No More Learning

? ? ? ? 480 ON THE POLICY OF THE ALLIES.
country contribute to the support of the army, and towards defraying all the charges of the war. Thus he obtains a part of what is due to him, and the subjects
of the enemy, on submitting to this imposition, are
secured from pillage, and the country is preserved.
But a general who would not sully his reputation is
To be to moderate his contributions, and propormoderate.
tion them to those on whom they are imposed. An excess in this point is not without the
reproach of cruelty and inhumanity: if it shows less
ferocity than ravage and destruction, it glares with
avarice. " - Book III. ch. ix. ~ 165.
ASYLUM.
" IF an exile or banished man is driven from his
country for any crime, it does not belong to the nation in which he has taken refuge to punish him for
a fault committed in a foreign country. For Nature
gives to mankind and to nations the right of punishing only for their defence and safety (~ 169): whence it follows that he can only be punished by those he
has offended.
" But this reason shows, that, if the justice of
each nation ought in general to be confined to the
punishment of crimes committed in its own territories, we ought to except from this rule the villains
who, by the quality and habitual frequency of their
crimes, violate all public security, and declare themselves the enemies of the human race. Poisoners. assassins, and incendiaries by profession may be exterminated wherever they are seized; for they attack and injure all nations by trampling under foot the
foundations of their common safety. Thus pirates are
brought to the gibbet by the first into whose hands
? ? ? ? APPENDIX. 481
they fall. If the sovereign of the country where
crimes of that nature have been committed reclaims
the authors of them in order to bring them to punishment, they ought to be restored to him, as to one who
is principally interested in punishing them in an exemplary manner: and it being proper to convict the
guilty, and to try them according to some form of
law, this is a second [not sole] reason why malefactors are usually delivered up at the desire of the
state where their crimes have been committed. " -
Book I. ch. xix. ~~ 232, 233.
" Every nation has a right of refusing to admit a
stranger into the country, when he cannot enter it
without putting it in evident danger, or without doing it a remarkable prejudice. " * -Ibid. ~ 230.
FOREIGN MINISTERS.
"TIE obligation does not go so far as to suffer at
all times perpetual ministers, who are desirous of residing with a sovereign, though they have nothing to
negotiate. It is natural, indeed, and very agreeable
to the sentiments which nations owe to each other,
that these resident ministers, when there is nothing to
be fearedfrom their stay, should be friendly received;
but if there be any solid reason against this, what is
for the good of the state ought unquestionably to be
preferred: and the foreign sovereign cannot take it
amiss, if his minister, who has concluded the affairs of
his commission, and has no other affairs to negotiate,
be desired to depart. t The custom of keeping every* The third article of the Treaty of Triple Alliance and the latter part of the fourth article of the Treaty of Quadruple Alliance stipulate, that no kind of refuge or protection shall be given to rebellious subjects of the contracting powers. - EDIT.
t Dismission of M. Chauvelin. -EDIT.
VOL. IV. 31
? ? ? ? 482 ON THE POLICY OF THE ALLIES.
where ministers continually resident is now so strongly established, that the refusal of a conformity to it
would, without very good reasons, give offence. These
reasons may arise from particular conjunctures; but
there are also common reasons always subsisting, and
such as relate to the constitution of a government and
the state of a nation. The republics have often very
good reasons of the latter kind to excuse themselves
from continually suffering foreign ministers who corrupt the citizens in order to gain them over to their masters, to the great prejudice of the republic andfomenting of the parties, &c. And should they only diffuse among a nation, formerly plain, frugal, and virtuous,
a taste for luxury, avidity for money, and the manners of courts, these would be more than sufficient for
wise and provident rulers to dismiss them. " -Book
IV. ch. v. ~ 66.
END OF VOL. IV.
? ? ? The works of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke.
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797.
Boston : Little, Brown, and company, 1869.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/miun. aba1206. 0005. 001
Public Domain
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd
We have determined this work to be in the public domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address.
? ? ? THE
WO RKS
OF
THE RIGHT HONORABLE
EDM UND BUR KE,
THIRD EDITION.
VOL. V.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. I869.
? ? ? ? CONTENTS OF VOL. V.
I'AGH
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY, PARTICULARLY IN THE LAST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT, 1793 1 PREFACE TO THE ADDRESS OF M. BRISSOT TO HIS CONSTITUENTS: WITH AN APPENDIX. 65
LETTER TO WILLIAM ELLIOT, ESQ. , OCCASIONED BY A
SPEECH MADE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS BY THE ****//
OF * * * * * * ~* IN THE DEBATE CONCERNING LORD
FITZWILLIAM, 1795. 107
THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON SCARCITY. . . . 131
LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD ON THE ATTACKS MADE UPON
MR. BURKE AND HIS PENSION, IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS,
BY THE DUKE OF BEDFORD AND THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE, 1796. 171
THREE LETTERS TO A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT ON THE
PROPOSALS FOR PEACE WITH THE REGICIDE DIRECTORY
OF FRANCE.
LETTER I. ON THE OVERTURES OF PEACE. . 23a
LETTER II. ON THE GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF THE
FRENCH REVOLUTION AS IT REGARDS OTHER
NATIONS. 342
LETTER III. ON THE RUPTURE OF THE NEGOTIATION;
THE TERMS OF PEACE PROPOSED; AND THE RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY FOR THE CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 384
? ? ? ? OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY, PARTICULARLY IN THE
LAST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. ADDRESSED TO
THE DUKE OF PORTLAND AND LORD FITZWILLIAM.
I793.
VOL. V. 1
? ? ? ? LET T E R
TO
HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF PORTLAND.
MY DEAR LORD,- The paper which I take the
liberty of sending to your Grace was, for the
greater part, written during the last session. A few
days after the prorogation some few observations were
added. I was, however, resolved to let it lie by me
for a considerable time, that, on viewing the matter
at a proper distance, and when the sharpness of recent impressions had been worn off, I might be better able to form a just estimate of the value of my first opinions.
I have just now read it over very coolly and deliberately. MIy latest judgment owns my first sentiments and reasonings, in their full force, with regard both to persons and things.
During a period of four years, the state of the
world, except for some few and short intervals, has
filled me with a good deal of serious inquietude. I
considered a general war against Jacobins and Jacobinism as the only possible chance of saving Europe
(and England as included in Europe) from a truly
frightful revolution. For this I have been censured,
as receiving through weakness, or spreading through
fraud and artifice, a false alarm. Whatever others
may think of the matter, that alarm, in my mind,
is by no means quieted. The state of affairs aroad
? ? ? ? 4 LETTER TO THE DUKE OF PORTLAND.
is not so much mended as to make me, for one, full
of confidence. At home, I see no. abatement whatsoever in the zeal of the partisans of Jacobinism
towards their cause, nor any cessation in their efforts to do mischief. What is doing by Lord Lauderdale on the first scene of Lord George Gordon's actions, and in his spirit, is not calculated to remove
my apprehensions. They pursue their first object
with as much eagerness as ever, but with more dexterity. Under the plausible name of peace, by which
they delude or are deluded, they would deliver us
unarmed and defenceless to the confederation of
Jacobins, whose centre is indeed in France, but whose
rays proceed in every direction throughout the world.
I understand that Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, has been
lately very busy in spreading a disaffection to this
war (which we carry on for our being) in the country in which his property gives him so great an influence. It is truly alarming to see so large a part of the aristocratic interest engaged in the cause of the
new species of democracy, which is openly attacking
or secretly undermining the system of property by
which mankind has hitherto been governed. But we
are not to delude ourselves. No man can be connected with a party which professes publicly to admire or may be justly suspected of secretly abetting this French Revolution, who must not be drawn into
its vortex, and become the instrument of its designs.
What I have written is in the manner of apology.
I have given it that form, as being the most respectfill; but I do not stand in need of any apology for
my principles, my sentiments, or my conduct. I wish
the paper I lay before your Grace to be considered
? ? ? ? LETTER TO THE DUKE OF PORTLAND. 5
as my most deliberate, solemn, and even testamentary protest against the proceedings and doctrines
which have hitherto produced so much mischief in
the world, and which will infallibly produce more,
and possibly greater. It is my protest against the
delusion by which some have been taught to look
upon this Jacobin contest at home as an ordinary
party squabble about place or patronage, and to regard this Jacobin war abroad as a common war about
trade or territorial boundaries, or about a political balance of power among rival or jealous states. Above
all, it is my protest against that mistake or perversion of sentiment by which they who agree with us
in our principles may on collateral considerations be
regarded as enemies, and those who, ill this perilous
crisis of all human affairs, differ from us fundamentally and practically, as our best friends. Thus persons of great importance may be made to turn the whole of their influence to the destruction of their
principles.
I now make it my humble request to your Grace,
that you will not give any sort of answer to the paper I send, or to this letter, except barely to let me
know that you have received them. I even wish that
at present you may not read the paper which I transmit: lock it up in the drawer of your library-table;
and when a day of compulsory reflection comes, then
be pleased to turn to it. Then remember that your
Grace had a true friend, who had, comparatively with
men of your description, a very small interest in opposing the modern system of morality and policy,
but who, under every discouragement, was faithful
to public duty and to private friendship. I shall
then probably be dead. I am sure I do not wish
? ? ? ? 6 LETTER TO THE DUKE OF PORTLAND.
to live to see such things. But whilst I do live, I
shall pursue the same course, although my merits
should be taken for unpardonable faults, and as such
avenged, not only on myself, but on my posterity.
Adieu, my dear Lord; and do me the justice to
believe me ever, with most sincere respect, veneration, and affectionate attachment, Your Grace's most faithful friend,
And most obedient humble servant,
EDMUND BURKE.
BEACONSFIELD, Sept. 29, 1793.
? ? ? ? OBSERVATIONS.
APPROACHING towards the close of a long period of public service, it is natural I should be
desirous to stand well (I hope I do stand tolerably
well) with that public which, with whatever fortune,
I have endeavored faithfully and zealously to serve.
I am also not a little anxious for some place in the
estimation of the two persons to whom I address this
paper. I have always acted with them, and with
those whom they represent. To my knowledge, I
have not deviated, no, not in the minutest point,
from their opinions and principles. Of late, without any alteration in their sentiments or in mine,
a difference of a very unusual nature, and which,
under the circumstances, it is not easy to describe,
has arisen between us.
In my journey with them through life, I met Mr.
Fox in my road; and I travelled with him very cheerfully, as long as he appeared to me to pursue the same direction with those in whose company I set out. In
the latter stage of our progress a new scheme of liberty and equality was produced in the world, which either dazzled his imagination, or was suited to some
new walks of ambition which were then opened to
his view. The whole frame and fashion of his politics appear to have suffered about that time a very material alteration. It is about three years since, in
consequence of that extraordinary change, that, after
? ? ? ? 8 OBSERVATIONS ON THE
a pretty long preceding period of distance, coolness,
and want of confidence, if not total alienation on his
part, a complete public separation has been made
between that gentleman and me. Until lately the
breach between us appeared reparable. I trusted
that time and reflection, and a decisive experience of
the mischiefs which have flowed from the proceedings
and the system of France, on which our difference
had arisen, as well as the known sentiments of the
best and wisest of our common fiiends upon that
subject, would have brought him to a safer way of
thinking. Several of his friends saw no security for
keeping things in a proper train after this excursion
of his, but in the reunion of the party on its old
grounds, under the Duke of Portland. Mr. Fox, if
he pleased, might have been comprehended in that
system, with the rank and consideration to which his
great talents entitle him, and indeed must secure to
him in any party arrangement that could be made.
The Duke of Portland knows how much I wished for,
and how earnestly I labored that reunion, and upon
terms that might every way be honorable and advantageous to Mr. Fox. His conduct in the last session has extinguished these hopes forever.
Mr.
Fox has lately published in print a defence of
his conduct. On taking into consideration that defence, a society of gentlemen, called the Whig Club, thought proper to come to the following resolution:
-- "That their confidence in Mr. Fox is confirmed,
strengthened, and increased by the calumnies against
him. "
To that resolution my two noble friends, the Duke
of Portland and Lord Fitzwilliam, have given their
concurrence.
? ? ? ? CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY.
The calumnies supposed in that resolution can be
nothing else than the objections taken to Mr. Fox's
conduct in this session of Parliament; for to them,
and to them alone, the resolution refers. I am one
of those who have publicly and strongly urged those
objections. I hope I shall be thought only to do what
is necessary to my justification, thus publicly, solemnly, and heavily censured by those whom I most value and esteem, when I firmly contend that the objections which I, with many others of the friends to the Duke of Portland, have made to Mr. Fox's conduct, are not calumnies, but founded on truth,- that they are not few, but many, - and that they are not
light and trivial, but, in a very high degree, serious
and important.
That I may avoid the imputation of throwing out,
even privately, any loose, random imputations against
the public conduct of a gentleman for whom I once
entertained a very warm affection, and whose abilities I regard with the greatest admiration, I will put down, distinctly and articulately, some of the matters of objection which I feel to his late doctrines and proceedings, trusting that I shall be able to demonstrate to the friends whose good opinion I would still cultivate, that not levity, nor caprice, nor less defensible motives, but that very grave reasons, influence my judgment. I think that the spirit of his late proceedings is wholly alien to our national policy, and to the peace, to the prosperity, and to the legal liberties
of this nation, according to our ancient domestic and
appropriated mode of holding them.
Viewing things in that light, my confidence in him
is not increased, but totally destroyed, by those proceedings. I cannot conceive it a matter of honor or
? ? ? ? 10 OBSERVATIONS ON THE
duty (but the direct contrary) in any member of
Parliament to continue systematic opposition for the
purpose of putting government under difficulties, until Mr. Fox (with all his present ideas) shall have
the principal direction of affairs placed in his hands,
and until the present body of administration (with
their ideas and measures) is of course overturned and
dissolved.
To come to particulars.
1. The laws and Constitution of the kingdom intrust the sole and exclusive right of treating with
foreign potentates to the king. This is an undisputed part of the legal prerogative of the crown.
However, notwithstanding this, Mr. Fox, without the
knowledge or participation of any one person in the
House of Commons, with whom he was bound by every party principle, in matters of delicacy and importance, confidentially to communicate, thought proper to send Mr. Adair, as his representative, and with his
cipher, to St. Petersburg, there to frustrate the objects for which the minister from the crown was authorized to treat. He succeeded in this his design,
and did actually frustrate the king's minister in some
of the objects of his negotiation.
This proceeding of Mr. Fox does not (as I conceive) amount to absolute high treason, -- Russia,
though on bad terms, not having been then declaredly at war with this kingdom. But such a proceeding is in law not very remote from that offence, and
is undoubtedly a most unconstitutional act, and an
high treasonable misdemeanor.
The legitimate and sure mode of communication
between this nation and foreign powers is rendered
uncertain, precarious, and treacherous, by being di
? ? ? ? CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY. 11
vided into two channels, - one with the government,
one with the head of a party in opposition to that
government; by which means the foreign powers can
never be assured of the real authority or validity of
any public transaction whatsoever.
On the other hand, the advantage taken of the discontent which at that time prevailed in Parliament
and in the nation, to give to an individual an influence directly against the government of his country,
in a foreign court, has made a highway into England
for the intrigues of foreign courts in our affairs. This
is a sore evil, - an evil from which, before this time,
England was more free than any other nation. Nothing can preserve us from that evil - which connects
cabinet factions abroad with popular factions here
but the keeping sacred the crown as the only channel of communication with every other nation.
This proceeding of Mr. Fox has given a strong
countenance and an encouraging example to the doctrines and practices of the Revolution and Constitutional Societies, and of other mischievous societies of that description, who, without any legal authority,
and even without any corporate capacity, are in the
habit of proposing, and, to the best of their power, of
forming, leagues and alliances with France.
This proceeding, which ought to be reprobated on
all the general principles of government, is in a more
narrow view of things not less reprehensible. It
tends to the prejudice of the whole of the Duke of
Portland's late party, by discrediting the principles
upon which they supported Mr. Fox in the Russian
business, as if they of that party also had proceeded
in their Parliamentary opposition on the same mischievous principles which actuated Mr. Fox in sending Mr. Adair on his embassy.
? ? ? ? 12 OBSERVATIONS ON THE
2. Very soon after his sending this embassy to Russia, that is, in the spring of 1792, a covenanting club
or association was formed ill London, calling itself by
the ambitious and invidious title of " The Friends of
the People. " It was composed of many of Mr. Fox's
own most intimate personal and party friends, joined
to a very considerable part of the members of those
mischievous associations called the Revolution Society and the Constitutional Society. Mr. Fox must
have been well apprised of the progress of that society in every one of its steps, if not of the very origin of it. I certainly was informed of both, who had no connection with the design, directly or indirectly.
His influence over the persons who composed the
leading part in that association was, and is, unbounded. I hear that he expressed some disapprobation of
this club in one case, (that of Mr. St. John,) where
his consent was formally asked; yet he never attempted seriously to put a stop to the association, or
to disavow it, or to control, check, or modify it in any
way whatsoever. If he had pleased, without difficulty, he might have suppressed it in its beginning.
However, he did not only not suppress it in its beginning, but encouraged it in every part of its progress, at that particular time when Jacobin clubs (under the very same or similar titles) were making
such dreadful havoc ill a country not thirty miles
from the coast of England, and when every motive of
moral prudence called for the discouragement of societies formed for the increase of popular pretensions
to power and direction.
3. When the proceedings of this society of the
Friends of the People, as well as others acting in the
same spirit, had caused a very serious alarm in the
? ? ? ? CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY. 13
mind of the Duke of Portland, and of many good
patriots, he publicly, in the House of Commons,
treated their apprehensions and conduct with the
greatest asperity and ridicule. He condemned and
vilified, in the most insulting and outrageous terms,
the proclamation issued by government on that occasion, - though he well knew that'it had passed through the Duke of Portland's hands, that it had
received his fullest approbation, and that it was the
result of an actual interview between that noble Duke
and Mr. Pitt. During the discussion of its merits in
the House of Commons, Mr. Fox countenanced and
justified the chief promoters of that association; and
he received, in return, a public assurance from them
of an inviolable adherence to him singly and personally. On account of this proceeding, a very great number (I presume to say not the least grave and
wise part) of the Duke of Portland's friends in Parliament, and many out of Parliament who are of the same description, have become separated from that
time to this from Mr. Fox's particular cabal, -very
few of which cabal are, or ever have, so much as
pretended to be attached to the Duke of Portland, or
to pay any respect to him or his opinions.
4. At the beginning of this session, when the sober part of the nation was a second time generally and justly alarmed at the progress of the French
arms on the Continent, and at the spreading of their
horrid principles and cabals in England, Mr. Fox did
not (as had been usual in cases of far less moment)
call together any meeting of the Duke of Portland's
friends in the House of Commons, for the purpose of
taking their opinion on the conduct to be pursued in
Parliament at that critical juncture. He concerted
? ? ? ? 14 OBSERVATIONS ON THE
his measures (if with any persons at all) with the
friends of Lord Lansdowne, and those calling themselves Friends of the People, and others not in the
smallest degree attached to the Duke of Portland;
by which conduct he wilfully gave up (in my opinion) all pretensions to be considered as of that party,
and much m6re to be considered as the leader and
mouth of it in the House of Commons. This could
not give much encouragement to those who had been
separated from Mr. Fox, on account of his conduct on
the first proclamation, to rejoin that party.
5. Not having consulted any of the Duke of Portland's party in the House of Commons, -and not having consulted them, because he had reason to know that the course he had resolved to pursue would be
highly disagreeable to them, -- he represented the
alarm, which was a second time given and taken,
in still more invidious colors than those in which he
painted the alarms of the former year. He described
those alarms in this manner, although the cause of
them was then grown far less equivocal and far more
urgent. He even went so far as to treat the supposition of the growth of a Jacobin spirit in England
as a libel on the nation. As to the danger from
abroad, on the first day of the session he said little
or nothing upon the subject. He contented himself
with defending the ruling factions in France, and
with accusing the public councils of this kingdom
of every sort of evil design on the liberties of the
people,- declaring distinctly, strongly, and precisely, that the whole danger of the nation was from the
growth of the power of the crown. The policy of
this declaration was obvious. It was in subservience
to the general plan of disabling us from taking any
? ? ? ? CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY. 15
steps against France. To counteract the alarm given
by the progress of Jacobin arms and principles, he
endeavored to excite an opposite alarm concerning
the growth of the power of the crown. If that alarm
should prevail, he knew that the nation never would
be brought by arms to oppose the growth of the Jacobin empire: because it is obvious that war does,
in its very nature, necessitate the Commons considerably to strengthen the hands of government; and
if that strength should itself be the object of terror,
we could have no war.
6. In the extraordinary and violent speeches of
that day, he attributed all the evils which the public had suffered to the proclamation of the preceding summer; though he spoke in presence of the Duke
of Portland's own son, the Marquis of Tichfield,
who had seconded the address on that proclamation, and in presence of the Duke of Portland's
brother, Lord Edward Bentinck, and several others
of his best friends and nearest relations.
7. On that day, that is, on the 13th of December,
1792, he proposed an amendment to the address,
which stands on the journals of the House, and
which is, perhaps, the most extraordinary record
which ever did stand upon them. To introduce this
amendment, he not only struck out the part of the
proposed address which alluded to insurrections, upon
the ground of the objections which he took to the
legality of calling together Parliament, (objections
which I must ever think litigious and sophistical,)
but he likewise struck out that part which related to
the cabals and conspiracies of the Elrench faction in England, although their practices and correspondences were of public notoriety. Mr. Cooper and Mr. Watt
? ? ? ? 16 OBSERVATIONS ON THE
had been deputed from Manchester to the Jacobins.
These ambassadors were received by them as British
representatives. Other deputations of English had
been received at the bar of the National Assembly.
They had gone the length of giving supplies to the
Jacobin armies; and they, in return, had received
promises of military assistance' to forward their designs in England. A regular correspondence for
fraternizing the two nations had also been carried
on by societies in London with a great number of
the Jacobin societies in France. This correspondence
had also for its object the pretended improvement of
the British Constitution. What is the most remarkable, and by much the more mischievous part of his
proceedings that day, Mr. Fox likewise struck out
everything in the address which related to the tokens
of ambition given by France, her aggressions upon our
allies, and the sudden and dangerous growth of her power upon every side; and instead of all those weighty,
and, at that time, necessary matters, by which the
House of Commons was (in a crisis such as perhaps
Europe never stood) to give assurances to our allies,
strength to our government, and a check to the common enemy of Europe, he substituted nothing but a
criminal charge on the conduct of the British government for calling Parliament together, and an engagement to inquire into that conduct.
8. If it had pleased God to suffer him to succeed
in this his project for the amendment to the address,
he would forever have ruined this nation, along with
the rest of Europe. At home all the Jacobin societies, formed for the utter destruction of our Constitution, would have lifted up their heads, which hlad been beaten down by the two proclamations. Those
? ? ? ? CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY. 17
societies would have been infinitely strengthened and
multiplied in every quarter; their dangerous foreign
communications would have been left broad and open;
the crown would not have been authorized to take any
measure whatever for our immediate defence by sea
or land. The closest, the most natural, the nearest,
and at the same time, from many internal as well
as external circumstances, the weakest of our allies,
Holland, would have been given up, bound hand and
foot, to France, just on the point of invading that republic. A general consternation would have seized upon all Europe; and all alliance with every other
power, except France, would have been forever rendered impracticable to us. I think it impossible for any man, who regards the dignity and safety of his
country, or indeed the common safety of mankind,
ever to forget Mr. Fox's proceedings in that tremendous crisis of all human affairs.
9. Mr. Fox very soon had reason to be apprised
of the general dislike of the Duke of Portland's
friends to this conduct. Some of those who had
even voted with him, the day after their vote, expressed their abhorrence of his amendment, their sense of its inevitable tendency, and their total alienation from the principles and maxims upon which it was made; yet the very next day, that is, on Friday, the 14th of December, he brought on what in effect was the very same business, and on the same
principles, a second time.
10. Although the House does not usually sit on
Saturday, he a third time brought on another proposition in the same spirit, and pursued it with so much Leat and perseverance as to sit into Sunday:
a thing not known in Parliament for many years.
VOL. V. 2
? ? ? ? 18 OBSERVATIONS ON THE
11. In all these motions and debates he wholly
departed from all the political principles relative to
France (considered merely as a state, and independent of its Jacobin form of government) which had
hitherto been held fundamental in this country, and
which he had himself held more strongly than any
mall in Parliament. He at that time studiously
separated himself from those to whose sentiments
he used to profess no small regard, although those
sentiments were publicly declared. I had then no
concern in the party, having been, for some time,
with all outrage, excluded from it; but, on general
principles, I must say that a person who assumes
to be leader of a party composed of freemen and
of gentlemen ought to pay some degree of deference to their feelings, and even to their prejudices.
He ought to have some degree of management for
their credit and influence in their country. He
showed so very little of this delicacy, that he compared the alarm raised in the minds of the Duke of
Portland's party, (which was his own,) an alarm in
which they sympathized with the greater part of the
nation, to the panic produced by the pretended Popish plot in the reign of Charles the Second, - describing it to be, as that was, a contrivance of knaves, and believed only by well-meaning dupes and madmen.
12. The Monday following (the 17th of December) he pursued the same conduct. The means used
in England to cooperate with the Jacobin army in
politics agreed with their modes of proceeding: I
allude to the mischievous writings circulated with
much industry and success, as well as the seditious
clubs, which at that time added not a little to the
? ? ? ? CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY. 19
alarm taken by observing and well-informed men.
The writings and the clubs were two evils which
marched together. Mr. Fox discovered the greatest
possible disposition to favor and countenance the one
as well as the other of these two grand instruments
of the French system. He would hardly consider
any political writing whatsoever as a libel, or as a
fit object of prosecution. At a time in which the
press has been the grand instrument of the subversion of order, of morals, of religion, and, I may say, of human society itself, to carry the doctrines of its
liberty higher than ever it has been known by its
most extravagant assertors, even in France, gave occasion to very serious reflections. Mr. Fox treated the associations for prosecuting these libels as tending to prevent the improvement of the human mind, and as a mobbish tyranny. He thought proper to
compare them with the riotous assemblies of Lord
George Gordon in 1780, declaring that he had advised
his friends in Westminster to sign the associations,
whether they agreed to them or not, in order that
they might avoid destruction to their persons or their
houses, or a desertion of their shops. This insidious
advice tended to confound those who wished well to
the object of the association with the seditious against
whom the association was directed. By this stratagem, the confederacy intended for preserving the British Constitution and the public peace would be
wholly defeated. The magistrates, utterly incapable
of distinguishing the friends from the enemies of order, would in vain look for support, when they stood in the greatest need of it.
13. Mr. Fox's whole conduct, on this occasion,
was without example. The very morning after these
? ? ? ? 20 OBSERVATIONS ON THE
violent declamations in the House of Commons against
the association, (that is, on Tuesday, the 18th,) he
went himself to a meeting of St. George's parish, and
there signed an association of the nature and tenldency
of those he had the night before so vehemently condemned; and several of his particular and most intimate friends, inhabitants of that parish, attended and signed along with him.
14. Immediately after this extraordinary step, and
in order perfectly to defeat the ends of that association against Jacobin publications, (which, contrary
to his opinions, he had promoted and signed,) a mischievous society was formed under his auspices, called
The Eriends of the Liberty of the Press. Their title
groundlessly insinuated that the freedom of the press
had lately suffered, or was now threatened with, some
violation. This society was only, in reality, another
modification of the society calling itself The Friends
of the People, which in the preceding summer had
caused so much uneasiness in the Duke of Portland's
mind, and in the minds of several of his friends.
This new society was composed of many, if not most,
of the members of the club of the Friends of the People, with the addition of a vast multitude of others
(such as Mr. Horne Tooke) of the worst and most
seditious dispositions that could be found in the whole
kingdom. In the first meeting of this club Mr. Erskine took the lead, and directly (without any disavowal ever since on Mr. Fox's part) made use of his name and authority in favor of its formation and purposes. In the same meeting Mr. Erskine had thanks
for his defence of Paine, which amounted to a complete avowal of that Jacobin incendiary; else it is
impossible to know how Mr. Erskine should have
? ? ? ? CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY. 21
deserved such marked applauses for acting merely as
a lawyer for his fee, in the ordinary course of his profession.