-But the
petitioners
are violent.
Edmund Burke
?
?
?
348 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
the same commission, and sent to learn his commercial rudiments in New York, (then under the operation of an act for the universal prohibition of trade,) was soon after put at the head of that board. This
contempt from the present ministers of all the pretended functions of that board, and their manner of
breathing into its very soul, of inspiring it with its
animating and presiding principle, puts an end to all
dispute concerning their opinion of the clay it was
made of. But I will give them heaped measure.
It was but the other day, that the noble lord in
the blue ribbon carried up to the House of Peers two
acts, altering, I think much for the better, but altering in a great degree, our whole commercial system:
those acts, I mean, for giving a free trade to Ireland
in woollens, and in all things else, with independent
nations, and giving them an equal trade to our own
colonies. Here, too, the novelty of this great, but
arduous and critical improvement of system, would
make you conceive that the anxious solicitude of the
noble lord in the blue ribbon would have wholly
destroyed the plan of summer recreation of that
board, by references to examine, compare, and digest
matters for Parliament. You would imagine that
Irish commissioners of customs, and English commissioners of customs, and commissioners of excise,
that merchants and manufacturers of every denomination, had daily crowded their outer rooms. Nil
horumrn. The perpetual virtual adjournment, and the
unbroken sitting vacation of that board, was no more
disturbed by the Irish than by the plantation commerce, or any other commerce. The same matter
made a large part of the business which occupied the
House for two sessions before; and as our ministers
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 349
were not then mellowed by the mild, emollient, and
engaging blandishments of our dear sister into all
the tenderness of unqualified surrender, the bounds
and limits of a restrained benefit naturally required
much detailed management and positive regulation.
But neither the qualified propositions which were
received, nor those other qualified propositions which
were rejected by ministers, were the least concern of
theirs, or were they ever thought of in the business.
It is therefore, Sir, on the opinion of Parliament,
on the opinion of the ministers, and even on their
own opinion of their inutility, that I shall propose to
you to suppress the Board of Trade and Plantations,
and to recommit all its business to the Council, from
whence it was very improvidently taken; and which
business (whatever it might be) was much better
done, and without any expense; and, indeed, where
in effect it may all come at last. Almost all that deserves the name of business there is the reference of the plantation acts to the opinion of gentlemen of the
law. But all this may be done, as the Irish business
of the same nature has always been done, by the
Council, and with a reference to the Attorney and
Solicitor General.
There are some regulations in the household, relative to the officers of the yeomen of the guards, and the officers and band of gentlemen pensioners, which
I shall likewise submit to your consideration, for the
purpose of regulating establishments which at present are much abused.
I have now finished all that for the present I shall
trouble you with on the plan of reduction. I mean
next to propose to you the plan of arrangement, by.
which I mean to appropriate and fix the civil list
? ? ? ? '350 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
money to its several services according to their nature: for I am thoroughly sensible, that, if a discretion wholly arbitrary can be exercised over the civil list revenue, although the most effectual methods
may be taken to prevent the inferior departments
from exceeding their bounds, the plan of reformation
will still be left very imperfect. It will not, in my
opinion, be safe to permit an entirely arbitrary discretion even in the First Lord of the Treasury himself; it will not be safe to leave with him a power of diverting the public money from its proper objects, of
paying it in an irregular course, or of inverting perhaps the order of time, dictated by the proportion of.
value, which ought to regulate his application of payment to service.
I am sensible, too, that the very operation of a plan
of economy which tends to exonerate the civil list of
expensive establishments may in some sort defeat the
capital end we have in view, -- the independence of
Parliament; and that, in removing the public and
ostensible means of influence, we may increase the
fund of' private corruption. I have thought of some
methods to prevent an abuse of surplus cash under
discretionary application, - I mean the heads of secret
service, special service, variousspayments, and the like, -
which I hope will answer, and which in due time I
shall lay before you. Where I am unable to limit
the quantity of the sums to be applied, by reason of
the uncertain quantity of the service, I endeavor to
confine it to its line, to secure an indefinite application to the definite service to which it belongs, - not
to stop the progress of expense in its-line, but to confine it to that line in which it professes to move.
But that part of my plan, Sir, upon which I prin
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 351,
cipally rest, that on which I rely for the purpose of
binding up and securing the whole, is to establish a
fixed and invariable order in all its payments, which it
shall not be permitted to the First Lord of the Treasury, upon any pretence whatsoever, to depart from.
I therefore divide the civil list payments into nine
classes, putting each class forward according to thp
importance or justice of the demand, and to the inability of the persons entitled to enforce their pretensions: that is, to put those first who have the most efficient offices, or claim the justest debts, and at the
same time, from the character of that description of:
men, from the retiredness or the remoteness of their
situation, or from their want of weight'and power to
enforce their pretensions, or from their being entirely
subject to the power of a minister, without any reciprocal power of awing, ought to be the most considered,
and are the most likely to be neglected, - all these I
place in the highest classes; I place in the lowest
those whose functions are of the least importance, but
whose persons or rank are often of the greatest power
and influence.
In the first class I place the judges, as of the first
importance. It is the public justice that holds the
community together; the ease, therefore, and independence of the judges ought to supersede all other
considerations, and they ought to be the very last to
feel the necessities of the state, or to be obliged either
to court or bully a minister for their right; they ought
to be as weak solicitors on their own demands as strenuous assertors of the rights and liberties of others.
The judges are, or ought to be, of a reserved and retired character, and wholly unconnected with the
political world.
? ? ? ? 352 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
In the second class I place the foreign ministers.
The judges are the links of our connections with one
another; the foreign ministers are the links of our
connection with other nations. They are not upon
the spot to demand payment, and are therefore the
most likely to be, as in fact they have sometimes been,
entirely neglected, to the great disgrace and perhaps
the great detriment of the nation.
In the third class I would bring all the tradesmen
who supply the crown by contractor otherwise.
In the fourth class I place all the domestic servants of the king, and all persons in efficient offices whose salaries do-not exceed two hundred pounds a
year.
In the fifth, upon account of honor, which ought to
give place to nothing but charity and rigid justice, I
would place the pensions and allowances of his Majesty's royal family, comprehending of course the queen, together with the stated allowance of the
privy purse.
In the sixth class I place those efficient offices of
duty whose salaries may exceed, the sum of two hundred pounds a year.
In the seventh class, that mixed mass, the whole
pension list.
In the eighth, the offices of honor about the king.
In the ninth, and the last of all, the salaries and
pensions of the First Lord of the Treasury himself,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the other Commissioners of the Treasury.
If, by any possible mismanagement of that part
of the revenue which is left at discretion, or by any
other mode of prodigality, cash should be deficient for
the payment of the lowest classes, I propose that the
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 353
amount of those salaries where the deficiency may
happen to fall shall not be carried as debt to the account of the succeeding year, but that it shall be entirely lapsed, sunk, and lost; so that government will be enabled to start in the race of every new year
wholly unloaded, fresh in wind and in vigor. Hereafter no civil list debt can ever come upon the public.
And those who do not consider this as saving, because
it is not a certain sum, do not ground their calculations of the future on their experience of the past.
I know of no mode of preserving the effectual execution of any duty, but to make it the direct interest
of the executive officer that it shall be faithfully performed. Assuming, then, that the present vast allowance to the civil list is perfectly adequate to all its purposes, if there should be any failure, it must be
from the mismanagement or neglect of the First Commissioner of the Treasury; since, upon the proposed
plan, there can be no expense of any consequence
which he is not himself previously to authorize and
finally to control. It is therefore just, as well as
politic, that the loss should attach upon the delinquency.
If the failure from the delinquency should be very
considerable, it will fall on the class directly above
the First Lord of the Treasury, as well as upon himself
and his board. It will fall, as it ought to fall, upon
offices of no primary importance in the state; but
then it will fall upon persons whom it will be a matter of no slight importance for a minister to provoke:
it will fall upon persons of the first rank and consequence in the kingdom, -- upon those who are nearest to the king, and frequently have a more interior credit with him than the minister himself. It will
VOL. II. 23
? ? ? ? 854 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
fall upon masters of the horse, upon lord chamberlains, upon lord stewards, upon grooms of the stole, and lords of the bedchamber. The household troops
form an army, who will be ready to mutiny for want
of pay, and whose mutiny will be really dreadful to a
commander-in-chief. A rebellion of the thirteen lords
of the bedchamber would be far more terrible to a
minister, and would probably affect his power more
to the quick, than a revolt of thirteen colonies. What
an uproar such an event would create at court! What
petitions, and committees, and associations, would it not
produce! Bless me! what a clattering of white sticks
and yellow sticks would be about his head! what a
storm of gold keys would fly about the ears of the minister! what a shower of Georges, and thistles, and medals, and collars of S. S. would assail him at his
first entrance into the antechamber, after an insolvent Christmas quarter! -- a tumult which could not
be appeased by all the harmony of the new year's ode.
Rebellion it is certain there would be; and rebellion
may not now, indeed, be so critical an event to those
who engage in it, since its price is so correctly ascertained at just a thousand pound.
Sir, this classing, in my opinion, is a serious and
solid secu'rity for the performance of a minister's
duty. Lord Coke says, that the staff was put into the
Treasurer's hand to enable him to support himself
when there was no money in the Exchequer, and to
beat away importunate solicitors. The method which
I propose would hinder him from the necessity of
such a broken staff to lean on, or such a miserable
weapon for repulsing the demands of worthless suitors, who, the noble lord in the blue ribbon knows, will bear many hard blows on the head, and many other
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 355
indignities, before they are driven from the Treasury.
In this plan, he is furnished with an answer to all
their importunity, - an answer far more conclusive
than if he had knocked them down with his staff: -
"Sir, (or my Lord,) you are calling for my own salary, - Sir, you are calling for the appointments of my
colleagues whlo sit about me in office, - Sir, you are
going to excite a mutiny at court against me, - you
are going to estrange his Majesty's confidence from
me, through the chamberlain, or the master of the
horse, or the groom of the stole. "
As things now stand, every man, in proportion to
his consequence at court, tends to add to the expenses
of the civil list, by all manner of jobs, if not for himself, yet for his dependants. When the new plan is
established, those who are now suitors for jobs will
become the most strenuous opposers of them. They
will have a common interest with the minister in public economy. Every class, as it stands low, will become security for the payment of the preceding class; and thus the persons whose insignificant services
defraud those that are useful would then become
interested in their payment. Then the powerful,
instead of oppressing, would be obliged to support
the weak; and idleness would become concerned in
the reward of industry. The whole fabric of the civil
economy would become compact and connected in all
its parts; it would be formed into a well-organized
body, where every member contributes to the support
of the whole, and where even the lazy stomach secures the vigor of the active arm.
This plan, I really flatter myself, is laid, not in official formality, nor in airy speculation, but in real life,
and in human nature, in what "comes home" (as
? ? ? ? 356 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
Bacon says) " to the business and bosoms of men. '!
You have now, Sir, before you, the whole of my
scheme, as far as I have digested it into a form that
might be in any respect worthy of your consideration. I intend to lay it before you in five bills. *
The plan consists, indeed, of many parts; but they
stand upon a few plain principles. It is a plan which
takes nothing from the civil list without discharging
it of a burden equal to the sum carried to the public
service. It weakens no one function necessary to
government; but, on the contrary, by appropriating
supply to service, it gives it greater vigor. It provides the meahs of order and foresight to a minister of finance, which may always keep all the objects of
his office, and their state, condition, and relations,
distinctly before him. It brings forward accounts
without hurrying and distressing the accountants:
whilst it provides for public convenience, it regards
private rights. It extinguishes secret corruption almost to the possibility of its existence. It destroys direct and visible influence equal to the offices of at
least fifty members of Parliament. Lastly, it prevents
tile provision for his Majesty's children from being
diverted to the political purposes of his minister.
These are the points on which I rely for the merit
of the plan. I pursue economy in a secondary view,
and only as it is connected with these great objects.
I am persuaded, that even for supply this scheme will
be far from unfruitful, if it be executed to the extent
I propose it. I think it will give to the public, at its
periods, two or three hundred thousand pounds a
year; if not, it will give them a system of economy,
which is itself a great revenue. It gives me no little
* Titles of the bills read.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL iEFORM. 357
pride and satisfaction to find that the principles of
my proceedings are in many respects the very same
with those which are now pursued in the plans of the
French minister of finance. I am sure that I lay
before you a scheme easy and practicable in all its
parts. I know it is common at once to applaud and
to reject all attempts of this nature. I know it is common for men to say, that such and such things are perfectly right, very desirable, -but that, unfortunately, they are not practicable. Oh, no, Sir! no!
Those things which are not practicable are not desirable. There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed
understanding and a well-directed pursuit. There is
nothing that God has judged good for us that He has
not given us the means to accomplish, both in the
natural and the moral world. If we cry, like children, for the moon, like children we must cry on.
We must follow the nature of our affairs, and conform ourselves to our situation. If we do, our objects are plain and compassable. Why should we resolve
to do nothing, because what I propose to you may not
be the exact demand of the petition, when we are far
from resolved to comply even with what evidently is
so? Does this sort of chicanery become us? The
people are the masters. They have only to express
their wants at large and in gross. We are the expert
artists, we are the skilful workmen, to shape their
desires into perfect form, and to fit the utensil to the
use. They are the sufferers, they tell the symptoms
of the complaint; but we know the exact seat of the
disease, and how to apply the remedy according to
the rules of art. How shocking would it be to see
us pervert our skill into a sinister and servile dexter
? ? ? ? 858 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
ity, for the purpose of evading our duty, and defrauding our employers, who are our natural lords, of the
object of their just expectations! I think the whole
not only practicable, but practicable in a very short
time. If we are in earnest about it, and if we exert
that industry and those talents in forwarding the
work, which, I am afraid, may be exerted in impeding it, I engage that the whole may be put in complete execution within a year. For my own part, I have very little to recommend me for this or for any
task, but a kind of earnest and anxious perseverance
of mind, which, with all its good and all its evil effects,
is moulded into my constitution. I faithfully engage
to the House, if they choose to appoint me to any par)
in the execution of this work, (which, when they have
made it theirs by the improvements of their wisdom,
will be worthy of the able assistance they may give me,)
that by night and by day, in town or in country, at
the desk or in the forest, I will, without regard to
convenience, ease, or pleasure, devote myself to their
service, not expecting or admitting any reward whatsoever. I owe to this country my labor, which is my
all; and I owe to it ten times more industry, if ten
times more I could exert. After all, I shall be an
unprofitable servant.
~ At the same time, if I am able, and if I shall be
permitted, I will lend an humble helping hand to
any other good work which is going on. I have not,
Sir, the frantic presumption to suppose that this plan
contains in it the whole of what the public has a right
to expect in the great work of reformation they call
for. Indeed, it falls infinitely short of it. It falls
short even of my own ideas. I have some thoughts,
not yet fully ripened, relative to a reform in the cus
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 359
toms and excise, as well as in some other branches
of financial administration. There are other things,
too, which form essential parts in a great plan for the
purpose of restoring the independence of Parliament.
The contractors' bill of last year it is fit to revive;
and I rejoice that it is in better hands than mine.
The bill for suspending the votes of custom-house
officers, brought into Parliament several years ago by
one of our worthiest and wisest members,* - would to
God we could along with the plan revive the person
who designed it! but a man of, very real integrity,
honor, and ability will be found to take his place,
and to carry his idea into full execution. You all
see how necessary it is to review our military expenses
for some years past, and, if possible, to bind up and
close that bleeding artery of profusion; but that business also, I have reason to hope, will be undertaken
by abilities that are fully adequate to it. Something
must be devised (if possible) to check the ruinous
expense of elections.
Sir, all or most of these things must be done.
Every one must take his part. If we should be'able, by dexterity, or power, or intrigue, to disappoint the expectations of our constituents, what will it avail us? We shall never be strong or artful
enough to parry, or to put by, the irresistible de.
mands of our situation. That situation calls upon
tis, and upon our constituents too, with a voice which
will be heard. I am sure no man is more zealously
attached than I am to the privileges of this House,
particularly in regard to the exclusive management
of money. The Lords have no right to the disposition,
in any sense, of the public purse; but they have gone
* W. D)wdeswell, Esq. , Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1765.
? ? ? ? 360 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
further in self-denial * than our utmost jealousy could
have required. A power of examining accounts, to
censure, correct, and punish, we never, that I know
of, have thought of denying to the House of Lords. It
is something more than a century since we voted that
body useless: they have now voted themselves so.
The whole hope of reformation is at length cast upon
us; and let us not deceive the nation, which does us
the honor to hope everything from our virtue. If all
the nation are not equally forward to press this duty
upon us, yet be assured that they all equally expect
we should perform it. The respectful silence of those
who wait upon your pleasure ought to be as powerful
with you as the call of those who require your service
as their right. Some, without doors, affect to feel hurt
for your dignity, because they suppose that menaces
are held out to you. Justify'their good opinion by
showing that no menaces are necessary to stimulate
you to your duty. But, Sir, whilst we may sympathize with them in one point who sympathize with
us in another, we ought to attend no less to those who
approach us like men, and who, in the guise of petitioners, speak to us in the tone of a concealed author-'
ity. It is not wise to force them to speak out more
plainly what they plainly mean.
-But the petitioners are violent. Be it so. Those who are least anxious about your conduct are not those that love you most. Moderate affection and satiated enjoyment
are cold and respectful; but an ardent and injured
passion is tempered up with wrath, and grief, and
shame, and conscious worth, and the maddening
sense of violated right. A jealous love lights his
torch from the firebrands of the furies. They who
* Rejection of Lord Shelburne's motion in the House of Lords.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 361
call. upon you to belong wholly to the people are those
who wish you to return to your proper home, - to the
sphere of your duty, to the post of your honor, to the
mansion-house of all genuine, serene, and'solid satisfaction. We have furnished to the people of England
(indeed we have) some real cause of jealousy. Let
us leave that sort of company which, if it does not
destroy our innocence, pollutes our honor; let us
free ourselves at once from everything that can increase their suspicions and inflame their just resentment; let us cast away from us, with a generous scorn, all the love-tokens and symbols that we have
been vain and light enough to accept, - all the bracelets, and snuff-boxes, and miniature pictures, and hair
devices, and all the other adulterous trinkets that are
the pledges of our alienation and the monuments of
our shame. Let us return to our legitimate home,
and all jars and all quarrels will be lost in embraces.
Let the commons in Parliament assembled be one and
the same thing with the commons at large. The distinctions that are made to separate us are unnatural
and wicked contrivances. Let us identify, let us incorporate ourselves with the people. Let us cut all
the cables and snap the chains which tie us to an
unfaithful shore, and enter the friendly harbor that
shoots far out into the main its moles and jetties to
receive us. "War with the world, and peace with
our constituents. " Be this our motto, and our principle. Then, indeed, we shall be truly great. Respecting ourselves, we shall be respected by the world. At present all is troubled, and cloudy, and distracted,
and full of anger and turbulence, both abroad and at
home; but the air may be cleared by this storm, and
light and fertility may follow it. Let us give a faith
? ? ? ? 362 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
ful pledge to the people, that we honor, indeed, the
crown, but that we belong to them; that we are their
auxiliaries, and not theii task-masters,- the fellowlaborers in' the same vineyard, not lording over their
rights, but helpers of their joy; that to tax them is -a
grievance to ourselves, but to cut off from our enjoyments to forward theirs is the highest gratification we
are capable of receiving. I feel, with comfort, that
we are all warmed -with these sentiments, and while
we are thus warm, I wish we may go directly and
with a cheerful heart to this salutary work.
Sir, I move for leave to bring in a bill, "For
the better regulation of his Majesty's civil establishments, and of certain public offices; for the limitation of pensions, and the suppression of sundry useless, expensive, and inconvenient places, and for applying the moneys saved thereby to the public service. " X Lord North stated, that there was a difference
between this bill for regulating the establishments
and some of the others, as they affected the ancient
patrimony of the crown, and therefore wished them
to be postponed till the king's consent could be obtained. This distinction was strongly controverted;
but when it was insisted on as a point of decorum
only, it was agreed to postpone them to another day.
Accordingly, on the Monday following, viz. Feb. 14,
leave was given, on the motion of Mr. Burke, without
opposition, to bring in -
1st, "A bill for the sale of the forest and other
crown lands, rents, and hereditaments, with certain
exceptions, and for applying the produce thereof to
* The motion was seconded by Mr. Fox.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 363
the public service; and for securing, ascertaining,
and satisfying tenant rights, and common and other
rights. "
2nd, "A bill for the more perfectly uniting to the
crown the Principality of Wales and the County
Palatine of Chester, and for the more commodious
administration of justice within the same; as also for
abolishing certain offices now appertaining thereto,
for quieting dormant claims, ascertaining and securing tenant rights, and for the sale of all forest lands, and other lands, tenements, and hereditaments, held
by his Majesty in right of the said Principality, or
County Palatine of Chester, and for applying the
produce thereof to the public service. "
3rd, "A bill for uniting to the crown the Duchy
and County Palatine of Lancaster, for the suppression of unnecessary offices now belonging thereto,
for the ascertainment and security of tenant and other
rights, and for the sale of all rents, lands, tenements,
and hereditaments, and forests, within the said Duchy
and County Palatine, or either of them, and for applying the produce thereof to the poublic service. " And it was ordered that Mr. Burke, Mr. Fox, Lord
John Cavendish, Sir George Savile, Colonel Barr6,
Mr. Thomas Townshend, Mr. Byng, Mr. Dunning,
Sir Joseph Mawbey, Mr. Recorder of London, Sir
Robert Clayton, Mr. Frederick Montagu, the Earl of
Upper Ossory, Sir William Guise, and Mr. Gilbert do
prepare and bring in the same.
At the same time, Mr. Burke moved for leave to
bring in4th, "A bill for uniting the Duchy of Cornwall to
the crown; for the suppression of certain unnecessary
offices now belonging thereto; for the ascertainment
? ? ? ? 364 SPEECH ON ECONOMICAL REFORM.
and security of tenant and other rights; and for the
sale of certain rents, lands, and tenements, within or
belonging to the said Duchy; and for applying the
produce thereof to the public service. "
But some objections being made by the SurveyorGeneral of the Duchy concerning the rights of the Prince of Wales, now in his minority, and Lord North
remaining perfectly silent, Mr. Burke, at length,
though he strongly contended against the principle
of the objection, consented to withdraw this last motion for the present, to be renewed upon an early occasion.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
AT THE
GUILDHALL IN BRISTOL, PREVIOUS TO THE
LATE ELECTION IN THAT CITY,
UPON
CERTAIN POINTS RELATIVE TO HIS PARLIAMENTARY CONDUCT. 178o.
? ? ? ? SPEECH.
M R. MAYOR, AND GENTLEMEN,- I am extremely pleased at the appearance of this large
and respectable meeting. The steps I may be obliged
to take will want the sanction of a considerable authority; and in explaining anything which may appear doubtful in my public conduct, I must naturally desire a very full audience.
I have been backward to begin my canvass. The
dissolution of the Parliament was uncertain; and it
did not become me, by an unseasonable importunity,
to appear diffident of the effect of my six years' endeavors to please you. I had served the city of Bristol honorably, and the city of Bristol had no reason to think that the means of honorable service to the
public were become indifferent to me.
I found, on my arrival here, that three gentlemen
had been long in eager pursuit of an object which but
two of us can obtain. I found that they had all met
with encouragement. A contested election in such a
city as this is no light thing. I paused on the brink
of the precipice. These three gentlemen, by various
merits, and on various titles, I made no doubt were
worthy of your favor. I shall never attempt to raise
myself by depreciating the merits of my competitors.
In the complexity and confusion of these cross pursuits, I wished to take the authentic public sense of
my friends upon a business of so much delicacy. I
? ? ? ? 968 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
wished to take your opinion along with me, that, if I
should give up the contest at the very beginning, my
surrender of my post may not seem the effect of inconstancy, or timidity, or anger, or disgust, or indolence, or any other temper unbecoming a man who has engaged in the public service. If, on the contrary, I should undertake the election, and fail of
success, I was full as anxious that it should be manifest to the whole world that the peace of the city had
not been broken by my rashness, presumption, or fond
conceit of my own merit.
I am not come, by a false and counterfeit show of
deference to your judgment, to seduce it in my favor.
I ask it seriously and unaffectedly. If you wish that
I should retire, I shall not consider that advice as a
censure upon my conduct, or an alteration in your
sentiments, but as a rational submission to the circumstances of affairs. If, on the contrary, you should
think it proper for me to proceed on my canvass, if
you will risk the trouble on your part, I will risk it
on mine. My pretensions are such as you cannot be
ashamed of, whether they succeed or fail.
If you call upon me, I shall solicit the favor of the
city upon manly ground. I come before you with the
plain confidence of an honest servant in the equity
of a candid and discerning master. I come to claim
your approbation; not to amuse you with vain apologies, or with professions still more vain and senseless.
I have lived too long to be served by apologies, or to
stand in need of them. The part I have acted has
been in open day; and to hold out to a conduct
which stands in that clear and steady light for all its
good and all its evil, to hold out to that conduct
the paltry winking tapers of excuses and promises,
? ? ? ? PREVIOUS TO THE ELECTION. 369
-I never will do it. They may obscure it with their
smoke, but they never can illumine sunshine by such
a flame as theirs.
I am sensible that no endeavors have been left untried to injure me in your opinion. But the use of
character is to be a shield against calumny. I could
wish, undoubtedly, (if idle wishes were not the most
idle of all things,) to make every part of my conduct
agreeable to every one of my constituents; but in so
great a city, and so greatly divided as this, it is weak
to expect it.
In such a discordancy of sentiments it is better to
look to the nature of things than to the humors of
men. The very attempt towards pleasing everybody
discovers a temper always flashy, and often false and
insincere. Therefore, as I have proceeded straight
onward in my conduct, so I will proceed in my account of those parts of it which have been most excepted to. But I must first beg leave just to hint to you that we may suffer very great detriment by
being open to every talker. It is not to be imagined
how much of service is lost from spirits full of activity and full of energy, who are pressing, who are
rushing forward, to great and capital objects, when
you oblige them to be continually looking back.
Whilst they are defending one service, they defraud
you of an hundred. Applaud us when we run, console us when we fall, cheer us when we recover;
but let us pass on, -for God's sake, let us pass on!
Do you think, Gentlemen, that every public act in
the six years since I stood in this place before you,
that all the arduous things which have been done
in this eventful period which has crowded into a few
years' space the revolutions of an age, can be opened
VOL. II. 24
? ? ? ? 870 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
to you on their fair grounds in half an hour's conversation?
But it is no reason, because there is a bad mode of
inquiry, that there should be no examination at all.
Most certainly it is our duty to examine; it is our
interest, too: but it must be with discretion, with an
attention to all the circumstances and to all the motives; like sound judges, and not like cavilling pettifoggers and quibbling pleaders, prying into flaws and hunting for exceptions. Look, Gentlemen, to the
whole tenor of your member's conduct. Try whether
his. ambition or his avarice have justled him out of
the straight line of duty, - or whether thatgrand foe
of the offices of active life, that master vice in men
of business, a degenerate and inglorious sloth, has
made him flag and languish in his course. This is
the object of our inquiry. If our member's conduct
can bear this touch, mark it for sterling. He may
have fallen into errors, he must have faults; but
our error is greater, and our fault is radically ruinous to ourselves, if we do not bear, if we do not
even applaud, the whole compound and mixed mass
of such a character. Not to act thus is folly; I had
almost said it is impiety. He censures God who
quarrels with the imperfections of man.
Gentlemen, we must not be peevish with those who
serve the people; for none will serve us, whilst there
is a court to serve, but those who are of a nice and
jealous honor. They who think everything, in comparison of that honor, to be dust and ashes, will not
bear to have it soiled and impaired by those for whose
sake they make a thousand sacrifices to preserve it
immaculate and whole. We shall either drive such
men from the public stage, or we shall send them to
? ? ? ? PREVIOUS TO THE ELECTION. 371
the court for protection, where, if they must sacrifice their reputation, they will at least secure their
interest. Depend upon it, that the lovers of freedom
will be free. None will violate their conscience to
please us, in order afterwards to discharge that conscience, which they have violated, by doing us faithful and affectionate service. If we degrade and deprave their minds by servility, it will be absurd to expect that they who are creeping and abject towards
us will ever be bold and incorruptible assertors of our
freedom against the most seducing and the most formidable of all powers. No! human nature is not so
formed: nor shall we improve the faculties or better
the morals of public men by our possession of the
most infallible receipt in the world for making cheats
and hypocrites.
Let me say, with plainness, I who am no longer in
a public character, that, if, by a fair, by an indulgent,
by a gentlemanly behavior to our representatives,
we do not give confidence to their minds and a liberal scope to their understandings, if we do not permit our members to act upon a very enlarged view
of things, we shall at length infallibly degrade our
national representation into a confused and scuffling
bustle of local agency. When the popular member
is narrowed in his ideas and rendered timid in his
proceedings, the service of the crown will be the sole
nursery of statesmen. Among the frolics of the court,
it may at length take that of attending to its business. Then the monopoly of mental power will be
added to the power of all other kinds it possesses.
On the side of the people there will be nothing but
impotence: for ignorance is impotence; narrowness
of mind is impotence; timidity is itself impotence,
? ? ? ? 372 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
and makes all other qualities that go along with it
impotent and useless.
At present it is the plan of the court to make its
servants insignificant. If the people should fall into
the same humor, and should choose their servants on
the same principles of mere obsequiousness and flexibility and total vacancy or indifference of opinion in all public matters, then no part of the state will be
sound, and it will be in vain to think of saving it.
I thought it very expedient at this time to give you
this candid counsel; and with this counsel I would
willingly close, if the matters which at various times
have been objected to me in this city concerned only
myself and my own election. These charges, I think,
are four in number: my neglect of a due attention
to my constituents, the not paying more frequent
visits here; my conduct on the affairs of the first
Irish Trade Acts; my opinion and mode of proceeding on Lord Beauchamp's Debtors' Bills; and my
votes on the late affairs of the Roman Catholics. All
of these (except perhaps the first) relate to matters
of very considerable public concern; and it is not
lest you should censure me improperly, but lest you
should form improper opinions on matters of some
moment to you, that I trouble you at all upon the
subject. My conduct is of small importance.
With regard to the first charge, my friends have
spoken to me of it in the style of amicable expostulation - not so much blaming the thing as lamenting the effects. Others, less partial to me, were less
kind in assigning the motives. I admit, there is a
decorum and propriety in a member of Parliament's
paying a respectful court to his constituents. If I
were conscious to myself that pleasure, or dissipation,
? ? ? ? PREVIOUS TO THE ELECTION. 372
or low, unworthy occupations had detained me fromi
personal attendance on you, I would readily admit
my fault, and quietly submit to the penalty. But,
Gentlemen, I live at an hundred miles' distance from
Bristol; and at the end of a session I come to my
own house, fatigued in body and. in mind, to a little
repose, and to a very little attention to my family
and my private concerns. A visit to Bristol is always
a sort of canvass, else it will do more harm than
geod. To pass from the toils of a session to the toils
of a canvass is the furthest thing in the world from
repose. I could hardly serve you as Ihave done, and
court you too. Most of you have heard that I do not
very remarkably spare myself in public business; and
in the private business of my constituents I have done
very near as much as those who have nothing else
to do. My canvass of you was not on the'change,
nor in the county meetings, nor in the clubs of this
city: it was in the House of Commons; it was at the
Custom-House; it was at the Council; it was at the
Treasury; it was at the Admiralty. I canvassed you
through your affairs, and not your persons. I was
not only your representative as a body; I was the
agent, the solicitor of individuals; I ran about wherever your affairs could call me; and in acting for you, I often appeared rather as a ship-broker than as
a member of Parliament. There was nothing too
laborious or too low for me to undertake. The
meanness of the business was raised by the dignity
of the object. If some lesser matters have slipped
through my fingers, it was because I filled my hands
too full, and, in my eagerness to serve you,' took in
more than any hands could grasp. Several gentlemen' stand round me who are my willing witnesses;
? ? ? ? 374 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
and there are others who, if they were here, would
be still better, because they would be unwilling witnesses to the same truth. It was in the middle of a summer residence in London, and in the middle of
a negotiation at the Admiralty for your trade, that I
was called to Bristol; and this late visit, at this late
day, has'been possibly in prejudice to your affairs.
Since. I have touched upon this matter, let me say,
Gentlemen, that, if I had a disposition or a right to
complain, I have some cause of complaint on my side.
With a petition of this city in my hand, passed through
the corporation without a dissenting voice, a petition
in unison with almost the whole voice of the kingdom, (with whose formal thanks I was covered over,) whilst I labored on no less than five bills for a public
reform, and fought, against the opposition of great
abilities and of the greatest power, every clause and
every'word of the largest of those bills, almost to the
very last day of a very long session, - all this time a
canvass in Bristol was as calmly carried on as if I
were dead. I was considered as a man wholly out
of the question. Whilst I watched and fasted and
sweated in the House of Commons, by the most
easy and ordinary arts of election, by dinners and
visits, by " How do you dos," and "My worthy
friends," I was to be quietly moved out of my seat,and promises were made, and engagements entered into, without any exception or reserve, as if my laborious zeal in my duty had been a regular abdication of my trust.
To open my whole heart to you on this subject, I
do confess, however, that there were other times, besides'the two years in which I did visit you, when I was not wholly without leisure for repeating'that
? ? ?
the same commission, and sent to learn his commercial rudiments in New York, (then under the operation of an act for the universal prohibition of trade,) was soon after put at the head of that board. This
contempt from the present ministers of all the pretended functions of that board, and their manner of
breathing into its very soul, of inspiring it with its
animating and presiding principle, puts an end to all
dispute concerning their opinion of the clay it was
made of. But I will give them heaped measure.
It was but the other day, that the noble lord in
the blue ribbon carried up to the House of Peers two
acts, altering, I think much for the better, but altering in a great degree, our whole commercial system:
those acts, I mean, for giving a free trade to Ireland
in woollens, and in all things else, with independent
nations, and giving them an equal trade to our own
colonies. Here, too, the novelty of this great, but
arduous and critical improvement of system, would
make you conceive that the anxious solicitude of the
noble lord in the blue ribbon would have wholly
destroyed the plan of summer recreation of that
board, by references to examine, compare, and digest
matters for Parliament. You would imagine that
Irish commissioners of customs, and English commissioners of customs, and commissioners of excise,
that merchants and manufacturers of every denomination, had daily crowded their outer rooms. Nil
horumrn. The perpetual virtual adjournment, and the
unbroken sitting vacation of that board, was no more
disturbed by the Irish than by the plantation commerce, or any other commerce. The same matter
made a large part of the business which occupied the
House for two sessions before; and as our ministers
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 349
were not then mellowed by the mild, emollient, and
engaging blandishments of our dear sister into all
the tenderness of unqualified surrender, the bounds
and limits of a restrained benefit naturally required
much detailed management and positive regulation.
But neither the qualified propositions which were
received, nor those other qualified propositions which
were rejected by ministers, were the least concern of
theirs, or were they ever thought of in the business.
It is therefore, Sir, on the opinion of Parliament,
on the opinion of the ministers, and even on their
own opinion of their inutility, that I shall propose to
you to suppress the Board of Trade and Plantations,
and to recommit all its business to the Council, from
whence it was very improvidently taken; and which
business (whatever it might be) was much better
done, and without any expense; and, indeed, where
in effect it may all come at last. Almost all that deserves the name of business there is the reference of the plantation acts to the opinion of gentlemen of the
law. But all this may be done, as the Irish business
of the same nature has always been done, by the
Council, and with a reference to the Attorney and
Solicitor General.
There are some regulations in the household, relative to the officers of the yeomen of the guards, and the officers and band of gentlemen pensioners, which
I shall likewise submit to your consideration, for the
purpose of regulating establishments which at present are much abused.
I have now finished all that for the present I shall
trouble you with on the plan of reduction. I mean
next to propose to you the plan of arrangement, by.
which I mean to appropriate and fix the civil list
? ? ? ? '350 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
money to its several services according to their nature: for I am thoroughly sensible, that, if a discretion wholly arbitrary can be exercised over the civil list revenue, although the most effectual methods
may be taken to prevent the inferior departments
from exceeding their bounds, the plan of reformation
will still be left very imperfect. It will not, in my
opinion, be safe to permit an entirely arbitrary discretion even in the First Lord of the Treasury himself; it will not be safe to leave with him a power of diverting the public money from its proper objects, of
paying it in an irregular course, or of inverting perhaps the order of time, dictated by the proportion of.
value, which ought to regulate his application of payment to service.
I am sensible, too, that the very operation of a plan
of economy which tends to exonerate the civil list of
expensive establishments may in some sort defeat the
capital end we have in view, -- the independence of
Parliament; and that, in removing the public and
ostensible means of influence, we may increase the
fund of' private corruption. I have thought of some
methods to prevent an abuse of surplus cash under
discretionary application, - I mean the heads of secret
service, special service, variousspayments, and the like, -
which I hope will answer, and which in due time I
shall lay before you. Where I am unable to limit
the quantity of the sums to be applied, by reason of
the uncertain quantity of the service, I endeavor to
confine it to its line, to secure an indefinite application to the definite service to which it belongs, - not
to stop the progress of expense in its-line, but to confine it to that line in which it professes to move.
But that part of my plan, Sir, upon which I prin
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 351,
cipally rest, that on which I rely for the purpose of
binding up and securing the whole, is to establish a
fixed and invariable order in all its payments, which it
shall not be permitted to the First Lord of the Treasury, upon any pretence whatsoever, to depart from.
I therefore divide the civil list payments into nine
classes, putting each class forward according to thp
importance or justice of the demand, and to the inability of the persons entitled to enforce their pretensions: that is, to put those first who have the most efficient offices, or claim the justest debts, and at the
same time, from the character of that description of:
men, from the retiredness or the remoteness of their
situation, or from their want of weight'and power to
enforce their pretensions, or from their being entirely
subject to the power of a minister, without any reciprocal power of awing, ought to be the most considered,
and are the most likely to be neglected, - all these I
place in the highest classes; I place in the lowest
those whose functions are of the least importance, but
whose persons or rank are often of the greatest power
and influence.
In the first class I place the judges, as of the first
importance. It is the public justice that holds the
community together; the ease, therefore, and independence of the judges ought to supersede all other
considerations, and they ought to be the very last to
feel the necessities of the state, or to be obliged either
to court or bully a minister for their right; they ought
to be as weak solicitors on their own demands as strenuous assertors of the rights and liberties of others.
The judges are, or ought to be, of a reserved and retired character, and wholly unconnected with the
political world.
? ? ? ? 352 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
In the second class I place the foreign ministers.
The judges are the links of our connections with one
another; the foreign ministers are the links of our
connection with other nations. They are not upon
the spot to demand payment, and are therefore the
most likely to be, as in fact they have sometimes been,
entirely neglected, to the great disgrace and perhaps
the great detriment of the nation.
In the third class I would bring all the tradesmen
who supply the crown by contractor otherwise.
In the fourth class I place all the domestic servants of the king, and all persons in efficient offices whose salaries do-not exceed two hundred pounds a
year.
In the fifth, upon account of honor, which ought to
give place to nothing but charity and rigid justice, I
would place the pensions and allowances of his Majesty's royal family, comprehending of course the queen, together with the stated allowance of the
privy purse.
In the sixth class I place those efficient offices of
duty whose salaries may exceed, the sum of two hundred pounds a year.
In the seventh class, that mixed mass, the whole
pension list.
In the eighth, the offices of honor about the king.
In the ninth, and the last of all, the salaries and
pensions of the First Lord of the Treasury himself,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the other Commissioners of the Treasury.
If, by any possible mismanagement of that part
of the revenue which is left at discretion, or by any
other mode of prodigality, cash should be deficient for
the payment of the lowest classes, I propose that the
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 353
amount of those salaries where the deficiency may
happen to fall shall not be carried as debt to the account of the succeeding year, but that it shall be entirely lapsed, sunk, and lost; so that government will be enabled to start in the race of every new year
wholly unloaded, fresh in wind and in vigor. Hereafter no civil list debt can ever come upon the public.
And those who do not consider this as saving, because
it is not a certain sum, do not ground their calculations of the future on their experience of the past.
I know of no mode of preserving the effectual execution of any duty, but to make it the direct interest
of the executive officer that it shall be faithfully performed. Assuming, then, that the present vast allowance to the civil list is perfectly adequate to all its purposes, if there should be any failure, it must be
from the mismanagement or neglect of the First Commissioner of the Treasury; since, upon the proposed
plan, there can be no expense of any consequence
which he is not himself previously to authorize and
finally to control. It is therefore just, as well as
politic, that the loss should attach upon the delinquency.
If the failure from the delinquency should be very
considerable, it will fall on the class directly above
the First Lord of the Treasury, as well as upon himself
and his board. It will fall, as it ought to fall, upon
offices of no primary importance in the state; but
then it will fall upon persons whom it will be a matter of no slight importance for a minister to provoke:
it will fall upon persons of the first rank and consequence in the kingdom, -- upon those who are nearest to the king, and frequently have a more interior credit with him than the minister himself. It will
VOL. II. 23
? ? ? ? 854 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
fall upon masters of the horse, upon lord chamberlains, upon lord stewards, upon grooms of the stole, and lords of the bedchamber. The household troops
form an army, who will be ready to mutiny for want
of pay, and whose mutiny will be really dreadful to a
commander-in-chief. A rebellion of the thirteen lords
of the bedchamber would be far more terrible to a
minister, and would probably affect his power more
to the quick, than a revolt of thirteen colonies. What
an uproar such an event would create at court! What
petitions, and committees, and associations, would it not
produce! Bless me! what a clattering of white sticks
and yellow sticks would be about his head! what a
storm of gold keys would fly about the ears of the minister! what a shower of Georges, and thistles, and medals, and collars of S. S. would assail him at his
first entrance into the antechamber, after an insolvent Christmas quarter! -- a tumult which could not
be appeased by all the harmony of the new year's ode.
Rebellion it is certain there would be; and rebellion
may not now, indeed, be so critical an event to those
who engage in it, since its price is so correctly ascertained at just a thousand pound.
Sir, this classing, in my opinion, is a serious and
solid secu'rity for the performance of a minister's
duty. Lord Coke says, that the staff was put into the
Treasurer's hand to enable him to support himself
when there was no money in the Exchequer, and to
beat away importunate solicitors. The method which
I propose would hinder him from the necessity of
such a broken staff to lean on, or such a miserable
weapon for repulsing the demands of worthless suitors, who, the noble lord in the blue ribbon knows, will bear many hard blows on the head, and many other
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 355
indignities, before they are driven from the Treasury.
In this plan, he is furnished with an answer to all
their importunity, - an answer far more conclusive
than if he had knocked them down with his staff: -
"Sir, (or my Lord,) you are calling for my own salary, - Sir, you are calling for the appointments of my
colleagues whlo sit about me in office, - Sir, you are
going to excite a mutiny at court against me, - you
are going to estrange his Majesty's confidence from
me, through the chamberlain, or the master of the
horse, or the groom of the stole. "
As things now stand, every man, in proportion to
his consequence at court, tends to add to the expenses
of the civil list, by all manner of jobs, if not for himself, yet for his dependants. When the new plan is
established, those who are now suitors for jobs will
become the most strenuous opposers of them. They
will have a common interest with the minister in public economy. Every class, as it stands low, will become security for the payment of the preceding class; and thus the persons whose insignificant services
defraud those that are useful would then become
interested in their payment. Then the powerful,
instead of oppressing, would be obliged to support
the weak; and idleness would become concerned in
the reward of industry. The whole fabric of the civil
economy would become compact and connected in all
its parts; it would be formed into a well-organized
body, where every member contributes to the support
of the whole, and where even the lazy stomach secures the vigor of the active arm.
This plan, I really flatter myself, is laid, not in official formality, nor in airy speculation, but in real life,
and in human nature, in what "comes home" (as
? ? ? ? 356 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
Bacon says) " to the business and bosoms of men. '!
You have now, Sir, before you, the whole of my
scheme, as far as I have digested it into a form that
might be in any respect worthy of your consideration. I intend to lay it before you in five bills. *
The plan consists, indeed, of many parts; but they
stand upon a few plain principles. It is a plan which
takes nothing from the civil list without discharging
it of a burden equal to the sum carried to the public
service. It weakens no one function necessary to
government; but, on the contrary, by appropriating
supply to service, it gives it greater vigor. It provides the meahs of order and foresight to a minister of finance, which may always keep all the objects of
his office, and their state, condition, and relations,
distinctly before him. It brings forward accounts
without hurrying and distressing the accountants:
whilst it provides for public convenience, it regards
private rights. It extinguishes secret corruption almost to the possibility of its existence. It destroys direct and visible influence equal to the offices of at
least fifty members of Parliament. Lastly, it prevents
tile provision for his Majesty's children from being
diverted to the political purposes of his minister.
These are the points on which I rely for the merit
of the plan. I pursue economy in a secondary view,
and only as it is connected with these great objects.
I am persuaded, that even for supply this scheme will
be far from unfruitful, if it be executed to the extent
I propose it. I think it will give to the public, at its
periods, two or three hundred thousand pounds a
year; if not, it will give them a system of economy,
which is itself a great revenue. It gives me no little
* Titles of the bills read.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL iEFORM. 357
pride and satisfaction to find that the principles of
my proceedings are in many respects the very same
with those which are now pursued in the plans of the
French minister of finance. I am sure that I lay
before you a scheme easy and practicable in all its
parts. I know it is common at once to applaud and
to reject all attempts of this nature. I know it is common for men to say, that such and such things are perfectly right, very desirable, -but that, unfortunately, they are not practicable. Oh, no, Sir! no!
Those things which are not practicable are not desirable. There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed
understanding and a well-directed pursuit. There is
nothing that God has judged good for us that He has
not given us the means to accomplish, both in the
natural and the moral world. If we cry, like children, for the moon, like children we must cry on.
We must follow the nature of our affairs, and conform ourselves to our situation. If we do, our objects are plain and compassable. Why should we resolve
to do nothing, because what I propose to you may not
be the exact demand of the petition, when we are far
from resolved to comply even with what evidently is
so? Does this sort of chicanery become us? The
people are the masters. They have only to express
their wants at large and in gross. We are the expert
artists, we are the skilful workmen, to shape their
desires into perfect form, and to fit the utensil to the
use. They are the sufferers, they tell the symptoms
of the complaint; but we know the exact seat of the
disease, and how to apply the remedy according to
the rules of art. How shocking would it be to see
us pervert our skill into a sinister and servile dexter
? ? ? ? 858 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
ity, for the purpose of evading our duty, and defrauding our employers, who are our natural lords, of the
object of their just expectations! I think the whole
not only practicable, but practicable in a very short
time. If we are in earnest about it, and if we exert
that industry and those talents in forwarding the
work, which, I am afraid, may be exerted in impeding it, I engage that the whole may be put in complete execution within a year. For my own part, I have very little to recommend me for this or for any
task, but a kind of earnest and anxious perseverance
of mind, which, with all its good and all its evil effects,
is moulded into my constitution. I faithfully engage
to the House, if they choose to appoint me to any par)
in the execution of this work, (which, when they have
made it theirs by the improvements of their wisdom,
will be worthy of the able assistance they may give me,)
that by night and by day, in town or in country, at
the desk or in the forest, I will, without regard to
convenience, ease, or pleasure, devote myself to their
service, not expecting or admitting any reward whatsoever. I owe to this country my labor, which is my
all; and I owe to it ten times more industry, if ten
times more I could exert. After all, I shall be an
unprofitable servant.
~ At the same time, if I am able, and if I shall be
permitted, I will lend an humble helping hand to
any other good work which is going on. I have not,
Sir, the frantic presumption to suppose that this plan
contains in it the whole of what the public has a right
to expect in the great work of reformation they call
for. Indeed, it falls infinitely short of it. It falls
short even of my own ideas. I have some thoughts,
not yet fully ripened, relative to a reform in the cus
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 359
toms and excise, as well as in some other branches
of financial administration. There are other things,
too, which form essential parts in a great plan for the
purpose of restoring the independence of Parliament.
The contractors' bill of last year it is fit to revive;
and I rejoice that it is in better hands than mine.
The bill for suspending the votes of custom-house
officers, brought into Parliament several years ago by
one of our worthiest and wisest members,* - would to
God we could along with the plan revive the person
who designed it! but a man of, very real integrity,
honor, and ability will be found to take his place,
and to carry his idea into full execution. You all
see how necessary it is to review our military expenses
for some years past, and, if possible, to bind up and
close that bleeding artery of profusion; but that business also, I have reason to hope, will be undertaken
by abilities that are fully adequate to it. Something
must be devised (if possible) to check the ruinous
expense of elections.
Sir, all or most of these things must be done.
Every one must take his part. If we should be'able, by dexterity, or power, or intrigue, to disappoint the expectations of our constituents, what will it avail us? We shall never be strong or artful
enough to parry, or to put by, the irresistible de.
mands of our situation. That situation calls upon
tis, and upon our constituents too, with a voice which
will be heard. I am sure no man is more zealously
attached than I am to the privileges of this House,
particularly in regard to the exclusive management
of money. The Lords have no right to the disposition,
in any sense, of the public purse; but they have gone
* W. D)wdeswell, Esq. , Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1765.
? ? ? ? 360 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
further in self-denial * than our utmost jealousy could
have required. A power of examining accounts, to
censure, correct, and punish, we never, that I know
of, have thought of denying to the House of Lords. It
is something more than a century since we voted that
body useless: they have now voted themselves so.
The whole hope of reformation is at length cast upon
us; and let us not deceive the nation, which does us
the honor to hope everything from our virtue. If all
the nation are not equally forward to press this duty
upon us, yet be assured that they all equally expect
we should perform it. The respectful silence of those
who wait upon your pleasure ought to be as powerful
with you as the call of those who require your service
as their right. Some, without doors, affect to feel hurt
for your dignity, because they suppose that menaces
are held out to you. Justify'their good opinion by
showing that no menaces are necessary to stimulate
you to your duty. But, Sir, whilst we may sympathize with them in one point who sympathize with
us in another, we ought to attend no less to those who
approach us like men, and who, in the guise of petitioners, speak to us in the tone of a concealed author-'
ity. It is not wise to force them to speak out more
plainly what they plainly mean.
-But the petitioners are violent. Be it so. Those who are least anxious about your conduct are not those that love you most. Moderate affection and satiated enjoyment
are cold and respectful; but an ardent and injured
passion is tempered up with wrath, and grief, and
shame, and conscious worth, and the maddening
sense of violated right. A jealous love lights his
torch from the firebrands of the furies. They who
* Rejection of Lord Shelburne's motion in the House of Lords.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 361
call. upon you to belong wholly to the people are those
who wish you to return to your proper home, - to the
sphere of your duty, to the post of your honor, to the
mansion-house of all genuine, serene, and'solid satisfaction. We have furnished to the people of England
(indeed we have) some real cause of jealousy. Let
us leave that sort of company which, if it does not
destroy our innocence, pollutes our honor; let us
free ourselves at once from everything that can increase their suspicions and inflame their just resentment; let us cast away from us, with a generous scorn, all the love-tokens and symbols that we have
been vain and light enough to accept, - all the bracelets, and snuff-boxes, and miniature pictures, and hair
devices, and all the other adulterous trinkets that are
the pledges of our alienation and the monuments of
our shame. Let us return to our legitimate home,
and all jars and all quarrels will be lost in embraces.
Let the commons in Parliament assembled be one and
the same thing with the commons at large. The distinctions that are made to separate us are unnatural
and wicked contrivances. Let us identify, let us incorporate ourselves with the people. Let us cut all
the cables and snap the chains which tie us to an
unfaithful shore, and enter the friendly harbor that
shoots far out into the main its moles and jetties to
receive us. "War with the world, and peace with
our constituents. " Be this our motto, and our principle. Then, indeed, we shall be truly great. Respecting ourselves, we shall be respected by the world. At present all is troubled, and cloudy, and distracted,
and full of anger and turbulence, both abroad and at
home; but the air may be cleared by this storm, and
light and fertility may follow it. Let us give a faith
? ? ? ? 362 SPEECH ON THE PLAN
ful pledge to the people, that we honor, indeed, the
crown, but that we belong to them; that we are their
auxiliaries, and not theii task-masters,- the fellowlaborers in' the same vineyard, not lording over their
rights, but helpers of their joy; that to tax them is -a
grievance to ourselves, but to cut off from our enjoyments to forward theirs is the highest gratification we
are capable of receiving. I feel, with comfort, that
we are all warmed -with these sentiments, and while
we are thus warm, I wish we may go directly and
with a cheerful heart to this salutary work.
Sir, I move for leave to bring in a bill, "For
the better regulation of his Majesty's civil establishments, and of certain public offices; for the limitation of pensions, and the suppression of sundry useless, expensive, and inconvenient places, and for applying the moneys saved thereby to the public service. " X Lord North stated, that there was a difference
between this bill for regulating the establishments
and some of the others, as they affected the ancient
patrimony of the crown, and therefore wished them
to be postponed till the king's consent could be obtained. This distinction was strongly controverted;
but when it was insisted on as a point of decorum
only, it was agreed to postpone them to another day.
Accordingly, on the Monday following, viz. Feb. 14,
leave was given, on the motion of Mr. Burke, without
opposition, to bring in -
1st, "A bill for the sale of the forest and other
crown lands, rents, and hereditaments, with certain
exceptions, and for applying the produce thereof to
* The motion was seconded by Mr. Fox.
? ? ? ? FOR ECONOMICAL REFORM. 363
the public service; and for securing, ascertaining,
and satisfying tenant rights, and common and other
rights. "
2nd, "A bill for the more perfectly uniting to the
crown the Principality of Wales and the County
Palatine of Chester, and for the more commodious
administration of justice within the same; as also for
abolishing certain offices now appertaining thereto,
for quieting dormant claims, ascertaining and securing tenant rights, and for the sale of all forest lands, and other lands, tenements, and hereditaments, held
by his Majesty in right of the said Principality, or
County Palatine of Chester, and for applying the
produce thereof to the public service. "
3rd, "A bill for uniting to the crown the Duchy
and County Palatine of Lancaster, for the suppression of unnecessary offices now belonging thereto,
for the ascertainment and security of tenant and other
rights, and for the sale of all rents, lands, tenements,
and hereditaments, and forests, within the said Duchy
and County Palatine, or either of them, and for applying the produce thereof to the poublic service. " And it was ordered that Mr. Burke, Mr. Fox, Lord
John Cavendish, Sir George Savile, Colonel Barr6,
Mr. Thomas Townshend, Mr. Byng, Mr. Dunning,
Sir Joseph Mawbey, Mr. Recorder of London, Sir
Robert Clayton, Mr. Frederick Montagu, the Earl of
Upper Ossory, Sir William Guise, and Mr. Gilbert do
prepare and bring in the same.
At the same time, Mr. Burke moved for leave to
bring in4th, "A bill for uniting the Duchy of Cornwall to
the crown; for the suppression of certain unnecessary
offices now belonging thereto; for the ascertainment
? ? ? ? 364 SPEECH ON ECONOMICAL REFORM.
and security of tenant and other rights; and for the
sale of certain rents, lands, and tenements, within or
belonging to the said Duchy; and for applying the
produce thereof to the public service. "
But some objections being made by the SurveyorGeneral of the Duchy concerning the rights of the Prince of Wales, now in his minority, and Lord North
remaining perfectly silent, Mr. Burke, at length,
though he strongly contended against the principle
of the objection, consented to withdraw this last motion for the present, to be renewed upon an early occasion.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
AT THE
GUILDHALL IN BRISTOL, PREVIOUS TO THE
LATE ELECTION IN THAT CITY,
UPON
CERTAIN POINTS RELATIVE TO HIS PARLIAMENTARY CONDUCT. 178o.
? ? ? ? SPEECH.
M R. MAYOR, AND GENTLEMEN,- I am extremely pleased at the appearance of this large
and respectable meeting. The steps I may be obliged
to take will want the sanction of a considerable authority; and in explaining anything which may appear doubtful in my public conduct, I must naturally desire a very full audience.
I have been backward to begin my canvass. The
dissolution of the Parliament was uncertain; and it
did not become me, by an unseasonable importunity,
to appear diffident of the effect of my six years' endeavors to please you. I had served the city of Bristol honorably, and the city of Bristol had no reason to think that the means of honorable service to the
public were become indifferent to me.
I found, on my arrival here, that three gentlemen
had been long in eager pursuit of an object which but
two of us can obtain. I found that they had all met
with encouragement. A contested election in such a
city as this is no light thing. I paused on the brink
of the precipice. These three gentlemen, by various
merits, and on various titles, I made no doubt were
worthy of your favor. I shall never attempt to raise
myself by depreciating the merits of my competitors.
In the complexity and confusion of these cross pursuits, I wished to take the authentic public sense of
my friends upon a business of so much delicacy. I
? ? ? ? 968 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
wished to take your opinion along with me, that, if I
should give up the contest at the very beginning, my
surrender of my post may not seem the effect of inconstancy, or timidity, or anger, or disgust, or indolence, or any other temper unbecoming a man who has engaged in the public service. If, on the contrary, I should undertake the election, and fail of
success, I was full as anxious that it should be manifest to the whole world that the peace of the city had
not been broken by my rashness, presumption, or fond
conceit of my own merit.
I am not come, by a false and counterfeit show of
deference to your judgment, to seduce it in my favor.
I ask it seriously and unaffectedly. If you wish that
I should retire, I shall not consider that advice as a
censure upon my conduct, or an alteration in your
sentiments, but as a rational submission to the circumstances of affairs. If, on the contrary, you should
think it proper for me to proceed on my canvass, if
you will risk the trouble on your part, I will risk it
on mine. My pretensions are such as you cannot be
ashamed of, whether they succeed or fail.
If you call upon me, I shall solicit the favor of the
city upon manly ground. I come before you with the
plain confidence of an honest servant in the equity
of a candid and discerning master. I come to claim
your approbation; not to amuse you with vain apologies, or with professions still more vain and senseless.
I have lived too long to be served by apologies, or to
stand in need of them. The part I have acted has
been in open day; and to hold out to a conduct
which stands in that clear and steady light for all its
good and all its evil, to hold out to that conduct
the paltry winking tapers of excuses and promises,
? ? ? ? PREVIOUS TO THE ELECTION. 369
-I never will do it. They may obscure it with their
smoke, but they never can illumine sunshine by such
a flame as theirs.
I am sensible that no endeavors have been left untried to injure me in your opinion. But the use of
character is to be a shield against calumny. I could
wish, undoubtedly, (if idle wishes were not the most
idle of all things,) to make every part of my conduct
agreeable to every one of my constituents; but in so
great a city, and so greatly divided as this, it is weak
to expect it.
In such a discordancy of sentiments it is better to
look to the nature of things than to the humors of
men. The very attempt towards pleasing everybody
discovers a temper always flashy, and often false and
insincere. Therefore, as I have proceeded straight
onward in my conduct, so I will proceed in my account of those parts of it which have been most excepted to. But I must first beg leave just to hint to you that we may suffer very great detriment by
being open to every talker. It is not to be imagined
how much of service is lost from spirits full of activity and full of energy, who are pressing, who are
rushing forward, to great and capital objects, when
you oblige them to be continually looking back.
Whilst they are defending one service, they defraud
you of an hundred. Applaud us when we run, console us when we fall, cheer us when we recover;
but let us pass on, -for God's sake, let us pass on!
Do you think, Gentlemen, that every public act in
the six years since I stood in this place before you,
that all the arduous things which have been done
in this eventful period which has crowded into a few
years' space the revolutions of an age, can be opened
VOL. II. 24
? ? ? ? 870 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
to you on their fair grounds in half an hour's conversation?
But it is no reason, because there is a bad mode of
inquiry, that there should be no examination at all.
Most certainly it is our duty to examine; it is our
interest, too: but it must be with discretion, with an
attention to all the circumstances and to all the motives; like sound judges, and not like cavilling pettifoggers and quibbling pleaders, prying into flaws and hunting for exceptions. Look, Gentlemen, to the
whole tenor of your member's conduct. Try whether
his. ambition or his avarice have justled him out of
the straight line of duty, - or whether thatgrand foe
of the offices of active life, that master vice in men
of business, a degenerate and inglorious sloth, has
made him flag and languish in his course. This is
the object of our inquiry. If our member's conduct
can bear this touch, mark it for sterling. He may
have fallen into errors, he must have faults; but
our error is greater, and our fault is radically ruinous to ourselves, if we do not bear, if we do not
even applaud, the whole compound and mixed mass
of such a character. Not to act thus is folly; I had
almost said it is impiety. He censures God who
quarrels with the imperfections of man.
Gentlemen, we must not be peevish with those who
serve the people; for none will serve us, whilst there
is a court to serve, but those who are of a nice and
jealous honor. They who think everything, in comparison of that honor, to be dust and ashes, will not
bear to have it soiled and impaired by those for whose
sake they make a thousand sacrifices to preserve it
immaculate and whole. We shall either drive such
men from the public stage, or we shall send them to
? ? ? ? PREVIOUS TO THE ELECTION. 371
the court for protection, where, if they must sacrifice their reputation, they will at least secure their
interest. Depend upon it, that the lovers of freedom
will be free. None will violate their conscience to
please us, in order afterwards to discharge that conscience, which they have violated, by doing us faithful and affectionate service. If we degrade and deprave their minds by servility, it will be absurd to expect that they who are creeping and abject towards
us will ever be bold and incorruptible assertors of our
freedom against the most seducing and the most formidable of all powers. No! human nature is not so
formed: nor shall we improve the faculties or better
the morals of public men by our possession of the
most infallible receipt in the world for making cheats
and hypocrites.
Let me say, with plainness, I who am no longer in
a public character, that, if, by a fair, by an indulgent,
by a gentlemanly behavior to our representatives,
we do not give confidence to their minds and a liberal scope to their understandings, if we do not permit our members to act upon a very enlarged view
of things, we shall at length infallibly degrade our
national representation into a confused and scuffling
bustle of local agency. When the popular member
is narrowed in his ideas and rendered timid in his
proceedings, the service of the crown will be the sole
nursery of statesmen. Among the frolics of the court,
it may at length take that of attending to its business. Then the monopoly of mental power will be
added to the power of all other kinds it possesses.
On the side of the people there will be nothing but
impotence: for ignorance is impotence; narrowness
of mind is impotence; timidity is itself impotence,
? ? ? ? 372 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
and makes all other qualities that go along with it
impotent and useless.
At present it is the plan of the court to make its
servants insignificant. If the people should fall into
the same humor, and should choose their servants on
the same principles of mere obsequiousness and flexibility and total vacancy or indifference of opinion in all public matters, then no part of the state will be
sound, and it will be in vain to think of saving it.
I thought it very expedient at this time to give you
this candid counsel; and with this counsel I would
willingly close, if the matters which at various times
have been objected to me in this city concerned only
myself and my own election. These charges, I think,
are four in number: my neglect of a due attention
to my constituents, the not paying more frequent
visits here; my conduct on the affairs of the first
Irish Trade Acts; my opinion and mode of proceeding on Lord Beauchamp's Debtors' Bills; and my
votes on the late affairs of the Roman Catholics. All
of these (except perhaps the first) relate to matters
of very considerable public concern; and it is not
lest you should censure me improperly, but lest you
should form improper opinions on matters of some
moment to you, that I trouble you at all upon the
subject. My conduct is of small importance.
With regard to the first charge, my friends have
spoken to me of it in the style of amicable expostulation - not so much blaming the thing as lamenting the effects. Others, less partial to me, were less
kind in assigning the motives. I admit, there is a
decorum and propriety in a member of Parliament's
paying a respectful court to his constituents. If I
were conscious to myself that pleasure, or dissipation,
? ? ? ? PREVIOUS TO THE ELECTION. 372
or low, unworthy occupations had detained me fromi
personal attendance on you, I would readily admit
my fault, and quietly submit to the penalty. But,
Gentlemen, I live at an hundred miles' distance from
Bristol; and at the end of a session I come to my
own house, fatigued in body and. in mind, to a little
repose, and to a very little attention to my family
and my private concerns. A visit to Bristol is always
a sort of canvass, else it will do more harm than
geod. To pass from the toils of a session to the toils
of a canvass is the furthest thing in the world from
repose. I could hardly serve you as Ihave done, and
court you too. Most of you have heard that I do not
very remarkably spare myself in public business; and
in the private business of my constituents I have done
very near as much as those who have nothing else
to do. My canvass of you was not on the'change,
nor in the county meetings, nor in the clubs of this
city: it was in the House of Commons; it was at the
Custom-House; it was at the Council; it was at the
Treasury; it was at the Admiralty. I canvassed you
through your affairs, and not your persons. I was
not only your representative as a body; I was the
agent, the solicitor of individuals; I ran about wherever your affairs could call me; and in acting for you, I often appeared rather as a ship-broker than as
a member of Parliament. There was nothing too
laborious or too low for me to undertake. The
meanness of the business was raised by the dignity
of the object. If some lesser matters have slipped
through my fingers, it was because I filled my hands
too full, and, in my eagerness to serve you,' took in
more than any hands could grasp. Several gentlemen' stand round me who are my willing witnesses;
? ? ? ? 374 SPEECH AT BRISTOL,
and there are others who, if they were here, would
be still better, because they would be unwilling witnesses to the same truth. It was in the middle of a summer residence in London, and in the middle of
a negotiation at the Admiralty for your trade, that I
was called to Bristol; and this late visit, at this late
day, has'been possibly in prejudice to your affairs.
Since. I have touched upon this matter, let me say,
Gentlemen, that, if I had a disposition or a right to
complain, I have some cause of complaint on my side.
With a petition of this city in my hand, passed through
the corporation without a dissenting voice, a petition
in unison with almost the whole voice of the kingdom, (with whose formal thanks I was covered over,) whilst I labored on no less than five bills for a public
reform, and fought, against the opposition of great
abilities and of the greatest power, every clause and
every'word of the largest of those bills, almost to the
very last day of a very long session, - all this time a
canvass in Bristol was as calmly carried on as if I
were dead. I was considered as a man wholly out
of the question. Whilst I watched and fasted and
sweated in the House of Commons, by the most
easy and ordinary arts of election, by dinners and
visits, by " How do you dos," and "My worthy
friends," I was to be quietly moved out of my seat,and promises were made, and engagements entered into, without any exception or reserve, as if my laborious zeal in my duty had been a regular abdication of my trust.
To open my whole heart to you on this subject, I
do confess, however, that there were other times, besides'the two years in which I did visit you, when I was not wholly without leisure for repeating'that
? ? ?
