, to 
 the Empress of Russia. 
 
 VI. — Miscellaneous Speeches — 
 Letters and Fragments — 
 Abridgments of English 
 History, &c. With a 
 General Index. 
 VII. & VIII.— Speeches on the Im- 
 peachment of Warren 
 Hastings ; and Letters. 
 With Index. 2 vols. 
 35. (>d. each. 
 
 ' Life. By Sir J. Prior. 3^. 6d. 
 
 BURNEY'S Evelina. By Frances 
 Burney (Mme. D'Arblay). With 
 an Introduction and Notes by 
 A. R. Ellis. 3^. ed. 
 
 Cecilia. With an Introduc- 
 tion and Notes by A. R. Ellis. 
 2 vols. "^s. 6d. each. 
 
 BURN (R ) Ancient Rome and 
 its Neighbourhood. An Illus- 
 trated Handbook to the Ruins in 
 the City and the Campagna, for 
 the use of Travellers. 13y Robert 
 Burn, M.A. With numerous 
 Illustrations, Maps, and Plans. 
 75. 6d. 
 
 BURNS (Robert), Life of. By 
 J. G. Lockhart, D.C.L. A 
 new and enlarged Edition. Re- 
 vised by William Scott Douglas. 
 y. 6d. 
 
 BURTON'S (Robert) Anatomy of 
 Melancholy. Edited by the Rev. 
 A. R. Shilleto, M.A. With In- 
 troduction by A. H. Bullen, and 
 full Index. 3 Vols. 31. 6d. each. 
 
Contained in Bohn*s Librarus. 
 
 BURTON (Sir R. F.) Personal 
 Narrative of a Pilgrimage to 
 Al-Madinah and Meccah. By 
 Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, 
 K.C.M.G. With an Introduction 
 by Stanley Lane- Poole, and all 
 the original Illustrations. 2 vols. 
 3J-. 6d. each. 
 
 ,*^ This is the copyright edi- 
 tion, containing the author's latest 
 notes. 
 
 BUTLER'S (Bishop) Analogy of 
 Religion, Natural and Revealed, 
 to the Constitution and Course of 
 Nature ; together with two Dis- 
 sertations on Personal Identity and 
 on the Nature of Virtue, and 
 Fifteen Sermons, ^s. (>d. 
 
 BUTLER'S (Samuel) Hudibras. 
 With Variorum Notes, a Bio- 
 graphy, Portrait, and 28 Illus- 
 trations. 50. 
 
 or, further Illustrated with 60 
 
 Outline Portraits. 2 vols. ^s. 
 each. 
 
 CffiSAR. Commentaries on the 
 Gallic and Civil Wars, Trans- 
 lated by W. A. McDevitte, B.A. 
 
 CAMOENS' Lusiad ; or, the Dis- 
 covery of India. An Epic Poem. 
 Translated by W. J. Mickle. Sth 
 Edition, revised by E. R. Hodges, 
 M.C.P. 3 J. 6d. 
 
 CARAFAS (The) of Maddaloni. 
 Naples under Spanish Dominion. 
 Translated from the German of 
 Alfred de Reumont- 3j. 6d, 
 
 CaRLYLES Sai'tor Resai'tus. 
 With 75 Illustrations by Edmund 
 J. Sullivan, '^s. 
 
 CARPENTER'S (Dr. W. B.) 
 
 Zoology. Revised Edition, by 
 
 W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. With very 
 
 numerous Woodcuts. Vol.1. 6s. 
 
 [ Vol. II, out of print. 
 
 CARPENTER'S Mechanical 
 Philosophy, Astronomy, and 
 j Horology. 181 Woodcuts. 5^. 
 
 Vegetable Physiology and 
 
 Systematic Botany. Revised 
 Edition, by E. Lankester, M.D., 
 &c. With very numerous Wood- 
 
 ! cuts. ds. 
 
 A n im al Physiology. Revised 
 
 Edition. With upwards of 300 
 W^oodcuts. 6j-. 
 
 CASTLE (E.) Schools and 
 Masters of Fence, from the 
 Middle Ages to the End of the 
 Eighteenth Century. By Egerton 
 Castle, M.A., F.S.A. With a 
 Complete Bibliography. Illus- 
 trated with 140 Reproductions of 
 Old Engravings and 6 Plates of 
 ; Swords, showing 114 Examples. 
 ds. 
 
 CATTERMOLE'S Evenings at 
 Haddon Hall. With 24 En- 
 gravings on Steel from designs by 
 Cattermole, the Letterpress by the 
 Baroness de Carabella. 55. 
 
 ■ CATULLUS, Tibullus, and the 
 Vigil of Venus. A Literal Prose 
 Translation. 5^. 
 
 ; CELLINI (Benvenuto). Me- 
 moirs of, written by Himself. 
 Translated by Thomas Roscoe. 
 Zs. 6d 
 
 : CERVANTES' Don Quixote de 
 la Mancha. Motteaux's Trans 
 
 j lation revised. 2 vols. y. 6d. 
 each . 
 
 i Galatea, A Pastoral Ro 
 
 mance. Translated by G. W. J 
 Gyll. 3.-. 6d. 
 
 I Exemplary Novels. Trans 
 
 lated by Walter K. Kelly. 35. 6d. 
 
 CHAUCER'S Poetical Works. 
 Edited by Robert Bell. Revised 
 Edition, wilh a Preliminary Essay 
 by Prof. W. W. Skeat, M.A. 4 
 vols. 35. 6d. each. 
 
An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 CHESS CONGRESS of 1862. 
 
 A Collection of the Games played. 
 Edited by J. Lowenthal. 5^. 
 
 CHEVREUL on Colour. Trans- 
 lated from the French by Charles 
 Martel. Third Edition, with 
 Plates, 5j. ; or with an additional 
 series of i6 Plates in Colours, 
 7 J. 6d. 
 
 CHILLINGWORTH'S ReUgion 
 of Protestants. A Safe Way to 
 Salvation. 35-. 6d. 
 
 CHINA, Pictorial, Descriptive, 
 and Historical. With Map and 
 nearly 100 Illustrations, ^s. 
 
 CHRONICLES OF THE CRU- 
 SADES. Contemporary Narra- 
 tives of the Crusade of Richard 
 Coeur de Lion, by Richard of 
 Devizes and Geoffrey de Vinsauf ; 
 and of the Crusade at St. Louis, 
 by Lord John de Joinville. ^s. 
 
 CICERO'S Orations. Translated 
 by Prof. C. D. Yonge, M.A. 4 
 vols. 5'^' each. 
 
 Letters. Translated by Evelyn 
 
 S. Shuckburgh. 4 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 On Oratory and Orators. 
 
 With Letters to Quintus and 
 Brutus. Translated by the Rev. 
 J. S. Watson, M.A. 5^. 
 
 On the Nature of the Gods, 
 
 Divination, Fate, Laws, a Re- 
 public, Consulship. Translated 
 by Prof. C. D. Yonge, M.A., and 
 Francis Barham. 5^. 
 
 • Academics, De Finibus, and 
 
 Tusculan Questions. By Prof. 
 C. D. Yonge, M.A. 5^. 
 
 CICERO'S Offices ; or. Moral 
 Duties. Cato Major, an Essay 
 on Old Age; Lselius, an Essay 
 on Friendship ; Scipio's Dream ; 
 Paradoxes ; Letter to Quintus on 
 Magistrates. Translated by C. R. 
 Edmonds, t^s. 6d. 
 
 CORNELIUS NEPOS.— ^Vi- 
 Justin. 
 
 CLARK'S (Hugh) Introduction 
 to Heraldry. i8th Edition, Re- 
 vised and Enlarged by J. R. 
 Planche, Rouge Croix. With 
 nearly looo Illustrations, ^s. Or 
 with the Illustrations Coloured, 
 15^. 
 
 CLASSIC TALES, containing 
 Rasselas, Vicar of Wakefield, 
 Gulliver's Travels, and The Senti- 
 mental Journey. 3^. 6d. 
 
 I COLERIDGE'S (S. T.) Friend. 
 
 i A Series of Essays on Mora^ls, 
 i Politics, and Religion. 3^-. 6d, 
 
 Aids to Reflection, and the 
 
 I Confessions of an Inquiring 
 I Spirit, to which are added the 
 I Essays on Faith and the Book 
 
 OF Common Prayer. 35-. 6d. 
 
 Lectures and Notes on 
 
 Shakespeare and other English 
 Poets. Edited by T. Ashe. 3^. 60^. 
 
 Biographia Literaria ; to- 
 gether with Two Lay Sermons. 
 
 j 3^. 6d. 
 
 — - Table-Talk and Omniana. 
 I Edited by T. Ashe, B.A. 3^. ed. 
 
 Miscellanies, JBZsthetic and 
 
 , ' Literary; to which is added, 
 
 I The Theory of Life. Col- 
 i lected and arranged by T. Ashe, 
 I B.A. 3 J. ed. 
 
 COMTE'S Positive Philosophy. 
 Translated and condensed by 
 Harriet Martineau. With Intro- 
 duction by Frederic Harrison. 
 3 vols. 5j. each. 
 
 COMTE'S Philosophy of the 
 Sciences, being an Exposition of 
 the Principles of the Cours de 
 Philosophie Positive. By G. H. 
 Lewes. 5^. 
 
 CONDE'S History of the Do- 
 minion of the Arabs in Spain. 
 Translated by Mrs. Foster. 3 
 vols. 3J. ^d. each. 
 
Contained in Bohn's Libraries. 
 
 CO OPERAS Biographical Dlo 
 
 tionary. Containing Concise 
 Notices (upwards of 15,000) of 
 En^inent Persons of all Ages and 
 Countries. By Thompson Cooper, 
 F.S.A. With a Supplement, 
 bringing the work down to 1883. 
 2 vols. 5J". each. 
 
 COXE'S Memoirs of the Duke of 
 Marlborough. With his original 
 Correspondence. By W. Coxe, 
 M.A., F.R.S. Revised edition 
 by John Wade. 3 vols. 35-. (id. 
 each. 
 
 * :^* An Atlas of the plans of 
 Marlborough's campaigns, 4to. 
 \os. 6d. 
 
 History of the House of 
 
 Austria (12 18-1792). With a 
 Continuation from the Accession 
 of Francis I. to the Revolution of 
 1848. 4 vols. 3i-. 6d. each. 
 
 CRAIK'S(G. L.) Pursuit of Know- 
 ledge under Difficulties. Illus- 
 trated by Anecdotes and Memoirs. 
 Revised edition, with numerous 
 Woodcut Portraits and Plates. 5^. 
 
 CRUIKSHANK'S Punch and 
 Judy. The Dialogue of the 
 Puppet Show ; an Account of its 
 Origin, &c. With 24 Illustra- 
 tions, and Coloured Plates, de- 
 signed and engraved by G. Cruik- 
 shank. 55. 
 
 CUNNINGHAM'S Lives of the 
 Most Eminent British Painters. 
 A New Edition, with Notes and 
 Sixteen fresh Lives. By Mrs. 
 Heaton. 3 vols. 31. 6d. each, 
 
 DANTE. Divine Comedy. Trans- 
 lated by the Rev. H. F. Cary, 
 M.A. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Translated into English Verse 
 
 by I. C. Wright, xM.A. 3rd Edi- 
 tion, revised. With Portrait, and 
 34 Illustrations on Steel, after 
 Flaxman. 
 
 DANTE. The Inferno. A Literal 
 Prose Translation, with the Text 
 of the Original printed on the same 
 page. By John A. Carlyle, M.D. 
 
 The Purgatorlo. A Literal 
 
 Prose Translation, with the Text 
 printed on the same page. By 
 W. S. Dugdale. 5^. 
 
 DE COMMINES (Philip), Me- 
 moirs of. Containing the Histories 
 of Louis XI. and Charles VIII., 
 Kings of France, and Charles 
 the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. 
 Together with the Scandalous 
 Chronicle, or Secret History of 
 Louis XL, by Jean de Troyes. 
 Translated by Andrew R. Scoble. 
 With Portraits. 2 vols. y. 6d. 
 each. 
 
 DEFOE'S Novels and Miscel- 
 laneous Works. With Prefaces 
 and Notes, including those attri- 
 buted to Sir W. Scott. 7 vols. 
 3i'. 6d. each. 
 
 I. — Captain Single'.on, and 
 Colonel Jack. 
 
 II. — Memoirs of a Cavalier, 
 Captain Carleton, 
 Dickory Cronke, &c. 
 
 III.— Moll Flanders, and the 
 History of the Devil. 
 
 IV. — Roxana, and Life of Mrs. 
 Christian Davies. 
 
 V. — History of the Great Plague 
 of London, 1665 ; The 
 Storm (1703) ; and the 
 True-born Englishman. 
 
 VI. — Duncan Campbell, New 
 Voyage round the 
 World, and Political 
 Tracts. 
 
 VII. —Robinson Crusoe. 
 
 DE LOLME on the Constitution 
 of England. Edited by John 
 Macgregor. y. 6d. 
 
An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 DEMMIN'S History of Arms 
 and Armour, from the Earliest 
 Period. By Auguste Demmin. 
 Translated by C. C. Black, M.A. 
 With nearly 2000 Illustrations. 
 7J-. dd. 
 
 DEMOSTHENES' Orations. 
 Translated by C. Rann Kennedy. 
 5 vols. Vol. I., y. 6d.', Vols. 
 II. -V., 5^-. each. 
 
 DE STAEL'S Corinne or Italy. 
 By Madame de Stael. Trans- 
 lated by Emily Baldwin and 
 Paulina Driver. 35. 6d. 
 
 DEVEY'S Logic, or the Science 
 of Inference. A Popular Manual. 
 By J. Devey. 5^. 
 
 DICTIONARY of latin and 
 Greek Quotations ; including 
 Proverbs, Maxims, Mottoes, Law 
 Terms and Phrases. With all the 
 Quantities marked, and English 
 Translations. With Index Ver- 
 borum (622 pages). 55. 
 
 DICTIONARY of Obsolete and 
 Provincial English, Compiled 
 by Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S A., 
 &c. 2 vols. 55. each. 
 
 DIDRON'S Christian Icono- 
 graphy : a History of Christian 
 Art in the Middle Ages. Trans- 
 lated by E. J Millington and 
 completed by Margaret vStokes. 
 With 240 Illustrations. 2 vols. 
 y. each. 
 
 DIOGENES LAERTIUS. Lives 
 and Opinions of the Ancient 
 Philosophers. Translated by 
 Prof C. D Yonge, M A. 5^. 
 
 DOBREE'S Adversaria. Edited 
 by the late Prof. Wagner. 2 vols. 
 ^s. each. 
 
 D O D D ' S Epigrammatists. A 
 Selection from the Epigrammatic 
 Literature of Ancient, Medireval, 
 and Modern Times. By the Rev. 
 Henry Philip Dodd, M.A. Ox- 
 ford. 2nd Edition, revised and 
 enlarged. 6s. 
 
 DONALDSON'S The Theatre of 
 the Greeks. A Treatise on the 
 History and Exhibition of the 
 Greek Drama. With numerous 
 Illustrations and 3 Plans. By John 
 William Donaldson, D.D. ^s. 
 
 DRAPER'S History of the 
 Intellectual Development of 
 Europe. By John William Draper, 
 M.D., LL.D. 2 vols. 5i-. each. 
 
 DUNLOP'S History of Fiction. 
 A new Edition. Revised by 
 Henry Wilson. 2 vols. ^s. each. 
 
 DYER (Dr T. H.). Pompeii : its 
 
 Buildings and Antiquities. By 
 T. H. Dyer, LL.D. With nearly 
 300 Wood Engravings, a large 
 Map, and a Plan of the Forum. 
 7s. 6d. 
 
 The City of Rome : its History 
 
 and Monuments. With Illustra- 
 tions. $s. 
 
 DYER (T. P. T.) British Popular 
 Customs, Present and Past. 
 An Account of the various Games 
 and Customs associated with Dif- 
 ferent Days of the Year in the 
 British Isles, arranged according 
 to the Calendar. By the Rev. 
 T. F. Thiselton Dyer, M.A. 5 J. 
 
 EBERS' Egyptian Princess. An 
 Historical Novel. By George 
 Ebers. Translated by E. S. 
 Buchheim. 3^-. 6d. 
 
 EDGE WORTH'S Stories for 
 Children. With 8 Illustrations 
 1)y L. Speed. 3^. 6d. 
 
 ELZE'S William Shakespeare. 
 
 — See Shakespeare. 
 
 EMERSON'S Works. 3 vols 
 3 J. 6d. each. 
 I. — Essays, Lectures and Poems. 
 II. — English Traits, Nature, and 
 Conduct of Life. 
 
Contaifud in Bohn^s Libraries. 
 
 Emerson's Works continued. 
 
 III. — Society and Solitude — Letters 
 and Social aims — Miscel- 
 laneous Papers (hitherto 
 uncollected) — May Day, 
 and other Poems. 
 
 ELLIS (G.) Specimens of Early- 
 English Metrical Romances. 
 With an Historical Introduction 
 on the Rise and Progress of 
 Romantic Composition in France 
 and England. Revised Edition. 
 By J. O. Halliwell, F.R.S. 5^. 
 
 ENNEMOSER'S History of 
 Magic. Translated by William 
 Hovv'itt. 2 vols. 55-. each. 
 
 EPICTETUS, The Discourses of. 
 With the Encheiridion and 
 Fragments. Translated by George 
 Long, M.A. 5j. 
 
 EURIPIDES. A New Literal 
 Translation in Prose. By E. P. 
 Coleridge, M.A. 2 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 EUTROPIUS.— 5^g Justin. 
 
 EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS, 
 Ecclesiastical History of. Trans- 
 lated by Rev. C.F. Cruse, M.A. 5j. 
 
 EVELYN'S Diary and Corre- 
 spondendence. Edited from the 
 Original MSS. by W. Bray, 
 F.A.S. With 45 engravings. 4 
 vols. ^s. each. 
 
 FAIRHOLT'S Costume in Eng- 
 land. A History of Dress to the 
 end of the Eighteenth Century. 
 3rd Edition, revised, by Viscount 
 Dillon, V.P.S.A. Illustrated with 
 above 700 Engravings. 2 vols. 
 55^. each. 
 
 FIELDINGS Adventures of 
 Joseph Andrews and his Friend 
 Mr. Abraham Adams. With 
 Cruikshank's Illustrations. 3^. dd. 
 
 History of Tom Jones, a 
 
 Foundling. With Cruikshank's 
 Illustrations. 2 vols. 3^. (>d. each. 
 
 Amelia. With Cruikshank's 
 
 Illustrations. 5^. 
 
 FLAXMAN'S Lectures on Sculp- 
 ture. By John Flaxman, R.A. 
 With Portrait and 53 Plates. 6j. 
 
 FLORENCE of WORCESTER'S 
 Chronicle, with the Two Con- 
 tinuations : comprising Annals of 
 English History, from the De- 
 parture of the Romans to the 
 Reign of Edward I. Translated 
 by Thomas Forester, M.A. 5^. 
 
 FOSTER'S (John) Life and Cor- 
 respondence. Edited by J. E. 
 Ryland. 2 vols, t^s, 6d. each. 
 
 Critical Essays. Edited by 
 
 J. E. Ryland. 2 vols. 30-. 6d, 
 each. 
 
 Essays : on Decision of Cha- 
 racter ; on a Man's writing Me- 
 moirs of Himself ; on the epithet 
 Romantic ; on the aversion of 
 Men of Taste to Evangelical Re- 
 ligion. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Essays on the Evils of Popular 
 
 Ignorance ; to which is added, a 
 Discourse on the Propagation of 
 Christianity in India, y. 6d. 
 
 Essays on the Improvement 
 
 of Time. With Notes of 
 Sermons and other Pieces. 
 IS. 6d. 
 
 GASPARY'S History of Italian 
 Literature. Translated by Her- 
 man Oelsner, M.A., Ph.D. 
 Vol. I. 3 J. 6d. 
 
 GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH, 
 
 Chronicle of. — See Old English 
 Chronicles. 
 
 GESTA ROMANORUM, or En- 
 tertaining Moral Stories invented 
 by the Monks. Translated by the 
 Rev. Charles Swan. Revised 
 Edition, by Wynnard Hooper, 
 B.A. 5^. 
 
 GILDAS, Chronioles ot—See Old 
 English Chronicles. 
 
10 
 
 An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 GIBBON'S DeoUne and FaU of 
 the Roman Empire. Complete 
 and Unabridged, with Variorum 
 Notes. Edited by an English 
 Churchman. With 2 Maps and 
 Portrait. 7 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 GILBART'S History, Principles, 
 and Practice of BanMng. Bv 
 the late J. W. Gilbart, F.R.S. 
 New Edition, revised by A. S. 
 Michie. 2 vols. \os. 
 GIL BLAS, The Adventures of. 
 Translated from the French of 
 Lesage by Smollett. With 24 
 Engravings on Steel, after Smirke, 
 and 10 Etchings by George Cruik- 
 shank. 6s. j 
 
 GIR ALDUS CAMBRENSIS' 
 Historical Works. Translated 
 by Th. Forester, M.A., and Sir 
 R. Colt Hoare. Revised Edition, 
 Edited by Thomas Wright, M.A., 
 F.S.A. s^. 
 GOETHE'S Faust. Part I. Ger- 
 man Text with Hayward's Prose 
 Translation and Notes. Revised 
 by C. A. Buchheim, Ph.D. 5^. 
 GOETHE'S Works. Translated 
 into English by various hands. 
 14 vols. 35-. 6d. each. 
 I. and II. — Autobiography and 
 Annals. 
 III. — Faust. Two Parts, com- 
 plete. (Swanwick.) 
 IV.— Novels and Tales. 
 V. — Wilhelm Meister's Appren- 
 ticeship. 
 VI. — Conversations with Ecker- 
 mann and Soret. 
 VIII.— Dramatic Works. 
 IX.— Wilhelm Meister's Travels. 
 X. — Tour in Italy, and Second 
 Residence in Rome. 
 XI. — Miscellaneous Travels. 
 XII.— Early and Miscellaneous 
 
 Letters. 
 XIII. — Correspondence with Zelter. 
 XIV.— Reineke Fox, West-Eastern 
 Divan and Achilleid. 
 
 GOLDSMITH'S Works. A new 
 
 Edition, by J. W. M. Gibbs. 5 
 vols. y. 6d. each. 
 
 GRAMMONT'S Memoirs of tiie 
 Court of Charles II. Edited by 
 Sir Walter Scott. Together with 
 the BoscoBEL Tracts, including 
 two not before published, &c. 
 New Edition. 5^-. 
 
 GRAY'S Letters. Including the 
 Correspondence of Gray and 
 Mason. Edited by the Rev. 
 D. C. Tovey, M.A. Vol. I. 
 3J-. 6d. [ Vol. ii. in the press. 
 
 GREEK ANTHOLOGY. Trans- 
 lated by George Burges, M.A. $s, 
 
 GREEK ROMANCES of Helio- 
 dorus, Longus, and Achilles 
 Tatius — viz.. The Adventures of 
 Theagenes & Chariclea ; Amours 
 of Daphnis and Chloe ; and Loves 
 of Clitopho and Leucippe. Trans- 
 lated by Rev. R. Smith, M.A. 
 
 GREGORY'S Letters on the 
 Evidences, Doctrines, & Duties 
 of tlie Christian Religion. By 
 Dr. Olinthus Gregory. 35. 6d. 
 
 GREENE, MARLOWE, and 
 BEN JONSON. Poems of. 
 Edited by Robert Bell. 3^-. 6d. 
 
 GRIMM'S TALES. With the 
 Notes of the Original. Translated 
 by Mrs. A. Hunt. With Intro- 
 duction by Andrew Lang, M.A. 
 2 vols. 3.y. 6d. each. 
 
 Gammer Grethel ; or, Ger- 
 man Fairy Tales and Popular 
 Stories. Containing 42 Fairy 
 Tales. Trans, by Edgar Taylor. 
 With numerous Woodcuts after 
 George Cruikshank and Ludwig 
 Grimm. 35". 6d. 
 
 GROSSI'S Marco Visoonti. 
 Translated by A. F. D. The 
 Ballads rendered into English 
 Verse by C. M. P. 3^. 6d. 
 
Contained in Bohn's Libraries. 
 
 I I 
 
 GUIZOT'S History of the 
 EngUsh Revolution of 1640. 
 From the Accession of Charles 
 I. to his Death. Translated by 
 William Hazlitt. 3^. dd. 
 
 History of Civilisation, from 
 
 the Fall of the Roman Empire to 
 the French Revolution. Trans- 
 lated by WilHam Hazlitt. 3 vols- 
 3 J. 6^. each. 
 
 HALL'S (Rev. Robert) Miscel- 
 laneous Works and Remains. 
 35. dd, 
 
 HAMPTON COURT: A Short 
 History of the Manor and 
 Palace. By Ernest Law, B.A. 
 With numerous Illustrations, ^s. 
 
 HARD WICK'S History of the 
 Articles of Religion. By the late 
 C. Hardwick. Revised by the 
 Rev. Francis Procter, M.A. 5^. 
 
 HAUFF'S Tales. The Caravan— 
 The Sheik of Alexandria — The 
 Inn in the Spessart. Trans, from 
 the German by S. Mendel. 3^. dd. 
 
 HAWTHORNE'S Tales. 4 vols. 
 3J. (id. each. 
 I. — Twice-told Tales, and the 
 
 Snow Image. 
 XL— Scarlet Letter, and the House 
 with the Seven Gables. 
 III. — Transformation [The JVIarble 
 Faun], and Blithedale Ro- 
 mance. 
 IV. — Mosses from an Old Manse. 
 
 HAZLITT'S Table-talk. Essays 
 on Men and Manners. By W. 
 Hazlitt. 3^. dd. 
 
 Lectures on the Literature 
 
 of the Age of Elizabeth and on 
 Characters of Shakespeare's Plays. 
 3^. dd. 
 
 Lectures on the English 
 
 Poets, and on the English Comic 
 Writers. 3^. dd. 
 
 The Plain Speaker. Opinions 
 
 on Books, Men, and Things, y, 6d. 
 
 Bound Table. 3^. 6d. 
 
 I HAi^LITT'S Sketches aud 
 Essays. 35. 6d. 
 
 The Spirit of the Age ; or, 
 
 Contemporary Portraits. Edited 
 by W. Carew Hazlitt. y. 6d. 
 
 HEATON'S Concise History of 
 Painting. New Edition, revised 
 by Cosmo Monkhouse. 5^. 
 
 HEGEL'S Lectures on the Philo- 
 sophy of History. Translated by 
 J. Sibree, M.A. 
 
 HEINE'S Poems, Complete 
 Translated by Edgar A. Bowring, 
 C.B. 3^. ed. 
 
 Travel-Pictures, including the 
 
 Tour in the Harz, Nordemey, and 
 Book of Ideas, together with the 
 Romantic School. Translated by 
 Francis Storr. A New Edition, 
 j revised throughout. With Appen- 
 I dices and Maps. 3^-. 6d. 
 
 j HELP'S Life of Christopher 
 ; Columbus, the Discoverer of 
 
 America. By Sir Arthur Helps, 
 
 K.C.B. 3^. 6d. 
 
 — Life of Hernando Cortes, 
 and the Conquest of Mexico. 2 
 vols. 3J-. 6d. each. 
 
 Life of Las Casas the Apostle 
 
 of the Indies. 2,s. 6d. 
 
 HENDERSON (E.) Select His- 
 torical Documents of the Middle 
 Ages, including the most famous 
 Charters relating to England, the 
 Empire, the Church, &c., from 
 the 6th to the 14th Centuries. 
 Translated from the Latin and 
 edited by Ernest F. Henderson, 
 A.B., A.M., Ph.D. 5J. 
 
 HENFREY'S Guide to EngUsh 
 Coins, from the Conquest to the 
 present time. New and revised 
 Edition by C. F. Keary, M.A., 
 F.S.A. 6s. 
 
 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON'S 
 History of the English. Trans- 
 lated by T. Forester, M.A. $s. 
 
12 
 
 An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 HENRY'S (Matthew) Exposition 
 of the Book of the Psalms. 5^^. 
 
 HELIODORUS. Theagenes and 
 Chariclea. — See Greek Ro- 
 mances. 
 
 HERODOTUS. Translated by the 
 Rev. Henry Gary, M.A. 35. dd. 
 
 Notes on. Original and Se- 
 lected from the best Gommenta- 
 tors. By D. W. Turner, M.A. 
 With Goloured Map. Si-. 
 
 Analysis and Sirnimary of 
 
 By J. T. Wheeler. 55. 
 
 HESIOD, CALLIMACHUS, and 
 THEOGNIS. Translated by the 
 Rev. J. Banks, M.A. 5J. 
 
 HOFFMANN'S (E. T. W.) The 
 Serapion Brethren. Translated 
 from the German by Lt.-Gol. Alex. 
 Ewing. 2 vols. 3^-. dd. each. 
 
 HOLBEIN'S Dance of Death 
 and Bible Cuts. Upwards of 150 
 Subjects, engraved in facsimile, 
 with Introduction and Descrip- 
 tions by Francis Douce and Dr. 
 Thomas Frognall Dibden. 5^. 
 
 HOMER'S Iliad. Translated into 
 English Prose by T. A. Buckley, 
 B.A. 55. 
 
 Odyssey. Hymns, Epigrams, 
 
 and Battle of the Frogs and Mice. 
 Translated into English Prose by 
 T. A. Buckley, B.A. 55. 
 
 See also Pope. 
 
 HOOPER'S (G.) Waterloo : The 
 
 Downfall of the First Napo- 
 leon : a History of the Gampaign 
 of 181 5. By George Hooper. 
 With Maps and Plans. 35. dd. 
 
 The Campaign of Sedan : 
 
 The Downfall of the Second Em- 
 pire, August - September, 1870. 
 With General Map and Six Plans 
 
 of Battle. 
 
 6^. 
 
 HORACE. A new literal Prose 
 translation, byA. Hamilton Bryce, 
 LL.P. 3J. (>d. 
 
 HUGO'S (Victor) Dramatic 
 Works. Hernani— Ruy Bias — 
 The King's Diversion. Translated 
 by Mrs. Newton Grosland and 
 F. L. Slous. 35-. dd. 
 
 Poems, chiefly Lyrical. Trans- 
 lated by various Writers, now first 
 collected by J. H. L. Williams. 
 3^. 6^. 
 
 HUMBOLDT'S Cosmos. Trans- 
 lated by E. G. Otte, B. H. Paul, 
 and W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. 5 vols. 
 35-. dd. each, excepting Vol. V. 55-. 
 
 Personal Narrative of his 
 
 Travels to the Equinoctial Regions 
 of America during the years 1799- 
 1804. Translated by T. Ross. 3 
 vols. S^. each. 
 
 Views of Nature. Translated 
 
 by E. G. Otte and H. G. Bohn. 
 
 HUMPHREYS' Coin CoUector's 
 Manual. By H. N. Humphreys, 
 with upwards of 140 Illustrations 
 on Wood and Steel. 2 vols. 5.$-. 
 each. 
 
 HUNGARY: its History and Re- 
 volution, together with a copious 
 Memoir of Kossuth. 3.^. dd. 
 
 HUTCHINSON (Colonel). Me- 
 moirs of the Life of. By his 
 Widow, Lucy : together with her 
 Autobiography, and an Account 
 of the Siege of Lathom House. 
 3J. dd. 
 
 HUNT'S Poetry of Science. By 
 Richard Hunt. 3rd Edition, re- 
 vised and enlarged, ^s. 
 
 INDIA BEFORE THE SEPOY 
 MUTINY. A Pictorial, De- 
 scriptive, and Historical Ac- 
 count, from the Earliest Times 
 to the Annexation of the Punjab, 
 with upwards of loo Engravings 
 on Wood, and a Map. 5.^. 
 
 INGULPH'H Chronicles of the 
 Abbey of Croyland. with the 
 GONTINUATION by Pelcr of Blois 
 and other Writers. Translated by 
 H. T. Riley, M.A. 5.. 
 
Contained in Bohn's Libraries. 
 
 13 
 
 IRVINQ'S (Washington) Com- 
 plete Works. 15 vols. With Por- 
 traits, &c. 3J. bd. each. 
 I. — Salmagundi, Knicker- 
 bocker's History of New 
 York. 
 II.— The Sketch-Book, and the 
 Life of Oliver Goldsmith. 
 III. — Bracebridge Hall, Abbots- 
 ford and Newstead Abbey. 
 IV.— The Alhambra, Tales of a 
 
 Traveller, 
 v.— Chronicle of the Conquest 
 of Granada, Legends of 
 the Conquest of Spain. 
 VI. & VII.— Life and Voyages of 
 Columbus, together with 
 the Voyages of his Com- 
 panions. 
 VIII.— Astoria, A Tour on the 
 Prairies. 
 XI. — Life of Mahomet, Lives of the 
 Successors of Mahomet. 
 X. — Adventures of Captain Bon- 
 neville, U.S.A., Wolfert's 
 Roost. 
 XI. — Biographies and Miscella- 
 neous Papers. 
 XII.-XV.— Life of George Wash- 
 ington. 4 vols. 
 
 Life and Letters. By his 
 
 Nephew, Pierre E. Irving. 2 vols. 
 1$. 6d. each. 
 
 ISOGRATES, The Orations of. 
 Translated by J. H. Freese, M.A. 
 Vol. I. Ss. 
 
 JAMES'S (G. P. R.) Life of 
 Richard Coeur de Lion. 2 vols. 
 3^-. 6d. each. 
 
 The Life and Times of Louis 
 
 XIV. 2 vols. 35. 6d. each. 
 
 JAMESON'S (Mrs.) Shake- 
 speare's Heroines. Character- 
 istics of Women: Moral, Poetical, 
 and Historical. By Mrs, Jameson. 
 3^. 6d. 
 
 JESSE'S (E.) Anecdotes of Dogs. 
 With 40 Woodcuts and 34 Steel 
 Engravings. $s. 
 
 JESSE'S (J. H.) Memoirs of the 
 Court of England during the 
 Reign of the Stuarts, includint; 
 the Protectorate. 3 vols. With 
 42 Portraits, ^s. each. 
 
 Memoirs of the Pretenders 
 
 and their Adherents. With 6 
 Portraits. 5^. 
 
 JOHNSON'S Lives of the Poets. 
 Edited by Mrs. Alexander Napier, 
 with Introduction by Professor 
 Hales. 3 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 JOSEPHUS (Flavlus), The Works 
 of. Whiston's Translation, re- 
 vised by Rev. A. R. Shilleto, M.A 
 With Topographical and Geo. 
 graphical Notes by Colonel Sir 
 C. W. Wilson, K.C.B. 5 vols. 
 3J. (>d. each. 
 
 JOYCE'S Scientific Dialogues. 
 With numerous Woodcuts. 55. 
 
 JUKES-BROWNE (A. J.), The 
 Building of the British Isles: 
 a Study in Geographical Evolu- 
 tion. Illustrated by numerous 
 Maps and Woodcuts. 2nd Edition, 
 revised, "js. 6d. 
 
 Student's Handbook of 
 
 Physical Geology. With nu- 
 merous Diagrams and Illustra- 
 tions. 2nd Edition, much en- 
 larged, 7J. 6d. 
 
 JULIAN, the Emperor. Contain- 
 ing Gregory Nazianzen's Two In- 
 vectives and Libanus' Monody, 
 with Julian's extant Theosophical 
 Works. Translated by C. W. 
 King, M.A. 5^-. 
 
 JUSTIN CORNELIUS NEPOS. 
 and EUTROPIUS. Translated 
 by the Rev. J. S. W^atson, M.A. 
 
 JUVENAL, PERSIUS. SXXL- 
 PICIA and LUCILIUS. Trans- 
 lated by L. Evans, M.A. 5^-. 
 
 JUNIUS'S Letters. With all the 
 Notes of Woodfall's Edition, and 
 important Additions. 2 vols. 
 3J. 6d. each. 
 
14 
 
 An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 KANT'S Critique of Pure Reason. 
 
 Translated by J. M, D. Meikle- 
 john. 5^. 
 
 Prolegomena and Meta- 
 physical FoundatioTj s of Natural 
 Science. Translated by E. Belfort 
 Bax, 5.7. 
 
 KEIGHTLEY'S (Thomas) My- 
 thology of Ancient Greece and 
 Italy. 4th Edition, revised by 
 Leonard Schmitz, Ph.D., LL.D. 
 With 12 Plates from the Antique. 
 
 Fairy Myt.hology, illustrative 
 
 of the Romance and Superstition 
 of Various Countries. Revised 
 Edition, with Frontispiece l)y 
 Cruik^hank. 5^. 
 
 LA FONTAINE'S Fables. Trans- 
 lated into English Verse by Elizur 
 Wright. New Edition, with Notes 
 by J. W. M. Gibbs. 3^. 6d. 
 
 LAMARTINE'S History of the 
 Girondists. Translated by H. T. 
 Ryde. 3 vols. 3.?. 6c/. each. 
 
 History of the Restoration 
 
 of Monarchy in France (a Sequel 
 to the History of the Girondists). 
 4 vols. y. 6d. each. 
 
 — - — History of the French Re- 
 volution of 1848. 3 J. 6c/. 
 
 LAMB'S (Charles) Essays of Elia 
 and Eliana. Complete Edition. 
 
 3.. ed. 
 
 Specimens of English Dra- 
 matic Poets of the Time of 
 Elizabeth. 3.?. 6a. 
 
 Memorials and Letters of 
 
 Charles Lamb. By Serjeant 
 Talfourd. New Edition, revised, 
 by W. Carew Hazlitt. 2 vols. 
 3 J. 6'/. each. 
 
 LANZI'S History of Painthig hi 
 Italy, from the Period of the 
 Revival of the Fine Arts to the 
 End of the Eighteenth Century. 
 Translated by Thomas Roscoe. 
 3 vols. 3^. dd. each. 
 
 LAPPENBERG'S History of 
 England under the Anglo- 
 Saxon Kings. Translated by 
 B. Thorpe, F.S.A. New edition, 
 revised by E. C. Otte. 2 vols. 
 3^. 6c/, each. 
 
 LECTURES ON PAINTING, 
 
 by Barry, Opie, Fuseli. Edited 
 by R. Wornum. ^s. 
 
 LEONARDO DA VINCI'S 
 Treatise on Painting. Trans- 
 lated by J. F. Rigaud, R.A., 
 With a Life of Leonardo by John 
 William Brown. With numerous 
 Plates, is. 
 
 LEPSIUS'S Letters from Egypt, 
 Ethiopia, and the Peninsula of 
 Sinai. Translated by L. and 
 J. B. Horner. With Maps. 5^. 
 
 LESSING'S Dramatic Works, 
 Complete. Edited by Ernest Bell, 
 M.A. With Memoir of Lessing 
 by Helen Zimmern. 2 vols. 
 35. 6d. each. 
 
 — — Laokoon, Dramatic Notes, 
 and the Representation of 
 Death by the Ancients. Trans- 
 lated by E. C. Beasley and Helen 
 Zimmern. Edited by Edward 
 
 ■ Bell, M.A. With a Frontispiece 
 of the Laokoon group. 3.f. 6d. 
 
 LILLY'S Introduction to Astro- 
 logy. With a Grammar ok 
 Astrology and Tables for Cal- 
 culating Nativities, by Zadkiel. 55. 
 
 LIVY'S History of Rome. Trans- 
 lated by Dr. Spillan, C. Edmonds, 
 and others. 4 vols. $s. each. 
 
 LOCKE'S Pliilosophical Works. 
 Edited by J. A. St. John. 2 vols. 
 3.r. 6c/. each. 
 
 Life and Letters: By Lord 
 
 King. 35-. 6c/. 
 
 LOCKHART IZ. Qr.^-Sfte BupNS,. 
 
Contained in Bohn's Libraries. 
 
 IS 
 
 LODGE'S Portraitsjof Illustrious 
 Personages of Great Britain, 
 with Biographical and Historical 
 Memoirs. 240 Portraits engraved 
 on Steel, with the respective Bio- 
 graphies unabridged. 8 vols. 51. 
 each. 
 
 LONGFELLOW'S Prose 
 Works. With 16 full- page Wood 
 Engravings, ^s. 
 
 LOUDON'S (Mrs.) Natural 
 History. Revised edition, by 
 W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. With 
 numerous Woodcut Illus. 5^. 
 
 LOWNDES' BibUograplier's 
 Manual of English Literature. 
 Enlarged Edition. By H. G. 
 Bohn. 6 vols, cloth, 51. each. 
 Or 4 vols, half morocco, 2/. 2s. 
 
 LONGUS. Daphnis and Chiloe. 
 — Sec Greek Romances. 
 
 LUCAN'S Pharsalia. Translated 
 by H. T. Riley, M.A. 55. 
 
 LUCIAN'S Dialogues of the 
 Gods, of the Sea Gods, and 
 of the Dead. Translated by 
 Howard Williams. M.A. ^s. 
 
 LUCRETIUS. Translated by the 
 Rev. J. S. Watson, M.A. 5^. 
 
 LUTHER'S Table- Talk. Trans- 
 lated and" Edited by William 
 Hazlitt. 3-^ 62. 
 
 Autobiography. — 5^^ 
 
 MiCHELET. 
 
 MACHIAVELLI'S History of 
 Florence, together with the 
 Prince, Savonarola, various His- 
 
 w torical Tracts, and a Memoir of 
 
 ^ Machiavelli. 3J. 6^. 
 
 MALLET'S Northern Antiqui- 
 ties, or an Historical Account of 
 the Manners, Customs, Religions 
 and Laws, Maritime Expeditions 
 and Discoveries, Language and 
 Literature, of the Ancient Scandi- 
 navians. Translated by Bishop 
 Percy. Revised and Enlarged 
 Edition, with a Translation of the 
 Prose Edda, by J. A. Black- 
 well. 5^. 
 
 MANTELL'S (Dr.) Petrifacliona 
 " "and their Teachings. With nu- 
 ^ merous illustrative Woodcuts. 6j. 
 
 Wonders of Geology. 8ih 
 
 Edition, revised by T. Rupert 
 Jones, F.G.S. With a colonred 
 Geological Map of England, 
 Plates, and upwards oi 200 
 Woodcuts. 2 vols. 7j. bd. each. 
 
 MANZONI. The Betrothed : 
 being a Translation of ' I Pro- 
 messi Sposi.' By Alessandro 
 Manzoni. With numerous Wood- 
 cuts. 5^. 
 
 MARCO POLO'S Travels; the 
 
 Translation of Marsden revised 
 by T. Wright, M.A., F.S.A. 5^. 
 
 MARRYAT'S (Capt. R.N.) 
 Masterman Ready. With 93 
 Woodcuts. 3J-. ^d. 
 
 Mission ; or. Scenes in Africa. 
 
 Illustrated by Gilbert and Dalziel. 
 IS, 6d. 
 
 Pirate and Three Cutters. 
 
 With 8 Steel Engravings, from 
 Drawings by Clarkson Stanfield, 
 R.A. IS. td. 
 
 Privateersman. 8 Engrav- 
 ings on Steel. 3^. 6a 
 
 Settlers in Canada. 10 En- 
 gravings by Gilbert and Dalziel. 
 Zs. 6d. 
 
 Poor Jack. With 16 Illus- 
 trations after Clarkson Stansfield, 
 R.A. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Peter Simple. With 8 full- 
 page Illustrations, ^s. 6d. 
 
 Midshipman Easy, With 8 
 
 full- page Illustrations. 3^. 6d. 
 
 MARTIAL'S Epigrams, complete. 
 Translated into Prose, each ac- 
 companied by one or more Verse 
 Translations selected from the 
 Works of English Poets, and 
 other sources, ys. 6d. 
 
i6 
 
 A 71 Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 MARTINEAUS (Harriet) His- 
 tory of England, from 1800- 
 181 5. 3 J. 6^. 
 
 History of the Thirty Years' 
 
 Peace, a.d. 1815-46. 4 vols 
 3x. dd. each. 
 
 See Co lute's Positive Philosophy^ 
 
 MATTHEW PARIS'S EngUsh 
 History, from the Year 1235 to 
 1273. Translated by Rev. J. A. 
 Giles, D.C.L. 3 vols. 5^^. each. 
 
 MATTHEW OF WESTMIN- 
 STER'S Flowers of History, 
 from the beginning of the World 
 to A.D. 1307. Translated by C. D. 
 Yonge, M.A. 2 vols. 5.^. each. 
 
 MAXWELL'S Victories of Wel- 
 ington and the British Armies. 
 Frontispiece and 5 Portraits. 55. 
 
 MENZEL'S History of Germany, 
 from the Earliest Period to 1842. 
 3 vols. 3J'. 6d. each. 
 
 MICHAEL ANGELO AND 
 RAPHAEL, their Lives and 
 Works. By Duppa aud Quatre- 
 mere de Quincy. With Portraits, 
 and Engravings on Steel. 5^-. 
 
 MICHELET'S Luther's Auto- 
 biography. Trans, by William 
 Hazlitt. With an Appendix (no 
 pages) of Notes. 3^-. hd. 
 
 History of the French Revo- 
 lution from its earliest indications 
 to the flight of the King in 1791. 
 3.r. 6d. 
 
 MIGNET'S History of the French 
 revolution, from 1789 to 18 14. 
 3,(. 6d. 
 
 MILL (J. S.) Early Essays by 
 John Stuart Mill. Collected from 
 various sources byj. W. M. Gibbs. 
 
 3J. ed. 
 
 MILLER (Professor). History 
 Philosophically Illustrated, from 
 the Fall of the Roman Empire to 
 the French Revolution. 4 vols. 
 3 J. bd. each. 
 
 MILTON'S Prose Works. Edited 
 by J. A. St. John. 5 vols. 31. 6d. 
 each. 
 
 Poetical Works, with a Me- 
 moir and Critical Remarks by 
 James Montgomery, an Index to 
 Paradise Lost, Todd's Verbal Index 
 to all the Poems, and a Selection 
 of Explanatory Notes by Henry 
 G. Bohn. Illustrated with 120 
 Wood Engravings from Drawings 
 by W. Harvey. 2 vols. 3?. 6d. 
 each. 
 
 MITFORD'S (Miss) Our ViUage 
 Sketches of Rural Character and 
 Scenery. With 2 Engravings on 
 Steel. 2 vols. 3^-. 6d. each. 
 
 MOLIERE'S Dramatic Works. 
 
 A new Translation in English 
 
 Prose, by C. H. Wall. 3 vols. 
 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 MONTAGU. The Letters and 
 Works of Lady Mary Wortley 
 Montagu. Edited by her great- 
 grandson, Lord Wharnclifie's Edi- 
 tion, and revised by W. Moy 
 Thomas. New Edition, revised, 
 with 5 Portraits. 2 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 MONTAIGNE'S Essays. Cotton's 
 Translation, revised by W. C. 
 Hazlitt. New Edition. 3 vols. 
 y. 6d. each. 
 
 MONTESQUIEU'S Spirit of 
 Laws. New Edition, revised and 
 corrected. By J, V. Pritchard, 
 A.M. 2 vols. 3^. 6^. each. 
 
 MOTLEY (J. L.). The Rise of 
 the Dutch Republic. A History. 
 By John Lothrop Motley. New 
 Edition, with Biographical Intro- 
 duction by Moncure D. Conway. 
 3 vols. 3J-. 6d. each. 
 
 MORPHY'S Games of Chess. 
 Being the Matches and best Games 
 played by IheAmerican Champion, 
 with l^xplanatory and Analytical 
 Notes by J. Lowenthal. 5^. 
 
Contained in Bohn's Libraries. 
 
 17 
 
 MUDIE'S British Birds; or, His- 
 tory of the Feathered Tribes of the 
 British Islands. Revised by W. 
 C. L. Martin. With 52 Figures 
 of Birds and 7 Coloured Plates of 
 Eggs. 2 vols. 
 
 NEANDER (Dr. A.). History 
 of the Christian Religion and 
 Church. Trans, from the German 
 by J. Torrey. 10 vols. y.bd. each. 
 
 Life of Jesus Christ. Trans- 
 lated by J. McClintock and C. 
 Blumenthal. 3J. 6d. 
 
 History of the Planting and 
 
 Training of the Christian 
 Church by the Apostles. 
 Translated by J. E. Ryland. 
 2 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 Memorials of Christian Life 
 
 in the Early and Middle Ages ; 
 including Light in Dark Places. 
 Trans, by J. E. Ryland. 31. 6d. 
 
 NIBELUNGEN LIED. The 
 Lay of the Nibelungs, metrically 
 translated from the old German 
 text by Alice Horton, and edited 
 by Edward Bell, M.A. To which 
 is prefixed the Essay on the Nibe- 
 lungen Lied by Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT (The) in 
 Greek. Griesbach's Text, with 
 various Readings at the foot of 
 the page, and Parallel References 
 in the margin ; also a Critical 
 Introduction and Chronological 
 Tables. By an eminent Scholar, 
 with a Greek and English Lexicon. 
 3rd Edition, revised and corrected. 
 Two Facsimiles of Greek Manu- 
 scripts. 900 pages. 5^. 
 
 The Lexicon may be had sepa- 
 rately, price 2s. 
 
 NICOLINI'S History of the 
 Jesuits : their Origin, Progress, 
 Doctrines, and Designs. With 8 
 Portraits. 5^-. 
 
 NORTH (R.) Lives of the Right 
 Hon. Francis North, Baron Guild- 
 ford, the Hon. Sir Dudley North, 
 and the Hon. and Rev. Dr. John 
 North. By the Hon. Roger 
 North. Together with the Auto- 
 biography of the Author. Edited 
 by Augustus Jessopp, D.D. 3vols. 
 3^-. 6d. each. 
 
 NCfGENT'S (Lord) Memorials 
 of Hampden, his Party and 
 Times. With a Memoir of the 
 Author, an Autograph Letter, and 
 Portrait. 5^. 
 
 GCKLEY (S.) History of the 
 Saracens and their Conquests 
 in Syria, Persia, and Egypt. 
 By Simon Ockley, B.D., Professor 
 of Arabic in the University of 
 Cambridge. 3^. 6d. 
 
 OLD ENGLISH CHRON- 
 ICLES, including Ethelwerd's 
 Chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth's British 
 History, Gildas, Nennius, and the 
 spurious chronicle of Richard of 
 Cirencester. Edited by J. A. 
 Giles, D.C.L. 5^. 
 
 OMAN (J. C.) The Great Indian 
 Epics : the Stories of the Rama- 
 YANA and the Mahabharata. 
 By John Campbell Oman, Prin- 
 cipal of Khalsa College, Amritsar. 
 With Notes, Appendices, and 
 Illustrations. 3J-. 6d. 
 
 ORDERICUS VITALISE Eccle 
 sia3tical History of England 
 and Normandy. Translated by 
 T. Forester, M.A. To which is 
 added the Chronicle of St. 
 EvROULT. 4 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 OVID'S "Works, complete. Literally 
 translated into Prose. 3 vols. 
 5j. each. 
 
 PASCAL'S Thoughts. Translated 
 from the Text of M. Auguste 
 Molinier by C. Kegan Paul. 3rd 
 Edition. 3^. 6d. 
 
i8 
 
 An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 PAULI'S (Dr. R.) Life of Alfred 
 the Great. Translated from the 
 German. To which is appended 
 Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version 
 OF Orosius. With a literal 
 Translation interpaged, Notes, 
 and an Anglo-Saxon Grammar 
 and Glossary, by B. Thorpe. 5^. 
 
 PAUSANIAS' Description of 
 G-reece. Newly translated by A. R. 
 Shilleto, M.A. 2 vols. %s. each. 
 
 PEARSON'S Exposition of the 
 Greed. Edited by E. Walford, 
 M.A. 55. 
 
 PEPYS' Diary and Correspond- 
 ence. Deciphered by the Rev. 
 J. Smith, M.A., from the original 
 Shorthand MS. in the Pepysian 
 Library. Edited by Lord Bray- 
 brooke. 4 vols. With 31 En- 
 gravings. Si", each. 
 
 PERCY'S Reliques of Ancient 
 English Poetry. With an Essay 
 on Ancient Minstrels and a Glos- 
 sary. Edited by J. V. Pritchard, 
 A.M. 2 vols. 3J. dd. each. 
 
 PERSIXTS.— 6"^^ Juvenal. 
 
 PETRARCH'S Sonnets, Tri- 
 umphs, and other Poems. 
 Translated into English Verse by 
 various Hands. With a Life of 
 the Poet by Thomas Campbell. 
 With Portrait and 15 Steel En- 
 gravings. 5^. 
 
 PHILO - JUD-ffilUS, Works of. 
 Translated by Prof. C. D. Yonge, 
 M.A. 4 vols. ^s. each. 
 
 PICKERING'S History of the 
 Races of Man, and their Geo- 
 graphical Distribution. With An 
 Analytical Synopsis of the 
 Natural History of Man by 
 Dr. Hall. With a Map of the 
 World and 12 coloured Plates, ^s. 
 
 PINDAR. Translated into Prose 
 by Dawson W. Turner. To which 
 is added the Metrical Version by 
 Abraham Moore, ^s. 
 
 PLANCHE. History of British 
 Costimie, from the Earliest Time 
 "to the Close of the Eighteenth 
 Century. By J. R. Planche, 
 'Somerset Herald. With upwards 
 of 400 Illustrations, ^s. 
 PLATO'S Works. Literally trans- 
 lated, with Introduction and 
 Notes. 6 vols. 5^. each. 
 I. — The Apology of Socrates, 
 Crito, Phsedo, Gorgias, Pro- 
 tagoras, Phsedrus, The^tetus, 
 Euthyphron, Lysis. Trans- 
 lated by the Rev. H. Carey. 
 II.— The RepubHc, Timaeus, and 
 Critias. Translated by Henry 
 Davis. 
 III. — Meno, Euthydemus, The 
 Sophist, Statesm.an, Cratyius, 
 Parmenides, and the Banquet. 
 Translated by G. Burges. 
 IV.— Philebus, Charmides, Laches, 
 Menexenus, Hippias, Ion, 
 The Two Alcibiades, The- 
 ages. Rivals, Hipparchus, 
 Minos, Clitopho, Epistles. 
 Translated by G. Burges. 
 v.— The Laws. Translated by 
 
 G. Burges. 
 VI.— The Doubtful Works. Trans- 
 lated by G. Burges. 
 
 Summary and Analysis of 
 
 the Dialogues. With Analytical 
 Index. By A. Day, LL.D. 55. 
 PLATJTUS'S Comedies. Trans- 
 lated by H. T. Riley, M.A. 2 
 vols. ^s. each. 
 PLINY'S Natural History. 
 Translated by the late John 
 Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., and H.T. 
 Riley, M.A. 6 vols. 5^. each. 
 PLINY. The Letters of Pliny 
 the Younger. Melmolh's trans- 
 lation, revised by the Rev. F, C 
 T. Bosanquet, M.A. ^s. 
 PLOTINUS, Select Works of. 
 Translated by Thomas Taylor. 
 With an Introduction containing 
 the substance of Porphyry's Plo- 
 linns. Edited by G. R. S. Mead, 
 B.A., M.R.A.S. 5J. 
 
Contained in Bohn's Libraries. 
 
 19 
 
 -on- 
 
 PLTTTARCH'S Lives. Translated 
 
 by A. Stewart, M.A., and George 
 Long, M.A. 4 vols. 3^-. dd. each. 
 
 Morals. Theosophical Essays. 
 
 Translated by C. W. King, M.A. 
 
 Morals. Ethical Essays. 
 
 Translated by the Rev. A. R. 
 Shilleto, M.A. 5.^. 
 
 POETRY OF AMERICA. Se- 
 lections from One Hundred 
 American Poets, from 1776 to 
 1876. By W. J. Linton. 35. ^d. 
 
 POLITICAL CYCLOPiEDIA. 
 
 A Dictionary of Political, Con- 
 stitutional, Statistical, and Fo 
 rensic Knowledge ; forming a 
 Work of Reference on subjects of 
 Civil Administration, Political 
 Economy, Finance, Commerce, 
 Laws, and Social Relations. 4 
 vols. '^s. 6d. each. 
 
 POPE'S Poetical Works. Edited, 
 with copious Notes, by Robert 
 Carruth-ers. With numerous Illus- 
 trations. 2 vols. 5 J. each. 
 
 Homer's Iliad. Edited by 
 
 the Rev. J. S. Watson, M.A. 
 Illustrated by the entire Series of 
 Plaxman's Designs. 5^. 
 
 Homer's Odyssey, with the 
 
 Battle of Frogs and Mice, Hymns, 
 &c , by other translators. Edited 
 by the Rev. J. S. Watson, M.A. 
 With the entire Series of Flax- 
 man's Designs. 5^. 
 
 Life, iricluding many of his 
 
 Letters. By Robert Carruthers. 
 With numerous Illustrations. 5^. 
 
 POUSHKIN'S Prose Tales: The 
 Captain's Daughter — Doubrovsky 
 — The Queen of Spades — An 
 Amateur Peasant Girl — The Shot 
 —The Snow Storm— The Post- 
 master — The Coffin Maker — 
 Kirdjali— The Egyptian Nights- 
 Peter the Great's Negro. Trans- 
 ited by T. Keane. "is. 6d. 
 
 PRESCOTT'S Conquest of 
 
 Mexico. Copyright edition, with 
 the notes l)y John Foster Kirk, 
 and an introduction by G. P. 
 Winship. 3 vols. 3J. 6d. each. 
 
 Conquest of Peru. Copyright 
 
 edition, with the notes of John 
 Foster Kirk. 2 vols. 3^. 6^/. each. 
 
 Reign of Ferdinand and 
 
 Isabella. Copyright edition, 
 with the notes of John F'oster 
 Kirk. 3 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 PROPERTIUS. Translated by 
 Rev. P. J. F. Gantillon, M.A., 
 and accompanied by Poetical 
 Versions, from various sources. 
 Zs. 6d. 
 
 PROVERBS, Handbook of. Con- 
 taining an entire Republication 
 of Ray's Collection of English 
 Proverbs, with his additions from 
 Foreign Languages and a com- 
 plete iVlphabeticai Index; in which 
 are introduced large additions as 
 well of Proverbs as of Sayings, 
 Sentences, Maxims, and Phrases, 
 collected by H. G. Bohn. 51. 
 
 PROVERBS, A Polyglot of 
 Foreign. Comprising French, 
 Italian, German, Dutch, Spanish, 
 Portuguese, and Danish. With 
 English Translations & a General 
 Index by H. G. Bohn. 5^-. 
 
 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN, 
 and other Objects of Vertu. Com- 
 orising an Illustrated Catalogue of 
 the Bernal Collection of Works 
 of Art, with the prices at which 
 they were sold by auction, and 
 names of the possessors. To which 
 are added, an Introductory Lecture 
 on Pottery and Porcelain, and an 
 Engraved List of all the known 
 Marks and Monograms. By Henry 
 G. Bohn. With numerous Wood 
 Engravings, 5^. ; or with Coloured 
 Illustrations, \os. 6d. 
 
 PROUT'S (Father) Reliques. Col- 
 lected and arranged by Rev. F. 
 Mahony. New issue, with 21 
 Etchings by D. Maclise, R.A. 
 Nearly 600 pages. 5^. 
 
20 
 
 A71 Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 QUINTILIAN'S Institutes of 
 Oratory, or Education of an 
 Orator. Translated by the Rev. 
 J. S. Watson, M.A. 2 vols. 51 
 each. 
 
 RACINE'S (Jean) Dramatic 
 Works. A metrical English ver- 
 sion. ByR. Bruce Boswell, M.A. 
 Oxon. 2 vols. 3^. dd. each. 
 
 RANKE'S History of the Popes, 
 their Church and State, and espe- 
 cially of their Conflicts with Pro- 
 testantism in the i6th and 17th 
 centuries. Translated by E. 
 Foster. 3 vols. 3^. dd. each. 
 
 History of Servia and. the 
 
 Servian Revolution. With an 
 Account of the Insurrection in 
 Bosnia. Translated by Mrs. Kerr. 
 y. 6d. 
 
 RECREATIONS in SHOOTING. 
 
 By ' Craven.' With 62 Engravings 
 on Wood after Harvey, and 9 
 Engravings on Steel, chiefly after 
 A, Cooper, R.A. ^s. 
 
 RENNIE'S Insect Architectiire. 
 Revised and enlarged by Rev. 
 J. G. Wood, M.A. With 186 
 Woodcut Illustrations. 5^-. 
 
 REYNOLD'S (Sir J.) Literary 
 Works. Edited by H.W.Beechy. 
 2 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 RICARDO on the Principles of 
 Political Economy and Taxa- 
 tion. Edited by E. C. K. Conner, 
 
 M.A. 5^. 
 
 RICHTER (Jean Paul Friedrich). 
 Levana, a Treatise on Education: 
 together with the Autobiography 
 (a Fragment), and a short Pre- 
 fatory Memoir. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Flovyer, Fruit, and Thorn 
 
 Pieces, or the Wedded Life, Death, 
 and Marriage of Firmian Stanis- 
 laus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate 
 in the Parish of Kuhschnapptel. 
 Newly translated by Lt. Col. Alex. 
 £wing. 3j. dd. 
 
 ROGER DE HOVEDEN'S An- 
 nals of English History, com- 
 prising the History of England 
 and of other Countries of Europe 
 from A.D. 732 to A. D. 1201. 
 Translated by H. T. Riley, M.A. 
 2 vols. 5^. each 
 
 ROGER OF WENDOVER'S 
 Flowers of History, comprising 
 the History of England from the 
 Descent of the Saxons to a.d. 
 1235, formerly ascribed to Matthew 
 Paris. Translated by J. A. Giles, 
 D.C.L. 2 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 ROME in the NINETEENTH 
 CENTURY. Containing a com- 
 plete Account of the Ruins of the 
 Ancient City, the Remains of the 
 Middle Ages, and the Monuments 
 of Modern Times. By C. A. Eaton. 
 With 34 Steel Engravings 2 vols. 
 5 J. each. 
 
 See Burn and Dyer. 
 
 ROSCOE'S (W.) Life and Ponti- 
 ficate of Leo X. Final edition, 
 revised by Thomas Roscoe. 2 
 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 Life of Lorenzo de' Medici, 
 
 called ' the Magnificent.' With 
 his poems, letters, &c. lolh 
 Edition, revised, with Memoir of 
 Roscoe by his Son. ^s. 6d. 
 
 RUSSIA. History of, from the 
 earliest Period, compiled from 
 the most authentic sources by 
 Walter K. Kelly. With Portraits. 
 2 vols. 3x ()d. each. 
 
 SALLUST, FLORUS, and VEL- 
 LEIUS PATERCULUS. 
 Translated by J. S.Watson, M.A. 
 
 SCHILLER'S Works. Translated 
 by various hands. 7 vols. 3^. 6d, 
 each : — 
 
 I.— History of the Thirty Years' 
 War. 
 
Contained in Bohn^s Libraries. 
 
 21 
 
 Schiller's Works continued. 
 
 II. — History of the Revolt in the 
 Netherlands, the Trials of 
 
 CountsEgmont and Horn, j 
 
 the Siege of Antwerp, and I 
 
 the Disturbances in France j 
 
 preceding the Reign of ! 
 
 Henry IV. ' 
 
 III.— Don Carlos, Mary Stuart, 
 Maid of Orleans, Bride of i 
 Messina, together with the j 
 Use of the Chorus in | 
 Tragedy (a short Essay). 
 
 These Dramas are all | 
 translated in metre. 
 
 IV.— Robbers (with Schiller's | 
 original Preface), Fiesco, 
 
 Love and Intrigue, De- i 
 
 rnetrius, Ghost Seer, Sport : 
 
 of Divinity. ! 
 
 The Dramas in this ' 
 volume are translated into 
 Prose. I 
 
 v.— Poems. ! 
 
 VI. — Essays, ^sthetical and Philo- | 
 sophical I 
 
 VII.— Wallenstein's Camp, Pic- i 
 colomini and Death of 
 Wallenstein, William Tell. 
 
 SCHILLER and GOETHE, j 
 Correspondence between, from \ 
 A.D. 1794- 1805. Translated by 
 L. Dora Schmitz. 2 vols. 35-. dd. 
 each. 
 
 SOHLEGEL'S (F.) Lectures on 
 
 the Philosophy of Life and tlie \ 
 
 Philosophy of Language. Trans- ' 
 
 lated by the Rev. A. J. W. Mor- i 
 
 rison, M.A. 3^. dd. j 
 
 Lectures on the History of 
 
 Literature, Ancient and Modern, t 
 Translatedfrom the German. 3^.6fl. \ 
 
 Lectures on the Philosophy 
 
 of History. Translated by J. B. j 
 Hobertson. 3*. 6^. 
 
 SCHLE GEL'S Lectures on 
 
 Modern History, together with 
 the Lectures entitled Caesar and 
 Alexander, and The Beginning of 
 our History. Translated by L. 
 Purcell and R. H. Whitetock. 
 
 .ajsthetic and Miscellaneous 
 
 Works. Translated by E. J. 
 Millington. 3^-. (id. 
 
 SCHLEGEL (A. W.) Lectures 
 on Dramatic Art and Literature. 
 Translated by J. Black. Revised 
 Edition, by the Rev. A. J. W. 
 Morrison, M.A. 3J. dd. 
 
 SCHOPENHAUER on the Four- 
 fold Root of the Principle of 
 Sufficient Reason, and On the 
 Will in Nattire. Translated by 
 Madame Hillebrand. 5^. 
 
 Essays. Selected and Trans- 
 lated. With a Biographical Intro- 
 duction and Sketch of his Philo- 
 sophy, by E. Belfort Bax. 5^. 
 
 SCHOUW'S Earth, Plants, and 
 Man. Translated by A. Henfrey. 
 With coloured Map of the Geo- 
 graphy of Plants. 5j. 
 
 SCHUMANN (Robert). His Life 
 and Works, by August Reissmann. 
 Translated by A. L. Alger, y. 6d. 
 
 Early Letters. Originally pub- 
 
 blished by his Wife. Translated 
 by May Herbert. With a Preface 
 by Sir George Grove, D.C.L. 
 3J. 6d. 
 
 SENECA on Benefits. Newly 
 translated by A. Stewart, M.A. 
 y. 6d. 
 
 Minor Essays and On Clem- 
 ency. Translated by A. Stewart, 
 M.A. Ss. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S Dramatic 
 Art. The History and Character 
 of Shakespeare's Plays. By Dr. 
 Hermann Ulrici. Translated by 
 L. Dora Schmitz. 2 vols. 3i'. ^d. 
 each. 
 
22 
 
 An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 SHAKESPEARE (WilUam). A 
 Literary Biography by Karl Elze, 
 Ph.D., LL.D. Translated by 
 L. Dora Schmitz. 55. 
 
 SHARPE (S.) The History of 
 Egypt, from the Earliest Times 
 till the Conquest by the Arabs, 
 A.D. 640. By Samuel Sharpe, 
 2 Maps and upwards of 400 Illus- 
 trative Woodcuts. 2 vols. ^s. each. 
 
 SHERIDAN'S Dramatic Works, 
 Complete. With Life by G. G. S. 
 
 SISMONDI'S History of the 
 Literatiire of the South ol 
 Europe. Translated by Thomas 
 Roscoe. 2 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 SYNONYMS and ANTONYMS, 
 or Kindred Words and their 
 Opposites, Collected and Con- 
 trasted by Ven. C.J.Smith, M.A. 
 Revised Edition. $s. 
 
 SYNONYMS DISCRIMI- 
 NATED. A Dictionary of 
 Synonymous Words in the Eng- 
 lish Language, showing the 
 Accurate signification of words 
 of similar meaning. Illustrated 
 with Quotations from Standard 
 Writers. With the Author's 
 latest Corrections and Additions. 
 Edited by the Rev. H. Percy 
 Smith, M.A., of Balliol College, 
 Oxford . 6s. 
 
 SMITH'S (Adam) The Wealth of 
 Nations. Edited by E. Belfort 
 Bax. 2 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 Theory of Moral Sentiments ; 
 
 with his Essay on the P'irst For- 
 mation of Languages ; to which is 
 added a Memoir of the Author by 
 Dugald Stewart. 3^. 6d. 
 
 SMYTH'S (Professor) Lectures 
 on Modern History; from the 
 Irruption of the Northern Nations 
 to the close of the American Re- 
 volution. 2 vols. 4i 35. 6d. each. 
 
 SMYTH'S (Professor) Lectures 
 on the French Revolution. 
 2 vols. 3J. 6d. each. 
 
 SMITH'S ( Pye ) Geology and 
 Scripture. 2nd Edition. <,s. 
 
 SMOLLETT'S Adventures 01 
 Roderick Random. With short 
 Memoir and Bibliography, and 
 Cruikshank's Illustrations. 3^. 6</. 
 
 Adventures of Peregrine 
 
 Pickle, in which are included the 
 Memoirs of a Lady of Quality. 
 With Bibliography and Cruik- 
 shank's Illustrations, 2vols. ■x^.6d. 
 each. 
 
 The Expedition of Hum- 
 phry Clinker. With Bibliography 
 and Cruikshank's Illustrations. 
 3^. (>d. 
 
 SOCRATES (surnamed 'Scholas- 
 ticus '). The Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory of (a. d. 305-445). Translated 
 from the Greek. 5^. 
 
 SOPHOCLES, The Tragedies of. 
 A New Prose Translation, with 
 Memoir, Notes, &c., by E. P. 
 Coleridge. 51. 
 
 SOUTH EY'S Life of Nelson. 
 With Facsimiles of Nelson's writ- 
 ing. Portraits, Plans, and upwards 
 of 50 Engravings on Steel and 
 Wood. 5^. 
 
 Life of Wesley, and the Rise 
 
 and Progress of Methodism. 5^. 
 
 Robert Southey. The Story 
 
 of his Life written in his Letters. 
 With an Introduction. Edited by 
 John Dennis. 3J. 6d. 
 
 SOZOMEN S Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory. Comprising a History of 
 the Church from A.D. 324-440. 
 Translated from the Greek. To- 
 gether with the Ecclesiastical 
 History of Piiilostokgius, as 
 epitomised by Photius. Trans- 
 lated from the Greek by Rev. E. 
 Walford, M.A. «;j. 
 
Contained in Bohn's Libraries. 
 
 23 
 
 SPINOZA S Chief Works. Trans- 
 lated, with Introduction,byR.H.M. 
 Elwes. 2 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 STANLEY'S Classified Synopsis 
 of the Principal Painters of the 
 Dutch and Flemish Schools. 
 By George Stanley. 5^^. 
 
 STARLING'S (Miss) Noble Deeds 
 of Women; or, Examples of 
 Female Courage, Fortitude, and 
 Virtue. With 14 Steel Engrav- 
 ings. 5J. 
 
 STAUNTON'S Chess - Player's 
 Handbook. A Popular and Scien- 
 tific Introduction to the Game. 
 With numerous Diagrams. 55. 
 
 Chess Praxis. A Supplement 
 
 to the Chess-player's Handbook. 
 Containing the most important 
 modern improvements in the Open- 
 ings ; Code of Chess Laws ; and 
 a Selection of Morphy's Games. 
 Annotated, ^s. 
 
 Chess-player's Companion. 
 
 Comprising a Treatise on Odds, 
 Collection of Match Games, and a 
 Selection of Original Problems. 55. 
 
 Chess Tournament of 1851. 
 
 A Collection of Gam.es played at 
 this celebrated assemblage. With 
 Introduction and Notes, ^s. 
 
 STOCKHARDT'S Experimental 
 Chemistry. A Handbook for the 
 Study of the Science by simple 
 experiments. Edited by C. W. 
 Heaton, F.C.S. With numerous 
 Woodcuts. New Edition, revised 
 throughout. 51. 
 
 STRABO'S G-eograpby. Trans- 
 lated by W. Falconer, M.A., 
 and H. C. Hamilton, 3 vols. 
 5i-. each. 
 
 STRICKLAND'S (Agnes) Lives 
 of the Queens of England, from 
 the Norman Conquest. Revised 
 Edition. With 6 Portraits. 6 vols. 
 5i. each. 
 
 STRICKLAND'S Life of Mary 
 Queen of Scots. 2 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 Lives of the Tudor and Stuart 
 
 Princesses. With Portraits. 51. 
 
 STUART and REVETTS Anti- 
 quities of Athens, and other 
 Monuments of Greece ; to which 
 is added, a Glossary of Terms used 
 in Grecian Architecture. With 7 1 
 Plates engraved on Steel, and 
 numerous Woodcut Capitals, 5j. 
 
 SUETONIUS' Lives of the Twelve 
 Csssars and Lives of the Gram- 
 marians. The translation of 
 Thomson, revised by T. Forester. 
 
 SWIFT'S Prose Works. Edited 
 by Temple Scott. With a Bio- 
 graphical Introduction by the Right 
 Hon. W. E. H. Lecky, M.P. 
 With Portraits and Facsimiles. 
 II vols. 3j. 6d. each. 
 
 iVols. I.-V.or VIII. ready. 
 
 I.— A Tale of a Tub, The Battle 
 of the Books, and other 
 early works. Edited by 
 Temple Scott. With a 
 Biographical Introduction 
 by the Right Hon. 
 W. E. H. Lecky, M.P. 
 
 IL— The Journal to Stella. Edited 
 by Frederick Ryland, M. A. 
 With 2 Portraits of Stella, 
 and a Facsimile of one of 
 the Letters. 
 
 III. & IV.— Writings on Religion and 
 the Church. Edited by 
 Temple Scott. 
 
 V. — Historical and Political 
 Tracts (English). Edited 
 by Temple Scott. 
 
 VIII.— Gulliver's Travels. Edited 
 by G. R. Dennis. With 
 Portrait and Maps. 
 
24 
 
 An Alphabetical List of Books 
 
 Swift's Prose Work^ continued. 
 IX.— Contributions to the 'Ex- 
 aminer,' 'Tatler,' 'Spec- 
 tator,' &c. Edited by 
 Temple Scott. 
 The order and contents of 
 the remaining volumes will 
 probably be as follows : — 
 VI. &VII.— Historical and Political 
 Tracts (Irish). 
 
 {In the press. 
 
 X.— Historical Writings. 
 
 [In the press. 
 
 XL— Literary Essays and Biblio- 
 graphy. 
 STOWE (Mrs.H.B.) Uncle Tom's 
 Cabin, or Life among the Lowly. 
 With Introductory Remarks by 
 Rev. J. Sherman. With 8 full- 
 page Illustrations. 3^. ()d. 
 TACITUS. The Works of. Liter- 
 ally translated. 2 vols. 5^. each. 
 TALES OF THE GENII; or, the 
 Delightful Lessons of Horam, the 
 Son of Asmar. Translated from 
 the Persian by Sir Charles Morell. 
 Numerous Woodcuts and I2 Steel 
 Engravings. S^' 
 
 TASSO'S Jerusalem Delivered. 
 Translated into English Spenserian 
 Verse by J. H. Wififen. With 8 
 Engravings on Steel and 24 W^ood- 
 cuts by Thurston. 5^. 
 
 TAYLOR'S (Bishop Jeremy) 
 Holy Living and Dying, with 
 Prayers containing the Whole Duty 
 of a Christian and the parts of De- 
 votion fitted to all Occasions and 
 furnished for all Necessities. 35. 6d. 
 
 TEN BRINK.— 5^^ Brink. 
 
 TERENCE and PHiEDRUS. 
 Literally translated byll.T. Riley, 
 M. A. To which is added, Smart'.s 
 
 MeTRICALVeRSION of PHyt;DRUS. 
 
 THEOCRITUS, BION, MOS- 
 CHUS, and TYRT^US. Liter- 
 ally translated by the Rev. J. 
 
 Banks, M.A. To which are ap- 
 pended the Metrical Versions of 
 Chapman. 5^. 
 
 THEODORET and EVAGRIUS. 
 Histories of the Church from a.d. 
 332 to A.D. 427 ; and from A.D. 
 431 to A.D. 544. Translated from 
 the Greek. 5^. 
 
 THIERRY'S History of the 
 Conquest of England by the 
 Normans; its Causes, and its 
 Consequences in England, Scot- 
 land, Ireland, and the Continent. 
 Translated by William Hazlitt. 
 2 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 THUCYDIDES. The Pelopon- 
 nesian War. Literally translated 
 by the Rev. H. Dale. 2 vols. 
 3J-. 6d. each. 
 
 An Analysis and Summary 
 
 of. With Chronological Table of 
 Events, &c. By J. T. Wheeler. $$. 
 
 THUDICHUM (J. L. W.) A Trea- 
 tise on Wines : their Origin, 
 Nature, and Varieties. With Prac- 
 tical Directions for Viticulture and 
 Vinification. By J. L. W. Thudi- 
 chum, M.D., F.R.C.P. (Lond.). 
 Illustrated. 55. 
 
 URE'S (Dr. A.) Cotton Manufac- 
 ture of Great Britain, systemati- 
 cally investigated. Revised Edit, 
 by P. L. Simmonds. With 150 
 original Illustrations. 2 vols. 5^. 
 each. 
 
 Philosophy of Manufactures. 
 
 Revised Edition, by P. L. Sim- 
 monds. With numerous Figures. 
 Double volume. Ts, 6d. 
 
 VASARI'S Lives of the most 
 Eminent Painters, Sculptors, 
 and Architects. Translated by 
 Mrs. J. Foster, with a Commen- 
 tary by J. P. Richter, Ph.D. 6 
 vols. 3 J. 6d. each. 
 
 VIRGIL. A Literal Prose Trans- 
 lation by A. Hamilton Bryce, 
 LL.D., P\R.S.E. With Portrait. 
 3^. 6i. 
 
Contained in Bohn*s Libraries. 
 
 25 
 
 VOLTAIRE'S Tales. Translated 
 by R. B. Boswell. Vol. I., con- 
 taining Bebouc, Memnon, Can- 
 dida, L'Ingenu, and other Tales. 
 
 WALTON'S Complete Angler, 
 or the Contemplative Man's Re- 
 creation, by Izaak Walton and 
 Charles Cotton. Edited by Ed- 
 ward Jesse. To which is added 
 an account of Fishing Stations. 
 Tackle, &c., by Henry G. Bohn. 
 With Portrait and 203 Engravings 
 on Wood and 26 Engravings on 
 Steel. 5-f. 
 
 Lives of Donne, Hooker, &c. 
 
 IS^ew Edition revised by A. H. 
 BuUen, with a Memoir of Izaak 
 Walton by Wm. Bowling. With 
 numerous Illustrations. 5^. 
 
 WELLINGTON, Life of. By ' An 
 Old Soldier.' From the materials 
 of Maxwell. With Index and 18 
 Steel Engravings. 5^. 
 
 Victories of. See Maxwell. 
 
 WERNER'S Templars in 
 Cyprus. Translated by E. A. M. 
 Lewis. 3^. 6d. 
 
 WESTROPP (H. M.) A Hand- 
 book of Archaeology, Egyptian, 
 Greek, Etruscan, Roman. By 
 H. M. Westropp. 2nd Edition, 
 revised. With very numerous 
 Illustrations. 5^. 
 
 WHITE'S Natural History of 
 Selbome, with Observations on 
 various Parts of Nature, and the 
 Naturalists' Calendar. With Notes 
 by Sir William Jardine. Edited 
 by Edward Jesse. With 40 Por- 
 traits and coloured Plates. 5^. 
 
 WHEATLEY'S A Rational IUub- 
 tratlon of the Book of Common 
 Prayer, p. 6J. 
 
 WHEELER'S Noted Names of 
 Fiction, Dictionary of. Includ- 
 ing also Familiar Pseudonyms, 
 Surnames bestowed on Eminent 
 Men, and Analogous Popular Ap- 
 pellations often referred to in 
 Literature and Conversation. By 
 W. A. Wheeler, M.A. 5^. 
 
 WIESELER'S Chronological 
 Synopsis of the Foiir Gospels. 
 Translated by the Rev. Canon 
 Venables. 35-. 6d. 
 
 i WILLIAM of MALMESBURY'S 
 I Chronicle of the Kings of Eng- 
 land, from the Earliest Period 
 i to the Reign of King Stephen. 
 I Translated by the Rev. J. Sharpe. 
 ' Edited by J. A. Giles, D.C.L. 51. 
 
 ; XENOPHON'S Works. Trans- 
 lated by the Rev. J. S. Watson, 
 M.A. , and the Rev. H. Dale. In 
 3 vols. 5^-. each. 
 
 YOUNG (Arthur). Travels in 
 I France during the years 1787, 
 I 1788. and 1789. Edited by 
 M. Betham Edwards. 3.^. 6d. 
 
 j Tour in Ireland, with 
 
 i General Observations on the state 
 
 ! of the country during the years 
 
 I 1776 - 79. Edited by A. W. 
 
 ; Hutton. With Complete Biblio- 
 
 1 graphy by J. P. Anderson, and 
 
 I Map. 2 vols. 3^. 6d. each. 
 
 I YULE-TIDE STORIES. A Col- 
 lection of Scandinavian and North- 
 German Popular Tales and Tra- 
 ditions, from the Swedish, Danish, 
 and German. Edited by B.Thorpe. 
 5^- 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 NEW AND FORTHCOMING VOLUMES OF 
 
 BOHIYS LIBRARIES. 
 
 I 
 
 THE PROSE WORKS OF JONATHAN SWIFT. Edited by 
 Temple Scott. With an Introduction by the Right lion. W. E. H. 
 Lecky, M.P. In ii volumes, t,s. 6d. each. 
 
 Vol. I.—* A Tale of a Tub,' * The Battle of the Books,' and other 
 early works. Edited by Temple Scolt. With Introduction by the 
 Right Hon. W. E. H. Lecky, M.P. Portrait and Facsimiles. 
 
 Vol. II.— 'The Journal to Stella.' Edited by F. Rylaud, M.A. 
 With a Facsimile Letter and two Portraits of Stella. 
 
 Vols. III. and IV. — Writings on Religion and ^he Church. 
 Edited by Temple Scott. With portraits and facsimiles of title pages. 
 
 Vol. V. —Historical and PoUtical Tracts (English). Edited by 
 Temple Scott. With Portrait and Facsimiles. 
 
 Vol. VIII.— Gulliver's Travels. Edited by G. R. Dennis. With 
 the original Maps and Illustrations. 
 
 Vol. IX.— Contributions to * The Tatler,' ' The Examiner,' ' The 
 Spectator,' and 'The Intelligencer.' Edited by Temple Scott. 
 
 PRESCOTT'S CONQUEST OF MEXICO. Copyright edition, 
 with the author's latest corrections and additions, and the notes of 
 John Foster Kirk. With an introduction by George Parker Winship. 
 
 PRESCOTT'S CONQUEST OF PERU. Copyright editi.Mi. 
 Edited by John Foster Kirk. 2 vols. 3^. 6<i. each. 
 
 PRESCOTT'S FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. Copyright 
 edition. Edited by John Foster Kirk. 3 vols. ],s. 6</. er.ch. 
 
 GRAY'S LETTERS. Edited by Duncan C. Tovey, M.A., Editor ol 
 'Gray and his Friends,' &c., late Clark Lecturer at Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. Vol. I. 3J. 6d. [ Vol. II. in the Press. 
 
 CICERO'S LETTERS. The whole extant Correspondence. Trans- 
 lated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, M.A. In 4 vols. 5^. each. 
 
 GASPARY'S HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE 
 TO THE DEATH OF DANTE. Translated, with supple- 
 mentary bibliographical notes, by Herman Oelsner, M.A., Ph.D. 
 Vol. L 3^. (>d. 
 
BELL'S HANDBOOKS 
 
 of; 
 
 THE GREAT MASTERS 
 
 IN PAINTING AND SCULPTURE. 
 
 Edited by G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D. 
 Post 8vo. With 40 Illustrations and Photogravure Frontispiece. 5^. net each 
 
 The follcnving Volumes have been issued : 
 
 BERNADINO LUINI. By George C. Williamson, Litt.D. 2nd Editi 
 
 VELASQUEZ, By R. A. M. Stevenson. 3rd Edition. 
 
 ANDREA DEL SARTO. By PI. Guinness. 2nd Edition. 
 
 LUCA SIGNORELLL By Maud Cruttwell. 2nd Edition. 
 
 RAPHAEL. By PI. Strachey. 2nd Edition. 
 
 CARLO CRIVELLI. By G. McNeil Rushforth, M.A. 
 
 CORREGGIO. By Selwyn Brinton, M.A. 
 
 DONATELLO. By Hope Rea. 
 
 PERUGINO. By G. C. Williamson, Litt.D. 
 
 SODOMA. By the Contessa Lorenzo Priuli-Box. 
 
 LUCA DELLA ROEBIA. By the Marchesa Burlamacchi. 
 
 GIORGIONE. By Herbebt Cook, M.A. 
 
 MEMLINC. By W. H. James Weale. 
 
 PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA. By W. G. Waters, M.A. 
 
 PINTORICCHIO. By Evelyn March Phillipps. 
 
 FRANCIA. By George C. Williamson, Litt.D. 
 
 BRUNELLESCHI. By Leader Scott. 
 
 MAXTEGNA. By Maud Cruttwell. 
 
 REMBRANDT. By Malcolm Bell. 
 
 GIOTTO. By F. Mason Perkins. 
 
 WILKIE. By Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, M.A., F.S.A. 
 
 GERARD DOU. By Dr. W. Martin. Translated by Clara Bell. 
 
 In preparation, 
 
 EL GRECO. By Manuel B. Cossio, Litt.D., Ph.D. 
 TINTORETTO. By J. B. Stoughton Holborn, M.A. 
 WATTE AU. By Edgcumbe Staley, B.A. 
 LEONARDO DA VINCI. By Edward McCurdy, M.A. 
 BOTTICELLI. By A. Streeter. 
 PAOLO VERONESE. By Roger E. Fry. 
 GAUDENZIO FERRARI. By Ethel Halsey. 
 
 Others to follow. 
 
THE 
 
 CHISWICK SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Illustrated by BYAM SHAW. 
 With Introductions and Glossaries by JOHN DENNIS. 
 
 This Edition of the Works of Shakespeare is being issued in single 
 plays, each containing six full-page Illustrations by Mr. Byam Shaw, 
 as well as head and tailpieces, The volumes are printed at the Chiswick 
 Press, price \s. 6d. net per volume, handsomely bound in linen, with gilt 
 decoration ; or in limp leather, 2s. net. A few copies, to be sold only in 
 sets, printed on Japanese vellum, price 5^. net. 
 
 Now ready. 
 
 HAMLET. OTHELLO, 
 
 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. MACBETH. 
 
 ROMEO AND JULIET. AS YOU LIKE IT. 
 
 THE WINTER'S TALE. THE TEMPEST. 
 
 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. KING LEAR. 
 
 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. TWELFTPI NIGHT. 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. JULIUS C^SAR. 
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. CORIOLANUS. 
 
 KING HENRY IV. Part I. KING JOHN. 
 
 KING HENRY IV. Part II. KING RICHARD II. 
 
 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. KING HENRY V. 
 
 MEASURE FOR MEASURE. CYMBELINE. 
 
 KING HENRY VI. Part I. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. 
 
 KING HENRY VI. Part II. KING RICHARD III. 
 
 KING HENRY VI. Part III. COMEDY OF ERRORS. 
 ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 
 
 Further Volumes at Alojithly Intei-vals. 
 
 * A fascinating little edition.' — Notes and Queries. 
 
 'A cheap, very comely, and altogether desirable edition.' — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 'But a few years ago such volumes, would have been deemed worthy to be considered 
 Editions de luxe. To-day, the low price at which they are offered to the public alone 
 prevents them being so regarded.' — Studio. 
 
 ' Handy in shape and size, wonderfully cheap, beautifully printed from the C;un- 
 Inidge text, and illustrated quaintly yet admirably by Mr. Byam Shaw, we have nothing 
 but praise for it. No one who wants a good and convenient Shakeipeare — without 
 excursuses, discursuses, or even too many notes— can do better, in our opinicn, than 
 subscribe to this issue : which is saying a good deal in these days of cheap reprints.' — 
 Vanity Fair. 
 
 'What we like about these elegant booklets is the attention that has been paid to the 
 pajier, as well asto the jirint anil decoration ; such stout laid paper will last for .ages. 
 On this account alone, the 'Chiswick' should easily be first among pocket Shake- 
 speares.' — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
( 29 ) 
 New Editions, fcap. 8yo. 2«. 6d. eaoh net. 
 
 THE ALDINE EDITION 
 
 BRITISH POETS. 
 
 •This exceUent edition of the English classics, with their complete texts and 
 Bcholarly introductions, are something very different from the cheap volumes of 
 extracts which are just now so much too common.'—St. James's Gazette. 
 
 ' An excellent series. Small, handy, and complete.'— Saturday Bevieu:. 
 
 Akenside. Edited by Rev. A. Dyce. 
 Beattle. Edited by Eev. A. Dyce. 
 
 Edited by W. M. Kosgetti. 
 
 Edited by G. A. Aitken. 
 
 Edited by R, B. Johnson. 
 
 *Blake. 
 •Bums. 
 
 3 vols. 
 Butler. 
 
 2 vols. 
 
 Campbell. Edited by His Son- 
 in-law, the Rev. A. W. HiU. With 
 Memoir by W. Allingham. 
 
 Chatterton. Edited by the Rev. 
 
 W. W. Skeat, M.A. 2 \oU. 
 Chaucer. Edited by Dr. R, Morris, 
 
 with Memoir by Sir H. Nicolas. 6 vols. 
 
 Churchill. Edited by Jas. Hannay. 
 
 2 vols. 
 *Coleridge. Edited by T. Ashe, 
 
 B.A. 2 vols. 
 Colli as. Edited by W. Moy 
 
 Thomas. 
 Cowper. Edited by John Bruce, 
 
 F.S.A 3 vols. 
 Dryden. Edited by the Rev. R. 
 
 Hooper, M.A. 5 vols. 
 Falconer. Edited by the Rev. J. 
 
 Mitford. 
 Goldsmith. Revised Edition by 
 
 Austin Dobson. With Portrait. 
 
 *Gray. Edited by J. Bradshaw, 
 
 LL.D. 
 
 Herbert. Edited by the Rev. A. B. 
 
 Q-rosart. 
 *Herrick. Edited by George 
 
 Saintsbury. 2 vols. 
 
 *E:eats. Edited by the late Lord 
 Houghton. 
 
 Khfke White. Edited, with a 
 Memoir, by Sir H. Nicolas. 
 
 Milton. Edited by Dr. Bradshaw. 
 
 2 vols. 
 PameU. Edited by G. A. Aitken. 
 Pope. Edited by G. R. Dennis, 
 
 With Memoir by John Dennis. 3 vols. 
 Prior. Edited by R. B. Johnson 
 
 2 vols. 
 
 Raleigh and Wotton. With Se- 
 lections from the Writings of other 
 COURTLY POETS from 1540 to 1650. 
 Edited by Ven. Archdeacon Hannah, 
 D.C.L. 
 
 Rogers. Edited by Edward Bell, 
 
 M.A. 
 Scott. Edited by John Dennis. 
 5 vols. 
 
 Shakespeare's Poems. Edited by 
 
 Rev. A. Dyce. 
 
 Shelley. Edited by H. Buxton 
 Forman. 5 vols. 
 
 Spenser. Edited by J. Payne Col- 
 lier. 5 vols. 
 
 Surrey. Edited by J. Yeowell. 
 
 Swift. Edited by the Rev. J. 
 
 Mitford. 3 vols. 
 
 Thomson. Edited by the Rev. D. 
 
 C. Tovey. 2 vols. 
 V a u g h a n. Sacred Poems and 
 
 Pious Ejaculations. Edited by the 
 
 Rev. H. Lyte. 
 Wordsworth. Edited by Prof. 
 
 Dowden. 7 vols. 
 
 Wyatt. Edited by J. Yeowell. 
 
 Young 2 vols. Edited by the 
 Rev. J. Mitford. 
 
 * These volumes may also be had bound in Irish linen, ^ith design in gold on side 
 »tid back by Gleeson White, and gilt top, 33. 6d. each net. 
 
THE ALL ENGLAND SERIES. 
 
 HANDBOOKS OF ATHLETIC GAMES. 
 
 The only Series issued at a moderate price, by Writers who are in 
 the first rank in their respective departments. 
 
 ' The best instruction on games and sports by the best authorities, at the lowest 
 prices.' — Oxford Magazine. 
 
 Small 8vo. cloth. Illustrated. Price Is, each. 
 
 Cricket, By the Hon. and Rev. 
 
 E. Ltttelton. 
 Croquet. By Lieut. -Col. the Hon. 
 
 H. C. Needham. 
 Lawn Tennis. By H. W. W. 
 
 WiLBERFORCE. With a Chapter for 
 Ladies, by Mrs. Hilltard. 
 
 Tennis and Rackets and Fives, 
 By Julian Marshall, Major J, Spens, 
 and Eev. J. A. Arnan Tait. 
 
 Golf. By H. S. C. Everard. 
 
 Double vol, 2s. 
 Rowing and Sculling. By W. B. 
 
 WOODGATE. 
 
 Sailing, By E.F. Knight, dbl.vol. 2s, 
 Swimming, By Martin and J. 
 
 Racster Cobbett. 
 Camping out. By A. A. Macdon- 
 
 ell. Double vol. 2s. 
 Canoeing. By Dr. J. D. Hayward. 
 
 Double vol. 23. 
 
 Mountaineering. By Dr. Claude 
 
 Wilson. Double vol. 2s. 
 Athletics, By H. H. Griffin. 
 Riding. By W. A. Kerr, V.C. 
 
 Double vol, 28. 
 
 Ladies' Riding, ByW.A.KERR,V,C, 
 Boxing, By E, G. Allanson-Winn. 
 
 With Prefatory Note by Bat Mullins. 
 Fencing. By H. A. Colmore Dunn. 
 
 THE CLUB SERIES OF CARD AND TABLE GAMES. 
 
 ' No well-regulated club or country house should be without this useful series of books. 
 Small 8vo. cloth, Illustrated. Price Is. each. Globe. 
 
 Cycling, By H. H. Griffin, L.A.C., 
 N.C.U., O.T.C. With a Chapter for 
 Ladies, by Miss Agnes Wood. 
 
 Wrestling. By Walter Arm- 
 STRONG (•Cross-buttocker'). 
 
 Broadsword and Singlestick. 
 By R. G. Allansoij-Wikn and C, Phil- 
 
 LIPPS-WOLLET. 
 
 Gymnastics. By A. F. Jenkin, 
 
 Double vol. 2s. 
 
 Gymnastic Competition and Dis- 
 play Exercises. Corupiled by 
 F, Graf. 
 
 Indian Clubs, By G. T. B. Cob- 
 bett and A. F. Jenkin, 
 
 Dumb-bells. By F. Graf, 
 
 Football — Rugby Game. By 
 Harkt Vassall. 
 
 Football — Association Game, By 
 
 0. W. Alcock. Revised Edition. 
 Hockey. By F. S. Creswbll. 
 
 New Edition. 
 Skating. By Douglas Adams. 
 
 With a Chapter for Ladies, by Miss L. 
 
 Cheetham, and a Chapter on Speed 
 
 Skating, by a Fen Skater. Dbl, vol, 2s. 
 Baseball. By Newton Crane. 
 Rounders, Fieldball, Bowls, 
 Quoits, Curling, Skittles, &c. 
 
 By J. M. Walker and C. C. Mott. 
 
 Dancing. By Edward Scott. 
 
 Double vol. 2s. 
 
 Whist. By Dr. Wm. Pole, F.K, S. 
 Solo Whist, By Robert F. Green. 
 
 Billiards. By Major-Gen. A. W. 
 
 Drayson, F.R.A.S. With a Preface 
 
 by W. J. Peall. 
 Chess. By Egbert F, Green. 
 
 The Two -Move Chess Problem, 
 
 By B. G. Laws. 
 Chess Openings. By L Gunsbbrg. 
 
 Draughts and Backgammon. 
 By ' Berkeley.' 
 
 Reversl and Go Bang, 
 By ' Bkrkelbt.' 
 
 Dominoes and Solitaire. 
 
 By * Berkeley.' 
 Bezique and Cribbage. 
 
 By ' Berkeley.' 
 ]i;cart6 and Euchre. 
 
 By ' Berkeley.' 
 Piquet and Rubicon Piquet. 
 
 By ' Berkeley.' 
 Skat. By Louis Dibhl. 
 
 *»* A Skat Scoring-book. Is, 
 Round Games, including Poker, 
 
 Napoleor, Loo, Vingt-et-un, &c. By 
 
 Baxter- Wrav. 
 Parlour and Playground Games, 
 
 By Mrs. Laurbnoe Gomub. 
 
BELL'S CATHEDRAL SERIES. 
 
 Profusely Illustrated^ cloth, crown Svo. is. 6d. ?ie/ each. 
 
 ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. An Itinerary and Description. Compiled 
 by James G. Gilchrist, A.M., M.D. Revised and edited with an 
 Introduction on Cathedral Architecture by the Rev. T. Perkins. 
 M.A., F.R.A.S. 
 
 BRISTOL. By H. J. L. J. Mass6, M.A. 
 
 CANTERBURY. By Hartley Withers. 3rd Edition, revised. 
 
 CARLISLE. By C. King Eley. 
 
 CHESTER. By CHARLES HiATT. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 CHICHESTER. By H. C. Corlette, A.R.LB.A. 
 
 DURHAM. By J. E. Bygate, A.R.C.A. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 ELY. By Rev. W. D. Sweeting, M.A. 
 
 EXETER. By PERCY Addleshaw^, B.A. and Edition, revised. 
 
 GLOUCESTER. By H. J. L. J. Mass6, M.A. 2nd Edition. 
 
 HEREFORD. By A. HuGK FiSHER, A.R.E. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 LICHFIELD. By A. B. Clifton. 2nd Edition. 
 
 LINCOLN.- By A. F. Kendrick, BA. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 MANCHESTER. Bv Rev. T. Perkins, M.A, 
 
 NORWICH. By C. H, B, Quennell. 2nd Edition, 
 
 OXFORD. By Rev. Percy Dearmer, M.A. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 PETERBOROUGH. By Rev. W. D. Sweeting. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 RIPON. By Cecil Hallett. B.A. 
 
 ROCHESTER. By G. H. Palmer, B.A. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 ST. DAVID'S. By Philip Robson, A.R.LB.A. 
 
 ST. PAUL'S. By Rev. Arthur Dimock, M.A, 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 SALISBURY. By Gleeson White. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 SOUTHWELL. By Rev. Arthur Dimock, M.A. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 WELLS. By Rev. Percy Dearmer, M.A. 2nd Edition, 
 
 WINCHESTER. By P. W. Sergeant. 2nd Edition, revised. 
 
 WORCESTER. By E. F. Strange. 
 
 YORK. By A. Clutton-Brock, M.A. 2nd Edition. 
 
 Preparing. 
 ST. ALBANS. By Rev. W. D. Sweeting. GLASGOW. By P. Macgregor Chal- 
 ST. ASAPH and BANGOR. By P. B. ^'ers, LA., F.S.A.(Scot.). 
 
 Ironside Bax. LLANDAFF. By Herbert Prior. 
 
 Uniform with above Series. Now ready. \s. 6d. net each. 
 
 ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CANTERBURY. By the Rev. Canon Routi.edge, 
 
 M.A,, F.S.A. 
 BEVERLEY MINSTER. By Charles Hiatt. 
 WIMBORNE MINSTER and CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY. By the Rev. T. 
 
 Perkins, M.A. 
 TEWKESBURY ABBEY AND DEERHURST PRIORY. ByH. J. L. J. Mass6, M.A 
 BATH ABBEY, MALMESBURY ABBEY, and BRADFORD-ON-AVON CHURCH. 
 
 By Rev. T. Perkins, M.A. 
 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. By Charles Hiatt. 
 
 BELL'5 HANDBOOKS TO CONTINENTAL CHURCHES. 
 
 Profusely Illustrated. Crown Svo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net each. 
 CHARTRES : The Cathedral and Other Churches. By H. J. L. J. Mass6, M.A. {Ready. 
 ROUEN : The Cathedral and Other Churches. By the Rev. T. Perkins, M.A. {Ready. 
 AMIENS. By the Rev. T. Perkins, M.A. {Ready. 
 
 PARIS (NOTRE-DAME). By Charles Hiatt, {P-repaying. 
 
The Best Practical Working Dictionary of the 
 English Lang-uag-e, 
 
 WEBSTER'S 
 
 INTERNATIONAL 
 
 DICTIONARY. 
 
 2348 PAGES. 5000 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT WITH A 
 
 NEW SUPPLEMENT OF 25,000 ADDITIONAL 
 
 WORDS AND PHRASES. 
 
 The Appendices comprise a Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World, 
 Vocabularies of Scripture, Greek, Latin, and English Proper Names, 
 a Dictionary of the Noted Names of Fiction, a Brief History of the 
 English Language, a Dictionary of Foreign Quotations, Words, I'hrasfs, 
 Proverbs, &c., a Biographical Dictionary with io,0(X) names, Sec, Sec. 
 
 ' We believe that, all things considered, this will be found to be the best 
 existing English dictionary in one volume. We do not know of any work 
 similar in size and price which can approach it in completeness of a vocabu- 
 lary, variety of information, and general usefulness.'— Guardian. 
 
 ' For the teacher, the pupil, the student, and the litterateur, there is noticing 
 better. It covers everything.' — Si. James's Gazette. 
 
 ' Has no equal in the English language.' — Pa/l Mall Gazette. 
 
 ' There are many English and American dictionaries, but none excels and 
 few equal the colossal compilation of Dr. Webster, which since its original 
 publication in 1828, has become one of the most famous books of its kind.' — 
 Staff dard. 
 
 Prospectuses y with Prices and Specimen Pages ^ on Application. 
 
 LONDON : GEORGE BELL ^ SONS, YORK STREET, 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 50,000. S. & S. 3.02. 
 
■T»?iV 
 
m 
 
 "CBEHKEUyuBMBiEs 
 
 jffliiiii 
 
 i^H