;W'' THE /// MODERN ORATOR. THE SPEECHES OF THE EARL OF CHATHAM. '^f' LONDON : AYLOTT k JONES, 8, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND ALIi BOOKSELEEBS. 1845. ¥ .Mi INDEX TO THE SPEECHES OF THE EAEL OF CHATHAM. Page On the Address of Congratulation to King George II. on the Marriage of the Prince of Wales, April 29th, 1736 1 In Favour of a Reduction of the Land Forces, February 4th, 1738 3 On the Spanish Convention, March 8th, 1738 5 In opposition to a ** Bill for the encouragement and increase of Seamen, and for the better and speedier manning of his Majesty's Fleet," March 10th, 1740 8 On the Address to the King for the removal of Sir Robert Walpole, February 13th, 1741 12 On the motion for a Committee to inquire into the conduct of the Government during the last ten years of Sir Robert Walpole's Administration, March 23rd, 1742. . . . 16 On a clause in the Mutiny Bill for subjecting Officers on half-pay to Martial Law, 1748 23 On the American Stamp Act, January 14th, 1765 24 On the Address to the King on the opening of Parliament, January 9th, 1770 31 On the Proceedings of the House of Commons with reference to the election of Mr Wilkes, as M. P. for Middlesex, January 9th, 1770 36 On the Motion of the Marquis of Rockingham for appointing a day to take into con- sideration the state of the nation, January 22nd, 1770 43 On the Exercise of the judicature of the House of Commons in matters of Election, February 2nd, 1770 49 On a Motion for appointing a Committee to inquire into the Expenditure of the Civil List, March 16th, 1770 52 On a Motion for production of Correspondence and Papers in consequence of the seizure of the Falkland Islands by Spain, November 22nd, 1770 55 In opposition to a Bill for quartering Troops in America, May 27th, 1774 68 On Moving an Address to the King to recall the Troops from Boston, January 20th, 1775 71 In support of an Amendment to the Address to the King, on his Majesty's speech on the opening of Parliament, on the 20th November, 1777 77 In opposition to a Motion to adjourn the House till the 20th of January, 1778; — on the 11th December, 1777 85 On the Motion of the Duke of Richmond, on the 7th of April, 1778, for an Address to the King, beseeching his Majesty to recognise the independence of America, by withdrawing his Troops, and to dismiss his Ministers 89 ItAP ^6-003 69 "^ INTRODUCTION. It is by no means uncommon to find writers on literature assign to the ora- torical productions of modern ages, a position very inferior to those of the ancient, and too many are apt to yield a ready assent to so degrading a classi- fication, without having previously fairly investigated the question. The real advantage possessed by the ancient over modern orations is, that the former have been diligently studied, and are well known, while very few persons, comparatively, have even read the splendid and imposing speeches of the great orators of their own country. But if a candid and impartial comparison were made between the far-famed productions of the orators of Greece and Rome, which have been handed down as the models of a truly elegant and forcible style, and those of many of the great men who have been at once the pride and ornament of the British parliament and bar, no lover of his country need dread the result. To be able properly to canvass the merits of the ancient and modern schools (so to speak), regard must be had to the state of society at the different periods. Many of the justly-famed speeches of Cicero, it must be confessed by his most ardent admirers, if de- livered to a modern audience, would be far from effective or persuasiA'e, which is the real aim of all oratory ; the ease and harmony of his well modulated sentences might gratify the ear for a time, but the pompous and egotistical style which he too frequently indulges in, would, in the present day, be re- jected as little short of mere declamation. The more nervous and forcible n INTKODirCTION. style of Demosthenes is far more adapted to an advanced state of society, and resembles more closely the modern style of public speaking, aiming, as it does, more to convince the mind than to please the ear. Constituted as modern assemblies usually are now, of persons of cultivated minds and re- fined tastes, it would be unreasonable to expect that our modern orators should adopt a style which has ceased to be effective, and rely more on ornament and a declamatory appeal to the passions, than strict sound sense and convincing argument ; but they have, notmthstanding, triumphantly shown to the world that they have not allowed the poetic genius of their minds to be cramped by the closeness of their reasoning, for while they have far excelled the great public speakers of ancient days in sound logical argu- ment, they have, at the same time, embodied it in beauty of language that has never been, and probably never will be, surpassed. Where can be found brighter examples of stern patriotic eloquence than in some of the orations of Lord Chatham ? whose wonderful powers of elocution the celebrated Irishb orator, Grattan, has thus beautifully recorded : — " His eloquence was an era in the senate, peculiar and spontaneous, familiarly expressing gigantic ideas and instinctive wisdom. Not like the torrent of Demosthenes or the splendid conflagration of TuUy — ^it resembled sometimes the thunder and sometimes the music of the spheres. Like Murray, he did not conduct the understand- ing through the painful subtilty of argumentation, nor was he, like Townsend, for ever on the rack of invention, but rather lightened upon the subject, and reached the point by the flashings of his mind, which, like those of the eye, were felt, but could not be followed." But Lord Chatham stands neither alone nor foremost — ^he is only one of the bright phalanx of the orators of the United Kingdom, who have bequeathed to their admiring country lasting monuments of native talent. Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Burke, Grattan, Erskine, and others, too numerous to mention, but Avhose names will be remembered as long as history survives, swell the illustrious train, and have left lasting proofs that the superiority of ancient over modern elocution, has now, at least, ceased. That it may not be supposed that the Editors of this work have pre- simied to take up a position unwarranted by authority, they beg to refer to one instance of modern eloquence, out of many, which, according to the re- TNTROBTJCTION. Ul corded opinions of men whose authority on such a subject all are bound to admit, was never equalled by any of the ancients — namely, the truly cele- brated speech of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, in the year 1787, on the motion for the impeachment of Warren Hastings, on the third charge against him, and which is thus noticed in the history of the period : — " In this state of the proceeding, Mr Sheridan brought forward, on the 7th of February, the charge against the Begum princesses of Oude, and delivered that celebrated speech, whose effect upon its hearers has no parallel in the annals of ancient or modern eloquence. The subject was particularly favourable to a display of that kind of impassioned eloquence in which the orators of antiquity, when acting as public accusers, so much excelled ; and it was agreed on all hands, that never in the British senate, nor probably anywhere else, was a speech of this class delivered comparable to that of Sheridan on this occa- sion. For five hours and a half he kept the attention of the House fascinated by his eloquence, and when he sat down, the whole assembly, consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament, besides an audience of distin- guished visitors, involuntarily joined in a tumult of applause. Mr Burke pronounced it to be the most astonishing effort of argument, eloquence, and wit united, of which there is any record or tradition. Mr Fox declared that all he had ever heard, all that he had ever read, when compared with it, dwindled into nothing, and vanished like vapour before the sun ; and even Mr Pitt acknowledged, that it surpassed all the eloquence of ancient or modern times, and possessed everything that genius or art could furnish to agitate and control the human mind." It cannot but be regretted that the study of the speeches of our great modern orators, which rank so high in a literary point of view, should have been hitherto so much neglected. The only reason that can be given for their being so seldom found in libraries is the exceedingly high price at which most of them are published, which places them beyond the reach of many who would otherwise possess them. To supply this defect, " The Modern Orator" is now issued at a price which will place it at the command of all the reading public, and will contain the finest speeches of the most distinguished orators of the United Kingdom, carefully selected ; including those of Lord Chatham, Burke, Pitt, Fox,^ Sheridan, Erskine, Grattan, Curran, Canning, b2 IV INTRODUCTION. Wyndham, Huskisson, Brougham, Shell, &c., &c. ; with short explanatory notes. Of the intrinsic value of such a collection it is needless to speak ; but it is presumed that it will be also found an useful addition to the library as a book of reference. The Editors sincerely hope it may meet the approval of the Public, to whose liberal support they look with confidence ; but should they be doomed to be disappointed in their expectations, they will, at least, feel a consolation and an honest pride in having endeavoured, by their humble means, to elevate the literature of their country. London, January, 1846. THE MODERN ORATOR. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. "William Pitt was born in St James's, Westminster, the 15th November. 1708 ; created Viscount Pynsent and Earl of Chatham, in July, 176G ; died the 11th May, 1778 ; and was interred in Westminster Abbey, where a public monument commemorates his fame. The speeches of Mr Pitt, delivered prior to the year 1760, in conse- quence of the then imperfect mode of reporting, do not support the high fame to which that great statesman is justly entitled ; they, however, fully display the exceeding candour, probity, and patriotism which always charac- terised him. The following was Mr Pitt's first speech in parliament, and was de- livered on the 29th April, 1736, in support of the motion of Mr Pulteney for an address of congratulation to his Majesty King George II., on the nuptials of his Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wales, with the Princess of Saxe Gotha : — " Sir, " I am imable to offer anything that has not been said by my honour- able friend who made the motion, in a manner much more suitable to the dignity and importance of the subject. But I am really affected with the prospect of the blessings to be derived to my country from this so desirable and long-desired measure, the marriage of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales ; I cannot forbear troubling you with a few words, to express my joy, and to mingle my humble offering, inconsiderable as it is, with this oblation of thanks and congratulation to his Majesty. " How great soever the joy of the public may be, and very great it cer- tainly is, in receiving this benefit from his Majesty, it must be inferior to 2 THE MODEKN ORATOR. that high satisfaction which he himself enjoys in bestowing it ; and if I may be allowed to suppose, that to a royal mind anything can transcend the pleasure of gratifying the impatient wishes of a loyal people, it can only be the paternal delight of tenderly indulging the most dutiful application, and most humble request, of a submissive obedient son. I mention, Sir, his Royal Highness's having asked a marriage, because something is, in justice, due to him, for having asked what we are so strongly bound, by all the ties of duty and gratitude, to return his Majesty our most humble acknowledg- ments for having granted. " The marriage of a Prince of Wales, Sir, has at all times been a matter of the highest importance to the public welfare, to present and to future generations ; but at no time has it been a more important, a more dear con- sideration, than at this day : if a character, at once amiable and respectable, can embellish, and even dignify, the elevated rank of a Prince of Wales. Were it not a sort of presumption to follow so great a person through his hours of retirement, to view him in the milder light of domestic life, we should find him engaged in the noble exercise of humanity, benevolence, and of every social virtue. But, Sir, how pleasing, how captivating soever such a scene may be, yet, as it is a private one, I fear I should offend the delicacy of that virtue I so ardently desire to do justice to, should I offer it to the consideration of this House. But, Su', filial duty to his Royal parents, a gene- rous love of liberty, and a just reverence for the British constitution ; these are public virtues, and cannot escape the applause and benedictions of the public. They are virtues, Sir, which render his Royal Highness not only a noble ornament, but a firm support, if any could possibly be necessary, of that throne so greatly fiUed by his Royal father. "I have been led to say thus much of his Royal Highness's character, be- cause it is the consideration of that character which, above all things, en- forces the justice and goodness of his Majesty in the measure now before us ; a measure which the nation thought could never come too soon, because it brings with it the promise of an additional strength to the Protestant succes- sion in his Majesty's illustrious and royal house. The spirit of liberty dic- tated that succession. The same spirit now rejoices, in the prospect of its being perpetuated to latest posterity. It rejoices in the wise and happy choice which his Majesty has been pleased to make of a princess, so amiably distinguished in herself, so illustrious in the merit of her family, the glory of whose great ancestor it is, to have sacrificed himself to the noblest cause for which a prince can draw his sword, the cause of liberty and the pro- testant religion. Such, Sir, is the marriage, for which our most humble acknowledgments are due to his Majesty ; and may it afford the comfort of seeing the Royal family (numerous as I thank God it is) still growing and rising up in a third generation ! a family. Sir, which I most sincerely wish may be as immortal as those liberties and that constitution it came to maintain ; and, therefore, I am heartily for the motion." "^he motion was carried unanimously. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 3 Speech in favour of a reduction of the Land Forces, in reply to Sir Thomas Ijumley Sanderson, afterwards Earl of Scarborough, delivered February 4th, 1738:— " Sm, " As to what the honourable gentleman has said, respecting those whom he calls placemen, I agree with him, that, if they were to be directed in their opinions by the places they held, they might unite, for the support of each other, against the common good of the nation ; but I hope none of them are under any such directions. I am sure the honourable gentleman himself is not, and, therefore, I am convinced he is not serious, when he talks of being surprised at any placeman's declaring for a reduction of our army, for, of all men, those who enjoy any places of profit under our government ought to be the most cautious of loading the public with any unnecessary tax or expense ; because, as the places they possess generally bring them in more than their share of our taxes can amount to, it may be properly said that, by consenting to any article of public expense, they lay a load upon others which they themselves bear no share of. " I must look upon myself as a placeman, as well as the honourable gentle- man who spoke last."^ I am. in the service of one of the branches of the royal family ,f and I think it my honour to be so ; but I should not think it if I were not as free to give my opinion upon any question that happens in this House as I was before I had any such place ; and I believe, from the behaviour of gentlemen upon this very occasion, it will appear that all those who are in the service with me are in the same state of freedom, because I beUeve they will, upon the question now before us, appear to be of different opinions. But there is another set of placemen, whose behaviour surprises me not a little, because, upon every question respecting public affairs, they are always unanimous ; and I confess it is to me a little astonishing that two or three hundred gentlemen should, by an unaccountable sort of unanimity, always agree in opinion upon the many different questions which occur annually. I am convinced this surprising unanimity does not proceed from any effect of the places they hold under the Crown ; for, if it did, a man's being possessed of any place under the Crown would, in such a case, I am sure, be an infallible reason for the people not to trust him with the preserva- tion of their liberties, or the disposal of their properties in Parliament. " Then, as to the Tories,| and suspected Jacobites, I am surprised to hear any comparison made between them and the fat man in the crowd. There are so few of either in the kingdom, that I am sure they can give no man an occasion for being afraid of them, and, therefore, there is not the least shadoAv of reason for saying they are the occasion of our being obliged to keep such a numerous standing army. * Sir Thomas L. Sanderson was treasurer to the Prince of "Wales. / / t Mr Pitt was groom of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales. X It will be remembered that, after the flight of James II., the tories were in favour of the succession of his son, and the appointment of a regent during his minority, // 4 THE MODERN ORATOR. "Oar large army may properly be compared to the fat man in the crowd ; for the keeping up of such an army is the first cause of our discontents, and those discontents new, we find, are made the chief pretence for keeping the army. Remove, therefore, the army, or but a considerable part of it, and the discontents complained of will cease. " I come now to the only argument the honourable gentleman made use of, which can admit a serious consideration ; and if our army were entirely, or but generally, composed of veterans, inured to the fatigues and the dangers of war, and such as had often ventured their lives against the enemies of their country, I confess the argument would have a great weight. But, considering the circumstances of our present army, I can hardly think my honourable friend was serious when he made use of such argument. As for the officers of the army, they are quite out of the question ; for, in case of a reduction, there is a handsome provision for every one of them. No man can doubt, nor would any man oppose, their being put upon half-pay ; and I must observe, that our half-pay is better, or as good, as full pay, I believe, in any other country in Europe ; for, in the method our army is now kept up, I could show, by calculation, that it costs the nation more than would maintain three times the number of men either in France or Germany. And, as for the soldiers, I believe it may be said of at least three-fourths of them, that they never went under any fatigue except that of a review, nor were ever exposed to any dan- ger, except in apprehending smugglers, or dispersing mobs ; therefore, I must think, they have no claim for any greater reward than the pay they have already received, nor should I think we were guilty of the least ingratitude if they were all turned adrift to-morrow morning. " But suppose, Sir, the soldiers of our army were all such as had served a campaign or two against a public enemy ; is it from thence to be inferred that they must for ever after live idly, and be maintained at the expense of their country, and that in such a manner as to be dangerous to the liberties of their country ? At this rate, if a man has but once ventured his life in the service of his country, he must for ever be not only a burthen, but a terror, to his country. This would be a sort of reward which I am sure no brave soldier would accept of, nor any honest one desire. That we should show a proper gratitude to those who have ventured their lives in the service of their coun- try, is what I shall readily acknowledge ; but this gratitude ought to be shown in such a way as not to be dangerous to our liberties, nor too burthen- some to the people ; and, therefore, when a war is at an end, if a soldier can provide for himself, either by his labour, or by his o^vn private fortune, he ought not to expect, and, if he is not of a mercenary disposition, he will scorn to receive, any other rewards than those which consist in the peculiar honour and privileges which may and ought to be conferred upon him. " That we ought to show a proper gratitude to every man who has ventured his life in the cause of his country, is what, I am sure, no gentleman will deny. Yet, as the laws now stand, an old officer, who has often ventured his life, and often spilt his blood, in the service of his country, may be dis- THE EARL OF CHATHAM. missed, and reduced, perhaps, to a starving condition, at the arbitrary will and pleasure, perhaps at the whim, of a minister ;'^* so that by the present establishment of the army, the reward of a soldier seems not to depend upon the services done to his country, but upon the services he does to those who happen to be ministers at the time. Must not this be allowed to be a de- fect in the present establishment ? And yet when a law was proposed for supplying this defect, we may remember what reception it met with, even from those who now insist so highly upon the gratitude we ought to show the gentlemen of the army." Ever since the treaty of Seville, in 1729, the British merchants had been much harassed and annoyed by the Spaniards in America, who, under the pretence of searching for contraband goods, boarded British ships with the greatest violence, and in some cases actually confiscated them. Sir Robert Walpole, then prime minister, took no measures to assert the honour of the country, feeling that a war would occasion him the loss of office, by the ex- penditure of treasure which he then employed to maintain himself in power. In the speech from the throne, on the 1st February, 1738, the King in- formed the Parliament that a convention had been concluded between him and the King of Spain ; and that reparation was to be made by the latter for the losses sustained by British subjects ; and that plenipotentiaries had been appointed for settling all matters in dispute. This was the famous conven- tion concluded at Pardo on the 14th January, 1738 — on the 8th March, 1738, the day appointed for taking the convention into consideration in the House of Commons, 400 members took their seats by eight o'clock in the morning, when Mr Horace Walpole, in favour of ministers, moved that an address of approbation be presented to his Majesty, which was seconded by Mr Camp- bell, upon which Mr Pitt, " with an energy of argument and diction (as the historian Smollett writes) peculiar to himself, declaimed against the conven- tion," in a speech of which the following is the only report that has been preserved : — "Sir, *' I can by no means think, that the complicated question now before us is the proper, the direct manner of taking the sense of this committee. We have here the soft name of an humble address to the Crown proposed, and for no other end but to lead gentlemen into an approbation of the con- vention. But is this that full, deliberate examination which we were with defiance called upon to give ? Is this cursory blended disquisition of matters, of such variety and extent, all we owe to ourselves and our country ? ^^Hien trade is at stake, it is your last entrenchment ; you must defend it, or perish ; and whatever is to decide, that deserves the most distinct consideration, and the most direct, undisguised sense of Parliament. But how are we now proceeding ? Upon an artificial, ministerial question — here is all the con- * Sir Robert Walpole, irritated by the opposition of Mr Pitt, had deprived him of his cometcy, from caprice, in 1736. 6 THE MODERN ORATOE. fidcnce, here is the conscious sense of the greatest service that ever was done to this country ; to be complicating questions, to be lumping sanction and approbation like a commissary's account ; to be covering and taking sanctuary in the royal name, instead of meeting openly, and standing fairly, the direct judgment and sentence of parliament upon the several articles of this convention. " You have been moved to vote an humble address of thanks to his Majesty, for a measure which (I Avill appeal to gentlemen's conversation in the world) is odious throughout the kingdom. Such thanks are only due to the fatal influence that framed it, as are due for that low, unallied condition abroad, which is now made a plea for this convention. To what are gentlemen reduced in support of it? First, try a little to defend it upon its own merits; if that is not tenable, throw out general terrors — the house of Bourbon is united — who knows the consequence of a war? Sir, Spain knows the con- sequence of a war in America; whoever gains, it must prove fatal to her; she knows it, and must therefore avoid it ; but she knows England does not dare to make it ; and what is a delay, which is all this magnified convention is sometimes called, to produce ? Can it produce such conjunctures as those you lost, while you were giving kingdoms to Spain, and all to bring her back again to that great branch of the house of Bourbon which is now thrown out to you with so much terror ? If this union be formidable, are we to delay only till it becomes more formidable, by being carried further into execution, and more strongly cemented ? But be it what it will, is this any longer a nation, or what is an English parliament, if, with more ships in your harbours than in all the navies of Europe, with above two millions of people in your American colonies, you will bear to hear of the expediency of receiving from Spam an insecure, unsatisfactory, dishonourable convention ? Sir, I call it no more than it has been proved in this debate ; it carries fallacy, or downright subjection, in almost every line. It has been laid open and exposed in so many strong and glaring lights, that I can pretend to add nothing to the conviction and indignation it has raised. " Su', as to the great national objection — the searching your ships — that favourite word, as it was called, is not omitted, indeed, in the preamble to the convention, but it stands there as the reproach of the whole — as the strongest evidence of the fatal submission that follows. On the part of Spain, an usurpation, an inhuman tyranny, claimed and exercised over the American seas ; on the part of England, an undoubted right, by treaties, and from God and nature, declared and asserted in the resolutions of parliament, are referred to the discussion of plenipotentiaries, upon one and the same equal foot. Sir, I say this undoubted right is to be discussed and regulated. And if to regulate be to prescribe rules (as in all construction it is), this right is, by the express words of this convention, to be given up and sacrificed ; for it must cease to be anything from the moment it is submitted to limits. " The court of Spain has plainly told you (as appears by papers upon the table) you shall steer a due course ; you shall navigate by a line to and firom THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 7 your plantations in America ; if you draw near to her coasts (though from the circumstances of that navigation you are under an unavoidable necessity of doing it) you shall be seized and confiscated. If, then, upon these terms only she has consented to refer, what becomes at once of all the security we are flattered with in consequence of this reference ? Plenipotentiaries are to regulate finally the respective pretensions of the two crowns with regard to trade and navigation in America ; but does a man in Spain reason that these pretensions must be regulated to the satisfaction and honour of England ? No, Sir, they conclude, and with reason, from the high spirit of their admin- istration, from the superiority with which they have so long treated you, that this reference must end, as it has begun, to their honour and advantage. " But gentlemen say, the treaties subsisting are to be the measure of this regulation. Sir, as to treaties, I will take part of the words of Sir William Temple, quoted by the honourable gentleman near me ; it is vain to negotiate and make treaties, if there is not dignity and vigour to enforce the observance of them ; for under the misconstruction and misrepresentation of these very treaties subsisting, this intolerable grievance has arisen ; it has been growing upon you, treaty after treaty, through twenty years of negotiation, and even under the discussion of commissaries, to whom it was referred. You have heard from Captain Vaughan, at your bar,* at what time these injuries and indignities were continued. As a kind of explanatory comment upon the convention Spain has thought fit to grant you, as another insolent protest, under the validity and force of which she has suffered this convention to be pro- ceeded upon. We'll treat with you, but we'll search and take your ships ; we'll sign a convention, but we'll keep your subjects prisoners, prisoners in Old Spain ; the West Indies are remote ; Europe shall be witness how we use you. " As to the inference of an admission of our right not to be searched, dra^vn from a reparation made for ships unduly seized and confiscated, I think that argument is very inconclusive. The right claimed by Spain to search our ships is one thing, and the excesses admitted to have been committed in con- sequence of this pretended right, is another; but surely, sir, reasoning from inferences and implication only, is below the dignity of your proceedings, upon a right of this vast importance. What this reparation is, what sort of composition for your losses, forced upon you by Spain, in an instance that has come to Hght, where your own commissaries could not in conscience decide against your claim, has fully appeared upon examination ; and, as for the payment of the sum stipulated (all but seven and twenty thousand pounds, and that, too, subject to a drawback), it is evidently a fallacious nominal pay- ment only. I will not attempt to enter into the detail of a dark, confused, and scarcely intelligible account ;f I will only beg leave to conclude with one * The House of Commons, in a grand committee, in 1737, had heard counsel for the merchants, and received evidence at the bar, on the subject of the Spanish depr6dations. t Mr Smollett relates, that Mr Gage, one of the most keen- spirited and sarcastic members in the House, stated the account thus: — "The losses sustained by Spanish depredations amounted to £340,000 ; the Commissary, by a stroke of his pen, reduced 8 THE MODERX OKATOR. word upon it, in the light of a submission, as well as of an adequate repara- tion. Spain stipulates to pay to the crown of England ninety-five thousand pounds ; by a preliminary protest of the King of Spain, the South Sea Com- pany is at once to pay sixty-eight thousand of it : if they refuse, Spain, I admit, is still to pay the ninety-five thousand pounds — but how does it stand then ? The Assiento contract is to be suspended ; you are to purchase this sum at the price of an exclusive trade, pursuant to a national treaty, and an immense debt of God knows how many hundred thousand pounds due from Spain to the South Sea Company. Here, Sir, is the submission of Spain, by the payment of a stipulated sum ; a tax laid upon subjects of England, under the severest penalties, with the reci- procal accord of an English minister, as a preliminary that the convention may be signed ; a condition imposed by Spain in the most absolute, imperious manner, and received by the ministers of England in the most tame and abject. Can any verbal distinctions, any evasions whatever, possibly explain away this public infamy ? To whom would we disguise it ? To ourselves and to the nation. I wish we could hide it irom the eyes of every court in Europe. They see Spain has talked to you like your master; they see this arbitrary fundamental condition, and it must stand with distinction, with a pre-eminence of shame, as a part even of this convention. " This convention, Sir, I think from my soul, is nothing but a stipulation for national ignominy ; an illusory expedient, to baffle the resentment of the nation ; a truce without a suspension of hostilities on the part of Spain ; on the part of England a suspension, as to Georgia, of the first law of nature, self-preservation and self-defence — a surrender of the rights and trade of Eng- land to the mercy of plenipotentiaries, and in this infinitely highest and sacred point, future security, not only inadequate, but directly repugnant to the resolutions of Parliament, and the gracious promise from the throne. The complaints of your despairing merchants, the voice of England has con- demned it. Be the guilt of it upon the head of the adviser. God forbid that this committee should share the guilt by approving it!" The address was, however, carried by a small majority. The following speech was made on the 10th of March, 1740, in opposition this demand to £200,000 ; then £45,000 were struck oiFfor prompt payment; he next allotted £60,000 as the remaining part of a debt pretended to be due to Spain for the destruction of her fleet by Sir George Byng, though it appeared, by the instructions on the table, that Spain had been already amply satisfied on that head ; these reduntions reduced the balance to £95,000, but the King of Spain insisted on the South Sea Company paying immediately the sum of £68,000, as a debt due to him on one head of accounts, though in other articles his CathoKc Majesty was indebted to the company a million over and above the demand ; the remainder to be paid by Spain did not exceed £27,000, from which she insisted upon deducting whatever might have already been given in satisfaction for any of the British ships that had been taken ; and on being allowed the value of the St Theresa, a Spanish ship, which had been seized in the port of Dublin." THE BARL OF CHATHAM. 9 to a bill brought in by ministers, intituled, " A Bill for the Encouragement and Increase of Seamen, and for the better and speedier manning of his Majesty's Fleet." The object of the bill (similar to one proposed and rejected in the former session of parliament) was to give power to justices of the peace, to grant warrants to constables and headboroughs, to search, by night and day, for all seafaring men in their districts ; and to break open doors, in case of resistance, and seize men for service in the navy, « Sir, " It is common for those to have the greatest regard to their own inte- rest, who discover the least for that of others. I do not, therefore, despair of recalling the advocates of this bill from the prosecution of their favourite measures by arguments of greater efficacy than those which are pretended to be founded on reason and justice. " Nothing is more evident, than that some degree of reputation is absolutely necessary to men who have any concern in the administration of a govern- ment like ours ; they must either secure the fidelity of their adherents, by the assistance of wisdom or of virtue ; their enemies must either be awed by their honesty, or terrified by their cunning. Mere artless bribery will never gain a sufficient majority to set them entirely free from apprehensions of cen- sure. To different tempers, different motives must be applied. Some, who place their felicity in being accounted wise, are in very little care to preserve the character of honesty ; others may be persuaded to join in measures which they easily discover to be weak and ill-concerted, because they are convinced that the authors of them are not corrupt, but mistaken, and are unwilling that any man should be punished for natural defects or casual ignorance. " I cannot say which of these motives influence the advocates for the bill before us ; a bill in which such cruelties are proposed, as are yet unknown among the most savage nations ; such as slavery has not yet borne, nor tyranny invented ; such as cannot be heard without resentment, nor thought of with- out horror. " It is, perhaps, not unfortunate that one more expedient has been added, rather ridiculous than shocking, and that these tyrants of administration, who amuse themselves with oppressing their fellow-subjects, who add, without re- luctance, one hardship to another, invade the liberty of those whom they have already overborne with taxes — ^first plunder, and then imprison ; who take all opportunities of heightening the public distresses, and make the miseries of war the instruments of new oppressions ; are too ignorant to be formidable, and owe their power, not to their abilities, but to casual pros- perity, or to the influence of money. " The other clauses of this bill, complicated at once with cruelty and folly, have been treated with becoming indignation ; but this may be considered wdth less ardour and resentment, and fewer emotions of zeal ; because, though not perhaps equally iniquitous, it will do no harm ; for a law that can never be executed can never be felt. "tO THE MODERN ORATOH. " That it will consume the manufacture of paper, and swell the book of statutes, is all the good or hurt that can be hoped or feared from a law like this ; a law which fixes what is in its own nature mutable, which prescribes rules to the seasons and limits to the wind. " I am too well acquainted, Sir, ^vith the disposition of its two chief sup- porters, to mention the contempt mth which this law will be treated by pos- terity ; for they have already shown abundantly their disregard of succeeding generations ; but I will remind them, that they are now venturing their whole interest at once, and hope they will recollect, before it is too late, that those who believe them to intend the happiness of their country, will never be con- firmed in then- opinion by open cruelty and notorious oppression: and that those who have only their own interest in view, will be afraid of adhering to those leaders, however old and practised in expedients, however strengthened by con-uption or elated with power, who have no reason to hope for success from either their virtue or abilities." [On Mr Horace Walpole, in reply to this speech, having sarcastically ob- served on the youth and inexperience of Mr Pitt, and accused him of "furi- ous declamation," " lofty periods," " theatrical emotions," &c., Mr Pitt again addressed the House, as follows : — ] " Sir, " The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny, but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease mth their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience. *' "Whether youth can be imputed to any man as a reproach, I v/ill not assume the province of determining. But surely age may become justly contemptible, if the opportunities which it brings have passed away without improvement, and \ice appears to prevail when the passions have subsided. The wretch that, after having seen the consequences of a thousand errors, continues still to blimder, and whose age has only added obstinacy to stupidity, is surely the object of either abhorrence or contempt, and deserves not that his grey head should secure him from insults. " Much more is he to be abhorred, who, as he has advanced in age, has re- ceded from virtue, and becomes more wicked with less temptation ; who prostitutes himself for money which he cannot enjoy, and spends the remains of his life in the ruin of his country. " But youth is not my only crime ; I have been accused of acting a theg-tri- cal part. A theatrical part may either imply some peculiarities of gesture, or a dissimulation of my real sentiments, and an adoption of the opinions and language of another man. " In the first sense, the charge is too trifling to be confuted, and deserves only to be mentioned, that it may be despised. I am at liberty, like every other man, to use my own language ; and though I may, perhaps, have THE EA.KL OF CHATHAM. 11 some ambition, yet, to please this gentleman, I shall not lay myself under any restraint, nor very solicitously copy his diction, or his mien, however matured by age, or modelled by experience. If any man shall, by charging me with theatrical behaviour, imply that I utter any sentiments but my own, I shall treat him as a calumniator and a villain ; nor shall any protection shelter him from the treatment which he deserves. I shall, on such an occasion, without scruple trample upon all those forms with which wealth and dignity entrench themselves, nor shall anything but age restrain my resentment ; age, which always brings one privilege, that of being inso- lent and supercilious without punishment. " But mth regard to those whom I have offended, I am of opinion, that if I had acted a borrowed part, I should have avoided their censure ; the heat that offended them is the ardour of conviction, and that zeal for the service of my counti-y which neither hope nor fear shall influence me to suppress. I will not sit unconcerned while my liberty is invaded, nor look in silence upon public robbery. I mil exert my endeavours, at whatever hazard, to repel the aggressor, and drag the thief to justice, whoever may protect them in their villany, and whoever may partake of their plunder. And if the honourable gentleman" [A member here interposed by calling the honourable gentleman to order ; but proceeded in so harsh a tone, and so far outstepped the bounds of mo - deration, as to induce Mr Pitt to express his opinion of such conduct in the foUo^ving manner : — ] " If this be to preserve order, there is no danger of indecency from the most licentious tongue ; for what calumny can be more atrocious, or what reproach more severe, than that of speaking without any regard to truth ? Order may sometimes be broken by passion or inadvertency, but will hardly be re-esta- blished by a monitor like this, who cannot govern his own passion whilst he is restraining the impetuosity of others. " Happy would it be for mankind, if every one knew his own province ; we should not then see the same man at once a criminal and a judge ; nor would this gentleman assume the right of dictating to others what he has not learned himself. " That I may return, in some degree, the favoui* which he intends me, I will advise him never hereafter to exert himself on the subject of order; but whenever he finds himself inclined to speak on such occasions, to remember how he has now succeeded, and condemn in silence what his censures will never perform." The bill was passed in a modified form. In the year 1740, Sir Robert Walpole having become exceedingly un- popular throughout the country, the opposition party endeavoured to remove him from office ; and accordingly (due notice having been previously given 12 I'HE MODERN OExVTOK. to the minister), Mr Sandys (afterwards Lord Sandys), on the 13th February, 1741, after setting forth the misconduct of ministers, concluded his speech by moving, " That an address be presented to the King, to remove Sir Robert Walpole from his presence and councils for ever.'' In support of this motion Mr Pitt made the following speech : — « SiK, " As it has been observed, that those who have formerly approved the measures of the gentlemen into whose conduct we are now inquiring, can- not be expected to disavow their former opinions unless new arguments are produced of greater force than those which have formerly been offered ; so the same steadiness must be expected in those who have opposed them, imless they can now hear them better defended. " It is an established maxim, Sir, that as time is the test of opinions, false- hood grows every day weaker, and truth gains upon mankind. This is most eminently just in political assertions, which often respect future events, and the remote consequences of transactions ; and therefore never fails to be, by time, incontestibly verified, or undeniably combated. On many occasions it is impossible to determine the expediency of measures otherwise than by conjecture ; because almost every step that can be taken, may have a ten- dency to a good as well as to a bad end ; and as he who proposes, and he who promotes, may conceal their intentions till they are ripened into execu- tion, time only can discover the motives of their demands and the principles of their conduct. *' For this reason it may easily be expected that bad measures will be con- demned by men of integrity, when their consequences are fully discovered ; though, when they were proposed, they might, by plausible declarations and specious appearances, obtain their approbation and applause. Those, whose purity of intention and simplicity of morals exposed them to credulity and implicit confidence, must resent the arts by which they Avere deluded into a concurrence with projects detrimental to their country, but of which the con- sequences were artfully concealed from them, or the real intention steadily denied. " "With regard to those gentlemen whose neglect of political studies has not qualified them to judge of the questions when they were first debated ; and who, giving their suffrages, were not so much directed by their own convic- tion as by the authority of men whose experience and knowledge they knew to be great, and whose integrity they had hitherto found no reason to dis- trust ; it may be naturally expected that, when they see those measures which were recommended, as necessary to peace and happiness, productive only of confusion, oppression, and distress, they should acknowledge their error, and forsake their guides, Avhom they must discover to have been either ignorant or treacherous ; and, by an open recantation of their former decisions, endeavour to repair the calamities which they have contributed to bring on their country. " The exteni and complication of political questions is such, that no man can THE EAEL OF CHATHAM. 13 justly be ashamed of having been sometimes mistaken in his determinations ; and the propensity of the human mind to confidence and friendship is so great, that every man, however cautious, however sagacious, or however ex- perienced, is exposed sometimes to the artifices of interest and the delusions of hypocrisy ; but it is the duty, and ought to be the honour, of every man to own his mistake whenever he discovers it, and to warn others against those frauds which have been too successfully practised upon himself. " I am, therefore, inclined to hope, that every man will not be equally pre- determined in the present debate, and that, as I shall be ready to declare my approbation of integrity and wisdom, though they should be found where I have long suspected ignorance und corruption; as others will, with equal justice, censure wickedness and error, though they should have been de- tected in that person whom they have been long taught to reverence as the oracle of knowledge and the pattern of virtue. " In political debates, time always produces new lights ; time can, in these inquiries, never be neutral, but must always acquit or condemn. Time, in- deed, may not always produce new arguments against bad conduct, because all its consequences might be originally foreseen and exposed ; but it must always confirm them, and ripen conjectures into certainty. Though it should, therefore, be truly asserted, that nothing is urged in this debate which was not before mentioned and rejected, it will not prove that because the argu- ments are the same, they ought to produce the same effect ; because what was then only foretold, has now been seen and felt, and what was then but believed is now known. " But if time has produced no vindication of those measures which were sus- pected of imprudence or of treachery, it must be at length acknowledged that those suspicions were just, and that what ought then to have been rejected, ought now to be punished. " This is, for the most part, the state of the question. Those measures which were once defended by sophistical reasoning, or palliated by warm declamations of sincerity and disinterested zeal for the public happiness, are found to be such as they were represented by those who opposed them. It is now discovered that the treaty of Hanover was calculated only for the ad- vancement of the House of Bourbon ;'^ that our armies are kept up only to multiply dependence, and to awe the nation from the exertion of its rights ; * In consequence of the treaty of Vienna in 1725, between Austria and Spain, George I., becoming alarmed for Hanover, entered into a defensive treaty between France and Prussia, to last for fifteen years. This was the treaty of Hanover in 1725. To reconcile the English, nation to this treaty, the real object of which was the protection of Hanover, it was strongly impressed on the country by ministers (at the head of whom was Sir Robert Walpole), " That the Emperor and the King of Spain, exclusive of the public treaties concluded at Vienna, had entered into private engagements, importing that the Imperialists should join the Spaniards in recovering Gibraltar and Port Mahon by force of arms, in case the King of England should refuse to restore them amicably, ac- cording to a solemn promise he had made, that a double marriage should take place be- tween the two infants of Spain, and the two archduchesses of Austria ; and that means should be taken to place the Pretender on the throne of England." — Smollett. c 14 THE MODERN ORATOR. that Spain has been courted only to the ruin of our trade j and that the con » vention ^' was little more than an artifice to amuse the people with an idle appearance of a reconciliation, which our enemies never intended. " Of the stipulation which produced the memorable treaty of Hanover, the improbability was often urged, but the absolute falsehood could be proved only by the declaration of one of the parties. This declaration was at length produced by time, which was never favourable to the measures of our minis- ter. For the Emperor of Germany asserted, with the utmost solemnity, that no such article was ever proposed ; and that his engagements with Spain had no tendency to produce any change in the government of this kingdom. " Thus it is evident, Sir, that all the terrors which the apprehension of this alliance produced, were merely the operation of fraud upon cowardice ; and that they were only raised by the artful French, to disunite us from the only power with which it is our interest to cultivate an inseparable friend- ship. This disunion may therefore be justly charged upon the minister, who has weakened the interest of this country, and endangered the liberties of Europe. *' If it be asked, Sir, how he could have discovered the falsehood of the report, before it was confuted by the late Emperor, it may easily be answered, that he might have discovered it by the same tokens which betrayed it to his opponents, the impossibility of putting it into execution. For it must be confessed, that his French informers, well acquainted with his disposition to panic fears, had used no caution in the construction of their imposture, nor seem to have had any other view, than to add one error to another, to sink his reason with alarms, and to overbear him with astonishment. " When they found he began to be disordered at the danger of our trade from enemies ^vithout naval forces, they easily discovered that, to make him the slave of France, nothing more was necessary than to add, that these bloody confederates had projected an invasion ; that they intended to add slavery to poverty, and to place the Pretender upon the throne. " To be alarmed into vigilance had not been unworthy of the firmest and most sagacious minister ; but to be frightened by such reports into measures which even an invasion could scarcely have justified, was, at least, a proof of a capacity not formed by nature for the administration of government. " If it be required, what advantage was granted by this treaty to the French, and to what inconveniences it has subjected this nation, an answer may very justly be refused, till the nunister or his apologists shall explain his conduct in the last war with Spain ; and inform us why the plate fleet was spared, our ships sacrificed to the worms, and our admiral and his sailors poisoned in an unhealthy climate ; f why the Spaniards, in full security, laughed at our armaments, and triumphed in oui' calamities. * See Speech page 5. + Mr Pitt here alludes to Rear-admiral Hosier's expedition to the Spanish West Indies, in 1726, to block up the galleons carrying treasure, but which escapecl him, by notice sent to them of his cominor. THE EARL OF CHATHAlVi;, 15 **The lives of Hosier* and his forces are now justly to be demanded from this man ; he is now to be charged with the murder of those unhappy men whom he exposed to misery and contagion, to pacify, on one hand, the Britons, who called out for war, and to gratify, on the other, the French, who insisted that the Spanish treasures should not be seized. " The minister who neglects any just opportunity of promoting the power or increasing the wealth of his country, is to be considered as an enemy to his fellow-subjects ; but what censure is to be passed upon him who betrays that army to a defeat, by which victory might have been obtained — im- poverishes the nation whose afFaii*s he is entrusted to transact, by those ex- peditions which might enrich it ; who levies armies only to be exposed to pestilence, and compels them to perish in sight of their enemies without molesting them ? It cannot, surely, be denied, that such conduct may justly produce a censure more severe than that which is intended by this motion ; and that he who has doomed thousands to the grave, who has co-operated ■with foreign powers against his country, who has protected its enemies, and dishonoured its arms, should be deprived, not only of his honours, but his life ; that he should, at least, be stripped of those riches which he has amassed during a long series of successful wickedness ; and not barely be hindered from making new acquisitions, and increasing his wealth by multi- plying his crimes. " But no such penalties. Sir, are now required ; those who have long stood up in opposition to him, give a proof, by the motion, that they were not in- cited by personal malice ; since they are not provoked to propose any treason- able censure, nor have recommended what might be authorised by his ov/n practice, an act of attainder, or a bill of pains and penalties. They desire nothing further than that the security of the nation may be restored, and the discontents of the people pacified, by his removal from that trust which he has so long abused. " The discontent of the people is, in itself, a reason for agreeing to this motion, which no rhetorical vindicator of his conduct will be able to counter- balance ; for since it is necessary to the prosperity of the government, that the people should believe their interest favoured and their liberties pro- tected ; since to imagine themselves neglected, and to be neglected in reality, must produce in them the same suspicions and the same distrust, it is the duty of every faithful subject, whom his station qualifies, to offer advice to his Sovereign — to persuade him, for the preservation of his o^wn honour, and the affection of his subjects, to remove from his councils that man w^honi they have long considered as the author of pernicious measures, and a favourer of arbitrary power." The motion was lost by a large majority. * " This brave man (Hosier) being restricted by his orders from obeying the dictates of his courage, seeing his best officers and men daily swept off by an outrageous dis- temper, and his ships exposed to inevitable destruction, is said to have died of a broken heart." — Smollett, c2 16 THE MOBER^^ ORATOR. In February, 1741, Sir Robert Walpole resigned office, and was created Earl of Orford. On the 9th March, 1 742, Lord Limerick moved for the ap- pointment of a committee to inquire into the conduct of the late Government for the last twenty years, which was supported by Mr Pitt, and was rejected by a majority of two only, in a house consisting of 486 members. In conse- quence of this small majority, Lord Limerick, on the 23rd March, 1742, moved for a committee of inquiry into the last ten years of the late ad- ministration ; when Mr Pitt made the following speech in support of the motion : — " Sir, " As the honourable gentleman who spoke last, against the motion, has not been long in the House,* one ought in charity to believe there is some sincerity in the professions he makes of his being ready to agree to a par- liamentary inquiry, when he sees cause, and a convenient time for it ; but if he knew how often those professions have been made by those who, on all occasions, have opposed every kind of inquiry, he would save himself the trouble of making any such, because they are believed to be sincere by very few, within doors or without. He may, it is true, have no occasion, upon his own account, to be afraid of an inquiry of any sort ; but when a gentle- man has contracted a friendship, or any of his near relations have contracted a friendship, for one who may be brought into danger by an inquiry, it is very natural to suppose, that such a gentleman's opposition to an inquiry does not proceed entirely from motives of a public nature ; and if that gen- tleman follows the advice of some of his friends, I very much question if he will ever see cause, or a convenient time, for an inquiry into the late con- duct of our public affairs. As a parliamentary inquiry must always be founded upon suspicions as well as facts, or manifest crimes, it will always be easy to find reasons or pretences for averring those suspicions to be groundless ; and upon the principle that a parliamentary inquiry must neces- sarily lay open the secrets of our government, no time can ever be proper or convenient for such an inquiry, because it is impossible to suppose a time v\'hen our government can have no secrets of importance to the nation. " This, Sir, would be a most convenient doctrine for ministers, because it would put an end to all parliamentary inquiries into the conduct of our pub- lic affairs ; and therefore, when I hear it ui'ged, and so much insisted upon by a certain set of gentlemen in this House, I must suppose their hopes to be very extensive. I must suppose them to expect that they and their pos- terity will for ever continue to be ministers ; which, if possible, would be more fatal to it than their having so long continued to be so. But this doc- trine has been so often contradicted by experience, that I am surprised to hear gentlemen insist upon it. Even this very session has afforded us a convincing proof hoAV little foundation there is for saying that a parlia- mentary inquiry must necessarily discover the secrets of our government. * Mr George Cooke, of Harefield, THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 17 Surely, iii a war with Spain, which must be carried on chiefly by sea, if ou^ government have any secrets the Lords of the Admiralty must be entrusted with the most important of them ; yet we have, in this very session, and without any secret committees, made an inquiry into the conduct of the Lords Commissioners of our Admiralty. We have not only inquired into their conduct, but we have censured it in such a manner as hath put an end to the same commissioners being any longer entrusted with that branch of the public business. Has that inquiry discovered any of the secrets of our government ? On the contrary, the committee found they had no occasion to probe into any of the secrets of government. They found cause enough for censure without it ; and none of the commissioners pretended to justify their conduct by papers containing secrets which ought not to be dis- covered. " This, Sir, is so recent and so sti-ong a proof of there being no necessary connexion between a parliamentary inquiry and a discovery of secrets which it behoves the nation to conceal, that I hope gentlemen will no longer insist upon this . danger as an argument against the inquiry now proposed, which, of all others, is the least liable to objection. The first commissioner of the treasury has nothing to do with the application of secret service money. He is only to take care that it be regularly issued from his office, and that no more shall be issued upon that head, than according to the then conjuncture of affairs may seem to be necessary. As to the particular application, it pro- perly belongs to the secretaries of state, or such other persons as his Ma- jesty shall employ; so that we cannot suppose the inquiry proposed will discover any secrets relating to the application of that money, unless the noble lord has acted as secretary of state, as well as first commissioner of the treasury ; or unless a great part of the money drawn out for secret services has been delivered to himself, or to persons employed by him, and applied by him or them towards gaining a corrupt influence in parliament, or at elections. Both these, indeed, he is most grievously suspected of, and both are secrets which it behoves him very much to have concealed ; but it equally behoves the nation to have them both revealed. His country and he are, I grant, in this cause equally, though oppositely, concerned ; for the safety or ruin of one or the other depends upon the fate of the question; and, in my opinion, the violent opposition made to this motion adds great strength to the suspicion. " I shall admit, Sir, that the noble lord whose conduct is now proposed to be inquired into, was one of his Majesty's most honourable privy council, and that consequently he must have had a share at least in advising all the mea- sures which have been pursued, both abroad and at home ; but I cannot admit, that therefore an inquiry into his conduct must necessarily occasion a discovery of any secrets that may be of dangerous consequence to the nation ; because we are not to inquire into the measures themselves, or into the msdom or uprightness of them, and consequently can have no necessity to search into any of the Government's secrets relating to them. This has 18 THE MODERN OKATOE. nothing to do with an inquiry into his conduct ; but there are several sus- picions spread abroad relating to his conduct as a privy counsellor, which, if true, would be of the last importance to the nation to have discovered. It has been strongly asserted, that he was not only a privy counsellor, but had usurped the whole and sole direction of his Majesty's privy council. It has been asserted, that he gave the Spanish court the first hint of the un- just claim they afterwards set up against our South Sea Company, which was one of the chief causes of the war between the two nations. And it has been asserted, that this very minister has given advice to the French what measui-es to take upon several occasions, in order to bring our court into their measures ; particularly, that he advised them to send the numerous army they have this last summer sent into Westphalia. What truth there is in these assertions, I shall not pretend to answer. The facts are of such a nature, and they must have been perpetrated with so much caution and secresy, that it will be difficult to bring them to light, even by a parliamentary inquiry ; but the very suspicion is ground enough for setting up such an in^ qtdry, and for carrying it on with the utmost strictness and vigour ; which leads me to consider the cause we now have for an inquiry. "Whatever my opinion of past measures may be, I shall never be so vain or bigoted to my own opinion, as, without any inquiry, to determine against the majority of my countrymen. If I found the public measures generally condemned, let my private opinion of them be never so favourable, I should be for an inquiry, in order to convince the people of their error, or at least to furnish myself with the most authentic arguments for the opinion I have embraced. The desire of bringing other people into our sentiments is so natural to mankind that I shall always suspect the candour of those who, in politics or religion, are against a free inquiry. Besides, Sir, when the complaints of the people are general against an administration, or against any particular minister, an inquiry is a duty Ave owe to our Sovereign as well as the people. We meet here to communicate to our Sovereign the senti- ments of his people. We meet here to redress the grievances of the people. By performing our duty in these two respects, we shall always be able to establish the throne of our Sovereign in the hearts of his people, and to prevent the people's being led into insurrections or rebel- lions by misrepresentations or false surmises. When the people complain, they must be in the right or in the wrong. If they are in the right, we are in duty bound to inquire into the conduct of the ministers, and punish those who shall appear to have been the most guilty. If the people are in the Avrong, we ought to inquire into the conduct of our ministers, in order to convince the people that they have been misled. We ought not, therefore, in any question about an inquiry, to be governed by our oAvn sentiments. We must be governed by the sentiments of our constituents, if we are resolved to perform our duty, either as true representatives of the people, or as faithful messengers to our Sovereign. I will agree with the honourable gentleman, that if we are convinced, or suspect, the public measures to be THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 19 wrong, we ought to inquire into them, even though they are not much com- plained of by the people without doors ; but I cannot agree with him in thinking that, notwithstanding the administration, or a minister's being complained of by the people in general without doors, we ought not to inquire into his conduct, unless we are ourselves convinced that his measures have been wrong. Without an inquiry, we can no more determine this question than a judge can declare a man innocent of any crime laid to his charge without a trial. Common fame is a sufficient ground for an inqui- sition at common law ; and, for the same reason, the general voice of the people of England ought always to be looked on as a sufficient ground for a parliamentary inquiry. " But, say gentlemen, what is this minister accused of? What crime is laid to his charge ? For, unless some misfortune is said to have happened, or some crime to have been committed, no inquiry ought to be set on foot. Sir, the ill posture of our affairs, both abroad and at home, the melancholy situation we are in, the distresses we are now reduced to, are sufficient causes for an inquiry, even supposing he were accused of no particular crime or misconduct. The nation lies bleeding, perhaps expiring. The balance of power has received a deadly blow. Shall we acknowledge this to be the case, and shall we not inquire whether it has happened by mis- chance, or by the misconduct, perhaps the malice prepense, of our minister here at home ? Before the treaty of Utrecht,* it was the general opinion, that in a few years of peace we should be able to pay off most of our debts. We have now been very near thirty years in profound peace ; at least, we have never been engaged in any war but what we unnecessarily "brought upon ourselves ; and yet our debts are near as great as they were when that treaty was concluded. Is not this a misfortune, and shall we make no inquiry how this misfortune has happened } " I am surprised to hear it said, that no inquiry ought to be set on foot unless some public crime be known to have been committed. The suspicion of any crime having been actually committed, has always been deemed a sufficient reason for setting up an inquiry. Is there not a suspicion that the public money has been applied towards gaining a corrupt influence at elec- tions ? Is it not become a common expression to say, ' The floodgates of the treasury are opened against a general election ?' I shall desire no more than that every gentleman, who is conscious of this having been done, either for or against him, would give his vote in favour of this motion. WiU any gentleman say this is not a crime, when even private corruption has such high penalties inflicted upon it by express statute ? A minister that commits this crime, and makes use of the public money for that purpose, adds breach of trust to the crime of corruption ; and as the crime, when committed by him, is of much more dangerous consequence than when committed by a private man, it becomes more properly the object of a parliamentary inquiry, * The Treaty of Utrecht was signed on the 31st March, 1713. 20 THE MODERN ORATOE. and ought to be more severely punished. The honourable gentleman may much more reasonably tell us that Porteus ,was never murdered by the mob at Edinburgh,* because no discovery of his murderers could ever yet be made, notwithstanding the high reward, as well as pardon, offered, than to tell us, we cannot suppose our minister ever, by himself or his agents, cor- rupted an election, because no information has yet been brought against him; for nothing but a pardon, on convicting the offender, has ever yet been offered in this case ; and how could any informer expect such a pardon, much less a reward, when he knew the very man against whom he was to inform had not only the distribution of all public rewards, but the packing of a jury or Parliament against him ? Sir, whilst such a minister preserves the favour of the Crown, and thereby the exercise of its power, we can never expect such an information. Even malice itself can never provoke such an informa- tion ; because, like all other sorts of impotent malice, it wdll rebound upon the heart that conceived it. " This shows the insignificancy of the act mentioned by the honourable gentleman, with regard to that sort of corruption which is called bribery ; and -svith regard to the other sort of corruption, which consists in giving or taking away those posts, pensions, or preferments, which depend upon the arbitrary will of the Crown ; this act is still more insignificant, because it is not necessary ; it would even be ridiculous in a minister to tell any man that he gave or refused him a post, pension, or preferment, on account of his voting for or against any ministerial measure in Parliament, or any ministerial candidate at an election. If he makes it his constant rule never to give a post, pen- sion, or preferment, but to those who vote for his measures and his candidates, and makes a few examples of dismissing those who vote otherwise,! it will have the same effect as when he declares it openly. Will any gentleman say, that this has not been the practice of the minister whose conduct is now proposed to be inquired into ? Has he not declared, in the face of this House, that he will continue to make this his practice ? And will not this have the same effect as if he went separately and distinctly to every par- ticular man, and told him, in express terms : ' Sir, if you vote for such a measure, or such a candidate, you shall have the first preferment in the gift of the Crown ; if you vote otherwise, you must not expect to keep what you have.' Gentlemen may deny the sun shines at no6n-day ; but if they have any eyes, and do not wilfully shut them, or turn their backs towards him, I am sure no man ^vill believe they are ingenuous in what they say ; and therefore I think the honourable gentleman was in the right who en- deavoured to justify this practice. It was more candid than to deny it ; but * Jolm Porteus was an officer of the guard of the city of Edinburgh, and had fired on the people at the time of the execution of a smuggler, at which he was present to preserve order. He was tried for murder, and sentenced to death. A reprieve, how- ever, having been sent, the populace broke into the prison where he was confined, brought him out, and executed him themselves, 1736. t See note page 5. THE LAHL OF CHATHAM. 21 as his arguments have been ah'eady fully answered, I shall add nothmg upon that subject. " Gentlemen cry out, What! will you take from the Crown the power of preferring or cashiering the officers of our army ? No, Sir ; this is neither the design, nor will it be the effect, of our agreeing to this motion. The King has, at present, an absolute power of preferring or cashiering the officers of our army. It is a prerogative he may make use of for the benefit or safety of the public ; but, like other prerogatives, it may be made a ^vrong use of ; and the minister is answerable to Parliament when it is. When an officer is preferred, or cashiered, upon the motive of his voting for or against any court measure or candidate, it is a Avrong use of this preroga- tive, for which the minister is answerable. We may judge from circum- stances, or outward appearances. From these we may condemn ; and I hope we have still a power to punish any minister that will dare to advise the King to prefer or cashier upon such a motive. Whether this prerogative ought to remain as it is, without any limitation, is a question that has nothing to do in this debate ; but I must observe, that the argument made use of for it might with equal weight be made use of for giving our King an absolute power over every man's property ; for a large property will always give the possessor a command over a great number of men, whom he may arm and discipline if he pleases. I know of no law for restraining it. I hope there never will be any such; and I wish our gentlemen of estates would make more use of this power than they do, because it would contri- bute towards keeping our domestic, as well as our foreign, enemies in awe. For my part, I think a gentleman who has earned his commission by his ser- vices (in his military capacity I mean), or bought it with his money, has as much a property in it as any man has in his estate, and ought to have it as well secured by the laws of his country. Whilst it remains at the absolute will of the Cro'svn, he must be a slave to the minister, unless he has some other estate to depend on ; and if the officers of our army long continue in that state of slavery in which they are at present, I am afraid it will make slaves of us all. " The only method we have for preventing this fatal consequence, as the law now stands, is to make the best and most constant use of the power we have, as members of this House, to prevent any minister's daring to advise the King to make a bad use of his prerogative ; and as there is such a strong susjDicion that this minister has done so, we ought certainly to in- quire into it, not only for the sake of punishing him, if guilty, but as a terror to all future ministers. " This, Sir, may therefore be justly reckoned among the many other suffi- cient causes for the inquiry proposed ; and the suspicion of the civil list's being greatly in debt, is another ; for if it is, it must either have been mis- applied or profusely thrown away, which it is our duty both to prevent and punish. It is inconsistent with the honour of this nation to have our King stand indebted to his servants or tradesmen, who may be ruined by a delay 22 THE MODERN OEATOE. of payment. The Parliament has provided sufficiently for preventing this dishonour being brought upon the nation ; and if the provision we have made should be misapplied or lavished, we must supply the deficiency : we ought to do it, whether the King makes any application for that purpose or no ; and the reason is very plain, because we ought first to inquire into the management of that revenue, and punish those who have occasioned the deficiency. They will certainly choose to leave the creditors of the crown and the honour of the nation in a state of suffering, rather than advise the King to make an application which will bring their conduct into question, and themselves probably to condign punishment. Beside this, Sir, there is at present another reason still stronger for promoting an inquiry. As there is a great suspicion that the public money has been applied towards cor- rupting voters at elections, and members when elected, if the civil list be in debt, it gives reason to presume that some part of this revenue has, under the pretence of secret service money, been applied to that wicked purpose. " I shall conclude. Sir, with a few remarks upon the last argument made use of against the inquiry proposed. It has been said, that the minister delivered in his accounts annually ; that those accounts have been annually passed and approved of by Parliament ; and that therefore it would be unjust to call him now to a general account, because the vouchers may now be lost, or many expensive transactions have slipped out of his memory. 'Tis true. Sir, estimates and accounts have been annually delivered in. The forms of proceeding made that necessary ; but were any of those estimates or accounts ever properly inquired into ? Were not all questions for that purpose re- jected by the minister's friends in Parliament ? Has not the Parliament always taken them upon trust, and passed them without examination ? Can such a superficial passing, to call it no worse, be deemed a reason for not calling him to a new and general account ? If the steward to an infant's estate should annually, for twenty years together, deliver in his accounts to the guardians ; and if the guardians, through negligence, or for a share of the plunder, should annually pass his accounts without any examination, or at least without any objection ; would that be a reason for saying, that it would be unjust in the infant to call his steward to an account when he came of age ? especially if that steward had built and furnished sumptuous palaces, and had, during the whole time, lived at a much greater expense than his visible income could afford, and yet nevertheless had amassed great riches. The public, Sir, is always in a state of infancy ; therefore no pre- scription can be pleaded against it, nor even a general release, if there ap- pears the least cause to suspect that it was surreptitiously obtained. Public vouchers ought always to remain upon record ; nor ought there to be any public expense without a proper voucher ; therefore, the case of the public is still stronger than that of any infant. Thus the honourable gentleman who made use of this objection must see of how little avail it can be in the case now before us j and consequently I hope we shall have his concurrence in the question." THE EAKL OF CHATHAM. 23 The motion was carried, but the inquiry was afterwards defeated by the persons brought up for examination, including Mr Paxton, solicitor to the Treasury, claiming an exemption, on the plea that they might render them- selves liable to prosecution. A bill for their indemnity was passed in the House of Commons, but rejected by the House of Lords, and consequently the inquiry dropped. Mr Pitt was appointed Paymaster of the Forces in February, 1746. During the time that he held this office, he never received any pecuniary benefit from investing the monies belonging to the office (as had been the custom with his predecessors), but always placed the same in the Bank ready to be appropriated for the public service. The following is also an instance of the truly noble and high-minded character of Lord Chatham : — The subsidies granted to the King of Sardinia and Queen of Hungary, at that time were made payable at the office of the Paymaster of the Forces, and it was the custom to retain, as a perquisite of office, at least half per cent, from the whole amount of the subsidies. This perquisite, however, Mr Pitt refused to accept ; and upon the King of Sardinia being so informed, he expressed much surprise at such great disinterestedness, and directed his agent to offer to Mr Pitt the same sum as a royal present ; but Mr Pitt re- plied, that as Parliament had granted those sums for such uses, he had no right to any part of the money ; that he did no more than his duty in pay- ing it entire ; and hoped the refusal of the King's present would not, there- fore, give offence. When his Sardinian Majesty heard this he said, " Surely this Englishman is somewhat more than a man." The following is the only reported part of Mr Pitt's speech in support of a clause in the Mutiny Bill, introduced by Mr Pelham (who was of Mr Pitt's own party), by which it was proposed to subject officers on half-pay to martial law. The bill created great excitement in the army and navy, as well as in Parliament. — 1748. " What danger can arise from obliging a half-pay officer to continue upon the military establishment ? It is admitted on all hands, that while he is in full pay he must employ his time, his study, and even his sword, as his superiors shall direct. There may possibly be danger in this, but it never can happen until the direction becomes wicked, nor prevented but by the virtue of the army. It is to that virtue we even at this time trust, small as our army is ; it is to that virtue we must have trusted had this bill been modelled as its warmest opposers could have wished; and without this virtue, should the Lords, the Commons, and the people of England, entrench themselves behind parchment up to the teeth, the sword will find a passage to the vitals of the constitution." 24 THE MODERN ORATOK. The folloAving speech was delivered by Mr Pitt, in opposition to the famous American Stamp Act; which had been brought forward by Mr Grenville, by the desire of George III. The immediate motion before the House was, for an address to the King, after his speech on the opening of Parliament, on the 14th January, 1765. " Sir, " I came to town but to-day ; I was a stranger to the tenor of his Majesty's speech, and the proposed address, till I heard them read in this House. Unconnected and unconsulted, I have not the means of informa- tion ; I am fearful of offending through mistake, and therefore beg to be in- dulged with a second reading of the proposed address." [The address having been again read, Mr Pitt expressed his approval of the King's speech, and of the address, inasmuch as the latter left the members of the House at liberty to adopt their own views upon the American question, and then resumed : — ] " One word only I cannot approve of — an early, is a word that does not belong to the notice the Ministry have given to Parliament of the troubles in America. In a matter of such importance, the communication ought to have been immediate : I speak not with respect to parties ; I stand up in this place single and unconnected. As to the late Ministry,* every capital measure they have taken has been entirely wrong ! " As to the present gentlemen, to those at least whom I have in my eye, I have no objection ;f I have never been made a sacrifice by any of them. Their characters are fair ; and I am always glad when men of fair character engage in his Majesty's service. Some of them have done me the honour to ask my opinion before they would engage. These would do me the jus- tice to own, I advised them to engage ; but notwithstanding — I love to be explicit — I cannot give them my confidence ; pardon me, gentlemen, confi- dence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom : youth is the season of credulity ; by comparing events with each other, reasoning from effects to causes, methinks I plainly discover the traces of an over-ruling influence. " There is a clause in the act of settlement to oblige every minister to sign his name to the advice which he gives his Sovereign. Would it were observed ! I have had the honour to serve the Crown, and if I could have submitted to influence, I might have still continued to serve ; but I would not be responsible for others. I have no local attachments ; it is indifierent to me, whether a man was rocked in his cradle on this side or that side of the Tweed. I sought for merit wherever it was to be found. It is my boast, that I was the first minister who looked for it, and I found it in the mountains in the North. I called it forth, and drew it into your service, a * In the course of the summer of 1765, a change in the administration had taken place, and Mr Grenville went out of office. The Duke of Rockingham became first Lord of the Treasury, and General Conway and the Duke of Grafton were appointed Secretaries of State. t Mr Pitt here looked at General Conway and the Treasury benches. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 25 liardy and intrepid race of men ! men, who, when left by your jealousy, be- came a prey to the artifices of your enemies, and had gone nigh to have over- turned the state in the war before the last. These men, in the last war, were brought to combat on your side ; they served with fidelity, as they fought with valour, and conquered for you in every part of the world. Detested be the national reflections against them ! — they are unjust, groundless, illiberal, unmanly. When I ceased to serve his Majesty as a minister, it was not the country of the man by which I was moved — but the man of that country wanted wisdom, and held principles incompatible ^vith. freedom. ^'■ " It is a long time, Mr Speaker, since I have attended in Parliament. "WHien the resolution was taken in the House to tax America,! I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to have been carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, to have borne my testimony against it ! It is now an act that has passed — I would speak with decency of every act of this House, but I must beg the indulgence of the House to speak of it with freedom. " I hope a day may be soon appointed to consider the state of the nation with respect to America. I hope gentlemen will come to this debate with all the temper and impartiality that his Majesty recommends, and the im- portance of the subject requires — a subject of greater importance than ever engaged the attention of this House ; that subject only excepted when, near a century ago, it was the question whether you yourselves were to be bound or free. In the meantime, as I cannot depend upon health for any future day, such is the nature of my infirmities, I will beg to say a few words at present, leaving the justice, the equity, the policy, the expediency of the act, to another time. I will only speak to one point — a point which seems not to have been generally imderstood — I mean to the right. Some gentlemen seem to have considered it as a point of honour.^ If gentlemen consider it in that light, they leave all measures of right and wrong, to follow a delusion that may lead to destruction. It is my opinion, that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon the colonies. At the same time, I assert the authority of this kingdom over the colonies to be sovereign and supreme, in every circumstance of government and legislation whatsoever. They are the subjects of this kingdom, equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen; equally bound by its laws, and equally participating of the constitution of this free country. The Americans are the sons, not the bastards of England. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power. The taxes are a * He alludes here to his retirement from the Cabinet on 5th October, 1761, in con- sequence of Lord Bute's influence over the King. t The resolution for taxing the North American Colonies were first proposed by Mr Grenville, in March 1765. 26 5:he modern orator. voluntary gift and grant of the Commons alone. In legislation the three estates of the realm are alike concerned, but the concurrence of the Peers and the Crown to a tax, is only necessary to clothe it with the form of a law. The gift and grant is of the Commons alone. In ancient days the Cro\vn, the barons, and the clergy possessed the lands. In those days the barons and the clergy gave and granted to the Crown. They gave and granted what was their own. At present, since the discovery of America, and other circumstances permitting, the Commons are become the proprietors of the land. The Church (God bless it) has but a pittance. The property of the Lords, compared with that of the Commons, is as a drop of water in the ocean ; and this House represents those Commons, the proprietors of the lands ; and those proprietors virtually represent the rest of the inhabitants. When, therefore, in this house we give and grant, we give and grant what is our o'svn. But in an American tax, what do we do ? We, your Majesty's Commons for Great Britain, give and grant to your Majesty — what ? Our own property ? — No. We give and grant to your Majesty the property of your Majesty's Commons of America. It is an absurdity in terms. " The distinction between legislation and taxation is essentially necessary to liberty. The Crown, the Peers, are equally legislative powers with the Commons. If taxation be a part of simple legislation, the Crown and the Peers have rights in taxation as well as yourselves ; rights which they will claim, which they will exercise, whenever the principle can be supported by power. " There is an idea in some, that the colonies are virtually represented in the House. I would fain know by whom an American is represented here ? Is he represented by any knight of the shire, in any county in this kingdom? Would to God that respectable representation was augmented to a greater number ! Or will you tell him that he is represented by any representative of a borough — a borough which perhaps no man ever saw ? This is what is called the rotten part of the constitution. It cannot continue a century : if it does not drop, it must be amputated. The idea of a virtual representation of America in this House, is the most contemptible idea that ever entered into the head of a man — it does not deserve a serious refutation. " The Commons of America, represented in their several assemblies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this, their constitutional right of giving and granting their own money. They would have been slaves, if they had not enjoyed it. At the same time, this kingdom, as the supreme govern- ing and legislative power, has always bound the colonies by her laws, by her regulations, and restrictions in trade, in navigation, in manufactures — in everything, except that of taking their money out of their pockets mthout their consent. " Here I would draw the line — " ' Quam ultra citraque neque consistere rectum.' " [Mr Grenville, in reply, defended his own policy, and insisted that, as this THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 27 country was acknowledged to possess supreme legislative power over Ame- rica, taxation was a part of that sovereign power ; and that it had been frequently exercised over those who were represented; and instanced the case of the East India Company, the proprietors of the public funds, the Palatine of Chester, and the Bishopric of Durham, before they sent repre- sentatives to Parliament. On this Mr Pitt again rose, and addressed the House thus : — ] *' I did not mean to have gone any further upon the subject to-day ; I had only designed to have thrown out a few hints, which gentlemen, who were so confident of the right of this kingdom to send taxes to America, might consider ; might perhaps reflect, in a cooler moment, that the right was at least equivocal. But since the gentleman who spoke last, has not stopped on that ground, but has gone into the whole, into the justice, the equity, the policy, the expediency of the stamp act, as well as into the right, I will follow him thlvugh the whole field, and combat his arguments on every point." [A question of order here arose, in consequence of Mr Pitt having pre- viously spoken. The Speaker having, however, decided that he was in order, he proceeded thus : — ] " I do not apprehend I am speaking twice : I did expressly reserve a part of my subject, in order to save the time of this House, but I am compelled to proceed in it. I do not speak twice ; I only finish what I designedly left imperfect. But if the House is of a difierent opinion, far be it from me to indulge a wish of transgression against order. I am content, if it be your pleasure, to be silent." [But the House calling upon him to proceed, he thus continued : — ] " Gentlemen, Sir, have been charged with giving birth to sedition in America.* They have spoken their sentiments with freedom against this unhappy act, and that freedom has become their crime. Sorry I am to hear the liberty of speech in this House imputed as a crime. But the imputation shall not discourage me. It is a liberty I mean to exercise. No gentleman ought to be afraid to exercise it. It is a liberty by which the gentleman who calumniates it might have profited. He ought to have desisted from his project. The gentleman tells us, America is obstinate ; America is al- most in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest. I come not here, armed at all points with law cases and Acts of Parliament, with the statute book doubled down in dogs' ears, to defend the cause of liberty : if I had, I myself would have cited the two cases of Chester and Durham. * Mr Grenville, in his speech, had said, that the Americans had been encouraged to sedition by the factious language of the opposition members. 28 THE MODERN OBATOll. I would have cited them, to have shown that, even under any arbitrary reigns, parliaments were ashamed of taxing a people without their consent, and allowed them representatives. Why did the gentleman confine himself to Chester and Durham ? he might have taken a higher example in Wales ; Wales, that never was taxed by Parliament till it was incorporated. I would not debate a particular point of law^ with the gentleman : I know his abilities, I have been obliged to his diligent researches : but, for the defence of liberty upon a general principle, upon a constitutional principle, it is a ground on which I stand firm ; on which I dare meet any man. The gentleman tells us of many who are taxed, and are not represented : the India Company, mxcrchants, stock-holders, manufacturers. Surely many of these are repre- sented on other capacities, as owners of land, or as freemen of boroughs. It is a misfortune that more are not equally represented. But they are all in- habitants, and as such, are they not virtually represented ? Many have it in their option to be actually represented. They have connexions vnih those that elect, and they have influence over them. The gentleman mentioned the stock-holders : I hope he does not reckon the debts of the nation as a part of the national estate. " Since the accession of King William, many ministers, some of great, others of more moderate abilities, have taken the lead of government. None of these thought, or ever dreamed, of robbing the colonies of their constitutional rights. That was reserved to mark the era of the late admi- nistration ; not that there were wanting some, when I had the honour to serve his Majesty, to propose to me to burn my fingers with an American stamp act. With the enemy at then* back, with our bayonets at their breasts, in the day of their distress, perhaps the Americans w^ould have sub- mitted to the imposition; but it would have been taking an ungenerous and unjust advantage. The gentleman boasts of his bounties to America ! ^' Are not those bounties intended finally for the benefit of this kingdom ? If they are not, he has misapplied the national treasures. I am no courtier of America — I stand up for this kingdom. I maintain that the Parliament has a right to bind, to restrain America. Our legislative power over the colonies is sovereign and supreme. "When it ceases to be sovereign and supreme, I would advise every gentleman to sell his lands, if he can, and embark for that country. When two countries are connected together, like England and her colonies, without being incorporated, the one must necessarily go- vern ; the greater must rule the less ; but so rule it, as not to contradict the fundamental principles that are common to both. " If the gentleman does not understand the difference between external and internal taxes, I cannot help it ; but there is a plain distinction between taxes levied for the purpose of raising a revenue, and duties imposed for the regulation of trade, for the accommodation of the subject ; although, in the consequences, some revenue might incidentally arise from the latter. * Mr Grenyille had charged the Americans with exhibiting ingratitude to this country, after bounties had been given on their timber, iron, hemp, and other articles. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 29 ** The gentleman asks, when were the colonies emancipated ?"* But I desire to know when they were made slaves. But I dwell not upon words. When I had the honour of serving his Majesty, I availed myself of the means of information which I derived from my office ; I speak, therefore, from knowledge. My materials were good : I was at pains to collect, to digest, to consider them ; and I will be bold to affirm, that the profits to Great Britain from the trade of the colonies, through all its branches, is two millions a year. . This is the fund that carried you triumphantly through the last war. The estates that were rented at two thousand pounds a year threescore years ago, are at three thousand pounds at present. Those estates sold then from fifteen to eighteen years' purchase ; the same may now be sold for thirty. You owe this to America. This is the price America pays for her protection. And shall a miserable financier come with a boast, that he can fetch a pepper-corn in the Exchequer, to the loss of millions to the nation ? I dare not say, how much higher these profits may be augmented. Omitting the immense increase of people by natural population, in the northern colonies, and the emigration from every part of Europe, I am convinced the commercial system of America may be altered to advantage. You have prohibited where you ought to have encouraged, and encouraged where you ought to have prohibited. Improper restraints have been laid on the continent, in favour of the islands. You have but two nations to trade with in America. Would you had twenty ! Let acts of parliament in consequence of treaties remain, but let not an English minister become a custom-house officer for Spain, or for any foreign power. Much is wrong, much may be amended for the general good of the whole. " Does the gentleman complain he has been misrepresented in the public prints ? It is a common misfortune. In the Spanish affair of last war, I was abused in all the newspapers, for having advised his Majesty to violate the law of nations with regard to Spain. The abuse was industriously circulated even in hand-bills. If administration did not propagate the abuse, adminis- tration neve?' contradicted it. I will not say what advice I did give to the King. My advice is in writing, signed by myself, in the possession of the Crown.f But I mil say what advice I did not give to the King : I did not advise him to violate any of the laws of nations. * Mr Grenville, in his speech, made use of this unfortunate expression. t Mr Pitt alludes to his policy in 1761, when (being convinced of the hostile feelings of the Spanish government towards England, although they professed a desire to settle all disputes amicably, and having, it is said, by private means, actual infor- mation of the family compact between France, Spain, and Austria, having been signed on the part of Spain) he strongly insisted, in council, that England should strike the first blow and immediately seize on the Spanish galleons, and, in order to take the full responsibility of this advice upon himself, he reduced his proposition to writing, and delivered it in signed by himself and Lord Temple. His advice being rejected, Mr Pitt at once resigned, and for his conduct on this occasion he was abused in the most violent terms by many of the public papers. Before the close of the year 1761, Mr Pitt's ideas of the real intentions of the King of Spain (Charles III.) were verified, and war was declared between the two countries, D 50 THE iCODEEK OEATOK. *' As to tlie report of the gentleman's preventing in some way the trade for bullion with the Spaniards, it was spoken of so confidently, that I own I am one of those who did believe it to be true.* *' The gentleman must not wonder he was not contradicted, when, as the minister, he asserts the right of Parliament to tax America. I know not how it is, but there is a modesty in this House which does not choose to contradict a minister. I wish gentlemen would get the better of this modesty. Even that chair, Sir, sometimes looks towards St James's. If they do not, perhaps the collective body may begin to abate of its respect for the repre- sentative. Lord Bacon had told me, that a great question would not fail of being agitated at one time or another. I was willing to agitate that at the proper season ; the German war, my German war, they called it. Every session I called out, Has anybody any objections to the German war ? No- body would object to it, one gentleman only excepted, since removed to the Upper House, by succession to an ancient barony .f ' He did not like a German war.' I honoured the man for it, and was sorry when he was turned out of his post. " A great deal has been said without doors, of the power, of the strength of America. It is a topic that ought to be cautiously meddled with. In a good cause, on a sound bottom, the force of this country can crush America to atoms. I know the valour of your troops. I know the skill of your officers. There is not a company of foot that has served in America, out of which you may not pick a man of sufficient knowledge and experience to make a governor of a colony there. But on this ground, on the Stamp Act, when so many here will think it a crying injustice, I am one who will lift up my hands against it. " In such a cause, your success would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the state, and pull down the constitution along with her. Is this your boasted peace ? Not to sheath the sword in its scabbard, but to sheath it in the bowels of your countrymen ? Will you quarrel with yourselves, now the whole House of Bourbon is united against you? while France disturbs your fisheries in Newfoundland, embarrasses your slave-trade to Africa, and withholds from your subjects in Canada their property stipulated by treaty ? while the ransom for the Manillas is denied by Spain, and its gallant conqueror basely traduced into a mean plunderer, a gentleman whose noble and generous spirit would do honour to the proudest grandee of the country ? J The Americans have not acted in all things with prudence and temper. The Americans have * Mr Grenville had said, " I have been particularly charged with giving orders and instructions to prevent the Spanish trade, and thereby stopping the channel by which alone North America used to be supplied with cash for remittances to this country ; I defy any man to produce any such orders or instructions." t Lord le Despencer, formerly Sir F. Dashwood. X Manilla, the capital of the Manillas or Philippine Islands, belonging to Spain, surrendered to Sir Wm Draper, in 1762; but a ransom of four million dollars was agreed to be given for all private property, and accepted. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 31 been wronged. They have been driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned ? Rather let prudence and temper come first from this side. I will undertake for America, that she will follow the example. There are two lines in a ballad of Prior's, of a man's behaviour to his wife, so applicable to you and your colonies, that I cannot help repeating them : — ♦• « Be to her faults a little blind : Be to her virtues very kind.* " Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the House what is really my opinion. It is, that the Stamp Act be repealed absolutely, totally, and imme- diately. That the reason for the repeal be assigned, because it was founded on an erroneous principle. At the same time, let the sovereign authority of this country over the colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be devised, and be made to extend to every point of legislation whatsoever. That we may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise every power whatsoever, except that of taking their money out of their pocket withou their consent." The motion was carried without a division. Speech of Lord Chatham on the motion for an address to the King, after his Majesty's speech on the opening of Parliament, on the 9th of January, 1770, Mr Pitt had been raised to the peerage in July, 1766, by the titles of " Viscount Pynsent and Earl of Chatham." The greater part of this speech is, unfortunately, only reported in the third person, but connected as it is with the speech immediately following, it could not be omitted : — " His Lordship, after complimenting the mover of the address (Lord Ancaster), took notice how happy it would have made him to have been able to concur with the noble Duke in every part of an address, which was meant as a mark of respect and duty to the Crown, professed personal obligations to the King, and veneration for him ; that, though he might differ from the noble Duke in the form of expressing his duty to the Crown, he hoped he should give his Majesty a more substantial proof of his attachment than if he agreed with the motion. That, at his time of life, and loaded as he was with infirmities, he might, perhaps, have stood excused if he had continued in his retirement, and never taken part again in public affairs. But that the alarming state of the nation called upon him, forced him to come forward once more, and to execute that duty which he owed to God, to his sovereign, and to his country ; that he was determined to perform it, even at the hazard of his life ; that there never was a period which called more forcibly than the present, for the serious attention and consideration of that House ; that, as they were the grand hereditary counsellors of the Crown, it was particularly their duty, at a crisis of such importance and danger, to lay before their Sovereign the true D 2 52 THE MODEEN OEATOK. state and condition of his subjects, the discontent which universally prevailed amongst them, the distresses* under which they laboured, the injuries they complained of, and the true causes of this unhappy state of affairs. " That he had heard with great concern of the distemper among the cattle,* and was very ready to give his approbation to those prudent measures which the council had taken for putting a stop to so dreadful a calamity. That he was satisfied there was a power, in some degree arbitrary, with which the constitution trusted the Crown, to be made use of under correction of the legislature, and at the hazard of the minister, upon any sudden emergency, or unforeseen calamity, which might threaten the welfare of the people, or the safety of the state. f That on this principle he had himself advised a measure which he knew was not strictly legal ; but he had recommended it as a measure of necessity, to save a starving people from famine, and had submitted to the judgment of his country. " That he was extremely glad to hear, what he owned he did not believe when he came into the House, that the King had reason to expect that his endeavours to secure the peace of this country would be successful ; for that certainly a peace was never so necessary as at a time when we were torn to pieces by divisions and distractions in every part of his Majesty's dominions. That he had always considered the late peace, however necessary in the then exhausted condition of this country, as by no means equal in point of advantage to what we had a right to expect from the successes of the war, and from the still more exhausted condition of our enemies. That having deserted our allies, we were left without alliances, and, diiring a peace of seven years, had been every moment on the verge of a war : that, on the contrary, France had attentively cultivated her allies, particularly Spain, by every mark of cordiality and respect. That if a war was unavoidable, we must enter into it without a single ally, while the whole house of Bourbon was united within itself, and supported by the closest connexions with the principal powers in Europe. That the situation of our foreign affairs was undoubtedly a matter of moment, and highly worthy their lordships' consideration ; but that he * Mentioned by the King in his speech. t In consequence of a seditious libel appearing in No. 45 of the " North Briton,*^ accusing the King of knowingly uttering falsehoods from the throne, on the opening of Parliament in April, 1763, minibters took upon themselves to issue a general warranty on the 26th of April, for the seizure of the authors, printers, and publishers, without designating any by name ; by virtue of which, after many persons had been seized, Mr John Wilkes, at that time a member of parliament for Aylesbury, was arrested. "Whereupon an application was made to the Court of Common Pleas, for a writ of habeas corpus, but, before the writ could be issued, he was lemoved to the Tower, for refusing to answer questions ; upon which another writ of habeas corpus was obtained from the Common Pleas, directed to the constable of the Tower : and, on the case coming on for argument, Chief-Justice Pratt (afterwards Lord Camden), though he considered the commitment legal, according to precedent, directed Mr Wilkes to be set at liberty, on the ground that it was a breach of the privileges of Parliament to .ajrest him for anything '.ess than treason, felony, or breach of the peace. TttE EAKL OF CHATHAM. 35 declared with grief, there were other matters still more important, and more urgently demanding their attention ; he meant the distractions and divisions which prevailed in every part of the empire. He lamented the unhappy measure which had divided the colonies from the mother country, and which he feared had drawn them into excesses which he could not justify. He owned his natural partiality to America, and was inclined to make allowance even for those excesses. That they ought to be treated with tenderness ; for in his sense they were ebullitions of liberty, which broke out upon the skin, and w^ere a sign, if not of perfect health, at least of a vigorous constitu- tion, and must not be driven in too suddenly, lest they should strike to the heart. He professed himself entirely ignorant of the present state of America, therefore should be cautious of giving any opinion of the measures fit to be pursued with respect to that country. That it was a maxim he had observed through life, when he had lost his way, to stop short, lest by proceeding without knowledge, and advancing (as he feared a noble duke had done) from one false step to another, he should wind himself into an inextricable labyrinth, and never be able to recover the right road again. That as the House had yet no materials before them, by which they might judge of the proceedings of the colonies, he strongly objected to their passing that heavy censure upon them, which Avas conveyed in the word univarrantahle, contained in the proposed address. That it was passing a sentence without hearing the cause, or being acquainted with facts, and might expose the proceedings of the House to be received abroad Avith indifference or disrespect. That if unwarrantable meant anything, it must mean illegal ; and how could their lordships decide that proceedings, which had not been stated to them in any shape, were contrary to law ? That what he had heard of the combinations in America, and of their success in supplying themselves with goods of their own manufacture, had indeed alarmed him much for the commercial interests of the mother country; but he could not conceive in Avhat sense they could be called illegal, much less how a declaration of that House could remove the evil. That they were dangerous indeed, and he greatly wished to have that Avord substituted for unwarrantable. That we must look for other remedies. That the discontent of tAvo millions of people deserved considera- tion ; and the foundation of it ought to be removed. That this w^as the true way of putting a stop to combinations and manufactures in that country ; but that he reserved himself to give his opinion more particularly upon this subject, when authentic information of the state of America should be laid before the House ; declaring only for the present that Ave should be cautious how we invaded the liberties of any part of our fellow-subjects, hoAvever remote in situation, or unable to make resistance. That liberty Avas a plant that deserved to be cherished; that he loved the tree, and wished Avell to every branch of it. That, like the vine in the Scripture, it had spread from east to west, had embraced Avhole nations A\4th its branches, and sheltered them under its leaves. That the Americans had purchased their liberty at a dear rate, since they had quitted their native country, and gone in search of freedom to a desert Si THE MOBEBN ORATOIL " That the parts of the address which he had already touched upon, how- ever important in themselves, bore no comparison with that which still remained. That indeed there never was a time, at which the unanimity recommended to them by the King was more necessary than at the present ; but he differed very much from the noble duke, with respect to the propriety or utility of those general assurances contained in the latter part of the address. That the most perfect harmony in that House would have but little effect towards quieting the minds of the people, and removing their discontent. That it was the duty of that House to inquire into the causes of the notorious dissatisfaction expressed by the whole English nation ;* to state those causes to their sovereign, and then to give him their best ad- vice in what manner he ought to act. That the privileges of the House of Peers, however transcendent, however appropriated to them, stood in fact upon the broad bottom of the people. They were no longer in the condi- tion of the barons, their ancestors, who had separate interests and separate strength to support them. The rights of the greatest and of the meanest subjects now stood upon the same foundation; the security of law, common to all. It was therefore their highest interest, as well as their duty, to watch over and guard the people ; for when the people had lost their rights, those of the peerage would soon become insignificant. To argue from experience ^ he begged leave to refer their lordships to a most important passage in his- tory, described by a man of great abilities, Mr Robertson. This writer, in his life of Charles the Fifth (a great, ambitious, wicked man), informs us, that the peers of Castile were so far cajoled and seduced by him, as to join him in overturning that part of the Cortes which represented the people. They were weak enough to adopt, and base enough to be flattered with, an expectation, that by assisting their master in this iniquitous purpose, they should increase their own strength and importance. What was the conse- quence? They exchanged the constitutional authority of peers, for the titular vanity of grandees. They were no longer a part of a parliament, for that they had destroyed ; and when they pretended to have an opinion as grandees, he told them he did not understand it ; and, naturally enough, when they had surrendered their authority, treated their advice with contempt. The consequences did not stop here. He made use of the peo- ple whom he had enslaved to enslave others, and employed the strength of the Castilians to destroy the rights of their free neighbours of Aragon. *' My lords, let this example be a lesson to us all. Let us be cautious how we admit an idea that our rights stand on a footing different from those of the people. Let us be cautious how we invade the liberties of our fellow- subjects, however mean, however remote ; for be assured, my lords, that in whatever part of the empire you suffer slavery to be established, whether it be in America or in Ireland, or here at home, you will find it a disease which * At the expulsion of Mr Wilkes, by the House of Commons, after being returned member for Middlesex by a large majority. THIS EARL Ot CHATHAM. 55 Spreads by contact, and soon reaches from the extremities to the heart. The man who has lost his own freedom, becomes from that moment an in- strument in the hands of an ambitious prince, to destroy the freedom of others. These reflections, my lords, are but too applicable to our present situation. The liberty of the subjects is invaded, not only in provinces, but here at home. The English people are loud in their complaints : they pro- claim with one voice the injuries they have received ; they demand redress, and depend upon it, my lords, that one way or other, they will have redress. They will never return to a state of tranquillity until they are redressed : nor ought they ; for in my judgment, my lords, and I speak it boldly, it were better for them to perish in a glorious contention for their rights, than to purchase a slavish tranquillity at the expense of a single iota of the consti- tution. Let me entreat your lordships, then, in the name of all the duties you owe to your sovereign, to your country, and to yourselves, t6 perform that office to which you are called by the constitution ; by informing his Majesty truly of the condition of his subjects, and of the real causes of their dissatisfaction. I have considered the matter with most serious attention ; and as I have not in my own breast the smallest doubt that the present universal discontent of the nation arises from the proceedings of the House of Commons upon the expulsion of Mr Wilkes, I think that we ought, in our address, to state that matter to the King. I have drawn up an amend- ment to the address, which I beg leave to submit to the consideration of the House." [His Lordship then read his amendment, which was as follows : — ] " 'And for these great and essential purposes, we will, with all convenient speed, take into our most serious consideration the causes of the discontents which prevail in so many parts of your Majesty's dominions, and particularly the late proceedings of the House of Commons, touching the incapacity of John Wilkes, Esq. (expelled by that House) to be elected a member to serve in this present Parliament, thereby refusing (by a resolution of one branch of the legislature only) to the subject his common right, and depriving the electors of Middlesex of their free choice of a representative.' " The cautious and guarded terms in which this amendment is drawn up, will, I hope, reconcile every noble lord who hears me to my opinion ; and as I think no man can dispute the truth of the facts, so I am persuaded no man can dispute the propriety and necessity of laying those facts before his Majesty." [Lord Mansfield, in opposition to the amendment, expressed his strong disapprobation of general declarations of the law being made by either House of Parliament, as they could not be recognised as law by the judges ; but he drew the distinction between such declarations and a particular deci- sion, on a case coming regularly before either House and properly the subject of their jurisdiction ; and contended, that, in the case of Mr Wilkes, a question regarding the privileges of their own House came properly and 36 ini: MODEEx ohatob. judicially before the Commons ; and that, therefore, it would be exceedingly improper for the House of Lords to enter upon an inquiry into the proceed* ings of the Lower House with respect to their own members, and that such an interference would inevitably led to a rupture between the two Houses.] To this speech of Lord Mansfield, Lord Chatham replied as follows : — • "My Lords, "There is one plain maxim, to which I have invariably adhered through life : — That in every question, in which my liberty or my property were con- cerned, I should consult and be determined by the dictates of common sense. I confess, my lords, that I am apt to distrust the refinements of learning, because I have seen the ablest and the most learned men equally liable to deceive themselves, and to mislead others. The condition of human nature would be lamentable indeed, if nothing less than the greatest learning and talents, which fall to the share of so small a number of men, were sufficient to direct our judgment and our conduct. But Providence has taken better care of our happiness, and given us, in the simplicity of common sense, a rule for our direction, by which we shall never be misled. I confess, my lords, I had no other guide in drawing up the amendment which I sub- mitted to your consideration ; and before I heard the opinion of the noble lord who spoke last, I did not conceive that it was even within the limits of possibility for the greatest human genius, the most subtile understanding, or the acutest wit, so strangely to misrepresent my meaning, and to give it an interpretation so entirely foreign fi^om what I intended to express, and from that sense which the very terms of the amendment plainly and distinctly carry with them. If there be the smallest foundation for the censure thrown upon me by that noble lord — if, either expressly, or by the most distant im- plication, I have said or insinuated any part of what the noble lord has charged me with, discard my opinions for ever, discard the motion with contempt. "My lords, I must beg the indulgence of the House. Neither will my health permit me, nor do I pretend to be qualified to follow that learned lord minutely through the whole of his argument. No man is better acquainted with his abilities and learning, nor has a greater respect for them, than I have. I have had the pleasure of sitting with him in the other House,* and always listened to him with attention. I have not now lost a word of what he said, nok did I ever. Upon the present question, I meet him without fear. The evidence which truth carries with it, is superior to all argument ; it neither wants the support, nor dreads the opposition, of the greatest abilities. If there be a single word in the amendment to justify the interpretation which the noble lord has been pleased to give it, I am ready to renounce the whole : let it be read, my lords ; let it speak for itself." [The amendm^ent was then read.] — " In what instance does it interfere with * Lord Mansfield sat in the House of Commons as Mr Murray. He was created Baron Mansfield, in 1756. In the Lower House, he was always opposed by Mr Pitt. THE EARL OP CHATHAM. 37 the privileges of the House of Commons ? In what respect does it question their jurisdiction, or suppose an authority in this House to arraign the justice of their sentence ? I am sure that every lord who hears me, will bear me witness, that I said not one word touching the merits of the Middlesex election ; so far from conveying any opinion upon that matter in the amend- ment, I did not even in discourse deliver my own sentiments upon it. I did not say that the House of Commons had done either right or wrong ; but, when his Majesty was pleased to recommend it to us to cultivate unanimity amongst ourselves, I thought it the duty of this House, as the great here- ditary council of the Crown, to state to his Majesty the distracted condition of his dominions, together with the events which had destroyed unanimity among his subjects. But, my lords, I stated those events merely as facts, without the smallest addition either of censure or of opinion. They are facts, my lords, which I am not only convmced are true, but which I know are indisputably true. For example, my lords : will any man deny that discontents prevail in many parts of his Majesty's dominions ? or that those discontents arise from the proceedings of the House of Commons touching the declared incapacity of Mr Wilkes ? 'Tis impossible : no man can deny a truth so notorious. Or will any man deny that those proceedings refused, by a resolution of one branch of the legislature only, to the subject his com- mon right ? Is it not indisputably true, my lords, that Mr Wilkes had a common right, and that he lost it no other way but by a resolution of the House of Commons } My lords, I have been tender of misrepresenting the House of Commons : I have consulted their journals, and have taken the very words of their own resolution. Do they not tell us, in so many words, that Mr Wilkes, having been expelled, was thereby rendered incapable of serving in that Parliament ? And is it not their resolution alone, which refuses to the subject his common right? The amendment says further, that the electors of Middlesex are deprived of their free choice of a represen- tative. Is this a false fact, my lords ? or have I given an unfair representa- tion of it ? Will any man presume to affirm that Colonel Luttrell is the free choice of the electors of Middlesex }^ We all know the contrary ; we aU know that Mr Wilkes (whom I mention without either praise or censure) was the favourite of the county, and chosen by a very great and acknowledged majority, to represent them in Parliament. If the noble lord dislikes the manner in which these facts are stated, I shall think myself happy in being advised by him to how to alter it. I am very little anxious about terms, pro- vided the substances be preserved ; and these are facts, my lords, which I am sure will always retain their weight and importance, in whatever form of language they are described. " Now, my lords, since I have been forced to enter into the explanation of an amendment, in which nothing less than the genius of penetration could have discovered an obscurity, and having, as I hope, redeemed myself * The votes polled were 1U3 for Wilkes, and 296 for Luttrell ; but the House, by a vote, rejected Wilkes, and declared Luttrell elected. 38 THE MODERN OBATOK. in the opinion of the House, having redeemed my motion from the severe representation given of it by the noble lord, I must a little longer entreat your lordships' indulgence. The constitution of this country has been openly invaded in fact ; and I have heard, with horror and astonishment, that very invasion defended upon principle. What is this mysterious power, undefined by law, unknown to the subject, which we must not approach without awe, nor speak of without reverence, which no man may question and to which all men must submit ? My lords, I thought the slavish doc- trine of passive obedience had long since been exploded: and, when our kings were obliged to confess that their title to the crown, and the rule of their government, had no other foundation than the known laws of the land, I never expected to hear a divine right, or a divine infallibility, attributed to any other branch of the legislature. My lords, I beg to be understood ; no man respects the House of Commons more than I do, or would contend more strenuously than I would, to preserve them their just and legal autho- rity. Within the bounds prescribed by the constitution, that authority is necessary to the well-being of the people : beyond that line every exertion of power is arbitrary, is illegal ; it threatens tyranny to the people, and destruc- tion to the state. Power without right is the most odious and detestable object that can be offered to the human imagination : it is not only pernicious to those who are subject to it, but tends to its own destruction. It is what my noble friend (Lord Lyttelton) has truly described it. Res detestahilis et caduca. My lords, I acknowledge the just power, and reverence the consti- tution of the House of Commons. It is for their own sakes that I would prevent their assuming a power which the constitution has denied them, lest, by grasping at an authority they have no right to, they should forfeit that which they legally possess. My lords, I affii'm that they have betrayed their constituents, and violated the constitution. Under pretence of declaring the law, they have made a law, and united in the same persons the office of legislator and of judge. " I shall endeavour to adhere strictly to the noble lord's doctrine, which is indeed impossible to mistake, so far as my memory will permit me to pre- serve his expressions. He seems fond of the word jurisdiction ; and I con- fess, with the force and effect which he has given it, it is a word of copious meaning and wonderful extent. If his lordship's doctrine be well founded, we must renounce all those political maxims by which our understandings have hitherto been directed, and even the first elements of learning taught us in our schools when we were school-boys. My lords, we knew that juris- diction was nothing more than jus dicer e ; we knew that legem facere and legem dicere were powers clearly distinguished from each other in the nature of things, and wisely separated by the wisdom of the English constitution ; but now, it seems, we must adopt a new system of thinking. The House of Commons, we are told, has a supreme jurisdiction ; that there is no appeal from their sentence ; and that wherever they are competent judges, their decision must be received and submitted to, as, ipso facto^ the law of THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 39 the land. My lords, I am a plain man, and have been brought up in a reli- gious reverence for the original simplicity of the laws of England. By what sophistry they have been perverted, by what artifices they have been involved in obscurity, is not for me to explain; the principles, however, of the English laws are still sufficiently clear : they are founded in reason, and are the master- piece of the human understanding; but it is in the text that I would look for a direction to my judgment, not in the commentaries of modern professors. The noble lord assures us, that he knows not in what code the law of Parliament is to be found ; that the House of Commons, when they act as judges, have no law to direct them but their own wisdom ; that their decision is law ; and if they determine wrong, the subject has no appeal but to heaven. What then, my lords, are all the generous efibrts of our ancestors — are all those glorious contentions, by which they meant to secure to themselves, and to transmit to their posterity, a known law, a cer- tain rule of living — ^reduced to this conclusion, that instead of the arbitrary power of a king, we must submit to the arbitrary power of a House of Com- mons ? If this be true, what benefit do we derive from the exchange ? Tyranny, my lords, is detestable in every shape ; but in none so formidable as when it is assumed and exercised by a number of tyrants. But, my lords, this is not the fact, this is not the constitution ; we have a law of Par- liament ; we have a code in which every honest man may find it. We have Magna Charta, we have the Statute Book, and the Bill of Bights. " If a case should arise unknown to these great authorities, we have still that plain English reason left, which is the foundation of all our English jurisprudence. That reason tells us, that every judicial court and every political society must be vested with those powers and privileges which are necessary for performing the ofiice to which they are appointed. It tells us also, that no court of justice can have a power inconsistent with, or para- mount to, the known laws of the land ; that the people, when they choose their representatives, never mean to convey to them a power of invading the rights or trampling upon the liberties of those whom they represent. What security would they have for their rights, if once they admitted that a court of judicature might determine every question that came before it, not by any known, positive law, but by the vague, indeterminate, arbitrary rule, of what the noble lord is pleased to call the wisdom of the court ? With respect to the decision of the courts of justice, I am far from denying them their due weight and authority ; yet, placing them in a most respectablevi ew, I still consider them, not as law, but as an evidence of the law ; and before they can arrive even at that degree of authority, it must appear that they are founded in, and confirmed by, reason ; that they are supported by precedents taken from good and moderate times ; that they do not contradict any posi- tive law ; that they are submitted to without reluctance by the people : that they are unquestioned by the legislature (which is equivalent to a tacit con- firmation) ; and, what, in my judgment, is by far the most important, that they do not violate the spirit of the constitution. My lords, this is not a 40 THE MODERN ORATOH. vague "or loose expression ; we all know what the constitution is ; we all know, that the first principle of it is, that the subject shall not he governed by the arhitrium of any one man, or body of men (less than the whole legis- lature), but by certain laws, to which he has -virtually given his consent, which are open to him to examine, and not beyond his ability to understand. Now, my lords, I affii'm, and am ready to maintain, that the late decision of the House of Commons upon the Middlesex election, is destitute of every one of those properties and conditions which I hold to be essential to the legality of such a decision. It is not founded in reason ; for it carries with it a contradiction, that the representative should perform the office of the constituent body. It is not supported by a single precedent : for the case of Sir R. Walpole is but a half precedent, and even that half is imperfect. Incapacity was indeed declared, but his crimes are stated as the ground of the resolution, and his opponent was declared to be not duly elected, even after his incapacity was established. It contradicts Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights, by which it is provided, that no subject shall be deprived of his freehold, unless by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; and that elections of members to serve in Parliament shall be fr'ee ; and so far is this decision fr-om being submitted to by the people, that they have taken the strongest measures, and adopted the most positive language, to express their discontent. ^Vhether it will be questioned by the legislatui'e, mil depend upon your lordships' resolution ; but that it violates the spiiit of the constitution ^\tI1, I think, be disputed by no man who has heard this daj'^'s debate, and who wishes well to the freedom of his country ; yet, if we are to believe the noble lord, this great grievance, this manifest violation of the first principles of the constitution, will not admit of a remedy ; is not even capable of redress, unless we appeal at once to Heaven. My lords, I have better hopes of the constitution, and a firmer confidence in the wisdom and constitutional authority of this House. It is to your ancestors, my lords, — it is to the English barons that we are indebted for the laws and constitu- tion we possess. Their virtues were rude and uncultivated, but they were great and sincere. Their understandings were as little polished as their manners, but they had hearts to distinguish right from wrong ; they had heads to distinguish truth from falsehood; they understood the rights of humanity, and they had spirit to maintain them. "My lords, I think that history has not done justice to their conduct, when they obtained from their sovereign that great acknowledgment of national rights contained in Magna Charta ; they did not confine it to them- selves alone, but delivered it as a common blessing to the whole people. They did not say, These are the rights of the great barons, or these are the rights of the great prelates ; — No, my lords ; they said, in the simple Latin of the times, nullus liher Jiomo, and provided as carefully for the meanest subject as for the greatest. These are uncouth words, and sound but poorly in the ears of scholars ; neither are they addressed to the criticism of scholars, but the hearts of free men. These three words, nullus liber homo, THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 41 Kave a meaning which interests us all ; they deserve to be remembered — they deserve to be inculcated in our minds — they are worth all the classics. Let us not, then, degenerate from the glorious example of our ancestors. Those iron barons (for so I may call them when compared with the silken barons of modern days) were the guardians of the people ; yet their virtues, my lords, were never engaged in a question of such importance as the pre- sent. A breach has been made in the constitution — the battlements are dismantled — the citadel is open to the first invader — the walls totter — the constitution is not tenable. What remains, then, but for us to stand fore- most in the breach, to repair it, or perish in it ? " Great pains have been taken to alarm us with the dreadful consequences of a difference between the two Houses of Parliament — that the House of Commons will resent our presuming to take notice of their proceedings ; that they will resent our daring to advise the Crown, and never forgive us for attempting to save the state. My lords, I am sensible of the importafice and difficulty of this great crisis : at a moment such as this, we are called upon to do our duty, without dreading the resentment of any man. But if appre- hensions of this kind are to affect us, let us consider which we ought to respect most — the representative, or the collective body of the people. My lords, five hundred gentlemen are not ten millions ; and if we must have a contention, let us take care to have the English nation on our side. If this question be given up, the freeholders of England are reduced to a condition baser than the peasantry of Poland. If they desert their own cause, they deserve to be slaves ! — My lords, this is not merely the cold opinion of my understanding, but the glowing expression of what I feel. It is my heart that speaks : I know I speak warmly, my lords ; but this warmth shall neither betray my argument nor my temper. The kingdom is in a flame. As mediators between the King and people, it is our duty to represent to him the true condition and temper of his subjects. It is a duty which no parti- cular respects should hinder us from performing ; and whenever his Majesty shall demand our advice, it will then be our duty to inquire more minutely into the causes of the present discontents. Whenever that inquiry shall come on, I pledge myself to the House to prove, that since the first institution of the House of Commons, not a single precedent can be produced to justify their late proceedings. My noble and learned friend (the Lord Chancellor^') has also pledged himself to the House that he will support that assertion. " My lords, the character and circumstances of Mr Wilkes have been very improperly introduced into this question, not only here, but in that court of judicature where his cause was tried : I mean the House of Commons. With one party he was a patriot of the first magnitude ; with the other the vilest incendiary. For my own part, I consider him merely and indifferently as an English subject, possessed of certain rights which the laws have given * Lord Camden. 42 THE MODERN ORATOE. him, and which the laws alone can take from him. I am neither moved by his private vices nor by his public merits. In his person, though he were the worst of men, I contend for the safety and security of the best ; and, God forbid, my lords, that there should be a power in this country of measuring the civil rights of the subject by his moral character or by any other rule but the fixed laws of the land ! I believe, my lords, / shall not be suspected of any personal partiality to this unhappy man : I am not very conversant in pamphlets or newspapers ; but from what I have heard, and from the little I have read, I may venture to affirm that I have had my share in the compli- ments which have come from that quarter ; and as for motives of ambition (for I must take to myself a part of the noble duke's insinuation), I believe, my lords, there have been times in which I have had the honour of standing in such favour in the closet, that there must have been something extrava- gantly unreasonable in my wishes if they might not all have been gratified ; after neglecting those opportmiities, I am now suspected of coming forward, in the decline of life, in the anxious pursuit of wealth and power, which it is impossible for me to enjoy. Be it so ; there is one ambition at least which I ever will acknowledge, which I will not renounce but with my life ; it is the ambition of delivering to my posterity those rights of freedom which I have received from my ancestors. I am not now pleading the cause of an individual, but of every freeholder in England. In what manner this House may constitutionally interpose in their defence, and what kind of redress this case will require and admit of, is not at present the subject of our considera- tion. The amendment, if agreed to, will naturally lead us to such an inquiry. That inquiry may, perhaps, point out the necessity of an act of the legislature, or it may lead us, perhaps, to desire a conference with the other House ; which one noble lord afiirms is the only parliamentary way of proceeding ; and which another noble lord assures us the House of Commons would either not come to, or would break off" with indignation. Leaving their lordships to reconcile that matter between themselves, I shall only say, that before we have inquired, we cannot be provided with materials, consequently we are not at present prepared for a conference. " It is impossible, my lords, that the inquiry I speak of may lead us to advise his Majesty to dissolve the present parliament; nor have I any doubt of our right to give that advice, if we should think it necessary. His Majesty will then determine whether he will yield to the united petitions of the people of England, or maintain the House of Commons in the exercise of a legislative power which heretofore abolished the House of Lords, and over- turned the monarchy. I willingly acquit the present House of Commons of having actually formed so detestable a design : but they cannot themselves foresee to what excesses they may be carried hereafter ; and for my own part, I should be sorry to trust to their future moderation. Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it ; and this I know, my lords, that where law ends, tyranny begins!" The amendment was negatived. THE EAKL OF CHATHAM. 48 The following speech was made on the 22d of January, 1770, in support of a motion, by the Marquis of Rockingham, for appointing a day to take into consideration the state of the nation. The Marquis of Rockingham, in his speech on making this motion, dwelt on the alarming state of the country, and charged ministers with having adopted a maxim which must prove fatal to the liberties of the country, viz., " That the prerogative alone was sufficient to support the Government, to whatever hands the administration should be committed." The Duke of Grafton addressed the House after the Marquis, in exculpation of himxself and his colleagues (then in office), and stated that it was not his intention to oppose the motion. The Earl of Chatham followed thus : — " My Lords, " I meant to have risen immediately to second the motion made by the noble lord. The charge, Avhich the noble duke seemed to think affected himself particularly, did undoubtedly demand an early answer ; it was proper he should speak before me, and I am as ready as any man to applaud the decency and propriety with which he has expressed himself. " I entirely agree with the noble lord, both in the necessity of your lord- ships' concurring with the motion, and in the principles and arguments by which he has very judiciously supported it. I see clearly, that the complexion of our Government has been materially altered ; and I can trace the origin of the alteration up to a period which ought to have been an era of happi- ness and prosperity to this country. " My lords, I shall give you my reasons for concurring with the motion, not methodically, but as they occur to my mind. I may wander, perhaps, from the exact parliamentary debate ; but I hope I shall say nothing but what may deserve your attention, and what, if not strictly proper at present, would be fit to be said, when the state of the nation shall come to be con- sidered. My uncertain state of health must plead my excuse. I am now in some pain, and very probably may not be able to attend my duty, when I desire it most, in this House. I thank God, my lords, for having thus long preserved so inconsiderable a being as I am, to take a part upon this great occasion, and to contribute my endeavours, such as they are, to restore, to save, to confirm the constitution. " My lords, I need not look abroad for grievances. The grand capital mischief is fixed at home. It corrupts the very foundation of our political existence, and preys upon the vitals of the state. The constitution has been grossly violated."T?HE constitution at this moment stands yioeated. Until that wound be healed, until the grievance be redressed, it is in vain to recommend union to parliament ; in vain to promote concord among the people. If we mean seriously to unite the nation within itself, we must convince them that their complaints are regarded, that their inquiries shall be redressed. On that foundation I would take the lead in recommending peace and harmony to the people. On any other, I would never wish to see 44 THE MODERN ORATOIi, ' them united again. If the Lreacli in the constitution be effectually repaii-ed, the people will of themselves return to a state of tranquillity ; if not, may DISCORD PREYAIL FOR EYER ! I know to what point this doctrine and this language will appear directed. But I feel the principles of an Englishman, and I utter them without apprehension or reserve. The crisis is indeed alarming : — so much the more does it require a prudent relaxation on the part of government. If the King's servants will not permit a constitutional question to be decided on, according to the forms and on the principles of the constitution, it must then be decided in some other manner ; and rather than it should be given up, rather than the nation should surrender their birth-right to a despotic minister, I hope, my lords, old as I am, I shall see the question brought to issue, and fairly tried bettveen the people and the govern- ment. My lords, this is not the language of faction ; let it be tried by that criterion by which alone we can distinguish what is factious from what is not — by the principles of the English constitution. I have been bred up in these principles ; and know, that when the liberty of the subject is invaded, and all redress denied him, resistance is justified. If I had a doubt upon the matter, I should follow the example set us by the most reverend bench, with whom I believe it is a maxim, when any doubt in point of faith arises, or any question of controversy is started, to appeal at once to the greatest source and evidence of our religion — I mean the Holy Bible : the constitution has its political Bible, by which, if it be fairly consulted, every political question may, and ought to be determined. Magna Charta, the Petition of Bight, and the Bill of Rights, form that code which I call the Bible of the English constitution. Had some of his Majesty's unhappy predecessors trusted less to the comments of their ministers, had they been better read in the text itself, the glorious revolution would have remained only possible in theory, and would not now have existed upon record a formidable example to their successors. " My lords, I cannot agree with the noble duke, that nothing less than an immediate attack upon the honour or interest of this nation, can authorise us to interpose in defence of weaker states, and in stopping the enterprises of an ambitious neighbour. Whenever that narrow, selfish policy, has pre- vailed in our councils, we have constantly experienced the fatal effects of it. By suffering our natural enemies to oppress the powers less able than we are to make a resistance, we have permitted them to increase their strength ; we have lost the most favourable opportunities of opposing them with success ; and found ourselves at last obliged to run every hazard, in making that cause our own, in which we were not wise enough to take part while the expense and danger might have been supported by others. With respect to Corsica I shall only say, that France has obtained a more useful and important acqui- sition in one pacific campaign, than in any of her belligerent campaigns ;^' at * Louis XV., in consequence, as was pretended, of the Jesuits being allowed to take refuge in Corsica in 1767, purchased the island from the Genoese, and after two years' contest, succeeded in subduing it. The French minister, Choiseul, induced the British government to render no opposition. THE EAEL OF CHATHAM. 45 least while I had the honour of administering the war against her. The word may, perhaps, be thought singular : I mean only while I was the minister, chiefly entrusted with the conduct of the war. I remember, my lords, the time when Lorrain was united to the crown of France ;* that too was, in some measure, a pacific conquest ; and there were people who talked of it as the noble duke now speaks of Corsica. France was permitted to take and keep possession of a noble province ; and, according to his Grace's ideas, we did right in not opposing it. The effect of these acquisitions is, I confess, not immediate ; but they unite with the main body by degrees, and, in time, make a part of the national strength. I fear, my lords, it is too much the temper of this coimtry to be insensible of the approach of danger, until it comes with accumulated terror upon us. " My lords, the condition of his Majesty's affairs in Ireland, and the state of that kingdom within itself, will undoubtedly make a very material part of your lordships' inquiry. I am not sufficiently informed to enter into the sub- ject so fully as I could wish; but by what appears to the public, and from my own observation, I confess I cannot give the ministry much credit for the spirit or prudence of their conduct. I see, that even where their measures are well chosen, they are incapable of carrying them through without some unhappy mixture of weakness or im.prudence. They are incapable of doing entirely right. My lords, I do, from my conscience, and from the best weighed principles of my understanding, applaud the augmentation of the army. As a military plan, I believe, it has been judiciously arranged. In a political view, I am convinced it was for the welfare, for the safety of the whole empire. But, my lords, with all these advantages, with all these recommendations, if I had the honour of advising his Majesty, I would never have consented to his accepting the augmentation, with that absurd, disho- nourable condition, which the ministry have submitted to annex to it.f My lords, I revere the just prerogative of the crown, and would contend for it as warmly as for the rights of the people. They are linked together, and natur_ally support each other. I would not touch a feather of the preroga- tive. The expression, perhaps, is too light ; but, since I have made use of it, let me add, that the entire command and power of directing the local disposition of the army is the royal prerogative, as the master-feather in the eagle's wing ; and if I were permitted to carry the allusion a little farther, I would say, they have disarmed the imperial bird, the ' Ministrum fulminis alitem' The army is the thunder of the crown. The ministry have tied up the hand which should direct the bolt. * In the year 1735, by an arrangement between the Emperor of Austria and the French. t King George III. had, by a message through the Lord Lieutenant, recommended the Irish House of Commons to augment the Irish army, and assured them expressly that on the augmentation being made, not less than 12,000 men should at all times " except in cases of invasion or rebellion in Great Britain," be stationed in Ireland. 46 THE MODEEN OEATOE. *' My lords, I remember that Minorca was lost for ^vant of four batta- lions.* They could not be spared from hence ; and there was a delicacy about taking them from Ireland. I was one of those who promoted an in- quiry into that matter in the other House ; and I was con^dnced we had not regular troops sufficient for the necessary service of the nation. Since the moment the plan of augmentation was first talked of, I have constantly and warmly supported it among my friends : I have recommended it to several members of the Irish House of Commons, and exhorted them to support it with theu' utmost interest in Parliament. I did not foresee, nor could I con- -ceive it possible, the ministry would accept of it, with a condition that makes the plan itself ineffectual, and, as far as it operates, defeats every useful purpose of maintaining a standing military force. His Majesty is now so -confined, by his promise, that he must leave twelve thousand men locked up in Ireland, let the situation of his affairs abroad, or the approach of danger to this country, be ever so alarming, unless there be an actual rebellion, or invasion, in Great Britain. Even in the two cases excepted by the King's promise, the mischief must have already begun to operate, must have already -taken effect, before his Majesty can be authorised to send for the assistance of his Irish army. He has not left himself the power of taking any pre- ventive measures, let his intelligence be ever so certain, let his apprehensions of invasion or rebellion be ever so well-founded ; unless the traitor be ac- tually in arms — unless the enemy be in the heart of yom' country, he cannot move a single man from Ireland. ^' I feel myself compelled, my lords, to return to that subject which occu- 'pies and interests me most — I mean the internal disorder af the constitution, -and the remedy it demands. But first, I would observe, there is one point upon which I think the noble duke has not explained himself. I do not mean to catch at words, but, if possible, to possess the sense of what I hear. •I would treat every man with candour, and should expect the same candour in return. For the noble duke, in particular, I have every personal respect and regard. I never desire to understand him, but as he wishes to be un- derstood. His Grace, I think, has laid much stress upon the diligence of the several public offices, and the assistance given them by the administration, in preparing a statement of the expenses of his Majesty's civil government, for the information of parliament, and for the satisfaction of the public. He has given us a number of plausible reasons for their not having yet been able to finish the aceount ; but, as far. as I am able to recollect, he has not yet given us the smallest reason to hope that it ever will be finished, or that it ever will be laid before Parliament. "My lords, I am not unpractised in business, and if, with all that appa- rent diligence, and all that assistance, which the noble duke speaks of, the accounts in question have not yet been made up, I am convinced there must be a defect in some of the public offices, which ought to be strictly inquired * In 1787. THE EAllL OF CHATHAM. 47 into, and severely punished. But, my lords, the waste of the public money is not of itself so important as the pernicious purpose to which we have rea- son to suspect that money has been applied. For some years past, there has been an influx of wealth into this country, which has been attended with many fatal consequences, because it has not been the regular, natural produce of labour and industry. The riches of Asia have been poured in upon us, and have brought with them not only Asiatic luxury, but, I fear, Asiatic principles of government. Without connexions, without any natural interest in the soil, the importers of foreign gold have forced their way into Parlia- ment, by such a torrent of private corruption, as no private hereditary fortune could resist My lords, not saying but what is within the knowledge of us all, the corruption of the people is the great original cause of the discontents of the people themselves, of the enterprise of the Crown, and the notorious decay of the internal vigour of the constitution. For this great evil some immediate remedy must be provided ; and I confess, my lords, I did hope that his Majesty's servants would not have suffered so many years of peace to elapse, without paying some attention to an object which ought to engage and interest us all. I flattered myself I should see some barriers thrown up in defence of the constitution — some impediment formed to stop the rapid progress of corruption. I doubt not we all agree that something must be done. I shall oflor my thoughts, such as they are, to the consideration of the House ; and I wish that every noble lord who hears me would be as ready as I am to contribute his opinion to this important service. I will not call my own sentiments crude and indigested ; it would be unflt for me to offer anything to your lordships which I had not well considered ; and this subject, I own, has not long occupied my thoughts. I will now give them to your lordships without reserve. " Whoever understands the theory of the English constitution, and will compare it with the fact, must see at once how widely they differ. We must reconcile them to each other, if we wish to save the liberties of this country ; we must reduce our political practice, as nearly as possible, to our principles. The constitution intended that there should be a permanent relation between the constituent and representative body of the people. Will any man affirm, that, as the House of Commons is now formed, that relation is in any de- gree preserved ? My lords, it is not preserved ; it is destroyed. Let us be cautious, however, how we have recourse to violent expedients. " The boroughs of this country have properly enough been called the rotten parts of the constitution. I have lived in Cornwall, and without entering into an invidious particularity, have seen enough to justify the appellation. But in my judgment, my lords, these boroughs, corrupt as they are, must be considered as the natural infirmity of the constitution. Like the infirmities of the body, we must bear them with patience, and submit to carry them about with us. The limb is mortified, but the amputation might be death. " Let us try, my lords, whether some gentler remedies may not be dis- covered. Since w© cannot cure the disorder, let us endeavour to infuse such e2 48 THE MODERN OEATOK. a portion of new health into the constitution, as may enable it to support its most inveterate diseases. " The representation of the counties is, I think, still preserved pure and tmcorrupted. Tliat of the greatest cities is upon a footing equally respect- able ; and there are many of the larger trading to'wns, which still preserve their independence. The infusion of health which I now allude to, would be to permit every county to elect one member more, in addition to their present representation. The knights of the shires approach nearest to the constitutional representation of the country, because they represent the soil. It is not in the little dependent boroughs, it is in the great cities and coun- ties that the strength and vigour of the constitution resides, and by them alone, if an unhappy question should ever rise, will the constitution be ho- nestly and firmly defended. It would increase that strength, because I think it is the only security we have against the profligacy of the times, the cor- ruption of the people, and the ambition of the Crown. " I think I have Vv^eighed every possible objection that can be raised against a plan of this nature ; and I confess I see but one, which, to me, carries any appearances of solidity. It may be said, perhaps, that when the act passed for uniting the two kingdoms, the number of persons who were to represent the whole nation in Parliament was proportioned and fixed on for ever^* — that this limitation is a fundamental article, and cannot be altered without hazarding a dissolution of the union. " My lords, no man who hears me can have a greater reverence for that wise and important act, than I have. I revere the memory of that great prince who first formed the plan, and of those illustrious patriots who car- ried it into execution. As a contract, every article of it should be inviolable ; as the common basis of the strength and happiness of two nations, every article of it should be sacred. I hope I cannot be suspected of conceiving a thought so detestable, as to propose an advantage to one of the contracting parties at the expense of the other. No, my lords, I mean that the benefit should be universal, and the consent to receive it unanimous. Nothing less than a most urgent and important occasion should persuade me to vary even from the letter of the act ; but there is no occasion, however urgent, how- ever important, that should ever induce me to depart from the spirit of it. Let that spirit be religiously preserved. Let us follow the principle upon which the representation of the two countries was proportioned at the union : and when we increase the number of representatives for the English counties, let the shires of Scotland be allowed an equal privilege. On these terms, and while the proportion limited by the union is preserved between the two nations, I apprehend that no man, who is a friend to either, will object to an alteration so necessary for the security of both. I do not speak of the au- * By the terms of the union of England and Scotland in 1706, it was provided, ** That the whole people of Great Britain shall be represented by one ^ Parliament, in which sixteen Peers and forty-five Commoners chosen for Scotland shall sit and vote." THE EAKL OF CHATHAM. 49 thority of the legislature to carry such a measure into effect, because I imagine no man will dispute it. But I would not wish the legislature to in- terpose by an exertion of its power alone, without the cheerful concurrence of all parties. My object is the happiness and security of the two nations, and I would not wish to obtain it without their mutual consent. " My lords, besides my warm approbation of the motion made by the noble lord, I have a natural and personal pleasure in rising up to second it. I con- sider my seconding his lordship's motion, and I would wish it to be con- sidered by others, as a public demonstration of that cordial union, which, I am happy to affirm, subsists between us — of my attachment to those prin- ciples which he has so well defended, and of my respect for his person. There has been a time, my lords, when those who wished well to neither of us, who wished to see us separated for ever, found a sufficient gratification for their malignity against us both. But that time is happily at an end. The friends of this country will, I doubt not, hear with pleasure, that the noble lord and his friends are now united with me and mine, upon a principle which, I trust, will make our union indissoluble. It is not to possess, or di- vide, the emoluments of government ; but, if possible, to save the state. Upon this ground we met — upon this ground we stand, firm and inseparable. No ministerial artifices, no private offers, no secret seduction, can divide us. United as we are, we can set the profoundest policy of the present ministry, their grand, their only arcanum of government, their divide et impera, at defiance. " I hope an early day will be agreed to for considering the state of the nation. My infirmities must fall heavily upon me, indeed, if I do not attend my duty that day. When I consider my age, and unhappy state of health, I feel how little I am personally interested in the event of any poli- tical question. But I look forward to others, and am determined, as far as my poor ability extends, to convey to those who come after me the blessings which I cannot long hope to enjoy myself." The motion was agreed to ; the 24th of January being first fixed for the discussion, but altered to the 2nd of February. On the 29th of January the Duke of Grafton resigned, and was succeeded by Lord North. On the 2nd of February, 1770, the day fixed for the lords' committee, to take into consideration the state of the nation, the Marquis of Rockingham moved, " that the House of Commons, in the exercise of its judicature in matters of election, is bound to judge according to the law of the land, and the known and established law and custom of parliament, which is part thereof." The Earl of Sandwich having spoken in opposition, Lord Chat- ham replied to him thus : — " My Lords, " The noble lord has been very adroit in referring to the journals, and in collecting every circumstance that might assist his argument. Though my 50 IHE MODERN OKATOE. long and almost continued infirmities have denied me the hour of ease to obtain these benefits, yet, without the assistance of the journals, or othei' collaterals, I can reply to both the precedents which his lordship has produced. " I will readily allow the facts to be as the noble earl has stated them, viz., that Lionel, Earl of Middlesex,* as well as Lord Bacon,f were both, for certain crimes and misdemeanours, expelled this House, and incapacitated from ever sitting here ; without occasioning any interference from the other branches of the legislature. "Neither of these cases bear any analogy to the present case. They afiected only themselves. The rights of no constituent body were affected by them. It is not the person of Mr Wilkes that is complained of; as an individual, he is personally out of the dispute. The cause of complaint, the great cause, is, that the inherent rights and franchises of the people are, in this case, invaded, trampled upon, and annihilated. Lord Bacon and Lord Middlesex represented no county, or city. The rights of no freeholder, the franchises of no elector, were destroyed by their expulsion. The cases are as widely different as north from south. But I will allow the noble earl a succedaneum to his argument, which, probably, he has not as yet thought of. I will suppose he urges, ' That whatever authority gives a seat to a peer, it is, at least, equally as respectable as to a commoner, and that, both in expul- sion and incapacitation, the injury is directly the same :' — Granted; and I will further allow, that if Mr Wilkes had not been re-elected by the people, the first expulsion, I believe, would be efficient. Therefore, my lords, this comparison ceases ; for, except these noble lords mentioned had received a fresh title, either by birth or patent, they could not possibly have any claim after the first expulsion. The noble lord asks, ' How came this doctrine to be broached r' And adds, ' Who should be more tenacious of their liber- ties and privileges than the members themselves ?' In respect to the latter part of this question, I agree none should be so proper as themselves to pro- tect their own rights and privileges ; and I sincerely lament that they have, by their recent conduct, so far forgot what those privileges are, that they have added to the long list of venality from Esau to the present day. In regard to the first part, ' How came this doctrine to be broached ?' I must tell the noble lord it is as old as the constitution itself ; the liberties of the people, in the original distribution of government, being the first thing pro- vided for ; and in the case of Mr Wilkes, though we have not instances as numerous as in other cases, yet it is by no means the less constitutional ; like a comet in the firmament, which, however it may dazzle and surprise the vulgar and untutored, by unfrequency of its appearance, the philosopher, versed in astronomic science, it affects no more than any other common process of nature, being perfectly simple, and to him perfectly intelligible. Need I remind you, my lords, at this period, of that common school-boy position, that * A. D. 162L t A. D. 1624, THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 51 the constitution of this country depends upon King, Lords, and Commons — that each by their power are a balance to the other ? If this is not the case, why were the three estates constituted ? Why should it be necessary, before an act of Parliament takes place, that their mutual concurrence should be had ? My lords, I am ashamed to trudge in this common track of argument ; and have no apology to make, but that I have been drawn into it by the noble lord's asserting, 'We had no right to interfere with the privileges of the other House.' " The noble Earl has been very exact in his calculation of the proportion of persons who have petitioned ; and did the affair rest merely on this cal- culation, his argument would be unanswerable ; but will he consider what numbers, whose private sentiments felt all the rigour of parliamentary pro- ceedings, but for want of a few principals to call them together, and collect their opinions, have never reached the ear of their sovereign ? If we add to this number, the interest made use of on the side of government, to suppress all petitions, with the authority that placemen have necessarily over their dependants, it is very surprising, that out of forty counties, thirteen had spirit and independence sufficient to stem such a tide of venality. But I will suppose that this was not the case, that no undue influence was made use of, and that hence but one third of the people think themselves aggrieved. Are numbers to constitute rights ? are not the laws of the land fixed and unalterable ? and is not this proceeding complained of, or any other (sup- ported even but by one), to be tried, and adjudged by these laws ? There- fore, however the noble lord may excel in the doctrine of calculation as a speculative matter, it can by no means serve him, urged in the course of argument. " Let us not, then, my lords, be deaf to the alarms of the people, when these alarms are founded on the infringement of their rights. Let us not sit neuter and inattentive to the proceedings of the other House. We are, equally with that House, entrusted with the people's rights, and we cannot conscientiously discharge our duties without our interference, whenever we find those rights, in any part of the constitution, trampled on. " I have, my lords, trespassed on your patience at this late hour of the night, when the length of this debate must have fatigued your lordships considerably. But I cannot apologise in a case so deeply interesting to the nation' — no time can be too long — no time can be lost — ^no hardships can be complained of. " He condemned the conduct of the House of Commons in terms of asperity. He denominated the vote of that House, which had made Colonel Luttrel representative for Middlesex, a gross invasion of the rights of elec- tion — a dangerous violation of the English constitution — a treacherous sur- render of the invaluable privilege of a freehold, and a corrupt sacrifice of their own honour. They had stripped the statute book of its brightest ornaments, to gild the wings, not of prerogative, but of unprincipled faction and lawless domination. To gratify the resentments of some individuals, the laws had 52 THE MODEEN ORATOK. been despised, trampled upon, and destroyed — those laws, "vvhich had been made by the stern virtue of their ancestors, the iron barons of old, to whom we were indebted for all the blessings of our present constitution ; to whose virtue and whose blood, to whose spirit in the hour of contest, and to whose tenderness in the triumph of victory, the silken barons of this day owe their honours and their seats, and both Houses of Parliament owe their con- tinuance. These measures made a part of that unhappy system, which had been formed in the present reign, with a view to new-model the consti- tution, as well as the government. These measures originated, he would not say, with his Majesty's knowledge, but in his Majesty's councils. The Commons had slavishly obeyed the commands of his Majesty's servants, and had thereby exhibited, and proved to the conviction of every man, what might have been only matter of suspicion before — that ministers held a cor- rupt influence in Parliament ; it was demonstrable — it was indisputable. It was therefore particularly necessary for their lordships, at this critical and alarming period, so full of jealousy and apprehension, to step forwards, and oppose themselves, on the one hand, to the justly incensed, and perhaps speedy intemperate rage of the people ; and on the other, to the criminal and malignant conduct of his Majesty's ministers : that they might prevent licentiousness on the one side, and depredation on the other. Their lord- ships were the constitutional barrier between the extremes of liberty and prerogative." The question being then put, that the Speaker should resume the chair, it was carried in the affirmative by a large majority, whereon the Earl of March- mont made the following motion : — " That any resolution of this House* directly or indirectly impeaching a judgment of the House of Commons, in a matter where their jurisdiction is competent, final, and conclusive, would be a violation of the constitutional right of the Commons, tend to make a breach between the two Houses of Parliament, and lead to a general con- fusion :" which was carried after considerable discussion. Speech of Lord Chatham, in support of a motion for appointing a com- mittee to inquire into the expenditure of the Civil List. — 16th March, 1770. " My Lords, " The Civil List was appropriated, in the first instance, to the support of the civil government ; and in the next, to the honour and dignity of the crown. In every other respect, the minute and particular expenses of the Civil List are as open to parliamentary examination and inquiry, in regard to the application and abuse, as any other grant of the people, to any other purpose : and ministers are equally or more culpable for incurring an un- provided expense, and for running in arrears this service, as for any other. The preambles of the Civil List acts prove this : and none but children, novices, or ignorants, will ever act without proper regard to them : and therefore, I can never consent to increase fraudulently the civil establish- THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 53 ment, under pretence of making up deficiencies ; nor will I bid so high for royal favour ; and the minister who is bold enough to spend the people's money before it is granted (even though it were not for the purpose of cor- rupting their representatives), and thereby leaving the people of England no other alternative, but either to disgrace their Sovereign, by not paying his debts, or to become the prey of every unthrifty or corrupt minister — such minister deserves death. " The late good old King had something of humanity, and amongst other royal and manly virtues, he possessed justice, truth, and sincerity, in an emi- nent degree ; so that he had something about him, by which it was possible for you to know whether he liked you or disliked you. " I have been told that I have a pension, and that I have recommended others to pensions. It is true ; and here is a list of them : you will find there the names of General Amherst, Sir Edward Hawke, and several others of the same nature ; they were given as rewards for real services, and as encouragements to other gallant heroes. They were honourably earned in a difierent sort of campaigns than those at Westminster ; they were gained by actions, full of danger to themselves, of glory and benefaction to this nation; not by corrupt votes of baseness and destruction to their country. " You will find no secret services there, and you will find, that when the warrior was recompensed, the member of Parliament was left free. You will likewise find a pension of £1500 a year to Lord Camden. I recom- mended his lordship to be Chancellor ; his public and private virtues were acknowledged by all ; they made his station more precarious. I could not reasonably expect from him, that he would quit the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas, which he held for life, and put himself in the power of those who were not to be trusted, to be dismissed from the Chancery, perhaps the day after his appointment. The public has not been deceived by his conduct. My suspicions have been justified. His integrity has made him once more a poor and a private man ; he was dismissed for the vote he gave in favour of the right of election in the people.'* [Lord Chatham was here called to order, and Lord Marchmont moved that his words should be taken down. Lord Chatham seconded the motion, adding — ] "I neither deny, retract, nor explain these words. I do re-afiirm the fact, and I desire to meet the sense of the House ; I appeal to the honour of every lord in this House, whether he has not the same conviction." [Several of the lords answered to this appeal, and declared their assent. Lord Marchmont, however, still persisting in his motion. Lord Chatham proceeded : — ] " My words remain unretracted, unexplained, and re-affirmed. I desire to know whether I am condemned or acquitted ; and whether I may still 54 THE MODERN OfiATOE. presume to hold up my head as high as the noble lord who moved to have my words taken down." [No answer having- been given, Lord Chatham said: — ] " If I am to go off acquitted, I do now declare to you there are many men to impeach, and many measures to arraign, for the security of this nation and the very existence of our laws and constitution ; and, by God's blessing, I will arraign and impeach them." [His lordship was reproached for having recommended the Duke of Grafton, and that he had pushed the duke forw^ard and forced him on the King as his first minister ; to which he replied, " That he had, indeed, recommended him for the treasury, but he never could be supposed to have thought of that boy at the first minister of a great nation." He proceeded : — ] " I advised his Majesty to take the Duke of Grafton as first lord of the treasury, but there is such a thing as time as well as tide ; and the conduct of the noble duke has convinced me, that I am as likely to be deceived as any other man, and as fallible as my betters. It was an expression of that great minister Sir R. Walpole, upon a debate on the army in the year 1737, ' Those who gave the power of blood gave blood.' I will beg leave to paro- dize the expression, and say, those who gave the means of corruption, gave corruption. / will trust no sovereign in the world ivith the memis of purchasing the liberties of the people. When I had the honour of being the confidential keeper of the King's intention, he assured me, that he never intended to exceed the allowance which was made by Parliament ; and therefore, my lords, at a time when there are no marks of personal dissipation in our King, at a time when there are no marks of any considerable sums having been expended to procure the secrets of our enemies ; that a request of an inquiry into the expenditure of the Civil List should be refused, is to me most extraordinary. Does the King of England want to build a palace equal to his rank and dignity ? Does he want to encourage the polite and useful arts ? Does he mean to reward the hardy veteran, who has defended his quarrel in many a rough campaign, whose salary does not equal that of some of your servants? Or does he mean, by drawing the purse-strings of his subjects, to spread corruption through the people, to procure a Parliament, like a packed jury, ready to acquit his ministers at all adventures ? I do not say, my lords, that corruption lies here, or that corruption lies there ; but if any gentlemen in England were to ask me, whether I thought both Houses of Parliament were bribed, / should laugh in his face, and say, 'Sir, it is not so.' Therefore, my lords, from all that has been said, I think it must appear, that an inquiry into the Civil List is expedient, proper, and just; a refusal of it at this time will not add dignity to disgrace, but will only serve to convince the people that we are governed by a set of abjects who possess the peculiar talent of making even calamity ridiculous." The motion was lost. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 5o Speech in support of a motion by the Duke of Richmond on the 22nd of November, 1770, for production of all correspondence and papers received by ministers between the 12th of September, 1769, and 12th of September, 1770, containing any intelligence of hostilities either commenced or intended by Spain against any of his Majesty's dominions, and the times when such intelligence was received. The circumstances which gave rise to this motion were these : — The Falk- land Islands had been in the possession of the English since January, 1765 ; but, in 1770, the Spanish government suddenly sent a force from Buenos Ayres against Port Egmont, which, as the British were not in a position to offer any effectual resistance, was surrendered. To delay early intelligence arriving in England, the Spanish commodore unshipped the rudder of the vessel of Captain Farmer, the British commandant, and kept it on shore for twenty days. Instead of resenting such conduct, the English government appear to have remained perfectly quiet from the 3rd of June, when intelligence arrived, till the 12th of September, 1770, when orders were given for fitting out a fleet ; but nothing decisive was done betw^een that time and the motion of the Duke of Richmond, Government merely stating that negotiations were still depending. Ultimately Spain disavowed the proceedings of the governor of Buenos Ayi-es, and restored the settlement, but upon an understanding, between the two governments, that after a short period the English were to abandon it. The motion was opposed by Lord Weymouth, the Secretary of State, after which Lord Chatham addressed the House thus : — " I rise to give my hearty assent to the motion made by the noble duke : by his Grace's favour, I have been permitted to see it before it w^as offered to the House. I have fully considered the necessity of obtaining from the King's servants a communication of the papers described in the motion, and I am persuaded that the alarming state of facts, as well as the strength of reasoning, with which the noble duke has urged and enforced that necessity, must have been powerfully felt by your lordships. What I mean to say, upon this occasion, may seem, perhaps, to extend beyond the limits of the motion before us. But I flatter myself, my lords, that if I am honoured with your attention, it will appear that the meaning and object of this question are naturally connected with considerations of the most extensive, national importance. For entering into such considerations, no season is improper — no occasion should be neglected. Something must be done, my lords, and immediately, to save an injured, insulted, undone country ; if not to save the state, my lords, at least to mark out, and drag to public justice those servants of the Crown, by whose ignorance, neglect, or treachery, this once great flourishing people are reduced to a condition as deplorable at home, as it is despicable abroad. Examples are wanted, my lords, and should be given to the world, for the instruction of future times, even though they be useless to ourselves. I do not mean, my lords, nor is it intended by the 56 THE MODEEN OEATOK. motion, to impede or embarrass a negotiation, which we have been told is now in a prosperous train, and promises a happy conclusion." Lord Weymouth : — "I beg pardon for interrupting the noble lord, but I think it necessary to remark to your lordships, that I have not said a single word tending to convey to your lordships any information, or opinion, with regard to the state or progress of the negotiation — I did, with the utmost caution, avoid giving to your lordships the least intimation upon that matter." Earl of Chatham — " I perfectly agree with the noble lord. I did not mean to refer to anything said by his lordship. He expressed himself, as he always does, with moderation and reserve, and with the greatest pro- priety ; it was another noble lord, very high in office, who told us he under- stood that the negotiation was in a favourable train." Earl of HiLLSBOKouGH — " I did not make use of the word train. I know the meaning of the word too well. In the language from which it was derived, it signifies protraction and delay, which I could never mean to apply to the present negotiation." Earl of Chatham — " This is the second time that I have been interrupted. I submit it to your lordships whether this be fair and candid treatment. I am sure it is contrary to the orders of the House, and a gross violation of decency and politeness. I listen to every noble lord in this House with attention and respect. The noble lord's design in interrupting me, is as mean and unworthy, as the manner in which he has done it is irregular and disorderly. He flatters himself that, by breaking the thread of my discourse, he shall confuse me in my argument. But, my lord, I will not submit to this treatment. I will not be interrupted. When I have concluded, let him answer me if he can. As to the word which he has denied, I still affirm that it was the word he made use of; but if he had used any other, I am sure every noble lord will agree with me, that his meaning was exactly what I had expressed it. Whether he said 'course' or 'train' is indifferent; — ^he told your lordships that the negotiation was in a way that promised a happy and honourable conclusion. His distinctions are mean, frivolous, and puerile. My lords, I do not understand the exalted tone assumed by that noble lord. In the distress and weakness of this country, my lords, and conscious as the ministry ought to be how much they have contributed to that distress and weakness, I think a tone of modesty, of submission, of humility, would become them better ; qucedam causes modestiam desiderant. Before this country they stand as the greatest criminals. Such I shall prove them to be ; for I do not doubt of proving, to your lordships' satisfaction, that since they have been entrusted with the conduct of the King's affairs, they have done everything that they ought not to have done, and hardly anything that they ought to have done. The noble lord talks of Spanish punctilios in the lofty style and idiom of a Spaniard. We are to be wonderfully tender of the Spanish point of honour, as if they had been the complainants, as if they had received the injury. I think he would have done better to have told us, what care had been taken of the English honour. My lords, I am well acquainted with the character THE EAEL OF CHATHAM. 57 of that nation, at least as far as it is represented by their court and ministry, and should think this country dishonoured by a comparison of the English good faith with the punctilios of a Spaniard. My lords, the English are a candid, an ingenuous people ; the Spaniards are as mean and crafty, as they are proud and insolent. The integrity of the English merchant, the generous spirit of our naval and military officers, would be degraded by a comparison with their merchants or officers. With their ministers I have often been obliged to negotiate, and never met with an instance of candour or dignity in their proceedings ; nothing but low cunning, trick, and artifice. After a long experience of their want of candour and good faith, I found myself compelled to talk to them in a peremptory, decisive language. On this principle I submitted my advice to a trembling council for an immediate declaration of a war with Spain. Your lordships well know what were the consequences of not following that advice. Since, however, for reasons un- known to me, it has been thought advisable to negotiate with the court of Spain, I should have conceived that the great and single object of such a negotiation would have been, to have obtained complete satisfaction for the injury done to the crown and people of England. But, if I understand the noble lord, the only object of the present negotiation is to find a salvo for the punctilious honour of the Spaniards. The absurdity of such an idea is of itself insupportable. But, my lords, I object to our negotiating at all, in our present circumstances. We are not in that situation in which a great and powerful nation is permitted to negotiate. A foreign power has forcibly robbed his Majesty of a part of his dominions. Is the island restored ? Are you replaced in statu quo? If that had been done, it might then, perhaps, have been justifiable to treat with the aggressor upon the satisfaction he ought to make for the insult offered to the crown of England. But will you descend so low ? Will you so shamefully betray the King's honour, as to make it matter of negotiation whether his Majesty's possessions shall be restored to him or not ? I doubt not, my lords, that there are some important mysteries in the conduct of this affair, which, whenever they are explained, will account for the profound silence now observed by the King's servants. The time will come, my lords, when they shall be dragged from their concealments. There are some questions, which, sooner or later, must be answered. The ministry, I find, without declaring themselves ex- plicitly, have taken pains to possess the public \vith an opinion, that the Spanish court have constantly disavowed the proceedings of their governor ; and some persons, I see, have been shameless and daring enough to advise his Majesty to support and countenance this opinion in his speech from the throne. Certainly, my lords, there never was a more odious, a more infamous falsehood imposed on a great nation ; it degrades the King's honour — it is an insult to Parliament. His Majesty has been advised to confirm and give currency to an absolute falsehood. I beg your lordships' attention, and I hope I shall be understood, when I repeat, that the court of Spain's having disavowed the act of their governor is an absolute, a palpable falsehood. 58 THE MODERX OEATOE. Let me ask, my lords, when the first communication was made by the court of Madrid, of their being apprised of their taking of Falkland's Islands, was it accompanied with an offer of instant restitution, of immediate satisfaction, and the punishment of the Spanish governor ? If it was not, they have adopted the act as their own, and the very mention of a disavowal is an im- pudent insult offered to the King's dignity. The king of Spain disowns the thief, while he leaves him unpunished, and profits by the theft ; in vulgar English, he is the receiver of stolen goods, and ought to be treated accord- ingly. " If your lordships will look back to a period of the English history, in which the circumstances are reversed, in which the Spaniards were the com- plainants, you will see how differently they succeeded : you will see one of the ablest men, one of the bravest officers this or any other country ever produced (it is hardly necessary to mention the name of Sir Walter Raleigh), sacrificed by the meanest prince that ever sat upon the throne, to the vin- dictive jealousy of that haughty court. James the First was base enough, at the instance of Gondomar, to suffer a sentence against Sir Walter Raleigh, for another supposed offence, to be carried into execution almost twelve years after it had been passed. This was the pretence. His real crime was. that he had mortally offended the Spaniards, while he acted by the King's express orders, and under his commission.* " My lords, the pretended disavowal by the court of Spain is as ridiculous as it is false. If your lordships want any other proof, call for your own officers, who were stationed at Falkland Island. Ask the officer who com- manded the garrison, whether, when he was summoned to surrender, the demand was made in the name of the governor of Buenos Ayres, or of his catholic Majesty ? Was the island said to belong to Don Francisco Bucarelli, or to the king of Spain ? If I am not mistaken, we have been in possession of these islands since the year 1764, or 1765. Will the ministry assert that, in all that time, the Spanish court have never once claimed them ? that their right to them has never been urged, or mentioned to our ministry ? If it has, the act of the governor of Buenos Ayres is plainly the consequence of our refusal to acknowledge and submit to the Spanish claims. For five years they negotiate ; when that fails, they take the island by force. If that mea- sure had arisen out of the general instructions constantly given to the governor of Buenos Ayres, why should the execution of it have been deferred so long ? " My lords, if the falsehood of this pretended disavowal had been confined to the court of Spain, I should have admitted it without concern. I should * Lord Chatham does not appear to be justified in making this remark, for Raleigh's commission empowered him to settle only on a coast possessed by savages ; and when Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, complained to the King of the warlike appearance of the expedition, Raleigh protested the innocence of his intentions ; and King James " assured Gondomar that he durst not form any hostile attempt, but should pay with his head for so audacious an enterprise." " THE EAEL OF CHATHAM. 59 have been content that they themselves had left a door open for excuse and accommodation. The king of England's honour is not touched till he adopts the falsehood, delivers it to his Parliament, and makes it his own. I cannot quit this subject without comparing the conduct of the present ministry with that of a gentleman (Mr George Grenville) who is now no more. The occasions were similar. The French had taken a little island from us called Turk's Island.^' The minister then at the head of the treasury took the business upon himself ; but he did not negotiate : he sent for the French ambassador, and made a peremptory demand. A courier was despatched to Paris, and returned in a few days, with orders for instant restitution, not only of the island, but of everything that the English subjects had lost. " Such, then, my lords, are the circumstances of our difference with Spain ; and, in this situation, we are told that a negotiation has been entered into ; that this negotiation, which must have commenced near three months ago, is still depending, and that any insight into the actual state of it will impede the conclusion. My lords, I am not, for my own part, very anxious to draw from the ministry the information which they take so much care to conceal from us. I very well know where this honourable negotiation ivill end ; where it must end. We may, perhaps, be able to patch up an accommodation for the present, but we shall have a Spanish war in six months. Some of your lordships may, perhaps, remember the convention. For several successive years our merchants had been plundered — no protection given them — no redress obtained for them; during all that time we were con- tented to complain, and to negotiate ; the court of Madrid were then as ready to disown their officers, and as unwilling to punish them, as they are at present. Whatever violence happened was always laid to the charge of one or other of their West India governors. To-day it was the Governor of Cuba, to-morrow of Porto Rico,Carthagena, or Porto Bello. If, in a particular instance, redress was promised, how was that promise kept ? The merchant, who had been robbed of his property, was sent to the West Indies, to get it, if he could, out of an empty chest. At last the convention was made ; but, though approved by a majority of both Houses, was received by the nation with universal discontent. I myself heard that wise man (Sir Robert Wal- pole) say, in the House of Commons, ' 'Tis true we have got a convention and a vote of Parliament ; but what signifies it ? we shall have a Spanish war upon the back of our convention.' Here, my lords, I cannot help mentioning a very striking observation made to me by a noble lord (the late Lord Granville), since dead. His abilities did honour to this House, and to this nation. In the upper departments of government he had not his equal ; and I feel a pride in declaring, that to his patronage, to his friendship and instruction, I owe whatever I am. This great man has often observed to me that, in all the negotiations which preceded the convention, our ministers never found out that there was no ground or subject for any negotiation ; that the Spaniards had not a right to search our ships, and when they * A,D. 1764. CO THE MODERN ORATOE. attempted to regulate that right by treaty, they were regulating a thing which did not exist. This I take to be something like the case of the ministry. The Spaniards have seized an island they have no right to, and his Majesty's servants make it matter of negotiation, whether his dominions shall be restored to him, or not. " From what, I have said, my lords, I do not doubt but it will be under- stood by many lords, and given out to the public, that I am for hurrying the nation, at all events, into a war with Spain. My lords, I disclaim such counsels, and I beg that this declaration may be remembered — Let us have peace, my lords, but let it be honourable, let it be secure. A patched-up peace will not do. It will not satisfy the nation, though it may be approved of by Parliament. I distinguish widely between a solid peace, and the dis- graceful expedients by which a war may be deferred, but cannot be avoided. I am as tender of the effusion of human blood, as the noble lord who dwelt so long upon the miseries of war. If the bloody politics of some noble lords had been followed, England, and every quarter of his Majesty's dominions, had been glutted with blood — the blood of our own countrymen. " My lords, I have better reasons, perhaps, than many of your lordships for desiring peace upon the terms I have described. I know the strength and preparation of the house of Bourbon ; I know the defenceless, unpre- pared condition of this country. I know not by what mismanagement we are reduced to this situation ; and when I consider who are the men by whom a war, in the outset at least, must be conducted, can I but wish for peace } Let them not screen themselves behind the want of intelligence — they had intelligence : I know they had. If they had not, they are criminal ; and their excuse is their crime. But I will tell these young ministers the true source of intelligence. It is sagacity: sagacity to compare causes and effects ; to judge of the present state of things, and discern the future by a careful review of the past. Oliver Cromwell, who astonished mankind by his intelligence, did not derive it from spies in the cabinet of every prince in Europe : he drew it from the cabinet of his own sagacious mind. He observed facts and traced them forward to their consequences. From what was, he concluded what must be, and he never was deceived. In the present situation of affairs, I think it would be treachery to the nation to conceal from them their real circumstances; and with respect to a foreign enemy, I know that all concealments are vain and useless. They are as well acquainted with the actual force and weakness of this country, as any of the King's servants. This is no time for silence, or reserve. I charge the ministers with the highest crimes that men in their stations can be guilty of. I charge them with having destroyed all content and unanimity at home, by a series of oppressive, unconstitutional measures; and with having betrayed and delivered up the nation defenceless to a foreign enemy. Their utmost vigour has reached no farther than to a fruitless, protracted negotiation. When they should have acted, they have contented themselves ^vith talking ' about it, Goddess, and about it.' If we do not stand THE EARL OE CHATHAM. 61 forth, and do our duty in the j^resent crisis, the nation is irretrievably undone. I despise the little policy of concealments. You ought to know the whole of your situation. If the information be ncAV to the ministry, let them take care to profit by it. I mean to rouse, to alarm the whole nation — to rouse the ministry, if possible, who seem awake to nothing but the preservation of their places — to awaken the King. " Early in the last spring, a motion was made in Parliament, for inquiring into the state of the navy, and an augmentation of six thousand seamen was offered to the ministry. They refused to give us any insight into the condi- tion of the navy, and rejected the augmentation. Early in June they received advice of a commencement of hostilities by a Spanish armament which had warned the King's garrison to quit an island belonging to his Majesty. From that to the 12th of September, as if nothing had happened, they lay dormant. Not a man was raised, not a single ship put into commission. From the 12th of September, Avhen they heard of the first blow being actually struck, we are to date the beginning of their preparations for defence. Let us now in- quire, my lords, what expedition they have used, what vigour they have ex- erted. We have heard wonders of the diligence employed in impressing, of the large bounties offered, and the number of ships put into commission. These have been, for some time past, the constant topics of ministerial boast and triumph. Without regarding the description, let us look to the sub- stance. I tell your lordships that, with all this vigour and expedition, they have not, in a period of considerably more than two months, raised ten thousand seamen. I mention that number, meaning to speak largely, though, in my own breast, I am convinced that the number does not exceed eight thousand. But it is said they have ordered forty ships of the line into com- mission. My lords, upon this subject I can speak mth knowledge — I have been conversant in these matters, and di'aw my information from the greatest and most respectable naval authority that ever existed in this country — I mean the late Lord Anson. The merits of that great man are not so uni- versally known, nor his memory so warmly respected, as he deserved. To his wisdom, to his experience and care, (and I speak it with pleasure,) the na- tion owes the glorious naval successes of the last war. The state of facts laid before Parliament in the year 1756, so entirely convinced me of the in- justice done to his character, that in spite of the popular clamours raised agamst him, in direct opposition to the complaints of the merchants, and of the whole city (whose favour I am supposed to court upon all occasions), I replaced him at the head of the Admiralty : and I thank God that I had resolution enough to do so. Listructed by this great seaman, I do affirm, that forty ships of the line, with their necessary attendant frigates, to be properly manned, require forty thousand seamen. If your lordships are sur- prised at this assertion, you will be more so, when I assure you that in the last war this country maintained eighty -five thousand seamen, and employed them all. Now, my lords, the peace establishment of your navy, supposing it complete and effective (which, by the bye, ought to be known), is sixteen 62 THE MODEKN OBATOR. thousand men. Add to these the number newly raised, and you have about twenty-five thousand men to man your fleet, I shall come presently to the application of this force, such as it is, and compare it with the services which I know are indispensable. But first, my lords, let us have done with the boasted vigour of the ministry. Let us hear no more of their activity. If your lordships will recall to your minds the state of this country when Mahon was taken, and compare what was done by government at that time, with the efibrts now made in very similar circumstances, you will be able to de- termine what praise is due to the vigorous operations of the present ministry. Upon the first intelligence of the invasion of Minorca, a great fleet was equipped, and sent out ; and near double the number of seamen collected in half the time taken to fit out the present force, which, pitiful as it is, is not yet, if the occasion were ever so pressing, in a condition to go to sea. Consult the returns which were laid before Parliament in the year 1756. I was one of those who urged a parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the ministry. That ministry, my lords, in the midst of universal censure and reproach, had honour and virtue enough to promote the inquiry themselves. They scorned to evade it by the mean expedient of putting a previous jjuestion.* Upon the strictest inquiry it appeared, that the diligence they had used in sending a squadron to the Mediterranean, and in their other naval preparations, was beyond all example. *'My lords, the subject on which I am speaking seems to call upon me, and I willingly take this occasion to declare my opinion upon a question on which much wicked pains have been employed to disturb the minds of the people, and to distress government. My opinion may not be very popular ; neither am I running the race of popularity. I am myself clearly convinced, and I believe every man who knows anything of the English navy will acknowledge, that without impressing, it is impossible to equip a respectable fleet within the time in which such armaments are usually wanted. If this fact be admitted, and if the necessity of arming upon a sudden em.ergenc)^ should appear incontrovertible, what shall we think of those men, who, in the moment of danger, would stop the great defence of their country? Upon whatever principle they may act, the act itself is more than faction — it is labouring to cut off" the right hand of the community. I wholly condemn their conduct, and am ready to support any motion that may be made, for bringing those aldermen, who have endeavoured to stop the execution of the Admiralty warrants, to the bar of this House. My lords, I do not rest my opinion merely upon necessity. I am satisfied that the power of impressing is founded upon uninterrupted usage. It is the consuetudo regni, and part of the common-law prerogative of the Crown. When I condemn the proceedings of some persons upon this occasion, let me do justice to a man whose character and conduct have been infamously traduced ; I mean the late lord mayor, Mr Trecothick. In the midst of reproach and clamour, he * Lord Weymouth had concluded by moving the previous question. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 63 had firmness enough to persevere in doing his duty. I do not know in office a more upright magistrate ; nor, in private life, a worthier man. "Permit me now, my lords, to state to your lordships the extent and variety of the service which must be provided for, and to compare them with our apparent resources. A due attention to, and provision for these services, is prudence in time of peace ; in war it is necessity. Preventive policy, my lords, which obviates or avoids the injury, is far preferable to that vindictive policy which aims at reparation, or has no object but revenge. The precaution that meets the disorder is cheap and easy ; the remedy which follows it, bloody and expensive. The first great and acknowledged object of national defence, in this country, is to maintain such a superior naval force at home, that even the united fleets of France and Spain may never be mas- ters of the Channel. If that should ever happen, what is there to hinder their landing in Ireland, or even upon our own coast? They have often made the attempt: in King William's time it succeeded. King James embarked on board a French fleet, and landed with a French army in Ireland. In the mean time the French were masters of the Chanriel, and continued so until their fleet was destroyed by Admiral Russel. As to the probable consequences of a foreign army landing either in Great Britain or Ireland, I shall ofier your lordships my opinion when I speak of the actual condition of our standing army. " The second naval object with an English minister, should be to maintain at all times a powerful western squadron. In the profoundest peace it should be respectable ; in war should be formidable. Without it, the colonies, the commerce, the navigation of Great Britain, lie at the mercy of the House of Bourbon. While / had the honour of acting with Lord Anson, that able ofiicer never ceased to inculcate upon the minds of his Majesty's servants the necessity of constantly maintaining a strong western squadron ; and I must vouch for him, that while he was at the head of the marine it was never neglected. "The third object, indispensable, as I conceive, in the distribution of our navy, is to maintain such a force in the Bay of Gibraltar as may be sufficient to cover that garrison, to watch the motions of the Spaniards, and to keep open the communication with Minorca. The ministry will not betray such want of information as to dispute the truth of any of these propositions. But how will your lordships be astonished, when I inform you in what man- ner they have provided for these great, these essential objects ! As to the first, I mean the defence of the Channel, I take upon myself to aiiirm to your lordships, that at this hour (and I beg that the date may be taken down and observed) we cannot send out eleven ships of the line so manned and equipped that any officer of rank and credit in the service shall accept of the command and stake his reputation upon it. We have one ship of the line at Jamaica, one at the Leeward Islands, and one at Gibraltar ; yet, at this very moment, for aught the ministry know, both Jamaica and Gibraltar may be attacked; and if they axe eittacked (which God forbid) they must fell. 64 THE MODEEN ORATOE. Nothing can prevent it but the appearance of a superior squadron. It is true that, some two months ago, four ships of the line were ordered from Portsmouth, and one from Plymouth, to carry a relief from Ireland to Gibraltar. These ships, my lords, a week ago, were still in port. If, upon their arrival at Gibraltar, they should find the Bay possessed by a superior squadron, the relief cannot be landed: and if it could be landed, of what force do your lordships think it consists ? Two regiments, of four hundred men each, at a time like this, are sent to secure a place of such importance as Gibraltar! a place which it is universally agreed cannot hold against a vigorous attack from the sea, if once the enemy should be so far masters of the Bay as to make good a landing even with a moderate force. The in- dispensable service of the lines requires at least four thousand men. The present garrison consists of about two thousand three hundred ; so that, if the relief should be fortunate enough to get on shore, they will want eight hundred men of their necessary complement. *' Let us now, my lords, turn our eyes homewards. When the defence of Great Britain or Ireland is in question, it is no longer a point of honour ; it is not the security of foreign commerce, or foreign possessions : we are to contend for the very being of the state. I have good authority to assure your lordships that the Spaniards have now a fleet at Ferrol, completely manned and ready to sail, which we are in no condition to meet. We could not this day send out eleven ships of the line properly equipped, and to-morrow the enemy may be masters of the Channel. It is unnecessary to press the consequences of these facts upon your lordships' minds. If the enemy were to land in full force, either upon this coast or in Ireland, where is your army ? where is your defence ? My lords, if the House of Bourbon make a wise and vigorous use of the actual advantages they have over us, it is more than probable that on this day month we may not be a nation. What military force can the ministry show to answer any sudden demand ? I do not speak of foreign expeditions, or offensive operations. I speak of the interior defence of Ireland, and of this country. You have a nominal army of seventy battalions, besides guards and cavalry. But what is the establishment of these battalions ? Supposing they were complete to the numbers allowed (which I know they are not) each regiment would consist of something less than four hundred men, rank and file. Are these battalions complete ? Have any orders been given for an augmentation, or do the ministry mean to continue them upon their present low establishment ? When America, the West Indies, Gibraltar, and Minorca, are taken care of, consider, my lords, what part of this army will remain to defend Ireland and Great Britain ? This subject, my lords, leads me to considerations of foreign policy and foreign alliance. It is more connected with them than your lordships may at first imagine. When I compare the numbers of our people, estimated highly at seven millions, with the population of France and Spain, usually computed at twenty-five millions, I see a clear, self-evident impossibility for this country to contend with the united power of the House of Bourbon, THE ElEL OF CHATHAM. 65 merely upon the strength of its own resources. They who talk of confining a great war to naval operations only, speak without knowledge or experience. "We can no more command the disposition than the events of a war. Wher- ever we are attacked, there we must defend. *' I have been much abused, my lords, for supporting a war, which it has been the fashion to call my German war. But I can affirm, with a clear conscience, that that abuse has been thrown upon me by men who were either unacquainted with facts, or had an interest in misrepresenting them. I shall speak plainly and frankly to your lordships upon this, as I do upon every occasion. That I did in Parliament oppose, to the utmost of my power, our engaging in a German war, is most true ; and if the same cir- cumstance were to recur, I would act the same part, and oppose it again. But when I was called upon to take a share in the administration, that measure was already decided. Before I was appointed Secretary of State, the first treaty with the King of Prussia was signed, and not only ratified by the Crovm, but approved of and confirmed by a resolution of both Houses of Parliament. It was a weight fastened upon my neck. By that treaty, the honour of the Crown and the honour of our nation were equally engaged. How I could recede from such an engagement ; how I could advise the Crown to desert a great prince in the midst of those difficulties in which a reliance upon the good faith of this country had contributed to involve him, are questions I willingly submit to your lordships' candour. That wonderful man* might, perhaps, have extricated himself from his difficulties without our assistance. He has talents which, in everything that touches the human capacity, do honour to the human mind. But how would England have supported that reputation of credit and good faith, by which we have been distinguished in Europe ? What other foreign power would have sought our friendship ? What other foreign power would have accepted of an alliance with us ? " But, my lords, though I wholly condemn our entering into any engage- ments which tend to involve us in a continental war, I do not admit that alliances with some of the German princes are either detrimental or useless. They may be, my lords, not only useful, but necessary. I hope, indeed, I shall never see an army of foreign auxiliaries in Great Britain : we do not want it. If our people are united; if they are attached to the King, and place a confidence in his government, we have an internal strength sufficient to repel any foreign invasion. With respect to Ireland, my lords, I am not of the same opinion. If a powerful foreign army were landed in that kingdom, with arms ready to be put into the hands of the Roman Catholics, I declare freely to your lordships, that I should heartily wish it were possible to collect twenty thousand German protestants, whether from Hesse or Brunswick, or Wolfenbottel, or even the unpopular Hanoverian, and land them in Ireland; I wish it, my lords, because I am convinced that, whenever the case happens, we shall have no English army to spare. * Frederick the Great. C6 THE MODERN ORATOR. *'I have taken a wide circuit, my lords; and trespassed, I tear, too long upon your lordships' patience. Yet I cannot conclude without endeavouring to bring home your thoughts to an object more immediately interesting to us than any I have yet considered ; I mean the internal condition of this country. We may look abroad for wealth, or triumphs, or luxury ; but England, my lords, is the main stay, the last resort of the Avhole empire. To this point every scheme of policy, whether foreign or domestic, should ultimately refer. Have any measures been taken to satisfy or to imite the people ? Are the grievances they have so long complained of removed ? or do they stand not only unredressed, but aggravated ? Is the right of free election restored to the elective body ? My lords, I myself am one of the people. I esteem that security and independence, which is the original birthright of an Englishman, far beyond the privileges, however splendid, v/hich are annexed to the peerage. I myself am by birth an English elector, and join with the freeholders of England as in a common cause. Believe me, my lords, we mistake our real interest as much as our duty, when we separate ourselves from the mass of the people. Can it be expected that Englishmen will unite heartily in defence of a government, by which they feel themselves insulted and oppressed ? Restore them to their rights ; that is the true way to make them unanimous. It is not a ceremonious recommendation from the throne, that can bring back peace and harmony to a discontented people. That insipid annual opiate has been administered so long, that it has lost its effect. Something substantial, something effectual must be done. " The public credit of the nation stands next in degree to the rights of the constitution ; it calls loudly for the interposition of Parliament. There is a set of men, my lords, in the city of London, who are known to live in riot and luxury, upon the plunder of the ignorant, the innocent, the helpless — upon that part of the community which stands most in need of, and best deserves the care and protection of the legislature. To me, my lords, whether they be miserable jobbers of 'Change alley, or the lofty Asiatic plunderers of Leadenhall-street, they are all equally detestable. I care but little whether a man walks on foot, or is drawn by eight horses or six horses ; if his luxury be supported by the plunder of his country, I despise and detest him. My lords, while I had the honour of serving his Majesty, I never ven- tured to look at the Treasury but at a distance ; it is a business I am unfit for, and to which I never could have submitted. The little I know of it has not served to raise my opinion of whatis vulgarly called the moniecl inter e'it ; I mean that bloodsucker, that muckworm, which calls itself the friend of government — that pretends to serve this or that administration, and may be purchased, on the same terms, by any administration — that advances money to government, and takes special care of its own emoluments. Under this description I include the whole race of commissaries, jobbers, contractors, clothiers, and temitters. Yet I do not deny that even with these creatures some manage-^ ment may be necessary. I hope, my lords, that nothing I have said will be understood to extend to the honest, industrious tradesman, who holds th^ THE EABL OF CHATHAM. 67 middle rank, and has given repeated proofs that he jDrefers law and liberty to gold. I love that class of men. Much less would I be thought to reflect upon the fair merchant, whose liberal commerce is the prime source of national wealth. I esteem his occupation, and respect his character. " My lords, if the general representation which I have had the honour to lay before you of the situation of public affairs, has, in any measure, engaged your attention, your lordships, I am sure, will agree with me, that the season calls for more than common prudence and vigour in the direction of our councils. The difficulty of the crisis demands a wise, a firm, and a popular administration. The dishonourable traffic of places has engaged us too long. Upon this subject, my lords, I speak without interest or enmity. I have no j)ersonal objection to any of the King's servants. I shall never be minister ; certainly not Avithout full power to cut away all the rotten branches of Government. Yet, unconcerned as I truly am for myself, I cannot avoid seeing some caj)ital errors in the distribution of the royal favour. There are men, my lords, who, if their own services were forgotten, ought to have an hereditary merit with the House of Hanover ; whose ancestors stood forth in the day of trouble, opposed their persons and fortunes to treachery and rebellion, and secured to his Majesty's family this sjDlendid power of reward- ing. There are other men, my lords,-'' who, to speak tenderly of them, were not quite so forward in the demonstrations of their zeal to the reigning family ; there was another cause, my lords, and a partiality to it, which some persons had not, at all times, discretion enough to conceal. I know I shall be accused of attempting to revive distinctions. My lords, if it were possible, I would abolish all distinctions. I would not wish the favours of the Crown to flow invariably in one channel. But there are some distinc- tions which are inherent in the nature of things. There is a distinction between right and wrong, — between whig and tory. " When I speak of an administration, such as the necessity of the season calls for, my views are large and comprehensive. — It must be popular, that it may begin with reputation. — It must be strong within itself, that it may proceed with vigour and decision. An administration formed upon an exclusive system of family connexions, or private friendships, cannot, I am convinced, be long supported in this country. Yet, my lords, no man respects or values more than I do, that honourable connexion which arises from a disinterested concurrence in opinion upon public measures, or from the sacred bond of private friendship and esteem. What I mican is, that no single man's private friendships or connexions, however extensive, are sufficient of themselves, either to form or overturn an administration. With respect to the ministry, I believe they have fewer rivals than they imagine. No prudent man will covet a situation so beset with difficulty and danger. " I shall trouble your lordships with but a few words more. His Majesty tells us in his speech, that he will call upon us for our advice, if it should be necessary in the farther progress of this affair. It is not easy to say whether ^- His lordship here looked at Lord Mansfield, 68 THE MODEEN OEATOE, or no the ministry are serious in this declaration ; nor what is meant by the progress of an affair which rests upon one fixed point. Hitherto we have not been called upon. But, though we are not consulted, it is our right and duty as the King's great hereditary Council to offer him our advice. The papers mentioned in the noble duke's motion, will enable us to form a just and accurate opinion of the conduct of his Majesty's servants, though not of the actual state of their honourable negotiations. The ministry, too, seem to want advice upon some points, in which their o^^^ii safety is immediately concerned. They are now balancing between a war which they ought to have foreseen, but for which they have made no provision, and an ignomi- nious compromise. Let me warn them of their danger. If they are forced into a war, they stand it at the hazard of their heads. If, by an ignominious com_promise, they should stain the honour of the Crovv'n, or sacrifice the rights of the people, let them look to their consciences, and consider whether they will be able to walk the streets in safety." The motion was lost. Speech of Lord Chatham, on the 27th May, 1774, in opposition to a bill for quartering troops in America. "My Lords, " The unfavourable state of health under which I have long laboured, could not prevent me from lapng before your lordships my thoughts on the bill now upon the table, and on the American affairs in general. " If we take a transient view of those motives which induced the ancestors of our fellow-subjects in America to leave their native country, to encounter the innumerable difficulties of the unexplored regions of the western world, our astonishment at the present conduct of their descendants will natm-ally subside. There was no corner of the world into which men of their free and enterprising spirit would not fly with alacrity, rather than submit to the slavish and tjTannical principles which prevailed at that period^' in their native country. And shall we wonder, my lords, if the descendants of such illustrious characters spurn, with contempt, the hand of unconstitutional power, that vrould snatch from them such dear-bought privileges as they now contend for? Had the British colonies been planted by any other kingdom than our own, the inhabitants would have carried ^\ith them the chains of slavery and spirit of despotism ; but as they are, they ought to be remembered as great instances to instruct the world, what great exertions mankind will naturally make, when they are left to the free exercise of their own powers. And, my lords, notwithstanding my intention to give my hearty negative to the question now before you, I cannot help condemning, in the severest manner, the late turbulent and unwarrantable conduct of the Americans in some instances, particularly in the late riots of Boston. But, : * The reign of James I. THE EAEL OF CHATHAM. 69 my lords, the mode which has been pursued to bring them back to a sense of their duty to their parent state, has been so diametrically opposite to the fundamental principles of sound policy, that individuals possessed of com- mon understanding must be astonished at such proceedings. By blocking up the harbour of Boston,"^* you have involved the innocent trader in the same punishment with the guilty profligates who destroyed your merchan- dise ; and instead of making a well-concerted effort to secure the real offenders, you clap a naval and military extinguisher over their harbour, and punish the crime of a few lawless depredators and their abettors, upon the whole body of the inhabitants. " My lords, this country is little obliged to the framers and promoters of this tea-tax.f The Americans had almost forgot, in their excess of gratitude for the repeal of the Stamp Act, any interest but that of the mother country ; there seemed an emulation among the different provinces, who should be most dutiful and forward in their expressions of loyalty to their real bene- factor ; as you will readily perceive by the following letter from Governor Bernard to a noble lord then in office. " The House of Representatives (saj^s he), from the time of opening the session to this day, has shown a disposition to avoid all dispute with me ; everything having passed with as much good humour as I could desire. They have acted, in all things, with temper and moderation ; they have avoided some subjects of dispute, and have laid a foundation for removing some causes of former altercation. " This, my lords, was the temper of the Americans ; and would have continued so, had it not been interrupted by your fruitless endeavours to tax them without their consent : but the moment they perceived your intention was renewed to tax them, under a pretence of serving the East India Com- pany, their resentment got the ascendant of their moderation, and hurried them into actions contrary to law, which, in their cooler hours, they would have thought on with horror ; for I sincerely believe, the destroying of the tea was the effect of despair. "But, my lords, from the complexion of the whole of the proceedings, I think that Administration has purposely irritated them into those late violent acts for which they now so severely smart, purposely to be revenged on them for the victory they gained by the repeal of the Stamp Act ; a measure * By an act passed on the 31st March, 1774, the town of Boston, was deprived of its privilege as a port, by way of punishment, and the business of the port transferred to Salem. t The Stamp Act having been repealed in 1766, Mr C. Townsend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1767, proposed an indirect taxation, by subjecting to duty cer- tain goods imported by the Americans from this country, and accordingly an Act was passed imposing duties on glass, paper, paiiiters* colours, and tea, imported to the colonies from Great Britain. This Act excited great indignation in America, and caused the subsequent riots, the colonists to refusing to receive the goods from the mother country, subject to such taxation. 70 THE MODERN OKATOK. to which they seemingly acquiesced, but at the bottom they were its real enemies. For what other motive could induce them to dress taxation, that father of American sedition, in the robes of an East India Director, but to break in upon that mutual peace and harmony which then so happily sub- sisted between them and the mother country? " My lords, I am an old man, and would advise the noble lords in office to adopt a more gentle mode of governing America : for the day is not far distant, when America may vie with these kingdoms, not only in arms, but in arts also. It is an established fact, that the principal towns in America are learned and polite, and understand the constitution of the empire as weU as the noble lords w^ho are now in office ; and consequently, they will have a w^atchful eye over their liberties, to prevent the least encroachment on their hereditary rights. " This observation is so recently exemplified in an excellent pamphlet, which comes from the pen of an American gentlemen, that I shall take the liberty of reading to your lordships his thoughts on the competency of the British Parliament to tax America, which, in my opinion, puts this interesting matter in the clearest view^ *"The High Court of Parliament (says he) is the supreme legislative power over the whole empire : in all free states the constitution is fixed ; and as the supreme legislature derives its power and a.uthority from the constitution, it canjQot overleap the bounds of it, without destroying its own foundation. The constitution ascertains and limits both sovereignty and allegiance : and therefore his Majesty's American subjects, who acknowledge themselves bound by the ties of allegiance, have an equitable claim to the full enjoyment of the fundamental rules of the English constitution ; and that it is an essential unalterable right in nature, ingrafted into the British constitution as a fundamental law, and ever held sacred and irrevocable by the subjects within the realm — that what a man has honestly acquii-ed is absolutely his own; which he may freely give, but which cannot be taken from him without his consent.' " This, my lords, though no new doctrine, has always been my received and mialterable opinion, and I will carry it to my grave, that this country had no right unch)' heaven to tax America. It is contrary to all the principles of justice and civil policy, which neither the exigencies of the state, nor even an acquiescence in the taxes, could justify upon any occasion M^hatever. Such proceedings will never meet their wished-for success ; and, instead of adding to their miseries, as the bill now before you most undoubtedly does, adopt some lenient measures, which may lure them to their duty ; proceed like a kind and affectionate parent over a child whom he tenderly loves : and, instead of those harsh and severe proceedings, pass an amnesty on all their youthful errors ; clasp them once more in your fond and affectionate arms ; and I v/ill venture to affirm, you will find them children worthy of their sire. But should their turbulence exist after your proabred terms of forgiveness, vvhich I hope and expect this House will imnicdiately adopt, I will be among IHE EAllL OF CHATHAM. 71 the foremost of your lordships to move for such measures as will effectually prevent a future relapse, and make them feel what it is to provoke a fond and forgiving parent; a parent, my lords, whose welfare has ever been my greatest and most pleasing consolation. This declaration may seem imneces- sary ; but I will venture to declare, the period is not far distant, when she will want the assistance of her most distant friends : but should the all-disposing hand of Providence prevent me from affording her my poor assistance, my prayers shall be ever for her welfare — ^Length of days he in her 7'ighi hand, and in her left riches and honour ; may her ways be icays of 2)lcasantness, and all her paths he peace .'' " Notwithstanding this opposition the bill was carried. Speech on the 20th of January, 1775, on moving an address to the King to recall the troops from Boston. After strongly censuring ministers for their mal-administration and false representations of American affairs, Lord Chat- ham thus proceeded : — " But as I have not the honour of access to his Majesty, I will endeavour to transmit to him, through the constitutional channel of this House, my ideas of America, to rescue him from the misadvice of his present ministers.* I congratulate your lordships that the business is at last entered upon, by the noble lord's laying the papers before you.f As I suppose your lordships too well apprised of their contents, I hope I am not premature in submitting to you my present motion : — " ' That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, humbly to desire and beseech his Majesty, that in order to open the way towards a happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, by beginning to allay fer- ments and soften animosities there ; and above all, for preventing in the mean time any sudden and fatal catastrophe at Boston, now suffering under the daily irritation of an army before their eyes, posted in their town ; it may graciously please his Majesty that immediate orders be despatched to General Gage, J for removing his Majesty's forces from the town of Boston, as soon as the rigour of the season, and other circumstances indispensable to the safety and accommodation of the said troops, may render the same practicable.' " I wish, my lords, not to lose a day in this urgent, pressing crisis ; an hour now lost in allaying ferments in America, may produce years of calamity ; for my own part, I will not desert, for a moment, the conduct of this weighty business, from the first to the last ; unless nailed to my bed by the extremity of sickness, I will give it unremitted attention : I will knock * Lord North and his administration. t On the meeting of ParHament after the holidays, Lord Dartmouth, the secretary of state for American affairs, laid the official documents relating to America before the House. I Four regiments had been sent out under General Gage, governor of the province of BostoHj and coiimiander4n-chlef of the army. - -" 72 THE MODEHK OBATOE. at the door of this sleeping and confounded ministry, and will rouse them to a sense of their important danger. " When I state the importance of the colonies to this country, and the magnitude of danger hanging over this country, from the present plan of mis-administration practised against them, I desire not to be understood to argue for a reciprocity of indulgence between England and America. I contend not for indulgence, but justice to America; and I shall ever contend, that the Americans justly owe obedience to us in a limited degree — they owe obedience to our ordinances of trade and navigation ; but let the line be skilfully drawn between the objects of those ordinances, and their private, internal property ; let the sacredness of their property remain inviolate ; let it be taxable only by their own consent, given in their provincial assemblies, else it will cease to be property. As to the metaphysical refinements, attempting to show that the Americans are equally free from obedience and commercial restraints, as from taxation for revenue, as being unrepresented here ; I pronounce them futile, frivolous, and groundless. " When I urge this measure of recalling the troops from Boston, I urge it on this pressing principle, that it is necessarily preparatory to the restoration of your peace, and the establishment of your prosperity. It will then appear that you are disposed to treat amicably and equitably ; and to consider, revise, and repeal, if it should be found necessary, as I affirm it will, those violent acts and declarations which have disseminated confusion throughout your empire. " Resistance to your acts was necessary as it was just ; and your vain declarations of the omnipotence of Parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of submission, will be found equally impotent to convince or to enslave your fellow-subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether ambitioned by an individual part of the legislature, or the bodies who com- pose it, is equally intolerable to British subjects. " The means of enforcing this thraldom are found to be as ridiculous and weak in practice, as they are unjust in principle. Indeed I cannot but feel the most anxious sensibility for the situation of General Gage, and the troops under his command : thinking him, as I do, a man of humanity and under- standing, and entertaining, as I ever will, the highest respect, the warmest love, for the British troops. Their situation is truly unworthy ; penned up — ^pining in inglorious inactivity. They are an army of impotence. You may call them an army of safety and of guard; but they are in truth an army of impotence and contempt ; — and, to make the folly equal to the dis- grace, they are an army of irritation and vexation. " But I find a report creeping abroad, that ministers censure General Gage's inactivity : let them censure him ; it becomes them ; it becomes their justice and their honour. I mean not to censure his inactivity ; it is a pru- dent and necessary inaction ; but it is a miserable condition, where disgrace is prudence, and where it is necessary to be contemptible. This tameness, however contemptible, cannot be censured, for the first drop of blood shed in civil and unnatural war might be immedicahile vulnus. THE EABL OE CHATHAM. 73 "I therefore urge and conjure your lordships, immediately to adopt this conciliating measure. I will pledge myself for its immediately producing conciliatory effects, by its being thus well-timed ; but if you delay till your vain hope shall be accomplished, of triumphantly dictating reconciliation, you delay for ever. But, admitting that this hope, which in truth is des- perate, should be accomplished, what do you gain by the imposition of your victorious amity? — you will be untrusted and unthanked. Adopt, then, the grace, while you have the opportunity of reconcilement — or, at least, prepare the way. Allay the ferment prevailing in America, by removing the ob- noxious, hostile cause — obnoxious and unserviceable, for their merit can only be in inaction: ^ Non dimicare et vincere^ — their victory can never be by exertions. Their force would be most disproportionately exerted against a brave, generous, and united people, with arms in their hands, and courage in their hearts ; — three millions of people, the genuine descendants of a valiant and pious ancestry, driven to those deserts by the narrow maxims of a superstitious tyranny. And is the spirit of persecution never to be ap- peased ? Are the brave sons of those brave forefathers to inherit their suf- ferings, as they have inherited their virtues ? Are they to sustain the in- fliction of the most oppressive and unexampled severity, beyond the accounts of history, or description of poetry ? ' Rhadamanthus hahet durissima regna, castigatque, auditque.' '^ So says the wisest poet, and perhaps the wisest statesman and politician. But our ministers say, the Americans must not be heard. They have been condemned unheard. The indiscriminate hand of vengeance has lumped together innocent and guilty ; with all the forma- lities of hostility has blocked up the town f and reduced to beggary and famine thirty thousand inhabitants. " But his Majesty is advised, that the union in America cannot last. Mi- nisters have more eyes than I, and should have more ears ; but with all the information I have been able to procure, I can pronounce it — an union, solid, permanent, and effectual. Ministers may satisfy themselves, and delude the public, with the report of what they call commercial bodies in America. They are not commercial ; they are your packers and factors : they live upon nothing — for I call commission nothing. I mean the ministerial authority for this American intelligence ; the runners for government, who are paid for their intelligence. But these are not the men, nor this the influence, to be considered in America, when we estimate the firmness of their union. Even to extend the question, and to take in the really mercantile circle, will be totally inadequate to the consideration. Trade, indeed, increases the wealth and glory of a country ; but its real strength and stamina are to be looked for among the cultivators of the land ; in their simplicity of life is found the simpleness of virtue — the integrity and courage of freedom. These true, genuine sons of the earth are invincible; and they surround and hem in the mercantile bodies ; even if these bodies, which supposition I totally dis- * Yirgil, JEneid, vi. 566, f Boston. 74 THE MODERN OEATOE. claim, could be siij^posed disaffected to the cause of libert5\ Of this general spirit existing in the British nation (for so I wish to distinguish the real and genuine Americans from the pseudo-traders I have described) — of this spirit of independence, animating the nation of America, I have the most authentic information. It is not new among them ; it is, and has ever been, their established principle, their confirmed persuasion ; it is their nature, ^and their doctrine. " I remember, some years ago, when the repeal of the Stamp Act was in agitation, conversing in a friendly confidence wdth a person of undoubted respect and authenticity, on that subject ; and he assured me, with a cer-. tainty which his judgment and opportunity gave him, that these were the prevalent and steady principles of America — that you might destroy their towns, and cut them off from the superfluities, perhaps the conveniences of life ; but that they were prepared to despise your power, and would not lament their loss, whilst they have— what, my lords r — their woods and their liberty. The name of my authority 5"^'' if I am called upon, will authenticate the opinion irrefragably. " If illegal violences have been, as it is said, committed in America, pre- pare the way, open the door of possibility, for acknowledgment and satis- faction ; but proceed not to such coercion, such proscription ; cease your indiscriminate inflictions ; amerce not thirty thousand ; oppress not three millions, for the fault of forty or fifty. Such severity of injustice must for ever render incurable the wounds you have already given your colonies : you irritate them to unappeasable rancour. ^Yliat, though you march from town to town, and from province to province — though you should be able to en- force a temporary and local submission, which I only suppose, not admit — how shall you be able to secure the obedience of the country you leave be- hind you in your progress, to grasp the dominion of eighteen hundred miles of continent, populous in numbers, possessing valour, liberty, and resistance ? " This resistance to your arbitrary system of taxation might have been foreseen : it was obvious from the nature of things, and of mankind ; and, above all, from the whiggish spirit flourishing in that country. The spirit which now resists your taxation in America, is the same which formerly opposed loans, benevolences, and ship-money, in England ; the same spirit which called all England on its legs, and, hj the Bill of Rights, \indicated the English constitution ; the same spirit which established the great, funda- mental, essential maxim of your liberties, that 'no subject of England shall be taxed but by his own consent,' . *' This glorious spirit of whiggism animates three millions in America; who prefer poverty with liberty, to gilded chains and sordid affluence ; and w^ho will die in defence of their rights as men, as freemen. What shall oppose this spirit, aided by the congenial flame glowing in the breast of every whig in England, to the amount, I hope, of double the American numbers r Ire- *■ Dr rranklin. THE EAKL OF CHATHAM. 75 land they have to a man. In that country, joined as it is wn.th. the cause of the colonies, and placed at their head, the distinction I contend for is and must be observed. This countiy superintends and controls their trade and navigation ; but they tax themselves. And this distinction between external and internal control is sacred and insurmountable : it is involved in the abstract nature of things. Property is private, individual, absolute. Trade is an extended and complicated consideration ; it reaches as far as ships can sail or winds can blow: it is a great and various machine. To regulate the numberless movements of its several parts, and combine them into effect, for the good of the whole, requu-es the superintending wisdom and energy of the supreme power in the empire. But this supreme power has no effect towards internal taxation ; for it does not exist in that relation : there is no such thing, no such idea in this constitution, as a supreme power operating Upon property. Let this distinction then remain for ever ascertained ; taxa- tion is theirs, commercial regulation is ours. As an American I would recognise to England her supreme right of regulating commerce and naviga- tion : as an Englishman by birth and principle, I recognise to the Americans their supreme unalienable right in their property; a right which they are justified in the defence of to the last extremity. To maintain this principle, is the common cause of the whigs on the other side of the Atlantic, and on this. ' 'Tis liberty to liberty engaged,' that they will defend themselves, their families, and their country. In this gi-eat cause they are immoveably allied : it is the alliance of God and nature — ^immutable, eternal — fixed as the firmament of heaven. "To such united force, what force shall be opposed? ^^^at, my lords ? A few regiments in America, and seventeen or eighteen thousand men at home ! The idea is too ridiculous to take up a moment of your lordships' time. Nor can such a national and principled union be resisted by the tricks of ofiice, or ministerial manoeuvre. Lapng of papers on yoiu- table, or counting numbers on a division, will not avert or postpone the hour of dan- ger: it must arrive, my lords, unless these fatal acts are done away; it must arrive in all its horrors, and then these boastful ministers, spite of all theii- confidence and all their manoeu^Tcs, shall be forced to hide their heads. They shall be forced to a disgraceful abandonment of their present measures and principles, which they avow, but cannot defend : measures which they presume to attempt, but camiot hope to effectuate. They cannot, my lords, they cannot stir a step ; they have not a move left ; they are check-mated. " But it is not repealing this act of Parliament, it is not repealing a piece of parchment, that can restore America to our bosom ; you must repeal her fears and her resentments : and you may then hope for her love and grati- tude. But now, insulted with an armed force, posted at Boston ; irritated with a hostile array before her eyes, her concessions, if you could force them, would be suspicious and insecure ; they will be zrato animo ; they "will not be the soimd, honourable passions of freemen; they w^iU be the dictates of fear, and extortions of force. But it is more than evident, that 76 THE MODEEN OKATOR. you cannot force them, unprincipled and united as they are, to your unworthy terms of submission — it is impossible : and when I hear General Gage censured for inactivity, I must retort with indignation on those whose intemperate measures and improvident counsels have betrayed him into his present situation. His situation reminds me, my lords, of the answer of a French general in the civil wars of France — Monsieur Conde opposed to Monsieur Turenne ; he was asked, how it happened that he did not take his adversary prisoner, as he was often very near him : ' J'ai peur,' replied Conde, very honestly, ' J'ai peur qu'il ne me prenne ;' — I'm afraid he'll take me. " When your lordships look at the papers transmitted us from America ; when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but re- spect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, I must de- clare and avow, that in all my reading and observation — and it has been my favourite study — I have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the anaster-states of the world — that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of difficult circum- stances, no nation, or body of men, can stand in preference to the general Congress at Philadelphia. I trust it is obvious to your lordships, that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men, to establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation, must be vain, must be fatal. We shall be forced ultimately to retract ; let us retract while we can, not when we must. I say we must necessarily undo these violent oppressive acts :^* they must be repealed ; — you will repeal them ; I pledge myself for it, that you will in the end repeal them : I stake my reputation on it. I will consent to be taken for an idiot, if they are not finally repealed. Avoid, then, this humiliating, disgraceful necessity. With a dignity becoming your exalted situation, make the first advances to concord, to peace, and happiness ; for that is your true dignity, to act with prudence and justice. That you should first con- cede, is obvious, from sound and rational policy. Concession comes with better grace and more salutary effect from superior power ; it reconciles superiority of power with the feelings of men, and establishes solid con- fidence on the foundations of affection and gratitude. " So thought a wise poet and a wise man in political sagacity ; the friend of Maecenas, and the eulogist of Augustus. To him, the adopted son and successor of the first Csesar, to him, the master of the world, he wisely urged this conduct of prudence and dignity : — *' ' Tuque prior, tu, parce ; genus qui ducis Olympo ; Projice tela manu.' f " Every motive, therefore, of justice and of policy, of dignity and of -pvu- dence, urges you to allay the ferment in America by a removal of your troops from Boston, by a repeal of your acts of parliament, and by demonstration * Por shutting up the port of Boston, altering the charter of Massachusetts Bay, &c. t Virgil, .^neid, vi. 834, THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 77 of amicable dispositions towards your colonies. On the other hand, every danger and every hazard impend, to deter you from perseverance in your present ruinous measures. Foreign war hanging over your heads by a slight and brittle thread ; France and Spain watching your conduct, and waiting for the maturity of your errors, with a vigilant eye to America and the temper of your colonies, more than to their ovm concerns, be they what they may. " To conclude, my lords : if the ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the King, I will not say that they can alienate the affections of his subjects from his crown, but I will affirm that they will make the crown not worth his wearing. I will not say that the King is betrayed, but I will pronounce that the kingdom is undone." The motion was negatived. Speech in support of an amendment to the address to the King, on his Majesty's speech on the opening of Parliament, on the 20th November, 1777. " I rise, my lords, to declare my sentiments on this most solemn and serious subject. It has imposed a load upon my mind, which, I fear, nothing can remove ; but which impels me to endeavour its alleviation, by a free and unreserved communication of my sentiments. " In the first part of the address, I have the honour of heartily concurring with the noble earl* who moved it. No man feels sincerer joy than I do ; none can offer more genuine congratulation on every accession of strength to the Protestant succession ; I therefore join in every congratulation on the birth of another princess, and the happy recovery of her Majesty. But I must stop here ; my courtly complaisance will carry me no further : I will not join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace ; I cannot concur in a blind and servile address, which approves, and endeavours to sanctify, the monstrous measures that have heaped disgrace and misfortune upon us — that have brought ruin to our doors. This, my lords, is a perilous and tremen- dous moment ! It is not a time for adulation. The smoothness of flattery cannot now avail — cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the throne in the language of truth. We must dispel the delusion and the darkness which envelop it; and display, in its full danger and true colours, the ruin that is brought to our doors. "This, my lords, is our duty; it is the proper function of this noble assembly, sitting, as we do, upon our honours in this house, the hereditary council of the Crown. And who is the minister — where is the minister, that has dared to suggest to the throne the contrary, unconstitutional language, this day delivered from it ? The accustomed language from the throne has been application to Parliament for advice, and a reliance on its constitutional advice and assistance ; as it is the right of Parliament to give, so it is the duty of the Crown to ask it. But, on this day, and in this extreme momen- * Lord Carlisle. a 78 TPIE MODEEX 0EATOR. tous exigency, no reliance is reposed on our constitutional counsels ! no advice is asked from the sober and enlightened care of Parliament ! but the Crown, from itself, and by itself, declares an unalterable determination to pursue measures — and what measures, my lords ? — the measures that have produced the imminent perils that threaten us ; the measures that have brought ruin to our doors. " Caii the minister of the day now presume to expect a continuance of support in this ruinous infatuation ? Can Parliament be so dead to its dig- nity and its duty, as to be thus deluded into the loss of the one and the vio- lation of the other ? to give an unlimited credit and support for the steady perseverance in measures — that is the word and the conduct, proposed for our parliamentary advice, but dictated and forced upon us— in measures, I say, my lords, which have reduced this late flourishing empire to ruin and contempt ? ' But yesterday, and England might have stood against the world: now, none so poor to do her reverence.' I use the words of a poet; but though it be poetry, it is no fiction. It is a shameful truth, that not only the power and strength of this country are wasting away and expiring, but her well- earned glories, her true honour, and substantial dignity, are sacrificed. France, my lords, has insulted you ; she has encouraged and sustained America ; and whether America be wrong or right, the dignity of this country ought to spurn at the officious insult of French interference. The ministers and am- bassadors of those who are called rebels and enemies, are in Paris ; in Paris they transact the reciprocal interests of America and France. Can there be a more mortifying insult ? Can even our ministers sustain a more humiliating disgrace ? Do they dare to resent it ? Do they presume even to hint a vin- dication of their honour, and the dignity of the state, by requiring the dis- missal of the plenipotentiaries of America? Such is the degradation to which they have reduced the glories of England ! The people whom they affect to call contemptible rebels, but whose growing power has at last obtained the name of enemies ; the people Avith whom they have engaged this country in war, and against whom they now command our implicit support in every measure of desperate hostility : this people, despised as rebels or acknow- ledged as enemies, are abetted against you, supplied with every military store, their interests consulted, and their ambassadors entertained, by your inveterate enemy; and our ministers dare not interpose with dignity or effect! Is this the honour of a great kingdom ? Is this the indignant spirit of England, who, ' but yesterday,' gave law to the house of Bourbon ? My lords, the dignity of nations demands a decisive conduct in a situation like this. Even when the greatest prince that perhaps this country ever saw, filled our throne, the requisition of a Spanish general, on a similar subject, was attended to, and complied with ; for on the spirited remonstrance of the Duke of Alva, Elizabeth found herself obliged to deny the Flemish exiles all countenance, support, or even entrance into her dominions ; and the Count le Marque, with his few desperate followers, was expelled the kingdom. Happening to arrive at the Brille, and finding it weak in defence, they made THE EARL OF CHATHAM. f. 129 iKe 20th, Mr Hastings sent for Sadanund, and told him he had re-considered his master's offer, and would accept the two lacks of rupees ; and the very next day (the 21st) he entered the minute under the authority of which the persecution of that unfortunate prince was begun, and from whence it was pursued to his ruin. Other men, perhaps, dissimilar in their views and temper from Mr Hastings, might have deemed it necessary to return the gift at the commencement of hostilities against the Rajah ; but the Governor- general, still inviolably faithful to the great principle of his system of pecu- lation, resolved not to lower his importance by giving back that money which he had once so condescendingly agreed to accept I And here, his proud and surly dignity broke out in all its plenitude ! Having taken a sum against law, although the purpose for which he grasped at it was frustrated, he scorned either to acknowledge the fact, or to relinquish the money. The reason of this was obvious. Finding Cheit Sing so easy a dupe to private extortion, Mr Hastings instantly marked him out as an object for public plunder. Having stated this transaction, Mr Sheridan took notice of what he styled the strange manner in which Mr Hastings had acted with respect to this present. To read the whole of the correspondence with gravity, was, he declared, utterly impossible ; for such a mixture of the diverting and the disgusting appeared in almost every letter, that the effect was at once most laughably ludicrous, and most seriously alarming. But he would just turn to an extract or two relative to the case in point. Mr Sheridan then read a part of Mr Hastings's letter of November, 1780, as follows : ' My present reason for reverting to my own conduct on the occasion which I have men- tioned,' (his offering a sum of money for the Company's service) ' is to ob- viate the false conclusion, or purposed misrepresentations, which may be made of it, either as an artifice of ostentation, or the effect of corrupt in- fluence, by assuring you that the money, by whatever means it came into my possession, was not my own.' Mr Sheridan commented on this, and then stated the conduct of the Directors respecting it, in all whose letters con- cerning presents, were (he said) to be found declarations to this effect : ' For- asmuch as you have taken presents, we greatly disapprove of your conduct ; but, inasmuch as you have applied those presents to the credit of our ac- count, we highly approve of your conduct.' It seemed evident that, upon one occasion, nine lacks of rupees had been received, and only six lacks brought into the treasury of Calcutta : the remaining three were not yet accounted for ; unless it could be thought a sufficient elucidation to declare that they were in the hands of Cantoo Baboo, Mr Hastings's black bribe- broker. But, was it probable that this man, absolutely dependent upon the Governor-general, and having amassed an immense fortune ujider his aus- pices, could have retained so large a sum of money within his hands ? No ! suspicion naturally, not to say unavoidably, turned round to the principal. Yet, in their letter of January, 1782, the Directors did not appear to be satisfied with Mr Hastings's account of the whole proceeding, but pronounced it at once extraordinary and mysterious. That it was mysterious was un- 130 THE MODERN OEATOK. doubtedly true ; for, in such facts as taking of presents, and tHe mode of applying them to the Company's use, he would venture to assert, that there could be no mystery without the excitement of a just suspicion of guilt. The Directors, in their letter, observed, ' It does not appear to us, that there could be any real necessity for delaying to communicate to us immediate information of the channel by which the money came into Mr Hastings's possession, with a complete illustration of the cause or causes of so extraor- dinary an event.' And, in the same letter, speaking of this sum taken from Cheit Sing, and of other monies of a similar description, they said, ' We shall suspend our judgment, without approving in the least degree, or pro- ceeding to censure, the conduct of our Governor- general for this transaction.' The next time the Directors heard anything more of this, was by a letter, dated the 22nd of May, 1782, as Mr Larkins had sworn; but not sent till the 16th of December in the same year; and, singular was the fate of this letter of the Governor-general, which had, in so extraordinary a manner, been delayed in India ! This letter, Mr Larkins, with officious care, would not deliver until the very moment in Avhich the ship sailed, because he well recollected that letters had been either forgotten or mislaid, if given to the captain long before the departure of the vessel. The Resolution was the last ship of the season despatched for Europe, but it was not sufficiently well- manned to carry the Governor-general's letter, although the Governor- general declared that his good genius had dictated its contents. The Reso- lution was thought safe enough to bring a rich freight, man}'" valuable bills and bonds, and a variety of important letters and despatches ; but had the Governor- general's letter had been put on board the vessel, such a weighty cargo would undoubtedly have sunk her to the bottom of the ocean. That packet could only be brought home securely in the Lively. It should appear, therefore, that there was something in the very name of the ship which lent the letter safety, and adapted itself to its style and contents ; and yet this most unlucky letter appears, indeed, to have met with as many strange and, unexpected disappointments as that written by the miserable Romeo, and entrusted to the care of Friar John. " How equally unfortunate, also, must it have proved, if the Lively had been absent upon any other station. Some impure article might probably have made its way into the hold of the ill-nianned ancT crazy Resolution ! The superstitious piety of Mr Larkins might, perhaps, have inclined him to apprehend, that in such a case the Resolution would have foundered — have sunk, perhaps, in the Ganges, without even one convenient diving negro near to rescue the important letter from the devouring waves ! Yet, even thus rescued, the letter might have suffered under a total and dreadfully irre- mediable obliteration of its interior contents, with not one single vestige of writing left, excepting the address : and, after all, (intrepid though the sailors are) the Resolution had not a crew sufficiently daring to venture upon carrying to England . . . the justification of Mr Hastings ! "On this occasion, it seemed fair to say, why not send the letter to Madras^ HICHARD BRINSLEY SHEKIDAX. 131 for the chance of a ship from that settlement ? Mr Larkins despatched this letter from the country, and to Mr Auriol, the Secretary at Calcutta ; yet, he would not touch it, but caused it to be returned, declaring that it was contrary to the act of Parliament for any of the Company's servants to write home to the Directors. Thus it failed in one instance. Mr Sheridan stated how it had failed in others, and traced all the circumstances which had tended to impede its being despatched by the Resolution, till, just on the eve of its being sent awaj^, Mr Larkins advised Mr Hastings to open it, in order to suffer him to make an affidavit that it was written on the 22nd of May ; and to let the affidavit accompany it. Mr Larkins accordingly took an affidavit before Mr Justice Hyde, that the letter had been written by him on the 22nd of May, from rough drafts, furnished by Mr Hastings. This was a proof that Mr Hastings thought the letter of the most serious importance to himself: and that it was extremely material for him to establish the fact, that it had not been written on the pressure of the suspicion, but that the mean imputation to which the delay exposed him, from the occasion which the late parliamentary inquiries had furnished, was a matter to be regarded by him as singularly unfortunate. Undoubtedly , the run of much ill-luck had gone against him ; and so unpromising were appearances in his favour, that it did not require any great share of incredulity to suspect that the letter was written, not before, but after he had heard of certain changes in the politics of this country, which might make him at length adopt a new opinion with respect to the best artifice for his own security ; and conceive that a voluntary confession would prove one of the least fallible preservations from detection. The conduct of Mr Larkins, most certainly, was suspicious ; and Mr Sheridan said, he trusted that no person would do him the injustice to conceive that he harboured cruel, and, of course, unworthy notions against manltind, when he observed thai he saw the workings of gratitude so powerful in the hearts of individuals, as to eradicate every other feeling of duty. Mr Larkins had taken the most extraordinary pains to acquit his friend and patron, Mr Hastings. How well his efforts succeeded, the committee must determine. Mr Sheridan now remarked, that he should beg leave to enter upon a short investigation of the second money transaction, which Mr Hastings had repre- sented as having some affinity with the former anecdote ; and this was a demand upon the Council for money of his own, described as having been expended in the Company's service, to the amount of £34,500, for which he had desired to have three bonds ; and here, it seemed necessary to refer to the defence of Mr Hastings respecting the circumstances of this transaction. In that defence, the Governor- general stated, that, being in the year 1783 in actual want of a sum of money for his private expenses, owing to the Company's not having at the time sufficient cash in their treasury to pay his salary, he borrowed three lacks of rupees from Rajah Nobkissen, an inhabi- tant of Calcutta, whom he desired to call upon him with a bond properly filled up ; that Nobkissen did call ; but, when Mr Hastings was going to execute it, Nobkissen entreated that he would rather accept the money than 132 THE MODEEN OUATOR. execute the bond. In short, that he neither accepted the offer, nor refused it ; but kept the rajah, during the space of several months, plunged into a state of the most tormenting anxiety^ And now it might seem reasonable to imagine, that, at last, the matter dropped ; — -quite the contrary; Mr Hastings took the money, but neither gave the bond, nor was mean enough to think of returning the money ; his pride forbade it ; it was a fresh proof of the dread which the natives entertained of the Governor's pledge of faith. ' Take my money, and welcome,' said Nobkissen ; * but place me not within the peril of your promise ; pledge not your faith to me ! I know too well the consequences ; I have heard of the treaty of Chunar ;* I have heard of the usage of Fyzoolah Khan ! f I have heard of other shameful circumstances which followed the most solemn engagements of the Governor-general of India V "Thus did Mr Hastings fill the breast of this unfortunate man with painful apprehensions, lest when he returned home he should find a bond thrust, perhaps, underneath his door at midnight, or by some unworthy stratagem placed upon his table. He knew too well, that all who had been honoured Avith his favour became irrecoverably ruined. His various guarantees, his treaties, and his sacred compacts, with every lamentable consequence, were present to his afiiicted imagination. The rapacity of Mr Hastings he could tolerate ; but he shrunk with horror from his protestations and his pledge of faith ; a most unanswerable proof, that of all the monied men plundered by the Governor- general, Nobkissen entertained the truest notions of his character. In mercy, however, Mr Hastings came away from Calcutta Avithout acting so cruelly as to send Nobkissen the bond ; or so pitifully, as to repay the money; and, upon this occasion, it ought to be recollected, that Nobkissen was; notoriously the most avaricious Hack man in Bengal : but, in the description of this insatiable thirst for money, it was not meant to draw an invidious t)om- parison between the rajah and a disinterested European ! He would not insist on the unprecedented charge of contingent expenses for a period of more than twelve years ; nor on the particulars of this charge, which was principally for translating the Mahomedan laws, which he had destroyed, and other services of a nature equally useless. In that famous letter which, in his progress to Lucknow, he wrote to the Directors, he had the assurance to request that this sum might be allotted to his use, that he might not be doomed to poverty and obscurity, after a life spent in the accumulation of * Seep. 107. t The Nabob of Ferruckabad, and one of the Rohilla chieftains, from whom Mr Hastings withdrew the British protection in consequence of a bribe of £100,000 from the Vizier of Oude, notwithstanding a treaty concluded by him with the Vizier Sujah Dowlah, and guaranteed by the English Government, by which he was invested with the Jaghire of Rampore and some other districts in Rohilcund, in return for which he was bound to keep up a certain military force in aid of the British Government. The impeachment of Mr Hastings for his conduct towards Fyzoolah Khan had been voted by a majority of 96 to 37. felCKAilD BUINSLEY SHERir>A5s\ IS^ trores for their advantage. But he had gone further ; he had taken it upon himself to place this sum to his credit without the consent of the Company ; thus ^;flry«Vzy, contrary to law, a debt which he had contracted against authority I This proceeding could not be justified by Mr Hastings, even on the principles which he had himself laid down in his construction of the Regulating Act : for here he must acknowledge that he had taken money privately, which he did not apply to the use of the Company, but to his otvn ; as, whether he seized it in the first instance, or paid it to himself afterwards without autho- rity, it was exactly the same. Hitherto nothing arose, excepting mystery and obscurity in the transactions, and in the defence made by the Governor-general ; but if the committee were disposed to think (as he conceived they might be inclined) that no circumstances could exceed those to which he adverted, they were mistaken — for all was simplicity and plain dealing itself, when compared with what followed ! "Mr Sheridan now remarked, that he should next offer to the consideration of the committee a manoeuvre (of which the particulars were not included in the charges) for the humane purpose of squeezing ten lacks of rupees from the nabob vizier, at Chunar.*^' The circumstances of this transaction had been too recently discussed to render much additional information necessary. This generous act was to assume the curious form of the refusal of an offer which the vizier was supposed to have made ! Mr Middleton, the resident appointed by Mr Hastings — Mr Middleton, who had gone such lengths with him before, on a sudden became conscientious ; and, like a tick with a plethora of blood, was satiated with plunder : — quite gorged, and torpid ! Even he \vrote to Mr Hastings, that he could not think of accepting this offer (which, however, the nabob had not at any time made), and Major Palmer was actually sent to persuade him not keep the resolution to which he had come, of presenting Mr Hastings with another £100,000 — thus, by a kind of ingenuity, by a perversion unknown in this dull climate, conveying a demand for money under the form of declining to accept it ! Concerning this circumstance, it ap- peared reasonable to remark, that when Major Palmer and Major Davy called upon the nabob for the money, the latter declared that he had never before heard that so extraordinary a demand was in contemplation ! And how deeply must the merciful feelings of the committee become wounded, should they advert to the contents of a letter from this unfortunate and persecuted prince to Mr Hastings, in which, painting in the strongest colours his extreme distress, he complains bitterly of the exaction ; yet he says, ' Being remediless, I felt myself obliged to comply with what was required ;' and then he con- cludes with this artless and affecting observation : ' Blessed as I am with so compassionate a friend as your highness, how does it happen that I am re- duced to such a state of miserable distress ?' On this occasion, Mr Sheridan said, that he must beg leave to enforce strongly upon the attention of the committee, that the reason advanced to justify the seizure (for it was far * On the occasion of the plunder of the Begums, see page 106. 134 'i'HE MODERN OKATOlt. from meriting a milder term) of the £100,000, — the time when it was paid,— » the manner in which it was paid, — and the persons to whom it was paid, had been all brought into full view ; and unanswerably stigmatised as the falsest statements by the Governor-general. He had written word to the Directors, that the exigency of his affairs, — the want of cash to pay the army, and other things pressing, had caused him to accept the present of ten lacks of rupees, at the moment when he kncAv that the nabob vizier's affairs were in a state of the extremest indigence. Upon that ground he had vindicated the taking of the £100,000; but it came out afterwards, in the most positive de- claration, that he had not the sum in cash, but in bills on Gopal Das, not payable until the expiration of some succeeding months. If that was true, his first ground of justification failed him; for the immediate wants of the army could acquire no relief from bills on Gopal Das, which had still several months to run. In the list of the persons to whom the money had been paid, the name of Mrs Hastings was inserted. He should have felt (Mr Sheridan added) great uneasiness at taking the liberty to introduce a lady's name in such a business, if it had not been for her. complete exculpation ; but the fact stood thus : The entry of Mrs Hastings's name, and those of the other persons, as the receivers of the sum, was a fallacy ; and it was equally a fallacy that the ten lacks were paid by bills on Gopal Das ; because that man was at the time detained by Cheit Sing ; and let the committee ask them- selves, if the Governor-general would not have more credit with Gopal Das than this miserable, moneyless, and ruined prince ? Great part of the sum given was paid in rupees ; and it was clearly a portion of the plunder of the unfortunate princesses, the mother and grandmother of Asoph ul Dowlah. As to the nabob, his distracted supplications Avere of no avail ; and his treasury was swept, without the least attention to his prayer, that his rapa- cious pillager would leave him at least as much as might prove sufficient for the ordinary charges of his household. " Mr Sheridan next stated the application of the Rajah of Berar, to the Governor-general and Council, for a sum of money to relieve his affairs, by paying his army ; the whole amount of which sum was computed at sixteen lacks of rupees. This application was rejected as inconvenient to be complied with ; but afterwards the Governor-general took the whole responsibility of the measure upon himself, and lent the Rajah of Berar three lacks. "Mr Sheridan now mentioned the complaint* laid before the council board * There were several charges brouglit against Mr Hastings by Nuncomar, and among the rest, that of his having committed the young Nabob of Bengal to the guar- dianship of Munny Begum in consideration of a bribe ; but, in order to judge fairly of the truth and weight of the accusations, and to understand the allusions made here- after by Mr Sheridan, it is necessary to give a slight sketch of the history of the accuser. The Maharajah Nuncomar was a Hindoo Brahmin, and possessed all the talent and deceit characteristic of the Bengalees. During the government of Lord Clive, he had been a competitor with a Persian Mussulman, of the name of Mohammed Rcza Khan (a man of integrity according to the Indian standard of morality), for an office which, at that time, the Company were in the habit of entrusting to a great native mCHABD iJHlNSLEY SHERIBAlC. 135 by the Hajah Nuncomar, and the £15,000 taken from Munny Begum, tcT whom was entrusted the sole collection of the revenues. The Directors had instructed him to appoint a minister (a guardian) to superintend Moharek ul Dowlah, the young Nabob of Bengal, and to manage his affairs. The person* whom he chose for this employment was the step-mother of the Nabobj and widow of the deceased Nabob — Meer Jaffier, an ignorant woman, drawn originally from the lowest class of life, and by Mr Hastings from the minister, and which related to the internal administration of Bengal. Lord Clive» knowing the infamous character of Nuncomar, who had been engaged and detected in conspiracies against the English, decided in favour of Mohammed Beza Khan, although in opposition to the urgent solicitation of the Nabob of Bengal, over whom Nuncomar had acquired great influence. On Warren Hastings becoming Governor, Mohammed Reza Khan had been seven years in office, and the infant son of Meer Jaffier was nabob, under the guardianship of the minister. In consequence of the revenues of Bengal being considered to have decreased through the mismanagement of the minister, which idea was encouraged by Nuncomar to his utmost power, Warren Hastings was ordered by the Directors to remove Mohammed Beza Khan from his office. Soon after his removal, a change was made in the mode of administration ; the office held by Mohammed Beza Khan was transferred to the servants of the Company, and the Nabob was no longer allowed to have any visible share in the government, but was to receive, in lieu, an annual allowance, and his person was confided to the care of Munny Begum, one of the ladies of his father's harem. Mohammed Beza Khan, after long delay, was tried for his supposed offences, and acquitted, to the great disappointment of Nuncomar, who was prominent in the prosecution. On the new government of India being formed in 1773, and the arrival of the Council in India, a quarrel immediately ensued between Warren Hastings and the majority of the Council, and, being in the minority on all questions, he was looked on as a fallen mar, and consequently deserted by all the sycophants who till then had courted his favour. Nuncomar, who had always been the secret enemy of Hastings, seizing this favourable opportunity, came forward per- sonally before the Council, and formally accused him of having put up offices for sale, and of having received bribes for his connivance at the escape of offenders ; in parti- cular, of having acquitted Mohammed Beza Khan in consideration of a large sum of money, and of having committed the young Nabob to the care of Munny Begum for a like cause. The Council, in spite of the protest of Hastings against their proceedings, decided against the Governor- general, and declared the charge made out. So far was Nuncomar triumphant ; but Hastings, thus driven to extremities, and finding that either he or Nuncomar must fall, succeeded in crushing his rival in the following unexpected manner : — The Supreme court of Bengal, as established by Act of Parliament, had a jurisdiction entirely free from the control of the Council, and was presided over by Sir Elijah Impey, the friend of Hastings. The power of this court was now ex- ercised for the destruction of Nuncomar. He was suddenly arrested on a charge of forging a bond six years before (an offence which in India was hardly considered criminal) ; bail to any amount was^ refused, although its acceptance was demanded by the Council : he was with all speed tried before Sir Elijah Impey and an English jury, found guilty of the offence, and immediately ordered for execution, which sen- tence was most unrelentingly carried out in spite of all remonstrance. Hastings thus freed himself of a most dangerous enemy : the position in which he was himself placed, may be considered some palliation for his share in the ti'ansaction, but the con- duct of Sir Elijah Impey can never be justified. * Munny Begum. 136 Tlii; MOlDEIlN ORATOK. recesses of the Zenana, to instruct her princely pupil in all the arts of future; government! This curious appointment would certainly prove more the subject of indignation than surprise to the committee, when they should discover, from unquestionable authority, that it was assigned for the valuable consideration of £15,000 to himself, and the same sum to Mr Middleton. Mr Hastings's transaction with Cawn Jewan Khan was the next object of Mr Sheridan's animadversion. This man Avas appointed Phousdar of Houghly, with an income of 72,000 sicca rupees a year — of which Mr Hastings was charged with taking half, besides 4000 allotted to his black broker ; and the accusation was made, as well as that proffered by Nun- comar, in full Council. The Council proposed to inquii-e into the truth of it, and required Cawn Jewan Khan to answer to the facts ujjon oath ; to which procedure he and Mr Hastings peremptorily objected ; and that Cawn Jewan Khan could not, by virtue of his religion, take an oath, Avas the weak excuse of Mr Hastings ; but in the words used in the answer of Mr Hastings to the charge, he might retort the falsity upon him. Cawn Jewan Khan was, as a punishment for his contumacy, deprived of his employment ; but on the death of Colonel Monson, which gave Mr Hastings, by virtue of his casting vote, a majority in the Council, he was reinstated at the motion of the Governor. He left it to the reflection of the committee, whether any circumstantial proof — and the case would admit of nothing further — could more clearly trace the guilt of Mr Hastings, or establish the certainty of private practices of a cor- rupt nature between him and the Phousdar ? The whole was a studied maze of theft, bribery, and corruption ; unparalleled even in the most ignominious annals of East India delinquency. With respect to the unfortunate Pajah Nuncomar, he was first indicted for a conspiracy ; but that failing, he was tried on an English penal statute (which, although rendered by a stretch of poM-er most dreadfully forcible in Bengal, did not reach even to Scotland !) he was convicted and hanged for a crime (forgery) which was not capital in his own country ! Whatever were the circumstances of this judicial proceed- ing (which might be the subject of another inquiry), they could not fail of exciting apprehensions and terrors in the natives, which would put a stop to all further informations against the Governor. Duiing this transaction, Mr Hastings — in direct contradiction to the opinions of General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr Francis — repeatedly asserted, that it was repugnant to the customs, either of the Mussulmen or Hindoos, to take an oath ; yet, on a later occasion, he justified himself in all his proceedings at Benares, by the affidavits of persons of the religion which he mentioned, taken before the upright judge"^ of the supreme court of Calcutta ! It had been allowed, in the evidence given at the bar, that all India was in consternation at the event ; and considered the death of Nuncomar as a punishment for having advanced charges against Mr Hastings. Who, after such an event, would dare step forward as his accuser ? None would venture ; and the Governor * Sir Elijah Impey. lliCHAKB BRTKSLEY SHERIDAN. 187 might, in future, pillage the natives as he thought proper, without any fear of being disturbed by their invocations for justice ! But this justice, he hoped and trusted, would not be refused in a British Parliament ; they owed it to their own dignity, to the support of the resolutions into which they had already entered, to the honour of the country, the prosperity of the government, and the rights of humanity ! The present charge (he should beg leave to repeat) was not, perhaps, of that nature which came home most effectually to the feelings of men ; it could not excite those sensations of commiseration or abhorrence which a ruined prince, a royal family reduced to want and wretchedness, the desolation of kingdoms, or the sacrilegious invasion of palaces, would certainly inspire ! In conclusion, Mr Sheridan observed, that, although within this rank but infinitely too fruitful wilder- ness of iniquities — within this dismal and unhallowed labyrinth, it was most natural to cast an eye of indignation and concern over the wide and towering forests of enormities, all rising in the dusky magnificence of guilt ; and to fix the dreadfully excited attention upon the huge trunks of revenge, rapine, tyranny, and oppression ; yet it became not less necessary to trace out the poisonous weeds, the baleful brushwood, and all the little, creeping, deadly plants, which were, in quantity and extent, if possible, more noxious. The whole range of this far- spreading calamity was sown in the hot-bed of cor- ruption ; and had risen, by rapid and mature growth, into every species of illegal and atrocious violence ! Upon this ground, most solemnly should he conjure the committee to look to the malignant source of every rooted evil ; and not to continue satisfied with reprobating effects, whilst the great cause enjoyed the power of escaping from merited crimination, and the infliction of a just punishment. He now moved, ' That the committee, having considered the present article of charge of high crimes and misdemeanours against Warren Hastings, Esq., late Governor- general of Bengal, is of opinion, that there is ground for impeaching the said Warren Hastings, Esq., of high crimes and misdemeanours upon the matter of the said article.' " The motion was carried by 165 votes to 54. Speech delivered in Westminster Hall, in support of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esq., on the second charge, in respect of his conduct towards the Begums of Oude. Mr Adam, on April 15th, 1788, had opened the charge, and Mr Sheridan now summed up the evidence. His address occupied four days, and at the conclusion Mr Burke declared, " that no species of oratory, no kind of eloquence that had been heard in ancient or modern times ; nothing which the acuteness of the bar, the dignity of the senate, or the morality of the pulpit, could furnish, was equal to what they had that day heard in Westminster hall ; that no species of composition existed of which a complete and perfect specimen might not be culled out of this speech ; which he was persuaded had left too strong an impression on the minds of that assembly to be easily obliterated." 138 THE MODERN OUATOR.- On the first day, Tuesday, June 3rd, he dilated on the importance of the investigation, and on the policy as well as the justice of vindicating the character of Great Britain in India ; but yet disclaimed any desire that Mr Hastings should be condemned unless his guilt were legally and indisputably established by proof. He commented severely on the disavowal by Mr Hastings of the admission and statement he had made in his defence before the House of Commons ; and then proceeded with great force to condemn his cruel conduct towards the Begum Princesses, and his total disregard to the prejudices of the natives of India, in violating the sanctity of the female apartments ; and, after exposing the infamy of the treaty of Chunar, con- cluded in a strain of bitter irony, in denouncing the conduct of Sir Elijah Impey. The court having adjourned to Friday, June 6th, on that day, Mr Sheridan resumed his speech, by expressing his satisfaction that, in the interval of the adjournment, the remaining part of the evidence, &;c., had been printed and laid before their lordships; as it was the wish of the managers that every document should be before the court at the time, for the purpose of determining with more accuracy whether they had or had not borne out the charges which they presented. Recurring then to the affidavits^' taken by Sir Elijah Impey, at Lucknow, " they formed," he observed, " a material article in the defence of Mr Hast- ings ; and on the decision of their lordships respecting the weight of the alle- gations which they contained, a great part of this question would finally depend. With respect to one part of the charge made on the Begums — their having shown a uniform spirit of hostility to the British government — it had not only failed, but it was absolutely abandoned by the counsel for the prisoner, as not being supported by a tittle of evidence. In deciding on the other parts of this charge — their having committed an overt act of re- bellion — their having inflamed the Jaghu-dars,f and excited the discontents in Oude — their lordships were to consider the situation in which Mr Hast- ings stood at the time these charges were made. Having failed in his attempt at Benares, his mind was entirely directed to the treasures of the Begums. He knew that such was the situation into which he had plunged the afiairs of the Company, that he could not address his venal masters unless some treasure was found. He had, therefore, stood forward as an accuser where he was also to preside as a judge ; and with much caution should that judge be heard, who has apparently a profit on the conviction, and an interest in the condemnation of the party to be tried. He would not from this infer, however, that the charge was groundless ; but he would argue, that, until fully proved, it should not meet with implicit credit. It was obvious, also, that the attempt said to have been made by the Begums, to dethrone the Nabob and extirpate the English, was in the highest degree improbable ; but he would not infer from thence that it was impossible ; * In support of the charge of conspiracy by the Begums, to dethrone the Nabob and expel the English. t Or native leaseholders. UtOHAHl) BRINSLEY SItEllIllAN. ' 139 tliere is in human nature a perverse propensity to evil, which had sometimes caused the perpetration of bad acts without any obvious gratification result- ing to the perpetrator. All he should claim, therefore, was, that the accu- sations brought by Mr Hastings against the Begums should undergo a candid examination, and that probable evidence, at least, should be brought to the support of charges in themselves improbable. " Mr Hastings, in his defence, had complained that his prosecutor had attempted to blacken these affidavits as rash, irregular, and irrelevant, when they had been authenticated by the presence of Sir Elijah Impey, and, as he also observed, being taken in an inquiry directed solely to establish the guilt of Cheit Sing, they were merely an accessary evidence in the present case, and were therefore less liable to suspicion. The reasoning, in this last instance, Mr Sheridan observed, would undoubtedly be good ; but the asser- tion, that the inquiries were exclusively directed to the crimination of Cheit Sing, had been proved an absolute falsehood, as they were really intended to justify what was afterwards to be done. With respect to the epithets bestowed on those afiidavits by his honourable friend, the truth would best appear from a review of their contents. Mr Sheridan then proceeded to remark on the affidavits severally, as far as they related to charges against the Begums. Those of the Jemmadars, or native subaltern officers, con- tained nothing, it appeared, but vague rumour and improbable surmise. " One deponent, who was a black officer in one of our regiments of sepoys, stated, that having a considerable number of people as hostages in a fort where he commanded, and who had been sent thither by Colonel Hannay, the country people got round the fort, and demanded that they should be delivered up ; but, instead of complying with their request, he put almost twenty of them to death : he afterwards threw down some of the battlements of the fort, and killed four more of the hostages ; and, on another day, the heads of eighteen more were struck off, and among them the head of a great rajah of the country, by order of Colonel Hannay. The people around were enraged at this execution, and crowded about the fort ; some of them were heard to say, that the Begums had offered a reward of one thousand rupees for the head of every European, one hundred for the head of every sepoy officer, and ten for the head of a common sepoy. But it appeared afterwards, pretty clearly, that no such rewards had, in reality, been offered ; for when Captain Gordon's detachment took the field, the people who surrounded him told him, that if he would deliver up his arms and his baggage, they would let him and his men continue their route unmolested : so little were they disposed to enrich themselves by the slaughter of the British forces, that when Captain Gordon's detachment was reduced, by desertion, to ten men, and when the slaughter or capture of them would have been of course a work of very little difficulty, the country people re- mained satisfied with the dispersion of the detachment, and then returned to their homes, without attempting to attack the poor remains of that de- tachment — the ten men who continued with Captain Gordon. That gentle- 140 THE MODERN ORATOR. man, in his affidavit, supposed the Begums to have encouraged the country people to rise, because, when he arrived at the bank of the river Saunda Nutta, on the opposite bank of which stands the town of Saunda, the phous- dar, or governor, who commanded there for the Bow Begum, in whose jaghire the town lay, did not instantly send boats to carry him and his men over the river ; and because the phousdar pointed two or three guns across the river. Now, admitting both these facts to be true, they could not affect the Begums, for it was the duty of the phousdar to be on his guard, and not to let troops into his fort until he knew for what purpose they appeared before it. In the next place, there was nothing in the affidavit which indi- cated that the guns were pointed against Captain Gordon and his men ; on the contrary, it was possible that these guns had made that gentleman's pursuers disperse ; for it was rather remarkable, that they should pursue him whilst he was in force, and should give over the pursuit when, by the desertion of his soldiers, his detachment was reduced to ten men. However, whatever might have been the cause of their dispersion, Captain Gordon at length got across the river, and found himself in a place of safety as soon as he got into a town that was under the authority of the Begums, who caused him to be sent afterwards, under a protecting guard, to Colonel Hannay. This circumstance was suppressed in the affidavit made afterwards by Cap- tain Gordon : for what purpose it was not for him to judge. " Hyder Beg Khan, the minister of the Nabob, though swearing both to rumour and to fact, could mention no particulars of an insurrection which was to have dethroned his Sovereign. Nor was the evidence of Colonel Hannay, and the other English officers, more conclusive : loud suspicions appeared to have been propagated at a time of general disturbance, and when the flames of war were raging in the neighbouring province of Benares. Mr Middleton,*- though swearing after he had received his final orders from Mr Hastings respecting the seizure of the treasures, could only say, that he believed the Begums had given countenance to the rebels, and, he had heard, some aid. The whole of the depositions, Mr Sheridan observed, were so futile, that were they defended in an inferior court of justice ; he was con- vinced he should be forbidden to reply, and told he was combating with that which was nothing ! " With respect to the first part of the charge, the rebellion of the Begums, he could find no trace of any such transaction. " The best antiquarian in our society," said Mr Sheridan, " would be, after all, never the wiser ! Let him look where he would, where can he find any vestige of battle, or a single blow ? In this rebellion, there is no soldier, neither horse nor foot ; not a man is known fighting ; no office-order sur- vives, not an express is to be seen. This great rebellion, as notorious as our '45, passed away — unnatural, but not raging — beginning in nothing, and ending, no doubt, just as it began ! * The resident agent at the court of the Nabob. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 141 " If rebellion, my lords, can thus engender unseen, it is time for us to look about. What, hitherto, has been dramatic, may become historical ; — Knightsbridge may at this moment be invested ; and all that is left us, nothing but the forlorn hope of being dealt with according to the statute, by the sound of the Riot act, and the sight, if it can be, of another Elijah I " The counsel had thought proper to dwell for a time on the Nabob's going to Fyzabad,* on his return from Chunar, attended by a guard of 2,000 men. Mr Middleton being asked, whether these men were well-ap- pointed, though on another occasion he had declared himself no military man, caught in the instant a gleam of martial memory, and answered in the affirmative. The contrary, however, was proved by the evidence of Captain Edwards, who attended the Nabob as his aide-de-camp, and also that those troops were actually mutinous for their pay, who were then taken to stop the progress of disaffection ! Yet he would agree to all that the counsel re- quired ; — he would suffer the whole 2,000 men to enter full trot into the city of Fyzabad, ' whilst Middleton stood by out of his wits, with a gleam of martial memory ; and whilst Sir Elijah, like a man going to learn fashions or freedom in England, takes a sportive tour, as smooth and well-beaten as Old Brentford ;' for Captain Edwards had fully proved that it was merely the usual guard of the Nabob. It would, therefore, have been disrespectful to have gone with less attendance ; he could have no motive for going incog., unless he might have intended to make himself a perfect match for the insur- rection, which was also incog., or thought that a rebellion without an army would be most properly subdued by a prince without a guard. " Another supposed proof of the disaffection of the Begums was brought, by alleging that 1,000 Nudjies had been raised at Fyzabad, and sent to the assistance of Cheit Sing ;f and this for no other reason than a detachment of the same number being in the list of the forces of the rajah ! This single circumstance was taken as full and complete evidence of the identity of those troops. It was no matter that the officer second in command with Cheit Sing had sworn that the detachment came from Lucknow, and not from Fyzabad ; this Mr Hastings would have to be a trifling mistake of one capital for another ! The same officer, however, had also deposed, that the troops were of a different description ; those of the Begum being swordsmen, and those in the service of the rajah matchlock-men. The inference to be made, therefore, undoubtedly was, that the detachment did actually come from Lucknow; not sent, perhaps, by the Nabob, but by some of the Jaghirdars, his favourites, who had abundant power for that purpose, and whose aversion to the English had always been avowed. The name of Sadib Ally, his half- brother, had been mentioned as being highly criminal in these transactions ; but to the question, * Why was he not punished ? ' Sir Elijah Impey had given the best answer at the bar, by informing their lordships that Sadib * The place of residence of the Beg-ums. t As to the proceedings against Cheit Sing, see p. 106. L 142 THE MODERN OEATOE. Ally was miserably poor ! He had, therefore, found protection in his poTerty, and safety in his insolvency. Every common maxim of judging on such occasions was certain to be overturned by Mr Hastings. It was generally supposed that the needy were the most daring ; and that necessity was the strongest stimulus to innovation ; but the Governor- general, inverting this proposition, had laid it down as an axiom, that the actions of the poor were sufficiently punished by contempt ; that the guilt of an offender should in- crease in a precise ratio with his wealth ; and that, in fine, where there was no treasure, there could undoubtedly be no treason 1" Mr Sheridan next read the letter of the Begum*' to Mr Hastings, com- plaining of the suspicions which had been so unjustly raised of her conduct ; and referring to Captain Gordon, who could testify her innocence. He also read the letter of Captain Gordon to the Begum,f thanking her for her inter- ference, and acknowledging that he owed his life to her bounty. " It had been asked, with an air of triumph, why Captain Gordon was not called ta that bar? He had answered then, as now, that he would not call on a man * The letter was as follows : — " The disturbances of Colonel Hannay and Mr Gor- don were made a pretence for seizing my jaghire. The state of the matter is this : — When Colonel Hannay was, by Mr Hastings, ordered to march to Benares during the troubles of Cheit Sing^ the Colonel, who had plundered the whole country, was in- capable af proceeding, from the union of thousands of Zemindars, who had seized this favourable opportunity ; they harassed Mr Gordon near Junivard, and the Zemindars of that place and Acberpore opposed his march from thence, till he arrived near Saunda. As the Saunda Nutta, from its overflowing, was difficult to cross without a boat, Mr Gordon sent to the fowzdar to supply him ; he replied^ the boats were all in the river, but would assist him, according to order, as soon as possible. Mr Gordon's situation would not admit of his waiting ; he forded the Nutta upon his elephant, and was hospitably received and entertained by the fowzdar for six days. In the mean- time, a letter was received by me from Colonel Hannay, desiring me to escort Mr Gor- don to Fyzabad. As my friendship for the English was alv/ays sincere, I readily com- plied, and sent some companies of Nejeebs to escort Mr Gordon and all his effects to Fyzabad : where, having provided far his entertainment, I effected his junction with Colonel Hannay. The letters of thanks received from both these gentlemen, upon thi& occasion, are still in my possession ;. copies of which I gave in charge to Major Gilpin^ to be delivered to Mr Middleton, that he might forward them to the Governor- general. To be brief, those vvho have loaded me with accusations, are now clearly convicted of falsehood. But is it not extraordinary, that, notwithstanding the justness of my cause, nobody relieves my misfortunes ? My prayers have been constantly offered to heaven for your arrival ; report has announced it, for which reason I have taken up the pen^ and request you will not place implicit confidence in my accusers ; but, weighing in the scale of justice their falsehoods and my representations, you will exert your in- fluence in putting a period to the misfortunes with which I am overwhelmed." t The letter was as follows : — " Begum Saib, of exalted dignity, generosity, &c., whom God preserve. " Your gracious letter, in answer to the petition of your servant from Goondah, exalted me. Prom the contents, I became unspeakably impressed with the honour it conferred. May the Almighty protect that royal purity, and bestow happiness, increase O^ wealth, and prosperity. *' The vjelfare of your servant is entirely owing to your favour and benevolence^ ^c., S^e/' RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 143 who, in his affidavit, had suppressed all mention of this important transac- tion. He trusted that, if ever he saw him at that bar, he should witness a contrite zeal to do away the effects of that silence, and behold a penitential tear for the part he had then taken. He hoped, however, for the honour of human nature, that Captain Gordon was then under a delusion, and that he was led on by Mr Middleton, who was v/cU informed of the business, to act a part of which he did not know the consequences. Every feeling of humanity recoiled from the transaction taken in any other point of view. It was diffi- cult to imagine that any man could say to a benefactor, ' The breath that T now draw, next to Heaven, I owe to you ; my existence is an emanation from your bounty ; I am indebted to you beyond all possibility of return, and, therefore, my gratitude shall be your destruction.' *' The original lettei-s on this occasion, from Colonel Hannay and Captain Gordon to the Begum, had been transmitted by her, through Major Gilpin, to Mr Middleton, for the purpose of being shown to Mr Hastings ; but the leaves were torn from Mr Middleton's letter-book in the place where they should have appeared. When examined on this subject, he said, that he had deposited Persian copies of those letters in the office at Lucknow, but that he did not bring translations with him to Calcutta, because he left Lucknow the very day after he had received the originals. In this evi- dence," Mr Sheridan said in express terms, " there appeared flat perjury ! — enormity, if it was so, beyond all expectation, made manifest by that power, to whose nod all creatures must bend — to whom nothing, in the whole system of thought or action, is impossible — who can invigorate the arm of infancy with a giant's nerve — who can bring light out of darkness, and good out of evil — can rive the confines of hidden mischief, and drag forth each minister of guilt from amidst his deeds of darkness and disaster, reluctant, alas ! and unrepenting, to exemplify, at least, if not atone, and to qualify any casual sufferings of innocence by the final doom of its oppressor — to prove there are the never-failing corrections of God, to make straight the obliquity of man. It could be proved, by comparing dates, that Middleton had received those letters at least a month before he left Lucknow. He de- parted from that city on the I7th of October ; but must have received those letters before the 20th of the preceding month. He was, therefore, well aware of the purity of those in whose oppression he was engaged ; he knew that their attachment was fully proved at the very time they were charged with disaffection ; but, as their punishment was predetermined, he, in con- cert with his principal, found it necessary to suppress the testimonials of their innocence. The injured sufferers, with tears more powerful than argu- ment, and with sighs more impressive than eloquence, supplicated their lordships' justice, and called for that retribution which should alight on the detested but unrepenting author of their wrongs. " The benevolent interference of the Begum in favour of Captain Gordon had been assigned by Mr Hastings, in his defence, to her intelligence of the successes of the English at that period. That this allegation was faunded L 2 144 THE ]SI0DEI13«^ OUATOE- in manifest falsehood, could xevy easily be proved. The only success whicli the British forces at that time met with was that of Colonel Blair, on the 3rd of September, but where he himself acknowledged that another victory gained at such a loss would be equal to a defeat. The reports spread around the country at the time were of the most unfavourable cast — that Mr Hastings had been slain at Benares, and that the English were every- where routed. These reports, it was to be remarked, were of infinitely more consequence to the present argument than the facts which really occurred ; but if any doubt remained on the mind of any man, it was only necessary to recur to a never-failing evidence, in that of Mr Hastings against himself. In a letter to the Council, which was on record, Mr Hastings acknowledged that, from the 22nd of August to the 22nd of September, which included, of course, the time of Captain Gordon's liberation, he had been confined in a situation of the utmost hazard — that his safety, during that time, was ex- tremely precarious — ^and that the afi'airs of the English were generally thought to be unfavourable in the extreme ! In his defence, however, these admissions were totally forgotten. There was also an observable inconsistency in what was there alleged — that Colonel Hannay had written to the Begum in the style of supplication, because, in the desperate situation of afiairs, he knew of no other which he could adopt ; and yet, in the same sentence, it was averred that the Begum had procured the release of Captain Gordon, from her knowledge of the prosperous advances of our army ! It appeared, therefore, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that those princesses had de- monstrated the firmness of their attachment to the English — ^not in the moment of success, not from the impulse of fear, nor fi'om the pros2>ect of future protection ; but at a time when the hoard of collected vengeance was about to burst over our heads — when the measure of European guilt in India appeared to be completely filled by the oppressions what had just then been exercised on the unfortunate Cheit Sing — and when offended Heaven seemed to interfere to change the meek disposition of the natives, to awaken their resentment, and to inspirit their revenge. *' The second of the remaining parts of the charge against the Begums was, their having inflamed the Jaghirdars. It was evident, however, even from the letters of Mr Middleton himself, that no such aid was wanted to awaken resentments which must unavoidably have arisen from the nature of the business. There were many powerful interests concerned — the jaghires which were depending Avere of a vast amount ; and as their owners, by the resumption, would be reduced at once to poverty and distress, their own feelings were sufficient to produce every effect which had been described. It was idle, therefore, to ascribe to the Begums, without a shadow of proof, the inspiring of sentiments which must have existed without their interference. I shall not waste the time of the court," said Mr Sheridan, " on such a subject, but appeal to your lordsliips, individually, to determine whether, on a proposal being made to confiscate your several estates — and the magnitude of the objects are not very unequal — the interference of any two ladies in RiCHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 145 tills kingdom v^ould be at all necessary to awaken your resentments and to rouse you to opposition. " The discontents which prevailed in the province of Oude had been also, and with similar justice, attributed to these princesses, and formed the third and last article of charge against them. But the conduct of the officers residing in that province, the repeated complaints from the natives, and the acknowledged rapacity of Colonel Hannay, left no difficulty in tracing those discontents to the source whence they had originated. The Nabob himself was so well convinced of the tyranny of Colonel Hannay that, on a propo- sition coming from Mr Hastings to send him back into the province, the Nabob swore by Mahomet, ' that, if the colonel was sent back, he would quit the pro^dnce, and come to reside with Mr Hastings.' The Governor- • general some time after sent an apology for the suggestion ; but it was then too late — Colonel Hannay was dead, and the province was desolate. '* Should a stranger survey the land formerly Sujah Dowlah's, and seek the cause of the calamity — should he ask what monstrous madness had ravaged thus, with wide-spread war ? — what desolating foreign foe — what disputed succession — what religious zeal — what fabled monster has stalked abroad, and, with malice and mortal enmity to man, has withered with the gripe of death every growth of nature and humanity, all the means of delight, and each original, simple principle of bare existence ? The answer will be — if any answer dare be given — ' No, alas ! not one of these things — no deso- lating foreign foe — no disputed succession — no religious super-serviceable zeal ! This damp of death is the mere effiision of British amity : we sink under the pressure of their support — we writhe under the gripe of their pestiferous alliance ! ' " Thus they suffered, in barren anguish and ineffectual bewailings. And ' O audacious fallacy ! ' says the defence of Mr Hastings, ' what cause was there for any incidental ills but their oAvn resistance ? ' *' The cause was nature in the first-born principles of man. It grew with his growth-; it strengthened with his strength ! It taught him to under- stand — it enabled him to feel ; for, where there is human shape, can there be a penury of human feeling ? Where there is injury, will there not be resentment ? Is not despair to be followed by courage ? The God of battles pervades and penetrates the inmost spirit of man, and, rousing him to shake ofif the burthen that is grievous, and the yoke that is galling, will reveal the law written in his heart, and the duties and privileges of his nature — the grand universal compact of man vnth man ! That power is delegated in trust, for the good of all who obey it — that the rights of men must arm against man's oppression ; for that indifference were treason to human state, and patience nothing less than blasphemy against the laws which govern the world. " That this representation v/as not exaggerated would appear from the description of Major Naylor, who had succeeded Colonel Hannay, and who had previously saved him from the vengeance which the assembled ryots, or 146 THE MODERN OEATOE. husbandmen, were about to take on their oppressors. The progress of extortion, it appeared, had not been uniform in that province ; it had abso- lutely increased as its resources failed ; and, as the labour of exaction became more difficult, the price of that increased labour had been charged as an additional tax on the wretched inhabitants ! At length, even in their meek bosoms, where injury never before begot resentment, nor despair aroused to courage, increased oppression had its due effect. They assembled round their oppressor, and had nearly made him their sacrifice. So deeply were they impressed with the sense of their wrongs, that they would not even accept of life from those who had rescued Colonel Hannay. They presented themselves to the swords of the soldiery ; and, as they lay bleeding on the banks of their sacred stream,* they comforted themselves with the ghastly hope that their blood would not descend into the soil, but that it would , ascend to the view of the God of nature, and there claim a retribution for their wrongs ! Of a people thus injured, and thus feeling, it was an audacious fallacy to attribute the conduct to any external impulse. That God, who gave them the form of man, implanted also the wish to vindicate the rights of man. Though simple in their manners, they were not so unin- formed as not to know that power is, in every state, a trust reposed for the general good ; and that, the trust being onee abused, it should, of course, be instantly resented. " The irmoeence of the Begums," Mr Sheridan continued, " being thus most indubitably and ineontrovertibly proved, it could not be allowed that he argued fairly if he did not immediately infer, from that proof, the guilt of Mr Hastings. He would go so far as to admit that Mr Hastings might have "been deluded by his accomplices, and have been persuaded into a conviction of a criminality which did not exist. If that were proved, he would readily agree to acquit the prisoner of the present charge. But if, on the contrary, there appeared in his subsequent conduct such a concealment as denoted the fullest consciousness of guilt — if all his narrations of the business were marked with inconsistency and contradiction — that mind must be inaccessible to con^dction which could entertain a doubt of his criminality. From the month of September, in which the seizure of the treasures took place, until the January following, had Mr Hastings whoUy concealed the transaction from the Council at Calcutta ! If anything could be more singular than this concealment, it was the reasons by which it was afterwards attempted to be justified. Mr Hastings first pleaded a want of leisure. He was writing ta the Council at a time when he complained of an absolute inaction ; he found time to narrate some pretty eastern tales respecting the attachment of the sepoys to their cannon, and their dressing them with flowers on particular occasions ; but of a rebellion which convulsed an empire — of the seizure of the treasures to such an amount — ^he could not find leisure to say one syl- lable, until he had secured an excuse for his conduct in the possession of the * The Ganges, which has always been regarded, by the natives of India, with great veneration. SICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 147 money. The second excuse was, that all communication was cut off mth Fyzabad ; and this was alleged at a time when letters were passing daily between him and Mr Middleton, and when Sir EHjah Impey had pronounced the road to be as free from interruption as that between London and Brent- ford. The third excuse was, that Mr Middleton had taken with him, on his departure from Chunar, all the original papers which it was necessary for Mr Hastings to consult. That the original papers had not been removed was evident, however, from Mr Hastings sending a copy of the treaty of Chunar to Mr Middleton, on the fourth day after the resident's departure ; though it appeared that it was re-inclosed at a proper time to Mr Hastings, to be shown to the Council. A copy of the same had been shown to the oriental Grotius, Sir Elijah Impey, which he confessed his having read at the time when he declared his ignorance of the guarantee"^' to the Princesses of Oude ! Looking to the absurdity of reasons such as these, assigned in defence of a silence so criminal, Mr Sheridan declared that he would lay aside every other argument — that he would not dwell on any other topic of guilt, if the coimsel for Mr Hastings would but join issue on this point, and prove, to the satisfaction of the court, that any of these excuses were in the smallest degree sufficient for the purpose for which they were assigned. " Amidst the other artifices of concealment, was a letter from Colonel Han- nay, dated October 17, 1781, which Mr Sheridan indisputably proved could not have been wTitten at the time, but was fabricated at a subsequent period, as it contained a mention of facts which could by no possibility have been kno^vn to Colonel Hannay at the time when it was pretended to have been written. Whatever else could be done for the purpose of concealment, was done in that mixture of canting and mystery, of rhapsody and enigma — Mr Hastings's narrative of his journey to Benares. He there set out with a solemn appeal to heaven for the truth of his averments, and a declaration of the same purport to Mr Wheeler. The faith, however, thus pledged, was broken both to God and man ; for it was already in evidence, that no single transaction had occurred as it was there stated ! " The question would naturally occur to every person who had attended to these proceedings, ' Why Mr Hastings had used all these efforts to veil the whole of this business in mystery ? ' It was not strictly incumbent on him to answer the question, yet he would reply, that Mr Hastings had obviously a bloody reason for the concealment. He had looked to the natural efiect of strong injuries on the human mind ; as, in the case of Cheit Sing, he thought that oppression must beget resistance ; and the efibrts w^hich might be made by the Begums in theii- own defence, though really the effect, he was deter- mined to represent as the cause, of his proceedings. Even when disappointed in those aims by the natural meekness and submission of those with whom he * By a treaty signed by Mr Middleton, as the English resident agent at Oude, with the superior Begum, in October, 1778, and afterwards approved by Mr Hastings, the jaghu-e, which was allotted for the support of the women in the Khord Mahal, had been secured to the Begums. 148 THE MODERN OEATOE. was to act, he could not abandon the idea ; and, accordingly, in his letter to th6 Directors, of January 5, 1782, had represented the subsequent disturb- ances in Oude as the positive cause of the violent measures which he had adopted, two months before those disturbances had existence ! Ho there congratulates his masters on the seizure of those treasures which, by the law of Mahomet, he assures them were the property of Asoph ul Dowlah. Thus the perturbed spirit of the Mahometan law, according to Mr Hastings's idea, still hovered round those treasures, and envied them to every possessor, until it at length saw them safely lodged within the sanctuary of the British treasury ! In the same spirit of piety, Mr Hastings had assured the House of Commons, that the inhabitants of Asia believed that some unseen power interfered, and conducted all his pursuits to their destined end. That Pro- vidence, however, which thus conducted the eiForts of Mr Hastings, was not the Providence to which others profess themselves indebted— which interferes in the cause of virtue, and insensibly leads guilt towards its punishment : it was not, in fine, that Providence, *' ' Whose works aie goodness, and whose ways are right.' The unseen power which protected Mr Hastings, operated by leading others into criminality, which, as far as it respected the Governor-general, was highly fortunate in its effects. If the Rajah Nuncomar''^ brings a charge against Mr Hastings, Providence so orders it, that the Rajah has committed a forgery some years before ; which, with some friendly assistance, proves a sufficient reason to remove out of the way so troublesome an acquaintance. If the Company's affairs are deranged through the want of money. Providence ordains it so that the Begums, though unconsciously, fall into a rebellion, and gives Mr Hastings an opportunity of seizing on their treasures ! Thus, the successes of Mr Hastings depended, not on any positive merit in himself; it was to the inspired felonies, the heaven-born crimes, and the providential treasons of others, that he was indebted for each success, and for the whole tenor of his prosperity ! " It must undoubtedly bear a strange appearance, that a man of reputed ability should, even when acting wrongly, have had recourse to so many bungling artifices, and spread so thin a veil over his deceptions. But those who testified any surprise at this circumstance, must have attended but little to the demeanour of Mr Hastings. Through the whole course of his conduct he seemed to have adhered to one general rule, to keep as clear as possible of the fact which he was to relate ! Observing this maxim, his only study was to lay a foundation as fanciful and as ornamental as possible ; then, by a superadded mass of fallacies, the superstructure was soon complete, though by some radical defect it never failed to tumble on his own head. Rising from those ruins, however, he was soon found rearing a similar edifice, but with a like effect. Delighting in difficulties, he disdained the plain and * See note, page 135. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. , 149 secure foundation of truth ; he loved, on the contrary, to build on a preci- pice, and encamp on a mine. Inured to falls, he felt not the danger ; and frequent defeats had given him a hardihood, without impressing a sense of the disgrace. " It had been a maxim once as much admitted in the practice of common life, as in the school of philosophy, that where Heaven was inclined to destroy the vice, it began by debasing the intellect.* This idea was carried still further by the right honourable gentleman who opened the prosecution ; who declared, that prudence and vice were things absolutely incompatible ; that the vicious man, being deprived of his best energies, and curtailed in his proportion of understanding, was left with such a short-sighted degree of penetration as could not come under the denomination of prudence. This sentiment did honour to the name of his right honourable friend, to whom," said Mr Sheridan, " I look up with homage ; whose genius is commensurate with his philanthropy — whose memory will stretch itself beyond the fleeting objects of any little partial shufiling, through the whole wide range of human knowledge, and honourable aspiration after human good ; as large as the system which forms life — as large as those objects that adorn. It is a noble and a lovely sentiment, worthy the mind of him who uttered it ; wor- thy that proud disdain, that generous scorn of the means and instruments of vice, which virtue and genius must ever feel. But I should doubt whether we can read the history of a Philip of Macedon, a Caesar, or a Cromwell, without confessing that there have been evil purposes baneful to the peace and rights of men, conducted, if I may not say with prudence or with wisdom, yet with awful craft, and with most successful and commanding subtlety. If, however, I might make a distinction, I should say, that it is the proud attempt to mix a variety of lordly crimes, that unsettles the pru- dence of the mind, and breeds this distraction of the brain ; one master- passion, domineering in the breast, may "win the faculties of the understanding to advance its purpose, and direct to that object everything which thought or human knowledge can efiect; but, to succeed, it must maintain a solitary despotism in the mind ; each rival profligacy must stand aloof, or wait in abject vassalage on its throne ; for the power that has not forbidden the entrance of evil passions into man's mind, has at least forbidden their union : if they meet, they defeat their object, and their conquest, or their attempt at it, is tumult. Turn to the virtues — how different the decree ! Formed to connect, to blend, to associate, and to co-operate ; bearing the same course, with kindred energies and harmonious sympathy ; each perfect in its own lovely sphere, each moving in its wider or more contracted orbit, with dif- ferent but concentring poAvers, guided by the same influence of reason, and endeavouring at the same blessed end — the happiness of the individual, the harmony of the species, and the glory of the Creator ! In the vices, on the other hand, it is the discord that ensures the defeat ; each clamours to be * Quom Dc'us vult pcrderc, prius dementat. 150 THE MODERN ORATOR. heard in its own barbarous language ; each claims the exclusive cunning, of the brain ; each thwarts and reproaches the other ; . and even while their fell rage assails with common hate the peace and virtue of the world, the civil war among their own tumultuous legions defeats the purpose of the foul conspiracy. These are the furies of the mind, my lords, that unsettle the understanding; these are the furies that destroy the virtue of prudence ; while the distracted brain, and shivered intellect, proclaim the tumult that is within ; and bear their testimonies, from the mouth of God himself, to the foul condition of the heart." Reverting again to the subject of the claims made on the Princesses of Oude, Mr Sheridan said : " Whether those were first made by the Nabob, or suggested to him by his sovereign, Mr Hastings — though the counsel had laboured much to prove the former — appeared to him to carry very little difference. If the seizure was made as a confiscation and punish- ment for supposed guilt, then, if ever there was a crime which ought to pass ' unwhipped of justice,' it was that where a son must necessarily be made the instrument of an infliction, by which he broke his covenant of existence, and violated the condition by which he held his rank in society. If, on the contrary, it was meant as a resumption, in consequence of a supposed right in the Nabob, then Mr Hastings should have recollected the guarantee of the Company granted to the Begums ; unless it was meant to be said, that Mr Hastings acted in that, as in other instances ; and assured them of his pro- tection, until the very moment when it was wanted. It was idle, however, to dwell on the conduct or free agency of a man who, it was notorious, had no will of his own. What Mr Middleton asserted at that bar would scarcely be put in competition with a series of established facts ; by which it ap- peared, that the Nabob had submitted to every indignity, and yielded to every assumption. It was an acknowledged fact, that he had even been brought to join in that paltry artifice which had been termed the subornation of letters. This practice was carried to such a length, that he in the end complained, in a manner rather ludicrous, that he was reaUy tired of sending different characters of Mr Bristow, in pursuance of the directions sent to the resident. He had pronounced black white and white black so often, that he really knew not what to say ; and, therefore, begged that, once for all, the friends of Mr Hastings might be considered as his, and that their enemies might also be the same. After this, it was superfluous to argue that the Nabob could direct his views to so important an object as the seizing of the treasures, unless he had been impelled by Mr Middleton, and authorised by Mr Hastings ! " [The Court then adjourned till June 10th, on which day Mr Sheridan pointed out the inconsistency of the affidavits taken before Sir Elijah Impey, and produced as evidence of the treason of the Begums, and the perjury committed by Sir Elijah himself; and with great talent summed up the evi- dence, proving that the Nabob was merely an involuntary agent in the seizure of the treasures of the Begums, and the resumption of the Jaghires. mCHAnt) BElNSLtlY SHERIDAN. 151 In consequence of Mr Sheridan being taken suddenly ill, the Court ad- journed till the 13th, when Mr Sheridan concluded his address.] " Mr Sheridan began by apologising for the interruption which his indisposi- tion had caused on the former day. He assured their lordships, in the strongest terms, that nothing but the importance of the cause, to which he felt himself totally unable to do justice, could have made him trespass on that indulgence which, on other occasions, he had so amply experienced. "He had, then, concluded with submitting to their lordships the whole of the correspondence, as far as it could be obtained, between the principals and agents, in the nefarious plot carried on against the Nabob vizier and the Begums of Oude. These letters were worthy the most abstracted attention of their lordships, as containing not only a narrative of that foul and unmanly conspiracy, but also a detail of the motives and ends for which it was formed, and an exposition of the trick, the quibble, the prevarication, and the untruth with which it was then acted, and now attempted to be defended ! The question would undoubtedly suggest itself, why the correspondence ever was produced by the parties against whom it was now adduced in evidence, and who had so much reason to distrust the propriety of their o^vn conduct ? To this the answer was, that it was owing to a mutual and providential re- sentment which had broken out between the parties, which was generally the case between persons concerned in such transactions. Mr Middleton was incensed, and felt as a galling triumph the confidence reposed by the Governor-general in other agents. Mr Hastings was offended by the tardy wariness which marked the conduct of Middleton ; by the various remon- strances by the agent — though, as knowing the man to whom they Avere addressed, they were all grounded on motives of policy — not of humanity — and of expediency, which left justice entirely out of the question ; but the great ostensible ground of quarrel was, that Middleton had dared to spend two days in negotiation — though that delay had prevented the general massacre of upwards of two thousand persons ! The real cause, however, of this difference, was a firm belief on the part of Mr Hastings, that Mr Middleton had inverted their different situations, and kept the lion's share of plunder to himself. There were, undoubtedly, some circumstances to justify this sus- picion. At the time when Mr Hastings had first complained, the Nabob's treasury was empty, and his troops so mutinous for their pay as even to threaten his life; yet in this moment of gratitude and opulence, Middleton intimated the Nabob's desire to make Mr Hastings a present of £100,000. That sacrifice, however, not being deemed sufiicient, Mr Middleton was re- called, and Major Palmer was sent in his room with instructions to tell the Nabob that such a donation was not to be attempted : the prince, however, with an unfortunate want of recollection, said, that ' no such ofier had ever been in his mind.' Thus, it had always been considered as the heightening of a favour bestowed, that the receiver should not know from what quarter it came ; but it was reserved for Mr Middleton to improve on this by such a delicate refinement, that the person giving should be totally ignorant of the favour he conferred ! 132 THE MODERN ORATOK. "But, notwithstanding these little differences and suspicions, Mr Hastings and Mr Middleton, on the return of the latter to Calcutta in October, 1782, continued to live in the same style of friendly collusion and fraudulent familiarity as ever. But when Mr Bristow,* not answering the purposes of Mr Hastings, was accused on the suborned letters procured from the Nabob, one of which pronounced him the blackest character in existence, while another, of the same date, spoke of him as a very honest fellow, Mr Hastings thought it might appear particular ; and therefore, after their intimacy of six months, accuses Mr Middleton also before the board at Calcutta. It was then that, in the rash eagerness which distinguished his pursuit of every object, Mr Hastings had incautiously, but happily for the present purposes of justice, brought forth these secret letters. It mattered not what were the views which induced Mr Hastings to bring that charge ; whether he had drawn up the accusation, or obliged Mr Middleton with his aid in framing a defence ; the whole ended in a repartee, and a poetical quotation from the Governor-general. The only circumstance material to the purposes of humanity, was the production of instruments by which those who had violated every principle of justice and benevolence were to see their guilt explained, and, it was to be hoped, to experience that punishment which they deserved. " To those private letters it was that their lordships were to look for whatever elucidation of the subject could be drawn from the parties con- cerned. Written in the moments of confidence, they declared the real mo- tive and object of each measure ; the public letters were only to be re- garded as proofs of guilt, whenever they established a contradiction. The counsel for the prisoner had chosen, as the safest ground, to rely on the public letters, written for the concealment of fraud and purpose of decep- tion. They had, for instance, particularly dwelt on a public letter from Mr Middleton, dated in December, 1781, which intimated some particulars of supposed contumacy in the Begums, with a view to countenance the transactions which shortly after took place, and particularly the resumption of the jaghires. But this letter, both Sir Elijah Impey and Mr Middleton had admitted, in their examination at that bar, to be totally false ; though if it were in every point true, the apprehension of resistance to a mea- sure, could not, by any means, be made a ground for the enforcement of that measure in the first instance. The counsel seemed displeased with Mr Middleton for the answer, and therefore repeated the question. The witness, however, did not really fall into their humour ; for he declared, that he did not recollect a particle of the letter ; and, though memory was un- doubtedly not the forte of Mr Middleton, he was not, perhaps, entirely faulty on this occasion, as the letter was, certainly, of a later fabrication, and, perhaps, not from his hand. This letter, however, was also in direct conti'adiction to every one of the defences set up by Mr Hastings. Another * Mr Middleton' s successor. RICHARD liRINSLEY 9HERIDAX. 153 public letter, which had been equally dwelt on, spoke of the ' determination of the Nabob ' to resume the jaghires. It had appeared in e\ddence, that the Nabob could, by no means, be compelled to yield to their measures ; that it was not until Mr Middleton had actually issued his own perwannas for the collection of the rents, that the Nabob, rather than be brought to the utmost state of degradation, agreed to let the measure be brought forward as his own act ! The resistance of the Begums to that measure, was noticed in the same letter, as an instance of female levity, as if their defence of the property assigned for their subsistence, was to be made a reproach ; or, that they de- served a reproof for female lightness, by entertaining a feminine objection to their being starved ! " This resistance to the measure, which was expected, and the consoling slaughter on which Mr Hastings relied, were looked to in all those letters as a justification of the measure itself. There was not the smallest mention of the anterior rebellion, which, by prudent afterthought, had been so greatly magnified. There was not a syllable of those dangerous machinations which were to have dethroned the Nabob ; of those sanguinary artifices by which the English were to have bqen extirpated. Not a particle concerning those practices was mentioned in any of Middleton' s letters to Hastings, or in the still more confidential communication which he maintained with Sir Elijah Impey ; though, after the latter, his letters were continually posting, even when the chief justice was travelling round the country in search of affida- vits. When, on the 28th of November, he was busied at Lucknow on that honourable business, and when, three days after he was found at Chunar, at the distance of two hundred miles, prompting his instruments, and, like Hamlet's ghost, exclaiming, ' Swear ! ' — his progress on that occasion was so whimsicall)'" sudden, when contrasted with the gravity of his employer, that an observer would be tempted to quote again from the same scene,* ' Ha ! old Truepenny, canst thou mole so fast i' the ground ? ' Here, however, the comparison ceased ; for when Sir Elijah made his visit to Lucknow, ' to whet the almost blunted purpose ' of the Nabob, his language was wholly difierent from that of the poet : it would have been much against his pur- pose to have said, " * Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy mother aught ! ' " On the subject of those affidavits, he would only make another single ob- servation. Sir Elijah Impey had denied all acquaintance with their contents, though he had been actually accompanied to Buxar by Major Davy, who there translated them from the Persian, for the use of Mr Hastings !f There was amongst them an affidavit, taken in English, from a native at Buxar, * Act i., sc. 5. The line in Shakspere is, " Well said, old Mole ! canst work i' the earth so fast ? " t Major Davy had also, by an aifidavit sworn before Sir Elijah Impey himself tes- tified to the correctness of his translation. 154 THE MODERN ORATOK. but which was first explained to the deponent by Major Davy, in the pre- sence of Sir Elijah Impey. How far, therefore, the assertion of the chief justice was plausible, and how far this fact was consistent with that asser- tion, he should leave it to their lordships to determine. " It w^as in some degree observable, that not one of the private letters of Mr Hastings had been produced at any time. Even Middleton, when all confidence was broken between them by the production of his private corre- spondence at Calcutta, either feeling for his own safety, or sunk under the fascinating influence of his master, did not dare attempt a retaliation ! The letters of Middleton, however, were sufiicient to prove the situation of the Nabob, when pressed to the measure of resuming the jaghires, in which he had been represented as acting wholly from himself. He was there described as lost in sullen melancholy, with feelings agitated beyond expression, and with every mark of agonised sensibility. To such a degree was this apparent, that even Middleton was moved to interfere for a temporary respite, in which he might be more reconciled to the measure. ' I am fully of opinion,' said he, ' that the despair of the Nabob must impel him to violence ; I know also that the violence must be fatal to himself; but yet I think, that with his present feelings he will disregard all consequences.' Mr Johnson, also, the assistant-resident, wrote at the same time to Mr Hastings, to aver to him that the measure was dangerous, that it would require a total reform of the collection, which could not be made mthout a campaign ! This was British justice ! this was British humanity ! Mr Hastings ensures to the allies of the Company, in the strongest terms, their prosperity and his protection ; the former he secures by sending an army to plunder them of their wealth, and to desolate their soil ! His protection is fraught with a similar security, like that of a vulture to a lamb ; grappling in its vitals ! thirsting for its blood ! scaring ofi" each petty kite that hovers round ; and then, with an in- sulting perversion of terms, calling sacrifice protection ! — an object for which history seeks for any similarity in vain. The deep-searching annals of Tacitus — the luminous philosophy of Gibbon — all the records of man's transgressing, from original sin to the present period, d\vindle into compa- rative insignificance of enormity, both in aggravation of vile principles, and extent of their consequential ruin ! The victims of this oppression were confessedly destitute of all power to resist their oppressors ; but that de- bility, which from other bosoms would have claimed some compassion, with respect to the mode of sufiering, here excited but the ingenuity of torture ! Even when every feeling of the Nabob was subdued, nature made a lingering, feeble stand mthin his bosom ; but, even then, that cold unfeeling spirit of magnanimity, with whom his doom was fixed, returned mth double acrimony to its purpose, and compelled him to inflict on a parent that destruction of which he was himself reserved but to be the last victim ! " Yet, when cruelty seemed to have reached its bounds, and guilt to have ascended to its climax, there was something in the character of Mr Hastings which seemed to transcend the latter, and overleap the former ; and of this aiCHASB SEINSLEY SHERIDAN. 155 kind was the letter to the Nabob which was despatched on this occasion. To rebuke Mr Middleton for his moderation, as was instantly done, was easily performed through the medium of a public and a private letter. But to write to the Nabob in such a mamier that the command might be con- veyed, and yet the letter afterwards shown to the world, was a task of more difficulty, but which it appeared, by the event, was admirably suited to the genius of Mr Hastings. His letter was dated the 15th of February, 1782, though the jaghires had been then actually seized, and it was in proof that it had been sent at a much earlier period. He there assured the Nabob of his coincidence -with his wishes respecting the resumption of the jaghires : he declares, that if he found any difficulty in the measure, he, Mr Hastings, would go to his assistance in person, and lend his aid to punish those who opposed it ; ' for that nothing could be more ardent than his friendship, or more eager than his zeal for his welfare.' The most desperate intention was clothed in the mildest language. But the Nabob knew, by sad experience, the character with whom he had to deal, and therefore was not to be de- ceived ; he saw the dagger glistening in the hand which was treacherously extended, as if to his assistance, and from that moment the last faint ray of nature expired in his bosom. Mr Middleton, from that time, extended his iron sceptre mthout resistance ; the jaghires were seized — every measure was carried — and the Nabob, with his feelings lacerated and his dignity de- graded, was no longer considered as an object of regard. Though these were circumstances exasperating to the human heart, which felt the smallest remains of sensibility, yet it was necessary, in idea, to review the whole from the time that this treachery was first conceived, to that when, by a series of artifices the most execrable, it was brought to a completion. Mr Hastings would there be seen standing aloof indeed, but not inactive in the war ! He would be discovered in reviewing his agents, rebuking at one time the pale conscience of Mr Middleton, and, at another, relying on the stouter villany of Hyder Beg Khan.* With all the calmness of veteran delinquency, his eye ranged through the busy prospect, piercing through the darkness of subordinate guilt, and arranging with congenial adroitness the tools of his crimes, and the instruments of his cruelty. " The feelings of the several parties at the time would be most properly judged of by their respective correspondence. ^Vlien the Bow Begum, de- spairing of redress from the Nabob, addressed herself to Mr Middleton, and reminded him of the guarantee which he had signed, she was instantly pro- mised that the amount of her jaghire should be made good ; though Mr Middleton said he could not interfere with the sovereign decision of the Nabob respecting the lands. The deluded and unfortunate woman ' thanked God that Mr Middleton was at hand for her relief,' at the very instant when he was directing every effort to her destruction ; when he had actually \sTit- ten the orders which were to take the collection out of the hands of her * The minister of the Nabob, but under the control of Mi Hastings. 156 THE MODERN OBATOR. agents ! Even when the Begum was undeceived, — when she found that British faith was no protection, — when she found that she should leave the country, and prayed to the God of nations not to grant his peace to those who remained behind, still there was no charge of rebellion, — no recrimination made to all her reproaches for the broken faith of the English ; nay, when stung to madness, she asked ' how long would be their reign ?' No men- tion of her disaffection was brought forward ; the stress was therefore idle, which the counsel for the prisoner strove to lay on these expressions of an injured and enraged woman. When at last irritated beyond bearing, she denounced infamy on the heads of her oppressors, who was there who would not say that she spoke in a prophetic spirit, and that what she had then pre- dicted, had not, even to its last letter, been accomplished ! But did Mr Mid- dleton, even to this violence, retort any particle of accusation ? No ; he sent 0, jocose reply stating, that he had received such a letter under her seal, but that, from its contents, he could not suspect it to come from her ; and hoping, therefore, that she might detect \h.e forgery ! Thus did he add to foul inju- ries the vile aggravation of a brutal jest ; like the tiger that prowls over the scene where his ravages were committed, he showed the savageness of his nature by grinning over his prey, and fawning over the last agonies of his unfortunate victim. " Those letters were then enclosed to the Nabob, who, no more than the rest, made any attempt to justify himself by imputing criminality to the Begums. He merely sighed a hope that his conduct to his parents had drawn no shame upon his head ; and declared his intention to punish — not any disaffection in the Begum — ^but some officious servants who had dared to foment the mis- understanding between them and the Nabob. A letter was finally sent to Mr Hastings, about six days before the seizure of the treasure from the Begums, declaring their innocence, and referring the Governor-general to Captain Gordon, whose life they had protected, and whose safety should have been their justification. That inquiry was never made ; it was looked on as unnecessary ; because the conviction of their innocence was too deeply impressed. The counsel, in recommending attention to the public in preference to the private letters, had remarked, in particular, that one letter should not be taken as evidence, because it was manifestly and abstractedly private, as it contained in one part the anxieties of Mr Middleton for the illness of his son. This was a singular argument indeed; and the circumstance, in his mind, merited strict observation, though not in the view in which it was placed by the counsel. It went to show that some, at least, of those con- cerned in these transactions, felt the force of those ties which their efforts were directed to tear asunder ; that those who could ridicule the respective attachment of a mother and a son ; who would prohibit the reverence of the son to the mother who had given him life ; who could deny to maternal debility the protection which filial tenderness should afford — were yet sen- sible of the straining of those chords by which they v/ere connected. There "tlI(mAE,D BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 157 was sometliing connected with tliis transaction so wretchedly horrible, and so vilely loathsome, as to excite the most contemptible disgust. When I see (said Mr Sheridan) in many of these letters the infirmities of age made a subject of mockery and ridicule ; when I see the feelings of a son treated by Mr Middle- ton as puerile and contemptible ; when I see an order given from Mr Hastings to harden that son's heart, and to choke the struggles of nature in his bosom ; when I see them pointing to the son's name and to his standard, while march- ing to oppress the mother, as to a banner that gives dignity, that gives a holy sanction and a reverence to their enterprise ; when I see and hear these things done ; when I hear them brought into three deliberate defences set up against the charges of the Commons, my lords, I own I grow puzzled and confounded, and almost begin to doubt whether, where such a defence can be oifered, it may not be tolerated. And yet, my lords, how can I support the claim of filial love by argument ? What can I say on such a subject? What can I do, but i-epeat the ready truths which, with the quick impulse of the mind, must spring to the lips of every man on such a theme } Filial piety ! — it is the primal bond of society ; it is that instinctive principle, which, panting for its proper good, soothes, unbidden, each sense and sensi- bility of man ! It now quivers on every lip ! — it now beams from every eye ! — it is an emanation of that gratitude which, softening under the sense of recollected good, is eager to own the vast countless debt it ne'er, alas 1 can pay, for so many long years of unceasing solicitudes, honourable self- denials, life-preserving cares i — it is that part of our practice where duty drops its awe — ■ where reverence refines into love I It asks no aid of memory ! — it needs not the deductions of reason ! — pre-existing, paramount over all, whether law, or human rule, few arguments can increase and none can diminish it I — it is the sacrament of our nature — not only the duty, but the indulgence of man — it is his first great privilege — it is amongst his last most endearing delights ! — it causes the bosom to glow with reverberated love ! — it requites the visitations of nature, and returns the blessings that have been received! — it fires emotion into vital principle! — it renders habitua- ted instinct into a master-passion — sways all the sweetest -energies of man — hangs over each vicissitude of all that must pass away — aids the melancholy virtues in their last sad tasks of life, to cheer the languors of decrepitude and age — explores the thought — elucidates the aching eye — and breathes sweet consolation even in the awful moment of dissolution ! If these are the general sentiments of man, what must be their depravity — what must be their degeneracy — who can blot out and erase from the bosom the virtue that is most deeply rooted in the human heart, and twined within the chords of life itself? Aliens frona nature, apostates from humanity! And yet, if there be a crime more fell, more foul — if there be anything worse than a wilful persecutor of his mother, it is that of a deliberate instigator and abettor to the deed : this it is that shocks, disgusts, and appals the mind more than the other ; to view, not a wilful parricide, but a parricide by compulsion — a miserable . wretch, not actuated by the stubborn eA'ils of his own worthless M 158 THE MODERK OUATOE. heart, not driven by the fury of his own distracted brain, but lending his sacrilegious hand, without any malice of his own, to answer the abandoned purposes of the human fiends that have subdued his will ! To condemn crimes like these, we need not talk of laws, or of human rules ; their foul- ness, their deformity, does not depend on local constitutions, on human institutes, or religious creeds ; they are crimes, and the persons who perpe- trate them are monsters, who violate the primitive condition on which the earth was given to man ; they are guilty by the general verdict of human kind. " The Jaghires being seized (Mr Sheridan proceeded to observe), the Be- gums were left without the smallest share of that pecuniary compensation promised by Mr Middleton ; and as, when tyranny and injustice take the field, they are always attended by their camp-followers, paltry, pilfering, and petty insult — so, in this instance, the goods taken from them were sold at a mock sale at inferior value. Even gold and jewels, to use the language of the Begums, instantly lost their value when it was known that they came from them! Their ministers were therefore imprisoned to extort the defi- ciency which this fraud had occasioned ; and those mean arts were employed to justify a continuance of cruelty. Yet, these again were little to the frauds of Mr Hastings. After extorting upwards of £600,000, he forbade Mr Mid- dleton to come to a conclusive settlement. He knew that the treasons of our allies in India had their origin solely in the wants of the Company. He could not, therefore, say that the Begums were entirely innocent, until he had con- sulted the general record of crimes — the cash account at Calcutta! And this prudence of Mr Hastings was fully justified by the event ; for there was actually found a balance of twenty-six lacks more against the Begums, which £260,000 worth of treason had never been dreamed of before. ' Talk not to us,' said the Governor -general, ' of their guilt or innocence, but as it suits the Company's credit ! We will not try them by the code of Justinian, nor the institutes of Timur ; we will not judge them either by the British laws, or their local customs ! No ! we will try them by the multiplication table, we will find them guilty by the rule of three, and we will condemn them according to the sapient and profound institutes of Cocker's Arithmetic' " Proceeding next to state the distresses of the Begums in the Zenana, and of the women in the Khord Mahal, Mr Sheridan stated that some obser- vation was due to the remark made by Mr Hastings in his defence, where he declared ' that whatever were the distresses there, and whoever was the agent, the measure was, in his opinion, reconcileable to justice, honour, and sound policy.' Major Scott, the incomparable agent of Mr Hastings, had declared this passage to have been written by Mr Hastings with his own hand. Mr Middleton, it appeared, had also avowed his share in those humane transactions, and blushingly retired. Mr Hastings then cheered his drooping spirits. ' Whatever part of the load,' said he, ' yours cannot bear, my unburdened character shall assume. I will crown your labours with my irresistible approbation. Thus, twin-warriors, we shall go forth ! you find BICHARD BEINSLEY SHERIDAN. 159 memory, and I'll find character — and assault, repulse, and contumely shall all be set at defiance !' " If I could not prove (continued Mr Sheridan) that those acts of Mr Mid- dleton were in reality the acts of Mr Hastings, I should not trouble your lordships by combating these assertions ; but as that part of his criminality can be incontestibly ascertained, I shall unequivocally appeal to the assembled legislators of this realm, and call on them to say, whether those acts were justifiable on the score of policy, I shall appeal to all the august presidents in the courts of British jurisprudence, and to all the learned ornaments of the profession, to decide whether these actions were reconcileable to justice. I shall appeal to a reverend assemblage of prelates, feeling for the general interests of humanity, and for the honour of the religion to which they belong — let them determine in their own minds, whether those acts of Mr Hastings and Mr Middleton were such as a Christian ought to perform, or_^ a man to avow ! " He next detailed the circumstances of the imprisonment of Bahr Ally Khan and Jewar Ally Khan, the ministers of the Nabob, on the grounds above stated ; "was with them confined that arch-rebel, Sumpshire Khan,-^ by whom every act of hostility that had taken place against the English was stated to have been committed. No inquiry, however, was made concerning his treason, though many had been held respecting the treasure of the others. He was not so far noticed as to be deprived of his food ;f nor was he even complimented with fetters ; and yet, when he is on a future day to be in- formed of the mischiefs he was now stated to have done, he must think that, on being forgotten, he had a very providential escape ! The others were, on the contrary, taken from their milder prison at Fyzabad ; and, Avhen threats could efiect nothing, transferred by the meek humanity of Mr Middleton to the fortress of Chunargur. There, where the British flag was flying, they were doomed to deeper dungeons, heavier chains, and severer punishments ; there, where that flag was flying, which was wont to cheer the depressed, and to elate the subdued heart of misery, these venerable but unfortunate men were fated to encounter something lower than perdition, and something blacker than despair ! It appeared from the evidence of Mr Holt and others, that they were both cruelly flogged, though one was about seventy years of age, to extort a confession of the buried wealth of the Begums! Being charged with disafiection, they proclaimed their innocence. ' Tell us where * The Fowzdar, or officer in the service of the Begums at Saunda, on the occasion of Captain Gordon and his detachment arriving there. — See p. 1 40. t The following note from Mr Middleton to Lieutenant Francis Eutledge, dated January 20th, 1782, had been read in evidence: — ** Sir, * * When this note is delivered to you by Hoolas Roy, I have to desire that you order the two prisoners to be put in irons^ keeping tJiem from all food, §c., agreeably to my instructions of yesterday, (Signed) ^'Nath. Middleton^" M 2 I6"0 THE MODEEN OUATOK. are the remaining treasures (was the reply) — -it is only treachery to your immediate sovereigns — and you will then be fit associates for the repre- sentatives of British faith and British justice in India !' O Faith ! O Justice ! (exclaimed Mr Sheridan), I conjure you, by your sacred names, to depart for a moment from this place, though it be your peculiar residence; nor hear your names profaned by such a sacrilegious combination as that which I am now compelled to repeat ! — where all the fair forms of nature and art, truth and jDcace, policy and honour, shrunk back aghast from the delete- rious shade ; where all existences, nefarious and vile, had sway ; where, amidst the black agents on one side, and Middle ton with Impey on the other, the toughest head, the most unfeeling heart — the great figure of the piece, characteristic in his place, stood aloof and independent from the puny pro- fligacy in his train I — but far from idle and inactive, turning a malignant eye on all mischief that awaited him ! — the multiplied apparatus of temporising expedients, and intimidating instruments ! now cringing on his prey and fawning on his vengeance ! now quickening the limpid pace of craft, and forcing every stand that retiring nature can make in the heart I violating the attachments and the decorums of life ! sacrificing every emotion of tenderness and honour ! and flagitiously levelling all the distinctions of national charac- teristics ! with a long catalogue of crimes and aggravations beyond the reach of thought for human malignity to perpetrate, or human vengeance to punish! " It might have been hoped, for the honour of the human heart, that the Begums had been themselves exempted from a share in these sufierings ; and that they had been wounded only through the sides of their ministers. The reverse of this, however, was the fact. Their palace was surrounded by a guard, which was withdrawn by Major Gilpin, to avoid the growing resent- ments of the people, and replaced by Mr Middleton, through his fears from that 'dreadful responsibility' which was imposed on him by Mr Hastings. The women of the Khord Mahal, who had not been involved in the Begums' supposed crimes ; who had raised no sub-rebellion of their own ; and who, it had been proved, lived in a distinct dwelling, were causelessly involved in the same punishment ; their residence surrounded with guards, they were driven to despair by famine, and, when they poured forth in sad procession, were driven back by the soldiery, and beaten with bludgeons to the scene of madness which they had quitted. These were acts (Mr Sheridan observed) which, when told, need no comment ; he should not ofier a single syllable to awaken their lordships' feelings ; but leave it to the facts which had been proved, to make their own impressions. " The argument now reverted solely to this point, whether Mr Hastings was to be answerable for the crimes committed by his agent? It had been fully proved that Mr Middleton had signed the treaty with the superior Be- gum in October, 1778. He had acknowledged signing some others of other dates, but could not recollect his authority. These treaties had been fully recognised by Mr Hastings, as was fully proved by the evidence of Mr Pur- ling, in the year 1780. In that of October, 1778, the Jaghire was secured KICHAHD BKIJs'SLEY SHERIDAN. 161 ^vkich was allotted for the support of the women in the Khord Mahal : on the first idea of resuming these Jaghires a provision should have been secured to those unfortunate women ; and in this respect Mr Hastings was clearly guilty of a crime, by his omission of making such provision. But still he pleaded, that he was not accountable for the cruelties which had been exer- cised. This was the plea w^hich Tyranny, aided by its prime minister Treach- ery, was always sure to set up. Mr Middleton had attempted to strengthen this plea by endeavouring to claim the whole infamy of those transactions, and to monopolise the guilt ! He dared even to aver that he had been con- demned by Mr Hastings for the ignominious part he had acted : he dared to avow this, because Mr Hastings was on his trial, and he thought ,he should never be tried ; but in the face of the court, and before he left the bar, he was compelled to confess that it was for the lenience, not the severity, of his proceedings, that he had been reproved by Mr Hastings. " It would not, he trusted, be argued, that because Mr Hastings had not marked every passing shade of guilt, and because he had only given the bold outline of cruelty, that he "was therefore to be acquitted. It was laid down by the law of England — that law which was the perfection of reason — that a person ordering an act to be done by his agent, was answerable for that act with all its consequences. Middleton had been appointed, in 1777, the avowed and private agent — the second-self of Mr Hastings. The Governor- general had ordered the measure :'-'' Middleton declared that it could not have been effected by milder means. Even if he never saw, nor heard after- wards of the consequences of the measure, he was ansvv^erable for every pang that w^as inflicted, and for all the blood that w^as shed. But he had heard, and that instantly, of the w^hole. He had written to arraign Middleton of for- bearange and of neglect ! He commanded them to work upon their hopes and fears, and to leave no means untried, until — to speak their own language, but w^hich would be better suited to the banditti of a cavern — ' they obtained possession of the secret hoards of the old ladies.' He would not allow^ even of a delay of two days to smooth the compelled approaches of a son to his mother, on such an occasion ! His orders w^ere peremptory ; and if a massacre did not take place, it ^vas the merit of accident, and not of Mr Hastings. After this, would it be said that the prisoner was ignorant of the acts, or not culpable for their consequences ? It was true, he had not enjoined in so many words the guards, the famine, and the bludgeons ; he had not weighed the fetters, nor numbered the lashes to be inflicted on his victims. But yet he was equally guilty, as if he had borne an active and personal share in each transaction. It was as if he had commanded that the heart should be torn from the bosom, and yet had enjoined that no blood should follow. He was in the same degree accountable to the law, to his country, to his conscience, and to his God ! * The verbatim orders to Jiliddleton by Mr Hastings were : *' You yourself must be personally present, you must not allow any negotiation or forbearance ; but must prose- cute both services (namely, the seizure of the treasures and the resumption of the Jaghires), until the Begums are at the entire mercy of the Nabob." 162 ITHE MODEKN OKATOE. " Mr Hastings had endeavoared also to ged rid of a part of his guilt, by observing that he was but one of the Supreme Council, and that all the rest had sanctioned those transactions with their approbation. If Mr Hastings could prove, however, that others participated in the guilt, it would not tend to diminish his own criminality. But the fact was, that the Council had in nothing erred so much as in a criminal credulity given to the declarations of the Governor-general. They knew not a word of those transactions until they were finally concluded. It was not until the January following that they saw the mass of falsehood which had been published under the title of * Mr Hastings's Narrative.' They had been then unaccountably duped into the suffering a letter to pass, dated the 29th of November, intended to deceive the Directors into a belief that they had received intelligence at that time, which was not the fact. These observations (Mr Sheridan said) were not meant to cast any obloquy on the Council ; they had undoubtedly been deceived, and the deceit practised on them by making them sign the Narra- tive, was of itself a strong accusation of Mr Hastings, and a decided proof of his own consciousness of guilt. When tired of corporeal infliction, his tyranny was gratified by insulting the understanding. Other tyrants, though born to greatness, such as a Nero, or a Caligula, might have been roused, it had been supposed, by reflection, and awakened into contrition ; but here was an instance which spurned at theory and bafifled supposition ; a man born to a state at least of equality, inured to calculation, and brought up in habits of reflection ; and yet proving in the end that monster in nature, a deliberate and reasoning tyrant. " The Board of Directors received those advices which Mr Hastings thought proper to transmit; but, though unfurnished with any other materials to form their judgments, they expressed very strongly their doubts, and as properly ordered an inquiry into the circumstances of the alleged disaffection of the Begums ; pronouncing it, at the same time, a debt which was due to the honour and justice of the British nation. This inquiry, how- ever, on the directions reaching India, Mr Hastings thought it absolutely necessary to elude. He stated to the Council, it being merely stated that ' if on inquiry certain facts appeared,' no inquiry was thereby directly en- joined! 'It would revive (said he) those animosities that subsisted between the Begums and the vizier, which had then subsided. If the former were inclined to appeal to a foreign jurisdiction, they were the best judges of their own feeling, and should be left to make their own complaint.' All this, however, was nothing to the magnificent paragraph which concluded this minute, and to which Mr Sheridan also requested the attention of the court. ' Beside, (said Mr Hastings) I hope it will not be a departure from official language to say, that the majesty of justice ought not to be ap- proached without solicitation; she ought not to descend to inflame or provoke, but to withhold her judgment until she is called on to determine !' What is still more astonishing is, that Sir John Macpherson (who, though a gentleman of sense and honour, yet rather oriental in his imagination, and niCHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. ,163 not learned in the sublime and beautiful, formed the immortal leader of this prosecution, and who had before opposed Mr Hastings) was caught by this bold bombastic quibble, and joined in the same words, ' that the majesty of justice ought not to be approached without solicitation.' " '^ut justice is not this halt and miserable object (continued Mr Sheridan) ; it is not the ineffective bauble of an Indian pagod ; it is not the portentous phantom of despair ; it is not like any fabled monster, formed in the eclipse of reason, and found in some unhallowed grove of superstitious darkness and political dismay ! No, my lords ! " In the happy reverse of all these, I turn from this disgusting caricature to the real image ! Justice I have now before me, august and pure — the abstract idea of all that would be perfect in the spirits and the aspirings of men ; where the mind rises, where the heart expands ; where the counte- nance is ever placid and benign ; where her favourite attitude is to stoop to the unfortunate — to hear their cry, and to help them — to rescue and relieve, to succour and save : majestic from its mercy ; venerable from its utility ; uplifted, without pride ; firm, without obduracy ; beneficent in each prefer- ence ; lovely, though in her frown ! " On that justice I rely ; deliberate and sure, abstracted from all party pur- pose and political speculation ; not in words, but in facts ! You, my lords, who hear me, I conjure by those rights it is your best privilege to preserve ; by that fame it is your best pleasure to inherit ; by all those feelings which refer to the first term in the series of existence, the original compact of our nature, our controlling rank in the creation. This is the call on all to ad- minister to truth and equity, as they would satisfy the laws and satisfy them- selves, with the most exalted bliss possible, or conceivable for our nature ; the self-approving consciousness of virtue, when the condemnation we look for will be one of the most ample mercies accomplished for mankind since the creation of the world ! " My lords, I have done." On the conclusion of Mr Sheridan's speech, the court adjourned to the next session of Parliament. Speech in reply to Lord Mornington, on moving the address to the King, after the speech from the throne, on the opening of Parliament, 21st Jan- uary, 1794, in which his Majesty urged upon Parliament the necessity of vigorously prosecuting the war against France, which had been declared shortly after the execution of Louis XVI. " Mr Sheridan began with observing, that the noble lord who had just sat down, had divided a speech, more remarkable for its ability than its brevity, into two parts : the first, a detail of all the atrocities that had been committed during the whole course of the revolution in France ; the second, 164 THE MODERN ORATOR. a kind of posthumous arraignment of the offences of Brissot '^' and his asso- ciates. As he did not perceive any noble or learned member inclined to rise on behalf of the accused, so he conceived the pleadings on the part of the prosecution to be closed ; and, as the Speaker was evidently not proceeding to sum up the evidence, he hoped he might be permitted to recall the atten- tion of the House to the real object of that day's consideration. He admired the emphasis of the noble lord in reading his voluminous extracts from his various French documents ; he admired, too, the ingenuity he had displayed in his observations upon those extracts ; but he could not help further ex- pressing his admiration, that the noble lord should have thought proper to have taken up so many hours in quoting passages in which not one word in ten was to the purpose ; and often, where they did apply to the question, they directly overset the principles they were brought forward to support. " The noble lord's purpose was to prove that France had begun the "war with Great Britain ; this, he appeared to think, he had established the moment he had shown that Brissot and others had promulgated in print a great many foolish and a great many wicked general principles, mischievous to all established governments ; and this, indeed, had been the only way in w^iich any one had ever endeavoured to fix the act of hostile aggression upon France. No part of the King's speech, it seems, more fully met the noble lord's approbation than that in which he had warned us to keep in sight the real grounds and origin of the present war.f For his part, he knew not how * The leader of the Girondists, the middle party in the revolution between the Con- stitutionalists and the Jacobins. He was executed during the reign of terror, together with twenty more of his party — 1793. t The conduct of ministers, previous to the declaration of war, had been throughout most guarded and pacific towards France ; but the aggressions of the latter country, under the direction of its revolutionary leaders, were such that war at length became inevitable on the part of this country. The decree of the National Convention, in the name of the French nation, on the 19th November, 1792, "that they would grant fra- ternity to all those people who wished to procure liberty," might, of itself, have been construed into a declaration of war against all Europe. But, even on the incorporation of Savoy v/ith France, the declaration of the independence of Belgium, and the opening of the Scheldt, although preparations v^ere made to support her allies, England care- fully maintained a strict neutrality. Conferences were held betvi^een the representatives of the two countries, with a view to secure peace ; but, as tlie acts of the French go- vernment were not reconcileable with their professions, warlike preparations still con- tinued ; and, as a proof of the real feelings of the French government towards this country, it may be mentioned, that, at the very time the French minister expressed a desire for peace, and respect for the independence of England, a circular letter was sent by Monge, the Minister of Marine, to all the French sea-ports, addressed to " all friends of liberty," in which occurred the following passage (quoted, amongst others, by Mr Pitt, in the House of Commons) :— " The King and his Parliament mean to make war against us : will the English republicans suffer it ? Already these freemen show their discontent, and the repugnance which they have to bear arms against their brothers the French. "Well, we will fly to their assistance ; we will make a descent on that island ; we will hurl thither 50,000 caps of liberty ; we will plant there KICIIAED BRINSLEY SHEKIDAN. 165 to obey tlie call, for he knew not how to keep in sight that which had never yet been in his view. The real grounds of the war had never yet been ex- plained, either to that House or to the nation, but shifting clouds had veiled them from the public eye. The noble lord, however, appears to have under- stood his Majesty's allusion ; he recollects the real grounds upon which the war was, in point of fact, undertaken ; that is, he knows the means by which we had been brought into this war : we had been brought into it by repeated declamations on all that the frenzy, folly, and rashness of individuals in France had either said or written, by which the passions of this country had been roused, or their fears excited, in order to second the views of those who had determined to plunge us into it at all events ; therefore the noble lord, consistently enough, imagined that a repetition of the same means which induced us to commence hostilities, was the best method of persuading us to continue them. Hence all this passionate declamation, hence this labo- rious farrago of extracts and anecdotes-— of extracts from a book which the noble lord allowed every one to have read ; and anecdotes, of which no man who saw the newspapers could be ignorant. But what was the sum of all that he had told the House ? that great and dreadful enormities, at which the heart shuddered, and which not merely wounded every feeling of hu- manity, but disgusted and sickened the soul, had been committed. All this was most true ; but what did all this prove ? What, but that eternal and unalterable truth which had always presented itself to his mind, in whatever way he had viewed the subject, namely, that a long-established despotism so far degraded and debased human nature, as to render its subjects, on the first recovery of their rights, unfit for the exercise of them ; but never had he, or would he, meet but with reprobation, that mode of argument which went, in fact, to establish, as an inference from this truth, that those who had been long slaves ought, therefore, to remain so for ever ! No ; the lesson ought to be, he would again repeat, a tenfold horror of that de- spotic form of government which had so profaned and changed the nature of civilised man, and a still more jealous apprehension of any system tending to withhold the rights and liberties of our fellow-creatures. Such a form of government might be considered as twice cursed ; while it existed, it was solely responsible for the miseries and calamities of its subjects ; and, should a day of retribution come, and the tyranny be destroyed, it was equally to be charged with all the enormities Vv'hich the folly or frenzy of those who over-- turned it should commit. " But the madness of the French people was not confined to their pro- ceedings within their own country ; we, and all the powers of Europe, had the sacred tree, and stretch, out our arms to our brother republicans ; the tyranny of their government sliall soon be destroyed." The precautions adopted by the EngUsh government were fully justified by the event ; for, within a few days after the execution of Louis XVI., the National Con- vention, finding their plans ripe for execution, threw off the mask, and formally de- clared war against the King of Great Britain, on 1st February, 1793. 166 THE MODERN OEATOE. to dread it. True ; but was this also to be accounted for ? Wild and un- settled as their state of mind necessarily was upon the events which had thrown such power so suddenly into their hands, the surrounding states had goaded them into a still more savage state of madness, fury, and desperation. We had unsettled their reason and then reviled their insanity ; we drove them to the extremities that produced the evils we arraigned ; we baited them like wild beasts, until at length we made them so. The conspiracy of Pilnitz,"^ and the brutal threats of the royal abettors of that plot, against the rights of nations and of men, had, in truth, to answer for all the additional misery, horrors, and iniquity, which had since disgraced and incensed hu- manity. Such has been your conduct towards France, that you have created the passions which you persecute. You mark a nation to be cut off from the world ; you covenant for their extermination ; you swear to hunt them in their inmost recesses ; you load them with every species of execration ; and you now come forth, with whining declamations, on the horror of their turning upon you with the fury which you inspired. " Sir, I should think it sufficient to answer thus generally to all the pathetic appeals to the passions, so constantly resorted to on this subject ; but the noble lord, I am ready to admit, has, on the present occasion, endea- voured to ground more of argument, in one point of view, on the inflammatory passages and anecdotes he has quoted, than has been usual with those who have most practised this mode of treating the subject. I cannot, however, agree with the noble lord, that he has omitted any advantage to his case for the sake of saving our time. In going over the pamphlet of Brissot, he tells us, rather whimsically, that he passes over this passage, and runs over that, when all the while he specifically details what he declares he will scarcely touch upon. In fact, he has passed over nothing but the question ; and now, mark the purpose of all this ; observe the important conclusion for which, he says himself, he has dwelt so long on these facts, and I admit it to be a great and a serious one. Laying aside all question of aggression on the part of France, or of necessity, on our part, to enter into the war — all this is done, it seems, to show the House that the system now adopted by the government of that country, is so abhorrent to the feelings of human nature — so contrary to the instinctive love of harmony and of social order implanted * "What Sheridan here calls the " conspiracy," was the celebrated convention of Pilnitz, between the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, in 1791 ; the object of which was declared to be, to check the spread of revolutionary principles, and *• to employ their forces jointly, in the most efficacious manner, to place the King of Prance in a situation to secure, in its most perfect liberty, the basis of a monarchical govern- ment, equally agreeable to the right of sovereigns and the prosperity of the French nation." The language employed by Sheridan, clearly shows him to have been unfairly pre- judiced by party feeling. The interference of the foreign powers, though in the event it turned out unfortunate, was undeserving of such harsh reproach, caused, as it was^ by reasonable fears of the spread of principles destructive of all government and reli' gion, and by sympathy for the degraded position of the French king. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 167 In the heart of man — so ruinous to external force, as well as to internal peace, prosperity, and happiness, that it cannot stand. This is the conclusion which the noble lord wishes to draw from all the facts and opinions that he has detailed. I close with him. I will admit his facts. I will admit that the system now prevalent in France is all that he has called it : and what ought to be our conclusion with respect to such a government ? What, but that we ought to leave to the natural workings of the discords which it is calculated to engender, the task of its overthrow ; that if it will not stand of itself, it is not necessary for us to attack it. Without disputing any of his premises, for the present, I will grant the noble lord, not only his principle, but the foundation upon Avhich he builds it. I agree with him, that it is contrary to the eternal and unalterable laws of nature, and to the decrees of the Maker of man and of nations, that a government founded on and main- tained by injustice, rapine, murder, and atheism, can have a fixed endurance or a permanent success ; that there are, self-sown in its own bosom, the seeds of its own inevitable dissolution. But if so, whence is our mission to become the destroying angel to guide and hasten the anger of the Deity ? Who calls on us to offer, "with more than mortal arrogance, the alliance of a mortal arm to the Omnipotent ? or to snatch the uplifted thunder from his hand, and point our erring aim at the devoted fabric w^hich his original will has fated to fall and crumble in that ruin which it is not in the means of man to accelerate or prevent ? I accede to him the piety of his principle ; let him accede to me the justice of my conclusion ; or let him attend to experience, if not to reason; and must he not admit, that hitherto all the attempts of his apparently powerful, but certainly presumptuous, crusade of vengeance, have appeared unfavoured by fortune and by Providence ; that they have hitherto had no other effect than to strengthen the powers — to whet the rapacity — to harden the heart — to inflame the fury, and to augment the crimes of that government, and that people, whom we have rashly sworn to subdue, to chastise, and to reform ? " The noble lord appears to have been aware that the number of passages he has quoted from Brissofs book, and other publications, must be considered as having no other object than to excite the mirth or inflame the passions of the House, unless he had concluded by drawing some inference from them applicable to the real subject in discussion ; and this, at length, he has con- descended to attempt, by affirming they all tended to prove that France not only must have been the aggressor, and England the attacked party, but that France is still the party desirous of continuing the war. But how have his quotations borne him out ? That Brissot and Robespierre, previous to the experiment on Brabant,* equally wished to propagate principles of re- * At the commencement of the war between France and the allied powers of Aus- tria and Prussia, and immediately after the celebrated declaration of the convention of Pilnitz, Dumouriez, the French minister, taking advantage of the unsettled state of Brabant and Flanders (which, only two years previously, had been in open rebellion 168 ' THE MODERN OBATOli. publicanism in every country in Europe. I will grant to him, if he pleases, the latter endeavoured to eifect it by force in Brabant, while the former wished to accomplish it by reason, and the example of prosperity which he hoped France would afford. But what does all this prove, when the noble lord, in the very same breath, is obliged to confess that a short experience made both parties retract their opinion and practice ; and, so far from boast- ing of having provoked a war with England upon such principles, or for such purposes, the strongest reproach that either faction could throw upon the other was, in mutual accusation, of having been the cause of war with the only power in Europe with whom France was eager to continue at peace? On this head, says the noble lord, ' Robespierre imputes it to Brissot, Brissot retorts it upon Robespierre ; the Jacobins charge it upon the Girondists, the Girondists recriminate upon the Jacobins ; the mountain thunders it upon the valley,^ and the valley re-echoes it back against the mountain ;' all facts, tending to contradict the assertion which the noble lord professed to establish by them, and making still plainer — what, indeed, the whole conduct of France had made sufficiently manifest at the time — namely, that there was no one party, of whatever description, in that country, which was not earnest to avoid a rupture with this,f nor any party which we may not against the Emperor), determined to assume the offensive, and invade Belgium. The spirit of insurrection existing in that country, and the weakness of the Flemish for- tress, were reckoned as almost ensuring success to the enterprise. Owing, however, to the unwise division of the French army (consisting principally of young troops) into four columns, the expedition ended in total failure. But the victory of the Aus- trians did not last long : within a few months Dumouriez again invaded Belgium, and this time with better success. The battle of Jemappe, in which the French were com- pletely successful, decided the event of the campaign, and Dumouriez entered Brussels in triumph on 13th November, 1792, and the whole of Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault, with the other Belgian provinces, were subjected to France. Soon afterwards, several pretended deputies from the Belgian people hastened to Paris, and implored the Con- vention to grant them a share of that liberty and equality which was to confer such inestimable blessings on France. Various decrees were issued in consequence ; and, after the mockery of a public choice, hurried on in several of the towns by hired Jaco- bins and well-paid patriots, the incorporation of the Austrian Netherlands with the French republic was formally pronounced. In the next campaign, Dumouriez was beaten by the Austrians under the Prince of Saxe Coburg, at Neerwinden, and Belgium placed under the government of the Arch- duke Charles, the Emperor's brother. But, in 1795, the republican arms again pre- vailed ; and, by the victory at Fleurns, the French a second time became masters of the country. The representatives of Brussels once more repaired to the National Conven- tion of France, to solicit the re-incorporation of the two countries, which was declared on the 1st October, 1795. * The Jacobins, under Robespierre, occupied the upper benches on the left, while the Girondists occupied the right of the assembly. From this circumstance, the Jacobins acquired the name of " The Mountain," while those members who belonged to neither party filled the middle space, and were designated the *' Plain, or Marsh." t As to the honesty of the professions of peace, see note p. 1 64. The real inten- tions of the French government were also evidenced by the following fact, viz., that mCHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDA]^'. 169 at this moment reasonably believe to be inclined to put an end to hostilities. " The noble lord, however, thinks he has established a great deal, when he has proved that all parties in the Convention were, at the same time, fond of the system of fraternising, at it is called, or of making proselytes to the general principles of republicanism. It may be so ; but it would not have been uncandid in the noble lord to have dated the origin of this system, and to have marked the provocation to it ; nor unfair to have acknowledged that even this principle also has been since completely abandoned by all parties. If he refers to it as a motive for our entertaming a just jealousy of them, he ought to admit their abandonment of it as a ground for our abandoning that jealousy. If their professing such a doctrine was a provocation to hostility on our part, their retracting it is an opening to reconciliation. From the moment they solemnly disavowed all intention or disposition to interfere in the governments of other nations, why should not we have renounced any intention of interfering in theirs ? But instead of this, what has been our conduct ? We continue to remind and reproach the French with their unjust and insolent conduct in respect to Brabant and Genoa ; at the same time we ourselves adopt and act upon the very principles they have abjured, or rather upon principles of still more extravagant insolence and injustice. Who did not reprobate the folly and profligacy of endeavouring to force upon the people of Brabant, French forms, French principles, and French creeds — of dragging them to the tree of liberty, and forcing them to dance round its roots, or to hang upon its branches ! But what has been the conduct of Great Britain, so loud in the condemnation of such tyranny, under the mask of liberty ? What has been her conduct to Genoa — to Switzerland — to Tus- cany — and, as far as she dared, to Denmark and to Sweden? For her inso- lence has been accompanied by its usual attendant, meanness. Her injustice has been without magnanimity. She wished to embark the world in the confederacy against France, the moment she thought proper to join it. That neutrality, of which she herself boasted but a month before, became instantly a heinous crime in any other state of Europe — and how has she proceeded ? With those that are powerful, and whose assistance would have been impor- 011 the 10th January, 1793, Dumouvicz communicated with Moranda, who commanded the French army in the Netherlands, in his absence, and directed him to prepare, with all possible secresy, to invade Holland, then in alliance with this country, within twelve days ; yet, only two days after these orders had been given, the Convention passed a decree, directing the council to inform the Biitish government that it was the intention of the republic to maintain peace and fraternity with England, and to respect her independence, as well as that of her allies, so long as they should not attack France. A further instance, also, of the real designs of the French government against this country and its constitution, appeared by the reply of the President of the Convention to a republican address by a deputation of Englishmen, in which he observed, " that royalty in Europe was in the agonies of death ; that the declaration of right, now placed by the side of thrones, was a fire which in the end would consume them; and he even hoped that the time was not far distant, when France, England, Scotland, and Ireland- all Europe— all mankind— would form but one peaceful family.'' 170 THE MODERN ORATOE. tant, she has only expostulated and prevaricated ; but in how little, as well as odious a light, has she appeared, when threatening and insulting those petty states whose least obedience to her tyrannic mandates might bring great peril on themselves, and whose utmost eiForts could give but little aid to the allies ? The noble lord has, with a just indignation, execrated the cruel and perfidious conduct of the fraternising French to the Brabanters ; but will he defend the fraternity of the just and magnanimous to these Genoese ? Have we not adopted the very words, as well as spirit, of democratic tyranny? We say to the timid, helpless Genoese, 'You have no right to judge for yourselves ; we know what is best for you ; you must and shall make a common cause with us; you must adopt our principles, our views, our hatreds, and our perils ; you must tremble at dangers which do not threaten you, and resent injuries which have never been offered to you ; you must shed your republican blood in the cause of royalty ; in short, you must fra- ternise with us ; you must be our friends, our allies. If you hesitate, we will beat your walls about your ears, slaughter your people, and leave your city in smoking ruins, as an example to other petty states of the magnanimity of the British arms, and of the justice and moderation of British counsels.' Oh, shame, Sir ! let us never hear these fraternising principles, formerly pro- fessed by France, quoted as a just provocation for attacking her, while we ourselves, with the most shameless inconsistency, are avowing them in every part of Europe, and practising them where we dare. "The noble lord, still pursuing his anecdotes and his argument, that France must have been the aggressor, and that the war was a war of necessity on our part, next retails to us the conduct of Citizen Genet,"^ her emissary to the United States of America. Here, again, I give the noble lord his facts, and again I declare him to be equally unfortunate in his conclusion. I admit everything as he states it, with respect to Citizen Genet. I agree in con- demning the impolitic outrages he practised against the government of America ; I reprobate the indecent insults he offered to General Washington; I disapprove of his erection of Jacobin clubs in that country, his establishing consular tribunals for the judgment of prizes, &:c., &c. But why has the noble lord overlooked the event of all these heinous and repeated provoca- tions ? America remains neutral, prosperous, and at peace ; America, with a wisdom, prudence, and magnanimity which we have disdained, thrives at this moment in a state of envied tranquillity, and is hourly clearing the paths to unbounded opulence. America has monopolised the commerce and the advantages which we have abandoned. Oh, turn your eyes to her ; view * This French agent had, by his endeavours to introduce the French revolutionary principles, and to rouse the Americans to take an active part in support of their former allies, the French, against the English, fomented an insurrection in the counties of Alleghany and Washington, which was with difficulty suppressed, by the energy and moderation of Washington, who was president at the time. The divisions caused by Genet continued long after his recall, and subsequently formed a cause of complaint by the United States to the French government. RICHAED BRINSLEY SHEEIDAN. I7l her situation, her happiness, her content ! Observe her trade and her manu- factures adding daily to her general credit, to her private enjoyments, and to her public resources ; her name and government rising above the nations of Europe, with a simple but commanding dignity, which wins at once the respect, the confidence, and the affection of the world. And is America degraded by this conduct and by this condition ? Has Washington debased himself by his temper and moderation ? Has he sunk his character, and made himself contemptible in the eyes of the high-spirited statesmen of Europe ? Will the noble lord attempt to prove this ? or will he abandon his instance and his argument ? The conduct of the French, in sending such a missionary as Genet to America, is brought up by him as the strongest proof of the enmity of the French to the peace and existing governments of all nations, and of the necessity of all nations uniting against them ; and the behaviour of Genet himself is stated as an outrage too gross for human pa- tience to submit to ; and yet, the selfish American senate, confiding in the good sense of their fellow- citizens, conscious of never having betrayed their trust, and looking only to the interests of the people they represented, found no cause for war or quarrel in the novelty or madness of French principles ; and mean Washington felt no personal resentment at insults which did not provoke, because they could not degrade him ! " Such has been the event of two nations viewing the same circum- stances in a different temper and with different sensations. Both had been equally insulted by this new presumptuous republic ; attempts had been equally made to spread the doctrines of that republic in the bosoms of both : both were equally interested in the preservation of the principles of civil order and regular government : yet, owing to the different councils that di- rected these two nations, the Americans are, at this moment, the undismayed, undegraded, and unembarrassed spectators of the savage broils of Europe ; whilst we are engaged in a struggle, as we have been this day distinctly told by our Ministers, not for our glory or prosperity, but for our actual existence as a nation. " The next part fromBrissot's pamphlet dwelt upon by the noble lord as a further proof that the French had always intended to make war against us, was, that the minister Monge had promised, as early as October, to have thirty ships of the line at sea from Brest, in April, and fifty in July ; but this, it seems, was happily prevented by the vigorous measures of the British ministry ; and if our ministers had not taken the steps they did, the noble lord tells us, by the bye, they would have deserved to have been whipped as schoolboys, or hanged as traitors. And what Avere the vigorous exertions which these vigilant ministers made .^ Forsooth, they stopped two corn ships'^* in the river Thames, destined for France ; and this, it seems, totally * Soon after the commencement of the war with France, orders were given to detain all American vessels freighted with corn to that country, paying for them and the freight ; and shortly afterwards an order was issued to seize all American ships carrying 172 THE MODEEN OEATOU. defeated the equipment of these fifty ships of the line ! But here let me ask the noble lord how it came to pass, if our ministers had such intelligence as early as October, that no naval preparations were commenced on our part till the month of February ? for this fact has been admitted by him in an- other part of his speech ; and the lateness of our equipment has been pleaded by him with another view, forgetting that there cannot be a stronger charge brought against his friends, and that they do indeed deserve to be whipped as schoolboys, or hanged as traitors, if, after receiving intelligence of the French preparations so early as October, they neglected, as in fact they did, all precautions on the part of this country, excepting the notable and power- ful expedient of plundering two neutral sloops of a few sacks of French corn ! " However, laying aside the merit or demerit of our minister, no proof to the noble lord's purpose arises out of this threat of the minister Monge. The noble lord himself confesses that no part of the promise v/as kept ; it was, in fact, a natural gasconade of the French admiralty, at a time we were insult- ing them ; and, that the execution of such an equipment was not attempted,"^* is much stronger evidence of their not having intended to break with us, than their having made the boast, is of a contrary determination. But it is, unfortunately, the interest of the cause the noble lord is supporting, to refer, on all occasions, to words, rather than to facts. " The noble lord, still pursuing his authority, Brissot, quotes that author's recommendation to the English of a pamplilet of Condorcet's,f addi'essed to our parliamentary reformers ; who encourages us, it seems, to proceed to dis- regard numbers, assuiing us (being well informed, doubtless, of our object) that ' revolutions must always be the work of the minority. The French revolution was accomplished by the minority !' Nay, according to Brissot, it was the work of no more than twenty men ! Such is the exertion that arises from the confidence of those who look to spirit and energy alone for success, and not to numbers. If this be true, it certainly is a most ominous thing for the enemies of reform in England ; for if it holds true of necessity, that the minority still prevails in national contests, it must be a consequence that the smaller the minority the more certain must be the success. In what a dreadful situation then must the noble lord be, and all the alarmists ! for never, surely, was the minority so small, so thin in number as the present. provisions and stores to the French colonies, and to compel them to give security to land their cargoes in British or neutral ports. In consequence of this last order more than 600 American vessels were seized in five months. * It appears, however, that on the 13th of January, 1792 (the day after the decree of the Convention, mentioned in note p. 168), an addition of thirty line of battle ships was made to the French navy, though the French had then in commission more ships than were preparing in the British ports. t One of the most distinguished disciples of Voltaire, and in politics a Girondist. However misled, he appears to have been a true philanthropist, and a man of im wearied activity in promoting all such reforms as he thought beneficial. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 173 Conscious, however, that M. Condorcet was mistaken in our object, I am glad to find that we are terrible in proportion as we are few ; I rejoice that the liberality of session, which has thinned our ranks, has onlj^ served to make us more formidable. The alarmists will hear this with new apprehen- sions ; they will, no doubt, return to us with a view to diminish our force, and encumber us with their alliance in order to reduce us to insignificance. But what has the nonsense any French pamphleteer may have written, or the notions he may have formed of the views of parties in this country, to do with the question ? or how can it be gravely urged as a proof of the determi- nation of the French people to attack us ? " The noble lord having gone through this part of his detail, triumphantly asks, whether he has not established his point, and proved the hostile mind of France, and that the object of all her parties was war with England? To which I answer, that he has proved nothing like it, and that two-thirds of the instances he has adduced have a tendency to prove the contrary. But instead of diving, for their purposes, in the random words of their ora- tors, in the more flighty controversies of their party writers, or even in the hasty and incoherent reports of their committees, let us look to acts and facts; let us examine fairly the conduct of Great Britain towards France, and of France towards Great Britain, from the 10th of August* to the declaration of war." [Here Mr Sheridan enumerated the various circumstances which showed the growing inveteracy of Great Britain from the first outbreak of the revolution to the time of the King's death; the countenance given to the treaty of Pilnitz, the withdrawal of our minister from Paris, the seizure of French property in neutral vessels, the banishing of French subjects, the violation of the treaty of commerce, and, finally, the dismissal of their ambassador ; all of which he contended had been borne by the French with a submission which nothing but their desire of peace with this country could have produced, amidst the fury and pride which actuated their conduct towards all the rest of Europe.] " They solicited, they expostulated ; they pressed for explanation and ne- gotiation ; and even after their ambassador had been driven from this country they sent a new negotiator ;f nor did the sincerity of their professions for peace with us depend on words alone ; for, to preserve this object, they ac- tually abstained from the invasion of Holland when within their grasp, when their arms appeared irresistible, and success inevitable. Every fact spoke aloud that we forced France into the quarrel. Which party first declaimed, ' We are at war,' is a matter of trivial and childish distinction ; nor do I, in * The day of the memorable attack on the Tuilleries, la 1792. t On the news of the execution of Louis XYI. arriving in London, M. Chauvelin, the French minister, received notice to quit the British dominions within eight days, as France no longer had any government that could be recognised. After war had been declared, Le Brun, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, in April, 1793, proposed to send M. Maret as plenipotentiary to this country, to negotiate terms of peace ; but the British government took no notice of the proposition. 174 THE MODERN ORATOK. this place, mean to argue that Great Britain was wrong in so preferring s state of open war against France, and joining in the general confederacy against her ; nay, I will for the present grant that it was a war of sound sense, policy, and justice; but still it was a war of choice on the part of Great Britain ; and from, that responsibility the Minister never can, nor shall, dis- engage himself. " Embarked, however, as we are in the war, it must, no doubt, be a matter of astonishment to many gentlemen to find the advocates of Ministers so eternally and earnestly labouring in proof of France having been the aggres- sor, and of having chosen to make war on us. The prominent point for the present discussion seems rather, under the circumstances, to be, how we shall end the conflict, let who will have begun it ; or, if peace cannot be had, how we shall prosecute the war with vigour and success. But the object of these gentlemen, in recurring to the other ground, is obvious. They will not hear of peace ; they do not wish for it ; and, finding themselves feeble in argument to show that the country ought to be of their opinion, they endea- vour to establish a belief that it is France who does not wish for peace with us ; and this they think they do establish by proving, or rather by asserting, that it was France who provoked the war. If the war commenced in self- defence and necessity on our part, self-defence and necessity must continue it. They would evade the question, whether it is our interest to have peace, by arguing, that it is not in our power : from this delusion it is of the utmost importance that the public mind should be rescued. " All the professed objects for which we went to war have been obtained : our ally, Holland, is safe ; Brabant is recovered ; the ideas of adding to the extent of their own country, or of interfering in the government of others, but as measures of warfare and retaliation, have been distinctly and unequi- vocally disavowed by the present government of France ; and notwithstand- ing all their lofty boasts and insulting threats, which are, in truth, the mere retorts of passion to our wild declamations against them, there is no question but that they would be ready to treat with us, or with any of the allied powers, to-morrow, simply upon the principle of being left to the exercise of their own will within their own boundaries. Let the experiment be made: if they prefer and persist in war, then I will grant that the noble lord will have some reason to maintain that their minds were always disposed to that measure, and that war could not have been avoided on our part. But till then, I am astonished that the minister who sits near the noble lord does not feel it necessary to his own dignity to oppose, himself, this paltry argument of the act of aggression having come from them, instead of leaving that task to us, to whom, comparatively, the fact is indifferent. "When he hears this called a war of necessity and defence, I wonder he does not feel ashamed of the meanness which it spreads over the whole of his cause, and the contradic- tion it diffuses among the greater part of his arguments. Will he meet the matter fairly ? Will he answer to this one question distinctly — If France had abstained from any act of aggression against Great Britain, and her ally, Holland, should we have remained inactive spectators of the last campaign^ RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 1T5 idle, apart, and listening to the fray, leaving the contest to Austria and Prussia, and whatever allies they could themselves have obtained ? If he says this, mark the dilemma into which he brings himself, his supporters, and the nation. This war is called a war unlike all other wars that ever man was engaged in. It is a war, it seems, commenced on a different principle* and carried on for a different purpose from all other wars. It is a war in which the interest of individual nations is absorbed in the wider consideration of the interest of mankind. It is a war in which per- sonal provocation is lost in the outrage offered generally to civilised man; — it is a war for the preservation of the possessions, the morals* and the religion of the world ; — it is a war for the maintenance of human order and the existence of human society. Does he then mean to say that he would have sat still — that Great Britain would have sat still — with arms folded, and, reclining in luxurious ease on her commercial couch, have re- mained an unconcerned spectator of this mighty conflict, and left the cause of civil order, government, morality, and religion, and its God, to take care of itself ? or to owe its preservation to the mercenary exertions of German and Hungarian barbarians, provided only that France had not implicated Great Britain by a special offence, and forced us into this cause of divine and uni- versal interest by the petty motive of a personal provocation? He will not tell us so ; or, if he does, to answer a momentary purpose, will he hold the same language to our allies ? Will he speak thus to the Emperor ? Will he speak thus to the King of Prussia ? Will he tell them that we are not volunteers in this cause ? — that we have no merit in having entered into it ? — that we are in confederacy with them only to resent a separate insult offered to themselves ; which redressed, our zeal in the cause, at least, if not our engagements to continue in the alliance, must cease ? Or, if he would hold this language to those powers, will he repeat it to those lesser states whom we are hourly dragging into this perilous contest, upon the only plea by which such an act of tyrannical compulsion can be attempted to be pal- liated, namely, that a personal ground of complaint against the French is not necessary to their enmity ? but, that as the league against that people is the cause of human nature itself, every country where human feelings exist has already received its provocation in the atrocities of this common enemy of human kind. But, why do I ask him whether he would hold this language to the Emperor, or the King of Prussia ? The King of Prussia, Sir, at this moment tells you, even with a menacing tone, that it is your own war; he has demanded from you a subsidy and a loan ;^' you have endeavoured to evade his demand by pleading the tenor of your treaty of defensive alliance with * A British subsidy of two millions and a half was afterwards voted in April, 1794, at the instance of Mr Pitt, to enable the King of Prussia to keep the field. There seems much reason to doubt the good faith of the Prussian monarch towards his allies ; and it was generally believed in England that, as Prussia had begun the war from the hope of dismembering Prance, she was anxious to recede from it the moment she foiin4 that object impracticable. N 2 176 THE MODERN OSATOK. him, and that, as the party attacked, you are entitled to the whole of his ex- ertions. He denies that you are the party attacked, though he applauds the principles upon which you are the aggressor ; and is there another power in Europe to whom our government will venture to refer the decision of this question ? If what I now state is not the fact, let me see the Minister stand up and contradict me. If he cannot, let us no longer bear that a fallacy should be attempted to be imposed on the people of this country, which would be treated with scorn and indignation in every other corner of Europe. From this hour let him either abandon the narro w ground of this being a war of necessity, entered into for self-defence, or give up the lofty boast of its being a war of principle, undertaken for the cause of human nature. " Still, still, however, be the war a war of necessity or choice, of defence or of principle, peace must some time or other be looked to. True ; but in the present state of France, first, it is contended that no means of negotiation can be found : and, secondly, that even if you negotiated and agreed, no se- curity for the performance of the agreement is to be had An honourable mem- ber behind the noble lord (Mr Hawkins Browne) has given it as his opinion, that we, who recommend peace, ought to point out the means by which Ministers may commence and carry on a negotiation. With submission, I should ra- ther have thought it a fitter proceeding that those who embark a nation in war for a specific purpose, should be called on to point out the probable means of obtaining the end proposed ; but no such thing. Ask them what their end is, or how it is to be obtained : the constant answer is, No matter ; the war is a just war, and it is impossible to treat for peace; we know not even how to set about it ; and with this answer we must be content to per- severe in a pursuit which all experience has proved to be ruinous, in order to attain an object which no man attempts to prove to be practicable. The noble lord, however, does not lay so much stress on the impossibility of our treating for peace under the present circumstances, as upon the improbability of such a peace being safe or permanent. What security can we have for the con- tinuance of a peace made with such a government as that of France ? The factions of to day are supplanted by others to-morrow ; the rulers of the hour pass in succession from the tribune to the scaffold ; there is nothing perma- nent or stable in their system. Granted. And what then are you waiting for before you will treat ? Is it simply that you will have some person on the throne of France — some first magistrate with the name of King, be his power what it may, before you will enter into any negotiation ? I suspect that this feeling is obstinately rooted in the minds of some persons. It is not, however^ avowed ; on the contrary, our own proclamations declare, that though the re- establishment of monarchy in France would be a soothing and conciliatory circumstance, it is not an indispensable preliminary to the re-establishment of peace. What, then, is the desideratum ? A stable and responsible system of government of some sort or other, that would give a reasonable expectation of duration and security to peace when established. " I ask, is any change which our arms may probably effect in France likely to HICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 177 produce such a government ? The form of it we are not to prescribe. Where are the men we hope to see come forward ? We commenced with reprobating and reviling La Fayette, Rochefoucalt, and the whole party of reforming royal- ists. Brissot and the republicans of the 10th of August overthrew and destroyed that party. We may boast of having assisted Robespierre and Danton in the destruction of Brissot and those republicans. Robespierre and Danton now pos- sess the lead. Are you waiting till such men as Hebert and Chaumette* shall have destroyed Robespierre and Danton ? Would such a change give you the stable responsibility and trustworthy government you desire ? or do you see any class of men still under them, which, in the revolution of enormities, gives you a fairer promise of your object ? No man will hold out such an expecta- tion. Whence, then, can arise the sort of government with whom you would condescend to treat ? I affirm, from only one possible source ; from a general reformation in the public mind of France, founded on a deep sense of their calamities, and a just abhorrence of their past crimes. Then will cease their bloody internal enmities ; then will cease the selfish, factious contests of their leaders ; then will cease their revolting system of plunder, rapine, and im- piety ; then, in other words, will be established their republic on the immortal and unconquerable principles of wisdom and of justice, which, without di- minishing the invincible enthusiasm which even now animates their military exertions, will supply those exertions with copious and unperishable resources; and then truly we shall have no objection to acknowledge them as a nation, and to treat with them. Admirable prudence ! consummate policy ! Whilst the certain seeds of internal discord, weakness, and dissolution are sown among them, and are checked in their rank growth only by the counteraction of stronger feelings against the foreign enemies that surround them, we will not stoop to treat, because we cannot have security for the future ; but if, fortunately, our perseverance in assailing them shall at length eradicate all that is vicious and ruinous in their internal system, strengthening, as at the same time it must, the energies and solidity of their government, then our pride will abate, respectful negotiation will follow, and a happy peace may be concluded — a happy peace, for the terms of which we must be left in future for ever at theiy mercy ! This I contend to be, if not the object, the result of waiting for that stable, responsible, and trustworthy government in France which the noble lord demands ; unless, as I said before, the operative, though not the avowed motive for the war, is simply to establish a monarchy in that country, or perish in the attempt. " Leaving the origin and object of the war, our attention is next called to the great progress that has been made by the allies since we entered into the confederacy ! Our success has been such, it seems, that we ought to proceed, * The leaders of the party of " Anarchists," or ultra-revolutionists, actuated by the basest passions, and utterly devoid of all moral or religious feeling. Endeavouring to stir up the populace against the Convention, and raise themselves on its fall, they caused their own destruction; being suddenly arrested, and, as a natural consequence at that time, immediately led to the scaffold. 178 THE MODEKN" ORATOH. be the object what it may. First, the noble lord asks, with a triumphant air, whether France is not in a mnch worse condition than at the beginning of the campaign ? Unquestionably she is : she has lost some hundreds of thousands of lives, and exhausted many millions of resource ; and what is more, Sir, all Europe is in a worse condition, for the same reason. But I demand an answer to a question more to the purpose, and in truth the only question which belongs to the argument. I ask if there is any one man, in this House or out of it, who thinks that the allies are nearer to the object they had in view, than they were at the beginning of the campaign ? Let this question be fairly and honestly answered before we madly goad this nation to new exertions, and load our fellow- subjects with new burdens. I meet the noble lord in his review of the state of the allies and of France at the commencement of the campaign, and at the present hour ; but I enter into that review with the object I have stated before my eyes, and not to strike a balance on little petty successes which conduce nothing to the main purpose. " Previous to the ending of the last session of parliament, my right honour- able friend (Mr Fox) renewed, by a motion in this House, his exhortation to government to treat for peace. We had then achieved all the avowed pur- poses for which we went to war. Holland was safe, — the opening of the Scheldt out of the question, — the enemy was driven out of Brabant, — we had succeeded in the "West Indies, — Tobago was taken, — and Lord Hood had sailed to the Mediterranean with a force sufficient to insure the superiority of the British flag in that quarter. Yet all these advantages, now so vauntingly enumerated, were then held as trifles ; they were treated comparatively as insignificant matters ; and nothing but some important, decisive blow against the common enemy, which the power of the allies in the ensuing campaign was certain to effect, could make it prudent to think of peace. , What has that campaign produced? The surrender of Conde, Valenciennes, and Quesnoy ; the re-possession of Mayence, and the partial destruction of the marine of Toulon. Compare this with our boasts, our exertions, and expec- tations, with what has been gained to the cause of France. First, the very corner-stone on which the hope of the most sanguine rested, was not (for they had before their eyes the experience of the Duke of Brunswick's former campaign"^') the vigour and probable impression of the invading arms ; but the zeal, the numbers, and the fury of the royal party in France, then roused * The Duke of Brunswick acted as generalissimo of the combined armies of Austria and Prussia, on the occasion of the first rupture with France after the convention of Pilnitz. After publishing his celebrated violent manifesto, threatening extermination to all opponents (which certainly aggravated the evils it was intended to repress), and marching as the champion of Christendom against revolutionary Prance, to punish her for her misdeeds, and reinstate a constitutional government, all Europe was filled with surprise when, having at length come up with the main body of the Republican army under Dumouriez, a negotiation was quietly entered into, and orders given to retreat to Germany, and the allied army ignominiously returned home without having accom- plished a single object for which the expedition was formed. mCHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 179 to action by their monarch's recent execution, and encouraged by the indig- nation and horror which that event appeared universally to excite. Where now is that royal party ? Where is the hope which pointed to their banners ? They rose, indeed, and everything that courage, vengeance, and despair could dictate, they attempted. Long and fruitlessly they looked to the allies for assistance ; at length the voice and the flag of Britain cheered their hearts and roused their efforts ; would, for the honour of Britain, we could bury the event in silent shame, and in the graves of the poor mangled victims of their own delusion and our professions ! If there yet exists an eagerness for a royal crusade in England, will the British arms ever again insult the coasts of Brittany or Provence with the offer of their protection? If there yet remains the remnant of a royal party in France, will Toulon"^* and Noirmoutier ever be forgotten ? The great body of the French royalists is destroyed and annihilated, and with them the very strongest ground upon which we built our first expectations of success. " The next point most relied upon by the eager advocates for the war, was the state even of the republican parties in, Paris. Two factions,! equally anti-monarchical, but actuated by the most fell and deadly animosity towards each other, ruled, severed, and dispirited the French people. By the furious contests of the leaders of these parties, the attention of the nation was en- grossed, their efforts were enfeebled, their exertions shackled, and their hopes dismayed. Observers in all parts looked for a speedy and open conflict between them ; and it was confidently and reasonably expected that the event of that conflict would inevitably be a ferocious and extensive civil war. * The cities of Toulon, Lyons, and Marseilles were the first to rebel against the bloodthirsty tyranny of the Convention. Lyons was, after two months' siege, taken by storm, by the revolutionary army, and its inhabitants cruelly massacred, and the city almost totally demolished. Marseilles, terrified by the dreadful fate of Lyons, submitted without resistance ; but Toulon resolutely refused to yield, and sought the aid of the English fleet in the Mediterranean, under Lord Hood, who immediately threw into the town a reinforcement of 14,000 men, of whom about 5,000 were English. After a desperate resistance, it was found impossible to save the town, and the allies, after setting fire to the French arsenal and ships of the line, and four frigates which were in the harbour, with the greatest difficulty re-embarked, and conveyed on board as many of the wretched inhabitants as possible in the confusion, leaving the rest to experience the merciless barbarity of their besiegers, who, on seeing the arsenal on fire, rushed for- ward, en masse, to wreak their revenge on the defenceless royalists. Numbers plunged into the sea, and made fruitless endeavours to reach the vessels ; others were seen to shoot themselves on the beach, to avoid a more terrible death from the enraged repub- licans. The ships, crowded with a heterogenous mixture of different nations — men, women, and children from the hospitals— the mangled soldiers fi:om their posts, with their wounds undressed — and the whole harbour resounding with the cries of distraction and agony from husbands, wives, parents, and children left on the shore, exhibited a scene dreadful beyond description. The flames at the same time spreading in all direc- tions, with the blazing ships threatening every moment to explode and blow all around them into the air, rendered the spectacle more terrible. In short, neither language can, express, nor the pencil paint,the horrors of that dreadful night, 19th December, 1793, — Hughes. t The Jacobins and the Girondists. 180 THE MODERN OUATOK. This expectation was among the foremost of the resources of the allies. What has happened ? To the astonishment of the world, one of these parties, ap- parently the most feeble, has not merely subdned, but extinguished the other — subdued them almost without an effort, and extinguished them without even an attempt made to avenge them ; whilst the conquering party appear from that hour to have possessed not only more power, more energy, and more confidence, than any of their predecessors since the revolution, but even a vigour and fascination of influence and authority unparalleled in the history of mankind. This reliance, therefore, though reckoned on at the commence- ment of the campaign as a host of hope, is also gone. " Again, we were told that the disgusting system of cashiering and de- stroying all the old-experienced officers, must create insubordination and mutiny in the army, and ultimately bring down the vengeance and indignation of the soldiers upon the Convention, and establish a military tyranny. Here, again, has ordinary speculation been foiled. The most victorious and popular generals have been arrested at the head of their troops ; a commissioner from the Convention tells the armed line that it is his will : and, incredible as it may appear, there has scarcely been a single instance, countless almost as the number of their troops is, and compulsory as is the mode by which many of those numbers are gained — there scarcely has been a single instance of a military revolt against any of their decrees. All argument, therefore,* that armies must in their nature disdain the control of such an assembly, must, however reluctantly, be given up, and to that fallacious expectation we can look no more. " But the means even of suj)porting these armies, we were told, could not continue through half the campaign. Arms, ammunition, clothing, money, bread, all would speedily fail. The prediction, unfortunately, has failed in every particular. But, if our negative resources and our hopes of co-opera- tion in France have all disappointed us, I presume we shall find a full com- pensation in the increased strength and spirit of the grand alliance. Let us see what was the state of the allies when we entered into the confederacy. The force of Austria unbroken, though compelled to abandon Brabant ; and the power of the veteran troops of Prussia absolutely untried, though the seasons and disease'^' had induced them to retire from Champagne. What is their state now ? Defeat has thinned their ranks, and disgrace has broken their spirit. They have been driven across the Rhine by French recruits, like sheep before a lion's whelp ; and that, not from the mishap of a single great action lost, but after a succession of bloody contests of unprecedented fury and obstinacy. Where, now, is the scientific confidence with which we were taught to regard the efforts of discipline and experience, when opposed to an untrained multitude and unpractised generals .^ The jargon of pro- fessional pedantry is mute, and the plain sense of man is left to its own course. But have the efforts of our other allies made amends for the mis- * The causes assigned for the retreat of the allied armies under the Duke of Bruns- ■wiuk and the King of Prussia (see note, p. 178). KICHARD BKINSLEY SHERIDAN. 181 fortunes of these two principals in the confederacy ? Have the valour and activity of the Dutch, by land and sea, exceeded our expectations r Has the Portuguese squadron lessened the extent, and lightened the expense, of our naval exertions ? Have the Indian states, whom we have bribed or bullied into our cause, made any very sensible impression upon the common enemy ? Has our great ally, the Empress of Russia, hitherto contributed anything to the common cause, except her praises and her prayers ? Are all, or any of them, in better spirits to act, or fuller of resource to act effectually, than they were at the commencement of the last campaign ? But, let me throw all these considerations aside — every one of which, however, would singly outweigh the whole of the advantages placed in the opposite scale as gained by the allies ; and, let me ask, is it nothing that the great and momentous experiment has been made, and that a single nation, roused by a new and animating energy, and defending what they conceive to be their liberty, has proved itself to be a match for the enmity and the arms of the world ? ^ Is the pride which success in such a conflict has given to the individual heart of every man who has shared in it, to be estimated as nothing ? Are the triumphs and rewards which the politic prodigality of their government heaps on the meanest of their ranks who suffer or distinguish themselves in their battles, fruitless, and of no effect ? Or, finally, are we to hold as a matter of slight consideration, the daring and enthusiastic spirit, solicitous of danger and fearless of death, which, gradually kindled by all these circum- stances, has now spread, with electrical rapidity, among such a race of people, so placed, so provided, and so provoked ? Be he who he may that has reflected on all these circumstances, either singly or in the aggregate, and shall still say that the allies are at this moment nearer the attainment of their professed object than at the commencement of the last campaign — I say, that man's mind is either clouded by passion, corrupted by interest, or that his intellects were never properly framed. " The noble lord, however, though not inclined to overrate the enemy, seems to have been aware that he might be driven to admit the magnitude of their exertions, and that it would be diflicult to deny the efficacy of them. But, that we may not be dispirited, he has a solution ready for all this — both their exertions and their success are forced and unnatural. Another honourable gentleman, indeed, has told us, that if we had had only the real resources and the real spirit of France to contend with, Ave should have con- quered them long ago. It may be so ; but the worst of it is, they will not * At the commencement of the campaign of 1793, France had to contend with 55,000 Austro- Sardinians from the Alps, 50,000 Spaniards from the Pyrenees, 66,000 Austrians or Imperialists, reinforced by 38,000 Anglo-Batavians. On the Lower Rhine and in Belgium, 33,000 Austrians between the Meuse and the Moselle, and 112,000 Russians, Austrians, Prussians, and Imperialists, of the Middle and Upper Rhine. To make head against these formidable enemies, the Convention ordered a levy of 300,000 troops, and, at the same time, established a Committee of Public Safety, with dictatorial power over persons and property.— ZTzt^Ae^. 182 THE MODERN ORATOK. suffer us to prescribe to them the sort of spirit and the kind of resources we should choose to contend with. This may be very unhandsome ; but there is no remedy for it. ' They have, it is true, a great force,' says the noble lord, ' but it has not a sound foundation. They have a full public treasury, but their prosperity is unsound. The people obey the government, but the ground of theii' submission is unsound.' In short, he takes great pains to prove to us, that they ought not, in reason or nature, to make the stand they have hitherto maintained ; and that they have no right to beat their enemies in the manner which they have. Their government, he undertakes to de- monstrate, is not calculated to produce any such effects. It reminds me of the story of a tradesman who had a very admirable time-piece, made by a person who had never learned the business, and neither knew it mechani- cally nor scientifically. A neighbouring clockmaker, exasperated at this intrusion of natural genius, took great pains to convince the owner that he ought to turn his clock out of doors. It was in vain that the man assured him that it went and struck truly ; that he wound it up like other clocks ; and that it told him the hour of the day precisely. The artist replied, ' that all this might be very true, but that he could demonstrate that it had no right to go like other clocks, for it was not made upon sound principles.' The contest ended in his cajoling the poor man to part with his time-piece, and to buy from him, at three times the cost, a clock that did not answer half as well. I wish the noble lord would attempt to make a similar im- pression upon the French, and could prevail upon them to listen to him. I wish he could convince them, that this revolutionary movement of theirs, which, hov/ever unskilfully and unmethodically put together, appears so strangely to answer their purpose, is an unworthy jumble of ignorance and chance ; and that they would be much better off if they would take a regular constitution of his choosing. If he could effect this, I should think his rhe- toric well employed, and our chance of succeeding against them infinitely increased; otherwise his arguments and demonstrations on the subject here, are the idlest waste of breath possible. Experience and facts contradict him, and we smart under them. " In corroboration of his general position, the noble lord next details to us the manner in which they have either neglected or oppressed their com- merce. I have no doubt but that all he has stated on this subject is true, and that they have done it possibly upon system. I should not be surprised to hear that some distinguished senator of that country, with a mind at once heated and contracted by brooding over one topic of alarm, had started up in the Convention, and exclaimed, ' Perish our commerce, live our constitution ;' neither should I be surprised to learn that the mass of the people, bowing to his authority, or worked on by fictitious alarms and fabricated rumours of plots, seditions, and insurrections, should have improved upon this patriotic exhortation, and, agreeing that their constitution was certainly to be pre- ferred to their commerce, should have conceived that they could not tho- roughly show the fervour of their zeal for the former, so well as by an unne- mCHAKD BBINSLEY SHERIDAlT. 183 cessary sacrifice of the latter. Whether the hint of this notable axiom was taken from the expressions of any enlightened member of our own com- mercial senate, or whether it was imported into this House from France, is what I cannot take upon me to decide. The only result worth our considera- tion is, that however their neglect of commerce may have abridged them of the luxuries, and even comforts of life, it has not hitherto curtailed them in the means of military preparations, or slackened the sinews of war. " The next proof of the unsoundness of their condition is to be looked for in the enormous taxes and contributions levied upon the people. The noble lord has summed up his laborious statements upon this subject, by informing us that every man of £400 a year is obliged to give up £220 of it to the public ; in which case, the noble lord, with great arithmetical accuracy, assures us that he retains but £180 for himself (the only conclusion through- out his speech in which I implicitly agree with him) ; and people of greater incomes, it seems, are called on to do the same. Now, again, I give the noble lord his facts, but again I accompanj'- my assent with a plain question — do the people submit to make these sacrifices ? He has not attempted to dispute their universal acquiescence. What, then, do his facts prove ? What, but that so devoted are the whole people of France to the cause which they have espoused — so determined are they to maintain the struggle in which they have engaged — so paramount and domineering is the enthusiastic spirit of liberty in their bosoms — so insignificant, comparatively, all other pursuits and considerations — and, finally, so bitter and active their animosity against the conspiring powers which surround them, that individual property has ceased to be regarded, even by the possessor, but as subsidiary to the public cause ; and the government which has demanded these unprecedented sacrifices yet retains its power, and does not appear to have impaired its popularity. " ' This system of exaction is tremendous,^ says the noble lord ; it is so, but to whom ? to those who have to fight with such a people. He ought, however, in fairness, to have stated also, that these sacrifices and the exac- tions are to expire when peace has closed the struggle in which alone they originate, and the end is attained for which alone they are tolerated : till then, unquestionably, the whole country of France is regarded as one great fortress in a state of siege. To tell us how little respect is paid to private property, commercial principle, or personal privilege in such a state, is to prattle childishly : prove to us that the iron hand of violence and necessity, which has barred the course of justice and beat down all the security of private right throughout that besieged land, does not at the same time assist the one great object which is dearest to the general heart — successful resist- ance to the besiegers. " The noble lord, however, not content with the unfairness of overlooking all the circumstances which imperious necessity must inevitably impose upon a country circumstanced as France is, thinks it fair and candid to contrast the proceedings of their Convention on the subject of supply and finance, 184 THE MODERN ORATOR. with, the proceedings of the British minister and the British parliament. We, it seems, assist commerce, instead of oppressing it. We lend the credit of the public exchequer to our private merchants: and, for the means of carrying on the war, not even voluntary contributions are expected, unless it be in little female keepsakes for the army — of gloves, mittens, night-caps, and under-waistcoats. Certainly the contrast between the French means of supply and ours is obvious, and long may it continue so. But the noble lord pursues his triumph on this subject too far : not content with simply alluding to it, which one would have imagined would have answered all his purposes, he endeavours to impress it more forcibly on our minds by making a regular speech for our Chancellor of the Exchequer, and exultingly de- manding what we should say, if his right honourable friend (Mr Pitt) were to come down and propose 'to the British Parliament such ways and means as the Minister of Finance in France is compelled to resort to. What should we think if he were to rise and propose that all persons who had money or pro- perty, in an unproductive state, should lend it without interest to the public ? if he were to propose that all who had saved incomes from the bounty of the state should refund what they had received ? What, finally, if all persons possessing fortunes of any size were called upon to give up the whole during the war, and reserve to themselves only the means of subsistence, or, at the utmost, £180 a year ? Upon my word. Sir, I agree with the noble lord, that if his right honourable friend was to come down to us with any such pro- position, he would not long retain his present situation. And with such a consequence inevitable, he not need remind us that there is no great danger of our Chancellor of the Exchequer making any such experiment, any more than of the most zealous supporters of the war, in this country, vying in their contributions with the abettors of republicanism in that. I can more easily fancy another sort of speech for our prudent minister. I can more easily conceive him modestly comparing himself and his own measures with the character and conduct of his rival, and saying, 'Do I demand of you, wealthy citizens, to lend your hoards to Government without interest ? On the con- trary, when I shall come to propose a loan, there is not a man of you to whom I shall not hold out at least a job in every part of the subscription, and an usurous profit upon every pound you devote to the necessities of your coun- try. Do I demand of you, my fellow-placemen and brother pensioners, that you should sacrifice any part of your stipends to the public exigency ? on the contrary, am I not daily increasing your emoluments and your numbers, in proportion as the country becomes unable to provide for you ? Do I require of you, my latest and most zealous proselytes — of you, who have come over to me for the special purpose of supporting the war — a war on the success of which you solemnly protest that the salvation of Britain, and of civil society itself, depend — do I require of you that you should make a temporary sacri- fice in the cause of human nature of the greater part of your private incomes ? No, gentlemen ; I scorn to take advantage of the eagerness of your zeal ; and to prove that I think the sincerity of your zeal and attachment to me needs RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 185 no such test, I will make your interest co-operate with your principle ; I will quarter many of you on the public supply, instead of calling on you to con- tribute to it, and while their whole thoughts are absorbed in patriotic appre- hensions for their country, I will dextrously force upon others the favourite objects of the vanity or ambition of their lives.' " Sir, 1 perceive that the House feel that I have made a speech more in character for the right honourable gentleman than the noble lord did — that I have supposed him simply to describe what he has been actually doing ; but I am much mistaken if they do not, at the same time, think it rather indiscreet in the noble lord to have reminded us of such circumstances. Good God, Sir, that he should have thought it prudent to have forced this contrast upon our attention ! that he should triumphantly remind us of every thing that shame should have withheld, and caution would have buried in oblivion ! Will those who stood forth with a parade of disinterested patriot- ism, and vaunted of the sacrifices they had made, and the exposed situation they had chosen, in order the better to oppose the friends of Brissot in Eng- land — will they thank the noble lord for reminding us how soon these lofty professions dwindled into little jobbing pursuits for followers and dependants, as unfit to fill the offices procured for them, as the offices themselves were unfit to be created ? Will the train of newly-titled alarmists, of supernume- rary negotiators, of pensioned paymasters, agents, and commissaries, thank him for remarking to us how profitable their panic has been to themselves, and how expensive to their country ? What a contrast, indeed, do we exhibit .^ What ! in such an hour as this, at a moment pregnant with the national fate, when, pressing as the exigency may be, the hard task of squeezing the money from the pockets of an impoverished people, from the toil, the drudgery of the shivering poor, must make the most practised col- lector's heart ache while he tears it from them. Can it be that people of high rank, and professing high principles, that they or their families should seek to thrive on the spoils of misery, and fatten on the meals wrested from industrious poverty ? Can it be that this should be the case with the very persons who state the unprecedented peril of the country as the sole cause of their being found in the ministerial ranks ? The constitution is in danger, religion is in danger, the very existence of the nation itself is endangered ; all personal and party considerations ought to vanish ; the war must be sup- ported by every possible exertion and by every possible sacrifice ; the people must not murmur at their burdens, it is for their salvation — their all is at stake. The time is come when all honest and disinterested men should rally round the throne as round a standard ; — for what, ye honest and dis- interested men ? To receive for your own private emolument a portion of those very taxes which they themselves wring from the people, on the pre- tence of saving them from the poverty and distress which you say the enemy would inflict, but which you take care no enemy shall be able to aggravate. Oh ! shame ! shame ! is this a time for selfish intrigues and the little dirty traffic for lucre and emolument ? Does it suit the honour of a gentleman to 186 THE MODEEN ORATOR. ask at such a moment ? Does it become the honesty of a minister to grant ? Is it intended to confirm the pernicious doctrine so industriously propagated by many, that all public men are impostors, and that every politician has his price? Or even where there is no principle in the bosom, why does not prudence hint to the mercenary and the vain to abstain a while, at least, and wait the fitting of the times ? Improvident impatience ! Nay, even from those who seem to have no direct object of ofiice or profit, what is the language which their actions speak ? ' The throne is in danger ! we will support the throne ; but let us share the smiles of royalty.' ' The order of nobility is in danger ! I will fight for nobility,' says the viscount, ' but my zeal would be greater if I were made an earl.' ' Rouse all the marquis within me,' exclaims the earl, ' and the peerage never turned forth a more undaunted champion in its cause than I shall prove.' ' Stain my green ribbon blue,' cries out the illustrious knight, ' and the fountain of honour will have a fast and faithful servant.' What are the people to think of our sincerity ? What credit are they to give to our professions ? Is this system to be persevered in ? Is there nothing that whispers to that right honourable gentleman that the crisis is too big, that the times are too gigantic, to be ruled by the little hackneyed and everyday means of ordinary corruption ? Or are we to believe that he has within himself a conscious feeling, that disqualifies him from rebuking the ill-timed selfishness of his new allies ? Just previous, indeed, to the measure which bespoke the predetermination of our govern- ment for war, he deigned himself to accept a large sinecure place"^- — even he, who at the commencement of his political career lamented that he had fallen on times too good, too uncorrupt, to mark with effect the contrast of his own political disinterestedness, took to himself, at the period I mention, a great sinecure office, swelled by an additional pension, and both for life : the cir- cumstances have never been commented on in parliament, though perhaps there are those who do not exactly think his public service overpaid by the remuneration. But if the acceptance of such a boon, at such a time, is to be regarded by him as a pledge and contract, that he is never in future to consider himself entitled to an unpurchased support on the subject of this war, or to resist the mercenary claims of any proselyte which his arguments or his exam- ple may create — inauspicious, indeed, was the moment in which his own disin - terestedness was surprised by the bounty of his sovereign, and far more lament- able to his country the consequences of that gift, than advantageous to himself. " Can we too seriously reflect, that in the contest in Avhich we are engaged we have avowedly staked the being of the British empire ? This helium inter- nicinwn — as it was rashly named by those who ad\ised, and into which I fear it has been more rashly converted by those who have conducted it — is to be prosecuted at every risk. If we fail, we fall ; so circumstanced, the horn- may come in which we may be compelled to look for a loftier spirit, a firmer * The wardenship of the Cinque Ports, worth about £3,000 a year, which became vacant by the deatb of Lord Guildford, on 5th August, 1792. Mr Pitt was pressed by his Majesty to accept the office, in such gracious terms that it was impossible to decline. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 187 energy, and a more enthusiastic attachment to the frame and form of our con- stitution, than ever yet has been demanded by our government from the people governed. Let the Minister take care, if such an hour should come, that we do not look in vain. Let him take care that the corruptions of the government shall not have lost it the public heart ; that the example of selfishness in the few has not extinguished public spirit in the many. Let him not be too confident that his informers, his associations, his threats, his proclamations, or prosecutions, have driven from their post, or silenced the observations of those who honestly and lawfully watch the conduct of the King's servants in their stations, and of their own servants in this House, and who hold a corrupt collusion between them to be in itself an overthrow of the constitution. If we would have the people ready with one will, should the trying necessity arise, to risk and to sacrifice everything for the safety of the constitution and the independence of their country, let the high example come from those in high situations, and let it be as manifest as the danger, that no part of their subsistence has been wrung from them on a specious pretence, and applied, in fact, to increase the wages of corruption or swell the price of political apostasy. " But if neither public interest nor political prudence sway the mind of the right honourable gentleman, I wonder that a feeling of personal pride has not, in some measure, deterred him from the selection he has made of the late objects of his patronage, his favour, and his confidence. Wliat a com- pliment has he paid to all his former connexions and attachments ! and in what a light has he held out their pretensions and abilities to the world ! Possessing opportunity and sagacity to discern and estimate the claims of worth and talents, he has long been in a situation to attach to himself a numerous body of respectable friends, whose fortunate concurrence in his opinion has been both steady and uniform. Could he not find amongst them any persons fit for the many situations of trust and emolument which he has lately created, or worthy the honours which he has recently advised his for- giving sovereign to bestow ? No ; it seems that from this side of the House alone the country could be properly served, or the favours of the Crown duly repaid."^' " Was there ever, let me ask, a greater triumph than the list, I have run through, presents to those who yet remain on this side of the House, and who yet feel for the original credit of the party which these gentlemen have quitted ; of that coalition party which has been so long and so vehemently traduced, both for its principles and its origin ? Can it be that this execra- ble faction which, in the year 1784, was accused by the very man who then was, and still is minister, by all his adherents, and, through their arts even * Mr Sheridan here recapitulated, and remarked on a number of favours, offices, and appointments, all bestowed on gentlemen lately in opposition ; among these Le was supposed to allude to Lord Loughborough, Lord Carlisle, Lord Porchester, Lord Hertford, Lord Malmsbury, Lord Yarmouth, Sir Peter Burrell, Sir Gilbert Elliot, Mr Sylvester Douglas, Mr Anstruther, Mr John Erskine, &c. 188 THE MODERN ORATOR. by their country at large, of the most rooted malignity to the constitution of this kingdom, of endeavouring to enslave the House of Commons, to disgrace the House of Lords, to make a cypher of the King, and to introduce a fourth estate, which was to throw the power and patronage of the whole empire into their hands and make their tyranny immortal — that this same party, who, at the time of the regency, were again accused, under the same authority, of being actuated by an insatiate love of office and emolument alone, and of basely preferring the views of their OAvn selfish and rapacious ambition to every sentiment of loyalty, to the first privileges of the commons, and even to the internal peace of the country ; can it be that this arraigned, proscribed, and reprobated party, so characterised and stigmatised by the right honourable gentleman and his followers, should have contained all the while within its ranks the only men who, when the trying hour of proof arrived, were fit to maintain the vigour of the constitution, assert the honour of the peerage, and prop the pillars of the throne ? Oh ! if this be so, what a lesson ought it to be to those who listen to the venal libels and calumnies of a ministerial press ! What a warning to their credulity in future, when they recollect that these very gentlemen, to whom principally, it seems, the country is indebted for the detection of all the plots, conspiracies, and insur- rections which so lately threatened the overthrow of the state, as well as for that salutary preventive against all future ills of the present war, that these very personages were not only never excepted in the outrageous libels which so long assailed the party to which they so lately belonged, but were many of them the marked and principal objects of their venom and malignity ! Trusting that such a lesson will arise from reflecting on this fact, I quit the subject ; adding only, that I should much regret the being supposed to im- pute any sinister or improper motives to the conduct of any of these gentle- men, or by any means to deny, that the emoluments and honours they have received were other than the consequence of their conversion to suj)erior wisdom and integrity by the present Minister, and in no respect the allure- ments to that conversion ; but still. Sir, I must take the freedom, to observe, that in order to have prevented a doubt, in these mistrustful times, arising in the public mind upon the subject, from the odd concurrence of circum- stances, and considering the pressure and magnitude of the plea, on which alone they have justified their separation from former and long cherished con- nexions, it would have been better both for their own credit, and as an example to the people, to have rendered it impossible even for malice to suggest any other inducement for the part they took, than a strong sense of public duty, and a clear and disinterested apprehension for the general safety. " His Majesty laments the burdens that are to be laid on his people ; and yet Ministers, lavish in courting, nay, purchasing, deserters, by the most shameful prostitution of the national treasure, I take it for granted, have been forced thus to look to the other side, because the nursery for statesmen, formed by the Secretary of State opposite to them, has not yet reared a suf- ficient number of plants for the necessary consumption ; I dare say, that RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 189 though our Chiron ** is slow in his march, he will improve as he goes on ; and perhaps this year we shall be called upon for an additional sum of money to turn the nursery into a hot-bed. It is said, that if we were desirous of making peace, we have not the means. With whom do we treat ? I an- swer, with the men that have the power of the French government in their hands. I never will disdain to treat with those on whom I make war ; and, surely, no wise nation ought to persevere in the idle disdain of a negotiation with those that are a match for them in war. A right honourable gentleman opposite said, that what made him first think of a negotiation with America, was his looking at General Washington's army : he had looked at it on the right, on the left, on the centre, and, according to his curious phrase, he could not accommodate himself anywhere. The same was surely true of France : we had tried it on all sides ; on the south, at Toulon ; on the east, by the Rhine ; on the north, by Flanders ; on the west, by our spying- glasses, at St Malo ; and we could nowhere be accommodated. But, I see, notwithstanding our fatal experiment, we are doomed to go on ; the fatal determination is taken, and there is no rational hope that the good sense and spirit of this House will reverse the decree, "Mr Sheridan proceeded to a review of the proceedings of the campaign, to show that Government had not displayed a single exertion becoming the dignity of the nation, or calculated either to maintain the splendour of our name and arms, or to accomplish the object of the war. There had been great misconduct on the part of those who had the power of directing our forces. No one vigorous exertion of prudence or wisdom had been made ; however, Fortune, in some respects, had been favourable to us. We fortu- nately escaped hostilities with America : the risk, however, of such an event, was hereafter to be inquired into. For what purpose, he asked, was a large fleet kept in the Mediterranean after the capture of Toulon, while we wanted its assistance in other parts of the world ; whilst a French frigate rode triumphant along the coast of America ? And, after the engagement be- tween this and an English frigate, in which our gallant captain (Courtenay) lost his life, what must have been the feelings of the crew to find that no vengeance had been taken for his death ? " Mr Sheridan showed, that even in the points of our attack, particularly at Toulon, Dunkirk, &c., &c., we had seen nothing but incapacity and blun- der in the execution, as well as disaster in the event. These things must be the subject of parliamentary investigation. It was not enough that our precipitate retreat from Dunkirkf was hushed up and compromised between * Chiron was known in mythology as a centaur, who taught mankind the use of plants and medicinal herbs ; and was afterwards placed by Jupiter among the constel- lations, under the name of Sagittarius. t In 1793, shortly after the battle of Neerwinden, a British army, under the com- mand of the Duke of York, was sent out to Flanders to co-operate with the Austrians, under the Prince of Saxe Coburg ; and the campaign opened favourably by the capture of Valenciennes, and the garrison of Conde, by the combined armies. By a fatal o 190 THE MODERN ORATOK. the Master-general of the Ordnance and Fu'st Lord of the Admiralty, be- cause one of them was brother to the minister. And, with respect to the transactions of Tonlon, without stopping to inquire whether the destruction of the ships was consistent with the laws of war, he would demand, by whose orders the constitution of 1789 was first offered to the people, and by whose orders that offer was broken to them ; and it must be a subject of inquiry how the noble Lord Hood, who had so freely taxed General O'Hara*' with not keeping his word, had himself broken his word to the nation, about the strength and resistance of the place. The execution of the plan for the destruction of the ships, he would prove, was mismanaged in all that de- pended on the part of Lord Hood ; for, at the Babel council of the combined armies, an offer was made to undertake the destruction of these ships, which appears to have been accepted ;f and yet, such an inadequate force was given for the purpose, as to oblige Sir Sidney Smith to leave fifteen ships of the line unconsumed. He reproached them also for the expedition of Earl Moira, which was talked of so long, as to deliver over all the unhappy royal- ists on the coast to massacre. The expedition of Sir Charles Grey had been equally ruined by protraction ; and, with respect to the whole of our naval campaign, it Y\^as in vain to enter into the details ; for no man could assert, with truth, that we had anywhere presented a formidable aspect to the enemy. Of the conduct of the channel fleet he would not say one word ; he was sure that the noble admiral J had exerted his utmost talents in the service, though they all knew the industrious pains that had been taken to throw unmerited reproach upon him. That our trade had not been pro- policy, it 3vas determined, in opposition to the advice of the Prince of Saxe Co- burg, that the allied armies should act independently of each other ; and the British forces, amounting to about 35,000 men, under the Duke of York, advanced to the attack of Dunkirk, which was then garrisoned by about 3,000 men only. The outposts were soon carried, and the siege regularly formed ;, but, in consequence of the delay of the English fleet, which was to have protected the army, the latter was dreadfully harassed by a destructive nre from the enemy's gun-boats, which were anchored so near shore as to enfilade the British encampment ; and the French government were able to send an army of 50,000 men, under General Houchard, to the relief of the town. The British forces, in the face of superior numbers, persevered in the siege for a fortnight ; but, after several engagements, in which they s^ufiered considerable loss,, they were compelled to retreat ; and withdrew, by night, on the 8th September, leaving fifty-two pieces of cannon, with a large quantity of ammunition, in the hands of the enemy. * The Commander-in-chief of the British forces at the siege of Toulon. He was taken prisoner in a sortie. t The Spaniards, who co- operated with the British, had undertaken to burn the ships in the basin, but were obliged to abandon the attempt, which was renewed by Sir Sydney Smith, with a party of British seamen, but failed, from the incessant voUies pf musketry from the shore, and the broadsides from the ships of war in the basin. X Lord Howe». RICHARD BRTNSLEY SHERIDAN. 191 tected, the fact of the channel being now, or very lately, at the mercy of a few French frigates, was a most glaring proof.* " He thought it a duty he owed his constituents, to inquire into all these things, that it might appear what our objects were in pursuing the present war, and what were the objects of our allies. From some late transactions, it was very evident that our worthy allies had objects very different from what this country could possibly be supposed to have in view. He said, that he did not mean to propose any amendment ; he should be inclined to support, however, any amendment that went to declare that this House ought to treat for a peace whenever an opportunity for that purpose pre- sented itself." After Mr Sheridan had concluded, Mr Fox moved an amendment to the address, recommending immediate negotiations for peace, without regard to the form of the French government. On a division, the original address was carried by 277 against 59. Speech on moving for leave to bring in a bill to repeal an act of the last session of Parliament, suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, January 5, 1795. In the early part of the year 1794, considerable alarm was felt in this country from the spread of political associations, of which the avowed object was to obtain a reform in parliament, but which were really actuated by the Jacobinical principles which the French revolution was, at that time, diffusing throughout Europe. Similar associations were formed also in Scotland, openly adopting the French Convention as their model ; the members addressed each other as " citizen," formed themselves into committees of organisation, instruction, &;c., and dated their proceedings, in imitation of the French revolutionists, from the first year of the British Convention, one and indivisible. The two principal associations in England were, the *' Society for Constitu- tional Information," and the "London Corresponding Society;" the latter consisting, in the early part of 1794, of upwards of thirty thousand members. These two societies, co-operating with each other, spread their seditious doctrines with great rapidity throughout the country, giving a species of authority to their opinions and resolutions, by issuing them officially signed by their respective secretaries, Thomas Hardy (a shoemaker), and Daniel * Towards the end of the yeaa: 1793, the French fitted out a number of frigates, which, cruised at the entrance of the channel, in small squadrons, and inflicted serious injuries on our trade and shipping. At the suggestion of Sir Edward Pellew, an inde- pendent squadron of frigates was formed, for the purpose of checking these cruisers^ the general rendezvous being appointed at Falmouth ; and this, it is said, was the origin of our western squadrons, which became th« most popular service in the navj. — Hughes. o2 I 192 THE MODERN ORATOB. Adams (an under-clerk). By this means an immense revolutionary faction, numbering, after a short time, nearly half a million members, was regularly established, with district branches in every part of the country, and a central Board of Direction in London. The Government, considering the constitu- tion in danger from this organised system of sedition, and having before their eyes the baneful results of the spread of similar principles in France, deter- mined to crush the growing evil while yet they had the power ; and, by their orders, the principal members of both societies were suddenly arrested in May ; and, as it was considered that the papers seized at the same time, afforded sufficient evidence of treason, they were committed to the Tower. The papers having been referred for examination to a select committee of the House, the report was brought up on the 16th of May, when Mr Pitt moved for a bill to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, which, after a strong opposition, passed into a law on the 23rd. A special commission was issued for the trial of the prisoners ; and, true bills having been found against Hardy, Home Tooke, Bonney, Kydd, Joyce, Wardell, Holcroft, Richter, Moore, Thelwall, Hodson, and Baxter, the trials began, on the 28th of October, with that of Thomas Hardy, who, with his fellow-prisoners, was charged with nine overt acts of treason. The trial lasted eight days, when a verdict of acquittal was returned; and, similar verdicts having been returned in the subsequent trials of Tooke and Thelwall, Government declined the further prosecution of the other prisoners. There is little doubt that, had the prisoners been indicted for sedition, they would have been convicted. As it was, the result of the prosecutions operated very beneficially, as it convinced the seditious that their proceedings were narrowly watched by Government. On the 2nd of January, 1795, Mr Sheridan gave notice of his intention to move to bring in a bill to repeal the act by which the Habeas Corpus Act had been suspended, and on the 5th of January he moved accordingly. " Mr Sheridan said, that in addressing the House upon a subject of the most important consideration, he by no means wished to mix his own opinions with what he should lay before them, but simply to bring forward what was the real state of facts. He was perfectly well aware that, in the present calamitous situation of the country, it might have been expected that he should direct attention to the war rather than to any other topic ; and, to bring forward another subject might appear to have a tendency to divert their attention from that which was the principal object of discussion. He was also aware that there was something risked by the motion w^hich he was now to submit to the House, as it probably would not meet with the concurrence of all those who, on the first night of the session, had expressed their disapprobation of the war ; and now, while an appearance of strength was gathering to the party in opposition of the present war, the efiect might be to produce a degree of public discouragement, and to diminish the hopes which were entertained of bringing it to a speedy conclusion. But there were some questions of essential and deep importance, which no ground of RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 193 expedience, no consideration of a nature merely temporary, should induce him to forego. Such was the question which he should bring forward to- night. The opposers of the war, who had encountered so much unpopu- larity at its onset, would stand on the same ground on the present occasion, in supporting the principles which they had uniformly avowed, whatever they might hazard by the discussion, with respect to the appearance of the strength of their party. Those who had joined them in the opposition to war, would consider how far it was incumbent upon them to support the same principles. But he should affirm that the present was the very ques- tion which those who wished for peace were bound to support. The first consideration which had been held out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer with respect to the necessity of the war, was the internal situation of the country. A view of that situation was certainly in every respect the most important. Whether we now looked to the continuance of the war, or to the event of peace, it was of consequence to ascertain whether the subjects of this country were actuated by a loyal attachment to the King and an unshaken zeal for the constitution, or were under the influence of opposite sentiments. The right honourable gentleman (Mr Pitt) had asked. If we should make peace, what would be the consequence of the inundation of French principles into this country? He, for one, did not dread the conse- quence. But, the right honourable gentleman had rightly taken his ground^ if he supposed the people of England actuated by seditious and treasonable sentiments, and ready on the first opportunity to sacrifice all the blessings which they enjoyed from the admirable form of their constitution, and madly to destroy themselves. This was the point on which he was prepared to meet him. The question was not, whether the Habeas Corpus should remain suspended till February, though an honourable gentleman (Mr Dundas) had thought proper to declare, by anticipation, that, in the present situation of things, he should be of opinion, that the suspension ought to be re- newed;* if he (Mr Sheridan) thought that there remained no ground for suspending it, no consideration of the shortness of time would induce him to withdraw his motion ; he would say, with the father of the right honour- able gentleman (the Earl of Chatham), who, when he was asked whether he would submit to a tyranny of forty days, answered, ' No ; he would not consent that the people of England should be fettered and shackled even for an hour :' but the question now was — whether the Habeas Corpus should remain suspended for ever? Another consideration connected ^vith this motion was, whether the reverence and respect for the decision of juries, so intimately interwoven with the principles of the British constitution, and hitherto so sacredly observed, should or should not be eradicated from the minds of the people of England? In conducting the present discussion, he should argue from circumstances as they really existed. He would appeal to the gentlemen on the other side with respect to the situation in which this * An Act was passed, later in January, for its further suspension. 194 THE MODERN ORATOR country was now placed, and he would ask them, whether they would not accept of the compromise that the sentiments, numbers, and force of the societies, who had been held up as dangerous to the constitution, should remain exactly as they were at present ? But there was no situation of things in which those gentlemen were not provided with an answer. If it was urged that the designs of those societies had been checked, they would ask, whether they ought to withdraw the security at the moment they had succeeded in repelling the danger ? If the influence of the societies was said to be increased, they would contend that the force which it had been found necessary to oppose to an inferior danger, became still more indis- pensable when the danger was increased. If they were called upon in a time of war, they would allege, that was not the proper time to judge of the degree of power to be granted to the executive government ; if, during the interval of peace, they would enlarge upon the necessity of guarding against the consequences of an intercourse with the daring republicans of France, there was no situation in which they would not be provided with some argu- ment for suspending this chief bulwark of the rights and liberties of English- men. The suspension would be justified, not merely as a guard against the crime of treason, but, according to the new phrase, against any disposition to moral guilt which might be productive of dangers. On such pretences, would the suspicion be justified, and the act itself never again restored? He would remind gentlemen of the grounds on which the suspension had been voted : the preamble of the act stated, that, ' Whereas a traitorous and detestable conspiracy has been formed for subverting the existing laws and constitution, and for introducing the system of anarchy and confusion which has so fatally prevailed in France,' &c. " He now came to facts. Did this traitorous, detestable conspiracy exist, if, indeed, it had ever existed at all ? It would be necessary to prove, not only that it once existed, but that the same danger still continued. Were they prepared to go to the length of these assertions ? He would not shrink from what he had said on a former occasion, that he considered Ministers as the sole fabricators of these plots. What he had then declared from strong surmise and deep suspicion, he was now enabled to repeat from the evidence of facts. He had, at his back, the verdicts of repeated juries, who had negatived the existence of any such plot. But the opinion of juries had been lately treated in such a manner, that he was almost afraid to quote their authority ; but he would remind a learned gentleman (Sir John Mitford) that for language much less unconstitutional than he had employed, with respect to the verdicts of these juries, a learned sergeant had formerly been committed to prison by the House of Commons. That learned gentleman had told them, that the ac- quittal of a jury did not declare the man innocent, it only exempted him from being tried again upon the same charge. He had always understood, that it was a maxim of the law of England, that every man was presumed to be innocent till he was found guilty. But, so far from this being the case, he was now told, that not even the acquitted of a jury established his RICHARD ERINSIiEY SHERIDAIST. 193 innocence, or restored him to his former place in society. Much stress was laid upon the decision, of a grand jury. He did not rest much upon that, more especially as he understood that some degree of management had been employed in forming that grand jury. Letters were sent round, one of which he now held in his hand, dispensing with the attendance of some who might otherwise have sat on that grand jury ; and, so far as that went, had the effect of packing them. But he could not certainly regard the autho- rity of any grand jury as of much weight, if, after the prisoner was put upon his trial, by their finding a bill against him, he was still, by the liberal spirit of the law of England, to be considered innocent till he was found guilty by a verdict of his peers. An honourable gentleman (Mr Wyndham) had gone even further than the learned character to whom he had alluded ; he had thrown down the gauntlet to his right honourable friend (Mr Fox). How fax it was prudent or proper in that gentleman so to do, he would not take upon him to determine, especially when he recol- lected that, on a former occasion, he had declared that he would not give up the title of his friend till his right honourable friend had first given him a hint for that purpose. The neighbourhood into which the honourable gentleman had lately got, had, perhaps, impaired his memory. He had not waited for the hint; he had now renounced the title. Nor was such a hint to be expected from his right honourable friend, by those who knew with what strength of attachment he clung to all those of whom he had been accustomed to think favourably, and how unwilling he was to give up any who had once formed claims upon his friendship. Now, however, that the honourable gentleman had voluntarily disclaimed the connexion, he had no hesitation to declare that he should henceforth meet him on the ground of fair and avowed hostility. That honourable gentleman, next to another person, had been the principal instrument of bringing the country into the calamitous situation in which it was now placed. He trusted that he had abilities to extricate it from the difhcuities of that situation. At any rate, he knew that he had boldness to wait the responsibility which would ultimately attach to all the authors of the present war. Except, indeed, there was something in the support of the war that corrupted and degraded the human heart, he should have thought that the honourable gentleman would have been the last of all men to apply to persons acquitted by juries of their country, the opprobious epithet of acquitted felons. There might have been some ground for this epithet, if those persons had owed their escape to any flaw in the indictment, or to any deficiency of technical forms ; it might then have been urged, that they were not entitled, by the verdict of a jury, to a regeneration of character, and were still to be considered in the light in which the honourable gentleman had placed them — as men branded with guilt, and outcasts from society. He would not say that every man acquitted was therefore innocent ; there could be no rule of that sort without an exception ; a criminal might owe his acquittal to a flaw in the indictment, or a failure of the evidence. It had been stated the other night that a person might be charged with murder who .had only been guilty of house- 196 THE MODEKN OBATOR. breaking, and, because he was not found guilty upon the first charge, was he therefore to be considered as a pure and honoui'able character ? But did the men who had lately been acquitted stand in that situation ? If there was any case in which the verdict of a jury went completely to establish the innocence of the party accused, it ought to be with respect to the charge of high treason. That charge, it was to be recollected, came Avith the highest authority, and with a degree of influence which it was difficult for any individual to resist. It was to be recollected, too, that, with respect to the crime of high treason, the country itself was both party and judge, since he who conspires against the life of the King, conspires at the same time against the peace of the country. " With respect to the charge of levying war, it was possible that the party accused might escape from the incompetency of the evidence ; but with re- spect to the charge of compassing and imagining the King's death, the inten- tion itself constituted the crime : and if the jury had in their own minds a conviction of the criminal intention, and there was sufficient proof of the overt act, they were bound to find their verdict guilty. Mr Sheridan said, he he would now put it, whether, in the course of the late trials, anything that could have been brought forward against the prisoners was omitted, from any Want of time or attention ? He had heard, indeed, a gentleman (the Solicitor- general) say, that the jury, if they had known all that he did, would have found their verdict differently. But he conceived that he must have been asleep at the time, otherwise it must be inferred that he had neglected to state to the jury all that he knew, and thereby shown himself disqualified for the place which he held — a confession which he surely would not wish to make to the gentlemen along with whom he sat, far less to those on the other side. He could not mean that anything further had since come to his knowledge, since he had himself admitted that the efiect of those acquittals went to prevent the parties from being again tried on the same charge. No pains had surely been spared to bring those persons to a conviction, if they had been really guilty. A report of that house was brought forward, con- taining almost everything that was afterwaa:ds brought out in evidence, and that was followed by the decision of the grand jury. Neither could it be contended, that there was any want of time : some of the persons tried were taken up in May ; the six months previous to their trial Avere employed in collecting and arranging evidence ; a task in which many respectable persons, urged by sense of what they had conceived to be their duty to their country, were induced to take an active part. Neither was there any deficiency of legal ability ; twelve gentlemen of the greatest professional eminence, whose talents were adequate to any cause, were retained on the side of the Crown, at an expense of upwards of £8,000, independently of the bill of the solicitor to the treasury.^'' * Mr Sheridan here read the list of the names of the counsel for the prosecution — Sir Jolm Scott (the Attorney-general, afterwards Lord Eldon), Sir John Mitford (the Solicitor-generai), Mr Anstruther, Mr Sergeant Adair, ISIr Bearcroft, Messrs Bower^ Law, and Garrow, King's counsel ; Mr Wood, Mr Baldwin, and Mr PercevaL RICHAK.D BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 197 "The Attorney-general (continued he) assures me that he exerted his abilities gratuitously ; an example which, I trust, will be imitated, and for which I give him credit, though I cannot approve of his doctrines of high treason — doctrines which,if they were once to be admitted, no man could, in my opinion, be safe : nor yet of the detestable evidence of spies, so much resorted to in the conduct of the prosecution. Such an array could only, indeed, have been encountered by the abilities and eloquence of my honourable friend (Mr Erskine), who, by his conduct on that occasion, acquired the highest honour, but to whom all professional honour was become superfluous ; and therefore he may deem it fortunate that he was associated with Mr Gibbs, who deservedly comes in for a share of credit in the transaction. No exer- tion less vigorous, no abilities less splendid, would have been sufficient to withstand the weight of authority and of evidence with which it was attempted to crush and overwhelm the prisoners. But, perhaps, the gentlemen engaged in the prosecution will contend that they did not bring a sufficient number of witnesses ; that they were willing to spare the trouble of persons engaged in different occupations, and residing in distant parts of the country. How far this is the case (said Mr Sheridan) will appear by a paper from which I shall now read the list of the witnesses summoned in the case of Mr Joyce, who was never tried.* " There was one circumstance to be noticed : many of those men were kept in prison for a considerable time, till they were wanted for that purpose : there they were cooped up, half witnesses and half principals, till the day of trial ; and yet, to the men who had been placed in this situation, many of whom had lost their business and been hurt in their character, not the smallest compensation had been given ; he would not say, because they had failed in giving evidence which might have been favourable to the views of the prosecution ; some of them had been sent back to Sheffield, with £3 to defray their expenses. With regard to the manner in which the proceedings had been conducted, at least, no labour had been spared. The first speech on the trials took up no less a space than nine hours. Had he been in the situa- tion of a juryman, the very circumstance of an Attorney- general taking nine hours to tell him of an overt act of high treason, would have been a reason why he should have given as his opinion, that he could not believe it, and that it could not possibly be true. The whole procedure, on the part of the prosecution, was a piece of delicate clock-work, a sort of filigree net, too slight to hold a robust traitor, and yet so contrived as to let all the lesser cases of libel and sedition escape. The very intricacy and labour of the proceeding was, to his mind, the most satisfactory testimony that the case could not be supported on the grounds of substantial evidence and constitu- tional principles. If he was asked, did there not appear, from these trials, instances of sedition ? he had no hesitation to say, that they exhibited in- * Mr Sheridan here read an abstract of the list of witnesses, amounting in all to 207 persons. 198 THE MODERN ORATOR. stances of many gross and scandalous libels. He was ready to admit there were in the societies mischievous men, intent on mischievous purposes. There were others actuated by enthusiasm, whom he could not consider in the same light, because it was that sort of enthusiasm v/hich had actuated meni- of the purest minds. As to the phrases 'convention,' &c., in which they had affected an imitation and approbation of the proceedings of the French, the worst that could be said of them was, that they were contemptibly foolish. " He had attended the trials, he said, from a principle of duty. He was of opinion that every man who loved the constitution, and who thought that it was endangered by false alarms, would feel it incumbent, on such an oc- casion, to attend trials which he considered as originating from ministerial artifice ; and to watch the conduct of the crown lawyers and of the judges, in order to avert those calamities from the country in which, at former times, it had been involved, to prevent that most dreadful of all wars — a war of plots and conspiracies ; wars in which the purest blood had been shed by the most destructive of all weapons — the perjured tongues of spies and in- formers. That there was no real danger, appeared from the declaration of the Chief Justice Eyre, who, in summing up on one of the trials, stated that it was an ostentatious and boasting conspiracy; and that it was much in favour of the accused, that they had neither men, money, nor zeal, to eflfect the purposes with which they were charged. On the first trial one pike was produced, that was afterwards withdrawn from mere shame. A formidable instrument was talked of, to be employed against the cavalry ; it appeared, upon evidence, to be a tee-totum in a window at Shefiield. There was a camp in a back shop, an arsenal provided with nine muskets, and an exche- quer containing nine pounds and one bad shilling ; all to be directed against the whole armed force and established government of Great Britain. Mr Sheridan said that he, in the first instance, had shown the most obstinate incredulity with respect to all the rumours of a plot. He endeavoured to call to mind whether the present ministry had, in any former instance, availed themselves of a similar artifice. He recollected that in the year 1783, at the period when the coalition took place, they represented those who were en- gaged in that measure as setting up a fourth party in the state, as wishing to supersede the authority of the King and to destroy the constitution, and had actually persuaded many well-meaning people at the time to be of that opinion, and to regard the authors of the measure as enemies to their country, whose destruction was necessary for the preservation of the established government. He recollected, too, that the very men who had set up the coalition were now in the cabinet, and that the charge brought against them must therefore have been false, and an instance of successful deception. He was more confirmed in his persuasion of the trick when he looked to the conduct of the right honourable gentleman (Mr Pitt), who had adopted the policy of keeping open the door of reform that he might get himself out by it, and whose system it had uniformly been, on that question, to do just as RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 199 much as might nourish hope, and yet discourage effort. He recollected that the Society of the Friends of the People*" had been constituted of a hundred persons, of whose characters it would not become him to speak, since he himself had the honour to be one of the number. That society had, at its first formation, been represented as more pernicious than any of the others ; they had been held out, both in that and in the other House, as men whose exist- ence was incompatible with the safety of the constitution. Their first institution had been followed by a royal proclamation, in order to secure the country from the infection of their principles. In what light had that society been held out on the late trials ? That very society had been represented as the sa- viours of the country, as the standards of political orthodoxy ; and it had been represented as the blackest aggravation of the guilt of other societies, that they had not suffered themselves to be guided by them ; that they had not im- plicitly adopted their principles, or concurred in their proceedings. This he could not help regarding as the second instance of successful deception. The proclamation afterwards issued, previous to the calling out of the militia and the assembling of Parliament, put into the mouth of his Majesty an expres- sion which was not true — namely, that there existed insurrections in the country. It might be urged, that at that time there was great appearance of danger, and that it was better to prevent the meditated mischief than to wait for its arrival. In such a case Ministers, too, would have done better to have taken the responsibility to themselves, and applied to Parliament for a bill of indemnity. He had, on a former occasion, taken notice of all the arts which were at that time employed to propagate alarm ; of the Duke of Rich- mond throwing himself into the Tower in the middle of the night ; of the mail-coach being retarded, and carrying with it the most dismal reports of the state of the metropolis, so that every person who arrived in a post chaise ex- pected to find that all London was in a flame. He had then surmised that all this was the effect of mere political artifice; he now found his suspicion con- * The society of" The Friends of the People " was one of several political societies, which were formed in the year 1792, for the purpose of procuring parliamentary reform. It numbered among its members, many members of parliament and influential persons, and the principles of the society were the same which Mr Pitt had himself formerly supported. In April, Mr Charles Grey, a member of the society, was deputed to fur- ther its object by moving, in his place in parliament, an inquiry into the state of the representation, as preliminary to reform. Mr Pitt earnestly opposed the object of Mr Grrey's notice of motion, candidly avowing that his opinions had changed on the sub- ject, and declaring that, in the then excited state of society, that was not the proper season for experiments which might endanger the constitution. This opposition of the minister was followed, on the 21st May, by a royal proclamation for the prevention of seditious meetings and publications, calling on the magistrates to suppress them, and exhorting the people to obedience to the laws. On the 26th May, an address was moved in the Commons in approbation and support of the proclamation (which was declared by Mr Pitt to have been levelled against the propagation of the seditious doctrines contained in Paine's *' Rights of Man"), and, although warmly opposed by Mr Grey and Mr Fox, was carried without a division. 200 THE MODERN ORATOR. firmed by facts. During the course Of the trials, he had heard the evidence of the spies of the government, no part of vs^hich went to sanction the alarm which had been so industriously propagated. It followed, therefore, either that Ministers were deceived by their own spies, and had thereby shown themselves unfit for the situation which they held, or that they had acted upon an alarm which they did not feel, to answer the infamous purposes of their own ambition, and to delude the people into a wicked and a ruinous war. At the time, everybody admitted that the measures of ministry were extraordinary, but something, they said, must come out. Papers notoriously in the pay of ministers, even took upon them to mention the particulars of the plot, and to name the persons concerned. He had then moved for a committee of the House to inquire into the subject ; his motion was nega- tived because ministers knew that no such plot had ever existed. If a go- vernment wanted a plot, plots, like other commodities, would be brought to the market. Had his motion been adopted when it was first proposed, it would have then refuted the libel on the character of the people of England. The right honourable gentleman, in a more advanced stage of the business, had come forward with a motion for a secret committee. It did not become him to say that the members who composed that committee were not highly respectable : they were chosen by baUot, and therefore, no doubt, perfectly independent ; but it was well known that every such election by ballot was determined by previous agreement ; and he had himself previously read the names of thirteen or fourteen members who were to be in that committee ; and he must say, that it was a circumstance of suspicion that they resorted to this mode of choosing a secret committee, rather than that of naming the members over the table, as had been done on another important occasion. A report was presented to that committee, cut and dry, and by some of them, he would venture to say, adopted without much examination. In speaking of the gentlemen who composed that committee, he felt some degree of deli- cacy ; they were not now all here ; they were so much alarmed that they did not consider that house as a place of sufficient security, and had taken refuge in the upper house. A coronet, the reward of their seasonable apprehen- sions, would, they thought, be most likely to secure the head of the owner from future danger. While the committee were sitting upon this report, which had been in preparation five or six months, two notes were sent — one to his right hon. friend (Mr Fox), and another to him, informing them that something important was to take place in the House of Commons. This was all the intimation which was thought necessary to precede a suspension of the chief bulwark of the rights and liberties of Englishmen. Upon hear- ing only a moiety of the report from the Minister, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act was proposed. Seventeen divisions had on that occasion taken place on his side of the House; and he should ever regard the share %vhich he had taken in that measure as the most meritorious part of his par- liamentary conduct. In the House of Lords the business was not conducted so hastily; their lordships were presented with pikes, with drawings, with EICHARD BHINSLEY SHERIDAN. 201 male and female screws; their noble natures were not so easily to be roused; it was necessary that they should be presented with some ocular demonstra- tion of the danger: — " Segnius irritant animos dimissa pet aurem, Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus." He was almost ashamed to say, that the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act was not a matter of slight or trivial consideration." [Mr Sheridan here quoted the opinion of Sir Edward Coke on the import- ance of the Habeas Corpus, which concludes " that without the enjoyment of this privilege we are no longer anything more than bondsmen. There re- mains no distinction between the freeman and the slave — the living and the dead." He then proceeded to quote the more recent opinions of Judge Blackstone, in the following extract from his chapter on the rights of persons, section ii. : — " Of great importance to the public is the preservation of this personal liberty, for if once it were left in the power of any of the highest magistrates to imprison arbitrarily whomever he or his officers thought pro- per (as in France it is daily practised by the Crown), there would soon be an end of all other rights and immunities. Some have thought that unjust attacks, even upon life or property, at [the arbitrary will of the magistrate, are less dangerous to the commonwealth than such as are made upon the personal liberty of the subject. To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate without accusation or trial, would be so gross and noto- rious an act of despotism, as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny through- out the whole kingdom ; but confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to gaol, where his sufierings are unknown or forgotten, is a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous, engine of arbitrary government. And yet sometimes, when the state is in real danger, even this may be a necessary measure. But the happiness of our constitution is, that it is not left to the executive power to determine when the danger of the state is so great as to render this measure expedient ; for it is the parliament only, or legislative power, that whenever it sees proper can authorise the Crown, by suspending the Habeas Corpus Act for a short and limited time, to imprison suspected per- sons without giving any reason for so doing, as the senate of Rome was wont to have recourse to a dictator, a magistrate of absolute authority, when they judged the republic in any imminent danger. The decree of the senate, which usually preceded the nomination of this magistrate, dent operam consules, ne quid respuhlica detrimenti capiat, was called the senatus consultuvn ultimm necessitatis. In like manner this experiment ought only to be tried in cases of extreme emergency ; and in these the nation parts with its liberty for a while, in order to preserve it for ever."] " If the position of this famous lawyer be true, if a suspension of the Habeas Corpus can be compared to nothing but a measure which suspends the whole of the constitution, it ought surely only to take place in cases of the most urgent and absolute necessity. He would ask whether the present was a 202 THE MODERN ORATOR. case of such extreme emergency ? If any man believed that the people of this country were infected with treasonable principles, and disposed to over- turn the Government, he might then be justified in holding such an opinion ; but if any man believed that the characteristic feature of the English nation was a sober, settled, and steady attachment to the constitution, it was incum- bent on him to call for an immediate repeal of the act suspending the Habeas Corpus. Such was the opinion which had been confirmed by repeated ver- dicts of a jury — verdicts which went completely to do away the idea of any conspiracy having ever existed in the country. He, for one, would not wait till ministers should exercise their ingenuity in the fabrication of new plots, or should have time to propagate fresh alarms ; he would call upon them immediately to restore to the people those rights, without which they could neither respect themselves nor the government under which they lived. " I feel myself, (said Mr Sheridan) as if contending for a melancholy truth with Ministers, when I assure them that such is the state of the country, and such is the loyalty of the people, that they are firmly attached to the consti- tution, and disposed quietly to enjoy its blessings, without any idea of either attempting the person of his Majesty, or cutting the throats of one another. I shall hear then, not of a plot, but of the existence of a propensity to moral guilt, as justifying the continuance of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus. I will not say that there have been no instances of sedition, but I will affirm even that the evidence of these appears in so questionable a shape as ought to excite your suspicion. It is supported by a system of spies and informers — a system which has been carried to a greater extent under the present admin- istration than in any former period of the history of the country. I will not say that there is no government in Europe which does not stand in need of the assistance of spies ; but I will affirm that the government which avails itself of such support does not exist for the happiness of the people. It is a system which is calculated to engender suspicion and to beget hostility ; it not only destroys all confidence between man and man, but between the governors and the governed ; where it does not find sedition it creates it. It resembles in its operation the conduct of the father of all spies and in- formers, the devil, who introduced himself into Paradise, not only to inform his own pandemonium of the state of that region, but to deceive and betray the inhabitants. The spy, in order to avoid suspicion, is obliged to assume an appearance of zeal and activity ; he is the first to disseminate the doctrines of sedition, or to countenance the designs of violence; he deludes the weak by the speciousness of his arguments, and inflames the turbulent by the fury of his zeal. It must have made a man's heart burn to hear the sort of evidence brought forward by these spies on the late trials. A wretch of the name of Lynam said, that, in his capacity of delegate to one of the societies, he had incurred suspicion, had been tried by the other delegates, and honourably acquitted. The counsel for the prosecution could hear such a declaration with unblushing countenances. By what RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 203 means had he been acquitted, but by pretences of superior zeal and more furious exertion? I wish the honourable gentleman who called the persons who had been tried acquitted felons, had been present when such witnesses were examined against them ; I wish he had been present when the Chief Baron (Macdonald) addressed Mr Thelwall, not as an acquitted felon, but as having obtained a verdict which was honourable to his character, and ex- horted him, in a tone of the utmost gentleness, to employ his talents in future for purposes useful to his country. The manner in which that address was made, was fit and becoming the character of the judge by whom it was delivered, as well as respectful to the person to whom it was directed. Of whatever indiscretion the persons who had been tried had been guilty, it will not be disputed by those who have attended to their case, that they have feeling hearts, that they are alive to every sense of indignity, and that they must have been deeply wounded by the opprobrious epithet applied to them by the honourable gentleman. I trust this is sufficient to induce him to make the only reparation now in his power, by the speediest recantation of his hasty and ill-judged expression. There was another witness of the name of Taylor, not an acquitted but a convicted felon, who had been tried for a crime into the moral demerit of which I will not enter, but which had been attended with the aggravation of perjury ; but sentenced only to a slight punishment, on account, as was alleged, of some favourable circum- stances in his case, though, upon my word, I could find none, except that he had assisted to hang his brother spy (Watts) ; yet this man was thought a proper character to be brought forward as an evidence in a court of justice, and allowed to hunt after the blood of Englishmen. If Ministry had been duped and deluded by their spies, ought they not to admit the deception that had been played upon them ? But, (said Mr Sheridan,) I can suppose the case of a haughty and stiff'-necked minister, who never mixed in a popular assembly, who had therefore no common feeling with the mass of the people, no knowledge of the mode in which their intercourse is con- ducted, who was not a month in the ranks in this House before he was raised to the first situation, and, though on a footing of equality with any other member, elevated with the idea of fancied superiority — such a minister can have no communication with the people of England, except through the medium of spies and informers ; he is unacquainted with the mode in which their sentiments are expressed, and cannot make allowance for the language of toasts and resolutions adopted in an unguarded and convivial hour. Such a minister, if he lose their confidence, will bribe their hate ; if he disgust them by arbitrary measures, he will not leave them till they are completely bound and shackled ; above all, he will gratify the vindictive resentment of apostasy by prosecuting all those who dare to espouse the cause which he has betrayed ; and he will not desist from the gratification of his malignant propensities and the prosecution of his arbitrary schemes, till he has buried in one grave the peace, the happiness, the glory, and the inde» 204 THE MODERN ORATOE. pendence of England.^ Such a minister must be disqualified to judge of the real state of the country, and must be eternally the dupe of those vile spies whose interest it is to deceive him, as well as to betray others. In what country, or from what quarter of the community, are we to apprehend the effects of those principles of insubordination with which we have been so often threatened? The characteristic feature of the English nation is entirely different ; they testify, on every occasion, the utmost respect for superiority (I am sorry to use the phrase), wherever the advantages of rank or fortune are exercised by those who enjoy them with any tolerable decency or regard to the welfare of their dependants. What nobleman or gentleman finds in his tenants or servants, so long as he treats them with propriety and kindness, a hostile and envious disposition ? What merchant or great manu- facturer finds in those whom he employs, so long as he treats them well, a sullen and uncomplying temper, instead of a prompt and cheerful obedience ? This tendency to insubordination forms no part of the temper or character of the people ; the contrary disposition is even carried to an extreme. If I am asked whether there is any danger in the present moment, I say. Yes. But it is not a danger of that sort which is to be remedied by suspending the rights, or abridging the privileges of the people. The danger arises from a contempt being produced among the lower orders, of all public men and all public principles. " A circumstance occurs to me, which took place during the late trials, where the ' Friends of the People' were praised from the bench. When one of the Sheffield witnesses (Broomhead) was asked why his society declined communicating with the ' Friends of the People;' he answered that he would tell them very plainly, that they did not believe them to be honest ; that there were several of them members of parliament ; that they had some of them been in place ; and that they conceived the ins and the outs, however they might vary in their profession, to be. actuated by the same motives of interest. I, who might be as little implicated in such a charge as any man, felt rebuked and subdued by the answer. What is it that tends to produce this contempt of public men ? The conduct of those who ought to hold out an example of public principle. I heard an honourable gentleman (Mr Wyndham) the other day — and on this subject I will pursue him with pro- fessed and unabating hostility — complain of the indifference and languor of the country in the present contest, and call upon them to greater * Mr Pitt, without passing through any subordinate offices, became Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons, at the early age of twenty-three. Although Sheridan always reprobated Pitt as a minister, he acknowledged the highest respect for him as a man. In 1802, he thus spoke of him : •♦ No man admires his splendid talents more than I do. If ever there was a man formed and fitted by nature, to benefit his country and to give it lustre, he is such a man. He has no low, little, mean, petty vices. He has too much good sense, taste, and talent, to set his mind upon ribands, stars, titles, and other appendages, and idols of rank. He is of a nature not at all suited to be the creature or tool of any court.'' UICHARD BRINSLEY SHE-RIDAN. 205 greater displays of vigour and exertion, while at the same time he affirmed, that no man in the country felt any distress from the pressure and calamities of war. Will he say this to the starving manufacturers of Norwich ? Will he say it to the slaving poor of the metropolis, obliged to purchase a loaf at nine-pence, and unable to supply themselves with coals at this inclement season, from the enormous price of that necessary article ? Will he say it to the landholders, whose property, since the commencement of the v/ar, has been reduced half its value ? What can this language of the honourable gentleman mean, except he means to drive the great body of the people to desperation ? When I h€ard the honourable gentleman call upon the coun- try for increased exertions, I concluded that he would have proposed to throw in his salary to the aid of the public fund, and to live contented on his own splendid income. I supposed he would have persuaded his right honourable friend (Mr Pitt) to relinquish the revenue which he derives from the Cinque Ports, and to live on the £6000 a year attached to his other appointment ; that he would have persuaded another honourable gentleman (Mr Dundas) to give up one of his numerous salaries ; ^' and a noble mar- quis, in another House, to give up some of the emolument which he derives from the tellership of the Exchequer, which would this year amount to £15,000. As the noble marquis, on a former occasion, professed himself ready to abandon part of those emoluments, and take the office at a more moderate salary, he had now an excellent opportunity to prove the sincerity of his declaration. I expected all this, and that they would not have failed to assist their own arguments by the operation of their generosity. The honourable gentleman shakes his head, as if I had said something which I did not mean, or Avould not stand by. When formerly, in conjunction with him and others, I attacked the corruption of Ministers, I thought I was speaking the sentiments of men who were sincere in recommending the doc- trine of public economy, and not persons secretly bargaining for a share of the wages of corruption. Little did I think that the opposition which they then expressed, was only an envious admiration of the honours and emolu- ments of Ministers, and an impatient desire of participation ; little did I con- ■ceive that the first act of a noble person (Duke of Portland) would have been to arrest from a gallant man a token of honour, which he had merited by his public services ; a man, to whom, indeed, that token could add no honour, but who might wish to introduce into his own profession such a badge of distinction. In Ireland, ever since the period of their arrangement, they have experienced the utmost difficulty and embarrassment, from a dispute which has subsisted about patronage, and which has at last been compro- mised ; how far honourably, I will leave to those who are best acquainted with the transactions to determine. In the present war, Ministers have been obliged to have recourse to allies both at home and abroad ; both have been * Mr Dundas was Treasurer of the Navy, and Secretary of State for the War De- partment. p 206 THE MODERN ORATOE. procured by the same means — bargain and subsidy. Among the members of the present cabinet there subsists a sort of Dutch amity, and they hate one another more cordially then even they do us who are in opposition to their measures. The question is, Has the Duke of Portland a majority in the cabinet } No ; Mr Pitt constrains him by an additional vote. It was curious to observe the changes which had lately taken place ; from a lord privy seal, to be first lord of the Admiralty, and vice versa ; from president of the council, to be Lord-lieutenant of Ireland ; and from the Lord-lieute- nant of Ireland, to be Master of the Horse. A noble earl (Mansfield) came at first into the cabinet without any emolument ; I was at first disposed to give him credit for his disinterestedness ; but whether it was conceived by Ms colleagues to be a foolish thing, or that it might operate as a bad ex- ample, he was soon induced to accept the situation of president of the council, with a large salary. While all Europe is in a flame, they seem to be engaged at boys' play; to be scrambling for places and pensions, for ribands and titles, and amusing themselves with puss in the comer in the cabinet room. When such is the picture of the conduct of public men, I am not surprised at the declaration of the witness from Sheffield, that he gives no man of that description credit for being honest. Willingly would I throw a veil over such transactions for the sake of the country, were it pos- sible either to conceal their existence, or to extenuate their disgrace. Mr Sheridan said that he had now stated almost all that he had to say : there was nothing, in his mind, which would be more calculated to remove the danger of sedition than to abandon the system of corruption which now pre- vailed. To reform the conduct of government, and to correct abuses, would be the surest way to remedy discontent and render a further suspension of the Habeas Corpus unnecessary. He proceeded to state that many of the acts of the societies, which had excited so m.uch alarm, were only imitations of what had been done by the societies in 1780.^' If the minister at that time had been disposed to prosecute, he might have made out a much better ease of treason than had been brought forward by the present ministers. Was the memorable expression of the illustrious Earl of Chatham forgotten, * that he rejoiced that America had resisted ?' f Could none of the mem- bers recollect the strong language adopted by Mr Burke on the same occa- sion ; and the sentiments that had been avowed in the House by the opposers of that war, ' that they wept over the fall of Montgomery, | and did not exult in the desertion of Arnold ? ' § He produced a paper with the * Mr Sheridan alluded to the riots in London, caused by Lord George Gordon, at the head of the Protestant Association, a society whose object was to prevent a repeal of the penal laws against Roman Catholics. t See Lord Chatham's Speeches, page 27. X General Montgomery, one of the American commanders, shot at the unsuccessful siege of Quebec, 1775. § General Arnold, who, after having been promoted by Congress, for his valour and -ability, deserted to the English in 1780, and became a brigadier-general in the British service. EICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 207 inscription, * Lenox, the friend to equality,' which, had the then Ministers been disposed to prosecute, contained matter more inflammatory than any paper that had been brought forward on the late trials. If approbation of the progress of the enemy, implied by toasts and resolutions ; if an unqua- lified claim of universal representations ; if disrespectful expressions, such as * What care I for the King's birth-day?' were to be construed as treasonable matter, all these would be found to apply to the associations in 1780, in a greater degree than to the present societies. Nay, a convention of the same nature with that which these societies had been charged as having conspired to hold, was then actually held. These men only trod in the same path in which they had seen others go before them, not only without impeachment but without reproach.* If (said Mr Sheridan) we make a boast of equal laws, if these men are to be considered as guilty of high treason, let us have some retrospective hanging, and, whatever in that case may happen to me, his Majesty will at least derive some benefit, since he will thereby get rid of a majority of his present cabinet. Mr Sheridan said, that when he recollected that his speaking and writing might have been instrumental in inducing those men to espouse the views which they had adopted, he could not separate his own cause from theirs, and he did not know what other men's consciences were made of, who could prosecute, and even bring to condign punishment and infamy, persons who had been guilty of no other crime than having taken up the same side of the question of which they themselves had formerly been the advocates and supporters. He then reprobated the arguments drawn from the difierences of times, and the necessity of terrible examples — an argument to be found in everybody's mouth, and which he contended to be false and mischievous. It was re- echoed from every quarter, and by every description of persons in office, from the prime minister to the exciseman — ' Look to the example of France.' The implication was a libel upon the character of Great Britain. The cha». racters of nations arose not from the difference of soil and climate, but from the invariable and eternal decrees of Providence. Government was the school and seminary of the soul." He proceeded to press the distinction in the characters and minds of the mass of the inhabitants of different countries, according to their different governments. " I will not, therefore," said Mr Sheridan, " admit the infer- ence or the argument, that, because a people, bred under a proud, insolent, and grinding despotism, maddened by the recollection of former injuries, and made savage by the observation of former cruelties ; a people, in whose minds no sincere respect for property or law ever could have existed, because property had never been secured to them, and law had never protected them; * Lord Greorge Gordon, the author of the riots, was tried for high treason, and acquitted, as his oifence did not appear to amount to treason ; had he been tried for high crimes and misdemeanors, he without doubt would have been convicted. A special commission was issued for the trial of a great number of the rioters, many -of whom were found guilty and punished accordingly. p 2 208 THE MODERK OUA^OK. a people separated and divided into classes by the strongest and harshest lines of distinction, generating envy and smothered malice in the lower ranks, and pride and insolence in the higher. That the actions of such a people, at any time, much less in the hour of frenzy and of fury, provoked and goaded hy the arms and menaces of the surrounding despots that assailed them, should furnish an inference or ground on which ta estimate' the temper, cha- racter, or feelings of the people of Great Britain ; of a people, who, though sensible of many abuses which disfigure the constitution, were yet not insen- sible to its many and invaluable blessings ; a people who reverenced the laws of their coimtry because those laws shielded and protected all alike ; a people, among whom all that was advantageous in private acquisition, all that was honourable in public ambition, was equally open to the efforts, the industry, and the abilities of all ; among whom progress, and rise in society and public estimation, was one ascending slope, as it were, without a break or landing-place ; among whom no sullen line of demarcation separated and cut off the several orders from each other, but all was one blended tint, from the deepest shade that veiled the meanest occupation of laborious industry, to the brightest hue that glittered in the luxurious pageantry of title, wealth, and power : he would not, therefore, look to the example of France ; for, between the feelings, the tempers, and social disposition towards each other, much less towards the governments which they obeyed, of nations so differ- ently constituted and of such different habits, he would assert, that no com- parison could be made which reason and philosophy ought not to spurn at with contempt and indignation. If pressed further for an illustration on this subject, he would ask, what answer would those gentlemen give, if a person affectedly or sincerely anxious for the preservation of British liberty, were to say, ' Britons, abridge the power of your monarch, restrain the exer- cise of his just prerogative, withhold all power and resources from his govern- ment, or even send him to his electorate, from whence your voice exalted him — for mark what has been doing on the continent ! LooTi to the example of kings ! ! Kings, believe me, are the same in nature and temper every- where ; trust yours no longer: — see how that shameless and perfidious despot of Prussia, that trickster and tyrant, has violated every principle of truth, honour, and humanity, in his murderous, though impotent, attempt at plunder and robbery in Poland \ He, who had encouraged and even gua- ranteed to them their constitution : ^' — see him, with a scandalous profana- tion of the resources which he had wrung by fraud from the credulity of Great Britain, trampling on the independence he was pledged to maintain, and seizing for himself the countries he had sworn to protect. Mark the * After the first partition of Poland, and the promulgation of the new constitution, by the Diet in 1788, the King of Prussia expressed his entire approval of the changes adopted, and with the basest perfidy declared, that he had nothing nearer his heart than the interests of Poland and the preservation of a good understanding with it ; while at the same time he entered into a fresh alliance with Catherine, Empress of Bussia,. for making a second partition, which was effected in 179-1. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 209 still more sanguinary efforts of the despot of Russia, faithless not to us only and the cause of Europe, as it is called, but craftily outwitting her per- jured coadjutor, profiting by his disgrace, and grasping to herself the victim which had been destined to glut their joint rapacity. See her thanking her favourite General Suwarrow,* and, still more impious, thanking Heaven for the opportunity ; thanking him for the most iniquitous act of cruelty the bloody page of history recorded — the murderous scene at Prague, where, not in the heat and fury of action, not in the first impatience of revenge, but after a cold, deliberate pause of ten hours, with temperate barbarity, he ordered, a considei'ate, methodical massacre of 10,000 women and children. These are the actions of monarchs ! Look to the example of Idngs ! ! ' What those gentlemen would reply to such an argument or exhortation I know not. My answer should be, I treat your inference and comparison with the same abhorrence and indignation with which I turn from those who would libel and traduce the character and principles of the people of England ; and upon the same grounds and principles, I will not look to the example of the princes you point out, and justly, perhaps, stigmatise, in order to measure my allegiance and opinion of the King of Great Britain. I am not to be misled by names ; I regard not that the four letters are the same which form the title of the despot of Brandenburg, and of the first magistrate of this free country. I will not look to the principles or practice of a man born and bred in flattery, falsehood, and faithlessness — of a prince accustomed to look to fear only for obedience, and to arms only for security ; of one used to consider his people as his property, their lives and limbs his traffic ; of one instructed to make his will the law, and the law his tool; of one, finally, whose heart must be perverted and corrupted by that which ever did and ever will deprave and corrupt the human heart — the possession of despotic power. I will not borrow from such an example a rule to estimate the prin- ciples, acts, or wishes of a monarch, where it must be as palpably his wish as his interest to reign in the hearts of his people ; of a prince, whom a love of liberty alone in the people exalted to his present situation ; and who must, therefore, regard and cherish that love of liberty in his subjects, as the real body-guard of his person ; of a king, who, not seated on a solitary emi- nence of power, sees in the co-existing branches of the legislature his equals — in the law his superior ; who, taught by the awful examples of our history, knows he is accountable for the sacred trust reposed in him, and, * In the last struggle of the Poles for independence, under the famous Kosciusko, Suwarrow, who had acquired a high reputation in the Turkish war, acted as the General- in- chief of the Russian forces. Kosciusko was defeated and taken prisoner, and Suwarrow marched to take possession of the capital. The remains of the Polish army, which were collected at Praga, on the Vistula, opposite to Warsaw, made but a feeble resistance to the veteran army of the Russians, and, the capital having been stormed, its inhabitants were plundered and massacred without quarter. In the par- tition which followed, Austria obtained Cracow and the country between the Pihtsa, the Vistula, and the Bug ; to Prussia was assigned Warsaw, and the country as far as the Nieman ; the rest formed the share of Russia. 210 THE MODEKN OBATOE. o^ving his title to the people's choice, feels the true security of his throne to be the people's love. Thus would I reply, and thus would I remain — though disclaiming the servile cant of adulation, with sentiments of unabated attach- ment to the person of our present monarch, and with unshaken adherence to the principle of hereditary government in this country, while limited, and directed to the objects for which that and all other power on earth is created — the benefit and happiness of the people who confer the trust. " Mr Sheridan concluded, that, if he were to look to the prodigality, the corruption, the detestable system of spies and informers, the insolence of the higher and the oppression of the lower orders, which had distinguished the old government of France, and which, he contended, had produced all the evils of the present system, he would thence be taught to avoid intro- ducing into this country a system of terror and corruption, and to give back to the people those rights and privileges which riveted their afiection and secured their obedience, and placed the order and stability of the govern- ment upon their best foundation, the protection and happiness of the subject. The object of his present motion went only to bring back that which ought never to have been taken away. He should, therefore, now move for leave to bring in a bill to repeal an Act passed in the last session of parliament, empowering his Majesty to secure and detain such persons as shall be suspected of conspiring against his person and government." On a division, the motion was lost by 185 to 41. Speech in opposition to the third reading of Mr Pitt's bill for increasing the Assessed Taxes-— 4th January, 1798. On the opening of Parliament in November, 1797, Mr Pitt stated the supplies for the year ensuing to be estimated at £25,000,000, and brought forward a new financial plan, for raising a considerable portion of that sum within the year, without adding to the permanent debt of the country. The substance of his proposition was, to treble the assessed taxes ; but with the proviso, that no person should be assessed higher than a tenth of his income, which was to be taken at the amount declared by individuals, subject to be checked by surveyors, in case of unfair returns. " Sir, — The honourable gentleman (Mr Martin) who has just sat down, has called for more explanations of what other gentlemen have advanced than I ever recollect to have heard in this house. In candour I must conclude that the honourable gentleman really wanted information upon the points which he afiected not to understand ; and that where he did misunderstand or mistake the arguments of others, he did not mean to be guilty of wilful misrepresentation. The speech of the honourable gentleman, however, called upon so many members to explain the points upon which he has commented, that I have been under the necessity to give way to them. I now rise, thus early in the debate, and I feel some satisfaction in reflecting TTT RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, 211 that the adjournment which has taken place gives me an opportunity of pre- senting myself Avhen the attention of the House was awake, because, had I proceeded last night, I might have found the honourable gentleman (Mr Martin) wearied and exhausted, and disposed, perhaps, to give me a hint to sit down before I had finished my argument. I have listened to the speech of the honourable gentleman (Mr Perceval); a speech of great talent, great inge- nuity, and considerable vehemence. The sentiments which it contains seemed to be so much in unison with the feelings of those around him, that I flatter myself that the approbation with which it has been received may contribute to shorten the debate, and to supersede the necessity of making long speeches from that side of the House. It was remarkable, however, that the honourable gentleman, amidst a variety of matter on which he descanted, cautiously abstained from touching upon the real question before the House. Many of the topics which he brought forward, I am ready to admit, were fairly introduced, and perfectly regular in parliamentary debate. While 1 admit the right of the honourable gentleman to argue the subject in his own way, it perhaps might have been better had he altogether ab- stained from certain points ; or, to use a phrase which has become very fashionable since the introduction of the present bill, had he modified his attack upon my right honourable friend.^' The honourable gentleman never attempted to show that the right honourable gentleman f below him was the fittest person to administer the afiairs of this country — that he was the ablest minister for the conduct of war, and the most proper person to negotiate with success. The whole scope of his speech was merely to show that the right honourable gentleman was placed in the revenue to bar my right honom-able friend, as if it necessarily followed that he alone could be the successor of the present minister. Supposing, as he did, for the sake of argument, that my right honourable friend was qualified to negotiate with a better prospect of success than the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he said it would be incumbent upon the House, as a preliminary step, to treat with their negotiator. He thought that my right honour-able friend could not be invested with that character without danger to the country. What were the grounds upon which this assertion was founded ? He accuses my right honourable friend of having considered men as innocent who were acquitted by the verdict of a jury, and having argued, upon this acquittal, that there was no proof of the conspiracy of which they were accused. ;|: He accuses him of having said, on the discussion of the treason and sedition bills, that resistance would be a question, not of morality, but of prudence. Above all, he founded his apprehension upon words which he supposes to have been lately used by my right honourable friend, that he would take no share in any administration without a total, fundamental, and radical reform. The honourable gentleman has made a very pretty play upon these words. I cannot but suspect, however, that the honourable gentleman, who has been * Mr Fox. t Mr Pitt. j See page 192. 212 IHE MODERN ORATOK. celebrated for epigram, has put these words into the mouth of my right honourable friend, merely for the sake of the point with which he has con- trasted them. He finds out that the reform so broadly stated will not he a total reform ; that the fundamental reform will not touch the foundation ; and that the radical reform will be confined to the branches without descend- ing to the root ? This epigrammatic wit, however, is founded entirely upon the words which the honourable gentleman has purposely added to the ex- pression to which he alludes. They were not used by my right honourable friend. The expression he employed, and which has become more conspicu- ous from its being made the subject of particular thanks in certain resolutions lately advertised, was, that he would take no share in any administration, without a radical reform in the representation, and of the abuses of the present system. Such was the expression of my right honourable friend, and the words which the honourable gentleman has added into the bargain were merely introduced to point a sentence, and to enliven his speech. The honourable gentleman considers the conduct of those whom he represents as unfit successors to the present men in power, as calculated to encourage the Jacobins, and to forward the views of the French. These certainly are formidable evils, but the honourable gentleman quickly discovers some ground of consolation amidst the dangers which he apprehends. He thinks that my right honourable friend would retract the declarations he has made^ that he would renounce the principles he has avowed, and that, in office, he would not act upon the professions he held before he came into power. On what part of the conduct of my right honourable friend he founds this asser- tion, I am at a loss to conjecture. What are the professions, made when out of office, which in power he has belied ? True it is, that such conduct is not unusual with statesmen. True it is, that there have been men who have for- feited such pledges ; who have said that there could be no salvation for this country without a radical reform (for this, beyond dispute, was the expres- sion of the right honourable gentleman opposite) ;^ who have maintained that no honest man could undertake the administration of this country without that reform ; and have, like him, abandoned the words and principles they once held, and resisted, by all the power of corruption, the cause which they laboured to promote. With the right honourable gentleman, the type and image of apostasy before his eyes, it perhaps was natural that the honourable gentleman should consider professions as made only to be re- nounced. When he reflected that the present minister had not only aban- doned the principles he professed, and violated the faith he pledged to the public, but had become the most zealous persecutor of those whom he had convinced by his arguments and influenced by his example, there was no wonder that he should distrust professions, and ascribe but little sincerity to the declarations of statesmen. The honourable gentleman apprehends that * In 1782, Mr Pitt had been strenuovis for reform himself, moving for a committee " to inquire into the state of the representation of the people in parliament, and to report to the House their sentiments thereon." Q.- RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 213 many dreadful consequences would ensue, were this radical reform to be car- ried into effect. What that radical change of system is to be, the honour- able gentleman professes to be ignorant. For my own part I can say, that no man can be more decidedly hostile than I am, to any change of system that could lead to a change of the ancient established constitution of this government. But I will tell the honourable gentleman what has been the consequence of that change of system which has been introduced into the constitution of this country. If any minister of brilliant talents, of splendid endo^vments, but actuated by principles of the most boundless and colossal am.bition, raised up by influence, supported by corruption, should set at nought the rules of Parliament, violate the act of appropriation, raise money without the authority of this house, and send it out of the country without the consent of parliament,* if he has transgressed the constitution with im- punity, if his criminality is suffered to pass even without rebuke — this is nothing less than a radical change of system. If by his folly and incapacity he has raised discontents — if, by the burdens which he has imposed, to sup- port an impolitic and ruinous system, he has alienated the minds of the people from his government — if, to suppress the opposition which such a state of things must naturally produce, he has had recourse to military force, and covered the country with barracks, in defiance of the constitution — such practices constitute a radical change of system. If he has distinguished his administration by severity unknoAvn to the laws of this country — if he has introduced new codes of treason and sedition,| if he has doomed men of talent to the horrors of transportation, the victims of harsh and rigorous sentences, J if he has laboured to vilify and to libel the conduct of juries,§ such proceedings originate in a radical change of system. If he has used the royal prerogative in the creation of peers, not to reward merit, but con- verted the peerage into the regular price of base and servile support — if he has carried this abuse so far that, were the indignant, insulted spirit of this nation roused at length to demand justice on ihe crime of which he has been guilty, he would be tried in a house of peers, where the majority of the * £1,200,000 had been advanced to the Emperor, without the previous consent of parliament, although sitting at the time. t In consequence of the attack on his Majesty, in 1795, which was supposed to have resulted from the seditious meetings held at that time, and, in particular, the meetings of the Corresponding Society in Copenhagen Fields, the government introduced two bills : one in the House of Lords ** for the safety and preservation of his Majesty'^ person and government against treasonable and seditious attempts," and one in the House of Commons, " for the prevention of seditious meetings;'' both c€ which, after a strong opposition, were passed. X Mr Sheridan here alludes to the severe sentence on Messrs Muir and Palmer, who were tried in 1794, in Scotland, for "leasing making," or stirring up sedition; and, being found guilty, were condemned to fourteen years' transportation. Considerable doubt was entertained, whether the law warranted a severer punishuAent for their offence, than outlawry, without" transportation. § See page 194. 2H THE MODEBN OKATOR. judges were created by himself — I will tell tlie honourable gentleman that such a state of things must have originated in a radical change of system. Would it not be right, then, to pull down that fabric of corruption, to recall the government to its original principles, and to re-establish the constitution upon its true basis ? Will any set of men deny the necessity of a radical change of system by which these evils shall be corrected, but those who already share in its corruptions, or who, at some future period, expect to pro- mote their personal interests by those very abuses which have exhausted the strength and endangered the safety of their country, " So much, then, for what the honourable gentleman has said upon this subject. It must now be clear that no peace can be obtained. It was not even supposed by the friends of Ministers that they were sincere in their attempts at peace till the last trial. Then 1 am rather inclined to give them credit for sincerity, though I can see that a right honourable gentleman (Mr Wyndham) trembles at the very idea of peace with the French republic. The honourable gentleman, however, takes it for granted, that there can be no choice, but between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and my right hon- ourable friend ; on a former occasion, however, I stated, that any other set of men should try to negotiate peace with France, because any set of men must negotiate with a better prospect of success than the present ministers ; it is not in nature, that the French can consider the right honourable gentle- man capable of maintaining the relations of peace and amity with their government. They know that the hostile mind exists, that peace is not sought in the spirit of peace, that no real reconciliation is desired. Any peace that could be concluded I would consider as a false and hollow truce. It could not be a ground of security ; it could not restore the blessings of peace. Upon the faith of it I could not consent to the reduction of a single man, in the military or naval establishment of this country. Jealousies and suspicions would poison all the advantages which a sincere peace could be- stow. The French would feel that they furnished to the administration of this country tlie means of fomenting the dissensions in France from which they cherish the hope of re-establishing royalty ; they would lay themselves open to those intrigues, and to that corruption, which have hitherto been em- ployed to overthrow their new institutions. If the French Directory could encourage or ag ree to such an insidious truce, and expose the government which they administer to such attacks, as in this way it would sustain, they would be guilty of treason to their country. But it is impossible they could Tisk such danf^ers. It is impossible that they could stake their existence on the hollow and deceitful peace which the present Minister could offer. " The hon.ourable gentleman, then, cannot say, that there is no alternative between those who are in power, and those he points out as their successors. From differ 'ent men and different measures, hopes of peace might be derived. But it is said that my right honourable friend, and those who act with him, are co-opei*ating with the French; and what is the proof of this assertion? Wliy, the F'rench say so ! This, indeed is a curious mode of proving the fact. EIOHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 215 It would, indeed, be a hard rule, if what the enemy say of what is done by any members of the British parliament, was to be the standard by which they are to be judged. We are not to be tried by what we have said, by the measures we have recommended, by the whole of our conduct, and by our own professions, but by the opinion which the enemy may think proper to express. But how, then, do we co-operate with the enemy ? We are friends to reform ; a phrase which, it seems, is henceforth to be deemed synonymous with revolution. But how is this reform, from which such dreadful conse- quences are apprehended, to be introduced, even were my right honourable friend to support it when in office ? Will not the right honourable gentleman be still ready to oppose it ? The honourable gentleman either thinks th^ my honourable friend, when minister, will have in favour of reform that cor- ruption, that influence, those titles, those jobs and contracts, by which it is now opposed ; or he thinks that, parliament being dissolved, that corruption and influence will be employed to induce the people to choose representatives favourable to the cause of reform. What do these arguments prove, but the necessity of reform ? They prove that the pretended representation of the country is in the hands of the Crown, to be moulded at the will of the min- ister, and thus furnishes the most powerful motive to remove the causes by which this corruption is maintained. " Having made these remarks upon the topics introduced by the honour- able gentleman, I shall next say a few words upon some things which fell from a noble lord (Hawkesbury) in yesterday's debate. The noble lord says, * that those who oppose all supply ought to have made that opposition when the supply was voted.' For my own part, I am not against aU supply, though I am not sure that a different conduct would be fully as proper. But, in a constitutional view, nothing can be more parliamentary than to refuse voting supply. It is fair to infer, that, if Ministers have not the confidence of this house, the refusal of supplies would be attended with the immediate resigna- tion of those ministers. Certainly it is not the intention of any man that the army or navy should be disbanded, and the country laid at the feet of the enemy. Such an alternative does not follow from the refusal of supplies. I confess, however, when I consider the desperate characters of the ministers in power, I think it would not be advisable to risk the attempts of which they might be guiltyj to retain their power, even in defiance of the constitu- tional privileges of this house. The noble lord, however, says, ' that never was the naval superiority of this country more conspicuously displayed, never was our naval glory more highly exalted, than by the brilliant victories ob- tained during the present war.' What, however, must be the nature of the war, when these splendid successes have not brought us nearer to the objects for which we engaged in the contest ? What must be the importance of our acquisitions, when they are all to be given for peace ? * How would France have stood had we not interfered?' says the noble lord. 'What additional strength would she not have derived from those ships and those colonies of which she has been deprived by our success ? ' But let any man weigh* the 216 THE MODERN ORATOR. advantages we have derived from our success, with the sacrifices by which they have been purchased. Will any man say, that, if this country had pre- served a dignified neutrality, France, surrounded as she was by foreign enemies, would have still more oppressed and harassed her subjects to raise a naval power which no danger required ? Contrary to all practice, to all experience of what has been considered as the object of continental diversion promoted l)y this country, would France, in the situation in which she was placed, have turned her attention to naval exertions ? But we gained seve- ral ships by the victory of the 1st of June,* by the capture of Toulon,f by the acquisition of those charnel-houses in the West Indies, in which 50,000 men have been lost to this country. Consider the price which has been paid for these successes. For these boasted successes, I will say, give me back the blood of Englishmen which has been shed in this fatal contest — give me back the £250,000,000 of debt which it has occasioned — give me back the hon- our of the country, which has been tarnished — give me back the credit of the country which has been destroyed — give me back the solidity of the Bank of England, which has been overthrown^ — give me back the attachment of the people to their ancient constitution, which has been shaken by acts of oppression and tyrannical laws — give me back the kingdom of Ireland, § the connexion of which is endangered by a cruel and outrageous system of mili- tary coercion — give me back that pledge of eternal war which must be attended with inevitable ruin ! Put what we have lost into the scale against what we have gained, and say if the price exceeds the value of the object. But even all these advantages, we are told, may be given up for peace. Surely, then, a person of the noble lord's abilities can never consider these objects as acquisitions, which are to be given up for peace, and leave us with- out a compensation for all the sacrifices which we have made for their attain- ment. The noble lord says, ' that the value of the West India Islands taken from the enemy, must be estimated in relation to our own. By the ofiensive measures against the former, the latter were preserved.' If this be the case, then, when we give up the islands we have conquered, we give up our own islands, and abandon the security by which they are held. Such are the * Lord Howe's celebrated victory, 1st June, 1794. f Seepage 179. 'I In consequence of the large advances made by the Bank to Government for the public service, and remittances to foreign states, added to the run on the country banks, which some extended to London, from the fear of threatened invasion by the French, an order was issued by the Privy Council prohibiting the Bank from paying their notes in gold, and an act of Parliament was shortly after passed for the same object. By the reports of the Secret Committee, appointed by the House, it appeared that, at the time of the suspension of cash payments, the assets of the Bank amounted to £3,826,890 beyond its liabilities, independent of £11,666,800 in the 3 per cents, due from Government. § In a subsequent part of this year, 1798, the great Irish Rebellion broke out, in which upwards of 30,000 lives were sacrificed. By ministers, the rebellion was at- tributed to the spread of Jacobinical principles through seditious clubs, and by the opposition to a tyrannical and unconstitutional system of government. KICHAHD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 21/ acqttLitions which we have made at the expense of so much blood and treasure. " With regard to the continental war, the noble lord says, ' that we had done our duty ;' but he now discovers that our allies were guilty of every error, and all of them were destitute of common honesty. After some years' experience of the conduct of our allies, and of the principles by which they were guided, the noble lord could vote for giving two millions to one of them !^ Even this ally, the theme of so much panegyric, in whose success it was said that every peasant in this country was interested, in whose glory every Englishman partook, is now comprehended in the general charge of the noble lord against the continental members of the confederacy. But, in the prosecution of their views of personal interest and aggrandisement, they took the example from the conduct of this country. When they found the hypo- critical pretences of religion, morality, and social order belied by our eager- ness to seize upon every island, to plunder every possession which was ex- posed to our power, they began to entertain similar views, and to be actuated by the same motives. Those who would succeed ministers, it is said, how- ever, are connected with Jacobins. Who are they who are connected with the Jacobins ? Would it be the same thing to entrust the administration of affairs in the hands of those who oppose ministers, as if the Whigs, in 1745, had resigned the state into the hands of the Tories ?f The latter was avowedly desirous to alter the succession ; but will gentlemen seriously say, that they believe that those whom they represent as the only rivals of the present ministers, are leagued with any faction to alter the constitution of this country, in the same manner as the Jacobites, in the year 1745, were hostile to the existing establishment ? " Availing myself of the latitude of reply upon the general topics brought forward by those who have spoken upon anything but the question before the House, I shall now proceed to make some remarks on the speech of a learned doctor who spoke last night. | Having come to this House several hours after the debate had begun, and finding that the gentlemen who spoke, after I came in, confined themselves very little to the discussion of the present measure, I was obliged to take it for granted, the particular question before the House had been very fully discussed in the speeches which were made before my arrival. The learned doctor to whom I have alluded, perhaps, may not remember that he spoke at all. A wise man, it is said, doubts of everything ; and the learned doctor seemed to carry his scepticism a great way, for at the commencement of his speech he doubted whether he was * Two millions and a half were voted for the King of Prussia in 1794 ; notwith- standing which, he withdrew from the coalition in 1795, and concluded a treaty with France, engaging not to furnish his former allies with any succours or contingents whatsoever. See p. 175. t The time of the attempted invasion by Charles Edward Stuart, son of the Che- valier de St George. See note, p. 3, t Dr Lawrence. 218 - THE MODERN ORATOR, speaking. I remember the words with which he began were, ' Sir, in rising to address myself to you on the present occasion, if I have risen.' If the learned gentleman still doubts whether he spoke at all, I can assure him that he made a very ingenious, a very elaborate, and certainly a long speech upon a variety of topics, without speaking at all to the bill before the House ; and, if he doubts my authority, any other gentleman may probably give him the same assurance. The learned gentleman went into a wide view of Roman history, and told us, upon the authority of Scipio, that we had little to dread from the threatened invasion of the enemy, because they must conquer us before we could conquer them. What would the lord mayor and alder- men of London say, if the learned gentleman were to tell them, when Buonaparte was encamped at Blackheath, that they need be under no appre- hension ; that, before he could advance to burn the city of London, Lord Hawkesbury was advancing to lay Paris in ashes ? I should like to see the faces of the mercantile world, when they were informed, on the authority of Scipio, that they could -not be safe till the enemy were at the gates of the metropolis, and that they could not hope for a successful termination of the contest, till they had been first conquered ! In the representation of the conduct of Hanno, at Carthage, by whose exertions the supplies were refused to Hannibal, the learned doctor did not do justice to Hanno. At the same time it is to be observed, that he said not a word of the striking difference between Hanno the Carthaginian, and the Hanno whom he insinuated to be in the British senate. Hanno succeeded in keeping back the supplies. "^ But has the British Hanno ever been able to prevail upon the senate to refuse supplies ? has he unnerved the vigour of our exertions ? has he checked the career of success ? has he suspended our victorious arms in the moment of triumph. ? On the contrary, has not the Minister received sup- plies with unexampled profusion ? has he not been allowed to employ them as he thought proper ? has he ever been rebuked for misapplication ? has his misconduct ever been the subject even of inquiry ? Hannibal, too, was a young man — -Jlagrantem cnpidine regni. The argument of Hanno was, ' I hear of the victories of Hannibal, but I hear of no advantage which they produce to Carthage. Every victory is followed by fresh demands and new requisitions. The continuance of the war, therefore, must prove ruinous to Carthage.' The affairs of the Carthaginians afterwards miscarried. Hanni- bal afterwards laughed at his countrymen. But what did he laugh at ? He * Mr Sheridan here was in error, for a large majority of the Carthaginian senate voted for sending the supplies asked for. The account, in Livy, lib. xxiii., c. 13, is, " Haud multos movit Hannonis oratio ; nam et simultas cum familid Barcina leviorem auctorem faciebat, et occupati animi prsesenti laetitia nihil, quo vanius fieret gaudium suum, auribus admittebant ; debellatumque mox fore, si anniti paululum voluissent, rebantur. Itaque ingenti consensu fit senatAs-consultum, ut Hannibali quatuor Numidarum millia in supplementum mitterentur, et quadraginta elephanti et argenti multa talenta. Dictatorque cum Magone in Hispaniam prsemissus est, ad condu- cenda viginti milha peditum, quatuor equitum, quibus exercitus qui in Italia, quique in Hispanic erant, supplereiitur." RICHARD BKINSLEY SHERIDAN. 219 laughed at those men who affected to be dissatisfied with the terms of peace, without considering in whose hands they had left the conduct of the war. In similar circumstances, any man might, perhaps, smile, like Hannibal, to see the people of this country discontented with the terms of peace, when it was remembered that the war was prosecuted under the auspices of the present ministers. " I cannot refrain, however, fi-om expressing my astonishment, that a grave personage like the learned gentleman, a member of the gravest pro- fession which this house contains, should bring forward all his school-boy politics to evince the propriety of invading France. The learned gentleman, perhaps, thinks that it falls to his share to support in this House the opinions of a man of much greater talents, of much higher endowments — the late Mr Burke, whose name ought never to be mentioned but with respect. He thinks, perhaps, that he is the executor of that great man's principles ; that he is called upon to administer to his fury without possessing a single spark of his fire. I regret that any gentleman should conceive himself the repre- sentative of the violent and extravagant declamations, which so fatally were received in this House with so much approbation, and which have been at- tended with such lamentable consequences to this country and to Europe. " The frivolous school-boy topics, for such they are, upon which the learned gentlemen proposes to model our conduct, have, indeed, no similarity to the circumstances in which we are placed. When he desires to imitate the con- duct of the Romans, does he remember that the Romans were a people inured to w^ar and to hardships ? Does he mean to compare a commercial country like Great Britain with a warlike people like the Romans, or to point out similar rules of policy for the guidance of our conduct ? Had Rome the debt by which this country is borne down ? Had Rome the bulwark of a navy supported by commerce ? Would sacking that capital have given a death to that credit by which alone we can subsist as a nation r If the arguments of the learned gentleman could even produce the effect which he desires, the event would not furnish a subject for the moralist and the historian, but the fate which would await the right honourable gentleman, if he was seduced by such counsels, might be expressed in the language of the poet — *' 'I demens curre per Alpes, Ut pueris placeas et declamatio fias.' Posterity would brand his name in the same mamier, furnishing, in his de- struction only, the subject of panegyric to school-boy politicians, and a speech to a grave doctor learned in the law. " The learned gentleman, amidst all his topics of argument, said nothing as to the nature of the bill before the House. If, after the deviations which the course of the debate has taken, I may venture to take that liberty without being called to order, I shall now say a few words to the question. It has been asked. Do those who oppose this measure admit the principle, or can they produce anything better ? Certainly no person is bound to propose a 2^0 THE MODEBN OEATOR. measure of his own when he rises to oppose that of the Chancelloi^ of the Exchequer : yet, in such a crisis as the present, it Avould be unmanly to withhold any ideas which we can contribute, or any of the sentiments we entertain. I then say that the only mode by which any sum like that re- quired can be raised, is by a loan, the interest of which is to be paid by taxes, or voluntary contribution, with a sinking fund for the extinction of the debt.* This is the true principle by which money can be raised in this country. Suppose it is impossible to borrow : in such a state of things this country is ruined. If Government cannot borrow, the subject cannot give. I am very far from wishing to inculcate despair. If I really entertained such a sentiment, I should wish to disguise it even from myself. But we may yet borrow. How, then, are the funds to be raised to that state at which it may be convenient to borrow ? It must be done by abandoning the system on which we have proceeded — by retrenchment in the public expense. If public spirit does exist, voluntary subscriptions may afford some aid ; but of this, I confess, I am not very sanguine. Above all, however, it is necessary to re- store the Bank to its former credit, to prevent any stipulation being made to prevent it from paying its just debts, and to restore to the country the bless- ing of peace. As to the present measure, it must end in forced contribution of income by forced disclosure, a thing utterly irreconcilable to the spirit of a free and commercial country. If assessors were to be appointed, arbitrarily to make assessments of the income of every individual, which, from the surveys already made by the collectors of the income of individuals, seems to be the design of Ministers, such a mode of proceeding would be a better criterion than the assessed taxes. In my mind, no criterion at all, however good it may be thought, can render the principle tolerable. Those who, from the criterion taken up by the minister this year, have been caught, will be careful in future to avoid any external symptoms by which, on any future occasion, they might be assessed. It will occasion universal retrenchment, and, conse- quently, injure the revenue by destroying consumption. The effect of this system of retrenchment will diminish the public revenue by at least two millions. An arbitrary assessment would be better than that taken on any criterion, because the former would make it indifferent to the person contribut- ing, whither he spent all his income or not : while the latter would induce him to avoid every appearance that could be made the future standard of contribution. A coachmaker, in Long- acre, would do wisely, if he could, to give at once a hundred pounds, than a much smaller sum which deprived him of his customers. In the same manner the watchmakers. Their employment was not taxed, because that would seem to tax ingenious mechanics ; but those who wore watches were taxed, and many industrious men were reduced to the most deplorable wretchedness. The whole system and principle of the measure appears utterly irreconcilable with every wise and just scheme of taxation. * This was the principle proposed by Mr Pitt, in 1786, for the reduction of the national debt. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 221 "What substitute, then, is to be taken ? There are but three ways in which this sum can be raised within the year — either by voluntary contributions, by increasing the existing taxes, or by a forced loan ; and of these three the present measure is the worst. Might not the whole of the plan be post- poned, except that which provides for voluntary contributions ? And I am sure, for one, I have no objection to read the bill, in that case, three times in one day, that we may try this experiment. With this bill hanging over us, such contributions could not be called voluntary, for no man could hesitate, in point of prudence, to pay the full amount of what he would be obliged to pay, rather than be made to contribute on the valuation of income taken from any visible symptoms. I am not very sanguine of the success of vo- luntary contributions,* without some such compulsions From the highest to the lowest of those connected with the government, there has been no dispo- sition to give up anything : there has been no example to the people of this spirit of sacrifice. It is not easy to encourage individuals in the habits of acquisition, and the spirit of liberality towards the government. If a Bengal memshi, or a Chinese mandarin, were to be informed that £400,000,000 had been lent to the government by individuals ; that a race was run by the competitors for the preference; that men contended about the subdivision of the portions, and parcelled out the parts among a crowd of friends, he would be ready to exclaim, ' O magnanimous, O invincible people !' Were he again to be told that the views which actuated the lenders were selfish ; that their profits were usurious ; that loyalty-loan holders had besieged that house for indemnification for the loss sustained on a bargain, he would exclaim, ' O wretched, O undone peppk !' It is by addressing the interest of this body of men, however, that the accommodation of the government can be secured ; and how is the credit of the country to be restored to that situation which will render it practicable ? " No disposition to contribute voluntarily has yet been displayed, from the very highest to the lowest ranks in the administration of government. While a teller of the Exchequer receives £10,000 or £12,000 a-year by the war, a near relation of that person contends that no peace ought to be made. But I am told, that it is rude, uncourteous, and vulgar, to suppose that such a sum could influence the sentiments of any man. Rude, uncourteous, and vulgar as this is, the constitution is that rude, vulgar fellow, though the right honourable gentleman will flout and scorn those who suppose motives of this nature. The constitution is jealous of the effect of office, and even sends a man back to his constituents who accepts a situation to which im- portant duties are attached. I have high authority, therefore, in supposing, that some bias may affect the mind where interest powerfully prompts a man to support any system of measures. I recollect, that at the end of the * A clause was subsequently introduced into the bill for the purpose of admitting voluntary contributions, and the sum thus received amounted to £1,500,000, of which the Bank gave £200,000, the King £20,000, and the Queen £5,000. 222 THE MODERjST oratoe. Ameiican war, wlien I was secretary to the Trea^ry, the noble marquis, who is teller of the Exchequer, wrote a letter to the commissioners of the Treasury, requesting that the office might be placed in the reform, but saying, at the same time, that his conscience would burn to think that he was pro- fiting by the calamities of the country. This offer, however, was declined. Now, however, when the public exigencies so strongly demand some sacri- fice, I am persuaded the noble marquis will not only be ready to forego a part of the profits of this office, but will bring up all the arrears that burn upon his conscience since the year 1783. " Last year, I took occasion to state, that twenty-four millions would be necessary for the peace establishment of the country, taking the average peace establishment before the war at seventeen millions. Since that period, seven and a half milUions of permanent taxes have been added, and it will require another million and a half before the sum already expended and due can be provided. Thus, twenty-six milUons must be raised, though peace was immediately to take place. When it is considered, however, what any new peace establishment must be ; when the system which is pursued in this country is taken into view ; when the manner in which Ireland is not governed, but ground down and oppressed ; when the hollow and deceitful nature of any peace with the right honourable gentleman is recollected, no man can think that two millions more, making twenty-eight millions, would be an extravagant computation as the amount of the permanent peace esta- blishment. This is a tremendous and awful consideration; but, if the country is to be saved, we must look our situation in the face, and make provision for the utmost extent of our difficulties. " A\Tiile the Bank continues in its present state of dependence on the minister, it is impossible to hope, however, that public credit can be re- stored, and the funds raised. Last year, much was said in the newspapers about the connexion between the right honourable gentleman and the Bank. It was said, that the banns had been forbid. The conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer showed, that he cultivated the connexion on account of the lady's dowry, not for the comfort of her society. At first, the afiair seemed to present the appearance of a penitent seduction, but now it has degenerated into a contented prohibition. The country wished to forgive the indiscretion, on the hopes of amendment. "What has produced the in- fatuation it is not easy to conjecture, unless the right honourable gentleman had given the old lady love-powder. The hey-day of the blood was over, but the rankness of the passion has not subsided. The dear deceiver is taken into favour, and the ruin he has occasioned is forgotten. " Upon the examination into the affairs of the Bank, the standing com- mittee of correspondence between the Bank and the Ministers pronounce, that there are sufficient means to pay all the private debts of the Bank — but the Minister interposes. The Bank is placed in the situation of a person who can pay and will not. Of all situations, none could be more injurious to credit than this. When it is known that men are willing to pay, credit EICHART) BHINSLEY SHERIDAN. 223 stretches a great way in favour of their ability ; but when a person is under- stood to be able to pay, and will not, the confidence on which credit must be founded is overthrown. " The manner in which the last report of the Bank committee is drawn up, is likewise very curious. It is found there is enough of fund to pay the pri- vate creditors of the Bank ; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer says, ' No !' and claps his lock and key on their coffers. Without meaning any quibble on the name of the honourable chairman of the committee, the conduct of the right honourable gentleman irresistibly reminds me of an old proverb. The report of the committee is very favourable, but still the Bank must be kept under confinement. ' Brag is a good dog,' says the Chancellor of the Exchequer, ' but Holdfast is a better,' and the Bank must be kept under the tutorage of the Minister, till he finds it convenient for himself to set the directors at liberty. The advances made by the Bank to government occa- sioned the first stoppage, and now three millions are again to be advanced without any security whatever. If the directors do not insist on some secu- rity for their repayment, they will be guilty of a gross breach of duty, and the most culpable neglect of the interest of their constituents. It seems that the Bank is to be the new Temple of Janus — ever shut in time of war.* While war continues we must be contented to view the meagre paper pro- file ; nor will we be permitted to contemplate the golden bust till the return of peace. The French Directory are thus to have the keys of the Bank, which cannot be opened till they grant permission. " The right honourable gentleman says, ' that the French aim their attacks against the credit of this country, and it is necessary to guard against their designs.' The expression of the report is whimsical enough : it states, that the enemy design to attack us 'by means of our credit.' ' No,' says the Chancellor of the Exchequer, * I have taken care to take that weapon out of your hands ; a dangerous weapon like this I certainly will not leave you to employ,' It is said by some, that the conduct of those who oppose the Minister encourages the French ; while, on the contrary, the whole system of his administration tends to encourage their designs. He has taught them to believe that he governs the lower classes only by coercion, and the upper ranks by corruption. More is done by the language held by some gentlemen in this house, that it is necessary to confine the soldiers in barracks, to make them deaf if the people cannot be made dumb, than by any conduct which can be imputed to the opposers of Ministers. By showing that the Minister can get no supported unpurchased, the enemy are led to think that there is no public spirit in the country — that nothing can be done but by jobs, and titles, and pensions. What can they think of those who come forward under * Janus was worshipped by the Romans as a Deity presiding over war, and was hence called Quirinus, or Martialis. He was also named Patuleius, and Clausius, from the circumstance of the gates of the temples dedicated to him being always open in time of war, and shut in time of peace ; and so constantly were the Romans engaged in war, that the gates of this temple were only shut three times in more than 700 years. Q 2 224 THE MODERN ORATOR. the pretence of public spirit, when they see that every man obtains his own private job as the reward of his ministerial devotion ? They saw that dis- grace after disgrace never diminished his power ; that every successive attack on liberty was defended and supported by compliant majorities ; that every new failure served only to rivet the attachment of his servile adherents. When they see the nation endure these things, can they conceive that it will be found to contain much public spirit to resist a foreign enemy ? Beyond question, great sacrifices must be made, whoever is minister ; and, if the enemy persevere in their designs, resistance to invasion must be encouraged at every hazard. We must give up the idea, however, of doing this, and continuing in a state of luxury. Should it be necessary, we must show that we are ready to strip to the skin to maintain our independence and our liber- ties, in the same manner as they were compelled to struggle for their freedom. It is mere cant and delusion to talk any longer of giving up a part to pre- serve the whole — that we must leave both our liberty and property unmort- gaged to posperity. If I am called upon to pay a shilling to preserve a pound, this is intelligible ; but if I am called upon twenty times successively for my shilling, it is ridiculous to tell me of giving up a part for the preservation of the whole. This will not do : and as a worthy baronet (Sir W. Pulteney) said on another occasion, ' if it is so often repeated, it comes to no joke.' This kind of paradoxical insult cannot long be endured. It will not do to tell us, that sending millions of money to Germany, for the defence of this country, is true economy ; that to lop off the most valuable of our liberties,* is to preserve the constitution ; that not to pay its lawful creditors, is to sup- port the credit of the Bank; and to introduce an universal disclosure of income, is to protect property. This is the last stage of such delusion. The tricks have been too often repeated to elude the most inattentive observation. While the affairs of this country continue in the same hands, they cannot be admi- nistered wisely or well. The country cannot have confidence in a system, always unsuccessful, now hopeless ; and the dismissal of Ministers must be the preliminary step to any vigour of system, any prospect of peace." On a division of the House, the bill was carried by 196 to 71. Speech in support of the motion by Mr. Yorke, the Secretary at War, for a peace establishment of 130,000 men, exclusive of 50,000 already voted for the service of the navy — 8th December, 1802. Notwithstanding that a definitive treaty of peace between the French Republic and Great Britain had been signed at Amiens, in March, 1802, a cordial reconciliation was very far from being effected, and the political mea- sures of the First Consul plainly indicated that he had little regard for the preservation of amicable relations. His continual encroachments, after the signing of the preliminaries of the peace on the 1st October, 1801, naturaUy * Mr. Sheridan alluded to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. See page 191, RICHAKD BEINSLEY SHEHIDAlSr. 225 excited jealousy, and would have led to a declaration of war, had not the European powers been, at that time, heartily tired of bloodshed, and most anxious to obtain peace, even at considerable sacrifice. From Spain, Napo- leon procured the cession of Louisiana and Parma. Piedmont he annexed to France, and divided into compartments. By a treaty with Portugal, he ac- quired Portuguese Guiana ; and, by an agreement with Naples and Tuscany, the Island of Elba. By his interference, as mediator, in the disputes of the Swiss, he destroyed the independence of Switzerland, and made it completely dependent on France. Guadaloupe was recovered in the West Indies. By a treaty concluded with the Cisalpine Republic, Napoleon procured himself to be appointed their President ; the constitution of the Batavian and Ligurian Republics were remodelled, to meet his views, in disregard of the treaty of Luneville, by which the independence of the republics of Italy and Holland had been guaranteed ; and there were good grounds for supposing that an- other attempt on Egypt was contemplated. Besides all these evidences of bad faith, the hostility of Napoleon towards England was plainly manifested by the restrictions he imposed on the importation of British goods into France, which nearly amounted to their prohibition. It was therefore impossible, in this state of affairs, for foreign powers, and more especially for England, which had taken so prominent a part in the war, to make any considerable reduction in the war establishments. The so-called definitive treaty of peace could only be regarded as a temporary suspension of actual hostilities, which Avere certain of being renewed as soon as either circumstances might render them advantageous to the First Consul, or the patience of the foreign powers had become exhausted. It has been aptly remarked, that, during this period, " peace sat like down upon the thistle's top." On the meeting of the English Parliament in November, 1802, the King, while he expressed his desire for the maintenance of peace, recommended that, for the present, no material re- duction should be made in the war forces, and the addresses in approbation of the royal speech were voted in both houses without a division. On the 8th December following, the debate on the Army Estimates took place, and on that occasion Mr. Sheridan delivered the following Speech : — " Sin,— " Being in the situation alluded to by the right honourable gentle- man who has just sat down,* of not being able to agree precisely with any of those who have preceded me, yet, being at the same time unwilling to give a silent vote on the present occasion, I rise with some sentiments of re- luctance. There is one thing, however, in which we all coincide ; it is, that the crisis in which we are placed is so big with tremendous importance, so pregnant with mighty difficulties, so full of apprehensions and dangers, that the House and the country have a right to know what are the intentions and views of those by whose exertions we may expect to be extricated from the complication of embarrassments, and snatched from the very brink of destruc- tion. Sir, one of the ci»cumstances I most regret in this debate is, the refer- * The Right Honourable D. Ryder. 226 THE MODERN ORATOR. ences that have been made to the characters and abilities of persons supposed to be fit to fill particular offices. I feel this as a subject of regret, and, feel- ing so, am sorry that my honourable friend near me made any allusion even to one man, whom of all men upon earth I most love and respect, because I do view the crisis to be one of such moment and peril ; and because, if ever there was a time in which we should prove to the people of England that we are above all party feelings, that we are above all party distinc- tions, that we are superior to any petty scramble for places and power, that time is the present. Sir, in speaking upon these topics, I do find a disposition in some gentlemen to rebuke any man who shall deliver an opinion with respect to the First Consul of France. One honourable gentleman, who rebuked an honourable general that spoke before him, declared that he would not give his opinion with respect to the conduct of France to Switzerland ;''>' and what does his rebuke amount to ? He con- fesses that, upon that subject, there can be but one opinion. Why then, Sir, he either adopts the opinion of the honourable general, or not. If he does adopt it, he gives us as strong an opinion against the conduct of France as can possibly be given. If he does not adopt it, why then, all that we can say is, that there are two opinions. ' But what,' he asks, ' has Switzerland to do with the question r' It has this to do with it : the honourable general intro- duced the subject in this way ; he contends that a power which is capable of such unprovoked aggression, and such perfidy, is the power that ought to be watched. But the honourable gentleman goes on to assert, that we have nothing to do with the case of Switzerland, nothing to do with France, nothing but with her power. Nothing but her power! as if that were little. He asks, too, ' Where is the great difference between France under the Bourbons and under her present ruler ?' Why, Sir, the honourable general inferred from the conduct of France, that, with her growing power, she had a growing disposition to mischief. ' But is that power,' demands the hon- ourable gentleman, ' greater now than it was last June ?' Perhaps it is not, Sir ; but her mischievous disposition is greater ; and if I am asked to bring a proof of the truth of my assertion, I must bring the case of Switzerland. Sir, if I see a purposed contempt of the independence of a nation ; if I see a perfidious disregard of the faith of treaties; if I see a power withdraw her assistance, only to return and entrap a country of freemen with greater * Ever since the year 1798, when Buonaparte had violently changed the old form of ■ constitution in Switzerland, banished or destroyed all the ruling families, and contracted an alliance, offensive and defensive, between the French and Swiss republic?, the latter had been in a state of servile dependence on France. In 1802 Buonaparte prepared for it a new constitution, which was received by the senate, but violently opposed in seve- ral of tVie smaller cantons, and especially in Schwytz, Uri, and XJnderwalden, and a civil war was the consequence. The existing government, which was completely subservient to the views of Napoleon, immediately appealed to him as their mediator. Napoleon having accepted the office, though with affected disinclination, quickly brought matters to a close. A French army of 30,000 men was immediately marched into Switzerland . all opposition crushed; the new constitution was established; and Switzerland became, in effect, a French province. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 227 certainty ; why then, I say, there has been a change, and a great change too, and that such a power we have a right to watch. ' But,' says the honourable gentleman, ' we have no right to make use of invectives against the first Consul of France.' I will abstain if I can ; I say, if I can, because I feel that even a simple narrative may be constructed into invective. With regard to the general question of a disposition to peace or war, I delare that I am as strongly and as sincerely for the preservation of peace as any man, and that I do not consider war as any remedy for the evils complained of. If a war spirit be springing up in this country, if a chivalrous disposition be ob- servable, if a sentiment of indignation be rising upon the subject of the treatment of Switzerland, I for one shall contend that the treatment of Switzer- land is no cause of war. I would therefore say,^Preserve peace if possible : peace if possible, because the effects of war, always calamitous, may be calamitous indeed, buckling, as we should be forced to do, all our sinews and strength to that power, in a contest with her upon such grounds. I repeat, therefore, peace if possible ; but I add, resistance, prompt, resolute, deter- mined resistance to the first aggression, be the consequences what they may. Influenced by these sentiments, I shall vote cordially and cheerfully for this large peace establishment ; and it is because I shall vote for it that I think myself bound to state my reasons. Sir, some gentlemen seem to consider what they advance as so many axioms, too clear to need explanation or to require defence. But, when I vote for so large an establishment, I think myself not at liberty to bind such a burthen upon my constituents, without stating the grounds upon which I act, and the principles by which I am prompted. Sir, I have listened, with all the attention I am master of, to the different arguments that have been advanced in the present debate. One honourable gentleman, who spoke second,* appears to be a decided enemy to a great establishment, and the reasons he gave for his opposition, I confess, perfectly astonished me. Luckily, he has no rapid flippancy in his manner : his sentiments are delivered too soberly and sedately to be mistaken. I am sure I mean nothing disrespectful to that gentleman, who amply repays the attention that is paid to him. But he says, ' If ministers had only said to him that danger existed, he for one would have voted for the force proposed.' Does he doubt the danger ? He complains that his Majesty's ministers do not state it precisely. But does he pretend that he does not see and feel it ? Can any one look at the map of Europe and be blind to it ? Can any one have a heart to resist apprehended injury, and say that we ought not to be prepared.^ * But,' he asks, 'why raise only one hundred thousand men ? You can never equal the military power of France, and, as you cannot, why stop at one hundred thousand ? Why not raise one hundred and twenty, one hundred and thirty, or one hundred and forty thousand ? If this argument be worth anything, it applies equally to our raising only one thousand. Why, if we can never be equal to France, raise a man ? Another gentleman, who spoke * Mr. Bankes, 228 THE MODERN OKATOH. last, lias alluded to alliance, and I agree perfectly with him in what he advanced against making any pledges. He has alluded to the fate of the pledges made in the war of the succession, in the war of 1741 ; but, if he meant to be impartial, he need not have gone back so far ; he need not have travelled beyond the last war ; he might have mentioned the pledges then given ; he might have recollected the pledge of never giving up the Nether- lands ; he might have recalled to our minds the pledge of obtaining indemnity for the past and security for the future ; he might have dwelt upon the pledge of exhausting the last drop of our blood in the contest for religion, order, and civilised society, the toto certahmi corpore regni ; he might have reminded us of all these pledges made, and of all of them having been abandoned. He confesses his warmth of friendship for the late minister,* and he certainly never showed it more than in stopping so short with his historical narrative of pledges. The next excellent reasoning of the honourable gentleman who spoke second against the proposed vote, is that, in the first year of the war, there will be an immense army drawn upon the opposite coast, and therefore, now it is not necessary to be prepared. When the army is upon your shores, when the trumpet of the enemy sounds at your gates, then it is time to be prepared. Appearance of security, he contends, often gives the effect of security. If we have large armies, France will think we raise them through fear ; if we do not have them, she will think that we feel ourselves perfectly secure. I have heard instances, Sir, where mounting wooden guns upon a fort has produced the same security as if there had been real ones. But unluckily, in this instance, for us, by our constitutional form of proceeding, our whole force must be known ; we cannot pass upon an enemy wooden guns, and an army at Brentford. If we vote no force, an enemy will know we have none. ' But have no arms, throw- away your guns,' is the advice of the honourable gentleman. Sir, when every house in my neighbourhood has been attacked and robbed by a gang of ruffians, how my having no arms is to save me from a visit from them, I must leave the honourable gentleman to explain. His next argument is, that it is unreasonable in us to believe that Buonaparte wishes to be at war with us ; for he thinks the French have nothing to gain by invasion. Nothing to gain ? What else have they to lose but that of which it has been said that they have so much to spare, and what have they not to gain ? Sir, I cannot but think this as unbecoming a sentiment as ever was uttered. But, ' it is unreasonable to think that the French wish to meddle with us.' Why, I protest I cannot explain. If, as has been said, they have felt our arms, they who have been everywhere else successful, must view the only power whose arms they have felt, with feelings of warm resentment, and with sentiments of mortified pride. But look at the map of Europe ; there, where a great man (who, however, was always wrong on this subject) said he looked for France, and found nothing but a chasm. Look at that map now, and see nothing but France. It is in our * Mr. Pitt, who had been succeeded by Mr. Addington in 1801, KICHARD BEINSLEY SHERIDAN. 229 power to measure her territory, to reckon her population, but it is scarcely within the grasp of any man's mind to measure the ambition of Buonaparte. Why, when all Europe bows down before him — why, when he has subdued the whole continent, he should feel such great respect for us, I am at a loss to discover. If, then, it be true, as I have stated, that his ambition is of that immeasurable nature, there are abundant and obvious reasons why it must be progressive — reasons much stronger than any that could have been used under the power of the Bourbons. They were ambitious, but it was not so necessary for them to feed their subjects with the spoils and plunder of war ; they had the attachm^ent of a long-established family applied to them ; they had the ejffect and advantage of hereditary succession. But I see, in the very situation and composition of the power of Buonaparte, a physical necessity for him to go on in this barter with his subjects, and to promise to make them the masters of the world if they will consent to be his slaves. I see then, I repeat, this strong reason for his pursuing this system of policy. If that be the case, must not his most anxious looks be directed to Great Britain ? Everything else is petty and contemptible compared with it. Russia, if not in his power, is, at least, in his influence — Prussia is at his beck — Italy is his vassal — Holland is in his grasp — Spain at his nod — Turkey in his toils — Portugal at his foot : — v/hen I see this, can I hesitate in stating my feelings ? still less can I hesitate in giving a vote that shall put us upon our guard against the machinations and workings of such an ambition? But it has been said, that it is possible he may mean nothing more than rivalry of com- merce. Happy, Sir, shall I be, if such an idea enter into his head at all, much more if it form part of his plans. But I confess that I cannot see that it does. I mark him taking positions calculated to destroy our commerce, but I do not find him doing anything for the mutual benefit of the trade of the two countries. I see him anxious to take possession of Louisiana, and to use the ports of St. Domingo to carry out the West India and Jamaica trade. I can conceive a possible case, in which such positions might be taken as to force us to surrender our commerce without a stroke. An ignorant observer may see two armies, and may say there is no war, because there is no battle ; yet one of them may make such movements as to compel the other to surrender without striking a blow. " Of the commercial talents of Buonaparte, I can be supposed to know but little ; but, bred in camps, it cannot be imagined that his commercial know- ledge can be very great ; and, indeed, if I am rightly informed, he is proceed- ing in the old plan of heavy duties and prohibitions. But he would go a shorter way to work with us. The old country has credit, and capital, and commercial enterprise ; and he may think, if he can subjugate us, that he can carry them off to France like so many busts and marbles. But he would find himself mistaken ; that credit would wither under the gripe of power ; that capital would sink into the earth, if trodden upon by the foot of a despot ; that commercial enterprise would, I believe, lose all its vigour in the presence of an arbitrary government. No, Sir ; instead of putting his nation 230 THE MODERN ORATOR. apprentice to commerce, he has other ideas in his head. My humble appre- hension is, that though in the tablet and volume of his mind there may be some marginal note about cashiering the King of Etruria,* yet, that the whole text is occupied with the destruction of this country. This is the first vision that breaks upon him through the gleam of the morning ; this is his last prayer at night, to whatever deity he addresses it, whether to Jupiter or Mahometjf to the goddess of battles, or the goddess of reason. J But, Sir, the only consolation is, that he is a great philosopher and philanthropist. I believe this hyper-philanthropy has done more harm than ever it did good. He has discovered that we all belong to the Western family. Sir, I confess I feel a sentiment of deep indignation, when I hear (I take it from report) that this scrap of nonsense was uttered to one of the most enlightened of the human race. To this family party I do not wish to belong. He may invite persons, if he please, to dinner, and, like Lord Petre, say that ' this tough crust is excellent mutton.' He may toss a sceptre to the King of Etruria to play with, and keep a rod to scourge him in the corner ; he may have thought at first his Cisalpine republic^ a fine growing child, and may have found it a rickety bantling ; but I feel contempt for all this mockery. Let us. Sir, abstain from invective, only let us speak the truth. Why, Sir, what I have said is nothing but the truth. Let us be visiting acquaintance, but I do implore him not to consider us as one of the family. Perhaps, Sir, it is unnecessary for me to state any more reasons for voting for this large peace establishment. All I desire is, not to have it understood that, in stating my fears, I speak from a well-informed judgment. On that account it is that I say, do not go to war ; on that account it is that I state my apprehensions as rational grounds for great vigilance, and for strong preparation. Sir, there are two other points pressed by several gentlemen, to which I beg leave to refer : I mean, the fitness of the persons in power, and the spirit of the people. The power of the country consists in its army, its navy, and its finance, in the talent and integrity of its ministers, and, above all, in the spirit * By the treaty of Luneville, concluded between Austria and France, on the 9th of February, 1801, Tuscany was taken from the Grand Duke Ferdinand of Austria, and given to Louis, son of the Duke of Parma, who had married a Pruicess of Spain, and who then assumed the title of King of Etruria. t On his invasion of Egypt, in 1798, he issued a proclamation in which he professed his respect for God, the Prophet, and the Koran. X In allusion to the establishment of the worship of the ' Goddess of Reason,' in 1793, and the abolition of the Christian religion by the revolutionary government, in whose employment Napoleon then was. § By the treaty of Campo Formio, in 1797, the Emperor of Austria acknowledged the independence of the Milanese and Mantuan states, under the name of the Cisalpine Kepublic, to which Buonaparte gave a constitution, on the model of France, himself appointing the members of the legislative committee and of the Directory, &c. In January, 1802, after signing the preliminaries of the peace of Amiens, Buonaparte procured himself to be appointed president, and proclaimed a new constitution. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 231 of the people. Upon this second branch of the question, though I have said some things which may be considered as grateful to that party which may be denominated the war party, yet I fear I shall be compelled to state by and by some circumstances that maj' not be quite so agreeable to them. It is a mat- ter of no importance to the house, perhaps, to know why I was absent on the two first days of the session. I was anxious to hear the part which men would take, and I do confess I never felt so much disgust at any circumstance, as to find, on the first day of the session, instead of a unanimous vote for vigilance and preparation, a call from some to give us back our places. The noble lord's friends may be divided into two classes : those who call for a change of ministers, and for war. And here I must say, Sir, for one, that I thank them for their frankness in stating what they have done, because their frankness is an antidote to the fury of their counsels. The noble lord says, ' We do not want to go to war ; we only wish to have other persons in power ;' the noble lord deals with the ingenuousness of youth, as I say ; with the ex- perience of age, according to others. But what should we get by this change ? Would those persons he recommends have acted differently from the present ministers ? Would they have gone to war for any of the events that have occurred since the peace ? Would they have gone to war for the annexing of Piedmont to France? — for the Cisalpine republic? — for the invasion of Switzerland ?'^' No, for none of these. They would have done as Ministers have done, but more vigorously ; they would have shown more grumbling patience ; they would have made wry faces ; they would not have stood with their hands before them ; no, but with their arms akimbo. What would they have got by this ? Would they have obtained anything more by all this grudging and wincing ? Would such a mode of conduct have become the character and dignity of the country ? Sir, it is not to be inferred, because the right honourable gentleman opposite me did none of these things, that he felt no indignation. I learn from his Majesty's speech, every word of which I approve, that his ministers are determined not to be shut out of the continent. I say, Sir, I approve of the speech, because it satisfied me that a sense of wrong, and a resentment of injury, may live under moderate language. But these ministers, it seems, are the incapable gentlemen. Will gentlemen show us any act of base submission on their part ? If they can — if they prove that they did any act with respect to Switzerland, and meanly retracted it afterwards, I will be the first to inveigh against them. But these gentlemen show us no such acts ; they seem as if they considered the ministers, now the drudgery of signing the peace is done, as fundi oftciis, and as if they ought to go out ; as if one was a mere goose-quill, and the other a stick of sealing wax, which are done with, and ought to be thrown under the table. We know that Touchstone says, as a good ground for quarrel, ' that he don't like the cut of * The British government, on the appeal made to them for assistance by the Swiss patriotic party, despatched Mr. Moore, who had acted as private secretary to the Marquis Cornwallis on the occasion of the treaty at Amiens, to negotiate an arrangement, but all negotiation was useless in opposition to force. 232 THE MODERN OKATOR. a certain courtier's beard.' Perhaps this capricious dislike cannot be better exemplified than by the sentiment expressed in the well-known epigram of Martial : — " * Non amo te, Sabidi, nee possum dicere quare, Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te !' The English parody may be more applicable to these gentlemen : — "« I do not like thee, Dr. Fell, The reason why I cannot tell ; But this, I'm sure, I know full well, " I do not like thee. Dr. Fell.' " It is fair, Sir, to say, that this English parody, so unfavourable to the doctor, proceeds from the mouth of a fair lady, who has privileges to like and dislike, which would ill become a member of this House, Sir, I con- tend that no solid reason has been offered to be urged against these Ministers. How, I would ask, has the right honourable gentleman forfeited the confidence of the people ? and why are we told that there is but one man alone who can save the country ? But it seems — and I must frankly confess that I was utterly astonished when I heard such an assertion made use of — that his Majesty's ministers assumed the reins of government at a most inviting period. Sir, I defy any man to show me a period of greater difficulty. The right honourable gentleman who, in the chair of this House, had so amply deserved and secured the respect of every member in it, could not but have quitted it with feelings of regret. But the expeditions to the Baltic* and to Egyptf were prepared; true. Yet, was success certain? Was it not the act of chance, and the great skill shown by the noble admiral (Nelson) that brought the expedition to the Baltic to a favourable issue ? Did the late Ministers conceal their fears with respect to the expedition to Egypt ? That it was most glorious in its event, and that the country ought to bind the brows of the meanest soldier engaged in it with laurels, I am ready to allow. But it cannot be denied that, after the expedition had been off the coast of Italy, and was in Marmorice Bay, orders were sent to stop * The expedition to the Baltic under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and Vice- Admiral Nelson, in 1801. By a confederacy between France and Russia, an embargo was sud- denly laid on all English vessels in Russian ports ; and, in order to assert, as was said, the independence of the seas, and to destroy the immense trade of England, a conven- tion was signed between the northern powers, consisting of Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, by which they agreed to close their ports against British vessels and Prussia ; and the kingdoms of Naples and Portugal afterwards joined the confederacy. All attempts at arrangement having failed, the expedition under Sir H. Parker and Nelson was sent out, which, after completely destroying the Danish fleet in the celebrated battle of Copenhagen, caused the confederacy of the northern powers to be dissolved, and obtained terms of peace highly favourable to this country. t Under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, in March, 1801, on the occasion of Mr. Pitt refusing to ratify the treaty of El-Arish, which had been concluded by Sir Sydney Smith with General Kleber. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 233 the expedition altogether. With respect to the negotiations for peace, their predecessors knew that the present Ministers would have to deal with men who, it might be supposed, would be glad of an occasion to retort the inso- lence of Lord Grenville's letter. If the enemy had parodied their letter as their only answer to us ; if they had said, 'We will wait for experience and the evidence of facts with respect to the new Ministry ; ' if they had said, ' Restore that old Whig constitution which the former ministers have so impaired,' we might have thought such conduct trifling, and beneath them, but we could not have questioned its fairness. Sir, though his Majesty's Ministers must have been prepared to expect humiliation, yet they made peace, I will venture to say, on terms comparatively more advantageous to the country than those that were offered at Lisle. ^' Of these Ministers, Sir, I know, also, that they have not renewed any of their predecessors' oppres- sive acts. But this, some gentlemen will contend, is a proof of their weak- ness and unfitness. Never, too. Sir, did the treasury interfere so little in the general election. This, again, may be advanced by some as an instance of their incapacity. Nay, the north was almost left to a member of the late administration. When, therefore, gentlemen talk in future of Mr. Pitt's being the fittest person to save the country they ought to add also the name of Mr. Dundas. But what did these gentlemen expect from the present Chancellor of the Exchequer ?f We treated him, when in the chair of this House, with the respect he merited. He has, I believe. Sir, over our present worthy speaker,! the advantage in attitude ; but did they expect that when he was Minister he was to stand up and call Europe to order ? Was he to send Mr. Colman, the serjeant-at-arms, to the Baltic, and order the northern powers to the bar of the House ? Was he to see the powers of Germany scrambling like members over the benches, and say, ' Gentlemen must take their places ' ? Was he expected to cast his eye to the Tuscan gallery, and exclaim, that ' strangers must withdraw ' ? Was he to stand across the Bhine, and say, ' The Germans to the right, and the French to the left ' ? If he could have done all these things, I, for one, should always vote that the Speaker of the House should be appointed the minister of the country. But the right honourable gentleman has done all that a reasonable man could ex- pect him to do. Sir, I confess I wish to know what Mr. Pitt himself thinks. I should be glad to hear what his sentiments are of the call made for him — and loudly made too — in another place by a vigorous statesman. I well remember. Sir, and so do we all, the character he gave of the present admin- istration. The justice of his character of the first Lord of the Adrairalty,§ no man can question. Of the accuracy of his judgment with respect to the * The negotiations for peace with France in 1797, at Lisle, went off, from the refusal of the French, plenipotentiaries to treat on terms of mutual compensation, and their insisting on the restitution of all that had been taken from the allies of France in the war, by which England would have had to make large concessions without any return. t Mr. Addington. X Sir John Mitford. § Lord St. Vincent. 234 THE MODERN ORATOR. present Chancellor of the Exchequer, it does not become us to entertain a doubt. The noble Secretary of State^' was better qualified for the situation than any man in the country, with an exception made, I believe, in favour of my honourable friend (Mr. Fox) near me. Does Mr. Pitt mean to retract that character ? I cannot* suppose he does. I must believe that he left, in his judgment, the best administration that could be left. I have heard some gentlemen attach to the present ministry the appellation of a mawkish mix- ture ; but, if I were to compare them to anything, I should say, that Mr. Pitt and the Ex -secretary of War,f acted as men fond of wine (which I certainly do not mean to impute to them as a fault), and drinking a bottle of Tokay. Though you may take what appears to be the best, and leave only what seems to be the lees, yet, if you only pour a bottle of good white wine upon them, you have as good a bottle of Tokay as ever. Sir, I think the mixture as good and as wholesome to the constitution as it could have been. I am sure I hear with joy that it is not on account of ill health that the right honourable gentleman, to whom I have alluded, is absent. I repeat. Sir, when I see so many persons anxious about that gentleman, I am glad to hear that his health is re-established. But how, I would ask, can we, with any consistency, turn out the man who made the peace, to bring in the person who avowed his approbation of it ? Sir, it is since that peace was made that gentlemen had voted a statue to Mr. Pitt ; but, whenever they erect that statue let them cover it with laurels, so as not to show its nose ; yet, still a piece of the olive must go with it, for he approved and supported the peace. Sir, I can- not persuade myself to think he is playing a double game, or that he has retracted the opinion he delivered in this house ; but everything should stand plain, everything should be explicit. I have heard of one person playing two different games at chess for two different persons at the same time ; but I never heard of a person playing one of his hands against the other. I suspect, therefore, there has been some mistake in the telegraphic communication ; that the political Philidor's game has been misunderstood ; that his friends have displaced a knight and a castle, when they should only have taken two pawns ; that they have made an attempt to checkmate the king, when they had no instructions for doing it/f Sir, I cannot forget the period when the * Lord Hawkesbury. f Mr. Wyndham. X Mr. Pitt resigned office in 1801, in consequence of the opposition he met with in the cabinet to his measures for extending the political privileges of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, which, from his expressed sentiments on the subject, they were led to expect from him after the union of that country with England had been effected. The King particularly refused his assent to the proposed policy, considering that he was precluded by his coronation oath from sanctioning it. It has been suggested, that, besides the Catholic question, which was the sole cause of resignation assigned by Mr. Pitt himself, he might have been induced to allow the reins of government to devolve on others, in order that a peace with the Continent might, if possible, be arranged on terms more favourable than he and his party, from theii known hostility to the French government, would have been able to effect. Others have assigned a less charitable cause for his resignation, alleging that his only object was to throw the odium of refusal of the mCHARD ERINSLEY SHERIDAN. 235 august personage of the sovereign was held up as the only man who was against extending privileges to the Catholics in Ireland ; and I cannot, there- fore, brook the idea of calling that right honourable gentleman back to power, and forcing him upon the Crown. I expected, when I came into this house, to hear much said against Buonaparte, but I had not the slightest expectation of hearing anything -against the prerogative of the Crown. Mr. Pitt, the only man to save the country ! No single man can save the country. If a nation depends only upon one man, it cannot, and, I will add, it does not, deserve to be saved ; it can only be done by the Parliament and the people. Sir, I say, therefore, I cannot believe that there is a back and a fore-door to this Egerian grotto. We have all heard, I dare say, of a classical exhibition in this town, the invisible girl."^- Here, however, I hope we shall have no whisperings backwards and forwards, no speaking through tubes, no invisible agency. I hope, too, that we shall have it declared, as it ought to be, that these opinions which have been rumoured about, are unfounded. I shall now address a few words to those gentlemen who would hurry us into war ; and here. Sir, I must say, that of all persons living, the Ex- secretary of War is the last man who can consistently call out for war. He despised the warn- ing voice of my honourable friend ; he turned a deaf ear to his predictions, that we should only consolidate and strengthen the power of France. His answers always were, he should despise the power of France, could he but see jacobinism destroyed. Is it not destroyed ? " * Approach thou like ihe rugged Russian bear, The armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcaneau tiger — Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble.' " The right honourable gentleman's wishes are gratified ; jacobinism is killed and gone, and by whom ? By him who no longer can be called the child and champion- of jacobinism — by Buonaparte, I remember to have heard jacob- inism compared to Anteeus, who gained strength at every throw : but Buonaparte proceeded like Hercules ; he gave it a true fraternal hug, and strangled it. Did the French annex Piedmont? Did they enter Switzerland expected Roman Catholic privileges on the shoulders of others, whom Mr. Pitt after- wards individually supported in their administration, while, at the same time his known constant supporters and partisans did all in their power to bring the new ministry into contempt, holding them up to the country as incapable ; and this double game was sup- posed to be played in order that when the object was obtained for which office had been yielded to them, they might be easily removed without the country at all regretting their loss. * This was an exhibition which, at the time, excited considerable curiosity. A girl, who was in a room adjoining the exhibition room, was enabled to answer all questions put to her by the public, by means of tin tubes, in which were inserted small mirrors at right angles which reflected every object in the exhibition room, so that, not only was the sound conveyed to her, but she was enabled to see every thing that was held up by the visitors, such as watches, &c. 236 THE MODEHN ORATOR. with the Rights of Man ? Did they talk of those rights when Buonaparte told the people of Italy they were a set of dolts and drivellers, and were unfit to govern themselves ? But now the right honourable gentleman seems in a greater fright than ever. He seems as if he had rather have the old ghost back again. Most whimsically he wants to unite all parties against France — ** Black spirits and white, Blue spirits and grey," all are welcome to him. The moderate jacobins he takes to his bosom ; they were only misled by their feelings. The violent jacobins he appeals to as men of proud spirits. He wishes to sing ' Cairo' to them, and to head them all. ' Oh ! had I,' he sighs, ' but plenty of jacobins here.' But, on what principle would they carry on the war ? If they were able to curtail the power of Buonaparte, would not their views increase, and would they ever stop without making an example of the regicide republic ? If they will speak out fairly, will they not confess this ? Will the country, then, for such a purpose consent to turn out the present Ministers ? Sir, upon the spirit of the country I wish to say a few words. I have heard from the noble lord with regret, what I hope was but a slip, that the spirit of the country is worn out. I think that noble lord must retract that idea. Sir, I certainly looked to the rejoicings at the peace as an unmanly and irrational exultation. Do I rebuke the people for rejoicing at the blessings of peace ? No, Sir, but for rejoicing without asking about the terms. Did they rejoice that we had gained Trinidad and Ceylon ?* Would two farthing candles have been burnt less had we not obtained them? No, Sir; if they had believed that they had been fighting for civilized order, morality, and religion ; and if, believing this, they exulted in such a peace, then it proves that their spirit was worn out. But I allude to this, in order that the enemy may not be led into a mistake upon the subject. Sir, one of the disadvantages attending the present ad- ministration is, that they will not turn, when they are attacked by the last administration. They are hampered by the votes they gave for the war. But from the period of the allegations that it was a war for the Scheldt, I assert that it continued to be a war upon false pretences. The people were told that it was a war for religion and good order, and they found that peace was ready to be made at Lisle, without any reference to those causes. The right honourable gentleman says, ' What baseness, while religion was in their mouths, to consent to steal a sugar island!' It is true. Sir, though it comes a little extraordinarily from that man who was one of the cabinet ministers at the time of the negotiation at Lisle. It should appear as if there had indeed been great discord in the cabinet ; ' there never was greater,' says the honourable gentleman. They acted not merely like men in a boat, rowing difi'erent ways, but like men in the boat of a balloon. Up the Ex-secretary of war was ascending to the clouds, whilst Mr. Dundas was opening the * By one of the provisions of the treaty of Amiens, England agreed to restore all her conquests during the war, except the islands of Trinidad and Ceylon. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 237 valve and letting out the gas to descend ; while one was throwing out ballast to mount to the most chivalrous heights, the other was attempting to let drop an anchor upon a West India island. Each of these ministers was suffered to have his favourite plan. The Ex-secretary of War was allowed to nibble at the coast of France, the War Secretary of State to make a descent upon a sugar island; and thus they went on till the letter from Lord Grenville — that letter never to be forgotten, and, I will add, never to be for- given — made its appearance, and the people took a deep and settled disgust. Why did this not appear ? And this, Sir, ought to be a lesson to us. The mouths of the people were shut and gagged, and the Government were acting without knowing anything of their circumstances. Sir, in such circum- stances, the integrity of their minds was disgusted, and they were glad to got rid of the war at any rate. Upon this subject I have dwelt the more particularly, because I wish Buonaparte not to mistake the cause of the joy of the people. He should know that if he commits any act of aggression against them, they will enter singly into the contest, rather than suffer any attack upon their honour and their independence. I shall proceed no further. I perfectly agree with my honourable friend, that war ought to be avoided, though he does not agree with me on the means best calculated to produce that effect. From any opinion he may express, I never differ but with the greatest reluctance. For him my affection, my esteem, and my attachment, are unbounded, and they will end only with my life. But, I think an im- portant lession is to be learnt from the arrogance of Buonaparte. He says * he is an instrument in the hands of Providence — an envoy of God.' He says ' he is an instrument in the hands of Providence to restore Switzerland to happiness, and to elevate Italy to splendour and importance.' Sir, I think he is an instrument in the hands of Providence to make the English love their constitution the better ; to cling to it with more fondness ; to hang round it with truer tenderness. Every man feels, when he returns from France, that he is coming from a dungeon to enjoy the light and life of British indepen- dence. Sir, whatever abuses exist, we shall still look with pride and pleasure upon the substantial blessings we still enjoy. I believe too, Sir, that he is an instrument in the hands of Providence to make us more liberal in our political differences, and to render us determined, with one hand and heart, to oppose any aggresions that may be made upon us. If that aggression be made my honourable friend will, I am sure, agree with me, that we ought to meet it with a spirit worthy of these islands ; that we ought to meet it with a conviction of the truth of this assertion, that the country which has achieved such greatness, has no retreat in littleness ; that if we could be con- tent to abandon everything, we should find no safety in poverty, no security in abject submission. Finally, Sir, that we ought to meet it with a fixed determination to perish in the same grave with the honour and independence of the country." The motion passed without a division. 238 THE MODEHlSr OEATOE,. Speech in opposition to tlie motion of Mr. Pitt, for a Bill for raising and supporting an additional permanent military force. — 18th June, 1804. Mr. ^ddington had resigned office on the 12th May preceding, and had heen succeeded by Mr. Pitt. " To the arguments, Sir, v>'hich have been urged in support of the measure before the house, the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Addington) who has just sat down has given such a full and fair reply, that I do not think it necessary to enter into the subject as I had otherwise intended. The objec- tions to this bill have been so forcibly maintained by that right honourable gentleman, and he had put the subject upon such fair and constitutional grounds, that I should decline to trouble the house upon this occasion, if it were not for the observations of my right honourable friend (Mr. Canning), who has not confined himself to the bill under consideration, biit has thought proper to introduce matter not strictly relevant, but yet of infinitely more importance than the bill itself — I mean my right honourable friend's allusion to the degree of confidence to which the present administration is entitled. My. right honourable friend stated, that he was not disposed to adulation towards his right honourable friend who sits near him (Mr. Pitt), and for whom, no doubt, he entertains the most sincere respect and regard. I hope he will do me the justice to think, that I am equally incapable of adulation towards my right honourable friend on the same bench with me (Mr. Fox). I certainly am no flatterer, although, in point of attachment to my right hon- ourable friend, I will not yield to that which my right honourable friend on the opposite side can or does profess to feel for his right honourable friend beside him ; with this difierence, however, on my part, that my attachment to my right honourable friend on this side of the house is of a much longer standing — that it is the first, the strongest, and the only political attachment of my life. But my right honourable friend disclaims adulation towards his friend, and, indeed, he seems to me to have had no occasion to do so, for he certainly did not deal in it ; on the contrary, he has taken occasion to pro- nounce upon the conduct of his right honourable friend one of the bitterest satires that could be well imagined. My right honourable friend expresses his surprise, that we who oppose this bill can contrive to co-operate, and that we can avoid quarrelling when we get into the lobby ; but is it not equally, if not more a matter of surprise, that he can avoid quarrelling with some of his friends near him, to whom he has been so very lately in decided opposi- tion, and particularly with the noble lord,^' who appears now to have deter- mined which of the ' two strings' he should put to his bow ? [A laugh.] If my right honourable friend will look at those about him, he will find that the compliments and censures which he meant for the right honourable gentleman on the lower bench (Mr. Addington), were applicable also to some of his pre- sent connexions. Whatever praise or condemnation applies to the one, * Lord Castlereagh, President of the Board of Control, who retained the office he held under Mr. Addington. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 239 applies equally to the other, with this difference, that the compliment called forth by the retirement of the one from office, when the voice of Parliament and the country called for it, is not deserved by the other, who still remains in power/^' Some part of the administration of the right honourable gentle- man on the lower bench I most cordially approved, and his intentions in every instance I respected, because I firmly believed them to be pure and honour- able. I esteemed the motives which actuated his public conduct, because I was certain of his disposition, whatever might be the sentiments of some of his colleagues, to govern the country upon the principles of the constitution. I know that his acceptance of office was a sacrifice, and I feel that his retire- ment from it w^as a triumph. But did my right honourable friend, I would ask him, mean it as a compliment to the right honourable gentleman, that immediately upon his retirement from office, he started into an open, manly, and systematic opposition ; or did he mean it as an indirect sarcasm upon the conduct of his right honourable friend ? Did my right honourable friend mean to say, that when the right honourable gentleman resigned his situation, he did not offer an insidious support to his successor,! that he did not seat himself behind him for the purpose of availing himself of the first opportunity to push him out ? that when a motion of impeachment was made against his successor, he did not attempt to suspend the judgment of the question by the shabby, shallow, pretext of moving the previous question ? No ! such has not been the conduct of the right honourable gentleman, and the line he has pursued will be entitled to commendation. What are we to think, what can my right honourable friend say, of that course of proceeding which I have described ? a course which had nothing manly, consistent, or direct about it. In this conduct, however, my right honourable friend did not participate, and of course merits no part of the censure attached to it by every generous and liberal-minded man. My right honourable friend has given credit to the right honourable gentleman for retiring from office before he was forced out by actual opposition — for taking the hint from Parliament, j; If he be serious in pronouncing this laudable, what can he think of the six members of the late cabinet who still continue in office, w^ho consent to act with, and even subordinate to, the very right honourable gentleman who so lately treated them with contumely and contempt ? If the behaviour of the one be manly, how are we to estimate the other ? how are we to judge of the situation of that noble lord (Hawkesbury) whose conduct in office appears to have given such particular offence to my right honourable friend ? But I * Many members of Mr. Addington's administration retained office under Mr. Pitt. Thus, Lord Eldon continued chancellor ; Duke of Portland, president of the council ; the Earl of Westmoreland, lord privy seal ; Lord Castlereagh, president of the board of control ; and the Earl of Chatham, master-general of the ordnance. Lord Hawkes- bury removed from the foreign to the home department. t See page 234. X Mr. Addington retired on his being able only to command majorities of 52 and 37, in large houses, and on ministerial measures. 240 THE MODERiSr ORATOR. derive some consolation from the language of my right honourable friend, for as he applauds so much the act of the right honourable gentleman, in having resigned his oiRce when parliament and the country seemed to wish it, when he had in this house but a majority of thirty-seven, I have reason to hope, that as his right honourable friend had only a majority of twenty-eight on a former evening, which majority will, I think, be reduced this night, my right honourable friend will recommend to him an imitation of the gallant and dignified conduct of the right honourable gentleman on the lower bench — that he w^ill advise him not to persevere any further with such a mean, decreasing majority, after having lost the confidence of all the independent part of parliament and the country. My right honourable friend, indeed, states that he would wish to see an administration formed upon a broader scale, and in this declaration I really believe him sincere. If he considers what his right honourable friend now is, and what he might have been, I am pretty sure that such must be his wish. I am also sure that my right honourable friend delivers his real sentiment when he states that he feels himself in a post of danger. I believe that he considers the administration to which he belongs as not at all likely to last ; and I will go a step further — I believe that neither himself nor his right honourable friend really think that it ought to last ; for they must be aware that it is an arrangement which has excited discontent and com- plaint through every part of the country. It is an arrangement of such a nature that my right honourable friend thinks it necessary to offer something in the shape of an apology for the part he has taken in it. My right honourable friend has taken occasion, in some degree, to contrast his attachment to his right honourable friend at the head of administra- tion, with my attachment to my right honourable friend beside me ; but there is this difference between us, that I can never follow the same line as that which my right honourable friend has done this night, to excuse his acceptance of a high ofiice under the administration of his right honourable friend.* I do not feel it necessary to enter into any justification of my attachment to my right honourable friend ; for, although I do not find him holding one of the first offices in the government, I find him surrounded with honour ; although I do not find him leading a cabinet, I see him followed by all that is independent in the rank, character, con- sequence, and population of the country. I see him restored to the friendship of all those good and great men from whom he has, though he never ought to have, been separated ; or rather, I see those personages restored to him. In a word, I have the happiness to observe the public character of my right honourable friend placed on a more exalted eminence than it ever before stood on. An attachment to him, therefore, it cannot be any other than a source of the most gratifying pride to reflect upon. My right honourable friend, in the course of the justification which he * Mr. Canning was treasurer of the navy. KICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 241 has attempted for his conduct in co-operating with his right honourable friend, has dwelt a good deal upon the happy event of the removal of what he termed the late ministers, but my right honourable friend seemed to forget that that removal was far from being complete. To be sure, some of those with whom my right honourable friend professed to have been dissatisfied were removed. He was dissatisfied with the conduct of the department for foreign afiairs, and therefore out goes Lord Hawkesbury ; and sorry I am to perceive that that noble lord has put the seal to his own condemnation ; being charged with mismanagement and incapacity, he consents to be degraded in order to make room for another noble lord,* who certainly has yet to prove his ability, who has at least no experience to recommend him. This removal must no doubt be a source of much mortification to those who may be intimately connected with the noble lord : but this alone was not enough to satisfy my right honourable friend, and to reconcile him to the administration. He disliked the admi- ralty, and therefore that silly, incapable person. Earl St. Vincent, is removed ; and his place is filled by that tried, experienced seaman, Lord Melville. [A laugh.] In the ofiice of the war minister, also, my right honourable friend saw good ground for complaint, and therefore the noble lord (Hobart) who held that situation, is superseded by a noble lord who gallantly resigned the government of Ireland, because it was a time of war and trouble, and much disturbance was apprehended in that country. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that my right honourable friend should express his regret that his right honourable friend has not better support; for all those being dismissed for detected, acknowledged inca- pacity, according to the language of my right honourable friend, of whom his right honourable friend spoke in such lofty terms of praise, none remain in office, but those six of whom his right honourable friend did not think worth while to utter one word in the way of commendation. But of the right honourable gentleman's praise much does not seem to be thought, and therefore it is, perhaps, that we have had no panegyric pronounced upon the qualifications of the persons just introduced into his cabinet. After the perfect knowledge of human nature which the right honourable gentleman has manifested, particularly in the expedition to Holland, and the representation with respect to some of the late ministers, his opinions of mankind do not appear to be held in any estimation, and therefore, no doubt, it is that the House has not heard one word from the right honour- able gentleman as to the merits of his new colleagues. 1 dare say that this silence was in consequence of a previous stipulation. They most probably said to the right honourable gentleman, ' You may give us ribands, titles, pensions, places, or anything you like, but a character : do^ for God's sake, save our names from the peril of your praise — for, if you praise us, both you and we shall be laughed at.' My right honourable * Lord Harrowby, secretary for foreign affairs, vice Lord Hawkesbury. 242 THE MODERN ORATOE,. friend has frequently said, ' Away with the cant of " not men but measures," for it is a frivolous notion, as it is not the harness, but the horses, which draw the carriage ;' but I would ask my right honourable friend, what is to become of the harness and carriage with such horses as his right honourable friend has now engaged? There are six of them that are old, and six new^ — a double set, to be sure. The former are part of that ' slow-paced, lumpish, awkward collection,' upon which my right honourable friend so severely commented in the discussion of Colonel Patten's motion. They of course can be of no use, and so the six new- nags will have to draw not only the carriage, but those six heavy cast-off blacks along with it. [A laugh.] Now, if in such a situation my right honourable friend does not feel himself embarrassed, and anxious for the release of his right honourable friend and himself, he cannot have that feeling of dignity and solicitude for honourable reputation which I am willing to ascribe to him. Among the arguments advanced by my right honourable friend in favour of the bill before the House, there were some that struck me to be very extraordinary indeed. [Here Mr. Sheridan, searching for his notes, found they were lost, which produced a laugh, and the honourable member observed, that his right honourable friend, he dared say, was not sorry that he had lost them.] My right honourable friend, observed the honourable member, complains that we should express our disappointment that the measure before the house is not equal to the expectation we entertained, and states that from the number of troops already existing, it was impossible to draw more from the martial resources of the country than this bill proposes to obtain ; but my right honourable friend should recollect that the fault lies with those by whom our imagina- tions were raised so high. If we complain of disappointment^ who raised our expectations ? The right honourable gentleman, in the course of his opposition to the late minister, held forth such high promises — talked of what he would do if in office, that he would submit a measure of vast importance, &c. — that it was impossible not to have our curiosity and ex- pectations strongly excited ; but after all this prodigious parade of means in contemplation for the increase of our public force, what do we see.^ Instead of plans at all promising efficiency, instead of looking for an armed Minerva from the brain of this Jupiter, we see a puny, rickety bantling, which, after being sent to the parish nurse, does not appear to have gristle or bone ever to attain the age of manhood. In truth, I cannot suppose that the right honourable gentleman himself thinks that this bill will procure men. The only object seems to be to raise a tax upon the landed interest, to inflict penalties and enact forfeitures. The right honourable gentleman only proposes to levy a tax in a novel way. If, by such a system, * The six new members of the administration were Mr. Pitt, Lord Melville, first lord of the admiralty ; Lord Harrowby, secretary for foreign affairs ; Lord Mulgrave, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; and Sir Evan Nepean, chief secretary for Ireland. RICHABD BRINST.EY SHERIDAN. 243 men should reall)^ be had, I am persuaded that the right honourable gentle- man would be more surprised than any other man in the country ; that he would feel as much astonished as he lately was at the wonderful discovery, that but few balloted men gave personal service. Even supposing that the proposed number of men could be recruited, where, I would ask, are six or seven thousand persons to be found qualified to officer them ? The right honourable gentleman must know that the thing is impossible* But the mode suggested to discipline those corps in really ludicrous. The idea of attaching one battalion to another is not unlike that of throwing a young woman in the way of an old man for the purpose of courtship, in the hope that, after the opportunity of what is commonly termed ' keeping company,' they will ' come together,' matrimony must be the consequence. Absurd as this may seem, it is not more so than that such a connexion as that proposed in this bill, between a battalion of regulars and one of the neW levies, can tend to promote or preserve discipline. It is ridiculous to talk of discipline in a corps where, as in the new levies, the officers will be urged to ask favours of their men. If a man belonging to the regulars shall be found tippling with any of the new levies, he can plead that he was endea- vouring to prevail on the other to enlist for general service — that he was only employed in endeavouring to forward the views of government. At such irregularities as these, officers must connive, or the enlistment from among those new levies will not be productive. From an army thus constituted and so employed, what evils are not to be apprehended ! So fully convinced am 1 of the mischief that must result from it as to think that, if the bill should be adopted, the most appropriate title for it would be ' a bill for the destruction of military discipline.' In considering the means of providing for the defence of the country, I am sorry to perceive that gentlemen, whose opinions upon other occasions I most sincerely respect, should look so much, or rather entirely, to the extension of our regular army. With respect to the army, however, I wish to observe, that in my opinion, men should be enlisted for that service not only on terms limited as to time, but as to place. The latter regulation would tend to save the lives of many soldiers, while the policy of the former is so generally acknowledged, and has been so often discussed, that the surprise is, that ministers hesitate to act upon it. Upon this question, as to the augmentation of our regular army, I cannot forbear to say, that I always look upon such augmentation with jealousy : I would not risk the liberties of the country, by the enlargement of our standing army. If I were asked whether I would not rather trust our defence in the field against the attack of a foreign foe to regular troops, I would immediately answer in the affirmative ; still, however, keeping in view the compromise between diffi- culties, the necessity of securing our freedom against the influence and power of a large standing army, I would have our volunteers and militia aided "by a due proportion of the regular army. The people of this country are competent to their own defence, and are ready to take the tone from 244 THE MODERN ORATOR. those above them. They have regard for the high station which freemen may be supposed to feel ; they have none of the slavish attachment to clans, but they look up to their superiors — and I use this word in its liberal sense — they look up to you, their superiors, with confidence, because you do not look down on them with insult. Give, then, to such a people proper example and encouragement, and you will not have any occasion to look for a large standing army to defend your country. The people of England know the value of the objects for which they have to contend. They feel that, from the constitution of the Society in which they live, there is nothing of honour, emolument, or wealth, which is not within the reach of a man of merit. The landlord, the shopkeeper, or mechanic, must be sensible that he is contending not merely for what he possesses, but for everything of importance which the country contains ; and I would call on the humblest peasant to put forth his endeavours in the national struggle to defend his son's title to the great seal of England. Acting upon this plan, employing proper means to animate the country, would render it unnecessary to hire an army to defend us or to resist any enemy. It is because I am satisfied of this fact — because I know that in this important conjecture, which so strongly demands the valour of the brave, the vigour of the strong, the means of the wealthy, and the counsels of the wise, we could obtain all that is requisite by operating judiciously upon the charac- ter of the people, that I object to the frequent call for an increase of our regular army, as I know that such increase must invest the executive govern- ment with a power dangerous to the existence of liberty. I like an army of the people, because no people were ever found to commit a felo cle se upon their own liberty : but I dislike a large standing army, because I never knew popular liberty in any state long to survive such an establish- ment. It is upon these grounds that I disapprove of the sentiments so often urged as to the augmentation of the regular army, and particularly by an officer*' whose information upon military subjects is, no doubt, en- titled to the utmost respect ; but, whatever may be his information and experience upon military topics, if he had the ability of the Archduke Charles, until he shall look at the whole of the subject, until he shall examine it as a statesman, with a mixed attention to the rights of the people and the military defence of the country, I cannot defer to his opinions. With regard to the principles upon which the present adminis- tration is formed, I shall conclude with a few observations. The cause of the exclusion,! which is so much and so justly complained of, we are all * General Maitland. t Mr. Sheridan alluded to the exclusion of Mr. Fox from the administration. At the retirement of Mr. Addington, Mr. Pitt had deshed to have the co-operation of Mr. Fox, in forming a strong administration, so necessary at that critical period ; but through the personal antipathy of the King to Mr. Fox, this coalition was rendered impossible; and in consequence of his exclusion, Lord Grenville and his party refused to take office with Mr. Pitt. 245 tolerably well able to conjecture ; but it would be, I am aware, indecorous to describe it in this house. I know it would be unparliamentary to introduce into debate any particular allusion to this circumstance. Of the personage,* however, to whom it refers, I cannot speak from any particular knowledge ; but of him f who is next in rank and consequence, I can say, that that illustrious personage, whose name I know my duty too well to mention, who stood forward at the commencement of the war, displaying a noble example of his wish to promote unanimity, to rally all parties round the standard of the country, entertains no political prejudice against any public man — though, God knows, he has had much to forgive. Far, however, from indulging resentment, I am sure that he would be forward to accept, to call for the services of any political character who could contribute, in this great crisis, to the safety of the'empire. On a division, the motion was carried by 265 to 223. LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III. FIRST I^RDS OF THE TREA- CHANCELLORS OF THE EX- SURY. CHEQUER. 1759. Dec. 22. T. H. Pelham, Duke of Newcastle .. Hon. H. B. Legge 1761. Mar. 12. Do. do William, Viscount Barring ton 1762. May 29. John, Earl of Bute Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., afterwards Lord le Despenser 1763. April 16. Hon. George GrenviUe . , . .Hon. George GrenviUe 1765. July 13. Charles, Marquis of Rockingham . .William Dowdeswell, Esq. 1766. Aug. 2. AugustusHenry, Duke of Grafton. .Hon. Charles Townsend 1767. Sept. 12. Do. do William, Lord Mansfield 1767. Dec. 1. Do. do Frederick, Lord North 1768. Dec. 31. Do. do. Do. do. 1770. Feb. 10. Frederick, Lord North Do. do. 1773. Jan. 9. Do. do Do. do. 1774. Mar. 12. Do. do Do. do. 1777. June 5. Do. do. Do. do. 1778. Dec. 14. Do. do Do. do. 1780. Sept. 6. Do. do Do. do. 1782. Mar. 27. Charles, Marquis of Rockingham . .Lord John Cavendish July 13. WilHam, Earl of Shelburne . . . .Hon. William Pitt 1783. April 5. William Henry, Duke of Portland . . Lord John Cavendish Dec. 27. Right Hon. William Pitt .. .. Right Hon. William Pitt 1786. Sept. 16. Do. Do. * King George the Third. t The Prince of Wales. 246 1789. Aprils. Right Hon. William Pitt .. Kiglit-Hon. William Pitt. 1791. June 10. Do. Do. 1793. June 20. Do. Do. 1794. May. Do. Do. 1797. July. Do. Do. 1800. July. Do. Do. Nov. Do. Do. 1801. Mar. 7. Right Hon. Henry Addington . .Right Hon. Henry Addington 1802. July. Do Do. 1804. May 12. Mr. Pitt Mr. Pitt 1806. Feb. 3. Lord Grenville Lord Henry Petty 1807. March. Duke of Portland Mr. Spencer Perceval 1809. October. Mr> Perceval Mr. Perceval 1812. June. Lord Liverpool Mr. Vansittart PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE. 1757. June 30. William Pitt, Esq., afterwards Earl of Chathatn 1761. Mar. 25. John, Earl of Bute, vice Lord Holderness Oct. 9. Charles, Earl of Egremont, vice Mr. Pitt 1762. May 29. Hon. G. Grenville, vice Lord Bute Oct. 14. George, Earl of Halifax, vice Mr. Grenville 1763. Sept. 9. John, Earl of Sandwich, vice Lord Egremont 1765. July 12. Augustus Henry, Duke of Grafton, vice Lord Halifax Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, vice Earl of Sandwich 1766. May 23. Charles, Duke of Richmond, vice Duke of Grafton Aug. 2. William, Earl of Shelburne, vice Duke of Richmond 1768. Jan. 20. Thomas, Viscount Weymouth, vice Hon. Henry Seymour Conway Wills, Earl of Hillsborough (Colonies) Thomas, Viscount Weymouth, vice Earl of Shelburne Oct. 21. William Henry, Earl of Rochford, vice Lord Weymouth 1770. Dec. 19. William Henry, Earl of Rochford, vice Lord Weymouth 1771. Jan. 22. John, Earl of Sandwich, vice Earl of Rochford George, Earl of Halifax, vice Earl of Sandwich June 12. Henry, Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, vice Lord Halifax 1772. Aug. 14. William, Earl of Dartmouth, vice Earl of Hillsborough (Colonies) 1775. Nov. 10. Thomas, Viscount Weymouth, vice Lord Rochford Lord George Sackville Germaine, afterwards Viscount Sackville, vice Lord Dartmouth (Colonies) 1779. Oct. 27. David, Viscount Stormont, vice Lord Suffolk Nov. 24. Wills, Earl of Hillsborough, vice Lord Weymouth 1782. Feb. 24. W^elbore Ellis, Esq., vice Lord Germaine (Colonies) Mar. 27. William, Earl of Shelburne, vice Lord Stormont Hon. Charles James Fox, vice Lord Hillsborough July 13. Thomas Townsend, Esq., vice Mr. Fox Thomas, Lord Grantham, vice Lord Shelburne 1783. April 2. Frederick, Lord North, vice Lord Grantham (Home) Hon. Charles James Fox, vice Mr. Townsend (Foreign) Dec. 19. George, Earl Temple, vice Mr. Fox (Foreign) Dec. 23. Thomas, Lord Sydney, vice Lord North (Home) 247 Dec. 23. 1789. June. 1791. June. May. 1794. July 11. July. 1801. February 1804. 1805. 1806. March. July 30. May. Jan. 12. July 10. Feb. 3. 1807. March. 1809. October. 1812. June. Francis, Marquis of Carmarthen, vice Earl Temp.e (Foreign) William Wyndham Grenville, Esq., vice Lord Sydney (Home) Right Hon. Henry Dundas (Home) Lord Grenville (Foreign) Duke of Portland (Home) Right Hon. Henry Dundas (AVar and Colonies) .Robert Banks, Lord Hawkesbury, afterwards Earl of Liverpool (Foreign) Robert, Lord Hobart, afterwards Earl of Buckinghamshire (War and Colonies) Thomas, Lord Pelham (Home) Lord Harrowby (Foreign) Lord Hawkesbury (Home) Earl Camden (Colonial) Lord Mulgrave (Foreign) Viscount Castlereagh (Colonial) Charles James Fox (Foreign) Earl Spencer (Home) W. Windham (Colonial) George Canning (Foreign) Lord Hawkesbury (Home) Viscount Castlereagh (Colonial) Marquis Wellesley (Foreign) Hon. Richard Ryder (Home) Lord Liverpool (Colonial and War) Viscount Castlereagh (Foreign) Viscount Sidmouth (Home) Earl Bathurst (Colonial) SECRET AltlES AT WAR. 1760. Viscount Barrington 1784. Sir George Younge 1761. C. Townshend 1794. W. Windham 1763. AV. Ellis 1801. C. Yorke 1765. Viscount Barrington 1778. C. Jenkinson 1782. J. Townshend Sir George Younge 1783. Sir R. Fitzpatrick 1803. C. Bathurst 1804. William Dundas 1806. R. Fitzpatrick 1807. Sir James Pulkney 1809. Lord Palmerston. TREASURERS OF THE NAVY. 1760. George Grenville 1762. Lord Barrington 1765. Lord Howe 1770. Sir G. Elliott 1777. W. Ellis 1782. J. Barre H. Dundas 1783. C. Townshend 1783. Henry Dundas 1801. D. Ryder 1803. G. Tierney 1804. G. Canning 1806. R. B. Sheridan 1807. G. Rose 1818. J. Robinson LORD HIGH CHANCELLORS. 1757. Sir Robert Henley, K.t., Lord Keeper, created Lord Henley, 1760 1764. Jan. 16. Ditto, made Lord Chancellor, and created Earl of NorthiBgton, May 19 248 1766. July 30. Charles, Lord Camden 1770. Jan. 17. Hon. Charles York, created Lord Morden, died next day, and the Great Seal was then put in commission 1771. Jan. 23. Henry, Lord Apsley,"afterward8 Earl Bathurst 1778. June 2. Edward, Lord Thurlow 1783. April 9. In commission Dec. 23. Edward, Lord Thurlow 1792. June 15. Li commission 1793. Jan. 28. Alexander, Lord Loughborough, created Earl of Rosslyn in 1801. 1801. April 14. John, Lord Eldon 1806. Feb. 7. LordErskine 1807. April 1. Lord Eldon 1788. 1793. 1799. 1801. 1802. 1806. 1807. 1812. 1813. 1817. 1819. ATTORNEY-GENERALS. July 1. Sir C. Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden Hon. Charles Yorke Sir Fletcher Norton, Kt., afterwards Lord Grantley Aug. 25. Hon. Charles Yorke William de Grey, after- wards Lord Walsing- ham Edward Thurlow, after- wards Lord Thurlow June 16. A. Wedderburn, after- wards Lord Lough- borough July 11. James Wallace, Esq. April 20. Lloyd Kenyon, Esq. May 6. James Wallace, Esq. John Lee, Esq. Lloyd Kenyon, Esq. R. Pepper Arden, Esq., afterwards Lord Al- vanley Sir A. Macdonald Sir John Scott Sir John Milford Sir Edward Law, after- wards Lord Ellenbo- rough Hon. Spencer Perceval Sir Arthur Pigot Sir Vicary Gibbs Sir T. Plumer Sir W. Garrow Sir Saml. Shepherd Sir Robert Gifford 1757. 1762. Jan. 25. 1763. Dec. 16. 1765. 1766. 1771. Jan. 23. 1778. 1780. 1782. 1783. Nov. 18. Dec. 26. 1784. Mar. 30. SOLICITOR-GENERALS. June 28. Feb. 13. Feb. 21. April. Feb. 3. April. June 27. May 4. May. 1756. Nov. 6. 1761. Dec. 14. 1763. Nov. 1766. Aug. 1767. Dec. 23. 1770. March. 1771. Jan. 23. 1778. June 16. 1780. Sept. 1. 1782. April 20. July 20. 1783. Nov. 18. Dec. 26. 1784. April 7. 1788. June 28. 1793. Feb. 13. 1799. 1801. 1802. April. 1805. 1806. Feb. 3. 1807. April. 1812. June 27. 1813. May 4. 1814. 1817. May. 1819. Hon. Charles Yorke Fletcher Norton, Esq. William de Grey, Esq. Edward Willes, Esq. Josh. Dunning, Esq. Edward Thurlow, Esq. Alexander Wedderburn, Esq., afterwards Lord Loughborough James Wallace, Esq. James Mansfield, Esq. John Lee, Esq. Richard Pepper Arden, Esq. James Mansfield, Esq. Richard Pepper Arden, Esq. Arch. Macdonald, Esq. Sir John Scott, after- wards Lord Eldon in 1799 Sir John Mitford, after- wards Lord Redes- dale Sir William Grant Hon. Spencer Perceval Sir Thomas Manners Sutton Sir Vicary Gibbs Sir Samuel Romilly Sir Thos. Plumer Sir Wm. Garrow Sir Robert Dallas Sir Saml. Shepherd Sir Robert Gifford Sir John Singleton Copley THE MODERN ORATOR. THE SPEECHES LORD ERSKINE LONDON : AYLOTT AND JONES, 8, PATERNOSTER ROW, AKD ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1846. ^/' INDEX SPEECHES OF THE RIGHT HON. LORD ERSKINE. PAOE On showing cause against a rule for an information against Captain Baillie, for libel. November 24, 1778 . . . 2o0 In Defence of Lord George Gordon on his trial for High Treason. Feb. 5, 1781 264 In support of a Rule for a New Trial of the indictment against the Dean of St. Asaph, for publishing a seditious libel. Nov. 15, 1784 . . . .298 In defence of John Stockdale. Dec. 9, 1789 349 In defence of John Frost. Hilary Term, 1793 376 In defence of Thomas Hardy, indicted for High Treason. Nov. 1, 1794 . . 39^ SPEECHES OF LORD EESKINE. The Honourable Thomas Eeskine was the third and youngest son of Henry David, Earl of Buchan, and was born in Scotland, in 1750. In 1764, he entered the navy, but abandoned the service four years afterwards, and obtained a commission in the first regiment of foQt, which regiment he ac- companied to Minorca, from whence he returned to England in 1772. At the earnest desire of his mother, Mr. Erskine threw up his commission, and, apply- ing himself to the study of the law, became a member of Lincoln's Inn, and at the same time entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a fellow- commoner, for the purpose of taking his degree, to which he was entitled by birth, and thereby reducing the number of terms required by the rules of the Inn, to be kept by students previously to being called to the bar. He diligently applied himself to his professional studies, in the chambers of Mr. Buller, one of the most celebrated spec^^al pleaders of the time ; and afterwards, on Mr. Buller being raised to the bench, he became the pupil of Mr. Wood. In Trinity term, 1778, Mr. Erskine was called to the bar, where fortune be- friended him, by affording him an early opportunity of distinguishing himself; and his rise was so peculiarly rapid, that, after being scarcely five years at the bar, a patent of precedence was granted to him on the suggestion of Lord Mansfield. In the same year (1783), he entered parliament as member for Portsmouth through the influence of Mr. Fox, in the room of Sir William Gordon, who was induced to resign his seat for the purpose of Mr. Erskine's return ; and shortly afterwards he received the appointment of Attorney- General to the Prince of Wales, but of which office he was shamefully de- prived in 1792 for his defence of Thomas Paine, against whom an information had been filed, for his violent attack on the government and constitution in his noted work called " The Rights of Man." As a reparation for this injus- tice, Mr. Erskine was appointed by the Prince of Wales, in 1802, Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall. During the administration of Mr. Addington, the office of Attorney- General to the King was offered to him, but he declined it in deference to the wishes of the Prince, at whose instance, according to Mr. Erskine's own account, he was in 1806 made Lord Chancellor, and created Baron Erskine, of Restormel Castle, in the county of Cornwall. In 1807 he went out of office on the dissolution of the ministry, and seldom afterwards appeared in public. He died on 17th November, 1823, at Almondale, near Edinburgh, and was buried at Uphall church. He was twice married, and had issue, three sons and five daughters, by his first wife. T 250 THE MODERN OBATOR. The style of Lord Erskine's eloquence has been universally admired for its purity, simplicity, and energy, and its complete freedom from all vulgarism, and is regarded as the model of serious forensic oratory ; his addresses bear on them the stamp of sincerity and honesty, and to this may be in a great measure attributed his great influence and success with juries. Speech on showing cause against a Kule for an Information against Captain Baillie, for libel, 24th November, 1778. Captain Baillie, who was Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, considering that great abuses existed in the administration of the charity, and, amongst others, that those yrhose duty it was,'^from'the offices they filled, to ob- serve the due performance of the contracts for the supply of the hospital, were themselves interested in them, much to the prejudice of the charity, had on various occasions presented petitions on the subject to the Directors and Gover- nors of the hospital, and to the Lords of the Admiralty ; but finding that they received no attention, he, as a last resource, drew up a formal statement of the case, and caused it to be printed and distributed among the General Governors of the hospital. In this pamphlet, after setting forth the alleged grievance of the contracts being submitted to interested parties for approval, he complained bitterly of lucrative situations in the hospital (designed exclusively for seamen), being filled by landsmen, and insinuated that they were placed there by the Earl of Sandwich, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to serve his own election purposes ; and in the heat of his zeal for the expo- sure of what he considered as gross abuses, he severely reprobated the con- duct of many individuals by name, and, among the number, the First Lord of the Admiralty himself. There is no doubt that Captain Baillie was actuated by an honest desire to promote the interest of the charity, which he considered he was bound to protect, and not by any desire to prejudice the individuals of whom he complained, in the eyes of the public ; since, instead of publish- ing his pamphlet generally, he confined its circulation exclusively to the General Governors of the hospital, whose duty it was to investigate the charges preferred. Shortly after the appearance of the pamphlet, Captain Baillie was suspended from office, by the direction of the Board of Admiralty ; and the individuals who had been personally attacked applied, in Trinity term, 1778, to the Court of King's Bench, for a rule for a criminal information for libel. This rule coming on for argument in the suoceeding Michaelmas term. Captain Baillie's leading counsel first addressed the court in opposition, on the 23rd November, and the court having adjourned till the 24th, Mr. Erskine on that day rose from one of the back benches, and, continuing the argument against the rule, made the following speech. It may be observed, that Mr. Erskine had been only called to the bar on the last day of the preceding term, and it is believed that his speech on this occasion was the first he ever delivered in court. lORD ERSKINE, 251 "' My Lord, " I am likewise of counsel for the author of this supposed libel ; and if the matter for consideration had been merely a question of private wrong, in which the interests of society were no further concerned than in the pro- tection of the innocent, I should have thought myself well justified, after the very able defence made by the learned gentlemen who have spoken before me, in sparing your lordship, already fatigued with the subject, and in leaving my client to the prosecutor's counsel and the judgment of the court. " But upon an occasion of this serious and dangerous complexion, when a British subject is brought before a court of justice only for having ventured to attack abuses, which owe their continuance to the danger of attacking them ; when, without any motives but benevolence, justice, and public spirit, he has ventured to attack them though supported by power, and in that de- partment, too, where it was the duty of his office to detect and expose them ; I cannot relinquish the high pTivilege of defending such a character ; — I will not give up even my small share of the honour of repelling and of exposing so odious a prosecution. " No man, my lord, respects more than I do the authority of the laws, and I trust I shall not let fall a single word to weaken the ground I mean to tread, by advancing propositions which shall oppose or even evade the strictest rules laid doWn by the court in questions of this nature. " Indeed, it would be as unnecessary as it would be indecent ; it will be sufficient for me to call your lordship's attention to the marked and striking difference between the writing before you, and I may venture to say almost every other, that has been the subject of argument on a rule for a criminal information. " The writings, or publications, which have been brought before this courts or before grand juries, as libels on individuals, have been attacks on the characters of private men, by writers stimulated sometimes by resentment, sometimes, perhaps, by a mistaken zeal ; or they have been severe and un- founded strictures on the characters of public men, proceeding from officious persons taking upon themselves the censorial office, without temperance or due information, and without any call of duty to examine into the particular department, of which they choose to become the voluntary guardians : — ^a guardianship which they generally content themselves with holding in a newspaper for two or three posts, and then, with a generosity which shines on all mankind alike, correct every department of the state, and find, at the end of their lucubrations, that they themselves are the only honest men in the community. When men of this description suffer, however we may be occasionally sorry for their misdirected zeal, it is impossible to argue against the law that censures them. " But I beseech your lordship to compare these men and their works, with my client, and the publication before the court. " Who is he ? — What is his duty? — What has he written? — To whom has he written ? — And what motive induced him to write ? T 2 232 THE MODERlSr OKATOK. " He is Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Hospital of Greenwich, — a palace built for the reception of aged and disabled men, who have maintained the empire of England on the seas, and into the offices and emoluments of which, by the express words of the charter,"^' as well as by the evident spirit of the nstitution, no landmen are to be admitted. '"'■ His duty — in the treble capacity of Lieutenant-Governor, Director, and a General Governor, is, in conjunction with others, to watch over the in- ternal economy of this sacred charity ; to see that the setting days of these brave and godlike men are spent in comfort and peace, and that the ample revenues, appropriated by this generous nation to their support, are not per- verted and misapplied. ''''He has written, that this benevolent and politic institution has degenerated from the system established by its wise and munificent founders ; — that its governors consist indeed of a great number f of illustrious names and reverend characters, but whose different labours and destinations in the most important offices of civil life rendered a deputation indispensably necessary for the or- dinary government of the Hospital ; — that the difficulty of convening this splendid corporation had gradually brought the management of its affairs more particularly under the direction of the Admiralty ; — that a new charter has been surreptitiously obtained, in repugnance to the original institution, which enlarges and confirms that dependence ; — that the present First Lord of the Admiralty (who, for reasons sufficiently obvious, does not appear pub- licly in this prosecution) has, to serve the base and worthless purposes of corruption, introduced his prostituted freeholders of Huntingdon into places destined for the honest freeholders of the seas ; — that these men (among whom are the prosecutors) are not only landmen, in defiance of the charter, and wholly dependent on the Admiralty in their views and situations, but, to the reproach of all order and government, are sufiered to act as Directors and Officers of Greenwich, while they themselves hold the very subordinate offices, the control of which is the object of that direction ;% — and inferring from thence (as a general proposition) that men in such situations cannot, as human nature is constituted, act with that freedom and singleness which their duty requires, he justly attributes to these causes the grievances which his gallant brethren actually suffer, and which are the generous subject of his complaint. "He has written this, my lord, not to the public at large, which has no jurisdiction to reform the abuses he complains of ; but to those only whose express duty it is to hear and to correct them ; and I trust they will be * The words of the charter are — •' Provided that all officers to be employed in the said Hospital be seafaring men, or such who have lost their limbs or been otherwise disabled in the sea service." t Nearly 200 ; including the chief officers of State, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Judges, Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, and the principal public officers. X In allusion to the persons filling the offices of superintendents of the contracts for the supply of the Hospital being themselves interested therein. LORD EESKINE. 253 solemnly heard and corrected. He has not published, but only distributed his book among the governors, to produce inquiry, and not to calumniate. " The motive ichich induced him to write, and to which I shall by and b}^ claim the more particular attention of the court, was to produce reformation — a reformation which it was his most pointed duty to attempt, which he has laboured with the most indefatigable zeal to accomplish, and against which every other channel was blocked up. " My lord, I will point to the proof of all this : I will show your lordship that it was his duty to investigate — that the abuses he has investigated do really exist, and arise from the ascribed causes — that he has presented them to a competent jurisdiction, and not to the public — and that he was under the indispensable necessity of taking the step he has done to save Greenwich Hospital from ruin. "Your lordship will observe, by this subdivision, that I do not wish to form a specious desultory defence : because, feeling that every link of such sub- division will in the investigation produce both law and fact in my favour, I have spread the subject open before the eye of the court, and invite the strictest scrutiny. Your lordship will likewise observe by this arrangement, that I mean to confine myself to the general lines of his defence ; the various affidavits have already been so ably and judiciously commented on by my learned leaders, to whom I am sure Captain Baillie must ever feel himself under the highest obligations, that my duty has become narrowed to the pro- vince of throwing his defence A\ithin the closest compass, that it may leave a distinct and decided impression. " And first, my lord, as to its being his particidar duty to inquire into the different matters which are the subject of his publication, and of the prose- cutors' complaint : I believe, my lords, I need say little on this head to convince your lordships, who are yourselves Governors of Greenwich Hospital, that the defendant, in the double capacity of Lieutenant-Governor and Director, is most indispensably bound to superintend everything that can affect the prosperity of the institution, either in internal economy or appropriation of revenue ; but I cannot help reading two copies of letters from the Admiralty in the year 1742 — I read them from the publication, because their authenticity is sworn to by the defendant in his afiSldavit — and I read them to show the sense of that board with regard to the right of inquiry and complaint in all officers of the Hospital, even in the departments not allotted to them by their commissions. *' ' To Sir John Jennings^ Gove7mor of Greenwich Hospital. "'Admiralty Office, April 19, 1742. " ' Sir, — The Directors of Greenwich Hospital having acquainted my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, upon complaint made to them that the men have been defrauded of part of their just allowance of broth and pease- soup, by the smallness of the pewter dishes, which, in their opinion, have been artificially beaten flat, and that there are other frauds and abuses 254 THE MODEKN OKArOE. attending this affair, to the prejudice of the poor men ; I am commanded by their lordships to desire you to call the officers together in council, and to let them know, that their lordships think them very blameable for suffering such abuses to be practised, which could not have been done without their ex- treme indolence in not looking into the affairs of the Hospital ; that their own establishment in the Hospital is for the care and protection of the poor men, and that it is their duty to look daily into everything, and to remedy every disorder ; and not to discharge themselves by throwing it upon the imder-officers and servants ; and that their lordships, being determined to go to the bottom of this complaint, do charge them to find out and inform them at whose door the fraud ought to be laid, that their lordships may give such directions herein as they shall judge proper. " ' I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, "*Thos. Corbet.* " ' To Sir John Jennings, Governor of Greenwich Hospital, " ' Admiralty Office, May 7th, 1742. " ' Sir, — My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty having referred to the Directors of Greenwich Hospital, the report made by yourself and officers of the said Hospital in council, dated the 23rd past, relating to the flatness of the pewter dishes made use of to hold the broth and pease-pottage served out to the pensioners ; the said Directors have returned hither a reply, a copy of which I am ordered to send you enclosed : they have herein set forth a fact which has a very fraudulent appearance, and it imports little by what means the dishes became shallow ; but if it be true, what they assert, that the dishes hold but little more than half the quantity they ought to do, the poor men must have been greatly injured ; and the allegations in the officers' report, that the pensioners have made no complaint, does rather aggravate their conduct, in suffering the men's patience to be so long imposed upon. " ' My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty do command me to express myself in such a manner as may show their wrath and displeasure at such a proceeding. You will please to communicate this to the officers of the house in council. " ' Their lordships do very well know that the Directors have no power but in the management of the revenue and estates of the Hospital, and in carrj^- ing on the works of the building, nor did they assume any on this occasion ; but their lordships shall always take well of them any informations that tend to rectify any mistakes or omissions whatsoever, concerning the state of the Hospital. " ' I am. Sir, your obedient servant, "'Thos. Corbet.' " From these passages it is plain, that the Admiralty then was sensible of the danger of abuses in so extensive an institution, that it encouraged com- plaints from all quarters, and instantly redressed them ; for although Cor- LORD ERSKINE. 255 ffuption was not then an infant, yet the idea of making a job of Greenwich Hospital never entered her head ; and, indeed, if it had, she could hardly have found, at that time of day, a man with a heart callous enough to consent to such a scheme, or with forehead enough to carry it into public execution. " Secondly, my lord, that the abuses he has investigated do in truth exist, and arise from the ascribed causes. " And, at the word truth, I must pause a little to consider, how far it is a defence on a rule of this kind, and what evidence of the falsehood of the supposed libel the court expects from prosecutors, before it will allow the information to be filed, even where no affidavits are produced by the defendant in his exculpation.* "That a libel upon an individual is not the less so for being true,f I do not, under certain restrictions, deny to be law ; nor is it necessary for me to deny it, because this is not a complaint in the ordinary course of law,J but an application to the court to exert an eccentric, extraordinary, voluntary juris- diction, beyond the ordinary course of justice — a jurisdiction which, I am authorised from the best authority to say, this court will not exercise, unless the prosecutors come pure and unpolluted ; denying upon oath the truth of every word and sentence which they complain of as injurious : for although, in common cases, the matter may be not the less libellous because true, yet the court will not interfere by information, for guilty, or even equivocal characters, but will leave them to its ordinary process. If the court does not see palpable malice and falsehood on the part of the defendant, and clear innocence on the part of the prosecutor, it will not stir ; it will say, ' This may be a libel ; this may deserve punishment ; but go to a grand jury, or bring your actions : all men are equally entitled to the protection of the laws, but all men are not equally entitled to an extraordinary interposition and protection, beyond the common distributive forms of justice.' " This is the true constitutional doctrine of informations, and made a * A criminal information is a written suggestion of an offence committed, filed in the Court of Queen's Bench at the instance of an individual by the leave of the courts without the intervention of a grand jury. The court will not, therefore, give such leave, unless the party applying disclose fully, on affidavit, all the material facts of the case, and satisfy the court that a grand jury would, on such evidence, sanction an in- dictment if preferred ; and if the cause of the application for leave to file a criminal information be a libel on an individual, the court always require the prosecutor to deny the truth of the charge on oath. t In the case of an indictment for libel, the truth of the alleged libel could not, imtil very recently, have been set up in defence or mitigation of punishment. Now, by 6 and 7 Vic, cap. 96, sec. 6, on the trial of any indictment or information for a defamatory libel, the truth of the matters charged may be inquired into (if the defendant have pleaded as prescribed by this statute), but shall not amount to a defence, unless it was for the public benefit that the said matter charged should be published. X Indictment may be considered the ordinary mode, as distinguished from criminal information, the peculiar mode of prosecution. 256 THE MODEEN ORATOK. strong impression upon me, when deKvered by your lordship in this court ; the occasion which produced it was of little consequence, but the principle was important. It was an information moved for by General Plasto against the printer of the ' Westminster Gazette,' for a libel published in his paper, charging that gentleman, among other things, with haVing been tried at the Old Bailey for a felony. The prosecutor's affidavit denied the charges generally as foul, scandalous, and false ; but did not traverse the aspersion I have just mentioned, as a substantive fact : upon which your lordship told the counsel,* who was too learned to argue against the objection, that the affidavit was defective in that particular, and should be amended before the court would even grant a rule to show cause. For although such general denial would be sufficient where the libellous matter consisted of scurrility, insinuation, general abuse, which is no otherwise traversable than by in- nuendos of the import of the scandal, and a denial of the truth of it, yet that when a libel consisted of direct and positive facts as charges, the court required substantive traverses of such facts in the affidavit, before it would interpose to take the matter from the cognisance of a grand jury. " This is the law of informations ; and by this touchstone I will try the prosecutors' affidavits, to show that they will fall of themselves, even without that body of evidence, -with which I can in a moment overwhelm them. " If the defendant be guilty of any crime at all, it is for writing this book : and the conclusion of his guilt or innocence must consequently depend on the scope and design of it, the general truth of it, and the necessity for writing it ; and this conclusion can no otherwise be drawn, than by taking the whole of it together. Your lordships will not shut your eyes, as these prosecutors expect, to the design and general truth of the book, and go entirely upon the insulated passages, culled out, and set heads and points in their wretched affidavits, without context, or even an attempt to unriddle or explain their sense, or bearing on the subject ; for, my lord, they have altogether omitted to traverse the scandalous facts them- selves, and have only laid hold of those warm animadversions which the recital of them naturally produced in the mind of an honest, zealous man, and which, besides, are in many places only conclusions di-a^svn from facts as general propositions, and not aspersions on them as individuals. And where the facts do come home to them as charges, not one of them is denied by the prosecutors. I assert, my lord, that in the Directors' whole affidavit (which I have read repeatedly, and with the greatest attention) there is not any one fact mentioned by the defendant, which is substantially denied ; and even when five or six strong and pointed charges are tacked to each other, to avoid meeting naked truth in the teeth, they are not even contradicted by the lump, but a general innuendo is pinned to them all ; — a mere illusory averment, that the facts mean to criminate them, and that they are not criminal ; but the facts themselves remain unattempted and untouched. * Mr. Dunning. LORD ERSKINE. 257 " Thus, my lord, after reciting in their affidavit the charge of their shameful misconduct in renewing the contract with the Huntingdon butchers, who had just compounded the penalties incurred by the breach of a former contract, and, in that breach of contract, the breach of every principle of hu- manity, as well as of honesty ; — and the charge of putting improper objects of charity into the hospital, while the families of poor pensioners were ex- cluded, and starving ; — and of screening delinquents from inquii-y and punish- ment in a pointed and particular instance, and therefore traversable as a substantive fact ; yet, not only there is no such traverse, but, though all these matters are huddled together in a mass, there is not even a general denial ; but one loose innuendo, that the facts in the publication are stated with an intention of criminating the prosecutors, and that, as far as they tend to criminate them, they are false. " Will this meet the doctrine laid down by your lordship in the case of General Plasto ? Who can tell what they mean by criminality ? Perhaps they think neglect of duty not criminal ; perhaps they think corrupt servility to a patron not criminal ; and that if they do not actively promote abuses, the winking at them is not criminal. But I appeal to the court, whether the Directors' whole affidavit is not a cautious composition to avoid downright perjury, and yet a glaring absurdity on the face of it ; for since the facts are not traversed, the court must intend them to exist ; and if they do exist, they cannot but be criminal. The very existence of such abuses, in itself crimi- nates those whose offices are to prevent them from existing. Under the shelter of such qualifications of guilt, no man in trust could ever be crimi- nated. But at all events, my lord, since they seem to think that the facts may exist without their criminality — be it so : the defendant, then, does not wish to criminate them ; he wishes only for effectual inquiry and information, that there may be no longer any crimes, and consequently no criminality. But he trusts, in the mean time, and I likewise trust, that, while these facts do exist, the court will at least desire the prosecutors to clear themselves before the general council of governors, to whom the Avriting is addressed, and not be- fore any packed committee of directors appointed by a noble lord,"^ and then come back to the court acquitted of all criminality, or, according to the tech- nical phrase, with clean hands for protection. " Such are the merits of the affidavits exhibited by the Directors ; and the affidavits of the other persons are, without distinction, subject to the same observations. They are made up either of general propositions, converted into charges by ridiculous innuendos, or else of strings of distinct disjointed facts tied together, and explained by one general averment : and after all, the scandal, such as their arbitrary interpretation makes it, is still only denied with the old Jesuitical qualification of criminality, — the facts themselves re- maining untraversed, and even untouched. " They are, indeed, every way worthy of their authors ; — of Mr. Godby, * Meaning Lord Sandwich. 258 THE MODERN OBATOR. the good steward, who, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the captain of the week, received for the pensioners such food as would be rejected by the idle vagrant poor, and endeavoured to tamper with the cook to conceal it ; — and of Mr. Ibbetson,* who converted their wards into apartments for himself, and the clerks of clerks, in the endless subordination of idleness ; a wretch, who has dared, with brutal inhumanity, to strike those aged men, who in their youth would have blasted him with a look. As to Mr. , and Mr. , though I think them reprehensible for joining in this prosecution, yet they are certainly respectable men, and not at all on a level with the rest, nor has the defendant so reduced them. These two, therefore, have in fact no cause of complaint, and, Heaven knows, the others have no title to complain. " In this enumeration of delinquents, the Rev. Mr. Cookef looks round, as if he thought I had forgotten him. He is mistaken ; — I well remembered him : but his infamy is worn threadbare : Mr. Murphy has already treated him with that ridicule which his folly, and Mr. Peckham with that invective which his wickedness, deserves. I shall therefore forbear to taint the ear of the court further with his name ; a name which would bring dishonour upon his country and its religion, if human nature were not happily compelled to bear the greater part of the disgrace, and to share it amongst mankind. " But these observations, my lord, are solely confined to the prosecutors' affidavits, and would, I think, be fatal to them, even if they stood uncontro- verted. But what mil the court say, when ours are opposed to them, where the truth of every part is sworn to by the defendant ? What will the court say to the collateral circumstances in support of them, where every material charge against the prosecutors is confirmed ? "What will it say to the affi- davit that has been made, that no man can come safely to support this injured officer ? — that men have been deprived of their places, and exposed to beggary and ruin, merely for giving evidence of abuses, which have already, by his exertions, been proved before your lordship at Guildhall, whilst he himself has been suspended as a beacon for prudence to stand aloof from, so that in this unconstitutional mode of trial, where the law will not lend its process to bring in truth by/orce, he might stand unprotected ,by the volun- tary oaths of the only persons who could witness for him }% His character has, indeed, in some measure, broke through all this malice : the love and veneration which his honest zeal has justly created, have enabled him to pro- * Secretary to the Directors, and first, or confidential clerk of the Admiralty, charged by Captain BailHe with reducing the pensioners' wards for the accommodation of him- self and his footmen. t One of the chaplains and a director of the hospital, and chaplain to the first Lord of the Admiralty. t In applying for a rule for a criminal information, the evidence, pro and con., is sustained by affidavits which the court cannot compel any person to make ; vs^hereas, in the case of indictments, the personal attendance of the witnesses to give their evidence viva voce before the grand jury may be compelled by subprena. LOUD EESKINE. 259 duce the proofs which are filed in court ; but many have hung back, and one withdrew his affidavit, avowedly from the dread of persecution, even after it was sworn in court. Surely, my lord, this evidence of malice in the leading powers of the Hospital, would alone b e sufficient to destroy their testimony even when swearing collaterally to facts, in which they were not themselves interested ; — how much more when they come as prosecutors, stimulated by resentment, and with the hope of covering their patron's misdemeanours and their own, by turning the tables on the defendant, and prosecuting him crimi- nally, to stifle all necessary inquiry into the subject of his complaints ? " Lieutenant Gordon, the first Lieutenant of the Hospital, and the oldest officer in the navy ; Lieutenant William Lefevre ; Lieutenant Charles Lefevre, his son ; Alexander Moore ; Lieutenant William Ansell ; and Captain Allright, have all positively sworn, that a faction of landmen subsists in the Hospital, and that they do in their consciences believe, that the defendant drew upon himself the resentment of the prosecutors, from his activity in correcting this enormous abuse, and from his having restored the wards, that had been cruelly taken away from the poor old men ; — that on that just occasion the whole body of the pensioners surrounded the apartments of their gover- nor, to testify their gratitude with acclamations, which sailors never bestow but on men who deserve them. This simple and honest tribute was the sig- nal for all that has followed ; the leader of these unfortunate people was turned out of office ; and the affidavit of Charles Smith is filed in court, which, I thank my God, I have not been able to read without tears ; — ^how, indeed, could any man, — ^when he swears, that, for this cause alone, his place was taken from him; that he received his dismission when languishing with sickness in the infirmary, the consequence of which was, that his unfortunate wife, and several of his helpless, innocent children died in want and misery — the woman actually expiring at the gates of the hospital. That such wretches should escape chains and a dungeon, is a reproach to humanity, and to all order and government ; but that they should become prosecutors, is a degree of efirontery that would not be believed by any man, who did not ac- custom himself to observe the shameless scenes which the monstrous age we live in is every day producing. " I come now, my lord, to consider to whom he has written, — This book is not published. It was not printed for sale, butjfor the more commodious dis- tribution among the many persons who are called upon in duty to examine into its contents. If the defendant had written it to calumniate, he would have thrown it abroad among the multitude : but he swears he wrote it for the attainment of reformation, and therefore confined its circulation to the proper channel, till he saw it was received as a libel, and then he even dis- continued that distribution, and only showed it to his counsel to consider of a defence ; — and no better defence can be made, than that the publication was so limited. "My lord, a man cannot be guilty of a libel, who presents grievances before a competent jurisdiction, although the facts he presents should be false ; 260 THE MODEHN ORATOR. he may, indeed, be indicted for a malicious prosecution, and even there, a pro- bable cause would protect him, but he can by no construction be considered as a libeller. " The case of Lake and King, in 1st Levinz, 240, but which is better re- ported in 1st Saunders, is directly in point ; it was an action for printing a petition to the members of a committee of parliament, charging the plaintiff with gross fraud in the execution of his office. I am aware that it was an action on the case, and not a criminal prosecution ; but I am prepared to show your lordship, that the precedent on that account makes the stronger for us. The truth of the matter, though part of the plea, was not the point in contest ; the justification was the presenting it to a proper jurisdiction, and printing it, as in this case, for more commodious distribution ; and it was first of all resolved by the court, that the delivery of the petition to all the members of the committee was justifiable ; — and that it was no libel, whether the matter contained were true or false, it being an appeal in a court of jus- tice,* and because the parties, to whom it was addressed, had jurisdiction to determine the matter ; — that the intention of the law in prohibiting libels was to restrain men from making themselves their own judges, instead of referring the matter to those whom the constitution had appointed to deter- mine it ; — and that to adjudge such reference to be a libel, would discourage men from making their inquuies with that freedom and readiness, which the law allows, and which the good of society requires. But it was objected, he could not justify the printing ; for, by that means, it was published to prin- ters and composers ; but it was answered, and resolved by the whole court, that the printing, with intent to distribute them among the members of the committee, was legal ; and that the making many copies by clerks, would have made the matter more public. I said, my lord, that this being an action on the case, and not an indictment or information, made the stronger for us ; and I said so, because the action on the case is to redress the party in damages, for the injury he has sustained as an individual, and which he- has a right to recover, unless the defendant can show that the matter is true, or, as in this case, whether true or false, that it is an appeal to justice. Now, my lord, if a defendant's right to appeal to justice could, in the case of Lake and King, repel a plaintiff's right to damages, although he was actually damnified by the appeal, how much more must it repel a criminal prosecution, which can be undertaken only for the sake of public justice, when the law says, it is for the benefit of public justice to make such appeal ? And that case went to protect even falsehood, and where the defendant was not particularly called upon in duty as an individual to animadvert : — how much more shall it protect us, who were bound to inquire, who have written nothing but truth, and who have addressed what we have written to a com- , petent jurisdiction ? * If the Hbel complained of be contained only in articles of the peace, or in some other regular proceeding in a court of justice, and not otherwise published, the defen- dant may give this in defence. LORD EKSKINE. 261 " I come lastly, my lord, to the motives which induced him to write. " The government of Greenwich Hospital is divided into three departments: — the council ; the directors ; and the general governors : the defendant is a member of every one of these, and therefore his duty is universal. The council consists of the officers, whose duty it is to regulate the internal economy and discipline of the house, the hospital being, as it were, a large man of war, and the council its commanders ; and therefore, these men, even by the present mutilated charter, ought all to be seamen. Secondly, the directors, whose duty is merely to concern themselves with the appropria- tion of the revenue, in contracting for and superintending supplies, and in keeping up the structure of the hospital ; and lastly, the general court of governors, consisting of almost every man in the kingdom with a sounding name of office :— a mere nullity, on the members of which no blame of neglect can possibly be laid ; for the hospital might as well have been placed under the tuition of the fixed stars, as under so many illustrious persons, in different and distant departments. From the council, therefore, appeals and complaints formerly lay at the Admiralty, the directors having quite a separate duty, and, as I have shown the court, the Admiralty encouraged complaints of abuses, and redressed them. But since the administration of the present First Lord, the face of things has changed. I trust it will be ob- served, that I do not go out of the affidavit to seek to calumniate : my respect for the court would prevent me, though my respect for the said First Lord might not. But the very foundation of my client's defence depending on this matter, I must take the liberty to point it out to the court. •' The Admiralty having placed several landmen in the offices that form the council, a majority is often artificially secured there : and when abuses are too flagrant to be passed over in the face of day, they carry their appeal to the Directors, instead of the Admiralty, where, from the very nature of man, in a much more perfect state than the prosecutors, they are sure to be rejected or slurred over ; because these acting directors themselves are not only under the same influence with the complainants, but the subjects of the appeals are most frequently the fruits of their own active delinquencies, or at least the consequence of their own neglects. By this manoeuvre the Admi- ralty is secured from hearing complaints, and the First Lord, when any comes as formerly from an individual, answers with a perfect composure of muscle, that it is coram non judice ; — it does not come through the Directors. The defendant positively swears this to be true ; — ^he declares that, in the course of these meetings of the council, and of appeals to the Directors, he has been not only uniformly over-ruled, but insulted as governor in the execution of his duty ; and the truth of the abuses which have been the subject of these appeals, as well as the insults I have mentioned, are proved by whole volumes of affidavits filed in court, notwithstanding the numbers who have been deterred by persecution from standing forth as witnesses. " The defendant also himself solemnly swears this to be true. He swears, that his heart was big with the distresses of his brave brethren, and that his 262 THE MODERN ORATOR. conscience called on him to give them vent ; that he often complained ; that he repeatedly ^vrote to, and waited on Lord Sandwich, without any effect, or prospect of effect ; and that at last, wearied with fruitless exertions, and disgusted with the insolence of corruption in the hospital, which hates him for his honesty, he applied to be sent, with all his wounds and infirmities, upon actual service again. The answer he received is worthy of observa- tion : the First Lord told him, in derision, that it would be the same thing everywhere else ; that he would see the same abuses in a ship ; and I do in my conscience believe he spoke the truth, as far as depended on himself, " "What, then, was the defendant to do under the treble capacity of lieute- nant-Governor, of director, and of general governor of the hospital ? My lord, there was no alternative but to prepare, as he did, the statement of the abuses for the other governors, or to sit silent, and let them continue. Had he chosen the last, he might have been caressed by the prosecutors, and still have continued the first inhabitant of a palace, with an easy independent fortune. But he preferred the dictates of honour, and he fulfilled them at the expense of being discarded, after forty years' gallant service, covered with wounds, and verging to old age. But he respected the laws while he ful- filled his duty ; his object was reformation, not reproach : he preferred a complaint, and stimulated a regular inquiry, but suspended the punishment of public shame till the guilt should be made manifest by a trial. He did not therefore puhlish, as their affidavits falsely assert, but only preferred a complaint by distribution of copies to the governors, which I have shown the court, by the authority of a solemn legal decision, is not a libel. "Such, my lords, is the case. The defendant, — not a disappointed mali- cious informer, prying into official abuses, because without office himself, but himself a man in office ; not troublesomely inquisitive into other men's departments, but conscientiously correcting his own ; doing it pursuant to the rules of law, and, what heightens the character, doing it at the risk of his office, from which the effrontery of power has already suspended him without proof of his guilt ; — a conduct not only unjust and illiberal, but highly disrespectful to this court, whose judges sit in the double capacity of ministers of the law, and governors of this sacred and abused institution. Indeed, Lord Sandwich has, in my mind, acted such a parte" [Lord Mansfield here interrupted Mr. Erskine in his address, observing that Lord Sandwich was not before the court.] " I know, that he is not formally before the court, but, for that very reason, / will bring him before the court : he has placed these men in the front of the battle, in hopes to escape under their shelter, but I mil not join in battle with them : their vices, though screwed up to the highest pitch of hum.an depravity, are not of dignity enough to vindicate the combat with me. I will drag him to light, who is the dark mover behind this scene of iniquity. I assert, that the Earl of Sandwich has but one road to escape out of this bu- siness without pollution and disgrace : and that is, by publicly disavowing the acts of the prosecutors, and restoring Captain Baillie to his command. If he does this, then his offence will be no more than the too common one of LORD ERSKINE. 263 having suffered his own personal interest to prevail over his public duty, in placing his voters in the hospital. But if, on the contrary, he continues to protect the prosecutors, in spite of the evidence of their guilt, which has excited the abhorrence of the numerous audience that crowd this court ; if he keeps this injured man suspended, or dares to turn that suspension into a removal, I shall then not scruple to declare him an accomplice in their guilt, a shameless oppressor, a disgrace to his rank, and a traitor to his trust. But as I should be very sorry that the fortune of my brave and honourable friend should depend either upon the exercise of Lord Sandwich's virtues, or the influence of his fears, I do most earnestly entreat the court to mark the ma- lignant object of this prosecution, and to defeat it. I beseech you, my lords, to consider, that even by discharging the rule, and with costs, the defendant is neither protected nor restored. I trust, therefore, your lord- ships Avill not rest satisfied with fulfilling your judicial duty, but, as the strongest evidence of foul abuses has, by accident, come collaterally before you, that you will protect a brave and public-spirited officer from the perse- cution this writing has brought upon him, and not sufier so dreadful an example to go abroad into the world, as the ruin of an upright man for having faithfully discharged his duty. " My lords, this matter is of the last importance. I speak not as an advo- cate alone — I speak to you as a man — as a member of a state whose very existence depends upon her naval strength. If a misgovernment were to fall upon Chelsea Hospital, to the ruin and discouragement of our army, it would be no doubt to be lamented, yet I should not think it fatal ; but if our fleets are to be crippled by the baneful influence of elections, we are lost indeed ! If the seaman, who, while he exposes his body to fatigues and dangers, looking forward to Greenwich as an asylum for infirmity and old age, sees the gates of it blocked up by corruption, and hears the riot and mirth of luxurious landmen drowning the groans and complaints of the wounded helpless com- panions of his glory, he will tempt the seas no more. The Admiralty may press Ms body, indeed, at the expense of humanity and the constitution, but they cannot press his mind — they cannot press the heroic ardour of a British sailor ; and instead of a fleet to carry terror all round the globe, the Admi- ralty may not much longer be able to amuse us with even the peaceable unsubstantial pageant of a review.* "Fine and imprisonment ! The man deserves a palace instead of a prison, who prevents the palace, built by the public bounty of his country, from being converted into a dungeon, and who sacriflces his own security to the interests of humanity and virtue. " And now, my lord, I have done ; but not without thanking your lord- ship for the very indulgent attention I have received, though in so late a stage of this business, and notwithstanding my great incapacity and inexpe- rience. I resign my client into your hands, and I resign him with a well- founded confidence and hope ; because that torrent of corruption, which has * In allusion to a naval review which had lately taken place at Portsmouth. 264 THE MODERN OEATOE. unhappily overwhelmed every other part of the constitution, is, by the bless- ing of Providence, stopped here by the sacred independence of the judges. I know that your lordships will determine according to law ; and, therefore, if an information should be suffered to be filed, I shall bow to the sentence, and shall consider this meritorious publication to be indeed an offence against the laws of this country ; but then I shall not scruple to say, that it is high time for every honest man to remove himself from a country in which he can no longer do his duty to the public with safety; where cruelty and inhumanity are suffered to impeach virtue, and where vice passes through a court of justice unpunished and unreproved." The court discharged the rule. Speech in defence of Lord George Gordon, on his trial for high treason, 5th February, 1781. On the passing of Sir George Saville's bill in 1778, for the relief of the English Roman Catholics from the penalties to which they were subject by the Act of 1699, it was projposed that in the next session of Parliament a similar Act should be passed for Scotland ; but the strong proofs given by the Scotch populace of their antipathy to the proposed measure, and the riots which broke out in Edinburgh and Glasgow, where many of the Roman Catholic chapels were destroyed by the mob in their fury, caused it to be abandoned. The religious excitement thus produced in Scotland, soon spread to England, and was much encouraged by Lord George Gordon, a man of a wild and enthusiastic disposition (brother of the Duke of Gordon and a member of the House of Commons), who allowed himself to be nomi- nated president of a society called the ' Protestant Association,' whose object was to procure, by all legal means in their power, a repeal of the late English Toleration Act. But, in large popular assemblies it is impossible to agitate religious questions in a temperate spirit: the real zeal for the protection of the Protestant church, which, Avithout doubt, actuated the original members, grew, as the numbers of the association increased, into a wild fanaticism : in a short time there were no less than eighty-five corresponding societies formed, nominally in defence of Protestantism, but which, there is every reason to believe, took advantage of the popular bigotry to league together under the cloak of Protestantism, for the furtherance of political and seditious objects. On 29th May, 1780, a large public meeting was held at Coachmakers' Hall, for the purpose of considering the best means of procuring a repeal of the obnoxious act ; on which occasion Lord George Gordon, who took the chair, made a most violent harangue against the Roman Catholics, insisting that Popery was spreading throughout the kingdom with frightful rapidity, and concluded by moving that on the following Friday the whole body of the Protestant Association should march in procession to the House of Com- mons with a petition, which he undertook to present, for the repeal of the LORD ERSKINE. 267 act, but declared that, unless 20,000 men attended on the occasion, he would not present the petition. Accordingly, on the 2nd of June, upwards of 40,000 persons assembled in St. George's fields, and, being divided into companies, marched in procession to the House, where they insulted many of the members whom they considered oj)posed to their vashes ; and, on Lord G. Gordon's motion, for taking their petition into immediate consideration, being rejected by a large majority, they conducted themselves in so riotous a manner that the military were obliged to be sent for to disperse them. On being thus driven from the Houses of Parliament, the mob, disappointed in their object, became tumultuous, and proceeded to destroy two Koman Catholic chapels, in Lincoln's Inn Fields and Golden- square, which they were allowed to do without interruption. Encouraged by this success, and lured on by the prospect of pillage, they were quickly joined by all the lowest dregs of the metropolis, and for four days London was at the mercy of an infui'iated and bigoted populace. Newgate prison became an early object of attack, and was speedily burnt and the prisoners released. Lord Mansfield's mansion, in Bloomsbury- square, was soon afterAvards destroyed, together with all the valuable manuscripts, library, and furniture it contained. On the night of the 7th of June, the scene was terrific: the prisons of the Fleet, King's Bench, and Bridewell, together with the distilleries in Holborn, and houses in all directions, were to be seen in flames; while the uproar in the streets, from the yells of the intoxicated mob and the discharges of musketry, added to the terror of the citizens. At length, order being restored by the military, although at the sacrifice of 285 lives, Lord George Gordon, as the author of the riots, was arrested for high treason, in levying war against the King, and committed to the Tower. His trial came on at the Old Bailey, on the 5th February, 1781, when Mr. Kenyon and Mr. Erskine appeared as counsel for the prisoner. After Mr. Kenyon had addressed the jury on the conclusion of the case for the prosecution, Mr. Erskine, his junior, would, in the usual course, have immediately followed; but he claimed the right, which was recognised by the court, of reserving his address until after the close of the evidence for the defence, which being concluded about midnight, Mr. Erskine rose, and delivered the following celebrated speech : — " Gentlemen of the Jury, " Mr. Kenyon having informed the Court that we propose to call no other witnesses, it is now my duty to address myself to you, as counsel for the noble prisoner at the bar, the whole evidence being closed ; — I use the word closed, because it is certainly not finished, since I have been obliged to leave the place in which I sat, to disentangle myself from the volumes of men's names, which lay there under -my feet, whose testimony, had it been necessary for the defence, would have confirmed all the facts that are already in evidence before you. " Gentlemen, I feel myself entitled to expect, both from you and from the Court, the greatest indulgence and attention ; — I am, indeed, a greater ob- ject of your compassion, than even my noble friend whom I am defending. 268 THE MODEEX OBATOK. He rests secure in conscious innocence, und in the well-placed assurance, that it can suffer no stain in your hands ; — not so with me; I stand before you a troubled, I am afraid a guilty man, in having presumed to accept of the awful task which I am now called upon to perform^ — a task which my learned friend who spoke before me, though he has justly risen, by extraordinary capacity and experience, to the highest rank in his pro- fession, has spoken of with that distrust and diffidence, which becomes every Christian in a cause of blood. If Mr. Kenyon has such feelings, think what mine must be. Alas ! Gentlemen, who am I ? A young man of little experi- ence, unused to the bar of crimmal courts, and sinking under the dreadful consciousness of my defects. I have, however, this consolation, that no igno- rance nor inattention on my part can possibly prevent you from seeing, under the du'ection of the Judges, that the Crown has established no case of treason. " Gentlemen, I did expect that the Attorney- General, in opening a great and solemn state prosecution, would have at least indulged the advocates for the prisoner with his notions on the law, as applied to the case before you, in less general terms. It is very common mdeed, in little civil actions, to make such obscure introductions by way of trap ; but in criminal cases, it is unusual and unbecoming ; because the right of the Crown to reply, even where no witnesses are called by the prisoner, gives it thereby the advantage of re- pljdng, without having given scope for observations on the principles of the opening, with which the reply must be consistent. " One observation he has, however, made on the subject, in the truth of which I heartily concur, viz., That the crime, of which the noble person at your bar stands accused, is the very highest and most atrocious that a mem- ber of civil life can possibly commit ; because it is not, like all other crimes, merely an injury to society from the breach of some of its reciprocal relations, but is an attempt utterly to dissolve and destroy society altogether. " In nothing, therefore, is the wisdom and justice of our laws so strongly and eminently manifested as in the rigid, accurate, cautious, explicit, unequivocal definition of what shall constitute this high offence ; — for, high treason con- sisting in the breach and dissolution of that allegiance which binds society together, if it were left ambiguous, uncertain, or undefined, all the other laws established for the personal security of the subject would be utterly useless; since this offence, which, from its nature, is so capable of being created and and judged of by the rules of political expediency on the spur of the occasion, would be a rod at will to bruise the most virtuous members of the community, vrhenever virtue might become troublesome or obnoxious to a bad government. " Injuries to the persons and properties of our neighbours, considered as individuals, which are the subjects of all other criminal prosecutions, are not only capable of greater precision, but the powers of the state can be but rarely interested in straining them beyond their legal interpretation ; but if Treason, where the government is directly offended, were left to the judgment of its ministers, mthout any boundaries,— nay, without the most broad, dis- tinct, and inviolable boundaries marked out bv Law, — there could be no LOUD EUSICINE. 269 public freedom, and the condition of an Englishman would be no better than a slave's at the foot of a Sultan ; since there is little difference whether a man dies by the stroke of a sabre, without the forms of a trial, or by the most pompous ceremonies of justice, if the crime could be made at pleasure by the state to fit the fact that was to be tried. " Would to God, Gentlemen of the Jury, that this were an observation of theory alone, and that the page of our history was not blotted with so many melancholy, disgraceful proofs of its truth ; but these proofs, melancholy and disgraceful as they are, have become glorious monuments of the wisdom of our fathers, and ought to be a theme of rejoicing and emulation to us. For from the mischiefs constantly arising to the state from every extension of the ancient law of treason, the ancient law of treason has been always restored, and the constitution at different periods washed clean ; though, unhappily, with the blood of oppressed and innocent men. "When I speak of the ancient law of treason, I m^eas. the venerable statute of King Edward the Thu'd,"^' on Avhich the indictment you are now trying is framed; — a statute made, as its preamble sets forth, for the more precise definition of this crime, which had not, by the common law, been sufficiently explained ; and consisting of different and distinct members, the plain unex- tended letter of which was thought to be a sufficient protection to the person and honour of the Sovereign, and an adequate security to the laws committed to his execution. I shall mention only two of the number, the others not being in the remotest degree applicable to the present accusation. " To comjjass, or imagine^ the death of the King ; such imagination, or purpose of the mind (visible only to its great Author), being manifested by some open act ; an institution obviously directed, not only to the security of his natural person, but to the stability of the government ; the life of the prince being so interwoven with the constitution of the state, that an attempt to destroy the one, is justly held to be a rebellious conspiracy against the other. " Secondly, which is the crime charged in. the indictment. To levy war against him in his realm ; — a term that one woiild think could require no explanation, nor admit of any ambiguous construction, amongst men who are willing to read laws according to the plain signification of the language in which they are ^vritten ; but which has, nevertheless, been an abundant source of that constructive cavil, which this sacred and valuable act was made expressly to * This Statute (25 Edw. III., st. 5, c. 2.) enacts and declares "That if a person doth compass or imagine the death of the King, Queen, or their eldest son and heir, or if he vio- late and deflower the King's wife, or companion, or eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the Kir g's eldest son, or if he levy war against the King in his realm, or adhere to his enemies, give them aid and comfort in his realm or elsewhere, and thereof be probably (or proveably) attainted of open deed; and if a man counterfeit the King's great or privy Seal, or his money, or bring false money into the kingdom like to the money of England to make payment therewith in deceit of the King and his people ; or if he kill the Chancellor, Treasurer, or any of the King's justices in either bench, Justices of Assize, &c., being in their places doing their offices ; these cases are to be adjudged Treason," V 2 270 THE MODEHN OEATOE. prevent. The real meaning of this branch of it, as it is bottomed in policy, reason, and justice, — as it is ordained in plain unambiguous words, — as it is confirmed by the precedents of justice, and illustrated by the writings of the great lights of the law in different ages of our history, — I shall, before I sit down, impress upon your minds as a safe, unerring standard by which to measure the evidence you have heard. At present I shall only say, that far and wide as judicial decisions have strained the construction of levying war, beyond the warrant of the statute, to the discontent of some of the greatest ornaments of the profession, they hurt not me ; — as a citizen I may disapprove of them, but as advocate for the noble person at your bar, I need not im- peach their authority ; because none of them have said more than this — that war maybe levied against the King in his realm, not only by an insurrection to change or to destroy the fundamental constitution of the government itself by rebellious war, but, by the same war, to endeavour to suppress the execu- tion of the laws it has enacted, or to violate and overbear the protection they afford, not to individuals (which is a private wrong), but to any general class or description of the community, by premeditated open acts of violence, hostility, and force. "Gentlemen, I repeat these words, and call solemnly on the Judges to attend ' to what I say, and to contradict me if I mistake the law, — by premeditated, open acts of violence, hostility, and force — nothing equivocal — nothing ambi- guous — no intimidations, or overawings, which signify nothing precise or certain, because what frightens one man, or set of men, may have no effect upon another ; but that which compels and coerces — open violence and force. " Gentlemen, this is not only the whole text, but, I submit it to the learned Judges, under whose correction I am happy to speak, an accurate explanation of the statute of treason, as far as it relates to the present subject, taken in its utmost extent of judicial construction, and which you cannot but see, not only in its letter, but in its most strained signification, is confined to acts which immediately, openly, and unambiguously, strike at the very root and being of government, and not to any other offences, however injurious to its peace. " Such were the boundaries of high treasonmarked out in the reign of Edward the Third ; and as often as the vices of bad princes, assisted by weak submis- sive parliaments, extended state ofiences beyond the strict letter of that act, so often the virtue of better princes and wiser parliaments brought them back again. " A long list of new treasons, accumulated in the wretched reign of Richard the Second, from which (to use the language of the act that repealed them) 'no man knew what to do or say for doubt of the pains of death,' were swept away in the first year of Henry the Fourth, his successor ; and many more, Vvrhich had again sprung up in the following distracted arbitrary reigns, putting tumults and riots on a footing v/ith armed rebellion, were again levelled in the first 3^ear of Queen Mary, and the statute of Edward made once more the standard of treasons. The acts, indeed, for securing his present Majesty's i^ustrious house from the machinations of those very Papists, who are now so LOED EESKINE. 27l highlyin favour, have, since that time, been added to the list; but thesenot being applicable to the present case, the ancient statute is still our only guide ; which is so plain and simple in its object, so explicit and correct in its terms, as to leave no room for intrinsic error ; and the wisdom of its authors has shut the door against all extension of its plain letter ; declaring, in the very body of the act itself, that nothing out of that plain letter should be brought within the pale of treason by inference or construction, but that, if any such cases happened, they should be referred to the Parliament. " This wise restriction has been the subject of much just eulogium by all the most celebrated writers on the criminal law of England. Lord Coke says, the Parliament that made it was, on that account, called Benedictum^ or Blessed : and the learned and virtuous Judge Hale, a bitter enemy and opposer of constructive treason, speaks of this sacred institution with that enthusiasm, which it cannot but inspire in the breast of every lover of the just privileges of mankind. "Gentlemen, in these mild days, when juries are so free, and judges so independent, perhaps all these observations might have been spared as unne- cessary ; — but they can do no harm ; and this history of treason, so honourable to England, cannot (even imperfectly as I have given it) be unpleasant to Eng- lishmen. At all events, it cannot be thought an inapplicable introduction to saying, that Lord George Gordon, who stands before you indicted for that crime, is not — cannot be guilty of it, unless he has levied war against the King in his realm, contrary to the plain letter, spirit, and intention of the act of the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third ; to be extended by no new or occa- sional constructions, — to be strained by no fancied analogies, — to be measured by no rules of political expediency, — to be judged of by no theory, — to be determined by the wisdom of no individual, however wise, — but to be ex- pounded by the simple, genuine letter of the law. " Gentlemen, the only overt act charged in the indictment is — the assem- bling the multitude, which we all of us remember went up with the petition of the associated Protestants on the second day of last June ; and, in address- ing myself to a humane and sensible jury of Englishmen, sitting in judgment on the life of a fellow-citizen, more especially under the direction of a Court so filled as this is, I trust I need not remind you, that the purposes of that multitude, as originally assembled on that day, and the purposes and acts of him who assembled them, are the sole objects of investigation ; and that all the dismal consequences which followed, and which naturally link themselves with this subject in the firmest minds, must be altogether cut oif, and ab- stracted from your attention, — further than the evidence warrants their admission. Indeed, if the evidence had been co-extensive with these conse- quences ; if it had been proved that the same multitude, under the direction of Lord George Gordon, had afterwards attacked the Bank, broke open the prisons, and set London in a conflagration, I should not now be addressing you. Do me the justice to believe, that I am neither so foolish as to imagine I could have defended him, nor so profligate to wish it if I could. But when 272 THE MODEB.X OEATOE. it has appeared, not only by the evidence in the cause, but by the evidence of the thing itself, — by the issues of life, v^^hich may be called the evidence of Heaven, that these dreadful events were either entirely unconnected with the assembling of that multitude to attend the petition of the Protestants, or, at the very worst, the unforeseen, undesigned, unabetted, and deeply regretted consequences of it, I confess the seriousness and solemnity of this trial sink and dwindle away. Only abstract from your minds all that misfortune, acci- dent, and the wickedness of others have brought upon the scene, and the cause requires no advocate. When I say that it requires no advocate, I mean that it requires no argument to screen it from the guilt of treason. For though I am perfectly convinced of the purity of my noble friend's intentions, yet I am not bound to defend his prudence, nor to set it up as a pattern for imitation ; since you are not trying him for imprudence, for indiscreet zeal, or for want of foresight and precaution, but for a deliberate and malicious predetermi- nation to overpower the laws and government of his country, by hostile, rebellious force. " The indictment, therefore, first charges, that the multitude, assembled on the 2nd of June, ' were armed and arrayed in a warlike manner : ' which, in- deed, if it had omitted to charge, we should not have troubled you with any defence at all, because no judgment could have been given on so defective an indictment ; for the statute never meant to put an unarmed assembly of citizens on a footing with armed rebellion ; and the crime, whatever it is, must always appear on the record to warrant the judgment of the Court. " It is certainly true, that it has been held to be matter of evidence, and dependent on circumstances, what numbers, or species of equipment and order, though not the regular equipment and order of soldiers, shall constitute an army, so as to maintain the averment in the indictment of a warlike array ; and likewise, what kind of violence, though not pointed at the King's person, or the existence of the government, shall be construed to be war against the King, But as it has never yet been maintained in argument, in any court of the kingdom, or even speculated upon in theory, that a multitude, without either weapons offensive or defensive of any sort or kind, and yet not supply- ing the want of them by such acts of violence as multitudes sufficiently great can achieve without them, was a hostile army within the statute ;— -as it has never been asserted by the wildest adventurer in constructive treason, that a multitude, armed with nothing, threatening nothing, and doing nothing, was an army levying war ; I am entitled to say, that the evidence does not support the first charge in the indictment ; but that, on the contrary, it is manifestly false — false in the knowledge of the Crown, which prosecutes it — false in the knovv^ledge of every man in London, who was not bed-ridden on Friday the 2nd of June, and who saw the peaceable demeanour of the associated Protestants. " But you will hear, no doubt, from the Solicitor-General (for they have saved all their intelligence for the reply) that fury supplies arms ;— furor arma I/OED EESKINE. 273 ministrat ; — and the case of Damaree * will, I suppose, be referred to ; where the people assembled had no banners or arms, but only clubs and bludgeons : yet the ringleader, who led them on to mischief, was adjudged to be guilty of high treason for levying war. This judgment it is not my purpose to im- peach, for I have no time for digression to points that do not press upon me. In the case of Damaree, the mob, though not regularly armed, were provided with such weapons as best suited their mischievous designs : their designs were, besides, open and avowed, and all the mischief was done that could have been accomplished, if they had been in the completest armour : — they burnt Dissent- ing meeting-houses protected by law, and Damaree was taken at their headj in flagrante delicto, with a torch in his hand, not only in the very act of de- stroying one of them, but leading on his followers, in person, to the avowed destruction of all the rest. There could, therefore, be no doubt of his purpose and intention, nor any great doubt that the perpretation of such purpose was, from its generality, high treason, if perpretated by such a force as distin- guishes a felonious riot from a treasonable levying of war.f The principal doubt, therefore, in that case was, whether such an unarmed riotous force was war, within the meaning of the statute ; and on that point very learned men have dijffered ; nor shall I attempt to decide between them, because in this one point they all agree. Gentlemen, I beseech you to attend to me here. I say, on this point they all agree, that it is the intention of assembling them, which forms the guilt of treason. I will give you the words of high autho- rity, the learned Foster ; whose private opinions will, no doubt, be pressed upon you as a doctrine and law, and which, if taken together, as all opinions ought to be, and not extracted in smuggled sentences to serve a shallow trick, I am contented to consider as authority. " That great judge, immediately after supporting the case of Damaree, as a levying war within the statute, against the opinion of Hale, in a similar case, viz. the destruction of bawdy-houses, \ which happened in his time, says, 'The true criterion therefore seems to be — Quo animo did the parties assemble? — with what intention did they meet ?' " On that issue, then, by which I am supported by the whole body of the criminal law of England ; concerning which there are no practical precedents of the Courts that clash, nor even abstract opinions of the closet that differ, I come forth with boldness to meet the Crown: for even supposing that peace- able multitude, — though not hostilely arrayed, — though without one species of weapon among them, — though assembled without plot or disguise by a pub- lic advertisement, exhorting, nay commanding peace, and inviting the magis- * In. this case a mob assembled, for the purpose of destroying all the Protestant Dissenting meeting-houses, and actually pulled down two. 8 State Trials, 218. Foster, 208. t To constitute a treasonable levying of war, there must be an insurrection ; there must be force accompanying that insurrection ; and it must be for an object of a general nature. Eegina v. Frost, 9 Carrington and Payne, 129. X 1 Hale, 132. 274 THE MODERN OUATOR. trates to be present to restore it, if broken^ — though composed of thousands who are now standing around you, unimpeached and unreproved, yet who are all principals in treason, if such assembly was treason ; supposing, I say, this multitude to be nevertheless an army within the statute, still the great ques- tion would remain behind, on which the guilt or innocence of the accused mast singly depend, and which it is our exclusive province to determine :— namely, whether they were assembled by my noble Client, for the traitorous purpose charged in the indictment ?^' For war must not only be levied, but it must be levied against the King in his realm ; i. e., either directly against his person to alter the constitution of the government, of which he is the head, or to suppress the laws committed to his execution, hy rebellious force. You must find that Lord George Gordon assembled these men with that traitorous intention ; you must find not merely a riotous illegal petitioning, — not a tumultuous, indecent importunity to influence Parliament, — not the compul- sion of motive, from seeing so great a body of people united in sentiment and clamorous supplication, — but the absolute, unequivocal compulsion of force, from the hostile acts of numbers united in rebellious conspiracy and arms. " This is the issue you are to try : for crimes of all denominations consist wholly in the purpose of the human will producing the act : Actus 7ion facit reum nisi mens sit rea. — The act does not constitute guilt, unless the mind be guilty. This is the great text from which the whole moral of penal justice is deduced : it stands at the top of the criminal page, throughout all the vohmies of our humane and sensible laws, and Lord Chief Justice Coke, whose chapter on this crime is the most authoritative and masterly of all his valuable works, ends almost every sentence with an emphatical repetition of it. " The indictment must charge an open act, because the purpose of the mind, which is the object of trial, can only be known by actions ; or, again to use the Yv'ords of Foster, who has ably and accurately expressed it, ' the traitorous purpose is the treason, the overt act, the means made use of to efiectuate the intentions of the heart.' But why should I borrow the language of Foster, or of any other man, when the language of the indictment itself is lying before our eyes ? What does it say ? Does it directly charge the overt act as in it- self constituting the crime? No; it charges that the prisoner ' maliciously and traitorously did compass, imagine, and intend to raise and levy war and rebellion ayainst the King ; this is the malice prepense of treason ; and that to fulfil and bring to effect such traitorous compassings and intentions, he did, on the day mentioned in the indictment, actually assemble them, and levy war and rebellion against the King. Thus the law, which is made to correct and punish the wickedness of the heart, and not the unconscious deeds of the body, goes up to the fountain of human agency, and arraigns the lurking mischief of the soul, dragging it to light by the evidence of open acts. The hostile mind is the crime ; and, therefore, unless the matters that are in evidence * There is no doubt that actual violence was not contemplated by those who en- couraged the assembly of the people, on the second of June, although they sought to obtain the object of their petition by improper intimidation. LORD ERSKINE. 275 before you, do, beyond all doubt or possibility of error, convince you that the prisoner is a determined traitor in his hearty he is not guilty. " It is the same principle which creates all the various degrees of homicide, from that which is excusable, to the malignant guilt of murder. The fact is the same in all ; the death of the man is the imputed crime ; but the intention makes all the difference ; and he who killed him is pronounced a murderer, — a single felon, — or only an unfortunate man, as the circumstances, by which his mind is deciphered to the jury, show it to have been cankered by deliberate wickedness, or stirred up by sudden passions. "Here an immense multitude was,beyondall doubt, assembled on the second of June; but whether he that assembled them be guilty of high treason, of a high misdemeanour, or only of a breach of the act of King Charles the Second'^' against tumultuous petitioning (if such an act still exists), depends wholly upon the evidence of his purpose in assembling them, — to be gathered by you, and by you alone, from the whole tenor of his conduct; and to be gathered, not by inference, or probability, or reasonable presumption, but, in the words of the act, proveably ; that is, in the full unerring force of demonstration. You are called, upon your oaths, to say, wo^ whether Lord George Gordon assembled the multitudes in the place charged in the indictment, — for that is not denied; but whether it appears, by the facts produced in evidence for the Crown, when confronted with the proofs w^hich we have laid before you, that he assembled them in hostile array, and with a hostile mind, to take the laws into his own hands by main force, and to dissolve the constitution of the government, unless his petition should be listened to by Parliament. " That is your exclusive province to determine. The Court can only tell you what acts the law, in its general theory, holds to be high treason, on the general assumption that such acts proceed from traitorous purposes : but they must leave it to your decision, and to yours alone, whether the acts proved appear, in the present instance, under all the circumstances, to have arisen from the causes which form the essence of this high crime. " Gentlemen, you have now heard the law of treason ; first, in the abstract, and secondly, as it applies to the general features of the case : and you have heard it with as much sincerity as if I had addressed you upon my oath from the bench where the Judges sit. I declare to you solemnly, in the presence of that great Being at whose bar we must all hereafter appear, that * By 13 Car. II., st. 1, c. 5, passed in consequence of the tumults on the opening of the memorable Parliament of 1640, it is provided, That no petition to the King or either House of Parliament, for any alteration in church or state, shall be signed by above twenty persons, unless the matter thereof be approved by three justices of the peace, or the major part of the Grand Jury in the county ; and in London by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council : nor shall any petition be presented by more than ten persons at a time. But under these regulations, it is declared by the Bill of Pights, 1 W. and M., st. 2, c. 2, that the subject hath a right to petition. Upon the trial of Lord George Gordon, the Court of King's Bench declared that they were clearly of opinion that the Statute 13 Car. 11. , was not in any degree affected by the Bill of Rights. Dougl. 571. 276 THE XODERX OEATOK, I have used no one art of an advocate, but have acted the plain unaffected part of a Christian man, instructing the consciences of his fellow- citizens to do justice. If I have deceived you on the subject, I am myself deceived ; and if I am misled through ignorance, my ignorance is incurable, for I have spared no pains to understand it. "I am not stiff in opinions ; but before I change any one of those that I have given you to-day, I must see some direct monument of justice that contradicts them, for the law of England pays no respect to theories, however ingenious, or to authors, however wise ; and therefore, unless you hear me refuted by a series of direct precedents, and not by vague doctrine, if you wish to sleep in peace, follow me. " And now the most important part of om' task begins, namely, the appli- cation of the evidence to the doctrines I have laid down ; for trial is nothing more than the reference of facts to a certain rule of action, and a long reca- pitulation of them only serves to distract and perplex the mxcmory, mthout enlightening the judgment, unless the great standard principle by which they are to be measured is fixed, and rooted in the mind. When that is done (which, I am confident, has been done by you), everything worthy of obser- vation falls naturally into its place, and the result is safe and certain. " Gentlemen, it is already in proof before you (indeed it is now a matter of history), that an act of Parliament passed in the session of 1778, for the repeal of certain restrictions, which the policy of our ancestors had imposed upon the Roman Catholic religion, to prevent its extension, and to render its limited toleration harmless ; — restrictions, imposed not because our ancestors took upon them to pronounce that faith to be offensive to God, but because it was incompatible with good faith to man ; — being utterly inconsistent with alle- giance to a Protestant government, from their oaths and obligations, to which it gave them not only a release, but a crown of glory, as the reward of treachery and treason. " It was, indeed, with astonishment, that I heard the Attorney- General stig- matise those wise regulations of our patriot ancestors with the title of factious and cruel impositions on the consciences and liberties of their fellow-citizens. Gentlemen, they Vv'ere, at the time, wise and salutary regulations ; — regu- lations to which this country owes its freedom, and his Majesty his crown, — a crown which he wears under the strict entail of professing and protecting that religion which they were made to repress ; and which I know my noble friend at the bar joins with me, and with all good men, in wishing that he and his posterity may wear for ever. *' It is not my purpose to recall to your minds the fatal effects which bigotry has, in former days, produced in this island. I will not follow the example the Crown has set me, by making an attack upon your passions, on subjects foreign to the object before you ; I will not call your attention from^ those flames, Idndled by a villanous banditti (which they have thought fit, in defiance of evidence, to introduce), by bringing before your eyes the more cruel flames, in which the bodies of our expiring, meek, patient, Christian LORD EKSKTNE. 277 fathers were, little more than a century ago, consuming in Smithiield ; I will not call up from the graves of martyrs, all the precious holy blood that has been spilt in this land, to save its established government and its reformed religion from the secret villany and the open force of Papists ; — the cause does not stand in need even of such honest arts, and I feel my heart too big voluntarily to recite such scenes, Avhen I reflect that some of my own, and my best and dearest progenitors, from whom I glory to be descended, ended their innocent lives in prisons and in exile, only because they were Protestants. " Gentlemen, whether the great lights of science and of commerce, which, since those disgraceful times, have illuminated Europe, may, by dispelling these shocking jDrejudices, have rendered the Papists of this day as safe and trusty subjects as those who conform to the national religion established by law, I shall not take upon me to determine. It is wholly unconnected with the jDresent inquiry : we are not trying a question either of divinity or civil policy ; and I shall, therefore, not enter at all into the motives or merits of the act, that produced the Protestant petition to Parliament. It was certainly introduced by persons who cannot be named by any good citizen, without affection and respect ; * but this 1 will say, without fear of contradiction, that it was sudden and unexpected ; that it passed with uncommon precipitation, considering the magnitude of the object ; that it underwent no discussion ; and that the heads of the church, the constitutional guardians of the national religion, were never consulted upon it. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that many sincere Protestants were alarmed ; and they had a right to spread their apprehensions. It is the privilege, and the duty, of all the subjects of England to watch over their religious and civil liberties, and to approach either their representatives or the Throne, with their fears and their complaints, — a privilege which has been bought with the dearest blood of our ancestors, and which is confirmed to us by law, as our ancient birthright and inheritance. " Soon after the the repeal of the act, the Protestant Association began, and, from small beginnings, extended over England and Scotland. A deed of association was signed, hy all legal means to oppose the growth of Popery; and which of the advocates for the Crown will stand up, and say, that such an union was illegal ? Their union was perfectly constitutional ; there was no obligation of secresy ; their transactions were all public ; a committee was appointed for regularity and correspondence ; and circular letters were sent to all the dignitaries of the church, inviting them to join with them in the protection of the national religion. " All this happened before Lord George Gordon was a member of, or the most distantly connected with it ; for it was not till November, 1779, that the London Association made him an offer of their chair, by an unanimous * The bill was brought in by Sir George Saville, and supported, amongst others, by Mr. Dunning, Mr. Thurlow, and Lord Beauchamp, and passed into an Act without any opposition in thg House of Commons, and with very slight opposition in the Lords, and the King was known to have been favourable to it. 278 THE MODERN ORATOR. resolution, communicated to him, unsought and unexpected, in a public letter, signed by the secretary in the name of the whole body ; and from that day, to the day he was committed to the Tower, I will lead him by the hand in your view, that you may see there is no blame in him. Though all his behaviour was unreserved and public, and though watched by wicked men for purposes of vengeance, the Crown has totally failed in giving it such a context as can justify, in the mind of any reasonable man, the conclusion it seeks to establish. "This will fully appear hereafter ; but let us first attend to the evidence on the part of the Crown. " The first witness to support this prosecution is, "William Hay — a bankrupt in fortune he acknowledged himself to be, and I am afraid he is a bankrupt in conscience. Such a scene of impudent, ridiculous inconsistency, would have utterly destroyed his credibility, in the most trifling civil suit ; and I am, therefore, almost ashamed to remind you of his evidence, when I reflect that you will never suffer it to glance across your minds, on this solemn occasion. " This man, whom I may now, without offence or slander, point out to you as a dark Popish spy, who attended the meetings of the London Association, to pervert their harmless purposes, conscious that the discovery of his character would invalidate all his testimony, endeavoured at first to conceal the activity of his zeal, by denying that he had seen any of the destructive scenes imputed to the Protestants ; yet, almost in the same breath, it came out, by his own confession, that there was hardly a place, public or private, where riot had erected her standard, in which he had not been ; nor a house, prison, or chapel, that was destroyed, to the demolition of which he had not been a witness. He was at Newgate, the Fleet, at Langdale's, and at Coleman- street ; at the Sardinian ambassador's, and in Great Queen street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. "What took him to Coachmakers' Hall ? He went there, as he told us, to watch their proceedings, because he expected no good from them ; and to justify his prophecy of evil, he said, on his examination by the Crown, that, as early as December, he had heard some alarming republican language. What language did he remember? — 'Why, that the Lord Advocate of Scotland was called only Harry Dundas.' Finding this too ridiculous for so grave an occasion, he endeavoured to put some words about the breach of the King's coronation oath*" into the prisoner's mouth, as proceeding from himself; which it is notorious he read out of an old Scotch book, published near a century ago, on the abdication of King James the Second. " Attend to his cross examination : he was sure he had seen Lord George Gordon at Greenwood's room in January ; but when Mr. Kenyon, who knew Lord George had never been there, advised him to recollect himself, he desired to consult his notes. First, he is positively sure from his memory, that he had seen him there : then he says, he cannot trust his memory without refer- * Hay swore that Lord Gordon had declared that the King had broken his coro- Jiation oath. LORD EHSKINE. 279 rmg to his papers : — on looking at them, they contradict him ; and he then confesses, that he never saw Lord George Gordon at Greenwood's room in January, when his note was taken, nor at any other time. But why did he take notes ? He said it was, because he foresaw what would happen. How fortunate the Crown is, gentlemen, to have such friends to collect evidence by anticipation! When did he begin to take notes? He said, on the 21st of February, which was ihe first time, he had been alarmed at what he had seen and heard, although, not a minute before, he had been reading a note taken at Greenwood's room in January^ and had sworn that he had attended their meetings, from apprehensions of consequences, as early as December. " Mr. Kenyon, who now saw him bewildered in a maze of falsehood, and suspecting his notes to have been a villanous fabrication to give the show of correctness to his evidence, attacked him with a shrewdness for which he was wholly unprepared. You remember the witness had said, that he always took notes when he attended any meetings where he expected their delibera- tions might be attended with dangerous consequences. ' Give me one in- stance,'' says Mr. Kenyon, ' in the luhole course of your life, where you ever took notes hefore.' Poor Mr. Hay was thunderstruck ; — the sweat ran down his face, and his countenance bespoke despair, — not recollection : ' Sir, I must have an instance ; tell me when and where ?' Gentlemen, it was now too late ; some instance he was obliged to give, and, as it was evident to every- body that he had one still to choose, I think he might have chosen a better. He had taken notes at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, six and twenty years before. What ! did he apprehend dangerous consequences from the deliberations of the grave elders of the Kirk ? Were they levying war against the King ? At last, when he is called upon to say to whom he com- municated the intelligence he had collected, the spy stood confessed indeed : at first he refused to tell, saying he was his friend, and that he was not obliged to give him up ; and when forced at last to speak, it came out to be Mr. Butler, a gentleman universally known, and who, from what I know of him, I may be sure never employed him, or any other spy, because he is a man every way respectable, but who certainly is not only a papist, but the person who was employed in all their proceedings, to obtain the late indul- gences from parliament. He said Mr. Butler was his particular friend, yet professed himself ignorant of his religion. I am sure he could not be desired to conceal it ; — Mr. Butler makes no secret of his religion ; — it is no reproach to any man who lives the life he does ; but Mr. Hay thought it of moment to his own credit in the cause, that he himself might be thought a Protestant, unconnected with papists, and not a popish spy. " So ambitious, indeed, was the miscreant of being useful in this odious character, through every stage of the cause, that after staying a little in St. George's Fields, he ran home to his own house in St. Dunstan's churchyard, and got upon the leads, where he sv/ore he saw the very same man, carrying the very same fiag, he had seen in the fields. Gentlemen, whether the peti- tioners employed the same standard-man through the whole course of their 280 THE MODEEN OBATOE,. peaceable procession is certainly totally immaterial to the cause, but tl^e circum- stance is material to sboYf the wickedness of the man. 'How,' says Mr.Kenyon, ' do you know that it was the same person you saw in the fields ? Were you acquainted with him?' 'No.' 'How then?' 'Why, he looked like a brewer's servant.' Lihe a hrewer's servant ! — ' What, were they not all in their Sunday's clothes ?' ' Oh ! yes, they were all in their Sunday's clothes.' ' Was the man with the flag then alone in the dress of his trade ?' ' No.' ' Then hoY\^ do you know he was a brewer's servant ?' Foor Mr. Hay ! — nothing hut siveat and confusion again. At last, after a hesitation, which everybody thought would have ended in his running out of court, he said, ' he knew him- to be a brewer's servant, because there ivas something particular in the cut of his coat, the cut of his breeches, and the cut of his stockings.'' " You see. Gentlemen, by what strange means viilany is detected ; perhaps he might have escaped from me, but he sunk under that shrewdness and sa- gacity, which ability, without long habits, does not provide. Gentlemen, you will not, I am sure, forget, whenever you see a man about whose apparel there is anything particular, to set him down for a brewer's servant. " Mr. Hay afterwards went to the lobby of the House of Commons. What took him there ? — He thought himself in danger ; and therefore, says Mr. Kenyon, you thrust yourself voluntarily into the very centre of danger. That would not do. Then he had a particular friend, whom he knew to be in the lobby, and whom he apprehended to be in danger. — ' Sir, Vv^ho was that par- ticular friend ? — Out with it : — Give us his name instantly.' All in confusion again. Not a word to say for himself ; and the name of this person ivho had the honour of Mr. Hafs friendship, ivill probably remain a secret for ever. " It may be asked, are these circumstances material ? and the answer is obvious : They are material ; because, v/hen you see a witness running into every hole and corner of falsehood, and, as fast as he is made to bolt out of one, taking cover in another, you will never give credit to what that man relates, as to any possible matter which is to affect| the life or reputation of a fellow- citizen accused before you. God forbid that you should. I might, therefore, get rid of this wretch altogether, without making a single remark on that part of his testimony, which bears upon the issue you are trying ; but the Grown shall have the full benefit of it all ; — I will defraud it of nothing he has said. Notwithstanding all his folly and wickedness, let us for the present take it to be true, and see what it amounts to. What is it he states to have passed at Coachmakers' Hall ? That Lord George Gordon desired the multitude to behave with unanimity and firmness, as the Scotch had done. Gentlemen, there is no manner of doubt that the Scotch behaved with una- nimity and firmness, in resisting the relaxation of the penal laws against pa- pists, and that by that unanimity and firmness they succeeded f^^ but it was by the constitutional unanimity and firmness of the great body of the people of Scotland, whose example Lord George Gordon recommended, and not by * The violent popular opx>ositioii manifested towards the proposed Act extending the lloman Catholic llelief Bill to Scotland, caused it to be abandoned. LOED EESKINE. 281 the riots and burning, which they attempted to proye had been committed in jCidmburgh m 1778. " I will tell you myself, Gentlemen, as one of the people of Scotland, that there then existed, and still exist, eighty-five societies of Protestants, who have been and still are, uniformly firm in opposing every change in that system of laws, established to secure the revolution, and Parliament gave way m Scotland to their united voice, and not to the firebrands of the rabble It is the duty of Parliament to listen to the voice of the people ;-for they are tlie servants of the people ; and when the constitution of church or state is believed, whether truly or falsely, to be in danger, I hope there never will be wanting men (notwithstanding the proceedings of to-day) to desire the people to persevere and be firm. Gentlemen, has the Crown proved that the Pro- testant brethren of the London association fired the mass-houses in Scotland or acted m rebellious opposition to law, so as to entitle it to wrest the pri' soner's expressions into an excitation of rebellion against the state, or of violence against the properties of English papists, by setting up their firm- ness as an example .> Certainly not. They have not even proved the naked fact of such violences, though such proof would have called for no resistance • smce to make it bear as rebellious advice to the Protestant Association of London, It must have been first shown, that such acts had been perpetrated or encouraged by the Protestant societies in the north. - Who has dared to say this ? No man.-The rabble in Scotland certainly did that which has since been done by the rabble in England, to the dis-race and reproach of both countries ; but in neither country was there found one man of character or condition, of any description, who abetted such enormities nor any man, high or low, of any of the associated Protestants, here or there' who were either convicted, tried, or taken on suspicion. " As to what this man heard, on the 29th of May, it was nothing more than the proposition of going up in a body to St. George's Fields, to consider how the petition should be presented, with the same exhortations to firmness as before. The resolution made on the motion has been read, and when I come to state the evidence on the part of my noble friend, I will show you the impossibility of supporting any criminal inference, from what Mr. Hay afterwards puts in his mouth in the lobby, even taking it to be true. I wish here to be accurate [loolcinsf on a card on ivhich he had taken dozen his ivordi\ ; He says : ' Lord George desired them to continue stedfastly to adhere to so good a cause as theirs was ;— promised to persevere in it himself, and hoped, though there ivas little expectation at present from the House of Commons, that they would meet with redress from thew mild and ghacioijs Soyeheign, who, no doubt, would recommend it to his ministers to repeal it: This was all he heard, and I will show you how this wicked man himself, (if any belief is to be given to him,) entirely overturns and brings to the ground the evidence of Mr. Bowen,^' on which the Crown rests singly for the proof of words which * The Chaplain of the House of Coraraons. 282 THE MODEEN ORATOE:. are more difficult to explain. Gentlemen, was this the language of rebellion ? If a multitude were at the gates of the House of Commons, to command and insist on a repeal of this law, why encourage their hopes by reminding them that they had a mild and gracious sovereign ? If war was levying against him, there was no occasion for his mildness and graciousness. If he had said, ' Be Jinn and persevere, tve shall meet with redress from the PEUDEisrcE of the Sovereign,' it p-.ight have borne a different construction ; because, whether he was gracious or severe, his prudence might lead him to submit to the necessity of the times. The words sworn to were, therefore, perfectly clear and unambiguous — ' Persevere in your zeal and supplications, and you will meet with redress frorii a mild and gracious King, who ivill recommend it to his Min- ister to repeal it.'' Good God ! if they were to wait till the King, whether from benevolence or fear, should direct his Minister to influence the proceedings of Parliament, how does it square with the charge of instant coercion or in- timidation of the House of Commons ? If the multitude were assembled with the premeditated design of producing immediate repeal by terror or arms, is it possible to suppose that their leader would desire them to be qu.iet, and refer them to those qualities of the prince, which, however eminently they might belong to him, never could be exerted on subjects in rebellion to his authority ? In what a labyrinth of nonsense and contradiction do men in- volve themselves, when, forsaking the rules of evidence, they would draw conclusions from words in contradiction to language, and in defiance of com- mon sense ? " The next witness that is called to you by the Crown is, Mr. Metcalf. He was not in the lobby, but speaks only to the meeting in Coachmakers' Hall, on the 29th of May, and in St. George's Fields. He says, that at the former. Lord George reminded them, that the Scotch had succeeded by their unanimity — and hoped that no one, who had signed the petition, would be ashamed or afraid to show himself in the cause ; that he was ready to go to the gallows for it ; that he would not present the petition of a lukewarm people ; that he desired them to come to St. George's Fields, distinguished with blue cockades, and that they should be marshalled in four divisions. Then he speaks to having seen them in the fields, in the order which has been described ; and Lord George Gordon in a coach, surrounded with a vast concourse of people, with blue ribands, forming like soldiers, but was not near enough to hear whether the prisoner spoke to them or not. Such is Mr. Metcalf's evidence, — and after the attention you have honoured me with, and which I shall have occasion so often to ask again on the same sub- ject, I shall trouble you with but one observation, viz., That it cannot, mth- out absurdity, be supposed, that if the assembly at Coachmakers' Hall had been such conspirators, as they are represented, their doors would have been open to strangers, like this witness, to come in to report their pro- ceedings. " The next witness is Mr. Anstruther, who speaks to the language and deportment of the noble prisoner, both at Coachmakers' Hall, on the 29th of LORD ERSKINE. 283 May, and afterwards on the 2nd of June, in the lobby of the House of Com- mons. It will be granted to me, I am sure, even by the advocates of the Crown, that this gentleman, not only from the clearness and consistency of his testimony, but from his rank and character in the world, is infinitely more worthy of credit than Mr. Hay, who went before him; and if the circumstances of irritation and confusion under which the Rev. Mr. Bowen confessed himself to have heard and seen, what he told you he heard and saw, I may likewise assert, without any offence to the reverend gentleman, and without drawing any parallel between their credits, that where their accounts of this transaction differ, the preference is due to the former. Mr. Anstruther very properly prefaced his evidence with this declaration : — ' / do not mean to speak accwately to words ; it is impossible to recollect them at this distance of time.' I believe I have used his very expression, and such expression it well became him to use in a case of blood. But words, even if they could be accurately remembered, are to be admitted v/ith great reserve and caution, when the purpose of the speaker is to be measured by them. They are transient and fleeting ; frequently the effect of a sudden transport, — easily misunderstood, — and often unconsciously misrepresented. It may be the fate of the most innocent language, to appear ambiguous, or even malignant, when related in mutilated detached passages, by people to whom it is not addressed, and who know nothing of the previous design, either of the speaker, or of those to whom he spoke. Mr. Anstruther says, that he heard Lord George Gordon desire the petitioners to meet him on the Friday following, in St. George's Fields, and that if there were fewer than twenty thousand people, he would not present the petition, as it would not be of consequence enough ; and that he recommended to them the example of the Scotch, who, by their firmness, had carried their point. " Gentlemen, — I have already admitted that they did by firmness carry it. But has Mr. Anstruther attempted to state any one expression, that fell from the prisoner, to justify the positive unerring conclusion, or even the pre- sumption, that the firmness of the Scotch Protestants, by which the point was carried in Scotland, was the resistance and riots of the rabble ? No, gen- tlemen ; he singly states the words, as he heard them in the hall on the 29th, and all that he afterwards speaks to in the lobby, repels so harsh and dan- gerous a construction. The words sworn to at Coachmakers' HaU are,*' that he recommended temperance and firmness.'' Gentlemen, if his motives are to be judged by words, for heaven's sake let these words carry their popular meaning in language. Is it to be presumed, without proof, that a man means one thing, because he says another ? Does the exhortation of temper- ance and firmness apply most naturally to the constitutional resistance of the Protestants of Scotland, or to the outrages of rufiians who pulled down the houses of their neighbours ? Is it possible, with decency, to say in a court of justice, that the recommendation of temperance is the excitation to villany and frenzy ? But the words, it seems, are to be construed, not from their own signification, but from that which follows them, viz., by that the X 284 THE MODERN ORATOK. Scotch carried their point. Gentlemen, is it in evidence before yon, that by rebellion the Scotch carried their point ; or that the indulgences to Papists were not extended to Scotland, because the rabble had opposed their extension ? Has the Crown authorised either the court, or its law servants, to tell you so ? Or can it be decently maintained, that parliament was so weak or infamous, as to yield to a wretched mob of vagabonds at Edinburgh, what it has since refused to the earnest prayers^ of a hundred thousand Protestants in Lon- don ? No, Gentlemen of the Jury, Parliament was not, I hope, so aban- doned. But the Ministers knew that the Protestants of Scotland were, to a man, abhorrent of that law ; and though they never held out resistance, if Government should be disposed to cram it doAvn their throats by force, yet such a violence to the united sentiments of a whole people appeared to be a measure so obnoxious, so dangerous, and withal so unreasonable, that it was wisely and judiciously dropped, to satisfy the general wishes of the nation, and not to avert the vengeance of those low incendiaries, whose misdeeds have rather been talked of than proved. " Thus, Gentlemen, the exculpation of Lord George's conduct, on the 29th of May, is sufficiently established by the very evidence, on which the Crown asks you to convict him : since, in recommending temperance and firm- ness after the example of Scotland, you cannot be justified in pronouncing, that he meant more than the firmness of the grave and respectable people in that country, to whose constitutional firmness the legislature had before acceded, instead of branding it with the title of rebellion ; and who, in my mind, deserve thanks from the King, for temperately and firmly resisting every innovation, which they conceived to be dangerous to the national religion, independently of which his Majesty (without a new limitation by Parliament) has no more title to the crown than I have. " Such, Gentlemen, is the whole amount of all my noble friend's previous communication with the petitioners, whom he afterwards assembled to con- sider, how their petition should be presented. This is all, not only that men of credit can tell you on the part of the presecution, but all that even the worst vagabond who ever appeared in a court — the very scum of the earth — thought himself safe in saying, upon oath, on the present occasion. Indeed, Gentlemen, when I consider my noble friend's situation, his open, unreserved temper, and his warm and animated zeal for a cause which rendered him obnoxious to so many wicked men ; speaking daily and publicly to mixed multitudes of friends and foes, on a subject which affected his passions, I confess, I am astonished that no other expressions, than those in evidence before you, have found their way into this court. That they have not found their way is surely a most satisfactory proof that there was nothing in his heart which even youthful zeal could magnify into guilt, or that want of caution could betray. " Gentlemen, Mr. Anstruther's evidence, when he speaks of the lobby of the House of Commons, is very much to be attended to. He says, ' / saw Lord George leaning over the gallery,^ which position, joined with what he LORD ERSKINE. 285 mentioned of his talking with the chaplain, marks the time, and casts a strong doubt on Bowen's testimony, which you will find stands, in this only material part of it, single and unsupported. ' I then heard him,' continues Mr. Anstruther, ' tell them, they had been called a mob, in the House, and that peace officers had been sent to disperse them, (peaceable petitioners :) but that by steadiness and firmness they might carry their point ; as he had no doubt his Majesty, who was a gracious prince, would send to his ministers to repeal the act, when he heard his subjects were coming up for miles round, and wishing its repeal.' How coming up ? In rebellion and arms to compel it ? No ! all is still put on the graciousness of the Sovereign, in listening to the unanimous wishes of his people. If the multitude then assembled had been brought together to intimidate the House by their firmness, or to coerce it by their numbers, it was ridiculous to look forward to the King's influence over it, when the collection of future multitudes should induce him to employ it. The expressions were therefore quite imambiguous, nor could malice itself have suggested another construction of them, were it not for the fact, that the House was at that time surrounded, not by the petitioners, whom the noble prisoner had assembled, but by a mob who had mixed with them, and who, therefore, when addressed by him, were instantly set down as his followers. He thought he was addressing the sober members of the Associa- tion, who, by steadiness and perseverance, could understand nothing more than perseverance in that conduct he had antecedently prescribed, as steadi- ness signifies a uniformity, not a change of conduct ; and I defy the Crown to find out a single expression, from the day he took the chair at the Associa- tion, to the day I am speaking of, that justifies any other construction of steadiness and firmness, than that which I put upon it before. " What would be the feelings of our venerable ancestors, who framed the statute of treasons to prevent their children being drawn into the snares of death, unless proveahly convicted by overt acts, if they could hear us disput- ing, whether it was treason to desire harmless unarmed men to be firm and of good heart, and to trust to the graciousness of their King ? " Here Mr. Austruther closes his evidence, which leads me to Mr. Bowen, who is the only man — I beseech you. Gentlemen of the Jury, to attend to this circumstance — Mr. Bowen is the only man who has attempted, directly or indirectly, to say, that Lord George Gordon uttered a syllable to the multi- tude in the lobby, concerning the destruction of the mass-houses in Scotland. Not one of the Crown's "witnesses, not even the wretched abandoned Hay, who was kept, as he said, in the lobby the whole afternoon, from anxiety for his pretended friend, has ever glanced at any expression resembling it. They all finish mth the expectation which he held out, from a mild and gracious Sovereign. Mr. Bowen alone goes on further, and speaks of the successful riots of the Scotch : but speaks of them in such a manner, as, so far firom conveying the hostile idea, which he seemed sufficiently desirous to convey, tends directly to wipe ofi" the dark hints and insinuations which have been made to supply the place of proof upon that subject — a subject which should x 2 286 THE MODERN OEATOK. not have been touched on, without the fullest support of evidence, and where nothing but the most unequivocal evidence ought to have been received. He says ''his Lordship began hy bidding them be quiet, peaceable, and steady' — not ' steady' alone ; though, if that had been the expression, singly by itself, I should not be afraid to meet it ; but, ' Be quiet, peaceable, and steady' Gentlemen, I am indiiferent what other expressions of dubious interpretation are mixed with these, for you are trying whether my noble friend came to the House of Commons with a decidedly hostile mind ; and as I shall, on the re- capitulation of our own evidence, trace him in your view without spot or stain down to the very moment when the imputed words were spoken, you will hardly forsake the whole innocent context of his behaviour, and torture your inventions to collect the blackest system of guilt, starting up in a moment, without being previously concerted, or afterwards carried into execution. *' First, what are the words by which you are to be convinced that the Legislature was to be frightened into compliance, and to be coerced if terror should fail ? ' Be quiet, peaceable, and steady ; — You are a good people — Yours is a good cause: — His Majesty is a gbacious monarch, and when he hears that all his people, ten miles round, are collecting, he will send to his Ministers to repeal the act' By what rules of construction can such an address to unarmed, defenceless men, be tortured into treasonable guilt ? It is impossible to do it without pronouncing, even in the total absence of all proof of fraud or deceit in the speaker, that quiet signifies tumult and uproar, and that peace signifies war and rebellion. " I have before observed, that it was most important for you to remember, that with this exhortation to quiet and confidence in the King, the evidence of all the other witnesses closed ; even Mr. Anstruther, who was a long time afterwards in the lobby, heard nothing further : so that if Mr. Eowen had been out of the case altogether, what would the amount have been ? "Why simply, that Lord George Gordon having assembled an unarmed, inoffensive multitude in St. George's Fields, to present a petition to Parliament, and finding them becoming tumultuous, to the discontent of Parliament and the discredit of the cause, desired them not to give it up, but to continue to show their zeal for the legal object in which they were engaged ; to manifest that zeal quietly and peaceably, and not to despair of success ; since, though the House was not disposed to listen to it, they had a gracious Sovereign, who would second the wishes of his people. This is the sum and substance of the whole. They were not, even by anyone ambiguous expression, encouraged to trust to their numbers, as sufficient to overawe the House, or to their strength to compel it, or to the prudence of the state in yielding to necessity- but to the indulgence of the King, in compliance with the wishes of his peo- ple. Mr. Bowen, however, thinks proper to proceed; and I beg that you will attend to the sequel of his evidence. He stands single in all the rest that he says, which might entitle me to ask you absolutely to reject it ; but I have no objection to your believing every word of it if you can : because, if inconsistencies prove anything, they prove that there was nothing of that deliberation in the prisoner's expressions which can justify the inference of LORD EKSKINE. 287 guilt. I mean to be correct as to his words [looking at his tvords which he had noted down~\. He says, ' That Lord George told the people, that an attempt had been made to introduce the hill into Scotland, and that they had no redress till the mass-houses luere pulled down. That Lord Wegmouth^" then sent official assurances that it should not he extended to them.'' Gentlemen, why is Mr. Bowen called by the Crown to tell you this ? The reason is plain : because the Crown, conscious that it could make no case of treason from the rest of the evidence, in sober judgment of law — aware that it had proved no purpose or act of force against the House of Commons, to give countenance to the accusation, much less to warrant a conviction, found it necessary to hold up the noble prisoner, as the wicked and cruel author of all those calamities, in which every man's passions might be supposed to come in to assist his judg- ment to decide. They therefore made him speak in enigmas to the multitude : not telling them to do mischief in order to succeed, but that hy mischief in Scotland success had been obtained. " But were the mischiefs themselves, that did happen here, of a sort to support such conclusion ? Can any man living, for instance, believe that Lord George Gordon could possibly have excited the mob to destroy the house of that great and venerable magistrate, who has presided so long in this high tri- bunal, that the oldest of us do not remember him with any other impression than the awful form and figure of justice: a magistrate, who had always been the friend of the Protestant Dissenters, against the ill-timed jealousies of the establishment — his countrymen too — and, without adverting to the partiality not unjustly imputed to men of that country, a man of whom any country might be proud ? No, Gentlemen, it is not credible, that a man of noble birth and liberal education (unless agitated by the most implacable personal resentment, which is not imputed to the prisoner), could possibly consent to the burning of the house of Lord Mansfield. " If Mr. Bowen, therefore, had ended here, I can hardly conceive such a construction could be decently hazarded, consistent with the testimony of the witnesses we have called ; how much less, when, after the dark insinua- tions which such expressions might otherwise have been argued to convey, the very same person, on whose veracity or memory they are only to be believed, and who must be credited or discredited in toto, takes out the sting himself, by giving them such an immediate context and conclusion, as renders the proposition ridiculous, which his evidence is brought forward to establish ; for he says, that Lord George Gordon instantly afterwards addressed himself thus : — ' Beware of evil-minded persons who may mix among you and do mischief, the blame of which will be imputed to you.'' " Gentlemen, if you refiect on the slander, which I told you fell upon the Protestants in Scotland by the acts of the rabble there, I am sure you will see the words are capable of an easy explanation. But as Mr. Bowen con- cluded with telling you, that he heard them in the midst of noise and confusion, and as I can only take them from him, I shall not make an attempt to * Then Secretary for the Southern Department. 288 THE MODERN OUATOK. collect them into one consistent discourse, so as to give them a decided meaning in favour of my client, because I have repeatedly told you, that words, imperfectly heard and partially related, cannot be so reconciled. But this I will say — that he must be a ruffian and not a lawyer, who would dare to tell an English jury, that such ambiguous words, hemmed closely in between others not only innocent, but meritorious, are to be adopted to constitute guilt ; by rejecting both introduction and sequel, with which they are absolutely irreconcilable and inconsistent : for if ambiguous words, when coupled with actions, decipher the mind of the actor, so as to establish the presumption of guilt, will not such as are plainly innocent and unambiguous go as far to repel such presumption ? Is innocence more difficult of proof than the most malignant wickedness ? Gentlemen, I see your minds revolt at such shocking propositions. I beseech you to forgive me ; I am afraid that my zeal has led me to offer observations, which I ought in justice to have believed every honest mind would suggest to itself with pain and abhorrence, without being illustrated and enforced. " I now come more minutely to the evidence on the part of the prisoner. " I before told you, that it was not till November 1779, when the Protes- tant Association was already fully established, that Lord George Gordon was elected president by the unanimous voice of the whole body, unlooked for and unsolicited ; and it is surely not an immaterial circumstance, that at the very first meeting where his lordship presided, a dutiful and respectful petition, the same which was afterwards presented to Parliament, was read and approved of; — a petition which, so far from containing anything threatening or offensive, conveyed not a very oblique reflection upon the behaviour of the people in Scotland : taking notice that as England and that country were now one, and as official assurances had been given that the law should not pass there, they hoped the peaceable and constitutional de- portment of the English Protestants would entitle them to the approbation of Parliament. " It appears by the evidence of Mr. Erasmus Middle ton,* a very respectable clergyman and one of the committee of the Association, that a meeting had been held on the 4th of May, at which Lord George was not present ; that at that meeting a motion had been made for going up with the petition in a body, but which not being regularly put from the chair, no resolution was come to upon it ; and that it was likewise agreed on, but in the same irre- gular manner, that there should be no other public meeting, previous to the presenting the petition ; — that this last resolution occasioned great discon- tent, and that Lord George was applied to by a large and respectable number of the Association to call another meeting, to consider of the most prudent and respectful method of presenting their petition : but it appears that, before he complied with their request, he consulted with the committee on the propriety of compliance, who all agreeing to it, except the secretary, f * The fiist -witness called for the Prisoner. LORD ERSKINE. 289 his lordship advertised the meeting, which was afterwards held on the 29th of May. The meeting was therefore the act of the whole Association ; and as to the original difference between my noble friend and the committee, on the expediency of the measure, it is totally immaterial ; since Mr Middleton, who was one of the number who diiFered from him on that subject (and whose evidence is therefore infinitely more to be relied on), told you, that his whole deportment was so clear and unequivocal, as to entitle him to assure you, on his most solemn oath, that he in his conscience believed his views were per- fectly constitutional and pure. This most respectable clergyman further swears, that he attended all the previous meetings of the society, from the day the prisoner became president to the day in question, and that, knowing they were objects of much jealousy and malice, he watched his behaviour with anxiety, lest his zeal should furnish matter for misrepresentation ; but that he never heard an expression escape him which marked a disposition to violate the duty and subordination of a subject, or which could lead any man to believe that his objects were difierent from the avowed and legal objects of the Association. We could have examined thousands to the same fact, for, as I told you when I began to speak, I was obliged to leave my place to disencumber myself from their names. "This evidence of Mr. Middleton's, as to the 29th of May, must, I should think, convince every man how dangerous and unjust it is, in witnesses, however perfect their memories, or however great their veracity, to come into a criminal court where a man is standing for his life or death, retailing scraps of sentences, which they had heard by thrusting themselves, from curiosity, into places where their business did not lead them ; ignorant of the views and tempers of both speakers and hearers, attending only to apart, and, perhaps innocently, misrepresenting that part, from not having heard the whole. "The witnesses for the Crown all tell you, that Lord George said he would not go up with the petition unless he was attended by 20,000 people who had signed it : and there they think proper to stop, as if he had said nothing further ; leaving you to say to yourselves, What possible purpose could he have in assembling such a multitude, on the very day the House was to receive the petition ? Why should he urge it, when the committee had before thought it inexpedient ? And why should he refuse to present it, unless he was so attended ? Hear what Mr. Middleton says. He tells you, that my noble friend informed the petitioners, that if it was decided they were not to attend to consider how their petition should be presented, he would with the greatest pleasure go up with it alone ; but that, if it was re- solved they should attend it in person, he expected twenty thousand at the least should meet him in St. George's Fields, for that otherwise the petition would be considered as a forgery ; it having been thrown out in the House and elsewhere, that the repeal of the bill was not the serious wish of the people at large, and that the petition was a mere list of names in parchment, and not of men in sentiment. Mr. Middleton added, That Lord George 290 THE MODERN OKATOE, adverted to the same objections having been made to many other petitions, and he therefore expressed an anxiety to show Parhament how many were actually interested in its success, which he reasonably thought would be a strong inducement to the House to listen to it, The language imputed to him falls in most naturally with this purpose : ' I wish Parliament to see who and what you are; dress yourselves in your best clothes'' — which Mr. Hay (who, I suppose, had been reading the indictment) thought it would be better to call 'Akeay TOiiiiSELYES.' He desired that not a stick should be seen among them, and that, if anyman insulted another, or was guilty of any breach of the peace, he was to be given up to the magistrates. Mr. Attor- ney-General, to persuade you that this was all colour and deceit, says, 'How was a magistrate to face forty thousand men ? How were offenders in such a multitude to be amenable to the civil power? ' What a shameful perversion of a plain peaceable purpose ! To be sure, if the multitude had been assem- bled to resist the magistrate, offenders could not be secured. But they themselves were ordered to apprehend all offenders amongst them, and to deliver them up to justice. They themselves were to surrender their fellows to civil authority if they offended. "But it seems that Lord George ought to have foreseen that so great a multitude could not be collected without mischief. Gentlemen, we are not trying whether he might or ought to have foreseen mischief, but whether he wickedly and traitorously preconcerted and designed it. But if he be an object of censure for not foreseeing it, what shall we say to goyehnment, that took no step to prevent it, — that issued no proclamation, warning the people of the danger and illegality of such an assembly ? If a peaceable multitude, with a petition in their hands, be an army, — and if the noise and confusion inseparable from numbers, though without violence or the purpose of violence, constitute war, — what shall be said of that goveeistment, which remained from Tuesday to Friday, knowing that an army was collecting to levy war by public advertisement, yet had not a single soldier, — no, nor even a constable, to protect the state ? " Gentlemen, I come forth to do that for Government, which its own servant, the Attorney- General, has not done, — I come forth to rescue it from the eternal infamy which Avould fall upon its head, if the language of its own advocate Vv-^ere to be believed. But Government has an imanswerable defence. It neither did nor could possibly enter into the head of any man in authority to prophesy — human wisdom could not divine, that wicked and desperate men, taking advantage of the occasion, which, perhaps, an imprudent zeal for religion had produced, would dishonour tlie cause of all religions, by the dis- graceful acts which followed. " Why, then, is it to be said that Lord George Gordon is a traitor, who, without proof of any hostile purpose to the government of his country, only did not foresee, what nobody else foresaw, — what those people, whose business it is to foresee every danger that threatens the state, and to avert it by the interference of magistracy, though they could not but read the advertisement, neither did nor could possibly apprehend ? LORD ERSKINE. 291 " How are these observations attempted to be answered? Only by asserting, without evidence, or even reasonable argument, that all this was colour and deceit. Gentlemen, I again say, that it is scandalous and reproachful, and not to be justified by any duty, which can possibly belong to an advocate at the bar of an English court of justice, to declaim, without any proof, or at- tempt of proof, that all a man's expressions, however peaceable, however quiet, however constitutional, however loyal, are all fraud and villany. Look, Gentlemen, to the issues of life, which I before called the evidence of Heaven : I call them so still. Truly may I call them so, when, out of a book compiled by the Crown from the petition in the House of Commons, and containing the names of all who signed it, and which was printed in order to prevent any of that number being summoned upon the jury to try this indictment, not one C7iminal, or even a suspected, name is to he found amongst this defamed host of petitioners. " After this. Gentlemen, I think the Crown ought, in decency, to be silent. I see the eifect this circumstance has upon you, and I know I am warranted in my assertion of the fact. If I am not, .why did not the Attorney- General produce the record of some convictions, and compare it with the list ? I thank them, therefore, for the precious compilation, which, though they did not produce, they cannot stand up and deny. " Solomon says, ' Oh that mine adversary ivould write a hook .'' So say I. My adversary has written a book, and out of it I am entitled to pronounce, that it cannot again be decently asserted, that Lord George Gordon, in exhorting an innocent and unimxpeached multitude to be peaceable and quiet, was excit- ing them to violence against the state. " What is the evidence, then, on which this connexion with the mob is to be proved ? Only that they had hlue cochades.'^^ Are you or am I answerable for every man who wears a blue cockade ? If a man commits murder in my livery, or in yours, without command, counsel, or consent, is the murder ours? In all cumulative, constructive treasons, you are to judge from the tenor of a man's behaviour, not from crooked and disjointed parts of it. Nemo repente fuit turpissimus. No man can possibly be guilty of this crime by a sudden impulse of the mind, as he may of some others ; and, certainly, Lord George Gordon stands upon the evidence at Coachmakers' Hall as pure and white as snow. He stands so upon the evidence of a man who had differed with him as to the expediency of his conduct, yet who swears, that, from the time he took the chair till the period which is the subject of in- quiry, there was no blame in him. *' You, therefore, are bound as Christian men to believe, that, when he came to St. George's Fields that morning, he did not come there with the hostile purpose of repealing a law by rebellion. * The members of the Association, at the meeting in St. George's Fields, were dis- tinguished by wearing blue cockades on which were inscribed the words, "No Popei7 !" 292 THE MODERN ORATOE. " But still it seems all his behaviour at Coachmakers' Hall was colour and deceit. Let us see, therefore, whether this body of men, when assembled, answered the description of that which I have stated to be the purpose of him who assembled them. Were they a multitude arrayed for terror or force ? On the contrary, you have heard, upon the evidence of men whose veracity is not to be impeached, that they were sober, decent, quiet, peace- able tradesmen ; — that they were all of the better sort ; — all well-dressed and well-behaved ; — and that there was not a man among them who had any one weapon, offensive or defensive. Sir Philip Jennings Gierke "^ tells you, he went into the Fields ; that he drove through them, talked to many individuals among them, who all told him that it was not their wish to per- secute the Papists, but that they were alarmed at the progress of their religion from their schools. Sir Philip further told you, that he never saw a more peaceable multitude in his life ; and it appears upon the oaths of all who were present,! that Lord George Gordon went round among them, de- siring peace and quietness. "Mark his conduct when he heard from Mr. Evans, J that a low riotous set of people were assembled in Palace Yard. Mr. Evans, being a member of the Protestant Association, and being desirous that nothing bad might happen from the assembly, went in his carriage with Mr. Spinage to St. George's Fields, to inform Lord George that there were such people assem- bled (probably Papists) who were determined to do mischief. The moment he told him of what he heard, whatever his original plan might have been, he instantly changed it on seeing the impropriety of it. ' Do you intend,' said Mr. Evans, ' to carry up all these men with the petition to the House of Commons ?' ' Oh no ! no ! not by any means ; I do not mean to carry them all up.' ' "Will you give me leave,' said Mr. Evans, ' to go round to the different divisions, and tell the people it is not your lordship's purpose ?' He answered, ' By all means.' And Mr. Evans accordingly went, but it was impossible to guide such a number of people, peaceable as they were. They were all desirous to go forward ; and Lord George was at last obliged to leave the Fields, exhausted with heat and fatigue, beseeching them to be * This gentleman, in giving evidence on behalf of the prisoner, deposed to the peaceable behaviour of the members of the Association, who formed the original pro- cession to carry up the petition, and whom he distinguished from the mob which afterwards assembled tumultuously about the House of Commons. t Sir James Lowther, another of the prisoner's witnesses, proved that Lord George Gordon and Sir Philip Jennings Gierke accompanied him in his carriage from the House, and the former entreated the multitudes collected to disperse quietly to their homes. X A surgeon, who also was examined for the defence, and deposed that he saw Lord George Gordon in the midst of one of the companies in St. George's Fields, and that it appeared his wish, at that time, from his conduct and expressions, that, to prevent all disorder, he should not be attended by the multitude across Westminster Bridge. This gentleman's evidence was confirmed by that of other witnesses. LORD ERSKINE, 293 peaceable and quiet. Mrs. "Whitingham set him down at the House of Commons ; and at the very time that he thus left them in perfect harmony and good order, it appears, by the evidence of Sir Philip Jennings Gierke, that Palace Yard was in an uproar, filled with mischievous boys and the lowest dregs of the people. " Gentlemen, I have all along told you, that the Crown was aware that it had no case of treason, without connecting the noble prisoner with conse- quences, which it was in some luck to find advocates to state, without proof to support it. I can only speak for myself ; that, small as my chance is (as times go), of ever arriving at high office, I would not accept of it on the terms of being obliged to produce against a fellow- citizen that which I have been witness to this day ; for Mr. Attorney- General perfectly well knew the innocent and laudable motive with which the protection was given, that he exhibited as an evidence of guilt i'^" yet it was produced to insinuate, that Lord George Gordon, knowing himself to be the ruler of those villains, set himself up as a saviour from their fury. We called Lord Stormont to ex- plain this matter to you, who told you that Lord George Gordon came to Buckingham House, and begged to see the King, saying, he might be of great use in quelling the riots ; and can there be on earth a greater proof of conscious innocence ? for if he had been the wicked mover of them, would he have gone to the King to have confessed it, by offering to recall his followers from the mischiefs he had provoked .^ No ! But since, notwith- standing a public protest issued by himself and the Association, reviling the authors of mischief, the Protestant cause was still made the pretext, he thought his public exertions might be useful, as they might tend to remove the prejudices which wicked men had diffused. The King thought so like- wise, and, therefore (as appears by Lord Stormont), refused to see Lord George till he had given the test of his loyalty by such exertions. But sure I am, our gracious Sovereign meant no trap for innocence, nor ever recom- mended it as such to his servants. " Lord George's language was simply this : — * The multitude pretended to be perpetrating these acts, under the authority of the Protestant petition ; I assure your Majesty they are not the Protestant Association, and I shall be glad to be of any service in suppressing them.' I say, by God, that man is a ruffian, who shall, after this, presume to build upon such honest, artless conduct, as an evidence of guilt. Gentlemen, if Lord George Gordon had been guilty of high treason (as is assumed to-day) in the face of the whole Parliament, how are all its members to defend themselves from the mis- * A witness, of the name of Richard Pond, called in support of the prosecution, had sworn, that, hearing his house was about to be pulled down, he applied to the prisoner for protection, and in consequence received the following document signed by him : — " All true friends to Protestants, I hope, will be particular, and do no injury to the property of any true Protestant, as I am well assured the proprietor of this house is a staunch and worthy friend to the cause. — G. Gordon." 294 THE MODERN ORATOE. prision* of suffering such a person to go at large and to approach his Sove- reign? The man who conceals the perpetration of treason, is himself a traitor ; but they are all perfectly safe, for nobody thought of treason till fears arising from another quarter bewildered their senses. The King, therefore, and his servants, very wisely accepted his promise of assistance, and he flew with honest zeal to fulfil it. Sir Philip Jennings Gierke tells you, that he made use of every expression which it was possible for a man in such circumstances to employ. He begged them, for God's sake, to disperse and go home ; declared his hope, that the petition would be granted, but that rioting was not the way to effect it. Sir Philip said he felt himself bound, without being particularly asked, to say everything he could in protection of an injured and innocent man, and repeated again, that there was not an art which the prisoner could possibly make use of, that he did not zealously employ ; but that it was all in vain. ' I began,' says he, ' to tremble for myself, when Lord George read the resolution of the House, which was hostile to them, and said their petition would not be taken into consideration till they were quiet.' But did he say, ' Therefore, go on to hum and destroy T On the contrary, he helped to pen that motion, and read it to the multitude, as one which he himself had approved. After this he went into the coach with Sheriff Pugh, in the city ; and there it was, in the presence of the very magistrate, whem he was assisting to keep the peace, that he puhlicly signed the protection which has been read in evidence against him ; although Mr. Fisher, who now stands in my presence, confessed, in the Privy Council, that he himself had granted similar protections to various people — yet he was dismissed, as having done nothing hut his duty. " This is the plain and simple truth ; and for this just obedience to his Majesty's request, do the King's servants come to-day into his court, where he is supposed in person to sit, to turn that obedience into the crime of high treason, and to ask you to put him to death for it. " Gentlemen, you have now heard, upon the solemn oaths of honest, disin- terested men, a faithful history of the conduct of Lord George Gordon, from the day that he became a member of the Protestant Association, to the day that he was committed a prisoner to the Tower. And I have no doubt, from the attention with which I have been honoured from the beginning, that you have still kept in your minds the principles to which I entreated you would apply it, and that you have measured it by that standard. " You have, therefore, only to look back to the whole of it together ; to reflect on all you have heard concerning him ; to trace him in your recol- lection, through every part of the transaction ; and, considering it with one manly liberal view, to ask your own honest hearts, whether you can say that this noble and unfortunate youth is a wicked and deliberate traitor, who t Misprision of treason consists in the bare knowledge and concealment of treason, ■without any degree of assent thereto, for any assent makes the party a principal traitor. — Blm;kstone, Comm. iv. 120, LORD EESKINE. 295 deserves by your verdict to suffer a shameful and ignominious death, which will stain the ancient honours of his house for ever. " The crime which the Crown would have fixed upon him is, that he assem- bled the Protestant Association round the House of Commons, not merely to influence and persuade Parliament by the earnestness of their supplica- tions, but actually to coerce it by hostile rebellious force ; that finding him- self disappointed in the success of that coercion, he afterwards incited his followers to abolish the legal indulgences to Papists, which the object of the petition was to repeal, by the burning of their houses of worship, and the destruction of their property, which ended at last in a general attack on the property of all orders of men, religious and civil, on the public treasures of the nation, and on the very being of the government.* " To support a charge of so atrocious and unnatural a complexion, the laws of the most arbitrary nations would require the most incontrovertible proof. Either the villain must have been taken in the overt act of wicked- ness, or, if he worked in secret upon others, his guilt must have been brought out by the discovery of a conspiracy, or by the consistent tenor of crimi- nality ; the very worst inquisitor that ever dealt in blood would vindicate the torture, by plausibility at least, and by the semblance of truth. " What evidence, then, will a jury of Englishmen expect from the servants of the Crown of England, before they deliver up a brother accused before them, to ignominy and death ? ^Vhat proof will their consciences require ? What will their plain and manly understandings accept of ? What does the immemorial custom of their fathers, and the written law of this land, warrant them in demanding ? Nothing less, in any case of blood, than the clearest and most unequivocal conviction of guilt. But in this case the act has not even trusted to the humanity and justice of our general law, but has said, in plain, rough, expressive terms — proveaUy — that is, says Lord Coke, not upon conjectural presumptions, or inferences, or strains of wit, but upon direct and plain proof. 'For the King, Lords, and Commons,' continues that great lawyer, 'did not use the wordjoro5a5^y, for then a common argument might have served ; but proveably, which signifies the highest force of demonstra- tion.' And what evidence, Gentlemen of the Jury, does the Crown offer to you in compliance with these sound and sacred doctrines of justice ? A few broken, interrupted, disjointed words, without context or connexion — uttered by the speaker in agitation and heat — heard, by those who relate them to you, in the midst of tumult and confusion — and even those words, mutilated as they are, in direct opposition to, and inconsistent with, repeated and earnest declarations delivered at the very same time and on the very same occasion, related to you by a much greater number of persons, and absolutely incompat- ible with the whole tenor of his conduct. ^Vhich of us all, Gentlemen, would be safe, standing at the bar of God or man, if we were not to be judged * At the time of the interference of the military, the mob had attacked the Pay Office, and were attempting to break into the Bank ; and, to aid the work of the incen- diaries, a large party had been sent to cut the pipes of the New River. 296 THE MODERN ORATOR. by the regular current of our lives and conversations, but by detached and unguarded expressions, picked out by malice, and recorded, without context or circumstances, against us ? Yet such is the only evidence, on which the Crown asks you to dip your hands, and to stain your consciences, in the inno- cent blood of the noble and unfortunate youth who stands before you — on the single evidence of-the words you have heard from their witnesses, (for of what but words have you heard ?) — which, even if they had stood uncontro- verted by the proofs that have swallowed them up, or unexplained by circum- stances which destroy their malignity, could not, at the very worst, amount in law to more than a breach of the act against tumultuous petitioning (if such an act still exists) ; since the worst malice of his enemies has not been able to bring up one single witness to say, that he ever directed, countenanced, or approved rebellious force against the legislature of this country. It is, therefore, a matter of astonishment to me, that men can keep the natural colour in their cheeks, when they ask for human life, even on the Crown's original case, though the prisoner had made no defence. But will they still continue to ask for it after what they have heard ? I will just remind the Solicitor-Gene- ral, before he begins his reply, what matter he has to encounter. He has to encounter this : — That the going up in a body was not even originated by Lord George, but by others in his absence — that when proposed by him officially as Chairman, it was adopted by the lohole Association, and conse- quently was their act as much as his — that it was adopted, not in a conclave, but with open doors, and the resolution published to all the world — that it was known of course to the ministers and magistrates of the country, who did not even signify to him, or to any body else, its illegality or danger — that decency and peace were enjoined and commanded — that the regularity of the proces- sion, and those badges of distinction, which are now cruelly turned into the charge of an hostile array against him, were expressly and publicly directed for the preservation of peace and the prevention of tumult — that while the House was deliberating, he repeatedly entreated them to behave with decency and peace, and to retire to their houses ; though he knew not that he was speaking to the enemies of his cause — that when they at last dispersed, no man thought or imagined that treason had been committed — that he retired to bed, where he lay unconscious that ruffians were ruining him, by their disorders in the night — that on Monday he published an advertisement, re- viling the authors of the riots : and, as the Protestant cause had been wickedly made the pretext for them, solemnly enjoined all who wished well to it to be obedient to the laws (nor has the Crown even attempted to prove that he had either given, or that he afterwards gave, secret instructions in opposition to that public admonition) — that he afterwards begged an audience to receive the King's commands — that he waited on the Ministers — that he attended his duty in Parliament — and, when the multitude (amongst whom there was not a man of the associated Protestants) again assembled on the Tuesday, under pretence of the Protestant cause, he offered his services, and read a resolution of the House to them, accompanied with every expostulation LOED ERSKINE. 297 which a zeal for peace could possibly inspire — that he afterwards, in pursuance of the King's direction, attended the magistrates in their duty ; honestly and honourably exerting all his powers to quell the fury of the multitude ; a conduct which, to the dishonour of the Crown, has been scandalously turned against him, by criminating him mth protections granted publicly in the coach of the Sheriff of London, whom he was assisting in his oiEce of magistracy ; although protections of a similar nature Avere, to the knowledge of the whole Privy Council, granted by Mr. Fisher himself, who now stands in my presence un- accused and unreproved, but who, if the Crown that summoned him durst have called him, would have dispersed to their confusion the slightest impu- tation of guilt. " What, then, has produced this trial for high treason ; or given it, when produced, the seriousness and solemnity it wears ? what, but the inversion of all justice, by judging from consequences, instead of from causes and designs ? what, but the artful manner in which the Crown has endeavoured to blend the petitioning in a body, and the zeal with which an animated disposition conducted it, with the melancholy crimes that followed ? crimes, which the shameful indolence of our magistrates — which the total extinction of all police and government suffered to be committed in broad day, and in the delirium of drunkenness, by an unarmed banditti, without a head — without plan or object — and without a refuge from the instant gripe of justice : a banditti, with whom the associated Protestants, and their President, had no manner of connexion, and whose cause they overturned, dishonoured, and ruined. " How unchristian, then, is it to attempt, without evidence, to infect the imaginations of men who are sworn dispassionately and disinterestedly to try the trivial offence of assembling a multitude with a petition to repeal a law (which has happened so often in all our memories), by blending it with the fatal catastrophe, on which every man's mind may be supposed to retain some degree of irritation ? O fie ! O fie ! Is the intellectual seat of justice to be thus impiously shaken? Are your benevolent propensities to be thus disappointed and abused ? Do they wish you, while you are listening to the evidence, to connect it with unforeseen consequences, in spite of reason and truth ? Is it their object to hang the millstone of prejudice around his innocent neck to sink him ? If there be such men, may Heaven forgive them for the attempt, and inspire you with fortitude and wisdom, to discharge your duty with calm, steady, and reflecting minds. " Gentlemen, I have no manner of doubt that you will. I am sure you cannot but see, notwithstanding my great inability, increased by a perturba- tion of mind (arising, thank God ! from no dishonest cause), that there has been not only no evidence on the part of the Cro\vn, to fix the guilt of the late commotions upon the prisoner, but that, on the contrary, we have been able to resist the probability, I might almost say the possibility, of the charge, not only by living witnesses, whom we only ceased to call because the trial would never have ended, but by the evidence of all the blood that has paid the forfeit of that guilt already ; an evidence that I will take upon me to say is 298 THE MODERN ORATOR. the strongest, and most unanswerable, which the combination of natural events ever brought together since the beginning of the world for the deliverance of the oppressed: since in the late numerous trials for acts of violence and depre- dation, though conducted by the ablest servants of the CroAvn, with a laudable eye to the investigation of the subject which now engages us, no one fact appeared, which showed any plan, any object, any leader ; since, out of forty- four thousand persons, who signed the petition of the Protestants, not one was to be found among those who were convicted, tried, or even apprehended on suspicion ; and since, out of all the felons who were let loose from prisons, and who assisted in the destruction of our property, not a single wretch was to be found, who could even attempt to save his own life by the plausible promise of giving evidence to-day. "What can overturn such a proof as this ? Surely a good man might, without superstition, believe, that such a union of events was something more than natural, and that a Divine Providence was watchful for the pro- tection of innocence and truth. " I may now, therefore, relieve you from the pain of hearing me any longer, and be myself relieved from speaking on a subject which agitates and distresses me. Since Lord Gorge Gordon stands clear of every hostile act or purpose against the Legislature of his country, or the properties of his fellow-sub- jects — since the whole tenor of his conduct repels the belief of the traitorous intention charged by the indictment — my task is finished. I shall make no address to your passions — I will not remind you of the long and rigorous imprisonment he has sufiered ; I will not speak to you of his great youth, of his illustrious birth, and of his uniformly animated and generous zeal in Parliament for the constitution of his country. Such topics might be useful in the balance of a doubtful case ; yet even then I should have trusted to the honest hearts of Englishmen to have felt them without excitation. At pre- sent, the plain and rigid rules of justice and truth are sufficient to entitle me to your verdict." The Solicitor-General having replied. Lord Mansfield summed up : and the Jury, after retiring to consider, returned a verdict of" Not guilty." Speech in support of a rule for a new trial of the indictment against the Dean of St. Asaph, for publishing a seditious libel, 15th November, 1784. In the year 1783, when public attention was dhected to the necessity of reform in ParHament, Mr. Jones (afterwards Sir William Jones, one of the judges of the Supreme Court at Bengal), composed a tract in furtherance of that measure, under the title of " A Dialogue between a Farmer and a Coun- try Gentleman, on the Principles of Government," in which he explained, in a familiar style, the leading principles of gOA/ernment, and the existing defects in the representation of the people in Parliament. Shortly afterwards. Sir W. Jones, having married the eldest daughter of the Dean of St. Asaph, LORD ERSKINE. *299 the latter became acquainted with the tract, and, highly approving it, sub- mitted it to a committee of gentlemen in Flintshire, who had formed them- selves into an association for the promotion of reform. These gentlemen were so pleased with the tract as to pass a vote in approbation of it. In con- sequence of this, the court party took umbrage, and, violently upbraiding the Committee for their open adoption of the pamphlet, publicly branded the dia- logue with the most opprobrious epithets ; whereupon the Dean of St. Asaph, considering himself implicated, and that the best means of vindicating the work and its supporters would be to submit it to public opinion, decided on adopting that course ; and, prefixing a short preface explaining his motives, issued it to the public. For this publication, which the government de- clined to notice, an indictment was preferred against the Dean, by Mr. Fitz- maurice, brother of the Marquis of Lansdowne ; and the indictment, having been removed by certiorari to the Court of King's Bench, came on for trial at the assizes at Shrewsbury, in August, 1784. Mr. Erskine, in his speech for the defence, insisted on two great principles: — 1st, That the jury were not restricted to finding the mere fact of the publishing, without regard to the nature of the matter published, but that they had the right of determin- ing whether the matter charged in the indictment as a libel were a libel or not ; and, 2ndly, That the intention and motive in the publishing must be taken into consideration, and that, if the publication was not with a criminal motive, it could not be held as libellous. In summing up the case to the jury, Mr. Justice Buller, after denying his right, as judge, to say whether the pamphlet were a libel or not, directed them that, if they were satisfied that the defendant published the pamphlet in point of fact, they were boimd to return a verdict of ' Guilty,' leaving the question as to the libellous nature of the publication for the decision of the Court. The jury having brought in a verdict of " Guilty of publishing only," a warm discussion took place be* tween the Judge and Mr. Erskine as to how it should be recorded ; and the verdict ultimately taken was, that the Dean " was guilty of publishing, but whether a libel or not they did not find." In Michaelmas term following (Nov. 8), Mr. Erskine moved for a new trial, on the ground of misdirection of the Judge ; and a rule nisi having been granted, the same came on for argument on the 15th of November, when Mr. Erskine, in its support, made the following speech, which Mr. Fox re- peatedly pronounced to be, in his opinion, the finest argument in the English language : — "I am now to have the honour to address myself to your lordship in support of the rule granted to me by the Court upon Monday last ; which, as Mr. Bearcroft has truly said, and seemed to mark the observation with peculiar emphasis, is a rule for a new trial. Much of my argument, according to his notion, points another way ; whether its direction be true, or its force adequate to the object, it is now my business to show. " In rising to speak at this time, I feel all the advantage conferred by the T 300 THE MODERN ORATOK. reply over those whose arguments are to be answered ; but I feel a disad- vantage likewise which must suggest itself to every intelligent mind. In following the objections of so many learned persons, offered under different arrangements upon a subject so complicated and comprehensive, there is much danger of being drawn from that method and order, which can alone fasten conviction upon unwilling minds, or drive them from the shelter which ingenuity never fails to find in the labyrinth of a desultory discourse. " The sense of that danger, and my own inability to struggle against it, led me originally^' to deliver to the Court certain written and maturely considered propositions, from the establishment of which I resolved not to depart, nor to be removed, either in substance or in order, in any stage of the proceed- ings, and by which I must therefore this day unquestionably stand or fall. " Pursuing this system, I am vulnerable two ways, and in two ways only. Either it must be shown that my propositions are not valid in law ; or, admitting their validity, that the learned Judge's charge to the Jury at Shrewsbury was not repugnant to them : there can be no other possible objections to my application for a new trial. My duty to-day is, therefore, obvious and simple : it is, first, to re-maintain those propositions ; and then to show, that the charge delivered to the Jury at Shrewsbury was founded upon the absolute denial and reprobation of them. " I begin, therefore, by saying again, in my own original words, that when a bill of indictment is found, or an information filed, charging any crime or misdemeanour known to the law of England, and the party accused puts himself upon the country by pleading the general issue — ^not guilty ; the Jury are generally charged with his deliverance from that crime, and not SPECIALLY from the/act ov facts, in the commission of which the indictment or information charges the crime to consist ; much less from any single fact, to the exclusion of others charged upon the same record. " Secondly, that no act, Avhich the law in its general theory holds to be criminal, constitutes in itself a crime, abstracted from the mischievous inten- tion of the actor : and that the intention, even where it becomes a simple inference of legal reasons from a fact or facts established, may and ought to be collected by the Jury, with the Judge's assistance ; because the act charged, though established as a fact in a trial on the general issue, does not necessa- rily and unavoidably establish the criminal intention by any abstract conclu- sion of law: the establishment of the fact being still no more than full evidence of the crime, but not the crime itself; unless the Jury render it so themselves, by referring it voluntarily to the Court by special verdict. " These two propositions, though worded with cautious precision, and in technical language, to prevent the subtlety of legal disputation in opposition to the plain understanding of the world, neither do nor were intended to convey any other sentiment than this : viz., that in all cases where the law either directs or permits a person accused of a crime to throw himself upon a * On moving for the rule Nisi. LOUD EESKIIS^E. 301 Jury for deliverance, by pleading generally tliat he is not guilty ; the Jury, thus legally appealed to, may deliver him from the accusation by a general verdict of acquittal founded (as in common sense it evidently must be) upon an investigation as general and comprehensive as the charge itself from which it is a general deliverance. " Having said this, I freely confess to the Court, that I am much at a loss for any further illustration of my subject; because I cannot find any matter by which it might be further illustrated, so clear, or so indisputable, either in fact or in law, as the very proposition itself which upon this trial has been brought into question. Looking back upon the ancient constitution, and examining with painful research the original jurisdictions of the country, I am utterly at a loss to imagine from what sources these novel limitations of the rights of Juries are derived. Even the bar is not yet trained to the dis- cipline of maintaining them. My learned friend Mr. Bearcroft * solemnly abjures them : — he repeats to-day what he avowed at the trial, and is even jealous of the imputation of having meant less than he expressed ; for when speaking this morning of the right of the Jury to judge of the whole charge, your Lordship corrected his expression, by telling him he meant the poiver, and not the 7nght ; he caught instantly at your words, disavowed your expla- nation, and, with a consistency which does him honour, declared his adherence to his original admission in its full and obvious extent. ' I did not mean,' said he, ' merely to acknowledge that the Jury have the power ; for their power nobody ever doubted ; and, if a judge was to tell them they had it not, they would only have to laugh at him, and coUvihce^im of his error, by finding a general verdict which must be recorded : I meant, therefore, to consider it as a rights as an important privilege, and of great value to the constitution.' " Thus Mr. Bearcroft and I are perfectly agreed ; I never contended for more than he has voluntarily conceded. I have now his express authority for repeating, m my own former words, that the Jury have not merely the power to acquit, upon a view of the whole charge, without control or punish- ment, and without the possibility of their acquittal being annulled by any other authority ; but that they have a constitutional^ legal right to do it; a right Jit to he exercised ; and intended by the wise founders of the government, to be a protection to the lives and liberties of Englishmen, against the encroach- ments and perversions of authority in the hands of fixed magistrates. " But this candid admission on the part of Mr. Bearcroft, though very honourable to himself, is of no importance to me ; since, from what has already fallen from your Lordship, I am not to expect a ratification of it from the Court ; it is therefore my duty to establish it. I feel all the importance of my subject, and nothing shall lead me to-day to go out of it. I claim all the attention of the Court, and the right to state every authority which apphes in my judgment to the argument, without being supposed to introduce them for other purposes than my duty to my client and the constitution of my country warrants and approves. * One of the counsel for the prosecution. t2 302 THE MODERN ORATOR. "It is not very usual, in an English court of justice, to be driven back to the earliest history and original elements of the constitution, in order to establish the first principles which mark and distinguish English law : — they are always assumed, and, like axioms in science, are made the foundations of reasoning without being proved. Of this sort our ancestors, for many cen- turies, must have conceived the right of an English jury to decide upon every question which the forms of the law submitted to their final decision ; since, though they have immemorially exercised that supreme jurisdiction, we find no trace in any of the ancient books of its ever being brought into question. It is but as yesterday, when compared with the age of the law itself, that judges, unwarranted by any former judgments of theu- predecessors, without any new commission from the Crown, or enlargement of judicial authority from the legislature, have sought to fasten a limitation upon the rights and privileges of jurors, totally unknown in ancient times, and palpably destruc- tive of the very end and object of their institution. " No fact, my lord, is of more easy demonstration ; for the history and laws of a free country lie open — even to vulgar inspection. " During the whole Saxon era, and even long after the establishment of the Norman government, the whole administration of justice, criminal and civil, was in the hands of the people, without the control or intervention of any judicial authority, delegated to fixed magistrates by the Crown. The tenants of every manor administered civil justice to one another in the court-baron of their lord ; and their crimes were judged of in the leet, every suitor of the manor giving his voice as a juror, and the steward being only the registrar, and not the judge. On appeals from these domestic jurisdictions to' the county court, and to the tourn of the sherifi', or in suits and prosecu- tions originally commenced in either of them, the sherifl''s authority extended no further than to summon the jurors, to compel their attendance, ministerially to regulate their proceedings, and to enforce tlieir decisions;* and even * The constitution of the county court in the Saxon era is involved in much doubt. Hallam, speaking of it (Mid. Ages, ii., 392), says, *' In this assembly, held monthly, or, at least, more than once in the year (for there seems some ambiguity, or, perhaps, fluc- tuation, as to this point), by the bishop, and the alderman or earl, or, in his absence, the sheriff, the oath of allegiance was administered to all freemen, breaches of the peace were inquired into, crimes were investigated, and claims were determined. I assign all these functions to the county court, upon the supposition, that no other sub- sisted during the Saxon times, and that the separation of the sheriff's tourn for criminal jurisdiction had not yet taken place ; which, however, I cannot pretend to determine.'' It seems very questionable, whether, in the county court, the disputes were submitted to juries taken from the same rank in life as the suitors. The authorities tend to show (see Hallam, Mid. Ages, ii., 394, and note), that the thanes (the owners of land, or gentry), and they alone, to the exclusion of all inferior freemen, were the judges of civil contro- versies ; and the questions submitted to them were decided according to the majority of voices. The inferior freemen, or ceorls, were called on to attend the meetings, as suitors to the court, but only on account of the oath of allegiance which they were to take, or other duties which they owed, and not to exercise any judicial power ; " un- less we conceive that the disputes of the ceorls were decided by judges of their own rank." The evidence of trial by jury during the Anglo-Saxon age is, at most, dubious. LORD ERSKINE. 303 where he was specially empowered by the King's writ of justicies'^' to proceed in causes of superior value, no judicial authority was thereby conferred upon himself, but only a more enlarged jurisdiction on the jxjkoks, who were to try the cause mentioned in the writ. " It is true that the sheriff cannot now intermeddle in pleas of the Crown ; but with this exception, which brings no restrictions on juries, these jurisdic- tions remain untouched at this day : intricacies of property have introduced other forms of proceeding, but the constitution is the same. " This popular judicature was not confined to particular districts, or to inferior suits and misdemeanours, but pervaded the whole legal constitution ; for, when the Conqueror, to increase the influence of his crown, erected that great superintending court of justice in his own palace, to receive appeals criminal and civil from every court in the kingdom, and placed at the head of it the capitalis justiciarius totius Anglice,\ of whose original authority the chief justice of this court is but a partial and feeble emanation : even that great magistrate was in the aula regis merely ministerial ; every one of the King's tenants, who owed him service in right of a barony, had a seat and a voice in that high tribunal ; and the oflice of justiciar was but to record and to enforce their judgments. " In the reign of King Edward the First, when this great office was abol- ished, and the present courts at Westminster established by a distribution of its powers, J the barons preserved that supreme superintending jurisdiction which never belonged to the justiciar, but to themselves only as the jurors in the King's court ; a jurisdiction which, when nobility, from being territorial and feodal, became personal and honorary, was assumed and exercised by the peers of England, who, without any delegation of judicial authority from the Crown, form to this day the supreme and final court of English law, judging in the last resort for the whole kingdom, and sitting upon the lives of the peerage, in their ancient and genuine character, as i\ie pares of one another.§ " When the courts at Westminster were established in their present forms, * The "Writ of Justicies was a writ directed to the sheriff in some special cases, by virtue of which he might hold plea of debt in his county court for a large sum, whereas, by his ordinary power, he was limited to sums under forty shillings. t The King's Court was composed of the Chief Justiciary, the Chancellor, the Con- stable, Marshal, Chamberlain, Steward, and Treasurer, with any others whom the King might appoint. The Court of Exchequer, in which all revenue matters were transacted, formed a branch of this court. The Chief Justiciary was the greatest subject in Eng- land : besides presiding in the King's court, and in the Exchequer, he was originally, by virtue of his office, the Regent of the kmgdom during the absence of the Sovereign. % Though Edward settled the jurisdiction of the several courts, the separation of the Exchequer first, and afterwards of the Common Pleas, from the King's Court, took place long before. The detachment of the latter had its beginning, in Madox's opinion, as early as in the reign of Richard I. ; but it was completely estabhshed by the Magna Charta of 17 John, and then first made stationary at Westminster. § During a trial before the House of Peers, every Peer present on the trial is to judge both of the law and the fact. Foster, 142. Hence no special verdict can be given on the trial of a Peer. 304 THE MODERN ORATOE. and when the civilisation and commerce of the nation had introduced more intricate questions of justice, the judicial authority in civil cases could not but enlarge its bounds ; the rules of property in a cultivated state of society became by degrees beyond the compass of the unlettered multitude ; and in certain well-known restrictions undoubtedly fell to the judges ; yet more, perhaps, from necessity than by consent, as all judicial proceedings were artfully held in the Norman language,"^ to which the people were strangers. " Of these changes in judicature, immemorial custom, and the acquiescence of the legislature, are the evidence which establish the jurisdiction of the Courts on the true principle of English law, and measure the extent of it by their ancient practice. *' But no such evidence is to be found of the least relinquishment or abridg- ment of popular judicature, in cases of cri?nes ; on the contrary, every page of our history is filled with the struggles of our ancestors for its preservation. " The law of property changes with new objects, and becomes intricate as it extends its dominion ; but crimes must ever be of the same easy investigation — they consist wholly in intention, and the more they are multiplied by the policy of those who govern, the more absolutely the public freedom depends upon the people's preserving the entire administration of criminal justice to themselves. In a question of property between two private individuals, the Crown can have no possible interest in preferring the one to the other ; but it may have an interest in crushing both of them together, in defiance of every principle of humanity and justice, if they should put themselves forward in a contention for public liberty, against a government seeking to emancipate itself from the dominion of the laws. No man in the least acquainted with the history of nations, or of his own country, can refuse to acknowledge, that if the administration of criminal justice were left in the hands of the Crown, or its deputies, no greater freedom could possibly exist, than government might choose to tolerate from the convenience or policy of the day. " My lord, this important truth is no discovery or assertion of mine, but is to be found in every book of the law : whether we go up to the most ancient authorities, or appeal to the writings of men of our own times, we meet with it alike in the most emphatical language. Mr. Justice Blackstone, by no means biassed towards democratical government, having in the third volume of his Commentaries explained the excellence of the trial by jury in civil cases, expresses himself thus (vol. iv. p. 349) : ' But it holds much stronger in criminal cases, since, in times of difficulty and danger, more is to be appre- hended from the violence and partiality of judges appointed by the Crown, in suits between the King and the subject, than in disputes between one indi- vidual and another, to settle the boundaries of private property. Our law has, therefore, wisely placed this strong and twofold barrier of a present- ment and trial by jury, between the liberties of the people and the prerogative t All pleadings were, by order of William I., conducted in Norman-French. By act 36 Edward III., cap. 15 (A.D. 1363), the use of the French language in legal proceed- ings M'as abolished. LORD ERSKINE. 305 of the Crown : without this barrier, justices of oyer and ierminer named by the Crown might, as in France or in Turkey, imprison, dispatch, or exile, any man that was obnoxious to government, by an instant declaration that such was their will and pleasure. So that the liberties of England cannot but subsist so long as this palladium remains sacred and inviolate, not only from all open attacks, which none will be so hardy as to make, but also from all secret machinations, which may sap and undermine it.' " But this remark, though it derives new force in being adopted by so great an authority, was no more original in Mr. Justice Blacks tone than in me : the institution and authority of juries is to be found in Bracton, who wrote about five hundred years before him. ' The curia and the pares,' says he, ' were necessarily the judges in all cases of life, limb, crime, and dis- herison of the heir in capite. The King could not decide, for then he would have been both prosecutor and judge; nether could his justices, for they represent him.' " Notwithstanding all this, the learned Judge was pleased to say, at the trial, that there was no difference between civil and criminal cases.^ I say, on the contrary, independent of these authorities, that there is not, even to vulgar observation, the remotest similitude between them. " There are four capital distinctions between prosecutions for crimes, and civil actions, every one of which deserves consideration. " First, in the jurisdiction necessary to found the charge. " Secondly, in the manner of the defendant's pleading to it. " Thirdly, in the authority of the verdict which discharges him. " Fourthly, in the independence and security of the jury from all the con- sequences in giving it. " As to the first, it is unnecessary to remind your lordships, that, in a civil case, the party who conceives himself aggrieved, states his complaint to the court — avails himself at his own pleasure of its process — compels an answer from the defendant by its authority — or, taking the charge pro confesso against him on his default, is entitled to final judgment and execution for his debt, without any interposition of a jury. But in criminal cases it is otherwise ; the court has no cognisance of them, without leave from the people forming a grand inquest. f If a man were to commit a capital offence in the face of all the judges of England, their united authority could not put him upon his * In his charge to the jury, Mr. Justice Buller had said, " The law acts equally and justly, as the pamphlet itself states : it is equal between the prosecutor and defendant : and whatever appears upon the record is not for our decision here, but may be the sub- ject of future consideration in the court out of which the record comes : and afterwards, if either party thinks fit, they have a right to carry it to the dernier resort, and have the opinion of the House of Lords upon it ; and therefore that has been the uniform and established answer, not only in criminal but civil cases. The law is the same in both, and there is not a gentleman round this table who does not hiow that is the constant and uniform answer xohich is given in such cases." t The intervention of a grand jury is not necessary where the prisoner is committed for trial by the coroner. 306 THE MODEKN OUATOR. trial : they could file no complaint against him, even upon the records of the supreme criminal court, but could only commit him for safe custody, which is equally competent to every common justice of the peace — the grand jury alone could arraign him, and in their discretion might likewise finally dis- charge him, by throwing out the bill, with the names of all your lordships as witnesses on the back of it. If it shall be said, that this exclusive power of the grand jury does not extend to lesser misdemeanours, which may be prosecuted by information ; I answer, that for that very reason it becomes doubly necessary to preserve the power of the other jury which is left. In the rules of pleading, there is no distinction between capital and lesser of- fences ; and the defendant's plea of not guilty (which universally prevails as the legal answer to every information or indictment, as opposed to special pleas to the court in civil actions), and the necessity imposed upon the Crown to join the general issue, are absolutely decisive of the present question. " Every lawyer must admit, that the rules of pleading were originally estab- lished to mark and to preserve the distinct jurisdictions of the court and the jury, by a separation of the law from the fact, wherever they were intended to be separated. A person charged with owing a debt, or having committed a trespass, &c., &c., if he could not deny the facts on which the actions were founded, was obliged to submit his justification for matter of law by a special plea to the court upon the record ; to which plea the plaintiff might demur ,'^ and submit the legal merits to the judges. By this arrangement, no power was ever given to the Jury, by an issue joined before them, but when a right of decision, as comprehensive as the issue, went along with it : if a defendant in such civil actions pleaded the general issue instead of a special plea,aiming at a general deliverance from the charge, by showing his justification to the Jury at the trial ; the court protected its own jurisdiction, by refusing all evidence of the facts on which such justification was founded. The extension of the general issue beyond its ancient limits, and in deviation from its true principle, has introduced some 'confusion into this simple and harmonious system ; but the law is substantially the same. No man, at this day, in any of those actions where the ancient forms of our jurisprudence are still wisely preserved, can possibly get at the opinion of a jury upon any question, not intended by the constitution for their decision. In actions of debt, detinue, breach of covenant, trespass, or replevin, the defendant can only submit the mere fact to the Jury ; the law must be pleaded to the Court : if, dreading the opinion of the judges, he conceals his justification under the cover of a general plea, in hopes of a more favourable construction of his defence at the trial, its very existence can never even come within the knowledge of the jurors ; every legal defence must arise out of facts, and the authority of the judge is interposed, to prevent their appearing before a tribunal which, in such cases, has no competent jurisdiction over them. " By imposing this necessity of pleading every legal justification to the * 7. e., might allege, that, admitting the facts, the justification set up is not sufiicient iti law> which would be a question, for the decision of the Court, and not of the Jury. LOKD EKSKINE. 307 court, and by this exclusion of all evidence on the trial beyond the negation of the fact, the courts indisputably intended to establish, and did in fact eiFectually secure,the judicial authority over legal questions from all encroach- ment or violation ; and it is impossible to find a reason in law, or in common sense, why the same boundaries between the fact and the law should not have been at the same time extended to criminal cases by the same'rules of plead- ing, if the jurisdiction of the Jury had been designed to be limited to the fact, as in civil actions. " But no such boundary was ever made or attempted ; on the contrary, every person, charged with any crime by an indictment or information, has been in all times, from the Norman conquest to this hour, not only permitted, but even bound, to throw himself upon his country for deliverance, by the general plea of ' Not guilty ; ' and may submit his whole defence to the Jury, whether it be a negation of the fact, or a justification of it in law ; *' and the judge has no authority, as in a civil case, to refuse such evidence at the trial, as out of the issue, and as coram non judice ; an authority which in common sense he certainly would have, if the Jury had no higher jurisdiction in the one case than in the other. The general plea thus sanctioned by im- memorial custom, so blends the law and the fact together, as to be inseparable but by the voluntary act of the Jury in finding a special verdict : the general investigation of the whole charge is therefore before them ; and although the defendant admits the fact laid in the information or indictment, he neverthe- less, under his general plea, gives evidence of others which are collateral, referring them to the judgment of the jury, as a legal excuse or justification, and receives from their verdict a complete, general, and conclusive deliver- ance, f " Mr. Justice Blackstone, in the fourth volume of his Commentaries, page 339, says, ' The traitorous or felonious intent are the points and very gist of the indictment, and must be answered directly by the general negative, ' Not guilty ;' and the Jury will take notice of any defensive matter, and give their verdict accordingly, as efiectually as if it were specially pleaded.' * Special pleas in criminal cases seldom occur in consequence of the great extent of evidence which, may be given under the plea of *Not Guilty : ' but exceptions do occur in which special pleas are necessary ; as, for instance, the pleas of autrefois acquit, autrefois convict, autrefois attaitit, and pardon. So also demurrers may occur in criminal cases : but till latterly they have been seldom adopted; as, until the Act 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, ss. 20, 21, the defendant might have had the same advantage upon the plea of * Not Guilty', or by motion in arrest of judgment, that he could have had upon demurrer: but material alteration in this respect was made by that statute. t The Jury, however, may bring in a special verdict " setting forth all the circumstances of the case, and praying the judgment of the court ; whether, for instance, on the facts stated, it be murder, manslaughter, or no crime at all. This is where they dotibf the matter of laWj'and therefore choose to leave it to the determination of the court ; though they have an unquestionable right of determining upon all the circumstances, and find- ing a general verdict if they think proper so to hazard a breach of their oaths ; and if their verdict be notoriously wrong, they may be punished, and the verdict set aside by attaint at the suit of the King, but not at the suit of the prisoner.''— Blackstone, Comm, IV. c. 27. 308 THE MODEKN ORATOK. " This, therefore, says Sir Matthew Hale, in his Pleas of the Crown, page 258, is, upon all accounts, the most advantageous plea for the defendant : ' It would be a most unhappy case for the Judge himself, if the prisoner's fate depended upon his directions — unhappy also for the prisoner ; for if the Judge's opinion must rule the verdict, the trial by jury would be useless.' " My lord, the conclusive operation of the verdict when given, and the security of the Jury from all consequences in giving it, render the contrast between criminal and civil cases striking and complete. No new trial can be granted, as in a civil action : your lordships, however you may disapprove of the acquittal, have no authority to award one ; for there is no precedent of any such upon record ; and the discretion of the Court is circumscribed by the law. " Neither can the jurors be attainted by the CroWn. In Bushel's case, Vaughan's Reports, page 146, that learned and excellent judge expressed himself thus : — ' There is no case in all the law, of an attaint * for the King, nor any opinion but that of Thyrning's, 10th of Henry IV., title Attaint, 60 and 64, for which there is no warrant in law, though there be other specious authority against it, touched by none that have argued this case.' " Lord Mansfield. " To be sure it is so." M7\ ErsUne. " Since that is clear, my lord, I shall not trouble the Court further upon it. Indeed I have not been able to find any one authority for such an attaint, but a dictum in Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium, page 107 ; and, on the other hand, the doctrine of Bushel's case is expressly agreed to in very modern times : vide Lord Raymond's Reports, vol. i., p. 469. " If, then, your lordships reflect but for a moment upon this comparative view of criminal and civil cases which I have laid before you, how can it be seriously contended, not merely that there is no difference, but that there is any the remotest similarity between them ? In the one case, the power of accusation begins from the Court ; in the other from the people only ; form- ing a grand jury. In the one, the defendant must plead a special justification, the merits of which can only be decided by the judges ; in the other, he may throw himself for general deliverance upon his country. In the first, the Court may award a new trial, if the verdict for the defendant be contrary to the evidence or the law ; in the last, it is conclusive and unalterable ; and, to crown the whole, the King never had that process of attaint which be- longed to the meanest of his subjects. " When these things are attentively considered, I might ask those who are still disposed to deny the right of the jury to investigate the whole charge, whether such a solecism can be conceived to exist in any human govern- ment, much less in the most refined and exalted in the world, as that a power of supreme judicature should be conferred at random by the blind forms of the law, where no right was intended to pass with it ; and which * An attaint is a writ to inquire whether a jury of twelve men gave a false verdict (Finehf 484), that so the judgment following thereupon may be reversed, and the Jury punished, Very few instances of attaints appear later than the sixteenth century. LORD ERSKIISE. 309 was, upon no occasion and under no circumstance, to be exercised ; which, though exerted notwithstanding, in every age and in a thousand instances, to the confusion and discomfiture of fixed magistracy, should never be checked by authority, but should continue on from century to century ; the revered guardian of liberty and of life, arresting the arm of the most head- strong governments in the worst of times, without any power in the Crown or its judges to touch, without its consent, the meanest wretch in the king- dom, or even to ask the reason and principle of the verdict which acquits him. That such a system should prevail in a country like England, without either the original institution or the acquiescing sanction of the Legislature, is impossible. Believe me, my lord, no talents can reconcile, no authority can sanction, such an absurdity : the common sense of the world revolts at it. " Having established this important right in the Jury, beyond all possi- bility of cavil or controversy, I will now show your lordship that its exist- ence is not merely consistent with the theory of the law, but is illustrated and confirmed by the universal practice of all judges ; not even excepting Mr. Justice Forster himself, whose writings ha.ve been cited in support of the contrary opinion. How a man expresses his abstract ideas is but of little little importance when an appeal can be made to his plain directions to others, and to his own particular conduct : but even none of his expressions, when properly considered and understood, militate against my position. " In his justly celebrated book on the Criminal Law, page 256, he ex- presses himself thus : — ' The construction which the law putteth upon fact STATED AKD AGREED OK EOUND by a jury, is in all cases undoubtedly the proper province of the Court.' Now, if the adversary is disposed to stop here, though the author never intended he should, as is evident from the rest of the sentence, yet I am willing to stop with him, and to take it as a substan- tive proposition ; for the slightest attention must discover that it is not repugnant to anything which I have said. Facts stated and agreed, or facts found, by a jury, which amount to the same thing, constitute a special ver- dict ; and who ever supposed that the law upon a special verdict was not the province of the Court ? Where, in a trial upon a general issue, the parties choose to agree upon facts and to state them, or the Jury choose voluntarily to find them without drawing the legal conclusion themselves, who ever denied that in such instances the Court is to draw it ? That Forster meant nothing more than that the Court was to judge of the law, when the Jury thus voluntarily prays its assistance by special verdict, is evi- dent from his words which foUovf ; for he immediately goes on to say — ' In cases of douht and real difficulty, it is therefore commonly recommended to the Jury to state facts and circumstances in a special verdict :' but neither here, nor in any other part of his works, is it said or insinuated that they are hound to do so, but at their own free discretion. Indeed, the very term recommended, admits the contrary, and requires no commentary. I am sure I shall never dispute the wisdom or expediency of such a recommendation 310 THE MODERN OKATOK. in those cases of doubt, because tbe more I am contending for the existence of such an important right, the less it would become me to be the advocate of rashness and precipitation in the exercise of it. It is no denial of juris- diction to tell the greatest magistrate upon earth to take good counsel in cases of real doubt and difficulty. Judges upon trials, whose authority to state the law is indisputable, often refer it to be more solemnly argued before the Court ; and this Court itself often holds a meeting of the twelve judges before it decides on a point upon its own records, of which the others have confessedly no cognisance till it comes before them by the writ of error of one of the parties. These instances are monuments of wisdom, integrity? and discretion; but they do not bear, in the remotest degree, upon jurisdic- tion : the sphere of jurisdiction is measured by what may or may not be decided by any given tribunal with legal effect, not by the rectitude or error of the decision. If the Jury, according to these authorities, may determine the whole matter by their verdict, and if the verdict, when given, is not only final and unalterable, but must be enforced by the authority of the judges, and executed, if resisted, by the whole power of the state — upon what prin- ciple of government or reason can it be argued not to be law ? That the Jury are in this exact predicament is confessed by Forster ; for he concludes with saying, that when the law is clear, the Jury, under the direction of the Court, in point of law may, and if they are well advised will, always find a general verdict conformably to such directions. " This is likewise consistent with my position : if the law be clear, we may presume that the Judge states it clearly to the Jury ; and if he does, un- doubtedly the Jury, if they are well advised, will find according to such directions ; for they ha\e not a capricious discretion to make law at their pleasure, but are bound in conscience, as well as judges are, to find it truly ; and, generally speaking, the learning of the Judge who presides at the trial affords them a safe support and direction. " The same practice of judges in stating the law to the Jury, as applied to the particular case before them, appears likewise in the case of the King against Oneby, 2nd Lord Raymond, page 1494. ' On the trial the Judge directs the Jury thus : If you believe such and such witnesses who have sworn to such and such facts, the killing of the deceased appears to he with malice prepense : but if you do not believe them, then you ought to find him guilty of manslaughter ; and the Jury may, if they think proper, give a general verdict of murder or manslaughter: but if they decline giving a general verdict, and will find the facts specially, the Court is then to form their judgment from the facts found, whether the defendant be guilty or not guilty, that is, whether the act was done with malice and deliberation, or not.' Surely language can express nothing more plainly or unequivocally, than that where the general issue is pleaded to an indictment, the law and the fact are both before the Jury ; and that the former can never be sepa- rated from the latter, for the judgment of the Court, unless by their own spontaneous act : for the words are, ' If they decline giving a general verdict, LORD ERSKlTfE. 311 and ivill find the facts specially, the Court is then to form their judgment from the facts found.' So that, after a general issue joined, the authority of the Court only commences when the Jury chooses to decline the decision of the law by a general verdict ; the right of declining which legal determina- tion is a privilege conferred on them by the statute of Westminster 2nd, and by no means a restriction of their powers. " But another very important view of the subject remains behind : for, supposing I had failed in establishing that contrast between criminal and civil cases, which is now too clear not only to require, but even to justify another observation, the argument would lose nothing by the failure ; the similarity between criminal and civil cases derives all its application to the argument from the learned Judge's supposition, that the jurisdiction of the Jury over the law was never contended for in the latter, and consequently, on a principle of equality, could not be supported in the former ; whereas I do contend for it, and can incontestibly establish it in both. This applica- tion of the argument is plain from the words of the charge : ' If the Jury could find the law, it Avould undoubtedly hold in civil cases as well as crim- inal ; but was it ever supposed that a jury was competent to say the opera- tion of a fine, or a recovery, or a warranty,*' which are mere questions of law ?' " To this question I answer, that the competency of the Jury in such cases is contended for to the full extent of my principle, both by Lyttleton and by Coke. They cannot, indeed, decide upon them de plano^ which, as Vaughan truly says, is unintelligible, because an unmixed question of law can by no possibility come before them for decision ; but whenever (which very often happens) the operation of a fine, a recovery, a warranty, or any other record or conveyance known to the law of England comes forward, mixed with the fact on the general issue, the Jury have then most unques- tionably a right to determine it ; and, what is more, no other authority possibly can ; because, when the general issue is permitted by law, these questions cannot appear on the record for the judgment of the Court, and although it can grant a new trial, yet the same question must ultimately be determined by another Jury. This is not only self-evident to every lawyer, but, as I said, is expressly laid down by Lyttleton in the 368th section : * A fine,'whicli was an amicable composition, originally of an actual, and afterwards of a fictitious suit, was adopted principally as a mode of enabling a tenant in tail to acquire an estate in fee, determinable on the failure of the issue in tail ; or to acquire a title by non-claim ; or to bar the rights and pass the estates of married women. A common recovery was a judgment recovered in a fictitious suit, and its principal use was to enable a tenant in tail to bar not only the estate tail, but also all remainders over, and to acquire an absolute estate in fee simple. Fines and recoveries are now abolished by 3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 74, and more simple modes of assurance employed to effect their objects. A warranty was a covenant real annexed to lands, whereby the grantor of the estate, for himself and his heirs, did warrant and secure to the grantee the estate so granted, and covenanted to yield other lands and tenements equal to the ^alue of the estate granted, in ease of the grantee being evicted. 312 THE MODERJJ OUATOS. — ' Also in such case where the inquest may give their verdict at large, if they will take upon them the knowledge of the law upon the matter, they may give their verdict generally as it is put in their charge ; as in the case aforesaid they may well say, that the lessor did not disseise the lessee if they will.' Coke, in his commentary on this section, confirms Lyttleton ; saying, that in doubtful cases they should find specially for fear of an attaint ; and it is plain that the statute of Westminster the 2nd, was made either to give or to confirm the right of the Jury to find the matter specially, leaving their jurisdiction over the law as it stood by the common law. The words of the statute of Westminster 2nd, chapter 30th, are, ' Ordinatum est quod justitiarii ad assisas capiendas assignati, isroisr compellant juratores dicer e precise si sit disseisina vel non ; dummodo voluerint dicere veritatem facti et petere auxilium justitiariorum.' From these words it should appear, that the jurisdiction of the Jury over the law, when it came hefore them on the general issue, was so vested in them by the constitution, that the exercise of it in all cases had been considered to be compulsory upon them, and that this act was a legislative relief from that compulsion in the case of an assize of disseizin. It is equally plain, from the remaining words of the act, that their jurisdiction remained as before, — ' Sed si sponte velint dicere quod disseisina est vel non, admittatur eorum veredictum suh suo pericido.'' " But the most material observation upon this statute, as applicable to the present subject, is, that the terror of the attaint from which it was passed to relieve them, having (as has been shown) no existence in cases of crime, the act only extended to relieve the Jury at their discretion from finding the law in civil actions : and, consequently, it is only from custom, and not from positive law, that they are not eveji comjjeUahle to give a general verdict involving a judgment of law on every criminal trial. " These principles and authorities certainly establish, that it is the duty of the Judge, on every trial where the general issue is pleaded, to give to the Jury his opinion on the law as applied to the case before them ; and that they must find a general verdict, comprehending a judgment of law, unless they choose to refer it specially to the Court. " But we are here in a case where it is contended, that the duty of the Judge is the direct contrary of this ; that he is to give no opinion at all to the Jury upon the law as applied to the case before them ; that they like- wise are to refrain from all consideration of it, and yet that the very same general verdict, comprehending both fact and law, is to be given by them as if the whole legal matter had been summed up by the one, and found by the other. " I confess I have no organs to comprehend the principle on which such a practice proceeds. I contended for nothing more at the trial than the very practice recommended by Forster and ^tiord Raymond. I addressed myself to the Jury upon the law with all possible respect and deference, and, indeed, with very marked personal attention to the learned Judge. So far from urging the Jury dogmatically to think for themselves without his constitu- tional assistance, I called for his opinion on the question of libel : saying, LORD ERSKINE. 313 that if he should tell them distinctly the paper indicted was libellous, though I should not admit that they were bound at all events to give effect to it if they felt it to be innocent ; yet I was ready to agree that they ought not to go against the charge without great consideration ; but that if he should shut himself up in silence, giving no opinion at all upon the criminality of the paper from which alone any guilt could be fastened on the publisher, and should narrow their consideration to the publication, I entered my protest against their finding a verdict affixing the epithet of guilty to the mere fact of publishing a paper, the guilt of which had not been investigated. If, after this address to the Jury, the learned Judge had told them, that in his opinion the paper was a libel, but still leaving it to their judgments, and like- wise the defendant's evidence to their consideration, had further told them, that he thought it did not exculpate the publication ; and if in consequence of such directions the Jury had found a verdict for the Crown, I should never have made my present motion for a new trial ; because I should have considered such a verdict of ' Guilty ' as founded upon the opinion of the Jury on the whole matter as left to their consideration, and must have sought my remedy by arrest of judgment on the record. " But the learned Judge took a direct contrary course ; he gave no opinion at all on the guilt or innocence of the paper ; he took no notice of the de- fendant's evidence of intention ; he told the Jury, in \h.e most explicit terms, that neither the one nor the other were within their jurisdiction ; and upon the mere fact of publication directed a general verdict comprehending the epithet of Guilty, after having expressly withdrawn from the Jury every consideration of the merits of the . paper published, or the intention of the publisher, from which it is admitted on all hands the guilt of publication could alone have any existence. " My motion is, therefore, founded upon this obvious and simple prin- ciple — that the defendant has had, in fact, no teiaI; ; ha\dng been found guilty without any investigation of his guilt, and without any power left to the Jury to take cognisance of his innocence. I undertake to show, that the Jury could not possibly conceive or believe, from the Judge's charge, that they had any jurisdiction to acquit him ; however they might have been im- pressed even with the merit of the publication, or convinced of his merito- rious intention in publishing -it : nay, what is worse, while the learned Judge totally deprived them of their whole jurisdiction over the question of libel, and the defendant's seditious intention, he, at the same time, directed a general verdict of ' Guilty,' which comprehended a judgment upon both. " When I put this construction on the learned Judge's direction, I found myself wholly on the language in which it was communicated ; and it will be no answer to such construction, that no such restraint was meant to be con- veyed by it. If the learned Judge's intentions were even the direct contrary of his expressions, yet if, in consequence of that which was expressed though not intended, the Jury were abridged of a jurisdiction which belonged to them by law, and in the exercise of which the defendant had an interest, he is equally a sufferer, and the verdict given under such misconception of 314 THE MODERN ORATOR. authority is equally void : my application ought, therefore, to stand or fall by the charge itself, upon which I disclaim all disingenuous cavilling. I am certainly bound to show, that, from the general result of it, fairly and liberally interpreted, the Jury could not conceive that they had any right to extend their consideration beyond the bare fact of publication, so as to acquit the defendant by a judgment founded on 'the legality of the dialogue, or the honesty of the intention in publishing it. " In order to understand the learned Judge's direction, it must be recol- lected that it was addressed to them in ansAver to me, who had contended for nothing more than that these two considerations ought to rule the verdict ; and it will be seen that the charge, on the contrary, not only excluded both of them by general inference, but by expressions, arguments, and illustra- tions the most studiously selected to convey that exclusion, and to render it binding on the consciences of the Jury. After telling them, in the very beginning of his charge, that the single question for their decision was, whether the defendant had published the pamphlet ? he declared to them, that it was not even allowed to him, as the Judge trying the cause, to say whether it was or was not a libel : for that if he should say it was no libel, and they, following his direction, should acquit the defendant, they would thereby deprive the prosecutor of his writ of error upon the record, which was one of his dearest birthrights. The law, he said, was equal between the prosecutor and the defendant ; that a verdict of acquittal would close the matter for ever, depriving him of his appeal ; and that whatever, there- fore, Avas upon the record was not for their decision, but might be carried, at the pleasure of either party, to the House, of Lords. " Surely, language could not convey a limitation upon the right of the Jury over the question of libel, or the intentio'n of the publisher, more positive or more universal. It was positive, inasmuch as it held out to them that such a jurisdiction could not be entertained without injustice ; and it Avas universal, because the principle had no special application to the par- ticular circumstances of that trial ; but subjected every defendant upon every prosecution for a libel, to an inevitable conviction on the mere proof of pub- lishing anything, though both Judge and Jury might be convinced that the thing published was innocent and even meritorious. " My lord, I make this commentary, Avithout the hazard of contradiction from any man Avhose reason is not disordered. For if the Prosecutor, in every case, has a birthright by law to have the question of libel left open upfn the record, Avhich it can only be by a verdict of conviction on the single fact of publishing ; no legal right can at the same time exist in the jury to shut out that question by a verdict of acquittal founded upon the merits of the publication, or the innocent mind of the publisher. Rights that are repugnant and contradictory canuot be co-existent. The jury can never have a constitutional right to do an act beneficial to the defendant, which, when done, deprives the prosecutor of a right which the same constitution has vested in him. No right can belong to one person, the exercise of Avhich, in LORD ERSKINE. 315 •every instance^ must necessarily work a wrong to another. If the prosecutor ' which made it high treason to deny the right of Parliament to alter the succession, is a striking example. The hereditary descent of the Crown had been recently broken at the revolution by a minority of the nation, with the aid of a foreign force, and a new in- heritance had been created by the authority of the new establishment, which had but just established itself. Queen Anne's title and the peaceable settle- ment of the kingdom under it, depended wholly upon the constitutional power of Parliament to make this change ; the superstitions of the world, and reverence for antiquity, which deserves a better name, were against this power and the use which had been made of it ; the dethroned King of Eng- land was living in hostile state at our very doors, supported by a powerful monarch at the head of a rival nation — and our own kingdom itself full of factious plots and conspiracies, which soon after showed themselves in open rebellion. " If ever, therefore, there was a season when a narrow jealousy could have been excusable in a government — if ever there was a time when the sacrifice of some private liberty to common security would have been prudent in a people, it was at such a conjimcture ; yet mark the reserve of the Cro^vn and the prudence of our ancestors in the wording of the statute. Although the denial of the right of Parliament to alter the succession was tantamount to the denial of all legitimate authority in the kingdom, and might be consi- dered as a sort of abjuration to the laws, yet the statute looked at the nature * Sixth Anne, c. 7. 390 THE MODERN OEATOE. of man and to the private security of individuals in society, while it sought to support the public society itself ; it did not, therefore, dog men into ta- verns and coiFee-houses, nor lurk for them at corners, nor watch for them in their domestic enjoyments. The act provides, ' That every person who should maliciously, advisedly, and directly, by writing or printing, affirm, that the Queen was not the rightful Queen of these realms, or that the Pretender had any right or title to the crown, or that any other person had any right or title, otherwise than according to the acts passed since the Revolution for settling the succession, or that the legislature hath not sufficient authority to make laAvs for limiting the succession, should be guilty of high treason, and suffer as a traitor ; ' and then enacts, ' That if any person shall maliciously, and directly, by preaching, teaching, or advised speaking, declare and maintain the same, he shall incur the penalties oiz. prcemunire.'' " ' I will make a short observation or two,' says Forster, ' on the act. First, the positions condemned by them had as direct a tendency to involve these nations in the miseries of an intestine war, to incite her Majesty's sub- jects to withdraw their allegiance from her, and to deprive her of her crown and royal dignity, as any general doctrine, any declaration not relative to ac- tions or designs, could possibly have ; and yet in the case of bare words, positions of this dangerous tendency, though maintained maliciously, ad- visedly, and directly, and even in the solemnities of preaching and teaching, are not considered as overt acts of treason. " ' Secondly. In no case can a man be argued into the penalties of the act by inferences and conclusions drawn from what he hath affirmed ; the criminal position must be directly maintained, to bring him within the com- pass of the act. " ' Thirdly. Nor will every rash, hasty, or unguarded expression, owing perhaps to natural warmth, or thrown out in the heat of disputation, render any person criminal within the act ; the criminal doctrine must be main- tained maliciously and advisedly.'' " He afterwards adds, ' Seditious writings are permanent things, and if published, they scatter the poison far and wide. They are acts of delibera- tion, capable of satisfactory proof, and not ordinarily liable to misconstruc- tion ; at least they are submitted to the judgment of the court, naked and undisguised, as they came out of the author's hands. Words are transient and fleeting as the wind ; the poison they scatter is, at the worst, confined to the narrow circle of a few hearers ; they are frequently the effect of a sudden transport, easily misunderstood, and often mis-reported.' " Gentlemen, these distinctions, like all the dictates of sound policy, are as obvious to reason, as they are salutary in practice. What a man writes that is criminal and pernicious, and disseminates when written, is conclusive of his purpose ; he manifestly must have deliberated on what he wrote, and the distribution is also an act of deliberation ; intention in such cases is not, therefore, matter of legal proof, but of reasonable inference, unless the ac- cused, by proof on his side, can rebut what reason must otherwise infer : since he who writes to others, undoubtedly seeks to bring over other minds LORD ERSKINE, 891 to assimilate with his own. So he who advisedly speaks to others upon momentous subjects, may be presumed to have the same intention, but yet so frail is memory — so imperfect are our natures — so dangerous would it be to place tvords, which, to use the language of Forster, are transient and fleet- ing, upon a footing with deliberate conduct, that the criminating letter of the law itself interposes the check and excludes the danger of a rash judgment, by curiously selecting from the whole circle of language an expression which cannot be mistaken ; for nothing said npon the sudden without the evidence of a context, and sequel in thought or conduct, can in common sense deserve the title of advised speakiiig. Try the matter before you upon the principle of the statute of Queen Anne, and examine it with the caution of Forster. " Suppose, then, that instead of the words imputed by this record, the de- fendant, coming half drunk through this coffee-house had, in his conversa- tion with Yatman denied the right of Parliament to alter the succession. Could he have been adjudged to suffer death for high treason under the statute of Queen Anne ? Reason and humanity equally revolt at the posi- tion, and yet the decision asked from you is precisely that decision ; for if you could not have found advised speaking to bring it within that statute of treason, so neither can you find it as the necessary evidence of the intention charged upon the present indictment, which intention constitutes the misde- meanor. " If anything were wanting to confirm these principles of the law and the commentaries of its ablest judges, as applicable to words — they are in a.nother way emphatically furnished by the instance before us ; for in the zeal of these coffee-house politicians to preserve the defendant's expressions, they were instantly to be put down in writing, and signed by the persons present ; yet the paper read by Colonel Bullock,'^* and written, as he tells you, at the very moment with that intention, contains hardly a single word, from the beginning to the end of it, either in meaning or expression, the same as has been related by the witnesses ; it sinks in the first place the questions put to the defendant, and the whole dialogue, which is the best clue to the business, and records, ' that Mr. Frost came into the coffee-house, and declared,' an expression which he never used, and which wears the colour of deliberation, ' that he wished to see equality prevail in this country,^ another expression, which it is now agreed on all hands he never uttered, and which conveys a very diflferent idea from saying in answer to an imperti- nent or taunting question, ' Oh yes, I am for equality.' I impute nothing at all to Colonel Bullock, who did not appear to me to give his evidence un- fairly — he read his paper as he wrote ; but this is the very strength of my * The paper was as follows : — "Percy Coffee-house, 6th November, 1792. — We, the undermentioned, do hereby certify that at about 10 o'clock this evening, Mr. John Frost came into this coffee-room, and did then and in our presence openly declare that he wished to see equality prevail in this country, and no king, in a loud and factious way ; and upon being asked whether he meant that there should be no king in this country, he answered ' Ye?.' " The paper was not signed. 392 THE MODEHN ORATOfi. observation : for suppose the case had not come for months to trial, the other witnesses (and honestly too) might have let their memories lean on the written evidence, and thus you would have been trying, and perhaps condemning the defendant for speaking words, stripped too of their explana- tory concomitants, which it stands confessed at this moment were never spoken at all. " Gentlemen, the disposition which has of late prevailed to depart from the wise moderation of our laws and constitution, under the pretext, or from the zeal of preserving them, and which has been the parent of so many pro- secutions, is an awful monument of human weakness. These associators to prosecute, who keep watch of late upon our words and upon our looks, are associated, it seems, to preserve our excellent constitution from the conta- gion of France, where an arbitrary and tyrannous democracy, under the colour of popular freedom, destroys all the securities and blessings of life — but how does it destroy them ? How, but by the very means that these new partners of executive power would themselves employ, if we would let them — by inflicting, from a mistaken and barbarous state necessity, the severest punishments for offences never defined by the law — by inflicting them upon suspicion instead of evidence, and in the blind, furious, and indiscriminate zeal of persecution, instead of by the administration of a sober and impartial jurisprudence. Subtracting the horrors of invading armies which France cannot help, what other mischief has she inflicted upon herself ? From what has she sufiered but from this undisciplined and cruel spirit of accusation and rash judgment ? A spirit that will look at nothing dispassionately, and which, though proceeding from a zeal and enthusiasm for the most part honest and sincere, is nevertheless as pernicious as the wicked fury of demons, when it is loosened from the sober dominion of slow and deliberate justice. What is it that has lately united all hearts and voices in lamenta- tion ? What but these judicial executions, which we have a right to style murders, when we see the axe falling, and the prison closing upon the genu- ine expressions of the inofiensive heart — sometimes for private letters to friends, unconnected with conduct or intention — sometimes for momentary exclamations in favour of royalty, or some other denomination of government difierent from that which is established. " These are the miseries of France, the unhappy attendants upon revolution; and united as we all are in deploring them, upon what principle of common sense shall we vex and terrify the subjects of our own country in the very bosom of peace, and disgust them with the government, which we v/ish them to cherish, by unusual, irritating, and degrading prosecutions ? " Indeed, I am very sorry to say that we hear of late too much of the excellence of the British government, and feel but too little of its benefits. They, too, v/ho pronounce its panegyrics, are those who alone prevent the entire public from acceding to them ; the eulogium comes from a suspected quarter, when it is pronounced by persons enjoying every honour from the Crown, and treating the people upon all occasions with suspicion and con- lOHD ERSKINE. 393 tempt. The three estates of the kingdom are co-ordinate, all alike repre- senting the dignity, and jointly executing the authority of the nation ; yet all our loyalty seems to be wasted upon one of them. How happens it else, that we are so exquisitely sensible, so tremblingly alive to every attack upon the Crown, or the nobles that surround it, yet so completely careless of what regards the once respected and awful Commons of Great Britain ? " If Mr. Frost had gone into every coffee-house, from Charing-cross to the Exchange, lamenting the dangers of popular government, reprobating the peevishness of opposition in parliament, and wishing in the most advised terms, that we could look up to the throne and its excellent ministers alone for quiet and comfortable government, do you think that we should have had an indictment ? I ask pardon for the supposition ; I can discover that you are laughing at me for its absurdity. Indeed, I might ask you whether it is not the notorious language of the highest men, in and out of Parliament, to justify the alienation of the popular part of the Government from the spirit and principle of its trust and office, and to prognosticate the very ruin and downfall of England, from a free and uncorrupted representation of the great body of the people ? I solemnly declare to you, that I think the whole of this system leads inevitably to the dangers we seek to avert ; it divides the higher and the lower classes of the nation into adverse parties, instead of uniting and compounding them into one harmonious whole ; it embitters the people against authority, which, when they are made to feel and know is but their own security, they must, from the very nature of man, unite to support and cherish. I do not believe that there is any set of men to be named in England — I might say, that I do not know an individual, who seriously wishes to touch the Crown, or any branch of our excellent constitution ; and when we hear peevish and disrespectful expressions concerning any of its functions, depend upon it, it proceeds from some practical variance between its theory and its practice. These variances are the fatal springs of disorder and disgust ; they lost America, and in that unfortunate separation laid the foundation of all that we have to fear ; yet, instead of treading back our steps, we seek recovery in the system which brought us into peril. Let Go- vernment in England always take care to make its administration correspond with the true spirit of our genuine constitution, and nothing will ever en- danger it. Let it seek to maintain its corruptions by severity and coercion, and neither laws nor arms will support it. These are my sentiments ; and I advise you, however unpopular they may be at this moment, to consider them before you repel them. " If the defendant, amongst others, has judged too lightly of the advan- tages of our government, reform his errors by a beneficial experience of them ; above all, let him feel its excellence to-day in its beneficence ; let him com- pare in his trial the condition of an English subject with that of a citizen of France, which he is supposed in theory to prefer. These are the true crite- rions by which, in the long run, individuals and nations become afifectionate to governments, or revolt against them ; for men are neither to be talked nor written into the belief of happiness and security, when they do not practi- 394 THE MODERN OBATOR. cally feel them, nor talked or written out of them, when they are in the full enjoyment of their blessings : but if you condemn the defendant upon this sort of evidence, depend upon it, he must have his adherents, and, as far as that goes, I must be one of them. " Gentlemen, I will detain you no longer, being satisfied to leave you, as conscientious men, to judge the defendant as you yourselves would be judged ; and if there be any amongst you, Avho can say to the rest, that he has no weak or inconsiderate moments — that all his words and actions, even in the most thoughtless passages of his life, are fit for the inspection of God and man, he will be the fittest person to take the lead in a judgment of ' guilty,' and the properest foreman to deliver it with good faith and firmness to the court. " I know the privilege that belongs to the Attorney- general to reply to all that has been said ; but, perhaps, as I have called no witnesses, he may think it a privilege to be waived. It is, however, pleasant to recollect, that if it should be exercised, even with his superior talents, his honour and can- dour will guard it from abuse." The Attorney- general having exercised his privilege of reply. Lord Ken- yon summed up ; and the Jury, after a consultation of an hour and a half, returned a verdict of " Guilty." Speech in defence of Thomas Hardy, indicted for high treason, 1st No- vember, 1794. The circumstances which led to this indictment have been already stated ante p. 191. The trial commenced on Tuesday, the 28th October ; and the opening speech of the Attorney-general (Sir John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon) occupied upwards of seven hours. The evidence for the Crown was not concluded till the Saturday following, when Mr. Erskine, who was as- sisted by Mr. Gibbs, after an adjournment of the Court for a few hours to allow time for arranging the evidence, delivered the following speech in defence of his client. His arguments in this speech against constructive treason are considered even superior to those he brought forward on the trial of Lord George Gordon, and are regarded by some of his admirers, as the most sub- stantial monument of his genius : — " Gentlemen of the Jxjry, " Before I proceed to the performance of the momentous duty which is at length cast upon^me, I desire in the first place to return my thanks to the Judges, for the indulgence I have received in the opportunity of addressing you at this later period of the day than the ordinary sitting of the Court, when I have had the refreshment which nature but too much required, and a few hours' retirement, to arrange a little in my mind that immense matter, the result of which I must now endeavour to lay before you. I have to thank you also, Gentlemen, for the very condescending and obliging manner in which lout) ERSKiNE. 395 t/Dw so readily consented to this accommodation ; the Court could only speak for itself, referring me to you, whose rest and comforts had been so long in- terrupted. I shall always remember your kindness. " Before I advance to the regular consideration of this great cause, either as it regards the evidence or the law, I wish first to put aside all that I find in the speech of my learned friend, the Attorney-general, w^hich is either collateral to the merits, or in ^vhich I can agree w'ith him. First, then, in THE NAME OF THE PKisoNER, and Speaking his sentiments, which are well known to be my own also, I concur in the eulogium which you have heard upon the constitution of our wise forefathers. But before this eulogium can have an,y just or useful application, we ought to reflect upon what it is which entitles this constitution to the praise so justly bestowed upon it. To say aothing at present of its most essential excellence, or rather the very soul of it, viz., the share the people ought to have in their government, by a pure representation, for the assertion of which the prisoner stands arraigned as a traitor before you, — what is it that distinguishes the government of England from the most despotic monarchies ? What — but the security which the subject enjoys in a trial and judgment by his equals ; rendered doubly secure as being part of a system of law which no expediency can warp, and which no power can abuse with impunity ? " The Attorney-general's second preliminary observation, I equally agree to. I anxiously wish with him that you shall bear in memory the anarchy which is desolating France. Before I sit down, I may, perhaps, in my turn, have occasion to reflect a little upon its probable causes ; but, waiting a season for such reflections, let us first consider what the evil is which has been so feelingly lamented, as having fallen on that unhappy country. It is, that under the dominion of a barbarous state necessity, every protection of law is abrogated and destroyed ; it is, that no man can say, under such a system of alarm and terror, that his life, his liberty, his reputation, or any one human blessing, is secure to him for a moment ; it is, that, if accused of federalism, or moderatism, or incivism, or of whatever else the changing fashions and factions of the day shall have lifted up into high treason against the State, he must see his friends, his family, and the light of heaven, no more : the accusation and the sentence being the same, following one another as the thunder pursues the flash. Such has been the state of Eng- land — such is the state of France ; and how, then, since they are introduced to you for application, ought they in reason and sobriety to be applied ? If this prosecution has been commenced (as is asserted) to avert from Great Britain the calamities incident to civil confusion, leading in its issues to the deplorable condition of France ; I call upon you, gentlemen, to avert such calamity from falling upon my client, and, through his side, upon yourselves and upon our country. Let not him sufier under vague expositions of tyran- nical laws, more tyrannically executed. Let not him be hurried away to pre- doomed execution, from an honest enthusiasm for the public safety. I visk for him a trial by this applauded constitution of our country ; I call 2 JE 396 THE MODERN ORATOR, upon you to administer the law to him, according to our own wholesome in- stitutions, by its strict and rigid letter : however you may eventually dis- approve of any part of his conduct, or, viewing it through a false medium, may think it even wicked, I claim for him, as a subject of England, that the law shall decide upon its criminal denomination : I protest, in his name, against all appeals to speculations concerning consequences, when the law commands us to look only to intentions. If the State be threatened with evils, let Parliament administer a prospective remedy, but let the prisoner hold his life under the lav/. " Gentlemen, I ask this solemnly of the Court, whose justice I am per- suaded will afford it to me ; I ask it more emphatically of you, the Jury, who are called upon your oaths to make a true deliverance of your countryman from this charge : but lastly, and chiefly, I implore it of Him in whose hands are all the issues of life, whose humane and merciful eye expands itself over all the transactions of mankind ; at whose command nations rise, and fall, and are regenerated ; without whom not a sparrow falleth to the ground ; I implore it of God himself, that He will fill your minds with the spirit of jus- tice and of truth ; so that you may be able to find your way through the labyrinth of matter laid before you, a labyrinth in which no man's life was ever before involved, in the annals of British trial ; nor, indeed, in the whole history of human justice or injustice. " Gentlemen, the first thing in order is, to look at the indictment itself ; of the whole of which, or of some integral part, the prisoner must be found guilty, or be wholly discharged from guilt. " The indictment charges that the prisoners did maliciously and traitor- ously conspire, compass, and imagine, to bring and put our Lord the King to death ; and that to fulfil, perfect, and bring to effect their most evil and wicked purpose (that is to say, of bringing and putting the King to death), ' they met, conspired, consulted, and agreed amongst themselves, and other false traitors unknown, to cause and procure a convention to be assembled within the kingdom, with intent ' — (I am reading the very words of the in- dictment, which I entreat you to follow in the notes you have been taking with such honest perseverance) — " ivith intent, and in order that the persons so assembled at such convention, should and might traitorously, and in defi- ance of the authority and against the will of Parliament, subvert and alter, and cause to be subverted and altered, the legislature, rule, and government of the country ; and to depose the King from the royal state, title, power, and government thereof.' This is the first and great leading overt act in the indictment ; and you observe that it is not charged as being treason substan- tively and in itself, but only as it is committed in pursuance of the treason against the King's person, antecedently imputed ; for the charge is not, that the prisoners conspired to assemble a convention to depose the King, but that they conspired and compassed his death ; and that, in order to accompl ish that wicked and detestable purpose, (^. e., in order to fulfil the traitorous in- tention of the mind against his life,) they conspired to assemble a conven- LORD ERSKINE, 397 tion, with a view to depose him. The same observation applies alike to all the other counts or overt acts upon the record, which manifestly, indeed, lean upon the establishment of the first for their sujDport ; because they charge the publication of different writings, and the provision of arms, not as distinct offences, but as acts done to excite to the assembling of the same convention, and to maintain it when assembled ; but, above all, and which must never be forgotten, because they also uniformly charge these different acts as committed in fulfilment of the same traitorous purpose, to bring THE King to death. You will, therefore, have three distinct matters for consideration, upon this trial : First, What share (if any) the prisoner had, in concert with others, in assembling any convention or meeting of subjects within this kingdom : Secondly, What were the acts to be done by this con- vention, when assembled : and Thirdly, What was the view, purpose, and intention of those who projected its existence. This third consideration, in- deed, comprehends, or rather precedes and swallows up the other two ; be- cause, before it can be material to decide upon the views of the convention, as pointed to the subversion of the rule and order of the King's political authority (even if such views could be ascribed to it, and brought home even personally to the prisoner), we shall have to examine whether that criminal conspiracy against the established order of the community, was hatched and engendered by a wicked contemplation to destroy the natural life and person of the King ; and whether the acts charged and established by the evidence, were done in pursuance and in fulfilment of the same traitorous purpose, " Gentlemen, this view of the subject is not only correct, but self- evident ; the subversion of the King's political government, and all con- spiracies to subvert it, are crimes of great magnitude and enormity, which the law is open to punish ; but neither of them are the crimes before you. The prisoner is not charged with a conspiracy against the King's political government, but against his natural life. He is not accused of having merely taken steps to depose him from his authority, but with having done so with the intention to bring him to death. It is the act with the specific intention, and not the act alone, which constitutes the charge. The act of conspiring to depose the King, may, indeed, be evidence, according to circumstances, of an intention to destroy his natural existence ; but never, as a proposition of law, can constitute the intention itself. Where an act is done in pursuance of an intention, surely the intention must first exist; a man cannot do a thing in fulfilment of an intention, unless his mind first conceives that in- tention. The doing an act, or the pursuit of a system of conduct, which leads in probable consequences to the death of the King, may legally (if any such be before you) affect the consideration of the traitorous purpose charged by the record, and I am not afraid of trusting you with the evidence. How far any given act, or course of acting, independently of intention, may lead probably or inevitably to any natural or political consequence, is what we have no concern Avith ; these may be curious questions of casuistry or 2 E 2 398 THE MODEKK OEATOE. politics; but it is wickedness and folly to declare that consequences uncon- nected even with intention or consciousness, shall be synonymous in law with the traitorous mind, although the traitorous mind alone is arraigned, as con- stituting the crime. " Gentlemen, the first question consequently for consideration, and to which I must, therefore, earnestly implore the attention of the Court, is this — ^What is the law upon this momentous subject ? And recol- lecting that I am invested with no authority, I shall not presume to offer you anything of my own ; nothing shall proceed from myself upon this part of the inquiry, but that which is merely introductory, and necessary to the understanding of the authorities on which I mean to rely for the establish- ment of doctrines, not less essential to the general liberties of England, than to the particular consideration which constitutes our present duty. " First, then, I maintain, that that branch of the statute 25th of Edward the Third, which declares it to be high treason ' ivhen a man doth compass or imagine the death of the King^ of his lady the Queen, or of his eldest son and heir^ was intended to guard, by a higher sanction than felony, the naturae LiTEs of the King, Queen, and Prince ; and that no act, therefore (either inchoate or consummate), of resistance to, or rebellion against, the King's regal capacity, amounts to high treason of compassing his death, unless where they can be charged upon the indictment, and proved to the satisfac- tion of the Jury at the trial, as overt acts, committed by the prisoner , in ful- film^ent of a traitorous intention to destroy the King's natural life. Secondly, that the compassing the King's death, or, in other words, the traitorous intention to destroy his natural existence^ is the treason, and not the overt acts, which are only laid as manifestations of the traitorous inten- tion, or, in other words, as evidence competent to be left to a Jury to prove it ; and that no conspiracy to levy Avar against the King, nor any conspiracy against his regal character or capacity, is a good overt act of compassing his death, imless some force be exerted, or in contemplation, against the King's person : and that such force, so exerted or in contemplation, is not substan- tively the treason of compassing, but only competent in point of law to establish it, if the Jury, by the verdict of Guilty, draw that conclusion of fact from the evidence of the overt act. Thirdly, that the charge in the indictment, of compassing the King's death, is not laid as legal inducement or introduction, to follow as a legal infer- ence from the establishment of the overt act, but is laid as an averment of A fact ; and, as such, the very gist of the indictment, to be affirmed or nega- tived by the verdict of Guilty or Not Guilty. It will not (I am persuaded) be suspected by the Attorney-general, or by the Court, that I am about to support these doctrines by opposing my own judgment to the authoritative writings of the venerable and excellent Lord Hale, whose memory will live in this country, and throughout the enlightened world, as long as the admi- nistration of pure justice shall exist ; neither do I wish to oppose anything which is to be found in the other learned authorities principally relied upon LORD ERSXIXE. 399 by the Crown, because all my positions are perfectly consistent with a right interpretation of them ; and because, even were it otherwise, I could not ex- pect successfully to oppose them by any reasonings of my own, which can have no weight, but as they shall be found at once consistent with acknow- ledged authorities, and with the established principles of the English law. I can do this with the greater security, because my respectable and learned friend, the Attorney-general, has not cited cases which have been the dis- grace of this country in former times, nor asked you to sanction by your judgment those bloody murders, which are recorded by them as acts of Eng- lish justice ; but, as might be expected of an honourable man, his exposi- tions of the law (though I think them frequently erroneous) are drawn from the same sources, which I look uj) to for doctrines so very different. I find, indeed, throughout the whole range of authorities (I mean those which the Attorney-general has properly considered as deserving that name and cha- racter) very little contradiction ; for, as far as I can discover, much more en- tanglement has arisen from now and then a tripping in the expression, than from any difference of sentiment amongst eminent and virtuous Judges, who have either examined or sat in judgment upon this momentous subject. " Gentlemen, before I pursue the course I have prescribed to myself, I de- sire most distinctly to be understood, that in my own judgment, the most successful argument, that a conspiracy to depose the King does not neces- sarily -establish the treason charged upon this record, is totally beside any possible judgment that you can have to form upon the evidence before you ; since, throughout the whole volumes that have been read, I can trace no- thing that even points to the imagination of such a conspiracy ; and, conse- quently, the doctrines of Coke, Hale, and Forster, on the subject of High Treason, might equally be detailed in any other trial that has ever been pro- ceeded upon in this place. But, Gentlemen, I stand in a fearful and delicate situation. As a supposed attack upon the King's civil authority has been transmuted, by construction, into a murderous conspiracy against his natural person, in the same manner, and by the same arguments, a conspiracy to overturn that civil authority, by direct force, has again been assimilated, by further construction, to a design to undermine monarchy by changes wrought through public opinion, enlarging gradually into universal will ; so that I can admit no false proposition, however wide I may think it of rational applica- tion. For as there is a constructive compassing, so also there is a construc- tive deposing ; and I cannot, therefore, possibly know what either of them is separately, nor how the one may be argued to involve the other. There are, besides, many prisoners, whose cases are behind, and whose lives may be in- volved in your present deliberation ; their names have been already stigma- tised, and their conduct arraigned in the evidence you have heard, as a part of the conspiracy. It is these considerations which drive me into so large a field of argument, because, by sufficiently ascertaining the law in the outset, they who are yet looking up to it for protection, may not be brought into peril. 400 THE MODERN OEATOE. " Gentlemen, I now proceed to establish, that a compassing of the death of the King, within the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third, which is the charge against the prisoner, consists in a traitorous intention against his NATUEAL LiEE ; and that nothing short of your firm belief of that detest- able intention, from overt acts which you find him to have committed, can justify his conviction. That I may keep my word with you in building my argument upon nothing of my own, I hope my friend Mr. Gibbs will have the goodness to call me back, if he finds me wandering from my engage- ment ; that I may proceed step by step upon the most venerable and acknow- ledged authorities of the law. " In this process I shall begin with Lord Hale, who opens this important subject by stating the reason of passing the statute of the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third, on which the indictment is founded. Lord Hale says, in his Pleas of the Crown (vol. i., page 82), that ' at common law there was a great latitude used in raising offences to the crime and punishment of treason, by way of interpretation and arbitrary construction, which brought in great uncertainty and confusion. Thus accroaching, i. e., encroaching on royal power was an usual charge of treason anciently, though a very uncertain charge; so that no man could tell what it was, or what defence to make to it.' Lord Hale then goes on to state various instances of vexation and cruelty, and concludes with this striking observation : ' By these and the like instances that might be given, it appears how arbitrary and uncertain the law of treason was before the statute of 25th of Edward the Third, whereby it came to pass, that almost every offence that was, or seemed to be, a breach of the faith and allegiance due to the King, was by construction, consequence, and inter- pretation, raised into the offence of high treason.' This is the lamentation of the great Hale upon the state of this country previous to the passing of the statute, which, he says, was passed as a remedial law, to put an end to them ; and Lord Coke, considering it in the same light, says, in his third In- stitute, page 2, ' The Parliament which passed this statute was called (as it well deserved) Parliamentum Benedictum ; and the like honour was given to it by the different statutes which from time to time brought back treasons to its standard, all agreeing in magnifying and extolling this blessed Act.' Now, this statute, which has obtained the panegyric of these great men, whom the Chief Justice in his charge looked up to for light and for example, and whom the Attorney-general takes also for his guide, would very little have deserved the high eulogium bestowed upon it, if, though avowedly passed to destroy uncertainty in criminal justice, and to beat down the arbitrary constructions of Judges, lamented by Hale as disfiguring and dis- honouring the law, it had, nevertheless, been so worded as to give birth to new constructions and uncertainties, instead of destroying the old ones. It would but ill have entitled itself to the demomination of a blessed statute, if it had not, in its enacting letter, which professed to remove doubts, and to ascertain the law, made use of expressions the best known and understood ; and it will be found, accordingly, that it cautiously did so. It will be found, that, in selecting the expression of compassing the death, it employed a LORD ERSKINE. 401 term of the most fixed and appropriate signification in the language of English law, which not only no judge or counsel, but which no attorney or attorney's clerk, could misunderstand; because, in former ages, before the statute, compassing the death of any man had been a felony, and what had amounted to such compassing, had been settled in a thousand instances. To establish this, and to show also, by no reasoning of mine, that the term ' compassing the death' was intended by the statute, when applied to the King, as high treason, to have the same signification as it had obtained in the law when applied to the subject as a felony, I shall refer to Mr. Justice Forster, and even to a passage cited by the Attorney-general himself, which speaks so unequivocally and unanswerably for itself, as to mock all commentary. ' The ancient writers,' says Forster, ' in treating of felonious homicide, considered the felonious intention manifested by plain facts, in the same light, in point of guilt, as homicide itself. The rule was, voluntas reputatur pro facto ; and while this rule prevailed, the nature of the ofience was expressed by the term compassing the death. This rule has been long laid aside as too rigor- ous in the case of common persons ; but in the case of the King, Queen, and Prince, the statute of treasons has, with great propriety, retained it in its full extent and vigour ; and, in describing the ofience, has likewise retained the ancient mode of expression, when a man doth compass or imagine the death of our Lord the King, &c., and thereof be upon sufficient proof, provablement, attainted of open deed, by people of his condition : the words of the statute descriptive of the ofience, must, therefore, be strictly pursued in every indictment for this species of treason. It must charge that the de- fendant did traitorously compass and imagine the King's death ; and then go on and charge the several acts made use of by the prisoner to efiectuate his traitorous purpose ; for the compassing the King's death is the treason, and the overt acts are charged as the means made use of to efiectuate the intentions and imaginations of the heart ; and, therefore, in the case of the regicides, the indictment charged that they did traitorously compass and imagine the death of the King, and the cutting ofi" the head was laid as the overt act, and the person who was supposed to have given the mortal stroke was con- victed on the same indictment.' " This concluding instance, though at first view it may appear ridiculous, is well selected as an illustration ; because, though in that case there could be no possible doubt of the intention, since the act of a deliberate execution involves, in common sense, the intention to destroy life, yet still the anomaly of the ofience, which exists wholly in the intention, and not in the overt act, required the preservation of the form of the indictment. It is surely im- possible to read this commentary of Forster, without seeing the true pur- pose of the statute : the common law had anciently considered, even in the case of a fellow-subject, the malignant intention to destroy, as equivalent to the act itself ; but that noble spirit of humanity which pervades the whole system of our jurisprudence, had, before the time of King Edward the Third, eat out and destroyed this rule, too rigorous in its general application ; 402 THE MODEKN OUATOE. but, as Forster truly observes in the passage I have read, ' This rule, too rigorous in the case of the subject, the state of treasons retained in the case of the King, and retained also the very expression used by the law when compassing the death of a subject was felony.' " The statute, therefore, being expressly made to remove doubts, and ac- curately to define treason, adopted the ancient expression of the common law, as applicable to felonious homicide, meaning that the life of the Sove- reign should remain an exception, and that voluntas pro facto ^ the wicked in- tention for the deed itself (as it regarded his sacred life), should continue for the rule : and, therefore, says Forster, the statute, meaning to retain the law which was before general, retained also the expression. It appears to me, therefore, incontrovertible, not only by the words of the statute itself, but upon the authority of Forster, which I shall follow up by that of Lord Coke and Hale, contradicted by no syllable in their works, as I shall demonstrate, that the statute, as it regarded the security of the King's life, did not mean to enact a new security never known to the common law in other cases, but meant to suiFer a common law rule, which formerly existed universally, which was precisely known, but which was too severe in common cases, to remain as an exception in favour of the King's security. I do, therefore, positively maintain, not as an advocate merely, but in my own person, that, within the letter and meaning of the statute, nothing can be a compassing the death of the King that would not, in ancient times, have been a felony in the case of a subject ; for otherwise Forster and Coke, as will be seen, are very incor- rect when they say the statute retained the old law, and the appropriate word to express it ; for if it went beyond it, it would, on the contrary, have been a new rule unknown to the common law, enacted for the first time, for the preservation of the King's life. Unquestionably, the legislature might have made such a rule ; but we are not inquiring what it might have enacted, but what it has enacted. But I ought to ask pardon for having relapsed into any argument of my own upon this subject, when the authorities are more express to the purpose than any language I can use. For Mr. Justice Forster himself expressly says, — Discourse 1st, of High Treason, p. 207, 'All the words descriptive of the ofience, viz., ' If a man doth compass or imagine, and thereofbe attainted of open deed,' are plainly borrowed from the common law, and therefore must bear the same construction they did at common law.' Is this distinct ? I will read it to you again : ' All the words descriptive of the ofience, viz., ' If a man doth compass or imagine, and thereof be at- tainted of open deed,' are plainly borrowed from the common law, and there- fore must bear the same construction they did at common law.' " Gentlemen, Mr. Justice Forster is by no means singular in this doctrine. Lord Coke, the oracle of the law, and the best oracle that one can consult, when standing for a prisoner charged with treason, as he was the highest prerogative lawyer that ever existed, maintains the same doctrine ; even he, even Coke, the infamous prosecutor of Raleigh, whose character with pos- terity, as an attorney-general, my worthy and honourable friend would dis- LORD ERSKINE. 403 dain to hold, to be author of all his valuable works ; yet even this very Lord Coke himself, holds precisely the same language with Forster. For, in his commentary on this statute, in his Srd Institute, p. 5, when he comes to the words, ' Doth compass,' he says, ' Let us see first what the compassing the death of a subject was before the making of this statute, when voluntas repu- tabatur pro facto.'' Now, what is the plain English of this ? The commenta- tor says, I am going to instruct you, the student, who are to learn from me the law of England, what is a compassing of the death of the king ; but that I cannot do, but by first carrying you to look into what was the compassing the death of a subject at the ancient common law ; because the statute hav- ing made a compassing, as applied to the King, the crime of high treason, which, at common law, was felony in the case of a subject, it is impossible to define the one, without looking back to the records which illustrate the other. This is so directly the train of Lord Coke's reasoning, that in his own singularly precise style of commentating, he immediately lays before his reader a variety of instances from the ancient records and year-books, of compassing the subject's death ; and what are they? Not acts wholly col- lateral to attacks upon life, dogmatically laid down by the law from specula- tions upon probable or possible consequences ; but assaults with intent to murder ; conspiracies to waylay the person with the same intention ; and other murderous machinations. These were only compassings before the statute against the subject's life ; and the extension of the expression was never heard of in the law till introduced by the craft of political judges, when it became applicable to crimes against the state. Here, again, I desire to appeal to the highest authorities for this source of constructive treasons ; for although the statute of Edward the Third had expressly directed that nothing should be declared to be treason but cases within its enacting letter, yet Lord Hale says, in his Pleas of the Crown, page 83, that ' things were so carried by parties and factions, in the succeeding reign of Richard the Second, that this statute was but little observed, but as this or that party got the better. So the crime of high treason was in a manner arbitrarily imposed and ad- judged, to the disadvantage of the party that was to be judged ; which, by various vicissitudes and revolutions, mischiefed all parties, first and last, and left a great unsettledness and unquietness in the minds of the people, and was one of the occasions of the unhappiness of that King. " * All this mischief was produced by the statute of the 21st of Richard the Second, which enacted, That every man that compasseth or pursueth the death of the King, or to depose him, or to render up his homage liege, or he that raiseth people, and rideth against the King, to make war within his realm, and of that be duly attainted and adjudged, shall be adjudged a traitor, of high treason against the Crown.' " ' This (says Lord Hale) was a great snare to the subject, insomuch that the statute, 1st of Henry Fourth, which repealed it, recited that no man knew how he ought to behave himself, to do, speak, or say, for doubt of such pains of treason ; and, therefore, wholly to remove the prejudice which might 404 THE MODERN OUATOK. come to the King's subjects, the statute, 1st of Henry Fourth, chap. 10, was made, which brought back treason to the standard of the 25th of Edward the Third.' " Now, if we look to this statute of Eichard the Second, which produced such mischiefs, what are they ? As far as it re-enacted the treason of com- passing the King's death, and levying war, it only re-enacted the statute of Edward the Third, but it went beyond it by the loose construction of com- passing to depose the King, and raising the people, and riding to make war, or a compassing to depose him : terms new to the common law. The actual levying of force, to imprison, or depose the King, was already and properly high treason, within the second branch of the statute ; but this statute of Kichard the Second enlarged only the crime of compassing, making it ex- tend to a compassing to imprison or depose, which are the great objects of an actual levying of war, and making a compassing to levy war, on a footing with the actual levying it. It seems, therefore, most astonishing, that any judge could be supposed to have decided, as an abstract rule of law, that a compassing to imprison or depose the King was high treason, substantively, without previous compassing of his death : since it was made so by this sta- tute, 21st of Richard the Second, and reprobated, stigmatised, and repealed by the statute, 1st of Henry the Fourth, chap. 10, ' And so little effect,' says Mr. Justice Blackstone, ' have over-violent laws to prevent any crime, that, within two years after this new law of treason respecting imprisonment and deposing, this very prince was both deposed and murdered.' " Gentlemen, this distinction, made by the humane statute of Edward the Third, between treason against the King's natural life, and rebellion against his civil authority, and which the act of Richard the Second, for a season, broke down, is founded in wise and sound policy. A successful attack may be made upon the King's person by the malignity of an individual, without the combination of extended conspiracy, or the exertions of rebellious force ; the law, therefore, justly stands upon the watch to crush the first overt mani- festation of so evil and detestable a purpose. Considering the life of the chief magistrate as infinitely important to the public security, it does not wait for the possible consummation of a crune, which requires neither time, combination, nor force to accomplish, but considers the traitorous purpose as a consummated treason : but the wise and humane policy of our forefathers extended the severity of the rule, voluntas pro facto, no further than they were thus impelled and justified by the necessity ; and, therefore, an inten- tion to levy war and rebellion, not consummated, however manifested by the most overt acts of conspiracy, was not declared to be treason, and upon the plainest principle in the world ; the King's kegal capacity, guarded by all the force and authority of the state, could not, like his natxjual existence, be overthrown or endangered in a moment, by the first m.achinations of the traitorous mind of an individual, or even by the unarmed conspiracy of num- bers ; and, therefore, this humane and exalted institution, measuring the sanctions of criminal justice by the standard of civil necessity, thought it LORD EESKINE. 405 sufficient to scourge and dissipate unarmed conspirators by a less vindictive proceeding. " These new treasons were, however, at length all happily swept away on the accession of King Henry the Fourth, which brought the law back to the standard of Edward the Third ; and, indeed, in reviewing the history of this highly favoured island, it is most beautiful and, at the same time, highly en- couraging to observe, by what an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, under the superintendence of a benevolent Providence, the liberties of our country have been established. Amidst the convulsions, arising from the maddest ambition and injustice, and whilst the state was alternately depart- ing from its poise on one side and on the other, the great rights of mankind were still insensibly taking root and flourishing ; though sometimes monarchy threatened to lay them prostrate, though aristocracy occasionally undermined them, and democracy, in her turn, rashly trampled on them, yet they have ever come safely round at last. This awful and sublime contemplation should teach us to bear with one another when our opinions do not quite co- incide ; extracting final harmony from the inevitable differences which ever did, and ever must, exist amongst men. " Gentlemen, the act of Henry the Fourth was scarcely made when it shared the same fate with the venerable law which it restored. Nobody re- garded it. It was borne down by factions, and, in those days, there were no judges as there are now, to hold firm the balance of justice amidst the storms of state ; men could not, then, as the prisoner can to-day, look up for protection to magistrates independent of the Crown,"^' and awfully account- able in character to an enlightened world. As fast as arbitrary constructions were abolished by one statute, unprincipled judges began to build them up again, till they were beat down by another : to recount their strange trea- sons would be tiresome and disgusting ; but their system of construction, in the teeth of positive law, may be well illustrated by two lines from Pope : — '* Destroy his fib and sophistry in vain, The creature 's at his dirty work again." This system, both judicial and parliamentary, became indeed so intolerable, in the interval between the reign of Henry the Fourth, and that of Philip and Mary,f that it produced, in the first year of the latter reign, the most * At the recommendation of George III., the Judges were made independent of the Crown, by holding their offices for life at a certain fixed salary. t Among the new treasons created during this interval, particularly in the reign of Henry VIII., may be reckoned the following : — viz., clipping money, breaking prison or rescue when the prisoner is committed for treason, burning houses to extort money, stealing of cattle by Welshmen, counterfeiting foreign coin, wilful poisoning, exe- crations against the King, calling him opprobrious names by public writing, counter- feiting the sign manual or signet, refusing to abjure the Pope, deflowering, or marrying without the royal license, any of the king's children, sisters, aunts, nephews, or nieces, bare solicitation ofthechastity of the queen or princess, or advances made by themselves, marrying with the king by a woman not a virgin, without previously discovering to him her previous unchaste life, judging or beheving (manifested by any overt act) the king 406 THE MODERN ORATOR. remarkable statute that ever passed in England,* repealing not only all former statutes upon the subject, except that of Edward the Third, but also stigmatising, upon the records of parliament, the arbitrary constructions of judges, and limiting them, in all times, to every letter of the statute. I will read to you Lord Coke's commentary upon the subject. In his third Insti- tute, page 23, he says : — ' Before the act of the 25th of Edward the Third, so many treasons had been made and declared, and in such sort penned, as not only the ignorant and unlearned people, but also learned and expert men, were trapped and snared, * * so as the mischief before Edward the Third, of the uncertainty of what was treason and what not, became so frequent and dangerous, as that the safest and surest remedy was, by this excellent act of Mary, to abrogate and repeal all, butf only such as are specified and expressed in this statute of Edward the Third. By which law the safety of both the King and of the subject, and the preservation of the common weal, were wisely and sufficiently provided for, and in such certainty, that nihil re- lictum est arhity^io judicis.'' " The whole evil, indeed, to be remedied and avoided, by the act of Queen Mary was, the arhitrium judicis, or judicial construction beyond the letter of the statute. The statute itself was perfect, and was restored in its full vigour ; and to suppose, therefore, that when an act was expressly made, be- cause judges had built treasons by constructions beyond the law, they were to be left, consistently with their duty, to go on building again, is to impute a folly to the legislature, which never yet was imputed to the framers of this admirable statute. But this absurd idea is expressly excluded, not merely by the statute, according to its plain interpretation, but according to the direct authority of Lord Coke himself, in his commentary upon it. For he goes on to say, ' Two things are to be observed: first, that the word expressed, in the statute of Mary, excludes all implications or inferences whatsoever ; secondly, that no former attainder, judgment, precedent, resolution, or opinion of judges, or justices, of high treason, other than such as are specified and expressed in the statute of Edward the Third, are to be followed or drawn into example. For the words be plain and direct ; that from henceforth no act, deed, or offence shall be taken, had, deemed, or adjudged to be high treason, but only such as are declared and expressed in the said act of the 25th of Edward the Third, any act of parliament or statute after 25th of Ed- ward the Third, or any other declaration or matter, to the contrary notwith- standing.' " Gentlemen, if the letter of the statute of Mary, when coupled with Lord Coke's commentary, required further illustration, it would amply receive it from the preamble, which ought to be engraved on the heart of every man to have been lawfully married to Anne of Cleve, derogating from the king's royal style and title, impugning his supremacy, assembling riotously to the number of twelve, and not dispersing on proclamation. * 1 Mary, st. 1, c. 1. f i. e., Except. LORD EHSKINE, 407 wiio loves the King, or who is called to any share in his councils ; for, as Lord Coke observes, in the same commentary : It truly recites, that ' the state of a king standeth and consisteth more assured by the love and favour of the subjects towards their Sovereign, than in the dread and fear of laws, made with rigorous and extreme punishment ; and that laws, justly made for the preservation of the common weal, without extreme punishment or penalty, are more often and for the most part better kept and obeyed, than laws and statutes made with extreme punishment.' " But, Gentlemen, the most important part of Lord Coke's commentary on this statute is yet behind, which I shall presently read to you, and to which I implore your most earnest attention ; because I will show you by it, that the unfortunate man, whose innocence I am defending, is arraigned before you of high treason, upon evidence not only wholly repugnant to this particular statute, but such as never yet was heard of in England upon any capital trial ; — evidence which, even vAth all the attention you have given to it, I defy any one of you, at this moment, to say of what it consists ; — evidence, which (since it must be called by that name) I tremble for my boldness in presuming to stand up for the life of a man, when I am conscious that I am incapable of understanding from it, even what acts are imputed to him ; — evidence, which has consumed four days in the reading ; — not in reading the acts of the prisoner, but the unconnected writings of men, unkno"svn to one another, upon a hundred different subjects ;^* evidence, the very listening to which has deprived me of the sleep which nature requires ; — which has filled my mind with unremitting distress and agitation, and which, from its discor- dant unconnected nature, has sufiered me to reap no advantage from the indulgence, which I began with thanking you for ; but which, on the con- trary, has almost set my brain on fire, with the vain endeavour of collecting my thoughts upon a subject never designed for any rational course of thinking. " Let us, therefore, see how the unexampled condition I am placed in falls in with Lord Coke upon this subject, whose authority is appealed to by the Cro\^'Ti itself ; — and let us go home and burn our books if they are to blazon forth the law by eulogium, and accurately to define its protector, which yet the subject is to be totally cut ofi" from, when, even under the sanction of these very authors, he stands upon his trial for his existence. Lord Coke says, in the same Commentary, page 12, that the statute had not only accu- rately defined the charge, but the nature of the proof on which alone a man shall be attainted of any of the branches of high treason. — ' It is to be ob- served,' says he, ' that the word in the act of Edward the Third is provealle- ment: that is, upon direct and manifest proof, not upon conjectural presump- * An immense mass of evidence in the shape of correspondence was put in, for the purpose of showing inter alia the treasonable designs of the society called the " Consti- tutioncil Society," and that the " London Corresponding Society" of which Hardy was the Secretary, was closely connected with it, and advocated the same principles. 408 THE MODERJJ" ORATOE, tions, or inferences, or strains of wit, but upon good and sufficient proof. And herein the adverb provahly hath a great force, and signifieth a direct plain proof, which word the Lords and Commons in Parliament did use, for that the offence of treason was so heinous, and was so heavily and severely punished, as none other the like, and therefore the offender must be provahly attainted, which words are as forcible as upon direct and m_anifest proof. Note, the word is not probahly^ for then commune argumentum might have served, but the word is '•provahly be attainted.' " Nothing can be so curiously and tautologously laboured as this commen- tary, of even that great prerogative lawyer Lord Coke, upon this single word in the statute ; and it manifestly shows, that, so far from its being the spirit and principle of the law of England, to loosen the construction of this statute, and to adopt rules of construction and proof, unusual in trials for other crimes, on the contraryy the Legislature did not even leave it to the Judges to apply the ordinary rules of legal proof to trials under it, but admonished them to do justice in that respect in the very body of the statute. " Lord Hale treads in the same path with Lord Coke, and concludes this part of the subject by the following most remarkable passage (vol. I. chap, xi. 86) :— " 'Now although the crime of high treason is the greatest crime against faith, duty, and human society, and brings with it the greatest and most fatal dangers to the government, peace, and happiness of a kingdom, or state ; and, therefore, is deservedly branded v,dth the highest ignominy, and sub- jected to the greatest penalties that the laws can inflict ; it appears, first, how necessary it was that there should be some Tcnown, fixed, settled boundary for this great crime of treason, and of what great importance the statute of 25th of Edward the Third was, in order to that end. Second, how dangerous it is to depart from the letter of that statute, and to multiply and enhance crimes into treason by ambiguous and general words, such as accroaching royal power, subverting fundamental laws, and the like. And third, how dangerous it is by construction^ and analogy, to make treasons where the letter of the law has not done it. For such a method admits of no limits or bounds, but runs as far and as wide as the wit and invention of accusers, and the detestation of persons accused, will carry men.' " Surely the admonition of this supereminent Judge ought to sink deep into the heart of every Judge, and of every Juryman, who is called to ad- minister justice under this statute ; above all, in the times and under the pecu- liar circumstances which assemble us in this place. Honourable men, feeling, as they ought, for the safety of Government, and the tranquillity of the country, and naturally indignant against those who are supposed to have brought them into peril, ought, for that very cause, to proceed with more abundant caution, lest they should be surprised by their resentments or their fears ; they ought to advance, in the judgments they form, by slow and trembling steps ; — they ought even to fall back and look at everything LORD ERSKINE. 409 again, lest a false light should deceive them, admitting no fact but upon the foundation of clear and precise evidence, and deciding upon no intention that does not result with equal clearness from the fact. This is the universal demand of justice in every case criminal or civil ; — how much more, then, in this, when the judgment is every moment in danger of being swept away into the fathomless abyss of a thousand volumes ; where there is no anchor- age for the understanding ; where no reach of thought can look round in order to compare their points ; nor any memory be capacious enough to retain even the imperfect relation that can be collected from them ? "Gentlemen, my mind is the more deeply affected with this consideration by a very recent example in that monstrous phenomenon"^* which, under the name of a trial, has driven us out of Westminster Hall for a large portion of my professional life. No man is less disposed that I am to speak lightly of great state prosecutions, which bind to their duty those who have no other superiors, nor any other control ; last of all am I capable of even glancing a censure against those who have led to or conducted the impeachment, because I respect and love many of them, and know them to be amongst the best and wisest men in the nation. I know them indeed so well, as to be persuaded that, could they have foreseen the vast field it was to open, and the length of time it was to occupy,! they never would have engaged in it; for I defy any man, not illuminated by the Divine Spirit, to say, with the precision and ^certainty of an English Judge deciding upon evidence before him, that Mr. Hastings is guilty or not guilty ! — for who knows what is before himi, or what is not ? Many have carried what they knew to their graves, and the living have lived long enough to forget it. Indeed, I pray God that such another proceeding may never exist in England ; because I consider it as a dishonour to the constitution, and that it brings, by its example, insecurity into the administration of justice. Every man in civilised society has a right to hold his life, liberty, property, and reputation, under plain laws that can be well understood, and is entitled to have some limited specific part of his conduct, compared and examined by their standard ; — but he ought not for seven years, no, nor for seven days, to stand as a crimnal before the highest human tribunal, until judgment is bewildered and confounded, to come at last, perhaps, to defend himself, broken down with fatigue, and dispirited with anxiety, which, indeed, is my own condition at this moment, who am only stating the case of another — What, then, must be the condition of the unfortunate person whom you are trying ? " The next great question is, how the admonitions of these great writers are to be reconciled with what is undoubtedly to be found in other parts of their works ; and I think I do not go too far, when I say, that it ought to be the inclination of every person's mind who is considering the meaning of any writer, particularly if he be a person of superior learning and intelligence, to reconcile as much as possible all he says upon any subject, and not to adopt * The impcachracnt of Warren Hastings. t See ante, note, p. 357. 410 THE MODERN ORAl'OR. such a construction as necessarily raises up one part in direct opposition tO another. " The law itself, indeed, adopts this sound rule of judgment in the examination of every matter which is laid before it, for a sound con- struction ; and the Judges, therefore, are bound by duty as well as reason to adopt it. " It appears to me, then, that the only ambiguity which arises, or can possibly arise, in the examination of the great authorities, and in the com- parison of them with themselves, or with one another, is, from not rightly understanding the meaning of the term overt act as applied to this species of treason. The moment you get right upon the true meaning and signifi- cation of this expression, the curtain is drawn up, and all is light and certainty. " Gentlemen, an overt act of the high treason charged upon this record, I take, with great submission to the Court, to be plainly and simply this i — the high treason charged, is the compassing or imagining (in other words, the intending or designing) the death of the King: I mean his inatural death ; which being a hidden operation of the mind, an overt act is anything which legally proves the existence of such traitorous design and intention — I say, that the design against the King's natui'al life, is the high treason under the first branch of the statute ; and whatever is evidence, which may be legally laid before a Jury to judge of the traitorous intention, is a legal overt act; because an overt act is nothing but legal evidence embodied upon the record. " The charge of compassing being a charge of intention, which, without a manifestation by conduct, no human tribunal could try, the statute requires by its very letter (but without which letter reason must have presumed) that the intention to cut off the Sovereign should be manifested by an open act ; and as a prisoner charged with an intention, could have no notice how to defend himself without the charge of actions from whence the intention was to be imputed to him, it was always the practice, according to the sound principles of English law, to state upon the face of the indictment the overt act, which the Crown charges, as the means made use of by the prisoner to efi'ect his traitorous purpose ; and as this rule was too frequently departed from, the statute of the seventh of King William^* enacted, for the benefit of the prisoner, that no evidence should even be given of any overt act not charged in the indictment.f The charge, therefore, of the overt acts in the indictment, is the notice, enacted by statute to be given to the prisoner for his protection, of the means by which the Crown is to submit to the Jury the existence of the traitorous purpose, which is the crime alleged against him, * 7 and 8 William III., c. iii. s. 8. t That is, any overt act amounting to a distinct independent charge ; but if an overt act, not charged in the indictment, amount to a direct proof of any other overt act which is charged, it may be given in evidence to prove such overt act. LORD ERSKINE. 41 1 and in pursuance of which traitorous purpose the overt acts must also he charged to have been committed. Whatever, therefore, is relevant or competent evidence to be received in support of the traitorous intention, is a legal overt act, and what acts are competent to that purpose is (as in all other cases) matter of law for the Judges ; but whether, after the overt acts are received upon the record as competent, and are established b)' proof upon the trial, they be sufficient or insufficient in the particular instance, to convince the Jury of the traitorous compassing or intention, is a mere matter of fact, which, from its very nature, can be reduced to no other standard than that which each man's own conscience and understanding erects in his mind, as the arbiter of his judgment. This doctrine is by no means new nor peculiar to high treason, but pervades the whole law, and may be well illustrated in a memorable case lately decided upon writ of error in the House of Lords, and which must be in the memory of all the Judges now present, who took a part in its decision : — there the question was, whether, upon the establishment of a number of facts by legal e\idence, the defendant had knowledge of a fact, the knowing of which would leave him defenceless. To di'aw that question from the Jury to the Judges, I demurred to the evidence, saying, that though each part of it was legally admitted, it was for the law, by the mouth of the Judges, to pronounce whether this fact of knowledge could legally be inferred from it ; but the Lords, with the assent of all the Judges, decided, to my perfect satisfaction, that such a demurrer to the evidence was irregular and invalid ; that the province of the Jury over the effect of evidence, ought not to be so transferred to the Judges, and con- verted into matter of law ; — that what was relevant evidence to come before a Jury, was the provmce of the court, — but that the conclusion to be drawn from admissible evidence, was the unalienable province of the country. " To apply that reasoning to the case before us : — The matter to be inquired of here is, the fact of the prisoner's intention, as, in the case I have just cited it was the fact of the defendant's knowledge. The charge of a conspiracy to depose the King is, therefore, laid before you to estabhsh that intention ; its competency to be laid before you for that purpose, is not disputed ; I am only' contending, with all reason and authority on my side, that it is to be submitted to your consciences and understandings, whether, even if you believed the overt act, you believe also that it proceeded from a traitorous machination against the life of the King. I am only contending that these two beliefs must coincide to establish a verdict of ' guilty.' I am not contend- ing, that, under circumstances, a conspiracy to depose the King, and to annihilate his regal capacity, may not be strong and satisfactory evidence of the intention to destroy his eife ; — but only that in this, as in every other instance, it is for you to collect or not to collect this treason against the King's life, according to the result of your conscientious belief and judgment, from the acts of the prisoner laid before you ; and that the establishment of the overt act, even if it were established, does not establish the treason against the King's life, by a consequence of law : but, on the contrary, the 2 F 412 THE MODERN OKATOH. overt act, though punishable in another shape, as an independent crime, is a dead letter upon this record, unless you believe, exercising your exclusive jurisdiction over the facts laid before you, that it was committed in accom- plishment of the treason against the NATUHAii i^iee oe the king. " Gentlemen, this particular crime of compassing the King's death, is so complete an anomaly, being wholly seated in unconsummated intention, that the law cannot depart from describing it according to its real essence, even when it- is followed by his death : — a man cannot be indicted for killing the King, as was settled in the case of the Regicides of Charles I., after long consultation among all the Judges : — it was held that the very words of the statute must be pursued, and that, although the King was actually murdered, the prisoners who destroyed him could not be charged with the act itself, as high treason, but with the compassing of his death ; the very act of the ex- ecutioner in beheading him, being only laid as the overt act upon the record. There, though the overt act was so connected with, as to be even inseparable from, the traitorous intention, yet they were not confounded because of the effect of the precedent in dissimilar cases : and although the Regicides came to be tried immediately on the restoration of the King, in the day-spring of his authority, and before high prerogative judges, and under circumstances when, in any country but England, their trial would have been a mockery, or their execution have been awarded without even the forms of trial ; yet in England, that sacred liberty, which has for ever adorned the constitution, refused to sacrifice to zeal or enthusiasm, either the substance or the forms of justice. Hear what the Chief Baron"^ pronounced upon that occasion, — ' These persons are to be proceeded with according to the laws of the land, and I shall speak nothing to you but what are the words of the law. By the statute of Edward the Third, it is made high treason to compass and imagine the death of the King : in no case else imagination or compassing, without an actual effect, is punishable by law.' He then speaks of the sacred life of the King, and, speaking of the treason, says — ' The treason consists in the wicked imagination which is not apparent ; but when this poison swells out of the heart, and breaks forth into action, in that case it is high treason. Then what is an overt act of an imagination, or compassing of the King's death ? Truly, it is anything which shows what the imagination of the heart is.' " Indeed, Gentlemen, the proposition is so clear, that one gets confounded in the argument from the very simplicity of it ; but still I stand in a situation which I am determined, at all events, to fulfil to the utmost ; and I shall, therefore, not leave the matter upon these authorities, but will bring it doAvn to our own times, repeating my challenge to have produced one single au- thority in contradiction. Lord Coke, in his 3rJ Institute, page 11 and 12, says, ' The indictment must charge that the prisoner traitorously compassed and imagined the death and destruction of the King.' He says, too, ' There * Hale. LORD EESKINE. 418 must be a compassing or imagination ; for an act without compassing, intent, or imagination, is not within the act, as appeareth by the express letter thereof : Et actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea.^ Nothing in language can more clearly illustrate my proposition. — The indictment, like every other indictment, must charge distinctly and specifically the crime : that charge must, therefore, be in the very words of the statute which creates the crime ; the crime created by the statute, not being the perpetration of any act, but being, in the rigorous severity of the law, the very contemplation, in- tention, and contrivance of a purpose directed to an act : that contemplation, purpose, and contrivance must be found to exist, without which, says Lord Coke, there can be no compassing ; and as the intention of the mind cannot be investigated without the investigation of conduct, the overt act is required by the statute, and must be laid in the indictment and proved. It follows from this deduction, that upon the clear principles of the English law, every act may be laid as an overt act of compassing the King's death, which may be reasonably considered to be relevant and competent to manifest that intention ; for, were it otherwise, it would be shutting out from the view of the Jury certain conduct of the prisoner; which might, according to circumstances, lead to manifest the criminal intention of his mind ; and as more than one overt act may be laid, and even overt acts of different kinds, though not in themselves substantively treason, the Judges appear to be justified in law, when they ruled them to be overt acts of compassing the death of the King ; because they are such acts as before the statute of King William, which required that the indictment should charge ail overt acts, would have been held to be relevant proof; of which relevancy of proof the Judges are to judge as matter^of law ; and therefore, being relevant proof, must also be relevant matter of charge, because nothing can be relevantly charged which may not also be relevantly admitted to proof. These observations explain, to the meanest capacity, in what sense Lord Coke must be understood, when he says, in the very same page, that, ' A preparation to depose the King, and to take the King by force and strong hand, until he has yielded to certain demands, is a sufficient overt act to prove the compassing of the King's death.' He does not say, as a proposition of law, that he who prepares to seize the King, compasseth his death ; but that a preparation to seize him is a sufficient overt act to prove the compassing^ and he directly gives the reason, ' Because of the strong tendency it has to that end.' This latter sentence destroys all ambiguity. I agree perfectly with Lord Coke, and I think every judge would so decide, upon the general principles of law and evidence, without any resort to his authority for it ; and for this plain and obvious reason : The judges who are by law to decide upon the relevancy or competency of the proof, in every matter, criminal and civil, have immemorially sanctioned the indispen- sable necessity of charging the traitorous intention as the crime, before it was required by the statute of King William. As the crime is in its nature in- visible and inscrutable, until manifested by such conduct as in the eye of reason is indicative of the intention, which constitutes the crime ; no overt 2 F 2 414 ' THE MODERN OHATOR. act is therefore held to be sufficient to give jurisdiction, even to a jury to draw the inference in fact of the traitorous purpose, but such acts from whence it may be reasonably inferred ; and therefore, as the restraint and imprison- ment of a Prince has a greater tendency to his destruction than in the case of a private man, such conspiracies are admitted to be laid as overt acts, upon this principle — that if a man does an act from whence either an inevitable or a mainly probable consequence may be expected to follow, much more if he persists deliberately in a course of conduct, leading certainly or probably to any given consequence, it is reasonable to believe that he foresaw such con- sequence, and by pursuing his purpose with that foreknowledge, the intention to produce the consequence may be fairly imputed. But then all this is matter of fact for the Jury from the evidence, not matter of law for the Court, further than it is the privilege and duty of the Judge to direct the attention of the Jury to the evidence, and to state the law as it may result from the different views the Jury may entertain of the facts : and if such acts could not be laid as overt acts, they could not be offered in evidence ; and if they could not be offered in evidence, the mind of the Prisoner, which it was the object of the trial to lay open as a clue to his intention, would be shut up and concealed from the Jury, whenever the death of the Sovereign was sought by circuitous but obvious means, instead of by a direct and murderous machination. But when they are thus submitted, as matter of charge and evidence, to prove the traitorous purpose which is the crime, the security of the King and of the subject is equally provided for : all the matter which has a relevancy to the crime, is chargeable and proveable, not substantively to raise from their establishment a legal inference, but to raise a presumption in fact, capable of being weighed by the Jury with all the circumstances of the transaction, as offered to the Crown and the Prisoner ; their province being finally to say — not what was the possible or the probable consequence of the overt act laid in the indictment, but whether it has brought them to a safe and conscientious judgment of the guilt of the Prisoner, i. e., of his guilt m compassing the death of the King, which is the treason charged in the Indictment. Lord Hale is, if possible, more direct and explicit upon the subject. He says, page 107, 'The words 'compass' or 'imagine,'' are of a great latitude ; they refer to the purpose or design of the mind or will, though the purpose or design takes not effect : but compassing or imagining, singly of itself, is an internal act, and, without something to manifest it, could not possibly fall under any judicial cognizance but of God alone ; and therefore this statute requires such an overt act as may render the compassing or ima- gining capable of a trial and sentence by human judicatures.' Now, can any man possibly derive from such a writing (proceeding, too, from an author of the character of Lord Hale), that an overt act of compassing might, in his judgment, be an act committed inadvertently without the intention ? Can any man gather from it, that a man, by falling into bad company, can be drawn in to be guilty of this species of treason by rash conduct, while the love of his Sovereign was glowing in his bosom? Can there be any particular LORD ERSKINE. 415 acts which can entitle a judge or counsel to pronounce, as a matter of law, what another man intends r or that what a man intends is not a matter of fact? Is there any man that will meet the matter fairly, and advance and support that naked proposition ? At all events, it is certainly not a pro- position to be dealt with publicly, because the man whose mind is capable even of conceiving it, should be treasured up in a museum, and exhibited there as a curiosity, for money. " Gentlemen, all I am asking, however, from my argument, and I defy any power of reason upon earth to move me from it, is this — that the Prisoner being charged with inteyiding the King's death, YOtr are to find whether this charge be founded or unfounded ; and that, therefore, put upon the record what else you will — prove what you will — read these books over and over again — and let us stand here a year and a day in discoursing concerning them — still the question must return at last to what Yoir and you only can resolve — Is he guilty of that base detestable intention to destroy the King ? Not whether you incline to believe that he is guilty ; not whether you suspect, nor whether it be probable; not whether he may be guilty; — no, but that PROVEABLY HE IS GUILTY. Ifyou can say this upon the evidence, it is your duty to saj'' so, and you. may, with a tranquil conscience, return to your families; though by your judgment the unhappy object of it must return no more to his. Alas ! Gentlemen, what do I say? he has no family to return to ; — the affectionate partner of his life has already fallen a victim to the surprise and horror which attended the scene now transacting. But let that melancholy reflection pass : it should not, perhaps, have been introduced — it certainly ought to have no effect upon you who are to judge upon your oaths. I do not stand here to desire you to commit perjury from compassion ; but at the same time my earnestness may be forgiven, since it proceeds from a weakness common to us all. I claim no merit with the Prisoner for my zeal ; it proceeds from a selfish principle inherent in the human heart, — I am counsel. Gentlemen, for myself. In every word I utter, I feel that I am pleading for the safety of my own life, for the lives of my children after me, for the happiness of my country, and for the universal condition of civil society throughout the world. " But let us return to the subject, and pursue the doctrine of Lord Hale upon the true interpretation of the term overt act, as applicable to this branch of treason. Lord Hale says, and I do beseech most earnestly the attention of the Court and Jury to this passage — ' If men conspire the death of the King, and thereupon provide weapons, or send letters, this is an overt act within the statute.' Take this to pieces, and what does it amount to? — 'If men conspire the death of the King,' that is the first thing, viz., the hitention, ' and thereupon,' that is, in pursuance of that wicked intention, ' provide weapons, or send letters for the execution thereof,' i. e., for the execution of that de- struction of the King, which they have meditated, ' this is an overt act within the statute.' Surely the meaning of all this is self-evident: If the intention be against the King's life, though the conspiracy does not immediately and 416 THE MODERN OEATOK. directly point to his death, yet still the overt act will be sufficient if it be something which has so direct a tendency to that end, as to be competent rational evidence of the intention to obtain it. But the instances given by Lord Hale himself furnish the best illustration : ' If men conspire to imprison the King by force and a strong hand until he has yielded to certain demands, andybr that purpose gather company, or write letters, that is an overt act to prove the compassing the King's death, as it was held in Lord Cobham's* case by all the Judges.' In this sentence Lord Hale does not depart from that pre- cision which so eminently distinguishes all his writings ; he does not say, that if men conspire to imprison the King until he yields to certain demands, and for that purpose to do so and so — this is high treason ; no, nor even an overt act of high treason, though he might in legal language correctly have said so ; but, to prevent the possibility of confounding the treason with matter which may be legally charged as relevant to the proof of it, he follows Lord Coke's expression in the third Institute, and says, 'This is an overt act to jorove the compassing of the King's death ; and, as if by this mode of expression he had not done enough to keep the ideas asunder, and from abundant regard for the rights and liberties of the subject, he immediately adds, ' But then there must be an overt act to prove that conspiracy ; and then that overt act to prove such design, is an overt act to prove the compassing of the death of the King.' The language of this sentence labours in the ear from the exces- sive caution of the writer : afraid that his reader should jump too fast to his conclusion upon a subject of such awful moment, he pulls him back after he has read that a conspiracy to imprison the King is an overt act to prove the compassing of his death, and says to him. But recollect that there must be an overt act to prove, in the first place, that conspiracy to imprison the King, and even then that intention to imprison him so manifested by the overt act, is but in its turn an overt act to prove the compassing or intention to destroy the King. Nor does the great and benevolent Hale rest even here, but after this almost tedious perspicuity, he begins the next sentence with this fresh caution and limitation, ' But then this must he intended of a conspiracy forcibly to detain and imprison the King.'' What, then, is a conspiracy forcibly to im- prison the King ? Surely it can requu-e no explanation : it can only be a direct machination to seize and detain his person by rebellious force. Will this expression be satisfied by a conspiracy to seize speculatively upon his authority by the publication of pamphlets, which, by the inculcation of repub- lican principles, may, in the eventual circulation of a course of years, perhaps in a course of centuries, in this King's time, or in the time of a remote suc- cessor, debauch men's minds from the English constitution ; and, by the destruction of monarchy, involve the life of the Monarch ? Will any man say that this is what the law means by a conspiracy against the King's govern- ment, supposing even that a conspiracy against his government were synony- mous with a design upon his life ? Can any case be produced where a person * Lord Cobham took part in the rash, conspiracy of Raleigh against James I., a.d. 1604. He was tried and convicted, and condemned to death, but subsequently pardoned . ;loiid erskine. 417 has been found guilty of high treason, under this branch of the statute, where no war has been actually levied, unless where the conspiracy has been a forcible invasion of the King's personal liberty or security ? I do not mean to say that a conspiracy to levy war may not, in many instances, be laid as an overt act of compassing the King's death, because the war may be mediately or immediately pointed distinctly to his destruction or captivity ; and, as Lord Hale truly says, ' small is the distance between the prisons and graves of princes.' But multiply the instances as you will, still the principle presents itself. The truth of this very maxim, built upon experience, renders an overt act of this description rational and competent evidence to be left to a jury of a design against the King's life ; but it does not, therefore, change the nature of the crime, nor warrant any Court to declare the overt act to be legally and conclusively indicative of the traitorous intention ; because, if this be once admitted to be law, and the Jury are bound to find the treason upon their belief of the existence of the overt act, the trial by the country is at an end, and the Judges are armed with an arbitrary uncontrollable dominion over the lives and liberties of the nation. " Gentlemen, I will now proceed to show you, that the doctrines which I am insisting on have been held by all the great judges of this country, in even the worst of times ; and that they are, besides, not at all peculiar to the case of high treason, but pervade the whole system of the criminal law. Mr. Justice Forster, so justly celebrated for his writings, lays down the rule thus : — It may be laid down, as a general rule, that ' indictments founded upon penal statutes, especially the most penal^ must pursue the statute so as to bring the party within it.' And this general rule is so expressly allowed to have place in high treason, that it is admitted, on all hands, that an indict- ment would be radically and incurably bad, unless it charged the compassing of the King's death, as the leading and fundamental averment, and unless it formally charged the overt act to be committed in order to effectuate the traitorous purpose. Nobody ever denied this proposition ; and the present indictment is framed accordingly. Now, it is needless to say, that if the benignity of the general law requires this precision in the indictment, the proof must be correspondingly precise, for otherwise the subject would de- rive no benefit from the strictness of the indictment ; the strictness of which can have no other meaning in law or common sense, than the protection of the prisoner ; for if, though the indictment must directly charge a breach of the very letter of the statute, the prisoner could, nevertheless, be con- victed by evidence not amounting to a breach of the letter, then the strict- ness of the indictment would not only be no protection to the prisoner, but a direct violation of the first principles of justice, criminal and civil, which call universally for the proof of all material averments in every legal pro- ceeding. But Mr. Justice Forster expressly adverts to the necessary severity of proof, as well as of charge ; for he says, that ' although a case is brought within the reason of a penal statute, and within the mischief to be prevented, yet, if it does not come within the unequivocal letter, the benignity of the 418 THE MODEHN ORATOB. law interposeth.' If the law, then, be thus severe in the interpretation of every penal proceeding, even down to an action for the killing of a hare or a partridge, are its constructions only to be enlarged and extended as to the statute of high treason, although the single object of passing it was to guard against constructions ? " Gentlemen, the reason of the thing is so palpably and invincibly in favour of this analogy, that it never met with a direct opposition. The Attorney-General himself distinctly admits it, in one part of his address to you, though he seems to deny it in another. I hope that when I state one part of his speech to be in diametrical opposition to another, he will not suppose that I attribute the inconsistency to any defect, either in his under- standing or his heart ; far from it — they arise, I am convinced, from some of the authorities not being sufficiently understood. "In the beginning of his speech he admits that the evidence must be satis- factory and convincing as to the intention ; but in the latter part he seems, as it were, to take off the effect of that admission. I wish to give you the very words, I took them down at the time ; and if I do not state them correctly, I desire to be corrected. ' I most distinctly disavow,' said my honourable friend, ' every case of construction. I most distinctly disavow any like case of treason not within the letter of the statute. I most dis- tinctly disavow cumulative treason. I most distinctly disavow enhancing guilt by parity of reason. The question undoubtedly is, whether the proof be full and satisfactory to your reasons and consciences, that the prisoner is guilty of the treason of compassing the King's death.' Gentlemen, I hope that this will always with equal honour be admitted. Now, let us see how the rest of the learned gentleman's speech falls in with this. For he goes on to say, that it is by no means necessary that the distinct, specific intention should pre-exist the overt act. ' If the overt act,' says he, ' be deliberately committed, it is a compassing.' But hoAV so, if the intention be admitted to be the treason ? What benefit is obtained by the rigorous demand of the statute, that the compassing of the King's death shall be charged by the in- dictment as the crime, if a crime different, or short of it, can be substituted for it in the proof? And how can the statute of Richard the Second be said to be repealed, which made it high treason to compass to depose the King, independently of intention upon his life, if the law shall declare, not- withstanding the repeal, that they are synonymous terms, and that the one conclusively involves the other ? " Gentlemen, if we examine the most prominent cases which have come in judgment before judges of the most unquestionable authority, and, after the constitution had become fixed, you will find everything that I have been saying to you justified and confirmed. " The first great state trial, after the Revolution, was the case of Sir John Friend, a conspirator in the assassination plot.* Sir John Friend was * In 1695, the year after the death of Queen Mary, which event it was considered would considerably weaken the authority of the King (William III.), several of the LORD ERSKINE. 419 indicted for compassing and imagining the death of King William ; and the overt acts charged, and principally relied on, were, first, the sending Mr. Charnock into France to King James, to desire him to persuade the French King to send forces over to Great Britain, to levy war against, and to depose the King, and that Mr. Charnock was actually sent ; and, secondly, the preparing men to be levied to form a corps to assist in the restoration of the Pretender, and the expulsion of King William, of which Sir John Friend was to be the colonel. In this case, if the proofs were not to be wholly discredited, and the overt acts were consequently established, they went rationally to convince the mind of every man of the pre-existing intention to destroy the King. The conspiracy was not to do an act which, though it might lead eventually and speculatively to the King's death, might not be foreseen or designed by those who conspired together : the conspiracy was not directed to an event probably leading to another and a different one, and from the happening of which second, a third still different might be en- gendered, which third might again lead in its consequences to a fourth state of things, which might, in the revolution of events, bring on the death of the King, though never compassed or imagined : Friend's conspiracy, on the contrary, had for its direct and immediate object, the restoration of the Pre- tender^* to the throne, by the junction of foreign and rebellious force. In my opinion (and I am not more disposed than others to push things beyond their mark in the administration of criminal justice), Sir John Friend, if the evidence against him found credit with the Jury, could have no possible de- fence ; since the evidence went directly to prove the despatch of Charnock to France, under his direction, to invite the French King to bring over the Pretender into England, and to place him on the throne. The intention, therefore, of Sir John Friend to cut off King William, was a clear inference from the overt act in question ; not an inference of law for the Court, but of fact for the Jury, under the guidance of plain common sense ; because the consequence of the Pretender's regaining the throne, must have been the attainder of King William by Act of Parliament. Some gentlemen seem to look as if they thought not ; but I should be glad to hear the position contradicted. I repeat, that if the Pretender had been restored, as King of England, the legal consequence would have been, that King William would have been a traitor and an usurper, and subject, as such, to be tried at the Old Bailey, or wherever else the King, who took his place, thought fit to bring him to judgment. From these premises, therefore, there could be no Jacobites conspired to seize his person, and convey him to France, and, in case of re- sistance, to assassinate him ; and messengers were sent to St. Germain's, where James II. was then staying, under the protection of the French Government, to de- mand a commission for the purpose (which was, however, refused), and to make arrangements for a descent upon England. The principal parties connected with this conspiracy were, the Earl of Aylesbury, Lord Montgomery, Sir John Fenwick, Sir John Friend, Capt. Charnock, Capt. Porter, and Mr. Goodman. * This title is generally applied to the Chevalier De St. George, the son of James, and not to James II. himself while in exile. 420 THE MODERN ORATOH. difficulty of inferring the intention ; and, therefore, if ever a case existed where, from the clearness of the inference, the province of the Jury might have been overlooked, and the overt act confounded with the treason, it was in the instance of Friend ; but so far was this from being the case, that yoa will find, on the contrary, everything I have been saying to you, since I began to address you, summed up and confirmed by that most eminent magistrate, Lord Chief Justice Holt, who presided upon that trial. " He begins thus : — ' Gentlemen of the Jury, look ye, the treason that is mentioned in the indictment is conspiring, compassing, and imagining the death of the King. To prove the conspiracy and design of the King's death, two principal overt acts are insisted on.'' He does not consider the overt act of conspiracy and consultation to be the treason, but evidence (as it undoubtedly was in that case) to prove the compassing the death. The Chief Justice then states the two overt acts above mentioned, and sums up the evidence for and against the prisoner, and leaves the intention to the Jury as matter of fact. For it is not till afterwards that he comes to answer the prisoner's objection in point of law, as the Chief Justice in terms puts it — ' There is another thing,' said Lord Chief Justice Holt, ' he did insist upon, and that is matter of law. The statute 2,5th Edward the Third was read, which is the great statute about treason, and that does contain divers species of treason, and declares what shall be treason : one treason is the compassing and imagining the death of the King ; another is the levying war. Now says he' (that is. Friend), 'here is no war actually levied ; and a bare con- spiracy to levy war, does not come within the law against treason.' To pause here a little : Friend's argument was this — Whatever my intentions might be — whatever my object of levying war might have been — whatever might have been my design to levy it — however the destruction of the King might have been effected by my conspiracy, if it had gone on — and however it might have been my intention that it should, — it is not treason within the 25th of Edward the Third. To which Holt replied, a little incorrectly in language, but right in substance — ' Now for that I must tell you, if there be only a conspiracy to levy war, it is not treason ;' that is, it is not a substantive treason : it is not a treason in the abstract. ' But if the design and conspi- racy be either to kill the King, or to depose him, or imprison him, or put any force or restraint upon him,' that is, personal restraint by force, ' and the way of effecting these purposes is by levying a war : there the conspiracy and consultation, to levy war for that purpose, is high treason, though no war be levied : for such consultation and conspiracy is an overt act proving the compassing the death of the King.' But what sort of war is it, the bare conspiracy to levy which, is an overt act to prove a design against the King's life, though no war be actually levied ? Gentlemen, Lord Holt himself illus- trates this matter so clearly, that if I had anything at stake short of the honour and life of the prisoner, I might sit down as soon as I had read it : for if one did not know it to be an extract from an ancient trial, one would say it was admirably and accurately written for the present purpose. It is a LORD ERSKINE. 421 sort of prophetic bird's-eye view of what we are engaged in at this moment : * There may be war levied (continues Lord Holt in Friend's case) without any design upon the King's person, which, if actually levied^ is high treason, though purposing and designing such a levying of war is not so. As, for ex- ample : if persons do assemble themselves, and act with force, in opposition to some law, and hope thereby to get it repealed ; this is a levying war, and treason, though the purposing and designing of it is not so. So when they endeavour, in great numbers, with force, to make reformation of their own heads, without pursuing the methods of the law, that is a levying war, but the purpose and designing is not so. But if there be, as I told you, a purpose and design to destroy the King, and' (not or to depose him, but and to depose him) ' to depose him from his throne, which is proposed and designed to be effected by war that is to be levied ; such a conspiracy and consultation to levy war for the bringing this to pass' (that is, for bringing the King's death to pass) 'is an overt act of high treason. So that. Gentlemen, as to that objection which he makes, in point of law, it is of no force, if there be evidence sufiicient to convince you that .he did conspire to levy war for such an end.' And he concludes by again leaving the inten- tion expressly to the Jury. " It is the end, therefore, for which the war is to be levied, and not the conspiracy to do any act which the law considers as a levying of war, that constitutes an overt act of treason against the King's life. The most rebel- lious movements towards a reform in Government^ not directed against the King's person^ will not, according to Lord Holt, support the charge before you. — I might surround the House of Commons with fifty thousand men, for the express purpose of forcing them, by duress, to repeal any law that is offensive to me, or to pass a bill for altering elections, without being a possible object of this prosecution. — Under the other branch of the statute, I might indeed be convicted of levying war, but not of compassing the King's death ; and if I only conspired and meditated this rising to repeal laws by rebellion, I could be convicted of nothing but a high misdemeanour. I would give my friends the case upon a special verdict, and let them hang me if they could. How much more might I give it them if the conspiracy imputed was not to effect a reform by violence, but, as in the case before us, by pamphlets and speeches, which might produce universal suffrage, which universal suffrage might eat out and destroy Aristocracy, which destruction might lead to the fall of Monarchy, and, in the end, to the death of the King. Gentlemen, if the cause were not too serious, I should liken it to the play with which we amuse our chil- dren : this is the cow with the crumpled horn, which gored the dog, that worried the cat, that ate the rat, &c., ending in the house which Jack built. " I do, therefore, maintain, upon the express authority of Lord Holt, that, to convict a prisoner, charged with this treason, it is absolutely necessary that you should be satisfied of his intention against the King's life, as charged in the indictment, and that no design against the King's government will even be a legal overt act to be left to a jury as the evidence of such an 422 THE MODEKN ORATOK. intention (mucli less the substantive and consummate treason), unless the conspiracy be directly pointed against the person of the King. The case of Lord George Gordon is opposed to this as a high and modern decision ; and the Attorney-general descended, indeed, to a very humble and lowly autho- rity, when he sought to maintain his argument by my own speech, as counsel for that unfortunate person. The passage of it alluded to lies at this moment before me ; and I shall repeat it, and re-maintain it to-day. But let it first be recollected, that Lord George Gordon was not indicted for compassing or imagining 'the King's death, under the first branch of the statute, but for levying war under the second.* It never, indeed, entered into the conception of any man living, that such an indictment could have been maintained, or attempted against him : I appeal to one of your lordships now present, for whose learning and capacity I have the greatest and highest respect, and who sat upon that trial, that it was not insinuated from the bar, much less ad- judged by the Court, that the evidence had any bearing upon the first branch of treason. I know that I may safely appeal to Mr. Justice Buller for the truth of this assertion ; and nothing, surely, in the passage from my address to the Jury, has the remotest allusion to assimilate a conspiracy against the King's Government (collateral to his person) with a treason against his life. My words were if ' 7b compass or imagine the death of the King ; such imagination, or purpose of the mind, visible only to its great Author, being manifested by some open act ; an institution obviously directed, not only to the security of his natural person, but to the stability of the Government ; the life of the Prince being so interwoven with the constitution of the State, that an attempt to destroy the one, is justly held to be a rebellious conspi- racy against the other.' *' What is this, but to say that the King's sacred life is guarded by higher sanctions than the ordinary laws, because of its more inseparable connexion with the public security, and that an attempt to destroy it is, therefore, made treason against the State ? But the Attorney-general is, I am sure, too cor- rect in his logic to say, that the converse of the proposition is, therefore, maintained, and that an attack upon the King's authority, without design upon his person, is affirmed by the same expression to be treason against his life. His correct and enlarged mind is incapable of such confusion of ideas. " But it is time to quit what fell from me upon this occasion, in order to examine the judgment of the Court, and to clothe myself with the authority of that great and venerable magistrate, whose memory will always be dear to me, not only from the great services he rendered to his country in the administration of her justice, bnt on account of the personal regard and reverence I had for him when living. " Lord Mansfield, in delivering the law to the Jury upon Lord George Gordon's trial (I appeal to the trial itself, and to Mr. Justice Buller, now * See Introduction to Speech in defence of Lord George Gordon, ante p. 266. t See ante p. 269. LOBD ERSKINE. 423 present, who agreed in the judgment), expressly distinguished between the safety provided for the King's natural person, by the first branch of the statute, and the security of his executive power under the second. That great judge never had an idea that the natural person of the King, and the majesty of the King, were the same thing, nor that the treasons against them were synonymous ; he knew, on the contrary, for he knew all that was to be known, that as substantive crimes they never had been blended. I will read his own words : ' There are two kinds of levying war : — one against the person of the King ; to imprison, to dethrone, or to kill him ; or to make him change measures, or remove counsellors : — the other, which is said to be levied against the majesty of the King, or, in other words, against him in his regal capacity ; as when a multitude rise and assemble to attain by force and violence any object of a general public nature ; that is levying war against the majesty of the King; and most reasonably so held, because it tends to dissolve all the bonds of society, to destroy property, and to overturn Government ; and, by force of arms, to restrain the King from reigning according to law.' But then observe. Gentlemen, the war must be actually levied ; and here, again, I appeal to Mr. Justice BuUer, for the words of Lord Mansfield, expressly referring for what he said to the authority of Lord Holt, in Sir John Friend's case, already cited : ' Lord Chief Justice Holt, in Sir John Friend's case, says: — 'If persons do assemble themselves and act with force, in opposition to some law which they think inconvenient, and hope thereby to get it repealed, this is a levying war. and treason.'—' In the present case it don't rest upon an implication that they hoped by opposition to a law to get it repealed; but the prosecution proceeds upon the direct ground, that the object was, by force and violence, to compel the Legislature to repeal a law ; and. therefore, without any doubt, I tell you the joint opinion of us all, that, if this multitude assembled with intent, hy acts of force and violence, to compel the Legislature to repeal a law, it is high treason.' " Let these words of Lord Mansfield be taken down, and then show me the man, let his rank and capacity be what they may, who can remove me from the foundation on which I stand, when I maintain that a conspiracy to levy war for the objects of reformation, is not only not the high treason charged by this indictment, when not directly pointed against the King's person, but that even the actual levying it would not amount to the constitution of the crime. But this is the least material part of Lord Mansfield's judgment, as applicable to the present question ; for he expressly considers the intention of the prisoner, whatever be the act of treason alleged against him, to be all in all. So far from holding the probable, or even inevitable, consequence of the thing done as constituting the quality of the act, he pronounces them to be nothing as separated from the criminal design to produce them. Lord George Gordon assembled an immense multitude around the House of Com- mons ; a system so opposite to that of the persons accused before this com- mission, that it appears from the evidence they would not even allow a man to come amongst them, because he had been Lord George's attorney. The 424 THE MODERN ORATOR. Lords and Commons were absolutely blockaded in the chambers of Parlia- ment ; and if control was the intention of the prisoner, it must be wholly immaterial what were the deliberations that were to be controlled ; whether it was the continuance of Roman Catholics under penal laws, the repeal of the septennial act, or a total change of the structure of the House of Com- mons, that was the object of violence, the attack upon the legislature of the country would have been the same. That the multitude were actually assembled round the Houses, and brought there by the prisoner, it was impossible for me as his counsel even to think of denying ; nor that their tumultuous proceedings were not in effect productive of great intimidation, and even danger, to the Lords and Commons, in the exercise of their autho- rity ; neither did I venture to question the law, that the assembling the mul- titude for that 'purpose, was levying war within the statute. Upon these facts, therefore, applied to the doctrines we have heard upon this trial, there would have been nothing in Lord George Gordon's case to try ; he must have been instantly, without controversy, convicted. But Lord Mansfield did not say to the Jury (according to the doctrines that have been broached here), that if they found the multitude, assembled by the prisoner, were in fact palpably intimidating and controlling the Parliament in the exercise of their functions, he was guilty of high treason, whatever his intentions might have been. He did not tell them that the inevitable consequence of assembling a hundred thousand people round the Legislature, being a control on their proceedings, was therefore a levying war ; though collected from folly and rashness, without the intention of violence or control. If this had been the doctrine of Lord Mansfield, there would, as I said before, have been nothing to try ; for I admitted, in terms, that his conduct was the extremity of rash- ness, and totally inconsistent with his rank in the country, and his station as a member of the House of Commons. But the venerable magistrate never for a moment lost sight of the grand ruling principle of criminal justice, that crimes can have no seat but in the mind ; and upon the prisoner's intention, and upon his intention alone, he expressly left the whole matter to the Jury, with the following directions, which I shall read verbatim from the Trial : * Having premised these several propositions and principles, the subject matter for your consideration naturally resolves itself into two points : — " ' First, Whether this multitude did assemble and commit acts of vio- lence, with intent to terrify and compel the Legislature to repeal the act called Sir George Saville's. If upon this point your opinion should be in the negative, that makes an end of the whole, and the prisoner ought to be acquitted : but if your opinion should be that the intent of this multitude, and the violence they committed, was to force a repeal, there arises a second point — " ' Whether the prisoner at the bar incited, encouraged, promoted, or assisted in raising this insurrection, and the terror they carried with them, with the INTENT of forcing a repeal of this law. " ' Upon these two points, which you will call your attention to, depends LORD EESKIIiF. 425 the fate of this trial ; for if either the multitude had no such intent, or sup- posing they had, if the prisoner was no cause, did not excite, and took no part in conducting, counselling, or fomenting the insurrection, the prisoner ought to be acquitted ; and there is no pretence that he personally concurred in any act of violence.' " I therefore consider the case of Lord George Gordon as a direct autho- rity in my favour. " To show that a conspiracy to depose the King, independently of ulterior intention against his life, is high treason within the statute, the Attorney- general next supposes that traitors had conspired to depose King William, but still to preserve him as Stadtholder in Holland, and asks whether that conspiracy would not be a compassing his death. To that question I answer, that it would not have been a compassing the death of King Wil- liam, provided the conspirators could have convinced the Jury that their firm and hondfide intention was to proceed no further, and that, under that belief and impression, the Jury (as they lawfully might) had negatived, by their finding, the fact of the intention against the King's natural existence. I have no doubt at all that, upon such a finding, no judgment of treason could be pronounced ; but the difficulty would be to meet with a jury who, upon the bare evidence of such a conspiracy, would find such a verdict. There might be possible circumstances to justify such a negative of the intention, but they must come from the prisoner. In such a case the Crown would rest upon the conspiracy to depose, which would be 'prima facie and cogent evidence of the compassing, and leave the hard task of rebutting it on the defendant : I say the hard task, because the case put is of a direct rebellious force, acting against the King ; not only abrogating his authority, but im- prisoning, and expelling his person from the kingdom. I am not seeking to abuse the reasons and consciences of Juries in the examination of facts, but am only resisting the confounding them with arbitrary propositions of law. " Gentlemen, I hope I have now a right to consider that the existence of the high treason charged against the unfortunate man before you, is a matter of fact for your consideration upon the evidence. To establish this point has been the scope of all that you have been listening to with so much indulgence and patience. It was my intention to have further supported myself, by a great many authorities, which I have been laboriously extracting from the difierent books of the law ; but I find I must pause here, lest I consume my strength in this preliminary part of the case, and leave the rest defective. " Gentlemen, the persons named in the indictment are charged with a conspiracy to subvert the rule, order, and government of this country ; and it is material that you should observe most particularly the means by which it alleges this purpose was to be accomplished. The charge is not of a con- spii'acy to hold the Convention in Scotland,* which was actually held there ; nor of the part they took in its actual proceedings ; but the overt act, to * See Introduction to Mr, Sheridan's Speech, ante p. 19 L 426 THE MODERN OEATOK. which all the others are subsidiary and subordinate, is a supposed conspiracy to hold a convention in England, which never in fact was held ;* and conse- quently all the vast load of matter which it has been decided you should hear, that does not immediately connect itself with the charge in question, is only laid before you — as the Court has repeatedly expressed it — to prove that, in point of fact, such proceedings were had, the quality of which is for your judgment ; and as far, and as far only, as they can be connected with the prisoner, and the act which he stands charged with, to be left to you, as evidence of the intention with which the holding of the second Convention was projected. " This intention is therefore the whole cause — for the charge is not the agreement to hold a convention, which it is notorious, self-evident, and even admitted, that they intended to hold ; but the agreement to hold it for the purpose alleged, of assuming all the authority of the state, and in fulfilment of the main intention against the life of the King. Unless, therefore, you can collect this double intention from the evidence before you, the indictment is not maintained. " Gentlemen, the charge being of a conspiracy, which, if made out in point of fact, involved beyond all controversy, and within the certain knowledge of the conspirators, the lives of every soul that was engaged in it; the firs^' observation which I shall make to you (because in reason it ought to precede all others) is, that every act done by the prisoners, and every sentence written by them, in the remotest degree connected with the charge, or offered in evidence to support it, were done and written in the public face of the world : — the transactions which constitute the whole body of the proof, were not those of a day, but in regular series for two years together ; they were not the peculiar transaction of the prisoners, but of immense bodies of the King's subjects, in various parts of the kingdom, assembled without the smallest reserve, and giving to the public, through the channel of the daily newspapers, a minute and regular journal of their whole proceedings. Not a syllable have we heard read, in the week's imprisonment we have suffered, that we had not all of us read for months and months before the prosecution was heard of ; and which, if we are not sufficiently satiated, we may read again upon the file of every coffee-house in the kingdom. It is admitted distinctly by the Crown, that a reform in the House of Commons is the os- tensible purpose of all the proceedings laid before you ; and that the attain- ment of that object only, is the grammatical sense of the great body of the written evidence. It rests therefore with the Crown, to show by legal proof that this ostensible purpose, and the whole mass of correspondence upon the table, was only a cloak to conceal a hidden machination, to subvert by force the entire authorities of the kingdom, and to assume them to themselves. Whether a reform of parliament be a wise or an unwise expedient ; whether, if it were accomplished, it would ultimately be attended with benefits, or * See the Indictment^ ante p. 396. LORD ERSKJNE. 427 dangers, to the country, I will not undertake to investigate, and for this plain reason : because it is wholly foreign to the subject before us. But when we are trying the integrity of men's intentions, and are examining whether their complaints of defects in the representation of the House of Commons be hondjide, or only a mere stalking-horse for treason and rebellion, it be- comes a most essential inquiry, whether they be the first who have uttered these complaints ; whether they have taken up notions for the first time, which never occurred to others ; and whether, in seeking to interfere practi- cally in an alteration of the constitution, they have manifested, by the novelty of their conduct, a spirit inconsistent with afiection for the Government, and subversive of its authority. Gentlemen, I confess for one (for I think the safest way of defending a person for his life before an enlightened tribunal, is to defend him ingenuously), I confess for one, that if the defects in the constitution of Parliament, which are the subject of the writings, and the foundation of all the proceedings before you, had never occurred to other persons at other times, or, if nqt new, they had only existed in the history of former conspiracies, I should be afraid you would suspect, at least, that the authors of them were plotters of mischief. In such a case I should naturally expect that you would ask yourselves this question — Why should it occur to the prisoner at the bar, and to a few others in the year 1794, immediately after an important revolution in another country, to find fault, on a sudden, with a constitution which had endured for ages, without the imputation of defect, and which no good subject had ever thought of touching with the busy hand of reformation ? I candidly admit that such a question would occur to the mind of every reasonable man, and could admit no favourable answer. But surely this admission entitles me, on the other hand, to the concession, that if, in comparing their writings, and examining their con- duct with the writings and conduct of the best and most unsuspected persons in the best and most unsuspected times, we find them treading in the paths which have distinguished their highest superiors ; if we find them only ex- posing the same defects, and pursuing the same or similar courses for their removal, — it would be the height of wickedness and injustice to torture expressions, and pervert conduct, into treason and rebellion, which had recently lifted up others to the love of the nation, to the confidence of the Sovereign, and to all the honours of the state. The natural justness of this reasoning is so obvious, that we have only to examine the fact ; and, consi- dering under what auspices the prisoners are brought before you, it may be fit that I should set out with reminding you, that the great Earl of Chatham began and established the fame and glory of his life upon the very caused" which my unfortunate clients were engaged in, and that he left it as an inhe- ritance to the present Minister of the Crown, as the foundation of his fame and glory after himf ; and his fame and glory were accordingly raised upon * See Speech of Lord Chatham, ante p. 47, on the necessity of Parliamentary Reform, t Mr Pitt, who, on his first entry on political life, strenuously advocated Parlia- mentary Reform. 2 G 428 THE MODEEK OEATOK. it ; and if the Crown's evidence had been carried as far back as it might have been (for the institution of only one of the two London Societies is before us), you would have found that the Constitutional Society owed its earliest credit with the country, if not its very birth, to the labour of the present Minister,^ and its professed principles to his Grace the Duke of Richmond, high also in his Majesty's present councils,! whose plan of reform has been clearly established by the whole body of the written evidence, and by every witness examined for the Crown, to have been the type and model of all the societies in the supposed conspiracy, and uniformly acted upon in form and in sub- stance by the prisoner before you, up to the very period of his confinement. " Gentlemen, the Duke of Richmond's plan was universal sufirage and annual Parliaments ; and urged, too, with a boldness, which, when the com- parison comes to be made, will leave in the background the strongest figures in the writings on the table. I do not say this sarcastically ; I mean to speak with the greatest respect of his Grace, both with regard to the wisdom and integrity of his conduct ; for although I have always thought in politics with the illustrious person whose letter was read to you ; although I think, with Mr. Fox, that annual Parliaments and universal suifrage would be no- thing like an improvement in the constitution ; yet I confess, that I find it easier to say so than to answer the Duke of Richmond's arguments on the subject ; and I must say besides, speaking of his Grace from a long personal knowledge, which begun when I was counsel for his relation Lord Keppel,J that, independently of his illustrious rank, which secures him against the im- putation of trifling with its existence, he is a person of an enlarged under- standing, of extensive reading, and of much reflection ; and that his book cannot, therefore, be considered as the efiusion of rashness and folly, but as the well-weighed, though perhaps erroneous, conclusions drawn from the actual condition of our afiairs, viz., that without a speedy and essential re- form in Parliament (and there my opinion goes along with him) the very being of the country, as a great nation, would be lost. This plan of the Duke of Richmond was the grand mainspring of every proceeding we have to deal with ; you have had a great number of loose conversations reported from societies, on which no reliance can be had : sometimes they have been garbled by spies, sometimes misrepresented by ignorance ; and even, if correct, have frequently been the extravagances of unknown individuals, not even uttered in the presence of the prisoner, and totally unconnected with any design ; for whenever their proceedings are appealed to, and their real object^ examined, by living members of them, brought before you by the Crown, to testify them under the most solemn obligations of truth, they appear to have been following, in form and in substance, the plans adopted * See ante note, p. 380. f Master- General of the Ordnance. X In the early part of the year 1779, Mr. Erskine appeared as counsel for Admiral Keppel, who was tried by a court-martial on charges preferred against him by Sir Hugh Palliser, respecting his conduct in the partial and unsatisfactory action with the Trench fleet off Ushant, and honourably acquitted. XORD ERSKINE. 429 within our memories, not only by the Duke of Richmond, but by hundreds of the most eminent men in the kingdom. The Duke of Richmond formally published his plan of reform in the year 1780, in a letter to Lieutenant- Colonel Sharman,** who was, at that time, practically employed upon the same object in Ireland ; and this is a most material part of the case ; because you are desired to believe, that the terms Convention and Delegates, and the holding the one, and sending the other, were all collected from what had recently happened in France, and were meant as the formal introduction of her republican constitution : but they who desire you to believe all this, do not believe it themselves ; because they know certainly — and it has, indeed, already been proved by their own witnesses — that conventions of reformers were held in Ireland, and delegates regularly sent to them, whilst France was under the dominion of her ancient government. They knew full well that Colonel Sharman, to whom the Duke's letter was addressed, was, at that very moment, supporting a convention in Ireland, at the head of ten thousand men in arms, for the defence of their country, without any commission from the King, any more than poor Franklow had, who is now in Newgate for regimenting sixty. These volunteers asserted and saved the liberties of Ireland ; and the King would, at this day, have had no more subjects in Ireland than he now has in America, if they had been treated as traitors to the government. It was never imputed to Colonel Sharman and the volun- teers, that they were in rebellion ; yet they had arms in their hands, which the prisoners never dreamed of having ; whilst a grand general convention was actually sitting under their auspices at the Royal Exchange of Dublin, at- tended by regular delegates from all the counties in Ireland.f And who were these delegates ? I will presently tear off their names from this paper, * In this letter, and also in an address to the county of Sussex, the Duke as- serted, that it was vain for the people to look to the House of Commons for redress ; that they could find it only in themselves ; that they ought to assert their right, and not to desist till they should have established a House of Commons truly repre- senting every man in the kingdom. t The origin and history of the volunteer forces in Ireland appears to have been this : — The regular troops had been so reduced by the war with America in the course of the year 1779, that it was found impracticable to send a suificient force for the pro- tection of Ireland, which was, at that time, threatened with a French invasion ; and the public revenue being at the same time in so exhausted a condition as to preclude the calling out of the militia, a general authority was given by Government for the people to arm in their own defence. Ireland quickly obeyed the summons, and, in a very short time, volunteer associations were formed, and the whole nation was in arms, many of the different corps being under the command of the popular leaders of the time, who afterwards took advantage of the additional influence they thus acquired in promoting their political views. In 1784, after the failure of the attempt to establish a commercial intercourse between England and Ireland, a feeling of hostility towards this country was encouraged by the volunteers, and a general meeting was called by them at Dublin, on June 7th, for the professed purpose of procuring Parliamentary Reform. At this meeting it was agreed, " that five persons should be elected from each county, city, and large town, to meet at Dublin, on the 25th of October, in National 2 G 2 430 THE MODERN OUATOE. and hand it to you. They were the greatest, the best, and proudest names in Ireland ; men who had the wisdom to reflect (before it was too late for reflection) that greatness is not to be supported by tilting at inferiors, till, by the separation of the higher from the lower orders of mankind, every distinction is swept away in the tempest of revolution ; but in the happy harmonisation of the whole community — by conferring upon the people their rights — sure of receiving the auspicious return of afiection, and of insuring the stability of the government, which is erected upon that just and na- tural basis. Gentlemen, they who put this tortured construction on conven- tions and delegates, know also that repeated meetings of reforming societies, both in England and Scotland, had assumed about the same time the style of conventions, and had been attended by regular delegates, long before the phrase had, or could have, any existence in France ; and that upon the very model of these former associations, a formal convention was actually sitting at Edinburgh, with the Lord Chief Baron of Scotland in the chair, for pro- moting a reform in Parliament, at the very moment the Scotch convention, following its example, assumed that title. " To return to this letter of the Duke of Richmond : It was written to Colonel Sharman, in answer to a letter to his Grace, desiring to know his plan of reform, which he accordingly communicated by the letter which is in evidence ; and which plan was neither more nor less than that adopted by the prisoners, of surrounding Parliament (unwilling to reform its own cor- ruptions), not by armed men, or by importunate multitudes, but by the still and universal voice of a whole people claiming their known and unalienable rights. This is so precisely the plan of the Duke of Richmond, that I have almost borrowed his expressions. His Grace says, ' The lesser reform has been attempted with every possible advantage in its favour ; not only from the zealous support of the advocates for a more efi'ectual one, but from the assistance of men of great weight, both in and out of power. But with all these temperaments and helps it has failed. Not one proselyte has been gained from corruption, nor has the least ray of hope been held out from any quarter, that the House of Commons was inclined to adopt any other mode of reform. The weight of corruption has crushed this more gentle, as it would have defeated any more efiicacious plan in the same circumstances. From that quarter, therefore, I have nothing to hope. It is riiOM the PEOPLE AT LAUGE THAT I EXPECT ANY GOOD : and I am couvinccd that Congress.'^ In pursuance of this resolution, the Sheriffs of the City of Dublin sum- moned a meeting to elect the delegates; but, on being informed by the Attorney- general of the illegality of the proceedings, they dissolved the Assembly. The Sheriff of the County of Dublin, and other magistrates who had presided at meetings for the same object, were prosecuted by Government, and punished by fine and imprisonment, as also were the printers and publishers of newspapers containing reports of the resolutions. The meeting, however, took place on the day appointed ; but very few delegates attended, and, after two adjournments, the Congress published their resolu- tions, and finally dissolved ; and with it expired the influence of the volunteers. LORD ERSKINE. 431 the only way to make them feel that they are really concerned in the business, is to contend for their full, clear, and indisputable rights of uni- versal representation.' Now, how does this doctrine apply to the defence of the prisoner ? I maintain that it has the most decisive application ; because this book has been put into the hands of the Crown witnesses, who have one and all of them recognised it, and declared it to have been, bond fide ^ the plan which they pursued. " But are the Crown's witnesses worthy of credit ? If they are not, let us return home, since there is no evidence at all, and the cause is over. All the guilt, if any there be, proceeds from their testimony ; if they are not to be believed, they have proved nothing ; since the Crown cannot force upon you that part of the evidence which suits its purpose, and ask you to reject the other which does not. The witnesses are either entirely credible, or un- deserving of all credit, and I have no interest in the alternative. This is precisely the state of the cause. For, with regard to all the evidence that is written, let it never be forgotten, that it is not upon me to defend my clients against it, but for the Crown to extract from it the materials of accusation. They do not contend that the treason is upon the surface of it, but in the latent intention ; which intention must, therefore, be supported by extrinsic proof ; but which is, nevertheless, directly negatived and beat down by every witness they have called, leaving them nothing but commentaries and criti- cisms against both fact and language, to which, for the present, I shall con- tent myself with replying in the authoritative language of the court, in the earliest stage of their proceedings : — " ' If there be ground to consider the professed purpose of any of these associations, a reform in Parliament, as mere colour, and as a pretext held out in order to cover deeper designs — designs against the whole constitution and government of the country ; the case of those embarked in such designs is that which I have already considered. Whether this be so or not is mere matter of fact ; as to which I shall only remind you, that an inquiry into a charge of this nature, which undertakes to make out that the ostensible pur- pose is a mere veil, under which is concealed a traitorous conspiracy, requires cool and deliberate examination, and the most attentive consideration ; and that the result should be perfectly clear and satisfactory. In the aifairs of common life, no man is justified in imputing to another a meaning contrary to what he himself expresses, but upon the fullest evidence.' To this (though it requires nothing to support it, either in reason or authority) I de- sire to add the direction of Lord Chief Justice Holt to the Jury, on the trial of Sir William Perkyns -.^ — * Sir "William Perkyns was a violent Jacobite, and a party not only in the con- spiracy for the restoration of James, mentioned ante p. 416 note, but also in a plot for the assassination of King William, on the road between Richmond and Turaham Green. The plot was discovered through some of the unilerlings, who were to aid in the attempt on the King's life, and Sir William Perkyns was tried for treason, and executed at Tyburn. 432 THE MODERN ORATOR. " ' Gentlemen, it is not fit that there should be any strained or forced construction put upon a man's actions when he is tried for his life. You ought to have a full and satisfactory evidence that he is guilty, before you pronounce him so.' " In this assimilation of the writings of the societies to the writings of the Duke of Richmond and others, I do not forget that it has been truly said by the Lord Chief Justice, in the course of this very cause, that ten or twenty men's committing crimes, furnishes no defence for other men in committing them. Certainly it does not ; and I fly to no such sanctuary ; but in trying the prisoner's intentions, and the intentions of those with whom he asso- ciated and acted, if I can show them to be only insisting upon the same principles that have distinguished the most eminent men for wisdom and virtue in the country, it will not be very easy to declaim or argue them into the pains of death, whilst our bosoms are glowing with admiration at the works of those very persons who would condemn them. " Gentlemen, it has been too much the fashion of late to overlook the genuine source of all human authority, but more especially totally to forget the character of the British House of Commons as a representative of the people. Whether this has arisen from that assembly's having itself forgotten it, would be indecent for me to inquire into or to insinuate ; but I shall preface the authorities which I mean to collect in support of the prisoner, with the opinion on that subject of a truly celebrated writer,^'' whom I wish to speak of mth great respect ; I should, indeed, be ashamed, particularly at this moment, to name him invidiously, whilst he is bending beneath the pressure of a domestic misfortune, which no man out of his own family laments more sincerely than I do. No difierence of opinion can ever make me forget to acknowledge the sublimity of his genius, the vast reach of his understanding, and his universal acquaintance with the histories and con- stitutions of nations ; I also disavow the introduction of the writings, with the view of involving the author in any apparent inconsistencies, which would tend, indeed, to defeat rather than to advance my purpose. I stand here to-day to claim at your hands a fair and charitable interpretation of human conduct, and I shall not set out with giving an example of uncha- ritableness. A man may have reason to change his opinions, or perhaps the defect may be in myself, who collect that they are changed ; I leave it to God to judge of the heart — my wish is that Christian charity may prevail ; — that the public harmony, which has been lost, may be restored ; — that all England may re-unite in the bonds of love and affection ; and that, when the Court is broken up by the acquittal of the prisoners, all heart-burnings and animosities may cease ; — that, whilst yet we work in the light, we may try how we can save our country by a common effort ; and that, instead of shamelessly setting one-half of society against the other by the force of armed associations, and the terrors of courts of justice, our spirits and our * Mr. Burke, whose son was at the point of death. LORD ERSKINE. 433 strength may be combined in the glorious cause of our country. By this, I do not mean in the cause of the present war,* which I protest against as unjust, calamitous, and destructive ; but this is not the place for such a sub- ject, I only advert to it to prevent mistake or misrepresentation. "The history and character of the English House of Commons was for- merly thus described by Mr. Burke : ' The House of Commons was supposed originally to be no part of the standing government of this country, but was considered as a control issuing immediately from the people, and speedily to be resolved into the mass from whence it arose : in this respect it was in the higher part of Government what juries are in the lower. The capacity of a magistrate being transitory, and that of a citizen permanent, the latter capa- city, it was hoped, would, of course, preponderate in all discussions, not only between the people and the standing authority of the Crown, but between the people and the fleeting authority of the House of Commons itself. It was hoped, that, being of a middle nature, between subject and Government, they would feel, with a more tender and a nearer interest, everything that concerned the people, that the other remoter and more permanent parts of legislature. " ' Whatever alterations time and the necessary accommodation of business may have introduced, this character can never be sustained, unless the House of Commons shall be made to bear some stamp of the actual disposi- tion of the people at large ; it would (among public misfortunes) be an evil more natural and tolerable, that the House of Commons should be infected with every epidemical frenzy of the people, as this would indicate some con- sanguinity, some sympathy of nature with their constituents, than that they should, in all cases, be wholly untouched by the opinions and feelings of the people out of doors. By this want of sympathy, they would cease to be a House of Commons. " ' The virtue, spirit, and essence of a House of Commons, consists in its being the express image of the feelings of the nation. It was not insti- tuted to be a control upon the people, as of late it has been taught, by a doctrine of the most pernicious tendency, but as a control for the people.' " He then goes on to say, that to give a technical shape, a colour, dress, and duration, to popular opinion, is the true office of a House of Commons. Mr. Burke is unquestionably correct; — the control upon the people is the King's Majesty, and the hereditary privileges of the Peers ; the balance of the State is the control for the people upon both, in the existence of the House of Commons ; but how can that control exist for the people, imless they have the actual election of the House of Commons, which, it is most notorious, they have not ? I hold in my hand a state of the representation which, if the thing were not otherwise notorious, I would prove to have been lately offered in proof to the House of Commons, by an honourable * The war with France consequent on the execution of Louis XVI. See Speech of Mr. Sheridan on the subject, and notes, ante p. 163. 434 THE MODERN ORATOR. friend of mine now present,* whose motion I had the honour to second, where it appeared that twelve thousand people return near a majority of the House of Commons, and those, again, under the control of about two hundred. But though these facts were admitted, all redress, and even discussion, was refused. What ought to be said of a House of Commons that so conducts itself, it is not for me to pronounce ; I will appeal, therefore, to Mr. Burke, who says, ' that a House of Commons, which in ^all disputes between the people and Administration presumes against the people, which punishes their disorders, but refuses even to inquire into their provocations, is an unnatural, monstrous state of things in the constitution.' "But this is nothing.: Mr. Burke goes on afterwards to give a more full description of Parliament, and in stronger language (let the Solicitor- general f take it down for his reply), than any that has been employed by those who are to be tried at present as conspirators against its existence. I read the passage, to warn you against considering hard words against the House of Commons as decisive evidence of treason against the King. The passage is in a well-known work, called, 'Thoughts on the Causes of the present Discontents ;' and such discontents will always be present whilst their causes continue. The word present will apply just as well now, and much better than to the times when the honourable gentleman wrote his book ; J for we are now in the heart and bowels of another war, and groaning under its additional burdens. I shall, therefore, leave it to the learned gentleman, who is to reply, to show us what has happened since our author wrote, which renders the Parliament less Hable to the same observations now. " ' It must be always the wish of an unconstitutional statesman, that a House of Commons, who are entirely dependent upon him, should have every right of the people entirely dependent upon their pleasure. For it was soon discovered that the forms of a free, and the ends of an arbitrary government, were things not altogether incompatible. " ' The power of the Crown, almost dead and rotten as prerogative, has grown up anew, with much more strength and far less odium, under the name of influence : an influence which operated without noise and violence ; which converted the very antagonist into the instrument of power ; which contained in itself a perpetual principle of growth and renovation ; and which the distresses and the prosperity of the country equally tended to augment, was an admirable substitute for a prerogative, that, being only the offspring of antiquated prejudices, had moulded in its original stamina irresistible principles of decay and dissolution.' " What is this but saying that the House of Commons is a settled and * Mr. (afterwards Lord) Grey, who brought forward a motion of Reform, m the session of 1792, in consequence of the resolution of the Society of Friends, of which he and Mr. Erskine were members. See ante note, p. 199. f Sir John Mitford, afterwards Lord Eedesdale. % A.D. 1770. LORD EESKINE. 435 scandalous abuse fastened upon the people, instead of being an antagonist power for their protection ; an odious instrument of power in the hands of the Crown, instead of a popular balance against it ? Did Mr. Burke mean that the prerogative of the Crown, properly understood and exercised, was an antiquated prejudice ? Certainly not ; because his attachment to a properly balanced monarchy is notorious. Why, then, is it to be fastened upon the prisoners, that they stigmatise monarchy, when^they also exclaim only against its corruptions ? In the same manner, when he speaks of the abuses of Parliament, would it be fair to Mr. Burke to argue, from the strict legal meaning of the expression, that he included, in the cen- sure on Parliament, the King's person, or majesty, which is part of the Parliament ? In examining the work of an author you must collect the sense of his expressions from the subject he is discussing; and if he is writing of the House of Commons as it affects the structure and efficacy of the Govern- ment, you ought to understand the word Parliament so as to meet the sense and obvious meaning of the writer. Why, then, is this common justice refused to others ? Why is the word Parliament to be taken in its strictest and least obvious sense against a poor shoemaker,"^ or any plain tradesman at a Sheffield club, while it is interpreted in its popular, though less correct acceptation, in the works of the most distinguished scholar of the age ? Add to this, that the cases are not at all similar ; for Mr. Burke uses the word Parliament throughout, when he is speaking of the House of Commons ; without any concomitant words which convey an explanation, but the sense of his subject; whereas Parliament is fastened upon the prisoner as meaning something beyond the House of Commons, when it can have no possible meaning beyond it ; since from the beginning to the end it is joined with the words ' representation of the people.' The representation of the people in Parliament ! Does not this most palpably mean the House of Commons, when we know that the people have no representation in either of the other branches of the government ? " A letter has been read in evidence from Mr. Hardy to Mr. Fox, where he says their object was universal representation. Did Mr. Fox suppose, when he received this letter, that it was from a nest of republicans, clamouring publicly for an imiversal representative constitution like that of France ? If he had, would he have sent the answer he did, and agreed to present their petition ? They wrote also to the Society of the Friends of the People, and invited them to send delegates to the Convention. The Attorney- general, who has made honourable and candid mention of that body, will not suppose that it would have contented itself with refusing the invitation in terms of cordiality and regard, if, with all the knowledge they had of their transactions, they had conceived themselves to have been invited to the formation of a body which was to overrule and extinguish all the authorities of the State : yet, upon the perversion of these two terms. Parliament and Convention, * Hardy had been a shoemaker. 436 THE MODEKN OKATOE. against their natural interpretation, against a similar use of tliem by others^ and against the solemn explanation of them by the Crown's own witness, this whole fabric of terror and accusation stands for its support : letters, it seems, written to other people, are to be better understood by the gentlemen round this table, who never saw them till months after they were written, than by those to whom they were addressed and sent ; and no right interpre- tation, forsooth, is to be expected from writings when pursued in their regular series, but they are to be made distinct by binding them up in a large volume, alongside of others totally unconnected with them, and the very existence of whose authors was unknown to one another. " Twill now, Gentlemen, resume the reading of another part of Mr. Burke, and a pretty account it is of this same Parliament : ' They who will not con- form their conduct to the public good, and cannot support it by the preroga- tive of the Crown, have adopted a new plan. They have totally abandoned the shattered and old-fashioned fortress of prerogative, and made a lodgment in the stronghold of Parliament itself. If they have any evil design to which there is no ordinary legal power commensurate, they bring it into Parliament. There the whole is executed from the beginning to the end : and the power of obtaining their object absolute, and the safety in the pro- ceeding perfect ; no rules to confine, nor after-reckonings to terrify. For Parliament cannot, with any great propriety, punish others for things in which they themselves have been accomplices. Thus its control upon the executory power is lost.' " This is a proposition universal. It is not that the popular control was lost under this or that administration, but, generally, that the people have no control in the House of Commons. Let any man stand up and say that he disbelieves this to be the case ; I believe he would find nobody to believe him. Mr. Burke pursues the subject thus: 'The distempers of monarchy were the great subjects of apprehension and redress in the last century — in this, the distempers of Parliament.' Here the word Parliament, and the abuses belonging to it, are put in express opposition to the monarchy, and cannot, therefore, comprehend it ; the distempers of Parliament, then, are objects of serious apprehension and redress. What distempers ? Not of this or that year, but the habitual distempers of Parliament ; and then follows the nature of the remedy, which shows that the prisoners are not singular in thinking that it is by the voice of the people only that Parliament can be corrected. ' It is not in Parliament alone,' says Mr. Burke, ' that the remedy for Parliamentary disorders can be completed ; and hardly indeed can it begin there. Until a confidence in government is re-established, the people ought to be excited to a more strict and detailed attention to the conduct of their representatives. Standards for judging more systematically upon their conduct ought to be settled in the meetings of counties and corpo- rations, and frequent and correct lists of the voters in all important questions ought to be procured. By such means something may be done.' " It was the same sense of the impossibility of a reform in Parliament, LORD ERSKINE. 437 without a general expression of the wishes of the people, that dictated the Duke of Richmond's letter : all the petitions in 1780* had been rejected by Parliament. This made the Duke of Richmond exclaim, that from that quarter no redress was to be expected, and that from the people alone he expected any good ; and he, therefore, expressly invited them to claim and to assert an equal representation as their indubitable and unalienable birth- right — how to assert their rights, when Parliament had already refused them without even the hope, as the Duke expressed it, of listening to them any more ? Could the people's rights, under such circumstances, be asserted without rebellion ? Certainly they might ; for rebellion is, when bands of men within a state oppose themselves by violence to the general will, as ex- pressed or implied by the public authority ; but the sense of a lohole people, peaceably collected, and operating by its natural and certain effect upon the public councils, is not rebellion, but is paramount to, and the parent of, authority itself. " Gentlemen, I am neither vindicating, nor speaking, the language of in- flammation or discontent : I shall speak nothing that can disturb the order of the state ; I am full of devotion to its dignity and tranquillity, and would not for worlds let fall an expression in this or in any other place that could lead to disturbance or disorder : but for that very reason, I speak with firmness of THE KiGHTs OF THE PEOPEE, and am auxious for the redress of their com- plaints ; because I believe a system of attention to them to be a far better security and establishment of every part of the government, than those that are employed to preserve them. The state and government of a country rest for their support on the great body of the people ; and I- hope never to hear it repeated in any Court of Justice, that peaceably to convene the people upon the subject of their own privileges, can lead to the destruction of the King : they "are the King's worst enemies who hold this language. It is a most dangerous principle, that the Crown is in jeopardy if the people are acquainted with their rights, and that the collecting them together to consider of them, leads ine-\dtably to the destruction of the Sovereign. Do these gentlemen mean to say that the King sits upon his throne without the consent, and in defiance of the wishes, of the great body of his people, and that he is kept upon it by a few individuals who call themselves his friends, in exclusion of the rest of his subjects ? Has the King's inheritance no deeper or wider roots than this ? Yes, Gentlemen, it has — it stands upon the love of the people, who consider their own inheritance to be supported by the King's constitutional authority : this is the true prop of the throne ; and the love of every people upon earth will for ever uphold a government founded, as ours is, upon reason and consent, as long as Government shall be itself attentive to the general interests which are the foundations and the ends of all human * In this year Parliament was overwhelmed with innumerable petitions on the sub- ject of the increasing influence of the Crown, the abuse of prerogative, and the rights of the people. 438 THE MODEEN ORATOR. authority. Let us banish, then, these unworthy and impolitic fears of an unrestrained and an enlightened people : let us not tremble at the rights of man, but, by giving to men their rights, secure their affections ; and, through their affections, their obedience. Let us not broach the dangerous doctrine, that the rights of kings and of men are incompatible. Our government at the Revolution began upon their harmonious incorporation ; and Mr. Locke defended King William's title upon no other principle than the rights of man. It is from the revered work of Mr. Locke, and not from the revolution in France, that one of the papers in the evidence, the most stigmatised, most obviously flowed ; for it is proved that Mr. Yorke held in his hand Mr. Locke upon Government, when he delivered his speech on the Castle Hill at Shef- field,"^ and that he expatiated largely upon it : well, indeed, might the wit- ness say he expatiated largely, for there are many well-selected passges taken verbatim from the book ; and here, in justice to Mr. White,! let me notice the fair and honourable manner in which, in the absence of the clerk, he read this extraordinary performance. He delivered it not merely with distinctness, but in a manner so impressive, that, I believe, every man in Court was affected by it. "Gentlemen, I am not driven to defend every expression; some of them are improper undoubtedly, rash and inflammatory ; but I see nothing in the whole taken together, even if it were connected with the Prisoner, that goes at all to an evil purpose in the writer. But Mr. Attorney-general has remarked upon this proceeding at Shefiield (and whatever falls from a person of his rank and just estimation, deserves great attention) — he has remarked that it is quite apparent they had resolved not to petition : they had certainly resolved not at that season to petition, and that seems the utmost which can be maintained from the evidence. But supposing they had negatived the measure altogether ; is there no way by which the people may actively associate for the pui-poses of a reform in Parliament, but to consider of a petition to the House of Commons ? Might they not legally assemble to consider the state of their liberties, and the conduct of their representatives ? Might they not legally form Conventions or Meetings (for the name is just nothing) to adjust a plan of rational union for a wise choice of representatives when Parliament should be dissolved ? May not the people meet to consider their interests prepara- tory to, and independently of, a petition for any specific object? My friend seems to consider the House of Commons as a substantive and permanent part of the constitution ; he seems to forget that the Parliament dies a natural death — that the people then re-enter into their rights, and that the exercise of them is the most important duty that can belong to social man. How are such duties to be exercised with effect, on momentous occasions, but by concert and communion ? May not the people, assembled in their elective * Mr. Yorke -was a member of the London Corresponding Society, and was appointed a Delegate from that society to similar societies at Sheffield and other places. t The Solicitor to the Treasury. LOBD EESKINE. 439 districts, resolve to trust no longer those by whom they have been betrayed ? May they not resolve to vote for no man who contributed by his voice to this calamitous war, which has thrown such grievous and unnecessary burdens upon them ? May they not say, ' We will not vote for those who deny we are their constituents, nor for those who question our clear and natural right to be equally represented ?' Since it is illegal to carry up petitions, and unwise to transact any public business attended by multitudes, be- cause it tends to tumult and disorder, may they not, for that very reason, depute, as they have done, the most trusty of their societies to meet with one another to consider, without the specific object of petitions, how they may claim, by means which are constitutional, their imprescriptible rights ? " And here I must advert to an argument employed by the Attorney- general, that the views of the societies towards universal suffrage, carried in themselves (however sought to be effected) an implied force upon Parlia- ment ; for that, supposing by invading it with the vast pressure, not of the public arm, but of the public sentiment of the nation, the influence of which upon that assembly is admitted ought to be weighty, it could have prevailed upon the Commons to carry up a bill to the King for universal representation and annual Parliaments, his Majesty was bound to reject it ; and could not, without a breach of his coronation oath, consent to pass it into an act ; I cannot conceive where my friend met with this law, or what he can possibly mean by asserting that the King cannot, consistently with his coronation oath, consent to any law that can be stated or imagined, presented to him as the act of the two Houses of Parliament. He could not, indeed, consent to a bill sent up to him framed by a convention of delegates assuming legisla- tive functions ; and if my friend could have proved that the societies, sitting as a Parliament, had sent up such a bill to his Majesty, I should have thought the prisoner, as a member of such a parliament, was at least in a different situation from that in which he stands at present ; but as this is not one of the chimeras whose existence is contended for, I return back to ask, upon what authority it is maintained, that universal representation and annual Parliaments could not be consented to by the King, in conformity to the wishes of the other branches of the Legislature : on the contrary, one of the greatest men that this country ever saw, considered universal represen- tation to be such an inherent part of the constitution, as that the King him- self might grant it by his prerogative, even without the Lords and Commons ; and I have never heard the position denied upon any other footing than the Union with Scotland. But be that as it may, it is enough for my purpose that the maxim, that the King might grant universal representation, as a right before inherent in the whole people to be represented, stands upon the au- thority of Mr. Locke, the man, next to Sir Isaac Newton, of the greatest strength of understanding that England, perhaps, ever had ; high, too, in the favour of King William, and enjoying one of the most exalted offices in the state.'^' Mr. Locke says, Book II., c. xiii., sect. 157 and 158: — 'Things of ,* He was one of the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations. 440 THE MODERN OIIA.TOE. this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state. Thus people, riches, trade, power, change their stations, flourishing mighty cities come to ruin, and prove, in time, neglected desolate corners, whilst other unfrequented places grow into populous countries, filled with wealth and inhabitants. But things not always changing equally, and private interest often keeping up customs and privileges, when the reasons of them are ceased, it often comes to pass, that in governm_ents, where part of the legislative consists of representatives chosen by the people, that, in tract of time, this representation becomes very unequal and disproportionate to the reasons it was at first established upon. To what gross absurd- ities the following of custom, when reason has left it, may lead, we may be satisfied, when we see the bare name of a town, of which there remains not so much as the ruins, where scarce so much housing as a sheep-cote, or more inhabitants than a shepherd, is to be found, sends as many representa- tives to the grand assembly of law-makers, as a whole county, numerous in people and powerful in riches.^ This, strangers stand amazed at, and every one must confess needs a remedy.' " ' Salus populi suprema lex, is certainly so just and fundamental a rule, that he who sincerely follows it, cannot dangerously err. If, there- fore, the executive, who has the power of convoking the legislative, ob- serving rather the true proportion, than fashion of representation, regu- lates, not by old custom, but by true reason, the number of members in all places that have a right to be distinctly represented, which no part of the people, however incorporated, can pretend to, but in proportion to the assistance which it afibrds to the public, it cannot be judged to have set up a new legislative, but to have restored the old and true one, and to have rectified the disorders which succession of time had insensibly, as well as inevitably, introduced ; for it being the interest as well as intention of the people to have fair and equal representation, whoever brings it nearest to that, is an undoubted friend to, and establisher of, the Government, and cannot miss the consent and approbation of the community; prerogative being nothing but a power, in the hands of the Prince, to provide for the public good, in such cases, which, depending upon unforeseen and un- certain occurrences, certain and unalterable laws could not safely direct; whatsoever shall be done manifestly for the good of the people, and the establishing the Government upon its true foundations, is, and always will be, just prerogative. "Whatsoever cannot but be acknowledged to be of ad- vantage to the society, and people in general, upon just and lasting measures, will always, when done, justify itself; and whenever the people shall choose * Mr. Locke alluded to Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, in which a few fragments of foundation walls are the only traces of a town ever having existed. It was totally deserted in the reign of Henry VIII., but yet, up to the passing of the Reform Bill, in 1832, when the borough was dbfranchised, Old Sarum was represented in Parlia- ment. LORD EESKINE. 441 their representatives upon just and undeniably equal measures, suitable to the original frame of the Government, it cannot be doubted to be the will and act of the society, whoever permitted or caused them so to do.' But as the very idea of universal suffrage seems now to be considered not only to be dangerous to, but absolutely destructive of, monarchy, you certainly ought to be reminded that the book which I have been reading, and which my friend kindly gives me a note to remind you of, was written by its immortal author in defence of King William's title to the Crown ; and when Dr. Sacheverel ventured to broach those doctrines of power and non-resistance, which, under the same establishments, have now become so unaccountably popular, he was impeached* by the people's representatives for denying their rights, which had been asserted and established at the glorious era of the Revolution. " Gentlemen, if I were to go through all the matter which I have collected upon this subject, or which obtrudes itself upon my mind, from common read- ing, in a thousand directions, my strength would fail long before my duty was fulfilled. I had very little when I came into court, and I have abundantly less already ; I must, therefore, manage what remains to the best advantage. I proceed, therefore, to take a view of such parts of the evidence as appear to me to be the most material for the proper understanding of the case ; I have had no opportunity of considering it, but in the interval which the indulgence of the Court, and your own, has afforded me, and that has been for a very few hours this morning : but it occurred to me, that the best use I could make of the time given to me was, if possible, to disembroil this chaos ; to throw out of view everything irrelevant, which only tended to bring chaos back again ; to take what remained in order of time ; to select certain stages and resting- places ; to review the effect of the transactions, as brought before us, and then to see how the written^ evidence is explained by the testimony of the witnesses who have been examined. " The origin of the Constitutional Society not having been laid in evidence before you, the first thing, both in point of date, and as applying to show the objects of the different bodies, is the original address and resolution of the Corresponding Society on its first institution, and when it first began to cor- respond with the other, which had formerly ranked amongst its members so many illustrious persons ; and before we look to the matter of this institu- tion, let us recollect that the objects of it were given without reserve to the public, as containing the principles of the association ; and I may begin ^vith demanding, whether the annals of this country, or, indeed, the universal history of mankind, afford an instance of a plot and conspiracy voluntarily given up in its very infancy to Government, and the whole public, and of * A.D. 1709. Being found guilty, he was prohibited from preaching for three years, and his two sermons, which had given so much offence, were ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. The famous decree passed in the convocation of the University of Oxford, asserthig the absolute authority and indefeasible right of princes, was also ordered to be, in like manner, committed to the flames. 442 ' THE MODERN ORATOR. which, to avoid the very thing that has happened, the arraignment of conduct at a future period, and the imputation of secresy where no secret was in- tended, a regular notice by letter was left with the Secretary of State, and a receipt taken at the public office, as a proof of the publicity of their pro- ceeding, and the sense they entertained of their innocence. For the views and objects of the society, we must look to the institution itself, which you are, indeed, desired to look at by the Crown ; for their intentions are not considered as deceptions in this instance, but as plainly revealed by the very writing itself. " Gentlemen, there was a sort of silence in the Court — I do not say an affected one, for I mean no possible offence to anyone, — but there seemed to be an effect expected from beginning, not with the address itself, but with the very bold motto to it, though in verse : " Unblest by virtue, Government a league Becomes, a circling junto of the great To rob by law ; Keligion mild, a yoke To tame the stooping soul, a trick of State To mask their rapine, and to share the prey. Without it, what are senates, but a face Of consultation deep and reason free, While the determin'd voice and heart are sold ? What, boasted freedom, but a sounding name ? And what election, but a market vUe, Of slaves self-barter'd ?" " I almost fancy I heard them say to me. What think you of that to set out with ? Show me the parallel of that. — Gentlemen, I am sorry, for the credit of the age we live in, to answer, that it is difficult to find the parallel ; because the age affords no such poet as he who wrote it : — these are the words of Thomson ; and it is under the banners of his -proverbial benevolence, that these men are supposed to be engaging in plans of anarchy and murder ; under the banners of that great and good man, whose figure you may still see in the venerable shades of Hagley, placed there by the virtuous, accomplished, and public-spirited Lyttelton : the very poem, too, written under the auspices of his Majesty's Royal Father, when heir-apparent to the crown of Great Britain, nay, within the very walls of Carlton House, which afforded an asylum to matchless worth and genius in the person of this great poet : it was under the roof of a Prince of Wales that the poem of Liberty was written ; — and w^hat better return could be given to a Prince for his protection, than to blazon, in immortal numbers, the only sure title to the Crown he was to wear — the freedom of the people of Great Britain ? And it is to be assumed, forsooth, in the year 1794, that the unfortunate prisoner before you was plotting treason and rebellion, because, with a taste and feeling beyond his humble station, his first proceeding was ushered into view, under the hallowed sanction of this admirable person, the friend and the defender of the British constitution ; whose countrymen are preparing at this moment (may my name descend amongst them to the latest posterity ! ) to LORD ERSKINE. 443 do honour to his immortal memory. Pardon me, Gentlemen, for this desultory digression— I must express myself as the current of my mind will carry me. " If we look at the whole of the institution itself, it exactly corresponds with the plan of the Duke of Richmond, as expressed in the letters to Colonel Sharman, and to the High Sheriff of Sussex : this plan they propose to follow, in a public address to the nation, and all their resolutions are framed for its accomplishment ; and I desire to know in what they have de- parted from either, and what they have done which has not been done before, without blame or censure, in the pursuance of the same object. I am not speaking of the libels they may have written, which the law is open to punish, but what part of their conduct has, as applicable to the subject in question, been unprecedented. I have, at this moment, in my eye, an honourable friend of mine, and a distinguished member of the House of Com- mons, who, in my own remembrance, I believe in 1780, sat publicly at Guild- hall, with many others, some of them magistrates of the city, as a convention of delegates, for the same objects ; and, what is still more in point, just be- fore the convention began to meet at Edinburgh, whose proceedings have been so much relied on, there was a convention regularly assembled, attended by the delegates from all the counties of Scotland, for the express and avowed purpose of altering the constitution of Parliament ; not by rebellion, but by the same means employed by the prisoner. The Lord Chief Baron of Scotland sat in the chair, and was assisted by some of the first men in that country, and, amongst others, by an honourable person to whom I am nearly allied, who is at the very head of the Bar in Scotland, and most avow- edly attached to the law and the constitution. "^ " These gentlemen, whose good intentions never fell into suspicion, had presented a petition for the alteration of election laws, which the House of Commons had rejected, and on the spur of that very rejection they met in a convention at Edinburgh, in 1793; and the style of their first meeting was, 'A Convention of Delegates, chosen from the Counties of Scotland, for altering and amending the Laws concerning Elections' — not for considering how they might be best amended — not for petitioning Parliament to amend them ; but for altering and amending the election laws. These meetings were regularly published, and I will prove that their first resolution, as I have read it to you, was brought up to London, and delivered to the editor of the ' Morning Chronicle' by Sir Thomas Dundas, lately created a peer of Great Britain, and paid for by him as a public advertisement. Now, suppose any man had imputed treason or sedition to these honourable persons, what would have been the consequence ? They would have been considered as infamous libellers and traducers, and deservedly hooted out of civilised life. Why, then, are different constructions to be put upon similar transactions ? * The Hon. Henry Erskine, Mr. Erskine's brother, then Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, at Edinburgh. 2h 444 THE MODEKN ORATOE. Why is everything to he held up as lond Jide when the example is set, and mala Jide when it is followed ? Why have I not as good a claim to take credit for honest purpose in the poor man I am defending, against whom not a contumelious expression has been proved, as when we find the same ex- pressions in the mouths of the Duke of Richmond or Mr. Burke ? I ask nothing more from this observation, than that a sober judgment may be pronounced from the quality of the acts which can be fairly established ; each individual standing responsible only for his own conduct, instead of having our imaginations tainted with cant phrases, and a farago of writings and speeches, for which the prisoner is not responsible, and for which the authors, if they be criminal, are liable to be brought to justice. " But it will be said. Gentlemen, that all the constitutional privileges of the people are conceded — that their existence was never denied or invaded — and that their right to petition and to meet for the expression of their complaints, founded or unfounded, was never called in question ; these, it will be said, are the rights of subjects— but that the rights of man are what alarms them: every man is considered as a traitor who talks about the rights of man ; but this bugbear stands upon the same perversion with its fellows. " The rights of man are the foundation of all government, and to secure them is the only reason of men's submitting to be governed. It shall not be fastened upon the unfortunate prisoner at the bar, nor upon any other man, that because these natural rights were asserted in France, by the de- struction of a government which oppressed and subverted them, a process happily effected here by slow and imperceptible improvements, that, there- fore, they can only be so asserted in England, where the government, through a gradation of improvement, is well calculated to protect them. We are, fortunately, not driven in this country to the terrible alternatives which were the unhappy lot of France, because we have had a happier des- tiny in the forms of a free constitution : this, indeed, is the express language of many of the papers before you, that have been complained of; particularly in one alluded to by the Attorney-general, as having been written by a gentleman with whom I am particularly acquainted ; and though in that spirited composition there are, perhaps, some expressions proceeding from warmth which he may not desire me critically to justif)% yet I will venture to affirm, from my own personal knowledge, that there is not a man in Court more honestly public-spirited and zealously devoted to the constitution of King, Xords, and Commons, than the honourable gentleman I allude to (Felix Vaughan, Esq., barrister-at-law) : it is the phrase, therefore, and not the sentiment expressed by it, that can alone give justifiable offence. It is, it seems, a new phrase commencing in revolutions, and never used before in discussing the rights of British subjects, and therefore can only be applied in the sense of those who framed it ; — but this is so far from being the truth that the very phrase sticks in my memory, from the memorable application of it to the rights of subjects, under this and every other establishment, by a LORD ERSKINE. 445 gentleman whom you will not suspect of using it in any other sense. The rights of man were considered by Mr. Burke, at the time that the great up- roar was made upon a supposed invasion of the East India Company's charter, to be the foundation of, and paramount to, all the laws and ordi- nances of a state : — the ministry, you may remember, were turned out for Mr. Fox's India Bill,^' which their opponents termed an attack upon the chartered rights of man, or, in other words, upon the abuses supported by a monopoly in trade. Hear the sentiments of Mr. Burke, when the natural and chartered rights of men are brought into contest. Mr. Burke, in his speech in the House of Commons, expressed himself thus : ' The first ob- jection is, that the bill is an attack on the chartered rights of men. — As to this objection, I must observe that the phrase, " the chartered rights ofmen^''' is full of affectation ; and very unusual in the discussion of privileges con- ferred by charters of the present description. But it is not difficult to discover what end that ambiguous mode of expression, so often reiterated, is meant to answer. " ' The rights of men, that is to say, the natural rights of mankind, are indeed sacred things ; and if any public measure is proved mischievously to affect them, the objection ought to be fatal to that measure, even if no charter at all could be set up against it. And if these natural rights are further af&rmed and declared by express covenants, clearly defined and secured against chicane, power, and authority, by written instruments and positive engagements, they are in a still better condition : they then partake not only of the sanctity of the object so secured, but of that solemn public faith itself, which secures an object of such importance. Indeed, this formal recognition, by the sovereign power, of an original right in the subject, can never be subverted, but by rooting up the holding radical principles of government, and even of society itself.' " The Duke of Richmond also, in his public letter to the High Sheriff of Sussex, rests the rights of the people of England upon the same horrible and damnable principle of the rights of man. Let Gentlemen, therefore, take care they do not pull down the very authority which they come here to sup- port; — let them remember, that his Majesty's family was called to the throne upon the very principle, that the ancient kings of this country had violated these sacred trusts ; — let them recollect, too, in what the violation was charged to exist : it was charged by the Bill of Rights to exist in cruel and infamous trials, in the packing of juries, and in disarming the people, whose arms are their unalienable refuge against oppression. But did the people of England assemble to make this declaration ? No ! because it was unnecessary. The sense of the people, against a corrupt and scandalous government, dissolved it, by almost the ordinary forms by which the old government itself was administered. King William sent his writs to those who had sat in the former Parliament : but, will any man, therefore, tell me, * See Introduction to Speech of Mr. Sheridan, ante p. 93. 2h2 446 THE MODEKN OBATOE. that that Parliament re-organised the government without the will of the people ? and, that it was not their consent which entailed on King William a particular inheritance, to be enjoyed under the dominion of the law? Gentlemen, it was the denial of these principles, asserted at the Revolution in England, that brought forward the author of the Rights of Man, and stirred up this controversy which has given such alarm to government. But for this, the literary labours of Mr. Paine had closed. He asserts it him- self in his book, and everybody knows it. It was not the French revolu- tion, but Mr. Burke's Reflections upon it, followed np by another work on the same subject, as it regarded things in England, which brought forward Mr. Paine, and which rendered his works so much the object of attention in this country. Mr. Burke denied positively the very foundation upon which the Revolution of 1688 must stand for its support, ms., the right of the people to change their government ; and he asserted, in the teeth of his Majesty's title to the Crown, that no such right in the people existed ; — this is the true history of the Second Part of the ' Rights of Man.' The First Part had little more aspect to this country than to Japan ; it asserted the right of the people of France to act as they had acted, but there was little which pointed to it as an example for England. There had been a despotic authority in France, which the people had thrown down, and Mr. Burke seemed to question their right to do so : — Mr. Paine maintained the contrary in his answer ; and, having imbibed the principles of republican government during the American revolution, he mixed with the controversy many coarse and harsh remarks upon monarchy, as established even in England, or in any possible form. But this was collateral to the great object of his work, which was to maintain the right of the people to choose their government ; — this was the right which was questioned, and the assertion of it was most interesting to many who were most strenuously attached to the English government. For men may assert the right of every people to choose their government, without seeking to destroy their own. This accounts for many expressions imputed to the unfortunate prisoners, which I have often uttered myself, and shall continue to utter every day of my life, and call upon the spies of Government to record them. I will say anywhere, without fear, — nay, I will say here, where I stand, that an attempt to interfere, by despotic combination and violence, with any government which a people choose to give to themselves, whether it be good or evil, is an oppression and sub- version of the natural and unalienable rights of man ; and though the government of this country should countenance such a system, it would not only be still legal for me to express my detestation of it, as I here delibe- rately express it, but it would become my interest and my duty. For, if combinations of despotism can accomplish such a purpose, who shall tell me, what other nation shall not be the prey of their ambition ? Upon the very principle of denying to a people the right of governing themselves, how are we to resist the French, should they attempt by violence to fasten their government upon us ? Or what inducement would there be for resistance to LORD EKSKINE. 447 preserve laws, which are not, it seems, our own, but which are unalterably imposed upon us ? The very argument strikes, as with a palsy, the arm and vigour of the nation. I hold dear the privileges I am contending for, not as privileges hostile to the constitution, but as necessary for its preserva- tion ; and if the French were to intrude by force upon the government of our own free choice, I should leave these papers, and return to a profession that, perhaps, I better understand.* " The next evidence relied on, after the institution of the Corresponding Society, is a letter written to them from Norwich, dated the 1 1th of November 1792, with the answer, dated the 26th of the same month. It is asserted, that this correspondence shows, they aimed at nothing less than the total destruction of the monarchy, and that they, therefore, veil their intention under covert and ambiguous language. I think, on the other hand, and I shall continue to think so, as long as I am capable of thought, that it was impossible for words to convey more clearly the explicit avowal of their original plan for a constitutional reform in the House of Commons. This letter from Norwich, after congratulating the Corresponding Society on its institution, asks several questions arising out of the proceedings, of other societies in different parts of the kingdom, which they profess not thoroughly to understand. " The Sheffield people (they observe) seemed at first determined to support the Duke of Richmond's plan only, but that they had afterwards observed a disposition in them to a more moderate plan of reform proposed by the Friends of the People in London ; whilst the Manchester people, by ad- dressing Mr. Paine (whom the Norwich people had not addressed), seemed to be intent on republican principles only ; they therefore put a question, not at all of distrust or suspicion, but hondjide, if ever there was good faith between men, whether the Corresponding Society meant to be satisfied with the plan of the Duke of Richmond ? or, whether it was their private design to rip up monarchy by the roots, and place democracy in its stead .'^ Now, hear the answer, from whence it is inferred that this last is their intention : they begin their answer with recapitulating the demand of their correspondent, as regularly as a tradesman, who has had an order for goods, recapitulates the order, that there may be no ambiguity in the reference or application of the reply, and then they say, as to the objects they have in view they refer them to their addresses. * You will thereby see that they mean to dissemi- nate political knowledge, and thereby engage the judicious part of the nation to demand the recovery of their lost rights in annual Parliaments ; the mem- bers of these Parliaments owing their election to unbought suffrages." They then desire them to be careful to avoid all dispute, and say to them, Put mo- narchy, democracy, and even religion, quite aside ; and ' Let your endeavours go to increase the numbers of those who desire a full and equal representation of the people, and leave to a Parliament, so chosen, to reform all existing * Mr. Erskine had served successively in the navy and army, before studying for the law ; as previously mentioned in the memoir of his life. 448 THE MODERN ORATOR. abuses ; and if they don't answer, at the year's end, you may choose others in their stead.' The Attorney- general says, this is lamely expressed ; I, on the other hand, say, that it is not only not lamely expressed, but anxiously worded to put an end to dangerous speculations. — Leave all theories un- discussed ; do not perplex yourselves with abstract questions of government ; endeavour practically to get honest representatives, — and if they deceive you — then, what ? — bring on a revolution ? No ! Choose others in their stead. They refer also to their address, which lay before their correspondent, which address expresses itself thus : ' Laying aside all claim to originality, we claim no other merit than that of reconsidering and verifying what has already been urged in our common cause by the Duke of Richmond and Mr. Pitt, and their then honest party.' " When the language of the letter, which is branded as ambiguous, thus stares them in the face as an undeniable answer to the charge, they then have recourse to the old refuge of mala fides ; all this, they say, is but a cover for hidden treason. But I ask you, Gentlemen, in the name of God, and as fair and honest men, what reason upon earth there is to suppose, that the writers of this letter did not mean what they expressed ? Are you to presume, in a Court of Justice, and upon a trial for life, that men write with duplicity in their most confidential correspondence, even to those with whom they are confederated ? Let it be recollected also, that if this correspondence was cal- culated for deception, the deception must have been understood and agreed upon by all parties concerned ; for otherwise you have a conspiracy amongst persons who are at cross purposes with one another : consequently, the con- spiracy, if this be a branch of it, is a conspiracy of thousands and ten thousands, from one end of the kingdom to the other, who are all guilty, if any of the Prisoners are guilty. Upwards of forty thousand persons, upon the loAvest calculation, must alike be liable to the pains and penalties of the law, and hold their lives as tenants -at-will of the Ministers of the Crown. — In what- ever aspect, therefore, this prosecution is regarded, new difficulties and new uncertainties and terrors surround it. " The next thing in order which we have to look at, is the Convention at Edinburgh. It appears that a letter had been written by Mr. Skirving,* who was connected with reformers in Scotland, proceeding avowedly upon the Duke of Richmond's plan, proposing that there should be a Convention from the societies assembled at Edinburgh. Now, you will recollect, in the opening, that the Attorney- general considered all the great original sin of this conspiracy and treason to have originated with the societies in London ; that the country societies were only tools in their hands, and that the Edin- burgh Convention was the commencement of their projects; and yet it plainly appears, that this Convention originated from neither of the London * The Secretary to the Convention. He, together with Maurice Margaret and Joseph Gerald (two of the London delegates), was arrested at Edinburgh, in 1794, for sedition : all of them were found guilty, and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. All his papers were seized by the magistrate at the same time. LORD -ERSKINE. 449 societies, but had its beginning at Edinburgh, where, just before, a Conven- tion had been sitting for the reform in Parliament, attended by the principal persons in Scotland ; and, surely, without adverting to the nationality so peculiar to the people of that country, it is not at all suspicious, that, since they were to hold a meeting for similar objects, they should make use of the same style for their association ; and that their deputies should be called delegates, when delegates had attended the other Convention from all the counties, and whom they were every day looking at in their streets, in the course of the very same year that Skirving wrote his letter on the subject. The views of the Corresponding Scciety, as they regarded this Convention, and consequently the views of the prisoner, must be collected from the written instructions to the delegates, unless they can be falsified by matter which is collateral. If I constitute an agent, I am bound by what he does, but always with this limitation — ^for what he does within the scope of his agency : if I constitute an agent to buy horses for me, and he commits high treason, it will not, I hope, be argued, that I am to be hanged. If I consti- tute an agent for any business that can be stated, and he goes beyond his instructions, he must answer for himself beyond their limits ; for beyond them he is not my representative. The acts done, therefore, at the Scotch Convention, whatever may be their quality, are evidence to show, that, in point of fact, a certain number of people got together, and did anything you choose to call illegal ; but, as far as it concerns me, if I am not present, you are limited by my instructions, and have not advanced a single step upon your journey to convict me : the instructions to Skirving have been read, and speak for themselves ; they are strictly legal, and pursue the avowed object of the Society ; and it will be for the Solicitor-general to point out, in his reply, any counter or secret instructions, or any collateral conduct, contra- dictory of the good faith with which they were written. The instructions are in these words : ' The delegates are instructed, on the part of this Society, to assist in bringing forward and supporting any constitutional mea- sure for procuring a real representation of the Commons of Great Britain.' What do you say, Gentlemen, to this language ? How are men to express themselves who desire a constitutional reform ? The object and the mode of effecting it were equally legal : this is most obvious from the conduct of the Parliament of Ireland, acting under directions from England ; they passed the Convention Bill, and made it only a misdemeanour, knowing that, by the law as it stood, it was no misdemeanour at all. Whether this statement may meet with the approbation of others, I care not ; I know the fact to be so, and I maintain that you cannot prove upon the Convention which met at Edinburgh, and which is charged to-day with high treason, one-thousandth part of what, at last, worked up government in Ireland to the pitch of voting it a misdemeanour. " Gentlemen, I am not vindicating anything that can promote disorder in the country, but I am maintaining that the worst possible disorder that can fall upon a country is, ^yhen subjects are deprived of the sanction of clear 450 THE MODERN OKATOK. and unambiguous laws. If wrong is committed, let punishment follow accord- ing to the measure of that wrong : if men are turbulent, let them be visited by the laws according to the measure of their turbulency : if they write libels upon Government, let them be punished according to the quality of those libels : but you must not, and will not, because the stability of the monarchy is an important concern to the nation, confound the nature and distinctions of crimes, and pronounce that the life of the Sovereign has been invaded, be- cause the privileges of the people have been, perhaps, irregularly and hotly asserted : you will not, to give security to Government, repeal the most sacred laws instituted for our protection, and which are, indeed, the only consideration for our submitting at all to Government. If the plain letter of the statute of Edward III. applies to the conduct of the prisoners, let it in God's name be applied ; but let neither their conduct, nor the law that is to judge it, be tortured by construction ; nor suffer the transaction, from whence you are to form a dispassionate conclusion of intention, to be mag- nified by scandalous epithets, nor overwhelmed in an undistinguishable mass of matter, in which you may be lost and bewildered, having missed the only parts which could have furnished a clue to a just or rational judgment. " Gentlemen, this religious regard for the liberty of the subject, against constructive treason, is well illustrated by Dr. Johnson, the great author of our English Dictionary, a man remarkable for his love of order, and for high principles of government, but who had the wisdom to know that the great end of government, in all its forms, is the security of liberty and life under the law. This man, of masculine mind, though disgusted at the disorder which Lord George Gordon created, felt a triumph in his acquittal, and ex- claimed, as we learn from Mr. Boswell, * I hate Lord G. Gordon, but I am glad he was not convicted of this constructive treason ; for, though I hate him, I love my country and myself.' This extraordinary man, no doubt, remembered, with Lord Hale, that, when the law is broken down, injustice knows no bounds, but runs as far as the wit and invention of accusers, or the detestation of persons accused, will carry it. You will pardon this almost perpetual recurrence to these considerations ; but the present is a season when I have a right to call upon you by everything sacred in humanity and justice — by every principle which ought to influence the heart of man, to consider the situation in which I stand before you. I stand here for a poor, un- known, unprotected individual, charged with a design to subvert the govern- ment of the country, and the dearest rights of its inhabitants — -a charge which has collected against him a force sufficient to crush to pieces any private man — the whole weight of the crown presses upon him ; Parliament has been sitting upon ex-jparte evidence for months together ; and rank and property is associated, from one end of the kingdom to the other, to avert the supposed consequences of the treason. I am making no complaint of this ; but surely it is an awful summons to impartial attention ; surely it excuses me for so often calling upon your integrity and firmness to do equal justice between the crown, so supported, and an unhappy prisoner, so unprotected. LORD EKSKINE. 451 " Gentlemen, I declare that I am utterly astonished, on looking at the clock, to find how long I have been speaking ; and that, agitated and dis- tressed as I am, I have yet strength enough remaining for the remainder oi my duty. At every peril of my health it shall be exerted : for although, if this cause should miscarry, I know I shall have justice done me for the honesty of my intentions ; yet what is that to the public and posterity ? What is it to them, when, if upon this evidence there can stand a con- viction for high treason, it is plain that no man can be said to have a life which is his own ? For how can he possibly know by what engines it may be snared, or from what unknown sources it may be attacked and over- powered ? Such a monstrous precedent would be as ruinous to the King as to his subjects. We are in a crisis of our affairs ; which, putting justice out of the question, calls in sound policy for the greatest prudence and moderation. At a time when other nations are disposed to subvert their establishments, let it be our wisdom to make the subject feel the practical benefits of our own : let us seek to bring good out of evil : the distracted inhabitants of the world will fly to us for sanctuary, driven out of their countries from the dreadful consequences of not attending to seasonable re- forms in government — victims to the folly of suffering corruptions to con- tinue, till the whole fabric of society is dissolved and tumbles into ruin. Landing upon our shores, they will feel the blessing of security, and they will discover in what it consists : they will read this trial, and their hearts will palpitate at your decision. They will say to one another — and their voices will reach to the ends of the earth, — ' May the constitution of England endure for ever ! the sacred and yet remaining sanctuary for the oppressed ! Here, and here only, the lot of man is cast in security ! What though authority, established for the ends of justice, may lift itself up against it I What though the House of Commons itself should make an ex-parte de- claration of guilt ! What though every species of art should be employed to entangle the opinions of the people, which in other countries would be inevitable destruction; yet, in England, in enlightened England, all this will not pluck a hair from the head of innocence — the Jury will still look steadfastly to the law, as the great polar star, to direct them in their course : as prudent men they will set no example of disorder, nor pronounce a ver- dict of censure on authority, or of approbation or disapprobation beyond their judicial province : but, on the other hand, they will make no political sacrifice, but deliver a plain, honest man, from the toils of injustice.' When your verdict is pronounced, this will be the judgment of the world ; and if any amongst ourselves are alienated in their affections to Government, no- thing will be so likely to reclaim them. They will say. Whatever we have lost of our control in Parliament, we have yet a sheet-anchor remaining to hold the vessel of the state amidst contending storms : we have still, thank God, a sound administration of justice secured to us, in the independence of the Judges, in the rights of enlightened juries, and in the integrity of the Bar — ready at all times, and upon every possible occasion, whatever may be 452 THE MODEKN ORATOR. the consequences to themselves, to stand forward in defence of the meanest man in England, when brought for judgment before the laws of the country. " To return to this Scotch convention. Their papers were all seized by Government. What their proceedings were, they best know : we can only see what parts they choose to show us : but, from what we have seen, does any man seriously believe, that this meeting at Edinburgh meant to assume and to maintain by force all the functions and authorities of the State ? Is the thing within the compass of human belief ? If a man were offered a dukedom, and twenty thousand pounds a year for trying to believe it, he might say he believed it, as what will not man say for gold and honours ? but he never in fact could believe that this Edinburgh meeting was a Parliament for Great Britain : — how, indeed, could he, from the pro- ceedings of a few peaceable, unarmed men, discussing, in a constitutional manner, the means of obtaining a reform in Parliament ; and who, to main- tain the club, or whatever you choose to call it, collected a little money from people who were well disposed to the cause ; a few shillings one day, and perhaps as many pence another ? I think, as far as I could reckon it up, when the report, from this great committee of supply, was read to you, I counted that there had been raised, in the first session of this Parliament, fifteen pounds, from which indeed you must deduct two bad shillings, which are literally noticed in the account. Is it to be endured. Gentlemen, that men should gravely say, that this body assumed to itself the offices of Parliament ? — that a few harmless people, who sat, as they profess, to obtain a full representation of the people, were themselves, even in their own imaginations, the complete representation which they sought for? Why should they sit from day to day to consider how they might obtain what they had already got? If their object was a universal representation of the whole people, how is it credible they could suppose that universal represen- tation to exist in themselves — in the representatives of a few Societies, instituted to obtain it for the country at large ? If they were them- selves the nation, why should the language of every resolution be, that reason ought to be their grand engine for the accomplishment of their object, and should be directed to convince the nation to speak to Parliament in a voice that must be heard ? The proposition, therefore, is too gross to cram down the throats of the English people, and this is the prisoner's security. Here, again, he feels the advantage of our free administration of justice : this proposition, on which so much depends, is not to be reasoned upon on parchment, to be delivered privately to magistrates for private judgment : no — he has the privilege of appealing aloud, as he now appeals by me, to an enlightened assembly, full of eyes, and ears, and intelligence, where speaking to a Jury is, in a manner, speaking to a nation at large, and flying for sanctuary to its universal justice. " Gentlemen, the very work of Mr. Paine, under the banners of which this supposed rebellion was set on foot, refutes the charge it is brought for- LORD ERSKINE. 453 ward to support ; for Mr. Paine, in his preface, and throughout his whole book, reprobates the use of force against the most evil governments ; the contrary was never imputed to him. If his book had been written in pur- suance of the design of force and rebellion, with which it is now sought to be connected, he would, like the prisoners, have been charged with an overt act of high treason ; but such a proceeding was never thought of. Mr. Paine was indicted for a misdemeanour ,'^ and the misdemeanour was argued to consist not in the falsehood, that a nation has no right to choose or alter its Government, but in seditiously exciting the nation, without cause, to exercise that right. A learned lord (Lord Chief Baron Macdonald), now on this Bench, addressed the Jury as Attorney-general upon this principle ; his language was this : ' The question is not, what the people have a right to do, for the people are, undoubtedly, the foundation and origin of all govern- ment; but the charge is, for seditiously calling upon the people, without cause or reason, to exercise a right which would be sedition, supposing the right to be in them ; for though the people might have a right to do the thing suggested, and though they are not excited to the doing it by force and rebellion, yet, as the suggestion goes to unsettle the State, the propagation of such doctrines is seditious. There is no other way, undoubtedly, of describing that charge. I am not here entering into the application of it to Mr. Paine, whose counsel I was, and who has been tried already. To say that the people have a right to change their government, is, indeed, a truism ; everybody knows it, and they exercised the right, otherwise the King could not have- had his establishment amongst us. If, therefore, I stir up indi- viduals to oppose by force the general will, seated in the Government, it may be treason ; but to induce changes in a government, by exposing to a whole nation its errors and imperfections, can have no bearing upon such an offence ; the utmost which can be made of it is a misdemeanour, and that, too, depending wholly upon the judgment which the Jury may form of the in- tention of the writer. The Courts, for a long time, indeed, assumed to themselves the province of deciding upon this intention, as a matter of law, conclusively inferring it from the act of publication ; I say the Courts as- sumed it, though it was not the doctrine of Lord Mansfield, but handed down to him from the precedents of judges before his time ; but even in that case, though the publication was the crime, not, as in this case, the intention, and though the quality of the thing charged, when not rebutted by evidence for the defendant, had so long been considered to be a legal inference, yet the Legislature, to support the province of the Jury, and in tenderness for liberty, has lately altered the law upon this important subject.f If, therefore, we were not assembled, as we are, to consider of the existence of high treason against the King's life, but only of a misdeameanour for seditiously disturbing his title and establishment, by the proceedings for a reform in Parliament, I should think the Crown, upon the very principle * In 1792, and found guilty. f See ante p. 348. 464 ^ THE MODERN ORATOR. which, under the libel law, must now govern such a trial, quite as distant from its mark; because, in my opinion, there is no way by which his Majesty's title can more firmly be secured, or by which (above all, in our times) its permanency can be better established, than by promoting a more full and equal representation of the people, by peaceable means ; and by what other means has it been sought, in this instance, to be promoted ? " Gentlemen, when the members of this Convention were seized, did they attempt resistance : Did they insist upon their privileges as subjects under the laws, or as a parliament enacting laws for others ? If they had said or done anything to give colour to such an idea, there needed no spies to convict them ; the Crown could have given ample indemnity for evidence from amongst themselves ; the societies consisted of thousands and thou- sands of persons, some of whom, upon any calculation of human nature, might have been produced ; the delegates, who attended the meetings, could not be supposed to have met, with a different intention from those who sent them ; and, if the answer to that is, that the constituents are involved in the guilt of their representatives, we get back to the monstrous position which I observed you before to shrink back from, with visible hor- ror, when I stated it ; namely, the involving in the fate and consequence of this single trial every man, who corresponded with these societies, or who, as a member of societies in any. part of the kingdom, consented to the meet- ing which was assembled, or which was in prospect ; but, I thank God I have nothing to fear from such hydras, when I see before me such just and honourable men to hold the balance of justice. " Gentlemen, the dissolution of this Parliament speaks as strong a lan- guage as its conduct when sitting. How was it dissolved ? When the magis- trates entered, Mr. Skirving was in the chair, which he refused to leave : he considered and asserted his conduct to be legal, and therefore informed the magistrate he must exercise his authority, that the dispersion might appear to be involuntary, and that the subject, disturbed in his rights, might be entitled to his remedy. The magistrate on this took Mr. Skirving by the shoulder, who immediately obeyed ; the chair was quitted in a moment, and this great Parliament broke up. What was the effect of all this pro- ceeding at the time, when whatever belonged to it must have been best im- derstood ? Were any of the parties indicted for high treason ? Were they indicted even for a breach of the peace in holding the Convention ? — None of these things. The law of Scotland, arbitrary as it is, was to be disturbed to find a name for their offence, and the rules of trial to be violated to convict them : they were denied their challenges to their jurors, and other irregula- rities were introduced, so as to be the subject of complaint in the House of Commons. Gentlemen, in what I am saying, I am not standing up to vindi- cate all that they published during these proceedings, more especially those which were written in consequence of the trials I have just alluded to ; but allowance must be made for a state of heat and irritation : — they saw men whom they believed to be persecuted for what they believed to be innocent — LORD EESKINE. 455 they saw them the victims of sentences* which many would consider as equivalent to, if not worse than, judgment of treason : sentences which, at all events, had never existed before, and such as I believe never will again with impunity. But since I am on the subject of intention, I shall conduct myself with the same moderation which I have been prescribing ; I will cast no aspersions, but shall content myself with lamenting that these judgments were productive of consequences which rarely follow from authority dis- creetly exercised. How easy is it, then, to dispose of as much of the evidence as consumed half a day in the anathemas against the Scotch judges ! It appears that they came to various resolutions concerning them ; some good, some bad, and all of them irregular. Amongst others, they compare them to Jefferies, and wish that they who imitate his example, may meet his fate. — What then ? Irreverend expressions against judges are not acts of high treason ! If they had assembled round the Court of Justiciary, and hanged them in the execution of their offices, it would not have been treason within the statute: I am no advocate for disrespect to judges, and think that it is dangerous to the public order ; but, putting aside the insult upon the judges now in authority, the reprobation of Jefferies is no libel, but an awful and useful memento to wicked men. Lord Chief Justice JeiFeries denied the privilege of English law to an innocent man. He refused it to Sir Thomas Armstrong,! who in vain pleaded in bar of his outlawry, that he was out of the realm when he was exacted — (an objection so clear, that it was lately taken for granted, in the case of Mr. Purefoy). The daughter of this unfortunate person, a lady of honour and quality, came publicly into Court to supplicate for her father ; and what were the effects of her supplications, and of the law in the mouth of the prisoner ? ' Sir Thomas Armstrong,' said Jefferies, * you may amuse yourself as much as you please with the idea of your innocence, but you are to be hanged next Friday ;' and, upon the natural exclamation of a daughter at this horrible outrage against her parent, ho said, ' Take that woman out of Court;' which she answered by a prayer, that God Almighty's judgments might light upon him. Gentlemen, they did light upon him ; and when, after his death, which speedily followed this transaction, the matter was brought before the House of Commons, under that glorious Revolution which is as- serted throughout the proceedings before you, the judgment against Sir Thomas Armstrong was declared to be a murder under colour of justice ! Sir Robert Sawyer, the Attorney-general, was expelled the House of Commons for his misdemeanour in refusing the writ of error : and the executors of * The legality of the sentence was open to the same question as that passed on Messrs. Muir and Palmer. See ante note p. 213. t Sir Thomas Armstrong was seized in Holland, for having been engaged in Mon- mouth's conspiracy against James II., 1683 ; and as it was apprehended that sufficient evidence could not be procured to obtain a verdict against him even from the subser- vient juries of that time, he was condemned and executed without a trial under the pretence that he was not entitled to claim one, as he had not surrendered himself after outlawry. 456 THE MODERN ORATOR. Jefferies were commanded to make compensation to the widow and the daughter of the deceased. These are great monuments of justice ; and, although I by no means approve of harsh expressions against authority, which tend to weaken the holdings of society, yet let us not go beyond the mark in our restraints, nor suppose that men are dangerously disaffected to the government, because they feel a sort of pride and exultation in events which constitute the dignity and glory of their country. " Gentlemen, this resentment against the proceedings of the Courts in Scotland, was not confined to those who were the objects of them ; it was not confined even to the friends of a reform in Parliament — a benevolent public, in both parts of the island, joined them in the complaint ; and a gentleman of great moderation, and a most inveterate enemy to parliamentary reform, as thinking it not an improvement of the government, but nevertheless a lover of his country and its insulted justice, made the convictions of the delegates the subject of a public inquiry : I speak of my friend Mr. William Adam, who brought these judgments of the Scotch Judges before the House of Commons,"^' arraigned them as contrary to law, and proposed to reverse them by the authority of Parliament. Let it not, then, be matter of wonder, that these poor men, who were the immediate victims of this injustice, and who saw their brethren expelled from their country by an unprecedented and questionable judgment, should feel like men on the subject, and express themselves as they felt. " Gentlemen, amidst the various distresses and embarrassments which attend my present situation, it is a great consolation that I have marked, from the beginning, your vigilant attention and your capacity to understand ; it is, therefore, with the utmost confidence that I ask you a few plain questions, arising out of the whole of these Scotch proceedings. In the first place, then, do you believe it to be possible, that, if these men had really projected the Convention as a traitorous usurpation of the authorities of Parliament, they would have invited the friends of the people, in Frith-street, to assist them, when they knew that this society was determined not to seek the re- form of the constitution but by means that were constitutional, and from whom they could neither hope for support nor concealment of evil purposes .^ I ask you, next, if their objects had been traitorous, would they have given them, without disguise or colour, to the public and to the government, in every common newspaper ? And yet it is so far from being a charge against them, that they concealed their objects by hypocrisy or guarded conduct, that I have been driven to admit the justice of the complaint against them, for unnecessary infiammation and exaggeration. I ask you, further, whether, if the proceedings thus published and exaggerated, had appeared to Govern- ment, who knew everything belonging to them, in the light they represent them to you to-day, they could possibly have slept over them with such com- * The House negatived Mr. Adams's motion for revision of the sentence by a large majority. LORD ERSKINE. 457 plete indifference and silence ? For it is notorious that after this Convention had been held at Edinburgh ; after, in short, everything had been said, written, and transacted, on which I am now commenting, and after Mr. Paine's book had been for above a year in universal circulation, — aye, up to the very day when Mr. Grey gave notice, in the House of Commons, of the intention of the Friends of the People for a reform in Parliament, there was not even a single indictment on the file for a misdemeanour; but, from that moment, when it was seen that the cause was not beat down or abandoned, the proclamation made its appearance, and all the proceedings that followed had their birth. I ask you, lastly, Gentlemen, whether it be in human nature, that a few unprotected men, conscious, in their own minds, that they had been engaged and detected in a detestable rebellion to cut off the King, to destroy the administration of justice, and to subvert the whole fabric of the govern- ment, should turn round upon their country, whose ruin they had projected, and whose most obvious justice attached on them, complaining, forsooth, that their delegates, taken by magistrates, in the very act of high treason, had been harshly and illegally interrupted in a meritorious proceeding ? The history of mankind never furnished an instance, nor ever will, of such extravagant, preposterous, and unnatural conduct ! No, no. Gentlemen ; all their hot blood was owing to their firm persuasion, dictated by conscious innocence, that the conduct of their delegates had been legal, and might be vindicated against the magistrates who obstructed them. In that they might be mis- taken ; — I am not arguing that point at present : if they are hereafter indicted for a misdemeanour, and I am counsel in that cause, I will then tell you what I think of it : sufficient for the day is the good or evil of it. It is sufficient for the present one, that the legality or illegality of the business has no rela- tion to the crime that is imputed to the prisoner. " The next matter that is alleged against the authors of the Scotch Con- vention, and the societies which supported it, is, their having sent addresses of friendship to the Convention of France. These addresses are considered to be a decisive proof of republican combination, verging closely in them- selves upon an overt act of treason. Gentlemen, if the dates of these ad- dresses are attended to, which come no lower down than November, 1792, we have only to lament, that they are but the acts of private subjects, and that they were not sanctioned by the State itself. The French nation, about that period, under their new constitution, or under their new anarchy — call it which you will— were, nevertheless, most anxiously desirous of maintaining peace with this country. But the King was advised to withdraw his ambas- sador from France, upon the approaching catastrophe of its most unfortunate prince ; an event, which, however to be deplored, was no justifiable cause of offence to Great Britain. France desired nothing but the regeneration of her own government ; and if she mistook the road to her 'prosperity, what was that to us ? But it was alleged against her in Parliament, that she had introduced spies amongst us, and held correspondence with disaffected persons, for the de~ struction of our constitution ; this was the charge of our Minister, and it was, 458 THE MODERN ORATOE. therefore, held to be just and necessary, for the safety of the country, to hold France at arm's length, and to avoid the very contagion of contact with her at the risk of war. But, Gentlemen, this charge against France was thought by many, to be supported by no better proofs than those against the prisoner.* In the public correspondence of the ambassador from the French King, and upon his death, as minister from the Convention, with his Majesty's Secre- tary of State, documents which lie upon the table of the House of Commons, and which may be made evidence in the cause, the Executive Council repelled with indignation all the imputations, which to this very hour are held out as the vindications of quarrel. ' If there be such persons in England,' says Monsieur Chauvelin, ' has not England laws to punish them ? France dis- avows them — such men are not Frenchmen.' The same correspondence conveys the most solemn assurances of friendship down to the very year 1792, a period subsequent to all the correspondence and addresses com- plained of. Whether these assurances were faithful or otherwise ; whether it would have been prudent to have depended on them, or otherwise ; whether the war was advisable or unadvisable, are questions over which we have no jurisdiction : I only desire to bring to your recollection, that a man may be a friend to the rights of humanity and to the imprescriptible lights of social man, which is now a term of derision and contempt, — that he may feel to the very soul for a nation beset by the sword of despots, and yet be a lover of his own country and its constitution. " Gentlemen, the same celebrated person, of whom I have had occasion to speak so frequently, is the best and brightest illustration of this truth. Mr. Burke, indeed, went a great deal further than requires to be pressed into the present argument ; for he maintained the cause of justice and of truth against all the perverted authority and rash violence of his country, and expressed the feelings of a Christian and a patriot in the very heat of the American war ; boldly holding forth our victories as defeats, and our successes as calamities and disgraces. ' It is not instantly,' said Mr. Burke, ' that I can be brought to rejoice, when I hear of the slaughter and captivity of long lists of those names which have been familiar to my ears from my infancy, and to rejoice that they have fallen under the sword of strangers, whose barbarous appellations I scarcely know how to pronounce. The glory acquired at the White Plains by Colonel Raillef has no charms for me ; and I fairly acknowledge that I have not yet learned to delight in find- ing Fort Knyphausen:|: in the heart of the British dominions.' If this had been said or written by Mr. Yorke at Sheffield, or by any other member of these societies, heated with wine at the Globe tavern, it would have been trumpeted forth as decisive evidence of a rebellious spirit, rejoicing in the * See ante note, p. 168, and p. 173 and note. t On the occasion of the capture of New York by the British, in 1776. % Named after General Kuyphausen, who highly distinguished himself while serving under General Howe, at the battle of Brandywine, which immediately preceded the capture of Philadelphia by the British, in September, 1776. LOUD ERSKINE. 459 tlownfall of his country ; yet the great author whose writings I have bor- rowed from approved himself to be the friend of this nation at that calami- tous crisis, and had it pleased God to open the understandings of our rulers, his wisdom might have averted the storms that are now thickening around us. We must not, therefore, be too severe in our strictures upon the opinions and feelings of men as they regard such mighty public questions. The interests of a nation may often be one thing, and the interests of its government another ; but the interests of those who hold government for the hour is at all times different from either. At the time many of the papers before you were circulated on the subject of the war with France, many of the best and wisest men in this kingdom began to be driven by our situation to these melancholy reflections ; and thousands of persons, the most firmly attached to the principles of our constitution, and who ncA^er were members of any of these societies, considered, and still consider. Great Britain as the aggressor against France ; they considered, and still consider, that she had a right to choose a government for herself, and that it was contrary to the first principles of justice, and, if possible, still more repugnant to the genius of our own free constitution, to combine with des- pots for her destruction. And who knows but that the external pressure upon France may have been the cause of that unheard-of state of society which we complain of?* Who knows but that, driven as she has been to exertions beyond the ordinary vigour of a nation, it has not been the parent of that unnatural and giant strength which threatens the authors of it with perdition ? These are melancholy considerations, but they may reasonably and, at all events lawfully, be entertained. We owe obedience to Govern- ment in our actions, but surely our opinions are free. " Gentlemen, pursuing the order of time, we are arrived, at length, at the proposition to hold another convention, which, with the supposed support of it by force, are the only overt acts of high treason charged upon this record. For, strange as it may appear, there is no charge whatever before you of any one of those acts or writings, the evidence of which consumed so many days in reading, and which has already nearly consumed my strength in only passing them in review before you. If every line and letter of all the writings I have been commenting upon Avere admitted to be traitorous machinations and if the Convention in Scotland was an open rebellion, it is conceded to be foreign to the present purpose, unless as such criminality in them might show the views and objects of the persons engaged in them. On that prin- ciple only the Court has over and over again decided the evidence of them to be admissible ; and on the same principle I have illustrated them in their order as they happened, that I might lead the prisoner in your view up to the very point and moment when the treason is supposed to have burst forth into the overt act for which he is arraigned before you. " The transaction respecting this second Convention, which constitutes * See ante p. 166 and note. 2 I 460 THE MODERK ORATOK. the principal, or, more properly, the only overt act in the indictment, lies in the narrowest compass, and is clouded with no ambiguity. I admit freely every act which is imputed to the prisoner, and listen not so much with fear as with curiosity and wonder to the treason sought to be connected with it. " You will recollect that the first motion towards the holding of a second convention, originated in a letter to the prisoner from a country correspon- dent, in which the legality of the former was vindicated, and its dispersion lamented: — this letter was answered on the 27th of March 1794, and was read to you in the Crown's evidence in these words : — "Citizen, March, 27 1794. '"I am directed by the London Corresponding Society to transmit the following resolutions to the Society for Constitutional Information, and to request the sentiments of that society respecting the important measures which the present juncture of affairs seems to require. " ' The London Corresponding Society conceives that the moment is arrived, when a full and explicit declaration is necessary from all the friends of free- dom — whether the late illegal and unheard-of prosecutions and sentences shall determine us to abandon our cause, or shall excite us to pursue a radical reform, with an ardour proportioned to the magnitude of the object, and with a zeal as distinguished on our own parts as the treachery of others in the same glorious cause is notorious. The Society for Constitutional Information is therefore required to determine whether or no they will be ready, when called upon, to act in conjunction with this and other societies to obtain a fair representation of the people — whether they concur with us in seeing the necessity of a speedy Convention, for the purpose of obtaining, in a constitu- tional and legal method, a redress of those grievances under which we at present labour, and which can only be effectually removed by a full and fair representation of the people of Great Britain. The London Corresponding Society cannot but remind their friends that the present crisis demands all the prudence, unanimity, and vigour, that may or can be exerted by men and BRITONS ; nor do they doubt but that manly firmness and consistency will finally, and they believe shortly, terminate in the full accomplishment of all their wishes. I am. Fellow-citizen, " ' (In my humble measure,) " ' A friend to the Rights of Man, (Signed) ' T. Hardy, Secretary,' " They then resolve that there is no security for the continuance of any right but in equality of laivs ; not in equality of property, the ridiculous bugbear by which you are to be frightened into injustice ; — on the contrary, throughout every part of the proceedings, and most emphatically in Mr. Yorke's speech, so much relied on, the beneficial subordinations of society, the security of property, and the prosperity of the landed and commercial interests, are held forth as the very objects to be attained by the reform in the representation which they sought for. LORD ERSKINE. 461 " 111 examining this first moving towards a second Convention, the first thing to be considered is, what reason there is, from the letter I have just read to you, or from anything that appears to have led to it, to suppose that a different sort of Convention was projected from that which had been before assembled and dispersed. The letter says, another British Convention ; and it describes the same objects as the first : compare all the papers for the calling this second Convention with those for assembling the first, and you will find no difference, except that they mixed with them extraneous and libellous matter, arising obviously from the irritation produced by the sailing of the transports with their brethren condemned to exile. These papers have already been considered, and separated, as they ought to be, from the charge. " I will now lay before you all the remaining operations of this formidable conspiracy, up to the prisoner's imprisonment in the Tower. Mr. Hardy having received the letter just adverted to, regarding a second Convention, the Corresponding Society wrote the letter of the 27th of March, and which was found in his hand-writing, and is published in the first Report, page 11. This letter, enclosing the resolutions they had come to upon the subject, was considered by the Constitutional Society on the next day, the 28th of March, the ordinary day for their meeting, when they sent an answer to the Corresponding Society, informing them that they had received their commu- nication, — that they heartily concurred with them in the objects they had in view, and invited them to send a delegation of their members to confer with them on the subject. " Now, what were the objects they concurred in, and what was to be the subject of conference between the Societies by their Delegates ? Look at the letter, which distinctly expresses its objects, and the means by M^hich they sought to effect them. Had these poor men (too numerous to meet all to- gether, and therefore renewing the cause of Parliamentarj'^ Reform by dele- gation from the Societies) any reason to suppose, that they were involving themselves in the pains of treason, and that they were compassing the King's death, when they were redeeming (as they thought) his authority from probable downfall and ruin? Had treason been imputed to the delegates before ? Had the imagining the death of the King ever been sus]3ected by anybody ? Or, when they were prosecuted for misdemeanours, was the pro- secution considered as an indulgence conferred upon men whose lives had been forfeited ? And is it to be endured, then, in this free land — made free, too, by the virtue of our forefathers, who placed the King upon his throne to maintain this freedom — that forty or fifty thousand people, in the different parts of the kingdom, assembling in their little societies to spread useful knowledge, and to diffuse the principles of liberty — which the more widely they are spread, the surer is the condition of our free government — are in a moment, without warning, without any law or principle to warrant it, and without precedent or example, to be branded as traitors, and to be decimated as victims for punishment! The Constitutional Society having answered 2 I 2 462 THE MODERN OBATOE. the letter of the 27th of March, in the manner I stated to you, committees from each of the two societies were appointed to confer together. The Con- stitutional Society appointed Mr. Joyce, Mr. Kidd, Mr. Wardle, and Mr. Holcroft, all indicted ; and Mr. Sharpe, the celebrated engraver, not indicted, but examined as a witness by the Crown. Five were appointed by the Corre- sponding Society to meet" these gentlemen : namely, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Moore, Mr. Thelwall, and Mr. Hodgson, all indicted, and Mr. Lovatt, against whom the bill was thrown out. These gentlemen met at the house of Mr. Thelwall on the 11th of April, and there published the resolutions already commented on, in conformity with the general objects of the two Societies, expressed in the letter of the 27th of March, and agreed to continue to meet on Mondays and Thursdays for further conference on the subject. The first Monday was the 14th of April, of which we have heard so much, and no meeting was held on that day; the first Thursday was the l7th of April, but there was no meeting ; the 21st of April was the second Monday, but there was still no meeting ; the 24th of April was the second Thursday, when the five of the Corresponding Society attended, but, nobody coming to meet them from the other, nothing of course was transacted; — on Monday, the 28th of April, three weeks after their first appointment, this bloody and impatient band of conspirators, seeing that a Convention Bill was in projection, and that Hessians were landing on our coasts,"^' at last assembled themselves ; — and now we come to the point of action. Gentlemen, they met ; they shook hands with each other ; they talked over the news and the pleasures of the day ; they wished one another a good evening, and retired to their homes : — it is in vain to hide it, they certainly did all these things. The same alarming scene was repeated on the three following days of meeting, and on Monday, May the 12th, would, but for the vigilance of Government, have probably again taken place ; but on that day Mr. Hardy was arrested, his papers seized, and the conspiracy which pervaded this devoted country was dragged into the face of day. To be serious. Gentlemen, you have literally the whole of it before you in the meetings, I have just stated ; in which you find ten gentlemen, appointed by two peaceable societies, conversing upon the subject of a constitutional reform in Parliament, publishing the result of their de- liberations, without any other arms than one supper-knife ; which, when I come to the subject of arms, I will in form lay before you. Yet for this, and for this alone, you are asked to devote the prisoner before you, and his un- fortunate associates, to the pains and penalties of death ; and not to death alone, but to the eternal stigma and infamy of having conceived the de- testable and horrible design of dissolving the government of their country, and of striking at the life of their Sovereign, who had never given offence to them, nor to any of his subjects. * A body of Hessian troops were landed on the Isle of Wight, from Germany, in 1794, in readiness for a projected expedition against France. The opposition insisted that such an introduction of foreign troops, without the consent of Parliament, was illegal ; but the motions declaratory of the illegality of the proceedings were negatived, and Mr, Pitt refused to countenance a Bill of indemnity. LORD EKSKINE. 463 *' Gentlemen, as a conspiracy of this formidable extension, which had no less for its object than the sudden annihilation of all the existing authorities of the country, and of everything that supported them, could not be even gravely stated to have an existence, without contemplation of force to give it eiFect ; it was absolutely necessary to impress upon the public mind, and to establish, by formal evidence, upon the present occasion, that such a force was actually in preparation. This most important and indispensable part of the cause was attended with insurmountable difficulties, not only from its being unfounded in fact, but because it had been expressly negatived by the whole conduct of Government ; for, although the motions of all these so- cieties had been watched for two years together, — though their spies had regularly attended, and collected regular journals of their proceedings, — yet when the first report was finished, and the Habeas Corpus Act suspended upon the foundation of the facts contained in it, there was not to be found, from one end of it to the other, even the insinuation of arms. I believe that this circumstance made a great impression upon all the thinking dispassionate part of the public, and that the materials of the first report were thought to furnish but a slender argument to support such a total eclipse of liberty. No wonder, then, that the discovery of a pike, in the interval between the two reports, should have been highly estimated. I mean no reflections upon Government, and only state the matter as a man of great wit very publicly reported it: he said that the discoverer, when he first beheld the long- looked-for pike, was transported beyond himself with enthusiasm and de- light, and that he hung over the rusty instrument with all the raptures of a fond mother, who embraces her first-born infant, ' and thanks her God for all her travail past.' " In consequence of this discovery, whoever might have the merit of it, and whatever the discoverer might have felt upon it, persons were sent by Government (and properly sent) into all corners of the kingdom, to investi- gate the extent of the mischief. The fruit of this inquiry has been laid before you, and I pledge myself to sum up the evidence which you have had upon the subject, not by parts, or by general observations, but in the same manner as the Court itself must sum it up to you, when it lays the whole body of the proof with fidelity before you. Notwithstanding all the decla- mations upon French anarchy, I think I may safely assert that it has been distinctly proved, by the evidence, that the Sheffield people were for universal representation in a British House of Commons. This appears to have been the general sentiment, with the exception of one witness, whose testimony makes the truth and bona fides of the sentiments far more striking ; the wit- ness I allude to (George Widdison), whose evidence I shall state in its place, seems to be a plain, blunt, honest man, and, by the bye, which must never be forgotten of any of them, the Crown's witness. I am not interested in the veracity of any of them ; for, as I have frequently adverted to, the Crown must take them for better for worse ; it must support each witness, and the whole body of its evidence throughout. If you do not believe the whole of 464 THE MODERN ORATOR. what is proved by a witness, what confidence can you have in part of it, or what part can you select to confide in ? If you are deceived in part, who shall measure the boundaries of the deception ? This man says he was at first for universal sufirage ; Mr. Yorke had persuaded him, from all the books, that it was the best ; but that he afterwards saw reason to think otherwise, and was not for going the length of the Duke of liichmond ; but that all the other Sheffield people were for the Duke's plan — a fact con- firmed by the cross-examination of every one of the witnesses. You have, therefore, positively and distinctly, upon the universal authority of the evidence of the Crown, the people of Sheffield, who are charged as at the head of a republican conspiracy, proved to be associated on the very prin- ciples which, at different times, have distinguished the most eminent persons in this kingdom ; and the charge made upon them, with regard to arms, is cleared up by the same universal testimony. " You recollect that, at a meeting held upon the Castle hill, there were two parties in the country ; and it is material to attend to what these two parties were. In consequence of the King's proclamation,^' a great number of honourable, zealous persons, who had been led by a thousand artifices ot believe that there was a just cause of alarm in the country, took very extra- ordinary steps for support of the magistracy. The publicans were directed not to entertain persons who were friendly to a reform of Parliament ; and alarms of change and of revolution pervaded the country, which became greater and greater as our ears were hourly assailed with the successive calamities of France. Others saw things in an opposite light, and con- sidered that these calamities were made the pretext for extinguishing British liberty. Heart-burnings arose between the two parties ; and some — I am afraid, a great many — wickedly or ignorantly interposed in a quarrel which zeal had begun. The societies were disturbed in their meetings, and even the private dwellings of many of their members were illegally violated. It appears by the very evidence to the Crown, by which the cause must stand or fall, that many of the friends of reform were daily insulted, their houses threatened to be pulled down, and their peaceable meetings beset by pre- tended magistrates, without the process of the law. These proceedings naturally suggested the propriety of having arms for self-defence, the first and most unquestionable privilege of man, in or out of society, and expressly provided for by the very letter of English law. It was ingeniously put by the learned counsel, in the examination of a witness, that it was complained of amongst them, that very little was sufficient to obtain a warrant from some magistrates, and that therefore it was as well to be provided for those who might have warrants as for those who had none. Gentlemen, I am too much exhausted to pursue or argue such a difference, even if it existed upon the evidence, because if the societies in question (however mistakenly) con- sidered their meetings to be legal, and the warrants to disturb them to * See ante note, p. 199, LOBD ERSKINE. 465 be beyond the authority of the magistrate to grant, they had a right, at the peril of the legal consequences, to stand upon their defence ; and it is no transgression of the law, much less high treason against the King, to resist his officers when they pass the bounds of their authority. So much for the general evidence of arms ; and the first and last time that even the name of the Prisoner is connected with the subject, is by a letter he received from a person of the name of Davison. I am anxious that this part of the case should be distinctly understood, and I will, therefore, bring back this letter to your attention The letter is as follows : — " ' Fellovt-Citizen, " ' The barefaced aristocracy of the present administration has made it necessary that we should be prepared to act on the defensive, against any attack they may command their newly-armed minions to make upon us. A plan has been hit upon, and, if encouraged sufficiently, will, no doubt, have the effect of furnishing a quantity of pikes to the patriots, great enough to make them formidable. The blades are made of steel, tempered and polished after an approved form. They may be fixed into any shafts (but j^r ones are recommended) of the girt of the accompanying hoops at the top end, and about an inch more at the bottom. " ' The blades and hoops (more than which cannot properly be sent to any great distance) will be charged one shilling. Money to be sent with the orders. " ' As the institution is in its infancy, immediate encouragement is neces- sary. " ' Orders may be sent to the Secretary of the Sheffield Constitutional Society. \_Struch out.'\ " ' Richard Dayison. '" Sheffield, April 24, 1794.' " Gentlemen, you must recollect (for if it should escape you, it might make a great difference) that Davison directs the answer to this letter to be sent to Robert Moody at Sheffield, to prevent post-office suspicion ; and that he also encloses in it a similar one which Mr. Hardy was to forward to Norwich, in order that the society at that place might provide pikes for themselves, in the same manner that Davison was recommending, through Hardy, to the people of London. Now what followed upon the prisoner's receiving this letter ? It is in evidence by this very Moody, to whom the answer was to be sent, and who was examined as a witness by the Crown, that he never received any answer to the letter ; and, although there was a universal seizure of papers, no such letter, nor any other, appeared to have been written; and, what is more, the letter to Norwich, from Davison, enclosed in his letter to Hardy, was never forwarded, but was found in his custody when he was arrested, three weeks afterwards, folded up in the other and unopened, as he received it. Good God ! what is become of the humane sanctuary of English justice — where is the sense and meaning of ih^ teriw proveahly in 466 THE MODERN OBATOR. the statute of King Edward — if such evidence can be received against an English subject on a trial for his life ? If a man writes a letter to me about pikes, or about anything else, can I help it ? And is it evidence (except to acquit me of suspicion) when it appears that nothing is done upon it? Mr. Hardy never before corresponded with Davison — he never desired him to write to him ; how indeed could he desire him when his very existence was unknown to him ? he never returned an answer, — ^he never forwarded the enclosed to Norwich, — he never even communicated the letter itself to his own society, although he was its secretary, which showed he considered it as the unauthorised officious correspondence of a private man ; — he never acted upon it at all, nor appears to have regarded it as dangerous or impor- tant, since he neither destroyed nor concealed it. Gentlemen, I declare I hardly know in what language to express my astonishment, that the Crown can ask you to shed the blood of the man at the bar upon such foundations. Yet this is the whole of the written evidence concerning arms : for the re- mainder of the plot rests, for its foundation, upon the parole evidence, the whole of which T shall pursue with precision, and not suffer a link of the chain to pass unexamined. " William Camage was the first witness : he swore that the Sheffield so- cieties were frequently insulted, and threatened to be dispersed ; so that the people in general thought it necessary to defend themselves against illegal attacks ; — that the justices having officiously intruded themselves into their peaceable and legal meetings, they thought they had a right to be armed ; but they did not claim this right under the law of nature, or by theories of government, but asENGi^isH subjects, under the government of England; for they say in their paper, which has been read by the Crown that would condemn them, that they were entitled by the Bill of Rights to be armed. Gentlemen, they state their title truly : the preamble of that statute enume- rates the offences of King James the Second ; amongst the chief of which, was his causing his subjects to be disarmed, and then our ancestors claim this violated right as their indefeasible inheritance. Let us therefore be cautious how we rush to the conclusion, that men are plotting treason against the King, because they are asserting a right, the violation of which has been ad- judged against a King to be treason against the people ; and let us not sup- pose that English subjects are a banditti, for preparing to defend their legal liberties with pikes, because pikes may have been accidentally employed in another country to destroy both liberty and law. Camage says he was spoken to by this Davison about three dozen of pikes. What then ? — He is the Crown's witness, whom they offer to you as the witness of truth ; and he started with horror at the idea of violence, and spoke with visible reverence for the King ; saying, God forbid that he should touch him; but he, never- theless, had a pike for himself. Indeed, the manliness with which he avowed it, gave an additional strength to his evidence. — * No doubt,' says he, ' I had a pike, but I would not have remained an hour a member of the society, if I had heard a syllable, that it was in the contemplation of anybody to employ LORD ERSKINE. 467 pikes or any other arms against the King or the Government. We meant to petition Parliament, through the means of the Convention of Edinburgh, thinking that the House of Commons would listen to this expression of the general sentiments of the people ; for it had been thrown out, he said, in Parliament, that the people did not desire it themselves.' " Mr. Broomhead, whose evidence I have already commented upon, a se- date, plain, sensible man, spoke also of his affection to the government, and of the insults and threats which had been offered to the people of Sheffield : he says, ' I heard of arms on the Castle-hill, but it is fit this should be dis- tinctly explained : a wicked hand-bill, to provoke and terrify the multitude, had been thrown about the town in the night, which caused agitation in the minds of the people ; and it was then spoken of as being the right of every individual to have arms for defence ; but there was no idea ever started of resisting, much less of attacking, the Government. I never heard of such a thing. ' I fear God,' said the witness, ' and honour the King ; and would not have consented to send a delegate to Edinburgh, but for peaceable and legal purposes.' " The next evidence upon the subject of arms, is what is proved by Wid- dison, to which I beg your particular attention, because, if there be any reli- ance upon his testimony, it puts an end to every criminal imputation upon Davison, through whom, in the strange manner already observed upon, Hardy could alone be criminated. " This man, Widdison, who was both a turner and a hair-dresser, and who dressed Davison's hair, and was his most intimate acquaintance, gives you an account of their most confidential conversations upon the subject of the pikes, when it is impossible that they could be imposing upon one another ; and he declares upon his solemn oath, that Davison, without even the know- ledge or authority of the Sheffield Society, thinking that the same insults might be offered to the London Societies, wrote the letter to Hardy, ' of his own head^' as the witness expressed it, and that he, Widdison, made the pike- shafts, to the number of a dozen and a half. Davison, he said, was his customer ; he told him that people began to think themselves in danger, and he therefore made the handles of the pikes for sale, to the number of a dozen and a half, and one likewise for himself, without conceiving that he offended against any law. ' I love the King,' said Widdison, ' as much as any man, and all that I associated with did the same ; I would not have staid with them if they had not : Mr. Yorke often told me privately, that he was for universal representation, and so were we all — the Duke of Richmond's PEAN WAS OUR ONLY OBJECT.' This was the witness who was shown the Duke's letter, and spoke to it as being circulated, and as the very creed of the Societies. This evidence shows, beyond all doubt, the genuine senti- ments of these people, because it consists of their most confidential communi- cations with one another ; and the only answer, therefore, that can possibly be given to it is, that the witnesses, who deliver it, are imposing upon the Court, But this — as I have wearied you with reiterating — the Crown cannot 468 THE MODERN ORATOR. say ; for in that case, their whole proof falls to the ground together, since it is only from the same witnesses that the very existence of these pikes and their handles comes before us ; and, if you suspect their evidence in part, for the reasons already given, it must be in toto rejected. My friend is so good as to furnish me with this further observation ; that Widdison said he had often heard those who call themselves aristocrats say, that if an invasion of the country should take place, they would begin Avith destroying their enemies at home, that they might be unanimous in the defence of their country. " John Hill was next called : he is a cutler, and was employed by Davison to make the blades for the pikes; he saw the letter which was sent' to Hardy, and knew that it was sent, lest there should be the same call for de- fence in London against illegal attacks upon the Societies ; for that at Sheffield they were daily insulted, and that the opposite party came to his own house, fired muskets under the door, and threatened to pull it down ; he swears that they were, to a man, faithful to the King, and that the reform proposed was in the Commons House of Parliament. " John Edwards was called, further to connect the prisoner with the com- bination of force ; but so far from establishing it, he swore, upon his cross- examination, that his only reason for going to Hardy's, was, that he wanted a pike for his own defence, without connexion with Davison, or with Sheffield, and without concert or correspondence with any body. He had heard, he said, of the violences at Sheffield, and of the pikes that had been made there for defence ; that Hardy, on his application, showed him the letter which, as has appeared, he never showed to any other person. This is the whole sum and substance of the evidence which applies to the charge of pikes, after the closest investigation, under the sanction, and by the aid, of Parliament itself: evidence which, so far from establishing the fact, would have been a satis- factory answer to almost any testimony by which such a fact could have been supported : for in this unparalleled proceeding, the prisoner's Counsel is driven by his duty to dwell upon the detail of the Crown's proofs ; because the whole body of it is the completest answer to the indictment which even a free choice itself could have selected. It is further worthy of your atten- tion, that as far as the evidence proceeds from these plain, natural sources, which the Crown was driven to, for the necessary foundation of the proceed- ings before you, it has been simple, uniform, natural, and consistent ; and that whenever a different complexion was to be given to it, it was only through the medium of spies and informers, and of men, independently of their infamous trade, of the most abandoned and profligate characters. " Before I advert to what has been sworn by this description of persons, I will give you a wholesome caution concerning them, and, having no eloquence of my own to enforce it, I will give it to you in the language of the same gentleman whose works are always seasonable, when moral or political lessons are to be rendered delightful. Look, then, at the picture of society, as Mr. Burke has drawn it, under the dominion of spies and informers ; I say, under LORD ERSKINE. 469 their dominion, for a resort to spies may, on occasions, be justifiable, and their evidence, when confirmed, may deserve implicit credit ; but I say under the dominion of spies and informers, because the case of the Crown must stand alone upon their evidence, and upon their evidence, not only unconfirmed, but in direct contradiction to every witness not an informer or a spy, and in a case too, where the truth, whatever it is, lies within the knowledge of forty or fifty thousand people. Mr. Burke says — I believe I can remember it with- out reference to the book — " ' A mercenary informer knows no distinction. Under such- a system, the obnoxious people are slaves, not only to the government, but they live at the mercy of every individual ; they are at once the slaves of the whole com.- munity, and of every part of it ; and the worst and most unmerciful men are those on whose goodness they most depend. " ' In this situation men not only shrink from] the frowns of a stern magistrate, but are obliged to fly from their very species. The seeds of destruction are sown in civil intercourse and in social habitudes. The blood of wholesome kindred is infected. The tables and beds are sur- rounded with snares. All the means given by Providence to make life safe and comfortable, are perverted into instruments of terror and torment. This species of universal subserviency, that makes the very servant who waits behind your chair the arbiter of your life and fortune, has such a tendency to degrade and abase mankind, and to deprive them of that assured and liberal state of mind which alone can make us what we ought to be, that I avow to God, I would sooner bring myself to put a man to immediate death for opinions I disliked, and so to get rid of the man and his opinions at once, than to fret him with a feverish being, tainted with the jail distemper of a contagious servitude, to keep him above ground, an animated mass of putrefaction, corrupted himself, and corrupting all about him.' " Gentlemen, let me bring to your recollection the deportment of the first of this tribe, Mr. Alexander, — who could not in half an hour even tell where he had lived, or why he had left his master. Does any man believe that he had forgotten these most recent transactions of his life ? Certainly not — but his history would have undone his credit, and must therefore be concealed. He had lived with a linendraper, whose address we could scarcely get from him, and they had parted because they had words. What were the words ? We were not to be told that. He then went to a Mr. Killerby's, who agreed with him at twenty-five guineas a year. Why did he not stay there ? He was obliged, it seems, to give up this lucrative agreement, because he was obliged to attend here as a witness. Gentlemen, Mr. Killerby lives only in Holborn ; and was he obliged to give up a permanent engagement with a tradesman in Holborn* because he was obliged to be absent at the Old Bailey for five minutes in one single day ? I asked him if he had told Mr. White, the Solicitor for the Treasury, who would not have been so cruel as to deprive 470 THE MODERN ORATOR. a man of his. bread, by keeping him upon attendance which might have been avoided by a particular notice. The thing spoke for itself — he had never told Mr. White : but had he ever told Mr. Killerby ? For how else could he know that his place was inconsistent with his engagement upon this trial ? No, he had never told him ! — How, then, did he collect that his place was inconsistent with his duty here ? This question never received any answer. You saw how he dealt with it, and how he stood stammering, not daring to lift up his countenance in any direction — confused — disconcerted — and confounded. " Driven from the accusation upon the subject of pikes, and even from the very colour of accusation, and knowing that nothing was to be done without the proof of arms, we have got this miserable, solitary knife, held up to us as the engine which was to destroy the constitution of this country ; and Mr. Groves, an Old Bailey solicitor, employed as a spy upon the occasion, has been selected to give probability to this monstrous absurdity, by his respectable evidence. I understand that this same gentleman has carried his system of spying to such a pitch as to practise it since this unfortunate man has been standing a prisoner before you, proffering himself, as a friend, to the committee preparing his defence, that he might discover to the Crown the materials by which he meant to defend his life. I state this only from report, and I hope in God I am mistaken : for human nature starts back appalled from such atrocity, and shrinks and trembles at the very statement of it. But as to the perjury of this miscreant, it will appear palpable beyond all question, and he shall answer for it in due season. He tells you he attended at Chalk Farm ; and that there, forsooth, amongst about seven or eight thousand people, he saw two or three persons with knives : — he might, I should think, have seen many more, as hardly any man goes Avithout a knife of some sort in his pocket. He asked, however, it seems, where they got these knives, and was directed to Green, a hair-dresser, who deals besides in cutlery ; and accordingly this notable Mr. Groves went (as he told us) to Green's, and asked to purchase a knife ; when Green in answer to him said, ' Speak low, for my wife is a damn'd aristocrat.' This answer was sworn to by the wretch, to give you the idea that Green, who had the knives to sell, was conscious that he kept them for an illegal and wicked purpose, and that they were not to be sold in public. The door, he says, being a-jar, the man desired him to speak low, from whence he would have you under- stand that it was because this aristocratic wife was within hearing. This, Gentlemen, is the testimony of Groves, and Green himself is called as the next witness ; and called by whom .^ Not by me — I know nothing of him, he is the Crown's own witness. He is called to confirm Groves's evidence ; but not being a spy, he declared solemnly upon his oath, and I can confirm his evidence by several respectable people, that the knives in question lie constantly, and lay then, in his open shop-window, in what is called the show-glass, where cutlers, like other tradesmen, expose their ware to public view ; and that the knives differ in nothing from others publicly sold in the LORD ERSKI^JE. 471 Strand, and every other street in London ; — that he bespoke them from a rider, who came round for orders in the usual way ; that he sold only fourteen in all, and that they were made up in little packets, one of which Mr. Hardy had, who was to choose one for himself, but four more were found in his possession, because he was arrested before Green had an opportunity of sending for them. " Gentlemen, I think the pikes and knives are now completely disposed of; but something was said also about guns ; let us, therefore, see what that amounts to. It appears that Mr. Hardy was applied to by Samuel Williams, a gun-engraver, who was not even a member of any society, and who asked him if he knew anybody who wanted a gun. Hardy said, he did not ; and undoubtedly, upon the Crown's own showing, it must be taken for granted that if at that time he had been acquainted with any plan of arming, he would have given a different answer, and would have jumped at the offer. — About a fortnight afterwards, however, (Hardy in the interval having become acquainted with Franklow,) Williams called to buy a pair of shoes, and then Hardy, recollecting his former application, referred him to Franklow, who had in the most public manner raised the forty men, who were called the Loyal Lambeth Association : so that, in order to give this transaction any bearing upon the charge, it became necessary to consider Franklow's Asso- ciation as an armed conspiracy against the government — though the forty people who composed it were collected by public advertisement — though they were enrolled under public articles — and though Franklow himself, as appears from the evidence, attended publicly at the Globe Tavern in his uniform, whilst the cartouch-boxes and the other accoutrements of these secret conspirators lay openly upon his shop-board, exposed to the open view of ail his customers and neighbours. This story, therefore, is not less con- temptible than that which you must have all heard concerning Mr. Walker, whom I went to defend at Lancaster, where that respectable gentleman Avas brought to trial upon such a trumped-up charge, supported by the solitary evidence of one Dunn, a most infamous witness.^* But what was the end of that prosecution ? I recollect it to the honour of my friend, Mr. Law, who conducted it for the Crown, who, knowing that there were persons whose passions were agitated upon these subjects at that moment, and that many persons had enrolled themselves in societies to resist conspiracies against the government, behaved in a most manful and honourable manner, — in a man- ner, indeed, which the public ought to know, and which I hope it never will forget. He would not even put me upon my challenges to such persons, but withdrew them from the pannel ; and when he saw the complexion of the affair, from the contradiction of the infamous witness whose testimony sup- ported it, he honourably gave up the cause. * Mr. Walker, with some others, was indicted, in 1794, at the Lancaster Assizes, for a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The x>rosecution depended on the evi- dence of an informer of the name of Dunn, who was afterwards convicted of perjury at the very same Assizes. 472 THE MODERN ORATOR. '* Gentlemen, the evidence of Lynam does not require the same contra- diction which fell upon Mr. Groves, because it destroys itself by its own in- trinsic inconsistency. I could not, indeed, if it were to save my life, under- take to state it to you. It lasted, I think, about six or seven hours, but I have marked under different parts of it, passages so grossly contradictory, matter so impossible, so inconsistent with any course of conduct, that it will be sufficient to bring these parts to your view, to destroy all the rest. But let us first examine in what manner this matter, such as it is, was recorded. He professed to speak from notes, yet 1 observed him frequently looking up to the ceiling whilst he was speaking. When I said to him, Are you now speaking from a note ? — Have you got any note of what you are now saying ? He answered, ' Oh no, this is from recollection.' Good God Almighty ! — re- collection mixing itself with notes in a case of high treason ! He did not even take down the words ; nay, to do the man justice, he did not even afiect to have taken the words, but only the substance, as he himself expressed it. Oh excellent evidence ! — The substance of words taken down by a spy, and supplied, when defective, by his memory ! But I must not call him a spy ; for it seems he took them horn Jide as a delegate, and yet hona jide as an informer. What a happy combination of fidelity ! — faithful to serve, and faithful to betray ! — correct to record for the business of the society, and correct to dissolve and to punish it! What, after all, do the notes amount to ? I will advert to the parts I alluded to : they were, it seems, to go to Frith-street, to sign the declaration of the Friends of the Liberty of the Press, which lay there already signed by between twenty and thirty mem- bers of the House of Commons, and many other respectable and opulent men : and then they were to begin civil confusion, and the King's head and Mr. Pitt's were to be placed on Temple Bar. Immediately after which, we find them resolving unanimously to thank Mr. Wharton for his speech to support the glorious Revolution of 1688, which supports the very throne that was to be destroyed ! which same speech they were to circulate in thou- sands, for the use of the societies throughout the kingdom. Such incoherent, impossible matter, proceeding from such a source, is unworthy of all further concern. " Thus driven out of everything which relates to arms, and from every other matter which can possibly attach upon life, they have recourse to an expedient, which, I declare, fills my mind with horror and terror ; it is this : The Corresponding Society had, you recollect, two years before, sent dele- gates to Scotland, with specific instructions, peacefully to pursue a parlia- mentary reform ; when the Convention which they were sent to was dis- persed, they sent no others — for they were arrested when only considering of the propriety of another convention. It happened that Mr. Hardy was the secretary during the period of these Scotch proceedings, and the letters consequently written by him, during that period, were all official letters from a large body, circulated by him in point of form. When the proposition took place for calling a second Convention, Mr. Hardy continued to be Secre- LORD ERSKINE. 473 tary, and, in that character, signed the circular letter read in the course of the evidence, which appears to have found its way, in the course of circulation, into Scotland. This single circumstance has been admitted as the founda- tion of receiving in evidence against the prisoner, a long transaction imputed to one Watt, at Edinburgh, whose very existence was unknown to Hardy. This Watt had been employed by Government as a spy, but at last caught a Tartar in his spyship ; for, in endeavouring to urge innocent men to a pro- ject which never entered into their imaginations, he was obliged to show himself ready to do what he recommended to others ; and the tables being turned upon him, he was hanged by his employers. This man Watt read from a paper designs to be accomplished, but which he never intended to attempt, and the success of which he knew to be visionary. To suppose that Great Britain could have been destroyed by such a rebel as Watt, would be, as Dr. Johnson says, ' to expect that a great city might be drowned by the overflowing of its kennels.' But whatever might be the peril of Watt's conspiracy, what had Hardy to do with it ? The people with Watt were five or six persons, wholly unknown to Hardy, and not members of any society of which Mr. Hardy was a member ; I vow to God, therefore, that I cannot express what I feel, when I am obliged to state the evidence by which he sought to be afiected. A letter, namely, the circular letter signed by Hardy for calling another Convention, is shown to George Ross, who says he received it from one Stock, who belonged to a society which met in Nicholson-street, in Edinburgh, and that he sent it to Perth, Strathaven, and Paisley, and other places in Scotland ; and the single unconnected evidence of this public letter, finding its way into Scotland, is made the foundation of letting in the whole evidence, which hanged Watt against Hardy, who never knew him. Government hanged its own spy in Scotland upon that evidence, and it may be sufiicient evidence for that purpose ; I will not argue the case of a dead man, and, above all, of such a man ; but I will say, that too much money was spent upon this performance, as I think it cost Government about fifty thousand pounds. M'Ewen says, that Watt read from a paper to a committee of six or seven people, of which he, the witness, was a member, that gentlemen, residing in the country, were not to leave their habitations, under pain of death ; that an attack was to be made in the manner you remember, and that the Lord Justice Clerk and the Judges were to be cut off by these men in buckram ; and then an address was to be sent to the King, desiring him to dismiss his Ministers and put an end to the war, or he might expect bad consequences. What is all this to Mk. Hardy ? How is it possible to affect him with any part of this r Hear the sequel, and then judge for yourselves. Mr. Watt said (that is, the man who is hanged, said), after reading the paper, that he. Watt, wished to correspond with Mr. Hardy in a safe manner ; so that, because a rufiian and scoundrel, whom I never saw or heard of, chooses, at the distance of four hundred miles, to say, that he wishes to correspond with me, I am to be involved in the guilt of his actions ! It is not proved or insinuated, that Mr. Hardy ever saw, or heard of, or knew, that such men were in being as Watt or 474 THE MODERN ORATOR. Downie ; nor is it proved, or asserted, that any letter was, in fact, written by either of them to Hardy, or to any other person. No such letter has been found in his possession, nor a trace of any connexion between them and any member of any English society; the truth, I believe, is, that nothing was intended by Watt but to entrap others to obtain a reward for himself, and he has been amply and justly rewarded. Gentlemen, I desire to be understood to be making no attacks upon Government ; I have wished, throughout the whole cause, that good intentions may be imputed to it, but I really confess, that it requires some ingenuity for Government to account for the original existence of all this history, and its subsequent application to the present trial. They went down to Scotland, after the ar- rest of the prisoners, in order, I suppose, that we might be taught the law of high treason by the Lord Justice Clerk of Edinburgh, and that there should be a sort of rehearsal to teach the people of England to administer English laws ; for, after all this expense and preparation, no man was put upon his trial, nor even arraigned under the special commission in Scotland, but these two men ; one for reading this paper, and the other for not dissenting from it when it was read ; and, with regard to this last unfortunate person, the Crown thought it indecent, as it would indeed have been indecent and scan- dalous, to execute the law upon him; as a gentleman upon his jury said, he would die rather than convict Downie without a recommendation of mercy, and he was only brought over to join in the verdict, under the idea that he would not be executed, and, accordingly, he has not suffered execution. If Downie, then, was an object of mercy, or rather of justice, though he was in the very room with Watt, and heard distinctly the proposition, upon what possible ground can they demand the life of the prisoner at the bar, on ac- count of a connexion with the very same individual, though he never corre- sponded with him, nor saw him, nor heard of him — to whose very being he was an utter stranger ? " Gentlemen, it is impossible for me to know what impression this obser- vation makes upon you, or upon the Court ; but I declare I am deeply impressed with the application of it. How is a man to defend himself against such implications of guilt ? Which of us all would be safe, standing at the bar of God or man, if he were even to answer for all his own expres- sions, without taking upon him the crimes or rashnesses of others ? This poor man has, indeed, none of his own to answer for ; yet how can he stand safely in judgment before you, if, in a season of alarm and agitation, with the whole pressure of Government upon him, your minds are to be distracted with criminating materials brought from so many quarters, and of an extent which mocks all power of discrimination ? I am conscious that I have not adverted to the thousandth part of them; yet I am sinking under fatigue and weakness — I am at this moment scarcely able to stand up whilst I am speaking to you, deprived, as I have been, for nights together, of everything that deserves the name of rest, repose, or comfort. I therefore hasten, whilst yet I may be able, to remind you once again of the great principle into which all I have been saying resolves itself. LOUD ERSKINE. 475 " Gentlemen, my whole argument, then, amounts to no more than this, that before the crime of compassing the King's death can be found by you, the Jury, whose province it is to judge of its existence, it must be believed by you to have existed in point offact. Before you can adjudge a fact, you must believe it — not suspect it, or imagine it, or fancy it — but believe it ; and it is impossible to impress the human mind with such a reasonable and certain belief, as is necessary to be impressed, before a Christian man can adjudge his neighbour to the smallest penalty, much less to the pains of death, without having such evidence as a reasonable mind will accept of, as the infallible test of truth. And what is that evidence ? Neither more nor less than that which the constitution has established in the courts for the general administration of justice ; namely, that the evidence convinces the Jury, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the criminal intention^ consti- tuting the crime, existed in the mind of the man upon trial, and was the main-spring of his conduct. The rules of evidence, as they are settled by law, and adopted in its general administration, are not to be over-ruled or tampered with. They are founded in the charities of religion, in the philo- sophy of nature, in the truths of history, and in the experience of common life ; and whoever ventures rashly to depart from them, let him remember, that it will bemeted to him in the same measure, and that both God and man will judge him accordingly. These are arguments addressed to your reasons and consciences, not to be shaken in upright minds by any precedent, for no precedents can sanctify inj ustice ; if they could, every human right would long ago have been extinct upon the earth. If the State Trials in bad times are to be searched for precedents, what murders may you not commit ? what law of humanity may you not trample upon ? what rule of justice may you not violate ? and what maxim of wise policy may you not abrogate and con- found? If precedents in bad times are to be implicitly followed, why should we have heard any evidence at all ? You might have convicted without any evidence, for many have been so convicted, and in this manner murdered, even by Acts of Parliament. If precedents in bad times are to be followed, why should the Lords and Commons have investigated these charges, and the Crown have put them into this course of judicial trial ? — since, without such a trial, and even after an acquittal upon one, they might have attainted all the prisoners by Act of Parliament ; they did so in the case of Lord Strafford. There are precedents, therefore, for all such things ; but such precedents as could not for a moment survive the times of mad- ness and distraction, which gave them birth ; but which, as soon as the spurs of the occasions were blunted, were repealed, and execrated even by Parlia- ments which (little as I may think of the present) ought not to be compared with it: Parliaments sitting in the darkness of former times — in the night of freedom — before the principles of government were developed, and before the constitution became fixed. The last of these precedents, and all the proceedings upon it, were ordered to be taken off the file and burnt, to the intent that the same might no longer be visible in after ages ; an order 2 K 476 THE MODERN OEATOK. dictated, no doubt, by a pious tenderness for national honour, and meant as a charitable covering for the crimes of our fathers. But it was a sin against pos- terity ; it was a treason against society ; for, instead of commanding them to be burnt, they should rather have directed them to be blazoned in large letters upon the walls of our courts of justice, that, like the characters de- ciphered by the prophet of God, to the Eastern tyrant, they might enlarge and blacken in your sights, to terrify you from acts of injustice. " In times when the whole habitable earth is in a state of change and fluctuation — when deserts are starting up into civilised empires around you — and when men, no longer slaves to the prejudices of particular countries, much less to the abuses of particular governments, enlist themselves, like the citizens of an enlightened world, into whatever communities their civil liberties may be best protected ; it never can be for the advantage of this country to prove, that the strict, unextended letter of her laws, is no security to its inhabitants. On the contrary, when so dangerous a lure is everywhere holding out to emigration, it will be found to be the wisest policy of Great Britain to set up her happy constitution — the strict letter of her guardian laws, and the proud condition of equal freedom, which her highest and her lowest subjects ought equally to enjoy; it will be her wisest policy to set up these first of human blessings against those charms of change and novelty which the varying condition of the world is hourly displaying, and which may deeply aflfect the population and prosperity of our country. In times when the subordination to authority is said to be everywhere but too little felt, it will be found to be the wisest policy of Great Britain, to instil into the governed an almost superstitious reverence for the strict security of the laws ; which, from their equality of principle, beget no jealousies or discontent ; which, from their equal administration, can seldom work injustice ; and which, from the reverence growing out of their mildness and antiquity, acquire a stability in the habits and affections of men, far beyond the force of civil obligation : whereas, severe penalties, and arbitrary constructions of laws intended for security, lay the foundations of alienation from every human government, and have been the cause of all the calamities that have come, and are coming, upon the earth. " Gentlemen, what we read of in books makes but a faint impression upon us compared to what we see passing under our eyes in the living world. I remem- ber the people of another country, in like manner, contending for a renovation of their constitution, sometimes illegally and turbulently, but still devoted to an honest end ; — I myself saw the people of Brabant so contending for the ancient constitution of the good Duke of Burgundy.* How was this people * The revolution which took place in Brabant and the other Belgian Provinces in 1787 — 1790 must always be regarded as an anomaly in the history of revolutions, being a curious instance of the resistance of a nation, not to the oppressions of tyranny, but, on the contrary, to all attempts to rescue them from bigotry, and the thraldom of priestcraft, and to introduce a liberal reformation in politics and religion. All the en- deavours of the Emperor Joseph IT. to enfranchise the Belgian Provinces from the LORD EKSKINE. 477 dealt by ? All, who were only contending for their own rights and privileges, were supposed to be, of course, disaffected to the Emperor : — they were handed over to courts constituted for the emergency, as this is, and the Em- peror marched his army through the country till all was peace ; — but such peace as there is in Vesuvius, or ^tna, the very moment before they vomit forth their lava, and roll their conflagrations over the devoted habitations of mankind. When the French approached, the fatal effects were suddenly seen of a government of constraint and terror ; — the well-affected were dispirited, and the disaffected inflamed into fury. At that moment the Archduchess fled from Brussels, and the Duke of Saxe-Teschen was sent express to offer the joj/euse entree so long petitioned for in- vain ; but the season of concession was past, the storm blew from every quarter, and the throne of Brabant departed for ever from the House of Burgundy. Gentlemen, I venture to affirm, that, with other counsels, this fatal prelude to the last revolution in that country, might have been averted. If the Emperor had been advised to make the concessions of justice and affection to his people, they would have risen in a mass to maintain their prince's authority, interwoven with their own liberties ; and the French, the giants of modern times, would, like the giants of antiquity, have been trampled in the mire of their own ambition. In the same manner a far more splendid and important crown passed away from his Majesty's illustrious brow, — the imperial crown or America. The people of that country, too, for a long season, contended as subjects, and often with irregularity and turbulence, for what they felt to be their rights ; and, oh, gentlemen ! that the inspiring and immortal eloquence of that man, whose name I have so often mentioned, had then been heard with effect ! What was his language to this country when she sought to lay burdens on America, not to support the dignity of the Crown, or for the increase of national revenue, but to raise a fund for the purpose of corruption ; a fund for maintaining those tribes of hireling skipjacks, which Mr. Tooke so well contrasted with the hereditary nobility of England? Though America would not bear this imposition, she would have borne any useful or consti- tutional burden to support the parent. state. " ' For that service — for all service,' said Mr. Burke, ' whether of revenue, trade, or empire, my trust is in her interest in the British constitution. My hold of the colonies is in the close aflection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges and equal protection. These are bondage of superstition and prejudice, were, owing to the control and influence of the clergy over the people, met with the most obstinate opposition, and succeeded for a time only by the strong arm of power. Intent on re-establishing the former corruptions of the church and state, they arrogantly refused all overtures of submission to Leopold, who had succeeded Joseph on the imperial throne, but were utterly powerless against the Austrian army, which, under General Bender, invaded the Provinces, and, almost without opposition, reduced them to obedience. The Emperor died in the following year, and very shortly after his death the Belgian Provinces again revolted and joined the French Republicans, and became for ever separated from the Austrian Empire. — See ante note, p. 167. 478 THE MODERN ORATOR. ties, which, though light as air, are as strong as links of iron. Let the colo- nies always keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your govern- ments, they will cling and grapple to you, and no force under heaven will be of power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood, that your government may be one thing, and their privileges another ; that these two things may exist without any mutual relation; the cement is gone; the cohesion is loosened ; and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our com- mon faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces toward you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have ; the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, they may have it from Prussia. But until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the commodity of price, of which you have the monopoly. This is the true act of navigation, which binds to you the commerce of the colonies, and, through them, secures to you the wealth of the world. Is it not the same virtue which does everything for us here in England? Do you imagine, then, that it is the land-tax act which raises your revenue ? that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply, which gives you your army ? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline ? No ! surely no ! It is the love of the people, it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience, without which, your army would be a base rabble, and your navy nothing but rotten timber.' "Gentlemen, to conclude — my fervent wish is, that we may not conjure up a spirit to destroy ourselves, nor set the example here of what in another country we deplore. Let us cherish the old and venerable laws of our fore- fathers. Let our judicial administration be strict and pure ; and let the Jury of the land preserve the life of a fellow-subject, who only asks it from them upon the same terms under which they hold their own lives, and all that is dear to them and their posterity for ever. Let me repeat the wish with which I began my address to you, and which proceeds from the very bottom of my heart ; may it please God, who is the Author of all mercies to mankind, whose providence, I am persuaded, guides and superintends the transactions of the world, and whose guardian spirit has for ever hovered over this pros- perous island, to direct and fortify your judgments. I am aware I have not acquitted myself, to the unfortunate man who has put his trust in me, in the manner I could have wished ; yet I am unable to proceed any further ; ex- hausted in spirit and in strength, but confident in the expectation of justice. There is one thing more, however, that (if I can) I must state to you, namely, that I will show, by as many witnesses as it may be found necessary or con- LORD ERSKINE. 479 venient for you to hear upon the subject, that the views of the societies were what I have alleged them to be ; that whatever irregularities or indiscretions they might have committed, their purposes were honest ; and that Mr. Hardy's, above all other men, can be established to have been so. I have, indeed, an llonourable Gentleman (Mr. Francis) in my eye at this moment, to be called hereafter as a witness, who being desirous, in his place as a member of Parlia- ment, to promote an inquiry into the seditious practices complained of, Mr, Hardy offered himself voluntarily to come forward, proffered a sight of all the papers, which were afterwards seized in his custody, and tendered every possible assistance to give satisfaction to the laws of his country, if found to be offended. I will show, likewise, his character to be religious, temperate, humane, and moderate, and his uniform conduct all that can belong to a good subject and an honest man. — When you have heard this evidence, it will, beyond all doubt, confirm you in coming to the conclusion which, at such great length (for which I entreat your pardon), I have been endeavouring to support." The Jury returned a verdict of " Not Guilty." [As some of the subscribers to the "Modern Orator" may have expected that some of Lord Erskine's Speeches in Parliament would have appeared in this collection, it is proper to state that they are inferior in every respect to his Speeches at the Bar, and would be undeserving of a place in a work professing to give only the most celebrated speeches of modern times. Edmund Burke, in his place in the House of Commons, speaking of Erskine, observed, " The bar was the scene of his wealth, of his reputation, of his fame ; this House was only the scene of his duty This House had only the refuse of the honourable and learned gentleman's abilities ; they obtained him solely at second-hand. This was the scene of his duty, the other the scene of his pleasure."] LONDON : JOHN HA3LEU, rHlNTEU, CRANK COURT, FLEET STKERT. 3k'n-i ^ I ^1, M Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 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