available by the ,bibliothque nationale de ,france 7,bn,f_/,gallica7 at http3_/_/gallica4bnf4fr ,,the ,,works ,,of ,,the ,,right ,,honourable ,,edmund ,,burke ,,in ,,twelve ,,volumes ,,volume ,,the ,,sixth ,illustration3 ,burke ,coat of ,arms4 ,,london ,,john ,c4 ,,nimmo #ad1 ,,king ,,william ,,street1 ,,strand1 ,w4,c4 ,,mdccclxxxvii ,,contents ,,of ,,vol4 ,,vi4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,second ,,posthumous ,,volume1 ,,in ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,,william ,,elliot v ,,fourth ,,letter ,,on ,,the ,,proposals ,,for ,,peace ,,with ,,the ,,regicide ,,directory ,,of ,,france2 ,,with ,,the ,,preliminary ,,correspondence #a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,empress ,,of ,,russia1 ,november #a1 #agia #aac ,,letter ,,to ,,sir ,,charles ,,bingham1 ,,bart41 ,,on ,,the ,,irish ,,absentee ,,tax1 ,october #cj1 #aggc #aba ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,hon4 ,,charles ,,james ,,fox1 ,,on ,,the ,,american ,,war1 ,october #h1 #aggg #ace ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,marquis ,,of ,,rockingham1 ,,with ,,addresses ,,to ,,the ,,king1 ,,and ,,the ,,british ,,colonists ,,in ,,north ,,america1 ,,in ,,relation ,,to ,,the ,,measures ,,of ,,government ,,in ,,the ,,american ,,contest1 ,,and ,a ,,proposed ,,secession ,,of ,,the ,,opposition ,,from ,,parliament1 ,january1 #aggg #adi ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,,edmund ,s4 ,,perry1 ,,in ,,relation ,,to ,a ,,bill ,,for ,,the ,,relief ,,of ,,the ,,roman ,,catholics ,,of ,,ireland1 ,july #ah1 #aggh #aig ,,two ,,letters ,,to ,,thomas ,,burgh1 ,,esq41 ,,and ,,john ,,merlott1 ,,esq41 ,,in ,,vindication ,,of ,,his ,,parliamentary ,,conduct ,,relative ,,to ,,the ,,affairs ,,of ,,ireland1 #aghj #bjg ,,letters ,,and ,,reflections ,,on ,,the ,,executions ,,of ,,the ,,rioters ,,in #aghj #bci ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,,henry ,,dundas3 ,,with ,,the ,,sketch ,,of ,a ,,negro ,,code1 #agib #bee ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,chairman ,,of ,,the ,,buckinghamshire ,,meeting1 ,,held ,,at ,,aylesbury1 ,,april #ac1 #aghj1 ,,on ,,the ,,subject ,,of ,,parliamentary ,,reform #bia ,,fragments ,,of ,a ,,tract ,,relative ,,to ,,the ,,laws ,,against ,,popery ,,in ,,ireland #bii ,,letter ,,to ,,william ,,smith1 ,,esq41 ,,on ,,the ,,subject ,,of ,,catholic ,,emancipation1 ,january #bi1 #agie #cfa ,,second ,,letter ,,to ,,sir ,,hercules ,,langrishe1 ,,on ,,the ,,catholic ,,question1 ,may #bf1 #agie #cge ,,letter ,,to ,,richard ,,burke1 ,,esq41 ,,on ,,protestant ,,ascendency ,,in ,,ireland1 #agic #che ,,letter ,,on ,,the ,,affairs ,,of ,,ireland1 #agig #dac ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,second ,,posthumous ,,volume1#a ,,in ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,,william ,,elliot ,my dear sir1--,as some prefatory account of the materials which compose this second posthumous volume of the ,works of ,mr4 ,burke1 and of the causes which have prevented its earlier appearance1 will be expected from me1 ,i hope ,i may be indulged in the inclination ,i feel to run over these matters in a letter to you1 rather than in a formal address to the public4 ,of the delay that has intervened since the publication of the former volume ,i shall first say a few words4 ,having undertaken1 in conjunction with the late ,dr4 ,laurence1 to examine the manuscript papers of ,mr4 ,burke1 and to select and prepare for the press such of them as should be thought proper for publication1 the difficulties attending our coperation were soon experienced by us4 ,the remoteness of our places of residence in summer1 and our professional and other avocations in winter1 opposed perpetual obstacles to the progress of our undertaking4 ,soon after the publication of the fourth volume1 ,i was rendered incapable of attending to any business by a severe and tedious illness4 ,and it was not long after my recovery before the health of our invaluable friend began gradually to decline1 and soon became unequal to the increasing labors of his profession and the discharge of his ,parliamentary duties4 ,at length we lost a man1 of whom1 as ,i shall have occasion to speak more particularly in another part of this undertaking1 ,i will now content myself with saying1 that in my humble opinion he merited1 and certainly obtained with those best acquainted with his extensive learning and information1 a considerable rank amongst the eminent persons who have adorned the age in which we have lived1 and of whose services the public have been deprived by a premature death4 ,from these causes little progress had been made in our work when ,i was deprived of my coadjutor4 ,but from that time you can testify of me that ,i have not been idle4 ,you can bear witness to the confused state in which the materials that compose the present volume came into my hands4 ,the difficulty of reading many of the manuscripts1 obscured by innumerable erasures1 corrections1 interlineations1 and marginal insertions1 would perhaps have been insuperable to any person less conversant in the manuscripts of ,mr4 ,burke than myself4 ,to this difficulty succeeded that of selecting from several detached papers1 written upon the same subject and the same topics1 such as appeared to contain the author's last thoughts and emendations4 ,when these difficulties were overcome1 there still remained1 in many instances1 that of assigning its proper place to many detached members of the same piece1 where no direct note of connection had been made4 ,these circumstances1 whilst they will lead the reader not to expect1 in the cases to which they apply1 the finished productions of ,mr4 ,burke1 imposed upon me a task of great delicacy and difficulty1--namely1 that of deciding upon the publication of any1 and which1 of these unfinished pieces4 ,i must here beg permission of you1 and ,lord ,fitzwilliam1 to inform the public1 that in the execution of this part of my duty ,i requested and obtained your assistance4 ,our first care was to ascertain1 from such evidence1 internal and external1 as the manuscripts themselves afforded1 what pieces appeared to have been at any time intended by the author for publication4 ,our next was to select such as1 though not originally intended for publication1 yet appeared to contain matter that might contribute to the gratification and instruction of the public4 ,our last object was to determine what degree of imperfection and incorrectness in papers of either of these classes ought or ought not to exclude them from a place in the present volume4 ,this was1 doubtless1 the most nice and arduous part of our undertaking4 ,the difficulty1 however1 was1 in our minds1 greatly diminished by our conviction that the reputation of our author stood far beyond the reach of injury from any injudicious conduct of ours in making this selection4 ,on the other hand1 we were desirous that nothing should be withheld1 from which the public might derive any possible benefit4 ,nothing more is now necessary than that ,i should give a short account of the writings which compose the present volume4 ,i4 ,fourth ,letter on a ,regicide ,peace4 ,some account has already been given of this ,letter in the ,advertisement to the fourth quarto volume4#b ,that part of it which is contained between the first and the middle of the page #fgc is taken from a manuscript which1 nearly to the conclusion1 had received the author's last corrections3 the subsequent part1 to the middle of the page #ga1d is taken from some loose manuscripts1 that were dictated by the author1 but do not appear to have been revised by him2 and though they1 as well as what follows to the conclusion1 were evidently designed to make a part of this ,letter1 the editor alone is responsible for the order in which they are here placed4 ,the last part1 from the middle of the page #ga1 had been printed as a part of the ,letter which was originally intended to be the third on ,regicide ,peace1 as in the preface to the fourth volume has already been noticed4 ,it was thought proper to communicate this ,letter before its publication to ,lord ,auckland1 the author of the pamphlet so frequently alluded to in it4 ,his ,lordship1 in consequence of this communication1 was pleased to put into my hands a letter with which he had sent his pamphlet to ,mr4 ,burke at the time of its publication1 and ,mr4 ,burke's answer to that letter4 ,these pieces1 together with the note with which his ,lordship transmitted them to me1 are prefixed to the ,letter on ,regicide ,peace4 ,,ii4 ,letter to the ,empress of ,russia4 ,,iii4 ,letter to ,sir ,charles ,bingham4 ,,iv4 ,letter to the ,honorable ,charles ,james ,fox4 ,of these ,letters it will be sufficient to remark1 that they come under the second of those classes into which1 as ,i before observed1 we divided the papers that presented themselves to our consideration4 ,v4 ,letter to the ,marquis of ,rockingham4 ,,vi4 ,an ,address to the ,king4 ,,vii4 ,an ,address to the ,british ,colonists in ,north ,america4 ,these pieces relate to a most important period in the present reign2 and ,i hope no apology will be necessary for giving them to the public4 ,,viii4 ,letter to the ,right ,honorable ,edmund ,sexton ,pery4 ,,ix4 ,letter to ,thomas ,burgh1 ,esq4 ,x4 ,letter to ,john ,merlott1 ,esq4 ,the reader will find1 in a note annexed to each of these ,letters1 an account of the occasions on which they were written4 ,the ,letter to ,t4 ,burgh1 ,esq41 had found its way into some of the periodical prints of the time in ,dublin4 ,,xi4 ,reflections on the ,approaching ,executions4 ,it may not1 perhaps1 now be generally known that ,mr4 ,burke was a marked object of the rioters in this disgraceful commotion1 from whose fury he narrowly escaped4 ,the ,reflections will be found to contain maxims of the soundest judicial policy1 and do equal honor to the head and heart of their illustrious writer4 ,,xii4 ,letter to the ,right ,honorable ,henry ,dundas2 with the ,sketch of a ,negro ,code4 ,mr4 ,burke1 in the ,letter to ,mr4 ,dundas1 has entered fully into his own views of the ,slave ,trade1 and has thereby rendered any further explanation on that subject at present unnecessary4 ,with respect to the ,code itself1 an unsuccessful attempt was made to procure the copy of it transmitted to ,mr4 ,dundas4 ,it was not to be found amongst his papers4 ,the ,editor has therefore been obliged to have recourse to a rough draft of it in ,mr4 ,burke's own handwriting2 from which he hopes he has succeeded in making a pretty correct transcript of it1 as well as in the attempt he has made to supply the marginal references alluded to in ,mr4 ,burke's ,letter to ,mr4 ,dundas4 ,,xiii4 ,letter to the ,chairman of the ,buckinghamshire ,meeting4 ,of the occasion of this ,letter an account is given in the note subjoined prefixed to it4 ,,xiv4 ,tracts and ,letters relative to the ,laws against ,popery in ,ireland4 ,these pieces consist of1-- #a4 ,an unfinished ,tract on the ,popery ,laws4 ,of this ,tract the reader will find an account in the note prefixed to it4 #b4 ,a ,letter to ,william ,smith1 ,esq4 ,several copies of this letter having got abroad1 it was printed and published in ,dublin without the permission of ,mr4 ,burke1 or of the gentleman to whom it was addressed4 #c4 ,second ,letter to ,sir ,hercules ,langrishe4 ,this may be considered as supplementary to the first letter1 addressed to the same person in ,january1 #agib1 which was published in the third volume4#e #d4 ,letter to ,richard ,burke1 ,esq4 ,of this letter it will be necessary to observe1 that the first part of it appears to have been originally addressed by ,mr4 ,burke to his son in the manner in which it is now printed1 but to have been left unfinished2 after whose death he probably designed to have given the substance of it1 with additional observations1 to the public in some other form1 but never found leisure or inclination to finish it4 #e4 ,a ,letter on the ,affairs of ,ireland1 written in the year #agig4 ,the name of the person to whom this letter was addressed does not appear on the manuscript2 nor has the letter been found to which it was written as an answer4 ,and as the gentleman whom he employed as an amanuensis is not now living1 no discovery of it can be made1 unless this publication of the letter should produce some information respecting it1 that may enable us in a future volume to gratify1 on this point1 the curiosity of the reader4 ,the letter was dictated1 as he himself tells us1 from his couch at ,bath2 to which place he had gone1 by the advice of his physicians1 in ,march1 #agig4 ,his health was now rapidly declining2 the vigor of his mind remained unimpaired4 ,this1 my dear friend1 was1 ,i believe1 the last letter dictated by him on public affairs3--here ended his political labors4 ,,xv4 ,fragments and ,notes of ,speeches in ,parliament4 #a4 ,speech on the ,acts of ,uniformity4 #b4 ,speech on a ,bill for the ,relief of ,protestant ,dissenters4 #c4 ,speech on the ,petition of the ,unitarians4 #d4 ,speech on the ,middlesex ,election4 #e4 ,speech on a ,bill for shortening the ,duration of ,parliaments4 #f4 ,speech on the ,reform of the ,representation in ,parliament4 #g4 ,speech on a ,bill for explaining the ,powers of ,juries in ,prosecutions for ,libels4 99#g4 ,letter relative to the same subject4 #h4 ,speech on a ,bill for repealing the ,marriage ,act4 #i4 ,speech on a ,bill to quiet the ,possessions of the ,subject against ,dormant ,claims of the ,church4 ,with respect to these fragments1 ,i have already stated the reasons by which we were influenced in our determination to publish them4 ,an account of the state in which these manuscripts were found is given in the note prefixed to this article4 ,,xvi4 ,hints for an ,essay on the ,drama4 ,this fragment was perused in manuscript by a learned and judicious critic1 our late lamented friend1 ,mr4 ,malone2 and under the protection of his opinion we can feel no hesitation in submitting it to the judgment of the public4 ,,xvii4 ,we are now come to the concluding article of this volume1--the ,essay on the ,history of ,england4 ,at what time of the author's life it was written cannot now be exactly ascertained2 but it was certainly begun before he had attained the age of twenty-seven years1 as it appears from an entry in the books of the late ,mr4 ,dodsley1 that eight sheets of it1 which contain the first seventy-four pages of the present edition1#f were printed in the year #ageg4 ,this is the only part that has received the finishing stroke of the author4 ,in those who are acquainted with the manner in which ,mr4 ,burke usually composed his graver literary works1 and of which some account is given in the ,advertisement prefixed to the fourth volume1 this circumstance will excite a deep regret2 and whilst the public partakes with us in this feeling1 it will doubtless be led to judge with candor and indulgence of a work left in this imperfect and unfinished state by its author4 ,before ,i conclude1 it may not be improper to take this opportunity of acquainting the public with the progress that has been made towards the completion of this undertaking4 ,the sixth and seventh volumes1 which will consist entirely of papers that have a relation to the affairs of the ,east ,india ,company1 and to the impeachment of ,mr4 ,hastings1 are now in the press4 ,the suspension of the consideration of the affairs of the ,east ,india ,company in ,parliament till its nest session has made me very desirous to get the sixth volume out as early as possible in the next winter4 ,the ,ninth and ,eleventh ,reports of the ,select ,committee1 appointed to take into consideration certain affairs of the ,east ,india ,company in the year #aghc1 were written by ,mr4 ,burke1 and will be given in that volume4 ,they contain a full and comprehensive view of the commerce1 revenues1 civil establishment1 and general policy of the ,company1 and will therefore be peculiarly interesting at this time to the public4 ,the eighth and last volume will contain a narrative of the life of ,mr4 ,burke1 which will be accompanied with such parts of his familiar correspondence1 and other occasional productions1 as shall be thought fit for publication4#g ,the materials relating to the early years of his life1 alluded to in the ,advertisement to the fourth volume1 have been lately recovered2 and the communication of such as may still remain in the possession of any private individuals is again most earnestly requested4 ,unequal as ,i feel myself to the task1 ,i shall1 my dear friend1 lose no time1 nor spare any pains1 in discharging the arduous duty that has devolved upon me4 ,you know the peculiar difficulties ,i labor under from the failure of my eyesight2 and you may congratulate me upon the assistance which ,i have now procured from my neighbor1 the worthy chaplain#h of ,bromley ,college1 who to the useful qualification of a most patient amanuensis adds that of a good scholar and intelligent critic4 ,and now1 adieu1 my dear friend1 ,and believe me ever affectionately yours1 ,,wr4 ,,roffen4 ,,bromley ,,house1 ,august #a1 #ahab4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,works1 ,vol4 ,v41 quarto edition1 7,london1 ,f41 ,c41 ,j4 ,rivington1 #ahab17--,vol4 ,,iv4 of that edition 7,london1 ,f4 ,c4 ,rivington1 #ahjb7 being the first posthumous volume1--and ,vols4 ,i41 ,,ii41 and ,,iii4 7,london1 ,j4 ,dodsley1 #agib7 comprising the collection published during the lifetime of ,mr4 ,burke4 #b ,prefixed to the first volume1 in the other editions4 ,for the account referred to1 see1 in the present edition1 ,vol4 ,i41 pp4 xiii41 xiv4 #c ,page #hf of the present edition4 #d ,in this edition1 p4 #ia1 near the top4 #e ,in the fourth volume of the present edition4 #f ,the quarto edition1--extending as far as ,book ,,ii4 ch4 #b1 near the middle of the paragraph commencing1 ,the same regard to the welfare of the people1 c4 #g ,this design the editor did not live to execute4 #h ,the ,rev4 ,j4,j4 ,talman4 ,,fourth ,,letter ,,on ,,the ,,proposals ,,for ,,peace ,,with ,,the ,,regicide ,,directory ,,of ,,france4 ,,addressed ,,to ,,the ,,earl ,,fitzwilliam4 #agie-g4 ,,preliminary ,,correspondence4 ,letter from the ,right ,honorable the ,lord ,auckland to the ,lord ,bishop of ,rochester4 ,,eden ,,farm1 ,,kent1 ,july #ahth1 #ahab4 ,my dear ,lord1--,mr4 ,burke's fourth letter to ,lord ,fitzwilliam is personally interesting to me3 ,i have perused it with a respectful attention4 ,when ,i communicated to ,mr4 ,burke1 in #agie1 the printed work which he arraigns and discusses1 ,i was aware that he would differ from me4 ,some light is thrown on the transaction by my note which gave rise to it1 and by his answer1 which exhibits the admirable powers of his great and good mind1 deeply suffering at the time under a domestic calamity4 ,i have selected these two papers from my manuscript collection1 and now transmit them to your ,lordship with a wish that they may be annexed to the publication in question4 ,i have the honor to be1 my dear ,lord1 ,yours most sincerely1 ,,auckland4 ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,rev4 ,,the ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,rochester4 99 99 99 99 99 ,letter from ,lord ,auckland to the ,right ,honorable ,edmund ,burke4 ,,eden ,,farm1 ,,kent1 ,october #bhth1 #agie4 ,my dear ,sir1-- ,though in the stormy ocean of the last twenty-three years we have seldom sailed on the same tack1 there has been nothing hostile in our signals or manoeuvres1 and1 on my part at least1 there has been a cordial disposition towards friendly and respectful sentiments4 ,under that influence1 ,i now send to you a small work which exhibits my fair and full opinions on the arduous circumstances of the moment1 as far as the cautions necessary to be observed will permit me to go beyond general ideas4 ,three or four of those friends with whom ,i am most connected in public and private life are pleased to think that the statement in question 7which at first made part of a confidential paper7 may do good1 and accordingly a very large impression will be published to-day4 ,i neither seek to avow the publication nor do ,i wish to disavow it4 ,i have no anxiety in that respect1 but to contribute my mite to do service1 at a moment when service is much wanted4 ,i am1 my dear ,sir1 ,most sincerely yours1 ,,auckland4 ,,right ,,hon4 ,,edmund ,,burke4 99 99 99 99 99 ,letter from the ,right ,honorable ,edmund ,burke to ,lord ,auckland4 ,my dear ,lord1-- ,i am perfectly sensible of the very flattering honor you have done me in turning any part of your attention towards a dejected old man1 buried in the anticipated grave of a feeble old age1 forgetting and forgotten in an obscure and melancholy retreat4 ,in this retreat ,i have nothing relative to this world to do1 but to study all the tranquillity that in the state of my mind ,i am capable of4 ,to that end ,i find it but too necessary to call to my aid an oblivion of most of the circumstances1 pleasant and unpleasant1 of my life1--to think as little and indeed to know as little as ,i can of everything that is doing about me1--and1 above all1 to divert my mind from all presagings and prognostications of what ,i must 7if ,i let my speculations loose7 consider as of absolute necessity to happen after my death1 and possibly even before it4 ,your address to the public1 which you have been so good as to send to me1 obliges me to break in upon that plan1 and to look a little on what is behind1 and very much on what is before me4 ,it creates in my mind a variety of thoughts1 and all of them unpleasant4 ,it is true1 my ,lord1 what you say1 that1 through our public life1 we have generally sailed on somewhat different tacks4 ,we have so1 undoubtedly2 and we should do so still1 if ,i had continued longer to keep the sea4 ,in that difference1 you rightly observe that ,i have always done justice to your skill and ability as a navigator1 and to your good intentions towards the safety of the cargo and of the ship's company4 ,i cannot say now that we are on different tacks4 ,there would be no propriety in the metaphor4 ,i can sail no longer4 ,my vessel cannot be said to be even in port4 ,she is wholly condemned and broken up4 ,to have an idea of that vessel1 you must call to mind what you have often seen on the ,kentish road4 ,those planks of tough and hardy oak1 that used for years to brave the buffets of the ,bay of ,biscay1 are now turned1 with their warped grain and empty trunnion-holes1 into very wretched pales for the inclosure of a wretched farm-yard4 ,the style of your pamphlet1 and the eloquence and power of composition you display in it1 are such as do great honor to your talents1 and in conveying any other sentiments would give me very great pleasure4 ,perhaps ,i do not very perfectly comprehend your purpose1 and the drift of your arguments4 ,if ,i do not1 pray do not attribute my mistake to want of candor1 but to want of sagacity4 ,i confess1 your address to the public1 together with other accompanying circumstances1 has filled me with a degree of grief and dismay which ,i cannot find words to express4 ,if the plan of politics there recommended--pray excuse my freedom--should be adopted by the king's councils1 and by the good people of this kingdom1 7as1 so recommended1 undoubtedly it will17 nothing can be the consequence but utter and irretrievable ruin to the ministry1 to the crown1 to the succession1--to the importance1 to the independence1 to the very existence1 of this country4 ,this is my feeble1 perhaps1 but clear1 positive1 decided1 long and maturely reflected and frequently declared opinion1 from which all the events which have lately come to pass1 so far from turning me1 have tended to confirm beyond the power of alteration1 even by your eloquence and authority4 ,i find1 my dear ,lord1 that you think some persons1 who are not satisfied with the securities of a ,jacobin peace1 to be persons of intemperate minds4 ,i may be1 and ,i fear ,i am1 with you in that description2 but pray1 my ,lord1 recollect that very few of the causes which make men intemperate can operate upon me4 ,sanguine hopes1 vehement desires1 inordinate ambition1 implacable animosity1 party attachments1 or party interests1--all these with me have no existence4 ,for myself1 or for a family1 7alas6 ,i have none17 ,i have nothing to hope or to fear in this world4 ,i am attached1 by principle1 inclination1 and gratitude1 to the king1 and to the present ministry4 ,perhaps you may think that my animosity to opposition is the cause of my dissent1 on seeing the politics of ,mr4 ,fox 7which1 while ,i was in the world1 ,i combated by every instrument which ,god had put into my hands1 and in every situation in which ,i had taken part7 so completely1 if ,i at all understand you1 adopted in your ,lordship's book3 but it was with pain ,i broke with that great man forever in that cause2 and ,i assure you1 it is not without pain that ,i differ with your ,lordship on the same principles4 ,but it is of no concern4 ,i am far below the region of those great and tempestuous passions4 ,i feel nothing of the intemperance of mind4 ,it is rather sorrow and dejection than anger4 ,once more my best thanks for your very polite attention2 and do me the favor to believe me1 with the most perfect sentiments of respect and regard1 ,my dear ,lord1 ,your ,lordship's most obedient and humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,oct4 #cjth1 #agie4 ,friday ,evening4 ,,letter ,,iv4 ,,to ,,the ,,earl ,,fitzwilliam4 ,my dear ,lord1--,i am not sure that the best way of discussing any subject1 except those that concern the abstracted sciences1 is not somewhat in the way of dialogue4 ,to this mode1 however1 there are two objections3 the first1 that it happens1 as in the puppet-show1 one man speaks for all the personages4 ,an unnatural uniformity of tone is in a manner unavoidable4 ,the other and more serious objection is1 that1 as the author 7if not an absolute skeptic7 must have some opinion of his own to enforce1 he will be continually tempted to enervate the arguments he puts into the mouth of his adversary1 or to place them in a point of view most commodious for their refutation4 ,there is1 however1 a sort of dialogue not quite so liable to these objections1 because it approaches more nearly to truth and ,nature3 it is called ,,controversy4 ,here the parties speak for themselves4 ,if the writer who attacks another's notions does not deal fairly with his adversary1 the diligent reader has it always in his power1 by resorting to the work examined1 to do justice to the original author and to himself4 ,for this reason you will not blame me1 if1 in my discussion of the merits of a ,regicide ,peace1 ,i do not choose to trust to my own statements1 but to bring forward along with them the arguments of the advocates for that measure4 ,if ,i choose puny adversaries1 writers of no estimation or authority1 then you will justly blame me4 ,i might as well bring in at once a fictitious speaker1 and thus fall into all the inconveniences of an imaginary dialogue4 ,this ,i shall avoid2 and ,i shall take no notice of any author who my friends in town do not tell me is in estimation with those whose opinions he supports4 ,a piece has been sent to me1 called ,some ,remarks on the ,apparent ,circumstances of the ,war in the ,fourth ,week of ,october1 #agie1 with a ,french motto3 ,que faire encore une fois dans une telle nuit8 ,attendre le jour4 ,the very title seemed to me striking and peculiar1 and to announce something uncommon4 ,in the time ,i have lived to1 ,i always seem to walk on enchanted ground4 ,everything is new1 and1 according to the fashionable phrase1 revolutionary4 ,in former days authors valued themselves upon the maturity and fulness of their deliberations4 ,accordingly1 they predicted 7perhaps with more arrogance than reason7 an eternal duration to their works4 ,the quite contrary is our present fashion4 ,writers value themselves now on the instability of their opinions and the transitory life of their productions4 ,on this kind of credit the modern institutors open their schools4 ,they write for youth1 and it is sufficient1 if the instruction lasts as long as a present love1 or as the painted silks and cottons of the season4 ,the doctrines in this work are applied1 for their standard1 with great exactness1 to the shortest possible periods both of conception and duration4 ,the title is ,some ,remarks on the ,apparent ,circumstances of the ,war in the ,fourth ,week of ,october1 #agie4 ,the time is critically chosen4 ,a month or so earlier would have made it the anniversary of a bloody ,parisian ,september1 when the ,french massacre one another4 ,a day or two later would have carried it into a ,london ,november1 the gloomy month in which it is said by a pleasant author that ,englishmen hang and drown themselves4 ,in truth1 this work has a tendency to alarm us with symptoms of public suicide4 ,however1 there is one comfort to be taken even from the gloomy time of year4 ,it is a rotting season4 ,if what is brought to market is not good1 it is not likely to keep long4 ,even buildings run up in haste with untempered mortar in that humid weather1 if they are ill-contrived tenements1 do not threaten long to incumber the earth4 ,the author tells us 7and ,i believe he is the very first author that ever told such a thing to his readers7 that the entire fabric of his speculations might be overset by unforeseen vicissitudes1 and what is far more extraordinary1 that even the whole consideration might be varied whilst he was writing those pages4 ,truly1 in my poor judgment1 this circumstance formed a very substantial motive for his not publishing those ill-considered considerations at all4 ,he ought to have followed the good advice of his motto3 ,que faire encore dans une telle nuit8 ,attendre le jour4 ,he ought to have waited till he had got a little more daylight on this subject4 ,night itself is hardly darker than the fogs of that time4 ,finding the last week in ,october so particularly referred to1 and not perceiving any particular event1 relative to the war1 which happened on any of the days in that week1 ,i thought it possible that they were marked by some astrological superstition1 to which the greatest politicians have been subject4 ,i therefore had recourse to my ,rider's ,almanack4 ,there ,i found1 indeed1 something that characterized the work1 and that gave directions concerning the sudden political and natural variations1 and for eschewing the maladies that are most prevalent in that aguish intermittent season1 the last week of ,october4 ,on that week the sagacious astrologer1 ,rider1 in his note on the third column of the calendar side1 teaches us to expect variable and cold weather2 but instead of encouraging us to trust ourselves to the haze and mist and doubtful lights of that changeable week1 on the answerable part of the opposite page he gives us a salutary caution 7indeed1 it is very nearly in the words of the author's motto73 ,avoid1 says he1 being out late at night and in foggy weather1 for a cold now caught may last the whole winter4#i ,this ingenious author1 who disdained the prudence of the ,almanack1 walked out in the very fog he complains of1 and has led us to a very unseasonable airing at that time4 ,whilst this noble writer1 by the vigor of an excellent constitution1 formed for the violent changes he prognosticates1 may shake off the importunate rheum and malignant influenza of this disagreeable week1 a whole ,parliament may go on spitting and snivelling1 and wheezing and coughing1 during a whole session4 ,all this from listening to variable1 hebdomadal politicians1 who run away from their opinions without giving us a month's warning1--and for not listening to the wise and friendly admonitions of ,dr4 ,cardanus ,rider1 who never apprehends he may change his opinions before his pen is out of his hand1 but always enables us to lay in at least a year's stock of useful information4 ,at first ,i took comfort4 ,i said to myself1 that1 if ,i should1 as ,i fear ,i must1 oppose the doctrines of the last week of ,october1 it is probable that by this time they are no longer those of the eminent writer to whom they are attributed4 ,he gives us hopes that long before this he may have embraced the direct contrary sentiments4 ,if ,i am found in a conflict with those of the last week of ,october1 ,i may be in full agreement with those of the last week in ,december1 or the first week in ,january1 #agif4 ,but a second edition1 and a ,french translation1 7for the benefit1 ,i must suppose1 of the new ,regicide ,directory17 have let down a little of these flattering hopes4 ,we and the ,directory know that the author1 whatever changes his works seemed made to indicate1 like a weathercock grown rusty1 remains just where he was in the last week of last ,october4 ,it is true1 that his protest against binding him to his opinions1 and his reservation of a right to whatever opinions he pleases1 remain in their full force4 ,this variability is pleasant1 and shows a fertility of fancy3-- ,qualis in thereo felix ,vertumnus ,olympo ,mille habet ornatus1 mille decenter habet4 ,yet1 doing all justice to the sportive variability of these weekly1 daily1 or hourly speculators1 shall ,i be pardoned1 if ,i attempt a word on the part of us simple country folk8 ,it is not good for us1 however it may be so for great statesmen1 that we should be treated with variable politics4 ,i consider different relations as prescribing a different conduct4 ,i allow1 that1 in transactions with an enemy1 a minister may1 and often must1 vary his demands with the day1 possibly with the hour4 ,with an enemy1 a fixed plan1 variable arrangements4 ,this is the rule the nature of the transaction prescribes4 ,but all this belongs to treaty4 ,all these shiftings and changes are a sort of secret amongst the parties1 till a definite settlement is brought about4 ,such is the spirit of the proceedings in the doubtful and transitory state of things between enmity and friendship4 ,in this change the subjects of the transformation are by nature carefully wrapt up in their cocoons4 ,the gay ornament of summer is not seemly in his aurelia state4 ,this mutability is allowed to a foreign negotiator2 but when a great politician condescends publicly to instruct his own countrymen on a matter which may fix their fate forever1 his opinions ought not to be diurnal1 or even weekly4 ,these ephemerides of politics are not made for our slow and coarse understandings4 ,our appetite demands a piece of resistance4 ,we require some food that will stick to the ribs4 ,we call for sentiments to which we can attach ourselves1--sentiments in which we can take an interest1--sentiments on which we can warm1 on which we can ground some confidence in ourselves or in others4 ,we do not want a largess of inconstancy4 ,poor souls1 we have enough of that sort of poverty at home4 ,there is a difference1 too1 between deliberation and doctrine3 a man ought to be decided in his opinions before he attempts to teach4 ,his fugitive lights may serve himself in some unknown region1 but they cannot free us from the effects of the error into which we have been betrayed4 ,his active ,will-o'-the-wisp may be gone nobody can guess where1 whilst he leaves us bemired and benighted in the bog4 ,having premised these few reflections upon this new mode of teaching a lesson1 which whilst the scholar is getting by heart the master forgets1 ,i come to the lesson itself4 ,on the fullest consideration of it1 ,i am utterly incapable of saying with any great certainty what it is1 in the detail1 that the author means to affirm or deny1 to dissuade or recommend4 ,his march is mostly oblique1 and his doctrine rather in the way of insinuation than of dogmatic assertion4 ,it is not only fugitive in its duration1 but is slippery in the extreme whilst it lasts4 ,examining it part by part1 it seems almost everywhere to contradict itself2 and the author1 who claims the privilege of varying his opinions1 has exercised this privilege in every section of his remarks4 ,for this reason1 amongst others1 ,i follow the advice which the able writer gives in his last page1 which is1 to consider the impression of what he has urged1 taken from the whole1 and not from detached paragraphs4 ,that caution was not absolutely necessary4 ,i should think it unfair to the author and to myself to have proceeded otherwise4 ,this author's whole1 however1 like every other whole1 cannot be so well comprehended without some reference to the parts2 but they shall be again referred to the whole4 ,without this latter attention1 several of the passages would certainly remain covered with an impenetrable and truly oracular obscurity4 ,the great1 general1 pervading purpose1 of the whole pamphlet is to reconcile us to peace with the present usurpation in ,france4 ,in this general drift of the author ,i can hardly be mistaken4 ,the other purposes1 less general1 and subservient to the preceding scheme1 are to show1 first1 that the time of the ,remarks was the favorable time for making that peace upon our side2 secondly1 that on the enemy's side their disposition towards the acceptance of such terms as he is pleased to offer was rationally to be expected2 the third purpose was1 to make some sort of disclosure of the terms which1 if the ,regicides are pleased to grant them1 this nation ought to be contented to accept3 these form the basis of the negotiation which the author1 whoever he is1 proposes to open4 ,before ,i consider these ,remarks along with the other reasonings which ,i hear on the same subject1 ,i beg leave to recall to your mind the observation ,i made early in our correspondence1 and which ought to attend us quite through the discussion of this proposed peace1 amity1 or fraternity1 or whatever you may call it1--that is1 the real quality and character of the party you have to deal with4 ,this ,i find1 as a thing of no importance1 has everywhere escaped the author of the ,october ,remarks4 ,that hostile power1 to the period of the fourth week in that month1 has been ever called and considered as an usurpation4 ,in that week1 for the first time1 it changed its name of an usurped power1 and took the simple name of ,france4 ,the word ,france is slipped in just as if the government stood exactly as before that ,revolution which has astonished1 terrified1 and almost overpowered ,europe4 ,france1 says the author1 will do this1--it is the interest of ,france1--the returning honor and generosity of ,france1 c41 c4--always merely ,france3 just as if we were in a common political war with an old recognized member of the commonwealth of ,christian ,europe1--and as if our dispute had turned upon a mere matter of territorial or commercial controversy1 which a peace might settle by the imposition or the taking off a duty1 with the gain or the loss of a remote island or a frontier town or two1 on the one side or the other4 ,this shifting of persons could not be done without the hocus-pocus of abstraction4 ,we have been in a grievous error3 we thought that we had been at war with rebels against the lawful government1 but that we were friends and allies of what is properly ,france1 friends and allies to the legal body politic of ,france4 ,but by sleight of hand the ,jacobins are clean vanished1 and it is ,france we have got under our cup4 ,blessings on his soul that first invented sleep6 said ,don ,sancho ,panza the ,wise4 ,all those blessings1 and ten thousand times more1 on him who found out abstraction1 personification1 and impersonals6 ,in certain cases they are the first of all soporifics4 ,terribly alarmed we should be1 if things were proposed to us in the concrete1 and if fraternity was held out to us with the individuals who compose this ,france by their proper names and descriptions1--if we were told that it was very proper to enter into the closest bonds of amity and good correspondence with the devout1 pacific1 and tender-hearted ,sieys1 with the all-accomplished ,reubell1 with the humane guillotinists of ,bordeaux1 ,tallien and ,isabeau1 with the meek butcher1 ,legendre1 and with the returned humanity and generosity 7that had been only on a visit abroad7 of the virtuous regicide brewer1 ,santerre4 ,this would seem at the outset a very strange scheme of amity and concord1--nay1 though we had held out to us1 as an additional douceur1 an assurance of the cordial fraternal embrace of our pious and patriotic countryman1 ,thomas ,paine4 ,but plain truth would here be shocking and absurd2 therefore comes in abstraction and personification4 ,make your peace with ,france4 ,that word ,france sounds quite as well as any other2 and it conveys no idea but that of a very pleasant country and very hospitable inhabitants4 ,nothing absurd and shocking in amity and good correspondence with ,france4 ,permit me to say1 that ,i am not yet well acquainted with this new-coined ,france1 and without a careful assay ,i am not willing to receive it in currency in place of the old ,louis-d'or4 ,having1 therefore1 slipped the persons with whom we are to treat out of view1 we are next to be satisfied that the ,french ,revolution1 which this peace is to fix and consolidate1 ought to give us no just cause of apprehension4 ,though the author labors this point1 yet he confesses a fact 7indeed1 he could not conceal it7 which renders all his labors utterly fruitless4 ,he confesses that the ,regicide means to dictate a pacification1 and that this pacification1 according to their decree passed but a very few days before his publication appeared1 is to unite to their empire1 either in possession or dependence1 new barriers1 many frontier places of strength1 a large sea-coast1 and many sea-ports4 ,he ought to have stated it1 that they would annex to their territory a country about a third as large as ,france1 and much more than half as rich1 and in a situation the most important for command that it would be possible for her anywhere to possess4 ,to remove this terror1 7even if the ,regicides should carry their point17 and to give us perfect repose with regard to their empire1 whatever they may acquire1 or whomsoever they might destroy1 he raises a doubt whether ,france will not be ruined by retaining these conquests1 and whether she will not wholly lose that preponderance which she has held in the scale of ,european powers1 and will not eventually be destroyed by the effect of her present successes1 or1 at least1 whether1 so far as the political interests of ,england are concerned1 she ,france will remain an object of as much jealousy and alarm as she was under the reign of a monarch4 ,here1 indeed1 is a paragraph full of meaning6 ,it gives matter for meditation almost in every word of it4 ,the secret of the pacific politicians is out4 ,this republic1 at all hazards1 is to be maintained4 ,it is to be confined within some bounds1 if we can2 if not1 with every possible acquisition of power1 it is still to be cherished and supported4 ,it is the return of the monarchy we are to dread1 and therefore we ought to pray for the permanence of the ,regicide authority4 ,esto perpetua is the devout ejaculation of our ,fr ,paolo for the ,republic one and indivisible4 ,it was the monarchy that rendered ,france dangerous3 ,regicide neutralizes all the acrimony of that power1 and renders it safe and social4 ,the ,october speculator is of opinion that monarchy is of so poisonous a quality that a moderate territorial power is far more dangerous to its neighbors under that abominable regimen than the greatest empire in the hands of a republic4 ,this is ,jacobinism sublimed and exalted into most pure and perfect essence4 ,it is a doctrine1 ,i admit1 made to allure and captivate1 if anything in the world can1 the ,jacobin ,directory1 to mollify the ferocity of ,regicide1 and to persuade those patriotic hangmen1 after their reiterated oaths for our extirpation1 to admit this well-humbled nation to the fraternal embrace4 ,i do not wonder that this tub of ,october has been racked off into a ,french cask4 ,it must make its fortune at ,paris4 ,that translation seems the language the most suited to these sentiments4 ,our author tells the ,french ,jacobins1 that the political interests of ,great ,britain are in perfect unison with the principles of their government1--that they may take and keep the keys of the civilized world1 for they are safe in their unambitious and faithful custody4 ,we say to them1 ,we may1 indeed1 wish you to be a little less murderous1 wicked1 and atheistical1 for the sake of morals2 we may think it were better you were less new-fangled in your speech1 for the sake of grammar2 but1 as politicians1 provided you keep clear of monarchy1 all our fears1 alarms1 and jealousies are at an end3 at least1 they sink into nothing in comparison of our dread of your detestable royalty4 ,a flatterer of ,cardinal ,mazarin said1 when that minister had just settled the match between the young ,louis the ,fourteenth and a daughter of ,spain1 that this alliance had the effect of faith and had removed mountains1--that the ,pyrenees were levelled by that marriage4 ,you may now compliment ,reubell in the same spirit on the miracles of regicide1 and tell him that the guillotine of ,louis the ,sixteenth had consummated a marriage between ,great ,britain and ,france1 which dried up the ,channel1 and restored the two countries to the unity which it is said they had before the unnatural rage of seas and earthquakes had broke off their happy junction4 ,it will be a fine subject for the poets who are to prophesy the blessings of this peace4 ,i am now convinced that the ,remarks of the last week of ,october cannot come from the author to whom they are given1 they are such a direct contradiction to the style of manly indignation with which he spoke of those miscreants and murderers in his excellent memorial to the ,states of ,holland1--to that very state which the author who presumes to personate him does not find it contrary to the political interests of ,england to leave in the hands of these very miscreants1 against whom on the part of ,england he took so much pains to animate their republic4 ,this cannot be2 and if this argument wanted anything to give it new force1 it is strengthened by an additional reason1 that is irresistible4 ,knowing that noble person1 as well as myself1 to be under very great obligations to the crown1 ,i am confident he would not so very directly contradict1 even in the paroxysm of his zeal against monarchy1 the declarations made in the name and with the fullest approbation of our sovereign1 his master1 and our common benefactor4 ,in those declarations you will see that the king1 instead of being sensible of greater alarm and jealousy from a neighboring crowned head than from1 these regicides1 attributes all the dangers of ,europe to the latter4 ,let this writer hear the description given in the royal declaration of the scheme of power of these miscreants1 as a system destructive of all public order1 maintained by proscriptions1 exiles1 and confiscations without number1 by arbitrary imprisonments1 by massacres which cannot be remembered without horror1 and at length by the execrable murder of a just and beneficent sovereign1 and of the illustrious princess1 who with an unshaken firmness has shared all the misfortunes of her royal consort1 his protracted sufferings1 his cruel captivity1 his ignominious death4 ,after thus describing1 with an eloquence and energy equalled only by its truth1 the means by which this usurped power had been acquired and maintained1 that government is characterized with equal force4 ,his ,majesty1 far from thinking monarchy in ,france to be a greater object of jealousy than the ,regicide usurpation1 calls upon the ,french to reestablish a monarchical government for the purpose of shaking off the yoke of a sanguinary anarchy1--of that anarchy which has broken all the most sacred bonds of society1 dissolved all the relations of civil life1 violated every right1 confounded every duty1--which uses the name of liberty to exercise the most cruel tyranny1 to annihilate all property1 to seize on all possessions1--which founds its power on the pretended consent of the people1 and itself carries fire and sword through extensive provinces1 for having demanded their laws1 their religion1 and their lawful sovereign4 ,that strain ,i heard was of a higher mood4 ,that declaration of our sovereign was worthy of his throne4 ,it is in a style which neither the pen of the writer of ,october nor such a poor crow-quill as mine can ever hope to equal4 ,i am happy to enrich my letter with this fragment of nervous and manly eloquence1 which1 if it had not emanated from the awful authority of a throne1 if it were not recorded amongst the most valuable monuments of history1 and consecrated in the archives of states1 would be worthy1 as a private composition1 to live forever in the memory of men4 ,in those admirable pieces does his ,majesty discover this new opinion of his political security1 in having the chair of the scorner1 that is1 the discipline of atheism1 and the block of regicide1 set up by his side1 elevated on the same platform1 and shouldering1 with the vile image of their grim and bloody idol1 the inviolable majesty of his throne8 ,the sentiments of these declarations are the very reverse3 they could not be other4 ,speaking of the spirit of that usurpation1 the royal manifesto describes1 with perfect truth1 its internal tyranny to have been established as the very means of shaking the security of all other states1--as disposing arbitrarily of the property and blood of the inhabitants of ,france1 in order to disturb the tranquillity of other nations1 and to render all ,europe the theatre of the same crimes and of the same misfortunes4 ,it was but a natural inference from this fact1 that the royal manifesto does not at all rest the justification of this war on common principles3 that it was not only to defend his own rights1 and those of his allies1 but that all the dearest interests of his people imposed upon him a duty still more important1--that of exerting his efforts for the preservation of civil society itself1 as happily established among the nations of ,europe4 ,on that ground1 the protection offered is to those who1 by declaring for a monarchical government1 shall shake off the yoke of a sanguinary anarchy4 ,it is for that purpose the declaration calls on them to join the standard of an hereditary monarchy1--declaring that the peace and safety of this kingdom and the other powers of ,europe materially depend on the restablishment of order in ,france4 ,his ,majesty does not hesitate to declare that the restablishment of monarchy1 in the person of ,louis the ,seventeenth1 and the lawful heirs of the crown1 appears to him his ,majesty the best mode of accomplishing these just and salutary views4 ,this is what his ,majesty does not hesitate to declare relative to the political safety and peace of his kingdom and of ,europe1 and with regard to ,france under her ancient hereditary monarchy in the course and order of legal succession4 ,but in comes a gentleman1 in the fag end of ,october1 dripping with the fogs of that humid and uncertain season1 and does not hesitate in diameter to contradict this wise and just royal declaration1 and stoutly1 on his part1 to make a counter declaration1--that ,france1 so far as the political interests of ,england are concerned1 will not remain1 under the despotism of ,regicide1 and with the better part of ,europe in her hands1 so much an object of jealousy and alarm as she was under the reign of a monarch4 ,when ,i hear the master and reason on one side1 and the servant and his single and unsupported assertion on the other1 my part is taken4 ,this is what the ,octobrist says of the political interests of ,england1 which it looks as if he completely disconnected with those of all other nations4 ,but not quite so3 he just allows it possible 7with an at least7 that the other powers may not find it quite their interest that their territories should be conquered and their subjects tyrannized over by the ,regicides4 ,no fewer than ten sovereign princes had1 some the whole1 all a very considerable part of their dominions under the yoke of that dreadful faction4 ,amongst these was to be reckoned the first republic in the world1 and the closest ally of this kingdom1 which1 under the insulting name of an independency1 is under her iron yoke1 and1 as long as a faction averse to the old government is suffered there to domineer1 cannot be otherwise4 ,i say nothing of the ,austrian ,netherlands1 countries of a vast extent1 and amongst the most fertile and populous of ,europe1 and1 with regard to us1 most critically situated4 ,the rest will readily occur to you4 ,but if there are yet existing any people1 like me1 old-fashioned enough to consider that we have an important part of our very existence beyond our limits1 and who therefore stretch their thoughts beyond the pomoerium of ,england1 for them1 too1 he has a comfort which will remove all their jealousies and alarms about the extent of the empire of ,regicide4 ,these conquests eventually will be the cause of her destruction4 ,so that they who hate the cause of usurpation1 and dread the power of ,france under any form1 are to wish her to be a conqueror1 in order to accelerate her ruin4 ,a little more conquest would be still better4 ,will he tell us what dose of dominion is to be the quantum sufficit for her destruction8--for she seems very voracious of the food of her distemper4 ,to be sure1 she is ready to perish with repletion2 she has a boulimia1 and hardly has bolted down one state than she calls for two or three more4 ,there is a good deal of wit in all this2 but it seems to me 7with all respect to the author7 to be carrying the joke a great deal too far4 ,i cannot yet think that the armies of the ,allies were of this way of thinking1 and that1 when they evacuated all these countries1 it was a stratagem of war to decoy ,france into ruin1--or that1 if in a treaty we should surrender them forever into the hands of the usurpation1 7the lease the author supposes17 it is a master-stroke of policy to effect the destruction of a formidable rival1 and to render her no longer an object of jealousy and alarm4 ,this1 ,i assure the author1 will infinitely facilitate the treaty4 ,the usurpers will catch at this bait1 without minding the hook which this crafty angler for the ,jacobin gudgeons of the new ,directory has so dexterously placed under it4 ,every symptom of the exacerbation of the public malady is1 with him1 7as with the ,doctor in ,molire17 a happy prognostic of recovery4--,flanders gone4 ,tant mieux4--,holland subdued4 ,charming6--,spain beaten1 and all the hither ,germany conquered4 ,bravo6 ,better and better still6--,but they will retain all their conquests on a treaty4 ,best of all6--,what a delightful thing it is to have a gay physician1 who sees all things1 as the ,french express it1 couleur de rose6 ,what an escape we have had1 that we and our allies were not the conquerors6 ,by these conquests1 previous to her utter destruction1 she is wholly to lose that preponderance which she held in the scale of the ,european powers4 ,bless me6 this new system of ,france1 after changing all other laws1 reverses the law of gravitation4 ,by throwing in weight after weight1 her scale rises1 and will by-and-by kick the beam4 ,certainly there is one sense in which she loses her preponderance3 that is1 she is no longer preponderant against the countries she has conquered4 ,they are part of herself4 ,but ,i beg the author to keep his eyes fixed on the scales for a moment longer1 and then to tell me1 in downright earnest1 whether he sees hitherto any signs of her losing preponderance by an augmentation of weight and power4 ,has she lost her preponderance over ,spain by her influence in ,spain8 ,are there any signs that the conquest of ,savoy and ,nice begins to lessen her preponderance over ,switzerland and the ,italian ,states1--or that the ,canton of ,berne1 ,genoa1 and ,tuscany1 for example1 have taken arms against her1--or that ,sardinia is more adverse than ever to a treacherous pacification8 ,was it in the last week of ,october that the ,german ,states showed that ,jacobin4 ,france was losing her preponderance8 ,did the ,king of ,prussia1 when he delivered into her safe custody his territories on this side of the ,rhine1 manifest any tokens of his opinion of her loss of preponderance8 ,look on ,sweden and on ,denmark3 is her preponderance less visible there8 ,it is true1 that1 in a course of ages1 empires have fallen1 and1 in the opinion of some1 not in mine1 by their own weight4 ,sometimes they have been unquestionably embarrassed in their movements by the dissociated situation of their dominions4 ,such was the case of the empire of ,charles the ,fifth and of his successor4 ,it might be so of others4 ,but so compact a body of empire1 so fitted in all the parts for mutual support1 with a frontier by ,nature and ,art so impenetrable1 with such facility of breaking out with irresistible force from every quarter1 was never seen in such an extent of territory1 from the beginning of time1 as in that empire which the ,jacobins possessed in ,october1 #agie1 and which ,boissy d',anglas1 in his report1 settled as the law for ,europe1 and the dominion assigned by ,nature for the ,republic of ,regicide4 ,but this empire is to be her ruin1 and to take away all alarm and jealousy on the part of ,england1 and to destroy her preponderance over the miserable remains of ,europe4 ,these are choice speculations with which the author amuses himself1 and tries to divert us1 in the blackest hours of the dismay1 defeat1 and calamity of all civilized nations4 ,they have but one fault1--that they are directly contrary to the common sense and common feeling of mankind4 ,if ,i had but one hour to live1 ,i would employ it in decrying this wretched system1 and die with my pen in my hand to mark out the dreadful consequences of receiving an arrangement of empire dictated by the despotism of ,regicide to my own country1 and to the lawful sovereigns of the ,christian world4 ,i trust ,i shall hardly be told1 in palliation of this shameful system of politics1 that the author expresses his sentiments only as doubts4 ,in such things1 it may be truly said1 that once to doubt is once to be resolved4 ,it would be a strange reason for wasting the treasures and shedding the blood of our country1 to prevent arrangements on the part of another power1 of which we were doubtful whether they might not be even to our advantage1 and render our neighbor less than before the object of our jealousy and alarm4 ,in this doubt there is much decision4 ,no nation would consent to carry on a war of skepticism4 ,but the fact is1 this expression of doubt is only a mode of putting an opinion1 when it is not the drift of the author to overturn the doubt4 ,otherwise1 the doubt is never stated as the author's own1 nor left1 as here it is1 unanswered4 ,indeed1 the mode of stating the most decided opinions in the form of questions is so little uncommon1 particularly since the excellent queries of the excellent ,berkeley1 that it became for a good while a fashionable mode of composition4 ,here1 then1 the author of the ,fourth ,week of ,october is ready for the worst1 and would strike the bargain of peace on these conditions4 ,i must leave it to you and to every considerate man to reflect upon the effect of this on any ,continental alliances1 present or future1 and whether it would be possible 7if this book was thought of the least authority7 that its maxims with regard to our political interest must not naturally push them to be beforehand with us in the fraternity with ,regicide1 and thus not only strip us of any steady alliance at present1 but leave us without any of that communion of interest which could produce alliances in future4 ,indeed1 with these maxims1 we should be well divided from the world4 ,notwithstanding this new kind of barrier and security that is found against her ambition in her conquests1 yet in the very same paragraph he admits1 that1 for the present1 at least1 it is subversive of the balance of power4 ,this1 ,i confess1 is not a direct contradiction1 because the benefits which he promises himself from it1 according to his hypothesis1 are future and more remote4 ,so disposed is this author to peace1 that1 having laid a comfortable foundation for our security in the greatness of her empire1 he has another in reserve1 if that should fail1 upon quite a contrary ground3 that is1 a speculation of her crumbling to pieces1 and being thrown into a number of little separate republics4 ,after paying the tribute of humanity to those who will be ruined by all these changes1 on the whole he is of opinion that the change might be compatible with general tranquillity1 and with the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous commerce among nations4 ,whether ,france be great or small1 firm and entire or dissipated and divided1 all is well1 provided we can have peace with her4 ,but without entering into speculations about her dismemberment1 whilst she is adding great nations to her empire1 is it1 then1 quite so certain that the dissipation of ,france into such a cluster of petty republics would be so very favorable to the true balance of power in ,europe as this author imagines it would be1 and to the commerce of nations8 ,i greatly differ from him4 ,i perhaps shall prove in a future letter1 with the political map of ,europe before my eye1 that the general liberty and independence of the great ,christian commonwealth could not exist with such a dismemberment1 unless it were followed 7as probably enough it would7 by the dismemberment of every other considerable country in ,europe3 and what convulsions would arise in the constitution of every state in ,europe it is not easy to conjecture in the mode1 impossible not to foresee in the mass4 ,speculate on1 good my ,lord6 provided you ground no part of your politics on such unsteady speculations4 ,but as to any practice to ensue1 are we not yet cured of the malady of speculating on the circumstances of things totally different from those in which we live and move8 ,five years has this monster continued whole and entire in all its members4 ,far from falling into a division within itself1 it is augmented by tremendous additions4 ,we cannot bear to look that frightful form in the face1 as it is1 and in its own actual shape4 ,we dare not be wise2 we have not the fortitude of rational fear2 we will not provide for our future safety2 but we endeavor to hush the cries of present timidity by guesses at what may be hereafter1-- ,to-morrow1 and to-morrow1 and to-morrow4 ,is this our style of talk1 when all our yesterdays have lighted fools ,the way to dusty death8 ,talk not to me of what swarm of republics may come from this carcass6 ,it is no carcass4 ,now1 now1 whilst we are talking1 it is full of life and action4 ,what say you to the ,regicide empire of to-day8 ,tell me1 my friend1 do its terrors appall you into an abject submission1 or rouse you to a vigorous defence8 ,but do--,i no longer prevent it--do go on1--look into futurity4 ,has this empire nothing to alarm you when all struggle against it is over1 when mankind shall be silent before it1 when all nations shall be disarmed1 disheartened1 and truly divided by a treacherous peace8 ,its malignity towards humankind will subsist with undiminished heat1 whilst the means of giving it effect must proceed1 and every means of resisting it must inevitably and rapidly decline4 ,against alarm on their politic and military empire these are the writer's sedative remedies4 ,but he leaves us sadly in the dark with regard to the moral consequences1 which he states have threatened to demolish a system of civilization under which his country enjoys a prosperity unparalleled in the history of man4 ,we had emerged from our first terrors1 but here we sink into them again1--however1 only to shake them off upon the credit of his being a man of very sanguine hopes4 ,against the moral terrors of this successful empire of barbarism1 though he has given us no consolation here1 in another place he has formed other securities1--securities1 indeed1 which will make even the enormity of the crimes and atrocities of ,france a benefit to the world4 ,we are to be cured by her diseases4 ,we are to grow proud of our ,constitution upon1 the distempers of theirs4 ,governments throughout all ,europe are to become much stronger by this event4 ,this1 too1 comes in the favorite mode of doubt and perhaps4 ,to those1 he says1 who meditate on the workings of the human mind1 a doubt may perhaps arise1 whether the effects which ,i have described1 7namely1 the change he supposes to be wrought on the public mind with regard to the ,french doctrines17 though at present a salutary check to the dangerous spirit of innovation1 may not prove favorable to abuses of power1 by creating a timidity in the just cause of liberty4 ,here the current of our apprehensions takes a contrary course4 ,instead of trembling for the existence of our government from the spirit of licentiousness and anarchy1 the author would make us believe we are to tremble for our liberties from the great accession of power which is to accrue to government4 ,i believe ,i have read in some author who criticized the productions of the famous ,jurieu1 that it is not very wise in people who dash away in prophecy1 to fix the time of accomplishment at too short a period4 ,mr4 ,brothers may meditate upon this at his leisure4 ,he was a melancholy prognosticator1 and has had the fate of melancholy men4 ,but they who prophesy pleasant things get great present applause2 and in days of calamity people have something else to think of3 they lose1 in their feeling of their distress1 all memory of those who flattered them in their prosperity4 ,but merely for the credit of the prediction1 nothing could have happened more unluckily for the noble lord's sanguine expectations of the amendment of the public mind1 and the consequent greater security to government1 from the examples in ,france1 than what happened in the week after the publication of his hebdomadal system4 ,i am not sure it was not in the very week one of the most violent and dangerous seditions broke out that we have seen in several years4 ,this sedition1 menacing to the public security1 endangering the sacred person of the king1 and violating in the most audacious manner the authority of ,parliament1 surrounded our sovereign with a murderous yell and war-whoop for that peace which the noble lord considers as a cure for all domestic disturbances and dissatisfactions4 ,so far as to this general cure for popular disorders4 ,as for government1 the two ,houses of ,parliament1 instead of being guided by the speculations of the ,fourth ,week in ,october1 and throwing up new barriers against the dangerous power of the crown1 which the noble lord considered as no unplausible subject of apprehension1 the two ,houses of ,parliament thought fit to pass two acts for the further strengthening of that very government against a most dangerous and wide-spread faction4 ,unluckily1 too1 for this kind of sanguine speculation1 on the very first day of the ever-famed last week of ,october1 a large1 daring1 and seditious meeting was publicly held1 from which meeting this atrocious attempt against the sovereign publicly originated4 ,no wonder that the author should tell us that the whole consideration might be varied whilst he was writing those pages4 ,in one1 and that the most material instance1 his speculations not only might be1 but were at that very time1 entirely overset4 ,their war-cry for peace with ,france was the same with that of this gentle author1 but in a different note4 ,his is the gemitus columb1 cooing and wooing fraternity2 theirs the funereal screams of birds of night calling for their ill-omened paramours4 ,but they are both songs of courtship4 ,these ,regicides considered a ,regicide peace as a cure for all their evils2 and so far as ,i can find1 they showed nothing at all of the timidity which the noble lord apprehends in what they call the just cause of liberty4 ,however1 it seems1 that1 notwithstanding these awkward appearances with regard to the strength of government1 he has still his fears and doubts about our liberties4 ,to a free people this would be a matter of alarm2 but this physician of ,october has in his shop all sorts of salves for all sorts of sores4 ,it is curious that they all come from the inexhaustible drug-shop of the ,regicide dispensary4 ,it costs him nothing to excite terror1 because he lays it at his pleasure4 ,he finds a security for this danger to liberty from the wonderful wisdom to be taught to kings1 to nobility1 and even1 to the lowest of the people1 by the late transactions4 ,i confess ,i was always blind enough to regard the ,french ,revolution1 in the act1 and much more in the example1 as one of the greatest calamities that had ever fallen upon mankind4 ,i now find that in its effects it is to be the greatest of all blessings4 ,if so1 we owe amende honorable to the ,jacobins4 ,they1 it seems1 were right2 and if they were right a little earlier than we are1 it only shows that they exceeded us in sagacity4 ,if they brought out their right ideas somewhat in a disorderly manner1 it must be remembered that great zeal produces some irregularity2 but when greatly in the right1 it must be pardoned by those who are very regularly and temperately in the wrong4 ,the master ,jacobins had told me this a thousand times4 ,i never believed the masters2 nor do ,i now find myself disposed to give credit to the disciple4 ,i will not much dispute with our author1 which party has the best of this ,revolution1--that which is from thence to learn wisdom1 or that which from the same event has obtained power4 ,the dispute on the preference of strength to wisdom may perhaps be decided as ,horace has decided the controversy between ,art and ,nature4 ,i do not like to leave all the power to my adversary1 and to secure nothing to myself but the untimely wisdom that is taught by the consequences of folly4 ,i do not like my share in the partition3 because to his strength my adversary may possibly add a good deal of cunning1 whereas my wisdom may totally fail in producing to me the same degree of strength4 ,but to descend from the author's generalities a little nearer to meaning1 the security given to liberty is this1--that governments will have learned not to precipitate themselves into embarrassments by speculative wars4 ,sovereigns and princes will not forget that steadiness1 moderation1 and economy are the best supports of the eminence on which they stand4 ,there seems to me a good deal of oblique reflection in this lesson4 ,as to the lesson itself1 it is at all times a good one4 ,one would think1 however1 by this formal introduction of it as a recommendation of the arrangements proposed by the author1 it had never been taught before1 either by precept or by experience1--and that these maxims are discoveries reserved for a ,regicide peace4 ,but is it permitted to ask what security it affords to the liberty of the subject1 that the prince is pacific or frugal8 ,the very contrary has happened in our history4 ,our best securities for freedom have been obtained from princes who were either warlike1 or prodigal1 or both4 ,although the amendment of princes in these points can have no effect in quieting our apprehensions for liberty on account of the strength to be acquired to government by a ,regicide peace1 ,i allow that the avoiding of speculative wars may possibly be an advantage1 provided ,i well understand what the author means by a speculative war4 ,i suppose he means a war grounded on speculative advantages1 and not wars founded on a just speculation of danger4 ,does he mean to include this war1 which we are now carrying on1 amongst those speculative wars which this ,jacobin peace is to teach sovereigns to avoid hereafter8 ,if so1 it is doing the party an important service4 ,does he mean that we are to avoid such wars as that of the ,grand ,alliance1 made on a speculation of danger to the independence of ,europe8 ,i suspect he has a sort of retrospective view to the ,american war1 as a speculative war1 carried on by ,england upon one side and by ,louis the ,sixteenth on the other4 ,as to our share of that war1 let reverence to the dead and respect to the living prevent us from reading lessons of this kind at their expense4 ,i don't know how far the author may find himself at liberty to wanton on that subject2 but1 for my part1 ,i entered into a coalition which1 when ,i had no longer a duty relative to that business1 made me think myself bound in honor not to call it up without necessity4 ,but if he puts ,england out of the question1 and reflects only on ,louis the ,sixteenth1 ,i have only to say1 ,dearly has he answered it6 ,i will not defend him4 ,but all those who pushed on the ,revolution by which he was deposed were much more in fault than he was4 ,they have murdered him1 and have divided his kingdom as a spoil2 but they who are the guilty are not they who furnish the example4 ,they who reign through his fault are not among those sovereigns who are likely to be taught to avoid speculative wars by the murder of their master4 ,i think the author will not be hardy enough to assert that they have shown less disposition to meddle in the concerns of that very ,america than he did1 and in a way not less likely to kindle the flame of speculative war4 ,here is one sovereign not yet reclaimed by these healing examples4 ,will he point out the other sovereigns who are to be reformed by this peace8 ,their wars may not be speculative4 ,but the world will not be much mended by turning wars from unprofitable and speculative to practical and lucrative1 whether the liberty or the repose of mankind is regarded4 ,if the author's new sovereign in ,france is not reformed by the example of his own ,revolution1 that ,revolution has not added much to the security and repose of ,poland1 for instance1 or taught the three great partitioning powers more moderation in their second than they had shown in their first division of that devoted country4 ,the first division1 which preceded these destructive examples1 was moderation itself1 in comparison of what has been1 done since the period of the author's amendment4 ,this paragraph is written with something of a studied obscurity4 ,if it means anything1 it seems to hint as if sovereigns were to learn moderation1 and an attention to the liberties of their people1 from the fate of the sovereigns who have suffered in this war1 and eminently of ,louis the ,sixteenth4 ,will he say whether the ,king of ,sardinia's horrible tyranny was the cause of the loss of ,savoy and of ,nice8 ,what lesson of moderation does it teach the ,pope8 ,i desire to know whether his ,holiness is to learn not to massacre his subjects1 nor to waste and destroy such beautiful countries as that of ,avignon1 lest he should call to their assistance that great deliverer of nations1 ,jourdan ,coupe-tte8 ,what lesson does it give of moderation to the ,emperor1 whose predecessor never put one man to death after a general rebellion of the ,low ,countries1 that the ,regicides never spared man1 woman1 or child1 whom they but suspected of dislike to their usurpations8 ,what1 then1 are all these lessons about the softening the character of sovereigns by this ,regicide peace8 ,on reading this section1 one would imagine that the poor tame sovereigns of ,europe had been a sort of furious wild beasts1 that stood in need of some uncommonly rough discipline to subdue the ferocity of their savage nature4 ,as to the example to be learnt from the murder of ,louis the ,sixteenth1 if a lesson to kings is not derived from his fate1 ,i do not know whence it can come4 ,the author1 however1 ought not to have left us in the dark upon that subject1 to break our shins over his hints and insinuations4 ,is it1 then1 true1 that this unfortunate monarch drew his punishment upon himself by his want of moderation1 and his oppressing the liberties of which he had found his people in possession8 ,is not the direct contrary the fact8 ,and is not the example of this ,revolution the very reverse of anything which can lead to that softening of character in princes which the author supposes as a security to the people1 and has brought forward as a recommendation to fraternity with those who have administered that happy emollient in the murder of their king and the slavery and desolation of their country8 ,but the author does not confine the benefit of the ,regicide lesson to kings alone4 ,he has a diffusive bounty4 ,nobles1 and men of property1 will likewise be greatly reformed4 ,they1 too1 will be led to a review of their social situation and duties1--and will reflect1 that their large allotment of worldly advantages is for the aid and benefit of the whole4 ,is it1 then1 from the fate of ,juign1 ,archbishop of ,paris1 or of the ,cardinal de ,rochefoucault1 and of so many others1 who gave their fortunes1 and1 ,i may say1 their very beings1 to the poor1 that the rich are to learn1 that their fortunes are for the aid and benefit of the whole8 ,i say nothing of the liberal persons of great rank and property1 lay and ecclesiastic1 men and women1 to whom we have had the honor and happiness of affording an asylum3 ,i pass by these1 lest ,i should never have done1 or lest ,i should omit some as deserving as any ,i might mention4 ,why will the author1 then1 suppose that the nobles and men of property in ,france have been banished1 confiscated1 and murdered1 on account of the savageness and ferocity of their character1 and their being tainted with vices beyond those of the same order and description in other countries8 ,no judge of a revolutionary tribunal1 with his hands dipped in their blood and his maw gorged with their property1 has yet dared to assert what this author has been pleased1 by way of a moral lesson1 to insinuate4 ,their nobility1 and their men of property1 in a mass1 had the very same virtues1 and the very same vices1 and in the very same proportions1 with the same description of men in this and in other nations4 ,i must do justice to suffering honor1 generosity1 and integrity4 ,i do not know that any time or any country has furnished more splendid examples of every virtue1 domestic and public4 ,i do not enter into the councils of ,providence2 but1 humanly speaking1 many of these nobles and men of property1 from whose disastrous fate we are1 it seems1 to learn a general softening of character1 and a revision of our social situations and duties1 appear to me full as little deserving of that fate as the author1 whoever he is1 can be4 ,many of them1 ,i am sure1 were such as ,i should be proud indeed to be able to compare myself with1 in knowledge1 in integrity1 and in every other virtue4 ,my feeble nature might shrink1 though theirs did not1 from the proof2 but my reason and my ambition tell me that it would be a good bargain to purchase their merits with their fate4 ,for which of his vices did that great magistrate1 ,d',esprmnil1 lose his fortune and his head8 ,what were the abominations of ,malesherbes1 that other excellent magistrate1 whose sixty years of uniform virtue was acknowledged1 in the very act of his murder1 by the judicial butchers who condemned him8 ,on account of what misdemeanors was he robbed of his property1 and slaughtered with two generations of his offspring1--and the remains of the third race1 with a refinement of cruelty1 and lest they should appear to reclaim the property forfeited by the virtues of their ancestor1 confounded in an hospital with the thousands of those unhappy foundling infants who are abandoned1 without relation and without name1 by the wretchedness or by the profligacy of their parents8 ,is the fate of the ,queen of ,france to produce this softening of character8 ,was she a person so very ferocious and cruel1 as1 by the example of her death1 to frighten us into common humanity8 ,is there no way to teach the ,emperor a softening of character1 and a review of his social situation and duty1 but his consent1 by an infamous accord with ,regicide1 to drive a second coach with the ,austrian arms through the streets of ,paris1 along which1 after a series of preparatory horrors exceeding the atrocities of the bloody execution itself1 the glory of the ,imperial race had been carried to an ignominious death8 ,is this a lesson of moderation to a descendant of ,maria ,theresa1 drawn from the fate of the daughter of that incomparable woman and sovereign8 ,if he learns this lesson from such an object1 and from such teachers1 the man may remain1 but the king is deposed4 ,if he does not carry quite another memory of that transaction in the inmost recesses of his heart1 he is unworthy to reign1 he is unworthy to live4 ,in the chronicle of disgrace he will have but this short tale told of him3 ,he was the first emperor of his house that embraced a regicide2 he was the last that wore the imperial purple4 ,far am ,i from thinking so ill of this august sovereign1 who is at the head of the monarchies of ,europe1 and who is the trustee of their dignities and his own4 ,what ferocity of character drew on the fate of ,elizabeth1 the sister of ,king ,louis the ,sixteenth8 ,for which of the vices of that pattern of benevolence1 of piety1 and of all the virtues1 did they put her to death8 ,for which of her vices did they put to death the mildest of all human creatures1 the ,duchess of ,biron8 ,what were the crimes of those crowds of matrons and virgins of condition1 whom they mas sacred1 with their juries of blood1 in prisons and on scaffolds8 ,what were the enormities of the infant king1 whom they caused1 by lingering tortures1 to perish in their dungeon1 and whom if at last they dispatched by poison1 it was in that detestable crime the only act of mercy they have ever shown8 ,what softening of character is to be had1 what review of their social situations and duties is to be taught by these examples to kings1 to nobles1 to men of property1 to women1 and to infants8 ,the royal family perished because it was royal4 ,the nobles perished because they were noble4 ,the men1 women1 and children1 who had property1 because they had property to be robbed of4 ,the priests were punished1 after they had been robbed of their all1 not for their vices1 but for their virtues and their piety1 which made them an honor to their sacred profession1 and to that nature of which we ought to be proud1 since they belong to it4 ,my ,lord1 nothing can be learned from such examples1 except the danger of being kings1 queens1 nobles1 priests1 and children1 to be butchered on account of their inheritance4 ,these are things at which not vice1 not crime1 not folly1 but wisdom1 goodness1 learning1 justice1 probity1 beneficence1 stand aghast4 ,by these examples our reason and our moral sense are not enlightened1 but confounded2 and there is no refuge for astonished and affrighted virtue1 but being annihilated in humility and submission1 sinking into a silent adoration of the inscrutable dispensations of ,providence1 and flying with trembling wings from this world of daring crimes1 and feeble1 pusillanimous1 half-bred1 bastard justice1 to the asylum of another order of things1 in an unknown form1 but in a better life4 ,whatever the politician or preacher of ,september or of ,october may think of the matter1 it is a most comfortless1 disheartening1 desolating example4 ,dreadful is the example of ruined innocence and virtue1 and the completest triumph of the completest villany that ever vexed and disgraced mankind6 ,the example is ruinous in every point of view1 religious1 moral1 civil1 political4 ,it establishes that dreadful maxim of ,machiavel1 that in great affairs men are not to be wicked by halves4 ,this maxim is not made for a middle sort of beings1 who1 because they cannot be angels1 ought to thwart their ambition1 and not endeavor to become infernal spirits4 ,it is too well exemplified in the present time1 where the faults and errors of humanity1 checked by the imperfect1 timorous virtues1 have been overpowered by those who have stopped at no crime4 ,it is a dreadful part of the example1 that infernal malevolence has had pious apologists1 who read their lectures on frailties in favor of crimes1--who abandon the weak1 and court the friendship of the wicked4 ,to root out these maxims1 and the examples that support them1 is a wise object of years of war4 ,this is that war4 ,this is that moral war4 ,it was said by old ,trivulzio1 that the ,battle of ,marignano was the ,battle of the ,giants1--that all the rest of the many he had seen were those of the ,cranes and ,pygmies4 ,this is true of the objects1 at least1 of the contest3 for the greater part of those which we have hitherto contended for1 in comparison1 were the toys of children4 ,the ,october politician is so full of charity and good-nature1 that he supposes that these very robbers and murderers themselves are in a course of melioration3 on what ground ,i cannot conceive1 except on the long practice of every crime1 and by its complete success4 ,he is an ,origenist1 and believes in the conversion of the ,devil4 ,all that runs in the place of blood in his veins is nothing but the milk of human kindness4 ,he is as soft as a curd1--though1 as a politician1 he might be supposed to be made of sterner stuff4 ,he supposes 7to use his own expression7 that the salutary truths which he inculcates are making their way into their bosoms4 ,their bosom is a rock of granite1 on which ,falsehood has long since built her stronghold4 ,poor ,truth has had a hard work of it1 with her little pickaxe4 ,nothing but gunpowder will do4 ,as a proof1 however1 of the progress of this sap of ,truth1 he gives us a confession they had made not long before he wrote4 ',their fraternity' 7as was lately stated by themselves in a solemn report7 'has been the brotherhood of ,cain and ,abel1' and 'they have organized nothing but bankruptcy and famine4' ,a very honest confession1 truly1--and much in the spirit of their oracle1 ,rousseau4 ,yet1 what is still more marvellous than the confession1 this is the very fraternity to which our author gives us such an obliging invitation to accede4 ,there is1 indeed1 a vacancy in the fraternal corps3 a brother and a partner is wanted4 ,if we please1 we may fill up the place of the butchered ,abel2 and whilst we wait the destiny of the departed brother1 we may enjoy the advantages of the partnership1 by entering without delay into a shop of ready-made bankruptcy and famine4 ,these are the douceurs by which we are invited to ,regicide fraternity and friendship4 ,but still our author considers the confession as a proof that truth is making its way into their bosoms4 ,no6 ,it is not making its way into their bosoms4 ,it has forced its way into their mouths6 ,the evil spirit by which they are possessed1 though essentially a liar1 is forced by the tortures of conscience to confess the truth1--to confess enough for their condemnation1 but not for their amendment4 ,shakspeare very aptly expresses this kind of confession1 devoid of repentance1 from the mouth of an usurper1 a murderer1 and a regicide3-- ,we are ourselves compelled1 ,even to the teeth and forehead of our faults1 ,to give in evidence4 ,whence is their amendment8 ,why1 the author writes1 that1 on their murderous insurrectionary system1 their own lives are not sure for an hour2 nor has their power a greater stability4 ,true4 ,they are convinced of it2 and accordingly the wretches have done all they can to preserve their lives1 and to secure their power2 but not one step have they taken to amend the one or to make a more just use of the other4 ,their wicked policy has obliged them to make a pause in the only massacres in which their treachery and cruelty had operated as a kind of savage justice1--that is1 the massacre of the accomplices of their crimes3 they have ceased to shed the inhuman blood of their fellow-murderers2 but when they take any of those persons who contend for their lawful government1 their property1 and their religion1 notwithstanding the truth which this author says is making its way into their bosoms1 it has not taught them the least tincture of mercy4 ,this we plainly see by their massacre at ,quiberon1 where they put to death1 with every species of contumely1 and without any exception1 every prisoner of war who did not escape out of their hands4 ,to have had property1 to have been robbed of it1 and to endeavor to regain it1--these are crimes irremissible1 to which every man who regards his property or his life1 in every country1 ought well to look in all connection with those with whom to have had property was an offence1 to endeavor to keep it a second offence1 to attempt to regain it a crime that puts the offender out of all the laws of peace or war4 ,you cannot see one of those wretches without an alarm for your life as well as your goods4 ,they are like the worst of the ,french and ,italian banditti1 who1 whenever they robbed1 were sure to murder4 ,are they not the very same ruffians1 thieves1 assassins1 and regicides that they were from the beginning8 ,have they diversified the scene by the least variety1 or produced the face of a single new villany8 ,tdet harum quotidianarum formarum4 ,oh6 but ,i shall be answered1 ,it is now quite another thing2--they are all changed4 ,you have not seen them in their state dresses2--this makes an amazing difference4 ,the new habit of the ,directory is so charmingly fancied1 that it is impossible not to fall in love with so well-dressed a ,constitution2--the costume of the sans-culotte ,constitution of #agic was absolutely insufferable4 ,the ,committee for ,foreign ,affairs were such slovens1 and stunk so abominably1 that no muscadin ambassador of the smallest degree of delicacy of nerves could come within ten yards of them2 but now they are so powdered1 and perfumed1 and ribanded1 and sashed1 and plumed1 that1 though they are grown infinitely more insolent in their fine clothes even than they were in their rags1 7and that was enough17 as they now appear1 there is something in it more grand and noble1 something more suitable to an awful ,roman ,senate receiving the homage of dependent tetrarchs4 ,like that ,senate1 7their perpetual model for conduct towards other nations17 they permit their vassals 7during their good pleasure7 to assume the name of kings1 in order to bestow more dignity on the suite and retinue of the sovereign ,republic by the nominal rank of their slaves3 ,ut habeant instrumenta servitutis et reges4 ,all this is very fine1 undoubtedly2 and ambassadors whose hands are almost out for want of employment may long to have their part in this august ceremony of the ,republic one and indivisible4 ,but1 with great deference to the new diplomatic taste1 we old people must retain some square-toed predilection1 for the fashions of our youth4 ,i am afraid you will find me1 my ,lord1 again falling into my usual vanity1 in valuing myself on the eminent men whose society ,i once enjoyed4 ,i remember1 in a conversation ,i once had with my ever dear friend ,garrick1 who was the first of actors1 because he was the most acute observer of ,nature ,i ever knew1 ,i asked him how it happened1 that1 whenever a senate appeared on the stage1 the audience seemed always disposed to laughter4 ,he said1 the reason was plain3 the audience was well acquainted with the faces of most of the senators4 ,they knew that they were no other than candle-snuffers1 revolutionary scene-shifters1 second and third mob1 prompters1 clerks1 executioners1 who stand with their axe on their shoulders by the wheel1 grinners in the pantomime1 murderers in tragedies1 who make ugly faces under black wigs1--in short1 the very scum and refuse of the theatre2 and it was of course that the contrast of the vileness of the actors with the pomp of their habits naturally excited ideas of contempt and ridicule4 ,so it was at ,paris on the inaugural day of the ,constitution for the present year4 ,the foreign ministers were ordered to attend at this investiture of the ,directory2--for so they call the managers of their burlesque government4 ,the diplomacy1 who were a sort of strangers1 were quite awe-struck with the pride1 pomp1 and circumstance of this majestic senate2 whilst the sans-culotte gallery instantly recognized their old insurrectionary acquaintance1 burst out into a horse-laugh at their absurd finery1 and held them in infinitely greater contempt than whilst they prowled about the streets in the pantaloons of the last year's ,constitution1 when their legislators appeared honestly1 with their daggers in their belts1 and their pistols peeping out of their side-pocket-holes1 like a bold1 brave banditti1 as they are4 ,the ,parisians 7and ,i am much of their mind7 think that a thief with a crape on his visage is much worse than a barefaced knave1 and that such robbers richly deserve all the penalties of all the black acts4 ,in this their thin disguise1 their comrades of the late abdicated sovereign canaille hooted and hissed them1 and from that day have no other name for them than what is not quite so easy to render into ,english1 impossible to make it very civil ,english3 it belongs1 indeed1 to the language of the halles3 but1 without being instructed in that dialect1 it was the opinion of the polite ,lord ,chesterfield that no man could be a complete master of ,french4 ,their ,parisian brethren called them gueux plums1 which1 though not elegant1 is expressive and characteristic3 feathered scoundrels1 ,i think1 comes the nearest to it in that kind of ,english4 ,but we are now to understand that these gueux1 for no other reason1 that ,i can divine1 except their red and white clothes1 form at last a state with which we may cultivate amity1 and have a prospect of the blessings of a secure and permanent peace4 ,in effect1 then1 it was not with the men1 or their principles1 or their polities1 that we quarrelled3 our sole dislike was to the cut of their clothes4 ,but to pass over their dresses1--good ,god6 in what habits did the representatives of the crowned heads of ,europe appear1 when they came to swell the pomp of their humiliation1 and attended in solemn function this inauguration of ,regicide8 ,that would be the curiosity4 ,under what robes did they cover the disgrace and degradation of the whole college of kings8 ,what warehouses of masks and dominoes furnished a cover to the nakedness of their shame8 ,the shop ought to be known2 it will soon have a good trade4 ,were the dresses of the ministers of those lately called potentates1 who attended on that occasion1 taken from the wardrobe of that property-man at the opera1 from whence my old acquaintance1 ,anacharsis ,clootz1 some years ago equipped a body of ambassadors1 whom he conducted1 as from all the nations of the world1 to the bar of what was called the ,constituent ,assembly8 ,among those mock ministers1 one of the most conspicuous figures was the representative of the ,british nation1 who unluckily was wanting at the late ceremony4 ,in the face of all the real ambassadors of the sovereigns of ,europe was this ludicrous representation of their several subjects1 under the name of oppressed sovereigns1#aj exhibited to the ,assembly4 ,that ,assembly received an harangue1 in the name of those sovereigns1 against their kings1 delivered by this ,clootz1 actually a subject of ,prussia1 under the name of ,ambassador of the ,human ,race4 ,at that time there was only a feeble reclamation from one of the ambassadors of these tyrants and oppressors4 ,a most gracious answer was given to the ministers of the oppressed sovereigns2 and they went so far on that occasion as to assign them1 in that assumed character1 a box at one of their festivals4 ,i was willing to indulge myself in an hope that this second appearance of ambassadors was only an insolent mummery of the same kind2 but1 alas6 ,anacharsis himself1 all fanatic as he was1 could not have imagined that his opera procession should have been the prototype of the real appearance of the representatives of all the sovereigns of ,europe themselves1 to make the same prostration that was made by those who dared to represent their people in a complaint against them4 ,but in this the ,french ,republic has followed1 as they always affect to do1 and have hitherto done with success1 the example of the ancient ,romans1 who shook all governments by listening to the complaints of their subjects1 and soon after brought the kings themselves to answer at their bar4 ,at this last ceremony the ambassadors had not ,clootz for their ,cotterel4 ,pity that ,clootz had not had a reprieve from the guillotine till he had completed his work6 ,but that engine fell before the curtain had fallen upon all the dignity of the earth4 ,on this their gaudy day the new ,regicide ,directory sent for that diplomatic rabble1 as bad as themselves in principle1 but infinitely worse in degradation4 ,they called them out by a sort of roll of their nations1 one after another1 much in the manner in which they called wretches out of their prison to the guillotine4 ,when these ambassadors of infamy appeared before them1 the chief ,director1 in the name of the rest1 treated each of them with a short1 affected1 pedantic1 insolent1 theatric laconium1--a sort of epigram of contempt4 ,when they had thus insulted them in a style and language which never before was heard1 and which no sovereign would for a moment endure from another1 supposing any of them frantic enough to use it1 to finish their outrage1 they drummed and trumpeted the wretches out of their hall of audience4 ,among the objects of this insolent buffoonery was a person supposed to represent the ,king of ,prussia4 ,to this worthy representative they did not so much as condescend to mention his master2 they did not seem to know that he had one2 they addressed themselves solely to ,prussia in the abstract1 notwithstanding the infinite obligation they owed to their early protector for their first recognition and alliance1 and for the part of his territory he gave into their hands for the first-fruits of his homage4 ,none but dead monarchs are so much as mentioned by them1 and those only to insult the living by an invidious comparison4 ,they told the ,prussians they ought to learn1 after the example of ,frederick the ,great1 a love for ,france4 ,what a pity it is1 that he1 who loved ,france so well as to chastise it1 was not now alive1 by an unsparing use of the rod 7which1 indeed1 he would have spared little7 to give them another instance of his paternal affection6 ,but the ,directory were mistaken4 ,these are not days in which monarchs value themselves upon the title of great3 they are grown philosophic3 they are satisfied to be good4 ,your ,lordship will pardon me for this no very long reflection on the short1 but excellent speech of the plumed ,director to the ambassador of ,cappadocia4 ,the ,imperial ambassador was not in waiting1 but they found for ,austria a good ,judean representation4 ,with great judgment1 his ,highness1 the ,grand ,duke1 had sent the most atheistic coxcomb to be found in ,florence1 to represent at the bar of impiety the ,house of ,apostolic ,majesty1 and the descendants of the pious1 though high-minded1 ,maria ,theresa4 ,he was sent to humble the whole race of ,austria before those grim assassins1 reeking with the blood of the daughter of ,maria ,theresa1 whom they sent half dead1 in a dung-cart1 to a cruel execution2 and this true-born son of apostasy and infidelity1 this renegado from the faith and from all honor and all humanity1 drove an ,austrian coach over the stones which were yet wet with her blood1--with that blood which dropped every step through her tumbrel1 all the way she was drawn from the horrid prison1 in which they had finished all the cruelty and horrors not executed in the face of the sun4 ,the ,hungarian subjects of ,maria ,theresa1 when they drew their swords to defend her rights against ,france1 called her1 with correctness of truth1 though not with the same correctness1 perhaps1 of grammar1 a king3 ,moriamur pro rege nostro1 ,maria ,theresa4 ,,she lived and died a king2 and others will have subjects ready to make the same vow1 when1 in either sex1 they show themselves real kings4 ,when the ,directory came to this miserable fop1 they bestowed a compliment on his matriculation into their philosophy2 but as to his master1 they made to him1 as was reasonable1 a reprimand1 not without a pardon1 and an oblique hint at the whole family4 ,what indignities have been offered through this wretch to his master1 and how well borne1 it is not necessary that ,i should dwell on at present4 ,i hope that those who yet wear royal1 imperial1 and ducal crowns will learn to feel as men and as kings3 if not1 ,i predict to them1 they will not long exist as kings or as men4 ,great ,britain was not there4 ,almost in despair1 ,i hope she will never1 in any rags and coversluts of infamy1 be seen at such an exhibition4 ,the hour of her final degradation is not yet come2 she did not herself appear in the ,regicide presence1 to be the sport and mockery of those bloody buffoons1 who1 in the merriment of their pride1 were insulting with every species of contumely the fallen dignity of the rest of ,europe4 ,but ,britain1 though not personally appearing to bear her part in this monstrous tragi-comedy1 was very far from being forgotten4 ,the new-robed regicides found a representative for her4 ,and who was this representative8 ,without a previous knowledge1 any one would have given a thousand guesses before he could arrive at a tolerable divination of their rancorous insolence4 ,they chose to address what they had to say concerning this nation to the ambassador of ,america4 ,they did not apply to this ambassador for a mediation3 that1 indeed1 would have indicated a want of every kind of decency2 but it would have indicated nothing more4 ,but in this their ,american apostrophe1 your ,lordship will observe1 they did not so much as pretend to hold out to us directly1 or through any mediator1 though in the most humiliating manner1 any idea whatsoever of peace1 or the smallest desire of reconciliation4 ,to the ,states of ,america themselves they paid no compliment4 ,they paid their compliment to ,washington solely3 and on what ground8 ,this most respectable commander and magistrate might deserve commendation on very many of those qualities which they who most disapprove some part of his proceedings1 not more justly than freely1 attribute to him2 but they found nothing to commend in him but the hatred he bore to ,great ,britain4 ,i verily believe1 that1 in the whole history of our ,european wars1 there never was such a compliment paid from the sovereign of one state to a great chief of another4 ,not one ambassador from any one of those powers who pretend to live in amity with this kingdom took the least notice of that unheard-of declaration2 nor will ,great ,britain1 till she is known with certainty to be true to her own dignity1 find any one disposed to feel for the indignities that are offered to her4 ,to say the truth1 those miserable creatures were all silent under the insults that were offered to themselves4 ,they pocketed their epigrams1 as ambassadors formerly took the gold boxes and miniature pictures set in diamonds presented them by sovereigns at whose courts they had resided4 ,it is to be presumed that by the next post they faithfully and promptly transmitted to their masters the honors they had received4 ,i can easily conceive the epigram which will be presented to ,lord ,auckland1 or to the ,duke of ,bedford1 as hereafter1 according to circumstances1 they may happen to represent this kingdom4 ,few can have so little imagination as not readily to conceive the nature of the boxes of epigrammatic lozenges that will be presented to them4 ,but h nug seria ducunt in mala4 ,the conduct of the ,regicide faction is perfectly systematic in every particular1 and it appears absurd only as it is strange and uncouth1 not as it has an application to the ends and objects of their policy4 ,when by insult after insult they have rendered the character of sovereigns vile in the eyes of their subjects1 they know there is but one step more to their utter destruction4 ,all authority1 in a great degree1 exists in opinion3 royal authority most of all4 ,the supreme majesty of a monarch cannot be allied with contempt4 ,men would reason1 not unplausibly1 that it would be better to get rid of the monarchy at once than to suffer that which was instituted1 and well instituted1 to support the glory of the nation1 to become the instrument of its degradation and disgrace4 ,a good many reflections will arise in your ,lordship's mind upon the time and circumstances of that most insulting and atrocious declaration of hostility against this kingdom4 ,the declaration was made subsequent to the noble lord's encomium on the new ,regicide ,constitution1--after the pamphlet had made something more than advances towards a reconciliation with that ungracious race1 and had directly disowned all those who adhered to the original declaration in favor of monarchy4 ,it was even subsequent to the unfortunate declaration in the speech from the throne 7which this pamphlet but too truly announced7 of the readiness of our government to enter into connections of friendship with that faction4 ,here was the answer from the throne of ,regicide to the speech from the throne of ,great ,britain4 ,they go out of their way to compliment ,general ,washington on the supposed rancor of his heart towards this country4 ,it is very remarkable1 that they make this compliment of malice to the chief of the ,united ,states1 who had first signed a treaty of peace1 amity1 and commerce with this kingdom4 ,this radical hatred1 according to their way of thinking1 the most recent1 solemn compacts of friendship cannot or ought not to remove4 ,in this malice to ,england1 as in the one great comprehensive virtue1 all other merits of this illustrious person are entirely merged4 ,for my part1 ,i do not believe the fact to be so as they represent it4 ,certainly it is not for ,mr4 ,washington's honor as a gentleman1 a ,christian1 or a ,president of the ,united ,states1 after the treaty he has signed1 to entertain such sentiments4 ,i have a moral assurance that the representation of the ,regicide ,directory is absolutely false and groundless4 ,if it be1 it is a stronger mark of their audacity and insolence1 and still a stronger proof of the support they mean to give to the mischievous faction they are known to nourish there1 to the ruin of those ,states1 and to the end that no ,british affections should ever arise in that important part of the world1 which would naturally lead to a cordial1 hearty ,british alliance1 upon the bottom of mutual interest and ancient affection4 ,it shows in what part it is1 and with what a weapon1 they mean a deadly blow at the heart of ,great ,britain4 ,one really would have expected1 from this new ,constitution of theirs1 which had been announced as a great reform1 and which was to be1 more than any of their former experimental schemes1 alliable with other nations1 that they would1 in their very first public act1 and their declaration to the collected representation of ,europe and ,america1 have affected some degree of moderation1 or1 at least1 have observed a guarded silence with regard to their temper and their views4 ,no such thing3 they were in haste to declare the principles which are spun into the primitive staple of their frame4 ,they were afraid that a moment's doubt should exist about them4 ,in their very infancy they were in haste to put their hand on their infernal altar1 and to swear the same immortal hatred to ,england which was sworn in the succession of all the short-lived constitutions that preceded it4 ,with them everything else perishes almost as soon as it is formed2 this hatred alone is immortal4 ,this is their impure ,vestal fire that never is extinguished3 and never will it be extinguished1 whilst the system of ,regicide exists in ,france4 ,what6 are we not to believe them8 ,men are too apt to be deceitful enough in their professions of friendship1 and this makes a wise man walk with some caution through life4 ,such professions1 in some cases1 may be even a ground of further distrust4 ,but when a man declares himself your unalterable enemy6 ,no man ever declared to another a rancor towards him which he did not feel4 ,falsos in amore odia1 non fingere1 said an author who points his observations so as to make them remembered4 ,observe1 my ,lord1 that1 from their invasion of ,flanders and ,holland to this hour1 they have never made the smallest signification of a desire of peace with this kingdom1 with ,austria1 or1 indeed1 with any other power that ,i know of4 ,as superiors1 they expect others to begin4 ,we have complied1 as you may see4 ,the hostile insolence with which they gave such a rebuff to our first overture1 in the speech from the throne1 did not hinder us from making1 from the same throne1 a second advance4 ,the two ,houses a second time coincided in the same sentiments1 with a degree of apparent unanimity1 7for there was no dissentient voice but yours17 with which1 when they reflect on it1 they will be as much ashamed as ,i am4 ,to this our new humiliating overture 7such1 at whatever hazard1 ,i must call it7 what did the ,regicide ,directory answer8 ,not one public word of a readiness to treat4 ,no1--they feel their proud situation too well4 ,they never declared whether they would grant peace to you or not4 ,they only signified to you their pleasure as to the terms on which alone they would in any case admit you to it4 ,you showed your general disposition to peace1 and1 to forward it1 you left everything open to negotiations4 ,as to any terms you can possibly obtain1 they shut out all negotiation at the very commencement4 ,they declared that they never would make a peace by which anything that ever belonged to ,france should be ceded4 ,we would not treat with the monarchy1 weakened as it must obviously be in any circumstance of restoration1 without a reservation of something for indemnity and security1--and that1 too1 in words of the largest comprehension4 ,you treat with the ,regicides without any reservation at all4 ,on their part1 they assure you formally and publicly1 that they will give you nothing in the name of indemnity or security1 or for any other purpose4 ,it is impossible not to pause here for a moment1 and to consider the manner in which such declarations would have been taken by your ancestors from a monarch distinguished for his arrogance1--an arrogance which1 even more than his ambition1 incensed and combined all ,europe against him4 ,whatever his inward intentions may have been1 did ,louis the ,fourteenth ever make a declaration that the true bounds of ,france were the ocean1 the ,mediterranean1 and the ,rhine8 ,in any overtures for peace1 did he ever declare that he would make no sacrifices to promote it8 ,his declarations were always directly to the contrary2 and at the ,peace of ,ryswick his actions were to the contrary4 ,at the close of the war1 almost in every instance victorious1 all ,europe was astonished1 even those who received them were astonished1 at his concessions4 ,let those who have a mind to see how little1 in comparison1 the most powerful and ambitious of all monarchs is to be dreaded consult the very judicious critical observations on the politics of that reign1 inserted in the military treatise of the ,marquis de ,montalembert4 ,let those who wish to know what is to be dreaded from an ambitious republic consult no author1 no military critic1 no historical critic4 ,let them open their own eyes1 which degeneracy and pusillanimity have shut from the light that pains them1 and let them not vainly seek their security in a voluntary ignorance of their danger4 ,to dispose us towards this peace1--an attempt in which our author has1 ,i do not know whether to call it the good or ill fortune to agree with whatever is most seditious1 factious1 and treasonable in this country1--we are told by many dealers in speculation1 but not so distinctly by the author himself1 7too great distinctness of affirmation not being his fault17--but we are told1 that the ,french have lately obtained a very pretty sort of ,constitution1 and that it resembles the ,british ,constitution as if they had been twinned together in the womb1--mire sagaces fallere hospites discrimen obscurum4 ,it may be so3 but ,i confess ,i am not yet made to it3 nor is the noble author4 ,he finds the elements excellent1 but the disposition very inartificial indeed4 ,contrary to what we might expect at ,paris1 the meat is good1 the cookery abominable4 ,i agree with him fully in the last2 and if ,i were forced to allow the first1 ,i should still think1 with our old coarse by-word1 that the same power which furnished all their former restaurateurs sent also their present cooks4 ,i have a great opinion of ,thomas ,paine1 and of all his productions3 ,i remember his having been one of the committee for forming one of their annual ,constitutions1 ,i mean the admirable ,constitution of #agic1 after having been a chamber council to the no less admirable ,constitution of #agia4 ,this pious patriot has his eyes still directed to his dear native country1 notwithstanding her in gratitude to so kind a benefactor4 ,this outlaw of ,england1 and lawgiver to ,france1 is now1 in secret probably1 trying his hand again1 and inviting us to him by making his ,constitution such as may give his disciples in ,england some plausible pretext for going into the house that he has opened4 ,we have discovered1 it seems1 that all which the boasted wisdom of our ancestors has labored to bring to perfection for six or seven centuries is nearly1 or altogether1 matched in six or seven days1 at the leisure hours and sober intervals of ,citizen ,thomas ,paine4 ,but though the treacherous tapster1 ,thomas1 ,hangs a new ,angel two doors from us1 ,as fine as dauber's hands can make it1 ,in hopes that strangers may mistake it1 ,we think it both a shame and sin ,to quit the good old ,angel ,inn1 ,indeed1 in this good old house1 where everything at least is well aired1 ,i shall be content to put up my fatigued horses1 and here take a bed for the long night that begins to darken upon me4 ,had ,i1 however1 the honor 7,i must now call it so7 of being a member of any of the constitutional clubs1 ,i should think ,i had carried my point most completely4 ,it is clear1 by the applauses bestowed on what the author calls this new ,constitution1 a mixed oligarchy1 that the difference between the clubbists and the old adherents to the monarchy of this country is hardly worth a scuffle4 ,let it depart in peace1 and light lie the earth on the ,british ,constitution6 ,by this easy manner of treating the most difficult of all subjects1 the constitution for a great kingdom1 and by letting loose an opinion that they may be made by any adventurers in speculation in a small given time1 and for any country1 all the ties1 which1 whether of reason or prejudice1 attach mankind to their old1 habitual1 domestic governments1 are not a little loosened2 all communion1 which the similarity of the basis has produced between all the governments that compose what we call the ,christian world and the republic of ,europe1 would be dissolved4 ,by these hazarded speculations ,france is more approximated to us in constitution than in situation2 and in proportion as we recede from the ancient system of ,europe1 we approach to that connection which alone can remain to us1 a close alliance with the new-discovered moral and political world in ,france4 ,these theories would be of little importance1 if we did not only know1 but sorely feel1 that there is a strong ,jacobin faction in this country1 which has long employed itself in speculating upon constitutions1 and to whom the circumstance of their government being home-bred and prescriptive seems no sort of recommendation4 ,what seemed to us to be the best system of liberty that a nation ever enjoyed to them seems the yoke of an intolerable slavery4 ,this speculative faction had long been at work4 ,the ,french ,revolution did not cause it3 it only discovered it1 increased it1 and gave fresh vigor to its operations4 ,i have reason to be persuaded that it was in this country1 and from ,english writers and ,english caballers1 that ,france herself was instituted in this revolutionary fury4 ,the communion of these two factions upon any pretended basis of similarity is a matter of very serious consideration4 ,they are always considering the formal distributions of power in a constitution3 the moral basis they consider as nothing4 ,very different is my opinion3 ,i consider the moral basis as everything1--the formal arrangements1 further than as they promote the moral principles of government1 and the keeping desperately wicked persons as the subjects of laws and not the makers of them1 to be of little importance4 ,what signifies the cutting and shuffling of cards1 while the pack still remains the same8 ,as a basis for such a connection as has subsisted between the powers of ,europe1 we had nothing to fear1 but from the lapses and frailties of men1--and that was enough2 but this new pretended republic has given us more to apprehend from what they call their virtues than we had to dread from the vices of other men4 ,avowedly and systematically1 they have given the upperhand to all the vicious and degenerate part of human nature4 ,it is from their lapses and deviations from their principle that alone we have anything to hope4 ,i hear another inducement to fraternity with the present rulers4 ,they have murdered one ,robespierre4 ,this ,robespierre1 they tell us1 was a cruel tyrant1 and now that he is put out of the way1 all will go well in ,france4 ,astra will again return to that earth from which she has been an emigrant1 and all nations will resort to her golden scales4 ,it is very extraordinary1 that1 the very instant the mode of ,paris is known here1 it becomes all the fashion in ,london4 ,this is their jargon4 ,it is the old bon-ton of robbers1 who cast their common crimes on the wickedness of their departed associates4 ,i care little about the memory of this same ,robespierre4 ,i am sure he was an execrable villain4 ,i rejoiced at his punishment neither more nor less than ,i should at the execution of the present ,directory1 or any of its members4 ,but who gave ,robespierre the power of being a tyrant8 and who were the instruments of his tyranny8 ,the present virtuous constitution-mongers4 ,he was a tyrant2 they were his satellites and his hangmen4 ,their sole merit is in the murder of their colleague4 ,they have expiated their other murders by a new murder4 ,it has always been the case among this banditti4 ,they have always had the knife at each other's throats1 after they had almost blunted it at the throats of every honest man4 ,these people thought1 that1 in the commerce of murder1 he was like to have the better of the bargain1 if any time was lost2 they therefore took one of their short revolutionary methods1 and massacred him in a manner so perfidious and cruel as would shock all humanity1 if the stroke was not struck by the present rulers on one of their own associates4 ,but this last act of infidelity and murder is to expiate all the rest1 and to qualify them for the amity of an humane and virtuous sovereign and civilized people4 ,i have heard that a ,tartar believes1 when he has killed a man1 that all his estimable qualities pass with his clothes and arms to the murderer2 but ,i have never heard that it was the opinion of any savage ,scythian1 that1 if he kills a brother villain1 he is1 ipso facto1 absolved of all his own offences4 ,the ,tartarian doctrine is the most tenable opinion4 ,the murderers of ,robespierre1 besides what they are entitled to by being engaged in the same tontine of infamy1 are his representatives1 have inherited all his murderous qualities1 in addition to their own private stock4 ,but it seems we are always to be of a party with the last and victorious assassins4 ,i confess ,i am of a different mind1 and am rather inclined1 of the two1 to think and speak less hardly of a dead ruffian than to associate with the living4 ,i could better bear the stench of the gibbeted murderer than the society of the bloody felons who yet annoy the world4 ,whilst they wait the recompense due to their ancient crimes1 they merit new punishment by the new offences they commit4 ,there is a period to the offences of ,robespierre4 ,they survive in his assassins4 ,better a living dog1 says the old proverb1 than a dead lion4 ,not so here4 ,murderers and hogs never look well till they are hanged4 ,from villany no good can arise1 but in the example of its fate4 ,so ,i leave them their dead ,robespierre1 either to gibbet his memory1 or to deify him in their ,pantheon with their ,marat and their ,mirabeau4 ,it is asserted that this government promises stability4 ,god of his mercy forbid6 ,if it should1 nothing upon earth besides itself can be stable4 ,we declare this stability to be the ground of our making peace with them4 ,assuming it1 therefore1 that the men and the system are what ,i have described1 and that they have a determined hostility against this country1--an hostility not only of policy1 but of predilection1--then ,i think that every rational being would go along with me in considering its permanence as the greatest of all possible evils4 ,if1 therefore1 we are to look for peace with such a thing in any of its monstrous shapes1 which ,i deprecate1 it must be in that state of disorder1 confusion1 discord1 anarchy1 and insurrection1 such as might oblige the momentary rulers to forbear their attempts on neighboring states1 or to render these attempts less operative1 if they should kindle new wars4 ,when was it heard before1 that the internal repose of a determined and wicked enemy1 and the strength of his government1 became the wish of his neighbor1 and a security1 against either his malice or his ambition8 ,the direct contrary has always been inferred from that state of things3 accordingly1 it has ever been the policy of those who would preserve themselves against the enterprises of such a malignant and mischievous power to cut out so much work for him in his own states as might keep his dangerous activity employed at home4 ,it is said1 in vindication of this system1 which demands the stability of the ,regicide power as a ground for peace with them1 that1 when they have obtained1 as now it is said 7though not by this noble author7 they have1 a permanent government1 they will be able to preserve amity with this kingdom1 and with others who have the misfortune to be in their neighborhood4 ,granted4 ,they will be able to do so1 without question2 but are they willing to do so8 ,produce the act2 produce the declaration4 ,have they made any single step towards it8 ,have they ever once proposed to treat8 ,the assurance of a stable peace1 grounded on the stability of their system1 proceeds on this hypothesis1--that their hostility to other nations has proceeded from their anarchy at home1 and from the prevalence of a populace which their government had not strength enough to master4 ,this ,i utterly deny4 ,i insist upon it as a fact1 that1 in the daring commencement of all their hostilities1 and their astonishing perseverance in them1 so as never once1 in any fortune1 high or low1 to propose a treaty of peace to any power in ,europe1 they have never been actuated by the people3 on the contrary1 the people1 ,i will not say have been moved1 but impelled by them1 and have generally acted under a compulsion1 of which most of us are as yet1 thank ,god1 unable to form an adequate idea4 ,the war against ,austria was formally declared by the unhappy ,louis the ,sixteenth2 but who has ever considered ,louis the ,sixteenth1 since the ,revolution1 to have been the government8 ,the second ,regicide ,assembly1 then the only government1 was the author of that war2 and neither the nominal king nor the nominal people had anything to do with it1 further than in a reluctant obedience4 ,it is to delude ourselves1 to consider the state of ,france1 since their ,revolution1 as a state of anarchy3 it is something far worse4 ,anarchy it is1 undoubtedly1 if compared with government pursuing the peace1 order1 morals1 and prosperity of the people2 but regarding only the power that has really guided from the day of the ,revolution to this time1 it has been of all governments the most absolute1 despotic1 and effective that has hitherto appeared on earth4 ,never were the views and politics of any government pursued with half the regularity1 system1 and method that a diligent observer must have contemplated with amazement and terror in theirs4 ,their state is not an anarchy1 but a series of short-lived tyrannies4 ,we do not call a republic with annual magistrates an anarchy3 theirs is that kind of republic2 but the succession is not effected by the expiration of the term of the magistrate's service1 but by his murder4 ,every new magistracy1 succeeding by homicide1 is auspicated by accusing its predecessors in the office of tyranny1 and it continues by the exercise of what they charged upon others4 ,this strong hand is the law1 and the sole law1 in their state4 ,i defy any person to show any other law1--or if any such should be found on paper1 that it is in the smallest degree1 or in any one instance1 regarded or practised4 ,in all their successions1 not one magistrate1 or one form of magistracy1 has expired by a mere occasional popular tumult2 everything has been the effect of the studied machinations of the one revolutionary cabal1 operating within itself upon itself4 ,that cabal is all in all4 ,france has no public2 it is the only nation ,i ever heard of1 where the people are absolutely slaves1 in the fullest sense1 in all affairs1 public and private1 great and small1 even down to the minutest and most recondite parts of their household concerns4 ,the helots of ,laconia1 the regardants to the manor in ,russia and in ,poland1 even the negroes in the ,west ,indies1 know nothing of so searching1 so penetrating1 so heart-breaking a slavery4 ,much would these servile wretches call for our pity under that unheard-of yoke1 if for their perfidious and unnatural rebellion1 and for their murder of the mildest of all monarchs1 they did not richly deserve a punishment not greater than their crime4 ,on the whole1 therefore1 ,i take it to be a great mistake to think that the want of power in the government furnished a natural cause of war2 whereas the greatness of its power1 joined to its use of that power1 the nature of its system1 and the persons who acted in it1 did naturally call for a strong military resistance to oppose them1 and rendered it not only just1 but necessary4 ,but at present ,i say no more on the genius and character of the power set up in ,france4 ,i may probably trouble you with it more at large hereafter3 this subject calls for a very full exposure3 at present it is enough for me1 if ,i point it out as a matter well worthy of consideration1 whether the true ground of hostility was not rightly conceived very early in this war1 and whether anything has happened to change that system1 except our ill success in a war which in no principal instance had its true destination as the object of its operations4 ,that the war has succeeded ill in many cases is undoubted2 but then let us speak the truth1 and say we are defeated1 exhausted1 dispirited1 and must submit4 ,this would be intelligible4 ,the world would be inclined to pardon the abject conduct of an undone nation4 ,but let us not conceal from ourselves our real situation1 whilst1 by every species of humiliation1 we are but too strongly displaying our sense of it to the enemy4 ,the writer of the ,remarks in the ,last ,week of ,october appears to think that the present government in ,france contains many of the elements which1 when properly arranged1 are known to form the best practical governments1--and that the system1 whatever may become its particular form1 is no longer likely to be an obstacle to negotiation4 ,if its form now be no obstacle to such negotiation1 ,i do not know why it was ever so4 ,suppose that this government promised greater permanency than any of the former1 7a point on which ,i can form no judgment17 still a link is wanting to couple the permanence of the government with the permanence of the peace4 ,on this not one word is said3 nor can there be1 in my opinion4 ,this deficiency is made up by strengthening the first ringlet of the chain1 that ought to be1 but that is not1 stretched to connect the two propositions4 ,all seems to be done1 if we can make out that the last ,french edition of ,regicide is like to prove stable4 ,as a prognostic of this stability1 it is said to be accepted by the people4 ,here again ,i join issue with the fraternizers1 and positively deny the fact4 ,some submission or other has been obtained1 by some means or other1 to every government that hitherto has been set up4 ,and the same submission would1 by the same means1 be obtained for any other project that the wit or folly of man could possibly devise4 ,the ,constitution of #agij was universally received4 ,the ,constitution which followed it1 under the name of a ,convention1 was universally submitted to4 ,the ,constitution of #agic was universally accepted4 ,unluckily1 this year's ,constitution1 which was formed1 and its genethliacon sung by the noble author while it was yet in embryo1 or was but just come bloody from the womb1 is the only one which in its very formation has been generally resisted by a very great and powerful party in many parts of the kingdom1 and particularly in the capital4 ,it never had a popular choice even in show3 those who arbitrarily erected the new building out of the old materials of their own ,convention were obliged to send for an army to support their work3 like brave gladiators1 they fought it out in the streets of ,paris1 and even massacred each other in their house of assembly1 in the most edifying manner1 and for the entertainment and instruction of their ,excellencies the foreign ambassadors1 who had a box in this constitutional amphitheatre of a free people4 ,at length1 after a terrible struggle1 the troops prevailed over the citizens4 ,the citizen soldiers1 the ever-famed national guards1 who had deposed and murdered their sovereign1 were disarmed by the inferior trumpeters of that rebellion4 ,twenty thousand regular troops garrison ,paris4 ,thus a complete military government is formed4 ,it has the strength1 and it may count on the stability1 of that kind of power4 ,this power is to last as long as the ,parisians think proper4 ,every other ground of stability1 but from military force and terror1 is clean out of the question4 ,to secure them further1 they have a strong corps of irregulars1 ready-armed4 ,thousands of those hell-hounds called ,terrorists1 whom they had shut up in prison1 on their last ,revolution1 as the satellites of tyranny1 are let loose on the people4 ,the whole of their government1 in its origination1 in its continuance1 in all its actions1 and in all its resources1 is force1 and nothing but force3 a forced constitution1 a forced election1 a forced subsistence1 a forced requisition of soldiers1 a forced loan of money4 ,they differ nothing from all the preceding usurpations1 but that to the same odium a good deal more of contempt is added4 ,in this situation1 notwithstanding all their military force1 strengthened with the undisciplined power of the ,terrorists1 and the nearly general disarming of ,paris1 there would almost certainly have been before this an insurrection against them1 but for one cause4 ,the people of ,france languish for peace4 ,they all despaired of obtaining it from the coalesced powers1 whilst they had a gang of professed regicides at their head2 and several of the least desperate republicans would have joined with better men to shake them wholly off1 and to produce something more ostensible1 if they had not been reiteratedly told that their sole hope of peace was the very contrary to what they naturally imagined3 that they must leave off their cabals and insurrections1 which could serve no purpose but to bring in that royalty which was wholly rejected by the coalesced kings2 that1 to satisfy them1 they must tranquilly1 if they could not cordially1 submit themselves to the tyranny and the tyrants they despised and abhorred4 ,peace was held out by the allied monarchies to the people of ,france1 as a bounty for supporting the ,republic of ,regicides4 ,in fact1 a coalition1 begun for the avowed purpose of destroying that den of robbers1 now exists only for their support4 ,if evil happens to the princes of ,europe from the success and stability of this infernal business1 it is their own absolute crime4 ,we are to understand1 however1 7for sometimes so the author hints17 that something stable in the ,constitution of ,regicide was required for our amity with it2 but the noble ,remarker is no more solicitous about this point than he is for the permanence of the whole body of his ,october speculations4 ,if1 says he1 speaking of the ,regicide1 they can obtain a practicable constitution1 even for a limited period of time1 they will be in a condition to reestablish the accustomed relations of peace and amity4 ,pray let us leave this bush-fighting4 ,what is meant by a limited period of time8 ,does it mean the direct contrary to the terms1 an unlimited period8 ,if it is a limited period1 what limitation does he fix as a ground for his opinion8 ,otherwise1 his limitation is unlimited4 ,if he only requires a constitution that will last while the treaty goes on1 ten days' existence will satisfy his demands4 ,he knows that ,france never did want a practicable constitution1 nor a government1 which endured for a limited period of time4 ,her constitutions were but too practicable2 and short as was their duration1 it was but too long4 ,they endured time enough for treaties which benefited themselves and have done infinite mischief to our cause4 ,but1 granting him his strange thesis1 that hitherto the mere form or the mere term of their constitutions1 and not their indisposition1 but their instability1 has been the cause of their not preserving the relations of amity1--how could a constitution which might not last half an hour after the noble lord's signature of the treaty1 in the company in which he must sign it1 insure its observance8 ,if you trouble yourself at all with their constitutions1 you are certainly more concerned with them after the treaty than before it1 as the observance of conventions is of infinitely more consequence than the making them4 ,can anything be more palpably absurd and senseless than to object to a treaty of peace for want of durability in constitutions which had an actual duration1 and to trust a constitution that at the time of the writing had not so much as a practical existence8 ,there is no way of accounting for such discourse in the mouths of men of sense1 but by supposing that they secretly entertain a hope that the very act of having made a peace with the ,regicides will give a stability to the ,regicide system4 ,this will not clear the discourse from the absurdity1 but it will account for the conduct1 which such reasoning so ill defends4 ,what a roundabout way is this to peace1--to make war for the destruction of regicides1 and then to give them peace in order to insure a stability that will enable them to observe it6 ,i say nothing of the honor displayed in such a system4 ,it is plain it militates with itself almost in all the parts of it4 ,in one part1 it supposes stability in their ,constitution1 as a ground of a stable peace2 in another part1 we are to hope for peace in a different way1--that is1 by splitting this brilliant orb into little stars1 and this would make the face of heaven so fine6 ,no1 there is no system upon which the peace which in humility we are to supplicate can possibly stand4 ,i believe1 before this time1 that the more form of a constitution1 in any country1 never was fixed as the sole ground of objecting to a treaty with it4 ,with other circumstances it may be of great moment4 ,what is incumbent on the assertors of the ,fourth ,week of ,october system to prove is not whether their then expected ,constitution was likely to be stable or transitory1 but whether it promised to this country and its allies1 and to the peace and settlement of all ,europe1 more good-will or more good faith than any of the experiments which have gone before it4 ,on these points ,i would willingly join issue4 ,observe first the manner in which the ,remarker describes 7very truly1 as ,i conceive7 the people of ,france under that auspicious government1 and then observe the conduct of that government to other nations4 ,the people without any established constitution2 distracted by popular convulsions2 in a state of inevitable bankruptcy2 without any commerce2 with their principal ports blockaded2 and without a fleet that could venture to face one of our detached squadrons4 ,admitting1 as fully as he has stated it1 this condition of ,france1 ,i would fain know how he reconciles this condition with his ideas of any kind of a practicable constitution1 or duration for a limited period1 which are his sine qua non of peace4 ,but passing by contradictions1 as no fair objections to reasoning1 this state of things would naturally1 at other times1 and in other governments1 have produced a disposition to peace1 almost on any terms4 ,but1 in that state of their country1 did the ,regicide government solicit peace or amity with other nations1 or even lay any specious grounds for it1 in propositions of affected moderation1 or in the most loose and general conciliatory language8 ,the direct contrary4 ,it was but a very few days before the noble writer had commenced his ,remarks1 as if it were to refute him by anticipation1 that his ,france thought fit to lay out a new territorial map of dominion1 and to declare to us and to all ,europe what territories she was willing to allot to her own empire1 and what she is content 7during her good pleasure7 to leave to others4 ,this their law of empire was promulgated without any requisition on that subject1 and proclaimed in a style and upon principles which never had been heard of in the annals of arrogance and ambition4 ,she prescribed the limits to her empire1 not upon principles of treaty1 convention1 possession1 usage1 habitude1 the distinction of tribes1 nations1 or languages1 but by physical aptitudes4 ,having fixed herself as the arbiter of physical dominion1 she construed the limits of ,nature by her convenience4 ,that was ,nature which most extended and best secured the empire of ,france4 ,i need say no more on the insult offered not only to all equity and justice1 but to the common sense of mankind1 in deciding legal property by physical principles1 and establishing the convenience of a party as a rule of public law4 ,the noble advocate for peace has1 indeed1 perfectly well exploded this daring and outrageous system of pride and tyranny4 ,i am most happy in commending him1 when he writes like himself4 ,but hear still further and in the same good strain the great patron and advocate of amity with this accommodating1 mild1 and unassuming power1 when he reports to you the law they give1 and its immediate effects3--,they amount1 says he1 to the sacrifice of powers that have been the most nearly connected with us1--the direct or indirect annexation to ,france of all the ports of the ,continent from ,dunkirk to ,hamburg1--an immense accession of territory1--and1 in one word1 ,,the ,,abandonment ,,of ,,the ,,independence ,,of ,,europe6 ,this is the ,,law 7the author and ,i use no different terms7 which this new government1 almost as soon as it could cry in the cradle1 and as one of the very first acts by which it auspicated its entrance into function1 the pledge it gives of the firmness of its policy1--such is the law that this proud power prescribes to abject nations4 ,what is the comment upon this law by the great jurist who recommends us to the tribunal which issued the decree8 ,an obedience to it would be 7says he7 dishonorable to us1 and exhibit us to the present age and to posterity as submitting to the law prescribed to us by our enemy4 ,here ,i recognize the voice of a ,british plenipotentiary3 ,i begin to feel proud of my country4 ,but1 alas6 the short date of human elevation6 ,the accents of dignity died upon his tongue4 ,this author will not assure us of his sentiments for the whole of a pamphlet2 but1 in the sole energetic part of it1 he does not continue the same through an whole sentence1 if it happens to be of any sweep or compass4 ,in the very womb of this last sentence1 pregnant1 as it should seem1 with a ,hercules1 there is formed a little bantling of the mortal race1 a degenerate1 puny parenthesis1 that totally frustrates our most sanguine views and expectations1 and disgraces the whole gestation4 ,here is this destructive parenthesis3 ,unless some adequate compensation be secured to us4 ,to us6 ,the ,christian world may shift for itself1 ,europe may groan in slavery1 we may be dishonored by receiving law from an enemy1--but all is well1 provided the compensation to us be adequate4 ,to what are we reserved8 ,an adequate compensation for the sacrifice of powers the most nearly connected with us2--an adequate compensation for the direct or indirect annexation to ,france of all the ports of the ,continent from ,dunkirk to ,hamburg2--an adequate compensation for the abandonment of the independence of ,europe6 ,would that1 when all our manly sentiments are thus changed1 our manly language were changed along with them1 and that the ,english tongue were not employed to utter what our ancestors never dreamed could enter into an ,english heart6 ,but let us consider this matter of adequate compensation4 ,who is to furnish it8 ,from what funds is it to be drawn8 ,is it by another treaty of commerce8 ,i have no objections to treaties of commerce upon principles of commerce4 ,traffic for traffic1--all is fair4 ,but commerce in exchange for empire1 for safety1 for glory6 ,we set out in our dealing with a miserable cheat upon ourselves4 ,i know it may be said1 that we may prevail on this proud1 philosophical1 military ,republic1 which looks down with contempt on trade1 to declare it unfit for the sovereign of nations to be eundem negotiatorem et dominum3 that1 in virtue of this maxim of her state1 the ,english in ,france may be permitted1 as the ,jews are in ,poland and in ,turkey1 to execute all the little inglorious occupations1--to be the sellers of new and the buyers of old clothes1 to be their brokers and factors1 and to be employed in casting up their debits and credits1 whilst the master ,republic cultivates the arts of empire1 prescribes the forms of peace to nations1 and dictates laws to a subjected world4 ,but are we quite sure1 that1 when we have surrendered half ,europe to them in hope of this compensation1 the ,republic will confer upon us those privileges of dishonor8 ,are we quite certain that she will permit us to farm the guillotine1--to contract for the provision of her twenty thousand ,bastiles1--to furnish transports for the myriads of her exiles to ,guiana1--to become commissioners for her naval stores1--or to engage for the clothing of those armies which are to subdue the poor relics of ,christian ,europe8 ,no6 ,she is bespoke by the ,jew subjects of her own ,amsterdam for all these services4 ,but if these1 or matters similar1 are not the compensations the ,remarker demands1 and that on consideration he finds them neither adequate nor certain1 who else is to be the chapman1 and to furnish the purchase-money1 at this market1 of all the grand principles of empire1 of law1 of civilization1 of morals1 and of religion1 where ,british faith and honor are to be sold by inch of candle8 ,who is to be the dedecorum pretiosus emptor8 ,is it the navis ,hispan magister8 ,is it to be furnished by the ,prince of ,peace8 ,unquestionably4 ,spain as yet possesses mines of gold and silver1 and may give us in pesos duros an adequate compensation for our honor and our virtue4 ,when these things are at all to be sold1 they are the vilest commodities at market4 ,it is full as singular as any of the other singularities in this work1 that the ,remarker1 talking so much as he does of cessions and compensations1 passes by ,spain in his general settlement1 as if there were no such country on the globe1--as if there were no ,spain in ,europe1 no ,spain in ,america4 ,but this great matter of political deliberation cannot be put out of our thoughts by his silence4 ,she has furnished compensations1--not to you1 but to ,france4 ,the ,regicide ,republic and the still nominally subsisting monarchy of ,spain are united1--and are united upon a principle of jealousy1 if not of bitter enmity1 to ,great ,britain4 ,the noble writer has here another matter for meditation4 ,it is not from ,dunkirk to ,hamburg that the ports are in the hands of ,france3 they are in the hands of ,france from ,hamburg to ,gibraltar4 ,how long the new dominion will last ,i cannot tell2 but ,france the ,republic has conquered ,spain1 and the ruling party in that court acts by her orders and exists by her power4 ,the noble writer1 in his views into futurity1 has forgotten to look back to the past4 ,if he chooses it1 he may recollect1 that1 on the prospect of the death of ,philip the ,fourth1 and still more on the event1 all ,europe was moved to its foundations4 ,in the treaties of partition that first were entered into1 and in the war that afterwards blazed out to prevent those crowns from being actually or virtually united in the ,house of ,bourbon1 the predominance of ,france in ,spain1 and above all1 in the ,spanish ,indies1 was the great object of all these movements in the cabinet and in the field4 ,the ,grand ,alliance was formed upon that apprehension4 ,on that apprehension the mighty war was continued during such a number of years as the degenerate and pusillanimous impatience of our dwindled race can hardly bear to have reckoned3 a war equal1 within a few years1 in duration1 and not1 perhaps1 inferior in bloodshed1 to any of those great contests for empire which in history make the most awful matter of recorded memory4 ,ad confligendum venientibus undique ,poenis1 ,omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu ,horrida contremuere sub altis theris auris1 ,in dubioque fuit sub utrorum regna cadendum ,omnibus humanis esset terrque marique4-- ,when this war was ended1 7,i cannot stay now to examine how17 the object of the war was the object of the treaty4 ,when it was found impracticable1 or less desirable than before1 wholly to exclude a branch of the ,bourbon race from that immense succession1 the point of ,utrecht was to prevent the mischiefs to arise from the influence of the greater upon the lesser branch4 ,his ,lordship is a great member of the diplomatic body2 he has1 of course1 all the fundamental treaties which make the public statute law of ,europe by heart3 and1 indeed1 no active member of ,parliament ought to be ignorant of their general tenor and leading provisions4 ,in the treaty which closed that war1 and of which it is a fundamental part1 because relating to the whole policy of the compact1 it was agreed that ,spain should not give anything from her territory in the ,west ,indies to ,france4 ,this article1 apparently onerous to ,spain1 was in truth highly beneficial4 ,but1 oh1 the blindness of the greatest statesman to the infinite and unlooked-for combinations of things which lie hid in the dark prolific womb of futurity6 ,the great trunk of ,bourbon is cut down2 the withered branch is worked up into the construction of a ,french ,regicide ,republic4 ,here we have formed a new1 unlooked-for1 monstrous1 heterogeneous alliance1--a double-natured monster1 republic above and monarchy below4 ,there is no centaur of fiction1 no poetic satyr of the woods1 nothing short of the hieroglyphic monsters of ,egypt1 dog in head and man in body1 that can give an idea of it4 ,none of these things can subsist in ,nature 7so1 at least1 it is thought72 but the moral world admits monsters which the physical rejects4 ,in this metamorphosis1 the first thing done by ,spain1 in the honey-moon of her new servitude1 was1 with all the hardihood of pusillanimity1 utterly to defy the most solemn treaties with ,great ,britain and the guaranty of ,europe4 ,she has yielded the largest and fairest part of one of the largest and fairest islands in the ,west ,indies1 perhaps on the globe1 to the usurped powers of ,france4 ,she completes the title of those powers to the whole of that important central island of ,hispaniola4 ,she has solemnly surrendered to the regicides and butchers of the ,bourbon family what that court never ventured1 perhaps never wished1 to bestow on the patriarchal stock of her own august house4 ,the noble negotiator takes no notice of this portentous junction and this audacious surrender4 ,the effect is no less than the total subversion of the balance of power in the ,west ,indies1 and indeed everywhere else4 ,this arrangement1 considered in itself1 but much more as it indicates a complete union of ,france with ,spain1 is truly alarming4 ,does he feel nothing of the change this makes in that part of his description of the state of ,france where he supposes her not able to face one of our detached squadrons8 ,does he feel nothing for the condition of ,portugal under this new coalition8 ,is it for this state of things he recommends our junction in that common alliance as a remedy8 ,it is surely already monstrous enough4 ,we see every standing principle of policy1 every old governing opinion of nations1 completely gone1 and with it the foundation of all their establishments4 ,can ,spain keep herself internally where she is1 with this connection8 ,does he dream that ,spain1 unchristian1 or even uncatholic1 can exist as a monarchy8 ,this author indulges himself in speculations of the division of the ,french ,republic4 ,i only say1 that with much greater reason he might speculate on the republicanism and the subdivision of ,spain4 ,it is not peace with ,france which secures that feeble government2 it is that peace which1 if it shall continue1 decisively ruins ,spain4 ,such a peace is not the peace which the remnant of ,christianity celebrates at this holy season4 ,in it there is no glory to ,god on high1 and not the least tincture of good-will to man4 ,what things we have lived to see6 ,the ,king of ,spain in a group of ,moors1 ,jews1 and ,renegadoes2 and the clergy taxed to pay for his conversion6 ,the ,catholic ,king in the strict embraces of the most ,unchristian ,republic6 ,i hope we shall never see his ,apostolic ,majesty1 his ,faithful ,majesty1 and the ,king1 ,defender of the ,faith1 added to that unhallowed and impious fraternity4 ,the noble author has glimpses of the consequences of peace1 as well as ,i4 ,he feels for the colonies of ,great ,britain1 one of the principal resources of our commerce and our naval power1 if piratical ,france shall be established1 as he knows she must be1 in the ,west ,indies1 if we sue for peace on such terms as they may condescend to grant us4 ,he feels that their very colonial system for the interior is not compatible with the existence of our colonies4 ,i tell him1 and doubt not ,i shall be able to demonstrate1 that1 being what she is1 if she possesses a rock there1 we cannot be safe4 ,has this author had in his view the transactions between the ,regicide ,republic and the yet nominally subsisting monarchy of ,spain8 ,i bring this matter under your ,lordship's consideration1 that you may have a more complete view than this author chooses to give of the true ,france you have to deal with1 as to its nature1 and to its force and its disposition4 ,mark it1 my ,lord1 ,france1 in giving her law to ,spain1 stipulated for none of her indemnities in ,europe1 no enlargement whatever of her frontier4 ,whilst we are looking for indemnities from ,france1 betraying our own safety in a sacrifice of the independence of ,europe1 ,france secures hers by the most important acquisition of territory ever made in the ,west ,indies since their first settlement4 ,she appears 7it is only in appearance7 to give up the frontier of ,spain2 and she is compensated1 not in appearance1 but in reality1 by a territory that makes a dreadful frontier to the colonies of ,great ,britain4 ,it is sufficiently alarming that she is to have the possession of this great island4 ,but all the ,spanish colonies1 virtually1 are hers4 ,is there so puny a whipster in the petty form of the school of politics who can be at a loss for the fate of the ,british colonies1 when he combines the ,french and ,spanish consolidation with the known critical and dubious dispositions of the ,united ,states of ,america1 as they are at present1 but which1 when a peace is made1 when the basis of a ,regicide ascendency in ,spain is laid1 will no longer be so good as dubious and critical8 ,but ,i go a great deal further2 and on much consideration of the condition and circumstances of the ,west ,indies1 and of the genius of this new republic1 as it has operated and is likely to operate on them1 ,i say1 that1 if a single rock in the ,west ,indies is in the hands of this transatlantic ,morocco1 we have not an hour's safety there4 ,the ,remarker1 though he slips aside from the main consideration1 seems aware that this arrangement1 standing as it does1 in the ,west ,indies1 leaves us at the mercy of the new coalition1 or rather at the mercy of the sole guiding part of it4 ,he does not1 indeed1 adopt a supposition such as ,i make1 who am confident that anything which can give them a single good port and opportune piratical station there would lead to our ruin3 the author proceeds upon an idea that the ,regicides may be an existing and considerable territorial power in the ,west ,indies1 and1 of course1 her piratical system more dangerous and as real4 ,however1 for that desperate case he has an easy remedy2 but1 surely1 in his whole shop there is nothing so extraordinary4 ,it is1 that we three1 ,france1 ,spain1 and ,england1 7there are no other of any moment17 should adopt some analogy in the interior systems of government in the several islands which we may respectively retain after the closing of the war4 ,this plainly can be done only by a convention between the parties2 and ,i believe it would be the first war ever made to terminate in an analogy of the interior government of any country1 or any parts of such countries4 ,such a partnership in domestic government is1 ,i think1 carrying fraternity as far as it will go4 ,it will be an affront to your sagacity to pursue this matter into all its details3 suffice it to say1 that1 if this convention for analogous domestic government is made1 it immediately gives a right for the residence of a consul 7in all likelihood some negro or man of color7 in every one of your islands2 a ,regicide ambassador in ,london will be at all your meetings of ,west ,india merchants and planters1 and1 in effect1 in all our colonial councils4 ,not one order of ,council can hereafter be made1 or any one act of ,parliament relative to the ,west ,india colonies even be agitated1 which will not always afford reasons for protests and perpetual interference2 the ,regicide ,republic will become an integral part of the colonial legislature1 and1 so far as the colonies are concerned1 of the ,british too4 ,but it will be still worse3 as all our domestic affairs are interlaced more or less intimately with our external1 this intermeddling must everywhere insinuate itself into all other interior transactions1 and produce a copartnership in our domestic concerns of every description4 ,such are the plain1 inevitable consequences of this arrangement of a system1 of analogous interior government4 ,on the other hand1 without it1 the author assures us1 and in this ,i heartily agree with him1 that the correspondence and communications between the neighboring colonies will be great1 that the disagreements will be incessant1 and that causes even of national quarrels will arise from day to day4 ,most true4 ,but1 for the reasons ,i have given1 the case1 if possible1 will be worse by the proposed remedy1 by the triple fraternal interior analogy1--an analogy itself most fruitful1 and more foodful than the old ,ephesian statue with the three tier of breasts4 ,your ,lordship must also observe how infinitely this business must be complicated by our interference in the slow-paced ,saturnian movements of ,spain and the rapid parabolic flights of ,france4 ,but such is the disease1--such is the cure1--such is1 and must be1 the effect of ,regicide vicinity4 ,but what astonishes me is1 that the negotiator1 who has certainly an exercised understanding1 did not see that every person habituated to such meditations must necessarily pursue the train of thought further than he has carried it1 and must ask himself whether what he states so truly of the necessity of our arranging an analogous interior government1 in consequence of the vicinity of our possessions1 in the ,west ,indies1 does not as extensively apply1 and much more forcibly1 to the circumstance of our much nearer vicinity with the parent and author of this mischief4 ,i defy even his acuteness and ingenuity to show me any one point in which the cases differ1 except that it is plainly more necessary in ,europe than in ,america4 ,indeed1 the further we trace the details of the proposed peace1 the more your ,lordship will be satisfied that ,i have not been guilty of any abuse of terms1 when ,i use indiscriminately 7as ,i always do1 in speaking of arrangements with ,regicide7 the words peace and fraternity4 ,an analogy between our interior governments must be the consequence4 ,the noble negotiator sees it as well as ,i do4 ,i deprecate this ,jacobin interior analogy4 ,but hereafter1 perhaps1 ,i may say a good deal more upon this part of the subject4 ,the noble lord insists on very little more than on the excellence of their ,constitution1 the hope of their dwindling into little republics1 and this close copartnership in government4 ,i hear of others1 indeed1 that offer by other arguments to reconcile us to this peace and fraternity4 ,the ,regicides1 they say1 have renounced the creed of the ,rights of ,man1 and declared equality a chimera4 ,this is still more strange than all the rest4 ,they have apostatized from their apostasy4 ,they are renegadoes from that impious faith for which they subverted the ancient government1 murdered their king1 and imprisoned1 butchered1 confiscated1 and banished their fellow-subjects1 and to which they forced every man to swear at the peril of his life4 ,and now1 to reconcile themselves to the world1 they declare this creed1 bought by so much blood1 to be an imposture and a chimera4 ,i have no doubt that they always thought it to be so1 when they were destroying everything at home and abroad for its establishment4 ,it is no strange thing1 to those who look into the nature of corrupted man1 to find a violent persecutor a perfect unbeliever of his own creed4 ,but this is the very first time that any man or set of men were hardy enough to attempt to lay the ground of confidence in them by an acknowledgment of their own falsehood1 fraud1 hypocrisy1 treachery1 heterodox doctrine1 persecution1 and cruelty4 ,everything we hear from them is new1 and1 to use a phrase of their own1 revolutionary2 everything supposes a total revolution in all the principles of reason1 prudence1 and moral feeling4 ,if possible1 this their recantation of the chief parts in the canon of the ,rights of ,man is more infamous and causes greater horror than their originally promulgating and forcing down the throats of mankind that symbol of all evil4 ,it is raking too much into the dirt and ordure of human nature to say more of it4 ,i hear it said1 too1 that they have lately declared in favor of property4 ,this is exactly of the same sort with the former4 ,what need had they to make this declaration1 if they did not know that by their doctrines and practices they had totally subverted all property8 ,what government of ,europe1 either in its origin or its continuance1 has thought it necessary to declare itself in favor of property8 ,the more recent ones were formed for its protection against former violations2 the old consider the inviolability of property and their own existence as one and the same thing1 and that a proclamation for its safety would be sounding an alarm on its danger4 ,but the ,regicide banditti knew that this was not the first time they have been obliged to give such assurances1 and had as often falsified them4 ,they knew1 that1 after butchering hundreds of men1 women1 and children1 for no other cause than to lay hold on their property1 such a declaration might have a chance of encouraging other nations to run the risk of establishing a commercial house amongst them4 ,it is notorious1 that these very ,jacobins1 upon an alarm of the shopkeeper of ,paris1 made this declaration in favor of property4 ,these brave fellows received the apprehensions expressed on that head with indignation1 and said that property could be in no danger1 because all the world knew it was under the protection of the sans-culottes4 ,at what period did they not give this assurance8 ,did they not give it2 when they fabricated their first ,constitution8 ,did they not then solemnly declare it one of the rights of a citizen 7a right1 of course1 only declared1 and not then fabricated7 to depart from his country1 and choose another domicilium1 without detriment to his property8 ,did they not declare that no property should be confiscated from the children for the crime of the parent8 ,can they now declare more fully their respect for property than they did at that time8 ,and yet was there ever known such horrid violences and confiscations as instantly followed under the very persons now in power1 many of them leading members of that ,assembly1 and all of them violators of that engagement which was the very basis of their republic1--confiscations in which hundreds of men1 women1 and children1 not guilty of one act of duty in resisting their usurpation1 were involved8 ,this keeping of their old is1 then1 to give us a confidence in their new engagements4 ,but examine the matter1 and you will see that the prevaricating sons of violence give no relief at all1 where at all it can be wanted4 ,they renew their old fraudulent declaration against confiscations1 and then they expressly exclude all adherents to their ancient lawful government from any benefit of it3 that is to say1 they promise that they will secure all their brother plunderers in their share of the common plunder4 ,the fear of being robbed by every new succession of robbers1 who do not keep even the faith of that kind of society1 absolutely required that they should give security to the dividends of spoil1 else they could not exist a moment4 ,but it was necessary1 in giving security to robbers1 that honest men should be deprived of all hope of restitution2 and thus their interests were made utterly and eternally incompatible4 ,so that it appears that this boasted security of property is nothing more than a seal put upon its destruction2 this ceasing of confiscation is to secure the confiscators against the innocent proprietors4 ,that very thing which is held out to you as your cure is that which makes your malady1 and renders it1 if once it happens1 utterly incurable4 ,you1 my ,lord1 who possess a considerable1 though not an invidious estate1 may be well assured1 that1 if1 by being engaged1 as you assuredly would be1 in the defence of your religion1 your king1 your order1 your laws1 and liberties1 that estate should be put under confiscation1 the property would be secured1 but in the same manner1 at your expense4 ,but1 after all1 for what purpose are we told of this reformation in their principles1 and what is the policy of all this softening in ours1 which is to be produced by their example8 ,it is not to soften us to suffering innocence and virtue1 but to mollify us to the crimes and to the society of robbers and ruffians4 ,but ,i trust that our countrymen will not be softened to that kind of crimes and criminals2 for1 if we should1 our hearts will be hardened to everything which has a claim on our benevolence4 ,a kind ,providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel1 in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice4 ,they who bear cruelty are accomplices in it4 ,the pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancor produces an indifference which is half an approbation4 ,they never will love where they ought to love1 who do not hate where they ought to hate4 ,there is another piece of policy1 not more laudable than this1 in reading these moral lectures1 which lessens our hatred to criminals and our pity to sufferers by insinuating that it has been owing to their fault or folly that the latter have become the prey of the former4 ,by flattering us that we are not subject to the same vices and follies1 it induces a confidence that we shall not suffer the same evils by a contact with the infamous gang of robbers who have thus robbed and butchered our neighbors before our faces4 ,we must not be flattered to our ruin4 ,our vices are the same as theirs1 neither more nor less4 ,if any faults we had1 which wanted this ,french example to call us to a softening of character1 and a review of our social relations and duties1 there is yet no sign that we have commenced our reformation4 ,we seem1 by the best accounts ,i have from the world1 to go on just as formerly1 some to undo1 and some to be undone4 ,there is no change at all3 and if we are not bettered by the sufferings of war1 this peace1 which1 for reasons to himself best known1 the author fixes as the period of our reformation1 must have something very extraordinary in it2 because hitherto ease1 opulence1 and their concomitant pleasure have never greatly disposed mankind to that serious reflection and review which the author supposes to be the result of the approaching peace with vice and crime4 ,i believe he forms a right estimate of the nature of this peace1 and that it will want many of those circumstances which formerly characterizes that state of things4 ,if ,i am right in my ideas of this new republic1 the different states of peace and war will make no difference in her pursuits4 ,it is not an enemy of accident that we have to deal with4 ,enmity to us1 and to all civilized nations1 is wrought into the very stamina of its ,constitution4 ,it was made to pursue the purposes of that fundamental enmity4 ,the design will go on regularly in every position and in every relation4 ,their hostility is to break us to their dominion2 their amity is to debauch us to their principles4 ,in the former1 we are to contend with their force2 in the latter1 with their intrigues4 ,but we stand in a very different posture of defence in the two situations4 ,in war1 so long as government is supported1 we fight with the whole united force of the kingdom4 ,when under the name of peace the war of intrigue begins1 we do not contend against our enemies with the whole force of the kingdom4 ,no1--we shall have to fight1 7if it should be a fight at all1 and not an ignominious surrender of everything which has made our country venerable in our eyes and dear to our hearts17 we shall have to light with but a portion of our strength against the whole of theirs4 ,gentlemen who not long since thought with us1 but who now recommend a ,jacobin peace1 were at that time sufficiently aware of the existence of a dangerous ,jacobin faction within this kingdom4 ,awhile ago they seemed to be tremblingly alive to the number of those who composed it1 to their dark subtlety1 to their fierce audacity1 to their admiration of everything that passes in ,france1 to their eager desire of a close communication with the mother faction there4 ,at this moment1 when the question is upon the opening of that communication1 not a word of our ,english ,jacobins4 ,that faction is put out of sight and out of thought4 ,it vanished at the crowing of the cock4 ,scarcely had the ,gallic harbinger of peace and light begun to utter his lively notes1 than all the cackling of us poor ,tory geese to alarm the garrison of the ,capitol was forgot4#aa ,there was enough of indemnity before4 ,now a complete act of oblivion is passed about the ,jacobins of ,england1 though one would naturally imagine it would make a principal object in all fair deliberation upon the merits of a project of amity with the ,jacobins of ,france4 ,but however others may choose to forget the faction1 the faction does not choose to forget itself1 nor1 however gentlemen may choose to flatter themselves1 it does not forget them4 ,never1 in any civil contest1 has a part been taken with more of the warmth1 or carried on with more of the arts of a party4 ,the ,jacobins are worse than lost to their country4 ,their hearts are abroad4 ,their sympathy with the ,regicides of ,france is complete4 ,just as in a civil contest1 they exult in all their victories1 they are dejected and mortified in all their defeats4 ,nothing that the ,regicides can do 7and they have labored hard for the purpose7 can alienate them from their cause4 ,you and ,i1 my dear ,lord1 have often observed on the spirit of their conduct4 ,when the ,jacobins of ,france1 by their studied1 deliberated1 catalogued files of murders with the poniard1 the sabre1 and the tribunal1 have shocked whatever remained of human sensibility in our breasts1 then it was they distinguished the resources of party policy4 ,they did not venture directly to confront the public sentiment2 for a very short time they seemed to partake of it4 ,they began with a reluctant and sorrowful confession2 they deplored the stains which tarnished the lustre of a good cause4 ,after keeping a decent time of retirement1 in a few days crept out an apology for the excesses of men cruelly irritated by the attacks of unjust power4 ,grown bolder1 as the first feeling of mankind decayed and the color of these horrors began to fade upon the imagination1 they proceeded from apology to defence4 ,they urged1 but still deplored1 the absolute necessity of such a proceeding4 ,then they made a bolder stride1 and marched from defence to recrimination4 ,they attempted to assassinate the memory of those whose bodies their friends had massacred1 and to consider their murder as a less formal act of justice4 ,they endeavored even to debauch our pity1 and to suborn it in favor of cruelty4 ,they wept over the lot of those who were driven by the crimes of aristocrats to republican vengeance4 ,every pause of their cruelty they considered as a return of their natural sentiments of benignity and justice4 ,then they had recourse to history1 and found out all the recorded cruelties that deform the annals of the world1 in order that the massacres of the ,regicides might pass for a common event1 and even that the most merciful of princes1 who suffered by their hands1 should bear the iniquity of all the tyrants who have at any time infested the earth4 ,in order to reconcile us the better to this republican tyranny1 they confounded the bloodshed of war with the murders of peace2 and they computed how much greater prodigality of blood was exhibited in battles and in the storm of cities than in the frugal1 well-ordered massacres of the revolutionary tribunals of ,france4 ,as to foreign powers1 so long as they were conjoined with ,great ,britain in this contest1 so long they were treated as the most abandoned tyrants1 and1 indeed1 the basest of the human race4 ,the moment any of them quits the cause of this government1 and of all governments1 he is rehabilitated1 his honor is restored1 all attainders are purged4 ,the friends of ,jacobins are no longer despots2 the betrayers of the common cause are no longer traitors4 ,that you may not doubt that they look on this war as a civil war1 and the ,jacobins of ,france as of their party1 and that they look upon us1 though locally their countrymen1 in reality as enemies1 they have never failed to run a parallel between our late civil war and this war with the ,jacobins of ,france4 ,they justify their partiality to those ,jacobins by the partiality which was shown by several here to the ,colonies1 and they sanction their cry for peace with the ,regicides of ,france by some of our propositions for peace with the ,english in ,america4 ,this ,i do not mention as entering into the controversy how far they are right or wrong in this parallel1 but to show that they do make it1 and that they do consider themselves as of a party with the ,jacobins of ,france4 ,you cannot forget their constant correspondence with the ,jacobins1 whilst it was in their power to carry it on4 ,when the communication is again opened1 the interrupted correspondence will commence4 ,we cannot be blind to the advantage which such a party affords to ,regicide ,france in all her views1--and1 on the other hand1 what an advantage ,regicide ,france holds out to the views of the republican party in ,england4 ,slightly as they have considered their subject1 ,i think this can hardly have escaped the writers of political ephemerides for any month or year4 ,they have told us much of the amendment of the ,regicides of ,france1 and of their returning honor and generosity4 ,have they told anything of the reformation and of the returning loyalty of the ,jacobins of ,england8 ,have they told us of their gradual softening towards royalty8 ,have they told us what measures they are taking for putting the crown in commission1 and what approximations of any kind they are making towards the old ,constitution of their country8 ,nothing of this4 ,the silence of these writers is dreadfully expressive4 ,they dare not touch the subject4 ,but it is not annihilated by their silence1 nor by our indifference4 ,it is but too plain that our ,constitution cannot exist with such a communication4 ,our humanity1 our manners1 our morals1 our religion1 cannot stand with such a communication4 ,the ,constitution is made by those things1 and for those things3 without them it cannot exist2 and without them it is no matter whether it exists or not4 ,it was an ingenious ,parliamentary ,christmas play1 by which1 in both ,houses1 you anticipated the holidays2 it was a relaxation from your graver employment2 it was a pleasant discussion you had1 which part of the family of the ,constitution was the elder branch1--whether one part did not exist prior to the others1 and whether it might exist and flourish1 if the others were cast into the fire4#ab ,in order to make this ,saturnalian amusement general in the family1 you sent it down stairs1 that judges and juries might partake of the entertainment4 ,the unfortunate antiquary and augur who is the butt of all this sport may suffer in the roistering horse-play and practical jokes of the servants' hall4 ,but whatever may become of him1 the discussion itself1 and the timing it1 put me in mind of what ,i have read1 7where ,i do not recollect17 that the subtle nation of the ,greeks were busily employed1 in the ,church of ,santa ,sophia1 in a dispute of mixed natural philosophy1 metaphysics1 and theology1 whether the light on ,mount ,tabor was created or uncreated1 and were ready to massacre the holders of the unfashionable opinion1 at the very moment when the ferocious enemy of all philosophy and religion1 ,mahomet the ,second1 entered through a breach into the capital of the ,christian world4 ,i may possibly suffer much more than ,mr4 ,reeves 7,i shall certainly give much more general offence7 for breaking in upon this constitutional amusement concerning the created or uncreated nature of the two ,houses of ,parliament1 and by calling their attention to a problem which may entertain them less1 but which concerns them a great deal more1--that is1 whether1 with this ,gallic ,jacobin fraternity1 which they are desired by some writers to court1 all the parts of the government1 about whose combustible or incombustible qualities they are contending1 may not be cast into the fire together4 ,he is a strange visionary 7but he is nothing worse7 who fancies that any one part of our ,constitution1 whatever right of primogeniture it may claim1 or whatever astrologers may divine from its horoscope1 can possibly survive the others4 ,as they have lived1 so they will die1 together4 ,i must do justice to the impartiality of the ,jacobins4 ,i have not observed amongst them the least predilection for any of those parts4 ,if there has been any difference in their malice1 ,i think they have shown a worse disposition to the ,house of ,commons than to the crown4 ,as to the ,house of ,lords1 they do not speculate at all about it1 and for reasons that are too obvious to detail4 ,the question will be concerning the effect of this ,french fraternity on the whole mass4 ,have we anything to apprehend from ,jacobin communication1 or have we not8 ,if we have not1 is it by our experience before the war that we are to presume that after the war no dangerous communion can exist between those who are well affected to the new ,constitution of ,france and ill affected to the old ,constitution here8 ,in conversation ,i have not yet found nor heard of any persons1 except those who undertake to instruct the public1 so unconscious of the actual state of things1 or so little prescient of the future1 who do not shudder all over and feel a secret horror at the approach of this communication4 ,i do not except from this observation those who are willing1 more than ,i find myself disposed1 to submit to this fraternity4 ,never has it been mentioned in my hearing1 or from what ,i can learn in my inquiry1 without the suggestion of an ,alien ,bill1 or some other measures of the same nature1 as a defence against its manifest mischief4 ,who does not see the utter insufficiency of such a remedy1 if such a remedy could be at all adopted8 ,we expel suspected foreigners from hence2 and we suffer every ,englishman to pass over into ,france to be initiated in all the infernal discipline of the place1 to cabal and to be corrupted by every means of cabal and of corruption1 and then to return to ,england1 charged with their worst dispositions and designs4 ,in ,france he is out of the reach of your police2 and when he returns to ,england1 one such ,english emissary is worse than a legion of ,french1 who are either tongue-tied1 or whose speech betrays them4 ,but the worst aliens are the ambassador and his train4 ,these you cannot expel without a proof 7always difficult7 of direct practice against the state4 ,a ,french ambassador1 at the head of a ,french party1 is an evil which we have never experienced4 ,the mischief is by far more visible than the remedy4 ,but1 after all1 every such measure as an ,alien ,bill is a measure of hostility1 a preparation for it1 or a cause of dispute that shall bring it on4 ,in effect1 it is fundamentally contrary to a relation of amity1 whose essence is a perfectly free communication4 ,everything done to prevent it will provoke a foreign war4 ,everything1 when we let it proceed1 will produce domestic distraction4 ,we shall be in a perpetual dilemma4 ,but it is easy to see which side of the dilemma will be taken4 ,the same temper which brings us to solicit a ,jacobin peace will induce us to temporize with all the evils of it4 ,by degrees our minds will be made to our circumstances4 ,the novelty of such things1 which produces half the horror and all the disgust1 will be worn off4 ,our ruin will be disguised in profit1 and the sale of a few wretched baubles will bribe a degenerate people to barter away the most precious jewel of their souls4 ,our ,constitution is not made for this kind of warfare4 ,it provides greatly for our happiness1 it furnishes few means for our defence4 ,it is formed1 in a great measure1 upon the principle of jealousy of the crown1--and as things stood1 when it took that turn1 with very great reason4 ,i go farther3 it must keep alive some part of that fire of jealousy eternally and chastely burning1 or it cannot be the ,british ,constitution4 ,at various periods we have had tyranny in this country1 more than enough4 ,we have had rebellions with more or less justification4 ,some of our kings have made adulterous connections abroad1 and trucked away for foreign gold the interests and glory of their crown4 ,but1 before this time1 our liberty has never been corrupted4 ,i mean to say1 that it has never been debauched from its domestic relations4 ,to this time it has been ,english liberty1 and ,english liberty only4 ,our love of liberty and our love of our country were not distinct things4 ,liberty is now1 it seems1 put upon a larger and more liberal bottom4 ,we are men1--and as men1 undoubtedly1 nothing human is foreign to us4 ,we cannot be too liberal in our general wishes for the happiness of our kind4 ,but in all questions on the mode of procuring it for any particular community1 we ought to be fearful of admitting those who have no interest in it1 or who have1 perhaps1 an interest against it1 into the consultation4 ,above all1 we cannot be too cautious in our communication with those who seek their happiness by other roads than those of humanity1 morals1 and religion1 and whose liberty consists1 and consists alone1 in being free from those restraints which are imposed by the virtues upon the passions4 ,when we invite danger from a confidence in defensive measures1 we ought1 first of all1 to be sure that it is a species of danger against which any defensive measures that can be adopted will be sufficient4 ,next1 we ought to know that the spirit of our laws1 or that our own dispositions1 which are stronger than laws1 are susceptible of all those defensive measures which the occasion may require4 ,a third consideration is1 whether these measures will not bring more odium than strength to government2 and the last1 whether the authority that makes them1 in a general corruption of manners and principles1 can insure their execution4 ,let no one argue1 from the state of things1 as he sees them at present1 concerning what will be the means and capacities of government1 when the time arrives which shall call for remedies commensurate to enormous evils4 ,it is an obvious truth1 that no constitution can defend itself3 it must be defended by the wisdom and fortitude of men4 ,these are what no constitution can give3 they are the gifts of ,god2 and ,he alone knows whether we shall possess such gifts at the time we stand in need of them4 ,constitutions furnish the civil means of getting at the natural3 it is all that in this case they can do4 ,but our ,constitution has more impediments than helps4 ,its excellencies1 when they come to be put to this sort of proof1 may be found among its defects4 ,nothing looks more awful and imposing than an ancient fortification4 ,its lofty1 embattled walls1 its bold1 projecting1 rounded towers1 that pierce the sky1 strike the imagination and promise inexpugnable strength4 ,but they are the very things that make its weakness4 ,you may as well think of opposing one of these old fortresses to the mass of artillery brought by a ,french irruption into the field as to think of resisting by your old laws and your old forms the new destruction which the corps of ,jacobin engineers of to-day prepare for all such forms and all such laws4 ,besides the debility and false principle of their construction to resist the present modes of attack1 the fortress itself is in ruinous repair1 and there is a practicable breach in every part of it4 ,such is the work4 ,but miserable works have been defended by the constancy of the garrison4 ,weather-beaten ships have been brought safe to port by the spirit and alertness of the crew4 ,but it is here that we shall eminently fail4 ,the day that1 by their consent1 the seat of ,regicide has its place among the thrones of ,europe1 there is no longer a motive for zeal in their favor2 it will at best be cold1 unimpassioned1 dejected1 melancholy duty4 ,the glory will seem all on the other side4 ,the friends of the crown will appear1 not as champions1 but as victims2 discountenanced1 mortified1 lowered1 defeated1 they will fall into listlessness and indifference4 ,they will leave things to take their course1 enjoy the present hour1 and submit to the common fate4 ,is it only an oppressive nightmare with which we have been loaded8 ,is it1 then1 all a frightful dream1 and are there no regicides in the world8 ,have we not heard of that prodigy of a ruffian who would not suffer his benignant sovereign1 with his hands tied behind him1 and stripped for execution1 to say one parting word to his deluded people1--of ,santerre1 who commanded the drums and trumpets to strike up to stifle his voice1 and dragged him backward to the machine of murder6 ,this nefarious villain 7for a few days ,i may call him so7 stands high in ,france1 as in a republic of robbers and murderers he ought4 ,what hinders this monster from being sent as ambassador to convey to his ,majesty the first compliments of his brethren1 the ,regicide ,directory8 ,they have none that can represent them more properly4 ,i anticipate the day of his arrival4 ,he will make his public entry into ,london on one of the pale horses of his brewery4 ,as he knows that we are pleased with the ,paris taste for the orders of knighthood1#ac he will fling a bloody sash across his shoulders1 with the order of the holy guillotine surmounting the crown appendant to the riband4 ,thus adorned1 he will proceed from ,whitechapel to the further end of ,pall ,mall1 all the music of ,london playing the ,marseillaise ,hymn before him1 and escorted by a chosen detachment of the ,lgion de l'chafaud4 ,it were only to be wished that no ill-fated loyalist1 for the imprudence of his zeal1 may stand in the pillory at ,charing ,cross1 under the statue of ,king ,charles the ,first1 at the time of this grand procession1 lest some of the rotten eggs which the ,constitutional ,society shall let fly at his indiscreet head may hit the virtuous murderer of his king4 ,they might soil the state dress which the ministers of so many crowned heads have admired1 and in which ,sir ,clement ,cotterel is to introduce him at ,st4 ,james's4 ,if ,santerre cannot be spared from the constitutional butcheries at home1 ,tallien may supply his place1 and1 in point of figure1 with advantage4 ,he has been habituated to commissions2 and he is as well qualified as ,santerre for this4 ,nero wished the ,roman people had but one neck4 ,the wish of the more exalted ,tallien1 when he sat in judgment1 was1 that his sovereign had eighty-three heads1 that he might send one to every one of the ,departments4 ,tallien will make an excellent figure at ,guildhall at the next ,sheriff's feast4 ,he may open the ball with my ,lady ,mayoress4 ,but this will be after he has retired from the public table1 and gone into the private room for the enjoyment of more social and unreserved conversation with the ministers of state and the judges of the bench4 ,there these ministers and magistrates will hear him entertain the worthy aldermen with an instructing and pleasing narrative of the manner in which he made the rich citizens of ,bordeaux squeak1 and gently led them by the public credit of the guillotine to disgorge their anti-revolutionary pelf4 ,all this will be the display1 and the town-talk1 when our regicide is on a visit of ceremony4 ,at home nothing will equal the pomp and splendor of the ,htel de la ,rpublique4 ,there another scene of gaudy grandeur will be opened4 ,when his ,citizen ,excellency keeps the festival1 which every citizen is ordered to observe1 for the glorious execution of ,louis the ,sixteenth1 and renews his oath of detestation of kings1 a grand ball of course will be given on the occasion4 ,then what a hurly-burly6 what a crowding6 what a glare of a thousand flambeaux in the square6 what a clamor of footmen contending at the door6 what a rattling of a thousand coaches of duchesses1 countesses1 and ,lady ,marys1 choking the way1 and overturning each other1 in a struggle who should be first to pay her court to the ,citoyenne1 the spouse of the twenty-first husband1 he the husband of the thirty-first wife1 and to hail her in the rank of honorable matrons before the four days' duration of marriage is expired6--,morals1 as they were1 decorum1 the great outguard of the sex1 and the proud sentiment of honor1 which makes virtue more respectable1 where it is1 and conceals human frailty1 where virtue may not be1 will be banished from this land of propriety1 modesty1 and reserve4 ,we had before an ambassador from the most ,christian ,king4 ,we shall have then one1 perhaps two1 as lately1 from the most ,anti-,christian ,republic4 ,his chapel will be great and splendid1 formed on the model of the ,temple of ,reason at ,paris2 while the famous ode of the infamous ,chnier will be sung1 and a prostitute of the street adored as a goddess4 ,we shall then have a ,french ambassador without a suspicion of ,popery4 ,one good it will have3 it will go some way in quieting the minds of that synod of zealous ,protestant lay elders who govern ,ireland on the pacific principles of polemic theology1 and who now1 from dread of the ,pope1 cannot take a cool bottle of claret1 or enjoy an innocent ,parliamentary job1 with any tolerable quiet4 ,so far as to the ,french communication here3--what will be the effect of our communication there8 ,we know that our new brethren1 whilst they everywhere shut up the churches1 increased in ,paris1 at one time at least fourfold1 the opera-houses1 the playhouses1 the public shows of all kinds2 and even in their state of indigence and distress1 no expense was spared for their equipment and decoration4 ,they were made an affair of state4 ,there is no invention of seduction1 never wholly wanting in that place1 that has not been increased1--brothels1 gaming-houses1 everything4 ,and there is no doubt1 but1 when they are settled in a triumphant peace1 they will carry all these arts to their utmost perfection1 and cover them with every species of imposing magnificence4 ,they have all along avowed them as a part of their policy2 and whilst they corrupt young minds through pleasure1 they form them to crimes4 ,every idea of corporal gratification is carried to the highest excess1 and wooed with all the elegance that belongs to the senses4 ,all elegance of mind and manners is banished4 ,a theatrical1 bombastic1 windy phraseology of heroic virtue1 blended and mingled up with a worse dissoluteness1 and joined to a murderous and savage ferocity1 forms the tone and idiom of their language and their manners4 ,any one1 who attends to all their own descriptions1 narratives1 and dissertations1 will find in that whole place more of the air of a body of assassins1 banditti1 housebreakers1 and outlawed smugglers1 joined to that of a gang of strolling players expelled from and exploded orderly theatres1 with their prostitutes in a brothel1 at their debauches and bacchanals1 than anything of the refined and perfected virtues1 or the polished1 mitigated vices of a great capital4 ,is it for this benefit we open the usual relations of peace and amity8 ,is it for this our youth of both sexes are to form themselves by travel8 ,is it for this that with expense and pains we form their lisping infant accents to the language of ,france8 ,i shall be told that this abominable medley is made rather to revolt young and ingenuous minds4 ,so it is in the description4 ,so perhaps it may in reality to a chosen few4 ,so it may be1 when the magistrate1 the law1 and the church frown on such manners1 and the wretches to whom they belong1--when they are chased from the eye of day1 and the society of civil life1 into night-cellars and caves and woods4 ,but when these men themselves are the magistrates1--when all the consequence1 weight1 and authority of a great nation adopt them1--when we see them conjoined with victory1 glory1 power1 and dominion1 and homage paid to them by every government1--it is not possible that the downhill should not be slid into1 recommended by everything which has opposed it4 ,let it be remembered that no young man can go to any part of ,europe without taking this place of pestilential contagion in his way2 and whilst the less active part of the community will be debauched by this travel1 whilst children are poisoned at these schools1 our trade will put the finishing hand to our ruin4 ,no factory will be settled in ,france1 that will not become a club of complete ,french ,jacobins4 ,the minds of young men of that description will receive a taint in their religion1 their morals1 and their politics1 which they will in a short time communicate to the whole kingdom4 ,whilst everything prepares the body to debauch and the mind to crime1 a regular church of avowed atheism1 established by law1 with a direct and sanguinary persecution of ,christianity1 is formed to prevent all amendment and remorse4 ,conscience is formally deposed from its dominion over the mind4 ,what fills the measure of horror is1 that schools of atheism are set up at the public charge in every part of the country4 ,that some ,english parents will be wicked enough to send their children to such schools there is no doubt4 ,better this island should be sunk to the bottom of the sea than that 7so far as human infirmity admits7 it should not be a country of religion and morals6 ,with all these causes of corruption1 we may well judge what the general fashion of mind will be through both sexes and all conditions4 ,such spectacles and such examples will overbear all the laws that ever blackened the cumbrous volumes of our statutes4 ,when royalty shall have disavowed itself1--when it shall have relaxed all the principles of its own support1--when it has rendered the system of ,regicide fashionable1 and received it as triumphant1 in the very persons who have consolidated that system by the perpetration1 of every crime1 who have not only massacred the prince1 but the very laws and magistrates which were the support of royalty1 and slaughtered with an indiscriminate proscription1 without regard to either sex or age1 every person that was suspected of an inclination to king1 law1 or magistracy1--,i say1 will any one dare to be loyal8 ,will any one presume1 against both authority and opinion1 to hold up this unfashionable1 antiquated1 exploded ,constitution8 ,the ,jacobin faction in ,england must grow in strength and audacity2 it will be supported by other intrigues and supplied by other resources than yet we have seen in action4 ,confounded at its growth1 the government may fly to ,parliament for its support4 ,but who will answer for the temper of a ,house of ,commons elected under these circumstances8 ,who will answer for the courage of a ,house of ,commons to arm the crown with the extraordinary powers that it may demand8 ,but the ministers will not venture to ask half of what they know they want4 ,they will lose half of that half in the contest2 and when they have obtained their nothing1 they will be driven by the cries of faction either to demolish the feeble works they have thrown up in a hurry1 or1 in effect1 to abandon them4 ,as to the ,house of ,lords1 it is not worth mentioning4 ,the peers ought naturally to be the pillars of the crown2 but when their titles are rendered contemptible1 and their property invidious1 and a part of their weakness1 and not of their strength1 they will be found so many degraded and trembling individuals1 who will seek by evasion to put off the evil day of their ruin4 ,both ,houses will be in perpetual oscillation between abortive attempts at energy and still more unsuccessful attempts at compromise4 ,you will be impatient of your disease1 and abhorrent of your remedy4 ,a spirit of subterfuge and a tone of apology will enter into all your proceedings1 whether of law or legislation4 ,your judges1 who now sustain so masculine an authority1 will appear more on their trial than the culprits they have before them4 ,the awful frown of criminal justice will be smoothed into the silly smile of seduction4 ,judges will think to insinuate and soothe the accused into conviction and condemnation1 and to wheedle to the gallows the most artful of all delinquents4 ,but they will not be so wheedled4 ,they will not submit even to the appearance of persons on their trial4 ,their claim to this exemption will be admitted4 ,the place in which some of the greatest names which ever distinguished the history of this country have stood will appear beneath their dignity4 ,the criminal will climb from the dock to the side-bar1 and take his place and his tea with the counsel4 ,from the bar of the counsel1 by a natural progress1 he will ascend to the bench1 which long before had been virtually abandoned4 ,they who escape from justice will not suffer a question upon reputation4 ,they will take the crown of the causeway2 they will be revered as martyrs2 they will triumph as conquerors4 ,nobody will dare to censure that popular part of the tribunal whose only restraint on misjudgment is the censure of the public4 ,they who find fault with the decision will be represented as enemies to the institution4 ,juries that convict for the crown will be loaded with obloquy4 ,the juries who acquit will be held up as models of justice4 ,if ,parliament orders a prosecution1 and fails1 7as fail it will17 it will be treated to its face as guilty of a conspiracy maliciously to prosecute4 ,its care in discovering a conspiracy against the state will be treated as a forged plot to destroy the liberty of the subject3 every such discovery1 instead of strengthening government1 will weaken its reputation4 ,in this state things will be suffered to proceed1 lest measures of vigor should precipitate a crisis4 ,the timid will act thus from character1 the wise from necessity4 ,our laws had done all that the old condition of things dictated to render our judges erect and independent2 but they will naturally fail on the side upon which they had taken no precautions4 ,the judicial magistrates will find themselves safe as against the crown1 whose will is not their tenure2 the power of executing their office will be held at the pleasure of those who deal out fame or abuse as they think fit4 ,they will begin rather to consult their own repose and their own popularity than the critical and perilous trust that is in their hands4 ,they will speculate on consequences1 when they see at court an ambassador whose robes are lined with a scarlet dyed in the blood of judges4 ,it is no wonder1 nor are they to blame1 when they are to consider how they shall answer for their conduct to the criminal of to-day turned into the magistrate of to-morrow4 ,the press------ ,the army------ ,when thus the helm of justice is abandoned1 an universal abandonment of all other posts will succeed4 ,government will be for a while the sport of contending factions1 who1 whilst they fight with one another1 will all strike at her4 ,she will be buffeted and beat forward and backward by the conflict of those billows1 until at length1 tumbling from the ,gallic coast1 the victorious tenth wave shall ride1 like the bore1 over all the rest1 and poop the shattered1 weather-beaten1 leaky1 water-logged vessel1 and sink her to the bottom of the abyss4 ,among other miserable remedies that have been found in the materia medica1 of the old college1 a change of ministry will be proposed1 and probably will take place4 ,they who go out can never long with zeal and good-will support government in the hands of those they hate4 ,in a situation of fatal dependence on popularity1 and without one aid from the little remaining power of the crown1 it is not to be expected that they will take on them that odium which more or less attaches upon every exertion of strong power4 ,the ministers of popularity will lose all their credit at a stroke1 if they pursue any of those means necessary to give life1 vigor1 and consistence to government4 ,they will be considered as venal wretches1 apostates1 recreant to all their own principles1 acts1 and declarations4 ,they cannot preserve their credit1 but by betraying that authority of which they are the guardians4 ,to be sure1 no prognosticating symptoms of these things have as yet appeared1--nothing even resembling their beginnings4 ,may they never appear6 ,may these prognostications of the author be justly laughed at and speedily forgotten6 ,if nothing as yet to cause them has discovered itself1 let us consider1 in the author's excuse1 that we have not yet seen a ,jacobin legation in ,england4 ,the natural1 declared1 sworn ally of sedition has not yet fixed its head-quarters in ,london4 ,there never was a political contest1 upon better or worse grounds1 that by the heat of party-spirit may not ripen into civil confusion4 ,if ever a party adverse to the crown should be in a condition here publicly to declare itself1 and to divide1 however unequally1 the natural force of the kingdom1 they are sure of an aid of fifty thousand men1 at ten days' warning1 from the opposite coast of ,france4 ,but against this infusion of a foreign force the crown has its guaranties1 old and new4 ,but ,i should be glad to hear something said of the assistance which loyal subjects in ,france have received from other powers in support of that lawful government which secured their lawful property4 ,i should be glad to know1 if they are so disposed to a neighborly1 provident1 and sympathetic attention to their public engagements1 by what means they are to come at us4 ,is it from the powerful states of ,holland we are to reclaim our guaranty8 ,is it from the ,king of ,prussia1 and his steady good affections1 and his powerful navy1 that we are to look for the guaranty of our security8 ,is it from the ,netherlands1 which the ,french may cover with the swarms of their citizen-soldiers in twenty-four hours1 that we are to look for this assistance8 ,this is to suppose1 too1 that all these powers have no views offensive or necessities defensive of their own4 ,they will cut out work for one another1 and ,france will cut out work for them all4 ,that the ,christian religion cannot exist in this country with such a fraternity will not1 ,i think1 be disputed with me4 ,on that religion1 according to our mode1 all our laws and institutions stand1 as upon their base4 ,that scheme is supposed in every transaction of life2 and if that were done away1 everything else1 as in ,france1 must be changed along with it4 ,thus1 religion perishing1 and with it this ,constitution1 it is a matter of endless meditation what order of things would follow it4 ,but what disorder would fill the space between the present and that which is to come1 in the gross1 is no matter of doubtful conjecture4 ,it is a great evil1 that of a civil war4 ,but1 in that state of things1 a civil war1 which would give to good men and a good cause some means of struggle1 is a blessing of comparison that ,england will not enjoy4 ,the moment the struggle begins1 it ends4 ,they talk of ,mr4 ,hume's euthanasia of the ,british ,constitution gently expiring1 without a groan1 in the paternal arms of a mere monarchy4 ,in a monarchy6--fine trifling indeed6--there is no such euthanasia for the ,british ,constitution4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the manuscript copy of this ,letter ends here4 ,,footnotes3 #i ,here ,i have fallen into an unintentional mistake4 ,rider's ,almanack for #agid lay before me2 and1 in troth1 ,i then had no other4 ,for variety1 that sage astrologer has made some small changes on the weather side of #agie2 but the caution is the same on the opposite page of instruction4 #aj ,souverains opprims4--,see the whole proceeding in the ,procs-,verbal of the ,national ,assembly4 #aa ,hic auratis volitans argenteus anser ,porticibus ,,gallos in limine adesse canebat4 #ab ,see debates in ,parliament upon motions made in both ,houses for prosecuting ,mr4 ,reeves for a libel upon the ,constitution1 ,dec41 #agie4 #ac ,in the costume assumed by the members of the legislative body we almost behold the revival of the extinguished insignia of knighthood1 c41 c4--,see ,a ,view of the ,relative ,state of ,great ,britain and ,france at the ,commencement of the ,year #agif4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,empress ,,of ,,russia4 ,,november #a1 #agia4 ,madam1--,the ,comte de ,woronzow1 your ,imperial ,majesty's minister1 and ,mr4 ,fawkener1 have informed me of the very gracious manner in which your ,imperial ,majesty1 and1 after your example1 the ,archduke and ,archduchess1 have condescended to accept my humble endeavors in the service of that cause which connects the rights and duties of sovereigns with the true interest and happiness of their people4 ,if1 confiding in titles derived from your own goodness1 ,i venture to address directly to your ,imperial ,majesty the expressions of my gratitude for so distinguished an honor1 ,i hope it will not be thought a presumptuous intrusion4 ,i hope1 too1 that the willing homage ,i pay to the high and ruling virtues which distinguish your ,imperial ,majesty1 and which form the felicity of so large a part of the world1 will not be looked upon as the language of adulation to power and greatness4 ,in my humble situation1 ,i can behold majesty in its splendor without being dazzled1 and ,i am capable of respecting it in its fall4 ,it is1 ,madam1 from my strong sense of what is due to dignity in undeserved misfortune1 that ,i am led to felicitate your ,imperial ,majesty on the use you have lately made of your power4 ,the princes and nobility of ,france1 who from honor and duty1 from blood and from principle1 are attached to that unhappy crown1 have experienced your favor and countenance2 and there is no doubt that they will finally enjoy the full benefit of your protection4 ,the generosity of your ,imperial ,majesty has induced you to take an interest in their cause2 and your sagacity has made you perceive that in the case of the sovereign of ,france the cause of all sovereigns is tried1--that in the case of its church1 the cause of all churches1--and that in the case of its nobility is tried the cause of all the respectable orders of all society1 and even of society itself4 ,your ,imperial ,majesty has sent your minister to reside where the crown of ,france1 in this disastrous eclipse of royalty1 can alone truly and freely be represented1 that is1 in its royal blood1--where alone the nation can be represented1 that is1 in its natural and inherent dignity4 ,a throne cannot be represented by a prison4 ,the honor of a nation cannot be represented by an assembly which disgraces and degrades it3 at ,coblentz only the king and the nation of ,france are to be found4 ,your ,imperial ,majesty1 who reigns and lives for glory1 has nobly and wisely disdained to associate your crown with a faction which has for its object the subversion of all thrones4 ,you have not recognized this universal public enemy as a part of the system of ,europe4 ,you have refused to sully the lustre of your empire by any communion with a body of fanatical usurpers and tyrants1 drawn out of the dregs of society1 and exalted to their evil eminence by the enormity of their crimes1--an assemblage of tyrants1 wholly destitute of any distinguished qualification in a single person amongst them1 that can command reverence from our reason1 or seduce it from our prejudices4 ,these enemies of sovereigns1 if at all acknowledged1 must be acknowledged on account of that enmity alone3 they have nothing else to recommend them4 ,madam1 it is dangerous to praise any human virtue before the accomplishment of the tasks which it imposes on itself4 ,but in expressing my part of what ,i hope is1 or will become1 the general voice1 in admiration of what you have done1 ,i run no risk at all4 ,with your ,imperial ,majesty1 declaration and execution1 beginning and conclusion1 are1 at their different seasons1 one and the same thing4 ,on the faith and declaration of some of the first potentates of ,europe1 several thousands of persons1 comprehending the best men and the best gentlemen in ,france1 have given up their country1 their houses1 their fortunes1 their professional situation1 their all1 and are now in foreign lands1 struggling under the most grievous distresses4 ,whatever appearances may menace1 nobody fears that they can be finally abandoned4 ,such a dereliction could not be without a strong imputation on the public and private honor of sovereignty itself1 nor without an irreparable injury to its interests4 ,it would give occasion to represent monarchs as natural enemies to each other1 and that they never support or countenance any subjects of a brother prince1 except when they rebel against him4 ,we individuals1 mere spectators of the scene1 but who sock our liberties under the shade of legal authority1 and of course sympathize with the sufferers in that cause1 never can permit ourselves to believe that such an event can disgrace the history of our time4 ,the only thing to be feared is delay1 in winch are included many mischiefs4 ,the constancy of the oppressed will be broken2 the power of tyrants will be confirmed4 ,already the multitude of ,french officers1 drawn from their several corps by hopes inspired by the freely declared disposition of sovereigns1 have left all the posts in which they might one day have effectually served the good cause abandoned to the enemy4 ,tour ,imperial ,majesty's just influence1 which is still greater than your extensive power1 will animate and expedite the efforts of other sovereigns4 ,from your wisdom other states will learn that they who wait until all the powers of ,europe are at once in motion can never move at all4 ,it would add to the unexampled calamities of our time1 if the uncommon union of sentiment in so many powers should prove the very cause of defeating the benefit which ought to flow from their general good disposition4 ,no sovereign can run any risk from the designs of other powers1 whilst engaged in tins glorious and necessary work4 ,if any attempt could be feared1 your ,imperial ,majesty's power and justice would secure your allies against all danger4 ,madam1 your glory will be complete1 if1 after having given peace to ,europe by your moderation1 you shall bestow stability on all its governments by your vigor and decision4 ,the debt which your ,imperial ,majesty's august predecessors have contracted to the ancient manners of ,europe1 by means of which they civilized a vast empire1 will be nobly repaid by preserving those manners from the hideous change with which they are now menaced4 ,by the intervention of ,russia the world will be preserved from barbarism and ruin4 ,a private individual1 of a remote country1 in himself wholly without importance1 unauthorized and unconnected1 not as an ,english subject1 but as a citizen of the world1 presumes to submit his thoughts to one of the greatest and wisest sovereigns that ,europe has seen4 ,he does it without fear1 because he does not involve in his weakness 7if such it is7 his king1 his country1 or his friends4 ,he is not' afraid that he shall offend your ,imperial ,majesty1--because1 secure in itself1 true greatness is always accessible1 and because respectfully to speak what we conceive to be truth is the best homage which can be paid to true dignity4 ,i am1 ,madam1 with the utmost possible respect and veneration1 ,your ,imperial ,majesty's ,most obedient and most humble servant1 ,,edm4 ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,november #ast1 #agia4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,sir ,,charles ,,bingham1 ,,bart41 ,,on ,,the ,,irish ,,absentee ,,tax4 ,,october #cj1 #aggc4 ,,note4 ,from authentic documents found with the copy of this ,letter among ,mr4 ,burke's papers1 it appears that in the year #aggc a project of imposing a tax upon all proprietors of landed estates in ,ireland1 whose ordinary residence should be in ,great ,britain1 had been adopted and avowed by his ,majesty's ministers at that time4 ,a remonstrance against this measure1 as highly unjust and impolitic1 was presented to the ministers by several of the principal ,irish absentees1 and the project was subsequently abandoned4 ,,letter4 ,dear ,sir1--,i am much flattered by your very obliging letter1 and the rather because it promises an opening to our future correspondence4 ,this may be my only indemnification for very great losses4 ,one of the most odious parts of the proposed ,absentee ,tax is its tendency to separate friends1 and to make as ugly breaches in private society as it must make in the unity of the great political body4 ,i am sure that much of the satisfaction of some circles in ,london will be lost by it4 ,do you think that our friend ,mrs4 ,vesey will suffer her husband to vote for a tax that is to destroy the evenings at ,bolton ,row8 ,i trust we shall have other supporters of the same sex1 equally powerful1 and equally deserving to be so1 who will not abandon the common cause of their own liberties and our satisfactions4 ,we shall be barbarized on both sides of the water1 if we do not see one another now and then4 ,we shall sink into surly1 brutish ,johns1 and you will degenerate into wild ,irish4 ,it is impossible that we should be the wiser or the more agreeable1 certainly we shall not love one another the better1 for this forced separation1 which our ministers1 who have already done so much for the dissolution of every other sort of good connection1 are now meditating for the further improvement of this too well united empire4 ,their next step will be to encourage all the colonies1 about thirty separate governments1 to keep their people from all intercourse with each other and with the mother country4 ,a gentleman of ,new ,york or ,barbadoes will be as much gazed at as a strange animal from ,nova ,zembla or ,otaheite2 and those rogues1 the travellers1 will tell us what stories they please about poor old ,ireland4 ,in all seriousness1 7though ,i am a great deal more than half serious in what ,i have been saying17 ,i look upon this projected tax in a very evil light2 ,i think it is not advisable2 ,i am sure it is not necessary2 and as it is not a mere matter of finance1 but involves a political question of much1 importance1 ,i consider the principle and precedent as far worse than the thing itself4 ,you are too kind in imagining ,i can suggest anything new upon the subject4 ,the objections to it are very glaring1 and must strike the eyes of all those who have not their reasons for shutting them against evident truth4 ,i have no feelings or opinions on this subject which ,i do not partake with all the sensible and informed people that ,i meet with4 ,at first ,i could scarcely meet with any one who could believe that this scheme originated from the ,english government4 ,they considered it not only as absurd1 but as something monstrous and unnatural4 ,in the first instance1 it strikes at the power of this country2 in the end1 at the union of the whole empire4 ,i do not mean to express1 most certainly ,i do not entertain in my mind1 anything invidious concerning the superintending authority of ,great ,britain4 ,but if it be true that the several bodies which make up this complicated mass are to be preserved as one empire1 an authority sufficient to preserve that unity1 and by its equal weight and pressure to consolidate the various parts that compose it1 must reside somewhere3 that somewhere can only be in ,england4 ,possibly any one member1 distinctly taken1 might decide in favor of that residence within itself2 but certainly no member would give its voice for any other except this4 ,so that ,i look upon the residence of the supreme power to be settled here3 not by force1 or tyranny1 or even by mere long usage1 but by the very nature of things1 and the joint consent of the whole body4 ,if all this be admitted1 then without question this country must have the sole right to the imperial legislation3 by which ,i mean that law which regulates the polity and economy of the several parts1 as they relate to one another and to the whole4 ,but if any of the parts1 which 7not for oppression1 but for order7 are placed in a subordinate situation1 will assume to themselves the power of hindering or checking the resort of their municipal subjects to the centre1 or even to any other part of the empire1 they arrogate to themselves the imperial rights1 which do not1 which cannot1 belong to them1 and1 so far as in them lies1 destroy the happy arrangement of the entire empire4 ,a free communication by discretionary residence is necessary to all the other purposes of communication4 ,for what purpose are the ,irish and ,plantation laws sent hither1 but as means of preserving this sovereign constitution8 ,whether such a constitution was originally right or wrong this is not the time of day to dispute4 ,if any evils arise from it1 let us not strip it of what may be useful in it4 ,by taking the ,english ,privy ,council into your legislature1 you obtain a new1 a further1 and possibly a more liberal consideration of all your acts4 ,if a local legislature shall by oblique means tend to deprive any of the people of this benefit1 and shall make it penal to them to follow into ,england the laws which may affect them1 then the ,english ,privy ,council will have to decide upon your acts without those lights that may enable them to judge upon what grounds you made them1 or how far they ought to be modified1 received1 or rejected4 ,to what end is the ultimate appeal in judicature lodged in this kingdom1 if men may be disabled from following their suits here1 and may be taxed into an absolute denied of justice8 ,you observe1 my dear ,sir1 that ,i do not assert that in all cases two shillings will necessarily cut off this means of correcting legislative and judicial mistakes1 and thus amount to a denial of justice4 ,i might1 indeed1 state cases in which this very quantum of tax would be fully sufficient to defeat this right4 ,but ,i argue not on the case1 but on the principle1 and ,i am sure the principle implies it4 ,they who may restrain may prohibit2 they who may impose two shillings may impose ten shillings in the pound2 and those who may condition the tax to six months' annual absence may carry that condition to six weeks1 or even to six days1 and thereby totally defeat the wise means which have been provided for extensive and impartial justice1 and for orderly1 well-poised1 and well-connected government4 ,what is taxing the resort to and residence in any place1 but declaring that your connection with that place is a grievance8 ,is not such an ,irish tax as is now proposed a virtual declaration that ,england is a foreign country1 and a renunciation on your part of the principle of common naturalization1 which runs through this whole empire8 ,do you1 or does any ,irish gentleman1 think it a mean privilege1 that1 the moment he sets his foot upon this ground1 he is to all intents and purposes an ,englishman8 ,you will not be pleased with a law which by its operation tends to disqualify you from a seat in this ,parliament2 and if your own virtue or fortune1 or if that of your children1 should carry you or them to it1 should you like to be excluded from the possibility of a peerage in this kingdom8 ,if in ,ireland we lay it down as a maxim1 that a residence in ,great ,britain is a political evil1 and to be discouraged by penal taxes1 you must necessarily reject all the privileges and benefits which are connected with such a residence4 ,i can easily conceive that a citizen of ,dublin1 who looks no further than his counter1 may think that ,ireland will be repaid for such a loss by any small diminution of taxes1 or any increase in the circulation of money that may be laid out in the purchase of claret or groceries in his corporation4 ,in such a man an error of that kind1 as it would be natural1 would be excusable4 ,but ,i cannot think that any educated man1 any man who looks with an enlightened eye on the interest of ,ireland1 can believe that it is not highly for the advantage of ,ireland1 that this ,parliament1 which1 whether right or wrong1 whether we will or not1 will make some laws to bind ,ireland1 should always have in it some persons who by connection1 by property1 or by early prepossessions and affections1 are attached to the welfare of that country4 ,i am so clear upon this point1 not only from the clear reason of the thing1 but from the constant course of my observation1 by now having sat eight sessions in ,parliament1 that ,i declare it to you as my sincere opinion1 that 7if you must do either the one or the other7 it would be wiser by far1 and far better for ,ireland1 that some new privileges should attend the estates of ,irishmen1 members of the two ,houses here1 than that their characters should be stained by penal impositions1 and their properties loaded by unequal and unheard-of modes of taxation4 ,i do really trust1 that1 when the matter comes a little to be considered1 a majority of our gentlemen will never consent to establish such a principle of disqualification against themselves and their posterity1 and1 for the sake of gratifying the schemes of a transitory administration of the cockpit or the castle1 or in compliance with the lightest part of the most vulgar and transient popularity1 fix so irreparable an injury on the permanent interest of their country4 ,this law seems1 therefore1 to me to go directly against the fundamental points of the legislative and judicial constitution of these kingdoms1 and against the happy communion of their privileges4 ,but there is another matter in the tax proposed1 that contradicts as essentially a very great principle necessary for preserving the union of the various parts of a state2 because it does1 in effect1 discountenance mutual intermarriage and inheritance1 things that bind countries more closely together than any laws or constitutions whatsoever4 ,is it right that a woman who marries into ,ireland1 and perhaps well purchases her jointure or her dower there1 should not after her husband's death have it in her choice to return to her country and her friends without being taxed for it8 ,if an ,irish heiress should marry into an ,english family1 and that great property in both countries should thereby come to be united in this common issue1 shall the descendant of that marriage abandon his natural connection1 his family interests1 his public and his private duties1 and be compelled to take up his residence in ,ireland8 ,is there any sense or any justice in it1 unless you affirm that there should be no such intermarriage and no such mutual inheritance between the natives8 ,is there a shadow of reason1 that1 because a ,lord ,rockingham1 a ,duke of ,devonshire1 a ,sir ,george ,savile1 possess property in ,ireland1 which has descended to them without any act of theirs1 they should abandon their duty in ,parliament1 and spend the winters in ,dublin8 or1 having spent the session in ,westminster1 must they abandon their seats and all their family interests in ,yorkshire and ,derbyshire1 and pass the rest of the year in ,wicklow1 in ,cork1 or ,tyrone8 ,see what the consequence must be from a municipal legislature considering itself as an unconnected body1 and attempting to enforce a partial residence4 ,a man may have property in more parts than two of this empire4 ,he may have property in ,jamaica and in ,north ,america1 as well as in ,england and ,ireland4 ,i know some that have property in all of them4 ,what shall we say to this case8 ,after the poor distracted citizen of the whole empire has1 in compliance with your partial law1 removed his family1 bid adieu to his connections1 and settled himself quietly and snug in a pretty box by the ,liffey1 he hears that the ,parliament of ,great ,britain is of opinion that all ,english estates ought to be spent in ,england1 and that they will tax him double1 if he does not return4 ,suppose him then 7if the nature of the two laws will permit it7 providing a flying camp1 and dividing his year as well as he can between ,england and ,ireland1 and at the charge of two town houses and two country-houses in both kingdoms2 in this situation he receives an account1 that a law is transmitted from ,jamaica1 and another from ,pennsylvania1 to tax absentees from these provinces1 which are impoverished by the ,european residence of the possessors of their lands4 ,how is he to escape this ricochet cross-firing of so many opposite batteries of police and regulation8 ,if he attempts to comply1 he is likely to be more a citizen of the ,atlantic ,ocean and the ,irish ,sea than of any of these countries4 ,the matter is absurd and ridiculous1 and1 while ever the idea of mutual marriages1 inheritances1 purchases1 and privileges subsist1 can never be carried into execution with common sense or common justice4 ,i do not know how gentlemen of ,ireland reconcile such an idea to their own liberties1 or to the natural use and enjoyment of their estates4 ,if any of their children should be left in a minority1 and a guardian should think1 as many do1 7it matters not whether properly or no17 that his ward had better he educated in a school or university here than in ,ireland1 is he sure that he can justify the bringing a tax of ten per cent1 perhaps twenty1 on his pupil's estate1 by giving what in his opinion is the best education in general1 or the best for that pupil's particular character and circumstances8 ,can he justify his sending him to travel1 a necessary part of the higher style of education1 and1 notwithstanding what some narrow writers have said1 of great benefit to all countries1 but very particularly so to ,ireland8 ,suppose a guardian1 under the authority or pretence of such a tax of police1 had prevented our dear friend1 ,lord ,charlemont1 from going abroad1 would he have lost no satisfaction8 would his friends have lost nothing in the companion8 would his country have lost nothing in the cultivated taste with which he has adorned it in so many ways8 ,his natural elegance of mind would undoubtedly do a great deal2 but ,i will venture to assert1 without the danger of being contradicted1 that he adorns his present residence in ,ireland much the more for having resided a long time out of it4 ,will ,mr4 ,flood himself think he ought to have been driven by taxes into ,ireland1 whilst he prepared himself by an ,english education to understand and to defend the rights of the subject in ,ireland1 or to support the dignity of government there1 according as his opinions1 or the situation of things1 may lead him to take either part1 upon respectable principles8 ,i hope it is not forgot that an ,irish act of ,parliament sends its youth to ,england for the study of the law1 and compels a residence in the inns of court hero for some years4 ,will you send out with one breath and recall with another8 ,this act plainly provides for that intercourse which supposes the strictest union in laws and policy1 in both which the intended tax supposes an entire separation4 ,it would be endless to go into all the inconveniences this tax will lead to1 in the conduct of private life1 and the use of property4 ,how many infirm people are obliged to change their climate1 whose life depends upon that change6 ,how many families straitened in their circumstances are there1 who1 from the shame1 sometimes from the utter impossibility otherwise of retrenching1 are obliged to remove from their country1 in order to preserve their estates in their families6 ,you begin1 then1 to burden these people precisely at the time when their circumstances of health and fortune render them rather objects of relief and commiseration4 ,i know very well that a great proportion of the money of every subordinate country will flow towards the metropolis4 ,this is unavoidable4 ,other inconveniences1 too1 will result to particular parts3 and why8 ,why1 because they are particular parts1--each a member of a greater1 and not an whole within itself4 ,but those members are to consider whether these inconveniences are not fully balanced1 perhaps more than balanced1 by the united strength of a great and compact body4 ,i am sensible1 too1 of a difficulty that will be started against the application of some of the principles which ,i reason upon to the case of ,ireland4 ,it will be said1 that ,ireland1 in many particulars1 is not bound to consider itself as a part of the ,british body2 because this country1 in many instances1 is mistaken enough to treat you as foreigners1 and draws away your money by absentees1 without suffering you to enjoy your natural advantages in trade and commerce4 ,no man living loves restrictive regulations of any kind less than myself2 at best1 nine times in ten1 they are little better than laborious and vexatious follies4 ,often1 as in your case1 they are great oppressions1 as well as great absurdities4 ,but still an injury is not always a reason for retaliation2 nor is the folly of others with regard to us a reason for imitating it with regard to them4 ,before we attempt to retort1 we ought to consider whether we may not injure ourselves even more than our adversary2 since1 in the contest who shall go the greatest length in absurdity1 the victor is generally the greatest sufferer4 ,besides1 when there is an unfortunate emulation in restraints and oppressions1 the question of strength is of the highest importance4 ,it little becomes the feeble to be unjust4 ,justice is the shield of the weak2 and when they choose to lay this down1 and fight naked in the contest of mere power1 the event will be what must be expected from such imprudence4 ,i ought to beg your pardon for running into this length4 ,you want no arguments to convince you on this subject1 and you want no resources of matter to convince others4 ,i ought1 too1 to ask pardon for having delayed my answer so long2 but ,i received your letter on ,tuesday1 in town1 and ,i was obliged to come to the country on business4 ,from the country ,i write at present2 but this day ,i shall go to town again4 ,i shall see ,lord ,rockingham1 who has spared neither time nor trouble in making a vigorous opposition to this inconsiderate measure4 ,i hope to be able to send you the papers which will give you information of the steps he has taken4 ,he has pursued this business with the foresight1 diligence1 and good sense with which he generally resists unconstitutional attempts of government4 ,a life of disinterestedness1 generosity1 and public spirit are his titles to have it believed that the effect which the tax may have upon his private property is not the sole nor the principal motive to his exertions4 ,i know he is of opinion that the opposition in ,ireland ought to be carried on with that spirit as if no aid was expected from this country1 and here as if nothing would be done in ,ireland3 many things have been lost by not acting in this manner4 ,i am told that you are not likely to be alone in the generous stand you are to make against this unnatural monster of court popularity4 ,it is said1 ,mr4 ,hussey1 who is so very considerable at present1 and who is everything in expectation1 will give you his assistance4 ,i rejoice to see 7that very rare spectacle7 a good mind1 a great genius1 and public activity united together1 and united so early in life4 ,by not running into every popular humor1 he may depend upon it1 the popularity of his character will wear the better4 ,non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem2 ,ergo postque magisque viri nunc gloria claret4 ,adieu1 my dear ,sir4 ,give my best respects to ,lady ,bingham2 and believe me1 with great truth and esteem1 ,your most obedient and most humble servant1 ,,edm4 ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 #cjth ,october1 #aggc4 ,,to ,,sir ,,charles ,,bingham4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,hon4 ,,charles ,,james ,,fox1 ,,on ,,the ,,american ,,war4 ,,october #h1 #aggg4 ,my ,dear ,charles1--,i am1 on many accounts1 exceedingly pleased with your journey to ,ireland4 ,i do not think it was possible to dispose better of the interval between this and the meeting of ,parliament4 ,i told you as much1 in the same general terms1 by the post4 ,my opinion of the infidelity of that conveyance hindered me from being particular4 ,i now sit down with malice prepense to kill you with a very long letter1 and must take my chance for some safe method of conveying the dose4 ,before ,i say anything to you of the place you are in1 or the business of it1 on which1 by the way1 a great deal might be said1 ,i will turn myself to the concluding part of your letter from ,chatsworth4 ,you are sensible that ,i do not differ from you in many things2 and most certainly ,i do not dissent from the main of your doctrine concerning the heresy of depending upon contingencies4 ,you must recollect how uniform my sentiments have been on that subject4 ,i have ever wished a settled plan of our own1 founded in the very essence of the ,american business1 wholly unconnected with the events of the war1 and framed in such a manner as to keep up our credit and maintain our system at home1 in spite of anything which may happen abroad4 ,i am now convinced1 by a long and somewhat vexatious experience1 that such a plan is absolutely impracticable4 ,i think with you1 that some faults in the constitution of those whom we must love and trust are among the causes of this impracticability2 they are faults1 too1 that one can hardly wish them perfectly cured of1 as ,i am afraid they are intimately connected with honest1 disinterested intentions1 plentiful fortunes1 assured rank1 and quiet homes4 ,a great deal of activity and enterprise can scarcely ever be expected from such men1 unless some horrible calamity is just over their heads1 or unless they suffer some gross personal insults from power1 the resentment of which may be as unquiet and stimulating a principle in their minds as ambition is in those of a different complexion4 ,to say the truth1 ,i cannot greatly blame them4 ,we live at a time when men are not repaid in fame for what they sacrifice in interest or repose4 ,on the whole1 when ,i consider of what discordant1 and particularly of what fleeting materials the opposition has been all along composed1 and at the same time review what ,lord ,rockingham has done1 with that and with his own shattered constitution1 for these last twelve years1 ,i confess ,i am rather surprised that he has done so much and persevered so long1 than that he has felt now and then some cold fits1 and that he grows somewhat languid and desponding at last4 ,i know that he1 and those who are much prevalent with him1 though they are not thought so much devoted to popularity as others1 do very much look to the people1 and more than ,i think is wise in them1 who do so little to guide and direct the public opinion4 ,without this they act1 indeed2 but they act as it were from compulsion1 and because it is impossible1 in their situation1 to avoid taking some part4 ,all this it is impossible to change1 and to no purpose to complain of4 ,as to that popular humor which is the medium we float in1 if ,i can discern anything at all of its present state1 it is far worse than ,i have ever known or could ever imagine it4 ,the faults of the people are not popular vices2 at least1 they are not such as grow out of what we used to take to be the ,english temper and character4 ,the greatest number have a sort of an heavy1 lumpish acquiescence in government1 without much respect or esteem for those that compose it4 ,i really cannot avoid making some very unpleasant prognostics from this disposition of the people4 ,i think that many of the symptoms must have struck you3 ,i will mention one or two that are to me very remarkable4 ,you must know that at ,bristol we grow1 as an election interest1 and even as a party interest1 rather stronger than we were when ,i was chosen4 ,we have just now a majority in the corporation4 ,in this state of matters1 what1 think you1 have they done8 ,they have voted their freedom to ,lord ,sandwich and ,lord ,suffolk6--to the first1 at the very moment when the ,american privateers were domineering in the ,irish ,sea1 and taking the ,bristol traders in the ,bristol ,channel2--to the latter1 when his remonstrances on the subject of captures were the jest of ,paris and of ,europe4 ,this fine step was taken1 it seems1 in honor of the zeal of these two profound statesmen in the prosecution of ,john the ,painter3 so totally negligent are they of everything essential1 and so long and so deeply affected with trash the most low and contemptible2 just as if they thought the merit of ,sir ,john ,fielding was the most shining point in the character of great ministers1 in the most critical of all times1 and1 of all others1 the most deeply interesting to the commercial world6 ,my best friends in the corporation had no other doubts on the occasion than whether it did not belong to me1 by right of my representative capacity1 to be the bearer of this auspicious compliment4 ,in addition to this1 if it could receive any addition1 they now employ me to solicit1 as a favor of no small magnitude1 that1 after the example of ,newcastle1 they may be suffered to arm vessels for their own defence in the ,channel4 ,their memorial1 under the seal of ,merchants' ,hall1 is now lying on the table before me4 ,not a soul has the least sensibility1 on finding themselves1 now for the first time1 obliged to act as if the community were dissolved1 and1 after enormous payments towards the common protection1 each part was to defend itself1 as if it were a separate state4 ,i don't mention ,bristol as if that were the part furthest gone in this mortification4 ,far from it3 ,i know that there is1 rather1 a little more life in us than in any other place4 ,in ,liverpool they are literally almost ruined by this ,american war2 but they love it as they suffer from it4 ,in short1 from whatever ,i see1 and from whatever quarter ,i hear1 ,i am convinced that everything that is not absolute stagnation is evidently a party-spirit very adverse to our politics1 and to the principles from whence they arise4 ,there are manifest marks of the resurrection of the ,tory party4 ,they no longer criticize1 as all disengaged people in the world will1 on the acts of government2 but they are silent under every evil1 and hide and cover up every ministerial blander and misfortune1 with the officious zeal of men who think they have a party of their own to support in power4 ,the ,tories do universally think their power and consequence involved in the success of this ,american business4 ,the clergy are astonishingly warm in it2 and what the ,tories are1 when embodied and united with their natural head1 the crown1 and animated by their clergy1 no man knows better than yourself4 ,as to the ,whigs1 ,i think them far from extinct4 ,they are1 what they always were1 7except by the able use of opportunities17 by far the weakest party in this country4 ,they have not yet learned the application of their principles to the present state of things2 and as to the ,dissenters1 the main effective part of the ,whig strength1 they are1 to use a favorite expression of our ,american campaign style1 not all in force4 ,they will do very little1 and1 as far as ,i can discern1 are rather intimidated than provoked at the denunciations of the court in the ,archbishop of ,york's sermon4 ,i thought that sermon rather imprudent1 when ,i first saw it2 but it seems to have done its business4 ,in this temper of the people1 ,i do not wholly wonder that our ,northern friends look a little towards events4 ,in war1 particularly1 ,i am afraid it must be so4 ,there is something so weighty and decisive in the events of war1 something that so completely overpowers the imagination of the vulgar1 that all counsels must in a great degree be subordinate to and attendant on them4 ,i am sure it was so in the last war1 very eminently4 ,so that1 on the whole1 what with the temper of the people1 the temper of our own friends1 and the domineering necessities of war1 we must quietly give up all ideas of any settled1 preconcerted plan4 ,we shall be lucky enough1 if1 keeping ourselves attentive and alert1 we can contrive to profit of the occasions as they arise3 though ,i am sensible that those who are best provided with a general scheme are fittest to take advantage of all contingencies4 ,however1 to act with any people with the least degree of comfort1 ,i believe we must contrive a little to assimilate to their character4 ,we must gravitate towards them1 if we would keep in the same system1 or expect that they should approach towards us4 ,they are1 indeed1 worthy of much concession and management4 ,i am quite convinced that they are the honestest public men that ever appeared in this country1 and ,i am sure that they are the wisest1 by far1 of those who appear in it at present4 ,none of those who are continually complaining of them1 but are themselves just as chargeable with all their faults1 and have a decent stock of their own into the bargain4 ,they 7our friends7 are1 ,i admit1 as you very truly represent them1 but indifferently qualified for storming a citadel4 ,after all1 ,god knows whether this citadel is to be stormed by them1 or by anybody else1 by the means they use1 or by any means4 ,i know that as they are1 abstractedly speaking1 to blame1 so there are those who cry out against them for it1 not with a friendly complaint1 as we do1 but with the bitterness of enemies4 ,but ,i know1 too1 that those who blame them for want of enterprise have shown no activity at all against the common enemy3 all their skill and all their spirit have been shown only in weakening1 dividing1 and indeed destroying their allies4 ,what they are and what we are is now pretty evidently experienced2 and it is certain1 that1 partly by our common faults1 but much more by the difficulties of our situation1 and some circumstances of unavoidable misfortune1 we are in little better than a sort of cul-de-sac4 ,for my part1 ,i do all ,i can to give ease to my mind in this strange position4 ,i remember1 some years ago1 when ,i was pressing some points with great eagerness and anxiety1 and complaining with great vexation to the ,duke of ,richmond of the little progress ,i make1 he told me kindly1 and ,i believe very truly1 that1 though he was far from thinking so himself1 other people could not be persuaded ,i had not some latent private interest in pushing these matters1 which ,i urged with an earnestness so extreme1 and so much approaching to passion4 ,he was certainly in the right4 ,i am thoroughly resolved to give1 both to myself and to my friends1 less vexation on these subjects than hitherto ,i have done1--much less1 indeed4 ,if you should grow too earnest1 you will be still more inexcusable than ,i was4 ,your having entered into affairs so much younger ought to make them too familiar to you to be the cause of much agitation1 and you have much more before you for your work4 ,do not be in haste4 ,lay your foundations deep in public opinion4 ,though 7as you are sensible7 ,i have never given you the least hint of advice about joining yourself in a declared connection with our party1 nor do ,i now1 yet1 as ,i love that party very well1 and am clear that you are better able to serve them than any man ,i know1 ,i wish that things should be so kept as to leave you mutually very open to one another in all changes and contingencies2 and ,i wish this the rather1 because1 in order to be very great1 as ,i am anxious that you should be1 7always presuming that you are disposed to make a good use of power17 you will certainly want some better support than merely that of the crown4 ,for ,i much doubt1 whether1 with all your parts1 you are the man formed for acquiring real interior favor in this court1 or in any2 ,i therefore wish you a firm ground in the country2 and ,i do not know so firm and so sound a bottom to build on as our party4--,well1 ,i have done with this matter2 and you think ,i ought to have finished it long ago4 ,now ,i turn to ,ireland4 ,observe1 that ,i have not heard a word of any news relative to it1 from thence or from ,london2 so that ,i am only going to state to you my conjectures as to facts1 and to speculate again on these conjectures4 ,i have a strong notion that the lateness of our meeting is owing to the previous arrangements intended in ,ireland4 ,i suspect they mean that ,ireland should take a sort of lead1 and act an efficient part in this war1 both with men and money4 ,it will sound well1 when we meet1 to tell us of the active zeal and loyalty of the people of ,ireland1 and contrast it with the rebellious spirit of ,america4 ,it will be a popular topic1--the perfect confidence of ,ireland in the power of the ,british ,parliament4 ,from thence they will argue the little danger which any dependency of the crown has to apprehend from the enforcement of that authority4 ,it will be1 too1 somewhat flattering to the country gentlemen1 who might otherwise begin to be sullen1 to hold out that the burden is not wholly to rest upon them2 and it will pique our pride to be told that ,ireland has cheerfully stepped forward3 and when a dependant of this kingdom has already engaged itself in another year's war1 merely for our dignity1 how can we1 who are principals in the quarrel1 hold off8 ,this scheme of policy seems to me so very obvious1 and is likely to be of so much service to the present system1 that ,i cannot conceive it possible they should neglect it1 or something like it4 ,they have already put the people of ,ireland to the proof4 ,have they not borne the ,earl of ,buckinghamshire1 the person who was employed to move the fiery committee in the ,house of ,lords in order to stimulate the ministry to this war1 who was in the chair1 and who moved the resolutions8 ,it is within a few days of eleven years since ,i was in ,ireland1 and then after an absence of two4 ,those who have been absent from any scene for even a much shorter time generally lose the true practical notion of the country1 and of what may or may not be done in it4 ,when ,i knew ,ireland1 it was very different from the state of ,england1 where government is a vast deal1 the public something1 but individuals comparatively very little4 ,but if ,ireland bears any resemblance to what it was some years ago1 neither government nor public opinion can do a great deal2 almost the whole is in the hands of a few leading people4 ,the populace of ,dublin1 and some parts in the ,north1 are in some sort an exception4 ,but the ,primate1 ,lord ,hillsborough1 and ,lord ,hertford have great sway in the latter2 and the former may be considerable or not1 pretty much as the ,duke of ,leinster pleases4 ,on the whole1 the success of government usually depended on the bargain made with a very few men4 ,the resident lieutenancy may have made some change1 and given a strength to government1 which formerly1 ,i know1 it had not2 still1 however1 ,i am of opinion1 the former state1 though in other hands perhaps1 and in another manner1 still continues4 ,the house you are connected with is grown into a much greater degree of power than it had1 though it was very considerable1 at the period ,i speak of4 ,if the ,d4 of ,l4 takes a popular part1 he is sure of the city of ,dublin1 and he has a young man attached to him who stands very forward in ,parliament and in profession1 and1 by what ,i hear1 with more good-will and less envy than usually attends so rapid a progress4 ,the movement of one or two principal men1 if they manage the little popular strength which is to be found in ,dublin and ,ulster1 may do a great deal1 especially when money is to be saved and taxes to be kept off4 ,i confess ,i should despair of your succeeding with any of them1 if they cannot be satisfied that every job which they can look for on account of carrying this measure would be just as sure to them for their ordinary support of government4 ,they are essential to government1 which at this time must not be disturbed1 and their neutrality will be purchased at as high a price as their alliance offensive and defensive4 ,now1 as by supporting they may get as much as by betraying their country1 it must be a great leaning to turpitude that can make them take a part in this war4 ,i am satisfied1 that1 if the ,duke of ,leinster and ,lord ,shannon would act together1 this business could not go on2 or if either of them took part with ,ponsonby1 it would have no better success4 ,hutchinson's situation is much altered since ,i saw you4 ,to please ,tisdall1 he had been in a manner laid aside at the ,castle4 ,it is now to be seen whether he prefers the gratification of his resentment and his appetite for popularity1 both of which are strong enough in him1 to the advantages which his independence gives him1 of making a new bargain1 and accumulating new offices on his heap4 ,pray do not be asleep in this scene of action1--at this time1 if ,i am right1 the principal4 ,the ,protestants of ,ireland will be1 ,i think1 in general1 backward3 they form infinitely the greatest part of the landed and the moneyed interests2 and they will not like to pay4 ,the ,papists are reduced to beasts of burden3 they will give all they have1 their shoulders1 readily enough1 if they are flattered4 ,surely the state of ,ireland ought forever to teach parties moderation in their victories4 ,people crushed by law have no hopes but from power4 ,if laws are their enemies1 they will be enemies to laws2 and those who have much to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous1 more or less4 ,but this is not our present business4 ,if all this should prove a dream1 however1 let it not hinder you from writing to me and tolling me so4 ,you will easily refute1 in your conversation1 the little topics which they will set afloat3 such as1 that ,ireland is a boat1 and must go with the ship2 that1 if the ,americans contended only for their liberties1 it would be different1--but since they have declared independence1 and so forth-- ,you are happy in enjoying ,townshend's company4 ,remember me to him4 ,how does he like his private situation in a country where he was the son of the sovereign8--,mrs4 ,burke and the two ,richards salute you cordially4 ,e4,b4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,october #hth1 #aggg4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,marquis ,,of ,,rockingham1 ,,with ,,addresses ,,to ,,the ,,king1 ,,and ,,the ,,british ,,colonists ,,in ,,north ,,america1 ,,in ,,relation ,,to ,,the ,,measures ,,of ,,government ,,in ,,the ,,american ,,contest1 ,,and ,a ,,proposed ,,secession ,,of ,,the ,,opposition ,,from ,,parliament4 ,,january1 #aggg4 ,,note4 ,this ,letter1 with the two ,addresses which follow it1 was written upon occasion of a proposed secession from ,parliament of the members in both ,houses who had opposed the measures of government1 in the contest between this country and the colonies in ,north ,america1 from the time of the repeal of the ,stamp ,act4 ,it appears1 from an indorsement written by ,mr4 ,burke on the manuscript1 that he warmly recommended the measure1 but 7for what reasons is not stated7 it was not adopted4 ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,marquis ,,of ,,rockingham4 ,my ,dear ,lord1--,i am afraid that ,i ought rather to beg your pardon for troubling you at all in this season of repose1 than to apologize for having been so long silent on the approaching business4 ,it comes upon us1 not indeed in the most agreeable manner1 but it does come-upon us2 and ,i believe your friends in general are in expectation of finding your ,lordship resolved in what way you are to meet it4 ,the deliberation is full of difficulties2 but the determination is necessary4 ,the affairs of ,america seem to be drawing towards a crisis4 ,the ,howes are at this time in possession of1 or are able to awe1 the whole middle coast of ,america1 from ,delaware to the western boundary of ,massachusetts ,bay2 the naval barrier on the side of ,canada is broken2 a great tract of country is open for the supply of the troops2 the river ,hudson opens a way into the heart of the provinces2 and nothing can1 in all probability1 prevent an early and offensive campaign4 ,what the ,americans have done is1 in their circumstances1 truly astonishing2 it is1 indeed1 infinitely more than ,i expected from them4 ,but having done so much1 for some short time ,i began to entertain an opinion that they might do more4 ,it is now1 however1 evident that they cannot look standing armies in the face4 ,they are inferior in everything1 even in numbers1--,i mean1 in the number of those whom they keep in constant duty and in regular pay4 ,there seem1 by the best accounts1 not to be above ten or twelve thousand men1 at most1 in their grand army4 ,the rest are militia1 and not wonderfully well composed or disciplined4 ,they decline a general engagement1--prudently enough1 if their object had been to make the war attend upon a treaty of good terms of subjection2 but when they look further1 this will not do4 ,an army that is obliged at all times and in all situations to decline an engagement may delay their ruin1 but can never defend their country4 ,foreign assistance they have little or none1 nor are likely soon to have more4 ,france1 in effect1 has no king1 nor any minister accredited enough either with the court or nation to undertake a design of great magnitude4 ,in this state of things1 ,i persuade myself ,franklin is come to ,paris to draw from that court a definitive and satisfactory answer concerning the support of the colonies4 ,if he cannot get such an answer1 7and ,i am of opinion that at present he cannot17 then it is to be presumed he is authorized to negotiate with ,lord ,stormont on the basis of dependence on the crown4 ,this ,i take to be his errand3 for ,i never can believe that he is come thither as a fugitive from his cause in the hour of its distress1 or that he is going to conclude a long life1 which has brightened every hour it has continued1 with so foul and dishonorable a flight4 ,on this supposition1 ,i thought it not wholly impossible that the ,whig party might be made a sort of mediators of the peace4 ,it is unnatural to suppose1 that1 in making an accommodation1 the ,americans should not choose rather to give credit to those who all along have opposed the measure of ministers1 than to throw themselves wholly on the mercy of their bitter1 uniform1 and systematic enemies4 ,it is1 indeed1 the victorious enemy that has the terms to offer2 the vanquished party and their friends are1 both of them1 reduced in their power2 and it is certain that those who are utterly broken and subdued have no option4 ,but1 as this is hardly yet the case of the ,americans1 in this middle state of their affairs1 7much impaired1 but not perfectly ruined17 one would think it must be their interest to provide1 if possible1 some further security for the terms which they may obtain from their enemies4 ,if the ,congress could be brought to declare in favor of those terms for which one hundred members of the ,house of ,commons voted last year1 with some civility to the party which held out those terms1 it would undoubtedly have an effect to revive the cause of our liberties in ,england1 and to give the colonies some sort of mooring and anchorage in this country4 ,it seemed to me that ,franklin might be made to feel the propriety of such a step2 and as ,i have an acquaintance with him1 ,i had a strong desire of taking a turn to ,paris4 ,everything else failing1 one might obtain a better knowledge of the general aspect of affairs abroad than1 ,i believe1 any of us possess at present4 ,the ,duke of ,portland approved the idea4 ,but when ,i had conversed with the very few of your ,lordship's friends who were in town1 and considered a little more maturely the constant temper and standing maxims of the party1 ,i laid aside the design1--not being desirous of risking the displeasure of those for whose sake alone ,i wished to take that fatiguing journey at this severe season of the year4 ,the ,duke of ,portland has taken with him some heads of deliberation1 which were the result of a discourse with his ,grace and ,mr4 ,montagu at ,burlington ,house4 ,it seems essential to the cause that your ,lordship should meet your friends with some settled plan either of action or inaction4 ,your friends will certainly require such a plan2 and ,i am sure the state of affairs requires it1 whether they call for it or not4 ,as to the measure of a secession with reasons1 after rolling the matter in my head a good deal1 and turning it an hundred ways1 ,i confess ,i still think it the most advisable1 notwithstanding the serious objections that lie against it1 and indeed the extreme uncertainty of all political measures1 especially at this time4 ,it provides for your honor4 ,i know of nothing else that can so well do this4 ,it is something1 perhaps all1 that can be done in our present situation4 ,some precaution1 in this respect1 is not without its motives4 ,that very estimation for which you have sacrificed everything else is in some danger of suffering in the general wreck2 and perhaps it is likely to suffer the more1 because you have hitherto confided more than was quite prudent in the clearness of your intentions1 and in the solidity of the popular judgment upon them4 ,the former1 indeed1 is out of the power of events2 the latter is full of levity1 and the very creature of fortune4 ,however1 such as it is1 7and for one ,i do not think ,i am inclined to overvalue it17 both our interest and our duty make it necessary for us to attend to it very carefully1 so long as we act a part in public4 ,the measure you take for this purpose may produce no immediate effect2 but with regard to the party1 and the principles for whose sake the party exists1 all hope of their preservation or recovery depends upon your preserving your reputation4 ,by the conversation of some friends1 it seemed as if they were willing to fall in with this design1 because it promised to emancipate them from the servitude of irksome business1 and to afford them an opportunity of retiring to ease and tranquillity4 ,if that be their object in the secession and addresses proposed1 there surely never were means worse chosen to gain their end2 and if this be any part of the project1 it were a thousand times better it were never undertaken4 ,the measure is not only unusual1 and as such critical1 but it is in its own nature strong and vehement in a high degree4 ,the propriety1 therefore1 of adopting it depends entirely upon the spirit with which it is supported and followed4 ,to pursue violent measures with languor and irresolution is not very consistent in speculation1 and not more reputable or safe in practice4 ,if your ,lordship's friends do not go to this business with their whole hearts1 if they do not feel themselves uneasy without it1 if they do not undertake it with a certain degree of zeal1 and even with warmth and indignation1 it had better be removed wholly out of our thoughts4 ,a measure of less strength1 and more in the beaten circle of affairs1 if supported with spirit and industry1 would be on all accounts infinitely more eligible4 ,we have to consider what it is that in this undertaking we have against us4 ,we have the weight of ,king1 ,lords1 and ,commons in the other scale2 we have against us1 within a trifle1 the whole body of the law2 we oppose the more considerable part of the landed and mercantile interests2 we contend1 in a manner1 against the whole ,church2 we set our faces against great armies flushed with victory1 and navies who have tasted of civil spoil1 and have a strong appetite for more2 our strength1 whatever it is1 must depend1 for a good part of its effect1 upon events not very probable4 ,in such a situation1 such a step requires not only great magnanimity1 but unwearied activity and perseverance1 with a good deal1 too1 of dexterity and management1 to improve every accident in our favor4 ,the delivery of this paper may have very important consequences4 ,it is true that the court may pass it over in silence1 with a real or affected contempt4 ,but this ,i do not think so likely4 ,if they do take notice of it1 the mildest course will be such an address from ,parliament as the ,house of ,commons made to the king on the ,london ,remonstrance in the year #agfi4 ,this address will be followed by addresses of a similar tendency1 from all parts of the kingdom1 in order to overpower you with what they will endeavor to pass as the united voice and sense of the nation4 ,but if they intend to proceed further1 and to take steps of a more decisive nature1 you are then to consider1 not what they may legally and justly do1 but what a ,parliament omnipotent in power1 influenced with party rage and personal resentment1 operating under the implicit military obedience of court discipline1 is capable of4 ,though they have made some successful experiments on juries1 they will hardly trust enough to them to order a prosecution for a supposed libel4 ,they may proceed in two ways3 either by an impeachment1 in which the ,tories may retort on the ,whigs 7but with better success1 though in a worse cause7 the proceedings in the case of ,sacheverell1 or they may1 without this form1 proceed1 as against the ,bishop of ,rochester1 by a bill of pains and penalties more or less grievous4 ,the similarity of the cases1 or the justice1 is 7as ,i said7 out of the question4 ,the mode of proceeding has several very ancient and very recent precedents4 ,none of these methods is impossible4 ,the court may select three or four of the most distinguished among you for the victims2 and therefore nothing is more remote from the tendency of the proposed act than any idea of retirement or repose4 ,on the contrary1 you have1 all of you1 as principals or auxiliaries1 a much better hotter8 and more desperate conflict1 in all probability1 to undergo1 than any you have been yet engaged in4 ,the only question is1 whether the risk ought to be run for the chance 7and it is no more7 of recalling the people of ,england to their ancient principles1 and to that personal interest which formerly they took in all public affairs4 ,at any rate1 ,i am sure it is right1 if we take this step1 to take it with a full view of the consequences1 and with minds and measures in a state of preparation to meet them4 ,it is not becoming that your boldness should arise from a want of foresight4 ,it is more reputable1 and certainly it is more safe too1 that it should be grounded on the evident necessity of encountering the dangers which you foresee4 ,your ,lordship will have the goodness to excuse me1 if ,i state in strong terms the difficulties attending a measure which on the whole ,i heartily concur in4 ,but as1 from my want of importance1 ,i can be personally little subject to the most trying part of the consequences1 it is as little my desire to urge others to dangers in which ,i am myself to have no inconsiderable a share4 ,if this measure should be thought too great for our strength or the dispositions of the times1 then the point will be to consider what is to be done in ,parliament4 ,a weak1 irregular1 desultory1 peevish opposition there will be as much too little as the other may be too big4 ,our scheme ought to be such as to have in it a succession of measures3 else it is impossible to secure anything like a regular attendance2 opposition will otherwise always carry a disreputable air2 neither will it be possible1 without that attendance1 to persuade the people that we are in earnest4 ,above all1 a motion should be well digested for the first day4 ,there is one thing in particular ,i wish to recommend to your ,lordship's consideration3 that is1 the opening of the doors of the ,house of ,commons4 ,without this1 ,i am clearly convinced1 it will be in the power of ministry to make our opposition appear without doors just in what light they please4 ,to obtain a gallery is the easiest thing in the world1 if we are satisfied to cultivate the esteem of our adversaries by the resolution and energy with which we act against them3 but if their satisfaction and good-humor be any part of our object1 the attempt1 ,i admit1 is idle4 ,i had some conversation1 before ,i left town1 with the ,d4 of ,m4 ,he is of opinion1 that1 if you adhere to your resolution of seceding1 you ought not to appear on the first day of the meeting4 ,he thinks it can have no effect1 except to break the continuity of your conduct1 and thereby to weaken and fritter away the impression of it4 ,it certainly will seem odd to give solemn reasons for a discontinuance of your attendance in ,parliament1 after having two or three times returned to it1 and immediately after a vigorous act of opposition4 ,as to trials of the temper of the ,house1 there have been of that sort so many already that ,i see no reason for making another that would not hold equally good for another after that1--particularly as nothing has happened in the least calculated to alter the disposition of the ,house4 ,if the secession were to be general1 such an attendance1 followed by such an act1 would have force2 but being in its nature incomplete and broken1 to break it further by retreats and returns to the chase must entirely destroy its effect4 ,i confess ,i am quite of the ,d4 of ,m4's opinion in this point4 ,i send your ,lordship a corrected copy of the paper3 your ,lordship will be so good to communicate it1 if you should approve of the alterations1 to ,lord ,j4,c4 and ,sir ,g4,s4 ,i showed it to the ,d4 of ,p4 before his ,grace left town2 and at his1 the ,d4 of ,p4's1 desire1 ,i have sent it to the ,d4 of ,r4 ,the principal alteration is in the pages last but one4 ,it is made to remove a difficulty which had been suggested to ,sir ,g4,s41 and which he thought had a good deal in it4 ,i think it much the better for that alteration4 ,indeed1 it may want still more corrections1 in order to adapt it to the present or probable future state of things4 ,what shall ,i say in excuse for this long letter1 which frightens me when ,i look back upon it8 ,your ,lordship will take it1 and all in it1 with your usual incomparable temper1 which carries you through so much both from enemies and friends4 ,my most humble respects to ,lady ,r41 and believe me1 with the highest regard1 ever1 o4 ,e4,b4 ,i hear that ,dr4 ,franklin has had a most extraordinary reception at ,paris from all ranks of people4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,monday night1 ,jan4 #f1 #aggg4 ,,address ,,to ,,the ,,king4 ,we1 your ,majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects1 several of the peers of the realm1 and several members of the ,house of ,commons chosen by the people to represent them in ,parliament1 do in our individual capacity1 but with hearts filled with a warm affection to your ,majesty1 with a strong attachment to your royal house1 and with the most unfeigned devotion to your true interest1 beg leave1 at this crisis of your affairs1 in all humility to approach your royal presence4 ,whilst we lament the measures adopted by the public councils of the kingdom1 we do not mean to question the legal validity of their proceedings4 ,we do not desire to appeal from them to any person whatsoever4 ,we do not dispute the conclusive authority of the bodies in which we have a place over all their members4 ,we know that it is our ordinary duty to submit ourselves to the determinations of the majority in everything1 except what regards the just defence of our honor and reputation4 ,but the situation into which the ,british empire has been brought1 and the conduct to which we are reluctantly driven in that situation1 we hold ourselves bound by the relation in which we stand both to the crown and the people clearly to explain to your ,majesty and our country4 ,we have been called upon in the speech from the throne at the opening of this session of ,parliament1 in a manner peculiarly marked1 singularly emphatical1 and from a place from whence anything implying censure falls with no common weight1 to concur in unanimous approbation of those measures which have produced our present distresses and threaten us in future with others far more grievous4 ,we trust1 therefore1 that we shall stand justified in offering to our sovereign and the public our reasons for persevering inflexibly in our uniform dissent from every part of those measures4 ,we lament them from an experience of their mischief1 as we originally opposed them from a sure foresight of their unhappy and inevitable tendency4 ,we see nothing in the present events in the least degree sufficient to warrant an alteration in our opinion4 ,we were always steadily averse to this civil war1--not because we thought it impossible that it should be attended with victory1 but because we were fully persuaded that in such a contest victory would only vary the mode of our ruin1 and by making it less immediately sensible would render it the more lasting and the more irretrievable4 ,experience had but too fully instructed us in the possibility of the reduction of a free people to slavery by foreign mercenary armies4 ,but we had an horror of becoming the instruments in a design1 of which1 in our turn1 we might become the victims4 ,knowing the inestimable value of peace1 and the contemptible value of what was sought by war1 we wished to compose the distractions of our country1 not by the use of foreign arms1 but by prudent regulations in our own domestic policy4 ,we deplored1 as your ,majesty has done in your speech from the throne1 the disorders which prevail in your empire2 but we are convinced that the disorders of the people1 in the present time and in the present place1 are owing to the usual and natural cause of such disorders at all times and in all places1 where such have prevailed1--the misconduct of government2--that they are owing to plans laid in error1 pursued with obstinacy1 and conducted without wisdom4 ,we cannot attribute so much to the power of faction1 at the expense of human nature1 as to suppose1 that1 in any part of the world1 a combination of men1 few in number1 not considerable in rank1 of no natural hereditary dependencies1 should be able1 by the efforts of their policy alone1 or the mere exertion of any talents1 to bring the people of your ,american dominions into the disposition which has produced the present troubles4 ,we cannot conceive1 that1 without some powerful concurring cause1 any management should prevail on some millions of people1 dispersed over an whole continent1 in thirteen provinces1 not only unconnected1 but1 in many particulars of religion1 manners1 government1 and local interest1 totally different and adverse1 voluntarily to submit themselves to a suspension of all the profits of industry and all the comforts of civil life1 added to all the evils of an unequal war1 carried on with circumstances of the greatest asperity and rigor4 ,this1 ,sir1 we conceive1 could never have happened1 but from a general sense of some grievance so radical in its nature and so spreading in its effects as to poison all the ordinary satisfactions of life1 to discompose the frame of society1 and to convert into fear and hatred that habitual reverence ever paid by mankind to an ancient and venerable government4 ,that grievance is as simple in its nature1 and as level to the most ordinary understanding1 as it is powerful in affecting the most languid passions3 it is-- ,,an ,,attempt ,,made ,,to ,,dispose ,,of ,,the ,,property ,,of ,a ,,whole ,,people ,,without ,,their ,,consent4 ,your ,majesty's ,english subjects in the colonies1 possessing the ordinary faculties of mankind1 know that to live under such a plan of government is not to live in a state of freedom4 ,your ,english subjects in the colonies1 still impressed with the ancient feelings of the people from whom they are derived1 cannot live under a government which does not establish freedom as its basis4 ,this scheme1 being1 therefore1 set up in direct opposition to the rooted and confirmed sentiments and habits of thinking of an whole people1 has produced the effects which ever must result from such a collision of power and opinion4 ,for we beg leave1 with all duty and humility1 to represent to your ,majesty1 7what we fear has been industriously concealed from you17 that it is not merely the opinion of a very great number1 or even of the majority1 but the universal sense of the whole body of the people in those provinces1 that the practice of taxing1 in the mode and on the principles which have been lately contended for and enforced1 is subversive of all their rights4 ,this sense has been declared1 as we understand on good information1 by the unanimous voice of all their ,assemblies3 each ,assembly also1 on this point1 is perfectly unanimous within itself4 ,it has been declared as fully by the actual voice of the people without these ,assemblies as by the constructive voice within them1 as well by those in that country who addressed as by those who remonstrated2 and it is as much the avowed opinion of those who have hazarded their all1 rather than take up arms against your ,majesty's forces1 as of those who have run the same risk to oppose them4 ,the difference among them is not on the grievance1 but on the mode of redress2 and we are sorry to say1 that they who have conceived hopes from the placability of the ministers who influence the public councils of this kingdom disappear in the multitude of those who conceive that passive compliance only confirms and emboldens oppression4 ,the sense of a whole people1 most gracious sovereign1 never ought to be contemned by wise and beneficent rulers1--whatever may be the abstract claims1 or even rights1 of the supreme power4 ,we have been too early instructed1 and too long habituated to believe1 that the only firm seat of all authority is in the minds1 affections1 and interests of the people1 to change our opinions on the theoretic reasonings of speculative men1 or for the convenience of a mere temporary arrangement of state4 ,it is not consistent with equity or wisdom to set at defiance the general feelings of great communities1 and of all the orders which compose them4 ,much power is tolerated1 and passes unquestioned1 where much is yielded to opinion4 ,all is disputed1 where everything is enforced4 ,such are our sentiments on the duty and policy of conforming to the prejudices of a whole people1 even where the foundation of such prejudices may be false or disputable4 ,but permit us to lay at your ,majesty's feet our deliberate judgment on the real merits of that principle1 the violation of which is the known ground and origin of these troubles4 ,we assure your ,majesty1 that1 on our parts1 we should think ourselves unjustifiable1 as good citizens1 and not influenced by the true spirit of ,englishmen1 if1 with any effectual means of prevention in our hands1 we were to submit to taxes to which we did not consent1 either directly1 or by a representation of the people securing to us the substantial benefit of an absolutely free disposition of our own property in that important case4 ,and we add1 ,sir1 that1 if fortune1 instead of blessing us with a situation where we may have daily access to the propitious presence of a gracious prince1 had fixed us in settlements on the remotest part of the globe1 we must carry these sentiments with us1 as part of our being1--persuaded that the distance of situation would render this privilege in the disposal of property but the more necessary4 ,if no provision had been made for it1 such provision ought to be made or permitted4 ,abuses of subordinate authority increase1 and all means of redress lessen1 as the distance of the subject removes him from the seat of the supreme power4 ,what1 in those circumstances1 can save him from the last extremes of indignity and oppression1 but something left in his own hands which may enable him to conciliate the favor and control the excesses of government8 ,when no means of power to awe or to oblige are possessed1 the strongest ties which connect mankind in every relation1 social and civil1 and which teach them mutually to respect each other1 are broken4 ,independency1 from that moment1 virtually exists4 ,its formal declaration will quickly follow4 ,such must be our feelings for ourselves3 we are not in possession of another rule for our brethren4 ,when the late attempt practically to annihilate that inestimable privilege was made1 great disorders and tumults1 very unhappily and very naturally1 arose from it4 ,in this state of things1 we were of opinion that satisfaction ought instantly to be given1 or that1 at least1 the punishment of the disorder ought to be attended with the redress of the grievance4 ,we were of opinion1 that1 if our dependencies had so outgrown the positive institutions made for the preservation of liberty in this kingdom1 that the operation of their powers was become rather a pressure than a relief to the subjects in the colonies1 wisdom dictated that the spirit of the ,constitution should rather be applied to their circumstances1 than its authority enforced with violence in those very parts where its reason became wholly inapplicable4 ,other methods were then recommended and followed1 as infallible means of restoring peace and order4 ,we looked upon them to be1 what they have since proved to be1 the cause of inflaming discontent into disobedience1 and resistance into revolt4 ,the subversion of solemn1 fundamental charters1 on a suggestion of abuse1 without citation1 evidence1 or hearing1--the total suspension of the commerce of a great maritime city1 the capital of a great maritime province1 during the pleasure of the crown1--the establishment of a military force1 not accountable to the ordinary tribunals of the country in which it was kept up1--these and other proceedings at that time1 if no previous cause of dissension had subsisted1 were sufficient to produce great troubles3 unjust at all times1 they were then irrational4 ,we could not conceive1 when disorders had arisen from the complaint of one violated right1 that to violate every other was the proper means of quieting an exasperated people4 ,it seemed to us absurd and preposterous to hold out1 as the means of calming a people in a state of extreme inflammation1 and ready to take up arms1 the austere law which a rigid conqueror would impose as the sequel of the most decisive victories4 ,recourse1 indeed1 was at the same time had to force2 and we saw a force sent out1 enough to menace liberty1 but not to awe opposition1--tending to bring odium on the civil power1 and contempt on the military1--at once to provoke and encourage resistance4 ,force was sent out not sufficient to hold one town2 laws were passed to inflame thirteen provinces4 ,this mode of proceeding1 by harsh laws and feeble armies1 could not be defended on the principle of mercy and forbearance4 ,for mercy1 as we conceive1 consists1 not in the weakness of the means1 but in the benignity of the ends4 ,we apprehend that mild measures may be powerfully enforced1 and that acts of extreme rigor and injustice may be attended with as much feebleness in the execution as severity in the formation4 ,in consequence of these terrors1 which1 falling upon some1 threatened all1 the colonies made a common cause with the sufferers1 and proceeded1 on their part1 to acts of resistance4 ,in that alarming situation1 we besought your ,majesty's ministers to entertain some distrust of the operation of coercive measures1 and to profit of their experience4 ,experience had no effect4 ,the modes of legislative rigor were construed1 not to have been erroneous in their policy1 but too limited in their extent4 ,new severities were adopted4 ,the fisheries of your people in ,america followed their charters2 and their mutual combination to defend what they thought their common rights brought on a total prohibition of their mutual commercial intercourse4 ,no distinction of persons or merits was observed3 the peaceable and the mutinous1 friends and foes1 were alike involved1 as if the rigor of the laws had a certain tendency to recommend the authority of the legislator4 ,whilst the penal laws increased in rigor1 and extended in application over all the colonies1 the direct force was applied but to one part4 ,had the great fleet and foreign army since employed been at that time called for1 the greatness of the preparation would have declared the magnitude of the danger4 ,the nation would have been alarmed1 and taught the necessity of some means of reconciliation with our countrymen in ,america1 who1 whenever they are provoked to resistance1 demand a force to reduce them to obedience full as destructive to us as to them4 ,but ,parliament and the people1 by a premeditated concealment of their real situation1 were drawn into perplexities which furnished excuses for further armaments1 and whilst they were taught to believe themselves called to suppress a riot1 they found themselves involved in a mighty war4 ,at length ,british blood was spilled by ,british hands3 a fatal era1 which we must ever deplore1 because your empire will forever feel it4 ,your ,majesty was touched with a sense of so great a disaster4 ,your paternal breast was affected with the sufferings of your ,english subjects in ,america4 ,in your speech from the throne1 in the beginning of the session of #agge1 you were graciously pleased to declare yourself inclined to relieve their distresses and to pardon their errors4 ,you felt their sufferings under the late penal acts of ,parliament4 ,but your ministry felt differently4 ,not discouraged by the pernicious effects of all they had hitherto advised1 and notwithstanding the gracious declaration of your ,majesty1 they obtained another act of ,parliament1 in which the rigors of all the former were consolidated1 and embittered by circumstances of additional severity and outrage4 ,the whole trading property of ,america 7even unoffending shipping in port7 was indiscriminately and irrecoverably given1 as the plunder of foreign enemies1 to the sailors of your navy4 ,this property was put out of the reach of your mercy4 ,your people were despoiled2 and your navy1 by a new1 dangerous1 and prolific example1 corrupted with the plunder of their countrymen4 ,your people in that part of your dominions were put1 in their general and political1 as well as their personal capacity1 wholly out of the protection of your government4 ,though unwilling to dwell on all the improper modes of carrying on this unnatural and ruinous war1 and which have led directly to the present unhappy separation of ,great ,britain and its colonies1 we must beg leave to represent two particulars1 which we are sure must have been entirely contrary to your ,majesty's order or approbation4 ,every course of action in hostility1 however that hostility may be just or merited1 is not justifiable or excusable4 ,it is the duty of those who claim to rule over others not to provoke them beyond the necessity of the case1 nor to leave stings in their minds which must long rankle even when the appearance of tranquillity is restored4 ,we therefore assure your ,majesty that it is with shame and sorrow we have seen several acts of hostility which could have no other tendency than incurably to alienate the minds of your ,american subjects4 ,to excite1 by a proclamation issued by your ,majesty's governor1 an universal insurrection of negro slaves in any of the colonies is a measure full of complicated horrors1 absolutely illegal1 suitable neither to the practice of war nor to the laws of peace4 ,of the same quality we look upon all attempts to bring down on your subjects an irruption of those fierce and cruel tribes of savages and cannibals in whom the vestiges of human nature are nearly effaced by ignorance and barbarity4 ,they are not fit allies for your ,majesty in a war with your people4 ,they are not fit instruments of an ,english government4 ,these and many other acts we disclaim as having advised1 or approved when done2 and we clear ourselves to your ,majesty1 and to all civilized nations1 from any participation whatever1 before or after the fact1 in such unjustifiable and horrid proceedings4 ,but there is one weighty circumstance which we lament equally with the causes of the war1 and with the modes of carrying it on1--that no disposition whatsoever towards peace or reconciliation has ever been shown by those who have directed the public councils of this kingdom1 either before the breaking out of these hostilities or during the unhappy continuance of them4 ,every proposition made in your ,parliament to remove the original cause of these troubles1 by taking off taxes obnoxious for their principle or their design1 has been overruled1--every bill brought in for quiet rejected1 even on the first proposition4 ,the petitions of the colonies have not been admitted even to an hearing4 ,the very possibility of public agency1 by which such petitions could authentically arrive at ,parliament1 has been evaded and chicaned away4 ,all the public declarations which indicate anything resembling a disposition to reconciliation seem to us loose1 general1 equivocal1 capable of various meanings1 or of none2 and they are accordingly construed differently1 at different times1 by those on whose recommendation they have been made3 being wholly unlike the precision and stability of public faith1 and bearing no mark of that ingenuous simplicity and native candor and integrity which formerly characterized the ,english nation4 ,instead of any relaxation of the claim of taxing at the discretion of ,parliament1 your ministers have devised a new mode of enforcing that claim1 much more effectual for the oppression of the colonies1 though not for your ,majesty's service1 both as to the quantity and application1 than any of the former methods2 and their mode has been expressly held out by ministers as a plan not to be departed from by the ,house of ,commons1 and as the very condition on which the legislature is to accept the dependence of the colonies4 ,at length1 when1 after repeated refusals to hear or to conciliate1 an act dissolving your government1 by putting your people in ,america out of your protection1 was passed1 your ministers suffered several months to elapse without affording to them1 or to any community or any individual amongst them1 the means of entering into that protection1 even on unconditional submission1 contrary to your ,majesty's gracious declaration from the throne1 and in direct violation of the public faith4 ,we cannot1 therefore1 agree to unite in new severities against the brethren of our blood for their asserting an independency1 to which we know1 in our conscience1 they have been necessitated by the conduct of those very persons who now make use of that argument to provoke us to a continuance and repetition of the acts which in a regular series have led to this great misfortune4 ,the reasons1 dread ,sir1 which have been used to justify this perseverance in a refusal to hear or conciliate have been reduced into a sort of ,parliamentary maxims which we do not approve4 ,the first of these maxims is1 that the two ,houses ought not to receive 7as they have hitherto refused to receive7 petitions containing matter derogatory to any part of the authority they claim4 ,we conceive this maxim and the consequent practice to be unjustifiable by reason or the practice of other sovereign powers1 and that it must be productive1 if adhered to1 of a total separation between this kingdom and its dependencies4 ,the supreme power1 being in ordinary cases the ultimate judge1 can1 as we conceive1 suffer nothing in having any part of his rights excepted to1 or even discussed before himself4 ,we know that sovereigns in other countries1 where the assertion of absolute regal power is as high as the assertion of absolute power in any politic body can possibly be here1 have received many petitions in direct opposition to many of their claims of prerogative1--have listened to them1--condescended to discuss1 and to give answers to them4 ,this refusal to admit even the discussion of any part of an undefined prerogative will naturally tend to annihilate any privilege that can be claimed by every inferior dependent community1 and every subordinate order in the state4 ,the next maxim which has been put as a bar to any plan of accommodation is1 that no offer of terms of peace ought to be made1 before ,parliament is assured that these terms will be accepted4 ,on this we beg leave to represent to your ,majesty1 that1 if1 in all events1 the policy of this kingdom is to govern the people in your colonies as a free people1 no mischief can possibly happen from a declaration to them1 and to the world1 of the manner and form in which ,parliament proposes that they shall enjoy the freedom it protects4 ,it is an encouragement to the innocent and meritorious1 that they at least shall enjoy those advantages which they patiently expected rather from the benignity of ,parliament than their own efforts4 ,persons more contumacious may also see that they are resisting terms of perhaps greater freedom and happiness than they are now in arms to obtain4 ,the glory and propriety of offered mercy is neither tarnished nor weakened by the folly of those who refuse to take advantage of it4 ,we cannot think that the declaration of independency makes any natural difference in the reason and policy of the offer4 ,no prince out of the possession of his dominions1 and become a sovereign de jure only1 ever thought it derogatory to his rights or his interests to hold out to his former subjects a distinct prospect of the advantages to be derived from his readmission1 and a security for some of the most fundamental of those popular privileges in vindication of which he had been deposed4 ,on the contrary1 such offers have been almost uniformly made under similar circumstances4 ,besides1 as your ,majesty has been graciously pleased1 in your speech from the throne1 to declare your intention of restoring your people in the colonies to a state of law and liberty1 no objection can possibly lie against defining what that law and liberty are2 because those who offer and those who are to receive terms frequently differ most widely and most materially in the signification of these words1 and in the objects to which they apply4 ,to say that we do not know1 at this day1 what the grievances of the colonies are 7be they real or pretended7 would be unworthy of us4 ,but whilst we are thus waiting to be informed of what we perfectly know1 we weaken the powers of the commissioners1--we delay1 perhaps we lose1 the happy hour of peace1--we are wasting the substance of both countries1--we are continuing the effusion of human1 of ,christian1 of ,english blood4 ,we are sure that we must have your ,majesty's heart along with us1 when we declare in favor of mixing something conciliatory with our force4 ,sir1 we abhor the idea of making a conquest of our countrymen4 ,we wish that they may yield to well-ascertained1 well-authenticated1 and well-secured terms of reconciliation1--not that your ,majesty should owe the recovery of your dominions to their total waste and destruction4 ,humanity will not permit us to entertain such a desire2 nor will the reverence we bear to the civil rights of mankind make us even wish that questions of great difficulty1 of the last importance1 and lying deep in the vital principles of the ,british ,constitution1 should be solved by the arms of foreign mercenary soldiers4 ,it is not1 ,sir1 from a want of the most inviolable duty to your ,majesty1 not from a want of a partial and passionate regard to that part of your empire in which we reside1 and which we wish to be supreme1 that we have hitherto withstood all attempts to render the supremacy of one part of your dominions inconsistent with the liberty and safety of all the rest4 ,the motives of our opposition are found in those very sentiments which we are supposed to violate4 ,for we are convinced beyond a doubt1 that a system of dependence which leaves no security to the people for any part of their freedom in their own hands cannot be established in any inferior member of the ,british empire1 without consequentially destroying the freedom of that very body in favor of whose boundless pretensions such a scheme is adopted4 ,we know and feel that arbitrary power over distant regions is not within the competence1 nor to be exercised agreeably to the forms or consistently with the spirit1 of great popular assemblies4 ,if such assemblies are called to a nominal share in the exercise of such power1 in order to screen1 under general participation1 the guilt of desperate measures1 it tends only the more deeply to corrupt the deliberative character of those assemblies1 in training them to blind obedience1 in habituating them to proceed upon grounds of fact with which they can rarely be sufficiently acquainted1 and in rendering them executive instruments of designs the bottom of which they cannot possibly fathom4 ,to leave any real freedom to ,parliament1 freedom must be left to the colonies4 ,a military government is the only substitute for civil liberty4 ,that the establishment of such a power in ,america will utterly ruin our finances 7though its certain effect7 is the smallest part of our concern4 ,it will become an apt1 powerful1 and certain engine for the destruction of our freedom here4 ,great bodies of armed men1 trained to a contempt of popular assemblies representative of an ,english people1--kept up for the purpose of exacting impositions without their consent1 and maintained by that exaction1--instruments in subverting1 without any process of law1 great ancient establishments and respected forms of governments1--set free from1 and therefore above1 the ordinary ,english tribunals of the country where they serve1--these men cannot so transform themselves1 merely by crossing the sea1 as to behold with love and reverence1 and submit with profound obedience to1 the very same things in ,great ,britain which in ,america they had been taught to despise1 and had been accustomed to awe and humble4 ,all your ,majesty's troops1 in the rotation of service1 will pass through this discipline and contract these habits4 ,if we could flatter ourselves that this would not happen1 we must be the weakest of men2 we must be the worst1 if we were indifferent whether it happened or not4 ,what1 gracious sovereign1 is the empire of ,america to us1 or the empire of the world1 if we lose our own liberties8 ,we deprecate this last of evils4 ,we deprecate the effect of the doctrines which must support and countenance the government over conquered ,englishmen4 ,as it will be impossible long to resist the powerful and equitable arguments in favor of the freedom of these unhappy people that are to be drawn from the principle of our own liberty1 attempts will be made1 attempts have been made1 to ridicule and to argue away this principle1 and to inculcate into the minds of your people other maxims of government and other grounds of obedience than those which have prevailed at and since the glorious ,revolution4 ,by degrees1 these doctrines1 by being convenient1 may grow prevalent4 ,the consequence is not certain2 but a general change of principles rarely happens among a people without leading to a change of government4 ,sir1 your throne cannot stand secure upon the principles of unconditional submission and passive obedience1--on powers exercised without the concurrence of the people to be governed1--on acts made in defiance of their prejudices and habits1--on acquiescence procured by foreign mercenary troops1 and secured by standing armies4 ,these may possibly be the foundation of other thrones3 they must be the subversion of yours4 ,it was not to passive principles in our ancestors that we owe the honor of appearing before a sovereign who cannot feel that he is a prince without knowing that we ought to be free4 ,the ,revolution is a departure from the ancient course of the descent of this monarchy4 ,the people at that time reentered into their original rights2 and it was not because a positive law authorized what was then done1 but because the freedom and safety of the subject1 the origin and cause of all laws1 required a proceeding paramount and superior to them4 ,at that ever memorable and instructive period1 the letter of the law was superseded in favor of the substance of liberty4 ,to the free choice1 therefore1 of the people1 without either ,king or ,parliament1 we owe that happy establishment out of which both ,king and ,parliament were regenerated4 ,from that great principle of liberty have originated the statutes confirming and ratifying the establishment from which your ,majesty derives your right to rule over us4 ,those statutes have not given us our liberties3 our liberties have produced them4 ,every hour of your ,majesty's reign1 your title stands upon the very same foundation on which it was at first laid2 and we do not know a better on which it can possibly be placed4 ,convinced1 ,sir1 that you cannot have different rights and a different security in different parts of your dominions1 we wish to lay an even platform for your throne1 and to give it an unmovable stability1 by laying it on the general freedom of your people1 and by securing to your ,majesty that confidence and affection in all parts of your dominions which makes your best security and dearest title in this the chief seat of your empire4 ,such1 ,sir1 being1 amongst us1 the foundation of monarchy itself1 much more clearly and much more peculiarly is it the ground of all ,parliamentary power4 ,parliament is a security provided for the protection of freedom1 and not a subtile fiction1 contrived to amuse the people in its place4 ,the authority of both ,houses can still less than that of the crown be supported upon different principles in different places1 so as to be for one part of your subjects a protector of liberty1 and for another a fund of despotism1 through which prerogative is extended by occasional powers1 whenever an arbitrary will finds itself straitened by the restrictions of law4 ,had it seemed good to ,parliament to consider itself as the indulgent guardian and strong protector of the freedom of the subordinate popular assemblies1 instead of exercising its powers to their annihilation1 there is no doubt that it never could have been their inclination1 because not their interest1 to raise questions on the extent of ,parliamentary rights1 or to enfeeble privileges which were the security of their own4 ,powers evident from necessity1 and not suspicious from an alarming mode or purpose in the exertion1 would1 as formerly they were1 be cheerfully submitted to2 and these would have been fully sufficient for conservation of unity in the empire1 and for directing its wealth to one common centre4 ,another use has produced other consequences2 and a power which refuses to be limited by moderation must either be lost1 or find other more distinct and satisfactory limitations4 ,as for us1 a supposed1 or1 if it could be1 a real1 participation in arbitrary power would never reconcile our minds to its establishment4 ,we should be ashamed to stand before your ,majesty1 boldly asserting in our own favor inherent rights which bind and regulate the crown itself1 and yet insisting on the exercise1 in our own persons1 of a more arbitrary sway over our fellow-citizens and fellow-freemen4 ,these1 gracious sovereign1 are the sentiments which we consider ourselves as bound1 in justification of our present conduct1 in the most serious and solemn manner to lay at your ,majesty's feet4 ,we have been called by your ,majesty's writs and proclamations1 and we have been authorized1 either by hereditary privilege or the choice of your people1 to confer and treat with your ,majesty1 in your highest councils1 upon the arduous affairs of your kingdom4 ,we are sensible of the whole importance of the duty which this constitutional summons implies4 ,we know the religious punctuality of attendance which1 in the ordinary course1 it demands4 ,it is no light cause which1 even for a time1 could persuade us to relax in any part of that attendance4 ,the ,british empire is in convulsions which threaten its dissolution4 ,those particular proceedings which cause and inflame this disorder1 after many years' incessant struggle1 we find ourselves wholly unable to oppose and unwilling to behold4 ,all our endeavors having proved fruitless1 we are fearful at this time of irritating by contention those passions which we have found it impracticable to compose by reason4 ,we cannot permit ourselves to countenance1 by the appearance of a silent assent1 proceedings fatal to the liberty and unity of the empire1--proceedings which exhaust the strength of all your ,majesty's dominions1 destroy all trust and dependence of our allies1 and leave us1 both at home and abroad1 exposed to the suspicious mercy and uncertain inclinations of our neighbor and rival powers1 to whom1 by this desperate course1 we are driving our countrymen for protection1 and with whom we have forced them into connections1 and may bind them by habits and by interests1--an evil which no victories that may be obtained1 no severities which may be exorcised1 ever will or can remove4 ,if but the smallest hope should from any circumstances appear of a return to the ancient maxims and true policy of this kingdom1 we shall with joy and readiness return to our attendance1 in order to give our hearty support to whatever means may be left for alleviating the complicated evils which oppress this nation4 ,if this should not happen1 we have discharged our consciences by this faithful representation to your ,majesty and our country2 and however few in number1 or however we may be overborne by practices whose operation is but too powerful1 by the revival of dangerous exploded principles1 or by the misguided zeal of such arbitrary factions as formerly prevailed in this kingdom1 and always to its detriment and disgrace1 we have the satisfaction of standing forth and recording our names in assertion of those principles whose operation hath1 in better times1 made your ,majesty a great prince1 and the ,british dominions a mighty empire4 ,,address ,,to ,,the ,,british ,,colonists ,,in ,,north ,,america4 ,the very dangerous crisis into which the ,british empire is brought1 as it accounts for1 so it justifies1 the unusual step we take in addressing ourselves to you4 ,the distempers of the state are grown to such a degree of violence and malignity as to render all ordinary remedies vain and frivolous4 ,in such a deplorable situation1 an adherence to the common forms of business appears to us rather as an apology to cover a supine neglect of duty than the means of performing it in a manner adequate to the exigency that presses upon us4 ,the common means we have already tried1 and tried to no purpose4 ,as our last resource1 we turn ourselves to you4 ,we address you merely in our private capacity1 vested with no other authority than what will naturally attend those in whose declarations of benevolence you have no reason to apprehend any mixture of dissimulation or design4 ,we have this title to your attention3 we call upon it in a moment of the utmost importance to us all4 ,we find1 with infinite concern1 that arguments are used to persuade you of the necessity of separating yourselves from your ancient connection with your parent country1 grounded on a supposition that a general principle of alienation and enmity to you had pervaded the whole of this kingdom1 and that there does no longer subsist between you and us any common and kindred principles upon which we can possibly unite1 consistently with those ideas of liberty in which you have justly placed your whole happiness4 ,if this fact were true1 the inference drawn from it would be irresistible4 ,but nothing is less founded4 ,we admit1 indeed1 that violent addresses have been procured with uncommon pains by wicked and designing men1 purporting to be the genuine voice of the whole people of ,england1--that they have been published by authority here1 and made known to you by proclamations1 in order1 by despair and resentment1 incurably to poison your minds against the origin of your race1 and to render all cordial reconciliation between us utterly impracticable4 ,the same wicked men1 for the same bad purposes1 have so far surprised the justice of ,parliament as to cut off all communication betwixt us1 except what is to go in their own fallacious and hostile channel4 ,but we conjure you by the invaluable pledges which have hitherto united1 and which we trust will hereafter lastingly unite us1 that you do not suffer yourselves to be persuaded or provoked into an opinion that you are at war with this nation4 ,do not think that the whole1 or even the uninfluenced majority1 of ,englishmen in this island are enemies to their own blood on the ,american continent4 ,much delusion has been practised1 much corrupt influence treacherously employed4 ,but still a large1 and we trust the largest and soundest1 part of this kingdom perseveres in the most perfect unity of sentiments1 principles1 and affections with you4 ,it spreads out a large and liberal platform of common liberty1 upon which we may all unite forever4 ,it abhors the hostilities which have been carried on against you1 as much as you who feel the cruel effect of them4 ,it has disclaimed in the most solemn manner1 at the foot of the throne itself1 the addresses which tended to irritate your sovereign against his colonies4 ,we are persuaded that even many of those who unadvisedly have put their hands to such intemperate and inflammatory addresses have not at all apprehended to what such proceedings naturally lead1 and would sooner die than afford them the least countenance1 if they were sensible of their fatal effects on the union and liberty of the empire4 ,for ourselves1 we faithfully assure you1 that we have ever considered you as rational creatures1 as free agents1 as men willing to pursue and able to discern your own true interest4 ,we have wished to continue united with you1 in order that a people of one origin and one character should be directed to the rational objects of government by joint counsels1 and protected in them by a common force4 ,other subordination in you we require none4 ,we have never pressed that argument of general union to the extinction of your local1 natural1 and just privileges4 ,sensible of what is due both to the dignity and weakness of man1 we have never wished to place over you any government1 over which1 in great1 fundamental points1 you should have no sort of check or control in your own hands1 or which should be repugnant to your situation1 principles1 and character4 ,no circumstances of fortune1 you may be assured1 will ever induce us to form or tolerate any such design4 ,if the disposition of ,providence 7which we deprecate7 should even prostrate you at our feet1 broken in power and in spirit1 it would be our duty and inclination to revive1 by every practicable means1 that free energy of mind which a fortune unsuitable to your virtue had damped and dejected1 and to put you voluntarily in possession of those very privileges which you had in vain attempted to assert by arms4 ,for we solemnly declare1 that1 although we should look upon a separation from you as an heavy calamity1 7and the heavier1 because we know you must have your full share in it17 yet we had much rather see you totally independent of this crown and kingdom than joined to it by so unnatural a conjunction as that of freedom with servitude1--a conjunction which1 if it were at all practicable1 could not fail1 in the end1 of being more mischievous to the peace1 prosperity1 greatness1 and power of this nation than beneficial by any enlargement of the bounds of nominal empire4 ,but because1 brethren1 these professions are general1 and such as even enemies may make1 when they reserve to themselves the construction of what servitude and what liberty are1 we inform you that we adopt your own standard of the blessing of free government4 ,we are of opinion that you ought to enjoy the sole and exclusive right of freely granting1 and applying to the support of your administration1 what ,god has freely granted as a reward to your industry4 ,and we do not confine this immunity from exterior coercion1 in this great point1 solely to what regards your local establishment1 but also to what may be thought proper for the maintenance of the whole empire4 ,in this resource we cheerfully trust and acquiesce1 satisfied by evident reason that no other expectation of revenue can possibly be given by freemen1 and knowing from an experience uniform both on yours and on our side of the ocean that such an expectation has never yet been disappointed4 ,we know of no road to your coffers but through your affections4 ,to manifest our sentiments the more clearly to you and to the world on this subject1 we declare our opinion1 that1 if no revenue at all 7which1 however1 we are far from supposing7 were to be obtained from you to this kingdom1 yet1 as long as it is our happiness to be joined with you in the bonds of fraternal charity and freedom1 with an open and flowing commerce between us1 one principle of enmity and friendship pervading1 and one right of war and peace directing the strength of the whole empire1 we are likely to be at least as powerful as any nation1 or as any combination of nations1 which in the course of human events may be formed against us4 ,we are sensible that a very large proportion of the wealth and power of every empire must necessarily be thrown upon the presiding state4 ,we are sensible that such a state ever has borne and ever must bear the greatest part1 and sometimes the whole1 of the public expenses3 and we think her well indemnified for that 7rather apparent than real7 inequality of charge1 in the dignity and preeminence she enjoys1 and in the superior opulence which1 after all charges defrayed1 must necessarily remain at the centre of affairs4 ,of this principle we are not without evidence in our remembrance 7not yet effaced7 of the glorious and happy days of this empire4 ,we are therefore incapable of that prevaricating style1 by which1 when taxes without your consent are to be extorted from you1 this nation is represented as in the lowest state of impoverishment and public distress1 but when we are called upon to oppress you by force of arms1 it is painted as scarcely feeling its impositions1 abounding with wealth1 and inexhaustible in its resources4 ,we also reason and feel as you do on the invasion of your charters4 ,because the charters comprehend the essential forms by which you enjoy your liberties1 we regard them as most sacred1 and by no means to be taken away or altered without process1 without examination1 and without hearing1 as they have lately been4 ,we even think that they ought by no means to be altered at all1 but at the desire of the greater part of the people who live under them4 ,we cannot look upon men as delinquents in the mass2 much less are we desirous of lording over our brethren1 insulting their honest pride1 and wantonly overturning establishments judged to be just and convenient by the public wisdom of this nation at their institution1 and which long and inveterate use has taught you to look up to with affection and reverence4 ,as we disapproved of the proceedings with regard to the forms of your constitution1 so we are equally tender of every leading principle of free government4 ,we never could think with approbation of putting the military power out of the coercion of the civil justice in the country where it acts4 ,we disclaim also any sort of share in that other measure which has been used to alienate your affections from this country1--namely1 the introduction of foreign mercenaries4 ,we saw their employment with shame and regret1 especially in numbers so far exceeding the ,english forces as in effect to constitute vassals1 who have no sense of freedom1 and strangers1 who have no common interest or feelings1 as the arbiters of our unhappy domestic quarrel4 ,we likewise saw with shame the ,african slaves1 who had been sold to you on public faith1 and under the sanction of acts of ,parliament1 to be your servants and your guards1 employed to cut the throats of their masters4 ,you will not1 we trust1 believe1 that1 born in a civilized country1 formed to gentle manners1 trained in a merciful religion1 and living in enlightened and polished times1 where even foreign hostility is softened from its original sternness1 we could have thought of letting loose upon you1 our late beloved brethren1 these fierce tribes of savages and cannibals1 in whom the traces of human nature are effaced by ignorance and barbarity4 ,we rather wished to have joined with you in bringing gradually that unhappy part of mankind into civility1 order1 piety1 and virtuous discipline1 than to have confirmed their evil habits and increased their natural ferocity by fleshing them in the slaughter of you1 whom our wiser and better ancestors had sent into the wilderness with the express view of introducing1 along with our holy religion1 its humane and charitable manners4 ,we do not hold that all things are lawful in war4 ,we should think that every barbarity1 in fire1 in wasting1 in murders1 in tortures1 and other cruelties1 too horrible and too full of turpitude for ,christian mouths to utter or ears to hear1 if done at our instigation1 by those who we know will make war thus1 if they make it at all1 to be1 to all intents and purposes1 as if done by ourselves4 ,we clear ourselves to you our brethren1 to the present age1 and to future generations1 to our king and our country1 and to ,europe1 which1 as a spectator1 beholds this tragic scene1 of every part or share in adding this last and worst of evils to the inevitable mischiefs of a civil war4 ,we do not call you rebels and traitors4 ,we do not call for the vengeance of the crown against you4 ,we do not know how to qualify millions of our countrymen1 contending with one heart for an admission to privileges which we have ever thought our own happiness and honor1 by odious and unworthy names4 ,on the contrary1 we highly revere the principles on which you act1 though we lament some of their effects4 ,armed as you are1 we embrace you as our friends and as our brethren by the best and dearest ties of relation4 ,we view the establishment of the ,english colonies on principles of liberty as that which is to render this kingdom venerable to future ages4 ,in comparison of this1 we regard all the victories and conquests of our warlike ancestors1 or of our own times1 as barbarous1 vulgar distinctions1 in which many nations1 whom we look upon with little respect or value1 have equalled1 if not far exceeded us4 ,this is the peculiar and appropriated glory of ,england4 ,those who have and who hold to that foundation of common liberty1 whether on this or on your side of the ocean1 we consider as the true1 and the only true1 ,englishmen4 ,those who depart from it1 whether there or here1 are attainted1 corrupted in blood1 and wholly fallen from their original rank and value4 ,they are the real rebels to the fair constitution and just supremacy of ,england4 ,we exhort you1 therefore1 to cleave forever to those principles1 as being the true bond of union in this empire1--and to show by a manly perseverance that the sentiments of honor and the rights of mankind are not held by the uncertain events of war1 as you have hitherto shown a glorious and affecting example to the world that they are not dependent on the ordinary conveniences and satisfactions of life4 ,knowing no other arguments to be used to men of liberal minds1 it is upon these very principles1 and these alone1 we hope and trust that no flattering and no alarming circumstances shall permit you to listen to the seductions of those who would alienate you from your dependence on the crown and ,parliament of this kingdom4 ,that very liberty which you so justly prize above all things originated here2 and it may be very doubtful1 whether1 without being constantly fed from the original fountain1 it can be at all perpetuated or preserved in its native purity and perfection4 ,untried forms of government may1 to unstable minds1 recommend themselves even by their novelty4 ,but you will do well to remember that ,england has been great and happy under the present limited monarchy 7subsisting in more or less vigor and purity7 for several hundred years4 ,none but ,england can communicate to you the benefits of such a constitution4 ,we apprehend you are not now1 nor for ages are likely to be1 capable of that form of constitution in an independent state4 ,besides1 let us suggest to you our apprehensions that your present union 7in which we rejoice1 and which we wish long to subsist7 cannot always subsist without the authority and weight of this great and long respected body1 to equipoise1 and to preserve you amongst yourselves in a just and fair equality4 ,it may not even be impossible that a long course of war with the administration of this country may be but a prelude to a series of wars and contentions among yourselves1 to end at length 7as such scenes have too often ended7 in a species of humiliating repose1 which nothing but the preceding calamities would reconcile to the dispirited few who survived them4 ,we allow that even this evil is worth the risk to men of honor1 when rational liberty is at stake1 as in the present case we confess and lament that it is4 ,but if ever a real security by ,parliament is given against the terror or the abuse of unlimited power1 and after such security given you should persevere in resistance1 we leave you to consider whether the risk is not incurred without an object1 or incurred for an object infinitely diminished by such concessions in its importance and value4 ,as to other points of discussion1 when these grand fundamentals of your grants and charters are once settled and ratified by clear ,parliamentary authority1 as the ground for peace and forgiveness on our side1 and for a manly and liberal obedience on yours1 treaty and a spirit of reconciliation will easily and securely adjust whatever may remain4 ,of this we give you our word1 that1 so far as we are at present concerned1 and if by any event we should become more concerned hereafter1 you may rest assured1 upon the pledges of honor not forfeited1 faith not violated1 and uniformity of character and profession not yet broken1 we at least1 on these grounds1 will never fail you4 ,respecting your wisdom1 and valuing your safety1 we do not call upon you to trust your existence to your enemies4 ,we do not advise you to an unconditional submission4 ,with satisfaction we assure you that almost all in both ,houses 7however unhappily they have been deluded1 so as not to give any immediate effect to their opinion7 disclaim that idea4 ,you can have no friends in whom you cannot rationally confide4 ,but ,parliament is your friend from the moment in which1 removing its confidence from those who have constantly deceived its good intentions1 it adopts the sentiments of those who have made sacrifices1 7inferior1 indeed1 to yours17 but have1 however1 sacrificed enough to demonstrate the sincerity of their regard and value for your liberty and prosperity4 ,arguments may be used to weaken your confidence in that public security2 because1 from some unpleasant appearances1 there is a suspicion that ,parliament itself is somewhat fallen from its independent spirit4 ,how far this supposition may be founded in fact we are unwilling to determine4 ,but we are well assured from experience1 that1 even if all were true that is contended for1 and in the extent1 too1 in which it is argued1 yet1 as long as the solid and well-disposed forms of this ,constitution remain1 there ever is within ,parliament itself a power of renovating its principles1 and effecting a self-reformation1 which no other plan of government has ever contained4 ,this ,constitution has therefore admitted innumerable improvements1 either for the correction of the original scheme1 or for removing corruptions1 or for bringing its principles better to suit those changes which have successively happened in the circumstances of the nation or in the manners of the people4 ,we feel that the growth of the colonies is such a change of circumstances1 and that our present dispute is an exigency as pressing as any which ever demanded a revision of our government4 ,public troubles have often called upon this country to look into its ,constitution4 ,it has ever been bettered by such a revision4 ,if our happy and luxuriant increase of dominion1 and our diffused population1 have outgrown the limits of a ,constitution made for a contracted object1 we ought to bless ,god1 who has furnished us with this noble occasion for displaying our skill and beneficence in enlarging the scale of rational happiness1 and of making the politic generosity of this kingdom as extensive as its fortune4 ,if we set about this great work1 on both sides1 with the same conciliatory turn of mind1 we may now1 as in former times1 owe even to our mutual mistakes1 contentions1 and animosities1 the lasting concord1 freedom1 happiness1 and glory of this empire4 ,gentlemen1 the distance between us1 with other obstructions1 has caused much misrepresentation of our mutual sentiments4 ,we1 therefore1 to obviate them as well as we are able1 take this method of assuring you of our thorough detestation of the whole war1 and particularly the mercenary and savage war carried on or attempted against you1--our thorough abhorrence of all addresses adverse to you1 whether public or private1--our assurances of an invariable affection towards you1--our constant regard to your privileges and liberties1--and our opinion of the solid security you ought to enjoy for them1 under the paternal care and nurture of a protecting ,parliament4 ,though many of us have earnestly wished that the authority of that august and venerable body1 so necessary in many respects to the union of the whole1 should be rather limited by its own equity and discretion1 than by any bounds described by positive laws and public compacts1--and though we felt the extreme difficulty1 by any theoretical limitations1 of qualifying that authority1 so as to preserve one part and deny another1--and though you 7as we gratefully acknowledge7 had acquiesced most cheerfully under that prudent reserve of the ,constitution1 at that happy moment when neither you nor we apprehended a further return of the exercise of invidious powers1 we are now as fully persuaded as you can be1 by the malice1 inconstancy1 and perverse inquietude of many men1 and by the incessant endeavors of an arbitrary faction1 now too powerful1 that our common necessities do require a full explanation and ratified security for your liberties and our quiet4 ,although his ,majesty's condescension1 in committing the direction of his affairs into the hands of the known friends of his family and of the liberties of all his people1 would1 we admit1 be a great means of giving repose to your minds1 as it must give infinite facility to reconciliation1 yet we assure you that we think1 with such a security as we recommend1 adopted from necessity and not choice1 even by the unhappy authors and instruments of the public misfortunes1 that the terms of reconciliation1 if once accepted by ,parliament1 would not be broken4 ,we also pledge ourselves to you1 that we should give1 even to those unhappy persons1 an hearty support in effectuating the peace of the empire1 and every opposition in an attempt to cast it again into disorder4 ,when that happy hour shall arrive1 let us in all affection1 recommend to you the wisdom of continuing1 as in former times1 or even in a more ample measure1 the support of your government1 and even to give to your administration some degree of reciprocal interest in your freedom4 ,we earnestly wish you not to furnish your enemies1 here or elsewhere1 with any sort of pretexts for reviving quarrels by too reserved and severe or penurious an exercise of those sacred rights which no pretended abuse in the exercise ought to impair1 nor1 by overstraining the principles of freedom1 to make them less compatible with those haughty sentiments in others which the very same principles may be apt to breed in minds not tempered with the utmost equity and justice4 ,the well-wishers of the liberty and union of this empire salute you1 and recommend you most heartily to the ,divine protection4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,,edmund ,s4 ,,pery ,,speaker ,,of ,,the ,,irish ,,house ,,of ,,commons1 ,,in ,,relation ,,to ,a ,,bill ,,for ,,the ,,relief ,,of ,,the ,,roman ,,catholics ,,of ,,ireland4 ,,july #ah1 #aggh4 ,,note4 ,this ,letter is addressed to ,mr4 ,pery1 7afterwards ,lord ,pery17 then ,speaker of the ,house of ,commons of ,ireland4 ,it appears1 there had been much correspondence between that gentleman and ,mr4 ,burke1 on the subject of ,heads of a bill 7which had passed the ,irish ,house of ,commons in the summer of the year #aggh1 and had been transmitted by the ,irish ,privy ,council of to8 ,england7 for the relief of his ,majesty's ,roman ,catholic subjects in ,ireland4 ,the bill contained a clause for exempting the ,protestant ,dissenters of ,ireland from the sacramental test1 which created a strong objection to the whole measure on the part of the ,english government4 ,mr4 ,burke employed his most strenuous efforts to remove the prejudice which the king's ministers entertained against the clause1 but the bill was ultimately returned without it1 and in that shape passed the ,irish ,parliament4 7#agth and #ahth ,geo4 ,,iii cap4 #di47 ,in the subsequent session1 however1 a separate act was passed for the relief of the ,protestant ,dissenters of ,ireland4 ,,letter4 ,my ,dear ,sir1--,i received in due course your two very interesting and judicious letters1 which gave me many new lights1 and excited me to fresh activity in the important subject they related to4 ,however1 from that time ,i have not been perfectly free from doubt and uneasiness4 ,i used a liberty with those letters1 which1 perhaps1 nothing can thoroughly justify1 and which certainly nothing but the delicacy of the crisis1 the clearness of my intentions1 and your great good-nature can at all excuse4 ,i might conceal this from you2 but ,i think it better to lay the whole matter before you1 and submit myself to your mercy1--assuring you1 at the same time1 that1 if you are so kind as to continue your confidence on this1 or to renew it upon any other occasion1 ,i shall never be tempted again to make so bold and unauthorized an use of the trust you place in me4 ,i will state to you the history of the business since my last1 and then you will see how far ,i am excusable by the circumstances4 ,on the #crd of ,july ,i received a letter from the ,attorney-,general1 dated the day before1 in which1 in a very open and obliging manner1 he desires my thoughts of the ,irish ,toleration ,bill1 and particularly of the ,dissenters' clause4 ,i gave them to him1 by the return of the post1 at large2 but1 as the time pressed1 ,i kept no copy of the letter4 ,the general drift was strongly to recommend the whole1 and principally to obviate the objections to the part that related to the ,dissenters1 with regard both to the general propriety and to the temporary policy at this juncture4 ,i took1 likewise1 a good deal of pains to state the difference which had always subsisted with regard to the treatment of the ,protestant ,dissenters in ,ireland and in ,england1 and what ,i conceived the reason of that difference to be4 ,about the same time ,i was called to town for a day2 and ,i took an opportunity1 in ,westminster ,hall1 of urging the same points1 with all the force ,i was master of1 to the ,solicitor-,general4 ,i attempted to see the ,chancellor for the same purpose1 but was not fortunate enough to meet him at home4 ,soon after my return hither1 on ,tuesday1 ,i received a very polite and ,i may say friendly letter from him1 wishing me 7on supposition that ,i had continued in town7 to dine with him as on8 that day1 in order to talk over the business of the ,toleration ,act1 then before him4 ,unluckily ,i had company with me1 and was not able to leave them until ,thursday1 when ,i went to town and called at his house1 but missed him4 ,however1 in answer to his letter1 ,i had before1 and instantly on the receipt of it1 written to him at large1 and urged such topics1 both with regard to the ,catholics and ,dissenters1 as ,i imagined were the most likely to be prevalent with him4 ,this letter ,i followed to town on ,thursday4 ,on my arrival ,i was much alarmed with a report that the ministry had thoughts of rejecting the whole bill4 ,mr4 ,m',namara seemed apprehensive that it was a determined measure2 and there seemed to be but too much reason for his fears4 ,not having met the ,chancellor at home1 either on my first visit or my second after receiving his letter1 and fearful that the ,cabinet should come to come unpleasant resolution1 ,i went to the ,treasury on ,friday4 ,there ,i saw ,sir ,g4 ,cooper4 ,i possessed him of the danger of a partial1 and the inevitable mischief of the total rejection of the bill4 ,i reminded him of the understood compact between parties1 upon which the whole scheme of the toleration originating in the ,english bill was formed1--of the fair part which the ,whigs had acted in a business which1 though first started by them1 was supposed equally acceptable to all sides1 and the risk of which they took upon themselves1 when others declined it4 ,to this ,i added such matter as ,i thought most fit to engage government1 as government1--not to sport with a singular opportunity which offered for the union of every description of men amongst us in support of the common interest of the whole2 and ,i ended by desiring to see ,lord ,north upon the subject4 ,sir ,grey ,cooper showed a very right sense of the matter1 and in a few minutes after our conversation ,i went down from the ,treasury chambers to ,lord ,north's house4 ,i had a great deal of discourse with him4 ,he told me that his ideas of toleration were large1 but that1 large as they were1 they did not comprehend a promiscuous establishment1 even in matters merely civil2 that he thought the established religion ought to be the religion of the state2 that1 in this idea1 he was not for the repeal of the sacramental test2 that1 indeed1 he knew the ,dissenters in general did not greatly scruple it2 but that very want of scruple showed less zeal against the ,establishment2 and1 after all1 there could no provision be made by human laws against those who made light of the tests which were formed to discriminate opinions4 ,on all this he spoke with a good deal of temper4 ,he did not1 indeed1 seem to think the test itself1 which was rightly considered by ,dissenters as in a manner dispensed with by an annual act of ,parliament1 and which in ,ireland was of a late origin1 and of much less extent than here1 a matter of much moment4 ,the thing which seemed to affect him most was the offence that would be taken at the repeal by the leaders among the ,church clergy here1 on one hand1 and1 on the other1 the steps which would be taken for its repeal in ,england in the next session1 in consequence of the repeal in ,ireland4 ,i assured him1 with great truth1 that we had no idea among the ,whigs of moving the repeal of the test4 ,i confessed very freely1 for my own part1 that1 if it were brought in1 ,i should certainly vote for it2 but that ,i should neither use1 nor did ,i think applicable1 any arguments drawn from the analogy of what was done in other parts of the ,british dominions4 ,we did not argue from analogy1 even in this island and ,united ,kingdom4 ,presbytery was established in ,scotland4 ,it became no reason either for its religious or civil establishment here4 ,in ,new ,england the ,independent ,congregational ,churches had an established legal maintenance2 whilst that country continued part of the ,british empire1 no argument in favor of ,independency was adduced from the practice of ,new ,england4 ,government itself lately thought fit to establish the ,roman ,catholic religion in ,canada2 but they would not suffer an argument of analogy to be used for its establishment anywhere else4 ,these things were governed1 as all things of that nature are governed1 not by general maxims1 but their own local and peculiar circumstances4 ,finding1 however1 that1 though he was very cool and patient1 ,i made no great way in the business of the ,dissenters1 ,i turned myself to try whether1 falling in with his maxims1 some modification might not be found1 the hint of which ,i received from your letter relative to the ,irish ,militia ,bill1 and the point ,i labored was so to alter the clause as to repeal the test quoad military and revenue offices3 for these being only subservient parts in the economy and execution1 rather than the administration of affairs1 the politic1 civil1 and judicial parts would still continue in the hands of the conformists to religious establishments4 ,without giving any hopes1 he1 however1 said that this distinction deserved to be considered4 ,after this1 ,i strongly pressed the mischief of rejecting the whole bill3 that a notion went abroad1 that government was not at this moment very well pleased with the ,dissenters1 as not very well affected to the monarchy2 that1 in general1 ,i conceived this to be a mistake1--but if it were not1 the rejection of a bill in favor of others1 because something in favor of them was inserted1 instead of humbling and mortifying1 would infinitely exalt them3 for1 if the legislature had no means of favoring those whom they meant to favor1 as long as the ,dissenters could find means to get themselves included1 this would make them1 instead of their only being subject to restraint themselves1 the arbitrators of the fate of others1 and that not so much by their own strength 7which could not be prevented in its operation7 as by the coperation of those whom they opposed4 ,in the conclusion1 ,i recommended1 that1 if they wished well to the measure which was the main object of the bill1 they must explicitly make it their own1 and stake themselves upon it2 that hitherto all their difficulties had arisen from their indecision and their wrong measures2 and to make ,lord ,north sensible of the necessity of giving a firm support to some part of the bill1 and to add weighty authority to my reasons1 ,i read him your letter of the #ajth of ,july4 ,it seemed1 in some measure1 to answer the purpose which ,i intended4 ,i pressed the necessity of the management of the affair1 both as to conduct and as to gaining of men2 and ,i renewed my former advice1 that the ,lord ,lieutenant should be instructed to consult and cooperate with you in the whole affair4 ,all this was1 apparently1 very fairly taken4 ,in the evening of that day ,i saw the ,lord ,chancellor4 ,with him1 too1 ,i had much discourse4 ,you know that he is intelligent1 sagacious1 systematic1 and determined4 ,at first he seemed of opinion that the relief contained in the bill was so inadequate to the mass of oppression it was intended to remove1 that it would be better to let it stand over1 until a more perfect and better digested plan could be settled4 ,this seemed to possess him very strongly4 ,in order to combat this notion1 and to show that the bill1 all things considered1 was a very great acquisition1 and that it was rather a preliminary than an obstruction to relief1 ,i ventured to show him your letter4 ,it had its effect4 ,he declared himself roundly against giving anything to a confederacy1 real or apparent1 to distress government2 that1 if anything was done for ,catholics or ,dissenters1 it should be done on its own separate merits1 and not by way of bargain and compromise2 that they should be each of them obliged to government1 not each to the other2 that this would be a perpetual nursery of faction4 ,in a word1 he seemed so determined on not uniting these plans1 that all ,i could say1 and ,i said everything ,i could think of1 was to no purpose4 ,but when ,i insisted on the disgrace to government which must arise from their rejecting a proposition recommended by themselves1 because their opposers had made a mixture1 separable too by themselves1 ,i was better heard4 ,on the whole1 ,i found him well disposed4 ,as soon as ,i had returned to the country1 this affair lay so much on my mind1 and the absolute necessity of government's making a serious business of it1 agreeably to the seriousness they professed1 and the object required1 that ,i wrote to ,sir ,g4 ,cooper1 to remind him of the principles upon which we went in our conversation1 and to press the plan which was suggested for carrying them into execution4 ,he wrote to me on the #bjth1 and assured me1 that ,lord ,north had given all due attention and respect to what you said to him on ,friday1 and will pay the same respect to the sentiments conveyed in your letter3 everything you say or write on the subject undoubtedly demands it4 ,whether this was mere civility1 or showed anything effectual in their intentions1 time and the success of this measure will show4 ,it is wholly with them2 and if it should fail1 you are a witness that nothing on our part has been wanting to free so large a part of our fellow-subjects and fellow-citizens from slavery1 and to free government from the weakness and danger of ruling them by force4 ,as to my own particular part1 the desire of doing this has betrayed me into a step which ,i cannot perfectly reconcile to myself4 ,you are to judge how far1 on the circumstances1 it may be excused4 ,i think it had a good effect4 ,you may be assured that ,i made this communication in a manner effectually to exclude so false and groundless an idea as that ,i confer with you1 any more than ,i confer with them1 on any party principle whatsoever1--or that in this affair we look further than the measure which is in profession1 and ,i am sure ought to be in reason1 theirs4 ,i am ever1 with the sincerest affection and esteem1 ,my dear ,sir1 ,your most faithful and obedient humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 #ahth ,july1 #aggh4 ,i intended to have written sooner1 but it has not been in my power4 ,to the ,speaker of the ,house of ,commons of ,ireland4 ,,two ,,letters ,,to ,,thomas ,,burgh1 ,,esq41 ,,and ,,john ,,merlott1 ,,esq41 ,,in ,,vindication ,,of ,,his ,,parliamentary ,,conduct ,,relative ,,to ,,the ,,affairs ,,of ,,ireland4 #aghj4 ,,letter ,,to ,,thomas ,,burgh1 ,,esq4#ad ,my ,dear ,sir1--,i do not know in what manner ,i am to thank you properly for the very friendly solicitude you have been so good as to express for my reputation4 ,the concern you have done me the honor to take in my affairs will be an ample indemnity from all that ,i may suffer from the rapid judgments of those who choose to form their opinions of men1 not from the life1 but from their portraits in a newspaper4 ,i confess to you that my frame of mind is so constructed1 ,i have in me so little of the constitution of a great man1 that ,i am more gratified with a very moderate share of approbation from those few who know me than ,i should be with the most clamorous applause from those multitudes who love to admire at a due distance4 ,i am not1 however1 ,stoic enough to be able to affirm with truth1 or hypocrite enough affectedly to pretend1 that ,i am wholly unmoved at the difficulty which you and others of my friends in ,ireland have found in vindicating my conduct towards my native country4 ,it undoubtedly hurts me in some degree3 but the wound is not very deep4 ,if ,i had sought popularity in ,ireland1 when1 in the cause of that country1 ,i was ready to sacrifice1 and did sacrifice1 a much nearer1 a much more immediate1 and a much more advantageous popularity here1 ,i should find myself perfectly unhappy1 because ,i should be totally disappointed in my expectations1--because ,i should discover1 when it was too late1 what common sense might have told me very early1 that ,i risked the capital of my fame in the most disadvantageous lottery in the world4 ,but ,i acted then1 as ,i act now1 and as ,i hope ,i shall act always1 from a strong impulse of right1 and from motives in which popularity1 either here or there1 has but a very little part4 ,with the support of that consciousness ,i can bear a good deal of the coquetry of public opinion1 which has her caprices1 and must have her way4 ,miseri1 quibus intentata nitet6 ,i1 too1 have had my holiday of popularity in ,ireland4 ,i have even heard of an intention to erect a statue4#ae ,i believe my intimate acquaintance know how little that idea was encouraged by me2 and ,i was sincerely glad that it never took effect4 ,such honors belong exclusively to the tomb1--the natural and only period of human inconstancy1 with regard either to desert or to opinion3 for they are the very same hands which erect1 that very frequently 7and sometimes with reason enough7 pluck down the statue4 ,had such an unmerited and unlooked-for compliment been paid to me two years ago1 the fragments of the piece might at this hour have the advantage of seeing actual service1 while they were moving1 according to the law of projectiles1 to the windows of the ,attorney-,general1 or of my old friend1 ,monk ,mason4 ,to speak seriously1--let me assure you1 my dear ,sir1 that1 though ,i am not permitted to rejoice at all its effects1 there is not one man on your side of the water more pleased to see the situation of ,ireland so prosperous as that she can afford to throw away her friends4 ,she has obtained1 solely by her own efforts1 the fruits of a great victory1 which ,i am very ready to allow that the best efforts of her best well-wishers here could not have done for her so effectually in a great number of years1 and perhaps could not have done at all4 ,i could wish1 however1 merely for the sake of her own dignity1 that1 in turning her poor relations and antiquated friends out of doors1 7though one of the most common effects of new prosperity17 she had thought proper to dismiss us with fewer tokens of unkindness4 ,it is true that there is no sort of danger in affronting men who are not of importance enough to have any trust of ministerial1 of royal1 or of national honor to surrender4 ,the unforced and unbought services of humble men1 who have no medium of influence in great assemblies1 but through the precarious force of reason1 must be looked upon with contempt by those who by their wisdom and spirit have improved the critical moment of their fortune1 and have debated with authority against pusillanimous dissent and ungracious compliance1 at the head of forty thousand men4 ,such feeble auxiliaries 7as ,i talk of7 to such a force1 employed against such resistance1 ,i must own1 in the present moment1 very little worthy of your attention4 ,yet1 if one were to look forward1 it scarcely seems altogether politic to bestow so much liberality of invective on the ,whigs of this kingdom as ,i find has been the fashion to do both in and out of ,parliament4 ,that you should pay compliments1 in some tone or other1 whether ironical or serious1 to the minister from whose imbecility you have extorted what you could never obtain from his bounty1 is not unnatural4 ,in the first effusions of ,parliamentary gratitude to that minister for the early and voluntary benefits he has conferred upon ,ireland1 it might appear that you were wanting to the triumph of his surrender1 if you did not lead some of his enemies captive before him4 ,neither could you feast him with decorum1 if his particular taste were not consulted4 ,a minister1 who has never defended his measures in any other way than by railing at his adversaries1 cannot have his palate made all at once to the relish of positive commendation4 ,i cannot deny but that on this occasion there was displayed a great deal of the good-breeding which consists in the accommodation of the entertainment to the relish of the guest4 ,but that ceremony being past1 it would not be unworthy of the wisdom of ,ireland to consider what consequences the extinguishing every spark of freedom in this country may have upon your own liberties4 ,you are at this instant flushed with victory1 and full of the confidence natural to recent and untried power4 ,we are in a temper equally natural1 though very different4 ,we feel as men do1 who1 having placed an unbounded reliance on their force1 have found it totally to fail on trial4 ,we feel faint and heartless1 and without the smallest degree of self-opinion4 ,in plain words1 we are cowed4 ,when men give up their violence and injustice without a struggle1 their condition is next to desperate4 ,when no art1 no management1 no argument1 is necessary to abate their pride and overcome their prejudices1 and their uneasiness only excites an obscure and feeble rattling in their throat1 their final dissolution seems not far off4 ,in this miserable state we are still further depressed by the overbearing influence of the crown4 ,it acts with the officious cruelty of a mercenary nurse1 who1 under pretence of tenderness1 stifles us with our clothes1 and plucks the pillow from our heads4 ,injectu mult vestis opprimi senem jubet4 ,under this influence we have so little will of our own1 that1 even in any apparent activity we may be got to assume1 ,i may say1 without any violence to sense1 and with very little to language1 we are merely passive4 ,we have yielded to your demands this session4 ,in the last session we refused to prevent them4 ,in both cases1 the passive and the active1 our principle was the same4 ,had the crown pleased to retain the spirit1 with regard to ,ireland1 which seems to be now all directed to ,america1 we should have neglected our own immediate defence1 and sent over the last man of our militia to fight with the last man of your volunteers4 ,to this influence the principle of action1 the principle of policy1 and the principle of union of the present minority are opposed4 ,these principles of the opposition are the only thing which preserves a single symptom of life in the nation4 ,that opposition is composed of the far greater part of the independent property and independent rank of the kingdom1 of whatever is most untainted in character1 and of whatever ability remains unextinguished in the people1 and of all which tends to draw the attention of foreign countries upon this4 ,it is now in its final and conclusive struggle4 ,it has to struggle against a force to which1 ,i am afraid1 it is not equal4 ,the whole kingdom of ,scotland ranges with the venal1 the unprincipled1 and the wrong-principled of this2 and if the kingdom of ,ireland thinks proper to pass into the same camp1 we shall certainly be obliged to quit the field4 ,in that case1 if ,i know anything of this country1 another constitutional opposition can never be formed in it2 and if this be impossible1 it will be at least as much so 7if there can be degrees in impossibility7 to have a constitutional administration at any future time4 ,the possibility of the former is the only security for the existence of the latter4 ,whether the present administration be in the least like one1 ,i must venture to doubt1 even in the honey-moon of the ,irish fondness to ,lord ,north1 which has succeeded to all their slappings and scratchings4 ,if liberty cannot maintain its ground in this kingdom1 ,i am sure that it cannot have any long continuance in yours4 ,our liberty might now and then jar and strike a discord with that of ,ireland4 ,the thing is possible3 but still the instruments might play in concert4 ,but if ours be unstrung1 yours will be hung up on a peg1 and both will be mute forever4 ,your new military force may give you confidence1 and it serves well for a turn2 but you and ,i know that it has not root4 ,it is not perennial1 and would prove but a poor shelter for your liberty1 when this nation1 having no interest in its own1 could look upon yours with the eye of envy and disgust4 ,i cannot1 therefore1 help thinking1 and telling you what with great submission ,i think1 that1 if the ,parliament of ,ireland be so jealous of the spirit of our common ,constitution as she seems to be1 it was not so discreet to mix with the panegyric on the minister so large a portion of acrimony to the independent part of this nation4 ,you never received any sort of injury from them1 and you are grown to that degree of importance that the discourses in your ,parliament will have a much greater effect on our immediate fortune than our conversation can have upon yours4 ,in the end they will seriously1 affect both4 ,i have looked back upon our conduct and our public conversations in order to discover what it is that can have given you offence4 ,i have done so1 because ,i am ready to admit that to offend you without any cause would be as contrary to true policy as ,i am sure it must be to the inclinations of almost every one of us4 ,about two years ago ,lord ,nugent moved six propositions in favor of ,ireland in the ,house of ,commons4 ,at the time of the motions1 and during the debate1 ,lord ,north was either wholly out of the ,house1 or engaged in other matters of business or pleasantry1 in the remotest recesses of the ,west ,saxon corner4 ,he took no part whatsoever in the affair2 but it was supposed his neutrality was more inclined towards the side of favor4 ,the mover being a person in office was1 however1 the only indication that was given of such a leaning4 ,we who supported the propositions1 finding them better relished than at first we looked for1 pursued our advantage1 and began to open a way for more essential benefits to ,ireland4 ,on the other hand1 those who had hitherto opposed them in vain redoubled their efforts1 and became exceedingly clamorous4 ,then it was that ,lord ,north found it necessary to come out of his fastness1 and to interpose between the contending parties4 ,in this character of mediator1 he declared1 that1 if anything beyond the first six resolutions should be attempted1 he would oppose the whole1 but that1 if we rested there1 the original motions should have his support4 ,on this a sort of convention took place between him and the managers of the ,irish business1 in which the six resolutions were to be considered as an uti possidetis1 and to be held sacred4 ,by this time other parties began to appear4 ,a good many of the trading towns1 and manufactures of various kinds1 took the alarm4 ,petitions crowded in upon one another1 and the bar was occupied by a formidable body of council4 ,lord ,n4 was staggered by this new battery4 ,he is not of a constitution to encounter such an opposition as had then risen1 when there were no other objects in view than those that were then before the ,house4 ,in order not to lose him1 we were obliged to abandon1 bit by bit1 the most considerable part of the original agreement4 ,in several parts1 however1 he continued fair and firm4 ,for my own part1 ,i acted1 as ,i trust ,i commonly do1 with decision4 ,i saw very well that the things we had got were of no great consideration2 but they were1 even in their defects1 somewhat leading4 ,i was in hopes that we might obtain gradually and by parts what we might attempt at once and in the whole without success1--that one concession would lead to another1--and that the people of ,england discovering by a progressive experience that none of the concessions actually made were followed by the consequences they had dreaded1 their fears from what they were yet to yield would considerably diminish4 ,but that to which ,i attached myself the most particularly was1 to fix the principle of a free trade in all the ports of these islands1 as founded in justice1 and beneficial to the whole1 but principally to this1 the seat of the supreme power4 ,and this ,i labored to the utmost of my might1 upon general principles1 illustrated by all the commercial detail with which my little inquiries in life were able to furnish me4 ,i ought to forget such trifling things as those1 with all concerning myself2 and possibly ,i might have forgotten them1 if the ,lord ,advocate of ,scotland had not1 in a very flattering manner1 revived them in my memory1 in a full ,house in this session4 ,he told me that my arguments1 such as they were1 had made him1 at the period ,i allude to1 change the opinion with which he had come into the ,house strongly impressed4 ,i am sure that at the time at least twenty more told me the same thing4 ,i certainly ought not to take their style of compliment as a testimony to fact2 neither do ,i4 ,but all this showed sufficiently1 not what they thought of my ability1 but what they saw of my zeal4 ,i could say more in proof of the effects of that zeal1 and of the unceasing industry with which ,i then acted1 both in my endeavors which were apparent and those that were not so visible4 ,let it be remembered that ,i showed those dispositions while the ,parliament of ,england was in a capacity to deliberate and in a situation to refuse1 when there was something to be risked here by being suspected of a partiality to ,ireland1 when there was an honorable danger attending the profession of friendship to you1 which heightened its relish1 and made it worthy of a reception in manly minds4 ,but as for the awkward and nauseous parade of debate without opposition1 the flimsy device of tricking out necessity and disguising it in the habit of choice1 the shallow stratagem of defending by argument1 what all the world must perceive is yielded to force1--these are a sort of acts of friendship which ,i am sorry that any of my countrymen should require of their real friends4 ,they are things not to my taste2 and if they are looked upon as tests of friendship1 ,i desire for one that ,i may be considered as an enemy4 ,what party purpose did my conduct answer at that time8 ,i acted with ,lord ,n4 ,i went to all the ministerial meetings1--and he and his associates in office will do me the justice to say1 that1 aiming at the concord of the empire1 ,i made it my business to give his concessions all the value of which they were capable1 whilst some of those who were covered with his favors derogated from them1 treated them with contempt1 and openly threatened to oppose them4 ,if ,i had acted with my dearest and most valued friends1 if ,i had acted with the ,marquis of ,rockingham or the ,duke of ,richmond1 in that situation1 ,i could not have attended more to their honor1 or endeavored more earnestly to give efficacy to the measures ,i had taken in common with them4 ,the return which ,i1 and all who acted as ,i did1 have met with from him1 does not make me repent the conduct which ,i then held4 ,as to the rest of the gentlemen with whom ,i have the honor to act1 they did not then1 or at any other time1 make a party affair of ,irish politics4 ,that matter was always taken up without concert2 but1 in general1 from the operation of our known liberal principles in government1 in commerce1 in religion1 in everything1 it was taken up favorably for ,ireland4 ,where some local interests bore hard upon the members1 they acted on the sense of their constituents1 upon ideas which1 though ,i do not always follow1 ,i cannot blame4 ,however1 two or three persons1 high in opposition1 and high in public esteem1 ran great risks in their boroughs on that occasion4 ,but all this was without any particular plan4 ,i need not say1 that ,ireland was in that affair much obliged to the liberal mind and enlarged understanding of ,charles ,fox1 to ,mr4 ,thomas ,townshend1 to ,lord ,midleton1 and others4 ,on reviewing that affair1 which gave rise to all the subsequent manoeuvres1 ,i am convinced that the whole of what has this day been done might have then been effected4 ,but then the minister must have taken it up as a great plan of national policy1 and paid with his person in every lodgment of his approach4 ,he must have used that influence to quiet prejudice1 which he has so often1 used to corrupt principle3 and ,i know1 that1 if he had1 he must have succeeded4 ,many of the most active in opposition would have given him an unequivocal support4 ,the corporation of ,london1 and the great body of the ,london ,west ,india merchants and planters1 which forms the greatest mass of that vast interest1 were disposed to fall in with such a plan4 ,they certainly gave no sort of discountenance to what was done or what was proposed4 ,but these are not the kind of objects for which our ministers bring out the heavy artillery of the state4 ,therefore1 as things stood at that time1 a great deal more was not practicable4 ,last year another proposition was brought out for the relief of ,ireland4 ,it was started without any communication with a single person of activity in the country party1 and1 as it should seem1 without any kind of concert with government4 ,it appeared to me extremely raw and undigested4 ,the behavior of ,lord ,n41 on the opening of that business1 was the exact transcript of his conduct on the ,irish question in the former session4 ,it was a mode of proceeding which his nature has wrought into the texture of his politics1 and which is inseparable from them4 ,he chose to absent himself on the proposition and during the agitation of that business1--although the business of the ,house is that alone for which he has any kind of relish1 or1 as ,i am told1 can be persuaded to listen to with any degree of attention4 ,but he was willing to let it take its course4 ,if it should pass without any considerable difficulty1 he would bring his acquiescence to tell for merit in ,ireland1 and he would have the credit1 out of his indolence1 of giving quiet to that country4 ,if difficulties should arise on the part of ,england1 he knew that the ,house was so well trained that he might at his pleasure call us off from the hottest scent4 ,as he acted in his usual manner and upon his usual principle1 opposition acted upon theirs1 and rather generally supported the measure4 ,as to myself1 ,i expressed a disapprobation at the practice of bringing imperfect and indigested projects into the ,house1 before means were used to quiet the clamors which a misconception of what we were doing might occasion at home1 and before measures were settled with men of weight and authority in ,ireland1 in order to render our acts useful and acceptable to that country4 ,i said1 that the only thing which could make the influence of the crown 7enormous without as well as within the ,house7 in any degree tolerable was1 that it might be employed to give something of order and system to the proceedings of a popular assembly2 that government being so situated as to have a large range of prospect1 and as it were a bird's-eye view of everything1 they might see distant dangers and distant advantages which were not so visible to those who stood on the common level2 they might1 besides1 observe them1 from this advantage1 in their relative and combined state1 which people locally instructed and partially informed could behold only in an insulated and unconnected manner2--but that for many years past we suffered under all the evils1 without any one of the advantages of a government influence2 that the business of a minister1 or of those who acted as such1 had been still further to contract the narrowness of men's ideas1 to confirm inveterate prejudices1 to inflame vulgar passions1 and to abet all sorts of popular absurdities1 in order the better to destroy popular rights and privileges2 that1 so far from methodizing the business of the ,house1 they had let all things run into an inextricable confusion1 and had left affairs of the most delicate policy wholly to chance4 ,after ,i had expressed myself with the warmth ,i felt on seeing all government and order buried under the ruins of liberty1 and after ,i had made my protest against the insufficiency of the propositions1 ,i supported the principle of enlargement at which they aimed1 though short and somewhat wide of the mark1--giving1 as my sole reason1 that the more frequently these matters came into discussion1 the more it would tend to dispel fears and to eradicate prejudices4 ,this was the only part ,i took4 ,the detail was in the hands of ,lord ,newhaven and ,lord ,beauchamp1 with some assistance from ,earl ,nugent and some independent gentlemen of ,irish property4 ,the dead weight of the minister being removed1 the ,house recovered its tone and elasticity4 ,we had a temporary appearance of a deliberative character4 ,the business was debated freely on both sides1 and with sufficient temper4 ,and the sense of the members being influenced by nothing but what will naturally influence men unbought1 their reason and their prejudices1 these two principles had a fair conflict1 and prejudice was obliged to give way to reason4 ,a majority appeared1 on a division1 in favor of the propositions4 ,as these proceedings got out of doors1 ,glasgow and ,manchester1 and1 ,i think1 ,liverpool1 began to move1 but in a manner much more slow and languid than formerly4 ,nothing1 in my opinion1 would have been less difficult than entirely to have overborne their opposition4 ,the ,london ,west ,india trade was1 as on the former occasion1 so on this1 perfectly liberal and perfectly quiet2 and there is abroad so much respect for the united wisdom of the ,house1 when supposed to act upon a fair view of a political situation1 that ,i scarcely ever remember any considerable uneasiness out of doors1 when the most active members1 and those of most property and consideration in the minority1 have joined themselves to the administration4 ,many factious people in the towns ,i mentioned began1 indeed1 to revile ,lord ,north1 and to reproach his neutrality as treacherous and ungrateful to those who had so heartily and so warmly entered into all his views with regard to ,america4 ,that noble lord1 whose decided character it is to give way to the latest and nearest pressure1 without any sort of regard to distant consequences of any kind1 thought fit to appear1 on this signification of the pleasure of those his worthy friends and partisans1 and1 putting himself at the head of the posse scaccarii1 wholly regardless of the dignity and consistency of our miserable ,house1 drove the propositions entirely out of doors by a majority newly summoned to duty4 ,in order to atone to ,ireland for this gratification to ,manchester1 he graciously permitted1 or rather forwarded1 two bills1--that for encouraging the growth of tobacco1 and that for giving a bounty on exportation of hemp from ,ireland4 ,they were brought in by two very worthy members1 and on good principles2 but ,i was sorry to see them1 and1 after expressing my doubts of their propriety1 left the ,house4 ,little also else8 was said upon them4 ,my objections were two3 the first1 that the cultivation of those weeds 7if one of them could be at all cultivated to profit7 was adverse to the introduction of a good course of agriculture2 the other1 that the encouragement given to them tended to establish that mischievous policy of considering ,ireland as a country of staple1 and a producer of raw materials4 ,when the rejection of the first propositions and the acceptance of the last had jointly1 as it was natural1 raised a very strong discontent in ,ireland1 ,lord ,rockingham1 who frequently said that there never seemed a more opportune time for the relief of ,ireland than that moment when ,lord ,north had rejected all rational propositions for its relief1 without consulting1 ,i believe1 any one living1 did what he is not often very willing to do2 but he thought this an occasion of magnitude enough to justify an extraordinary step4 ,he went into the closet1 and made a strong representation on the matter to the king1 which was not ill received1 and ,i believe produced good effects4 ,he then made the motion in the ,house of ,lords which you may recollect2 but he was content to withdraw all of censure which it contained1 on the solemn promise of ministry1 that they would in the recess of ,parliament prepare a plan for the benefit of ,ireland1 and have it in readiness to produce at the next meeting4 ,you may recollect that ,lord ,gower became in a particular manner bound for the fulfilling this engagement4 ,even this did not satisfy1 and most of the minority were very unwilling that ,parliament should be prorogued until something effectual on the subject should be done1--particularly as we saw that the distresses1 discontents1 and armaments of ,ireland were increasing every day1 and that we are not so much lost to common sense as not to know the wisdom and efficacy of early concession in circumstances such as ours4 ,the session was now at an end4 ,the ministers1 instead of attending to a duty that was so urgent on them1 employed themselves1 as usual1 in endeavors to destroy the reputation of those who were bold enough to remind them of it4 ,they caused it to be industriously circulated through the nation1 that the distresses of ,ireland were of a nature hard to be traced to the true source1 that they had been monstrously magnified1 and that1 in particular1 the official reports from ,ireland had given the lie 7that was their phrase7 to ,lord ,rockingham's representations3 and attributing the origin of the ,irish proceedings wholly to us1 they asserted that everything done in ,parliament upon the subject was with a view of stirring up rebellion2 that neither the ,irish legislature nor their constituents had signified any dissatisfaction at the relief obtained in the session preceding the last2 that1 to convince both of the impropriety of their peaceable conduct1 opposition1 by making demands in the name of ,ireland1 pointed out what she might extort from ,great ,britain2 that the facility with which relief was 7formerly7 granted1 instead of satisfying opposition1 was calculated to create new demands2 these demands1 as they interfered with the commerce of ,great ,britain1 were certain of being opposed1--a circumstance which could not fail to create that desirable confusion which suits the views of the party2 that they 7the ,irish7 had long felt their own misery1 without knowing well from whence it came2 our worthy patriots1 by pointing out ,great ,britain as the cause of ,irish distress1 may have some chance of rousing ,irish resentment4 ,this ,i quote from a pamphlet as perfectly contemptible in point of writing as it is false in its facts and wicked in its design3 but as it is written under the authority of ministers1 by one of their principal literary pensioners1 and was circulated with great diligence1 and1 as ,i am credibly informed1 at a considerable expense to the public1 ,i use the words of that book to let you see in what manner the friends and patrons of ,ireland1 the heroes of your ,parliament1 represented all efforts for your relief here1 what means they took to dispose the minds of the people towards that great object1 and what encouragement they gave to all who should choose to exert themselves in your favor4 ,their unwearied endeavors were not wholly without success1 and the unthinking people in many places became ill-affected towards us on this account4 ,for the ministers proceeded in your affairs just as they did with regard to those of ,america4 ,they always represented you as a parcel of blockheads1 without sense1 or even feeling2 that all your words were only the echo of faction here2 and 7as you have seen above7 that you had not understanding enough to know that your trade was cramped by restrictive acts of the ,british ,parliament1 unless we had1 for factious purposes1 given you the information4 ,they were so far from giving the least intimation of the measures which have since taken place1 that those who were supposed the best to know their intentions declared them impossible in the actual state of the two kingdoms1 and spoke of nothing but an act of union1 as the only way that could be found of giving freedom of trade to ,ireland1 consistently with the interests of this kingdom4 ,even when the session opened1 ,lord ,north declared that he did not know what remedy to apply to a disease of the cause of which he was ignorant2 and ministry not being then entirely resolved how far they should submit to your energy1 they1 by anticipation1 set the above author or some of his associates to fill the newspapers with invectives against us1 as distressing the minister by extravagant demands in favor of ,ireland4 ,i need not inform you1 that everything they asserted of the steps taken in ,ireland1 as the result of our machinations1 was utterly false and groundless4 ,for myself1 ,i seriously protest to you1 that ,i neither wrote a word or received a line upon any matter relative to the trade of ,ireland1 or to the polities of it1 from the beginning of the last session to the day that ,i was honored with your letter4 ,it would be an affront to the talents in the ,irish ,parliament to say one word more4 ,what was done in ,ireland during that period1 in and out of ,parliament1 never will be forgotten4 ,you raised an army new in its kind and adequate to its purposes4 ,it effected its end without its exertion4 ,it was not under the authority of law1 most certainly1 but it derived from an authority still higher2 and as they say of faith1 that it is not contrary to reason1 but above it1 so this army did not so much contradict the spirit of the law as supersede it4 ,what you did in the legislative body is above all praise4 ,by your proceeding with regard to the supplies1 you revived the grand use and characteristic benefit of ,parliament1 which was on the point of being entirely lost amongst us4 ,these sentiments ,i never concealed1 and never shall2 and ,mr4 ,fox expressed them with his usual power1 when he spoke on the subject4 ,all this is very honorable to you4 ,but in what light must we see it8 ,how are we to consider your armament without commission from the crown1 when some of the first people in this kingdom have been refused arms1 at the time they did not only not reject1 but solicited the king's commissions8 ,here to arm and embody would be represented as little less than high treason1 if done on private authority3 with you it receives the thanks of a ,privy ,counsellor of ,great ,britain1 who obeys the ,irish ,house of ,lords in that point with pleasure1 and is made ,secretary of ,state1 the moment he lands here1 for his reward4 ,you shortened the credit given to the crown to six months2 you hung up the public credit of your kingdom by a thread2 you refused to raise any taxes1 whilst you confessed the public debt and public exigencies to be great and urgent beyond example4 ,you certainly acted in a great style1 and on sound and invincible principles4 ,but if we in the opposition1 which fills ,ireland with such loyal horrors1 had even attempted1 what we never did even attempt1 the smallest delay or the smallest limitation of supply1 in order to a constitutional coercion of the crown1 we should have been decried by all the court and ,tory mouths of this kingdom1 as a desperate faction1 aiming at the direct ruin of the country1 and to surrender it bound hand and foot to a foreign enemy4 ,by actually doing what we never ventured to attempt1 you have paid your court with such address1 and have won so much favor with his ,majesty and his cabinet1 that they have1 of their special grace and mere motion1 raised you to new titles1 and for the first time1 ill a speech from the throne1 complimented you with the appellation of faithful and loyal1--and1 in order to insult our low-spirited and degenerate obedience1 have thrown these epithets and your resistance together in our teeth6 ,what do you think were the feelings of every man who looks upon ,parliament in an higher light than that of a market-overt for legalizing a base traffic of votes and pensions1 when he saw you employ such means of coercion to the crown1 in order to coerce our ,parliament through that medium8 ,how much his ,majesty is pleased with his part of the civility must be left to his own taste4 ,but as to us1 you declared to the world that you knew that the way of bringing us to reason was to apply yourselves to the true source of all our opinions and the only motive to all our conduct6 ,now1 it seems1 you think yourselves affronted1 because a few of us express some indignation at the minister who has thought fit to strip us stark naked1 and expose the true state of our poxed and pestilential habit to the world6 ,think or say what you will in ,ireland1 ,i shall ever think it a crime hardly to be expiated by his blood4 ,he might1 and ought1 by a longer continuance or by an earlier meeting of this ,parliament1 to have given us the credit of some wisdom in foreseeing and anticipating an approaching force4 ,so far from it1 ,lord ,gower1 coming out of his own cabinet1 declares that one principal cause of his resignation was his not being able to prevail on the present minister to give any sort of application to this business4 ,even on the late meeting of ,parliament1 nothing determinate could be drawn from him1 or from any of his associates1 until you had actually passed the short money bill1--which measure they flattered themselves1 and assured others1 you would never come up to4 ,disappointed in their expectation at of8 seeing the siege raised1 they surrendered at discretion4 ,judge1 my dear ,sir1 of our surprise at finding your censure directed against those whose only crime was in accusing the ministers of not having prevented your demands by our graces1 of not having given you the natural advantages of your country in the most ample1 the most early1 and the most liberal manner1 and for not having given away authority in such a manner as to insure friendship4 ,that you should make the panegyric of the ministers is what ,i expected2 because1 in praising their bounty1 you paid a just compliment to your own force4 ,but that you should rail at us1 either individually or collectively1 is what ,i can scarcely think a natural proceeding4 ,i can easily conceive that gentlemen might grow frightened at what they had done1--that they might imagine they had undertaken a business above their direction1--that1 having obtained a state of independence for their country1 they meant to take the deserted helm into their own hands1 and supply by their very real abilities the total inefficacy of the nominal government4 ,all these might be real1 and might be very justifiable motives for their reconciling themselves cordially to the present court system4 ,but ,i do not so well discover the reasons that could induce them1 at the first feeble dawning of life in this country1 to do all in their power to cast a cloud over it1 and to prevent the least hope of our effecting the necessary reformations which are aimed at in our ,constitution and in our national economy4 ,but1 it seems1 ,i was silent at the passing the resolutions4 ,why1 what had ,i to say8 ,if ,i had thought them too much1 ,i should have been accused of an endeavor to inflame ,england4 ,if ,i should represent them as too little1 ,i should have been charged with a design of fomenting the discontents of ,ireland into actual rebellion4 ,the ,treasury bench represented that the affair was a matter of state3 they represented it truly4 ,i therefore only asked whether they knew these propositions to be such as would satisfy ,ireland2 for if they were so1 they would satisfy me4 ,this did not indicate that ,i thought them too ample4 ,in this our silence 7however dishonorable to ,parliament7 there was one advantage1--that the whole passed1 as far as it is gone1 with complete unanimity1 and so quickly that there was no time left to excite any opposition to it out of doors4 ,in the ,west ,india business1 reasoning on what had lately passed in the ,parliament of ,ireland1 and on the mode in which it was opened here1 ,i thought ,i saw much matter of perplexity4 ,but ,i have now better reason than ever to be pleased with my silence4 ,if ,i had spoken1 one of the most honest and able men#af in the ,irish ,parliament would probably have thought my observation an endeavor to sow dissension1 which he was resolved to prevent1--and one of the most1 ingenious and one of the most amiable men#ag that ever graced yours or any ,house of ,parliament might have looked on it as a chimera4 ,in the silence ,i observed1 ,i was strongly countenanced 7to say no more of it7 by every gentleman of ,ireland that ,i had the honor of conversing with in ,london4 ,the only word1 for that reason1 which ,i spoke1 was to restrain a worthy county member1#ah who had received some communication from a great trading place in the county he represents1 which1 if it had been opened to the ,house1 would have led to a perplexing discussion of one of the most troublesome matters that could arise in this business4 ,i got up to put a stop to it2 and ,i believe1 if you knew what the topic was1 you would commend my discretion4 ,that it should be a matter of public discretion in me to be silent on the affairs of ,ireland is what on all accounts ,i bitterly lament4 ,i stated to the ,house what ,i felt2 and ,i felt1 as strongly as human sensibility can feel1 the extinction of my ,parliamentary capacity1 where ,i wished to use it most4 ,when ,i came into this ,parliament1 just fourteen years ago1--into this ,parliament1 then1 in vulgar opinion at least1 the presiding council of the greatest empire existing1 7and perhaps1 all things considered1 that ever did exist17 obscure and a stranger as ,i was1 ,i considered myself as raised to the highest dignity to which a creature of our species could aspire4 ,in that opinion1 one of the chief pleasures in my situation1 what was first and-uppermost in my thoughts1 was the hope1 without injury to this country1 to be somewhat useful to the place of my birth and education1 which in many respects1 internal and external1 ,i thought ill and impolitically governed4 ,but when ,i found that the ,house1 surrendering itself to the guidance of an authority1 not grown out of an experienced wisdom and integrity1 but out of the accidents of court favor1 had become the sport of the passions of men at once rash and pusillanimous1--that it had even got into the habit of refusing everything to reason and surrendering everything to force1 all my power of obliging either my country or individuals was gone1 all the lustre of my imaginary rank was tarnished1 and ,i felt degraded even by my elevation4 ,i said this1 or something to this effect4 ,if it gives offence to ,ireland1 ,i am sorry for it3 it was the reason ,i gave for my silence2 and it was1 as far as it went1 the true one4 ,with you1 this silence of mine and of others was represented as factious1 and as a discountenance to the measure of your relief4 ,do you think us children8 ,if it had been our wish to embroil matters1 and1 for the sake of distressing ministry1 to commit the two kingdoms in a dispute1 we had nothing to do but 7without at all condemning the propositions7 to have gone into the commercial detail of the objects of them4 ,it could not have been refused to us3 and you1 who know the nature of business so well1 must know that this would have caused such delays1 and given rise during that delay to such discussions1 as all the wisdom of your favorite minister could never have settled4 ,but1 indeed1 you mistake your men4 ,we tremble at the idea of a disunion of these two nations4 ,the only thing in which we differ with you is this1--that we do not think your attaching yourselves to the court and quarrelling with the independent part of this people is the way to promote the union of two free countries1 or of holding them together by the most natural and salutary ties4 99 99 99 99 99 ,you will be frightened1 when you see this long letter4 ,i smile1 when ,i consider the length of it myself4 ,i never1 that ,i remember1 wrote any of the same extent4 ,but it shows me that the reproaches of the country that ,i once belonged to1 and in which ,i still have a dearness of instinct more than ,i can justify to reason1 make a greater impression on me than ,i had imagined4 ,but parting words are admitted to be a little tedious1 because they are not likely to be renewed4 ,if it will not be making yourself as troublesome to others as ,i am to you1 ,i shall be obliged to you1 if you will show this1 at their greatest leisure1 to the ,speaker1 to your excellent kinsman1 to ,mr4 ,grattan1 ,mr4 ,yelverton1 and ,mr4 ,daly3 all these ,i have the honor of being personally known to1 except ,mr4 ,yelverton1 to whom ,i am only known by my obligations to him4 ,if you live in any habits with my old friend1 the ,provost1 ,i shall be glad that he1 too1 sees this my humble apology4 ,adieu6 once more accept my best thanks for the interest you take in me4 ,believe that it is received by an heart not yet so old as to have lost its susceptibility4 ,all here give you the best old-fashioned wishes of the season2 and believe me1 with the greatest truth and regard1 ,my dear ,sir1 ,your most faithful and obliged humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,new year's ,day1 #aghj4 ,i am frightened at the trouble ,i give you and our friends2 but ,i recollect that you are mostly lawyers1 and habituated to read long1 tiresome papers--and1 where your friendship is concerned1 without a fee2 ,i am sure1 too1 that you will not act the lawyer in scrutinizing too minutely every expression which my haste may make me use4 ,i forgot to mention my friend ,o',hara1 and others2 but you will communicate it as you please4 ,,footnotes3 #ad ,mr4 ,thomas ,burgh1 of ,old ,town1 was a member of the ,house of ,commons in ,ireland4--,it appears from a letter written by this gentleman to ,mr4 ,burke1 ,december #bd1 #aggi1 and to which the following is an answer1 that the part ,mr4 ,burke had taken in the discussion which the affairs of ,ireland had undergone in the preceding sessions of ,parliament in ,england had been grossly misrepresented and much censured in ,ireland4 #ae ,this intention was communicated to ,mr4 ,burke in a letter from ,mr4 ,pery1 the ,speaker of the ,house of ,commons in ,ireland4 #af ,mr4 ,grattan4 #ag ,mr4 ,hussey ,burgh #ah ,mr4 ,stanley1 member for ,lancashire4 ,,letter ,,to ,,john ,,merlott1 ,,esq4#ai ,dear ,sir1--,i am very unhappy to find that my conduct in the business of ,ireland1 on a former occasion1 had made many to be cold and indifferent who would otherwise have been warm in my favor4 ,i really thought that events would have produced a quite contrary effect1 and would have proved to all the inhabitants of ,bristol that it was no desire of opposing myself to their wishes1 but a certain knowledge of the necessity of their affairs1 and a tender regard to their honor and interest1 which induced me to take the part which ,i then took4 ,they placed me in a situation which might enable me to discern what was fit to be done1 on a consideration of the relative circumstances of this country and all its neighbors4 ,this was what you could not so well do yourselves2 but you had a right to expect that ,i should avail myself of the advantage which ,i derived from your favor4 ,under the impression-of this duty and this trust1 ,i had endeavored to render1 by preventive graces and concessions1 every act of power at the same time an act of lenity1--the result of ,english bounty1 and not of ,english timidity and distress4 ,i really flattered myself that the events which have proved beyond dispute the prudence of such a maxim would have obtained pardon for me1 if not approbation4 ,but if ,i have not been so fortunate1 ,i do most sincerely regret my great loss1--this comfort1 however1 that1 if ,i have disobliged my constituents1 it was not in pursuit of any sinister interest or any party passion of my own1 but in endeavoring to save them from disgrace1 along with the whole community to which they and ,i belong4 ,i shall be concerned for this1 and very much so2 but ,i should be more concerned1 if1 in gratifying a present humor of theirs1 ,i had rendered myself unworthy of their former or their future choice4 ,i confess that ,i could not bear to face my constituents at the next general election1 if ,i had been a rival to ,lord ,north in the glory of having refused some small1 insignificant concessions1 in favor of ,ireland1 to the arguments and supplications of ,english members of ,parliament1--and in the very next session1 on the demand of forty thousand ,irish bayonets1 of having made a speech of two hours long to prove that my former conduct was founded upon no one right principle1 either of policy1 justice1 or commerce4 ,i never heard a more elaborate1 more able1 more convincing1 and more shameful speech4 ,the debater obtained credit1 but the statesman was disgraced forever4 ,amends were made for having refused small1 but timely concessions1 by an unlimited and untimely surrender1 not only of every one of the objects of former restraints1 but virtually of the whole legislative power itself which had made them4 ,for it is not necessary to inform you1 that the unfortunate ,parliament of this kingdom did not dare to qualify the very liberty she gave of trading with her own plantations1 by applying1 of her own authority1 any one of the commercial regulations to the new traffic of ,ireland1 which bind us here under the several ,acts of ,navigation4 ,we were obliged to refer them to the ,parliament of ,ireland1 as conditions1 just in the same manner as if we were bestowing a privilege of the same sort on ,france and ,spain1 or any other independent power1 and1 indeed1 with more studied caution than we should have used1 not to shock the principle of their independence4 ,how the minister reconciled the refusal to reason1 and the surrender to arms raised in defiance of the prerogatives of the crown1 to his master1 ,i know not3 it has probably been settled1 in some way or other1 between themselves4 ,but however the king and his ministers may settle the question of his dignity and his rights1 ,i thought it became me1 by vigilance and foresight1 to take care of yours3 ,i thought ,i ought rather to lighten the ship in time than expose it to a total wreck4 ,the conduct pursued seemed to me without weight or judgment1 and more fit for a member for ,banbury than a member for ,bristol4 ,i stood1 therefore1 silent with grief and vexation1 on that day of the signal shame and humiliation of this degraded king and country4 ,but it seems the pride of ,ireland1 in the day of her power1 was equal to ours1 when we dreamt we were powerful too4 ,i have been abused there even for my silence1 which was construed into a desire of exciting discontent in ,england4 ,but1 thank ,god1 my letter to ,bristol was in print1 my sentiments on the policy of the measure were known and determined1 and such as no man could think me absurd enough to contradict4 ,when ,i am no longer a free agent1 ,i am obliged in the crowd to yield to necessity3 it is surely enough that ,i silently submit to power2 it is enough that ,i do not foolishly affront the conqueror2 it is too hard to force me to sing his praises1 whilst ,i am led in triumph before him1--or to make the panegyric of our own minister1 who would put me neither in a condition to surrender with honor or to fight with the smallest hope of victory4 ,i was1 ,i confess1 sullen and silent on that day1--and shall continue so1 until ,i see some disposition to inquire into this and other causes of the national disgrace4 ,if ,i suffer in my reputation for it in ,ireland1 ,i am sorry2 but it neither does nor can affect me so nearly as my suffering in ,bristol for having wished to unite the interests of the two nations in a manner that would secure the supremacy of this4 ,will you have the goodness to excuse the length of this letter8 ,my earnest desire of explaining myself in every point which may affect the mind of any worthy gentleman in ,bristol is the cause of it4 ,to yourself1 and to your liberal and manly notions1 ,i know it is not so necessary4 ,believe me1 ,my dear ,sir1 ,your most faithful and obedient humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,april #dth1 #aghj4 ,to ,,john ,,merlott1 ,esq41 ,bristol4 ,,footnotes3 #ai ,an eminent merchant in the city of ,bristol1 of which ,mr4 ,burke was one of the representatives in ,parliament4--,it relates to the same subject as the preceding ,letter4 ,,letters ,,and ,,reflections ,,on ,,the ,,executions ,,of ,,the ,,rioters ,,in #aghj4 ,,letters4 ,to the ,lord ,chancellor4 ,my ,lord1--,i hope ,i am not too late with the inclosed slight observations4 ,if the execution already ordered cannot be postponed1 might ,i venture to recommend that it should extend to one only8 and then the plan suggested in the inclosed paper may1 if your ,lordship thinks well of it1 take place1 with such improvements as your better judgment may dictate4 ,as to fewness of the executions1 and the good effects of that policy1 ,i cannot1 for my own part1 entertain the slightest doubt4 ,if you have no objection1 and think it may not occupy more of his ,majesty's time than such a thing is worth1 ,i should not be sorry that the inclosed was put into the king's hands4 ,i have the honor to be1 my ,lord1 ,your ,lordship's most obedient humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,charles ,,street1 ,july #aj1 #aghj4 99 99 99 99 99 ,to the ,earl ,bathurst1 ,lord ,president of the ,council ,my ,lord1-- ,i came to town but yesterday1 and therefore did not learn more early the probable extent of the executions in consequence of the late disturbances4 ,i take the liberty of laying before you1 with the sincerest deference to your judgment1 what appeared to me very early as reasonable in this business4 ,further thoughts have since occurred to me4 ,i confess my mind is under no small degree of solicitude and anxiety on the subject2 ,i am fully persuaded that a proper use of mercy would not only recommend the wisdom and steadiness of government1 but1 if properly used1 might be made a means of drawing out the principal movers in this wicked business1 who have hitherto eluded your scrutiny4 ,i beg pardon for this intrusion1 and have the honor to be1 with great regard and esteem1 ,my ,lord1 ,your ,lordship's most obedient humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,charles ,,street1 ,july #ah1 #aghj4 99 99 99 99 99 ,to ,sir ,grey ,cooper1 ,bart4#bj ,dear ,sir1-- ,according to your desire1 ,i send you a copy of the few reflections on the subject of the present executions which occurred to me in the earliest period of the late disturbances1 and which all my experience and observation since have most strongly confirmed4 ,the executions1 taking those which have been made1 which are now ordered1 and which may be the natural consequence of the convictions in ,surrey1 will be undoubtedly too many to answer any good purpose4 ,great slaughter attended the suppression of the tumults1 and this ought to be taken in discount from the execution of the law4 ,for ,god's sake entreat of ,lord ,north to take a view of the sum total of the deaths1 before any are ordered for execution2 for by not doing something of this kind people are decoyed in detail into severities they never would have dreamed of1 if they had the whole in their view at once4 ,the scene in ,surrey would have affected the hardest heart that ever was in an human breast4 ,justice and mercy have not such opposite interests as people are apt to imagine4 ,i saw ,lord ,loughborough last night4 ,he seemed strongly impressed with the sense of what necessity obliged him to go through1 and ,i believe will enter into our ideas on the subject4 ,on this matter you see that no time is to be lost4 ,before a final determination1 the first thing ,i would recommend is1 that1 if the very next execution cannot be delayed1 7by the way1 ,i do not see why it may not17 it may be of but a single person1 and that afterwards you should not exceed two or three2 for it is enough for one riot1 where the very act of ,parliament on which you proceed is rather a little hard in its sanctions and its construction3 not that ,i mean to complain of the latter as either new or strained1 but it was rigid from the first4 ,i am1 dear ,sir1 ,your most obedient humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,tuesday1 #ahth ,july1 #aghj4 ,i really feel uneasy on this business1 and should consider it as a sort of personal favor1 if you do something to limit the extent and severity of the law on this point4 ,present my best compliments to ,lord ,north1 and if he thinks that ,i have had wishes to be serviceable to government on the late occasion1 ,i shall on my part think myself abundantly rewarded1 if a few lives less than first intended should be saved taken82 ,i should sincerely set it down as a personal obligation1 though the thing stands upon general and strong reason of its own4#ba ,,footnotes3 #bj ,one of the ,secretaries of the ,treasury4 #ba ,it appears by the following extract from a letter written by the ,earl of ,mansfield to ,mr4 ,burke1 dated the #agth ,july1 #aghj1 that these ,reflections had also been communicated to him3--,i have received the honor of your letter and very judicious thoughts4 ,having been so greatly injured myself1 ,i have thought it more decent not to attend the reports1 and consequently have not been present at any deliberation upon the subject4 ,,some ,,thoughts ,,on ,,the ,,approaching ,,executions1 ,,humbly ,,offered ,,to ,,consideration4 ,as the number of persons convicted on account of the late unhappy tumults will probably exceed what any one's idea of vengeance or example would deliver to capital punishment1 it is to be wished that the whole business1 as well with regard to the number and description of those who are to suffer death as with regard to those who shall be delivered over to lighter punishment or wholly pardoned1 should be entirely a work of reason4 ,it has happened frequently1 in cases of this nature1 that the fate of the convicts has depended more upon the accidental circumstance of their being brought earlier or later to trial than to any steady principle of equity applied to their several cases4 ,without great care and sobriety1 criminal justice generally begins with anger and ends in negligence4 ,the first that are brought forward suffer the extremity of the law1 with circumstances of mitigation of their case2 and after a time1 the most atrocious delinquents escape merely by the satiety of punishment4 ,in the business now before his ,majesty1 the following thoughts are humbly submitted4 ,if ,i understand the temper of the public at this moment1 a very great part of the lower and some of the middling people of this city are in a very critical disposition1 and such as ought to be managed with firmness and delicacy4 ,in general1 they rather approve than blame the principles of the rioters1 though the better sort of them are afraid of the consequences of those very principles which they approve4 ,this keeps their minds in a suspended and anxious state1 which may very easily be exasperated by an injudicious severity into desperate resolutions1--or by weak measures on the part of government it may be encouraged to the pursuit of courses which may be of the most dangerous consequences to the public4 ,there is no doubt that the approaching executions will very much determine the future conduct of those people4 ,they ought to be such as will humble1 not irritate4 ,nothing will make government more awful to them than to see that it does not proceed by chance or under the influence of passion4 ,it is therefore proposed that no execution should be made until the number of persons which government thinks fit to try is completed4 ,when the whole is at once under the eye1 an examination ought to be made into the circumstances of every particular convict2 and six1 at the very utmost1 of the fittest examples may then be selected for execution1 who ought to be brought out and put to death on one and the same day1 in six different places1 and in the most solemn manner that can be devised4 ,afterwards great care should be taken that their bodies may not be delivered to their friends1 or to others who may make them objects of compassion or even veneration3 some instances of the kind have happened with regard to the bodies of those killed in the riots4 ,the rest of the malefactors ought to be either condemned1 for larger longer8 or shorter terms1 to the lighters1 houses of correction1 service in the navy1 and the like1 according to the case4 ,this small number of executions1 and all at one time1 though in different places1 is seriously recommended2 because it is certain that a great havoc among criminals hardens rather than subdues the minds of people inclined to the same crimes1 and therefore fails of answering its purpose as an example4 ,men who see their lives respected and thought of value by others come to respect that gift of ,god themselves4 ,to have compassion for oneself1 or to care1 more or less1 for one's own life1 is a lesson to be learned just as every other2 and ,i believe it will be found that conspiracies have been most common and most desperate where their punishment has been most extensive and most severe4 ,besides1 the least excess in this way excites a tenderness in the milder sort of people1 which makes them consider government in an harsh and odious light4 ,the sense of justice in men is overloaded and fatigued with a long series of executions1 or with such a carnage at once as rather resembles a massacre than a sober execution of the laws4 ,the laws thus lose their terror in the minds of the wicked1 and their reverence in the minds of the virtuous4 ,i have ever observed that the execution of one man fixes the attention and excites awe2 the execution of multitudes dissipates and weakens the effect3 but men reason themselves into disapprobation and disgust2 they compute more as they feel less2 and every severe act which does not appear to be necessary is sure to be offensive4 ,in selecting the criminals1 a very different line ought to be followed from that recommended by the champions of the ,protestant ,association4 ,they recommend that the offenders for plunder ought to be punished1 and the offenders from principle spared4 ,but the contrary rule ought to be followed4 ,the ordinary executions1 of which there are enough in conscience1 are for the former species of delinquents2 but such common plunderers would furnish no example in the present case1 where the false or pretended principle of religion1 which leads to crimes1 is the very thing to be discouraged4 ,but the reason which ought to make these people objects of selection for punishment confines the selection to very few4 ,for we must consider that the whole nation has been for a long time guilty of their crime4 ,toleration is a new virtue in any country4 ,it is a late ripe fruit in the best climates4 ,we ought to recollect the poison which1 under the name of antidotes against ,popery1 and such like mountebank titles1 has been circulated from our pulpits and from our presses1 from the heads of the ,church of ,england and the heads of the ,dissenters4 ,these publications1 by degrees1 have tended to drive all religion from our own minds1 and to fill them with nothing but a violent hatred of the religion of other people1 and1 of course1 with a hatred of their persons2 and so1 by a very natural progression1 they have led men to the destruction of their goods and houses1 and to attempts upon their lives4 ,this delusion furnishes no reason for suffering that abominable spirit to be kept alive by inflammatory libels or seditious assemblies1 or for government's yielding to it1 in the smallest degree1 any point of justice1 equity1 or sound policy4 ,the king certainly ought not to give up any part of his subjects to the prejudices of another4 ,so far from it1 ,i am clearly of opinion that on the late occasion the ,catholics ought to have been taken1 more avowedly than they were1 under the protection of government1 as the ,dissenters had been on a similar occasion4 ,but though we ought to protect against violence the bigotry of others1 and to correct our own too1 if we have any left1 we ought to reflect1 that an offence which in its cause is national ought not in its effects to be vindicated on individuals1 but with a very well-tempered severity4 ,for my own part1 ,i think the fire is not extinguished1--on the contrary1 it seems to require the attention of government more than ever2 but1 as a part of any methodical plan for extinguishing this flame1 it really seems necessary that the execution of justice should be as steady and as cool as possible4 ,,some ,,additional ,,reflections ,,on ,,the ,,executions4 ,the great number of sufferers seems to arise from the misfortune incident to the variety of judicatures which have tried the crimes4 ,it were well1 if the whole had been the business of one commission2 for now every trial seems as if it were a separate business1 and in that light each offence is not punished with greater severity than single offences of the kind are commonly marked3 but in reality and fact1 this unfortunate affair1 though diversified in the multitude of overt acts1 has been one and the same riot2 and therefore the executions1 so far as regards the general effect on the minds of men1 will have a reference to the unity of the offence1 and will appear to be much more severe than such a riot1 atrocious as it was1 can well justify in government4 ,i pray that it may be recollected that the chief delinquents have hitherto escaped1 and very many of those who are fallen into the hands of justice are a poor1 thoughtless set of creatures1 very little aware of the nature of their offence4 ,none of the list-makers1 the assemblers of the mob1 the directors and arrangers1 have been convicted4 ,the preachers of mischief remain safe1 and are wicked enough not to feel for their deluded disciples1--no1 not at all4 ,i would not plead the ignorance of the law in any1 even the most ignorant1 as a justification2 but ,i am sure1 that1 when the question is of mercy1 it is a very great and powerful argument4 ,i have all the reason in the world to believe that they did not know their offence was capital4 ,there is one argument1 which ,i beg may not be considered as brought for any invidious purpose1 or meant as imputing blame anywhere1 but which1 ,i think1 with candid and considerate men1 will have much weight4 ,the unfortunate delinquents were perhaps much encouraged by some remissness on the part of government itself4 ,the absolute and entire impunity attending the same offence in ,edinburgh1 which was over and over again urged as an example and encouragement to these unfortunate people1 might be a means of deluding them4 ,perhaps1 too1 a languor in the beginning of the riots here 7which suffered the leaders to proceed1 until very many1 as it were by the contagion of a sort of fashion1 were carried to these excesses7 might make these people think that there was something in the case which induced government to wink at the irregularity of the proceedings4 ,the conduct and condition of the ,lord ,mayor ought1 in my opinion1 to be considered4 ,his answers to ,lord ,beauchamp1 to ,mr4 ,malo1 and to ,mr4 ,langdale make him appear rather an accomplice in the crimes than guilty of negligence as a magistrate4 ,such an example set to the mob by the first magistrate of the city tends greatly to palliate their offence4 ,the license1 and complete impunity too1 of the publications which from the beginning instigated the people to such actions1 and in the midst of trials and executions still continues1 does in a great degree render these creatures an object of compassion4 ,in the ,public ,advertiser of this morning there are two or three paragraphs strongly recommending such outrages1 and stimulating the people to violence against the houses and persons of ,roman ,catholics1 and even against the chapels of the foreign ministers4 ,i would not go so far as to adopt the maxim1 ,quicquid multis peccatur inultum2 but certainly offences committed by vast multitudes are somewhat palliated in the individuals1 who1 when so many escape1 are always looked upon rather as unlucky than criminal4 ,all our loose ideas of justice1 as it affects any individual1 have in them something of comparison to the situation of others2 and no systematic reasoning can wholly free us from such impressions4 ,phil4 de ,comines says our ,english civil wars were less destructive than others1 because the cry of the conqueror always was1 ,spare the common people4 ,this principle of war should be at least as prevalent in the execution of justice4 ,the appetite of justice is easily satisfied1 and it is best nourished with the least possible blood4 ,we may1 too1 recollect that between capital punishment and total impunity there are many stages4 ,on the whole1 every circumstance of mercy1 and of comparative justice1 does1 in my opinion1 plead in favor of such low1 untaught1 or ill-taught wretches4 ,but above all1 the policy of government is deeply interested that the punishments should appear one1 solemn1 deliberate act1 aimed not at random1 and at particular offences1 but done with a relation to the general spirit of the tumults2 and they ought to be nothing more than what is sufficient to mark and discountenance that spirit4 ,,circumstances ,,for ,,mercy4 ,not being principal4 ,probable want of early and deliberate purposes4 ,youth where the highest malice does not appear4 ,sex where the highest malice does not appear4 ,intoxication and levity1 or mere wantonness of any kind4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,,henry ,,dundas1 ,,one ,,of ,,his ,,majesty',s ,,principal ,,secretaries ,,of ,,state4 ,,with ,,the ,,sketch ,,of ,a ,,negro ,,code4 #agib4 ,dear ,sir1--,i should have been punctual in sending you the sketch ,i promised of my old ,african ,code1 if some friends from ,london had not come in upon me last ,saturday1 and engaged me till noon this day3 ,i send this packet by one of them who is still here4 ,if what ,i send be1 as under present circumstances it must be1 imperfect1 you will excuse it1 as being done near twelve years ago4 ,about four years since ,i made an abstract of it1 upon which ,i cannot at present lay my hands2 but ,i hope the marginal heads will in some measure supply it4 ,if the ,african trade could be considered with regard to itself only1 and as a single object1 ,i should think the utter abolition to be on the whole more advisable than any scheme of regulation an reform4 ,rather than suffer it to continue as it is1 ,i heartily wish it at an end4 ,what has been lately done has been done by a popular spirit1 which seldom calls for1 and indeed very rarely relishes1 a system made up of a great variety of parts1 and which is to operate its effect in a great length of time4 ,the people like short methods2 the consequences of which they sometimes have reason to repent of4 ,abolition is but a single act4 ,to prove the nature of the trade1 and to expose it properly1 required1 indeed1 a vast collection of materials1 which have been laboriously collected1 and compiled with great judgment4 ,it required also much perseverance and address to excite the spirit which has been excited without doors1 and which has carried it through4 ,the greatest eloquence ever displayed in the ,house has been employed to second the efforts which have been made abroad4 ,all this1 however1 leads but to one single resolve4 ,when this was done1 all was done4 ,i speak of absolute and immediate abolition1 the point which the first motions went to1 and which is in effect still pressed2 though in this session1 according to order1 it cannot take effect4 ,a remote1 and a gradual abolition1 though they may be connected1 are not the same thing4 ,the idea of the ,house seems to me1 if ,i rightly comprehend it1 that the two things are to be combined3 that is to say1 that the trade is gradually to decline1 and to cease entirely at a determinate period4 ,to make the abolition gradual1 the regulations must operate as a strong discouragement4 ,but it is much to be feared that a trade continued and discouraged1 and with a sentence of death passed upon it1 will perpetuate much ill blood between those who struggle for the abolition and those who contend for an effectual continuance4 ,at the time when ,i formed the plan which ,i have the honor to transmit to you1 an abolition of the slave trade would have appeared a very chimerical project4 ,my plan1 therefore1 supposes the continued existence of that commerce4 ,taking for my basis that ,i had an incurable evil to deal with1 ,i cast about how ,i should make it as small an evil as possible1 and draw out of it some collateral good4 ,in turning the matter over in my mind at that time and since1 ,i never was able to consider the ,african trade upon a ground disconnected with the employment of negroes in the ,west ,indies1 and distinct from their condition in the plantations whereon they serve4 ,i conceived that the true origin of the trade was not in the place it was begun at1 but at the place of its final destination4 ,i therefore was1 and ,i still am1 of opinion that the whole work ought to be taken up together1 and that a gradual abolition of slavery in the ,west ,indies ought to go hand in hand with anything which1 should be done with regard to its supply from the coast of ,africa4 ,i could not trust a cessation of the demand for this supply to the mere operation of any abstract principle1 7such as1 that1 if their supply was cut off1 the planters would encourage and produce an effectual population17 knowing that nothing can be more uncertain than the operation of general principles1 if they are not embodied in specific regulations4 ,i am very apprehensive1 that1 so long as the slavery continues1 some means for its supply will be found4 ,if so1 ,i am persuaded that it is better to allow the evil1 in order to correct it1 than1 by endeavoring to forbid what we cannot be able wholly to prevent1 to leave it under an illegal1 and therefore an unreformed existence4 ,it is not that my plan does not lead to the extinction of the slave trade1 but it is through a very slow progress1 the chief effect of which is to be operated in our own plantations1 by rendering1 in a length of time1 all foreign supply unnecessary4 ,it was my wish1 whilst the slavery continued1 and the consequent commerce1 to take such measures as to civilize the coast of ,africa by the trade1 which now renders it more barbarous1 and to lead by degrees to a more reputable1 and1 possibly1 a more profitable connection with it1 than we maintain at present4 ,i am sure that you will consider as a mark of my confidence in yours and ,mr4 ,pitt's honor and generosity1 that ,i venture to put into your hands a scheme composed of many and intricate combinations1 without a full explanatory preface1 or any attendant notes1 to point out the principles upon which ,i proceeded in every regulation which ,i have proposed towards the civilization and gradual manumission of negroes in the two hemispheres4 ,i confess ,i trust infinitely more 7according to the sound principles of those who ever have at any time meliorated the state of mankind7 to the effect and influence of religion than to all the rest of the regulations put together4 ,whenever1 in my proposed reformation1 we take our point of departure from a state of slavery1 we must precede the donation of freedom by disposing the minds of the objects to a disposition to receive it without danger to themselves or to us4 ,the process of bringing free savages to order and civilization is very different4 ,when a state of slavery is that upon which we are to work1 the very means which lead to liberty must partake of compulsion4 ,the minds of men1 being crippled with that restraint1 can do nothing for themselves3 everything must be done for them4 ,the regulations can owe little to consent4 ,everything must be the creature of power4 ,hence it is that regulations must be multiplied1 particularly as you have two parties to deal with4 ,the planter you must at once restrain and support1 and you must control at the same time that you ease the servant4 ,this necessarily makes the work a matter of care1 labor1 and expense4 ,it becomes in its nature complex4 ,but ,i think neither the object impracticable nor the expense intolerable2 and ,i am fully convinced that the cause of humanity would be far more benefited by the continuance of the trade and servitude1 regulated and reformed1 than by the total destruction of both or either4 ,what ,i propose1 however1 is but a beginning of a course of measures which an experience of the effects of the evil and the reform will enable the legislature hereafter to supply and correct4 ,i need not observe to you1 that the forms are often neglected1 penalties not provided1 c41 c41 c4 ,but all this is merely mechanical1 and what a couple of days' application would set to rights4 ,i have seen what has been done by the ,west ,indian ,assemblies4 ,it is arrant trifling4 ,they have done little2 and what they have done is good for nothing1--for it is totally destitute of an executory principle4 ,this is the point to which ,i have applied my whole diligence4 ,it is easy enough to say what shall be done3 to cause it to be done1--hic labor1 hoc opus4 ,i ought not to apologize for letting this scheme lie beyond the period of the ,horatian keeping1--,i ought much more to entreat an excuse for producing it now4 ,its whole value 7if it has any7 is the coherence and mutual dependency of parts in the scheme2 separately they can be of little or no use4 ,i have the honor to be1 with very great respect and regard1 ,dear ,sir1 ,your most faithful and obedient humble servant1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,easter-,monday night1 #agib4 ,,sketch ,,of ,a ,,negro ,,code4 ,this constitution consists of four principal members4 ,i4 ,the rules for qualifying a ship for the ,african trade4 ,,ii4 ,the mode of carrying on the trade upon the coast of ,africa1 which includes a plan for introducing civilization in that part of the world4 ,,iii4 ,what is to be observed from the time of shipping negroes to the sale in the ,west ,india islands4 ,,iv4 ,the regulations relative to the state and condition of slaves in the ,west ,indies1 their manumission1 c4 ,sidenote3 ,,preamble4 ,whereas it is expedient1 and comformable to the principles of true religion and morality1 and to the rules of sound policy1 to put an end to all traffic in the persons of men1 and to the detention of their said persons in a state of slavery1 as soon as the same may be effected without producing great inconveniences in the sudden change of practices of such long standing1 and during the time of the continuance of the said practices it is desirable and expedient by proper regulations to lessen the inconveniences and evils attendant on the said traffic and state of servitude1 until both shall be gradually done away3 ,and whereas the objects of the said trade and consequential servitude1 and the grievances resulting therefrom1 come under the principal heads following1 the regulations ought thereto to be severally applied3 that is to say1 that provision should be made by the said regulations1 #ast1 ,for duly qualifying ships for the said traffic2 #bnd1 ,for the mode and conditions of permitting the said trade to be carried on upon the coast of ,africa2 #crd1 ,for the treatment of the negroes in their passage to the ,west ,india islands2 #dth1 ,for the government of the negroes which are or shall be employed in his ,majesty's colonies and plantations in the ,west ,indies3 ,sidenote3 ,ships to be registered4 ,be it therefore enacted1 that every ship or trading vessel which is intended for the negro trade1 with the name of the owner or owners thereof1 shall be entered and registered as ships trading to the ,west ,indies are by law to be registered1 with the further provisions following3 ,sidenote3 ,measured and surveyed4 #a4 ,the same entry and register shall contain an account of the greatest number of negroes of all descriptions which are proposed to be taken into the said ship or trading vessel2 and the said ship1 before she is permitted to be entered outwards1 shall be surveyed by a ship-carpenter1 to be appointed by the collector of the port from which the said vessel is to depart1 and by a surgeon1 also appointed by the collector1 who hath been conversant in the service of the said trade1 but not at the time actually engaged or covenanted therein2 and the said carpenter and surgeon shall report to the collector1 or in his absence1 to the next principal officer of the port2 upon oath1 7which oath the said collector or principal officer is hereby empowered to administer17 her measurement1 and what she contains in builder's tonnage1 and that she has ---- feet of grated portholes between the decks1 and that she is otherwise fitly found as a good transport vessel4 ,sidenote3 ,number of slaves limited4 #b4 ,and be it enacted1 that no ship employed in the said trade shall upon any pretence take in more negroes than one grown man or woman for one ton and half of builder's tonnage1 nor more than one boy or girl for one ton4 ,sidenote3 ,provisions4 #c4 ,that the said ship or other vessel shall lay in1 in proportion to the ship's company of the said vessel1 and the number of negroes registered1 a full and sufficient store of sound provision1 so as to be secure against all probable delays and accidents1 namely1 salted beef1 pork1 salt-fish1 butter1 cheese1 biscuit1 flour1 rice1 oat-meal1 and white peas1 but no horse-beans1 or other inferior provisions2 and the said ship shall be properly provided with water-casks or jars1 in proportion to the intended number of the said negroes2 and the said ship shall be also provided with a proper and sufficient stock of coals or firewood4 ,sidenote3 ,stores4 #d4 ,and every ship entered as aforesaid shall take out a coarse shirt and a pair of trousers1 or petticoat1 for each negro intended to be taken aboard2 as also a mat1 or coarse mattress1 or hammock1 for the use of the said negroes4 ,the proportions of provision1 fuel1 and clothing to be regulated by the table annexed to this act4 ,sidenote3 ,certificate thereof4 #e4 ,and be it enacted1 that no ship shall be permitted to proceed on the said voyage or adventure1 until the searcher of the port from whence the said vessel shall sail1 or such person as he shall appoint to act for him1 shall report to the collector that he hath inspected the said stores1 and that the ship is accommodated and provided in the manner hereby directed4 ,sidenote3 ,guns for trade to be inspected4 #f4 ,and be it enacted1 that no guns be exported to the coast of ,africa1 in the said or any other trade1 unless the same be duly marked with the maker's name on the barrels before they are put into the stocks1 and vouched by an inspector in the place where the same are made to be without fraud1 and sufficient and merchantable arms4 ,sidenote3 ,owners and masters to enter into bonds4 #g4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 before any ship as aforesaid shall proceed on her voyage1 the owner or owners1 or an attorney by them named1 if the owners are more than two1 and the master1 shall severally give bond1 the owners by themselves1 the master for himself1 that the said master shall duly conform himself in all things to the regulations in this act contained1 so far as the same regards his part in executing and conforming to the same4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,ii4 ,and whereas1 in providing for the second object of this act1 that is to say1 for the trade on the coast of ,africa1 it is first prudent not only to provide against the manifold abuses to which a trade of that nature is liable1 but that the same may be accompanied1 as far as it is possible1 with such advantages to the natives as may tend to the civilizing them1 and enabling them to enrich themselves by means more desirable1 and to carry on hereafter a trade more advantageous and honorable to all parties3 ,and whereas religion1 order1 morality1 and virtue are the elemental principles1 and the knowledge of letters1 arts1 and handicraft trades1 the chief means of such civilization and improvement3 for the better attainment of the said good purposes1 ,sidenote3 ,marts to be established on the coast4 #a4 ,be it hereby enacted1 that the coast of ,africa1 on which the said trade for negroes may be carried on1 shall be and is hereby divided into marts or staples1 as hereafter follows4 ,here name the marts4 ,and be it enacted1 that it shall not be lawful for the master of any ship to purchase any negro or negroes1 but at one of the said marts or staples4 ,sidenote3 ,governors and counsellors4 #b4 ,that the directors of the ,african ,company shall appoint1 where not already appointed1 a governor1 with three counsellors1 at each of the said marts1 with a salary of ---- to the governor1 and of ---- to each of the said counsellors4 ,the said governor1 or1 in his absence or illness1 the senior counsellor1 shall and is hereby empowered to act as a justice of the peace1 and they1 or either of them1 are authorized1 ordered1 and directed to provide for the peace of the settlement1 and the good regulation of their station and stations severally1 according to the rules of justice1 to the directions of this act1 and the instructions they shall receive from time to time from the said ,african ,company4 ,and the said ,african ,company is hereby authorized to prepare instructions1 with the assent of the ,lords of his ,majesty's ,privy ,council1 which shall be binding in all things not contrary to this act1 or to the laws of ,england1 on the said governors and counsellors1 and every of them1 and on all persons acting in commission with them under this act1 and on all persons residing within the jurisdiction of the magistrates of the said mart4 ,sidenote3 ,ships of war stationed4 #c4 ,and be it enacted1 that the ,lord ,high ,admiral1 or commissioners for executing his office1 shall appoint one or more1 as they shall see convenient1 of his ,majesty's ships or sloops of war1 under the command severally of a post-captain1 or master and commander1 to each mart1 as a naval station4 ,sidenote3 ,inspectors appointed4 #d4 ,and be it enacted1 that the ,lord ,high ,treasurer1 or the commissioners for executing his office1 shall name two inspectors of the said trade at every mart1 who shall provide for the execution of this act1 according to the directions thereof1 so far as shall relate to them2 and it is hereby provided and enacted1 that1 as cases of sudden emergency may arise1 the said governor or first counsellor1 and the first commander of his ,majesty's ship or ships on the said station1 and the said inspectors1 or the majority of them1 the governor having a double or casting vote1 shall have power and authority to make such occasional rules and orders relating to the said trade as shall not be contrary to the instructions of the ,african ,company1 and which shall be valid until the same are revoked by the said ,african ,company4 ,sidenote3 ,lands may be purchased4 #e4 ,that the said ,african ,company is hereby authorized to purchase1 if the same may conveniently be done1 with the consent of the ,privy ,council1 any lands adjoining to the fort or principal mart aforesaid1 not exceeding ---- acres1 and to make allotments of the same2 no allotment to one person to exceed 7on pain of forfeiture7 ---- acres4 ,sidenote3 ,churches and schoolhouses1 and hospitals to be erected4 ,sidenote3 ,chaplain and assistant4 ,sidenote3 ,clerk and catechist4 #f4 ,that the ,african ,company shall1 at each fort or mart1 cause to be erected1 in a convenient place1 and at a moderate cost1 the estimate of which shall be approved by the ,treasury1 one church1 and one school-house1 and one hospital2 and shall appoint one principal chaplain1 with a curate or assistant in holy orders1 both of whom shall be recommended by the ,lord ,bishop of ,london2 and the said chaplain or his assistant shall perform divine service1 and administer the sacraments1 according to the usage of the ,church of ,england1 or to such mode not contrary thereto as to the said bishop shall seem more suitable to the circumstances of the people4 ,and the said principal chaplain shall be the third member in the council1 and shall be entitled to receive from the directors of the said ,african ,company a salary of ----1 and his assistant a salary of ----1 and he shall have power to appoint one sober and discreet person1 white or black1 to be his clerk and catechist1 at a salary of ----4 ,sidenote3 ,schoolmaster4 ,sidenote3 ,carpenter and blacksmith4 ,sidenote3 ,native apprentices4 ,sidenote3 ,surgeon and mate4 ,sidenote3 ,native apprentice4 #g4 ,and be it enacted1 that the ,african ,company shall appoint one sufficient schoolmaster1 who shall be approved by the ,bishop of ,london1 and who shall be capable of teaching writing1 arithmetic1 surveying1 and mensuration1 at a salary of ----4 ,and the said ,african ,company is hereby authorized to provide for each settlement a carpenter and blacksmith1 with such encouragement as to them shall seem expedient1 who shall take each two apprentices from amongst the natives2 to instruct them in the several trades1 the ,african ,company allowing them1 as a fee for each apprentice1 ----4 ,and the said ,african ,company shall appoint one surgeon and one surgeon's mate1 who are to be approved on examination1 at ,surgeons' ,hall1 to each fort or mart1 with a salary of ---- for the surgeon1 and for his mate ----2 and the said surgeon shall take one native apprentice1 at a fee to be settled by the ,african ,company4 ,sidenote3 ,how removable4 #h4 ,and be it enacted1 that the said catechist1 schoolmaster1 surgeon1 and surgeon's mate1 as well as the tradesmen in the ,company's service1 shall be obedient to the orders they shall from time to time receive from the governor and council of each fort2 and if they1 or any of them1 or any other person1 in whatever station1 shall appear1 on complaint and proof to the majority of the commissioners1 to lead a disorderly and debauched life1 or use any profane or impious discourses1 to the danger of defeating the purposes of this institution1 and to the scandal of the natives1 who are to be led by all due means into a respect for our holy religion1 and a desire of partaking of the benefits thereof1 they are authorized and directed to suspend the said person from his office1 or the exercise of his trade1 and to send him to ,england 7but without any hard confinement1 except in case of resistance7 with a complaint1 with inquiry and proofs adjoined1 to the ,african ,company4 #i4 ,and be it enacted1 that the ,bishop of ,london for the time being shall have full authority to remove the said chaplain for such causes as to him shall seem reasonable4 ,sidenote3 ,no public officer to be concerned in the negro trade4 #aj4 ,that no governor1 counsellor1 inspector1 chaplain1 surgeon1 or schoolmaster shall be concerned1 or have any share1 directly or indirectly1 in the negro trade1 on pain of ----4 ,sidenote3 ,journals and letter-books to be kept and transmitted4 #aa4 ,be it enacted1 that the said governor and council shall keep a journal of all their proceedings1 and a book in which copies of all their correspondence shall be entered1 and they shall transmit copies of the said journals and letter-book1 and their books of accounts1 to the ,african ,company1 who1 within ---- of their receipt thereof1 shall communicate the same to one of his ,majesty's principal secretaries of state4 ,sidenote3 ,chaplain to report to the ,bishop of ,london4 #ab4 ,and be it enacted1 that the said chaplain or principal minister1 shall correspond with the ,bishop of ,london1 and faithfully and diligently transmit to him an account of whatever hath been done for the advancement of religion1 morality1 and learning amongst the natives4 ,sidenote3 ,negroes to be attested before sale4 #ac4 ,and be it enacted1 that no negro shall be conclusively sold1 until he shall be attested by the two inspectors and chaplain1 or1 in case of the illness of any of them1 by one inspector1 and the governor1 or one of the council1 who are hereby authorized and directed1 by the best means in their power1 to examine into the circumstances and condition of the persons exposed to sale4 ,sidenote3 ,causes for rejection4 #ad4 ,and for the better direction of the said inspectors1 no persons are to be sold1 who1 to the best judgment of the said inspectors1 shall be above thirty-five years of age1 or who shall appear1 on examination1 stolen or carried away by the dealers by surprise2 nor any person who is able to read in the ,arabian or any other book2 nor any woman who shall appear to be advanced three months in pregnancy2 nor any person distorted or feeble1 unless the said persons are consenting to such sale2 or any person afflicted with a grievous or contagious distemper3 but if any person so offered is only lightly disordered1 the said person may be sold1 but must be kept in the hospital of the mart1 and shall not be shipped until completely cured4 ,sidenote3 ,traders to be licensed by the governors4 #ae4 ,be it enacted1 that no black or ,european factor or trader into the interior country1 or on the coast1 7the masters of ,english ships only excepted1 for whose good conduct provision is otherwise herein made17 shall be permitted to buy or sell in any of the said marts1 unless he be approved by the governor of the mart in which he is to deal1 or1 in his absence or disability1 by the senior counsellor for the time being1 and obtaining a license from such governor or counsellor2 and the said traders and factors shall1 severally or jointly1 as they shall be concerned1 before they shall obtain the said license1 be bound in a recognizance1 with such surety for his or their good behavior as to the said governor shall seem the best that can be obtained4 ,sidenote3 ,offences how to be tried and punished4 #af4 ,be it enacted1 that the said governor1 or other authority aforesaid1 shall examine1 by duty of office1 into the conduct of all such traders and factors1 and shall receive and publicly hear 7with the assistance of the council and inspectors aforesaid1 and of the commodore1 captain1 or other principal commander of one of his ,majesty's ships on the said station1 or as many of the same as can be assembled1 two whereof1 with the governor1 are hereby enabled to act7 all complaints against them1 or any of them2 and if any black or white trader or factor1 7other than in this act excepted17 either on inquisition of office or on complaint1 shall be convicted by a majority of the said commissioners present of stealing or taking by surprise any person or persons whatsoever1 whether free or the slaves of others1 without the consent of their masters1 or of wilfully and maliciously killing or maiming any person1 or of any cruelty1 7necessary restraint only excepted17 or of firing houses1 or destroying goods1 the said trader or factor shall be deemed to have forfeited his recognizance1 and his surety to have forfeited his2 and the said trader or factor1 so convicted1 shall be forever disabled from dealing in any of the said marts1 unless the offence shall not be that of murder1 maiming1 arson1 or stealing or surprising the person1 and shall appear to the commissioners aforesaid to merit only1 besides the penalty of his bond1 a suspension for one year2 and the said trader or factor1 so convicted of murder1 maiming1 arson1 stealing or surprising the person1 shall1 if a native1 be delivered over to the prince to whom he belongs1 to execute further justice on him4 ,but it is hereby provided and enacted1 that1 if any ,european shall be convicted of any of the said offences1 he shall be sent to ,europe1 together with the evidence against him2 and on the warrant of the said commissioners1 the keeper of any of his ,majesty's jails in ,london1 ,bristol1 ,liverpool1 or ,glasgow shall receive him1 until he be delivered according to due course of law1 as if the said offences had been committed within the cities and towns aforesaid4 ,sidenote3 ,negroes exposed to sale contrary to the provisions of this act1 how to be dealt with4 #ag4 ,be it further enacted1 that1 if the said governor1 c1 shall be satisfied that person or persons are exposed to sale1 who have been stolen or surprised as aforesaid1 or are not within the qualifications of sale in this act described1 they are hereby authorized and required1 if it can be done1 to send the persons so exposed to sale to their original habitation or settlement1 in the manner they shall deem best for their security1 7the reasonable charges whereof shall be allowed to the said governor by the ,african ,company17 unless the said persons choose to sell themselves2 and then1 and in that case1 their value in money and goods1 at their pleasure1 shall be secured to them1 and be applicable to their use1-without any dominion over the same of any purchaser1 or of any master to whom they may in any colony or plantation be sold1 and which shall always be in some of his master's ,majesty's8 colonies and plantations only4 ,and the master of the ship in which such person shall embark shall give bond for the faithful execution of his part of the trust at the island where he shall break bulk4 #ah4 ,be it further enacted1 that1 besides the hospitals on shore1 one or more hospital-ships shall be employed at each of the said chief marts1 wherein slaves taken ill in the trading ships shall be accommodated1 until they shall be cured2 and then the owner may reclaim and shall receive them1 paying the charges which shall be settled by regulation to be made by the authority in this act enabled to provide such regulations4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,iii4 ,and whereas it is necessary that regulations be made to prevent abuses in the passage from ,africa to the ,west ,indies3 ,sidenote3 ,slave ships to be examined on the coast4 #a4 ,be it further enacted1 that the commander or lieutenant of the king's ship on each station shall have authority1 as often as he shall see occasion1 attended with one other of his officers1 and his surgeon or mate1 to enter into and inspect every trading ship1 in order to provide for the due execution of this act1 and of any ordinances made in virtue thereof and conformable thereto by the authorities herein constituted and appointed2 and the said officer and officers are hereby required to examine every trading ship before she sails1 and to stop the sailing of the said ship for the breach of the said rules and ordinances1 until the governor in council shall order and direct otherwise3 and the master of the said ship shall not presume1 under the penalty of ----1 to be recovered in the courts of the ,west ,indies1 to sail without a certificate from the commander aforesaid1 and one of the inspectors in this act appointed1 that the vessel is provided with stores and other accommodation sufficient for her voyage1 and has not a greater number of slaves on board than by the provisions of this act is allowed4 ,sidenote3 ,governor to give special instructions4 #b4 ,and be it enacted1 that the governor and council1 with the assistance of the said naval commander1 shall have power to give such special written instructions for the health1 discipline1 and care of the said slaves1 during their passage1 as to them shall seem good1 ,sidenote3 ,presents and musical instruments to be provided4 #c4 ,and be it further enacted1 that each slave1 at entering the said ship1 is to receive some present1 not exceeding in value ----1 to be provided according to the instructions aforesaid2 and musical instruments1 according to the fashion of the country1 are to be provided4 ,sidenote3 ,table of allowances4 #d4 ,and be it further enacted1 that the negroes on board the transports1 and the seamen who navigate the same1 are to receive their daily allowance according to the table hereunto annexed1 together with a certain quantity of spirits to be mixed with their water4 ,and it is enacted1 that the table is to be fixed1 and continue for one week after sailing1 in some conspicuous part of the said ship1 for the seamen's inspection of the same4 ,sidenote3 ,negro superintendents to be appointed4 #e4 ,and be it enacted1 that the captain of each trading vessel shall be enabled and is to divide the slaves in his ship into crews of not less than ten nor more than twenty persons each1 and to appoint one negro man to have such authority severally over each crew1 as according to his judgment1 with the advice of the mate and surgeon1 he and they shall see good to commit to them1 and to allow to each of them some compensation1 in extraordinary diet and presents1 not exceeding ten shillings4 ,sidenote3 ,communication with female slaves1 how punished4 #f4 ,and be it enacted1 that any ,european officer or seaman1 having unlawful communication with any woman slave1 shall1 if an officer1 pay five pounds to the use of the said woman1 on landing her from the said ship1 to be stopped out of his wages1 or if a seaman1 forty shillings3 the said penalties to be recovered on the testimony of the woman so abused1 and one other4 ,sidenote3 ,premium to commanders of slave-ships4 #g4 ,and be it enacted1 that all and every commander of a vessel or vessels employed in slave trade1 having received certificates from the port of the outfit1 and from the proper officers in ,africa and the ,west ,indies1 of their having conformed to the regulations of this act1 and of their not having lost more than one in thirty of their slaves by death1 shall be entitled to a bounty or premium of ten pounds4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,iv4 ,and whereas the condition of persons in a state of slavery is such that they are utterly unable to take advantage of any remedy which the laws may provide for their protection and the amendment of their condition1 and have not the proper means of pursuing any process for the same1 but are and must be under guardianship3 and whereas it is not fitting that they should be under the sole guardianship of their masters1 or their attorneys and overseers1 to whom their grievances1 whenever they suffer any1 must ordinarily be owing3 ,sidenote3 ,attorney-,general to be protector of negroes4 ,sidenote3 ,to inquire and file information ex officio4 #a4 ,be it therefore enacted1 that his ,majesty's ,attorney-,general for the time being successively shall1 by his office1 exercise the trust and employment of protector of negroes within the island in which he is or shall be ,attorney-,general to his ,majesty1 his heirs and successors2 and that the said ,attorney-,general1 protector of negroes1 is hereby authorized to hear any complaint on the part of any negro or negroes1 and inquire into the same1 or to institute an inquiry ex officio into any abuses1 formations and to call before him and examine witnesses upon oath1 relative to the subject-matter of the said official inquiry or complaint3 and it is hereby enacted and declared1 that the said ,attorney-,general1 protector of negroes1 is hereby authorized and empowered1 at his discretion1 to file an information ex officio for any offences committed against the provisions of this act1 or for any misdemeanors or wrongs against the said negroes1 or any of them4 ,sidenote3 ,power to challenge jurors4 #b4 ,and it is further enacted1 that in all trials of such informations the said protector of negroes may and is hereby authorized to challenge peremptorily a number not exceeding ---- of the jury who shall be impanelled to try the charge in the said information contained4 ,sidenote3 ,to appoint inspectors of districts4 ,sidenote3 who are to report to him twice in the year the number and condition of the slaves4 #c4 ,and be it enacted1 that the said ,attorney-,general1 protector of negroes1 shall appoint inspectors1 not exceeding the number of ----1 at his discretion2 and the said inspectors shall be placed in convenient districts in each island severally1 or shall twice in the year make a circuit in the same1 according to the direction which they shall receive from the protector of negroes aforesaid2 and the inspectors shall and they are hereby required1 twice in the year1 to report in writing to the protector aforesaid the state and condition of the negroes in their districts or on their circuit severally1 the number1 sex1 age1 and occupation of the said negroes on each plantation2 and the overseer or chief manager on each plantation is hereby required to furnish an account thereof within ten days after the demand of the said inspectors1 and to permit the inspector or inspectors aforesaid to examine into the same2 and the said inspectors shall set forth1 in the said report1 the distempers to which the negroes are most liable in the several parts of the island4 ,sidenote3 ,instructions to be formed for inspectors4 #d4 ,and be it enacted1 that the said protector of negroes1 by and with the consent the governor and chief judge of each island1 shall form instructions1 by which the said inspectors shall discharge their trust in the manner the least capable of exciting any unreasonable hopes in the said negroes1 or of weakening the proper authority of the overseer1 and shall transmit them to one of his ,majesty's principal secretaries of state2 and when sent back with his approbation1 the same shall become the rule for the conduct of the said inspectors4 ,sidenote3 ,registry4 #e4 ,and be it enacted1 that the said ,attorney-,general1 protector of negroes1 shall appoint an office for registering all proceedings relative to the duty of his place as protector of negroes1 and shall appoint his chief clerk to be registrar1 with a salary not exceeding ----4 ,sidenote3 ,ports where negroes are to be landed4 ,vessels to be inspected4 ,sidenote3 ,masters or officers offending to be fined4 #f4 ,and be it enacted1 that no negroes shall be landed for sale in any but the ports following3 that is to say1 ----4 ,and the collector of each of the said ports severally shall1 within ---- days after the arrival of any ship transporting negroes1 report the same to the protector of negroes1 or to one of his inspectors2 and the said protector is hereby authorized and required to examine1 or cause to be examined by one of his inspectors1 with the assistance of the said collector1 or his deputy1 and a surgeon to be called in on the occasion1 the state of the said ship and negroes2 and upon what shall appear to them1 the said protector of negroes1 and the said collector and surgeon1 to be a sufficient proof1 either as arising from their own inspection1 or sufficient information on a summary process1 of any contravention of this act1 or cruelty to the negroes1 or other malversation of the said captain1 or any of his officers the said protector shall impose a fine on him or them1 not exceeding ----2 which shall not1 however1 weaken or invalidate any penalty growing from the bond of the said master or his owners4 ,and it is hereby provided1 that1 if the said master1 or any of his officers1 shall find himself aggrieved by the said fine1 he may within ---- days appeal to the chief judge1 if the court shall be sitting1 or to the governor1 who shall and are required to hear the said parties1 and on hearing are to annul or confirm the same4 ,sidenote3 ,rates respecting the sale of negroes4 #g4 ,and be it enacted1 that no sale of negroes shall be made but in the presence of an inspector1 and all negroes shall be sold severally1 or in known and ascertained lots1 and not otherwise2 and a paper containing the state and description of each negro severally sold1 and of each lot1 shall be taken and registered in the office aforesaid2 and if1 on inspection or information1 it shall be found that any negroes shall have1 in the same ship1 or any other at the same time examined1 a wife1 an husband1 a brother1 sister1 or child1 the person or persons so related shall not be sold separately at that or any future sale4 ,sidenote3 ,every island to be divided into districts4 ,sidenote3 ,a church to be built in each4 #h4 ,and be it enacted1 that each and every of his ,majesty's islands and plantations1 in which negroes are used in cultivation1 shall be1 by the governor and the protector of negroes for the time being1 divided into districts1 allowing as much as convenience will admit to the present division into parishes1 and subdividing them1 where necessary1 into districts1 according to the number of negroes4 ,and the said governor and protector of negroes shall cause in each district a church to be built in a convenient place1 and a cemetery annexed1 and an house for the residence of a clergyman1 with ---- acres of land annexed2 and they are hereby authorized to treat for the necessary ground with the proprietor1 who is hereby obliged to sell and dispose of the same to the said use2 and in case of dispute concerning the value1 the same to be settled by a jury1 as in like cases is accustomed4 ,sidenote3 ,appointment of a priest and clerk4 #i4 ,and be it enacted1 that in each of the said districts shall be established a presbyter of the ,church of ,england as by law established1 who shall appoint under him one clerk1 who shall be a free negro1 when such properly qualified can be found1 7otherwise1 a white man17 with a salary1 in each case1 of ----2 and the said minister and clerk1 both or one1 shall instruct the said negroes in the ,church ,catechism1 or such other as shall be provided by the authority in this act named2 and the said minister shall baptize1 as he shall think fit1 all negroes not baptized1 and not belonging to ,dissenters from the ,church of ,england4 ,sidenote3 ,owner to deliver a list of negroes to the minister1 and to cause them to attend divine service4 #aj4 ,and the principal overseer of each plantation is hereby required to deliver annually unto the minister a list of all the negroes upon his plantation1 distinguishing their sex and age1 and shall1 under a penalty of ----1 cause all the negroes under his care1 above the age of ---- years1 to attend divine service once on every ,sunday1 except in case of sickness1 infirmity1 or other necessary cause1 to be given at the time1 and shall1 by himself or one of those who are under him1 provide for the orderly behavior of the negroes under him1 and cause them to return to his plantation1 when divine service1 or administration of sacraments1 or catechism1 is ended4 ,sidenote3 ,mister to direct punishment for disorderly conduct4 #aa4 ,and be it enacted1 that the minister shall have power to punish any negro for disorderly conduct during divine service1 by a punishment not exceeding ten blows to be given in one day and for one offence1 which the overseer or his under agent or agents is hereby directed1 according to the orders of the said minister1 effectually to inflict1 whenever the same shall be ordered4 ,sidenote3 ,spirituous liquors not to be sold4 #ab4 ,and be it enacted1 that no spirituous liquors of any kind shall be sold1 except in towns1 within ---- miles distance of any church1 nor within any district during divine service1 and an hour preceding and an hour following the same2 and the minister of each parish shall and is hereby authorized to act as a justice of the peace in enforcing the said regulation4 ,sidenote3 ,register of births1 burials1 and marriages4 #ac4 ,and be it enacted1 that every minister shall keep a register of births1 burials1 and marriages of all negroes and mulattoes in his district4 ,sidenote3 ,synod to assemble annually1 and to form regulations1 #ad4 ,and be it enacted1 that the ministers of the several districts shall meet annually1 on the ---- day of ----1 in a synod of the island to which they belong2 and the said synod shall have for its president such person as the ,bishop of ,london shall appoint for his commissary2 and the said synod or general assembly is hereby authorized1 by a majority of voices1 to make regulations1 which regulations shall be transmitted by the said president or commissary to the ,bishop of ,london2 and when returned by the ,bishop of ,london approved of1 then1 and not before1 the said regulations shall be held in force to bind the said clergy1 their assistants1 clerks1 and schoolmasters only1 and no other persons4 ,sidenote3 and to report to the ,bishop of ,london4 #ae4 ,and be it enacted1 that the said president shall collect matter in the said assembly1 and shall make a report of the state of religion and morals in the several parishes from whence the synod is deputed1 and shall transmit the same1 once in the year1 in duplicate1 through the governor and protector of negroes1 to the ,bishop of ,london4 ,sidenote3 ,bishop of ,london to be patron of the cures4 #af4 ,and be it enacted and declared1 that the ,bishop of ,london for the time being patron of the shall be patron to all and every the said cures in this act directed2 and the said bishop is hereby required to provide for the due filling thereof1 and is to receive1 from the fund in this act provided for the due execution of this act1 a sum not exceeding ---- for each of the said ministers1 for his outfit and passage4 ,sidenote3 and to have power of suspending and removing ministers4 #ag4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 on misbehavior1 and on complaint from the said synod1 and on hearing the party accused in a plain and summary manner1 it shall and may be lawful for the ,bishop of ,london to suspend or to remove any minister from his cure1 as his said offences shall appear to merit4 ,sidenote3 ,schools for young negroes4 #ah4 ,and be it enacted1 that for every two districts a school shall be established for young negroes to be taught three days in the week1 and to be detained from their owner four hours in each day1 the number not to be more or fewer than twenty males in each district1 who shall be chosen1 and vacancies filled1 by the minister of the district2 and the said minister shall pay to the owner of the said boy1 and shall be allowed the same in his accounts at the synod1 to the age of twelve years old1 three-pence by the day1 and for every boy from twelve years old to fifteen1 five-pence by the day4 ,sidenote3 ,extraordinary abilities to be encouraged4 #ai4 ,and it is enacted1 that1 if the president of the synod aforesaid shall certify to the protector of negroes1 that any boys in the said schools 7provided that the number in no one year shall exceed one in the island of ,jamaica1 and one in two years in the islands of ,barbadoes1 ,antigua1 and ,grenada1 and one in four years in any of the other islands7 do show a remarkable aptitude for learning1 the said protector is hereby authorized and directed to purchase the said boy at the best rate at which boys of that age and strength have been sold within the year2 and the said negro so purchased shall be under the entire guardianship of the said protector of negroes1 who shall send him to the ,bishop of ,london for his further education in ,england1 and may charge in his accounts for the expense of transporting him to ,england2 and the ,bishop of ,london shall provide for the education of such of the said negroes as he shall think proper subjects1 until the age of twenty-four years1 and shall order those who shall fall short of expectation after one year to be bound apprentice to some handicraft trade2 and when his apprenticeship is finished1 the ,lord ,mayor of ,london is hereby authorized and directed to receive the said negro from his master1 and to transmit him to the island from which he came1 in the ,west ,indies1 to be there as a free negro1 subject1 however1 to the direction of the protector of negroes1 relatively to his behavior and employment4 ,sidenote3 ,negroes of ,dissenters4 ,sidenote3 their marriages1 c41 to be registered4 #bj4 ,and it is hereby enacted and provided1 that any planter1 or owner of negroes1 not being of the ,church of ,england1 and not choosing to send his negroes to attend divine service in manner by this act directed1 shall give1 jointly or severally1 as the case shall require1 security to the protector of negroes that a competent minister of some ,christian church or congregation shall be provided for the due instruction of the negroes1 and for their performing divine service according to the description of the religion of the master or masters1 in some church or house thereto allotted1 in the manner and with the regulations in this act prescribed with regard to the exercise of religion according to the ,church of ,england3 provided always1 that the marriages of the said negroes belonging to ,dissenters shall be celebrated only in the church of the said district1 and that a register of the births shall be transmitted to the minister of the said district4 ,sidenote3 ,regulations concerning marriage4 #ba4 ,and whereas a state of matrimony1 and the government of a family1 is a principal means of forming men to a fitness for freedom1 and to become good citizens3 ,be it enacted1 that all negro men and women1 above eighteen years of age for the man and sixteen for the woman1 who have cohabited together for twelve months or upwards1 or shall cohabit for the same time1 and have a child or children1 shall be deemed to all intents and purposes to be married1 and either of the parties is authorized to require of the ministers of the district to be married in the face of the church4 ,sidenote3 ,concerning the same4 #bb4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 from and after the ---- of ----1 all negro men in an healthy condition1 and so reported to be1 in case the same is denied1 by a surgeon and by an inspector of negroes1 and being twenty-one years old1 or upwards1 until fifty1 and not being before married1 shall1 on requisition of the inspectors1 be provided by their masters or overseers with a woman not having children living1 and not exceeding the age of the man1 nor1 in any case1 exceeding the age of twenty-five years2 and such persons shall be married publicly in the face of the church4 ,sidenote3 ,concerning the same4 #bc4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 if any negro shall refuse a competent marriage tendered to him1 and shall not demand another specifically1 such as it may be in his master's power to provide1 the master or overseer shall be authorized to constrain him by an increase of work or a lessening of allowance4 ,sidenote3 ,adultery1 c41 how to be punished4 #bd4 ,and be it enacted1 that the minister in each district shall have1 with the assent of the inspector1 full power and authority to punish all acts of adultery1 unlawful concubinage1 and fornication1 amongst negroes1 on hearing and a summary process1 by ordering a number of blows1 not exceeding ----1 for each offence2 and if any white person shall be proved1 on information in the supreme court1 to be exhibited by the protector of negroes1 to have committed adultery with any negro woman1 or to have corrupted any negro woman under sixteen years of age he shall be fined in the sum of ----1 and shall be forever disabled from serving the office of overseer of negroes1 or being attorney to any plantation4 ,sidenote3 ,concerning marriage4 #be4 ,and be it enacted1 that no slaves shall be compelled to do any work for their masters for three days after their marriage4 ,sidenote3 ,concerning pregnant women4 #bf4 ,and be it enacted1 that no woman shall be obliged to field-work1 or any other laborious work1 for one month before her delivery1 or for six weeks afterwards4 ,sidenote3 ,separation of husband and wife1 and children1 to be avoided4 #bg4 ,and be it enacted1 that no husband and wife shall be sold separately1 if originally belonging to the same master2 nor shall any children under sixteen be sold separately from their parents1 or one parent1 if one be living4 ,sidenote3 ,concerning the same4 #bh4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 if an husband and wife1 which before their intermarriage belonged to different owners1 shall be sold1 they shall not be sold at such a distance as to prevent mutual help and cohabitation2 and of this distance the minister shall judge1 and his certificate of the inconvenient distance shall be valid1 so as to make such sale unlawful1 and to render the same null and void4 ,sidenote3 ,negroes not to work on ,saturday afternoon or ,sunday4 #bi4 ,and be it enacted1 that no negro shall be compelled to work for his owner at field-work1 or any service relative to a plantation1 or to work at any handicraft trade1 from eleven o'clock on ,saturday forenoon until the usual working hour on ,monday morning4 ,sidenote3 ,other cases of exemption from labor4 #cj4 ,and whereas habits of industry and sobriety1 and the means of acquiring and preserving property1 are proper and reasonable preparatives to freedom1 and will secure against an abuse of the same3 ,be it enacted1 that every negro man1 who shall have served ten years1 and is thirty years of age1 and is married1 and has had two children born of any marriage1 shall obtain the whole of ,saturday for himself and his wife1 and for his own benefit1 and after thirty-seven years of age1 the whole of ,friday for himself and his wife3 provided that in both cases the minister of the district and the inspector of negroes shall certify that they know nothing against his peaceable1 orderly1 and industrious behavior4 ,sidenote3 ,huts and land to be appropriated4 #ca4 ,and be it enacted1 that the master of every plantation shall provide the materials of a good and substantial hut for each married field negro2 and if his plantation shall exceed ---- acres1 he shall allot to the same a portion of land not less than ----3 and the said hut and land shall remain and stand annexed to the said negro1 for his natural life1 or during his bondage2 but the same shall not be alienated without the consent of the owners4 ,sidenote3 ,property of negroes secured4 #cb4 ,and be it enacted1 that it shall not be lawful for the owner of any negro1 by himself or any other1 to take from him any land1 house1 cattle1 goods1 or money1 acquired by the said negro1 whether by purchase1 donation1 or testament1 whether the same has been derived from the owner of the said negro1 or any other4 #cc4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 if the said negro shall die possessed of any lands1 goods1 or chattels1 and dies without leaving a wife or issue1 it shall be lawful for the said negro to devise or bequeath the same by his last will2 but in case the said negro shall die intestate1 and leave a wife and children1 the same shall be distributed amongst them1 according to the usage under the statute1 commonly called the ,statute of ,distributions2 but if the said negro shall die intestate without wife or children1 then1 and in that case1 his estate shall go to the fund provided for the better execution of this act4 #cd4 ,and be it enacted1 that no negro1 who is married1 and hath resided upon any plantation for twelve months1 shall be sold1 either privately or by the decree of any court1 but along with the plantation on which he hath resided1 unless he should himself request to be separated therefrom4 ,sidenote3 ,of the punishment of negroes4 #ce4 ,and be it enacted1 that no blows or stripes exceeding thirteen1 shall be inflicted for one offence upon any negro1 without the order of one of his ,majesty's justices of peace4 ,sidenote3 ,of the same4 #cf4 ,and it is enacted1 that it shall be lawful for the protector of negroes1 as often as on complaint and hearing he shall be of opinion that any negro hath been cruelly and inhumanly treated1 or when it shall be made to appear to him that an overseer hath any particular malice1 to order1 at the desire of the suffering party1 the said negro to be sold to another master4 #cg4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 in all cases of injury to member or life1 the offences against a negro shall be deemed and taken to all intents and purposes as if the same were perpetrated against any of his ,majesty's subjects2 and the protector of negroes1 on complaint1 or if he shall receive credible information thereof1 shall cause an indictment to be presented for the same2 and in case of suspicion of any murder of a negro1 an inquest by the coroner1 or officer acting as such1 shall1 if practicable1 be held into the same4 ,sidenote3 ,of the manumission of negroes4 #ch4 ,and in order to a gradual manumission of slaves1 as they shall seem fitted to fill the offices of freemen1 be it enacted1 that every negro slave1 being thirty years of ago and upwards1 and who has had three children born to him in lawful matrimony1 and who hath received a certificate from the minister of his district1 or any other ,christian teacher1 of his regularity in the duties of religion1 and of his orderly and good behavior1 may purchase1 at rates to be fixed by two justices of peace1 the freedom of himself1 or his wife or children1 or of any of them separately1 valuing the wife and children1 if purchased into liberty by the father of the family1 at half only of their marketable values3 provided that the said father shall bind himself in a penalty of ---- for the good behavior of his children4 ,sidenote3 ,of the same4 #ci4 ,and be it enacted1 that it shall be lawful for the protector of negroes to purchase the freedom of any negro who shall appear to him to excel in any mechanical art1 or other knowledge or practice deemed liberal1 and the value shall be settled by a jury4 ,sidenote3 ,free negroes how to be punished4 #dj4 ,and be it enacted1 that the protector of negroes shall be and is authorized and required to act as a magistrate for the coercion of all idle1 disobedient1 or disorderly free negroes1 and he shall by office prosecute them for the offences of idleness1 drunkenness1 quarrelling1 gaming1 or vagrancy1 in the supreme court1 or cause them to be prosecuted before one justice of peace1 as the case may require4 ,sidenote3 ,of the same4 #da4 ,and be it enacted1 that1 if any free negro hath been twice convicted for any of the said misdemeanors1 and is judged by the said protector of negroes1 calling to his assistance two justices of the peace1 to be incorrigibly idle1 dissolute1 and vicious1 it shall be lawful1 by the order of the said protector and two justices of peace1 to sell the said free negro into slavery3 the purchase-money to be paid to the person so remanded into servitude1 or kept in hand by the protector and governor for the benefit of his family4 ,sidenote3 ,governor to receive and transmit annual reports4 #db4 ,and be it enacted1 that the governor in each colony shall be assistant to the execution of this act1 and shall receive the reports of the protector1 and such other accounts as he shall judge material1 relative thereto1 and shall transmit the same annually to one of his ,majesty's principal secretaries of state4 ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,chairman ,,of ,,the ,,buckinghamshire ,,meeting1 ,,held ,,at ,,aylesbury1 ,,april #ac1 #aghj1 ,,on ,,the ,,subject ,,of ,,parliamentary ,,reform4 ,,note4 ,the meeting of the freeholders of the ,county of ,buckingham1 which occasioned the following ,letter1 was called for the purpose of taking into consideration a petition to ,parliament for shortening the duration of ,parliaments1 and for a more equal representation of the people in the ,house of ,commons4 ,sir1--,having heard yesterday1 by mere accident1 that there is an intention of laying before the county meeting new matter1 which is not contained in our petition1 and the consideration of which had been deferred to a fitter time by a majority of our committee in ,london1 permit me to take this method of submitting to you my reasons for thinking1 with our committee1 that nothing ought to be hastily deter mined upon the subject4 ,our petition arose naturally from distresses which we felt2 and the requests which we made were in effect nothing more than that such things should be done in ,parliament as it was evidently the duty of ,parliament to do4 ,but the affair which will be proposed to you by a person of rank and ability is an alteration in the constitution of ,parliament itself4 ,it is impossible for you to have a subject before you of more importance1 and that requires a more cool and more mature consideration1 both on its own account1 and for the credit of our sobriety of mind1 who are to resolve upon it4 ,the county will in some way or other be called upon to declare it your opinion1 that the ,house of ,commons is not sufficiently numerous1 and that the elections are not sufficiently frequent1--that an hundred new knights of the shire ought to be added1 and that we are to have a new election once in three years for certain1 and as much oftener as the king pleases4 ,such will be the state of things1 if the proposition made shall take effect4 ,all this may be proper4 ,but1 as an honest man1 ,i cannot possibly give my rote for it1 until ,i have considered it more fully4 ,i will not deny that our ,constitution may have faults1 and that those faults1 when found1 ought to be corrected2 but1 on the whole1 that ,constitution has been our own pride1 and an object of admiration to all other nations4 ,it is not everything which appears at first view to be faulty1 in such a complicated plan1 that is to be determined to be so in reality4 ,to enable us to correct the ,constitution1 the whole ,constitution must be viewed together2 and it must be compared with the actual state of the people1 and the circumstances of the time4 ,for that which taken singly and by itself may appear to be wrong1 when considered with relation to other things1 may be perfectly right1--or at least such as ought to be patiently endured1 as the means of preventing something that is worse4 ,so far with regard to what at first view may appear a distemper in the ,constitution4 ,as to the remedy of that distemper an equal caution ought to be used2 because this latter consideration is not single and separate1 no more than the former4 ,there are many things in reformation which would be proper to be done1 if other things can be done along with them1 but which1 if they cannot be so accompanied1 ought not to be done at all4 ,i therefore wish1 when any new matter of this deep nature is proposed to me1 to have the whole scheme distinctly in my view1 and full time to consider of it4 ,please ,god1 ,i will walk with caution1 whenever ,i am not able clearly to see my way before me4 ,i am now growing old4 ,i have from my very early youth been conversant in reading and thinking upon the subject of our laws and ,constitution1 as well as upon those of other times and other countries2 ,i have been for fifteen years a very laborious member of ,parliament1 and in that time have had great opportunities of seeing with my own eyes the working of the machine of our government1 and remarking where it went smoothly and did its business1 and where it checked in its movements1 or where it damaged its work2 ,i have also had and used the opportunities of conversing with men of the greatest wisdom and fullest experience in those matters2 and ,i do declare to you most solemnly and most truly1 that1 on the result of all this reading1 thinking1 experience1 and communication1 ,i am not able to come to an immediate resolution in favor of a change of the groundwork of our ,constitution1 and in particular1 that1 in the present state of the country1 in the present state of our representation1 in the present state of our rights and modes of electing1 in the present state of the several prevalent interests1 in the present state of the affairs and manners of this country1 the addition of an hundred knights of the shire1 and hurrying election on election1 will be things advantageous to liberty or good government4 ,this is the present condition of my mind2 and this is my apology for not going as fast as others may choose to go in this business4 ,i do not by any means reject the propositions2 much less do ,i condemn the gentlemen who1 with equal good intentions1 with much better abilities1 and with infinitely greater personal weight and consideration than mine1 are of opinion that this matter ought to be decided upon instantly4 ,i most heartily wish that the deliberate sense of the kingdom on this great subject should be known4 ,when it is known1 it must be prevalent4 ,it would be dreadful indeed1 if there was any power in the nation capable of resisting its unanimous desire1 or even the desire of any very great and decided majority of the people4 ,the people may be deceived in their choice of an object2 but ,i can scarcely conceive any choice they can make to be so very mischievous as the existence of any human force capable of resisting it4 ,it will certainly be the duty of every man1 in the situation to which ,god has called him1 to give his best opinion and advice upon the matter3 it will not be his duty1 let him think what he will1 to use any violent or any fraudulent means of counteracting the general wish1 or even of employing the legal and constructive organ of expressing the people's sense against the sense which they do actually entertain4 ,in order that the real sense of the people should be known upon so great an affair as this1 it is of absolute necessity that timely notice should be given1--that the matter should be prepared in open committees1 from a choice into which no class or description of men is to be excluded1--and the subsequent county meetings should be as full and as well attended as possible4 ,without these precautions1 the true sense of the people will ever be uncertain4 ,sure ,i am1 that no precipitate resolution on a great change in the fundamental constitution of any country can ever be called the real sense of the people4 ,i trust it will not be taken amiss1 if1 as an inhabitant and freeholder of this county1 7one1 indeed1 among the most inconsiderable17 ,i assert my right of dissenting 7as ,i do dissent fully and directly7 from any resolution whatsoever on the subject of an alteration in the representation and election of the kingdom at this time4 ,by preserving this light1 and exercising it with temper and moderation1 ,i trust ,i cannot offend the noble proposer1 for whom no man professes or feels more respect and regard than ,i do4 ,a want of concurrence in everything which can be proposed will in no sort weaken the energy or distract the efforts of men of upright intentions upon those points in which they are agreed4 ,assemblies that are met1 and with a resolution to be all of a mind1 are assemblies that can have no opinion at all of their own4 ,the first proposer of any measure must be their master4 ,i do not know that an amicable variety of sentiment1 conducted with mutual good-will1 has any sort of resemblance to discord1 or that it can give any advantage whatsoever to the enemies of our common cause4 ,on the contrary1 a forced and fictitious agreement 7which every universal agreement must be7 is not becoming the cause of freedom4 ,if1 however1 any evil should arise from it1 7which ,i confess ,i do not foresee17 ,i am happy that those who have brought forward new and arduous matter1 when very great doubts and some diversity of opinion must be foreknown1 are of authority and weight enough to stand against the consequences4 ,i humbly lay these my sentiments before the county4 ,they are not taken up to serve any interests of my own1 or to be subservient to the interests of any man or set of men under heaven4 ,i could wish to be able to attend our meeting1 or that ,i had time to reason this matter more fully by letter2 but ,i am detained here upon our business3 what you have already put upon us is as much as we can do4 ,if we are prevented from going through it with any effect1 ,i fear it will be in part owing not more to the resistance of the enemies of our cause than to our imposing on ourselves such tasks as no human faculties1 employed as we are1 can be equal to4 ,our worthy members have shown distinguished ability and zeal in support of our petition4 ,i am just going down to a bill brought in to frustrate a capital part of your desires4 ,the minister is preparing to transfer the cognizance of the public accounts from those whom you and the ,constitution have chosen to control them1 to unknown persons1 creatures of his own4 ,for so much he annihilates ,parliament4 ,i have the honor1 c4 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,charles ,,street1 #abth ,april1 #aghj4 ,,fragments ,,of ,a ,,tract ,,relative ,,to ,,the ,,laws ,,against ,,popery ,,in ,,ireland4 ,,note4 ,the condition of the ,roman ,catholics in ,ireland appears to lave engaged the attention of ,mr4 ,burke at a very early period of his political life4 ,it was probably soon after the year #agfe that he formed the plan of a work upon that subject1 the fragments of which are now given to the public4 ,no title is prefixed to it in the original manuscript2 and the ,plan1 which it has been thought proper to insert here1 was evidently designed merely for the convenience of the author4 ,of the first chapter some unconnected fragments only1 too imperfect for publication1 have been found4 ,of the second there is a considerable portion1 perhaps nearly the whole2 but the copy from which it is printed is evidently a first rough draught4 ,the third chapter1 as far as it goes1 is taken from a fair1 corrected copy2 but the end of the second part of the first head is left unfinished1 and the discussion of the second and third heads was either never entered upon or the manuscript containing it has unfortunately been lost4 ,what follows the third chapter appears to have been designed for the beginning of the fourth1 and is evidently the first rough draught2 and to this we have added a fragment which appears to have been a part either of this or the first chapter4 ,in the volume with which it is intended to close this posthumous publication of ,mr4 ,burke's ,works1 we shall have occasion to enter into a more particular account of the part which he took in the discussion of this great political question4 ,at present it may suffice to say1 that the ,letter to ,mr4 ,smith1 the ,second ,letter to ,sir ,hercules ,langrishe1 and the ,letter to his ,son1 which here follow in order the ,fragment on the ,popery ,laws1 are the only writings upon this subject found amongst his papers in a state fit to appear in this stage of the publication4 ,what remain are some small fragments of the ,tract1 and a few letters containing no new matter of importance4 ,,tract ,,on ,,the ,,popery ,,laws ,,the ,,plan4 ,i propose1 first1 to make an ,introduction1 in order to show the propriety of a closer inspection into the affairs of ,ireland2 and this takes up the first chapter1 which is to be spent in this introductory matter1 and in stating the ,popery laws in general1 as one leading cause of the imbecility of the country4 ,,ch4 ,,ii4 states particularly the laws themselves1 in a plain and popular manner4 ,,ch4 ,,iii4 begins the remarks upon them1 under the heads of1 #ast1 ,the object1--which is a numerous people2 #bndly1 ,their means1--a restraint on property2 #crdly1 ,their instruments of execution1--corrupted morals1 which affect the national prosperity4 ,,ch4 ,,iv4 ,the impolicy of those laws1 as they affect the national security4 ,,ch4 ,v4 ,reasons by which the laws are supported1 and answers to them4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,in order to lay this matter with full satisfaction before the reader1 ,i shall collect into one point of view1 and state as shortly and as clearly as ,i am able1 the purport of these laws1 according to the objects which they affect1 without making at present any further observation upon them1 but just what shall be necessary to render the drift2 and intention of the legislature and the tendency and operation of the laws the more distinct and evident4 ,i shall begin with those which relate to the possession and inheritance of landed property in ,popish hands4 ,the first operation of those acts upon this object was wholly to change the course of descent by the ,common ,law1 to take away the right of primogeniture1 and1 in lieu thereof1 to substitute and establish a new species of ,statute ,gavelkind4 ,by this law1 on the death of a ,papist possessed of an estate in fee simple or in fee tail1 the land is to be divided by equal portions between all the male children2 and those portions are likewise to be parcelled out1 share and share alike1 amongst the descendants of each son1 and so to proceed in a similar distribution ad infinitum4 ,from this regulation it was proposed that some important consequences should follow4 ,first1 by taking away the right of primogeniture1 perhaps in the very first generation1 certainly in the second1 the families of ,papists1 however respectable1 and their fortunes1 however considerable1 would be wholly dissipated1 and reduced to obscurity and indigence1 without any possibility that they should repair them by their industry or abilities1--being1 as we shall see anon1 disabled from every species of permanent acquisition4 ,secondly1 by this law the right of testamentation is taken away1 which the inferior tenures had always enjoyed1 and all tenures from the #bgth ,hen4 ,,viii2 ,thirdly1 the right of settlement was taken away1 that no such persons should1 from the moment the act passed1 be enabled to advance themselves in fortune or connection by marriage1 being disabled from making any disposition1 in consideration of such marriage1 but what the law had previously regulated3 the reputable establishment of the eldest son1 as representative of the family1 or to settle a jointure1 being commonly the great object in such settlements1 which was the very power which the law had absolutely taken away4 ,the operation of this law1 however certain1 might be too slow4 ,the present possessors might happen to be long-lived4 ,the legislature knew the natural impatience of expectants1 and upon this principle they gave encouragement to children to anticipate the inheritance4 ,for it is provided1 that the eldest son of any ,papist shall1 immediately on his conformity1 change entirely the nature and properties of his father's legal estate3 if he before held in fee simple1 or1 in other words1 had the entire and absolute dominion over the land1 he is reduced to an estate for his life only1 with all the consequences of the natural debility of that estate1 by which he becomes disqualified to sell1 mortgage1 charge1 7except for his life17 or in any wise to do any act by which he may raise money for relief in his most urgent necessities4 ,the eldest son1 so conforming1 immediately acquires1 and in the lifetime of his father1 the permanent part1 what our law calls the reversion and inheritance of the estate2 and he discharges it by retrospect1 and annuls every sort of voluntary settlement made by the father ever so long before his conversion4 ,this he may sell or dispose of immediately1 and alienate it from the family forever4 ,having thus reduced his father's estate1 he may also bring his father into the ,court of ,chancery1 where he may compel him to swear to the value of his estate1 and to allow him out of that possession 7which had been before reduced to an estate for life7 such an immediate annual allowance as the ,lord ,chancellor or ,lord ,keeper shall judge suitable to his ago and quality4 ,this indulgence is not confined to the eldest son4 ,the other children likewise1 by conformity1 may acquire the same privileges1 and in the same manner force from their father an immediate and independent maintenance4 ,it is very well worth remarking1 that the statutes have avoided to fix any determinate age for these emancipating conversions2 so that the children1 at any age1 however incapable of choice in other respects1 however immature or even infantile1 are yet considered sufficiently capable to disinherit their parents1 and totally to subtract themselves from their direction and control1 either at their own option1 or by the instigation of others4 ,by this law the tenure and value of a ,roman ,catholic in his real property is not only rendered extremely limited and altogether precarious1 but the paternal power is in all such families so enervated that it may well be considered as entirely taken away2 even the principle upon which it is founded seems to be directly reversed4 ,however1 the legislature feared that enough was not yet done upon this head4 ,the ,roman ,catholic parent1 by selling his real estate1 might in some sort preserve the dominion over his substance and his family1 and thereby evade the operation of these laws1 which intended to take away both4 ,besides1 frequent revolutions and many conversions had so broken the landed property of ,papists in that kingdom1 that it was apprehended that this law could have in a short time but a few objects upon which it would be capable of operating4 ,to obviate these inconveniences another law was made1 by which the dominion of children over their parents was extended universally throughout the whole ,popish part of the nation1 and every child of every ,popish parent was encouraged to come into what is called a court of equity1 to prefer a bill against his father1 and compel him to confess1 upon oath1 the quantity and value of his substance1 personal as well as real1 of what nature soever1 or howsoever it might be employed2 upon which discovery1 the court is empowered to seize upon and allocate1 for the immediate maintenance of such child or children1 any sum not exceeding a third of the whole fortune3 and as to their future establishment on the death of the father1 no limits are assigned2 the ,chancery may1 if it thinks fit1 take the whole property1 personal as well as real1 money1 stock in trade1 c1 out of the power of the possessor1 and secure it in any manner they judge expedient for that purpose2 for the act has not assigned any sort of limit with regard to the quantity which is to be charged1 or given any direction concerning the means of charging and securing it3 a law which supersedes all observation4 ,but the law is still more extensive in its provision4 ,because there was a possibility that the parent1 though sworn1 might by false representations evade the discovery of the ultimate value of his estate1 a new bill may be at any time brought1 by one1 any1 or all of the children1 for a further discovery2 his effects are to undergo a fresh scrutiny1 and a now distribution is to be made in consequence of it4 ,so that the parent has no security against perpetual inquietude1 and the reiteration of ,chancery suits1 but by 7what is somewhat difficult for human nature to comply with7 fully1 and without reserve1 abandoning his whole property to the discretion of the court1 to be disposed of in favor of such children4 ,but is this enough1 and has the parent purchased his repose by such a surrender8 ,very far from it4 ,the law expressly1 and very carefully1 provides that he shall not3 before he can be secure from the persecution of his children1 it requires another and a much more extraordinary condition3 the children are authorized1 if they can find that their parent has by his industry1 or otherwise1 increased the value of his property since their first bill1 to bring another1 compelling a new account of the value of his estate1 in order to a new distribution proportioned to the value of the estate at the time of the new bill preferred4 ,they may bring such bills1 toties quoties1 upon every improvement of his fortune1 without any sort of limitation of time1 or regard to the frequency of such bills1 or to the quantity of the increase of the estate1 which shall justify the bringing them4 ,this act expressly provides that he shall have no respite from the persecution of his children1 but by totally abandoning all thoughts of improvement and acquisition4 ,this is going a great way1 surely3 but the laws in question have gone much further4 ,not satisfied with calling upon children to revolt against their parents1 and to possess themselves of their substance1 there are cases where the withdrawing of the child from his father's obedience is not left to the option of the child himself3 for1 if the wife of a ,roman ,catholic should choose to change her religion1 from that moment she deprives her husband of all management and direction of his children1 and even of all the tender satisfaction which a parent can feel in their society1 and which is the only indemnification he can have for all his cares and sorrows2 and they are to be torn forever1 at the earliest age1 from his house and family3 for the ,lord ,chancellor is not only authorized1 but he is strongly required1 to take away all his children from such ,popish parent1 to appoint where1 in what manner1 and by whom they are to be educated2 and the father is compelled to pay1 not for the ransom1 but for the deprivation of his children1 and to furnish such a sum as the ,chancellor thinks proper to appoint for their education to the age of eighteen years4 ,the case is the same1 if the husband should be the conformist2 though how the law is to operate in this case ,i do not see3 for the act expressly says1 that the child shall be taken from such ,popish parent2 and whilst such husband and wife cohabit1 it will be impossible to put it into execution without taking the child from one as well as from the other2 and then the effect of the law will be1 that1 if either husband or wife becomes ,protestant1 both are to be deprived of their children4 ,the paternal power thus being wholly abrogated1 it is evident that by the last regulation the power of an husband over his wife is also considerably impaired2 because1 if it be in her power1 whenever she pleases1 to subtract the children from his protection and obedience1 she herself by that hold inevitably acquires a power and superiority over her husband4 ,but she is not left dependent upon this oblique influence3 for1 if in any marriage settlement the husband has reserved to him a power of making a jointure1 and he dies without settling any1 her conformity executes his powers1 and executes them in as large extent as the ,chancellor thinks fit4 ,the husband is deprived of that coercive power over his wife which he had in his hands by the use he might make of the discretionary power reserved in the settlement4 ,but if no such power had been reserved1 and no such settlement existed1 yet1 if the husband dies1 leaving his conforming wife without a filed provision by some settlement on his real estate1 his wife may apply to ,chancery1 where she shall be allotted a portion from his leases1 and other personal estate1 not exceeding one third of his whole clear substance4 ,the laws in this instance1 as well as in the former1 have presumed that the husband has omitted to make all the provision which he might have done1 for no other reason than that of her religion4 ,if1 therefore1 she chooses to balance any domestic misdemeanors to her husband by the public merit of conformity to the ,protestant religion1 the law will suffer no plea of such misdemeanors to be urged on the husband's part1 nor proof of that kind to be entered into4 ,she acquires a provision totally independent of his favor1 and deprives him of that source of domestic authority which the ,common ,law had left to him1 that of rewarding or punishing1 by a voluntary distribution of his effects1 what in his opinion was the good or ill behavior of his wife4 ,thus the laws stand with regard to the property already acquired1 to its mode of descent1 and to family powers4 ,now as to the new acquisition of real property1 and both to the acquisition and security of personal1 the law stands thus3-- ,all persons of that persuasion are disabled from taking or purchasing1 directly or by a trust1 any lands1 any mortgage upon land1 any rents or profits from land1 any lease1 interest1 or term of any land1 any annuity for life or lives or years1 or any estate whatsoever1 chargeable upon1 or which may in any manner affect1 any lands4 ,one exception1 and one only1 is admitted by the statutes to the universality of this exclusion1 viz41 a lease for a term not exceeding thirty-one years4 ,but even this privilege is charged with a prior qualification4 ,this remnant of a right is doubly curtailed3 #ast1 that on such a short lease a rent not less than two thirds of the full improved yearly value1 at the time of the making it1 shall be reserved during the whole continuance of the term2 and1 #bndly1 it does not extend to the whole kingdom4 ,this lease must also be in possession1 and not in reversion4 ,if any lease is made1 exceeding either in duration or value1 and in the smallest degree1 the above limits1 the whole interest is forfeited1 and vested ipso facto in the first ,protestant discoverer or informer4 ,this discoverer1 thus invested with the property1 is enabled to sue for it as his own right4 ,the courts of law are not alone open to him2 he may 7and this is the usual method7 enter into either of the courts of equity1 and call upon the parties1 and those whom he suspects to be their trustees1 upon oath1 and under the penalties of perjury1 to discover against themselves the exact nature and value of their estates in every particular1 in order to induce their forfeiture on the discovery4 ,in such suits the informer is not liable to those delays which the ordinary procedure of those courts throws into the way of the justest claimant2 nor has the ,papist the indulgence which he it8 allows to the most fraudulent defendant1 that of plea and demurrer2 but the defendant is obliged to answer the whole directly upon oath4 ,the rule of favores ampliandi1 c41 is reversed by this act1 lest any favor should be shown1 or the force and operation of the law in any part of its progress be enervated4 ,all issues to be tried on this act are to be tried by none but known ,protestants4 ,it is here necessary to state as a part of this law what has been for some time generally understood as a certain consequence of it4 ,the act had expressly provided that a ,papist could possess no sort of estate which might affect land 7except as before excepted74 ,on this a difficulty did1 not unnaturally1 arise4 ,it is generally known1 a judgment being obtained or acknowledged for any debt1 since the statute of ,westm4 #b1 #ac ,ed4 ,i4 c4 #ah1 one half of the debtor's land is to be delivered unto the creditor until the obligation is satisfied1 under a writ called ,elegit1 and this writ has been ever since the ordinary assurance of the land1 and the great foundation of general credit in the nation4 ,although the species of holding under this writ is not specified in the statute1 the received opinion1 though not juridically delivered1 has been1 that1 if they attempt to avail themselves of that security1 because it may create an estate1 however precarious1 in land1 their whole debt or charge is forfeited1 and becomes the property of the ,protestant informer4 ,thus you observe1 first1 that by the express words of the law all possibility of acquiring any species of valuable property1 in any sort connected with land1 is taken away2 and1 secondly1 by the construction all security for money is also cut off4 ,no security is left1 except what is merely personal1 and which1 therefore1 most people who lend money would1 ,i believe1 consider as none at all4 ,under this head of the acquisition of property1 the law meets them in every road of industry1 and in its direct and consequential provisions throws almost all sorts of obstacles in their way4 ,for they are not only excluded from all offices in ,church and ,state1 which1 though a just and necessary provision1 is yet no small restraint in the acquisition1 but they are interdicted from the army1 and the law1 in all its branches4 ,this point is carried to so scrupulous a severity1 that chamber practice1 and even private conveyancing1 the most voluntary agency1 are prohibited to them under the severest penalties and the most rigid modes of inquisition4 ,they have gone beyond even this3 for every barrister1 six clerk1 attorney1 or solicitor1 is obliged to take a solemn oath not to employ persons of that persuasion1--no1 not as hackney clerks1 at the miserable salary of seven shillings a week4 ,no tradesman of that persuasion is capable by any service or settlement to obtain his freedom in any town corporate2 so that they trade and work in their own native towns as aliens1 paying1 as such1 quarterage1 and other charges and impositions4 ,they are expressly forbidden1 in whatever employment1 to take more than two apprentices1 except in the linen manufacture only4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in every state1 next to the care of the life and properties of the subject1 the education of their youth has been a subject of attention4 ,in the ,irish laws this point has not been neglected4 ,those who are acquainted with the constitution of our universities need not be informed that none but those who conform to the ,established ,church can be at all admitted to study there1 and that none can obtain degrees in them who do not previously take all the tests1 oaths1 and declarations4 ,lest they should be enabled to supply this defect by private academies and schools of their own1 the law has armed itself with all its terrors against such a practice4 ,popish schoolmasters of every species are proscribed by those acts1 and it is made felony to teach even in a private family4 ,so that ,papists are entirely excluded from an education in any of our authorized establishments for learning at home4 ,in order to shut up every avenue to instruction1 the act of ,king ,william in ,ireland has added to this restraint by precluding them from all foreign education4 ,this act is worthy of attention on account of the singularity of some of its provisions4 ,being sent for education to any ,popish school or college abroad1 upon conviction1 incurs 7if the party sent has any estate of inheritance7 a kind of unalterable and perpetual outlawry4 ,the tender and incapable age of such a person1 his natural subjection to the will of others1 his necessary1 unavoidable ignorance of the laws1 stands for nothing in his favor4 ,he is disabled to sue in law or equity2 to be guardian1 executor1 or administrator2 he is rendered incapable of any legacy or deed of gift2 he forfeits all his goods and chattels forever2 and he forfeits for his life all his lands1 hereditaments1 offices1 and estate of freehold1 and all trusts1 powers1 or interests therein4 ,all persons concerned in sending them or maintaining them abroad1 by the least assistance of money or otherwise1 are involved in the same disabilities1 and subjected to the same penalties4 ,the mode of conviction is as extraordinary as the penal sanctions of this act4 ,a justice of peace1 upon information that any child is sent away1 may require to be brought before him all persons charged or even suspected of sending or assisting1 and examine them and other persons on oath concerning the fact4 ,if on this examination he finds it probable that the party was sent contrary to this act1 he is then1 to bind over the parties and witnesses in any sum he thinks fit1 but not less than two hundred pounds1 to appear and take their trial at the next quarter sessions4 ,here the justices are to reexamine evidence1 until they arrive1 as before1 to what shall appear to them a probability4 ,for the rest they resort to the accused3 if they can prove that any person1 or any money1 or any bill of exchange1 has been sent abroad by the party accused1 they throw the proof upon him to show for what innocent purposes it was sent2 and on failure of such proof1 he is subjected to all the above-mentioned penalties4 ,half the forfeiture is given to the crown2 the other half goes to the informer4 ,it ought here to be remarked1 that this mode of conviction not only concludes the party has failed in his expurgatory proof1 but it is sufficient also to subject to the penalties and incapacities of the law the infant upon whose account the person has been so convicted4 ,it must be confessed that the law has not left him without some species of remedy in this case apparently of much hardship1 where one man is convicted upon evidence given against another1 if he has the good fortune to live2 for1 within a twelvemonth after his return1 or his age of twenty-one1 he has a1 right to call for a new trial1 in which he also is to undertake the negative proof1 and to show by sufficient evidence that he has not been sent abroad against the intention of the act4 ,if he succeeds in this difficult exculpation1 and demonstrates his innocence to the satisfaction of the court1 he forfeits all his goods and chattels1 and all the profits of his lands incurred and received before such acquittal2 but he is freed from all other forfeitures1 and from all subsequent incapacities4 ,there is also another method allowed by the law in favor of persons under such unfortunate circumstances1 as in the former case for their innocence1 in this upon account of their expiation3 if within six months after their return1 with the punctilious observation of many ceremonies1 they conform to the ,established ,church1 and take all the oaths and subscriptions1 the legislature1 in consideration of the incapable age in which they were sent abroad1 of the merit of their early conformity1 and to encourage conversions1 only confiscates1 as in the former case1 the whole personal estate1 and the profits of the real2 in all other respects1 restoring and rehabilitating the party4 99 99 99 99 99 ,so far as to property and education4 ,there remain some other heads upon which the acts have changed the course of the ,common ,law2 and first1 with regard to the right of self-defence1 which consists in the use of arms4 ,this1 though one of the rights by the law of ,nature1 yet is so capable of abuses that it may not be unwise to make some regulations concerning them2 and many wise nations have thought proper to set several restrictions on this right1 especially temporary ones1 with regard to suspected persons1 and on occasion of some imminent danger to the public from foreign invasion or domestic commotions4 ,but provisions in time of trouble proper1 and perhaps necessary1 may become in time of profound peace a scheme of tyranny4 ,the method which the statute law of ,ireland has taken upon this delicate article is1 to get rid of all difficulties at once by an universal prohibition to all persons1 at all times1 and under all circumstances1 who are not ,protestants1 of using or keeping any kind of weapons whatsoever4 ,in order to enforce this regulation1 the whole spirit of the ,common ,law is changed1 very severe penalties are enjoined1 the largest powers are vested in the lowest magistrates4 ,any two justices of peace1 or magistrates of a town1 with or without information1 at their pleasure1 by themselves or their warrant1 are empowered to enter and search the house of any ,papist1 or even of any other person1 whom they suspect to keep such arms in trust for them4 ,the only limitation to the extent of this power is1 that the search is to be made between the rising and setting of the sun3 but even this qualification extends no further than to the execution of the act in the open country2 for in all cities and their suburbs1 in towns corporate and market-towns1 they may at their discretion1 and without information1 break open houses and institute such search at any hour of the day or night4 ,this1 ,i say1 they may do at their discretion2 and it seems a pretty ample power in the hands of such magistrates4 ,however1 the matter does by no means totally rest on their discretion4 ,besides the discretionary and occasional search1 the statute has prescribed one that is general and periodical4 ,it is to be made annually1 by the warrant of the justices at their midsummer quarter sessions1 by the high and petty constables1 or any others whom they may authorize1 and by all corporate magistrates1 in all houses of ,papists1 and every other where they suspect arms for the use of such persons to be concealed1 with the same powers1 in all respects1 which attend the occasional search4 ,the whole of this regulation1 concerning both the general and particular search1 seems to have been made by a legislature which was not at all extravagantly jealous of personal liberty4 ,not trusting1 however1 to the activity of the magistrate acting officially1 the law has invited all voluntary informers by considerable rewards1 and even pressed involuntary informers into this service by the dread of heavy penalties4 ,with regard to the latter method1 two justices of peace1 or the magistrate of any corporation1 are empowered to summon before them any persons whatsoever1 to tender them an oath by which they oblige them to discover all persons who have any arms concealed contrary to law4 ,their refusal or declining to appear1 or1 appearing1 their refusal to inform1 subjects them to the severest penalties4 ,if peers or peeresses are summoned 7for they may be summoned by the bailiff of a corporation of six cottages7 to perform this honorable service1 and refuse to inform1 the first offence is three hundred pounds penalty2 the second is prmunire1--that is to say1 imprisonment for life1 and forfeiture of all their goods4 ,persons of an inferior order are1 for the first offence1 fined thirty pounds2 for the second1 they1 too1 are subjected to prmunire4 ,so far as to involuntary2--now as to voluntary informers3 the law entitles them to half the penalty incurred by carrying or keeping arms2 for1 on conviction of this offence1 the penalty upon persons1 of whatever substance1 is the sum of fifty pounds and a year's imprisonment1 which cannot be remitted even by the crown4 ,the only exception to this law is a license from the ,lord ,lieutenant and ,council to carry arms1 which1 by its nature1 is extremely limited1 and ,i do not suppose that there are six persons now in the kingdom who have been fortunate enough to obtain it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,there remains1 after this system concerning property and defence1 to say something concerning the exercise of religion1 winch is carried on in all persuasions1 but especially in the ,romish1 by persons appointed for that purpose4 ,the law of ,king ,william and ,queen ,anne ordered all ,popish parsons exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction1 all orders of monks and friars1 and all priests1 not then actually in parishes1 and to be registered1 to be banished the kingdom2 and if they should return from exile1 to be hanged1 drawn1 and quartered4 ,twenty pounds reward is given for apprehending them4 ,penalty on harboring and concealing4 ,as all the priests then in being and registered are long since dead1 and as these laws are made perpetual1 every ,popish priest is liable to the law4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the reader has now before him a tolerably complete view of the ,popery laws relative to property by descent or acquisition1 to education1 to defence1 and to the free exercise of religion1 which may be necessary to enable him to form some judgment of the spirit of the whole system1 and of the subsequent reflections that are to be made upon it4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,part ,i4 ,the system which we have just reviewed1 and the manner in which religious influence on the public is made to operate upon the laws concerning property in ,ireland1 is in its nature very singular1 and differs1 ,i apprehend1 essentially1 and perhaps to its disadvantage1 from any scheme of religious persecution now existing in any other country in ,europe1 or which has prevailed in any time or nation with which history has made us acquainted4 ,i believe it will not be difficult to show that it is unjust1 impolitic1 and inefficacious2 that it has the most unhappy influence on the prosperity1 the morals1 and the safety of that country2 that this influence is not accidental1 but has flowed as the necessary and direct consequence of the laws themselves1 first on account of the object which they affect1 and next by the quality of the greatest part of the instruments they employ4 ,upon all these points1 first upon the general1 and then on the particular1 this question will be considered with as much order as can be followed in a matter of itself as involved and intricate as it is important4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the first and most capital consideration with regard to this1 as to every object1 is the extent of it4 ,and here it is necessary to premise1 this system of penalty and incapacity has for its object no small sect or obscure party1 but a very numerous body of men1--a body which comprehends at least two thirds of that whole nation3 it amounts to #b1hjj1jjj souls1 a number sufficient for the materials constituent of a great people4 ,now it is well worthy of a serious and dispassionate examination1 whether such a system1 respecting such an object1 be in reality agreeable to any sound principles of legislation or any authorized definition of law2 for if our reasons or practices differ from the general informed sense of mankind1 it is very moderate to say that they are at least suspicious4 ,this consideration of the magnitude of the object ought to attend us through the whole inquiry3 if it does not always affect the reason1 it is always decisive on the importance of the question4 ,it not only makes in itself a more leading point1 but complicates itself with every other part of the matter1 giving every error1 minute in itself1 a character and significance from its application4 ,it is therefore not to be wondered at1 if we perpetually recur to it in the course of this essay4 ,in the making of a new law it is undoubtedly the duty of the legislator to see that no injustice be done even to an individual3 for there is then nothing to be unsettled1 and the matter is under his hands to mould it as he pleases2 and if he finds it untractable in the working1 he may abandon it without incurring any new inconvenience4 ,but in the question concerning the repeal of an old one1 the work is of more difficulty2 because laws1 like houses1 lean on one another1 and the operation is delicate1 and should be necessary3 the objection1 in such a case1 ought not to arise from the natural infirmity of human institutions1 but from substantial faults which contradict the nature and end of law itself1--faults not arising from the imperfection1 but from the misapplication and abuse of our reason4 ,as no legislators can regard the minima of equity1 a law may in some instances be a just subject of censure without being at all an object of repeal4 ,but if its transgressions against common right and1 the ends of just government should be considerable in their nature and spreading in their effects1 as this objection goes to the root and principle of the law1 it renders it void in its obligatory quality on the mind1 and therefore determines it as the proper object of abrogation and repeal1 so far as regards its civil existence4 ,the objection here is1 as we observed1 by no means on account of the imperfection of the law2 it is on account of its erroneous principle3 for if this be fundamentally wrong1 the more perfect the law is made1 the worse it becomes4 ,it cannot be said to have the properties of genuine law1 even in its imperfections and defects4 ,the true weakness and opprobrium of our best general constitutions is1 that they cannot provide beneficially for every particular case1 and thus fill1 adequately to their intentions1 the circle of universal justice4 ,but where the principle is faulty1 the erroneous part of the law is the beneficial1 and justice only finds refuge in those holes and corners which had escaped the sagacity and inquisition of the legislator4 ,the happiness or misery of multitudes can never be a thing indifferent4 ,a law against the majority of the people is in substance a law against the people itself2 its extent determines its invalidity2 it even changes its character as it enlarges its operation3 it is not particular injustice1 but general oppression2 and can no longer be considered as a private hardship1 which might be borne1 but spreads and grows up into the unfortunate importance of a national calamity4 ,now as a law directed against the mass of the nation has not the nature of a reasonable institution1 so neither has it the authority3 for in all forms of government the people is the true legislator2 and whether the immediate and instrumental cause of the law be a single person or many1 the remote and efficient cause is the consent of the people1 either actual or implied2 and such consent is absolutely essential to its validity4 ,to the solid establishment of every law two things are essentially requisite3 first1 a proper and sufficient human power to declare and modify the matter of the law2 and next1 such a fit and equitable constitution as they have a right to declare and render binding4 ,with regard to the first requisite1 the human authority1 it is their judgment they give up1 not their right4 ,the people1 indeed1 are presumed to consent to whatever the legislature ordains for their benefit2 and they are to acquiesce in it1 though they do not clearly see into the propriety of the means by which they are conducted to that desirable end4 ,this they owe as an act of homage and just deference to a reason which the necessity of government has made superior to their own4 ,but though the means1 and indeed the nature1 of a public advantage may not always be evident to the understanding of the subject1 no one is so gross and stupid as not to distinguish between a benefit and an injury4 ,no one can imagine1 then1 an exclusion of a great body of men1 not from favors1 privileges1 and trusts1 but from the common advantages of society1 can ever be a thing intended for their good1 or can ever be ratified by any implied consent of theirs4 ,if1 therefore1 at least an implied human consent is necessary to the existence of a law1 such a constitution cannot in propriety be a law at all4 ,but if we could suppose that such a ratification was made1 not virtually1 but actually1 by the people1 not representatively1 but even collectively1 still it would be null and void4 ,they have no right to make a law prejudicial to the whole community1 even though the delinquents in making such an act should be themselves the chief sufferers by it2 because it would be-made against the principle of a superior law1 which it is not in the power of any community1 or of the whole race of man1 to alter1--,i mean the will of ,him who gave us our nature1 and in giving impressed an invariable law upon it4 ,it would be hard to point out any error more truly subversive of all the order and beauty1 of all the peace and happiness of human society1 than the position1 that any body of men have a right to make what laws they please1--or that laws can derive any authority from their institution merely1 and independent of the quality of the subject-matter4 ,no arguments of policy1 reason of state1 or preservation of the constitution can be pleaded in favor of such a practice4 ,they may1 indeed1 impeach the frame of that constitution1 but can never touch this immovable principle4 ,this seems to be1 indeed1 the doctrine which ,hobbes broached in the last century1 and which was then so frequently and so ably refuted4 ,cicero exclaims with the utmost indignation and contempt against such a notion3#bb he considers it not only as unworthy of a philosopher1 but of an illiterate peasant2 that of all things this was the most truly absurd1 to fancy that the rule of justice was to be taken from the constitutions of commonwealths1 or that laws derived their authority from the statutes of the people1 the edicts of princes1 or the decrees of judges4 ,if it be admitted that it is not the black-letter and the king's arms that makes the law1 we are to look for it elsewhere4 ,in reality there are two1 and only two1 foundations of law2 and they are both of them conditions without which nothing can give it any force3 ,i mean equity and utility4 ,with respect to the former1 it grows out of the great rule of equality1 which is grounded upon our common nature1 and which ,philo1 with propriety and beauty1 calls the mother of justice4 ,all human laws are1 properly speaking1 only declaratory2 they may alter the mode and application1 but have no power over the substance of original justice4 ,the other foundation of law1 which is utility1 must be understood1 not of partial or limited1 but of general and public utility1 connected in the same manner with1 and derived directly from1 our rational nature3 for any other utility may be the utility of a robber1 but cannot be that of a citizen1--the interest of the domestic enemy1 and not that of a member of the commonwealth4 ,this present equality can never be the foundation of statutes which create an artificial difference between men1 as the laws before us do1 in order to induce a consequential inequality in the distribution of justice4 ,law is a mode of human action respecting society1 and must be governed by the same rules of equity which govern every private action2 and so ,tully considers it in his ,offices as the only utility agreeable to that nature3 ,unum debet esse omnibus propositum1 ut eadem sit utilitas uniuscujusque et universorum2 quam si ad se quisque rapiat1 dissolvetur omnis humana consortio4 ,if any proposition can be clear in itself1 it is this3 that a law which shuts out from all secure and valuable property the bulk of the people cannot be made for the utility of the party so excluded4 ,this1 therefore1 is not the utility which ,tully mentions4 ,but if it were true 7as it is not7 that the real interest of any part of the community could be separated from the happiness of the rest1 still it would afford no just foundation for a statute providing exclusively for that interest at the expense of the other2 because it would be repugnant to the essence of law1 which requires that it be made as much as possible for the benefit of the whole4 ,if this principle be denied or evaded1 what ground have we left to reason on8 ,we must at once make a total change in all our ideas1 and look for a new definition of law4 ,where to find it ,i confess myself at a loss4 ,if we resort to the fountains of jurisprudence1 they will not supply us with any that is for our purpose4 ,jus 7says ,paulus7 pluribus modis dicitur3 uno modo1 cum id1 quod semper quum et bonum est1 jus dicitur1 ut est jus naturale2--this sense of the word will not be thought1 ,i imagine1 very applicable to our penal laws2--altero modo1 quod omnibus aut pluribus in unaquaque civitate utile est1 ut est jus civile4 ,perhaps this latter will be as insufficient1 and would rather seem a censure and condemnation of the ,popery ,acts than a definition that includes them2 and there is no other to be found in the whole ,digest2 neither are there any modern writers whose ideas of law are at all narrower4 ,it would be far more easy to heap up authorities on this article than to excuse the prolixity and tediousness of producing any at all in proof of a point which1 though too often practically denied1 is in its theory almost self-evident4 ,for ,suarez1 handling this very question1 ,utrum de ratione et substantia legis esse ut propter commune bonum feratur1 does not hesitate a moment1 finding no ground in reason or authority to render the affirmative in the least degree disputable3 ,in qustione ergo proposita 7says he7 nulla est inter authores controversia2 sed omnium commune est axioma de substantia et ratione legis esse1 ut pro communi bono feratur2 ita ut propter illud prcipue tradatur2 having observed in another place1 ,contra omnem rectitudinem est bonum commune ad privatum ordinare1 seu totum ad partem propter ipsum referre4 ,partiality and law are contradictory terms4 ,neither the merits nor the ill deserts1 neither the wealth and importance nor the indigence and obscurity1 of the one part or of the other1 can make any alteration in this fundamental truth4 ,on any other scheme1 ,i defy any man living to settle a correct standard which may discriminate between equitable rule and the most direct tyranny4 ,for if we can once prevail upon ourselves to depart from the strictness and integrity of this principle in favor even of a considerable party1 the argument will hold for one that is less so2 and thus we shall go on1 narrowing the bottom of public right1 until step by step we arrive1 though after no very long or very forced deduction1 at what one of our poets calls the enormous faith1--the faith of the many1 created for the advantage of a single person4 ,i cannot see a glimmering of distinction to evade it2 nor is it possible to allege any reason for the proscription of so large a part of the kingdom1 which would not hold equally to support1 under parallel circumstances1 the proscription of the whole4 ,i am sensible that these principles1 in their abstract light1 will not be very strenuously opposed4 ,reason is never inconvenient1 but when it comes to be applied4 ,mere general truths interfere very little with the passions4 ,they can1 until they are roused by a troublesome application1 rest in great tranquillity1 side by side with tempers and proceedings the most directly opposite to them4 ,men want to be reminded1 who do not want to be taught2 because those original ideas of rectitude1 to which the mind is compelled to assent when they are proposed1 are not always as present to it as they ought to be4 ,when people are gone1 if not into a denial1 at least into a sort of oblivion of those ideas1 when they know them only as barren speculations1 and not as practical motives for conduct1 it will be proper to press1 as well as to offer them to the understanding2 and when one is attacked by prejudices which aim to intrude themselves into the place of law1 what is left for us but to vouch and call to warranty those principles of original justice from whence alone our title to everything valuable in society is derived8 ,can it be thought to arise from a superfluous1 vain parade of displaying general and uncontroverted maxims1 that we should revert at this time to the first principles of law1 when we have directly under our consideration a whole body of statutes1 which1 ,i say1 are so many contradictions1 which their advocates allow to be so many exceptions from those very principles8 ,take them in the most favorable light1 every exception from the original and fixed rule of equality and justice ought surely to be very well authorized in the reason of their deviation1 and very rare in their use4 ,for1 if they should grow to be frequent1 in what would they differ from an abrogation of the rule itself8 ,by becoming thus frequent1 they might even go further1 and1 establishing themselves into a principle1 convert the rule into the exception4 ,it cannot be dissembled that this is not at all remote from the case before us1 where the great body of the people are excluded from all valuable property1--where the greatest and most ordinary benefits of society are conferred as privileges1 and not enjoyed on the footing of common rights4 ,the clandestine manner in which those in power carry on such designs is a sufficient argument of the sense they inwardly entertain of the true nature of their proceedings4 ,seldom is the title or preamble of the law of the same import with the body and enacting part2 but they generally place some other color uppermost1 which differs from that which is afterwards to appear1 or at least one that is several shades fainter4 ,thus1 the penal laws in question are not called laws to oblige men baptized and educated in ,popery to renounce their religion or their property1 but are called laws to prevent the growth of ,popery2 as if their purpose was only to prevent conversions to that sect1 and not to persecute a million of people already engaged in it4 ,but of all the instances of this sort of legislative artifice1 and of the principles that produced it1 ,i never met with any which made a stronger impression on me than that of ,louis the ,fourteenth1 in the revocation of the ,edict of ,nantes4 ,that monarch had1 when he made that revocation1 as few measures to keep with public opinion as any man4 ,in the exercise of the most unresisted authority at home1 in a career of uninterrupted victory abroad1 and in a course of flattery equal to the circumstances of his greatness in both these particulars1 he might be supposed to have as little need as disposition to render any sort of account to the world of his procedure towards his subjects4 ,but the persecution of so vast a body of men as the ,huguenots was too strong a measure even for the law of pride and power4 ,it was too glaring a contradiction even to those principles upon which persecution itself is supported4 ,shocked at the naked attempt1 he had recourse1 for a palliation of his conduct1 to an unkingly denial of the fact which made against him4 ,in the preamble1 therefore1 to his ,act of ,revocation1 he sets forth that the ,edict of ,nantes was no longer necessary1 as the object of it 7the ,protestants of his kingdom7 were then reduced to a very small number4 ,the refugees in ,holland cried out against this misrepresentation4 ,they asserted1 ,i believe with truth1 that this revocation had driven two hundred thousand of them out of their country1 and that they could readily demonstrate there still remained six hundred thousand ,protestants in ,france4 ,if this were the fact1 7as it was undoubtedly17 no argument of policy could have been strong enough to excuse a measure by which eight hundred thousand men were despoiled1 at one stroke1 of so many of their rights and privileges4 ,louis the ,fourteenth confessed1 by this sort of apology1 that1 if the number had been large1 the revocation had been unjust4 ,but1 after all1 is it not most evident that this act of injustice1 which let loose on that monarch such a torrent of invective and reproach1 and which threw so dark a cloud over all the splendor of a most illustrious reign1 falls far short of the case in ,ireland8 ,the privileges which the ,protestants of that kingdom enjoyed antecedent to this revocation were far greater than the ,roman ,catholics of ,ireland ever aspired to under a contrary establishment4 ,the number of their sufferers1 if considered absolutely1 is not half of ours2 if considered relatively to the body of each community1 it is not perhaps a twentieth part4 ,and then the penalties and incapacities which grew from that revocation are not so grievous in their nature1 nor so certain in their execution1 nor so ruinous by a great deal to the civil prosperity of the state1 as those which we have established for a perpetual law in our unhappy country4 ,it cannot be thought to arise from affectation1 that ,i call it so4 ,what other name can be given to a country which contains so many hundred thousands of human creatures reduced to a state of the most abject servitude8 ,in putting this parallel1 ,i take it for granted that we can stand for this short time very clear of our party distinctions4 ,if it were enough1 by the use of an odious and unpopular word1 to determine the question1 it would be no longer a subject of rational disquisition2 since that very prejudice which gives these odious names1 and which is the party charged for doing so1 and for the consequences of it1 would then become the judge also4 ,but ,i flatter myself that not a few will be found who do not think that the names of ,protestant and ,papist can make any change in the nature of essential justice4 ,such men will not allow that to be proper treatment to the one of these denominations which would be cruelty to the other1 and which converts its very crime into the instrument of its defence3 they will hardly persuade themselves that what was bad policy in ,france can be good in ,ireland1 or that what was intolerable injustice in an arbitrary monarch becomes1 only by being more extended and more violent1 an equitable procedure in a country professing to be governed by law4 ,it is1 however1 impossible not to observe with some concern1 that there are many also of a different disposition1--a number of persons whose minds are so formed that they find the communion of religion to be a close and an endearing tie1 and their country to be no bond at all1--to whom common altars are a better relation than common habitations and a common civil interest1--whose hearts are touched with the distresses of foreigners1 and are abundantly awake to all the tenderness of human feeling on such an occasion1 even at the moment that they are inflicting the very same distresses1 or worse1 on their fellow-citizens1 without the least sting of compassion or remorse4 ,to commiserate the distresses of all men suffering innocently1 perhaps meritoriously1 is generous1 and very agreeable to the better part of our nature1--a disposition that ought by all means to be cherished4 ,but to transfer humanity from its natural basis1 our legitimate and home-bred connections1--to lose all feeling for those who have grown up by our sides1 in our eyes1 the benefit of whose cares and labors we have partaken from our birth1 and meretriciously to hunt abroad after foreign affections1 is such a disarrangement of the whole system of our duties1 that ,i do not know whether benevolence so displaced is not almost the same thing as destroyed1 or what effect bigotry could have produced that is more fatal to society4 ,this no one could help observing1 who has seen our doors kindly and bountifully thrown open to foreign sufferers for conscience1 whilst through the same ports were issuing fugitives of our own1 driven from their country for a cause which to an indifferent person would seem to be exactly similar1 whilst we stood by1 without any sense of the impropriety of this extraordinary scene1 accusing and practising injustice4 ,for my part1 there is no circumstance1 in all the contradictions of our most mysterious nature1 that appears to be more humiliating than the use we are disposed to make of those sad examples which seem purposely marked for our correction and improvement4 ,every instance of fury and bigotry in other men1 one should think1 would naturally fill us with an horror of that disposition4 ,the effect1 however1 is directly contrary4 ,we are inspired1 it is true1 with a very sufficient hatred for the party1 but with no detestation at all of the proceeding4 ,nay1 we are apt to urge our dislike of such measures as a reason for imitating them1--and1 by an almost incredible absurdity1 because some powers have destroyed their country by their persecuting spirit1 to argue1 that we ought to retaliate on them by destroying our own4 ,such are the effects1 and such1 ,i fear1 has been the intention1 of those numberless books which are daily printed and industriously spread1 of the persecutions in other countries and other religious persuasions4--,these observations1 which are a digression1 but hardly1 ,i think1 can be considered as a departure from the subject1 have detained us some time3 we will now come more directly to our purpose4 ,it has been shown1 ,i hope with sufficient evidence1 that a constitution against the interest of the many is rather of the nature of a grievance than of a law2 that of all grievances it is the most weighty and important2 that it is made without due authority1 against all the acknowledged principles of jurisprudence1 against the opinions of all the great lights in that science2 and that such is the tacit sense even of those who act in the most contrary manner4 ,these points are1 indeed1 so evident1 that ,i apprehend the abettors of the penal system will ground their defence on an admission1 and not on a denial of them4 ,they will lay it down as a principle1 that the ,protestant religion is a thing beneficial for the whole community1 as well in its civil interests as in those of a superior order4 ,from thence they will argue1 that1 the end being essentially beneficial1 the means become instrumentally so2 that these penalties and incapacities are not final causes of the law1 but only a discipline to bring over a deluded people to their real interest1 and therefore1 though they may be harsh in their operation1 they will be pleasant in their effects2 and be they what they will1 they cannot be considered as a very extraordinary hardship1 as it is in the power of the sufferer to free himself when he pleases1 and that only by converting to a better religion1 which it is his duty to embrace1 even though it were attended with all those penalties from whence in reality it delivers him3 if he suffers1 it is his own fault2 volenti non fit injuria4 ,i shall be very short1 without being1 ,i think1 the less satisfactory1 in my answer to these topics1 because they never can be urged from a conviction of their validity1 and are1 indeed1 only the usual and impotent struggles of those who are unwilling to abandon a practice which they are unable to defend4 ,first1 then1 ,i observe1 that1 if the principle of their final and beneficial intention be admitted as a just ground for such proceedings1 there never was1 in the blamable sense of the word1 nor ever can be1 such a thing as a religious persecution in the world4 ,such an intention is pretended by all men1--who all not only insist that their religion has the sanction of ,heaven1 but is likewise1 and for that reason1 the best and most convenient to human society4 ,all religious persecution1 ,mr4 ,bayle well observes1 is grounded upon a miserable petitio principii4 ,you are wrong1 ,i am right2 you must come over to me1 or you must suffer4 ,let me add1 that the great inlet by which a color for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness of another1 and by claiming a right to use what means he thinks proper in order to bring him to a sense of it4 ,it is the ordinary and trite sophism of oppression4 ,but there is not yet such a convenient ductility in the human understanding as to make us capable of being persuaded that men can possibly mean the ultimate good of the whole society by rendering miserable for a century together the greater part of it1--or that any one has such a reversionary benevolence as seriously to intend the remote good of a late posterity1 who can give up the present enjoyment which every honest man must have in the happiness of his contemporaries4 ,everybody is satisfied that a conservation and secure enjoyment of our natural rights is the great and ultimate purpose of civil society1 and that therefore all forms whatsoever of government are only good as they are subservient to that purpose to which they are entirely subordinate4 ,now to aim at the establishment of any form of government by sacrificing what is the substance of it1 to take away or at least to suspend the rights of ,nature in order to an approved system for the protection of them1 and for the sake of that about which men must dispute forever to postpone those things about which they have no controversy at all1 and this not in minute and subordinate1 but large and principal objects1 is a procedure as preposterous and absurd in argument as it is oppressive and cruel in its effect4 ,for the ,protestant religion1 nor 7,i speak it with reverence1 ,i am sure7 the truth of our common ,christianity1 is not so clear as this proposition1--that all men1 at least the majority of men in the society1 ought to enjoy the common advantages of it4 ,you fall1 therefore1 into a double error3 first1 you incur a certain mischief for an advantage which is comparatively problematical1 even though you were sure of obtaining it2 secondly1 whatever the proposed advantage may be1 were it of a certain nature1 the attainment of it is by no means certain2 and such deep gaming for stakes so valuable ought not to be admitted3 the risk is of too much consequence to society4 ,if no other country furnished examples of this risk1 yet our laws and our country are enough fully to demonstrate the fact3 ,ireland1 after almost a century of persecution1 is at this hour full of penalties and full of ,papists4 ,this is a point which would lead us a great way2 but it is only just touched here1 having much to say upon it in its proper place4 ,so that you have incurred a certain and an immediate inconvenience for a remote and for a doubly uncertain benefit4--,thus far as to the argument which would sanctify the injustice of these laws by the benefits which are proposed to arise from them1 and as to that liberty which1 by a new political chemistry1 was to be extracted out of a system of oppression4 ,now as to the other point1 that the objects of these laws suffer voluntarily3 this seems to me to be an insult rather than an argument4 ,for1 besides that it totally annihilates every characteristic and therefore every faulty idea of persecution1 just as the former does1 it supposes1 what is false in fact1 that it is in a man's moral power to change his religion whenever his convenience requires it4 ,if he be beforehand satisfied that your opinion is better than his1 he will voluntarily come over to you1 and without compulsion1 and then your law would be unnecessary2 but if he is not so convinced1 he must know that it is his duty in this point to sacrifice his interest here to his opinion of his eternal happiness1 else he could have in reality no religion at all4 ,in the former case1 therefore1 as your law would be unnecessary1 in the latter it would be persecuting3 that is1 it would put your penalty and his ideas of duty in the opposite scales2 which is1 or ,i know not what is1 the precise idea of persecution4 ,if1 then1 you require a renunciation of his conscience1 as a preliminary to his admission to the rights of society1 you annex1 morally speaking1 an impossible condition to it4 ,in this case1 in the language of reason and jurisprudence1 the condition would be void1 and the gift absolute2 as the practice runs1 it is to establish the condition1 and to withhold the benefit4 ,the suffering is1 then1 not voluntary4 ,and ,i never heard any other argument1 drawn from the nature of laws and the good of human society1 urged in favor of those proscriptive statutes1 except those which have just been mentioned4 ,,footnotes3 #bb ,cicero de ,legibus1 ,lib4 ,l #ad1ae et #af4--,o rem dignam1 in qua non modo docti1 verum etiam agrestes erubescant6 ,jam vero illud stultissimum existimare omnia justa esse1 qu scita sint in populorum institutis aut legibus1 etc4 ,quod si populorum jussis1 si principum decretis1 si sententiis judicum jura constituerentur1 jus esset latrocinari1 jus adulterare1 jus testamenta falsa supponere1 si hc suffragiis aut scitis multitudinis probarentur4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,part ,,ii4 ,the second head upon which ,i propose to consider those statutes with regard to their object1 and which is the next in importance to the magnitude1 and of almost equal concern in the inquiry into the justice of these laws1 is its possession4 ,it is proper to recollect that this religion1 which is so persecuted in its members1 is the old religion of the country1 and the once established religion of the state1--the very same which had for centuries received the countenance and sanction of the laws1 and from which it would at one time have been highly penal to have dissented4 ,in proportion as mankind has become enlightened1 the idea of religious persecution1 under any circumstances1 has been almost universally exploded by all good and thinking men4 ,the only faint shadow of difficulty which remains is concerning the introduction of new opinions4 ,experience has shown1 that1 if it has been favorable to the cause of truth1 it has not been always conducive to the peace of society4 ,though a new religious sect should even be totally free in itself from any tumultuous and disorderly zeal1 which1 however1 is rarely the case1 it has a tendency to create a resistance from the establishment in possession1 productive of great disorders1 and thus becomes1 innocently indeed1 but yet very certainly1 the cause of the bitterest dissensions in the commonwealth4 ,to a mind not thoroughly saturated with the tolerating maxims of the ,gospel1 a preventive persecution1 on such principles1 might come recommended by strong1 and1 apparently1 no immoral motives of policy1 whilst yet the contagion was recent1 and had laid hold but on a few persons4 ,the truth is1 these politics are rotten and hollow at bottom1 as all that are founded upon any however minute a degree of positive injustice must ever be4 ,but they are specious1 and sufficiently so to delude a man of sense and of integrity4 ,but it is quite otherwise with the attempt to eradicate by violence a wide-spreading and established religious opinion4 ,if the people are in an error1 to inform them is not only fair1 but charitable2 to drive them is a strain of the most manifest injustice4 ,if not the right1 the presumption1 at least1 is ever on the side of possession4 ,are they mistaken8 if it does not fully justify them1 it is a great alleviation of guilt1 which may be mingled with their misfortune1 that the error is none of their forging1--that they received it on as good a footing as they can receive your laws and your legislative authority1 because it was handed down to them from their ancestors4 ,the opinion may be erroneous1 but the principle is undoubtedly right2 and you punish them for acting upon a principle which of all others is perhaps the most necessary for preserving society1 an implicit admiration and adherence to the establishments of their forefathers4 ,if1 indeed1 the legislative authority was on all hands admitted to be the ground of religious persuasion1 ,i should readily allow that dissent would be rebellion4 ,in this case it would make no difference whether the opinion was sucked in with the milk or imbibed yesterday2 because the same legislative authority which had settled could destroy it with all the power of a creator over his creature4 ,but this doctrine is universally disowned1 and for a very plain reason4 ,religion1 to have any force on men's understandings1 indeed to exist at all1 must be supposed paramount to laws1 and independent for its substance upon any human institution1--else it would be the absurdest thing in the world1 an acknowledged cheat4 ,religion1 therefore1 is not believed because the laws have established it1 but it is established because the leading part of the community have previously believed it to be true4 ,as no water can rise higher than its spring1 no establishment can have more authority than it derives from its principle2 and the power of the government can with no appearance of reason go further coercively than to bind and hold down those who have once consented to their opinions4 ,the consent is the origin of the whole4 ,if they attempt to proceed further1 they disown the foundation upon which their own establishment was built1 and they claim a religious assent upon mere human authority1 which has been just now shown to be absurd and preposterous1 and which they in fact confess to be so4 ,however1 we are warranted to go thus far4 ,the people often actually do 7and perhaps they cannot in general do better7 take their religion1 not on the coercive1 which is impossible1 but on the influencing authority of their governors1 as wise and informed men4 ,but if they once take a religion on the word of the state1 they cannot in common sense do so a second time1 unless they have some concurrent reason for it4 ,the prejudice in favor of your wisdom is shook by your change4 ,you confess that you have been wrong1 and yet you would pretend to dictate by your sole authority2 whereas you disengage the mind by embarrassing it4 ,for why should ,i prefer your opinion of to-day to your persuasion of yesterday8 ,if we must resort to prepossessions for the ground of opinion1 it is in the nature of man rather to defer to the wisdom of times past1 whose weakness is not before his eyes1 than to the present1 of whose imbecility he has daily experience4 ,veneration of antiquity is congenial to the human1 mind4 ,when1 therefore1 an establishment would persecute an opinion in possession1 it sets against it all the powerful prejudices of human nature4 ,it even sets its own authority1 when it is of most weight1 against itself in that very circumstance in which it must necessarily have the least2 and it opposes the stable prejudice of time against a new opinion founded on mutability3 a consideration that must render compulsion in such a case the more grievous1 as there is no security1 that1 when the mind is settled in the new opinion1 it may not be obliged to give place to one that is still newer1 or even1 to a return of the old4 ,but when an ancient establishment begins early to persecute an innovation1 it stands upon quite other grounds1 and it has all the prejudices and presumptions on its side4 ,it puts its own authority1 not only of compulsion1 but prepossession1 the veneration of past age1 as well as the activity of the present time1 against the opinion only of a private man or set of men4 ,if there be no reason1 there is at least some consistency in its proceedings4 ,commanding to constancy1 it does nothing but that of which it sets an example itself4 ,but an opinion at once new and persecuting is a monster2 because1 in the very instant in which it takes a liberty of change1 it does not leave to you even a liberty of perseverance4 ,is1 then1 no improvement to be brought into society8 ,undoubtedly2 but not by compulsion1--but by encouragement1--but by countenance1 favor1 privileges1 which are powerful1 and are lawful instruments4 ,the coercive authority of the state is limited to what is necessary for its existence4 ,to this belongs the whole order of criminal law4 ,it considers as crimes 7that is1 the object of punishment7 trespasses against those rules for which society was instituted4 ,the law punishes delinquents1 not because they are not good men1 but because they are intolerably wicked4 ,it does bear1 and must1 with the vices and the follies of men1 until they actually strike at the root of order4 ,this it does in things actually moral4 ,in all matters of speculative improvement the case is stronger1 even where the matter is properly of human cognizance4 ,but to consider an averseness to improvement1 the not arriving at perfection1 as a crime1 is against all tolerably correct jurisprudence2 for1 if the resistance to improvement should be great and any way general1 they would in effect give up the necessary and substantial part in favor of the perfection and the finishing4 ,but1 say the abettors of our penal laws1 this old possessed superstition is such in its principles1 that society1 on its general principles1 cannot subsist along with it4 ,could a man think such an objection possible1 if he had not actually heard it made1--an objection contradicted1 not by hypothetical reasonings1 but the clear evidence of the most decisive facts8 ,society not only exists1 but flourishes at this hour1 with this superstition1 in many countries1 under every form of government1--in some established1 in some tolerated1 in others upon an equal footing4 ,and was there no civil society at all in these kingdoms before the ,reformation8 ,to say it was not as well constituted as it ought to be is saying nothing at all to the purpose2 for that assertion evidently regards improvement1 not existence4 ,it certainly did then exist2 and it as certainly then was at least as much to the advantage of a very great part of society as what we have brought in the place of it3 which is1 indeed1 a great blessing to those who have profited of the change2 but to all the rest1 as we have wrought1 that is1 by blending general persecution with partial reformation1 it is the very reverse4 ,we found the people heretics and idolaters2 we have1 by way of improving their condition1 rendered them slaves and beggars3 they remain in all the misfortune of their old errors1 and all the superadded misery of their recent punishment4 ,they were happy enough1 in their opinion at least1 before the change2 what benefits society then had1 they partook of them all4 ,they are now excluded from those benefits2 and1 so far as civil society comprehends them1 and as we have managed the matter1 our persecutions are so far from being necessary to its existence1 that our very reformation is made in a degree noxious4 ,if this be improvement1 truly ,i know not what can be called a depravation of society4 ,but as those who argue in this manner are perpetually shifting the question1 having begun with objecting1 in order to give a fair and public color to their scheme1 to a toleration of those opinions as subversive of society in general1 they will surely end by abandoning the broad part of the argument1 and attempting to show that a toleration of them is inconsistent with the established government among us4 ,now1 though this position be in reality as untenable as the other1 it is not altogether such an absurdity on the face of it4 ,all ,i shall here observe is1 that those who lay it down little consider what a wound they are giving to that establishment for which they pretend so much zeal4 ,however1 as this is a consideration1 not of general justice1 but of particular and national policy1 and as ,i have reserved a place expressly1 where it will undergo a thorough discussion1 ,i shall not here embarrass myself with it1--being resolved to preserve all the order in my power1 in the examination of this important1 melancholy subject4 ,however1 before we pass from this point concerning possession1 it will be a relaxation of the mind1 not wholly foreign to our purpose1 to take a short review of the extraordinary policy which has been held with regard to religion in that kingdom1 from the time our ancestors took possession of it4 ,the most able antiquaries are of opinion1 and ,archbishop ,usher1 whom ,i reckon amongst the first of them1 has1 ,i think1 shown1 that a religion not very remote from the present ,protestant persuasion was that of the ,irish before the union of that kingdom to the crown of ,england4 ,if this was not directly the fact1 this at least seems very probable1 that ,papal authority was much lower in ,ireland than in other countries4 ,this union was made under the authority of an arbitrary grant of ,pope ,adrian1 in order that the ,church of ,ireland should be reduced to the same servitude with those that were nearer to his see4 ,it is not very wonderful that an ambitious monarch should make use of any pretence in his way to so considerable an object4 ,what is extraordinary is1 that for a very long time1 even quite down to the ,reformation1 and in their most solemn acts1 the kings of ,england founded their title wholly on this grant3 they called for obedience from the people of ,ireland1 not on principles of subjection1 but as vassals and mesne lords between them and the ,popes2 and they omitted no measure of force or policy to establish that ,papal authority1 with all the distinguishing articles of religion connected with it1 and to make it take deep root in the minds of the people4 ,not to crowd instances unnecessary1 ,i shall select two1 one of which is in print1 the other on record1--the one a treaty1 the other an act of ,parliament4 ,the first is the submission of the ,irish chiefs to ,richard the ,second1 mentioned by ,sir ,john ,davies4 ,in this pact they bind themselves for the future to preserve peace and allegiance to the kings of ,england1 under certain pecuniary penalties4 ,but what is remarkable1 these fines were all covenanted to be paid into the ,apostolical ,chamber1 supposing the ,pope as the superior power1 whose peace was broken and whose majesty was violated in disobeying his governor4 ,by this time1 so far as regarded ,england1 the kings had extremely abridged the ,papal power in many material particulars3 they had passed the ,statute of ,provisors1 the ,statute of ,prmunire1--and1 indeed1 struck out of the ,papal authority all things1 at least1 that seemed to infringe on their temporal independence4 ,in ,ireland1 however1 their proceeding was directly the reverse3 there they thought it expedient to exalt it at least as high as ever3 for1 so late as the reign of ,edward the ,fourth1 the following short1 but very explicit1 act of ,parliament was passed3-- ,,iv4 ,,ed4 ,cap4 #c4 ,an act1 whereby letters patent of pardon from the king to those that sue to ,rome for certain benefices is void4 ,rot4 ,parl4 ,item1 ,at the request of the commons1 it is ordeyned and established1 by authority of the said ,parliament1 that all maner letters patents of the king1 of pardons or pardon granted by the king1 or hereafter to be granted1 to any provisor that claim any title by the bulls of the ,pope to any maner benefices1 where1 at the time of the impetrating of the said bulls of provision1 the benefice is full of an incumbent1 that then the said letters patents of pardon or pardons be void in law and of none effect4 ,when1 by every expedient of force and policy1 by a war of some centuries1 by extirpating a number of the old1 and by bringing in a number of new people full of those opinions and intending to propagate them1 they had fully compassed their object1 they suddenly took another turn1--commenced an opposite persecution1 made heavy laws1 carried on mighty wars1 inflicted and suffered the worst evils1 extirpated the mass of the old1 brought in new inhabitants2 and they continue at this day an oppressive system1 and may for four hundred years to come1 to eradicate opinions which by the same violent means they had been four hundred years endeavoring by every means to establish4 ,they compelled the people to submit1 by the forfeiture of all their civil rights1 to the ,pope's authority1 in its most extravagant and unbounded sense1 as a giver of kingdoms2 and now they refuse even to tolerate them in the most moderate and chastised sentiments concerning it4 ,no country1 ,i believe1 since the world began1 has suffered so much on account of religion1 or has been so variously harassed both for ,popery and for ,protestantism4 ,it will now be seen1 that1 even if these laws could be supposed agreeable to those of ,nature in these particulars1 on another and almost as strong a principle they are yet unjust1 as being contrary to positive compact1 and the public faith most solemnly plighted4 ,on the surrender of ,limerick1 and some other ,irish garrisons1 in the war of the ,revolution1 the ,lords ,justices of ,ireland and the commander-in-chief of the king's forces signed a capitulation with the ,irish1 which was afterwards ratified by the king himself by inspeximus under the great seal of ,england4 ,it contains some public articles relative to the whole body of the ,roman ,catholics in that kingdom1 and some with regard to the security of the greater part of the inhabitants of five counties4 ,what the latter were1 or in what manner they were observed1 is at this day of much less public concern4 ,the former are two1--the first and the ninth4 ,the first is of this tenor3--,the ,roman ,catholics of this kingdom ,ireland shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the laws of ,ireland1 or as they did enjoy in the reign of ,king ,charles the ,second4 ,and their ,majesties1 as soon as affairs will permit them to summon a ,parliament in this kingdom1 will endeavor to procure the said ,roman ,catholics such farther security in that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion4 ,the ninth article is to this effect3--,the oath to be administered to such ,roman ,catholics as submit to their ,majesties' government shall be the oath abovesaid1 and no other1--viz41 the oath of allegiance1 made by act of ,parliament in ,england1 in the first year of their then ,majesties2 as required by the second of the ,articles of ,limerick4 ,compare this latter article with the penal laws1 as they are stated in the ,second ,chapter1 and judge whether they seem to be the public acts of the same power1 and observe whether other oaths are tendered to them1 and under what penalties4 ,compare the former with the same laws1 from the beginning to the end1 and judge whether the ,roman ,catholics have been preserved1 agreeably to the sense of the article1 from any disturbance upon account of their religion1--or rather1 whether on that account there is a single right of ,nature or benefit of society which has not been either totally taken away or considerably impaired4 ,but it is said1 that the legislature was not bound by this article1 as it has never been ratified in ,parliament4 ,i do admit that it never had that sanction1 and that the ,parliament was under no obligation to ratify these articles by any express act of theirs ,but still ,i am at a loss how they came to be the less valid1 on the principles of our ,constitution1 by being without that sanction4 ,they certainly bound the king and his successors4 ,the words of the article do this1 or they do nothing2 and so far as the crown had a share in passing those acts1 the public faith was unquestionably broken4 ,in ,ireland such a breach on the part of the crown was much more unpardonable in administration than it would have been here4 ,they have in ,ireland a way of preventing any bill even from approaching the royal presence1 in matters of far less importance than the honor and faith of the crown and the well-being of a great body of the people4 ,for1 besides that they might have opposed the very first suggestion of it in the ,house of ,commons1 it could not be framed into a bill without the approbation of the ,council in ,ireland4 ,it could not be returned to them again without the approbation of the ,king and ,council here4 ,they might have met it again in its second passage through that ,house of ,parliament in which it was originally suggested1 as well as in the other4 ,if it had escaped them through all these mazes1 it was again to come before the ,lord ,lieutenant1 who might have sunk it by a refusal of the royal assent4 ,the ,constitution of ,ireland has interposed all those checks to the passing of any constitutional act1 however insignificant in its own nature4 ,but did the administration in that reign avail themselves of any one of those opportunities8 ,they never gave the act of the eleventh of ,queen ,anne the least degree of opposition in any one stage of its progress4 ,what is rather the fact1 many of the queen's servants encouraged it1 recommended it1 were in reality the true authors of its passing in ,parliament1 instead of recommending and using their utmost endeavor to establish a law directly opposite in its tendency1 as they were bound to do by the express letter of the very first article of the ,treaty of ,limerick4 ,to say nothing further of the ministry1 who in this instance most shamefully betrayed the faith of government1 may it not be a matter of some degree of doubt1 whether the ,parliament1 who do not claim a right of dissolving the force of moral obligation1 did not make themselves a party in this breach of contract1 by presenting a bill to the crown in direct violation of those articles so solemnly and so recently executed1 which by the ,constitution they had full authority to execute8 ,it may be further objected1 that1 when the ,irish requested the ratification of ,parliament to those articles1 they did1 in effect1 themselves entertain a doubt concerning their validity without such a ratification4 ,to this ,i answer1 that the collateral security was meant to bind the crown1 and to hold it firm to its engagements4 ,they did not1 therefore1 call it a perfecting of the security1 but an additional security1 which it could not have been1 if the first had been void2 for the ,parliament could not bind itself more than the crown had bound itself4 ,and if all had made but one security1 neither of them could be called additional with propriety or common sense4 ,but let us suppose that they did apprehend there might have been something wanting in this security without the sanction of ,parliament4 ,they were1 however1 evidently mistaken2 and this surplusage of theirs did not weaken the validity of the single contract1 upon the known principle of law1 ,non solent1 qu abundant1 vitiare scripturas4 ,for nothing is more evident than that the crown was bound1 and that no act can be made without the royal assent4 ,but the ,constitution will warrant us in going a great deal further1 and in affirming1 that a treaty executed by the crown1 and contradictory of no preceding law1 is full as binding on the whole body of the nation as if it had twenty times received the sanction of ,parliament2 because the very same ,constitution which has given to the ,houses of ,parliament their definite authority has also left in the crown the trust of making peace1 as a consequence1 and much the best consequence1 of the prerogative of making war4 ,if the peace was ill made1 my ,lord ,galmoy1 ,coningsby1 and ,porter1 who signed it1 were responsible2 because they were subject to the community4 ,but its own contracts are not subject to it3 it is subject to them2 and the compact of the king acting constitutionally was the compact of the nation4 ,observe what monstrous consequences would result from a contrary position4 ,a foreign enemy has entered1 or a strong domestic one has arisen in the nation4 ,in such events the circumstances may be1 and often have been1 such that a ,parliament cannot sit4 ,this was precisely the case in that rebellion in ,ireland4 ,it will be admitted also1 that their power may be so great as to make it very prudent to treat with them1 in order to save effusion of blood1 perhaps to save the nation4 ,now could such a treaty be at all made1 if your enemies1 or rebels1 were fully persuaded1 that1 in these times of confusion1 there was no authority in the state which could hold out to them an inviolable pledge for their future security1 but that there lurked in the ,constitution a dormant1 but irresistible power1 who would not think itself bound by the ordinary subsisting and contracting authority1 but might rescind its acts and obligations at pleasure8 ,this would be a doctrine made to perpetuate and exasperate war2 and on that principle it directly impugns the law of nations1 which is built upon this principle1 that war should be softened as much as possible1 and that it should cease as soon as possible1 between contending parties and communities4 ,the king has a power to pardon individuals4 ,if the king holds out his faith to a robber1 to come in on a promise of pardon1 of life and estate1 and1 in all respects1 of a full indemnity1 shall the ,parliament say that he must nevertheless be executed1 that his estate must be forfeited1 or that he shall be abridged of any of the privileges which he before held as a subject8 ,nobody will affirm it4 ,in such a case1 the breach of faith would not only be on the part of the king who assented to such an act1 but on the part of the ,parliament who made it4 ,as the king represents the whole contracting capacity of the nation1 so far as his prerogative 7unlimited1 as ,i said before1 by any precedent law7 can extend1 he acts as the national procurator on all such occasions4 ,what is true of a robber is true of a rebel2 and what is true of one robber or rebel is as true1 and it is a much more important truth1 of one hundred thousand4 ,to urge this part of the argument further is1 indeed1 ,i fear1 not necessary1 for two reasons3 first1 that it seems tolerably evident in itself2 and next1 that there is but too much ground to apprehend that the actual ratification of ,parliament would1 in the then temper of parties1 have proved but a very slight and trivial security4 ,of this there is a very strong example in the history of those very articles3 for1 though the ,parliament omitted in the reign of ,king ,william to ratify the first and most general of them1 they did actually confirm the second and more limited1 that which related to the security of the inhabitants of those five counties which were in arms when the treaty was made4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,in the foregoing book we considered these laws in a very simple point of view1 and in a very general one1--merely as a system of hardship imposed on the body of the community2 and from thence1 and from some other arguments1 inferred the general injustice of such a procedure4 ,in this we shall be obliged to be more minute2 and the matter will become more complex as we undertake to demonstrate the mischievous and impolitic consequences which the particular mode of this oppressive system1 and the instruments which it employs1 operating1 as we said1 on this extensive object1 produce on the national prosperity1 quiet1 and security4 ,the stock of materials by which any nation is rendered flourishing and prosperous are its industry1 its knowledge or skill1 its morals1 its execution of justice1 its courage1 and the national union in directing these powers to one point1 and making them all centre in the public benefit4 ,other than these1 ,i do not know and scarcely can conceive any means by which a community may flourish4 ,if we show that these penal laws of ,ireland destroy not one only1 but every one1 of these materials of public prosperity1 it will not be difficult to perceive that ,great ,britain1 whilst they subsist1 never can draw from that country all the advantages to which the bounty of ,nature has entitled it4 ,to begin with the first great instrument of national happiness and strength1 its industry3 ,i must observe1 that1 although these penal laws do1 indeed1 inflict many hardships on those who are obnoxious to them1 yet their chief1 their most extensive1 and most certain operation is upon property4 ,those civil constitutions which promote industry are such as facilitate the acquisition1 secure the holding1 enable the fixing1 and suffer the alienation of property4 ,every law which obstructs it in any part of this distribution is1 in proportion to the force and extent of the obstruction1 a discouragement to industry4 ,for a law against property is a law against industry1--the latter having always the former1 and nothing else1 for its object4 ,now as to the acquisition of landed property1 which is the foundation and support of all the other kinds1 the laws have disabled three fourths of the inhabitants of ,ireland from acquiring any estate of inheritance for life or years1 or any charge whatsoever on which two thirds of the improved yearly value is not reserved for thirty years4 ,this confinement of landed property to one set of hands1 and preventing its free circulation through the community1 is a most leading article of ill policy2 because it is one of the most capital discouragements to all that industry which may be employed on the lasting improvement of the soil1 or is any way conversant about land4 ,a tenure of thirty years is evidently no tenure upon which to build1 to plant1 to raise inclosures1 to change the nature of the ground1 to make any new experiment which might improve agriculture1 or to do anything more than what may answer the immediate and momentary calls of rent to the landlord1 and leave subsistence to the tenant and his family4 ,the desire of acquisition is always a passion of long views4 ,confine a man to momentary possession1 and you at once cut off that laudable avarice which every wise state has cherished as one of the first principles of its greatness4 ,allow a man but a temporary possession1 lay it down as a maxim that he never can have any other1 and you immediately and infallibly turn him to temporary enjoyments3 and these enjoyments are never the pleasures of labor and free industry1 whose quality it is to famish the present hours and squander all upon prospect and futurity2 they are1 on the contrary1 those of a thoughtless1 loitering1 and dissipated life4 ,the people must be inevitably disposed to such pernicious habits1 merely from the short duration of their tenure which the law has allowed4 ,but it is not enough that industry is checked by the confinement of its views2 it is further discouraged by the limitation of its own direct object1 profit4 ,this is a regulation extremely worthy of our attention1 as it is not a consequential1 but a direct discouragement to melioration1--as directly as if the law had said in express terms1 ,thou shalt not improve4 ,but we have an additional argument to demonstrate the ill policy of denying the occupiers of land any solid property in it4 ,ireland is a country wholly unplanted4 ,the farms have neither dwelling-houses nor good offices2 nor are the lands1 almost anywhere1 provided with fences and communications3 in a word1 in a very unimproved state4 ,the land-owner there never takes upon him1 as it is usual in this kingdom1 to supply all these conveniences1 and to set down his tenant in what may be called a completely furnished farm4 ,if the tenant will not do it1 it is never done4 ,this circumstance shows how miserably and peculiarly impolitic it has been in ,ireland to tie down the body of the tenantry to short and unprofitable tenures4 ,a finished and furnished house will be taken for any term1 however short3 if the repair lies on the owner1 the shorter the better4 ,but no one will take one not only unfurnished1 but half built1 but upon a term which1 on calculation1 will answer with profit all his charges4 ,it is on this principle that the ,romans established their emphyteusis1 or fee-farm4 ,for though they extended the ordinary term of their location only to nine years1 yet they encouraged a more permanent letting to farm with the condition of improvement1 as well as of annual payment1 on the part of the tenant1 where the land had lain rough and neglected1--and therefore invented this species of engrafted holding1 in the later times1 when property came to be worse distributed by falling into a few hands4 ,this denial of landed property to the gross of the people has this further evil effect in preventing the improvement of land1 that it prevents any of the property acquired in trade to be regorged1 as it were1 upon the land4 ,they must have observed very little1 who have not remarked the bold and liberal spirit of improvement which persons bred to trade have often exerted on their land-purchases3 that they usually come to them with a more abundant command of ready money than most landed men possess2 and that they have in general a much better idea1 by long habits of calculative dealings1 of the propriety of expending in order to acquire4 ,besides1 such men often bring their spirit of commerce into their estates with them1 and make manufactures take a root1 where the mere landed gentry had perhaps no capital1 perhaps no inclination1 and1 most frequently1 not sufficient knowledge1 to effect anything of the kind4 ,by these means1 what beautiful and useful spots have there not been made about trading and manufacturing towns1 and how has agriculture had reason to bless that happy alliance with commerce6 and how miserable must that nation be1 whose frame of polity has disjoined the landing and the trading interests6 99 99 99 99 99 ,the great prop of this whole system is not pretended to be its justice or its utility1 but the supposed danger to the state1 which gave rise to it originally1 and which1 they apprehend1 would return1 if this system were overturned4 ,whilst1 say they1 the ,papists of this kingdom were possessed of landed property1 and of the influence consequent to such property1 their allegiance to the crown of ,great ,britain was ever insecure1 the public peace was ever liable to be broken1 and ,protestants never could be a moment secure either of their properties or of their lives4 ,indulgence only made them arrogant1 and power daring2 confidence only excited and enabled them to exert their inherent treachery2 and the times which they generally selected for their most wicked and desperate rebellions were those in which they enjoyed the greatest ease and the most perfect tranquillity4 ,such are the arguments that are used1 both publicly and privately1 in every discussion upon this point4 ,they are generally full of passion and of error1 and built upon facts which in themselves are most false4 ,it cannot1 ,i confess1 be denied1 that those miserable performances which go about under the names of ,histories of ,ireland do1 indeed1 represent those events after this manner2 and they would persuade us1 contrary to the known order of ,nature1 that indulgence and moderation in governors is the natural incitement in subjects to rebel4 ,but there is an interior history of ,ireland1 the genuine voice of its records and monuments1 which speaks a very different language from these histories1 from ,temple and from ,clarendon3 these restore ,nature to its just rights1 and policy to its proper order4 ,for they even now show to those who have been at the pains to examine them1 and they may show one day to all the world1 that these rebellions were not produced by toleration1 but by persecution1--that they arose not from just and mild government1 but from the most unparalleled oppression4 ,these records will be far from giving the least countenance to a doctrine so repugnant to humanity and good sense as that the security of any establishment1 civil or religious1 can ever depend upon the misery of those who live under it1 or that its danger can arise from their quiet and prosperity4 ,god forbid that the history of this or any country should give such encouragement to the folly or vices of those who govern6 ,if it can be shown that the great rebellions of ,ireland have arisen from attempts to reduce the natives to the state to which they are now reduced1 it will show that an attempt to continue them in that state will rather be disadvantageous to the public peace than any kind of security to it4 ,these things have in some measure begun to appear already2 and as far as regards the argument drawn from former rebellions1 it will fall readily to the ground4 ,but1 for my part1 ,i think the real danger to every state is1 to render its subjects justly discontented2 nor is there in polities or science any more effectual secret for their security than to establish in their people a firm opinion that no change can be for their advantage4 ,it is true that bigotry and fanaticism may for a time draw great multitudes of people from a knowledge of their true and substantial interest4 ,but upon this ,i have to remark three things4 ,first1 that such a temper can never become universal1 or last for a long time4 ,the principle of religion is seldom lasting2 the majority of men are in no persuasion bigots2 they are not willing to sacrifice1 on every vain imagination that superstition or enthusiasm holds forth1 or that even zeal and piety recommend1 the certain possession of their temporal happiness4 ,and if such a spirit has been at any time roused in a society1 after it has had its paroxysm it commonly subsides and is quiet1 and is even the weaker for the violence of its first exertion3 security and ease are its mortal enemies4 ,but1 secondly1 if anything can tend to revive and keep it up1 it is to keep alive the passions of men by ill usage4 ,this is enough to irritate even those who have not a spark of bigotry in their constitution to the most desperate enterprises2 it certainly will inflame1 darken1 and render more dangerous the spirit of bigotry in those who are possessed by it4 ,lastly1 by rooting out any sect1 you are never secure against the effects of fanaticism2 it may arise on the side of the most favored opinions2 and many are the instances wherein the established religion of a state has grown ferocious and turned upon its keeper1 and has often torn to pieces the civil establishment that had cherished it1 and which it was designed to support3 ,france1--,england1--,holland4 ,but there may be danger of wishing a change1 even where no religious motive can operate2 and every enemy to such a state comes as a friend to the subject2 and where other countries are under terror1 they begin to hope4 ,this argument ad verecundiam has as much force as any such have4 ,but ,i think it fares but very indifferently with those who make use of it2 for they would get but little to be proved abettors of tyranny at the expense of putting me to an inconvenient acknowledgment4 ,for if ,i were to confess that there are circumstances in which it would be better to establish such a religion4444 99 99 99 99 99 ,with regard to the ,pope's interest4 ,this foreign chief of their religion cannot be more formidable to us than to other ,protestant countries4 ,to conquer that country for himself is a wild chimera2 to encourage revolt in favor of foreign princes is an exploded idea in the politics of that court4 ,perhaps it would be full as dangerous to have the people under the conduct of factious pastors of their own as under a foreign ecclesiastical court4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in the second year of the reign of ,queen ,elizabeth were enacted several limitations in the acquisition or the retaining of property1 which had1 so far as regarded any general principles1 hitherto remained untouched under all changes4 ,these bills met no opposition either in the ,irish ,parliament or in the ,english ,council1 except from private agents1 who were little attended to2 and they passed into laws with the highest and most general applauses1 as all such things are in the beginning1 not as a system of persecution1 but as masterpieces of the most subtle and refined politics4 ,and to say the truth1 these laws1 at first view1 have rather an appearance of a plan of vexatious litigation and crooked law-chicanery than of a direct and sanguinary attack upon the rights of private conscience3 because they did not affect life1 at least with regard to the laity2 and making the ,catholic opinions rather the subject of civil regulations than of criminal prosecutions1 to those who are not lawyers and read these laws they only appear to be a species of jargon4 ,for the execution of criminal law has always a certain appearance of violence4 ,being exercised directly on the persons of the supposed offenders1 and commonly executed in the face of the public1 such executions are apt to excite sentiments of pity for the sufferers1 and indignation against those who are employed in such cruelties1--being seen as single acts of cruelty1 rather than as ill general principles of government4 ,but the operation of the laws in question being such as common feeling brings home to every man's bosom1 they operate in a sort of comparative silence and obscurity2 and though their cruelty is exceedingly great1 it is never seen in a single exertion1 and always escapes commiseration1 being scarce known1 except to those who view them in a general1 which is always a cold and phlegmatic light4 ,the first of these laws being made with so general a satisfaction1 as the chief governors found that such things were extremely acceptable to the leading people in that country1 they were willing enough to gratify them with the ruin of their fellow-citizens2 they were not sorry to divert their attention from other inquiries1 and to keep them fixed to this1 as if this had been the only real object of their national politics2 and for many years there was no speech from the throne which did not with great appearance of seriousness recommend the passing of such laws1 and scarce a session went over without in effect passing some of them1 until they have by degrees grown to be the most considerable head in the ,irish statute-book4 ,at the same time giving a temporary and occasional mitigation to the severity of some of the harshest of those laws1 they appeared in some sort the protectors of those whom they were in reality destroying by the establishment of general constitutions against them4 ,at length1 however1 the policy of this expedient is worn out2 the passions of men are cooled2 those laws begin to disclose themselves1 and to produce effects very different from those which were promised in making them3 for crooked counsels are ever unwise2 and nothing can be more absurd and dangerous than to tamper with the natural foundations of society1 in hopes of keeping it up by certain contrivances4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,william ,,smith1 ,,esq41 ,,on ,,the ,,subject ,,of ,,catholic ,,emancipation4 ,,january #bi1 #agie4 ,,letter4#bc ,my ,dear sir1--,your letter is1 to myself1 infinitely obliging3 with regard to you1 ,i can find no fault with it1 except that of a tone of humility and disqualification1 which neither your rank1 nor the place you are in1 nor the profession you belong to1 nor your very extraordinary learning and talents1 will in propriety demand or perhaps admit4 ,these dispositions will be still less proper1 if you should feel them in the extent your modesty leads you to express them4 ,you have certainly given by far too strong a proof of self-diffidence by asking the opinion of a man circumstanced as ,i am1 on the important subject of your letter4 ,you are far more capable of forming just conceptions upon it than ,i can be4 ,however1 since you are pleased to command me to lay before you my thoughts1 as materials upon which your better judgment may operate1 ,i shall obey you1 and submit them1 with great deference1 to your melioration or rejection4 ,but first permit me to put myself in the right4 ,i owe you an answer to your former letter4 ,it did not desire one1 but it deserved it4 ,if not for an answer1 it called for an acknowledgment4 ,it was a new favor2 and1 indeed1 ,i should be worse than insensible1 if ,i did not consider the honors you have heaped upon me with no sparing hand with becoming gratitude4 ,but your letter arrived to me at a time when the closing of my long and last business in life1 a business extremely complex1 and full of difficulties and vexations of all sorts1 occupied me in a manner which those who have not seen the interior as well as exterior of it cannot easily imagine4 ,i confess that in the crisis of that rude conflict ,i neglected many things that well deserved my best attention1--none that deserved it better1 or have caused me more regret in the neglect1 than your letter4 ,the instant that business was over1 and the ,house had passed its judgment on the conduct of the managers1 ,i lost no time to execute what for years ,i had resolved on3 it was1 to quit my public station1 and to seek that tranquillity1 in my very advanced age1 to which1 after a very tempestuous life1 ,i thought myself entitled4 ,but ,god has thought fit 7and ,i unfeignedly acknowledge ,his justice7 to dispose of things otherwise4 ,so heavy a calamity has fallen upon me as to disable me for business and to disqualify me for repose4 ,the existence ,i have ,i do not know that ,i can call life4 ,accordingly1 ,i do not meddle with any one measure of government1 though1 for what reasons ,i know not1 you seem to suppose me deeply in the secret of affairs4 ,i only know1 so far as your side of the water is concerned1 that your present excellent ,lord ,lieutenant 7the best man in every relation that ,i have ever been acquainted with7 has perfectly pure intentions with regard to ,ireland1 and of course that he wishes cordially well to those who form the great mass of its inhabitants1 and who1 as they are well or ill managed1 must form an important part of its strength or weakness4 ,if with regard to that great object he has carried over any ready-made system1 ,i assure you it is perfectly unknown to me3 ,i am very much retired from the world1 and live in much ignorance4 ,this1 ,i hope1 will form my humble apology1 if ,i should err in the notions ,i entertain of the question which is soon to become the subject of your deliberations4 ,at the same time accept it as an apology for my neglects4 ,you need make no apology for your attachment to the religious description you belong to4 ,it proves 7as in you it is sincere7 your attachment to the great points in which the leading divisions are agreed1 when the lesser1 in which they differ1 are so dear to you4 ,i shall never call any religious opinions1 which appear important to serious and pious minds1 things of no consideration4 ,nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference1 which is1 at least1 half infidelity4 ,as long as men hold charity and justice to be essential integral parts of religion1 there can be little danger from a strong attachment to particular tenets in faith4 ,this ,i am perfectly sure is your case2 but ,i am not equally sure that either zeal for the tenets of faith1 or the smallest degree of charity or justice1 have much influenced the gentlemen who1 under pretexts of zeal1 have resisted the enfranchisement of their country4 ,my dear son1 who was a person of discernment1 as well as clear and acute in his expressions1 said1 in a letter of his which ,i have seen1 that1 in order to grace their cause1 and to draw some respect to their persons1 they pretend to be bigots4 ,but here1 ,i take it1 we have not much to do with the theological tenets on the one side of the question or the other4 ,the point itself is practically decided4 ,that religion is owned by the state4 ,except in a settled maintenance1 it is protected4 ,a great deal of the rubbish1 which1 as a nuisance1 long obstructed the way1 is removed4 ,one impediment remained longer1 as a matter to justify the proscription of the body of our country2 after the rest had been abandoned as untenable ground4 ,but the business of the ,pope 7that mixed person of polities and religion7 has long ceased to be a bugbear3 for some time past he has ceased to be even a colorable pretext4 ,this was well known1 when the ,catholics of these kingdoms1 for our amusement1 were obliged on oath to disclaim him in his political capacity1--which implied an allowance for them to recognize him in some sort of ecclesiastical superiority4 ,it was a compromise of the old dispute4 ,for my part1 ,i confess ,i wish that we had been less eager in this point4 ,i don't think1 indeed1 that much mischief will happen from it1 if things are otherwise properly managed4 ,too nice an inquisition ought not to be made into opinions that are dying away of themselves4 ,had we lived an hundred and fifty years ago1 ,i should have been as earnest and anxious as anybody for this sort of abjuration2 but1 living at the time in which ,i live1 and obliged to speculate forward instead of backward1 ,i must fairly say1 ,i could well endure the existence of every sort of collateral aid which opinion might1 in the now state of things1 afford to authority4 ,i must see much more danger than in my life ,i have seen1 or than others will venture seriously to affirm that they see1 in the ,pope aforesaid1 7though a foreign power1 and with his long tail of et ceteras17 before ,i should be active in weakening any hold which government might think it prudent to resort to1 in the management of that large part of the king's subjects4 ,i do not choose to direct all my precautions to the part where the danger does not press1 and to leave myself open and unguarded where ,i am not only really1 but visibly attacked4 ,my whole politics1 at present1 centre in one point1 and to this the merit or demerit of every measure 7with me7 is referable1--that is1 what will most promote or depress the cause of ,jacobinism4 ,what is ,jacobinism8 ,it is an attempt 7hitherto but too successful7 to eradicate prejudice out of the minds of men1 for the purpose of putting all power and authority into the hands of the persons capable of occasionally enlightening the minds of the people4 ,for this purpose the ,jacobins have resolved to destroy the whole frame and fabric of the old societies of the world1 and to regenerate them after their fashion4 ,to obtain an army for this purpose1 they everywhere engage the poor by holding out to them as a bribe the spoils of the rich4 ,this ,i take to be a fair description of the principles and leading maxims of the enlightened of our day who are commonly called ,jacobins4 ,as the grand prejudice1 and that which holds all the other prejudices together1 the first1 last1 and middle object of their hostility is religion4 ,with that they are at inexpiable war4 ,they make no distinction of sects4 ,a ,christian1 as such1 is to them an enemy4 ,what1 then1 is left to a real ,christian1 7,christian as a believer and as a statesman17 but to make a league between all the grand divisions of that name1 to protect and to cherish them all1 and by no means to proscribe in any manner1 more or less1 any member of our common party8 ,the divisions which formerly prevailed in the ,church1 with all their overdone zeal1 only purified and ventilated our common faith1 because there was no common enemy arrayed and embattled to take advantage of their dissensions2 but now nothing but inevitable ruin will be the consequence of our quarrels4 ,i think we may dispute1 rail1 persecute1 and provoke the ,catholics out of their prejudices2 but it is not in ours they will take refuge4 ,if anything is1 one more than another1 out of the power of man1 it is to create a prejudice4 ,somebody has said1 that a king may make a nobleman1 but he cannot make a gentleman4 ,all the principal religions in ,europe stand upon one common bottom4 ,the support that the whole or the favored parts may have in the secret dispensations of ,providence it is impossible to tell2 but1 humanly speaking1 they are all prescriptive religions4 ,they have all stood long enough to make prescription and its chain of legitimate prejudices their main stay4 ,the people who compose the four grand divisions of ,christianity have now their religion as an habit1 and upon authority1 and not on disputation1--as all men who have their religion derived from their parents and the fruits of education must have it1 however the one more than the other may be able to reconcile his faith to his own reason or to that of other men4 ,depend upon it1 they must all be supported1 or they must all fall in the crash of a common ruin4 ,the ,catholics are the far more numerous part of the ,christians in your country2 and how can ,christianity 7that is now the point in issue7 be supported under the persecution1 or even under the discountenance1 of the greater number of ,christians8 ,it is a great truth1 and which in one of the debates ,i stated as strongly as ,i could to the ,house of ,commons in the last session1 that1 if the ,catholic religion is destroyed by the infidels1 it is a most contemptible and absurd idea1 that this1 or any ,protestant ,church1 can survive that event4 ,therefore my humble and decided opinion is1 that all the three religions prevalent more or less in various parts of these islands ought all1 in subordination to the legal establishments as they stand in the several countries1 to be all countenanced1 protected1 and cherished1 and that in ,ireland particularly the ,roman ,catholic religion should be upheld in high respect and veneration1 and should be1 in its place1 provided with all the means of making it a blessing to the people who profess it1--that it ought to be cherished as a good1 7though not as the most preferable good1 if a choice was now to be made17 and not tolerated as an inevitable evil4 ,if this be my opinion as to the ,catholic religion as a sect1 you must see that ,i must be to the last degree averse to put a man1 upon that account1 upon a bad footing with relation to the privileges which the fundamental laws of this country give him as a subject4 ,i am the more serious on the positive encouragement to be given to this religion1 7always1 however1 as secondary17 because the serious and earnest belief and practice of it by its professors forms1 as things stand1 the most effectual barrier1 if not the sole barrier1 against ,jacobinism4 ,the ,catholics form the great body of the lower ranks of your community1 and no small part of those classes of the middling that come nearest to them4 ,you know that the seduction of that part of mankind from the principles of religion1 morality1 subordination1 and social order is the great object of the ,jacobins4 ,let them grow lax1 skeptical1 careless1 and indifferent with regard to religion1 and1 so sure as we have an existence1 it is not a zealous ,anglican or ,scottish ,church principle1 but direct ,jacobinism1 which will enter into that breach4 ,two hundred years dreadfully spent in experiments to force that people to change the form of their religion have proved fruitless4 ,you have now your choice1 for full four fifths of your people1 of the ,catholic religion or ,jacobinism4 ,if things appear to you to stand on this alternative1 ,i think you will not be long in making your option4 ,you have made1 as you naturally do1 a very able analysis of powers1 and have separated1 as the things are separable1 civil from political powers4 ,you start1 too1 a question1 whether the civil can be secured without some share in the political4 ,for my part1 as abstract questions1 ,i should find some difficulty in an attempt to resolve them4 ,but as applied to the state of ,ireland1 to the form of our commonwealth1 to the parties that divide us1 and to the dispositions of the leading men in those parties1 ,i cannot hesitate to lay before you my opinion1 that1 whilst any kind of discouragements and disqualifications remain on the ,catholics1 an handle will be made by a factious power utterly to defeat the benefits of any civil rights they may apparently possess4 ,i need not go to very remote times for my examples4 ,it was within the course of about a twelvemonth1 that1 after ,parliament had been led into a step quite unparalleled in its records1 after they had resisted all concession1 and even hearing1 with an obstinacy equal to anything that could have actuated a party domination in the second or eighth of ,queen ,anne1 after the strange adventure of the ,grand ,juries1 and after ,parliament had listened to the sovereign pleading for the emancipation of his subjects1--it was after all this1 that such a grudging and discontent was expressed as must justly have alarmed1 as it did extremely alarm1 the whole of the ,catholic body3 and ,i remember but one period in my whole life 7,i mean the savage period between #agha and #agfg7 in which they have been more harshly or contumeliously treated than since the last partial enlargement4 ,and thus ,i am convinced it will be1 by paroxysms1 as long as any stigma remains on them1 and whilst they are considered as no better than half citizens4 ,if they are kept such for any length of time1 they will be made whole ,jacobins4 ,against this grand and dreadful evil of our time 7,i do not love to cheat myself or others7 ,i do not know any solid security whatsoever2 but ,i am quite certain that what will come nearest to it is to interest as many as you can in the present order of things1 religiously1 civilly1 politically1 by all the ties and principles by which mankind are held4 ,this is like to be effectual policy3 ,i am sure it is honorable policy3 and it is better to fail1 if fail we must1 in the paths of direct and manly than of low and crooked wisdom4 ,as to the capacity of sitting in ,parliament1 after all the capacities for voting1 for the army1 for the navy1 for the professions1 for civil offices1 it is a dispute de lana caprina1 in my poor opinion1--at least on the part of those who oppose it4 ,in the first place1 this admission to office1 and this exclusion from ,parliament1 on the principle of an exclusion from political power1 is the very reverse of the principle of the ,english ,test ,act4 ,if ,i were to form a judgment from experience rather than theory1 ,i should doubt much whether the capacity for or even the possession of a seat in ,parliament did really convey much of power to be properly called political4 ,i have sat there1 with some observation1 for nine-and-twenty years1 or thereabouts4 ,the power of a member of ,parliament is uncertain and indirect2 and if power1 rather than splendor and fame1 were the object1 ,i should think that any of the principal clerks in office1 to say nothing of their superiors1 7several of whom are disqualified by law for seats in ,parliament17 possess far more power than nine tenths of the members of the ,house of ,commons4 ,i might say this of men who seemed1 from their fortunes1 their weight in their country1 and their talents1 to be persons of figure there1--and persons1 too1 not in opposition to the prevailing party in government4 ,but be they what they will1 on a fair canvass of the several prevalent ,parliamentary interests in ,ireland1 ,i cannot1 out of the three hundred members of whom the ,irish ,parliament is composed1 discover that above three1 or at the utmost four1 ,catholics would be returned to the ,house of ,commons4 ,but suppose they should amount to thirty1 that is1 to a tenth part1 7a thing ,i hold impossible for a long series of years1 and never very likely to happen17 what is this to those who are to balance them in the one ,house1 and the clear and settled majority in the other8 ,for ,i think it absolutely impossible1 that1 in the course of many years1 above four or five peers should be created of that communion4 ,in fact1 the exclusion of them seems to me only to mark jealousy and suspicion1 and not to provide security in any way4--,but ,i return to the old ground4 ,the danger is not there3 these are things long since done away4 ,the grand controversy is no longer between you and them4 ,forgive this length4 ,my pen has insensibly run on4 ,you are yourself to blame1 if you are much fatigued4 ,i congratulate you on the auspicious opening of your session4 ,surely ,great ,britain and ,ireland ought to join in wreathing a never-fading garland for the head of ,grattan4 ,adieu1 my dear ,sir4 ,good nights to you6--,i never can have any4 ,yours always most sincerely1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,jan4 #bith1 #agie4 ,twelve at night4 ,,footnotes3 #bc ,william ,smith1 ,esq41 to whom this ,letter is addressed1 was then a member of the ,irish ,parliament3 he is now 7#ahab7 one of the ,barons of the ,court of ,exchequer in ,ireland4 ,,second ,,letter ,,to ,,sir ,,hercules ,,langrishe ,,on ,,the ,,catholic ,,question4 ,,may #bf1 #agie4 ,my ,dear ,sir1--,if ,i am not as early as ,i ought to be in my acknowledgments for your very kind letter1 pray do me the justice to attribute my failure to its natural and but too real cause1 a want of the most ordinary power of exertion1 owing to the impressions made upon an old and infirm constitution by private misfortune and by public calamity4 ,it is true1 ,i make occasional efforts to rouse myself to something better1--but ,i soon relapse into that state of languor which must be the habit of my body and understanding to the end of my short and cheerless existence in this world4 ,i am sincerely grateful for your kindness in connecting the interest you take in the sentiments of an old friend with the able part you take in the service of your country4 ,it is an instance1 among many1 of that happy temper which has always given a character of amenity to your virtues and a good-natured direction to your talents4 ,your speech on the ,catholic question ,i read with much satisfaction4 ,it is solid2 it is convincing2 it is eloquent2 and it ought1 on the spot1 to have produced that effect which its reason1 and that contained in the other excellent speeches on the same side of the question1 cannot possibly fail 7though with less pleasant consequences7 to produce hereafter4 ,what a sad thing it is1 that the grand instructor1 ,time1 has not yet been able to teach the grand lesson of his own value1 and that1 in every question of moral and political prudence1 it is the choice of the moment which renders the measure serviceable or useless1 noxious or salutary6 ,in the ,catholic question ,i considered only one point3 ,was it1 at the time1 and in the circumstances1 a measure which tended to promote the concord of the citizens8 ,i have no difficulty in saying it was1--and as little in saying that the present concord of the citizens was worth buying1 at a critical season1 by granting a few capacities1 which probably no one man now living is likely to be served or hurt by4 ,when any man tells you and me1 that1 if these places were left in the discretion of a ,protestant crown1 and these memberships in the discretion of ,protestant electors or patrons1 we should have a ,popish official system1 and a ,popish representation1 capable of overturning the ,establishment1 he only insults our understandings4 ,when any man tells this to ,catholics1 he insults their understandings1 and he galls their feelings4 ,it is not the question of the places and seats1 it is the real hostile disposition and the pretended fears1 that leave stings in the minds of the people4 ,i really thought that in the total of the late circumstances1 with regard to persons1 to things1 to principles1 and to measures1 was to be found a conjuncture favorable to the introduction and to the perpetuation of a general harmony1 producing a general strength1 which to that hour ,ireland was never so happy as to enjoy4 ,my sanguine hopes are blasted1 and ,i must consign my feelings on that terrible disappointment to the same patience in which ,i have been obliged to bury the vexation ,i suffered on the defeat of the other great1 just1 and honorable causes in which ,i have had some share1 and which have given more of dignity than of peace and advantage to a long1 laborious life4 ,though1 perhaps1 a want of success might be urged as a reason for making me doubt of the justice of the part ,i have taken1 yet1 until ,i have other lights than one side of the debate has furnished me1 ,i must see things1 and feel them too1 as ,i see and feel them4 ,i think ,i can hardly overrate the malignity of the principles of ,protestant ascendency1 as they affect ,ireland1--or of ,indianism1 as they affect these countries1 and as they affect ,asia1--or of ,jacobinism1 as they affect all ,europe and the state of human society itself4 ,the last is the greatest evil4 ,but it readily combines with the others1 and flows from them4 ,whatever breeds discontent at this time will produce that great master-mischief most infallibly4 ,whatever tends to persuade the people that the few1 called by whatever name you please1 religious or political1 are of opinion that their interest is not compatible with that of the many1 is a great point gained to ,jacobinism4 ,whatever tends to irritate the talents of a country1 which have at all times1 and at these particularly1 a mighty influence on the public mind1 is of infinite service to that formidable cause4 ,unless where ,heaven has mingled uncommon ingredients of virtue in the composition1--quos meliore luto finxit prcordia ,titan1--talents naturally gravitate to ,jacobinism4 ,whatever ill-humors are afloat in the state1 they will be sure to discharge themselves in a mingled torrent in the ,cloaca ,maxima of ,jacobinism4 ,therefore people ought well to look about them4 ,first1 the physicians are to take care that they do nothing to irritate this epidemical distemper4 ,it is a foolish thing to have the better of the patient in a dispute4 ,the complaint or its cause ought to be removed1 and wise and lenient arts ought to precede the measures of vigor4 ,they ought to be the ultima1 not the prima1 not the tota ratio of a wise government4 ,god forbid1 that1 on a worthy occasion1 authority should want the means of force1 or the disposition to use it6 ,but where a prudent and enlarged policy does not precede it1 and attend it too1 where the hearts of the better sort of people do not go with the hands of the soldiery1 you may call your ,constitution what you will1 in effect it will consist of three parts1 7orders1 if you please17 cavalry1 infantry1 and artillery1--and of nothing else or better4 ,i agree with you in your dislike of the discourses in ,francis ,street3 but ,i like as little some of those in ,college ,green4 ,i am even less pleased with the temper that predominated in the latter1 as better things might have been expected in the regular family mansion of public discretion than1 in a new and hasty assembly of unexperienced men1 congregated under circumstances of no small irritation4 ,after people have taken your tests1 prescribed by yourselves as proofs of their allegiance1 to be marked as enemies1 traitors1 or at best as suspected and dangerous persons1 and that they are not to be believed on their oaths1 we are not to be surprised1 if they fall into a passion1 and talk as men in a passion do1 intemperately and idly4 ,the worst of the matter is this3 you are partly leading1 partly driving into ,jacobinism that description of your people whose religious principles1 church polity1 and habitual discipline might make them an invincible dike against that inundation4 ,this you have a thousand mattocks and pickaxes lifted up to demolish4 ,you make a sad story of the ,pope4 ,o seri studiorum6 ,it will not be difficult to get many called ,catholics to laugh at this fundamental part of their religion4 ,never doubt it4 ,you have succeeded in part1 and you may succeed completely4 ,but in the present state of men's minds and affairs1 do not flatter yourselves that they will piously look to the head of our ,church in the place of that ,pope whom you make them forswear1 and out of all reverence to whom you bully and rail and buffoon them4 ,perhaps you may succeed in the same manner with all the other tenets of doctrine and usages of discipline amongst the ,catholics2 but what security have you1 that1 in the temper and on the principles on which they have made this change1 they will stop at the exact sticking-places you have marked in your articles8 ,you have no security for anything1 but that they will become what are called ,franco-,jacobins1 and reject the whole together4 ,no converts now will be made in a considerable number from one of our sects to the other upon a really religious principle4 ,controversy moves in another direction4 ,next to religion1 property is the great point of ,jacobin attack4 ,here many of the debaters in your majority1 and their writers1 have given the ,jacobins all the assistance their hearts can wish4 ,when the ,catholics desire places and seats1 you tell them that this is only a pretext1 7though ,protestants might suppose it just possible for men to like good places and snug boroughs for their own merits17 but that their real view is1 to strip ,protestants of their property ,to my certain knowledge1 till those ,jacobin lectures were opened in the ,house of ,commons1 they never dreamt of any such thing2 but now the great professors may stimulate them to inquire 7on the new principles7 into the foundation of that property1 and of all property4 ,if you treat men as robbers1 why1 robbers1 sooner or later1 they will become4 ,a third point of ,jacobin attack is on old traditionary constitutions4 ,you are apprehensive for yours1 which leans from its perpendicular1 and does not stand firm on its theory4 ,i like ,parliamentary reforms as little as any man who has boroughs to sell for money1 or for peerages in ,ireland4 ,but it passes my comprehension1 in what manner it is that men can be reconciled to the practical merits of a constitution1 the theory of which is in litigation1 by being practically excluded from any of its advantages4 ,let us put ourselves in the place of these people1 and try an experiment of the effects of such a procedure on our own minds4 ,unquestionably1 we should be perfectly satisfied1 when we were told that ,houses of ,parliament1 instead of being places of refuge for popular liberty1 were citadels for keeping us in order as a conquered people4 ,these things play the ,jacobin game to a nicety4 ,indeed1 my dear ,sir1 there is not a single particular in the ,francis-,street declamations1 which has not1 to your and to my certain knowledge1 been taught by the jealous ascendants1 sometimes by doctrine1 sometimes by example1 always by provocation4 ,remember the whole of #agha and #aghb1 in ,parliament and out of ,parliament2 at this very day1 and in the worst acts and designs1 observe the tenor of the objections with which the ,college-,green orators of the ascendency reproach the ,catholics4 ,you have observed1 no doubt1 how much they rely on the affair of ,jackson4 ,is it not pleasant to hear ,catholics reproached for a supposed connection--with whom8--with ,protestant clergymen6 with ,protestant gentlemen6 with ,mr4 ,jackson6 with ,mr4 ,rowan1 c1 c46 ,but egomet m ignosco4 ,conspiracies and treasons are privileged pleasures1 not to be profaned by the impure and unhallowed touch of ,papists4 ,indeed1 all this will do1 perhaps1 well enough1 with detachments of dismounted cavalry and fencibles from ,england4 ,but let us not say to ,catholics1 by way of argument1 that they are to be kept in a degraded state1 because some of them are no better than many of us ,protestants4 ,the thing ,i most disliked in some of their speeches 7those1 ,i mean1 of the ,catholics7 was what is called the spirit of liberality1 so much and so diligently taught by the ascendants1 by which they are made to abandon their own particular interests1 and to merge them in the general discontents of the country4 ,it gave me no pleasure to hear of the dissolution of the committee4 ,there were in it a majority1 to my knowledge1 of very sober1 well-intentioned men2 and there were none in it but such who1 if not continually goaded and irritated1 might be made useful to the tranquillity of the country4 ,it is right always to have a few of every description1 through whom you may quietly operate on the many1 both for the interests of the description1 and for the general interest4 ,excuse me1 my dear friend1 if ,i have a little tried your patience4 ,you have brought this trouble on yourself1 by your thinking of a man forgot1 and who has no objection to be forgot1 by the world4 ,these things we discussed together four or five and thirty years ago4 ,we were then1 and at bottom ever since1 of the same opinion on the justice and policy of the whole and of every part of the penal system4 ,you and ,i1 and everybody1 must now and then ply and bend to the occasion1 and take what can be got4 ,but very sure ,i am1 that1 whilst there remains in the law any principle whatever which can furnish to certain politicians an excuse for raising an opinion of their own importance1 as necessary to keep their fellow-subjects in order1 the obnoxious people will be fretted1 harassed1 insulted1 provoked to discontent and disorder1 and practically excluded from the partial advantages from which the letter of the law does not exclude them4 ,adieu6 my dear ,sir1 ,and believe me very truly yours1 ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,beaconsfield1 ,may #bf1 #agie4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,richard ,,burke1 ,,esq41 ,,on ,,protestant ,,ascendency ,,in ,,ireland4 #agic4 ,my dear son1--,we are all again assembled in town1 to finish the last1 but the most laborious1 of the tasks which have been imposed upon me during my ,parliamentary service4 ,we are as well as at our time of life we can expect to be4 ,we have1 indeed1 some moments of anxiety about you4 ,you are engaged in an undertaking similar in its principle to mine4 ,you are engaged in the relief of an oppressed people4 ,in that service you must necessarily excite the same sort of passions in those who have exercised1 and who wish to continue that oppression1 that ,i have had to struggle with in this long labor4 ,as your father has done1 you must make enemies of many of the rich1 of the proud1 and of the powerful4 ,i and you began in the same way4 ,i must confess1 that1 if our place was of our choice1 ,i could wish it had been your lot to begin the career of your life with an endeavor to render some more moderate and less invidious service to the public ,but being engaged in a great and critical work1 ,i have not the least hesitation about your having hitherto done your duty as becomes you4 ,if ,i had not an assurance not to be shaken from the character of your mind1 ,i should be satisfied on that point by the cry that is raised against you4 ,if you had behaved1 as they call it1 discreetly1 that is1 faintly and treacherously1 in the execution of your trust1 you would have had1 for a while1 the good word of all sorts of men1 even of many of those whose cause you had betrayed1--and whilst your favor lasted1 you might have coined that false reputation into a true and solid interest to yourself4 ,this you are well apprised of2 and you do not refuse to travel that beaten road from an ignorance1 but from a contempt1 of the objects it leads to4 ,when you choose an arduous and slippery path1 ,god forbid that any weak feelings of my declining age1 which calls for soothings and supports1 and which can have none but from you1 should make me wish that you should abandon what you are about1 or should trifle with it6 ,in this house we submit1 though with troubled minds1 to that order which has connected all great duties with toils and with perils1 which has conducted the road to glory through the regions of obloquy and reproach1 and which will never suffer the disparaging alliance of spurious1 false1 and fugitive praise with genuine and permanent reputation4 ,we know that the ,power which has settled that order1 and subjected you to it by placing you in the situation you are in1 is able to bring you out of it with credit and with safety4 ,his will be done6 ,all must come right4 ,you may open the way with pain and under reproach3 others will pursue it with ease and with applause4 ,i am sorry to find that pride and passion1 and that sort of zeal for religion which never shows any wonderful heat but when it afflicts and mortifies our neighbor1 will not let the ruling description perceive that the privilege for which your clients contend is very nearly as much for the benefit of those who refuse it as those who ask it4 ,i am not to examine into the charges that are daily made on the administration of ,ireland4 ,i am not qualified to say how much in them is cold truth1 and how much rhetorical exaggeration4 ,allowing some foundation to the complaint1 it is to no purpose that these people allege that their government is a job in its administration4 ,i am sure it is a job in its constitution2 nor is it possible a scheme of polity1 which1 in total exclusion of the body of the community1 confines 7with little or no regard to their rank or condition in life7 to a certain set of favored citizens the rights which formerly belonged to the whole1 should not1 by the operation of the same selfish and narrow principles1 teach the persons who administer in that government to prefer their own particular1 but well-understood1 private interest to the false and ill-calculated private interest of the monopolizing company they belong to4 ,eminent characters1 to be sure1 overrule places and circumstances4 ,i have nothing to say to that virtue which shoots up in full force by the native vigor of the seminal principle1 in spite of the adverse soil and climate that it grows in4 ,but speaking of things in their ordinary course1 in a country of monopoly there can be no patriotism4 ,there may be a party spirit1 but public spirit there can be none4 ,as to a spirit of liberty1 still less can it exist1 or anything like it4 ,a liberty made up of penalties6 a liberty made up of incapacities6 a liberty made up of exclusion and proscription1 continued for ages1 of four fifths1 perhaps1 of the inhabitants of all ranks and fortunes ,in what does such liberty differ from the description of the most shocking kind of servitude8 ,but it will be said1 in that country some people are free4 ,why1 this is the very description of despotism4 ,partial freedom is privilege and prerogative1 and not liberty4 ,liberty1 such as deserves the name1 is an honest1 equitable1 diffusive1 and impartial principle4 ,it is a great and enlarged virtue1 and not a sordid1 selfish1 and illiberal vice4 ,it is the portion of the mass of the citizens1 and not the haughty license of some potent individual or some predominant faction4 ,if anything ought to be despotic in a country1 it is its government2 because there is no cause of constant operation to make its yoke unequal4 ,but the dominion of a party must continually1 steadily1 and by its very essence1 lean upon the prostrate description4 ,a constitution formed so as to enable a party to overrule its very government1 and to overpower the people too1 answers the purposes neither of government nor of freedom4 ,it compels that power which ought1 and often would be disposed1 equally to protect the subjects1 to fail in its trust1 to counteract its purposes1 and to become no better than the instrument of the wrongs of a faction4 ,some degree of influence must exist in all governments4 ,but a government which has no interest to please the body of the people1 and can neither support them nor with safety call for their support1 nor is of power to sway the domineering faction1 can only exist by corruption2 and taught by that monopolizing party which usurps the title and qualities of the public to consider the body of the people as out of the constitution1 they will consider those who are in it in the light in which they choose to consider themselves4 ,the whole relation of government and of freedom will be a battle or a traffic4 ,this system1 in its real nature1 and under its proper appellations1 is odious and unnatural1 especially when a constitution is admitted which not only1 as all constitutions do profess1 has a regard to the good of the multitude1 but in its theory makes profession of their power also4 ,but of late this scheme of theirs has been new-christened1--honestum nomen imponitur vitio4 ,a word has been lately struck in the mint of the ,castle of ,dublin2 thence it was conveyed to the ,tholsel1 or ,city-,hall1 where1 having passed the touch of the corporation1 so respectably stamped and vouched1 it soon became current in ,parliament1 and was carried back by the ,speaker of the ,house of ,commons in great pomp1 as an offering of homage from whence it came4 ,the word is ascendency4 ,it is not absolutely new4 ,but the sense in which ,i have hitherto seen it used was to signify an influence obtained over the minds of some other person by love and reverence1 or by superior management and dexterity4 ,it had1 therefore1 to this its promotion no more than a moral1 not a civil or political use4 ,but ,i admit it is capable of being so applied2 and if the ,lord ,mayor of ,dublin1 and the ,speaker of the ,irish ,parliament1 who recommend the preservation of the ,protestant ascendency1 mean to employ the word in that sense1--that is1 if they understand by it the preservation of the influence of that description of gentlemen over the ,catholics by means of an authority derived from their wisdom and virtue1 and from an opinion they raise in that people of a pious regard and affection for their freedom and happiness1--it is impossible not to commend their adoption of so apt a term into the family of politics4 ,it may be truly said to enrich the language4 ,even if the ,lord ,mayor and ,speaker mean to insinuate that this influence is to be obtained and held by flattering their people1 by managing them1 by skilfully adapting themselves to the humors and passions of those whom they would govern1 he must be a very untoward critic who would cavil even at this use of the word1 though such cajoleries would perhaps be more prudently practised than professed4 ,these are all meanings laudable1 or at least tolerable4 ,but when we look a little more narrowly1 and compare it with the plan to which it owes its present technical application1 ,i find it has strayed far from its original sense4 ,it goes much further than the privilege allowed by ,horace4 ,it is more than parce detortum4 ,this ,protestant ascendency means nothing less than an influence obtained by virtue1 by love1 or even by artifice and seduction1--full as little an influence derived from the means by which ministers have obtained an influence which might be called1 without straining1 an ascendency1 in public assemblies in ,england1 that is1 by a liberal distribution of places and pensions1 and other graces of government4 ,this last is wide indeed of the signification of the word4 ,new ascendency is the old mastership4 ,it is neither more nor less than the resolution of one set of people in ,ireland to consider themselves as the sole citizens in the commonwealth1 and to keep a dominion over the rest by reducing them to absolute slavery under a military power1 and1 thus fortified in their power1 to divide the public estate1 which is the result of general contribution1 as a military booty1 solely amongst themselves4 ,the poor word ascendency1 so soft and melodious in its sound1 so lenitive and emollient in its first usage1 is now employed to cover to the world the most rigid1 and perhaps not the most wise1 of all plans of policy4 ,the word is large enough in its comprehension4 ,i cannot conceive what mode of oppression in civil life1 or what mode of religious persecution1 may not come within the methods of preserving an ascendency4 ,in plain old ,english1 as they apply it1 it signifies pride and dominion on the one part of the relation1 and on the other subserviency and contempt1--and it signifies nothing else4 ,the old words are as fit to be set to music as the new3 but use has long since affixed to them their true signification1 and they sound1 as the other will1 harshly and odiously to the moral and intelligent ears of mankind4 ,this ascendency1 by being a ,protestant ascendency1 does not better it from the combination of a note or two more in this anti-harmonic scale4 ,if ,protestant ascendency means the proscription from citizenship of by far the major part of the people of any country1 then ,protestant ascendency is a bad thing1 and it ought to have no existence4 ,but there is a deeper evil4 ,by the use that is so frequently made of the term1 and the policy which is engrafted on it1 the name ,protestant becomes nothing more or better than the name of a persecuting faction1 with a relation of some sort of theological hostility to others1 but without any sort of ascertained tenets of its own upon the ground of which it persecutes other men3 for the patrons of this ,protestant ascendency neither do nor can1 by anything positive1 define or describe what they mean by the word ,protestant4 ,it is defined1 as ,cowley defines wit1 not by what it is1 but by what it is not4 ,it is not the ,christian religion as professed in the churches holding communion with ,rome1 the majority of ,christians3 that is all which1 in the latitude of the term1 is known about its signification4 ,this makes such persecutors ten times worse than any of that description that hitherto have been known in the world4 ,the old persecutors1 whether ,pagan or ,christian1 whether ,arian or ,orthodox1 whether ,catholics1 ,anglicans1 or ,calvinists1 actually were1 or at least had the decorum to pretend to be1 strong dogmatists4 ,they pretended that their religious maxims were clear and ascertained1 and so useful that they were bound1 for the eternal benefit of mankind1 to defend or diffuse them1 though by any sacrifices of the temporal good of those who were the objects of their system of experiment4 ,the bottom of this theory of persecution is false4 ,it is not permitted to us to sacrifice the temporal good of any body of men to our own ideas of the truth and falsehood of any religious opinions4 ,by making men miserable in this life1 they counteract one of the great ends of charity1 which is1 in as much as in us lies1 to make men happy in every period of their existence1 and most in what most depends upon us4 ,but give to these old persecutors their mistaken principle1 in their reasoning they are consistent1 and in their tempers they may be even kind and good-natured4 ,but whenever a faction would render millions of mankind miserable1 some millions of the race coexistent with themselves1 and many millions in their succession1 without knowing or so much as pretending to ascertain the doctrines of their own school1 7in which there is much of the lash and nothing of the lesson17 the errors which the persons in such a faction fall into are not those that are natural to human imbecility1 nor is the least mixture of mistaken kindness to mankind an ingredient in the severities they inflict4 ,the whole is nothing but pure and perfect malice4 ,it is1 indeed1 a perfection in that kind belonging to beings of an higher order than man1 and to them we ought to leave it4 ,this kind of persecutors without zeal1 without charity1 know well enough that religion1 to pass by all questions of the truth or falsehood of any of its particular systems1 7a matter ,i abandon to the theologians on all sides17 is a source of great comfort to us mortals1 in this our short1 but tedious journey through the world4 ,they know1 that1 to enjoy this consolation1 men must believe their religion upon some principle or other1 whether of education1 habit1 theory1 or authority4 ,when men are driven from any of those principles on which they have received religion1 without embracing with the same assurance and cordiality some other system1 a dreadful void is left in their minds1 and a terrible shook is given to their morals4 ,they lose their guide1 their comfort1 their hope4 ,none but the most cruel and hardhearted of men1 who had banished all natural tenderness from their minds1 such as those beings of iron1 the atheists1 could bring themselves to any persecution like this4 ,strange it is1 but so it is1 that men1 driven by force from their habits in one mode of religion1 have1 by contrary habits1 under the same force1 often quietly settled in another4 ,they suborn their reason to declare in favor of their necessity4 ,man and his conscience cannot always be at war4 ,if the first races have not been able to make a pacification between the conscience and the convenience1 their descendants come generally to submit to the violence of the laws1 without violence to their minds4 ,as things stood formerly1 they possessed a positive scheme of direction and of consolation4 ,in this men may acquiesce4 ,the harsh methods in use with the old class of persecutors were to make converts1 not apostates only4 ,if they perversely hated other sects and factions1 they loved their own inordinately4 ,but in this ,protestant persecution there is anything but benevolence at work4 ,what do the ,irish statutes8 ,they do not make a conformity to the established religion1 and to its doctrines and practices1 the condition of getting out of servitude4 ,no such thing4 ,let three millions of people but abandon all that they and their ancestors have been taught to believe sacred1 and to forswear it publicly in terms the most degrading1 scurrilous1 and indecent for men of integrity and virtue1 and to abuse the whole of their former lives1 and to slander the education they have received1 and nothing more is required of them4 ,there is no system of folly1 or impiety1 or blasphemy1 or atheism1 into which they may not throw themselves1 and which they may not profess openly1 and as a system1 consistently with the enjoyment of all the privileges of a free citizen in the happiest constitution in the world4 ,some of the unhappy assertors of this strange scheme say they are not persecutors on account of religion4 ,in the first place1 they say what is not true4 ,for what else do they disfranchise the people8 ,if the man gets rid of a religion through which their malice operates1 he gets rid of all their penalties and incapacities at once4 ,they never afterwards inquire about him4 ,i speak here of their pretexts1 and not of the true spirit of the transaction1 in which religious bigotry1 ,i apprehend1 has little share4 ,every man has his taste2 but ,i think1 if ,i were so miserable and undone as to be guilty of premeditated and continued violence towards any set of men1 ,i had rather that my conduct was supposed to arise from wild conceits concerning their religious advantages than from low and ungenerous motives relative to my own selfish interest4 ,i had rather be thought insane in my charity than rational in my malice4 ,this much1 my dear son1 ,i have to say of this ,protestant persecution1--that is1 a persecution of religion itself4 ,a very great part of the mischiefs that vex the world arises from words4 ,people soon forget the meaning1 but the impression and the passion remain4 ,the word ,protestant is the charm that looks up in the dungeon of servitude three millions of your people4 ,it is not amiss to consider this spell of potency1 this abracadabra1 that is hung about the necks of the unhappy1 not to heal1 but to communicate disease4 ,we sometimes hear of a ,protestant religion1 frequently of a ,protestant interest4 ,we hear of the latter the most frequently1 because it has a positive meaning4 ,the other has none4 ,we hear of it the most frequently1 because it has a word in the phrase which1 well or ill understood1 has animated to persecution and oppression at all times infinitely more than all the dogmas in dispute between religious factions4 ,these are1 indeed1 well formed to perplex and torment the intellect1 but not half so well calculated to inflame the passions and animosities of men4 ,i do readily admit that a great deal of the wars1 seditions1 and troubles of the world did formerly turn upon the contention between interests that went by the names of ,protestant and ,catholic4 ,but ,i imagined that at this time no one was weak enough to believe1 or impudent enough to pretend1 that questions of ,popish and ,protestant opinions or interest are the things by which men are at present menaced with crusades by foreign invasion1 or with seditions which shake the foundations of the state at home4 ,it is long since all this combination of things has vanished from the view of intelligent observers4 ,the existence of quite another system of opinions and interests is now plain to the grossest sense4 ,are these the questions that raise a flame in the minds of men at this day8 ,if ever the ,church and the ,constitution of ,england should fall in these islands1 7and they will fall together17 it is not ,presbyterian discipline nor ,popish hierarchy that will rise upon their ruins4 ,it will not be the ,church of ,rome nor the ,church of ,scotland1 not the ,church of ,luther nor the ,church of ,calvin4 ,on the contrary1 all these churches are menaced1 and menaced alike4 ,it is the new fanatical religion1 now in the heat of its first ferment1 of the ,rights of ,man1 which rejects all establishments1 all discipline1 all ecclesiastical1 and in truth all civil order1 which will triumph1 and which will lay prostrate your ,church1 which will destroy your distinctions1 and which will put all your properties to auction1 and disperse you over the earth4 ,if the present establishment should fall1 it is this religion which will triumph in ,ireland and in ,england1 as it has triumphed in ,france4 ,this religion1 which laughs at creeds and dogmas and confessions of faith1 may be fomented equally amongst all descriptions and all sects1--amongst nominal ,catholics1 and amongst nominal ,churchmen1 and amongst those ,dissenters who know little and care less about a presbytery1 or any of its discipline1 or any of its doctrine4 ,against this new1 this growing1 this exterminatory system1 all these churches have a common concern to defend themselves4 ,how the enthusiasts of this rising sect rejoice to see you of the old churches play their game1 and stir and rake the cinders of animosities sunk in their ashes1 in order to keep up the execution of their plan for your common ruin6 ,i suppress all that is in my mind about the blindness of those of our clergy who will shut their eyes to a thing which glares in such manifest day4 ,if some wretches amongst an indigent and disorderly part of the populace raise a riot about tithes1 there are of these gentlemen ready to cry out that this is an overt act of a treasonable conspiracy4 ,here the bulls1 and the pardons1 and the crusade1 and the ,pope1 and the thunders of the ,vatican are everywhere at work4 ,there is a plot to bring in a foreign power to destroy the ,church4 ,alas6 it is not about popes1 but about potatoes1 that the minds of this unhappy people are agitated4 ,it is not from the spirit of zeal1 but the spirit of whiskey1 that these wretches act4 ,is it1 then1 not conceived possible that a poor clown can be unwilling1 after paying three pounds rent to a gentleman in a brown coat1 to pay fourteen shillings to one in a black coat1 for his acre of potatoes1 and tumultuously to desire some modification of the charge1 without being supposed to have no other motive than a frantic zeal for being thus double-taxed to another set of landholders and another set of priests8 ,have men no self-interest1 no avarice1 no repugnance to public imposts8 ,have they no sturdy and restive minds1 no undisciplined habits8 ,is there nothing in the whole mob of irregular passions1 which might precipitate some of the common people1 in some places1 to quarrel with a legal1 because they feel it to be a burdensome imposition8 ,according to these gentlemen1 no offence can be committed by ,papists but from zeal to their religion4 ,to make room for the vices of ,papists1 they clear the house of all the vices of men4 ,some of the common people 7not one1 however1 in ten thousand7 commit disorders4 ,well6 punish them as you do1 and as you ought to punish them1 for their violence against the just property of each individual clergyman1 as each individual suffers4 ,support the injured rector1 or the injured impropriator1 in the enjoyment of the estate of which 7whether on the best plan or not7 the laws have put him in possession4 ,let the crime and the punishment stand upon their own bottom4 ,but now we ought all of us1 clergymen most particularly1 to avoid assigning another cause of quarrel1 in order to infuse a new source of bitterness into a dispute which personal feelings on both sides will of themselves make bitter enough1 and thereby involve in it by religious descriptions men who have individually no share whatsoever in those irregular acts4 ,let us not make the malignant fictions of our own imaginations1 heated with factious controversies1 reasons for keeping men that are neither guilty nor justly suspected of crime in a servitude equally dishonorable and unsafe to religion and to the state4 ,when men are constantly accused1 but know themselves not to be guilty1 they must naturally abhor their accusers4 ,there is no character1 when malignantly taken up and deliberately pursued1 which more naturally excites indignation and abhorrence in mankind1 especially in that part of mankind which suffers from it4 ,i do not pretend to take pride in an extravagant attachment to any sect4 ,some gentlemen in ,ireland affect that sort of glory4 ,it is to their taste4 ,their piety1 ,i take it for granted1 justifies the fervor of their zeal1 and may palliate the excess of it4 ,being myself no more than a common layman1 commonly informed in controversies1 leading only a very common life1 and having only a common citizen's interest in the ,church or in the ,state1 yet to you ,i will say1 in justice to my own sentiments1 that not one of those zealots for a ,protestant interest wishes more sincerely than ,i do1 perhaps not half so sincerely1 for the support of the ,established ,church in both these kingdoms4 ,it is a great link towards holding fast the connection of religion with the ,state1 and for keeping these two islands1 in their present critical independence of constitution1 in a close connection of opinion and affection4 ,i wish it well1 as the religion of the greater number of the primary land-proprietors of the kingdom1 with whom all establishments of ,church and ,stats1 for strong political reasons1 ought in my opinion to be firmly connected4 ,i wish it well1 because it is more closely combined than any other of the church systems with the crown1 which is the stay of the mixed ,constitution1--because it is1 as things now stand1 the sole connecting political principle between the constitutions of the two independent kingdoms4 ,i have another and infinitely a stronger reason for wishing it well3 it is1 that in the present time ,i consider it as one of the main pillars of the ,christian religion itself4 ,the body and substance of every religion ,i regard much more than any of the forms and dogmas of the particular sects4 ,its fall would leave a great void1 which nothing else1 of which ,i can form any distinct idea1 might fill4 ,i respect the ,catholic hierarchy and the ,presbyterian republic2 but ,i know that the hope or the fear of establishing either of them is1 in these kingdoms1 equally chimerical1 even if ,i preferred one or the other of them to the ,establishment1 which certainly ,i do not4 ,these are some of my reasons for wishing the support of the ,church of ,ireland as by law established4 ,these reasons are founded as well on the absolute as on the relative situation of that kingdom4 ,but is it because ,i love the ,church1 and the ,king1 and the privileges of ,parliament1 that ,i am to be ready for any violence1 or any injustice1 or any absurdity1 in the means of supporting any of these powers1 or all of them together8 ,instead of prating about ,protestant ascendencies1 ,protestant ,parliaments ought1 in my opinion1 to think at last of becoming patriot ,parliaments4 ,the legislature of ,ireland1 like all legislatures1 ought to frame its laws to suit the people and the circumstances of the country1 and not any longer to make it their whole business to force the nature1 the temper1 and the inveterate habits of a nation to a conformity to speculative systems concerning any kind of laws4 ,ireland has an established government1 and a religion legally established1 which are to be preserved4 ,it has a people who are to be preserved too1 and to be led by reason1 principle1 sentiment1 and interest to acquiesce in that government4 ,ireland is a country under peculiar circumstances4 ,the people of ,ireland are a very mixed people2 and the quantities of the several ingredients in the mixture are very much disproportioned to each other4 ,are we to govern this mixed body as if it were composed of the most simple elements1 comprehending the whole in one system of benevolent legislation8 or are we not rather to provide for the several parts according to the various and diversified necessities of the heterogeneous nature of the mass8 ,would not common reason and common honesty dictate to us the policy of regulating the people1 in the several descriptions of which they are composed1 according to the natural ranks and classes of an orderly civil society1 under a common protecting sovereign1 and under a form of constitution favorable at once to authority and to freedom1--such as the ,british ,constitution boasts to be1 and such as it is to those who enjoy it8 ,you have an ecclesiastical establishment1 which1 though the religion of the prince1 and of most of the first class of landed proprietors1 is not the religion of the major part of the inhabitants1 and which consequently does not answer to them any one purpose of a religious establishment4 ,this is a state of things which no man in his senses can call perfectly happy4 ,but it is the state of ,ireland4 ,two hundred years of experiment show it to be unalterable4 ,many a fierce struggle has passed between the parties4 ,the result is1 you cannot make the people ,protestants1 and they cannot shake off a ,protestant government4 ,this is what experience teaches1 and what all men of sense of all descriptions know4 ,to-day the question is this3 ,are we to make the best of this situation1 which we cannot alter8 ,the question is3 ,shall the condition of the body of the people be alleviated in other things1 on account of their necessary suffering from their being subject to the burdens of two religious establishments1 from one of which they do not partake the least1 living or dying1 either of instruction or of consolation1--or shall it be aggravated1 by stripping the people thus loaded of everything which might support and indemnify them in this state1 so as to leave them naked of every sort of right and of every name of franchise1 to outlaw them from the ,constitution1 and to cut off 7perhaps7 three millions of plebeian subjects1 without reference to property1 or any other qualification1 from all connection with the popular representation1 of the kingdom8 ,as to religion1 it has nothing at all to do with the proceeding4 ,liberty is not sacrificed to a zeal for religion1 but a zeal for religion is pretended and assumed to destroy liberty4 ,the ,catholic religion is completely free4 ,it has no establishment1--but it is recognized1 permitted1 and1 in a degree1 protected by the laws4 ,if a man is satisfied to be a slave1 he may be a ,papist with perfect impunity4 ,he may say mass1 or hear it1 as he pleases2 but he must consider himself as an outlaw from the ,british ,constitution4 ,if the constitutional liberty of the subject were not the thing aimed at1 the direct reverse course would be taken4 ,the franchise would have been permitted1 and the mass exterminated4 ,but the conscience of a man left1 and a tenderness for it hypocritically pretended1 is to make it a trap to catch his liberty4 ,so much is this the design1 that the violent partisans of this scheme fairly take up all the maxims and arguments1 as well as the practices1 by which tyranny has fortified itself at all times4 ,trusting wholly in their strength and power1 7and upon this they reckon1 as always ready to strike wherever they wish to direct the storm17 they abandon all pretext of the general good of the community4 ,they say1 that1 if the people1 under any given modification1 obtain the smallest portion or particle of constitutional freedom1 it will be impossible for them to hold their property4 ,they tell us that they act only on the defensive4 ,they inform the public of ,europe that their estates are made up of forfeitures and confiscations from the natives2 that1 if the body of people obtain votes1 any number of votes1 however small1 it will be a step to the choice of members of their own religion2 that the ,house of ,commons1 in spite of the influence of nineteen parts in twenty of the landed interest now in their hands1 will be composed in the whole1 or in far the major part1 of ,papists2 that this ,popish ,house of ,commons will instantly pass a law to confiscate all their estates1 which it will not be in their power to save even by entering into that ,popish party themselves1 because there are prior claimants to be satisfied2 that1 as to the ,house of ,lords1 though neither ,papists nor ,protestants have a share in electing them1 the body of the peerage will be so obliging and disinterested as to fall in with this exterminatory scheme1 which is to forfeit all their estates1 the largest part of the kingdom2 and1 to crown all1 that his ,majesty will give his cheerful assent to this causeless act of attainder of his innocent and faithful ,protestant subjects2 that they will be or are to be left1 without house or land1 to the dreadful resource of living by their wits1 out of which they are already frightened by the apprehension of this spoliation with which they are threatened2 that1 therefore1 they cannot so much as listen to any arguments drawn from equity or from national or constitutional policy3 the sword is at their throats2 beggary and famine at their door4 ,see what it is to have a good look-out1 and to see danger at the end of a sufficiently long perspective6 ,this is1 indeed1 to speak plain1 though to speak nothing very new4 ,the same thing has been said in all times and in all languages4 ,the language of tyranny has been invariable3 ,the general good is inconsistent with my personal safety4 ,justice and liberty seem so alarming to these gentlemen1 that they are not ashamed even to slander their own titles1 to calumniate and call in doubt their right to their own estates1 and to consider themselves as novel disseizors1 usurpers1 and intruders1 rather than lose a pretext for becoming oppressors of their fellow-citizens1 whom they 7not ,i7 choose to describe themselves as having robbed4 ,instead of putting themselves in this odious point of light1 one would think they would wish to let ,time draw his oblivious veil over the unpleasant modes by which lordships and demesnes have been acquired in theirs1 and almost in all other countries upon earth4 ,it might be imagined1 that1 when the sufferer 7if a sufferer exists7 had forgot the wrong1 they would be pleased to forget it too1--that they would permit the sacred name of possession to stand in the place of the melancholy and unpleasant title of grantees of confiscation1 which1 though firm and valid in law1 surely merits the name that a great ,roman jurist gave to a title at least as valid in his nation as confiscation would be either in his or in ours3 ,tristis et luctuosa successio4 ,such is the situation of every man who comes in upon the ruin of another2 his succeeding1 under this circumstance1 is tristis et luctuosa successio4 ,if it had been the fate of any gentleman to profit by the confiscation of his neighbor1 one would think he would be more disposed to give him a valuable interest under him in his land1 or to allow him a pension1 as ,i understand one worthy person has done1 without fear or apprehension that his benevolence to a ruined family would be construed into a recognition of the forfeited title4 ,the public of ,england1 the other day1 acted in this manner towards ,lord ,newburgh1 a ,catholic4 ,though the estate had been vested by law in the greatest of the public charities1 they have given him a pension from his confiscation4 ,they have gone further in other cases4 ,on the last rebellion1 in #agde1 in ,scotland1 several forfeitures were incurred4 ,they had been disposed of by ,parliament to certain laudable uses4 ,parliament reversed the method which they had adopted in ,lord ,newburgh's case1 and in my opinion did better3 they gave the forfeited estates to the successors of the forfeiting proprietors1 chargeable in part with the uses4 ,is this1 or anything like this1 asked in favor of any human creature in ,ireland8 ,it is bounty1 it is charity1--wise bounty1 and politic charity2 but no man can claim it as a right4 ,here no such thing is claimed as right1 or begged as charity4 ,the demand has an object as distant from all considerations of this sort as any two extremes can be4 ,the people desire the privileges inseparably annexed1 since ,magna ,charta1 to the freehold which they have by descent or obtain as the fruits of their industry4 ,they call for no man's estate2 they desire not to be dispossessed of their own4 ,but this melancholy and invidious title is a favorite 7and1 like favorites1 always of the least merit7 with those who possess every other title upon earth along with it4 ,for this purpose they revive the bitter memory of every dissension which has torn to pieces their miserable country for ages4 ,after what has passed in #aghb1 one would not think that decorum1 to say nothing of policy1 would permit them to call up1 by magic charms1 the grounds1 reasons1 and principles of those terrible confiscatory and exterminatory periods4 ,they would not set men upon calling from the quiet sleep of death any ,samuel1 to ask him by what act of arbitrary monarchs1 by what inquisitions of corrupted tribunals and tortured jurors1 by what fictitious tenures invented to dispossess whole unoffending tribes and their chieftains4 ,they would not conjure up the ghosts from the ruins of castles and churches1 to tell for what attempt to struggle for the independence of an ,irish legislature1 and to raise armies of volunteers without regular commissions from the crown in support of that independence1 the estates of the old ,irish nobility and gentry had been confiscated4 ,they would not wantonly call on those phantoms to tell by what ,english acts of ,parliament1 forced upon two reluctant kings1 the lands of their country were put up to a mean and scandalous auction in every goldsmith's shop in ,london1 or chopped to pieces and out into rations1 to pay the mercenary soldiery of a regicide usurper4 ,they would not be so fond of titles under ,cromwell1 who1 if he avenged an ,irish rebellion against the sovereign authority of the ,parliament of ,england1 had himself rebelled against the very ,parliament whose sovereignty he asserted1 full as much as the ,irish nation1 which he was sent to subdue and confiscate1 could rebel against that ,parliament1 or could rebel against the king1 against whom both he and the ,parliament which he served1 and which he betrayed1 had both of them rebelled4 ,the gentlemen who hold the language of the day know perfectly well that the ,irish in #afda pretended1 at least1 that they did not rise against the king3 nor in fact did they1 whatever constructions law might put upon their act4 ,but full surely they rebelled against the authority of the ,parliament of ,england1 and they openly professed so to do4 ,admitting 7,i have now no time to discuss the matter7 the enormous and unpardonable magnitude of this their crime1 they rued it in their persons1 and in those of their children and their grandchildren1 even to the fifth and sixth generations4 ,admitting1 then1 the enormity of this unnatural rebellion in favor of the independence of ,ireland1 will it follow that it must be avenged forever8 ,will it follow that it must be avenged on thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands of those whom they can never trace1 by the labors of the most subtle metaphysician of the traduction of crimes1 or the most inquisitive genealogist of proscription1 to the descendant of any one concerned in that nefarious ,irish rebellion against the ,parliament of ,england8 ,if1 however1 you could find out those pedigrees of guilt1 ,i do not think the difference would be essential4 ,history records many things which ought to make us hate evil actions2 but neither history1 nor morals1 nor policy can teach us to punish innocent men on that account4 ,what lesson does the iniquity of prevalent factions read to us8 ,it ought to lesson us into an abhorrence of the abuse of our own power in our own day1 when we hate its excesses so much in other persons and in other times4 ,to that school true statesmen ought to be satisfied to leave mankind4 ,they ought not to call from the dead all the discussions and litigations which formerly inflamed the furious factions which had torn their country to pieces2 they ought not to rake into the hideous and abominable things which were done in the turbulent fury of an injured1 robbed1 and persecuted people1 and which were afterwards cruelly revenged in the execution1 and as outrageously and shamefully exaggerated in the representation1 in order1 an hundred and fifty years after1 to find some color for justifying them in the eternal proscription and civil excommunication of a whole people4 ,let us come to a later period of those confiscations with the memory of which the gentlemen who triumph in the acts of #aghb are so much delighted4 ,the ,irish again rebelled against the ,english ,parliament in #afhh1 and the ,english ,parliament again put up to sale the greatest part of their estates4 ,i do not presume to defend the ,irish for this rebellion1 nor to blame the ,english ,parliament for this confiscation4 ,the ,irish1 it is true1 did not revolt from ,king ,james's power4 ,he threw himself upon their fidelity1 and they supported him to the best of their feeble power4 ,be the crime of that obstinate adherence to an abdicated sovereign1 against a prince whom the ,parliaments of ,ireland and ,scotland had recognized1 what it may1 ,i do not mean to justify this rebellion more than the former4 ,it might1 however1 admit some palliation in them4 ,in generous minds some small degree of compassion might be excited for an error1 where they were misled1 as ,cicero says to a conqueror1 quadam specie et similitudine pacis1 not without a mistaken appearance of duty1 and for which the guilty have suffered1 by exile abroad and slavery at home1 to the extent of their folly or their offence4 ,the best calculators compute that ,ireland lost two hundred thousand of her inhabitants in that struggle4 ,if the principle of the ,english and ,scottish resistance at the ,revolution is to be justified1 7as sure ,i am it is17 the submission of ,ireland must be somewhat extenuated4 ,for1 if the ,irish resisted ,king ,william1 they resisted him on the very same principle that the ,english and ,scotch resisted ,king ,james4 ,the ,irish ,catholics must have been the very worst and the most truly unnatural of rebels1 if they had not supported a prince whom they had seen attacked1 not for any designs against their religion or their liberties1 but for an extreme partiality for their sect1 and who1 far from trespassing on their liberties and properties1 secured both them and the independence of their country in much the same manner that we have seen the same things done at the period of #aghb1--;,i trust the last revolution in ,ireland4 ,that the ,irish ,parliament of ,king ,james did in some particulars1 though feebly1 imitate the rigor which had been used towards the ,irish1 is true enough4 ,blamable enough they were for what they had done1 though under the greatest possible provocation4 ,i shall never praise confiscations or counter-confiscations as long as ,i live4 ,when they happen by necessity1 ,i shall think the necessity lamentable and odious3 ,i shall think that anything done under it ought not to pass into precedent1 or to be adopted by choice1 or to produce any of those shocking retaliations which never suffer dissensions to subside4 ,least of all would ,i fix the transitory spirit of civil fury by perpetuating and methodizing it in tyrannic government4 ,if it were permitted to argue with power1 might one not ask these gentlemen whether it would not be more natural1 instead of wantonly mooting these questions concerning their property1 as if it were an exercise in law1 to found it on the solid rock of prescription1--the soundest1 the most general1 and the most recognized title between man and man that is known in municipal or in public jurisprudence8--a title in which not arbitrary institutions1 but the eternal order of things1 gives judgment2 a title which is not the creature1 but the master1 of positive law2 a title which1 though not fixed in its term1 is rooted in its principle in the law of ,nature itself1 and is indeed the original ground of all known property3 for all property in soil will always be traced back to that source1 and will rest there4 ,the miserable natives of ,ireland1 who ninety-nine in an hundred are tormented with quite other cares1 and are bowed down to labor for the bread of the hour1 are not1 as gentlemen pretend1 plodding with antiquaries for titles of centuries ago to the estates of the great lords and squires for whom they labor4 ,but if they were thinking of the titles which gentlemen labor to beat into their heads1 where can they bottom their own claims1 but in a presumption and a proof that these lands had at some time been possessed by their ancestors8 ,these gentlemen 7for they have lawyers amongst them7 know as well as ,i that in ,england we have had always a prescription or limitation1 as all nations have1 against each other4 ,the crown was excepted2 but that exception is destroyed1 and we have lately established a sixty years' possession as against the crown4 ,all titles terminate in prescription1--in which 7differently from ,time in the fabulous instances7 the son devours the father1 and the last prescription eats up all the former4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a ,,letter ,,on ,,the ,,affairs ,,of ,,ireland4 #agig4 ,dear ,sir1--,in the reduced state of body and in the dejected state of mind in which ,i find myself at this very advanced period of my life1 it is a great consolation to me to know that a cause ,i ever have had so very near my heart is taken up by a man of your activity and talents4 ,it is very true that your late friend1 my ever dear and honored son1 was in the highest degree solicitous about the final event of a business which he also had pursued for a long time with infinite zeal1 and no small degree of success4 ,it was not above half an hour before he left me forever that he spoke with considerable earnestness on this very subject4 ,if ,i had needed any incentives to do my best for freeing the body of my country from the grievances under which they labor1 this alone would certainly call forth all my endeavors4 ,the person who succeeded to the government of ,ireland about the time of that afflicting event had been all along of my sentiments and yours upon this subject2 and far from needing to be stimulated by me1 that incomparable person1 and those in whom he strictly confided1 even went before me in their resolution to pursue the great end of government1 the satisfaction and concord of the people with whose welfare they were charged4 ,i cannot bear to think on the causes by which this great plan of policy1 so manifestly beneficial to both kingdoms1 has been defeated4 ,your mistake with regard to me lies in supposing that ,i did not1 when his removal was in agitation1 strongly and personally represent to several of his ,majesty's ministers1 to whom ,i could have the most ready access1 the true state of ,ireland1 and the mischiefs which sooner or later must arise from subjecting the mass of the people to the capricious and interested domination of an exceeding small faction and its dependencies4 ,that representation was made the last time1 or very nearly the last time1 that ,i have ever had the honor of seeing those ministers4 ,i am so far from having any credit with them1 on this1 or any other public matters1 that ,i have reason to be certain1 if it were known that any person in office in ,ireland1 from the highest to the lowest1 were influenced by my opinions1 and disposed to act upon them1 such an one would be instantly turned out of his employment4 ,yon have formed1 to my person a flattering1 yet in truth a very erroneous opinion1 of my power with those who direct the public measures4 ,i never have been directly or indirectly consulted about anything that is done4 ,the judgment of the eminent and able persons who conduct public affairs is undoubtedly superior to mine2 but self-partiality induces almost every man to defer something to his own4 ,nothing is more notorious than that ,i have the misfortune of thinking that no one capital measure relative to political arrangements1 and still less that a new military plan for the defence of either kingdom in this arduous war1 has been taken upon any other principle than such as must conduct us to inevitable ruin4 ,in the state of my mind1 so discordant with the tone of ministers1 and still more discordant with the tone of opposition1 you may judge what degree of weight ,i am likely to have with either of the parties who divide this kingdom1--even though ,i were endowed with strength of body1 or were possessed of any active situation in the government1 which might give success to my endeavors4 ,but the fact is1 since the day of my unspeakable calamity1 except in the attentions of a very few old and compassionate friends1 ,i am totally out of all social intercourse4 ,my health has gone down very rapidly2 and ,i have been brought hither with very faint hopes of life1 and enfeebled to such a degree as those who had known me some time ago could scarcely think credible4 ,since ,i came hither1 my sufferings have been greatly aggravated1 and my little strength still further reduced2 so that1 though ,i am told the symptoms of my disorder begin to carry a more favorable aspect1 ,i pass the far larger part of the twenty-four hours1 indeed almost the whole1 either in my bed or lying upon the couch from which ,i dictate this4 ,had you been apprised of this circumstance1 you could not have expected anything1 as you seem to do1 from my active exertions4 ,i could do nothing1 if ,i was still stronger1 not even si meus adforet ,hector4 ,there is no hope for the body of the people of ,ireland1 as long as those who are in power with you shall make it the great object of their policy to propagate an opinion on this side of the water that the mass of their countrymen are not to be trusted by their government1 and that the only hold which ,england has upon ,ireland consists in preserving a certain very small number of gentlemen in full possession of a monopoly of that kingdom4 ,this system has disgusted many others besides ,catholics and ,dissenters4 ,as to those who on your side are in the opposition to government1 they are composed of persons several of whom ,i love and revere4 ,they have been irritated by a treatment too much for the ordinary patience of mankind to bear into the adoption of schemes which1 however argumentatively specious1 would go practically to the inevitable ruin of the kingdom4 ,the opposition always connects the emancipation of the ,catholics with these schemes of reformation3 indeed1 it makes the former only a member of the latter project4 ,the gentlemen who enforce that opposition are1 in my opinion1 playing the game of their adversaries with all their might2 and there is no third party in ,ireland 7nor in ,england neither7 to separate things that are in themselves so distinct1--,i mean the admitting people to the benefits of the ,constitution1 and a change in the form of the ,constitution itself4 ,as every one knows that a great part of the constitution of the ,irish ,house of ,commons was formed about the year #afad expressly for bringing that ,house into a state of dependence1 and that the new representative was at that time seated and installed by force and violence1 nothing can be more impolitic than for those who wish the ,house to stand on its present basis 7as1 for one1 ,i most sincerely do7 to make it appear to have kept too much the principle of its first institution1 and to continue to be as little a virtual as it is an actual representative of the commons4 ,it is the degeneracy of such an institution1 so vicious in its principle1 that is to be wished for4 ,if men have the real benefit of a sympathetic representation1 none but those who are heated and intoxicated with theory will look for any other4 ,this sort of representation1 my dear ,sir1 must wholly depend1 not on the force with which it is upheld1 but upon the prudence of those who have influence upon it4 ,indeed1 without some such prudence in the use of authority1 ,i do not know1 at least in the present time1 how any power can long continue4 ,if it be true that both parties are carrying things to extremities in different ways1 the object which you and ,i have in common1 that is to say1 the union and concord of our country on the basis of the actual representation1 without risking those evils which any change in the form of our legislature must inevitably bring on1 can never be obtained4 ,on the part of the ,catholics 7that is to say1 of the body of the people of the kingdom7 it is a terrible alternative1 either to submit to the yoke of declared and insulting enemies1 or to seek a remedy in plunging themselves into the horrors and crimes of that ,jacobinism which unfortunately is not disagreeable to the principles and inclinations of1 ,i am afraid1 the majority of what we call the ,protestants of ,ireland4 ,the ,protestant part of that kingdom is represented by the government itself to be1 by whole counties1 in nothing less than open rebellion4 ,i am sure that it is everywhere teeming with dangerous conspiracy4 ,i believe it will be found1 that1 though the principles of the ,catholics1 and the incessant endeavors of their clergy1 have kept them from being generally infected with the systems of this time1 yet1 whenever their situation brings them nearer into contact with the ,jacobin ,protestants1 they are more or less infected with their doctrines4 ,it is a matter for melancholy reflection1 but ,i am fully convinced1 that many persons in ,ireland would be glad that the ,catholics should become more and more infected with the ,jacobin madness1 in order to furnish new arguments for fortifying them in their monopoly4 ,on any other ground it is impossible to account for the late language of your men in power4 ,if statesmen1 7let me suppose for argument17 upon the most solid political principles1 conceive themselves obliged to resist the wishes of the far more numerous1 and1 as things stand1 not the worse part of the community1 one would think they would naturally put their refusal as much as possible upon temporary grounds1 and that they would act towards them in the most conciliatory manner1 and would talk to them in the most gentle and soothing language3 for refusal1 in itself1 is not a very gracious thing2 and1 unfortunately1 men are very quickly irritated out of their principles4 ,nothing is more discouraging to the loyalty of any description of men than to represent to them that their humiliation and subjection make a principal part in the fundamental and invariable policy which regards the conjunction of these two kingdoms4 ,this is not the way to give them a warm interest in that conjunction4 ,my poor opinion is1 that the closest connection between ,great ,britain and ,ireland is essential to the well-being1 ,i had almost said1 to the very being1 of the two kingdoms4 ,for that purpose ,i humbly conceive that the whole of the superior1 and what ,i should call imperial politics1 ought to have its residence here2 and that ,ireland1 locally1 civilly1 and commercially independent1 ought politically to look up to ,great ,britain in all matters of peace or of war1--in all those points to be guided by her4--and1 in a word1 with her to live and to die4 ,at bottom1 ,ireland has no other choice1--,i mean1 no other rational choice4 ,i think1 indeed1 that ,great ,britain would be ruined by the separation of ,ireland2 but as there are degrees even in ruin1 it would fall the most heavily on ,ireland4 ,by such a separation ,ireland would be the most completely undone country in the world1--the most wretched1 the most distracted1 and1 in the end1 the most desolate part of the habitable globe4 ,little do many people in ,ireland consider how much of its prosperity has been owing to1 and still depends upon1 its intimate connection with this kingdom4 ,but1 more sensible of this great truth1 than perhaps any other man1 ,i have never conceived1 or can conceive1 that the connection is strengthened by making the major part of the inhabitants of your country believe that their ease1 and their satisfaction1 and their equalization with the rest of their fellow-subjects of ,ireland are things adverse to the principles of that connection1--or that their subjection to a small monopolizing junto1 composed of one of the smallest of their own internal factions1 is the very condition upon which the harmony of the two kingdoms essentially depends4 ,i was sorry to hear that this principle1 or something not unlike it1 was publicly and fully avowed by persons of great rank and authority in the ,house of ,lords in ,ireland4 ,as to a participation on the part of the ,catholics in the privileges and capacities which are withheld1 without meaning wholly to depreciate their importance1 if ,i had the honor of being an ,irish ,catholic1 ,i should be content to expect satisfaction upon that subject with patience1 until the minds of my adversaries1 few1 but powerful1 were come to a proper temper3 because1 if the ,catholics did enjoy1 without fraud1 chicane1 or partiality1 some fair portion of those advantages which the law1 even as now the law is1 leaves open to them1 and if the rod were not shaken over them at every turn1 their present condition would be tolerable2 as compared with their former condition1 it would be happy4 ,but the most favorable laws can do very little towards the happiness of a people1 when the disposition of the ruling power is adverse to them4 ,men do not live upon blotted paper4 ,the favorable or the hostile mind of the ruling power is of far more importance to mankind1 for good or evil1 than the black-letter of any statute4 ,late acts of ,parliament1 whilst they fixed at least a temporary bar to the hopes and progress of the larger description of the nation1 opened to them certain subordinate objects of equality2 but it is impossible that the people should imagine that any fair measure of advantage is intended to them1 when they hear the laws by which they were admitted to this limited qualification publicly reprobated as excessive and inconsiderate4 ,they must think that there is a hankering after the old penal and persecuting code4 ,their alarm must be great1 when that declaration is made by a person in very high and important office in the ,house of ,commons1 and as the very first specimen and auspice of a new government4 ,all this is very unfortunate4 ,i have the honor of an old acquaintance1 and entertain1 in common with you1 a very high esteem for the few ,english persons who are concerned in the government of ,ireland2 but ,i am not ignorant of the relation these transitory ministers bear to the more settled ,irish part of your administration4 ,it is a delicate topic1 upon which ,i wish to say but little1 though my reflections upon it are many and serious4 ,there is a great cry against ,english influence4 ,i am quite sure that it is ,irish influence that dreads the ,english habits4 ,great disorders have long prevailed in ,ireland4 ,it is not long since that the ,catholics were the suffering party from those disorders4 ,i am sure they were not protected as the case required4 ,their sufferings became a matter of discussion in ,parliament4 ,it produced the most infuriated declamation against them that ,i have ever read4 ,an inquiry was moved into the facts4 ,the declamation was at least tolerated1 if not approved4 ,the inquiry was absolutely rejected4 ,in that case1 what is left for those who are abandoned by government1 but to join with the persons who are capable of injuring them or protecting them as they oppose or concur in their designs8 ,this will produce a very fatal kind of union amongst the people2 but it is an union1 which an unequal administration of justice tends necessarily to produce4 ,if anything could astonish one at this time1 it is the war that the rulers in ,ireland think it proper to carry on against the person whom they call the ,pope1 and against all his adherents1 whenever they think they have the power of manifesting their hostility4 ,without in the least derogating from the talents of your theological politicians1 or from the military abilities of your commanders 7who act on the same principles7 in ,ireland1 and without derogating from the zeal of either1 it appears to me that the ,protestant ,directory of ,paris1 as statesmen1 and the ,protestant hero1 ,buonaparte1 as a general1 have done more to destroy the said ,pope and all his adherents1 in all their capacities1 than the junto in ,ireland have ever been able to effect4 ,you must submit your fasces to theirs1 and at best be contented to follow with songs of gratulation1 or invectives1 according to your humor1 the triumphal car of those great conquerors4 ,had that true ,protestant1 ,hoche1 with an army not infected with the slightest tincture of ,popery1 made good his landing in ,ireland1 he would have saved you from a great deal of the trouble which is taken to keep under a description of your fellow-citizens obnoxious to you from their religion4 ,it would not have a month's existence1 supposing his success4 ,this is the alliance which1 under the appearance of hostility1 we act as if we wished to promote4 ,all is well1 provided we are safe from ,popery4 ,it was not necessary for you1 my dear ,sir1 to explain yourself to me 7in justification of your good wishes to your fellow-citizens7 concerning your total alienation from the principles of the ,catholics4 ,i am more concerned in what we agree than in what we differ4 ,you know the impossibility of our forming any judgment upon the opinions1 religious1 moral1 or political1 of those who in the largest sense are called ,protestants1--at least1 as these opinions and tenets form a qualification for holding any civil1 judicial1 military1 or even ecclesiastical situation4 ,i have no doubt of the orthodox opinion of many1 both of the clergy and laity1 professing the established religion in ,ireland1 and of many even amongst the ,dissenters1 relative to the great points of the ,christian faith3 but that orthodoxy concerns them only as individuals4 ,as a qualification for employment1 we all know that in ,ireland it is not necessary that they should profess any religion at all3 so that the war that we make is upon certain theological tenets1 about which scholastic disputes are carried on quo ,marte1 by controvertists1 on their side1 as able and as learned1 and perhaps as well-intentioned1 as those are who fight the battle on the other part4 ,to them ,i would leave those controversies4 ,i would turn my mind to what is more within its competence1 and has been more my study1 7though1 for a man of the world1 ,i have thought of those things17--,i mean1 the moral1 civil1 and political good of the countries we belong to1 and in which ,god has appointed your station and mine4 ,let every man be as pious as he pleases1 and in the way that he pleases2 but it is agreeable neither to piety nor to policy to give exclusively all manner of civil privileges and advantages to a negative religion1 7such is the ,protestant without a certain creed17 and at the same time to deny those privileges to men whom we know to agree to an iota in every one positive doctrine which all of us who profess the religion authoritatively taught in ,england hold ourselves1 according to our faculties1 bound to believe4 ,the ,catholics of ,ireland 7as ,i have said7 have the whole of our positive religion3 our difference is only a negation of certain tenets of theirs4 ,if we strip ourselves of that part of ,catholicism1 we abjure ,christianity4 ,if we drive them from that holding1 without engaging them in some other positive religion1 7which you know by our qualifying laws we do not17 what do we better than to hold out to them terrors on the one side1 and bounties on the other1 in favor of that which1 for anything we know to the contrary1 may be pure atheism8 ,you are well aware1 that1 when a man renounces the ,roman religion1 there is no civil inconvenience or incapacity whatsoever which shall hinder him from joining any new or old sect of ,dissenters1 or of forming a sect of his own invention upon the most anti-christian principles4 ,let ,mr4 ,thomas ,paine obtain a pardon1 7as on change of ministry he may17 there is nothing to hinder him from setting up a church of his own in the very midst of you4 ,he is a natural-born ,british subject4 ,his ,french citizenship does not disqualify him1 at least upon a peace4 ,this ,protestant apostle is as much above all suspicion of ,popery as the greatest and most zealous of your sanhedrim in ,ireland can possibly be4 ,on purchasing a qualification1 7which his friends of the ,directory are not so poor as to be unable to effect17 he may sit in ,parliament2 and there is no doubt that there is not one of your tests against ,popery that he will not take as fairly1 and as much ex animo1 as the best of your zealot statesmen4 ,i push this point no further1 and only adduce this example 7a pretty strong one1 and fully in point7 to show what ,i take to be the madness and folly of driving men1 under the existing circumstances1 from any positive religion whatever into the irreligion of the times1 and its sure concomitant principles of anarchy4 ,when religion is brought into a question of civil and political arrangement1 it must be considered more politically than theologically1 at least by us1 who are nothing more than mere laymen4 ,in that light1 the case of the ,catholics of ,ireland is peculiarly hard1 whether they be laity or clergy4 ,if any of them take part1 like the gentleman you mention1 with some of the most accredited ,protestants of the country1 in projects which cannot be more abhorrent to your nature and disposition than they are to mine1--in that case1 however few these ,catholic factions who are united with factious ,protestants may be1 7and very few they are now1 whatever shortly they may become17 on their account the whole body is considered as of suspected fidelity to the crown1 and as wholly undeserving of its favor4 ,but if1 on the contrary1 in those districts of the kingdom where their numbers are the greatest1 where they make1 in a manner1 the whole body of the people1 7as1 out of cities1 in three fourths of the kingdom they do17 these ,catholics show every mark of loyalty and zeal in support of the government1 which at best looks on them with an evil eye1 then their very loyalty is turned against their claims4 ,they are represented as a contented and happy people1 and that it is unnecessary to do anything more in their favor4 ,thus the factious disposition of a few among the ,catholics and the loyalty of the whole mass are equally assigned as reasons for not putting them on a par with those ,protestants who are asserted by the government itself1 which frowns upon ,papists1 to be in a state of nothing short of actual rebellion1 and in a strong disposition to make common cause with the worst foreign enemy that these countries have ever had to deal with4 ,what in the end can come of all this8 ,as to the ,irish ,catholic clergy1 their condition is likewise most critical4 ,if they endeavor by their influence to keep a dissatisfied laity in quiet1 they are in danger of losing the little credit they possess1 by being considered as the instruments of a government adverse to the civil interests of their flock4 ,if they let things take their course1 they will be represented as colluding with sedition1 or at least tacitly encouraging it4 ,if they remonstrate against persecution1 they propagate rebellion4 ,whilst government publicly avows hostility to that people1 as a part of a regular system1 there is no road they can take which does not lead to their ruin4 ,if nothing can be done on your side of the water1 ,i promise you that nothing will be done here4 ,whether in reality or only in appearance ,i cannot positively determine1 but you will be left to yourselves by the ruling powers here4 ,it is thus ostensibly and above-board2 and in part1 ,i believe1 the disposition is real4 ,as to the people at large in this country1 ,i am sure they have no disposition to intermeddle in your affairs4 ,they mean you no ill whatever2 and they are too ignorant of the state of your affairs to be able to do you any good4 ,whatever opinion they have on your subject is very faint and indistinct2 and if there is anything like a formed notion1 even that amounts to no more than a sort of humming that remains on their ears of the burden of the old song about ,popery4 ,poor souls1 they are to be pitied1 who think of nothing but dangers long passed by1 and but little of the perils that actually surround them4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have been long1 but it is almost a necessary consequence of dictating1 and that by snatches1 as a relief from pain gives me the means of expressing my sentiments4 ,they can have little weight1 as coming from me2 and ,i have not power enough of mind or body to bring them out with their natural force4 ,but ,i do not wish to have it concealed that ,i am of the same opinion1 to my last breath1 which ,i entertained when my faculties were at the best2 and ,i have not held back from men in power in this kingdom1 to whom ,i have very good wishes1 any part of my sentiments on this melancholy subject1 so long as ,i had means of access to persons of their consideration4 ,i have the honor to be1 c4 ,,end ,,of ,,vol4 ,,vi4