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Hiotogmiiiic

ScMices

CQrporatioii

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. USSO

(716) •72-4503

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SPEECH

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BDMUND BURKE, Esq,

At tHe GviLDHAit, in BRISf dlii

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f RSVZ0U8 TO THB LATE ELSCTION IH THAT CITY* i

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EDMUND BURKE, Es(u

AT THE GyiLDHALi:.! IN BRISTOL,

Previous to the late Eleftion in that City,

UPON

CERTAIN POINTS RELATIVE TO HIS
PARLIAMENTARY CONDUCT.

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LONDON;

[NTBD roR J. DODSLEY, ih Pall-mali;

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SPEECH, &c..

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Mr. Mayor, and Gentlemen,

I Am extremely pleafed at the appearance of
this large and refpedbable meeting. The
fteps I may be obliged to take will want the
fandlion of a confiderable authority ; and in ex-
plaining any thing which may appear doubtful
in my public condudl, I muft naturally defire a
very full audience.

I have been backward to begin my canvafs,
Ifhe diffolution of the Parliament was uncertain j
and it did not become me, by an unfcafonable
importuriity, to appear diffident of the efFedl of
my fix years endeavours to pleafe you, I had
fervcd the city of Briftol honourably •, and the
city of Briftol had no reafon to think, that the
tneans of honourable fervice to the public, were
become indiflferent to me.

I found on my arrival here, that three gen-
tlemen had been long in eager purfuit of an
'obje(51: which but two of us can obtain. I found,
that they had ail met with encouragement. A
■ v.contefted eledbion in fuch a city as this, is no
light thing. I paufed on th e_brink of thc^
precipice. Thefe three gentlemen, by varioua

B . merits,

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merits, and on various titles, I made no doubt,
were worthy of your favour. I (hall never
attempt to raife myfelf by depreciating the
merits of my competitors. In the complexity
and confufion of thefe crofs purfuits, I wilhed
to take the authentic public fenfe of my friends
upon a bufinefs of fo much delicacy. I wilhed
to take your opinion along with me ; that if I
fhould give up the conteft at the very beginning,
my furrender of my poll may not feem the
effe^l of inconftancy, or timidity, or anger, or
difguft, or indolence, or any other temper un-
becoming a man who has engaged in the public
fervice. If, on the contrary, I Ihould under-
take the eledbion, and fail of fuccefs, I was full
as anxious, that it Ihould be manifeft to the
whole world, that the peace of the city had
not been broken by my raihnefs, prefumption,
or fond conceit of my own merit.

I am not come, by a falfe and counterfeit
fliew of deference to your judgment, to feduce
it in my favour. I alk it ferioufty and un-
affededly. If you wilh that I fhould retire,
I {hall not confider that advice as a cen-
fure upon my condudl, or an alteration in your
fentiments •, but as a rational fubmiflion to the
circumftances of affairs. If, on the contrary,
you ihould think it proper for me to proceed
on my canvafs, if you will rifque the trouble
on your part, I will rifque it on mine. My pre-
tenfions are fuch as you cannot be afliamed of,.
w,hc|hcr they fucceed or fail, ♦

.,,./ 7'S»,t

t i 1

If you call upon me, I fliall folicit the fyVoitf
of the city upon manly ground. I come before
you with the plain confidence of an honeft fer-
vant in the equity of a candid and difcerning
mafter. I come to claim your approbation not
to amufe you with vain apologies, or with profef-
fions ftill more vain and fenfelefs. I have lived
too long to be fcrved by apologies, or to fland
in need of them. The part I have afted has
been in open day^ and to hold out to a con-
du(5bj which flands in that clear and Heady light
for all its good and all its evil, to hold out to
that conduft the paltry winking tapers of excufes
and promifes— **I never will do it.— They may
obfcure it with their fmoke ; but they never can
illumine funlhine by fuch a flame as theirs.

I am fenfible that no endeavours have beent
left untried to injure me in your opinion. But
the ufe of charafter is to be a fliield againft ca-
lumny. I could wifh, undoubtedly (if idle wilhes
were not the moft idle of all things) to make'
every part of my condu6t agreeable to every
one of my conftituents. But in fo great a city,
and fo greatly divided as this, it is weak ta
€Xpe£t it.

In fuch a difcordancy of fentiments, it is
better to look to the nature of things than to*
the humours of men. The very attempt towards
pleafmg every body^ difcovers a temper always
flafhy, and often falfe and infmcere. Therefore,
as I have proceeded ilrait onward in my condu^^

B 2

IW^

C 4 1

(6 I will proceed in my account of thofe
parts of it which have been mod excepted to.
But I muft firft beg leave jull to hint to you,
that we may fufFer very great detriment by being
open to every talker. It is not to be imagined,
how much of fcrvice is loft from fj^rits full
of adivity and full of energy, who are prefT-
ing, who are rulhing forward, to great and ca-
pital objefts, when you oblige them to be conti-
nually looking back. Whilil they are defend-
ing one fervice, they defraud you of an hundred.
Applaud us when we run j confole us when we
fall ; cheer us when we recover -, but let us pafs
on — for God*s fake, let us pafs on.

Do you think, Gentlemen, that every public
aft in the fix years fince I ftood in this place be-
fore you— that all the arduoiis things which have
been done in this eventful period, which has
crowded into a few years fpace the revolutions
of an age, can be opened to you on their fair
grounds in half an hour's converfation ^

But it is no reafon, becaufe there is a bad
mode of enquiry, that there fliould be no exa-
mination at all. Moft certainly it is our duty
to examine ; it is our intereft too.— But it muft
be with difcretion ; with an attention to all the
circumflances, and to all the motives ; like found
judges, and not like cavilling pettyfoggers and
quibbling pleaders, prying into flaws and hunt-
ing for exceptions. Look, Gentlemen, to th^
whole tenowr of your member*s conduit. Try

whether

[ 5 ]

whether his ambition or his avarice have jufllcd
him out of the ftrait line of duty; or whether
that grand foe of the offices of adlive life, that
mafter-vice in men of bufincfs, a degenerate and
inglorious floth, has made him flag and langiiifli
in his courfe ? This is theobjed of our enquiry.
If our member's condud can bear this touch,
mark it for (teriing. He may have fallen i.ito
errors •, he mud have faults ; but our error is
greater, and our fault is radically ruinous to
ourfelves, if we do not bear, if we do not even
applaud, the whole compound and mixed mafs
of fuch a charader. Not to adl thus is folly ; I
had almoft faid it is impiety. He cenfures God,
who quarrels with the imperfedions of man.
, ^^^ Gentlemen, we muft not be peevifh with thofc

who ferve the people. For none will ferve us
whilft there is a court to ferve, but thofe who
are of a nice and jealous honour. They who
think every thing, in comparifon of that honour,
to be duft and alhes, will not bear to have ic
foiled and impaired by thofe, for whofe fake
they make a thoufand facrifices, to preferve it
immaculate "nd whole. We fhall either drive
fuch men from the public ftage, or we fhall
fend them to the court for proteftion ; where,
if they muft facrifice their reputation, they will
at leaft fecure their intereft. Depend upon it,
that the lovers of freedom will be free. None
will violate their confcience to pleafe us, in ord^r
afterwards to difcharge that confcience, which they

B 2 ^^^^

[ 6 ]

have violated, by doing us faithful and affedion^
ate fervice. If we degrade and deprave their
minds by fervility, it will be abfurd to expeft,
that they who are creeping and abjecfl toward us,
will ever be bold and uncorruptible aflertors of
our freedorp, againft the moft feducing and the
moft formidablp of all powers. No 1 humap na-
ture is not lb formed j nor Ihall we improve the
faculties, or better the morals of public rnen, by
qur poffeflion of the moft infallible receipt in the
world for making cheats and hypocrites,

X.et me fay with plainnefs, I who am no longer
in a public charader, that if by a fair, by an in-
jdulgent, by a gentlernanly behaviour to our re-
prefentatives, we do not give confidence to their
minds, and a liberal fcppe to their underftand-
ings i if we do not permit our members to adt
upon a very enlarged view of things ; we fliall
at length infallibly degrade our national repre-
fentation into a confufed and fcuffling buftle of
local agency. When the popular membpr is
narrowed in his ideas, and rendered timid in his
proceedings, the fervice of the crown will be the
fole nurfery of ftatefmen. Among the frolics of
the court, it may at length take that of attending
to its bufinefs. Then the monopoly of mental
power will be added to the power of all other
kinds it poflefles. On the fide of the people
there will be nothing but impotence : for ig-
norance is impotence -, narrownefs of mind is
impotence; timidity is itfclf impotence, and

mak^

le
le

( 7 1

makes all other qualities that go along with it,
impotent and ufelefs.

At prefent, it is the plan of the court to make
its fervants infignificant. If the people Ihoiild
fall into the fame humour, and fliould cboofe
their fervants on the fame principles of mere
obfequioufnefs, and flexibility, and total vacancy
or indifference of opinion in all public matters,
then no part of the ftate will be found -, and it
will be in vain to think of faving of it.

I thought it very expedient at this time to
give you this candid counfel j and with this
counfel I would willingly clofe, if the matters
which at various times have been objefted to me
in this city concerned only myfelf, and my own
cledion. Thefe charges, I think, are four in
number ;— my negledt of a due attention to my
conftituents ; the not paying more frequent vifits
herej— my condudton the affairs of the firft Irifli
trade a6i:s •,— my opinion and mode of proceed-
ing on Lord Beauchamp's Debtors Bills j-— and
my votes on the late affairs of the Roman Ca-
tholics. All of thefe (except perhaps the firft)
relate to matters of very confiderable public
concern ♦, and it is not left you Ihould cenfvire
me improperly, but left you Ihould form im-
proper opinions on matters of fome moment
to you, that I trouble you at all upon the fub-
je6t. My conduct is of Imall importance.

With regard to the firft charge, my friends
have fpoken to me of it in the ftyle of amicable
!e;(C|)oftulation J not fo much blaming the thing.

*i,

[ 8 ]

as lamenting the cfFcds. — Others, lefs partial tq
me, were lefs kind in afTigning the motives. I
admit, there is a decorum and propriety in j^
member of parliament's paying a refpedtful court
to his conftituents. If I were confcious to my-
felf that pleafure or diflipation, or low unworthy
occupations, l>ad detained me from perfonal
attendance on you, I would readily admit my
fault, and quietly fubmit to the penalty. But,

jr Gentlemen, I live at an hundred miles diftance

from Briftol ; and at the end of a feflion I

♦ come to my own houfe, fatigued in body and

^ 1^ in mind, to a little repofe, and to a very
little attention to my family and my private
concerns. A vifit to Briftol is always a fort of
canvafs ; elfe it will do more harm than good.
To pafs from the toils of a feflion tc the toils of
a canvafs, is the furtheft thing in the world frorn
repofe. I could hardly ferve you as I have done,
and court you too. Moft of you have heard, that
I do not very remarkably fpare myfelf in public
bu'nefs-, and in the private bufinefs of my con-

I llituents I have done very near as much as thofe
who have nothing elfe to do. My canvafs of you
was not on the Change, nor in the county
meetings, nor in the clubs of this city. It was in
the Houfe of Commons j it was at the Cuftom-

4 houfe ; it was at the Council j it was at the Trea-
fury •, it was at the Admiralty. I canvafled
you through your affairs, and not your perfons,
I was not only your reprefentative as a body •, J
was the agent, the folicitor of individuals y I.raq
■-#"■-■;■;,■ ' ■:- =-^ ■ • •• abou^

[ 9 1

gbout wherever your affairs could call me ; an4
in a£ting for you I often appeared rather as a
(hip- broker, than as a member of parliament.
There was nothing too laborious, or too low for
me to undertake. The meannefs of the bufmefs
was raifed by the dignity of the object. If fome
lefTer matters have (lipped through my fingers,
it was becaufe I filled my hands too full ; and
in my eagernefs to ferve you, took in more than
^ny hands could grafp. Several gentlemen ftand
round me who are my willing witnefles ; and
there are others who, if they were here, would
be ftill better; becaufe they would be unwilling
witnefles to the fame truth. It was in the mid-
dle of a fummer refidence in London, and in the
middle of a negociation at the Admiralty for
your trade, that I was called to Briilol ', and this
late vifit, at this late day, has been poflibly in
prejudice to your affairs.

Since I have touched upon this matter, let me
fay, Gentlemen, that if I had a difpofition, or a
right to complain, I have fome caufe of complaint
on my fide. With a petition of this city in my
hand, pafled through the corporation without a
diflenting voice, a petition in unifon with almoft
the whole voice of the kingdom, (with wiiofe
formal thanks I was covered over) whilft I la-
boured on no lefs than five bills for a public re-
form, and fought, againft the oppofition of great
abilities, and of the greateft power, every claufc,
and every word of the largelt of thofe bills, al-
moft to the very'Jaft day of a very long feflion ;
fL\\ this %ivf\c a canvafs in Briilol was as calmly

carried

If'

t 10 3

carried on as if I were dead. I was confidercd as
a man wholly out of the queftion. Whilft I
watched, and faded, and fweated in the Houfe
of Commons— by the moft eafy and ordinary
arts of eledlion, by dinners and vifits, by " How
do you do's," and, *' My worthy friends," I was
to be quietly moved out of my feat— and pro-
mifes were made, and engagements entered into,
without any exception or referve, as if my labo-
rious zeal in my duty had been a regular abdi-
cation of my trull.

To open my whole heart to you on this fub-
je6b, I do confefs, however, that there were other
times belides the two years in which I did vifit
you, when I was not wholly without leifure
for repeating that mark of my refped. But I
could not bring my mind to fee you. You remem-
ber, that in the beginning of this American war
(that aera of calamity, difgrace and downfall, an
sera which no feeling mind will ever mention with-
out a tear for England) you were greatly divided 5
and a very ftrong body, if not the ftrongeft, op-
pofed itfelf to the madnefs which every art and
every power were employed to render popular,
in order that the errors of the rulers might be
loft in the general blindnefs of the nation. This
cppofition continued until after our great, but
moft unfortunate vidtory at Long Ifland. Then
all the mounds and banks of our conftancy were
borne down at once j and the phrenfy of the
American war broke in upon us like a deluge.
This victory, which feemed to put an immediate
end to all difficulties, perfected us in that fpirit
.^ I of

[ .1 1

of domination, which our unparalleled profperity
had but too long nurtured. We had been fo very-
powerful, and fo very profperous, that even the
humblett of us were degraded into the vices and
follies of kings. We loft all meafure between
pieans and ends ; and our headlong defires be-
came our politics and our morals. All men who
wifhed for peace, or retained any fentiments of
moderation, were overborne or filenced ; and
this city was led by every artifice (and probably
with the more management, becaufe I was one
of your members) to diftinguifh itfelf by its zeal
for that fatal caufe, In this temper of yours and
of my mind, I Ihould footer have fled to the ex-
tremities of the earth, than have Ihewn myfelf here.
I, who faw in every American vi<5lory (for you
have had a long feries of thefe misfortunes) the
germ and feed of the naval powers of France
and Spain, which all our heat and warmth a-
gainft America was only hatching into life,-— I
fhould not have been a welcome vifitant with
the brow and the language of fuch feelings.
When afterwards, the other face of your cala-
mity was turned upon you, and Ihewed itfelf in
defeat and diftrefs, I fliunned you full as much.
I felt forely this variety in our wretchednefs *, and
I did not wifh to have the leaft appearance of
infulting you with that fhcw of fuperiority,
which, though it may not be aflumed, is gene-
rally fufpedted in a time of calamity, from thofe
yfhok previous warnings have been defpifcd. I

cpuld

lt>ii

V*'

[ n ]

cculd not bear to (hew you a reprcfentative whofe

face did not refledl that of his conftituents -, a

face that could not joy in your joys, and forrow

in your forrows. But time at length has made

us all of one opinions and we have all opened

our eyes on the true nature of the American

war, to the true nature of all its fuccefles and

9II its failures.

In that public ftorm too I had my private

feelings, I had feen blown down and proftrate

on the ground feveral of thofe houfes to whom 1

was chiefly indebted for the honour this city

has done me. I confefs, that whiift the wounds

of thofe I loved were yet green, I could not

bear to (hew myfelf in pride and triumph in that

place into which their partiality had brought me,

and to appear at feafts and rejoicings, in the

midft of the grief and calamity of my warm

friends, my zealous fupporters, my generous

benefadloj-s. This is a true, unvarnilhed, un-

difguifed ftatc of the affair. You will judge

of it.

This is the only one of the charges in which I

am perfonally concerned. As to the other matters

objedted againft me, which in their turn I fhall

mention to you, remember once more I do not

mean to extenuate or excufe. Why Ihould I,

when the things charged are among thofe upon

which I found all my reputation ? What would

be left to me, if I myfelf was the man, who

foftened, and blendejd, and diluted, and weakened,

all the diftinguifhing colours of my life, (0 a^

5 tQ

[ 13 ]

to leave nothing diftindt and determinate in my
whole condiifl ?

It has been faid, and it is the fecond charge,
that in the queftions of the Irifh trade, I did not
conuilt the intereft of my conftituents, or, to
fpeak out ftrongly, that I rather adted as a na-
tive of Ireland, than as an Englifh member of
parliament.

1 certainly have very warm good wifhes for
the place of my birth. But the fphere of my
duties is my true country. It was, as a man
attached to your interefts, and zealous for the
confervation of your power and dignity, that I
adted on that occafion, and on all occafions.
You were involved in the American war. A
new world of policy was opened, to which it was
neceflary we Ihould conform whether we would
or not ; and my only thought was how to con-
form to our fituation in fuch a manner as to unite
to this kingdom, in profperity and in affedion,
whatever remained of the empire. I was true to
my old, (landing, invariable principle, that all
things, which came from Great Britain, fliould n,
iflue as a gift of her bounty and beneficence, ra-
ther than as claims recovered againft a ftruggling '
litigant i or at leaft, that if your beneficence ob-
tained no credit in your conceflions, yet that
they (hould appear the falutary provifions of
your wifdom and forefight ; not as things wrung
from you with your blood, by the cruel gripe of
a rigid neceffity. The firft conceflions, by being
(much againft my will) mangled and ftripped of

the

the parts which were ncccflary to make out their
juft correfpondence and connexion in trade, were
of no ufe. The next year a feeble attempt was
made to bring the thing into better Ihape. This
attempt (countenanced by the minifter) on the
very firfl appearance of fome popular uneafinefs,
was, after a conIJ.d'"-able progrefs through the
houfe, thrown out b^ him.

What was the confequence ? The whole king-
dom of Ireland was inftantly in a flame. Threat-
ened by foreigners, and, as they thought, infultcd
by England, they refolved at once to refift the
power of France, and to cafl oflf yours. As for
us, we were able neither to proteft nor to reftrain
them. Forty thoufand men were raifed and dif-
ciplined without commiflion from the crown.
Two illegal armies were feen with banners dif-
played at the fame time, and in the fame coun-
try. No executive magiftrate, no judicature, in
Ireland, would acknowledge the legality of the
army which bore the king's commiflion ; and no
law, or appearance of law, authorifed the army
commiflioned by itfelf. In this unexampled ftate
of things, which the leaft error, the leafl: trefpafs
on the right or left, would have hurried down the
precipice into an abyfs of blood and confufion,
the people of Ireland demand a freedom of trade
with arms in their hands. They interdift all com-
merce between the two nations. They deny all
new fupply in the Houfe of Commons, although
in time of war. They fliint the trufl: of the old
revenue, given for no years to all the king's

' predeceHbrs,

[ 15 ]

prcdcceflbrs, to fix months. TheBritifhParliamcnt,'
in a former feflion frightened into a limited con-
cefTion by the menaces of Ireland, frightened out
of it by the menaces of England, was again
frightened back again, and made an univerfal
furrender of all that had been thought the pe-
culiar, referved, uncommunicable rights of Eng-
land i — The exclufive commerce of America, of
Africa, of the Weft-Indies — all the enumerations
of the afts of navigation — all the manufactures,
—iron, glafs, even the laft pledge of jealoufy
and pride, the intereft hid in the fecret of our
hearts, the inveterate prejudice moulded into the
conftitution of our frame, even the facred fleece
itfelf, all went together. No referve; no ex-
ception-, no debate i no difcuflion. A fudden
light broke in upon us all. It broke in, not
through well-contrived and well-difpofed win-
dows, but through flaws and breaches ; through
the yawning chafms of our ruin. We were taught
wifdom by humiliation. No town in England
prefumed to have a prejudice ; or dared to mutter
a petition. What was worfe, the whole Parlia-
ment of England, which retained authority for no-
thing but furrenders, was defpoiled of every fiia-
dow of its fuperintendance. It was, without
any qualification, denied in theory, as it had
been trampled upon in praftice. This fcene
of fliame and difgrace, has, in a manner whilft I
am fpeaking, ended by the perpetual eftablilh-
ment of a military power, in the dominions of
this crown, without confenc of the Britilh

Jcgiflature,

[ i6 1

Icgiflature *, contrary to the policy of the cori-
ftitution, contrary to the declaration of right j
and by this your liberties are fwept away along
with your fuprcmc authority— and both, linked
together from the beginning, have, I am afraid,
both together pcrilhed for ever.

What ! Gentlemen, was I not to forefee, of
forefeeing, was 1 not to endeavour to fave you
from all thefe multiplied mifchiefs and difgraces ?
Would the little, filly, canvafs prattle of obey-
ing inftrudions, and having no opinions but
yours, and fuch idle fenfelefs tales, which amufe
the vacant ears of unthinking men, have faved
you from " the pelting of that pitilefs ftorm,**
to which the loofe improvidence, the cowardly
ralhnefs of thofe who dare not look danger in
the face, fo as to provide againft it in time,
have expofed this degraded nation, beat down
and proftrate on the earth, unlheltered, un-
armed, unrefifting ? Was I an Irifliman on that
day, that I boldly withftood our pride ? or on
the day that I hung down my head, and wept in
fhame and filence over the humiliation of Great
Britain ? I became unpopular in England for
the one, and in Ireland for the other. What
then ! What obligation lay on me to be popular ?
1 was bound to ferve both kingdoms. To be
pleafed with my fervice, was their affair, not
mine.

I was an Irifliman in the Irifli bufinefs, juft as
much as I was an American, when on the fame

Irilh perpetual matlny a£l.

principles,

t '7 1

principles, I wilhed you to concede to Annerica,'
ar a time when ftie prayed concelTion at our feet.
Juft as much was I an American when I wifhcd
Parliament to offer terms in vidory, and not to
wait the well-chofen hour of defeat, for making
good by weakntfs, and by fupplication, a claim
of prerogative, pre-eminence, and authority.

Inftead of requiring it from me, as a point of
duty, to kindle with your paflions, had you all
been as cool as I was, you would have been faved
difgraces and diftrefles that are unutterable. Do
you remember our commiflion ? We fent out a
folemn embafly acrofs the Atlantic ocean, to lay
the Crown, the Peerage, the Commons of Great
Britain, at the feet of the American Congrefs.
That our difgrace might want no fort of brighten-
ing and burnifhing, obferve who they were that
compofed this famous embafly. My Lord Car-
lifle is among the firft ranks of our nobility.
He is the identical man who but two years be-
fore, had been put forward, at the opening of
a feflion in the Houie of Lords, as the mover of
an haughty and rigorous addrefs againft America.
He was put in the front of the embafly of fub-
mifllon. Mr. Eden was taken from the of-
fice of Lord Suflx)lk, to whom he was then un-
der fecretary of flatej from the oflice of that
Lord Suffolk, who but a few weeks before, in
his place in parliament, did not deign to enquire
where a Cons;refs of vagrants was to be found.
This Lord Suffolk fent Mr. Eden to find thefe
vagrants, without knowing where his King's

C ' Generals

', i>

If.,*

[ i8 ]

Gfnerals were to be founti, who were joined in
the fame commifllon of ( pplicating thofc whom
they were fcnt to fiibduc. They enter the capi-
tal of America only to abandon it •, and thefe
aflertors zn\ reprelentatives of the dignity of
England, at the tail of a flying army, let fly
their Parthian fliafts of memorials and rcmon-
ftrances at random behind them. I'heir pro-
jnifes and their offers, their flatteries, their
menaces, were all defpifed j and we were faved
the difgracc of their formal reception, only
becaufe the Congrcfs fcorned to receive them ;
whilft the State-houfe of independent Phila-
delphia opened her doors to the public entry
of the ambafliador of France. From war and
blood, we went to fubmiflion ; and from fub»
miflion plunged back again to war and blood i
to defolate and be defolated, without mea-
i'ure, hope, or end. I am a Royaliil, I blufli-
cd for this degradation of the Crown. I am a
Whig, I bluflied for the dilhonour of Parlia-
ment. I am a true Englifhman, 1 felt to the
quick for the difgrace of England, I am a Man,
I felt for the melancholy reverfe of human af-
fairs, in the fall of the firft power in the world.

To read what was approaching in Ireland, in
the black and bloody characters of the Ameri-
can war, was a painful, but it was a neceflTary
part of my public duty. For, Gentlemen, it is
not your fond defires or mine that can alter the
nature cf things ; by contending againft which
what have we got, or fliall ever get, but defeat

and

t 19 1

and ihahic ? I did not obey your inftruftion:
No. I conformed to the ihftruftions of truth and
nature, and maintained your intereft, againft your
opinions, with a conftancy that became me. A
i-eprefcntative worthy of you< ought to be a per-
fon of (lability. I am to look, indeed, to your
opinions •, but to fuch opinions as you and 1
inufl have five years hence. I was not to look to
the fiafh of the day. I knew that you chofe
tne, in my place, along with others, to be a
pillar of the (late, and not a weathercock on the
top of the edifice, exalted for my levity and ver-
fatility, and of no ufe but to indicate the (hift-
ings of every falhionable gale. Would to
God, the value of my fcntiments on Ireland and
on America had been at this day a fubjedl of
doubt and dircu(rion I No matter what my
fufferings had been, fo that this kingdom had
kept the authority I wilhed it to maintain, by a
grave forefight, and by an equitable temperance
in the ufe of its power.

The next article of charge on my public
condufli and that which I find rather the moft
prevalent of all, is Lord Beauchamp's bill. I
mean his bill of laft fefTion for reforming the law-
procefs concerning imprifonment. It is faid, to
aggravate the offence, that I treated the petition
of this city with contempt even in prefenting it
to the Houfe, and expreflfed myfelf in terms of
marked difrcfpeft. Had this latter part of the
charge been true, no merits on the fide of the
queftion which I took, could poflibly excufe

C 2 me*

I
m

i]
i

C 20 1

me. But I am incapable of treating this city
with difrefpedt. Very fortunately, at this minute .
(if my bad eyefight docs not deceive me) * the
worthy gentleman deputed on this bufmefs ftands
direftly before me. To him I appeal, whether
I did not, though it militated with my oldeft and
my moft recent public opinions, deliver the pe-
tition with a ftrong, and more than ufual recom-
mendation to the confideration of the Houfe, on
account of the character and cunfequence of thofe
who figned it. I believe the worthy gentleman
will tell you, that the very day I received it, I
applied to the Solicitor, now the Attorney Ge-
neral, to give it an immediate confideration •, a d
he moft obligingly and inftantly confented to em-
ploy a great deal of his very valuable time, i^
write an explanation of th? bill. I attended the
Committee with all poflible care and diligence,
in order that every objedlion of yours might meet
with a folution j or produce an alteration. I en-
treated your learned Recorder (always ready in
bufinefs in which you take a concern) to attend.
But what will you fay to thofe who blame me
for fupporting Lord Beauchamp's bill, as a difre-
fpedful treatment of your petition, when you
hear, that out of refped to you, I myfelf was the
caufe 6f the lofs of that \ ery bill ? for the no-
ble Lord who brought it in, and who, I muft fay,
has much merit for this and fome other meafures,
at my requeft confented to put it off for a week,
which the Speaker's illnefs hngthened to a fort-
night 5 and then the frantic tumult about Popery,

• Mr. Williams,
» .: drove

■PH"

[ 41 ]

drove that and every rational bufinefs from
the Houfe. So that if I chofe to make a de-
fence of myfelf, on the little principles of a
culprit pleading in his exculpation, I might not
only fecure my acquittal, but make merit with
the oppofers of the bill. But I (hall do no fuch
thing. The truth is, that I did occafion the
lofs of the bill, and by a delay caufed by my
refped to you. But fuch an event was never in
my contemplation. And I am fo far from
taking credit for the defeat of that meafure, that
I cannot fufficiently lament my misfortune, if
but one man, who ought to be at large, has
paflcd a year in prifon by my means. I am a
debtor to the debtors. I confefs judgment. I
owe, what, if ever it be in my power, I fhall
moft certainly pay,— ample atonement, and ufu-
rious amends to liberty and humanity for my
unhappy lapfe. For, Gentlemen, Lord Beau*
champ's bill was a law of juftice and policy, as
far as it went; I fay as far as it went, for its
fault was its being, in the remedial part, mifera-
bly defedive.

There are two capital faults in our law with
relation lo civil debts. One is, that every man
is prefumed folvent. A prefumption, in innume-
rable cafes, direftly againft truth. Therefore
the debtor is ordered, on a fuppofition of ability
and fraud, to be coerced his liberty until he makes
payment. By this means, in all cafes of civil in-
folvency, without a pardon from his creditor,
he is to be imprifoned for life :— and thus a
'i- C ^ milerable

lit

r m

[ 22 ]

miferable miflaken inveution of artificial fciencei
operates to change a civil ihto a criminal judgr
irent, and to fconrge mjsfortune or indifcretion
^vith a punifhn^ent which the law does not inr
Aid on the greateft crimes.

The next fault is, thj^t the infliding of that
punifhment is not on the opinion of an equal and
public judge; but is referred to the arbitrary
difcrction of ^ private, nay interefted, and irri-
tated, individual. He, who formally is, and
fubftantially ought to be, the judge, is in rea-
lity no more than minifterial, a mere executive
inftrument of a private man, who is at once
judge a^id party. Every idea of judicial order 13
fubverted by this procedure. If the i^^folvency
be no crime, why is it punifhed with arbitrary
jmprifonment I If it be a crime, why is it delir
vered into private hands to par<lon without dif-»
cretion, or to punifh without mercy and with-
out meafure ?

To thefe faults, grofs and cruel faults in our
law, the excellent principle of Lord Beau^
champ's bill applied fome fort of remedy. I
know that credit muft be preferved -, but equity
muft be preferved too ; and it is impoflible, that
any thing Ihould be neceflary to commerce,
■V^hich is inconfiftent withjuftice. The principle
of credit was not weakened by that bill. God
forbid ! The enforcement of that credit was only
put into the fame public judicial hands on which
we depend for our lives, and all that makes life
dear to us. But, indeed, this bufmefs was Kaken
■•'■... up

t as 1

Up too warmly both here and elfewhere. Th«
bill was extremely miftakcn. It was fuppolcd
to enad what it never enafted •, and cc.nplaints
were made of claufes in it as novelties, which
cxifted before the noble Lord that brought in
the bill was born. ^ There was a fallacy that
run through the whole of the objedlions.
The gentlemen who oppofed the bill, always
argued, as if the option lay between that bill
and the antient law.--*But this is a grand
miftake. For pradically, the option is between,
not that bill and the old law, but between that
bill and thofe occafional laws called a6ts of
grace. For the operation of the old law is fo
ravage, and fo inconvenient to fociety, that for a
long time paft, once in every parliament, and
lately twice, the legiflature has been obliged to
make a general arbitrary jail-delivery, and at
once to fet open, by its fovcreign authority, all
the prifoiis in England.

Gentlemen, 1 never reliftied ads of grace ; nor
ever flibmitted to them but from c'^''nair of bet-
ter. They are a diftionourable invention, by
which, not from humanity, not from policy,
but merely becaufe we have not room enough
to hold thefe vidims of the abfurdity of our
laws, we turn loofe upon the public three or
four thoufand naked wretches, corrupted by the
habits, debafed by the ignominy of a prifon. li
the creditor had a right to thofe carcafes as a na-
tural fecurity for his property, J am fure we
h^VC no right to deprive him of that fecurity.

C 4 But

( t

[ 44 ]

But if the few pounds of flefli were not neccf.
fary to his fecurity, we had not a right to detain
the unfortunate debtor, without any benefit at
all to the perfon who confined him. — Take it as
you will, we commit injuftice. Now Lord Beau-
champ's bill intended to do deliberately, and
with great caution and circumfpedtion, upon
each feveral cafe, and with all attention to the
juft claimant, what aiSts of grace do in a much
greater meaiure, and with very little care, cau-
tion, or deliberation.

I fufped that here too, if we contrive to op-,
pofe this bill, we fhall be found in a ftruggle
againft the nature of things. For as we grow
enlightened, the public will not bear, for any
length of time, to pay for the maintenance of
whole armies of prifoners ; nor, at their own ex-
pence, fubmit to keep jails as a fort of garrifons,
merely to fortify the abfurd principle of making
men judges in iiieir own caufe. For credit has
little or no concern in this cruelty. I fpeak in
a commercial afiembly. You know, that credit
is given, becaule capital muft be employed \
that men calculate the chances of infolvency *,
and they either withhold the credit, or make the
debtor pay the rifque in the price. The count-
ing-houfe has no alliance with the jail. Hol-
land underftands trade as well as we, and Ihe
has done much more than this obnoxious bill
intended to do. There was not, when Mr. Howard
vifited Holland, more than one prifoner for
debt in the great city of Rotterdam, Although
^r..i Lord

■5f

[ 25 1

X^rd Beauchamp's a£b (which was previous to
this bill, and intended to feel the way for it)
has already preferved liberty to thoufands;
and though it is not three years fince the laft
a€t of grace pafled, yet by Mr. Howard's laft
account, there were near three thoufand again in
jail. I cannot name this genth ,an without re-
marking, that his labours and writings have done
much to open the eyes and hearts of mankind.
He has vifited all Europe,— •not to furvey the fump-
tuoufnefs of palaces, or the ftatelinefs of temples j
not to make accurate meafurements of the re-
mains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a fcale of
the curiofity of modern art •, not to colledb me-
dals, or collate manufcripts :— -but to dive into
the depths of dungeons •, to plunge into the in-
fection of hofpitals ; to furvey the manfions of
forrow and pain ; to take the gage and dimen-
fions of mifery, depreflion, and contempt; to re-
member the forgotten, to attend to the negled:-
ed, to vifit the forfaken, and to compare and col-
late the diftrefles of all men in all countries.
His plan is original ; and it is as full of genius as
it is of humanity. It was a voyage of difcovery ;
a circumnavigation of chanty. Already the
benefit of his labour is felt more or lefs in
every country: I hope he will anticipate his
final reward, by feeing all its eiFeds fully rea-
lized in his own. He will recei^e, not by retail
but in grofs, the reward of thofe who vifit the pri-
foner j and he has fo foreftalled and monopolized
this branch of charity, that there will be, I

truft,

1»

C *6 J

( truft, little lOom to merit by fuch ftfta of be^
( nevolcnce hereafter.

Nothing remains now to trouble you witht
but the fourth charge againft me^-^the bufi*
nefs of the Roman Catholics. It is a bufmefs
clofely connecled with the reft. They are all on
cne and the fame principle. My little fcheme
of conduct, fuch as it is, is all arranged. I could
do nothing but what I have done on this fub-
jeft, without confounding the wjiole train of my
ideas, and difturbing the whole order of my life.
Gentlemen, I ought to apologize to you, for feem^
ing to think any thing at all necefTary to be faid
upon this matter. The calumny is fitter to be
fcrawled with the midnight chalk of incendiaries,
with *' No Popery," on walls and doors of
devoted houfes, than to be mentioned in any ci-
vilifed company. I had heard, that the fpiric
of difcontent on that fubjefl was very prevalent
her'*. With pleafure I find that I have been
grofsly mifinformed. If it exifts at all in this
city, the laws have crufhed its exertions, and our
morals have Ihamed its appearance in day-light.
I have purfued this fpirit where-ever I could
trace it ; but it ftill fled from me. It was a
ghoft, which all had heard of, but none had feen.
None would acknowledge that he thought the
public proceeding with regard to our Catho-
lic diflenters to be blameable -, but feveral were
forry it had made an ill impreffion upon others,
arid that my intereft was hurt by my (hare in the
bufmefs. I ^nd with fatisfaflion and pride, that
1^ /,;. no^

[ «7 3

fiot: above four or five in this city (and I dare
fay thefe mifled by feme grofs mifreprcfentation)
Jiavc figned that fymbol of delufion and bond
of fedition, that libel on the national religion and
Englifh charadter, the Protcftant Aflbciation. It is
therefore, Gentlemen, not by way of cure but of
prevention, and left the arts of wicked men may
prevail over the integrity of any one amongft us,
that I think it neccffary to open to yoii the me-
rits of this tranfaftion pretty much at large ; and
I beg your patience upon it : for, although the
fcafonings that have been ufed to depreciate the aft
^re of little force, and though the authority of
the men concerned in this ill defign is not very
impofmg 5 yet the audacioufnefs of thefe confpi-
rators ag^inft the national honour, and the ex-
tenfive wickednefs of their attempts, have raifed
perfons of little importance to a degree of evil
eminence, and imparted a fort of finifter dignity
to proceedings that had their origin in only the
meaneft and blindeft malice.

In expliining to you the proceedings of Par-
liament which have been complained of, I will
(late to you, — firft, the thing that was done ;
r— next, the perfons who did it j— rand laftiy, the
grounds and reafons upon which the legiflature
proceeded in this deliberate adt of public juftice
and public prudence.

Gentlemen, The condition of our nature is
fuch, that we buy our bleflings at a price. The
Reformation, one of the greateft periods of hu-
man improvement, was a time of trouble and
wr confufioot

f:\

\ .■

•-

:-^j

X : t 28 ]

tonfufion. The vaft ftrudure of fuperftition and
tyranny, which had been for ages in rearing,
and which was combined with the intereft of the
great and of the many •, which was moulded into
the laws, the manners, and civil inflitutions of
nations, and blended with the frame and policf
of ftates i could not be brought to the ground
without a fearful ftruggle -, nor could it fall
without a violent concufTion of itfelf and all about
it. When this great revolution was attempted
in a more regular mode by government, it was
oppofed by plots and feditions of the people ;
when by popular efforts, it was repreflcd as re*
bellion by the hand of power ; and bloody exe-
cutions (often bloodily returned) marked the
whole i/f its progrefs through all its ftages. The
affairs of religion, which are no longer heard of
in the tumult of our prefent contentions, made
a principal ingredient in the wars and politics of
that time; the enthufiafm of religion threw 4
gloom over the politics ; and political interefts
poifoned and perverted the fpirit of religion upon
all fides. The Proteftant religion in that vio-
lent flruggle, infedled, as the Popilh had been
before, by worldly interefts and worldly paflions,
became a perfecutor in its turn, fometimes of the
new i'eds, which carried their own principles
further than it was convenient to the original
reformers •, and always of the body from whom
they parted-, and this perfecnting fpirit arofe, not
only, from the bitternefs of retaliation, but from
.. the mercilcis policy of fear, 7 ; - :;. . y'"'- ^ ' ^'

..Iv

[ 49 1

It was long before the fpirit of true piety and
true wifdom, involved in the principles of the
Reformation, could be depurated from the dregs
and feculence of the contention with which it
was carried through. However, until this be
done, the Reformation is not complete ; and thofe
who think themfelves good Proteftants, from
their animofity to others, are in that refpe£t no
Proteftants at all. It was at firft thought necef-
fary, perhaps, to oppofe to Popery another Pope-
ry, to get the better of it. Whatever was the
caufe, laws were made in many countries, and
in this kingdom in particular, againft Papifts,
which are as bloody as any of thofe which had
been enaded by the Popilh princes and ftates ;
and where thofe laws were not bloody, in my opi-
nion, they were worfe; as they were flow, cruel
outrages on our nature, and kept men alive only to
infult in their perfons, every one of the rights and
feelings of humanity. I pafs thofe ftatutes, becaufe
I would fpare your pious ears the repetition of
fuch fliocking things ; and I come to that parti-
cular law, the repeal of which lias produced fo
many unnatural and uncxpefled confequences.

A ftatute was fabricated in the year 1699, by
which the faying mafs (a church- fervice in the
Latin tongue, not exadly the fame as our lyi-
turgy, but very near it, and containing no of-
; fence whatfoever againft the laws, or againft
good morals) was forged into a crime punifti-
able with perpetual imprifonment. The teach-
ing fchool, an ufeful and virtuous occupation,

.,. . ■ even

< iSf

t 30 ]

eVeh tfie teaching in a private family, was iri
every Catholic fubjefted to the fame unpropor-
tioned punifliment. Your induftry, and the
bread of your children, was taxed for a pecuni*.
ary reward to ftimulate avarice to do what na-
ture refufed, to inform and profccutc on this
law. Every Roman Catholic was, under the
fame aft, to forfeit his cftate to his neareft Pro-
teftant relation, until, through a profedlon of
what he did not believe, he redeemed by his hy«
pocrify, what the law had transferred to the
kjnfman as the rccompence of his profligacy*
When thus turned out of doors from his pater-
nal eflate, he was difabled from acquiring any
other by any induftry, donation, or charity 5 but
was rendered a foreigner in his native land, only
becaufe he retained the religion, along with the
property, handed down to him from thofe who had
been the old inhabitants of that land before him.

Does any one who hears me approve this
fcheme of things, or think there is common
juftice, common fenle, or common honefty in
any part of it ? If any does, let him fay it, and
I am ready to difcufs the point with tempei*
and candour. But inftead of approving, I per-
ceive a virtuous indignation beginning to rife in
your minds on the mere cold dating of the
ilatute.

But what will you feel, when you know from
hiftory how this ftatute paffed, and what were
the motives, and what the mode of making it ?
A party in this nation, enemies to the fyftcm of

the

t 3« 1

the Revolution, were in oppofition to the go-
vcrnment of King William. They knew, that
our glorious deliverer was an enemy to all pcr-
fccution. They knew that he came to free us
from flavery and Popery, out of a country,
where a third of the people are contented Catho-
lics under a Proteftant government. He came
with a part of his army compofed of thofe very
Catholics, to overfet the power of a Popifh prince.
Such is the efFedb of a tolerating fpirit ; and
fo much is liberty ferved in every way, and by
all perfons, by a manly adherence to its own
principles. Whilft freedom is true to itfelf,
every thing becomes fubjed to it j and its very
adverfaries are an inftrument in its hands.

The party I fpeak of (like fome amongft us who
would difparage the beft friends of their coun-
try) refolvcd to make the King either violate his
principles of toleration, or incur the odium of
protefting Papifts. They therefore brought in
this bill, and made it purpofely wicked and ab-
furd that it might be rejefted. The then court-
party, difcovering their game, turned the tables
on them, and returned their bill to them ftufT^'d
with ftill greater abfurdities, that its lofs might
lie upon its original authors. They, finding their
own ball thrown back to them, kicked it back
again to their adverfaries. And thus this aft,
loaded with the double injuftice of two parties^
neither of whom intended to pafs, what they
hoped the other would be perfuaded to rejeft,

j went

*t^

r 32 1

went through the legiflaturc, contrary to th<
real wirti of all parts of it, and of all the parties
that compofcd it. In this manner thefe infolent
and profligate fadions, as if they were playing
with balls and counters, made a fport of the
fortunes and the liberties of their fellow-crea-
tures. Other afts of perfecution have been adls
of malice. This was a fubvcrfion of juftice from
wantonnefs and petulance. Look into the hif-
tory of Bifhop Burnet. He is a witnefs without
exception.

The efl?eds of the afb have been as mifchievous,
as its origin was ludicrous and fhameful. From
that time every perfon of that communion, lay
and ecclefiaflic, has been obliged to fly from the
face of day. The clergy, concealed in garrets of
private houfes, or obliged to take a flielter (hardly
fafe to themfelvcs, but infinitely dangerous to
their country) under the privileges of foreign
minifters, officiated as their fervants, and under
their protedlion. The whole body of the Catholics,
cond'^mned to beggary and to ignorance in their
native land, have been obliged to learn the prin-
ciples of letters, at che hazard of all their other
principles, from the charity of your enemies.
They have been taxed to their ruin at the plea-
fure of neceflitous and profligate relations, and ac-
cording to the meafure of their neceflity and pro-
fligacy. Examples of this are many and afiTedling.
Some of them are known by a friend who (lands
near me in this hall. It is but fix or feven years
iince a clergyman of the name of Malony, a

man

t 3? 1

hian of morals, neither guilty nor acciifcd of arty"
thing noxious to tlie ftate, was condemned to
perpetual imprifonment for exercifirig the func
tions of his religion ; and after lying in jail two
or three years, was relieved by the mercy of go-
vernment from perpetual imprifonment, on con-
dition of perpetual banilhment. A brother of
the Earl of Shrewfl)ury, a Talbot, a name rc-
fpedtable in this county, whilfl: its glory is any
part of its concern, was hauled to the bar of the
Old Bailey among common felons, and only
cfcaped the fame doom, either by fome error in
the procefs, or that the wretch who brought hirti
there could not corredlly defcribe his pcrfon j I
now forget which.— In fhort, the perfecution
would never have relented for a moment, if the
judges, fuperfcding (tiiough with an ambiguous
example) the (liid rule of their artificial duty
by the higher obli^^ntion of their confcience, did
hot conftantly throw every difficulty in the way
of fuch informers. But fo inefFedual is the
power of legal evafion againft legal iniquity, that
it was but the other day, that a lady of condition,
beyond the middle of life, was on the point ot'
being ftripped of her whole fortune by a near
relation, to whom flie had been a friend and bc-
nefaftor : and Ihe muft have been totally ruined,
without a power of redrefs or rriitigation from
the courts of law, had not the Icgiflature itfelf
tufhed in, and by a fpecial ad of Parliament
refcued her from the injuftice of its own fta-
tutcs. One of the ads authorifmg fuch things ,

t. lid

was

t 34 I :: ■ ^

was that which we in part repealed, knowing
what our duty was *, and doing that duty as men
of honour and virtue, as good P.oteftants, and
as good citizens. Let him (land forth that dif-
approves what we have done !

Gentlemen, Bad laws are the worft fort of ty-
ranny. In fuch a country as this, they are of
all bad things the worft, worfe by far than any
where elfe •, and they derive a particular malig-
nity even from the wifdom and foundnefs of the
reft ot our inftitutions. For very obvious rea-
fonsyou cannot truft the Crown with a difpenf-
ing power over any of your laws. However, a
government, be it as bad as it may, will, in the
exercife of a difcretionary power, difcriminatc
times and perfons ^ and will not ordinarily purfue
any man, when its own fafety is not concerned.
A mercenary informer knows no diftinftion. Un-
der fuch a fyftem, the obnoxious people are flavcs,
not only to the government, but they live at the
mercy of every individual ; they are at once the
(laves Df the whole community, and of every part
of it; and the worft and moft unmerciful men are
thofe on whofc goodnefs they moft depend.

In this fituation men not only llirink from the
frowns of a ftern magiftrate ; but they are
obliged to fly from their very fpecies. The feeds
of dekru(5tion are fown in civil intercourfe, in
fecial habitudes. The blood of 'x)holcfome
kindred is infedted. Their tables and beds
are furrounded with fnares. All the means given
by Providence to make life fafe and comfortable,

are

[ 35 ] .

arc perverted into inftruments of terror and tor-
nient. This fperies of univerfal fiibferviency,
that makes the very fervant who waits behind
your chair^ the arbiter of your life and fortune,
has fuch a tendency to degrade and dcbafe man-
kind, and to deprive them of that aflured and
liberal ftate of mind, which alone can make us
what we ought to be, that I vow to God I would
fooner bring myfelf to put a -nan to immediate
death for opinions I diHiked, and fo to get rid
of the man and his opinions at once, than to
fret him. with a feverilh being, tainted with the . .
jail-diftemper of a contagious fervitude, to keep
him above ground, an animated mafs of putre-
fadlion, corrupted himfelf, and corrupting all
about him. .^,^ ,- - ' i » iv

i^ The a6t repealed was of this dire<5l tendency \
and it was made in the manner which I have re-
lated to you, I will now tell you by whom the
bill of repeal was brought into Parliament. I
find it has been induftrioufly given out in this
city (from kindneff to me unqueftionably) that
I was the mover or the feconder. The f?»<5t is,
I did not once open my lips on the fubjeft dur-
ing th: whole progrefs of the bill. I do not
iiay this as difclaiming my fhare in that meafure. . i
Very far from it. I inform you of this faft, left
I (hould fcem to arrogate to inyfelf the merits
which belong to others. To have been the man
cholen out to redeem our fellow-citizens from
flavery ; to purify our laws from abfurdity and
injuftice -, and to cleanfe our religion from the

D % blot'

■ft

[ 36 1

blot and ftain of perfecution, would bean ho-
nour and happinefs to which my wifhes would
undoubtedly afpire ; but to which nothing but
my wifhes could poffibly have entitled me. That
great work was in hands in every refpeft far bet-
ter qualified than mine. The mover of the bi'^
was Sir George Savile. ' v r";.:^' :. v^-.

Whenan a6t of great and fignal humanity was to
be done, and done with all the weight and autho-
rity that belonged to it, the world could caft its
eyes upon none but him. I hope that few things,
which have a tendency to blefs or to adorn life,
have wholly efcaped my obfervation in my paflage
through it. I have fought the acquaintanc • /)
that gentleman, and. have pjen him in all litu-
ations. He is a true genius ; with an under-
ftanding vigorous, and acute, and refined, and
diftinguifhing even to excefs ; and illuminated
with a moll unbounded, peculiar, and original
caft of imagination. With thefe he poflelTes many
external and inftrumental advantages •, and he
makes ufe of them all. His fortune is among
the largeft ; a fortune which, wholly unincum-
bred, as it is, with one fingie charge from lux-
ury, vanity, or excefs, finks under the bcnevo-
knee of its difpenfer. This private benevolence,
expanding itfelf into patriotifm, renders hi%
whole being the eftate of the public, in which he
has not referved a peculium for himfelf of profit,
diverfion, or relaxation. During the fcflion, the
firft in, and the laft out of the Houfe of Com-
inons i he pafles from the fenate to the camp %

•> -' and,

a:"

t 37 ]

and, fcldom feeing the feat of his anccftors, he is
always in Parliament to ferve hfs country, or ]f\
the field to defend it. But in all well-wrouaht
compofitions, fome particulars (land out more
eminently than the reft ; and the things which
will carry his name to pofteri^y, are his twof bills;
1 mean that for a limitation of the claims Of the
crown upon landed eftates; and this fof the
relief of the Roman Catholics. By the former,
he has emancipated property ; by the latter, he
has quieted confcience ; and by both, he has
taught that grand leflbn to government and fub-
jeA,— no longer to regard each other as adverfe
parties. -tJi -■.?^^ -• i^^iul iiv. .••-.• j,:.-^-;,, j^m jute's' <«?*4»
' Such was the mover of the afl that is com-
plained of by men, who are not quite fo good
as he is ; an ad:, moft afTu redly not brought in
by him from any partiality to that fed which is
the object of it. For, among his faults, I really
cannot help reckoning a greater degree of pre-
judice againft that people, thaiv becomes fo wife a
man. I know that he inclines to a fort of dilguft,
mixed with a confiderable degree of afperity,
to the fyftem ; and he has few, or rather no
habits with any of its profeflbrs. What he has
done was on quite other motives. The motives
were thele, which he declared in his excellc^nt
fpeech on his motion for the bill ; namely, his
extreme zeal to the Proteftant religion, which he
thought utterly difgraced by the a<5t of 1699 > ^"<^
his rooted hatred to all kind of oppreffion, under
3py colour or vpon any pretence whatfoever.
- ^ .^. P 3 The

[ ^8 ]

The feeondcr was worthy of the mover, and the
motion. I was not the leconder -, it was Mr.
Dunning, Recorder of this city. I Ih^ll fay the
lefs of him, becaufe his near relation to you
makes you more particularly acquainted with his
merits. But I fhouid appear little acquainted
with them, or little fenfible of them, if I could
utter his name on this occafion without expref-
fing my elleem for his charadler. I am not
afraid of offending a moft learned body, and moft
jeali V of its reputation for that learning, when
I fay s the firfl: of his profeflion. It is a

point fettled by thofe who fettle every thing elfej
and I muft add (what I am enabled to fay from
my own long and clofe obfervation) that there
is not a man, of any profeflion, or in arty fitu-*
ation, of a more ered and independent fpirit j
of a more proud honour ; a more manly mind j
a more firm and determined integrity. Aflure
yourfelves, that the names of two fuch men wiU
bear a great load of prejudice in the other fcale,
before they can be entirely outweighed, iT -f '

With this mover, and this feconder, agreed the
whole Houfe of Commons ; the whole Houfe of
Lords •, the whole Bench of Bifliops j the King j
theMiniftryj theOppofition-, all thediftinguiflicd
Clergy of the Eftablifhmenti all the eminent
lights (for they were confulted) of the Diflent-
ing churches. This according voice of national
wifdom ought to be liftened to with reverence.
To fay that all thefe defcriptions of Englifh-
men unanimoufly concurred in a fcheme for
- ■ jfe 4i:t introducing

• 10

[ 39 1

introducing the Catholic religion, or that none of
them underftood the nature and cffedts of whac
they were doing, fo well as a few obfcure clubs
of people, whofe names you never heard of,
is (hamelefsly abfurd. Surely it is paying a
miferable compliment to the religion we pro-
fefs, to fuggeft, that every thing eminent in the
kingdom is indifferent, or even adverfe to that
religion, and that its fecurity is wholly aban-
doned' to the zeal of thofe, who have nothing but
their zeal to diftinguifli them. In weighing this
unanimous concurrence of whatever the nation
has to boaft of, I hope you will recoiled, that all
thefe concurring parties do by no means love
one another enough to agree in any pointy
which was not both evidently, and importantly,

right.Lii-.^aii <: \i' ■.,■:■ .u,:irnS^::iV JB.^'HT^iiS -iu .

To prove this ; to prove, «:hat the mcafure
was both clearly and materially proper, I willi
next lay before you (as I promifed) the political
grounds and reaforjs for the repeal of that pe-
nal (latute ; and the motives to its repeal at that
particular time.

Gentlemen, America— -—-When the Englifli
nation fcemed to be dangcroufly, if not irreco-
verably divided ; when one, and that' the moft
growing branch, was torn from the parent ftock,
and engrafted on the power of France, a great
terror fell upon this kingdom. On a fudden we
awakened from our dreams of conqueft, and faw
aurfclvcs threatened with an immediate invafion ;■
which wc were, at that time, very ill prepared to
rcfift. You remember the cloud that gloomed

..^.< D 4 over

r 40 ]

over us all. In that hour of our difmay, from
the bottom of the hiding-places, into which the
indifcriminate rigour of our ftatutcs had driven
them, came out the body of the Roman Catho-
lics. They appeared before the ft^ps of a tot-
tering throne, with one of the moft fobcr, mea-
fured, fteady, and dutiful addrefles, that was ever
prefented to the crown. It was no holiday cere-
mony ; no anniverfary compliment of parade and
ihow. It was figned by almoft every gentleman
of that perfuafion, of note or property, in Eng-
land, At fuch a crifis, nothing but a decided
refolution to iland or fall with their country
could have didtated fuch an addrefs ; the diredt
tendency of which was to cut off all retreat i and
to render them pecu? y obnoxious to an in-»
vader of their own c jmmunion. The addrefs
fhewed, what I long languiflied to-fee, that all the
fubjefts of England had call off all foreign views
and cor.nexions, and that every man looked for
his relief from every grievance, at the hands only
of his own natural government.

It was neceffary, on our part, that the natu-
ral government (hould Ihew itfelf worthy of that
name. It was neceffary, at the crifis I fpeak of,
that the fupreme power of the ftate fhould meet
the conciliatory difpofitions of the fubjeft. To
delay proteftion would be to reject allegiance.
And why fhould it be rejeded, or leven coldly
and fufpicioufly received ? If any independent
Catholic ftate fhould choofe to take part with
this kingdom in a war with France and Spain,
|:hat bigot (if fuch a bigot could be found)

^ would

f •<

t 41 J

would be heard with little refped, who could
dream of objefting his religion to an ally, whom
the nation would not only receive with its frtx(\:
thanks, but purchafe, with the lad remains of its
exhaufted treafure. To fiich an ally we (hould
not flare to whiiper a fmgle fyllable of thofe bafe
and invidious topics, upon which, fome un-
happy men would perfuade the (late, to rejedt
the duty and allegiance of its own members. Is
it then, becaufe foreigners are in a condition to
fet our malice at defiance, that with ihem^ we are
willing to contrail engagements of friend fhip,
and to keep them with fidelity and honour i but
that, becaufe we conceive, fome defcriptions of
our countrymen are not powerful enough to
punifh our malignity, we will not permit them
to fupport our common interefl: ? Is it on that
ground, that our anger is to be kindled by
their offered kindnefs, and that they are to be
fubjefted to penalties, becaufe they are willing,
by adual merit, to purge themfelves from im-
puted crimes ? Left by an adherence . o the caufe
of their country they Ihould acquire a title to
fair and equitable treatment, are we refolved t >
furnifli them with caufes of eternal enmity *, and
rather fupply them with juft and founded motives
jto difaff^edion, than not to have that difaffc^lion
in exiftence to juftify an oppreffion, which, not
from policy but difpofition, we have determined
toexercife? - ..

What fliadow of reafon could be afllgned,
>hy, at a time, when the moft Proteftant part of
A ■,: . -. , ,.,--.-- ■ -...,.' this

- \ - ■ ■ <r

this Proteftant empire found it for its advantage to
liiiice with the two principal Popifh ilates, to
Lnite itfelf in the cloleil bonds with France and
Spain, for our dcftrudlion, that we fhould refufe
to unite with our own Catholic countrymen for
our own preservation ? Ought we, like madmen,
to tear off the plaiilers, that the lenient hand of
prudence had fpread over the wounds and gafhes,
which in our delirium of ambition we had given
to our own body ? No perfon ever reprobated
the American war more than I did, and do, and
ever ihall. But I never will confcnt that we
fhould lay additional voluntary penalties on our-
felves, for a fault which carries but too much of
.its own punifhment in its own nature. For one, I
was delighted with the propofal of internal peace.
I accepted the blefTing with thankfulnefs and
tranfport ; I was truly happy, to find one good
eiTe(5t of our civil diilradions, that they had put
an end to all religious flrife and heart-burning in
our own bowels. What mud be the fentiments
of a man, who could wifh to perpetuate domcftic
hoftility, when the caufes of difpute are at an end;
and who, crying out for peace with one part of
the nation on the mod humiUating terms, fhould
deny it to thofe, who offer friendfhip without
any terms at all ?

. But if I was una*ble to reconcile fuch a de-
nial to the contracted principles of local duty,
what anfwer could I give to the broad claims of
general humanity ? I confefs to you freely, that
the fufferings and diilrefies of the people of

' « ;; Amcrir

/ if---

[ 43 3 •

America irt this cruel war, have at times af-
fefled me more deeply than I can cxpreli., I
felt every Gazette of triumph as a blow upon
my heart, which has an hundred times funk and
fainted within me at all the mifchiefs brought
upon thofe who bear the whole brunt of war in the
heart of their country. Yet the Americans arc
utter ftrangers to me j a nation, among whom
I am not fure, that I have a fingle acquaint-
ance. Was I to fuffcr my mind to be fo unac-
countably warped ; was 1 to keep fuch iniquitous
weights and meafures of temper and of reafon,
as to fympathifc with thofe who arc in open
rebellion againft an authority which 1 refpedt,
at war with a country which by every tide ought
to be, and is moft dear to me j and yet to have
no feeling at all for the hardihips and indigni-
ties fufFered by men, who, by their very vicinity,
are bound up in a nearer relation to us ; who
contribute their fhare, and more than their fliare,
to the common profperity ; who perform the
common offices of focial life, and who obey the
laws to the full as well as I do ? Gentlemen, the
danger to the ftate being out of the qucflion (of
which, let me tell you, ftatefmen themfelves are
apt to have but too exquifitc a fenfe) I could slu
fign no one reafon of juftice, policy, or feeling,
for not concurring moft cordially, as moft cor-
dially I did concur, in fbftening foinc part of
that Ihameful fervitude, under which feveral of
my worthy fellow-citizens were groaning.

Important effedls followed this act of wifdom.

They appeared at home and abroad, to the great

rv ' benefit

t 44 ]

benefit of this kingdom ; and, let mc hope, to
the advantage of mankind at large. It be-
tokened union among ourlclvcs. It Ihcwed
foundnefs, even on the part of the perftcutcd,
■which generally is the weak fide of every com-
munity. But its moll cfTential operation was not
in England. The adb was immediately, though
very imperfectly, copied in Ireland -, and this im-
perfcd tranfcript of an imperfed adl, this firit
faint (ketch of toleration, which did little more
than dilclofe a principle, and mark out a difpo-
fition, completed in a moft wonderful manner
the re- union to the Hate, of all the Catholics
of that country. It made us, what we ought
always to have been, one family, one body, one
htart and foul, againft the family-combination,
■A-r.d all other combinations of our enemies^
^Ve have indeed obligations to that people, who
received fuch fmall benefics with fo much gra^
titude *, and for which gratitude and attachment
to us, I am afraid they have fuffered not a little
in other places. :.f --f ;■•!/:, t - rr, ';k rj-jTrvr:!?. ,
• I dare fay, you have all heard of the privi-
leges indulged to the Irilh Catholics refiding in
Spain. You have like wife heard with what cir-
cumftances of feverity they have been lately ex-
pelled from the fea-ports of that kingdom j
driven into the inland cities ; and there detained
as a fort of prifoners of ftate. I have good
reafon to believe, that it was the zeal to our go-
vernment and our caufe, (fomewhat indifcreetly
exprefled in one of the addreffes of the Catholics
of Ireland) which has thus drawn down oa

r". \ their

I <

[ 45 1 '• ,

their heads the indignation of the Court of
Madrid j to the inexprefTible lofs of fcveral in-
dividuals, and in future, perhaps, to the great
deiriment of the whole of their body. Now
that our people fhould be perfecuted in Spain for
their attachment to this country, and perfecuted
in this country for their fuppofed enmity to us,
is fuch a jarring reconciliation of contradiftory
diftrefics, is a thing at once fo dreadful and ridi-
culous, that no malice (hort of diabolical, would
wifh to continue any human creatures in fuch a
fituation. But honed men will not forget either
their merit or their fufferings. There are men,
(and many, I trull, there are) who, out of love
to their country and their kind, would tor-
ture their invention to find excufes for the mif-
takes of their brethren j and who, to ftifle diflen-
fion, would conftruc, even doubtful appearances,
with the utmoft favour : fuch men will never per-
luade themfelves to be ingenious and refined in
difcovs-ring difafixrdion and treafon in the ma-
nifeft palpable figns of fufiFering loyalty. Per-
fecution is fo unnatural to them, that they
gladly fnatch the very firll opportunity of lay-
ing afide all the tricks and devices of penal po-
litics •, and of returning home, after all their irk-
fome and vexatious wanderings, to our natural
family manfion, to the grand fecial principle,
that unites all men, in all defcriptions, under the
/hadow of an equal and impartial juftice. ' *
t^'Men of another fort, I mean the bigotted ene-
(nies to liberty, may, perhaps, in their politics,'
make no account of th^ good or ill aifeclion of
'■'■"■■". .. - ■ -. . the

■^^

t 46 1

the Catholics of England, who are but an htnd^
ful of people (enough to torment, but not
enough to fear) perhaps not fo many, of both
iexes and of all ages, as fifty thoufand. But,
Gentlemen, it is pofljblc you may not know, that
the people of that perfuafion in Ireland, amount
at leuft to fixteen or fcvcnteen hundred thoufand
fouls. I do not at all exaggerate the number,
A nation to be perfccuted ! Whilft we were maf-
ters of the fca, embodied with America, and in
alliance with half the powers of the continent,
we migl . perhaps, in :liat remote corner of Eu-
rope, afford to tyrannife with impunity. But
there is a revolution in our affairs, which makes
it prudent to be julh In our late awkward con-
teft with Ireland about trade, had religion been
thrown in, to ferment and embitter the mafs
difcontents, the confcquences might have bcm
truly dreadful. But very happily, that caufe of
quarrel was previoufly quieted by the wifdom of
the adls 1 am commending.

Even in England, where I admit the danger
from the difcontent of that perfuafion to be lefs
than in Ireland •, yet even here, had we liflened
to the counfels of Fanaticifm and Folly, we might
have wounded ourlelves very deeply j and wounded
ourfelves in a very tender part. You are apprifed,
that the Catholics of England confift moftly of your
beft manufacturers. Had the legiflature chofen,
inftead of returning their declarations of duty
with correfpondent good-will, to drive them to
defpair, there is a country at their very door.

;hI'-

i 47 1

to which they would be invited ; a country In
all refpcdts as good as ours, and with the fined;
cities in the world ready built to receive them.
And thus the bigotry of a free country, and in an
enlightened age, would have repeopled the cities
of Flanders, which, in the darknefs of two hun-
dred years ago, had been delblated by the fu-
perftition of a cruel tyrant. Our manufactures
were the growth of the perfecutions in the Low
Countries. What a fpcdtacle would it be to Eu-
rope, to fee us at this time of day, balancing
the account of tyranny with thofe very countries,
and by our perfecutions, driving back Trade and
Manufacture, as a fort of vagabonds, to their
original fettlement ! But I truft we fhall be faved
this laft of difgraces.

So far as to the effcdl of the aft on the intercfts
of this nation. With regard to the interefts of
mankind at large, I am fure the benefit was very
confiderable. Long before this ad, indeed, thefpi-
rit of toleration began to gain ground in Europe.
In Holland, the third part of the people are
Catholics J they live ^t eafe-, and ag; a found
part of the ftate. In many parts of Germany,
Proteftants and Papifts partake the fame cities,
the fame councils, and even the fame churches.
The unbounded liberality of the king of Pruf-
fia's conduct on this occafion is known to all the
world \ and it is of a piece with the other grand
maxims of his reign. The magnanimity of the
Imperial Coutt, breaking through the narrow
principles of its prcdeceffors, has i"<dulged its

Proteftanc

H r ^*. \

^ 48

Profeftant fnbjeds, not only with property, ^itH
worlliip, with liberal education ; but with honour*
and tr'jfts, both civil and military. A worthy Pro*-
teftant gentleman of this country now fills, and
•fills with credit, an hi,'^h office in the Auftrian
Netherlands. Even tlie Lutheran obftinacy of
Sweden has thawed at length, and opened a
toleration to all religions. I know myfelf, that
in France the Proteftants besjin to be at reft.
The arm/, which in that country is every
thing, is open to them ; and fome of the mili-
tary rewards and decorations which the laws
deny, are iupplied by others, to make the fer-
vice acceptable and honourable. The firft mi-
nifter of finance in that country, is a Proteftant.'
Two years war without a tax, is among the firft-^-
fruits of their liberality. Tarnifhed a«! the glory
of this nation is, and far as it has wailed into the
fhades of an eclipfe, fome beams of its formel- illu-
mination ftiil play upon its furface ; and what is
done in England is ilill looked to, as argument,
and as example. It is certainly true, that no law
of this cowniry ever met with fuch univerfal ap-
plaufe abroad, or was fo likely to produce the
perfection of that tolerating f^irit, which, as I ob-
ferved, has been long gaining ground in Europe;-
for abroad, it was univerfally thought that we had
done, what, I am forry to fay, we had not ; they
thousrht we had granted a fuUtoleration. That opi-
nion was howeverfofar from Jhurting the Prot-eftant
caufe, that I declare, with the moftferious Iblemni-
ty, my firm belief, that no one thing done for thcfc
.'^m^^.iiyyi fifty

.1*-

^'•p

49 i

fifty years paft, was fo likely to prov deeply bene-*
hcial to our religion at large as Sir George Savile^s '
aft. In its efFeds it was, " art ad for to'erating
and protefting Proteftantlfm throughout Eu-
rope :'* and I hope, that thofe who were taking
leps for the quiet and fettlement of our Proteftant ;
brethren in other countiies, will even yet, rather
confider the (leady equity of the greater and bet-
ter part of the people of Great Britain, ;han the
vanity and violence of a few.
'■ I perceive, Gentlemen, by the manner of all
about me, that you look with horror on the
wicked clamour which has been raifed on this
fubje6t ; and that inftead of an apology for whac
was done, you rather demand from me an ac-
count, wh)' the execution of the fcheme of to-
leration, was not made more anfwerable to the
large and libenil grounds on which it was taken
up. The queftion is natural and proper ; and 1
remember that a great and learned magiftrate *,
diftinguiftied for his ftrong and fyftematic un-
derftanding, and 'vho at that time was a mem-
ber of the Houf<: of Commons, made the fame
objedtion to the proceeding. The ftatutes, aS
they now ftand, are, without doubt, perfedljr
abfurd. But I beg leave to explain the caufe
of this grofs imperfedion, in the tolerating plan,
as well and as Ihortly as I am able. It was uni-
verfally thought, that the feflion ought not to
pafs over without doing fomething in this bufi-
nefs. To revife the whole body of the penal

• The Chancellottr.

flatutes

I so ]

ftatutcs was conceived to be an objeft too big for
the time. The penal flatute therefore which was
chofcn for repeal (chofen to fhew our difpofition to
conciliate, not to perfect a toleration) was this a6t of
ludicrous cruelty, of which I have juft given you
the hiftory. It is an adl, which, though not by
a great deal fo fierce and bloody as fome of the
reft, was infinitely more ready in the execution.
It was the ad which gave the greateft encourage-
ment to thofe pefts of fociety, mercenary infor-
mers, and interefted difturbers of houfhold peace i
and it was obferved with truth, that the profecu-
tions, either carried to convidion or compounded,
for many years, had been all commenced upon that
adt. It was faid, that whilft we were deliberating on
a more perfefl fcheme, the fpirit of the age would
liever come up to the execution of the ftatutes
which remained ; efpecially as more fteps, and
a co-operation of more minds and powers, were
required towards a mifchievous ufe of them, than
for the execution of the ad to be repealed :
that it was better to unravel this texture from be-
low than from above, beginning with the lateft,
which, in general pradice, is the fevereft evil. It
was alledgcd, that this flow proceeding would be
attended with the advantage of a progrefllve expe-
rience ; and that the people would grow reconciled
to toleration, when they Ihould find by the effeds,
t^ ^i* juftice was not fo irreconcileable an enemy to
^\>iiirenience as they had imagined.

Thefe, Gentlemen, were the reafons why we left
this good work in the rude unfinifhed flate, in

v;hich

r;?

-^r'M*: fV

■v.

t 5' ]

, . k}^.

)|)

which good v/orks are commonly left, through the
tame circu'nfpedion with which a timid prudence
fo frequently enervates beneficence. In doing
good, we are generally cold, and languid, and
fluggifh ; and of all things afraid of being too
much in the right. But the works of malice and
injuftice are quite in another ftyle. They are
finifhed with a bold mafterly hand •, touched as
they are with the fpirit of thofe vehement paflions
that call forth all our energies whenever we op-
prefs and perfecute.

Thus this matter was left for the time, with a
full determination in Parliament, not to fuffef
other and worfe ftatutes to remain for the purpofe
of counteradbing the benefits propofed by the re-
peal of one penal law ; for nobody then dreamed
of defending what was done as a benefit, on the
ground of its being no benefit at all. We were
not then ripe for fo mean a fubterfuge.

I do not wilh to go over the horrid fcene that
was afterwards afted. W Id to God it could be
expunged for ever from the annals of this coun-
try ! But fince it muft fubfift for anr fliame, let
it fubfift for our inftru6lion. In the year i ^ S'o
there were found in this nation men deluded enough
(for I give the whole to their delufion) on pre-
tences of zeai and piety, without any fort of pro-'
vocation whatfoever, real or pretended, to make i
defperate attempt, which would have confun all
the glory and power of this country in the flames
of London ; and buried all law, order, and re-
ligion, under the ruins of the metropolis of the
' • • ■. — E 2 Prouftant

■ I 5^ 1 ,,

iProteftant world. Whether all this mifchief done,
or in the dired train of doing, was in their original
fcheme, I cannot fay ; I hope it was not ; but
this would have been the unavoidable confequence
of their proceedings, had not the flames they had
lighted up in their fury been cxtinguiflied in their
blood.

All the time that this horrid fcene was afting, or
avenging, as well as for fome time before, and ever
fince, the wicked infligators of this unhappy multi-
tude, guilty, with every aggravation, of all their
crimes, and fcreened in a cowardly darknefs from
their punifhment, continued, without interruption,
pity, or remorfe, to blew up the blind rage of the
populace, with a continued blafl: of peftilential
libels, which infeded and poifoned the very air we
breathed in. " ^" '" * ■ ' "" * '' : ;';:• '

The main drift of all the libels, and all the riots,
was, to force Parliament (to perfuade us was hope-
lefs) into an ad of national perfidy, which has
no example. For, Gentlemen, it is proper you
fhould all know what infamy we efcaped by re-
fufing that repeal, for a refufal of which, it
feems, I, among others, ftand fomewhere or other
accufed. When we took away, on the motives
which I had the honour of dating to you, a few
of the innumerable penalties upon an opprefled
and injured people, the relief was not abfolute, .
but given on a ftipulation and compad between
them and U9 •, for we bound down the Roman Ca-
tholics with the moft folemn oaths, to bear true
allegiance to this government , to abjure all fort of
t , : ii temporal

s
1

t
r
s

a-
le

t 53 3

temporal power in any other ; and to renounce,
under the fame folemnr' ligations, the do(5trines of
fyftematic perfidy, with which they flood (I con-
ceive very unjuftly) charged. Now our modeft
petitioners came up to us, mod humbly praying
nothing more, than that we fhould break our faith
without any one caufe whatfoever of forfeituic af-
figned i and when the fubjeds of this kingdom had,
on their part, fully performed their engagement, we
fhould refufe, on our part, the benefit we had ftipu-
lated on the performance of thofe very conditions
that were prefcribed by our own authority, and
taken on the fandion of our public faith — That is
to fay, when we- had inveigled them with fair pro-
mifes within our door, we were to fhut it on them 5
and, adding mockery to outrage — to tell them.
Now we have got you faft— your confciences
are bound to a power refolved on your deftruc-
tion. We have made you fwear, that your reli-
*' gion obliges you to keep your faith ; fools as
you are ! we will now let you fee, that our reli-
gion enjoins us to keep no faith with you."
They who would advifcdly call upon us to do
fuch things, muft certainly have thought us not
only a convention of treacherous tyrants, but a
gang of the loweft and dirtieft wretches that ever
difgraced humanity. Had we done this, we fhould
have indeed proved, that there were feme in the
world whom no faith could bind ; and we fhould
fiave convi^ied ourfelves of that odious principle
pf which Papifts flood accufed by thofe very favages,
-■-.;,:-- "^-.:i ;^y::. > ..-^^. E 3 v^ -, who

c«

I ,54 ]

who wifhed us, on that accufation, to deliver
them over to their fury.

In this audacious tumult, when our very name
and charafttT, as gentlemen, was to be cancelled
for ever along with the faith and honour of the
nation, I, who had exerted myfelf very little on the
quiet palling of the bill, thought it neceflary then
to come forward. I was not alone ; but though
fome diftinguifhed members on all fides, and par-
ticularly on ours, added much to their high reputa-
tion by the part they took on that day, (a part
which will be remembered as long as honour, fpi-
rit, and eloquence have eftimation in the world) I
may and will value myfelf fo far, that yielding in
abilities to many, I yielded in zeal to none. With
warmth, and with vigour, and animated with a juft
and natural indignation, I called forth every fa^
cuky that I pofTefled, and I directed it in every
way which I could poflibly employ it. I laboured
night and day. I laboured in Parliament : I la^
boured out of Parliament. If therefore the refolu-
tion of the Houfe of Commons, refufing to coms-
mit this a(5t of unmatched turpitude, be a crime, I
am guilty among the foremoft. But indeed, whatr
ever the faults of that Houfe may have been, no
one member was found hardy enough to propofe
fo infamous a thing •, and on full debate we pafled
the refolution againft the petitions with as much
unanimity, as we had formerly pafled the law of
which thefe petitions demanded the repeal.
There was a cjrcumftance (juftice will not fufFer

t 55 1

mc to pafs It over) which, if any thing could enforce
the reafons I have given, would fully juftify the aft
of relief, and render a repeal, or any thing like a re-
peal, unnatural, impoflible. It was the behaviour
of the perfecuted Roman Catholics under the ads of
violence and brutal infolence, which they fuffered. I
fuppofe there are not in London lefs than four or five
thoufand of that perfuafion from my country, who
do a great deal of the moft laborious works in the
metropolis-, and they chiefly inhabit thofe quar*^
ters, which were the principal theatre of the fury
of the bigotted multitude. They are known to be
men of (Irong arms, and quick feelings, and more
remarkable for a determined refolution, than clear
ideas, or much forefight. But though provoked
by every thing that can ftir the blood of men,
their houfes and chapels in flames, and with the
moft atrocious profanations of every thing which
they hold facred before their eyes, not a hand was
moved to retaliate, or even to defend. Had a
conflict once begun, the rage of their perfecutors
would have redoubled. Thus fury encreafmg by
the reverberation of outrages, houfe being fired
for houfe, and church for chapel, I am con-
vinced, that no power under heaven could have
prevented a general conflagration ; and at this
day London would have been a tale. But I am
well informed, and the thing fpeaks it, that their
clergy exerted their whole influence to keep their
people in fuch a ftate of forbearance and qv.iet,
as, when I look back, fills me with afl:onilh-
ynenti but not with aftonifliment only. Their
'l^' • • '■- E 4 . merits

t 56 ]

merits on that occafion ought not to be forgoir
ten ; nor will they, when Englifhmen come to
recolleft themfelvcs. I am fure it were far more
proper to have called them forth, and given them
the thanks of both Houfes of Parliament, than to
have fuffered thofe worthy clergymen, and excel-
lent citizens, to be hunted into holes and corners,
whilft we are making low-minded inquiHtions into
the number of their people j as if a tolerating prin-
ciple was never to prevail, unlefs we were very fure
that only a few could poffibly take advantage of it.
But indeed we are not yet well recovered of our
fright. Our reafon, I truft, will return with our
lecurity -, and this unfortunate temper will pafs
over like a cloud.

Gentlemen, I have now laid before you a few
of the reafons for taking away the penalties of the
aft of 1699, and for refufing to eftablifh them on
the riotous requifition of 1780. Becaufe I would
not fufFer any thing which may be for your fatisfacr
tion to efcape, permit me juft to touch on the ob-
jeftions urged againft our a6t and our refolves, and
intended as a juftification of the violence offered
to both Houfes. " Parliament," they aflert, " was
too hafty, and they ought, in fo eflential and
alarming a change, to have proceeded with a
" far greater degree of deliberation." The di-
reft contrary. Parliament was too flow. They
took fourfcore years to deliberate on the repeal
of an a£t whiph ought not to have furvived a
fecond feflfion. When at length, after a procraf-
tination of near a century, the bufinefs was taken
up, it proceeded in the rnoft public manner, by

the

[ 57 ]

the ordinary ftages, and as flowly as a law (o evi-
dently right as to be refiftcd by none, would na-
turally advance. Had it been read three times in
one day, we Ihould have Ihewn only a becoming
readinefs to recognife by protedion tht undoubted
dutiful behaviour of thofe whom we hnd but too
long puniihed for offences of prefumption or con-
jedure. But for what end was that bill to linger
beyond the ufual period of an unoppofed meafure ?
Was it to be delayed until a rabble in Edinburgh
ihould didate to the Church of England what
meafure of perfecution was fitting for her fafety ?
Was it to be adjourned until a fanatical force could
be coUefted in London, fufficient to frighten us
out of all our ideas of policy and juftice ? Were
we to wait for the profound leftures on the rea-
fon of ftate, ecclefiaftical and political, which the
Proteftant Affociation have fince condefcended to
read to us ? Or were we, feven hundred Peers and
Commoners, the only perfons ignorant of the rib-
bald invedives which occupy the place of argu-
ment in thofe .\imonftrances, which every man of
common obfervation had heard a thoufand times
over, and a thoufand times over had defpifed ?
All men had before heard what they have to fay j
and all men at this day know what they dare to do ;
and I truft, all honeft men are equally influenced
by the one, and by the other.

But they tell us, that thofe our fellow-citizens,
whofe chains we have a little relaxed, are enemies
to liberty and our free conftitution.-r-Not enemies,
} prefume, to their own liberty. And as to the

conftitution,

w^!..-J-

[ 58 ]

conftitution, until we give them fomc Ihare in it,
I do not know on what pretence we can examine
into their opinions about a bufinefs in which they
have no intcreft or concern. But after all, are we
equally fure, that they are adverfe to our confti-
tution, as that our ftatutes are hoftile and deftruc-
tive to them ? For my part, I have reafon to be-
lieve, their opinions and inclinations in that refpedt
arc various, exaftly like thofe of other men ; and
if they lean more to the Crown than I, and than
many of you think we ought, we muft remember,
that he who aims at another's life, is not to
be furprifed if he flies into any fanftuary that will
receive him. The tendernefs of the executive
power is the natural afylum of thofe upon whom
the laws have declar^^d war \ and to complain that
men are inclined to favour the means of their own
fafety, is fo abfurd, that one forgets the injuftice
in the ridicule.

I muft fairly tell you, that fo far as my prin-
ciples are concerned, (principles, that I hope will
only depart with my iaft breath) that I have no idea
of a liberty unconneded with honefty and juftice.
Nor do I believe, that any good conftitutions of
government or of freedom, can find it neceflary for
their fecurity to doom any part of the people to 9
permanent flavery. Snchaconftitution of freedom, if
fuch can be, is in effed no more than another name
for the tyranny of the ftrongeft fadionj and fadions
in republics have been, and are, full as capable
as monarchs, of the moil cruel oppreffion and in-
juftice. It i§ but too true, that the love, and ever\

thQ

[.59 1

the very idea, of genuine liberty, is extremely rare.
It is but too true, that there are many, whofe whole
fcheme of freedom, is made up of pride, pervcrfc-
nefs, and infolence. They feel themfelves in a ftate
of thraldom, they imagine that their fouls are
cooped and cabbined in, unlefs they have fome
man, or fome body of men, dependent on their
mercy. This dcfire of having fome one i}elow
them, defcends to thofe who are the very loweli:
of all,— and a Proteftant cobler, debafed by his
poverty, but exalted by his fhare of the ruling
church, feels a pride in knowing, it is by his
generofity alone, that the peer, whofe footman's
inftep he meafures, is able to keep his chaplain
from a jail. This difpofition is the true fource of
the paflion, which many men in very humble life,
have taken to the American war. Our fubjed^s
in America \ eur colonies ; our dependants. This
luft of party-power, is the liberty they hunger and
thirft for ; and this Syren fong of ambition, has
charmed ears, that one would have thought were
never organifed to that fort of mulic.

This way, oi profcribing the citizens hy denomina-
fions and general defcn^^tionSj dignified by the name
of reafon of ftate, and fecurity for conftitutions
and commonwealths, is nothing better at bottom,
than the miferable invention of an ungenerous
ambition, which would fain hold the facred truft
of power, without any of the virtues or any of
the energies, that give a title to it ; a receipt of
policy, made up of a deteftable compound of ma^
lice, cowardice, and floth. They would govern
2 men

t 6o ]

men againft their will ; but in tb^t government
they would be difcharged from the excrcife of vigi-
lance, providence, and fortitude -, and therefore,
that they may flcep on their watch, they confent to
take fome one divifion of the focicty into partner-
Ihip of the tyranny over the reft. But let govern-
ment, in what form it may be, comprehend the
whole in its juftice, and reftrain the fufpicious by its
vigilance -, let it keep watch and ward ; let it difco-
ver by its fagacity, and punifh by its firmnefs, all
delinquency againft its power, whenever delin-
quency exifts in the overt a6ls -, and then it will be
as fafe as ever God and nature intended it (hould be.
Crimes are the adbs of individuals, and not of deno-
minations } and therefore arbitrarily to clafs men
under general defcriptions, in order to profcribe

' and punifh them in the lump for a prefumed
delinquency, of which perhaps but a part, perhaps
none at all, are guilty, is indeed a compendious
method, and faves a world of trouble about proof ;
but fuch a method, inftead of being law, is an a6t of
unnatural rebellion againft the legal dominion of
reafon and juftice ; and this vice, in any conftitu-
tion that entertains it, at one time or other will
certainly bring on its ruin.

We are told, that this is not a religious perle-
cution, and its abettors are loud in difclaiming
all feverities on account of confcience. Very fine
indeed ! then let it be fo -, they are not perfecu-
tors ♦, they are only tyrants. With all my heart.
I am perfeftly indifferent concerning the pretexts
upon which we torment one another ; or whether

, it he for the conftitution of the Church of England,

t 6i 1

or for tfie conftitution of the State of England, >
that people choofe to make their fellow-crea-
tures wreuhcd. When we were fcnt into a place of
authority, you that fcnt us had yourfelves but one
comniiflion to give. You could give us none to
wrong or opprefs, or even to fufFer any kind of
oppreflion or wrong, on any grounds whatfoever %
not on political, as in the affairs of America } not '
on commercial, as in thofe of Ireland •, not in civil,
as in the laws for debt -, not in religious, as in the
ftatutes againft Proteftant or Catholic Diflcnters.*
The diverfified but connefted fabric of univerfal
juftice, is well cramped and bolted together in all ^
its parts*, and depend upon it, I never have em- '
ployed, and I never Ihall employ, any engine of
power which may come into my hands, to wrench
it afunder. All ihall fland, if I can help it, and
all (hall fland conneded. After all, to complete
this work, much remains to be done ; much in
the Eaft, much in the Wefl. But great as the
work is, if our will be ready, our powers are not
deficient. . . / . ' ' . "^ . , ^ -r^

Since you have fufTered me to trouble you fo
much on this fubjedl, permit me, Gentlemen, to
detain you a little longer. I am indeed mofl foli-
citous to give you perfeA fatisfadion. I find there
are fome of a better and fofter nature than the ,
perfons with whom I have fuppofed myfelf in de^ •
bate, who neither think ill of the aft of relief, nor
by any means defire the repeal, not accufing but
lamenting what was done, on account of the con- ,
fequcnces, have frequently expreiTed their wifh,
,^ that

[ 62 ]

that thfi late aft had never been made. Some
of this dcfcription, and perfons cf worth, I
have met with in this city. They conceive, that
the prejudices, whatever they might be, of a large
part of the people, ought not to have been fhock-
cd J that their opinions ought to have been pre-
vioufly taken, and much attended to; and that
thereby the late horrid fcenes might have been pre-
vented.

I confefs, my notions are widely different; and
I never was lefs^ forry for any aftion of my life.
I like the bill the better, on account of the events
of all kinds that followed it. It relieved the real
fufferers ; it ftrengrhened the (late ; and, by the
diforders that enfued, v/c had clear evidence, that
chere luriced a temper fomewhere, which ought not
to be foftered by the laws. No ill confequencti
whatever could be attributed to the aft itfelf. We
knew before-hand, or we were poorly inftrufted,
that toleration is odious to the intolerant ; freedom
to oppreffors •, property to robbers ; and all kinds
and degrees of profperity to the envious. We
knew, th?\t all thefe kinds of men would gladly
gratify their evil difpofitions under the fanftion of
law and religion, if they could : if they couM not,
yet, to make way to their objefts, they would
do their utnioft to fubvert all religion and all law.
This we certainly ^.;new. But knowing this, is
there any reafon, becaufe thieves break in and (leal,
and thu": bring detriment to you, and draw ruin on
themfeh s, that I am to be forry that you are in
po(re{rion of fliops, and of warehoufes, and of

wholefomc

t 63 1

wholcfome laws toprotedtthem? Areyoutobuildno
houfes, becaufe defperate men may pull them down
upon their own heads ? Or, if a malignant wretch
will cut his own throat, becaufe he fees you give
alms to the ncceflitous and deferving ; (hall his
deftrudion be attributed to your charity, and not
to his own deplorable madnefs ? If we repent of
our good adions, what, I pray you, is left for our
faults and follies ? It is not the beneficence of the
laws, ic is the unnatural temper which beneficence
can fret and four, that is to be lamented. It is
this temper which, by all rational means, ought to
be fweetened and corredted. If froward men
fhould refufe this cure, can they 'vitiate any
thing but thtmfelves ? Does evil fo readt upon
good, as not only to retard its motion, but to
change its nature ? If it can fo operate, then good
men will always be in the power of the bad -, and
virtue, by a d.^adful reverfe of order, muft lie un-
der perpetual fubjedlion and bondage to vice.

As to the opinion of the people, which fome
think, in fuch cafes, is to be implicitly obeyed j
near two ye?rs tranquillity, which followed the
adl, and its inftant imitation in Ireland, proved
abundantly, that the late horrible fpirit was, in a
great meafure, the effedt of infidious art, and per-
vcrfc induftry, and grofs mifreprefentation. But
fuppofe that the diflike had been much more delibe-
rate, and much more general than I am perfuadcd
it was—When we know, that the opinions of even
thegreateft multitudes, are the ftandard of reditu de,,
I fliall think my felf obliged to make thofe opinions
' "-' . the

t ^4 1

the maftcrs of my confcience. But if it may be
doubted whether Omnipotence itfclf is competent
to alter the cflential conftitution of right and
wrong, fure I am, that fueh things^ as they and T,
are poflefled of no fuch power. No man carries
further than I do the policy of making govern-
ment pleafmg to the people. But the wideft
range of this politic complaifance is confined with-
in the limits of juftice. I would not only confult
the intereft of the people, but I would chearfully
gratify their humours. We are all a fort of chil-
dren, that muft be foothed and managed. I think
I am not auftere or formal in my nature. I would
bear, I would even myfelf play my part in, any
innocent buffooneries, to divert them. But I ne-
ver will adt the tyrant for their amulement. If
they will mix malice in their fports, I (hall never
confent to throw them any living, fentient, creature
whatfoever, no not fo much as a kitling, to tor-
ment.

" But if I profefs all this impolitic ftubbornnefs,
*' I may chance never to be eledlcd into Parliament."
It is certainly not pleafing to be put out of the
public fervice. But I wifti to be a member of
Parliament, to have my (hare of doing good, and
refifting tvil. It would therefore be abfurd to re-
nounce my objeds, in order to obtain my feat. I
deceive myfelf indeed mofr grofsly, if I had not
much rather pafs the remainder of my life hidden
in the recefles of the deepeft obfcurity, feeding my
mind even with the vifions and imaginations of fuch
things, than to be placed on the moft fplendid
^ ^ '^ ^ * throne

PHiPl^^iPVPIi^m^lHwn^iiu ,i.iJi. . .

^-*f

L 65 1

throng of the univerfe, tantalized with a denial
of the pradtice of all which can make the greateft
ifituation any other than the greateft curfe. Gen^
demert, I have had my day A I can never fuffici-
ently exprefs my gratitude to you, for having fet
me in a place, wherein I could lend the flighteil
help to great and laudable dcfigns. If I have had
my fhare, in any meafure giving quiet to private
property, and private confcience •, if by my vote I
have aided in fecuring to families the beft poflef-
fion, peace ; if I have joined in reconciling kings
to their fubjefls, and fubjefts to their prince; if I
have aflifted to loofen the foreign holdings of the
citizen, and taught him to look for his protedion
to the laws of his country, and for his comfort to
the goodwill cf his countrymen ;— if I have thus
taken my part with the beft of men in the beft of
their anions, I can (hut the book -j-^*-! might wilh
to read a page or two more— but this is enough for
my meafure." — I h ave not lived in va in.

And now, Gentlemen, on this ferious day, when
1 come, as it were, to make up my account with
you, let me take to myfelf fome degree of honeft
pride on the nature of the charges that are .
againft me. I do not here ftand before you ac-
cufed of venality, or of negledl of duty. It is not
faid, that, in the long period of my fervice, I
have, in a fingle inftance, facrificed the flighteft
of your interefts to my ambition, or to my for-
tune. It is not alledged, that to gratify any
anger, or revenge of my own, or of my party^
I have had a Ihare in wronging or opprcfling

tvC

V*; -.F-

»■

'*'' :'-»i'

%**

I 66 1

any defcription of men, or any one man in any
dcfcriptian. No ! the charges againft me, are all
of one kind, that I have pufhed the principles
of general juftice and benevolence too far ; further
than a cautious policy would warranty and further
than the opinions of many would go along with me.
' *— In every accident which may happen through
life, in pain, in forrow, in depreflion, and diftrefs—
I will call to mind this accufatlon -, and be com-
forted.

Gentlemen, I fubmit the whole to your judg-
ment. Mr, Mayor, I thank you for the trouble
you have taken on this occafion. In your (late
of health, it is particularly obliging. If this
company fhould think it advifeable for me to
withdraw, T fhall refpedtfully retire ; if you think
otherwifc, 1 ihall go diredly to the Council-houfe
4nd to the Change, and without a moment's de«
lay, begin my canvafs. ; -

•■4-: ■:

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THE END,

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