THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 A FAIR AND CANDID 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 NOBILITY AND BARONETS 
 
 QF THE UNITED KINGDOM^ 
 
 ACCOMPANIED WITH 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS AND PROOFS 
 
 OF THE ADVANTAGE: OP 
 
 ©eremtarp Hank ana Cttle 
 In a free country. 
 
 By W. PLAYFAIR, Esq. 
 
 INVENTOR OF LINEAR iRITinrETrc, AUTHOR OP AN ENQUIRY INTO TJJE 
 
 CAUSES OF THE DECLINE AND PALE OP NATIONS^ EDITOR OP 
 
 THE LAST EDITION OP DR. SMITH'* ENQUIRY, WITH 
 
 NOTES AND A SUPPLEMENT, &C„ &C. 
 
 A House of Peers sitting, each Toting is their own right,, and Inde>- 
 pendant of the King and the People, is the hest means of preser- 
 ving the fights of both, and securing liberty. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY W. LZJVIS, PATERNOSTER-ROW i 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS OF FAMILY ANTIOUITV. 
 AT Ho. 13,TI1AVIES-INN, HOLBORK. 
 
 1809.

 
 THE READER IS REQUESTED TO PAY PARTI- 
 CULAR ATTENTION TO THIS 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 ■WW MM WW " 
 
 TN the course of publishing the Work, intitled 
 Family Antiquity ; I have thought it neces- 
 sary to concentrate, in one small volume, the 
 principal circumstances that give it a claim to 
 encouragement; in doing which, I beg those 
 royal and noble personages who have honoured 
 me with their patronage, to accept of my most 
 grateful thanks. 
 
 The Work itself is of the nature of those long 
 and intricate calculations, the chief value of 
 which consists in their result — Though I trust, 
 that the histories of individual families give sa- 
 tisfaction, information, and entertainment, yet the 
 great end of the Work is of another nature, 
 and for another purpose. It is to prove the 
 merit and utility of a hereditary race of nobles, 
 by an appeal to fact, and, as the whole proofs 
 A%
 
 are before the public, 1 could never venture to 
 draw any deduction from them that on inspec- 
 tion would not be found to be fair and true. 
 
 As the Work is voluminous and expensive, 
 its operation on public opinion must be by 
 concentrating the most material and important 
 truths it contains; referring to the Work itself 
 for their reality. 
 
 This small publication is intended for that 
 purpose ; it contains important truths, but the 
 vouchers for those truths are contained in 
 the large Work ; without which, this small one 
 would merely deserve the name of a Political 
 Reverie. 
 
 The encouragers of the Work are then re- 
 quested to consider, that it is by their support 
 alone that this could have existed.— The truths 
 lay hid, as if under the ground, and their generous 
 support has enabled me to bring them forth in 
 such a manner as must have the most happy 
 influence, in protecting Hereditary Rank, from 
 the rude ravage of modern reformers; who, 
 though they have no respect for institutions, on 
 account of their origin' or antiquity^ still profesi 
 a regard to what is Practicallt Advanta- 
 geous. 
 
 I have proved the Practical Advantages 
 of Hereditary Rank and Title; thereby 
 silencing those who would persuade the public 
 at large to think that institution either useless
 
 or inconvenient: which is a very important 
 point to the whole of society, but particularly 
 to the members of that order. 
 
 I have already succeeded in making the utility 
 of this Work understood to the greater number 
 of the nobility, as well as to many gentlemen, 
 who have not titles, but who, feeling the im- 
 portance of the undertaking, have generously 
 patronised it. There are still, however, some of 
 the nobility, who, I suppose, from not having 
 taken time to consider the nature and tendency 
 of the Work, have not thought proper to favour 
 it with their encouragement. I say, that I sup- 
 pose it is from not taking time, for it cannot 
 be supposed that, if they knew that I was 
 fighting in their cause, they would refuse to imi- 
 tate those Peers who feel for, and support, the 
 Common Interest. I am persuaded there is not 
 a person enjoying title in the kingdom, who 
 would not exclaim with the virtuous Roman : 
 
 I should have blush'd, if Cato's house had stood 
 Aloof, or flourished iu a civil war. 
 
 Thoughts are the seeds of actions, and the 
 most formidable revolutions proceed from opi- 
 nions; it is, therefore, at all times important to 
 eradicate error before it produces unfortunate 
 effects ; it is in this warfare that I am engaged ; 
 and it is on that account, and on that only, 
 that I call for support from those noblemen
 
 Who, from not having considered the case, have 
 not honoured me with their protection. 
 
 What I now say is undeniable ; but if, 
 after fairly understanding this, there are noble- 
 men who think the cause not worth pleading ; * 
 or who, thinking it worth pleading, are too sel- 
 fish to join in its support. I shall consider 
 it as a happy circumstance that the names of 
 such men are not to be found in the honour- 
 able list of those who act on the generous 
 principle of patrons to a publication, the ob- 
 ject of which is to this claim — Were the claims 
 to patronage (which I now bring forward) 
 in any way attempted to be founded on the 
 merit of the Work, it would be consummate 
 and insufferable vanity ; but as they are founded 
 intirely on the beneficial tendency of the Work, 
 and as that benefit is certain to be attained, I 
 humbly hope that the appeal which I now make 
 will be considered as legitimate. 
 
 * Some people imagine, that, because new nobility are 
 rising up on the continent, the danger to the old is over — 
 Quite the contrary. — Equality is indeed out of date, but 
 personal distinction in opposition to hereditary distinction is 
 now the plan encouraged, and approved by the revolutionists, 
 and it is one to which the bulk of all mankind will assent, 
 as it gives chance to the present race. Hereditary nobility 
 is like a lottery, in which the prizes are already drawn.
 
 COPY OF THE 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 OF THE WORK TO 
 
 HJS MAJESTY, 
 
 BY PERMISSION. 
 
 TO 
 
 THE KING. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 In presuming to lay before your Majesty 
 a Work intended to illustrate the character gene- 
 rally maintained by the British Nobility ; to shew 
 the high respectability of that order, and combat 
 the prejudices and false opinions that have pre- 
 vailed in latter times, I am encouraged more 
 by the nature of the subject than by any pre- 
 tensions founded on my own abilities. 
 
 The fortitude with which your Majesty has 
 resisted innovations, that are more inimical to 
 the happiness of the people than to the rights 
 of kings ; the protection your Majesty has granted 
 to the victims of a misguided nation and of a 
 false philosophy; and the assistance afforded to 
 a who are inclined to defend their rights, will 
 excite admiration to the latest posterity. 
 
 Your Majesty's example will shew, that firm- 
 Mess in maintaining what is already established,
 
 
 and has been approved by experience, in oppo- 
 sition to what is plausible and new, however 
 much applauded by the popular voice, is the 
 surest way for a monarch to secure the happi- 
 ness of his people. 
 
 Britain, the seat of true liberty, which has 
 for ages afforded an asylum to the victims of 
 despotism, has, under the reign of your Majesty, 
 become the refuge of those who have fled from 
 a pretended liberty, founded on the imaginary 
 basis of equality, and established on the ruins 
 of hereditary nobility. 
 
 During a revolution, not less fatal to the men 
 by whom it was planned and executed, than to 
 those whom it proscribed, nations and individuals 
 have sought, and they have found protection 
 from your Majesty. 
 
 It is, as an humble assistant, to the best of 
 my power, in resisting the farther progress of a 
 revolution (in effecting which the pen has done 
 as much as the sword), that I venture to hope 
 for the patronage of a Monarch, whose reign has 
 been as highly distinguished by his firmness and 
 virtues, as by the singularity of the contest in 
 which he has been compelled to engage. 
 I am, 
 
 SIR, 
 Your Majesty's most faithful subject, 
 Undon, 1st May. And most dutiful Servant, 
 
 «». WILLIAM PLAYFAIR.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ENGLISH PEERAGE. 
 
 (COPY.) 
 
 At a time like the present, when there exists, 
 nearly over all Europe, a very general and 
 strong disposition to degrade whatever owes any 
 part of its importance to Antiquity, or whoever 
 derives honour from Illustrious Ancestors, a 
 publication of the nature now produced must ap- 
 pear with peculiar propriety and advantage. It 
 plainly proves, from undeniable facts, found 
 in the History of the British Nobility, 
 that there has been, with a very few exceptions, 
 a most intimate connexion between great actions, a 
 good and virtuous conduct, and the honours that 
 have been distributed by the sovereigns of this 
 country. 
 
 This work, while it is designed to render the 
 study of that interesting subject more easy and 
 clear, by means of the Charts, is expressly in- 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 ended to counteract the new doctrines that unfor- 
 tunately prevail too much. 
 
 The object is, to convert the history of our Il- 
 lustrious Nobility into a barrier against such 
 unprincipled innovation ; and, on this ground, it lays 
 claim to the patronage and encouragement of' all 
 those zvho wish to maintain the present happy order 
 of things, and the incomparable government of this 
 country, which are so intimately connected with the 
 preservation of the different ranks of society, and so 
 dependant on the respect and esteem justly marked 
 for the higher orders. 
 
 The Nobility of this empire are, by the nature 
 of their creation and the descent in which their 
 titles run, different from those of all other countries, 
 and that difference is highly in favour of British 
 Nobility. 
 
 From the earliest ages, genealogy has occu- 
 pied much of the attention of mankind ; and 
 whether we consult sacred or profane history, 
 we shall find the extraction of the individual 
 always considered as making an important object in 
 his history. 
 
 "When a man first enters into life, he has, 
 indeed, no other history than the name of his 
 father, or of the family to which he belongs. 
 This is the only answer which can be given to 
 that perpetual question of, " Who is that ?" No 
 sooner do we see a stranger than we wish to 
 know from Whom descended. The very impor-
 
 tant inquiry, of what he does ? is in general a secon- 
 dary question. 
 
 Although the actions of a man himself are 
 the truest proofs of his merit, yet it is impossible 
 for the mind not to connect these with the opinion 
 we have of his extraction ; and whoever pays due 
 attention to the natural sentiments of mankind, 
 (while he keeps clear of the absurd prejudice 
 which gives honour and respect to extraction 
 alone,) will acknowledge, that the actions of 
 men are not the only ground of respectability or 
 estimation in the world. It is true, that a res- 
 pect for ancestors seems to be founded in what 
 (in the present times) is called prejudice and 
 respect for actions, on what is termed reason, 
 but this is not altogether true. 
 
 It is to be considered, that the motive of a 
 man's actions not being always known, and even 
 the real merit of an act being frequently un- 
 certain, it is, in a vast variety of cases, impossi- 
 ble to form a very decided conclusion. On the 
 other hand, though it is absurd to honour and 
 esteem a man merely because he is descended 
 from great and good men, yet, even in doing 
 so, reason mingles with prejudice; for, personal 
 merit or blame cannot, in almost any case, be 
 measured so accurately as not to require all 
 the assistance which circumstances will afford 
 in forming an opinion on this subject ; it becomes 
 therefore necessary to take into account all the 
 
 B2
 
 IS 
 
 collateral circumstances ; of which extraction is 
 
 i 
 one." 
 
 In forming a judgment of great, or of very 
 
 decided actions, the former conduct of the actor 
 
 will produce but little effect ; because men are 
 
 capable of reformation, or of becoming depraved ; 
 
 but in judging of ordinary actions, the general 
 
 character of the actor has much weight. In like 
 
 manner, the race from which a man springs, is 
 
 i 
 
 1 Mr. Pope, who is considered as having put the ideas of 
 ethers into admirable versification, seems to be entirely in 
 favour of actions, when he says, 
 
 *' Honour and shame from no condition rise, 
 Act well your part, there all the honour lies : 
 Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow, 
 The rest is all but leather or prunella." 
 This, indeed, is a very decided sort of language ; but what 
 are we to say, when in the following essay we find the same 
 poet express himself thus ? 
 
 u Not always actions shew the man : we find 
 Who docs a kindness is not therefore kind :" &c. 
 And when farther on, the same poet, who in the foregoing 
 essay spoke so decidedly of actions, concludes with saying: 
 « Judge we by nature? habit can, efface, 
 Interest o'ercome, or policy take place. 
 By actions ? those uncertainty divides. 
 By passions ? these dissimulation hides. 
 Opinions ? they still take a wider range. 
 Find, if you can, in what you cannot change. 
 Manners with fortunes, humours turn with clime?, 
 Tenets with books, and principles with tinw" 
 What a tissue of contradictions I
 
 - • 13 
 
 a sort of guide to the judgement with respect 
 to the man himself; until a man has begun to 
 act, or until we know some of his actions or 
 his manner of acting; the race he is descended 
 from is the only circumstance that can guide our 
 judgement. This, indeed, is by no means a 
 sure criterion ; but as a man's past conduct is 
 not a perfectly certain pledge for his future ac- 
 tions, it becomes unfair altogether to reject the 
 one, and in an unlimited manner to adopt the 
 other mode of judging. , 
 
 Lineal descent seems, from the history, both 
 of men and of inferior animals, to be an im- 
 perfect species of identity : the same qualities are 
 often found to descend from father to son ; and, 
 therefore, may with some reason be expected to 
 do so ; and as even where the identity is personal 
 and undeniable," the mind is capable of total 
 change, it seems fair to consider this as a species 
 of identity, though of an inferior degree; pro- 
 vided we can find, that the qualities or propen- 
 sities of the man do often, as personal likeness, 
 
 go by descent. 
 
 ■ 
 
 b The man who at the age of twenty-five was vigorous and 
 virtuous, may at forty be depraved and debilitated ; indeed it 
 often happens so ; nay, very great changes take place in a 
 much shorter interval of time, therefore personal identity 
 scarcely exists, except in the memory, for both the mind" and 
 matter are changed, 
 
 * ■ i
 
 14 
 
 Without affirming that general opinion is al- 
 ways right, its support is a strong presumption 
 in favour of any sentiment or doctrine. In speak- 
 ing of general opinion, we do not mean general 
 in one town or country, or only a temporary opi- 
 nion, though ever so widely extended : but an opi- 
 nion, of the truth of which all ranks and ages, the 
 ignorant man, and the well-informed, are equally 
 persuaded ; c such an opinion is, for the most part, 
 well founded. 
 
 It is, and has been common to all people in 
 all ages, to speak of a brave race of men ; an 
 honourable ; or a generous race. Thousands ot 
 instances may be drawn from history to prove 
 that there is nothing absurd in such expressions/ 
 Even whole nations have deserved and maintained 
 
 c There is indeed a difference between the degree of credit gi- 
 ven by the well-informed man and the ignorant. What the for- 
 mer believes, is generally mixed with some degree of doubt, or 
 attended with some species of diffidence (m himself at least}; 
 whereas the ignorant man indulges no sort of doubt, but grants 
 a full, general, and unmixed belief to his opinion, unaccomp 
 nied by any sort of diffidence in his own judgment. 
 
 d It is undoubtedly a mistake to attribute to soil, climate, 
 or government, the disposition of the people. Under the 
 same government we find people of very different charac- 
 ters and conduct. The people of Cheshire are very dif- 
 ferent from those of Yorkshire. The people of Normandy 
 are remarkable for shrewdness, and those of Champagne 
 for silliness ; so that it is not the government. Again, in 
 it local situation? Compare ihe ancient Romans with the 
 
 a-
 
 Id 
 
 a particular character. 6 It is, therefore, reason- 
 able to suppose, until we find it otherwise, that 
 the individual partakes of the qualities of the line 
 from which he is sprung/ 
 
 To say, that some degree of prejudice is not 
 mixed with this position in favour of a person who 
 w well descended, would be extravagant, but it 
 
 base populace that now incumber Italy, or the antient 
 Greeks with the slaves who now disgrace the former ha- 
 bitation of arts and elegance. 
 
 c It does not seem to be the same with the qualities 
 •f the head, for we do not hear of a succession of 
 painters, poets, or mathematicians. This has given some 
 reason to think that the qualities of the heart go by the 
 male line, and those of the head by the female, which 
 latter being subject to perpetual interruption, there is no- 
 thing hereditary in abilities. Where it has sometimet 
 happened, that the same male and female line have inter- 
 married for a long series of generations, the race has ge- 
 nerally been degraded in intellects. Of this there are se- 
 veral examples in some parts of this country, which, 
 however, it would be invidious to point out. 
 
 f Perhaps the fair and honourable pride of emulating 
 the virtues of ancestors, is one of the greatest recommen- 
 dations of a man who is well descended. This acts strongly 
 on youth, and therefore tends to make a man begin the 
 world well, which is a great point ; and on this account 
 it is to be wished, that the old prejudices (if they are preju- 
 dices) in favour of men of family, should not be done 
 away, to make room for modern philosophy.
 
 16 
 
 is quite sufficient, if shewn that there is some 
 foundation for it in nature, and in reason. 
 
 In maintaining that respect and honour are 
 due to ancestry, we do not by any means 
 wish to insinuate that such claims are equal to 
 those of personal merit, and indeed it is pre- 
 cisely because we do not think so, that we have 
 set on foot the present enquiry into the origin 
 of honours and of wealth, thereby connecting 
 genealogy with biography ; for we do consider 
 that there is a wide distinction between honour 
 and rank, and that a splendid title may, in some 
 cases, be rather a disgrace than otherwise: but^ 
 in all cases, we maintain that genealogy and 
 biography ought to be connected together, in 
 order to separate the solid from the shining, 
 the intrinsic from the apparent. 
 
 In the course of the following enquiry, we 
 shall find, that though honours have in general 
 been acquired by estimable actions, there are 
 a few glaring exceptions. We shall also find 
 that, though once obtained, honours have often 
 been well supported, yet that they have occa- 
 sionally been very much disgraced and degraded, 
 by the actions of those who bore them. This 
 will naturally lead more firmly to the conclusion, 
 that nominal rank and real honour may be, and 
 frequently are separated. 
 
 As a rich man- becomes almost equally mi-
 
 17 
 
 portant to society as if, besides his riches, he 
 were in possession of a title, and as a degree of 
 respect paid to him is not very much inferior, we 
 shall inquire into the origin of wealth, and the na- 
 ture of that conduct, by which it is naturally ac- 
 quired, as well as into that cast of character, and 
 course of conduct, which do most naturally, and 
 have most commonly, led to wealth and honours. 
 
 At the same time that the historical inquirer 
 is under an indispensable obligation to search 
 diligently for, and strictly adhere to the truth, 
 it is yet permitted to him, nay, it is proper, 
 wherever the motives for any action appear to 
 be uncertain, to incline to that detail, or that 
 explanation, which is most favourable to the fa- 
 mily of which he treats : and this, on the fair 
 ground, that vanity is a more powerful incen- 
 tive to virtue than shame; the former is attended 
 with an agreeable feeling, but the latter, with 
 a very painful sensation. Desirous to gratify, 
 as well as serve mankind, we will, without any 
 sacrifice of truth, take what is familiarly termed 
 the good-natured side of the question. 
 
 It would be a curious inquiry to trace the 
 importance in which genealogy has been held in 
 all ages, and in all nations ; as it would tend to 
 ascertain, how much more men are governed in their 
 actions by opinion than by realities. The pro- 
 vince of opinion seems to be to guide men, when 
 they are not under the immediate influence of 
 
 C
 
 18 
 
 necessity : but opinion yields its empire, the 
 moment that circumstances are such as to create 
 what appears to the mind to be necessity. 5 
 
 Inequality of rank owes its first rise to se- 
 niority ; of this we have many beautiful descrip- 
 tions in the Old Testament. The father of the 
 family was the king, and his eldest son suc- 
 ceeded to his power, unless where the family 
 separated, or where superior ingenuity or strength 
 gave that power to another. It is, therefore, a 
 fundamental error to imagine that equality is 
 natural. Nothing in the world is so unnatural, 
 and nothing more impracticable, than either to 
 establish or preserve equality: though it be clear 
 that a boundary must be set to power, and 
 that this boundary ought to be regulated by 
 justice, and by circumstances. h 
 
 The eastern nations, which have escaped many 
 of those convulsions and changes, which war 
 
 e We say, what appears to be necessity : because it is very 
 seldom that there is no alternative left : and so long as there 
 is, the necossity is not absolute. 
 
 h Nimrod seems to have been the first man who overturned 
 the Patriarchial government, and established that of conquest; 
 which he attained by personal merit, uniting in himself all 
 those qualities of body and mind which fit a man to lead, 
 govern, and instruct others: and what, at first sight, sur- 
 prises us is that the superiority established by conquest, is of 
 a milder species than that which is established by family prefer- 
 ences ; but this seems to arise from the same cause that makes 
 mil wan more cruel than those between two different nations.
 
 19 
 
 and conquest have brought on Europe and 
 Africa, retain still much of that primaeval dis- 
 tinction of rank, which seems to have owed its 
 origin to the function which the father of the 
 family assigned to his different children; for 
 that distinction seems to have been occasioned 
 by opinion, or unequal degrees of affection, not 
 by force; and to have had very little connexion 
 either with state policy, or personal interest or 
 advantage. Superstition came in aid of what 
 arose from paternal * injustice ; and, accordingly, 
 we find that in the east, one set of men is 
 exalted above, and the other depressed below 
 humanity. 
 
 In the western world, where revolutions, and 
 the fiercer passions have ruled, men have some- 
 times been guided by justice, and when they were 
 not so, by interest. Hence it is, that, though 
 the distinction of master and slave existed for a 
 long period, in Europe ; yet it was a distinction 
 
 1 The imperfections of humanity counteract and moderate 
 each other in a wonderful degree. Avarice counteracts cruelty 
 in the case of slaves. As to paternal authority, we have a 
 strange instance of what that is, even in the patriarch / Jra - 
 ham, who sent off his beloved concubine, and her yoir& son > 
 into the desert, with a bottle of water, in order to*^ ease n ' s 
 old wife Sarah. Can we wonder at the degradatio °* some of 
 the Eastern casts, after such an invidious disti~ tlon ara o n gst 
 children, made by so exemplary a man as Abrf am I 
 
 C2
 
 20 
 
 founded upon a sort of social contract, though 
 Jfideert a very unfair one. There was a species 
 of reciprocal advantage, even between the master 
 and the slave: but there is none between the 
 different Casts in India • besides this, to be a 
 slave was humiliating, but not accounted dis- 
 graceful : as distinction of ranks is then natural 
 to man, it is ever to be considered as unavoid- 
 able. Hereditary title is, however, by no 
 means very ancient, and though it may be po- 
 litically wise, it is by no means necessary, it 
 may therefore be considered as an artificial, 
 though far from Useless, division of society. 
 
 In the splendid days of Greece and Rome, 
 many families were noble : but titles were per- 
 sonal, and attached only to offices. It is to 
 the feudal system that we owe hereditary 
 title. k 
 
 Things always exist before their names. Thus 
 it is that rank and honour existed long before 
 titles, which were only a species of alphabet, 
 or hieroglyphical signs, by which rank is ascer- 
 tained and represented. The lineal descendants 
 *f Scipio Africanus would have enjoyed the first 
 tifr-s in Rome, if there had been any in that 
 great -ity ; as it was, they enjoyed all that rank 
 
 Though^ nobility of Rome had three names, this was 
 riot an heredita v ^i^ Du j a cus tomary distinction, See note 
 A, at the end of u. p re face.
 
 21 
 
 which opinion gives, and which a title only in- 
 dicates. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt, that the invention 
 of titles is an improvement in the social system ; 
 particularly when accompanied with the restric- 
 tions and regulations generally attended to in 
 England, where the eldest of the family alone 
 has been considered as noble, and enjoys the 
 privileges attached to nobility, because it pre- 
 vents that increase of nobless which takes place, 
 where titles extend to the whole family; the 
 evil consequences of which, to society, are very 
 considerable. 
 
 As men live by industry, the great number 
 ought not to be fettered with any imaginary 
 rank that tends to interrupt those pursuits 
 which are necessary to their existence and the 
 maintenance of their families ; and, again, as ho- 
 nours and titles are intended as rewards from 
 the public to individuals, they should not be- 
 come too common, or be possessed by poor or 
 needy men, for though poverty is not in itself 
 any reproach, and is, in some instances, very ho- 
 nourable, yet it does not, in any case, accord 
 well with rank and title. 
 
 In France there were about seventeen thousand 
 noble families, because nobility was attached to 
 all the males of the line ; but, as wealth is not 
 divisible in the same manner, many of the no- 
 bles were extremely poor, and not capable of
 
 22 
 
 maintaining their rank; so that, in many cases, 
 it became ridiculous, and in a still greater num- 
 ber, very inconvenient. If it had not been, that 
 the younger sons were many of them provided 
 for in the church, which prevented them from 
 marriage, it is impossible to say to what a ruin- 
 ous extent nobility might have been communi- 
 cated in that country. 
 
 In England, the direct line in which the title 
 is to go, is always pointed out in the patent 
 by which the title is granted, which prevents the 
 increase of noble families, and extinguishes the 
 nobility in a great number of instances, as the 
 line pointed out ceases to exist. 
 
 Whether that equality of condition which has 
 of late been so loudly contended for, would be 
 more agreeable to the order of nature, or more 
 conducive to the happiness and prosperity of 
 mankind, was for some time doubtful, but it is 
 no longer so now, since the French have made 
 an experiment which has proved, that equality, 
 in respect either to rank or fortune, is impracti- 
 cable. 
 
 A state of perfect equality could subsist only 
 amongst men possessing equal talents and equal 
 virtues; but there are not men in any country 
 of such a description. 
 
 Equality of condition must be founded on 
 equality of moral and physical means ; but as 
 nature has endowed men very differently in.
 
 2$ 
 
 those respects, it follows that equality of con- 
 dition cannot possibly be maintained, and is 
 contrary to the nature and rights of things. 
 
 Were all mankind perfectly virtuous, an arti- 
 ficial distinction of ranks would be unnecessary: 
 but in that case civil government itself would 
 likewise be unnecessary, because men would have 
 attained all that perfection which it is intended, 
 by the regulations of society, only imperfectly 
 to obtain ; but even then there would not be 
 equality with respect to wealth, which is the 
 consequence of talents and exertion. 
 
 In studying the consequences that arise to 
 men from the different situations which they 
 are by birth destined to fill, it will at once oc- 
 cur to the most unthinking, that whilst honours 
 and affluence rescue a man from the temptation 
 to meanness or criminality, they likewise de- 
 prive him of those motives for exertion that 
 are felt by people in an inferior situation. 
 With equal abilities and equal inclination, the 
 exertions of men are different when left free > 
 and when acted upon by necessity; and it is 
 for this reason clear, that the greatest actions 
 must be performed by men who have either 
 been born to encounter difficulty, or have by 
 indiscretion created difficulties to overcome. 
 
 History is full of instances of the former. 
 The latter are more rare, but still they are to 
 be found in sufficient numbers to confirm the
 
 24 
 
 opinion, that great exertions are never made but 
 when called forth by great occasion. 
 
 As the charts with which this work is accom- 
 panied shew the line of succession with a distinct- 
 ness hitherto unexampled in this branch of study, 
 so it will lead the mind to reflections that have 
 not heretofore occurred, and, in order that these 
 reflections may be the more easily formed, we shall 
 make some observations. 
 
 In proportion as the rank was high, in former 
 times, the nobility were liable to be involved in 
 political disturbances ; so that of the rank of duke 
 we have only two created before the last of the 
 civil wars, and of marquises we have only one ; 
 whereas of barons we have nineteen, seven of 
 whom maintained themselves during all the dis- 
 turbances between the houses of York and Lan- 
 caster. 
 
 When we consider this, we cannot help search- 
 ing for the cause ; nor in looking for it can we 
 fail to find it, or remain any longer astonished that, 
 the highest nobility are not the most ancient ; 
 neither can we wonder that many private gentle- 
 men can trace their families in a respectable line 
 longer than many of the nobility, for the former 
 are by their situation skreened from the violence 
 of those revolutions that overturn the latter. m 
 
 m The Earl of Arundel (by right Duke of Norfolk) said 
 to Robert Lord Spencer in 1621, in the House of Lords,
 
 35 
 
 Add to these, the failure of issue in the direct 
 line, or in that pointed out by the patent of crea- 
 tion, and we 6hall not be surprised that there 
 are not greater numbers of the ancient nobility 
 now existing. 
 
 It has been considered as necessary to give 
 a short account of heraldry, and the devices em- 
 ployed by it, together with the manner in which 
 they are arranged; and that is attempted in a way 
 different from what has yet been done, and such as, 
 it is expected, will be found to be easily understood 
 and recollected ; for the greatest difficulty in study- 
 ing heraldry, is recollecting names when there is 
 -no association of ideas to preserve the connexion 
 between the things represented, and the signs or 
 emblems used to represent them. 
 
 The contrivance of altering the appellation of 
 a colour from the name of a metal, when 
 
 • 
 
 1 When those things happened, my lord, your ancestors were 
 keeping sheep ;' * and yours,' replied Spencer, ' were hatching 
 treason.' This indicates, in a very plain, and natural manner, 
 the situation of great men. No family was ever more free 
 from hatching treason than that of Howard, yet the lirst duke 
 had been attainted, even after death, for the very actions by 
 which he acquired his rank, and his successors suffered repeat- 
 edly without a cause. The author of this work was particularly 
 intimate with the Baron de Batz (a French gentleman who 
 wrote a work of great merit relative to French families) who 
 said that few noble families could be traced farther back than 
 the tenth century.
 
 26 
 
 speaking of a commoner's arms, to that of a 
 gem when speaking of a nobleman, and to that 
 of one of the heavenly bodies when speaking of 
 a sovereign, produces great confusion. 
 
 This confusion we have endeavoured to remove 
 in some degree, by explaining the thing in as simple 
 a way as possible ; and we hope in this, as in 
 the rest, our labours will be found satisfactory and 
 useful to those who have had the goodness to patro- 
 nise and protect the work, which we trust will be 
 found to be a fair and proper attempt to prove the 
 advantage of nobility, and silence the clamours of 
 those who cry out against it ; clamours founded 
 on ignorance or vanity ; of a very injurious ten- 
 dency, and hitherto passed over with too much in- 
 difference. (Note B, end of Preface.) 
 
 Without having the smallest intention or wish to 
 rind fault with, or condemn the books of peerage 
 that have hitherto been published, we must be per- 
 mitted to say, that throughout the whole there runs 
 a confusion and intricacy that baffle the efforts of 
 the most attentive, and elude the memory that is the 
 strongest and most retentive. 
 
 Nothing renders it so difficult to retain facts as 
 a loose arrangement. What may properly be term- 
 ed the family history of a man; that is to say, 
 whom he married, and who were his children, bro- 
 thers, sisters, &c. has so little connexion with his 
 transactions as a man w hose history merits atten- 
 tion, that it seems best to keep them entirely sepa-
 
 27 
 
 rate. If they are not kept so, the order of time 
 must be broke through, or both the narratives in 
 » termixed in a very confused manner. 
 
 It is for this reason that we first give the title, 
 then the times of creation, and, lastly, the pedigree ; 
 in all which we are confined to common routine, 
 and can neither add with advantage to, or diminish 
 without injury, from what is to be found in the ordi- 
 nary books of peerage. 
 
 Separate from that, we give such actions, anec- 
 dotes, and facts, as mark the characters of those per- 
 sons whose pedigrees we have already given with 
 care and correctness, adding such reflections as na- 
 turally and properly arise, for this is the great use 
 of all historical research, whether applied to the 
 affairs of nations or of individuals. 
 
 It has been a practice approved and esteemed, 
 and very generally adopted, ever since the days of 
 iEsop, to invent tales from which moral reflections 
 might arise : how inexcusable then must it be 
 to let the opportunity pass away of grounding pro- 
 per lessons on real occurrences. 
 
 We wish this thing to be understood in its true 
 light, and not considered as arising from any desire 
 to moralize and reason, merely from a propensity 
 to do so ; but we beg our readers, and in particular 
 the nobility themselves, to consider that our purpose 
 is to shew the utility of hereditary nobility, as hav- 
 ing a happy influence on the peace and security 
 of mankind.
 
 2"fc 
 
 Whilst we are writing, one of the strongest 
 examples in illustration of this, that history fur- 
 nishes, has occurred, to the astonishment of all 
 Europe. 
 
 By an ephemerical and newly created nobility, 
 the despotic ruler of France has contrived to in- 
 vade, in a most unjustifiable, treacherous, and cruel 
 manner, the liberties of Spain, and the old here- 
 ditary nobility of that once great country have 
 been found its surest support. Let those who will 
 talk of the energy and abilities of new men risen 
 to a height in a time of trouble and desolation, 
 we only see in them the scourges of mankind ; but 
 we find in the moderation, the attachment to princi- 
 ple, the love of honour, the idea of dignity, con- 
 nected with, and naturally arising from, illustrious 
 ancestry, that safeguard, that peace-preserver, on 
 which the people can best depend in a time of 
 trouble and difficulty. 
 
 In France it has become the fashion to ridi- 
 cule birth and ancestry, and men are proud of hav- 
 ing risen from the lowest situation. We have seen 
 a prince of the blood reject the name of Bourbon, 
 and take the ludicrous title of Equality. We have 
 seen him deny his royal father, and claim the 
 honour of being descended from a menial servant's 
 criminal intercourse with an adulterous and degraded 
 mother. But though- by a sort of sophism of a 
 nature fit to captivate the majority, it might appear 
 that the man who raises himself deserves the most
 
 29 
 
 honour, let us consider whether encouraging that 
 belief is most for the general advantage ; for that is 
 the purpose — that is the great end. 
 
 Endeavouring to set that in its true light, we 
 find that whilst France respected hereditary no- 
 bility she was tolerably free and tolerably happy, 
 probably as much so as the nature of things admits, 
 taking into account the levity and impetuosity of 
 the people. We find, also, that since she has en- 
 joyed the advantage of those new and energetic 
 chiefs who have risen from nothing, she has become 
 at once an object of pity, a spectacle of horror, and 
 the scourge of mankind. We find still farther, that 
 those very upstarts, those men of yesterday, are the 
 active and unpitying instruments of evil. Is it pos- 
 sible to say more against upstarts, or more in favour 
 of an ancient and hereditary nobility ? 
 
 There is a degree of moderation and equani- 
 mity to be found in persons who are born to 
 rank and affluence, that is not to be found amongst 
 men who in England are termed upstarts, and in 
 France les parvenues ; and though that moderation 
 may sometimes be considered as apathy or indif- 
 ference, yet it is of great importance that there 
 should be one class of men in the country who 
 have a share in the legislation, and who are so 
 far removed from the ordinary embarrassments pj 
 life as to look on with coolness, when, others^afie 
 too much heated and actuated by personal interests.
 
 30 
 
 The nobility of this country are to be considered 
 in a double light ; first, as individuals ; and next, 
 as constituting one of the branches of the legis- 
 lature. 
 
 In the first point of view we have already spoken 
 of them ; we shall now consider them as a constitu- 
 tional body, and in that light we shall see that they 
 are not only, by the circumstances in which they 
 are placed, calculated to render the government 
 and constitution more perfect than it otherwise would 
 be, but that the elective representative commons* 
 house, without such a controul, would be dangerous. 
 
 From the history of our own country, we find 
 that the fire and impetuosity of the commons have 
 been resisted, repeatedly with advantage, by the 
 house of peers, and that at all times it has been kept 
 in check; and though it maybe that in many com- 
 mon affairs the house of lords acts rather in a pas- 
 sive manner, yet in cases of importance it has done 
 great service. 
 
 The house of lords, in money bills, has a con- 
 trolling power only, and in most others acts rather 
 as a regulator than as the original moving princi- 
 ple ; and if on every occasion it were to display 
 a mistrust of the house of commons, by canvassing 
 ordinary questions with great eagerness, it would 
 lead in time to a jealousy that would disturb and 
 impede public business, and be attended with no 
 practical utility whatever. By reserving itself for
 
 31 
 
 important occasions, the upper house becomes that 
 check, and balance so necessary for the preservation 
 of good government. 
 
 Both during the civil wars, and in times of tran- 
 quillity, the house of peers has been of great service, 
 by the wisdom, the moderation, and dignity of its 
 proceedings ; and if there is any fault to be found 
 in its composition, it is owing to the great prepon- 
 derance of. law lords where legal questions occur. 
 
 This imperfection in the house of peers is, how- 
 ever, rather to be considered as an argument in fa- 
 vour of the order of nobility than otherwise, for the 
 evil does not arise from any of the members as 
 peers, but as lawyers, who have a much greater 
 sway than, according to their numbers, they ought 
 to have ;■ for the very essence of every deliberative 
 
 n On a bill connected with any reform in the courts of jus- 
 tice, or in the regulation of legal affairs, two or three judges 
 sway the whole house, and generally carry the question. This 
 is a great evil, though, perhaps, it might be difficult to find a 
 safe remedy : it were to be wished that peers who are not of 
 the law would exert their own understanding on such occasions, 
 and hot conceive that law lords only are competent. Law 
 lords no doubt Understand the subject best ; but when a re- 
 form of abuses is the object, they do not feel perhaps so impar- 
 tially as other lords. 
 
 A body of nobility is peculiarly necessary in our mixed and 
 compound constitution, in order to support the rights both of 
 the crown and of the people, by forming a barrier to withstand 
 the encroachments of either. It creates and preserves that
 
 32 
 
 body is that opinions should be unbiassed. It is 
 an imperfection attached to the nature of things, 
 that opinions are not upon an equality like votes. 
 A judge has but one vote; but, on a law 
 question, his bare opinion will carry perhaps fifty 
 without examination. 
 
 To return from this short digression (from the 
 immediate object of this work), the history of France 
 in the present, and of our own country in for- 
 mer times, prove that a house of peers is essential 
 
 gradual scale of dignity, which proceeds from the peasant to 
 the prince j rising like a pyramid from a broad foundation, and 
 diminishing to a point as it rises. It is the ascending and con- 
 tracting proportion that adds stability to any government ; for 
 when the departure is sudden from one extreme to another, we 
 may pronounce the durability to be precarious. The nobility 
 are as pillars, rear«d from among the people, more immediately 
 to support the throne, of which the people are the basis ; and, 
 if the pillars fall, the whole becomes a ruin. Accordingly 
 when, in the last century, the commons had determined to ex- 
 tirpate monarchy, they also voted the house of lords to be use- 
 less and dangerous. And since titles of nobility are thus ex- 
 pedient in the state, it is also expedient that their owners 
 should form an independent and separate branch of the legisla- 
 ture. If they were confounded with the mass of the people, 
 and like them had only a vote in electing representatives, their 
 privileges would soon be borne down and overwhelmed by the 
 popular torrent, which would effectually level all distinctions. 
 It is therefore highly necessary that the body of nobles should 
 have a distinct assembly, distinct deliberations, and distinct 
 fights.
 
 33 
 
 to the perfection of a mixed, and even of a purely 
 monarchical, government. 
 
 The unfortunate revolution of France would 
 probably never have taken place as it did, had 
 not a mistaken minister absorbed the influence 
 of the nobility or peers, at the meeting of the 
 states-general in that of the commons or tiers- 
 etat, ° 
 
 ° Formerly the numbers of clergy, nobles, and tiers-etat, 
 ■were equal at the states -general, and each assembly voted by it- 
 self, and could maintain its rights; but Necker, that republican 
 minister, contrived a new arrangement, by giving the tiers-etat 
 a double representation, or as many members as the other two 
 orders ; that is, six hundred of the former, and three hundred 
 of each of the latter. 
 
 Necker, one of the vainest of men, seeking popularity, 
 and at the same time a great lover of innovation, undoubtedly 
 saw, that if each order voted by itself, the balance would still 
 be kept up, whether the numbers were thirty or three thou- 
 sand ; but he also saw, that there was an incongruity in dimi- 
 nishing the number and preserving the importance, and there- 
 fore the question of voting (par tete etnon par ordre) indivi- 
 dually, and not according to their order, was a natural conse- 
 quence. To facilitate this, the tiers-etat were assembled in a 
 large and elegant hall, sufficient to allow a great number of 
 spectators, so that great interest was inspired by their discus- 
 sions ; while the clergy and nobles were put into small apart- 
 ments, where the auditors were but few, for want of space. 
 The Duke of Orleans, and a few more factious nobles, pro- 
 posed uniting allinone assembly; public enthusiasm applauded 
 the idea, and in a moment the French nobility were no longer 
 a class apart. In less than a year nobility was abolished by 
 
 E
 
 34, 
 
 The consequences of this measure were fatal and 
 immediate, and though it is beyond human power 
 to know what would have happened if this had not 
 been done, yet the overthrow of the government as 
 it did take place can be traced to that cause ; 
 indeed it was foreseen what would be the con- 
 sequence. The minister who advised the measure 
 can only be esteemed an honest man, on the sup- 
 position that he was ignorant of the consequences. 
 We may all remember the violence of an assem- 
 bly composed of men without any controul or 
 check. Perhaps, between the action of mind 
 and matter, a more fair and true comparison cannot 
 be made, than in likening the assembly, when 
 that check was taken away, to a time-piece, that 
 runs, down when deprived of the balance-wheel. 
 The rapidity of the movement is fifty times 
 that of a regular and right motion, and it goes 
 on till the strength fails; and thus it was with 
 the states-general. 
 
 law, and in little more than three years royalty followed 1 1 
 Liberty and peace were fled, and Robespierre and his monsters 
 hovered over the fields of France, which were stained with 
 blood, and whitened with the bones of their victims. That 
 miserable country has been obliged to seek a miserable repose 
 under a very rigorous and usurped authority, which finds it 
 necessary to re-establish religion, and divide society once more 
 into different ranks and orders ; thereby declaring the utility 
 of those establishments which the first revolutionists were so 
 eager to abolish, and which other nations ought to be so careful 
 to preserve.
 
 35 
 
 From the first moment that the nobility, (de- 
 coyed over by Orleans and a number more of 
 the revolutionary chiefs), sunk themselves in a 
 general assembly, every thing went rapidly to 
 ruin. The assembly, that at first commanded 
 every thing, soon run itself down like the time- 
 piece , and became the tool of the factions, and 
 the abject servant of the clubs, who gave it 
 over, bound, into the hands of Robespierre- and 
 his successors of the directory, from whom it 
 fell to the present emperor. Still it is an as- 
 sembly without any sort of energy in itself, but 
 serving as an instrument by which oppression and 
 despotic power exert themselves with a greater de- 
 gree of conveniency and advantage. 
 
 The Roman patricians were hereditary nobility, 
 though without titles ; and whilst their preponder- 
 ance in the state was maintained, the people pre- 
 served their liberties ; but liberty did not long out- 
 live the controlling power of the nobles. p 
 
 * The senate continued to meet till the last days even of the 
 decline of the empire, but it was but a mere shadow. The first 
 shock to the liberties of Rome, was when factious men, whether 
 patricians or not, under the favours of the people, became con- 
 suls and generals, and obtained all places of authority and 
 power. The French did, with rapidity, what the Romans did 
 by slow degrees : but the same thing took place in both coun- 
 tries. 
 
 It is an opinion not uncommon, and at least plausible, that 
 the nobility of a well-regulated state is the best security against 
 monarchical despotism, on the one hand ; and the confusion of 
 
 £2
 
 36 
 
 It would be very easy to prove, if this were 
 a proper place for entering upon that subject, 
 that the house of peers is the preserver of Bri- 
 tish liberty, which could not long exist without 
 it ; and accordingly it was of no importance during 
 the civil wars or the arbitrary government of Crom- 
 well, and it did not rise to have its full weight 
 till the happy revolution that placed King William 
 on the throne. 
 
 The multiplication of books, as well as the ma- 
 terials that accumulate to form historical report or 
 assist philosophical or political inquiry, render it 
 desirable in all cases to be as short as is consistent 
 with accuracy, and to convey what is intended to 
 be conveyed with the least possible labour and 
 trouble,- and the greatest attainable perspicuity ; 
 we shall not, therefore, enlarge on the subject, as 
 we think quite enough has been said to prove the 
 advantages, in a political view, of hereditary nobility, 
 their respectability as to origin, and the impossibi- 
 lity of equality. 
 
 There is but one more observation of any import- 
 . 
 
 •democratic insolence, on the other. Self-interest is the most 
 powerful principle in the human breast ; and it is obviously the 
 interest of nobility to preserve that balance of power in so- 
 ciety upon which the very existence of their order depends. Cor- 
 rupted as the present age confessedly is, a very recent instance 
 could be given, in which the British house of peera rescued at 
 once the sovereign and the people from the threatened tyranuy 
 af a factious junt<», naaom 
 
 V
 
 37 
 
 ance that occurs on the subject, although a volume 
 might easily be written upon it (and to good pur- 
 pose), which is, that titles and hereditary rank are 
 peculiarly advantageous in a mercantile country, 
 in so far as they go a considerable length towards 
 counteracting that respect for wealth, which in the 
 absence of hereditary rank by establishment, would 
 take place, and which tends to degrade a nation. 11 
 
 But it is in vain to have distinction, rank, and 
 titles, if they are not supported by public opinion. 
 Mr. Hume observes , with truth, " That government 
 is founded only on opinion, and that this opinion 
 is of two kinds ; opinion of interest, and opinion of 
 right. When a people are persuaded that it is their 
 interest to support the government under which 
 they live, that government must be very stable ; but 
 among the worthless and unthinking part of the 
 community this persuasion has seldom place. All 
 men however have a notion of rights, of a right to 
 property, and a right to power ; and when the majo^ 
 rity of a nation considers a certain order of men as 
 having a right to that eminence in which they are 
 
 ■ The Dutch republic consisted of merchants. It was short- 
 lived, and, though respected, was always in some degree des- 
 pised for a sort of groveling, mercenary character. The Ve- 
 netian republic consisted of nobility amalgamated with mercan- 
 tile men. It existed longer than any other government in Eu- 
 rope ever did, and even when it lost its power, preserved a de- 
 gree of splendid dignity that rendered it respectable. It did 
 not fall like Holland. — Venice fell clean.
 
 38 
 
 placed, this opinion, call it prejudice or what we 
 will, contributes much to the peace and happiness 
 of civil society. There are many, however, who 
 think otherwise, and imagine that ' the society in 
 which the greatest equality prevails must always be 
 secure.' These men conceive it to be the business 
 of a good government to distribute, as equally as 
 possible, those blessings which bounteous nature 
 offers to all. 
 
 It may readily be allowed that this reasoning is 
 conclusive ; but the great question returns, ' How 
 far can equality prevail in a society which is secure ? 
 and what is possible to be done in the equal distri- 
 bution of the blessings of nature ? Till these ques- 
 tions be answered, we gain nothing by declaiming 
 on the rights and equality of men: and the answers 
 which have sometimes been given to them suppose 
 a degree of perfection in human nature, which, if 
 it were real, would make all civil institutions useless. 
 If opinion is essentially necessary to the maintenance 
 of any human institution, it is most so for the sup- 
 port of nobility ; for without esteem and considera- 
 tion, what are rank and title? As to the few privi- 
 leges attached to the peerage, they are more than 
 counterbalanced by the disadvantages, incapacities, 
 and inconveniences attendant on it ; so that take 
 away the support of opinion, and what is now an 
 honour would be a burden to bear. 
 
 The express intention of this work, as has already 
 been said, is to set public opinion right; in doing
 
 39 
 
 which, we think we shall render a service. to man- 
 kind at large, and most particularly to our own 
 country. 
 
 Baronets are hereditary nobility, without the pri- 
 vileges of peers ; for though we conceive the number 
 of peers in this country to be great, it was proved 
 hereafter exceedingly small, and is confined and 
 limited by the circumstance of the great political 
 inconvenience of having a great number of members 
 in the house. 
 
 The creation of baronets arose naturally from the 
 circumstance that political expediency set bounds to 
 the number of peers ; but no natural limit being 
 set to the number of persons who might deserve dis~ 
 tinction from the sovereign, b:ironets were created 
 in 1610, who are, to all intents and purposes, nobi- 
 lity, enjoying rank, but without privilege ; it is for 
 that reason, that this work is extended to the ba- 
 ronetage of the United Kingdom. 

 
 40 
 
 foottti. 
 
 NOTE A. ORIGIN OF HEREDITARY NOBILITY. 
 
 The celebrated civilian, Francis Hotomon, who was one of the 
 most learned men of his age, gives us the cause of making 
 hereditary the order of nobility in France. In this work, en- 
 titled Franco Gallia, which is now very scarce, written in the 
 year 1574, he says, 
 
 " We must not omit making mention of the cunning device 
 made use of by Hugh Capet, for establishing himself in his new 
 dominion [of King of France, anno 987]. For, whereas all 
 the magistracies and honours of the kingdom, such as duke- 
 doms, earldoms, &c. had been hitherto, from ancient times, 
 conferred upon select and deserving persons in the general 
 conventions of the people, and were held only during good 
 behaviour, whereof (as the lawyers express it) they were but 
 beneficiaries. Hugh Capet, iu order to secure to himself the af- 
 fections of the great men, was the first that made those honours 
 perpetual which were formerly but temporary : and ordained, 
 that such as obtained them should have an hereditary right in 
 them, and might leave them to their children. — Of this, see 
 Franciscus Conanus, the civilian, Comment ii. cha^). ix.' 
 
 It is singular, that this fact has escaped the notice of most of s 
 the French historians. 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 The late Lord Chesterfield is not the only instance of a peer 
 who, with the vanity of a coxcomb and the levity of a school- 
 boy, has attempted to throw ridicule on the order of nobility by 
 mentioning the house of lords with disrespect.
 
 41 
 
 Lora Chesterfield was so much of a fashionable man, that 
 what he said had generally more weight than worth. 
 
 He often attempted to display his wit by pretending a con- 
 tempt for tiie peerage to which he belonged, and to which it 
 was his great pride to belong, in order to be considered a man of 
 genius; but we shall shew, that though many peers have excel- 
 led his lordship in genius, but few surpassed him in vanity, 
 and fewer still have been at so much pains to degrade nobility 
 in public opinion. 
 
 That lord lived at the time when it had become fashionable 
 for peers to laugh at nobility, and clergymen to ridicule reli- 
 gion, and when also some crowned heads joined the philoso- 
 phers in preparing the road for the overthrow of their descen- 
 dants, by degrading the established orders of society in the 
 eyes of the multitude. As the result has been so fatal to all 
 parties, it is to be hoped that for the future men who are exal- 
 ted, will at least not take pains to degrade themselves, for it 
 was by such things the French brought ruin on their country. 
 
 Amongst others of the French nobility who aspired at tho 
 character of men of wit and genius, and of philosophers, and 
 who gloried in the name of simple citizen, was the Marquis de 
 Vilette, who had espoused, maltreated, and neglected, the fa- 
 mous Belle et Bonne, the adopted daughter of Voltaire. This 
 unworthy and contemptible nobleman, just as the revolution 
 was beginning was passing an act before a notary, who had 
 stHed him in the preamble as the High and Powerful Marquis dc 
 Vilette. The marquis read the preamble, and turning to the 
 notary with an affected serious air, told him that he thought he 
 would not allow falsehoods to be written in his office, that he 
 was neither high nor powerful, but that he must stile him the 
 Little and Feeble Charles. 
 
 Is it to be wondered, when nobles act so, that the inferiors 
 tfhould refuse to grant them respect, but rather unite to abolish 
 an order which appears, even to those who belong to it, to be 
 -contemptible? 
 
 |
 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 iBlhf 
 OF THE 
 
 ' 
 
 ENGLISH PEERAGE ; 
 
 Shewing, from facts, the individual merit and gene- 
 ral utility of the orders — That the Nobles have 
 constantly watched over the liberties of the Peo- 
 ple, the foundation of which they laid in the time 
 of King John, and established at the accession of 
 William and Mary. The utility of hereditary no- 
 bilky, as a balance in the state, and the necessity 
 of that order having the support of public opi- 
 nion, which alone gives it stability — To which are 
 added some remarks relating to this Publication. 
 
 lidT 
 
 Having now accomplished the first portion of 
 the task which I undertook, by giving an account 
 of the noble families of English peers, it becomes 
 necessary to inquire into the result, and see whe- 
 ther the conclusion that I at first announced and ex- 
 pected/ is fairly to be drawn from the materials 
 that are laid before the Public. 
 
 From the beginning of the undertaking, I ex- 
 pected to be able to prove, that the British nobi- 
 lity (in proportion to their numbers and duration,)
 
 43 
 
 had produced an uncommonly great number of cha- 
 racters eminent for talents and virtue. I expected 
 that the result of the whole would be such, as by in- 
 disputable facts would prove the reality of what I 
 had long wished to demonstrate ; for I was fully 
 sensible, that an opinion had gone abroad, in almost 
 every nation in Europe, that noble families in gene- 
 ral owed their first elevation to rank to the favour 
 or caprice of monarchs ; and that their descendants, 
 instead of being equal, were inferior to the other 
 classes of society, both in talents and in virtue. 
 
 If I should appear to make some repetitions in 
 what I am about to say, I beg the reader to consi- 
 der that I am summing up the evidence on a highly 
 important subject, which is very intimately con- 
 nected with the happiness and peace of mankind - f 
 and that it is much better to make myself clearly 
 understood, even at the risk of being prolix, than to 
 express loosely what I have to say on that important 
 subject. I aim at accuracy, as well as at truth; 
 and I appeal to fact, leaving opinion, in the first in- 
 stance, out of the question, and meaning to establish 
 my point without the aid of argument. 
 
 I observe again then, that it was a prevailing 
 opinion that noble families, in general, have owed 
 their first elevation to favouritism, the caprice of 
 monarchs, or to court intrigue, rather than to 
 merit; and that their descendants have been, for 
 the most part, inferior toother ranks in society, both 
 in talents and virtue. 
 
 F2
 
 AA, 
 tm 
 
 Those prevailing opinions, though intimately con* 
 nected with the general merits of nobility, are sepa- 
 rate from each other, inasmuch as the one applies 
 only to personal nobility , and the other to hereditary 
 nobility (by establishment) ; the latter of which is the 
 most obnoxious to those who exclaim against nobi- 
 lity in general. In opposition to those vague and 
 ill-founded opinions, my business is to prove by 
 facts ; 
 
 FIRST, That very few of the British nobility 
 have owned their elevation to favour, but to merit 
 in the first instance ; which no doubt gained them 
 favour, as it ought to do ; for men who have ren- 
 dered service to the state, merit favour. That is, 
 however, a species of favour totally different from 
 what is generally meant by the word, which implies,, 
 as used by historians, and in common language, fa- 
 vourites merely because they are personally agree- 
 able to the monarch.* 
 
 SECOND, That their descendants, that is, per- 
 sons born to enjoy hereditary rank, have in this king- 
 dom produced far more than the general, or usual 
 proportion, of men of merit and talents ; and that 
 
 * I am precluded from elucidating this point, by reccut ex- 
 amples, owing to the impossibility of doing it, without making 
 comparisons that would be improper and disagreeable. It is 
 sufficient to say, that good generals and admirals, or able law- 
 yers, naturally enjoy royal favour; but to call such far ourites, 
 according to the usual acceptation of the term, would be 
 highly improper.
 
 45 
 
 therefore, the opinion that is unfavourable to that 
 class of society, is founded in error, and contradicted 
 by fact 
 
 Such are the two simple and plain objects of my 
 work ; and I here must observe, that the facility of 
 proving what I have in view, is infinitely greater than 
 I had the smallest idea of. It will not require 
 any nice calculation ; it will not be proved by any 
 inconsiderable balance in favour of the conclusion ; 
 it will be established in the most complete manner, 
 so as not to admit of a doubt : in one word, it will 
 T>e found, that instead of producing an equal number, 
 of men of abilities, the nobility produce more than 
 four times the general, or usual proportion, 
 
 I mean to say, expressly and explicitly, that 
 amongst the nobility, taking the present noble fami- 
 lies from their original rise to rank till the present 
 day, there are more than four times the number of 
 meritorious characters than there are amongst men 
 in general. 
 
 It would not be fair to found this comparison on 
 the general population of a country, but a criterion 
 may be easily discovered, to the fairness of which, 
 no one will be able with justice to object. 
 
 Taking the period of existence of all the noble 
 families now extant in England, from the time of 
 their creation to the present day, and adding them 
 together, the whole docs not amount quite to one 
 single line of thirty thousand years. Again, taking 
 each generation on an average at twenty years,
 
 16 
 
 (which is rather under than above the time that each 
 individual peer may be considered to enjoy his rank 
 and title,) there have not been more than fifteen 
 hundred individual noblemen in England from the 
 end of the twelfth century to the present day ! ! * 
 
 This number is probably far under what is gene- 
 rally supposed, for people are very unaccustomed to 
 numerical calculations on such subjects; and 
 therefore their notions are very vague, and generally 
 very far from the truth. 
 
 Not one-tenth of the lands in England are in pos- 
 session of noblemen ; and as they are in general the 
 greatest proprietors, it is certain that there are fifty 
 proprietors that are not noble for one that is noble. 
 
 Deducting one half for small proprietors, who are 
 not supposed to be men of education, there will still 
 remain twenty-five commoners who have estates 
 sufficient to maintain the rank of gentlemen for one 
 nobleman; that is to say, there are in England 
 6500 gentlemen of landed property, (there being 
 300 nobles) who having obtained good education, 
 are personally on an equality with the nobility, so 
 as to have the same opportunity of distinguishing 
 themselves. 
 
 * It would be very easy to have given the exact number of 
 noblemen that have actually enjoyed titles, but that would not 
 be so satisfactory a mode as that I have adopted, because I 
 could not make the same statement with regard to those ranks 
 with whom I mean to compare the nobility. This number doe* 
 not include the extinct peerages.'
 
 47 
 
 Going back only for three hundred years, and 
 taking those gentlemen at twenty years, that gives 
 ninety-seven thousand during that period. 
 
 As there are nearly 10,000 parishes in England, 
 it will be fair to estimate the number of well-edu- 
 cated clergymen who enjoy leisure and affluence at 
 8,000 ; which, in the same period of three hundred 
 years, gives 120,000 well-educated men. bn« 
 
 The proprietors of funded and other property 
 we shall not attempt to calculate, though their 
 number is very great, and it would be perfectly 
 fair to take them, and all men who have a good 
 education, and are not constantly occupied with the 
 routine of business, into the account. All men who 
 have received a good education, and are above 
 want, have an opportunity of displaying their talents, 
 if they have any, as well as the nobility of the coun- 
 try, and certainly to reckon them at 20,000 is not 
 too much ; the account will then stand thus : 
 
 I 
 Proprietors of Land who are not Noble, 
 
 but enjoy affluence and leisure - - 6\500 
 
 Clergymen, professors at universities, &c. - 8000 
 
 Monied men, physicians, and professional men 
 
 of all sorts, who enjoy ease and affluence - 5500 
 onii • " ■' 
 
 11 '^n 9rh lo - qn _ _ 
 
 .. 
 
 The number, in fact, is more than double what I
 
 48 
 
 have calculated it to be, but it is better not to ad- 
 vance any thing that is doubtful ; now as there has 
 been a succession of such persons, as well as of 
 nobility, in 300 years the number would be 300,000; 
 and of the nobility there have only been 1500 : that 
 is to say, for one nobleman there have been two 
 hundred men of education, who have enjoyed ease, 
 and the means of exerting and displaying their 
 genius, full as well as noblemen, and in many cases 
 with advantage ; for, as has been very truly ex- 
 plained in the preface to this work, noblemen are 
 greatly limited in the ejxertion of their talents, and 
 not a small portion of their time and attention is 
 employed in tilling that conspicuous place in society 
 which it has fallen to their lot to occupy. 
 
 In arts and science, as men of learning, talents', 
 and genius, the nobility may then be expected to 
 furnish only one; for every two hundred men of 
 learning, talents, and genius, to be found amongst 
 those men who enjoy ease, and have got good educa- 
 tion, but who arc not noble. 
 
 The proportion of two hundred to one is so un- 
 equal, that we could scarcely expect, according to 
 the aggregate talents of this countay, many men of 
 genius or talents in the lesser number, yet we find 
 some of the most distinguished men in every line 
 belong to the class of the nobility; statesmen, 
 
 WARRIORS, MEN OF .LETTERS, CHEMISTS, MECHA- 
 NICS, and men of inventive genius in every 
 
 way.
 
 49 
 
 It will be seen in a note below,* that their num- 
 ber is considerable ; which to avoid speaking per- 
 sonally, it is necessary to give in a general way? 
 without producing individual examples. If there 
 arc ninety-two distinguished noblemen, there ought 
 to be sixteen thousand, equally distinguished, from 
 amongst the other classes of the easy and affluent to 
 whom we have alluded ; but there are not, from the 
 days of civilization, one fourth part of the number. 
 
 But what is more remarkable still, is, that if we 
 deduct from inventors, and men of genius, all those 
 belonging to the nobility, the greater portion of those 
 that remain are not found amongst men who enjoy 
 ease and affluence, but amongst men struggling with 
 necessity, whose genius has broken through every 
 difficulty, and displayed itself. 
 
 The nobility have then far outstripped men of for- 
 tune and affluence, but who do not enjoy rank and 
 title, which is all that it is necessary to prove : for they 
 cannot properly be compared with men born under 
 the influence of necessity, who are obliged to exert 
 
 * Military and naval officers of distinguished talents 29 
 
 Statesmen 33 
 
 Learned men, mathematicians, &c 17 
 
 Inventors, &c 13 
 
 92 
 
 This only takes in men really distinguished above others, 
 but if the names were given, it would lay a foundation for 
 perpetual controversy ; th« yery thing I wish to avoid. 
 
 G
 
 .50 
 
 ind'ustry, but who are for the most part prevented 
 from a display of genius, which they have not the 
 means of cultivating. The circumstances under 
 which these two classes of persons are found, are 
 such, that a comparison could not fairly be made. 
 Every affluent man has means and opportunity to 
 cultivate his genius, if he chuses to do so. The 
 man of pain and toil has necessity to spur him on ? 
 but he generally wants opportunity. It is, however, 
 amongst those two dissimilar and opposite classes of 
 society, that we find the greatest talents and genius ; 
 and we rind the least where there are wealth and af- 
 fluence without rank.* 
 
 If a conclusion can in any case be drawn with 
 certainty, it is to be learnt from this, that elevation 
 of rank, by occasioning emulation or ambition, is the 
 occasion of the exertion of talents, which, if every 
 
 • 
 
 * It is tQ be observed, I do not mean the lower order of 
 labourers, or mechanics, but that rank of men who have been 
 properly bred to business, got some education., and at the same 
 time are compelled to labour for existence. Such men are very 
 frequently employed on works for which they hare no genius, 
 or works where genius has no means of she wing itself. Though 
 nothing will hinder genius occasionally from breaking out, yet 
 circumstances certainly often do prevent it. Where men are 
 prudent, where genius is very great, it breaks througli all 
 difficulties, and finds its place like a fluid. Nature made 
 Herschel an astronomer, and he broke through all difficulties, 
 to gratify his disposition : and the same is, in a lesser degree, 
 the case with most men of a particular turn of genius, which 
 they will gratify at the risk of want, and in the face of every 
 difficulty.
 
 5\ 
 
 Circumstance but the rank were the same, would lie 
 dormant. 
 
 This proves what was asserted in the first pros- 
 pectus, and in the preface to the work, that the re- 
 collection of ancestors that have been great men, has 
 a tendency to excite also to great actions: or to 
 speak^directly to the point; — take a number of afflu- 
 ent men, who have estates, without titles, and 
 an equal number who have estates, with titles, 
 and we shall find that the latter will be the most 
 distinguished for their abilities. 
 
 It appears then clearly, from what has been laid 
 before the public, that individual noblemen, so far 
 from being inferior to other men in abilities, talents, 
 and genius, have been superior to the only persons 
 with whom they can be assimilated or compared. 
 
 It now remains to say something of the nobility as 
 good men, as friends to their country, and to their 
 fellow men, and as pursuing an honourable line of 
 conduct. 
 
 It is a more difficult task, from its nature, to exa- 
 mine into, and compare the virtues of individual men; 
 genius and invention leave traces behind them at all 
 times, virtuous conduct only on particular occa-> 
 sions. 
 
 In the civil commotions which have so frequently 
 disturbed the peace of this country, the nobility have 
 been, from their prominent situation, compelled to 
 take a more active part than other men ! and we 
 find them, on most occasions, acting very honoura- 
 
 G2
 
 52 
 
 bly to the party that they embraced. In the long; 
 contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, 
 there were men of great honour and bravery on both 
 sides of the question ; but it is impossible to deter- 
 mine as to their merit on the side they espoused, 
 though Ave are acquainted with the honours they ob- 
 tained, or the disgrace they incurred in supporting 
 it. With a very few exceptions, we find the nobi- 
 lity acting with great honour and fidelity, and at no 
 time do we ever find that they abandoned those prin- 
 ciples by which the great barons were guided, when 
 they compelled their reluctant sovereign to sign 
 IVfagna Charta, and thereby laid the foundation of 
 the liberty of the people. 
 
 It is to be hoped, that whatever may be thought 
 or said of thp nobility of other countries, it will never 
 be forgotten, that at a time when the feudal system 
 was in the zenith of its power, and the nobility in 
 most parts of Europe were with one hand opposing 
 their sovereign, aind with the other ri vetting the 
 chains of their vassals, the British nobility put them- 
 selves at the head of the people, and secured their 
 liberties ; they did not revolt in order to exalt them- 
 selves, or oppress their inferiors, but in order to 
 establish, on a firm basis, the individual liberty of 
 the meanest subject, with a spirit of wisdom, of jus- 
 tice, and of generosity, that is our pride, and our 
 admiration : to which conduct Ave owe our dearest 
 possessions at the present day. 
 
 That from the nobility themselves should emanate
 
 53 
 
 an order of things which deprived them of the inor- 
 dinate power which they at that time possessed, is 
 one of those strange moral phenomena that must 
 always astonish mankind, at the same time that it 
 excites the highest degree of admiration. 
 
 If we peruse, attentively, the history of other coun- 
 tries, though we see man v contests between the 
 kings and nobles, we find them always agreeing 
 about oppressing the people ; they disputed to which 
 the right of oppression should belong; but they 
 never disputed about its continuation ; and so true 
 is this, that the only advances that the people in 
 other countries made towards freedom, were brought 
 about by the efforts of the kings to humble the no- 
 bility. What a glorious contrast does this afford 
 between the nobility of England and of other coun- 
 tries, at a time when the boasted lights of philosophy 
 had not broke forth ; when men acted according to 
 their interest, or their conscience ; independent of 
 right, and regardless of opinion ! ! 
 
 The brave barons of Runemede are never to be for- 
 gotten; THEY FOUGHT NOT FOR THEMSELVES BUT 
 
 forthe people, andtheirwisdomand firmness could 
 only be exceeded by their justice and generosity ! 
 
 The same /spirit has at all times guided the Bri- 
 tish nobility ; for, though divided in contests, where 
 the rights of different families to the throne were the 
 object of dispute, the great majority were at all time* 
 found fighting on the side of liberty, and for the 
 rights of the people; nor ever did they, on any
 
 54 
 
 single occasion, attempt to set up their oun right:* 
 as a separate object, or place themselves above other 
 subjects, in respect to the obedience either to the 
 laws of the country, or their duty to their sovereign ! 
 
 During the great rebellion the nobility, at first, 
 resisted the over exertion of royal prerogative, and 
 separated themselves from the throne ;* but we rind 
 in almost every instance, that they afterwards quit- 
 ted the standard of rebellion, when they perceived 
 greater danger arising to liberty, from the democra- 
 tic leaders, than from the mistaken views of their 
 royal and unhappy master, f 
 
 How many glorious examples are there of indivi- 
 dual noblemen risking life, fortune, and every thing 
 dear to man, to support a falling throne, which they 
 had resisted during the plenitude of its power, in its 
 attempts to oppress the people 1 ! There are many 
 of those examples recorded in this work, sufficient to 
 make a man proud of living in a country which has 
 produced such distinguished patriots, the worthy 
 successors of the Barons of Runeinede. 
 
 After democracy had nearly annihilated the nobi- 
 
 • 
 
 * The remark has frequently occurred in the body of the 
 work, that nearly all the good men who had resisted Charles 
 at the beginning, joined him afterwards, and remained faithful 
 to liim to the last — Few of the nobles fell into the violent 
 errors of the commons. 
 
 + The house of peers, at all times, acted like a balance- 
 wheel or regulator, and has answered the purpose with wonder- 
 ful advantage and effect.
 
 55 
 
 lily, and when they had ceased to have any exist- 
 ence as a political body, the spirit of the individuals 
 restored the order, and contributed greatly to the 
 destruction of that anarchy which had been produ- 
 ced ; and which, had it continued, would have ruin- 
 ed the nation. The restoration, a measure of great 
 advantage at the time, was chiefly effected by the 
 nobility ; and though perhaps they carried their 
 devotion to the will of Charles II. and his brother, 
 a little too far, yet that ill-fated and unwise, but 
 well-beloved family, was abandoned, the moment 
 that there was again a question of the subversion of 
 the rights of the people. 
 
 The revolution, which placed King William III. 
 on the throne, and which completed the national 
 liberty that the barons had begun at Runemede, was 
 conducted in the same patriotic spirit, and upon 
 the same generous principles ; and on the latter, 
 as on the former occasion, the nobility always 
 stood foremost. 
 
 It is true, that at the latter period the people at 
 large, the commons of England, bore a great part, 
 for they were become of great importance ; but that 
 very importance was the consequence of the noble 
 stand made by the barons, for the signing of Magna 
 Charta. It was the completion of their work, at 
 whiqh the nobles were assisted by the descendants 
 of those vassals, whom, in the days of darkness and 
 slavery, their ancestors had so bravely and gener- 
 ously emancipated. What a glorious termination
 
 56 
 
 to the labours of the British nobility — labours under- 
 taken tor establishing the rights of their fellow- 
 subjects ! ! 
 
 Happily, since that latter period, Ave have not had 
 occasion to see examples of similar energy, and of 
 similar virtue; but in the still and calm course 
 which our internal affairs have since maintained, the 
 British nobility have held a moderate and a steady 
 hand. If they have not been called upon to restore 
 our liberties, or to rescue them from imminent dan- 
 ger, they have at least laboured constantly to pre- 
 serve them; and, on more than one occasion, 
 have preserved the balance of the state. 
 
 If this eulogium, in praise of British nobility, from 
 the earliest period of the dawn of liberty to the pre- 
 sent time, seems written rather with some degree of 
 enthusiasm, let the reader observe, that it is at the 
 end of a work, in which the facts are recorded that 
 establish its justice. At the beginning, it had 
 been badly placed; but here we may adapt the 
 motto of the immortal hero of the Nile and Trafal- 
 gar, to the honourable order of whom we have been 
 speaking, Palmam qui meruit ferat. 
 
 Having fully shewn the virtue of the British nobi- 
 MtYv as acting in a public capacity, it is scarcely 
 necessary to speak of their virtues as private men. 
 That, however, is evident from their individual histo- 
 ries, but admits not of the same sort of elucidation. 
 
 Historical records, whether on the great scale of 
 •^national register, or the more circumscribed one
 
 •57 
 
 of biography, are generally rather a record of the 
 vices, follies, and misfortunes of mankind, than of 
 their virtues or happiness. Even writers of fiction 
 and romance have been unable to give any long 
 continuance to ideal scenes of happiness and virtue. 
 When vice, folly, and misfortune quit the scene, the 
 historian, whether of transactions that are real, or 
 imaginary, prepares to lay down his pen. This is 
 lamented, in a very forcible and pathetic manner, by 
 the eloquent and accurate historian Robertson ; but 
 it is, from the nature of things, unavoidable. The 
 calm, still life of an individual, who is virtuous and 
 happy, may afford materials for a few notes, or me- 
 morandums, but it can never furnish matter either 
 for a long, or an interesting history. It is the same 
 with nations ; wherever there is neither external 
 war, nor internal taction, there is a chasm in his- 
 tory. 
 
 That the private virtues of the British nobility 
 were proportioned to their public, may be learned 
 from this, that there are very few examples of their 
 committing any actions, either criminal or disgraceful. 
 As to foibles, those of men who hold distinguished 
 rank, are always the subject of the ill-natured re- 
 marks of envious cotemporaries ; and, as has been 
 fully and fairly explained at the beginning of this 
 m ork, individuals have been flattered at the expence 
 of the order : and numerous and able writers, who 
 gave to their ill nature a form of wit, and dressed it 
 m the garb of poetry, made a practice of slandering 
 
 H
 
 58 
 
 nobility in the gross, and flattering them in detail. 
 Perhaps there is no error that the British nobility 
 have committed, so great as the countenance they 
 have given to such practices. , 
 
 A nobleman ought to disregard compliments that 
 are paid to him personally, at the expence of his 
 order, as much as a man would spurn at praise ob- 
 tained for himself, by slandering the other branches of 
 his family. Probably, however, this sort of flattery 
 has been accepted, without suspicion or reflection 
 on the one hand, while it has been presented with art 
 and ability on the other. 
 
 In holding up the nobility to public esteem, and 
 in proving that this country has obligations to them 
 of the most durable sort, it is not intended, by any 
 means, to extend their praise beyond the bounds 
 where it fairly ought to go ; and therefore I shall 
 just, with as much freedom, remark on those parts 
 of their conduct which do not appear to deserve 
 praise, as of those that do. 
 
 The nobility of this country, who always, on the 
 most trying occasions, have stood forward for the 
 rights of the people, in a bold, firm, and manly man- 
 ner, have, in ordinary times, been rather at too little 
 pains, to mark the gradual progress of those muta- 
 tions that are produced by the operation of time. 
 
 Amongst the gradual changes that have taken 
 place, in the ways of thinking in modern times, the 
 disposition to dispense with the ancient gradation of 
 ranks in society, is one of the most general and most
 
 59 
 
 dangerous. It has occasionally been, in former 
 times, a favourite plan ;* but then it was one of a 
 violent and evanescent nature, arising with the lower 
 orders, which was rejected in the moment of cool 
 reflection. 
 
 Even during the great rebellion, and the anarchy 
 that followed it, though the house of lords was for a 
 time abolished, and the dregs of the nation bore the 
 sway ; yet the great majority of the people disap- 
 proved of those violent proceedings, and revolted at 
 the principles which led to them, The transactions of 
 those times arose out of the conveniency, or interest, 
 of the actors, and were not founded on a convic- 
 tion of their justice, propriety, or general expe- 
 
 * Mr. Hume says, that in the time of Wat Tyler, two lines 
 that had never been entirely forgotten, were in high repute, 
 
 " When Adam delv'd and Eve span, 
 " Where was then the gentleman ?" 
 
 The meaning of these questioning lines is by no means ques- 
 tionable. It evidently points at future equality, by calling to 
 mind the original state of mankind. Unfortunately, however, 
 for those levellers, when there were but one man and a woman, 
 there was no similarity with our present state. It would be as 
 easy to overturn Dr. Smith's reasoning, respecting the division 
 of labour, by an appeal to the occupations of our first father, 
 as to draw any conclusion about distinctions of ranks when 
 the world only contained a single family. The Trial by Jury, 
 Universal Representation, and all those fine things, were not 
 known to the first and only man ; but the levellers, in their 
 elegant appeal to the spade and distafF, do not attempt to over- 
 turn any thing of which they themselves approve. 
 
 H2
 
 6*0 
 
 diency; on the contrary* the levellers themselves 
 knew one another to be hypocrites, who were professing 
 principles that they did not really entertain, in order 
 to deceive the people, for their own private purposes. 
 During the last century, however, the same modes 
 of thinking that are subversive of order, were intro- 
 duced, in a way far more dangerous^ and likely to be 
 far more permanent and pernicious. In former times, 
 those ideas of levelling originated with the lower 
 classes, were introduced with violence and precipita- 
 tion, and accompanied by actions, that could not but 
 be attended with disgust; and the consequences of 
 which were highly to be regretted ; but in latter times, 
 they were cherished by the higher classes, assumed 
 the form of philosophy and philanthropy, and pro- 
 ceeded according to a system that rendered their in- 
 fluence almost irresistible. 
 
 The physical, as well as moral inequality of man, 
 are now both greatly diminished ; whereas, in an- 
 cient times, personal slavery degraded a vast pro- 
 portion of the population ; and in early periods, when 
 the useful arts were in their infancy, men obtained 
 the means of existence with so much labour, that the 
 mind remained uncultivated, and the body in a state 
 of depression. In those times, wealth, or bodily 
 strength, or a greater degree of knowledge, gave the 
 possessor of either a decided superiority over the 
 community. 
 
 During the reign of the feudal system, which 
 was established on the ruins of the Roman empire.
 
 61 
 
 the inequality took a different, form, but it continued 
 as great as ever : it is even questionable whether it 
 was not greater than almost at any period of ancient 
 history. 
 
 The invention of gunpowder gradually put an end 
 to the physical superiority which men enjoyed, by 
 mere personal strength ; and the art ofprinting, by 
 the multiplication of books, by their cheapness, and 
 the facility of obtaining the means of reading and 
 writing* put their mental faculties nearer on a level. 
 
 The abbreviations of labour, by inventions in me- 
 chanism, and the division of labour, by rendering in- 
 dustry more productive, had, during the same pe- 
 riod, enabled a smaller number of persons to sup- 
 ply the wants of the whole; and thus a greater 
 number were left at leisure, for the improvement of 
 the mmd. 
 
 A number of other circumstances, (that are gene- 
 rally known,) had raised the inferior classes to a de- 
 gree of independence and importance that was with- 
 out precedent, when, about the middle of the eigh- 
 teenth century, a sect of men, Calling; themselves 
 philosophers, originating in France, extended all 
 over Europe, and carried on a close, but secret, cor- 
 respondence, the ultimate end of which was, to un*- 
 dermine all distinction of rank, and substitute for it, 
 precedence according to genius and abilities. 
 
 Those philosophers were mostly men of" bad ]5rin- 
 ciples, and of depraved manners, but excessively 
 vain and selfish ; hatkag superiority-, and at the same
 
 62 
 
 time consummate hypocrites, though many of them 
 were men of great learning and abilities.* 
 
 * In the month of September, 1789, before the king of 
 France and his family were dragged to Paris, and made prisoners 
 (but some months after the revolution had broke- out), Mon- 
 sieur Le Roi, lieutenant of the king's hunt, an academician, 
 philosopher, and encyclopedist, dining at the table of the 
 Count D'Angevilliers, the conversation turned after dinner on 
 the evils of the revolution ; (it was what was termed at that 
 time in Paris an aristocratical dinner,) but Le Roi was a revo- 
 lutionist ; to whom the Count said, "Well, Sir; all this, 
 however, is the work of Philosophy." Thunderstruck at 
 these words, *' Alas !" cried the academician, u To whom do 
 you say* so? I know it but too well ; and I shall die of grief 
 and remorse .'" At the word remorse, the nobleman asked, 
 why he reproached himself so bitterly. u I have contributed 
 to it," replied LeRoi, " far more than I was aware of; I was 
 secretary to the committee to which you are indebted for it ; 
 but I call Heaven to witness, that I never thought it would go 
 to such a length. You have seen me in the king's service, and 
 you know I love his person ; I little thought of bringing his 
 subjects to this pitch, and I shall die of grief and remorse." 
 
 Pressed to explain what he meant by this society, intirely 
 new to the whole company, the academician resumed: — " This 
 society was a club which we philosophers had formed amongst 
 us ; into which we only admitted persons whom we could trust. 
 Our sittings were regularly held at the Baron D'Holbach's. 
 Lest our objects should be surmised, we call ourselves cecono- 
 raists ; we created Voltaire, though absent, our honorary and 
 perpetual president ; our principal members were D' Alembert, 
 Turgot, Condorcet, Diderot, La Harpe, and that Lamoignon, 
 who, on his dismission, shot himself in his park." The whole 
 of this declaration was accompanied with tears and sighs, 
 when the adept, deeply penitent, continued: — " The following
 
 63 
 
 On the continent of Europe, they contrived to 
 draw kings, princes, and nobles, into their way of 
 
 were our occupations : most of those works which have ap- 
 peared for this long time past against religion, morals, and 
 government, were ours, or from authors devoted to us: they 
 were all composed by the members, or by the order of the society. 
 Before they were delivered to the press, they were brought to 
 our office ; then we revised and corrected them, added to, or 
 curtailed them, according as circumstances required. When 
 our philosophy was too glaring for the time, or for the object 
 of the work, we brought it to a lower tint ; and when we 
 thought we might be more daring, then we spoke openly. In a 
 word, we made our authors say exactly what we pleased; then 
 the work was published, under a title or name we had chosen^ 
 the better to hide the hand from whence it came. Many books, 
 supposed to have been posthumous works, such as Christianity 
 unmasked, and divers others, attributed to Freret and Bou- 
 langer, after their deaths, were issued from our society. 
 Wheu we had approved of these works, we began to print 
 them on fine and ordinary paper, in sufficient numbers to pay 
 our expences; and then in immense numbers, on the common. 
 est paper. The latter we sent to hawkers and booksellers, 
 free of cost, (or nearly so), who were to circulate them among 
 the people at the lowest rate. 
 
 " These were the means used to pervert, and to bring the 
 people to the state you now see them in, I shall not .see them 
 long : for I shall die of grief and remorse." 
 p There is not any certainty when this society was commenced, 
 but it was probably about the middle of last century, as Mon. 
 sieur Bertin, keeper of the privy purse to Louis XV., men- 
 tions the philosophers constantly soliciting that monarch to 
 allow them to found free-schools, under the pretence of teach- 
 ing the poor at the expencc of the king, but under their direc- 
 tion. Monsieur Bertin was at great pains to find out the real
 
 04 
 
 thinking: and it was natural that the people would 
 emhrace, with enthusiasm, a system by which they 
 would rise to importance. 
 
 By degrees the inequality of ranks, which former- 
 ly was considered as natural, became hateful; yet 
 the nobility themselves seemed unconscious of their 
 danger, and even assisted in opening the doors of the 
 garrison, which it was' both their interest and duty 
 to defend, 
 
 In England, the philosophy made less progress than 
 
 • 
 meaning of all this : and at last discovered that they expended 
 considerable sums, and took infinite trouble, by selling cheap, 
 anil even giving away book* written by Voltaire, Diderot, and 
 others, to prepare the people for a new system. It was only 
 by convincing the king of this, that he prevented the establish- 
 ment of the schools; for though Louis was a dissolute man of 
 pleasure, and too careless to be a good king, he wished well to 
 his subjects. He was ■ an honest- and honourable man; and 
 could not; without proof, believe tftat the philosophers were 
 dooeivino- him. 
 
 Frustrated In establishing schools, they contrived, by a se- 
 cret connection and correspondence,' to provide tutors and in- 
 structors, who could forward their schemes. DWlembert had 
 a- regular office for tutors, to which those who wanted recom- 
 mendation applied. He extended his plan to professors of col- 
 leges and public teachers, as well as private tutors; and by 
 rtteahs of His confederates, effected his purpose. 
 
 The- horrible part such of the philosophers acted, as lived to 
 see the revolution, will never be forgot. They shewed, that the 
 fanaticism- and cruelty of System-mongers, andphilosophers, arc 
 wersie than those of the wildest enthusiasts in religion. 
 
 ■
 
 €5 
 
 in other countries: the philosophers were less nu- 
 merous, and the nobility not quite so negligent and 
 pliant ; but still in this country they were high-ly to 
 blame, and had even joined in the laugh against their 
 own order, and given a sort of credit and currency 
 to opinions, which they should have made it their 
 glory, as it was their duty, to resist. 
 
 The new opinions had become fashionable; and 
 it was generally considered as a mark of want of in- 
 tellect, when a man of fashion adhered to the solid 
 principles of his ancestors, now termed prejudices. 
 Antiquated opinions, like antiquated dress, were 
 sneered at ; and few men can bear the force of ridi- 
 cule, which indeed is only to be resisted by great 
 strength of mind, or by having adopted a line o£ 
 conduct, with a determination to remain inflexible. 
 
 In matters of little importance, such as dress, to 
 comply with custom and taste is proper ; but in 
 maxims and ways of thinking on national affairs, 
 there ought to be no regard to taste ; taste, when 
 •introduced in such matters, is as much misplaced as 
 wnament would be in a mathematical demonstra- 
 tion. 
 
 Unfortunately this change of opinion on the con- 
 tinent of Europe became so universal, was so much 
 •disseminated amongst the higher classes, and its evil 
 tendency and ultimate consequences either so care- 
 fully concealed, or so ill understood, that scarcely 
 Any opposition was made to its becoming a rule of
 
 66 
 
 action, until it was too late to resist its farther pro- 
 gress.* 
 
 The nobility of this country remained in a great 
 measure untainted, but not altogether so. The wit 
 and sarcasms of the philosophers produced some 
 effect ; and rank and title were not held in equal 
 estimation, by men who enjoyed them as they had 
 formerly been, and as they still ought to be, if 
 stability and happiness are aimed at by mankind. 
 
 Happiness depends much on opinion, and so long 
 i 
 
 * Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, whose rank, genius t 
 and penetration, gave weight to whatever he did, was a great 
 patron of the sect ; but they never initiated him in the grand 
 mystery, the destruction of kings, and overthrow of govern- 
 ments. He was very willing to assist in overturning religion 
 and the altars ; hut when he discovered that the thrones also 
 were to fall, his rage was without bounds : then it was that he 
 quarrelled with Voltaire, and the philosophers whom he had 
 encouraged and admired, in order to be flattered with the title 
 of i( The Philosophic King." " Those philosophers," said he, 
 when he found them out, "are a sort of madmen, who are for 
 governing every thing by rule and theory, They wish the 
 whole world to be a republic j and would resolve all questions 
 of state like a problem in mathematics, by algebra. It would 
 be well to let them try their hand in governing, upon some re- 
 bellious province, that deserved the severest punishment, &c." 
 Such was the opinion of that philosophic king, after he knew 
 that they wished to overturn thrones. The philosophy, how- 
 ever, had got too deep root at Berlin ; and dearly have the suc- 
 cessors of Frederic and his country paid for having a king whos 
 was an atheist, a poet, a wit, and a philosopher.
 
 67 
 
 as men reason, their free actions will be the result 
 of it ; and, therefore, as an order of nobility is very 
 essential for the support of a mixed and free govern- 
 ment, it is of great importance that public opinion 
 should be favourable to its maintenance. The no- 
 bility themselves should resist, with their whole 
 power and energy, every effort that is made to re- 
 present them as being an useless order in the state. 
 The balance of a watch, or the pendulum of a 
 clock, though they possess no power of giving mo- 
 tion, are quite as essential to the construction of the 
 machine as the spring, or the weights which consti- 
 tute the moving powers; and therefore it is absurd 
 to undervalue one part, because it is not endowed 
 with the same properties as another. If an heredi- 
 tary nobility are confined by their situation from 
 acting a part that commoners may act, so likewise 
 are they fitted, by their situation, to act a part which 
 commoners cannot act ; and it would be impossible 
 to regulate national affairs, in that excellent manner 
 in which they are regulated, without having a portion 
 of the legislature independant both of the king and 
 of the people. Though it is not easy to say what 
 new plan may, in the course of time, and under a 
 new order and organization of society, become 
 practicable ; yet, composed as the nation now is, it 
 is not easy to conceive any regulating order in the 
 state, so well adapted to the purpose, as a class of 
 men, who are placed, as it were, above the situation 
 
 72
 
 of all others.* They are independent in point of 
 income or revenue (which even the sovereign him- 
 self is not, either in this or in any other country), 
 they are also possessed of rank and political impor- 
 tance, independent equally of the sovereign, or of 
 the people; therefore, as far as human combination 
 can raise any portion of mankind above the rest, 
 they are so elevated. They are men placed above 
 every one of those considerations, that operate on the 
 other two branches of the legislature, as far as it i» 
 possible for men to be.f 
 
 Many of the commoners are, in point of money, 
 
 - 
 
 * The nobility are represented as leaning to the side of the 
 kings, in opposition to that of the people. This is a great mis- 
 take, for in fact we find quite the contrary to be true ; and- 
 that they have generally resisted the kings in favour of -the, 
 people. It is impossible, however, for any order of men to 
 exist, in any state, that may not be liable, on particular occa» 
 sions, to be biassed by their own private interest ; and as no 
 man can be possessed of every object which he might desire, 
 this species of complete independence is merely ideal. AU 
 that can be done, is to put a man out of the reach of necessity 
 or strong temptation. It must still remain to be decided be- 
 tween his honour, his conscience, and his passions, which of the 
 three is to govern hi* conduct. 
 
 + The rendering of the judges independent of the king, with 
 revenues for life, was a great improvement on the administra- 
 tion of justice. For the same reason, the chief justice is gene- 
 tally now raised to the peerage ; so that the judges are, in every 
 respect, independent men, as far as it is possible in thjs world 
 to make men independent.
 
 69 
 
 equally independent as peers in general are; but 
 then they are not members of the legislature, with- 
 out the voice of the people (with a few exceptions) ; 
 therefore the balancing power, that is, the house of 
 lords, is rendered independent of, and insulated as 
 it \vere, from the other members of the state. To 
 say that noblemen may still be gained over by court 
 favour, or other means, is only saying, that after all 
 they are men. It would be just as well to object to 
 them because they are mortal, and subject to. bodily 
 inrirmitv ; and therefore so far like the poorest man 
 in the kingdom. 
 
 In point of political independence, every thing 
 has been done for the peers that is practicable; and 
 here it should be observed, that if nobility were not 
 hereditary, that could not be the case. The nobi- 
 lity would then be few in number, in general old 
 men, and might have bargained with the crown be- 
 ibre they obtained their rank ; so that whatever may 
 be said in favour of acquired nobility, in opposition 
 to hereditary titles, as a political institution it would 
 not answer the same purpose. It might correspond 
 better with modern ideas, respecting merit alone 
 giving preference; bat in practical utility, it would 
 be greatly inferior. 
 
 Opinion and force govern mankind ; but as front 
 the former arise will and inclination, and from the 
 latter necessity, the continuance of the first is of far 
 the longest duration. Men endeavour to preserve 
 a state of things that accords with their will and in-
 
 70 
 
 clination ; and they are constantly struggling against 
 the operation of force or necessity. So much is this 
 the case, that no tyrant has ever had so much power, 
 as not to find it wise to endeavour to get opinion and 
 good will in some degree in his favour ; and as men 
 become better informed, this support, derived from 
 opinion, becomes the more necessary. What does 
 all the veneration for ancient dynasties signify ? 
 What do the disputes about divine right signify, but 
 to bring, as much as possible, opinion in aid of 
 power and force ? 
 
 Without the support of opinion, force soon crum- 
 bles into dust; and with it, even what is feeble may 
 endure for ages. 
 
 During the feudal system, the barons and lords 
 had force and power for their support; but they did 
 not trust to those entirely. They made friends of 
 their vassals, and the connexion vras like that of 
 the chief of a family, and the inferior branches ; they 
 were connected in interest and by affection; and 
 support on the one hand, and protection on the 
 other, were the consequences. 
 
 Now, however, the case is almost entirely changed 
 with respect to the nobility of this and most other 
 countries. They are no longer supported by force, 
 and the ties between the landlord and his tenants, or 
 his servants, are by no means of the same agreeable 
 nature that they were formerly. Till within the last 
 century, the inhabitants of the country, the farmer* 
 and labourers, looked up to the landlords with res-
 
 71 
 
 pect and affection : they often partook of their hos- 
 pitality, and they admired those qualities which their 
 superiors possessed, without feeling envy ; but it is 
 not so now. The tenant seldom sees his landlord, 
 and frequently thinks himself his equal : or, if he ac- 
 knowledges inferiority, it is not unaccompanied with 
 a feeling of envy. 
 
 During the feudal system, titles of nobility became 
 hereditary; and the institution Mas then supported 
 by every human means. The kings were depen- 
 dent on their nobles in time of war ; and their vas- 
 sals owed to them protection, and not only obeyed 
 willingly, but respected and loved them. 
 
 This then was the state of things all over Europe ; 
 yet, with all those circumstances in their favour, the 
 nobility have been uninterruptedly and universally 
 sinking, both in power and in esteem, in every coun- 
 try ; and in France, the only country that has under- 
 gone a revolution of late times, the order has not 
 only been abolished, but the members proscribed, 
 persecuted, and robbed of their estates.* Although 
 a new order of nobility is rising in France, which in 
 time may become numerous and hereditary, yet that 
 
 * When the revolutionists in Oliver Cromwell's time abolish- 
 ed the house of peers, they only acted upon the levelling principle 
 from momentary impulse, and not like the French, on a per- 
 manent plan ; but now that France has set the example, such 
 mistakes will be avoided, and those who in future want to abo- 
 lish nobility, will do it in a permanent manner. The seizure 
 and sale ©f estates rivetted the business in France,
 
 72 
 
 only tends to shew the utility of the order, and the 
 impracticability of conducting political affairs with- 
 out holding up honour as one of the inducements 
 to great actions. 
 
 In mentioning this part of the subject, it is to be 
 noticed, that in our own days, we have had the exam- 
 ple of a new dynasty, and a new race of nobility ; 
 established exactly on the old principle of conquest 
 'that 'gave birth to both in the dark ages and in early 
 times. Whether the new dynasty and the new nobi- 
 lity will be permanent or not, is nothing to the pur- 
 pose. A fortunate general has seized power, and 
 made himself an emperor ; and he has raised those 
 who assisted him, to rank and honour, under new forms 
 and modifications ; but in all this there is nothing 
 new; all usurpers and conquerors have ever done 
 the same, and they always will do the same. 
 
 The support that is wanted from public opinion, 
 is not so much in favour of personal nobility, as in 
 favour of hereditary nobility. Wherever there are 
 rulers, there will be a gradation of ranks ; but the 
 business is, to manage things so, that the gradation 
 of ranks may he of general utility, and contribute to 
 the happiness of the people, which we find, both 
 .iVom the history of our country, and from that of in- 
 viduals, the hereditary nobility of England have 
 done ; whereas it is to be naturally conceived, that a 
 personal nobility would be the instrument of kingly 
 . power; and that if its members could not commu- 
 liicate their rank to their sons by hereditary right,
 
 73 
 
 they might do it by royal favour. If there are then 
 occasions for preferring personal nobility to heredi- 
 tary, there are other very strong ones for giving 
 the preference to the hereditary establishment of the 
 order. 
 
 Let us consider the subject as much as we please, 
 we shall still find that there must be an order of no- 
 bility : and, that if there is to be such an order, it is 
 most expedient and advantageous for the liberties 
 of the people, that it should be hereditary as in this 
 country, and have a share in the legislature. We 
 have already seen, that in the individual line advan- 
 tages are produced by hereditary honours, and that 
 there are a far greater number of men of merit amongst 
 the nobility, than amongst an equal number of men 
 of fortune who have not rank. We have also found 
 that the peers, acting politically in a body, have 
 exerted themselves in a most disinterested manner to 
 obtain and preserve the liberties of their country on 
 almost every occasion : it therefore cannot remain a 
 matter of doubt, whether or not an order of heredi- 
 tary nobility, such as is established in England, is a 
 wise and beneficial institution. 
 
 The number of the nobility admits of a few obser- 
 vations, as there is not any subject that is more mis- 
 conceived. Because we have a greater number of 
 peers than we had half a century ago, it is alledged 
 that they are become too numerous. This is very like 
 the complaints about heavy taxation in the time of 
 Charles II., when one year's expenditure was about
 
 74 
 
 equal to what we now expend in ten days ! ! This is 
 like a boy of six years of age, thinking he is a great 
 boy, because two years before he was less. The 
 greatness indeed is relative, but not real; for three 
 hundred nobility are still very few for England. 
 The royal prerogative of creating lords is envied, 
 and exclaimed against by many ; but those persons 
 are ignorant of the origin of that, for it does not 
 spring from any power given the king to the preju- 
 dice of commoners, but from a power very fortu- 
 nately seized by our kings, to diminish the influence 
 and number of the feudal barons. 
 
 After the conquest, possessions in land rendered 
 the proprietor a baron by tenure, and the creation 
 of barons by right was an artful invention to keep 
 the landholders in check; and as it so happened, 
 that those haughty lords set more value upon their 
 power individually than collectively, the baronage 
 by tenure was allowed to fall into disuse. In other 
 countries it was not so : there were in France above 
 16,000 noble families, that is fifty times the number 
 there are in England; and if the barons by right 
 had not taken place of the barons by tenure, we 
 should now have had many more nobility than we 
 have ;* perhaps ten times the number. At the end 
 of the wars between the Houses of York and Lan- 
 
 * The power of granting patents for inventions is nearly 
 of the same nature ; instead of its being a privilege vested in 
 the king, it is a remainder only of the former unlimited power 
 of the sovereign. After the despotic princes of the Tudor family 
 had abused the power of granting monopoly and exclusive privi-
 
 76 
 
 caster, that is, when Henry VII. mounted the 
 
 throne, there were but thirty-six temporal peers in 
 
 England ! 
 
 It is only by comparing the number at present 
 
 with the number that they were about half a century 
 ago, that they appear'many ; for if compared with 
 those of other countries, they are very few ; or if 
 compared with what they would have been, had 
 they been by tenure, they are very few ; and also 
 they are few, when compared with the number of 
 the nobility in Scotland before the union, and even 
 at this day, notwithstanding the numbers extinct by 
 death and attainder. So that in no reasonable way 
 can we consider the nobility as being numerous, 
 when the extent and population of the country are 
 considered. 
 
 Those persons who suppose that all disposition 
 to undermine the present order of things has ceased 
 with the violent effervescence of the French revolu- 
 tion, are under a great mistake. Those who wish 
 for change admit that the first experiment has 
 
 lege, King James, the first of the Stuarts, who was not quite so 
 despotically inclined, (and who, if he had possessed the same 
 will, had not the same power), allowed it to be restricted. The 
 power of granting patents by an act vi of James I. appears to 
 vest a power in the king ; whereas, it in reality is an act for 
 taking a very extensive, and nearly unlimited power from the 
 king, and only reserving a small portion of it restricted to new 
 inventions. The former gave a power of injuring the public, to 
 enrich individuals! the latter only enables individuals to become 
 rich in the event of serving the public. 
 
 K2
 
 76 
 
 failed ; but, like a losing gamester, or a disappointed 
 chemist, they would renew their trials with re- 
 doubled energy. It is not to such persons that it is 
 necessary or useful to appeal. Their opinion is formed 
 and fixed, and neither arguments, facts, nor expe- 
 rience, will alter their manner of thinking; but in this, 
 and in every country, such persons are not the most nu- 
 merous ; the greater number are well-intentioned, 
 liable indeed to be misled, but never intending to in- 
 jure their country. 
 
 It is to gain over this great number to a right way 
 of reasoning, (as they already are right in their wishes 
 and principles,) that is the main object, and they will, 
 no doubt, be happy to find that the prejudices excited 
 against distinction of ranks, are very ill-founded, and 
 contradicted by the history of the nobility of this 
 country, whether acting as peers in a body, or as in- 
 dividual men. 
 
 Though it is not directly in the line of this work, 
 to make any observations on the manner of electing 
 members for the House of Commons ; yet the subject 
 is nearly connected in its nature with that of the nobi- 
 lity; we shall therefore say a few words on that subject. 
 One of the great objections to our present system 
 of elections is founded on the supposed influence of 
 peers in returning members ; and the grand basis of 
 projected reform, is the supposed equal rights of 
 men to be represented in Parliament. On both 
 those subjects, something ought to be said in this 
 place ; for it is a fact (which has not been to my
 
 77 
 
 knowledge ever noticed, and which certainly is but 
 little known,) that most of the men of merit who have 
 got into Parliament, have first come into that assem- 
 bly under the protection of some peer ; or for some 
 of those boroughs, the very existence of which is so 
 much complained of, and considered as so great a 
 grievance, and such an imperfection as not to be* 
 admitted to continue.* 
 
 If there were no members but for counties, or for 
 large populous cities ; then none but men of great 
 fortune, or who were distinguished by some particu- 
 lar service, could come into Parliament. Young 
 men of genius, but of slender fortune, never would 
 find the means of serving their country as members 
 of the legislature. 
 
 * Mr. Pitt, afterwards the great Lord Chatham, first came 
 in member for Camelford. His son, whose merits and abilities 
 have never been disputed, was brought in first by Sir James 
 Lowther, for one of his boroughs; and Mr. Fox, when he was 
 prevented from coming in for Westminster, took refuge in some 
 boroughs in the northern isles of Scotland, under the controul 
 of his friend, then Sir Thomas Dundas. 
 
 Look to which side of the House we may, we shall find this 
 holds true. Mr. Wardle came in for Oakhampton, which, if 
 representation were equal, would not return a membeV. Lord 
 Folkstone, and many others highly esteemed by those who seek 
 a change, have owed their entrance into the House to places of 
 little importance. I do not deny, that when merit is once ge- 
 nerally known, such men may come in for the most populous 
 county or borough in the kingdom, but unless they could come 
 in before they were generally known, they could never thea 
 come in at all.
 
 78 
 
 The truth is, that one great part of the perfection 
 of our House of Commons consists in the very un- 
 equal manner in which the representatives are chosen. 
 This is not the only political institution, of which 
 the fitness consists, in what appears imperfection, as 
 the beauty of landscape consists often in irregula- 
 rity.* 
 
 Reformers aim at uniformity, that is, an equal 
 number of electors for each place, which certainly 
 appears to be a fair and equitable mode ; and, per- 
 haps, might be expected to be an advantageous one, 
 but we must not trust merely to appearances, but 
 examine what would be the actual effect. 
 
 Those who talk of reforming the present abuses 
 have never, it is true, proposed any settled plan ; 
 but they have not done that, probably, because they 
 
 * According to such theorists, the beauty of irregularity 
 must be the most absurd thing in nature. There must be some 
 one object that is the most beautiful, the most perfect of any. 
 
 In a continual repetition of that object must then be the ex- 
 treme of beauty, or the greatest possible quantity of beauty. 
 This is a specimen of that sort of reasoning which is the effect 
 of aiming at perfection, a thing totally incompatible with the 
 lituation of this world. In all the sophistry of the advocates 
 of the rights for man, nothing more profound is to be disco- 
 vered than this logic, which in reality is absurd and untrue. As 
 there must be some object more beautiful than any other, by add. 
 «ig beauties of an inferior order, the greatest possible quantity 
 of beauty cannot be obtained, it must necessarily consist in a 
 repetition of the most beautiful object. The absurdity of this 
 is pretty evident, yet it is equally unanswerable with most of 
 the theories about perfection in the representative system.
 
 79 
 
 aim at more than they think it would be prudent at 
 first to avow ; perhaps trusting that they might pro- 
 ceed more safely by developing their views as they 
 proceed and gather strength, though it is evident that 
 nothing short of universal suffrage and equal 
 representation would satisfy them. I say, it is 
 evident that nothing less .would satisfy them, because 
 whatever plan falls short of that, will partake, more 
 or less, of the present imperfect and unequal repre- 
 sentation ; and there is no reason, if we depart from 
 the present unequal representation, (which is at least 
 sanctioned by its antiquity,) for adopting a new and 
 untried plan, that shall have similar imperfections. 
 
 The term radical reform shews what the lovers of 
 innovation have in view, and to this they lay claim, 
 as being founded on a natural right. No doubt, 
 wherever our social rights can be made to correspond 
 with our natural rights, it is a desirable thing that it 
 should be done. The fact, however, is, that the na- 
 tural right of every man to a vote, has no existence 
 in reality, though it has the appearance of existing. 
 
 I do not know r that even any of the greatest and 
 
 most enthusiastic sticklers for equality* conceived 
 
 ■ 
 
 * The French carried the system pretty far, even at first, as 
 every person, by the constitution of 1789, was to have a vote 
 who paid three livrcs (2s. 6d.) a year direct taxes. The conse- 
 quence was, that the majority at all elections consisted of the 
 lower orders of people, and this was the way that such a set of 
 miscreants obtained seats in the second assembly, that allowed 
 jthe constitution to be overturned, and the king dethroned. The
 
 80 
 
 the project of extending the rights of voting for re- 
 presentatives either to paupers or to criminals ; yet, 
 (except so far as is indispensably necessary,) neither 
 paupers nor even criminals are divested of their na- 
 tural rights. It is as lawful for a man living on cha- 
 rity to defend his person, as it is for the first man in 
 the nation ; and it is equally unlawful to insult, as- 
 sault, or ill-treat him,* — his natural rights remain 
 unalienated in every respect ; but as the power of 
 voting for a representative does not extend to such 
 a person, it is not a natural right, but a privilege, or 
 a social right, to which a condition is attached, 
 whereas there is no condition attached to the posses- 
 sion of a natural right 
 
 If, then, the power of voting is not derived from a 
 natural right, but is a privilege, the pure theory of 
 universal suffrage falls to the ground, and is not to be 
 
 people, however, and the leaders said, not without some jus- 
 tice: (( Why draw a line at three livres, between those who 
 vote, and those who cannot vote. This is an ideal, an arbi* 
 trary, and an unjust line." Let every man, who is not a men- 
 dieant or a criminal, have equal rights. On this footing they 
 set out in electing the Convention of Regicides, when 
 Robespierre shewed what men so elected by universal suffrage 
 were capable of doing ! This convention is the only example of 
 the full effects of universal suffrage, and let its best friends try 
 to hide its hideous features, if they can. 
 
 * It is out of no disrespect to paupers, that they are named 
 with men who have offended against the laws, but that it is ne- 
 cessary for the sake of the argument.
 
 considered as necessary to be established; and the 
 privilege, for such it becomes, is like all other pri- 
 vileges of men in society : it requires to be modi- 
 fied and regulated according to the general interest. 
 
 We must therefore not treat universal suffrage as 
 a question of right, but of expediency ; and it is of 
 great importance that it should be so understood ; 
 for so long as it is considered as an inherent and 
 natural right, all those reformers who have founded 
 their projects on that basis, will remain dissatisfied ; 
 and we must not forget that men constantly aim at 
 change, while they are dissatisfied with what they 
 possess, nor will any reform be durable or prosper, 
 that does not give content; for the basis of every 
 permanent state of things, where there is any degree 
 of freedom, is content, or being satisfied with that 
 state of things. 
 
 As universal suffrage was a project naturally 
 enough entertained by theorists, who wished to 
 establish liberty on the most extensive scale possible, 
 and was actually floating in the minds of the reform- 
 ers here in England before the French revolution, 
 (where it was tried for the first time) ; it becomes 
 essential to the stability of any reform that may here- 
 after be effected, (and is not, upon that principle), 
 to shew that suffrage is not a natural right, but an 
 acquired privilege. 
 
 That universal suffrage is incompatible with the 
 welfare of the state, is nearly certain. There are 
 about 4,000,000 men that have attained their full 
 
 L
 
 82 
 
 age in Great Britain and Ireland, and there are 6.55 
 representatives, which gives about 4600 voters for 
 each member, and as the members are chosen in 
 pairs, it would give rather more than 9000 voters for 
 each place ; of which voters, the great majority 
 would always be poor men, labourers, mechanics, or 
 servants. The respectable voters would always con- 
 stitute only a minority ; and therefore, in fact, would 
 not be represented. 
 
 In France, at the second election in 1791, the 
 qualification of the voters excluded all such as did 
 not pay three livres (2s. 6d.) direct taxes annually, 
 yet the elections were every where conducted by 
 the lower order of people : men of respectability ge- 
 nerally kept away, and when they attended they 
 were pushed about, threatened, and maltreated,* and 
 at all events were in a minority. There is not any 
 country under the heavens where the same cause 
 would not produce nearly the same effect, for what- 
 ever difference there may be between the people of 
 one country and those of another, in manners, ha- 
 
 * In Scotland, where in same parishes the ministers are cho- 
 sen by what they term a popular call, there is an example 
 of the effects of popular election in the established clergy j in 
 others, the right of presentation resides in the landholders, and 
 in some of them the king is the patron. The parishes where the 
 popular call prevails, are generally filled with men either of a 
 violent and fanatical turn, or addicted to fawning and hypo- 
 crisy ; that is to say, they resemble what we call in England 
 methodisis. .000,,* ■>
 
 83 
 
 bits, and intellects, there is none of any essential im- 
 portance between their main propensities ; those, in 
 all cases, lead such as have power, and know it, to 
 make use of it ; and therefore, if in elections the 
 chief power is lodged in the lower orders, thev will 
 combine together, and exert it as completely as they 
 can. We do not need to go to France, or any other 
 nation, to prove this ; we may find it proved in 
 Westminster, and wherever the rights of election are 
 extended to the poorer classes. 
 
 If there were in this country universal suffrage, 
 then the number of electors in every case would be 
 nearly equal to those of Westminster ; and in very 
 few places would there be so many proprietors and 
 persons carrying on respectable business. 
 
 The lower order would nominate in almost every 
 instance ; and without inquiring into the advantage 
 or disadvantage, the wisdom or policy of that, we 
 must, in the first place, acknowledge that it would 
 be unfair ; that it would leave those most interested 
 in the preservation of the state, in a situation the 
 least able to protect it, or assist in its preservation. 
 
 A nation that is governed by the lower classes, or 
 by representatives chosen by the lower classes, must 
 be in a constant state of change, like the water in a 
 boiling pot, which receives its constant motion from 
 the lowest particles being the lightest, and therefore 
 inclined to come to the top. 
 
 It would be the same with every country, where 
 the power resided essentially in the lower orders ; 
 
 L 2
 
 84 
 
 for as those who rose one year by their exertions 
 would be high the next, a new effort to displace 
 them, would be made by such as remained below ; 
 and thus a continual state of ebullition, or of revo- 
 lution, would be kept up, till anarchy would ensue ; 
 out of which anarchy would arise despotism, as it 
 always has done and always will do. 
 
 If then we see that universal suffrage is not a na- 
 tural right, and therefore not to be claimed as such, 
 how much more ought we to avoid making an effort 
 to obtain it, if we find that it would be in a high de- 
 gree pernicious and dangerous? We must then exa- 
 mine how far we may with safety and advantage ap- 
 proach this dangerous species of suffrage ; which we 
 shall find to be both an important and an intricate 
 question. But this question cannot be properly 
 discussed, without taking into view the nature and 
 consequences of equal representation. 
 
 Without equal representation, universal suffrage 
 is a mere chimera, in so far as it is connected with 
 right ; for though every person in every county 
 were to have a vote, yet, unless the counties were 
 equal, or nearly equal, there would be no sort of 
 equality amongst the voters. If, again, we were to 
 have equal representation, London and Middlesex 
 would have about fifty representatives ? who, being 
 all animated with one spirit, and having constituents 
 who had one interest, and could act in unison, would 
 be more than equal to twice the number of members 
 from different parts, without connection, without 
 
 I
 
 uniformity of object, and acting separately as they 
 would do. 
 
 If then we were to equalise the representation, 
 we should greatly injure the spirit that ought to ani- 
 mate the members ; and thus by trying to reform 
 Parliament in its manner and formation, we should 
 destroy it in its efficient utility, its real advan- 
 tage. 
 
 In whatever manner we view universal suffrage 
 and equal representation together, we shall find 
 them totally inimical to public tranquillity and na- 
 tional safety; and if we take them separately, 
 they are a mockery. They are incapable of satisfy- 
 ing those who seek reform upon what is termed, by 
 some, principle, and by others radical reform ; we 
 must then lose sight of that, and not consider the 
 present plan faulty, because it is unequal ; neither 
 must we in equality aim at perfection or ameliora^ 
 tion, but rather inquire into the actual defects, and 
 try if we can get rid of those in some degree, without 
 launching so far out as to endanger the advantages 
 that we at present possess. 
 
 Granting that there is an injustice in men who 
 contribute to the expences of the state having no 
 vote, or share in the elections, it is necessary to in- 
 quire how we are to draw the line so as to give no 
 more extention to the privilege than will be useful 
 to those by whom it is enjoyed ; but in doing this, 
 we must not forget that wherever we draw the line, 
 those who are excluded will be discontented, be-
 
 86 
 
 cause itiat line will be an arbitrary line, not founded 
 upon such certain principles as admit of no differ- 
 ence of opinions with repect to the justice, or even the 
 wisdom of the arrangement. 
 
 In despair of finding any rule to go by, that will 
 satisfy those who cry out for radical reform, and 
 whose plans would ruin the country, the safest and 
 best method will probably be, to prune the present 
 system by lopping off its excrescences, and diminish- 
 ing that excessive inequality that exists, and is pro- 
 ductive of so much discontent. 
 
 Let us not err in seeking happiness and freedom 
 in perfection, which is not to be attained ; and like 
 the merchant of Bagdat, in searching for the talisman 
 of Oromanes, where it was not to be found, sacrifice 
 those blessings which we already enjoy. No politi- 
 cal compass has yet been discovered, that will guide 
 u« in the open sea of reform. We must keep the 
 land- marks and light-houses that are on the shore 
 within our view, otherwise we may lose our way, and 
 wreck our vessel. We cannot safely trace out a new 
 mode of election, on a tabula rasa ; we can only ven- 
 ture to make a few changes on what we already have. 
 
 Fortunately for this nation, the basis of a very good 
 constitution exists. It is not so in almost any 
 other country. There, from necessity, before they 
 can have a good constitution, they must undo what 
 they have got : we have no occasion to do so, and 
 therefore if we go to work with moderation and wis- 
 dom, our work will be easy, and the danger small.
 
 87 
 
 It) on the contrary, we go rashly to reform, our mis- 
 fortune will be doubly great; for we shall lose what 
 is well worth preserving, and ought to be preserved. 
 When the French began a reform on their govern- 
 ment, they had no ground to work upon. The 
 states-general was an old machine, that had never 
 been much in use ; and that for centuries had not 
 been once employed. The feudal system was still in 
 considerable force, when the states-general had been 
 last assembled, and the church was then also in 
 great power and splendour. It was not then to be 
 expected that such an institution could in bur days 
 answer the intended purpose, and consequently it 
 underwent a radical reform ; that is to say, it 
 was turned topsy-turvy. The third state, which for- 
 merly looked up to the two others, as superior in 
 rank and intelligence, now looked down upon both 
 with contempt ; and though the misery that followed 
 was great, and the despotism that has succeeded, is 
 beyond description ; yet the overturn of the ancient 
 form of government was no great loss to the coun- 
 try, for it was neither good in itself, nor could it 
 have been very durable under the changes that had 
 taken place amongst mankind. 
 
 Time, (which Lord Bacon says is the greatest in- 
 novator in the world), had produced such changes, 
 as rendered not only the government of France, but 
 all the governments on the continent, antiquated in 
 their form, and inadequate in their effect. If the 
 French government had been excellent in its nature,
 
 88 
 
 still its ancient form was become so unsuitable to 
 the state of society, that it could not long have ex- 
 isted; and therefore those who overturned it, had 
 only shaken a leaf that was ready to fall. The in- 
 jury was not at any rate great ; but, as the matter 
 stood, it was nearly nothing. The constitution, (if 
 constitution it could be called,) scarcely deserved pre- 
 servation. To have a few worthless courtiers join in 
 decrying and misleading their sovereign, that they 
 might trample upon, pillage, and oppress the people, 
 was not a desirable thing ; yet such was the govern- 
 ment of France : still even that government is re- 
 gretted by all who have either read of, or remember 
 it, on account of the miseries that have arisen from 
 the wild plan of radical reform that was adopted. 
 
 If then even in France, where the government was 
 neither good, nor permanent in its nature, still those 
 who overturned it had reason to repent of their rash- 
 ness, how much more must we have reason to avoid 
 a similar error, when we must begin by putting to 
 risk an invaluable possession. 
 
 The existence of the House of Peers, and the un- 
 equal manner of chusing representatives for the 
 Commons House of Parliament, are the two parts 
 of our constitution that differ the most widely from 
 those theoretical principles, to which modern refor- 
 mers have looked, and to which all those who want 
 radical reform always will look.* Those who think 
 
 * One of the most- alarming circumstances that has taken 
 place of late years, is an opinion given in the House of Com-
 
 39 
 
 that the example of France will be a warning to such 
 men, are greatly mistaken. The failure of France i$ 
 attributed to every thing but to error in the system. 
 Some attribute it to the war; others to the king; 
 others to the intrigues of the priests and nobles, and 
 still a greater number to the volatile nature of the 
 French nation ; so that those who originally approved 
 of the plan, would still try the experiment, in full 
 confidence of success ; determined to avoid the errors 
 of the French, and thereby avoid similar misfortunes. 
 It is then for the nobility of this country to act 
 
 mons, that the French constitution of 1780 was the most glo- 
 rious work of human wisdom. This is alarming, for various 
 reasons : 
 
 1st. Because it was made after the French constitution had 
 been tried and failed, and after it had brought the greatest mi- 
 sery on that country ; it shewed, therefore, that unfortunate 
 experience had little effect in changing a deep-rooted opinion. 
 
 2d. Because that unqualified approbation implied a total de- 
 reliction of the principles of our constitution, established at the 
 accession of William III. inasmuch as the French constitution 
 admitted of no distinction of ranks, as it required no qualifi- 
 cation for being elected a member of the house of representa- 
 tives, which passed its votes at one sitting, without a revisal and 
 without any controuling assembly; from which also his ma- 
 jesty's ministers were distinctly excluded ; and which, above 
 all, declared, that the power of changing the constitution, at 
 pleasure, resided permanently and inalienably in the people. 
 
 3d. Every thing that has of late happened in France, hai 
 been so entirely disconnected with (heprinciples of liberty in any 
 possible form, that no allusion can be made to what has passed 
 in that country for these last twelve years. 
 
 M
 
 90 
 
 like their forefathers, and resist innovation whenever 
 it appears in the form of theoretical perfection, or the 
 abolition of rank, and an undistinguished equality of 
 rights, which last is a chimera of the most dangerous 
 sort; innovation, apparently founded on the natural 
 rights of man, is quite contrary to the rights of men 
 who have entered into any social compact, that is, 
 to say of men under every possible form of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 As the contents of these volumes prove, that the 
 best guardians of our liberties have been the nobi- 
 lity, and that hereditary rank is attended with great 
 advantages, they form a basis for what might be 
 called a contre projet to the plans of equality and 
 universal suffrage, which are the prelude to an at- 
 tempt at establishing equality. 
 
 I am not ignorant that this work has, when viewed 
 in a certain light, a great disadvantage. It is not of a 
 popular seductive nature, like those of theorists in 
 politics who bring in aid the passions of mankind, 
 and who flatter the great number under the appear- 
 ance of philanthropy and a liberal way of thinking. 
 It has the farther disadvantage of not being suscepti- 
 ble of the support of sophistry ; and, above all, in- 
 stead of being a fashionable, it is an antiquated 
 study, to which I am obliged to call the attention of 
 men little inclined to listen, and still less inclined to 
 alter their opinion. 
 
 In struggling against those obstacles, I have made 
 my appeal to facts, considering argument as incon-
 
 91 
 
 elusive and unequal to the purpose. I have also 
 done what was in my power, to divest the study 
 of Pedigree of its antiquated form, and to give it 
 novelty and something interesting which it did not 
 before possess, by the addition of the charts ; and 
 farther, I have endeavoured to draw a conclusion, 
 and bring the whole to effect something practically 
 useful. . h» 
 
 If I have endeavoured to do what was beyond my 
 ability, my zeal and ardour will, I hope, be received 
 in good part ; and that I may be permitted to make 
 a few observations, addressed principally to those 
 to whose patronage I am indebted for support in 
 this undertaking. 
 
 I have not written to gratify individual vanity, 
 but to do justice to the order of nobility as an heredi- 
 tary establishment, and as composed of men equally 
 estimable for virtue, talents, and political utility, in 
 order that it may still continue to have the support 
 of public opinion, without which, it cannot long be 
 preserved. I am convinced, that such persons, as 
 approve of those views, will forgive me for not inser- 
 ting many particular circumstances relative to fami- 
 lies, which could not have advanced, but must have 
 impeded the end I proposed to effect, by not only 
 swelling the size of the work, but by clogging it with 
 a species of information that is not of any general 
 interest. 
 
 To those who either disapprove of, or are indif- 
 ferent with regard to the attainment of my object, I
 
 £2 
 
 have nothing to say. Such proprietors in this country 
 as are indifferent or inimical to the cause of truth, 
 or to the interests of the nation, can only be consi- 
 dered as being guided by interested or bad motives ; 
 and all that are not will, I am persuaded, allow that 
 this publication tends to clear up a very important 
 political question, by establishing, from facts, the 
 advantages arising from hereditary nobility. 
 
 One thing may still remain necessary, to obtain 
 for my work the approbation of those who granted 
 me their patronage before they saw the perfor- 
 mance : that is, a belief of my sincerity. Though 
 that makes nothing to the facts brought forward or 
 the fair conclusion drawn from them, yet, in every 
 work of this sort, the real opinion of the author is of 
 some importance, as it leads the reader to determine 
 whether he himself feels what he appears to feel* 
 Except in mathematical demonstration, the opinion 
 of him who labours to establish a fact, js always of 
 some importance. Though no one would enquire 
 whether Euclid actually believed that the three an- 
 gles of every triangle are equal to two right angles, 
 yet we cannot help wishing to know, whether Oli- 
 ver Cromwell was a hypocrite, or acted from con- 
 viction, when he murdered his sovereign and abolish- 
 ed the House of Peers, protesting that he did so to 
 serve his country. 
 
 I must, therefore, be permitted to speak for a 
 moment of myself. It was in the year 1 79% that I 
 first began to write in support of the present order
 
 93 
 
 of things in England. When in Paris, I attacked 
 the wild theories of the boasted constitution 
 of 1789; and. amongst other things, the abolition of 
 all distinction of ranks and universal suffrage. The 
 work was printed in Paris, and published by a Lon- 
 don bookseller,* and since that time, I have written 
 a great variety of works, all of thein guided by the 
 same principles. Why it happens, that an individual 
 who enjoys neither rank nor fortune, nor public place, 
 nor emolument, should be anxious to preserve the 
 present order of things, when many who enjoy them 
 all, are totally unconcerned, I cannot properly ok* 
 plain, for I have no right to judge of principles or 
 motives of such men, but I attribute it to their see- 
 ing the danger in a different light. A man who has 
 never seen the ravages of fire, will not naturally feel 
 as one who has seen it : the latter is my case. 
 
 I lived in the very centre of the French revolution 
 during three years ; I knew a number of the principal 
 actors. The transactions were too interesting not 
 to occupy my attention, and the wild enthusiasm too 
 ridiculous not to excite contempt, and too dangerous 
 not to occasion horror. Hence it is, that I con- 
 tracted an irresistible antipathy to all such propaga- 
 tors of systems ;| and, without consideration, either 
 
 * Lane, Leadenhall-street. 
 
 + As to the system-mongers and philosophers, I had no per- 
 sonal reason to dislike them.; I knew many of them, and they 
 behaved very well to me. When my book of Linear Arithme-
 
 94 
 
 bf interest or expediency, I have, on all occasions, 
 acted from that antipathy ever since. 
 
 In the year 1797, on the same day that Mr. She- 
 ridan acted so noble a part in the House of Com- 
 mons, respecting the mutiny in the fleet, I dined 
 with that gentleman in a small company, at a tavern, 
 upon some business. On that occasion I thought 
 it well to make some preliminary explanation about 
 political opinions, to prevent a disagreeable feeling 
 that otherwise might take place ; I considered it as 
 a piece of respect due to a man of his abilities; I there- 
 fore said — " No doubt, Sir, as I had the honour of 
 being known to you about ten or twelve years ago, 
 and was then what they call a whig, and am now 
 called an aristocrat, you may think me a turn-coat ; 
 I shall explain that in a few words. — You know I 
 have lived in France; where, during the three 
 first years of the revolution, I saw so many wild and 
 • 
 
 tic was translated into French, and a copy presented to the 
 Academy of Sciences, M. Condorcet addressed mein a fine speech. 
 I was placed on the right hand of the president, during the sit- 
 ting, and invited to come when I pleased, with a promise, that 
 by calling out a member, I should always be admitted, as indeed 
 I afterwards was. As individual men, their conduct was po- 
 lite, attentive, and flattering. How different was that Condor- 
 cet at the academy and at the Jacobin club ! ! He was a man 
 certainly of great merit, as a man of letters, but a monster in 
 politics. But, as Robespierre was a still greater monster, Con- 
 dorcet was sacrificed, after having himself brought destruction 
 on the inferior class of monsters, who were not willing to go 
 quite far enough.
 
 95 
 
 wicked transactions, that they have given me acon> 
 plete disgust to the violent Political Reformers, 
 though I shall always wish for practical amelioration 
 for the good of the country. I have changed my 
 way of thinking in consequence of what I have seen, 
 and am what they term an aristocrat, from that cause, 
 and from no other. My father was a clergyman, 
 and my grand- father a farmer, therefore I cannot 
 boast of ancestry, for I can trace them no farther ; 
 and as for riches, I am not possessed of them, there- 
 fore from personal situation I should be a democrat, 
 Sec. &c." Mr. S. said, he could very well conceive 
 the change, and that being a witness to the revolu- 
 tion, might make the strong impression I described ; 
 adding, that if any one thought that he went into the 
 ideas promulgated in the book called the Rights of 
 Man, they were greatly mistaken, &c. &c. 
 
 I mention this, to account for my strong attach- 
 ment to the present government and order, as well as 
 to prove that it has been of long duration; and, 
 amidst misfortunes, of which I have had my full share, 
 I have never felt my opinion on those points changed 
 in the least degree. In this statement I never can 
 be contradicted.* 
 
 * Amongst many strange exhibitions of a levelling spirit, 
 that I was witness to in France, one was the burning the re- 
 cords belonging to all the nobility in that kingdom, which 
 took place by order of the legislative assembly, at twelve 
 o'clock in the day, in the Place Vcndome, in June, 1792. 
 Several waggons arrived loaded with faggots, which were set on.
 
 The nobility, and the well-wishers of the present 
 order of things, are not yet aware of the full extent 
 of their danger; which is by no means over. I 
 have found the greater number ready to encourage 
 this undertaking ; but I have found some few totally 
 indifferent to what is thought of themselves, of- of the 
 order to which they belong. I can only say, that if 
 such a spirit had been general, this nation would 
 not now have been the envy of the world, and the 
 prop of liberty. 
 
 Having shewn that there are great advantages 
 arising from an hereditary nobility, and that this na- 
 tion owes much to their exertions, one concluding 
 observation only occurs to me, in answer to the pre- 
 vailing opinion, that preference is alone due to per- 
 sonal merit. Such a preference, however well 
 founded it may be, would be attended with the 
 greatest inconveniency, from the envy it excites, and 
 the difficulty of ascertaining, by any impartial or sa- 
 tisfactory rule, to whom it is due. Hereditary nobi- 
 lity, amongst other things, are free from those disad- 
 vantages ; so that, upon the whole, there is not one 
 of the institutions we possess, viewed in every point, 
 more essential to the maintenance of a free mixed 
 constitution, than an hereditary nobility, who pos- 
 
 fire, when a number of other waggons, filled with large folio 
 rolumes, superbly bound in morocco and velvet, were thrown 
 into the flames, amidst a mob that rejoiced at this triumph over 
 hereditary rank and title.
 
 97 
 
 sess a share in the legislation of the country.* And 
 in this work it has been proved, that in time past 
 the country has owed much to that order, -which has 
 
 PRODUCED MORE THAN ITS NATURAL PROPORTION 
 OF MEN REMARKABLE FOR THEIR TALENTS AND 
 VIRTUE. 
 
 Having thus given the intention, as well as the re- 
 sult of my work, as it relates to British Peers, a few 
 observations only remain, relative to the Scottish no- 
 bility, those of Ireland, and the baronets; as itwould 
 be swelling this address too much, to give all that will 
 be contained in the Prefatory matter belonging to 
 them. 
 
 As the advantage of the British House of Peers 
 essentially consists in the members being indepen- 
 dent, and not elected ; but sitting each in his own 
 right : it follows, as a corrolary to that proposition, 
 that the purity of the House of Peers is injured, by 
 the admission of members who are elective. 
 
 By the Union with Scotland, sixteen Peers 
 
 * Even Oliver Cromwell, towards the end of his career, after 
 he had tried a number of schemes, had recourse to a House of 
 Peers ; and, where nobility has been demolished on the continent, 
 it is rising up in a new way, notwithstanding the disposition of 
 the revolutionists to resist the restoration of any distinguished 
 rank of persons. The question of hereditary nobility is very simi- 
 lar to that of hereditary monarchy, in preference to elective mo- 
 narchy. Mr. Hume, notwithstanding his bias to a republican 
 system, prefers elective monarchy ; and in this case his opinion 
 may be trusted, as it is at variance with his inclination.
 
 96 
 
 were introduced into the British House, who sit there 
 by election, and by the worst species of election. — 
 Electors, consisting of men who are themselves 
 eligible, some of whom are always candidates, and 
 most of whom aspire to that honour of bein<* 
 chosen. 
 
 The worst feature of the union, (in most respects 
 a good measure, and upon the whole a very advan- 
 tageous one), is, the situation in which it places the 
 peerage of Scotland. — This work will prove, that it 
 would be of great advantage to raise all the peers of 
 Scotland to the British peerage, except sixteen, who 
 would then sit in the house without election. — -This 
 would render the nobility of Scotland independent 
 of court influence, as they ought to be, and as they 
 were before the union, and would do away the dis- 
 advantages felt by those peers who are not elected to 
 be of the sixteen, and who neither have the rights of 
 commoners nor of peers. They are eligible, yet have 
 only the power of voting atelections ! A power rather 
 vexatious than attended with advantage: at the same 
 time injurious to the British House of Peers.* 
 
 . * It is not a little singular, that this disadvantage, the 
 only real one of importance, arising from the union, should 
 have been overlooked by Lord Belhaven, Mr. Fletcher, and 
 the other able and true patriots, -who, in their anxiety for the 
 honour and independence of their country, foresaw many evils 
 that never took place, and nover were likely, while the real 
 evil never seems to have occurred to them.
 
 99 
 
 The Scottish nobility will appear to great advan- 
 tage as able men and friends of their country, though 
 the constant discord that took place there, before the 
 union of the crowns, placed them frequently in difficult 
 situations, but so unlike any thing that occurs at the 
 present times, that the real merit or blame of the ac- 
 tion requires the reader to imagine to himself the 
 state of things at the time.— The preface to the vo- 
 lume will enable the reader to appreciate the actions 
 of the nobility at the different periods, and if proper- 
 ly attended to, the Scottish nobles will, with all possi- 
 ble speed, be raised to seats in the House of 
 Lords, as being necessary for the purity of that 
 house and their own independence. 
 
 We have seen in our own days the union with 
 Ireland, and that the same error has been fallen into 
 with respect to a number of elective peers, with this 
 disadvantage, that the number is greater, and the evil 
 more permanent. The Irish peerage is to be kept 
 up to its full number, whereas, that of Scotland, 
 by the failure of heirs, and the occasional absorption 
 of the Scottish title in an English one, will, in time, 
 come to an end; but the Irish union provides parti- 
 cularly for the continuance of the evil. 
 
 It is an evil more extensive, more permanent, 
 and more difficult to be overcome, than that respect- 
 ing Scotland.* A remedy of a different nature must 
 
 * It does uot, however, follow that government, or those who 
 framed the union, thought this an evil; on the contrary, a* 
 
 N2
 
 100 
 
 therefore be applied, for the Irish peers are too nu- 
 merous to be raised to the British peerage ; another 
 mode, however, will be pointed out, of remedying in 
 a great measure the evil, for such we consider the 
 elective members in the House of Peers, and the si- 
 tuation in which the peers of Ireland are placed by 
 the Union. 
 
 ■ 
 
 On the subject of Baronets, some matter, hitherto 
 entirely new, will be brought forward, and the utility 
 of that order explained, particularly since the 
 union with Ireland has prevented the creation of 
 Irish peers, and as the creation of British peers 
 affects the legislature in a way that renders it neces- 
 sary to circumscribe the number with a peculiar de- 
 gree of attention. 
 
 On the whole, the English, Scottish, and Irish 
 peers, will all find the Work on Family Antiqui- 
 ty such as it has been announced and intended, and 
 
 they could not be ignorant of the effect, with regard to Scat- 
 laud, they probably intended it as a means of making govern- 
 ment more practicable ; or, in othcV wokIs, the House of Peers 
 more manageable and less independent.
 
 101 
 
 therefore deserving of their support, as being the 
 
 BEST, AND PERHAPS THE ONLY WAY, TO REMOVE 
 PREJUDICES AGAINST HEREDITARY RANK, AND 
 TO PROCURE, FOR THOSE BY WHOM IT IS ENJOYED, 
 THE SUPPORT OF PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 N. B. The Subscribers to the Work will find it 
 well to have the Charts either mounted on rollers, 
 or framed and varnished ; which can be done at a 
 very trifling expence, and preserves them unsoiled 
 and untorn. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 W. LEWIS, Printer, Paternoster-row, London.
 
 I 

 
 SECOND ADDRESS 
 
 TO 
 
 THE BRITISH NOBILITY; 
 
 ACCOMPANIED WITH 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS AND PROOFS 
 
 OF THE ADVANTAGE OF 
 
 $ereDttarp IRanft anD Xttle 
 
 IN A FREE COUNTRY. 
 
 By W. PLAYFAIR, Esq. 
 
 1 NVKNTOR OF LINEAR ARITHMETIC, AUTHOR OF A N INQUIRY INTO THE 
 
 CAUSE! OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NATIONS; EDITOR OF 
 
 THE LAST EDITION OF DR. SMITH'S INQUIRY, WITH 
 
 NOTES AND A SUPPLEMENT, &C. &C. 
 
 A House of Peers sitting, each voting in his own right, and independent of the King 
 and the People, is the best mode of preserving the rights of both, and secariny 
 liberty. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed by P. Stuart, 47, Holyaell-Street, Strand; 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS OF FAMILY 
 
 ANTIQUITY, AT 13, THAVIES INN, HOLBORN. 
 
 1810.
 
 
 
 GENERAL CONCLUSION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 BRITISH PEERAGE. 
 
 'PHOUGH the peers of England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland, have served their country in differ- 
 ent ways — though they have been under circum- 
 stances not by any means alike — yet we find, in 
 their general conduct, many leading traits of si- 
 milarity. They, in all their struggles for liberty, 
 made a common cause with the people, and were 
 gradually abandoning the privileges they en- 
 joyed under the feudal system, whilst in other 
 countries the nobility were incessant and strenu- 
 ous to preserve their feudal power, no fragment of 
 which they parted with, except when wrested 
 from them forcibly by the sovereign of the coun- 
 try, or become incompatible with the manners of 
 an enlightened age*. 
 
 * 
 
 The degree of light or ignorance in which the inhabitants 
 of a country exist, will always affect the liberties of the people 
 in an indirect manner, as in every state of society men a»-e go- 
 verned by custom us well as by written law; and as th« customs 
 
 B
 
 The peers of the united kingdom have all of 
 them the same species of merit, and a very great 
 merit it is, namely, that of assisting the people, 
 and taking part with them in every struggle for 
 liberty ; but with this merit there has been an 
 error, which 7 of late years, increases, and ought 
 to be guarded against.,* 
 
 the dignity and rank 
 
 Enough of attention to the dignity 
 of their order has not been paid by the peers of 
 either kingdom, who have suffered their rank 
 and title to be sported with by wits and buf- 
 foons, without showing that anxiety to redeem 
 their character that would be not only wise but 
 
 that prevail depend very much on the state of knowledge and 
 civilization. The Emperor of Russia has perhaps as much power 
 as the Grand Turk, and certainly more ihan the Dey of Algiers : 
 but he would be considered as a monster, if he were to use it in 
 the same way. Were he with a scymeter to behead one of his 
 ministers, his power could not be questioned, but his character 
 would be lost. His feelings as a man, therefore, would not admit 
 ©f it. Alexander the Great, in a fit of intoxication, disgraced 
 himself by an act which Darius, the Emperor of Persia, whom 
 he dethroned, might have committed without any disgrace. 
 Many of the feudal privileges that were exercised in the fifteenth 
 century, if they existed still in their utmost force, would be dis- 
 countenanced by the manners of the age, and therefore would be 
 as completely done away as if forbidden by the most positive 
 statutes. This operation of time and civilization had gradually 
 and silently, in every country in Europe, diminished some of the 
 privileges of the feudal lords, but not all of them, for others re- 
 mained in full force, and never were taken away but by violence, 
 and after strong resistance.
 
 becoming in mem who, individually, are as easily 
 hurt as any person in any other rank in society. 
 The ostensible marks of distinction, amongst 
 the various ranks of mankind, have been for 
 several centuries gradually obliterating. The 
 real distinctions can but imperfectly be main- 
 tained without some auxiliaries. The man of 
 worth and merit in apparent poverty meets with 
 less respect than the affluent fool, even from 
 persons who are not any way concerned in the 
 poverty or affluence of either, and who are per- 
 fectly satisfied as to their respective claims to 
 respect. Tliis shews that the ostensible is of 
 greater importance, in some cases, than the real, 
 and therefore it is fair to conclude *, that it is 
 of considerable importance in all. Now as it 
 is absolutely impossible to renovate the antient 
 ostensible personal distinctions, or to confine to 
 men of rank alone that degree of affluence which 
 arts and industry have disseminated widely in 
 in this happy country, (under a free government, 
 where exertion is uncontrouled, and property, 
 the fruit of exertion, protected,) it becomes very 
 
 * When the French Revolution began, jockey-frocks and round 
 hats, with smaK whips or canes, took place of the embroidered 
 dress coats, chapeau-bras and dress swords, and it is wonderful 
 what an *ffect these had in leading to the system of equality. 
 To this day many of the antient nobility who suffered most by 
 the revolution, attribute it almost entirely to the change of dress. 
 About the same period the unfortunate queen abolished the 
 formal etiquette at court, and facilitated thereby the grand cbaDge. 
 
 B2
 
 important to examine in what way the peers of 
 the re dm may obtain that support, from public 
 opinion, that is neeessary for the preservation of 
 their order. 
 
 In former times, not only was great power pos- 
 sessed by the proprietors of the soil, but their 
 hospitable manner of living, their personal de- 
 pendants, and their superior education and ac- 
 complishments, secured them that respect which 
 was necessary; but rinding all those distinctions 
 nearly efaced, there remains but one mode of 
 reconciling society to the distinction of ranks — 
 that is, by showing the utility of the peers as a 
 body of men having a right to participate in the 
 legislation of a free country *. 
 
 It is to this point that I have attached myself 
 through the whole of this Work; and I have not, 
 to my knowledge, let a single opportunity escape 
 
 * It is not meant by using the word reconcile, that there is an 
 actual hostility to the order, but men never are willing to acknow- 
 ledge inferiority, except upon some ground that is admitted, and 
 therefore the mind requires to be reconciled to that distinction ; 
 there are two causes for preference — the one is the right, the 
 other the utility, which creates a right. Utility, generally ex- 
 tended, is the foundation of all public right. What is the origin 
 of the local or temporary authority of magistrates, judges or 
 juries, but utility, not natural right? yet no rights are considered 
 as more sacred than those originating in utility. All public au- 
 thority is grounded on utility, not on original right, like that 
 which a man has to eat the fruits of his own labour ; yet re- 
 sistance to power, founded on utility, is considered and punished 
 as the most heinous of crimes. 
 
 -
 
 5 
 
 of showing, in every way that I could compre- 
 hend or believe to be true, the advantage arising 
 from hereditary peerage as established in this 
 country : 1 never let an occasion pass of enumerat- 
 ing the good actions of those individuals of which 
 it is composed, and, without concealing the faults, 
 I have given such a view of the whole as must 
 convince the world that the nobility are indi- 
 vidually most respectable, and as a body highly 
 useful. 
 
 It is now fifteen years since I proposed this 
 Work ; and through many difficulties and in- 
 terruptions, though it was delayed, it never was 
 either laid down or laid aside ; and it is with 
 great satisfaction that in accomplishing it I have 
 proved what, in the origin of the undertaking, I 
 meant to establish, namely, that great advantages 
 arise in a free country from an order of men in- 
 heriting rank and title, and having in their own 
 right a vote in the legislature. This being esta- 
 blished from facts, and not from arguments, must 
 silence those persons who would persuade the 
 public that such an institution is either useless 
 or inconvenient, which is a very important point 
 to the whole of society, but particularly to all 
 men of rank or property. 
 
 When I first projected the Work, I was re- 
 cently arrived from a country where property 
 had been seized, rank proscribed, and equality 
 proclaimed ; but though the frenzy and delusion
 
 I 
 
 that occasioned those proceedings are in some 
 degree over, yet another species of error has 
 risen in their place. To the abolition of all dis- 
 tinction of rank has succeeded personal pre-emi- 
 nence, granted only to the adventurous and 
 daring, who prove by their actions, that they 
 are rather the scourge than the protectors of so- 
 ciety. Though the idea of having only a personal 
 nobility is not so wild as that of a total abolition 
 of all distinction of rank, it is from that and 
 some other causes much more dangerous. The 
 system of equality, from its nature, could be but 
 of short duration ; for as men are not equal in 
 talents, or the disposition to employ their talents, 
 equality must, from the nature of things, soon 
 be done away, and those who had risen by their 
 abilities and energy would take care that it 
 should not be restored ; but it is not so with 
 hereditary distinction, which will always find 
 enemies in the existing race of men ; the new 
 plan is therefore calculated to be of much longer 
 duration. Reason indeed tells us, that such a 
 plan of distinction will find advocates in and 
 supporters amongst the most able and energetic 
 of every age, but it is not to reason alone that 
 we have in this case to appeal. The history of 
 the antient world, so far as it is known or intel- 
 ligible to us, proves that there were distinctions 
 of rank in every country, and even titles of dig- 
 nity ; but we do not find that they were here-
 
 ditary; on the contrary, it was not till after 
 the reign of Charlemagne, that Hugh Capet, the 
 first king of a new dynasty, made all the ma- 
 gistracies and honours of the kingdom, such as 
 dukedoms, earldoms, &c. hereditary, which, till 
 then, and in all antient times, had been con- 
 ferred on select and deserving persons, in general 
 conventions of the people, and were held 
 only during good behaviour. This took place 
 in the end of the tenth century ; so that, pre- 
 viously to that period, it must be admitted, 
 that there was no such thing as hereditary title, 
 except for sovereigns. It may then be assumed, 
 that as it is but about eight hundred years since 
 hereditary titles existed (since 987), and as so- 
 ciety had long been organised previous to that 
 period, but that equality never had existed, the 
 scheme of personal nobility, where the title does 
 not descend to the heir, is one of a very perma- 
 nent nature, since, under various modifications, 
 it had existed from the earliest ages till the tenth 
 century. If then the wild plan of equality is 
 done away, another, though less extravagant, but 
 of a much more permanent nature, has succeeded, 
 which is equally incompatible with hereditary 
 nobility : it is so much the more dangerous of 
 the two to that order, being of a nature that is 
 not only practicable but of a nature permanent^ 
 and one that will at all times be very agreeable 
 to men of enterprise and energy.
 
 8 
 
 It so happens that at this very moment the 
 nobility that are rising up on the continent are 
 rising up under that new torm; so lhat though 
 the danger to hereditary nobility arises from 
 another cause, that danger is even greater than 
 it was at the beginning of the French Kevoiution. 
 
 It is true, that hitherto the principles upon 
 which the French acted eighteen years ago, or on 
 which they now act, have not taken such root in 
 England as to produce any very material change- 
 But how short a space is eighteen years? Besides, 
 though we see no great actual change, do we 
 not see some approximation towards a change 
 in many institutions within these last eighteen 
 years ? Are we even to expect, that a change, 
 originating in opinion, on a subject like that, is 
 to proceed with rapidity at first? No; it must 
 necessarily proceed slowly, till the majority are 
 of one opinion, and even then it must wait for 
 time and opportunity. 
 
 Even amongst the French, who are the most 
 impatient people on earth, the distinction of 
 ranks was not abolished till half a century had 
 elapsed, during which titles were assailed by all 
 men of wit and genius, or who pretended to 
 either, from Voliaiie down to the lowest writer 
 of farce for the lowest theatre *. The Corps des 
 
 * All Voltaire's works are interspersed with hits at the unhi- 
 lity aud the clergy, as d some of them written expressly on pui-
 
 9 
 
 Gens Desprit, or those who affect to belong to it> 
 is a very formidable body, as its dictates are 
 listened to and obeyed by the ignorant and the 
 vain, who form the great majority of the people 
 in some nations, and a considerable portion of 
 them in all. Weak men, to avoid being thought 
 ignorant, or of labouring under the impression of 
 prejudice, follow men who are reckoned to possess 
 wit or genius, just as country clowns follow a 
 charlatan at a fair, whose tricks they admire, 
 without the least conceptiqn how they are per- 
 formed. 
 
 Rank and religion had been attacked, some- 
 times more openly, but always unceasingly, for 
 half a century before the result appeared, by the 
 prosecution and proscription of both orders *. 
 
 pose to turn both orders into ridicule. Barons and Marquises 
 are singled out, the former for ostentation, prejudice and pride, 
 the latter for frivolity and vice, so much so, that in reading the 
 Dramatis Persons one may guess at the characters, by titles of 
 honour as well as by the quaint names of Shallow, Slender, or 
 Jack RatUe. 
 
 * Ev?n before ^he taking of the Bastile, in 178£, any person 
 who was decorated with a star or ribbon found it hazardous to 
 go into any of the quarters of Paris inhabited by workmen; and 
 though nothing could equal the readiness, or rather eagerness, 
 with which the nobles abandoned all their privileges and feudal 
 tights (on the 4pih of August that same year, in an evening sitting), 
 yet that had no effect in softening their fate, or mitigating their 
 sentence. Public opinion had lnng been turned against them, 
 and, with a levity and shortsightedness, a sort of carelessness 
 
 c
 
 10 
 
 Their ruin was signed and sealed before they 
 had the smallest conception of its being intended ; 
 but it was carried into effect with a relentless 
 
 scarcely to be conceived, and impossible to be accounted for, 
 they took no measure whilst they had the means for preserving 
 themselves. Feudal rights, and many of their privileges, were 
 really very fit objects of reform ; but the spirit of reformation 
 resembles fire, when once lighted it is with difficulty extinguished, 
 and naturally spreads as long as it has materials to consume. The 
 nobility, by their own consent, gave up every obnoxious privilege, 
 and only preserved titles, coats of arms, and family records, which 
 could, one would imagiue, cause no offence ; but the destroying 
 spirit was unchained : in 1790, the year following ; at an evening 
 assembly, on a Saturday, when few usually attended, and the 
 business was not given notice of, the levelling party came in full 
 force,and proposed the abolition of all titles of nobility, ordering 
 all armorial bearings lo be destroyed ; and having no opponents, 
 this great measure passed in an assembly half intoxicated, and in 
 a manner quite informal and illegal ; so that in two hours the 
 hereditary nobility of France were destroyed, exactly eight hundred 
 and three years after its first foundation by the first of the Cape- 
 tian kings, and two years before the last of that race (unless re- 
 stored) mounted the scaffold. In France, as Mr. Burke said truly, 
 every thing was done by design, nothing was left to chance, and 
 the king was called Louis Capet (which, in French, has a par- 
 ticular contemptuous sound), by way of derision, connecting at 
 the same time the first and last of the reigning family. There 
 still remained one appendage of nobility, the patents and records 
 of families. In two years more, that is, in June 1792, those were 
 publicly burnt, by order of the Legislative Assembly ; and in two 
 or three months after, the nobility were hunted like wild beast ; 
 
 and ever since they have been a proscribed and persecuted set of 
 
 ,..„— oinir.'O 3 
 
 men. 
 
 The progress of destroying all existing establishments it it
 
 11 
 
 rigour, almost without a precedent, and which 
 nothing but the most deeply-rooted hatred could 
 have permitted. 
 
 curious to contemplate. The first step always is to withdraw 
 from the party to be attacked the support of opinion. The next 
 is to withdraw any actual physical meant, of resistance, then pro- 
 ceed from one step to another till nothing remains to be done. 
 Jt is a regular progress, and, as it has happened in France in our 
 days, it deserves to be left on record. 
 
 We have seen how the nobility were pulled down by degrees ; 
 let us see by what steps the clergy felk As in the other case, the 
 first thing was to withdraw the support of public opinion, to make 
 religion be considered as a farce, its ministers impostors and an 
 inconvenient burden on the people. The next step was to de- 
 prive the clergy of their wealth; with which they parted with 
 astonishing facility, a facility that ought to have pleaded in their 
 favour ; but their enemies were relentless, and knew not what 
 moderation and mercy were. The next step was to make them 
 odious to the people, by representing them as refractory, and 
 as enemies to the national regeneration that was going on. As 
 the clergy had given up their temporal possessions without any 
 struggle, it was necessary to impose on them some obligations 
 that interfered with the dogmas of their faith, and obedience to 
 the head of the church. This succeeded. The clergy, who had 
 sacrificed temporalties cheerfully, would not sacrifice their con- 
 sciences ; and a conduct that sprung from an admirable mode of 
 thinking and deserved respect, procured them the title of refrac- 
 tory, and enemies of the constitution. Thus they were made 
 odious, displaced, and persecuted, till tha cup of bitterness was 
 filled to the brim, when thej, as well as the nobles, were hunted 
 Uke wild beasts, and death and imprisonment, or refuge in a 
 strange country, were the lot of all that did not conform to the 
 new regulation. 
 
 Let us see how the royal power was pulled down. First, opinion 
 c2
 
 12 
 
 The inanner of thinking of a people can only 
 be altered by degrees ; but when once altered it 
 never fails to produce a result, whether good, or 
 bad, of short, or of long duration. It was thus 
 by nobility being constantly held up to ridicule 
 
 was turned against the king by the same means employed against 
 the nobles and the clergy ; and then bis person was humiliated 
 and insulted. In the Parliament of Paris, when the king went in 
 person to enforce a decree, he was kept from nine in the morning 
 till late in the evening, listening to insolent speeches from the 
 members, who repented so dearly afterwards. He was then com- 
 pelled to call the States General, who began by seeking to quarrel 
 with him about trifles ; but his rank and natural benignity kept 
 them back for a considerable time ; however, every mark of 
 respect gradually disappeared, and insult and insolence suc- 
 ceeded. The king submitted, and by bis patience and forbearance 
 frustrated many of their plans for exciting a quarrel ; but at last 
 hit upon the same expedient as with the clergy, and with equal 
 success. The king had the right of the veto, or refusing his sanc- 
 tion to the decrees; and he used it provisionally in the case 
 of the decree against the clergy. This was just what was wanted, 
 and the poor ignorant and deluded people were made to consider 
 the king and the priests as equally their enemies. The insults 
 and cruelties that followed are well known, and will, till the 
 latest period, be held in abhorrence. 
 
 it is plain from this statement, which is perfectly correct, (the 
 Author of this Work wrote the history of the/jrst five years of 
 the French Revolution, most of which he was an eye-witness of ), 
 that existing establishments are first attacked by withdrawing the 
 support of public opinion, then by turning opinion against them, 
 and, lastly, by open force. First an establishment is represented 
 as useless, next as burthensome, and then it is abolished without 
 farther hesitation.
 
 13 
 
 respect was withdrawn ; and the Revolution in 
 America gave the speculators, on a new order of 
 things, confidence and strength. " There (said 
 they) is an example of a people who are free, rich, 
 and happy, without either a king, nobles, or 
 established religion : let us imitate that people; 
 but let us begin with the nobility, whose distinc- 
 tions are the most offensive, and of the least 
 utility ; who have besides the least means of re- 
 sistance !" 
 
 The nobility were quickly followed by the 
 priests, and infidelity and equality marched hand 
 in hand. There was still, however, one man in 
 the nation above the others — the king ! He, 
 
 though one of the most virtuous and inoffensive 
 
 ■ 
 men in the kingdom, and even benevolent be- 
 yond the most part, was first humiliated, then 
 insulted, and last of all executed ! 
 
 Monarchy, religion, and distinction of ranks, 
 have all been attacked in a manner similar, that 
 the mind of any observing and thinking man 
 must be convinced that there is a species of re- 
 volutionary tactics as regulary understood and 
 practised, as any military tactics whatever.-— 
 (See the note. J 
 
 The first approach in the attack of any existing 
 institution is by gaining over, or, (which is the 
 same thing,) alienating opinion ; and therefore 
 the mode of defence is by endeavouring to pre-
 
 14 
 
 serve opinion in favour of whatever institution 
 is intended to be preserved. >ii 
 
 There is no human institution can exist for 
 any great length of time without it is either sup- 
 ported by opinion, or found to be necessary ; and 
 even violence of opinion may sometimes overturn 
 institutions that are very essential to the happi- 
 ness of mankind . When the French, for example, 
 overturned the throne and the altar, they over- 
 turned two institutions which, under one form or 
 other, have been found necessary in every coun- 
 try, and consequently they could never long be 
 suspended ; yet they were overturned by the 
 strong effort occasioned by opinion having been 
 withdrawn from their support, and turned to act 
 in a contrary direction. 
 
 It may be said, as it often has already been 
 said, that those who co-operated in effecting the 
 Revolution in France were designing men, acting 
 not in consequence of opinion, but from selfish 
 motives, and with particular designs. That 
 there were numbers amongst them who acted 
 from such motives, does not admit of a dispute ; 
 but they cculd have effected nothing, had they 
 not gained over public opinion to their side, by 
 which the great majority were led to coroperate. 
 If it be granted that the individual leaders were 
 men acting from selfish motives, that is still a 
 stronger proof of the wonderful power of opinion,
 
 15 
 
 as it proves, that by gaining it over to their side 
 they made the other become entirely subservient 
 to their interested views. Can any thing be a 
 greater proof of the irresistible force of opinion 
 than that, when men are once under its influence, 
 they act without any other consideration than 
 such as springs from that opinion, even when 
 ill founded, and productive of the most terrible 
 consequences * to themselves ; for there were 
 
 * Had not military despotism risen up to controul opinion, it 
 is impossible to conceive how the French nation would have been 
 reduced to order. So Jong as money to effect the purposes in- 
 tended could be procured hy the assignats, or by any other means 
 than by forced taxes, democracy had its sway ; but when there were 
 no longer any funds, but such us were levied on the people, and 
 those funds obtained by coercion, the consequence naturally was, 
 that the people were reduced to obedience, and when once that 
 victory was obtained, the reign of democracy was over. Force 
 usurped its place, but still this is not a permanent state of things; 
 for oris of the most certain of all future events is, that the present 
 French government, established entirely by force, and in contra- 
 diction to opinion, will soon be destroyed, unless it is so modi- 
 fied as to bring over opinion to its support. So well aware of 
 this is the Ruler of France, that, despotic as he is, opinion, that 
 is, the general opinion of the people, is the only thing next to 
 military force to which he pays the least regard, and which, as far 
 as is practicable, he trusts to gain over to his side. The remem- 
 brance of the terrible effects of democratical anarchy, ihe hope of 
 amelioration in time of peace, and the brilliancy of the conquests 
 of their severe ruler, together with actual force, at present supply 
 the place of opinion, as they did in Prussia under the rigid govern- 
 ment of Frederick; but how easily was that government ever-
 
 16 
 
 thousands of instances of men sacrificing every 
 thing to support a system they ought to have 
 hated, hut which they had been persuaded to 
 approve of. 
 
 If opinion of its goodness is necessary for the 
 support even of a government armed with power, 
 how much more must it he necessary to the 
 support of an order of men, or any establishment 
 that is not supported by power ? and such is that 
 of hereditary nobility. 
 
 But though all the reasonings, with respect to 
 the force of opinion in a general way, prove 
 that it is indispensible for the support of every 
 establishment, yet there are some particular 
 reasons that make it peculiarly necessary for 
 the British peerage, who are not like the Peers 
 of other countries in Europe, that is before the 
 last Revolution, merely insulated noblemen with 
 rights and privileges which they exercised sepa- 
 rately and without connection. 
 
 The British Peers have scarcely any right as 
 individuals, but as a body they form an inde- 
 pendent part of the legislature, and no law can 
 be made without their consent ; now this is one 
 of the parts of the British constitution, which 
 those who aim at what they term radical re- 
 
 turned, and how easily will the new one of France be destroyed, 
 when the. remembrance of the past horrors becomes less impressive, 
 when hope fails and conquests cease? Then will opinion, in its 
 turn, gain a victory over force.
 
 17 
 
 form in Parliament, have most at heart. This, 
 though the greatest object, is not the first ; and 
 they feel not only that it is not the first, but that 
 their views, in that respect, must be carefully 
 concealed. The radical reformers only show half 
 what they intend, and not half what they would 
 actually do, when armed with power. This was 
 (for ambition and avarice have no bounds, but 
 the desire increases with the success) the very 
 way of the French philosophers, who openly at- 
 tacked the altar, but carefully concealed their 
 views against the throne. 
 
 Our reformers always speak of a reform in Par- 
 liament as being confined to the Commons House; 
 but here we must consider, whether their'general 
 practices arid avowed modes of thinking agree 
 with their ostensible intentions. 
 
 The magical effect which they seem to expect 
 from a reformed House is impossible to be realised, 
 whilst a House of Peers, acting on the present sys- 
 tem, maintains its right not only to a consent, but, 
 {except in a few cases of money bills) to an equal 
 right of originating and altering every legislative 
 measure. The opinion which those reformers en- 
 tertain of what they term the corrupt ihfluence of 
 the Peers in the elections for members of the 
 House of Commons, is a very clear indication of 
 what they would be at, and what they will try to 
 obtain ; for they never mention the influence of 
 the Peers but with acrimony, and as being of the 
 
 D
 
 18 
 
 most baneful and dangerous nature. Again, let us 
 consider the principle on which they proceed — 
 Equal representation. Of this it is useless to say 
 more than has been already said to show both its 
 danger and absurdity ; but here we must look at it 
 in another view. We must consider, not what this 
 equal representation would produce, but what it 
 is meant to be, and particularly the principle on 
 which it is founded. 
 
 The right of equal representation, which is the 
 basis of all, does away all hereditary right, be- 
 cause by it election is essential to power in every 
 form. In America, we have an example of what 
 they want. There the senate is intended to have 
 the controul that our British Peershavein England; 
 but then they are elected as well as the members 
 of the other House ; and if Oliver Cromwell had 
 hit upon the expedient of a senate, when he abo- 
 lished the House of Peers, he would have had ra^ 
 ther better success, because a senate is better than 
 no controul at all, though the controul is very far 
 inferior to that of a House of Peers ; for the mem- 
 bers of the senate are not independent and sitting 
 there in their own right. This matter has been 
 argued at length ; and we have shown that the 
 advantage of our House of Peers consists in that 
 very independence which is so obnoxious to men 
 acting upon a principle of equal representation *. 
 
 * Thoie reformers resemble the physician in one of Moliere's 
 plays, whenthere was a consultation of several doctors respect-
 
 It is obvious that the radical Reform of Par- 
 liament applies equally to both Houses, even by 
 the fair construction of the words, as the Parlia- 
 ment consists of the two Houses; and if we couple 
 that with the principle of election, which rises 
 necessarily out of equal representation, the ge- 
 neral basis of the whole, it is not possible to re- 
 main a moment in doubt about the radical Re- 
 form being meant to extend to the House of 
 Peers as well as to the House of Commons. 
 
 This is the more dangerous, that even the ex- 
 periment of equal representation in France* 
 which turned out so miserably, might, it may be 
 said, have turned out differently if there had 
 been a senate as in America (that is to say, two 
 houses of representatives instead of one)> to have 
 prevented too much precipitation ; and it must 
 be admitted, that at the first view there is an 
 appearance of justice in the observation. We 
 must at all events admit the fact, that the expe- 
 
 ing the method of curing a patient. " I grant," said one doctor, 
 " that your prescription will cure the man, but it is contrary to 
 rule ; mine will very probably kill him, but it is agreeable to 
 rule ; now, brother, consider — A dead man is but a dead man ; 
 but a rule broken is an injury to the faculty !'' 
 
 The reformers reject happiness obtained by any other means 
 than equal representation, thai is their rule, and, like Moliere's 
 physician, they will not allow it to be broken. Mr. Pope would 
 say this is mistaking the scaffold for the pile ; but Pope was not 
 a modern philosopher. :?i?l srit 
 
 D2
 
 20 
 
 riment was only made in France with one assem- 
 bly, without a controul, and that, therefore, it is 
 no example of what might have been the case 
 had there been two assemblies, that is, a Senate 
 and a Lower House .*. 
 
 *i Those who must yield to the arguments used in this work, 
 drawn from the example of the French Assembly, may say, " It 
 is true, you prove that universal representation, with only one. 
 assembly, ruined France — that the invention is horrible; but 
 give us an elective senate to controul our other assembly, and 
 then see what we shall do. There is no example of this sort 
 before us; for the present Senate of France, as well as the other 
 Assembly, are mere machines in the hands of Bonaparte, only 
 meant as a propitiatory sacrifice made to the opinion in favour 
 of representation, under the influence of which the Revolution 
 took place, and which it would be very dangerous openly to 
 despise." To this observation the answer is, that the example 
 drawn from the French Assembly is certainly in some degree 
 weakened by the circumstance of there having been but one 
 Assembly. It is perfectly true, that this applies completely to 
 the Constituent Assembly, that is, the Assembly which .met first 
 and framed the constitution. It applies also to the Convention, 
 after that constitution was destroyed ; for neither of these 
 Assemblies acted under any controul ; but the former reasoning 
 will be found to apply perfectly to the Legislative Assembly, 
 which, though not controuled by another assembly, ought to 
 have been controuled by the constitution itself, that being the 
 the most sacred of all controuls; but to this it never paid any 
 attention, but when it suited itself. It evaded, resisted, and, 
 when necessary, overturned the constitution*, just as a company 
 in England would dispense with some bye-law or temporary regu- 
 lation. The veto of the king constitutionally granted was sua*
 
 21 
 
 To so undeniable a fact, it is necessary to give 
 a fair and plain answer ; and it must be admit- 
 ted, that, were not an assembly chosen by univer- 
 sal suffrage, so horrible a combination of persons 
 in itself as to admit of no species of controul 
 (save that of cannon and bayonets), a senate 
 would be an advantageous modification ; but 
 such an assembly admits of no controul. This 
 question it is not necessary to argue here at 
 length, the question being, Whether radical re- 
 form does not necessarily comprehend a change 
 in the House of Peers as well as in the House of 
 Commons ? Whether, amongst the leaders, that 
 is not meant, and, even if it is not meant, whether 
 it will not naturally and necessarily be the con- 
 sequence of electing the members of the House 
 of Commons on the new plan proposed ? 
 
 If those who speak of a radical reform in Par- 
 liament understand language, they must know 
 that Parliament comprehends both Houses ; and 
 
 pended by a species of force, till it was thought more convenient 
 to dethrone the king himself. This is the way that such an 
 assembly acts ; and had there been a senate, it would have thrown 
 that aside, or suspended it, or done whatever else was thought 
 proper or found necessary. The reasoning used and applied to 
 the Legislative Assembly would have still applied as well if there 
 had be*n a senate to controul ; for no controul, however sacred, 
 was of the least avail against the unruly thirst for destruction of 
 men elected by the dregs of the people, as they must be under a 
 system of equal representation. 
 ■
 
 that if they do not mean both, they should say a 
 radical reform in the Commons House of Parlia- 
 ment only. That would be accurate ; but there 
 is every reason for thinking that it would be such 
 a sort of accuracy as they do not wish for ; it 
 would at a future day, perhaps, circumscribe 
 their operations in a manner they would be very 
 sorry to see done, if, indeed, once let loose, they 
 would stop at any thing. Parliament is a name 
 including the two Houses, yet still there might 
 be a reform in Parliament, not intended to ex- 
 tend to both : however, to satisfy us in that 
 point, the adjective word radical is added, leav- 
 ing no doubt with the inquiring man ; and yet it 
 has not given the alarm to those who only look 
 at the surface of things *, who are either too 
 
 * Had the French orders, that is, the nobility aud clergy, con- 
 ceived at first that more was meant than was expressed, they 
 would not have sunk without resistance under their enemies as 
 they did; but they not only were not the first, but they were the 
 last in seeing their danger. !«„ 
 
 We have seen the French clergy of all ranks in this country, 
 since they were exiled from their own, and we have granted pity 
 to misfortune; but it would be well to know, that the conduct of 
 the clergy was in a great measure the cause of the terrible revo- 
 lution that took place. 
 
 Intolerant to protestants, recusiants, and every one who did 
 not conform to the Church of Rome, without question or inquiry *, 
 
 * So late as 17&>, the Protestants at Nismes and other places were obliged to assemble 
 secretly amongst the mountains or woods, to perform divine worship ; and Rabaut de 
 St. Etienne, one of their ministers, was afterwards one of the great leaden of the Revolu- 
 tion, and a member of the first assemblv.
 
 23 
 
 indifferent or too unsuspecting to examine into 
 the real intention. 
 
 they were completely negligent as to the real interests of the 
 church; they would not admit of any sort of worship but their 
 own, though they listened with complacency to the doctrine of 
 those philosophic cheats whose aim and intentions were to over- 
 turn all religion. 
 
 A plan had been maturing over the whole of Europe for half 
 a century, the evident end of which was to abolish religion, 
 though the destruction of the established orders of government 
 was also in view. Kings and nobles did not see that their over- 
 throw was meditated ; but the destruction of religion was so 
 evident, that nothing but negligence in the extreme could have 
 made the clergy blind to that. The fact was, that the intimate 
 connection between the throne and the altar, formerly so well 
 known (and of late years again become so evident,) was for some 
 time forgotten ; many princes, several kings, and one emperor, 
 joined in the encouragement of a sect who laboured to overthrow 
 them all. 
 
 That sect of philosophers began their labour about the middle 
 of the last century, or rather sooner, under pretext of abolishing 
 fanaticism ; and indeed the persecutions that had at different times 
 taken place, and even so late as the revocation of the edict of 
 Nahfcz, in the latter days of Lewis XIV. gave their ostensible 
 labours a justifiable motive. 
 
 Whether or net the first views of these men went only to the 
 destruction of fanaticism, it is not necessary to inquire; but in- 
 stead of doing that, by recurring to the original pure precepts of 
 the Christian Church, the philosophers, as they wire termed, 
 aimed at overthrowing all religion, and substituting reason in its 
 place ; and this baneful project the French clergy allowed to be 
 brought to maturity without any attempt to stop its progress.
 
 24 
 
 A radical Reform, in its full and most exten- 
 sive sense, signifies a compleat reform upon some 
 
 That they were ignorant of what was intended would be to 
 suppose them foals ; but that they were not so, is proved beyond 
 dispute, by the following passage from a sermon preached in the 
 cathedral church of Notre Dame at Paris, by the pious and 
 woithy Father Beauregard, about thirteen years before the begin- 
 ning of the Revolution. 
 
 " Yes, it is at the king," said the holy father, '* at the king, 
 arid at religion, that the philosopher*, aim their blows. They 
 have grasped the hatchet and the hammer. They only want a 
 favourable moment to overturn the altar and the throne ! — Yes, 
 my God ! thy temples will be plundered and destroyed ; thy festi- 
 vals abolished ; thy sacred name blasphemed ; thy worship pro- 
 scribed ! But what sounds great, great God do I hear ! What do 
 I behold ! To the sacred canticles which caused the vaults of this 
 temple to resound thy praise succeed wanton and profane songs ! 
 And thou, infamous deity of Pagnanism, impure Venus, even 
 thou dost advance hither, and, in tbe place of the living God, seat 
 thyself on the throne of the holy of holies, and there receive the 
 guilty incense of thy new adorers ! *" 
 
 Such were the prophetic words of the eloquent preacher, but 
 they produced no effect ; the same negligence to the true interests 
 of the church continued till the Revolution began, when its de- 
 struction was one of the first operations of the disciples of the 
 philosophers; and it is worthy of being recorded, that so literally 
 was the prediction of Father Beauregard fulfilled, that it was about 
 sixteen years after he pronounced those prophetic words, that the 
 
 * When this sermon was preached, that immense church w»3 crowded to the extreme. 
 The eloquence, the pious zeal, and, more than all, the known hatred of father Beauregard 
 to the philosophers, had brought numbers from every quarter, and, amongst them, many of 
 this sect of philosophers, who were sadly mortified, and not a little alarmed ; but they 
 laughed and cried out " ! the fanatic !"
 
 25 
 
 assumed principle of greater perfection ; but 
 even in its most limited acceptation it implies a 
 general reform, extending to the whole of the 
 substantive thing named, which in this instance 
 is Parliament, that is to say, both Houses of Par- 
 liament, It is therefore certain that the persons 
 with whom the guidance of this measure rests 
 must mean a reform extending to the whole. 
 Now, here, observe a colateral circumstance. It 
 is only relative to the way of getting into Par- 
 liament that they seem to have an objection, 
 which, connected with universal suffrage, is 
 Only applied by them to the House of Commons, 
 but it applies still more compleatly to the mem- 
 bers of the House of Peers, who have no consti- 
 
 ignorant and wicked atheists, who ruled in Paris, paid their im- 
 pious adorations to the goddes of nature in the person of a naked 
 common prostitute, placed upon the altar of that very church ... \. 
 The dignified clergy in France entered into all the plans and 
 intrigues of the Court of Versailles; and, except in their costume, 
 were men of fashion, to the full extent of the term, though there 
 were some worthy exceptions. They might have done more to 
 prevent the Revolution than the Sovereign could do, but they never 
 attempted it ; they rather gloried themselves in encouraging those 
 liberal opinions, as they were called, under which appearance 
 atheism, and the most detestable principles, lay concealed and 
 were promulgated. 
 
 + I have seen some persons who were present at that sermon, who said, it was impossible 
 to describe the awful appearance of the preacher, or the solemn, but ardent eloquence and 
 energy with which he pronouueed these words, which had no appearance of being pre- 
 meditated, but were evidently the inspiration of the moment. _' .. ^ .1 ' f 
 
 E
 
 tuents, but can even 'vote by proxy when absent. 
 This, according to the spirit of those radical 
 reformers, is a much greater deviation from the 
 true principle of legislation than any of those 
 close boroughs (or rotten boroughs, as they are 
 termed), against which they exclaim so loudly. 
 
 It is one of the great misfortunes of the present 
 age, that men seek redress of real evils in theore- 
 tical rather than practical reforms. Speculative 
 and plausible theories have led the present race 
 of men astray, and they have fallen into the great 
 error of mistaking secondary causes for original 
 and primary ones. 
 
 Nothing is more absurd than to attribute all 
 the imperfections of a legislative assembly to the 
 mode of election, or to consider the mode of the 
 election as the original primary cause of a good 
 or bad representation, when the primary cause of 
 the inconveniencies attendant on such assemblies 
 lies in the imperfection of human nature itself. 
 A representation of the people, let the elections 
 be conducted as they may, will never attain any- 
 thing like perfection, either in practical effect or 
 systematic arrangement ; those therefore who 
 excite discontent in a nation, because the repre- 
 sentation is not perfect, ought well to consider 
 what they are speaking about, and the conse- 
 quences such speeches are like to produce. 
 
 There is not, in the most perfect possible state
 
 of representation, an example of every one who 
 pays taxes being represented ; and if every one 
 could be represented, probably we should not 
 find it attended with any advantage farther than 
 that wild theoretical one of being universal. 
 
 Universal suffrage, that political spell which is 
 to remove every evil, was tried in France, and 
 produced the most horrible association of repre- 
 sentatives that ever was assembled. Never was 
 there known a hord of banditti (who, from their 
 situation, were at war with the rest of their race,) 
 so atrociously corrupt in principle, or so com- 
 pletely wicked in practice, as the assembly chosen 
 by universal suffrage. The cruel murders of the 
 Royal Family of France, and of the most virtuous 
 throughout the land of all the antient judges 
 and men of principle and respectability ; the 
 elevation to power of Robespierre, and of men 
 still worse, (though less known) were the result 
 of the beautiful experiment of equal representa- 
 tion* or universal suffrage. The soil of France 
 
 * The friends of universal suffrage will say that the compari- 
 son is not fair — that France is full of violent and vicious people, 
 and that the English are wise and virtuous. Without contesting 
 this point, however, as perhaps might be done with some degree 
 of success, let us compare France with herself at different periods. 
 
 The manner of electing the First or Constituent Assembly was, 
 in theory, very imperfect. The Second or Legislative Assembly 
 was chosen by an immense number of voters, and approached 
 pretty near to general suffrage, as every man who paid half a 
 
 E2
 
 28 
 
 was stained with the blood of innocent men, 
 who perished by thousands on the scaffold ; and 
 never did the most unrelenting conqueror treat a 
 resisting people so cruelly as the representatives 
 treated their constituents. 
 
 As this is the only example of the realizing 
 
 crown a year, direct taxes, had a vote : this included most of the 
 population ; but perfection was aimed at, and the Third Assem- 
 bly, called the National Convention, was chosen by the vniver- 
 sal French Nation. Every male who was of age (except debtors 
 or paupers) bad a vote. This was the acme of political perfec- 
 tion, according to the theoretical reformers ; and the history of 
 tbe first five years of the Revolution (in our own time) proves 
 that the real cause was thus — The first assembly, chosen on wrong 
 principles, was tolerably good; the second, chosen nearly by the 
 perfect plan, was much worse : and the third assembly, chosen 
 
 BY UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, WAS THE MOST EXECRABLE CON- 
 
 gregation of person6 that ever existed. The representa- 
 tives thus chosen, imprisoned, banished, and massacred their con- 
 stituents, without so much as taking the trouble to put them on 
 their trials. This is no exaggeration ; all Europe trembled with 
 horror at the cruelties that were committed with an impudent 
 disregard for the rights of the very people who had placed them 
 in authority. In one word, as the system of representation got 
 more perfect, the representatives got worse; and, when the former 
 became quite perfect, the latter became quite infernal. 
 
 The lower order would nominate in almost every instance; and, 
 without inquiring into the advantage or disadvantage, the wisdom 
 or policy of that, we must, in the first place, acknowledge, that 
 it woul J be unfair ; that it would leave those most interested in 
 the preservation of the slate in a situation the least able to pro- 
 tect it, or assist in its preservation.
 
 39 
 
 that plan of representation which theoretical re- 
 formers aim at being put in practice, it cannot 
 be useless to quote it, though only as a matter 
 of curiosity. If, however, we consider that it is 
 something more than a matter of curiosity, that 
 the horrid result was a natural consequence of 
 placing the power of chusing representatives into 
 the hands of the poorer classes, who are in all 
 countries the most numerous, and who will al- 
 ways, upon the plan of universal suffrage, have 
 the most power, then we will admit that to fol- 
 low such systematic theory is attended with in- 
 calculable danger. 
 
 We have observed, that in no nation whatever 
 was the whole population ever represented ; but 
 still that observation did not carry the truth to 
 the extent. If by being represented means hav- 
 ing a vote, it may be proved, that in no antient 
 state, nor in any modern one (except perhaps in 
 the small republic of Geneva, and some of the 
 Swiss cantons), have the third of the male popu- 
 lation had votes. It seems sufficient for the pur- 
 pose that there should be a number of electors 
 to chuse representatives who will take care of 
 their own liberties, in doing which they must 
 necessarily take care of the liberties of the whole. 
 They are all in one boat, and the electors must 
 sink and suffer with the others; so that those 
 who have votes and those who have none are
 
 3* 
 
 equally safe and equally well, for the voters, in 
 securing themselves, secure the whole ; and as in 
 navigating a vessel, those who row or steer, and 
 those who sit idle on a bench, must all sail or 
 sink together, the grievance of having no vote is 
 ideal, rather than real. 
 
 It was after the universal representation of 
 France had covered the soil of that country with 
 blood and the bones of its inhabitants, when 
 even the waters of rivers were contaminated with 
 the putrid bodies of its victims, that Ireland 
 claimed for the Catholics a right of voting, on 
 the principle that every citizen ought to have 
 a vote. So little effect had example. 
 
 On this occasion, as on the former, the repre- 
 sentation was held forth as the grievance ; and 
 the deluded people, who knew no better, thought 
 they would obtain by those means what they 
 felt to be still wanting to their comfort. 
 
 A number of years are necessary for the ame- 
 lioration of an extensive country ; and though 
 Ireland was fast improving, yet much remained 
 to be done, and the slow progress did not keep 
 pace with the impatience of the people. 
 
 A most extensive and dangerous rebellion was 
 concerted in 1796-7-8, the details of which are 
 terrible and affecting in the extreme ; but the 
 transactions are much too recent, the relations 
 too varied and contradictory, to admit of mi-
 
 31 
 
 nute examination to any good purpose : only 
 one conclusion is to be drawn from the whole *, 
 " That whilst Ireland continued to be governed 
 by a Parliament separate from that of England, 
 there would be no means of making the country 
 peaceable or happy." 
 
 All those persons who supported or brought 
 forward the Union acted in consequence of this 
 belief, and upon this principle ; and indeed it 
 would be very difficult to shew that they did 
 not proceed on good grounds, as the experience 
 of five centuries had proved the impossibility of 
 making Ireland participate in the advantages of 
 the British constitution whilst it had a separate 
 Parliament. 
 
 * One party accuses the English government of perfidy in 
 stimulating the Irish to revolt, and of punishing the revolted with 
 the greatest severity, and with little regard to justice. The other 
 again asserts, that the Irish were impatient and ungovernable, 
 and were excited solely by French emissaries and Catholic priests. 
 This is far the most probable in itself, and best supported by 
 facts ; but it is not a question to be agitated at length, for the 
 reasons given in the text, because agitating such a question so 
 soon would tend rather to produce irritation than conviction.— 
 This, however, is certain, that there was a connection with 
 France, and the revolt was stimulated by French emissaries, and 
 a regular correspondence ; and if the British and French govern- 
 ments stimulated the Irish rebels to the same acts at the same 
 time, it was a singular co-operation of two powers that were so 
 decidedly hostile to each other. • :»
 
 32 
 
 It was through a conviction of this that Mr, 
 Pitt, after having maturely considered the sub- 
 ject, introduced this measure of a Legislative 
 Union. 
 
 On the 31st of January, 1799, after a message 
 from his Majesty was read, and after a very ela- 
 borate speech in support of the grand object, 
 which the Sovereign had recommended, Mr. Pitt 
 presented to the House these eight resolutions, 
 which he had prepared, embracing the general 
 plan of the Union : 
 
 " I. In order to promote and secure the essen- 
 tial interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 to consolidate the strength, power, and resources 
 of the British empire, it will be advisable to 
 concur in such measures as may best tend to 
 unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain and 
 Ireland into one kingdom, in such manner, and 
 on such terms and conditions, as may be esta- 
 blished by acts of the respective Parliaments of 
 his Majesty's said kingdoms. 
 
 "II. It would be fit to propose, as the nrst 
 article, to serve as a basis of the said Union, 
 that the said kingdoms of Great Britain and 
 Ireland shall, on a day to be agreed upon, be 
 united into one kingdom, by the name of " The 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." 
 
 "III. For the same purpose it would be fit to 
 propose, that the succession to the monarchy,
 
 33 
 
 and the imperial crown of the united kingdom, 
 shall continue limited and settled in the same 
 manner as the imperial crown of the said king- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland now stands 
 limited and settled according to the existing 
 laws, and to the terms of the Union between 
 England and Scotland, 
 
 " IV. For the same purpose it would he fit to 
 
 - 
 
 propose, that the said united kingdom be repre- 
 sented in one and the same Parliament, to be 
 stiled " The Parliament of the United Kingdom 
 of Great Britain and Ireland ;" and that such a 
 number of lords, spiritual and temporal, and 
 such a number of members of the House of Com- 
 mons, as shall hereafter be agreed upon by the 
 acts of the respective Parliaments as aforesaid, 
 shall sit and vote in the said Parliament on the 
 part of Ireland ; and shall be summoned, chosen, 
 and returned, in such manner as shall be fixed 
 by an act of the Parliament of Ireland previous 
 to the said Union ; and that every member here- 
 after to sit and vote in the said Parliament of the 
 united kingdom shall, until the said Parliament 
 fchall otherwise provide, take, and subscribe the 
 said oafhs, and make the same declarations, as 
 are by law required to be taken, subscribed, and 
 made, by the members of the Parliaments of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 " V. For the same purpose it would be fit to 
 
 F
 
 34 
 
 propose, that the Churches of England and Ire- 
 land, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and 
 government thereof, shall be preserved as now 
 by law established. 
 
 " VI. For the same purpose it would be fit to 
 propose, that his Majesty's subjects in Ireland 
 shall at a}l times hereafter be entitled to the 
 same privileges, and be on the same footing, in 
 respect of trade and navigation, in all ports and 
 places belonging to Great Britain, and in all 
 cases with respect to which treaties shall be made 
 by his Majesty, his heirs or successors, with any 
 foreign power, as his Majesty's subjects in Great 
 Britain ; that no duty shall be imposed on the 
 import or export between Great Britain and Ire- 
 land of any articles now duty free ; and that on 
 other articles there shall be established, for a 
 time to be limited, such a moderate rate of equal 
 duties as shall, previous to the Union, be agreed 
 upon and approved by the respective Parlia- 
 ments, subject, after the expiration of such li- 
 mited time, to be diminished equally with re- 
 spect to both kingdoms, but in no case to be in- 
 creased ; that all articles, which may at any 
 time hereafter be imported into Great Britain 
 from foreign ports, shall be importable through 
 either kingdom into the other, subject to the like 
 duties and regulations, as if the same were im- 
 ported directly from foreign parts ; that where
 
 35 
 
 p , 
 
 any articles, the growth, produce, or manufac- 
 ture of either kingdom, are subject to any inter- 
 nal duty in one kingdom, such countervailing 
 duties (over and above any duties on import to 
 be fixed as aforesaid) shall be imposed, as shs.ll 
 be necessary to prevent any inequality in thav 
 respect ; and that all matters of trade and com- 
 merce, other than the foregoing, and than such 
 others as may before the Union be specially 
 agreed upon for the due encouragement of the 
 agriculture and manufactures of the respective 
 kingdoms, shall remain to be regulated from 
 time to time by the United Parliament. 
 
 " VII. For the like purpose it would be fit to 
 propose, that the charge arising from the pay- 
 ment of the interest or sinking fund for the re- 
 duction of the principal of the debt incurred in 
 either kingdom before the Union, shall continue 
 to be separately defrayed by Great Britain and 
 Ireland jointly, according to such proportions 
 as shall be established by the respective Parlia- 
 ments previous to the Union ; and that after the 
 expiration of the time so to be limited, the pro- 
 portion shall not be liable to be varied, except 
 according to such rates and principles as shall 
 be in like manner agreed upon previous to the 
 Ijnion. 
 
 " VIII. For the like purpose it would be fit to 
 propose, that all laws in force at the time of the 
 
 F3
 
 36 
 
 Union, and all the courts of civil or ecclesiasti- 
 cal jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, 
 shall remain as now by law established within 
 the same, subject only to such alterations or 
 regulations from time to time, as circumstances 
 may appear to the Parliament of the united king- 
 dom to require." 
 
 Such was the plan or basis of the Union pro- 
 posed between the two countries ; and the greatest 
 enemies of those who proposed it will allow, that 
 in its principle it was equitable, and gave a full 
 equality to Ireland, except in one thing where it 
 was impossible for equality to subsist — The Par- 
 liament was to sit in England, and not in Ire- 
 land, which, as one Parliament could not sit in 
 both, was, from the nature of things, unavoid- 
 
 9 i 1 r H 3 
 
 The example of the Union of the Parliament 
 of Scotland, the effect it had produced on the 
 peace and prosperity of that kingdom, and the 
 still greater advantages that might be expected 
 from the Irish Union, struck all those who were 
 not biassed by party, or too ignorant to draw 
 4he parallel. 
 
 Scotland, neither from local circumstances, 
 nor from the religion of the inhabitants *, nor 
 
 * Lord Grenville, in a very able speech, when he opened the 
 business of the Union in the Hou*e of Peers, shewed clearly, 'that
 
 from the nature of its internal government, stood 
 so much in need of the Union as Ireland did, 
 yet it has derived the greatest advantage from 
 the measure ; and as to the circumstance of na- 
 tional humiliation, supposed to be connected 
 with the measure, it might be said to be nearly 
 equal * : but, at any Tate, the pride of Ireland 
 could not claim any superior right to complain ; 
 and the interest of Ireland was much more likely 
 to be advanced, even upon the first blush of the 
 business; when, therefore, We consider the ac- 
 tual arrangements that did take place, Ireland 
 has decidedly the advantage. 
 
 To those persons who, from habit, or any other 
 cause, have an inveterate hatred to men who are 
 distinguished either by rank or official situations, 
 every argument to prove that the Union was 
 founded on a conviction of the advantage to be 
 
 expected from the measure will prove useless. 
 
 ■ 
 
 , _ j_ it ... • , „ , ... 
 
 if ever the Roman Catholics were to be allowed a participation 
 
 In voting for members of Parliament, the preparatory step must 
 
 be the Union, such, or nearly sucb, as was then proposed. 
 
 * It will be seen, when we come to compare the two, that the 
 
 terms of the Irish Union are rriuch more favourable for that 
 
 country than those granted to Scotland ; and certainly candour 
 
 must allow, that, as the throne of England had fallen to a King 
 
 of Scotland only one century before the Union, and that Ireland 
 
 had never been properly a separate and independent kingdom, it 
 
 had not a right to expect better terms.
 
 38 
 
 Such persons are as unchangeable in opinion as 
 time in its progress ; but the arguments used 
 both in the English and Irish Parliament were 
 founded on undeniable facts, drawn from the 
 experience of a number of centuries, and indeed 
 from the first period of the authentic history of 
 Ireland, till the very moment that those argu- 
 ments were produced. The situation of Ireland 
 had been essentially ameliorated only eighteen 
 years before the Union ; yet during that short 
 period discontents were greater than on any for- 
 mer occasion, and had even broken forth into 
 acts of open rebellion, and not into a simple re- 
 volt against the authority of England, but re- 
 volt combined with France, her deadly enemy*; 
 and that not in order to produce redress of 
 grievances, but to separate Ireland from Britain 
 ior ever . t bmkmo 
 
 It is difficult to say whether the folly or the 
 wickedness of this plan was the greater. — Had 
 the rebels succeeded, they might have served 
 the views of France ; but, with Britain mistress 
 
 ■ 
 * The Dutch fleet, so gallantly and fortunately defeated by Ad- 
 miral Duncan, was intended to carry assistance to the rebels in 
 Ireland, with whom that measure had been combined. This fleet, 
 sent by a nation that had abolished the Roman Catholic religion, 
 and denied Christianity, was to have been received with opem 
 arms by the rebels in Ireland, the consequence of which might 
 tare been the total destruction of the country.
 
 39 
 
 of the ocean, could they have been protected by 
 that country ? Could they have kept up any re- 
 gular connection without a fleet of their own 
 equal to that of Britain ? Could they have main- 
 tained a connection with any other country ? 
 No, no. Had those patriots, as they termed 
 themselves, succeeded, they would have been 
 reduced to greater misery and distress than ever; 
 and when we find the same people who had re- 
 sisted Cromwell, and remained faithful to Charles 
 I. — who resisted William, and remained faithful 
 to James II., by both of which monarchs they 
 had been severely governed and harshly treated, 
 in open rebellion against a King who had done 
 so much to make them free and happy as his 
 present Majesty has done, we cannot but be 
 convinced that a Legislative Union was neces- 
 sary, because that was the only measure which 
 could effectually remove the cause of complaint, 
 by putting the people of Ireland on the same 
 footing with those of England. 
 
 Those who brought about the Union have been 
 blamed by the opposite party, and they have not 
 been very strenuously defended by their own ; 
 but perhaps the business having been effected,, 
 they think that their best vindication will arise 
 from the amelioration of Ireland, as the conse- 
 quence of that event. In waiting till the result 
 vindicates the measure, they might be right with 
 a people less impatient than the Irish, or with a
 
 40 
 
 people less violent under the effects of their im- 
 patience, but it ought to be considered, that 
 the advantages produced will never be fully ap- 
 preciated, if they are not properly laid before 
 the public ; those who will, at a future day, see 
 the ameliorated state, will not have seen Ireland 
 in its present condition, and they will not set 
 the true value on the advantage * ; or, even if 
 they did, it is not easy to say what evils may 
 arise before the Union has time to produce bene- 
 ficial effects. 
 
 Every great change like that produced by the 
 Union must be productive of evil to some indi- 
 viduals. There is no good without some mix- 
 ture of ill : as for example — if it were possible to 
 pay off the national debt, an evil of which so 
 many complain, it would injure all those who 
 live by the collection of taxes, and their depen- 
 dents, who would all in their turn complain. — ■ 
 In Ireland, no doubt a very considerable num- 
 
 * There are many people in Scotland at this time, that think 
 the Union injured the country. It was before that a kingdom, 
 and had a Parliament of its own, which sounds high. It is now- 
 only a part of a kingdom, and it is the poorest part. These are 
 facts from which a wrong conclusion is drawn. Scotland is richer, 
 and the people enjoy infinitely more freedom, tban before th« 
 Union, though that Union did not level the mountains, nor bring 
 Scotland to a lower latitude, and nearer the sun. There axe 
 even persons lately arrived, from Dublin, in London, who confess 
 that Ireland has prospered since the Union, but they have added, 
 " in spite of the Union."
 
 41 
 
 ber of individuals have been losers by the Union ; 
 but that is not the criterion to go by. The 
 question is, Has the balance been in favour of 
 the gain, or the loss, or is it likely to be for the 
 gain or for the loss of Ireland ? 
 
 Such is the important question, and whoever 
 wishes to answer it, will consider the situation 
 Ireland was constantly in, either from one cause 
 or other, from the time it was first conquered 
 till 1780. The situation of Ireland, from 17S0 
 till the Union, makes a situation of a different 
 sort ; and, lastly, the case of Scotland, before 
 and after the Union, is to be considered as an 
 example of what may be expected. During the 
 first period, that is, from the reign of Henry II. 
 till the year 1780, we find Ireland a most griev- 
 ously oppressed country, although it had been 
 amused with participating in all the advantages 
 of Magna Charta. We find that revolt sanc- 
 tioned oppression, and oppression sanctioned re- 
 volt, which it was unable to prevent ; and we 
 find not only that the acts of government, but 
 the written laws, were, in a variety of instances, 
 not only in direct violation of Magna Charta, 
 but such as would disgrace the most arbitrary 
 government in Europe, were it to enact them 
 for an island peopled with slaves. We find this 
 terrible situation of affairs to be rather the con- 
 sequence of the difficulty of establishing a good 
 
 G
 
 42 . 
 
 government, than from any wish to substitute a 
 bad one ; and therefore we must wish to remove 
 those difficulties, which certainly, in a great part, 
 consisted in the having separate parliaments, and 
 which, therefore, so far as that was the case, 
 were removed by the Union, and could not be 
 well removed by any other measure. 
 
 In considering the second period of such short 
 duration, viz. from the year 1780 to the end of 
 the century, the conclusion in favour of the ne- 
 cessity of the Union is much stronger still. 
 
 Ireland had but just emerged from a very bad 
 to a very tolerable state (to call it nothing more), 
 when discontents began to be greater than ever. 
 It was like a man relieved by the skill of his phy- 
 sician from the most violent cholic, attempting to 
 destroy him who had administered relief before 
 the sense of the benefit received had yet had time 
 to be effaced. Remembrance of benefit is fre- 
 quently obliterated by time ; but since that was 
 not the case, but that rancour and animosity 
 followed the favour with great rapidity, which 
 proves, that however much the situation of the 
 people of Ireland was bettered by Britain, the 
 minds of the people were not conciliated, and the 
 government not of a nature to keep that spirit 
 from breaking forth into open rebellion. 
 
 It was impossible, with the examples of such 
 scenes of misery, always renewed under some
 
 43 
 
 new, form, and for some new cause, to expect 
 rendering Ireland free and happy in itself, or 
 making it an efficient integral part of the Bri- 
 tish empire, without an Union. 
 
 The Union has been represented as intended 
 to complete the subjugation of Ireland. That 
 was a very false and a very unfair representation. 
 Not only to politicians, but to every unprejudi- 
 ced man of common sense who knows the history 
 of the country, it must have been evident that a 
 complete change of system was necessary. To 
 represent the Union as a measure unfriendly to 
 Ireland, was the height of injustice. Ireland had 
 been at the feet of England for centuries ; it had 
 been, as we have seen, worse treated than any 
 country in Europe ; yet this measure that would 
 render such a situation of things impossible for 
 the future, was represented as a new plan for 
 making its situation worse. 
 
 The Irish, who had drawn a parallel between 
 their own situation and that of America, found 
 themselves by the Union placed exactly in the 
 situation to which America had aspired, yet so 
 far from feeling satisfaction, this only afforded 
 new cause for discontent ; it was therefore im- 
 possible to expect, that, without a change of a 
 complete nature, any measure could be taken 
 that would reconcile Ireland. 
 
 The circumstances under which the Irish 
 g2
 
 44 
 
 nation, or rather the population of Ireland, shewed 
 its enmity to Great Britain during the last re- 
 bellion, were such as gave a particular colour of 
 atrocity to that affair. The Roman Catholic re- 
 ligion, which the majority of the Irish professed, 
 had been abolished or trampled under foot. The 
 liberties of the French, with whom the Irish 
 wished to unite and coalesce, had been totally 
 destroyed: England was in reality the only bar- 
 rier between Ireland and a state of complete sub- 
 jugation and slavery ; yet it was at this moment 
 that the Irish people chose to espouse the cause 
 of France, and become a thorn in the side of 
 England *. After such a continuation of misfor- 
 tune and misunderstanding between the two 
 nations, attended with such melancholy conse- 
 quences, the necessity of some great alteration 
 
 * There is not a more melancholy example of the effects of 
 party spirit than that afforded by the Opposition in England to 
 the men who did their utmost endeavours to lead the people of 
 Ireland astray. The trials at Maidstone, and the character and 
 conduct of the people tried at Maidstone, and the efforts that 
 were made to screen them, when coupled with the sufferings of 
 the poor deluded people who were their victims, is a most unde- 
 niable proof of the danger of leading the population of a country 
 into an idea of fighting upon what is termed principle, when such 
 men are, from the nature of things, incapable of understanding 
 what principle is. 
 
 The amelioration of the slate of the people with respect to
 
 45 
 
 was evident. That the British ministry, and 
 those who brought the Union to bear, were 
 friendly in every way to Ireland, may be con- 
 cluded from this fact, that the number of re- 
 presentatives admitted into the British House 
 of Commons was objected to by the very persons 
 who had been before, and have been since, in the 
 habit of speaking of Ireland as an oppressed 
 country. 
 
 It will be seen from the debates of the time, 
 that Mr. Pitt was opposed on account of treat- 
 ing Ireland too well ; and whoever is inclined to 
 view his conduct in that affair with candour, and 
 without prejudice, will admit, that his adversa- 
 ries were abundantly severe on him ; and that he 
 was at great pains to improve upon the plan of 
 the Union with Scotland, to the errors of which 
 he did not shut his eyes. In this there was great 
 merit as a minister ; for the prerogative or power 
 of the crown would have gained by an adher- 
 ence to the plan of the Union with Scotland *. 
 
 tythes — with respect to what are termed middle-men, to whom 
 estates are let in the first instance by the proprietors, and by 
 whom they are sub-let to tenants at high rents, and on severe 
 conditions, are real evils. To redress such grievances would 
 be a real advantage ; to talk of emancipation and equal repre- 
 sentation, is only delusion. 
 
 * The following extracts from the Fourth and Seventh Arti- 
 cles of the Union show its spirit and nature. — The rest is matter 
 of regulation, and of no importance in this place —
 
 46 
 
 The number of Irish peers who have seats in the 
 United Parliament, is not so great as it would then 
 have been ; and they are elected for life, which 
 
 "Art. IV. — That it be the Fourth Article of Union, that 
 four lords spiritual of Ireland, by rotation of sessions, and twenty- 
 eight lords temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the peers of 
 Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ire- 
 land in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United 
 Kingdom ; and one hundred Commoners (two for each county 
 of Ireland, two for the city of Cork, one for the university of 
 Trinity College, and one for each of the thirty-one most con- 
 siderable cities, towns, and boroughs), be the number to sit and 
 vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Par- 
 liament of the United Kingdom : 
 
 ** That any person holding any peerage of Ireland now sub- 
 sisting, or hereafter to be created, shall not thereby be disquali- 
 fied from being elected to serve, if he shall so think fit, for any 
 county, city or borough ef Great Britain, in the House of Com- 
 mons of the United Kingdom, unless he shall have been previous- 
 ly elected as above, to sit in the House of Lords of the United 
 Kingdom ; hut that so long as such Peer of Ireland shall so con- 
 tinue to be a member of the Honse of Commons, he shall not be 
 entitled to the privilege of peerage, nor be capable of being 
 elected to serve as a peer on the part of Ireland, or of voting at 
 any such election ; and that he shall be liable to be sued, in- 
 dicted, proceeded against, and tried as a commoner, for any offence 
 with which he may be charged. 
 
 " That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and suc- 
 cessors, to create peers of that part of the United Kingdom called 
 Ireland, and to make promotions in the peerage thereof, after 
 the Union ; provided that no new creation of any such peers shall 
 take place after the Union, until three of the peerages of Ireland, 
 ■
 
 47 
 
 renders them, when once elected, independent, as 
 peers should be, and which, it has been observed 
 in the Conclusion to the Peerage of Scotland, is 
 
 which shall have been existing at the time of the Union, shall 
 have become extinct ; and upon such extinction of three peerages, 
 that it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, 
 to create one peer of that part of the United Kingdom called 
 Ireland ; and in like manner so often as three peerages of that 
 part of the United Kingdom called Ireland shall become extinct, 
 it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to 
 create one other peer of the said part of the United Kingdom j 
 and if it shall so happen that the peers of that part of the United 
 Kingdom called Ireland, shall, by extinction of peerage or other- 
 wise, be reduced to the number of one hundred, exclusive of all 
 such peers of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland as 
 shall hold any peerage of Great Britain subsisting at the time of 
 the Union, or of the United Kingdom created since the Union, by 
 which such peer shall be entitled to an hereditary seat in the 
 House of Lords of the United Kingdom, then and in that case 
 it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and suc- 
 cessors, to create one peer of that part of the United Kingdom 
 called Ireland, as often as one of such one hundred peerages shall 
 fail by extinction, or as often as any one peer of that part of the 
 United Kingdom called Ireland shall become entitled, by descent 
 or creation, to an hereditary seat in the House of Lords of the 
 United Kingdom ; it being the true intent and meaning of this 
 article, that at all times after the Union it shall and may be law- 
 ful for his Majesty, bis heirs and successors, to keep up the 
 peerage of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland to the 
 number of one hundred, over and above the number of such of 
 the said peers as shall be entitled by descent or creation to an 
 hereditary seat in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom: .
 
 not the case there. The Irish Union in this 
 avoided one of the greatest errors that was com- 
 mitted in the Union with Scotland ; and it is 
 
 " That if any peerage shall at any time be in abeyance, such 
 ■peerage shall be deemed and taken as an existing peerage ; and 
 no peerage shall be deemed extinct, unless on default of claimants 
 to the inheritance of such peerage for the space of one yeai from 
 the death of the person who shall have been last possessed thereof; 
 and if no claim shall be made to the inheritance of such peerage, 
 in such form and manner as may from time to time be prescribed 
 by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, before the expi- 
 ration of the said period of a year, then and in that case such 
 peerage shall be deemed extinct ; provided that nothing herein 
 ■shall exclude any person from afterwards putting in a claim to 
 the peerage so deemed extinct; and if such claim shall be allowed 
 as valid, by judgment of the House of Lords of the United King- 
 dom, reported to his Majesty, such peerage shall be considered 
 as revived; and in case any new creation of a peerage of that 
 part of the United Kingdom called Ireland shall have taken place 
 in the interval, in consequence of the supposed extinction of 
 such peerage, then no new right of creation shall accrue to his 
 Majesty, his heirs or successors, in consequence of the next ex- 
 tinction which shall take place of any peerage of that part of U>e 
 United Kingdom called Ireland. 
 
 " That all questions touching the election of members to sit 
 on the part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the United 
 Kingdom shall be heard and decided in the same manner as 
 questions touching such elections in Great Britiinnow are, or at 
 any time hereafter shall by law be, heard and decided ; subject 
 nevertheless to such particular regulations in respect of Ireland 
 as, from local circumstances, the Parliament of the United 
 Kingdom may from time to time deem expedient.
 
 49 
 
 evident, that if those who arranged the Articles 
 of Union had wished the influence of the crown 
 to have been extended in the House of Peers, 
 
 " That the qualifications in respect to property of the members 
 elected on the part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the 
 United Kingdom shall be respectively the same as are now pro- 
 vided by law in the cases of elections for counties and boroughs 
 respectively in that part of Great Britain called England, unless 
 any other provision shall hereafter be made in that respect by act 
 of Parliament of the United Kingdom : 
 
 " That the Lords of Parliament on the part of Ireland, in the 
 House of Lords of the United Kingdom, shall at all times have 
 the same privileges of parliament which shall belong to the Lords 
 of Parliament on the part of Great Britain ; and the Lords 
 spiritual and temporal respectively on the part of Ireland shall 
 at all times have the same rights in respect of their sitting and 
 voting upon the trial of peers, as the Lords spiritual and temporal 
 respectively on the part of Great Britain ; and that all Lords 
 spiritual of Ireland shall have rank and precedency next and im- 
 mediately after the Lords spiritual of the same rank and degree 
 of Great Britain ; and shall enjoy all privileges as fully as the 
 Lords spiritual of Great Britain do now or may hereafter enjoy 
 the same (the right and privilege of sitting in the House of Lords, 
 and the privileges depending thereon, and particularly the right 
 of sitting on the trial of peers, excepted); and that the persons 
 holding any temporal peerage of Ireland, existing at the time of 
 the Union, shall, from and after the Union, have rank and pre- 
 cedency next and immediately after all the persons holding peer- 
 ages of the like orders and degrees in Great Britain, subsisting at 
 the time of the Union ; and that all peerages of Ireland created 
 after the Union shall have rank and precedency with the peerages 
 of the United Kingdom so created, according to the dates of their 
 
 H
 
 lliev would not have made ;peers eligible for 
 life! 
 
 Again, as to the right of peers who are not of 
 the thirty for the House of Lords having a right 
 
 creatio s ; and that all peerages both of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land, now subsisting or hereafter to be created, shall in all other 
 respects, from the date of the Union, be considered as peerages 
 of the United Kingdom ; and that the peers of Ireland shall, as 
 peers of the United Kingdom, be sued and tried as peers, except as 
 aforesaid, and shall enjoy all privileges of peers as fully as the peers 
 of Great Britain ; the right and privilege of silting in the House 
 of Lords, and the privileges depending thereon, and the right of 
 sitting on the trial of peers, only excepted." 
 
 "Art. VII. — That it be the Seventh Article of Union, that 
 the charge arising from the payment of the interest, and the 
 sinking fund for the reduction of the principal, of the debt incur- 
 red in either kingdom before the Union, shall continue to be sepa- 
 rately defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland respectively, except 
 as hereinafter provided : 
 
 " That for the space of twenty years after the Union shall 
 take place, the contribution of Great Britain and Ireland, respec- 
 tively, towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom in each 
 year, shall be defrayed in the proportion of fifteen part* for Great 
 Britain, and two parts for Ireland; and that at the expiration of 
 the said twenty years, the future expenditure of the United King- 
 dom (other than the interest and charges of the debt in which 
 either country shall be separately liable) shall be defrayed in such 
 proportion as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall deem 
 just and reasonable, upon a comparison of the real value of the 
 exports and imports of the respective countries, upon an average 
 of the three years next preceding the period of revision." 
 
 Upon the Fourth Article, the following debate took place i» 
 Parliament :
 
 **b become candidates for the Commons, it is a 
 most ingenious device to avoid that political dis- 
 qualification to which a considerable majority of 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer (on the 25th April 1799) 
 rose and said, lie was not aware, after what he had stated on a 
 former night, that it would be necessary for him to pa?s time in 
 explaining or shewing the propriety of the Fourth Article; how- 
 ever, there was only one alteration, he proposed to make in the 
 printed resolution, which was, that after the words " it shall be 
 lawful for the present members of the Irish House of Commons 
 to be returned to the United Parliament," there be inserted these: 
 41 Provided qlways, and be it hereby enacted, That no more than 
 twenty of the members so returned shall hold any place or pension 
 under the crown; that if the number who most lately received 
 their office shall resign it, and that uo person in office shall be 
 eligible for Ireland as long as there are twenty Irish members 
 who always hold offices." 
 
 Mr. Grey observed, that there were several amendments he 
 VKi^hed to move to this article, however he would defer moving 
 them till the report should be brought up. There was one par- 
 ticular he could not help strenuously opposing, the extension of the 
 number of Irish placemen who should sit in the House, to twenty, 
 thus one-fifth of the whole might hold places. According to a 
 noble Lord's statement, there were only fifty-two placemen at pre- 
 sent in the British House of Commons, which did not constitute 
 ■cue tenth part of the whole. Mr. Grey then moved, that the 
 Dumber, he limited to ten. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that though the 
 timber Or places held by members of the British House of Com- 
 mons did not exceed fifty-two, yet there was a much larger number 
 tenable. This, he observed, was a pretty clear proof of the mo- 
 deration of the Crown, and that it would never abuse the con- 
 
 H 2
 
 52 
 
 the peers of Scotland was condemned by the 
 Union with that kingdom. 
 
 It must be admitted that Ireland has been well 
 
 fidence entrusted to it. There were two points which he would 
 wish to lay down : that it was not proper to make it part of the 
 Union, to fix definitely the number of places to be held by the 
 Irish members ; and that it was not proper to leave the matter 
 altogether undetermined, as such a number might be held by them 
 as might influence their decision on the final arrangement. He 
 had wished to make the limitation rather higher than was neces- 
 sary, because he thought it would be improper to reduce any who 
 had performed service to their country to the disagreeable alter- 
 native of either resigning their employment, or ceasing to repre- 
 sent their constituents. It had been stated on a former night, 
 that great corruption must have been practised towards those who 
 voted for the Union in Ireland, as out of these there werellG 
 held offices under government; on this occasion he could not 
 help correcting an error so very gross. The honourable member 
 had counted the number of Irish members of every description 
 who had held offices, and of these forty-eight only voted for the 
 Union. 
 
 Mr. Grey remarked, that he believed the former statement to 
 be very much within the fact. 
 
 Mr. Banks said, he felt considerable alarm at the introduction 
 of 100 Irish members into the British House of Commons, and 
 particularly that so many of them as twenty should be allowed to 
 hold places or pensions. These twenty, he said, we might count 
 pretty surely upon voting with the minister, and many would be 
 connected with them by blood, by friendship, by civility, or by 
 interest. He thought the most proper way would be to allow 
 only the same proportion of placemen amongst them as there now 
 was among ourselves.
 
 53 
 
 treated with respect to the portion of expences it 
 has been allotted to pay, which is less than in the 
 proportion of its representation in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 The Secretary of War observed there were two questions : 1st, 
 What should be done finally to prevent the over influence of the 
 Crown ? 2d, What temporary regulations should now be made for 
 that purpose? The first, he said, it was impossible to discuss 
 then; the second he -should have thought it much better to have 
 left unsettled. 
 
 Mr. Harrison wished to know whether the twenty members 
 who were to come with places on their backs would be at liberty 
 to accept of others on this side of the water ? 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer answered, that as many Irish 
 offices were tenable by British members of Parliament, it would 
 be very unfair not to permit British offices to be held by Irish 
 members. An honourable gentleman had said, that all those 
 places which were to return members were close boroughs. He 
 allowed that several of them were; but he never said nor thought 
 they were a grievance. They were the principal places in Ireland, 
 and ought to be preferably represented. 
 
 Mr. Buxton thought the Union would trench more upon the 
 prerogative of the Crown than the rights of the people. 
 
 Dr. Lawrence remarked, that as the population of Great Britain 
 was estimated at ten millions, and that of Ireland at three, Ire- 
 land ought not to be allowed to send so many members as 100, 
 while Great Britain sends only 558. 
 
 Mr. Wilberforce was of opinion, that as the resolution was to 
 pass, he should rather vote for it as it was, than make any speci- 
 fic alteration on it. 
 
 Mr. Grey's motion was then negatived without a division, and 
 the fourth resolution agreed to by the committee.
 
 54 
 
 \t inay be said that one hundred members is 
 not a sufficient proportion, either taking the ex- 
 tent or population of Ireland; but it will be ob- 
 served, that the members who opposed the Union 
 in toto opposed this article also, and said they 
 were too many ; so that in giving Ireland that 
 number, the minister did all that he was able to 
 do in favour of that country. 
 
 From the extracts from the Fourth and Seventh 
 Articles, contained in the note given, and the rea- 
 soning to which they gave rise in the House of Com- 
 mons, it appear clearly that the ministers acted, 
 and meant to act, liberally towards Ireland : that 
 they did not aim at converting the Union into 
 the means of giving greater extent to the power 
 of the cro.wq ; and that the cry of the corrupt 
 manner by which the Parliament of Ireland had 
 been brought tq sanction the measure, is contra- 
 dicted by incontrovertible facts. 
 
 This is not a place to enter into party discus- 
 sions, or to make severe observations on those 
 who opposed the Union: it is sufficient to have 
 shown that those who brought forward the laud- 
 able measure acted from cogent reasons, and on 
 pure principles ; consequently they deserve the 
 greatest praise, and cannot, with any degree of 
 justice, be thought liable to blame or censure. 
 
 Unfortunately for mankind, those who are ac- 
 tively concerned in any measure of great import-
 
 55 
 
 smce are generally suspected of being in part at 
 least actuated by private interest, while the men 
 who oppose it as frequently pass for being com- 
 pletely disinterested. The tendency of this judg- 
 ment is to throw a cloud oyer every great mea- 
 sure like that of the Union ; and this tendency 
 to suspicion of motives is greatly assisted by the 
 natural indolence of mankind, who resolve the 
 question of motives more easily by attributing 
 them to private and interested views, than by 
 fairly examining whether such circumstances do 
 not really exist, as might appear, when unbiassed- 
 ly weighed by any honest and intelligent man, 
 such as would show a solid and honourable motive 
 of action. 
 
 The peers of Ireland have come in for morf 
 than their share of those rash and ill-founded 
 suspicions. Nothing is more decidedly ascertain- 
 ed than that every attempt which had previous- 
 ly been made to make Ireland participate in the 
 liberty and prosperity of England had failed ; it 
 was therefore the duty of the Peers of Ireland to 
 support and give efficacy to the only measure that 
 remained, from which a happy and permanent 
 result might be expected. 
 
 The Peers of Ireland concurred in the measure, 
 and most certainly not for the purpose of ag- 
 grandising themselves, of whom the far greater 
 portion were reduced, in political importance, to
 
 56 
 
 the situation and rank of Commoners. To attri- 
 bute to the members of this body interested mo- 
 tives separately from the great object of the wel- 
 fare of their country, is therefore contrary to 
 every human rule of judgment*, as there are great 
 and sufficient reasons for their conduct, which 
 are obvious, and in no degree connected with 
 personal interests farther than the personal inte- 
 rests of every honest man and good subject are 
 connected with the prosperity of his country. 
 , The manner in which the Union was passed 
 was such, as, if fairly considered, must free those 
 who have been blamed from any wrong conduct 
 in the affair ; for where any party does what 
 seems best, after each trying to do more than 
 they are able to effect, it is at least a proof that 
 they are sincere, and not actuated by any inten- 
 tions but such as are fair and honourable. 
 . That Ireland obtained more advantageous 
 terms than those who opposed the Union in the 
 
 . * H men be determined to seek for a secret and bad motive of 
 action when an apparent and good one exists, they follow a prin- 
 ciple that would, if universal, destroy all confidence or esteem 
 amongst mankind. Imagination may always assign a sup- 
 posed motive when no obvious one exists ; but imagination has 
 not a right to act where there is reality ; much less have any 
 set of meu a right to assign to others bad motives, when good 
 ones are in full evidence. This reasoning applies completely to 
 those who supported tUe Union, and equally so to their detractors.
 
 57 / 
 
 English Parliament were willing to grant, is £ 
 fact upon record ; it is therefore* fair, and, indeedj 
 unavoidable to admit, that tnose who promoted 
 the Union wished that the interest of Ireland 
 might be attended to as much as lay in their 
 power * ; and they seem to have studied every 
 thing that could be done to do away for ever 
 those disadvantages sand inconveniences under 
 which Ireland had laboured till that time. 
 
 The Peers of Ireland deserve great praise ; 
 yet they nevertheless have gotten great blame, 
 and have been represented as selling their coun- 
 try, when it would have been much nearer the 
 truth to say, that they sold themselves to save their 
 Country / 
 
 It is not easy to avoid saying something about 
 what is termed the Roman Catholic question, if 
 we aim at a compleat review Of the conduct of 
 those who proposed and promoted the Union. If 
 any measure could prepare the way, with safety, 
 for the granting political rights to the Catholics, 
 the Union was that measure^ as Lord Grenville 
 
 * Amongst other things, the manufacturers of woollen cloths 
 and cotton stuff took the alarm in England; and therefore it is 
 clear, that whatever men might say for political purposes, those 
 persons who brought about the Union did every thing in their 
 power to make it advantageous for Ireland. The accusing them 
 of the contrary is rather singular, and is one of the most unjust 
 aspersions ever witnessed.
 
 58 
 
 very truly and very properly said, when he first 
 opened the business in the British House of Lords ; 
 and the ill humour occasioned by that measure 
 not having hitherto been adopted, is only a proof 
 of that same sort of impatience which has so con- 
 stantly been injurious to Ireland. 
 
 The situation of the people of Ireland has, 
 within the last generation, in our own time, and 
 within our own remembrance, been more im- 
 proved than from its first conquest till the year 
 1780*; yet, because something remains to be 
 done, discontent runs still high, and under those 
 circumstances it may be fairly questioned, whe- 
 ther such discontent does not give reason to ask 
 this question, " When they have gotten all they 
 demand, will they be more satisfied than they are 
 now ? Hitherto concession, on the part of Eng- 
 land, has not produced any beneficial effect in 
 
 * The reader will see with pleasure, in the biography of Lord 
 Sefford, that he refused to thank the volunteers for their conduct, 
 observing, that men who argued with their Sovereign with arms 
 in their hands were not objects of approbation. Let the reader 
 remember, that the same excellent man, when Mr. Serjeant 
 Hewit, in England, offered to resign rather than support the 
 court in measures which he thought against the liberties of the 
 people. Such firmness and just impartiality are more honourable 
 than the greatest acts of bravery and courage. The volunteers 
 were the men who boasted that they had extorted conditions from 
 England, which we have shown, however, was not the case — 
 they were not extorted.
 
 59 
 
 conciliating the people of that country, yet we 
 have seen what they have obtained. Dazzled 
 with the wild but vast and gigantic efforts of the 
 French to become free in the beginning of the 
 Revolution, the Irish people have since seen that 
 same people sunk in the most submissive and 
 most disgraceful despotism, without withdraw- 
 ing that approbation of them which they granted 
 under very different circumstances *. There 
 is in this an apparent contradiction ; but the 
 truth is, that discontent with the British govern- 
 ment was the cause, all along, of the enthusiasm 
 in favour of France; but certainly, after reli- 
 gion had been abolished, its ministers either put 
 to flight, massacred or imprisoned ; no people 
 who professed Christianity, either Roman Catho- 
 lics or Protestants, could have any desire to co- 
 alesce with France on account of religion. 
 
 On a full view of the affairs of Ireland from the 
 
 . 
 
 * It is a most singular circumstance attendant on the Revolu« 
 tion of France, that those who admired the republicans still ad- 
 mire the French, though under a more submissive and slavish 
 yoke than ever was imposed on any nation! 
 
 The solution of this apparent riddle is neither more nor less 
 than this — a wish for a change was the cause for the first apparent 
 enthusiasm, and not any concern for French politics ; and as that 
 wish for change (that is the cause) continues, the pretended at. 
 tachment to the French interest continues also, The friends of 
 the French even carry the matter so far as to impute the failure 
 of the plan of liberty to the war undertaken by England ! 
 
 I %
 
 60 
 
 earliest period, nothing but an union of the two 
 Parliaments could be expected to benefit the 
 coMntry completely; and however that measure 
 may be now condemned by some persons, we may 
 learn from publications nearly contemporary 
 with the Union of England and Scotland, that 
 Ireland was envious of that measure at that time. 
 Dean Swift, who passed a very active life in excit- 
 ing discontent in his native country, on every oc- 
 casion, does in his fallacious and obscene allegory 
 of The Injured Lad//, (however much he may mis- 
 represent facts,) prove clearly that the Union 
 with Scotland was looked upon with envious eves 
 in Ireland*; but when an Union with Ireland 
 ykpx,q on ; b-uioaiiqim •!<> hs'ioj^iun .'n^.S a* 
 
 *'From all Dean Swift's writings it is evident, that his great 
 aim was to excite discontnet in his native country. Whoever 
 reads his letters about Wood's halfpence with attention must see, 
 that he went on that plan. Swift tried, as Voltaire has done 
 since, to mix wit, scurrility, political economy, and philosophy 
 all together; and the effect has been in both cases, that the wit 
 and ill nature have given currency to calculations and opinions, 
 which without th^ir assistance would have been held in contempt. 
 When a man talks of a great nation being utterly ruined by a 
 coinage of bad halfpence to the amount of 50,000/. one is at a 
 loss which to admire most, his ignorance or his impudence; but 
 when we find him seriously calculate that those halfpence would 
 rub each shopkeeper of 160L, it is so absurd, that it cannot be at- 
 tributed, to ignorance, as by his own calculation the robbery would 
 have,a«}puiU^d,to more than ten times the whole nominal value 
 of the bftlfeence. In the present day, when, from experience.
 
 61 
 
 was proposed on more advantageous terms, it 
 was opposed, not indeed by the same persons 
 who were no more, but by persons who followed 
 the same line of politics, and inherited that hos- 
 tility to every measure originating in England, 
 
 we know more of the business, we know perfectly well, that 
 though it was a villainous job (and it certainly was very improper 
 to force such a measure), yet it could be of no serious injury to 
 the coimtry : thai, in fact, it was in itself a matter of very little 
 importance, taken hold of by men who wished to excite discon- 
 tent, and handled in such a manner as to answer the purpose. 
 This, by way of observation, is a proof that the people of Ireland 
 are easily acted upon, and that a minor object may be palmed 
 upon them for a major one, with uncommon facility and success. 
 As to most other of the complaints urged by Dean Swift about 
 trade, freedom, &c. tbey have been done away by thi6 very Union, 
 now sq unpopular amongst the very people who would have sup- 
 ported it, had it been proposed by the Dean or those, of his party. 
 Of all the complaints made by Dean Swift, who was collector of 
 complaints, which he blowed up as a butcher does a calf (to speak 
 in his own style), the absentee is the only one not remedied, but 
 rather augmented; it is at the same time necessary to remark, 
 that every county of England has equal reason to complain of 
 absentees. In no part of the island is the rent of land expended 
 on the estates, but in the capital, where the court resides, law 
 and justice administered, &c. This evil, however, if it be an evil, 
 carries its antidote with it; for it is by the luxury originating 
 in large towns that the produce of farms in the country is enhan- 
 ced in value. As well might the distant parts of Ireland complain 
 of gentry residing in Dublin, as of others residing in London; 
 but such reasoning does i;ot suit discontented men, or men who 
 wish to disseminate discontent.
 
 62 
 
 by which Swift and the patriots of his day were 
 actuated. 
 
 The Irish Union was a far more advantageous 
 measure for Ireland than the Scottish Union was 
 for Scotland : First, because the Irish nation 
 wanted it more ; and, secondly, because it was 
 more liberal in its conditions, and better arran- 
 ged ; it is therefore very unfair to consider the 
 Union as being forced upon Ireland, or as being 
 a harsh measure, for it is the very measure that 
 those who opposed the Union would have brought 
 forward long ago, if they had expected to have 
 been able to accomplish it. 
 
 Every great change must necessarily injure 
 some individuals, and those will naturally use the 
 right of the injured in lamenting and complain- 
 ing ; but the object of every alteration, like that 
 of the Union, is the general good, not any par- 
 tial or particular advantage for an individual, or 
 any class of individuals. 
 
 It is not, however, to any particular class of 
 individuals that discontents relative to the Union 
 are confined : they are extended to all those per- 
 sons who systematically oppose English mea- 
 sures, of which it is one ; but as they do not ex- 
 tend much farther, they are to be considered as 
 proceeding from party, and not from principle. 
 One of the greatest evils of a free constitution 
 is, that there necessarily exists under it a prin-
 
 ciple of opposition (that is, two parties^, and 
 therefore every measure that is taken, being the 
 work of one party, must be run down by the 
 other : it follows, then, not merely as a matter 
 of course, but of necessity, that the Union must 
 be condemned by those who had no hand in 
 bringing it to bear ; and if it had been, or pos- 
 sibly could have been, twice as advantageous for 
 Ireland as it is, the complaints against it would 
 have been the same which they now are. 
 
 It is of importance for the inhabitants of both 
 countries, but particularly for those of Ireland, 
 to consider how much their country has been 
 led astray by men wishing to excite discontent ; 
 and how advantageous it would be for both 
 countries to forget antient grievances and antient 
 animosities, and proceed forward for the future 
 with a firm design of increasing mutual prospe- 
 rity, by encouraging mutual confidence. 
 
 It affords much consolation, in contemplating 
 the history of Ireland, disastrous as it is, to see 
 that the oppression it suffered was neither owing 
 to the English people nor to the English mo- 
 narchs, but to the underlings of men in power, 
 and to a bad, or rather unfortunate, arrangement 
 that prevented the two countries from coming to 
 a fair understanding. It is no less satisfactory 
 to find, that the resistance on the part of the Irish 
 never originated in a hatred to England, but to
 
 R 
 
 particular circumstances acting on active, impa- 
 tient, and irritable minds, which excited them to 
 deeds of which their enemies took the advan- 
 tage ; at the same time it must be admitted, 
 that there has not been that firmness, united 
 with moderation, in the Irish people, which forms 
 so admirable a part of the English character. 
 
 This assertion is not made with the smallest 
 intention of depreciating the Irish character, or 
 exalting that of the English nation, but with a 
 serious wish of impressing on the Irish people 
 an idea of the necessity of being firm and mode- 
 rate when any point is intended to be gained. 
 
 As one very recent and striking example in 
 the case of the Roman Catholic petition, at this 
 moment in London, in order to be presented to 
 his Majesty, we see, from the able letter of Lord 
 Grenville to the Earl of Fingall, that the Ca- 
 tholics, who boast of being the majority in Ire- 
 land, are neither quite moderate nor consistent 
 in their claims. They pretend to aim simply at 
 an equality of rights with Protestants, which, 
 considering all circumstances, is certainly suffi- 
 cient ; but in doing so, they, perhaps through 
 inadvertency, or not noticing the great impro- 
 priety of the demand, ask that the bishops 
 should be nominated without any controul on 
 the part of his Majesty, which is, in the first 
 place, asking for themselves an independence of
 
 £5 
 
 the Sovereign, which the Established Church 
 never aimed at possessing. This is asking more 
 than they profess to ask, and far more than they 
 claim a right to demand ; and, at the same time, 
 is shewing that they want confidence in their 
 Sovereign, which, to shew in a petition, which 
 they hope graciously to be granted, looks as if 
 they wanted to secure a refusal. 
 
 On this subject Lord Grenville writes with 
 great propriety and justice, abstaining carefully 
 from that asperity which might have been ex- 
 cusable in his Lordship, as he had himself been 
 the best friend of the Roman Catholics, and 
 acted as their organ when they professed not to 
 ask any such superiority over every branch of 
 the Christian religion*. 
 
 * The following Extracts from Lord Grenville's excellent Letter 
 to the Earl of Fingall, dated 22d January, 1810, will set this 
 matter in its proper light, which is given here, that it may re- 
 main upon record : 
 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 ** I have the honour to address this Letter to your Lordship, 
 in reply to that which I received from you, respecting the peti- 
 tion with which you are charged. 
 
 " I must, in the first place, assure your Lordship, that my 
 opinion remains unchanged as to the object of your petition. It 
 would be an act of undeniable wisdom and justice to communi- 
 cate to our fellow-subjects professing the Roman Catholic reli- 
 gion, the full enjoyment of our civil constitution. Such a mea- 
 sure, accompanied by suitable arrangements maturely prepared, 
 
 K
 
 66 
 
 It is, howerer, absurd to suppose, that this is 
 demanded inadvertently; it has some meaning 
 and ultimate aim, which is disavowed in the ge- 
 neral declaration of only wishing to be put upon 
 
 and deliberately adopted, would, I am confident, above all other*, 
 give strength and unity to the empire, and increased security to 
 its religions and civil establishments. Your Lordship is well 
 aware, that on this conviction only have I supported it. To 
 those establishments I am unalterably attached j their inviolable 
 maintenance I have ever considered as essential to all the dearest 
 interests of my country. 
 
 " I have twice already, at the request of the Gatholies of Ire- 
 land, moved the House of Lords to take the subject into consi- 
 deration. I did not in either case think myself responsible for 
 your determination as to the time of agitating the question ; a 
 determination which, in the first instance, I had not suggested, 
 and which, in the last, I had in my place in Parliament publicly 
 dissuaded : but recent events had in both cases imposed upon me 
 a peculiar duty, not merely for my own honour, but in justice 
 also to your cause, to prove by my conduct, on the earliest oc- 
 casion afforded by yourselves, that no change of public situation, 
 no prejudice, no calumny, no clamour, could either vary or sup- 
 press my opinions on this great national question. This duty 
 has, I trust, been fully satisfied. 
 
 " Circumstanced as this question now is, both in England and 
 in Ireland, it is my deliberate opinion, that no motion grounded 
 on ) our petition could at this time, in any hands, certainly not 
 in mine, be brought forward without great and permanent disad- 
 vantages to its object. 
 
 " This opinion is founded, not only on the present known dis- 
 positions of Government and Parliament, but also on the unex- 
 pected difficulties which have arisen in Ireland, oft tha impres*
 
 67 
 
 the same footing with Protestants. When the 
 French Revolution began, the famous Abbe 
 Sieves wrote a pamphlet, to which he owed his 
 celebrity, and the Revolution its first great im- 
 
 sibns which they may too probably create, and on the embarrass* 
 merits which they unavoidably produce. 
 
 ? Many circumstances compel me to speak to your Lordship 
 more at large of the recent proceeding* in Ireland; with refer- 
 ence both to their origin and to their consequences. For this 
 purpose I must beg leave to recal to your Lordship's recollection 
 the grounds on which the consideration of these petitions has 
 uniformly been recommended to Parliament. That which you 
 have asked, and which has been supported by the greatest States- 
 man of our time, now no more, is not in its nature a single or 
 unconnected measure. Its objects are, the peace and happiness 
 of Ireland, and the union of the empire in affection as well as in 
 government. Vain indeed would be the hope of accomplishing 
 such purposes, solely by the repeal of a few partial disqualifica- 
 tions, remaining by a strange anomaly amidst the ruins of a 
 whole code of proscription. To impute to you this visionary 
 pretension, has been the artifices of your opponents. The views 
 of your friends have been more enlarged. 
 
 " With the just and salutary extension of civil rights to your 
 body must be combined, if tranquillity and union be our object, 
 other extensive and complicated arrangements. All due provi- 
 sion must be made for the inviolable maintenance of the religious 
 and civil establishments of this united kingdom ; much must be 
 done for mutual conciliation, much for common safety, many 
 contending interests must be reconciled, many jealousies allayed, 
 many long-cherished and mutual destructive prejudices eradi- 
 cated. 
 
 " Such at least has always been my own declared opinion.*— 
 K 2
 
 68 
 
 pulse, in which he claimed for the Tiers Etat 
 (that is, the people at large) a participation of 
 power with the other orders, the clergy and no- 
 bility. What, said the crafty priest, is the Tiers 
 
 When this matter was last under the consideration of Parliament, 
 I had occasion to dwell with particular earnestness on this neces- 
 sity ; I invited the suggestions of others for providing for it ; and 
 I enumerated several measures which eight years belore bad been 
 in the contemplation of the government of which I then formed 
 a part, and in conjunction with which I had cherished the Tain 
 hope of rendering this great service to my country. 
 
 " Among these measures, I pointed out the proposal of vesting in. 
 the crown an effectual negative on the appointment of your Bishops. 
 That suggestion had previously been brought forward in the 
 House of Commons, to meet the just expectations, not of any 
 bigotted or interested champions of intolerance, but of men of the 
 purest intentions and most enlightened judgment — men willing to 
 do all justice to the loyalty of your present bishops, but not un- 
 reasonably alarmed at any possibility by which functions of such 
 extensive influence might hereafter be connected with a foreign 
 interest hostile to the tranquillity ©f your country : A danger re- 
 cently very much increased by the captivity and deposal of the 
 head of your church, by the seizure of his dominions, and by the 
 declared intention of that hostile government to assume in future 
 the exclusive nomination of his successors. The suggestion thus 
 opened to Parliament, produced there impressions highly favour- 
 able to your cause ; it was received as the surest indication of 
 those dispositions without which all concession must be nuga- 
 tory, and all conciliation hopeless. To my mind it had been re- 
 commended by long reflection. It had formed a part of the 
 original conception of those measures as consequent upon the 
 Union. It wag now again brought forward with the concurrence
 
 69 
 
 Etat ? — Politically Nothing — physically Every 
 Thing — yet it only aspires to be Something ! 
 
 This modest demand of being Something con- 
 cealed the ambitious project of swallowing up 
 
 of the two individuals from whose opinions those generally pre- 
 valent among your body might best be inferred; of the agent of 
 the very persons to whose office it related ; and of your Lord- 
 ship, to whom, in addition to every other claim to respect and 
 confidence, the exclusive charge of the petition had recently 
 been committed. What I said on the subject, in the House of 
 Lords, teas spoken in the hearing of both ; and I received from 
 both, while the impression was yet recent on your minds, the most 
 gratifying acknowledgments of your satisfaction in all that I had 
 stated. 
 
 " It was never, I believe, imagined by any of us, that what 
 then passed could be binding on the opinions of the petitioners. 
 The Roman Catholics of Ireland are not a corporate body. They 
 speak through no common organ. Their various wishes and 
 interests, like those of their fellow-subjects, can be collected only 
 from general information ; and any opinions erroneously attri- 
 buted to them, they, like all other persons, are fully entitled to 
 disclaim. 
 
 " I learnt, however, with deep and heartfelt regret, the subse- 
 quent proceedings which took place in Ireland, in consequence of this 
 suggestion. To discuss the grounds of those proceedings would 
 be foreign from my present purpose. Their effect obviously must 
 be not only to revive expiring prejudices, but to clog with fresh 
 embarrassments every future discussion of any of the measures 
 connected with your petitions. To myself unquestionably the 
 difficulty of originating at this time any fresh discussion respect- 
 ing those measures, does, in such circumstances, appear almost 
 insuperable.
 
 70 
 
 the other orders ; but the Jesuit concealed his aim 
 till he had obtained sufficient force to dispense 
 with argument. The Irish Roman Catholics are 
 more open, or at Jeast they are less dangerously 
 
 " Let me not, however, be misunderstood. When I speak of 
 the necessity of combining with tfie accomplishment of your 
 wishes provisions of just security to others, I am no less desirous 
 ©f consulting every reasonable apprehension on your part. 
 
 " To the forms indeed of those securities I attach compara- 
 tively little importance. A pertinacious adherence to such de» 
 tails, in opposition even to groundless prejudice, I consider as the 
 reverse of legislative wisdom. I look only to their substantial 
 purposes ; the safety of our own establishments, the mutual good- 
 will of all our fellow-subjects, and the harmony of the united 
 kingdom. 
 
 " That adequate arrangements may be made for all these pur* 
 poses, consistently with the strictest adherence on your part to 
 your own religious tenets, is the persuasion which you have long 
 been labouring to establish, and of which I have uniformly pro- 
 fessed my own conviction. 
 
 " Were it otherwise, I should indeed despair. But that these 
 objects may be reconciled, in so far at least as respects the ap- 
 pointment of your bishops, is known with undeniable certainty* 
 It is proved by the acquiescence of your church in similar ar- 
 rangements under other governments, by the sentiments which 
 many of yourselves still entertain as to the proposal suggested in 
 1808, and most of all by the express consent formerly given to 
 that proposal by the most considerable of your own bishops. 
 
 ** I see, therefore, in the present state of the subject, much 
 unexpected embarrassment, and many difficulties, which renewed 
 discussion, in the present moment, must, instead of soothing, 
 inevitably aggravate. There is, however, no ground for ultimate
 
 71 
 
 circumspect ; for although they begin with a de- 
 mand which appears reasonable, yet they do not 
 wait till they have obtained that, but, without 
 waiting, go a length that is neither prudent, nor 
 
 discouragement. The sentiment of reciprocal confidence, the 
 spirit of mutual conciliation, would surmount far greater ob- 
 stacles. 
 
 *' To Parliament, when any more favourable conjuncture for 
 this discussion shall arise, every information may properly be 
 supplied, every wish imparted, every apprehension communicated. 
 There only, by a systematic and comprehensive arrangement, 
 can all the various difficulties be surmounted, which on every 
 side embarrass this extensive subject. To be effective and per- 
 manent, such an arrangement must be mutually satisfactory. 
 
 * This is alike the interest of every member of the British 
 empire, but to none more important than to the Catholics of 
 Ireland. The stability of all your civil rights, both of those 
 which you already enjoy, and of those to which you seek to he 
 admitted, essentially depends on the tranquillity and harmony of 
 your country, on banishing from it every hostile influence, and 
 composing all its internal differences. 
 
 " These opinions I have expressed to your Lordship with the 
 freedom of a tried and zealous advocate of your cause. On these 
 grounds alone have I ever attempted to do justice to it. To have 
 argued it on any other would have been a dereliction of my own 
 principles. 
 
 " I need hardly add, that by the same principles my present 
 conduct must equally continue to be directed. Should the peti- 
 tioners continue to entertain the desire cenveyed in your Lord- 
 ship's letter, that I should lay this petition upon the table of the 
 House of Lords, with that request I cannot hesitate to comply. 
 It would be highly improper to deny to such a body of men the
 
 72 
 
 decorous, nor just. It is imprudent to ask for 
 independence where the Established Church has 
 it not. Indecorous to insult the Sovereign by 
 declaring mistrust at the same time that they 
 demand favour and confidence ; and unjust to 
 found a demand of preference on the avowal of 
 
 opportunity of submitting, through my hands, if they should so 
 desire it, and at their own time, their wishes to the legislature 
 of their country. It would be still more inexcusable in a case 
 where all my opinions and all my wishes are favourable to the 
 object of their application. On the measure itself, if any motion 
 respecting it be originated by others, I shall not fail to urge, 
 with unabated earnestness, all the same sentiments which I have 
 detailed in this letter. But I must with equal explicitness de- 
 cline to be myself, at this time, and under so many circumstances 
 of such peculiar disadvantage to your cause, the mover of any 
 such proposition. I am satisfied, that by this decision I shall 
 best promote the ultimate success of that great work which I have 
 long laboured to accomplish. My reasons for this persuasion I 
 have, I trust, sufficiently explained. They may be erroneous ; 
 they are at least sincere. 
 
 " To the principle of equal laws, to the great object of na- 
 tional conciliation, I am invariably attached. By me, they shall 
 never be abandoned. But any personal exertions which I can 
 make for the purpose of such inestimable benefit to my country, 
 must ever be regulated by that discretion, which I am equally 
 determined, in every situation, to reserve unfettered by previous 
 engagements, and the faithful exercise of which my public duty 
 imperatively forbids me to relinquish. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 (Signed) Grenville;" 
 
 « Earl of Fingail."
 
 73 
 
 only aiming at equality. It is this want of firm- 
 ness, moderation, and prudence, that has done 
 so much harm to the Irish nation. It occasions 
 disappointment and discontent on the one hand, 
 while it excites mistrust on the other. What 
 honest man, who is not in the secret, can help 
 suspecting that there is some plan not avowed, 
 connected with objecting to his Majesty having 
 a veto With respect to Catholic bishops, when he 
 not only has a veto, but the nomination of all the 
 Protestant bishops ? 
 
 In carrying the measure of the Union, Mr. 
 Pitt, to avoid difficulties and delays, resolved 
 not to introduce any stipulation for the Catho- 
 lics, but reserve that measure for the Imperial 
 Parliament. He sent over, therefore, to Lord 
 Cornwallis the following communications to be 
 made to some of the Catholic body. The paper 
 bespeaks the inducements under which many of 
 the Catholics were prevailed upon to support the 
 Union ; and its authenticity is verified by a letter 
 from Lord Cornwallis to Francis Plowden, Esq., 
 of the 8th April, 1805 : 
 
 V The leading part of his Majesty's ministers, 
 finding insurmountable obstacles to the bring- 
 ing forward measures of concession to the Ca- 
 tholic body, whilst in office, have felt it impos- 
 sible to continue in administration under the 
 inability to propose it with . the circumstances 
 
 L
 
 74 
 
 necessary to carrying the measure with all its 
 advantages, and they have retired from his Ma- 
 jesty's service .; considering this line of conduct 
 as most likely to contribute to its ultimate suc- 
 cess. The Catholic body will, therefore, see how 
 much their future hopes must depend upon 
 strengthening their cause by good conduct in 
 the meau time;, they will prudently consider 
 their prospects as arising from the persons who 
 now espouse their interests, and compare them 
 with those which they would look to from any 
 other quarter ; they may with confidence rely.on 
 the zealous support of all those who retire, and 
 of many who remain in office, when it can be 
 given with a prospect of success. They may be 
 assured that Mr. Pitt will do his utmost to esta- 
 blish their cause in the public favour, and pre- 
 pare the way for finally attaining their objects ; 
 and the Catholics will feel, that as. Mr. Pitt could 
 not concur in a hopeless attempt to force it now, 
 lie must at all times repress with the same deci- 
 sion as if he held an adverse opinion, any un- 
 constitutional conduct in the Catholic body. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, it cannot he 
 doubted, that the Catholics will take the mos$ 
 Joyal) dutiful, and patient line of conduct ; that 
 they will not suffer themselves to be led into 
 measures which can, by any construction, give 
 a handle to the opposers of their wishes, either
 
 b 
 
 to misinterpret their principles, or to raise an 
 argument ior resisting their claims ; but that by 
 their prudent aiid exemplar)* demeanour they will 
 afford additional grounds to the growing num- 
 ber of their advocates to enforce their claims on 
 proper occasions, until their objects can be fi- 
 nally and advantageously attained." 
 
 ■ . . 
 Tlie Sentiments of a sincere Friend (i..e. Marquis 
 
 orit (j Cornwallis) totke^ptlt^lic Claims, n q } )nR 
 
 t: If the Catholics should now proceed' to vio- 
 lence, or entertain any ideas of gaining their 
 object by convulsive measures, or forming asso- 
 ciations with men of Jacobinical principles, they 
 must of course lose the support and aid of those 
 who have sacrificed their own situations in their 
 cause, but, who would at the same time feel it 
 to be their inclispensible duty to oppose every 
 thing; tending to confusion. 
 
 " On the other hand, should the Catholics be 
 sensible of the benefit they possess, by haying 
 so many characters of eminence pledged hot to 
 embark in the service of government, except on 
 the terms of the Catholic privileges being ob- 
 tained, it is to be hoped, that on balancing the 
 advantages and disadvantages of their situation, 
 they would prefer a quiet and peaceable de- 
 meanour to any line of conduct of an opposite 
 description." 
 
 h 3
 
 70 
 
 • TiW originals of these two declarations were 
 handed to Dr. Troy,' and afterwards to Lord 
 Fingall, on the same day, by Marquis Cornwal- 
 Us, in the presence of Lieutenant-Colonel Little- 
 haies, in the beginning of May, 1801, a short 
 time before his quitting the government of Ire- 
 land, and before the arrival of Lord Hardwicke, 
 his successor. His Excellency desired they should 
 be with discretion communicated to the bishops 
 and principal Catholics, but not inserted in the 
 newspapers. They appeared, nevertheless, in 
 the English prints soon afterwards, , and were 
 from thence copied into the Irish papers. 
 
 When the Union was completed, the following 
 Address was presented to his Majesty ; 
 
 " Most Gracious Sovereign, 
 
 v We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal 
 
 subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 
 
 Commons in Parliament assembled, humbly beg 
 
 leave to assure your Majesty, that we have pro- 
 
 ceeded with the utmost attention to the consi- 
 
 on b^u , . • . 
 
 deration of the important subjects recommended 
 
 to us in your Majesty s message respecting the 
 connection between this country and Ireland. 
 
 •* We entertain a firm persuasion that a com- 
 plete and entire Union between Great Britain 
 and Ireland, founded on equal and liberal prin- 
 ciples, on the similarity of laws, constitution,
 
 77 
 
 and government, and on a sense of mutual in- 
 terests and affections, by promoting the security, 
 wealth, and commerce of the respective king- 
 doms, and by allaying the distractions which 
 have unhappily prevailed in Ireland, must afford 
 fresh means of opposing at all times an effectual 
 resistance to the destructive projects of our fo- 
 reign and domestic enemies, and must tend to 
 confirm and augment the stability, power, and 
 resources of the empire. 
 
 " Impressed with these considerations, we feel 
 it our duty humbly to lay before your Majesty 
 such propositions as appear to us best calculated 
 to form the basis of such a settlement, leaving 
 it to your Majesty's wisdom, at such time and 
 in su/qh manner as your Majesty, in your pater- 
 nal solicitude for the happiness of your people; 
 shall judge fit, to communicate these proposi- 
 tions to your Parliament of Ireland, with whom 
 we shall be at all times ready to concur in all 
 such measures as may be found most conducive 
 to the accomplishment of this great and salu- 
 tary work. And we trust, that, after full and 
 mature consideration, such a settlement may be 
 framed and established by the deliberate con- 
 sent of the Parliaments of both kingdoms, as 
 may be conformable to the sentiments, wishes, 
 and real interests of your Majesty's faithful sub- 
 jects of Great Britain and Ireland, and may
 
 7S 
 
 unite them inseparably in the full enjoyment of 
 the blessings of our free and invaluable consti- 
 tution, in the support of the honour and dignity 
 of your Majesty's crown, and in the preservation 
 and advancement of the welfare and prosperity 
 of the whole British empire." 
 
 If the whole history of Ireland, from its first 
 connection with England till the end of the late 
 rebellion, was not a proof of the impracticabi- 
 lity of rendering Ireland happy, without a ra- 
 dical change in the connection, the words con- 
 tained in this address might be ascribed to po- 
 licy, and not to conviction ; but the experience 
 of six centuries having constantly proved the 
 same difficulty of governing Ireland in such a 
 manner as to render it free and happy ; and far- 
 ther, the late rebellion, so soon after great ame- 
 liorations had taken place, proves, beyond a 
 shadow of doubt, that whoever fairly considered 
 the measure of the Union, must have seen* that 
 the interest of Ireland imperiously demanded it. 
 It demanded something great; something imme- 
 diate, and something effectual, and of this de- 
 scription there were only two measures— the 
 Union, and the admission of Roman Catholics 
 to all the privileges of those belonging to the 
 English church establishment. >d ^«m 
 
 Of these two measures the Union necessarily 
 j^iust come first, supposing both to come, an§|
 
 09 
 
 so Lord Grenville said when he opened the busi- 
 ness, and so he has continued to say. The Ca- 
 tholic claims could never be listened to with 
 safety until the Union was efleeted, and yet it 
 so happens that those who are the most vocifer- 
 ous for the one, are the most vehement against 
 the other; a circumstance for which it is very 
 difficult to account on any other principle than 
 that of party-feeling, which naturally and con- 
 stantly leads an opposition to whatever is known 
 to be the will or the wish of government. That 
 those people are not the best friends to Ireland 
 has been already shewn. They were the most 
 jealous of the advantages she obtained by the 
 Union ; and showed much less liberality to Ire- 
 land, either political or commercial, than Mr. 
 Pitt and those persons did with whom he acted, 
 and who were so generally, indiscriminately, 
 and constantly, accused of being actuated with 
 a desire of domineering over Ireland. 
 
 It has been shown, by the letter to Lord Corn- 
 wallis; that Mr. Pitt did intend to make the 
 Union a preliminary step towards giving farther 
 privileges to the Catholics ; and as this intention 
 was kuown to those who assisted him in carry- 
 ing that measure, we necessarily must give all 
 of them credit for participating in that wish. 
 
 As to the second measure not yet having been 
 brought to bear, it is no^ a subject to be agi-
 
 80 
 
 tated here; all that is necessary being to prove, 
 that the Union was a necessary preliminary step 
 towards favouring the Catholics, as well as being 
 Ihe only other great measure that remained to 
 be adopted for the benefit of Ireland. 
 
 From every view of the matter, we must ad- 
 mit, that the Union was well intended and well 
 arranged for the benefit and happiness of Ire- 
 land, the following points having been esta- 
 blished : 
 
 1st, That after the experience of six centuries, 
 and particularly after the ameliorations brought 
 about in Ireland in 1780, there could be no 
 hope of rendering Ireland happy without some 
 great measure that might unite it firmly with 
 England, seeing that discontent never had been 
 greater than after the amelioration of 1780. 
 
 <2d, That from the example of the Union with 
 Scotland, as well as from many other causes, 
 there was reason to expect a moVe beneficial re- 
 sult from an Union than from any other measure. 
 * 3d; That in bringing the Union to bear, the 
 Britisn ministry was actuated by so kind a spirit 
 towards the Irish nation, that the same persons 
 who Opposed the Union as an unwise measure, 
 were jealous and alarmed on account of the ad- 
 vantages granted to that country *. 
 
 * The number of mernbers being one hundred, twenty of whom, 
 niight hold places, vre have seen was objected to as treating Ire-
 
 8! 
 
 4th, That the civil incapacities complained <5f 
 by the Roman Catholics could not have been re- 
 dressed with any degree of safety without. the 
 Union ; but that when some temporary obstacles 
 that still remain are removed, the Catholics may 
 expect an alteration ; at least that the alteration 
 they want is rendered much more safe and prac- 
 ticable by the Union. 
 
 5th, That there has not yet been time to expe- 
 rience the advantages of the Union, though the 
 inconvenience and loss with which it is attended 
 were, as in Scotland, felt instantly ; that in all 
 such cases the disadvantages are immediate, the 
 advantage, though permanent, is distant, which 
 occasions discontent at the first, through impa- 
 tience or want of consideration. 
 
 6th, That, for all these reasons, it appears, 
 that the Union was wise and well intended ; and 
 that the British ministry *, and those who sup- 
 land better than England or Scotland, which proves that the 
 friends of the Union were actuated by greater good will towards 
 Ireland than those who opposed the measure. 
 
 * Lord Grenville's and Lord Clare's speeches are proofs both of 
 the measure and the dsiposition of those who proposed it. Those 
 speeches leave no doubt that they considered the Union as pre- 
 paring the way, sooner or later, for Ireland to enjoy every advan- 
 tage in common with England, which is indeed all she ever can 
 aspire to attain ; but if it were a fit place here to enter upon that 
 part of the subject, it would be easy to show, that with the low 
 rate of taxation, compared with England, the great fertility of 
 
 M
 
 82 
 
 ported them in the measure, were the true friends 
 
 pf Ireland ; and that the Irish peers in particular 
 
 merit the esteem and gratitude of their country, 
 
 as having sustained a great loss in point of pol- 
 i- 
 tical importance by that measure. 
 
 Such are the conclusions that it is fair to draw 
 from the consideration of the Union, taking it 
 in every point of view, and without the smallest 
 respect of parties. 
 
 The practice of courting popular favour by 
 painting things in the blackest colours, and at- 
 
 Ireland, and a fair participation of the trade of England, the ad- 
 vantages will remain on the side of Ireland, notwithstanding the 
 absentees which have been such a cause of discontent for several 
 centuries. It is unfortunate that certain subjects of discontent 
 have been greatly magnified by able writers, who have boasted 
 their love for the people, but none of whom have ever tried to 
 give the people satisfaction, by enumerating their advantages. It 
 is a singular enough thing that men are inclined to think those 
 who make them unhappy in the mind (by painting their distress), 
 are friends, and give them thanks, when it is clear that the mental 
 tormentor n worse than one who inflicts bodily pain, or deprives 
 us of some degree of bodily comfort; yet such are treated as ene- 
 mies, and punished severely. We all laugh at the mode which 
 the methpdist preachers please their congregation, by preaching 
 up the certainty of the most terrible torments. We consider 
 this as great weakness in the audience, particularly as the Great 
 Founder of Christianity preached hope, and warned his disciples 
 against despair. The absurdity of patriots and peliticians who 
 delight in hearing that their country is ruined, and that all great 
 and rich men aie rascals, is equally ridiculous.
 
 i 
 
 83 
 
 tributins; the actions of men to the most inter- 
 ested motives, is very prevalent, to the no small 
 digrace and misfortune of mankind. It is dis- 
 graceful, because malignity is evidently con- 
 cerned in the business, and unfortunate, because 
 it makes people less happy than they would 
 otherwise be, and sometimes, in addition to the 
 mental sufferance, brings on acts of resistance 
 to power and revolt against authority. No coun- 
 try has suffered more from the arts used to 
 excite discontent than Ireland ; and the measure 
 of the Union, and conduct of those who brought 
 it about, have been severely arraigned, with 
 what degree of justice we have endeavoured to 
 shew, though that species of consoling calcula- 
 tion is not the way to please the generality of 
 readers. 
 
 It now only remains to make some observations 
 relative to the peculiar sacrifices that the peers of 
 Ireland made by the Union. 
 
 In speaking of the Union with Scotland, it was 
 observed, that the Scottish Peers were the only 
 «lass of men who lost personally by the Union ; 
 and the same observation applies with equal 
 truth to the Peers of Ireland, who are more nu- 
 merous in proportion to the number who do not 
 
 sit in the British House than those of Scotland. 
 
 ... 
 In addition to this great disadvantage to the 
 
 Peers of Ireland, the number is always to be kept 
 
 M 2
 
 84 
 
 up at nearly its present state. This is a disad- 
 vantage in reversion, if such an expression may 
 be used, in as much as that the individual Peers 
 of Scotland, whose families do not become extinct, 
 Will, in the end,' all have a right to sit in the Bri- 
 tish Parliament, whereas those of Ireland never 
 can have any such expectation. Even the little 
 remnant of hope and of importance that is left to 
 the Peers of Scotland, by their elections every 
 new Parliament, the Peers of Ireland surrendered 
 for the patriotic purpose of remedying one of the 
 imperfections of the Union with Scotland, that of 
 sending elective Peers into the British House. 
 However we look at this great arrangement of 
 e Union, we see that it was founded in necessity, 
 planned with wisdom, and supported by the real 
 friends of Ireland, amongst whom the Irish Peers 
 certainly stand the first upon the list, whether we 
 consider their exertion in the cause of their coun^ 
 try, or their readiness to sacrifice their individual 
 
 Jl 1 T "I 
 
 interest to the public good. 
 
 That the situation of the people of Ireland ad- 
 mits of and requires amelioration, is certain ; and 
 in this the peers and' gentry can do much, and it 
 is highly for their interest as individuals to pay 
 attention to the subject. 
 
 Until the Union, many embarrassments and 
 obstacles stood in the way of improvement, which 
 
 the legislature alone could remove ; but now the 
 
 • 
 
 9 M 
 
 .-■
 
 obstacles are of a sort to be best removed by the 
 proprietors of the soil. 
 
 Many of the nobility of Ireland have travelled 
 abroad, and those who have not travelled know 
 from reading, that Spain, Italy, France, and even 
 the fertile Flanders, are poor in comparison of 
 England and Holland. They were formerly easy 
 and rich, not in the proportion of the richness of 
 tlie soil, or natural good situation of the country, 
 but in proportion to their attention to arts and 
 industry. Capital, and attention to the brin<r- 
 in»- up of youth, are all wanted, under a good „ Q _ 
 rernment, for the prosperity of a nation; and it 
 is easily in the power of the Irish nobility and 
 gentry to enrich their country, to which nature 
 has been very bountiful, in soil, climate, and an 
 active and stout race of inhabitants ; so that the 
 basis is laid by nature: and the Union giving 
 freedom of trade, and insuring the same degree 
 of liberty to Ireland as to England, nothing re- 
 mains but what depends on their own will and 
 exertions to make Ireland a rich, happy, and 
 nourishing country. 
 
 Of late years much has been written on the 
 means by which nations obtain wealth. It is 
 now a regular branch of study ; besides this, 
 England may very well serve as a pattern to copy 
 from in trying to become wealthy. 
 
 Mr. Burke, one of the most profound and in,
 
 86 
 
 genious writers of a late period, has made the 
 following interesting observation on the prospe- 
 rity of nations : 
 
 " In all speculations upon men and human af- 
 fairs, it is of no small moment to distinguish 
 things of accident from permanent causes, and 
 from effects that cannot be altered. 1 am not 
 quite of the mind of those speculators who seem 
 assured, that necessarily, and by the constitution 
 of things, all states have the same period of in- 
 fancy, manhood, and decrepitude, that are found 
 in the individuals who compose them ; the ob- 
 jects which are attempted to be forced into an 
 analogy are not founded in the same classes of 
 existence. Individuals are physical beings, sub- 
 ject to laws universal and invariable ; but com- 
 monwealths are not physical but moral essences ; 
 they are artificial combinations, and in their 
 proximate efficient cause, the arbitrary produc < 
 tions of the human mind : we are not yet ac- 
 quainted with the laws which necessarily influ- 
 ence that kind of work, made by that kind of 
 agent. 
 
 " There is not in the physical order a distinct 
 cause by which any of those fabrics must neces- 
 sarily grow, flourish, and decay ; nor indeed, in 
 my opinion, does the moral world produce any 
 thing more determinate on that subject, than 
 what may serve as an amusement (liberal indeed
 
 87 
 
 and ingenious, but still only an amusement) for 
 speculative men ; I doubt whether the history of 
 mankind is yet complete enough, if ever it can 
 be so, to furnish grounds for a sure theory on the 
 internal causes which necessarily affect the for- 
 tune of a state. I am far from denying the ope- 
 ration of such causes, but they are infinitely un- 
 certain, and much more obscure, and much more 
 difficult to trace, than the foreign causes that 
 tend to depress and sometimes overwhelm so- 
 ciety." 
 
 Does not the sun rise, and do not the seasons 
 return to the plains of Egypt, and the desarts of 
 Syria, the same as they did three thousand year$ 
 ago ? Is not inanimate nature the same now as it 
 was then ? Are the principles of vegetation alter- 
 ed, or have the subordinate animals refused to 
 obey the will of man, to assist him in his labour, 
 or to serve him for his food ? No ; nature is not 
 less bountiful, and man has more knowledge and 
 more power than at any former period ; but it 
 is not the man of Syria or of Egypt that has more 
 knowledge or more power. There he has suffer- 
 ed his race to degenerate, and, along with him- 
 self, his works have fallen into decay. 
 
 When those countries were peopled with men, 
 who were wise, prudent, industrious, and brave, 
 their fields were fertile, and their cities were 
 magnificent ; and wherever mankind have car-
 
 ried the same vigour, the same virtues, and the 
 same character, nature has been found bountiful 
 and obedient. 
 
 Throughout the whole earth we see the same 
 causes producing nearly the same effects ; why 
 then do we remain in doubt respecting their con- 
 nection ; or, if under no doubt, wherefore do we 
 not endeavour to trace their operation, that we 
 may know how to procure or to preserve those 
 advantages which we are so eager to obtain ? 
 
 It is in the exertion and conduct of man, and 
 in the information of his mind, that we find the 
 causes of the mutability of human affairs. We 
 have before us the history of three thousand 
 years, and of nations tjiat have risen to wealth 
 and power, in a great variety of situations, all 
 terminating with a considerable degree of simi- 
 larity, from which we may discover the great 
 outlines of the causes that invigorate or degrade 
 tbe human mind, and thereby raise or ruin states 
 and empires. 
 
 Ireland is a country that, it we judge from 
 what we have before us, only requires the atten- 
 tion and encouragement of the great proprietors 
 in order to make it a most flourishing coun- 
 try. 
 
 Let the lower classes of inhabitants be bred to 
 industry from their youth — let agriculture and 
 manufactures be encouraged, and it will be one
 
 89 
 
 of the finest count ries in the world. Then will 
 the blessings of the Union be felt. The people 
 of Ireland, like all human beings, have faults : 
 but they are kind hearted, and only require to be 
 used kindly, and assisted in their endeavours to 
 promote industry in their country. 
 
 But as the history of Ireland, from the earliest 
 period of its authenticity, shows that the narure 
 of the people is such, that, feeling generously 
 themselves, they are very susceptible of ill usage, 
 and very impatient under its operation, great 
 mischiefs have been occasioned by incendiary 
 writers, exciting discontent ; which practice still 
 continues, and there is no termination to imagin- 
 ary evils, whilst the imagination continues to be 
 acted upon. 
 
 Instead of those persons who by writings and 
 speeches excite discontent being considered as 
 patriots, they ought to be held as the enemies of 
 their country ; and though the press is free for 
 remarks, yet they who convert it to a bad pur- 
 pose ought to be punished when the law reaches 
 them, and treated with contempt, and discoura- 
 ged, when they cannot be legally brought to pu- 
 nishment. The practice of considering every dis- 
 contented man as a lover of his country, is pro- 
 ductive of great evil ; for no man or nation can 
 be happy, if any one has art and argument 
 enough to persuade them that they are miser- 
 
 V
 
 90 
 
 -> 
 
 able. Ireland has suffered much from this, and 
 still continues to suffer much *. 
 
 Before I finish this last address relative to the 
 Peerage, I have only to observe, that the wish of 
 those who seek a radical reform is to abolish the 
 Peerage, and it becomes every day more and more 
 evident. It has been said in Parliament, by one 
 of those who is a principal leader of reform, that 
 the House of Commons is only one branch of the 
 legislature. This is so true, and so well known, 
 that the observation could only be intended to 
 point, on a future day, at a reform in the other 
 House. Where, indeed, is the influence of Peers 
 in a few elections ^dangerous, if they are good 
 men themselves ? And if their interference at se- 
 cond hand, with a few of the CommonSj is so 
 much hated, how much more must their full and 
 complete power of negativing any act of that 
 House, give offence? The Reformers attack not 
 what they hate most, but what they find offers 
 the most chance of success, and from one step 
 they go to another, till they have equal repre- 
 
 * An intelligent gentleman, lately from Ireland, admitted, that 
 the country has become more prosperous since the Union ; but 
 then he added, in the same breath, " It is as if it were in spite of 
 the Union, and certainly not in consequence of it." So strong is 
 the effect of prejudging a question. That gentleman is not sin- 
 gular in his way of thinking, although it must be admitted that 
 the mode of thinking is itself of a nature abundantly singular.
 
 91 
 
 sentation and equality of ranks with an elective 
 senate. It is of little importance what is de- 
 manded at Jirst, if it be such as to bring them 
 to what is wanted at last ; and it is to be much 
 feared that the most moderate reform would lead 
 to the same result only by a more circuitous 
 route. It might be a few years later, but it 
 would not be the less certain, and perhaps one 
 of the strongest reasons why it is dangerous to 
 touch the House of Commons, is, that though we 
 feel the evils that exist, we know also their extent. 
 \^e know, that as nothing is perfect, it is of great 
 consequence to be acquainted with the nature 
 of the imperfection, which we cannot tell in 
 making such a change. If there were a certainty 
 that when a reasonable change was made, reform 
 would stop, that would be something ; but so far 
 is that from being certain, that it is not even pro- 
 bable, it is very unlikely, and not to be expected. 
 
 It is precisely at the moment when the most 
 serious attack is made on Parliament, but chiefly 
 on the House of Lords, that I have finished pub- 
 lishing a work that shows the merit and utility of 
 the Peers, by showing their past services, thereby 
 establishing a register to which they may at all 
 times appeal, to prove their claim to public 
 esteem and national gratitude. 
 
 That such an important work should have been 
 left so long undone, and that it should have fallen 
 
 n 2
 
 92 
 
 to the lot of a man who has not the advantage of 
 rank, fortune, or ancestory, is certainly a little 
 singular, but as it happens to be true, we must 
 only consider it as one of those strange moral phe- 
 nomena, that human nature produces, whenever 
 we see the possessor of what is valuable and in 
 danger, blind to the danger, and inattentive to 
 the value, whilst one who possesses it not, sees both 
 the value and the danger. If I have done the no* 
 bility a great service, at a needful moment, in so 
 doing I have also served my country, though not 
 on this, as on former occasions, without a view to 
 reward *, which with pleasure and gratitude I am 
 
 * In order to show that the zeal I have in the cause of distinc- 
 tion of ranks (which I take to be, if not the basis of British li- 
 berty, and our excellent constitution, at least a most necessary 
 part of it), I subjoin the following List of Books and Pamphlets 
 written by me in support of Government during the contest re- 
 specting the new theories about liberty, equality, &c. 
 
 1. A Letter to the English Whigs, showing the errors and ab- 
 surdities of the French Constitution of 1789, and predicting its 
 speedy Overthrow. Printed in Paris in May 1792, and published 
 by Lane, Leadcnhallstreet. 
 
 2. Account of the Massacre on the 10th August 1792, bringing 
 it home to the Jacobin Club. Stockdale, September the same 
 year. N. B. I was in Paris at the time. 
 
 3. State of Paper Money in France, with a Table of future De- 
 preciation, which turned out to be nearly right. December 
 1792. Stockdale. 
 
 4. Scylla more dangerous than Charybdis — shewing Demo- 
 cracy to be more dangerous than Royal Prerogative. 1794. 
 Sto«hdale.
 
 93 
 
 in full expectation of receiving from those royal 
 and noble patrons who have encouraged the 
 work. 
 
 In concluding the subject of the advantages of 
 hereditary peerage and merit of the British peers 
 I have found it necessary to anticipate some ob- 
 jections which may be raised to my Conclusion. 
 
 1st, It has been said that th« Barons, during the 
 reign of King John, only wished to stipulate for 
 themselves, and that it was the King who insisted 
 on the articles in favour of the people. 
 
 2d, It has been said, that during the reign of 
 Henry III., when the Barons compelled that mon- 
 arch to call representatives from the counties and 
 boroughs thereby creating a House of Commons, 
 
 5. Three Letters in Answer to Thomas Paine's Attack on the 
 Government Paper and Bank of England. 1795. Stockdale; and 
 Oracle Newspaper. 
 
 6. Proofs of the Ability of England to maintain the war. With 
 three Charts of Revenue, Expenditure, and Trade. 1796. Stock- 
 dale. 
 
 7. History of Jacobinism, 2 vols. 1795. Stockdale. 
 
 8. Peace with the Jacobins impossible. 1796. Stockdale. 
 
 9. Letters from Edward and Henry to the Seamen in Revolt at 
 the Nore. Printed by Burton, Little Queen-Street, and given 
 
 AWAY. 
 
 10. Defence of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, rela- 
 tive to bis Debts. Greenland and Norris, 1807. 
 
 Except the History of Jacobinism, not one was written with a 
 view to gain money. This the Publishers can tell, and I have 
 given iheir names, that it may be ascertained, if there is" doubt.
 
 94 
 
 ihey only did so to strengthen themselves, and that 
 it was not with any wish to obtain representation 
 for the people, so that (say they) we owe* no obliga- 
 tion to the nobility on those two great occasions. 
 
 I have asserted the contrary, not with any view 
 to mislead public opinion or to flatter the nobi- 
 lity but from a conviction of the truth of what I 
 have said. 
 
 In regard to the facts respecting Magna 
 Charta and the House of Commons originating 
 in the demand of the Barons there is no dispute, 
 and can be no difference of opinion. — The history 
 of England, or rather the materials for the history, 
 were chiefly compiled by churchmen, who re- 
 presented the kings and statesmen in a favour- 
 able or unfavourable way, according to the treat- 
 ment the church received from them, so that 
 though we may generally trust to what is recorded 
 as a fact, we must pay no attention whatever to 
 theiropinions, and we must judge from facts alone. 
 
 As King John signed Magna Charta by com- 
 pulsion it is quite absurd to suppose that he had 
 the power to insert an article or articles contrary 
 to the will of the Barons. — It is equally absurd 
 to suppose that the king, a man of no great 
 understanding or wisdom, could out-wit or 
 over-reach such a band of able and determined 
 fiien.— It is then indisputable, That the Barons
 
 95 
 
 inserted the articles in favour of the people in order 
 to serve the people, and with their own free will. 
 
 As to the election of the Commons, if the 
 Barons had only done that to procure aid and 
 co-operation, they would, when that was no 
 longer wanted, have shewn a desire to get rid of 
 men with whom they had shared their power in 
 a time of difficulty, but there never was the least 
 mark of such a disposition. — The fact, however, 
 is, that the Barons did not want the aid of the 
 Commons against the King. — 'They had already 
 got the victory, and the chief use they made of 
 it, was to compel the king to call up represen- 
 tatives of the people. Short of that kind of de- 
 monstration, which questions in mathematics 
 alone admit of, 1 think it is not possible to prove 
 a case more clearly ; and the general result is. 
 That the representation of the people, which ori- 
 ginated in the struggle made by the Lords has 
 gained a preponderancy in the legislature with- 
 out any hindrance from the House of Peers. 
 
 As to the rest, to say or suppose that those who 
 struggled with their kings had nothing in view but 
 the good of the people, that would be both false 
 and absurd. The were actuated by interest and 
 passion both, and sometimes unjust, (as all men 
 are) but they never tried to aggrandise themselves 
 at the expence of the people, over whom they onco
 
 had unlimited power, and with whom they divid- 
 ed their political importance, to whom, in short, 
 they gave up all their feudal authority. It is 
 therefore clear and certain that I have not gone 
 too far, or spoken without reason, when I said 
 that the nation owes a great deal to the nobility. 
 That time, and the gradual changes that have 
 taken place in arts, in science, and in manners, 
 since the Conquest would have destroyed the 
 feudal power, is not to be disputed ; but that is 
 by no means the point in question, it is sufficient 
 to prove that the Barons themselves laid the 
 foundation for the liberty of the people, and 
 that the hereditary nobility of England have 
 always with much wisdom and readiness watched 
 over the interests of the people. — They have 
 been mild and moderate in maintaining liberty, 
 when mildness and moderation would do, but 
 they have been firm and bold in times of necessi- 
 ty, and the least we can do is, to acknowledge 
 the inappreciable obligation, by admitting the 
 fact, and granting to their order that esteem and 
 consideration to which it has so great and so un- 
 doubted a claim. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 P. Stuart, Printer, 
 47, Holywell-Street, Strand, Loudon.
 
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