HV
6295
G7
A
LETTER
C33
TO THE
High Sheriff of the County of Lincoln,
RESPECTING THE
BILL S
OF
LORD GRENVILLE AND MR. PITT, FOR ALTER-
ING THE CRIMINAL LAW OF ENGLAND,
RESPECTING TREASON AND SEDITION.
INCLUDING
A COPY OF THE AUTHOR'S PETITION TO THE Ho-
NOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS, PRESENTED
BY MR. Fox, ON WEDNESDAY THE
25TH OF NOVEmber, 1795.
BY JOHN CARTWRIGHT, Esq.
LONDON:
Printed for J. JOHNSON, in St. Paul's Church-Yard.
་
1795.
...
-
"
لها أن
A
LETTER
TO THE
HIGH SHERIFF
OF THE
COUNTY OF LINCOLN.
To AYSCOGHE BOUCHERETT, Esq.
HIGH SHERIFF, &c.
DEAR SIR,
Brothertoft Farm, Nov. 25, 1795.
HAV
AVING been for ten days paſt confined,
in the condition of a cripple, to the Houſe,
and feeing that it must be utterly out of my
power to obey your fummons for Saturday next,*
I beg leave to communicate my fentiments in
writing; and to requeſt you will have the good-
neſs to intercede with the Meeting, for allow-
ing them to be read to the affembled county; as
66
* "To confiler of an Addrefs to our moſt Gracious Sore-
reign, relative to the late atrocious attack upon his Royal and
** Sacred Perfon.”
B
well
( 2 )
well as to affure the Meeting, that it is a caufe of
unfpeakable regret to me that I cannot be pre-
fent.
Of the object of the Meeting, fimply as ex-
preffed in your Advertiſement, I moſt cordially
approve. But, fir, how is it poffible at this fin-
gular and alarming crifis, to approach our Sove-
reign without going further than to offer him a
mere congratulation perfonal to himſelf alone?
The two very important Bills now pending in
Parliament muſt be in every man's thoughts; and
to every one, objects either of approbation or
difapprobation.
As thofe Bills cannot become Law without
the King's concurrence, fo all who now addrefs
him, will naturally feel inclined to exprefs to
him their fentiments on thofe Bills, profeffedly
brought forward in confequence of the late atro-
cious outrage on His Majefty's perfon.
+
*
*
*
Provided any amendment, refering to the
two Bills above mentioned can be admitted and
worked into the propofed Addrefs; I now offer
Some matter of a local nature, is here omitted.
you
( 3 )
you a paper, ftrictly relevant to the bufinefs of
the day; for almoft its whole contents are a feries.
of facts and arguments all tending, fome remote-
ly, others more immediately, to fhew the true
light in which thofe Bills ought to be feen; con-
taining alfo obfervations on the Bills themſelves.
I hope, fir, that paper may be read, and that
gentlemen who may not at firft fight perceive the
connection, will yet have candour enough to
fuffer the reading to go on without interruption;
as I truft, the connection will at length be feen,
and that the paper will explain its own meaning,
to the fatisfaction of every man fincerely wifh-
ing well to his Majefty and the Conſtitution.
Suppofing then, my requeft to be granted,
here will be the proper place for introducing
the reading of the paper in queftion, as a part of
the diſcourſe which I have now the honour to be
addreffing, through you, Sir, to the Meeting;
as what is to follow the reading of that paper
will have reference to the contents of the
itſelf. I therefore here make a paufe.
A
paper
copy of the Author's Petition to the Houfe of Commons,
herein-after inferted in its proper place.
To
Ba
( 4 )
To the Honourable the Commons of Great-
Britain in Parliament affembled; the
Humble Petition of the underfigned,
ſheweth,
THAT your Petitioner in the ſtrongeſt man-
ner condemns and reprobates all fuch outrages
on peace and order, and all fuch flagitious infults
as appear to have been offered to His Majefty
on the first day of the prefent Seffion of Parlia-
ment; and thinks the offenders ought, if poffible,
to be difcovered; and, if difcovered and con-
victed, to be punifhed in the most exemplary
manner; and he prefumes the laws now in being,
fully adequate to that falutary end; as well as
to the ftill more important one, of preventing,
as far as law can prevent, the high crime of Trea-
fon; provided thofe laws be duly reforted to,
and faithfully adminiſtered.
Holding theſe fentiments, your Petitioner has
viewed with the deepeſt horror, the attempts now
making in both Houfes of Parliament, by cer-
tain perſons in power, to introduce into the
criminal law of England fuch a change as, in
the opinion of your Petitioner, must, if fuc-
cessful,
( 5 )
cessful, remove from his mind every idea of his
living under a free government.
દ
Your Petitioner humbly conceives the propo-
fed " Bill, for the safety and preſervation of his
Majefty's Perfon and Government, against Treafona-
"ble and feditious Practices and Attempts;" and
another "Bill for the more effectual preventing feditious
"Meetings and Affemblies,"
to be wholly unneceffary to the laws of this
country, injurious to the interefts, fubverfive of
the liberties, and difhonouring the character of
the nation; and pernicious alfo in the higheſt de-
gree, in as much as thofe Bills, if made law, would
have, to the apprehenſion of your petitioner, a
manifeſt tendency to fofter and to aggravate the
difcontents of one part of the people; and, as foon
as the prejudices of others fhall by experience
be done away, to beget in the community at
large, a ſettled and rooted diſlike of the govern-
ment under which they fhould be doomed to
live.
Your Petitioner certainly does believe, and
indeed he knows, that great diſcontent at certain
abuſes and corruptions of the Conftitution does
exiſt amongſt many of the people, whoſe anxious
attachment to the Conftitution has taught them
B 3
to
( 6 )
to ſtudy its principles, and to confider by what
line of conduct, both on the part of the people,´
and of their rulers, that Conftitution is to be
preferved. That fort of diſcontent, your Petitio-
ner is not afhamed to own, he himself has long
and deeply felt, and largely fhared; nor does he
wifh to conceal from your Honourable Houſe,
that the views he has taken of the abuſes and cor-
ruptions he ſpeaks of, have filled his mind with
the moſt melancholy prefages of the approach-
ing lofs of British Liberty: nor can he now
entertain a better hope, unleſs certain meaſures,
congenial with the true principles and obvious
maxims of our Conftitution, be ſpeedily adopted
by your Honourable Houſe;--He need not
fay, they must be meafures of a complexion as
different from the dreadfull Bills now pending,
as light from darkneſs.
Here your Petitioner moft humbly intreatg
your Honourable Houſe, to look into its own
journals, for a Petition preſented to it on the 6th
day of May, 1793; and to review the fame Peti-
tion, with that ferious attention, that full delibera-
tion, and that impartial regard to the most impor-
tant right of Engliſhmen, which the ſubject matter
of that Petition fo well deferves to have beſtowed
upon it.
That
2
( 7 )
That Petition, as your prefent Petitioner is cre-
dibly informed and believes, ftates, amongſt a great
variety of particulars of high importance, the
following facts and inferences, and in the follow-
ing words, namely;
"That at the preſent day, the Houſe of
"Commons does not fully and fairly repreſent
"the People of England, which, confiftently
"with what your Petitioners conceive to be the
"principles of the Conftitution, they confider as
"a grievance, and therefore, with all becoming
"refpect, lay their complaints before your Ho-
"nourable Houfe."
Again:——“ Your Petitioners, in affirming
that your Honourable Houfe, is not an ade-
. quate Repreſentation of the People of Eng-
"land, do but ftate a fact, which if the word
"Repreſentation' be accepted in its fair and
“ obvious ſenſe, they are ready to prove, and
which they think detrimental to their intereft,
"and contrary to the fpirit of the Conftitution."
Again" Your Petitioners must now beg
"leave to call the attention of your Honourable
"Houfe, to the greateft evil produced by the fe
"defects in the Reprefentation," [Referring to
a long enumeration of defects. beſides thoſe here
B 4
quoted]
(8
( 8 )
quoted.]" of which they complain, namely;
"the extent of PRIVATE PARLIAMENTARY
an abuſe which obviouſly
"PATRONAGE;
"tends to exclude the great mafs of the people,
"from any fubftantial influence in the election
"of the Houfe of Commons, and which, in its
"progress, threatens to ufurp the fovereignty of the
country, to the equal danger of the King, of
"the Lords, and of the Commons.”
'
Again :- "The operation of the firft fpecies.
"of patronage is direct, and ſubject to poſitive
"proof.
EIGHTY-FOUR individuals, do by
"their own immediate authority fend ONE
.. HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN of your Honour-
"able Members to Parliament. And this
And this your
"Petitioners are ready, if the fact be difputed,
"to prove, and to name the Members and the
"Patrons."
The fecond fpecies of patronage, cannot be
"fhewn with equal accuracy, though it is felt
"with equal force.
"Your Petitioners are convinced, that, in ad-
"dition to the one hundred and fifty-Seven Honour-
"able Members above mentioned, one hundred
"and fifty more, making in the whole THREE
66
HUNDRED AND SEVEN, are returned to your
" Honour,
5
( و )
"Honourable Houſe, not by the collected voice
❝of thoſe whom they appear to reprefent, but by
"the recommendation of feventy powerful indivi-
"duals, added to the eighty four above men-
❝tioned,and making the total number of Patrons
"altogether, only ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-
"FOUR, who return a decided majority of your
"Honourable Houfe.
"If your Honourable Houfe will accept as
❝evidence, the common report, and general be-
"lief of the Counties, Cities, and Boroughs,
which return the Members alluded to, your
"Petitioners are ready to name them, and to
C6
prove the fact; or if the Members in queftion
"can be made parties to the inquiry, your Peti-
❝tioners will name them, and be governed by
"the teftimony which they themſelves fhall pub-
❝licly give."
If then, the allegations here recited be true,-
and your Petitioner has been credibly informed,
they were not ſo much as queftioned by any
Member of your Honourable Houfe when
placed on its journals, he hopes he may, without
giving offence to your Honourable Houſe, (all
intention of which he fincerely declaims, as on
this folemn occafion he fhould think fuch con-
du& highly indecent and reprehenfible,) he hopes,
hc
( 10 )
he fays, he may afk, where are to be found the
three diftinct, independant, and balancing powers
of the Engliſh Conftitution?
Monarchy, and Ariftocracy, indeed, hold their
reſpective places, undiminiſhed in fplendour,
and apparently poffeffing their conftitutional
fhares in the government: But when your Peti-
tioner looks for democracy, when he feeks the
awfully majeſtic Reprefentative body of this
great nation, emphatically ftiled THE COMMONS
OF GREAT BRITAIN IN PARLIAMENT ASSEM-
BLED, prefumed to emanate from, and to be iden-
tified with the great maſs of the people,-touched
by their every grievance, and fympathizing in
all their natural and honourable feelings, does he
find fuch a Repreſentative Body to exift? Do
not the journals of your Honourable Houſe, on
the contrary, inform him that a decided majority
of
your
Honourable Houſe are returned, "not
by the collected voice of those whom they appear to
"reprefent," but under the private patronage, or
by the immediate authority of one hundred and
fifty-four individuals?
If theſe alarming allegations be true, if one
HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR perfons can, and
actually do, at their own independent will and
pleaſure, to the grievous wrong of the people,
feat
( 11 )
feat in your Honourable Houſe a majority of its
members, muſt not thoſe perſons of courſe, have
its determinations at command; and, will not
ſuch a ſtate of things amount to the demonftration
of a fact, which, keenly as it may be felt by your
Petitioner, rather than exprefs, he will leave to
be inferred by your Honourable Houſe.
If thefe afflicting allegations be true, has there
not crept into the Government, through an in-
fenfible decay, which needs to be repaired, an
alarming, a portentous power; a mighty irrefifti-
ble fomething, diſtinct from, and paramount to
all the Conſtitutional Eſtates of the realm? A
power of a character utterly unknown to our
Conſtitution, and abhorrent to the principles of
our Government; a power for which political
writers have, indeed, an appropriate appellation;
but one fo odious, that your Petitioner out of
reſpect to your Honourable Houſe, and from
his feelings of reverence for the genuine Confti-
tution of his Country, will forbear to exprefs?
And, if fuch a dreadful power have, in the
nature of a diſeaſe, grown out of the gradually-
increafing decay of popular Repreſentation; and
have at its diſpoſal the public purſe, and confe-
quently, dependent on its will, the fupplies to
1
the
( 12 )
the executive magiftrate, can even his Majefty
be ſuppoſed to be beyond the reach of its over-
bearing fway?-Muft not the Peerage be eclipfed
by the ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR? And
all the juſt ends of Reprefentation to the People
be defeated; while their every intereft fhall be
fubmitted to the power of men in whofe election
or appointment they have neither fhare, controul,
or influence?
66
1
And if it be likewife true, as farther ftated in
the aforefaid Petition of the 6th of May, 1793,
and of which the then Petitioners tendered
"legal evidence, that FORTY Peers, in defiance
"of your Reſolutions, have poffeffed themfelves
"of fo many burgage tenures, and obtained fuch
66 an abfolute and uncontrouled command in
very many ſmall boroughs in the kingdom, as
"to be enabled by their own pofitive authority
"to return EIGHTY-ONE of your Honourable
"Members ;" and that the faid then Petitioners
alfo had the most reaſonable grounds to fuf-
"pect" (which grounds of fufpicion they de-
clared themſelves ready to fhew at the Bar of
your Honourable Houfe)" that no less than
66
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY of your Honour-
"able Members owe their clections entirely to
"the interference of Peers; if theſe things be
true,
( 13 )
true, then your Petitioner humbly conceives,
while alarms are fo induftrioufly propagated of
attempts and confpirings against the Conftitution, that
attempts ſuch as thefe, confpirings fo daring and
fo criminal, ftrokes fo fweeping, to remove the
pillars of the fabric, ought not to paſs without a
full and rigid inveftigation; and the more fo,
as the truth or the falfehood of the allegations
can ſo eaſily be aſcertained by your Honourable
Houſe.
66
CC
Lord Chancellor Somers, as every Member of
your Honourable Houſe muſt know, in a Treatiſe
on Government, has truly faid, that "Treafon is
"a betraying of the State; and the greatest and high
eft treason is that which is committed against the
Conftitution." If, then, the COMMONS OF
GREAT BRITAIN IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED
be a part, a vital, a facred part of the Conftitu-
tion; if it be only on the principle of Reprefenta-
tion, that your Honourable Houſe can be en-
titled to that appellation; if fitting in your Ho-
nourable Houſe conftitutionally implies popular
election; and if a lofs to the people, either by
encroachment or otherwiſe, of a majority of the
feats in your Honourable Houfe, have actually
taken place, as fo ftrongly fet forth, without de-
nial or queſtion, in the Petition on your Journals
10
( 14 )
to which your prefent Petitioner now refers; then,
he humbly prefumes, it will follow, as a neceffary
conclufion, that the Conftitution has indeed re-
ceived a deep and deadly wound; there may not
have been treaſon in the intention, but no man
can deny, that he who more or lefs deftroys the
effence of the Houſe of Commons, betrays the
State,
Should any men beneath the degree of Baron,
even Members of your Honourable Houſe,
ufurp but for a day feats among the Peers, arro-
gating to themſelves the functions of Lords of
Parliament, would not aſtoniſhment and indigna-
tion ftrike every breaft? And would not the
Conftitution itſelf fhake to its centre, if poffef-
fion could be held of thofe feats, to pafs as pri-
vate property from hand to hand! Or, if any
Privy Councellor fhould dare to ſtep with the
King into his Throne on the meeting of Parlia-
ment, and hidden fetters fhould alfo be difcover-
ed under the Royal robe, would not a cry of
"Treafon," burft from every tongue!-Are there,
then, your Petitioner humbly aſks your Honour-
able Houſe, only two Eſtates of the Realm which
are to be hedged in, and fecured by a facred in-
violability, while the third, like a neglected com-
mon, is to have its fences trampled under-foot,
and
( 15 )
and to become the fpoil of every lawleſs tref-
paffer! No: Your Honourable Houſe will,
doubtlefs, awaken to the neceffity of expelling
invaders, and guarding againſt future incroach-
ment. And it is for your Honourable Houſe
ſeriouſly to confider, whether reflecting men can
believe that either of the two Bills now pending,
would ever have feen the light, had not their
movers been encouraged to fuch attacks on the
liberties of the People, from the traces of
lar Repreſentation in your Honourable Houfe
being fo nearly worn out and obliterated.
popu-
As thefe Bills have been ufhered in, like other
inauſpicious acts of their authors, with dark in.
finuations of criminality against men known to
profefs themſelves the advocates for a Reform in
your Honourable Houfe, and fuch infinuated
criminality of thefe men is made the indecent,
the monstrous pretext for uprooting the freedom
of all men, it may not be unworthy of your Ho-
nourable Houfe to beftow a few moments of
your attention, on fome circumftances reſpecting
thoſe who come within the general defcription of
Friends to Parliamentary Reform; men who,
although differing in opinion on fubordinate
points, are agreed in that one object from which
the appellation has been given them.
The
( 16 )
The Reformers are charged with difcontent. So
far from denying this charge, they have, for the
laſt fifteen years, from time to time, come to
your Honourable Houſe to make known this dif-
content, to fhew its caufe, and to pray for the re-
moval of both caufe and effect. If they are not
yet difburthened of their grief, it is becauſe your
Honourable Houſe hath not yet thought proper,
even to inquire into the juftneſs of their com-
plaint.
TheReformers are accuſed of conspiring to overthrow
the Conftitution. Falfe and extravagant as is this
accuſation, they may not be furprized at it; and
for the following reafons: 1ft, Becauſe by their
exertions to bring to light the conſpirings of
other men againſt the Conſtitution, the truth was
daily becoming manifeft to the nation: 2dly,
Becauſe men intereſted in upholding the corrup-
tions of the State, which caufed the difcontent
complained of, had in their hands the annual ap-
plication and expenditure of feventeen millions
of public money; and, as appears to your Peti-
tioner, without being under any fufficient con-
troul: 3dly, Becauſe the faid men had alfo in
their hands every other means, which the go-
vernment and patronage of a great Empire can
be fuppofed to afford, for influencing the public.
opinion;
( 17 )
opinion; and, if capable of fo atrocious a crime,
of ſpreading through the land falſe alarms and
delufions, which not even truth could refift or
oppoſe without the aid of time :-And laftly;
Becauſe the very nature of the cafe required
that, in order to direct the public attention from
thoſe corruptions and decays in the very frame
of the Government, and thoſe conſpirings againſt
the Conftitution which the Reformers were fo
fuccessfully expofing, they themselves fhould be
charged with the crime, and their caufe if poffi-
ble brought into difrepute. Fraud, panic, and
delufion have had their day: but your Petitioner
trufts in time, as well as in the wifdom of your
Honourable Houfe, and the difcernment of an
Engliſh People, for a true judgment being paffed
between the Reformers and their opponents.
Your Honourable Houfe cannot be ignorant
that, with particular reference to the pretended
plots of the Reformers, and to the ftate of thefe
mens minds, certainly not in a ſtate of unfeeling
apathy, but fuffering under a quick fenfe of un-
redreffed wrongs-and as a fpecial reaſon for not
adminiſtering that political medicine, a Parlia-
mentary Reform, it has by their opponents been
urged that the times are too feverish; and yet they
now behold Bills propofed by their opponents
which,
C
( 18 )
which, if the people of England are not become,
politically ſpeaking, a nation of dead carcafes,
muſt ſpread a flame through the land. If, in an
inflammatory ſtate of the natural body, it were
to be affigned as a reafon for withholding a
powerful febrifuge, that the fever ran too high, and
at the fame time the effence of whatever was
moſt inflammatory and irritating were thrown in,
to work up the fever into a phrenzy, would not
your Honourable Houſe think, that a phyfician
fo acting were either a madman or a mur-
derer!
Your Honourable Houfe will recollect at
what period it was, that the proceedings of the
Reformers firft gave Miniflers ferious dif-
turbance of mind, and as all the fubfequent
matters must be freſh in its memory, your Peti
tioner will not do more than juft touch on the
moft prominent objects of attention; namely,
the activity of the Reformers, and the hopes of
fuccefs with which they were animated; the cen-
fures they hereupon incurred, the imputations
thrown out againſt them, the ſpies placed around
them, the ſeizure of papers containing all their
plans of operation, the imprifonment of confpi-
cuous perfons, their indictment for High Trea-
fon, and, after a confiderable period of moſt
anxious
( 19 )
anxious fufpence to the nation, the trials that
enfued.—And what at laſt appeared? Why, it
appeared, that mixed with the proceedings of
fome of theſe men, in their great and virtuous
caufe, there were on the part of individuals,
marks of indifcretion, rafhnefs, and folly; for
they were men, and ſome of them without the
advantages of education :-It alfo appeared, that
the fervours of fome had, even in the judgment
of juries, hurried them into expreffions deemed
feditious. But fedition, your Petitioner begs
leave to obferve to your Honourable Houſe, is
an undefined, and perhaps undefinable crime;
an error of that peculiar nature, that in bad
times, the baſe and the fervile are perhaps leſs
likely to fall into it, than thoſe who feel a gene-
rous indignation at their country's wrongs. A
Sidney and a Ruffel were accounted feditious,
when a Jeffries was the pattern of Loyalty. The
only perſon whom your Petitioner recollects to
have been convicted of Treaſon, (except a man
whom he believes was afterwards pardoned) was
an acknowledged fpy, and under circumftances
that may account for his conduct in the line of
his vocation; a man, if his own account of him-
felf may be credited, tinctured with fanaticiſm,
if not with infanity.
C 2
Bus
( 20 )
But your Petitioner, with much deference,
afks again, What, after all the agitating alarms,
after all the fuccefsful diligence of government
in fecuring perfons and papers, and after trials,
ſuch as never before oppreffed the Bench and
the Bar with the labours of inveſtigation, what
has been brought to light refpecting the Refor-
mers, that it imports the nation to know ?-Your
Petitioner will tell your Honourable Houſe what
has been brought to light. This has been
brought to light :-That the Conftitution has al-
ready been grievously injured and undermined;
and that nothing but the mcafures which the Re-
formers point out, and have been purſuing,-
meaſures which they have again and again preffed
upon the attention of the public and of your
Honourable Houle, can avert its ſpeedy deftruc-
tion.—And your Petitioner, with great humility,
will alſo beg leave to inform your Honourable
Houſe, what has not been brought to light con-
cerning the Reformers. In all this fifting of
their actions, and even of their very thoughts,
there was not diſcovered the ſmalleſt ground for
charging them with criminally confpiring to
feize on one hundred and fifty feats in your Ho-
nourable Houſe, and fell them to Peers; or with
any attempt at transferring a decided majority of
thofe feats to one hundred and fifty-four men, to be
1
held
"
( 21 )
held and inherited as private property; giving
the poffeffors of thofe feats fuch irrefponfible and
irrefiftable power, as to make them, if not in
name and in form, yet to all ſubſtantial purpoſes,
Sovereigns of their Sovereign; Lords of the
only Lords we acknowledge, and, in refpect of
the people, that which the English Conftitution
does not know; that which no free government
can know; and that which your Petitioner can-
not exprefs to your Honourable Houſe, but in
language that is a contradiction in terms.-Un-
chofen Repreſentatives; and with full power
over the property, the lives, and liberty of us
all. No fuch horrid confpirings to pull down
and to fubvert from its very foundations the
British Government and Conftitution, belong not
to the Reformers
:
As amongst other charges that have been im-
puted to the Reformers, ftand thofe of aiming at
an invafion of ariftocratic rights, and ftriking at
the conftitutional privileges of the Peerage;
your Petitioner cannot but obferve, that upon
the Peers who are faid to have feized on fo
many
feats in your Honourable Houfe, fuch alarms do
not appear to have made much impreflion; or
they could not court retaliation, by being the per-
fons to fet an example, or continue in the prac-
C 3
tice
( 22 )
tice of invading the rights, and deſtroying the
privileges of the Commons.-And how will
your
Honourable Houfe reconcile the pretended zeal
of fome men, affociated for fupporting a Confti-
tution of King, Lords, and Commons, with that
utter indifference, if not approbation, with which
they look on, while fo many Peers ftand charged,
by Petition to your Honourable Houſe, with
openly, in broad day, feizing on its facred feats;
and attempting to draw every power of that Con-
ftitution within the dreadful vortex of an un-
balanced aristocracy?
Your Petitioner finds it to be an object of one
of the Bills now pending, to make it puniſhable
in any man who, by writing or fpeaking, fhall in-
cite another man or men to think ill of " the
ftablished Government and Conftitution," by feeling
towards them the fentiments of diflike, or con-
tempt, or hatred, or ſome ſuch paffion. Now,
as every paffion of the human mind is only ex-
cited by its correfponding motive; fo certain
proviſions in a Conftitution, or certain actions
in rulers, will excite one paffion; and others will
excite another. By the fpirit and letter of this
Bill, then, if through any preſent defects, or fu-
ture breaches of the Conftitution, (and who can
fay what it may be a year hence, if the people do
not
( 23 )
(23
not protect their rights) we ſhould ever expe-
rience any grofs injuftice, or wanton tyranny,
this law would doom us to filence; and the
greater our miſery, the more certain fhould we
be of incurring puniſhment by the mention of it.
Sentiments of contempt muſt be felt towards a
Government and Conftitution incapable of
ſhielding us from wrong; and if the oppreffion
ſhould be extreme, hatred and deteftation of
fuch Government and Conftitution muſt be a·
neceſſary conſequence. By the very mention,
therefore, of our wrongs, in the fituation here
ſuppoſed, we ſhould excite in our hearers the
correſponding paffions, and confequently be-
come obnoxious to puniſhment.
By the fecond of theſe Bills, the facred Co
ftitutional right, of petitioning the Legiſlature
for redrefs of grievances, is fo directly ftruck
at, and if the Bill were to paſs into a law, would
be ſo completely annihilated, that it would be a
waſte of words to trouble your Honourable
Houſe with any remarks upon the wording of
that Bill.
Your Petitioner, therefore, thinking it would
be a disgrace to human nature to live under fuch
laws, humbly trufts your Honourable Houſe will
CA
not
1
( 24 )
not fuffer them to fully an English Statute Book;
or to alienate the minds of the people from the
laws, the Government and Conftitution of their
country.
Nor fhould your Petitioner feel juftified to
his own mind, if he did not remark, that while
thefe Bills affect to fhield, they in reality ftab
the Conſtitution; and under the flimfy pretence
of fupporting its honour, they go directly, and
by the ſhorteſt road, and therefore in his con-
fcience he believes them folely intended by their
movers, to eſtabliſh and perpetuate its cor-
ruptions and abufes, by cutting off all com-
munication between man and man, and making
it one of the greateſt of our crimes to utter the
greateſt of our wrongs, while thefe corruptions
and abuſes are to be fanctioned and fecured,
under the magic phraſe of " the ESTABLISHED,
Government and Conftitution."
Your Petitioner, therefore, feels it a folemn
duty he owes his country-he hopes in God it
may not be the laſt he may be enabled to per-
form--to urge with all the importunity confiftent
with refpect, the prefent imperious neceffity of a
Reform in the Repreſentation of the people in
your Honourable Houfe; as the beſt and only
permanent
( 25 )
permanent ſecurity which they can have for their
liberties againſt all attempts; as that alone which
can remove difcontents and fix the Conftitution
in their hearts; and as the only natural way,
and therefore the beft, to reconcile them to the
burthens of Taxation, and the whole fome re-
ftraints of equitable law and juft government.
And
your
Petitioner fhall ever pray, &c. &c.
Brothertoft Farm,
Λου. 21, 1795.
JOHN CARTWRIGHT.
I re-
( 26 )
I refume my difcourfe Sir, with obferving,
that the tale which has now been unfolded, re-
ſpecting the ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR,
is a tale of horror, that may well make the hair
of every liſtening Englishman to ftand an end.
When the facts and arguments there infifted on
fhall have been combined with the ftriking
meaſures of our rulers for fome time paft; with
the writings circulated under their aufpices, and
with a certain declaration of the Attorney General,
which I have taken care to preferve from ob-
livion; I may fafely leave the decifion to thoſe
who have hitherto been the moſt partial to our
Miniſters and their fyftem; for in my confcience
I declare, I cannot fee how it is poffible to reſiſt
the evidence of danger, the moft imminent to our
liberties, from that quarter to which I have la-
boured to draw your attention :-And Sir, in the
fincerity of my foul, I declare it to be the fettled,
but melancholy conviction of my mind, that if
the Bills now pending fhould pafs, thofe liberties
will be no more:-until regenerated England
fhall once again, as fhe has heretofore done, re-
cover her freedom and her laws, at the expence
of her beft blood.
I have ſpoken, Sir, of writings countenanced
by our Rulers: to fave the time of the meeting
I will
1
( 27 )
27 )
I will content myſelf with quoting one only:
But where the patronage the author has received
from our Rulers is confidered, the wiſhes and in-
tentions of thoſe Rulers will be as clearly feen, as
if an hundred of their penmen were to be brought
in review before you.
ge-
The Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, in
a very valuable work publiſhed in 1792, has
many occafional remarks on Government in
neral, as well as on that of England in particular:
He therein pathetically bemoans the defects of our
Conftitution; and he paints the evils and calamities
which flow in torrents from thofe defects in glow-
ing colours. He declares Engliſh taxation to be
carried to a height that is "cruel, shameful and
tyrannical ;*" and this was written before the pre-
fent war, which may probably require an ad-
ditional taxation of five millions per annum to
be added to our former burthens.
Co
He points out the neceffity of refifting "that
variety of combination, which on principles of piun-
"der and defpotifm is every where at work to enflave”
the people of Europe in general, including thoſe
of England.*
Young's Travels, 1ft Edition, page 523, 540, 548, 551, 555-
He
1
( 28 )
He imputes it to "an aristocracy uniting with
"the Crown against the people, that we have been
66 INFAMOUSLY INVOLVED IN PERPETUAL WARS,
from which none reap any benefit, but that tribe of
• vermin which thrive moft, when a nation moſt de-
«clines; contractors, victuallers, pay-maſters, stock,
jobbers, and money fcriveners; a Set by whom
"Minifters are furrounded; and in favour of whom,
"whole claffes amongst the people are beggared and
" ruined."*
He repreſents our "national burthens, taxes,
«rates, tithes, and monopolies, at thirty millions"
per annum; while I believe he knows, that our
whole landed revenue fcarcely exceeds twenty
millions; and this ſtatement of our expenditure,
I must again remind you, was before the com-
mencement of the war; which therefore may be
expected to leave us under an expenditure and
lofs by monopoliest of thirty-five millions per an-
num.
And, Sir, to fum up all in one word, this gen-
tleman in the book I quote, tells us in exprefs
terms, that the Engliſh Conftitution is " WORTH-
66
* Young's Travels, 1ft Edition, page 523, 590, 548, 55¹, 555 •
+ This writer has well expofed the injuftice of the wool mono-
poly, whereby the growers of wool lofe feveral millions per an-
num.
LESS;
( 29 )
"LESS; fince in a ſingle century, it has involved the
"nation in A DEBT OF SO VAST A MAGNITUDE,
<<
C
r THAT EVERY BLESSING WHICH MIGHT OTHER-
WISE HAVE BEEN PERPETUATED IS PUT TO THE
STAKE; fo that if the nation do not make fome
"change in its Conftitution, it is much to be
** dreaded, that the Conftitution will ruin the
*nation.' "*
After declaring and publifhing all this, we
behold the very fame writer, in the courſe of a
few months, bring forth his Example of France a
Warning to Britain, in which we find him, not the
mere apologiſt, but the direct panegyrift of "an
"unequal repreſentation, rotten boroughs, long parlia-
<<
66
ments, extravagant Courts, felfiſh Minifters, and cor-
rupt majorities," as "intimately interwoven with
"our practical freedom;"t and now we accor-
dingly find him the boldeft of all advocates for the
preſent holy war; the boldeft of all champions
in the cauſe of Minifters; and the bittereft of all
enemies to reform and reformers +
*
555.
But
Young's Travels, 1ft Edition, page 523, 540, 548, 551,
+ Example of France a Warning to Britain, page 171.
This gentleman has juft publifhed another work, intitled,
The Conftitution fafe without Reform; wherein I am retorted on
for
( 30 )
But, Sir, the point to which I fhall more par-
ticularly call your attention, is his attack upon
that branch of our government, in the purity
and independance of which, on any influence but
their own, the people can alone find fecurity for
their liberties.
He tells us, Sir, "that it is mere theory to
"fuppofe that the Houſe of Commons purports
"to be the Repreſentatives of the People, if by
"repreſentation is meant choice*;" that "the
"profperity and happineſs we have enjoyed for
"a century, and never fo great as at preſent, is
"owing precifely to the Houfe of Commons.
"NOT fpeaking the will of the Peoplet;" and
for want of candour, &c.-If in my Effay, intitled, The Common-
wealth in Danger, I have ſhewn a want of candour, or have mif-
reprefented Mr. Young's meaning, I readily take blame to my-
felf for any fuch overſight, and diſavow all intention of fo doing.
That my indignation was moved by that gentleman's writings, I
acknowledge; and a perfon writing under the influence of fuch a
ſentiment, is but too likely to trefpafs on ftrict candour. Mr.
Young feems to triumph in not having been refuted on thoſe
points wherein I attempted to refute him. I thought I had re-
futed him; and whatever may have been my inability in that re-
fpect, or my mifapprehenfions of his meanings; or giving too
harſh an interpretation of them, my only wish is that every Engliſh-
man would calmly read both performances, and then decide.
*
Example of France a Warning to Britain, p. 89.
+ Ibid. p. 94.
farther
( 81 )
farther, that "the Houſe of Commons was not
"created by the People, but by the Crown;
← never did reprefent the People in any period of
"our hiſtory; and is not reſponſible to the Peo-
"ple*." Good God! And when we fee fuch
doctrines maintained by the Secretary of a pub-
lic Board, can the drift of our rulers be mif-
taken!
Combine, Sir, this language, 1ft, with that de-
cay of popular election which in effect has fold
the whole People of England into the hands of
the one hundred and fifty-four, as completely as the
People of Egypt were once fold into the hands
of Pharaoh; 2dly, with the calumnies and feve-
rities heaped upon the advocates for a Reform in
the Repreſentation; 3dly, with the words of the
Attorney General, (words pronounced in my
hearing, and to which I pray you to attend) when
he fays, "If the King fhould confent to act with any
"Repreſentation otherwife than as it is now confti-
"tuted, he ought to die; and I trust in God he would
“die;” and 4thly and laftly, combine this lan-
guage, and a great deal more to be found in the
fame book, with the Bills of Lord Grenville and
Mr. Pitt, for fettering our very thoughts, for
fmothering within our labouring bofoms the
Example of France a Warning to Britain, p. 200.
fenfe
( 32 )
fenſe of our wrongs, and for rendering it crimi-
nal to complain; and furely, Sir, no partiality
for any human being can be fo blind, no preju-
dice can be ſo ſtrong, nor any delufion ſo faſci-
nating, as to perſuade Engliſhmen that theſe men
are not attempting to eſtabliſh arbitrary power on
the ruin of our liberties!
To the friends of the Minifter I can fay, that
I alfo was once his friend; and that he then was
the object of my greateſt reverence, of my higheſt
hope. Nor did he ever give me the fmalleſt
cauſe of perfonal offence. I am now his enemy;
for he is become, in my eſtimation, the enemy of
his country and of human kind.
The prefent, Sir, believe me, is not one of
thofe party calls upon the public, by which we
have been ſo often amuſed, ſo often duped. It
is no paltry ftruggle between the ins and the
outs; but, Sir, it is a grand effort of the one bun-
dred and fifty-four, the terroriſts of England-be-
¡ore the delufions with which they filled the
land are worn out, to render themſelves the real
and dreaded fovereigns of the country; and they
hope to cheat an abufed people with the vain
fhadows of a King, and of two Houfes of Parlia-
ment, which no doubt they will be pleafed to
retain;
1
( 33 )
retain; while centering in themſelves all power,
they ſhall rule this unhappy land with a rod of
iron. Theſe Bills, Sir, are meant as their laſt
ftroke. I truft in God, Sir, and in the virtue and
the courage of my countrymen, they will be the
last ftroke they will ever dare to aim at our li-
berties! I truft that thefe Bills, to their confu-
fion, will yet be configned to the flames!
Perfuading myſelf, Sir, that we are in no wife
prepared to fubmit to fuch mafters; and that we
can yet preſerve to ourſelves the right of pro-
pofing to take the Reprefentation of the People
of England out of the hands of the one hundred and
fifty-four; as well as to our true Sovereign, the
right of giving royal affent to an A&t for a diffe-
rent Repreſentation from that which is now confti-
tuted, without either ourſelves for fo propofing,
or him for ſo affenting, being executed as traitors;
notwithſtanding the plainly implied threat of the
Marquis of Bath's REPRESENTATIVE in the Houfe
of Commons, the preſent Attorney General. I fay,
Sir, perfuading myfelf that we fhall never con-
fent to receive chains from any, eſpecially from
the fcum of the Rotten Boroughs, I have the ho-
nour to ſuggeſt that, in the Addrefs of Congratu-
lation to his Majefty, he be earneſtly intreated,
for the fafety of his Crown, the interefts of his
Family,
D
( 34 )
A
Family, and the liberties of his affectionate People,
to refuſe his affent to the two horrible Bills now
pending in Parliament.
With great reſpect, I have the honour to fub-
ſcribe myſelf,
Sir,
Your moſt obedient humble fervant,
JOHN CARTWRIGHT,
FINIS,
Published by the fame Author,
Price 5s. in Boards,
THE
COMMONWEALTH IN DANGER;
WITH AN
INTRODUCTION,
CONTAINING
Remarks on fome late Writings of
ARTHUR YOUNG, Esq.
Printed for J. JOHNSON, in St. Paul's Church-Yard.
1
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