507 
 1175 
 
 Burke 
 Two Speeches at Bristol
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Lewis F. Lengfeld
 
 MR. B U R K E's 
 
 TWO SPEECHES 
 
 A T 
 
 BRISTOL. 
 
 [Price Six Pence.]
 
 MR. EDMUND BURKE's 
 SPEECHES 
 
 A T 
 His ARRIVAL at BRISTOL, 
 
 A N D A T 
 
 The C O N C L U S I O N of the P O L L. 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Primed for J. D O D S L E Y, in PALL-MAU.. 
 MDCCLXXV,
 
 m
 
 DA 
 
 5^ 
 
 EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 W E believe there is no need of an Apology 
 to the Publick for offering to them any genuine 
 Speeches of Mr. Burke : the two contained hi 
 this publication undoubtedly are fo. The 
 general approbation they met with (as we 
 hear) from all parties at Briftol, perfuades us 
 that a good Edition of them will not be un- 
 acceptable in London ; which we own to be 
 the inducement, and we hope is a j unification, 
 of our offering it. 
 
 We do not prefume to defcant on the merit 
 of thefe Speeches ; but as it is no lefs new, 
 than honourable, to find a popular candidate, 
 at a popular election, daring to avow his 
 diflent to certain points that have been confi- 
 dered as very popular objects, and maintaining 
 himfelf on the manly confidence of his own 
 opinion ; fo, we muft fay, that it does great 
 credit to the people of England, as it proves 
 to the world, that, to infure their confidence, 
 A it 
 
 88988
 
 [ vi ] 
 
 it is not neceflary to flatter them, or to affeft 
 a fubferviency to their paffions or their pre- 
 judices. 
 
 It may be neceflary to premife, that at the 
 opening of the poll the candidates were Lord 
 Clare, Mr. Brickdale, the two laft members; 
 and Mr. Cruger, a coniiderable merchant at 
 Briftol. On the fecond day of the poll Lord 
 Clare declined ; and a considerable body of 
 gentlemen, who had wimed that the city of 
 Briftol fhould, at this critical feafon, be re- 
 jprefented by fome gentleman of tried abilities 
 and known commercial knowledge, immedi- 
 ately put Mr. Burke in nomination. Some of 
 them fet off exprefs for London, to apprife 
 that gentleman of this event ; but he was 
 gone to Malton in Yorkshire. The fpirit and 
 active zeal of thefe gentlemen followed him 
 to Malton. They arrived there juft after 
 Mr. Burke' s election for that place, and in- 
 vited him to Briflol. 
 
 Mr. Burke, as he tells us in his firft Speech, 
 acquainted his conilituents with the honourable 
 offer that was made him ; and, with their 
 confent, he immediately fet off for Briftol on 
 the Tuefuay at fix in the evening ; he arrived 
 at Briftol at half paft two in the afternoon on 
 Thurfday the i3th of October, being the 
 fixth day of the poll. 
 
 2 He
 
 [ vii ] 
 
 He drove directly to the mayor's houfe, who 
 not being at home, he proceeded to the Guild- 
 hall, where he alcended the huftings, and 
 having faluted the electors, the fheriffs, and 
 the two candidates, he repofed himfelf for a 
 few minutes, and then addrefled the electors 
 in a Speech which was received with great and 
 univerfai applaufe and approbation. 
 
 Mr.
 
 Mr. EDMUND BURKE's 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 AT 
 
 His ARRIVAL at BRISTOL;
 
 iJi. 

 
 Mr. EDMUND B U R K E ' s 
 
 E E C H. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 I AM come hither to folicit in perfon,. that 
 favour which my friends have hitherto en- 
 deavoured to procure for me, by the moft 
 obliging, and to me the moft honourable, ex- 
 ertions. 
 
 I have fo high an opinion of the great trufl 
 which you have to confer on this occafion ; 
 and, by long experience, fo juft a diffidence in 
 my abilities, to fill it in a manner adequate 
 even to my own ideas, that I mould never 
 have ventured of myfelf to intrude into that 
 
 awful
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
 awful fituation. But fince I am called upon 
 by the defire of feveral refpectable fellow- 
 fubjects, as I have done at other times, I give 
 up my fears to their wifhes. Whatever my 
 other deficiencies may be, I do not know what 
 it is to be wanting to my friends. 
 
 I am not fond of attempting to raife public 
 expectation by great promifes. At this time, 
 there is much caufe to confider, and very little 
 to prefume. We feem to be approaching to a 
 great crifis in our affairs, which calls for the 
 whole wifdom of the wifeil among us, without 
 being able to affure ourfelves, that any wildom 
 can preferve us from many and great inconve- 
 niencies. You know I fpeak of our unhappy 
 conteft with America. I confefs, it is a matter 
 on which I look down as from a precipice. It 
 is difficult in itfelf, and it is rendered more 
 intricate by a great variety of plans of con- 
 duct. I do not mean to enter into them. I 
 will not fufpect a want of good intention in 
 framing them. But however pure the inten- 
 tions of their authors may have been, we all 
 know that the event has been unfortunate. 
 The means of recovering our affairs are not 
 obvious. So many great queftions of com- 
 merce, of finance, of conftitution, and of po- 
 licy, are involved in this American delibera- 
 tion, that I dare engage for nothing, but that 
 I (hall give it, without any predilection to 
 former opinions, or any fimfter bias whatsoever, 
 
 the
 
 [ '3 ] 
 
 the moft honeft and impartial connderation 
 of which I am capable. The publick has 
 a full right to it ; and this great city, a main 
 pillar in the commercial intereft of Great- 
 Britain, muft totter on its bafe by the {lighteft 
 miftake with regard to our American mea- 
 fures. 
 
 Thus much, however, I think it not amifs 
 to lay before you; That I am not, I hope, 
 apt to take up or lay dwn my opinions lightly. 
 I have held, and ever fhall maintain, to the 
 beft of my power, unimpaired and undimi- 
 nifhed, the juft, wife, and neceffary conftitu- 
 tional fuperiority of Great-Britain. This is 
 neceffary for America, as well as for us. I 
 never mean to depart from it. Whatever may 
 be loft by it, I avow it. The forfeiture even 
 of your favour, if by fuch a declaration I could 
 forfeit it, though the firft object of my am- 
 bition, never will make me difguife my fen- 
 timents on this fubjec~t. 
 
 But, I have ever had a clear opinion, and 
 have ever held a conftant correfpondent con- 
 duct, that this fuperiority is confident with all 
 the liberties a fober and fpirited American 
 ought to defire. v I never mean to put any 
 colonift, or any human creature, in a n*tu- 
 ation, not becoming a free-man. /To reconcile 
 Britifh fuperioty with American liberty fhall 
 be my great object, as far as my little faculties 
 5 extend.
 
 [ H J 
 
 extend. I am far from thinking that both, 
 even yet, may not be prefer ved. 
 
 When I firft devoted myfelf to the public 
 fervice, I confidered how I mould render my- 
 felf fit for it i and -this I cid by endeavouring 
 to difcover what it was, that gave this country 
 the rank it holds in the world. I found that 
 our profperity and dignity <arofe. principally, 
 if not folely, from two fources ; our confti- 
 tution and commerce. Both thefe I have 
 fpared no ftudy to underftand, and no en- 
 deavour to fupport. 
 
 The diftinguifhing part of our conftitution 
 is its liberty. To preferve that liberty invi- 
 olate, feems the particular duty and proper 
 truft of a member of the Houfe of Commons. 
 But the liberty, the only liberty I mean, is a 
 liberty connected with order ; that not only 
 exifts along with order and virtue, but which 
 cannot exift at all without them. It inheres 
 in good and {ready government, as in its 
 Jubilance and vital principle. 
 
 The other fource of our power is commerce, 
 of which you are fo large a part, and which 
 cannot exift, no more than your liberty, 
 without a connection with many virtues. It 
 has ever been a very particular and a very 
 favorite object of my ftudy, in its principles, 
 and in its details, I think many here are 
 
 acquainted
 
 [ 15 1 
 
 acquainted with the truth of what I fay. This 
 I know, that I have ever had my houfe open, 
 and my poor fervices ready, for traders and 
 manufacturers of every denomination. My fa- 
 vorite ambition is to have thofe fervices acknow- 
 ledged. I now appear before you to make trial, 
 whether my earneft endeavors have been fo 
 wholly oppreffed by the weaknefs of my 
 abilities, as to be rendered infignificant in the 
 eyes of a great trading city ; or whether you 
 chufe to give a weight to humble abilities, for 
 the fake of the honeft exertions with which 
 they are accompanied. This is my trial 
 to-day. My induftry is not on trial. Of my 
 induitry I am lure, as far as my confKtution 
 of mind and body admitted. 
 
 When I was invited by many refpectable 
 merchants, freeholders, and freemen of this 
 city, to offer them my fervices, I had juft 
 received the honour of an election at another 
 place, at a very great diftance from this. I 
 immediately opened the matter to thofe of my 
 worthy conftituents who were with me, and 
 they unanimoufly advifed me not to decline 
 it. They told me, that they had elected me 
 with a view to the public fervice ; and as great 
 queftions relative to our commerce and co- 
 lonies were imminent, that in fuch matters I 
 might derive authority and fupport from the 
 reprefentation of this great commercial city ; 
 they defired me therefore to fet off without 
 
 delay,
 
 [ 16 ] 
 
 delay, very well perfuaded that I never could 
 forget my obligations to them, or to my 
 friends, for the choice they had made of me. 
 From that time to this inftant I have not 
 flept ; and if I mould have the honour of 
 being freely chofen by you, I hope I (hall be 
 as far from flumbering or fleeping when your 
 fervice requires me to be awake, as I have 
 been in coming to offer myfelf a candidate for 
 your favour, 
 
 . 
 
 Mr.
 
 MR. EDMUND BURKE's 
 5 P E E C H 
 
 T O 
 
 The ELECTORS of BRISTOL, 
 
 On his being declared by the Sheriffs, duly 
 ele&ed one of the Reprefentatives in Parlia- 
 ment for that City, on THURSDAY die 3^ 
 of NOVEMBER, 1774. 
 
 B
 
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 9 od-# "^'vl ajofi 
 
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 .. 
 
 '
 
 Mr. EDMUND BURKE's 
 
 SPEECH, 
 
 NOVEMBER 3, 1774. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 I Cannot avoid fympathizing ftrongly with 
 the feelings of the Gentleman who has re- 
 ceived the fame honour that you have con- 
 ferred on me. If he, who was bred and pafled 
 his whole Life amongft you ; if he, who, 
 through the eafy gradations of acquaintance, 
 friendihip, and efteem, has obtained the ho- 
 nour, which feems of itfelf, naturally and 
 almoft infenfibly, to meet with thofe, who, by 
 B 2 tbe.
 
 * 3 
 
 the even tenour of pleafing manners and focial 
 virtues, flide into the love and confidence of 
 their fellow-citizens ; if he cannot fpeak but 
 with great emotion on this fubjeft, furrouuded 
 as he is on all fides with his old friends ; you 
 will have the goodnefs to excufe me, if my 
 real, unaffected embarrarTment prevents me 
 from expreffing my gratitude tp you as I 
 ought. 
 
 I was brought hither under the difadvantage 
 of being unknown, even by fight, to any of 
 you. No previous canvafs was made for me. 
 j was put in nomination after the poll was 
 opened. J did not appear until it was far 
 advanced. If, under all thefe accumulated dif- 
 advantages, your good opinion has carried mq 
 to this happy point of luccefs ; you will par- 
 cion me, if I can only fay to you collectively, 
 as 1 faid to you individually, fimply and plain- 
 ly, 1 thank yon I am obliged to you I arn 
 not inleniible of your kinduefs. 
 
 This is all that I am able to fay for the in- 
 eftimable favour you have conferred upon me. 
 ;But I cannot be fatisfied, without faying a little 
 more in defence of the right you have to con- 
 fer fuch a favour. The perion that appeared 
 here as cQtmfsl for the Candidate, who fo 
 Jong and fo earneflly folicited your votes, 
 thinks proper to deny, that a very great part 
 of you have any votes to give. He fixes a 
 jftandard period of time in his own imagination, 
 
 not
 
 .... 
 
 hot what the law defines, but merely what 
 Uie convenience of his Client fuggefts, by 
 which he Would cut off, at one itroke, all 
 fchofe freedoms, which are the deareft privi- 
 leges of your Corporation ; which the com- 
 mon law authorizes : which your Magi ft rate's 
 are compelled to grant ; which come duly au- 
 thenticated into this Court ; and are faved in 
 the cleared words, and with the moffc religious 
 care and tendernefs, in that very aft of Par- 
 liament, which was made to regulate the 
 Elections by Freemen, and to prevent all pof- 
 fible abufes in making them* 
 
 I do not iiltend to argue the matter here. 
 JMy learned Counfel has iupported your Caufe 
 with his ufual Ability ; the worthy Sheriffs 
 have acted with their ufual equity, and I have 
 no doubt, that the fame equity, which dictates 
 the return, will guide the final determination. 
 I had the honour, in conjunction with many 
 far wifer men, to contribute a very fmall 
 afliftance, but however fome affiftance, to the 
 forming the Judicature which is to try fucrk 
 queftions. It would be unnatural in me, to 
 doubt the Jufticeof that Court, in the trial of 
 my own caufe, to which I have been ib active 
 to give jurifdiction over every other* 
 
 I allure the worthy Freemen, and this Cor- 
 poration, that, if the Gentleman perfeveres ifi 
 the intentions, Which his prefent warmth 
 B 3 dictates
 
 [ 3 
 
 dictates to him, I will attend their caufe with 
 diligence, and I hope with effect. For, if I 
 know any thing of myfelf, it is not my own 
 Intereft in it, but my full conviction, that in- 
 duces me to tell you / think there is not a Jha- 
 
 dow of doubt in the cafe. 
 
 J J 
 
 
 I do not imagine that you find me rafh in 
 declaring myfelf, or very forward in troubling 
 you. From the beginning to the end of the 
 election, I have kept filence in all matters of 
 difcuffion. I have never afked a queftion of a 
 voter on the other fide, or fupported a doubtful 
 'vote on my own. I refpected the abilities of 
 my managers ; I relied on the candour of the 
 court. I think the worthy meriffs will bear 
 me witnefs, that I have never once made an 
 attempt to impofe upon their reafon, to fur- 
 prize their juftice, or to ruffle their temper. 
 I flood on the huftings (except when I gave 
 my thanks to thofe who favoured me with 
 their votes) lefs like a Candidate, than an 
 unconcerned Spectator of a public proceeding. 
 But here the face of things is altered. Here 
 is an attempt for a general maffacre of Suffrages ; 
 an attempt, by a promifcuous carnage of" 
 friends and foes, to exterminate above two- 
 thoufand votes, including feven hundred polled 
 for the Gentleman himfelf, who now complains? 
 and who would deftroy the Friends whom he 
 has obtained, only becaufe he cannot obtain as- 
 many of them as he wimes, 
 
 3 How
 
 t 23 ] 
 
 How he will be permitted, in another place, 
 to ftultify and difable hiinfelf, and to plead 
 againft his own acts, is another queftion. The 
 law will decide it. I fhall only ipeak of it as 
 it concerns the propriety of public conduct 
 in this city. I do not pretend to lay down 
 rules of decorum for other Gentlemen* They 
 are beft judges of the mode of proceeding that 
 will recommend them to the favour of their 
 fellow- citizens. But I confefs, I Ihould look 
 rather awkward, if I had been the very firft to 
 produce the new copies of 'freedom , if I had per- 
 fifted in producing them to the laftj if I had 
 ranfacked, with the moft unremitting induftry* 
 and the mofl penetatring refearch, the remoteft 
 corners of the kingdom to difcover them ; if 
 1 were then, all at once, to turn mort, and 
 declare, that I had been fporting all this while 
 with the right of election : and that I had 
 been drawing out a Poll, upon no fort of 
 rational grounds, which difturbed the peace of 
 my fellow- citizens for a month together I 
 really* for my part, ihould appear awkward 
 under fuch circumftances. 
 
 It would be ftill more awkward in me, if I 
 were gravely to look the meriffs in the face, 
 and to tell them, they were not to determine 
 my caufe on my own principles ; nor to make 
 the return upon thofe votes, upon which I had 
 B 4 retted 
 
 .
 
 t 4 ] 
 
 refted my ele&ion. Such would be my ap- 
 pearance to the court and magiftrates. 
 
 /T3V3 . 
 
 But how fhould I appear to the Footers them- 
 felves ? If I had gone round to the citizens 
 intitled to Freedom, and fqueezed them by 
 the hand " Sir, I humbly beg your Vote I 
 " fhall be eternally thankful may I hope for 
 *' the honour of your fupport ? Well ! 
 " come we {hall fee you at the Council- 
 " houfe." If I were then to deliver them to 
 my managers, pack them into tallies, vote 
 them off in court, and when I heard from the 
 Bar " Such a one only ! and fnch a one for 
 " ever! he's my man!" " Thank you, 
 " good Sir Hah! my worthy friend! thank 
 " you kindly that's an honeft fellow how 
 " is your good family ?" Whilft thefe words 
 were hardly out of my mouth, if I fhould 
 have wheeled round at once, and told them 
 " Get you gone, you pack of worthlefs fel- 
 ' lows ! you have no votes you are Ufurpers ! 
 * you are intruders on the rights of real free- 
 " men ! I will have nothing to do with you ! 
 " you ought never to have been produced at 
 " this Election, and the Sheriffs ought not to 
 " have admitted you to poll." 
 
 Gentlemen, I fhould make a ft range figure, 
 if my conduct had been of this fort. 1 am 
 not fo old an acquaintance of yeiirs as the 
 worthy Gentleman. Indeed I could not have 
 
 ventured
 
 ventured on fuch kind of freedoms with you. 
 But I am bound, and I will endeavour, to have 
 juftice done to the rights of Freemen ; even 
 though I mould, at the fame time, be obliged 
 to vindicate the former * part of my antago- 
 nift's conduct againft his own prefent inclina- 
 tions. 
 
 I owe myfelf, in all things, to all the free- 
 men of this city. My particular friends have 
 a demand on me, that I fhould not deceive 
 their expectations. Never was caufe or man 
 fupported with more conftancy, more activity, 
 more fpirit. I have been fupported with a 
 zeal indeed and heartinefs in my friends, which 
 (if their object had been at all proportioned to 
 their endeavours) could never be fufficiently 
 commended. They fupported me upon tha 
 moft liberal principles. They wimed that the 
 members for Bnftol (hould be chofen for the 
 City, and for their Country at large, and not 
 for themfclves. 
 
 So far they are not difappointed. If I poflefs 
 nothing elfe, I am fure I poflefs the temper 
 that is fit for your fervice. I know nothing of 
 Briftol, but by the favours I have received, and 
 the virtues I have feen exerted in it. 
 
 * Mr. Rricktlale opened his poll, it feeros, with a tally of thofe 
 rery kind of Ireemen, and voted many hundreds of them. 
 
 I fliall
 
 I mall ever retain, what I now feel, the 
 mod perfect and grateful attachment to my 
 friends- and I have no enmities; no refent- 
 ment. I never can confider fidelity to engage- 
 ments, and conftancy in friendfhips, but with 
 the higheft approbation ; even when thofe 
 noble qualities are employed againft my own 
 pretenfions. The Gentleman, who is not for- 
 tunate as I have been in this conteft, enjoys, in 
 this refpect, a confolation full of honour both 
 to himfelf and to his friends. They have 
 certainly left nothing undone for his fervice. 
 
 As for the trifling petulance, which the rage 
 of party ilirs up in little minds, though it 
 (hould mew itfelf even in this court, it has 
 not made the flighteft impreffion on me. The 
 higheft flight of fuch clamorous birds is 
 winged in an inferior region of the air. We 
 hear them, and we look upon them, juft as 
 you, Gentlemen, when you enjoy the ferene 
 air on your lofty rocks, look down upon the 
 Gulls, thatfkim the mud of your river, when 
 it is exhaufted of its tide* 
 
 i- rb'fi 
 
 I am forry I cannot conclude, without fay- 
 ing a word on a topick touched upon by my 
 worthy Colleague. I wim that topick had been 
 patted by ; at a time when 1 have (o little leifure 
 to difcuis it. But fince he has thought proper 
 to throw it out, I owe you a clear explanation 
 of my poor fentiments on that f'ubjecl. 
 
 He
 
 t 
 
 He tellsyou, that " the topick of Inftruftions 
 * has occafioned much altercation and uneafi- 
 " nef's in this City ;" and he expreifes himfelf 
 (if I underftand him rightly) in favour of the 
 coercive authority of luch mftru&ions. 
 
 Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the 
 happinefs and glory of a Reprcfentative, to live 
 in the flri&eft union, the clofeft correfpori- 
 dence, and the moft unreferved communication 
 with his conftituents. Their wimes ought to 
 have great weight with him; their opinion 
 high refpecl ; their bufinefs unremitted atten- 
 tion. It is his duty to lacrifice his repofe, his 
 pleafures, his fatisfa&ions, to theirs; and, 
 above all, ever, and in all cafes, to prefer 
 their intereft to his own. But, his unbiafled 
 opinion, his mature judgement, his enlightened 
 confcience, he ought not to facrifice to you ; 
 to any man, or to any fett of men living. 
 Theie he does not derive from your pleafure ; 
 no, nor from the Law and the Conftitution. 
 They are atruft from Prov.dence, for the abufe 
 of which he is deeply anfwerable. Your Re- 
 prefentative owes you, not his induftry only, 
 but his judgement ; and ; e betrays, in tread of 
 ferving you, if he facrifices it to your opinion. 
 
 My worthy Colleague fays, his Will ought 
 to be fubfervient to yours. If that be all, the 
 thing is innocent. If Government were a 
 
 matter
 
 t rt } 
 
 ter of Will upon any fide, yours, without 
 queftion, ought to be fuperior. But Govern- 
 ment and JLegiflation are matters of reafon and 
 judgement, and not of inclination ; and, what 
 iort of reafon is that, in which the determi- 
 nation precedes the difcuflion; in which one 
 fett of men deliberate, and another decide ; and 
 where thofe who form the conclufion are per- 
 haps three hundred miles diftant from thofe 
 who hear the arguments ? 
 
 To deliver an opinion, is the right of all 
 men ; that of Constituents is a weighty and 
 refpeftable opinion, which a Repreientative 
 ought always to rejoice to hearj and which 
 he ought always mod ferioufly to confider. 
 But authoritative in ft ructions ; Mandates ifTued, 
 which the Member is bound blindly and im- 
 plicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, 
 though contrary to the cleared conviction off 
 his judgement and confcience ; thefe are 
 things utterly unknown to the laws of this 
 land, and which arife from a fundamental 
 Miftake of the whole order and tenour of our 
 Couditution. 
 
 Parliament is not a Congrefs of AmbafTadofs 
 from different and hoftile interefb ; which in- 
 terefts each muft maintain, as an Agent and 
 Advocate, againft other Agents and Advocates; 
 but Parliament is a deliberative AvTembly of one 
 Nation, with one Intered, that of the whole; 
 2 where,
 
 ft *9 ] 
 
 where, not local Purpofes, not local Prejudices 
 ought to guide, but the general Good, reiult- 
 ing from the general Reafon of the whole. 
 You chufe a Member indeed; but when you 
 have chofen him, he is not Member of Briftol, 
 but he is a Member of Parliament. If the local 
 Conftituent mould have an Intereft, or (hould 
 form an hafty Opinion, evidently oppolite to 
 the xeal good of the reft of the Community, 
 the Member for that place ought to be as far, 
 as any other, from any endeavour to give it 
 Effect. I beg pardon for faying fo much oil 
 this fubject. I have been unwillingly drawn 
 into it ; but I (hall ever ufe a refpeftful frank- 
 nefs of communication with you. Your faith- 
 ful friend, your devoted fervant, I fhall be to 
 the end of my life : A flatterer you do not 
 wifh for. On this point of inft ructions, how- 
 ever, I think it fcarcely poffible, we ever 
 can have any fort of difference. Perhaps I 
 may give you too much, rather than too little 
 trouble. 
 
 From the firft hour I was encouraged to 
 court your favour to this happy day of obtain- 
 ing it, I have never promifed you any thing, 
 but humble and perfevering endeavours to do 
 my duty. The weight of that duty, I confefs, 
 makes me tremble ; and whoever well confiders 
 what it is, of all things in the world will fly 
 from what has the leaft likenefs to a pofitive 
 and precipitate engagement. To be a good 
 
 Member
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 Member of Parliament, is, let me tell you, no 
 eafy tafk ; efpecially at this time, when there 
 is fo ftrong a difpofition to run into the perilous 
 extremes of lervile compliance, or wild popu- 
 larity. To unite circumfpecTion with vigour, 
 is abiblutely neceffary ; but it is extremely 
 difficult. We are now Members for a rich 
 commercial City ; this City, however, is but 
 a part of a rich commercial Nation, the Interefts 
 of which are various, multiform, and intricate. 
 We are Members for that great Nation, which 
 however is itfelf but part of a great Empire, 
 extended by our Virtue and our Fortune to the 
 fartheft limits of the Eaft and of the Weft. 
 All thefe wide-fpread Interefts muft be con- 
 fidered ; mull be compared ; muft be recon- 
 ciled if poffible. We are Members for a free 
 Country ; and furely we all know, that the 
 machine of a free Conftitution is no limple 
 thing; but as intricate and as delicate, as it is 
 valuable. We are Members in a great and 
 ancient Monarchy ; and we muft preferve re- 
 ligioufly, the true legal rights of the Sovereign, 
 which form the Key-ftone that binds together 
 the noble and well-conftru&ed Arch of our 
 Empire and our Conftitution. A Conftitution 
 made up of balanced Powers muft ever be a 
 critical thing. As fuch I mean to touch that 
 part of it which comes within my reach, I 
 know my Inability, and I wifh for iupport 
 from every Quarter. In particular I fhall aim 
 at the friendfhip, and mall cultivate the beft 
 
 Correfpondence,
 
 [ 3' ] 
 
 Correfpondence, of the worthy Colleague you 
 have given me. 
 
 I trouble you no farther than once more to 
 thank you all ; you, Gentlemen, for your Fa- 
 vours ; the Candidates for their temperate and 
 polite behaviour j and the Sheriffs, for a Con- 
 dud which may give a Model for all who are 
 n public Stations. 
 
 
 od j 
 
 s t^l 
 
 FINIS.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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