any augmentation of force, by land or by sea? Have they not, in short, on all occasions, gone before the ministry in demanding resources and authority to be deposited in his Majesty's hands, or, in other words, in the hands of the ministry; that ministry whose slaves are now instructed to revile them for making a "systematic and unre lenting opposition?" How profligate, then, must be the writer, who has not scrupled to assert, that Lord Grenville "has uniformly and undistinguishingly con"demned and opposed every measure of Mr, "Addington's administration ?" And where shall we find words to characterize those, who have employed this writer and circulated his work? negotiation; nor did his Lordship ever, either directly or indirectly, signify either his wish, or his consent, to make part of the proposed cabinet; and, in short, he had nothing at all to do with the negotiation. If these are facts (and that they are I am sure neither Mr. Addington nor Mr. Long will deny,) the public will be at a loss to determine, which is the greatest calumniator, the writer who has represented Lord Grenville as a party in the negotiation of April last, or he who has left his readers to conclude that this accusation is unanswerable. (To be continued. } SOCIETY FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF VICE. 66 SIR, That an attack upon a Society "established for the Suppression of Vice," and consisting of thirteen hundred persons of "the first rank, and most solid piety and "talents in the kingdom," should have been suffered to pass unnoticed was hardly to be supposed; and though some expected to see a champion of gigantic strength step forth and take up the gauntlet of defiance, I confess that I am not disappointed in seeing a combatant of more enthusiasm than strength, and of more zeal than skill, enter the lists as your adversary. Against the character of Mr. Henry Grimston, and, indeed, of almost all his fellows, I have not one single word to urge: it is true, that I know very little of the gentlemen who compose the society, but even the partial knowledge which I possess, would justify an eulogium more flattering than that pronounced by their defender. To the honesty of their intentions, and to the purity of their views, I bear ample and willing testimony; but I regret that their piety should have given their talents such a direction as, by rendering the laws oppressive, will make them odious, and by assuming the office of tyrants, will make themselves detested. Their reverence for There remains only one falsehood, to which it is necessary to advert, namely, that the opposition of Lord Grenville arose, in a great measure, from his disappointment at not being admitted into the cabinet in April last. The Near Observer, in one part of his pamphlet, attributes the opinion which Lord Grenville gave in his speech of the 23d of November, 1802, that Mr. Pitt was the only man capable of saving the country; this opinion the Treasury slave attributes to a previous agreement made between Lord Grenville and Mr. Pitt, according to which agreement the former was to be "repaid" by a seat in the cabinet, as soon as the latter could get into it himself. In pursuing this calumny, the slave observes, that "since "the failure of their negotiation in April, "Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville have exer"cised every species of aggressive and unre"lenting opposition against those ministers, "who had been the objects of their primary "recommendation;" and, in another part of the pamphlet, a hope is expressed, that Lord Grenville will release Mr. Pitt from an unprofitable contract," which militates against the re turn of the latter to power! Never was there a statement, never were there insinua-religion, and their attachment to the mo tions, so replete with falsehood and malice! For, first, Lord Grenville (and this statement applies also to Lord Spencer and Mr. Windham) never had any thing to do in the "recommending" of Mr. Addington or his colleagues; who, on the contrary, had, as I have before stated, actually accepted of his office, and signified his acceptance in more than one quarter, before Lord Grenville was informed, that such an appointment was in the contemplation of any person living. Secondly, as to the "contract" made between Lord Grenville and Mr. Pirt and their negotiation" in April last, Lord Grenville never was consulted, by Mr. Pitt or any other person, on the subject of that merly taught to work; so many hospitals, asylums, and Magdalens for encouraging fornication, by supporting bastards, and maintaining worn-out prostitutes, as the King maintains his worn-out soldiers and sailors; I fear that whilst these exist, and a thousand other institutions equally pernicious to the cause of religion and the welfare of the state, that the exertions of a society like this will have but little effect in meliorating the morals or the manners of the country. I regret as sincerely as any member of the committee, the "increase of infidelity," but I do not believe that the efforts of a society, which punishes trivial offences with more than puritanical intolerance, will contribute much to the propagation of the mild doctrines of Christianity. I feel as grateful as any Englishman, to "Divine Providence, for that "benevolent protection which it has afford"ed to the sacred fabric of our church and "monarchy;" and if that venerable fabric is still to be supported, I trust that Providence will continue to prosper the endeavours of those to whose care it has been committed; but if this protection be withdrawn, I should place but little reliance upon that of the Society for the Suppression of Vice.-Admitting the state of society to be as bad as any orator in the King-street committee room has ever represented it, I see no possible advantage from "such an association and for "such purposes" as this. What? says Mr. Grimston, "when every thing is in associa "tion against religion and morality, is no"thing to associate for its support!" And is there then nothing in all this mighty kingdom, associated for the support of religion and morality, but the Society for the Suppression of Vice? Where is the King," the "Lord's anointed," "the Vicegerent of "God?" Where is his parliament, where are his magistrates, and where are the bishops and the clergy of the church of England? Where are all these? Are these nothing? Are they so powerless that the support which they might give to religion and morality would be ineffectual; or are they so aban doned to all sense of duty as to be inattentive to the progress of immorality and irreligion; or are they also associated in their favour? Is it thus that this society is to be defended? Does its justification consist in representing all those whom we have ever considered great, reverend and sacred, as weak, profligate or abandoned ? If the civil and ecclesiastical authorities which have been so long established, and which have so long preserved the state, te adequate to the maintenance of good morals, there can be no necessity for this society; but if vice be so powerful as to break down the barriers which they are able to oppose, then, indeed, is the condition of the country hopeless; for it can scarcely be supposed that this society, however high the rank, and however solid the piety and talents of its members, will be able to effect that, for which the united exertions of the King, the parliament, the magistrates, the bishops and the clergy are insufficient.-For a long series of the Post glorious years, England flourished without the aid of any such societies, or indeed of any other societies than those which were authorized, sanctioned, or acknowledged by the laws; and if the people are more dissolute and vicious now than formerly, the change is no great proof of the advantage of modern innovations on the customs of antiquity. Mr. Grimston would make us believe that" to such associations as this, "half the venerable institutions of the world owe not only their original birth, but their "permanence to the present time," and in support of this opinion, from which I totally dissent, he adduces, as instances, the league of Smalkald for the maintenance of the Protestant religion, concluded in the year 1531, between the Protestant princes of Europe; and the association at the Crown and Anchor, formed at the commencement of the late war, for preserving liberty and property. Nothing can be more dissimilar than these two instances; and nothing can be more unfair than this attempt to confound the nature of a solemn, legal, formal and official compact between several sovereign states, for the accomplishment of a great national object, and that of an unauthorized combination of private individuals, in a manner unknown to the law, and contrary to the spirit of the constitution of the state to which they were subject. I will not impute this, unfairness on the part of your adversary to any wish he entertains of taking an undue advantage in the contest, but to his ignorance of the weapon with which he combats. He thinks this both argument and proof. An association is, with him, an association, whether it be among kings or among subjects; and, here, the objects of both being, in his opinion, good, he sees no difference between the league of Smalkald and that of the Crown and Anchor. That the success of a league between the princes of Europe can be no argument in favor of the success of an association among the subjects of the King of Great Britain, must, I think, be evident; but as Mr. Grimston has thought proper to infer the utility of the Society for the Suppression of Vice from the utility of the loyal association, I beg leave to state my utter disbelief in the utility of either. For the gentlemen who formed the association I entertain great respect, and for some of them a warm friendship; and although I always commended the spirit with which they associated, I never doubted the impolicy of their union. That "they saved the constitution," I deny. That the constitution of England, that is the religion, the Jaws, and the established usages of the realm, was never in danger, I will not assert, but I believe it to be too dear to the loyal hearts of the nobility, the clergy, and the gentry, ever to be overthrown by a discontented and factious mob; and I confess that my veneration would give place to contempt, if I thought it such a thing as to owe its existence to the distribution of a few thousand farthing placards among the populace. If the proud constitution of this kingdom ever perishes, it will owe its fall not to the machinations of republicans and levellers," but to the folly of the great, who lend the influence of their names and fortunes to the maintenance and support of those institutions, which, while they appear to administer nourishment, pour in the poisonous draughts of death.Of all self-created societies, clubs, institutions, &c. &c. &c. of every kind and sort, be they formed for what purposes they may, I must express my decided disapprobation. They are, at all times, dangerous; and though the early prospects of many have been favourable, the ultimate consequences of all have ever been pernici-ciety is founded is a detestation of vice. ous. In looking round among the heterogeneous mass to which the fecundity of this age of reformation and improvement has given birth, I see none which are not pregnant with mischiefs. Whether they are established for the physical or the moral, the political, or the religious improvement of man, they contain within themselves the germs of evil, and their course tends, certainly, finally more to the misery than to the happiness of general society. Every such institution is a sort of petty republic, subordinate to the state, it is true, but having its own distinct interests and views, and governed by its own laws, and acting silently, but often powerfully, upon the rest of society, and upon the state, as a corporate body. Its informal character makes it, in a measure, invisible and untangible, and though the blow which it strikes is often felt, the arm by which it is directed is never seen. The power which it possesses is either stolen from the authority of the state, by whom all power for the accomplishment of any purpose of public benefit ought to be possessed, or taken from that which the members, in their individual capacities owe to the state. Every member possesses a double weight in society; for besides that which the constitution gives him as a subject of the realm, he has also that which he derives from the incorporated power of his confraternity. In proportion, too, as the object of his society, which is generally something within the scope of his mind, is dear to him, he becomes interested in its success, and indifferent to his country; and whenever the interests of the two clash, it cannot be expected that he should sacrifice that of the one, in which, though not a king, he is at least a legislator, to that of the other in which he is no more than one of the ignoble million. Besides weakening the love of country, which is thus rendered only a secondary object, these societies virtually affect, and perhaps, in some measure, change the constitution of the kingdom; for Parliament is thus legislating to a thousand petty states, and the laws which they enact are not to be executed among the liege subjects of the King, but among the members of whig clubs, and loyal associations, corresponding societies, and societies for the suppression of vice.Without extending my observations, at this time, on the pernicious effects of these societies in general, which, if occasion should offer, may be the subject of a future paper, I will advert more particularly to the Society for the Suppression of Vice.The principle upon which this so This holy hatred extends to immorality, irreligion, and wickedness in all their forms, but especially to those which they assume among the low and the ignorant; and as it would not have been wise in those who compose the association to assume the stations of legislators, and make laws for the moral government of that part of the community, they have contented themselves with acting as expounders and executors of such laws, as will, in any degree, effectuate their purposes; and that no offender may escape punishment, have spread themselves throughout the kingdom, and have taken upon them the offices of spies and beadles, lest the gaoler should be idle, or the hangman unemployed. It is true that this society enacts no new laws, in which new crimes are de fined, and new punishments devised, but by applying those which exist to cases for which they were never intended, and executing even the very letter of them, with a rigour which was never contemplated, they have given them such an undue extension, that they operate upon the community, to all intents and purposes, as new. statutes of their own making: and as they only give this painful extension to such as suit their own views, and arm with this extraordinary severity such as promote their own objects, while all others are suffered to operate in the ordinary course, they perform the functions of a legislative body: thus a virtual distinction exists between such laws as have been merely passed by the Parliament, and those which have been sanctioned by the Society for the Suppression of Vice; and thus the mild and just code of British jurisprudence, when adopted and sanctioned by that Society, is at once transformed into the merciless and intolerant code of puritanical bigotry. The laws of England were established for the punishment of such offences as tended to the injury of the peace and happiness of society; but not for those trivial irregularities of manners, to which all societies must, from the nature of man, be subject. To soften and correct these is, as has been before observed, the province of religion and its ministers; but to call in the civil power to suppress them, would be to make punishments so frequent, and multiply the business of police so much, as to destroy all distinctions between vices and crimes, and frustrate the grand object of government. these irregularities grow to a pernicious excess, they become criminal, and, therefore, proper objects for legal interference. But when the legislature passed laws for the suppression of riotous and disorderly houses, for punishing cruelty to animals, and for preventing the profanation of the Sabbath, it never supposed, that there would ever exist a Society, which would send a spy at the skirt of every fiddler, to every house, where those who preferred the sprightliness of a dance to the groans of a conventicle, had met to make merry with their sweet-hearts; which would dispatch an emissary to every field, where those who had a greater relish for manly sport than for ale-house politics, had collected to witness a bull-bait; and who would station an informer at the elbow When of every tapster, to count the number of pots he drew on Sundays, from forty-five minutes after ten to forty-five minutes before one; and that upon the evidence of these hireling agents, those unfortunate culprits were subjected to persecutions, fines, and imprisonments. If the legislature had foreseen all this, their statutes would most assuredly have not been what we find them; and if such societies are permitted to exist much longer, the most forbearing and the most patient will cry out for laws less severe and less oppressive. Before the establishment of any such institutions, the laws though lenient and equitable, were found to be fully adequate to the suppression of all offences injurious to the peace and happiness of society, and the magistrates were found sufficiently zealous and powerful to enforce their execution in a mild but salutary manner, without the aid of spies and informers. It was supposed, and indeed it is the very principle, upon which all penal laws, but particularly those relative to the morals and manners of the country, are made, that whenever the conduct of a man was destructive to the peace and order of the community, there would be some overt act cog. nizable by the law. It was the intention of the law to punish evil doers, but it was supposed that if a man were bad, his neighbours would not be ignorant of his crimes, and that knowing them they might always expose them to the eye of justice. For the offences which a man committed secretly, he was left to account with his conscience and his God; but now the more private the evil, the greater the necessity for discovering it, and the more deeply burrowed the iniquity, to use the phrase of Mr. Grimston, the stronger the inducements for dragging it forth; and if it were possible for any vice to exist, which had never yet made its appearance, the more eager would be the zeal of these enemies of all vice to bring it to public view. I am not attempting to skreen the wicked man from punishment, but if his wickedness does not show itself in overt acts, cognizable by the spirit of the law, let spiritual admonitions be offered by his pastor, for "men are not to be prosecuted into piety;" and I am fully convinced that sending spies into the little circle where his wickedness is apparent, to drag before the tribunal of public justice the father of a family, will have very little effect in reforming the son whom his example may have corrupted, and that to see punishment inflicted will tend more to make him think the law oppressive than the parent criminal.--If justice was so well administered formerly, without the aid of any self-created, unofficial body, where, I ask, is the necessity of such an one now? Has vice become so mighty that the laws which, then answered so well, would be inefficient in the present state of society, if left to their ordinary operations? If so, a parliament still sits at Westminster, able and willing to enact others. Have the magistrates become so inattentive to their duties as to pay no regard to that constant violation of the laws, which Mr. Grimston thinks so universal? If so, let them be displaced, that others of more zeal and energy may fill their offices. Or have the people become so refractory and so rebellious, that, notwithstanding all the efforts of the magistracy, they are unable to controul them? If so, the King will endow them with greater powers. If there be a real necessity for any extraordinary measures, let them be taken by the lawful authorities, whom the people will reverence and obey, and not by the Society for the Suppression of Vice, or by any other illegal association of unknown and unau thorised individuals, whose interference they would despise, and whose sway they would disdain.- -With the most zealous good-will towards the Church and the Monarchy, this society is robbing each of its power, and sapping the stability of both; and with the most sincere wishes for the happiness of the community, it is imposing upon it a most grievous tyranny. I have already shewn how it has usurped, from parliament, part of the legislative, and from the magistracy, part of the executive, functions, of these two members of the State; but its usurpations of the functions of the Church have been no less open and direct. The piety, the loyalty, and the zeal of the British clergy are well known; and their great and unremitted exertions in the cause of the holy religion which they teach, one might have supposed, would have exempted them from the general censure of this pious institution. But no: the same neglect of duty which called for their attention to the affairs of the State, equires their interference in those of religion, and as they had not spared the civil authorities, they would not spare the ecclesiastical. A remarkable instance of this interference occurred a few months ago, and I was pleased with the just and spirited observations which were made upon it by a writer in your Register. A circular letter was sent to the clergy of the different parishes, stating that the Rev. Mr. Rush, minister of Chelsea, together with his two church-wardens, Messrs. Stidder and Feltham, had addressed to their parishioners, "An Admonition respecting the Profanation of the Lord's Day, which admonition "the Society hopes will serve as an example "to the ministers and church-wardens of 66 every parish in the kingdom;" thereby impudently insinuating that the clergy do not know or do not perform thier duty-Really, when I see such unblushing insolence, I am almost tempted to suspect the purity of the intentions of this society. What meinber of the established church is there who does not feel indignant at the slanderous insinuation; who does not feel indignant at the insult offered both to the bishops and the clergy, by a club of laymen, who assume the functions of the sacerdotal office, and write pastoral letters to the clergy; and who does not feel indignant at the audacity of their attempt to associate the clergy with their pros fligate band of spies and informers, in the promotion of their views and projects? Is there nothing sacred enough to be protected from their calumnies? Is there nothing which can escape their meddling hands? Does their "grand design, to promote a gene "ral reformation," embrace the church as well as the state and the community at large? 66 Whether I consider the purposes for which this society has been formed, or the means by which these purposes are to be effected, I equally dread the consequences of its intermeddling propensities. It has been found necessary," says Mr. Grimston, “to employ under agents to discover the practices "which it professes to supervise and cor"rect." These "under agents" are neither more nor less than common informers, men, who are necessarily taken from among the most unprincipled and abandoned of profligates, and whose duty it is to penetrate every where, and search every place for the detection of vice and immorality, and to drag the offenders to punishment; for which offices they are liberally paid by the society. To the proper execution of the laws, I think that I have already proved persons of that sort to be totally unnecessary; and I think the em ployment of them must so evidently tend to the debasement of the morals of the people, by the example of a Christian Society thus upholding and encouraging men, who are notoriously in famous, that it is scarcely necessary to bring any arguments to establish the immorality and iniquity of employing them. And here I cannot help rejoicing that the funds of the society are inadequate to their maintenance, for were it not so, the zeal of its members would station one of these vile reptiles in every house in the kingdom, and thus establish an inquisition more terrible than any with which the world has been cursed. In addition to the pain, the vexation and the expense, which one of these informers may at any time throw upon any person towards whom, either himself or his patrons entertain any animosity, is the great injustice which a person accused by him is likely to experience in the courts of law. When it is known that several of the magistrates |