These turn the scale
with the societies in favor of France.
with the societies in favor of France.
Edmund Burke
But observe, whilst they were in this state,
that is, whilst they were a people, in no one of
their instructions did they charge or even hint at
any of those things which have drawn upon the
usurping Assembly and their adherents the detestation of the rational and thinking part of mankind.
I will venture to affirm, without the least apprehension of being contradicted by any person who
knows the then state of France, that, if any one of
the changes were proposed, which form the fundamental parts of their Revolution, and compose its
most distinguishing acts, it would not have had one
vote in twenty thousand in any order. Their instructions purported the direct contrary to all those
famous proceedings which are defended as the acts
of the people. Had such proceedings been expected,
the great probability is, that the people would then
have risen, as to a man, to prevent them. The
whole organization of the Assembly was altered, the
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 187
whole frame of the kingdom was changed, before
these things could be done. It is long to tell, by
what evil arts of the conspirators, and by what extreme weakness and want of steadiness in the lawful government, this equal usurpation on the rights of
the prince and people. having first cheated, and then
offered violence to both, has been able to triumph,
and to employ with success the forged signature of
an imprisoned sovereign, and the spurious voice of
dictated addresses, to a subsequent ratification of
things that had never received any previous sanction, general or particular, expressed or implied, from the nation, (in whatever sense that word is taken,)
or from any part of it.
After the weighty and respectable part of the people had been murdered, or driven by the menaces of murder from their houses, or were dispersed in exile
into every country in Europe, -- after the soldiery had
been debauched from their officers, --after property
had lost its weight and consideration, along with its
security, - after voluntary clubs and associations of
factious and unprincipled men were substituted in
the place of all the legal corporations of the kingdom
arbitrarily dissolved, - after freedom had been banished from those popular meetings* whose sole ree ommendation is freedom, - after it had come to that
pass that no dissent dared to appear in any of them,
but at the certain price of life, -- after even dissent
had been anticipated, and assassination became as
quick as suspicion, --such pretended ratification by
addresses could be no act of what any lover of the
people would choose to call by their name. It is that
voice which every successful usurpation, as well as
* The primary assemblies.
? ? ? ? 188 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
this before us, may easily procure, even without making (as these tyrants have made) donatives from the
spoil of one part of the citizens to corrupt the other.
The. prretended rights of man, which have made this
havoc, cannot be the rights of the people. For to be
a people, and to have these rights, are things incompatible. The one supposes the presence, the other the
absence, of a state of civil society. The very foundation of the French commonwealth is false and selfdestructive; nor can its principles be adopted in any country, without the certainty of bringing it to the
very same condition in which France is found. Attempts are made to introduce them into every nation
in Europe. This nation, as possessing the greatest
influence, they wish most to corrupt, as by that
means they are assured the contagion must become
general. I hope, therefore, I shall be excused, if I
endeavor to show, as shortly as the matter will admit, the danger of giving to them, either avowedly or
tacitly, the smallest countenance.
There are times and circumstances in which not
to speak out is at least to _cnniye. Many think it
enough for them, that the principles propagated by
these clubs and societies, enemies to their country
and its Constitution, are not owned by the modern
Whigs in Parliament, who are so warm in condemnation of Mr. Burke and his book, and of course of all
the principles of the ancient, constitutional Whigs
of this kingdom. Certainly they are not owned.
But are they condemned with the same zeal as Mr.
Burke and his book are condemned? Are they condemned at all? Are they rejected or discountenanced in any way whatsoever? Is any man who
would fairly examine into the demeanor and prin
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 189
ciples of those societies, and that too very moderately, and in the way rather of admonition than of
punishment, is such a man even decently treated?
Is he not reproached as if in condemning such principles he had belied the conduct of his whole life,
suggesting that his life had been governed by principles similar to those which he now reprobates?
The French system is in the mean time, by many
active agents out of doors, Rapturously praised; the
British Constitution is coldly tolerated. But these
Constitutions are different both in the foundation and
in the whole superstructure; and it is plain that you
cannot build up the one but on the ruins of the
other. After all, if the French be a superior system of liberty, why should we not adopt it? To what
end are our praises? Is excellence held out to us
only that we should not copy after it? And what
is there in the manners of the people, or in the climate of France, which renders that species of republic fitted for them, and unsuitable to us? A strong and marked difference between the two nations ought
to be shown, before we can admit a constant, affected
panegyric, a standing, annual commemoration, to be
without any tendency to an example.
But the leaders of party will not go the length of
the doctrines taught by the seditious clubs. I am
sure they do not mean to do so. God forbid! Perhaps even those who are directly carrying on the
work of this pernicious foreign faction do not all
of them intend to produce all the mischiefs which
must inevitably follow from their having any success in their proceedings. As to leaders in parties,
nothing is more common than to see them blindly
led. The _world. , is. governed by go-betweens. These
? ? ? ? 190 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
go-betwecns influence the persons with whom they
carry on the intercourse, by stating their own sense
to each of them as the sense of the other; and thus
they reciprocally master both sides. It is first buzzed
about the ears of leaders, "-that their friends without
doors are very eager for some measure, or very warm
about some opinion, --that you must not be too rigid
with them. They are useful persons, and zealous in
the cause. They may be a little wrong, but the
spirit of liberty must not be damped; and by the
influence you obtain from some degree of concurrence with them at present, you may be enabled to set them right hereafter. "
Thus the leaders are at first drawn to a connivance
with sentiments and proceedings often totally differe. ! it from their serious and deliberate notions. But their acquiescence answers every purpose.
With no better than such powers, the go-betweens
assume a new representative character. What at
best was but an acquiescence is magnified into an
authority, and thence into a desire on the part of the
leaders; and it is carried down as such to the subordinate members of parties. By this artifice they in their turn are led into measures which at first, perhaps, few of them wished at all, or at least did not desire vehemently or systematically.
There is in all parties, between the principal leaders in Parliament and the lowest followers out of doors, a middle sort of men, a sort of equestrian
order, who, by the spirit of that middle situation,
are the fittest for preventing things from running
to excess. But indecision, though a vice of a totally
different character, is the natural accomplice of violence. The irresolution and timidity of those who
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 191
compose this middle order often prevents the effect
of their controlling situation. The fear of differing
with the authority of leaders on the one hand, and
of contradicting the desires of the multitude on the
other, induces them to give a careless and passive assent to measures in which they never were consulted; and thus things proceed, by a sort of activity of inertness, until whole bodies, leaders, middle-men, anid followers, are all hurried, with every appearance
and with many of the effects of unanimity, into
schemes of politics, in the substance of which no
two of them were ever fully agreed, and the origin
and authors of which, in this circular mode of communication, none of them find it possible to trace.
In my experience, I have seen much of this in affairs
which, though trifling in comparison to the presenIt,
were yet of some importance to parties; and I have
known them suffer by it. The sober part give their
sanction, at first through inattention and levity; at
last they give it through necessity. A violent spirit
is raised, which the presiding minds after a time
find it impracticable to stop at their pleasure, to control, to regulate, or even to direct.
This shows, in my opinion, how very quick and
awakened all men ought to be, who are looked up to
by the public, and who deserve that confidence, to prevent a surprise on their opinions, when dogmas are spread and projects pursued by which the foundations of society may be affected. Before they listen
even to moderate alterations in the government of
their country, they ought to take care that principles
are not propagated for that purpose which are too
big for their object. Doctrines limited in their present application, and wide in their general principles,
? ? ? ? 192 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
are never meant to be confined to what they at first
pretend. If I were to form a prognostic of the effect
of the present machinations on the people from their
sense of any grievance they suffer under this Conllstitution, my mind would be at ease. But there is a
wide difference between the multitude, when they
act against their government from a sense of grievance or from zeal for some opinions. When men
are thoroughly possessed with that zeal, it is difficult
to calculate its force. It is certain that its power is
by no means in exact proportion to its reasonableness. It must always have been discoverable by persons of reflection, but it is jlow obvious to the world,
that a theory concerning government may become as
much a cause of fanaticism as a dogma in religion.
There is a boundary to men's passions, when they
act from feeling; none when they are under the influence of imagination. Remove a grievance, and,
when men act from feeling, you go a great way towards quieting a commotion. But the good or bad
conduct of a government, the protection men have
enjoyed or the oppression they have suffered under
it, are of no sort of moment, when a faction, proceeding upon speculative grounds, is thoroughly heated
against its form. When a man is from system furious against monarchy or episcopacy, the good conduct of the monarch or the bishop has no other effect than further to irritate the adversary. He is provoked at it as furnishing a plea for preserving the
thing which he wishes to destroy. His mind will be
heated as much by the sight of a sceptre, a mace, or
a verge, as if he had been daily bruised and wounded
by these symbols of authority. Mere spectacles, mere
names, will become suffic:ent causes to stimulate the
people to war and tumult.
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 193
Some gentlemen are not terrified by the facility
with which government has been overturned in
France. "The people of France," they say, "had
nothing to lose in the destruction of a bad Constitution; but, though not the best possible, we have still a
good stake in ours, which will hinder us from desperate risks. " Is this any security at all against those
who seem to persuade themselves, and who labor to
persuade others, that our Constitution is an usurpation in its origin, unwise in its contrivance, mischievous in its effects, contrary to the rights of main, and in all its parts a perfect nuisance? What motive has:
ally rational man, who thinks in that manner, to spill
his blood, or even to risk a shilling of his fortune, or
to waste a moment of his leisure, to preserve it? If
he has any duty relative to it, his duty is to destroy
it. A Constitution on sufferance is a Constitution
condemned. Sentence is already passed upon it.
The execution is only delayed. On the principles of
these gentlemen, it neither has nor ought to have
any security. So far as regards them, it is left
naked, without friends, partisans, assertors, or protectors.
Let us examine into the value of this security upon
the principles of those who are more sober, - of those
who think, indeed, the French Constitution better, or
at least as good as the British, without going to all
the lengths of the warmer politicians in reprobating
their own. Their security amounts in reality to nothing more than this, -- that the difference betweein
their republican system and the British limited monarchy is not worth a civil war. This opinion, I admit, will prevent people not very enterprising in their nature from an active undertaking against the BritVOL. IV. 13
? ? ? ? 1. 94 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
ish Constitution. But it is the poorest defensive
principle that ever was infused into the mind of man
against the attempts of those who will enterprise. It
will tend totally to remove from their minds that very
terror of a civil war which is held out as our sole security. They who think so well of the French Constitution certainly will not be the persons to carry on a war to prevent their obtaining a great benefit, or at
worst a fair exchange. They will not go to battle in
favor of a cause in which their defeat might be more
advantageous to the public than their victory. They
must at least tacitly abet those who endeavor to make
converts to a sound opinion; they must discountenance those who would oppose its propagation. In
proportion as by these means the enterprising party
is strengthened, the dread of a struggle is lessened.
See what an encouragement this is to the enemies of
the Constitution! A few assassinations and a very
great destruction of property we know they consider
as no real obstacles in the way of a grand political
change. And they will hope, that here, if antimonarchical opinions gain ground as they have done in
France, they may, as in France, accomplish a revolution without a war.
They who think so well of the French Constitution
cannot be seriously alarmed by any progress made by
its partisans. Provisions for security are not to be
received from those who think that there is no danger. No! there is no plan of security to be listened
to but from those who entertain the same fears with
ourselves, -- from those who think that the thing to
be secured is a great blessing, and the thing against
which we would secure it a great mischief. Every
person of a different opinion must be careless about
security.
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 195
I believe the author of the Reflections, whether he
fears the designs of that set of people with reason or
not, cannot prevail on himself to despise them. He
cannot despise them for their numbers, which, though
small, compared with the sound part of the community, are not inconsiderable: he cannot look with
contempt on their influence, their activity, or the
kind of talents and tempers which they possess, exactly calculated for the work they have in hand and
the minds they chiefly apply to. Do we not see their
most considerable and accredited ministers, and several of their party of weight and importance, active
in spreading mischievous opinions, in giving sanction
to seditious writings, in promoting seditious anniversaries? and what part of their description has disowned them or their proceedings? When men, circumstanced as these are, publicly declare such
admiration of a foreign Constitution, and such contempt of our own, it would be, in the author of the
Reflections, thinking as he does of the French Constitution, infamously to cheat the rest of the nation
to their ruin to say there is no danger.
In estimating danger, we are obliged to take into
our calculation the character and disposition of the
enemy into whose hands we may chance to fall. The
genius of this faction is easily discerned, by observing with what a very different eye they have viewed
the late foreign revolutions. Two have passed before
them: that of France, and that of Poland. The state
of Poland was such, that there could scarcely exist two
opinions, but that a reformation of its Constitution,
even at some expense of blood, might be seen without
much disapprobation. No confusion could be feared
in such an enterprise; because the establishment to
? ? ? ? 196 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
be reformed was itself a state of confusion. A king
without authority; nobles without union or subn rdination; a people without arts, industry, commerce,
or liberty; no order within, no defence without; no
effective public force, but a foreign force, which entered a naked country at will, and disposed of everything at pleasure. Here was a state of things which seemed to invite, and might perhaps justify, bold en-:erprise and desperate experiment. But in what
manner was this chaos brought into order? The
means were as striking to the imagination as satisfactory to the reason and soothing to the moral sentiments. In contemplating that change, humanity has everything to rejoice and to glory in, -- nothing to
be ashamed of, nothing to suffer. So far as it has
gone, it probably is the most pure and defecated public good which ever has been conferred on mankind.
We have seen anarchy and servitude at once removed; a throne strengthened for the protection of
the people, without trenching on their liberties; all
foreign cabal banished, by changing the crown from
elective to hereditary; and what was a matter of
pleasing wonder, we have seen a reigning king, from
an heroic love to his country, exerting himself with
all the toil, the dexterity, the management, the intrigue, in favor of a family of strangers, with which
ambitious men labor for the aggrandizement of their
own. Ten millions of men in a way of being freed
gradually, and therefore safely to themselves and the
state, not from civil or political chains, which, bad as
they are, only fetter the mind, but from substantial
personal bondage. Inhabitants of cities, before without privileges, placed in the consideration which belongs to that improved and connecting situation of
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 197
social life. One of the most proud, numerous, and
fierce bodies of nobility and gentry ever known in
the world arranged only in the foremost rank of free
and generous citizens. Not one man incurred loss
or suffered degradation. All, from the king to the
day-laborer, were improved in their condition. Everything was kept in its place and order; but in that
place and order everything was bettered. To add
to this happy wonder, this unheard-of conjunctio'.
of wisdom and fortune, not one drop of blood was
spilled; no treachery; no outrage; no system of
slander more cruel than the sword; no studied insults on religion, morals, or manners; no spoil; no
confiscation; no citizen beggared; none imprisoned;
none exiled: the whole was effected with a policy, a
discretion, an unanimity and secrecy, such as have
never been before known on any occasion; but such
wonderful conduct was reserved for this glorious conspiracy in favor of the true and genuine rights and
interests of men. Happy people, if they know to
proceed as they have begun! Happy prince, worthy
to begin with splendor or to close with glory a race
of patriots and of kings, and to leave
A name, which every wind to heaven would bear,
Which men to speak, and angels joy to hear!
To finish all, - this great good, as in the instant it is,
contains in it the seeds of all further improvement,
and may be considered as in a regular progress, because founded on similar principles, towards the stable excellence of a British Constitution. Here was a matter for congratulation and for festive remembrance through ages. Here moralists and
divines might indeed relax in their temperance, to
exhilarate their humanity. But mark the character
? ? ? ? 198 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
of our faction. All their enthusiasm is kept for the
French Revolution. They cannot pretend that France
had stood so much in need of a change as Poland.
They cannot pretend that Poland has not obtained
a better system of liberty or of government than it
enjoyed before. They cannot assert that the Polish
Revolution cost more dearly than that of France to
the interests and feelings of multitudes of men. But
the cold and subordinate light in which they look
upon the one, and the pains they take to preach up
the other of these Revolutions, leave us no choice in
fixing on their motives. Both Revolutions profess
liberty as their object; but in obtaining this object
the one proceeds from anarchy to order, the other
from order to anarchy. The first secures its liberty
by establishing its throne; the other builds its freedom on the subversion of its monarchy. In the one,
their means are unstained by crimes, and their settlement favors morality; in the other, vice and confusion are in the very essence of their pursuit, and of their enjoyment. The circumstances in which these
two events differ must cause the difference we make
in their comparative estimation.
These turn the scale
with the societies in favor of France. Ferrum est quod
amant. The frauds, the violences, the sacrileges, the
havoc and ruin of families, the dispersion and exile of
the pride and flower of a great country, the disorder,
the confusion, the anarchy, the violation of property,
the cruel murders, the inhuman confiscations, and in
the end the insolent domination of bloody, ferocious,
and senseless clubs, - these are the things which they
love and admire. What men admire and love they
would surely act. Let us see what is done in France;
and then let us undervalue any the slightest danger
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 199
of falling into the hands of such a merciless and savage faction!
" But the leaders of the factious societies are too
wild to succeed in this their undertaking. " I hope
so. But supposing them wild and absurd, is there
no danger but from wise and reflecting men? Perhaps the greatest mischiefs that have happened in the world have happened from persons as wild as those
we think the wildest. In truth, they are the fittest
beginners of all great changes. Why encourage men
in a mischievous proceeding, because their absurdity
may disappoint their malice? -" But noticing them
may give them consequence. " Certainly. But they
are noticed; and they are noticed, not with reproof,
but with that kind of countenance which is given by
an apparent concurrence (not a real one, I am convinced) of a great party in the praises of the object which they hold out to imitation.
But I hear a language still more extraordinary, and
indeed of such a nature as must suppose or leave us
at their mercy. It is this: - " You know their promptitude in writing, and their diligence in caballing; to write, speak, or act against them will only stimulate
them to new efforts. " This way of considering the
principle of their conduct pays but a poor compliment to these gentlemen. They pretend that their doctrines are infinitely beneficial to mankind; but it
seems they'would keep them to themselves, if they
were not greatly provoked. They are benevolent from
spite. Their oracles are like those of Proteus, (whom
some people think they resemble in many particulars,)
who never would give his responses, unless you used
him as ill as possible. These cats, it seems, would
not give out their electrical light without having
? ? ? ? 200 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
their backs well rubbed. But this is not to do them
perfect justice. They are sufficiently communicative.
Had they been quiet, the propriety of any agitation
of topics on the origin and primary rights of government, in opposition to their private sentiments, might possibly be doubted. But, as it is notorious that
they were proceeding as fast and as far as time and
circumstances would admit, both in their discussions
and cabals, - as it is not to be denied that they had
opened a correspondence with a foreign faction the
most wicked the world ever saw, and established
anniversaries to commemorate the most monstrous,
cruel, and perfidious of all the proceedings of that
faction, - the question is, whether their conduct was
to be regarded in silence, lest our interference should
render them outrageous. Then let them deal as
they please with the Constitution. Let the lady be
passive, lest the ravisher should be driven to force.
Resistance will only increase his desires. Yes, truly,
if the resistance be feigned and feeble. But they
who are wedded to the Constitution will not act the
part of wittols. They will drive such seducers from
the house on the first appearance of their love-letters
and offered assignations. But if the author of the
Reflections, though a vigilant, was not a discreet
guardian of the Constitution, let them who have the
same regard to it show themselves as vigilant and
more skilful in repelling the attacks of seduction or
violence. Their freedom from jealousy is equivocal,
and may arise as well from indifference to the object
as from confidence in her virtue.
On their principle, it is the resistance, and not the
assault, which produces the danger. I admit, indeed,
that, if we estimated the danger by the value of the
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 201
writings, it would be little worthy of our attention:
contemptible these writings are in every sense. But
they are not the cause, they are the disgusting symptoms of a frightful distemper. They are not otherwise of consequence than as they show the evil habit of the bodies from whence they come. In that light
the meanest of them is a serious thing. If, however,
I should underrate them, and if the truth is, that
they are not the result, but the cause, of the disorders
I speak of, surely those who circulate operative poisons, and give to whatever force they have by their
nature the further operation of their authority and
adoption, are to be censured, watched, and, if possible, repressed.
At what distance the direct danger from such factions may be it is not easy to fix. An adaptation of
circumstances to Ulesigns and principles is necessary.
But these cannot be wanting for any long time, in
the ordinary course of sublunary affairs. Great discontents frequently arise in the best constituted governments from causes which no human wisdom can foresee and no human power can prevent. They occur at uncertain periods, but at periods which are
not commonly far asunder. Governments of all kinds
are administered only by men; and great mistakes,
tending to inflame these discontents, may concur.
The indecision of those who happen to rule at the
critical time, their supine neglect, or their precipitate
and ill-judged attention, may aggravate the public
misfortunes. In such a state of things, the principles, now only sown, will shoot out and vegetate in
full luxuriance. In such circumstances the minds
of the people become sore and ulcerated. They are
put out of humor with all public men and all public
? ? ? ? 202 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
parties; they are fatigued with their dissensions;
they are irritated at their coalitions; they are made
easily to believe (what much pains are taken to make
them believe) that all oppositions are factious, and
all courtiers base and servile. From their disgust at
men, they are soon led to quarrel with their frame of
government, which they presume gives nourishment
to the vices, real or supposed, of those who administer in it. Mistaking malignity for sagacity, they
are soonl led to cast off all hope from a good administration of affairs, and come to think that all reformation depends, not on a change of actors, but upon an alteration in the machinery. Then will be felt
the full effect of encouraging doctrines which tend
to make the citizens despise their Constitution. Then
will be felt the plenitude of the mischief of teaching
the people to believe that all ancient institutions are
the results of ignorance, and that all prescriptive government is in its nature usurpation. Then will be
felt, in all its energy, the danger of encouraging a
spirit of litigation in persons of that immature and
imperfect state of knowledge which serves to render
them susceptible of doubts, but incapable of their
solution. Then will be felt, in all its aggravation,
the pernicious consequence of destroying all docility
in the minds of those who are not formed for finding
their own way in the labyrinths of political theory,
and are made to reject the clew and to disdain the
guide. Then will be felt, and too late will be acknowledged, the ruin which follows the disjoining of
religion from the state, the separation of morality
from policy, and the giving conscience no concern
and no coactive or coercive force in the most material of all the social ties, the principle of our obligations to government.
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 203
I know, too, that, besides this vain, contradictory,
and self-destructive security which some men derive
from the habitual attachment of the people to this
Constitution, whilst they suffer it with a sort of sportive acquiescence to be brought into contempt before
their faces, they have other grounds for removing all
apprehension from their minds. They are of opinion
that there are too many men of great hereditary estates and influence in the kingdom to suffer the establishment of the levelling system which has taken place in France. This is very true, if, in order to
guide the power which now attends their property,
these men possess the wisdom which is involved in
early fear. But if, through a supine security, to which
such fortunes are peculiarly liable, they neglect the
use of their influence in the season of their power,
on the first derangement of society the nerves of
their strength will be cut. Their estates, instead of
being the means of their security, will become the
very causes of their danger. Instead of bestowing
influence, they will excite rapacity. They will be
looked to as a prey.
Such will be the impotent. condition of those men
of great hereditary estates, who indeed dislike the designs that are carried on, but whose dislike is rather
that of spectators than of parties that may be concerned in the catastrophe of the piece. But riches
do not in all cases secure even an inert and passive
resistance. There are always in that description men
whose fortunes, when their minds are once vitiated
by passion or by evil principle, are by no means a
security from their actually taking their part against
the public tranquillity. We see to what low and despicable passions of all kinds many men in that class
? ? ? ? 204 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
are ready to sacrifice the patrimonial estates which
might be perpetuated in their families with splendor,
and with the fame of hereditary benefactors to mankind, from generation to generation. Do we not see how lightly people treat their fortunes, when under
the influence of the passion of gaming? The game
of ambition or resentment will be played by many of
the rich and great as desperately, and with as much
blindness to the consequences, as ally other game.
Was he a man of no rank or fortune who first set
on foot the disturbances which have ruined France?
Passion blinded him to the consequences, so far as
they concerned himself; and as to the consequences
with regard to others, they were no part of his consideration, - nor ever will be with those who bear any resemblance to that virtuous patriot and lover of the
rights of man.
There is also a time of insecurity, when interests
of all sorts become objects of speculation. Then it
is that their very attachment to wealth and importance will induce several persons of opulence to list themselves and even to take a lead with the party
which they think most likely to prevail, in order to
obtain to themselves consideration in some new order or disorder of things. They may be led to act
in. this manner, that they may secure some portion
of their own property, and perhaps to become partakers of the spoil of their own order. Those who speculate on change always make a great number
among people of rank and fortune, as well as amongst
the low and the indigent.
What security against all this -- All human securities are liable to uncertainty. But if anything
bids fail for the prevention of so great a calamity,
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 205
it must consist in the use of the ordinary means of
just influence inll society, whilst those means continue
unimpaired. The public judgment ought to receive
a proper direction. All weighty men may have their
share in so good a work. As yet, notwithstanding
the strutting and lying independence of a braggart
philosophy, Nature maintains her rights, and great
names have great prevalence. Two such men as Mr.
Pitt and Mr. Fox, adding to their authority in a point
in which they concur even by their disunion in everything else, might frown these wicked opinions out of
the kingdom. But if the influence of either of them,
or the influence of men like them, should, against
their serious intentions, be otherwise perverted, they
may countenance opinions which (as I have said before, and could wish over and over again to press)
they may in vain attempt to control. In their theory,
these doctrines admit no limit, no qualification whatsoever. No man can say how far he will go, who
joins with those who are avowedly going to the utmost extremities. What security is there for stopping short at all in these wild conceits? Why, neither more nor less than this,. - that the moral sentiments
of some few amongst them do put some check on
their savage theories. But let us take care. The
moral sentiments, so nearly connected with early prejudice as to be almost one and the same thing, will
assuredly not live long under a discipline which has
for its basis the destruction of all prejudices, and the
making the mind proof against all dread of consequences flowing from the pretended truths that are
taught by their philosophy.
In this school the moral sentiments must grow
weaker and weaker every day. The more cautious
? ? ? ? 206 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
of these teachers, in laying down their maxims, draw
as much of the conclusion as suits, not with their
premises, but with their policy. They trust the rest
to the sagacity of their pupils. Others, and these are
the most vaunted for their spirit, not only lay down
the same premises, but boldly draw the conclusions, to
the destruction of our whole Constitution in Church
and State. But are these conclusions truly drawn?
Yes, most certainly. -Their principles are wild and
wicked; but let justice be done even to frenzy and
villany. These teachers are perfectly systematic.
No man who assumes their grounds can tolerate
the British Constitution in Church or State. These
teachers profess to scorn all mediocrity,- to engage
for perfection, - to proceed by the simplest and shortest course. They build their politics, not on convenience, but on truth; and they profess to conduct men to certain happiness by the assertion of their
undoubted rights. With them there is no compromise All other governments are usurpations, which
justify and even demand resistance.
Their principles always go to the extreme. They
who go with the principles of the ancient Whigs,
which are those contained in Mr. Burke's book,
never can go too far. They may, indeed, stop short
of some hazardous and ambiguous excellence, which
they will be taught to postpone to any reasonable
degree of good they may actually possess. The
opinions maintained in that book never can lead to
an extreme, because their foundation is laid in an
opposition to extremes. The foundation of government is there laid, not in imaginary rights of men,
(which at best is a confusion of judicial with civil
principles,) but in political convenience, and in hu
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 207
man nature, -either as that nature is universal, or
as it is modified by local habits and social aptitudes.
The foundation of government (those who have read
that book will rec6llect) is laid in a provision for our
wants and in a conformity to our duties: it is to purvey for the one, it is to enforce the other. These
doctrines do of themselves gravitate to a middle
point, or to some point near a middle. They suppose, indeed, a certain portion of liberty to be essential to all good government; but they infer that this liberty is to be blended into the government, to harmonize with its forms and its rules, and to be made
subordinate to its end. Those who are not with that
book are with its opposite; for there is no medium
besides the medium itself. That medium is not such
because it is found there, but it is found there because it is conformable to truth and Nature. In this
we do not follow the author, but we and the author
travel together upon the same safe and middle path.
The theory contained in his book is not to furnish
principles for making a new Constitution, but for
illustrating the principles of a Constitution already
made. It is a theory drawn from the fact of our
government. They who oppose it are bound to
show that his theory militates with that fact; otherwise, their quarrel is not with his book, but with the
Constitution of their country. The whole scheme of
our mixed Constitution is to prevent any one of its
principles from being carried as far as, taken by itself, and theoretically, it would go. Allow that to
be the true policy of the British system, then most
of the faults with which that system stands charged
will appear to be, not imperfections into which it has
inadvertently fallen, but excellencies which it has
? ? ? ? 208 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
studiously sought. To avoid the perfections of extreme, all its several parts are so constituted as not
alone to answer their own several ends, but also each
to limit and control the others; insomuch that, take
which of the principles you please, you will find its
operation checked and stopped at a certain point.
The whole movement stands still rather than that
any part should proceed beyond its boundary. From
thence it results that in the British Constitution
there is a perpetual treaty and compromise going
on, sometimes openly, sometimes with less observation. To him who contemplates the British Constitution, as to him who contemplates the subordinate material world, it will always be a matter of his most
curious investigation to discover the secret of this
mutual limitation.
Finita potestas denique cuique
Quanam sit ratione, atque alte terminus hxerens
They who have acted, as in France they have done,
upon a scheme wholly different, and who aim at the
abstract and unlimited perfection of power in the popular part, can be of no service to us in any of our
political arrangements. They who in their headlong
career have overpassed the goal can fiurnish no example to those who aim to go no further. The temerity of such speculators is no more an example than the timidity of others. The one sort scorns the right;
the other fears it; both miss it. But those who by
violence go beyond the barrier are without question
the most mischievous; because, to go beyond it, they
overturn and destroy it. To say they have spirit
is to say nothing in their praise. The untempered
spirit of madness, blindness, immorality, and impiety deserves no commendation. He that sets his
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 209
house on fire because his fingers are frost-bitten
can never be a fit instructor in the method of providing our habitations with a cheerful and salutary warmth. We want no foreign examples to rekindle
in us the flame of liberty. The example of our own
ancestors is abundantly sufficient to maintain the
spirit of freedom in its full vigor, and to qualify it
in all its exertions. The example of a wise, moral,
well-natured, and well-tempered spirit of freedom is
that alone which can be useful to us, or in the least
degree reputable or safe. Our fabric is so constituted, one part of it bears so much on the other,
the parts are so made for one another, and for nothing else, that to introduce any foreign matter into it'
is to destroy it.
What has been said of the Roman Empire is at
least as true of the British Constitution: -" Octingentorum annorumrn fortuna disciplinaque compages hcec coaluit; quce convelli sine convellentium exitio non potest. " This British Constitution has not been struck out at an heat by a set of presumptuous men, like the
Assembly of pettifoggers run mad in Paris.
"'T is not the hasty product of a day,
But the well-ripened fruit of wise delay. "
It is the result of the thoughts of many minds in
many ages. It is no simple, no superficial thing,
nor to be estimated by superficial understandings.
An ignorant man, who is not fool enough to meddle
with his clock, is, however, sufficiently confident to
think he can safely take to pieces and put together,
at his pleasure, a moral machine of another guise,
importance, and complexity, composed of far other
wheels and springs and balances and counteracting
and cooperating powers. Men little think how imVOL. IV. 14
? ? ? ? 210 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
morally they act in rashly meddling with what they
do not understand.
that is, whilst they were a people, in no one of
their instructions did they charge or even hint at
any of those things which have drawn upon the
usurping Assembly and their adherents the detestation of the rational and thinking part of mankind.
I will venture to affirm, without the least apprehension of being contradicted by any person who
knows the then state of France, that, if any one of
the changes were proposed, which form the fundamental parts of their Revolution, and compose its
most distinguishing acts, it would not have had one
vote in twenty thousand in any order. Their instructions purported the direct contrary to all those
famous proceedings which are defended as the acts
of the people. Had such proceedings been expected,
the great probability is, that the people would then
have risen, as to a man, to prevent them. The
whole organization of the Assembly was altered, the
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 187
whole frame of the kingdom was changed, before
these things could be done. It is long to tell, by
what evil arts of the conspirators, and by what extreme weakness and want of steadiness in the lawful government, this equal usurpation on the rights of
the prince and people. having first cheated, and then
offered violence to both, has been able to triumph,
and to employ with success the forged signature of
an imprisoned sovereign, and the spurious voice of
dictated addresses, to a subsequent ratification of
things that had never received any previous sanction, general or particular, expressed or implied, from the nation, (in whatever sense that word is taken,)
or from any part of it.
After the weighty and respectable part of the people had been murdered, or driven by the menaces of murder from their houses, or were dispersed in exile
into every country in Europe, -- after the soldiery had
been debauched from their officers, --after property
had lost its weight and consideration, along with its
security, - after voluntary clubs and associations of
factious and unprincipled men were substituted in
the place of all the legal corporations of the kingdom
arbitrarily dissolved, - after freedom had been banished from those popular meetings* whose sole ree ommendation is freedom, - after it had come to that
pass that no dissent dared to appear in any of them,
but at the certain price of life, -- after even dissent
had been anticipated, and assassination became as
quick as suspicion, --such pretended ratification by
addresses could be no act of what any lover of the
people would choose to call by their name. It is that
voice which every successful usurpation, as well as
* The primary assemblies.
? ? ? ? 188 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
this before us, may easily procure, even without making (as these tyrants have made) donatives from the
spoil of one part of the citizens to corrupt the other.
The. prretended rights of man, which have made this
havoc, cannot be the rights of the people. For to be
a people, and to have these rights, are things incompatible. The one supposes the presence, the other the
absence, of a state of civil society. The very foundation of the French commonwealth is false and selfdestructive; nor can its principles be adopted in any country, without the certainty of bringing it to the
very same condition in which France is found. Attempts are made to introduce them into every nation
in Europe. This nation, as possessing the greatest
influence, they wish most to corrupt, as by that
means they are assured the contagion must become
general. I hope, therefore, I shall be excused, if I
endeavor to show, as shortly as the matter will admit, the danger of giving to them, either avowedly or
tacitly, the smallest countenance.
There are times and circumstances in which not
to speak out is at least to _cnniye. Many think it
enough for them, that the principles propagated by
these clubs and societies, enemies to their country
and its Constitution, are not owned by the modern
Whigs in Parliament, who are so warm in condemnation of Mr. Burke and his book, and of course of all
the principles of the ancient, constitutional Whigs
of this kingdom. Certainly they are not owned.
But are they condemned with the same zeal as Mr.
Burke and his book are condemned? Are they condemned at all? Are they rejected or discountenanced in any way whatsoever? Is any man who
would fairly examine into the demeanor and prin
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 189
ciples of those societies, and that too very moderately, and in the way rather of admonition than of
punishment, is such a man even decently treated?
Is he not reproached as if in condemning such principles he had belied the conduct of his whole life,
suggesting that his life had been governed by principles similar to those which he now reprobates?
The French system is in the mean time, by many
active agents out of doors, Rapturously praised; the
British Constitution is coldly tolerated. But these
Constitutions are different both in the foundation and
in the whole superstructure; and it is plain that you
cannot build up the one but on the ruins of the
other. After all, if the French be a superior system of liberty, why should we not adopt it? To what
end are our praises? Is excellence held out to us
only that we should not copy after it? And what
is there in the manners of the people, or in the climate of France, which renders that species of republic fitted for them, and unsuitable to us? A strong and marked difference between the two nations ought
to be shown, before we can admit a constant, affected
panegyric, a standing, annual commemoration, to be
without any tendency to an example.
But the leaders of party will not go the length of
the doctrines taught by the seditious clubs. I am
sure they do not mean to do so. God forbid! Perhaps even those who are directly carrying on the
work of this pernicious foreign faction do not all
of them intend to produce all the mischiefs which
must inevitably follow from their having any success in their proceedings. As to leaders in parties,
nothing is more common than to see them blindly
led. The _world. , is. governed by go-betweens. These
? ? ? ? 190 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
go-betwecns influence the persons with whom they
carry on the intercourse, by stating their own sense
to each of them as the sense of the other; and thus
they reciprocally master both sides. It is first buzzed
about the ears of leaders, "-that their friends without
doors are very eager for some measure, or very warm
about some opinion, --that you must not be too rigid
with them. They are useful persons, and zealous in
the cause. They may be a little wrong, but the
spirit of liberty must not be damped; and by the
influence you obtain from some degree of concurrence with them at present, you may be enabled to set them right hereafter. "
Thus the leaders are at first drawn to a connivance
with sentiments and proceedings often totally differe. ! it from their serious and deliberate notions. But their acquiescence answers every purpose.
With no better than such powers, the go-betweens
assume a new representative character. What at
best was but an acquiescence is magnified into an
authority, and thence into a desire on the part of the
leaders; and it is carried down as such to the subordinate members of parties. By this artifice they in their turn are led into measures which at first, perhaps, few of them wished at all, or at least did not desire vehemently or systematically.
There is in all parties, between the principal leaders in Parliament and the lowest followers out of doors, a middle sort of men, a sort of equestrian
order, who, by the spirit of that middle situation,
are the fittest for preventing things from running
to excess. But indecision, though a vice of a totally
different character, is the natural accomplice of violence. The irresolution and timidity of those who
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 191
compose this middle order often prevents the effect
of their controlling situation. The fear of differing
with the authority of leaders on the one hand, and
of contradicting the desires of the multitude on the
other, induces them to give a careless and passive assent to measures in which they never were consulted; and thus things proceed, by a sort of activity of inertness, until whole bodies, leaders, middle-men, anid followers, are all hurried, with every appearance
and with many of the effects of unanimity, into
schemes of politics, in the substance of which no
two of them were ever fully agreed, and the origin
and authors of which, in this circular mode of communication, none of them find it possible to trace.
In my experience, I have seen much of this in affairs
which, though trifling in comparison to the presenIt,
were yet of some importance to parties; and I have
known them suffer by it. The sober part give their
sanction, at first through inattention and levity; at
last they give it through necessity. A violent spirit
is raised, which the presiding minds after a time
find it impracticable to stop at their pleasure, to control, to regulate, or even to direct.
This shows, in my opinion, how very quick and
awakened all men ought to be, who are looked up to
by the public, and who deserve that confidence, to prevent a surprise on their opinions, when dogmas are spread and projects pursued by which the foundations of society may be affected. Before they listen
even to moderate alterations in the government of
their country, they ought to take care that principles
are not propagated for that purpose which are too
big for their object. Doctrines limited in their present application, and wide in their general principles,
? ? ? ? 192 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
are never meant to be confined to what they at first
pretend. If I were to form a prognostic of the effect
of the present machinations on the people from their
sense of any grievance they suffer under this Conllstitution, my mind would be at ease. But there is a
wide difference between the multitude, when they
act against their government from a sense of grievance or from zeal for some opinions. When men
are thoroughly possessed with that zeal, it is difficult
to calculate its force. It is certain that its power is
by no means in exact proportion to its reasonableness. It must always have been discoverable by persons of reflection, but it is jlow obvious to the world,
that a theory concerning government may become as
much a cause of fanaticism as a dogma in religion.
There is a boundary to men's passions, when they
act from feeling; none when they are under the influence of imagination. Remove a grievance, and,
when men act from feeling, you go a great way towards quieting a commotion. But the good or bad
conduct of a government, the protection men have
enjoyed or the oppression they have suffered under
it, are of no sort of moment, when a faction, proceeding upon speculative grounds, is thoroughly heated
against its form. When a man is from system furious against monarchy or episcopacy, the good conduct of the monarch or the bishop has no other effect than further to irritate the adversary. He is provoked at it as furnishing a plea for preserving the
thing which he wishes to destroy. His mind will be
heated as much by the sight of a sceptre, a mace, or
a verge, as if he had been daily bruised and wounded
by these symbols of authority. Mere spectacles, mere
names, will become suffic:ent causes to stimulate the
people to war and tumult.
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 193
Some gentlemen are not terrified by the facility
with which government has been overturned in
France. "The people of France," they say, "had
nothing to lose in the destruction of a bad Constitution; but, though not the best possible, we have still a
good stake in ours, which will hinder us from desperate risks. " Is this any security at all against those
who seem to persuade themselves, and who labor to
persuade others, that our Constitution is an usurpation in its origin, unwise in its contrivance, mischievous in its effects, contrary to the rights of main, and in all its parts a perfect nuisance? What motive has:
ally rational man, who thinks in that manner, to spill
his blood, or even to risk a shilling of his fortune, or
to waste a moment of his leisure, to preserve it? If
he has any duty relative to it, his duty is to destroy
it. A Constitution on sufferance is a Constitution
condemned. Sentence is already passed upon it.
The execution is only delayed. On the principles of
these gentlemen, it neither has nor ought to have
any security. So far as regards them, it is left
naked, without friends, partisans, assertors, or protectors.
Let us examine into the value of this security upon
the principles of those who are more sober, - of those
who think, indeed, the French Constitution better, or
at least as good as the British, without going to all
the lengths of the warmer politicians in reprobating
their own. Their security amounts in reality to nothing more than this, -- that the difference betweein
their republican system and the British limited monarchy is not worth a civil war. This opinion, I admit, will prevent people not very enterprising in their nature from an active undertaking against the BritVOL. IV. 13
? ? ? ? 1. 94 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
ish Constitution. But it is the poorest defensive
principle that ever was infused into the mind of man
against the attempts of those who will enterprise. It
will tend totally to remove from their minds that very
terror of a civil war which is held out as our sole security. They who think so well of the French Constitution certainly will not be the persons to carry on a war to prevent their obtaining a great benefit, or at
worst a fair exchange. They will not go to battle in
favor of a cause in which their defeat might be more
advantageous to the public than their victory. They
must at least tacitly abet those who endeavor to make
converts to a sound opinion; they must discountenance those who would oppose its propagation. In
proportion as by these means the enterprising party
is strengthened, the dread of a struggle is lessened.
See what an encouragement this is to the enemies of
the Constitution! A few assassinations and a very
great destruction of property we know they consider
as no real obstacles in the way of a grand political
change. And they will hope, that here, if antimonarchical opinions gain ground as they have done in
France, they may, as in France, accomplish a revolution without a war.
They who think so well of the French Constitution
cannot be seriously alarmed by any progress made by
its partisans. Provisions for security are not to be
received from those who think that there is no danger. No! there is no plan of security to be listened
to but from those who entertain the same fears with
ourselves, -- from those who think that the thing to
be secured is a great blessing, and the thing against
which we would secure it a great mischief. Every
person of a different opinion must be careless about
security.
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 195
I believe the author of the Reflections, whether he
fears the designs of that set of people with reason or
not, cannot prevail on himself to despise them. He
cannot despise them for their numbers, which, though
small, compared with the sound part of the community, are not inconsiderable: he cannot look with
contempt on their influence, their activity, or the
kind of talents and tempers which they possess, exactly calculated for the work they have in hand and
the minds they chiefly apply to. Do we not see their
most considerable and accredited ministers, and several of their party of weight and importance, active
in spreading mischievous opinions, in giving sanction
to seditious writings, in promoting seditious anniversaries? and what part of their description has disowned them or their proceedings? When men, circumstanced as these are, publicly declare such
admiration of a foreign Constitution, and such contempt of our own, it would be, in the author of the
Reflections, thinking as he does of the French Constitution, infamously to cheat the rest of the nation
to their ruin to say there is no danger.
In estimating danger, we are obliged to take into
our calculation the character and disposition of the
enemy into whose hands we may chance to fall. The
genius of this faction is easily discerned, by observing with what a very different eye they have viewed
the late foreign revolutions. Two have passed before
them: that of France, and that of Poland. The state
of Poland was such, that there could scarcely exist two
opinions, but that a reformation of its Constitution,
even at some expense of blood, might be seen without
much disapprobation. No confusion could be feared
in such an enterprise; because the establishment to
? ? ? ? 196 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
be reformed was itself a state of confusion. A king
without authority; nobles without union or subn rdination; a people without arts, industry, commerce,
or liberty; no order within, no defence without; no
effective public force, but a foreign force, which entered a naked country at will, and disposed of everything at pleasure. Here was a state of things which seemed to invite, and might perhaps justify, bold en-:erprise and desperate experiment. But in what
manner was this chaos brought into order? The
means were as striking to the imagination as satisfactory to the reason and soothing to the moral sentiments. In contemplating that change, humanity has everything to rejoice and to glory in, -- nothing to
be ashamed of, nothing to suffer. So far as it has
gone, it probably is the most pure and defecated public good which ever has been conferred on mankind.
We have seen anarchy and servitude at once removed; a throne strengthened for the protection of
the people, without trenching on their liberties; all
foreign cabal banished, by changing the crown from
elective to hereditary; and what was a matter of
pleasing wonder, we have seen a reigning king, from
an heroic love to his country, exerting himself with
all the toil, the dexterity, the management, the intrigue, in favor of a family of strangers, with which
ambitious men labor for the aggrandizement of their
own. Ten millions of men in a way of being freed
gradually, and therefore safely to themselves and the
state, not from civil or political chains, which, bad as
they are, only fetter the mind, but from substantial
personal bondage. Inhabitants of cities, before without privileges, placed in the consideration which belongs to that improved and connecting situation of
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 197
social life. One of the most proud, numerous, and
fierce bodies of nobility and gentry ever known in
the world arranged only in the foremost rank of free
and generous citizens. Not one man incurred loss
or suffered degradation. All, from the king to the
day-laborer, were improved in their condition. Everything was kept in its place and order; but in that
place and order everything was bettered. To add
to this happy wonder, this unheard-of conjunctio'.
of wisdom and fortune, not one drop of blood was
spilled; no treachery; no outrage; no system of
slander more cruel than the sword; no studied insults on religion, morals, or manners; no spoil; no
confiscation; no citizen beggared; none imprisoned;
none exiled: the whole was effected with a policy, a
discretion, an unanimity and secrecy, such as have
never been before known on any occasion; but such
wonderful conduct was reserved for this glorious conspiracy in favor of the true and genuine rights and
interests of men. Happy people, if they know to
proceed as they have begun! Happy prince, worthy
to begin with splendor or to close with glory a race
of patriots and of kings, and to leave
A name, which every wind to heaven would bear,
Which men to speak, and angels joy to hear!
To finish all, - this great good, as in the instant it is,
contains in it the seeds of all further improvement,
and may be considered as in a regular progress, because founded on similar principles, towards the stable excellence of a British Constitution. Here was a matter for congratulation and for festive remembrance through ages. Here moralists and
divines might indeed relax in their temperance, to
exhilarate their humanity. But mark the character
? ? ? ? 198 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
of our faction. All their enthusiasm is kept for the
French Revolution. They cannot pretend that France
had stood so much in need of a change as Poland.
They cannot pretend that Poland has not obtained
a better system of liberty or of government than it
enjoyed before. They cannot assert that the Polish
Revolution cost more dearly than that of France to
the interests and feelings of multitudes of men. But
the cold and subordinate light in which they look
upon the one, and the pains they take to preach up
the other of these Revolutions, leave us no choice in
fixing on their motives. Both Revolutions profess
liberty as their object; but in obtaining this object
the one proceeds from anarchy to order, the other
from order to anarchy. The first secures its liberty
by establishing its throne; the other builds its freedom on the subversion of its monarchy. In the one,
their means are unstained by crimes, and their settlement favors morality; in the other, vice and confusion are in the very essence of their pursuit, and of their enjoyment. The circumstances in which these
two events differ must cause the difference we make
in their comparative estimation.
These turn the scale
with the societies in favor of France. Ferrum est quod
amant. The frauds, the violences, the sacrileges, the
havoc and ruin of families, the dispersion and exile of
the pride and flower of a great country, the disorder,
the confusion, the anarchy, the violation of property,
the cruel murders, the inhuman confiscations, and in
the end the insolent domination of bloody, ferocious,
and senseless clubs, - these are the things which they
love and admire. What men admire and love they
would surely act. Let us see what is done in France;
and then let us undervalue any the slightest danger
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 199
of falling into the hands of such a merciless and savage faction!
" But the leaders of the factious societies are too
wild to succeed in this their undertaking. " I hope
so. But supposing them wild and absurd, is there
no danger but from wise and reflecting men? Perhaps the greatest mischiefs that have happened in the world have happened from persons as wild as those
we think the wildest. In truth, they are the fittest
beginners of all great changes. Why encourage men
in a mischievous proceeding, because their absurdity
may disappoint their malice? -" But noticing them
may give them consequence. " Certainly. But they
are noticed; and they are noticed, not with reproof,
but with that kind of countenance which is given by
an apparent concurrence (not a real one, I am convinced) of a great party in the praises of the object which they hold out to imitation.
But I hear a language still more extraordinary, and
indeed of such a nature as must suppose or leave us
at their mercy. It is this: - " You know their promptitude in writing, and their diligence in caballing; to write, speak, or act against them will only stimulate
them to new efforts. " This way of considering the
principle of their conduct pays but a poor compliment to these gentlemen. They pretend that their doctrines are infinitely beneficial to mankind; but it
seems they'would keep them to themselves, if they
were not greatly provoked. They are benevolent from
spite. Their oracles are like those of Proteus, (whom
some people think they resemble in many particulars,)
who never would give his responses, unless you used
him as ill as possible. These cats, it seems, would
not give out their electrical light without having
? ? ? ? 200 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
their backs well rubbed. But this is not to do them
perfect justice. They are sufficiently communicative.
Had they been quiet, the propriety of any agitation
of topics on the origin and primary rights of government, in opposition to their private sentiments, might possibly be doubted. But, as it is notorious that
they were proceeding as fast and as far as time and
circumstances would admit, both in their discussions
and cabals, - as it is not to be denied that they had
opened a correspondence with a foreign faction the
most wicked the world ever saw, and established
anniversaries to commemorate the most monstrous,
cruel, and perfidious of all the proceedings of that
faction, - the question is, whether their conduct was
to be regarded in silence, lest our interference should
render them outrageous. Then let them deal as
they please with the Constitution. Let the lady be
passive, lest the ravisher should be driven to force.
Resistance will only increase his desires. Yes, truly,
if the resistance be feigned and feeble. But they
who are wedded to the Constitution will not act the
part of wittols. They will drive such seducers from
the house on the first appearance of their love-letters
and offered assignations. But if the author of the
Reflections, though a vigilant, was not a discreet
guardian of the Constitution, let them who have the
same regard to it show themselves as vigilant and
more skilful in repelling the attacks of seduction or
violence. Their freedom from jealousy is equivocal,
and may arise as well from indifference to the object
as from confidence in her virtue.
On their principle, it is the resistance, and not the
assault, which produces the danger. I admit, indeed,
that, if we estimated the danger by the value of the
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 201
writings, it would be little worthy of our attention:
contemptible these writings are in every sense. But
they are not the cause, they are the disgusting symptoms of a frightful distemper. They are not otherwise of consequence than as they show the evil habit of the bodies from whence they come. In that light
the meanest of them is a serious thing. If, however,
I should underrate them, and if the truth is, that
they are not the result, but the cause, of the disorders
I speak of, surely those who circulate operative poisons, and give to whatever force they have by their
nature the further operation of their authority and
adoption, are to be censured, watched, and, if possible, repressed.
At what distance the direct danger from such factions may be it is not easy to fix. An adaptation of
circumstances to Ulesigns and principles is necessary.
But these cannot be wanting for any long time, in
the ordinary course of sublunary affairs. Great discontents frequently arise in the best constituted governments from causes which no human wisdom can foresee and no human power can prevent. They occur at uncertain periods, but at periods which are
not commonly far asunder. Governments of all kinds
are administered only by men; and great mistakes,
tending to inflame these discontents, may concur.
The indecision of those who happen to rule at the
critical time, their supine neglect, or their precipitate
and ill-judged attention, may aggravate the public
misfortunes. In such a state of things, the principles, now only sown, will shoot out and vegetate in
full luxuriance. In such circumstances the minds
of the people become sore and ulcerated. They are
put out of humor with all public men and all public
? ? ? ? 202 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
parties; they are fatigued with their dissensions;
they are irritated at their coalitions; they are made
easily to believe (what much pains are taken to make
them believe) that all oppositions are factious, and
all courtiers base and servile. From their disgust at
men, they are soon led to quarrel with their frame of
government, which they presume gives nourishment
to the vices, real or supposed, of those who administer in it. Mistaking malignity for sagacity, they
are soonl led to cast off all hope from a good administration of affairs, and come to think that all reformation depends, not on a change of actors, but upon an alteration in the machinery. Then will be felt
the full effect of encouraging doctrines which tend
to make the citizens despise their Constitution. Then
will be felt the plenitude of the mischief of teaching
the people to believe that all ancient institutions are
the results of ignorance, and that all prescriptive government is in its nature usurpation. Then will be
felt, in all its energy, the danger of encouraging a
spirit of litigation in persons of that immature and
imperfect state of knowledge which serves to render
them susceptible of doubts, but incapable of their
solution. Then will be felt, in all its aggravation,
the pernicious consequence of destroying all docility
in the minds of those who are not formed for finding
their own way in the labyrinths of political theory,
and are made to reject the clew and to disdain the
guide. Then will be felt, and too late will be acknowledged, the ruin which follows the disjoining of
religion from the state, the separation of morality
from policy, and the giving conscience no concern
and no coactive or coercive force in the most material of all the social ties, the principle of our obligations to government.
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 203
I know, too, that, besides this vain, contradictory,
and self-destructive security which some men derive
from the habitual attachment of the people to this
Constitution, whilst they suffer it with a sort of sportive acquiescence to be brought into contempt before
their faces, they have other grounds for removing all
apprehension from their minds. They are of opinion
that there are too many men of great hereditary estates and influence in the kingdom to suffer the establishment of the levelling system which has taken place in France. This is very true, if, in order to
guide the power which now attends their property,
these men possess the wisdom which is involved in
early fear. But if, through a supine security, to which
such fortunes are peculiarly liable, they neglect the
use of their influence in the season of their power,
on the first derangement of society the nerves of
their strength will be cut. Their estates, instead of
being the means of their security, will become the
very causes of their danger. Instead of bestowing
influence, they will excite rapacity. They will be
looked to as a prey.
Such will be the impotent. condition of those men
of great hereditary estates, who indeed dislike the designs that are carried on, but whose dislike is rather
that of spectators than of parties that may be concerned in the catastrophe of the piece. But riches
do not in all cases secure even an inert and passive
resistance. There are always in that description men
whose fortunes, when their minds are once vitiated
by passion or by evil principle, are by no means a
security from their actually taking their part against
the public tranquillity. We see to what low and despicable passions of all kinds many men in that class
? ? ? ? 204 APPEAL FROM THE NEW
are ready to sacrifice the patrimonial estates which
might be perpetuated in their families with splendor,
and with the fame of hereditary benefactors to mankind, from generation to generation. Do we not see how lightly people treat their fortunes, when under
the influence of the passion of gaming? The game
of ambition or resentment will be played by many of
the rich and great as desperately, and with as much
blindness to the consequences, as ally other game.
Was he a man of no rank or fortune who first set
on foot the disturbances which have ruined France?
Passion blinded him to the consequences, so far as
they concerned himself; and as to the consequences
with regard to others, they were no part of his consideration, - nor ever will be with those who bear any resemblance to that virtuous patriot and lover of the
rights of man.
There is also a time of insecurity, when interests
of all sorts become objects of speculation. Then it
is that their very attachment to wealth and importance will induce several persons of opulence to list themselves and even to take a lead with the party
which they think most likely to prevail, in order to
obtain to themselves consideration in some new order or disorder of things. They may be led to act
in. this manner, that they may secure some portion
of their own property, and perhaps to become partakers of the spoil of their own order. Those who speculate on change always make a great number
among people of rank and fortune, as well as amongst
the low and the indigent.
What security against all this -- All human securities are liable to uncertainty. But if anything
bids fail for the prevention of so great a calamity,
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 205
it must consist in the use of the ordinary means of
just influence inll society, whilst those means continue
unimpaired. The public judgment ought to receive
a proper direction. All weighty men may have their
share in so good a work. As yet, notwithstanding
the strutting and lying independence of a braggart
philosophy, Nature maintains her rights, and great
names have great prevalence. Two such men as Mr.
Pitt and Mr. Fox, adding to their authority in a point
in which they concur even by their disunion in everything else, might frown these wicked opinions out of
the kingdom. But if the influence of either of them,
or the influence of men like them, should, against
their serious intentions, be otherwise perverted, they
may countenance opinions which (as I have said before, and could wish over and over again to press)
they may in vain attempt to control. In their theory,
these doctrines admit no limit, no qualification whatsoever. No man can say how far he will go, who
joins with those who are avowedly going to the utmost extremities. What security is there for stopping short at all in these wild conceits? Why, neither more nor less than this,. - that the moral sentiments
of some few amongst them do put some check on
their savage theories. But let us take care. The
moral sentiments, so nearly connected with early prejudice as to be almost one and the same thing, will
assuredly not live long under a discipline which has
for its basis the destruction of all prejudices, and the
making the mind proof against all dread of consequences flowing from the pretended truths that are
taught by their philosophy.
In this school the moral sentiments must grow
weaker and weaker every day. The more cautious
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of these teachers, in laying down their maxims, draw
as much of the conclusion as suits, not with their
premises, but with their policy. They trust the rest
to the sagacity of their pupils. Others, and these are
the most vaunted for their spirit, not only lay down
the same premises, but boldly draw the conclusions, to
the destruction of our whole Constitution in Church
and State. But are these conclusions truly drawn?
Yes, most certainly. -Their principles are wild and
wicked; but let justice be done even to frenzy and
villany. These teachers are perfectly systematic.
No man who assumes their grounds can tolerate
the British Constitution in Church or State. These
teachers profess to scorn all mediocrity,- to engage
for perfection, - to proceed by the simplest and shortest course. They build their politics, not on convenience, but on truth; and they profess to conduct men to certain happiness by the assertion of their
undoubted rights. With them there is no compromise All other governments are usurpations, which
justify and even demand resistance.
Their principles always go to the extreme. They
who go with the principles of the ancient Whigs,
which are those contained in Mr. Burke's book,
never can go too far. They may, indeed, stop short
of some hazardous and ambiguous excellence, which
they will be taught to postpone to any reasonable
degree of good they may actually possess. The
opinions maintained in that book never can lead to
an extreme, because their foundation is laid in an
opposition to extremes. The foundation of government is there laid, not in imaginary rights of men,
(which at best is a confusion of judicial with civil
principles,) but in political convenience, and in hu
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 207
man nature, -either as that nature is universal, or
as it is modified by local habits and social aptitudes.
The foundation of government (those who have read
that book will rec6llect) is laid in a provision for our
wants and in a conformity to our duties: it is to purvey for the one, it is to enforce the other. These
doctrines do of themselves gravitate to a middle
point, or to some point near a middle. They suppose, indeed, a certain portion of liberty to be essential to all good government; but they infer that this liberty is to be blended into the government, to harmonize with its forms and its rules, and to be made
subordinate to its end. Those who are not with that
book are with its opposite; for there is no medium
besides the medium itself. That medium is not such
because it is found there, but it is found there because it is conformable to truth and Nature. In this
we do not follow the author, but we and the author
travel together upon the same safe and middle path.
The theory contained in his book is not to furnish
principles for making a new Constitution, but for
illustrating the principles of a Constitution already
made. It is a theory drawn from the fact of our
government. They who oppose it are bound to
show that his theory militates with that fact; otherwise, their quarrel is not with his book, but with the
Constitution of their country. The whole scheme of
our mixed Constitution is to prevent any one of its
principles from being carried as far as, taken by itself, and theoretically, it would go. Allow that to
be the true policy of the British system, then most
of the faults with which that system stands charged
will appear to be, not imperfections into which it has
inadvertently fallen, but excellencies which it has
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studiously sought. To avoid the perfections of extreme, all its several parts are so constituted as not
alone to answer their own several ends, but also each
to limit and control the others; insomuch that, take
which of the principles you please, you will find its
operation checked and stopped at a certain point.
The whole movement stands still rather than that
any part should proceed beyond its boundary. From
thence it results that in the British Constitution
there is a perpetual treaty and compromise going
on, sometimes openly, sometimes with less observation. To him who contemplates the British Constitution, as to him who contemplates the subordinate material world, it will always be a matter of his most
curious investigation to discover the secret of this
mutual limitation.
Finita potestas denique cuique
Quanam sit ratione, atque alte terminus hxerens
They who have acted, as in France they have done,
upon a scheme wholly different, and who aim at the
abstract and unlimited perfection of power in the popular part, can be of no service to us in any of our
political arrangements. They who in their headlong
career have overpassed the goal can fiurnish no example to those who aim to go no further. The temerity of such speculators is no more an example than the timidity of others. The one sort scorns the right;
the other fears it; both miss it. But those who by
violence go beyond the barrier are without question
the most mischievous; because, to go beyond it, they
overturn and destroy it. To say they have spirit
is to say nothing in their praise. The untempered
spirit of madness, blindness, immorality, and impiety deserves no commendation. He that sets his
? ? ? ? TO THE OLD WHIGS. 209
house on fire because his fingers are frost-bitten
can never be a fit instructor in the method of providing our habitations with a cheerful and salutary warmth. We want no foreign examples to rekindle
in us the flame of liberty. The example of our own
ancestors is abundantly sufficient to maintain the
spirit of freedom in its full vigor, and to qualify it
in all its exertions. The example of a wise, moral,
well-natured, and well-tempered spirit of freedom is
that alone which can be useful to us, or in the least
degree reputable or safe. Our fabric is so constituted, one part of it bears so much on the other,
the parts are so made for one another, and for nothing else, that to introduce any foreign matter into it'
is to destroy it.
What has been said of the Roman Empire is at
least as true of the British Constitution: -" Octingentorum annorumrn fortuna disciplinaque compages hcec coaluit; quce convelli sine convellentium exitio non potest. " This British Constitution has not been struck out at an heat by a set of presumptuous men, like the
Assembly of pettifoggers run mad in Paris.
"'T is not the hasty product of a day,
But the well-ripened fruit of wise delay. "
It is the result of the thoughts of many minds in
many ages. It is no simple, no superficial thing,
nor to be estimated by superficial understandings.
An ignorant man, who is not fool enough to meddle
with his clock, is, however, sufficiently confident to
think he can safely take to pieces and put together,
at his pleasure, a moral machine of another guise,
importance, and complexity, composed of far other
wheels and springs and balances and counteracting
and cooperating powers. Men little think how imVOL. IV. 14
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morally they act in rashly meddling with what they
do not understand.
