title: A defence of the people, in reply to Lord Erskine's "two defences of the Whigs".
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"> - "> • ' "■" v-^ ,■ -'' -r^^l^ ..1&>:^ 3> \;^~yy» ::js> ' «> > ii* '■> ^^ - \ s ,^;-.i ' -^ ■-'*'^S^ ~s» J* 7,%>> ':^«>^' ^ :3:i 1"^ > ^ ") '^>5i^^ ■??»■: 3> t?i>-5> -:i> - ^■'^^>^* fs^-^. ;s ■ "' ^3^ » >>" 1> ► ^ 2^~ > > > ^■4 r, ^ ... > > -Z]^ ^'^-*' '^ ':»•''. > iy> >^-^?'^ >> ■ ' < > J!!]^ ">jS^ .:>^ J »'. i^ '^ ) ;> I3** ■->■ ^' - -yjgiBf > J> \ :^ '--^ Sf /■■' . ^' ^ ■^'TBi^ >» » » — ^Er ,. DEFENCE OF THE PEOPLE, IN REPLY TO LORD ERSKINE'S "TWO DEFENCES OF THE WHIGS." BY v ^tH^j^^^'^"^ ^ HOBHOUSE, Esg. F.R.S *% <L >< But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs, i " Rome and her Rats are at the point of battle." CoRioLANus, Act I. Scene L C/J LOl^DON: PUBLLSHED BY ROBERT STODART, 81; STRAND. 1819. •4>Vi<; o1 .5 ^V% John M'Creery, Printer, Black-Horse-Court, London. A LETTER TO LORD ERSKINE, fcc. My Lord, I AM one of the deluded multitude who have been in the habit of devoting the hours they can spare from their low pursuits to the consi- deration of public events and public men. My first interference in politics was unaspiring, though zealous. — It became the mean condition and the headstrong nature of one belonging to the lotver orders, and your Lordship will hardly object to the direction then given to my vulgar patriotism. It was on the 9th of November, 1794, that I harnessed myself to the carriage of the Honour- able Thomas Erskine, when that distinguished barrister was drawn through the streets of the B metropolis, amidst the blessings and the tears of a people whom he had saved from the gripe of oppression. Your Lordship does not praise yourself half enough for the exploits of those days.— It is but a poor description of them to say, '^ that you saved your Brother-reformers from being hanged.'* The English, then, had but one hope left. Their parliament, instead of protecting them, lent aid to the tyrants that conspired their destruction. Nothing remained but to frighten or corrupt the tribunal which held the sword over those whom their mock re- presentfitives had delivered bound hand and foot to the bloody servants of the crown. A com- plaisant jury would have completed the work of a treacherous parliament. It was not the exist- ence of Hardy which was at stake. If you had often before fought for victory in this cause, you then contended for the life of our British liber- ties. No time, no, nor your Lordship's subse- quent conduct, shall obliterate your share in the glorious struggle that gave a breathing-time to the last defenders of their country. The con- gratulations belonged to the rescued prisoner, but the praise was all your own ; — you were the saviour of the innocent, the restorer of liberty, the champion of law, of justice, and of truth. Dazzled by your eloquence — animated by your courage — sympathizing with your success — ^your fellow-countrymen sunk under their admiration. their gratitude, and their joy; and bowed dowii before the idol of their hearts. My Lord, you should have died when you descended from the triumph of that memorable day. The timely end, which is the sole pro- tection against the reverses of fortune, would have preserved you from that more lamentable change, which could have been occasioned only by yourself. Had your life closed with the pro- cession, you would have gone down to posterity pure and entire. As it is, your admirers have nothing left for it, but to separate your early career from your present state, and to look at the record of your former exploits as belonging rather to history than to you. Your Lordship has, I know, companions in this transformation. It was, doubtless, in another body that the soul of the present opposition leader incited the electors of South wark to vote, not for George Tierney, hut for Beform j and, I presume, that the author of the *^ Vindiciae Gallicae** looks upon that spirited performance much in the same way as the philosopher of old recognized the buckler, which, in his former state of existence, he had fought with at the Trojan war. But however your Lordship may cast into the shade your former conduct and principles, they are still public property; nor can the ermine of the chancellor and the peer be drawn so tightly about you, as effectually to hide the B 2 noble proportions and natural graces of the advocate. The gratitude of the people, like the vengeance of the king, knows no lapse ; and if they are not now chained to your chariot, it is merely because your Lordship seems at present somewhat inclined to twist the traces round their necks. If we complain of you, it shall be Jn such a sort as shews we do not forget what you once were : and if we point to your former character and career when you were the idol of the multitude, we shall not, assuredly, awaken any disagreeable recollections. The excesses were graceful — they became your time of life, and the portrait of them will, perhaps, as Lord Rochester says : — " Please the ghost of your departed vice." And, indeed, we have reason to complain, — Tvhy could not your Lordship lie quiet? what, in the name of your former fame ! what sent you simpling at this hour into the field of politics ? And, if you would write against your old ad- mirers, why not keep your secret? Why let it peep out like the silken-string of some new made knight, ill concealed at first, then still farther shown, and, at last, as vanity throws open button after button, displayed in full ridicule to the con- fusion of every friend, and the pity of every foe. And so your Lordship is really the author of " A short Defence of the Whigs against the Im- putations attempted to he cast upon them during the lust Election for Westminster.'' We of the rabble have not had Cobbett^s grammar amongst us long enough to be very nice about language ; but, methinks, your Lordship, in endeavouring to weaken the above imputations^ has only v^eakened your ow^n title- page: for the imputations were cast upon the Whigs : the attempt was not to cast them — the attempt was to make them stick : yoxx might as well have said, " A Defence of Lord Sefton and of Lord William Russell, against the mud at- tempted to be cast at them." I do not think your Lordship is good at a title; let us see whether or not you are more successful, at what Goldsmith calls, '' working off the body of the book/' One of my brethren has already made " A Reply to your Defence"— he has hit again — he has no doubt added to the crimes of the people, and given your Lordship a fresh proof of the existence of that " organized and persever- ing system of detractions'^ of which you so feel- ingly complain. We ar« waiting for an answer to this Reply ; you tell us, that you have " set an example of a system of defence." You hint, that you have vigorously " repelled former calumnies on the * Defence, &c. p. 24. Whigs." A fresh demand is made upon your vigour ; as you have begun, you must go on : the self-elected champion of the party must not fling away his buckler at the first blow. In the meantime, I shall take leave to remark upon such portions of your Defence as the re- plyer, being occupied upon the main argument, has left for others of the body of organized de- tractors^ and if, in the course of the discussion, your own frailties, and those of your friends, should be exposed, I beg you to recollect, that it is not I that have drawn them from their dread abode — your Lordship has been the voluntary magician who has stepped forth to scare us with the spectre of another Whig apostate. According to your Defence, Mr. Hobhouse, supported by Sir F. Burdett, has attempted to expose the Whigs *' as a corrupt and profligate factioriy^ apostates from the cause of Reform, which they had once sole mnh/ pledged themselves to support— or, " to speak plainly,^' has, so you say, endeavoured to prove " that a Whig might now he considered as a term of ridicule or reproach.^* I have looked over Mr. Hobhouse's speeches — I have looked over Sir F. Burdett's speeches, at the late Election, and 1 no where find that either of those gentlemen called the Whigs a corrupt and profligate faction. I dare say they thought so; but they appear never to have used the \sords. — "Arrogant," "overbearing" — "selfish," I " false/' « boasting/' " interested," '' tricky," " mean," « shallow," '' deceitful," " jealous," and ** impotent," were, it seems, epithets applied to your Lordship's friends more than once, and which seemed to tickle the fancies of the audi- ence — That they were, some of them, abettors of the corruptions of Parliament, was also hinted at — but I know not that in a body they were ever designated by either the candidate or Sir F. B. as a corrupt and profligate faction. Your Lordship knows the value of words, and should therefore be exact in your references — But had the words been used, the inference — the " plain inference," as you call it, is not a little over- strained. — If the Whigs were *^ corrupt and pro- fligate," the word Whig would not therefore be a term of *' ridicule." — God knows that the party have done mischief too serious to be the occasion of a jest — corruption and profligacy are no laughing matters to the people — the people do not laugh at them — but the Whigs do. But your Lordship is not the first honest man who has been afraid of being laughed at, and it should seem that self-conviction has told you that there is something ludicrous in the present position of the Whigs : as a body they are too odious to be matter of joke 3 but the siliy figure made by some individual^ of the party at the last Election may justify your apprehension. Indeed, my Lord ! you cannot imagine any thing quite so ridiculous as the daily appearance of the natural leaders y (as your Whig journal calls them) in the face of their natural followers — A downright, open, impudent, ministerial candi- date, backed by the consciousness that his double pots and pay will reward him for the terrors of the Hustings, and undauntedly struggling with the storms of unpopularity, is a spectacle not altogether unworthy the imitation of a certain class of men, and such as the gods of Downing- Street may view with rapture. — ^But had you seen, and had you heard the Whigs at Covent Garden — had you seen and heard the representatives of their noble houses — had you seen or heard the honourable proposer of the candidate, the pride of the opposition — had you seen and heard the honourable candidate himself — all of them smil- ing, and bowing, and sweating before the people — wishing to convince them that they loved them, and were beloved by them — averring that they belonged to those who had all along done them so much good, and who would do them so much good again — protesting that they desired nothing but the liberty and happiness of their friends and fellow citizens — that they did not care about themselves — but were always devoted to the people only, and to the cause of freedom and revolution. — Had you, I say, my Lord ! seen and heard all this professed courtship and affec- tion, and had witnessed how they were received — What hootings — what taunts — what laughter fol- lowed upon every profession of former faith— 9 upon every promise of future constancy — indeed you would have doubted your senses — never were benefactors, friends, lovers, reduced to so piteous a pleading of their past services and their present passion.^— When the brother of one great family stept forward to show, as we supposed, how it was expected that the admirers and tenants of his house should vote, and to tell of ancient merits, you would have been reminded of the old beau Fielding, who, when his mistress was inexorable, as a last resource, uncovered his bosom, and dis- played an ugly scar. 10 you must have smiled at the strange equivocal appearance of the unfortunate suitors for popular favor. Moreover— had your Lordship seen your ho- nourable candidate, as I protest I saw him, bowing complacently to Mr. Hunt^ and speaking from the same board — had you seen all your honourable and right honourable friends ranging in a line and confused in a body, with Mr. Gale Jones and the above gentleman, together v/ith the band of bludgeon patriots — had you heard the mutual civilities, and readv fraternization of the concordant souls, united in their opposition to Mr. Hobhouse, and in their hatred of Sir F. Burdett — united in the hissings and revilings which were impartially bestowed by the whole body of the people upon them all — this sight might, indeed, have recalled you to the better and brighter days of your party — I do not know whether your Lordship would have laughed at this — I do not know whether you would have been pleased to see the reporter of your own forty years' friend Mr. Perry, as he was seen, prompt- ing Mr. Hunt, and regulating the movements of the ruffians hired to make a show of popularity — but I know that I felt no malicious delight in seeing the Whigs so degraded, so lost and utterly abandoned. However, your Lordship thinks, your Lord- ship feels, that Whig is become a term of ridi- 11 cule. — It is so— not, however, from any thing said by the Reformers— but from every thing said and done by the Whigs themselves. Besides— do look at the Whigs — the scorn and laughter of a House of Commons, of which the very door-keepers complain. — ^Your Lordship must not think yourself amongst your old friends and coadjutors. — Indeed, you must forgive me if I tell you, that I really thought you yourself had left the Whigs, and that I suspect you are generously appearing as the champion of those of whom you know little or nothing — I thought that the Whigs had pronounced that a weak lawyer had gone astray, and in mercy had attri- buted the wandering to his " stars.'' — 1 thought that your Lordship had repaid the joke by an equivalent, and had declared your ancient co- partners and brothers in exile from the court, just as impracticable and uncompromising, as they are pleased to charge the Reformers with being. Surely I cannot be mistaken as to the indi- vidual; and if I am not mistaken, either your Lordship, or the opposition, cannot be Whigs; or Sir F. Burdett was quite right in saying that no one knows who the Whigs are, or what their principles are. No small portion of the merit of the opposition, as stated by themselves, is their disinterestedness in making no sacrifices for the sake of court-favor. Your Lordship is not so enamoured of martyrdom. 12 Your Lordship says, that if a Whig is now to be considered a term of ridicule or reproach, we shall " cast into the shade Xhe character of the Revolution itself y Not at all — you might as well say, " if you laugh at Lord Erskine's green ribbon, you cannot have any respect for Mr. Erskine's defence of Hardy.*' Besides, your Lordship must see the extreme absurdity of supposing that a nation will allow itself not to judge of men as to their contem- porary conduct, but as the mere representatives of those who lived and acted well a century ago. Perhaps I may not be so great an admirer of the chief actors in the Revolution of 1688 as your Lordship; but, supposing me to be so, do you think that I shall join with you in gazing with delight on those, who instead of planting and reaping the laurels of patriotism for them- selves, snatch the ready made garlands which hang on the bier of the heroes of the Revolution, and attach them to their own unhonoured brows ? I tell your Lordship, that the Whigs are always dealing out names * — ^you have done so * It is an old, a favorite Whig trick — in early times the Whigs were always playing off the word Liberty. Thus Sir R. Steele endeavoured, says Swift, to impress upon his reader such weighty truths as these : — That liberty is a very good thing ; that ivithout liberty we cannot be free : that health is good, and strength is good; but liberty is better than either: that no man 13 yourself, whether Whig or not. It is impossible to collect from your Defence of the Whigs, what Whigs you mean to defend, they ought to be certainly the Whigs who were attacked — but your Defence leaves the persons uncertain. 14 new Whigs ? friends of revolution, or decriers of revolution? radical Reformers — moderate Re- formers — or no Reformers ? — Friends of the people, and seceders from the parliament; or haters of the people, and flatterers of the par- liament ? All these after their kind are mentioned and praised, and it is impossible to know whom you would particularly defend, unless your Lordship is pleased with the agreeable variety, and would defend them all. — In fact it is the name Whig which you like, and which you would wish us to like; — it is the name revolution which you hold up to us, and which you could wish us always to think of as a name and nothing else; the pretext of the party for doing nothing, the plaything of the people to keep them from com- plaining that nothing is done. * It is, my Lord, notorious that the Whigs have at different times attached different ideas to this their favorite word. — They of the late Westmin- ster election made use of it as a catch-word against the Reformers. The Foxites of 1793 and 1797 associated it to their radical reform. In those days the high prerogative writers and talkers reminded the Whigs " that their famous '* Revolution was but a mere name^ and so far * " The more revglutions the better," said a great Whig ; and the girl at Bartholomew Fair, who got a penny for turn- ing round a hundred times, said the same thing no doubt. — See the Examiner, No. 39. 15 from bringing about any material change of system, was in fact nothing but the preservation and solemn recognition of the hereditary monarchy of this Realm, and of all its ancient laws and government.^'' — The author of the Pursuits of Literature, a book now almost as much forgotten and laid aside as the Whig principles of 1798, ventured from his obscurity to whisper this asser- tion into the ear of Mr. Fox. Whether or not he was altogether borne out in his statement, is a question not connected with our present dis- cussion ; but it may be of use to remind your Lordship, that we of the people do not agree with you who are descended from the Stuarts f in thinking that the particular portion of the Revolution which is most to be admired, is that in v*^hich there was no revolution. — And that if you delight to behold in that event the prudence with which old institutions were preserved, we are rather pleased with the courage with which new amendments were hazarded. — You say, " our ancestors, at that period, were well aware " of the full right of the people to have resettled f* the whole frame of their Constitution ; but ^* they were wise enough to leave every thing " untouched, which in principle and effect had ^^ not failed, and to provide only for the emer- * Preface to Dialogue iv. of Pursuits of Literature, t " My ancestors though of the Stuart family, &c." Pre- face, p.vi. 16 " gency of a vacant or forfeited throne ^ by '' adhering as closely to ancient inheritance as " the security ot the constitution would admit. " An alleged defect in this great work, so often " in the mouths of Revolutionists, [meaning us, " my Lord,] the sober-minded Whigs, [meaning ^' your Lordship and Company^] consider as " decisively characteristic of its wisdom. The '* people at large were not called upon to act " for themselves, as if the whole frame of the " ancient government had been dissolved.; but '^ writs were sent to the convention parliament " to supply the single defect which had taken " place.'' * Such are your Lordship's words, and I would beg you to remark how exceedingly well they tally with those which I have just before quoted from the poor terrified enthusiast who pelted your Lordship, in poetry and prose, with Latin, Greek, and English, for " the flimsy and puerile View of the causes and consequences of the present French war; '' and told you " not to call those slaves, and the sons of slaves, who were better men, and descended from better men, than yourself" | * Defence, &c. t The Pursuer of literature quoted Demosthenes, which came, as he thought, pat to his purpose, although he did not think Mr. BarristerErskine quite such a *[ being as Androtion" P. of L. dialogue, iv. 17 Permit me, however, since I am on this sub- ject, to express my astonishment that your Lordship should venture to give such an histo- rical picture of the Revolution, as I find in the assertion, that this Revolution was happily not effected by an indignant and enraged multitude, but " was slowly prepared by the most virtuous *' and best informed amongst the higher and '^ enlightened classes of the people, who took ** prudent and effectual steps for securing its " success without bloodshed, being confident of " the support of a vast majority of the people." Notwithstanding all this slow preparation on the part of the virtuous and well informed Whig nobility, it is pretty certain that the Revolution was finally brought about by the desertion of the army, which was not contemplated beforehand, but occurred unexpectedly ; but most of all, by the King's flight. — Even ^^Lerol Urol lilihuleroV^ had perhaps as much to do with the change, as any or all of the Whigs put together.* I am wil- ling to believe that it was some better motive than the wish to play at double or quits with king James for his 10,000/., that made the Earl of Devonshire join in the invitation to William; but whatever were the motives of the higher and enlightened classes, it is not entirely to them, that an eye-witness ascribes the completion of ♦ See Burnet's History, &c, vol. ii. p« 535. C 18 the Revolution. Bishop Burnet tells us, that even when the Prince of Orange first landed, he remain- ed eight days at Exeter, without being joined by any of the neighbouring gentry -, but that those of my own class, " THE RABBLE of the people came in to him in great numbers, ^^^ This they did, like true rabble, in the day of doubts and danger, and before the army of King James had revolted. — The same author has another record to the honor and glory of the same portion of the King's sub- jects, for he tells us, that in the greatest emer- gency of the state, when two years after the Revolution, the restoration of king James was by no means improbable, the French being masters of the sea, and England being def<&nded by only 7000 regular troops, the Jacobites were prevented from making any head, and *^ all England over were kept out of the way, afraid of being fallen upon by the RABBLE.^f Though it was harvest time, the people expressed more zeal and affection for the new governmeut, than care for their own subsistence. The Rabble had much greater share in con- firming the Revolution, such as it occurred^ than your Lordship seems to be aware ; and as to the " single defecty' to supply which, the ancestors of your Lordship, and of your Lordship's friends^ * Burnet, as above. t Burnet's History, &c. vol. iii. p. 75. 19 prepared, as you say, the Revolution. I must repeat my astonishment at such an assertion from a man^who though in his youngerdays he modestly confessed he had ?wt the talents of a Statesmariy* must still be expected to be tolerably acquainted with history. It was not the single defect of a vacant throne, that brought about the invitation of William Prince of Orange. The throne was not vacant, it was not at all intended that the throne should be declared vacant ; the only point to be considered relative to the throne, was the birth of the Prince of Wales. — I refer you to the De- claration which the Prince of Orange signed and sealed on the 10th of October, and published on his landing. — A single defect indeed ! *^ What did the declaration set forth ? all the numerous violations of the laws of England, both as to religion, civil government, and the administra- tion of justice; the invasion of the right of petitioning, and particularly the packing of Par- liaments, — these cannot be called a single defect^ nor was the change of dynasty the remedy pro- posed. " The States of the United Provinces said the truth, when they affirmed that the King was not gone to England on design to dethrone the late King."f — No 1 The Prince of Orange ♦ See P. of L. dialogue iv. and " View of the Causes and Consequences of the present French war." t King Wiliianv III. Memorial, &c. Somers*s Tracts, vol. xi. p. 107. C 21 20 might indeed look for an eventual Crown for his wife, in case king James's son was set aside, but the proper and effectual remedy which he pro- posed for redressing the growing evils, was a Parliament that would be lawfully chosen, and should sit in full freedom.* I am willing to grant to your Lordship the fact, that it did not come into action, at the Revolution, to re-model the frame and constitution of Parliament ; but I think I have said enough to show, that the multiplied defects of misgovern- ment, (not the single defect) were to be remedied by an uninfluenced parliament. Let me add, that King William, after having obtained the Crown, did make it his boast, that he had called together a free and fair Parliament, without the least interference in elections. j* — I have learnt from Lord Grey, " that one of the principles asserted at the Revolution, was, that a man ought not to be governed by laws in the framing of which he had not a voice, either in person or by his representative.":!: * The 16th, 19th, and 20th, paragraphs of the Prince of Orange's Declaration all refer to the Free Parliament, which was to remedy every thing. See the Jacobite Answer to this Declaration, published when the Prince landed. See Somers's Tracts, vol. ix. p. 286. t Seethe above cited Memorial. Somers's Tracts, vol. xi. p. 107. t Pari. Debates, 1793, May 6tb. Your Lordship gives as a reason for this non- reform at the Revolution, that *' the Crown had not then originated the system, nor acquired the means of a corrupt influence in the House of Commons."* Here I must remark, that supposing your assertion to be true, you throw all the odium of the corruption on the Whigs, who were acknow- ledgedly the masters for so large a portion of the 70 years following the Revolution; and supposing it to be true, you also prove nothing against Reform, by saying it was not resorted to at the Revolution, as you tell us that the evil which Reform is to remedy has arisen since the Revo- lution. But your Lordship goes too far in saying, that Parliamentary Reform did not come even into view at the Revolution. It would have been strange, indeed, if the great Borough- proprie- tors, concerned in the Revolution, had sacri- ficed the very means by which they hoped to hold the King in their power ; and, according- ly, we do not hear of the first, or either of the early ministries of William 111. having resorted to any measure, by which the control of the People could be increased, and organized, and secured, and the influence of the aristocracy diminished and reduced to its due bounds. Had * Defence, &c. p. 5. n the Devonshires and the Danbys done this, in- stead of heaping honours and emoluments upon their own houses, the worthy Mr. Walter Fawkes would not have been able to say, that the Revolution was a bill of fare, without a feast.* But though these great Whigs kept Parlia- mentary Reform out of view as much as they could, yet it was in view ; and your Lordship is quite wrong in saying, that the system of par- liamentary corruption was unknown at the Re- volution. It was known, and it was felt; and, as I said before, it was the PACKING of parlia- ments of which the revolutionists chiefly com- plained, and it was the convoking of a free re- presentation of the people which was the great object, I may say, the only avowed object of the friends of William, and of William himself. The Duke of Monmouth may have been sup- posed to know what would tempt the people, and he promised them the annual election of their representatives, f * Amongst other unfurnished items in this bill, was the abolition of ex-officio informations. t " Our resolution in the next place is, to maintain all the " just rights and privileges of Parliament, and to have par- " liaments annually chosen and held, and not prorogued, '' dissolved, or discontinued, within the year, before peti- " tions be first answered, and grievances redressed.*' See « State Trials,'* vol. ii. p. 1032, and note ; also Ralph's " His- tory," vol. i. p. 873, which says, " Monmouth's sudden and surprising success must be attributed to his declaration." Mr. h 23 I will confessj with your Lordship, that we do owe the complete and admirably organized corruption of the House of Commons to the Whigs who reigned for so long, in the name and on the behalf of the first sovereigns of the new dynasty, (for it is nonsense talking about the CROWN originating the system) : but there was such a thing as bribing^ and threatening, and treating voters, before the said Whigs began to shew, that, however the honour of the inven- tion might belong to others, the utility of the full application was reserved for their own happy genius. Indeed, the influencing of voters was so notorious, and had arrived at such a pitch in the reigns of the two last Stuarts, that a Jacobite writer, before quoted, speaks of a truly free parliament as a chimera ; for by money , drink, or power y elections had ever suffered an ill by ass upon them,* Hume, indeed, finds it " chiefly calculated to suit the preju- dices of the vulgar, or the most bigotted of the Whig party ;" but Mr. Fox in pointing out the faults of the Declaration, (History, p. 371), does not mention the resolution to have Annual Parliaments. I am aware that Reresby (pp. 202, 203,) interprets " chosen and held," by the word sii. • See the Reply to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange. Somers's Tracts as above. Vol. ix. p. 286, edit. Scott. " This was so true, that even Charles and James when the " Commons were risen, were driven to the garbling of Cor- " porations." — Mr. Erskine's Speech on Mr, Gre/s Motion for Parliamentary Reform, 1793. 24 Now, this recognized evil, as well as a wish prevalent amongst many politicians, to extend to the utmost the control of the people over the affairs of government, had brought a Reform of Parliament into the view of manv of those con- cerned in the Revolution : and one of the com- plaints, made at a very early period against the iirst ministers of King William, was, that they had done nothing towards securing the due influ- ence and control of the People, in the choice of their representatives. It is true, as Lord Boling- broke confesses, that ^^ the frequency ^ integrity^ and independency of Parliament, the essentials of British liberty, were almost wholly neglected at the Revolution'*^ That nobleman, indeed, looked upon this neglect in a very different light from your Lordship. — He thought it a misfortune: you notice it amongst the praises of the Revolu- tion. But the same author mentions a fact of which your Lordship is, or affects to be, wholly ignorant, namely, that, " soon after the Revolu- " tion, men of all sides, and all denominations, " (for it was not a party-measure, though it was ** endeavoured to be made such) began to per- " ceive not only that nothing effectual had been " done to hinder the undue influence of the " Crown in elections, and an over-balance of " the creatures of the court in parliament, but ^V that the means of exercising such an influence, ♦ Dissertation on Parties, Letter xi, 25 " at the will of the Crown, were unawares " and insensibly increased, and every day in- " creasing.** Lord B. t See Parliamentary Debates, A. 1688. t Letter xi. ^^6 ** the practice of keeping one and the same par- " liament long on foot, till the majority was "corrupted by offices, gifts, and pensions.*'* Mr. Johnson, chaplain to Lord Russel, asserted, that one line, settling and securing a fair and free House of Commons, would have been worth all the Bill of Rights. But, lest your Lordship should say, these were mere moderate reformers, (although, be it recollected, you have forgotten there were any reformers at all at the Revolution) let me add, that the complainants insisted, that ** the assurances given at the Revolution had led " them to think that the ANCIENT LEGAL COURSE " of ANNUALLY CHOSEN PARLIAMENTS f would ** have been immediately restored ; and the par- " ticular circumstances of King William, who " had received the crown by gift of the people, ** and who had renewed the original contract " with the people (which are precisely the cir- " cumstances of the present royal family) were " urged as particular reasons for the nation to " expect his compliance." So you see, my Lord, that Parliamentary Reform, Radical Par- liamentary Reform, a Reform, which should make the House of Commons emanate solely • See " Considerations concerning the State of the Nation," pubhshed in 1692, referred to in Letter xi. t See An Enquiry or a Discourse, published in 1693, and quoted in Letter xi. 27 from the People, and be chosen every year, was in view of the contemporaries of the Revolution, and was expected to have been obtained, owing to the ASSURANCES given by the managers of the Revolution. The patriots, or if you please, the complainants, of that day, soon found that the frequent sitting of parliament had been provided for, and that Annual Sessions had been found necessary for the sake of raising annual supplies. But the " ancient legal course of annually chosen parliaments'* was so far from being established, that on the contrary it soon was established by law, that the king might keep the same parlia- ment together for three years. I fear indeed that your Lordship's Stuart an- cestors had not only a great deal to do, but a great deal too much to do with the Revolution : and that they were partly employed in keeping out of view that which a large body of the nation had in view y that is, the solemn establishment of a representation of the people, fully, fairly, freely and frequently chosen. — It is known that the views of some of those who acted in the Revolution extended even so far as a Republic. There were at least two plans for erecting a Commonwealth openly published, whilst the settlement of the Crown was uncertain — They are reprinted, with due animadversions on their exceeding and monstrous folly, by Mr. Walter Scott, in his edition of Lord Somers*s Tracts. — 28 Burnet owns that there were some in the Con- vention who wished " to raise the power of the people on the ruin of the monarchy."* — Major Wildeman, who came over with the Prince of Orange, was an old Republican, and there were many in parliament who opposed the limitation against a Popish successor, solely with the hope of restoring the Commonwealth after the death of William. — The managers, however, chose to content themselves with declarations — those pompous trifles, which Bolingbroke decries, and which, though they satisfy your Lordship and many of your contemporaries, were, as I have before mentioned, soon exposed by the com- plainants of '^ all orders and all denominations,** immediately after the Revolution. My Lord, you are surely wrong in this point — nor must you shelter yourself behind your expression — '' A Reform in the original frame and constitution of Parliament,**! because the complainants made not use of the word Reform, perhaps, but on the contrary, desired a Restoration of what they thought this original frame and constitution. — Equally unaccountable is it, that you should ascribe this neglect in the settlement of the nation to the fact, that " the House of Commons under its ancient forms had * History, Book IV. t Defence, &c. p. 4, 29 recently obtained the full confidence of the people by the renovation of the Constitution."* Such neglect may be ascribed to any other cause — Bolingbroke presumes that the great fear being that of prerogative, prevented the consi- deration of the greater danger, namely, undue influence. But I think it would be charitable to help the Whigs to a reason, which, however, may be partly unpalatable — to wit — that the Revolution of 1688 was notoriously the work partly of the Tories, as well as of the Whigs. — It surely would have been in character, if you as a defender of the Whig faith and so forth, had adopted the division usual with your party, and if you had reluctantly owned that the glorious Revolution was not the sole work of the Whigs, and had fearlessly proclaimed that all the good of that great work must be claimed for the Whigs, whilst all the evil, all the sins of omission or commission, must of right be attributed to the Tories. — Why did not your Lordship throw all the blame on those distinguished Tories, some of whom carried highest the doctrines of Passive Obe- dience and Non*Resistance, and were engaged in it.\ * Defence, &c. p. 5. t Dissertation on Parties, Letter VII. See also further ii| Letter VIII. 