Chapter IV: Part 4

I must however remark, before I go further, that there is something in the representation of the East-India Company, in their oriental territory, different from that, perhaps, of any other nation that has ever transported any part of its power from one country to another. The East-India Company, in India, is not properly a branch of the British nation, it is only a deputation of individuals. When the Tartars entered into China, when the Arabs and Tartars successively entered into Hindostan, when the Goths and Vandals penetrated into Europe, when the Normans forced their way into England, indeed in all conquests, migrations, settlements, and colonizations, the new people came as the offset of a nation. The Company in India does not exist as a national colony. In effect and substance, nobody can go thither that does not go in its service. The English in India are nothing but a seminary for the succession of officers. They are a nation of placemen;--they are a commonwealth without a people; they are a state made up wholly of magistrates. There is nothing to be in propriety called people, to watch, to inspect, to balance against the power of office. The power of office, so far as the English nation is concerned, is the sole power in the country. The consequence of which is, that being a kingdom of magistrates, what is commonly called the _esprit du corps_ is strong in it. This spirit of the body predominates equally in all parts; by which the members must consider themselves as having a common interest, and that common interest separated both from that of the country which sent them out, and from that of the country in which they act. No control upon them exists; none, I mean, in persons who understand their language, who understood their manners, or can apply their conduct to the laws. Therefore, in a body so constituted confederacy is easy, and has been general. Your lordships are not to expect that that should happen in such a body which never happened in any body or corporation, that is, that they should in any instance be a proper check and control upon themselves. It is not in the nature of things. The fundamental principle of the whole of the East-India Company’s system is monopoly in some sense or other. The same principle predominates in the service abroad and the service at home; and both systems are united into one, animated with the same spirit, that is, with the corporate spirit. The whole, taken together, is such as has not been seen in the examples of the Moors, the Portuguese, the Spaniards, the Romans; in no old, in no recent examples. The Dutch may resemble it, but they have not an empire properly so denominated. By means of this peculiar circumstance it has not been difficult for Mr. Hastings to embody abuse, and to put himself at the head of a regular system of corruption.

Another circumstance in that service is deserving of notice. Except in the highest parts of all, the emoluments of office do not in any degree correspond with the trust, nor the nature of the office with its name. In other official systems the style, in general, is above the function; here is it the reverse. Under the name of junior merchant, senior merchant, writer, and other petty appellations of the counting-house, you have magistrates of high dignity, you have administrators of revenues truly royal;--you have judges civil, and in some respects criminal, who pass judgment upon the greatest properties of a great country. The legal public emoluments that belong to them are very often so inadequate to the real dignity of the character, that it is impossible, almost absolutely impossible, for the subordinate parts of it, which though subordinate are stations of power, to exist as Englishmen who look at a fortune to be enjoyed at home as their ultimate object, and to exist in a state of perfect incorruption in that service.

In some parts of Europe it is true that the greatest situations are often attended with but little emolument; yet still they are filled. Why? Because reputation, glory, fame, the esteem, the love, the tears of joy which flow from happy sensibility, the honest applauses of a grateful country, sometimes pay the cares, anxieties, and toils which wait on great situations in the commonwealth: and in these, they pay in money what cannot be paid in fame and reputation. It is the reverse in the service of the India Company. Glory is not the lot of subordinated merit; and all the subordinate parts of the gradation are officers who, in comparison with the offices and duties intrusted with them, are miserably provided for; whereas the chief of each great presidency has emoluments securing him against every mode of temptation. But if this has not secured the head, we may easily judge how the members are to be coerced. Mr. Hastings at the head of the service, with high legal emoluments, has fouled his hands and sullied his government with bribes. He has substituted oppression and tyranny in the place of legal government. With all that unbounded, licentious power which he has assumed over the public revenues, instead of endeavouring to find a series of gradual, progressive, honourable, and adequate rewards for the persons who serve the public in the subordinate but powerful situations, he has left them to prey upon the people without the smallest degree of control. In default of honest emolument, there is the unbounded license of power; and (as one of the honestest and ablest servants of the Company said to me in conversation) the civil service of the Company resembled the military service of the Mahrattas--little pay, but unbounded license to plunder. I do not say that some of the salaries given in India would not sound well here; but when you consider the nature of the trusts, the dignity of the situation, whatever the name of them may be, the powers that are granted, the hopes that every man has of establishing himself at home,--I repeat, it is a source of infinite grievance--of infinite abuse: of which source of corrupt power we charge Mr. Hastings with having availed himself in filling up the void of direct pay, by finding out and countenancing every kind of oblique and unjust emolument; though it must be confessed that he is far from being solely guilty of this offence.

Another circumstance which distinguishes the East-India Company is the youth of the persons who are employed in the system of that service. The servants have almost universally been sent out to begin their progress and career in active occupation, and in the exercise of high authority, at that period of life which in all other places has been employed in the course of a rigid education. To put the matter in a few words, they are transferred from slippery youth to perilous independence, from perilous independence to inordinate expectations, from inordinate expectations to boundless power. School-boys without tutors, minors without guardians, the world is let loose upon them, with all its temptations; and they are let loose upon the world, with all the powers that despotism involves.

CORN IMPORTS AND EXPORTS (1789).

=Source.=--_Annual Register, 1789_, pp. 279 _et seq._

AN ACCOUNT OF THE QUANTITIES OF ALL CORN AND GRAIN EXPORTED FROM, AND IMPORTED INTO, ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, WITH THE BOUNTIES AND DRAWBACKS PAID, AND THE DUTIES RECEIVED, THEREON, FOR ONE YEAR, ENDED THE 5TH OF JANUARY, 1790.

EXPORTED.

+-------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------------------+
| | British | Foreign | Bounties and Drawbacks |
| | (Quarters). | (Quarters). | paid. |
|-------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------------------+
| England, 1789: | | | £ s. d. |
| Wheat | 66,820 | 6,983 | } |
| Wheat Flour | 185,770 | 3,310 | } |
| Rye | 37,089 | 2,718 | } |
| Barley | 190,197 | 360 | } 76,551 16 1¼ Bo. |
| Malt | 125,019 | -- | } |
| Oats | 23,997 | 1,434 | } Nil. Dr. |
| Oatmeal | 537 | 194 | } |
| Beans | 14,374 | 4,126 | } |
| Pease | 8,931 | 238 | } |
| Scotland, 1789: | | | |
| Wheat | 3,289 | -- | } |
| Wheat Flour | 2,346 | -- | } |
| Rye | 139 | -- | } |
| Barley | 19,127 | -- | } |
| Barley, hulled | 100 | -- | } |
| Bear or Big | 10,972 | -- | } |
| Bearmeal | 61 | -- | } 5,999 5 0 Bo. |
| Malt | 9,799 | -- | } |
| Oats | 1,402 | -- | } |
| Oatmeal | 5,118 | -- | } |
| Pease and beans | 222 | -- | } |
| Groats | 12 | -- | } |
+-------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------------------+

IMPORTED.

+-------------------+-----------+------------------+
| | | |
| | Quarters. | Duties received. |
| | | |
+-------------------+-----------+------------------+
| England, 1789: | | £ s. d. |
| Wheat | 72,379 |} |
| Wheat Flour | 16,172 |} |
| Rye | 14,844 |} |
| Barley | 8,749 |} |
| Oats | 359,754 |} 4,814 3 7¾ |
| Oatmeal | 6,213 |} |
| Beans | 162 |} |
| Pease | 99 |} |
| Indian corn | 54 |} |
| Scotland, 1789: | | |
| Wheat | 19,722 |} |
| Wheat Flour | 2,228 |} |
| Barley | 2,378 |} 1,334 1 9 |
| Oats | 63,754 |} |
| Pease and beans | 130 |} |
+-------------------+-----------+------------------+

The following is an account of the average prices of corn in England and Wales, by the standard Winchester bushel, for the year 1789:

Wheat. Rye. Barley. Oats. Beans.
s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.
6 4¾ 3 8¾ 2 10¼ 2 0 3 4¾

N.B.--The prices of the finest and coarsest sorts of grain generally exceed and reduce the average price as follows, viz.:

Wheat. Rye. Barley. Oats. Beans.
Per bushel 6d. 3d. 3d. 3d. 6d.

THE SPOLIATION OF THE CLERGY IN FRANCE (1790).

=Source.=--_Reflections on the Revolution in France._ Edmund Burke. Vol. ii. of his Collected Works. LONDON: G. Bell and Sons. 1910.

Perhaps persons unacquainted with the state of France, on hearing the clergy and the noblesse were privileged in point of taxation, may be led to imagine, that, previous to the Revolution, these bodies had contributed nothing to the state. This is a great mistake. They certainly did not contribute equally with each other, nor either of them equally with the commons. They both, however, contributed largely. Neither nobility nor clergy enjoyed any exemption from the excise on consumable commodities, from duties of custom, or from any of the other numerous _indirect_ impositions, which in France, as well as here, make so very large a proportion of all payments to the public. The noblesse paid the capitation. They paid also a land-tax, called the twentieth penny, to the height sometimes of three, sometimes of four, shillings in the pound; both of them _direct_ impositions of no light nature, and no trivial produce. The clergy of the provinces annexed by conquest to France, (which in extent make about an eighth part of the whole, but in wealth a much larger proportion,) paid likewise to the capitation and the twentieth penny, at the rate paid by the nobility. The clergy in the old provinces did not pay the capitation; but they had redeemed themselves at the expense of about 24 millions, or a little more than a million sterling. They were exempted from the twentieths: but then they made free gifts; they contracted debts for the state; and they were subject to some other charges, the whole computed at about a thirteenth part of their clear income. They ought to have paid annually about forty thousand pounds more, to put them on a par with the contribution of the nobility.

When the terrors of this tremendous proscription hung over the clergy, they made an offer of a contribution, through the archbishop of Aix, which, for its extravagance, ought not to have been accepted. But it was evidently and obviously more advantageous to the public creditor, than anything which could rationally be promised by the confiscation. Why was it not accepted? The reason is plain--There was no desire that the church should be brought to serve the state. The service of the state was made a pretext to destroy the church. In their way to the destruction of the church they would not scruple to destroy their country: and they have destroyed it. One great end in the project would have been defeated, if the plan of extortion had been adopted in lieu of the scheme of confiscation. The new landed interest connected with the new republic, and connected with it for its very being, could not have been created. This was among the reasons why that extravagant ransom was not accepted.

The madness of the project of confiscation, on the plan that was first pretended, soon became apparent. To bring this unwieldy mass of landed property, enlarged by the confiscation of all the vast landed domain of the crown, at once into market, was obviously to defeat the profits proposed by the confiscation, by depreciating the value of those lands, and indeed of all the landed estates throughout France. Such a sudden diversion of all its circulating money from trade to land, must be an additional mischief. What step was taken? Did the Assembly, on becoming sensible of the inevitable ill effects of their projected sale, revert to the offers of the clergy? No distress could oblige them to travel in a course which was disgraced by any appearance of justice. Giving over all hopes from a general immediate sale, another project seems to have succeeded. They proposed to take stock in exchange for the church lands. In that project great difficulties arose in equalizing the objects to be exchanged. Other obstacles also presented themselves, which threw them back again upon some project of sale. The municipalities had taken an alarm. They would not hear of transferring the whole plunder of the kingdom to the stock-holders in Paris. Many of those municipalities had been (upon system) reduced to the most deplorable indigence. Money was nowhere to be seen. They were therefore led to the point that was so ardently desired. They panted for a currency of any kind which might revive their perishing industry. The municipalities were then to be admitted to a share in the spoil, which evidently rendered the first scheme (if ever it had been seriously entertained) altogether impracticable. Public exigencies pressed upon all sides. The minister of finance reiterated his call for supply with a most urgent, anxious, and boding voice. Thus pressed on all sides, instead of the first plan of converting their bankers into bishops and abbots, instead of paying the old debt, they contracted a new debt, at 3 per cent., creating a new paper currency, founded on an eventual sale of the church lands. They issued this paper currency to satisfy in the first instance chiefly the demands made upon them by the _bank of discount_, the great machine, or paper-mill, of their fictitious wealth.

The spoil of the church was now become the only resource of all their operations in finance, the vital principle of all their politics, the sole security for the existence of their power. It was necessary by all, even the most violent means, to put every individual on the same bottom, and to bind the nation in one guilty interest to uphold this act, and the authority of those by whom it was done. In order to force the most reluctant into a participation of their pillage, they rendered their paper circulation compulsory in all payments. Those who consider the general tendency of their schemes to this one object as a centre, and a centre from which afterwards all their measures radiate, will not think that I dwell too long upon this part of the proceedings of the National Assembly.

To cut off all appearance of connexion between the crown and public justice, and to bring the whole under implicit obedience to the dictators in Paris, the old independent judicature of the parliaments, with all its merits, and all its faults, was wholly abolished. Whilst the parliaments existed, it was evident that the people might some time or other come to resort to them, and rally under the standard of their ancient laws. It became, however, a matter of consideration that the magistrates and officers, in the courts now abolished, _had purchased their places_ at a very high rate, for which, as well as for the duty they performed, they received but a very low return of interest. Simple confiscation is a boon only for the clergy;--to the lawyers some appearances of equity are to be observed; and they are to receive compensation to an immense amount. Their compensation becomes part of the national debt, for the liquidation of which there is the one exhaustless fund. The lawyers are to obtain their compensation in the new church paper, which is to march with the new principles of judicature and legislature. The dismissed magistrates are to take their share of martyrdom with the ecclesiastics, or to receive their own property from such a fund, and in such a manner, as all those, who have been seasoned with the ancient principles of jurisprudence, and had been the sworn guardians of property, must look upon with horror. Even the clergy are to receive their miserable allowance out of the depreciated paper, which is stamped with the indelible character of sacrilege, and with the symbols of their own ruin, or they must starve. So violent an outrage upon credit, property, and liberty, as this compulsory paper currency, has seldom been exhibited by the alliance of bankruptcy and tyranny, at any time, or in any nation.

In the course of all these operations, at length comes out the grand _arcanum_;--that in reality, and in a fair sense, the lands of the church (so far as anything certain can be gathered from their proceedings) are not to be sold at all. By the late resolutions of the National Assembly, they are indeed to be delivered to the highest bidder. But it is to be observed, that _a certain portion only of the purchase money is to be laid down_. A period of twelve years is to be given for the payment of the rest. The philosophic purchasers are therefore, on payment of a sort of fine, to be put instantly into possession of the estate. It becomes in some respects a sort of gift to them; to be held on the feudal tenure of zeal to the new establishment. This project is evidently to let in a body of purchasers without money. The consequence will be, that these purchasers, or rather grantees, will pay, not only from the rents as they accrue, which might as well be received by the state, but from the spoil of the materials of buildings, from waste in woods, and from whatever money, by hands habituated to the gripings of usury, they can wring from the miserable peasant. He is to be delivered over to the mercenary and arbitrary discretion of men, who will be stimulated to every species of extortion by the growing demands on the growing profits of an estate held under the precarious settlement of a new political system.

SUSSEX ELECTION PETITIONS (1792).

=Source.=--_Oldfield’s Representative History of Great Britain._ London, 1816.

(A) HORSHAM ELECTION PETITION.

Lord William Gordon and James Baillie, esq., and certain electors in their interest, petitioned in 1790 against the return of Timothy Shelley and Wilson Bradyl, esqrs. The petition was renewed the second session. A committee to try this case met Feb. 16, 1792. The petitions were the same in substance, stating, that the election for Horsham was held June 19, 1790; that Drew Mitchell and John Rawlinson, the baliffs, acted with gross injustice and partiality in favour of the sitting members: that on a poll being demanded, they appointed the Duke of Norfolk’s steward, Thomas Charles Medwin, and James Robertson, the steward’s clerk, to be the poll-clerks, who rejected legal votes in favour of the petitioners, and received illegal votes for the sitting members, by which means they procured a colourable majority.

The final numbers on the poll were--

T. Shelley, esq. 25
W. Bradyl, esq. 24
Lord W. Gordon 20
J. Baillie, esq. 9

On the 8th of March, 1792, the chairman of the committee reported to the House, that the petitioners were duly elected, and ought to have been returned, and that the sitting members were not duly elected, and ought not to have been returned.

That neither the petitions nor the opposition to them appeared to be frivolous or vexatious. The committee also came to a resolution, which was not reported to the House, that Drew Mitchell and John Rawlinson, the baliffs and returning officers were reprehensible for their conduct. The numbers, according to the votes allowed legal by the committee, were--

Lord W. Gordon 15
J. Baillie, esq. 14
T. Shelley, esq. 10
W. Bradyl, esq. 9

(B) STEYNING.

_Political Character._

This borough, together with that of Bramber, consists of one street, not more than two-thirds as large as Fetter-lane in London; but constituting _two boroughs_, with a right of sending _four members to Parliament_!!! They formerly elected in conjunction, and intermitted till 31 Henry VI. One part of Bramber is in the centre of the borough of Steyning, and a part of Steyning intersects Bramber in like manner. Inveloped in the dark cloud of legal quibble and intricacy, they present us, like all the rotten boroughs, with a finished picture of political deformity; irregular in their districts, unintelligible in their constitutions, indefinite in their rights, corrupt in the exercise of their functions, contradictory in their respective organizations, and adverse to the ancient established principles of the constitution, and the rights of men.

The right of election has been the subject of litigation in this place for near a century, and has but lately received a final decision from a committee constituted under the authority of 28 Geo. III., to determine the same, upon an appeal from a contrary determination the preceding year.

In 1701, the right was determined to be in the inhabitants paying scot and lot, and not receiving alms.

In 1710, to be in the constables and house-holders (inhabitants) paying scot and lot.

On 16th June, 1715, to be in all such persons as have an estate of inheritance or for life, in burgage-houses or burgage-lands, lying within the said borough.

In 1791, to be in the inhabitants of ancient houses, and houses built on the sites of ancient houses, within the borough of Steyning, being householders, paying scot and lot, and not receiving alms.

In 1792, the select committee appointed to try and determine the merits of the petition of James Martin Lloyd, esq., and others.

Resolved: “That no persons have a right to vote at an election for members to serve in Parliament for the borough of Steyning in respect of any houses within the borough of Bramber, the tithing of Bidlington, or the manors of Charlton or King’s Barnes.”

The said select committee at the same time also determined,

“That the right of election of members to serve in Parliament for the borough of Steyning, in the county of Sussex, is in the constable and householders, inhabitants within the said borough, paying scot and lot, and not receiving alms.”

The houses built on ancient foundations were all the property of the late Sir John Honeywood; the rest belonged to the Duke of Norfolk: and as those of a general description are more numerous, the resolution of 1792, repealing that of 1791, changed the patron, and transferred that influence to the Duke of Norfolk, which the former gave to Sir John Honeywood.

The resolution of 1791 ousted Henry Howard, esq., the present member for Gloster, who had a majority of the householders paying scot and lot, and declared John Curtis, esq., who had only the votes of those persons who inhabited houses built on ancient foundations, duly elected.

The resolution of 1792 established the election of James Martin Lloyd, esq., who polled the identical votes which were deemed illegal the preceding year; and the petitioner _lost_ his seat by the same pretensions that Mr. Curtis had obtained one.

These contradictory resolutions have been productive of the same parliamentary inconsistency which distinguished the borough of Saltash, in the Parliament of 1785. Mr. Ambler obtained his seat for that place by the decision of a committee in that year, against the petition of Lord Strathaven, and the same Mr. Curtis, who now succeeded at Steyning, on the right of the corporation to elect the members for Saltash. In 1787, Mr. Lemon, the petitioner, by the determination of a second committee, appointed to try the same question, succeeded on the votes of the burgage-holders, and ousted the Earl of Mornington, sitting member, who had been elected by the corporation.

“Thus two members were sitting in the House of Commons at the same time, and for the same borough, upon the right of different descriptions of electors who had each of them been deemed ineligible in the same Parliament.”

This was exactly the case with the representatives of this borough. The inhabitants of houses built on ancient foundations, and the inhabitants in general, have each been declared to possess the right of election; and a member, chosen by each description of voters, has been seated and ousted in the same Parliament.

Since the above decision on the right of election, the Duke of Norfolk has effectually prevented all further contest, by purchasing the whole of Sir John Honeywood’s property in Steyning, as he did that of the Marquis of Hertford, at Horsham, and thereby became sole proprietor of both boroughs.

THE RIGHT OF THE FRENCH NATION TO SELF-GOVERNMENT (1792).

=Source.=--_Cowper’s Letters._ Thomas Wright. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1904. Vol. iv., pp. 332-335.

_To Lady Hesketh, Dec. 1, 1792._

The French are a vain and childish people, and conduct themselves on this grand occasion with a levity and extravagance nearly akin to madness; but it would have been better for Austria and Prussia to let them alone. All nations have a right to choose their own mode of government, and the sovereignty of the people is a doctrine that evinces itself; for whenever the people choose to be masters they always are so, and none can hinder them. God grant that we may have no revolution here, but unless we have a reform, we certainly shall. Depend upon it, my dear, the hour is come when power founded in patronage and corrupt majorities must govern this land no longer. Concessions too must be made to dissenters of every denomination. They have a right to them, a right to all the privileges of Englishmen, and sooner or later, by fair means or by force, they will have them.

PERORATION IN THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS (1794).

=Source.=--_Speech in the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esq._ Edmund Burke. Vol. viii. of his Collected Works. London: G. Bell and Sons. 1908.

My lords, I have done; the part of the Commons is concluded. With a trembling solicitude we consign this product of our long, long labours to your charge. Take it!--take it! It is a sacred trust. Never before was a cause of such magnitude submitted to any human tribunal.

My lords, at this awful close, in the name of the Commons, and surrounded by them, I attest the retiring, I attest the advancing generations, between which, as a link in the great chain of eternal order, we stand.--We call this nation, we call the world to witness, that the Commons have shrunk from no labour; that we have been guilty of no prevarication; that we have made no compromise with crime; that we have not feared any odium whatsoever, in the long warfare which we have carried on with the crimes--with the vices--with the exorbitant wealth--with the enormous and overpowering influence of Eastern corruption. This war, my lords, we have waged for twenty-two years, and the conflict has been fought at your lordships’ bar for the last seven years. My lords, twenty-two years is a great space in the scale of the life of man; it is no inconsiderable space in the history of a great nation. A business which has so long occupied the councils and the tribunals of Great Britain, cannot possibly be huddled over in the course of vulgar, trite, and transitory events. Nothing but some of those great revolutions that break the traditionary chain of human memory, and alter the very face of nature itself, can possibly obscure it. My lords, we are all elevated to a degree of importance by it; the meanest of us will, by means of it, more or less become the concern of posterity, if we are yet to hope for such a thing in the present state of the world as a recording, retrospective, civilized posterity; but this is in the hands of the great Disposer of events; it is not ours to settle how it shall be. My lords, your House yet stands; it stands as a great edifice; but let me say, that it stands in the midst of ruins; in the midst of the ruins that have been made by the greatest moral earthquake that ever convulsed and shattered this globe of ours. My lords, it has pleased Providence to place us in such a state, that we appear every moment to be upon the verge of some great mutations. There is one thing, and one thing only, which defies all mutation; that which existed before the world, and will survive the fabric of the world itself; I mean justice; that justice, which, emanating from the Divinity, has a place in the breast of every one of us, given us for our guide with regard to ourselves, and with regard to others, and which will stand after this globe is burned to ashes, our advocate or our accuser before the great Judge, when He comes to call upon us for the tenor of a well-spent life.

My lords, the Commons will share in every fate with your lordships; there is nothing sinister which can happen to you, in which we shall not be involved; and if it should so happen that we shall be subjected to some of those frightful changes which we have seen--if it should happen that your lordships, stripped of all the decorous distinctions of human society, should, by hands at once base and cruel, be led to those scaffolds and machines of murder, upon which great kings and glorious queens have shed their blood, amidst the prelates, amidst the nobles, amidst the magistrates who supported their thrones, may you in those moments feel that consolation which I am persuaded they felt in the critical moments of their dreadful agony!

My lords, there is a consolation, and a great consolation it is, which often happens to oppressed virtue and fallen dignity; it often happens that the very oppressors and persecutors themselves are forced to bear testimony in its favour. I do not like to go for instances a great way back into antiquity. I know very well that length of time operates so as to give an air of the fabulous to remote events, which lessens the interest and weakens the application of examples. I wish to come nearer to the present time. Your lordships know and have heard, for which of us has not known and heard, of the parliament of Paris? The parliament of Paris had an origin very, very similar to that of the great court before which I stand; the parliament of Paris continued to have a great resemblance to it in its constitution, even to its fall; the parliament of Paris, my lords, WAS; it is gone! It has passed away; it has vanished like a dream! It fell, pierced by the sword of the Compte de Mirabeau. And yet I will say, that that man, at the time of his inflicting the death wound of that parliament, produced at once the shortest and the grandest funeral oration that ever was or could be made upon the departure of a great court of magistracy. Though he had himself smarted under its lash, as every one knows who knows his history (and he was elevated to dreadful notoriety in history), yet when he pronounced the death sentence upon that parliament, and inflicted the mortal wound, he declared that his motives for doing it were merely political, and that their hands were as pure as those of justice itself, which they administered--a great and glorious exit, my lords, of a great and glorious body! And never was a eulogy pronounced upon a body more deserved. They were persons in nobility of rank, in amplitude of fortune, in weight of authority, in depth of learning, inferior to few of those that hear me. My lords, it was but the other day that they submitted their necks to the axe; but their honour was unwounded. Their enemies, the persons who sentenced them to death, were lawyers, full of subtlety; they were enemies, full of malice; yet lawyers full of subtlety, and enemies full of malice, as they were, they did not dare to reproach them with having supported the wealthy, the great, and powerful, and of having oppressed the weak and feeble, in any of their judgments, or of having perverted justice in any one instance whatever, through favour, through interest, or cabal.

My lords, if you must fall, may you so fall! But if you stand, and stand I trust you will, together with the fortune of this ancient monarchy--together with the ancient laws and liberties of this great and illustrious kingdom, may you stand as unimpeached in honour as in power; may you stand not as a substitute for virtue, but as an ornament of virtue, as a security for virtue; may you stand long, and long stand the terror of tyrants; may you stand the refuge of afflicted nations; may you stand a sacred temple, for the perpetual residence of an inviolable justice.

GEORGE III. ASSAULTED BY THE MOB (1795).

=Source.=--_Letters of Princess Elizabeth of England._ Edited by Philip Yorke. London: Fisher Unwin. 1898.

_To Lady Harcourt, Wednesday, 5th July, 1795._

I am sure you will be anxious to know how we all are, my dear Ly. H., after yesterday’s horrors. It is impossible to paint to you in any degree what we have gone through since we arrived in Town; but I trust in that all-merciful Providence, who has saved our dear King in so wonderful a manner, that the great Crisis is now over.

In going to the House, a bullet was shot through the Kg. coach; which undoubtedly was intended to penetrate elsewhere. This is a most Shocking thought; however, thank God, it went harmlessly through the glass opposite, and shot out a round piece the size of a small bullet. Some of the Servants saw it fall. That not answering their wicked ends, they threw stones several times at him; but he came home well, and perfectly composed. The mob followed the Coach in an insolent manner, moaning and screaming “peace, no War,” “give us Bread,” “Down with Pitt,” “off with your Guards” (which he was attended with to the house, I mean home).

Everybody is well to-day, though much agitated with the thoughts of the Play; but I trust great care will be taken. More you shall hear from me when my mind is easier. God bless you; and believe me,

Yrs. affly.,
E.

THE MUTINY AT THE NORE (1797).

=Source.=--_Annual Register._ Vol. xxxix., pp. 214 _et seq._ of _History of Europe._

The suppression of the disturbances among the seamen at Portsmouth, without recurring to violent measures, and by granting their petitions, occasioned universal satisfaction, and it was hoped that the causes of their discontent being thus effectually removed, no further complaints would arise to spread alarm throughout the nation. But these reasonable expectations were in a short time wholly disappointed by a fresh mutiny that broke out in the fleet at the Nore, on the twenty-second of May.

The crews on that day took possession of their respective ships, elected delegates to preside over them, and to draw up a statement of their demands, and transmit them to the lords of the admiralty. These demands went much farther than those of the seamen at Portsmouth and Plymouth, and from their exorbitancy did not appear entitled to the same indulgence. On the sixth of June, in the morning, the fleet at the Nore was joined by the _Agamemnon_, _Leopard_, _Ardent_, and _Isis_ men of war, together with the _Ranger_ sloop, which ships had deserted from the fleet under admiral Duncan. When the admiral found himself deserted by part of his fleet, he called his own ship’s crew together, and addressed them in the following speech:

“MY LADS,

“I once more call you together with a sorrowful heart, from what I have lately seen, the disaffection of the fleets: I call it disaffection, for the crews have no grievances. To be deserted by my fleet, in the face of an enemy, is a disgrace which, I believe, never before happened to a British admiral; nor could I have supposed it possible. My greatest comfort under God is that I have been supported by the officers, seamen, and mariners of this ship: for which, with a heart overflowing with gratitude, I request you to accept my sincere thanks. I flatter myself much good may result from your example, by bringing those deluded people to a sense of their duty, which they owe, not only to their king and country, but to themselves.

“The British navy has ever been the support of that liberty which has been handed down to us by our ancestors, and which I trust we shall maintain to the latest posterity; and that can only be done by unanimity and obedience. The ship’s company, and others, who have distinguished themselves by their loyalty and good order, deserve to be, and doubtless will be, the favourites of a grateful country. They will also have, from their inward feelings, a comfort which will be lasting, and not like the floating and false confidence of those who have swerved from their duty.

“It has often been my pride, with you to look into the Texel, and see a foe which dreaded coming out to meet us: my pride is now humbled indeed! my feelings are not easily to be expressed! our cup has overflowed and made us wanton. The all-wise Providence has given us this check, as a warning, and I hope we shall improve by it. On Him then let us trust, where our only security can be found. I find there are many good men among us; for my own part, I have had full confidence of all in this ship; and once more beg to express my approbation of your conduct.

“May God, who has thus far conducted you, continue to do so; and may the British navy, the glory and support of our country, be restored to its wonted splendour, and be not only the bulwark of Britain, but the terror of the world.

“But this can only be effected by a strict adherence to our duty and obedience; and let us pray that the almighty God may keep us in the right way of thinking.

“God bless you all.”

* * * * *

At an address so unassuming, modest, and pious, and so well calculated, from its simplicity and truth, to touch the human heart, the whole ship’s crew were dissolved in tears. They declared, by every expression they could devise, their resolution to abide by the admiral in life or death. Their example was followed by all the other ships, besides those already mentioned. And the admiral, notwithstanding the defection of so considerable a part of his squadron, repaired to his station, off the coast of Holland, to watch the motions of the Dutch fleet; and resolved, still, not to decline, should it offer him battle.

The principal person at the head of this mutiny was one Richard Parker, a man of good natural parts, and some education, and of a remarkably bold and resolute character. Admiral Buckner, the commanding officer at the Nore, was directed by the lords of the admiralty to inform the seamen, that their demands were totally inconsistent with the good order and regulations necessary to be observed in the navy, and could not for that reason be complied with; but that on returning to their duty, they would receive the king’s pardon for their breach of obedience. To this offer Parker replied by a declaration, that the seamen had unanimously determined to keep possession of the fleet, until the lords of the admiralty had repaired to the Nore, and redressed the grievances which had been laid before them.

In order to put an end with all possible expedition to a mutiny that appeared so dangerous, lord Spencer, lord Arden, and admiral Young, hastened immediately to Sheerness, and held a board, at which Parker and the other delegates attended; but their behaviour was so audacious, that the lords of the admiralty returned to town without the least success. The principal article of complaint, on the part of the mutineers, was the unequal distribution of prize-money, for the omission of which they much blamed their fellow seamen at Portsmouth. On the return of the lords of the admiralty from Sheerness, a proclamation was issued, offering his majesty’s pardon to all such of the mutineers as should immediately return to their duty: intimating, at the same time, that admiral Buckner was the proper person to be applied to on such an occasion. All the buoys, by order of government, were removed from the mouth of the Thames, and the neighbouring coast; from which precaution, any ships, that should attempt to get away, would be in danger of running a-ground. Great preparations, also, were made, at Sheerness, against an attack from the mutinous ships, which had manifested some strong indications of an intention to bombard that place; and furnaces and hot balls were kept ready.

Emboldened by the strength of men and shipping in their hands, and resolved to persevere in their demands till they had extorted a compliance, the mutineers proceeded to secure a sufficiency of provisions for that purpose, by seizing two vessels laden with stores, and sent notice ashore that they intended to block up the Thames; and cut off all communication between London and the sea, in order to force government to a speedy accession to their terms. They began the execution of this menace by mooring four of their vessels across the mouth of the river, and stopping several ships that were coming from the metropolis.

They now altered the system of their delegation, and to prevent too much power from being lodged in the hands of any man, the office of president was entrusted to no one longer than a day. This they did to secure themselves from the attempts to betray them, which might result from the offers held out to those in whom they were obliged to place confidence and authority, were those to possess such a trust for any time. They also compelled those ships, the crews of which they suspected of wavering in the cause, to take their station in the midst of the others. But, notwithstanding these precautions, two vessels eluded their vigilance, and made their escape.

These transactions, while they excited the greatest alarm in the nation, were violently reprobated by the seamen belonging to the two divisions of the fleet lying at Portsmouth and at Plymouth. Each of them addressed an admonition to their fellow-seamen at the Nore, warmly condemning their proceedings as a scandal to the name of British seamen, and exhorting them to be content with the indulgence already granted by government, and to return to their duty without insisting on more concessions than had been demanded by the rest of the navy.

But these warnings proved ineffectual. The reinforcement of the four ships lately arrived, and the expectation of being joined by others, induced them to persist in their demands. The committee of delegates, on board the _Sandwich_, came to a determination to commission lord Northesk, whom they had kept in confinement in the _Montague_, of which he was the commander, to repair to the king in the name of the fleet, and to acquaint him with the conditions on which they were willing to deliver up the ships. The petition, which he was charged to lay before the king, was highly respectful and loyal to him, but very severe on his ministers, and they required an entire compliance with every one of their demands, threatening, on the refusal of any, to put immediately to sea. Lord Northesk readily undertook to be the bearer of their petition, but told them, that, from the unreasonableness of their demands, he could not flatter them with the hope of success. Confiding in him, they said, as the seamen’s friend, they had entrusted him with this mission, on pledging his honour to return, with a clear and positive answer, within fifty-four hours.

Lord Northesk departed accordingly for London, and was introduced, by lord Spencer, to the king. But no answer being returned to the message, and information being brought to the fleet, that the nation at large highly disapproved of their proceedings, great divisions took place among the delegates, and several of the ships deserted the others, not, however, without much contest and bloodshed. The mutineers, despairing, now, of accomplishing their designs, struck the red flag, which they had hoisted as the signal of mutiny, and restored a free passage to the trade of the metropolis. Every ship was now left at its own command, and they all gradually returned to obedience, though, on board of some, violent struggles happened between the mutineers and the loyal parties.

The principal conductor of the mutiny, Richard Parker, was seized and imprisoned, and after a solemn trial, that lasted three days, on board of the _Neptune_, he was sentenced to death. He suffered with great coolness and intrepidity, acknowledging the justice of his sentence, and expressing his hope, that mercy might be extended to his associates. But it was judged necessary to make public examples of the principal and most guilty, who were accordingly tried, and, after full proof of their criminality, condemned and executed. Others were ordered to be whipped; but a considerable number remained under sentence of death till after the great victory obtained, over the Dutch fleet, by admiral Duncan: when his majesty sent a general pardon to those unhappy men; who were, at that period, confined on board a prison ship in the river Thames.

ENGLAND AND THE DIRECTORY (1797).

=Source.=--_Correspondence of the First Earl of Malmesbury_, London, 1844. Vol. iii., pp. 577 _et seq._

_Letter from Lord Malmesbury to Mr. Pitt, Calais. Sept. 18th. 1797._

MY DEAR SIR,--

Although I shall in a very few hours have the pleasure of seeing you, I cannot delay till then thanking you most sincerely for your two last very comfortable private letters. No consolation could ever come at a moment when it is more wanted. I almost feel guilty of ingratitude in making so ill a return to it, as that of leaving Lisle so rapidly, notwithstanding, God knows, my will by no means consented to this act. I trust this will appear in everything I have said and done, and that nothing has been omitted on my part to obtain what I know to be _your first wish_, and which I can safely say was also _mine_. The having failed in it hurts me still the more, as we infallibly should have succeeded had not the _political earthquake_ of the 4th of September taken place. But success being impossible, the next best comfort is, the having failed without discredit to myself; and if, when I have the pleasure to meet you, I should be assured of it, I shall feel comfort fully equal to that in which I began this letter, by thanking you.

I am, &c.
(Signed) MALMESBURY.

_Letter from Lord Malmesbury to Mr. Canning, Calais, Monday, 9 p.m., Sept. 18th, 1797._

MY DEAR CANNING,--

If the date of the place from whence this letter is written surprises you, let me refer you to my public despatch for all the wholesale reasons, and desire you to wait for the more detailed one till to-morrow evening, or probably Wednesday morning, when I hope we shall meet. Your private letter to me by Herslet, although on an uncomfortable subject, afforded me very great consolation; since I not only perceive you are prepared for my return, but prepared for it in a way which totally disperses the few apprehensions I had, lest my conduct, under the present circumstances, might not in every respect have met every approbation.

From what you say, I am now certain it will; and it gives me the more pleasure, from a consciousness that I never in my life acted more rightly.

I am too fatigued to go on to-night with the messengers, but we sail to-morrow at nine a.m.; and on the whole, I had rather you should read my story than hear it told by me. I have much to say to you, and to some others, but I should not like to hold forth before a Cabinet.

I am infinitely obliged to you (in the strict sense of the word) for your very friendly and attentive goodness in endeavouring to replace all that I lost by the cruel accident which has happened to poor Brooks. Your principal does not partake of this sort of feeling; and he has as few of this species of human _imperfections_ as any being called _human_ can pretend to.

Let us hear from you on our arrival. I shall drive at once to my own house, and if possible, before twelve o’clock on Wednesday.

I am, &c.
(Signed) MALMESBURY.

_Extract of a Despatch from Lord Malmesbury to Lord Grenville, Calais, 19th Sept., 1797._

There can be little doubt, from the language and manner of the French Plenipotentiaries, that there is a fixed determination on the part of the French Government to continue war with England; and that if in any part of their behaviour or conversation with me there appeared a contrary intention, it was solely with a view to avoid, if possible, that the odium of breaking off the Negotiation should be imputed entirely to them. They, however, have managed this with so very little ability--what they have done has been so positive, and what they have said so vague--that it is difficult even for the most prejudiced minds to entertain a doubt on this subject.

The whole of my official Correspondence since the event of the 4th of September will, I trust, have so far prepared your Lordship for what has now happened, that, although it may very justly cause concern, it will not create surprise. Disposed as I was to pay attention to whatever I heard from the late members of the French Legation, as well from their knowledge of their own country, as from my having, on every important point, always found their information correct, I could never allow my opinion to go with them on this particular point; and although the satisfaction of having judged rightly cannot, on an occasion like this, be very great, yet the not having misled your Lordship diminishes, to a certain degree, the regret I feel on having failed in the great end of my Mission.

It would be vain to search for any rational motive for such a conduct as the Directory have thought proper to adopt, or to endeavour to explain on what grounds they can prefer a hazardous and unpromising continuation of a war, become extremely unpopular, to an advantageous and honourable peace, and one which, I am confident, would have had the approbation of the whole French nation. The solution of this difficulty cannot be found either in the internal situation of France, or in its present relative position to other powers, but must be sought for in the daring and inconsiderate character of the two governing members of the Directory, Barras and Rewbell. The success which has attended their late very bold undertaking appears to have given them the most implicit confidence in their own abilities, and in the strength of their party; and they never at any time appeared to have any fixed system, or to look forward beyond the circumstances of the moment.

THE BATTLE OF THE NILE (OR ABOUKIR BAY) (1798).

=Source.=--_Annual Register._ Vol. xl., pp. 142 _et seq._ of _History of Europe_.