No More Learning

I FIND it very hard to persuade several that their passions are affected by words from whence they have no ideas; and yet harder to convince them that in the ordinary course of conversation we are suflieiently understood without raising any images of the things concerning which we speak. It seems to be an odd subject of dispute with any man, whether he has ideas in his mind or not. Of this, at first view, every man, in his own forum, ought to judge without appeal. But, strange as it may appear, we are often at a loss to know what ideas we have of things, or whether we have any ideas at all upon some subjects. It even requires a good deal of attention to be thoroughly satisfied on this head. Since I wrote these papers, I found two very striking instances of the possibility there that man may hear words without having any idea of the things which they represent, and yet afterwards be capable of returning them to others, combined in new way, and with great propriety, en ergy, and instruction. The first instance that of Mr. Blacklock, poet blind from his birth. Few men blessed with the most perfect sight can describe visual objects with more spirit and justness than this blind man which cannot possibly be attributed to his hav ing clearer conception of the things he describes than common to other persons. Mr. Spence, in an elegant preface which he has written to the works of this poet, reasons very ingeniously, and, imagine, for the most part, very rightly, upon the cause of this
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extraordinary phenomenon; but I cannot altogether agree with him, that some improprieties in language and thought, which occur in these poems, have arisen from the blind poet's imperfect conception of visual objects, since such improprieties, and much greater, may be found in writers even of a higher class than Mr. Blacklock, and who, notwithstanding, possessed the faculty of seeing in its full perfection. Here is a poet doubtless as much affected by his own descrip tions as any that reads them can be; and yet he is af fected with this strong enthusiasm by things of which he neither has, nor can possibly have, any idea fur ther than that of a bare sound: and why may not those who read his works be affected in the same manner that he was; with as little of any real ideas of the things described? The second instance is of Mr. Saunderson, professor of mathematics i11 the University of Cambridge. This learned man had acquired great knowledge in natural philosophy, in astronomy, and whatever sciences depend upon math ematical skill. What was the most extraordinary and the most to my purpose, he gave excellent lec tures upon light and colors; and this man taught others the theory of those ideas which they had, and which he himself undoubtedly had not. But it is probable that the words red, blue, green, answered to him as well as the ideas of the colors themselves; for the ideas of greater or lesser degrees of refrangibility being applied to these words, and the blind man be ing instructed in what other respects they were found to agree or to disagree, it was as easy for him to rea son upon the words as if he had been fully master of the ideas. Indeed it must be owned he could make no new discoveries in the way of experiment. He
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ON TI-IE sUBLnvIE AND BEAUTIFUL.
did nothing but what we do every day in common dis course. When I wrote this last sentence, and used the words every dag and common discourse, I had no images in my mind of any succession of time ; nor of men in conference with each other; nor do I imagine that the reader will have any such ideas on reading it. Neither when I spoke of red, or blue, and green, as well as refrangibility, had I these several colors, or the rays of light passing into a different medium, and there diverted from their course, painted before me in the way of images. I know very well that the mind possesses a faculty of raising such images at pleasure; but then an act of the will is necessary to this; and in ordinary conversation or reading it is very rarely that any image at all is excited in the
? mind. If I say, "I shall go to Italy next summer," I am well understood. Yet I believe nobody has by this painted in his imagination the exact figure of the speaker passing by land or by water, or both ; some times on horseback, sometimes in a carriage: with all the particulars of the journey. Still less has he any idea of Italy, the country to which I proposed to go ; or of the greenness of the fields, the ripening of the fruits, and the warmth of the air, with the change
to this from a different season, which are the ideas for which the word summer is substituted ; but least of all has he any image from the word next ; for this word stands for the idea of many summers, with the exclusion of all but one: and surely the man who says next summer has no images of such a succession, and such an exclusion. In short, it is not only of those ideas which are commonly called abstract, and of which no image at all can be formed, but even of particular, real beings, that we converse without hav
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ing any idea of them excited in the imagination ; as will certainly appear on a diligent examination of our own minds. Indeed, so little does poetry depend for its effect on the power of raising sensible images, that I am convinced it would lose a very considerable part of its energy, if this were the necessary result of all
description. Because that union of affecting words, which is the most powerful of all poetical instru ments, would frequently lose its force along with its propriety and consistency, if the sensible images were always excited. There is not, perhaps, in the whole _/Eneid a more grand and labored passage than the
? of Vulcan's cavern in Etna, and the works that are there carried on. Virgil dwells par ticularly on the formation of the thunder which he describes unfinished under the hammers of the Cy clops. But what are the principles of this extraor
description
dinary composition ?
Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosw Addiderant ; rutili tres ignis, et alitis austri : Fulgores nunc terrificos, sonitumque, metumque Miscebant operi, flammisquc sequacibus iras.
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This seems to me admirably sublime: yet if we at tend coolly to the kind of sensible images which a combination of ideas of this sort must form, the chi meras of madmen cannot appear more wild and ab surd than such a picture. " Three rays of twisted showers, three of watery clouds, three of fire, and three
of the winged south wind; then mixed they in the work terrific lightnings, and sound, and fear,and anger, with pursuing flames. " This strange composition is formed into a gross body ; it is hammered by the Cyclops, it is in part polished, and partly continues rough. The truth poetry gives us noble assemblage of
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words corresponding to many noble ideas, which are connected by circumstances of time or place, or re lated to each otheros cause and effect, or associated in any natural way, they may be moulded together in any form, and perfectly answer their end. The picturesque connection is not demanded; because no
real picture is formed; nor is the effect of the de scription at all the less upon this account. What is said of Helen by Priam and the old men of his coun cil, is generally thought to give us the highest possi ble idea of that fatal beauty.
O1': ve? peatc, Tpiras' xal e'iiKvr')p. 43aS 'Axazm'1t Tozfid' ti/. t? i 'yw/auci 1ro7\1':v xpzivov dhyea 1rda')(? W' Aiwlvs' aiflavziryow 6:3'): sis' airra. E'ou<cv.
" They cried, No wonder such celestial charms
For nine long years have set the world in arms ; What winning graces ! what majestic mien !
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen. "
Porn.
Here is not one word said of the particulars of her beauty; nothing which can in the least help us to any precise idea of her person ; but yet we are much more touched by this manner of mentioning her, than by those long and labored descriptions of Helen, whether handed down by tradition, or formed by fancy, which are to be met with in some authors. I am sure it affects me much more than the minute description which Spenser has given of Belphebe; though I own that there are parts, in that descrip tion, as there are in all the descriptions of that excel lent writer, extremely fine and poetical. The terri ble picture which Lucretius has drawn of religion in order to display the magnanimity of his philosophical hero in opposing her, is thought to be designed with great boldness and spirit: --
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Humane ante oculos fade cum vita jaceret, In wrris, oppressa gravi sub rcligione,
Quin caput e cmli rcgionibus ostendebat Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans ; Primus Grains homo mortales tellers contra Est oculos ausus.
What idea do you derive from so excellent a picture ? none at all, most certainly: neither has the poet said a single word which might in the least serve to mark a single limb or feature of the phantom, which he intended to represent in all the horrors imagination can conceive. In reality, poetry and rhetoric do not succeed i11 exact description so well as painting does ;
their business to affect rather by sympathy than imitation; to display rather the effect of things on the mind of the speaker, or of others, than to present
clear idea of the things themselves. This their Inost extensive province, and that in which they suc ceed the best.
SE CTION VI.
POETRY NOT STRICTLY AN IMITATIVE ART.
HENCE we may observe that poetry, taken in its most general sense, cannot with strict propriety be called an art of imitation. It indeed an imitation
so far as describes the manners and passions of men
which their words can express; where animi motus
qfifert interprete lingua. There strictly imitation; and all merely dramatic poetry of this sort. But
descriptive poetry operates chiefly by substitution by
the means of sounds, which by custom have the effect of realities. Nothing an imitation further than as
it resembles some other thing; and words undoubt
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edly have no sort of resemblance to the ideas for which they stand.
SECTI0N VII.
now woims INFLUENCE THE PASSIONS.
Now, as words affect, not by any original power, but by representation, it might be supposed, that their influence over the passions should be but light; yet it is quite otherwise; for we find by experience, that eloquence and poetry are as capable, nay indeed much more capable, of making deep and lively im
than any other arts, and even than nature itself in very many cases. And this arises chiefly from these three causes. First, that we take an ex traordinary part in the passions of others, and that we are easily affected and brought into sympathy by any tokens which are shown of them ; and there are no tokens which can express all the circumstances of most passions so fully as words; so that if a person speaks upon any subject, he can not only convey the subject to you, but likewise the manner in which he is himself affected by it. Certain it that the in fluence of most things on our passions not so much from the things themselves, as from our opinions con cerning them; and these again depend very much on the opinions of other men, conveyable for the most part by words only. Secondly, there are many things of very affecting nature, which can seldom occur in the reality, but the words that represent them often do; and thus they have an opportunity of making deep impression and taking root in the mind, whilst the idea of the reality was transient; and to some
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perhaps never really occurred in any shape, to whom it is notwithstanding very affecting, as war, death, famine, &c. Besides many ideas have never been at all presented to the senses of any men but by words, as God, angels, devils, heaven, and hell, all of which have however a great influence over the passions. Thirdly, by words we have it in our power to make such combinations as we cannot possibly do otherwise.
By this power of combining we are able, by the addi tion of well-chosen circumstances, to give a new life and force to the simple object. In painting we may represent any fine figure we please ; but we never can give it those enlivening touches which it may receive from words. To represent an angel in a picture, you can only draw a beautiful young man winged: but what painting can furnish out anything so grand as the addition of one word, " the angel of the Lord " ? It is true, I have here no clear idea ; but these words affect the mind more than the sensible image did ; which is all I contend for. A picture of Priam dragged to the altar's foot, and there murdered, if it were well executed, would undoubtedly be very mov ing; but there are very aggravating circumstances, which it could never represent :
Sanguine ftedantem quos ipse sacraverat ignes.
As a further instance, let us consider those lines of Milton, where he describes the travels of the fallen angels through their dismal habitation :
" O'er many a dark and dreary vale
They passed, and many a region dolorous;
O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp ;
Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, A universe of death. "
Here is displayed the force of union in
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which yet would lose the greatest part of their effect, if they were not the
" Rocks, caves, lakes, dens, bogs, fens, and shades -- of Death. "
This idea or this affection caused by a word, which nothing but a word could annex to the others, raises a very great degree of the sublime, and this sublime is raised yet higher by what follows, a " universe of death. " Here are again two ideas not presentable but by language, and an union of them great and amazing beyond conception; if they may properly be called ideas which present no distinct image to the mind; but still it will be difficult to conceive how words can move the passions which belong to real objects, without representing these objects clearly. This is difficult to us, because we do not sufficiently distinguish, in our observations upon language, be tween a clear expression and a strong expression.
These are frequently confounded with each other, though they are in reality extremely different. The
former regards the understanding, the latter belongs to the passions. The one describes a thing as it the latter describes as felt. Now, as there amov ing tone of voice, an impassioned countenance, an agi tated gesture, which affect independently of the things about which they are exerted, so there are words, and certain dispositions of words, which being peculiarly devoted to passionate subjects, and always used those who are under the influence of any passion, touch and move us more than those which far more clearly and distinctly express the subject-matter. We yield to sympathy what we refuse to description. The truth all verbal description, merely as naked de
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scription, though never so exact, conveys so poor and insufficient an idea of the thing described, that it could scarcely have the smallest effect, if the speaker did not call in to his aid those modes of speech that mark a strong and lively feeling in himself. Then, by the
contagion of our passions, we catch a fire already kin dled in another, which probably might never have been struck out by the object described. Words, by strongly conveying the passions by those means which we have already mentioned, fully compensate for their weakness in other respects. It may be observed,
that very polished languages, and such as are praised for their superior clearness and perspicuity, are gen erally deficient in strength. _ The French language has that perfection and that defect. Whereas the Oriental tongues, and in general the languages of most Iu1polished people, have a great force and ener gy of expression, and this is but natural. Unculti vated people are but ordinary observers of things, and not critical in distinguishing them; but, for that
reason they admire more, and are more affected with what they see, and therefore express themselves in a warmer and more passionate manner. If the affec tion be well conveyed, it will work its effect without any clear idea, often without any idea at all of the
thing which has originally given rise to it.
It might be expected, from the fertility of the sub ject, that I should consider poetry, as it regards the
sublime and beautiful, more at large ; but it must be observed, that in this light it has been often and well handled already. It was not my design to enter into the criticism of the sublime and beautiful in any art, but to attempt to lay down such principles as may
tend to ascertain, to distinguish, and to form a sort
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of standard for them; which purposes I thought might be best effected by an inquiry into the proper ties of such things in nature, as raise love and aston ishment in us ; and by showing in what manner they operated to produce these passions. Words were only so far to be considered as to show upon what princi ple they were capable of being the representatives of these natural things, and by what powers they were able to aifect us often as strongly as the things they
represent,
and sometimes much more strongly.
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SHORT ACCOUNT
A LATE SHORT ADMINISTRATION. I766.
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SHORT ACCOUNT
A LATE SHORT ADMINISTRATION. ---Oi
late administration came into employment, THuEnder the mediation of the Duke of Cumber land, on the tenth day of July, 1765; and was re moved, upon a plan settled by the Earl of Chatham,
on the thirtieth day of July, 1766, having lasted just one year and twenty days.
In that space of time
The distractions of the British empire were com posed, by the repeal of the American stamp act;
But the constitutional superiority of Great Britain
was preserved by the act for securing the dependence of the colonies.
Private houses were relieved from the jurisdiction of the excise, by the repeal of the cider taz.
The personal liberty of the subject was confirmed, by the resolution against general warrants.
The lawful secrets of business and friendship were rendered inviolable, by the resolution for condemning the seizure of papers.
The trade of America was set free from injudicious and ruinous impositions, -- its revenue was improved,
and
? settled upon a rational foundation,-- its com
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merce extended with foreign countries; while the advantages were secured to Great Britain,
act for repealing certain duties, and encouraging, regu lating, and scouring the trade this kingdom, and the British dominions in America.
Materials were provided and insured to our man ufactures,--the sale of these manufactures was creased, --the African trade preserved and extended, --the principles of the act of navigation pursued, and the plan improved,---and the trade for bullion rendered free, secure, and permanent, by the act for opening certain ports in Dominica and Jamaica.
That administration was the first which proposed and encouraged public meetings and free consulta
tions of merchants from all parts of the kingdom; which means the truest lights have been received; great benefits have been already derived to manufac tures and commerce; and the most extensive
pects are opened for further improvement.
Under them, the interests of our northern and southern colonies, before that time jarring and dis sonant, were understood, compared, adjusted, and perfectly reconciled. The passions and animosities of the colonies, by judicious and lenient measures, were allayed and composed, and the foundation laid for lasting agreement amongst them.
_ Whilst that administration provided for the liberty and commerce of their country, as the true basis its power, they consulted its interests, they asserted its honor abroad, with temper and with firmness; by making an advantageous treaty of commerce with Russia; by obtaining liquidation of the Canada bills, to the satisfaction of the proprietors; by reviv ing and raising from its ashes the negotiation for
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the Manilla ransom, which had been extinguished and abandoned by their predecessors.
They treated their sovereign with decency; with reverence. They discountenanced, and, it is hoped, forever abolished, the dangerous and Imconstitutional practice of removing military officers for their votes in Parliament. They firmly adhered to those friends
of liberty, who had run all hazards in its cause ; and provided for them in preference to every other claim. With the Earl of Bute they had no personal connec tion; no correspondence of councils. They neither
courted him nor persecuted him. They practised no corruption; nor were they even suspected of it. They sold no offices. They obtained no reversions or pensions, either coming in or going out, for them selves, their families, or their dependents.
In the prosecution of their measures they were traversed by an opposition of a new and singular character ; an opposition of placemen and pensioners. They were supported by the confidence of the nation. And having held their offices under many difficulties and discouragemcnts, they left them at the express command, as they had accepted them at the earnest request, of their royal master.
These are plain facts; of a clear and public na ture; neither extended by elaborate reasoning, nor heightened by the coloring of eloquence. They are the services of a single year.
The removal of that administration from power is not to them premature ; since they were in office long enough to accomplish many plans of public utility; and, by their perseverance and resolution, rendered
the way smooth and easy to their successors ; having left their king and their country in a much better
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condition than they found them. By the temper they manifest, they seem to have now no other wish than that their successors may do the public as real and as faithful service as they have done.
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on A LATE PUBLICATION,
INTITULED
"THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NATION. "
? "O Tite, si quid ego adjuvem curarnve levasso, Quse nunc te coquit, ct versat sub pectore fixa,
Ecquid erit pretii? " I769.
ENN. ap. Clo.
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on A LATE PUBLICATION, lN'lTl'ULED
"THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NATION. "
PARfoTrYdivisions,whetheronthewholeoperating good or evil, are things inseparable from free government. This is a truth which, I believe, admits
little dispute, having been established by the uniform experience of all ages. The part a good citizen ought to take in these divisions has been a matter of much deeper controversy. But God forbid that any contro
versy relating to our essential morals should admit of no decision. It appears to me, that this question, like most of the others which regard our duties in life, is to be determined by our station in it. Private men may be wholly neutral, and entirely innocent: but they who are legally invested with public trust,
or stand on the high ground of rank and dignity, which is trust implied, can hardly in any case remain indifferent, without the certainty of sinking into in significance ; and thereby in effect deserting that post
in which, with the fullest authority, and for the wis est purposes, the laws and institutions of their coun try have fixed them. However, if it be the office of those who are thus circumstanced, to take a decided part, it is no less their duty that it should be a sober one. It ought to be circumscribed by the same laws
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of decorum, and balanced by the same temper, which bound and regulate all the virtues. In a word, we ought to act in party with all the moderation which does not absolutely enervate that vigor, and quench that fervency of spirit, without which the best wishes for the public good must evaporate in empty specula tion.
It is probably from some such motives that the
friends of a very respectable party in this kingdom have been hitherto silent. For these two years past, from one and the same quarter of politics, a continual fire has been kept upon them; sometimes from the unwieldy column of quartos and octavos; sometimes from the light squadrons of occasional pamphlets and flying sheets. Every month has brought on its peri odical calumny. The abuse has taken every shape which the ability of the writers could give it; plain invective, clumsy raillery, misrepresented anecdote? ' No method of vilifying the measures, the abilities, the intentions, or the persons which compose that body, has been omitted.
On their part nothing was opposed but patience and character. It was a matter of the most serious and indignant affliction to persons who thought them selves in conscience bound to oppose a ministry dan gerous from its very constitution, as well as its measures, to find themselves, whenever they faced their adversaries, continually attacked on the rear by a set of men who pretended to be actuated by mo tives similar to theirs. They saw that the plan long pursued, with but too fatal a success, was to break the strength of this kingdom, by frittering down the
* History of the Minority. History of the Repeal of the Stamp Act. Considerations on Trade and Finance. Political Register, &c. , Sac.
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bodies which compose by fomenting bitter and sanguinary animosities, and by dissolving every tie of social affection and public trust. These virtuous men, such am warranted by public opinion to call them, were resolved rather to endure everything, than co-operate in that design. A diversity of opin ion upon almost every principle of politics had in deed drawn strong line of separation between them and some others. However, they were desirous not to extend the misfortune by unnecessary bitterness; they wished to prevent difference of opinion on the commonwealth from festering into rancorou and incurable hostility. Accordingly they endeavored that all past controversies should be forgotten; and
that enough for the day should be the evil thereof. There however limit at which forbearance ceases to be virtue. Men may tolerate injuries whilst they are only personal to themselves. But not the first of virtues to bear with moderation the in dignities that are offered to our country. A piece has at length appeared, from the quarter of all the
former attacks, which upon every public considera tion demands an answer. Whilst persons more equal to this business may be engaged in affairs of greater
moment, hope shall be excused, in few hours of a time not very important, and from such matc
rials as have by me (more than enough however for this purpose), undertake to set the facts and argu ments of this wonderful performance in proper
? will endeavor to state what this piece is; the purpose for which take to have been written
and
light.
the effects (supposing should have any effect
at all)
VOL. I. 18
must necessarily produce.
This piece called " The Present State of the
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Nation. " It may be considered as a sort of digest of
the avowed maxims of a certain political school, the effects of whose doctrines and practices this country
will feel long and severely. It is made up of afar
rago of almost every topic which has been agitated on national affairs in parliamentary debate, or private conversation, for these last seven years. The oldest controversies are hauled out of the dust with which
time and neglect had covered them. Arguments ten times repeated, a thousand times answered before,
are here repeated again. Public accounts formerly printed and reprinted revolve once more, and find
their old station in this sober meridian. All the commonplace lamentations'upon the decay of trade,
the increase of taxes, and the high price of labor and provisions, are here retailed again and again in the l same tone with which they have drawled through col umns of Gazetteers. and Advertisers for a century to gether. Paradoxes which affront common sense, and uninteresting barren truths. which generate no con clusion, are thrown in to augment unwieldy bulk, without adding anything to weight. Because two accusations are better than one, contradictions are
set staring one another in the face, without even an attempt to reconcile them. And, to give the whole a sort of portentous air of labor and information, the table of the House of Commons is swept into this grand reservoir of politics. '
As to the composition, it bears a striking and whim sical resemblance to a funeral sermon, not only in the pathetic prayer with which it concludes, but in the style and tenor of the whole performance. It is pitc ously doleful, nodding every now and then towards dulness ; well stored with pious frauds, and, like most
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discourses of the sort, much better calculated for the private advantage of the preacher than the edification
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The author has indeed so involved his subject, that
it is frequently far from being easy to comprehend his meaning. It is happy for the public that it is never difficult to fathom his design. The apparent inten tion of this author is to draw the most aggravated, hideous and deformed picture of the state of this country, which his querulous eloquence, aided by the arbitrary dominion he assumes over fact, is capable of exhibiting. Had he attributed our misfortunes to their true cause, the injudicious tampering of bold, improvident, and visionary ministers at one period, or to their supine negligence and traitorous dissen sions at another, the complaint had been just, and
might have been useful. But far the greater and much the worst part of the state which he exhibits is owing, according to his representation, not to ac cidental and extrinsic mischiefs attendant on the
nation, but to its radical weakness and constitutional distempers. All this however is not without purpose. The author is in hopes, that, when we are fallen into a fanatical terror for the national salvation, we shall
then be ready to throw ourselves,--in a sort of pre cipitate trust, some strange disposition of the mind jumbled up of presumption and despair,--into the hands of the most pretending a1Id forward under
taker. One such undertaker at least he has in readi ness for our service. But let me assure this gener ous person, that however he may. succeed in exciting our fears for the public danger, he will find it hard indeed to engage us to place any confidence in the
system he proposes for our security.
ofthe hearers.
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His undertaking is great. The purpose of this pamphlet, at which it aims directly or obliquely in every page, is to persuade the public of three or four of the most difficult points in the world,-- that all the
of the late war were on the part of the Bourbon alliance; that the peace of Paris perfectly consulted the dignity and interest of this country; and that the American Stamp Act was a masterpiece of policy and finance; that the only good minister this nation has enjoyed since his Majesty's accession, is the Earl of Bute; and the only good managers of revenue we have seen are Lord Despenser and Mr. George Grenville ; and, under the description of men of virtue and ability, he holds them out to us as the only persons fit to put our affairs in order. Let not the reader mistake me: he does not actually name these persons; but having highly applauded their conduct in all its parts, and heavily censured every other set of men in the kingdom, he then recom
mends us to his men of virtue and ability.
Such is the author's scheme. Whether it will
answer his purpose I know not. But surely that pur pose ought to be a wonderfully good one, to warrant the methods he has taken to compass it. If the facts and reasonings in this piece are admitted, it is all over with us. ' The continuance of our tranquillity depends upon the compassion of our rivals. Unable to secure to ourselves the advantages of peace, we are at the same time utterly unfit for war. It is im possible, if this state of things be credited abroad, that we can have 'any alliance; all nations will fly from so dangerous a connection, lest, instead of being partakers of our strength, they should only become sharers in our ruin. If it is believed at home, all
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that firmness of mind, and dignified national courage, which used to be the great support of this isle against the powers of the world, must melt away, and fail within us.
In such a state of things can it be amiss if I aim at holding out some comfort to the nation ; another sort of comfort, indeed, than that which this writer pro vides for it; a comfort not from its physician, but from its constitution: if I attempt to show that all the arguments upon which he founds the decay of that constitution, and the necessity of that physician,
are vain and frivolous? I will follow the author closely in his own long career, through the war, the peace, the finances, our trade, and our foreign poli tics: not for the sake of the particular measures
? which he discusses ; that can be of no use ; they are all decided; their good is all enjoyed, or their evil incurred: but for the sake of the principles of war, peace, trade, and finances. These principles are of
infinite moment. They must come again and again under consideration ; and it imports the public, of all things, that those of its ministers be enlarged, and
just, and well confirmed, upon all these subjects. What notions this author entertains we shall see presently; notions i11 my opinion very irrational, and
extremely dangerous ; and which, ifthey should crawl from pamphlets into counsels, and be realized from private speculation into national measures, cannot fail of hastening and completing our ruin.
This author, aftcr having paid his compliment to the showy appearances of the late war in our favor, is
in the utmost haste to tell you that these appearances werefallacio/us, that they were no more than an im
p0s2'ti0n. --I
fear I must trouble the reader with 8.
? ? ? 278 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
pretty long quotation, in order to set before him the more clearly this author's peculiar way of conceiving and reasoning :
" Happily (the K. ) was then advised by ministers, who did not suffer themselves to be dazzled by the glare of brilliant appearances ; but, knowing them to be fallacious, they wisely resolved to profit of their splendor before our enemies should also discover the imposition. --The increase in the exports was found to have been occasioned chiefly by the demands of our own fleets and armies, and, instead of bringing wealth to the nation, was to be paid for by oppressive taxes upon the people of England. While the Brit ish seamen were consuming 0n board our men of war and privateers, foreign ships and foreign seamen were employed in the transportation of our merchandise; and the carrying trade, so great a source of wealth and marine, was entirely engrossed by the neutral na tions. The number of British ships annually arriv ing in our ports was reduced 1756 sail, containing 92,559 tons, on a medium of the six years' war,
compared with the six years of peace preceding it. --- The conquest of the Havannah had, indeed, stopped the remittance of specie from Mexico to Spain; but it had not enabled England to seize it :" on the con trary, our merchants suffered by the detention of the galleons, as their correspondents in Spain were dis abled from paying them for their goods sent to America.
The loss of the trade to Old'S]>ain was a further bar to
an influx ofspecie; and the attempt upon Portugal had not only deprived us of an import of bullion from thence, but the payment of our troops employed in its defence was a fresh drain opened for the dim inution of our circulating specie. --The high pre
_''--'_'
? ? ? ? ON THE PBESEST STATE OF THE NATION.
miums given for new loans had sunk the price of the old stock near a third of its original value; so that the purchasers had an obligation from the state to repay them with an addition of 33 per cent to their capital. Every new loan required new taxes to be imposed; new taxes must add to the price of our manufactures, and lessen their consumption among for eigners. The decay of our trade must necessarily occasion a decrease of the public revenue; and a defi ciency of our funds must either be made up by fresh taxes, which would only add to the calamity, or our national credit must be destroyed, by showing the public creditors the inability of the nation to repay them their principal money. --Bounties had already been given for recruits which exceeded the year's wages of the plough1nan and reaper; and as these were exhausted, and husbandry stood still for want of hands, the manufacturers were next to be tempted to
quit the anvil and the loom by higher offers. --France, bankrupt France, had no such calamities impending over her; her distresses were great, but they were im mediate and temporary; her want of credit preserved her from a great increase of debt, and the loss of her ultramarine dominions lessened her expenses. Her colo nies had, indeed, put themselves into the hands of the English ; but the property of her subjects had been pre served by capitulations, and a way opened for making
her those remittances which the war had before sus
pended, with as much security as in time of peace. -- Hcr armies in Germany had been hitherto prevented from seizing upon Hanover; but they continued to encan1p on the same ground on which the first battle was fought; and, as it must ever happen from the policy of that government, the last troops she sent into
? ? ? ? 280 OBSERVATIONS ox A LATE PUBLICATION
the field were always found to be the best, and her fre quent losses only served to fill her regiments with better soldiers. The conquest of Hanover became therefore every campaign more probable. --It is to be noted,
that the French troops received subsistence only, for
the last three years of the war; and that, although large arrears were due to thcm at its conclusion, the charge was the less during its col1tinuance. " * l
If any one be willing to see to how much greater lengths the author carries these ideas, he will recur to the book. This is sufficient for a specimen of his manner of thinking. I believe one reflection i1ni formly obtrudes itself upon every reader of these par agraphs. For what purpose, in any cause, shall we hereafter contend with France ? Can we ever flatter ourselves that we shall wage a more successful war? If, 0n our part, in a war the most prosperous we ever carried on, by sea and by land, and in every part of the globe, attended with the unparalleled circumstance of an immense increase of trade and augmentation of revenue; if a continued series of disappointments, disgraces, and defeats, followed by
public bankruptcy, on the part of France; if all these still leave her a gainer on the whole bal ance, will it not be downright frenzy in us ever to look her in the face again, or to contend with her any, even the most essential points, since victory and defeat, though by diiferent ways, equally con duct us to our ruin ? Subjection to France without a struggle will indeed be less for our honor, but on every principle of our author it must be more for our advantage. According to his representation of things, the question is only concerning the most easy
* Pages 6 -10.
i 1
? ? ? ? on THE PRESENT STATE or THE NATION. 281
fall. France had not discovered, our statesman tells us, at the end of that war, the triumphs of defeat, and the resources which are derived from bankruptcy. For my poor part, I do not wonder . at their blind ness. But the English ministers saw fLu'ther. Our
author has at length let foreigners also into the se cret, and made them altogether as wise as ourselves. It is their own fault if (milgato imperii arcano) they are imposed upon any longer. They now are ap prised of the sentiments which the great candidate for the government of this great empire entertains; and they will act accordingly. They are taught our
weakness and their own advantages.
He tells the world,* that if France carries on the
war against us in Germany, every loss she sustains contributes to the achievement of her conquest. If her armies are three years unpaid, she is the less ex hausted by expense. If her credit is destroyed, she is the less oppressed with debt. If her troops are out
to pieces, they will by her policy (and a wonderful policy it is) be improved, and will be supplied with much better men. If the war is carried on in the colonies, he tells them1' that the loss of her ultra marine dominions-lessens her expenses, and insures
her remittances:
Per damna, per csedes, ab ipso Dncit opes animumqus ferro.
If so, what is it we can do to hurt her? --it will be 'all an imposition, all fallacio'u. s. Why, the result
? must be, --
Occidit, oecidit Spes omnis, et fortuna nostri
Nominis.
* Pages 9, 10. 1 Page 9.
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The only way which the author's principles leave for our escape, is to reverse our condition into that of France, and to take her losing cards into our hands. But though his principles drive him to his politics will not suffer him to walk on this ground. Talking at our ease and of other countries, we may bear to diverted with such speculations; but in England we
shall never be taught to look upon the annihilation of our trade, the ruin of our credit, the defeat of our armies, and the loss of our ultramarine dominions (whatever the author may think of them), to be the high road to prosperity and greatness.
The reader does not, hope, imagine that mean seriously to set about the refutation of these uninge nious paradoxes and reveries without imagination. state them only that we may discern little in the questions of war and peace, the most weighty of all questions, what the wisdom of those men who are held out to us as the only hope of an expiring nation. The present ministry indeed of strange character: at once indolent and distracted. But ministerial system should be formed, actuated by such maxims as are avowed in this piece, the vices of the present ministry would become their virtues their indolence would be the greatest of all public benefits, and distraction that entirely defeated every one of their schemes would be our only security from destruction.