ilifornia 
 
 ional 
 
 lity
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNI/ 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 C: A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 
 
 LORD L1EUTEN 7 ANV OF THE COUNTY OF NOTTINGHAM, 
 AUDITOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, &c. &c. Sec. f 
 
 RESPECTING HIS GRACE'S CONDUCT 
 
 IN THE DISPOSAL OF 
 
 COMMISSIONS IN THE MILITIA: 
 
 TOGETHER WITi'/SOME REMARKS 
 
 TOUCHING THE 
 
 FRENCH REVOLUTION; 
 
 A REFORM OF PARLIAMENT 
 IN GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE ROYAL PROCLAMATION 
 
 OF THE 2 1 it OF MAY. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 AN APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING AN EFFECTUAL PLAN FOR PROVIDING 
 
 NAVY TIMBER; OPPOSED TO THE DANGEROUS AND 
 
 UNPROFITABLE SYSTFM OF CULTIVATING THE 
 
 PUBLIC FORESTS UNDER THE MANAGEMENT 
 
 OF OFFICERS OF THE CROWN. 
 
 .By MAJOR C A R T W R I 6 H T. 
 
 L fTD A': 
 
 PRINTED FOR J.S. JORDAN, No. 166, FLEET STREET. 
 MDCCXCII. 
 
 (PRICE T\VO SHILLINGS AND SIX-PENCE.)
 
 A LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 THE 
 
 DUKE OF NEWCASTLE* 
 
 My LORD, 
 
 BB 
 
 g TT)ATIENT as I have been of wrongs 
 -L received at your hands for a long courfe 
 of years, you ought not to be furprifed, that 
 I mould at length, in this public manner, 
 
 V? 
 
 2? addrefs your Grace on the fubject. Although 
 
 I ever confidered your conduct towards me 
 
 as highly unconftitutional, and could aflign 
 
 o for it no other original caufe, than my enter- 
 
 9 taining principles of government too found 
 
 * for thofe abufes and corruptions which you 
 
 B had 
 
 899987
 
 had an intereft in upholding ; yet, until the 
 lad act of your opprefiion, it was difficult to 
 bring forward a direct, unequivocal proof of 
 your motive. It is now in my power : It 
 is in my power alfo to prove, that in the 
 cafe to which I now allude, your conduct was 
 not only illiberal, but illegal ; not only op- 
 preflive, but dimonourable, and unconftitu- 
 tional. Thefe, my Lord, are the charges 
 which I exhibit againft you at the bar of the 
 public : And that public is interested in judg- 
 ing impartially between us. But poflibly 
 your Grace may alledge, that the public, not 
 being your peers, are not your judges. And, 
 for ought that I know, this accufation may 
 be metamorphofed into a breach of privilege; 
 and I, the accufer, may be called before the 
 bar of that right honorable Houfe of which 
 you are a member, to anfwer to that com- 
 plaint. Should it fo happen, my defence, 
 my Lord, would ftill be your crimination ; 
 and at that bar 1 would ftill afTest, that your 
 conduct has been illiberal, illegal, oppreffive, 
 dimonourable, and unconftitutional. 
 
 I grant, in its fulleft latitude, that difcre- 
 2 tionary
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 tlonary power, by which the Lord Lieutenant 
 recommends to, and difpofes of, commiflions. 
 But you, my Lord, in your turn, muft grant, 
 that it is a moral and a constitutional difcre- 
 tion ; a difcretion for the fele&ion of ability 
 and merit ; a difcretion to prevent the ad- 
 vancement of grofs vice or unfitnefs, or to 
 remove them altogether ; a difcretion fo to 
 temper military cuftom, as not to fuffer the 
 dead letter of promotion to deftroy the fpirit 
 which its regularity is intended to cherifh ; 
 in fhcrt, a difcretion to fupply all the defects 
 of law, fo as to animate and invigorate the 
 militia in its duty of national defence. And 
 during the late war, there was another di- 
 tincl: branch of difcretion in your hands, given 
 by an at of parliament, iince repealed, and 
 which difcretion I do not fee in the new militia 
 law ; it was a power of rewarding military 
 merit in time of war, by raifing an officer 
 to a rank above that in which his property 
 qualified him to ferve. Charged as you now 
 fland, it becomes you, then, my Lord, to 
 ihew, that in your conduct towards me from 
 the commencement of the late war to the 
 prefent time, during which you have feveral 
 B 2 times
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 times denied me promotion, it has been 
 fuch a moral and conftitutional difcretion as 
 I have defcribed, that has uniformly been your 
 guide ; and not fuch a baftard difcretion, the 
 offspring of pique, prejudice, and malice, 
 as ufually occupies the breaft of a narrow- 
 minded man, who is opprefled with a con- 
 fcioufnefs of having acted injurioufly, but 
 wants the fpirit, candour, and generofity to 
 make a manly reparation. 
 
 More moved than I ought to have been 
 at the paltry intrigues which firft produced 
 a divifion in the corps, I once had fome fmall 
 {hare in over-ftepping what, upon cooler re- 
 flection, I thought the bounds of ftrict deco- 
 rum towards your Grace. But, did I hefitate 
 a moment in making you a conceffion ? 
 the conceffion of a gentleman who, although 
 he could bear, with much indifference, the 
 wrongs of official power, could not fo eafily 
 bear any confcioufnefs of blame in his own 
 breaft. About the time of the firft promotion 
 of an inferior officer over my head, in Janu- 
 ary 17795 I wrote you my thoughts on 
 what had then pafTed. Your Grace anfwered 
 
 me.
 
 <( 
 
 ( s ) 
 
 me. My reply and your rejoinder were as 
 follows : 
 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 " UPON a reconfideration of the regimental 
 bufmefs of the iyth of December, I am 
 become of opinion, that a tranfmijjion to 
 the Lord Lieutenant of the officers' fenti- 
 ments, as they flood worded in their re- 
 folves, was fomewhat deficient in reipect. 
 So far, therefore, as I was a party to that 
 inadvertency *, (for an incivility was not 
 intended,) I very readily make your Grace 
 every conceflion that can be due from a 
 gentleman ; and on that account I fhall 
 alfo forbear to fay your Grace did wrong in 
 denying me the Lieutenant Colonel's com- 
 " miffion. But obferve, my Lord, I do not 
 *' condemn the Refolutions themfelves, as I 
 * 6 think they were proper ; neither do I re- 
 <( tracl: all my opinion in thinking myfelf 
 injured. I flill referve to myfelf the liberty 
 of judging upon every proceeding which 
 
 (I 
 
 iC 
 
 it 
 
 * Although prefent at the meeting, the writer was not a 
 fcaeraber of the meeting, as will hereafter appear. 
 
 " took
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 " took place from firft to laft, relative to the 
 
 " matter ; and the fole intention of this let- 
 
 " ter is to free my own mind and conduct 
 
 " from 1 every feeling and imputation that 
 
 u does not meet with my own intire appro- 
 
 " bation. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " Your Grace's 
 " Moft obedient, 
 
 " Humble fervant, 
 " JOHN CARTWRIGHT." 
 " Marnham, 
 
 1779." 
 
 " SIR, Exchequer, Feb. 18, 1779. 
 
 " I CANNOT but fay your letter has 
 " given me much fatisfaction, as I am con- 
 " vinced it proceeds from the confcious dic- 
 " tates of an honeft mind. I certainly have 
 " thought myfelf very ill ufed, and I flatter 
 " myfelf I did not deferve it ; and though 
 " you Jlill think, Sir, tfre refolutions them- 
 
 " felves
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 " felves were proper, I am happy to find, 
 " in this unfortunate affair, that you difclaim 
 " all intentional incivility to me. 
 
 " I am, Sir, * 
 " With great concern, 
 " Your moft obedient, 
 " Humble fervant, 
 
 " NEWCASTLE. 
 
 " P. S. I hope (notwithftanding all this) 
 my good old friend, your father, will accept 
 my beft wifhes to him." 
 
 HERE, my Lord, I will keep my word 
 with you. I will not fay, that, after my 
 fhare of the indecorum, fmall as it was, which 
 I acknowledged, you did wrong on that oc- 
 cqftoti in not granting me the lieutenant colo- 
 nelcy. But you muft permit me, in my own 
 j unification, to fay, that the indecorum, 
 fuch as it was, was the confequence of hav- 
 ing feen your Grace at the bottom of the 
 intrigue which I have mentioned, and of a 
 confcioufnefs in rnvfelf that I did not merit 
 
 4 
 
 the
 
 the flight intended to he put upon me. Pof- 
 fibly the indecorum that has been mentioned 
 made it necefTary, in your Grace's judgment, 
 to the vindication of your authority on that 
 occafion, not to permit my claim to fucceed, 
 notwithftanding my juft pretenfions. But 
 let us fee if the officer to whom you actu- 
 ally gave the commiffion, flood wholly free 
 from the charge of indecorum. The fhort 
 hiftory of the bufmefs is this. In the Au- 
 tumn of 1778, the lieutenat colonelcy fell 
 vacant ; I had not at the time a fufficient 
 qualification : It having been always under- 
 ftood, that it was a point at firft fettled and 
 agreed onbetween your Grace and the late Lord 
 George Sutton, our Colonel, that the regular 
 courfe of promotion, unlefs for demerit, mould 
 never be broken ; and his lordfhip having been, 
 until that period, uniformly and uncommonly 
 warm in that fentiment, as eflential to the 
 good of the fervice, there was an evident 
 difficulty in the way of introducing any ftran- 
 ger over our heads, without giving great 
 diflatisfaclion, and doing a ferious injury to 
 the public fervice. Thefe confiderations, 
 however, did not difcourage your Grace from 
 
 the
 
 the undertaking. A plan was formed, and 
 during the abfence of Captain Cooper and 
 myfelf, a meeting of officers was aflembled 
 on the 1 3th of November of that year. The 
 proceedings of that meeting are given in the 
 Appendix *. By the concluding part of 
 them, your Grace's defign was fufficiently 
 evident. I muft alfo give you credit for well 
 underftanding one maxim of policy divide 
 and conquer. I have faid, that on the firft 
 vacancy of the commiffion, I had not a fuf- 
 ficient qualification : I therefore afpired not 
 to the commiffion until parental partiality 
 conveyed to me a fufficient eftate, with an 
 injunction not to wave my claim f. This 
 being done in good time, in anfwer to the 
 query put to me by the aflembled officers at 
 
 * No. I. 
 
 f My firft knowledge of the matter was communicated in 
 the following fhort letter from my father : 
 
 " The inclofed [Appendix No. i.] was this morning re- 
 C eived from Hull, by which you will fee what is hatching 
 " againft you in that quarter. On the receipt of this I beg 
 " you will return hither immediately, a"s I will give you fome- 
 " thing to take with you to Hull, which will inevitably, I 
 " hope, flop their career, &c. I am, &c.'* 
 
 C the
 
 the regiment, I fet forth my pretenfions as~ 
 cordingly. It was then foon feen that fenio- 
 rity and fervice were very fhadowy claims to 
 promotion, and that the intrigue, for break- 
 ing through the rule which had been laid 
 down, was periifted in. The cornmiffion 
 in queftion not being offered to me, and the 
 matter being held in fufpenie, to the dif- 
 fatisfaction of moft of the corps, a fecond 
 meeting of officers, but not at my inflance, 
 nor of which I t was a member , although pre- 
 fent, was aflembled on the iyth of Decem- 
 ber, the proceedings of which will alib be 
 found in the Appendix *. After fome un- 
 pleafant diflentions in the corps, the bufmefs 
 ended in the appointment of Captain Nevile 
 to be the lieutenant colonel. Captain Cooper 
 threw up his commiflion in difguft, but 
 defired to receive intelligence whenever there 
 fhould be a probability of our having to deal 
 with an enemy. On the threatning appear- 
 ance of the combined fleet in the channel, he 
 pofted two hundred miles to join us, and 
 did me the honour to take up his abode in 
 my tent. Such, my Lord, were the men 
 
 * No. II. 
 
 whom
 
 ( II ) 
 
 xvliom your conduct drove out of the fervice! 
 Lieutenant Colonel Nevile ferved that cam- 
 paign, and then refigned. 
 
 Now, my Lord, for the offence taken and 
 exprefled by your Grace at the Regimental 
 Refolutions of the iyth of December in fa- 
 vour of my claim ; the complacency with which 
 you contemplated the former Refolutions of 
 the 1 3th of November, favouring the intro- 
 duction of your fon over all our heads ; and 
 the -corifijlency of that appointment in which 
 the bulinefs ended. By a letter to me, dated 
 the 3Oth January, 1779, (to whic"h mine of 
 the 1 5th of February was in reply,) it ap- 
 pears, that your Grace thought the Refolu- 
 tions of the 17th of December " highly 
 " impolitic, and greatly interfering with the 
 " powers of a Lord Lieutenant ;" and 
 you very properly maintain, " that the 
 " power of filling up vacancies in the regi- 
 " ment is vefted in you alone, and not in 
 " the officers fitting in confultation among 
 " themfelves." Here I am ready once more 
 to repeat my acknowledgement, that fending 
 to the Lord Lieutenant the Refolutions of 
 C 2 the
 
 the I yth of December was an indecorum^ 
 and fo far I grant that the officers were " im- 
 " politic ;" but I muft deny that the Refolu- 
 tions themfelves interfered with the power, 
 (by which I mean the moral and coiiftitntional 
 dlfcretion) of the Lord Lieutenant ; whereas 
 thofe of the 1 3th of November, to which I 
 was in no fenfe a party, (and for which caufe, 
 therefore, it feems they gave you no offence^ 
 had very improperly indeed interfered with 
 your authority. I had, it is true, been merely 
 prefcnt^ when eighteen other officers of the 
 corps, with a particular reference to my claim 
 of promotion, had joined in faying, that 
 where there was no demerit, " all rife ought 
 " to go in the regiment ;" whereas Captain 
 Nevile, as a member of the meeting of the 
 1 3th of November, had concurred in refolv- 
 ing, and even without an exception to demerit^ 
 " that all promotion of officers JJoall go in 
 *' the regiment;" and then, with perfect con- 
 fiftency, but at the fame time paffing by all 
 authority and all difcretion whatever in the 
 Lord Lieutenant, proceeds to join in another 
 refolution, declaring, That in cafe the Major 
 and eldeil Captain mail not qualify, " the 
 
 " lieutenant
 
 ( '3 ) 
 
 * { lieutenant colonelcy will then devolve to 
 *' Captain Nevile." If that gentleman ever 
 made your Grace an apology for fuch his 
 unqualified invafion of your difcretionary power , 
 (which I never heard of his doing) his forgive- 
 nefs was loon fealed. Not fo that of him who, 
 although not even, ftridly fpeaking, a party 
 in the ad, yet neverthelefs did apologize for 
 a mere indecorum, which he barely (from a 
 fenfe of ill treatment) did not ufe means to 
 prevent. How amiable all this confiftency 
 of conduct ! How noble this proud integrity 
 in the diicharge of official duties ! 
 
 Nota bejie, by way of Poftfcript to the 
 going Narrative. In a converfation but a 
 few months or weeks prior to thefe tranfac- 
 tions, I was allured by the Colonel, in the 
 prefence of two other officers, that /;/ cafe 
 any thing JJjould happen to Lord Lincoln^ it 
 was a point fettled between the Duke of New- 
 cajlle and him^ that I was to fucceed to the 
 lieutenant colonelcy. The converfation referred 
 to, was on the fubjecl: of the propofed ad- 
 vancement of Enfigns Sutton and Byron 
 fo higher commiilions, on which the Colonel 
 3 alked
 
 4 
 
 afkecl my opinion. I endeavoured to per- 
 fuade him from recommending them, on 
 the folid ground of their being children in- 
 capable of performing even the duties of 
 their inferior commiffions, and therefore by 
 no means intitled to rife by feniority until a 
 little more age had cured that defect. In 
 anfwer, the colonel declared, that " if the 
 " rule was once broke through, there would 
 " be an end to all emulation, and the regi- 
 " ment would be ruined ; that, as Colonel, 
 " it was incumbent on him to ftand up 
 " for the rights of the corps ; and that, not- 
 *' withstanding the Major's objections, which 
 " were ftrong ones, as he himfelf thought 
 " the rule with regard to promotion was of 
 " the firft importance to the regiment, he 
 " muft act according to his own judgment, 
 " &c." How your Grace's notions and 
 mine on the conjlttutional discretion of a Lord 
 Lieutenant are feen to differ ! Thefe youths, 
 to whom I thought it an indulgence to hold 
 the commiliions of Enfigns^ you appointed 
 Lieutenants-, doubtlefs agreeing with the 
 Colonel in the facrednefs of the ride on which 
 their pretentious ftood. 
 
 But
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 But at a very early period your attention 
 to the honour of the corps, and your invio- 
 lable attachment to rule in granting com- 
 miffions had been difplayed. Having laid 
 it down as a rule, that, in order to avoid 
 giving offence, the original commimons fhould 
 be difpofed of in regular order, according to 
 the priority of the offers of fervice in each 
 rank refpetively, you perfifted in giving a 
 commiflion to a worthlefs fellow, notwith- 
 ftanding / had informed you of his char after. 
 
 The fellow afterwards refigned his 
 miffion, to avoid the difgrace awaiting him 
 for a defertion of his duty in a time of danger. 
 
 Defpairing of ever being able to do jufticc 
 to your fteady adherence to the rule of regu- 
 lar fucceffion, with thefe remarks I mall dif- 
 mifs the account of the firft inftancein which 
 I was fet afide. Not that there is not matter 
 enough behind for a volume, but to the 
 public the tale muft be too difgufting to read, 
 as it would be to me to relate. 
 
 I have faid that Lieutenant Colonel Nevile 
 
 ferved
 
 ferved in that capacity one campaign, and 
 then refigned. To the beft of my recollec- 
 tion, he quitted camp a day or two before 
 the regiment went into winter quarters ; but 
 I think his refignation did not take place till 
 late in the fpring of 1780. The precife 
 time i$ of no confequence. Your Grace, who, 
 as it has appeared, had relinquished your firft 
 attempt at introducing Lord John Clinton, 
 having however fucceeded in deftroying the 
 regimental harmony, and in a precedent alfo for 
 treating the rank, pretenfions, feelings, and 
 characters of officers with unfeeling con- 
 tempt, no longer reforted to fecret manoeuvres' 
 for affecting your purpofe, but, without cere- 
 mony, appointed his Lordfhip to the vacant 
 commiflion. He joined the regiment, in- 
 camped near Darking, in Auguft 1780, did 
 a few weeks duty, and was never, as I think, 
 prefent with the corps again. 
 
 In the fummer of 1781, the Colonel in a 
 letter to the Adjutant defired he would in- 
 form the corps, then encamped near Gofport, 
 that the Lieutenant-Colonel (Lord John Clin- 
 ton) had exprefled an intention of refigning ; 
 
 mentioning
 
 ( ;7 ) 
 
 mentioning at the fame time the name of a 
 gentleman, not in the regiment, who had fo- 
 Jicited to fucceed him. The Colonel, however, 
 thinking it unreafonable, oppofed the nomi- 
 nation, " and recommended the appointment 
 " to go in the corps by feniority." On 
 the i gth of June I wrote to your Grace as 
 follows : 
 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 "AS Lord George Suttonhas directed the 
 " Adjutant to inquire what officers of the 
 " corps were qualified for the Lieutenant- 
 " Colonelcy, and would be ready to ferve as 
 " fuch provided there were a vacancy ; and 
 " as his Lordlhip, in a letter to another gentle- 
 " man, has, to my furprize, fignified that he 
 " has been informed by my family, that I 
 " have not put in my claim, by which I con- 
 " ceive he means that I have waved my pre- 
 " tenfions to it, I take the liberty of troubling 
 " your Grace with a line, in order to prevent 
 " a poffibility of any mifunderftanding or 
 " miftake refpedling my fentiments. 
 
 U J[ have only to fay, that Lord George's 
 4< fuppofed information from my family muft 
 
 D "be
 
 " be fome error ; for ever fmce I was firfl 
 " qualified to hold the commiflion of Lieute- 
 " nant-Colonel, I never entertained an idea of 
 " waving fuch pretenfion as my rank and 
 " conduct in the regiment could be fuppofed 
 " to give me, for fucceeding to it whenever 
 " vacant. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 " JOHN CARTWRIGHT, 
 
 " Major to the N. M. w 
 " Camp, near Gofport, 
 igjunc, 1781," 
 
 To this letter I do not find atnongft my 
 papers any anfwer ; nor do I remember to 
 have received one. Suffice it to fay, that in 
 February 1782, Mr. Gould joined the regi- 
 ment as Lieutenant-Colonel. This gentleman 
 had ferved in the army, which he had quitted 
 fome time before with the rank of Lieute- 
 nant. By the appointment now fpoken of, 
 your Grace drove out of the regiment another 
 Captain, whofe indignant feelings would not 
 permit him to ferve under fuch treatment; and 
 who had too high a fenfe of honour to fiften. 
 to intimations which had been made to him- 
 
 felf
 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 felf not perfonally to your , Grace that if 
 he would apply for the commiflion over my 
 head, it would be given him. I fpeak, as 
 your Grace knows, of Captain Sherbrooke ; 
 of whom I muft hereafter fay one word 
 more. 
 
 In confequence, my Lord, of the new ap- 
 pointmentj I wrote to you again. The copy 
 in my hands is without date, and if in any 
 other refpecl: it be incorrect your Grace 
 perhaps can fet me right. It runs thus : 
 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 " AS it is now the third time within about 
 " three years, that a Lieutenant-Colonel has 
 " been put over my head ; and as fo marked 
 " a flight on the part of your Grace, cannot 
 " but occafion fome conclufion, or at leaft 
 *' fome fufpicion to the difadvantage of my 
 " character, I am to requeft, my Lord, that 
 *' you will be kind enough to favour me with 
 " the reafons for the fame. If I knew why 
 " your Grace thought me the only officer in 
 " the regiment undeferving of promotion 
 " when vacancies happened, I might hope to 
 Da " have
 
 . 
 
 have it in my power to remove the caufe; 
 " either by explaining any thing that has 
 " been mifunderftood, or by altering fuch 
 " parts of my conduct as may juftly have 
 44 deprived me of your opinion. 
 
 " If any thing in my character as a man, 
 " an officer, or a fubject, has fhewn me to be 
 "unfit for a higher truft in the militia than 
 44 that which I have poflefled for thefe fix 
 " years and a half pad, I intreat your Grace 
 " to mew fo much candour and generofity as 
 " to mention it. As often as an opportunity 
 " may offer of repeating the fame flight, 
 41 which on every fuch occafion I muft feel 
 " as an intended chaftifement for fomewhat 
 " in which I have given offence, it may pof- 
 " fibly, my Lord, be right, that your Grace's 
 " power, as Lord Lieutenant, mould be fo 
 " exercifed ; but being fure it cannot be right 
 44 that any man, how guilty foever, mould not 
 44 only be publickly, but repeatedly punifhed 
 44 without knowing his crime, I muft, for the 
 44 fake of that refpect which I conceive is 
 " owing to the corps I ferve in, and the 
 " county I ferve for, once more intreat your 
 
 " Grace
 
 ** Grace to let me know in what regard I 
 " have {hewn myfelf unworthy of a higher 
 " commiffion, without having {hewn myfelf 
 " at the fame time undeferving of my pre- 
 " fent one. But> if your Grace, by paffing 
 " over me in three promotions, have intended 
 " to hint this to me, I can only fay in return, 
 " that I have not yet been able fo to apply 
 " the hint, as to excite in my mind any con- 
 " fcioufnefs that it is time I refigned the ma- 
 " jority ; which you may be afTured, my 
 " Lord, I fhall do, the moment I mall learn 
 " that your Grace has had a juft and fuffi- 
 " cient caufe for not offering me the Lieute- 
 :< nant-Colonelcy when it was vacant. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 " JOHN CARTWRIGHT." 
 
 To this expoftulation, I received the fol- 
 lowing anfwer : 
 
 " Clumber ^ March 3^, 1782. 
 " SIR, 
 
 "AS Lord-Lieutenant of the county of 
 
 " Nottingham, I look upon rnyfelf to be 
 
 2 " accountable
 
 " accountable to nobody but his Majefty, 
 " for my recommendations of officers, to 
 " ferve in the Nottinghamfhire regiment of 
 " militia. 
 
 " I am, SIR, 
 
 " Your moft obedient, 
 
 " humble fervant, 
 " NEWCASTLE." 
 
 In thefe epiftles, the characleriftic features 
 of a democrat and an arljlocrat will, no doubt, 
 be difcerned. The former, ungrateful for 
 the paft benefits of good government, re- 
 fractory, audacious, and infolently hinting at 
 rights ; " the latter, mild, paternal, and ex- 
 preffive, not only of the moft tender regard 
 to equity in the exercife of authority, but of 
 a generous fympathy in the feelings of thofe 
 afFecled by it. 
 
 I come next, my Lord, to notice the va- 
 cancy for Colonel which happened, as I 
 think, in December 1782. Being then, by 
 ^an acceffion of property, qualified to hold 
 that commifiion, I loon after regiftered a 
 qualification accordingly. The fame day, in 
 
 order
 
 order to guard againft the poffibility of igno- 
 rance of that event, I informed your Grace 
 of the fame by letter. Here again I entered 
 with as much temper as before into expoftu- 
 lations on paft occurrences ; taking, in parti- 
 cular, fome notice of an uncharitable fug- 
 geftion which I know to have come from 
 one, differing with me in politics as fire with 
 water, that in cafe I mould be nominated 
 to a higher commiffion, the appointment 
 would not be confirmed by his Majefty. 
 Amongft other things I obferved, that I was 
 not confcious of having fhewn myfelf to his 
 Majefty, or to my country, in any other 
 light than that of a good fubjecl:, a faithful 
 advifer, and a zealous promoter of the true 
 welfare of both ; and that I would ufe my 
 endeavours to difcover whether the King did 
 or did not think of me as has been infinu- 
 ated. And I concluded with obferving, that 
 it could not be agreeable to any man, acYmg 
 zealoufly for the beft interefts for his King 
 and country, to experience either through 
 inattention or mifapprehenfion the treatment 
 4ue only to enemies.
 
 What I have preferred, being only the 
 6rft rough draught of my thoughts, it is not 
 in my power to give an exact copy of 
 the letter. If I have miftated its contents, 
 your Grace will pleafe to fet me right, 
 
 In anfwer I received the following note : 
 " Exchequer , I3th January , 1783. 
 
 "THE Duke of Newcaftle's compliments 
 u to Major Cartwright, was much furprized 
 " at his very extraordinary letter ; after what 
 " had palled between them, in regard to pro- 
 " motion in the Nottinghamfhire regiment 
 " of militia, he could not have thought to 
 " have any further applications from him on. 
 " that fubjecV' 
 
 Which was the moft extraordinary ; my 
 patience under injuries, or the little cere- 
 mony with which they were heaped upon 
 me, is now fubmitted to the judgment of the 
 public. 
 
 The vacancy now fpoken of was filled, by 
 the honourable Henry Willoughby, who re- 
 llgned it again laft fummer. But before his 
 
 appoint-
 
 appointment, overtures were once more made 
 to Mr. Sherbrooke, whom I have already 
 mentioned to have been driven out of the 
 regiment in difguft at your arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings, when a Captain. To him was 
 again offered the Lieutenant Colonelcy. As 
 before he fpurned at the offer. What, my 
 Lord, not content wrth infulting me as an 
 officer, with meanly cheating me of an ob- 
 ject of honeft ambition; and, through fo 
 many denials of promotion, ftriking at my very 
 character ; but muft you affail me even in my 
 friend! Muft his integrity be corrupted ! mud 
 his honour be ftained ! and confcioufnefs of 
 bafenefs attend him to the grave, rather than 
 that I (hould not receive a mortification. Fie ! 
 Fie ! Had you fucceetfed there, you had con- 
 quered me indeed. You had effectually driven 
 me from the corps. It had been a ftab I 
 could not have reflfted. Where is the man, 
 capable of daily beholding one whom once 
 he honoured, fallen from the dignity of vir- 
 tue, and the nobility of friendship ! My nerves 
 had been unequal to the tafk. But, thank 
 God, the friendfhips of my life have ever 
 been with men of principle. The circle 
 indeed is fmall ; but it is a circle, under 
 E which
 
 which I entertain no apprehenfion of ever 
 being deferted or betrayed. 
 
 If, my Lord, you can comprehend my 
 feelings on this occafion, you will learn that 
 no part of your conduct towards me, ever 
 beyond a moment excited my anger, I never 
 complimented you with the name of enemy j 
 which includes fome idea of equality and 
 fair lighting. And amongft the mixed emo^ 
 tions of my mind, you may be allured, that 
 compaffion has ever been a principal fenti- 
 jnent. 
 
 Being now come down, my Lord, to a 
 period which extends fome what lower than the 
 end of the war, let us look back awhile. May 
 I here afk, what part of my regimental conduct 
 it was that rendered me thus unfit for higher 
 rank? Was it that I had been at different 
 times collectively, longer commanding officer 
 of the regiment than any other perfon, that 
 I wanted the neceflary experience? Was it 
 that my abfences from the regiment had 
 been fo rare, and of fb fliort duration^ that 
 I could not be expected to give due attend- 
 ance ? Or, was it becaufe, while the Lieute-
 
 nant Colonelcy was in the hands of your 
 two fons, whofe joint attendance did not ex- 
 ceed many weeks in two years and a half of 
 the war, that I had done during the long 
 remainder of that time double duty, that I 
 had no claim whatever upon the gratitude of 
 power ? ^Perhaps thofe gad-fly gentry fo ho- 
 nourably mentioned by the eloquent Erfkine 
 at the laft Affizes at Nottingham*, had 
 teazed you into fretfulnefs at the very men- 
 tion of my name : Perhaps certain commif- 
 fioned gentry f whom, as an officer and a 
 gentleman I was compelled to try by martial 
 law, and who therefore found countenance elfe~ 
 where, had convinced you of my unworthi- 
 nefs. Were either of thefe the caufes of 
 your conduct, or was it true, as fome ima- 
 gined, that what you found not in your own 
 bread you could not conceive to exift in any 
 other ; and that it was not in your nature 
 ever to forgive him whom you had once 
 injured ? 
 
 Here, my Lord, my readers, notwith- 
 (landing the evidence already adduced, may, 
 
 * See the Newark Herald of 2 1 ft March, 1792. 
 
 t Since fuperfeded as unworthy to rank amongft gentlemen. 
 
 E 1 perhaps,
 
 perhaps, form different opinions. Some 
 may think with your Grace, that if you dif- 
 liked my political principles, that alone gave 
 you a right to treat me as you have done. 
 Some, perhaps, may fide with the writer, 
 and condemn your conduct as partial and op- 
 preffive. And others again may imagine, that, 
 independent of politics, there muft have been 
 fome defeats or mifbehaviour on my part as 
 an officer, or a man, that, if known, would 
 juftify all your proceedings towards me. If 
 fuch caufe exifted,. I call upon you to pro- 
 duce it. It is due to your own character to 
 make It known. This call has been either 
 exprefled, or implied, many different times. 
 The fingle inftance, however, which I have 
 already produced ought to have fufficed. An 
 uniform denial of promotion for thirteen years 
 is an implied cenfure of no fmall magnitude. 
 It muft be repelled by fuch evidence and ar- 
 gument as I have to produce. In way of 
 argument, I mall only fay, that if any co- 
 lourable charge to my difad vantage as an of- 
 ficer could have been brought forward, it is 
 not very credible that it mould never have 
 been attempted. 
 
 Here
 
 Here it is proper to take fome notice of 
 nimours once circulated in the county. In 
 December 1781, an officer, on returning to 
 quarters from the county, aflerted to me, in 
 the prefence of Captain Sherbrooke and ano- 
 ther gentleman, that your Grace had made 
 to him certain declarations of your opinions 
 on my. conduct, in bringing to trial an officer 
 who has already been alluded to ; which opi- 
 nions, if actually entertained, I know to be 
 utterly unfounded and injurious to my ho- 
 nour ; I thereupon wrote your Grace a very 
 long letter on the fubject. In this letter, I 
 ftated how openly your Grace's name had 
 been mentioned, as taking under your imme- 
 diate protection one lying under no very 
 trifling accufations, and fo mentioned by that 
 man himfelf ; and of your having threatened 
 me, his profecutor, with the lofs of my com- 
 mifiion ; and I obferved, that " I could not 
 " for the fake of your Grace's honour, can- 
 " dour, juftice, and generofity, give credit to 
 " a tittle of fuch indecent aflertions." I alfo 
 preffed you to inform me, if you had made 
 declarations fuch as had been reported to me, 
 and what was your authority. I appealed to 
 your juftice, and challenged inquiry " in the * 
 
 "face
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 '* face of day, that I might not fuffej in 
 " reputation by the aflaffin arts of the fecret 
 44 and cowardly calumniator." The anfwer 1 
 was from your Secretary, who, after apolo- 
 gizing for your not writing on account of in- 
 difpofition, fays, " I am commanded to write 
 
 <c that his Grace never faw Capt. in his 
 
 " life, nor ever faid he would defray the ex- 
 " pence of the trial, nor thought of fuperfeding 
 " you for the part you had acted, &c. 
 <c and that he is furprized a perfon of your 
 " fenfe and knowledge of mankind fhould 
 " give one moment's credit to fuch tales, &c." 
 The remainder of this letter, mewing chiefly 
 how your fon, while prefent with the regi- 
 ment, had become the dupe of a wretch who 
 was a difgrace to fociety, I fnail not quote, 
 that I may not be obliged to remark upon 
 it ; becaufe the knowledge that your Grace 
 fmce obtained of that wretch's worthlefs cha- 
 racter, makes it unneceflary. 
 
 But I wifh not to reft my vindication upon 
 the difficulty of fupporting legal charges! 
 againft me ; for well do I remember the in- 
 dignant remark of General Calcraft, on the
 
 fentence pronounced by the fecond Court- 
 Martial, before which, the worthlefs man juft 
 fpoken of was brought to trial for difgrace- 
 ful crimes ; " that nothing fhort of murder 
 " could break an officer of militia." I am 
 contented to reft my reputation on the opinion 
 of my brother officers convened for the pur- 
 pofe. Let them tell your Grace, or the 
 world, if at any time, or in any inftance 
 during the war, I were not as prompt to 
 obey, as ready to exacl: obedience ; if, either 
 in matters of fervice or indulgence, I were a 
 refpe&er of perfons, or a retailer of partial 
 favours ; if either feverity of command, or 
 laxity of difcipline could be imputed to me ; 
 if by a fmgle at of intemperance, one im- 
 moral difcourfe, or a vicious example, I ever 
 weakened in the mind of the foldier.a refpecl: 
 for the character of officers, or contributed to 
 contaminate the morals of the youths bearing 
 commiffions in the regiments. Let them alfo 
 iky, if on any occafion I thwarted through 
 pique the meafures of others, or betrayed an 
 indifference to the honour and reputation of a 
 jegiment from which my perfonal friends had 
 been driven in difguft, and in which I had 
 received fuch unmerited ill treatment. Some 
 
 of
 
 ( 3* ) 
 
 of them can remember that, even under fuch 
 grating circumftances, I laboured, in 1 779,. to 
 introduce a fuperior mode of training to that 
 in ufe ; and that, in 1 780, I endeavoured to 
 bring into ufe unpremeditated manoeuvres 
 arifing from the nature of the ground, and 
 beft calculated for qualifying the troops to 
 act with confidence and effccT: in the face of 
 an enemy : and they can likewife inform you, 
 that, in confequence of thofe unhappy divi- 
 flons which grew out of the original intrigue 
 againft me, thefe efforts for the good of the 
 public fervice were quafhed by fuperior au- 
 thority *. It is for thofe particular officers 
 whom it concerns, alfo to fay, whether it 
 was my cuftom to fign any kind of regimental 
 account or report, without knowing the truth 
 of its contents ; or if I muffled off the duties 
 of inveftigation to any inferior. I never, my 
 Lord, was in the habit of putting my figna- 
 ture to the lower corners of blank meets of 
 paper by dozens, as I once faw done by an 
 auditor of national money accounts. \Vhe- 
 
 * I mnft do Colonel Gould the juftice to fay, that fincc 
 he has been in the regiment, 1 never experienced any thing 
 pf this kind ; but on the contrary, an invariably polite at- 
 tention. 
 
 ther
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 ther thofe meets were to be filled afterwards with 
 his own private accounts, or with thofe entrufted 
 by the nation to his audit, I fay not. I fpeak 
 only to the fact of the blank Jheets of paper 
 Jigncd at the lower corners, of which I faw a 
 pile, and fome of them figned in my prefence, 
 and then, one by one, formed into another 
 pile on the floor. The circumftance, unim- 
 portant as it might be, made upon my mind 
 that kind of impreffion, which wears not 
 away but with the faculty of memory itfelf. 
 
 For the mention of this anecdote I fhall not 
 be charged with a breach of confidence, when 
 I fay, that with the perfon alluded to my 
 bufinefs was merely official, and I was by no 
 means in habits of confidence. Neither can 
 it be alledged that it was a breach of hofpita- 
 lity ; for fo little cordial had been my recep- 
 tion, that, in the courfe of the converfation, 
 1 was afked, if I were not a republican. This 
 I conceived, in the fenfe of the fpeaker, to 
 be nearly equivalent to afking, if I were 
 not the devil ; but I felt it, neverthelefs, as a 
 real, though undefigned, compliment : for I 
 well knew the unceafing but filly arts which 
 commenced at the Reftoration, to pervert 
 F that
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 that found, conjlltut'wnal word into a term of 
 reproach ; and that, by courtiers, it was ge- 
 nerally applied to thofe who were more emi- 
 nently the friends of freedom, as being free 
 from faction ; whom of all men they moil 
 wifhed to fligmatife as enemies to govern- 
 ment. But if your Grace mould ftill enter- 
 tain doubts as to the true meaning of the 
 word, I muft refer you to the ftatute-book, 
 arid to fpeeches from the Throne before Crom- 
 well ivas born. There, if you meet not 
 often with the word itfelf, you will frequently 
 find its fynonime, and read of the Common- 
 wealth of England. And when his Majefty 
 fpeaks of protecting the liberties of his peo- 
 ple, and of watching over our excellent con- 
 ftitution; which being a conftitution em- 
 bracing king, lords, and commons, and confe- 
 quently the public's in the fulleft fenfe of the 
 word ; what are thefe but republican princi- 
 ples ; and what is a king, having thefe ob- 
 jects at heart, but a republican ? But let us 
 return from this digreffion. 
 
 Having already made my appeal to the 
 officers with whom I lived, and who confe- 
 quently were daily witnefies to the minutise 
 of my conduct ; I muft now fee if I cannot, 
 
 out
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 out of the regiment, produce fome evidence 
 to prove, that, in a more inlarged fphere of 
 action, I never difgraced that commiflion with 
 which I was intrufted. 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Northumberland is 
 the firft to whom I fhall refer. Afk him, 
 
 n 
 
 my Lord, if a bare cold performance of regi- 
 mental duty was my chara&eriftic. On more 
 points than one we had fome fmall correfpon- 
 dence ; but the defence of a fea-port of great 
 trade, while I was commanding officer of the 
 regiment, was the principal fubjet. His fenfe 
 of my conduct will beft appear in his own 
 words. From a letter to me, dated Novem- 
 ber 15, 1778, the following is an extract: 
 *' I beg leave to aflure you, that I have a 
 " fmgular pleafure in having it in my power 
 *' to (hew any attention to an officer, whofe 
 " affiduity ever iince he has been under my 
 w command, does him the higheft honour, 
 
 I am, 
 
 " Sir, &c. 
 PERCY." 
 
 F 2 Were
 
 N 
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 Were General Monkton now living, I 
 could call for his teftimonials too, that my 
 notions of duty, as an officer in the fervice 
 of my country, were not circumfcribed with- 
 in the narrow limits of regimental fervices. 
 On the rejection in my own regiment in 
 1779, of the new mode of training I had 
 propofed, the fyftem in manufcript, with 
 plans, was fubmitted to the General, for the 
 fatisfaction of my own mind. Charged as 
 he then was with the government of the firft 
 garrifon in the kingdom, and with the army 
 which covered Portfmouth, it is not to be 
 fuppofed, that he had leifure for paying much 
 attention to fuch a work. He neverthelefs 
 did me the honour to look into the manu- 
 fcript ; on the return of which I received the 
 following note : 
 
 " LIEUTENANT GENERAL MONKTON 
 " prefents his compliments to Major Cart- 
 " wright, returns him his book with many 
 " thanks. The General has not been able 
 ** to give it the attention it merits, but thinks 
 " it contains many things, which, if adopted, 
 " might be of benefit to the fervice. 
 
 " Portfmouth, id Nov. 1779." 
 
 The
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 The manufcript was then an unfiniflied work, 
 and the fyftem of courfe not quite complete. 
 The laft hand hath not yet even been put to 
 it ; but if no one elfe fhould get the ftart of 
 me, and I fhould ever find leifure for fuch 
 an employment, it is ftill my defign to com- 
 plete and publifh it. On other points too I 
 could have confidently referred you to that 
 general officer. On one in particular, not 
 known to many befide himfelf ; but it was 
 known, however, to men whofe fentiments 
 will command refpedt. 
 
 Although, my Lord, the good fortune of 
 England during the late war, in efcaping an 
 invalion, deprived her militia of the honour 
 of bleeding in her defence, yet there were 
 not wanting fome critical opportunities to its 
 officers of mewing attention to the public 
 fafety, fufficient to manifeft, that they were not 
 wholly incapable of performing their duty, 
 nor unmindful of the high truft repofed in 
 them : And it is with a fatisfaction of which 
 no perfonalities can deprive me, that I can claim 
 to have fhared in thofe attentions. At a crifis 
 of no fmall alarm, when the combined fleet 
 
 2 299987 was
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 was in the Channel, immenfely fupenor to 
 Sir Charles Hardy this great force between 
 him and Portfmouth Spithead open to their 
 entrance the Ifle of Wight at their mercy, 
 and in other refpects a fhameful want of 
 fecurity in that important quarter being 
 viable ; at this crifis, my Lord, having fome 
 little knowledge of naval affairs, and con- 
 ceiving an idea of combining defenfive opera- 
 tions by fea and land which might fruftrate 
 the enemy, although their apparent ftrength 
 had been accompanied by fuch ability and 
 fuch a fpirit of enterprife, as to have pro- 
 duced, during the abfence of our fleet, a cer-> 
 tain manoeuvre, which, iffuccefsful^ might have 
 Jtruckfome terror into this country, I employed, 
 with the General's permiffion, a day in re- 
 connoitering, and at my return prefented him 
 with a plan of defence. It was fubmitted to 
 the confideration of Admiral Pye, who did 
 not do me the honour to confer with me on 
 the fubjecT:, and who pleaded to the General 
 for not co-operating with him on the prin- 
 ciples of the plan, a reafon which, upon ex- 
 amination^ did not appear to me to be well 
 founded. As the General's own obfervations 
 
 to
 
 to me were verbal, I (hall not repeat them ; 
 but if your Grace ftiould have any curiofiry 
 on the fubjed, it is in my power to refer 
 you to two officers now living, who are not 
 without fome (kill in thefe matters, and whofe 
 teftimony, if it fhould agree, might be thought 
 fomewhat remarkable ; I mean Colonel Deb- 
 bieg and the Duke of Richmond. The 
 Colonel, to whom, at Chatham, in 1782, I 
 fubmitted the plan, did afterwards invite me, 
 in return, to perufe one for the fame purpofe 
 which he had then formed, acknowledging 
 at the fame time, that mine was the bafis of 
 his, and what particularly led him to a con- 
 federation of the fubject. The Duke, in No- 
 vember 1 779, had been pleafed to notice my 
 plan by letter in the following very flatter- 
 
 ing terms: 
 
 " I AM very much obliged to you for the 
 " very ingenious and noble plan you have 
 " fent me for the defence of Portfmouth, 
 " which, for the moft part, as well as your 
 " reafonings on the fubjet, intirely coincide 
 " with my ideas. Portfmonth, as well as 
 
 " Plymouth,
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 " Plymouth, will be beft defended by, 
 " &c. &c. &c." 
 
 It was thus, my Lord, that the profcribed 
 Major was wont, as an officer, to conduct 
 himfelf ; and fuch were the men who ho- 
 noured him with tokens of their efteem. 
 Between the feelings of this officer, in thus 
 difcharging with anxiety the duties of fidelity 
 to his country, and the feelings of that Lord 
 Lieutenant who abufed the truft repofed in 
 him, and has continued for thirteen years 
 a mean perfecution of the man he dares not 
 charge with blame or unworthinefs ; be- 
 tween the widely different feelings of thefe 
 men, judge, my Lord, if you can. 
 
 But, if not my military, but my political 
 conduct was the fole ground of your Grace's 
 treatment, I fhall again appeal to the fame 
 nobleman, now a cabinet minifter, who, I 
 believe, did me even the honour to make 
 favourable mention of my name in his place 
 in parliament, when he introduced the beft 
 prqpofal for reforming the reprefentation of 
 
 this
 
 tins country that has yet been fubmitted to 
 legiflative confideration ; and who, in the 
 mod eflential part of his conduct, ran the 
 fame courfe with myfelf. But I can make 
 a yet higher appeal : I can appeal to tbc ri- 
 ti/b nation ; in whofe fervice, as a fincere 
 friend to its liberties and its constitution, I 
 have not been inactive. In a courfe of many 
 years, and in many eflays that I have pub- 
 limed, I can boldly challenge even malice 
 itfelf to point out a fmgle deviation from 
 the true principles of the conftitution, a fmgle 
 act, or a fmgle fentiment, that has marked 
 me as a partizan of any faction, either in or 
 out of place, or that could bring me under 
 fufpicion of wanting attachment to what 
 ought to be the government of this country, 
 againft 'what it //, fo far as concerns the 
 peopled mare of it. I confefs that what I 
 have written has been, what fome would call 
 one continued libel, and the greateft of libels 
 becaufe it was true. Even amongft our re- 
 formers I have never deferted principle-, I 
 have always fleered clear of party ; and fup- 
 ported no interefts but the interefts of truth, 
 G juftice,
 
 ( 4* ) 
 
 juftice, and freedom. It has been my re- 
 proach, that I was fo immovably rivetted to 
 the abftract perfection of our conftitution y 
 that I obftrudled the fyftems for gradually 
 aboli/bing the abufes of reprefentation. That,, 
 in conjunction with a Jebb, a Lofft, a Sharp,, 
 a Batley, a Martin, and many others, I did,, 
 in all feafons, (as I think,) prudently contend 
 for the conjlltution if/elf^ inftead of this man's- 
 fancy or that man's conceit, is now a fatisfac- 
 tion to me that would be ill exchanged for 
 all the coronets upon earth, and a ftiield 
 which no dart your Grace can invent for 
 wounding my political character will be able 
 to penetrate. 
 
 Nor need I, my Lord, flop here; for I cart 
 farther appeal to both Rritain and America* 
 While ftatefmen and orators concerned them- 
 felves little farther about America^ than as 
 furnifhing pretences under which they 
 covered their own contention for power ; and 
 while with them all turned upon Jtate ex- 
 pediency that offspring of hell it was my 
 employment to {hew, that taxing America 
 
 by
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 by the Britifh Commons, was unconftitutional ; 
 that coercion was tyranny ; and that a volun- 
 tary grant of independence would be our 
 greateft wifdom. Before America claimed her 
 independence, I afierted her title to it ; and the 
 popoial prior to tbefpilling of a drop of blood, of 
 An Independent Ftederal League^ was mine. 
 What this Tingle, healing, falutary meafure, 
 continuing the profits and bleflings of peace, 
 faving near two hundred millions of treafure, 
 and preventing the effufion of blood would 
 have effected, is now fufficiently known. 
 It was, however, liable to one objection, 
 which, until pointed out to me by a Prefident 
 of Congrefs, I had not feen in its full force: 
 " It would have rendered the foederated 
 " countries too flrong for the repofe of the 
 " reft of the world." 
 
 On humbler ground, too, I am not without 
 evidence, that where the public good was con- 
 cerned, I have ever been ready to promote 
 it. To every fucceflive adininiftration, from 
 the year 1771 to the prefent time, I have 
 invariably communicated the plan for dif- 
 G 2 pofmg
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 pofmg of the Royal forefts, which will be 
 found in the Appendix *. 
 
 From a voluminous Report of a Committee 
 of the Houfe of Commons in 1771, on the 
 fubjects of forefts and timber, and of re- 
 ftraining the Eaft-India company in the fize 
 of their fhips, it had appeared, that a want 
 of national timber was to be apprehended ; 
 that depredation, abufe, and incroachment, 
 were daily leflening not only the timber of 
 the forefts, but the property of the public 
 in the forefts themfelves ; that full-grown 
 oaks, ftems, limbs, branches, to the very fag- 
 got-ftufF, fometimes dlf appeared in the courfe of 
 one tiight ; and that all the expenfive attempts 
 under ats of Parliament and the fervants of 
 the Crowtiy to effect a profitable cultivation 
 of oak, had uniformly proved in the end 
 vifionary project or lucrative jobs ; for want 
 of its being made men's w r ifdom to be honeft, 
 and for want of a f elf -inferring principle in 
 the plans capable of counteracting the fapping 
 
 * NO. in,
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 and undermining influence of private intereft, 
 or the deftructive effects of future indifference 
 and neglect. To obviate thefe inconvenien- 
 ces was the object of the plan. Its merits in 
 that, and in other refpects, are now left for 
 the public to decide on. Many private per- 
 fons have thought well of it. The fentiments 
 of official men have never been made known 
 to me. It was fhewn, by the defire of a 
 friend, many years ago, to Dr. Douglafs, fo 
 eminent for ability and literature, and now 
 one of the ornaments of the epifcopal bench. 
 When the writer afked his opinion of it, his 
 anfwer was, " I fear we are not now- a- days 
 " honeft enough for fuch plans." 
 
 I (hall only mention two inftances more, 
 my Lord, in matters connected with my 
 original profeffion, wherein I have endea- 
 voured to render myfelf iervicable to the pub- 
 lic* One was, in offering a plan for railing 
 the Royal George ; of which the firft Lord 
 of the Admiralty obferved to the Duke of 
 Richmond, that, in his judgment, it appeared 
 to be the beft which had been tendered. I 
 afterwards heard that fome objections were 
 
 ftarted
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 flatted to it when read in the Dock-yard, up- 
 on which, with many others, it was laid 
 afide. But what plan, for fuch a purpofe, 
 ftruck out in a few hours on the firft fpur 
 of the occafion, could be free from defect ? 
 I had not indeed offered it as perfect, but 
 merely as containing the great principle of 
 the operation, and the outline of the execu- 
 tion. If thefe were comprehended, I fuppofed 
 that I might be applied to for removing ap- 
 parent difficulties. Having in view neither 
 job nor reward, I merely tranfmitted it to 
 government without preffing it upon official 
 attention; and, by the countenance afterwards 
 given to the fcheme of an adventurer, whofe 
 propofed power bore no fort of proportion 
 to mine, I fuppofed it might be this caufe that 
 configned my plan, and perhaps ftill better 
 ones, to neglect. I mean no reflections 
 upon the Dock officers, whofe duties, I dare 
 fay, left them not time for difcuffing a tenth 
 part of the plans fubmitted to them. The 
 error, I think, was in the fuperior board, 
 who mould not have impofcd fuch an extra 
 talk upon men who had already more than 
 enough upon their hands ; but ought to 
 3 have
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 have collected a fmall number of mathemati- 
 cal men, engineers, and diftinguifhed mecha- 
 nics, for examining and reporting upon fuch 
 plans as might come before them, 
 
 The other inftance, was, in propofing a 
 mode, explained by drawings, for the taking, 
 in a few feconds, at any time of the day, 
 plans of two hoftile fleets, while manceu- 
 vering or engaging, fo as to be able to lay 
 before government or the public, a ftate of 
 facts fufficiently correct for every neceflary 
 purpofe, particularly on the trials of admi- 
 rals. The great confufion and uncertainty 
 thrown over the trials of Byng, of Mathews 
 and Leftock, and of Keppel and Pallifer, have 
 fufficiently (hewn the want of fuch a plan. 
 This laft, rimmed haftily, was fent to a fea- 
 officer then commanding in chief; but I 
 know not his thoughts of it. 
 
 Whether thefe feveral plans, or any of 
 them, have any intrinfic' value, is not the 
 queftion : Neither is it to the point, whether 
 any exertions on an object of infinitely more 
 importance have been wifely or unwifely di*- 
 
 reeled.
 
 rented. They are only mentioned merely to 
 {hew, that the author of them was fo far from 
 being unworthy of all truft or encouragement, 
 or hoftile to the public interefts, as your 
 Grace's treatment of him tended to infmuate, 
 that, unfolicited, unemployed, unpaid, and, 
 in fome inftances, at great labour and expence 
 to himfelf, as well as to the neglect of his 
 private affairs, he has long and frequently 
 laboured as a volunteer to promote various 
 public objects, and the beft interefts of his 
 King and country. Ill would it become him 
 to fpeak. of thefe things did he not ftand, by 
 implication, in the fituation of an accufed per- 
 fon ; and accufed of wanting fidelity where 
 he trufts that he has particularly given of it 
 the inoft convincing proofs. Will your Grace 
 be pleafed to inform the public of your vo- 
 luntary and unpaid fervices ? Being now, in 
 your turn, the accufed ; charged with abufing 
 a public truft for private malice, or for 
 ibme caufe you dare not name, it will be no 
 violation of modefty to produce them. 
 
 Having thus cleared the way, it is full time 
 that we come to your Grace's laft proceed- 
 ings
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 ings againft me, viz. your giving, in Septem- 
 ber laft, to a Captain in the regiment the 
 Lieutenant Colonel's commiffion j and your 
 attempt, at the fame time, to fuperfede me, 
 by the actual appointment of another Major. 
 It is in the firft of thefe cafes that I charge 
 you with having acted difhonourably ; and 
 in the laft with having proceeded illegally. I 
 fhall alfo fhew that the motive avowed for 
 fetting me afide was nnconjlitutlonal. Let my 
 witneffes fpeak for themfelves. 
 
 Nottingham^ iqtb May, 1791. 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I AM extremely forry to hear the acci- 
 a dent you have met with is the caufe of 
 " our not having the pleafure of feeing 
 " you, &c. &c. 
 
 " 
 
 " I received a letter yefterday from the 
 " Duke of Newcaftle, informing me Colonel 
 " Willoughby had refigned the regiment, and 
 " that his Grace intended me the honour, 
 " on his Majefty's approbation, to fucceed 
 " him. I flatter myfelf you will accept the 
 H " lieutenant
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 " lieutenant-colonelcy ; which the Duke pro- 
 " mifed me in the winter you fhould fucceed 
 " to *, &c. &c. 
 
 " I remain, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your moft obedient 
 " Humble fervant, 
 
 " E. T. GOULD, 
 " Lieut. Col, Nott. Militia. 
 
 " To 
 
 u Major Cartwright." 
 
 In the year 1778, it was only it feems, 
 
 fettled between your Grace and Lord George 
 
 Sutton^ that I was to fucceed ; but here, my 
 
 Lord, on the evidence of a man of honour, 
 
 is eftablifhed a direct prpm'ffe. 
 
 " Qottingbaniy Aug. iQtb 1791* 
 " DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 " I THIS day received a meflage from 
 " the Duke of Newcaftle, through Mr. Jack- 
 
 * If I were in any degree indebted to the interference of 
 Colonel Gould for this promife, I fhould be glad to know it, 
 and to acknowledge fuch a mark of his attention. 
 
 " fon,
 
 ** fon, to inform me, that as you had attended 
 
 .** the Revolution dinner of the i3th ultimo, 
 
 *' he could not, confidently with his political 
 
 " principles, promote you to the vacant Lieu- 
 
 * l tenant-Colonelcy of the Nottinghammire 
 
 *' Militia ; and therefore, as he wiflied not 
 
 *' to have any correfpondence with you on 
 
 41 the fubjedl:, he requefted of me to commu- 
 
 * c nicate his determination to you. This 
 
 * l being the cafe, I prefume you will rengn 
 
 ** immediately. 
 
 " Your affe&ionate brother, 
 " GEORGE CARTWRLGHT." 
 
 Refign ! No, my good brother, nothing 
 tike it. It is more agreeable to me to make 
 knaves wince under my correction, than 
 laugh at my pettifh folly, 
 
 And fo your Grace was heartily tired of 
 my correfpondence. I fmcerely believe it. 
 How unfortunate you are ! The more pains 
 you take to get rid of me and my correfpon- 
 dence, the clofer I ftick to you, and the more 
 I pefter you \ 
 
 H 2
 
 ( s* ) 
 
 Extract from the London Gazette, from Satur- 
 day Nov. igtb to Tn -ej "day Nov. 22^, '1791. 
 
 " Commiffions in the Nottinghainfhire Rer 
 " giment, by the Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 " LieutenantrColonel Edward Thoroton 
 " Gould, to be Colonel, vice the Honoura- 
 " ble Henry Willoughby, refigned. Dated 
 " June 22, 1791. 
 
 " Thomas Charlton the younger, Efq. to 
 " be Lieutenant-Colonel. Dated Septem- 
 " ber 1 3th, 1791. 
 
 " Auguftus Parkyns, Efq. to be Major. 
 " Dated September I3th, 1791. 
 
 " Samuel Wright, Efq. to be Captain. Dated 
 " May 1 2th, 1791. 
 
 " Henry Coape, Efq. to be Captain. Dated 
 " September 1 3th, 1791." 
 
 You know, my Lord, that on the firft va- 
 cancy for a fuperior commiflion, above thir- 
 teen years ago, I regiftered the neceflary qua- 
 lification ; and that, after the deceafe of my 
 father, I likewife regiftered a qualification 
 
 for
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 ior ferving as Colonel. Your Grace alfo 
 knows that I have more than once, in order 
 to counteract miftake, report, or trick, written 
 to yourfelf, to mew my readinefs to ferve in 
 a higher capacity. 
 
 Now, my Lord, I muft requeft to .be in- 
 formed, how my dining at the Crown and 
 Anchor tavern on the I4th of July laft, ab- 
 folved you from your promife to me, made 
 through Colonel Gould ? After all that I have 
 related, doubly facred ought that particular 
 promife to have been held. Does your 
 Grace recollect that in a Peer's honour is 
 included even his religion ? When others de- 
 pofe on oath, he declares on his honour; 
 which is held equivalent to calling God to wit- 
 nefs his veracity. But where the nobility of 
 moral principle is wanting, in vain mail we 
 call on artificial nobility to fill its place. It is 
 but too manifeft, that the promife in queftion 
 was the mere effect of mame for paft con- 
 duct, and not of any regard to juftice; and 
 prompt indeed muft you have been to break 
 it, when you did it on a pretext, which 
 proves only, that a native love of tyranny 
 was fufficient in a moment to obliterate in 
 
 your
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 your mind a fenfe of moral obligation. But, 
 to return to the dining bufmefs, I am yet to 
 learn that, for an Englishman barely to re- 
 joice that his fellow-creatures in any part of 
 the globe have obtained a blefTmg, is either 
 criminal, or unconftitutional. It is, how- 
 ever, methinks a little unconftitutional, for 
 ' ' 
 
 any one avowedly to exercife the powers 
 committed to him by way of punifhing actions 
 fo innocent. And I prefume too, that fuch 
 exercife of power is alfo oppreffive. If the 
 Have traders had had equal power with your 
 Grace, how puniminents would lately have 
 flown round this land ! How the criminal 
 wi/Jjes of the people would have been 
 chaftifed ! But fome perfons are fo eccentric 
 as to think, that criminal perfons are thofe 
 who exercife or abet injuftice or oppreffion of 
 any defcription. 
 
 Here, my Lord, I would farther afk, in 
 whofe favour, and under what circumftances, 
 was this promife of the Liutenant Colonelcy 
 made ? Was it not one whofe political fenti- 
 ments you perfectly knew ; to one whom 
 you knew to have vindicated American re- 
 fiftance ; and to one whom you knew to have 
 
 facrificed,
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 facrificed, to thofe principles, the faireft prc- 
 fefiional profpe&s * ? Had you not alfo known 
 
 the 
 
 * It was a facrifice that cod the writer fome tears. But 
 'tis better to part with' tears than principles. Offered a com- 
 miflion to ferve in the fliip of a commander in chief whofe 
 profefiional character he held in the highefl eftimation ; under 
 whom he had been trained ; and to whom he had at former 
 periods owed great obligations ; and having at the fame time 
 a partiality for a naval life ; it could not be oil flight 
 grounds that he declined the offer ; efpecially when that com- 
 mander expreffed a full perfuafion of being able to bring the 
 American difpute to an amicable couclufion, without making 
 ufe of the force entrufted to him. The event, however, 
 (hewed that the writer judged properly, in declining a com- 
 mifiion which muft have brought him into the dilemma, of 
 either drawing his fword againft America, which he thought 
 unjuft ; or of refigning his commiffion on the eve of battle, 
 which others would have thought dimonourable. 
 
 He mould not have written this note, had it not been to ex- 
 prefs to Lord Howe, that the impreflions of his goodnefs to 
 the writer on that and many former occafions, have never been 
 weakened in his bread ; although fome untoward circum- 
 ftances unfavourable to the election interefls of his Lordfln'p's 
 brother in the town of Nottingham, might pofllbly excite in 
 his Lordfliip's mind an idea that they had. The writer's firft 
 introduction at Nottingham, as a candidate acceptable to the 
 gentlemen in that town, who interefted themfelves in favour 
 of a parliamentary reform, was at a period when /'/ couu/ r^i 
 interfere with the interefls of Sir William Howe. The con- 
 nexion continued, however, till it did interfere : But it was a 
 
 connexion
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 the activity and exertions of that man in the 
 caufe of parliamentary reform ; and that his 
 enmity to the abufes in our reprefentation 
 had never abated ? If to fuch a man, your 
 promife of the Lieutenant-Colonelcy was made 
 at Chriftmas 1 790 ; it is a tafk beyond my 
 {kill in cafuiftry, to fhew how you can juflify 
 the intentional breach of that promife at Mid- 
 iummer in 1791, feeing no alteration what- 
 ever in the principles or practice of the per* 
 ion in quft ion. 
 
 Is it, then, the honourable tenure upon 
 xvhich every gentleman is to hold his com- 
 miffion in your militia, that he prefumes not 
 to rejoice but when you rejoice, nor to weep 
 but when you weep ? Is he neither to exprefs 
 his fatisfattion when other nations become 
 free, nor to open his lips in favour of the 
 liberties of his own country ? But at all 
 events I conclude, that he muft make no at- 
 tempt to remove abufes in the reprefentation 
 of Great-Britain, be they ever fo fcandalous, 
 
 connexion on principle ; not on perfonal, or on party grounds. 
 Thofe are motives which, in public concerns, never did, nor 
 he trufts ever will actuate the writer. Even his own debts of 
 private gratitude, he fhould think himfelf a difhoneft man if 
 he could confent to pay at the expence of the public. 
 
 5 or
 
 { 57 ) 
 
 or productive of ever fo much injury to the 
 rights, the interefts, and the morals of the 
 people; fo long as your Grace remains a 
 borough-holder, and of courfe one of thofe 
 ******* who defpoil the Commons of that 
 reprefentation in parliament which belongs to 
 them alone f Thefe are ferious queftions 
 which my brother-officers, and thofe of the 
 whole Englilh militia, will do well to confi- 
 ider, as becomes their importance. It becomes 
 them, as well as myfelf, to fpurn at the 
 knavery and infolence of office, employed to 
 root out from the militia all independency of 
 mind. It becomes every man of us to ex- 
 prefs his indignation, whenever treated as 
 the property of a court dependent, pofleffing 
 not fufficient virtue to be himfelf the friend 
 of either civil or religious freedom ; nor wif- 
 dom enough to fliut up and conceal that want 
 of virtue within the dark and narrow cell of 
 his own bofom. I mail not, my Lord, de- 
 fend the propriety of my language, when I 
 fay your militia. I only aflumed on that oe- 
 cafion the language of the court, which will 
 be exemplified in the following anecdote, 
 years ago,, a nobleman, foon after his 
 J acceffion
 
 acceflion to the family title, paid his compli- 
 ments at court, where he was thus addreffed ; 
 " You live, I think, in the Duke of New- 
 " caftle's county." He indignantly repli- 
 ed ; "I live, Sir, in the county of Not- 
 '* tingham." 
 
 With refpedr. to the appointments quoted 
 from the Gazette, I have to obferve, that, 
 not admitting a particle of blame in my own 
 conduct on the I4th of July, I had a claim 
 not only upon the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, 
 but upon the higher commiffion itfelf. It is 
 true, that I could not have had it without 
 paffing over the head of Lieutenant Gould ; 
 but had not I been Major to the regiment fix 
 years and a half before he came into it ? And 
 was not the commiffion then given to him, 
 due to me ? If thefe be truths, my claim to 
 the commiffion of Colonel was as much 
 ftronger than his, as juftice is to be preferred 
 to injuftice ; not to remark, that my claim 
 was equally well-founded, when that com- 
 miffion was before given to Mr. Willoughby. 
 Nor fhall I fpend time in farther obferva- 
 tions concerning the appointment of Lieute- 
 nant
 
 nant Colonel Charlton ; but pafs on to that 
 of a new Major. This act, my Lord, does 
 as much honour to your head, as the others 
 have done to your heart ; and that is faying 
 a good deal. Where you thought you had 
 thus accomplifhed at once two favourite ob- 
 jedts to mortify and to difmifs the man 
 whofe long continuance in the regiment had 
 been fo painful to you, great I doubt not 
 was your felf-congratulation. But, my Lord, 
 if I can read plain Engliih, your triumph I 
 think will be fhort ; for, with fubmiffion to 
 your better judgment, I beg le^ive to offer it 
 as my humble opinion, that, your whole pry?^ 
 ceedings were utterly illegal. 
 
 Your Grace, it is true, had heard of an 
 At of Parliament paiTed in 1786, which fays^ 
 that the Lord Lieutenant of every county, at 
 the end of every five years may remove one 
 Field Officer, and one third of the Captains, 
 Lieutenants, and Enfigns, refpedively ; but 
 either the labour of reading that law, for in- 
 ilrudions how to proceed, was too great an 
 effort ; or you had a mind to {hew the De- 
 puty Lieutenants with how much contempt 
 I 2 you
 
 ( '6. ) 
 
 > 
 
 you could treat them ; and the world in ge-* 
 neral, that the law of your own will was 
 much fweeter to your palate than the laws 
 of the land, although it were ready to do the 
 very bufmefs you wanted. Or did you, my 
 Lord, really mean to be guided by the fta- 
 tute, and take opinions upon its interpreta- 
 tion ? If fo, your advifers, inftead of being 
 learned in the law, muft have been creatures 
 that could not read. No words can be 
 ^plainer than the words of this Adi. And its 
 fpirit is equally vifible. Refpe&ing the mat- 
 ter under confederation, I find as follows: 
 viz. 
 
 Extracts from a Statute of 26 Geo. II L, 
 c. 107, entitled, "An At for amending, 
 " and reducing into one Ac"t of Parliament,, 
 " the laws relating to the Militia in that part 
 " of Great Britain called England." 
 
 i. The Lieutenants " Shall alfo appoint a 
 proper number of Colonels^ Lieutenant- 
 Colonels, Majors, and other officers, quali- 
 fied as hereinafter-dire&ed, to train, difci- 
 pline, and command the perfons fo to be 
 
 armed
 
 ( 6. ) 
 
 armed and arrayed, according to the rules, 
 orders, and directions hereinafter-mentioned, 
 and fhall certify," &c. 
 
 xin. And be it further ena&ed, That the 
 clerk of the peace of every county, riding, 
 and place, fhall, and he is hereby required, 
 to enter the qualifications tranfmitted to him 
 according to the directions of this aft upon a 
 roll, to be provided and kept for that pur- 
 pofe, and to caufe to be inferted in the Lon- 
 don Gazette the dates of the commiflions, and 
 names and rank of the offipers, together with 
 the names of the officers in wbofe room they are 
 appointed, in like manner as commiflions in 
 the army are published, &c. 
 
 xv. And be it further enacted, That the 
 Lieutenant of every county, riding, and place, 
 together with any THREE or more Deputy 
 Lieutenants, and on the death or removal, 
 or in the abfence of any fuch Lieutenant, 
 and FIVE or more deputy Lieutenants, may, 
 at the end of every five years, at their an- 
 nual meetings to be holden as hereinafter is 
 directed, in cafe the militia of fuch county, 
 
 riding, 
 
 a
 
 riding, or place, mall not be then embodied, 
 difcharge fome one field-officer of each regi- 
 ment or battalion, and fuch a number of 
 
 ' officers of each inferior rank, in each regi- 
 ment, battalion, and independent company, 
 as fhall be equal to the number of perfons 
 who fhall have given notice in writing to 
 the Lieutenant of fuch county, riding, or 
 place, one month at leaft before fuch meet- 
 
 - ing, that they are willing to ferve as Field- 
 officers, Captains, Lieutenants, or Enfigns, 
 as the cafe may require : Provided always, 
 that the number of vacancies to be made by 
 difcharging fuch officers fhall not exceed one 
 third of fuch officers who fhall have ferved 
 for the fpace of five years in each rank re- 
 fpecliively : Provided alfo, that nothing here- 
 in contained fhall prevent any officer ferving, 
 or who has ferved in the militia, in an infe- 
 rior rank, from offering himfelf to ferve in 
 a higher rank, if he be qualified to ferve in 
 fuch higher rank. 
 
 xvi. The Lieutenant fhall appoint a clerk 
 of the general meetings. 
 
 XVIII,
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 xvin. And be it further enacted, That 
 general meetings of the lieutenancy of every 
 county, riding, and place, fhall be holclen in 
 fome principal town of every fuch county, 
 riding, or place ; and fuch general meetings 
 fhall confift of the Lieutenant, together with 
 t'wo deputy Lieutenants at the leaft, or, on 
 the death or removal, or in the abfence of 
 the Lieutenant, then of three Deputy Lieu- 
 tenants at leaft, of every county, riding, and 
 place refpectively ; and one fuch general 
 meeting fhall be holden within every county, 
 riding, and place, ANNUALLY, upon the 
 LAST TUESDAY which ihall happen before 
 the 24th DAY OF OCTOBER in every year; 
 and the Lieutenant, together with any tivo 
 Deputy Lieutenants, or (on the death or re- 
 moval, or in the abfence of the Lieutenant) 
 any three Deputy Lieutenants of any county, 
 riding, or place, when and as often as they 
 Ihall find neeeflary for carrying the purpofes 
 of this Act duly and fully into execution, 
 may fummon, or caufe to be fummoned, 
 other general meetings of the Lieutenancy, 
 on any days to be fixed by fuch fummons, 
 pf which days, and the places of holding 
 
 fuel}
 
 ( <M ) 
 
 fuch meetings refpedively, notice fliall be 
 given in the London Gazette, and alfo in any 
 weekly Newfpaper ufually circulated in fuch 
 county, riding, or place, fourteen days at 
 the leaft before the days appointed for hold- 
 ing fuch meetings refpedtively ; and in cafe 
 any ANNUAL or other general meeting mall 
 not be attended by the Lieutenant and two 
 Deputy Lieutenants, or by three Deputy 
 Lieutenants, as herein-before required, the 
 Lieutenant, who fliall attend at fuch meeting, 
 ihall and may adjourn, &c. 
 
 xxii. And be it further enacted, That the 
 Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants, or the 
 Deputy Lieutenants, at every ANNUAL 
 meeting to be holden as herein-before di- 
 rected, mail appoint the^r/? meetings of the 
 Deputy Lieutenants within the feveral fub- 
 divifions of their refpective counties, ridings, 
 and places, which faid frft meetings mall be 
 appointed to be held as early after the 24^6 
 flay of Oftober in every year, as conveniently 
 my be, 
 
 In
 
 In this Ad of Parliament, pafled in 1786, 
 \ve fee it provided, that, at the end of every 
 Jive years, a change of officers may be made ; 
 and we fee your Grace, in the year 1791, 
 embracing the firft opportunity offered you, 
 of carrying this provifion into effecT:. It is 
 alfo provided, that an officer having ferved in 
 one rank, may, on this change, be railed to 
 a higher commiflion, if legally qualified to 
 hold it. Hence it appears, that the poor dif- 
 carded Major might have been preferred, had 
 you thought his fervices entitled him to fo 
 much favour. But, in this bufmefs of a 
 quintennial change of officers, it feems, my 
 Lord, to have been clearly forefeen by the 
 legiflature, that, if not carefully guarded 
 againft, it would infallibly become a caufe of 
 factious , malicious , and iniquitous proceedings. 
 It does, therefore, guard againft fuch abufes, 
 by taking efpecial care that fuch change of 
 officers mail not be done at the 'will of the 
 Lord Lieutenant alone, nor in fecret^ nor by 
 furprize. It likewife makes farther provi- 
 fions of great wifdom, as a fecurity that the 
 removal of officers mall be impartial. You 
 will pleafe to obferve, my Lord, that the 
 K buiinefs
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 bufmefs mufl be done at a general meeting ; 
 that fuch general meeting muft alfo be an 
 annual meeting ; and moreover muft be held 
 on the loft Tuefday which mall happen before 
 the twenty-fourth day of October; and on 
 no other day in the year. And again : Al- 
 though in all other cafes of general meetings, 
 the Lord Lieutenant together with two Depu- 
 ties ; or elfe three Deputies without the Lord 
 Lieutenant, are now to do bufmefs : Yet, if 
 any quintennial removal of officers be to take 
 place in the annual general meeting, then, in 
 that particular cafe, and in that only, the 
 At requires the prefence of the Lord Lieute- 
 nant together isjith THREE Deputies at the 
 leajl ; or elfe of FIVE Deputies at the leajl 
 without the Lord Lieutenant ; and the faid 
 a?inual general meeting is open to the Lieute- 
 nancy of the whole county if they choofe to 
 attend. So well, and fo wifely does the Act 
 provide againft arbitrary -will, fecrefy, fur- 
 prize, picque, or partiality. Literal compli- 
 ances with all thefe forms are effentials ; and 
 a defect in any one of thefe eflentials, muft 
 prove fatal to any commiffion given for the 
 purpofe of a quintennial change of officers. 
 But your Grace has ingeuioufly contrived 
 
 that
 
 I 7 ) 
 
 that the new Major's commiflion granted by 
 you on the 1 3th of September laft, mall be 
 defective in them ALL. Not one of them in 
 the fmalleft degree was regarded. No annual 
 meeting held ; not a fmgle general meeting 
 in the year 1791 ; no attendance of Deputy 
 Lieutenants^ either to countenance or difap- 
 prove of the noble deed ; and, to complete 
 the blundering bufmefs in a truly Hibernian 
 ftile, the commiffion bears date five weeks 
 before it was poiTible, under the authority of 
 this Act, that a vacancy could be made by 
 my removal ; fmce that could not have taken 
 place, as the Act has (hewn, till the eighteenth 
 day of October, which was the laft Tuefday 
 prior to the twenty-fourth day of the month. 
 The whole of the dirty bufmefs is thus done 
 contrary to law, and in fecret. One Major 
 is fmuggled out, and another fmuggled into 
 the regiment in the dark. Darknefs indeed 
 muft have prevailed, when you could not 
 fee the road fo clearly pointed out by the le- 
 giflature j and mame muft cover the tranfac- 
 tion now it is brought to light. I prefume 
 that by this time you perceive, that I have 
 ftill the honour to remain Major to the Not- 
 K 2 ting-
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 tinghammire Militia ; as I am, doubtlefs, 
 your Grace's obliged and obedient fervant, 
 I mall of courfe appear in my poft when the 
 regiment next afTembles ; unlefs your Grace 
 fhould in the mean time find fome more ef- 
 fedual means of removing me, than thofe I 
 have recited. Should his Majefty be pleafed 
 to command a refignation of my commiffion, 
 it will be furrendered without regret, and it 
 will be found without (lain. I am too little 
 acquainted with court arcana, to know whe- 
 ther a Militia Major be of fufficient confe- 
 quence to be neceffarily named, and bis cha- 
 ratter entered into, when it is propofed to 
 put another officer over his head. If he be, 
 I wifh the man, whoever he was, that gave 
 my character to the King, as a ground for 
 my not being preferred, would ftand forth 
 and publicly avow the report he made. In 
 the moments of a contemptuous indignation, 
 I have fometimes thought of feeking to 
 know, in what light I had been reprefented 
 in that quarter : But upon confideration it 
 appeared not worth my attention. If there 
 a"re any in his Majefty's counfels, who think 
 the treatment I have received merits inquiry, 
 
 they
 
 they have now before them what I have to 
 fay on the fubjedt ; further than which, un- 
 lefs called upon, I fnall give myfelf no trou- 
 ble. But I am wandering from the Act of 
 Parliament, and the notable appointment of 
 the 1 3th of September. I will return. Were 
 your thoughts my Lord, fo completely oc- 
 cupied with my removal, that the co-autho- 
 rity of the Deputy Lieutenants, and the plain 
 meaning of the Act, were totally over- 
 looked ? Was your whole mind fo filled 
 with that one little idea, that it had not room 
 for a fecond of any kind ? Or are we to un- 
 derftand, that you equally defpifed both the 
 law and the Deputy Lieutenants ; and were 
 determined that an act and deed fo meritori- 
 ous mould be wholly your own ? Believe 
 me, however, that this fpecimen of your 
 Generalihip will rene<t fome credit on your 
 judgment in one particular inftance. It will 
 (hew that when you did not avail yourfelf of the 
 power in your hands, to aflume the character 
 of a military commander, in quality of Colonel 
 to the regiment, you acted with judgment and 
 prudence. With the fuperior force in your 
 hands of a Lord Lieutenar, 1 :, and with every 
 
 pcflible
 
 poffible advantage of the ground that law 
 could give you, to attack the defencelefs, 
 unrefifting Major, and to be foiled by the 
 folly of your own wretched manoeuvres, 
 places your Grace, I fear, in a light approach- 
 ing to the ridiculous. But be not, my good 
 Lord Duke, difcouraged : Rally your fcat- 
 tered troops : Aflemble your mercenaries : 
 call a council of war : and gallantly open a 
 new campaign. Your future ability and 
 prowefs may wipe away the paft difgrace ; 
 and your fage brows may yet be decorated 
 with the laurel of victory. 
 
 Before we lofe fight of the At of Parlia- 
 ment, I muft remark, that, in refpeft to the 
 change which it fays, may be made, of one 
 field-officer, the fpirit of that provifion was 
 at the time of the late appointments already 
 fulfilled, onefold-officer had been removed by 
 the recent refignation of Colonel Willough- 
 by> in whofe room Lieutenant-Colonel Gould 
 was appointed Colonel : And at the point of 
 time now in queftion, when I ivas to be re- 
 moved) there were but two field-officers in 
 the regiment ; of which number one is fome- 
 
 what
 
 ( 7' > 
 
 what more than a third part. Hence, as it 
 fhould feem to me, there was neither a ne- 
 ceffity for the removal of a fqcond field-offi- 
 cer, nor was it warranted by the act. But 
 I will not fay in what light that neceffity nor 
 the meaning of the act, might appear to 
 your Grace, who feem to have entertained 
 fuch accurate notions of the fpirit of the law, 
 and to have ftudied its letter with fuch lauda- 
 ble induftry. As the cafe now ftands, and 
 provided the appointment of Major were 
 legal, inftead of the removal of one field offi- 
 cer, all three have been removed. Colonel 
 Willoughby removed himfelf; Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Gould was removed, when advan- 
 ced ; and then the Major was removed, 
 when he was fmuggled out of the corps. 
 
 But, to refume a little ferioufnefs, I would 
 now defire your Grace to reflect, whether a 
 Lord Lieutenant acting upon thofe public, 
 difmterefted, and dignified principles, which 
 out to be infeperable from the execution of 
 every high national and conftitutional truft, 
 would not act with true confiftency, and 
 agreeable to a juft fenfe of the peculiar deli" 
 
 cacy
 
 ( r- ) 
 
 required in carrying into effect that par- 
 ticular part of the militia-aci: now under con- 
 federation, were he to requeft the attendance 
 at the annual general meeting above-men- 
 tioned, of all thofe officers whom it appeared 
 f roper to change. Would it be too much, 
 my Lord-, after the honeft labours of many 
 years, to be treated at their removal like gen- 
 tlemen ; to receive a formal, folemn, honour- 
 able difmiffion in the public meeting of Lieu- 
 tenancy, appointed for the very purpofe of 
 t'.^ir removal. Would it be too great a fa- 
 vour that the words of the difmiffion mould 
 convey to their minds a fatisfactory aflurance, 
 that it was a removal necefTarily flowing 
 from the operation of the law itfelf ; and 
 that fuch acknowledgements mould then be 
 made of their fervices, as they might be en- 
 titled to receive from their country, through 
 its official organ the Lord Lieutenant, either 
 inperfonor by deputy? Methinks, my Lord, 
 that feme fuch decent ceremony would have 
 fugg'rlted itfelf to an honourable and feeling 
 mind, called upon to officiate on an occasion 
 of fo much delicacy. But what a contrail 
 do the late proceedings exhibit ! The Lord 
 
 Lieutenant
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 Lieutenant refpects neither the officer to be 
 removed, the Deputy Lieutenants to be con- 
 fulted, nor himfelf bound to fupport an high 
 official character: The fpirit of the law is 
 flighted; the letter, difregarded. 
 
 But iuppofmg your Grace's intuitive know- 
 ledge, as an hereditary legiflator, to prefent 
 thefe matters to your mind in a different light 
 from that in which they ftrike mine ; yet 
 furely, my Lord, the habits of your life, as 
 a nobleman, inuft have impofed it on you as 
 a mere act of good breeding, to have di- 
 rected at leaft an official notification to have 
 been fent to a Field officer whom you had fu- 
 perfeded in confequence of the Act of Parlia- 
 ment! If I am to underftand that, by the 
 appointment of another Major, I am fuper- 
 feded, to this hour I have received no fuch 
 mark of your politenefs. I mould humbly 
 conceive, that your fteward is not quite fo 
 deficient in good manners, when he gives 
 his difmiffion to one of your fcullions. But 
 what civility am I to expect, when no one 
 provifion of the Act of Parliament, which it 
 was your duty to have obeyed, met with the 
 L flighteft
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 flighteft refpect at your hands. Even the 
 very form of the publication of the five ap- 
 pointments in the Gazette, is contrary to the 
 exprefs words of the Act, and to ufage in 
 fix particulars. Sure never poor Act of Par- 
 liament was fo contemptuoufly dealt with! 
 The Act pofitively requires, that in the pub- 
 lication of the changes in the Gazette, it 
 fhall be expreiTed in tvbofe room each officer 
 has been appointed. This tingle injunction 
 is difobeyed in no lefs than four inftances; 
 and, in particular, my name no where ap- 
 pears. This feems the moft extraordinary of 
 all your omiffions. No Roman victor ever 
 forgot in his triumph, to exhibit at his cha- 
 riot wheels the principal perfonage whom he 
 had fubdued. But perhaps your magnani- 
 mity made you rather make free with an Act 
 of Parliament, than cruelly expofe to the 
 public eye, him whom in your imagination 
 you had vanquilhed. It is amufing to ob- 
 ferve how ufage is attended to, in mention- 
 ing the rank of the officer who is made Co- 
 lonel, viz. Lieutenant Colonel Gould; but 
 when the officer now made Lieutenant Co- 
 lonel is mentioned, bis rank of Captain is not 
 
 noticed.
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 noticed. The refigning Colonel Willoughby, 
 as the Act enjoins, is properly mentioned : 
 But \kzfnpcrfeded Major is, as I faid before, 
 fmuggled and kept out of fight. 
 
 Having thus followed your Grace, ftep by 
 ftep, through the Militia Act of 1786, and 
 through the London Gazette, I cannot avoid 
 making one obiervation; although it is fo 
 obvious that it muft occur to the mind of 
 every attentive reader. To all fuch as, like 
 your Grace, may have only heard of this 
 Act without having read it; and who may 
 have known no more of it, than could be 
 collected from your manner of carrying it 
 into execution, it might well be taken to be, 
 " An Aft for garbling the Militia of England 
 " once in every Jive years, fo as to render the 
 " officers of the fame completely fubfervient to 
 " the 'will and pleafure of his Majejly s Lieu- 
 " tenant of each county refpettively" 
 
 Am I to fuppofe, my Lord, that you bad 
 
 read the ftatute in queftion, but would not 
 
 venture before the Lieutenancy of the county, 
 
 to bring forward your meafures ; nor to give 
 
 L 2 me
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 me an opportunity of facing you in a Gene- 
 ral Meeting? If this were really the cafe, it 
 will only aggravate what is already too bad 
 to look on. 
 
 When the national militia is to be thug 
 garbled; and when, in fo doing, the law of 
 the land for preventing fuch practices is to be 
 thus trodden under foot, it is high time that 
 thofe to whom it belongs to preferve refpect 
 to the government, mould look to fuch 
 grofs abufes of delegated power. For the 
 mere acceptance of the Lieutenancies of 
 counties, where the abufe of power in mak- 
 ing the changes lay with the minifter, we re- 
 member to have feen Lords Lieutenants 
 themfelves removed. They mould not, 
 therefore, be too certain that their own 
 abufes of power and difgraceful acts, will 
 efcape without rebuke. 
 
 In the cafes alluded to, noblemen *, in- 
 deed, were the injured perfons ; whereas, in 
 
 * The Earl of Pembroke and the Marquis of Caermarthen, 
 now Duke of Leeds ; and, I think, alfo, the Duke of Bolton, 
 had been treated in the fame way.
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 the prefent cafe, it is only a mere private gen- 
 tleman. What difference that may make in 
 the eye of the cabinet, I am not able to 
 judge: But if my perfonal and oft-repeated 
 injuries be not alone fufficient to bring down 
 the fcale of juftice to a balance; there re- 
 mains to be put in, the infringement of the 
 authority, and contemptuous treatment, of 
 the whole Deputy Lieutenancy of the county 
 of Nottingham; and the infult given to the 
 dignity of the legiflature itfelf, in the direct and 
 indecent violation of an Act of Parliament. 
 
 In a cafe cognizable only by a body ofjuf- 
 tices^ in Quarter Seffions, fhould &fmgle ma- 
 giftrate prefume, in his own clofet, to pre- 
 judge the point, to pronounce a decifion, 
 and thereupon illegally to injure any man, 
 in his office or his reputation; on afllgned 
 motives utterly unconftitutional; and with 
 he fouleft fufpicionsof premeditated malice; 
 would not the Court of King's Bench foon 
 teach that corrupt magiftrate the difference 
 between legal oppreffion, and an upright ad- 
 mininration of law ? For other corrupt ma- 
 j there are other controuling powers. 
 
 It
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 It now only remains that I fum up the 
 evidence adduced in fupport of the charges 
 exhibited in the opening of this letter ; viz. 
 that your Grace's conduct in appointing a 
 Captain of the regiment in September laft to 
 be Lieutenant Colonel ; and at the fame time 
 fuperfeding me by the appointment of 
 another Major, was illiberal, illegal, oppref- 
 five, difhonoitrable, .and unconstitutional. 
 
 I have proved, under your own hand, that 
 at the very commencement of the period I 
 have reviewed, viz. in January 1779, you 
 yourfelf bore teftimony of my integrity as a 
 man, 
 
 I have alfo produced fome other teftimo- 
 nies equally refpectable, in fupport of that 
 character ; and which likewife tend to mew, 
 that, as an officer, my conduct was not 
 barely unimpeachable ; but had, indeed, met 
 with fome fmall tokens of approbation from 
 perfons of high reputation. 
 
 I have fhewn too that, notwithflanding 
 fuch an unimpeached character, and the juft 
 claims of my rank and fervices in the regi- 
 ment,
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 ment, prior to the appointment of Captain 
 Charlton to be Lieutenant Colonel in Septem- 
 ber 1791, you had at different times fuccef- 
 fively put over my head three other Lieute- 
 nant Colonels and two Colonels. 
 
 And I have brought' evidence moreover, 
 that to my temperate yet earneft exhortations 
 to know in what I had rendered myfelf un- 
 worthy of advancement, and why my cha- 
 radter was to be ftruck at by repeated flights 
 put upon me, the only anfwers I could ob- 
 tain were always to this effedi that it 'was 
 your will and pleafure to do as you bad done. 
 
 Then, not to lay any particular ftrefs upon 
 its having been in 1778 fettled between your 
 Grace and the Colonel that in cafe of a vacancy 
 for Lieutenant Colonel I was tofucceed, I have 
 eftablifhed \.\\zfacJ, of that commhTion hav- 
 ing been laft year promifed me by your 
 Grace. 
 
 And having thus eftablifhed that fad, it 
 follows of courfe, that when that promife 
 was given, you could not have intended to 
 
 remove me from the regiment. 
 
 All
 
 All thefe points being clearly eftablifhed, 
 the Gazette (hews, that, inftead of keeping 
 your word of advancing me in the regiment, 
 you employed your power to put me out of 
 it; in a mode highly reprehenfible in every 
 point of view, and by which the grorTeft 
 violations of a plain law, not capable of 
 mif-conftruclion, were committed; and 
 wherein the common decencies of behavi- 
 our between gentleman and gentleman had 
 not even been attended to. 
 
 Thus, my Lord, I have made cut, that 
 your conduct to me as a gentleman, has been 
 illiberal \ as an officer, opprejjive: That your 
 breach of promife was dijhonourablc, and 
 your appointment of another Major illegal. 
 And who can doubt, but that to proftitute a 
 high national truft repofed in you, to punifli 
 an act perfectly innocent, was unconftitu- 
 tionaL 
 
 Hitherto, my Lord, I have purpofely 
 avoided any obfervations on the French Re- 
 volution. But as my rejoicing in that event 
 has, by your Grace, been imputed to me as 
 
 a crime
 
 ( 81 ) 
 
 a. crime, it is not fit that I mould be Client. 
 Miftake me not, however, my Lord. I am 
 not going to labour a defence. I am not 
 about to plead in excuje of my conduct. No: 
 It is with other feelings that I mail fpeak of 
 the French Revolution. Being a phenome- 
 non in human affairs of fuch extraordinary 
 magnitude, and involving in it confequences 
 of fuch infinite importance to our fpecies, it 
 has, in all its ftages, been an object of anxi- 
 ous attention to the citizen, the ftatefman, 
 and the philofopher. To behold a gigantic 
 and horrible defpotifm, in a feafon of pro- 
 found peace, ficken and fpeedily crumble, 
 by mere natural decay, to its diflblution; 
 while from its afhes, with ere'Ct mein, and a 
 heavenly dignity of afpect, was feen rifing 
 the fair and enchanting form of a free ftate, 
 was a fpectacle truly calculated to command 
 the admiration of men, to excite inquiry 
 into its true origin, and to intereft the wife 
 and the good in the completion of a vifion fo 
 delightful. Seeing many millions of my 
 fellow creatures fuddenly redeemed from a 
 cruel fervitude degrading to the human fpe- 
 cies, my heart leaped with joy, and the tear 
 M of
 
 of extatic gratitude to the Difpoferof events, 
 gliftened in my eye. Revolving in my mind 
 thofe flow but certain advances of reafon,. 
 that progrefs of fcience, that extenfion of 
 thought, thofe jufter notions of man's rights, 
 and the irrefiftible power of truth, which* 
 maturing by imperceptible degrees the feeds 
 of renovation, had fo long been preparing 
 France for a change; and referring all fuch 
 fecondary caufes of events to their true 
 original, the Firft Great Caufe of all; HE it 
 was that I confidered as the true and proper 
 author of a revolution in human affairs fo 
 beneficent, fo grand, fo aftonifhing. Acting, 
 my Lord, under fuch impreffions, I have no 
 apology to make, for peaceably meeting like- 
 minded mCfi, focially to enjoy fatisfactions 
 fo pure and exalted. Did I not fincerely 
 rejoice in the French revolution, I mould not 
 dare to call man my brother, nor God my 
 heavenly father. 
 
 But my admiration, my Lord, is not a 
 blind idolatry. And although I confider 
 the event, when taken all together, as a glo- 
 rious difpenfation of Divine Providence, 
 to improve the virtue and to promote the 
 
 happinefs
 
 happinefs of mankind, yet I by no means 
 hold it to be inconfiftent with this idea, that 
 it partakes, as I think in a few inftances it 
 does, of the imperfection of man, the imme- 
 diate agent in giving it being. 
 
 He who through ignorance, or a mere 
 blamelefs ftupidity, fees nothing in the French 
 revolution to infpire joy, is an object of my 
 companion ; but with regard to him who 
 hath difcernment for making moral and po- 
 litical diftinctions, and yet declares a general 
 tlifapprobation of that revolution, nothing 
 but the utmoft exertion of charity can per- 
 fuade me, that he doth not willingly deceive 
 himfelf. There are, however, thofe whofe 
 induftrious and multiplied mifreprefentations 
 on this occafion ; whofe fcandalous perver- 
 fion of facts, of hiftory, of reafon ; whofe 
 apoftacy from former profeflions ; and whofe 
 infamous attempts to calumniate the patriots 
 of France, as well as to revile all thofe in 
 England who rejoice at the revolution ; there 
 are thofe I fay, whofe conduct in all thefe 
 particulars has ranked them in my eftimation 
 with the moft mifchievous, and moft wicked 
 M 2 of
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 of men. To a certain malignant attack in 
 particular, upon the venerable Price, in 
 whom were fo confpicuoufly united- the vir- 
 tues and graces of the honeft man, the firm 
 patriot, the mild philanthrophift, the en- 
 lightened moralift, and the humble chriftian, 
 it will be difficult to find a parallel in the an- 
 nals of human depravity. It was not, in vi- 
 rulence of language, even furpafled by thofe 
 who, on a former occafion, reviled and per- 
 fecuted that MASTER, of whom Price was fo 
 true a. follower. And from the very words 
 of the calumniator of Price, we are but too 
 well warranted in amiring ourfelves, that, had 
 the power been equal to the will, we had feen 
 on the occafion a crucified reformer ; his 
 life a facrifice to the fame diabolical paffions, 
 as once exhibited to the eyes of mankind a 
 crucified Redeemer. 
 
 While many of the wifefl amongft men, 
 in the French revolution behold a luminary 
 mounting in the firmament of reafon, to dif- 
 pel the heavy clouds of fuperftition, mifgo- 
 vernment, and oppreffion ; Mr. Burke feems 
 
 tot
 
 to be ftruck blind by this fudden burft of 
 light, curfes its fource, and can hail this re- 
 fplendent fun, only " to tell him how he 
 " hates his beams !" 
 
 With thoufands, and with tens of thou- 
 fands, aye, with all Europe's millions, I hope 
 again and again to celebrate the birth of 
 that conftitution which came to fave a great 
 kingdom and enlighten a world. To Mr. 
 Burke be it, with hideous bowlings, frantic 
 geftures, bigot rage, and impious incitements 
 to war and carnage, to honour the obfequies 
 of a fallen defpotifm ! His be the praife of 
 attempting to grace the funeral pile of the 
 departed, whom he fo devoutly adored and 
 fo pathetically laments ; with the wreck of a 
 new-born freedom, with the mutual flaugh- 
 ter of brethren, and with the tears, the 
 groans, the blood of mangled Europe ! But 
 the proud Pharifee acts in character. So 
 
 long as A GOVERNMENT OF COMMON HO- 
 NESTY AND COMMON SENSE approached 
 no nearer than America^ he was only /- 
 yuardly chagrined; but no fooner do we hear 
 as it were in our very ifland, die heaven- 
 rending
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 rending fhout of emancipated millions, vi- 
 brating on the eaftern breeze, and proclaim- 
 ing a like government in France ; no fooner 
 do we fee from our cliffs the bright banner 
 of French freedom waving to England its 
 friendly falutation, than, at this near ap- 
 proach of danger, his inmoft foul is troubled 
 and appalled. Labouring with gloomy and 
 diftradled thought, for a while he broods 
 over his " dif contents" in fullen filence. Vi- 
 lions of popular freedom, fo hateful to his 
 fight, haunt his pillow. The rights of man, 
 as evil genii, harrafs his tortured imagin- 
 ation. Thofefrancbifes of the Engl'i/Jo people, 
 
 " TO WHICH RATHER THAN CONSENT 
 " HE WOULD BE TORN IN PIECES BY 
 
 " HORSES," approach, and fill him with 
 agonies inexprefiible. And, in prophetic 
 vifion, he fees, with blood-chilling horror, 
 his darling GOVERNMENT OF MYSTERY 
 AND CORRUPTION, together with his cob- 
 web doctrines of ariftocratic connexion, civil 
 difcretion, reprefentation without election , and 
 and the reft of that fublime nonfenfe in po- 
 litics, which it has been the labour of his 
 life to inculcate, all fwept away by the 
 
 breath
 
 breath of TRUTH, like chaff before the wind; 
 and even the Higb-prieftbood of Impojlure it- 
 felf, that glorious object of human ambition, 
 on the point of extinction. What is to be 
 done ? Defperate the cafe : Defperate muft 
 be the remedy. May not one man's fophif- 
 tries extinguish in a moment the light and 
 learning of ages ? May not one man's fub- 
 tilties, filence at once the common fenfe of 
 nations ? And may not a fmgle orator, by 
 a fmgle oration, roufe all the European na- 
 tions, in the caufe of tyranny, to commit a 
 fdo de fe ? Cannot his eloquence perfuade 
 all human paffions to change their objects ; 
 and command even time itfelf to roll back 
 two centuries and leave man once more a 
 bigot and a (lave ? Such are the mad coun- 
 fels of rage and defperation. Forlorn, in- 
 deed, the hope : But periih freedom ; perifli 
 the human race ; rather than that an high- 
 prieft mall be humbled ! " Better to reign 
 in hell, than ferve in heaven." On a fmgle 
 throw, the frantic gamefter flakes his all. 
 Friendfhips ; principles ; political confequence ; 
 literary fame, and moral character ; all, all 
 are fet upon the die. The die is caft, and 
 
 all is . 
 
 3 As
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 As the whole of the French Conftitutiofl 
 is before the public, let every one think for* 
 himfelf. It is my prefent purpofe only, to 
 notice its general ejfeis on this fide of the 1 
 water. That it has given a fevere fhock to 
 all thofe who are interefted in the abufes and 
 corruptions of our own conftitution, is ma- 
 nifeft from their inveteracy againft it, from 
 the proftituted labours of the newfpapers in 
 their pay, and the artificial clamour they 
 have in vain endeavoured to excite againft 
 that conftitution. On the other hand, like 
 the awakening and animating trumpet of the 
 morn, it has broken the {lumbers of the En- 
 glim reformers, and rouzed them to a re- 
 newal of their generous labours : and it has 
 awakened in the people an attention to their 
 rights. The fpirit of political reform, bot- 
 tomed on juftice and truth ; maintained with 
 manly reafon ; and conducted with peace, 
 order and wifdom ; which is now fo confpi- 
 cuoufly rifmg, and fo rapidly fpreading 
 through the land, juftify both parties in the 
 opinions they have feverally formed on this 
 great event. Political popery and impofture 
 have received the mortal wound. Their re- 
 maining
 
 teaming ftruggles, will be the mere convul- 
 fions of death : But they will die as they 
 have lived ; uttering to the laft moment no- 
 thing but myftery, lies, and words of de- 
 ception. The hour, however, is at hand, 
 when they mall perilh. And in the fame 
 hour, the Britim people mail demand and 
 recover their rights ; and. mall " re-inflate the 
 " conjlitution upon its true principles *.'* 
 
 Not even plaufible concejjlon will now, in 
 my humble opinion, put the people off their 
 guard j and compromife will be received as 
 infult. Their demand is THEIR RIGHTS. 
 They are taking their caufe into their own 
 hands. They want no patrons : And their 
 FRIENDS will be their ftrvants. Their ope- 
 rations are infallible ; their ftrength will foon 
 be invincible* They peaceably aflbciate. 
 They exercife their own understandings on 
 their own concerns. They are comparing 
 the two fyftems of government now oppofed 
 to each other. Can any one doubt of their 
 preferring that of COMMON HONESTY AND 
 
 * Addrefs to the Public from the Friends of the People. 
 
 N COMMON
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 COMMON SENSE, to that of MYSTERY" ANT> 
 
 CORRUPTION I Contemplating the maimed,, 
 mutilated, mangled, and wretched condition 
 to which their reprefentative body is re- 
 duced ; and viewing with indignation the 
 fcanty fragments and loathfome offals, which 
 is all of freedom that they tafte, who can 
 fuppole, that they will deny themfelves the 
 delicious banquet of complete- conftitutional 
 liberty,, when they fhall fee it in their power t 
 to fit down to it ? The MajerVy of the Peo- 
 ple has too long been reduced tex the condi- 
 tion of a mendicant, fubfifting on- the crumbs 
 that fell from the tables of wealth and 
 pride ! 
 
 Amongft the other occupations of the aflc>- 
 dated people, they are inquiring into the- 
 different p retentions to moral character, of 
 the petty fwindler of merchandife or furni- 
 ture ; and the noble fwindler who gets into 
 his clutches more or fewer feats ia a certain 
 aflembly, of which no man of integrity can* 
 make a property. They are alfo reviewing,, 
 and making their comments upon the RED- 
 BOOK. It was the red book of France, which 
 
 in
 
 { 9' ) 
 
 m the opinion of every honeft man, damned 
 the antient defpotifm. How a Britifh go- 
 vernment of MYSTERY AND CORRUPTION 
 will ftand a difcuflion of -our oivn red book, 
 remains to be feen. In my judgment, that 
 book is an impudent record of open bribery 
 <exercifed upon thofe who fit in the feats of 
 the people's reprefentatives. The Houfe of 
 Commons is the grand inqueft of the nation; 
 and ought to be an inqueft wholly in the fer- 
 vice, 'wholly on behalf of the people. In an 
 ordinary iime at law between man and man, 
 the caufe is fubmitted to a jury of indifferent 
 perfons, bound to decide tancorruptly, without 
 favour and affection. In fuch a jnry, were 
 it to be difcovered, that, by intrigue and 
 bribery, a majority had been gained over to 
 the intereft of one of the parties at iffue, that 
 the pannel itfelf had been packed by arts the 
 mod infamous; and that a number of the 
 *oery fervants of the bribing party were 
 amongft the jurors ; what would be the in- 
 dignation at proceedings fo foul ! What the 
 infamy, that for ever after muft attack on the 
 character of the criminal offender ! May 
 not the Houfe of Commons, if due care be 
 N 2 not
 
 not taken, become fuch a jury ? May not 
 the people's fhare and influence in that Houfe 
 be rendered a mere phantom ? May not the 
 time arrive, when their rights fhall be be- 
 trayed at the nod, and their property invaded 
 at the beck, of every fucceeding Mmifter ? 
 And what fecurity can the people then have 
 that the laft remnants of their freedom, fhall 
 not be furrendered by a venal majority ? 
 Empty forms, indeed, may be retained, and 
 new things may be called by old names ; 
 but at fuch a period it would be a ferious and 
 melancholy truth, that the Commons, having 
 ccafed to have one branch of the legiflature the 
 organ of their wi//, THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 WOULD BE OVERTURNED ; THE PEOPLE 
 
 WOULD NOT BE FREE. For a denial that 
 fuch a danger is to be apprehended, we may 
 challenge all thofe placemen and penfioners 
 who afFect to extol the conftitution, in order 
 to hide thofe abufes and corruptions, that are 
 the means whereby they riot in the fpoils of 
 a country, which they plunder and betray. 
 
 The patriots of America and of France^ 
 have feciired the facred right of election tq 
 
 moft,
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 moft, would I could fay, to all of their re- 
 fpective countrymen : They have alfo fecured 
 the freedom of their elections ; and taken 
 effectual care to guard the purity of their 
 governments from even the fufpicion of 
 undue influence. Among the legislatures of 
 thofe nations, containing no lefs thanjixfeen 
 repref cntatlve affemblies of the people, there is 
 not a fmgle PLACEMAN or PENSIONER to 
 be found. Happy Americans ! HappyJF>Y7/f- 
 mcnl How long will Englijhmen endure the 
 fhame of feeing their Houfe of Reprefenta- 
 tives a {hocking contraft to models fo pure*! 
 
 * In February 1 780, Sir G. Savile moved for a full difclofure 
 of the PENSION LIST. It was refifted by the Minifter, who 
 moved and carried an amendment, by which the fecret part of 
 the lift was ftill kept in the dark* The minority on that quef- 
 tion was 188 : The majority only two more, viz. 190; and 
 eompofed as follows : 
 
 Penfioners, avowedly fo, - 6 
 
 Contra&ors - 14. 
 
 Placemen - - 94 
 
 Sons of do. and other very near connexions 26 
 
 Members under no vifible influence - 50 
 
 190 
 
 Here, then, had the uncorrupt principles of impannclling 
 end challenging a jury prevailed, the minifter, inftead of ftifling 
 inquiry by a majority of two, would have loft the queftion by 
 majority of one hundred and thirty-eight, 
 
 It
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 It is a Houfe that muft be reformed ; or, fare- 
 wel to the liberty, and to the glory of this 
 country: A country that was once the land 
 of men daring to be free; and whom neither 
 fraud nor force could bind in chains. 
 
 Having thus given your Grace a fketch 
 of the prefent fpeculations of the people, 
 I have only to offer you a friendly hint, that 
 it is high time you difpofed of your borough 
 property, although you took for it no better 
 payment that affignats; fince I verily believe 
 that an Englifh borough will not be worth a 
 groat, by the i4th of July, 1794. 
 
 Your Grace has told me, that you could 
 not, " conjijlcnt with your political principles" 
 make me Lieutenant Colonel of the militia. 
 Hence it mould feem, that the political prin- 
 ciples of one of us muft be bad enough. By 
 your talking, my Lord, of yours, I fuppofe 
 you will have no objection to their being 
 brought into comparifon with mine, which 
 you have infmuated to be unconftitutional. 
 Should I make any mif-ftatement, your Grace, 
 I hope, will have the goodnefs to correct 
 me. You know the book, in which it is 
 
 faid,
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 faid, that every tree is known by its fruit. 
 By the fame rule we muft judge of princi- 
 ples. As many of the fruits of mine are in 
 the poffeffion of the public, I fhall rather 
 at prefent ftate my principles negatively than 
 pofitively; by mewing that they would not, 
 and will not, permit me to do, than what 
 they have produced or are hereafter likely 
 to produce. My principles, then, my 
 Lord, have never fhifted with the wind of 
 power, nor difpofed me to truckle to the 
 ilrongeft party. Will your Grace inform us, 
 what fettled minifter you ever oppofed ? 
 My principles, my Lord, would not permit 
 me, a fea-officer with fome profeffional en- 
 thufiafm, to violate the liberty, nor to fpill 
 the blood, of a fingle unoffending fellow citi- 
 zen; nor to accept of promotion in fuch a 
 caufe : Yours, more flexible, allowed you, a 
 nobleman of large pofTeflions, to devote whole 
 nations to unconditional fubmiflion, or to 
 (laughter; and to pocket a poundage upon 
 the nation's unexampled expenditure. But 
 the hour of reflection, and its aweful medita- 
 tions may come. Imagination may. have its . 
 unwelcome intruders. Vifions of flaughtered 
 
 citizens
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 citizens and of a pillaged nation, will not 
 contribute to repofe. 
 
 Again: My principles, my Lord, when 
 urged by the moderate reformers, never would 
 permit me, nor ever will, to compromife 
 away one atom of the rights of the commons 
 of Great-Britain: While your Grace's, it 
 Ihould feem, can reconcile to your notions 
 of integrity, a little of that fame noble fwind- 
 ling that has been fpoken of; by means of 
 which your yea-and-nay automatons have 
 feats in the Houfe of Commons, where they 
 uniformly exhibit in the puppet-mew exhi- 
 bitions of every fucceeding minifter *. 
 
 With principles fo oppofite, it is no wonder 
 we could not agree : Nor am I furprized that 
 you thought me a dangerous man a very 
 dangerous man. 
 
 * If I am rightly informed, one exception mould here be 
 named ; as report fays, that during the whole of the laft par- 
 liament, a gentleman fat for one of your boroughs very much 
 again/I your inclinations; in confequence of certain pre-engage- 
 ments which, prior to the memorable coalition, you had 
 thought con-lenient to enter into, and from which you were not 
 afterwards permitted to recede. 
 
 3 , Since
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 Since your Grace and I, in the year 177^, 
 had a certain converfation, which I am per- 
 fuaded you have not forgot, times and fa- 
 fhions in opinion are greatly altered. Little 
 did you then feem to forefee American Inde- 
 pendence, French Liberty, or that change 
 for which England is now prepared. It is 
 time that your politics, like your plate, 
 fhould be moulded to the new fafhion. And 
 you will do well to prepare yourfelf for 
 refting contented with your fmgle feat in 
 the Houie of Lords. Confidering -that the 
 conftitution allows the Peers one entire branch 
 of the legiflative authority, and the laft re- 
 fort in our jurifprudence to themfelves; be- 
 fides the garnim to thefe fubflantial dimes, 
 of titles, coronets, privileges, precedencies, 
 and a voluntary refpedt and deference where- 
 ever the refpetlable part of them appear; 
 methinks that in a nation of eight or nine 
 million of fouls, thefe exclufive and heredi- 
 tary advantages, poflefled by two hundred 
 andforty-fevenperfons, might fatisfy a rea- 
 fonable ambition. Your eftates are not men- 
 tioned as any peculiar advantage pofTefled by 
 your order over the Commons; but yet your 
 
 O titles,
 
 C 98 > 
 
 titles, we all know, have an intrinfic pecu- 
 niary value in the market of matrimony,, 
 and in the Regifter-office for fervants at St. 
 James's. Be fatisfied, therefore, with that 
 which is your own j and peaceably reftore 
 what you have ufurped, before k be refumed 
 by its right owners in a tone of difpleafure- 
 It may yet be reftored with the grace of pay- 
 ing a compliment ; and even of conferring a 
 favour. How much more pkafant and re- 
 putable would it be to the Britifh ariftocracy, 
 to fecure to themfelves a portion of that ho- 
 nour and affection beftowed upon true patriot 
 reformers, than to fubject themfelves to a 
 fcandalous profecution, as invaders of right y 
 and as the receivers arid holders of that 
 which has wrongfully been taken from 
 others ! A conviction, my Lord, on fuch a 
 profecution, in the high-court of public 
 opinion might, in tbefe inquifitive andfcrutiniz,- 
 ing days, be attended with confequenees ex- 
 tending beyond mere reftitution. If conflitu- 
 tlonal jujiicc mall not fpeedily be done, there 
 is no knowing how the conftitution itfelf 
 may fare in the end. Should it perifh 
 through the pride and tyranny of an ar'iflo-
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 , obftinately determined to refift the 
 peopled juft claim of a fair reprefentation in 
 their own Houfe of Parliament, it is foe that 
 ariftocracy to confider, what place they 
 would have in a new fyftem. Amongft the 
 difcoveries of thefe pregnant times, it has 
 teen found out, that men may live and thrive 
 without Lords ; that the fun will fhine and 
 the dew will defcend, where there are none 
 but equal citizens to partake of thefe blef- 
 fmgs ; and that even good laws can be made, 
 and juftice well adminiftered, without either 
 hereditary legiflators or hereditary judges. 
 On thefe difcoveries, my Lord, the arifto- 
 cracy of this country will do well to ponder. 
 
 Some men in the ariftocracy, and fome 
 very ariftocratic men, affecl: great difpleafure 
 that the people in their fpeculations (hould 
 ever exprefs themfelves, as if it were poftible 
 that human fociety might be well governed 
 without an ariftocracy. But if the ariftocra- 
 cy of this country have (hewn themfeives 
 deadly and inveteterate enemies to popular 
 freedom, by perpetually undermining the de- 
 mocratic citadel j and if, after the efforts at 
 O 2 reform
 
 reform that have been making for near 
 twenty years paft, and the warnings which 
 thofe efforts have afforded, they ftill perfift 
 to ad: the fame part, pray who are moll to 
 blame ? They who complain of a violation 
 of the conftitution, and an invafion of their 
 liberties ; or thofe who, deaf to thefe com- 
 plaints, continue their treachery and injuf- 
 tice ? They who after fuch experience and 
 fuch provocation, hint that an ariftocracy 
 might well be difpenfed with ; or that arif- 
 tocracy itfelf, for not mewing by its conduct 
 that it will henceforth be content with its 
 own conftitutional pre-eminence, and that 
 the inftitution is actually compatible with 
 popular freedom ? Were it indeed neceffary 
 that either popular freedom or ariftocratic 
 authority mould perifh, there can be no 
 doubt which ought to fall the facrifice to the 
 fafety of the other ; But conceiving that they 
 are not incompatible one with the other, I 
 wiiri only that the weaker party would take 
 advice ere it be too late, 
 
 I truft, my Lord, that by the frequency 
 which I quote the Britifh Conftitution, 
 
 3 *
 
 it will be feen that I do not agree with Mr. 
 Paine, in denying that in theory we have one. 
 To him it muft, indeed, be conceded, that 
 we are not poftefled, as in America and in 
 Trance, of a folemn compact of the people 
 themfelves, made at once for that purpofe ; 
 and rendered as it were vifible and tangible, 
 by having been committed to print. I would 
 to God we were | But though our conftitu- 
 tion hath as it were no tangible body and 
 we are left to collect itefpirit as we can, from 
 the principles and maxims fcattered in our 
 law books ; yet it cannot be denied that a 
 conftitution in theory exifts, if it be granted 
 that the people have a right to a fair trial by 
 jury, and to a genuine, uninfluenced, repre- 
 fentation in the Houfe of Gommons. If it 
 be denied that the people have thefe rights ; 
 then, indeed, we have no conftitution that I 
 know of. A proper fhare in the power of 
 making the laws, and a fecurity from op- 
 preffion in the application of thofe laws, are 
 of themfelves a conftitution. Much mere I 
 know is neceflary to be afcertained ; but in 
 the confufion of our fyftem, and in the con- 
 flict of doctrines and opinions upon the in- 
 ferior
 
 ferior points, who is it that fhall delineate a 
 Britifh Conftitution, which all fhall receive 
 and acknowledge as fuch ? Contemplating, 
 then, our conftitution, in the purity of its 
 principles, and in the tendency of thofe prin- 
 ciples to render the nation happy, few I be- 
 lieve have been greater admirers of it than 
 myfelf : But beholding it, at the fame time 
 the fubject of perpetual cavil, difpute and 
 mifreprefentation ; the prey of the fouled 
 abufe ; the perverted engine of oppreflion ; 
 and even the very cloak of a inoft potent 
 defpotifm ; none have more lamented its cor- 
 ruptions, nor more ardently contended for 
 its reform. 
 
 In America and in France doubt and ob- 
 fcurity is done away. The whole conftitu- 
 tion of France, digefted and arranged under 
 proper heads, is contained in a little manual ; 
 what is conftitutional and what is not, is 
 fettled in 'a moment, on almoft any point 
 that can arife. Here a Frenchman learns, 
 without the fophiftries of lawyer or ftatef- 
 man, what is the extent of prerogative ; the 
 duty of minifters ; the province of a judge. ; 
 
 the
 
 the right of a jury ; and in fhort, the whole 
 of the conftitution. In vain would an Eng- 
 limman ranfack his whole library for the 
 fame information ; although Blackftone him- 
 felf were on the fhelf. 
 
 Enough, I prefume, has been faid to 
 {hew, that although all that had been done 
 in France, and every particular of the new 
 conftitution, did not meet with my entire 
 admiration, yet that, upon the whole, the 
 revolution appeared to me fo tranfcendently 
 glorious in itfelf, and fo highly beneficial to 
 mankind, that it merited the admiration and 
 the praife of all, men. If, on human actions, 
 we are to with-hold approbation untill we 
 difcern perfection, on what {hall our admira- 
 tion be beftowed ? Where fhall we find ob- 
 jects of praife ? But furely a conftitution 
 whofe broad foundations reft on the Rights 
 of Man ; a conftitution which embraces the 
 interefts, the fecurity, and happinefs of every 
 citizen, of a great empire, is deferving of 
 our warmeft admiration, and our higheft 
 praife ; and is a caufe of joy more fubftantial 
 
 than
 
 ( '04 ) 
 
 than ever arofe amongft men, one only ex- 
 cepted : It is fecond only to the univerfal 
 conftitution of chriftianity, which embraces 
 at once the happinefs of every citizen of 
 every country. Rejoicing, therefore, in a 
 bleffing to mankind fo extenfive as the revo- 
 lution of France, was actiag only as became 
 a chriftian and a man : But the enemies of 
 human freedom and happinefs in this coun- 
 try ^ who had employed on the occafion, all 
 the infiduous and wicked arts of mifreprefen- 
 
 tation and calumny 3 and who had alib dar- 
 
 j * 
 
 ed to throw out menace, for the purpofe of 
 intimidation, had made it a fort of duty of 
 patriotifm, to mew a contempt for their in- 
 folence, and an example worthy of future 
 imitation by the friends of the conftitution, 
 and the liberties of this country. Such, my 
 Lord, were the principles on which I at- 
 tended the dining meeting at the Crown and 
 Anchor Tavern, on the I4th of July, 1791, 
 for the purpofe of celebrating the anniverfary 
 of the French Revolution. It remains for 
 your Grace to explain thole " political prin- 
 ciples" of yours, which you have afligned as 
 
 your
 
 your reafon for putting forth the arm of au- 
 thority, to punifh me for fo doing. The 
 punifhment, thank God, fits light enough 
 upon rne : But, had there been a Baftile into 
 the fecret caverns of which I could have been 
 caft, it is not quite fo clear, that I fhould 
 have had this opportunity of making a re- 
 turn for the many civilities which your Grace 
 has fhewn me. According to the moft ex- 
 cellent logic of fome Englim courtiers, to 
 rejoice that France has built up a conftitu- 
 tion, is to manifeft a defire of pulling down 
 the conftitution of England. It mould rather 
 feem, that the admirers of fuch builcFing tip 
 of conftitutions, muft be amongft the advo- 
 cates for repairing and upholding our own. 
 And by an inference equally clear, perhaps 
 we may difcover who are the parties that ac- 
 tually do confpire the overthrow of the Bri- 
 tifh conftitution. Can any man wifh to re- 
 eftablifh the antient defpotifm of France, 
 without fecretly defiring a fimilar defpotifm, 
 {in faff, though not perhaps in appearance,) 
 to be eftablifhed at home ? But with regard 
 to individuals, againft whom there is alfo 
 
 P the
 
 the ftubborn evidence of faft, to prove 
 to the utmoft of their power, they have -un- 
 dermined the conftitution ; that they have 
 poured into the Houfe of Commons a corrupt 
 ariftocratic influence', when, I fay, the fair 
 prefumption of this fecret defire and confpi- 
 racy, combined with fuch an overt ad: of 
 treafon againft the conftitution, can be al- 
 ledged againft any man, that man cannot ef- 
 cape the confequence of the fair and natural 
 inference to be drawn from thofe premifes. 
 
 Whatever perfection may be attributed to 
 our conftitution in theory , the firft outline of 
 which prefcribes a legiflature by King, 
 Lord*) and the reprefentatives of the Commons, 
 the facl: we know to be, that our legiflature 
 in practice is no fuch thing ; but confifts of 
 King) Lords, and fomething that it is difficult 
 to exprefs. The folly, the abfurdity, the ini- 
 quity, and the ufurpation, which go towards 
 the compofition of this fomething^ I hope 
 we mail have fully ftated to us in a new 
 work juft published, entitled, " An entire 
 *' and complete Hi/lory , political and perfonal^ 
 
 "of
 
 I0 7 
 
 " of THE BOROUGHS of Great Britain" 
 Suffice it however to remark, that if any 
 thing infteadoffat reprefentative of the com- 
 monalty is become a third branch of the le- 
 giflature, REFORMATION is WANTING. 
 A conftitution pretended to be one thing, 
 and actually being another, is a direct cheat; 
 and thofe who defend fuch cheat for the fake 
 of a perfonal gain thereby, are not only im- 
 poftors, but fomething elfe that needs not to 
 be named. The money of the people taken 
 by government upon the votes of men only 
 pretending to be the people's reprefentatives, 
 while in fad: they are the tools or the auto- 
 matons of the crown, the ariftocracy, and 
 the borough-holders, is, to all intents and 
 purpofes, money obtained under falfe pre- 
 tences. In common life, fuch obtaining of 
 money is attended with punimment and in- 
 famy. How it ought to be confidered while 
 it is the practice of minifters, the public is 
 left to its own opinion. 
 
 In the Hi/lory of the Boroughs which I 
 
 have mentioned, I truft we may learn how 
 
 P 2 many
 
 many of the gentlemen fitting in the Houfe 
 of Commons, are YOUR GRACE'S REPRE- 
 SENTATIVES; became we mall then fee the 
 magnitude of that flake which you have to 
 defend againft innovators ; and may alfo have 
 foine grounds wherein to calculate the value 
 of the Aitditorjlrtp of the Exchequer; of which, 
 although the duties are yours for life, in vir- 
 tue of your patent, we have been told that 
 the emoluments are at the mercy of the mi- 
 nifter. When your Grace, by a fort of in- 
 ftinctive impulfe, took the right fide, and 
 your reprefentativeS) lefs fagacious, took the 
 wrong one in the coallition ftruggle, the in- 
 Jlant rcfignation of their feats that followed 
 that event may have afforded the Author of 
 the work referred to, no very weak illuftra- 
 tion of his proofs, as to the property or the 
 patronage which difpofes of the feats for the 
 boroughs alluded to. 
 
 Here, my Lord, I muft introduce a few 
 obfervations upon an old phrafe now again 
 coming much into ufe. 
 
 Having
 
 Having a flake in the country has been urg- 
 ed, to prevent men of property from becom- 
 ing reformers. It certainly is a good reafon 
 for ftudioufly feeking the peace and happi- 
 nefs of one's country. But how is that fo 
 effectually to be done, as by reformation ? 
 Who has the greatcft ftake in the country ; 
 he who -has moft 'wealth^ or he who has 
 moft bappinefs in it ? Are the largeft eftates 
 and the fineft houfes criterions of the greateft 
 ftake ? No fuch thing. He whofe aflbci- 
 ates are the moft enlightened and the moft 
 amiable of the community ; whofe life is a 
 courfe of fteady virtue ; and the ruling prin- 
 ciples of whofe enlarged mind are, fearlefsly 
 to promote whatever he conceives to be 
 agreeable to the Divine will, and beneficial to 
 man ; has an intereft in the peace and happi- 
 nefs of his country, as fuperlor to the mere 
 man of wealth, as his purfuits are fuperior to 
 thofe of ambition, voluptuoufnefs, or diffipa- 
 tion. He is impelled to feek his country's 
 happinefs through the medium of a pure con- 
 ftitution ; and the peace for which he wifhes, 
 is the peace of freedom. He knows of 
 
 none
 
 none other that deferves the name of peace. 
 In the filence and fubmiffion of Haves, there 
 is peace indeed to tyrants ; but the tyranny 
 which caufes this filence and fubmiffion, is 
 a perpetual war, and an unceafing oppreffion 
 upon the whole community. 
 
 Now the ftake of him who has only wealth 
 without virtue, may, naturally enough, 
 tempt him to oppofe reform. He has an 
 intereft in favouring thofe corruptions which 
 give to wealth an unjuft confequence and in- 
 ordinate power. The more corrupt the go- 
 vernment, the more eafily he can have his 
 boroughs, and fhare in the public plunder ; 
 the more places and penfions, commiffions 
 and livings, he can difpenfe amongft his re- 
 lations and creatures. A free ftate may have 
 no charms for him who has only grofs appe- 
 tites and fordid paffions to gratify. Under 
 an arbitrary government it is, that faction 
 and a vicious ambition are eafieft gratified ; 
 that blood-fucking avarice, and the infolence 
 of bafe-mindednefs are in their element ; and 
 that pride, pomp, and vanity, find the moft 
 agreeable ftage to ftrut on. Here the legifla- 
 
 tor
 
 ( III ) 
 
 tor can confume his nights at the gaming- 
 table, or his days amongft dogs and horfes, 
 without interruption, and without reproach. 
 But ftill, the true queftion is, does wealth 
 without virtue render a man as happy as the 
 perfon with whom he has been contrafted ? 
 If not, his ftake in fociety is not fo valuable. 
 Hence we may learn how to interpret the 
 language of men who plead their Jlake in the 
 country^ as their reafon for not aiding re- 
 form. 
 
 To conclude : When, on a day facred to 
 liberty, your Grace lhall again condefcend 
 to commiffion your fpies, to watch my fteps 
 and to report where I dine, I will not fail, 
 my Lord, if you defire it, to tranfmit you 
 the animating toafts that are drank ; the 
 noble fentiments which glow in every breaft, 
 and fparkle in every eye ; and the reforms 
 in the ftate on which the company may con- 
 verfe. In return, my Lord, the only favour 
 I {hall requeft, will be a full difplay of thofe 
 " political principles," which would not per- 
 mit you, in an honourable caufe, to keep 
 2 your
 
 your word; but which do not prevent you 
 from Jlabbing to the vitals the conftitutlon of 
 your country. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your Grace's 
 
 Moft obedient 
 May 22, 1792. Humble fervant, 
 
 JOHN CARTWRIGHT. 
 
 POSTCRIPT.
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 June 4, 1792. 
 
 HAVING examined the Minifter's 
 opinions and declarations fet forth in 
 the Proclamation of the 2ift ult. and having 
 more than doubts of their wifdom, as well 
 as more than fufpicions of their tendency to 
 injure the Conftitution, and to prejudice the 
 liberties of my country, I feel it to be the 
 duty of a . citizen to inveftigate them with 
 care, and to fpeak of them with freedom. 
 
 A part of one paflage in the publication is 
 fo excellent, that it feems as if there had been 
 an intention to have followed it up with mat- 
 ter equally good, but that, in the confufion 
 occafioned by the difpute with the Chancel- 
 lor, this intended addition had been omitted 
 and loft. The Minifter has made his Ma-
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 jefty fay, " And whereas there is nothing 
 " which we fo earneftly defire, as to fecure 
 " the public peace and prcfperity, and to pre- 
 " ferve to ALL our loving fubjecls the full 
 " enjoyment of their RIGHTS and LIBER- 
 " TIES, both religious and civil :" Here 
 might have been expected fome compliment 
 to thofe who have imitated the former con- 
 duct of the Minifter, by flopping forward ia 
 the caufe of Parliamentary Reform, as the 
 fureft foundation for permanent " peace and 
 profperity ;" and afTurances that his Majefty 
 and his Minifters would co-operate with them 
 to the utmoft of their power; AS, DOUBT- 
 LESS, THEY OUGHT TO DO. How a man's 
 religious RIGHTS are to be fully enjoyed, 
 while not permitted freely to communicate 
 with his Maker in his own manner, without 
 experiencing civil durabilities, or being fubjecT: 
 to legal penalties, it is fomewhat difficult to 
 underftand. Nor is it eafy to comprehend 
 what is meant by the full enjoyment of the 
 civil RIGHTS of a People, who for the moft 
 part are utterly deprived of either a fhare, 
 or a pretended mare, in the appointment of 
 
 legiflators ;
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 legiflators ; while the apparent {hare of the 
 fmall minority who perform the farce of elet- 
 ing, is rendered of no value by the ufurpa- 
 tions of others. Neither is it poffible to fee 
 how our LIBERTIES are to be preferved, un- 
 lefs the Houfe of Commons be not only free- 
 ly elecled by the mafs at leaft of the people, 
 but perfectly free alfo from any influence of 
 the Peers or the Crown. If, indeed, we 
 have no unchriftian, and oppreffive diftinc- 
 tions amongft us refpecting creeds ; and if we 
 are truly and effectively reprefented in the 
 Legiilature, then indeed we are in " the full 
 " enjoyment of our rights and liberties, both 
 " religious and civil :" But if, in thefe two 
 eflential points, the contrary be notorious, 
 what are we to think of the defign of this 
 modeft Proclamation \ 
 
 Does not Mr. Pitt know the grievous de- 
 fects in the reprefentation of the Commons ? 
 Are not thefe the very evils which he pledged 
 himfelf, as a Man and a Mimfter^ if poflible, 
 to remove ? And muft he not know this to 
 be the true CAUSE of the " jealoufies and 
 " discontents of the people ?" If there be 
 Q2 any
 
 any clamour amongft the children of the 
 State, it is for the wholefome bread of reprc- 
 fcntation. Will he then advife their father, 
 inftead of this bread, to give them a ftone, 
 or a canon ball ? Or does he expect to fatisfy 
 the cravings of their hunger, by an empty 
 fpeech, or a high founding hollow proclama-. 
 tion, modeftly afierting that they have nq 
 caufe of complaint \ 
 
 If any writings have been circulated, 
 which were calculated to raife " groundlcfs 
 " jealoufies and difcontents," filence but the 
 real ones by DOING JUSTICE, and thofe 
 which are groundlefs will foon be heard of no 
 more. And if the writings fuppofed to be 
 alluded to, meaning thofe of Mr. Paine, 
 contain any abftract fpeculations on govern- 
 ment, from whence it might be inferred that 
 in his opinion, a Conftitution of a different 
 form from that of Britain, deferves a pre- 
 ference, is it corififlent with the virtue and 
 wifdom expected in a Minifter, or even with 
 common fenfe, to leave that conftitutioa 
 mangled by wicked abufes, and difgraced by 
 loathforne corruptions, which will juftlfy fuch 
 
 preference ;
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 preference; inftead of inflantly reftoring it to 
 its true principles, and then holding it forth 
 in comparifon ? Is not thus to bring the Con- 
 ftitution into the conflict with its load of 
 difeafes upon it far worfe than fedition ? Is 
 it not treachery of the fouleft kind ? Ill then 
 does it become the hypocrite who ats fuch 
 a part, to attempt plucking out motes from 
 the eyes of his brethren, while he refufes to 
 pluck out the beam which is in his own 
 eyes. 
 
 Could the Proclamation have contained a 
 difTolution of Parliament, and an invitation 
 to the people to have elected a body of re- 
 prefentatives in juft proportions to popula- 
 tion, and in the choice of which " ALL" his 
 Majefty's " loving fubjecls," mould have 
 taken their part, would it not have charmed 
 to filence all difcontent, and laid at reft every 
 fpeculation which carried the mind beyond 
 the line of our antient Conftitution,? Peace, 
 unanimity, joy, and happinefs, would have 
 beamed through the land ; and diftant indeed 
 might have been the day, when any belides 
 the philofopher in his clofet, would have 
 
 cmeftioned
 
 queftioned whether hereditary privileges v ere 
 or were not, beneficial in a State. 
 
 So little do the public in general bear an 
 enmity to nobles, merely as fuch, that the 
 people, we may reft aflured, would have no 
 objection to a very confiderable increafe of 
 the number, provided it were made fubfer- 
 vient to a public benefit. As there is one 
 way in which fuch an increafe might be a 
 means of reftoring the conftituticn, I fhall 
 propofe it. In order to reconcile all defcrip- 
 tions of our prefent electors, and borough-, 
 holders, to a complete and equal reprefenta- 
 tion of the people, let each body of electors, 
 once for all, elect as many Peers of the realm 
 as they now return members to the Houfe of 
 Commons; and confer, if they choofe it, 
 thefe elective Peerages on the higheft bidder. 
 Each county to elect two Dukes ; a city, two 
 Marquifles ; a populous town corporate, two 
 Earls ; each univerfity, two Vifcounts ; and 
 every borough, as many Barons as they now 
 choofe burgefles. London, of courfe, four 
 Marquifles ; and Scotland, Peers of fuch 
 3 rank
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 rank and in fuch proportion as mall be equi- 
 valent to its proper reprefentation. A fuita- 
 ble qualification in property and character on 
 the part of the candidates, might be necefia- 
 ry to prevent a degradation of the peerage. 
 All difputes concerning borough patronage 
 would be prevented by the plan itfelf : for if 
 a borough-property would command the elec- 
 tion, the proprietor would have the peerages 
 to difpofe of; and if his patronage or afcen- 
 dency were only partial, he would come in 
 for fuch precife fhare of the profit as that pa- 
 tronage was worth. Such elective bodies as 
 are actually free, might either confer the 
 honour gratis, or fet upon it a price, and 
 apply the money to fome public and ufeful 
 purpofe. As thefe Peerages no doubt would 
 fetch large fums, I think the electors and 
 borough-holders, now that a fpirit of reform 
 is abroad, and the RIGHTS of MAN are fo 
 well underftood, would very gladly embrace 
 the offer. Thus a complete reprefentation 
 might be had without a murmur, and with- 
 out coding the nation a farthing : Whereas, 
 by Mr. Pitt's plan of 1784, had it been 
 
 adopted,
 
 adopted, a very imperfecl: reprefentation was 
 to have coft in the firft inftance ONE MIL- 
 LION of public money, and additional fums 
 in future; The plan now offered would 
 complete the reform at once ; whereas the 
 Minifter's plan would have been tedioufly 
 progreffive, and fubject to have been over- 
 thrown before fully iecured ; and even if it 
 ever arrived at full completion, would ftill 
 have left a great majority of the people un- 
 reprefented, and the elections under the cer- 
 tain influence of the Ariftocracy* 
 
 In refpect to thus fetting up honours to 
 fale, it need only be obferved, that honours 
 in a ftate have often been fold lefs honour- 
 ably ; not even excepting thofe difpofed of 
 towards fupprefling the Ulfter rebellion ; an 
 evil no way dangerous to the Conftitution. 
 As foine of the many Peerages confered by 
 the prefent Minifter have been to proprietors 
 of boroughs, it is to be hoped, that in cafe the 
 hint now given mould be adopted, thofe no- 
 ble perfonages would not demand to be twice 
 paid, but allow the Peerages already receiv- 
 ed to be fet off in the account. 
 
 Were
 
 Were it poffible for his Majefty to be well 
 advifed in this matter, it mould fee m that no 
 objection to free Parliaments could occupy 
 bis bofom ; unlefs he had loft his recollec^ 
 tion, and all fenfe of the affection fhewn 
 him by the people in the times of his own 
 perfonal diftrefs and danger. Can he forget 
 his two narrow efcapes from facl 'ious combina- 
 tions in two corrupt Houfes of Commons^ in 
 the memorable coalition and regency ftruggles? 
 Can he forget the people s indignation at the 
 treatment he on thofe occafions received ? 
 Can he forget the manifeftations then given, 
 that, although factions, and Minifters, and 
 Kings, by iniquity or oppreffion, may ren- 
 der themfelves the objects of public cenfure, 
 royalty itfelf, conjlitutionally exifting and acl- 
 ing^ is yet dear to the people of this country ? 
 If the people's conduct towards their King 
 on thofe trying occafions can be ungratefully 
 forgotten, or mould thofe unequivocal in- 
 ftances of attachment fail to convince him of 
 his own perfonal fafety in their conftitutional 
 freedom, neither would he believe though 
 one rofe from the dead. And can the pre- 
 
 R fent
 
 ( 122 ) 
 
 fent Minifter himfelf look back to thofe t<w6 
 periods^ and now advife his Sovereign to 
 iffue a proclamation evidently intended to 
 damp the fpirit of Parliamentary Reform, by 
 which alone the rights and liberties of the 
 people can be either recovered or preferved ? 
 
 But hold : Am I not about to cenfure 
 without caufc ? Am I not myfelf too fhort- 
 fighted, to comprehend the long views and 
 the profound policy of this able Statefman ? 
 It muft be fo. I fee the error into which I 
 had nearly fallen; and now I trull that I 
 have penetrated the myftery of the Minifter's 
 conduct. He is ftill, as I think I perceive, 
 the fincere friend to reform, the virtuous 
 patriot which we thought him ten years ago; 
 but knows that to declare himfelf openly 
 would lofe him his fituation, and fruftrate 
 his great defigns in favour of the liberties of 
 his country. From his experience as a ca- 
 binet and confidential Minifter, and from the 
 complete in light w T hich he has' thereby ob- 
 tained into the character of man, when once 
 
 elevated
 
 elevated above his fpecies, he appears to 
 have been converted to the new doctrine in 
 politics which is very generally adopted on 
 the other fide of the Atlantic, and has al- 
 ready made its appearance in Europe. Being 
 fatisfied, as I prefume from his conduct he 
 is, that where hereditary nobility with fplen- 
 did fenatorial powers, and hereditary royalty 
 with magnificent prerogatives, are eftablim- 
 ed, there popular liberty cannot eafily main- 
 tain its ground ; and holding at the fame 
 time that whatever is found incompatible 
 with, or highly dangerous to, popular freedom, 
 ought to be abolifhed, he appears bent upon 
 the downfal of thofe orders, and feems to 
 have taken his ground with great judgment, 
 as well as to have commenced his operations 
 with fpirit. The operations, indeed, to or- 
 dinary eyes, carry a face of hoftility towards 
 freedom : But herein confifls the grand fecret 
 of the fyftem ; for unlefs he could miflead 
 the parties he means to undermine, how could 
 he deftroy them ? As when a demagogue 
 #fpires at becoming the tyrant of his ccun- 
 R 3 try.
 
 ( '24 ) 
 
 try, he always pretends an uncommon devo= 
 tion for liberty ; fo when a Statefman who 
 having once wormed himfelf into the confi- 
 dence of Kings or Nobles, meditates their 
 expulfion, he lures them to their deftruction 
 by an affected zeal for their interefls, and by 
 taking a lead in fome extraordinary courfes, 
 for retaining and augmenting any unwarrant- 
 able and dangerous powers of which they 
 may be poffeffed. It is thus that he con- 
 trives to embroil them with the people ; 
 without which, his fcheme could never be 
 brought to bear. It is by appearing to exert 
 the full force of miniftenal influence in fa- 
 vour of the elevated orders, that he tempts 
 them into a conduct at once unjuft, arrogant, 
 and ram ; and by putting on at the fame 
 time a carriage of treachery and infolence to- 
 wards the people, they are judicioufly rouzed 
 and animated to a vindication of their rights. 
 The very conduct that produces thefe effects 
 infures him the continuance pf his place ; 
 fo that he continues fecurely to officiate as the 
 go-between, until on the one hand he works 
 up oppreffion and incroachment ; and on the 
 
 other-
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 other hand, refentment and refinance, to the 
 neceflary pitch for effecting his grand pur- 
 poic. It was by fuch a truly patriot, though 
 unpopular, conduct, that the confidential 
 Minifters of James II. contrived the expul- 
 iion of that mifguided Prince and his family; 
 although, through the conftitutional fenti- 
 ments of the Whigs, thofe Minifters did not 
 fucceed in abolifhing monarchy altogether. 
 But we have fince feen, in the American Re- 
 volution, better fuccefs to attend the more 
 unfortunate Lord North; who, though things 
 were not ripe for his purpofe in one part of 
 the empire, yet he completely fucceeded in 
 the other ; for he not only defended the peo- 
 ple of America from prefent oppreffion, but 
 he freed them for ever from the evils of he- 
 reditary royalty and hereditary nobility. On 
 occafion of both thofe memorable revolutions, 
 the Minifters would never have ferved fo ef- 
 fectually the great caufe of liberty, had they 
 not refpectively afiumed the characters of the 
 moft fervile creatures of arbitrary power. 
 Royal proclamations and votes of the two 
 floufes were on both thofe occafions manu- 
 factured
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 fadured by thefe able Statefmen ; and the 
 deception on the Prince upon the throne was 
 in each inftance rendered complete, by the 
 numberlefs addrejfes which were procured 
 from all parts of the kingdom. Our prefent 
 Minifter, therefore, who thus treads in the 
 paths of political experience, and whofe firm- 
 nefs in directing the ftorm he is raifmg none 
 can doubt, feems to have grounds of the 
 cleared probability for promifmg himfelf an 
 event as glorious as either of the revolutions 
 which he feems to have ftudied with fo much 
 care and benefit. Lord North, it is allowed, 
 would not have carried his point, had it not 
 been for the advice and affiftance of his 
 friend Franklin. Unfortunately obliged to 
 wear the malk of enmity towards his friend, 
 their perfonal intercourfe was cut off: But 
 this inconvenience was at length obviated, 
 by the Philofopher's compofmg for his Lord- 
 {hip's ufe, that admirable EfTay, entitled, 
 " Rules for reducing a great Empire to a f mall 
 " one" By diligently fludying, and by 
 as clofely adhering to thofe found maxims, 
 that excellent Minifter managed, at the mo- 
 derate
 
 derate expence of one hundred millions of 
 money, and the trifling confederation of 
 about one hundred thoufand Britifh lives, to 
 get rid at laft of thirteen colonies. Why, 
 then, need Mr. Pitt to defpair of difcarding 
 one royal family and a houfe of nobles ? 
 Superftitioufly attached to royalty and nobi- 
 lity as the people of this country are, it is a 
 fuperftition of which they may undoubtedly 
 be cured. America had as fuperftitious a 
 partiality to her Parent State, as that Parent 
 State now has to the offices of a King and of 
 Nobles. There is fo much affinity between 
 the two cafes, that fimilar means will do the 
 bufmefs. The American Philofopher's in- 
 ftruclions for reducing the fize of an empire, 
 if but (lightly varied and modelled to the pre- 
 fent cafe, would become excellent " Rules 
 " for rooting out Royalty and Nobility from 
 " Great Britain ;" as may eafily be ima- 
 gined from the few fhort quotations given in 
 the margin *. To oblige his new friend Pitt, 
 
 a certain 
 
 * Speaking of the Americans, Franllin fays, " If they 
 " happen to be zealous whigs, friends of liberty, nurtured in 
 " revolution principles ; remember all that to their prejudice, 
 
 " and
 
 ( "8 ) 
 
 a certain Irifh Philofopher might, doubtlefs, be 
 prevailed upon to become the Editor of this 
 
 new 
 
 " and contrive to punifli it : For fuch principles, after a re- 
 ** volution is thoroughly eftablifhed, are of no more ufe ; 
 '* they are even odious and abominable.'' 
 
 " They will probably complain to your Parliament, that 
 " they are taxed ly a body in which they have no reprcfentative, 
 " and that this is contrary to common right. They will pe- 
 " tion for redrefs. Let the Parliament flout their claims, re- 
 " jedl their petitions, refufe even to fuffer the reading of 
 " them, and treat the petitioners with the utmofl contempt. 
 " Nothing can have a better effect, .&c." 
 
 After propofing fome judicious meafures for provoking and 
 harraffing the people, he fays " Then let there be a formal 
 *' Declaration of both Houfes, that oppofition to your edicts is 
 " treafon, &c." 
 
 Again : " If you are told of difcontents, never believe that 
 " they are general, or that you have given occafion for them ; 
 " therefore, do not think of applying any remedy, or of 
 " changing any offenfive meafure. Redrefs no grievance, Icjl 
 tl they Jbould be encouraged to demand the redrefs of fome other 
 "grievance. Grant no requ?Jl that is jiift and reafonable t lejt they 
 " Jbould make another that is unreafonabls." 
 
 Again : ** Believe nothing you hear from the friends of the 
 *' people. Suppofe all their complaints to be invented and 
 " promoted by a few factious demagogues, whom if you 
 " could catch and hang, all would be quiet. Catch and hang 
 
 ' a few 
 2
 
 I2 9 
 
 < 
 
 New Verfion of the Rules ; and in cafe the 
 Minifter fhould at any time ftand in need 
 of a prompter during his performance of the 
 character of the hero in this drama of delu- 
 fion, the obliging Mr. Dundas, I think, may 
 be depended on for rendering him that good 
 office. As the CROWN feats in the Houfe of 
 Commons, Members for all the Government- 
 boroughs^ befides fecuring to its interefts many 
 other Members by places and penfions, exclu- 
 five of the attachments arifmg from expefta- 
 tion ; and as the Peers literally place in the 
 faid Houfe Members by hundreds, the Mi- 
 nifter will have no difficulty in perfuading 
 thefe parties, that this democratic branch of 
 the conftitution is a fort of Poland to be parti- 
 tioned out between them ; and if any reform 
 Jhomd therein be attempted, it will furnifh an 
 
 " a few of them accordingly ; and the blood of the Martyrs 
 " fhall work miracles in favour of your purpofe, &c.'' 
 
 Although thefe excellent ruks were by the generality in 
 this country, and particularly by the three branches of our Leglf- 
 lature, held for a while extremely cheap, yet when the final 
 accomplifhment of their objeft was effected, full juflice was 
 done to the Philofopher who had formed, but not to the 
 Statefman who had fo well applied them, 
 
 S excellent
 
 excellent plea for new invafions and incroach- 
 ments. Usurpation followed by poiTeflion 
 foon ftands for right. Hence the aggreflbrs 
 will eafily be made jealous, oppreffive, and 
 vindictive ; while the people, fenfible that 
 in lofmg their reprefentation they lofe their 
 liberty, cannot poflibly decline the conteft ; 
 and, when once completely rouzed, cannot fail 
 to conquer. If there Should be any difficulty 
 in this cafe, it will be that of urging on the 
 Crown and the Nobles to fufficient excefles, 
 for creating that exafperation on the part of 
 the people, which Should determine them, 
 when victorious, utterly to root out all here- 
 ditary privileges : But here we ought to take 
 into the account the new political notions 
 which are daily gaining ground, and alfo to 
 place in the Minifter's abilities that unlimited 
 confidence which he has fo long been accuf- 
 tomed to receive from our reprefentatives. 
 Giving him credit for his good intentions to? 
 wards the people, I have been infenfibly led 
 into a mode of expreffion, as if I approved 
 of the Scheme which I fuppofe him to have 
 formed ; whereas I clo moft fmcerely wiSh, 
 2 that
 
 that the royal and noble perfonages whom 
 it concerns would take warning in time, and 
 completely defeat his infidious defign, by 
 uniting with the people in reftoring that con- 
 ftitution which their common intereft, as 
 well as juftice, honour, and freedom requires 
 them and us to reftore and preferve. 
 
 The Proclamation artfully affects great 
 anxiety for preferving a due refpect to " the 
 " wife and wholefome provifions made at 
 " the time of the glorious Revolution, and 
 " fmce Jlrengtbened and confirmed for the 
 " prefervation and fecurity of the rights and 
 " liberties of the King's faithful and loving 
 " fubjects." Thus to make a pompous pa- 
 rade of " wife and wholefome provifions," 
 for the good of the people, the moft effential 
 of which have fmce been blown away by the 
 breath of Kings and of Nobles, is to treat 
 the people with that fpecies of mockery 
 which is peculiarly calculated to irritate 
 them; and therefore was a good thought. It 
 is well known that at the time of the Revolu- 
 tion, it had for more than one thoufand 
 S 2 years
 
 ( '3* ) 
 
 Clears been the acknowledged birth-right of 
 Englifhmen, confirmed by many ftatutes, to 
 elect a new Parliament, once at leaft, in every 
 year. It was referred for our glorious deli- 
 verer to undermine this right. Within little 
 more than fix years after the Revolution, he 
 and the Whigs of that day pafled the triennial 
 bill, which, artfully enacting that no Parlia- 
 ment mould have any longer continuance than 
 for three years, while they were in confe- 
 quence unconstitutionally kept together FOR 
 three years, to all intents and purpofes efta- 
 blimed fuch a continuance agaitift the people, 
 although, by reafon of the power of expul- 
 fion referved to the King, they could not 
 exift againft the Crown for a moment. 
 
 And if the provifion of this Act for pre- 
 venting a longer continuance to a Parliament 
 than three years, had in it, when compara- 
 tively confidered, any portion of what was 
 " wife and wholefome ;" even this again 
 was repealed and done away, about two and 
 twenty years afterwards, by the firft King 
 of the Houfe of Hanover and another fet of 
 Whig Minifters. Are thefe the inftances of 
 
 Jlrengthening
 
 ( 133 ) 
 
 Jlrengthening and confirming alluded to in the 
 Proclamation ? Or are we to look for them 
 in the repeal of thofe provifions, whereby 
 Privy Counfellors were made refponfible by 
 their fignatures for their advice in Council ; 
 and in the repeal and parliamentary evajion 
 of thofe other provifions whereby placemen 
 and peniioners were intended to be excluded 
 from the Houfe of Commons ? Or was our 
 Conftitution^ra/^A&tftftt/ and confirmed by the 
 invention o$ funding introduced after the 
 Revolution ; which happy difcovery enabled 
 Minifters to faddle the country with a debt 
 of near three hundred millions in one hun- 
 dred years ; as well as to make moft ample 
 amends to the crown in influence, for what 
 it had loft in prerogative at the expuliion of 
 the Stuarts ? 
 
 With regard to feditious books, feditious 
 meetings, and leditious correfpondence, thefe 
 are charming proclamation-themes ; efpecially 
 when it is contrived to infmuate feditionagainft 
 thofe whofe aim it is to reftore the Conftitution 
 to its true principles ; and when all who are 
 interefted in the abufes, by which the people 
 
 are
 
 ( 134 ) 
 
 are cheated out of their proper reprefentation 
 in Parliament are brought forward to join in 
 the cry : Becaufe thefe mercenaries hy fuch 
 fkirmiming are trained on to more ferious 
 exertions againft freedom ; and the people 
 are taught to think, that not to fupprefs fe- 
 dition, but to fmother liberty, is the true de- 
 fign, which naturally fills them with jea- 
 loufy, arid ripens that difpofition to refift- 
 ance againft oppreflion which is in general 
 but a fluggifh principle. As all this fmoke 
 without any fire might have betrayed the 
 farce that was acting, it was necefTary, whe- 
 ther with or without juftcaufe, to commence 
 a profecution ; which has accordingly been 
 done againft the publisher of RIGHTS OF 
 MAN. Whether the Jury mall or mall not 
 find a verdict for the Crown, yet the profe- 
 cution cannot fail to work advantageoufly 
 for the Minifter's purpofe. As that work, 
 with all its blemifhes, is allowed to contain 
 excellent matter in favour of civil and reli- 
 gious liberty, and certainly expofes fome of* 
 the corruptions of government, that of courfe 
 will be thought by many to be the true rea- 
 
 fori
 
 ( '35 ) 
 
 fon for the profecution, and difcontent will 
 be increafed accordingly. Had the corrup- 
 tions which that book expofes been reformed 
 and no profecution undertaken, the work 
 would foon have been forgotten, and the 
 Minifter's fuppofed plan for abolifhing royal- 
 ty and nobility might have fuffered very 
 materially; but it is now well-contrived, that 
 the continuance of the corruptions, the un- 
 dertaking of that profecution, and a procla- 
 mation by the King, backed by the Nobles, 
 (hall together give the work additional cele- 
 brity ; and perfuade the people that the fa- 
 vour and protection of the Crown and the 
 Nobles will be extended to thofe who invade, 
 and their vengeance exercifed on thofe who 
 vindicate popular rights. By thus artfully 
 raifing the reputation of a book, in which it 
 is more than infmuated that both Royalty 
 and Nobility are not only ufelefs, but bur- 
 thenlbme and inconvenient in a State, the 
 Minifter, with great policy, prepares for gra- 
 dually wearing out the prejudices of the 
 people in favour of thofe inftitutions.
 
 ( '36 ) 
 
 " We have alfo reafon to believe," fays 
 the Proclamation, " that correfpondencies 
 " have been entered into with fimdry per- 
 " fons in foreign parts" and fo there were 
 by the beft patriots of this country in 1688, 
 or elfe the "glorious Revolution," which 
 the Proclamation fpeaks of with fo much 
 admiration, had never been brought about. 
 One remarkable difference, however, diftin- 
 guifhes the correfpondencies of thofe days 
 with Holland, from the correfpondencies of 
 thefe days with France : The former were in 
 the dark ; the prefent are in open day-light. 
 Thofe were managed by confidential agents ; 
 thefe are carried on in the news-papers. To 
 ferve the caufe of freedom was the object: of 
 both ; an object fit to be promoted by every 
 honourable means within the power of ho- 
 neft men. As to correfpondencies with fo- 
 reigners, for " CRIMINAL AND WICKED 
 " PURPOSES ;" whether thofe men who are 
 feeking jujlice, and contending for a reform 
 of grievous and fcandalous abu/es, a reform 
 tending to eftablifh freedom, to preferve the 
 Confiitution, and thereby to perpetuate Royalty 
 and Nobility in this country ; and whofe cor- 
 refpondencies
 
 ( '37 ) 
 
 refpondencies ate open; or whether thofe 
 who are rejtjllng that juftice, oppoflng that 
 reform ; and by involving the King and the 
 Nobles in meafures tending to fubvert the 
 Conftitution they thereby endanger the inte- 
 rejls of all, and who carry on correfpbn- 
 dencies and negociations with defyotic Prin- 
 ces, and in fecret, are moft to be fufpecled, 
 the public will judge for themfelves. Thus, 
 whether the Minifter, in ifluing this procla- 
 mation, be really the open enemy or the 
 difguifed friend of freedom, it will in the 
 end do the caufe good fervice. 
 
 What farther inclines me to imagine the 
 Minifter muft have views, fuch as I have fup- 
 pofed, is his calling upon the people for 
 " confidence in the integrity and wifdom of 
 " Parliament ;" becaufe it does not feem po- 
 fible to believe that he has any fuch confi- 
 dence himfelf. Where is this confidence to 
 reft? On the branches feparately? Or in the 
 whole united ? Are we particularly to have 
 confidence in the crown, becaufe, not fatis- 
 lied with its own fmall pittance of power and 
 
 T influence,
 
 influence, it has poflefled itfelf of all thofe 
 feats in the Houfe of Commons which are 
 filled by the Treafury, the Admiralty and 
 Ordnance Boroughs ; and becaufe fo many 
 other Members of that Houfe are in its' pay ? 
 Are the Lords intitled to our confidence, 
 becaufe not content with one entire branch 
 of legislation, the dernier refort in our jurif- 
 prudence, and all " the pride, pomp, and 
 " circumftance of glorious" Nobility, a con- 
 fiderable part of thofe Lords have fyftemati- 
 cally and cunningly defpoiled the people of 
 the return of a vaft proportion of their nomi- 
 nal reprefentatives ? And then, what fort of 
 confidence is it that we are to place in a po- 
 pular reprefentation thus reduced by the 
 Crown and the Lords to an objecl: of deri- 
 fion ; and farther trodden in the dirt by pri- 
 vate Borough-holders, by the Nabob of Arcot, 
 the Rajah of Tanjore, the Ex-Princes of 
 France^ or any other foreign defpots who 
 may occafionally find their account in deal- 
 ing largely with our Borough -brokers \ In 
 1782, we were informed by Mr. Pitt* 9 
 
 * May 7. 
 
 when
 
 when he faid fo much about the Boroughs at 
 the difpofal of the Treafury^ that the Nabob 
 of Arcot alone had feven or eight reprefenta- 
 tives in our Houfe of Commons. When, in 
 1784, the Minifter made another attempt to 
 amend the reprefentation, he did not indeed 
 enlarge fo fully on its defects as he had done 
 before ; but it is evident that in neither of 
 thofe periods, could this branch of the Legif- 
 lature have his confidence, or why attempt 
 Its reform ! And if its pure wifdom and in- 
 tegrity were now of themfelves fufficient to 
 infpire him with this confidence, what need 
 of his Treafury boroughs, his obfequioufnefs 
 to Borough-holders, his lucrative offices 
 dealt out amongft the Members, and the 
 management of the immaculate Mr. Rofe ? 
 
 If fuch, then, be our grounds of confi- 
 dence in each of the branches of our Legiila- 
 ture feparately, it feems to follow, that, in 
 what refpefts.tf true conjlitutional popular re- 
 prefentation^ it is not poffible for us to have 
 any very ftrong confidence in the three 
 
 T 2 united.
 
 united. Had not the nation's confidence in 
 Parliament been fo abufed as it has been, to 
 the great abridgement of our freedom, lefs 
 need be faid : But when we have feen the 
 Conftitution and the Liberties of our country 
 fall in a great degree a facrifice to this confi- 
 dence, it becomes an important duty to fo- 
 ciety to lay before them the honeft truth, be 
 the danger of fpeaking that truth what it 
 may. Is Parliament more an object of con- 
 fidence now, than it was in the reigns of 
 Henry VI. or of William III. or of George 
 I. ? In the firft of thofe periods, Parliament 
 cut off at one ftroke fix parts in feven, or 
 probably a larger proportion, of the people 
 from the rights of election, Happy fruit of 
 a confidence in Parliament ! In the fecond 
 period, Parliament, after fitting five years and 
 a half, which was four and a half longer than 
 the Conftitution warranted^ pafled the trien- 
 nial bill, in which it was provided, that that 
 very Parliament fhould continue two years 
 longer^ completing in the whole feven years 
 and a half before the people vv ere to be al- 
 lowed a new ele&ion. Are thefe the Acts 
 
 for 
 6
 
 for which Parliaments demand a nation's 
 confidence ? And again : In the laft of thofe 
 periods which I have mentioned, when the 
 people confided in being allowed to eleft new 
 reprefentatives at the end of three years, Par- 
 liament once more aflumed a power of cur- 
 tailing liberty, by enacting, that elections 
 fhould never be at fhorter intervals than once 
 in feven years, unlefs indeed to accommodate 
 the CROWN, who might have them, if con- 
 venient, every feven months, or every feven. 
 weeks. And is it becaufe Parliament at pre- 
 fent continues to us the/e difgraceful bonds and 
 fetters^ that we are now called on to give it 
 our confidence ? Or becaufe it has in parti- 
 cular, within our memory, rejected in one 
 Houfe the Duke of Richmond" 1 * Bill, and in 
 the other Houfe, fcouted the plans of Mr. 
 Pitt for reforming abufes unjuft in the ex- 
 treme, too notorious to be denied, and too 
 grofs and abfurd to admit of palliation ? 
 When Parliament will refpect the CONSTI- 
 TUTION, the people will refpect Parliament! 
 
 To come then, once more, to the main 
 jet of the bufmefs, let us ferioufly and impar- 
 tially
 
 tially afk ourfelves a few plain queflions. If 
 any thing has already been done towards 
 fubverting the Conftitution, or, in the words 
 of the Proclamation, towards " the fubverfion 
 <c of all regular government within this king- 
 " dom," where has lain the true criminality? 
 Who have really been the guilty parties ? 
 The Proclamation infmuates, and thofe w T ho 
 mare the good things of government are rea- 
 dy enough to aflert, that thofe who do but 
 imagine any thing to the difadvantage of the 
 Crown or the Nobles, are difafFeded ; and 
 wicked and feditious perfons. But without 
 regard either to Courts or to Courtiers, to 
 ins^ or to cuts, or becoming the dupes of any 
 fadion, or being difturbed or milled by any 
 clamour, let every honeft man lay his hand 
 upon his heart, and, in the prefence of God 
 and his country, fay, whether the Crown and 
 the Lords are, or are not, juftly chargeable 
 with the ferious fads, the overt Ads which 
 I have ftated. If thofe fads are too notori- 
 ous to be denied ; if they have left the Com- 
 mons a reprefentation only in fidion and 
 fhadow, where is the Britifh Conltitution fo 
 
 much
 
 ( 143 } 
 
 much talked of ? Where the government by 
 three eftates, which has been the admiration 
 of mankind ? As to the Crown and the 
 Lords, who have touched their rights ? Who 
 have invaded any privilege of theirs f Who 
 have defpoiled them, either by force, or by 
 fraud, or by corruption, of one iota of their 
 Conftitutional Powers ? No ; No : They 
 poflefs untouched, undiminifhed, all their 
 own privileges and powers, and have kindly 
 contrived to divide between them the greater 
 part of tbcfe of the Commons alfo. Having 
 done this, it is wickednefs and fedition, as 
 they tell us, to hint that Royalty and Nobi- 
 lity fo acting, are hoftile to public freedom. 
 And if the Minifter fhaTl but fteadily perie- 
 vere in practffmg the " Rules for rooting 
 out Royalty and Nobility from Great Britain" 
 it will ibon be called treafon to complain of 
 our injuries and demand our rights ; becaufe 
 that will afford the people ftrong reafon for 
 concluding, that nothing fhort of force will 
 obtain them juftice ; than which nothing is fo 
 likely to make them enter in good earneft 
 into a quarrel with their fuperiors. 
 
 It
 
 ( '44 ) 
 
 It is worth remarking, that the King, the 
 Lords, and the Lower Houfe, ihould be fo 
 eafily prevailed on by the Minifter to give 
 their concurrent fanetiori to his Proclamation, 
 firft ft'ppofing dangers, and then magnifying 
 thefe creations of the imagination ; when the 
 utmoft of the fort that could exift, might be 
 effectually crufhed by the fmgle arm of the 
 Attorney-General : While all the time they 
 can behold with the utmoft tranquillity, the 
 moft important branch of the Legiflature 
 reduced aim oft to a ftate of virtual annihila^ 
 tion, through the operation of the three fta- 
 tutes to which I have referred, and the Bo- 
 rough incroachments and other abufes of 
 which I have already taken notice* When 
 {hall we have Proclamations, " warning the 
 " King's loving fubjects, as they tender their 
 " own happinefs, and that of their pofterity, 
 " to guard againft" the fatal effects of the 
 infamous traffic In Boroughs ; of feats in the 
 Houfe of Commons being ufurped by the re- 
 prefentatives of the Lords ; or of corrupting 
 the people s deputies by places and penfions 
 to themfelves, or favours fhowered down 
 
 upon
 
 { '45 ) 
 
 upon the circle of their kindred ? vProcla- 
 mations do not come forth, offering the peo- 
 ple any affiftance in recovering that controul 
 over their own purfe, by which they might 
 be able to prevent the prefent taxes of SE- 
 VENTEEN MILLIONS ANNUALLY from fwell- 
 ing to double that amount ; nor encourag- 
 ing them to hope for Jhorter Parliaments. 
 Neither are the Magiftrates enjoined by Pro- 
 clamation to become fpies upon, and infor- 
 mers againft, the Lords of the Admiralty, 
 the Lords or Secretaries of the Trcafury, the 
 Auditor of the Exchequer or any other fer- 
 vants of the Crown, when they fhall meddle 
 with corrupt, profligate, riotous, and mur- 
 derous elections, and contribute regular quo- 
 tas towards the expences of the fame. 
 Amongft the Proclamations in fupport of 
 " our happy Constitution of Government," 
 one might at leaft expect that the atual^ 
 praElical, and long continued invafions of that 
 Gonjlitntion in its moft vital part, might be 
 noticed, with full as much propriety as a pa- 
 ragraph or two in a pamphlet. 
 
 U Nor
 
 Nor is it amongft the leaft of the inftances 
 of addrefs fhewn by the Minifter for work- 
 ing up the people, that he now objects to the 
 TIME for a reform j becaufe the objection is 
 fo perfectly frivolous, and fo palpably un- 
 founded, as to be well adapted for imprefling 
 on their minds a conviction of his apoftacy,and 
 of his determination, if poflible, completely 
 to betray to the Crown and the Lords, the 
 people's whole fhare in the Government ; 
 which muft be of the greateft fervice to his 
 caufe. The people remembering, that it was 
 once faid, by a wife ftatefman of antiquity, 
 that " there is a time for all things," muft 
 needs be out of humour with the ftatefman I 
 am fpeaking of, when he now gravely de- 
 clares, that, although ten years ago I eon- 
 tended for a " PARLIAMENTARY REFOR- 
 
 " MATION, WITHOUT WHICH," I faid, 
 " NEITHER THE LIBERTY OF THE NATION 
 " CAN BE PRESERVED, NOR THE PERMA- 
 " NENCE OF A WISE AND VIRTUOUS AD- 
 " MINISTRATION CAN BE SECURED*;" 
 
 * In an unanimous refolution of a Meeting on the i8th of 
 May, 1782, when Mr Pitt was prefent. 
 
 i yet
 
 yet the prefent is not a time for fuch a mea- 
 fure ; and they will the more readily lofe 
 their temper as all Minifters without excep- 
 tion ever fince the " Glorious Revolution" 
 have uniformly objected to both time and 
 modcy wherever any reform has been attempt- 
 ed. A time of xvar, a time of peace ; a time 
 of diftrefs, a time of profperity ; a time of 
 public difturbance, and a time of general 
 tranquillity ; are all, it feems, in the eyes of 
 courtiers, equally exceptionable. The true 
 Englifli of which appearing to be, that the 
 only time when their confent will ever be 
 given, is, when the people mail compel the 
 performance ; our patriot ftatefman, is con- 
 nrained to act accordingly ; fo that by his 
 prefent conduct and declarations, and the 
 meafures he caufes to be taken, the people 
 may be fully perfuaded that this is true, and 
 may be inftructed, while they curfe the Mi- 
 nifter as a tool, to lay the principal blame at 
 the door of the Crown and the Nobles. The 
 more he can eftablifh the opinion that the 
 Cro\vn and the Nobles will never be fatisfied, 
 till they have engrofled between them all 
 the people's mare in the government, the 
 
 U 2 more
 
 more of courfe the people will be difpofed to 
 repay them in kind. 
 
 ftrothertoft 
 
 June 23, 1792. 
 
 AN unforefeen delay in the publication of 
 this little work, has given me an oppor- 
 tunity of adding a few lines on the fubjecl: 
 of a correfpondence with certain gentlemen 
 in France, in which I had the honour of 
 bearing a part ; whereby it feems that I have 
 given lad offence to Mr. Baker, Mr. Curwen, 
 Lord John Rufiell, Mr. Dudley North, and 
 Mr. Courtnay. It feems alfo, that thefe 
 anxious and coiifi/lcnt aflbciptors for a Parlia- 
 mentary Reform^ have thought fit to with- 
 draw themfelves from the Society of " The 
 " Friends of the People," becaufe, forfooth, 
 I was not expelled for having avowed the 
 laid correipondence, and given it my hand 
 
 and
 
 C '49 ) 
 
 and fignature *. Thefe gentlemen who con* 
 fider it as criminal to congratulate a Society 
 of French Patriots on a Revolution in favour 
 of their liberties, muft have excellent notions 
 of reftoring the liberties of their own fellow- 
 citizens 1 And their political morality muft 
 be of a moft exalted kind, and on a moft 
 enlarged fcale, who cannot endure an inter- 
 change of political philanthropy beyond the 
 fhores of their own petty ifland. The Ad- 
 drefs from the Society for Conftitutional in- 
 formation in London, to the Friends of the 
 Conftitution at Paris, commonly called Jaco- 
 bins, is what I mall ever efteem it a happi- 
 nefs to have joined in. Neither the ridicu- 
 lous cenfures of fuch REFORMERS as Meflrs. 
 Baker and Co. nor the infidious infmuations 
 in the Proclamations of fuch a REFORMER as 
 the Minifter, can alter the nature of things, 
 nor ftamp with error or criminality, that 
 which is intrinfically wile and virtuous. 
 
 * See their Letter of Seceffion from the Society of the 
 Friends of the People, afibciated for the purpofe of obtaining 
 a Parliamentary Reform ; given in the Proceedings of that So- 
 ciety of .the gth of June, publifhed in the Argus of the nth.; 
 tut did not come to my knowledge till yefterday. 
 
 Such
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
 Such cenfures and fuch infmuations may in- 
 deed miflead, for a while, the fhallow and 
 weak-minded; but truth and freedom will, in 
 the end, prevail, to the confufion not only of 
 their avowed adverfaries ; but of thofe alfo 
 who, when foiled in all the manoeuvres and 
 hackneyed tricks of parliamentary faction, 
 awkwardly attempt to mafquerade it before 
 the people in the habit of patriotism. When 
 the Minifter (hall file his information againft 
 me for the high crime of " having entered 
 " into a correfpondence with fitndry perfons in 
 ** foreign parts" he will be provided with 
 Jive jurymen at leaft, who are capable of pro- 
 nouncing the verdict of guilty, on the bare 
 proof of printing and publi/hing only, without 
 the fmalleft regard to the matter, although 
 peradventure it mould confift of fentiments 
 doing honour to human nature, and pecu- 
 liarly adapted to benefit the good people of 
 Great Britain, without the fmalleft incon- 
 fiftency with law. But it is entertaining to 
 obferve, from whom thefe five confident per- 
 fons now avowedly differ, and 'with whom 
 they feem to agree. They already differ 
 
 from
 
 From " The Friends of the People affociated 
 w for the purpofe of obtaining a Parliamen- 
 *' tary Reform," fo irreconcileably as to have 
 caufed their voluntary feparation ; and with 
 particular abhorrence they fly off from one 
 whofe principle it has ever been, " fairly 
 " and honeftly to contend for the people's 
 " rights in their full extent:" While, by 
 exprefsly grounding their feceffion upon fuch 
 a ftrong reprobation of the Jacobin Society 
 in France (including as I have ever under- 
 ftood all the great leaders of the Revolution, 
 and the beft friends to the prefent free Con- 
 ftitution of that kingdom) that even to write 
 that Society a civil letter of congratulation 
 and good wifhes is criminal in their eyes, 
 they perfectly agree, I doubt not, with our 
 confiftent Minifter, with all Borough-holders, 
 and with the enemies of a Parliamentary Re- 
 form to a man; nor muft we forget Meffieurs 
 the Kings of Pruffia and Hungary, the late 
 Monarch of Sweden, the amiable Emprefs of 
 all the Ruffias, and the French traitors now 
 in arms againft the liberties of their country. 
 
 With
 
 cc 
 
 With fuch fentiments* " no doubt, 
 
 will in due time bring about that Reform 
 
 u in the Britifh Reprefentation, which they 
 
 " are ib anxious to obtain.'* 
 
 The Addrefs alluded to not having been of 
 my own compofition, I may be allowed to 
 fay of it, that, in my judgment, it was well 
 calculated to weaken that wretched prejudice, 
 which, for fo many ages paft, has taught two 
 polifhed, philofophic, and Chriftian nations 
 to confider each other as natural enemies, 
 between whom there was to be no other 
 ceflation of mutual pillage and flaughter, than 
 juft fufficient from time to time to draw 
 breath when exhaufted in the abfurd conflict. 
 In being inftrumental towards the difiuiion 
 of more juft and virtuous fentiments through- 
 out the two Empires, I felt peculiarly happy. 
 In circulating notions favourable to the free- 
 dom and peace of both, I thought I was 
 doing the duty of a good citizen, of a man, 
 and of a Chriftian. 
 
 And when a confpiracy of traitors and ty- 
 rants was armed agaioit the new liberties of 
 
 France,
 
 France, and the patriots of that country 
 knew not which way amongft foreigners to 
 look for a friend, I was proud to avow my 
 fympathy for their fituation, and anxious to 
 convince them that their caufe was not indif- 
 ferent to the friends of freedom in this coun- 
 try. Nor am I backward to exprefs it as my 
 opinion, that the addrefs in queftion will do 
 honour to the pen which produced, and to 
 the Society which adopted it, as long as a 
 love of freedom and virtue fhall be found 
 amongft men. 
 
 In the Society of Jacobins I have no per- 
 fonal acquaintance, and, confifting as I un- 
 derftand it does of feveral thoufands, very 
 poflibly it may contain fome perfons of ex- 
 ceptionable morals. But it fuffices with me, 
 if, as a Society, it be the friend of human 
 freedom and bappinefe. What particular form 
 of government either the majority or minori- 
 ty of that Society may in fpeculation moft 
 approve, I know not. Provided only, that 
 human freedom and happ'mefs be the grand 
 objed of the inftitution and attention of the 
 
 X Society,
 
 Society, as from convincing evidence I hold 
 to be the fact, it is a Society which I muft 
 love and refpect. And why Englifhmen at- 
 tached to thofe objects, and who wifh to cul- 
 tivate the important fcience of civil govern- 
 ment, which, in refpect of temporal happi- 
 nefs is of all others the mafter-fcience, are 
 not as freely to communicate with fuch a 
 Society, as a Critic or a Poet with the Aca- 
 demy of Belle Lettres, I am yet to learn. To 
 bigots it may appear unorthodox : To the 
 patrons of corruption it may caufe alarm : 
 To the priefts of political popery, and to im- 
 poftors, it may give offence : But it will not 
 fail to meet with the approbation of wife 
 and honeft men, fo long as freedom be the 
 object, and virtue the guide, of fuch inter^ 
 courfe. 
 
 Had fuch a communication of ideas ever 
 fmce the revival of letters, been the conftant 
 practice of national focieties throughout Eu- 
 rope, not only France, but every other Eur 
 
 ropean
 
 ropean nation had long firice been emanci- 
 pated ; and the whole would probably by 
 this time have been in the full enjoyment of 
 the numberlefs bleffmgs of freedom and 
 peace: And had it been the principal occu- 
 pation of Ambaffadors to tranfmit to their 
 own countries for adoption, all real improve- 
 ments in government which they had oppor- 
 tunities of obferving, how happy muft the 
 condition of mankind have been rendered ere 
 now. But alas ! the ufual office of Ambaffa- 
 dors, and the general policy of courts, have 
 been of a different caft k 
 
 As the five Seceders, in their farewell 
 Epiftle of the 4th of June, are pleafed to ad- 
 vert to a certain paper from the Society for 
 Gonftitutional Information, which (to ufe 
 once more their own phrafe) had alfo my 
 " hand and fignaturej" I fliall take occafion 
 to notice the remarks of two friends relative 
 to that paper, arid its effects. One of them, 
 who was prefent when that paper was pre- 
 X 2 fented
 
 ( 156 ) 
 
 fented to Mr. Baker, then in the Chair of 
 the Society of the Friends of the People, fee- 
 ing the ftrong effect it had upon that gentle- 
 man's nerves, and the new fort of liberty in 
 a public aflembly which was taken by him, 
 of reading zferious and friendly addrefs in an 
 ironical and contemptuous manner, was un- 
 able to difcover either the candour, or the 
 propriety, or the refpeft to the meeting, 
 {hewn in fuch an unprecedented proceeding. 
 But having attended to the whole of the per- 
 formance (for it was rather acting than read- 
 ing) and given the matter a little confidera- 
 tion, my friend was inclined to give Mr. Ba- 
 ker credit for intending it as an improvement 
 in managing the debates of popular focieties 5 
 whereby a chairman could at once impart ver- 
 batim any addrefs to the Society^ and at the 
 fame time without introducing an additional 
 word, Convey very clearly his own comment 
 thereupon. An ingenious thought this for 
 faving time in debate, which Is an obje of 
 very confiderable importance : But whether 
 
 this
 
 ( _ 157 ) 
 
 this advantage may not in fome degree be 
 counter-balanced, by the inconvenience of 
 wholly perverting the meaning of every feri*- 
 ous writing fo communicated y is left for the 
 judges of oratory and argument, and the 
 critics on figures of fpeech, to determine. 
 
 Another friend has remarked that the paper 
 which has been alluded to, feems to have 
 partaken of the qualities of Ithuriel's fpear ; 
 and to have poflefled a power, fo very defir- 
 able in thefe days, of proving of fpirits, whe- 
 ther they were fpirits of reform or fpirits of 
 faction ; and he is perfuaded that the blifsful 
 regions of reformation will have caufe to re- 
 joice in its good effects. 
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 No. I. 
 
 AT a meeting of the officers of the forty- 
 fecond regiment of militia, held by 
 ilefire of the Right Hon. Lord George Sut- 
 ton, Colonel of the aforefaid regiment at 
 JIuIl, i jth November, 1778, 
 
 OFFICERS 
 G. J. PAKKYNS, Capt. 
 
 G. NiiVI^E, ditto 
 
 G. BUTTON, ditto 
 J. KIRKE, ditto 
 Js. I RACEY, Capt. Lt. 
 R. BERK.>, Lieut. 
 J. SMI tH, d'tto 
 S. HILL, ditto. 
 
 3 
 
 PRESENT. 
 
 F. G. BYRON, Lieut. 
 FR. SUTTON, ditto 
 THOS. COOD, Enfign 
 J. MANNFRS, ditto 
 R. S. NEWTON, dito 
 T. LITTLEWOOD, ditto 
 
 P. ELLIS ? ditto 
 
 Refolved
 
 ( 160 ) 
 
 Refolded ift. That the determination 
 unanimoufly agreed to, on the militia being 
 firft raifed, that all promotion of officers^/fo// 
 go in the regiment, be adhered to. 
 
 Refolved 2dly. That fuch officers whofe 
 rife may be affected by the prefent vacancy, 
 and who mean to offer for higher commif- 
 fions, do produce their real qualifications, aa 
 no nominal ones can be poffibly admitted. 
 
 Refolved 3dly. That as Major Cartwright 
 is the firft in feniority, that he be imme- 
 diately wrote to by the Colonel, to know 
 whether he means to qualify according to 
 the aforementioned determination. 
 
 Refolved 4thly. That in cafe Major Cart- 
 wright and Capt. Parkyns do not qualify ac- 
 cordingly, that the Lieutenant-Colonelcy 
 will then devolve to Capt. Nevile. 
 
 Captain Nevile in that cafe being willing 
 to wave his claim to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy 
 in favour of Lord John Clinton ;
 
 Whether it meets with the fenfe of 
 the officers of the regiment. 
 
 Ayes - - Ten 
 Noes - - Four. 
 
 RICHARD BERKS, 
 Adjutant of the 42^ Militia. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 AT a meeting of the officers of the 42d, or 
 Nottinghamshire regiment of militia held at 
 Hull, i jth of December, 1778. 
 
 PRESENT, 
 
 Major Cartwrigbt *. 
 Captains Parkyns, Cooper, and Kirke. 
 Lieutenants Jobnfon, Berks, Samffon, 
 
 Colli/Jjaw, Smith, Hill, Hutbwmtc, By- 
 
 ron, and Sutton. 
 Enfigns Manners^ Newton, LittlcwGod, 
 
 and Ellis. 
 
 Major Cart wright defired to read the refo- 
 lutions of the meeting of the officers held on 
 the 1 3th of November laft, and read them 
 
 * Although prefent, not a member of the meeting; which he 
 declined, that he might not vote on a qucition in which ac was 
 perfonally interefted. 
 
 Y accord-
 
 accordingly ; he then read alfo his letter of 
 the 1 8th of November to the Adjutant, in 
 anfwer to the interrogation put to him in 
 thofe refolutions concerning his qualification, 
 and repeated to the meeting, that he had ac- 
 tually, as in that letter exprefied, rcgiftered 
 a real and legal qualification that he could 
 ferve upon with honour, and would main- 
 tain at law whenever it might be difputed : 
 He then requefted to know whether the 
 gentlemen prefent were fatisfied that he had 
 fo regiftered his qualification as he had de- 
 clared, to which they unanimoufly anfwered 
 in the affirmative. 
 
 Captain Cooper then fucceffively made the 
 following motions ; viss. 
 
 T"trft ; That it is the opinion of this meet- 
 ing, that the whole corps is interefted in fup- 
 porting the Major's claim to the vacant.com- 
 mifjion of Lieutenant-Colonel ; he having 
 (according to the reqtieft tranfmitted to him 
 from a meeting of officers held at Hull the 
 1 3th of November laft) entered a qualifica- 
 tion with the Clerk of the Peace for the faid 
 CQrnmiffion, which qualification the officers 
 
 can
 
 Can poiTibly not have the leaft right to doubt, 
 as the Major has farther aflured them of its 
 fufficiency upon his honour. 
 
 Refolved in the affirmative^ nemlnc con- 
 tradicentc. 
 
 Secondly; As Captain Parkyns has given 
 the like teftimony of his qualification, the 
 meeting is anxioufly and unanimoufly of 
 opinion that he mould fucceed, as eldeft 
 Captain, to the majority. 
 
 Refclved in the affirmative, nem< con. 
 
 Thirdly ; The meeting are alfo of opinion, 
 that if Lord John Clinton was to fucceed to 
 the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, it would be an in- 
 jury to Captain Cooper -, as it would exclude 
 Captain Cooper from the Commiffion of Co- 
 lonel in any future vacancy ; for which Com- 
 miffion, he is the only officer in the regiment 
 that has fet forth a qualification. 
 
 Refolved in the affirmative, nem. con* 
 
 Fourthly ; That it is the opinion of the 
 officers at this meeting, that fo long as the 
 officers behave themfelves like fuch, and can 
 produce legal qualifications, all rile ought to 
 go in the regiment. And they determine to 
 
 Y 2 pray
 
 ( 1 64 ) 
 
 pray for a proper court of inquiry on the con- 
 duel: of fuch officer who may at any time be 
 fuperfeded, as they cannot think of doing 
 duty with an officer that had a flight 
 thrown upon his character, till the caufe of 
 fuch flight fhall have been fully cleared up ; 
 as it is prefumed the Duke of Neivcaftle 
 would not object to an officer who had fervecl 
 in the regiment on flight grounds ; and with- 
 out fome reafon for having a bad opinion of 
 his character. 
 
 Refolved in the affirmative, nem. con. 
 
 Fifthly ; That it is the opinion of this 
 meeting, that the afore-mentioned refolves 
 ( be fent to his Grace the Duke of Neivcqftle. 
 
 Refolved in the affirmative, nem. con. 
 
 G. J. PARKYNS, Captain, 
 
 Prejident. 
 
 N. B. Captain Lieutenant Tracey and Lieu- 
 tenant Good were not prefent, but have feen 
 the afore-mentioned motions, and agreed to 
 the whole. 
 
 G. J. PARKYNS, Captain, 
 
 Prefident. x 
 
 No. IIL
 
 1 65 
 
 No. III. 
 
 PLAN for providing the navy with an im- 
 mediate, a complete, and a perpetual fupply 
 of {hip-timber, equal to its greateft known 
 confumption, by means of the royal forefts 
 and chaces. 
 
 1. Survey all forefts, chaces, and other 
 wafte lands of the crown or the public, and 
 delineate them on maps. 
 
 2. Satisfy all legal claimants, by giving 
 them land equivalent to their refpe&ive 
 claims *. 
 
 3. Then value all the land that remains, 
 diftinguifhing it accordingly upon the maps. 
 
 4. Let the commiflioners who value pro- 
 ceed upon the fuppofition that the land is al- 
 ready divided by fufficient fences into plots 
 of 50 acres each, and lies within convenient 
 
 * Unlefs upon the whole, there may be a deficiency of land 
 for the purpofes of the plan. In that cafe it may be more ex- 
 pedient to give an equivalent in money. 
 
 2 diftancea
 
 ( 1 66 ) 
 
 diftances of the dwellings of its occupiers; 
 that it is alfo to be free from the prefent land* 
 tax and from tithes of any kind. 
 
 5. Divide it into lots, valued at 2000!. per* 
 annum. 
 
 6. Where there may be oak-timber grow- 
 ing, let the fame alfo be valued accurately. 
 
 7. Put each lot valued as above (making 
 allowances for the timber thereupon) at 2000!. 
 per annum, into the pofleffion of a private 
 perfon by a grant from the crown, to him 
 and his heirs fpecial for ever, with exprefs 
 provifions for keeping it for ever indivifible. 
 Let the grantee be Lord of the Manor, and 
 hold his grant, upon the fole condition of 
 paying a quit rent in fhip timber and plank, 
 of the yearly value of I oool ; having at all 
 times power of conveying or bequeathing 
 his faid grant to any fubject of Great 
 Britain *. 
 
 * If upon calculating the expences of inclofirig, clearing^ 
 draining, building, &c. thefe terms mall be t'.cught too bene- 
 ficial to the grantee, he may te made to pay for his grant fuch 
 a premium as (hall leave him only fo much emolument as may 
 induce him to embrace the conditions of its tenure. 
 
 8. The
 
 8. The faid timber and plank to be de- 
 livered yearly, on or before a certain day, 
 into fome one royal dock-yard, to be named 
 in the grant, 
 
 9. The quantity of fuch timber and plank 
 to be fo delivered for loool. to be afcertain- 
 ed by five commiffioners, according to what 
 in their judgment it might be delivered at, 
 upon an average, for ten fucceflive years 
 from the date of the grant. The Commif- 
 iioners to have no connexion or contract 
 with government, nor any interelt directly 
 or indirectly with relpect to the grants. 
 
 10. The Navy Board to fet forth a table, 
 containing every diftinct clafs of oak-timber 
 and plank ufed in the dock-yards, and the 
 Commifiioners to make their calculations 
 upon each of the diftinct clafles feparately. 
 This table of clafles and value to be recited 
 at large in every grant. 
 
 11. The Navy Board alfo to eftimate the 
 proportion of each of the faid clafTes of tim- 
 J?er and plank which each dock-yard would 
 
 require j
 
 ( 1 68 ) 
 
 require ; as alfo the proportion due from 
 each grantee, fo that all the grantees may be 
 required to deliver equal quotas of every 
 clafs, and none other, except with their own 
 confent ; or except as hereafter is excepted. 
 The table of proportions to be alfo recited at 
 large in every grant. 
 
 12. But if the public fervice mould at any 
 time acquire an alteration in this mode of 
 delivery, the fame to be certified to the Ad- 
 miralty by the Navy Board, and orders to 
 the grantees to be by the Admiralty there- 
 upon given accordingly; allowing, however, 
 three years notice to the grantee, and in- 
 forming him from which of the other clafles 
 he is to deducl: timber or plank equivalent in 
 value to that which is newly demanded of 
 him. 
 
 13. Each grantee to have a right to de- 
 liver in more than his proper annual fupply 
 within any year, fo far as to the amount of 
 250!. and to have credit for the fame ; 
 which credit mall ferve inftead of a future 
 delivery of timber or plank of the fame claf- 
 fes, but no other. 
 
 14. When
 
 ( i6 9 ) 
 
 14. When timber or plank carried by 
 land fhall arrive at the dock- yard, report to 
 be made at the office of the ftore-keeper * ; 
 and the faid timber or plank to be unloaded 
 in whatever part of the yard the faid ftore- 
 keeper, or, in cafe of his abfence, the next 
 in authority in his office, fhall appoint. 
 
 15. But with regard to timber or plank 
 carried by water, the delivery, fo far as may 
 relate to the forfeiture of the grant, to be 
 efteemed duly performed, fo foon as the 
 fame fhall arrive in the harbour where the 
 dock fhall be fituated, or, if on a river, 
 within half a mile of the dock-yard. Re- 
 port to be made as above, and the timber and 
 plank brought to fuch place or fucceflive 
 places within the bounds of the faid yard, as 
 the faid ftore-keeper fhall direct ; and the full 
 delivery thereof fhall be efteemed to be com- 
 pleted as foon as it fhall be put into the 
 boats, veflels, flings, fafts, or fecurities. of 
 his Majefty, or laid on any wharf, or land- 
 ing-place of the dock-yard. 
 
 * The matter fnipwright had been alfo mentioned in this 
 da ufe, but it fc.ems better that a grantee fhould have no de- 
 pendence on any but the ftore-keeper. 
 
 Z 1 6. If
 
 ( '7 ) 
 
 1 6. If any ftore-keeper, or other perfon 
 employed in the dock-yard, fhall unnecefTa- 
 rily detain or impede the fervants of the 
 grantee in the delivery of any timber or 
 plank, the party aggrieved to recover of the 
 Jlore-keeper treble damages and treble cofts of 
 fuit, provided the profecution be commenced 
 within one year. Every fuch caufe to be 
 firft tried by a fpecial jury of the county. 
 If the ftore-keeper himfelf be abfent from 
 duty with leave of the Admiralty, then the 
 perfon next in authority under him to be an- 
 fwerable as above. And if fuch perfon, or 
 fuch ftore-keeper, fhall not be the actual offen- 
 der, he {hall neverthelefs be the fole perfon 
 anfwerable to the grantee or his fervants, 
 for whatever delay or impediment may be 
 wilfully given at the dock-yard to the re- 
 ceipt, admeafurement or depofiting of the 
 timber or plank, or in giving certificates of 
 the delivery into his Majefty's ftores ; hav- 
 ing at the fame time his remedy at lawagainft 
 the actual offender or offenders. And for 
 every offence of this kind, as well as for 
 every fraud, in claffing the timber to the pre- 
 judice of the grantee, in the fum of 50!. 
 2 and
 
 ( '7' ) 
 
 and upwards, the actual offender to forfeit his 
 office or employment, and be incapable of 
 ever holding any other beneficial employ- 
 ment under the Crown. The ftore-keeper or 
 perfon next in authority under him as afore- 
 faid, ftill being the only perfon anfwerable 
 to the grantee in this behalf. 
 
 1 7. If any officer or other perfon, employ- 
 ed in a dock-yard fhall extort, demand, afk, 
 or receive from any grantee, his agent or 
 fervant, any bribe, fee, gratuity, or prefent 
 whatfoever, directly or indirectly, on ac- 
 count or pretence of expedition, fervice, or 
 favour, in refpedl to the delivery or receipt 
 of any timber or plank, his office or employ- 
 ment to be forfeited, and the difqualification 
 abovementioned to take place. 
 
 1 8. Provided the ftore-keeper or mafter- 
 fhipwright fee occafion to object to any tim- 
 ber or plank of a grantee, a furvey to be 
 had upon oath by three indifferent perfons ; 
 and the opinion of the majority of them to 
 determine the quality of the fame. If un- 
 found, it lhall neverthelefs be detained by 
 
 Z 2 the
 
 ( I 7 2 ) 
 
 the ftore-keeper, meafured and entered in his* 
 books, to be applied to ordinary ufes ; but 
 no receipt mall be given for it ; and at or be- 
 fore the time appointed for completing the 
 next annual delivery, the grantee to deliver 
 in an equal quantity of found timber in lieu 
 thereof, over and above his regular fupply. 
 
 19. All the prefent foreft laws to be re- 
 pealed, and the granted lands to be made un- 
 alienable by any means whatever, except by 
 forfeiture for non-performance of conditions, 
 or elfe by fale or transfer of the grant, with 
 all its obligations entire and undivided ; 
 which fale or transfer to be made to only one 
 perfon, and not to any partnermip or joint- 
 fharers whatever. The perfon to whom fuch 
 grant fhall be fold or transferred to give no- 
 tice thereof to the Treafury and Admiralty 
 Boards within one month, on pain of forfeit- 
 ing the fum of . 
 
 20. For the firft four years, a failure to 
 deliver in the requifite quantity of timber 
 and plank as it becomes due not to be a 
 caufe of forfeiture, provided that, in each of 
 
 the
 
 ( '73 ) 
 
 the laid four years, at leaft one half fhall be 
 duly delivered in, and the whole before the 
 expiration of the faid four years. For the 
 next three years, the like indulgence, in cafe 
 two thirds lhall be regularly delivered, and 
 the whole before the expiration of the term ; 
 and for the next two years, the like indul- 
 gence, provided three-fourth parts be regu- 
 larly delivered, &c. 
 
 21. After the expiration of all thofe terms, 
 making in the whole nine years, a failure to 
 deliver in one-twentieth part of the annual 
 quit rent of timber or plank in any year, to 
 be for ever after good and fufficient caufe of 
 forfeiture. 
 
 22. And provided there be in any one fu- 
 ture year a deficiency in the delivery, amount- 
 ing to lefs than one-twentieth part, the 
 grantee to deliver in inftead thereof, double 
 the quantity before the expiration of the 
 next fucceffive year. And if any grantee 
 thus run in debt fmall quantities from year to 
 year, (the fame continuing to double every 
 year) until his whole debt accumulate to one 
 
 twentieth
 
 twentieth part of his annual quit rent, his 
 grant to be thereby forfeited. And the rule 
 for eftimating fuch deficiencies to be, by ad- 
 meafurement and value ; agreeable to the 
 original table recited as beforementioned in 
 the grant. 
 
 23. But upon proof that the timber or 
 plank of any grantee was fhipped or loaded 
 in proper time, and that its regular delivery 
 had been prevented by unforefeen accidents, 
 of a nature to afford a reafonable caufe of 
 j unification, fuch as contrary winds, fhip- 
 wreck, roads fuddenly rendered impaflable, 
 and the like, then the forfeiture of the grant 
 not to take place, provided diligence be ufed 
 in replacing every deficiency, and no appear- 
 ance of intentional neglect or delay is difco- 
 verable to a Jury. 
 
 24. In every cafe of a forfeiture of a 
 grant, the whole of the dwellings, buildings, 
 and erections of every kind, and all fences, 
 fixtures, or improvements, and all timber 
 whether filled or growing thereupon, and 
 belonging to the grantee at the commence- 
 
 'ment
 
 ( '75 ) 
 
 ment of the profecution to be forfeited alfo ; 
 but not the ftock, cattle, hay, corn, furni- 
 ture, or m'oveables, nor growing crops be- 
 longing to any tenant or tenants, then occu- 
 pying the whole or any part of the grant. 
 
 25. It is not to be lawful for his Majefty 
 or his fucceflbrs, or for any Minifter or fer- 
 vant of the Crown, to excufe any grantee 
 from duly performing the condition of his 
 grant ; but on the contrary, it {hall be the 
 duty of the Comptroller t>f the Navy to pro- 
 fecute for every failure in the due delivery 
 of the timber or plank, on pain of lofmg his 
 office for any omiffion therein. If neverthe- 
 lefs he {hall negled: for one year to com- 
 mence his profecution, it mall then be law- 
 ful for any fubject of Great Britain to profe- 
 cute in his or her own name; and upon proof 
 of the failure on the part of the grantee, 
 the grant to be forfeited to fuch profecutor, 
 and his heirs for ever, to be held by him 
 or them on the fame conditions as thofe on 
 which it was held by the original grantee. 
 The record from the Court in which the 
 
 caufe
 
 caufe was tried, to be to him and his faid 
 heirs~a good and fufficient title to the grant. 
 
 26. In cafe of a forfeiture to the Crown, 
 or of a lapfe to the Crown in default of heirs, 
 every grant fo forfeited or fo lapfing, to be 
 again granted to fome other perfon under 
 the fign manual of his Majefty ; but without 
 any power of altering the original condi- 
 tions. And if his Majefty fhould not with- 
 in the fpace of forty days make fuch frefh 
 grant, then any fubjecl: of Great Britain who 
 mould firft demand to be put in pofieffion of 
 fuch vacant grant, to be to all intents and 
 purpofes the legal grantee. This demand to 
 be made in writing of the Lords Commiffion- 
 ers of his Majefty 's Treafury, who there- 
 upon mall immediately certify under their 
 hands and the feal of their office, that, in con- 
 fequence of the faid demand, the demandant 
 is become legal grantee of the grant in quef- 
 ticn. Refufing to grant fuch certificate, the 
 Lord High Treafurer to forfeit io,cool. or 
 the firft Lord Commiffioner 3000!. and each 
 inferior Commiffioner loool. each. 
 
 27. From
 
 27. From the day on which there fhall 
 ceafe to be a legal grantee in pofleffion of 
 any grant, untill it fhall legally veft in a new 
 grantee, the tenants to pay their rents into 
 the hands of a receiver to be appointed by 
 the Court of Chancery, in truft for the per- 
 fon who fhall iirft become the legal grantee ; 
 and upon fuch change, no new grantee to 
 have a power of raifmg the rents for three 
 years from the time of his obtaining poflef- 
 lion. 
 
 28. Every new grantee being thus fecure 
 of the profits of the grant from the com- 
 mencement of the vacancy, he fhall alfo be 
 fubjecT: from the fame period to the payment 
 of the annual quit rent of timber and plank ; 
 being allowed only the fame time for pay- 
 ing all arrears of timber or plank, as thofe 
 arrears have been in contracting before he 
 got pofTeflion. 
 
 29. If, notwithftanding the intentions of 
 
 keeping every grant undivided, any grantee 
 
 fhall by will or other inftrument, attempt to 
 
 divide the grant he holds amongft two or 
 
 A a more
 
 more perfons, it fhall neverthelefs go to one 
 of thofe perfons only ; either to be fettled by 
 agreement amongft themfelves, or by draw- 
 ing of lots before the Judge of Aflize in the 
 County Court ; and each party concerned to 
 have an equal lot, notwithftanding the grantee 
 fhould have intended to have made an un- 
 equal divifion. If any one of them be a 
 minor, or abfent, or fhall refufe to draw lots, 
 the Judge to appoint foine perfon to draw 
 the lot of fuch party. And in cafes of in- 
 heritance where there is no will or devife of 
 the grant on the part of a deceafed grantee, 
 females fhall inherit by fucceflion, and, by 
 primogeniture, next after males, and not as 
 co-heireffes. 
 
 30. For the firft 14 years each grantee to 
 be allowed to deliver in foreign timber and 
 plank only. 
 
 For the next 7 years, 6-8ths of foreign 
 
 For the next 7 5~8ths ditto. 
 
 For the next 7 4-Sths ditto. 
 
 For the next 7 3-Sths ditto. 
 
 For the next 7 2-Sths ditto. 
 
 For the next 7 i-Sth ditto. 
 
 And
 
 ( '79 ) 
 
 And after the expiration of all the faid 
 terms, or the full term of fifty-fix years, 
 none but Britifh timber or plank to be deli- 
 vered in for ever. 
 
 31. Trefpaflers in woods or nurferies of 
 young oak liable to damage, to pay ten-fold 
 damages and treble cofts of fuit ; for wilfully 
 breaking open any gate or fence thereof, a 
 fine of lol. befides damages and cofts as 
 above ; if the breach be more than one yard 
 wide, to pay 20!. &c. ; if more than two, 
 30!. &c. ; and fo in proportion* 
 
 The Navy Board's eftimate of the timber 
 of all denominations, required for one year's 
 confumption in all the dock-yards, is, 
 
 22,000 loads at 4!. 53. . 93,500 
 And plank 3,792 - 24,500 
 
 . 118,000 
 
 The forefts and chaces in England only, 
 are taken to contain 316,000 acres, at 153. 
 per acre, . 237,000. 
 
 A a 2 Befides
 
 Befides which, there are in Scotland the 
 following forefts j viz. 
 
 Falkland. Linlithgow. 
 
 Scoon. Dunftaffnage. 
 
 Lochmaben. Carirk. 
 
 But without thefe, thofe before enume- 
 rated, if as extenfive as there fet down, and 
 the land be not over-rated, would be fufficient 
 for 1 1 8 grants and a half, producing timber 
 to the amount of . 1 18,500 per ann. which 
 exceeds the demands of all the dock-yards by 
 500!. per ann. As Mr. J. Pitt, furveyor of 
 the King's woods, reported to the Houfe of 
 Commons in 1771, that the major part of 
 the forefts was fit for the growth of timber ; 
 it is confequently fit for the beft purpofes of 
 agriculture, and therefore is fcarcely valued 
 equal to its worth at 155. per acre *. And 
 as Mr. J. Pitt conceived that by cultivating 
 the faid forefts, an income much beyond 
 what is here reckoned upon might be obtain- 
 ed from them : The above eftimates in refpecl: 
 
 * Free from tithes and land-tax, it may reafonably be pre- 
 furncd they would be \vorth one fourth more. 
 
 to
 
 to the quantity of land, are probably within 
 compafs. But fhould the land remaining to 
 the public after fatisfying all claimants be 
 ever fo little, that little had beft be difpofed 
 of before it become lefs by the continuance 
 of encroachments ; and the plan now offered 
 'is equally adapted to the purpofe, whether 
 the land to be applied for fecuring us navy- 
 timber be five thoufand acres, or five hun- 
 dred thoufand. 
 
 As to the other benefits that would accrue 
 to the nation, from the cultivation of fo 
 many forefts, befides keeping our money at 
 home, and becoming independent of foreign 
 nations for timber to build our fhips with, 
 they are for the moft part too obvious to 
 need enumeration, and too many as well as 
 of too great political magnitude to be difre- 
 garded. But it ought particularly to be 
 noted ; 
 
 I ft. That timber for the whole navy would 
 be annually delivered where it is to be work- 
 ed up, without any future trouble or ex- 
 pence to government. 
 
 5 2dly. The
 
 2dly. The influence of the Crown, through 
 all the places, emoluments, and jobs in, or 
 relating to the forefts, would be annihilated ; 
 at the fame time that the profits to the pub- 
 lic would amount to upwards of 120,000!. 
 per ann. at low calculations. 
 
 The Civil Lift eftablifhment would be eafed 
 of falaries to a large amount ; while all per- 
 fons difmifTed might be better provided for 
 in the diftribution of the .grants, or out of 
 the premiums to be received by government. 
 
 A future want of {hip-timber would be 
 eSe.&ually prevented, . without any law to 
 inforce its growth ; and a neceflary and im- 
 portant effect of the plan would be, to caufe 
 our timber to grow precifely where it ought 
 to grow;. in the vicinity of the dock-yards, 
 or contiguous to navigations. 
 
 FINIS.
 
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