^ftss^^ xSi^&m.^- r-J!#'-^, ^3^^ 1 ■J- •• L .^ ">e?* 7/7/, , I L^ DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Treasure 1(gom (^CT^yV^'^y'^' ' ' ■ * ' f Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Duke University Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/threeletterstoriOOrp THREE LETTERS TO THE Right Hon. Edmund Burke, ON THE STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS^ AND PARTICULARLY ON THE LATE OUTRAGEOUS ATTACKS ON HIS P E N S I O N. BY AN OLD WHIG. 5lLont!on : PRfNTLD FOR G, G. AND J. ROBINSON, PATER*. NOSTER-ROW. I7Q6. LETTER I. to THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE. Sir, THOUGH my admiratloil of your talents may be greatly difproportioned to your ex- peftatlons, and to that adulation which you have been accuftomed to receive from your immediate flatterers and dependants, yet it would be unjufl to deny that I have generally derived pleafurc from the perufal of your writings. They are the pro- du6lions of a fertile and lively imagination, and of a mind not deftitute of energy ; a mind which is ftored with learning, of a peculiar kind, with lirtle indeed of fcientific, or ufeful knowledge, but with much of that defcription, which adminifters moft copioufly to enteitainment. If, however, I have been amufed with your fancy, I have never found muchreafon to compliment your judgment. Both your writings and your conduct feem efTentially dc£clent in this quality — You " fnatch a grace beyond the reach of art"— Prudence feems with you B a vulgar ( * ) invulnerable, you have publicly fet yourfelf up, as the target, on which young markfmen may try their fkill with impunitv and advantage — And I am ^orry to add, the mark is fo broad, that it is impoffible but that fonrie of the arrows (hpuld flrike, and perhaps leave their barb in the wound. You have challenged, and I fore fee there will be no lack of combatants — " The infeft youth" in the vicinity of S:. Giles's, are already on thc^ jving; already they begin to hum ^nd buz- — Already the monofyllable moll grateful to your ears, " Slides in a vei fe, and hitciies in a rhyme" — Already it (lands *5 rubric on the wall"— Al- ready the names of Burke and Thelwall form a friendly coalicion in large letters, on the vacant fpaces of public edifices — Already the caricature Ihops are clearing their windows for your recep- tion — "^ The old man with a young penfion" — " The two-faced orator, with one to the king, and another to the people," and a thoufand pretty devices of the fame nature, are even now, I under- (land, in agitation. Is it poflible, that this is a kind of fame, of which you are ambitious ? I recoiled, indeed, that I have before difcovercd in you, fymptoms of this difpofition. ( 5 ) difpofition. If, then, fame and notoriety are your objeffls, you will have them j but remember that if you haye them, you muft pay the price, you muft take the evil with the good— Remember too, that vyhatever you may fufrer, you have brought it on yourftlf. You have really prefcribed and defined uic laws of the conteft— If you fuffer from perfonal calumny, you have, by your exan:i- ple, invited retaliation ^ you have called for afpe- rity of language, and a fevere examination of your public condudt. If, therefore, your fliin, like John Zifca's, according to your Qwn elegant allu- fion, is to be converted into an inftrument of ter- ror J remember that you have formed, and fitted, and carved the drumfticks yourfelf j and if by this, or any other medium, an alarm can be founded through the regions of corruption, it will certainly be more advantageous to mankind, than thatharfh, difcordant war-whoopy jvhich you vociferate with all the clamour of an uncivilized barbarian. your gmbition indeed. Sir, of late has af- fumed a moft fmgular and prepofterous charac- ter. There was a time when you would lefs have valued the praifes of Lord Grenville j there was a time when you treated the " School-boy" ftatef- inen with lefs refpeft; and when you at leaft affeded to be lefs callous to the contempt of great an4 ( 6 ) and independent chara6lers. For my part, I do not hefitate to aficrt, that I would prefer a fmgle fentence of commendation from fuch men, to t'e moil laboured eulogy that the hard h-.^ads o{ ■, i Grenvilie, Sir Watkin Lewis, Sir Joh-- Mi'-ft;-- , Sir James Saunderfon, Lord Abingdon, c: . • Alderman Curtis, could painfully produce. But I have heard of a man whofe tafte and ear wcc {o lamiCntably depraved, as to prefer the brayings of a jack-afb to the moil enchanting ftrains of a Handel. In making a few remarks on your Letter, I Ihould wifh, if it were poflible, to preferve fome lucid order, ibme regular plan ; but its texture is fo unequal, its arrangement fo diftorted, that I am at a lofs where to begin, or what method to purfue. It is exuremely difficult to conjecflure what relation there can be betvveen your penfion and the French Revolution -, your 4000I. per annum, and the prefent hopeful war ; in your own mind there may be fome whimfical afTociatlon between thefe topics, fori obferve that the mention of the one inevitably brings the other to your re- collection. It \yould have been candid in you to explain this connexion ; under which of the moral relations it is to be claffcd, whether under that of caiile and efiectj of contigiiity, or refemblance, or 4 con- ( 7 ) contrariety. Had you done this, I might perhaps have been able to reply to your firft four pages» which at prefent, for want of this explanation, ap- pear neither more nor lefs th^ rhapfody. To elude the difficulty you tell us that common minds, that is men of plain common lenfe, and men verfed in arithmetic, geometry, and fuch vulgar fcienccs, " cannot readily comprehend the tranfacftion," and in this I perfeclly agree with you — We really do not comprehend the nature of the tranfadlion in queftion ; yet, I am much mif- taken, if it is not in your power to explain it. *f ft was the fruit of no bargain ; the produc- tion of no intrigue ; the refult of no compromife ; the effect of no folicitation." — Now, Sir, is it poffible that you can be lb weak, as to flatter yourfelf for a moment, that there exifts in thi.s country a fingle man fo ftupidly credulous as to be blinded by thefe affertions ? Is the miniller that frank and liberal friend of genius, that he forces^ and heaps his favours on the deferving ; with no view, no intereft, no intrigue ? Let the moral merits of Mr, Dundas and Mr. Rofe; let the bril- liant talents of Sir John Mitford, of Mr. Brooke Watfon, of Mr. Alderman Le Mefurier, and Mr. Alderman Curtis, and a long train of worthies in church ( s ) church and (late, vouch for this afTertion. The late loan was undoubtedly a finnple effort to reward genius and virtue. The war itfelf was entered into merely to call merit out of obfcurity ; and the office of tbh'd Jecretary cf fiate was revived, con- trary to both the letter and the fpirit of your own Bill, only to give a fcope to the profound pene- tration, the fplendid abilities, and the deep politi- cal wifdom, of that great ftatefman the Duke of Portland. How difinterefted towards his own family and connexions ! — How neglisient of himfelf is this Heaven-born minifter \ How indifferent to elec- tion jobs; to the gaining of fuffrages both in and out of the houfe ! What a patron of literature has he ever (hewn himfelf — and after this you will fay; " Can any man doubt that my penfion has been obtained by the moft honourable means ? No con- nexions to be gained — No dupes to be made — No pamphlets to be writren — No man's qharadlerand anceftry to be libelled"— No, No 1 ! ! Yet there is fomething myfterious in the tranf- a6tion after all. If your penfion be really the reward of your paft fervices ; of your reform in the pay- office ; of your reform in the civil lift ; why did not the minifter embrace the firft opportunity of rewarding ( 9 ) rewarding you afcer his accefllon to office ? Why was the meed of virtue delayed till a period of life, when, according to your own flatement, it can fcarcely be of advantage to you ? " Had you died," as you oblerve in this long interim, you "had earn- ed" yourpenfionj but you would not have had it; and, alas ! I can eafily fee that " thofe who be- longed to you" would not have had it. — Is this then the way that liberality and public fpirit dif- penfe public and liberal rewards ? For ten long years and more, the prudent Chancellor has cho- fen to paufe, before he could determine whether you had merited his bounty or not. — Would to Heaven he had been equally cautious, flow, and circumfpe6l in all his meafures ! We (hould not now have to bewail his rafhnefs in tears of blood ; to curfe from the bottom of our hearts his boyilb. ambition. Sir, it was at a very fufpicious period, indeed, that the minifter's heart and hand were opened.— It was at a period, when two mad fchemcs had been defeated by the union and energy of the Whig Party; and juft when another hopeful proj eft had taken pofleflrion of his brain. Then was it necef- fary to thin the ranks, and deftroy the adivity of this formidable phalanx. To throw among you the golden apple of difcord, and, by their eager- C nefs ( 'o ) nefs ro catch it, to render fome of you for ever contemptible. When yon modeftly inform us that your merits are incomprehenfible, I feel difpofed to agree with you. When you fet vulgar arithmetic at defiance^ and hold it in conrempt, I am lefs inclined to alTent. Vulgar arithmetic I cannot but hold to be a ufeful fcience, though the refuk of its calcula- tions may be a little aukward on fome occafions— - I dare predict, for inftance, that the minifter would be glad that Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Morgan * un- derftood this vulgar fcience no better than himfelu Yet, on the other hand, the nation has caufe to •wiih that their Chancellor of the Exchequer would pny a little attention to fuch inveftigations. If he did, we fiiould not now haye to lament an accu- mulation of one hundred and forty millions to the public debt from his difaftrous adminifbration.— We Ihould not, perhaps, be prelfed down with taxes; our refources daily diminifbing ; while one inaufpicious loan is improvidently raifed to make good deficiencies, and pay the intereft of another, * See a pamphlet which every Englifliman ought to read,, entithed^ *' Fads, addrefled to the ferious Attention of the People of Gie^t Britain." When. ( «' ) When you fpeak of " the theory of moral pro- portions," and " of the rule of three, in the arith- metic of policy and (late," indeed, Sir, I am ob- liged to plead the fame incorrigible ignorance with which you ftigmatife the Duke of Bedford. I am a plain man, and the arithmetic of metaphy- fics I do not underfland ; and what is more, I have never yet been fortunate enough to meet with a man that was able to explain it to me. I cannot help it. Sir, but I am inclined to fufped, that this is neither more nor lefs than what we term jargon ; and an old man with new nonfenfe, is juft as ridi- culous as a young man with old abfurdities. What- ever is incomprehenfible to plain and undepraved reafon is jargon i and I iiave often thought it diffi- cult to decide, which party excells moft in tha^ figure of fpeech, which is called the unintelligible, Mr. Burke, or the new philofophers. When, however, you come to fpeak of fervices, you then feem to defcend from the high and cloudy regions of metaphyfics, and come within the fcope of a common man's capacity. But I will not depreciate your fervices, by fuppofmg that the enumeration of them can be confident with the limits of this letter. I fliall, therefore, from pure refpeft, dedicate my next epiftle entirely to their confideration. But it is fomething extraordinary, C 2 that ( 11 ) that thefe fervices have never been till lately dif- covered ; it is fomething not lefs extraordinary, that you are obliged to tell us of them yourfelf. It is very extraordinary, that fo difcerning a perfon as the Marquis of Rockingham, fliould not have feen them in their proper light, and thac the re- •warding of them fnouIJ have been left to the adminiftration of Mr. Pitt. "Penfion for myfelf/' you fay (alluding I prefume to the Rockingham adminiftration), " I obtained none." — ^Which, by the way, reminds me a little of a certain inflated tranflation of Tacitus — " At this time war there was none." A tale, however, lias been told (and this tale unfortunately remains uncontradidled) of a certain great orator, who obtained a penfion on the Irifh eftablilhment of 1500I. per annum. This penfion he chofe to have in another name, becaufe, I prefume, he was then afhamed of appearing as a ftipendiary. Whether this penfion or annuity was mortgaged, or fold, or in what manner it was difpofed of, is little to our prefent purpofe. If it was, it would only ferve to prove your pofition, that the houfe of RufTel underftand vulgar arithmetic better than certain great metaphyseal philofophers — They have kept their property undimini(hed through revolving ages 5 this great orator has been obliged, through ( 13 ) through improvidence, to fell one penfion, and bargain for another. With thefe few obfervations I fhall wi(h you a good night J ro-morrow I fliall prefeat you with a few more in the fame plain itylc — *' Read this, " And this, and this, and then to breakfaft With what appetite you may." I am. Sir, your's, dec. Wefrpark, March 3, 1796. R. P. ( u } LETTER IL Sir, THERE are no publications which contribute more to general entertainment j I might add, to general information and improvement, than thofe in which the author lays open the receffes of his own heart, the fecret hlftory of his motives, his intentions and his condu6l. I do not approve of the prudence of the authors, but the utility of fuch produftions I am always willing to admit. It is not always necefiary that thefe narratives fliould contain nothing but pidures of wifdom and of virtue. Whatever they may be, they fhew us hu- man nature, and human life. I can, therefore, perufe, with pleafure, the ConfefTions of Rouf- feau, and of Mr. Burke j the Life of Major Sem- ple, and the no lefs interefling adventures of any political fwindler. I have expelled latterly, with fome impatience, a detail of the motives which induced you to em- bark in projecfls of reform, and 1 am happy, in yourprefent work (which may be ftyledyour Con- I feffions) ( >5 ) fefTions) to find at leaft an ingenious explanation of what appeared fo inconfiftent with the political doflrines which you have htely publifhed as the governing n;axims of your conduft. In ftating your fervices, you have been, as ufual, rather prolix *. You have contrived to envelope a very little folid fterling matter in a huge matrix of a certain bafe and ufelefs produflion, which the French call verhiage. I can, however, eafily for- g ive " the importance of a man to hlmfelf," nor is it the firft time you have evinced, that you have ftudied with effedl the " Memoirs of P. P. clerk " of this parifli." After feme difficulty in deve- loping the fa£ts from the mafs of words, in which they are involved, it appears that you confine your claims to merit, to three principal objects : the re- form in the pay-office ^ the reform in the civil lift ; and the India affairs, alias, the profecution of Mr. Haftlngs. * Mr. Burke, from his long fpesches, was called the dinner bell of the Houfe of C ommons, as when he rofe to fpeak, it had generally the effeft of clearing the houfe. His antipa- pathy, indeed, in the firft inftance, to the French revolution, is attributed to a witticifm common in the national aflembly as it was ufual when a member was proceeding in a tedious and uninterefting fpeech, t© cry out—" Point » la Burke !" Where ( >6 ) Where very grofs and flagrant abufes cxifl:, they exift not bccaufe they are undifcovered and un- known, but becaufe they are connived at for par- ticular ends, and corrupt purpofes. The diffi- culty is not to find out a remedy, but to obtain fufficient influence to apply that remedy. Thus, as to the abufes in the pay-office, they were known to thoufands; and you made a clamour (while in oppofition) concerning thefe abufes, and you com- mitted yourfelf too far to retrafl. When you came in with the Rockingham adminiftration, you a6led with honourable men, who, for the fake of their own chara6ter, could not have permitted this Augean ftable to remain totally uncleanfed, after what you had advanced upon the fubje6t, had you been ever fo willing. But, if I am not mif- taken, there is not a clerk in that office, who would not, if properly fupported, have been able to efl'edt a much more complete reform, than you efl'edted, with half the clamour, and who would not have thought himfelf amply compen- fated for the whole labour by one half the amount of one year's income from your penfion. In enumerating your fervices in this office, your modefliy, however, has led you to omit one, which Hands prominent above the reft, in the eyes of every man of fenfe and probity. You have omitted to ( «7 ) to ftate, that you have replaced in offices of truft in that department two men who had been difmilTed for fraud, peculation, and public robbery; who were at that moment under a criminal profecution for their ofFences. You endeavoured to fcreen them fromjuftice by your influence and eloquence. One of them had rather more modefty and con- fcience than his tinbluihing patron and defender, and removed himfelf, by an ad (which God forbid I Ihould jufl-ify) from public difgrace ; and with relpefl to the other, a common jury, who judged by the rules of vulgar arithmetic, and not by the new fcale of moral proportions, redified your de-» eifion. If I underfland rightly your account of your other projects of reform, they amount to what is termed in plain and vulgar language, a humbug. The people wanted a reality, and you put them off with a ihadowi they called for reform, and you determined to give them fomething elfe, which might pleafe and gratify them.— -A noftrum of your own preparing, which I grant the exijling cir- cumjlances of the nation, and the very fubject of your prefent appeal, prove was of very little effi- cacy in reftricting the influence of the crown. It was fomething which was to act like animal mag- nedfm, not on the body politic, but on the imagi- D nation ( '8 ) nation of the patient. You, however, did not be- have with the accuftomed generofity of your bre- thren in Moorfields, who, with at leaft xhtjemblance o^honejlyj place in large letters on their bills, the alluring fentence, — " No cure no pay.'* — —You require an enormous reward for doing — no- thing; and you now pleafamly tell us, that though you effected nothing to the purpofe, yet you per- haps prevented your patient from falling into the hands of fome more dcfperate and ignorant quack than yourfelf. I was, at that time, a much younger man than I am now, and I remember I thought Lord Thurlow illiberal for the obfervations which he made upon your plans, which he termed " A *' puny regulation, only calculated to deceive and ** betray the people." — You have now burft the bubble yourfelf, and come forward with fome Ihare of modeft alTurance, to boaft how handfomely you duped us J and folemnly to afllire ws " that it was " not your love but your hatred to innovation, that <* produced the plan of reform." In the fame happy ftyle you inform us concern- ing the fund out of which your penfion is granted : " This of the 4I per cents, does his grace imagine <* had efcaped me ?" The event fhows that it did not ejcaps you j and moft men will noiv give you credit for what you affirm, that the fund from which ( 19 > •which a penfion might iffue was always " full in <« your eye." But 1 a(k you. Sir, not what you thought, but what you profefled ? for, by your own account of yourfelf, we are never to look upon your intentions, but upon your profeffions. I aik you then ferioufly to anfwer me, if you can anfwer a plain queftion in plain words. Did you not know that this fund was folemnly appropriated by the authority of the legiflature by which it was raifed, for the defence only of the Leeward iflandsj as appears in the act paflfed by the aflembly of Barbadoes in 1663? Have you never declared, when you were afked why this fund was not included in your reform bill, that the reafon was, that this fund was other- wife appropriated, and no penfion could be le« gaily granted upon it? Did you not appland Lord Thurlow's conduct, when he refufed to put the feal to the penfion which was to have been granted to Lord Auklandj ifluing out of this fund, upon the grounds that every fuch grant was illegal I Though you have been thus induftrious to ey* )iibit yourfelf to the public in the character of a C 2 bottle ( so ) bottle conjurer— as the Katcerfelto of the Houfe of Commons, I, Sir, am more willing to do you juftice, than you are yourfelf. I believe you were^ at one period at leaft, in earneft in your projects of reform, becaufe it fuited your purpofe, and be- caufe you acted in concert with honourable and honeft men, the Rockinghams and the Savilles. You mufb remember that you lamented in the ftrongeft terms, that you were not ahle to effect more in the caufe of reform. You now take ad- vantage of this circumllance, and make a merit of your impotence. You know the72/^j/"(to fpeak in your own language) of which the men with whom you now act, are made ; you know they are fhal- low, though cunning. They^ \ believe, are the dupes, and not the public. Becaufe you are not ahki you perfuade them that you were not willing to do more. If, therefore, you can make them believe' that you were falje and infincere in your former profeffions, I dare fay it will enhance your merit wita them. That you are now an apoftate is certainly no mean recommendation; if you can perfuade them that you were always a hypocrite^ it will doubtlefs double, at leaft, your value in the eyes of Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville, who feem to adopt, pretty much the fame rules of " moral «' proportion" with yourfelf. This ( *' ) , This obfervation may poffibly lead to an expla* nation of that fingular equivoque , or mental referva- tion, which I know has embarrafled fome fenfible perfons, who have read your Pamphlet— You *' hold one language to your opponents, and another to the King." To the one you boaft of your fcrvicesj — " before the prefence of the other you claim no merit at allj every thing there is favour, is boun- ty." Indeed, Sir, it would not be an eafy tafk t9 prove what the fervices are which you have ren- dered to the King. No man, in my opinion, can have lefs occafion to thank you for your pad fervices than the King— He cannot thank you in his heart. I will affirm that no man's writings and fpeeches were ever more calculated to bring Kings into contempt than your's : no not thofe of Thomas Paine himfelf. Revife them. Sir, even in the garbled edition to which you refer, if you doubt my affertion. Perhaps in the eye of " a mild and benevolent Sovereign," you may derive fome merit from repentance-— I am glad you have repented— -I venerate the conftitudon and the mo- narchy—I fcorn equally the metaphyfical dodrines of Paine and of Burke j I have often (and on one occafion in particular) fck indignant at the inde- cency of your expreffions when fpeaking of the Majefty of England. But forgivenefs and reward are extremely different. Thar, as a penitent, you ( " ) you defer vcd to be forgiven, I admit; but that, as a penitent, you fhould claim a reward of 4000I. per annum, is an infplt on common fenfe. On the fubjed of the affairs of India, I mud fay, it would have become you to be filent. The leaft conceflion that can be expeded from the f&^Je accujer is, that in obfcurity and modeft filence he fhould hide his diminifhed head— But it is a fafhion with the new philofophers, or new ftatef- men fhall I call them ? (for every thing now is new) to arraign the moft folemn adjudications of the moft folemn tribunals. Your difciple Mr. Wyndham has difcovered that men who have been declared " not guilty," by the verdidl and voice of their country, are '* only acquitted felons;" and you, after Mr. Haftings has been abfolved by the higheft court of judicature eftabiilhed by this con- ftitution, obftinately and perverfely claim a degree of merit for having inftituted a vexatious fuit, for having caufed the nation fruitlefsly to expend more than even the value of your penfion, for having created quarrels, raifed ill-founded fufpicions, and exhibited a mighty farce, which, in my opinion, was far from honourable to either the Lords or the Commons of Great Britain. Our liberal adminift ration, however, who con- curred ( n ) curred with you in urging the profecution, have feen their error, and have, I underftand, voted Mr. Haftings a compenfation for his fufferings.— - Let it be recorded among the ever memorable cu- riofities of the eighteenth century, among the wonders of a wonder-working minifter — " Mr. Burke was penfioned for profecuting Mr. HaftingSi and Mr. Haftings for having been profecuted 1" Did you difplay your knowledge of India affairs by the palpable falfchoods which you afferted in your opening fpeech ?-— Did you difplay your fpirit in maintaining your aflertions, when Cap- tain Williams called you to account ? Of your fervices to Ireland I will candidly con- fefs my inability to decide, I want documents and proof to enable me to fpeak pofitively either to the affirmative or the negative of the queftion— -You fay, " My endeavour was to obtain liberty for the municipal country in which I was born, and for* all defcriptions and denominations in it"— If I may fpeak my fentiments freely, and I fpeak thetla fubject to your correction, it is my opinion, that whatever Ireland has obtained, was obtained, rj-ot by your endeavours, but by her own energy, fenife, and fpirit. Your endeavours, I fulpect, were can- fined to your good w\Jhes^ and even thofe willies were ( 24 ) were rcili icted to a particular defcrlption ot men--- Yet I rejoice in the emancipation of Ireland (as far as it has been effected) from civil and religious op- preffion J and if you have had any fhare in thcfe re- forms, as foon as you can prove your merits, I will give you full credit for them, whatever might be the religious prejudices under v^^hich you acted. The laws againft the Catholics in Ireland were a fyftem of robbery, a {landing libel on every prin- ciple of juftice. Like fomc of the cruel regula- tions of Sparta, they feemed, as if they had been enacted to encourage chicanery, and to hold out a public recompence for fraud. I have heard nar- ratives of their effects, difguiling to every natural feeling and fympathy of man— Narratives (fabulous perhaps) but the bare pofTibility of which is fhock- ing to humanity, and difgraceful to legidation, I have heard of trulls executed under the moil facred oaths and engagements, which have been con- • verted, by the perverfion of law, into inftruments t 3 defraud the orphan and the widow. I have h -ard of eftates committed in conndeRce and fr. iendfliip to the tutelage of others ; and I have ht ard of their being wrefted from their lawful pof- icji 'ors by the operation of thefe odious ftatutes ; am I even veiling in the families of thofc who com- mii :ted the firft violation of a facred trull. I fhould hoj ^e that thefe random reports are only ihtji^mis of ( 2i ) of Catholics, to fhew in more glaring colours the legal flavery under which they were reduced ; but Hill they were pojfible, while the ftatutes in queflion exifted, and though I am no admirer of the Popifh fuperftitions, yet I fmcerely, for the fake of juf- tice, rejoice with you, that thefe opprefTive ftatutes cxift no more. If you can prove that you have been Inftru- mental in obtaining redrefs for this injured clafs of men,Ifhallbe the firft to acknowledge your merits; but for your other fervices, which you afErm mcney could not rewardy I cannot aflent to your pof- tulate, that " they are more than the Duke of Bed- ford's ideas of fervice are of power to ellimate ?" -—I can only agree in your conclufion, that you ought not to have had your reward in mcmy\: your reward ought to have been of a very different na- ture»— I believe. Sir, I can draw up a much more corred bill of cofts and charges for you than you have drawn up for yourfelf i and in fpite of your averfion to vulgar arithmetic, I fhail adopt the iifual forms, as it will anfvver the purpofe of per- fpicuity, at lead to vulgar readers, better than your fyftcm of" moral proportions''-^- The C ^6 ) The Britifh Nation Debtor, To the Right Hon. Edmund Burke For my great and meritorious fervices in his Majefty's kitchen o o o For obliging the ' King and Queen, of an opulent nation, to eat by contradl, like the inhabitants of a workhoufe o o o For weeping over the tattered lliirtand breeches of the Jew, worfl- ed in a certain fcuffle at St. Euftatia o o o For defending Powell and Bem- bridge - - o o G For the fublime difcovery, that " Kings are always lovers of low company'* - - o o o For " hurling the King from his throne" - - O o c For the facetious and elegant {lories of Deby Sing, prince Can- temir, &c. &c. told for the enter- tainment of the ladies of the court o o C For deferting and abufing all my old friends and connexions 26,000 For humanely endeavouring to provoke all Europe to maffacre o o each ( ^7 ) each other, and to embroil Eng- £. s. d, land in an unneceflary quarrel, which has already coft the nation only 140 millions - 9>999 ^9 9 1 For the celebrated dagger fcene in the Houfe of Commons - 0022" Total amount of my penfion for fix lives, at nine years pur- — — _. chafe - 36,000 o o The above account I have fuppofed to be checked, as in the courfe of bufinefs, by the Chancellor of his Majefty's Exchequer — But any of the items fhall be reftified on a proper applica- tion from yourfelf, as I really do not wilh to wrong or mifreprefent you. I am. Sir, your's, &:c; Weftpark, March 4, 1796. R. P. E 2 LET- ( ^5 ) LETTER III. Sir, IN my former Letter, I had occafion to notice the obligations which you have conferred upon the King, and the fervices which you have rendered to the caufe" of monarchy; but I really did not know, till I read your laft publication, the extent of thofe favours which you have conferred on the ancient ariftocracy of the realm ; I did not know that you had determined to a6l with fuch an impar- tial hand ; to diftribute juftice with fo nice and even a balknce, that you would leave no room for complaint on the part o{ the nobility, of the par- tiality which you had previou/ly demonftrated to kings. This is a fubjefl. Sir, which I fliall have pre- fently to notice, and you may depend upon it the Republicans will notice it too. Your Ihaft is at prefent avowedly directed at the Duke of Bedford ; and becaufe he was born to high rank and great fortune, it is your objeft to perfuade your readers, that he is deftitute of talents. I am not. Sir, the official defender of his grace, I have only under- taken ( 29 ) taken to unmalk^-owj and to fhew you that I know you better than you feem to fufped it poffible for any man to know you % I will tell you, that it is not his grace's, rank or fortune that has terrified you on this ogcafion ; — it is his talents. This cir^^ cumftance it is that has rendered you captious, querulous, and vindi£live. Had he not been pofr fefled of talents, let his fortune be what it would, like fome other dukes and peers, with whom both you and 1 can boaft a flight acquaintance, he might quietly have dozed upon the benches of the Houfc of Lords^ without any penfioned libeller attempt*. jng to difturb his repofe. Left we fhould, however, miftake your real aim and obje6l, you tell us that your introdu6lion of Ithe Duke of Bedford on the ftage, is to ferve as a mere vehicle, *' to convey your fentiments on mat- ters far more worthy of attention" — The abftrad fubjedt immediately connected with this fentence is hereditary nobility— and the inference is, that you defire your remarks to be abftraflly applied. I have indeed always fufpecfted, that Thomas Paine (with whom I underftand you were once intimate) 0nd you have more opinions in common than you * Naturalifls tell us of a certain animal, which, when it conceals its head, fuppofes that becaufe it fees nobody, it is Impoffible any perfon ftiould fee it, have ( 3» ) have avowed. This at leafl I am fure of, thaf neither he nor Joel Barlow has treated the privi- leged orders with more difrefped; than you have, in the very publication that lies before me. The only difference between you is tlus, that they have written in the abftrad, as upon a fpeculative fub- jedl J you have chofen to perfonify— They have laid down general principles -, you have defccnded to particulars— They have argued upon hypothe- lis and conjeflure ; you have inftanced— They faid exactly the fame things that you have faid i but I will grant they have not faid them fo well. To be a mem.ber of the Houfe of Peers, ac- cording to your nezv politico-philofophy, is to be ** Swaddled, and rocked, and dandled into a legi- flator ;" I recollect a pafiage exc^ctly fimilar in one of thefe writers, but not half fo forcibly exprefled. The nobility, you infinuate, " have an hereditary privilege to be fools ;" " The arts that recommend men to the favour and protection of the great," are to be " a minion or a tool"—" To follow the trade of v.'inning heaits, by impofing on the under- ftandings of the people." In expofing the origin of nobilicy, and the enormity and profligacy of ** grants from the crown," how fuccefsful would republican ciidcs efteem you ? Their effect is to create " Leviathans" in the ftate— -The royal " lion ( 3^ ) " Hon firll fucks the blood of his prey, and throws the offal to the jackal in waiting." The merits of the nobility are not " original and perfonal, but derivative;" nay, if one of a race happens not to be a " minion," and " an inftrument," he " de- generates into virtue"—-" The herald's college, however, " feek no further merit than the pream- ble to a patent, or the infcription on a tomb ; they I'udge of every man's capacity by the offices he has filled"— Are we reading citizen Paine, or citizen Barlow, or the abbe Sieyes ?— No, gentle reader, it is no other than Mr. Burke ! I pafs over your notorious breach of the privi- leges of the houfe. I venerate thefe privileges upon principle. You may call this principle a prejudice, perhaps, when it fuits you to difpenfe with it, though no man was more reaciy to enforce it, when you were perfonally concerned. Even prejudices. Sir, are in fome meafure refpectable, when united with confiftency. But even principles lofe reverence in the eyes of the multitude, when thofe who moft flrongly contend for them, are the firft to violate them for private ends or felfilh pur- pofcs. It has, indeed, been faid of you, with fome Ibrewdnefs, that " you have turned king's evidence againil ( 32 ) ilgainft: the arlflocfacy"— -and I have quoted yoiit fenriments, I afTure you, not as approving them* It is certain that rank neither confers talents, nor precludes them — Hereditary nobles are like other men, with refpect to capacity. They polTefs fome advantages of education, and I believe the propor- tion of men of parts among them, is much the fame as among other men, who have had fimilar advantages. Some, like the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale, refled a luftre by their talents, their fpirit, and their independence, on the confpicuous ilations in which they are placed j iome ferve as the mere palTive ornaments of a court, which they decorate on a birth-day, or fomc fimilar folemnity. In their colledive capacity, they are placed as a barrier between the ufurpations of prerogative, and the clamours of democracy. Our hiftory abounds in inftances where they have fuccefsfully withftood bodi. To the ariftocracy of England we are indebted for no fmall portion of our liberties- — For the Magna Charta-— For the re- formation, by the protection which fome of them af" forded, initseariy{lages,totheperfecuted reformers, and by the fpirit with which they refilled the papal ufurpations --For the glorious Revolution, which the ariftocracy planned and effefted. The ariftocracy re- lieved the nadon from the calamities and horrors of the AmiCrican war — and if the national fpirit is novsr funk ( 33 ) funk and degraded, it is to be attributed to the' corrupt and overwhelming influence of a pernicious monied ariftocracy ; to a new created, mulhroom ariftocracy, and not to the ancient nobility of the realm. Your pedigree of the Duke of Bedford I do not mean at prefent to difpute. I would only obferve, that your ftatement, relative to the fate of the Duke of Buckingham, &c. is direflly contrary to the teftimony of Hume and other refpedable hif- torians ; and I fufpeft th^t you have only been guilty of a miflake of about twenty years, which, with you, is to be fure.a trifling anachronifm j for I believe " the firfl: peer of the hoiife of Ruflel" did not come into office, notice, or power, till about twenty years after the deceafe of the Duke of Buckingham ; and if he had been at that period in office, he could be no further concerned in that or any other of the tranfadlions you would impute to him, than the reft of the privy-council, who were a numerous body. He was no prime minifter, though I grant that he was raifed from the ftation of a refpeftable private gentleman, and was en- nobled and enriched by the favour of his Sovereign. But fuppofing every word you have aflrrted to be faft, how illiberal is the charge, when applied to » defcendant of the family, after a lapfe of two F hundred ( H ) hundred years! You wouH deem it unworthy condufl in any man who was to upbraid you witl> being the fon of an obfcure pettifogging attorney in Dublin. Such a circumftance cannot affcft your merits : and you certainly pay the Duke of Bedford a high compliment, when the heavieft crime you car^ lay to his charge, is, that one of his remote anceftoys was a Courtier. But \ perceive your objeft-^You would deftroy the hereditary refpe ciple ? — Do yoii not perceive that it extends not merely to the annihilation of nobility, but of pro- perty itfelf ? If no man have a lawful claim to property, but he whofe anccftors obtained it by the faireft and mofl honourable means, who among us can be fafe in his pofleffions ? This Is worfe than French Democracy; this is more than the Convention itfelfj in the very madnefs of confifca- tion, has dared to alTume* I hope I have read, with a proper portion of fympathy and humanity, your afFedting and elegant tribute to the memory of your fon. Sorrow is ever facred in my eyes — I will not enquire into the truth and corre6lnefs of the eulogium, nor difturb the afhes, you wifh to embalm. Let him be all that you defcribe, and more, if it will eafe your heart of a fingle pang— I pity you from my foul. — I pity you more than ordinary men.— I pity you, becaufe in your partiality to that fon, I fee the only apology that can be offered for your pafl con- du£l'. It is a tribute which in juflice I owe to you, to fay, that I believe you have been the dupe of parental fondnefs. 1 believe, to that fon you Sacri- ficed your reputation, your charafter, your pre- fent and your future peace. I believe, that to make F 2 him ( s6 y him great, you made yourfelf little. I believe that It was to obtain a fplendid and lucrative eflablifli- ment for that fon, that, by a fatal defertion of party and of principles, you at one blow demolilhed the fair fabric of fame, which you had been ere6ling, and became the abjed tool of a minifter, whofe talents you ever held in juft contempt; whole puerile arrogance muft even now difguft you; and whofe litde and contemptible arts muft be ofFen- five to a mind of any dignity, of any cultivadon. To pafs from a fubjeft which cannot be grateful to you (the comparifon of what you were, with what you are) to one which is more within my province, and my objed: ; I cannot admit the juftice of the analogy, which you endeavour to eftablifh between your pcnfion, and an ancient grant from the crown.' A grant of lands from the crown, at the period in queftion, flands upon a footing entirely different from your's. At that period, happily for the nation, there was no public debt to be redeemed. Lands fell to the crown, by the ordinary procefs of law. — Whether the fentence by which they efcheated was juft orunjuft, is a que f- tion foreign to the purpofe. Thefe lands muft have a poffeflbr, and the king afligned them, ac- cording to his prerogative, to that poflefTor whom he eftecmed moft deferving of them. If the King, after ( 37 ) after they came into his pofTeffion, impoveriflied any perfon, it was himfelf: and no friend of liberty t^'ould wifli that the crown had retained poflenion of the immenfe eftatcs which were added to the royal demefnes by the legal courfe of efcheat and forfeiture. But your penfion, Sir, is wrung by heavy and cruel taxes, in times of public diftrels, from an oppreffed and fuffering people. The half- famifhed cottager, who receives the miferable pit- tance of fixteen-fence a day for the fubfiftence of perhaps an infant family, pays a portion of that Jixteen-fence to maintain you in luxury. You fay you" have not more than fufficient" — Believe me, I am truly forry for the afTertion. If your penfion was meant for your future fubfiftcnce, it is cer- tainly " more than fufficient" for the fupport of a man of letters and a philofopher : if it was meant for the fupply of former deficiencies ♦, the fafl is not more to your credit. The man who, through extravagance or profufion, lofes his independence, lofes every fafcguard of virtue and of honour ; he lays himfelf open to the approaches of -the tempter; * It is a remarkable circumftance, that of the two brandies or annuities which compofe Mr. Burke's penfion, one (I be- lieve the larger) is fecurcd upon three young lives, not one of whom is of his own family. The other is fecured upon two young lives, neither of them of his own family, with the infer- tian only of his o^,n name in it, though not in the former. he ( 38 t Be becomes neceffarily the tool, the fport of bad men for bad pufpofes. I have heard, indeed, cir- cumflances relative to the negociadon for youf penfion, with the repetition of which I fhall not wound you at prefent. I have heard of difficulties and embarraffments, and I was forry to hear them» Such were not the old IVhigs — Such was not An- drew Marvel, whofe charader you once, I am told, p-cfejfed yourf elf zmhiiioxi^ to emulate. Your tranfition is happy from the grants of the crown and your own penfion, to the French Revo- lution ; but the conclufion you would deduce from it, is not quite fo logical, as the tranfition is ftrik- ing. I will difrobe it of metaphor, and put your argument in the form of a fyllogifm, for you love fometimes the dialecl of the fchools ; and your education in St. Stephen's Chapel has not quite obliterated the rudiments you learned at St. Omer's. The French Revolution originated in complaints of the lavifh Expenditure of the public money t • But the Duke of Bedford, and the Earl of Lau- derdale have thought my penfion among the inftances of lavidi Expenditure : Ergo, the Duke of Bedford, and the Earl of Lau-* derdale wifli to produce a Revolution in thisr country fimilar to that of France. in ( S9 ) I« this fyllogirm the major is indeed unquef^ tjoijiable ; but the confcquencc is illogical. It was indeed by a profufion of penfions, fkjiaries, grants^ loans, and contrafts, that the French finances be- came irrecoverably deranged. The intereft of the public debt could no longer be paid, and no additional taxes could pofTibly be levied. But a timely and prudent infpe<5tion into the national ex- pendjiture j the abojition of finecure and unnecef- fary places j the redufc^on of unmerited penfions ; and the difpofal of contratfls, commifTions, and loans, by fair and open competition^ would have prevented that moft calamitous cataftrophe, which J lament perhaps more fincerely than you do. The rights of man were never dreamt of in France, till every right was invaded by the necef- lities, or feeming neceflicies of the ftate ; till the rapacity of courtiers, and the improvidence of a Ipendthrifc adminiftration, who, like the prefent minifters of this country, paid the intereft of one loan by creating a new one, had left men nothiijg they could call their own, and had virtually anni- hilated all property in the nation, except that which was velted in the hands of the privileged orders, or in the hands of a few monied men, who were ne- ceflary to the corruption and extravagance of the i^ourt. This is the true fecret hiftory of the French Revolurionj ( 40 ).' Revolution j and I fincerely hope and pray that ** the example of France may operate as a warn^ in^ to Britain,'* Is It then confiflent with logic, with fenfe, with, honejiyj to infinuate, that becaufe the Duke of Bed- ford and the Earl of Lauderdale, and thofe patriots who aft with them, whofe worth will be revered by future generations as much as it is difregarded by the prefent ; becaufe they would have prevented by negociation the moft ruinous, the moft bloody, and moft expenfive war in which this nation ever was engaged, a war which the minifter had neither fenfe to avoid, nor abilities to condu6l: j becaufe they recommended a prudent ceconomy in every branch of adminiftration ; is it for thefe reafons that you charge them with endeavouring to pro* duce a revolution; when it is evident that no other means could be purfued fo efFe^ual for its pre- vention ? The Duke of Bedford, as you obferve very properly, has a large ftake in the country, and he has had the fenfe to difcern the only proper means of preferving it; he is a real alarmist, an alarmift upon rational motives. Mr. Pitt and you. Sir, have no ftake in the country, and rafh meafures are well adapted to men of defperate fortunes. ifhall ( 41 ) 1 fliall therefore attempt a fylloglfm in a differ rent mode, and your judges and mine, the public, ihall determine who is in the right. The French Revolution originated in the lavilh Expenditure of the public money : But the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lau- derdale have endeavoured to reflrain the lavifh Expenditure of Adminiftration: Ergo, they took the only rational means of pre- venting in this country a calamity fimiliar to what has taken place in France* Thus, Sir, I think your argument completely turns upon yourfelf Becaufe the two noble per- fons in queftion have called]for an enquiry concern- ing your penfion, you endeavour to infinuate againfl: them a charge of defiring to produce a Revolution limilar to that in France. If they had not objefted to your penfion, you would never have thought of fuch a charge. Now, as it happens, they have been ac5ting in diredl oppofition to thofe principles and that line of condudt, which you would darkly, infidioufly, and dilhoneftly charge them with ; the real Revolutionary Committee, if there be one, confifts of Edmund Burke, of William Pitt, of James (commonly called) Lord Grenville, and others their wicked abettors, who have wantonly G plunged ( 4^ ) plunged the nation in a feries of rafh, precipitate, profuie, and ruinous meafures ; who have neither the fkill and ability fuccefsfully to conduct a war, nor to negociate a peace. If every man in England, Sir, who thinks 4000I. per annum from the public purfe, in times of fear- city and wnetchednefsy'a reward above your deferts and your neceffittes, isto be confidered as a Jaco- bin, then indeed is there caufe for alarm, the club is indeed formidably numerous, fince every man with whom I have converfed, of every party, is agreed in the fentiment. Nay, I will venture to afTert, that the miniller himfclf, muft in this re- fpeft be a Jacobin in his heart. Profufe and im- provident as he is, and though he fpare no expencc to gratify a favourite whim, to ate hie ve any felfifh purpofe, he mull not only tliink, but He muft.- know that this -is a/mdll fcandalous perverfion of his : power, a naoflp. inexcufablc profufion of the puioiictreafuEC-q,.;/; -:' '- .---^^ • ' ^T':i;~r.e oYoiij v ''mib nf -o-Mbn n5?J You are particularly unfortunate -in yoiif allu- fions to the French Revolution. By your- former abfurd pamphlet on this fubje(5l, yocii provoked thc- anfwer of Thomas Paine, and-, whatever mifchief his publication has done, is ultimately to be refer- red to you. By your comparUbns between the- (latc ( 43 ) ftate of the two countries, you excited a difcuflion, which left few men uninterefted in the difpute. You infufed jealoufies, fufpicions, and alarms, into one party ;- you called up the indignation of the other, by your fpirit of intolerance and perfecu- tion. Now, in truth and reafon, the Bridfli nation had not the remoteft concern with the French Revolution — Their bufinefs was to have viewed the ftorm as fpeflators, from their happy eminence of national profperity. If the firft attempts of the Conftituent Aflembly had fucceeded ; if a good, ftable, and permanent government could have been inftituted, with a fmalier portion of influence than we have given to our executive government, I grant that it would have afforded a precedent in this country, for fome gentle and moderate re- forms, which it would have been the interefl of government to propofe themfelves. The attempt did not fucceed, becaufe^ I agree with you, the French carried their proje6ls of reform to a vifion- ary extreme ; but all this we might have regarded as calm fpeftators, we mufi have regarded as fuch, while the majority of this nation was in the full ■enjoymcntof peace and profperity. The very fmall party in this kingdom, which after the tenth of Auguft remained attached to French principles (and that it was a Im'all party, G 2 the ( 44 ) the aflbciations in 1792 fufficiently demonftratej) were foon difgufted with the fucceeding atrocities. At this moment, though many cireumftances have occurred, chiefly the work of you and your party, to prevent unanimity on this queftion, 1 folemnly declare, that I do not know a man, I have never converfed with a man, who approves of all that has been done in France. Some things all muft approve in the French Revolution, fome things you have approved yourfelf ; for you have not yet been hardy enough to deny the neceHity of a reform in that government. Of many things men of fenfe wil] hefitate before they decide — Of many, all good men mufl entertain a juft abhor- rence. Some of the atrocities, which have been committed in France, appear to have been the refult of that peculiarly difficult and unfortunate fituation in which that nation was placed j a fitua- tion that naturally difpofes to fufpicion, jealoufy, and party rancour and malignity ; powerfully aflail- cd from without, and conlpired againft within ; or, as emphatically defcribed by a writer, whofe reli- gion and charity I wifh you could imitate — . " Without were fightings, within were fears"r-r Some of the crimes in which they have been in- volved, were the inevitable confequences of that deep-rooted fyftem of corruption, which an un- wifc and profligate government had foolifh^y che- rifhed> ( 45 ) rlflied, as necefTary to its cxlftence — Some were the effefts of perverfe paffions, of fpecious vil- lainy, and of that philofophy, " falfely fo called," which I agree with you in reprobating, which releafes men from the fear of God. — - Of all this we might have been inadlive, though melancholy fpeftators ; and the more flagitious the conduft of the French, the lefs dangerous would have been their example. But fome men are vul- garly, though expreffively charafterized, as de- lighting ^' to fifh in troubled waters," and I know no man to whom this character more applies than yourfelf. The llicceeding pages of your pamphlet, it would be an outrage on humanity to criticife with feverity. The wanderings of a difturbed imagi- nation command our pity. A large portion of your pamphlet is, indeed, only fit to be bound up with Quarle's Emblems, Bunyan's Holy War, and other high efforts of genius in the regions of myfticifm and allegory. Your fneer on geometricians and chernifts, only ferves to difplay your poverty and your pride ; to inform the public in a handfome manner, tliat you underftand neither of thefc faiences. The pun on Jogeanls ( 46 ) Jergeants at law is contemptible ; and this is fuc- ceeded by a feries of jokes upon convents and priors, beneath the conviviality of a porter-houfe. But for thefe I refign you to the rebuke of your confejfor^ who will doubtlefs enjoin a proper penance for having treated in a ludicrous manner, matters of fo facred a nature as the revenues of the church. Your compafTion for " the print of the poor ox that we fee in the fhop windows at Charing- crofs,'* is in the fame ftyle -, it is ridiculous even beyond your happieft efforts, when you mean to be mofl: ferious j and your tranfition to Lord Keppel's pic- ture, from that of the ox, is really as if you had intended it as a burlefque upon your deceafed friend, whofe eulogium you conclude, by afluring your readers, tliat ^' he was no great clerk." You may apologifc for all this as the " garrulity of agci" for my own part, I fee no purpofe in it, unlefs you meant to involve a plain queftion in ftudied obfcurity. On one topic, liowever, I will undertake to fet your heart at cafe. You feem more than ordina- rily folicirous, left you fhould be fuppofed to coun- tenance " a peace with regicides."— Truft me. Sir, r.o marji who is acquainted with your habits, prin. cipkSj ( 47 ) ciples, and temper, will ever fufped you of the ambition of appearing in the charader of a -peace-- maker — *' A peace with regicides'* — I can join you as heartily and fincerely as any man, in deploring the fate of the unfortunate monarch, to whom you allude — But is no companion due to the fate of the thoulands and tens of thouJa?idsj that have fallen in this difaftrous conteft ? Men of like parts and pajjions with the monarch whom you lament — and can the human intellect be fo difordered, as to mourn with deep-felt anguilh the death of a finglt matiy and to be callous to that complicated mifery, which war entails on fo large a portion of the human race ? You have fhewn yourfelf fufEciently fenfible to the afRidion, with which you have been vifited within the circle of your own family ^ I have faid, and I repeat it, that I fincerely fympathife in your forrow j but I confcfs that my aftonifhment is excited beyond the powers of exprefiion, at the little of moral or religious inftruflion, which fo diftrefling and melancholy an event appears to have imparted to your mind. You, Mr. Burke, have been a parent ; you are inconfolable for the lofs of a beloved and promifing child — Refiefl, then, I befeech you, for a moment, how marry tender and affcdionate parents arc tnadc childlefs by this 3 wanton ( 4S ) wanton, this deteftable profufion of blood, fdi* which you are not alhamed to appear as an advo- cate — " Thy fword hath made women childlefs, ib fhall thy mother be childlefs among women," was the reproof of a prophet to a tyrant and war* rior of antiquity. — Refle6l, Sir, I intreat you, how many excellent and valuable lives, the flower of England, of Germany, and of France, are daily cut off in this execrable conteft, not by the ftroke of providence, but by the malice and depravity of man.- — " Me have yc bereaved of my children, and brought down my grey hairs with forrow to the grave," is the involuntary exclamation that will ifiue from the bleeding heart of many a wretched parent, and will be recorded in judgment againfl the wicked abettors of this moft wicked war. I do not afk you. Sir, are you a Chriftian ? — The unbounded charity which that holy religion prefcribes will not extend fo far, as to admit of the proflitutionof the term by applyin-g it to any man,, who can entertain fuch principles. No fophiitry of the church of Rome, no pretendedly facjed authority or delegation from Heaven, no abfolu- lion from councils or from Popes can reconcile die mafTacre of mankind with the religion of Chrifl— - Ko foothing undion on a death-bed can admi- nilter ( 49 ) nlilcr peace to that foul that has trifled in this manner with every precept of its God. Your heroes of chivalry had indeed fomething to plead in their excufe ; they might have devoted to death their fellow creatures on fome miftaken principles of honour; yet they fubjefted them to no dangers of which they did not partake; their valTals fuffered no evils which they did not fhare thennfelves. Their campaigns were not made in the clofet, but in the field. But if there is a cha- ra6ler to be dettftcd above every other, it is that jnalignant, cowardly difpofition, which promotes quarrels, though it fears to meet them; which bufies itfelf only in excidng the bad pafTions of mankind ; feduces an ignorant and thoughdefs multitude to murder one another ; and while it f^ovokes to mifchief, fhrinks from the conflift, Ikulks like a recreant behind the baggage, views from a diftance the evil it has created ; and feafts with a favage joy on human mifery, while it re- pofes itfelf in the moft perfedl fecurity. A cha- rafber fimilar to this is only to be found in an an- cient book, with which 1 wifli you were better ac- quainted i but which, in obedience to the canons of a certain church, you perhaps have refrained from perufing---The character to whom I allude, was *^ a liar and a murderer from the beginning ;" and H bcin ( 5« ) being eternally wretched himfelf, he finds his only folace in the act of inflicting mifery on others. If you have any confcience, any feeling, any pre- tence to religion, you will burn the pamphlet you have announced; and for what you have already done, you will repent in fackcloth and afhes. To fay that I expect this act of virtue from you, would be affectation. You will publifh, I dare fay, and you will attempt to fupport the odious ar- gument on fome fophiftical plea of expediency or flate necefllty---! fh^i therefore referve myfelf for the confideration of this part of the fubject till your threatened pamphlet makes its appearance. But in the mean time, I will warn you of what the public will expect in that pamphlet. They will ex- pect you to explain, in precife and definite terms, what never has been yet explained— The real mo- tives of miniftry in provoking this moll difaflrous, this ill-omened war. They will expect you to prove, in intelligible language, the 7-ight which they aflumed to interfere in the internal govern- ment of an indepedant ftate. You mull demon- flrate what profit and emolument we were to de- rive from a contell, which was likely to colt more blood than a whole continent could redeem, and more treafure than would purchafe both the Indies —What folid reafons there were to depart from a neutrality ( JI ) neutrality truly enviable— To relinquidi the unpre- cedented advantage of a monopoly of the whole commerce of the world. We fhall look for fbmc explanation of the myfterious conference at Pilnitz; of the compact on which the famous circular of Pavia was founded. We fhall not admit, Sij-, of thofe circulai* argu- ments, thofe crocodile fyllogifms, by which the abfurd meafures of adminiflration have been hitherto defended. Believe me. Sir, the nation ii no longer in a temper to be mifled by metaphors, to be duped by declamation. The people will no longer bear to be told " that minifters engaged in war in order to prevent war." — That " a ftate of hoftility is eflential to the prefervation of peace."— That '^ plots exifted which could no where be found ; and confpiracies without confpirators." — That *' infurreftion and riot are prevented by pub~ He calamity -, and that rebellion is the neceflary confequence of general . content and profperity." Thefe, and other equally wife and juft maxims, with which you and our fapient minifters have fo often amufed yourfelves, and deluded others, will not now be endured. The people's blood mull not be fhed for the fake of an antithefis ; nor the public treafure fquandered in fupport of a paradox. The k A 5i ) The pep^^^^J^^ reprobate the blafphemous affertion, " That we have been fighting for God and Religion !" — They will ridicule the affunnp-. ^ioj»5 that " we are to fight for peace." No, Sir, the people now demand folid arguments, open proof, pofitive and overbearing reafons. The fervour of enthufiifm is now cooled ; it is quenched with blood. The terrors which have been raifed by childilh and improbable fidions are now abated. " What advantage can we poffibly gain by perfevering in the conteft ?" is the univer- fal exclamation ; and thefe advantages they will expe(fl you to demonftrate upon the evident and infallible principles of vulgar arirhmedc, and not on your metaphyfical proportions, your moral mathemadcs, which is in truth no other than the art of fubftituting words in the place of ideas. I have die honour to be. Sir, Your's, 5cc. Weftpark, IMa; ch 5, 1796. R. P. •^5». ■■"■*. t'*i t^^ *^ •'i^--^- ■.-^■l:)^ '*»» *^.:''-^?i x-.^; .;/<■