The Letters of Darius: or, 
 Reflections upon the Peao-3, the 
 I East-India Bill, and the Present 
 f Crisis 
 
 By 
 Thomas Fay
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 THE 
 
 LETTERS OF MARIUSt 
 
 o R, 
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 PEACE, 
 
 THE 
 
 EAST-INDIA BILL, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PRESENT CRISIS; 
 By THOMAS DAY, Efq, 
 
 Non ante revellar, 
 
 Exanimem quam te compleftar, Roma, tuumquc 
 Nomen libertas, et inanem profequar umbram. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION, 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR J. STOCKDALE, 
 
 OPPOSITE BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY. 
 MDCCLXS3CIY. 
 
 -
 
 FCS U:A:!';: HCCM 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 ;V.j 
 
 IT is neceflary to give a reafon why the 
 following reflexions are publifhed under 
 the fictitious name of MARIUS. They were 
 originally intended to be printed in the 
 public papers, and the firft five letters were 
 
 >. written before the author changed his plan. 
 
 But the bulk into which they infenfibly 
 fwelled, made them feem more adapted 
 to the form under which they now ap- 
 
 pear : at the fame time neither the urgency 
 of the prefent crifis, nor the variety of fub- 
 je&s to be treated, allowed him to melt 
 them down anew, and give them the uni- 
 formity of a continued effay. The ne- 
 ccffity of immediately prefenting fuch fen- 
 timents as thefe, if they are prefented at^all, 
 to the public, has alfo induced the author 
 to publifli with a precipitation, which he 
 otherwife difapproye. 
 
 THE
 
 THE 
 
 LETTERS OF MARIUS, 
 c. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 To Dr, EBB. 
 
 S I R, 
 
 IF, in the moft dangerous crifis, the conftB 
 Varro was thought to deferve the thanks 
 of the Roman people whofe very exiftence he 
 had endangered, merely, " quod non delperaf- 
 fet de republica," with what honours ftiould 
 the Englifh nation exalt your name ? - In the 
 midft of dangers, fo much the more formidable 
 as the internal corruption of any ftate is more 
 to be feared than every external fliock, your 
 uniform conduct has been to animate by your 
 B example,
 
 C 2 ) 
 
 example, and to enlighten by your underftand- 
 ing, the wavering aud dejected minds of your 
 countrymen. While this has uniformly been 
 your public conduct, your private example 
 feems deftined to refcue the injured term of 
 Patriotifm from the unmerited ridicule which 
 had been brought upon it by the treachery of its 
 pretended friends. 
 
 While every rafh adventurer, while every ru- 
 ined libertine, could' find a beneficial trade in 
 duping the credulity of the people ; while every 
 broken author, gambler, pimp, or paraiite, 
 when deprived of the hops of fubfifting by his 
 honeft induftry, could promife himfelf a decent 
 fubfiftence, if not the enjoyment of his favourite 
 vices, by enlifting himfelf under the banners of 
 the popular caufe, it was no wonder that caufe 
 iliould be fo often abandoned and betrayed as 
 we have feen it. But, if we lament the mifap- 
 plication of the public confidence, in a variety 
 of inftances, we muft, at leaft, allow that 
 the evil has not been unproductive of utility. 
 There is a limit beyond which credulity itfelf 
 will not fubmit to be deceived ; and that limit 
 the Englilh people have happily attained. I 
 have not yet heard that the political qualms of 
 Lord North againft fecret influence, and the ha? 
 langucs of Mr. Fox in favour of a parliamentary 
 
 majority^
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 majority, have made a fmgle profelyte out of 
 their own virtuous houfe. Ttere, indeed, a 
 faving faith, according to the true orthodox 
 form of " Credo quia impoffibile," has given a 
 wonderful efficacy to the word ; and many a 
 Clubborn infidel, who would not have believed 
 *' even though one had rifen from the dead,'* 
 has already yielded to the bare promife of a 
 fliower of manna, or a fecond miracle of the 
 loaves and fimes. But with the body of the; 
 people the cafe is widely different. They have 
 learned to attend to the ftubborn voice of fads, 
 as well as to the more foothing notes of oratori- 
 cal perfuafion. They demand a certain con- 
 fiftency of life and manners, the delicate co- 
 louring of private honeity and integrity, to fill 
 up the flowing outline of public profeffion, 
 and to make it worthy of a people's admiration. 
 This, fir, is what envy itfelf will not deny to 
 be your undifputed claim. The Englifh peo- 
 ple, therefore, receive you as their undoubted 
 benefactor, and, whatever may be the confe- 
 quence of your exertions, allow you all the 
 glory which is due to the purity and difinterefl- 
 ednefs of* your intentions. 
 
 But it is not enough, in public contefls, to 
 
 have gained the cleared praiie of integrity, un- 
 
 lefs we can add to it that of difcretion and 
 
 B 2
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 judgment. Cato expiated, within the walls of 
 Utica, the ill-timed deference which he had 
 fhewn to Scipio; and Cicero paid with his 
 blood the price of his fond idolatry of Odavius. 
 The Englifh people, that have been always 
 doomed to expiate either the treachery or the 
 pufillanimity of their leaders, will find it difficult 
 to determine which of thefe qualities has pro- 
 duced the greateft mifchief. While the one 
 has given up all their rights at the very moment 
 when they might have been ettablifhed, the 
 other has repeatedly checked them in their molt 
 fuccefsful career, with ideal difficulties, and 
 delays, whkh are always friendly to ufurpation 
 as they are dangerous to liberty. 
 
 Never did this appear more evident than in 
 the year 1779, which gave birth to the arTocia- 
 tions of the people. Wearied out at that time 
 with the abfurd conduct of an unjuft war, into 
 which they had been betrayed by every fpecies 
 of falfehood and mifreprefentation, they turned 
 their eyes, with a gratitude little fhort of adora- 
 tion, upon that fudden light which unexpectedly 
 rofe upon their darkened horizon. Nor can it 
 be doubted, that it was much lefs the people 
 who were then wanting to their own caufe, than 
 that they were, as ufual, deferted by their lead- 
 ers. A few, a very few difmterefted men, among 
 
 whom
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 whom it will ever be your praife to have been 
 the foremoft, ftood forth, and called the public 
 attention to the radical and inveterate corrup- 
 tions of the conftitution. " In vain/' faid they 
 to that body of the gentry and nobility which 
 fnpported the caufe of oppofition, " do you 
 attempt to palliate, or temporize with your 
 difeafe. In vain do you diltract the attention 
 of the people upon the trifling details of their 
 government, and cheat them with idle vifions 
 of ceconomical reforms. Were the public mi- 
 feries occafioned either by accidental incapacity, 
 or accidental misfortune, we might hope for 
 relief from time, and fpare ourfelves the trou- 
 ble of exertion ; but, where a long unbroken 
 feries of events has been unfolded, all tending 
 to the fame end, and that end the depreffion of 
 the people and the detraction of their rights, 
 it calls for all our vigilance and virtue. Even 
 now, the meafure of our wrongs is full ; nor 
 have we any remaining hope but from courage 
 founded upon defpair. For whom will ye in- 
 voke in this extremity of diftrefs, but yourfelves? 
 Will ye prefer your petitions to the throne 
 which has fo often fpurned, fo often rejected 
 them ; and hope that a fovereign will under- 
 take the patronage of public freedom, when it 
 is no longer defended by the fpirit of a nation ? 
 
 Hiftory
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 Hiftory, indeed, commemorates fovereigns 
 have praftifed . the virtues and the philofophy 
 of private life, who have loved their friends, 
 pardoned their enemies, and endured the ap- 
 proach of truth ; fome have even descended 
 from their thrones, and fought for happinefs in 
 obfcurity : but the example is yet wanting of 
 a prince who has lott an opportunity of increaf- 
 ing his power, or religned the ufurpations of 
 his predeceflbrs. 
 
 " But according to the principles of the Eng- 
 lifh conflitution, you have little either to hope or 
 to fear from the private qualities of a fovereign : 
 or, rather, by an happy fiction which makes 
 every minifter that {hares the executive power 
 anfwerable for his own omiffions, the prince 
 may enjoy all the reverence of his virtues, while 
 his name is never compromifed by the guilty 
 projects of ambition. But however implicitly 
 we may admit the maxim, That a king can do 
 no wrong, flattery itfelf has never yet applied 
 it to his fervants ; and mould we appeal to ex- 
 perience, it may perhaps be doubted whether 
 the impeccability of the fovereign is not com- 
 penfated by a contrary quality in his minifters. 
 Nothing then remains but that ye ufe the only 
 check which the conftitution has provided, and 
 order your reprefentatives to impeach the guilty 
 
 authors
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 authors of your miferies. But, alas ! fuch is 
 the peculiar unhappinefs of our fituation, that 
 thofe whom we Ihould apply to for redrefs are 
 the very authors of our misfortunes. For is 
 there a fingle minifter, that has infulted the 
 patience or eluded the vengeance of the people, 
 that is not fenced in by a majority of thofe who 
 call themfelves your rcprefentatives ? What 
 meafure has been fo ftigmatized by public de- 
 teftation, fo openly inimical to the liberties and 
 intercfts of a free people, as not to be fanctified 
 by a majority of that honourable houfe ? If 
 we take their whole fucceflive conduct, from 
 their open and indecent attacks upon the dear- 
 eft privileges of the people in the Middlefex 
 election, down to their premeditated invafion 
 of the American rights, and all the fubfequent 
 horrors of the civil war in which we are now 
 engaged, is there a fingle action worthy of the 
 generality, greatnefs, or underftanding of the 
 Englifh people ? Nor do we found our opinion 
 upon vague furmize or uncertain conjecture. 
 Whatever undoubted virtue and ability this 
 country can boafl in its public councils, what- 
 ever characters of fuperior luftre, have all com- 
 bined in vain to ftem the torrent ; and they 
 now appeal from the venal votes of a corrupt 
 majority to the fober and unbiafled fuffrages of 
 
 the
 
 the people. Who can doubt the integrity, the 
 difmtereftednefs, more than the talents of a 
 Fox, and Burke ? And when you behold the 
 fruitlefs efforts of men like thefe, to point iheir 
 country's thunders at the head of its implacable 
 foe, and hear them publicly aflert that wifdom 
 and ability alike are vain ; that all the former 
 fpirit of our parliament is evaporated, and has 
 left nothing behind but blind fervility to a mi- 
 nifler, can we hefitate to admit the fatal truth I 
 No ! could there yet remain a doubt, we feel 
 it in the degradation of our country, and the 
 
 increafmg mifery of its inhabitants. Roufe 
 
 then, if ever, ye laft remaining hopes of liberty, 
 and unite for its defence !" 
 
 MARIUS. 
 
 LET-
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 LETTER II. 
 To Dr. J E B B. 
 
 SIR 
 
 WHOEVER would write adequately 
 concerning public affairs, muft not con- 
 fine his attention to the prefent moment, but 
 muft include a feries of pafl events, as necefiary 
 to eftablilh his opinions both of the prefent and 
 the future. With this intention, I recurred, in 
 my laft letter, to the year 1779, and gave a 
 fummary of what was then addreffed to the 
 people, by thofe who coincided in your fenti- 
 ments of the caufe of national grievances : I 
 fhall now drop the third perfon, and proceed, in 
 my own, to fubmit to the judgment of the pub- 
 lic the arguments in favour of correcting the re- 
 prefentation of the people which were then ufed ; 
 and which are now neceffary to be remembered, 
 if we wilh for any adequate remedy to the evils 
 which furround us. 
 
 Hiftory furnifhes us with a variety of forms 
 
 in which the human fpecies have exifted under 
 
 C different
 
 C 1 ) 
 
 different modifications both of tyranny and free- 
 dom. Indeed, every thing is fo mixed in hu- 
 man affairs, that it is perhaps impoffible to pro- 
 duce an inftance of any government which is 
 purely either the one, or the other. Scarcely 
 any arbitrary government exifts, which is not 
 limited in its excefles, either by the prejudices 
 of manners or religion ; fcarcely any free one 
 \vhich does not contain within itfelf the feeds 
 of its own future deftruction. This confidera- 
 tion has given wonderful fcope to the inge- 
 nuity of thofe who wifh to confound the under- 
 ftandings of rr.en, and to mifreprefent the plaineft 
 facts. You that, for the fake of alleviating the 
 real miieries of your fellow- creatures, are con- 
 tinually obliged to confider thofe miferies in 
 their mofl hideous forms, know that nothing 
 is more difficult than to define the precifc boun- 
 daries of health and difcafe : yet the wildeft 
 fccptic will' net deny that thcfe ideas have a real 
 exiftence, and that it is the effcntial intereft of 
 man to inveftigate them with all the accuracy 
 he poi&fies. 
 
 In politics, it mud be confeffed, we can 
 fcarcely proceed a ftcp, without finding equal 
 caufe to lament the imperfect nature of paft 
 experience, and the yet more imperfect manner 
 in which it is recorded. But in what fcience, 
 
 nnkfs
 
 ( II ) 
 
 unlefs it be pure mathematics, can we pretend 
 to certainty, or even accuracy ? The condud: 
 of life, therefore, muft either be permitted to 
 probability, or left to fluctuate at random. 
 And, if we obferve the common behaviour of 
 our fellow-creatures, we mult acknowledge that 
 they do not fo much fuffe'r from the fcantinefs 
 of their materials, as from a want of diligence 
 and judgment in application of them. 
 
 Without involving myfelf, therefore, in all 
 the fubtleties of metaphyfical difli nations, I fliall 
 limply obferve, that one common fact is univer- 
 fally found in every free government ; a public 
 and legal method, by which the fpirit of the 
 nation at large may declare itfelf to its gover- 
 nors, and either confirm or alter the courie of , . 
 meafures. Wherever we turn our eyes, I affert ' * 
 that this circumftance has been always found to 
 accompany public liberty, and to meafure its 
 extent and duration : nor is there a fingle ex- 
 ample, in hiftory, of any country that has not 
 been enflaved the very moment when it fuf- 
 fered either violence or cajolery to deprive it 
 of this ineftimable privilege. 
 
 Nor will it, perhaps, be lofs of time, if I 
 
 paufe here to anfwer a common fophifm which I 
 
 have remarked in all the writers on the other fide 
 
 of the queftion. Government, they, indeed, al- 
 
 C 2 low
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 low to be a truft, and to be exercifed for the good 
 of the people ; but as to the adual confent and 
 will of the people themfelves, they place it en- 
 tirely out of the queilion. They feleft, with 
 wonderful ingenuity and perfeverance, all the in- 
 ftances of popular fury, caprice, and ingratitude, 
 which they can find in hiftory, to contrail them 
 with the moft favourable periods of arbitrary go- 
 vernment ; and then they triumphantly afk, whe- 
 ther all thefe outrages and excufes compofe free- 
 dom, while juftice, order, and humanity as na- 
 turally conftitute fervitude. But this is either a 
 wilful, or involuntary confufion of ideas. There 
 can be no doubt but there are periods in the life 
 of every individual, when it might be more con- 
 ducive to his intereft to be v under the controul of 
 a difcreet friend, than abandoned to the weaknefs 
 and inexperience of his own judgment. No 
 doubt, but there are many inftances in which you 
 could extend the benefits of the medical art, were 
 you able to enforce your precepts of regimen and 
 exercife by a falutary degree of reftraint ; but 
 will any one argue fo inaccurately as, for that 
 reafon, to affert, that men would become more 
 free by being fubjeded to the arbitrary will of a 
 phyfician, in all that concerned their health ; 
 more efpecially, were one of his fubalterns daily 
 
 to
 
 ( '3 ) 
 
 to feel their pulfe, in order to determine the al- 
 terations which took place ? 
 
 In truth, nothing can be more inaccurate than 
 to produce the mifchiefs which may fometimes 
 arife from liberty, or the advantages wliich may 
 accidentally refult from flavery, as a reafon for 
 confounding the ideas/ The man is certainly 
 more free than the child, although in many in- 
 ftances it might be for his advantage ftill to trem- 
 ble at the ferula ; and the American favage, even 
 while he is perifbing for hunger in his native 
 woods, than the beft-fed negro of the iilands. 
 But to argue with any regard for accuracy or 
 logic, the battery Ihould be changed ; and it muft 
 be maintained, that it is really more for the intcreft 
 of any nation to abandon its claim to liberty, than 
 to fubmit to the inconveniences of preferving it. 
 This is the fuppofition which, under a variety of 
 difguifes, has been frequently obtruded upon the 
 prefs ; and therefore I will beftow fome confide- 
 ration upon it, that I may not be afterwards in- 
 terrupted in the progrefs of theie letters. 
 
 I have often thought it a wonderful fallacy of 
 fome divines to depreciate human reafon in order 
 to exalt religion : for, unlefs that religion be im- 
 parted by particular infpiradon to every individual, 
 what other method is there of ellablifh'mg it, 
 than proofs adapted to his reafon ? The more, 
 
 there-
 
 therefore, you convince him of the weaknefs and 
 fallibility of that faculty, the more you muft in- 
 cline him, were he confident, to doubt his power 
 of judging concerning the particular evidence you 
 propofe. But this fallacy does not feem to be 
 confined to the venerable order of the clergy. 
 Politicians practife it at leaft with equal fuccefs, 
 when they defcant upon the blindnefs and ig- 
 norance of, what they call, the multitude. The 
 paffions of mankind, they tell you, are fo ftrong, 
 and their reafoning powers fo weak, that nothing 
 but anarchy and confufion can refult from their 
 being permitted to govern themfelves. What 
 then is the remedy ? Would one not expect 
 that they would bring fome god or angel down 
 to take the management of affairs upon himfelf, 
 and atone for human imperfections ? But here 
 they are inferior to their friends the clergy. In- 
 ilead of this device, they have only the very con- 
 temptible one of felecting a frnall part of the 
 fpecies, who are not only to govern themfelves, 
 but all the reft. So that this unavoidable con- 
 tradiction arifes from the fuppofition ; mankind 
 are totally incapable of governing themfelves, 
 yet they are not only capable of governing them- 
 felves, but millions of others at the fame time. 
 Nor is it poffible to avoid this confequence, by 
 aflerting that certain individuals excel in pru- 
 dence
 
 dcncc and wifdom, and therefore are by nature 
 adapted for this purpofe : for what are the marks 
 that diftinguifh thefe individuals, and who is to 
 judge of their authenticity ? If the bulk of man- 
 kind is too grofs and blind to decide concerning 
 this fuperior excellence, it muft be fame-body 
 elfc that determines for it. But how are we to 
 diflinguiih thefe few, that, like the Venetian 
 electors, are to chufe for all the reft ; and that 
 without a previous election, or even a form of 
 ballot ? If it be merely the few, in oppofition 
 to the many, it will be poffible to divide the 
 hrgeft number till you reduce it to the fmalleft ; 
 but it is an original idea to fuppofe that ignorance 
 and flupidity may be divided and fub-dividsd, 
 till they become knowledge and underftanding. 
 
 But here is the general fallacy both of di- 
 vines and politicians : both begin by teaching 
 you to diftruft yourfelf, and addrefs themfelves, 
 if I may ufe the expreffion, to the hypocondri- 
 acifm of human nature. When their reprefen- 
 tations have fucceeded to a certain degree, they 
 give you to underftand that the only cure for all 
 your evils is to adopt their own particular fyftem 
 either of faith or government. What is ortho- 
 doxy, true religion, and the will of heaven, on 
 the one fide ; or herefy, fchifm, and idolatry on 
 the other ? The particular opinions which 
 
 every
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 every divine holds forth, or which he chufes to 
 condemn. In the words of Hudibras, 
 
 ' What make all do&rines plain and clear ? 
 " About two hundred pounds a year." 
 
 Thus if you demand of the politician what 
 is order, good government, and political wifdom? 
 Will he not anfwer, tf he fpeak truth, the fub- 
 miilion of mankind to the particular opinions 
 which I entertain, or which I am paid for dhTe- 
 minating. If, on the contrary, what is rebelli- 
 on, faction, fedition, treafon ? Different degrees 
 of the opinions which either my avarice or am- 
 bition would prove falfe. But fhould you prcfs 
 him further, he muft be compelled either to ad- 
 mit the general right of all the fpecies to judge 
 as well as act for themfelves, or elfe to involve 
 himfelf in inextricable contradictions. 
 
 M A R I U S. 
 
 LETTER
 
 LETTER III. 
 To Dr. J E B B. 
 
 SIR 
 
 HE that builds, from caprice or vanity, may 
 content himfelf with the flimfy decorations 
 and patch -work ornaments of modern tafte. How- 
 ever weak may be the foundations, however frail 
 the materials, the edifice will be the wonder of 
 a day, and may then unheeded crumble into ruins. 
 Had I intended thefe papers to be the auxiliaries 
 of party, or the inflruments of private ambition^ 
 I had haftened to feize the perifhable topic of the 
 hour, before it gave place to the next new ob- 
 ject of fafhionable purfuit and wonder. But how- 
 .ever vain may be the attempt, however inadequate 
 my ambition, I have propofed to myfelf an higher 
 object : I aim at placing that folid information be- 
 fore the public, which may guide their judgment , 
 and direct their conduct. I mail too foon be obliged 
 to quit the peaceful walks of fpeculation for the 
 crooked and dangerous labyrinths of modern 
 ftatefmen and politicians. 
 
 D However
 
 ( 18 ) 
 
 However ftrong may be the arguments in fa- 
 vour of political liberty which are produced by 
 the underftanding alone, thctfe which are derived 
 from experience will give them additional force. 
 
 Man is forbidden by the laws of his orga- 
 nization to afpire at immortality ; yet why Ihould 
 difiblution be equally the fate of every human infti- 
 tution ? May we not conceive a fociety eflablifhed on 
 fuch a bails, as to brave the mocks of time ; and to 
 remain, like the ieveral fpecies of the animal 
 world, immortal and incorruptible, though com- 
 pofed of a thoufand periftiable generations ? 
 
 Alas ! it will be anfwered, human inftitutions, 
 though at longer intervals, are equally mortal 
 with the individuals' that compofe them. To raife 
 an eternal fabric, with materials that are in a con- 
 tinual flate of fluctuation and decay, is a vainer 
 attempt than " to build a city and a tower whofe 
 top may reach unto Heaven." 
 
 What government is recorded, within the an- 
 nals of time, fo wifely framed, fo folidly eftab- 
 liftied, as not to have degenerated into tyranny ; 
 and what tyranny that has not foon been overturn- 
 ed, by relaxing all the fprings of national defence, 
 and enfeebling the community in order to en- 
 ilave' it ? Nay, the very inftitutions of Heaven it- 
 lelf, the inftant they were entrufted to human 
 paffions for their fupport, have fcarcely met 
 
 with
 
 f '9 ) 
 
 a different fate, or conftituted an exception;. 
 The firft apoilles of chrifti^nity were mild and 
 lowly, like the founder of their faith. They ad- 
 drefied themfelves to the reafon of men, and pro- 
 pagated their religion by perfuafion. They ab- 
 jured the luxuries and the enj.oyments of fenfe ; 
 they fubmitted to every infuk; they refufed the 
 offered benefits of their friends, and deprecated,, 
 only by prayers and bleffings, the malice of their 
 enemies. But mark the change I The infant, a 
 royal convert has given the clergy entrance to a 
 court, they abjure every principle of their religion. 
 Then we lofe fight of a fuffering, and begin the 
 asra of a triumphant church. The immedia:e 
 fucceffors of fifhermen and mechanics confent to 
 be cloathed in purple and fcarlet, to wallow in all 
 the feniualiues of the. moft abandoned. ag and, 
 country, and to difgrace the fimplicity of the molt 
 fpiritual religion, by the rites a n<i ceremonies of 
 the grofleft. The power of confuting about the 
 interpretation of the articles of their religion, 
 which was expreffly given to the whole body qf. 
 chriftians, is, in a fliort time, monopolized ty 
 the clergy ; and the power of chufipo; their paf- 
 tors and bifhops, a right equally deducible _frorp, 
 a]uity, hiftory, reafon, and the fcriptures^, taken 
 from the laity, and lhared between the hierarchy 
 and the civil power. And this fyftem of pradti:e 
 D a soil
 
 and belief, fo grofsly adulterated, fo totally un- 
 like the original, is called Chriftianity, and en- 
 forced by racks, and flames, and gibbets ; the 
 antient fupporters of civil, and now the welcome 
 auxiliaries of ecclefiaftical power. What may we 
 fuppofe would have been the ftate of chriftianity 
 at the prefent hour, had not the daring and origi- 
 nal genius of Luther reduced it fomething nearer 
 to its original principles, in the fixteenth century ? 
 What may we fuppofe will be its ftate in the 
 twentieth, fliould no new Luther arife to teach 
 our clergy the diftance between the houfe of the 
 Lord and the courts of princes, the difference be- 
 tween the fervice of God and mammon ? 
 
 But I forefee that fome of my readers may 
 here exclaim, All this may be true, btit what is it 
 to the purpofe ? You are writing upon govern- 
 ment and political liberty, why then deviate to 
 the abufes and corruptions of chriftianity ? Be- 
 caufe the hiilory of chriftianity, a perfect and 
 recorded fucceffion of facts, which every man 
 may confider at his leifure, is the beft illuftration 
 in the univerfe of the fubject'on which I am 
 writing* Becaufe, if neither the immediate doc- 
 trines of Heaven itfelf, nor its pofitive commands, 
 have been able to preferve even a chriflian clergy 
 from every corruption which can grow upon the 
 ielfifh paflhrj?, what are we to expedt will be the 
 
 fate
 
 fate of inftitmions merely human, if once aban- 
 doned to the avarice, ambition, and indolence of 
 thofe who have an equal interefl to pervert them ? 
 While, therefore, I plead the caufe of truth, 
 and defend the intereft of the human fpecies, the 
 wider my range, the more extenfive my obferva- 
 tions, the greater will be the force of thofe con- 
 clufions which I fhall eftabliih upon the united 
 evidence of fpeculation, reafon, and practical ex- 
 perience. 
 
 The favourers of a parliamentary reform have 
 been repeatedly attacked with all the virulence of 
 anonymous felrifhnefs and malevolence. They 
 are "idle fpeculatifts, nurfed in the gloom of 
 folitude and ignorance," " men of defpicable 
 abilities," " of neither fortune or confequence," 
 " actuated by private intereft and malevolence," 
 and an hundred other characters equally liberal 
 and candid. If they indeed be all this, and the 
 fubftance of a thoufand other invectives which 
 have been lavifhed upon them, no doubt from the 
 fureft motives^ they certainly deferve the contempt 
 of all their countrymen. But let the matter be 
 brought fairly to ifiue before that public which is 
 appealed to. MARIUS is the laft and meaneft of 
 that body. Should he be foiled, an hundred 
 abler champions are ready to enter the field, and 
 the caufe which he maintains will receive no dif- 
 
 grace
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 4ifgrace from the weaknefs of its defender. But A 
 Should the arguments which he adduces remain 
 unconfuted, what will the public think of thq 
 courage of his adverfaries, or of the juftice of taeir, 
 caufe ? 
 
 " Each fearlefs hero dares an hundred foes, 
 
 While the feaft lafts, and while the goblet flows; 
 
 ' But who to meet one martial man is found, 
 
 *' When ths fight rages, and the flames fuiTOund ? " 
 
 POPE'S ILIAD. 
 
 Some of thefe gentlemen are famous for their 
 metaphyfical acutenefs. Let them therefore de- 
 icend into the field, and prove the falfity of the 
 principles which I have laid down. If they can 
 be confuted, it will fave me the trouble of pro- 
 ceeding in my courfe, and profecuting an enquiry 
 commenced under fuch inaufpicious omens. Or, 
 as they fometimes affect to defpife fpecnlation, and 
 feem to imagine that all the underftanding of the 
 world is comprized in the dull routine of par-^ 
 liamentary bufinefs and oppofition dinners, 'Jet 
 them difprove this practical maxim upon which 1 
 reft the merits of the caufe, " That there is no 
 inftance of any body of men which have not abufed 
 whatever trufts were repofed in them, to the 
 vileft purpofes of felfifhnefs, the inflant they were 
 not ated upon by foaie external force which kept 
 them true to the purpofes of their inftitution." 
 
 Shoulci
 
 Should thefe points cither not be denied, or 
 being denied Ihould not be adequately difproved 
 fcy argument, I will take the liberty of ftating the 
 manner in which I intend to apply my principles^ 
 and the conclufion I mall attempt to eftablifh. 
 
 In the firft place, it is my opinion, as has been 
 repeatedly affirmed by a majority of the nation, 
 that the prefeht Honfe of Commons is no repre- 
 fentation of the Englilh people. 
 
 And this, I imagine, will be the more eafily 
 conceived even by my adverfaries, as many of 
 them, rather than grant the force of any argu- 
 ment in favour of public liberty^ have chofen to 
 deny that reprefentation was any part of the Englilh 
 conftitution; 
 
 In the fecorid place, I aflert, that, if the prefenfc 
 Houfe of Commons does not really reprefent the 
 people, the people have no conftitutional method 
 of either effectually enforcing or oppofing public 
 meafures. 
 
 In the third place, I will take the liberty of 
 examining the conduct of thofe who are called the 
 reprefentatives of the people, particularly in re- 
 fped to the celebrated Eaft-India bufinefs. 
 
 And ihould I fucceed in eftablifhing the prin- 
 ciples which I have here advanced, I (hall fubmic 
 it to the underftanding of my countrymen, whether, 
 while they are fo tremblingly alive to the rights of 
 
 fovereigns
 
 C 24 ) 
 
 Sovereigns and minifters, it does not become them 
 to have fome regard for their own. 
 
 I have addrefled thefe letters to you, fir, be- 
 caufe I think the efteem and gratitude of the 
 public conftitute the fit reward of virtuous ac- 
 tions. No one has exerted himfelf more ftre- 
 nuoufly, more difmterefledly, more uniformly. 
 While Mr. appeared the champion of the 
 people and their rights, you reverenced him with 
 a zeal which I never thought his conduct de- 
 ferved. But it is the cleareft proof of your own 
 integrity, that you have been able to relinquifh 
 thofe habitual delufions the inftant you could be 
 convinced they were mifplaced. In refpect to the 
 refolutions brought forward at the laft meeting of 
 the quintuple alliance, I am convinced, they con- 
 tain dangerous and falutary truths, little likely to 
 be adopted by the indolence of this nation, but 
 necerTary to influence their conduct, if they afpire 
 to continue a free people. To place this fubjedt 
 in the cleareft light, and to bring it home to the 
 hearts and underftandings of my countrymen, is 
 the only aim of 
 
 M A R I U S. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Right Honourable the EARL of STAIR* 
 
 My LORD; 
 
 THERE is an ambition in the humaii 
 mind, which may at leaft be pardoned; 
 if not commended, of connecting itfelf with, 
 every object of public efteem. Poets have ex- 
 haufted the comparifon of the oak and ivy; and 
 your iordfhip is too well acquainted with poetry 
 3 well as calculation, to need a reference td 
 the particular pafiages. I am contented for once 
 to be the fubject of the allufion, and to have 
 it fuppofed that MAR i us would rife to notice 
 upon the blafts which ipread your lordfhip' 
 fame. 
 
 In your kft pamphlet, you exprefs a wifH 
 that the euthanalia of the linglifli conflitutioii 
 may be a mild defpotifm. Had fuch a fehti- 
 ment proceeded from any of the common rep- 
 tiles that are engendered in the corruptions of 
 a court, we fhoiild have only faid^ The Crea- 
 E fcure's
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 ture's at his dirty work again," and pafied it 
 over in filent contempt : but when it proceeds 
 from a man, who, apparently retired from hu- 
 man affairs^ fhrouds himfelf in his own inte- 
 grity, and delivers oracular fayings from the 
 precindts of confecrated groves, we furely muft 
 be as much artonifhed as the frighted heathen, 
 that heard treachery recommended from the 
 tripod of Apollo. 
 
 The public, my lord, have given you un- 
 doubted credit for the apparent zeal with which 
 you oppofed the American war. Coniidering 
 the prejudices of your country, they allowed it 
 to be no trifling effort. They even pardoned 
 fome little advances towards Lord North *, in 
 confideration of the fpirit with which you abufed 
 the majority of the parliament and the reft of 
 the adminiflration. Bot this was nothing more 
 than had been .already done by- many of the 
 moft diftinguilhed characters in the nation ; nor 
 
 can 
 
 * " The noble lord has much in pofieflion, more in 
 reverfion : happy in his family, happy in his fortune 
 and abilities, with ftion"- natural and focial affections, 
 no one muft drink deeppr of the bitter cup of national 
 humiliation and ruin. In his public Jine of conduct I 
 fee, or fancy that I fee, and in his alone, of all the 
 ruthlefs minifterial tribe, fome twitches of remorfe, 
 
 fome
 
 fan we therefore allow you the full merit of your 
 niodeft infmuation : < f It is the comfort, it is the 
 glory of my life to have oppofed, almoft fing- 
 \y, in the beginning, that war,' at the fure con- 
 fequence and expence of all that has happened to. 
 me*." 
 
 Was your lordfliip ignorant, when yp.u hazard- 
 ed that afiertion, that the American war had 
 been openly oppofed, not only by a confider- 
 able party in parliament, but by a. numerous 
 body of independent men in every quarter of 
 the kingdom ? That petitions had been fent 
 from many of the trading towns and the coua- 
 ties of South Britain ? 
 
 The minifterial writers of that ill-omened hour 
 are full of menaces againft the factious party at, 
 home that juftified the refinance of the Americans. 
 They firft, we are told, lighted up the flame 
 pf rebellion ; they afterwards gave new force to. 
 its half-extinguifhed violence ; they dilated the 
 refolutions of qongrefs, the march of Wafhing- 
 
 fome recollections of the fair feelings of humanity, fome 
 fweet drops of. the milk of human kindncfs " 
 
 FACTS AND THE1.R CoKS2 qUEN'CES, p. 26. 
 
 I heard it obferved, when this pafiage was firft pub!i(hcd, 
 that his lordfhip muft have feen all this by fccond fight ; for 
 not an Engli(h:nan could ever difcover the lea{V_of all thplc 
 wonders. 
 
 * An argument to prove, that it is the indifpenfable 
 &c. by John, Earl of Stair, p. 24. 
 
 E a
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 tpn, the independence of America, and the eter- 
 na.1 humiliation of thejr own country : 
 
 " They hated, they defpis'd, and they deftroy." 
 
 Does your lordfhip feriouily believe that all 
 this feries of accufations relates to you alone ? 
 That you were the only object of minifterial 
 hatred, of party rancour, of American gratis 
 tude ? Or have you never yet heard the names 
 of Richmond, Chatham, Camden, and even of 
 Dr. Price ? 
 
 V Me, me! adfum qui feci, in njc convertlte ferrunj." 
 
 But, if you inveft yourfelf with this pre-emi- 
 nence, you fhould at leaft have fitted yourfelf to 
 fupport with dignity the part you voluntarily 
 afliime. We can conceive Cato tearing out his 
 Own bowels, or Brutus, with his lafl breath, 
 complaining that heaven had abandoned the 
 caufe of virtue ; but we cannot fo eafily cpnceive 
 the laft of Romans carrying up an addrefs to 
 welcome the conqueror from the plains of Phar- 
 falia, and congratulating his triumphs over the 
 conftitution. 
 
 But this infinuation may perhaps be contro- 
 verted by your lordfhip's friends : let us try 
 how far it can be brought home from the 
 evidence of your own writings. He that never 
 
 omits
 
 C *9 ) 
 
 omits an, opportunity of cafting contempt anc^ 
 ridicule upon every expedient, one alone ex- 
 cepted, may fairly be imagined to think more 
 highly of that exception, and to prefer it to all 
 the reft. Intereft, as well as vanity, may find 
 out more paths than one of arriving at its ends ; 
 and he is little acquainted with the world, who 
 is ignorant that to degrade an enemy is often the 
 fame thing as to recommend a frien,d. 
 
 You have taken every opportunity, in the dif- 
 ferent tracts you have publifhed, of expreffing 
 your contempt of all public characters, and of 
 a great majority of the Houfe of Commons. 
 Let us hear your own words : s< The happy 
 counterpoife of the different parts of our confti- 
 tution is deftroyed ; all refponfibility is made a 
 jeft ; for, backed by a majority, paid to fupport^ 
 and paid to applaud their meafures, be they what 
 they may, miniflers gather the rofes without 
 the cares or the thorns of power ; and from the 
 number and rank, and even fortunes of th$ 
 corrupted, fafhion and ton is given to the bafeft 
 proftitutions of principles and of talents*." 
 Again : " Was indeed, as in the days of our 
 anceftors, the fable believed, of a bargain and 
 fale to the Devil for temporary honours and 
 
 * Fa&s and their Conferences, p. 25. 
 
 emoluments,.
 
 ( 3 > 
 
 Emoluments, I much fear that the prime of 
 darknefs would hold a majority in the Britifh 
 parliament -f." I have feleded thefe from a 
 variety of paiTages equally ftrong and pointed, 
 becaufe I think they mud be allowed to convey 
 a very unequivocal idea of your fentiments. 
 But if miniilers, if even parliaments, are fo 
 radically corrupted, it can be neither from mini- 
 fters nor parliaments, fuch as they are at prefent, 
 that the nation is to expedl its fafety. Where- 
 ever the prince of darknefs may obtain a majority, 
 I will anfwer for it he v. ill never want a fubfti- 
 tute to manage affairs in hi? behalf. 
 
 One only alternative therefore remains, unlefs 
 the nation ought to be entirely pafiive under, 
 fuch a complicated weight of injuries and cala- 
 mities : it may in/ift upon reforming the cor- 
 ruptions of its representatives, or it may con- 
 fent to abolith* reprefentatio.i altogether, and 
 take fhelter in what you feelingly call " a mild 
 defpotifm." Should the few remaining friends 
 of their country's liberties, for fuch friends may 
 even now remain, adopt the former part of the 
 alternative, it appears to me no reflection upon, 
 their hearts,, and but little upon their beads. 
 
 f Attempt to balance the Income and Expenditure of the 
 State, p. 18. 
 
 ThQ
 
 < 3< ) 
 
 The bounds of poflibility are little known to 
 the ordinary part of mankind. The few fupe- 
 rior minds that have enlarged them for the fpe- 
 cies, were looked upon at firft as ralh adven- 
 turers, who were only accelerating their owii 
 deftruction. If the opinions of mankind are 
 forcibly altered by fuccefs, it arifes, I fear, lels 
 from juftice than from vanity and meannefs. 
 They are willing to derive benefit from the la- 
 bours and dangers which they began with de- 
 crying, and would eftablifh the merit of having 
 forefeen thofe difcoveries which they have 
 gravely pronounced impoffible. 
 
 As to moral caufes and their effects, they are 
 a perpetual contradiction to the boafted powers 
 of penetration. The wifeft man in general feei 
 but little before him, and frequently not at all. 
 The objects are fometimes fo dark, that it is 
 impofiible to diftinguifh them ; fometimes fo 
 luminous, that they dazzle the obferver's eye ; 
 and paffion, prejudice, and fuperftition, arc 
 perpetually bufy to change their colouring and 
 alter their dimenfions. If your lordfhip forefaw 
 the independence of the Americans, when the 
 Britifii parliament as wantonly as foolilhly chofe 
 to drive them to extremities, was every man even 
 of fenfe endowed with equal penetration? Many, 
 I believe, as quick-fighted as yourfelf, and as 
 
 much
 
 tlie friends of univerfai liberty, trembled 
 for the event. They did not indeed doubt that 
 America would be fevered irt the end from the 
 mother country, but they could not fo eafily 
 calculate what might be the immediate effects of 
 the almoft unparalleled forces which this country 
 femplbyed againft it. Neither could they forefee 
 that happy feries of blunders arid abfurdity 
 which marked the operations of the Britifh Mi- 
 niftry, and which contributed, at leaft as much 
 as arms, to bring the affair fo fpeedily to a de- 
 cifion. They knew they had much to expect 
 
 from the genius of Lord 5 but they did 
 
 not exactly comprehend the full extent of his 
 abilities. That wife procraftination of event 
 in their own nature inevitable ; that judicious 
 mixture of precipitance and delay, of firmnefs 
 and pliability *, fo conftantly rrilfapplied that it 
 is fcarcely poffible to attribute it wholly to the 
 common principles of rninifterial dulnefs ; that 
 lethargy that (lumbered over every opportunity i 
 that activity which never failed to fucceed its 
 irremediable lofs ; that plaufibility which never 
 deceived, and that fortitude which never im- 
 pofed ; were happy flrokes of the fablime in his 
 lordfhip's character, which required a full fcriesl 
 of feven years to develop to the public. 
 
 Pardon me, my lord, a digreffion which the 
 
 con-
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 eorifideration of fuch unequalled merit drawS 
 from my unwilling pen. The noble chara&er 
 which I have been defcribing, has done much 
 for politicians and hiftorians, and he deferves all 
 that they can beftow. 
 
 But if the profpect of diftaht events is in its 
 own nature fo obfcure as generally to elude 
 or dazzle the flrdngeft fight, is it from the 
 avowed friends of liberty that we are to expect 
 every degree of ridicule and imputation upon 
 thofe who dedicate their lives to its preferva- 
 tion ? The prefent, it is too generally known; 
 is no common or trifling sera. A great and 
 mighty nation, fhaken by fucceffive flrokes, 
 totters upon its foundations. The nobleft con- 
 ftitution in the world " is fquirted to death by 
 Eton boys." '* Parliament^ to which it is na- 
 tural to have recourfe in times of difficulty and 
 danger, is, I fear, fallen too much into the 
 public contempt to be of any material fervice 
 It is, I doubt, too generally looked upon as a 
 body of men without any fixed principles of 
 fight and wrong; a weathercock, that obeys 
 each blaft of court or popular favour, which 
 ever of them is uppermoft *." The inevitable 
 conclufion that follows from the premifes laid 
 
 * Argimientto prove, &c, by John, Earl of Stair, p. 33. 
 
 F down
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 down by the greateft calculator in the nacio'n'j 
 is, " That the ftatt is a bankrupt, and that thofe 
 who have trujled their all to the public faith, are in 
 very imminent danger of becoming (I die pro- 
 nouncing it) beggars^" It is true, indeed, your 
 lordfhip adds, if nothing effectual is done to 
 prevent thefe confequences. But whence is 
 this fomething effeffual to arife ? You have al- 
 ready decried all parties, and have defcribed the 
 wifdom and virtue of parliament too exactly to 
 induce us to expect it from that honorable 
 houfe. Nothing, therefore, remains, but the 
 euthanafia of the conftitution, towards which 
 you feem to caft a longing eyej the mild def- 
 potifm which has efcaped your pen, that is to 
 indemnify us for all our lofles, extend the pre- 
 fent narrow bounds of public credit, and pre- 
 pare us for new wars, with all their baneful at- 
 tendants. 
 
 Were I inclined to imitate your lordfhip's 
 candour, I might pronounce all this, as you do 
 of the wifhes and exertions of the people, 
 " moftly impracticable nonfenfe." But I refpect 
 your lordfliip more than you feem to do the 
 fincerefl friends of their country. In -fuch a. 
 ftate of tilings, we can no longer- be called upon 
 
 f Argument to prove, &c. p, 32, 
 
 CO
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 to content ourfelves with the common beaten 
 tracts of political corruption and miniflcrial cun- 
 ning. Even the advocates of 'arbitrary power, 
 fince they have abandoned^ their jus divinum 
 and hereditary right in favour of the houfe of 
 Hanover, and even your countrymen, fince they 
 have transferred their attachment from the 
 name of Stuart to that of Brunfwick, make pro- 
 tection and obedience infcparable terms. In 
 the prefent ftate of things, we feem to be aimed 
 as much abandoned by our governors, as we 
 formerly were by the Romans, to our own inter-, 
 nal ftrength. The land-marks of the conftitu- 
 tion are all removed, and, were we as flavifhly 
 inclined as the antient Cappadocians, who defi- 
 red a king becaufe they could not conceive the 
 pofiibility of governing themfelves, we know 
 not how to obey, becaufe it is not determined 
 who is to command. Your lordmip, indeed, 
 comes forward with a charitable zeal, and offers^ 
 us a tyrant. This, perhaps it may he observed, 
 is no new prefent from your country ; but al- 
 moft a century of civil conteils and detblation.% 
 of private miferies and public executions, 
 of controverted titles, and the laft extremes 
 alternately dared and furTered by a noble nation, 
 have made us rather cautious how we accept 
 l^ie boon, Let us, in the mean time, try what 
 F 2 qan.
 
 can be effected by methods more adapted to> 
 the genius and fpirit of the Englifh people. 
 No nation was ever deferted by heaven or for* 
 tune till it was firft deferted by itfelf } and the 
 annals of our hiftory may lead us tp hope that 
 we are never nearer to our deliverance than when 
 a feeble mind fees nothing around but horrpr 
 and defpair. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 T Q THE 
 
 Right Honourable the EARL of STAIR. 
 
 My LORD, 
 
 HE that difinterefledf^ dedicates his life, to 
 the public fervice, if fuch a character 
 can be allowed to exift, is, unlefs virtue be 
 thought its Qwn reward, more to be pitied than 
 every other defcription of men. In the courfe 
 of his labours, he will be obliged fucceflively to 
 attack, if not to join, every party of the great 
 and powerful; and as the malice has always 
 been allowed to exceed the gratitude of our 
 fellow-creatures, he will have much more to 
 expect from the revenge of thofe he quits, 
 than from the patronage of thofe with whom 
 he leagues. 
 
 Were a prudent man, therefore, to form a 
 filent and reflected fcheme of making his for- 
 tune 
 
 35476O
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 fune by the' public, he would naturally attach 
 himfelf to one of the reigning parties into which 
 this miferable country is divided. It matters 
 not whether the engagement ' be formed in the 
 hour of triumph or difgrace. Succefs naturally 
 expands the heart ; and defeat has a wonderful 
 tendency to increafe the powers of fenfibility. 
 A routed faction is never fqueamiftily nice in 
 admitting friends, or a victorious one in convert- 
 ing enemies. What wonders have we not al- 
 ready feen performed during the adminiftration 
 of Lord North ! What additional miracles Hill 
 attend, him in his difgrace ! 
 
 There are, my lord, who have imagined you 
 compofed of fiich fcubborn materials as, >refifi; 
 all the alchym.y of modern ftatefmen. The li- 
 beral, the merited abufe you have fo repeatedly 
 heaped upon minifters and parliaments, feemed 
 to point you out as one of the few unvitrifiable 
 fubftances which no political flux could mollify. 
 But I have attended, with that prudent jealoufy 
 which ever accompanies a long experience of 
 mankind, to the progrcfs of your political ca- 
 reer. I have difcovered, or fancied that I dif- 
 covered, " a piethod in your madnefs ," a pru- 
 dence which rarely accompanies violent pafiions, 
 but which 'has never failed to temper the ebul- 
 litions
 
 c 39 ; 
 
 Htions of your zeal. When in the midft of all 
 your refemment of public wrongs, aird evert 
 in the more fincere corrrplaint of private in- 
 juries, I obferved thVt 'caution which always 
 diftinguifhed" accurately between the' fovereigrt 
 and the minifter,'! began to think it poffible, 
 that all thefe blunt profefiions of rugged hOnefty 
 might mean as little as the tropes and figures of 
 the dppofition. Nothing can be more illiberal 
 than national reflections. I admire the indufiry* 
 the ingenuity, the bravery of your countrymen ; 
 but- 1 fufpect their patnotifm. Rochefaucault 
 obferves that the < eharadter of every country b 
 as indelibly (lamped upon the manners of the in- 
 dividual, as its accent is upon his pronunciation. 
 Will your lordfhip -pretend to constitute the ex- 
 ception ? 
 
 I anticipate v/hat may be alleged, in your de- 
 fence. It will be obierved that duty to the fo- 
 Vereig!i was never yet reputed treafon againfl 
 the cohftiiution: -'All the icurrilities which dif- 
 grace the prefs-.wiil be produce^, from the in- 
 veclives , of. the North Briton down to the 
 poin^d malevolence of Jutiius. But is there 
 rto rhedinin b:tweea the; reffian a^d the para- 
 Titei 1 Can your:- lordibip conceive no modifi- 
 cation of the English language .which does not 
 
 ter-
 
 C 40 ) 
 
 terminate cither in licentious abufe, or intefett- 
 ed flattery ? 
 
 This nation has been too repeatedly deceived 
 hot to prefer ve ah active jealoufy. We view 
 the lion's den, and we are obliged to exclaim 
 with the fox in the fable, " Veiligia nulla retr'br- 
 *' fum." Not every one that comes to us in 
 the name of the conftitution, can be riow ad- 
 mitted to the rank and confequence of a patriot. 
 It is one of the characteriftics of the latter 
 times, that there fliall arife falfe prophets, and 
 falfc teachers, that fhall deceive even the elect; 
 Since, therefore, you have as yet produced no 
 miracles, nor even pretended to the power of 
 working them, we rnuft try your fpirit, hot by 
 the marvels you perform, but by the doctrines 
 you preach. 
 
 There is, my lord, a certain fpecies of pro- 
 fefiion, a fafliionable cant, which is with juftice 
 iufpected by every difcerriing mind. It has 
 been one of the greateft misfortunes of the 
 >refent reign, that ftrong profefiions of loyalty 
 and perfonal attachment have always prevailed 
 over every other fpecies of political merit. The 
 bbfervation is ftale, but it is true, that kings are 
 forbidden by nature to have a friend. Is it their 
 blefiing, or their curfe, that they are fcldom 
 
 acquainted
 
 ( 4' ) 
 
 acquainted with this great truth, till k is too 
 late to profit by the difcovery ? 
 
 The real and difmterefted friend of his country 
 is indeed loyal, but it is loyalty of another (lamp 
 which he profefiVs, and which is the principle 
 of his actions. His allegiance to the prince is 
 founded upon the confideration that royalty is 
 an efiential part of that conftitution which is 
 the object of all his care and reverence. He 
 confiders not the perfon, but the office of the 
 king. The one is frequently not more refpe<ft- 
 able than the meaneft of his fubje&s, while the 
 other is immortal and unchangeable. The re- 
 fpect, therefore, which he bears to the throne 
 will never degenerate into any idolatry for the 
 individual who is feated upon it. If he is 
 ready to defend its juft rights and prerogatives, 
 it is becaufe thofe rights and prerogatives con- 
 ftitute the Englifli conftitution ; and that con- 
 ftitution, with all its defects, is more favour- 
 able to public happinefs and liberty, than any 
 other which could be adopted. In office,'' he 
 will treat his fovereign with refpeft, and perform 
 his orders with alacrity and zeal ; fo long as 
 thofe orders contribute to the public benefit, and 
 are confident with public liberty. He will 
 endeavour to preferve unfullied the noblefl 
 of the royal prerogatives, the power of pro- 
 G moting
 
 ( 4* ') 
 
 rfiotirig merit and rewarding virtue. Far from 
 him that abject fpirit of monopolization, which 
 ieizes upon royal favour, as it would do a pri- 
 x r ate patrimony, and proftitutes it to family con- 
 nections and party leagues. Far from him that 
 fervile fpirit of flattery, which confounds the 
 office of minifter and laureate, and degrades 
 the ruler of a powerful nation into the obfequi- 
 oufnefs of a court buffoon. He will endeavour 
 to make the fovereign worthy of the nobleft 
 panegyrics ; but he will teach him to expect 
 them not from the corrupt echoes of a court, 
 but from the unbiafled acclamations of a grate- 
 ful people. 
 
 Alike undaunted amid the tempefts of po- 
 pular clamour and factious opposition, he will 
 keep his eye fixed upon that facred mean which 
 constitutes the fecurity of fovereign and people. 
 Should there be a meafure which his fuperior 
 genius points out as necefiary to the public 
 fafety, he will boldly adopc it ; defpifing alike 
 the arts of defigning men, and the empty pre- 
 judices of a multitude. He will truft to the 
 uniform integrity of his own conduct: for a vin- 
 dication ; and to time, which as neceffarily 
 eftablifoes the folid fabrics of truth as it fweeps 
 away the empty fyftemsof falfehood. His fame, 
 he knows, is not the tranfitory beam of either
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 royal or popular favour ; it is the rcfuit of a 
 whole feries of confident adtions directed to one 
 great end, and proceeding from one common 
 principle. 
 
 That principle may teach him to oppofc the en- 
 croachments of faction upon the royal preroga- 
 tive j but it will teach him to oppofe, with ten-fold 
 zeal, thofe temporary paroxyfms of delirium which 
 tempt a deluded people to lay their privileges 
 at a matter's feet. In the firft cafe, they may 
 indeed endanger all, by grafping at too much -, 
 but in the fecond they give up all, even without 
 the hope of an equivalent. Is the fovereign 
 virtuous ? He will be the laft either to perfuade 
 or to accept the facrificc. Is he poflefltd with 
 the common rage of encreafing his power ? Thac 
 day which yields the conftitution up, to his di& 
 cretion, renders him a tyrant, and deftroys the 
 nation. 
 
 In what language, therefore, would fuch a 
 man addrefs the firft magiftrate of his country, 
 were it neceflary to approach the throne ? With 
 refpecT: and modefty, but with firmnefs j with, 
 reverence, but with truth. He would lea.ve the 
 interefted profefik>ns of perfonal attachment and 
 veneration to thofe who m^ant to betray the. 
 people by flattering the fovereign, or to expofe 
 the ibvereign himfclf by fpothing the common 
 G 2 prejudice*.
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 prejudices of his ftation. Should he fee the na- 
 tion almoft undone by a difaftrons war, in which a 
 favourite and protected adminiflration had borne 
 a principal lhare, he would not make his com- 
 miferation of injured royalty the capital figure of 
 the piece. Well knowing that the fovereign 
 and his family are always the laft to feel the 
 weight of public mifery, he would referve his 
 pi y for the thoufand innocent objedts which de- 
 ierve it better. Could he weep tears more fall 
 or precious '' than the Arabian tree", there would 
 not be one to beftow on every victim of fuch a 
 war as the American has produced. If he is 
 feelingly alive to the temporary embarraflrnent of 
 a royal hart held for a moment at bay, what 
 muft he feel for whole provinces that have been 
 for feven years the prey of the bloodied hunters 
 that ever followed the chace of death ? What 
 muft he feel for a thoufand gallant veterans that 
 line our ftreets, deform our public ways, and 
 prefent in- vain their wounds, their poverty, their 
 incurable difeafes, to thofe in whofe pernicious 
 caufe they have contradted them ? What muft 
 he feel for a nation like the Englilh, which is, 
 with all its faults, one of the moft gallant, ge- 
 nerous, and deferving in the univerfc, reduced 
 to univerfal beggary by a conteft which 'never 
 was national, in a difpute which never interefted 
 the public ? 
 
 Th
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 The royal children, my lord, have never, 
 yet wanted bread *, and Heaven forbid they 
 ihould ever incur that neceflity ! They live in 
 the midft of a nation that is fufficiently difpofed 
 to fhare its own laft morfels with its rulers. 
 But perhaps it might be more difcreet in a loyal 
 fubject, to keep the hydra debts of the civil lift, 
 that "bougeon" fo repeatedly, though lopped 
 and feared fo often, and the neceflity of incur- 
 ring new expences, from the public view. Even 
 
 Lord A n's declaration in favour of a manly 
 
 and fpirited prince has met with few admirers. 
 Accuftomed as we are to bear, with a degrading 
 patience, the vices and follies of our rulers, we 
 have not yet learned to believe that they add 
 more to the glory than to the happinefs of the 
 people ; and in our prefent circumftances, we 
 Ihould willingly exchange the luftre of fuch a 
 triumph for the more fober advantages of order 
 and ceconomy. 
 
 M A R I U S. 
 
 * " The king is forced to take the very bread from his 
 hildren's mouths." Argument to prove, &c. p. 12. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Right Honourable the EARL of HELBURNE. 
 
 My LORD, 
 
 IF praife be ever agreeable to a delicate tade, 
 it is when it afcends pure and unfufpected; 
 fuch an offering as an honeft mind may bcftow, 
 and a generous one Accept without a blufli. This 
 is what your lordlhip has been little accuftomed 
 to receive during the Ihort period of your poli- 
 tical triumphs, and what you are too well ac- 
 quainted with the world to exped: during yqur 
 difgracc. But, 
 
 " When intereft calls off all her foeakiug train, 
 " And all the obit^'d defert and all the vain ." 
 
 the.n is the hour for the impartial man to coma 
 forward, and declare his fentiments. Nor can 
 you be more furpriied at this addrefs, which you 
 certainly have never paid for, than I am, to 
 find a (ingle action in a niinifter worthy of im- 
 boughc applaufe. But it appears to me an un- 
 pardonable wcaknefs to be more afraid of com- 
 mending
 
 { 47 ) 
 
 mending merit than of cenfuring vice. I there- 
 fore feize the moment, when I find myfelf able 
 to approve the conduct of a minifter, left it fhould 
 not return. 
 
 When, in the beginning of the year 1782, 
 We beheld the diflblwtion of Lord North's ad- 
 miniftration, you have not forgotten the general 
 triumphs of the nation. It was nut only the 
 capricious love of novelty, however univerfal 
 may be the principle; it was the involuntary in- 
 toxication of a whole people, thir, wearied with 
 its miferie-s, expected fome relief from a change 
 of matters. Befides, the very nature of the cir- 
 cumflances had created in the nation an unufual 
 difpofition for confidence. The fpirit of oppofition 
 had raged fo long in vain, that it had drawn the 
 bonds of political union tighter than common 
 between the multitude and their leaders. With 
 whatever contempt the illuftrious characters that 
 .compofe the Houfe of Commons are accuftomed 
 to treat their conftituents, a variety of caufes had 
 concurred to produce a temporary relaxation. 
 
 The reigning faction could not be ignorant" 
 that it was dangerous to reduce even Haves to 
 defperation ; and a ten years bitter abftinence 
 from all the fvveets of power and emolument had 
 taught their opponents the neceflity of conde- 
 fcending to cajole the people. Hence arofe 
 
 thofc
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 thofe meetings and afibciations throughout Eng- 
 land ; -popular dinners and popular harangue's ; 
 fervent profeflions and unfubftantial promifes; 
 with all the train of amorous lies and perjuries, 
 by which our unfuccefsful ftatefmen are accuf- 
 tomed to enfnare a fond, believing multitude. 
 And fo thoroughly were they deceived, that they 
 had entirely forgotten that almoft invariable law 
 of nature, by which a minifter is compelled to 
 contradict all that he had ever promifed when 
 out of place. They perhaps imagined that fome- 
 thing was to be expected from the unparalleled 
 extremities to which the whole nation was re- 
 duced. They thought that a rational felf-intereft 
 might for once fupply the place of virtue, and 
 convince their friends of the utility of preferving 
 fome appearance of honour and confiftency. 
 Men that were obtruded again ft the confent of 
 the fovereign might perceive the importance of 
 cultivating the efteem of the people. There 
 was too a fort of religious fan&ity attached to 
 the remembrance of common dangers and the 
 ties which they had produced. The pilfering 
 Arab, although inured to fpoil and carnage, 
 will fpare the wretch that has once claimed the 
 hofpitality of his roof: and who could tell but 
 Englilh patriots might fo far adopt the example, 
 as for once tofpart tbeir friends ? 
 
 But
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 But there is a fublimity which diftinguiflies 
 certain minds, although it muft ever efcape 
 the conceptions of the vulgar. Doomed to the 
 uniformity of private life, they find it difficult 
 to conceive what is placed beyond the reach of 
 commen experience. They have indeed a grofs 
 and confufed fufpicion that the inflexible patriot 
 may be gradually foftened into the cringing 
 courtier, or the rapacious minifter ; and that 
 the warmeft advocates for liberty may at length, 
 incline to the folid bleflings of arbitrary power* 
 But thefe changes they imagine will be the 
 effect of time and folicitation. They look for 
 the common formalities of gradual corruption, 
 and think it hardly poffible that their warmed 
 friends mould become their moft determined 
 enemies, without pafiing through the medium 
 of neglect and indifference. 
 
 But thefe are prejudices which are now hap- 
 pily removed for ever ; and I will venture to 
 affert that the greateft mafter of political ver- 
 fatility will find it difficult hereafter to attract 
 applaufe orfurprize an audience. Proteus him- 
 felf, were he now to vifit our ifland, muft own 
 himfelf outdone, even at his own weapons, and 
 confefs the fuperiority of fome cf our modern 
 practitioners. Although a god, there were 
 certain ties which could hold him faft, and at 
 H length
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 length compel him to affume his own, after he 
 had run through every other Ihape. What 
 would he have faid to mere mortals, who efcape 
 from every tie and put off every character at 
 will? 
 
 But, my lord, I am wandering wide of the 
 intended mark. The tafk which I have pro- 
 pofed to myfelf is that of collecting facts, and 
 prefenting fober reafon to my countrymen; and 
 I haften to fulfil it. However eager, however 
 general were the expectations of the people at 
 the change of minifters which took place in the 
 fpring of 1782, they were moft bitterly difap- 
 pointed. The unfortunate death of the Mar- 
 quis of Rockingham, which fo fpeediJy enfued, 
 was the fignal for breaking up that adminiftra- 
 tion, which twenty years had fcarcely matured, 
 and from which the nation expected its delive- 
 rance. I, indeed, had not been one of that fan- 
 guine body. Perhaps my dulnefs or malevolence 
 rendered me lels clear-fighted in refpect to the 
 expected blefiings. My acquaintance with ge- 
 nt ral hiftory, as well as my experience of man- 
 kind, had taught me to believe too generally 
 perhaps of public men, that, whatever might be 
 their profefiions, their aim was nothing but felf- 
 intereft. I was not fo partial to the fpirit of 
 the age as to believe it very prolific in fuperior 
 
 characters.
 
 ( 5? ) 
 
 characters. When I considered the formal pro- 
 fcffions and the apparent ftrength and difcipline 
 of our parties, they might appear fufficiently 
 formidable; but when, after the example of 
 Agefilaus*, I feparatecj them into, their refpec- 
 tive clafles, I found the number of genuine 
 patriots furprizingly diminifhed. I did not 
 therefore expect to fep the gokka days, of 
 which fo many dreamed, renewed or realized, 
 even under a genuine Whig admjniftration ; 
 which had been the Panacea fo induftrioufly 
 held forth for every national difeale. But I 
 muft confefs I expected more from the good 
 
 * When Agefilaus commanded tae allied army of the 
 Grecians in an expedition into Afia, he was reproached for 
 the fmall comparative number of Spartans which he had 
 brought with him. He, therefore, took an opportunity, at 
 a general review, of proclaiming that all w.ho praftifed the 
 trade of carpenters fhould leave their arms, and go to a 
 particular fpot. Many of the allies, who had been brought 
 \jp to that trade, accordingly quitted the ranks, but not a 
 Jingle Spartan. In this manner he went through every 
 mechanical trade, till the ranks of the allies were almoft 
 reduced to nothing, while thofe of the Spartans had fuffered 
 no diminution. " See now," faid he, to thoie who had 
 before murmured, " oa which fide the balance preponde- 
 rates ; you bring into the field a numerous band of tradef- 
 men and mechanics; but it is Sparta alone that furnifhes 
 fpldierj." Probably the author was conlidering the effeft 
 which would be produced upon a certain honorable houfc 
 by a fnnilar proclamation. 
 
 H 2 fenfc.
 
 fenfe and abilities of thofe gentlemen than has 
 been yet performed. I, indted, forefaw that all 
 the boafted fchemes of reformation would end 
 in appropriating the honours and emoluments 
 of the ftate to themfelves and their creatures ; 
 but I thought fomething might have been done 
 for the nation in points where the immediate 
 intereft of minifters was not concerned. I 
 imagined the firft object of a fet of men, who 
 came into power upon the exprefs condition of 
 reftoring peace, would be to realize the expecta- 
 tions of the public in that particular. I thought 
 too fomething might be done to heal the wounds 
 which war had made, and to regain the com- 
 mercial confidence of the Americans ; not by 
 facrificing the intereft or honour of the nation, 
 but by a rational confideration of what its 
 neceflities required*. In refpect to the addi- 
 tional burthens which every difcerning man 
 knew muft be impofed, I thought that fome 
 regard might be (hewn to commerce, to policy, 
 and even to the inclinations of a people that had 
 already bcrne fo much, and with fuch unpa- 
 ralleled patience. 
 
 This fubjeft has been lately moft fenfibly and forcibly 
 treated in a pamphler, by Brian Edwards, Efq,. 
 
 But,
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 But, it feems, thcfe expectations, moderate 
 as they may appear, were doomed to be dif- 
 appointed in a manner which it was impofiible 
 to forefee. The premature death of the Mar- 
 quis of Rockingham broke down the ifthmus 
 which feparated the hoftile factions of the cabi- 
 net, and let in the contending tides. I was 
 moft fincerely grieved for that premature death, 
 and lamented it perhaps as truly, though not as 
 indifcreetly, as fome of his friends. I did not 
 indeed attribute any very extenfive range to the 
 political abilities of the noble perfonage, and I 
 always dreaded the fafcinations of party; but 
 he appeared to be a man of amiable and unble- 
 mifhed manners, a promoter of agriculture and 
 induftry, and a fincere friend to what he con- 
 ceived to be the real interefts of his country. 
 Above all, fortune had made him the central 
 point which fupported a mighty arch ; an arch 
 indeed more deflined to record the triumphs of 
 a party than the happinefs or liberty of a 
 nation ; but fuch an one as could not be then 
 deftroyed, without threatening to involve both 
 in the wide compafs of its ruin. 
 
 I know not what were the exact feelings of 
 the nation, when they firft heard of that fatal 
 and irreparable breach in the cabinet, but I will 
 take the liberty of defcribing my own. What- 
 ever
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 ever credit I might give to the underftandiags 
 of the two honorable gentlemen who fet the. 
 example of refignation, I did not think that 
 conduct afforded a very favourable fpecimen of 
 either their heads or hearts. I could not con- 
 ceive that a real friend to any intereft of his 
 country would take that opportunity o( wreak- 
 ing his perfonal fpite, at the expence of the 
 public. Unamimity I had heard echoed, at 
 every public meeting, by every fubaltern of 
 the party, till I was fickened with the found. 
 Was it then a time, in fuch an awful moment 
 of national crifis and danger, to perplex the 
 public councils with the low interefts and cabals 
 of faction, at the expence of that very unanimity 
 which had till then been the word of the whole 
 party ? The public at large can fcarcely pretend 
 to decide the paltry quarrels of courts and cabi- 
 nets ; but they felt, that if there was ever an 
 hour when an honeft man would have conceded 
 fomething for the general good, it was the 
 prefent ; and they cared not who was prime 
 minifter, provided he gave them peace. 
 
 I am almoft afraid your lordmip will hardly 
 excufe the ftyle of even this panegyric : if you 
 do not, I can eafily conceive in what manner it 
 will be received by others. But this is the 
 language of truth - t and thefe are the fentu 
 
 rnents
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 ments of every independent man throughout 
 the kingdom with whom I have converfed. 
 
 But when the fefiion was opened with that 
 memorable fpeech which has been fo much 
 the fubject of altercation, I could not help feel- 
 ing fomething like furprize at the manner in 
 which it was received. Had the lower houfe 
 been peopled indeed with inveterate republicans, 
 1 mould have been lefs furprized at the 
 fpirit which guided thofe memorable debates : 
 but when I faw thofe very gentlemen, who 
 had fo lately given fpecimens of their ex- 
 traordinary talents for abject flattery, dealing 
 out the mod unmannerly invectives, I could 
 not help bluming for human nature and my 
 country. 
 
 In fpite, however, of virulence, fcurrility, and 
 oppofition, the peace was ratified by the fame 
 honorable gentlemen whofe confciences would 
 not fuffer them to approve it. Common minds, 
 indeed, did not comprehend the full force of 
 thofe fubtle diftinctions. They thought that 
 if the peace was pernicious and difhonorable, 
 it merited the public oppofition of the houfe. 
 They thought it as much an object of par- 
 liamentary interference, as the nomination of 
 a new minifter, the firft, and moil undoubted 
 prerogative of the crown. The nomination of 
 
 an
 
 C 56 ) 
 
 an improper miniftcr may be indeed eventually 
 deftru&ive to a nation ; but it is not a meafure 
 which requires fuch immediate interference. A 
 virtuous and independent houfe of commons, 
 like the prefenr, may always arrefl him in his 
 career ; they always poffefs the dreadful artillery 
 of impeachments, of which they have made 
 fo liberal an ufe during this whole century ; 
 they may at any time fend forth their thunders, 
 and hurl him flaming down. But an inadequate 
 and difhonorable peace may reduce the nation, 
 in an inftant, to fuch extremities, as may render 
 all future exertions vain. 
 
 But the peace was to be reprobated in order 
 to difplace the minifter. There was even a 
 peculiar advantage in making him the facrifice 
 of the only falutary meafure which this country 
 has feen during the laft twenty years. Even in 
 the hour of triumph and exultation, no peace 
 which is upon record has ever fatisfied the ex- 
 pectations of the nation. How then was it 
 pofllble that a peace, which was to ratify the 
 eternal divorce of America, and which muft 
 therefore be attended with fome humiliation 
 to this country, could pleafe the wild imagi- 
 nations of the people -, a people who had 
 fuffered enough to ficken them with war, 
 
 but not enough to make them fubmit with 
 
 equanimity
 
 e 57 ) 
 
 equanimity to the difadvantages of their firu* 
 3tion ? It is the peculiar mifery of human beings 
 never to forefee inconveniences while they may 
 be avoided, or to be able to bear them with 
 patience when they are inevitable. 
 
 That (he peace was the belt which might have 
 been obtained, it is impofllble for me to decide. 
 That it included the beft terms your lordfhip 
 was able to procure, may be fufficiently inferred, 
 even from the principles of ambition and fclf- 
 love : that any of your rivals would have been 
 able to make a better, we have never had a 
 more convincing proof than their own affertjons. 
 Such therefore as it is, the merit of it is entirely 
 your own. 
 
 Whoever is moderately acquainted with hu- 
 man affairs, will continually lament the plind- 
 nefs both of princes and ftates. An ufelefs 
 tract of defert, a frozen, ocean, a barren rock, 
 may each in turn become the object of jealoufy 
 and ambition ; may deluge the earth with bipod, 
 or cover the fea with carnage. But the fotyi 
 advantages of peaceful induftry, the perfection 
 of internal government, and the improvement of 
 agriculture, are objects that are either overlook- 
 ed, or rarely fuflfcred to incline the fcale. Yet 
 it would not be difficult to prove that there 
 never has exifled a nation^ which would not 
 I have
 
 have been more benefited by applying its at- 
 tention to thefe conftanc fources of happinefs 
 and population, than by a feries of the moft 
 fplendid conquefts. Yet war is fometimes in- 
 evitable ; a frantic prirfce, an ambitious tni- 
 nifter, even a favoured parafite, or ftrumpet, 
 may each alternately endanger the freedom and 
 exiftence of all the neighbouring ftates. Every 
 nation muft therefore be prepared to defend by 
 arms thofe rights which may be attacked by 
 arms ; and when the conteft is once begun, the 
 foundeft policy confifts in the moft vigorous ef- 
 forts. But when the difpute does not relate 
 either to national fafety or independence, but 
 to points of ideal power and fpeculative am- 
 bition , to fomething which flatters the pride 
 more than it concerns the intereft of a nation j 
 above all, when it has originated in the fpirit of 
 error, and been carried on by that of delufion, 
 it cannot too foon receive its termination. 
 
 That this was the cafe with the American 
 war, it would now be lofs of time to attempt 
 to prove. As to the objed of that conteft, the 
 mtnifter that brought it on was continually fhift- 
 ing his ground , but, whatever was the pretext, 
 it always -implied the fubjedtion of the colonies. 
 When this too, like all the reft, had deferted 
 him'-, when that fubjeclion had been given up 
 
 by
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 by every party as impracticable, the fpiric of in- 
 fatuation itfelf could fcarcely invent a reafon 
 for continuing the war, the inftant a tolerable 
 peace was attainable. If there has been a fet 
 of men in this country fufficiently blind, and 
 adverfe to their country's imerefts, to attempt 
 to continue it, your lordQiip will never blufh 
 to reckon them in the number of your enemies. 
 As to moft of the reafons which I have heard 
 alleged, they difgrace even the logic of the 
 houfe of commons. So very contemptible and 
 fcanty were they, that even the unhappy loyalifts 
 have been dragged into the queftion, by the very 
 perfons that had fo frequently reprefented them 
 as the vile incendiaries of the war. That the fitu- 
 ation of many of thefe unhappy men is truly 
 pitiable I do not deny, that they deferve well 
 of the government, whatever they may do of 
 the nation, is equally certain : but that it was 
 neceflary to carry on the war upon their account 
 alone, I think the fpirit of party itfelf will 
 hardly venture to affert. If ic was impracticable 
 to conquer America for the Britilh fovereign, 
 or the Britifh parliament, did it ceafe to be fo, 
 when attempted in the name of the loyalifts ? 
 Or will any one dare to afiert that any thing, 
 fhort of conqueft, could have forced the Ameri- 
 cans to admit them to what they had loft. If 
 I 2 there-
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 therefore they wiftied to be reftored to their na- 
 tive country, it was evident that a fingle year 
 of peace would operate more in their favour, 
 by abating the animofity of their countrymeri, 
 than could have been effected by half a century 
 of arms. If they only defired a compenfatiort 
 for their lofTes, the faving of a dozen or twenty 
 millions in the national expenditure^ would 
 nearly have paid the bill, though it had been 
 indorfed by all their friends in the oppofition. 
 
 But what Ihall we reply to the heavier charges 
 of national difgrace, incurred by the cefiion of 
 a barren wafte, or a narrow ifland, to our ene- 
 mies ? Simply this, that public honour will al- 
 ways be better preferved by augmenting the 
 power, than by adding to the weaknefs of a 
 nation. The relative ftrength of every nation 
 can never be long a fecret to its neighbours ; 
 and the opinion which they entertain of this 
 particular, will always be the meafure of the 
 refped: which they mew, not the detail of paft 
 achievements, or the vain remembrance of a 
 prowefs it can no longer boaft. If this prin- 
 ciple be true, it is evident, that great Britain, 
 if doomed to lofe the colonies, became actually 
 more formidable the inftant a peace had taken 
 place, than (he had been at any moment fince 
 tne confederacy of fo many nations againft her. 
 
 The
 
 Trie power of &very ftate is merely relative, 
 and muft be eftimated not by any univerfal ftand- 
 a'rd, but by the comparative force of its neigh- 
 bours. It is evident that during all the latter 
 years of the war, however great might be 
 the efforts of this country in themfelves, they were 
 inadequate to the object propofed : they were 
 inadequate to the conqueft of America ; they were 
 even" inadequate 1 to the deifence of all our own pof- 
 feffions. But why were they inadequate ? Mere- 
 ly for the fame reafon that Hcratius was inferior 
 to the united force of his three enemies, though 
 iingly more than a match for either. A confe- 
 deracy had bden formed againft this country, fuch 
 as we Have ho precedent of in the annals of our 
 hiflory ; fuch as it Will be our own fault, if we 
 are doomed to encounter a fecond time. Would 
 it not have been reputed a mafter-ftroke of policy 
 to have been able to detach a fmgle member of 
 that confederacy from the reft, and to have de- 
 creafed the fuperiority of our enemies ? Mr. Fox 
 is faid to have tried the experiment with Holland, 
 and your lordihip with America : we have great 
 reafon to be thankful that both the attempts were 
 abortive. 
 
 But, in giving us peace, you effected infinitely 
 more than it was poffible to do by any other means. 
 
 You
 
 You broke to pieces, at a ftroke, that vaft co- 
 loffus of a league which threatened to crufh us 
 with its weight, and fcattered the fragments abroad 
 to all the winds. You gave us time to repair the 
 ruined ftate of our finances by the admirable bills 
 of reform which Mr. Burke has introduced ; and 
 to regain the friendfhip of America by the falutary 
 proclamations of laft July. And if the affairs of 
 India had been as wifely and equitably fettled as 
 they were intended by Mr. Fox's bill, fome part 
 of the glory muft have been due to you, who 
 prepared the way, by removing every obftruction. 
 Where then is the lofs of national honour ? If 
 national honour confift in fuch a mafs of force as 
 is fingly fuperior to all that can be brought againft 
 it, fuch national honour never has yet exifted. 
 It did not exifl even in the proudeft times of the 
 Roman commonwealth ; fince no one can doubt 
 that the art of dividing enemies and poftponing 
 wars contributed, no lefs than arms, to the eftab- 
 lifliment of their greatnefs. To look for it in the 
 nicely -balanced fyftem of contrary forces which 
 now compofe the ftate of Europe, would be the 
 extreme of folly ; fince the very liability of that 
 ftate is confefledly owing to the power of oppofing 
 the ambition of one nation by the union of all the 
 reft. Why then fliould the Englifli people defire 
 
 impoffibilities,
 
 impoflibilities, which, even could they be realiz- 
 ed, would end in their own deflrudion , fince 
 every human power, which becomes too mighty 
 for refiftance, muft neceffarily produce every fpe- 
 cies of internal diforder and corruption ? 
 
 But whether they perfift in the purfuit of this 
 chimerical greatnefs, or bound their wifhes with' 
 the folid enjoyment of national happinefs and fe- 
 curity, it is demonftrable that peace was neceffary 
 for either object. A war, in which we were fo 
 evidently overmatched, and the continuance of 
 which exhaufted our national refources fo faft, 
 without any adequate means of fupply, could 
 never have given us that decided fuperiority which 
 the fucceffes of Lord Chatham himfelf had failed 
 to do. Peace therefore became neceffary, were 
 it only in the view of promoting the objects of 
 our own ambition. 
 
 But the honour of a nation is not to be rated 
 by the chimerical ftandard of its being fingly 
 able to ftand againft the world in arms, or by a 
 ruinous obftinacy in purfuing impracticable pro- 
 jects. It is to be rated by the opinion of its wif- 
 dom and jullice, joined with fuch a degree of 
 power as renders it fecure from every probable at- 
 tack : and all thefe objects were more attainable 
 by peace, than by the bloodieft continuance of 
 
 the
 
 the war. Our wifdom can neyer be impeache4 
 by putting an end, to a ruinous conteft which had, 
 no longer an object , our juftice, by defifting from 
 injuring the Americans and the Dutch ; or our, 
 power, by ceafing to lavifh our blood and treafure^ 
 as unprofitably as we had hitherto done. 
 
 And if vye poffefled fufficient power to carry or? 
 the war for feveral future years, will any of thofe 
 refources be diminiihed by the peace ? Will they 
 not, on the contrary, be continually increafing, un- 
 lefs our late infatuation is doomed to attend us to 
 the laft ? $y the equity and moderation of our 
 public counCels we certainly may prevent the pof- 
 fibility of fuch a league as we have lately efcaped .: 
 and which of our neighbours will Jingly chufe to 
 encounter a nation that has been fo nearly equal 
 to all combined ? 
 
 Thefe, my lord, are the reflections of an im- 
 partial man upon the peace which you have given 
 us. In every point of view it rifes upon the uix- 
 derftanding, and is brought home to our convic- 
 tion. If the arguments ' have ufed be juft, they 
 may tend to diminifli the remaining prejudices of 
 our countrymen, and to refcue one action of a 
 minifter from the general infamy which awaits 
 the tribe. If they be, on the contrary, falfe, and 
 liable to be refuted, the malice of your enemies.
 
 C 65 ) 
 
 is not fo much afiuaged, as to allow them any 
 permanent triumphs. And while your lordfhip 
 will efcape the ridicule of employing fo weak an 
 advocate, I fhall defervedly engrofs the whole dif- 
 grace of the undertaking, who, 
 
 " NecDis, nee viribus, 
 
 have engaged a volunteer in fuch a caufe. 
 
 M A R I U S. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To EDMUND BURKE, Efq. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 IT is not without a diffidence proportioned to 
 your great abilities and fame, that in the 
 courle of my labours I addrefs myfclf to you. 
 
 , . But if I muft contend, 
 
 Beft with che belt . . . more glory will be won, 
 Or lefs be loft. 
 
 And there is a paflage in your own fpeech of 
 the firft of December laft which emboldens me 
 to the attempt, and makes me triumph over the 
 confideration of my own inferiority. You ob- 
 ferve, fir, " that nothing is to be found in any 
 habits of life or education, which tends wholly 
 to difqualify men for the functions of govern- 
 ment, but that by which the power of exer- 
 cifing thofe functions is very frequently obtained ; 
 I mean a fpiric of low cabal and intrigue, 
 which I have never, in one inftance, feen united 
 
 with
 
 ( 6? ) 
 
 with a capacity for found and manly policy*." If 
 this, fir, is any criterion, I can appeal to my own 
 heart, and folemnly declare that I am as little con- 
 nected with any cabal or intrigue, as any one in 
 your own virtuous and independent majority; as 
 little as yourfelf, Lord North, and Mr. Fox. 
 
 But before I begin to Jftate the obfervations 
 with which I intend to trouble you, I will take 
 the liberty of fettling the limits within which 
 our controverfy will be confined. I do not ^ 
 mean t expatiate in the wide field of accufations 
 which are brought againft the Eaft-India com- 
 pany : I cannot pretend to be prepared by " three 
 years of laborious parliamentary refearch," or 
 armed with the artillery of fecret committees ; 
 whofe reports are now the unerring dictates of 
 truth, though in the year 1781 they were "the 
 curfed Pandora's box, whence fprung out that 
 dreadful calamity, the American war." Thefe 
 laurels, fir, are all your own ; they have been 
 dearly earned, and it would be equal temerity and 
 injuftice to diflurb you in their pofleffion. My 
 labours will be of an humbler nature : they 
 will be confined to thofe points in which every 
 citizen may with propriety pretend to form a 
 judgment-, the conduct of our reprefentatives, 
 
 * \Tr. Burke's Speech on the firft of December, 1783, 
 p. i 1 , printed for Dodfley. 
 
 K 2 -m
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 in treddling with the affairs of the Eaft-India 
 company; the virtue of the attempt, and the 
 wifdom of their proceedings. 
 
 A perfon fo intimately acquainted with hu- 
 man life and literature, as 1 confefs you to be, 
 cannot be ignorant that it is one common art of 
 every accufer to excite the indignation of his 
 audience, by every method within his power. 
 When once their paffions are thoroughly raifed 
 by a recital, whether real or fictitious, of crimes 
 and horrors, it becomes eafy to give the florin 
 whatever direction he wifhcs. Inftead of being 
 upon our guard againft the fuggeftions of our 
 heated imaginations, inftead of fcrutinizing the 
 pretended evidence with a degree of doubt and 
 accuracy proportioned to the enormity of the 
 cafe, we are too apt to accept of violence and 
 exaggeration inftead of proof. Our very prejudices 
 and indolence, in this cafe, afTume the form and 
 d'gnity of virtue ; and at length the fober dic- 
 tates of caution and impartiality are utterly dif- 
 carded, or treated as enemies, that would feduce 
 us from our duty. 
 
 It is no wonder, fir, tf this Ihould be particu- 
 larly true of the noble audience that lidened to 
 your Philippic. Men of fuch fevere and unble- 
 mifhed manners could fcarcely be expected to pre- 
 ferve a due and necefiary modrration at fuch a 
 
 talc
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 tale of complicated horrors. Whatever could 
 add either pathos or energy to the defcription was 
 certainly introduced. Here was the great Mogul 
 " the defcendant of Tamerlane, a perfonage as 
 high as human veneration can look at," unlefs 
 perhaps it be the godlike mover of the bill, " Hand- 
 ing in need almoft of the common necefiaries of 
 life*." Here was Seraja Dowla fold to Mir JafTeir, 
 Mir Jaffeir to Mir Coffim ; and Mir Coffim to 
 Mir Jaffeir again -j~. Then to fhew that the rage 
 and cruelty of theEait-India company's fervants 
 know no exceptions of fex, or no (ex, we are told 
 a moving hiitary of outrages offered to ladies, 
 
 * " The firft potentate fold by the company for money 
 was the great Mogul the defcendant of Tamerlane. This 
 high perfonage, as high as human veneration can look at,'* 
 &c. Speech, p: 17. 
 
 " The defcendant of Tamerlane now (lands in need al- 
 moft of the common neccilaries of life." Ibid. p. 18. 
 
 This feel is moft fatisfaflorily explained in many of the 
 publications in anfwer to Mr. Burke, particulaily in the 
 \vritingsofMajor Scott. But what does it add to the atiocity 
 of the acYion, that the great Mogul is the defcendant of 
 Tamerlane ? Tamerlane himfelf was a robber and a fpoilcr, 
 and more^deftiucViveto mankind lhan peftilence, famine, or 
 even the Eaft-India company. 
 
 f Speech, p. 19. 
 
 and
 
 (7 ) 
 
 and even to eunuchs J. The ftory itfelf of Urfula 
 and her eleven thoufand virgins is almoft parallel- 
 ed in that of the nabob of Oude, his two thoufand 
 women, the two feraglios more of his near kin- 
 dred, and the nabob's fourfcore children . 
 
 *' Quis talia fando 
 " Temperet a lachrymis ?" 
 
 It is true, fir, that you had like to have fpoiled 
 all again by the mention of the venerable u grand- 
 mother and the ancient houfehold :" this circum- 
 ftance was too powerful for the mufcles of the 
 younger members. But even the great Scriblerus 
 lometimes touched the improper ftring ; and when 
 you fum up all, by complimenting the houfe upon 
 their virtue and independency, it was as impoffible 
 they Ihould refift, as an ugly woman who hears 
 for the firft time commendations upon her beauty. 
 
 J " Their chief eunuchs, who were their agents, their 
 guardians, proteclors, perfons of high rank according to the 
 eaftern manners, and or great truft, were thrown into dun- 
 geons, to make them difcover their hidden treafures ; and 
 there they lie at prefent.'' Speech, p. 44. 
 
 " That family and houfehold confifted of two tboufand 
 women, to which were added two other feraglios of near kin- 
 dred, and {aid to be extremely numerous, and (as I am well 
 informed) of about fourfcore of the Nabob's children, with 
 all the eunuchs, the ancient fervants, and a multitude of the 
 dependants of his fplendid court." Ibid, p. 45. 
 
 But
 
 But I agree with you, fir, that the prefent is 
 no feafon for mirth or levity ; and I never held 
 the opinion that ridicule was the tefl of truth. 
 The points on which we differ are neither to be 
 fettled by raillery nor declamation, but by the 
 fober force of truth and argument ; and to thefe 
 I return. 
 
 You obferve, fir, " that the phrafe of the char- 
 tered rights of men'* is full of affectation, and 
 very unufual in the difcuffion of privileges con- 
 ferred by charters of the prefent defcription." I 
 have always conlidered the expreffion in the fame 
 light, but for another reafon. A charter, if I 
 rightly underftand the expreffion, comprehends 
 certain powers conferred by the king in virtue of 
 his prerogative. The Eaft- India company, I be- 
 lieve, may pretend to this fecurity ; but I fhould >v 
 hardly think its advocates would much infift upon 
 them, when they can appeal to authorities of 
 higher importance. The firfl eftabliftiment of the 
 Eaft- India company upon its prefent bafis, was, as 
 you very well know, an act of the whole legifla- 
 ture in 9th and loth of William and Mary, which * 
 engaged to incorporate the lenders of two millions 
 to the government into a company, and invefted 
 them with certain exclufive rights. So far were 
 the people of that time from infifting upon their 
 chartered rights, that the parliament denied the 
 
 power
 
 power of the crown to grant a charter of that dc- 
 fcription ; and the old Eaft-India company exert- 
 ed all its influence in vain to procure a parliamen- 
 tary eftabiilhment. And fo great was the differ- 
 ence of ideas which then prevailed, that though 
 the old Eaft-India company could claim-no other 
 foundation than a royal charter, which had been 
 repeatedly declared infufficient by the commons, 
 though it was contended that its members had 
 been guilty of acts fubverfive of all the rights 
 which they pretended to, when they were heard 
 in oppofition before the lords, yet they were quiet- 
 ly allowed to continue their franchifes, till they 
 wifely coalesced with the new company in 1702, 
 and put an end to their own feparate exiilence. 
 
 The form of that aft in 1 698, from which the 
 prefent company derives its eftablifliment, has been 
 the model of all the fubfequent ones which the 
 legiflature has chofen to pafs. But the only claufc, 
 which it is now material to take notice of, is that 
 which empowers the government, upon re-payment 
 pf the two millions originally borrowed, and giv-, 
 ing three years notice after the twentieth of Sep- 
 tember 171 i, todiffolve the faid company, and re- 
 afiume all the powers with which it had been in- 
 vefted. 
 
 Let me now, fir, be permitted to flop for a 
 moment, and confider the nature of the tranf- 
 
 aclion
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 action which I have juft defcribed, and which I 
 believe you will find faithfully copied from the , 
 hiftory of thofe times. Here, then, is a folemri 
 contract entered into by the whole legiflature on 
 the one fide, and certain individuals on the other, 
 which, in confideration of two millions to be ad- 
 vanced for the public fervice, fettles upon them 
 for a limited time certain exclufive privileges, 
 with an equity of redemption in cafe it ihould ap- 
 pear inexpedient to continue thofe powers beyond 
 the appointed period. Can it be fuppofed, there- A,. 
 fore, that either oif thefe contracting parties was 
 imagined to retain the right of diflblving the agree- 
 ment, whenever it fhould j'HJge proper, for rea- 
 fons of which it was to remain the fole and unac- 
 countable judge? Is it not, on the contrary, one of 
 the moft abfurd, ridiculous, and unfounded ideas 
 that ever entered into the head of a human beingj 
 even into the head of a politician ? Where con- 
 tracts are entered into between one individual and 
 another, there is always fome public tribunal 
 which will oppofe injuftice and enforce their ob- 
 fervance: and I believe, till the celebrated re- 
 ceipt-tax of laft year, there is fcarcely to be found 
 an inftance of a government, which did not at 
 leaft infill upon good faith in its fubjects, what- 
 ever indulgences it might allow itfelf. 
 
 It is true, fir, that there is one eflential dif- 
 L fere nee
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 ference between a government and an individual 5 
 an individual may be compelled to the obfervancc 
 of his contract, which cannot be done to the 
 former, unlefs by a general infurrection of the 
 people and a revolution. But does this make 
 any difference in refpect to moral obligations or 
 principles of juftice ? Or is a ftate allowed to 
 act upon thofe principles, which would indelibly 
 involve every individual in fuch a web of infamy 
 and difgrace, as would deftroy his character for 
 ever ? It may, perhaps, be anfwered, that this 
 is a liberty in which moft governments have oc- 
 cafionally indulged themfelves. I grant the fact, 
 and you will perhaps grant the confcquences .* 
 that moft governments have become fo univer- 
 fally infamous by the practice, that it is difficult 
 to decide whether they are confidered with more 
 abhorrence by foreign nations, or by their own 
 fubjects. I have little occafion to infill upon fomc 
 celebrated manoeuvres of this kind in our neigh- 
 bours ; fince there is fcarcely a gentleman who 
 voted for the Eait-India bill, provided he had 
 words enough to make a motion, that has not, 
 in fome preceding debate, infiftcd upon the 
 immenfe refources of this country in companion 
 with France, all derived from the confiftency of 
 its conduct, and the vaft extent of its credit. 
 I muft confefs, fir, I have a kind of antiquated 
 
 prejudice
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 prejudice in favour of confiftency. I can refpe& 
 men of every different political opinion, provided 
 they are uniform : but I have never been able to 
 underftand that eternal verfatility of character which 
 changes public debates into the venal eloquence 
 of wrangling lawyers ; nor can I conceive, by 
 any theory which I think myfelf allowed to men- 
 tion, whence it arifes that thefe fudden flames of 
 new conviction are always found to accompany 
 the immediate interefts of the party. The gen- ^ 
 tlemen, who are known by the general name of 
 the Rockingham party, have always diftinguifhed. 
 themfelves by their inveterate oppofition to every 
 parliamentary reform. According to them, it /\ 
 is infinitely better to fuflfer the nobleft conftitu- 
 tipn of the world to fall into ruins before our eyes, 
 than to change a fingle flone in the crumbling 
 edifice, or even to add a prop to fupport it. I 
 have liftened, fir, without conviction, to much 
 reafoning of this kind ; and, though I do not 
 recollect that many gentlemen have chofen to put 
 their names to their elaborate defence of the pre- 
 fent fyftem, I have always allowed that they might 
 poffibly be in earneft. Were it neceflary, I could 
 produce many inftances of the infinite contempt 
 they heap upon fpcculacive principles of right 
 and wrong, and vifionary fyftems of reformation, 
 from all the celebrated pamphlets of the party. 
 JL 2 Bu- f
 
 But, in the name of God, why do they not ad- 
 here to their own principles ? Are the repeated 
 agreements which the whole legislature has made 
 with the Eaft- India company of lefs fandtity than 
 the feptennial bill, which even the boWeft of 
 your own houfe has never yet contended to be 
 conftitutional ; and which not one of you can 
 now defend, without aflerting that you have a 
 right to fubvert the whole fyftem of government 
 at your pleafure ? Or, is it imagined, that the 
 iblid opinions of mankind upon the lubjedt of 
 right and juftice are to be changed by every 
 temporary blaft that turns the ftate weathercock 
 of your honorable houfe ? 
 
 But as to the original act of eftablifhment for 
 the Eaft-India company, it was penned with all 
 the requifite difcretion and forefight. It was a 
 new experiment made upon a very important fub- 
 jeft of political economy, and therefore the 
 government wifely referved to itfelf a power of 
 difTblving the company, in cafe experience fhould 
 evince the necefiity of doing it. But, if they 
 have never taken advantage of that refiraining 
 claufe, during the term of almoft an hundred 
 years, what are we to infer from this forbearance, 
 excepting that the government found nothing in 
 this company " worthy of death." For my part, 
 I attach fo much refpect to the honorable houfe 
 
 of
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 of commons, that I cannot eafily believe it capa- 
 ble of the grofieft contradiction and abfurdity. 
 Now, in my humble opinion, it is difficult to 
 admit this new neceffity of feizing all the property 
 of the Eaft-India company, and fubverting an 
 agreement of the whole legiilature, without throw- 
 ing fuch infinuations either upon the wifdom or 
 juftice of our reprefentatives, as even their molt 
 inveterate enemy would fcarcely venture. 
 
 The laft agreement, fir, which is upon record 
 of the government with the Eaft-India company 
 dates no farther back than the fpring or fummer y 
 of the year 1781. Lord North had taken ad- 
 vantage of the approaching expiration of their 
 privilege, to give the requifite notice that he in- 
 tended to diflblve the company. Had he ac- 
 tually done this, we might have objected to the 
 policy or wifdom of the meafure ; but certainly 
 no one could confiftently have denied the right. 
 But this was by no means done, or perhaps ever ^/ 
 intended ; and therefore, after a variety of political 
 altercation, an act paffed in the fame form with 
 all the preceding, to extend the Company's ex- 
 clufive privileges to the year 1791, in confequence 
 of four hundred thoufand pounds paid to the 
 government. 
 
 It is here worth remarking, that the majority, 
 which ratified this agreement, was a majority of ^ 
 
 the
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 the fame houfe of commons which now exifts ;. 
 and, confequently, I am reduced to the unfor- 
 tunate dilemma of either believing that the 
 honorable houfc acquitted the company of all 
 - their crimes and delinquencies to the moment 
 when the act palled, or of fuppofing that fo 
 wife, fo virtuous, fo independent an houfe could 
 not be ignorant of fuch a baneful catalogue of 
 crimes, and therefore gravely intended to bite 
 the nation, and fwindle the company out of 
 four hundred thoufand pounds, upon a pre- 
 /\ tence which they never intended to realize. 
 
 I have heard it obferved, that a ikilful fencer 
 never expofes himfelf for the chance of hitting 
 his adverfary ; yet this feems to be the cafe of 
 your moft eloquent detail of the pretended 
 crimes of the company. The greater part of 
 y thefe atrocious acts were certainly prior to the 
 
 year 1781. With what propriety, therefore, 
 with what appearance of juftice does the fame 
 houfe of commons found a neceffity of refcind- 
 ing its own deliberate engagements, upon al- 
 legations, which it either was, or ought to have 
 been acquainted with, at the very moment when 
 it contracted them ? 
 
 With all the refpecl, fir, which we may feel 
 either for you or your audience, how is it poffible 
 that any human being mould avoid fmiling, when 
 
 he
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 lie hears the privileges of the company attacked 
 upon the principle of their eftablifliing a mo- 
 nopoly, within the walls of that very houfe, 
 which inftituted the monopoly in the laft cen- 
 tury, and has maintained it by fucceffive fales 
 and contracts throughout the prefent*? Still 
 
 mor* 
 
 * " The Baft-India charter is a charter to eftablifli mo- 
 nopoly, and to create power. Political power and com- 
 mercial monopoly are not the rights of men; and the rights 
 to them derived from charters, it is fallacious and fophitli- 
 cal to call " the chartered rights of men." Thefe charter- 
 ed rights (to fpeak of fuch charters and of their effects in 
 terms of the greateft poffible moderation) do at leaft fufpend 
 the natural rights of mankind at large, and in their very 
 frame and constitution are liable to fall into a diredt violation 
 of them. "-Speech, p. 7. 
 
 All this fiourifh appears to me one of the ftrongeft in- 
 ftances how a good understanding may be abufed. If a 
 legiilature attempt to fell more than itpofleflesa right to do, 
 the people may be juftified, perhaps, in refcioding an agree- 
 ment made without their confent, and to their detrimenr. 
 But what has all this to do with the legiilature itfelf, whofe 
 decifions are to be law and juftice for all the reft of the com- 
 munity, rescinding its own agreements? Would not this 
 be a plain conkflion of ignorance, folly, or injuflice, in the 
 very perfons who aflTume to themfelves the power of deciding 
 for all the reft ? And if this be found to-day, why not to- 
 morrow ? If in the laft agreement, why not in the next ? 
 Would not this bring the legiflature into fuch extreme con- 
 tempt as would tend either to tyranny, or to a diiloUuion of 
 all government? And is this the noble and excellent fpirit 
 of reform uhich is to be introduced into the Englifli 
 government ? " Unde nefag tantum Latiis pafloribus ?" - 
 
 Let
 
 more curious is the diftinction between the ideas 
 of natural and artificial right. What is it to 
 the buyer, whether the houfe choofe to fell one 
 or the other ? He naturally expects to be main- 
 tained in what he has fairly purchafed. Muft 
 no one pretend to enter into a contract with any 
 government, without the interference of Grotius, 
 Puffendorf, and Montefquieu ? Or whence do 
 the honorable gentlemen derive their notions of 
 natural right, when they deny to feven millions 
 of people the lead interference with the choice 
 of their own reprefentatives ? 
 
 But what, I wonder, would be faid to any man 
 in private life, who, after having voluntarily 
 and deliberately entered into a contract, mould 
 pretend to refcind it at will, becaufe it was con- 
 trary to his ideas of natural right ? Would it 
 not be anfwered, that this was the fillieft pre- 
 text by which fraud ever attempted to impofe 
 upon credulity ? He would be told that he had 
 fufficient leifure to confider the fubject, and COR- 
 fult thedelicay of his feelings, before he entered 
 
 Let me be pardoned, if I publicly affert, that fuch an 
 idea is difgraceful to the hitherto untainted reputation of 
 our public faith, and fatal to the confidence which all fubjedls 
 ought to entertain in the jufHce of the legiflature; worthy 
 only of the fpirit of tyranny, and mod happily adapted to 
 root out honefty and commerce throughout the kingdom. 
 
 into
 
 ( 8i ) 
 
 into the engagement: but that little credit 
 would be given to his pretended qualms, when 
 they were evidently dictated by his own intereft j 
 that juftice and right were never inconfiftent 
 with themfelves ; and thac the firft duty of both 
 was to fulfil promifes and engagements. But 
 what, if all thefe fcruples mould neither tend 
 to a reftitution of the rights in queftion to thofe 
 from whom they were originally taken, or to 
 any indemnification of their value ? Mud we 
 not admire the particular delicacy which breaks 
 its own moft folemn faith and contract, from 
 the fuggeftions of confcience, and then finishes by 
 violating thofe very rights a fecond time, with 
 as little remorfe as it did the firft ? 
 
 For to wjaat, fir, do all thefe declamations 
 about right and monopoly tend ? Will the na- 
 tural rights of every fubject in thefe kingdoms 
 to carry on a commerce with India, be lefs in- 
 vaded when the monopoly is given to feven 
 commiflioners of the parliament, than while it 
 remained in the directors of the company ? Or 
 is there the leaft alteration made, or pretended 
 to be made, in the actual ftate of that mo- 
 nopoly ? 
 
 But the plea of ftate-neceflky, upon which 
 
 your honorable friend expatiated with fo much 
 
 eloquence, is a topic much more difficult to be 
 
 M con-
 
 ( 82 j 
 
 confuted, bccaufe it is fo vague and general as 
 icarcely to admit an anfwer. Were there fome 
 inter-mediate power, indeed, to decide between 
 the contracting parties, it might mean fome- 
 thing; but in the prefent cafe it means no more 
 than that a minifter and a majority may, under 
 the fubterfuge of general and equivocal terms, 
 violate every engagement they had entered into. 
 For what enterprife can be conceived fo openly 
 flagitious and unjuft, which may not be jufti- 
 fied by the fame perfons, and upon the fame 
 principles ? I will engage to produce an aft for 
 veiling all the looms of Manchefter, 'or the 
 forges of Birmingham, in feven commifiloners, 
 upon the very fame principles of ftate-neceflity 
 which make fo great a figure in his fpeech. 
 
 A great metaphyfician, like you, fir, need 
 not be told, that the expreflions of right, 
 juftice, charter, contract, neceffity, and an 
 hundred more which might be produced, can 
 never in thcmfelvcs decide a fingle controverfy 
 between two individuals of the human fpecies. 
 All parties allow their exiftence, and appeal to 
 them in their own favour. Naturally, the u;i- 
 deritanding of one man has an equal claim with 
 that of any other, to be attended to in the con- 
 troverfy. But as it is evident, that fcarcely any 
 djipute would ever be terminated were it to 
 
 depend
 
 upon the entire acquiefcence of one- 
 party in the reafon of another, public tribunals 
 are inflltuted in every ftate, for the adminiftra- 
 tion of juftice and the termination of differences. 
 In thefe tribunal?, certain individuals are in- 
 vefled with the power of deciding what fhall be 
 juftice and law in refpect to the reft of the 
 fociety ; not from the fuppofition that one man 
 is naturally more infallible than another, but 
 becaufe this method, however imperfect, is all 
 that can be efTc-ctcd by human prudence. Jt is 
 poflible to afcertain the perfon, though not the 
 thing ; and while there are eternal difputes abouc 
 law and equity, there is feldom any concerning 
 the perfon of the judge or chancellor. 
 
 To preferve thefe venerable perfonages, even. 
 from the fufpicion of corruption ; to guard 
 againft the furprifes of private prejudice or 
 pafllon ; and to divide the different powers in 
 luch a manner as mutually to be a check upon 
 each other, has long been the diftinguifliing 
 boaft of our country and conftitunon. The 
 meaneft individual cannot be condemned, with- 
 out his pairing before fo many independent 
 authorities as to leave fcarcely a fuppofition of 
 collufion or injuftice. Firft, he muft be accufcd , 
 upon oath before a magiftrate, who ougi, 
 be a private gentleman of independent fortune. 
 M 2 la
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 In the next place, he mud be referred to a 
 body of independent gentlemen, who, if they 
 judge the accufation falfe or groundlefs, have a 
 right of inftantly diCmiffing it ; and thefe too 
 are fworn to the obfervance of impartial juftice. 
 In the third place, another jury is invefted with 
 the power of finally deciding, upon oath, his 
 guilt or innocence -, and though the number of 
 this body is only twelve, the criminal may 
 peremptorily except to twenty of thofe who are 
 returned for the office. Thefe men are ex- 
 prefsly to be chofen out of the peers or equals 
 of the accufed ; that fo far from having any 
 interefl in his condemnation, they may have the 
 ftrongeft motive to give its proper weight to 
 every plea which can be brought in his favour. 
 The indictment too mufl be precife and accu- 
 rate ; that no room may be left for the fafcina- 
 tions of eloquence, or the wild fuggeflions of 
 general and vague accufation ; which are feldom 
 employed but to perplex the mind and bewilder 
 the judgment. 
 
 Thefe, fir, are the fecurities which the Englifh 
 law affords to the perfon of the meaneft indivi- 
 dual in the kingdom,, previous to his being fnb- 
 jected even to the judicial authority : and I have 
 mentioned them thus at length, that the public 
 may contrail them with the proceedings of a cer- 
 tain
 
 tain honorable houfe in refpedt to the greateft 
 company of merchants in the univerfe ; men, who, 
 in whatever light they may be considered by mo- 
 ralifts, have done much for the opulence and 
 glory of the kingdom. And I muft confefs, it 
 ftrikes me with no little idea of " the inconftancy 
 of human greatnefs, and the ftupendous revolu- 
 tions that have happened in our age of wonders," 
 when I fee a fet of men, who have juft loft thir- 
 teen provinces, fitting in judgment upon, and 
 difpolfeffing thofe who have added to the Britilh 
 empire "281,412 fquare miles; which form a 
 territory larger than any European dominion, 
 Jluffia and Turkey excepted *." 
 
 ** Nunc et ovcs ultro fugiat lupus ; aurea durse 
 " Mala feranc quercus : narciflb florcat alnus." 
 
 Their proceedings have been worthy of the 
 caufe ; for, in the confufion of powers and cha- 
 racters which they have afiumed to themfelves, 
 it is difficult to diftinguifh any thing of reafon, 
 juftice, or even of a regular fyftematic enquiry. 
 Fir ft, they chew the cud of evidence and facl in 
 their fecret and feleft committees ; which is after- 
 wards to be brought up again half-digefted, and 
 to become the loathfome nutriment of a criminal 
 profecution. Then, in their judicial character, 
 they fit to determine upon the merits of this very 
 
 * Speech, p. 12. 
 
 evidence,
 
 ( 86 > k 
 
 evidence, which they have before prepared. The 
 accufers are certain orators of their own body ; 
 who, inflead of confining themfelves to fpecific 
 charges, or any of the falutary forms which long 
 experience has eflablifhed as neceflary to the impar- 
 tial adminiftration of juflice, deal out their gene- 
 ral invectives, and unfupported accufations, with- 
 out examining a witnefs, or even waiting for an 
 anfwer. Thus is the affair hurried on according to. 
 the true principles of fummary juftice, and 
 brought to a fpeedy termination ; and then too, 
 the fame honorable houfe affumes its^aft, and, 
 as its enemies would obferve, its moft confident 
 tharacter, that of public executioner ; difpatches 
 the offender in an inftant, and feizes upon all his 
 fpoils as hangman's wages. 
 
 Thus, fir, have I gone through the firft part 
 of my difagree-able tafk,in refpect to the celebrated 
 Eaft-India bufinefs. One plea, indeed, has been 
 omitted, that of an honorable lord, your late enemy, 
 but prefent friend and colleague, who juftifies the 
 invafion of the company's rights by the precedent 
 of his having already violated them in 1772. The 
 argument, I truft, will make but few profelytes 
 out of his own houfe ; but it is fuch an illuflra r 
 tion of my fubjet that I cannot pafs it over in 
 fiknce. 
 
 To the Englifti nation, therefore, at large I 
 
 muft
 
 mufl recommend the confideration of another 
 {pecks of neceffity ; the neceflity of watching, 
 with a fevere and conftant attention, the opera- 
 tions of men who call themfelves the reprefenta- 
 tives of the people, yet are continually fetting 
 that people at defiance. They refifl, with an in- 
 flexible obftinacy, every attempt to bring them 
 nearer to the only purpofe for which they exift ; 
 yet there is nothing fo remote, or facred, as to 
 efcape the interference of their avarice and ambi- 
 tion. Even the moft fcandalous outrages, the 
 moft unjuftifiable attempts upon the rights of 
 others, if once fubmitted to, are boldly brought 
 forward as precedents, and ufed as arguments for 
 new ones. If a minifter dare fomething of pe- 
 culiar atrocity or injuftice, " brevibus gyaris aut 
 carcere dignum," it is railed at by his opponents, 
 but enforced by a majority of his creatures* 
 Suppofing the wheel of fortune to turn round, 
 and the friends of the people to grafp the dif- 
 tindtiqns which they long have aimed at, what 
 is to be expedted from their promifes and their 
 public fpirit ? That they Ihould refign the ufur- 
 pations of their predeceflbrs, or endeavour to give 
 the nation any fecurity for their liberties ? That 
 indeed would {hew a moft contemptible ignorance 
 of public men, and the hiftory of parties in this 
 country. But what you may fafely expedt is that 
 
 they
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 tliey fliould improve upon all that has been per- 
 petrated by their predeceffors, and feverely realize 
 the foolifli vaunts of a foolifh king : " My little 
 finger ftiall be thicker than my father's loins : 
 for whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, 
 I will put more to your yoke ; my father chaf- 
 tized you with whips, but I will chaftize you 
 with fcorpions." 
 
 M A R I U S 
 
 LET-
 
 89 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 To EDMUND BURKE, Efq. 
 SIR, 
 
 IF, in the prefent diftraded ftate of this coun- 
 try, the freedom with which I have confi- 
 dered the conduct of our reprefentatives required 
 an apology, I could ufe no better one than a 
 quotation from your own celebrated Speech : 
 " They mult grant to me, in my turn, that all 
 political power which is fet over men, and that 
 all privilege claimed or exercifed in exclufion 
 of them, being wholly artificial, and, for fo 
 much, a derogation from the natural equality of 
 mankind at large, ought to be fome way or 
 other exercifed ultimately for their benefit." 
 
 " If this is true with regard to every fpecies 
 of political dominion, and every defcription of 
 commercial privilege, none of which cnn be 
 original felf-derived rights, or grants for the 
 more private benefit of the holders, then fuch 
 rights or privileges, or whatever elfe you choofe 
 to call them, are all in the ftricleft fenfc a truft , 
 and it is of the very eflence of every truft to be 
 N rendered
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 rendered accountable ; and even totally to ceafe, 
 xvhen it fubftantially varies from the purpofes 
 for which alone it could have a lawful ex- 
 iflence V 
 
 I have confidered, in my former letter, not 
 fo much the pretended abufes in the adminiftra- 
 tion of our Eafl-Indian pofieffions, of which I 
 confefs myfelf no adequate judge, (though I do 
 not believe nine tenths of your own honorable 
 houfe more qualified for the decifion,) as the me- 
 thod of eftablifhing them, and the jurifdiction 
 of the tribunal before which they are brought. 
 I have attempted to prove, that, in the whole 
 
 * Speech, p. 7. This extraordinary confeflion puts me 
 in mind of the following ftory, to be found, I believe, in 
 Pilpay's Fables. A certain man, very uxcrioufly inclined, 
 had a young and beautiful wife, who always treated him 
 with the molt open averfion and difdain ; till one nighr, fpy- 
 ing a thief in the room, (he took refuge in the arms of her 
 hulband, who was afleep, wkh fuch unufual fondnefs as 
 awakened him. But when the good-man learned the cauf 
 of her terrors, he called out in raptures to the thief, who 
 had been alarmed and was moving off, " Pray, fir, flay ! the 
 happineis you have procured me is fo great that you are wel- 
 come to all I have in return." This condefcenfion in their 
 reprefentatives is certainly as new to the people of England 
 as was the fondnefs of the wife to the poor doating hufband; 
 but they do not feem equally grateful : or have they already 
 given fo much, that they have no more to bellow ? 
 
 proceeding,
 
 ( 9' ) 
 
 proceeding, nothing is to be found worthy tl.e 
 gravity, dignity, or difintereftednefs of a Britilh 
 fenate ; that nothing could be a greater mockery 
 of all ideas of right and juftice, than that the 
 fame perfons Ihould fit in judgment upon the va- 
 lidity of their own engagments,who had contract- 
 ed them originally, and ratified them at repeat- 
 ed intervals ; that, if the honorable houfe pre- 
 tended to fit as a court of juftice, it has not ob- 
 ferved a fingle rule or decorum which could 
 convince the nation of its impartiality ; not even 
 the flimfy forms and punctilios which attended the 
 quo vvarrantos of the laft century, or the 'condem- 
 nations of Sydney and Ruflel. It was a fpecies of 
 fummary juftice which improves upon Afiatic 
 models, and will afford inductions to each fuc- 
 ceeding Jefferies for ages. But another confide- 
 ration equally important remains : fuppofing the 
 houfe of commons had been a tribunal ever fo 
 well adapted to the enquiry, fuppofing the guilt 
 of the Eaft-India company to have been ever fo 
 clearly proved, what is the nature of the reme- 
 dy propofed for thefe diforders, and what the 
 benefit which we may fairly expect from its ad- 
 miniftration ? For even if all the abufe, which 
 the invention of intereft and malice combined 
 have heaped together, fhould be admitted, it 
 will not follow that the propofed remedy is adapt- 
 N 2 ed
 
 ( 9* ) 
 
 cd to remove the evil, or even to palliate its mod 
 alarming fymptoms. This examination, fir, will 
 furnim a proper comment for your fpeech, and 
 may fill up fome chafms which I have obferved 
 between the premifes and the conclufions. 
 
 For even fuppofing certain abufes mould have 
 been clearly proved to exiftin the adminiftration 
 of the Eaft India Company's affairs, mould thofe 
 abufes alfo be of fufficient magnitude to juftify 
 the interference of parliament, it will by no 
 means follow, that Mr. Fox's pretended bill of 
 reform was either neccfiary, or adapted to the 
 purpofe. But in order to make this arife as 
 an inevitable conclufion, you aflume the 
 ftrangeft feries of fads that 1 believe was ever 
 obtruded npon the public. For firfl you con- 
 clude ' that this body (meaning the whole body 
 of proprietors), being totally perverted from the 
 purpofes of its inftitution, is utterly incorrigU 
 ble ; and becaufe they are incorrigible, both in 
 .conduct and conflitution, power ought to be 
 taken out of their hands : juft on the fame 
 principles on which have been made all the juft 
 changes and revolutions of government that have 
 taken place fince the beginning of the world."* 
 To aflume that any body of people is not only 
 corrupted, but incorrigible, is, to a plain and 
 common underftanding, one of the moft ex- 
 traordinary 
 * Speech, p, 88.
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 traordinary pofitions that I think was ever ven- 
 tured in a ferious publication. It mould feeni, 
 fir, that you hold the docftrine of free-will in 
 fo entire and abfolute a manner, that you leave 
 no room for the application of new motives to 
 the mind ; or elfe you fall into the contrary 
 extreme, and afiert that the conduct will remain 
 the fame, though every principle of action 
 ftiould be changed. Choofe which you will of 
 thefe abfurdities j for they are both before you. 
 Nor is it a common fpecies of corruption alone 
 of which they are accufed, fuch as fome ignorant 
 people have attributed to a virtuous majority, the 
 preferring their private to the public intereft ; 
 but the more extraordinary one of not only being 
 incapable of regulating their own affairs, but of 
 becoming fo by any procefs that can be operated 
 even by the omnipotence of parliament. Yet 
 this incorrigible body is compofed upon the 
 fame principles with the Bank, or any other pub- 
 lic company that has ever exifted ; compre- 
 hends many hundred individuals, among whom 
 may be numbered the principal gentry of the 
 kingdom, and the mod opulent merchants of 
 the city of London. 
 
 I fijould imagine, fir, that were a foreigner, to- 
 tally unverfed in the party hiftory of this king- 
 dom, to hear fo extraordinary an afTcrtion, he 
 
 would
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 would nccefiarily imagine that the whole preced- 
 ing hiftory of the Eaft-India company contained 
 nothing but the detail of public frauds and pri- 
 vate blunders : moreefpecially, when he reflected 
 upon the repeated generality which had been 
 ufed in an arbitrary government, like that of 
 France, to fupport a fimilar eftablimment, he 
 would conclude that the national afiiftance and 
 generofity here muft have been fo repeatedly 
 abufed as to leave no farther room for pardon or 
 experiment. Neccflity, he would obferve, may 
 indeed juftify, as it occafions every attempt; 
 but it muft be a very uncommon kind of necef- 
 fity that can induce the government of a free 
 flate to defert all its ufual principles, and to ufe 
 a difcrctionary authority with greater rigour 
 than was ever known in an arbitrary one. But 
 what would be Jiis aftonifhment, when he was 
 told the real hiftory of this oppreft and perfe- 
 cuted company ? That, incorrigible as it is now 
 reprefented to be, and radically corrupted, it had, 
 by its own exertions, obtained a degree of great- 
 nefs perhaps unparalleled in the hiftory of the 
 world. That its commerce, while it poured into 
 the bofom of the mother-country all the varied 
 productions of the fruitful Halt, had afforded 
 fuch ample fupplies to its revenue as would alone 
 fupport the expences of a moderate ftate. That its 
 
 prefent
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 prefent diftrefies were chiefly the temporary effefts 
 of a ruinous and inevitable war, in which it had 
 been involved by the ambition of thofe very pa- 
 triots who now exult with a malignant joy over 
 the wounds which they have occafioned, and, 
 inftead of binding them up, are haftening to 
 draw forth the vital fluids by the orifice. Its 
 own refources, it would be added, have nurfed 
 it up to a degree of power and opulence which 
 awes one portion of the globe, while it excites 
 the envy of all the reft, Although originally 
 intended for commerce alone, it has gradually 
 extended its power and influence, till it has in- 
 volved the fates of mighty empires, and attracted 
 them to itfelf. Whatever may be now ad- 
 vanced, by intereft or malevolence,, abouc 
 the crimes and incapacity of its fervants, is 
 amply confuted even by the unexaggerated 
 detail of events. What ftronger evidence can 
 be given of the folid bafis upon which any human, 
 power is founded, than its capacity to refift and 
 triumph over the mightieft attacks ? This, even 
 exclufively, is the boaft of the Englifh Eail- 
 India company. With every difadvantage of 
 difficulty and diftance, it has prevailed, not only 
 over the feeble oppofition of Afiatic princes, but 
 over all the efforts of one of the moft politic and 
 warlike nations in the univerfe. Could this have 
 been effe&ed without a fpirit, both of counfel, 
 
 and
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 and of enterprife ? No whatever may be the 
 reprefentations of parliamentary orators, the world 
 at large will refute the wild and chimerial accu- 
 fation. Whatever may be the demerits of the 
 company, whatever the catalogue of its crimes, 
 the comparative ferics of its minifters may cer- 
 tainly vie with that of any modern government 
 of Europe. It has undoubtedly produced war- 
 riors of intrepid minds and heroes of immortal 
 fame -, chiefs that have dared, in their employers 
 and country's caufe, all that men can dare ; that 
 have executed every thing which the prefent 
 colleagues of Mr. Burke have failed to do. Even 
 now, " on evil days though fall'n, and evil 
 tongues," it can boaft of characters that would 
 do honour to any nation ; the foremoft of whom 
 is that very culprit, that feems fingly, like an 
 electric rod upon a noble edifice, to have pro- 
 tected the building beneath, while he attracts 
 the fury of the temped upon himfdf. Yet even 
 he, " fcathed," as he may appear, by all the 
 lightnings of parliamentary vengeance, nor afks 
 the mercy, nor deprecates the rage of his ac- 
 culcrs : he is ready to leave the throne of half 
 the Eaft in order to meet their impeachments ; 
 he bids them take his life, if any thing worthy 
 of death (hall be found in his conduct ; nor 
 dare his moft inveterate enemies accept the offer. 
 
 It
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 Is this, fir, the language of party or cabal ? 
 If it be, I wifli it were oftener heard within the 
 walls of even your own virtuous houfe. It is the 
 voice of a man who is equally unacquainted 
 with Mr. Haftings and his friends ; totally un- 
 connected with the affairs and interefts of the 
 Eaft-India company. It is the voice of a man 
 \vho has never been feen at the levees of either 
 your friends or antagonifts ; who has never flat- 
 tered even the people, much as he loves them, 
 in their delufions, or cringed to them for their 
 fupport. But it is the voice of an independent 
 man, that dares to exprefs his fentiments in de- 
 fiance of the moft powerful faction of this conn- 
 try, and that has a character to hazard upon the 
 flake. As to Mr. Haftings, his abilities are fo 
 undoubted, and there is fo ftrong an imprefiion 
 of a great and noble ambition in all his actions, 
 that I cannot help admiring him ; and that ad- 
 miration, I confefs, makes me ready to efteem 
 him: I am interefted in his fate, and wifh to 
 find that he has added the praife of integrity to 
 that of a comprehenfive underftanding and ele- 
 vated mind. If ever there was an individual 
 who deferved to have the weaknefies or defefts of 
 human nature overfhadowed by his triumphs, 
 it certainly is Mr. Haftings-, yet, were his 
 achievements and his qualities ten times greater 
 O than
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 than they are, I never would interpofe to fcrcen 
 him from public juftice, if he has deferved it; 
 on the contrary, I would be the firft to mount 
 the roftrum, and arrefl him in his triumphal pro- 
 grefs, did I live in a country where any punilh- 
 ments were inflicted upon public guilt, or 
 where private virtue might direct the vengeance 
 of the nation. But fuch as he is, he does not 
 deferve to fall unheard. His fate fhould be an 
 honorable wound, in fair and equal battle ; not 
 to be trodden down by a bafe and promifcuous 
 rabble that are only ftruggling for his fpoils. 
 Let him fall hereafter, a victim to the offended 
 genius of Afia, and to the infulted juftice of his 
 country ; but let him, while he lives, enjoy the 
 honors and the veneration of an hero. His death, 
 whenever it arrives, will neither difgrace his 
 friends, nor be unworthy of himfelf ; it will be 
 folemn and lamented, the cataflrophe of an awful 
 drama: juflice will be expiated and forrow for 
 the ftroke ; it will not refufe the confolation 
 of an honorable interment, or deny a martial 
 trophy to adorn his tomb : it is envy alone 
 that would fteal the noble corpfe, and hew 
 it out to glut the fury of parliamentary hounds*. 
 
 This, 
 
 * There are two circumftances eflVntial to every free 
 ftate ; that no individual fhould either be elevated beyond 
 the reach of public juflice, or condemned unheard. No- 
 thing can be a furer prefage of approaching ruin to fuch a 
 
 iluic
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 This, fir, like many parts of your own 
 Speech, is declamation ; but it is not, as they 
 
 are. 
 
 flate than that degree of power which fruftrates all enquiry, 
 or that degree of violence which tramples upon the falutary 
 forms of criminal inveftigation. The more enormous is the 
 imputed guilt, the more cautious (hould we be in examin- 
 ing whether it really exift. An unfortunate man, not very 
 long ago, fell a viftim to the odium which had been ex- 
 cited by the atrocious nature of the crime alleged agiiinft 
 him ; and this muft fometimes happen, in fpite of the molt 
 excellent fyflem of criminal proceedings that any country 
 could ever boaft. How cautious then ought we to be in, 
 pronouncing upon the guilt of thofe who are abfenr, and 
 where the fcene of accufation lies in another hemifphere! s 
 I am very ill qualified to decide concerning the merit of 
 Mr. Haftings ; but I am fufficiently qualified to pronounce 
 that not one of the charges againft him has yet been proved 
 to the fatisfaftion of any impartial man : nor is there one 
 of them which has not been denied, and very forcibly, at 
 leaft very fpecioufly, invalidated. Mr. Burke, in the fer- ^ 
 vour of his complimental eloquence, has this paflage (p. 81): 
 * This man, whofe deep reach of thought, whofe large 
 legiflative conceptions, and whofe grand plans of policy, 
 make the moft (hining part of our reports, from whence we 
 have all learned our hjjions, if we have learned any good ones ; 
 this man, from whofe materials thofe gentlemen who have 
 leaft acknowledged it, have yet fpoken as from a brief,'' &c. 
 This pafiage, I muft confefs, appears to me a very unfor- 
 tunate one ; fince it feems to place the foundation of all 
 the bitter charges, both againft Mr. Haftings and the Eaft- 
 India company, upon the evidence and reprefentations of 
 one gentleman alone, and that gentleman known to have 
 been upon terms of perfonal enmity with the parties ac- 
 cufed. Whatever may be the integrity and abilities of any 
 O 2 man.
 
 ( 100 ) 
 
 are, unsupported by fact or argument. And 
 are the proprietors of the Ealt-India flock to 
 be calumniated with every disgraceful epithet 
 that can fting the heart, or degrade the character 
 of man, merely becaufe they did not recall a 
 minifter like Mr. Haftings, at the inftigation of 
 what now compofes a majority of the commons ? 
 On the contrary, it would have been madnefs 
 to have done it ; and it is the ftrongeft proof 
 both of their underftanding and their independ- 
 ence, that they have dared to difregard the idle 
 thunders of fuch a vote, and to follow the 
 dictates of their own better fenfe. Yet, that 
 they have dared to do this, and to maintain the 
 freedom of their own appointments, in oppo- 
 fition to the fenfe of the committees of the 
 houfe of commons, is a fufficient reafon for 
 your declaring " that the condition of the com- 
 pany is incorrigible." Strange logic indeed ! 
 and a new fpecies of dilemma ! Either the whole 
 corporation is at once to relign its legal powers 
 
 man, common juftice requires that allowance ftiould be 
 made for thofe paffions which are infeparable from human 
 nature : nor are fuch accuiations as are produced in the 
 Speech I allude to, to be admitted upon the teftimony of 
 any individual in the univerle ; ftill lefs upon another per- 
 fon's representation, even of that very teftimony. For 
 Mr. Burke himfelf allows, that be has learned bis lfjjbn t 
 without producing his mailer. 
 
 into
 
 into the hands of a majority of the houfe, to 
 change the tenour of its proceedings, difplace 
 its fcrvants, and manage its commercial affairs 
 by every caprice of men, who, whatever they 
 may know, can know but little of India 
 affairs, or elfe the punifhment of this audacity * 
 is to be the confifcation of all their privileges, 
 and the forfeiture of all their property. I have 
 heard of an highwayman, that prefented a, 
 piflol to a gentleman's breaft with this apoftro- 
 phe, " Sir, give me all your money, or elfe 
 by G d you'll be robbed." I will not pain 
 your delicacy by the application of the (lory ; 
 but will you pleafe to inform us, where was the 
 crime of the proprietors refilling a vote of the 
 houfe ? If it be a crime, why are they not pro- 
 ceeded againft and punifhed in a legal way ? 
 But if it be no more a crime for them to perfift 
 in maintaining their own appointment, than 
 it would be in me to keep a footman in defiance 
 of a vote of the houfe of commons, how can 
 this eftablifli either their corruption or their in- 
 corrigibility ? 
 
 But let me be permitted to analyze your 
 Speech, and, throwing the pomp of metaphor 
 
 * " Ever fince the beginning of this feffion, the fame 
 aft of audacity was repeated." P. 87. 
 
 and
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 and allufion afide, to confider the fimple facts 
 and arguments which it contains. Neither 
 you, nor any of your honorable friends, can 
 deny that the Eaft- India company have, for a 
 considerable fpace of time previous to thefe ac- 
 cufations, managed their affairs with confi- 
 derable attention and ability. Their profperity 
 is a fufficient proof of this and the (lability of 
 their empire. Now, fir, the whole period which 
 is contained in your accufations fcarcely extends 
 to a dozen years. You were their defender in 
 the year 1769, if you are the author of the 
 pamphlet called, " Obfervations on a late State 
 of the Nation ;" and you have defended them 
 as low as the year 1781, if any faith is to be 
 given to the parliamentary Debates. Even in 
 your prefent Speech you unguardedly allow 
 " the fad: is, that for a long time there was a 
 flruggle, a faint one, indeed, between the com- 
 pany and their fervants * ; of the directors you 
 affirm, " there have been, fir, very frequently, 
 men of the greateft integrity and virtue amongft 
 themf:" yet, after having paraded through 
 an hundred pages of mere declamation and 
 vague accufations, which have been repeatedly 
 anfwered and contradicted, you gravely con- 
 
 * Speech, p. 81. f Ibid. p. 83. 
 
 elude
 
 elude that the whole body both of proprietors 
 and directors is utterly incorrigible; the on 
 for oppofing the vote of parliament ; the other, 
 I fuppofe, for yielding obedience to it *. I 
 believe fuch a conclufion derived from fuch 
 premifes was never before hazarded by a man 
 of your abilities : for what can be inferred even 
 after the moft implicit acquiefcence in all your 
 charges, not one of which has been authenti- 
 cated, unlefs that the fervants of the company 
 have for fome years pad been guilty of mif- 
 behaviour, and that the proprietors, piqued, 
 according to your own account -f-, by the in- 
 terference 
 
 " * The dire&ors, ftill retaining fome (hadow of refpeft to 
 this houfe, inftituted an enquiry themfelves, which con- 
 tinued from June to October ; and, after an attentive pcrufal 
 and full confideration of papers, refolved to take fteps for 
 removing the perfons who had been the objects of our 
 refolutions." Speech, p. 86. Yet, p. 89, the directors 
 thetnfelves are all wolves. " He would appoint the wolf a 
 guardian of the fheep; but he has invented a curious 
 muzzle, by which this protecting wolf (hall not be able to 
 open his jaws above an inch or two at the utmoft." 
 
 May it not be alked whether any perfon was ever more 
 conftantly reprefented in the light of a wolf, than Lord 
 North by Mr. Burke and all his friends f Yet a late 
 t ran faction is a proof that wolves may either change their 
 nature, or be moft happily reftrained from mifchief, by 
 means of a coalition muzzle. 
 
 f " Even the attempt you have made to enquire into 
 ttoeir practices, and to reform abufes, has raifed and piqued 
 
 them
 
 ( 104 ) 
 
 terference of the commons, have not (hewn all 
 due refpeft to their illuftrious vote ? 
 
 But why muft they be for this reafon in- 
 corrigible ? Is not every body of men fubjeft to 
 errors and to paffions ? Do not a calmer con- 
 fideration of affairs, and longer experience, fre- 
 quently point out the neceffity of an alteration 
 of conduct ? And why might not the fame 
 revolution of things take place in refpect to 
 them, which we have feen exemplified in the 
 houfe of commons ? For almoft twenty years, 
 fir, the nation has heard you and your friends 
 declaiming againft venality and fecrct influence; 
 for almoft twenty years, if we can believe your 
 reprefentations, there has been fcarcely a mea- 
 fure which has not begun in folly and termi- 
 nated in wickednefs. This is a longer fpace of 
 reprobation than what you have alleged againft 
 /s^ the Eaft-India company. Yet fee how time, in 
 its filent progrefs, accomplices the moft 
 ftupendous revolutions ! This houfe, which for- 
 merly was a den of thieves,, is now become the 
 temple of the Lord ; " an independent houfe of 
 
 them to a far more regular and fteady fupport." Speech, 
 p. 88. May it not be fufpefted that refentment againft an 
 interference, which ihey jullly thought improper, might aft 
 upon the minds of the proprietors, as much as this original 
 fin of corruption ? 
 
 commons i
 
 commons ; an houfe of commons which has, b.y 
 its own virtue, deftroyed the influence of par- 
 liamentary iubferviency." {- 
 
 But as to the idea of any body of men, that 
 is in a continual ftate of fluctuation, being 
 incurably and neceffarily corrupt, the idea is as 
 unphilofophical as the purpofe for which it is 
 introduced is u.njuft. Is it for me, fir, to in- 
 form a man, that infifts fo frequently and with 
 fo much pleafure upon his acquaintance witlx 
 mankind, that every body of men is acted upon 
 by circ urn (lances, and changes its character in. 
 unifon with the general changes which furround 
 it? Even parliaments have been difinterefted 
 and defended the liberties of the people. If 
 they are grown indifferent to thefe circum- 
 ftances, it is becaufe the general relaxation of 
 the times admits the depravity; and becaufe 
 faction and intrigue have been difcovered to be 
 more effectual ways of making a fortune than 
 virtue or integrity. But mould the people once 
 more rouze from their lethargy, and demand a 
 fevere account from their reprefentatives, of 
 all the millions which they have fquandered, of. 
 all the mifmanagement which they have con- 
 nived at ; mould they for the future infift upon 
 private virtue and public confiftency as indif- 
 
 f Speech, p. 97, 
 
 P penfable .
 
 penfable qualifications, we might perhaps fee a. 
 change more extraordinary, in a certain honora- 
 ble houfe, than any which mark the year 1783. 
 
 But as to the defencelefs proprietors of Eaft- 
 India (lock, it is an equal reflection upon your 
 houfe to have fuffered their crimes andobftinacy 
 fo long as you pretend, and to be incapable of 
 correcting it now. All men, in every fituation, 
 are naturally guided by the impulfe of their 
 own intereft ; nor does a government ever 
 depend upon the virtue of its fubjects, but 
 upon the wifdom of its own regulations. It 
 afcertains the crime, it fixes the mode of pro- 
 fecution, it eftablifties the penalty. Look, I 
 pray you, fir, at your own flatutes ; there you 
 will find a thoufand of the moft innocent actions 
 in life prohibited under the fevcreft penalties. 
 Men may not confume the product of their own 
 fields, they may not fee the light of heaven, 
 they may not fteep an handful of barley-corns 
 in water, without the leave of government. 
 Lately you have undertaken that no man mail 
 difcharge the duties of common honefly, that 
 not a labourer fhall pay his ale-houfe fcore, 
 without the interference of government ; and 
 rather than fail, you hold out an univerfal 
 patronage to every villain throughout the king- 
 dom. Do you imagine, fir, that men fubmit 
 
 willingly
 
 \villingly and chearftilly to thefe abfurd op- 
 preffions ? No ; they curfe your parties and 
 your politics in every tongue, by every form of 
 religion, which prevails throughout the empire. 
 But hard neceffity compels, the iron hand of 
 power, and the terrors of impending punifh- 
 menr. Are you able to do all this, and are you 
 ebliged to yield to the obftinacy alone of India pro- 
 prietors ; men that are chained down in the rnidft 
 of the capital ; who are every inftant expofed to 
 your power, and obnoxious to your vengeance ; 
 whofe fortunes are the conftant pledges of their 
 conduct, and expofed, if they difobey, to all 
 your confcientious encroachments ? But pardon 
 me, fir, if I tell you that the whole fcheme is 
 fuch a chaos of abfurdity, bad reafoning, and 
 oppreflion, as never before difgraced a govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Men will certainly neither yield up their pro- 
 perty or their liberty to the pretended necefilties 
 of government, fo long as they can retain them. 
 But are the reports of the committees to enquire 
 into the frauds practifed upon the revenue, a 
 fufficient reafon to pronounce that the brewers, 
 the diftillers, and the numerous other traders 
 who are now the daily victims of the excife, 
 are become incorrigible ; and therefore to inveft 
 their fbops, their warehoufes, their diftilleries, 
 P 2 ia
 
 ( 100* ) 
 
 in parliamentary commifiioners ? Yet the prin 
 ciple is equally applicable ; with this difference 
 only, that after Ibme hundred pages of decla- 
 mation, not a fingle aflion has been proved againft 
 the Eaft-India proprietors, which does not fpring 
 from their undoubted right. 
 
 But from the firft ill-omened hour, the year 
 1767*, when the affairs of the company were. 
 
 * Jt is worth while to conlider the following account of 
 that tranfaSion. "The Eaft-India company had for a 
 good while folieited the miniitry for a negociation, by 
 which they propofed to pay largely for fome advantages in 
 their trade, and for the renewal of iheir charter. This had 
 been the former method of tranfafting with that body. 
 Government having only leafed the monopoly for fhort 
 terms, the company has been obliged to refort to it 
 frequently for renewals. Thcfe two parties had always ne- 
 gociated (on the true principle of credit J not as government 
 and fuhjecl, but as equal dealers, on the footing of mutual 
 advantage. The public had derived great benefit from fuch 
 dealing. But at that time new ideas prevailed," &c. &c. 
 See the curious pail age at length in a pamphlet called, 
 ' Obfervations on a late State of the Nation," p. 89. 
 
 The following perhaps may not be inapplicable ro the 
 prefent times. " In confequence of this fcheme, the ter- 
 rors of a parliamentary enquiiy were hung over them. A 
 judicature was aUtritd in parliament to try this queftion. 
 But, ltd ibis judicial cha-acler ftioulci chance to infpire cer- 
 tain ilubborn ideas of law ti^hr, it Was argued, that the 
 juiiicauuv was aibitra:y, and ought not to determine by the 
 ru'ii-j of law, but by their opinion of policy and expedi- 
 ency. No'.hing exceeded the violence of fome of the ma- 
 nagers, except their impatience. They were bewildereu 
 by their pafiions, aud by rheir want of knowledge, or want 
 of confu'eratioii of the fubjecl." Ibid, p. 90. 
 
 expofed
 
 ( '09 ) 
 
 ekpofed to the prophane and licentious eyes of v 
 the houfe, it was eafy to forefee how the inter- 
 ference would end, and what was the refor- 
 mation intended. Neither faith, nor gratitude, 
 nor promifes, can bind the rapacity of mini- 
 fters and their virtuous majorities. In vain might 
 the company plead their merits with the country 5 
 the numerous advantages which it continually 
 derived from their commerce ; the millions with 
 which it had enriched the public revenue be- 
 yond example, almoft beyond calculation ! when . 
 once a government is thoroughly corrupted^ / 
 wealth and profperity are crimes againft the flate, 
 and the name of private right or franchife be- 
 comes rebellion. The fpirit of defpotifm is 
 blind as it is intolerant, and the nobleft trees of 
 the foreft muft fall, to fave the trouble of 
 gathering the fruit. 
 
 This, and not the defire of reformation, has, 
 I fear, guided all the invafions which have been 
 made upon the company's rights ; from the 
 famous bill which prevented their fending over 
 fupervifors -j- to examine and correct the ftate of 
 their affairs, down to the prefent, which puhifhes 
 them for the omimon, by the confifcation of all 
 their property. To diftradt their counlels, and 
 
 f In the year 1772. 
 
 embarrafs
 
 C i lo ) 
 
 iembarrafs their affairs ; to continue every abufe, 
 but fruftrate every plan of reformation, till 
 loaded with a weight of public odium and pri- 
 vate diftreffes, they might fink for ever into the 
 bottomlefs gulf of minifterial influence ; has 
 this, fir, been, or has it not, the uniform, un- 
 deviating policy of government ? While you 
 paufe upon this important queftion, 1 will take 
 my leave of you for the prefent, with the in- 
 tention of renewing our correfpondence. 
 
 M A R I U S. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 A 000017724 6