UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 A 
 
 THIRD LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 A MEMBER 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Price 38. 
 [Entered at Stationers' Hall.}
 
 A 
 
 THIRD LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 A MEMBER 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT, 
 
 ON THE PROPOSALS FOR 
 
 -.PEACE ' 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 REGICIDE DIRECTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 FRANCE. 
 BY THE LATE RIGHT HQN. EDMUND BURKE. 
 
 PRINTED FOR F. AND C. RIVINGTON, 
 
 NO. 6z, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD j 
 SOLD ALSO BY J. HATCH A RD, NO. 173, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1797-

 
 \ so 
 
 '33 -it '- 
 
 ! 
 
 "TN the conclufion of Mr. BURKE'S fecond 
 
 JL Letter on the Propofals of Peace, he 
 
 threw out fome intimation of the plan, which 
 
 >. he meant to adopt in the fequel. A third 
 
 K Letter was mentioned by him, as having 
 
 on . . 
 
 "^ been then, in part, written. " He intend- 
 
 " ed to proceed next on tbe queftion of the 
 
 " facilities poflefTed by the French Repub- 
 
 " lick, from the internal State of other Na- 
 
 oo " tions, and particularly of this, for obtaining 
 
 ~ " her ends ; and, as his notions were contro- 
 
 CD 
 
 <M " verted, to take notice of what, in that 
 =>" way, had been recommended to him." 
 
 But the abrupt and unprecedented conclu- 
 fion of Lord Malmefbury's firft negociation, 
 
 induced him to make fome change in the ar- 
 ea & 
 
 5 rangement of his matter. He took up 'the 
 ^ queftion of his Lordfhip's minion, as ftated in 
 
 a the 
 
 
 
 301250
 
 the papers laid before Parliament, his Majef- 
 ty's Declaration, and in the publick comments 
 upon it ; he thought it neceflary to examine 
 the new bafis of compenfation propofed for 
 this treaty ; and having heard it currently 
 whifpered about, that the foundation of all 
 his opinions failed in this eflential point, that 
 he had not fhewn, what means we propofed 
 to carry them into efFecl:, he alfo determined 
 to bring forward the connderation of the ab- 
 iolute neceffity of peace, which he had poft- 
 poned at the end of his firft letter. This was 
 the origin of the letter now offered to the 
 Publick. 
 
 The greater part of this pamphlet was ac- 
 tually revifed in print by the Author himfelf, 
 bat not in the exad order of the pages. He 
 enlarged his firft draft, and feparated one 
 great member of his fubjeft for the purpofe of 
 introducing fome other matter between. Two 
 feparate parcels of manufcript, defigned to 
 intervene, were found among his papers. 
 One of them he feemed to have gone over 
 himfelf, and to have improved and aug- 
 mented.
 
 mented. The other was much more imper- 
 fect, juft as it was taken from his mouth by 
 dictation. Of courfe it was necefTary to ufe 
 a more ample discretion in preparing that 
 part for the prefs. 
 
 There is, however, flill a very confiderable 
 member, or rather there are large fragments 
 and pieces of a confiderable member, to which 
 the candour and indulgence of the Publick 
 mufl be refpe&fully intreated. Mr. Burke had 
 himfelf chalked out an accurate outline. There 
 were loofe papers found, containing a fum- 
 mary and conclufion of the whole. He had 
 preferved fome fcattered hints, documents, 
 and parts of a correfpondence on the ftate of 
 the country. He had been long anxioufly 
 waiting: for fome authentick and official in- 
 
 
 
 formation, which he wanted to afcertain, 
 what with his ufual fagacity he had fully 
 anticipated from his own obfervation. When 
 the firft two Reports of the Finance Com- 
 mittee of the Houfe of Commons, and the 
 Great Reports of the Secret Committees of 
 both Houfes, were printed, he procured and 
 
 a 2 read
 
 read them with much avidity ; but the Su- 
 preme Difpofer of all, in his infcrutable coun- 
 fels, did not permit the complete execution 
 of the tafk, which he meditated. l 
 
 Under thefe circumfhmces, his friends ori- 
 ginally inclined to lop off altogether, that 
 member which he had left fo lame and mu- 
 tilated; but the confideration, how much" the 
 ultimate credit of all his opinions might pof- 
 fibly depend on that main branch of his quef- 
 tion not being wholly fupprefTed, it was 
 thought beft, that fome ufe fhould be made 
 of the important materials, which he had fo 
 far in readinefs. It was then conceived that, 
 it might in fome degree anfwer the purpofe, 
 to draw out mere tables of figures, with fhort 
 
 o * 
 
 observations under each of them ; and they 
 were actually printed in that form. Thefe 
 would fr.il! however have remained an unfeem- 
 ly chafm, very incoherentlv and aukwardly fil- 
 led. At length, therefore, it was reiolved, after 
 much hefitation, and under a very unpleafant 
 refponfibility, to make a humble attempt at 
 fupplying the void with fome continued ex- 
 planation
 
 *> . 'jit 
 
 planation and illuftration of the documents, 
 agreeably to Mr. Burke's own Sketch. In 
 performing with pious diffidence that duty of 
 friendship, no one fentiment has bee'n attri- 
 buted to Mr. Burke, which is not moft ex- 
 plicitly known, from repeated converfations 
 and from correfpondenee, to have been enter- 
 tained by that illuftrious man. Some paf- 
 fages from his own private letters, and fome 
 from letters to him, which he was pleafed to 
 commend and to preferve, have been inter- 
 woven. 
 
 From what has been thus fairly fubmitted, 
 it will be feen, that it is impoffible to indi- 
 cate every period or fentence in the latter 
 part of this letter, which is, and which is 
 not, from the hand of Mr. Burke. It would 
 fwell this advertifement to a long preface. 
 In general, the ftyle will too furely declare 
 the author. Not only his friends, but his 
 bittereft enemies (if he now has any enemies) 
 will agree, that he is not to be imitated : he 
 is, as Cowley fays, " a vaft fpecies alone.'* 
 
 The
 
 The fourth Letter, which was 'originally 
 defigned for the third, has been found com- 
 plete, as it was firft written. The friends of 
 the Author truft, that they mall be able to 
 prefent it to the Publick nearly as it came 
 from his pen, with little more than fome 
 trifling alterations of temporary allufions to 
 things now paft, and in this eventful crifis, 
 already obfolete. 
 
 THE
 
 THE Friends of Mr. Burke having received 
 feveral valuable Letters, think it a duty incum- 
 bent upon them to return thanks for thefe obliging 
 communications. They will ejleem it a Favour, 
 if any Gentleman in pojjeflion of any Letters of 
 Mr. Burke, will tranfmit them to MeJJrs. F. and 
 C. Rivington.
 
 ERRATUM. 
 Page 45, line 22, for Rhine, react Rhone.
 
 SECOND ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 -LNthe Advertifement originally prefixed to this Pub- 
 lication, it was fuppojed that enough had beenfaid to 
 point out generally the only part of the Letter, in which 
 any confiderable additions had been made by another 
 hand. The attention of the Reader was directed to 
 the lajt member of it, efpecially to the arrangement 
 and illuftrations of the documents there inferted, as 
 having beenfupplied agreeably to an outline marked out 
 by Mr. Burke himfelf. Strange mi/lakes, however, 
 have been committed by fame of our Criticks in the 
 Publick Prints. One of them, wholly forgetting how 
 large a proportion of the work was ftated to have 
 been given untouched to the Publick, and applying to 
 the whole, what was exprefsly limited to pieces arid 
 fragments of one conjiderable member, was pleafed to 
 reprefent the Advertifement as giving notice of l( a ma- 
 nufactory for pamphlets under the title of Edmund 
 Burke." Afecond, more handfomelyfelecJed the f up' 
 plement alone for obfervation, and gave it dijlinguijhed 
 praife, as being written with all Mr. Burke 's "depth of 
 refearch" A third, pronounced the Letter to be " evi- 
 dently a work of Jlireds and patches" and then foga- 
 cioujly produced, as perhaps " the ?noft curious part" of 
 
 the
 
 r J 
 
 the whole, what was in reality a flired from the 
 moft imperfeft pared of the authentick Manufcript\ 
 and he crowned all by freaking in the fame handfome 
 manner with the former, ofthefupplement, to which 
 he afcribed Mr. Burke 's " ufual fuperiority " Some 
 have levelled innocent pleafantries at a wrong mark, 
 and others have bejlowed commendation on detached 
 fentiments and phrafes, under the influence of fimilar 
 errour. No deception of this kind was intended ; 
 but what has happened, feems to indicate, that fome 
 further explanation may be acceptable. 
 
 ' All the beginning, nearly down to the end of the 
 fifty-fixth page, was revifed in print by the ilhjlrious 
 Authour. What follows to the. end of thefeve?ity- 
 fourth page, is printed from a parcel of manufcnpt, 
 which appeared to have been re-covfidered, and in part 
 re-written, Very little alteration was made in thofe 
 eighteen pages, except of a mere mechanical kind, in 
 re-modelling two or three fejitences, -which, having been 
 much interlined, were in confequence- rather clogged 
 and embarrajfed in their movement ; a fort of correc- 
 tion, which the Authour himfelfwas accujlomedtopoft- 
 ficmt, till hcfuw and read the proof-Jlieets. Thefuc- 
 ceeding twelve pages and a half, to ilie end of the pa- 
 graph in page eighty-five?!, are all that reft on the 
 authority of the more imperfect mamtfcnpt. The. 
 true order was afcertained by the circumjiance, 
 that, full /ivo pages at the beginning of the latter 
 a rude and meagre draft of the famefubje ft 
 
 with
 
 with the concluding pages of the former parcel; to 
 the head of which it was necejfary, on the other hand, 
 to transfer a Jingle Jhort paragraph of fix lines and a 
 half, which is to be found in the fifty fixth and fifty 
 feventh pages. In the more imperfecJ parcel, a blank 
 was left in the middle of one fentence, which was fill- 
 ed up from conjecJtire, and federal other fentences were 
 a little dilated and rounded, Imt without any change 
 in thefentiment. 
 
 All the firjl part of the great member, which fol- 
 lows, on the queftion of necejjity, was revifed in 
 print by Mr. Burke, down to the middle of the 
 hundred and tenth page. The brilliancy, andfolidity 
 of the (economical and moral philofophy , with which 
 thofe pages abound, manifeft at once the inimitable 
 Authour. His Friends atfirjl thought of fupplying a 
 Jhort conclnjion at the end of the hundred andfecond 
 page, but in addition to the reafons formerly mention- 
 ed, a defire to preferve the beautiful and truly phi- 
 lanthropick branch of the argument , which relates to 
 the condition of the poor, induced the attempt to com- 
 plete, what the great majler had left unfinijlied. 
 
 It is the enquiry into the condition of the higher 
 claffes, which was principally mennl to be fubmiited to 
 the candour and indulgence of the Publick. The fum- 
 mary of the whole topick indeed, nearly as it ft amis in 
 the hundred and fixtyfirfl and hundred and fixty fccond 
 
 pages,
 
 r * ] 
 
 pages, contains the fubftance of all the preceding de- 
 tails ; and that, with a marginal reference to the bank- 
 rupt lift, ivas found in Mr. Burke s own hand-writ- 
 ing. The cenfure of our defenfive fyftem, in page 
 a hundred and fourteen and the two following pages, 
 is taken from a letter, of which he never wrote more 
 than the introduction. He intended to have comprifed 
 in it the JJiort rejults of his opinions, when he de- 
 fpaired of living to proceed with his original plan ; 
 fait he abandoned it, when his health for a Jhort time 
 feemed to improve, about two months before his death. 
 The actual conclufion of the prefent Pamphlet is alfo 
 from his dictation. But forjome intermediate paffages, 
 which were indifpenfably requijite to conneff and intro- 
 duce thefe noble fragments, and for the execution of 
 the details produced to prove the Jlourijhing Jlate of 
 the higher clajfes, and the general profperity of the 
 fountry, his reputation is not refponfible. The Pub- 
 lick have been already informed, with all humility, 
 upon what ground they Jl and. 
 
 * # * An errour of fome magnitude has been difcover- 
 ed at the end of the note in page 123. The money ac- 
 tually received into the Exchequer on the new arTefTed 
 taxes of 1796 has been deduced, inftead of the grofs af- 
 feflment, which is . 401,652 ; leaving ftill an increafe 
 of upwards of one fourth more than the whole increafe 
 of the preceding three years, notwithstanding fo heavy 
 an additional burthen.
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 DEAR SIR> 
 
 1 THANK you for the bundle of State-papers^ 
 which I received yefterday. I have travelled 
 through the Negotiation ; and a fad, founderous 
 road it is. There is a fort of a ftanding jeft againft 
 my countrymen, that one of them on his journey 
 having found a piece of pleafant road, he propofed 
 to his companion to go over it again. This pro- 
 pofal, with regard to the worthy traveller's final 
 deftination, was certainly a blunder. It was no 
 blunder as to his immediate fatisfaclion ; for the 
 way was pleafant. In the irkfome journey of the 
 Regicide negotiations, it is otherwife : Our " paths 
 *' are not paths of pleafantnefs, nor our ways the 
 " ways to peace." All our miftakes (if fuch they 
 are) like thofe of our Hibernian traveller, are mif- 
 takes of repetition ; and they will be full as far 
 from bringing us to our place of reft, as his well 
 coniidered project was from forwarding him to his 
 inn. Yet I fee we perfevere. Fatigued with our 
 former courfe ; too liftlefs to explore a new one ; 
 kept in action by inertnefs ; moving only becaufe 
 we have been in motion; with a fort of plodding 
 
 B perfeverance,
 
 perfeverance, we refolve to meafure back again the 
 very fame joylefs, hopelefs, and inglorious track. 
 Backward and forward ; ofcillation not progreffion ; 
 much going in a fcanty fpace ; the travels of a 
 poflillion, miles enough to circle the globe in one 
 fhort ftage ; we have been, and we are yet to 
 be jolted and rattled over the loofe, mifplaccd 
 ' ftones, and the treacherous hollows of this rough, 
 ill kept, broken up, treacherous French caufe- 
 way ! 
 
 The Declaration, which brings up the rear of 
 the papers laid before Parliament, contains a re- 
 view and a reafoned fummary of all our attempts, 
 and all our failures ; a concife but correct narra- 
 tive of the painful fteps taken to bring on the eflay 
 of a treaty at Paris ; a clear expofure of all the re- 
 buffs we received in the progrefs of that experi- 
 ment; an honeft confeffion of our departure from 
 all the rules and all the principles of political ne- 
 gotiation, and of common prudence, in the con- 
 duel of it ; and to crown the whole, a fair ac- 
 count of the atrocious manner in which the Regi- 
 cide enemies had broken up what had been fo in- 
 aufpiciouily begun and fo feebly carried on, by 
 finally, and with all fcorn, driving our fuppliant 
 Ambaflador out of the limits of their ufurpation. 
 
 Even
 
 t 3 ] 
 
 Even after all that I have lately feen, I was a 
 little furprized at this expofure. A minute difplay 
 of hopes formed without foundation, and of la- 
 bours purfued without fruit, is a thing not -very 
 flattering to felf-eftimation. But truth has it's 
 rights and it will affert them. The Declaration, 
 after doing all this with a mortifying candour, con- 
 cludes the whole recapitulation with an engage- 
 ment ftill more extraordinary than all the unufual 
 matter it contains. It fays, " That his Majefty, 
 " who had entered into this negotiation with good 
 "faith, who has fuffered no impediment to pre- 
 " vent his profecuting it with earneftnefs andfm- 
 " cerity, has now only to lament it's abrupt termi- 
 f( nation, and to renew in the face of all Europe 
 " thefolemn declaration, that whenever his enemies 
 " fhall be difpofed to enter upon the work of a ge- 
 " neral pacification in a fpirit of conciliation and 
 " equity, nothing fhall be wanting on his part to 
 " contribute to the accomplishment of that great 
 " objea." 
 
 If the difgufting detail of the accumulated in- 
 fults we have received, in what we .have very pro- 
 perly called our " folicitation," to a gang of felons 
 and murderers, had been produced as a proof of 
 the utter inefficacy of that mode of proceeding 
 with that dcfcription of perfons, I (hould have no- 
 thing at all to objecl to it. It might furnifh mat- 
 
 B2 ter
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 ter conolufive in argument, and inftnictive in po~ 
 licy : but with all due fubmiffion to high autho- 
 rity, and with all decent deference to fuperiour 
 lights, it does not feem quite clear to a difcern- 
 mcnt no better than mine, that the premifes 
 in that piece conduct irrefiftibly to the con- 
 elulion. A laboured difplay of the ill cpnfe- 
 quences which have attended an uniform courfe of 
 fubmiilion to every mode of contumelious, infult, 
 with which the defpotifm of a proud, capricious, 
 infulting and implacable foe has chofen to buffet 
 our patience, does not appear, to my poor thoughts, 
 to be properly brought forth as a preliminary to 
 juilify a rcfolution of perfevering in the very fame 
 kind of conduct, towards the very fame fort of 
 perfon, and on the very fame principles. We ftate 
 our experience, and then we come to the manly 
 refolution of acting in contradiction to it. All 
 that has pafled at Paris, to the moment -of our 
 being fhamefully hhTed off that ftage, has been 
 nothing but a more folemn reprefentation, on the 
 theatre of the nation, of what had been before in 
 rehearfal at Bafle. As it is not only confefled by 
 us, but made a matter of charge on the enemy, 
 that he had given us no encouragement to believe 
 there was a change in his difpofition, or in his po- 
 licy at any time fubfequent to the period of his 
 rejecting our firft overtures, there feems to have 
 freen no arguable motive for fending Lord 
 
 Malmeijniry
 
 r 5 ] 
 
 Malmefbury to Paris, except to expofe his 
 bled country to the worfl indignities and the 
 firft of the kind., as the Declaration very truly ob- 
 ferves, that have been known in the world of ne- 
 gotiation. 
 
 An honeft neighbour of mine is not altogether 
 unhappy in the application of an old common ftory 
 to a prefent oceaflon. It may be laid of my friend, 
 what Horace fays of a neighbour of his, " garrit 
 <f aniles ex re fabellns." Converting on this llrange 
 fubject. he told me a current ftory of a fimple En- 
 glifli country 'Squire, who was perfuaded by cer- 
 tain dilettanti of his acquaintance to fee the world, 
 and to become knowing in men and manners. 
 Among other celebrated places, it was recom- 
 mended to him to vifit Conftantinople. He took 
 their advice. After various adventures, not to our 
 purpofe to dwell upon, he happily arrived at that fa-^ 
 mous city. As foon as he had a little repofed himfelf 
 from his fatigue, he took a walk into the ftreets ; 
 but he had not gone far, before a " malignant and 
 tf a turban'd Turk" had his cholcr roufed by the 
 carelefs and allured air, with which this infidel 
 ftrutted about in the metropolis of true believers. 
 In this temper, he loft no time in doing to our 
 traveller the honours of the place. The Turk 
 crofied over the way, and with perfect good-will 
 gavp him two or three lufty kicks on the feat of 
 
 honour.
 
 honour. To refent, or to return the compliment 
 in Turkey, was quite out of the queilion. Our 
 traveller, fmce he could not otherwife acknow- 
 ledge this kind of favour, received it with the beft 
 grace in the world he made one of his mofl 
 ceremonious bows, and begged the kicking Muf- 
 fulman, " to accept his perfect affurances of high 
 " consideration." Our countryman was too wife to 
 imitate Othello in the ufe of the dagger. He 
 thought it better, as better it was, to affiiagc his 
 bruifed dignity with half a yard fquare of balmy 
 diplomatick diachylon. In the dilaflers of their 
 friends, people are feldom wanting in a laudable 
 patience. When they are fuch as do not threaten to 
 end fatally, they become .even matter of plea- 
 fantry. ~ The Englifh fellow-travellers of our fuf- 
 ferer, finding him a little out of fpirits, entreated 
 him not to take fo flight a bufinefs fo very feri- 
 oufly. They told him it was the cuftom of the 
 country ; that every country had it's cuftoms ; that 
 the Turkifh manners were a little rough ; but that 
 in the main the Turks were a good-natured people; 
 that what would have been a deadly affront any 
 where elfe, was only a little freedom there ; in fhort, 
 they told him to think no more of the matter, and 
 to try his fortune in another promenade. But the 
 'Squire, though a little clownifh, had fome home- 
 bred fenfc. What ! have I come, at all this expence 
 and trouble, all the way to Conflantinople only to 
 be
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
 ,t- 
 
 be kicked ? Without going beyond my own fta- 
 ble, my groom, for half a crown, would have 
 kicked me to my heart's content. I don't mean 
 to Hay in Constantinople eight and forty hours, nor 
 ever to return to this rough, good-natured people, 
 that have their own cuftoms, 
 
 In my opinion the 'Squire was in the right. 
 He was fatisfied with his firft ramble and his firft 
 injuries. But reafon of ftate and common-fenfe are 
 two things. If it were not for this difference, it 
 might not appear of abfolute neceffity, after having 
 received a certain quantity of bufferings by ad- 
 vance, that we fhould fend a Peer of the realm to 
 the fcum of the earth, to collect the debt to the 
 lafl farthing ; and to receive, with infinite aggra- 
 vation, the fame fcorns which had been paid to 
 our fupplication through a Commoner : But it 
 was proper, I fuppofe, that the whole of our coun- 
 try, in all it's orders, fhould have a fhare of the 
 indignity ; and, as in reafon, that the higher or- 
 ders fhould touch the larger proportion. 
 
 This bufincfs was not ended, becaufe our dig- 
 nity was wounded, or becaufe our patience w r as 
 worn out with contumely and fcorn. We had 
 not difgorged one particle of the naufeous dofes 
 with which we were fo liberally crammed by the 
 mountebanks of Paris, in order to drug and diet us 
 
 into
 
 into perfect tarnenefs. No ; we waited, till thd mor* 
 bid rtrength of ourbotdimiafor their phyfick had ex^ 
 haufted the vvell-ftored difpcnfary of their empiri- 
 cifm. It is impoflible to guefs at the term to which 
 our forbearance would have extended. The Regi- 
 cides were more fatigued with giving blows than 
 the callous cheek of Britifh Diplomacy was hurt 
 in receiving them. They had no way left for 
 getting rid of this mendicant perfeverance, but by 
 fending for the Beadle, and forcibly driving our 
 Embafly ' of fhreds and patches,' with all it's 
 mumping cant, from the inhofpitable door of Can- 
 nibal Caftle 
 
 " Where the gaunt maftiff, growling at the gate, 
 " Affrights the beggar whom he longs to eat." 
 
 I think we might have found, before the rude 
 hand of infolent office was on our fhoulder, and 
 the ftafF of ufurped authority brandilhed over our 
 heads, that contempt of the fuppliant is not the 
 beft forwarder of a fuit ; that national difgrace is 
 not the high road to fecurity, much lefs to power 
 and greatnefs. Patience, indeed, flrongly indicates 
 the love of peace : But mere love does not always 
 lead to enjoyrrient. It is the power of winning 
 that palm which infures our wearing it. Virtues 
 have their place; and out of their place they hardly 
 deferve the name. They pafs into the neighbour- 
 ing vice. The patience of fortitude, and the en- 
 durance
 
 durance of pufiflanimity are things very different, 
 as in their principle, fo in their effects. 
 
 In truth this Declaration, containing a narra- 
 tive of the firft tranfadion of the kind (and I hope 
 it will be the laft) in the intercourfe of nations^ 
 as a compolition, is ably drawn. It does credit 
 to our official ftyle. The report of the Speech of 
 the Minifter in a great Afleinbly, which I have 
 read, is a comment upon the Declaration, With- 
 out enquiry how far that report is exac\ (inferior 
 I believe it may be to what it would reprefent,) 
 yet ftill it reads as a moft eloquent and fmifhed 
 performance. Hardly one galling circumftance of 
 the indignities offered by the Directory of Regi- 
 cide, to the fupplications made to that junto in 
 his Majefly's name, has been fpared. Every one 
 of the aggravations attendant on thefe acts of out- 
 rage is, with wonderful perfpicuity and order, 
 brought forward in it's place, and in the manner 
 moft fitted to produce it's effecl:. They are 
 turned to every point of view in which they can. 
 be feen to the beft advantage. All the parts are 
 fo arranged as to point out their relation, and 
 to furnifh a true idea of the fpirit of the whole 
 tranfaclion. 
 
 This Speech may Hand for a model. Never, 
 for the triumphal decoration of any theatre, not 
 
 C for
 
 for the decoration of thofe of Athens and Rome, 
 or even of this theatre of Paris, from the em- 
 broideries of Babylon or from the loom of the 
 Gobelins, has there been fent any hiflorick tif- 
 fue, fo truly drawn, fo clofely and fo finely 
 wrought, or in which the forms are brought out 
 in the rich purple of fuch glowing and blufhing 
 colours. It puts me In mind of the piece of ta- 
 peftry, with which Virgil propofed to adorn the 
 theatre he was to erecl: to Auguftus, upon the 
 banks of the Mincio, who now hides his head in 
 his reeds, and leads his flow and melancholy wind- 
 ings through banks wafted by the barbarians of 
 Gaul. He fuppofes that the artifice is fuch, that the 
 figures of the conquered nations in his tapeftry are 
 made to play their part, and are confounded in 
 the machine : 
 
 -utque 
 
 " Purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni j" 
 
 Or as Dryden tranflates it fomewhat paraphrafti- 
 cally, but not lefs in the fpirit of the Prophet 
 than of the Poet, 
 
 Where the proud theatres difclofe the fcene, 
 
 Which, interwoven, Britons feem to raife, 
 
 And (how the triumph which their flume difplays. 
 
 It is fomething wonderful, that the fagacity 
 ihown in the Declaration and the Speech (and, fo 
 
 far
 
 . t 11 ] 
 
 far as it goes, greater was never fhown) fhould 
 have failed to difcover to the writer and to the 
 fpeaker, the infeparable relation between the par- 
 ties to this tranfaction ; and that nothing can be 
 faid to difplay the imperious arrogance of a bafe ene^- 
 my, which does not defcribe with equal force and 
 equal truth the contemptible figure of an abject 
 embafly to that imperious Power. 
 
 It is no lefs flriking, that the fame obvious 
 reflexion fhould not occur to thofe gentlemen 
 who conducted the oppofition to Government. 
 But their thoughts were turned another way. 
 They feem to have been fo entirely occupied 
 with the defence of the French Directory, fb 
 very eager in finding recriminatory precedents 
 to juflify every act "of it's intolerable infolence, 
 fo animated in their accufations of Miniftry for 
 not having, at the very outfet, made concef- 
 fions proportioned to the dignity of the great 
 victorious Power we had offended, that every 
 thing concerning the facrifice in this bufinefs of 
 national honour, and of the molt fundamental 
 principles in the policy of negotiation, feemed 
 wholly to have efcapcd them. To this fatal hour, 
 the contention in Parliament appeared in another 
 form, and was animated by another fpirit. For 
 three hundred years and more, we have had wars 
 ivitb what flood as Government in France. In all 
 
 C %
 
 that period the language of Minifters, whether of 
 boaft or of apology, was, that they had left nothing 
 undone for the ailertion of the national honour; the 
 Opposition, whether patriotically or faclioufly, con- 
 tending, that the Minifters had been oblivious of the 
 national glory, and had made improper facrifices of 
 that publick intereft, which they were bound not 
 only to preferve, but by all fair methods to augment. 
 This total change of tone on both fides of your 
 houfe, forms itfelf no inconliderable revolution ; 
 and I am afraid it prognosticates others of flill 
 greater importance. The Minifters exhaufted the 
 ftores of their eloquence in demonftrating, that 
 they had quitted the fafe, beaten high -way of trea- 
 ty between independent Powers ; that to pacify 
 the enemy they had made every facrifice of the 
 national dignity ; and that they had offered to im- 
 molate at the fame fhrine the moil valuable of the 
 national acquisitions. The Opposition inSifted, that 
 the victims were not fat nor fair enough to be of- 
 fered on the altars of blafphemed Regicide ; and 
 it was inferred from thence, that the facrifical 
 ministers, (who were a fort of intruders in the 
 worfhip of the new divinity) in their fchifmati- 
 cal devotion had difcovcred more of hypocrify than 
 zeal. They charged them with a concealed re- 
 folution to perfevere in what thefe gentlemen have 
 (in perfect conSiftency, indeed, with themfelves, 
 
 but
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
 "but moft irreconcileably with fact and reafon) 
 called an unjuft and impolitick war. 
 
 That day was, I fear, the fatal term of local pa- 
 triotifm. On that day, I fear, there was an end of 
 that narrow fcheme of relations called our country, 
 with all it's pride, it's prejudices, and it's partial 
 affections. All the little quiet rivulets that water- 
 ed an humble, a contracted, but not an unfruitful 
 field, are to be loft in the wafte expanfe, and 
 boundlefs, barren ocean of the homicide philan- 
 thropy of France. It is no longer an object of 
 terror, the aggrandizement of a new power, which 
 teaches as a profeflbr that philanthropy in the chair; 
 whilft it propagates by arms, and eftablifhcs by 
 conqueft, the comprehenfive fyftem of univerfal 
 fraternity. In what light is all this viewed in a great 
 aflembly? The party which takes the lead there 
 has no longer any apprehensions, except thofe that 
 arife from not being admitted to the clofefl and 
 moft confidential connexions with the metropolis 
 of that fraternity. That reigning party no longer 
 touches on it's favourite fubject, the difplay of 
 thofe horrours that muft attend the exigence of a 
 power, with fuch difpofitionsand principles, fcated 
 in the heart of Europe. It is fatisficd to find 
 fome loofe, ambiguous expreffions in it's former 
 declarations, which may fet it free from it's pro- 
 
 feflioris
 
 [ 14 ] 
 
 feflions and engagements. It always fpeaks of 
 peace with the Regicides as a great and an 1 un- 
 doubted bleffing ; and fuch a bleffing, as if ob- 
 tained, promifes, as much as any human difpofition 
 of things can promife, fecurity and permanence. 
 It holds out nothing at all definite towards this 
 fecurity. It only feeks, by a restoration, to fome 
 of their former owners^ of fome fragments of the 
 general wreck of Europe, to find a plaufible 
 plea for a prefent retreat from an embarraf- 
 ling pofition. As to the future, that party is con- 
 tent to leave it, covered in a night of the moft 
 palpable obfcurity. It never once has entered into 
 a particle of detail of what our own fituation, or 
 that of other Powers muft be, under the bleffings 
 of the peace we feek. This defect, to my power, I 
 mean to fupply; that if any perfons fhould ftill 
 continue to think an attempt at forefight is any 
 part of the duty of a Statefman, I may contri- 
 bute my trifle to the materials of his fpeculation. 
 
 As to the other party, the minority of to-day, 
 poffibly the majority of to-morrow, fmall in num- 
 ber, but full of talents and every fpecies of energy, 
 which, upon the avowed ground of being more 
 acceptable to France, is a candidate for the helm 
 of this kingdom, it has never changed from the 
 beginning. It has preferved a perennial confift* 
 ency. This would be a never-failing fourcc of 
 
 true
 
 [ 15 ] 
 
 true glory, if fpringing from juft and right; but 
 it is truly dreadful if it be an arm of Styx, 
 which fprings out of the profoundeft depths of a 
 poifoned foil. The French maxims were by thefe 
 gentlemen at no time condemned. I fpeak of their 
 language in the moft moderate terms. % There are 
 many who think that they have gone much fur- 
 ther ; that they have always magnified and extol- 
 led the French maxims ; that not in the lead dif- 
 gufted or difcouraged by the monflrous evils, which 
 have attended thefe maxims from the moment of 
 their adoption, both at home and abroad, they 
 {till continue to predicl, that in due time they 
 muft produce the greateft good to the poor hu- 
 man race. They obftinately perlift in ftating thofe 
 evils as matter of accident'; as things wholly colla- 
 teral to the fyflem. 
 
 It is obferved, that this party has never fpoken 
 of an -ally of Great Britain with the frnallefl degree 
 of refpecT: or regard ; on the contrary a it has gene- 
 rally mentioned them under opprobrious appella- 
 tions, and in fuch terms of contempt or execra- 
 tion, as never had been heard before, becaufe 
 no fuch would have formerly been permitted in 
 our public aifcmbliesi The moment, however, 
 that any of thofe allies quitted this obnoxious 
 connexion, the party has imlantly palled an a<5t 
 of indemnity and oblivion in their favour. After 
 
 this,
 
 [ 16 ] 
 
 this, no fort of cenfure on their conduct ; no im- 
 putation on their character ! From that moment 
 their pardon was fealed in a reverential and myfte- 
 rious lilence. With the Gentlemen of this mino- 
 rity, there is no ally, from one end of Europe to 
 the other, with whom we ought not to be afhamed 
 to acl:. The whole College of the States of Eu- 
 rope is no better than a gang of tyrants. With 
 them all our connexions were broken off at once. 
 We ought to have cultivated France, and France 
 alone, from the moment of her Revolution. On 
 that happy change, all our dread of that nation as 
 a power was to ceafe. She became in an inftant 
 dear to our affeclions, and one with our interefts. 
 All other nations we ought to have commanded 
 not to trouble her facred throes, whilft in la- 
 bour to bring into an happy birth her abundant 
 litter of confutations. We ought to have acled 
 under her aufpices, in extending her falutary in- 
 fluence upon every fide. From that moment 
 Engkmd and France were become natural allies, 
 and all the other States natural enemies. The 
 whole face of the world was changed. What was 
 it to us if fhe acquired Holland and the Auftrian 
 Netherlands ? By her conquefls fhe only enlarged 
 the fphere of her beneficence ; fhe only extended 
 the bleffings of liberty to fo many more foolifhly 
 reluctant nations. "What was it to England, if by 
 adding thefe, among the richeft and moft peopled 
 
 countries
 
 countries of the world, to her territories, (he there- 
 by left no poffible link of communication between 
 us and any other Power with whom- we could act 
 againft her ? On this new fyftem of optimifm, 
 it is fo much the better ; fo much the further are 
 we removed from the contact with infectious def- 
 potifm. No longer a thought of a barrier in the 
 Netherlands to Holland againft France. All that 
 is obfolete policy. It is fit that France fhould have 
 both Holland and the Auftrian Netherlands too, 
 as a barrier to her againft the attacks of defpotifrn. 
 She cannot multiply her fecurities too much ; and 
 as to our fecurity, it is to be found in her's. Had 
 we cheriOied her from the beginning, and felt for 
 her when attacked, fhe, poor good foul, would 
 never have invaded any foreign nation ; never 
 murdered her Sovereign and his family ; never 
 profcribcd, never exiled, never imprifoned, never 
 been guilty of extrajudicial maflacre, or of legal 
 murder. All would have been a golden age, full' 
 of peace, order, and liberty ! and philofophy, ray- 
 ing out from Europe, would have warmed and en- 
 lightened the univerfe : but unluckily, irritable 
 philofophy, the moft irritable of all things, was 
 put into a paffion, and provoked into ambition 
 abroad and tyranny at home. They find all this 
 very natural and very juftifiable. They chufe to 
 forget, that other nations ftruggling for freedom, 
 have been attacked by their neighbours ; or that 
 
 D their
 
 their neigbours have othenvife interfered in their 
 affairs. Often have neighbours interfered in fa- 
 vour of Princes againft 'their rebellious fubje&s ; 
 and often in favour of fubjecls againft their Prince. 
 Such cafes fill half the pages of hiflory, yet never 
 were they ufed as an apology, much lefs as a juf- 
 tification, for atrocious cruelty in Princes, or for 
 general maflacre and confifcation on the part of 
 revolted fubjecls ; never as a politick caufe for fuf- 
 fering any fuch powers to aggrandize themfelves 
 without limit and without meafure. A thoufand 
 times have we leen it ailcrted in publick prints 
 and pamphlets, that if the nobility and priefthood 
 of France had ftaid at home, their property ne- 
 ver would have been confifcated. One would 
 think that none of the clergy had been rob- 
 bed previous to their deportation, or that their 
 deportation had, on their part, been a volun- 
 tary S.&L. One would think that the nobility and 
 gentry, and merchants and bankers, who ftaid at 
 home, had enjoyed their property in fecurity and 
 repofe. The afiertors of thele poiitions well know, 
 that the lot of thoufands who remained at home- 
 was far more terrible ; that the mod cruel im- 
 prifonment was only a harbinger of a cruel and 
 ignominious death ; and that in this mother coun- 
 try of freedom, there were no Icfs than Three Hun- 
 dred Thoufand at one time in prifon. I go no 
 further. I inflance only thefe reprefentations of 
 
 the
 
 [ '9 ] 
 
 the party as (taring indications of partiality to that 
 feel, to whofe dominion they would have left this 
 country nothing to oppofe but her own naked 
 force, and confequently fubjected us, on every 
 reverie of fortune, to the imminent danger of fal- 
 ling under thofe very evils in that very fyrlem, 
 which are attributed, not to it's own nature, but 
 to the perverfenefs of others. There is nothing 
 in the world fb difficult as to put men in a ftate 
 of judicial neutrality. A leaning there muft ever 
 be, and it is of the firft importance to any nation 
 to obferve to what fide that leaning inclines 
 whether to our own community or to one with 
 which it is in a ftate of hoftility. 
 
 Men are rarely without fome iympathy in thc\ 
 fufferings of others ; but in the immenfe and di- 
 verfificd mafs of human mifery, .which may be pi- 
 tied, but cannot be relieved, in the grofs, the mind 
 mull make a choice. Our fympathy is always 
 more forcibly attracted towards the misfortunes of 
 certain perfons, and in certain defcriptions : and 
 this iympathetic attraction difcovers, beyond a 
 poffibility of miftake,our mental affinities, and elec- 
 tive affections. It is a much furer proof, than the 
 flrongeft declaration, of a real connexion and of an 
 over- ruling bias in the mind. I am told that the 
 active fympathies of this party have been chiefly, 
 i<f not wholly attracted to the fufferings of the pa- 
 D 2 triarchaj
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
 triarchal rebels, who were amongft the promulga^ 
 tors of the maxims of the French Revolution, and 
 who have fuffered, from their apt and forward fcho- 
 lars, fome part of the evils, which they had them- 
 felves fo liberally cliilributcd to all the other parts 
 of the community. Some of thefe men, flying from 
 the knives which they had fharpened againft their 
 country and it's laws, rebelling ag'tinft the very 
 powers they had fet over themfelves by their rebel- 
 lion againft their Sovereign, given up by thofe 
 very armies to whofe faithful attachment they 
 trufted for their fafety and fupport, after they had 
 compleatly debauched all military fidelity in it's 
 fource ; fome of thefe men, I fay, had fallen into 
 the hands of the head of that family, the moft illuf- 
 trious perfon of which they had three times cruelly 
 imprifoned, and delivered in that ftate of captivity 
 to thofe hands, from which they were able to re- 
 Ijeve, neither her, nor their own neareft and moft 
 venerable kindred. One of thefe men, con- 
 nected with this country by no circumftance of 
 birth ; not related to any diftinguifhed families 
 here ; recommended by no fervice ; endeared to. 
 this nation by no acl: or eyen expreffion of kind- 
 nefs ; comprehended in no league or common 
 caufe ; embraced by no laws of publickTiofpitality ; 
 this man was the only one to be found in Eu- 
 rope, in whofe favour the Britifh nation, paffing 
 judgment, without hearing, on it's almoft only a\ly t 
 
 was
 
 was to force, (and that not by foothing interpoli- 
 tion, but with every reproach for inhumanity, 
 cruelty, and breach of the laws of war,) from 
 prifon. We were to releafe him from that pri- 
 fon out of which, in abufe of the lenity of Go- 
 vernment amidft it's rigour, and in violation of at 
 lead an understood parole, he had attempted an 
 efcape; an efcape excufeable if you will, but na- 
 turally productive of ftricT: and vigilant confine^ 
 ment. The earneftnefs of gentlemen to free thi* 
 perfon was the more extraordinary, becaufe there 
 was full as little in him to raife admiration, from any 
 eminent qualities he poflefled, as there was to ex- 
 cite an intereft, from any that were amiable. A 
 perfon, not only of no real civil or literary talents, 
 but of no fpecious appearance of either; and in 
 his military profeffipn, not marked as a leader 
 in any one acl of able or fuccefsful enterprize 
 < unlefs his leading on (or his following) the al- 
 lied army of Amazonian and male cannibal Pari- 
 iians to Vcrfailles, on the famous fifth of Oclobcr, 
 1789, is to make his glory. Any other exploit of 
 his, as a General, I never heard of. But the triumph 
 of general fraternity xvas but the more fignalizcd, 
 by the total want of particular claims in that cafe ; 
 and by poftponing all fuch claims, in a cafe where 
 they really cxiftcd, where they flood embofled, and 
 in a manner forced themfelves on the view of com- 
 fnon (hort-lightcd benevolence. Whilft, for its im- 
 provement,
 
 3 
 
 provcment, the humanity of thefe gentlemen was 
 thus on it's travels, and had got as far off as Olr 
 rautz, they never thought of a place and a perfon 
 much nearer to them, pr of moving an initruclion 
 to Lord Malmcfbury in favour of their own fufter- 
 ing countryman. Sir Sydney Smith. 
 
 This officer, having attempted, with great gal- 
 lantry, to cut put a veflel from one of the enemy'* 
 harbours, was taken after an obltinate remittance ; 
 fuch as obtained him the marked refpecl: of 
 thole who were witnefles of his valour, and knew 
 the cireumn 1 ances in which it wa^s difplayed. Upon 
 his arrival at Paris, he was inftantly thrown into 
 prifon; where the nature of his iituation will beft 
 be underwood, by knowing, that amongft its miti- 
 gations, was the permiffion to walk occaiionally in 
 the court, and to enjoy the privilege of fhaving 
 hirnfelf. On the old fyftem of feelings and prin- 
 ciples, his fufferings might have been entitled to 
 confederation, and even in a comparifbn with thole 
 of Citizen la Fayette, to a priority in the order of 
 compaffion. If the Miniiters had neglected to take 
 any ileps in his favour, a declaration of the fenfe 
 of the Houfe of Commons would have ftimulated 
 them to their duty. If they had caufed a repre-r 
 fentation to be made, fuch a proceeding would 
 have added force to it. If reprifal fhould be 
 thought advifeablc., the addrefs of the Houfe would 
 
 have
 
 have given an additional function to a meafure> 
 which would have been, indeed, justifiable with- 
 out any other fanction than it's own reafon. But 
 no. Nothing at all like it. In fact, the merit of 
 Sir Sydney Smith, and his claim on Britifh com- 
 paflion, was of a kind altogether different from 
 that which interefted fo deeply the authors of the 
 motion in favour of Citizen la Fayette. In my humble 
 opinion, Captain Sir Sydney Smith has another fort 
 of merit with the Britifh nation, and fomething of 
 a higher claim on Britifh humanity than Citizen 
 de la Fayette. Faithful, zealous, and ardent in 
 the fervice of his King and Country ; full of fpirit ; 
 full of refburces ; going out of the beaten road, 
 but going right, becaufe his uncommon enterprizc 
 was not conducted by a vulgar judgment ; in his 
 profeflion, Sir Sydney Smith might be confidered 
 as a diflinguifhed perfon, if any perfon could well 
 t>e diflinguifhed in a fervice in which fcarce a 
 Commander can be named without putting you 
 in mind of fome action of intrepidity, Ik ill, and 
 vigilance, that has given them a fair title to con- 
 tend with any men and in any age. But I will fay 
 nothing farther of the merits of Sir Sydney Smith : 
 The mortal animofity of the Regicide enemy fu~ 
 perfedes all other pan cgy rick. Their hatred is a 
 judgment in his favour without appeal. At prcfent 
 he is lodged in the tower of the Temple, the laft 
 prifon of Louis the Sixteenth, and the laft but one 
 
 of
 
 t 24 ] 
 
 of Maria Antonietta of Auftria; the pnfon of Louis 
 the Seventeenth ; the pnfon of Elizabeth of Bour- 
 bon. There he lies, unpitied by the grand philan- 
 thropy, to meditate upon the fate of thofe who 
 are faithful to their King and Country. Whilft 
 this prifoner, fecluded from intercourfe, was in- 
 dulging in thefe cheering reflections, he might 
 poffibly have had the further confolation of learn- 
 ing s (by means of the infolent exultation of his 
 guards) that there was an Englifh Ambarlador at 
 Paris ; he might have had the proud comfort of 
 hearing, that this Ambaflador had the honour of 
 paffing his mornings in refpeclful attendance at 
 the office of a Regicide pettifogger; and that in the 
 evening he relaxed in the amufe.ments of the opera, 
 and in the fpeclacle of an audience totally new ; 
 an audience in which he had the pleafure of feeing 
 about him not a (ingle face that he could formerly 
 have known in Paris ; but in the place of that 
 company, one indeed more than equal to it in 
 difplay of gaiety, fplendour and luxury ; a fet of 
 abandoned wretches, fquandering in infolent riot 
 the fpoils of their bleeding country. A fubje6l 
 of profound reflection both to the prifoner and to 
 the Ambaflador. 
 
 Whether all the matter upon which I have 
 grounded my opinion of this laft party be fully au- 
 thenticated or not, muft be left to thofe who have 
 
 had
 
 [ 25 ] 
 
 had the opportunity of a nearer view of it's con- 
 duel:, and who have been more attentive in their 
 perufal of the writings, which have appeared in 
 it's favour. But for my part, I have never heard 
 the grofs facts on which I ground my idea of their 
 marked partiality to the reigning Tyranny in 
 France, in any part, denied. I am not furprized at 
 all this. Opinions, as they fometimes follow, fo 
 they frequently guide and direct the affections ; and 
 men may become more attached to the country of 
 their principles:, than to the country of their birth. 
 What I have ftated here is only to mark the fpirit 
 which fccms" to me, though infomewhat different 
 ways, to actuate our great party-leaders? and to 
 trace this firft pattern of a negotiation to it's true 
 fource. 
 
 Such is the prefent ftate of our publick councils. 
 Well might I be afhamed of what feems to be a 
 cenfure of two great factions, with the two moft 
 eloquent men, which this country ever faw, at the 
 head of them, if I had found that either of them 
 could fupport their conduct by any example in 
 thehiftory of their country. I mould very much 
 prefer their judgment to my own, if I were not ob- 
 liged, by an infinitely overbalancing weight of 
 authority, to prefer the collected Avifdom of ages to 
 the abilities of any two men living. I return to 
 
 E the
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
 the Declaration, with which the hiitory of the abor- 
 tion of a treaty with the Regicides is clofei. 
 
 After fuch an elaborate difplay, had been made 
 of the injuflice and infolence of an enemy, who 
 feems to have been irritated by every one of the 
 means, which had been commonly ufed with effect 
 to foothe the rage of intemperate power, the na- 
 tural refult would be, that the feabbard, in which 
 we in vain attempted to plunge our fword, mould 
 .have been thrown away with fcorn. It would have 
 been natural, that, rifmg in the fulnefs of their 
 might, infulted majcily, , defpiled dignity, violated 
 juftice, rejected fupplication, patience goaded into 
 fury, would have poured out all the length of 
 the reins upon all the wrath which they had fo 
 long reftrained. It might have been expected, 
 tha$ emulous of the glory of the youthful hero* in 
 alliance with him, touched by the example 6f 
 what one man, well formed and well placed, may 
 do in the moit defperate ftate of affairs, convinced 
 there is a courage of the. Cabinet full as powerful, 
 and far lefs vulgar than that of the field, our Mi- 
 nifter would have changed the whole line of that 
 unprofperous prudence, which hitherto had pro- 
 duced all the effecls of the blindeft temerity. If 
 
 * The Archduke Charles of Auftria. . 
 
 he
 
 he found his fituation full of danger, (and I do 
 not deny that it is perilous in the extreme) he 
 muft feel that it is alfb full of glory ; and that 
 he is placed on a ftage, than which no Mufe of 
 fire that had afcended the higheft heaven of in- 
 vention, could imagine any thing more awful and 
 auguft. It was hoped, that in this fwelling fcene, 
 in which he moved with fome of the firft Poten- 
 tates of Europe for his fellow actors, and with ib 
 many of the reft for the anxious fpeclators of a 
 part, which, as he plays it, determines for evei* 
 their deftiny and his own, like Ulyfles, in the un- 
 ravelling point of the epic Itorv, he would have - 
 thrown off his patience and his rags together ; 
 and ftripped of unworthy difguifes, he would 
 have flood forth in the form, and in the attitude 
 of an hero. On that day, it was thought he 
 would have afiumed the port of Mars ; that he 
 would bid to be brought forth from their hideous 
 kennel (where his fcrupulous tendernefs had too 
 long immured them) thofe impatient dogs of war, 
 whofe fierce regards affright even the Minifter 
 of Vengeance that feeds them ; that he would let 
 them loofe, in famine, fever, plagues, and death, 
 upon a guilty race, to whofe frame, and to all 
 whofc habit, order, peace, religion, and virtue, are 
 alien and abhorrent. It was expected that he 
 would at laft have thought of active and effec- 
 tual war ; that he would no longer amufe the 
 E 2 Brilith
 
 Lion in the chace of mice and rats ; that 
 he would no longer employ the whole naval 
 power of Great Britain, once the terrour of the 
 world, to prey upon the miferable remains of a 
 pedling commerce, which the enemy did not re- 
 gard, and from which none could profit. It 
 was expected that he would have re-ailerted the 
 juftice of his caufe ; that he would have re-ani- 
 mated whatever remained to him of his allies, 
 and endeavoured to recover thofe whom their 
 fears had kui aftray ; that he would have re- 
 kindled the martial ardour of his citizen^ ; that 
 he would have held out to them the example of 
 their anceftry, the aflertor of Europe, and the 
 fcourge of French ambition ; that he would have 
 reminded them of a pofterity, which if this nefa- 
 rious robbery, under the fraudulent name and falfe 
 colour of a government, fhould in full power be 
 feated in the heart of Europe, muft for ever be 
 consigned to vice, impiety, barbarifm, and the moft 
 ignominious flavery -of body and mind. In fo 
 holy a caufe it was prefumed, that he would, (as 
 in the beginning of the war he did) have opened 
 all the temples ; and with prayer, with faffing, 
 and with fupplication (better directed than to the 
 grim Moloch of Regicide in PVance), have called 
 upon us to raife that united cry, which has fo often 
 ftormed Heaven, and with a pious violence forced 
 down blcilings upon a repentant people. It was 
 
 hoped
 
 [ 29 ] 
 
 hoped that when he had invoked upon his endea- 
 vours the favourable regard of the Protector of the 
 human race, it would be feen that his menaces to the 
 enemy, and his prayers to the Almighty, were, not 
 followed, but accompanied, with correfpondent 
 action. It was hoped that his fhrilling trumpet 
 fhould be heard, not to announce a (hew, but to 
 found a charge. 
 
 Such a conclufion to fuch a Declaration anct 
 fuch a Speech, would have been a thing of courfe ; 
 fo much a thing of courfe, that I will be bold to 
 fay, if in any ancient hiftory, the Roman for 
 inftance, (fuppoling that in Rome the matter of 
 fuch a detail could have been furniflied) a Conful 
 had gone through fuch a long train of proceed- 
 ings, and that there was a chafm in the manufcripts 
 by which we had loft the conclufion of the fpeech 
 and the fubfequent part of the narrative, all cri- 
 ticks would agree, that a Fremjhemms would have 
 bee-n thought to have managed the fupplementary 
 bufinefs of a eontinuator moft unfkilfully, and to 
 have fupplied the hiatus moft improbably, if he had 
 not filled up the gaping fpace, in a manner fome- 
 what fimilar, (though better executed) to what I 
 have imagined. But too often different is ra- 
 tional conjecture from melancholy fact. This 
 exordium, as contrary to all the rules of rhetorick, 
 gs to thofe more elleniial rules of policy which 
 
 our
 
 r ; 3o 3 
 
 our fit nation would dictate, is intended as a pre- 
 lude to a deadening and difheartening propofi- 
 tion ; as if all that a Miniiler had to fear in a 
 war of his own conducting, was, that the people 
 fhould purfue it with too ardent a zeal. Such a 
 tone, as I guefied the Minifler would have taken, 
 I am very furc, is the true, unfuborned, unibphifti- 
 cated language of genuine natural feeling under 
 the fmart of patience exhaufted and abufed. Such 
 a conduct as the facts dated in the Declaration gave 
 room to expect, is that which true wifdom would 
 have dictated under the impreffion of thofe ge- 
 nuine feelings. Never was there a jar ordifcord, be- 
 tween genuine fcntiment and found policy. Never, 
 no, never, did Nature fayonething and Wifdom fay 
 another. Nor are fentiments of elevation in them- 
 felves turgid and unnatural. Nature is never 
 more truly herfelf, than in her grandeft forms. 
 The Apollo of Belvedere (if the univerfal robber 
 has yet left him at Belvedere) is as much in Nature, 
 as any figure from the pencil of Rembrandt, or 
 any clown in the ruflic revels ofTeniers. Indeed 
 it is when a great nation is in great difficulties, 
 that minds mult exalt themfelves to the oceafion, 
 or all is loft. Strong paffion under the direction 
 of a feeble reafon feeds a low fever, which ferves 
 only to deitroy the body that entertains it. But ve- 
 hement paffion does not always indicate an infirm 
 judgment. It often accompanies, and actuates, an4 
 
 is
 
 t 31 ] 
 
 -is even auxiliary to a powerful underftanding; and 
 when they both confpire and al harmonioufly, 
 their force is great to deftroy diforder within, and to 
 repel injury from abroad. If ever there was a time 
 that calls on us for no vulgar conception of things, 
 and for exertions in no vulgar {train, it is the aw- 
 ful hour that Providence has now appointed to this 
 nation. Every little meafure is a great errour; and 
 every great tarour will bring on no fmall ruin. No- 
 thing can LC directed above the mark that we 
 muft aim at: Every thing below it is abfolutely 
 thrown away. 
 
 Except with the addition of the unheard-of in- 
 fult offered to our Ambaflador by his rude expul- 
 fion, we are never to forget that the point on which 
 the negotiation with De la Croix broke off, was 
 xa6lly that which had ftifled in it's cradle the 
 negotiation we had attempted with Barthelemy. 
 Each of thefe tran factions/ concluded with a rna- 
 nifefto upon our part : but the laft of our manifef- 
 toes very materially differed from the firft. The 
 firft Declaration ftated, that " nothing was left 
 ** but to profecute a war equally juji and necef- 
 " f ar y" I* 1 tne fecond, the juftice and ne- 
 ceffity of the war is dropped : The fentence im- 
 porting that nothing was left but the profecu- 
 tion of fuch a war, difappears alfo. Inflcad 
 of this rcfolution to profecute the war, we fink 
 
 into
 
 [ 32 
 
 into a whining* lamentation on the abru.pt termr- 
 nation of the treaty. We have nothing left but 
 the lail refource of female weaknefs, of helpleft 
 infancy, of doting decrepitude, wailing and la- 
 mentation. We cannot even utter a lentiment 
 of vigour : " his Majefty has only. to lament." 
 ^L poor poflefiion, to be left to a great Mo- 
 narch! Mark the effect: produced on our coun- 
 cils by continued infolcnce, and inveterate hof- 
 tility ! We grow more malleable, under their 
 blows. In reverential filence, we fmother the 
 caufe and origin of the wan On tbat funda- 
 mental article of faith, we leave every one 
 to abound in his own fen fe. In the Minified 
 fpeech, gloffing on the Declaration, it is indeed 
 mentioned; but very feebly. The lines are fo 
 faintly drawn as hardly to be traced. They only 
 make apart of our confolation in the circumilances 
 which we fo dolefully lament. We reft our 
 merits on the humility, the earncftnefs of felicita- 
 tion, and the perfect good faith of thofe fubmif- 
 Jions, which have been ufed to perfuade our Re- 
 gicide enemies to grant us fome fort of peace, 
 Not a word is faid, which might not have been 
 full as well faid, and much better too, if the Bri- 
 tifh nation had appeared in the fimple character 
 of a penitent convinced of his crrourg and offences, 
 and offering, by penances, by pilgrimages, and by 
 all the modes of expiation ever devifed by anxious, 
 
 vedlefs
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
 reftlefs guilt, to make all the atonement in his 
 miferable power. 
 
 The Declaration ends as I have before quoted it, 
 with a folemn voluntary pledge, the mod full and 
 the moft folemn that ever was given, of our refolu- 
 tion (if fo it may be called) to enter again into the 
 very fame courfe. It requires nothing more of the 
 Regicides, than to furnifh fome fort of excufe, fome 
 fort of colourable pretext, for our renewing the fup- 
 plications of innocence at the feet of guilt. It 
 leaves the moment of negotiation, a moft im- 
 portant moment, to the choice of the enemy. He 
 is to regulate it according to the convenience 
 of his affairs. He is to bring it forward at that 
 time when it may beft ferve to eftablifh his autho- 
 rity at home, and to extend his power abroad. A 
 dangerous affurance for this nation to give, whether 
 it is broken or whether it is kept. As all treaty 
 was broken off, and broken off in the manner we 
 have fecn, the field of future conduct ought to 
 be referved free and unincumbered to our future 
 discretion. As to the fort of condition prefixed 
 to the pledge, namely, " that the enemy (houkl 
 " be difpofed to enter into the work of general 
 " pacification with the fpirit of reconciliation and 
 " equity," this phrafeology cannot poflibly be con- 
 fidered otherwife, than as fo many words thrown 
 in to fill the fentence, and to round it to the 
 
 F ear.
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 car. We prefixed the fame plaufible conditions to 
 any renewal of the negotiation, in our manifeflo 
 on the rejection of our propofals at Bafle. We did 
 not confider thofe conditions as binding. We 
 opened a much more fcrious negotiation, without 
 any fort of regard to them ; and there is no new 
 negotiation, which we can poffibly open upon 
 fewer indications of conciliation and equity, than 
 were to be difcovercd, when we entered into our 
 laft at Paris. Any of the flighted pretences, any of 
 the moft loofe, formal, equivocating expreflions, 
 would juftify us under the peroration of this piece, 
 in again fending the laft, or fome other Lord 
 Malmeibury to Paris/ 
 
 I hope I mifunderfiand this pledge ; or, that we 
 ftiall fhew no more regard to it, than we have done 
 to all the faith, that we have plighted to vigour and 
 refolution, in our former declaration. If I am to 
 imderitand the conclufion of the declaration to be 
 what unfortunately it feems to me, we make an en- 
 gagement with the enemy, without any corref- 
 poudcut engagement on his fide. We feem to 
 Have out ourtMves off from any benefit which an 
 mt turned Kite liiite of things might furnifh to en- 
 al>K-. u>- totally to overturn that power, fo little 
 vouuecteu with moderation and juilice. By hold- 
 ing out no h.uptv either to. the jufily difcoutented 
 r to any forcigti power, iitid leaving the 
 
 re-corn-*
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 re-commencement of all treaty to this identical jun- 
 to of afluffins, we do in effect aflure and guarantee 
 to them, the full pofleffion of the rich fruits of 
 their confiscations, of their murders of men, women, 
 and children, and of all the multiplied, endlefs, 
 namelefs iniquities by which they have obtained 
 their power. We guarantee to them the poflef- 
 fion of a country, fuch and fo iituated as France, 
 round, entire, immenfely perhaps augmented. 
 
 Well ! forne will fay, in this cafe we have only' 
 fubrnitted to the nature of things. The nature of 
 things is, I admit, a fturdy adverfary. This might 
 be alledged as a plea for our attempt at a treaty. 
 But what plea of that kind can be alledged, after 
 the treaty was dead and gone, in favour of this 
 pofthumous declaration ? No necefllty has driven 
 US to that pledge. It is without a counterpart 
 even in expectation. And what can be flated to 
 obviate the evil which that folitary engagement 
 muft produce on the understandings or the fears of 
 men ? I afk, what have the Regicides promifed 
 you in return, in cafe you Should Shew what they 
 would call dispositions to conciliation and equity, 
 whilft you are giving that pledge from the throne, 
 and engaging Parliament to counter- fecure it? It 
 is an awful confidcration. It was on the very day 
 of the date of this wonderful pledge *, in which 
 
 * Dec. 27, 1796. 
 
 F 2 we
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
 we afiiimed the directorial Government as lawful, 
 and in which we engaged ourfelves to treat with them 
 whenever they pleafed ; it was on that very day, 
 the Regicide fleet was weighing anchor from one 
 of your harbours, where it had remained four days 
 in perfect quiet. Thefe harbours of the Britifh 
 dominions are the ports of France. They are of 
 no ufe, but to protect an enemy from your belt 
 Allies, the ftorms of Heaven, and his own ram- 
 nefs. Had the Weft of Ireland been an unportu- 
 ous coaft, the French naval power would have been 
 undone. The enemy ufes the moment for hoftility, 
 without the leafl regard to your future difpofitions 
 of equity and conciliation. They go out of what 
 were once your harbours, and they return to them 
 at their pleafure. Eleven days they had the full ufe 
 of Bantry Bay, and at length their fleet returns from 
 their harbour of Bantry to their harbour of Breft. 
 Whillt you are invoking the propitious fpirit of Regi- 
 cide equity and conciliation, they anfwer you with 
 an attack. They turn out the pacifick bearer ofyour 
 " how do you does," Lord Malmefbury ; and they 
 return your vifit, and their " thanks for your oblig- 
 ing enquiries," by their old praclifed aflaffin Hoche. 
 They corne to attack What ? A town, a fort, a na- 
 vd ftation ? They come to attack your King, your 
 Conftitution, and the very being of that Parlia- 
 ment, which was holding out to them thefe pledges, 
 together with the entirenefs of the Empire, the 
 
 Laws,
 
 L 37 J 
 
 Laws, Liberties, and Properties of all the people. 
 We know that they meditated the very fame iu- 
 valion, and for the very fame ptirpofes, upon this 
 Kingdom ; and had the coalt been as opportune, 
 would have effected it, 
 
 Whilft you are in vain torturing your invention 
 to allure them ofyour lincerity and good faith, they 
 have left no doubt concerning their good faith, 
 and tlitir fincerity towards thole to whom they 
 have engaged their honour. To their power they 
 have been true to the only pledge they have ever 
 yet given to you, or to any of yours, I mean the 
 folemn engagement which they entered into with 
 the deputation of traitors who appeared at their 
 bar, from England and from Ireland, in 17Q2. 
 They have been true and faithful to the engage- 
 ment which they had made more largely ; that 
 is, their engagement to give effectual aid to in- 
 furrection and trcafon, wherever they might ap- 
 pear in the world. We have feen the Britilh De- 
 claration. This is the counter-declaration of the 
 Directory. This is the reciprocal pledge which 
 Regicide amity gives to the conciliatory pledges 
 of Kings ! But, thank God, fuch pledges cannot 
 exift lingle. They have no counterpart; and if 
 they had, the enemy's conduct cancels fuch de- 
 tilarations ; and I truli, along with them, cancels 
 
 every 
 
 301250
 
 [ 3.8 ] 
 
 every thing of mifchief and difhonour that they 
 contain. 
 
 There is one thing in this bufinefs which ap-. 
 pears to be wholly unaccountable, or accountable, 
 on a fuppoiition I dare not entertain for a moment. 
 I cannot help alking, Why all this pains, to clear 
 the Britifh Nation of ambition, perfidy, and the 
 infatiate thirft of war? At what period of time 
 was it that our country has deferved that load of 
 infamy, of which nothing but preternatural humi- 
 liation in language and conduct can ferve to clear 
 us ? If we have deferved this kind of evil fame 
 from any thing we have done in a ftate of prof- 
 perity, I am fure, that it is not an abject conduct 
 in adverfity that can clear our reputation. Well 
 is it known that ambition can creep as well as 
 foar. The pride of no perfon in a flouriminp; 
 condition is more juftly to be dreaded, than that 
 of him who is mean and cringing under a 
 doubtful and unprofperous fortune. But it feems 
 it was thought neceflary to give fome out-of-the- 
 way proofs of our fincerity, as well as of our free- 
 dom from ambition. Is then fraud and falfe- 
 hood become the diilinctive character of Englifh- 
 men ? Whenever your enemy choofes to ac- 
 cufe you of perfidy and ill faith, will you put it 
 into his power to throw you into the purgatory of 
 
 felk
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 felf-humiliation ? Is his charge equal to the find- 
 ing of the grand jury of Europe, and fufficient to 
 put you upon your trial ? But on that trial I will 
 defend the Englifh Miniltry. I am forry that on 
 fome points I have, on the principles I have al- 
 ways oppofed, fo good a defence to make. They 
 were not the firil to begin the war. They did not 
 excite the general confederacy in Europe, which 
 was fo properly formed on the alarm given by 
 the Jacobinifin of France. They did not be- 
 gin with an hoftile aggreffion on the Regicides 
 of any of their allies. Thefe parricides of their 
 own country, difciplining themfelves for foreign 
 by domeitick violence, were the firft to attack a 
 power that was our ally, by nature, by habit, and 
 by the fanction of multiplied treaties. Is it not 
 true, that they were the firfl to declare war upon 
 this kingdom? Is every word -in the declaration 
 from Downing-Street, concerning their conduct, 
 and concerning ours and that of our allie?, fo ob- 
 vioufly falfe, that it is neceflary to give fornc new 
 invented proofs of our good faith in order to ex 
 punge the memory of all this perfidy? 
 
 We know that over-labouring a point of this 
 kind, has the direct contrary effect from what we 
 with. We know that there is a legal prefumptiou 
 againft men. quando fe tiwus pur-git ant ; and if u 
 charge of ambition ii nut refuted by an affected hu- 
 mility,
 
 [ 40 -] 
 
 mility, certainly the character of fraud and perfidy 
 is flill lefs to be wafhed away by indications of 
 meannefs. Fraud and prevarication are fcrvile vices* 
 They fometimes grow out of the ncceffities, always 
 out of the habits of flavifli and degenerate fpirits : 
 find on the theatre of the world, it is not by a- 
 fuming the mafk of a Davus or a Geta that an 
 actor will obtain credit for manly fimplicity and a 
 liberal opcnndfs of proceeding. It is an erect 
 countenance; it is a firm adherence to principle; 
 it is a power of refitting falfe fhamc and frivolous 
 fear, that affert our good faith and honour, and 
 aflure to us the confidence of mankind. There- 
 fore all thefe ^Negotiations, and all the Declara- 
 tions with which they were preceded and fol- 
 lowed, can only ferve to raife prcfumptions againft 
 that good faith and publick integrity, the fame of 
 which to prcferve inviolate is fo much the intcrclt 
 and duty of every nation. 
 
 The pledge is an engagement < to all Eu- 
 rope." This is the .more extraordinary, bccaufe 
 it is a pledge, which no power in Europe, whom 
 I have yet heard of, has thought proper to require 
 at our hands. I am not in the feerets of office; and 
 therefore I may be excufed for proceeding upon 
 probabilities and exteriour indications. I have fur- 
 veyed all Europe from the eafl to the weft, from 
 the north to the fouth, in fearch of this call upon 
 
 us
 
 [ 41 J 
 
 us to purge ourtelves of " fubtle duplicity and a 
 punick ftyle" in our proceedings. I have not 
 heard that his Excellency the Ottoman Ambafla- 
 dor has exprefied his doubts of the Britifh fince- 
 rity In our Negotiation with the moft unchriftian 
 Republick lately -fet up at our door. What 
 Sympathy, in that quarter, may have introduced a 
 remonftrance upon the want x>f faith in this na- 
 tion, I cannot pofitively fay. If it exifts, it is in 
 Turkilh or Arabick, and poflibly is not yet tranf- 
 lated. But none of the nations which compofe 
 the old Chriftian world have I yet heard as calling 
 upon us for thofe judicial purgations and ordeals, 
 t>y fire and water, which we have chofen to go 
 through ; for the other gre#t proof, by battle, 
 we feem to decline. 
 
 For whofe ufe, entertainment, or inftruclion, 
 are all thofe over-ftrained and over-laboured pro- 
 ceedings in Council, in Negotiation, and in 
 Speeches in Parliament, intended ? What Royal 
 Cabinet is to be enriched with thefe high- 
 finifhed pictures .of the arrogance of the fworn 
 enemies of Kings, and the meek patience of a 
 BritifK Adminiftration ? In what heart is it 
 intended to kindle pity towards our multiplied 
 mortifications and difgraces ? At beft it is fuper- 
 fluous. What nation is unacquainted with the 
 Jiaughty difpofition of the common enemy of all 
 G nations ?
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
 nations ? It has been more than feen, it has been 
 felt ; not only by thofe who have been the victims 
 of their imperious rapacity, but, in a degree, by 
 thofe very powers who have confented to eflablifh 
 this robbery, that they might be able to copy it, 
 and with impunity to make new usurpations of 
 their own. The King of Pruffia has hypothecated 
 in truft to the Regicides his rich and fertile terri- 
 tories on the Rhine, as a pledge of his zeal and af- 
 fection to the caufc of liberty and equality. He 
 has feen them robbed \yith unbounded liberty, and 
 with the moft levelling equality. The woods are 
 wafted ; the country is ravaged ; property is con- 
 fifcated ; and the people are put to bear a double 
 yoke, in the exactions of a tyrannical Government 
 and in the contributions of an hoftile irruption. Is 
 it to fatisfy the Court of Berlin, that the Court of 
 London is tp give the fame fort of pledge of it's 
 lincerity and good faith to the French Directory ? 
 It is not that heart full of fenfibility, it is not 
 Luchefini, the Minifter of his Pruffian Majefty, 
 the late ally of England, and the prefent ally 
 of it's enemy, who has demanded this pledge of our 
 lincerity, as the price of the renewal of the long 
 Icafc of his fincere fricndfhip to this kingdom. 
 
 It is not to our enemy, the now faithful ally of 
 Jlegicidc, late the faithful ally of Great Britain, 
 |hc Catholick King, that we addrefs our doleful 
 
 lamentation :
 
 " t 43 ] 
 
 lamentation : It is not to the Prince of Peace , 
 whofe declaration of war was one of the firil 
 aufpicious omens of general tranquillity, which 
 our dove-like Ambaflador, with the olive branch 
 in his beak, was faluted with at his entrance 
 into the ark of clean birds at Paris* 
 
 Surely it is not to the Tetrarch of Sardinia, now 
 the faithful ally of a power who has feized upon all 
 his fortrefles, and confifcated the oldeft dominions 
 of his houfe ; it is not to this once powerful, once 
 refpedted, and once cherifhed ally of Great Britain^ 
 that we mean to prove the fincerity of the peace 
 which we offered to make at his expence. Or is it 
 to him we are to prove the arrogance of the power 
 who, under the riame of friend, opprefles him, 
 and the poor remains of his fubjects, with all the 
 ferocity of the moft cruel enemy ? 
 
 It is not to Holland, under the name of an 
 ally, laid under a permanent military contribution, 
 filled with their double garrifon of barbarous Ja- 
 cobin troops, and ten times more barbarous Ja- 
 cobin clubs and aflemblies, that we find ourfelves 
 obliged to give this pledge* 
 
 Is it to Genoa, that we make this kind prornife ; 
 a ftate which the Regicides were to defend in a 
 favourable neutrality, but whofe neutrality has 
 
 G 2 been,
 
 C 1 
 
 been, by the gentle influence of Jacobin authority, 
 forced into the trammels of an alliance ; whofe al- 
 liance has been fecurcd by the admiffion of French 
 garrifons ; and whofe peace has been for ever ra- 
 tified by a forced declaration of war againft our- 
 felves ? 
 
 It is not the Grand Duke of Tufcany wbo claims 
 this Declaration ; not the Grand Duke, who for 
 his early fincerity, for his love of peace, and for 
 his entire confidence in the amity of the alTafiins 
 of his Houfe, has been complimented in the Bri- 
 tifh Parliament with the name of " the wife/} So- 
 vereign in Europe .-" It is not this pacrfick Solo- 
 mon, or his philofophick cudgelled Miniflry, 
 cudgelled by Englifh and by French, whofe wif- 
 dom and philofophy between them, have placed 
 Leghorn in the hands of the enemy of the Auf- 
 trian family, and driven the only profitable 
 commerce of Tufcany from it's only port. It is 
 not this Sovereign, a far more able Statefman than 
 any of the Medici in whofe chair he fits ; it is not 
 the philofopher Carletti, more ably fpeculative than 
 Galileo, more profoundly politick than Machiavel, 
 that call upon us fo loudly to give the fame happy 
 proofs of the fame good faith to the Republick, 
 always the fame, always one and indivifible.
 
 It is not Venice, whofe principal cities the 
 enemy has appropriated to himfelf, and fcornfully 
 defired the State to indemnify itfelf from the 
 Emperor, that we wifh to convince of the pride 
 and the defpotifm of an enemy, who loads us with 
 his feoffs and buffets. 
 
 ";' r . : .r JtaJjRJ^JjF J "''. 
 
 It is not for his Holinefs we intend this conlb- 
 latory declaration of our own weaknefs and of the 
 tyrannous temper of his grand enemy. That Prince 
 has known both the one and the other from the 
 beginning. The artifls of the French Revolution, 
 had given their very firft eflays and Iketches of 
 robbery and defolation againft his territories, in a 
 far more cruel " murdering piece" than had ever 
 entered into the imagination of painter or poet. 
 Without ceremony, they tore from his cherifhing 
 arms, the pofleffions which he held for five hun- 
 dred years, undifturbed by all the ambition of all 
 the ambitious Monarchs who, during that period, 
 have reigned in France. Is it to him, in whofe 
 wrong we have incur late negotiation ceded his now 
 unhappy countries near the Rhine, lately amongft 
 the moft flourifhing (perhaps the moft flourifhing 
 for their extent) of all the countries upon earth, 
 that we are to prove the fincerity of our refolu- 
 tion to make peace with the Republick of bar- 
 barian ? That venerable Potentate and Pontiff, is 
 
 funk
 
 t 46 
 
 funk deep Into the vale of years ; he is naff difarni-* 
 ed by his peaceful character ; his dominions arer 
 more than half difarmed by a peace of two hundred 
 years, defended as they were, not by force but by 
 reverence ; yet in all thefe ftraits, we fee him dif- 
 play, amidft the recent ruins and the new deface- 
 ments of his plundered capital, along with the mild 
 and decorated piety of the modern, all the fprrit 
 and magnanimity of ancient Rome ? Does he, who, 
 though himfelf unable to defend them, nobly re- 
 fufed to receive pecuniary compenfations forthe pro- 
 tection he owed to his people of Avignon, Carpen- 
 tras, and the Veriaifin ; does he want proofs of our 
 good difpolition to deliver over that people, with- 
 out any fecurity for them, or any compensation to 
 their Sovereign, to this cruel enemy ? Does he want 
 to be fatisfied of the lincerity of our humiliation 
 fo France, who has feen his free, fertile and happy 
 city and Itate of Bologna, the cradle of regenerated 
 law, the feat of fciences and of arts, fo hideoufly 
 metamorphofed, whilft he was crying to Great 
 Britain for aid, and offering to purchafe that aid 
 at any price ? Is it him, who fees that chofen fpot 
 of plenty and delight converted into a Jacobin fe- 
 rocious Republick, dependent on the homicides 
 of France ? Is it him, who, from the miracles 
 of his beneficent induftry, has done a work which 
 defied the power of the Roman Emperors, though 
 
 with
 
 [ 47 ,] 
 
 With an enthralled world to labour for them ; is it 
 him, who has drained and cultivated the Pontine 
 Marjhes, that we are to fatisfy of our cordial fpirit 
 of conciliation, with thofe who, in their equity, 
 pre reftoring Holland again to the Seas, whofe 
 maxims poifon more than the exhalations of the 
 nrioft deadly fens, and who turn all the fertilities of 
 Nature and of Art into an howling defert ? Is it to 
 him, that we are to demonftrate the good faith of 
 our fubmiffions to the cannibal Republick ; to him 
 who is commanded to deliver up into their hands An- 
 conaand Civita Vecchia, feats of commerce, raifed 
 by the wife and liberal labours and expences of the 
 prefent and late Pontiffs ; ports not more belonging 
 to the Ecclefiaftical State than to the commerce 
 of Great Britain ; thus wrefting from his hands 
 the power of the keys of the centre of Italy, as be- 
 fore they had taken pofleffion of the keys of the 
 northern part, from the hands of the unhappy 
 King of Sardinia, the natural ally of England ? 
 Is it to him we are to prove our good faith in the 
 peace which we are foliciting to receive from the 
 Jiands of his and our robbers, the enemies of all 
 -arts, all fciences, all civilization, and all com- 
 merce ? 
 
 Is it to the Cifpadane or to the Tranfpadane Re 
 publicks, which have been forced to bow under the 
 
 galling
 
 galling yoke of French liberty, that we addrefs all 
 thefe pledges of our fmcerity and love of peace with 
 t'beir unnatural parents ? 
 
 Are we by this declaration to fatisfy the King 
 of Naples whom we have left to ftruggle as 
 he can, after our abdication of Corliea, and the 
 flight of the whole naval force of England out of 
 the whole circuit of the Mediterranean, aban- 
 doning our allies,, our commerce, and the ho- 
 nour of a nation, once the proteclrefs of all other 
 nations, becaufe flrengthened by the indepen- 
 dence, and enriched by the commerce of them all ? 
 By the exprefs provisions of a recent treaty, we 
 had engaged with the King of Naples to keep a 
 naval force in the Mediterranean. But, gooci 
 God ! was a treaty at all neceflary for this ? The 
 uniform policy of this kingdom as a State, and 
 eminently fo as a commercial State, has at all 
 times led us to keep a powerful fquadron and a 
 commodious naval ftation in that central fea, 
 which borders upon, and which connects, a far 
 greater number and variety of States, European, 
 Afiatick, and African, than any other. Without 
 fuch a naval force, France muft become defpotick 
 miftrefs of that fea, and of all the countries whofe 
 fhores it wafhes. Our commerce muft become 
 vailal to her, and dependent on her will. Since 
 
 we
 
 we are come no longer to truft to our force in arms, 
 but to our dexterity in negotiation, and begin to 
 pay a defperate court to a proud and coy ufurpa- 
 tion, and have finally fent an Ambaffador to the 
 Bourbon Regicides at Paris ; the King of Naples, 
 who faw, that no reliance was to be placed on our 
 engagements, or on any pledge of our adhe- 
 rence to our neareft and deareft interefts, has been 
 obliged to fend his Ambaflador alfo to join the reft 
 of the fqualid tribe of the reprefentatives of de- 
 graded Kings. This Monarch, furely, does not 
 want any proof of the fincerity of our amicable 
 difpolitions to that amicable Republick, into whole 
 arms he has been given by our defertion of him. 
 
 To look to the powers of the North, it is not 
 to the Danifh Ambaflador, infolently treated, in 
 his own character and in ours, that we are to give 
 proofs of the Regicide arrogance, and of our dif- 
 polition to fubmit to it. 
 
 With regard to Sweden, I cannot fay much. 
 The French influence is ilruggling with her inde- 
 pendence; and they who confider the manner in 
 which the AmbafTador of that Power was treat- 
 ed not long lince at Paris, and the manner in 
 which the father of the prefcnt King of Sweden 
 (himfclf the victim of Regicide principles and 
 II paffions)
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
 paflions) would have looked on the prefent affaf- 
 fins of France, will not be very prompt to believe 
 that the young King of Sweden has made this 
 kind of requifition to the King of Great Britain, 
 and has given this kind of aufpice of his new go- 
 vernment. 
 
 I fpeak laft of the moft important of all. It 
 certainly was not the late Emprefs of Ruflia at 
 whofe inftance we have given this pledge. It is 
 not the new Emperour, the inheritour of fo much 
 glory, and placed in a fituation of To much deli- 
 cacy and difficulty for the prefervation of that in- 
 heritance, who calls on England, the natural 
 ally of his dominions, to deprive herfelf of her 
 power of action, and to bind herfelf to France. 
 France at no time, and in none of it's fafhions, 
 lead of all in it's laft, has been ever looked upon as 
 the friend either of Ruffia orof Great Britain. Every 
 thing good, I truft, is to be expected from this 
 Prince, whatever may be, without authority, given 
 out of an influence over his rnind pofTefled by that 
 only Potentate, from whom he has any thing to ap- 
 prehend, or with whom he has much even to difcufs~ 
 
 This Sovereign knows, I have no doubt, and feels, 
 on what fort of bottom is to be laid the foundation 
 of a Ruffian Throne. He knows what a rock of 
 
 native
 
 I 51 ] 
 
 native granite is to form the pedeftal of his fta- 
 tue, who is to emulate Peter the Great, His re- 
 nown will be in continuing with eafe and fafety, 
 what his predeceflbr was obliged to atchieve through 
 mighty ftruggles. He is fenfible, that his bufinefs 
 is not to innovate, but to fecure and to eftabliih ; 
 that reformations at this day are attempts at bell of 
 ambiguous utility. He will revere his father with 
 the piety of a fon ; but in his government he will 
 imitate the policy of his mother. His father, with 
 many excellent qualities, had a fhort reign ; be- 
 caufe, being a native Ruffian, he was unfortu- 
 nately advifed to a<5l in the fpirit of a foreigner. 
 His mother reigned over Ruffia three and thirty 
 years with the greatcft glory; becaufe, with the 
 difadvantage of being a foreigner born, {he made 
 herfelf a Ruffian. A wife Prince like the prefent 
 will improve his country ; but it will be cautioufly 
 .and progreffively, upon it's own native ground- work, 
 of religion, manners, habitudes, and alliances. If 
 I prognosticate right, it is not the Emperour of 
 Ruffia that ever will call for extravagant proofs of 
 our defire to reconcile ourfelves to the irrecon- 
 cileable enemy of all Thrones. 
 
 I do not know why I fhould not include Ame-\ [ 
 rica among the European Powers, becaufe fhe is 1 
 of European origin; and has not yet, like France, 1 
 H 2 dcftroyed \
 
 [ 52 ] 
 
 , deftroyed all traces of manners, laws, opinions, 
 / and ufages which fhe drew from Europe. As long 
 as that Europe fhall have any pofleffions either in 
 the fouthern or the northern parts of that Ame- 
 rica, even feparated 1 as it is by the ocean, it muft 
 be confidered as a part of the European fyftem. 
 It is not America, menaced with internal ruin 
 from the attempts to plant Jacobinifm inftead of 
 Liberty in that country ; it is not America, whofe 
 independence is directly attacked by the French, 
 the enemies of the independence of all nations, 
 that calls upon us to give fecurity by difarming 
 ourfelves in a treacherous peace. By fuch a peace, 
 we fhall deliver the Americans, their liberty, and 
 their order, without refource,to the mercy of their 
 imperious allies, who will have peace or neutrality 
 with no Hate, which is not ready to join her in 
 war againft England, 
 
 Having run round the whole circle of the Euro- 
 pean lyftem wherever it acts, I muft affirm, that 
 all the foreign Powers who are not leagued with 
 France for the utter deftruclion of all balance 
 through Europe and throughout the world, de- 
 mand other affiirances from this kingdom than are 
 given in that Declaration. They require affiirances, 
 not of the fincerity of our good difpofitions towards 
 the ufurpation in France, b.ut of our affection to- 
 wards
 
 t 53 ] 
 
 wards the College of the antient States of Europe, 
 and pledges of our conftancy, our fidelity, and of 
 our fortitude in refilling to the laft the power. that 
 menaces them all. The apprehenfion from which 
 they wifh to be delivered cannot be from any thing 
 they dread in the ambition of England. Our power 
 muft be their itrength. They hope more from us 
 than they fear. I am fare the only ground of 
 their hope, and of our hope, isjn the greatnefs of 
 mind hitherto fhewn by the people of this nation, and 
 it's adherence to the unalterable principles of it's 
 antient policy, whatever Government may finally 
 prevail in France. I have entered into this detail 
 of the wifhes and expectations of the European 
 Powers, in order to point out more clearly, not fo 
 much what their difpofition, as (what is of far 
 greater importance) their fituation demands, as 
 that fituation is related to the Regicide Republick 
 and to this Kingdom. 
 
 Then if it is not to fatisfy the foreign Powers 
 we make this afiurance, to what Power at home 
 is it that we pay all this humiliating court ? Not 
 to the old Whigs or to the antient Tories of this 
 Kingdom ; if any memory of fuch antient divifions 
 ftill exifts amongft us. To which of the princi- 
 ples of thefe parties is this alTurance agreeable ? Is 
 it to the Whigs we are to recommend the aggran- 
 
 difement
 
 difement of Prance, and the fubverfion of the 
 balance of power ? Is it to the Tories we are to re- 
 commend our eagernefs to cement ourfelves with 
 the enemies of Royalty and Religion ? But if thefe 
 parties, which by their diflentions have fo often 
 diffracted the Kingdom, which by their union have 
 once faved it, and which by their collifion and 
 mutual refiflance, have preferved the variety of 
 this Conftitution in it's unity, be (as I believe they 
 are) nearly extinct by the growth of new ones, 
 which have their roots in the prefent circumftances 
 of the times I wifh to know, to which of thefe 
 new defcriptions this Declaration is addrefled ? 
 It can hardly be to thofe perfons, who, in the new 
 diflribution of parties, confider the confervation in 
 England of the antient order of things., as necef- 
 fary to preferve order every where elfe,' and who 
 regard the general confervation of order in other 
 countries, as reciprocally neceflary to preferve the 
 fame ftate of things in thofe Iflands. . That party 
 never can wifh to fee Great Britain pledge herfelf 
 to give the lead and the ground of advantage and 
 fuperiority to the France of to-day, in any treaty 
 which is to fettle Europe. I infift upon it, that fo 
 far from expe6ting fuch an engagement, they are 
 generally Stupefied and confounded with it. That 
 the other party which demands great changes here, 
 and is fo pleafed to fee them every where elfe, 
 
 which
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
 which party I call Jacobin, that this faction does 
 from the bottom of it's heart, approve the declara- 
 tion, and does erect it's creft upon the engagement, 
 there can be little doubt. To them it may be ad- 
 drefled with propriety, for it anfwers their purpofes 
 in every point. 
 
 The party in Oppofition within the Houfe of 
 Lords and Commons, it is irreverent, and half a ' 
 breach of privilege (far from my thoughts) to confi- 
 der as Jacobin. This party has always denied the 
 exiftence of fuch a faction ; and has confidered the 
 machinations of thofe, whom you and I call Jaco- 
 bins, as fo many forgeries and fictions of the Mini- 
 fter and his adherents, to find a pretext for deftroy- 
 ing freedom, and fetting up an, arbitrary power in 
 this Kingdom. However, whether this Minority has 
 a leaning towards the French fyftem, or only a 
 charitable toleration of thofe who lean that way, it 
 is certain, that they have always attacked the fince- 
 rity oftheMinifter in the fame modes, and on the 
 very fame grounds, and nearly in the fame terms, 
 with the Directory. It mufl, therefore, be at the tri- 
 bunal of the Minority, (from the whole tenour of 
 the fpcech) that the Miriiftcr appeared to confider 
 himfelf obliged to purge himfclf of duplicity. It 
 was at their bar that he held up his hand. It 
 was on their felhtte that he feemed to anfwer 
 
 interrogatories;
 
 [ 56 ] 
 
 interrogatories ; it was on their principles that he 
 defended his whole conduct. They certainly take 
 what the French call the haute du pave. They 
 have loudly called for the negotiation. It was 
 accorded to them. They engaged their fupport 
 of the war with vigour, in cafe Peace was not 
 granted on honourable terms. Peace was not 
 granted on any terms, honourable or fhameful. 
 Whether thefe judges, few in number but powerful 
 in, jurifdiction, are fatisfied ; whether they to whom 
 this new pledge is hypothecated, have redeemed 
 their own ; whether they have given one particle 
 more of their fupport to Miniftry, or even favour- 
 ed them with their good opinion, or their candid 
 conduction, I leave it to thofe, who recollect that 
 memorable debate^ to determine. 
 
 The fact is, that neither this Declaration, nor 
 the negotiation which is it's fubject, could ferve 
 any one good purpofe, foreign or domeftick ; it 
 could conduce to no end either with regard to 
 allies or neutrals. It tends neither to bring back 
 the mifled ; nor to give courage to the fearful ; nor 
 to animate and confirm thofe ? who are hearty and 
 zealous in the caufe. 
 
 I hear it has been faid (though I can fcarcely 
 believe it) that a diilinguilhcd perfon in an Af-
 
 C 57 ] 
 
 fembly, where if there be lefs of the torrent and 
 temped of eloquence, more guarded expreffion is 
 to be expelled, that, indeed, there was no juft 
 ground of hope in this bufmefs from the begin- 
 ning. 
 
 It is plain, that this noble perfon, however 
 converfant in negotiation, having been employ- 
 ed in no lefs than four embaffies, and in two 
 hemifpheres, and in one of .thofe negotiations 
 having fully experienced what it was to proceed 
 to treaty without previous encouragement, was 
 not at all confulted in this experiment. For 
 Jiis Majefty's. principal Minifter declared, on the 
 very fame day, in another Houfe, " his Ma- 
 " jefty*s deep and fince re regret at it's unfortu- 
 " nate and abrupt termination, fo different from 
 " the wifhes and hopes that were entertained;*' 
 * and in other parts of the fpeech fpeaks of this 
 abrupt termination as a great difappointment, 
 and as a fall from fine ere endeavours and 
 fanguine. expectation. Here are, indeed, fenti- 
 jjnents diametrically oppofite, as to the hopes 
 with which the negotiation was commenced and 
 carried o,n, and what is curious is, the grounds 
 of the hopes on the one iide, and the defpair 
 on the other, are exactly the fame. The logical 
 .conclufion from the common premifes, is indeed 
 in favour of the noble Lord, -for they are agreed 
 that the enemy was far from giving the leatl de- 
 I gree
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
 gree of countenance to any fuch hopes ; and that 
 they proceeded, in fpite of every difcourage- 
 ment which the enemy had thrown in their 
 way. But there is another material point in 
 which they do not feem to differ ; that is to 
 fay, the refult of the defperate experiment of 
 the noble Lord, and of the promifing attempt 
 of the Great Minifter, in fatisfying the people of 
 England, and incaufing difcontent to the people 
 of France ,- or, as the Minifter expreffes it, 
 ** in uniting England and in dividing France." 
 
 For my own part, though I perfectly agreed 
 with the noble Lord, that the attempt was def- 
 perate, fo defperate indeed, as to deferve his 
 name of an experiment, yet no fair man can pof- 
 fibly doubt, that the Minifter was perfectly fin- 
 cere in his proceeding, and that, from his ar- 
 dent wifhes for peace with the Regicides, he 
 was led to conceive hopes which were founded 
 rather in his vehement defires than in any ra- 
 tional ground of political fpeculation. Con- 
 vinced as 1 am of this, it had been better, in 
 my humble opinion, that perfons of great name 
 and authority had abftained from thofe topics 
 which had been ufed to call the Minifter' s fin- 
 cerity into doubt, and had not adopted the fen- 
 liments of the Directory upon the fubjed of all 
 pur negotiations $ for the noble Lord exprefsly 
 
 fays,
 
 t -59 ] 
 
 fays, that the experiment was made for the ik 
 tisfaction of the country* The Directory lays 
 exactly the fame .thing. Upon granting, in 
 confequence of our f implications, the pafiport 
 to Lord Malmefbury, in order to remove all 
 fort of hope from it's fuccefs, they charged all 
 our previous fteps, even to that moment of fub- 
 miffive demand to be admitted to their prefence, 
 on duplicity and perfidy ; and aflumed, that the 
 object of all the fteps, we had taken was that 
 " of juflifying the continuance of the war in the 
 " eyes of the Englim nation, and of throw- 
 ** ing all the odium of it upon the French :" 
 " The Englifh nation (faid they) fupports impa- 
 " tiently the continuance of the war, and a 
 " reply muft be made to it's complaints and it's re- 
 cc . proaches ; the Parliament is about to be open- 
 *? ed, and the mouths of the orators who will de- 
 " claim agahift the war muji be Jhut j the demands 
 "for new taxes muji be jujlified\ and to obtain thefe 
 " re/ults, it is necejfary.to be able to advance > that 
 f( the French Government refufes every reafonable 
 * { proportion for peace." I am forry that the Ian 
 guage of the friends to Miniftry and the enemies 
 to mankind mould be fo much in unifon. 
 
 As to the fad in which thefe parties are fo 
 well agreed, that the experiment ought to have 
 been made for .the fatisfa&ion of this country, 
 
 I 2 (meaiing
 
 (meaning the country of England) it were well 
 to he wiflied, that perfons of eminence would 
 eeafe to make themfelves peprefentatives of the 
 people of England without a letter of attorney, 
 or any other act of procuration. In legal con- 
 ftruction, the fenfe of the people of England is 
 to be collected from the Houfe of Commons ; 
 and, though I do not deny the poffibility of an 
 abufe of this truft as well as any other, yet I 
 think, without the moft weighty reafons, and in 
 the moft urgent exigencies, it is highly dange- 
 rous fo fuppofe that the Houfe fpeaks anything 
 contrary to the fenfe of the people, or that the 
 reprefentative is filent when the fenfe of thecon- 
 ftituent ftrongly, decidedly, and upon long de- 
 liberation, fpeaks audibly upon any topic of 
 moment, If there is a doubt, whether the Houfe 
 of Commons reprefents perfectly the whole Com- 
 mons of Great Britain, (I think there is none) 
 there can be no queftion but that the Lords and 
 the Commons together reprefent the fenfe of the 
 whole people to the Crown, and to the world. 
 Thus it is, when we fpeak legally and conftitu- 
 rionally. In a great meafure, it is equally true, 
 when we fpeak prudentially - y but I do not pre- 
 tend to aflert, that there are no other principles 
 to guide difcretion th.in thofe which are or can be 
 fixed by fomelaw,orfome constitution; yet before 
 fhe legally pidumed fenfe of the people fliould 
 
 be
 
 t 61 J 
 
 Be fuperfeded by a fuppofition of one more 
 real (as in all cafes, where a legal prefumption 
 is to be afcertained) fome ftrong proofs ought to 
 exift of a contrary difpofition in the people at 
 large, and fome decilive indications of their de- 
 fire upon this fubjed. There can be no quef- 
 tion, that previoully to a direct meflage from 
 the Crown, neither Houfe of Parliament did in- 
 dicate any thing like a with for fuch advances 
 as we have made, or fuch negotiations as we 
 have carried on. The Parliament has affented 
 to Miniftry ; it is not Miniftry that has obeyed 
 the impulfe of Parliament. The people at large 
 have their organs through which they can fpeak 
 to Parliament and to the Crown by a refpedful 
 petition, and, though not with abfolute autho- 
 rity, yet with weight, they can inftruft their Re- 
 prefentatives. The freeholders and other elec- 
 tors in this kingdom have another, and a furer 
 mode of ex.preffing their fentiments concerning 
 the conduct which is held by Members of Par- 
 liament. In the middle of thefe tranfactions, 
 this laft opportunity has been held out to them. 
 In all thefe points of view, I pofitively aflert, 
 that the people have no where, and in no way, 
 exprefied their wifh of throwing themfclves and 
 their Sovereign at the feet of a wicked and ran- 
 corous foe, to fupplicate mercy, which, from 
 the nature of that foe, and from the circnm- 
 
 Dances
 
 [ 6* J 
 
 ftanccs of affairs, we had no fort of ground to 
 expect. It is undoubtedly the bufmefs of Mi-> 
 ciders very much to confult the inclinations of 
 the people, but they ought to take great care 
 that they do not receive that inclination from 
 the few perfons who may happen to approach 
 them. The petty interefls of fuch gentlemen, 
 their low conceptions of things, their fears arif- 
 ing from the danger to which the very arduous 
 and critical fituation of publick affairs may ex- 
 pofe their places ; their apprehenfions from the 
 hazards to which the difcontents of a few po- 
 pular men at elections may expofe their feats in 
 Parliament ; all thefe caufes trouble and confufe 
 the reprefentations which they make to Mini- 
 fters of the real temper of the nation. If Mi- 
 n-ifters, inftead of following the great indica- 
 tions of the Conftitution, proceed on fuch re- 
 ports, they will take the whifpers of a cabal for 
 the voice of the people, and the counfels of 
 imprudent timidity for the wifdom of a nation. 
 
 I well remember, that when the fortune of 
 the war began, and it began pretty early, to 
 turn, as it is common and natural, we were de- 
 jected by the lofles that had been fuflained, and 
 with the doubtful iffue of tke contefts that were 
 forefeen. But not a word was uttered that fup- 
 pofed peace upon any proper terms, was in our 
 
 power,
 
 [ 63 ] 
 
 power, or therefore that it fhould be in our de- 
 fire. As ufual, with or without reafon, we cri- 
 ticifed the conduct of the war, and compared 
 out-fortunes with our meafures. The mafs of 
 the nation went no further. For I fuppofe that 
 you always underftood me as fpeaking of that 
 very preponderating part of the nation, which 
 had always been equally adverfe to the French 
 principles, and to the general progrefs of their 
 Revolution throughout Europe; confidering 
 the final fuccefs of their arms and the triumph 
 of their principles as one and the fame thing. 
 
 The firft means that were ufed, by any one 
 profefling our principles, to change the minds of 
 this party upon that fubjedt, appeared in a fmall 
 pamphlet circulated with confiderable irwduftry. 
 It was commonly given to the noble perfon him- 
 felf, who has pafied judgment upon all hopes from 
 negotiation, and juftified our late abortive at- 
 tempt only as an experiment made to fatisfy 
 the country; and yet that pamphlet led the way 
 in endeavouring to diflatisfy that very country 
 with the continuance of the war, and to raife in 
 the people the mod fanguine expectations from 
 fome fuch courfe of negotiation as has been fa- 
 tally purfued. This leads me to fuppofe (and I 
 am glad to have reafon for fuppofing) that there 
 was no foundation for attributing the performance' 
 
 in
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 in queflion to that authour; but without mention- 
 ing his name in the title-page, it paffed for his, 
 and does dill pafs uncontradicted. It was entitled 
 *' Remarks on the apparent Circumftances of 
 the War in the fourth Week of October, 1795." 
 
 This fanguine little king's-fimer (not prefcient 
 of the florm, as by his inflinct he ought to be) 
 appearing at that uncertain feafon, before the 
 riggs of Old Michaelmas were yet well compof- 
 ed, and when the inclement ftorms of winter were 
 approaching, began to flicker over the feas and 
 xvas bufyin building it's halcyon neft as if the an- 
 gry ocean had beenfoothed by the genial breath of 
 May. Very unfortunately this aufpice was inftant- 
 ly followed by a fpeech from the Throne, in the 
 very fpirit and principles of that pamphlet. 
 
 I fay nothing of the newfpapers, which are 
 undoubtedly in the intereft, and which are fup- 
 pofed by fome to be directly or indirectly under 
 the influence of Minifters, and which, with lefs au- 
 thority than the pamphlet I fpeak of, had indeed 
 for fome time before held a iimilar language, ia 
 direct contradiction to their more early tone : in 
 fo much, that I can fpeak it with a certain af- 
 furance, that very many who wifhed to Admi- 
 niftration as well as you -and I do, thought that 
 in giving iheir opinion in favour of this peace, 
 
 they
 
 [ 65 ] 
 
 they followed the opinion of Miniftry they 
 were confcious that they did not lead it. My 
 inference therefore is this, that the negotiation, 
 whatever it's merits may be, in the general prin- 
 ciple and policy of undertaking it, is, what 
 every political meafure in general ought to be, 
 the fole work of Adminiftrationj and that if t 
 was an experiment to fatisfy any body, it was to 
 fatisfy thofe, whom the Minifters were in the 
 daily habit of condemning, and by whom they 
 were daily condemned ; I mean, the Leaders of 
 the Oppojition in Parliament. I am certain that 
 the Minifters were then, and are now, inverted 
 with the fulleft confidence of the major part of 
 the nation, to purfue fuch meafures of peace or 
 war as the nature of things thall fuggeft as moft 
 adapted to the publick fafcty. It is in this light 
 therefore as a meafure which ought to have been 
 avoided, and ought not to ^e repeated, that I 
 take the liberty of difcuffing the merits of this 
 fyftem of Regicide Negotiations. IE is not a 
 matter of light experiment that leaves us where 
 it found us. Peace or war are the great hinges 
 upon which the very being of nations turns. 
 Negotiations are the means of making peace or 
 preventing war, and are therefore of more feri- 
 ous importance than almoft any fingle event of 
 war can poflibly be. 
 
 K At
 
 C 66 ] 
 
 At the very outlet I do not hefitateto affirm, 
 that this country in particular, and the publick 
 law in general, have fuffered more by this nego- 
 tiation of experiment, than by all the battles 
 together that we have loft from the commence- 
 ment of this center)' to this time, when it 
 touches fo nearly ro it's clofe, 1 therefore have 
 the misfortune not to coincide in opinion with 
 the great Statefman who fet on foot a negotia- 
 tion, as he faid, " in fpiteof the conftant oppo- 
 " fition he had met with from France." He 
 admits, *' that the difficulty in this negotiation 
 " became moft fericufly increafed indeed, by 
 " the fituation in which we were placed, and 
 " the manner in which alone the enemy would 
 " admit of a negotiation." This fituation fo 
 defcribed, and fo truly defcribed, rendered our 
 folicitation not only degrading, but from the 
 very outfet evidently hopelefs. 
 
 I find it afTerted,' and even a merit taken for 
 it, " that' this country furmounted every diffi- 
 " culty of form and etiquette which the enemy 
 " had thrown in our way." An odd way of 
 furmoifnting a difficulty by cowering under it ! 
 I find it aflerted that an heroick refolution ha-d 
 been taken, and avowed in Parliament, previous 
 TO this negotiation, " that no confederation of 
 " etiquette fhould ftand in the way of it." 
 
 Etiquette,
 
 C 67 ] 
 
 Etiquette, if I underftand rightly the term, 
 which in any extent is of modern ufage, had it's 
 original application to thofe ceremonial and 
 formal obfervances practifed at Courts, which 
 had been eftabliflied by long ufage, in order to 
 preferve the fovereign power from the rude in- 
 trufion of licentious familiarity, as well as to 
 preferve Majefty itfelf from a difpofition to con- 
 fult it's eafe at the expence of it's dignity. 
 The term came afterwards to have a greater la- 
 titude, and to be employed to fignify certain 
 formal methods ufed in the tranfadtions between 
 fovereign States. 
 
 In the more limited as well as in the larger 
 fenfe of the term, without knowing what the 
 etiquette is, it is impoflible to determine whe- 
 ther it is a vain and captious punctilio, or a 
 form neceflary to preferve decorum in character 
 and order in bufinefs. I readily admit, that 
 nothing tends to facilitate the iffue of all pub- 
 lic tranfacVions more than a mutual difpofition 
 in the parties treating, to wave all ceremony. 
 But the u(e of this temporary fufpenfion of the 
 recognifed modes of refpect confifts in it's being 
 mutual, and in the fpirit of conciliation in which 
 all ceremony is laid afide. On the contrary, 
 when one of the parties to a treaty intrenches 
 himfelf up to the chin in thefe ceremonies, and 
 K 2 will
 
 will not, on his fide, abate a fmgle punctilio, and 
 that all the conceffions are upon one iide only, the 
 party fo conceding does by this act place him- 
 felf in a relation of inferiority, and thereby fun- 
 damentally fubverts that equality which is of the 
 very eflence of all treaty. 
 
 After this formal act of degradation, it was 
 but a matter of courfe, that grofs infult mould 
 be offered to our Ambaflador, and that he 
 fhould tamely fubmit to it. He found himfelf 
 provoked to complain of the atrocious libels 
 againft his publick character and his perfon, 
 which appeared in a paper under the avowed 
 patronage of that Government. The Regicide 
 Directory, on this complaint, did not recog- 
 nife the paper; and that was all. They did 
 not punifli, they did not difmifs, they did not 
 even reprimand the writer. As to our Ambaf- 
 fador, this total want of reparation for the in- 
 jury was palled by under the pretence of def- 
 pifing it. 
 
 In this, but too ferious bufinefs, it is not pof- 
 fible here to avoid a fmile. Contempt is not a 
 thing to be defpifed. It may be borne with a 
 calm and equal mind, but no man by lifting 
 his head high can pretend that he does not per- 
 ceive the fcorns that are poured down upon 
 
 him
 
 him from above. All thefe fudden complaints 
 of injury, and all thefe deliberate fubmifiions to 
 it, are the inevitable confequences of the fitua- 
 tion in which we had placed ourfelves ; a fituation 
 wherein the infults were fuch as nature would 
 not enable us to bear, and circumstances would 
 not permit us to refent. 
 
 It was not long, however, after this contempt 
 of contempt upon the part of our AmbafTador 
 (who by the way reprefented his Sovereign) that 
 a new objed. was furnifhed for difpJaying fenti- 
 ments of the fame kind, though the cafe was 
 infinitely aggravated. Not the Ambaflador, 
 but the King himfelf was libelled and infulted ; 
 libelled, not by a creature of the Directory, but 
 by the Directory itfelf. At leaft fo Lord Malmef- 
 bury underftood it, and fo he anfwered it in 
 his note of the i2th December, 1796, in which 
 he fays, " With regard to the ojfenftve and irju- 
 " nous infinuations which are contained in that 
 " paper, and which are only calculated to throw 
 ** new obftacles in the way of that accommo- 
 te dation, which the French Government pro- 
 " fefs to defire, THE KING HAS DEEMED 
 IT FAR BENEATH HIS DIGNITY to 
 " permit an anfwer to be made to them on his 
 *' part, in any manner whatfoever." 
 
 I am
 
 I am of opinion, that if his Majefly had kept 
 aloof from that wafh and off-fcouring of every 
 thing that is low and barbarous in the world, it 
 might be well thought unworthy of his dignity 
 to take notice of fuch fcurrilities. They mud 
 be confidered as much the natural expreffion of 
 that kind of animal, as it is the expreffion of 
 the feelings of a dog to barkj but when the 
 King had been advifed to recognife not only 
 the monftrous competition as a Sovereign Power, 
 but, in conduct, to admit fomething in it like a 
 fuperioritVj when the Bench of Regicide was 
 made, at lead, co-ordinate with his Throne, and 
 raifed upon a platform full as elevated, this 
 treatment could not be paffed by under the ap- 
 pearance of defpifing it. It would not, indeed, 
 have been proper to keep up a war of the fame 
 kind, but an immediate, manly, and decided 
 refenttnent ought to have been the confequence. 
 We ought not to have waited for the difgrace- 
 ful difmifial of our Ambaifador. There are 
 cafes in which we may pretend to fleep : but 
 the witrol rule has fome fenfe in it, Non omnibus 
 dormin. We might, however, have feemed ig- 
 norant of the affront ; but what was the fad: ? 
 Did we diffemble or pafs it by in filence ? 
 When dignity is talked of, a language which 
 I did not expect to hear in fuch a tranfaction, I 
 mud fay what all the world mud feel, that it 
 
 was
 
 [ 71 ] 
 
 was not for the King's dignity to notice this 
 infult, and not to refent it. This mode of pro- 
 ceeding is formed on new ideas of the corre- 
 fpondehce between Sovereign Powers. 
 
 ' This was far from the only ill eflfed of the 
 policy of degradation. The ftate of inferiority 
 ifi which we were placed in this vain attempt at 
 treaty, drove us headlong from errour into errour, 
 and led us to wander far away, not only from 
 all the path-s which have been beaten in the old 
 courfe of political communication between man- 
 kind, but out of the ways even of the nioft 
 common prudence. Againft all rules, after we 
 had met nothing but rebuffs in return to all our 
 propofals, we made two confidential communica- 
 tions to thofe in whom we had no confidence, 
 and who repofed no confidence in us. What 
 was worfe, we were fully aware of the madnefs 
 of the ftep we were taking. Ambafladors are not 
 fent to a hoftile power, perfevering in fentiments 
 of hostility, to make candid, confidential, and 
 amicable communications. Hitherto the world 
 has cbnfidered it as the duty of an Ambailador 
 in fuch a fituatiort to be cautious, guarded, dex- 
 terous, and circumfpect. It is true that mutual 
 confidence and common intereft, difpenfe 
 with all rules, fmooth the rugged way, remove 
 every obftacle, and make all things plain and 
 jvel. When-,* in the laft century, Temple and 
 
 De
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
 >e Witt negotiated the famous Triple Alliance, 
 their candour, their freedom, and the mod con- 
 fidential difclofures, were the refult of true po- 
 licy. Accordingly, in fpite of all the dilatory 
 forms of the complex Government of the United 
 Provinces, the treaty was concluded in three 
 days. It did not take a much longer time to 
 bring the fame State (that of Holland) through 
 a flill more complicated tranfaclion, that of the 
 Grand Alliance. But in the prefent cafe, this un- 
 paralleled candour, this unpardonable want of 
 referve, produced what might have been expect- 
 ed from it, the mpfl ferious evils. It instructed 
 the enemy in the whole plan of our demands and 
 conceffions. It made the mpfl fatal; discoveries. 
 
 And firft, it induced us to lay down the 
 bafis of a treaty which itfelf had nothing to reft 
 upon ; it feems, we thought we had gained a, 
 great point in getting this bafis admitted that 
 is, a bafis of mutual compenfation and exchange 
 of conquefts. If a difpofition to peace, and 
 with any reafonable aflurance, had been previ- 
 oufly indicated, fuch a plan of arrangement 
 might with propriety and fafety be propofed, 
 becaufe thefe arrangements were not, in effect, 
 to make the bafis, but a part of the fuperftruc- 
 ture of the fabrick of pacification. The order of 
 things would thus be reverfed. The mutual 
 
 CJ 
 
 difpofition to peace, would form the reafonable 
 
 bafe
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 baFe upon which the fcheme of compenfation, 
 upon one fide or the other, might be conftruct- 
 ed. This truly fundamental bafe being once 
 laid, all differences arifing from the fpirit of 
 huckftering and barter might be eafily adjufted. 
 If the reftoration of peace, with a view to the 
 eftablifhment of a fair balance of power in Eu- 
 rope, had been made the real bafis of the treaty, 
 the reciprocal value of the compenfations could 
 not be eftimated according to their proportion 
 to each other, but according to their propor- 
 tionate relation to that end : to that great end 
 the whole would be fubfervient. The effect of 
 the treaty would be in a manner fecured before 
 the detail of particulars was begun, and for a 
 plain reafon, becaufe the hoftile fpirit on both 
 fides had been conjured down ; but if in the full 
 fury, and unappeafed rancour of war, a little 
 traffick is attempted, it is eafy to divine whac 
 mud be the confequence to thofe who endea- 
 vour to open that kind of petty commerce. 
 
 To illuftrate what I have faid, I go back no 
 further than to the two laft Treaties of Paris, 
 and to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which 
 preceded the firft of thefe two Treaties of Paris 
 by about fourteen or fifteen years. I do not 
 mean here to criticife any of them. My opi- 
 nions upon fome particulars of the Treaty of 
 L Paris,
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 Paris in 1763, are publifhed in a pamphlet,* 
 which your recollection will readily bring into 
 your view. I recur to them only to fhevv that 
 their bafis had not been, and never could have 
 been a mere dealing of truck and barter, but 
 that the parties being willing, from common 
 fatigue or common fufFering, to put an end to a 
 war, the firft object of which had either been 
 obtained or defpaired of, the lefler obje<5ls 
 were not thought worth the price of further 
 conteft. The parties understanding one ano- 
 ther, fo much was given away without confi- 
 dering from whofe budget it came, not as the 
 value of the objeds, but as the value of peace 
 to the parties might require. At thelaft treaty 
 of Paris the fubjugation of America being de- 
 fpaired of on the part of Great Britain, and the 
 independence of .America being looked upon as 
 fecure upon the part of France, the main car.fe 
 of the war was removed ; and then the conquefts 
 which France had made upon us (for we had 
 made none of importance upon her) were fur- 
 rendered with fufficient facility. Peace was re- 
 flored as peace. In America the parties flood 
 as they were polfefled. A limit was to be fet- 
 tled, but fettled as a limit to fecure that peace, 
 and not at all on a fyilem of equivalents, for 
 which, as we then flood with the United States, 
 there were little or no materials. 
 
 * Obfervations on a late State of the Nation.
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
 At the preceding treaty of Paris, I mean that 
 of 1763, there was nothing at all en which to 
 fix a bafis of compenfation from reciprocal 
 ccffion of conquefts. They were all on one fide. 
 The queftion with us was not what we were to 
 receive, and on what confideradon, but what we 
 were to keep for indemnity, or to cede for peace. 
 Accordingly no place being left for barter, fa- 
 crifices were made on our fide to peace; and 
 we furrendered to the French their moft valua- 
 ble pofleffions in the Weft Indies without any 
 equivalent. The reft of Europe fell foon after 
 into it's antient order ; and the German war 
 ended exactly where it had begun. 
 
 The treaty of Aix laChapelle was built upon 
 a fimilar bafis. All the conquefts in Europe 
 had been made by France. She had fubdued 
 the Auftrian Netherlands, and broken open the 
 gates of Holland. We had taken nothing in 
 the Weft Indies, and Cape Breton was a trifling 
 bufmefs indeed. France gave up all for peace. 
 The allies had given up all that was ceded at 
 Utrecht. Louis the Fourteenth made all, or 
 nearly all, the ceflions at Ryfwick, and at Ni- 
 meguen. In all thofe treaties, and in all the 
 preceding, as well as in the other? which inter- 
 vened, the queftion never had been that of bar- 
 ter. The balance of power had been ever af- 
 lumed as the known common law of Europe at 
 L 2 ail
 
 [ 76 ] 
 
 all times, and by all powers : the queftion had 
 only been (as it muft happen) on the more or 
 lefs inclination of that balance. 
 
 This general balance was regarded in four 
 principal points of view : the GREAT MIDDLE 
 BALANCE, which comprehended Great Britain, 
 France, and Spain; the BALANCE OF THE 
 NORTH; the BALANCE, external and internal, 
 of GERMANY; and the BALANCE OF ITALY. 
 In all thofe fyftems of balance, England was the 
 power to whofe cuftody it was thought it might 
 be moft fafely committed. 
 
 France, as (he happened to ftand, fecuredthe 
 balance, or endangered it. Without queftion (he 
 had been long the fecurity for the balance of 
 Germany, and under her aufpices the fyftem, if 
 not formed, had been at leaft perfeded. She 
 was fo in fome meafure with regard to Italy, 
 more than occafionally. She had a clear intereft 
 in the balance of the North, and had endea- 
 voured to preferve it. But when we began to 
 treat with the prefent France, or more pro- 
 perly to proftrate ourfelves to her, and to try if 
 we mould be admitted to ranfom our allies, 
 upon a fyftem of mutual conceflion and com- 
 penfation, we had not one of the ufual facilities. 
 For firft, we had not the fcialleft indication of a 
 defire for peace on the part of the enemy ; but 
 
 rather
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
 rather the direct contrary. Men do not make 
 facrifices to obtain what they do not delire : and 
 as for the balance of power, it was fo far from 
 being admitted by France either on the general 
 fyftem, or with regard to the particular fyftems 
 that I have mentioned, that in the whole body 
 of their authorized or encouraged reports and 
 difcuffions upon the theory of the diplomatic 
 fyftem, they conftantly rejected the very idea 
 of the balance of power, and treated it as the 
 true caufe of all the wars and calamities that 
 had afflicted Europe: and their practice was 
 correfpondent to the dogmatick politions they 
 had laid down. The Empire and the Papacy 
 it was their great object to deftroy, and this now 
 openly avowed and ftedfaftly acted upon, might 
 have been difcerned with very little acutenefs 
 of fight, from the very firft dawnings of the Re- 
 volution, to be the main drift of their policy. 
 For they profefled a refolution to deftroy every 
 thing which can hold States together by the tie 
 of opinion. 
 
 Exploding, therefore, all forts of balances, 
 they avow their defign to erect themfelves 
 into a new defcription of Empire, which is 
 not grounded on any balance, but forms a fort 
 of impious hierarchy, of which France is to 
 be the head and the guardian. The law of this 
 their Empire is any thing rather than the pub- 
 lick
 
 C 78 ] 
 
 iick law of Europe, the antient conventions of 
 ii's feveral States, or the antient opinions which 
 affign to them fuperiority or pre-eminence of 
 any fort, or any other kind of connexion in vir- 
 tue of antient relations. They permit, and that 
 is all, the temporary exiftence of feme of the old 
 communities; but whilft they give to thefe to- 
 lerated States this temporary refpite in order to 
 fecure them in a condition of real dependance on 
 themfelves, they inveft them on every fide by a 
 body of Republicks, formed on the model, and 
 dependent oftenfibly, as well as fubftantially, on 
 the will, of the mother Republick, to which they 
 owe their origin. Thefe are to be fo many gar- 
 rifons to check and controul the States, which 
 are to be permitted to remain on the old model, 
 until they are ripe for a change. It is in this 
 manner that France, on her new fyftem, means to 
 form an univerfal empire, by producing an uni- 
 verfal revolution. By this means, forming a new 
 code of communities according to what me calls 
 the natural rights of man and of States, fhe pre- 
 tends to fecure eternal peace to the world, gua- 
 ranteed by her generofuy and jnftice, which are 
 to, grow with the extent of her power. To 
 talk of the balance of power to the governors of 
 iuch a country, was a jargon which they could 
 not underfland even through an interpreter. 
 Before men can tranfacl any affair, they muft 
 have a common language to fpeak, and fome 
 
 common
 
 t 79 ] 
 
 common recognifed principles on which they 
 can argue, otherwife all is crofs-purpofe and 
 confufion. It was, therefore, an eflential pre- 
 liminary to the whole proceeding, to fix, whe- 
 ther the balance of power, the liberties and laws 
 of the Empire, and the treaties of different bel- 
 ligerent powers in pad times, when they put an 
 end to hoftilities, were to be confidered as the 
 balls of the prefent negotiation. 
 
 The whole of the enemy's plan was known 
 when Lord Malmefbury was fent With his fcrap 
 of equivalents to Paris. Yet, in this unfortunate 
 attempt at negotiation, inftead of fixing ihefe 
 points, and aliuming the balance of power and 
 die peace of Europe as the ban's to which all 
 ceffions on all fides were to be fubfervient, our 
 folicitor for peace was directed to reverfe that 
 order. He was directed to make mutual con- 
 ceffions, on a mere comparifon of their market- 
 able value, the bafe of treaty. The balance of 
 power was to be thrown in as an inducement, 
 and a fort of make-weight, to fupply the mani- 
 fed deficiency which mult ftare him and the 
 world in the face, between thofe objects which 
 he was to require the enemy to furrender, and 
 thofe which he had to offer as a fair equivalent. 
 
 To give any force to this inducement, and 
 to make it anfwer even the fecondary purpofe of 
 
 equalizing
 
 [ 80 ] 
 
 equalizing equivalents having in themfelves no 
 natural proportionate value, it fuppofed, that 
 the enemy, contrary to the moft notorious faft, 
 did admit this balance of power to be of fome 
 value, great or fmall j whereas it is plain, that 
 in the enemy's eftimate of things, the confide- 
 ration of the balance of power, as we have faid 
 before, was fo far from going in diminution of 
 the value of what the Directory was defired to 
 furrender, or of giving an additional price to 
 our objefts offered in exchange, that the 
 hope of the utter deflrudlion of that balance 
 became, a new motive to the junto of Re- 
 gicides for preferving, as a means for realizing 
 that hope, what we wifhed them to abandon. 
 
 Thus flood the bafis of the treaty on lay- 
 ing the firft ftone of the foundation. At the 
 very beft, upon our fide, the queftion flood 
 upon a mere naked bargain and fale. Unthink- 
 ing people here triumphed when they thought 
 they had obtained it, whereas when obtained as 
 a bafis of a treaty, it was juflthe word we could 
 pofllbly have chofen. As to our offer to cede a 
 moft unprofitable, and, indeed, beggarly charge- 
 able counting-houfe or two in the Eafl- Indies, 
 we ought not to prefume that they wquld con- 
 fider this as any thing elfe than a mockery. As 
 to any thing of real value, we had nothing under 
 
 Heaven
 
 [ 81 ] 
 
 Heaven to offer (for which we were not ourfelves 
 in a very dubious ftruggle) except the Ifland of 
 Martinico only. When this object was to be 
 weighed againft the directorial conquefts, merely 
 as an object of a value at market, the principle 
 of barter became perfectly ridiculous j a fingle 
 quarter in the fingle city of Amfterdam, was 
 worth ten Martinicos ; and wouid have fold for 
 many more years purchafe in any market overt 
 in Europe. How was this grofs and glaring de- 
 fect in the objects of exchange to be fupplied ? 
 It was to be made up by argument. And what 
 was that argument ? The extreme utility of 
 polTefTions in the Weft-Indies to the augmenta- 
 tion of the naval power of France. A. very cu- 
 rious topick of argument to be propofed and in- 
 fifted on by an Ambaflador of Great Britain. 
 It is directly and plainly this " Come, we 
 know that of all things you wifh a naval power, 
 and it is natural you mould, who with to de- 
 ftroy the very fources of the Britilh gjreatnefs, to 
 overpower our marine, to deftroy our commerce, 
 to eradicate our foreign influence, and to lay us 
 open to an invafion, which, at one ftroke, may 
 complete our fervitude and ruin, and expunge 
 us from among the nations of the earth. Here I 
 have it in my budget, the infallible arcanum for 
 that purpofe. You are but novices in the art of 
 naval refources. Let you have the Weft-Indies 
 M luck,
 
 C 82 ] 
 
 back, and your maritime preponderance is fe- 
 cured, for which you would do well to be mo- 
 derate in your demands upon the Auitrian Ne- 
 therlands/' 
 
 Under any circumftances, this is a mod ex- 
 traordinary topick of argument; but it is ren- 
 dered by much the more unaccountable, when 
 we are told, that if the war his been diverted 
 from the great object of eftablifhing fociety and 
 good order in Europe by deflroying the ufur- 
 pation in France; this diverfion was made to 
 increafe the naval refources and power of Great- 
 Britain, and to lower, if not annihilate, thofe of 
 the marine of France. I leave all this to the 
 very ferious reflexion of every Englishman. 
 
 This bafts was no fooner admitted, than the 
 rejection of a treaty upon that fole foundation 
 was a thing of courfe. The enemy did not think 
 it worthy of a difcuffion, as in truth it was not ; 
 and immediately, as ufual, they began, in the 
 moft opprobrious, and mod infolent manner, to 
 queftion our fmcerity and good faith. Whereas, 
 in truth, there was no one fymptom wanting of 
 opennefs and fair dealing. What could be more 
 fair than to lay open to an enemy all that you 
 wimed to obtain, and the price you meant to 
 pay for it, and to defire him to imitate your in 
 
 genuous
 
 genuous proceeding, and in the fame manner to 
 open his honed heart to you. Here was no want 
 of fair dealing, but there was too evidently a 
 fault of another kind ; there was much weak- 
 nefs there was an eager and impotent defire of 
 aflbciating with this unfocial power, and of at- 
 tempting the connexion by any means, however 
 manifeftly feeble and ineffectual. The event 
 was committed to chance ; that is, to fuch a ma- 
 nifeftation of the defire of France for peace, as 
 would induce the Directory to forget the advan- 
 tages they had in the fyftem of barter. Accord- 
 ingly the general defire for fuch a peace was tri- 
 umphantly reported from the moment that Lord 
 Malmefbury had fet his foot on more at Calais. 
 
 It has been faid, that the Directory was com- 
 pelled againft it's will to accept the ban's of 
 barter (as if it that had tended to accelerate the 
 work of pacification!) by the voice of all France. 
 Had this been the cafe, the Directors would 
 have continued to liften to that voice to which 
 it feems they were fo obedient : they would have 
 proceeded with the negotiation upon that bafis. 
 But the fact is, that they inftantly broke up the 
 negotiation, as foon as they had obliged our 
 Ambafiador to violate all the principles of trea- 
 ty, and weakly, raflily, and unguardedly, to ex- 
 pofe, without anycounter-propofition, the whole 
 
 M 2 of
 
 of our project with regard to ourfelves and our 
 allies, and without holding out the fmalleft hope 
 that they would admit the fmalleft pare of our 
 pretenfions. 
 
 When they had thus drawn from us all that 
 they could draw out, they expelled Lord 
 Mulmefbury, and they appealed for the pro- 
 priety of their conduct, to that very France 
 which, we thought proper to fuppofe, had driven 
 them to this fine tonceflion; and I do not find, 
 that in either divifion of the family of thieves, the 
 younger branch, or the elder, or in any other 
 body whatfoever, there was any indignation ex- 
 cited, or any tumult raifed; or any thing like 
 the virulence of oppolition which was (hewn to 
 the King's Minifters here, on account of that 
 traniaction. 
 
 Notwithftanding all this, it feems a hope h 
 ftill entertained, that the Directory will have 
 that tcndernefs for the carcafe of their country, 
 by vvhofe very diftemper, and on whofe fetter- 
 ing wounds, like vermin, they are fed ; that 
 thefe pious patriots will of themfelves come into 
 a more moderate and reafonable way of thinking 
 and <acting. In the name of wonder, what has 
 infpired our Mini ft ry with this hope any more 
 than with their former expectations ? 
 
 Do
 
 t S3 ] 
 
 Do thefe hopes only arils from Continual dif- 
 appointment ? Do they grow out of the ufdajl 
 grounds of deipair? What is there to encourage 
 them, in the conduct, or even in the declarations 
 -of the Ruling Powers in France, from the firil 
 formation of their mifchievous Republick to the 
 hour in which I write? Is not the Directory com- 
 pofed of the fame junto ? Are they not the iden- 
 tical men, who, from the bafe and fordid vices 
 which belonged to their original place and fitua- 
 tion, afpired to the dignity of crimes j and 
 from the dirtied, lowed, moft fraudulent, and 
 mod knavifti of chicaners, afcended in the fcalc 
 of robbery, facrilege, and aiTaflination in all 
 it's forms, till at laft they had imbrued their im- 
 pious hands in the blood of their Sovereign? Is 
 it from thefe men that we are to hope for this pa- 
 ternal tendernefs to their country, and this fa- 
 cred regard for the peace and happinefs of all 
 nations I 
 
 But it feems there is dill another lurking hope., 
 akin to that which duped us fo egregioufly be- 
 fore, when our delightful bafis was accepted : 
 we dill flatter ourfelves that the publick voice of 
 France will compel this Directory to more mo- 
 deration. Whence does this hope arife ? What 
 publick voice is there in France? There are, 
 indeed, fome writers, who, fince this monder o 
 
 a Directory
 
 r se ] 
 
 a Directory has obtained a great regular mili- 
 tary force to guard them, are indulged in a fuf- 
 ficient liberty of writing, and fome of them 
 write well undoubtedly. But the world knows 
 that in France there is no publick, that the 
 country is compofed but of two defcriptions ; 
 audacious tyrants and trembling flaves. The 
 contefts between the tyrants is the only vital 
 principle that can be difcerned in France. The 
 only thing which there appears like fpirit, is 
 amongft their late aflbciates, and fafteft friends 
 of the Directory, the more furious and untame- 
 able part of the Jacobins. This difcontented mem- 
 ber of the faftion dc^es almoft balance the reign- 
 ing divifions ; and it threatens every moment to 
 predominate. For the prefent, however, the 
 dread of their fury forms fome fort of fecurity 
 to their fellows, who now exercife a more regu- 
 lar, and therefore a fome what lefs ferocious ty- 
 ranny. Molt of the Haves chufe a quiet, how- 
 ever reluctant, fubmiffion to thofe who are 
 fomewhat fatiated with blood, and who, like 
 svolves, are a little more tame from being a little 
 lefs hungry, in preference to an irruption of the 
 famifhed devourers, who are prowling and 
 howling about the fold. 
 
 This circumftance allures fome degree of per- 
 manence to the power of thofe, whom we know 
 
 to
 
 [ 87 ] 
 
 to be permanently our rancourous and impla- 
 cable enemies. But to thofe very enemies, who 
 have fworn our deftruction, we have ourfelves 
 given a further and far better fecurity by ren- 
 dering the caufe of the Royalifts defperate. 
 Thofe brave and virtuous, but unfortunate ad- 
 herents to the ancient conftitution of their coun- 
 try, after the miferable (laughters which have 
 been made in that body, after all their lofles by 
 emigration, are flill numerous, but unable to 
 exert themfelves againft the force of the ufur- 
 pation, evidently countenanced and upheld by 
 thofe very Princes who had called them to arm 
 for the fupport of the legal Monarchy. Where 
 then, after chacing thefe fleeting hopes of ours 
 from point to point of the political horizon, are 
 they at laft really found ? Not where, under 
 Providence, the hopes of Englishmen ufed to be 
 placed, in our own courage and in our own vir- 
 tues, but in the moderation and virtue of the 
 mod atrocious monfters that have ever clifgraced 
 and plagued mankind. 
 
 The only excufe to be made for all our men- 
 dicant diplomacy is the fame as in tlie cafe of all 
 other mendicancy ; namely, that it has been 
 founded on abfolute neceiTity. This deferves 
 confideration. Neceffity, as it has no law, fo it 
 has no Qiame ; but moral neceffity is not like 
 
 -metaphyfical,
 
 C 88 ] 
 
 metaphyfical, or even phyfical. In that category, 
 it is a word of loofe fignification, and conveys 
 different ideas to different minds. To the low- 
 minded, the flighteft neceffity becomes an in- 
 vincible neceffity. "' The flothful man faith, 
 " There is a lion in the way, and I fliall be dc- 
 ** voured in the ftreetsV But when the neceffity 
 pleaded is not in the nature of things, but in 
 the vices of him who alledges it, the whining 
 tones of common-place beggarly rhetorick, pro- 
 duce nothing but indignation; becaufe they 
 indicate a defire of keeping up. a difhonourable 
 exiftence, without utility to others, and without 
 dignity to itfelf; becaufe they aim at obtaining 
 the dues of labour without induflry; and by 
 frauds would draw from the compaffion of 
 others, what men ought to owe to their own 
 fpirit and their own exertions, 
 
 I am thoroughly fatisfied that if we degrade 
 ourfelves, it is the degradation which will fub- 
 jecl us to the- yoke of neceffity, and, not that it 
 is neceffity which has brought on our degrada- 
 tion. In this fame chaos, where light and d rk- 
 ncfs are ftruggling together, the open fubfcrip-' 
 tion of laflyear, with all it's circumftances, mu ft 
 have given us no li r tle glimmering of hope; not 
 (as I have heard, it was vainly difcourfed) that 
 the loan could prove a crutch to a lame nego- 
 tiation
 
 tiation abroad ; and that the whiff and wind of* it 
 muft at once have difpofed the enemies of all 
 tranquillity to a dcfire for peace. Judging on the 
 face of fads, if on them it had any effect at all, 
 it had the direct contrary effect ; for very foon 
 after the loan became publick at Paris, the nego- 
 tiation ended, and our Ambaflador was ignomi- 
 nioufly expelled. My view of this was different: 
 I liked the loan, net from the influence which 
 it might have on the enemy, but on account of 
 the temper which it indicated in our own people. 
 This alone is a confideration of any importance; 
 becaufe all calculation, formed upon a fuppofed 
 relation of the habitudes of others to our own, 
 under the preftnt circumftances, is weak and 
 fallacious. The adverfary mud be judged, not 
 by what we are, or by what we with him to be, 
 but by what we muft know he actually is; unlefs 
 we choofe to (hut our eyes and our ears to the 
 uniform tenour of all his difcourfes, and to his 
 uniform courfe in all his actions. We may be 
 deluded; but we cannot pretend that we have 
 been difappointed. The old rule of, Ne te ouic- 
 fiveris extra, is a precept as available in policy as 
 it is in morals. Lee us leave off fpecukuing 
 upon the difpofiii on and the wants of the ene- 
 my. Let us defcend into our own bofoms ; lee 
 us aik ourfclves what are our duties, and whac 
 arc our means of difcharging them. In what 
 N heart
 
 [ 90 ] 
 
 heart are you at home ? How far may an Englifh 
 Minifter confide in the affections, in the con- 
 fidence, in the force of an Englifh people ? What 
 does he find us when he puts us to the proof of 
 what Englilh intereft and Englifli honour de- 
 mand ? It is, as furnifliing an anfwer to thefe 
 qneftions that I conlider the circumflances of 
 the loan. The effect on the enemy is not in 
 what he may fpeculate on our refources, but in 
 what he (hall feel from our arms. 
 
 The circumflances of the loan have proved 
 beyond a doubt three capital points, which, 
 if they are properly ufed, may be advantageous 
 to the future liberty and happinefs of man- 
 kind. In the firft place, the loan demon- 
 ftrates, in regard to inftrumental refources, the 
 competency of this kingdom to the afienion of 
 the common caufe, and to the maintenance and 
 fuperintendance of that, which it is h's duty, and 
 it's glory to hold, and to watch over the balance 
 of power throughout the Chriftian World. Se- 
 condly, it brings to light what, under the mod 
 difcouraging appearances, I always reckoned on; 
 that with it's ancient phyfical force, not only 
 unimpaired, but augmented, it's ancient fpirit 
 is flill alive in the Britifti nation. It proves, 
 that for their application there is a fpirit equal 
 to the refources, for it's energy above them. It 
 
 proves
 
 [ 91 ] 
 
 proves that there exifts, though not always vi- 
 fible, a fpirit which never fails to come forth 
 whenever it is ritually invoked ; a fpirit which 
 will give no equivocal refponfe, but fuch as will 
 hearten the timidity, and fix the irrefolution of 
 hefitating prudence ; a fpirit which will be ready 
 to perform all the talks that (hall be impofed 
 upon it by pubiick honour. Thirdly, the loan 
 difplays an abundant confidence in his Majefty's 
 Government, as adminiftered by his piefent fer- 
 vants, in the profecution of a war which the 
 people confider, not as a war made on the fug- 
 geftion of Minifters, and to anfwer the purpofes 
 of the ambition or pride of ftatefmen, but as a 
 war of their own, and in defence of that very 
 property which they expend for it's fupport j a 
 war for that order of things, from which every 
 thing valuable that they poflefs is derived, and 
 in which order alone it can poflibly be main- 
 tained. 
 
 1 hear in derogation of the value of the fact, 
 from which I draw inferences fo favourable to 
 the fpirit of the people, and to it's juft expecta- 
 tion from Minifters, that the eighteen million 
 loan is to be confidered in no other light, than 
 as taking advantage of a very lucrative bargain 
 held out to the iubfcribers. 1 do not in truth 
 believe it. All the circumftances which attend- 
 
 N 2 ed
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
 ed the fubfcription ftrongly fpoke a dirFerent 
 language. Be it, however, as thefc detractors 
 fay. This with me derogates Jit tic, or rather 
 nothing at all, from the political value and im- 
 portance of the fact. I fhould be very forry if 
 the tranfaction was not fuch a bargain, other- 
 wife it would not have been a fair one. A cor- 
 rupt and improvident loan, like every thing 
 eHe corrupt or prodigal, cannot be too much 
 condemned : but there is a fhort- lighted par- 
 fimony dill more fatal than an imforefeeing 
 ex pence. The value of money mud be 
 judged like every thing elfe from it's rate at 
 market. To force that market, or any market, 
 is of all things the mofl dangerous. For a fmail 
 temporary benefit, the fpring of all public credit 
 might be relaxed .for ever. The momed men 
 have a right to look to advantage in the inveil- 
 ment of their property. To advance their mo-, 
 ney, they rifk it ; and the riik is to be included 
 in the price. If they were to incur a lofs, that 
 lofs would amount to a tax on that peculiar 
 fpecies of property. Jn efTec~r, it would be the 
 mod unjuft and impolitick of all things, unequal 
 taxation. It would throw upon one description 
 of perfons in the community, that burthen which 
 ought by fair and equitable diilributicn to reft 
 upon the whole. None on account of their dig- 
 nity (liquid be exempt ; none (preferving due 
 
 proportion]
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
 proportion) on account of the fcantinefs of their 
 means. The moment a man is exempted from 
 the maintenance of the community, he is in a 
 fort feparated from it. He lofes the place of a 
 citizen. 
 
 So it is in all taxation ; but in a bargain, when 
 terms of lofs are looked for by the borrower 
 from the lender, compulfion, or what virtually 
 is compulfion, introduces itfelf into the place of 
 treaty. When compulfion may be at all ufed 
 by a State in borrowing, the occafion muft de- 
 termine. But the compulfion ought to be 
 known, and well defined, and well diftinguifli- 
 ed : for otherwife treaty only weakens the Ener- 
 gy of compulfion, while compulfion deftroys 
 the-frecdom of a bargain. The advantage of 
 both is lofl by the confufion of things in their 
 jiature utterly unfociable. It would be to intro- 
 duce compulfi.on into that in which freedom and 
 exiflence are the fame ; I mean credit. The 
 moment that fliame, or fear, or force, are di- 
 rectly or indirectly applied to a loan, credit 
 peri flies. 
 
 There muft be fome impulfe befides public 
 fpirit, to put private intereft into motion along 
 with it. Monied men ought to be allowed to 
 fet a value on their money ; if they did not, 
 
 there
 
 L 94 1 
 
 there could be no monied men. This defire of 
 accumulation, "is a principle without which the 
 means of their fervice to the State could not 
 exift. The love of lucre, though fometirnes car- 
 ried to a ridiculous, fometimes to a vicious ex- 
 cefs, is the grand caufe of profperity to all States. 
 In this natural, this reafenable, this powerful, 
 this prolifick principle, it is for the fatyrift to ex- 
 pofe the ridiculous ; it is for the moralift to 
 cenfure the vicious ; it is for the fympathetick 
 heart to reprobate the hard and cruel ; it is for 
 the Judge to animadvert on the fraud, the ex- 
 tortion, and the oppreffion : but it is for the 
 Statefman to employ it as he finds it, with all 
 it's concomitant excellencies, with all it's im- 
 perfections on it's head. It is his part, in this 
 cafe, as it is in all other cafes, where he is to 
 make ufe of the general energies of nature, to 
 take them as he finds them. 
 
 After all, it is a great miftake to imagine, as 
 too commonly, almoft indeed generally, it is 
 imagined, that the publick borrower and the 
 private lender, are two adverfe parties with dif- 
 ferent and contending interefts : and that what 
 is given tor the one, is wholly taken from the 
 other. Conftituted as our fyftem of finance and 
 taxation is, the interefts of the contracting par- 
 ties cannot well be feparated, whatever they may 
 
 reciprocally.
 
 [ 95 1. 
 
 reciprocally intend. He who is the hard lender 
 of to-day, to-morrow is the generous contri-* 
 butor to his own payment. For example, the 
 laft loan is raifed on publick taxes, which are de- 
 figned to produce annually two millions fterling. 
 At firft view, this is an annuity of two millions 
 dead charge upon the publick in favour of cer- 
 tain monied men : but infpect the thing more 
 nearly, follow the ftream in it's meanders ; and 
 you will find that there is a good deal of fallacy 
 in this Hate of things. 
 
 I take it, that whoever confiders any man's 
 expenditure of his income, old or new (I fpeak 
 of certain clafles in life) will find a full third of 
 it to go in taxes, direct or indirect. If fo, this 
 new-created income of two millions will pro- 
 bly furnim 665,000!. (I avoid broken num- 
 bers) towards the payment of it's own intereft, 
 or to the finking of it's own capital. So it is 
 with the whole of the publick debt. Suppofe it 
 any given fum, it is a fallacious eftimate of the 
 affairs of a nation to confider it as a mere bur- 
 then ; to a degree it is fo without queftion, 
 but not wholly fo, nor any thing like it. If 
 the income from the intereft be fpent, the above 
 proportion returns again into the publick ftock : 
 infomuch, that taking the intereft of the whole 
 debt to be twelve million, three hundred thou- 
 
 fand
 
 fand pound, (it is fomething more) not lefs 
 than a fum of four million one hundred thou- 
 fand pound comes back again to the publick 
 through the channel of imposition. If the whole, 
 or any part, of that income be faved, fo much 
 new capital is generated; the infallible operation 
 of which is to lower the value of money, and 
 confequently to conduce toward^ the improve- 
 ment of publick credit. 
 
 I take the expenditure of the capitalift, not the 
 value of the capital, as my ftandard ; becaufe it 
 is the ftandard upon which amongft us, pro- 
 perty as an object of taxation, is rated. In this 
 ccfuntry, land and offices only excepted, we 
 raife no faculty tax. We preferve the faculty 
 from the expence. Our taxes, for the far greater 
 portion, fly over the heads of the lowed clafles. 
 They eicape too who, with better ability, vo- 
 luntarily fubject themfelves to the harfh difci- 
 pline of a rigid necemty. With us, labour and 
 frugality, the parents of riches, are fpread, and 
 wifely too. The moment men ceafe to augment 
 the common (lock, the moment they no longer 
 enrich it by their induftry or their felf-denial, 
 their luxury and even their eafe are obliged to 
 pay contribution to the publick ; not becaufe 
 they are vicious principles, but becaufe they are, 
 unproductive. If, in faft, the intereft paid by, 
 
 the
 
 [ 97 ] 
 
 the publick bad not thus revolved again into it's 
 own fund ; if this fecretion had not again been 
 abforbed into the mafs of blood, it would have 
 been impoffible for the nation to have exifted 
 to this time under fuch a debt. But under the 
 debt it does exift and flourish; and this flou- 
 riihing ftate of exiftence in no.fmall degree is 
 owing to the contribution from the debt to the 
 payment. Whatever, therefore, is taken from 
 that capital by too clofe a bargain, is but a de- 
 lufive advantage, it is fo much loft to the pub- 
 lick in -another way. This matter cannot on the 
 one fide or the other, be metaphyfically purfued 
 to the extreme, but it is a confideration of which, 
 in all difcuffions of this kind, we ought never 
 wholly to lofe fight. 
 
 It is never, therefore, wife to quarrel with the 
 interefted views of men, whilft they are com- 
 bined with the publick intereft and promote it r 
 it is our bufmefs to tie the knot, if pofiible, 
 clofer. Refources that are derived from extraor- 
 dinary virtues, as fuch virtues are rare, fo they 
 muft be unproductive. It is a good thing for 
 a monied man to pledge his property on the 
 welfare of his country; he (hews that he places 
 his treafure where his heart is; and, revolving 
 in this circle, we know that " wherever a man's 
 ' treafure is, there his heart will be alfo " For 
 
 Q thefc
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
 thefe reafons "and on thefe principles, I have 
 been forry to fee the attempts which have been. 
 made, with more good meaning than forefight 
 and confideration, towards railing the annual 
 intereft of this loan by private contributions. 
 Wherever a regular revenue is eftablilhed, there 
 voluntary contribution can anfwer no purpofe, 
 but to diforder and difturb it in it's courfc. 
 To recur to fuch aids is, for fo much to dif- 
 folve the community, and to return to a ftatc 
 of unconnected nature. And even if fuch a 
 fapply fliould be productive, in a degree com- 
 menfnrate to it's object, it muft alfo be pro- 
 ductive of much vexation, and much opprei- 
 fion. Either the citizens, by the propofed du- 
 ties, pay their proportion according to fomc 
 rate made by publick authority, or they do not. 
 If the law be well made, and the contributions 
 founded on juft proportions, every thing fuper- 
 added by fomething that is not as regular as 
 law, and as uniform in it's operation, will be- 
 come more or lefs out of proportion. If, on 
 the contrary, the law be not made upon proper 
 calculation, it is a difgrace to the publick wif- 
 dom, which fails in /kill to affefs the citizen in 
 juft meafiire, and according to his means. But 
 the hand of authority is not always the mod 
 heavy hand. It is obvious, that men may be 
 oppreffed by many ways, befides thofe which 
 
 take
 
 [ 99 ] 
 
 take their conrfe from the fupreme power of 
 the State. Suppofe the payment to be wholly 
 difcretionary. Whatever has it's origin in ca- 
 price, is fure not to improve in it's progrefs, 
 nor to end in reafon. It is impoffible for 
 each private individual to have any meafure 
 conformable to the particular condition of each 
 of his fellow-citizens, or to the general exi- 
 gencies of his country, 'Tis a random (hot 
 at bed. 
 
 When men proceed in this irregular mode, 
 the firft contributor is apt to grow peeviQi 
 with his neighbours. He is but too well dif- 
 pofcd to meafure their means by his own envy, 
 and not by the real ftate of their fortunes, which 
 he can rarely know, and which it may in them 
 be an aft of the grofleft imprudence to reveal. 
 Hence the odium and laffitude, with which 
 people will look upon a provifion for the pub- 
 lick, which is bought by difcord at the expence 
 of focial quiet. Hence the bitter heart-burn- 
 ings, and the war of tongues which is fo often 
 the prelude to other wars. Nor is it every con- 
 tribution, called voluntary, which is according 
 to the free will of the giver. A falfe (hame, 
 or a faife glory, againft his feelings, and his 
 judgment, may tax an individual to the detri- 
 ment of his family, and in wrong of his credi- 
 O 2 tors
 
 [ 100 ] 
 
 tors. A pretence of publick fpirit may difable 
 him from the performance of his private duties. 
 It may difable him even from paying the legiti- 
 mate contributions which he is to furnifh ac- 
 cording to the prefcript of law; but what is the 
 moil dangerous of all is, that malignant difpoli- 
 tion to which this mode of contribution evi- 
 dently tends, and which at length leaves the 
 comparatively indigent, to judge of the wealth, 
 and to prefcribe to the opulent, or thofe whom 
 they conceive to be fuch, the ufe they are to 
 make of their fortunes. From thence it is but 
 one ftep to the fubverfion of all property. 
 
 Far, very far am I from fuppofing that fuch 
 things enter into the purpofes of thofe excel- 
 lent perfons whofe zeal has led them to this kind 
 of meafure ; but the meafure itfelf will lead them 
 beyond their intention, and what is begun with 
 the beft defigns, bad men will perverfely improve 
 to the word of their purpofes. An ill-founded 
 plaufibility in great affairs is a real evil. In 
 France we have feen the wickedeft and moft 
 foolifh of men, the Conftitution-mongers of 
 1789, purfuing this very courfe, and ending in 
 this very event. Thefe projectors of deception 
 fet on foot two modes of voluntary contribu- 
 tion to the ftate. The firft, they called patrio- 
 tick gifts. Thefe, for the greater part were not 
 
 more
 
 [ 101 ] 
 
 more ridiculous in the mode, than contemptible 
 in the project. The other, which they called 
 the patriotick contribution, was expected to 
 amount to a fourth of the fortunes of indi- 
 viduals, but at their own will and on their own 
 eftimate ; but this contribution threatening to 
 fall infinitely fhort of their hopes, they foon 
 made it compulfory, both in the rate and in the 
 levy, beginning in fraud and ending, as all 
 the frauds of power end, in plain violence. All 
 thefe devices to produce an involuntary will, were 
 under the pretext of relieving the more indigent 
 clafles, but the principle of voluntary contribu- 
 tion, however delufive, being once eftablifhed, 
 thefe lower clafles firft, and then all clafles, were 
 encouraged to throw off the regular methodical 
 payments to the State as fo many badges of fla- 
 very. Thus all regular revenue failing, thefe 
 impoftors raifing the fuperftructure on the fame 
 cheats with which they had laid the foundation 
 of their greatnefs, and not content with a por- 
 tion of the pofleflions of the rich, confifcated 
 the whole, and to prevent them from reclaim- 
 ing their rights, murdered the proprietors. The 
 whole of the procefs has pafled before our eyes, 
 and been conducted indeed with a greater de- 
 gree of rapidity than could be expected. 
 
 My
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
 My opinion then is, that publick contribu- 
 tions ought only to be raifed by the publick will. 
 By the judicious form of our conftitution, the pu- 
 blick contribution is in it's name and fubftance 
 a grant. In it's origin it is truly voluntary; not 
 voluntary, according to the irregular, unfteady, 
 capricious will of individuals, but according to 
 the will and wifdom of the whole popular mafs, 
 in the only way in which will and wifdom can 
 go together. This voluntary grant obtaining in 
 it's progrefs the force of a law, a general neceflity 
 which takes away all merit, and confequently 
 all jealoufy from individuals, comprefies, equal- 
 izes, and fatisfies the whole ; fuflering no man 
 to judge of his neighbour, or to arrogate any 
 thing to himfelf. If their will complies with 
 their obligation, the great end is anfwered in the 
 happieft mode ; if the will refifls the burthen, 
 every one lofes a great part of his own will as a 
 common lot. After all, perhaps contributions 
 raifed by a charge on luxury, or that degree of 
 convenience which approaches fo near as to be 
 confounded with luxury, is the only mode of 
 contribution which may be with truth termed 
 voluntary. 
 
 I might reft here, and take the loan I fpeak 
 of as leading to a folution of that queftion, 
 
 which
 
 [ 103 ] 
 
 which I propofed in my firft letter: tf Whether 
 the inability of the country to profecute the 
 war, did necefiitate a fubmiflioh to the indigni- 
 ties and the calamities of -a Peace with the Re- 
 gicide Power." But ^ive me leave to purfue this 
 point a little further. 
 
 I know that it has been a cry ufual on this 
 occalion, as it has been upon occafions where 
 fuch a cry could have lefs apparent j unification, 
 that great diftrefsand mifery have been the con- 
 fequence of this war, by the burthens brought 
 and laid upon the people. But to know where 
 the burthen really lies, and where it preffes, we 
 muft divide the people. As to the common peo- 
 ple, their flock is in their perfons and in their 
 earnings. I deny that the flock of their perfons 
 is diminimed in a greater proportion than ti-i-e 
 common fources of populoufnefs abundantly fill 
 up; I mean conftant employment ; proportioned 
 pay according to the produce of the foil, and 
 where the foil fails, according to the operation 
 of the general capital ; plentiful nourifhment to 
 vigorous labour; comfortable provifion to de- 
 crepid age, to orphan infancy, and to accidental 
 malady. I fay nothing to the policy of the provi- 
 fion for the poor, in all the variety of faces under 
 which it prefents itfelf. This is the matter of 
 another enquiry. I only juft fpeak of it as of a 
 
 fad.
 
 J 
 
 faft, taken with others, to fupport me in my 
 denial that hitherto any one of the ordinary 
 fonrces of the increafe of mankind is dried up 
 by this war. I affirm, what I can well prove, 
 that the wafte has been lefs than the fupply. To 
 fay that in war no man muft be killed, is to fay 
 that there ought to be no war. This they may 
 fay, who wifh to talk idly, and who would dif- 
 play their humanity at the expence of their ho- 
 nefty, or their underftanding. If more lives are 
 loft in this war than neceffity requires, they are 
 loft by mifcondud or miftake, but if the hof- 
 tility be juft, the errour is to be corrected : the 
 war is not to be abandoned. 
 
 That the ftock of the common people, in 
 numbers is notleffened,any more than the caufes 
 j?re impaired, is manifeft, without being at the 
 pains of an actual numeration. An improved 
 and improving agriculture, which implies a 
 great augmentation of labour, has not yet found 
 itfelf at a ftand, no, not for a fingle moment, 
 for want of the neceffary hands, either in the 
 fettled progrefs ofhufbandry, or in the occa- 
 fional preflure of harvefts. I have even reafon 
 to believe that there has been a much fmaller 
 importation, or the demand of it, from a neigh- 
 bouring kingdom than in former times, when 
 agriculture was more limited in it's extent and 
 
 it's
 
 C los 3 
 
 it's means, and when the time was a feafon of 
 profound peace. On the contrary, the prolifick 
 fertility of country life has poured it's fuper- 
 fluity of population into the canals, and into 
 other publick works which of late years have 
 been undertaken to fo amazing an extent, and 
 which have not only not been difcontinued, 
 but beyond all expectation puftied on with re- 
 doubled vigour, in a war that calls for fo many 
 of our men, and fo much of our riches. An 
 increasing capital calls for labour : and an in- 
 creafing population anfwers to the call. Our 
 manufactures augmented both for the fupply 
 of foreign and domeftick confumption, re- 
 producing with the means of life, the multi- 
 tudes which they ufe and wafte, (and which 
 many of them devour much more furely and 
 much more largely than the war) have always 
 found the laborious hand ready for the liberal 
 pay. That the price of the foldier is highly 
 raifed is true. In part this rife may be owing 
 to fome meafures not fo well confidered in the 
 beginning of this war, but the grand caufe has 
 been the reluclence of that clafs of people from 
 whom the foldiery is taken, to enter into a mi- 
 litary life, not that but once entered into, it has 
 it's conveniences, and even it's pleafures. I 
 have feklom known a foldier who, at the in- 
 terceflion of his friends, and at their no fmall 
 P charge,
 
 [ 106 ] 
 
 charge, had been redeemed from that difcipline, 
 that in a fliort time, was not eager to return 
 to it again. But the true reafon is the abun- 
 dant occupation, and the augmented llipend 
 found in towns, and villages, and farms, which 
 leaves a fmaller number of perfons to be dif- 
 pofed of. The price of men for new and un- 
 tried ways of life, muft bear a proportion to the 
 profits of that mode of exiftence from whence 
 they are to be bought. 
 
 So far as to the (lock of the common people, 
 as it confifts in their perfons. As to the other 
 part, which confifts in their earnings, 1 have to 
 fay, that the rates of wages are very greatly aug- 
 mented almoft through the kingdom. In the 
 parifti where I live, it has been raifed from feven 
 to nine millings in the week for the fame la- 
 bourer, performing the fame tafk, and no greater. 
 Except fomething in the malt taxes, and the 
 duties upon fugars, I do not know any one 
 tax impofed for very many years pad which 
 affects the labourer in any degree whatfoever ; 
 while on the other hand, the tax upon houfes 
 not having more than feven windows (that is, 
 upon cottages) was repealed the very year before 
 the commencement of the prefent war. On 
 the whole, I am fatisfied, that the humbled 
 elafs, and that clafs which touches the mod 
 
 nearly
 
 L 
 
 nearly on the loweft, out of which it is continu- 
 ally emerging, and to which it is continually 
 falling, receives far more from publick impofi- 
 tions than it pays. That clafs receives two mil- 
 lion fterling annually from the clafTes above it. 
 It pays to no fuch amount towards any publick 
 contribution. 
 
 I hope it is not necefiary for me to take no- 
 tice of that language, fo ill fuited to the perfons 
 to whom it has been attributed, and fo unbe- 
 coming the place in which it is faid to have been 
 uttered, concerning the prefent war as the caufe 
 of the high price of provifions during the greater 
 part of the year 1796. I prefume it is only to 
 be afcribed to the intolerable licence with which 
 the newfpapers break not only the rules of deco- 
 rum in real life, but even the dramatick decorum, 
 when they perfonate great men, and, like bad 
 poets, make the heroes of the piece talk more like 
 us Grub-ftreet fcribblers,than in a ftyle confonant 
 to perfons of gravity and importance in the 
 State. It was eafy to demonftrate the caufe, 
 and the fole caufe, of that rife in the grand ar- 
 ticle and firft neceflary of life. It would ap- 
 pear that it had no more connexion with the 
 war, than the moderate price to which all forts 
 of grain were reduced, foon after the return 
 of Lord Malmefbury, had with the ftate of po- 
 P 2 ticks
 
 [ 108 ] 
 
 ticks and the fate of his Lordfhip's treaty. I 
 have quite as good reafon (that is, no reafon at 
 all) to attribute this abundance to the longer 
 continuance of the war, as the gentlemen who 
 perfonate leading Members of Parliament, have 
 had for giving the enhanced price to that war, 
 at a more early period of it's duration. Oh, 
 the folly of us poor creatures, who, in the midft 
 of our diftreffes, or our efcapes, are ready to claw 
 or carefs one another, upon matters that fo fel- 
 dom depend on our wifdom or our weaknefs, 
 on our good or evil conduct towards each other ! 
 
 An untimely (hower, or an unfeafonable 
 drought; a froft too long continued, or too 
 fuddenly broken up, with rain and tempeft; the 
 blight of the fpring, or the fmut of the harveft ; 
 will do more to caufe the diftrefs of the belly, 
 than all the contrivances of all Statefmen can do 
 to relieve it. Let Government protect and en- 
 courage induftry, fecure property, reprefs vio- 
 lence, and difcountenance fraud, it is all that 
 they have to do. In other refpects, the lefs 
 they meddle in thefe affairs the better; the reft 
 is in the hands of our Mafter and theirs. We 
 are in a conftitution of things wherein " Modo 
 " fol nimius^ modo corripit imber." But I will 
 pufli this matter no further. As I have faid a 
 geod deal upon it at various times during my 
 
 publick
 
 [ 109 ] 
 
 publick fervice, and have lately 
 thing on it, which may yet fee the fl 
 fhall content myfelf now with obferving,Vaat 
 the vigorous and laborious clafs of life has lately 
 got from the bon ton of the humanity of this day, 
 the name of the " labouring poor" We have 
 heard many plans for the relief of the " Labour- 
 ing Poor." This puling jargon is not as inno- 
 cent as it is foolifh. In meddling with great 
 affairs, weaknefs is never innoxious. Hitherto 
 the name of Poor (in the fenfe in which it is 
 ufed to excite companion) has not been ufed 
 for thofe who can, but for thofe who cannot 
 labour for the lick and infirm j for orphan in- 
 fancy j for languishing and decrepid age: but 
 when we affecl; to pity as 1 poor, thofe who mud 
 labour or the world cannot exift, we are trifling 
 with the condition of mankind. It is the cem- 
 mon doom of man that he muft eat his bread 
 by the fweat of his brow, that is, by the fweat 
 of his body, or the fweat of his mind. If 
 this toil was inflided as a curfe, it is as 
 might be expected from the curfes of the 
 Father of all Blefllngs it is tempered with 
 many alleviations, many comforts. Every at- 
 tempt to fly from it, and to refufe the very terms 
 of our exiftence, becomes much more truly a 
 curfe, and heavier pains and penalties fall upon 
 thofe who would elude the talks which are put 
 
 upon
 
 C HO 3 
 
 upon them by the great Matter Workman of 
 the World, who in his dealings with his crea- 
 tures fympathizes with their weaknefs, and 
 fpeaking of a creation wrought by mere will out 
 of nothing, fpeaks of fix days of labour and one 
 of re/L I do not call a healthy young man, 
 chcarful in his mind, and vigorous in his arms, 
 I cannot call fuch a man, poor ; I cannot pity 
 my kind as a kind, merely becaufe they are 
 men. This affected pity, only tends to dif- 
 fatisfy them with their condition, and to teach 
 them to feek refources where no refources are 
 to be found, in fomething elfe than their own 
 indnftry, and frugality, and fobriety. What-^ 
 ever may be the intention (which, becaufe I do 
 not know, I cannot difpute) of thofe who would 
 difcontent mankind by this Grange pity, they 
 ad towards us in the confequences, as if they 
 were our word enemies. 
 
 In turning our view from the lower to the 
 higher clafles, it will not be neceflary for me to 
 mew at any length that the flock of the latter, 
 as it confifts in their numbers, has not yet fuf- 
 fered any material diminution. I have not feen, 
 or heard it afferted : I have no reafon to believe 
 it : there is no want of officers, that I have ever 
 underftood, for the new (hips which we com- 
 rniffion, or the new regiments which we raife. 
 
 In
 
 C '" ] 
 
 In the nature of things it is not with their per- 
 fons, that the higher claffes principally pay their 
 contingent to the demands of war. There is 
 another, and not lefs important, part which refts 
 with almoft exclufive weight upon them. They 
 furnim the means, 
 
 " How war may beft upheld, 
 
 " Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
 ** In all her equipage." 
 
 Not that they are exempt from contributing alfo 
 by their perfonal fervice in the fleets and armies 
 of their country. They do contribute, and in their 
 full and fair proportion, according to the relative 
 proportion of their numbers in the commu- 
 nity. They contribute all the mind that adu- 
 ates the whole machine. The fortitude re- 
 quired of them, is very different from the un- 
 thinking alacrity of the common foldier, or 
 common failor, in the face of danger and death ; 
 it is not a paffion, it is not an impulfe, it is not 
 a fentiment ; it is a cool, Jleady, deliberate 
 principle, always prefent, always equable ; hav- 
 ing no connexion with anger ; tempering ho- 
 nour with prudence ; incited, invigorated, and 
 fuftained by a generous love of fame ; informed, 
 moderated and directed by an enlarged know- 
 ledge of it's own great publick ends ; flowing in 
 one blended dream from the oppofhe fqurces of 
 the heart and the head ; carrying in itftlf it's 
 own commiflion, and proving it's title to every 
 
 other
 
 ether command, by the firft and moft difficult 
 command, that of the bofom in which it refides : 
 it is a fortitude, which unites with the courage of 
 the field the more exalted and refined courage of 
 the^ council ; which knows, as well to retreat as 
 to advance ; which can conquer as well by de- 
 lay, as by the rapidity of a march, or the impc- 
 tuofiiy of an attack ; which can be, with Fabius, 
 the black cloud that lowers on the tops of the 
 mountains, or with Scipio, the thunderbolt of 
 war; which undifmaycd by falfe fhame, can 
 patiently endure the fevereft trial that a gallant 
 fpirit can undergo, in the taunts and provocations 
 of the enemy, the fufpicions, the cold refpect, 
 and " mouth -honour'* of thofe, from whom it 
 (hould meet a cheerful obedience; which undif- 
 turbed by falfe humanity, can calmly affume 
 that moft aweful moral refponfibility of decid- 
 ing, when victory may be too dearly purchafed 
 by the lofs of a fingle life, and when the fafety 
 and glory of their country may demand the cer- 
 tain facrifice of thoufands Different ftations of 
 command may call for different modifications of 
 rh.is fortitude, but the character ought to be the 
 iame in all. And never in the moft " palmy 
 ftate" of our martial renown did it Ibine with 
 brighter luftre than in the prefent fanguinaiy 
 
 fj i O s 
 
 and ferocious hostilities, wherever the Britifh 
 arms have been carried. But, in this moft 
 arduous, and momentous conflict, which from 
 
 it's
 
 r us ] 
 
 it's nature mould have roufed us to new and 
 unexampled efforts, I know not how it has been, 
 that we have never put forth half the ftrength, 
 which we have exerted in ordinary wars. In the 
 fatal battles, which have drenched the Continent 
 with blood, and fhaken the fyftem of Europe to 
 pieces, we have never had any confiderable army 
 of a magnitude to be compared to the ieaft of 
 thofe by which, in former times, we fo glorioufly 
 afierted our place as protectors, not oppreflbrs, at 
 the head of the great Commonwealth of Eu- 
 rope. We have never manfully met the danger 
 in front : and when the enemy, refigning to us 
 our natural dominion of the ocean, and aban- 
 doning the defence of his diftant polTeffions to 
 the infernal energy of the destroying principles, 
 which he had planted there for the fubverfion of 
 the neighbouring Colonies, drove forth by one 
 fvveeping law of unprecedented defpotifm, his 
 armed multitudes on every iide, to overwhelm 
 the Countries and States, which had for centuries 
 flood the firm barriers againft the ambition of 
 France ; we drew back the arm of our military 
 force, which had never been more than half raifed 
 to oppofe him. From that time we have been 
 combating only with the other arm of our naval 
 power; the right arm of England I admit; but 
 which (truck almoft unrefifted, with blows, that 
 could never reach the heart of the hoftile mifchief. 
 Q From
 
 t n4 i 
 
 From that time, without a fingle effort to re- 
 gain thofe outworks, which ever till now we fa 
 ftrenuoufly maintained, as the ftrong frontier of 
 our own dignity and fafery, no lefs than the liber- 
 ties of Europe; with but one feeble attempt to 
 fuccour thofe brave, faithful, and numerous allies, 
 whom for the firil time fmce the days of our Ed- 
 wards and Henrys, we now have in the bofom of 
 France itfelf; we have been intrenching, and 
 fortifying, and garrifoning ourfelves at home: we 
 have been redoubling fecurity on fecurity, to pro- 
 left ourfelves from invafion, which has now firft 
 become to us a ferious object of alarm and 
 terrour. Alas ! the few of us, who have pro- 
 traded life in any meafure near to the extreme 
 limits of our ihort period, have been condemned 
 to fee fhange things ; new fyftems of policy, 
 new principles, and not only new men, but what 
 might appear a new fpecies of men. I believe 
 that any perfon who was of age to take a part in 
 public k affairs forty years ago '.if the intermediate 
 fpace of time were expunged from his memory) 
 would hardly credit his fenfes, when he (hould 
 hear from the higheft authority, that an army of 
 two hundred thoufand men was kept up in this 
 iiland, and that in the neighbouring ifland there 
 were at lead fourfcore thoufand more. But when he 
 had recovered from his furprife on being told of 
 this army, which has not it's parallel, what muft 
 
 bf
 
 be his aftonimment to be told again, that this 
 mighty force was kept up for the mere purpofe of 
 an inert and paflive defence, and that, in it's far 
 greater part, it was difabled by it's conftitution and 
 very effence, from defending us againft an enemy 
 by any one preventive flroke, or any one opera- 
 tion of active hoftility ? What muft his reflexions 
 be, on learning further, that a fleet of five hundred 
 men of war, the bed appointed, and to the full as 
 ably commanded as this country ever had upon 
 the fea, was for the greater part employed in car- 
 rying on the fame fyftem of unenterprifing de- 
 fence ? What muft be the fentiments and feelings 
 of one, who remembers the former energy of Eng- 
 land, when he is given to understand, that thefe 
 two iflands, with their extenfive, and every where 
 vulnerable coaft, fliould be confidered as a garri- 
 foned fea-town ; what would fuch a man, what 
 would any man think, if the garrifon of fo ftrange 
 a fortrefs fhould be fuch, and fo feebly command- 
 ed, as never to make a fally j and that, contrary 
 to all which has hitherto been feen in war, an in- 
 finitely inferiourarmy, with the mattered relicks of 
 an almoft annihilated navy, ill found, and ill man- 
 ned, may with fafety befiege this fuperiour garri- 
 fon, and without hazarding the life of a man, ruin 
 the place, merely by the menaces and falfe appear- 
 ances of an attack ? Indeed, indeed, my dear 
 friend, I look upon this matter of our defenfive 
 Q^2 fyftem
 
 [ 1.6 ] 
 
 fyftem as much the moll important of all confidc- 
 rations at this moment. It has opprefled me with 
 many anxious thoughts, which, more than any 
 boiii y diftemper, have funk me to the condition, 
 in which you know that I am. Should it pleafc 
 Providence to reftore to me, even the late weak 
 remains of my ftrength, I propofe to make this 
 matter the fubject of a particular difcuffion. I only 
 mean here to argue, that the mode of conducting 
 the war on our part, be ijt good or bad, has pre- 
 vented even the common havock of war in our 
 population, and efpecially among that clafs, whofe 
 duty and privilege of fuperiority it is, to lead the 
 way amidft the perils and flaughter of the field of 
 battle. 
 
 The other caufes, which fometimes affect the 
 numbers of the lower daffes, but which I have 
 (hewn not to have exifted to any fuch degree dur- 
 ing this war, penury, cold, hunger, naked nefs, 
 do not eafily 'reach the higher orders of fociety. 
 I do not dread for them the flighted tafte of thcfe 
 calamities from the diftrefsand preflure of the war. 
 They have much more to dread in that way from 
 the confifcations, ttie rapines, the burnings, and 
 the marlacres, that may follow in the train of a 
 peace which (hall eftablifh the devaftating and de- 
 populating principles and example of the French 
 Regicides, in fecurity, and triumph and dominion. 
 
 In
 
 [ "7 1 
 
 In the ordinary courfe of human affairs, any check 
 to population among men in eafc and opulence, is 
 lefs to be apprehended from what they may fuffer, 
 than from what they enjoy. Peace is more likely 
 lo be injurious to them in that refpedt than war. 
 The exceffes of delicacy, repofe, and fatiety, are. 
 as unfavourable as the extremes of hardfhip, toil, 
 and want, to the increafe and multiplication of our 
 kind. Indeed, the abufe of the bounties of Na- 
 ture, much more furely than any partial privation 
 of them, tends to intercept that precious boon of 
 a fecond and dearer life in our progeny, which was 
 beftowed in the firft great command to man from 
 the All-gracious Giver of all, whofe name be 
 blefled, whether he gives or takes away. His 
 hand, in every page of his book, has written the 
 leflbn of moderation. Our phyfical well-being, 
 our moral worth, our focial happinefs, our po- 
 litical tranquillity, all depend on that controul of 
 all our appetites and paflions, which the ancients 
 defigned by the cardinal virtae of Temperance. 
 
 The only real queftion to our prefent purpofe, 
 with regard to the higher dalles, is, how Hands 
 the account of their flock, as it confifts in wealth 
 of every defcription ? Have the burthens of the 
 war compelled them to curtail any part of their 
 former expenditure ; which, I have before obferv- 
 ed, affords the only ftandard of eRimating pro- 
 perty
 
 t 118 3 
 
 perty as an object of taxation ? Do they enjoy all 
 the fame conveniencies, the fame comforts, the 4 
 fame elegancies, the fame luxuries, in the fame, of 
 in as many different modes as they did before the 
 war? 
 
 In the laft eleven years, there have been no lefs 
 than three folemn enquiries into the finances of 
 the kingdom, by three different Committees of 
 your Houfe: The firft was in the year 1786. On 
 that occafion, I remember, the Report of the 
 Committee was examined, and fifted, an'd bolted 
 to the bran, by a gentleman whofe keen and pow- 
 erful talents i have ever admired. He thought 
 there was not fufficient evidence to warrant the 
 pleafing reprefentation, which the Committee had 
 made, four national profperity. He did not be- 
 lieve, that our publick revenue could continue to 
 be fo productive, as they had aflumed. He even 
 went the length of recording his own inferences 
 of doubt, in a fet of refolmions, which now ftand 
 upon your Journals. And perhaps the retrofpefr, 
 on which the Report proceeded, did not go far 
 enough back, to allow any fure and fatisfactory 
 average for a ground of (olid calculation. But 
 "what was the evert ? When the next Committee 
 fate in 1791, they found, that, on an average 
 of the laft four years, their predeceffors had 
 fallen mort in their eftimatc of the permanent 
 
 taxes,
 
 I "9 3 
 
 taxes by more than three hundred and forty 
 thoufand pounds a year. Surely then if I can mow, 
 that in the produce of ihofe fame taxes, and more 
 particularly of fuch as affect articles of luxurious 
 ufe and confumption, the four years of the war 
 have equ tiled ihofe four vears of peace, flourifli- 
 ing, as they were, beyond the mod fangnine fpecu- 
 lations, I may expecr to hear no more of the 
 diiirefs occasioned by the war, 
 
 The additional burdens which have been laid on 
 fome of thofe fame articles, might reafonably claim 
 fome allowance to be made. Every new advance 
 of the pi ice to the confvimer, is a new incentive 
 to him to retrench the quantry of his confump- 
 tion ; and if, upon the whole, he pays the fame, 
 his property computed by the ftandard of what he 
 voluntarily pays, muft remain the fame. But 
 I am willing to forego that fair advantage in 
 the enquiry. I -am willing that the receipts of 
 the permanent taxes which exifted^before Ja- 
 nuary 1793, fhould be compared during the war, 
 and during the period of peace which I have men- 
 tioned. 1 will go further. Complete accounts of 
 the year 1791 were feparately laid before your 
 Houfe. I am ready to fland by a comparifon of the 
 produce of four years up to the beginning of the 
 year 1792, with that of the war. Of the year im- 
 mediately previous to hoftiliries, I have not been, 
 
 able
 
 able to obtain any perfect documents ^ but I have 
 ieen enough to fatisfy me, that although a compa- 
 rifon including that year might be lefs favour- 
 able, yet it would not eflentially injure my argu- 
 ment. 
 
 You will always bear in mind, my dear Sir, that 
 I am not confidering whether, if the common enemy 
 of the quiet of Europe had not forced us to take up 
 arms in our own defence, the fpring-tide of our 
 profperity might not have flowed higher than the 
 mark at which it now ftands. That confederation 
 is connected with the queftion of the juftice and 
 the neceffity of the war. It is a queftion which I 
 have long fmce difcuiTed. I am now endeavour- 
 ing to afcerrain whether there exifts, in fact, any 
 fuch neceffity as we hear every day aflerted, to 
 furniQi a miferable pretext for counfelling us to 
 furrender, atdifcretion, our conquefts, our honour, 
 cur dignity, our very independence, and, with it, 
 all that is dear to man. It will be more than fuf- 
 ficient for that purpofe, if I can make it appear 
 that we have been ftationary during the war. What 
 then will be faid, if, in reality, it mall be proved 
 that there is every indication of increafed and in- 
 creafmg wealth, not only poured into the grand 
 refervoir of the national capital, but diffufed 
 through all the channels of all the higher claffes, 
 and giving life and activity as it paries to the agri- 
 
 culturc*
 
 C 
 
 culture, the manufactures, the commerce, and the 
 navigation of the country ? . 
 
 The Finance Committee, which has been ap- 
 pointed in this Seffion, has already made two re- 
 ports. Every conclufion that I had before drawn, 
 as you know, from my own obfervation, I have 
 the fatisfaction of feeing there confirmed by their 
 authority. Large as was the fum, by which 
 the Committee of 1791 found the eftimate of 
 1786 to have been exceeded in the actual pro- 
 duce of four years of peace, their own eftimate 
 has been exceeded, during the war, by a fum more 
 than one-third larger. The ime taxes have yielded 
 more than half a million beyond their calculation. 
 They yielded this, notwithftanding the ftoppage of 
 the difttlleries, againft which, you may remember, 
 that I privately remonftrated. With an allow-, 
 ance for that defalcation, they have yielded fixty 
 thoufand pounds annually above the actual ave- 
 rage of the preceding four years of peace. I be- 
 lieve this to have been without parallel in all for- 
 mer wars. If regard be had to the great and un- 
 avoidable burthens of the prelent war, I am con- 
 fident of the fact. 
 
 But let us defcend to particulars. The taxes, 
 
 which go by the general name of affefTed taxes, 
 
 .comprehend the whole, or nearly the whole 
 
 R domeftick
 
 3 
 
 domeftick eftablimmentof the rich. They include 
 fome things, which belong to the middling, and 
 even to all, but the very loweft, daffes. They now 
 confift of the duties on houfes and windows, on 
 male ferVants, horfes, and carriages. They did alfo 
 extend to cottages, to female fervants, waggons, 
 and carts ufed in hufbandry, previous to the year 
 1792; when, with more enlightened policy, at the 
 moment that the pofiibiluy of war could not be 
 out of the contemplation of any ftatefman, the 
 wifdom of Parliament confined them to their pre- 
 fent objects. I mail give the grofs afleflment for 
 five years, as I find it in the Appendix to the fe- 
 cond Report of your Committee 
 
 1791 ending 5th Apr. 1792 .1,706,334- 
 
 1792 1793 " 1,585,991 
 
 1793 1794 1,597,623 
 
 1794 1795 1,608,196 
 
 1795 1796 1,625,874 
 
 Here will be feen a gradual increafe during the 
 whole progrefs of the war : and if * I am correctly 
 informed, the rife in the laft year, after every de- 
 duction 
 
 * The account given above is from the appendix B to the 
 fecond Report. Since Mr. Burke's death, a fourth Report has 
 come out, which very fully fubftantiates his information. There 
 is a table, containing a -view of the Land Tax, and Affeffcd Taxes, 
 blended together. The amount of the Aflefied Taxes may be-, 
 eafily found (except an occafional difference in the laft figure, 
 from the omifllon of the {hillings and pence) by deducting the
 
 [ 123 ] 
 
 du&ion that can be made, almoft furpaffes be- 
 lief. It is enormoufly out of all proportion to the 
 increafe, not of any imgle year, but of all the years 
 put together, fince the time that the duties, which 
 I have mentioned above, were repealed. 
 
 4ta$rf^ *.i ;>; *.-. 
 
 There are fome other taxes, which feem to have 
 a reference to the fame general head. The prefen; 
 Minifter, many years ago,fubjec~led bricks and tiles 
 to a duty under the excite. It is of little confe- 
 quence to our prefent confederation, whether thefe 
 materials have been employed in building more 
 commodious, more elegant, and more magnifi- 
 cent habitations, or in enlarging, decorating, and 
 re-modelling thofe, which fufficed for our plainer 
 
 fum of ..2,037,627, which is the grofs charge of the Land-Tax 
 according to the Report of the Committee in 1791 . 
 
 1789 ending 5th Apr. 1790 _ __ . 3,572,434 
 
 1790 -- _ 1791 ' 3,741,222 
 
 1791 , - _ 1792 3,743,961 
 
 1793 3,623,619 
 
 1793 - 1794 _ 3,635,250 
 
 ^1794 - 1795 3,615,824 
 
 1795 - i 79 $ . 3,663,501 
 
 1 79 6 -- , - i 797 4,101,863 
 
 A ten per cent, was laid upon the Aflefied Taxes in 1791, tp 
 commence from October, 1790. In 1796 were laid, a new tax 
 on Horfes not before included, an additional tax of 2S. and a 
 new ten per cent. Thefe produced in that year altogether 
 .84,232, which being deducted, will {till leave an actual in- 
 crcjife in that one year of ^.354, 130. 
 
 R 2 anceftors.
 
 [ 124 ] 
 
 anceftors. During the firft two years of the war, 
 they paid fo largely to the publick revenue, that in 
 7794 a new duty was laid upon them, which was 
 equal to one half of the old, and which has pro- 
 duced upwards of . 165,000 in the laft three 
 years. Yet notwithstanding the preflure of this 
 additional weight*, there has been an actual aug- 
 mentation in the confumption. The only two 
 other articles which come under this defcription, 
 are, the ftamp-duty on .gold and filver plate, and 
 the Cuftoms on glafs- plates. This latter is now, 
 I believe, the fingle inftance of coflly furniture to 
 be found in the catalogue of our imports. If it 
 were wholly to vanifti, I fhould not think we 
 were ruined. Both the duties have rifen, during 
 the war, very conliderably in proportion to the total 
 
 of their produce. 
 
 We 
 
 * This and the following tables on the famc/conftru&ion are 
 compiled from the Reports of the Finance Committee in 1791 
 and 1797, with the addition of the feparate paper laid before 
 the Houfe of Commons, and ordered to be printed on the 7th of 
 February 1792. 
 
 BRICKS AND TILES. 
 
 jj 1787 
 
 . 94,521 
 
 1793 
 
 o. 122,975 
 
 1788 
 
 96,278 
 
 C I794 
 
 106,811 
 
 "o 1789 
 
 91,773 
 
 1795 
 
 83,804 
 
 1790 
 
 104,409 
 
 1796 
 
 94,668 
 
 Increafe to 1790 
 .386,981 .408,258 .21,277 
 
 ' Increafe to 1791 
 
 1791 - 115,382 4Yrs.toi7 9 i .407,842 -416 
 
 PLATE.
 
 [ 125 ] 
 
 We have no tax among us on the great necefla- 
 ries of life with regard to food. The receipts of 
 our Cuftom-Houfe, under the head of Groceries, 
 afford us, however, fome means of calculating our 
 luxuries of the table. The articles of Tea, Coffee, 
 and Cocoa-Nuts, I would propofe to omit, and to 
 take theminftead from the Excife, as beft (hewing, 
 what is confumed at home. Upon this principle, 
 adding them all together (with the exception of Su- 
 gar, for a reafon which I (hall afterwards mention) 
 I find that they have produced, in one mode of com- 
 parifon, upwards of . 272,000, and in the other 
 mode, upwards of . 165,000, more, during the 
 
 b 1787 
 1788 
 *> 1789 
 
 1791 
 
 o ^ 77 
 
 J7?8 
 
 >i 179 
 
 . 22,707 
 
 23,295 
 22,453 
 18,483 
 
 PLATE. 
 
 '793 .25,920 
 1754 23,37 
 ^ 1795 25,607 
 1796 28,513 
 
 Jncreafe to 1790 
 
 . 16,789 
 Incrcafc to 1791 
 7,923 
 
 . 86,888 
 
 . 103,677 
 
 - - 31,523 
 
 4Yrs.toi79i .95,754 
 
 5,496 
 4,686 
 6,008 
 
 GLASS PLATES. 
 
 J 1793 -5,655 
 f '794 5,456 
 ; 1795 5,839 
 1795 8,871 
 
 . 16,190 
 
 .25,821 
 
 Increafe to 1791 
 
 1791 - - 7,880 4Yr.foi79i - .24,070 . 1,721 
 
 war
 
 war than in peace *. An additional duty was alfo 
 hid in 1 795 on Tea, another on Coffee, and a third 
 on Raifms; an article, together with currants, of 
 
 * GROCERIES. 
 
 3 1787 
 
 .167,389 
 
 | ''93 i 
 
 .124,655 
 
 
 1788 
 
 133,191 
 
 ? 1794 
 
 195,840 
 
 
 * 1789 
 
 142,871 
 
 ? . *795 
 
 208,242 
 
 
 *79 
 
 156,311 
 
 1 79 
 
 159,826 
 
 
 
 .599,762 
 
 { 
 
 .688,563 
 
 Inr.reafe to 1 790 
 .88,801 
 
 ! 
 
 236,727 
 
 4Yr$. to 1791 f 
 1 ' f& 
 
 .669,100 
 
 .19,463, 
 
 
 
 TEA. 
 
 
 
 8 178? 
 
 .424,144 
 
 | J 793 
 
 .477,644 
 
 
 1788 
 
 42f),66O 
 
 f I?94 
 
 467,132 
 
 
 1789 
 
 539,575 
 
 . T 795 
 
 507,518 
 
 
 1790 
 
 417,736 
 
 1796 
 
 526,307 
 
 
 
 .1,808,115 
 
 ' 
 
 ,978,601 
 
 . 170,486 
 
 w 
 
 448,709 
 
 4Yrs.to 1791 . I 
 
 ,832,680 
 
 . 145,921 
 
 The additional duty impofed in 1795, produced in that year 
 ^.137,656, and in 1796 ..200,107. 
 
 COFFEE AND COCOA NUTS. 
 
 Si J77 .17,006 X 1793 .36,846 
 
 1788 30,217 ' 1794 49,177 
 
 J 1789 34,784 . 1795 27,9,13 
 
 179 38,647 1796 19,711 
 
 .120,654 .133,647 .12,993 
 
 Decreafe to 1741 
 
 1791 41,194 4 Yrs.tox79i . 144,842 . 11,195 
 
 The additional duty of 1795 in that year gave .16,775, and 
 in I79 6 .15,319. 
 
 much
 
 much more extenfive ufe, than would readily be 
 imagined. The balance in our favour would have 
 been much enhanced, if our Coffee and fruit- (hips 
 from the Mediterranean had arrived, laft year, at 
 their ufual feafon. They do not appear in thefe ac- 
 counts. This was one confequence arifing (would to 
 ' God, that none more afflicting to Italy, to Europe, 
 and the whole civilized world had arifen!) from 
 our impolitick and precipitate defertion, of that 
 important maritime ftation. As to *Sugar, I have 
 excluded it from the Groceries, becaufe the account 
 of the Cuftoms is not a perfect criterion of the con- 
 fumption, much having been re-exported to the 
 north of Europe, which ufed to be fupplied by 
 France; and there are no materials to furnifh 
 grounds for computing this re-exportation. The 
 increafeon the face of our entries is immenfe dur- 
 ing the four years of war, little fhort of thirteen 
 hundred thoufand pounds. 
 
 * SUGAR. 
 
 g 1787 .1,065,109 1793 .1,473,139 
 1788 1,184,458 J 1794 1,392,965 
 
 3 1789 1,095,106 " 1:95 1,338,246 
 1790 1,069,108 1796 1,474,899 
 
 1 Increafe to 1790 
 
 . 4,413,781 .5,679,249 .1,265,468 
 
 Increafe to 1791 
 
 179' 1, 044,053 4 Yr. to i 79 i.4,3.92,725 .1,286,52+ 
 
 There was a new duty on Sugar in 1791, which produced in 
 1 794j- 2 34>29 2 > in | 795jf- 2 6 >932> and in 1796 .245,0*4. 
 It is not clear from the Report of the Committee, whether the 
 Additional duty is included in the account given above. 
 
 the
 
 The encreafe of the duties on Beer has been re- 
 gularly progreflive, or nearly fo, to a very large 
 amount.* It is a good deal above a million, and 
 is more than equal to one-eight of the whole pro- 
 duce. Under this general head, fome other li- 
 quors are included, Cyder, Perry, and Mead, as 
 well as Vinegar, and Verjuice ; but thefe are of 
 very trifling confideration. The Excife- Duties on 
 Wine, having funk a little during the firft two 
 years of the war, were rapidly recovering their le- 
 vel again. Jn 1795, a heavy additional duty was 
 impofed upon them, and a fecond in the following 
 year; yet being compared with four years of peace 
 to the end of 1790, they actually exhibit a fmall 
 ga n to the revenue. And low as the importation 
 may feem in 1796, when contrafted with any year 
 iince the French Treaty in 1787, it is ftill more 
 than 3000 tons above the average importation for 
 three years previous to that period. I have added 
 Sweets, from which our faditious Wines are made; 
 
 and 
 
 
 * 
 
 BEER, &c. 
 
 g 1787 
 
 .1,761,429 
 
 < 7?3 . 
 
 2,043,902 
 
 7*8 
 
 1,705,199 
 
 " 1794 
 
 2,082,053 
 
 *S 1789 
 
 1,742,514 
 
 ' '795 
 
 1,931,101 
 
 1790 
 
 1,858,043 
 
 1796 
 
 2,294,377 
 
 .7,067,185 .8,351,433 .1,284,248 
 
 ~'~ Increafe to 1791 
 
 1791 l,880,4784Vn.toi79.7,186,234 . I,l65,19<* 
 
 WINE.
 
 [ 1*9 ]' 
 
 and I would have added Spirits,* but that the total 
 alteration of the duties in 1789, and the recent in- 
 terruption of our Diftilleries, rendered any com- 
 parifon impracticable. 
 
 WINE. 
 
 8 1787 .219,934 != '793 -222,837 
 
 17** 215,578 i?94 283,644- 
 
 "J 1789 252,649 * 795 317,072 
 { 179 308,624 1796 187,818 
 
 - - Increafe to 1790 
 
 .996,785 .1,011,421 .14,638 
 
 - - Decreafe to 1791 
 1791 336,549 4Yrs.toi79i . 1,113,400 . 101,979 
 
 QUANTITY IMPORTED. 
 
 % 1787 Tons 29,978 ~i *793 Tens 22,788 
 & 1788 25,442 ^ 794 27,868 
 
 ". 1789 27,414 ^ '795 32,033 
 
 1790 29,182 1796 19,079 
 
 The additional duty of 1795 produced that year .730,871, 
 and in 1 796 394,686. A fecond additional duty which pro- 
 duced .98, 165, was laid ia 1796. 
 
 SWEETS. 
 
 8} i7$7 .11,167 793 .11,016 
 
 & 178? 7,375 {* 1794 10,612 
 
 ? 17*9 ^202 " 1795 13,321 
 
 1790 4,953 1796 15,050 
 
 - Increafe to 1790 
 . 30,697 . 49,990 '. 19,302 
 
 - Increafe to 1791 
 
 1791 13,282 4 Yrs. 101791 .32,812 . n,H8 
 
 In 1795, an additional duty was laid on this article, which 
 produced that year . 5,679, and in 1796 . 9,443, and in 1796 
 a fecond to commence on the 2Oth of June ; it's produce in that 
 yew was .2,325. 
 
 S The
 
 [ 130 ] 
 
 The ancient ftaple of our ifland, in which we 
 are clothed, is very imperfectly to be traced on the 
 books of the Cuftom-Houfe : but I know, that 
 our Woollen Manufactures flourish. I recollect: 
 to have feen that fa<t very fully eftablifhed, laft 
 year, from the regifters kept in the Weft-Riding 
 ofYorkfhire This year, in the weft of England 
 1 received a fimilar account, on the authority of a 
 refpectable clothier, in that quarter, whofeteftimony 
 can leis be queftioned, becaufe, in his political opi- 
 nions, he is adverfe, as I underftand, to the con- 
 tinuance of the war. The principal articles of fe- 
 male drefs, for fome time paft, have been Muflins 
 and Callicoes. * . Thefe elegant fabricks of our 
 own looms in the Eaft, which ferve for the remit- 
 tance of our own revenues, have lately been imi- 
 tated at home, with improving fuccefs, by the in- 
 genious and enterpriiing manufacturers of Man- 
 chefter, Paifley, and Glafgow. At the fame time 
 
 * MUSLINS AND CALLICOES. 
 
 S 1788 
 
 n 
 
 .129,297 
 
 | 1793 
 
 JT. 173,050 
 
 & 1789 
 
 138,660 
 
 ^ I7 . 9 * 
 
 104,902 
 
 1 J79 
 
 120,267 
 
 I79S 
 
 103,856 
 
 > '"^i 
 
 128,364 
 
 ^ 1796 
 
 272,544 
 
 ..522,588 . 654,352 .131,764 
 
 This table begins with 7SS. The net produce of the pre- 
 ce4ing year is not in the Report, whence the table is taken. 
 
 the
 
 [ 131 1 
 
 the importation from Bengal has kept pace with 
 the extenfion of our own dexterity and induftry ; 
 while the fale of our * printed goods, of both 
 kinds, has been with equal fleadinefs advanced, 
 by the tafte and execution cf our defigners and 
 artifts. Our Woollens and Cottons, it is true, 
 are not all for the home market. They do not di- 
 ftindly prove, what is my prefent point, our own 
 wealth by our own expence. I admit it : we ex- 
 port them in great and growing quantities: and 
 they, who croak themfelves hoarfe about the de- 
 cay of our trade, may put as much of this ac- 
 count, as they chufe, to the creditor fide of money 
 received from other countries in payment for Bri- 
 tifli fkill and labour. They may fettle the items 
 to their own liking, where all goes to demcnftrate 
 our riches. I (hall be contented here, with what- 
 
 * PRINTED GOODS. 
 
 i?7 .142,000 5 '793 .191,566 
 
 1788 154,486 1794 190,554 
 
 1789 - 153,202 * 1795 197,416 
 
 1790 167,156 1796 230,530 
 
 Increafeto 1790 
 
 .616,844 .810,066 .193,222 
 
 1791 191,489 4Yrs.to 1791 . 666,333 . 143,733 
 
 Thefe duties for 1 787, are Wended with feveral others. The 
 proportion of printed goods to the other articles for four years, 
 was found to be one-fourth. That proportion is here taken. 
 
 S 2 ever
 
 L 132 ] 
 
 ever they will have the goodnefs to leave me, and 
 pafs to another entry, which is lefs ambiguous ; I 
 mean that of Silk.* The manufactory itfelf is a 
 forced plant. We have been obliged to guard it from 
 foreign competition by very ftrict prohibitory laws. 
 What we import, is the raw and prepared mate- 
 rial, which is worked up in various ways, and 
 worn in various fhapes hy both fexes. After what 
 we have juft feen, you will probably be furprifed 
 to learn, that the quantity of filk, imported dur- 
 ing the war, has been much greater, than it was 
 previoufly in peace ; and yet we muft all remem- 
 ber to our mortification, that feveral of our filk 
 fhips fell a prey to Citizen Admiral Richery. You 
 \vill hardly expe<5t me to go through the tape and 
 thread, and all the other fmall wares of haberdafh- 
 ery and millinery to be gleaned up among our im- 
 ports. But I (hall make one oblervation, and with 
 great fatisfaction, refpecting them. They gradu- 
 ally diminifh, as our own manufactures of the fame 
 
 
 
 * SILK. 
 
 
 s 1787 
 
 . 159,912 
 
 g 1793 
 
 .209,915 
 
 17 s8 
 
 123, 99S 
 
 r 1/94 
 
 221,306 
 
 "p 1789 
 
 157,730 
 
 *. J79S 
 
 210,725 
 
 1790 
 
 212,522 
 
 1796 
 
 221,007 
 
 . 654,162 862,955 . 208,7y3 
 
 Increafe to 1791 
 
 1791 - - 279,128 4Yrs.toi79i .113,318 .89,577 
 
 defcription
 
 [ 133 ] 
 
 defcription fpread into their places ; while the ac- 
 count of ornamental articles which our country 
 does not produce, and we cannot wifh it to pro- 
 duce, continues, upon the whole, to rife, in fpite 
 of all the caprices of fancy and faflbion. Of this 
 kind are the different furs* ufed for muffs, trim- 
 mings, and linings, which, as the chief of the 
 kind, I fhall particularize. You will find them 
 below. 
 
 The diverfions of the higher clafles form an- 
 other, and the only remaining, head of enquiry 
 into their expences. I mean thofe diverfions 
 which diftinguifh the country and the town life j 
 which are vifible and tangible to the Statefman ; 
 which have fome publick meafure and ftandard. 
 And here, when I look to the Report of your 
 Committee, I, for the firft time, perceive a failure. 
 
 * FURS. 
 
 S 1787 . 3,463 Js 1793 -2,829 
 
 BU 1788 2,957 E 1794 3,353 
 
 3 1789 1,151 ^ 1795 3,266 
 
 1790 3,328 1796 6,138 
 
 Incrcife to 1790 
 
 .10,899 .15,586 .4,687 
 
 Increafe to 1791 
 
 1791 - - 5,731 4Yrs.to I79 i .13,167 .2,419 
 
 The fkins here fele&ed from the Cuftom-Houfe Accounts 
 are, Black B,ar, Ordinary Fox, Martcn t Mink y Mufqnafo % Otter t 
 Raccoon, and Wolf. 
 
 It
 
 [ "34 J 
 
 It is clearly fo. Whichever way I reckon the four 
 years of peace, the old tax on the fports of the 
 field hcis certainly proved deficient fince the war. 
 The fame money, however, or nearly the fame, has 
 been paid to Government ; though the fame num- 
 ber of individuals have not contributed to the 
 payment. An additional tax was laid in 179J, 
 and, during the war, has produced upwards of 
 6i,oool. ; which is about 4000!. more than the 
 tlecreafe of the old tax, in one fcheme of compa- 
 nion ; and about 4000!. lefs, in the other fcheme. 
 I might remark that the amount of the new tax, 
 in the feveral years of the war, by no means bears 
 the proportion, which it ought, to the old. There 
 feems to be fomc great irregularity, or other, in the 
 receipt: but I do not think it worth while to exa- 
 mine into the argument. I am willing to fup- 
 pofc. that many, who, in the idlenefs of peace, 
 made war upon partridges, hares, and pheafants, 
 may now carry more noble arms againft the ene- 
 mies of their country. Our political adverfaries 
 may do, what they pleafe, with that conceffion. 
 They are welcome to make the moft of it. I am 
 fure of a very handfome fet-off in the other branch 
 of expencej the amufements of a town-life. 
 
 There is much gaiety, and diflipation, and 
 profufion, which muft efcape and difappoint all 
 the arithmetick of political ceconomy. But the 
 
 Theatres
 
 [ 135 ] 
 
 Theatres are a prominent feature. They are efta- 
 blilhed through every part of the kingdom, at a 
 cofl unknown till our days. There is Jiardly a 
 provincial capital, which does not poffefs, or which 
 does not afpire to poffefs, a Theatre-Royal. Moft 
 of them engage, for. a fhort time at a vaft price, 
 every actor or adrefs of name in the metropolis ; 
 a diftinction, which, in the reign of my old friend 
 Garrick, was confined to very few. The drefles, 
 the fcenes, the decorations of every kind, I am. 
 told, are in a new ftyle of fplendour and magnifi- 
 cence ; whether to the advantage of our dramatick 
 tafte, upon the whole, I very much doubt. It is a 
 ihew, and a (peclacle, not a play, that is exhibited. 
 This is undoubtedly in the genuine manner of the 
 Auguftan age, but in a manner, which was cenfiir- 
 ed by one of the bed Poets and Criticks of that or 
 any age : 
 
 migravit ab aure voluptas 
 
 Oronis ad incertos ocnlos, & gaudia vana: 
 
 Quatuor aut plures aukea premuntur in horas, 
 
 Dum fugiunt equitum turmse, peditumque catervae; 
 
 I muft interrupt the paflage, moft fervently to de- 
 precate and abominate the fequel, 
 
 Mox trahityr manibus Regum fortuna retortis. 
 
 I hope, that no French fraternization, which the 
 relations of peace and amity with fyftematized Re- 
 gicide,
 
 C "6 ] 
 
 gicide, would affuredly, fooner or later, draw after/ 
 them, even if it fhould overturn our happy Con-' 
 dilution itfelf, could fo change the fieans of Eng- 
 lifhmen, as to make them delight in reprefema- 
 tions and proceffions, which have no other merit 
 than that of degrading and infulting the name of 
 Royalty. But good tafte, manners, morals, reli- 
 gion, all fly, wherever the principles of Jacobinifm / 
 enter: and we have no fafety againfl them but in/ 
 arms. 
 
 The Proprietors, whether in this they follow or 
 lead whar is called the town, to furnim out thefe 
 gaudy and pompous entertainments, muft col- 
 lect fo much more from the Publick. It was 
 but juft before the breaking out of hoftilities, 
 that they levied for themfclves the very tax, 
 which, at the clofe of the American war, they re- 
 prefented to Lord North, as certain ruin to their 
 affairs to demand for the State. The example 
 lias fince been imitated by the Managers of our 
 Italian Opera. Once during the war, if not twice 
 (I would not willingly miftate any thing, but I 
 am not very accurate on thefe fubje&s) they have 
 raifed the price of their fubfcription. Yet I have 
 never heard, that any lading diffatisfadlion has been 
 manifefted, or that their houfes have been unufu- 
 ally and conftantly Uiin. On the contrary, all the 
 three theatres have been repeatedly altered, and 
 
 refitted,
 
 [ 139 J 
 
 refitted, and enlarged, to make them capacious of 
 the crowds, that nightly flock to them; and one of 
 thofe huge and lofty piles, which lifts its broad 
 fhoulders in gigantick pride, almoft emulous of 
 the temples of God, has been reared from the foun- 
 dation at a charge of more than fourfcore thoufand 
 pounds, and yet remains a naked, rough, un- 
 fightly heap. 
 
 I am afraid, my dear Sir, that I have tired you 
 with thefe dull, though important details. But we 
 are upon a fubjeft, which, like fome of a higher 
 nature, refufes ornament, and is contented with 
 conveying inftru&ion. I know too, the obft'inacy 
 of unbelief, in thofe perverted minds, which have 
 no delight, but in contemplating the fuppofed dif- 
 trefs, and predicting the immediate ruin, of their 
 country. Thefe birds of evil prefage, at all times, 
 have grated our ears with their melancholy fong ; 
 and, by fome ftrange fatality or other, it has gene- 
 rally happened, that they have poured forth their 
 louded and deepefl lamentations, at the periods of 
 our moft abundant profperity. Very early in my 
 publick life, I had occasion to make myfelf a little 
 acquainted with their natural hiftory. My firft po- 
 litical tracl: in the collection, which a friend has 
 made of my publications, is an anfwer to a very 
 gloomy picture of the ftale of the nation, which 
 was thought to have been drawn by a (latefman of 
 T fome
 
 [ 136 ] 
 
 gicide, would affuredly, fooner or later, draw after/ 
 them, even if it fhould overturn our happy Con-' 
 ftitution itfelf, could fo change the fieans of Eng- 
 liflimen, as to make them delight in reprefenta- 
 tions and proceffions, which have no other merit 
 than that of degrading and infulting the name of 
 Royalty. But good tafte, manners, morals, reli- 
 gion, all fly, wherever the principles of Jacobinifm I 
 enter: and we have no fafety againft them but in/ 
 arms. 
 
 The Proprietors, whether in this they follow or 
 lead what is called the town, to furnim out thefe 
 gaudy and pompous entertainments, mufl col- 
 lect fo much more from the Publick. It was 
 but juft before the breaking out of hoftilities, 
 that they levied for themfelves the very tax, 
 which, at the clofe of the American war, trfey re- 
 prefented to Lord North, as certain ruin to their 
 affairs to demand for the State. The example 
 has fmce been imitated by the Managers of our 
 Italian Opera. Once during the war, if not twice 
 (I would not willingly miftate any thing, but I 
 am not very accurate on thefe fubjects) they have 
 raifed the price of their fubfcription. Yet I have 
 never heard, that any lading diffatisfaction has been 
 manifefted, or that their houfes have been unufu- 
 ally and conftantly tjh'm. On the contrary, all the 
 three theatres have been repeatedly altered, and 
 
 refitted,
 
 [ 139 J 
 
 j and enlarged, to make them capacious of 
 the crowds, that nightly flock to them; and one of 
 thofe huge and lofty piles, which lifts its broad 
 fhoulders in gigantick pride, almoft emulous of 
 the temples of God, has been reared from the foun- 
 dation at a charge of more than fourfcore thoufand 
 
 
 
 pounds, and yet remains a naked, rough, un~ 
 fightly heap. 
 
 I am afraid, my dear Sir, that I have tired you 
 with thefe dull, though important details. But we 
 are upon a fubject, which, like fome of a higher 
 nature, refufes ornament, and is contented with 
 conveying inftruction. I know too, the obffinacy 
 of unbelief, in thofe perverted minds, which have 
 no delight, but in contemplating the fuppofed dif- 
 trefs, and predicting the immediate ruin, of their 
 country. Thefe birds of evil prefage, at all times, 
 have grated our ears with their melancholy fong ; 
 and, by fome ftrange fatality or other, it has gene- 
 rally happened, that they have poured forth their 
 loudeft and deepefl lamentations, at the periods of 
 our mod abundant profperity. Very early in my 
 publick life, I had occasion to make myfelf a little 
 acquainted with their natural hiftory. My firft po- 
 litical tract in the collection, which a friend has 
 made of my publications, is an anfvver to a very 
 gloomy picture of the ftate of the nation, which 
 was thought to have been drawn by a ftatefmaa of 
 T fome
 
 [ 140 ] 
 
 fome eminence in his time. That was no more 
 than the common fpleen of difappointed ambition : 
 in the prefent day, I fear, that too many are ac- 
 tuated by a more malignant and dangerous fpirit. 
 They hope, by deprefling our minds with a defpair 
 of our means and refources, to drive us, trembling 
 and unrefiftirig, into the toils of our enemies, with 
 whom, from the beginning of the Revolution in 
 France, they have ever moved in ftrict concert and 
 co-operation. If with the report of your Finance 
 Committee in their hands, they can flill affect to 
 defpond, and can ft ill fucceed, as they do, in 
 fpreading the contagion of their pretended fears, 
 among well-difpofed, though weak men ; there is 
 no way of counteracting them, but by fixing them 
 down to particulars. Nor mud we forget, that 
 they are unwearied agitators, bold aflfertors, dex- 
 trous fophifters. Proof mud be accumulated upon 
 proof, to filence them. With this view, I mail now 
 direct your attention to fome other ftriking and 
 unerring indications of our flourifhing condition ; 
 and they will in general, be derived from other 
 fources, but equally authentick , from other re- 
 ports and proceedings of both Houfes of Parlia- 
 ment, all which unite with wonderful force of con- 
 fent in the fame general refult. Hitherto we have 
 feen the fuperfluity of our capital discovering itfelf 
 only in procuring fuperfluous accommodation and 
 enjoyment, in our houfes, in our furniture, in our 
 
 eftablifh-
 
 eftablifliments, in our eating and drinking, our 
 clothing, and our publick diverfions : we fhall now 
 fee it more beneficially employed in improving our 
 territory itfelf : we fhall fee part of our prefent opu- 
 lence, with provident care, put out to ufury for pof- 
 terity. 
 
 To what ultimate extent, it may be wife or 
 practicable, to pufh inclofures of .common and 
 wafte lands, may be a queftion of doubt, in fome 
 points of view : -but no perfon thinks them already 
 carried to excefs ; and the relative magnitude of 
 the fums, laid out upon them, gives us a flandard of 
 eftimating the comparative fituation of the landed 
 intereft. Your Houfe, this Seffion, appointed a 
 Committee on Wafte Lands, and they have made 
 a Report by their chairman, an Honourable Baro- 
 ronet, for whom the Minifter the other day, (with 
 very good intentions, I believe, but with little real 
 profit to the publick) thought fit to ereft a Board of 
 Agriculture. The account, as it (lands there, ap- 
 pears fufHciently favourable. The greateft num- 
 ber of inclofing bills, palled in any one year of the 
 laft peace, does not equal the fmalleft annual 
 number in the war ; and thofe of the lad year ex- 
 ceed, by more than one half, the higheft year of 
 peace. But what was my furprife, on looking into 
 the late report of the Secret Committee of the 
 Lords, to fyid a lift of thefe Bills during the war, 
 T2 the
 
 [ 142 ] 
 
 differing in every year, and * larger on the whole, 
 by nearly one third ! I have checked this account 
 by the Statute-Book, and find it to be correct. 
 What new brilliancy then does it throw over the 
 prq|pet, bright as it was before! The number during 
 the laft four years, has more than doubled that of 
 the four years immediately preceding ; it has fur- 
 pafied the five years of peace, beyond which the 
 Lords Committees have not gone ; it has even fur- 
 pafled (I have verified the fad:) the whole ten years 
 of peace. I cannot (top here. I cannot advance 
 a fingle flep in this enquiry, without being obliged 
 to caft my eyes back to the period when I firfh 
 knew the country. Thefe Bills, which had begun 
 in the reign of Queen Anrie, had pafifed every year 
 in greater or lefs numbers from the year 1 723 ; yet 
 in all that fpace of time, they had not reached the 
 amount of any two years during the prefent war; 
 and though foon after that time they rapidly in. 
 creafed, flill at the acceffion of his prefent Majefly, 
 
 * Report of the Lords Committee of Secrecy, ordered to be 
 printed, 28th April, 1797, Appendix 44. 
 
 INCLOSURE BILLS. 
 
 3 1789 - 33 1793 60 
 
 1790 25 ^ 1794 73 
 
 ; I79 i . 40 ^ 1795 ' 77 
 
 1791 4O > 1796 72 
 
 138 283 
 
 they
 
 L 143 1 
 
 they were very far fhort of the number pafled in the 
 four years of hoflilities. 
 
 In my firft Letter. I mentioned the ftate of our 
 inland navigation, neglected as it had been from 
 the reign of King William to the time of my ob- 
 fervation. It was not till the prefent reign, that 
 the Duke of Bridgwater's canal firft excited a fpirtt 
 of fpeculation and adventure in this way. This fpi- 
 rit mewed itfelf, but neceffarily made no great pro- 
 grefs, in the American war. When peace was re- 
 ftored, it began of courfe to work with more fenfi- 
 ble effect ; yet in ten years from that event, the Bills 
 paffed on that fubject were nor fo many as from the 
 year 1793 to the prefent Seffion of Parliament. 
 From what I can trace on the Statute-Book, I an* 
 confident that all the capital expended in thefe pro- 
 jects during the peace, bore no degree of propor- 
 tion, (I doubt on very grave confideration whether 
 all that was ever fo expended was equal J to the 
 money which has been raifed for the fame purpofes, 
 fince the war.* I know, that in the laft four years of 
 
 * NAVIGATION AND CANAL BILLS. 
 
 jj 1789 3 5 j 793 28 
 
 ,? 1790 8 1794 IS 
 
 3 1791 10 1795 11 
 
 : J79a __ 9 , 79 6 12 fl.j 
 
 50 69 
 
 Money raifed/*. 2, :m, 200 _
 
 J 
 
 peace, when they rofe regularly, and rapidly, the 
 fums fpecified in the a&s were not near one-third 
 of the fubfequent amount. In the laft Seflion of 
 Parliament, the Grand Jundion Company, as it is 
 called, having funk half a million, (of which I feel 
 the good effects at my own door") applied to your 
 Houfe, for permiflion to fubfcribe half as much more, 
 among themfelves. This Grand Junction is an inof- 
 culation of the Grand Trunk : and in the prefent 
 Seflion, the latter Company has obtained the au- 
 thority of Parliament, to float two hundred acres of 
 land, for the purpofe of forming a refervoir, thirty 
 feet deep, two hundred yards wide at the head, and 
 two miles in length ; a lake which may almoft vie 
 with that which feeds, what once was, ihe now 
 obliterated canal of Languedcc. 
 
 The prefent war is, above all others, (of which we 
 have heard or read) a war again ft landed property. 
 That defcription of property is in it's nature the firm 
 bafe of every liable government; and has been fo con- 
 fidered,by all the wifeft writers of the old philofophy, 
 from the time of the Stagyrite, who obferves that the 
 agricultural clafs of all others is the leaft inclined to 
 fedition. We find it to have been fo regarded, in 
 the practical politicks of antiquity, where they are 
 brought more directly home to our underftand- 
 ings and bofoms, in the Hiftory of Rome, and 
 above all, in the writings of Cicero. The country 
 tribes were always thought more refpe&able, than 
 
 thofe
 
 [ 145 ] 
 
 thofe of the City. And if in our own Hiftory, 
 there is any one circumflance to which, under God, 
 are to be attributed the fteady refiftance, the fortu- 
 nate ifiue, and fober fettlement, of all our ftruggles 
 for liberty, it is, that while the landed intereft, 
 inflead of forming a feparate body, as in other 
 countries, has, at all times, been in clofe connexion 
 and union with the other great interefls of the 
 country, it has been fpontaneoufly allowed to lead 
 and direft, and moderate all the reft. I cannot, 
 therefore, but fee with fingular gratification, that 
 during a war which has been eminently made for 
 the deftruftion of the landed proprietors, as well as 
 of Priefls and Kings, as much has been done, by 
 publick works, for the permanent benefit of their 
 (lake in this country, as in all the reft of the current 
 century, which now touches to it's clofe. Perhaps, 
 after this, it may not be neceffary to refer to private 
 obfervation ; but I am fatisfied, that in general, the 
 rents of lands have been confiderably increafed: they 
 are increafed very confiderably indeed, if I may draw 
 any conclufion from my own little property of that 
 kind. I am not ignorant, however, where our pub- 
 lick burdens are moft galling. But all of this clafs 
 will confider, who they are, that are principally me- 
 naced; how little the men of their defcription in other 
 countries, where this revolutionary fury has but 
 touched, have been found equal to their own pro- 
 tection ; how tardy, and unprovided, and full of 
 
 anguifh
 
 [ 146 ] 
 
 anguifli is their flight, chained down as they are 
 by every tie to the foil; how helplefs they are, above 
 all other men, in exile, in poverty, in need, in all 
 the varieties of wretchednefs ; and then let them 
 well weigh, what are the burdens, to which they 
 ought not to fubmit for their own falvation. 
 
 Many of the authorities, which I have already 
 adduced, or to which I have referred, may convey a 
 competent notion of fome of our principal manu- 
 factures. Their general flate will be clear from, 
 that of our external and internal commerce, through 
 which they circulate, and of which they are at once, 
 the caufe and effect. But the communication of 
 the feveral parts of the kingdom with each other, 
 and with foreign countries, has always been regard- 
 ed as one of the mofl certain lefts to evince the prof- 
 perous or adverfe flate of our trade in all it's 
 branches. Recourfe has ufually been had to the 
 revenue of the Poll Office with this view. I mall 
 include the product of the Tax which was laid in 
 the laft war, and which will make the evidence more 
 ccmclufive, if it (hall afford the fame inference : I 
 allude to the Poft-Horfe duty, which mews the per- 
 fonal intercourfe within the Kingdom, as the Pofl- 
 Office mews the intercourfe by letters, both within 
 and without. The firft of thefe flandards, then, ex- 
 hibits an increafe, according to my former fchemes 
 f comparifon, from an eleventh to a twentieth part 
 
 of
 
 [ 147 ] 
 
 of the *whole duty. The Pod-office, gives (till lefs 
 confolation to thofe who are miferable, in propor- 
 tion as the country feels no mifery. From the 
 commencement of the war, to the month of April, 
 1796, the grofs produce had encreafed by nearly 
 one fixth of the whole fum, which the ftate now 
 derives from that fund. I find that the year end* 
 ing 5th of April, 1793, gave 627,5 2 S and the 
 y.ear ending at the fame quarter in 1/96, .750,637. 
 after a fair deduction having been made for the al- 
 teration (which, you know, on grounds of policy I 
 never approved) in your privilege of franking. I 
 have feen no formal document fubfequent to that 
 period, but I have been credibly informed^ there 
 is very good ground to believe, that the revenue of 
 the f Pod-office dill continues to be regularly and 
 
 largely upon the rife. 
 
 What 
 
 * POST HORSE DUTY. 
 
 g 1787 .169,410 jj 1793 .191,488 
 1788 
 ^ '789 
 1790 
 
 .795,124 .69,346 
 
 204,659 
 
 : '794 
 
 202,884 
 
 170,554 
 
 ^ '795 
 
 196,691 
 
 181,155 
 
 796 
 
 204,061 
 
 
 
 '" ' Incrcafc 1790 
 
 to 1791. 
 
 1791 - - 198,634 4 Yn. 101791 .755,002 .40,122 
 
 f The above account is taken from a paper which was order- 
 ed by the Houfe of Commons to be printed, 8th December, 
 1796 From the grofs produce of the year ending jth Aprii, 
 1796, there has been deducted in that ftatement the Ami of 
 U .36.666,
 
 What is the true inference to be drawn from the 
 annual number of Bankruptcies, has been the occa- 
 fion of much difpute. On one fide, it has been 
 confidently urged as a fure fymptom of a decaying 
 trade: on the other fide, it has been infifted, that 
 it is a circumftance attendant upon a thriving trade; 
 for that the greater is the whole quantity of trade, 
 the greater of courfe muft be the pofitive number of 
 failures, while the aggregate fuccefs is Mill in the 
 fame proportion. In truth, the increafe of the 
 
 ^.36,666, in confequence of the regulation on franking, which 
 took place on the 5th May, 1 795, and was computed at .40,000. 
 per ami. To fliew an equal number of years, both of peace and 
 war, the accounts of two preceding years are given in the fol- 
 Ir.-ving table, from a Report made fince Mr. Burke's death by a 
 Committee of the Houfe of Commons appointed to ronfider the 
 claims of Mr. Palmer, the late Comptroller General ; and for 
 itill greater fatisfa&ion, the number of letters, inwards and out- 
 wards, have been added, except for the year 1790-1791. The 
 letter-book for that year is not to be found. 
 
 POST OFFICE. 
 
 Grofs Revenue. 
 
 Apr. 1790 1791 575,079- 
 
 1791 1792 585,432- 
 1792 1793 627,592- 
 
 1793 '794 69 1 ,268- 
 
 17941795 705,319- 
 
 17951/96 750,637- 
 
 From the laft mentioned Report it appears that the accounts 
 have not been completely and authentically made up, for the 
 years ending 5th April, 1796 and J 797, but on the Receiver-Ge- 
 neral's books ihere is an increafe of the latter year over the for- 
 mer, equal to fomething more than 5 per cent. 
 
 number, 
 
 ~> 
 
 lie. 
 i 
 
 Number of Letters. 
 
 Inwards. 
 
 Outwards. 
 
 > 
 
 6,391,149 
 6,584,867 
 7,094,777 
 7,071,029 
 7,641,077 
 
 5,081,344 
 5,041,137 
 6,537,234 
 7,473,626 
 8,597,167 
 
 ) 
 
 > 
 
 f 

 
 E 14 9 J 
 
 number, may arife from either of thofe caufes. But 
 all mufl agree in one conclusion, that, if the num- 
 ber diminimes, and at the fame time, every other 
 fort of evidence tends to fliew an augmentation of 
 trade, there can be no better indication. We have 
 already h ad ^very ample means of gathering, that the 
 year 1796 was a very favourable year of trade, and 
 in that year the number of Bankruptcies was at 
 lead one-fifth below the ufual average. I take this 
 from * the Declaration of the Lord Chancellor in 
 the Houfe of Lords. He profefled to fpeak from 
 the records of Chancery ; and he added another 
 very (hiking fact, that on the property aclual'y paid 
 into his Court (a very fmall part, indeed, of the 
 whole property of the kingdom) there had accrued 
 in that year a nett furplus of eight hundred thou- 
 fand pounds, which was fo much new capital. 
 
 But the real fituation of our trade, during the 
 whole of this war, deferves mo e minute inveftiga- 
 tion. I (hall begin with thai, which, though chs 
 leall in confequence, makes perhaps the mofl im- 
 preflion on our fenfes, becaufe it meets our eyes in 
 our daily walks ; I mean our retail trade. The ex- 
 uberant difplay of wealth in our fhops \vas the fight, 
 which molt amazrd a learned foreigner of dittinc- 
 
 * In a debate, 3oth December, 1796, on the rerurn of Lord 
 Malmetbury. See Wood fall's Parliamentary Debates, vol xiii. 
 59 1/ 
 
 U 2 fion
 
 [ 150 ] 
 
 tion, \\ho lately refided among us : his expreflion, I 
 remember, was, that " they feemed to be bur/king 
 with opulence into the ftreets." The documents, 
 which throw light on this fubject, are not many ; 
 but they all meet in the fame point : all concur in 
 exhibiting an increafe. The mod material are the 
 General Licences * which the law requires to be 
 taken out by all dealers in exciieable commodities. 
 Thefe feem to be fubject to confiderable fluctuations. 
 They have not been fo low in any year of the war, 
 as in the years 1788 and 1789, nor ever fo high in 
 peace, as in the firft year of the war. I mould 
 next (late the licences to dealers in Spirits and 
 "Wine, but the change in them which took place 
 in 1789 would give an unfair advantage to my ar- 
 gument. I mill therefore content myfelf with re- 
 marking, that from the date of that change the 
 fpirit licences kept nearly the fame level till the 
 ftoppage of the Diflilleries in 1795. If they drop- 
 ped a little, and it was but little, the Wine Licen- 
 ces during the fame time, more than countervailed 
 
 * GENERAL LICENCES. 
 
 8 1787 . 44,030 * 1793 - 45,508 
 
 | 1788 ' 40,832 J 1794 42,129 
 
 ' 1789 39,917 ^ 1795 43,350 
 
 1790 41,910 j 1796 41,190 
 
 _ _ |r t cre.ifeto 1796 
 
 . 106,799 ^. 170,237 /. 3,438 
 
 . . : . -r . * lerreafc to 
 
 1791 - - 44,240 4Yrs.ro 1791 . 167,00.9 . 3,223 
 
 that
 
 C 
 
 that lofs to the revenue ; and it is remarkable with 
 regard to the latter, that in the year 1796, which 
 was the lovveft in the excife duties on wine itfelf, as 
 well as in the quantity imported, more dealers in 
 wine appear to have been licenced, than in any for- 
 mer year, excepting the firft year of the war. This 
 fact may raife fome doubt, whether the confump- 
 lion has been leflened fo much, as I believe, is com- 
 monly imagined. The only other retail-traders, 
 whom I found fo entered as to admit of being fe 
 lected, are Tea-Dealers, and fellers of Gold and Sil- 
 ver Plate ; both of whom feem to have multiplied 
 very much in proportion to their aggregate number*. 
 
 1788 
 
 ' = 1 789 
 
 * DEALERS IN TEA. 
 
 8 1787 .10,934- i 1793 .13,939 
 
 1788 
 
 11,949 
 
 C 1794 
 
 14,315 
 
 I7? 
 
 12,501 
 
 I795 
 
 13,956 
 
 17*0 
 
 13,126 
 
 1796 
 
 14,830 
 
 Increafe to 1790 
 
 ^48,510 . 57,040 . 8,530 
 
 Increafe to 179 
 
 -13,921 4 Yrs.toi79i .51,497 .5,543 
 
 SELLERS OF PLATE. 
 
 .0,593 
 
 7,953 
 7,348 
 
 1,988 
 
 J i79i -8,178 
 
 * 1794 8,296 
 '795 8,128 
 '796 8,8:35 
 
 . 29,882 
 
 . 33,43f 
 
 Increafe to T 790 
 
 Increafe to 1791 
 
 1791 - - 8,327 4 YK. 101791 .3lft8lt .1,821 
 
 I have
 
 I have kept apart 6ne fet of licenced fellers, becaufe 
 I am aware, that our antagonifts may be inclin- 
 ed to triumph a little, when I name Auctioneers and 
 Auctions, They may be difpofed to confider it as 
 a fort of trade, which thrives by the diilrefs ot others. 
 But if they will look at it a little more attentively, 
 they will find their gloomy co-mfoit j/anifh. The 
 publick income from thefe licences, has rifen with 
 very great regularity, through a feries of years, 
 which all mud admit to have been years of pro- 
 fperity. It is remarkable too, that in the year 
 1793, which was the great year of Bankruptcies, 
 thefe * duties on Auctioneers and Auctions, fell be- 
 low the mark of 1791 ; and in 1796, which year 
 had one fifth lefs than the accuftomed average of 
 Bankruptcies, they mounted at once beyond all for- 
 mer examples. In concluding this general head, 
 will you permit me, my dear Sir, to bring to your 
 notice an humble,but induftrious and laborious fet of 
 chapmen againft whom the vengeance of your Houfe 
 hasfometimes been levelled, with what policy I need 
 
 * AUCTIONS AND 
 
 AUCTIONEERS. 
 
 c 
 
 ^ 
 
 I7S 7 
 
 . 48,964 
 
 J ' /C) 3 
 
 . 70,004 
 
 
 
 
 1788 
 
 53,993 
 
 1704. 
 
 <S2,(i;)9 
 
 
 
 
 1789 
 
 52,024 
 
 c . '/:>5 
 
 8(j,890 
 
 
 h 
 
 '79 
 
 53, I ob 
 
 S 1796 
 
 109,594 
 
 
 
 
 . 208,137. 
 
 
 .349,147 
 
 . 141,010 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 - - 10,973 
 
 4 Yr. to 17^1 
 
 . 230,146 
 
 .119,001 
 
 not
 
 [ 153 ] 
 
 not flay to enquire, as they have efcaped without 
 much injury? *The Hawkers and Pedlars, I amaf- 
 fured, are ftill doing well, though from fome new 
 arrangements refpe&ing them made in 1789, it 
 would be difficult to trace their proceedings in any 
 fatisfa&ory manner. 
 
 When fuch is the vigour of our traffick in it's mi- 
 nuteft ramifications, we may be perfuaded that the 
 root and the trunk are found. When we fee the 
 life-blood of the State circulate fo freely through 
 the capillary veflels of the fyftem, w-e fcarcely 
 need enquire, if the heart performs its functions 
 aright. But let us approach it ; let us lay it bare, 
 and watch the fyftole and diaftole, as it now re- 
 ceives, and now pours forth the vital dream 
 through all the members. The port pf London 
 
 * Since Mr. Burke's death a fourth Report of the Committee 
 of Finance has made it's appearance. An account is there given 
 from the Stamp-office of the grofs produce of duties on Hawkers 
 and Pedlars for four years of peace and four of war. It is there> 
 fore added in the manner of the other tables. 
 
 HAWKERS AND PEDLARS. 
 
 1789 . 6,132 J793 ,.6,042 
 
 i79 0,708 '794 6,104 
 
 ^ 1791 6,482 i79S G,7y5 
 
 179* 6,008 J796 7,88-2 
 
 . 25,330 . 26,823 
 
 Irutreafe in 4 Years of War - , - . - . 1,493 
 
 has
 
 [ 154 ] 
 
 has always fopplicd the main evidence of the date 
 of our commerce. I know, that amidft all the 
 difficulties and embarrafimenrs of the year 1793, 
 from caufes unconnected with, and prior to the 
 war, the tonnage of (hips in the Thames actually 
 rofe. But I fhall not go through a detail of offi- 
 cial papers on this point. There is evidence 
 which has appeared this very feflion before your 
 Houfe, infinitely more forcible and impreffive to 
 my apprehenfion, than all the journals and ledgers 
 of all the Infpectors General from the days of 
 Davenant. It is fuch as cannot carry with it any 
 fort of fallacy. It comes, not from one fet, but 
 from many oppofite fets of witnefles, who all 
 agree in nothing elfe ; witneffes of the graved and 
 mod unexceptionable character, and who confirm 
 what they fay, in the fureft manner, by their con- 
 duct. Two different bills have been brought in 
 for improving the port of London. I have it from 
 very good intelligence, that when the project was 
 firfl fuggefted from neceffity, there were no lefs 
 than eight different plans, fupported by eight dif- 
 ferent bodies of fubfcribers. The cofl of the lead 
 was eftimated at two hundred thoufand pounds, and 
 of the moft extenfive, at twelve huadred thoufand. 
 The two, between which the conteft now lies, fub- 
 flaniially agree (as all the others muft have done) 
 in the motives and reafons of the preamble : but 
 I (hall confine myfeif to that bill which is propofed 
 
 on
 
 C 
 
 on the part of the Mayor, Aldermen, and common 
 Council, becaufe I regard them as the heft au- 
 thority, and their language in itfelf is fuller and 
 more precife. I certainly fee them* complain of 
 the " great delays, accidents, damages, loffcs, and 
 extraordinary expences, which are almoft continu- 
 ally fuftained, to the hindrance and difcourage- 
 ment of commerce, and the great injury of the 
 publick avenues." But what are the caufes to 
 which they attribute their complaints? The iirft 
 is, " THAT FROM THE VERY GREAT AND PRO- 
 GRESS1VE INCREASE OF THE NUMBER 
 
 " AND SIZE OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, 
 ** TRADING TO THE PORT OF LONDON; the R'lVCr 
 
 " Thames is, in general, fo much crouded that the 
 " navigation of a confiderable part of the river is 
 <e rendered tedious and dangerous ; and there is 
 " much want of room for the fafe and convenient 
 ' f mooring of veflels, and conftant accefs to them." 
 The fecond is of the fame nature. It is the 
 want of regulations and arrangements, never be- 
 fore found neceflary, for expedition and facility. 
 The third is of another kind, but to the fame ef- 
 fect : " that the legal quays are too confined, and 
 " there is not fufficient accommodation for the 
 c landing and {hipping of cargoes." And the fourth 
 and laft is ftill different \ they defcribe " the ave- 
 " nues to the legal quays," (which little more than 
 a century fince, the great fire of Lo'ndon opened 
 
 X and
 
 [ 150 ] 
 
 and dilated beyond the meafure of our then cir- 
 cumftances) to be now " much too narrow, and 
 " incommodious, for the great concourfe of carts 
 " and other carnages ufually patting and repafling 
 " there." Thus, our trade has grown too big for 
 the ancient limits of art and nature. Our flreets, 
 our lanes, our mores, the river itfelf, which has fo 
 long been our pride, are impeded, and obftrucled, 
 and choaked up by our riches. They are like our 
 mops, " burfling with opulence." To thefe mis- 
 fortunes, to thefe diftrefies and grievances alone, 
 we are told it is to be imputed, that ftill more of 
 our capital has not been pufhed into the chan- 
 nel of our commerce, to roll back in it's reflux ftill 
 more abundant capital, and fruftify the national 
 treafury in it's courfe. Indeed, my dear Sir, when 
 I have before my eyes this confentient teftimony of 
 the Corporation of the City of London, the Weil- 
 India Merchants, and all the other Merchants who 
 promoted the other plans, flruggling and contend- 
 ing, which of them mail be permitted to lay out 
 their money in confonance with their teftimony ; I 
 cannot turn afide to examine what one or two vio- 
 lent petitions, tumultuoufly voted by real or pre- 
 tended Liverymen of London, may have faid of 
 the utter deftru&ion and annihilation of trade. 
 
 This opens a fubjeft, on which every true lover 
 of his country, and at this crifis, every friend to 
 
 the
 
 [ 157 ] 
 
 the liberties of Europe, and of focial order in 
 every country, muft dwell and expatiate with 
 delight. I mean to wind up all my proofs of 
 our aftonifhing and almoft incredible profperity, I 
 with the valuable information given to the Se- 
 cret Committee of the Lords by the Infpe&or- 
 General. And here I am happy that I can ad- 
 minifter an antidote to all defpondence, from the 
 fame difpenfary from which the firft dole of poifon 
 was fuppofed to have come. The Report of that 
 Committee is generally believed to ha.ve been drawn 
 up, (and it is certainly done with great ability) 
 by the fame noble Lord, who was laid, as the au- 
 thor of the pamphlet of 1795, to have led the way 
 in teaching us to place all our hope on that very ex- 
 periment, which he afterwards declared in his 
 place to have been from the beginning utterly 
 without hope. We have now his authority to fay, 
 that as far as our refources were concerned, the ex- 
 periment was equally without neceflity. 
 
 " It appears," as he has very juftly and fatisfa&o- 
 rily obferved, " by the accounts of the value of the 
 " imports and exports for the lafl twenty years, 
 *' produced by Mr. Irving, that the demand for cafh 
 to be fent abroad" (which by the way, includ- 
 ing the loan to the Emperor, was nearly one 
 third lefs fent to the Continent of Europe, than 
 in the feven years war) " was greatly compen- 
 X 2 " fated
 
 [ 153 ] 
 
 " fated by a very large balance of commerce in 
 " favour of this kingdom ; greater than was ever 
 " known in any preceding period. The value of 
 " the exports of the laft year amounted, according 
 * f to the valuation on which the accounts of the In- 
 " fpeftor General are founded, to .30,424,184 ; 
 " which is more than double what it was in any 
 " year of the American war, and one third more 
 " than it was on an average during the laft peace, 
 " previous to the year 1792 ; and though the value 
 " of the imports to this country has, during the 
 " fame peace, greatly increafed, the excefs of the 
 * c value of the exports above that of the imports, 
 tf which conflitutes the balance of trade, has aug- 
 * e mented even in a greater proportion." Thefe 
 obfervations might perhaps be branched out into 
 other points of view, but I fhall leave them to your 
 own active and ingenious mind. There is another, 
 and flill more important light in which the Infpector 
 General's information may be feen ; and that is, 
 as affording a comparifon of fome circumftances 
 in this war, with the commercial hiftory of all 
 our other wars in the prefent century. 
 
 In all former hoftilities, our exports gradually 
 declined in value, and then (with one fmgle excep- 
 tion) afcended again, till they reached and pafled 
 the level of the preceding peace. But this was a 
 work of time, fometimes more, fometimes lefs flow,
 
 -iS9 
 
 In Queen Anne's war, which began in 1702, It was 
 an interval of ten years, before this was effected. 
 Nine years only were necefTary in the war of 1739, 
 for the fame operation. The feven years war fa\r 
 the period much fhortened : hoftilities began in 
 1 755, and in 1 758, the fourth year of the war, the ex- 
 ports mounted above the peace-mark. There was, 
 however, a diftinguifhing feature of that war, that 
 our tonnage, to the very laft moment, was in a ftate 
 of great depreffion, while our commerce was chiefly 
 carried on by foreign vefTels. The American war 
 was darkened with fmgular and peculiar adverfity. 
 Our exports never came near to their peaceful ele- 
 vation, and our tonnage continued with very little 
 fluctuation, to fubfide lower and lower *; On the 
 other hand, the prefent war, with regard to our com- 
 merce, has the white mark of as fmgular felicity, 
 If from internal caufes, as well as the confequence 
 of hoftilities, the tide ebbed in 1793, it rufhed back 
 again with a bore in the following year ; and 
 from that time has continued to fwell, and run, 
 every fucceffive year, higher and higher into all our ' 
 ports. The value of our exports laft year above ; 
 the year 1792 (the mere increafe of our commerce 
 during the war) is equal to the average value of 
 
 * This account is extracted from different parts of Mr. Chal- 
 mer's Eftimate. It is but juft to mention, that in Mr. Chalmeri 
 ftimate, the fums are uniformly lower, than those of the fame 
 year in Mr. Irving's account. 
 
 all
 
 i: 
 
 all the exports during the wars of William and 
 
 It has been already pointed out ; that our imports 
 have not kept pace with our exports ; of courfe, 
 on the face of the account, the balance of trade, 
 both pofitively and comparatively confidered, mud 
 have been much more than ever in our favour. In 
 that early little tracl: of my mine, to which I have 
 already more than once referred, I made many ob- 
 fervations on the ufual method of computing that 
 balance, as well as the ufual objection to it, that the 
 entries at the Cuftom-Houfe were not always true. 
 As you probably remember them, I (hall not repeat 
 them here. On the one hand, I am not furprifed 
 that the fame trite objection is perpetually renewed 
 by the detractors of our national affluence ; and on 
 the other hand I am gratified in perceiving, that the 
 balance of trade feems to be now computed in a 
 manner much clearer, than it ufed to be, from thofe 
 errors which I formerly noticed. The Infpedor- 
 General appears to have made his eft i mate with 
 every poflible guard and caution. His opinion is 
 entitled to the greateft refpeft. It was in fub- 
 ftance (I m ill again ufe the words of the noble Re- 
 porter, as much better than my own) " That the 
 " true balance of our trade amounted, on a me- 
 " dium of the four years preceding January 1 796, 
 w to upwards of .6,500,000, P er annum, exclji- 
 
 " five
 
 f 161 ] 
 
 " five of the profits arifing from our Eaft and 
 " Weft India trade, Which he eftimates at upwards 
 " of .4,000,000 per annum; exclufive of the 
 " profits derived from our fifheries." So that in- 
 cluding the fifheries, and making a moderate allow- 
 ance for the exceedings, which Mr. Irving hitnfelf 
 fuppofes, beyond his calculation ; without reckon- 
 ing, what the publick creditors themfelves pay to 
 themfelves, and without taking one milling from the 
 ftock of the landed intereft ; our colonies, our 
 oriental pofTeffions, our fkill.and induftry, our 
 commerce, and navigation, at the commencement 
 of this year, were pouring a new annual capital 
 into the kingdom ; hardly half a million mort of 
 the whole intereft of that tremendous debt, from 
 which we are taught to fhrink in difmay, as from 
 an overwhelming and intolerable oppreflion. 
 
 If then the real ftate of this nation is fuch as I 
 have defcribed, and I am only apprehenfive, that 
 you may think, I have taken too much pains 
 to exclude all doubt on this queftion ; if no claft 
 is leflened in it's numbers, or in it's ftock, or in 
 it's conveniences, or even it's luxuries; if they build 
 as many habitations, and as elegant and ascommo*. 
 dious as ever, and furnilh them with every charge- 
 able decoration, and every prodigality of ingenious 
 invention, that can be thought of by thofe who 
 ven encumber their neceflities with fuperfluous ac- 
 commodation ;
 
 commodation ; if they are as numeroufly attended $ 
 if their equipages are as fplendid ; if they regale 
 at table with as much or more variety of plenty 
 than ever ; if they are clad in as expenfive and 
 changeful a diverfity according to their taftes and 
 modes ; if they are not deterred from the pleafures 
 of the field by the charges, which Government has 
 wifely turned from the culture to the fports of the 
 field ; if the theatres are as rich and as well filkd 
 and greater, and at a higher price than ever ; 
 (and, what is more important than all) if it is 
 plain from the treafures which are fpread over 
 the foil, or confided to the winds and the feas, 
 that there are as many who are indulgent to their 
 propenfities of parfimony, as others to their volup- 
 tuous defires, and that- the pecuniary capital grows 
 inftead of diminiming; on what ground are we au- 
 thorized to fay, that a nation, gamboling in an 
 ocean of fuperfluity is undone by want ? With what 
 face can we pretend, that they who have not denied 
 any one gratification to any one appetite, have a 
 right to plead poverty in order to famim their vir- 
 tues, and to put their duties on Ihort allowance ? 
 That they are to take the law from an imperious 
 enemy, and can contribute no longer to the honour 
 of tkeir king, to" the fupport of the independence of 
 their country, to the falvation of that Europe, which, 
 if it falls, much crufh them with its gigantick ruins ? 
 How can they affeft to fweat, and ftagger, and groan 
 
 under
 
 under their burthens, to whom the mines of New- 
 foundland, richer than thofe of Mexico and Peru, 
 are now .thrown in as a make-weight in the fcale of 
 their exorbitant opulence? How can they faint, 
 and creep, a i cringe, and proflrate themfelves at 
 the footftool of ambition arid crime, who ? during a 
 fhort though violent ftruggle, which they have ne- 
 ver fupported with the energy of men. have amaffed 
 more to their annual accumulation, than all the 
 well-hufbanded capital, that enabled their ancef- 
 tors by long, and doubtful, and obftinate conflicts, 
 to proted, and liberate, and -vindicate the civilized 
 world. But I do not accufe the people of Eng- 
 land. As to the great majority of them, they have 
 done whatever in their feveral ranks, and condi- 
 tions, and defcriptions, was required of them by 
 their relative fituations in fociety j and from thofe 
 the great mafs of mankind cannot depart, without 
 the fubverfion of all publick order. They look up 
 to that Government, which they obey that they may 
 be protected. They aik to be led and directed by 
 thofe rulers, whom Providence and the laws of their 
 country have fet over them, to the attainment of their 
 own fafety, and welfare, and honour. They have 
 again delegated the greatefl truft, which they have 
 to beftow, to thofe faithful reprefentatives wh > made 
 their true voice heard againfl the difturbers and 
 deftroyers of Europe. They fuffered, with unap- 
 proving acquiefcence, folicitations to an unjufl and 
 
 Y ufurding
 
 ( 164 ) 
 
 ufurping Power, whom they did not provoke, and 
 whofe hoftile menaces they did not dread. When 
 the exigencies of the publick fervice could only be 
 met by their voluntary zeal, they ftart J forth with 
 an ardour, which outftripped the defires of thofe, 
 who had injured them by doubting, whether it might 
 not be neceffary to have recourfe to compulfion. 
 They have, in all things, repofed an enduring, but 
 not an unreflecting confidence, That confidence 
 demands a full return. It fixes a refponfibility 
 on the Minifters entire and undivided. The 
 people fland acquitted, if the war is not carried 
 on in a manner fuited to it's objects. If the pub- 
 lick fafety fuffers any detriment, they are to anfwer 
 it, and they alone. It's armies, it's navies, are 
 given to them without flint or reftriQion. It's trea- 
 fures are poured out at their feet. It's conftancy 
 is ready to fecond all their efforts. They are not 
 to fear a refponfibiliiy for acls of rqanly adventure. 
 The refponfibility which they are to dread, is, left 
 they mould mew themfelves unequal to the expec- 
 tation of a brave people. The more doubtful may 
 be the conftitutional and ceconomical queflions, 
 upon which they have received fo marked a fup- 
 port, the more. loudly they are called upon to fup- 
 port this great war, for the fuccefs of which their 
 country is willing to fuperfede confideradons of no 
 flight importance. Where I fpeak of refponfibility, 
 I do not mean to exclude that fpecies of it, which 
 
 the
 
 ( ' 65 ) 
 
 the legal powers of the country have a right finally 
 to exact from thofe who abufe a publick truft ; bnt 
 high as this is, there is a refponfibility which at- 
 taches on them, from which the whole legitimate 
 power of the kingdom cannot abfolve them ; there 
 is a refponfibility to confcience and to glory ; a re- 
 fponfibility to the exifting world, and to that pof- 
 terity, which men of their eminence cannot avoid 
 for glory or for mame ; a refponfibility to a tribu- 
 nal, at which, v not only Minifters, but Kings and 
 Parliaments, but even Nations themfelves, muft one 
 day anfwer.
 
 ft 33
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 NOV 27 1939 
 JANS 1943 
 
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 1 I NOVO 
 
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 1988 
 
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