personal security act. Let them take special care not to be persuaded, that the only way to have their liberties secured is to have them taken away from them. Let them well reflect upon the conduct of the hirelings, and they wil clearly perceive, that every attempt to excite an alarm by comparisons drawn from the French revolution, is an attempt to deceive the well-meaning and shallow-thinking part of the people, and to provide, thereby, impunity for public robbery. From the apprehensions, which are expressed by this writer at the intention, which he ascribes to the aristocratical senate, of influencing members of the House of Commons, one would think that he had been alive some hundred years ago, and that he had just now awaked from a dreadfully long trance; for, otherwise, how could it enter into his mind, that, as the House of Commons is now returned, the aristocracy could possibly, by the means of a senate at Willis's, by the means of empty toasts and still more empty speeches, obtain any influence over the members of the House of Commons? Supposing him to have lived in our day; supposing him to have read the advertisements, in his own paper, for the sale and purchase of seats; and supposing him not to have totally forgotten the " Hog-or-a"Horse" article written by himself, and inserted in the preceding volume, at page 987; supposing all this, what a stock of assurance must he have now to feign an alarm at the possible influence that peers may acquire over the members of the other House? This writer's contempt for birth, his sarcasms upon hereditary wisdom and virtue, suit his purpose very well, upon this occasion; but, is he, or his faction, willing to pursue the idea to its natural and inevitable result? Is he willing to retract all his "Jack-Cade" charges against me, all his imputations of treasonable designs to be effected by the degradation of birth and dignity, because I republished from his own columns, and commented upon, the account of a festival said to have been given to Nell Jobson and her last litter? Is he, and is nopopery, willing to go this length? Are they willing to rank all men according to their wisdom and virtues? If not, why expect us to overlook the origin of the several members of the new ministry? Why are we to make, in this respect, an exception in their favour? "Who are the present ministers? What great families do they belong to? What great families support them? What property can they command? But, what is "all this to THE PEOPLE? Till wisdom "and virtue be necessarily inherent in great "families, THE PEOPLE will not inquire "what families ministers belong to, but "what measures they adopt for the benefit "of the country: what is their conduct, and "not what is their origin.". Very true. These will be the inquiries of the people; but, no popery is much deceived, if she hopes, by this flattery of intrinsic merit, to cajole the people into a belief, that she is the patroness of that merit, and that, therefore, they ought to range themselves upon her side. It is true, that the people will inquire, what is the conduct of the ministers, and not what is their origin; but, if they should find, that that conduct is bad, if they should find them repealing or suspending the personal security act, or attempting other measures of that complexion, their origin will have some weight; for, until the mind of man be organized entirely anew, until he looks with equal respect upon all his fellow creatures even down to the very oyster, his impatience under oppressive power will bear some proportion to the origin of those by whom it is exercised; and, abstract as long as you will, still, of the high-born or the upstart oppressor, the latter will be the most hated. Nor is this propensity of the human mind without its solid reasons; for, hy the first place, there is a degree of fellowfeeling, arising from a remembrance of the past, to be expected from the low-born ruler, which is not to be expected from one who has always been accustomed to rule; and, when a man, raised from low-life, becomes an oppressor, or discovers his inabecillity es to great concerns, there always arises a presumption, that he has risen by base and fraudulent means, which presumption does not so naturally arise in the case of a tyrant or an incapable person, born to wealth or title. Nor, again, does this way of thinking ope◄. rate unjustly; for, if the low-born man be exposed to greater hatred in the case of misconduct, he is, in the opposite case, sure to receive praise in the same degree. Indeed, to carry the idea a little further, it is impassible, that the man born to wealth or title, can be rewarded so largely as the man born in low life. To the latter the whole height, whether of riches or of honours, is open; whereas, to the former, there remains only the top. So that, when a man, born in low life, and raised to great riches or power, abuses his trust, he is exposed, and justly, to be reminded of his origin and to be treated as an upstart -To return, for a moment, to the Courier, I would ask him, what description of persons he has now left unsccused of disaffection to his Majesty's Government?" The people, the public, all that part of the community which do not belong to the nobility, and which are not dependent upon the government, he has accused long ago; and now he has accused the aristocracy of the same offence. He has, indeed, slackened his battery a little against the people, with the hope, apparently, of engaging them on his side until he has overcome the others. The truth is, that he and, his faction wish to make use of the people first to destroy their titled opponents, and then they wish to destroy the people. I mean politically; for, it would by no means suit their purpose to put any of the people out of existence, because the people's labour is the source of all their emoluments.These efforts are, however, vain. The people may, by both factions, be called upon for an union; but they will unite with neither. They know well, that neither is their friend; and as to the pretence, that the king stands in need of the aid of the people against the nobility, it is a trick scarcely surpassed by that of "no-popery." -This III. PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.parliament, in order to distinguish it from the last, or short parliament, which sat in the same year, and even in the same half year, will require some particular denomination, and, I think, it may be properly enough called the Dog-Day Parliament, whether in reference to the time of its assembl ng to proceed to business, or in reference to the warmth and other qualities, which have been manifested in the debates.The subjects which I find, in the newspaper reports of the speeches, worthy of particular attention, as far as I shall be able to proceed in my comments this week, are, I. The Address in answer to the opening Speech; II. The appointment of the Finance Committee. Sir Henry Mildmay. IV. India Affairs. V. Sierra Leone. VI. Jobs in general and in particular.-I. The Speech having been inserted in the preceding sheet (page 31), it will be easily referred to without a repetition of it. An Amendment was, of course, proposed by the OUTS, which amendment was as follows, and it was, of course, opposed by the INS.- "That by a long experience of his Majesty's virtues we well know it to be his Majesty's inva"riable wish that all his prerogatives should "be exercised solely for the advantage of "his people. That our dutiful attachment "to his Majesty's person and government "obliges us therefore most humbly to lay the manifest misconduct of in having advised the dissote padiament in the midst on and within a few befgchimts! require. That it has retarded many use"ful laws for the internal improvement of "the kingdom, and for the encouragement "and extension of its agriculture, manufac"tures and commerce. And that it has "either suspended or wholly defeated many "nost important public measures, and has protracted much of the most weighty business of parliament to a season of the year when its prosecution must be attend'ed with the greatest public and private inconvenience. And that we feel our"selves bound still farther to submit to his. Majesty, that all these mischiefs, are "greatly aggravated by the groundless and injurious pretences on which his Majes"ty's. ministers have publicly rested this "their evil advice; pretences affording no ་ 66 66 The justification for the measure, but calcu"lated only to excite the most dangerous "animosities among his Majesty's subjects, at a period when their united efforts were more than ever necessary for the security of the empire; and when to promote the "utmost harmony and co-operation amongst "them would have been the first object of "wise and prudent ministers."--That all those who spoke for the amendment took occasion to attack the ins need hardly be observed, and that those who spoke on the other side attacked the outs is full as well known. main subject was, the measure of dissolving the short parliament, which subject had, in all its parts and bearings, been long before discussed in the newspapers, and with much greater ability than is discovered in the printed report of this debate, where I find nothing either eloquent, ingenious, or novel. The outs do, indeed, appear to have laboured hard to show, that the dissolution had done great mischief by the delay in passing private bills, by the leaving of revenue laws to expire, and especially by causing to be introduced an unconstitutional mode of applying the public money, that is to say, of laying it out without the consent of parliament, S which consent, previously obtained, is the vital part of our happy constitution, because the people thus give their consent by the mouths of their representatives! Gravity upon a subject like this is not only necessary in point of decorum, but is strictly enjoined by the constitution. But, as to the subject itself, it must have afforded great and peculiar satisfaction to my Lord Howick, who seemed to be the most alarmed at the mischiefs arising from the dissolution, to find, that Mr. Perceval and his colleagues were able to get over all the difficulties which he conceived to exist, and that, too, with only one bill of indemnity, only one law to say that that which had been done unlawfully should not be punished! This is, I take it, what is meant by ministerial responsibility; that, when the ministers have done any thing in violation of the law, they shall come to the parliament, and there ask to have a law passed to free them from all the penalties attached to such violation; and, when they ask, what danger there is of being refused I leave the reader to judge. Thus, in the case of Pitt. He lent, without interest, forty thousand pounds of the public money to Boyd and Benfield, two members of the then parliament. He took this sum from the money issued from the Exchequer for naval purposes. He had no consent of parliament. He had never communicated the matter even to his colleagues in office. Made no record or minute of the transaction. Boyd and Benfield wanted the money to make good an instalment upon a loan, which they had made to the public, and upon which they received an interest and a bonus. So that, they lent the public its own forty thousand pounds, and the public paid them interest for so doing. Well, all this, several years afterwards, is found out; and I, for my part, was fool enough to expect to see the minister punished. I was looking for responsibility such as we, in private life, are subject to, especially as I had so often heard it said, that our security depended upon the responsibility of ministers. But, what was the result? The House of Commons, "the guardians of the public purse," had all the proofs before them. Yet, instead of punishing, or impeaching, the minister, they brought in, and passed, a law to indemnify him for what he had done. Nay, this minister died soon afterwards, and that same House of Commons, with those proofs still before them, voted, by a large majority, that a monument, at the public expence, should be erected in honour of him. Nor was this all; for, it appearing that he died in debt (to his political friends principally), that same House of Commons, those same "guardians of the public purse," by an unanimous vote, made us pay forty thousand pounds for the purpose of discharging that debt.So much for ministerial responsibility; and here I should dismiss the debate upon the Speech were there not a passage or two in the speeches of the debators; which I think calculated to afford mattet for a little reflection, unconnected with the views either of the ins or the outsThe address, in answer to the Speech, which was, as usual, an echo to the Speech, was moved by two men, of whom I, living in this obscurity, never before heard, and, of whom I shall, in all human probability, never hear again. The first of them is reported, in the newspapers, to have spoken, in one part of his speech, in these words :"It is unnecessary for me, sir, to enter at calling that which is now convened. By "this measure, this house is now become "the organ of expressing THE PUBLIC "OPINION; and I trust we shall, if not "by our unanimous vote this night, at least "by a considerable majority, prove, not only our affectionate attachment to his majesty's person and government, but also to those sound constitutional principles, "expressed, as they have been, in the ma"ny loyal and dutiful ADDRESSES pre"sented at the foot of the Throne The "London Gazette, June 6, 1807, page 762. The following Address having been "transmitted to the Right Hon. Lord "Hawkesbury, his Majesty's Principal Se 66 cretary of State for the Home Depart"ment, has been by his Lordship present"ed to the King; which Address his Majesty was pleased to receive very graciouslyTo the King's Most Excellent Majesty, The humble Address of the Provost, Fellows, and Scholars of the Holy "and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin.-May it please your Majesty, We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the provost, "fellows, and scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin, feel ourselves "called on at the present juncture, humbly "to approach your Majesty, in order to testify our unalterable attachment to your Majesty's person and government, and "the heartfelt gratitude which we must "ever entertain for that unceasing kind"ness and truly parental solicitude with "which your Majesty has uniformly ho"noured our University.- Instituted, preserved, and endowed as that University has been, for the purpose of defending the truth, and extending the influence "of the Protestant religion, we cannot have "observed without, the most unfeigned ad"miration, the unremitting vigilance and "unshaken firmness with which your Ma"jesty has perpetually maintained the same "sacred cause, and the strict conscientious66 ness with which your Majesty has fulfil"ed the solemn obligation by which you 66 were bound, "to maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the church of "England, and the doctrine, worship, and discipline thereof, as by law established;" "while with that spirit of toleration which genuine christianity so strongly inculcates, your Majesty (aided by the other branch"es of the legislature) has gradually removed "all oppressive restraints which could impede the freedom of religious opinions, and "has secured to such of our fellow-subjects as dissent from the established church, the "full enjoyment of liberty and property, "with the unrestrained exercise of their pe 66 culiar religious worship, and full power to "educate their children in their own religious opinion. Impressed with those "sentiments, we humbly beg leave to express our deep regret that any circumstan ces, arising from the difference of reli gious persuasions amongst our fellow subjects, should have contributed (parti "cularly at the present crisis of public affairs) to embarrass, in any degree, your "Majesty's government; but we look with "full confidence to your Majesty's long "tried wisdom, firmness, and moderation, guided by the Divine Providence, for a happy final result; and we are convinced that your Majesty's 's measures, dictated by "such principles, must ultimately unite all descriptions of your Majesty's subjects, in support of your crown, attachment to your person, and in a vigorous and successful "defence of these invaluable blessings "which, under your Majesty's parental government, they all so pre-eminently en"joy." [Transmitted by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.]-Now for the contradiction. "London Gazette, June 23. Er"ratum in the Gazette of the 6th of June, page 762. An Address entitled "The "humble Address of the Provost, Fellows, "and Scholars of the Holy and Undivided "Trinity near Dublin," was inserted by "mistake; no Address having been presented "to his Majesty from that Body ! ! !"It is hardly worth our while to enquire how this error could possibly happen; how it is possible, that the Address should have been, not inserted, for an error there is easy enough to be accounted for when it was once in the printer's hands, but how it could have been written, unless there be some persons in London, who are in the habit of writing addresses for their friends in the country. Oh, the fich exposure! The excellent discovery! Not that it is any dis covery to some persons; but, it is one of those things, which serve to shut the mouths of those fools and knaves, who are still the advocates of delusion and corruption; and with this I leave no-popery to congratulate herself upon the “ many dutiful and loyal "Addresses." The person who seconded the address to the king, and whose name appears to have been Hall, is reported to have spoken thus:" His majesty has "since had recourse to the abilities of those, "who had been intimately counected with "that great Statesman, whom he could not "but consider as the only pilot to other "ministers; that man who amidst all the dangers by which he was surrounded, rose in firmness in proportion to the exigencies of the times, and left that consti"tution which he loved and protected unimpaired by the attacks of either foreign or domestic foes. To those who long fought under his banners, the country must now look for direction. They had "advised his majesty to refer to the general mittee, as the gentlemen opposite. So "far from wishing to smother it, they ad"vised his majesty to applaud the institu"tion of it by the last parliament, and to "recommend that it should be renewed by "the present. Under all these circum stances, he was not bigotted enough to expect that this Address would be unani"mously acceded to; but he called on the "gentlemen opposite who had quitted the "helm of state, to feel for the situation of the country. The people were duly sensi"ble of the justice of the cause in which "the country were engaged, and he had "no doubt that they would cheerfully submit to the sacrifices that would be necessary for the prosecution. He trust"ed their efforts might be effectually di***rected to secure the ddvantages which we 66 already possessed, and to enable us suc"cessfully to oppose that system of aggres"sion which threatened the downful of "every independent state in Europe. In "this object all parties were equally in"terested. Our country was at stake; and "he trusted that but one opinion could "exist with regard to the exertions neces as sary for its defence.”—But one opinion, certainly, as to the necessity of exertions; but, more than one, and even two opinions, as to what those exertions are, which are necessary. The people have but little notion of the cause, Mr. Hall calls it, "in which we are en"gaged;" but they have a quite clear notion of the effects, which, according to the present system, it has upon them. Mr. Hall has no doubt that they will chearfully submit to sacrifices for carrying on the war; and, indeed, when we consider what those atrocious villains the French would do to us; that they would raise contributions upon us till we had hardly a shirt left to our backs; that they would leave us no earthly thing that we could call our own; that, if we murmured and dared to speak the truth of them, they would imprison us, or, very likely, clip off our ears or split our noses; that they would waste our earnings upon their profligate chiefs of one sort or another; that they would, at the very same time, tell us to think ourselves the most happy and free nation upon earth; and, if, unable to bear, in silence, this accumulation of injury and of insult, we were to act or even look as though we were discontented, they would bring their armed ruffians (from any country, no matter where) to keep us in awe, to disgust us with their beastly manners, to corrupt the rising generation and to bastardize the next. Very true, Mr. Hall, if there be an Englishman, who would not make sacrifices, including that of life, if necessary, to avoid disgrace like this, bis name ought to be held in infamy by his children and his children's children. But, alas! Mr. Hall, when you were expressing so much approbation of the promptitude, with which the present ministers had proceeded in the great work of delivering Europe from the effects of that "system of aggression, which threatened the down"fall of every independent state of Eu rope; when you were, apparently, exhausting yourself in extacies at the delightful prospect of seeing "our brave allies' rescued from all danger and led triumphantly to Paris under the direction of Mr. Canning and Lord Hawkesbury, little did you dream that these allies were, at that moment, making an armistice with the agressor in chief! Many persons had, indeed, foreseen and foretold this, amongst whom I was so "gloomy" as to be one; but, that was nothing to you. Your opinion, your view of things was quite of another complexion; and, through your judgment and information may differ from mine, I almost envy you your happy state of mind. The praise of Pitt, especially as connected with that of the present ministers as undertakers of expeditions, was strikingly appropriate. They do, indeed, seem to regard him as their "pilot" in every thing; whether in appointing committees of inquiry, or in sending armies forth to war; and I dare say, Mr. Hall must be happy in anticipating, that their endeavours will be attended with the same glorious result, which usually attended his." Feel," aye, Sir, to be sure," the gentlemen op: site feel for "the situation of their coun yy." They have felt the country to be a in. t excelle |