ornia tal y UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES LESSONS YOUNG PRINCE. 98*5 13 LESSONS TO A YOUNG PRINCE, ON THE PRESENT DISPOSITION IN EUROPE TO A GENERAL RESOLUTION. THE THIRD EDITION. With the Addition of a Leffbn on the MODE OF STUDYING AND PROFITING By Refle&ions on the FRENCH REVOLUTION, BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE. Quod munus reipublicae afferre majus meliufque poffumus, quam fi docemus atque erudimus juventutem his praefertim moribus atque temporibus, quibus ita prolapfa eft, ut omnium opibus refroenanda atque coercenda fit. Cic. de Div. lib. ii. ver. 4. LONDON: PRINTED FOR H. D. SIMMONS, PATER-NOSTER ROW. M.DCC.XC. vj C Ui INTRODUCTION. 5 T? ^ HrfVERY Writer wifhes to have fomethmg * understood, though he may feldom fuggeft the 3 truth, refpefting himfelf. That I am approaching the extremity of life, may be credited, from my garrulity, from a ge- neral recurrence to diftant events, as authorities, and from an affectation of prophecy or predic- tion. That I am difmterefted, will not be fup- C3 |= pofed, at a time when the poflibility of difinte- ^ reftednefs is difputed. Concealing my name, 301278 IV INTRODUCTION. even from the Printer and Publilher ; laying in- difcriminately before the exalted Perfonage I addrefs, the truths that occur to me ; and cenfu- ring equally his friends and opponents : it will be difficult, for it is difficult to myfelf, to imagine any interefts actuating my mind, befides thofe of a public nature. That I have not been a fpectator only of the incidents of this age, every man of bufinefs will difcern by internal evidence That I am not an Author by profeffion, will be perceived by the loweft retainer of periodical criticifm My great object is, to roufe latent principles in a mind I think excellent, which has been neglected, or milled with defign. If I fucceed, I fhall filently cany the fatisfaction to the tomb that awaits me If I fail, my laft; will only lhare the fate of fome former efforts and their inefficacy will re- concile me to their oblivion. CON- CONTENTS. LESSON I. Page 7/ r IElf'of the Prince's Education, and its Ejfetfs t I LESSON II. The Suljeft continued, - --------- u LESSON HI. The Principles of Society, - - - - LESSON IV. Conjlitution of England, - - - - - LESSON V. The Subjeft continued, ---------- 39 LESSON VI. Speculations, -------------- 49 LES- CONTENTS. LESSON VII. The American Revolution^ --- LESSON VIII. Conftitution of France, ---------- 71 LESSON IX. Principles of Legiflation^ ......... 9 LESSON X. Mode of Jludying and profiting by Mr. Burke' s Reflections on the late Revolution in France, ....... 100 LESSON LESSONS A YOUNG PRINCE, LESSON I. VIEW OF THE PRINCE'S EDUCATION, AND ITS EFFECTS. Pri fchemes, LESSONS TO A PRINCE. fchemes, plans, information, or materials, have evef been collected for Mr. Fox by all the talents and induftry of a powerful party; and he has, above all men, the faculty of inftantly giving order and ex- preffion to uncouth and enormous mafles : but hi* mind not embracing the origin of meafures, it is a chance that he directs them to the ruin or to the adv vantage of his party. I will give as inftances the coa- litionthe India bill the inherent right to the re- gency and the trial of Warren Haflings events which mark the public life of Mr. Fox with national odium ; and he has incurred it, not from difhonefty, for if there be an honeft man among all the political adventurers and champions of the time, he is Charles Fox ; but for want ot Abilities, for want of wifdom. Who projected the coalition, I am not informed. By internal evidence, I ftiould adjudge it the idea of Burke : the extravagant abfurdity of it fuits na other mind. isrij The India bill, I am well aflured, is Burke's own offspring; and it ftrongly bears the impreffion of its parent. The doctrine of hereditary regency was furniflied by Lord Loughborough (the well-known Wedder- B 4 u. burne) LESSONS TO A PRINCE* burne) with abundant promifes of authorities and reafons, which were never fulfilled. In the trial of Mailings, eloquence has been em- ployed, like water in an inundation, without judg- ment and without advantage. All the objects in the contemplation of Mr. Fox on thefe celebrated occafions, might have been obtain- ed not only without infamy, but with applaufe. Mr. Pitt has obtained them all, with abilities greatly inferior, but with the art of profiting by the errors of Mr. Fox. He has all the advantages of the coalition, by detaching Robinfon from his old mailer. He has acquired more power in India than Mr. Fox aimed at, by only faving appearances with the King. He has acquired popularity by a doctrine refpefting the power of two eftates in Parliament, which if advan- ced by Mr. Fox, would have procured his impeach - ment : and he has rendered his opponents the inftru- ments of his own purpofes refpe&ing Mr. Haftings.* * If the conduft of the Minifter were thoroughly underftood in this bufinefs ; if the motives of his fudden converfion to the opinion that Haftings fhould be impeached, were ftated to Par- liament and the country by an able and honeft fenator, we might fee what we have long wanted, a Minifter rendered ac- tually refponfible. 2 Such. LESSONS TO A PRINCE. Such are the Juperlative abilities of your Royal Highnefs's principal, though, perhaps, not your fa- vorite counfellor. That Burke has talents, no man of fenfe will deny : but they are fuperficial, oftentatious, and want the guidance of judgment and fcience. Satis eloquently Japienti< par urn. Sheridan, with equal imagination, has more art ; and being educated in the Green Room of the The- atre, underflands the method of giving effect to every fentiment, action, and expreflion. But he is a mere artificer of fcenes : his orations are plays in a new form ; and they produce amufement or admiration, never conviction or refpect. The abilities and accomplishments of the three united would not conftitute a ftatefman, or a truly great man. Their fancies or imaginations are not balanced by fcience ; by that high, exalted reafon which is formed by the calm and patient fludy of philofophy, a profound acquaintance with hiflory, and the ftri6t difcipline of mathematics. Your Royal Highnefs will therefore derive no real advantage from the boafted talents of thefe ora- tors, unlefs they fhould anfwer Rabelais' defcrip- tiou -IO LESSONS TO A PRINCE. tion of Pantagmel, who covered his whole army with his tongue, and flickered it from inclemen-r cies and inconveniences. LESSON LESSONS TO A PRINCE. II LESSON II. THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. Rebus minorlbus qulfque tendentes. Tac. J_ KNOW your Royal Highnefs is not remarkable for long or patient attention ; and that the important habit of it has not been an object in your education. I have, therefore, divided the fubjecl: of the firft leflbn I mean to fubmit to your perufal. If the champions of the party you have efpoufed are fuch as I have defcribed if the combined talents of the phalanx have not produced public refpedt what can your Royal Highnefs hope from a fyftetn of favouritifm for the elevation of the moft excep- tionable. I do not concur in the trivial objections to Mr. Sheridan's origin, education, and deftination If thefe were more exceptionable than they are repre- fented 12 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. fented to be ; they are circumflances in which the will and character of the man are not concerned. I do not object to any irregularities, which are the fair refult of youthful and flrong paffions. 1 believe not one half of the common catalogue of his ftratagems and expedients to procure or avoid the payment of money. But Sheridan is a camelion: his words, his fenti- ments, his paffions, take their colour from furroun- ding objects : he feems every thing to every man ; is unfufceptible of real attachment ; and though he may have protectors and admirers, Sheridan is with- out a friend. You may peculiarly diftinguifli fuch a man you may, on fome future occailon, give him the lead in your councils: but the POWER OF A THRONE would not fuftain him in the fituation. Recollect the manner in which proportions from him have been received in Parliament, that would have covered another with glory* Recollect the principal caufe, in the obtrufion of his interference during the illnefs of your Royal Father, and in the method of managing your paflions to the purpofes of his ambition. ThQ LESSONS TO A PRINCE* The artifices of that period were fo clearly and inftantaneoufly perceived, that the nation felt to its utmoft extremities a repugnance and deteftation, which the amiable character and manners of your Royal Highnefs could hardly reftrain within the limits of peace. Can your Royal Highnefs imagine, the country- was agitated or interefted by the queftion of right? Do you fuppofe, the probable acceffion of the re* fpe&able and patriotic families of Devonfhire and Portland occafioned alarm ? Or can your Royal Highnefs conceive, that exchanging Pitt for Fox irt the offices of venality, could excite the general ter- ror, which fandYioned refolutions of Parliament the moft abfurd, the moft unconftitutional, the moft inimical to Liberty; which embalmed the numerous and important errors of your Father's reign ; directed the public wifhes to the royal couch with a fervor little fhort of idolatry; and hailed the King's re- covery as a national falvation ? No ; it was the dread of feeing the government of the country de- graded, by being committed to a cabal, of which I ihall give fome defcription. As it may be neceflary to allude to A X.ADY, I hope 14 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. hope nothing can efcape me, that may be interpre- ted into injuftice, or indelicacy to a fex, which is under too many difadvantages from the cuftoms and laws of the land. Though I am old, I have not loft my memory of the rapturous feafon of love. I am incapable of an at fo daftardly, as to fully the fame, or wound the peace of a woman. It it not with love ; it is with artifice and ambi- tion, I am at war and they are of no fex. When you felt the fafcinations of the Perdita, prudence fmiled, and the error was juftified by tafte: but Cleopatra never faw, never will fee in Anthony, any thing befides the probable matter of the world. . Every meafure, from the firft moment of ac- quaintance, has been fyftematic : the experienced dame pra&ifed from art the leflbn which Nature taught Daphne; fhe fled, that Apollo might fol- low ; and by combining a flight and fickle inclina- tion with Royal impatience, fhe formed a paffion, which had been in vain attempted by charms and talents infinitely fuperior. Thefe things would not have been worth the. trouble of recording, if the great obje6t of the fyf- tem had not been political power. You LESSONS TO A PRINCE. You will perceive the truth, if your Royal High- nefs will recoiled, when impelled by filial duty to attend your Royal Parent on a fick bed, the Lady fixed herfelf at Bagfhot, under the fympathe-^ tic wing of a Royal D - fs, and attended by her faithful^ dijinterefled friends , Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan. On this occafion the CABAL was formed, which with fome variations in its members fubfifts to this time, and confifts of a very great Duchefs, a fair and plump Lady of great ambition, Capt. P , B P - 1, Mr. and Mrs. Sh - n, &c. - Conceive, Sir, the public fentiment, when a queftion of the utmoft importance was depending, no accefs to your Royal Highnefs could be obtained no meflage delivered, nor a word fpoken, without the knowledge of one or more of thefe refpeclablt Perfonages. The nation loft all judgment on the fubjecTis under confideration : the people faw only the cabal : the little White Houfe in Pall-mall was regarded with the feelings of Syracufe at the ear of Dionyfius; and the Minifter might have marched his parliamentary adherents over propofitions more ab- furd and pernicious, than thofe which affigned to prepared majorities, in a vicious and inadequate re- i prefentation, l6 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. prefentation, the whole political power of a free ftate. The proje&ed Court of the Regent did not efcape the public knowledge ; and the great Duchefs had planned it on the model of that of Comus. The LADY was to be ennobled, to have her evening drawing rooms, in the manner of the Countefs of 1 Yarmouth, and the modes of venality which diftin- guifhed the politics of that favourite would not have been inexpedient to the circumftances, or un* fuitable to the principles of the Cabal. To accuftom the public eye to the purpofed inver- fion of rank and order, the great Duchefs introduced the Lady into the acceflible purlieus of royalty, and flie was frequently difplayed, as one of its poffible appendages, within the envied rails of Rotten-row. I faw the effe6t of that difplay on the crowd which obferved it : and if Pitt or Dundas had formed the ftratagem, it could not have been more to their pur- pofe. The heads of all the firft families in the king- dom were offended at the appearance of Sheridan in the fore ground, during the preparatory tranfaclions for a Regency; but their WIVES and DAUGHTERS felt an infult when the great Duchefs conveyed the Lady LESSONS TO A PRINCE. If Lady in triumph to breathe the royal duft of Rotten- row. This is another inftance of the judgment of your counfellors, who difcern not that important confe- quences often arife from little caufes. No circum- ftance operated more rapidly and effectually than this incident on the zeal and attachment of the moil re- fpectable of your friends. Since the Recovery of your Royal Father, thefe friends juft fave appearances: they frequently ex- prefs apprehenfions, that the habit of admitting and favoring witlings, buffoons, ndlers, fencers, and bruifers, will continue too long, and fix your character w-ith the public. Henry V. to whom your Royal Highnefs is frequently compared, indulged his eccentricities at eighteen : your Royal Highnefs is approaching the age of thirty. Henry's Companions and his DOLL TEARSHEET were the revellers of an hour : your Royal Highnefs is inverted by an inte- refted, fordid fet; their advice, their fuggeftions, their meafures, would be a profanation of every thing princely : the modes of expence, the ftrata- gems for obtaining money, the intermixture of Royal C fpies LESSONS TO A PRINCE fyies* and princely confidants, the familiarities of ad- venturers, &c. are not refpe6table, and being long continued, imprefs on the nation an idea of charac- teriftic and incurable frivolity. This idea has been entertained by the moft enlightened and valuable of your former friends ; and their abfence from your private parties, or nocturnal confultations, has given an artful and defigning adventurer an opportunity of raifing himfelf into confequence, to the great of- fence of thofe old and refpedtable families who actu- ally placed on the throne the Houfe of Brunfwick, and fupported it againft foreign and domeftic foes at a great expence of blood and treafure. I entreat your Royal Highnefs to confider the circumftances which menace the peace and profperity .of this country, however advantageous its prefent fituation. It has efcaped the precipice to which the Ameri- can war had brought it, by a concurrence of events in Europe, to which it has not contributed by its ta- lents or meafures; though folly may afcribe them to * Mifs B P t and Capt. P- are in the family without appointments, and hope to be the Madame Schwelknburgh and Jenkinfon of Carlton Houfe* its LESSONS TO A PRINCE. its Minifters and Councils : thofe events will foon have their effects ; and a ftate of general peace, which even war muft fhortly produce, will favour that general difpofition in Europe for which philo- fophy has been long preparing it ; which muft foon reach this ifland ; and the nature of which I have undertaken to explain to you. To contemplate this difpofition, to mark its ap- proaches, and to judge of its effects, may be an em- ployment as worthy your abilities, as it may be in- terefting to your future fate. But this is not to be done among the puerile and petty diftraUons of your prefent fituation. Confent to the wifhes of your Royal Parents yield to the earneft defires of your country, by a marriage be- coming your dignity, and by the eftablifhment of a refpe&able houfehold : and then your Royal High- nefs may look forward, with thoughtful confidera- tion, to the incidents and duties that probably await you. Ga LESSON 20 LESSONS TO A PRINCfi. LESSON III. What I ivbat! If tbey go on at this rate, in thirty years they 'Witt not leave a King in Eurfye. CE03.GE III. J_F his Majefty meant arbitrary kings, or perfons invefted with numerous difcretionary powers, I am inclined to adopt the opinion. "Whether the executive power of the State fliould be in one or in many, is not with me a queftion : but that the executive fliould controul, direct, or influ- ence the legiflative ; or that any fpecies of power, prerogative, or privilege fliould be independent of the public will, is a queftion to which the abilities of the world feem at this time to be directed. If your Royal Highnefs would but very curforily examine the Hiftory of Europe, you would find, in almoft every page, inftances and acts of power, pre- rogative, LESSONS TO A PRINCE. rogative, and privilege, to the difadvantage and in- jury of fociety. Thefe adts have excited convulfions, which have been denominated rebellion or patrio- tifm, according to their effects. It feems at this time to be the general purpofe of political philofo- phy not to expel or degrade conflitutional kings but to demolifh thofe fpurious and pernicious beings which are the offspring of privilege, and whofe operations are capricious, arbitrary, and mifchie- vous. The great inquiry before the philofophical world is not the nature of God, the mechanifm of the tmiverfe, or the compofition of its elements ; but the principles of fociety. The world has been flooded with the blood of its inhabitants, by the caprices of tyrants, under the denomination of emperor, king, conful, fenate, parliament, and popular affembly ; and the miferies of millions demand of wifdom, " Where is the power which eftablifh.es and con- " ne6ts all the orders of a community, and on which " they all depend ? Where is the centre to which " every thing tends, the principle from which all is ** derived, the fovereign that can do every thing ? < Who can point out to us the form, the organi- C 3 " Cation, 2,2, LESSONS TO A PRINCE. e< zation of that moral perfon, a fociety or commu- " nity, to which unity is necefTary, and of which " Liberty is the effea ?" What anfwers have been made to this demand, may deferve the attention of your Royal Highnefs ; as it may enable you to form an opinion on the King's prediction. The fophiftry of political writers has been ex- haufted on the comparative merits of monarchies, ariftocracies, and democracies ; but no model has been exhibited, no form delineated, of a fociety which may protect and defend with its whole force the per- fon and property of every one of its members, and in which each individual, by uniting himfelf to the whole, fhall neverthelefs be obedient only to himfelf, and remain fully at liberty to every thing but injury. The general refult, however, of inquiry and ex- periment on political fubjects is, an opinion or principle, that the fupreme power of every {rate is in the body of the people ; becaufe it can have no intereft contrary to that of individuals, and ftands not in need of guarantees : for it is impoffible the body fhould attempt to hurt itfelf, or have a difpo- fition to injure its members. But LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 23 But how is the general will to be obtained ? In- dividuals may have private wills regarding private intereft ; but the general will is directed only to the general good. Hiftory will not greatly aflift us. Defpotic and monarchic ftates are out of the inquiry. Indeed every lawful government is neceflarily a REPUBLIC ; for no other can have the public intereft for its object : but thofe denominated republics in ancient and modern hiftory, have not the public intereft for their ob- ject, and are not formed to promote it. Athens, Lacedemon, and Rome were ruled by idle and pro- fligate mobs in contention with privileged fenates. Ariftotle feems to prefer the conftitution of Carthage to any other ; but he juftly obferves, it was highly reprehenfible, becaufe the fame perfon might be ap- pointed to feveral offices ; and a certain revenue or birth was necefTary to civil fituations virtue being eftimated as nothing. Modern politics have admitted, in a few Hates, that the general voice fliould have a mode of ex- preffing itfelf, and that the mode mould be a part of the conftitution : this has given rife to the idea of reprefentation and the appointment of deputies. 4 BUT 24 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. BUT THE SUPREME POWER OR THE ACTUAL SOVEREIGNTY OF A STATE CANNOT BE REPRESEN- TED OR DEPUTED. Powers may be delegated of various and extenfive effect ; but the omnipotence of fociety, if any where, is in itfelf. In the attempt to delegate fovereign power, the community would confign to its princes or its parliaments the difpo- fition of life and property on what condition? That they may difpofe of them as they pleafe. The a6l which conftitutes government is not, cannot be even a contract ; it is the will, the arbi- trary law, of an abfolute fovereign. -The depofi- taries of delegated power, whether called princes, fenates, or parliaments, are not proprietors or matters, they are fubjedt to the people, who form and fupport the fociety; by an eternal law of na- ture, which has ever fubjected a part to the whole. But your Royal Highnefs may fay, Why perplex me with fuch inquiries ? " I have always been " instructed, the conftitution of England is the " utmoft effort of human wifdom ; and I fhould " anfwer you by a reference to that conftitution." LESSON LESSONS TO A PRINCE. LESSON IV. CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND, Cunflas nationes et urbes, populus aut primores aut finguli re- giint. Delefta ex his et conftituta Reipub. forma, laudari facilius quam evenire ; vel fi evenerit, hand diuturna efle poteft. Tac. All nations and cities are governed either by the people, the nobles, or by Jingle rulers. A Republic conjtituted by an union oftbefe, is to be 'wijbed for rather than accomplijbed, or if accomplijbed, it would not be la/ling. T HIS is fuppofed to be the plan, on which the conftitution of England is formed ; but the fuppofi- tion is groundlefs. The Englifli government has fluctuated more than any other in Europe ; and the fluctuations have been wholly owing to the operation of moral and political Incidents. Violent imprudences of defpotifm produced fome apparent and fome real improvements in the admi- niftration of law ; but the conftitution of the legifr- lature 9.6 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. Jature is a fraudulent deception ; and the people of England have in reality no more choice or will in the election of their pretended reprefentatives, than the people of Hinduftan, Perfia, or Turkey. Let your Royal Highnefs be at the trouble of looking into Middlefex and Weftminfter ; and no parts of England are fo free deduct from the elec- tors all the tradefmen who are obliged to vote with their cuftomers ; the tenants who are appendages to houfes ; and the freeholders who are entangled with the ariftocracy or with government : and you may be furprized at the remainder. Sir a free people, that can neither form itfelf into a community, nor execute any operation ; but is abfolutely fubjected in its actions and energies, and in the fubjecls on which it is permitted to think and fpeak to powers constitutionally fubordinate is an abfurdity. No people can be free, whofe deputies may be en- flaved by the executive power, who fee the preten- ded conftitution and laws refigned to its mercy; without being able to oppofe any things but peti- tions and complaints to thofe who have an intereft }n the abufes. If LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 2J If I wifhed to give a fummary of the Englifh con- ftitution, as it has exifted fome time in practice, I would not make extracts from the romances of Mon- tefquieu or Blackftone I would invoke the PIOUS mufe of a Marquis Townfhend or of an Edmund Burke, when warmed by the long-fought rays of royal favour : and as every thing is at this time co- vered by religion, I would place the molt popular of your anceftors and each in his day has been called THE BEST OF KINGS before the GOD * OF ISRAEL, to whom he fhould offer the following devotions : " If it hath been OUR object to difpute with aq " ariftocracy the government of a people who fup- " port us, and to render liberty, property, and life " at the difcretion of difciplined majorities, in thofe " affemblies which (hould protect them if to fecure " a fure though imperceptible dominion over the le- *< giflature, and to add the power of making to that of executing the laws fecrecy and craft have been *' fubflituted for authority and power : thou wilt for- * To what are we to afcribe, that priefts never addrefs na- tional prayers to the God of Nature, Truth, and Virtue ? " give. 28 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. tf give the necefllty, as in the moft favoured of thy " anointed fervants of ancient times. " We thank thee, that the affiduity and labour ishof)s.Bisho/JS,&-c.aflf>oined influenced fc divided in the manner of Fa rtiament. 5 . Justices of tfiefeace, Jtecfors. Vicars fee. ajajyointed.itif/uenced &. divided 6y thfirPatro ns . 6 . T/ieBodj/ oftfiefeople, variously Derated upon, & amused 6u forms, but having no election, choice, or share in t/ie Political Government. 1ESSONS TO A PRINCE. 47 hate, in a nobility, or in a King ; as the force and will of the body would be inconvenient and de- ftruftive, if wholly confined to the feet, the hands, or the head. Alfred, alone among political inventors, feems to have fully comprehended the nature and properties of fociety, as a moral body or EFFECTIVE CON- STITUTION. In his ftru&ure, the houfeholders are fubdividedon the furface, and form the external fenfes, the origin of all ideas. The mycle-gemot is the feat of the mind ; where the ideas are combined into thoughts ; and where the will, the judgment, and reafon, di- rect the active or executive powers. Here no competitions can arife among ranks and orders ; be- caufe all the parts, however externally diftinguifhed, are, like the members of the natural body, directed and impelled by the general animating principle, the general will, and the general intereft. The Englim nation at this time is not arranged, conftructed, or organized into a political body. All its houfholders have not even nominal votes. They who are faid to poflefs the privilege, are controlled or directed in the exercife of itj by various orders affect- 48 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. affecting to he their fuperiors. The ideas of this pretended body therefore do not originate in the ex- ternal fenfes. A factitious body is generated within the fociety, which affumes the denomination of the ftate : but not being in fympathy with all the parts, often acts in direct oppofhion to the general feeling, inclination, or intcreft, which is the actuating principle or fun- damental law of every free community. LESSON LESSONS TO A PRINCE* 49 LESSON VI. SPECULATIONS. / have been taught, not tofubmit implicitly to have In vie-tv acl'iom " which are deemed practicable t but thofe 'which may have more *' of the pojJibHity of *wijhes than the probability of execution; and to undertake them ivhen the circumjlances of time and " power feem mojl favorable." JL HE ftruggles of factions in England were always conduced under plaufible pretences. The Tories profefled exalted opinions of the prerogatives of Kings and the privileges of Ecclefiaftics; and were the votaries of defpotifm flightly difguifed. The Whigs wore a better mafque : for they readily allowed the people the forms of election and the appearance of reprefentation, but rendered thofe forms and appear- ances ineffectual or mifchievous to the community by the modes of conducting or influencing them- They protected the church, as the beft inftrument of corrupt meafures; and by this circumstance alone E they 5O LESSONS TO A P&INCE. they checked that progrefs of political knowledge and that love of liberty, which would probably have reftored the conftitution of Alfred. I will explain myfelf, left your Royal Highnefs fhould imagine me a febry : a denomination I ab- hor. Partial toleration of opinions, like the partial liberty of the prefs, produced mifchief inftead of ad- vantage. Numerous fe<3:s appeared in rancorous competition with each other, and in implacable hof- tility to their common oppreffor, the Church. When any effort was made to obtain redrefs of grievances, civil or religious, the fe<5laries crowded the ftandard of reformation : fome artful prieft founded the trumpet of bigotry, imprefled an idea of danger to the Church ; and the beft intentions for public advantage were involved in the general odium of feclaries. Thefe artifices were penetrated by philofophers the great benefactors of the world. Mr. Locke wrote a treatife on Government ; Montefquieu the Spirit of Laws; Hume fcattered hints in Eflays; Rouffeau blended profound truths and brilliant fo- phifms in the Social Compact ; Steuart colleded the i impor- LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 51 important fcience of Europe into the Inquiry on Political Oeconomy ; and Adam Smith pointed out the channels by which induftry conveyed or accumu- lated wealth. Great as the talents of thefe philosophers may be deemed, and confiderable as the fervices they have rendered the world : they have not at all confidered, or they have left in doubt and uncertainty, the pro- blem moft important to the happinefs of mankind, and which an ancient fage* has thus exprefled, " The only fkill and knowledge of any value in " politics is that of governing All by All." The government of England exhibited to their view every actual effect of defpotifm, while it pre- ferved the forms and even the reputation of Liberty. They propofed temporary remedies for partial evils ; but no man furnifhed a plain, practicable idea of a free Conftitution, a fociety organized into a moral body, animated by principles, and directed by its own will. Mr. Locke's obfervations are in favour of liberty : but they are general. They ftate rights which oppreffive governments may not difpute : but * Heraclitus. E 2 the LfiSSOtfS TO A PRINCE. the mode of aflerting, recovering, or preferving them, he does not point out. His mind had not conceived the general and certain remedy of focial diforders and the only origin of Political Liberty, in the formation of the whole fociety into a moral being. Montefquieu, as a philofophical hiftorian, is ex- tremely valuable : as a politician, he is ufelefs or he is pernicious. The opinion that climate fhould pro- duce and modify government, is fanciful, perhaps puerile ; but the idea that any natural and neceflary caufe fhould generate A SLAVE, is unphilofophic, untrue, and deteftable. Mr. Hume had talents for political inquiries ; but he was principally felicitous for his own fortune and his own fame : his temper and heart were cold ; and he apologized for tyranny with as much zeal, as he would have felt in defcribing the deftru&ion of the Baftile, or the demolition of the infernal dun r geons of the Inquifition. In the enumeration of the origin and effects of moral caufes, Hume is a philofopher; in the follow- ing important opinion, I fear he is an interefted fo- phift: It will be found, if I miftake not, that; 2. " the LESSONS TO A PRINCE. " the two extremes in government, Liberty and Sla- e ' very, commonly approach neareft to each other j ** and that as you depart from the extremes, and *' mix a little Monarchy with Liberty, the govern- rt ment always becomes free and e contra" Effay II. In the fourth Effay he calls it an " univerfal ax~ " iom, that an hereditary prince, a nobility without tc vaffals, and a people voting by their reprefenta- '" tives, form the heft monarchy, ariftocracy, and; " democracy." In his idea of a perfect commonwealth, there are many ufeful ameliorations of what is called the Englifh Constitution ; and in the laft quotation I ihall fubmit from his works, he fhuns the great dif* ficulty of the queftion under confideration, for a reafon which may make your Royal Highnefs fmile " Having intended in this Effay, (XV.) to make r(!>-;btJ(_iflJt j^ ;>v- t , 'Tfb ..: . .': Ln<; uoifti- .-- - In the prefent Conftitution of France the moft helplefs of the people are deprived of the only con- folation or ground of hope, the only ftimulus to content, honefty, and virtue in their fituation the choice of their mafters. It is this condemnation to a fpecies of flavery, that renders fervants a feparate and profligate corps ; and a fimilar injuflice to thofe G of 8i LESSONS TO A PRINCE. of the people, whofe poverty is a fufficient evil, will be a difeafe in the conftitution, whieh no pal- liatives can remove. The Aflemblies in the Cantons are too numerous, Montefquieu (Let. Perf.) obferves, " The heads of " the greateft men feem to be narrowed (retrecies) " when they are aflembled; and in the greateft mint- ** her of wife men, there is the leaft wifdom." Alfred was aware of this truth ; and the firft di- vifions of his political body, like the capillary vef- fels on the. furface of the natural, were fmall, and formed to execute their offices without violence. The tithings confifted only of ten families. I never (aw an affembly, exceeding twenty, whatever the abilities of the members, that was not more difpofed to paffion and tumult, than to reafon and judgment. The difthiftion of the ELECTORS in the diftri6ts, and the privilege of electing both into the depart- ments and into the National Affembly, is without reafon. The graduated eledions are not fo equita- ble, or fo well imagined, as thofe in the Conftitu- tion of Alfred. The National Aflembly, if chofen in the depart- ments, would be every thing defigned by Alfred in 2 the LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 83 the inftitution of the Mycle-gemot ; but if its num- ber could be reduced, and bufinefs done more by open committees and printed proportions, than by oratory, it would be improved. It fhould alfo open- ly and decidedly avow its competency to form and enact all conftitutional and fundamental laws with- out any permiflion of the executive power. A pe- riod fhould be as fixed as the conftitution, in which a fimilar aflembly might always be chofen, and meet without fummons or leave from any other power ; and its bufinefs fhould be, to revife and cor- rect all fundamental regulations, to infpect the con- duct of the ordinary government and legislation, and to redrefs or remove all national grievances. The interference of the executive power by com- miflioners in the diftricts is a privilege of fatal ef- fect ; and if not withdrawn, will foon render the conftitution of France as corrupt, as vicious, and as much a deception, as the pretended of England. G 2 THIS 84 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. THIS account of the French Conftitution, in the firft Edition, has been thought too concife to remove prejudice or to inftruct ignorance in the people of this country. They who have made this juft remark, fhould re- collec~l, the LefTons were immediately addrefled to an informed though a young and diffipated perfonage, and that it did not occur even to the vanity of the author, they would be rapidly circulated through the nation. To remove the objection, it will be neceflary to explain the terms MYCLE-GEM&T and WITTENA- GEMOT in the Conftitution of Alfred : the firft meaning the Folk-mot or Great Affembly of the Nation by its deputies, which he intended fhould ever meet annually ori Salifbury plain, to revife and adjudge the a6ls of the executive power, and of the legiflature called the WITTENAGEMOT, or the Aflembly of Wife-men, analogous to the French idea of notables.* When * See numerous authorities for this opinion in Bede, Spel- man, Selden, Wilkins, Wright, Letters on Political Liberty ; and a very excellent little work on Saxon Institutions by the late LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 85 When the meafures of the King and his Great Council, his Wittenagemot, or Notables, were deemed conducive to the public welfare, they were fan&ioned as the permanent laws of the land. When adjudged otherwife, they were forbidden and abrogated. The anarchy, from Danifh violence and depreda- tion, nearly obliterated thefe wife and admirable in- ftitutions : and William the Conqueror, while his prudence fuggefted the expedience of not exafpera- ting the nation by wholly renouncing them, was induced by a fagacious fpirit of defpotifm, to prefer the Wittenagemot to the Folk-mot or Mycle-ge- mot ; as the former was manageable by his power or his wealth ; the latter muft have retrained him within the limits of ufeful laws, and meafures of obvious national advantage. The Englifh Parliament is the offspring of the Wittenagemot, the choice of the Conqueror, with late DR. SO^UIRE, Bifliop of St. David : who feems to have renounced the Spirit of his order, and like the prefent BISHOP D' AUTUN, to have funk all epifcopal properties in the enlarged views of a good citizen and the humane qualities of an amia- ble man. G 3 fome 86 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. fome fuppofed advantages from the addition of the Houfe of Commons : but ftill retaining its original chara&er refpecYmg the crown ; and perpetually ex- emplifying in its extravagant pretenfions and ex- ceptionable conduct, the neceflity of national revi- fion, controul and correction in fuch an annual de- putation as the Folk-mot. When the neceffities of the French King rendered expedient fome kind of application to the nation, its antient records were examined ; and a fpirit, ana- logous to that of the Norman, induced him to call the Notables, the Wittenagemot, not a reprefenta- tionof the country, or any thing (imilar to the My- cle-gemot. But the inftitution of the Provincial Aflemblies was an error of Keeker's, moft fortunate to the French nation ; it was making apertures in the great dykes of arbitrary power ; and when the wa- ters burft their bounds, they foon became irrefifti- ble. Whether the great extent and population of France, or the documents of the antient inflitutions of the Franks, or the fuggeftions of any late fpe- eulations, induced the French Reformers to adopt a plan LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 87 plan fimilar to that of Alfred, I am not qualified to determine. They have in fome degree, though not fully, adopted his idea of deputations of deputations, which are ahfolutely neceflary to render the actual repre- fentation of populous and extenfive kingdoms con- fident with their induftry and peace. They have alfo appointed all choice and election to be by divifions of the people ; to originate in the lower clafs ; and to proceed upwards. This is efTen- tial to liberty. But they have differed from Alfred; and where they have differed, I think they have erred. To have attempted abolishing flavery or the power of the church, would probably have involved Alfred in ruin. But every freeman, without exception, was an elector. This is not the cafe in France. And I object to the exclufion of thofe who are un- able to pay a fmall rate or tax, not in the fpirit of criticifm, but from a conviction of injuftice and impolicy, in depreffing mere incapacity, Stigmatizing the unfortunate, giving additional power to the pof- feffion of property, which in itfelf is power while all the genuine principles and regulations of juftice, G 4 are 88 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. are wholly directed againft the injurious exertions of power or force. The firfl divifions of the people are into cantons ; and their firft voting AfTemblies confift of fix or fe- ven hundred. Thefe are multitudes, incapable of judgment or choice, whatever the character of the individuals may be : and for this opinion, I appeal to the experience of the world. For not a fingle AfTembly has exifted, as an exception. What then is to be expected but paflion or diforder from fuch mingled multitudes of French peafants ? Alfred perceived this truth : and his firft Afiemblies confifted only of ten houfholders. The French Reformers, as if fenfible of their er- ror in the firft divifion, attempt to remedy it by ano- ther; which I am truly forry to confider as the commiflion of another injury. The cantons elect into the diftricts : and the electors in the diftricts are formed into a numerous extenfive ariftocracy. For they are denominated, by way of eminence, the Eleflors ; they chufe into the departments, into the rectories, bifhoprics, the various offices of magif- tracy, and even into the National AfTembly. This, befides being an injuftice to the electors in i the LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 89 the cantons below and the departments above, is fa- cilitating the future intrigues of the executive power by directing them to a particular fpot. And to in" fure the mifchief, they have committed to the King the nomination of commiffioners to prefide in the elections. The National Affembly firft met at Verfailles to aflift the King to provide for the public exigencies : and to devife, in conjunction with him, fuch regula- tions as would prevent fimilar evils. It therefore affembled as a Wittenagemot, or an Englifti Parlia- ment, for fpecified purpofes and with limited powers. But when a few incidents had fliaken to the duft the remains of ancient defpotifm, the Affembly gradu- ally changed its tone ; and from being a municipal, legiflative Commiffion, like the Britim. Legiflature, it affumed Conftitutional Powers, arid became ana- logous to the Mycle-gemot of Alfred. In this new character, the Affembly has acted with a prudence verging on timidity, and fometimes defcending to equivocation. The Mycle-gemot of Alfred was in effect the Nation : it was open to every freeman who had a complaint againft the government : and the mem- bers 9 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. bers at a fignal could have produced the nation in arms on Salifbury Plain. That poflibility was the firm bafis of its conftitutional influence over the executive and legiflative powers ; and the knowledge of it rendered its exercife always unneceflary : it was like the influence of the whole body over its limbs, the fource of order and general harmony, never of difagreement or confufion. When the National Aflembly aflumed new powers and a new character, when it appeared as the Mycle- gemot of Alfred, a Conftitutional Aflembly to de- cree fundamental laws, and to afllgri the provinces of executive, legiflative, and municipal authority ; there was juft as much reafon in their confulting the King and requiring his fanction ; as in confulting the future magiflrates of the projected municipali- ties. The members of the National Aflembly often in- fmuate that future legiflatures will not have their powers; but will they not, like the Englifli Parlia- ment, aflume them ? And are not the flrongeft hopes of a Counter-Revolution founded, on the probability that a future Aflembly may repeal the acts of the prefent. To LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 91 To prevent this evil, the National Aflembly fhould feparate its conftitutional from its legiflative a6ls. In the former, the executive power fhould never be confulted. The mode of chufmg the ordi- nary legiflature fhould be diftinguifhed from that of appointing the National Aflembly, which fhould be elected annually, and meet on a certain day, like the Mycle-gemot of Alfred, to fignify the national approbation or difapprobation of the proceedings of Government and acts of the legiflature, and to re- vife, correct, and improve all conftitutional regu- lations or fundamental laws. LESSON 92 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. LESSON IX. PRINCIPLES OF LEGISLATION. Suadere Principi quod oporteat, multi laboris ; affcntatio erga Princlpem quemcumque fine affeflu peragitur. Tac. It is difficult to advife Princes 'it is not difficult to flatter them. ACQUIESCING in the fentiment of Tacitus, I fhall not long detain your Royal Highnefs on the ufe to be made of the information I have taken the liberty to lay before you. An attentive view of the political conftitutions I have delineated, will convince your Royal High- nefs, that the principles of legiflation and govern- ment are ftudied ; and that political and ecclefiafti- cal impoilures will be generally detected and de- ftroyed. The difference of the French and Englifli Nation will be, that of an organized body adling for itfelf, and L1ESSONS TO A PRINCE, 93 and a paffive mafs a6ted upon : I need not point out the advantage to France, befldes that of its climate and population. But as this may be a truth of magnitude, not to be readily admitted, your Royal Highnefs will per- mit me to fuggeft the immediate effect of emigration from caufes which you fhould be anxious to remove, if you regard the future population and ftate of the country. The conftru6tion of the French government im- plies a perfect police ; for the magiftrates are chofen in all the neighbourhoods, and their offices are an- nual : indeed the whole body guards and protects jtfelf. This will be foon known to thofe prodigi- ous multitudes of timid and female houfholders in England, who are plundered by every device that avarice can fuggeft, to thofe appointed to protect them. Perfe6t liberty of opinion, both in thought and words, will carry over confcientious and induftrious diffenters, who are here fubjecT: to difadvantages, from circumftances which do them honour. To prevent the confequences of this evil, I do not mean that Puritanifm fhould be fubftituted for the efta- 94 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. cftablifhed rites ; but that the government is unjuft, when it engages in one religious fa&ion to the in- convenience of another ; and that, by avoiding this ^rror, France will draw from England great numbers of its ufeful citizens.* I will not weary your Royal Highnefs by a mi- jlute detail of the difadvantages under which Eng- land muft a&, if its government be not improved, in proportion as France advances in the judicious conftrudtion of its political conftitution. Your Royal Highnefs will recollect, that the Englifh Government is a machine acting on the peo- ple, and managed at the will and for the intereft of . ;*. Princes and Magiftrates mould fcorn to be apparitors to ambitious, felfifli, and ufelefs priefts, or the minifters of their intolerant and cruel purpofes. Darius hearing of difputes in Perfia, of fimilar importance with thofe which now agitate the fuperftitious world, afked the Greeks, what fums they would take to eat their parents ? They exclaimed, Not all the gold in the world. He aflced the Callattii, a people inhabiting a part of India, and who eat their parents, what they would take to burn them ? The propofal produced cries of hor- ror. Go to your habitations, faid the King ; and eat Or not eat your parents as you like ; but do not moleft each other. The Priejls of both parties murmured at the loft injunction. parti- LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 95 particular orders; whereas the CONSTITUTION OP A COUNTRY, to bear even a definition, fliould com* prehend the people ; to produce Liberty, it fliould allow them a choice of the Legiflature and Magif- trates. When that choice is made, a power fliould remain in the community by the appointment of a periodi- cal aflembly, to prevent all abufes of truft ; and all interference, of the ordinary or municipal legifla- ture, in fundamental laws. The Mycle-gemot of Alfred and the National Aflembly of France are calculated for this purpofe ; their objects are conftitutional : but we have no af- fembly in England bearing the ilighteft analogy to them. Hence the abfurdities perpetually recurring in Englifli legiflation ; the power of making laws for temporary purpofes confounded with the national fovereignty ; and the moft iniquitous ufurpations juftified by affimilating the ideas of truft and right j infamous and audacious adventurers, the tools of feudal defpots, of mercantile companies, and corrupt minifters, in marketable boroughs, holding the lan- guage of mafters to fix millions of people; and con- 96 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. contending for the lucrative privilege of defpoiling them.* The laws, when made, would be equitably and expeditioufly adminiftered, by judges and magistrates chofen and approved bv the vicinages ; and the peri- odical vifitations of loquacious and unprincipled lawyers, would not act on the country as periodical peftilences.-f* The juftices of the peace, the mofi numerous and important magistrates, would not be, as they now are, the devoted inftruments of devoted inftruments, And the Clergy, emancipated from an humiliating and difhonourable patronage, which muft ever have an intereft in exalting fycophants and depreffing * During the late illnefs of the King, minifterial majorities in a temporary legiflature claimed the abfolute fovereignty of the ftate. f The practice of attornies, called pettifoggers, is to in- ftrufl evidence in fafe and fuccefsful modes of perjury. The council are often in collufion with thefe attornies ; they favour their prepared evidences, and abufe thofe who are unprepared, with a degree of profligate impudence and unprincipled vil- lainy, which the judges mould correct with more determined feverity, if they wifh, as they certainly muft, to preferve reve- rence for the laws, and refpecl for thofe who adminifter them. manly LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 97 manly and ufeful talents, would aflume a new cha- racter, and from being the tools of corrupt influence, would become the real minifters of religion and virtue. Improvements of this kind mujl take place, if the Conftitution of France be eftablifhed, or this Coun- try will immediately lofe its rank. Though I do not fubfcribe to the opinion of your Royal Father, that the meafures at Paris have a tendency to deprive Europe of its Kings in thirty years, I am fure that in a very few, they will render the duty and office of a King of England different from that of a fplendid partifan, directing the fervi- lity and avarice of ranks, claffes, and profeflions to private purpofes ; encountering faction by faction ; involving himfelf in the inextricable labyrinth of ineffectual expedients. If you keep your eye on the conftitution of France, you may prepare yourfelf for the character you may have to fuftain : and if you favour the neceffary improvements of the government of your country, you will fecure its juft rank among the nations of Europe, fix your own happinefs on a certain foundation, and en- H roll LESSONS TO A PRINCE. roll your name among the great benefactors of man- kind. Thefe are wifhes which will never be exprefled irt your hearing, by the parafites of your Court, or the objects of your political confidence. I have no* private interefl in the trouble I have taken. I feel no ambition to be the competitor of your favorites. I have no defire that a moment of my peace fhould depend, even on a Prince, who can, one day, take pains to engage and captivate ; induce generoua youth to enlift under his banners and wear his uni- form ; and the next, not recollect or know them. I feek not your favour, Sir and, in the decent and legal exercife of my abilities, I refpelfully prefume I need not fear your difpleafure. In all the imagi- nable fluctuations of parties, my name will never be brought to your Royal Highnefs in the lifts of can- didates for places. And in the temporary confufion- and anarchy of any poflible revolution, my age, my infirmities, my inclinations, and my habits, preclude all effort and hope for my own advantage. If, therefore, in the hints I have ventured to fubmit to you, I have erred the fault is in my judgment, not in my heart : if I have fuggefted any thing LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 99 thing that may influence your mind, the benefit will be not to me, but to your Royal Highnefs and to your Country. H 2 LESSON 100 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. LESSON X. ON THE MODE OF STUDYING AND PROFITING B Y MR. BURKE'S REFLECTIONS ON THE LATE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. *H yap TUV Xo For criticifm, or an ability to judge of writings, is the loft child of long experience. Longinus, 17. JL HIS is my apology for prefuming to point out to your Royal Highnefs, the important fublimities, and captivating beauties of a great work ; deftined by the Author, to check the progrefs of democratic licence, and impious infidelity, and to reftore the original and facred principles, on which the Govern- ments of Europe were firft eftablifhed. On the firft view of a performance, fo inimical to LESSONS TO A PRINCE. tol to thofe rights for which I have pleaded, and thofe principles I have attempted to eftablifh, in the pre- ceding Leflbns, I was inclined to difpute the pofi- tions of the writer. I had been accuftomed to think eloquence inferior to wifdom Aaron fhall be thy fpeaker ; and thou ( fhalt be to him as God.' I thought I had per- ceived a material diftinction, between profound in- quiry, and the art of popular perfuafion the for- mer, the object of the higher}, the beft philofophy, I confidered as forming the nobleft characters in hu- man nature : and I deemed the pofition of Plato, 4 that an Orator fliould be a Philofopher,' as the mere homage of Poetry and Eloquence at the fhrine of wifdom. Human life is too fhort, to unite the accomplifhments of the two characters. Cicero at- tempted it : but Cicero in philofophy, was merely a man of knowledge. Who could combine, the pro- found thought of a Montefquieu with the talents of a Chatham or a Mansfield ? I had confidered the melioration of Gothic fyftems, and the laws and cuftoms which have been lately fuppofed to produce public happinefs, as owing not to natural hiirori- jins, or experimental philofophers ; not to poetry, H 3 paint- 102 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. painting, mufic, or oratory ; not to arithmetic, ma- thematics, or even the difcoveries of Newton but to the works of fuch men as Sidney, Harrington, Locke, Montefquieu, Steuart, and Smith : and I thought it a duty to defend the philofophy they had profefled from the verbofe fcurrilities of a popular writer. But on the perufal of Mr. Burke' s e wonderful' Letter, your Royal Highnefs will perceive I have been miftaken ; you will judge that wifdom fhould give place to eloquence ; that the wife in heart ' fhall be called prudent, but the fweet in tongue ' fhali find greater things.' I was alfo deterred by the information, that a competitor in the fame art had feen the letter of Mr. Burke, fome months before its publication, and was preparing an anfwer. A contention of pradlifed prize-fighters would irrefiftibly attract the literary rabble ; and the gentle voice of reafon, would not be heard. But having mentioned Mr. Burke, in a former LeiTon, with epithets of difapprobation and reproach; and having imbibed from his work that principle of exquifite fentiment and fine feeling which alternately 2 with LESSONS TO A PRINCE. with religion is the fubflitute of honour and virtue, I find it my duty to exhibit his character on the beft, viz. on his own authority To ferve the double purpofe of relieving my * penitent fenfibility' and to familiarife your Royal Highnefs with the principles of criticifm, I hope to imprefs on your mind, that a knowledge of the author is neceflary to that of his work ; and that you fhould take it from himfelf, for this indifputable reafon, " that every man muft know his own cha- rader." Great critics refemble their authors. Longinus delineates the beauties of Homer, in paflages equally beautiful I, therefore, view Mr. Burke, not as the morning flar, dropping gentle and beneficent dew ; not as a regular planet, in that wonderful fyftem, the daily bleffings of which we participate ; but a blazing eccentric comet, of myftic and menacing omen, and my eye is led to furvey it from the tail. In the laft page of his " divine rhapfody" he thus defcribes himfelf and your Royal Highnefs is in- treated to obferve, the exemplary modefty of fo great a man. When public objects fill his " difin- " terefted" mind, it foars like an infernal fury, and H 4 feat- 104 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. fcatters vengeance and mifery over " difobedient" nations when he retires within himfelf, we difcern only the humility of a Chriftian, and a gentlenefs and bafhfulnefs truly fentimental. " I," the great man fays, " have little to recom- " mend my opinions, but long obfervation and " much impartiality." My Lord Mansfield, who ft ill pofleffes his mental faculties in great vigor, pro- nounces the French Revolution, an event in hif- tory totally new, to which no former facts and inci- dents can apply. Here is, long obfervation againft long obfervation : but I /hall prefently ftate the cir- cumftance which may induce Mr. Burke to give the preference to himfelf. On the fubjedl of his " im- " partiality" there can be no doubt. Has any man converfed with, or heard this orator, and fuppofed him capable of harbouring prejudice ? " They come from one who has been no tool of " power, no flatterer of greatnefs, and who, in his " laft ads, does not wifli to belye the tenour of his life." It mufl give your Royal Highnefs pleafure, to learn from the authority of this great man himfelf, that the opinion of his implicit devotion to a late Marquis, for LESSONS TO A PRINCE. for good and fubftantial confiderations, is groundlefs; that he purchafed his villa and eftate at Beaconsfield with the accumulations of his own patrimony ; that he reprefents a horough in parliament, by the free uninfluenced election of the burgeffes; and, though while in office, he offered incenfe of adoration at the fhrine of royalty, he confcientioufly balanced it out of office, by pronouncing on the melancholy and afflicting indifpofition of your Royal Father, '* that the Almighty had hurled him from his " throne." He remarks on the proceedings of the Revolution Society, ie that the misfortunes of Kings " make a delicious repaft to fome fort of palates" The repaft fuits not the palate of Mr. Burke, unlefs it beftimulated by difappointment, or by fome ftrong obftacle to the attainment of his wiflies. This, I am fure, your Royal Highnefs will think a fufficient caufe, and to ufe his own phrafe, not to belye the ten our of his life. " They come from one, almoft the whole of whofe public life has been a ftruggle for the li- berty of others ; from one, in whofe breaft no an- " ger durable or vehement has ever been kindled, " but by what he confiders as tyranny ; and who ' fnatches 1C6 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. fnatches from his fhare in the endeavours which tl are ufed by good men to difcredit opulent oppref- fion, the hours he has employed on your afrairs ; " and who in fo doing perfuades himfelf he has not " departed from his ufual office." Your Royal Highnefs will here admire the mo- deft addrefs with which the great orator mingles, the diftinguifhed parts he has acted, in oppofition to the American war, and in the Impeachment of Mr. Haftings. To place thefe great actions in a true light, your Royal Highnefs muft be informed that the Declaratory Bill, the very brand which fet Ame- rica on fire, was fabricated in councils of which this orator participated. But you will take with you, the moment Mr. Burke was difmifled, he became a determined opponent to the Minifter, and the war he conducted ; he execrated him as a traitor to the conftitution ; and pledged his honour and character to impeach him. When events indicated the advan- tage of a coalition with that minifler, the wonderful placability of our Author's nature was difplayed. He pafled inftantly from mortal hatred to the moft en- thufiaftic friendfhip, and from bitter reproach to fub- lime panegyric. I am fenfible, if fuch apparent con- tradiction LESSONS TO A PRINCE. I0 7 tradition and fuch dereliction of all principle, were fairly chargeable on a philofopher, Mr. Burke would annex to his name the moft infamous epithets. But a Chriftian : a believer of thofe doclrines which fo ami- cably blend high church tories with the votaries of the church of Rome, has advantages which moralifts cannot enjoy. By rites, ceremonies, and external atonements, confcience may be fet, on a pivot, like a weather-vane, to turn with the airy current of felf-intereft. I would imprefs thefe hints the more carefully on your Royal Highnefs, as I underftand the alternate councils of Cumberland and the little White houfe (on the late re-eftablifhment of which I congratu- late your Royal Highnefs) difcover a reluctance and timidity refpe6ling this admirable and expedient re- ligion. If any future event fhould give the power, I fliould advife its avowal ; and if the facred bench would admit of a preaching prelate, that Mr. Burke be feated on it, referving an annual portion of every parliamentary feafon for the impeachment. In the profecution of Mr. Haftings, the con- duel: of this great and good man is equally admirable with his oppofition to the American war. The Houfe IO8 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. Houfe of Commons ftated a certain number of pro- pofitions, referring to a6b which, in Mr. Haftings were or were not, violations of law, or violations of a fpecified truft. But of what advantage would determinations on fuch queftions have been to the learning of the country. The hiftory and antiqui- ties of Hinduftan ; the various politics of its ftates ; its ancient, complex, and extenfive mythology ; the doctrines, rites, and ceremonies of its religion; its population, ranks, cafts, cufloms, and manners ; have been minutely detailed and the wifdom and knowledge of ages have been comprefled into a morning entertainment ; have been arranged into fpeeches, which have contributed greatly to the im- provement of the attending audience ; and, by the induftry and panegyrics of newfpaper reporters have been diffufed through the nation to its great ad- vantage. The placability and mercy of our author, appears in this tranfa&ion, but with the more dignity, as every object is magnified by foggy interpofitions. While the menaces of virtue, perfonated by Mr. Burke, hung over the head of Haftings, a confiden- tial friend and aflbciate orator, carried a White Flag, to LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 109 to the agent of the offender ; but whether from all the enemies to Indian oppreflion, which he here calls (l good men" whether to avert the impending ftorm, or generoufly to enable the fufferer to pre- pare for it we can only conjecture the agent, being naturally a Marplot, having fully anfwered the main queftion, when a previous hint had only been given. Charity, however, will incline us to fuppofe, that the generofity, almoft fupernatural, which erafed from the author's mind, all the refentment, rage, and abhorrence, excited by the conduct of Lord North ; and introduced the gentle paffions of forgivenefs and friendfhip ; would not have been, and will not yet be, abfolutely and eternally impla- cable to Mr. Haftings ; though, in intercourfes of chicane and corruption with Begums, Nabobs, and Rajahs, he may have forgotten the laws of his country, or violated the univeifal maxims of virtue. In refpecl: to France, a fimilar difpofition to pla- cability is difcoverable even in the higheft paroxyfm of the author's rage. For after warming his imagi- nation into frenzy on the royal fufferings ; and exe- crating the National Aflembly, the philofophers, i the LESSONS TO A PRINCE. the jacobins, and all the real and imaginary caufes of the facrilegious difhonor ; he admits a poflibility that royalty might devife or commit acts that would require examination and inquiry. Here is a fair opening for reconciliation between the offending people of France and this great orator. Let the ^National AfTembly vote an Impeachment: and if they give Mr. Burke the management, they may be aiTured, not only of his forgivenefs and friendfhip, but that the King and Queen will be difpofed of for life. What a glorious fate ! What a characteriftic appointment ! All Europe would be occupied on his orations, and filled with his fame : and when Pro- vidence calls him it is hoped very late from the trophies of his virtues and duty here ; his future reward, to give effect to the cultivation of his prefent talents, we may humbly fuppofe, will be To IM- PEACH THE DEVIL TO ALL ETERNITY ! The e good' man proceeds " They come from ** one who defires honors, diftirictions, and emolu- " ments, but little ; and who expects them not at all." The advantage of religion is in nothing fo great, as in veiling fecret infirmities or crimes. It is true, the LESSONS TO A PRINCE. Ill the eye of God is fuppofed to penetrate all difguife and all darknefs ; but his minifters are placable, and every thing has its price. Mr. Burke was the only partifan who flipulated with the Pall-Mali Cabal, previous to an oration on the Regency which unne- ceffarily precipitated your Royal Highnefs into un- popularity. How many of the Burkes were to be provided for ; and how Indian peculation might be reconciled to virtue and humanity in that holy fa- mily, 4 I will not tell in Gath or publifli in the * ftreets of Afkalon, left the ungodly fliould blaf- * pheme :' Dr. Parr would have been endued with the faculty of confecrating the tranfadYion, and guarding it from the feoffs of " atheiftic" patrio- tifm or of profligate impertinence. It muft be expected, an orator " has no contempt'* of fame, " but Mr. Burke" never facrificed his in- tereft to it : and he " has no fear of obloquy,"* though he has profecuted newfpapers, and exprefled apprehenfion, and alarm, at paragraphifts, in a manner that would be deemed pufillanimous in an Abbefs of King's Place. But it is to be obferved that Mr. Burke trembles only for the caufe of li- berty and humanity, for the facred and auguft fa- bric LESSONS TO A PRINCE. brie of government, which is to be forcibly entered only by his party, and then to be eternally preferved from profanation and ruin. The Speaker of the Houfe of Commons will at- teft, that " he fhuns contention, though he will " hazard an opinion" - That " he wifhes to pre- " ferve confiftency," the world is difpofed to doubt ; not knowing that " he would preferve con- " fiftency, by varying his means to fecure the " unity of his end, and that when the equlpoije of " the veflel in which he fails may be endangered by " overloading it upon one fide, he. is defirous of " carrying the fmall weight of his reafons to that " which may preferve its equipoife? Your Royal Highnefs will regret with me, that even fo beautiful a fentence iliould conclude the ac- count the great orator condefcends to give of him- felf. It alludes to the condition of a pafTenger on the river Thames, where the difference in the va- rious contents of his pockets obliges him to fhift and change pofitions ; and it furnifh.es an exadt image of Mr. Burke's life. The modefty of the author would not permit him to hint at the exertion of mind which produced this great LESSONS TO A PRINCE. great work. His mighty brain teemed with it, nearly twelve months I wifh I could fully devote as many days, to render your Royal Highnefs fen- fible of all its merits. $.; That any man, not educated an inquiutor, and not long accuftomed to derive his pleafure from tor- ture and mifery, fhould be able to turn his eye with malignant averfion on four and twenty millions of his fellow-creatures, fuddenly emancipated from op- preffive tyranny, and anxioufly feeking their fu- ture fecurity in the deliberations of reafon and the provifions of prudent humanity-r-would be impro- bable in theory. It would be incredible, that a ci- vilized citizen ; participating the bleffings of free- dom under a mild government ; cultivating letters and pretending to philofophy fhould, without dif- traction and frenzy, harbour a whole year in his mind, ideas fo horrible, wifhes fo diabolical, as are exprefled in almoft every page of this work. But the operations of felf-intereft, fublimed by religion,* produce miracles. * The reader is to obferve, that the Author ufes the word Religion, as fignifying the varied fuperftition which govern- ments employ to impoverifh and enflave the people. I Mr. JI4 LESSONS TO A PRlNdE. Mr. Burke wrote his " wonderful*' Letter, imme- diately on receiving the fan&ion of the Minifter * to his fentiments in Parliament. As events fluc- tuated in France, the production was corrected, and the author has been alternately agitated and tor- tured by hope and defpondence, " that the evils of " the revolution might or might not juftify his opi-' " nions." At laft, the Ariftocratic Oracle gave the iignal. Calonne announced the plan of a coun- ter-revolution. Burke put on his magic fpeftacles, diftinftly faw, the Auftrians marching through Flan- ders, the Spaniards in the Pyrennees, the Savoyards and Swifs in the Alps, and German and Englifh offi- cers fneaking ofF lingly and reluctantly from poverty in England to affift in the projected mafTacre and de- vaftation. Burke grew frantic with joy : he fnuffed * Common minds fhould cautioufly pronounce concerning Minifters who are born Statefmen, or Heaven-born : but it is certain Mr. Pitt's approbation of Mr. Burke 's fpeech on the French Revolution occafioned all thofe meafures of France, which embarrafled his Spanifh negociation. The National AfiTembly had been inftrudled; from England, to djftinguifli the wifhes of the Englifh Adminiftration from thofe of the Nation : the meafures of France would otherwife have been more decifive, and a War muft have enfued. the LESSONS TO A PRINCE. the murky air, loaded with the exhalations of twenty millions of atheiftic and patriotic carcafes. " The " incenfe is divine !" exclaimed the " holy" man " My prophecies and revelations fhallbe honoured;" and lo the Book was published. When your Royal Highnefs is, thus, in pofleflion of the author's character and motives, you may eafily judge of his work. I have intimated, in a previous leflbn, the princi- pal caufes of the French Revolution. When the fortrefs of defpotifm was carried ; the victors were not content with ftipulations to prevent future an- noyance, they razed it to the ground, and projected a new and ufeful ftructure. The genius of England, in political defign, had been fo long the theme of panegyric, that it Was not imagined, the French would prefume to attempt any thing beyond an humble imitation of the Englifh Government. Your Royal Highnefs will judge of the feelings of " mere Englishmen," by thofe which actuate Mr. Burke, when it was underftood, they projected a new conftitution, and meant to claim the merit of originality. In the " Revelations" of the author your Royal I 2 High- Il6 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. Highnefs may be inftruc"t,ed, to confider this prefump- tion as a " national infult," and a caufe of war as juftifiable as any that has determined our cabinets. But if it mould not rouze that NATIONAL HA- TRED, which political fraud and pious artifice have afliduoufly generated and preferved the dangers of the example furnimed by France, are extremely nu- merous and alarming, to thofe who occupy (difin- tereftedly without doubt) the various departments of our " wonderful conftitution ; " which is peculiarly " excellent" In its faults; produces equality by the com, mon and necejjary caufes of inequality ', and confers bene- fits and bleflings by injuftice and injury* Whence are derived thefe myflic advantages ? Your Royal Highnefs will perceive, in a former Lef- fon, I traced the genuine principles of Englifli Liberty, in Saxon inflitutions : but the Saxons being heathens, confequently atheifts or philofophers, according to our author's learned and liberal ufe of the terms, I took liberties with their rude Iketches, and endea- voured to form into elements the principles that have immortalized the name of Alfred.* In * The Author has been informed, the political Diagrams of thefe Leffons are ufed, by intelligent parents, to give ideas of political LESSONS TO A PRINCE. In thefe there is an evident diftin&ion of GO- VERNMENT and SOVEREIGNTY. Government has the power of municipal legiflation, and its laws are obligatory on individuals, corporate bodies, &cc. the nation arranged, organifed, and adling as fovereign, has conftitutional authority over the power of go* vernment. The firft law, in this fpecies of conftitution, is the general will ; and it muft be the determination of political constitutions to youth, which they might not obtain by perufing differtations. He has feen copies of the Diagrams, prepared for the printftiops, with poetic and familiar explana- tions, intended to diffufe this fpecies of knowledge among the people, and inftrucl: them to difcern the deceitful, often frau- dulent, conduct of their pretended reprefentatives. A Bookfeller has conveyed to the Author the following Let- ter, which contains a better critique on the pamphlet than will probably be given in any other manner : " SIR, YOUR mode of illuftrating political problems by Diagrams is a valuable and important difcovery ; and if you had con- fined your abilities to them and their explanations, you would have ^xed your name among fcientific and permanent bene- factors of the world : but you have difdained to write an ele- mentary book, where elements are unknown, and fo much wanted, and you have indulged fatire, which, however juft, js unworthy of you, and will be more advantageous to the bpQkfeller than to you. I aro, &c." I 3 the Il8 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. the general will, that every citizen, without diftinc- tion of birth, poffeffions, or talents, enjoy the great objects of fociety liberty, property, and fecurit^. Liberty is a power, obtained for every citizen by the difpofition and engagement of the general force, to act: for his own happinefs, without injuring others: and all beyond it, is licence. The right of property, does not relate merely to the tenement or land which forms may convey, but to the neceflary juftice, that men of every condition fhould enjoy the advantages of their honeft induftry, and not be obliged to facrifice them to the pride and pleafure of others : And focial fecurity, arifes from the engagement of the whole community to preferve the perfon, proper- ty, and liberty of every individual, untouched while tf unoffending. That the general will may be exprefled, without affembling the nation, or inverting the people with the executive power which is the vulgar idea of Democracy is not only rendered probable, but de- monfrrated, by the diagram of the Conftitution of Alfred. For though the Mycle-gemot was called the Folk-mot ; and every freeman might attend who found LESSONS TO A PRINCE. found fubjedt of complaint in any aft of govern- ment, the Mycle-gemot was not a part of govern- ment : it enaled no laws, but fuch as were confti- tutional ; it performed no office of the executive power, but adjudged it; and the aflembly of the National Deputies was never too numerous for deli- beration. The Englifh Houfe of Lords is a remnan.t of that Aflembly; and its claims of judging, in dernier fe- fort, &c. are derived from it. But the Houfe of Lords was funk, by the regulations of William the Conqueror, into a branch of the ordinary govern- ment ; the miniflers or managers of which, in all departments, amduoufly difcredit every mode of ex- prefling the general will : being fenfible, the nume- rous abufes which render their fituations lucrative, would be aboliflied, and that no meafures could ob- tain its fancYion, not favourable to the general in- tereft. The National Aflembly, having affumed powers flmilar to thofe of the Mycle-gemot, I rejoiced in the hope that France would furnifh the example of a fociety organifed into a political body, to which the head and the limbs would be vitally annexed ; I 4 -which I2O LESSONS TO A PRINCE. which would be actuated by a common principle of intereft, by a common reafon, judgment, and will : and that England, ftimulated by generous emula- tion, might be induced td revife its government, cor- rect its errors, and remove its inconveniencies. I entertained thefe hopes, without the profpe& of any advantage to myfelf, my fon, my brother, or my coufin, but in common with all my fel- low citizens ; without eftimating the injuries that might enfue, to thofe orders which had privileges by inheritance, thofe priefts who were creeping up the tortuous paths of fervile ambition, or thofe fplendid adventurers who had talked and written credulous multitudes into an opinion that the general induf- try muft be deeply taxed to gratify and fupport them. But your Royal Highnefs will conceive my fitua- tion and feel for me, when the voice of Burke, like that of the angel in the fiery cloud, entranced my faculties, and wholly changed the direction of my imagination. Farewel Reafon Science Truth all ideas of thofe rights, or of that juftice, claimed for all man- kind by a foft and whimpering philofophy ! Wel- come, confecrated Defpotifm whether cloathed in LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 121 the dreadful armor of Kings, the fqft lawn of Bifhops, or the various garbs of Senators, Magiftrates, Law- yers, Orators, Parafites, Panders, or Pimps. From thy caprices are derived law, the fecurity of proper- ty, the patronage of talents, the encouragement of induftry ; and from thy authority or command arife independence and liberty. By this new information or new light, I mean to conduct your Royal Highnefs through the elabo- rate, intricate, and myftic production of Mr. Ed- mund Burke ; as through a luxuriant wildernefs, where tyranny, privilege, fuperftitiori, and intole- rance, difplay their magic rites, and combine, with their own, the fuppofed interefts of heaven and hell. As the induftrious mechanic, whofe fancy has been limited by the horizon of his humble ftate ; on look- ing into the divine compofitions of the northern prophet, lofes his common faculties, and deigns to converfe only with fpirits fo it befel me, having perufed the unparalleled work of the political Swe- denbourg, I, no longer, traced principles from facts, or fought truth in the long, the cautious, the labo- rious procefies of demonftration : I faw the dreadful precipices of Atheifm terminating all the paths of i fcience * 122 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. fcience: and I * pioufly ' funk into the bofom of intui- tive credulity, where I found, all truths on heavenly authorities ; riches, ranks, and diftinclions, without the requifitions of merit ; the happinefs of human nature, at the will of the fortunate; and nations, as herds of cattle, tranfmitted by inheritance. How grateful, this ftate of things, to the indolence, the ielfifhnefs, and the love of power, fo ealily excited in the human mind ! You will not wonder, I quitr ted the fimple paths of inquiry and inveftigation, for thofe enchanted labyrinths into which political myfticifm conducted me. Your Royal Highnefs is particularly requefted to ob-ferve, the admirable addrefs, with which this great writer introduces the fubject of his work. It is frequently the misfortune of focieties or clubs in London, to have lefs prudence than good inten- tion. In the ufe of thofe rites of ' pious' magic, which are thought to engage the Deity even in the moft fordid offices of human life, a club^ calling itfelf the Revo- lution Society, employed a nonconformift clergy- man as its magician : and he folemnly invoked his God, on a feftival deftined to another purpofe, in behalf LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 123 behalf of thofe u levelling furies" in France, who, in demolishing the ancient and " facred" temple of abfolute monarchy, nearly buried the king, the queen, the nobility, and the clergy, in the ruin. But the magician does not worfhip the God of the country.* He is therefore liable to the charge of atheifm, as I {hall prefently demonftrate to your Royal Highnefs : his incantations are impieties ; and, if the true fpirit of Mr. Burke's religion could have its proper effect, he would be foon filenced by the ' holy' feverities of the inquifition. This circum 7 fiance alone, would invalidate his portions; and render null, the refolutions and proceedings of a fociety, of which he affe&s to be the Pontiff. But, in the luxuriance of our author's fublime ge- nerofity, and in the ebullitions of c holy* zeal, he condefcends to confider his principles and to confute his arguments : and your Royal Highnefs will fee, with pleafing exultation, this " incomparable" ora- tor proves, on the authority of the Revolution that the English cannot ele& their kings; cannot cafhier them for mifconducl ; or form a government for themfelves. v",r. * Price is a profeffed Arian. Your 124 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. Your Royal Highnefs will admire his manner of paffing over or expunging every idea of elec- tion in the appointment of William the Third, though he was a&ually chofen King, and the Crowa made hereditary in his family by the Queen. His dexterity mttft be deemed important and afto- nifliing, when he tranfmutes the delicacy of the con- vention, in the ufe of the word Abdication, into a proof that if James had not fled, the nation in arms, affifted by the Prince of Orange, could not have de- throned him, without incurring the guilt of treafon. Here the doctrine of Hobbes is infmuated with all the art of the author's eloquence : but he does not re- fer to the Leviathan ; for Hobbes was an Atheift. Your Royal Highnefs muft perceive another privilege of myftic piety. No inftruments, in earth or hell, are forbidden to a Saint, if conducive to his in- tereft. Fiends are not fo horrible to our author as Atheifts. But as the Devil is faid to believe or to have faith, Mr. Hobbes, though an Atheift, coin- ciding with the orthodoxy of Mr. Burke in the creed of Abfolute Monarchy, his fentiments may be adopted without contaminating the author's foul, or fullying Jiis ' righteous' reputation. But it was highly pru- dent; LESSONS TO A PRINCE. dent, not to mention Hobbes ; and gratitude is not among the obligations of myfticifm. Such the author deems to be the depraved condi- tion of Europe, from Philofophy and Atheifm, that if he had derived Royalty directly from Heaven, he might have been embarrafled by heralds and genealogifts ; he therefore mingles and jumbles the fubje6ts of government, hereditary monarchy," and myftic religion. This is done, with wonderful art and defign. The Sceptic, Philofopher, Patriot, or Atheift all fynonimous terms is accuftomed to view and examine all contrivances in their principles, and all compofitions in their elements. The united {kill and penetration of Europe, could not analyfe, without completely diflipating, the work before us. It feems, fometimes air, fometimes fire : it aflumes fantaftic ftiapes, which vary in every point of view, and will not bear the touch of impertinent and pro- fane philofophy. I exercife the privilege of the initiated, when I pre- fume to afiifl your Royal Highnefs in contemplating this wonderful fabric. Mr. Burke has given his C{ unparalleled " work ali the properties and effe&s of a Camera Obfcura, or of a magic 126 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. magic lanthorn. Government and Royalty are dif- played, not as arifing from the mud and filth of popu- lar interpofition ; but defcending from Heaven, at :hc command of Religion, which waves her wand f~om a turret of the Inquifition, and awes the nations into implicit faith and unconditioned loyalty. Kings and Queens are glorious funs and chafte moons. The beauty of holinefs, is exhibited in all the gradations of the Hierarchy; the Pope being {lightly veiled. The varied effects of noble birth, exalted rank, knight-errantry and chivalry all the fruits of all the virtues are charmingly engrafted on all the vices; while the multitude, is irretrievably and eter- nally fixed to the earth, and forms the immeafurable pavement fupporting the privileged and confecrated fcene ! What would be, the demonftrations of a Newton, to the conferences of fuch.a fpedtacle, on the majo- rities of all nations ! Who would turn an eye, to the natural, unornamented delineations, of Mathemati- cians, Economiftes,* Patriots, and Atheifts ! Hail, * The author has been criticifed for cenfuring Econo- mifts, while his regulations in the Royal Kitchen are fplendid proofs of his own love of Economy. But, the Economiiles of France are political, and they ars aflbciated, not to infpedl fauce- LESSONS TO A PRINCE, 127 Hail, heavenly Enthufiafm! parent of myftic defpo- tifm and arbitrary power. How fublime thy ordi- nances; how captivating thy arrangements, compared with the cold tenets of Philofophy, and the groveling principles of Patriotifm ! Having given Kings, Queens, Nobles, and High- Priefts, a heavenly origin, without directly aflerting it and having by confecration rendered them xin- aflailable he rifes into a ftrain of fublime fcur- rility againft the National AfTembly for violences to which they were not acceflary, and fome of which never exifted except in his own imagination. But the purpofe juftifies the means. The King of France, is the Sun fliorn of his beams ; the Queen is the Morn- ing Star precipitated from her orbit : and the authors of their degradation^ are not entitled to the exceptions of truth, on that principle of religion, which keeps no faith with heretics. fauce-pans, mops, and difh-clouts, but to produce and collect fuch fadls and experiments, as may furnifh Principles of Poli- tical Economy. Dr. Smith, the author of the Hiftory of the Wealth of Nations, derived the principal materials of his excel- lent work from this Society. But as their labours have not a. tendency to promote Popery, the Ecclefiaftics, particularly the Monks, brand them as Atheifts ; and our author, in holy re- prehenfions, and infamous imputations, clofely imitates the glowing language ef the Monks. It 128 LESSONS tO A PRINCE. . It is true, the National AfTembly, the Economiites, the Patriots, and the Atheifts of France, were as lit- tle concerned in the violences at Verfailles, in the humiliating proceffion of the King and Queen, and in their confinement to the Louvre, as the moft enlightened and virtuous citizens of England in the riot and conflagration of 1780. The principal infligators and agents were truly catholic fifh-wo- men; as orthodox, as prejudiced, and almoft as bi- gotted as our author. But in holy crimination as in love and war all advantages are to be feized, and all means are juftifiable. In the defcriptions of the condition of France ; of a general abfence of all government, all law, and all order of bloody Democrats, feeking the facred remnants o an * honourable' Nobility and * holy' Clergy, and murthering them in multitudes: in thefe defcriptions, the author avails himfelf of the juftifiable licence of an orator ; and almoft every page of the declama- tion contains a mifreprefentation, or an untruth. Befides, Mr. Burke is fupported by the ariftocratic newfpapers of France and England ; and this, in any cafe, is fufficient ground for that fpecies of oratory we call Billingfgate. Befides, LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 129 Your Royal Highnefs will obferve, without con traft, the difplay of royalty would have no effect. The fell of the Queen, like that of a ftar, fhould be at the incantation of the daemon of patriotifm iffuing from a charnel houfe; at every ftep, mur- thering millions, and his path a river of human blood. If I might prefume to blame an author of fuch exalted abilities, I would fay Mr. Burke has been fqueamifh, timid, too attentive to probability, and has not given fufficient fcope to his creative ima- gination in his atrocious defcription of France. Your Royal Highnefs will confider this obferva- tion as an anfwer to thofe little critics ; who have cavilled at his defcription of the Queen, as defective in coftume\ contradicting popular ideas of character and manners, and indicating impiety ; for it is a pla- giariim from an office to the holy Virgin, adored as the morning ftar appearing on the horizon, and promiung a heavenly day, &c. But minutiae are un- worthy a great genius; andthehiftory of canoni-za- tions abounds with examples of a fimilar nature. St. Grill, Bifhop of Alexandria, aflaffmated the beautiful and fublime Hypathia; yet was canoni- zed. K The LESSONS TO A PRINCE. The hands of Charlemagne were loathfome with the blood of the Saxons, whom he maffacred with- out the pretence of juftice : he robbed his nephews of their patrimony; married four wives, yet com- mitted inceft : but he increafed the territory of the church, and the church made him a Saint. In ano- ther edition, I hope the author will paint him at length ; give him the attributes of an evening ftar; and place him as a companion to the moil brilliant production of his pencil. Having thrown a luftre on his doctrines concern- ing royalty ; which will more rapidly promote their circulation than a demon ftration of their truth and having harrowed up, at leaft his own foul, on the impiety, the facrilege, and the villainy, of degra- ding and limiting its prerogatives in France he de- nies the right of the people, to form or model a government; for a reafon, which muft be convin- cing to every man of equal piety with the author that Government is an Inftitution of God ; tranf- mitted from one generation to another, in all its forms and privileges. In this matter, he aphecies, concerning the future condition of France, are compared with events that may foon burft on his view. But let us hope ' better* things. So wonderful a portion oftheTpirit of prophecy, could not have been given lit rain. If we may have faith, * to remove ' rriouhtaihs' why not, to coincide with the pious Apoftle of Defpotifnv. in all his wiflies and expecla- His ( matchlefs' eloquence may induce all the Powers of Europe to unite - to publifh a crufade againft Philofophy, Free-thinking, and Democratic Patriotifm - to pour innumerable armies into the heart of France to facrifice the majority of the ha- tioh at the mrihe of the deified Queen ; to reftore the Nobility and Clergy to their honours and riches; to rebuild the Baftile, and fill it to the fummit of its towers with Jacobins* and Atheifts ; and to re- cover * The Jacobins are Patriots, inclined to constitutional Demo- cracy, and formed into a Club The reader fhould bear in mind, that LESSONS TO A PRINCE. cover the military, clerical, and ancient government of the country. I have thus endeavoured to delineate the general purpofe, and point out the excellences and beauties of this great work. My furvey of it has been hafty my time being v unfortunately engaged and infirmities check- ing my ardour and activity. I truft, however, no parts of conflderable importance, have been omitted ; and that your Royal Highnefs will not be difpleafed at my humble efforts to fave you fome trouble in exa- mining them. The Sun has fpots and the Aftronomer mentions them, without the imputation of impiety. Your Royal Highnefs will believe, I mean not to detract from the author's fame, by producing fome peculiari- that by Democracy in France is meant, the power of election and controul in the people, not, as in Greece and Rome, the faculties of aflual government. The author confounds thefe ideas. And the Patriotic Club being his averfion, he compares it to the * Lords of Articles,' who prepared Bills for the ancient Go_ vernment of Scotland. The Jacobins probably fettle their mode of proceeding in the National AlTembly at their Club : but they are ' Lords of Articles ' only as the Aflemblies at the Duke of Portland's, at B/ookes's, at Cumberland Houfe, or Mrs. F t's, may be called Lords or Ladies of Articles.' ties '54 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. ties of his ftyle and competition, when I aflure you, I think the eloquence, imagery, and phrafeology of the work, admirably calculated to diffufe the princi- ples of it among the * great vulgar and the little ' and that no man fince the death of the * immorta^' Whitfield, could enter info competition with him in this fpecies of competition. But as your Royal Highnefs is young ; and may not have much attended to the varieties of Engliih ftyle : and I have had the prefumption to aflume the tone of an inftru&or I will fubmit the following paflages, as proofs of the validity of general opinion and literary fame. Bombaft, fubftituted for Philofophy. Page 68. " This preponderating weight being added to the force of the body chicane in the Tiers Etat, completed that momentum of ignorance, rafh- nefs, prefumption, and luft of plunder, which no- thing has been able to retift." Vulgarity, to heighten admiration. P. 71. " It is a thing to be wondered at, to fee how very foon France, when (he had a moment to refpire, reco- LESSONS TO A PRINCE. recovered and emerged from the longed and moft dreadful civil war that ever was known." A claffic paflage, difgraced by its accompaniments, P. 86. " I have nothing to fay to the clumfy fubtilty of their political metaphyfics. Let them be their amufement in the fchools. c Ilia fe jaflet In ( aula jEolus, et claufo ventorum carcere regnet? But let them not break prifon to burft like a Levanter, to fweep the earth with their hurricane, and to break up the fountains of the great deep to overwhelm us." A paradox, moft convenient when a falfehood is to he covered or ignorance concealed. P. 91. " The pretended rights of thefe theorifts are all extremes; and in proportion as they are meta- phyfically true, they are morally and politically falfe." Indelicate allufions, to aflift the fale of the work. P. 93. " I confefs to you, Sir, I never liked this continual talk of refiftance and revolution, or the practice of making the extreme medicine of the con- ftitution its daily bread. It renders the habit of fo- ciety 156 LESSONS TO A PRINCE. ciety dangeroufly valetudinary : it is taking periodi- cal dofes of mercury fublimate, and fw allow ing down repeated provocatives of cantharides to our love of Borrowed from a taylor ; and exprefled correftly in his manner. P. 104. " We are faid to learn manners at fe- cond-hand from your fide of the water, and that we drefs our behaviour in the frippery of France, If fo, we are ftill in the old cut.* This fliould have been harmonifed by Sir Jofhua Reynolds. P. 1 08. " A gronpe of regicide and facrilegious flaughter, was indeed boldly Sketched, but it was only fketched. It unhappily was left unfinifhed, in this great hiftory-piece of the maflacre of innocents. What hardy pencil of a great matter, from the fchool of the rights of men, will finifh it, is to be feen here- after." This will offend his countrymen, the common Iriih, i who LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 157 who relent any farcaftic reference to their fellow- creatures. P. 1 1 7. " Happy if learning, not debauched by ambition, had been fatisfied to continue the inftruc- tor, and not afpired to be the mafter ! Along with, its natural protectors and guardians, learning will be caft into the mire, and trodden down under the hoofs of a fwinifh multitude." The paragraph being deftined for the people, is de- fignedly obfcure, if not unintelligible. The CHURCH has declared, that Ignorance is the mother of De- votion. P. 140. " When the people have emptied them- felves of all the luft of felfifh will, which without re- ligion it is utterly impoffible they ever fhould, when they are confcious that they exercife, and exercife perhaps in an higher link of the order of delegation, the power, which to be legitimate muft be according to that eternal immutable law, in which will and reafon are the fame, they will be more careful how they place power in bafe and incapable hands." How LESSONS TO A PRINCE. How beautifully this is perplexed ! The works of a prophet always require an interpreter. P. 145. " Perfuaded that all things ought to be done with reference, and referring all to the point of reference to which all ihould be directed, they think themfelves bound, not only as individuals in the fanctuary of the heart, or as congregated in that per- fonal capacity, to renew the memory of their high origin and caft." Nafty, without occasion. P. 151. " They are not repelled through a fafti- dious delicacy, at the flench of their arrogance and prefumption, from a medicinal attention to their men- tal blotches and running fores." To conftruct fentences of fcurrilous epithets ; the author feems to have turned to the words ' Atheift, ' Traitor and Robber, in Johnfon's Dictionary ; and by the conjunction * and,' to have connected them and all their fynonymes when a Patriot or a Philo- fopher occurred to his imagination. The work, on the whole, wants that lucid order, that LESSONS TO A PRINCE. 159 that air of demonftration, which real fcience gives to every fpecies of argument. The author's anger throughout, is not the emo- tion of a great and good mind : it is that of Milton's fiend contemplating the innocence of our firft parents, and the poflible happinefs of their race. His imagery is incorrect, often diftorted ; and his language is rumbling, noify, and inharmonious. But all myftic productions ftiould have thefe " feeming" faults, to produce their effects on the multitude, who are always convinced if fufficiently terrified ; who are highly edified by unintelligible enigmas ; and often adore a loquacious impoftor, who by foothing their prejudices invades their rights; and on their credulity and mifery, erects his fplendid for- tune and his fame. THE END. 7^/j Day is publljhed, The THIRD EDITION, Price as. 6d. of LETTERS ON POLITICAL LIBERTY, and the Principles of Englifti and Irifh J*rojecT:s of Re- form. The firft Edition of this Work was tranflated into French by M. LA FITE; the Tranflator was fent into the Baftile, the Tranflation burnt by the Exe- cutioner ; but the Opinions of it had fome Effect irt the Appointment of Provincial Affemblies, and in the Efforts of the prefent Revolution ; and its Principles mujl foon be adopted in England. ' A SHORT REVIEW of the FRENCH REVO- LUTION, in an ADDRESS from the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY to the People of France. Price as. 13 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. LD-UW- JUN 6 * UNIVERSITY OF CALJFOSMi* AT LOS ANGELES