Emolument
is taken from some; patronage from others; objects
of pursuit from all.
of pursuit from all.
Edmund Burke
255
If you think that this participation was a loss,
commercially considered, but that it has been compensated by the share which Scotland has taken in defraying the public charge, I believe you have not
very carefully looked at the public accounts. Ireland,
Sir, pays a great deal more than Scotland, and is perhaps as much and as effectually united to England as Scotland is. But if Scotland, instead of paying
little, had paid nothing at all, we should be gainers,
not losers, by acquiring the hearty cooperation of an
active, intelligent people towards the increase of the
common stock; instead of our being employed in
watching and counteracting them, and their being
employed in watching and counteracting us, with the
peevish and churlish jealousy of rivals and enemies
on both sides.
I am sure, Sir, that the commercial experience of
the. merchants of Bristol will soon disabuse them of
the prejudice, that they can trade no longer, if countries more lightly taxed are permitted to deal in the same commodities at the same markets. You know,
that, in fact, you trade very largely where you are
met by the goods of all nations. You even pay high
duties on the import of your goods, and afterwards
undersell nations less taxed, at their own markets,
and where goods of the same kind are not charged
at all. If it were otherwise, you could trade very
little. You know that the price of all sorts of manufacture is not a great deal enhanced (except to the domestic consumer) by any taxes paid in this coun
try. This I might very easily prove.
* The same consideration will relieve you from the
apprehension you express with relation to sugars,
and the difference of the duties paid here and in Ire
? ? ? ? 256 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
land. Those duties affect the interior consumer only,
and for obvious reasons, relative to the interest of
revenue itself, they must be proportioned to his ability of payment; but inl all cases. in which sugar, can be an object of commerce, and therefore (in this view)
of rivalship, you are sensible that you are at least on
a par with Ireland. As to your apprehensions concerning the more advantageous situation of Ireland
for some branches of commerce, (for it is so but for
some,) I trust you will not find them more serious.
Milford Haven, which is at your door, may serve to
show you that the mere advantage of ports is not
the thing which shifts the seat of commerce from one
part of the world to the other. If I thought you inclined to take up this matter on local considerations,
I should state to you, that I do not know any part of'
the kingdom so well situated for an advantageous
commerce with Ireland as Bristol,. and that none
would be so likely to profit of its prosperity as our
city. But your profit and theirs'must concur. Beggary and bankruptcy are not the circumstances which invite to an intercourse with that or with any country; and I believe it will be found invariably true,
that the superfluities of a rich nation furnish a better object of trade than the necessities of a poor
one. It is the interest of the commercial world that
wealth should be found everywhere.
The true ground of fear, in my opinion, is this:
that Ireland, from the vicious system of its internal
polity, will be a long time before it can derive any
benefit from the liberty now granted, or from any
thing else. But, as I do not vote advantages in hopes
that they may not be enjoyed, I will not lay any stress
upon this consideration. I rather wish that the Par
? ? ? ? TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 257
liament of Ireland may, in its own wisdom, remove
these impediments, and put their country in a condition to avail itself of its natural advantages. If they do not, the fault is with them, and not with us.
I have written this long letter in order to give all
possible satisfaction to my constituents with regard
to the part I have taken in this affair. It gave me
inexpressible concern to find that my conduct had
been a cause of uneasiness to any of them. Next to
my honor and conscience, I have nothing so near and
dear to me as their approbation. However, I had
much rather run the risk of displeasing than of injuring them, -- if I am driven to make such an option. You obligingly lament that you are not to have me
for your advocate; but if I had been capable of acting as an advocate in opposition to a plan so perfectly consonant to my known principles, and to the opinions I had publicly declared on an hundred occasions, I should only disgrace myself, without supporting,
with the smallest degree of credit or effect, the cause
you wished me to undertake. I should have lost the
only thing which can make such abilities as mine of
any use to the world now or hereafter: I mean that
authority which is derived from an opinion that a
member speaks the language of truth and sincerity,
and that he is not ready to take up or lay down a
great political system for the convenience of the hour,
that he is in Parliament to support his opinion of the
public good, and does not form his opinion in order
to get into Parliament, or to continue in it. It is in
a great measure for your sake that I wish to preserve
this character. Without it, I am sure, I should be ill
able to discharge, by any service, the smallest part of
that debt of gratitude and affection which I owe you
VOL. II. 17
? ? ? ? 258 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
for the great and honorable trust you have reposed
in me.
I am, with the highes' regard and esteem, Sir,
Your most obedient and humble servant,
E. B.
BEACONSFIELD, 23rd April, 1778.
COPY OF A LETTER TO MESSRS. ************* AND
CO. , BRISTOL.
GENTLEMEN, -
It gives me the most sensible concern to find that
my vote on the resolutions relative to. the trade of
Ireland has not been fortunate enough to meet with
your approbation. I have explained at large the
grounds of my conduct on that occasion in my letters to the Merchants' Hall; but my very sincere
regard and esteem for you will not permit me to let
the matter pass without an explanation which is particular to. yourselves, and which I hope will prove satisfactory to you.
You tell me that the conduct of your late member
is not much wondered at; but you seem to be at a
loss to account for mine; and you lament that I have
taken so decided a part against my constituents.
This is rather an heavy imputation. Does it, then?
really appear to you that the propositions to which
you refer are, on the face of them, so manifestly
wrong, and so certainly injurious to the trade and
manufactures of Great Britain, and particularly to
yours, that no man could think of proposing or' supporting them, except from resentment to you, or from
? ? ? ? TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 259
some other oblique motive? If you suppose your
late member, or if you suppose me, to act upon other
reasons than we choose to avow, to what do you attribute the conduct of the other members, who in the
beginning almost unanimously adopted those resolutions? To what do you attribute the strong part
taken by the ministers, and, along with the ministers,
by several of their most declared opponents? This
does not indicate a ministerial job, a party design,
or a provincial or local purpose. It is, therefore, not
so absolutely clear that the measure is wrong, or
likely to be injurious to the true interests of any
place or any person.
The reason, Gentlemen, for taking this step, at this
time, is but too obvious and too urgent. I cannot
imagine that you forget the great war which has
been carried on with so little success (and, as I
thought, with so little policy) in America, or that
you are not aware of the other great wars which are
impending. Ireland has been called upon to repel
the attacks of enemies of no small power, brought
upon her by councils in which she has had no share.
The very purpose and declared object of that original
war, which has brought other wars and other enemies on Ireland, was not very flattering to her dignity, her interest, or to the very principle of her liberty. Yet she submitted patiently to the evils she suffered from an attempt to subdue to your obedience
countries whose very commerce was not open to her.
America was to be conquered in order that Ireland
should not trade thither; whilst the miserable trade
which she is permitted to carry on to other places has
been torn to pieces in the struggle. In this situation,
are we neither to suffer her to have any real interest
? ? ? ? 260 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
in our quarrel, or to be flattered with the hope of any future means of bearing the burdens which she is to incur in defending herself against enemies which we have brought upon her?
I cannot set my face against such arguments. Is
it quite fair to suppose that I have no other motive
for yielding to them but a desire of acting against
my constituents? It is for you, and for yo? ;r interest, as a dear, cherished, and respected part o, a valuable Whole, that I have taken my share in this question. You do not, you cannot, suffer by it. If honesty be
true policy with regard to the transient interest of individuals, it is much more certainly so with regard to the permanent interests of communities. I know that it is but too natural for us to see our own certain ruin in the possible prosperity of other people. It is hard to persuade us that everything which is got by another is not taken from ourselves. But it is fit that we should get the better of these suggestions, which come from what is not the best and soundest part of our nature, and that we should form to ourselves a way of thinking, more rational, more just, and more religious. Trade is not a limited thing: as if the
objects of mutual demand and consumption could
not stretch beyond the bounds of our jealousies. God has given the earth to -the children of men, and He has undoubtedly, in giving it to them, given them what is abundantly sufficient for all their exigencies: not a scanty, but a most liberal, provision for them all. The Author of our nature has written it strongly in
that nature, and has promulgated the same law in His written word, that man shall eat his bread by his labor; and I am persuaded that no man, and no combination of men, for their own ideas of their par.
? ? ? ? TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 261
ticular profit, can, without great impiety, undertake
to say that he shall not do so, --that they have no
sort of right either to prevent the labor or to witb-.
hold the bread. Ireland having received no compe~n
sation, directly or indirectly, for any restraints on
their trade, ought not, in justice or common honesty,
to be made subject to such restraints. I do not mean
to impeach the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to make laws for the trade of Ireland: I only speak of what laws it is right for Parliament to
make.
It is nothing to an oppressed people, to say that in
part they are protected at our charge. The military
force which shall be kept up in order to cramp the
natural faculties of a people, and to prevent their
arrival to their utmost prosperity, is the instrument
of their servitude, not the means of their protection.
To protect men is to forward, and not to restrain,
their improvement. Else, what is it more than to
avow to them, and to the world, that you guard them
from others only to make them a prey to yourself?
This fundamental nature of protection does not belong to free, but to all governments, and is as valid in Turkey as in Great Britain. No government ought
to own that it exists for the purpose of checking the
prosperity of its people, or that there is such a principle involved in its policy.
Under the impression of these sentiments, (and not
as wanting every attention to my constituents which
affection and gratitude could inspire,) I voted for
these bills which give you so much trouble. I voted
for them, not as doing complete justice to Ireland,
but as being something less unjust than the general
prohibition which has hitherto prevailed. I hear
? ? ? ? 262 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
some discourse as if, in one or two paltry duties on
materials, Ireland had a preference, and that those
who set themselves against this act of scanty justice
assert that they are only contending for an equality.
What equality? Do they forget that the whole
woollen manufacture of Ireland, the most extensive
and profitable of any, and the natural staple of that
kingdom, has been in a manner so destroyed by restrictive laws of ours, and (at our persuasion, and on our promises) by restrictive laws of their own, that in
a few years, it is probable, they will not be able to
wear a coat of their own fabric? Is this equality?
Do gentlemen forget that the understood faith upon which they were persuaded to such an unnatural act has not been kept, -- but a linen-manufacture has
been set up, and highly encouraged, against them? Is
this equality? Do they forget the state of the trade of
Ireland in beer, so great an article of consumption,
and which now stands in so mischievous a position
with regard to their revenue, their manufacture, and
their agriculture? Do they find any equality in all
this? Yet, if the least step is taken towards doing
them common justice in the slightest articles for the
most limited markets, a cry is raised, as if we were
going to be ruined by partiality to Ireland.
Gentlemen, I know that the deficiency in these arguments is made up (not by you, but by others) by the usual resource on such occasions, the confidence
in military force and superior power. But that ground
of confidence, which at no time. was perfectly just, or
the avowal of it tolerably decent, is at this time very
unseasonable. Late experience has shown that it
cannot be altogether relied upon; and many, if not
all, of our present. difficulties have arisen from -put
? ? ? ? TWPO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 263
ting our trust in what may very possibly fail, and,
if it should fail, leaves those who are hurt by such
a reliance without pity. Whereas honesty and justice, reason and equity, go a very great way in securing prosperity to those who use them, and, in case of failure, secure the best retreat and the most honorable consolations.
It is very unfortunate that we should consider those
as rivals, whom we ought to regard as fellow-laborers
in a common cause. Ireland has never made a single
step in its progress towards prosperity, by which you
have' not had a share, and perhaps the greatest share,
in the benefit. That progress has been chiefly owing
to her own natural advantages, and her own efforts,
which, after a long time, and by slow degrees, have
prevailed in some measure over the mischievous systems which have been adopted. Far enough she is still from having arrived even at an ordinary state of
perfection; and if our jealousies were to be converted
into politics as systematically as some would have
them, the trade of Ireland would vanish out of the
system of commerce. But, believe me, if Ireland is
beneficial to you, -it is so not from the parts in which it
is restrained, but from those in which it is left free,
though not left unrivalled. The greater its freedom,
the greater must be your advantage. If you should
lose in one way, you will gain in twenty.
Whilst I remain under this unalterable and powerful conviction, you will not wonder at the decided part I take. It is my custom so to do, when I see my way
clearly before me, and when I know that I am not
misled by any passion or any personal interest, which
in this case I am very sure I am not. I find that disagreeable things are circulated among my constitue
? ? ? ? 264 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. ents; and I wish my sentiments, which form my jus. tification, may be equally general with the circulation against me. I have the honor to be, with the greatest regard and esteem, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient and humble servant,. B. WESTMINSTER, May 2, 1778.
I send the bills.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON PRESENTING TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
(ON THE 11TH FEBRUARY, 1780)
A PLANFOR
THE BETTER SECURITY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF
PARLIAMENT, AND THE ECONOMICAL REFORMATION OF THE CIVIL AND OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS.
? ? ? ? SPEECH.
/R. SPEAKER,-I rise, in acquittal of my engagement to the House, in obedience to the
strong and just requisition of my constituents, and, I
am persuaded, in conformity to the unanimous wishes
of the whole nation, to submit to the wisdom of Parliament "A Plan of Reform in the Constitution of
Several Parts of the Public Economy. "
I have endeavored that this plan should include,
in its execution, a considerable reduction of improper
expense; that it should effect a. conversion of unprofitable titles into a productive estate; that it should
lead to, and indeed almost compel, a provident administration of such sums of public money as must
remain under discretionary trusts; that it should
render the incurring debts on the civil establishment (which must ultimately affect national strength
and national credit) so very difficult as to become
next to impracticable.
But what, I confess, wvas uppermost with me, what
I bent the whole force of my. mind to, was the reduce
tion of that corrupt influence which is itself the perennial spring of all prodigality and of all disorder,which loads us more than millions of debt, -which takes away vigor from our arms, wisdom from our
councils, and every shadow' of authority and credit
From the most venerable parts of our Constitution.
Sir, I assure you very solemnly, and with a very
? ? ? ? 268 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
clear conscience, that nothing in the world has led me
to such an undertaking but my zeal for the honor of
this House, and the settled, habitual, systematic affection I bear to the cause and to the principles of government. I enter perfectly into the nature and consequences
of my attempt, and I advance to it with a tremor
that shakes me to the inmost fibre of my frame. I
feel that I engage in a business, in itself most ungracious, totally wide of the course of prudent conduct,
and, I really think, the most completely adverse that
can be imagined to the natural turn and temper of
my own mind. I know that all parsimony is of a
quality approaching to unkindness, and that (on
some person or other) every reform must operate as
a sort of punishment. Indeed, the whole class of the
severe and restrictive virtues are at a market almost
too high for humanity. What is worse, there are
very few of those virtues which are not capable of
being imitated, and even outdone in many of their
most striking effects, by the worst of vices. Malignity
and envy will carve much more deeply, and finish
much more sharply, in the work of retrenchment,
than frugality and providence. I do not, therefore,
wonder that gentlemen have kept away from such a
task, as well from good-nature as from prudence.
Private feeling might, indeed, be overborne by legislative reason; and a man of a long-sighted and a strong-nerved humanity might bring himself not so
much to consider from whom he takes a superfluousl
enjoyment as for whom in the end he may preserve!
the absolute necessaries of life.
But it is much more easy to reconcile this measure'
to humanity than to bring it to any agreement with
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 269
prudence. I do not mean that little, selfish, pitiful,
bastard thing which sometimes goes by the name of
a family in which it is not legitimate and to which it
is a disgrace; --I mean even that public and enlarged
prudence, which, apprehensive of being disabled from
rendering acceptable services to the world, withholds
itself from those that are invidious. Gentlemen who
are, with me, verging towards the decline of life, and
are apt to form their ideas of kings from kings of
former times, might dread the anger of a reigning
prince;- they who are more provident of the future,
or by being young are more interested in it, might
tremble at the resentment of the successor; they
might see a long, dull, dreary, unvaried visto of
despair and exclusion, for half a century, before
themi. This is no pleasant prospect at the outset
of a political journey.
Besides this, Sir, the private enemies to be made in
all attempts of this kind are innumerable; and their
enmity will be the more bitter, and the more dangerous too,. because a sense of dignity will oblige them to conceal the cause of their resentment. Very few
men of great families and extensive connections but
will feel the smart of a cutting reform, in some close
relation, some bosom friend, some pleasant acquaintance, some dear, protected dependant.
Emolument is taken from some; patronage from others; objects
of pursuit from all. Men forced into an involuntary
independence will abhor the authors of a blessing
which in their eyes has so very near a resemblance to
a curse. When officers are removed, and the offices
remain, you may set the gratitude of some against
the anger of -others, you may oppose the friends you
oblige against the enemies you provoke. But ser
? ? ? ? 270 SPEECH 01% THE PLAN
vices of the present sort create no attachments. The
individual good felt in a public benefit is comparatively so small, comes round through such an involved labyrinth of intricate and tedious revolutions, whilst a present personal detriment is so heavy, where
it falls, and so instant in its operation, that the cold
commendation of a public advantage never was and
never will be a match for the quick sensibility of a
private loss; and you may depend upon it, Sir, that,
when many people have an interest in railing, sooner
or later, they will bring a considerable degree of
unpopularity upon any measure. So that, for the
present at, least, the reformation will operate against
the reformers; and revenge (as against them at the
least) will produce all the effects of corruption.
This, Sir, is almost always the case, where the plan
has complete success. ' But how stands the matter in
the mere attempt? Nothing, you know, is more common than for men to wish, and call loudly too, for a
reformation, who, when it arrives, do by no means
like the severity of its aspect. Reformation is one
of those pieces which must be put at some distance in
order to please. Its greatest favorers love it better in
the abstract than in the substance. When any old
prejudice of their own, or any interest that they value,
is touched, they become scrupulous, they become captious; and every man has his separate exception.
Some pluck out the black hairs, some the gray; one
point must be given up to one, another point must
be yielded to another; nothing is suffered to prevail
upon its own principle; the whole is so frittered
down and disjointed, that scarcely a trace of the
original scheme remains. Thus, between the resistance of power, and the unsystematical process of pop
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 271,
ularity, the undertaker and the undertaking are both
exposed, and the poor reformer is hissed off the stage
both by friends and foes.
Observe, Sir, that the apology for my undertaking
(an apology which, though long, is no longer than
necessary) is not grounded on my want of the fullest
sense of the difficult and invidious nature of the task
I undertake. I risk odium, if I succeed, and contempt,if I fail. My excuse must rest in mine and
your conviction of the absolute, urgent necessity there
is that something of the kind should be done. If
there is any sacrifice to be made, either of estimation
or of fortune, the smallest is the best. Commandersin-chief are not to be plut upon the forlorn hope. But, indeed, it is necessary that the attempt should
be made. It is necessary from our own political circumstances; it is necessary from the operations of the enemy; it is necessary from the demands of the
people, whose desires, when they do not militate
with the stable and eternal rules of justice and reason, (rules which are above us and above them,) ought to be as a law to a House of Commons.
As to our circumstances, I do not mean to aggravate the difficulties of them by the strength of any coloring whatsoever. 'On the contrary, I observe,
and observe with pleasure, that our affairs rather
wear a more promising aspect than they did on the
opening of this session. We have had some leading
successes. But those who rate them at the highest
(higher a great deal, indeed, than I dare to do) are of
)pinion, that, upon the ground of such advantages,
gfe cannot at this time hope to make any treaty of
)eace which would not be ruinous and completely
disgraceful. In such all anxious state of things, if
? ? ? ? 272 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
dawnings of success serve to animate our diligence,
they are good; if they tend to increase our presumption, they are worse than defeats. The state of our affairs shall, then, be as promising as any one may
choose to conceive it: it is, however, but promising.
We must recollect, that, with but half of our natural
strength, we are at war against confederated powers
who have singly threatened us with ruin; we must
recollect, that, whilst we are left naked on one side,
our other flank is uncovered by any alliance; that,
whilst we are weighing and balancing our successes
against our losses, we are accumulating debt to the
amount of at least fourteen millions in the year.
That loss is certain.
I have no wish to deny that our successes are as
brilliant as any one chooses to make them; our resources, too, may, for me, be as unfathomable as they are represented. Indeed, they are just whatever the
people possess and will submit to pay. Taxing is an
easy business. Any projector can contrive new impositions; any bungler can add to the old. But is it altogether wise to have no other bounds to your
impositions than the patience of those who are to
bear them?
All I claim upon the subject of your resources iE
this: that they are not likely to be increased by wastl
ing them. I think. I shall be permitted to assume
that a system of frugality will not lessen your richesi
whatever they may be. I believe it will not be hotli
disputed, that those resources which lie heavy on th(
subject ought not to be objects of preference, - tha
they,ought not to be the very first choice, to an hones
representative of the people.
This is all, Sir, that I shall say upon our circum
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 273
stances and our resources: I mean to say a little
more on the operations of the enemy, because this
matter seems to me very natural in our present deliberation. When I look to the other side of the
water, I cannot help recollecting what Pyrrhus said,
on reconnoitring the Roman camp: -" These barbarians have nothing barbarous in their discipline. "
When I look, as I have pretty carefully looked, into
the proceedings of the French king, I am sorry to say
it, I see nothing of the character and genius of arbitrary finance, none of the bold frauds of bankrupt power, none of the wild struggles and plunges of despotism iin distress, -- no lopping off from the capital of debt, no suspension of interest, no robbery under
the name of loan, no raising the value, no debasing
the substance of the coin. I see neither Louis the
Fourteenth nor Louis the Fifteenth. On the contrary, I behold, with astonishment, rising before me,
by the very hands of arbitrary power, and in the very
midst of war and confusion, a regular, methodical
system of public credit; I behold a fabric laid on the
natural and solid foundations of trust and confidence
among men, and rising, by fair gradations, order over
order, according to the just rules of symmetry and
art. What a reverse of things! Principle, method,
regularity, economy, frugality, justice to individuals,
and care of the people are the resources with which
France makes war upon Great Britain. God avert
the omen! But if we should see any genius in war
and politics arise in France to second what is done
in the bureau! I turn my eyes from the consequences.
The noble lord in the blue ribbon, last year, treated
all this with contempt. IIe never could conceive it
VOL. II. 18
? ? ? ? 274 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
possible that the French minister of finance could go
through that year with a loan of but seventeen hundred thousand pounds, and that he should be able
to fund that loan without any tax. The second year,
however, opens the very same scene. A small loan,
a loan of no more than two millions five hundred
thousand pounds, is to carry our enemies through the
service of this year also. No tax is raised to fund
that debt; no tax is raised for the current services.
I am credibly informed that there is no anticipation whatsoever. Compensations * are correctly made.
Old debts continue to be sunk as in the time of profound peace. Even payments which their treasury
had been authorized to suspend during the time of
war are not suspended.
A general reform, executed through every department of the revenue, creates an annual income of more
than half a million, whilst it facilitates and simplifies
all the functions of administration. The king's household - at the remotest avenues to which all reformation has been hitherto stoipped, that household which has been the stronghold of prodigality, the virgin fortress which was never before attacked -- has
been not only not defended, but it has, even in the
forms, been surrendered by the king to the economy
of his minister. No capitulation; no reserve. Economy has entered in triumph into the public splendor
of the monarch, into his private amusements, into
the appointments of his nearest and highest relations.
Economy and public spirit have made a beneficent
and an honest spoil: they have plundered from ex* This term comprehends various retributions made to persons
whose offices are taken away, or who in any other way suffer by the
new arrangements that are made.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 275
travagance and luxury, for the use of substantial
service, a revenue of near four hundred thousand
pounds. The reform of the finances, joined to this
reform of the court, gives to the public nine hundred
thousand pounds a year, and upwards.
The minister who does these things is a great
man; but the king who desires that they should be
done is a far greater. We must do justice to our
enemies: these are the acts of a patriot king. I am
not in dread of the vast armies of France; I am not
in dread of the gallant spirit of its brave and numerous nobility; I am not alarmed even at the great navy which has been so miraculously created. All these
thiings Louis the Fourteenth had before. With all
these things, the French monarchy has more than
once fallen prostrate at the feet of the public faith of
Great Britain. It was the want of public credit which
disabled France from recovering after her defeats, or
recovering even from her victories and triumphs.
It was a prodigal court, it was an ill-ordered revenue,
that sapped the foundations of all her greatness.
Credit cannot exist under the arm of necessity. Necessity strikes at credit, I allow, with a heavier and quicker blow under an arbitrary monarchy than
under a limited and balanced government; but still
necessity and credit are natural enemies, and cannot
be long reconciled in any situation. From necessity
and corruption, a free state may lose the spirit of that
complex constitution which is the foundation of confidence. On the other hand, I am far from being sure that a monarchy, when once it is properly regulated,
may not for a long time furnish a foundation for
credit upon the solidity of its maxims, though it
affords no ground of trust in its institutions. I am
? ? ? ? 27T6 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
afraid I see in England, and in France, something
like a beginning of both these things. I wish I may
be found in a mistake.
This very short and very imperfect state of what is
now going on in France (the last circumstances of
which I received in about eight days after the registry of the edict *) I do not, Sir, lay before you for any invidious purpose. It is in order to excite in us the
spirit of a noble emulation. Let the nations make
war upon each other, (since we must make war,) not
with a low and vulgar malignity, but by a competition
of virtues. This is the only way by which both parties
can gain by war. The French have imitated us: let
us, through them, imitate ourselves,- ourselves in
our better and happier days. If public frugality,
under whatever men, or in whatever mode of government, is national strength, it is a strength which our enemies are in possession of before us.
Sir, I am well aware that the state and the result
of the French economy which I have laid before you
are even now lightly treated by some who ought
never to speak but from information. Pains have not
been spared to represent them as impositions on the
public. Let me tell you, Sir, that the creation of a
navy, and a two years' war without taxing, are a very
singular species of imposture. But be it so. For
what end does Necker carry on this delusion? Is it to
lower the estimation of the crown he serves, and to
render his own administration contemptible? No!
No! He is conscious that the sense of mankind is so
clear and decided in favor of economy, and of the
weight and value of its resources, that he turns himself to every species of fraud and artifice to obtain the * Edict registered 29th January, 1780.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 277
mere reputation of it. Men do not affect a conduct
that tends to their discredit. Let us, then, get the
better of Monsieur Necker in his own way; let us do
in reality what he does only in pretence; let us turn
his French tinsel into English gold. Is, then, the
mere opinion and appearance of frugality and good
management of such use to France, and is the substance to be so mischievous to England? Is the very
constitution of Nature so altered by a sea of twenty
miles, that economy should give power on the Continent, and that profusion should give it here? For
God's sake, let not this be the only fashion of France
which we refuse to copy!
To the last kind of necessity, the desires of the people, I have but a very few words to say. The ministers seem to contest this point, and affect to doubt whether the people do really desire a plan of economy
in the civil government. Sir, this is too ridiculous.
It is impossible that they should not desire it. It is
impossible that a prodigality which draws its resources from their indigence should be pleasing to them.
Little factions of pensioners, and their dependants,
may talk another language. But the voice of Nature
is against them, and it will be heard. The people of
England will not, they cannot, take it kindly, that
representatives should refuse to their constituents
what an absolute sovereign voluntarily offers to his
subjects. The expression of the petitions is, that,
" before any new burdens are laid upon this country,
effectual measures be taken by this House to inquire into and correct the gross abuses in the expenditure of public money. "
This has been treated by the noble lord in the
blue ribbon as a wild, factious language. It happens,
? ? ? ? 278 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
however, that the people, in their address to us, use,
almost word for word, the same terms as the king of
France uses in addressing himself to his people; and
it differs only as it falls short of the French king's
idea of what is due to his subjects. "To convince,"
says he, " our faithful subjects of the desire we enter. .
tain not to recur to new impositions, until we have
first exhausted all the resources which order and
economy can possibly supply," &c. , &c.
These desires of the people of England, which come
far short of the voluntary concessions of the king of
France, are moderate indeed. They only contend that
we should interweave some economy with the taxes
with which we have chosen to begin the war. They
request, not that you should rely upon economy exclusively, but that you should give it rank and precedence, in the order of the ways and means of this single session.
But if it were possible that the desires of our constituents, desires which are at once so natural and so
very much tempered and subdued, should have no
weight with an House of Commons which has its eye
elsewhere, I would turn my eyes to the very quarter
to which theirs are directed. I would reason this
matter with the House on the mere policy of the
question; and I would undertake to prove that an
early dereliction of abuse is the direct interest of government, of government taken abstractedly from
its duties, and considered merely as a system intending its own conservation.
If there is any one eminent criterion which above
all the rest distinguishes a wise government from
an administration weak and improvident, it is this:
"well to know the best time and manner of yielding
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 279
what it is impossible to keep. " There have been, Sir,
and there are, many who choose to chicane with their
situation rather than be instructed by it. Those
gentlemen argue against every desire of reformation
upon the principles of a criminal prosecution. It is
enough for them to justify their adherence to a pernicious system, that it is not of their contrivance, -- that it is an inheritance of absurdity, derived to them
from their ancestors,-that they can make out a long
and unbroken pedigree of mismanagers that have
gone before them. They are proud of the antiquity
of their house; and they defend their errors as if
they were defending their inheritance, afraid of derogating from their nobility, and carefully avoiding a sort of blot in their scutcheon, which they think would
degrade them forever.
]it was thus that the unfortunate Charles the First
defended himself on the practice of the Stuart who
went before him, and of all the Tudors. His partisans
might have gone to the Plantagenets. They might
have found bad examples enough, both abroad and
at home, that could have shown an ancient and illustrious descent. But there is a time when men will not suffer bad things because their ancestors have
suffered worse. There is a time when the hoary
head of inveterate abuse will neither draw reverence
nor obtain protection. If the noble lord in the blue
ribbon pleads, " Not guilty," to the charges brought
against the present system of public economy, it is
not possible to give a fair verdict by which he will not
stand acquitted. But pleading is not our present business. His plea or his traverse may be allowed as an answer to a charge, when a charge is made. But if he
puts himself in the way to obstruct reformation, then
? ? ? ? 280 SPEECH- ON THE PLAN
the faults of his office instantly become his own. Instead of a public officer in an abusive department,
whose province is an object to be regulated, he becomes a criminal who is to be punished. I do most
seriously put it to administration to consider' the
wisdom of a timely reform. Early reformations are
amicable arrangements with a friend in power; late
reformations are terms imposed upon a conquered
enemy: early reformations are made in cool blood;
late reformations are made under a state of ilflammation. In that state of things the people behold in
government nothing that is respectable. They see the
abuse, and they will see nothing else. They fall'into
the temper of a furious populace provoked at the disorder of a house of ill-fame; they never attempt to correct or regulate; they go to work by the shortest way: they abate the nuisance, they pull down the house.
This is my opinion with regard to the true interest
of government. But as it is the interest of government that reformation should be early, it is the interest of the people that it should be temperate. It is
their interest, because a temperate reform is permanent, and because it has a principle of growth.
Whenever we improve, it is right to leave room for
a further improvement. It is right to consider, to
look about us, to examine the effect of what we have
done. Then we can proceed with confidence, because we can proceed with intelligence. Whereas
in hot reformations, in what men more zealous'than
considerate call making clear work, the whole is gelerally so crude, so harsh, so indigested, mixed with
so much imprudence and so much injustice, so contrary to the whole course of human nature and human institutions, that the very people who are most
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 281
eager for it are among the first to grow disgusted at
what they have done.
If you think that this participation was a loss,
commercially considered, but that it has been compensated by the share which Scotland has taken in defraying the public charge, I believe you have not
very carefully looked at the public accounts. Ireland,
Sir, pays a great deal more than Scotland, and is perhaps as much and as effectually united to England as Scotland is. But if Scotland, instead of paying
little, had paid nothing at all, we should be gainers,
not losers, by acquiring the hearty cooperation of an
active, intelligent people towards the increase of the
common stock; instead of our being employed in
watching and counteracting them, and their being
employed in watching and counteracting us, with the
peevish and churlish jealousy of rivals and enemies
on both sides.
I am sure, Sir, that the commercial experience of
the. merchants of Bristol will soon disabuse them of
the prejudice, that they can trade no longer, if countries more lightly taxed are permitted to deal in the same commodities at the same markets. You know,
that, in fact, you trade very largely where you are
met by the goods of all nations. You even pay high
duties on the import of your goods, and afterwards
undersell nations less taxed, at their own markets,
and where goods of the same kind are not charged
at all. If it were otherwise, you could trade very
little. You know that the price of all sorts of manufacture is not a great deal enhanced (except to the domestic consumer) by any taxes paid in this coun
try. This I might very easily prove.
* The same consideration will relieve you from the
apprehension you express with relation to sugars,
and the difference of the duties paid here and in Ire
? ? ? ? 256 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
land. Those duties affect the interior consumer only,
and for obvious reasons, relative to the interest of
revenue itself, they must be proportioned to his ability of payment; but inl all cases. in which sugar, can be an object of commerce, and therefore (in this view)
of rivalship, you are sensible that you are at least on
a par with Ireland. As to your apprehensions concerning the more advantageous situation of Ireland
for some branches of commerce, (for it is so but for
some,) I trust you will not find them more serious.
Milford Haven, which is at your door, may serve to
show you that the mere advantage of ports is not
the thing which shifts the seat of commerce from one
part of the world to the other. If I thought you inclined to take up this matter on local considerations,
I should state to you, that I do not know any part of'
the kingdom so well situated for an advantageous
commerce with Ireland as Bristol,. and that none
would be so likely to profit of its prosperity as our
city. But your profit and theirs'must concur. Beggary and bankruptcy are not the circumstances which invite to an intercourse with that or with any country; and I believe it will be found invariably true,
that the superfluities of a rich nation furnish a better object of trade than the necessities of a poor
one. It is the interest of the commercial world that
wealth should be found everywhere.
The true ground of fear, in my opinion, is this:
that Ireland, from the vicious system of its internal
polity, will be a long time before it can derive any
benefit from the liberty now granted, or from any
thing else. But, as I do not vote advantages in hopes
that they may not be enjoyed, I will not lay any stress
upon this consideration. I rather wish that the Par
? ? ? ? TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 257
liament of Ireland may, in its own wisdom, remove
these impediments, and put their country in a condition to avail itself of its natural advantages. If they do not, the fault is with them, and not with us.
I have written this long letter in order to give all
possible satisfaction to my constituents with regard
to the part I have taken in this affair. It gave me
inexpressible concern to find that my conduct had
been a cause of uneasiness to any of them. Next to
my honor and conscience, I have nothing so near and
dear to me as their approbation. However, I had
much rather run the risk of displeasing than of injuring them, -- if I am driven to make such an option. You obligingly lament that you are not to have me
for your advocate; but if I had been capable of acting as an advocate in opposition to a plan so perfectly consonant to my known principles, and to the opinions I had publicly declared on an hundred occasions, I should only disgrace myself, without supporting,
with the smallest degree of credit or effect, the cause
you wished me to undertake. I should have lost the
only thing which can make such abilities as mine of
any use to the world now or hereafter: I mean that
authority which is derived from an opinion that a
member speaks the language of truth and sincerity,
and that he is not ready to take up or lay down a
great political system for the convenience of the hour,
that he is in Parliament to support his opinion of the
public good, and does not form his opinion in order
to get into Parliament, or to continue in it. It is in
a great measure for your sake that I wish to preserve
this character. Without it, I am sure, I should be ill
able to discharge, by any service, the smallest part of
that debt of gratitude and affection which I owe you
VOL. II. 17
? ? ? ? 258 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
for the great and honorable trust you have reposed
in me.
I am, with the highes' regard and esteem, Sir,
Your most obedient and humble servant,
E. B.
BEACONSFIELD, 23rd April, 1778.
COPY OF A LETTER TO MESSRS. ************* AND
CO. , BRISTOL.
GENTLEMEN, -
It gives me the most sensible concern to find that
my vote on the resolutions relative to. the trade of
Ireland has not been fortunate enough to meet with
your approbation. I have explained at large the
grounds of my conduct on that occasion in my letters to the Merchants' Hall; but my very sincere
regard and esteem for you will not permit me to let
the matter pass without an explanation which is particular to. yourselves, and which I hope will prove satisfactory to you.
You tell me that the conduct of your late member
is not much wondered at; but you seem to be at a
loss to account for mine; and you lament that I have
taken so decided a part against my constituents.
This is rather an heavy imputation. Does it, then?
really appear to you that the propositions to which
you refer are, on the face of them, so manifestly
wrong, and so certainly injurious to the trade and
manufactures of Great Britain, and particularly to
yours, that no man could think of proposing or' supporting them, except from resentment to you, or from
? ? ? ? TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 259
some other oblique motive? If you suppose your
late member, or if you suppose me, to act upon other
reasons than we choose to avow, to what do you attribute the conduct of the other members, who in the
beginning almost unanimously adopted those resolutions? To what do you attribute the strong part
taken by the ministers, and, along with the ministers,
by several of their most declared opponents? This
does not indicate a ministerial job, a party design,
or a provincial or local purpose. It is, therefore, not
so absolutely clear that the measure is wrong, or
likely to be injurious to the true interests of any
place or any person.
The reason, Gentlemen, for taking this step, at this
time, is but too obvious and too urgent. I cannot
imagine that you forget the great war which has
been carried on with so little success (and, as I
thought, with so little policy) in America, or that
you are not aware of the other great wars which are
impending. Ireland has been called upon to repel
the attacks of enemies of no small power, brought
upon her by councils in which she has had no share.
The very purpose and declared object of that original
war, which has brought other wars and other enemies on Ireland, was not very flattering to her dignity, her interest, or to the very principle of her liberty. Yet she submitted patiently to the evils she suffered from an attempt to subdue to your obedience
countries whose very commerce was not open to her.
America was to be conquered in order that Ireland
should not trade thither; whilst the miserable trade
which she is permitted to carry on to other places has
been torn to pieces in the struggle. In this situation,
are we neither to suffer her to have any real interest
? ? ? ? 260 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
in our quarrel, or to be flattered with the hope of any future means of bearing the burdens which she is to incur in defending herself against enemies which we have brought upon her?
I cannot set my face against such arguments. Is
it quite fair to suppose that I have no other motive
for yielding to them but a desire of acting against
my constituents? It is for you, and for yo? ;r interest, as a dear, cherished, and respected part o, a valuable Whole, that I have taken my share in this question. You do not, you cannot, suffer by it. If honesty be
true policy with regard to the transient interest of individuals, it is much more certainly so with regard to the permanent interests of communities. I know that it is but too natural for us to see our own certain ruin in the possible prosperity of other people. It is hard to persuade us that everything which is got by another is not taken from ourselves. But it is fit that we should get the better of these suggestions, which come from what is not the best and soundest part of our nature, and that we should form to ourselves a way of thinking, more rational, more just, and more religious. Trade is not a limited thing: as if the
objects of mutual demand and consumption could
not stretch beyond the bounds of our jealousies. God has given the earth to -the children of men, and He has undoubtedly, in giving it to them, given them what is abundantly sufficient for all their exigencies: not a scanty, but a most liberal, provision for them all. The Author of our nature has written it strongly in
that nature, and has promulgated the same law in His written word, that man shall eat his bread by his labor; and I am persuaded that no man, and no combination of men, for their own ideas of their par.
? ? ? ? TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 261
ticular profit, can, without great impiety, undertake
to say that he shall not do so, --that they have no
sort of right either to prevent the labor or to witb-.
hold the bread. Ireland having received no compe~n
sation, directly or indirectly, for any restraints on
their trade, ought not, in justice or common honesty,
to be made subject to such restraints. I do not mean
to impeach the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to make laws for the trade of Ireland: I only speak of what laws it is right for Parliament to
make.
It is nothing to an oppressed people, to say that in
part they are protected at our charge. The military
force which shall be kept up in order to cramp the
natural faculties of a people, and to prevent their
arrival to their utmost prosperity, is the instrument
of their servitude, not the means of their protection.
To protect men is to forward, and not to restrain,
their improvement. Else, what is it more than to
avow to them, and to the world, that you guard them
from others only to make them a prey to yourself?
This fundamental nature of protection does not belong to free, but to all governments, and is as valid in Turkey as in Great Britain. No government ought
to own that it exists for the purpose of checking the
prosperity of its people, or that there is such a principle involved in its policy.
Under the impression of these sentiments, (and not
as wanting every attention to my constituents which
affection and gratitude could inspire,) I voted for
these bills which give you so much trouble. I voted
for them, not as doing complete justice to Ireland,
but as being something less unjust than the general
prohibition which has hitherto prevailed. I hear
? ? ? ? 262 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL.
some discourse as if, in one or two paltry duties on
materials, Ireland had a preference, and that those
who set themselves against this act of scanty justice
assert that they are only contending for an equality.
What equality? Do they forget that the whole
woollen manufacture of Ireland, the most extensive
and profitable of any, and the natural staple of that
kingdom, has been in a manner so destroyed by restrictive laws of ours, and (at our persuasion, and on our promises) by restrictive laws of their own, that in
a few years, it is probable, they will not be able to
wear a coat of their own fabric? Is this equality?
Do gentlemen forget that the understood faith upon which they were persuaded to such an unnatural act has not been kept, -- but a linen-manufacture has
been set up, and highly encouraged, against them? Is
this equality? Do they forget the state of the trade of
Ireland in beer, so great an article of consumption,
and which now stands in so mischievous a position
with regard to their revenue, their manufacture, and
their agriculture? Do they find any equality in all
this? Yet, if the least step is taken towards doing
them common justice in the slightest articles for the
most limited markets, a cry is raised, as if we were
going to be ruined by partiality to Ireland.
Gentlemen, I know that the deficiency in these arguments is made up (not by you, but by others) by the usual resource on such occasions, the confidence
in military force and superior power. But that ground
of confidence, which at no time. was perfectly just, or
the avowal of it tolerably decent, is at this time very
unseasonable. Late experience has shown that it
cannot be altogether relied upon; and many, if not
all, of our present. difficulties have arisen from -put
? ? ? ? TWPO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. 263
ting our trust in what may very possibly fail, and,
if it should fail, leaves those who are hurt by such
a reliance without pity. Whereas honesty and justice, reason and equity, go a very great way in securing prosperity to those who use them, and, in case of failure, secure the best retreat and the most honorable consolations.
It is very unfortunate that we should consider those
as rivals, whom we ought to regard as fellow-laborers
in a common cause. Ireland has never made a single
step in its progress towards prosperity, by which you
have' not had a share, and perhaps the greatest share,
in the benefit. That progress has been chiefly owing
to her own natural advantages, and her own efforts,
which, after a long time, and by slow degrees, have
prevailed in some measure over the mischievous systems which have been adopted. Far enough she is still from having arrived even at an ordinary state of
perfection; and if our jealousies were to be converted
into politics as systematically as some would have
them, the trade of Ireland would vanish out of the
system of commerce. But, believe me, if Ireland is
beneficial to you, -it is so not from the parts in which it
is restrained, but from those in which it is left free,
though not left unrivalled. The greater its freedom,
the greater must be your advantage. If you should
lose in one way, you will gain in twenty.
Whilst I remain under this unalterable and powerful conviction, you will not wonder at the decided part I take. It is my custom so to do, when I see my way
clearly before me, and when I know that I am not
misled by any passion or any personal interest, which
in this case I am very sure I am not. I find that disagreeable things are circulated among my constitue
? ? ? ? 264 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN IN BRISTOL. ents; and I wish my sentiments, which form my jus. tification, may be equally general with the circulation against me. I have the honor to be, with the greatest regard and esteem, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient and humble servant,. B. WESTMINSTER, May 2, 1778.
I send the bills.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON PRESENTING TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
(ON THE 11TH FEBRUARY, 1780)
A PLANFOR
THE BETTER SECURITY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF
PARLIAMENT, AND THE ECONOMICAL REFORMATION OF THE CIVIL AND OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS.
? ? ? ? SPEECH.
/R. SPEAKER,-I rise, in acquittal of my engagement to the House, in obedience to the
strong and just requisition of my constituents, and, I
am persuaded, in conformity to the unanimous wishes
of the whole nation, to submit to the wisdom of Parliament "A Plan of Reform in the Constitution of
Several Parts of the Public Economy. "
I have endeavored that this plan should include,
in its execution, a considerable reduction of improper
expense; that it should effect a. conversion of unprofitable titles into a productive estate; that it should
lead to, and indeed almost compel, a provident administration of such sums of public money as must
remain under discretionary trusts; that it should
render the incurring debts on the civil establishment (which must ultimately affect national strength
and national credit) so very difficult as to become
next to impracticable.
But what, I confess, wvas uppermost with me, what
I bent the whole force of my. mind to, was the reduce
tion of that corrupt influence which is itself the perennial spring of all prodigality and of all disorder,which loads us more than millions of debt, -which takes away vigor from our arms, wisdom from our
councils, and every shadow' of authority and credit
From the most venerable parts of our Constitution.
Sir, I assure you very solemnly, and with a very
? ? ? ? 268 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
clear conscience, that nothing in the world has led me
to such an undertaking but my zeal for the honor of
this House, and the settled, habitual, systematic affection I bear to the cause and to the principles of government. I enter perfectly into the nature and consequences
of my attempt, and I advance to it with a tremor
that shakes me to the inmost fibre of my frame. I
feel that I engage in a business, in itself most ungracious, totally wide of the course of prudent conduct,
and, I really think, the most completely adverse that
can be imagined to the natural turn and temper of
my own mind. I know that all parsimony is of a
quality approaching to unkindness, and that (on
some person or other) every reform must operate as
a sort of punishment. Indeed, the whole class of the
severe and restrictive virtues are at a market almost
too high for humanity. What is worse, there are
very few of those virtues which are not capable of
being imitated, and even outdone in many of their
most striking effects, by the worst of vices. Malignity
and envy will carve much more deeply, and finish
much more sharply, in the work of retrenchment,
than frugality and providence. I do not, therefore,
wonder that gentlemen have kept away from such a
task, as well from good-nature as from prudence.
Private feeling might, indeed, be overborne by legislative reason; and a man of a long-sighted and a strong-nerved humanity might bring himself not so
much to consider from whom he takes a superfluousl
enjoyment as for whom in the end he may preserve!
the absolute necessaries of life.
But it is much more easy to reconcile this measure'
to humanity than to bring it to any agreement with
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 269
prudence. I do not mean that little, selfish, pitiful,
bastard thing which sometimes goes by the name of
a family in which it is not legitimate and to which it
is a disgrace; --I mean even that public and enlarged
prudence, which, apprehensive of being disabled from
rendering acceptable services to the world, withholds
itself from those that are invidious. Gentlemen who
are, with me, verging towards the decline of life, and
are apt to form their ideas of kings from kings of
former times, might dread the anger of a reigning
prince;- they who are more provident of the future,
or by being young are more interested in it, might
tremble at the resentment of the successor; they
might see a long, dull, dreary, unvaried visto of
despair and exclusion, for half a century, before
themi. This is no pleasant prospect at the outset
of a political journey.
Besides this, Sir, the private enemies to be made in
all attempts of this kind are innumerable; and their
enmity will be the more bitter, and the more dangerous too,. because a sense of dignity will oblige them to conceal the cause of their resentment. Very few
men of great families and extensive connections but
will feel the smart of a cutting reform, in some close
relation, some bosom friend, some pleasant acquaintance, some dear, protected dependant.
Emolument is taken from some; patronage from others; objects
of pursuit from all. Men forced into an involuntary
independence will abhor the authors of a blessing
which in their eyes has so very near a resemblance to
a curse. When officers are removed, and the offices
remain, you may set the gratitude of some against
the anger of -others, you may oppose the friends you
oblige against the enemies you provoke. But ser
? ? ? ? 270 SPEECH 01% THE PLAN
vices of the present sort create no attachments. The
individual good felt in a public benefit is comparatively so small, comes round through such an involved labyrinth of intricate and tedious revolutions, whilst a present personal detriment is so heavy, where
it falls, and so instant in its operation, that the cold
commendation of a public advantage never was and
never will be a match for the quick sensibility of a
private loss; and you may depend upon it, Sir, that,
when many people have an interest in railing, sooner
or later, they will bring a considerable degree of
unpopularity upon any measure. So that, for the
present at, least, the reformation will operate against
the reformers; and revenge (as against them at the
least) will produce all the effects of corruption.
This, Sir, is almost always the case, where the plan
has complete success. ' But how stands the matter in
the mere attempt? Nothing, you know, is more common than for men to wish, and call loudly too, for a
reformation, who, when it arrives, do by no means
like the severity of its aspect. Reformation is one
of those pieces which must be put at some distance in
order to please. Its greatest favorers love it better in
the abstract than in the substance. When any old
prejudice of their own, or any interest that they value,
is touched, they become scrupulous, they become captious; and every man has his separate exception.
Some pluck out the black hairs, some the gray; one
point must be given up to one, another point must
be yielded to another; nothing is suffered to prevail
upon its own principle; the whole is so frittered
down and disjointed, that scarcely a trace of the
original scheme remains. Thus, between the resistance of power, and the unsystematical process of pop
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 271,
ularity, the undertaker and the undertaking are both
exposed, and the poor reformer is hissed off the stage
both by friends and foes.
Observe, Sir, that the apology for my undertaking
(an apology which, though long, is no longer than
necessary) is not grounded on my want of the fullest
sense of the difficult and invidious nature of the task
I undertake. I risk odium, if I succeed, and contempt,if I fail. My excuse must rest in mine and
your conviction of the absolute, urgent necessity there
is that something of the kind should be done. If
there is any sacrifice to be made, either of estimation
or of fortune, the smallest is the best. Commandersin-chief are not to be plut upon the forlorn hope. But, indeed, it is necessary that the attempt should
be made. It is necessary from our own political circumstances; it is necessary from the operations of the enemy; it is necessary from the demands of the
people, whose desires, when they do not militate
with the stable and eternal rules of justice and reason, (rules which are above us and above them,) ought to be as a law to a House of Commons.
As to our circumstances, I do not mean to aggravate the difficulties of them by the strength of any coloring whatsoever. 'On the contrary, I observe,
and observe with pleasure, that our affairs rather
wear a more promising aspect than they did on the
opening of this session. We have had some leading
successes. But those who rate them at the highest
(higher a great deal, indeed, than I dare to do) are of
)pinion, that, upon the ground of such advantages,
gfe cannot at this time hope to make any treaty of
)eace which would not be ruinous and completely
disgraceful. In such all anxious state of things, if
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dawnings of success serve to animate our diligence,
they are good; if they tend to increase our presumption, they are worse than defeats. The state of our affairs shall, then, be as promising as any one may
choose to conceive it: it is, however, but promising.
We must recollect, that, with but half of our natural
strength, we are at war against confederated powers
who have singly threatened us with ruin; we must
recollect, that, whilst we are left naked on one side,
our other flank is uncovered by any alliance; that,
whilst we are weighing and balancing our successes
against our losses, we are accumulating debt to the
amount of at least fourteen millions in the year.
That loss is certain.
I have no wish to deny that our successes are as
brilliant as any one chooses to make them; our resources, too, may, for me, be as unfathomable as they are represented. Indeed, they are just whatever the
people possess and will submit to pay. Taxing is an
easy business. Any projector can contrive new impositions; any bungler can add to the old. But is it altogether wise to have no other bounds to your
impositions than the patience of those who are to
bear them?
All I claim upon the subject of your resources iE
this: that they are not likely to be increased by wastl
ing them. I think. I shall be permitted to assume
that a system of frugality will not lessen your richesi
whatever they may be. I believe it will not be hotli
disputed, that those resources which lie heavy on th(
subject ought not to be objects of preference, - tha
they,ought not to be the very first choice, to an hones
representative of the people.
This is all, Sir, that I shall say upon our circum
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stances and our resources: I mean to say a little
more on the operations of the enemy, because this
matter seems to me very natural in our present deliberation. When I look to the other side of the
water, I cannot help recollecting what Pyrrhus said,
on reconnoitring the Roman camp: -" These barbarians have nothing barbarous in their discipline. "
When I look, as I have pretty carefully looked, into
the proceedings of the French king, I am sorry to say
it, I see nothing of the character and genius of arbitrary finance, none of the bold frauds of bankrupt power, none of the wild struggles and plunges of despotism iin distress, -- no lopping off from the capital of debt, no suspension of interest, no robbery under
the name of loan, no raising the value, no debasing
the substance of the coin. I see neither Louis the
Fourteenth nor Louis the Fifteenth. On the contrary, I behold, with astonishment, rising before me,
by the very hands of arbitrary power, and in the very
midst of war and confusion, a regular, methodical
system of public credit; I behold a fabric laid on the
natural and solid foundations of trust and confidence
among men, and rising, by fair gradations, order over
order, according to the just rules of symmetry and
art. What a reverse of things! Principle, method,
regularity, economy, frugality, justice to individuals,
and care of the people are the resources with which
France makes war upon Great Britain. God avert
the omen! But if we should see any genius in war
and politics arise in France to second what is done
in the bureau! I turn my eyes from the consequences.
The noble lord in the blue ribbon, last year, treated
all this with contempt. IIe never could conceive it
VOL. II. 18
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possible that the French minister of finance could go
through that year with a loan of but seventeen hundred thousand pounds, and that he should be able
to fund that loan without any tax. The second year,
however, opens the very same scene. A small loan,
a loan of no more than two millions five hundred
thousand pounds, is to carry our enemies through the
service of this year also. No tax is raised to fund
that debt; no tax is raised for the current services.
I am credibly informed that there is no anticipation whatsoever. Compensations * are correctly made.
Old debts continue to be sunk as in the time of profound peace. Even payments which their treasury
had been authorized to suspend during the time of
war are not suspended.
A general reform, executed through every department of the revenue, creates an annual income of more
than half a million, whilst it facilitates and simplifies
all the functions of administration. The king's household - at the remotest avenues to which all reformation has been hitherto stoipped, that household which has been the stronghold of prodigality, the virgin fortress which was never before attacked -- has
been not only not defended, but it has, even in the
forms, been surrendered by the king to the economy
of his minister. No capitulation; no reserve. Economy has entered in triumph into the public splendor
of the monarch, into his private amusements, into
the appointments of his nearest and highest relations.
Economy and public spirit have made a beneficent
and an honest spoil: they have plundered from ex* This term comprehends various retributions made to persons
whose offices are taken away, or who in any other way suffer by the
new arrangements that are made.
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travagance and luxury, for the use of substantial
service, a revenue of near four hundred thousand
pounds. The reform of the finances, joined to this
reform of the court, gives to the public nine hundred
thousand pounds a year, and upwards.
The minister who does these things is a great
man; but the king who desires that they should be
done is a far greater. We must do justice to our
enemies: these are the acts of a patriot king. I am
not in dread of the vast armies of France; I am not
in dread of the gallant spirit of its brave and numerous nobility; I am not alarmed even at the great navy which has been so miraculously created. All these
thiings Louis the Fourteenth had before. With all
these things, the French monarchy has more than
once fallen prostrate at the feet of the public faith of
Great Britain. It was the want of public credit which
disabled France from recovering after her defeats, or
recovering even from her victories and triumphs.
It was a prodigal court, it was an ill-ordered revenue,
that sapped the foundations of all her greatness.
Credit cannot exist under the arm of necessity. Necessity strikes at credit, I allow, with a heavier and quicker blow under an arbitrary monarchy than
under a limited and balanced government; but still
necessity and credit are natural enemies, and cannot
be long reconciled in any situation. From necessity
and corruption, a free state may lose the spirit of that
complex constitution which is the foundation of confidence. On the other hand, I am far from being sure that a monarchy, when once it is properly regulated,
may not for a long time furnish a foundation for
credit upon the solidity of its maxims, though it
affords no ground of trust in its institutions. I am
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afraid I see in England, and in France, something
like a beginning of both these things. I wish I may
be found in a mistake.
This very short and very imperfect state of what is
now going on in France (the last circumstances of
which I received in about eight days after the registry of the edict *) I do not, Sir, lay before you for any invidious purpose. It is in order to excite in us the
spirit of a noble emulation. Let the nations make
war upon each other, (since we must make war,) not
with a low and vulgar malignity, but by a competition
of virtues. This is the only way by which both parties
can gain by war. The French have imitated us: let
us, through them, imitate ourselves,- ourselves in
our better and happier days. If public frugality,
under whatever men, or in whatever mode of government, is national strength, it is a strength which our enemies are in possession of before us.
Sir, I am well aware that the state and the result
of the French economy which I have laid before you
are even now lightly treated by some who ought
never to speak but from information. Pains have not
been spared to represent them as impositions on the
public. Let me tell you, Sir, that the creation of a
navy, and a two years' war without taxing, are a very
singular species of imposture. But be it so. For
what end does Necker carry on this delusion? Is it to
lower the estimation of the crown he serves, and to
render his own administration contemptible? No!
No! He is conscious that the sense of mankind is so
clear and decided in favor of economy, and of the
weight and value of its resources, that he turns himself to every species of fraud and artifice to obtain the * Edict registered 29th January, 1780.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 277
mere reputation of it. Men do not affect a conduct
that tends to their discredit. Let us, then, get the
better of Monsieur Necker in his own way; let us do
in reality what he does only in pretence; let us turn
his French tinsel into English gold. Is, then, the
mere opinion and appearance of frugality and good
management of such use to France, and is the substance to be so mischievous to England? Is the very
constitution of Nature so altered by a sea of twenty
miles, that economy should give power on the Continent, and that profusion should give it here? For
God's sake, let not this be the only fashion of France
which we refuse to copy!
To the last kind of necessity, the desires of the people, I have but a very few words to say. The ministers seem to contest this point, and affect to doubt whether the people do really desire a plan of economy
in the civil government. Sir, this is too ridiculous.
It is impossible that they should not desire it. It is
impossible that a prodigality which draws its resources from their indigence should be pleasing to them.
Little factions of pensioners, and their dependants,
may talk another language. But the voice of Nature
is against them, and it will be heard. The people of
England will not, they cannot, take it kindly, that
representatives should refuse to their constituents
what an absolute sovereign voluntarily offers to his
subjects. The expression of the petitions is, that,
" before any new burdens are laid upon this country,
effectual measures be taken by this House to inquire into and correct the gross abuses in the expenditure of public money. "
This has been treated by the noble lord in the
blue ribbon as a wild, factious language. It happens,
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however, that the people, in their address to us, use,
almost word for word, the same terms as the king of
France uses in addressing himself to his people; and
it differs only as it falls short of the French king's
idea of what is due to his subjects. "To convince,"
says he, " our faithful subjects of the desire we enter. .
tain not to recur to new impositions, until we have
first exhausted all the resources which order and
economy can possibly supply," &c. , &c.
These desires of the people of England, which come
far short of the voluntary concessions of the king of
France, are moderate indeed. They only contend that
we should interweave some economy with the taxes
with which we have chosen to begin the war. They
request, not that you should rely upon economy exclusively, but that you should give it rank and precedence, in the order of the ways and means of this single session.
But if it were possible that the desires of our constituents, desires which are at once so natural and so
very much tempered and subdued, should have no
weight with an House of Commons which has its eye
elsewhere, I would turn my eyes to the very quarter
to which theirs are directed. I would reason this
matter with the House on the mere policy of the
question; and I would undertake to prove that an
early dereliction of abuse is the direct interest of government, of government taken abstractedly from
its duties, and considered merely as a system intending its own conservation.
If there is any one eminent criterion which above
all the rest distinguishes a wise government from
an administration weak and improvident, it is this:
"well to know the best time and manner of yielding
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what it is impossible to keep. " There have been, Sir,
and there are, many who choose to chicane with their
situation rather than be instructed by it. Those
gentlemen argue against every desire of reformation
upon the principles of a criminal prosecution. It is
enough for them to justify their adherence to a pernicious system, that it is not of their contrivance, -- that it is an inheritance of absurdity, derived to them
from their ancestors,-that they can make out a long
and unbroken pedigree of mismanagers that have
gone before them. They are proud of the antiquity
of their house; and they defend their errors as if
they were defending their inheritance, afraid of derogating from their nobility, and carefully avoiding a sort of blot in their scutcheon, which they think would
degrade them forever.
]it was thus that the unfortunate Charles the First
defended himself on the practice of the Stuart who
went before him, and of all the Tudors. His partisans
might have gone to the Plantagenets. They might
have found bad examples enough, both abroad and
at home, that could have shown an ancient and illustrious descent. But there is a time when men will not suffer bad things because their ancestors have
suffered worse. There is a time when the hoary
head of inveterate abuse will neither draw reverence
nor obtain protection. If the noble lord in the blue
ribbon pleads, " Not guilty," to the charges brought
against the present system of public economy, it is
not possible to give a fair verdict by which he will not
stand acquitted. But pleading is not our present business. His plea or his traverse may be allowed as an answer to a charge, when a charge is made. But if he
puts himself in the way to obstruct reformation, then
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the faults of his office instantly become his own. Instead of a public officer in an abusive department,
whose province is an object to be regulated, he becomes a criminal who is to be punished. I do most
seriously put it to administration to consider' the
wisdom of a timely reform. Early reformations are
amicable arrangements with a friend in power; late
reformations are terms imposed upon a conquered
enemy: early reformations are made in cool blood;
late reformations are made under a state of ilflammation. In that state of things the people behold in
government nothing that is respectable. They see the
abuse, and they will see nothing else. They fall'into
the temper of a furious populace provoked at the disorder of a house of ill-fame; they never attempt to correct or regulate; they go to work by the shortest way: they abate the nuisance, they pull down the house.
This is my opinion with regard to the true interest
of government. But as it is the interest of government that reformation should be early, it is the interest of the people that it should be temperate. It is
their interest, because a temperate reform is permanent, and because it has a principle of growth.
Whenever we improve, it is right to leave room for
a further improvement. It is right to consider, to
look about us, to examine the effect of what we have
done. Then we can proceed with confidence, because we can proceed with intelligence. Whereas
in hot reformations, in what men more zealous'than
considerate call making clear work, the whole is gelerally so crude, so harsh, so indigested, mixed with
so much imprudence and so much injustice, so contrary to the whole course of human nature and human institutions, that the very people who are most
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eager for it are among the first to grow disgusted at
what they have done.
