X s AN N 1 2 A LETTER RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM PITT, . &c. Audaxvenali Comitatur CURIO lingua. Vox quondam Populi libertatemque tueri Aufus .. LUCAN PHARSALIA, Lib. i. /. 269 71. SIR, T T ISTORY records too many examples of -* ** political apoftacy to make any cafe of that fort new or fmgular. Yet with all your knowledge in that branch of hiftory, to which congenial fentiments muft have naturally pointed your ftudies, I doubt whether you can produce many inftances in which the political apoftate, B inftcad [ * ] inftead of the language which becomes his wretched fituation, dares to aflume the tone of parade and of triumph ; and with the- moft ec- centric originality of infolence labours to con- vert his own defertion of principle into an argu- ment againfl thefe principles themfelves, inftead of feeling the principles as a ftigma on his defer- tion. We do not find that Curio was fhamelefs enough, when he deferted the cauie of his coun- try, to urge againft it the boldnefs of his own apoftacy with the fame confidence that Cato would have ufed in its fupport the authority of his virtue. The annals of ancient or modern apoftacy contain nothing fo flagrant. It was re- ferved for our days to add this variety to the va- rious combinations of fraud and infolence, which have in former ages duped and opprefled man- kind ; and it was peculiarly referved for a Statefman, whofe character reconciles the moft repugnant extremes of political depravity, the pliancy of the moft abject intrigue, with the vaunting of the moft lofty hypocrify. It was re- ferved StacK Annex 3 ferved for him, not alone filently to abandon, not alone even publicly to abjure the doctrines of his former life ; not alone to oppofe, with ar- dour, with vehemence, with virulence, thofe propofitions from others, by which he himfelf had earned unmerited popularity, and climbed to unexampled power ; but by a refinement of in- folent apoftacy, to convert into a fource of oblo- quy againft other men, a meafure which had been the bafis of his own reputation and importance. It was referved for fuch a man to repeat thofe very common-place objections to the meafure, and thofe very common-place {landers againft its movers which had been urged againft himfelf, and which he himfelf had juftly defpifed, or vic- *orioufly refuted *. It was referved for him, un- blufhingly * See the debate on Mr. Pitt's motion for Parliamentary Reform on the jth May, 1782. Compare the reply of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the alarms and arguments of Mr. T. Pitt, proprietor of Old Sarum, with his fpeech on the notice of Mr. Grey, the 3oth April, 1792, in which he B 2 *xpre(Fe.s [ 4 3 blufhmgly to renew all the clamour againft no- velty, and all thofe affectionate alarms for the Britifh Conftitution, which patriotic borough- mongers had fb fuccefsfully employed againft himielf. Yes, Sir, it was referred for the fon of Chatham thus to ftigmatize the " dying legacy" of his father, and thus to brand his own " virgin effort." You will have already perceived, that it is on your late conduct in the cafe of Parliamentary Reform, that I am about to animadvert. Though I feel a diflike not unmixed with contempt for politics purely perfonal, and though I mould be the laft man to betray and degrade the great caufe of Reform, by mingling it with the petty fquabbles of party, yet when I fee the authority ofanapoftate character oppofed with impudent abfurdity to the caufe from which he apoftatized, exprefles thofe alarms which he had then fcouted, and retails thofe arguments which he had then contemned ! Ergo reft- tens bac nuncius 'Hit Pflif/a- zcnitori / I think [ 5 ] I think it at lead fit that that obftacle fnould be removed, and that the vapouring language of fuch a delinquent fliould be counteracted by the merited brand of his crimes. The caufe of Reform demands that the nature of your prefent oppofition to it mould be under- Hood by the people. The intereft of the people demands that they mould well underftand the character of him who may yet be likely, in fome poffible combination of events, to offer himfelf to them as the champion of Reform, and perhaps ultimately to prove the leader in more extenfive and dangerous meafures. And it is generally fit that no fignal example of triumphant apoflacy mould pafs with impunity, Thefe are the public reafons, Sir, which lead me to call public attention to your conduct; reafons which have influenced one who has no refped for your principles, and no exaggerated opinion of your abilities, which he has fome- B 3 [ 6 ] times admired without idolatry, and often op- pofed without fear. That I am in no abject or devoted fenfe a partizan, I truft even my prcfeni fentiments will prove. I am only, therefore, your enemy fo far as I believe you to be the ene- my of my country ; and I am not unwilling to adopt for the creed of my perfonal politics the dying prayer of a great man, " Ut it a cuique eve- niat ut quifque de Republic a mer eater ?" The three general grounds then on which I Ihall proceed to examine your conduct are, your apoflacy- your prefent pretexts for oppofmg re- form and the probability of fuch a future con- dud in you as may render it extremely impor- tant that the people Ihould juftly appreciate your character. Your entrance into public life was marked by circumftances more favourable than any Englifh Statefman has ever experienced. With all the vigor [ 7 ] vigor of your own talents, with all the reflected luftre of your Father's character, you appeared at a moment when the ungracious toil of oppoii- tion was almoft paft, when little remained but to profit by the effect of other men's efforts, and to urge the fall of a tottering Miniftry, whofe mifconduct had already been fatally proved by national misfortune. The current of popularity had already fet ftrongly againft the Minifter, The illufions of American conqueft and Ameri- can revenue were difpelled. The eyes of the people were opened to the folly of the Cabinet. You had only to declaim againft it. The atten- tion of the people was called to thofe defects in their Conftitution, which permitted fuch a Ca- binet fo long to betray the public intereft, and to brave the public opinion. You had only to put yourfelf at the head of the people, to declare yourfelf the Leader of Reform. In this charac- ter you had recourfe to the fame means, and you were aflailed by the fame objections, with every paft and every future Leader of Reform. De- B 4 fpairing t 8 ] i'pairing that a corrupt body mould fpontaneoufly reform itfelf, you invited the interpofition of the people. You knew that difperfed effort muft be unavailing. You therefore encouraged them to aflbciate. You were, not deterred from ap- pealing to the people by fuch miferable common places of reproach as thofe of advertifmg for grievances, diffufing difcontents, and provoking fedition. You well knew that in the vocabulary of corrupt power enquiry is fedition, and tran- quillity is fynonimous with blind and abject obedience. You were not deterred from join- ing with the afibciations of the people by being told they were to overawe Parliament. You knew the value of a jargon that does not deferve to be dignified by fo high a name as Sophiflry. You felt for it that contempt which every man of fenfe always feels, and which every man of Jincerity will always exprcfs. As you were regardlefs of the clamour againft the necefiary weans for the acconiplifhment of your t 9 ] your object as you knew that whoever would fubftantially ferve the people in fuch a caufe, muft appeal to the people, and aflbciate with the people; To you muft have had a juft and a fupreme contempt for the fophiftry which was oppofed to the meafure of reforming the Reprefentation it- felf. You were told (every Reformer has been told, and every Reformer will be told) that of innovations there is no end, that to adopt one is to invite a fuccefllon; and that though you knew the limits of your own Reforms, you could not prefcribe bounds to the views which their fuccefs might awaken in the minds of others. To fo battered a generality it was eafy to oppofe another common -place. It was eafy to urge that as no Government could be fecure if it were to be perpetually changed; fo no abufe could be reformed if inftitutions are to be inflexibly maintained. If they call the courage of a Reformer temerity, he is equally entitled to reprefent their caution as cowardice. If they ipeak from conjecture of his future intereft in confufion, confufion, he may from knowledge Ipeak of their actual intereft in corruption. They told you that extravagant fpeculations were abroad * ; that it was no moment to hope for the accomplifhment of a temperate Reform, when there were fo many men of mifchievous and vifionary principles, whom your attempts would embolden, and whom your Reforms would not content. You replied, that the redrefs of real grievances was the fureft remedy againft imaginary alarms ; that the exiftence of acknow- ledged corruptions is the only circumftance that renders incendiaries formidable ; and that to correct thefe corruptions is to wreft from them their moft powerful weapon. By a conduct thus natural you purfued your meafure. Of that conduct indeed I mould not now have reminded you, had it not been for the * Lord Camelford's fpeech. Jake [ II ] Jake of centra/ling it with foms recent trar.fac- tions. It is almoft unneceflary to add that yon found it eafy to practife on the generous credu- lity of the Englifh people, and that for the mil time in the prefent reign, the King's advilers thought fit to chufe their minifter from the knowledge of his being popular, actuated by the double policy of debauching a popular lead- er, and of furrounding with the fplendour of popularity, the apoftate agent of their will. But with the other parts of your public life I have nothing to do, nor will I trace minutely the progrefs of your pretended efforts for Parlia- mentary Reform. The curtain was dropped in 1 785. The farce then clofed. Other cares then began to occupy your mind. To dupe the enthufiafts of Reform ceafed to be of any further moment, and the queftion itfelf flept, until it was revived by Mr. Flood in 1790. There [ it ] There was little danger of the fuccefs of his motion, maintained by himfelf with little perti- nacity, and feconded neither by any Parlia- mentary connexion, nor by any decifive popular opinion. To it therefore you thought a languid oppofition from you fufficient. You referred more active oppofition for more formidable dan- gers, and you abandoned the motion of Mr. Flood to the declamation of Mr. Grenville, the logic of Mr. Windham, and the invective of Mr. Burke. That more formidable danger at length ar- rived. A Reform in the Reprefentation was brought for ward by a gentleman of the moft power- ful abilities, of high confideration in the coun- try, and of a character the moft happily untainted by any of thofe dubious tranfactions of which political parties are rarely able, for any long pe- riod to efcape at leaft the imputation. Such a character was odious to apoftacy. Such an ene- my was formidable to corruption. The [ '3 ] The debate on the notice of Mr. Grey illuf- trated the fears of corrupt men, and the malignity of apoftates. It was then that alarms which had (lumbered fo long over incendiary writings were fuddenly called forth by the dreadful fuggeftion of a moderate, and therefore, of a practicable Reform. Nor is the reafon of this difficult to difcover. Thefe incendiary publications might render fig- nal fervice to a corrupt government^ by making the caufe of freedom odious, and perhaps by provoking immatured and ill-concerted tumults, the fuppreffion of which might increafe the ftrength, and juftify the violence of Govern- ment. No fuch happy effects were to be hoped from the propofition of Mr. Grey. Impracti- cable fchemes are never terrible, but that fatal propofition threatened the overthrow of corrup- tion itfelf. Then your exertions were indeed demanded : Then your pious zeal for the confti- tution was called forth. Theoretical [ 14 ] Theoretical admirers of the Coriftitution had indeed fuppofed its excellence to confift in that trial by jury which you had narrowed by excife; and its falvation to depend on that liberty of the prefs which you had feared by profecution. Such rrnVht have been the idle ravings of Locke or Montefquieu. But you well knew its practical excellence to depend on very different things. Already, in your imagination, that citadel of the Conftitution ^ueenborough^ that fancluary of freedom Midbitrft 9 tottered to their foundations. Already, even Cornwall itfelf, the holy land of freedom, was pierced by the impious din of Reform. Adluated by alarms fo honeft and fo wife, for fuch facred bulwarks of the Confti- tution, no wonder that you magnanimoufly fa- crificed your own character. No wonder that you (looped to rake together every clumfy fo- phifm, and every malignant ilander that the mod frontlefs corruption had ever circulated, or the moft flupid credulity believed. Nor was it even [ >5 ] even wonderful, when we confider it in this view* that you fhould have pronounced an elaborate, a folemn, a malignant invective, againft the principles which you yourfelf had profeffed, the precife meafures which you had promoted, and the very means which you had chofen for their accomplimment. There is fomething in {uch a parade of apoftacy, which, in the minds of certain perjons, may efface thofe veftiges of diftruft and repugnance, that the recollection of a popular conduct in early life muft have im- printed. The difgraceful triumph of that night will indeed long be remembered by thofewho were indignant fpectators of it. A Minifler reprobat- ing affociations, and condemning any mode of collecting the opinion of the people for the pur- pofe of influencing the Houfe of Commons. - HE who commenced his career by being an Aflbciator, and who avowedly placed all his hopes of fuccefs in the authority which general opinion t I ] opinion was to have over the Houfe of Com- mons. HE who continued a Minifter in defi- ance of the Houfe of Commons, becaufe he fuppofed himfelf to f>oflefs the confidence of the people. HE who gave thefirft example of legi- timating and embodying the opinion of the people againft the voice of their reprefentatives*. I Ii: was the Minifter who adopted this language. It was not, Sir, on that night to the fplendor of your words, nor the mufic of your periods, that you owed the plaudits of the borough-mongers of Wiltfhire or of Cornwall. They take no cognizance of any dexterities of fophiftry or felicities of declamation; the pompous nothing- nefs of ABERCORN, and the fordid barbarity of ROLLE, are more on a level with their under- * Thefe remarks are neither Hated to juftify or to condemn the conduct of Mr. Pitt in the celebrated coateft of 1784. They are merely intended to contraft his then meafiires with his prefent profclfions, and that any example of iuconfift- cncy fo grofb and notorious is to be found in the black annals of apoftucy, 1 nm yet to learn. (landing t 17 ] ftanding and more in unifon with their tafte. They applauded you for virtues like their own, for impudence in afferting falfehood, for auda- city in defending corruption. Their affent was condemnation their applaufe was ignominy- Their difgraceful hear hims ought to have called to your recollection the depth of infamy into which you had at length plunged. They were the very ufurpers whom you pledged yourfelf to your country to attack ; and at the only time of your life when your conduct had the femblance of virtue, thefe are the men in whofe enmity you would have juftly gloried. At that time your claim on the confidence of the people would have been almoft folely founded on the viru- lence of hoftility, and the vehemence of clamor which fuch men would employ againfb you. And thefe therefore are the men whofe applaufe now juftly feals the fentence of your apoflacy. Nor, Sin, is this brief hiftory of that apo- ftacy more flagrant than the plain ftatement of C your your pretexts will appear abfurd. The frank and good-natured proftitution of DUNDAS, which aflumes no difguife, and affects no prin- ciple, almoft difarms cenfure, and relaxes us into a fort of contemptuous indulgence for one whom we can neither hate nor refpect. The unbluming fleadinefs of avowed Toryifm, whether it frowns in Thurlow, or fneaks in Havvkefbury, we can neither blame as inconfiftent, nor dread as con- tagious. Many men may be intimidated by their power, and many feduced by their corrup- tion, but no man is deceived by their profeflions. It is not therefore to fuch men that the FRIEND of the PEOPLE defires to point their jealoufy and their refentment. Againft fuch men it is not neceflary to guard them. But it will, indeed, be his duty to detect the pretexts by which the fpecious and fuccefjful hypocrite riot only dif- guifes his own character, but triumphantly de- ludes the people. It [ '9 ] It is now then fit to examine thofe pretexts by which you would evade the ignominy of having deferted your caufe. Such a difcuffion is not only neceflary to convift you, but to the defence of thofe whom you have attacked. For unlefs the fallacy of thefe pretexts be expofed, the Friends of Reform may be branded as the thoughtlefs or malignant difturbers of their country, while the apoftate from Reform may be regarded as the provident and honeft preferver of its quiet. It is only by the expofure of his pre- texts that this apoftate can be mown in his ge- nuine character, facrificing for the prefervation of corrupt power, not only the prefent liberty, but the future probable peace of his country. Let us then, SIR, coniider what thofe pre- texts are, by which you labour to afcribe to infa- nity or profligacy in 1792, that attempt to re- form, which in 1782 was the pureft exertion of the mod heroic patriotifm. By what fort of tbronological morality virtue could fo fhortly C 2 have I *o ] have been tranfmuted into vice, may be in itfelf a curious enquiry. Has the generous enthu- fiafm of your youth been corrected by the juflef views of experience ? Has it been reprefled by the felfifli coldnefs of advancing years ? Or has it been laid afleep by the genial indulgences, and the feductive blandiihments of power ? Such are the queftions which a difcuflion of your pretexts muft refolve. You are in the firft place pleafed to inform us, that thofe grievances which once fo clamoroufly pleaded for a Reform of Parliament, have, under your wife and virtuous Adminiftration, ceafed to cxift. The reafons, if we may believe the Duke of Richmond and yourfelf, which then juftified Reform, no longer operate. The nation is prof- perous. The people are contented. The ftate- ment of facts is as inconteftibly true, as the in- ference from it is impudently falfe. It is becaufe the nation is profperous, it is becaufe the people are tranquil, that this is an aufpicious moment for [ 21 ] for averting from our country calamities which a corrupt Houfe of Commons (by your confef- fion) did once produce ; and which therefore an unreformed Houfe of Commons may again equally occafion. The logic of apoftacy is happily on a level with its morals. In 1782, when general difcon- tent might indeed have furniihed fome colour for an alarm that Reform would degenerate into con- vulfion, then you and that noble Duke placed yourfelves at the head of different bodies of Re- formers. You fuppofe, it feems, that change is only to be attempted with fafety, and bounded by moderation, when the temper of the people is inflamed, and exafperated by a fucceffion of public calamities. Such is the reafoning, fuch the politics of thefe honed Patriots, and accomplimed Legiflators ! Other men might have fuppofed, that a flate of convulsion and irritation was not the temper in C 3 which which moderate Reforms were likely to be adopted by the people ; and that to defer all pro- pofition of Reform until grievances mould pro- duce again fuch a fatal ftate, was to delay them to a moment when there would infallibly be no choice, but to take refuge in defpotifm, or to plunge into civil war. The very circumftance of the content of the people is that which gives us a perfeft fecurity, that Reforms will not be hur- ried away into violence. It is therefore that which mod powerfully invites ail men to exertion, who defire a wife and meafured improvement of the Conftitution. Granting even that no aftual or urgent evil arifes from the corrupt ftate of the pretended Reprefentation of the People Granting that it has not within the laft eight years coft us thirteen Colonies, a hundred thoufand lives, and the ac- cumulation of a hundred and fifty millions of debt Making all thefe conceflions, what argu- ment do they furnifh to you ? Are the necejjary tendencies tendencies of an inftitution no reafon for reform- ing it ? Is it becaufe thefe tendencies are fuf- pended by fome accidental circumftance, that we are to tolerate them until they are again called forth into definitive energy ? Had you been a Senator under TITUS, if any man had propofed controls on the defpotic authority of the Empe- ror, and if he had juftified his propofition by re- minding the Senate of the ferocity of Nero, or the brutality of Vitellius, you muft, on fuch a principle, have oppofed to his arguments the happinefs derived from the exifting Government, till your fophiftry was confuted, and your feryi- lity rewarded by DOMITIAN. It is thus eafy to expofe your pretexts, even without difputing your arTumptions. But it is time to retra6t conceflions which truth does not permit, and to prove that the abfurdity of your conclufions is equalled by the falfehood of thofe premifes on which they are eftablifhed. 4 The [ *4 J The queftion, whether thofe grievances now exift, which in your opinion once juftified a Parliamentary Reform, will be beft decided by confidering the nature of fuch grievances, and the tendency of fuch a Reform to redrefs them. The grievance is, the perpetual acquiefcence of the Houfe of Commons in the dictates of the Minifters of the Crown. The fource of this grievance is the enormous influence of the Crown in the Houfe of Commons. The remedy is, to render that Houfe, by changing the modes of its election, and Ihortening the duration of its truft, dependent upon the people, inflead of being dependent upon the Crown. Such is the brief ftate of the fubject. Can you then have the infolence to aflert, that the influ- ence has decreafed in your time, or that it has produced a lefs abject acquiefcence ? That influ- ence and that acquiefcence are the grievances which are to be reformed ; and as no impudence can deny that they exift in their full force, fo no fophiflry fophiftry can efcape the inference, that the ne- ceflity for reforming them remains undiminifhed. Have majorities in your time been lefs de- voted ? Have the meafures of the Court been lefs indifcriminately adopted ? Has the voice of the people been lefs neglected ? Has the voice of the Minifter been lefs obeyed ? Not one of thefe things are true ; not one, therefore, of the rea- fons for Reform have ceafed to operate. But to argue the queftion in this manner is to do injuftice to its ftrength. It is not only true that the acquiefcence of Parliament has not been lefs indifcriminate ; it is not only true that the Houfe of Commons have betrayed no fymptoms of fuch ungovernable independence and impracticable' virtue, as might feem to render its Reform lefs neceflary or lefs urgent ; but it is uncontrover- tibly true, that your recent experience furnilhes a more fantaftic example of that ignominious fer- vitude, from which Reform can only refcue the Commons, than any other that is to be found in our [ *6 3 our hiftory. I allude to your Ruffian armament, which 1 do not bring forward that I may fpeak of its abfurdity, becaufe I will not {loop to wound a proftrate enemy, nor to infult a convifted cri- minal. 1 allude to it only as an example of the parade with which the dependence of the Houfe of Commons on the Minifter was exhibited to an indignant country. On former occafions it had been equally corrupt ; on former occafions it had been equally abfurd ; but on no former occafion had it difplayed fuch oflentatious and verfatile dependence. The Minifter in one feflion deter- mines on his armament. His obfequious majo- rity regifter the edict ; but the abfurdity, the odium, and the unpopularity of the meafure, make the resolution of the Cabinet. The voice of the people, defpifed by their pretended repre- fcntatives, is liftened to by the Minifter. The Houfe of Commons are at his nod ready to plunge their country into the moft ruinous and unjuft war ; but the body of the people declare their fentiments, and the Minifter recedes. He commands t *7 ] commands his majority to retrace their fleps, to condemn their former proceedings, and thus to declare mod emphatically, that their intereft is not the intereft, that their voice is not the voice of the people. The obfequious majority obey without a murmur. " 'Tibi Jummum rerum judi- clum dil dedere nobis obfequii gloria reliEla eft" Nothing could more forcibly illuftrate the mockery and nullity of what is fhrangely called the Reprefentation of the People, than this fplen- did victory of public opinion. The Minifter yielded to that natural authority of public opi- nion, which is independent of forms of Govern- ment, and which would have produced the fame effeft in moft of the fimple monarchies of civi- lized Europe. The Cabinet of Verfailles would have been compelled to exhibit a limilar defe- rence to the general fentiment before the fall of their defpotifm j and the people of England ex- perienced no more aid from their fuppofed Re- prefentatives, than if the Houfe of Commons had been C *8 ] been in form and avowal, what it is in truth and fubflance, a chamber for registering minifterial edicts. Thus wretched are the pretexts to which you have been driven. It is not only eafy to expofe the emptinefs and futility of thefe pretexts, but to eftablifli with all the evidence of which any topic of civil prudence is fufceptible, that the circumjlances of the times, in (lead of rendering it dangerous to attempt a Reform in our Conftitu- tion, make it infinitely dangerous to delay fuch a Reform. On the French Revolution, it is not my inten- tion to offer any obfervations. It has no natural nor direct relation to my fubjedt, and were I dif- pofed to treat it, it would be my aim to attempt what has not hitherto been attempted, and what perhaps it may yet be too early to execute with fuccefs, an impartial and philofophical eftimate of the mod unexampled event in hiflory. But on C *9 ] on its intrlnfic merits it is not now my province to obferve. I have only to coniider it as marking the prefent time, either as aufpicious or inaufpi- cious to attempts to reform our Conftitution. Thefe attempts to obtain Reform difclaim all al- liance with the magnificent principles, or the pe- rilous fpeculations, by which men, according to their various prepofleffions, will fuppofe our neighbours to have been nobly animated or fatally deluded. Whether the boldnefs of thefe principles, and the widenefs of thefe fpeculations, be as recon- cileable with the order of freedom as they were inftrumental in the deftruclion of tyranny, is a queftion on which wife men will not be prone to anticipate the decilion of experience. But the fchemes of Reform which we have now in view, the only Reforms which, under the circumftances I could approve, are founded on other principles, on fentiments long naturalized among us, on no- tions of liberty purely Englifh. Not [ 3 1 Not engaged either in the difcuffion or de- fence of the French Revolution, we then have only to contemplate it as it is fuppofed to render the prefent moment favourable or unfavourable to meditated Reforms in England. In this view it will be eafy to prove, that the probable future influence of that Revolution, ^chatever be its if- Ju:, on the general fentiments of Europe, marks the prefent moment as that in which a Reform of the Englifh Conftitution is not only fafe and pru- dent, but urgent and indifpenfible. Nothing indeed can be more evident, than that a mighty- change in the direction of the public fentiments of Europe is likely to arife from that Revolution, whether it be fuccefsful or unfuccefsful. If it be fuccefsful, the fpirit of extreme Democracy is likely to fpread over all Europe, and to fwallow up in a volcanic eruption every remnant of Mo- narchy and of Nobility in the civilized world. The probability of fuch effefts is fo flrongly be- lieved by the enemies of that Revolution, that it is the ground of their alarm, the fubject of their inve&ive, invective, and the pretext of their hoftilities. It was to prevent fiich confequences, that Mr. Burke fb benevolently counfelled the Princes of Europe to undertake that crujade in which they are now fo pioufly engaged. If, on the other hand, the efforts of France be imfuccefsful ; if her liberties be deftroyed, there can be little doubt that fuch a (hock will moft powerfully impel the current of opinion to the fide of Monarchy j a direction in which it will be likely for feveral ages to continue. The ex- ample of the deftruction of the great French re- public would diffufe difmay and fubmiffion among a multitude, who only judge by events ; and the bloody fcenes which muft attend fuch a deftruc'tion, would indeed be fufficient to appall the flernefl and mod ardent champions of Li- berty. The fpirit of Europe would crouch un- der the dark (hade of Defpotifm, in dead repofe and fearful obedience. The Royal confederacy which had effeded this fubverfion, would doubt- lefs [ 3* ] lefs continue its concert and its efforts. The principle of maintaining the internal indepen- dence of nations, being deftroyed by the example of France, no barrier would any longer be op- pofed to the arbitrary will of Kings. The internal laws of all the European States would be dictated by a Counfel of Defpots, and thus the influence of moral caufes on public opinion, co-operat- ing xvith the combined ftrcngth and policy of Princes, " every faint veftige and loofe remnant" of free government will be fwcpt from the face of the earth. In either alternative England cannot be exempt from the general fpirit. If the phrenzy of De- mocracy be excited by the fuccefs of France ; if the fpirit of abjecl fubmiffion and of triumphant Defpotifm be produced by her failure, in the firft event the peace, in the fecond the liberty of Eng- land is endangered. In the firft event a furious Republicanifm, in the fecond a defperate To- ryifm is likely to pervade the country. Againft the [ 33 1 the prevalence of both extremes there only exifts one remedy. It is to invigorate the democratic part of the Conftitution j it is to render the Houfe of Commons fo honeftly and fubftantially the re- prefentative of the people, that Republicans may no longer have topics of invective, nor Minifters the means of corruption. If the one fpirit pre- vail, it is neceflary to reform the Houfe of Com- mons, that the difcontents of the people may be prevented. If the other fpirit prevails, the fame Reform is neceflary, that it may be ftrong enough to refift the encroachments of the Crown. In the one cafe, to prevent our Government from being changed into a pure Democracy ; in the other, to prevent it from being changed into a limple Mo- narchy. In either event the fame precaution is neceflary. The fame Reform will preferve the EngliQi Conftitution from the fap of Royal in- fluence, and from the ftorm of tumultuous De- mocracy. A Conftitution which provided a pure reprefentative of the people, and which included only enough of Monarchy for vigor, and only D enough t 34 ] ehdugh of Ariftocracy for deliberation, would bid a juft defiance to the mod magnificent and reductive vifions of democratic enthufiafm. A people who felt that they pofTefled a vigorous po- pular control On their Government, could fee little obnoxious, and nothing formidable in the powers of the Peerage and the Crown, and would feel none of that difcontent which alone could make them accefiible to the arts of Republican miffionaries. The fuccefs of the French, the fafcinating example of their fuperb Democracy will have no dangerous effects on the minds of contented ENGLISHMEN. But what wifdom can avert the effects which mufl arife from fuch a model of reprefentation, and fuch a fpirit as the fuccefs of France will produce in Europe, if that fpirit is to operate on a diflatisfied people, and that model be perpetually compared with the ryins of a free Government. In the alternative then of the fuccefs of the French Revolution, nothing furely can be fo indifpenfible as a fpeedy Reform in the Reprefentation of the People. That [ 35 ] That to infufe a new portion of popular vigor into the Houfe of Commons is the only remedy that can be oppofed to the triumphant Toryifm which the fubverfion of the French Republic muft produce, is a propofition fo evident, as neither to demand proof nor to admit illuftration. We have feen the influence of an odious and un- popular Court victorious during a long reign, in hoftility to the prejudice, and in defiance of the jealoufy of the people. What then are we to expect from that increafed and increafing influ- ence, conducted perhaps with more dexterity hi the Cabinet, feconded with equal devotion in the Houfe of Commons, and aided by the blind enthufiafm of a people, who are intoxicated by commercial profperity, and infatuated by all the prejudices of the moft frantic Toryifm ? Under fuch a ftate of things, what can prevent the for- mation of an uncontroled Monarchy, and the abforption of every power by a Court, from which Englimmen are to learn what remnant of perfonal fecurity it will vouchfafe to fpare, what D 2 formality [ 36 ] 'formality of public freedom it will deign to en- dure, with what image of the Conftitution it will indulge and amufe an infatuated rabble. Such are the effects which the fiiccefs or the fubverfion of French Democracy feem calculated to produce on the temper and fentiments of the European riations. This therefore is the mo- ment to repair and to ftrcngthen the Englifh Conftitution. The fate of France hangs in fuf- pence. Her fuccefs is yet too dubious, widely or dangeroufly to diffufe a fpirit of imitation ; and the conteft between her and the Defpotic League is Hill too equal to plunge the people of Europe into the lethargy of fervility or defpair. This then is that paufe of tranquillity, during which we have to prepare againft the hurricane with which we are menaced. This therefore is the moment when what was before expedient is become neceflary ; when that Reform is now fafe, which in future may be impracticable or dangerous. Reform was before ufeful to im- prove ; I 37 ] prove; it is now neceflary (and perhaps the period of its efficacy is fhorter than we may ima- gine) to preferve the Government. Menaced by the predominance of a Democratical or a Monar- chical fpirit, give the people their rights, and they will not be provoked to demand more ; create an independent Houfe of Commons, and the power of the Crown will be checked ; Defpo- tifm and tumult will be equally averted ; the peace of the country will be preferred ; the li- berty of the country will be immortalized, Such a moment muft have been chofen by a Statefman, who to an enlightened love for public tranquillity united an honeft zeal for political Reform. Such a moment therefore was not cho- fen by You. The opportunities which it fur- nifhed, and the public duties which it impofed, you neither felt nor regarded. But it afforded an opportunity of another kind, which you did not negleft, and of which, I muft confefs, you have -availed yourfelf with no mean dexterity. 3 The The difcuflions produced by the French Re- volution had given birth to exaggerated ideas of liberty on one hand, and had furnilhed a ground to fome men, and a pretext to more, for exagge- rated fears of anarchy on the other. No fuch fer- ment of the human mind had ever arifen without producing man)' extravagant opinions. Every paflion and every frailty, in the ardor of difpute, feduced men into extremes. Many honeft men were driven into Toryifm by their fears. Many fober men were betrayed into Republicanifm by their enthufiafm. Such a divifion of fentiment was precifely that which a good Minifter would labor to heal ; but which a crafty Minifter would inflame into faction, that he might life it to ftrengthen and extend his power. You had to chufe under which of thefe characters you were to pafs to pofterity, and you have made your election. It was in your choice to mitigate extremes, to conciliate differences, to extend the mpartial beneficence of Government to all parties and fects of citizens. But you chofe to take the moft C 39 ] mod effectual means to exaggerate extremes, to inflame differences, to give the fandtion an4 countenance of power to one party, to put the Government of the country at the head of a tri- umphant- faction. You difleminated alarms of defigns to fubvert the Conftitution fo widely and fo fuccefsfully, that you have created in this country a fpirit of Toryifm more indifcriminate, more abject, and more rancorous than has exifted in England fmce the acceffion of the Houfe of Hanover. Bigotry animates fervility, fervility mingles with the fear of confulion ; the honeft fear of confulion becomes the dupe of the cor- rupt monopolifts of power ; and from the fer- mentation of thefe various paflions pradtifed on by your emiffaries, there has arifen a pulillani- mous and mercilefs Toryifm, which is ready to fupport the moft corrupt Minifter, and to profcribe the moil temperate advocates of freedom. No fpirit could be fo valuable to a Minifter ; nothing could enfure him fuch cheap and indifcriminate fupport. You could not fail D4 to [ 4 ] to recollect the happy ufe which the dread of Ja- cobitifm was of to Sir Robert Walpole, and you cafily faw that the dread of Republicanifm might be an equally fuccefsful engine in your hands. The reformers of abufe are in fuch cafes cal- led enemies to eftablilhment The enemies of the Government are to be called enemies of the Conftitution. To have propofed the retrench- ment of a Teller/hip of the Exchequer from a Walpole, was once to aim at the introduction of the Pretender ; to doubt the confiftency of William Pitt, or to impeach the purity of George Rofe ! is now to meditate the eftablilh- ment of a democracy. The progrefs of fuch a valuable fpirit you faw with a joy which your hirelings boafted, which your higher dependents but ill diflembled, and which was even clumfily concealed by the plau- fible and pompous hypocrify of your own cha- racter. What wonder that you mould fee with rapture and triumph the likelihood of even honeft men [ 4 J men gratuitoufly enrolling themfelves among your JanirTaries What did it import to you, that in the mean while the phrenzy of Republi- canifm was likely to gain ground among a popu- lace, provoked into wild extremes by the wi!4 extremes of their luperiors ? What fignified the dangers that might in time arife from the awak- ening underflanding of SCOTLAND, from the ho- neft indignation of IRELAND ? What were thefe dangers to you ! The Toryifm of the higher clafles would loft your time, and any collifion between the oppofite orders in fociety, which the diffufion of extreme opinions among them might produce, was viewed without terror by him whofe heart had no virtuous intereft in the future fate of his country. It had not however appeared neceflary to de- clare by any overt ad the alliance of Govern- ment with the favored faction, till an attempt was made to mediate between parties, and to avert the evils which impended over the country. An C 4* ] An afTociation of gentlemen was formed for thefe purpofes. They erected the ftandard of the Britifh Conftitution. They were likely, by the liberality of their principles, to reclaim every thinking man who had been feduced into Re- publicanifm, and by the moderation! of their views, to attract every honed man who had for a moment been driven into Toryifm. They had already almoft effected an union of the friends of liberty and order, and reduced to a miferable handful the two extreme factions ; the dread of one of which, and the fury of the other, were to be the inftruments of your power. Such a danger demanded an extreme remedy. No man has more ftudied or more experienced the gullibility of mankind than yourfelf. You knew that the popular groflhefs would not diftin- guifh between what it was your policy to con- found. You therefore iflued a PROCLAMATION, which by directing a vague and indifcriminate odium againft all political change, confounded in [ 43 ] in 'the fame florin of unpopularity the wildcfl projects of fubverfion, and the mod meafured plans of Reform. A Statefman, emboldened by fuccefs, and in- ftructed by experience in all the arts of popular delufion, eafily perceived the aifailable pofition of every MEDIATORIAL party, the various enemies they provoke, the oppofite imputations they in- cur. In their labors to avert that fatal colliiion of the oppofite orders of fociety, which the diffu- fion of extreme principles threatened, you faw that they would be charged by the corrupt with violence, and accufed by the violent of infince- rity. It was eafy you knew to paint moderation as the virtue of cowards, and compromife as the policy of knaves, to the ftormy and intolerant enthufiafm of faction ; and the malignant alarm* of the corrupt would, it is obvious, be forward to brand every moderate fentiment and every me- diatorial effort as fymptoms of collufion with -the violent, and of treachery to the caufe of public order. [ 44 ] order. It fcarcely required the incentive and the fanction of a folemn public meafure from the Government to let loofe fo many corrupt interefts and malignant paffions on the natural object of their enmity. But fuch a fanction and incentive might certainly add fomething to the activity of thefe interefts, and to the virulence of thefe paf- fions. Such a fanction and incentive you there- fore gave in your Proclamation. To brand me- diation as treachery, and neutrality as difguifed hoftility ; to provoke the violent into new indif- cretions,and to make thofe indifcretions the means of aggravating the Toryifm of the timid by awak- ening their alarms; to bury under one black and in- difcriminate obloquy of licentioufnefs the memory of every principle of freedom ; to rally round the banners of religious perfecution, and of political corruption, every man in the kingdom who dreads anarchy, and who deprecates confufion j to efta- blifh on the broadeft foundation oppreffion and fervility for the prefent, and to heap up in ftore all the caufes of anarchy and civil commotion for future [ 45 ] future times ; fuch is the mali-gharit policy, fuch are the mifchievous tendencies, fuch are the ex- perienced effects of that PROCLAMATION. It is fufEcient that, for the prefent, it converts the kingdom into a tamp of janiffaries, enlifted by their alarms to defend your power. It is in- deed well adapted to produce other remoter and collateral effecls, which the far-fighted po- litics of the Addreffers have not difcerned. It is certainly well calculated to blow into a flame that fpark of Republicanifm which moderation muft have extinguished, but which may, in fu- ture conceivable circumftancts, produce effects, at the fuggeftion of which good men will ihudder, and on which wife men will rather meditate than defcant. It is certain that in this view your Pro- clamation is as effectual in irritating fome men into Republicanifm, as Mr. Paine's pamphlets have been in frightening others into Toryifm. Perhaps, however, the events which fuch a fpirit might produce, are contingencies that enter into C 46 ] into the calculations of certain Statefmen. Per- haps they anticipate the moment when the Re- publican mob of the lower orders may be as va- luable to them as the Tory vulgar of the higher are now. Perhaps they may deem it a mailer ftroke of Machiavelian policy to foment the ani- mofity of two factions, one of whom maintains the prefent Dictator, and the other of whom may aggrandize the future Demagogue. Such a policy is not altogether improbable ; and if the eternal alliance of wifdom with virtue could be broken, might not be thought altogether unwife. The man who was capable of it would not be deceived by the prefent appearance of profperity and content. He would eafily fee, how rapidly public calamity, acting upon Republican theories, might change the fccnc ; far lefs would be hindered by the prefent appearances of furious loyalty among fome of the lower clafles of fociety. He would perceive this ftate of fentiment to be the forced produce of artificial cautes, and he could [ 47 ] could anticipate the violence with which they would rebound to an oppofite extreme, more na- tural to their iituation, more congenial to their feelings, and more gratifying to their pride. The fuccefs of fuch a policy would certainly demand in the Statefman who adopted it an union of talents and difpofitions which are not often l combined. Cold, ftern, crafty> and ambiguous, he muft be, without thofe entanglements of friend- fhip and thofe reftraints of feeling, by which tender natures are held back from defperate enterprizes. No ingenuoufnefs muft betray a glimpfe of his defigns j no compunction muft fufpend the ftrokc of his ambition. He muft never be feduced into any honeft profefllon of precife public prin- ciple, which might afterwards arife againft him. as the record of his apoftacy ; he muft be pre- pared for acting every inconfiftency, by perpe- tually veiling his political profeffions in die no- meaning of lofty generalities. The abfence of gra- cious and popular manners, which can find no place place in fuch a character will be well compen- fated by the auftere and oftentatious virtues of infenfibility. He rnuft pofTefs the pafade without the restraints of morals. He mufb unite the molt profound diflimulation with all the ardor of en- terprize ; he muft be prepared by one part of his character for the violence of a multitude, and by another for the duplicity of a Court. If fuch ;i * man arofe at any critical moment in the fortune of a State; if he were unfettered by any great political connexion ; if his intereft were not linked to the (lability of public order by any ample property ; if he could carry with him to any enterprize no little authority and fplendor of character ; he indeed would be an object of more rational dread than a thoufand Republican pam- phleteers. Againft fuch a man it would be fit to warn the people whom he might delude, and the opulent whom he might deftroy. Whether fuch be the character of any living Statefman, it belongs to Hiftory to determine. [ 49 ] I (hall dwell no longer on portraits that may be imaginary, and fpeculations which may be illufive. The dangers which have haunted my imagination may be unreal j but if ever fuch dangers mould be realized in a moment of pub- lic calamity, and if public confidence mould then be triumphantly feized by a convicted de- linquent, like the prefent Minifter of England j if the people mould then forget the blackeft treachery to their caufe, and the meaneft ma- lignity againft their friends ; then indeed the pa- rade of your confidence in popular folly will be juftified; and a contempt for the under (landing of the people will be proved to be the befl re- quilite for ruling them abfolutely, as well as the beft proof of having estimated them correctly. If fuch be the ftate of the People of England, no human power can fave them ; they muft be abandoned to their misfortunes and to your delu- lions. In the confidence that they are more ge- nerous, and more wife, I have now arraigned E you [ 5 ] you before their tribunal. Events will decide whether my refpect or your contempt be beft founded, and the decifion involves the fate of liberty and of our country. I will not conclude this letter with expreflions of refpedt which I do not entertain, but I will clofe it with confidently aflerting, that every line of it contains the unbiafled fentiments of AN HONEST MAN. APPENDIX. No. I. OPINION OF MR. LOCKE ON REPRESENTATION. of this world are in fo conftant a flux, that " nothing remains long in the fame ftate. Thus ** people, riches, trade, power, change their ftations, flourifh- " ing mighty cities come to ruin, and prove in time ne- " gle&ed defolate corners, whilft other unfrequented places *' grow into populous countries, filled with wealth and in- *' habitants. But things not always changing equally, and ** private intereft often keeping up cuftoms and privileges, ** when the reafons of them are ceafed, it often comes to " pafs, that in governments, where part of the legiflative " coniifts of reprefentatives chofen by the people, that in " tra6t of time this reprefentation becomes very unequal and " difproportionate to the reafons it was at firft eftablifhed *' upon. To what grofs abfurdities the following of cuftom, '* when reafon has left it, may lead, we may be fatisfied, *' when we fee the bare name of a town, of which there re- * c mains not fo much as the ruins, where fcarce fo much, " houfingasafheep-cot, or more inhabitants than a fhepherd *' is to be found, fends as many Reprefentatives to the grand " Amenably of Law makers, as a whole county, numerous A " In * APPENDIX. " in people, and powerful in riches. This Grangers ftand " amazed at, and every one mud confefs needs a remedy. tf For it being the intereft, as well as the intention of the " people to have a fair and equal Reprefentative \ whoever " brings it neareft to that, is an undoubted FRIEND TO, " AND ESTABLISHER OF THE GOVERNMENT, and Can- " not mifs the confent and approbation of the community. * c 'Tis not a change from the prefent (rate, which perhaps " corruption or decay has introduced, that makes an inroad " upon the Government, but the tendency of it to injure or " opprcfs the people, and to fet up one part, or party, with " a diftinction from, and an unequal fubjedtion of the reft." Lo>.ke en Civil Government, Book II: Chap. 13. Seft. 157,158 No. II. OPINION OF MR. JUSTICE BLACKSTONE. *' THIS is the SPIRIT of our Constitution : not that I '' aflcrt it is in fact quite fo perfect as I have here en- " dcavoured to defcrib; it ; for, if any alteration might be " wifhecl or fuggefted in the prefent frame of Parliaments, 41 itfhould be in favour of a more COMPLEAT REPRESEN- *' TATION OF THE PEOPLE. Black/lone's Commentaries, Vol. 1. Page 171, 172. Such is the confcflion extorted by the force of truth from eur cautious and courtly commentator. No. III. APPENDIX. No. III. Extracts from a letter written by the Duke of Richmond to Lieutenant Colonel Sharman, Chairman of the Com- mittee of Correfpondence at Belfaft, dated Auguft 151)1, 1783- '* I have no hefitation in faying, that from every confide- " deration which I have been able to give to this great quef- ** tion, that for many years has occupied my mind ; and " from every day's experience to the prefent hour I am " more and more convinced, that the reftoring the right of " voting univerfally to every man not incapacitated by na- " ture for want of reafon, or by law for the commiflion of " crimes, together with annual elections, is the only reform " that can be effe&ual and permanent. I am further con- *' vinced, that it is the only reform that is practicable. The " lefler reform (alluding to Mr. Pitt's motion in the Houjc of " Commons) has been attempted with every poffible advan- ** tage in its favor ; not only from the zealous fupport of " the advocates for a more equal one, but from the affiftance c< of men of great weight both in and out of power. But " with all thofe temperaments and helps it has failed ; not " one profelytc has been gained from corruption, nor has the ** leaft ray of hope been held out from any quarter, that the " Houfe of Commons was inclined to adopt any other mode *' of reform. The weight of corruption has cruihed this " more gentle, as it would have defeated any more effica- *' cious plan in the fame circumftances. From that quarter, * ( therefore, T have nothing to hope. It is from die people A 2 at 4 APPENDIX. " at large that I expeft any good, and \ am convinced that *' the only way to make them feel that they are really " concerned in the bufinefs, is to contend for their full, "clear, and indifputable rights of univerfal reprefentation. " But in the more liberal and great plan of univerfal repre- " fentation a clear and diftinit principle at once appears, " that cannot lead us wrong. Not CONVENIENCY* but " RIGHT. If it is not a maxim of our Confhtution, that a " Britifh fubje6l is to be governed only by laws to which " he has confented by himfelf or his reprefentative, we " fhould inftantly abandon the error ; but if it is the eflen- " tial of Freedom, founded on the eternal principles of juf- *' tice and wifdom, and our unalienable birth-right, we tf fhould not hefitate in afierting it. Let us then but deter- " mine to a6l upon this broad principle of giving to every " man his own, and we fhall immediately get rid of all the " perplexities to which the narrow notions of partiality and " exclufion muft ever be fubjeft." No. IV. OPINION OF THE CITY OF LONDON. Guildhall, Tucfday^ April u, *' AT a meeting of the Livery of London, appointed td ' correfpond with the Committees of the feveral counties, " cities, 6tc. of the kingdom," Mr. ALDERMAN CROSBY in the Chair. " Refolved Ununimoufly, " 'I HAT in the judgment of this Committee, unlefs a *' melioration of Parliament can be obtained, the beft official " regulations APPENDIX. 5 " regulations may foon be fet afide, the wifeft and meft vir- " tuous minifters may foon be difplaced ; by the prevalence " of that corrupt influence now fubfifting in the Houfe of " Commons, which its defective frame naturally generates, *' and which has already fo nearly effected the ruin of this " unhappy country." No. V. OPINION OF ASSOCIATED ENGLISH COUNTIES. Extracts from the proceedings cf a Meeting of Deputies ap- pointed by the feveral petitioning or aflbciated bodies here- inafter mentioned. The counties of York, Surry, Hertford, Huntingdon, Middlefex, EfTex, Kent, Devon, and Nottingham, and the city of Weftminfter, held on the 3rd day of March, and by different adjournments on the loth, lyth, igth, 24th, and 31 ft days of March, and 2ift day of April, 1781, " Refolvcd, " That the parliamentary reprefentation of this kingdom " is extremely inadequate." " Refolved, " That the extenfive public evils have been produced by '* the grofs inadequacy of the reprefentation of the people in <{ parliaments." A 3 No. VI. APPENDIX. No. VI. Thatched Houfe Tavern, May 16, 1782. " AT a numerous and refpccftable meeting of members of " parliament friendly to a ConfHtutional Reformation, and ** of members of feveral committees of counties and cities, PRESENT, The Duke of RICHMOND, The Hon. WILLIAM PITT, Lord SURREY, The Rev. Mr. WYVILL, LordMAHON, Major CARTWRIGHT, The LORD MAYOR, Mr. JOHN HOR N 7 E TOOKF, Sir WATKIN LEWES, Alderman WILKES, Mr. DUNCOMBE, Doctor JEBB, Sir C. WRAY, Mr. CHURCHILL, Mr. B. HOLLIS, Mr. FROST, Mr. WITHERS, &c. &c. &c. " Refolved unanimouily, " That the motion of the HON. WILLIAM PITT, on the " yth inft. for the appointment of a Committee of the Houfe *,* of Commons to enquire into the State of the Reprefenta- '* tion of the People of Great Britahi,and to report the fame " to the Houfe, and alfo what fteps it might be neceflary to ** take, having been defeated by a motion for the order of " the day, it is become indifpenfibly neceflary that applica- *' tion fhould be made to Parliament by petitions from the " collective body of the people, in their refpe&ive diftri&s, " requefting a fubflantial Reformation of the Commons " Houfe of Parliament. " Refolved APPENDIX. 9 " Refolved unanimoufly, " That this meeting, confidering that a general applica- " tion by the collective body of the people to the Houfe of " Commons cannot be made before the clofe of the prefent " feflion. is of opinion that THE SENSE OF THE PEOPLE " SHOULD BE TAKEN AT SUCH TIMES AS MAV BE CON- " VENIENT DURING THIS SUMMER, IN ORDER TO LAY " THEIR SEVERAL PETITIONS BEFORE PARLIAMENT " EARLY IN THE NEXT SESSION, WHEN THEIR PRO- " POSALS FOR A PARLIAMENTARY REFORMATION " (WITHOUT WHICH NEITHER THE LIBERTY OF THE " NATION CAN BE PRESERVED, NOR THE PERMA- " NENCE OF A WISE AND VIRTUOUS ADMINISTRA- " TION CAN BE SECURE) MAY RECEIVE THAT AMPLE " AND MATURE DISCUSSION, WHICH SO MOMENTOUS A *' QUESTION DEMANDS." No. VII. UNTIL the report of the Committee of the Friends of the People on the prefent ftate of the Reprefentation mall appear, the following may ferve as a fpecimen of the wretched tenure by which the privileges and liberties of the People of England are now held. " If we take the places where the majority of the electors