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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2170-h.zip b/2170-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d93fa30 --- /dev/null +++ b/2170-h.zip diff --git a/2170-h/2170-h.htm b/2170-h/2170-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f1f249 --- /dev/null +++ b/2170-h/2170-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18883 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay., Volume 4 (of 4) + by Thomas Babington Macaulay + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of +Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4), by Thomas Babington Macaulay + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4) + Lord Macaulay's Speeches + +Author: Thomas Babington Macaulay + +Release Date: June 14, 2008 [EBook #2170] +Last Updated: January 8, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF LORD MACAULAY *** + + + + +Produced by Mike Alder, Sue Asscher, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS AND SPEECHES OF LORD MACAULAY. + </h1> + <h2> + Lord Macaulay's Speeches + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas Babington Macaulay + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VOLUME IV. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + LORD MACAULAY'S SPEECHES. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + TO HENRY, MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE + + THESE SPEECHES ARE DEDICATED BY HIS GRATEFUL + AND AFFECTIONATE FRIEND + + THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE. + </h2> + <p> + It was most reluctantly that I determined to suspend, during the last + autumn, a work which is the business and the pleasure of my life, in order + to prepare these Speeches for publication; and it is most reluctantly that + I now give them to the world. Even if I estimated their oratorical merit + much more highly than I do, I should not willingly have revived, in the + quiet times in which we are so happy as to live, the memory of those + fierce contentions in which too many years of my public life were passed. + Many expressions which, when society was convulsed by political + dissensions, and when the foundations of government were shaking, were + heard by an excited audience with sympathy and applause, may, now that the + passions of all parties have subsided, be thought intemperate and + acrimonious. It was especially painful to me to find myself under the + necessity of recalling to my own recollection, and to the recollection of + others, the keen encounters which took place between the late Sir Robert + Peel and myself. Some parts of the conduct of that eminent man I must + always think deserving of serious blame. But, on a calm review of his long + and chequered public life, I acknowledge, with sincere pleasure, that his + faults were much more than redeemed by great virtues, great sacrifices, + and great services. My political hostility to him was never in the + smallest degree tainted by personal ill-will. After his fall from power a + cordial reconciliation took place between us: I admired the wisdom, the + moderation, the disinterested patriotism, which he invariably showed + during the last and best years of his life; I lamented his untimely death, + as both a private and a public calamity; and I earnestly wished that the + sharp words which had sometimes been exchanged between us might be + forgotten. + </p> + <p> + Unhappily an act, for which the law affords no redress, but which I have + no hesitation in pronouncing to be a gross injury to me and a gross fraud + on the public, has compelled me to do what I should never have done + willingly. A bookseller, named Vizetelly, who seems to aspire to that sort + of distinction which Curll enjoyed a hundred and twenty years ago, thought + fit, without asking my consent, without even giving me any notice, to + announce an edition of my Speeches, and was not ashamed to tell the world + in his advertisement that he published them by special license. When the + book appeared, I found that it contained fifty-six speeches, said to have + been delivered by me in the House of Commons. Of these speeches a few were + reprinted from reports which I had corrected for the Mirror of Parliament + or the Parliamentary Debates, and were therefore, with the exception of + some errors of the pen and the press, correctly given. The rest bear + scarcely the faintest resemblance to the speeches which I really made. The + substance of what I said is perpetually misrepresented. The connection of + the arguments is altogether lost. Extravagant blunders are put into my + mouth in almost every page. An editor who was not grossly ignorant would + have perceived that no person to whom the House of Commons would listen + could possibly have been guilty of such blunders. An editor who had the + smallest regard for truth, or for the fame of the person whose speeches he + had undertaken to publish, would have had recourse to the various sources + of information which were readily accessible, and, by collating them, + would have produced a book which would at least have contained no absolute + nonsense. But I have unfortunately had an editor whose only object was to + make a few pounds, and who was willing to sacrifice to that object my + reputation and his own. He took the very worst report extant, compared it + with no other report, removed no blemish however obvious or however + ludicrous, gave to the world some hundreds of pages utterly contemptible + both in matter and manner, and prefixed my name to them. The least that he + should have done was to consult the files of The Times newspaper. I have + frequently done so, when I have noticed in his book any passage more than + ordinarily absurd; and I have almost invariably found that in The Times + newspaper, my meaning had been correctly reported, though often in words + different from those which I had used. + </p> + <p> + I could fill a volume with instances of the injustice with which I have + been treated. But I will confine myself to a single speech, the speech on + the Dissenters' Chapels Bill. I have selected that speech, not because Mr + Vizetelly's version of that speech is worse than his versions of thirty or + forty other speeches, but because I have before me a report of that speech + which an honest and diligent editor would have thought it his first duty + to consult. The report of which I speak was published by the Unitarian + Dissenters, who were naturally desirous that there should be an accurate + record of what had passed in a debate deeply interesting to them. It was + not corrected by me: but it generally, though not uniformly, exhibits with + fidelity the substance of what I said. + </p> + <p> + Mr Vizetelly makes me say that the principle of our Statutes of Limitation + was to be found in the legislation of the Mexicans and Peruvians. That is + a matter about which, as I know nothing, I certainly said nothing. Neither + in The Times nor in the Unitarian report is there anything about Mexico or + Peru. + </p> + <p> + Mr Vizetelly next makes me say that the principle of limitation is found + "amongst the Pandects of the Benares." Did my editor believe that I + uttered these words, and that the House of Commons listened patiently to + them? If he did, what must be thought of his understanding? If he did not, + was it the part of an honest man to publish such gibberish as mine? The + most charitable supposition, which I therefore gladly adopt, is that Mr + Vizetelly saw nothing absurd in the expression which he has attributed to + me. The Benares he probably supposes to be some Oriental nation. What he + supposes their Pandects to be I shall not presume to guess. If he had + examined The Times, he would have found no trace of the passage. The + reporter, probably, did not catch what I said, and, being more veracious + than Mr Vizetelly, did not choose to ascribe to me what I did not say. If + Mr Vizetelly had consulted the Unitarian report, he would have seen that I + spoke of the Pundits of Benares; and he might, without any very long or + costly research, have learned where Benares is, and what a Pundit is. + </p> + <p> + Mr Vizetelly then represents me as giving the House of Commons some very + extraordinary information about both the Calvinistic and the Arminian + Methodists. He makes me say that Whitfield held and taught that the + connection between Church and State was sinful. Whitfield never held or + taught any such thing; nor was I so grossly ignorant of the life and + character of that remarkable man as to impute to him a doctrine which he + would have abhorred. Here again, both in The Times and in the Unitarian + report, the substance of what I said is correctly given. + </p> + <p> + Mr Vizetelly proceeds to put into my mouth a curious account of the polity + of the Wesleyan Methodists. He makes me say that, after John Wesley's + death, "the feeling in favour of the lay administration of the Sacrament + became very strong and very general: a Conference was applied for, was + constituted, and, after some discussion, it was determined that the + request should be granted." Such folly could have been uttered only by a + person profoundly ignorant of the history of Methodism. Certainly nothing + of the sort was ever uttered by me; and nothing of the sort will be found + either in The Times or in the Unitarian report. + </p> + <p> + Mr Vizetelly makes me say that the Great Charter recognises the principle + of limitation, a thing which everybody who has read the Great Charter + knows not to be true. He makes me give an utterly false history of Lord + Nottingham's Occasional Conformity Bill. But I will not weary my readers + by proceeding further. These samples will probably be thought sufficient. + They all lie within a compass of seven or eight pages. It will be observed + that all the faults which I have pointed out are grave faults of + substance. Slighter faults of substance are numerous. As to faults of + syntax and of style, hardly one sentence in a hundred is free from them. + </p> + <p> + I cannot permit myself to be exhibited, in this ridiculous and degrading + manner, for the profit of an unprincipled man. I therefore unwillingly, + and in mere self-defence, give this volume to the public. I have selected, + to the best of my judgment, from among my speeches, those which are the + least unworthy to be preserved. Nine of them were corrected by me while + they were still fresh in my memory, and appear almost word for word as + they were spoken. They are the speech of the second of March 1831, the + speech of the twentieth of September 1831, the speech of the tenth of + October 1831, the speech of the sixteenth of December 1831, the speech on + the Anatomy Bill, the speech on the India Bill, the speech on Serjeant + Talfourd's Copyright Bill, the speech on the Sugar Duties, and the speech + on the Irish Church. The substance of the remaining speeches I have given + with perfect ingenuousness. I have not made alterations for the purpose of + saving my own reputation either for consistency or for foresight. I have + not softened down the strong terms in which I formerly expressed opinions + which time and thought may have modified; nor have I retouched my + predictions in order to make them correspond with subsequent events. Had I + represented myself as speaking in 1831, in 1840, or in 1845, as I should + speak in 1853, I should have deprived my book of its chief value. This + volume is now at least a strictly honest record of opinions and reasonings + which were heard with favour by a large part of the Commons of England at + some important conjunctures; and such a record, however low it may stand + in the estimation of the literary critic, cannot but be of use to the + historian. + </p> + <p> + I do not pretend to give with accuracy the diction of those speeches which + I did not myself correct within a week after they were delivered. Many + expressions, and a few paragraphs, linger in my memory. But the rest, + including much that had been carefully premeditated, is irrecoverably + lost. Nor have I, in this part of my task, derived much assistance from + any report. My delivery is, I believe, too rapid. Very able shorthand + writers have sometimes complained that they could not follow me, and have + contented themselves with setting down the substance of what I said. As I + am unable to recall the precise words which I used, I have done my best to + put my meaning into words which I might have used. + </p> + <p> + I have only, in conclusion, to beg that the readers of this Preface will + pardon an egotism which a great wrong has made necessary, and which is + quite as disagreeable to myself as it can be to them. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> VOLUME IV. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> LORD MACAULAY'S SPEECHES. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> SPEECHES, ETC. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (MARCH 2, 1831) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 2D OF MARCH, 1831. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (JULY 5, 1831) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 5TH OF JULY 1831. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (SEPTEMBER 20, 1831) A + SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 20TH OF SEPTEMBER 1831. + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (OCTOBER 10, 1831) A + SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF OCTOBER, 1831. + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (DECEMBER 16, 1831) A + SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 16TH OF DECEMBER 1831. + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> ANATOMY BILL. (FEBRUARY 27, 1832) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY, 1832. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (FEBRUARY 28, 1832) A + SPEECH DELIVERED IN A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 28TH OF + FEBRUARY, 1832. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 6, + 1833) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF FEBRUARY + 1833. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> JEWISH DISABILITIES. (April 17, 1833) a speech + delivered in a committee of the whole house OF COMMONS ON THE 17TH OF + APRIL, 1833. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. (JULY 10, 1833) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF JULY 1833. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> EDINBURGH ELECTION, 1839. (MAY 29, 1839) A + SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH ON THE 29TH OF MAY 1839. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> CONFIDENCE IN THE MINISTRY OF LORD MELBOURNE. + (JANUARY 29, 1840) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 29TH + OF JANUARY 1840. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> WAR WITH CHINA. (APRIL 7, 1840) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 7TH OF APRIL, 1840. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> COPYRIGHT. (FEBRUARY 5, 1841) A SPEECH DELIVERED + IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 5TH OF FEBRUARY 1841. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> COPYRIGHT. (APRIL 6, 1842) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN + A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF APRIL 1842. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER. (MAY 3, 1842) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE THIRD OF MAY 1842. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> THE GATES OF SOMNAUTH. (MARCH 9, 1843) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF MARCH 1843. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> THE STATE OF IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 19, 1844) A + SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 19TH OF FEBRUARY 1844. + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> DISSENTERS' CHAPELS BILL. (JUNE 6, 1844) A + SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF JUNE 1844. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> THE SUGAR DUTIES. (FEBRUARY 26, 1845) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 26TH OF FEBRUARY, 1845. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> MAYNOOTH. (APRIL 14, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN + THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 14TH OF APRIL, 1845. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. (APRIL 23, 1845.) A + SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 23RD OF APRIL 1845. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> THEOLOGICAL TESTS IN THE SCOTCH UNIVERSITIES. + (JULY 9, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF + JULY 1845. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> CORN LAWS. (DECEMBER 2, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED + AT EDINBURGH ON THE 2D OF DECEMBER 1845. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> THE TEN HOURS BILL. (MAY 22, 1846) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 22D OF MAY 1846. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> THE LITERATURE OF BRITAIN. (NOVEMBER 4, 1846) A + SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE EDINBURGH PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION + ON THE 4TH OF NOVEMBER 1846. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> EDUCATION. (APRIL 19, 1847) A SPEECH DELIVERED + IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 18TH OF APRIL 1847. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> INAUGURAL SPEECH AT GLASGOW COLLEGE. (MARCH 21, + 1849) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE COLLEGE OF GLASGOW ON THE 21ST OF MARCH, + 1849. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0033"> RE-ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT. (NOVEMBER 2, 1852) A + SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH ON THE 2D OF NOVEMBER, 1852. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0034"> EXCLUSION OF JUDGES FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. + (JUNE 1, 1853) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 1ST OF + JUNE 1853. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0035"> INDEX. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SPEECHES, ETC. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (MARCH 2, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE 2D OF MARCH, 1831. + </h2> + <p> + On Tuesday, the first of March, 1831, Lord John Russell moved the House of + Commons for leave to bring in a bill to amend the representation of the + people in England and Wales. The discussion occupied seven nights. At + length, on the morning of Thursday, the tenth of March, the motion was + carried without a division. The following speech was made on the second + night of the debate. + </p> + <p> + It is a circumstance, Sir, of happy augury for the motion before the + House, that almost all those who have opposed it have declared themselves + hostile on principle to Parliamentary Reform. Two Members, I think, have + confessed that, though they disapprove of the plan now submitted to us, + they are forced to admit the necessity of a change in the Representative + system. Yet even those gentleman have used, as far as I have observed, no + arguments which would not apply as strongly to the most moderate change as + to that which has been proposed by His Majesty's Government. I say, Sir, + that I consider this as a circumstance of happy augury. For what I feared + was, not the opposition of those who are averse to all Reform, but the + disunion of reformers. I knew that, during three months, every reformer + had been employed in conjecturing what the plan of the Government would + be. I knew that every reformer had imagined in his own mind a scheme + differing doubtless in some points from that which my noble friend, the + Paymaster of the Forces, has developed. I felt therefore great + apprehension that one person would be dissatisfied with one part of the + bill, that another person would be dissatisfied with another part, and + that thus our whole strength would be wasted in internal dissensions. That + apprehension is now at an end. I have seen with delight the perfect + concord which prevails among all who deserve the name of reformers in this + House; and I trust that I may consider it as an omen of the concord which + will prevail among reformers throughout the country. I will not, Sir, at + present express any opinion as to the details of the bill; but, having + during the last twenty-four hours given the most diligent consideration to + its general principles, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a wise, + noble, and comprehensive measure, skilfully framed for the healing of + great distempers, for the securing at once of the public liberties, and of + the public repose, and for the reconciling and knitting together of all + the orders of the State. + </p> + <p> + The honourable Baronet who has just sat down (Sir John Walsh.), has told + us, that the Ministers have attempted to unite two inconsistent principles + in one abortive measure. Those were his very words. He thinks, if I + understand him rightly, that we ought either to leave the representative + system such as it is, or to make it perfectly symmetrical. I think, Sir, + that the Ministers would have acted unwisely if they had taken either + course. Their principle is plain, rational, and consistent. It is this, to + admit the middle class to a large and direct share in the representation, + without any violent shock to the institutions of our country. I understand + those cheers: but surely the gentlemen who utter them will allow that the + change which will be made in our institutions by this bill is far less + violent than that which, according to the honourable Baronet, ought to be + made if we make any Reform at all. I praise the Ministers for not + attempting, at the present time, to make the representation uniform. I + praise them for not effacing the old distinction between the towns and the + counties, and for not assigning Members to districts, according to the + American practice, by the Rule of Three. The Government has, in my + opinion, done all that was necessary for the removing of a great practical + evil, and no more than was necessary. + </p> + <p> + I consider this, Sir, as a practical question. I rest my opinion on no + general theory of government. I distrust all general theories of + government. I will not positively say, that there is any form of polity + which may not, in some conceivable circumstances, be the best possible. I + believe that there are societies in which every man may safely be admitted + to vote. Gentlemen may cheer, but such is my opinion. I say, Sir, that + there are countries in which the condition of the labouring classes is + such that they may safely be intrusted with the right of electing Members + of the Legislature. If the labourers of England were in that state in + which I, from my soul, wish to see them, if employment were always + plentiful, wages always high, food always cheap, if a large family were + considered not as an encumbrance but as a blessing, the principal + objections to Universal Suffrage would, I think, be removed. Universal + Suffrage exists in the United States, without producing any very frightful + consequences; and I do not believe that the people of those States, or of + any part of the world, are in any good quality naturally superior to our + own countrymen. But, unhappily, the labouring classes in England, and in + all old countries, are occasionally in a state of great distress. Some of + the causes of this distress are, I fear, beyond the control of the + Government. We know what effect distress produces, even on people more + intelligent than the great body of the labouring classes can possibly be. + We know that it makes even wise men irritable, unreasonable, credulous, + eager for immediate relief, heedless of remote consequences. There is no + quackery in medicine, religion, or politics, which may not impose even on + a powerful mind, when that mind has been disordered by pain or fear. It is + therefore no reflection on the poorer class of Englishmen, who are not, + and who cannot in the nature of things be, highly educated, to say that + distress produces on them its natural effects, those effects which it + would produce on the Americans, or on any other people, that it blinds + their judgment, that it inflames their passions, that it makes them prone + to believe those who flatter them, and to distrust those who would serve + them. For the sake, therefore, of the whole society, for the sake of the + labouring classes themselves, I hold it to be clearly expedient that, in a + country like this, the right of suffrage should depend on a pecuniary + qualification. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, every argument which would induce me to oppose Universal + Suffrage, induces me to support the plan which is now before us. I am + opposed to Universal Suffrage, because I think that it would produce a + destructive revolution. I support this plan, because I am sure that it is + our best security against a revolution. The noble Paymaster of the Forces + hinted, delicately indeed and remotely, at this subject. He spoke of the + danger of disappointing the expectations of the nation; and for this he + was charged with threatening the House. Sir, in the year 1817, the late + Lord Londonderry proposed a suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. On that + occasion he told the House that, unless the measures which he recommended + were adopted, the public peace could not be preserved. Was he accused of + threatening the House? Again, in the year 1819, he proposed the laws known + by the name of the Six Acts. He then told the House that, unless the + executive power were reinforced, all the institutions of the country would + be overturned by popular violence. Was he then accused of threatening the + House? Will any gentleman say that it is parliamentary and decorous to + urge the danger arising from popular discontent as an argument for + severity; but that it is unparliamentary and indecorous to urge that same + danger as an argument for conciliation? I, Sir, do entertain great + apprehension for the fate of my country. I do in my conscience believe + that, unless the plan proposed, or some similar plan, be speedily adopted, + great and terrible calamities will befall us. Entertaining this opinion, I + think myself bound to state it, not as a threat, but as a reason. I + support this bill because it will improve our institutions; but I support + it also because it tends to preserve them. That we may exclude those whom + it is necessary to exclude, we must admit those whom it may be safe to + admit. At present we oppose the schemes of revolutionists with only one + half, with only one quarter of our proper force. We say, and we say + justly, that it is not by mere numbers, but by property and intelligence, + that the nation ought to be governed. Yet, saying this, we exclude from + all share in the government great masses of property and intelligence, + great numbers of those who are most interested in preserving tranquillity, + and who know best how to preserve it. We do more. We drive over to the + side of revolution those whom we shut out from power. Is this a time when + the cause of law and order can spare one of its natural allies? + </p> + <p> + My noble friend, the Paymaster of the Forces, happily described the effect + which some parts of our representative system would produce on the mind of + a foreigner, who had heard much of our freedom and greatness. If, Sir, I + wished to make such a foreigner clearly understand what I consider as the + great defects of our system, I would conduct him through that immense city + which lies to the north of Great Russell Street and Oxford Street, a city + superior in size and in population to the capitals of many mighty + kingdoms; and probably superior in opulence, intelligence, and general + respectability, to any city in the world. I would conduct him through that + interminable succession of streets and squares, all consisting of well + built and well furnished houses. I would make him observe the brilliancy + of the shops, and the crowd of well-appointed equipages. I would show him + that magnificent circle of palaces which surrounds the Regent's Park. I + would tell him that the rental of this district was far greater than that + of the whole kingdom of Scotland, at the time of the Union. And then I + would tell him that this was an unrepresented district. It is needless to + give any more instances. It is needless to speak of Manchester, + Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, with no representation, or of Edinburgh and + Glasgow with a mock representation. If a property tax were now imposed on + the principle that no person who had less than a hundred and fifty pounds + a year should contribute, I should not be surprised to find that one half + in number and value of the contributors had no votes at all; and it would, + beyond all doubt, be found that one fiftieth part in number and value of + the contributors had a larger share of the representation than the other + forty-nine fiftieths. This is not government by property. It is government + by certain detached portions and fragments of property, selected from the + rest, and preferred to the rest, on no rational principle whatever. + </p> + <p> + To say that such a system is ancient, is no defence. My honourable friend, + the Member for the University of Oxford (Sir Robert Harry Inglis.), + challenges us to show that the Constitution was ever better than it is. + Sir, we are legislators, not antiquaries. The question for us is, not + whether the Constitution was better formerly, but whether we can make it + better now. In fact, however, the system was not in ancient times by any + means so absurd as it is in our age. One noble Lord (Lord Stormont.) has + to-night told us that the town of Aldborough, which he represents, was not + larger in the time of Edward the First than it is at present. The line of + its walls, he assures us, may still be traced. It is now built up to that + line. He argues, therefore, that as the founders of our representative + institutions gave members to Aldborough when it was as small as it now is, + those who would disfranchise it on account of its smallness have no right + to say that they are recurring to the original principle of our + representative institutions. But does the noble Lord remember the change + which has taken place in the country during the last five centuries? Does + he remember how much England has grown in population, while Aldborough has + been standing still? Does he consider, that in the time of Edward the + First, the kingdom did not contain two millions of inhabitants? It now + contains nearly fourteen millions. A hamlet of the present day would have + been a town of some importance in the time of our early Parliaments. + Aldborough may be absolutely as considerable a place as ever. But compared + with the kingdom, it is much less considerable, by the noble Lord's own + showing, than when it first elected burgesses. My honourable friend, the + Member for the University of Oxford, has collected numerous instances of + the tyranny which the kings and nobles anciently exercised, both over this + House and over the electors. It is not strange that, in times when nothing + was held sacred, the rights of the people, and of the representatives of + the people, should not have been held sacred. The proceedings which my + honourable friend has mentioned, no more prove that, by the ancient + constitution of the realm, this House ought to be a tool of the king and + of the aristocracy, than the Benevolences and the Shipmoney prove their + own legality, or than those unjustifiable arrests which took place long + after the ratification of the great Charter and even after the Petition of + Right, prove that the subject was not anciently entitled to his personal + liberty. We talk of the wisdom of our ancestors: and in one respect at + least they were wiser than we. They legislated for their own times. They + looked at the England which was before them. They did not think it + necessary to give twice as many Members to York as they gave to London, + because York had been the capital of Britain in the time of Constantius + Chlorus; and they would have been amazed indeed if they had foreseen, that + a city of more than a hundred thousand inhabitants would be left without + Representatives in the nineteenth century, merely because it stood on + ground which in the thirteenth century had been occupied by a few huts. + They framed a representative system, which, though not without defects and + irregularities, was well adapted to the state of England in their time. + But a great revolution took place. The character of the old corporations + changed. New forms of property came into existence. New portions of + society rose into importance. There were in our rural districts rich + cultivators, who were not freeholders. There were in our capital rich + traders, who were not liverymen. Towns shrank into villages. Villages + swelled into cities larger than the London of the Plantagenets. Unhappily + while the natural growth of society went on, the artificial polity + continued unchanged. The ancient form of the representation remained; and + precisely because the form remained, the spirit departed. Then came that + pressure almost to bursting, the new wine in the old bottles, the new + society under the old institutions. It is now time for us to pay a decent, + a rational, a manly reverence to our ancestors, not by superstitiously + adhering to what they, in other circumstances, did, but by doing what + they, in our circumstances, would have done. All history is full of + revolutions, produced by causes similar to those which are now operating + in England. A portion of the community which had been of no account + expands and becomes strong. It demands a place in the system, suited, not + to its former weakness, but to its present power. If this is granted, all + is well. If this is refused, then comes the struggle between the young + energy of one class and the ancient privileges of another. Such was the + struggle between the Plebeians and the Patricians of Rome. Such was the + struggle of the Italian allies for admission to the full rights of Roman + citizens. Such was the struggle of our North American colonies against the + mother country. Such was the struggle which the Third Estate of France + maintained against the aristocracy of birth. Such was the struggle which + the Roman Catholics of Ireland maintained against the aristocracy of + creed. Such is the struggle which the free people of colour in Jamaica are + now maintaining against the aristocracy of skin. Such, finally, is the + struggle which the middle classes in England are maintaining against an + aristocracy of mere locality, against an aristocracy the principle of + which is to invest a hundred drunken potwallopers in one place, or the + owner of a ruined hovel in another, with powers which are withheld from + cities renowned to the furthest ends of the earth, for the marvels of + their wealth and of their industry. + </p> + <p> + But these great cities, says my honourable friend the Member for the + University of Oxford, are virtually, though not directly, represented. Are + not the wishes of Manchester, he asks, as much consulted as those of any + town which sends Members to Parliament? Now, Sir, I do not understand how + a power which is salutary when exercised virtually can be noxious when + exercised directly. If the wishes of Manchester have as much weight with + us as they would have under a system which should give Representatives to + Manchester, how can there be any danger in giving Representatives to + Manchester? A virtual Representative is, I presume, a man who acts as a + direct Representative would act: for surely it would be absurd to say that + a man virtually represents the people of Manchester, who is in the habit + of saying No, when a man directly representing the people of Manchester + would say Aye. The utmost that can be expected from virtual Representation + is that it may be as good as direct Representation. If so, why not grant + direct Representation to places which, as everybody allows, ought, by some + process or other, to be represented? + </p> + <p> + If it be said that there is an evil in change as change, I answer that + there is also an evil in discontent as discontent. This, indeed, is the + strongest part of our case. It is said that the system works well. I deny + it. I deny that a system works well, which the people regard with + aversion. We may say here, that it is a good system and a perfect system. + But if any man were to say so to any six hundred and fifty-eight + respectable farmers or shopkeepers, chosen by lot in any part of England, + he would be hooted down, and laughed to scorn. Are these the feelings with + which any part of the government ought to be regarded? Above all, are + these the feelings with which the popular branch of the legislature ought + to be regarded? It is almost as essential to the utility of a House of + Commons, that it should possess the confidence of the people, as that it + should deserve that confidence. Unfortunately, that which is in theory the + popular part of our government, is in practice the unpopular part. Who + wishes to dethrone the King? Who wishes to turn the Lords out of their + House? Here and there a crazy radical, whom the boys in the street point + at as he walks along. Who wishes to alter the constitution of this House? + The whole people. It is natural that it should be so. The House of Commons + is, in the language of Mr Burke, a check, not on the people, but for the + people. While that check is efficient, there is no reason to fear that the + King or the nobles will oppress the people. But if the check requires + checking, how is it to be checked? If the salt shall lose its savour, + wherewith shall we season it? The distrust with which the nation regards + this House may be unjust. But what then? Can you remove that distrust? + That it exists cannot be denied. That it is an evil cannot be denied. That + it is an increasing evil cannot be denied. One gentleman tells us that it + has been produced by the late events in France and Belgium; another, that + it is the effect of seditious works which have lately been published. If + this feeling be of origin so recent, I have read history to little + purpose. Sir, this alarming discontent is not the growth of a day or of a + year. If there be any symptoms by which it is possible to distinguish the + chronic diseases of the body politic from its passing inflammations, all + those symptoms exist in the present case. The taint has been gradually + becoming more extensive and more malignant, through the whole lifetime of + two generations. We have tried anodynes. We have tried cruel operations. + What are we to try now? Who flatters himself that he can turn this feeling + back? Does there remain any argument which escaped the comprehensive + intellect of Mr Burke, or the subtlety of Mr Windham? Does there remain + any species of coercion which was not tried by Mr Pitt and by Lord + Londonderry? We have had laws. We have had blood. New treasons have been + created. The Press has been shackled. The Habeas Corpus Act has been + suspended. Public meetings have been prohibited. The event has proved that + these expedients were mere palliatives. You are at the end of your + palliatives. The evil remains. It is more formidable than ever. What is to + be done? + </p> + <p> + Under such circumstances, a great plan of reconciliation, prepared by the + Ministers of the Crown, has been brought before us in a manner which gives + additional lustre to a noble name, inseparably associated during two + centuries with the dearest liberties of the English people. I will not + say, that this plan is in all its details precisely such as I might wish + it to be; but it is founded on a great and a sound principle. It takes + away a vast power from a few. It distributes that power through the great + mass of the middle order. Every man, therefore, who thinks as I think is + bound to stand firmly by Ministers who are resolved to stand or fall with + this measure. Were I one of them, I would sooner, infinitely sooner, fall + with such a measure than stand by any other means that ever supported a + Cabinet. + </p> + <p> + My honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford, tells us, + that if we pass this law, England will soon be a republic. The reformed + House of Commons will, according to him, before it has sate ten years, + depose the King, and expel the Lords from their House. Sir, if my + honourable friend could prove this, he would have succeeded in bringing an + argument for democracy, infinitely stronger than any that is to be found + in the works of Paine. My honourable friend's proposition is in fact this: + that our monarchical and aristocratical institutions have no hold on the + public mind of England; that these institutions are regarded with aversion + by a decided majority of the middle class. This, Sir, I say, is plainly + deducible from his proposition; for he tells us that the Representatives + of the middle class will inevitably abolish royalty and nobility within + ten years: and there is surely no reason to think that the Representatives + of the middle class will be more inclined to a democratic revolution than + their constituents. Now, Sir, if I were convinced that the great body of + the middle class in England look with aversion on monarchy and + aristocracy, I should be forced, much against my will, to come to this + conclusion, that monarchical and aristocratical institutions are unsuited + to my country. Monarchy and aristocracy, valuable and useful as I think + them, are still valuable and useful as means, and not as ends. The end of + government is the happiness of the people: and I do not conceive that, in + a country like this, the happiness of the people can be promoted by a form + of government in which the middle classes place no confidence, and which + exists only because the middle classes have no organ by which to make + their sentiments known. But, Sir, I am fully convinced that the middle + classes sincerely wish to uphold the Royal prerogatives and the + constitutional rights of the Peers. What facts does my honourable friend + produce in support of his opinion? One fact only; and that a fact which + has absolutely nothing to do with the question. The effect of this Reform, + he tells us, would be to make the House of Commons allpowerful. It was + allpowerful once before, in the beginning of 1649. Then it cut off the + head of the King, and abolished the House of Peers. Therefore, if it again + has the supreme power, it will act in the same manner. Now, Sir, it was + not the House of Commons that cut off the head of Charles the First; nor + was the House of Commons then allpowerful. It had been greatly reduced in + numbers by successive expulsions. It was under the absolute dominion of + the army. A majority of the House was willing to take the terms offered by + the King. The soldiers turned out the majority; and the minority, not a + sixth part of the whole House, passed those votes of which my honourable + friend speaks, votes of which the middle classes disapproved then, and of + which they disapprove still. + </p> + <p> + My honourable friend, and almost all the gentlemen who have taken the same + side with him in this Debate, have dwelt much on the utility of close and + rotten boroughs. It is by means of such boroughs, they tell us, that the + ablest men have been introduced into Parliament. It is true that many + distinguished persons have represented places of this description. But, + Sir, we must judge of a form of government by its general tendency, not by + happy accidents. Every form of government has its happy accidents. + Despotism has its happy accidents. Yet we are not disposed to abolish all + constitutional checks, to place an absolute master over us, and to take + our chance whether he may be a Caligula or a Marcus Aurelius. In whatever + way the House of Commons may be chosen, some able men will be chosen in + that way who would not be chosen in any other way. If there were a law + that the hundred tallest men in England should be Members of Parliament, + there would probably be some able men among those who would come into the + House by virtue of this law. If the hundred persons whose names stand + first in the alphabetical list of the Court Guide were made Members of + Parliament, there would probably be able men among them. We read in + ancient history, that a very able king was elected by the neighing of his + horse; but we shall scarcely, I think, adopt this mode of election. In one + of the most celebrated republics of antiquity, Athens, Senators and + Magistrates were chosen by lot; and sometimes the lot fell fortunately. + Once, for example, Socrates was in office. A cruel and unjust proposition + was made by a demagogue. Socrates resisted it at the hazard of his own + life. There is no event in Grecian history more interesting than that + memorable resistance. Yet who would have officers appointed by lot, + because the accident of the lot may have given to a great and good man a + power which he would probably never have attained in any other way? We + must judge, as I said, by the general tendency of a system. No person can + doubt that a House of Commons chosen freely by the middle classes, will + contain many very able men. I do not say, that precisely the same able men + who would find their way into the present House of Commons will find their + way into the reformed House: but that is not the question. No particular + man is necessary to the State. We may depend on it that, if we provide the + country with popular institutions, those institutions will provide it with + great men. + </p> + <p> + There is another objection, which, I think, was first raised by the + honourable and learned Member for Newport. (Mr Horace Twiss.) He tells us + that the elective franchise is property; that to take it away from a man + who has not been judicially convicted of malpractices is robbery; that no + crime is proved against the voters in the close boroughs; that no crime is + even imputed to them in the preamble of the bill; and that therefore to + disfranchise them without compensation would be an act of revolutionary + tyranny. The honourable and learned gentleman has compared the conduct of + the present Ministers to that of those odious tools of power, who, towards + the close of the reign of Charles the Second, seized the charters of the + Whig corporations. Now, there was another precedent, which I wonder that + he did not recollect, both because it is much more nearly in point than + that to which he referred, and because my noble friend, the Paymaster of + the Forces, had previously alluded to it. If the elective franchise is + property, if to disfranchise voters without a crime proved, or a + compensation given, be robbery, was there ever such an act of robbery as + the disfranchising of the Irish forty-shilling freeholders? Was any + pecuniary compensation given to them? Is it declared in the preamble of + the bill which took away their franchise, that they had been convicted of + any offence? Was any judicial inquiry instituted into their conduct? Were + they even accused of any crime? Or if you say that it was a crime in the + electors of Clare to vote for the honourable and learned gentleman who now + represents the county of Waterford, was a Protestant freeholder in Louth + to be punished for the crime of a Catholic freeholder in Clare? If the + principle of the honourable and learned Member for Newport be sound, the + franchise of the Irish peasant was property. That franchise the Ministers + under whom the honourable and learned Member held office did not scruple + to take away. Will he accuse those Ministers of robbery? If not, how can + he bring such an accusation against their successors? + </p> + <p> + Every gentleman, I think, who has spoken from the other side of the House, + has alluded to the opinions which some of His Majesty's Ministers formerly + entertained on the subject of Reform. It would be officious in me, Sir, to + undertake the defence of gentlemen who are so well able to defend + themselves. I will only say that, in my opinion, the country will not + think worse either of their capacity or of their patriotism, because they + have shown that they can profit by experience, because they have learned + to see the folly of delaying inevitable changes. There are others who + ought to have learned the same lesson. I say, Sir, that there are those + who, I should have thought, must have had enough to last them all their + lives of that humiliation which follows obstinate and boastful resistance + to changes rendered necessary by the progress of society, and by the + development of the human mind. Is it possible that those persons can wish + again to occupy a position which can neither be defended nor surrendered + with honour? I well remember, Sir, a certain evening in the month of May, + 1827. I had not then the honour of a seat in this House; but I was an + attentive observer of its proceedings. The right honourable Baronet + opposite (Sir Robert Peel), of whom personally I desire to speak with that + high respect which I feel for his talents and his character, but of whose + public conduct I must speak with the sincerity required by my public duty, + was then, as he is now, out of office. He had just resigned the seals of + the Home Department, because he conceived that the recent ministerial + arrangements had been too favourable to the Catholic claims. He rose to + ask whether it was the intention of the new Cabinet to repeal the Test and + Corporation Acts, and to reform the Parliament. He bound up, I well + remember, those two questions together; and he declared that, if the + Ministers should either attempt to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts, + or bring forward a measure of Parliamentary Reform, he should think it his + duty to oppose them to the utmost. Since that declaration was made four + years have elapsed; and what is now the state of the three questions which + then chiefly agitated the minds of men? What is become of the Test and + Corporation Acts? They are repealed. By whom? By the right honourable + Baronet. What has become of the Catholic disabilities? They are removed. + By whom? By the right honourable Baronet. The question of Parliamentary + Reform is still behind. But signs, of which it is impossible to + misconceive the import, do most clearly indicate that unless that question + also be speedily settled, property, and order, and all the institutions of + this great monarchy, will be exposed to fearful peril. Is it possible that + gentlemen long versed in high political affairs cannot read these signs? + Is it possible that they can really believe that the Representative system + of England, such as it now is, will last to the year 1860? If not, for + what would they have us wait? Would they have us wait merely that we may + show to all the world how little we have profited by our own recent + experience?—Would they have us wait, that we may once again hit the + exact point where we can neither refuse with authority, nor concede with + grace? Would they have us wait, that the numbers of the discontented party + may become larger, its demands higher, its feelings more acrimonious, its + organisation more complete? Would they have us wait till the whole + tragicomedy of 1827 has been acted over again? till they have been brought + into office by a cry of 'No Reform,' to be reformers, as they were once + before brought into office by a cry of 'No Popery,' to be emancipators? + Have they obliterated from their minds—gladly, perhaps, would some + among them obliterate from their minds—the transactions of that + year? And have they forgotten all the transactions of the succeeding year? + Have they forgotten how the spirit of liberty in Ireland, debarred from + its natural outlet, found a vent by forbidden passages? Have they + forgotten how we were forced to indulge the Catholics in all the license + of rebels, merely because we chose to withhold from them the liberties of + subjects? Do they wait for associations more formidable than that of the + Corn Exchange, for contributions larger than the Rent, for agitators more + violent than those who, three years ago, divided with the King and the + Parliament the sovereignty of Ireland? Do they wait for that last and most + dreadful paroxysm of popular rage, for that last and most cruel test of + military fidelity? Let them wait, if their past experience shall induce + them to think that any high honour or any exquisite pleasure is to be + obtained by a policy like this. Let them wait, if this strange and fearful + infatuation be indeed upon them, that they should not see with their eyes, + or hear with their ears, or understand with their heart. But let us know + our interest and our duty better. Turn where we may, within, around, the + voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that you may preserve. + Now, therefore, while everything at home and abroad forebodes ruin to + those who persist in a hopeless struggle against the spirit of the age, + now, while the crash of the proudest throne of the Continent is still + resounding in our ears, now, while the roof of a British palace affords an + ignominious shelter to the exiled heir of forty kings, now, while we see + on every side ancient institutions subverted, and great societies + dissolved, now, while the heart of England is still sound, now, while old + feelings and old associations retain a power and a charm which may too + soon pass away, now, in this your accepted time, now, in this your day of + salvation, take counsel, not of prejudice, not of party spirit, not of the + ignominious pride of a fatal consistency, but of history, of reason, of + the ages which are past, of the signs of this most portentous time. + Pronounce in a manner worthy of the expectation with which this great + debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it will + leave behind. Renew the youth of the State. Save property, divided against + itself. Save the multitude, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save + the greatest, and fairest, and most highly civilised community that ever + existed, from calamities which may in a few days sweep away all the rich + heritage of so many ages of wisdom and glory. The danger is terrible. The + time is short. If this bill should be rejected, I pray to God that none of + those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their votes with + unavailing remorse, amidst the wreck of laws, the confusion of ranks, the + spoliation of property, and the dissolution of social order. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (JULY 5, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE 5TH OF JULY 1831. + </h2> + <p> + On Tuesday, the fourth of July, 1831, Lord John Russell moved the second + reading of the Bill to amend the representation of the people in England + and Wales. Sir John Walsh, member for Sudbury, moved, as an amendment, + that the bill should be read that day six months. After a discussion, + which lasted three nights, the amendment was rejected by 367 votes to 231, + and the original motion was carried. The following Speech was made on the + second night of the debate. + </p> + <p> + Nobody, Sir, who has watched the course of the debate can have failed to + observe that the gentlemen who oppose this bill have chiefly relied on a + preliminary objection, which it is necessary to clear away before we + proceed to examine whether the proposed changes in our representative + system would or would not be improvements. The elective franchise, we are + told, is private property. It belongs to this freeman, to that + potwalloper, to the owner of this house, to the owner of that old wall; + and you have no more right to take it away without compensation than to + confiscate the dividends of a fundholder or the rents of a landholder. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, I admit that, if this objection be well founded, it is decisive + against the plan of Reform which has been submitted to us. If the + franchise be really private property, we have no more right to take + members away from Gatton because Gatton is small, and to give them to + Manchester because Manchester is large, than Cyrus, in the old story, had + to take away the big coat from the little boy and to put it on the big + boy. In no case, and under no pretext however specious, would I take away + from any member of the community anything which is of the nature of + property, without giving him full compensation. But I deny that the + elective franchise is of the nature of property; and I believe that, on + this point, I have with me all reason, all precedent, and all authority. + This at least is certain, that, if disfranchisement really be robbery, the + representative system which now exists is founded on robbery. How was the + franchise in the English counties fixed? By the act of Henry the Sixth, + which disfranchised tens of thousands of electors who had not forty + shilling freeholds. Was that robbery? How was the franchise in the Irish + counties fixed? By the act of George the Fourth, which disfranchised tens + of thousands of electors who had not ten pound freeholds. Was that + robbery? Or was the great parliamentary reform made by Oliver Cromwell + ever designated as robbery, even by those who most abhorred his name? + Everybody knows that the unsparing manner in which he disfranchised small + boroughs was emulously applauded, by royalists, who hated him for having + pulled down one dynasty, and by republicans, who hated him for having + founded another. Take Sir Harry Vane and Lord Clarendon, both wise men, + both, I believe, in the main, honest men, but as much opposed to each + other in politics as wise and honest men could be. Both detested Oliver; + yet both approved of Oliver's plan of parliamentary reform. They grieved + only that so salutary a change should have been made by an usurper. Vane + wished it to have been made by the Rump; Clarendon wished it to be made by + the King. Clarendon's language on this subject is most remarkable. For he + was no rash innovator. The bias of his mind was altogether on the side of + antiquity and prescription. Yet he describes that great disfranchisement + of boroughs as an improvement fit to be made in a more warrantable method + and at a better time. This is that better time. What Cromwell attempted to + effect by an usurped authority, in a country which had lately been + convulsed by civil war, and which was with difficulty kept in a state of + sullen tranquillity by military force, it has fallen to our lot to + accomplish in profound peace, and under the rule of a prince whose title + is unquestioned, whose office is reverenced, and whose person is beloved. + It is easy to conceive with what scorn and astonishment Clarendon would + have heard it said that the reform which seemed to him so obviously just + and reasonable that he praised it, even when made by a regicide, could + not, without the grossest iniquity, be made even by a lawful King and a + lawful Parliament. + </p> + <p> + Sir, in the name of the institution of property, of that great + institution, for the sake of which, chiefly, all other institutions exist, + of that great institution to which we owe all knowledge, all commerce, all + industry, all civilisation, all that makes us to differ from the tattooed + savages of the Pacific Ocean, I protest against the pernicious practice of + ascribing to that which is not property the sanctity which belongs to + property alone. If, in order to save political abuses from that fate with + which they are threatened by the public hatred, you claim for them the + immunities of property, you must expect that property will be regarded + with some portion of the hatred which is excited by political abuses. You + bind up two very different things, in the hope that they may stand + together. Take heed that they do not fall together. You tell the people + that it is as unjust to disfranchise a great lord's nomination borough as + to confiscate his estate. Take heed that you do not succeed in convincing + weak and ignorant minds that there is no more injustice in confiscating + his estate than in disfranchising his borough. That this is no imaginary + danger, your own speeches in this debate abundantly prove. You begin by + ascribing to the franchises of Old Sarum the sacredness of property; and + you end, naturally enough, I must own, by treating the rights of property + as lightly as I should be inclined to treat the franchises of Old Sarum. + When you are reminded that you voted, only two years ago, for + disfranchising great numbers of freeholders in Ireland, and when you are + asked how, on the principles which you now profess, you can justify that + vote, you answer very coolly, "no doubt that was confiscation. No doubt we + took away from the peasants of Munster and Connaught, without giving them + a farthing of compensation, that which was as much their property as their + pigs or their frieze coats. But we did it for the public good. We were + pressed by a great State necessity." Sir, if that be an answer, we too may + plead that we too have the public good in view, and that we are pressed by + a great State necessity. But I shall resort to no such plea. It fills me + with indignation and alarm to hear grave men avow what they own to be + downright robbery, and justify that robbery on the ground of political + convenience. No, Sir, there is one way, and only one way, in which those + gentlemen who voted for the disfranchising Act of 1829 can clear their + fame. Either they have no defence, or their defence must be this; that the + elective franchise is not of the nature of property, and that therefore + disfranchisement is not spoliation. + </p> + <p> + Having disposed, as I think, of the question of right, I come to the + question of expediency. I listened, Sir, with much interest and pleasure + to a noble Lord who spoke for the first time in this debate. (Lord + Porchester.) But I must own that he did not succeed in convincing me that + there is any real ground for the fears by which he is tormented. He gave + us a history of France since the Restoration. He told us of the violent + ebbs and flows of public feeling in that country. He told us that the + revolutionary party was fast rising to ascendency while M. De Cazes was + minister; that then came a violent reaction in favour of the monarchy and + the priesthood; that then the revolutionary party again became dominant; + that there had been a change of dynasty; and that the Chamber of Peers had + ceased to be a hereditary body. He then predicted, if I understood him + rightly, that, if we pass this bill, we shall suffer all that France has + suffered; that we shall have violent contests between extreme parties, a + revolution, and an abolition of the House of Lords. I might, perhaps, + dispute the accuracy of some parts of the noble Lord's narrative. But I + deny that his narrative, accurate or inaccurate, is relevant. I deny that + there is any analogy between the state of France and the state of England. + I deny that there is here any great party which answers either to the + revolutionary or to the counter-revolutionary party in France. I most + emphatically deny that there is any resemblance in the character, and that + there is likely to be any resemblance in the fate, of the two Houses of + Peers. I always regarded the hereditary Chamber established by Louis the + Eighteenth as an institution which could not last. It was not in harmony + with the state of property; it was not in harmony with the public feeling; + it had neither the strength which is derived from wealth, nor the strength + which is derived from prescription. It was despised as plebeian by the + ancient nobility. It was hated as patrician by the democrats. It belonged + neither to the old France nor to the new France. It was a mere exotic + transplanted from our island. Here it had struck its roots deep, and + having stood during ages, was still green and vigorous. But it languished + in the foreign soil and the foreign air, and was blown down by the first + storm. It will be no such easy task to uproot the aristocracy of England. + </p> + <p> + With much more force, at least with much more plausibility, the noble Lord + and several other members on the other side of the House have argued + against the proposed Reform on the ground that the existing system has + worked well. How great a country, they say, is ours! How eminent in wealth + and knowledge, in arts and arms! How much admired! How much envied! Is it + possible to believe that we have become what we are under a bad + government! And, if we have a good government, why alter it? Now, Sir, I + am very far from denying that England is great, and prosperous, and highly + civilised. I am equally far from denying that she owes much of her + greatness, of her prosperity, and of her civilisation to her form of + government. But is no nation ever to reform its institutions because it + has made great progress under those institutions? Why, Sir, the progress + is the very thing which makes the reform absolutely necessary. The Czar + Peter, we all know, did much for Russia. But for his rude genius and + energy, that country might have still been utterly barbarous. Yet would it + be reasonable to say that the Russian people ought always, to the end of + time, to be despotically governed, because the Czar Peter was a despot? + Let us remember that the government and the society act and react on each + other. Sometimes the government is in advance of the society, and hurries + the society forward. So urged, the society gains on the government, comes + up with the government, outstrips the government, and begins to insist + that the government shall make more speed. If the government is wise, it + will yield to that just and natural demand. The great cause of revolutions + is this, that while nations move onward, constitutions stand still. The + peculiar happiness of England is that here, through many generations, the + constitution has moved onward with the nation. Gentlemen have told us, + that the most illustrious foreigners have, in every age, spoken with + admiration of the English constitution. Comines, they say, in the + fifteenth century, extolled the English constitution as the best in the + world. Montesquieu, in the eighteenth century, extolled it as the best in + the world. And would it not be madness in us to throw away what such men + thought the most precious of all our blessings? But was the constitution + which Montesquieu praised the same with the constitution which Comines + praised? No, Sir; if it had been so, Montesquieu never would have praised + it. For how was it possible that a polity which exactly suited the + subjects of Edward the Fourth should have exactly suited the subjects of + George the Second? The English have, it is true, long been a great and a + happy people. But they have been great and happy because their history has + been the history of a succession of timely reforms. The Great Charter, the + assembling of the first House of Commons, the Petition of Right, the + Declaration of Right, the Bill which is now on our table, what are they + all but steps in one great progress? To every one of those steps the same + objections might have been made which we heard to-night, "You are better + off than your neighbours are. You are better off than your fathers were. + Why can you not leave well alone?" + </p> + <p> + How copiously might a Jacobite orator have harangued on this topic in the + Convention of 1688! "Why make a change of dynasty? Why trouble ourselves + to devise new securities for our laws and liberties? See what a nation we + are. See how population and wealth have increased since what you call the + good old times of Queen Elizabeth. You cannot deny that the country has + been more prosperous under the kings of the House of Stuart than under any + of their predecessors. Keep that House, then, and be thankful." Just such + is the reasoning of the opponents of this bill. They tell us that we are + an ungrateful people, and that, under institutions from which we have + derived inestimable benefits, we are more discontented than the slaves of + the Dey of Tripoli. Sir, if we had been slaves of the Dey of Tripoli, we + should have been too much sunk in intellectual and moral degradation to be + capable of the rational and manly discontent of freemen. It is precisely + because our institutions are so good that we are not perfectly contended + with them; for they have educated us into a capacity for enjoying still + better institutions. That the English Government has generally been in + advance of almost all other governments is true. But it is equally true + that the English nation is, and has during some time been, in advance of + the English Government. One plain proof of this is, that nothing is so ill + made in our island as the laws. In all those things which depend on the + intelligence, the knowledge, the industry, the energy of individuals, or + of voluntary combinations of individuals, this country stands pre-eminent + among all the countries of the world, ancient and modern. But in those + things which it belongs to the State to direct, we have no such claim to + superiority. Our fields are cultivated with a skill unknown elsewhere, + with a skill which has extorted rich harvests from moors and morasses. Our + houses are filled with conveniences which the kings of former times might + have envied. Our bridges, our canals, our roads, our modes of + communication, fill every stranger with wonder. Nowhere are manufactures + carried to such perfection. Nowhere is so vast a mass of mechanical power + collected. Nowhere does man exercise such a dominion over matter. These + are the works of the nation. Compare them with the works of the rulers of + the nation. Look at the criminal law, at the civil law, at the modes of + conveying lands, at the modes of conducting actions. It is by these things + that we must judge of our legislators, just as we judge of our + manufacturers by the cotton goods and the cutlery which they produce, just + as we judge of our engineers by the suspension bridges, the tunnels, the + steam carriages which they construct. Is, then, the machinery by which + justice is administered framed with the same exquisite skill which is + found in other kinds of machinery? Can there be a stronger contrast than + that which exists between the beauty, the completeness, the speed, the + precision with which every process is performed in our factories, and the + awkwardness, the rudeness, the slowness, the uncertainty of the apparatus + by which offences are punished and rights vindicated? Look at the series + of penal statutes, the most bloody and the most inefficient in the world, + at the puerile fictions which make every declaration and every plea + unintelligible both to plaintiff and defendant, at the mummery of fines + and recoveries, at the chaos of precedents, at the bottomless pit of + Chancery. Surely we see the barbarism of the thirteenth century and the + highest civilisation of the nineteenth century side by side; and we see + that the barbarism belongs to the government, and the civilisation to the + people. + </p> + <p> + This is a state of things which cannot last. If it be not terminated by + wisdom, it will be terminated by violence. A time has come at which it is + not merely desirable, but indispensable to the public safety, that the + government should be brought into harmony with the people; and it is + because this bill seems to me likely to bring the government into harmony + with the people, that I feel it to be my duty to give my hearty support to + His Majesty's Ministers. + </p> + <p> + We have been told, indeed, that this is not the plan of Reform which the + nation asked for. Be it so. But you cannot deny that it is the plan of + Reform which the nation has accepted. That, though differing in many + respects from what was asked, it has been accepted with transports of joy + and gratitude, is a decisive proof of the wisdom of timely concession. + Never in the history of the world was there so signal an example of that + true statesmanship, which, at once animating and gently curbing the honest + enthusiasm of millions, guides it safely and steadily to a happy goal. It + is not strange, that when men are refused what is reasonable, they should + demand what is unreasonable. It is not strange that, when they find that + their opinion is contemned and neglected by the Legislature, they should + lend a too favourable ear to worthless agitators. We have seen how + discontent may be produced. We have seen, too, how it may be appeased. We + have seen that the true source of the power of demagogues is the obstinacy + of rulers, and that a liberal Government makes a conservative people. + Early in the last session, the First Minister of the Crown declared that + he would consent to no Reform; that he thought our representative system, + just as it stood, the masterpiece of human wisdom; that, if he had to make + it anew, he would make it such as it was, with all its represented ruins + and all its unrepresented cities. What followed? Everything was tumult and + panic. The funds fell. The streets were insecure. Men's hearts failed them + for fear. We began to move our property into German investments and + American investments. Such was the state of the public mind, that it was + not thought safe to let the Sovereign pass from his palace to the + Guildhall of his capital. What part of his kingdom is there in which His + Majesty now needs any other guard than the affection of his loving + subjects? There are, indeed, still malecontents; and they may be divided + into two classes, the friends of corruption and the sowers of sedition. It + is natural that all who directly profit by abuses, and all who profit by + the disaffection which abuses excite, should be leagued together against a + bill which, by making the government pure, will make the nation loyal. + There is, and always has been, a real alliance between the two extreme + parties in this country. They play into each other's hands. They live by + each other. Neither would have any influence if the other were taken away. + The demagogue would have no audience but for the indignation excited among + the multitude by the insolence of the enemies of Reform: and the last hope + of the enemies of Reform is in the uneasiness excited among all who have + anything to lose by the ravings of the demagogue. I see, and glad I am to + see, that the nation perfectly understands and justly appreciates this + coalition between those who hate all liberty and those who hate all order. + England has spoken, and spoken out. From her most opulent seaports, from + her manufacturing towns, from her capital and its gigantic suburbs, from + almost every one of her counties, has gone forth a voice, answering in no + doubtful or faltering accent to that truly royal voice which appealed on + the twenty-second of last April to the sense of the nation. + </p> + <p> + So clearly, indeed, has the sense of the nation been expressed, that + scarcely any person now ventures to declare himself hostile to all Reform. + We are, it seems, a House of Reformers. Those very gentlemen who, a few + months ago, were vehement against all change, now own that some change may + be proper, may be necessary. They assure us that their opposition is + directed, not against Parliamentary Reform, but against the particular + plan which is now before us, and that a Tory Ministry would devise a much + better plan. I cannot but think that these tactics are unskilful. I cannot + but think that, when our opponents defended the existing system in every + part, they occupied a stronger position than at present. As my noble + friend the Paymaster-General said, they have committed an error resembling + that of the Scotch army at Dunbar. They have left the high ground from + which we might have had some difficulty in dislodging them. They have come + down to low ground, where they are at our mercy. Surely, as Cromwell said, + surely the Lord hath delivered them into our hand. + </p> + <p> + For, Sir, it is impossible not to perceive that almost every argument + which they have urged against this Reform Bill may be urged with equal + force, or with greater force, against any Reform Bill which they can + themselves bring in. + </p> + <p> + First take, what, indeed, are not arguments, but wretched substitutes for + arguments, those vague terms of reproach, which have been so largely + employed, here and elsewhere, by our opponents; revolutionary, anarchical, + traitorous, and so forth. It will, I apprehend, hardly be disputed that + these epithets can be just as easily applied to one Reform Bill as to + another. + </p> + <p> + But, you say, intimidation has been used to promote the passing of this + bill; and it would be disgraceful, and of evil example, that Parliament + should yield to intimidation. But surely, if that argument be of any force + against the present bill, it will be of tenfold force against any Reform + Bill proposed by you. For this bill is the work of men who are Reformers + from conscientious conviction, of men, some of whom were Reformers when + Reformer was a name of reproach, of men, all of whom were Reformers before + the nation had begun to demand Reform in imperative and menacing tones. + But you are notoriously Reformers merely from fear. You are Reformers + under duress. If a concession is to be made to the public importunity, you + can hardly deny that it will be made with more grace and dignity by Lord + Grey than by you. + </p> + <p> + Then you complain of the anomalies of the bill. One county, you say, will + have twelve members; and another county, which is larger and more + populous, will have only ten. Some towns, which are to have only one + member, are more considerable than other towns which are to have two. Do + those who make these objections, objections which by the by will be more + in place when the bill is in committee, seriously mean to say that a Tory + Reform Bill will leave no anomalies in the representative system? For my + own part, I trouble myself not at all about anomalies, considered merely + as anomalies. I would not take the trouble of lifting up my hand to get + rid of an anomaly that was not also a grievance. But if gentlemen have + such a horror of anomalies, it is strange that they should so long have + persisted in upholding a system made up of anomalies far greater than any + that can be found in this bill (a cry of "No!"). Yes; far greater. Answer + me, if you can; but do not interrupt me. On this point, indeed, it is much + easier to interrupt than to answer. For who can answer plain arithmetical + demonstration? Under the present system, Manchester, with two hundred + thousand inhabitants, has no members. Old Sarum, with no inhabitants, has + two members. Find me such an anomaly in the schedules which are now on the + table. But is it possible that you, that Tories, can seriously mean to + adopt the only plan which can remove all anomalies from the representative + system? Are you prepared to have, after every decennial census, a new + distribution of members among electoral districts? Is your plan of Reform + that which Mr Canning satirised as the most crazy of all the projects of + the disciples of Tom Paine? Do you really mean + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "That each fair burgh, numerically free, + Shall choose its members by the rule of three?" +</pre> + <p> + If not, let us hear no more of the anomalies of the Reform Bill. + </p> + <p> + But your great objection to this bill is that it will not be final. I ask + you whether you think that any Reform Bill which you can frame will be + final? For my part I do believe that the settlement proposed by His + Majesty's Ministers will be final, in the only sense in which a wise man + ever uses that word. I believe that it will last during that time for + which alone we ought at present to think of legislating. Another + generation may find in the new representative system defects such as we + find in the old representative system. Civilisation will proceed. Wealth + will increase. Industry and trade will find out new seats. The same causes + which have turned so many villages into great towns, which have turned so + many thousands of square miles of fir and heath into cornfields and + orchards, will continue to operate. Who can say that a hundred years hence + there may not be, on the shore of some desolate and silent bay in the + Hebrides, another Liverpool, with its docks and warehouses and endless + forests of masts? Who can say that the huge chimneys of another Manchester + may not rise in the wilds of Connemara? For our children we do not pretend + to legislate. All that we can do for them is to leave to them a memorable + example of the manner in which great reforms ought to be made. In the only + sense, therefore, in which a statesman ought to say that anything is + final, I pronounce this bill final. But in what sense will your bill be + final? Suppose that you could defeat the Ministers, that you could + displace them, that you could form a Government, that you could obtain a + majority in this House, what course would events take? There is no + difficulty in foreseeing the stages of the rapid progress downward. First + we should have a mock reform; a Bassietlaw reform; a reform worthy of + those politicians who, when a delinquent borough had forfeited its + franchise, and when it was necessary for them to determine what they would + do with two seats in Parliament, deliberately gave those seats, not to + Manchester or Birmingham or Leeds, not to Lancashire or Staffordshire or + Devonshire, but to a constituent body studiously selected because it was + not large and because it was not independent; a reform worthy of those + politicians who, only twelve months ago, refused to give members to the + three greatest manufacturing towns in the world. We should have a reform + which would produce all the evils and none of the benefits of change, + which would take away from the representative system the foundation of + prescription, and yet would not substitute the surer foundation of reason + and public good. The people would be at once emboldened and exasperated; + emboldened because they would see that they had frightened the Tories into + making a pretence of reforming the Parliament; and exasperated because + they would see that the Tory Reform was a mere pretence. Then would come + agitation, tumult, political associations, libels, inflammatory harangues. + Coercion would only aggravate the evil. This is no age, this is no + country, for the war of power against opinion. Those Jacobin mountebanks, + whom this bill would at once send back to their native obscurity, would + rise into fearful importance. The law would be sometimes braved and + sometimes evaded. In short, England would soon be what Ireland was at the + beginning of 1829. Then, at length, as in 1829, would come the late and + vain repentance. Then, Sir, amidst the generous cheers of the Whigs, who + will be again occupying their old seats on your left hand, and amidst the + indignant murmurs of those stanch Tories who are now again trusting to be + again betrayed, the right honourable Baronet opposite will rise from the + Treasury Bench to propose that bill on which the hearts of the people are + set. But will that bill be then accepted with the delight and thankfulness + with which it was received last March? Remember Ireland. Remember how, in + that country, concessions too long delayed were at last received. That + great boon which in 1801, in 1813, in 1825, would have won the hearts of + millions, given too late, and given from fear, only produced new clamours + and new dangers. Is not one such lesson enough for one generation? A noble + Lord opposite told us not to expect that this bill will have a + conciliatory effect. Recollect, he said, how the French aristocracy + surrendered their privileges in 1789, and how that surrender was requited. + Recollect that Day of Sacrifices which was afterwards called the Day of + Dupes. Sir, that day was afterwards called the Day of Dupes, not because + it was the Day of Sacrifices, but because it was the Day of Sacrifices too + long deferred. It was because the French aristocracy resisted reform in + 1783, that they were unable to resist revolution in 1789. It was because + they clung too long to odious exemptions and distinctions, that they were + at last unable to serve their lands, their mansions, their heads. They + would not endure Turgot: and they had to endure Robespierre. + </p> + <p> + I am far indeed from wishing that the Members of this House should be + influenced by fear in the bad and unworthy sense of that word. But there + is an honest and honourable fear, which well becomes those who are + intrusted with the dearest interests of a great community; and to that + fear I am not ashamed to make an earnest appeal. It is very well to talk + of confronting sedition boldly, and of enforcing the law against those who + would disturb the public peace. No doubt a tumult caused by local and + temporary irritation ought to be suppressed with promptitude and vigour. + Such disturbances, for example, as those which Lord George Gordon raised + in 1780, should be instantly put down with the strong hand. But woe to the + Government which cannot distinguish between a nation and a mob! Woe to the + Government which thinks that a great, a steady, a long continued movement + of the public mind is to be stopped like a street riot! This error has + been twice fatal to the great House of Bourbon. God be praised, our rulers + have been wiser. The golden opportunity which, if once suffered to escape, + might never have been retrieved, has been seized. Nothing, I firmly + believe, can now prevent the passing of this noble law, this second Bill + of Rights. ["Murmurs."] Yes, I call it, and the nation calls it, and our + posterity will long call it, this second Bill of Rights, this Greater + Charter of the Liberties of England. The year 1831 will, I trust, exhibit + the first example of the manner in which it behoves a free and enlightened + people to purify their polity from old and deeply seated abuses, without + bloodshed, without violence, without rapine, all points freely debated, + all the forms of senatorial deliberation punctiliously observed, industry + and trade not for a moment interrupted, the authority of law not for a + moment suspended. These are things of which we may well be proud. These + are things which swell the heart up with a good hope for the destinies of + mankind. I cannot but anticipate a long series of happy years; of years + during which a parental Government will be firmly supported by a grateful + nation: of years during which war, if war should be inevitable, will find + us an united people; of years pre-eminently distinguished by the progress + of arts, by the improvement of laws, by the augmentation of the public + resources, by the diminution of the public burdens, by all those victories + of peace, in which, far more than in any military successes, consists the + true felicity of states, and the true glory of statesmen. With such hopes, + Sir, and such feelings, I give my cordial assent to the second reading of + a bill which I consider as in itself deserving of the warmest approbation, + and as indispensably necessary, in the present temper of the public mind, + to the repose of the country and to the stability of the throne. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (SEPTEMBER 20, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE + OF COMMONS ON THE 20TH OF SEPTEMBER 1831. + </h2> + <p> + On Monday, the nineteenth of September, 1831, the Bill to amend the + representation of the people in England and Wales was read a third time, + at an early hour and in a thin house, without any debate. But on the + question whether the Bill should pass a discussion arose which lasted + three nights. On the morning of the twenty-second of September the House + divided; and the Bill passed by 345 votes to 236. The following Speech was + made on the second night of the debate. + </p> + <p> + It is not without great diffidence, Sir, that I rise to address you on a + subject which has been nearly exhausted. Indeed, I should not have risen + had I not thought that, though the arguments on this question are for the + most part old, our situation at present is in a great measure new. At + length the Reform Bill, having passed without vital injury through all the + dangers which threatened it, during a long and minute discussion, from the + attacks of its enemies and from the dissensions of its friends, comes + before us for our final ratification, altered, indeed, in some of its + details for the better, and in some for the worse, but in its great + principles still the same bill which, on the first of March, was proposed + to the late Parliament, the same bill which was received with joy and + gratitude by the whole nation, the same bill which, in an instant, took + away the power of interested agitators, and united in one firm body all + the sects of sincere Reformers, the same bill which, at the late election, + received the approbation of almost every great constituent body in the + empire. With a confidence which discussion has only strengthened, with an + assured hope of great public blessings if the wish of the nation shall be + gratified, with a deep and solemn apprehension of great public calamities + if that wish shall be disappointed, I, for the last time, give my most + hearty assent to this noble law, destined, I trust, to be the parent of + many good laws, and, through a long series of years, to secure the repose + and promote the prosperity of my country. + </p> + <p> + When I say that I expect this bill to promote the prosperity of the + country, I by no means intend to encourage those chimerical hopes which + the honourable and learned Member for Rye (Mr Pemberton.), who has so much + distinguished himself in this debate, has imputed to the Reformers. The + people, he says, are for the bill, because they expect that it will + immediately relieve all their distresses. Sir, I believe that very few of + that large and respectable class which we are now about to admit to a + share of political power entertain any such absurd expectation. They + expect relief, I doubt not; and I doubt not that they will find it: but + sudden relief they are far too wise to expect. The bill, says the + honourable and learned gentleman, is good for nothing: it is merely + theoretical: it removes no real and sensible evil: it will not give the + people more work, or higher wages, or cheaper bread. Undoubtedly, Sir, the + bill will not immediately give all those things to the people. But will + any institutions give them all those things? Do the present institutions + of the country secure to them those advantages? If we are to pronounce the + Reform Bill good for nothing, because it will not at once raise the nation + from distress to prosperity, what are we to say of that system under which + the nation has been of late sinking from prosperity into distress? The + defect is not in the Reform Bill, but in the very nature of government. On + the physical condition of the great body of the people, government acts + not as a specific, but as an alternative. Its operation is powerful, + indeed, and certain, but gradual and indirect. The business of government + is not directly to make the people rich; and a government which attempts + more than this is precisely the government which is likely to perform + less. Governments do not and cannot support the people. We have no + miraculous powers: we have not the rod of the Hebrew lawgiver: we cannot + rain down bread on the multitude from Heaven: we cannot smite the rock and + give them to drink. We can give them only freedom to employ their industry + to the best advantage, and security in the enjoyment of what their + industry has acquired. These advantages it is our duty to give at the + smallest possible cost. The diligence and forethought of individuals will + thus have fair play; and it is only by the diligence and forethought of + individuals that the community can become prosperous. I am not aware that + His Majesty's Ministers, or any of the supporters of this bill, have + encouraged the people to hope, that Reform will remove distress, in any + other way than by this indirect process. By this indirect process the bill + will, I feel assured, conduce to the national prosperity. If it had been + passed fifteen years ago, it would have saved us from our present + embarrassments. If we pass it now, it will gradually extricate us from + them. It will secure to us a House of Commons, which, by preserving peace, + by destroying monopolies, by taking away unnecessary public burthens, by + judiciously distributing necessary public burthens, will, in the progress + of time, greatly improve our condition. This it will do; and those who + blame it for not doing more blame it for not doing what no Constitution, + no code of laws, ever did or ever will do; what no legislator, who was not + an ignorant and unprincipled quack, ever ventured to promise. + </p> + <p> + But chimerical as are the hopes which the honourable and learned Member + for Rye imputes to the people, they are not, I think, more chimerical than + the fears which he has himself avowed. Indeed, those very gentlemen who + are constantly telling us that we are taking a leap in the dark, that we + pay no attention to the lessons of experience, that we are mere theorists, + are themselves the despisers of experience, are themselves the mere + theorists. They are terrified at the thought of admitting into Parliament + members elected by ten pound householders. They have formed in their own + imaginations a most frightful idea of these members. My honourable and + learned friend, the Member for Cockermouth (Sir James Scarlett.), is + certain that these members will take every opportunity of promoting the + interests of the journeyman in opposition to those of the capitalist. The + honourable and learned Member for Rye is convinced that none but persons + who have strong local connections, will ever be returned for such + constituent bodies. My honourable friend, the Member for Thetford (Mr + Alexander Baring.), tells us, that none but mob orators, men who are + willing to pay the basest court to the multitude, will have any chance. + Other speakers have gone still further, and have described to us the + future borough members as so many Marats and Santerres, low, fierce, + desperate men, who will turn the House into a bear-garden, and who will + try to turn the monarchy into a republic, mere agitators, without honour, + without sense, without education, without the feelings or the manners of + gentlemen. Whenever, during the course of the fatiguing discussions by + which we have been so long occupied, there has been a cry of "question," + or a noise at the bar, the orator who has been interrupted has remarked, + that such proceedings will be quite in place in the Reformed Parliament, + but that we ought to remember that the House of Commons is still an + assembly of gentlemen. This, I say, is to set up mere theory, or rather + mere prejudice, in opposition to long and ample experience. Are the + gentlemen who talk thus ignorant that we have already the means of judging + what kind of men the ten pound householders will send up to parliament? + Are they ignorant that there are even now large towns with very popular + franchises, with franchises even more democratic than those which will be + bestowed by the present bill? Ought they not, on their own principles, to + look at the results of the experiments which have already been made, + instead of predicting frightful calamities at random? How do the facts + which are before us agree with their theories? Nottingham is a city with a + franchise even more democratic than that which this bill establishes. Does + Nottingham send hither mere vulgar demagogues? It returns two + distinguished men, one an advocate, the other a soldier, both unconnected + with the town. Every man paying scot and lot has a vote at Leicester. This + is a lower franchise than the ten pound franchise. Do we find that the + Members for Leicester are the mere tools of the journeymen? I was at + Leicester during the contest of 1826; and I recollect that the suffrages + of the scot and lot voters were pretty equally divided between two + candidates, neither of them connected with the place, neither of them a + slave of the mob, one a Tory Baronet from Derbyshire, the other a most + respectable and excellent friend of mine, connected with the manufacturing + interest, and also an inhabitant of Derbyshire. Look at Norwich. Look at + Northampton, with a franchise more democratic than even the scot and lot + franchise. Northampton formerly returned Mr Perceval, and now returns + gentlemen of high respectability, gentlemen who have a great stake in the + prosperity and tranquillity of the country. Look at the metropolitan + districts. This is an a fortiori case. Nay it is—the expression, I + fear, is awkward—an a fortiori case at two removes. The ten pound + householders of the metropolis are persons in a lower station of life than + the ten pound householders of other towns. The scot and lot franchise in + the metropolis is again lower than the ten pound franchise. Yet have + Westminster and Southwark been in the habit of sending us members of whom + we have had reason to be ashamed, of whom we have not had reason to be + proud? I do not say that the inhabitants of Westminster and Southwark have + always expressed their political sentiments with proper moderation. That + is not the question. The question is this: what kind of men have they + elected? The very principle of all Representative government is, that men + who do not judge well of public affairs may be quite competent to choose + others who will judge better. Whom, then, have Westminster and Southwark + sent us during the last fifty years, years full of great events, years of + intense popular excitement? Take any one of those nomination boroughs, the + patrons of which have conscientiously endeavoured to send fit men into + this House. Compare the Members for that borough with the Members for + Westminster and Southwark; and you will have no doubt to which the + preference is due. It is needless to mention Mr Fox, Mr Sheridan, Mr + Tierney, Sir Samuel Romilly. Yet I must pause at the name of Sir Samuel + Romilly. Was he a mob orator? Was he a servile flatterer of the multitude? + Sir, if he had any fault, if there was any blemish on that most serene and + spotless character, that character which every public man, and especially + every professional man engaged in politics, ought to propose to himself as + a model, it was this, that he despised popularity too much and too + visibly. The honourable Member for Thetford told us that the honourable + and learned Member for Rye, with all his talents, would have no chance of + a seat in the Reformed Parliament, for want of the qualifications which + succeed on the hustings. Did Sir Samuel Romilly ever appear on the + hustings of Westminster? He never solicited one vote; he never showed + himself to the electors, till he had been returned at the head of the + poll. Even then, as I have heard from one of his nearest relatives, it was + with reluctance that he submitted to be chaired. He shrank from being made + a show. He loved the people, and he served them; but Coriolanus himself + was not less fit to canvass them. I will mention one other name, that of a + man of whom I have only a childish recollection, but who must have been + intimately known to many of those who hear me, Mr Henry Thornton. He was a + man eminently upright, honourable, and religious, a man of strong + understanding, a man of great political knowledge; but, in all respects, + the very reverse of a mob orator. He was a man who would not have yielded + to what he considered as unreasonable clamour, I will not say to save his + seat, but to save his life. Yet he continued to represent Southwark, + Parliament after Parliament, for many years. Such has been the conduct of + the scot and lot voters of the metropolis; and there is clearly less + reason to expect democratic violence from ten pound householders than from + scot and lot householders; and from ten pound householders in the country + towns than from ten pound householders in London. Experience, I say, + therefore, is on our side; and on the side of our opponents nothing but + mere conjecture and mere assertion. + </p> + <p> + Sir, when this bill was first brought forward, I supported it, not only on + the ground of its intrinsic merits, but, also, because I was convinced + that to reject it would be a course full of danger. I believe that the + danger of that course is in no respect diminished. I believe, on the + contrary, that it is increased. We are told that there is a reaction. The + warmth of the public feeling, it seems, has abated. In this story both the + sections of the party opposed to Reform are agreed; those who hate Reform, + because it will remove abuses, and those who hate it, because it will vert + anarchy; those who wish to see the electing body controlled by ejectments, + and those who wish to see it controlled by riots. They must now, I think, + be undeceived. They must have already discovered that the surest way to + prevent a reaction is to talk about it, and that the enthusiasm of the + people is at once rekindled by any indiscreet mention of their seeming + coolness. This, Sir, is not the first reaction which the sagacity of the + Opposition has discovered since the Reform Bill was brought in. Every + gentleman who sat in the late Parliament, every gentleman who, during the + sitting of the late Parliament, paid attention to political speeches and + publications, must remember how, for some time before the debate on + General Gascoyne's motion, and during the debate on that motion, and down + to the very day of the dissolution, we were told that public feeling had + cooled. The right honourable Baronet, the member for Tamworth, told us so. + All the literary organs of the Opposition, from the Quarterly Review down + to the Morning Post, told us so. All the Members of the Opposition with + whom we conversed in private told us so. I have in my eye a noble friend + of mine, who assured me, on the very night which preceded the dissolution, + that the people had ceased to be zealous for the Ministerial plan, and + that we were more likely to lose than to gain by the elections. The appeal + was made to the people; and what was the result? What sign of a reaction + appeared among the Livery of London? What sign of a reaction did the + honourable Baronet who now represents Okehampton find among the + freeholders of Cornwall? (Sir Richard Vyvyan.) How was it with the large + represented towns? Had Liverpool cooled? or Bristol? or Leicester? or + Coventry? or Nottingham? or Norwich? How was it with the great seats of + manufacturing industry, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, and Staffordshire, and + Warwickshire, and Cheshire? How was it with the agricultural districts, + Northumberland and Cumberland, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, Kent and + Essex, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire? How + was it with the strongholds of aristocratical influence, Newark, and + Stamford, and Hertford, and St Alban's? Never did any people display, + within the limits prescribed by law, so generous a fervour, or so + steadfast a determination, as that very people whose apparent languor had + just before inspired the enemies of Reform with a delusive hope. + </p> + <p> + Such was the end of the reaction of April; and, if that lesson shall not + profit those to whom it was given, such and yet more signal will be the + end of the reaction of September. The two cases are strictly analogous. In + both cases the people were eager when they believed the bill to be in + danger, and quiet when they believed it to be in security. During the + three or four weeks which followed the promulgation of the Ministerial + plan, all was joy, and gratitude, and vigorous exertion. Everywhere + meetings were held: everywhere resolutions were passed: from every quarter + were sent up petitions to this House, and addresses to the Throne: and + then the nation, having given vent to its first feelings of delight, + having clearly and strongly expressed its opinions, having seen the + principle of the bill adopted by the House of Commons on the second + reading, became composed, and awaited the result with a tranquillity which + the Opposition mistook for indifference. All at once the aspect of affairs + changed. General Gascoyne's amendment was carried: the bill was again in + danger: exertions were again necessary. Then was it well seen whether the + calmness of the public mind was any indication of indifference. The depth + and sincerity of the prevailing sentiments were proved, not by mere + talking, but by actions, by votes, by sacrifices. Intimidation was defied: + expenses were rejected: old ties were broken: the people struggled + manfully: they triumphed gloriously: they placed the bill in perfect + security, as far as this house was concerned; and they returned to their + repose. They are now, as they were on the eve of General Gascoyne's + motion, awaiting the issue of the deliberations of Parliament, without any + indecent show of violence, but with anxious interest and immovable + resolution. And because they are not exhibiting that noisy and rapturous + enthusiasm which is in its own nature transient, because they are not as + much excited as on the day when the plan of the Government was first made + known to them, or on the day when the late Parliament was dissolved, + because they do not go on week after week, hallooing, and holding + meetings, and marching about with flags, and making bonfires, and + illuminating their houses, we are again told that there is a reaction. To + such a degree can men be deceived by their wishes, in spite of their own + recent experience. Sir, there is no reaction; and there will be no + reaction. All that has been said on this subject convinces me only that + those who are now, for the second time, raising this cry, know nothing of + the crisis in which they are called on to act, or of the nation which they + aspire to govern. All their opinions respecting this bill are founded on + one great error. They imagine that the public feeling concerning Reform is + a mere whim which sprang up suddenly out of nothing, and which will as + suddenly vanish into nothing. They, therefore, confidently expect a + reaction. They are always looking out for a reaction. Everything that they + see, or that they hear, they construe into a sign of the approach of this + reaction. They resemble the man in Horace, who lies on the bank of the + river, expecting that it will every moment pass by and leave him a clear + passage, not knowing the depth and abundance of the fountain which feeds + it, not knowing that it flows, and will flow on for ever. They have found + out a hundred ingenious devices by which they deceive themselves. + Sometimes they tell us that the public feeling about Reform was caused by + the events which took place at Paris about fourteen months ago; though + every observant and impartial man knows, that the excitement which the + late French revolution produced in England was not the cause but the + effect of that progress which liberal opinions had made amongst us. + Sometimes they tell us that we should not have been troubled with any + complaints on the subject of the Representation, if the House of Commons + had agreed to a certain motion, made in the session of 1830, for inquiry + into the causes of the public distress. I remember nothing about that + motion, except that it gave rise to the dullest debate ever known; and the + country, I am firmly convinced, cared not one straw about it. But is it + not strange that men of real ability can deceive themselves so grossly, as + to think that any change in the government of a foreign nation, or the + rejection of any single motion, however popular, could all at once raise + up a great, rich, enlightened nation, against its ancient institutions? + Could such small drops have produced an overflowing, if the vessel had not + already been filled to the very brim? These explanations are incredible, + and if they were credible, would be anything but consolatory. If it were + really true that the English people had taken a sudden aversion to a + representative system which they had always loved and admired, because a + single division in Parliament had gone against their wishes, or because, + in a foreign country, in circumstances bearing not the faintest analogy to + those in which we are placed, a change of dynasty had happened, what hope + could we have for such a nation of madmen? How could we expect that the + present form of government, or any form of government, would be durable + amongst them? + </p> + <p> + Sir, the public feeling concerning Reform is of no such recent origin, and + springs from no such frivolous causes. Its first faint commencement may be + traced far, very far, back in our history. During seventy years that + feeling has had a great influence on the public mind. Through the first + thirty years of the reign of George the Third, it was gradually + increasing. The great leaders of the two parties in the State were + favourable to Reform. Plans of reform were supported by large and most + respectable minorities in the House of Commons. The French Revolution, + filling the higher and middle classes with an extreme dread of change, and + the war calling away the public attention from internal to external + politics, threw the question back; but the people never lost sight of it. + Peace came, and they were at leisure to think of domestic improvements. + Distress came, and they suspected, as was natural, that their distress was + the effect of unfaithful stewardship and unskilful legislation. An opinion + favourable to Parliamentary Reform grew up rapidly, and became strong + among the middle classes. But one tie, one strong tie, still bound those + classes to the Tory party. I mean the Catholic Question. It is impossible + to deny that, on that subject, a large proportion, a majority, I fear, of + the middle class of Englishmen, conscientiously held opinions opposed to + those which I have always entertained, and were disposed to sacrifice + every other consideration to what they regarded as a religious duty. Thus + the Catholic Question hid, so to speak, the question of Parliamentary + Reform. The feeling in favour of Parliamentary Reform grew, but it grew in + the shade. Every man, I think, must have observed the progress of that + feeling in his own social circle. But few Reform meetings were held, and + few petitions in favour of Reform presented. At length the Catholics were + emancipated; the solitary link of sympathy which attached the people to + the Tories was broken; the cry of "No Popery" could no longer be opposed + to the cry of "Reform." That which, in the opinion of the two great + parties in Parliament, and of a vast portion of the community, had been + the first question, suddenly disappeared; and the question of + Parliamentary Reform took the first place. Then was put forth all the + strength which had been growing in silence and obscurity. Then it appeared + that Reform had on its side a coalition of interests and opinions + unprecedented in our history, all the liberality and intelligence which + had supported the Catholic claims, and all the clamour which had opposed + them. + </p> + <p> + This, I believe, is the true history of that public feeling on the subject + of Reform which had been ascribed to causes quite inadequate to the + production of such an effect. If ever there was in the history of mankind + a national sentiment which was the very opposite of a caprice, with which + accident had nothing to do, which was produced by the slow, steady, + certain progress of the human mind, it is the sentiment of the English + people on the subject of Reform. Accidental circumstances may have brought + that feeling to maturity in a particular year, or a particular month. That + point I will not dispute; for it is not worth disputing. But those + accidental circumstances have brought on Reform, only as the circumstance + that, at a particular time, indulgences were offered for sale in a + particular town in Saxony, brought on the great separation from the Church + of Rome. In both cases the public mind was prepared to move on the + slightest impulse. + </p> + <p> + Thinking thus of the public opinion concerning Reform, being convinced + that this opinion is the mature product of time and of discussion, I + expect no reaction. I no more expect to see my countrymen again content + with the mere semblance of a Representation, than to see them again + drowning witches or burning heretics, trying causes by red hot + ploughshares, or offering up human sacrifices to wicker idols. I no more + expect a reaction in favour of Gatton and Old Sarum, than a reaction in + favour of Thor and Odin. I should think such a reaction almost as much a + miracle as that the shadow should go back upon the dial. Revolutions + produced by violence are often followed by reactions; the victories of + reason once gained, are gained for eternity. + </p> + <p> + In fact, if there be, in the present aspect of public affairs, any sign + peculiarly full of evil omen to the opponents of Reform, it is that very + calmness of the public mind on which they found their expectation of + success. They think that it is the calmness of indifference. It is the + calmness of confident hope: and in proportion to the confidence of hope + will be the bitterness of disappointment. Disappointment, indeed, I do not + anticipate. That we are certain of success in this House is now + acknowledged; and our opponents have, in consequence, during the whole of + this Session, and particularly during the present debate, addressed their + arguments and exhortations rather to the Lords than to the assembly of + which they are themselves Members. Their principal argument has always + been, that the bill will destroy the peerage. The honourable and learned + Member for Rye has, in plain terms, called on the Barons of England to + save their order from democratic encroachments, by rejecting this measure. + All these arguments, all these appeals, being interpreted, mean this: + "Proclaim to your countrymen that you have no common interests with them, + no common sympathies with them; that you can be powerful only by their + weakness, and exalted only by their degradation; that the corruption which + disgusts them, and the oppression against which their spirit rises up, are + indispensable to your authority; that the freedom and purity of election + are incompatible with the very existence of your House. Give them clearly + to understand that your power rests, not as they have hitherto imagined, + on their rational convictions, or on their habitual veneration, or on your + own great property, but on a system fertile of political evils, fertile + also of low iniquities of which ordinary justice take cognisance. Bind up, + in inseparable union, the privileges of your estate with the grievances of + ours: resolve to stand or fall with abuses visibly marked out for + destruction: tell the people that they are attacking you in attacking the + three holes in the wall, and that they shall never get rid of the three + holes in the wall, till they have got rid of you; that a hereditary + peerage and a representative assembly, can co-exist only in name, and + that, if they will have a real House of Peers, they must be content with a + mock House of Commons." This, I say, is the advice given to the Lords by + those who call themselves the friends of aristocracy. That advice so + pernicious will not be followed, I am well assured; yet I cannot but + listen to it with uneasiness. I cannot but wonder that it should proceed + from the lips of men who are constantly lecturing us on the duty of + consulting history and experience. Have they never heard what effects + counsels like their own, when too faithfully followed, have produced? Have + they never visited that neighbouring country, which still presents to the + eye, even of a passing stranger, the signs of a great dissolution and + renovation of society? Have they never walked by those stately mansions, + now sinking into decay, and portioned out into lodging rooms, which line + the silent streets of the Faubourg St Germain? Have they never seen the + ruins of those castles whose terraces and gardens overhang the Loire? Have + they never heard that from those magnificent hotels, from those ancient + castles, an aristocracy as splendid, as brave, as proud, as accomplished, + as ever Europe saw, was driven forth to exile and beggary, to implore the + charity of hostile Governments and hostile creeds, to cut wood in the back + settlements of America, or to teach French in the schoolrooms of London? + And why were those haughty nobles destroyed with that utter destruction? + Why were they scattered over the face of the earth, their titles + abolished, their escutcheons defaced, their parks wasted, their palaces + dismantled, their heritage given to strangers? Because they had no + sympathy with the people, no discernment of the signs of their time; + because, in the pride and narrowness of their hearts, they called those + whose warnings might have saved them theorists and speculators; because + they refused all concession till the time had arrived when no concession + would avail. I have no apprehension that such a fate awaits the nobles of + England. I draw no parallel between our aristocracy and that of France. + Those who represent the peerage as a class whose power is incompatible + with the just influence of the people in the State, draw that parallel, + and not I. They do all in their power to place the Lords and Commons of + England in that position with respect to each other in which the French + gentry stood with respect to the Third Estate. But I am convinced that + these advisers will not succeed. We see, with pride and delight, among the + friends of the people, the Talbots, the Cavendishes, the princely house of + Howard. Foremost among those who have entitled themselves, by their + exertions in this House, to the lasting gratitude of their countrymen, we + see the descendants of Marlborough, of Russell, and of Derby. I hope, and + firmly believe, that the Lords will see what their interests and their + honour require. I hope, and firmly believe, that they will act in such a + manner as to entitle themselves to the esteem and affection of the people. + But if not, let not the enemies of Reform imagine that their reign is + straightway to recommence, or that they have obtained anything more than a + short and uneasy respite. We are bound to respect the constitutional + rights of the Peers; but we are bound also not to forget our own. We, too, + have our privileges; we, too, are an estate of the realm. A House of + Commons strong in the love and confidence of the people, a House of + Commons which has nothing to fear from a dissolution, is something in the + government. Some persons, I well know, indulge a hope that the rejection + of the bill will at once restore the domination of that party which fled + from power last November, leaving everything abroad and everything at home + in confusion; leaving the European system, which it had built up at a vast + cost of blood and treasure, falling to pieces in every direction; leaving + the dynasties which it had restored, hastening into exile; leaving the + nations which it had joined together, breaking away from each other; + leaving the fundholders in dismay; leaving the peasantry in insurrection; + leaving the most fertile counties lighted up with the fires of + incendiaries; leaving the capital in such a state, that a royal procession + could not pass safely through it. Dark and terrible, beyond any season + within my remembrance of political affairs, was the day of their flight. + Far darker and far more terrible will be the day of their return. They + will return in opposition to the whole British nation, united as it was + never before united on any internal question; united as firmly as when the + Armada was sailing up the Channel; united as firmly as when Bonaparte + pitched his camp on the cliffs of Boulogne. They will return pledged to + defend evils which the people are resolved to destroy. They will return to + a situation in which they can stand only by crushing and trampling down + public opinion, and from which, if they fall, they may, in their fall, + drag down with them the whole frame of society. Against such evils, should + such evils appear to threaten the country, it will be our privilege and + our duty to warn our gracious and beloved Sovereign. It will be our + privilege and our duty to convey the wishes of a loyal people to the + throne of a patriot king. At such a crisis the proper place for the House + of Commons is in front of the nation; and in that place this House will + assuredly be found. Whatever prejudice or weakness may do elsewhere to + ruin the empire, here, I trust, will not be wanting the wisdom, the + virtue, and the energy that may save it. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (OCTOBER 10, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE + OF COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF OCTOBER, 1831. + </h2> + <p> + On the morning of Saturday, the eighth of October, 1831, the House of + Lords, by a majority of 190 to 158, rejected the Reform Bill. On the + Monday following, Lord Ebrington, member for Devonshire, moved the + following resolution in the House of Commons: + </p> + <p> + "That while this House deeply laments the present fate of a bill for + amending the representation of the people in England and Wales, in favour + of which the opinion of the country stands unequivocally pronounced, and + which has been matured by discussions the most anxious and laborious, it + feels itself called upon to reassert its firm adherence to the principle + and leading provisions of that great measure, and to express its unabated + confidence in the integrity, perseverance, and ability of those Ministers, + who, in introducing and conducting it, have so well consulted the best + interests of the country." + </p> + <p> + The resolution was carried by 329 votes to 198. The following speech was + made early in the debate. + </p> + <p> + I doubt, Sir, whether any person who had merely heard the speech of the + right honourable Member for the University of Cambridge (Mr Goulburn.) + would have been able to conjecture what the question is on which we are + discussing, and what the occasion on which we are assembled. For myself, I + can with perfect certainty declare that never in the whole course of my + life did I feel my mind oppressed by so deep and solemn a sense of + responsibility as at the present moment. I firmly believe that the country + is now in danger of calamities greater than ever threatened it, from + domestic misgovernment or from foreign hostility. The danger is no less + than this, that there may be a complete alienation of the people from + their rulers. To soothe the public mind, to reconcile the people to the + delay, the short delay, which must intervene before their wishes can be + legitimately gratified, and in the meantime to avert civil discord, and to + uphold the authority of law, these are, I conceive, the objects of my + noble friend, the Member for Devonshire: these ought, at the present + crisis, to be the objects of every honest Englishman. They are objects + which will assuredly be attained, if we rise to this great occasion, if we + take our stand in the place which the Constitution has assigned to us, if + we employ, with becoming firmness and dignity, the powers which belong to + us as trustees of the nation, and as advisers of the Throne. + </p> + <p> + Sir, the Resolution of my noble friend consists of two parts. He calls + upon us to declare our undiminished attachment to the principles of the + Reform Bill, and also our undiminished confidence in His Majesty's + Ministers. I consider these two declarations as identical. The question of + Reform is, in my opinion, of such paramount importance, that, approving + the principles of the Ministerial Bill, I must think the Ministers who + have brought that bill forward, although I may differ from them on some + minor points, entitled to the strongest support of Parliament. The right + honourable gentleman, the Member for the University of Cambridge, has + attempted to divert the course of the debate to questions comparatively + unimportant. He has said much about the coal duty, about the candle duty, + about the budget of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer. On most of + the points to which he has referred, it would be easy for me, were I so + inclined, to defend the Ministers; and where I could not defend them, I + should find it easy to recriminate on those who preceded them. The right + honourable Member for the University of Cambridge has taunted the + Ministers with the defeat which their plan respecting the timber trade + sustained in the last Parliament. I might, perhaps, at a more convenient + season, be tempted to inquire whether that defeat was more disgraceful to + them or to their predecessors. I might, perhaps, be tempted to ask the + right honourable gentleman whether, if he had not been treated, while in + office, with more fairness than he has shown while in opposition, it would + have been in his power to carry his best bill, the Beer Bill? He has + accused the Ministers of bringing forward financial propositions, and then + withdrawing those propositions. Did not he bring forward, during the + Session of 1830, a plan respecting the sugar duties? And was not that plan + withdrawn? But, Sir, this is mere trifling. I will not be seduced from the + matter in hand by the right honourable gentleman's example. At the present + moment I can see only one question in the State, the question of Reform; + only two parties, the friends of the Reform Bill and its enemies. + </p> + <p> + It is not my intention, Sir, again to discuss the merits of the Reform + Bill. The principle of that bill received the approbation of the late + House of Commons after a discussion of ten nights; and the bill as it now + stands, after a long and most laborious investigation, passed the present + House of Commons by a majority which was nearly half as large again as the + minority. This was little more than a fortnight ago. Nothing has since + occurred to change our opinion. The justice of the case is unaltered. The + public enthusiasm is undiminished. Old Sarum has grown no larger. + Manchester has grown no smaller. In addressing this House, therefore, I am + entitled to assume that the bill is in itself a good bill. If so, ought we + to abandon it merely because the Lords have rejected it? We ought to + respect the lawful privileges of their House; but we ought also to assert + our own. We are constitutionally as independent of their Lordships as + their Lordships are of us. We have precisely as good a right to adhere to + our opinion as they have to dissent from it. In speaking of their + decision, I will attempt to follow that example of moderation which was so + judiciously set by my noble friend, the Member for Devonshire. I will only + say that I do not think that they are more competent to form a correct + judgment on a political question than we are. It is certain that, on all + the most important points on which the two Houses have for a long time + past differed, the Lords have at length come over to the opinion of the + Commons. I am therefore entitled to say, that with respect to all those + points, the Peers themselves being judges, the House of Commons was in the + right and the House of Lords in the wrong. It was thus with respect to the + Slave trade: it was thus with respect to Catholic Emancipation: it was + thus with several other important questions. I, therefore, cannot think + that we ought, on the present occasion, to surrender our judgment to those + who have acknowledged that, on former occasions of the same kind, we have + judged more correctly than they. + </p> + <p> + Then again, Sir, I cannot forget how the majority and the minority in this + House were composed; I cannot forget that the majority contained almost + all those gentlemen who are returned by large bodies of electors. It is, I + believe, no exaggeration to say, that there were single Members of the + majority who had more constituents than the whole minority put together. I + speak advisedly and seriously. I believe that the number of freeholders of + Yorkshire exceeds that of all the electors who return the Opposition. I + cannot with propriety comment here on any reports which may have been + circulated concerning the majority and minority in the House of Lords. I + may, however, mention these notoriously historical facts; that during the + last forty years the powers of the executive Government have been, almost + without intermission, exercised by a party opposed to Reform; and that a + very great number of Peers have been created, and all the present Bishops + raised to the bench during those years. On this question, therefore, while + I feel more than usual respect for the judgment of the House of Commons, I + feel less than usual respect for the judgment of the House of Lords. Our + decision is the decision of the nation; the decision of their Lordships + can scarcely be considered as the decision even of that class from which + the Peers are generally selected, and of which they may be considered as + virtual representatives, the great landed gentlemen of England. It seems + to me clear, therefore, that we ought, notwithstanding what has passed in + the other House, to adhere to our opinion concerning the Reform Bill. + </p> + <p> + The next question is this; ought we to make a formal declaration that we + adhere to our opinion? I think that we ought to make such a declaration; + and I am sure that we cannot make it in more temperate or more + constitutional terms than those which my noble friend asks us to adopt. I + support the Resolution which he has proposed with all my heart and soul: I + support it as a friend to Reform; but I support it still more as a friend + to law, to property, to social order. No observant and unprejudiced man + can look forward without great alarm to the effects which the recent + decision of the Lords may possibly produce. I do not predict, I do not + expect, open, armed insurrection. What I apprehend is this, that the + people may engage in a silent, but extensive and persevering war against + the law. What I apprehend is, that England may exhibit the same spectacle + which Ireland exhibited three years ago, agitators stronger than the + magistrate, associations stronger than the law, a Government powerful + enough to be hated, and not powerful enough to be feared, a people bent on + indemnifying themselves by illegal excesses for the want of legal + privileges. I fear, that we may before long see the tribunals defied, the + tax-gatherer resisted, public credit shaken, property insecure, the whole + frame of society hastening to dissolution. It is easy to say, "Be bold: be + firm: defy intimidation: let the law have its course: the law is strong + enough to put down the seditious." Sir, we have heard all this blustering + before; and we know in what it ended. It is the blustering of little men + whose lot has fallen on a great crisis. Xerxes scourging the winds, Canute + commanding the waves to recede from his footstool, were but types of the + folly of those who apply the maxims of the Quarter Sessions to the great + convulsions of society. The law has no eyes: the law has no hands: the law + is nothing, nothing but a piece of paper printed by the King's printer, + with the King's arms at the top, till public opinion breathes the breath + of life into the dead letter. We found this in Ireland. The Catholic + Association bearded the Government. The Government resolved to put down + the Association. An indictment was brought against my honourable and + learned friend, the Member for Kerry. The Grand Jury threw it out. + Parliament met. The Lords Commissioners came down with a speech + recommending the suppression of the self-constituted legislature of + Dublin. A bill was brought in: it passed both Houses by large majorities: + it received the Royal assent. And what effect did it produce? Exactly as + much as that old Act of Queen Elizabeth, still unrepealed, by which it is + provided that every man who, without a special exemption, shall eat meat + on Fridays and Saturdays, shall pay a fine of twenty shillings or go to + prison for a month. Not only was the Association not destroyed: its power + was not for one day suspended: it flourished and waxed strong under the + law which had been made for the purpose of annihilating it. The elections + of 1826, the Clare election two years later, proved the folly of those who + think that nations are governed by wax and parchment: and, at length, in + the close of 1828, the Government had only one plain choice before it, + concession or civil war. Sir, I firmly believe that, if the people of + England shall lose all hope of carrying the Reform Bill by constitutional + means, they will forthwith begin to offer to the Government the same kind + of resistance which was offered to the late Government, three years ago, + by the people of Ireland, a resistance by no means amounting to rebellion, + a resistance rarely amounting to any crime defined by the law, but a + resistance nevertheless which is quite sufficient to obstruct the course + of justice, to disturb the pursuits of industry, and to prevent the + accumulation of wealth. And is not this a danger which we ought to fear? + And is not this a danger which we are bound, by all means in our power, to + avert? And who are those who taunt us for yielding to intimidation? Who + are those who affect to speak with contempt of associations, and + agitators, and public meetings? Even the very persons who, scarce two + years ago, gave up to associations, and agitators, and public meetings, + their boasted Protestant Constitution, proclaiming all the time that they + saw the evils of Catholic Emancipation as strongly as ever. Surely, + surely, the note of defiance which is now so loudly sounded in our ears, + proceeds with a peculiarly bad grace from men whose highest glory it is + that they abased themselves to the dust before a people whom their policy + had driven to madness, from men the proudest moment of whose lives was + that in which they appeared in the character of persecutors scared into + toleration. Do they mean to indemnify themselves for the humiliation of + quailing before the people of Ireland by trampling on the people of + England? If so, they deceive themselves. The case of Ireland, though a + strong one, was by no means so strong a case as that with which we have + now to deal. The Government, in its struggle with the Catholics of + Ireland, had Great Britain at its back. Whom will it have at its back in + the struggle with the Reformers of Great Britain? I know only two ways in + which societies can permanently be governed, by public opinion, and by the + sword. A Government having at its command the armies, the fleets, and the + revenues of Great Britain, might possibly hold Ireland by the sword. So + Oliver Cromwell held Ireland; so William the Third held it; so Mr Pitt + held it; so the Duke of Wellington might perhaps have held it. But to + govern Great Britain by the sword! So wild a thought has never, I will + venture to say, occurred to any public man of any party; and, if any man + were frantic enough to make the attempt, he would find, before three days + had expired, that there is no better sword than that which is fashioned + out of a ploughshare. But, if not by the sword, how is the country to be + governed? I understand how the peace is kept at New York. It is by the + assent and support of the people. I understand also how the peace is kept + at Milan. It is by the bayonets of the Austrian soldiers. But how the + peace is to be kept when you have neither the popular assent nor the + military force, how the peace is to be kept in England by a Government + acting on the principles of the present Opposition, I do not understand. + </p> + <p> + There is in truth a great anomaly in the relation between the English + people and their Government. Our institutions are either too popular or + not popular enough. The people have not sufficient power in making the + laws; but they have quite sufficient power to impede the execution of the + laws when made. The Legislature is almost entirely aristocratical; the + machinery by which the degrees of the Legislature are carried into effect + is almost entirely popular; and, therefore, we constantly see all the + power which ought to execute the law, employed to counteract the law. + Thus, for example, with a criminal code which carries its rigour to the + length of atrocity, we have a criminal judicature which often carries its + lenity to the length of perjury. Our law of libel is the most absurdly + severe that ever existed, so absurdly severe that, if it were carried into + full effect, it would be much more oppressive than a censorship. And yet, + with this severe law of libel, we have a press which practically is as + free as the air. In 1819 the Ministers complained of the alarming increase + of seditious and blasphemous publications. They proposed a bill of great + rigour to stop the growth of the evil; and they carried their bill. It was + enacted, that the publisher of a seditious libel might, on a second + conviction, be banished, and that if he should return from banishment, he + might be transported. How often was this law put in force? Not once. Last + year we repealed it: but it was already dead, or rather it was dead born. + It was obsolete before Le Roi le veut had been pronounced over it. For any + effect which it produced it might as well have been in the Code Napoleon + as in the English Statute Book. And why did the Government, having + solicited and procured so sharp and weighty a weapon, straightway hang it + up to rust? Was there less sedition, were there fewer libels, after the + passing of the Act than before it? Sir, the very next year was the year + 1820, the year of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against Queen Caroline, + the very year when the public mind was most excited, the very year when + the public press was most scurrilous. Why then did not the Ministers use + their new law? Because they durst not: because they could not. They had + obtained it with ease; for in obtaining it they had to deal with a + subservient Parliament. They could not execute it: for in executing it + they would have to deal with a refractory people. These are instances of + the difficulty of carrying the law into effect when the people are + inclined to thwart their rulers. The great anomaly, or, to speak more + properly, the great evil which I have described, would, I believe, be + removed by the Reform Bill. That bill would establish harmony between the + people and the Legislature. It would give a fair share in the making of + laws to those without whose co-operation laws are mere waste paper. Under + a reformed system we should not see, as we now often see, the nation + repealing Acts of Parliament as fast as we and the Lords can pass them. As + I believe that the Reform Bill would produce this blessed and salutary + concord, so I fear that the rejection of the Reform Bill, if that + rejection should be considered as final, will aggravate the evil which I + have been describing to an unprecedented, to a terrible extent. To all the + laws which might be passed for the collection of the revenue, or for the + prevention of sedition, the people would oppose the same kind of + resistance by means of which they have succeeded in mitigating, I might + say in abrogating, the law of libel. There would be so many offenders that + the Government would scarcely know at whom to aim its blow. Every offender + would have so many accomplices and protectors that the blow would almost + always miss the aim. The Veto of the people, a Veto not pronounced in set + form like that of the Roman Tribunes, but quite as effectual as that of + the Roman Tribunes for the purpose of impeding public measures, would meet + the Government at every turn. The administration would be unable to + preserve order at home, or to uphold the national honour abroad; and, at + length, men who are now moderate, who now think of revolution with horror, + would begin to wish that the lingering agony of the State might be + terminated by one fierce, sharp, decisive crisis. + </p> + <p> + Is there a way of escape from these calamities? I believe that there is. I + believe that, if we do our duty, if we give the people reason to believe + that the accomplishment of their wishes is only deferred, if we declare + our undiminished attachment to the Reform Bill, and our resolution to + support no Minister who will not support that bill, we shall avert the + fearful disasters which impend over the country. There is danger that, at + this conjuncture, men of more zeal than wisdom may obtain a fatal + influence over the public mind. With these men will be joined others, who + have neither zeal nor wisdom, common barrators in politics, dregs of + society which, in times of violent agitation, are tossed up from the + bottom to the top, and which, in quiet times, sink again from the top to + their natural place at the bottom. To these men nothing is so hateful as + the prospect of a reconciliation between the orders of the State. A crisis + like that which now makes every honest citizen sad and anxious fills these + men with joy, and with a detestable hope. And how is it that such men, + formed by nature and education to be objects of mere contempt, can ever + inspire terror? How is it that such men, without talents or acquirements + sufficient for the management of a vestry, sometimes become dangerous to + great empires? The secret of their power lies in the indolence or + faithlessness of those who ought to take the lead in the redress of public + grievances. The whole history of low traders in sedition is contained in + that fine old Hebrew fable which we have all read in the Book of Judges. + The trees meet to choose a king. The vine, and the fig tree, and the olive + tree decline the office. Then it is that the sovereignty of the forest + devolves upon the bramble: then it is that from a base and noxious shrub + goes forth the fire which devours the cedars of Lebanon. Let us be + instructed. If we are afraid of political Unions and Reform Associations, + let the House of Commons become the chief point of political union: let + the House of Commons be the great Reform Association. If we are afraid + that the people may attempt to accomplish their wishes by unlawful means, + let us give them a solemn pledge that we will use in their cause all our + high and ancient privileges, so often victorious in old conflicts with + tyranny; those privileges which our ancestors invoked, not in vain, on the + day when a faithless king filled our house with his guards, took his seat, + Sir, on your chair, and saw your predecessor kneeling on the floor before + him. The Constitution of England, thank God, is not one of those + constitutions which are past all repair, and which must, for the public + welfare, be utterly destroyed. It has a decayed part; but it has also a + sound and precious part. It requires purification; but it contains within + itself the means by which that purification may be effected. We read that + in old times, when the villeins were driven to revolt by oppression, when + the castles of the nobility were burned to the ground, when the warehouses + of London were pillaged, when a hundred thousand insurgents appeared in + arms on Blackheath, when a foul murder perpetrated in their presence had + raised their passions to madness, when they were looking round for some + captain to succeed and avenge him whom they had lost, just then, before + Hob Miller, or Tom Carter, or Jack Straw, could place himself at their + head, the King rode up to them and exclaimed, "I will be your leader!" and + at once the infuriated multitude laid down their arms, submitted to his + guidance, dispersed at his command. Herein let us imitate him. Our + countrymen are, I fear, at this moment, but too much disposed to lend a + credulous ear to selfish impostors. Let us say to them, "We are your + leaders; we, your own house of Commons; we, the constitutional + interpreters of your wishes; the knights of forty English shires, the + citizens and burgesses of all your largest towns. Our lawful power shall + be firmly exerted to the utmost in your cause; and our lawful power is + such, that when firmly exerted in your cause, it must finally prevail." + This tone it is our interest and our duty to take. The circumstances admit + of no delay. Is there one among us who is not looking with breathless + anxiety for the next tidings which may arrive from the remote parts of the + kingdom? Even while I speak, the moments are passing away, the irrevocable + moments pregnant with the destiny of a great people. The country is in + danger: it may be saved: we can save it: this is the way: this is the + time. In our hands are the issues of great good and great evil, the issues + of the life and death of the State. May the result of our deliberations be + the repose and prosperity of that noble country which is entitled to all + our love; and for the safety of which we are answerable to our own + consciences, to the memory of future ages, to the Judge of all hearts! + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (DECEMBER 16, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE + OF COMMONS ON THE 16TH OF DECEMBER 1831. + </h2> + <p> + On Friday, the sixteenth of December 1831, Lord Althorpe moved the second + reading of the Bill to amend the representation of the people in England + and Wales. Lord Porchester moved, as an amendment, that the bill should be + read a second time that day six months. The debate lasted till after + midnight, and was then adjourned till twelve at noon. The House did not + divide till one on the Sunday morning. The amendment was then rejected by + 324 votes to 162; and the original motion was carried. The following + Speech was made on the first night of the debate. + </p> + <p> + I can assure my noble friend (Lord Mahon.), for whom I entertain + sentiments of respect and kindness which no political difference will, I + trust, ever disturb, that his remarks have given me no pain, except, + indeed, the pain which I feel at being compelled to say a few words about + myself. Those words shall be very few. I know how unpopular egotism is in + this House. My noble friend says that, in the debates of last March, I + declared myself opposed to the ballot, and that I have since recanted, for + the purpose of making myself popular with the inhabitants of Leeds. My + noble friend is altogether mistaken. I never said, in any debate, that I + was opposed to the ballot. The word ballot never passed my lips within + this House. I observed strict silence respecting it on two accounts; in + the first place, because my own opinions were, till very lately, + undecided; in the second place, because I knew that the agitation of that + question, a question of which the importance appears to me to be greatly + overrated, would divide those on whose firm and cordial union the safety + of the empire depends. My noble friend has taken this opportunity of + replying to a speech which I made last October. The doctrines which I then + laid down were, according to him, most intemperate and dangerous. Now, + Sir, it happens, curiously enough, that my noble friend has himself + asserted, in his speech of this night, those very doctrines, in language + so nearly resembling mine that I might fairly accuse him of plagiarism. I + said that laws have no force in themselves, and that, unless supported by + public opinion, they are a mere dead letter. The noble Lord has said + exactly the same thing to-night. "Keep your old Constitution," he + exclaims; "for, whatever may be its defects in theory, it has more of the + public veneration than your new Constitution will have; and no laws can be + efficient, unless they have the public veneration." I said, that statutes + are in themselves only wax and parchment; and I was called an incendiary + by the opposition. The noble Lord has said to-night that statutes in + themselves are only ink and parchment; and those very persons who reviled + me have enthusiastically cheered him. I am quite at a loss to understand + how doctrines which are, in his mouth, true and constitutional, can, in + mine, be false and revolutionary. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, it is time that I should address myself to the momentous + question before us. I shall certainly give my best support to this bill, + through all its stages; and, in so doing, I conceive that I shall act in + strict conformity with the resolution by which this House, towards the + close of the late Session, declared its unabated attachment to the + principles and to the leading provisions of the First Reform Bill. All + those principles, all those leading provisions, I find in the present + measure. In the details there are, undoubtedly, considerable alterations. + Most of the alterations appear to me to be improvements; and even those + alterations which I cannot consider as in themselves improvements will yet + be most useful, if their effect shall be to conciliate opponents, and to + facilitate the adjustment of a question which, for the sake of order, for + the sake of peace, for the sake of trade, ought to be, not only + satisfactorily, but speedily settled. We have been told, Sir, that, if we + pronounce this bill to be a better bill than the last, we recant all the + doctrines which we maintained during the last Session, we sing our + palinode; we allow that we have had a great escape; we allow that our own + conduct was deserving of censure; we allow that the party which was the + minority in this House, and, most unhappily for the country, the majority + in the other House, has saved the country from a great calamity. Sir, even + if this charge were well founded, there are those who should have been + prevented by prudence, if not by magnanimity, from bringing it forward. I + remember an Opposition which took a very different course. I remember an + Opposition which, while excluded from power, taught all its doctrines to + the Government; which, after labouring long, and sacrificing much, in + order to effect improvements in various parts of our political and + commercial system, saw the honour of those improvements appropriated by + others. But the members of that Opposition had, I believe, a sincere + desire to promote the public good. They, therefore, raised no shout of + triumph over the recantations of their proselytes. They rejoiced, but with + no ungenerous joy, when their principles of trade, of jurisprudence, of + foreign policy, of religious liberty, became the principles of the + Administration. They were content that he who came into fellowship with + them at the eleventh hour should have a far larger share of the reward + than those who had borne the burthen and heat of the day. In the year + 1828, a single division in this House changed the whole policy of the + Government with respect to the Test and Corporation Acts. My noble friend, + the Paymaster of the Forces, then sat where the right honourable Baronet, + the member for Tamworth, now sits. I do not remember that, when the right + honourable Baronet announced his change of purpose, my noble friend sprang + up to talk about palinodes, to magnify the wisdom and virtue of the Whigs, + and to sneer at his new coadjutors. Indeed, I am not sure that the members + of the late Opposition did not carry their indulgence too far; that they + did not too easily suffer the fame of Grattan and Romilly to be + transferred to less deserving claimants; that they were not too ready, in + the joy with which they welcomed the tardy and convenient repentance of + their converts, to grant a general amnesty for the errors of the + insincerity of years. If it were true that we had recanted, this ought not + to be made matter of charge against us by men whom posterity will remember + by nothing but recantations. But, in truth, we recant nothing. We have + nothing to recant. We support this bill. We may possibly think it a better + bill than that which preceded it. But are we therefore bound to admit that + we were in the wrong, that the Opposition was in the right, that the House + of Lords has conferred a great benefit on the nation? We saw—who did + not see?—great defects in the first bill. But did we see nothing + else? Is delay no evil? Is prolonged excitement no evil? Is it no evil + that the heart of a great people should be made sick by deferred hope? We + allow that many of the changes which have been made are improvements. But + we think that it would have been far better for the country to have had + the last bill, with all its defects, than the present bill, with all its + improvements. Second thoughts are proverbially the best, but there are + emergencies which do not admit of second thoughts. There probably never + was a law which might not have been amended by delay. But there have been + many cases in which there would have been more mischief in the delay than + benefit in the amendments. The first bill, however inferior it may have + been in its details to the present bill, was yet herein far superior to + the present bill, than it was the first. If the first bill had passed, it + would, I firmly believe, have produced a complete reconciliation between + the aristocracy and the people. It is my earnest wish and prayer that the + present bill may produce this blessed effect; but I cannot say that my + hopes are so sanguine as they were at the beginning of the last Session. + The decision of the House of Lords has, I fear, excited in the public mind + feelings of resentment which will not soon be allayed. What then, it is + said, would you legislate in haste? Would you legislate in times of great + excitement concerning matters of such deep concern? Yes, Sir, I would: and + if any bad consequences should follow from the haste and the excitement, + let those be held answerable who, when there was no need of haste, when + there existed no excitement, refused to listen to any project of Reform, + nay, who made it an argument against Reform, that the public mind was not + excited. When few meetings were held, when few petitions were sent up to + us, these politicians said, "Would you alter a Constitution with which the + people are perfectly satisfied?" And now, when the kingdom from one end to + the other is convulsed by the question of Reform, we hear it said by the + very same persons, "Would you alter the Representative system in such + agitated times as these?" Half the logic of misgovernment lies in this one + sophistical dilemma: If the people are turbulent, they are unfit for + liberty: if they are quiet, they do not want liberty. + </p> + <p> + I allow that hasty legislation is an evil. I allow that there are great + objections to legislating in troubled times. But reformers are compelled + to legislate fast, because bigots will not legislate early. Reformers are + compelled to legislate in times of excitement, because bigots will not + legislate in times of tranquillity. If, ten years ago, nay, if only two + years ago, there had been at the head of affairs men who understood the + signs of the times and the temper of the nation, we should not have been + forced to hurry now. If we cannot take our time, it is because we have to + make up for their lost time. If they had reformed gradually, we might have + reformed gradually; but we are compelled to move fast, because they would + not move at all. + </p> + <p> + Though I admit, Sir, that this bill is in its details superior to the + former bill, I must say that the best parts of this bill, those parts for + the sake of which principally I support it, those parts for the sake of + which I would support it, however imperfect its details might be, are + parts which it has in common with the former bill. It destroys nomination; + it admits the great body of the middle orders to a share in the + government; and it contains provisions which will, as I conceive, greatly + diminish the expense of elections. + </p> + <p> + Touching the expense of elections I will say a few words, because that + part of the subject has not, I think, received so much attention as it + deserves. Whenever the nomination boroughs are attacked, the opponents of + Reform produce a long list of eminent men who have sate for those + boroughs, and who, they tell us, would never have taken any part in public + affairs but for those boroughs. Now, Sir, I suppose no person will + maintain that a large constituent body is likely to prefer ignorant and + incapable men to men of information and ability? Whatever objections there + may be to democratic institutions, it was never, I believe, doubted that + those institutions are favourable to the development of talents. We may + prefer the constitution of Sparta to that of Athens, or the constitution + of Venice to that of Florence: but no person will deny that Athens + produced more great men than Sparta, or that Florence produced more great + men than Venice. But to come nearer home: the five largest English towns + which have now the right of returning two members each by popular + election, are Westminster, Southwark, Liverpool, Bristol, and Norwich. Now + let us see what members those places have sent to Parliament. I will not + speak of the living, though among the living are some of the most + distinguished ornaments of the House. I will confine myself to the dead. + Among many respectable and useful members of Parliament, whom these towns + have returned, during the last half century, I find Mr Burke, Mr Fox, Mr + Sheridan, Mr Windham, Mr Tierney, Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr Canning, Mr + Huskisson. These were eight of the most illustrious parliamentary leaders + of the generation which is passing away from the world. Mr Pitt was, + perhaps, the only person worthy to make a ninth with them. It is, surely, + a remarkable circumstance that, of the nine most distinguished Members of + the House of Commons who have died within the last forty years, eight + should have been returned to Parliament by the five largest represented + towns. I am, therefore, warranted in saying that great constituent bodies + are quite as competent to discern merit, and quite as much disposed to + reward merit, as the proprietors of boroughs. It is true that some of the + distinguished statesmen whom I have mentioned would never have been known + to large constituent bodies if they had not first sate for nomination + boroughs. But why is this? Simply, because the expense of contesting + popular places, under the present system, is ruinously great. A poor man + cannot defray it; an untried man cannot expect his constituents to defray + it for him. And this is the way in which our Representative system is + defended. Corruption vouches corruption. Every abuse is made the plea for + another abuse. We must have nomination at Gatton because we have profusion + at Liverpool. Sir, these arguments convince me, not that no Reform is + required, but that a very deep and searching Reform is required. If two + evils serve in some respects to counterbalance each other, this is a + reason, not for keeping both, but for getting rid of both together. At + present you close against men of talents that broad, that noble entrance + which belongs to them, and which ought to stand wide open to them; and in + exchange you open to them a bye entrance, low and narrow, always obscure, + often filthy, through which, too often, they can pass only by crawling on + their hands and knees, and from which they too often emerge sullied with + stains never to be washed away. But take the most favourable case. Suppose + that the member who sits for a nomination borough owes his seat to a man + of virtue and honour, to a man whose service is perfect freedom, to a man + who would think himself degraded by any proof of gratitude which might + degrade his nominee. Yet is it nothing that such a member comes into this + House wearing the badge, though not feeling the chain of servitude? Is it + nothing that he cannot speak of his independence without exciting a smile? + Is it nothing that he is considered, not as a Representative, but as an + adventurer? This is what your system does for men of genius. It admits + them to political power, not as, under better institutions, they would be + admitted to power, erect, independent, unsullied; but by means which + corrupt the virtue of many, and in some degree diminish the authority of + all. Could any system be devised, better fitted to pervert the principles + and break the spirit of men formed to be the glory of their country? And, + can we mention no instance in which this system has made such men useless, + or worse than useless, to the country of which their talents were the + ornament, and might, in happier circumstances, have been the salvation? + Ariel, the beautiful and kindly Ariel, doing the bidding of the loathsome + and malignant Sycorax, is but a faint type of genius enslaved by the + spells, and employed in the drudgery of corruption— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "A spirit too delicate + To act those earthy and abhorred commands." +</pre> + <p> + We cannot do a greater service to men of real merit than by destroying + that which has been called their refuge, which is their house of bondage; + by taking from them the patronage of the great, and giving to them in its + stead the respect and confidence of the people. The bill now before us + will, I believe, produce that happy effect. It facilitates the canvass; it + reduces the expense of legal agency; it shortens the poll; above all, it + disfranchises the outvoters. It is not easy to calculate the precise + extent to which these changes will diminish the cost of elections. I have + attempted, however, to obtain some information on this subject. I have + applied to a gentleman of great experience in affairs of this kind, a + gentleman who, at the last three general elections, managed the finances + of the popular party in one of the largest boroughs in the kingdom. He + tells me, that at the general election of 1826, when that borough was + contested, the expenses of the popular candidate amounted to eighteen + thousand pounds; and that, by the best estimate which can now be made, the + borough may, under the reformed system, be as effectually contested for + one tenth part of that sum. In the new constituent bodies there are no + ancient rights reserved. In those bodies, therefore, the expense of an + election will be still smaller. I firmly believe, that it will be possible + to poll out Manchester for less than the market price of Old Sarum. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I have, from the beginning of these discussions, supported Reform on + two grounds; first, because I believe it to be in itself a good thing; and + secondly, because I think the dangers of withholding it so great that, + even if it were an evil, it would be the less of two evils. The dangers of + the country have in no wise diminished. I believe that they have greatly + increased. It is, I fear, impossible to deny that what has happened with + respect to almost every great question that ever divided mankind has + happened also with respect to the Reform Bill. Wherever great interests + are at stake there will be much excitement; and wherever there is much + excitement there will be some extravagance. The same great stirring of the + human mind which produced the Reformation produced also the follies and + crimes of the Anabaptists. The same spirit which resisted the Ship-money, + and abolished the Star Chamber, produced the Levellers and the Fifth + Monarchy men. And so, it cannot be denied that bad men, availing + themselves of the agitation produced by the question of Reform, have + promulgated, and promulgated with some success, doctrines incompatible + with the existence, I do not say of monarchy, or of aristocracy, but of + all law, of all order, of all property, of all civilisation, of all that + makes us to differ from Mohawks or Hottentots. I bring no accusation + against that portion of the working classes which has been imposed upon by + these doctrines. Those persons are what their situation has made them, + ignorant from want of leisure, irritable from the sense of distress. That + they should be deluded by impudent assertions and gross sophisms; that, + suffering cruel privations, they should give ready credence to promises of + relief; that, never having investigated the nature and operation of + government, they should expect impossibilities from it, and should + reproach it for not performing impossibilities; all this is perfectly + natural. No errors which they may commit ought ever to make us forget that + it is in all probability owing solely to the accident of our situation + that we have not fallen into errors precisely similar. There are few of us + who do not know from experience that, even with all our advantages of + education, pain and sorrow can make us very querulous and very + unreasonable. We ought not, therefore, to be surprised that, as the Scotch + proverb says, "it should be ill talking between a full man and a fasting;" + that the logic of the rich man who vindicates the rights of property, + should seem very inconclusive to the poor man who hears his children cry + for bread. I bring, I say, no accusation against the working classes. I + would withhold from them nothing which it might be for their good to + possess. I see with pleasure that, by the provisions of the Reform Bill, + the most industrious and respectable of our labourers will be admitted to + a share in the government of the State. If I would refuse to the working + people that larger share of power which some of them have demanded, I + would refuse it, because I am convinced that, by giving it, I should only + increase their distress. I admit that the end of government is their + happiness. But, that they may be governed for their happiness, they must + not be governed according to the doctrines which they have learned from + their illiterate, incapable, low-minded flatterers. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, the fact that such doctrines have been promulgated among the + multitude is a strong argument for a speedy and effectual reform. That + government is attacked is a reason for making the foundations of + government broader, and deeper, and more solid. That property is attacked + is a reason for binding together all proprietors in the firmest union. + That the agitation of the question of Reform has enabled worthless + demagogues to propagate their notions with some success is a reason for + speedily settling the question in the only way in which it can be settled. + It is difficult, Sir, to conceive any spectacle more alarming than that + which presents itself to us, when we look at the two extreme parties in + this country; a narrow oligarchy above; an infuriated multitude below; on + the one side the vices engendered by power; on the other side the vices + engendered by distress; one party blindly averse to improvement; the other + party blindly clamouring for destruction; one party ascribing to political + abuses the sanctity of property; the other party crying out against + property as a political abuse. Both these parties are alike ignorant of + their true interest. God forbid that the state should ever be at the mercy + of either, or should ever experience the calamities which must result from + a collision between them! I anticipate no such horrible event. For, + between those two parties stands a third party, infinitely more powerful + than both the others put together, attacked by both, vilified by both, but + destined, I trust, to save both from the fatal effects of their own folly. + To that party I have never ceased, through all the vicissitudes of public + affairs, to look with confidence and with good a hope. I speak of that + great party which zealously and steadily supported the first Reform Bill, + and which will, I have no doubt, support the second Reform Bill with equal + steadiness and equal zeal. That party is the middle class of England, with + the flower of the aristocracy at its head, and the flower of the working + classes bringing up its rear. That great party has taken its immovable + stand between the enemies of all order and the enemies of all liberty. It + will have Reform: it will not have revolution: it will destroy political + abuses: it will not suffer the rights of property to be assailed: it will + preserve, in spite of themselves, those who are assailing it, from the + right and from the left, with contradictory accusations: it will be a + daysman between them: it will lay its hand upon them both: it will not + suffer them to tear each other in pieces. While that great party continues + unbroken, as it now is unbroken, I shall not relinquish the hope that this + great contest may be conducted, by lawful means, to a happy termination. + But, of this I am assured, that by means, lawful or unlawful, to a + termination, happy or unhappy, this contest must speedily come. All that I + know of the history of past times, all the observations that I have been + able to make on the present state of the country, have convinced me that + the time has arrived when a great concession must be made to the democracy + of England; that the question, whether the change be in itself good or + bad, has become a question of secondary importance; that, good or bad, the + thing must be done; that a law as strong as the laws of attraction and + motion has decreed it. + </p> + <p> + I well know that history, when we look at it in small portions, may be so + construed as to mean anything, that it may be interpreted in as many ways + as a Delphic oracle. "The French Revolution," says one expositor, "was the + effect of concession." "Not so," cries another: "The French Revolution was + produced by the obstinacy of an arbitrary government." "If the French + nobles," says the first, "had refused to sit with the Third Estate, they + would never have been driven from their country." "They would never have + been driven from their country," answers the other, "if they had agreed to + the reforms proposed by M. Turgot." These controversies can never be + brought to any decisive test, or to any satisfactory conclusion. But, as I + believe that history, when we look at it in small fragments, proves + anything, or nothing, so I believe that it is full of useful and precious + instruction when we contemplate it in large portions, when we take in, at + one view, the whole lifetime of great societies. I believe that it is + possible to obtain some insight into the law which regulates the growth of + communities, and some knowledge of the effects which that growth produces. + They history of England, in particular, is the history of a government + constantly giving way, sometimes peaceably, sometimes after a violent + struggle, but constantly giving way before a nation which has been + constantly advancing. The forest laws, the laws of villenage, the + oppressive power of the Roman Catholic Church, the power, scarcely less + oppressive, which, during some time after the Reformation, was exercised + by the Protestant Establishment, the prerogatives of the Crown, the + censorship of the Press, successively yielded. The abuses of the + representative system are now yielding to the same irresistible force. It + was impossible for the Stuarts, and it would have been impossible for them + if they had possessed all the energy of Richelieu, and all the craft of + Mazarin, to govern England as England had been governed by the Tudors. It + was impossible for the princes of the House of Hanover to govern England + as England had been governed by the Stuarts. And so it is impossible that + England should be any longer governed as it was governed under the four + first princes of the House of Hanover. I say impossible. I believe that + over the great changes of the moral world we possess as little power as + over the great changes of the physical world. We can no more prevent time + from changing the distribution of property and of intelligence, we can no + more prevent property and intelligence from aspiring to political power, + than we can change the courses of the seasons and of the tides. In peace + or in tumult, by means of old institutions, where those institutions are + flexible, over the ruins of old institutions, where those institutions + oppose an unbending resistance, the great march of society proceeds, and + must proceed. The feeble efforts of individuals to bear back are lost and + swept away in the mighty rush with which the species goes onward. Those + who appear to lead the movement are, in fact, only whirled along before + it; those who attempt to resist it, are beaten down and crushed beneath + it. + </p> + <p> + It is because rulers do not pay sufficient attention to the stages of this + great movement, because they underrate its force, because they are + ignorant of its law, that so many violent and fearful revolutions have + changed the face of society. We have heard it said a hundred times during + these discussions, we have heard it said repeatedly in the course of this + very debate, that the people of England are more free than ever they were, + that the Government is more democratic than ever it was; and this is urged + as an argument against Reform. I admit the fact; but I deny the inference. + It is a principle never to be forgotten, in discussions like this, that it + is not by absolute, but by relative misgovernment that nations are roused + to madness. It is not sufficient to look merely at the form of government. + We must look also to the state of the public mind. The worst tyrant that + ever had his neck wrung in modern Europe might have passed for a paragon + of clemency in Persia or Morocco. Our Indian subjects submit patiently to + a monopoly of salt. We tried a stamp duty, a duty so light as to be + scarcely perceptible, on the fierce breed of the old Puritans; and we lost + an empire. The Government of Louis the Sixteenth was certainly a much + better and milder Government than that of Louis the Fourteenth; yet Louis + the Fourteenth was admired, and even loved, by his people. Louis the + Sixteenth died on the scaffold. Why? Because, though the Government had + made many steps in the career of improvement, it had not advanced so + rapidly as the nation. Look at our own history. The liberties of the + people were at least as much respected by Charles the First as by Henry + the Eighth, by James the Second as by Edward the Sixth. But did this save + the crown of James the Second? Did this save the head of Charles the + First? Every person who knows the history of our civil dissensions knows + that all those arguments which are now employed by the opponents of the + Reform Bill might have been employed, and were actually employed, by the + unfortunate Stuarts. The reasoning of Charles, and of all his apologists, + runs thus:—"What new grievance does the nation suffer? What has the + King done more than what Henry did? more than what Elizabeth did? Did the + people ever enjoy more freedom than at present? Did they ever enjoy so + much freedom?" But what would a wise and honest counsellor, if Charles had + been so happy as to possess such a counsellor, have replied to arguments + like these? He would have said, "Sir, I acknowledge that the people were + never more free than under your government. I acknowledge that those who + talk of restoring the old Constitution of England use an improper + expression. I acknowledge that there has been a constant improvement + during those very years during which many persons imagine that there has + been a constant deterioration. But, though there has been no change in the + government for the worse, there has been a change in the public mind which + produces exactly the same effect which would be produced by a change in + the government for the worse. Perhaps this change in the public mind is to + be regretted. But no matter; you cannot reverse it. You cannot undo all + that eighty eventful years have done. You cannot transform the Englishmen + of 1640 into the Englishmen of 1560. It may be that the simple loyalty of + our fathers was preferable to that inquiring, censuring, resisting spirit + which is now abroad. It may be that the times when men paid their + benevolences cheerfully were better times than these, when a gentleman + goes before the Exchequer Chamber to resist an assessment of twenty + shillings. And so it may be that infancy is a happier time than manhood, + and manhood than old age. But God has decreed that old age shall succeed + to manhood, and manhood to infancy. Even so have societies their law of + growth. As their strength becomes greater, as their experience becomes + more extensive, you can no longer confine them within the swaddling bands, + or lull them in the cradles, or amuse them with the rattles, or terrify + them with the bugbears of their infancy. I do not say that they are better + or happier than they were; but this I say, that they are different from + what they were, that you cannot again make them what they were, and that + you cannot safely treat them as if they continued to be what they were." + This was the advice which a wise and honest Minister would have given to + Charles the First. These were the principles on which that unhappy prince + should have acted. But no. He would govern, I do not say ill, I do not say + tyrannically; I only say this; he would govern the men of the seventeenth + century as if they had been the men of the sixteenth century; and + therefore it was, that all his talents and all his virtues did not save + him from unpopularity, from civil war, from a prison, from a bar, from a + scaffold. These things are written for our instruction. Another great + intellectual revolution has taken place; our lot has been cast on a time + analogous, in many respects, to the time which immediately preceded the + meeting of the Long Parliament. There is a change in society. There must + be a corresponding change in the government. We are not, we cannot, in the + nature of things, be, what our fathers were. We are no more like the men + of the American war, or the men of the gagging bills, than the men who + cried "privilege" round the coach of Charles the First were like the men + who changed their religion once a year at the bidding of Henry the Eighth. + That there is such a change, I can no more doubt than I can doubt that we + have more power looms, more steam engines, more gas lights, than our + ancestors. That there is such a change, the Minister will surely find who + shall attempt to fit the yoke of Mr Pitt to the necks of the Englishmen of + the nineteenth century. What then can you do to bring back those times + when the constitution of this House was an object of veneration to the + people? Even as much as Strafford and Laud could do to bring back the days + of the Tudors; as much as Bonner and Gardiner could do to bring back the + days of Hildebrand; as much as Villele and Polignac could do to bring back + the days of Louis the Fourteenth. You may make the change tedious; you may + make it violent; you may—God in his mercy forbid!—you may make + it bloody; but avert it you cannot. Agitations of the public mind, so deep + and so long continued as those which we have witnessed, do not end in + nothing. In peace or in convulsion, by the law, or in spite of the law, + through the Parliament, or over the Parliament, Reform must be carried. + Therefore be content to guide that movement which you cannot stop. Fling + wide the gates to that force which else will enter through the breach. + Then will it still be, as it has hitherto been, the peculiar glory of our + Constitution that, though not exempt from the decay which is wrought by + the vicissitudes of fortune, and the lapse of time, in all the proudest + works of human power and wisdom, it yet contains within it the means of + self-reparation. Then will England add to her manifold titles of glory + this, the noblest and the purest of all; that every blessing which other + nations have been forced to seek, and have too often sought in vain, by + means of violent and bloody revolutions, she will have attained by a + peaceful and a lawful Reform. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ANATOMY BILL. (FEBRUARY 27, 1832) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY, 1832. + </h2> + <p> + On Monday, the twenty-seventh of February, 1832, the House took into + consideration the report of the Committee on Mr Warburton's Anatomy Bill. + Mr Henry Hunt attacked that bill with great asperity. In reply to him the + following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I cannot, even at this late hour of the night, refrain from saying + two or three words. Most of the observations of the honourable Member for + Preston I pass by, as undeserving of any answer before an audience like + this. But on one part of his speech I must make a few remarks. We are, he + says, making a law to benefit the rich, at the expense of the poor. Sir, + the fact is the direct reverse. This is a bill which tends especially to + the benefit of the poor. What are the evils against which we are + attempting to make provision? Two especially; that is to say, the practice + of Burking, and bad surgery. Now to both these the poor alone are exposed. + What man, in our rank of life, runs the smallest risk of being Burked? + That a man has property, that he has connections, that he is likely to be + missed and sought for, are circumstances which secure him against the + Burker. It is curious to observe the difference between murders of this + kind and other murders. An ordinary murder hides the body, and disposes of + the property. Bishop and Williams dig holes and bury the property, and + expose the body to sale. The more wretched, the more lonely, any human + being may be, the more desirable prey is he to these wretches. It is the + man, the mere naked man, that they pursue. Again, as to bad surgery; this + is, of all evils, the evil by which the rich suffer least, and the poor + most. If we could do all that in the opinion of the Member for Preston + ought to be done, if we could destroy the English school of anatomy, if we + could force every student of medical science to go to the expense of a + foreign education, on whom would the bad consequences fall? On the rich? + Not at all. As long as there is in France, in Italy, in Germany, a single + surgeon of eminent skill, a single surgeon who is, to use the phrase of + the member for Preston, addicted to dissection, that surgeon will be in + attendance whenever an English nobleman is to be cut for the stone. The + higher orders in England will always be able to procure the best medical + assistance. Who suffers by the bad state of the Russian school of surgery? + The Emperor Nicholas? By no means. The whole evil falls on the peasantry. + If the education of a surgeon should become very extensive, if the fees of + surgeons should consequently rise, if the supply of regular surgeons + should diminish, the sufferers would be, not the rich, but the poor in our + country villages, who would again be left to mountebanks, and barbers, and + old women, and charms and quack medicines. The honourable gentleman talks + of sacrificing the interests of humanity to the interests of science, as + if this were a question about the squaring of the circle, or the transit + of Venus. This is not a mere question of science: it is not the + unprofitable exercise of an ingenious mind: it is a question between + health and sickness, between ease and torment, between life and death. + Does the honourable gentleman know from what cruel sufferings the + improvement of surgical science has rescued our species? I will tell him + one story, the first that comes into my head. He may have heard of + Leopold, Duke of Austria, the same who imprisoned our Richard + Coeur-de-Lion. Leopold's horse fell under him, and crushed his leg. The + surgeons said that the limb must be amputated; but none of them knew how + to amputate it. Leopold, in his agony, laid a hatchet on his thigh, and + ordered his servant to strike with a mallet. The leg was cut off, and the + Duke died of the gush of blood. Such was the end of that powerful prince. + Why, there is not now a bricklayer who falls from a ladder in England, who + cannot obtain surgical assistance, infinitely superior to that which the + sovereign of Austria could command in the twelfth century. I think this a + bill which tends to the good of the people, and which tends especially to + the good of the poor. Therefore I support it. If it is unpopular, I am + sorry for it. But I shall cheerfully take my share of its unpopularity. + For such, I am convinced, ought to be the conduct of one whose object it + is, not to flatter the people, but to serve them. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (FEBRUARY 28, 1832) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A + COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 28TH OF FEBRUARY, 1832. + </h2> + <p> + On Tuesday, the twenty-eighth of February, 1832, in the Committee on the + Bill to amend the representation of the people in England and Wales, the + question was put, "That the Tower Hamlets, Middlesex, stand part of + Schedule C." The opponents of the Bill mustered their whole strength on + this occasion, and were joined by some members who had voted with the + Government on the second reading. The question was carried, however, by + 316 votes to 236. The following Speech was made in reply to the Marquess + of Chandos and Sir Edward Sugden, who, on very different grounds, objected + to any increase in the number of metropolitan members. + </p> + <p> + Mr Bernal,—I have spoken so often on the question of Parliamentary + Reform, that I am very unwilling to occupy the time of the Committee. But + the importance of the amendment proposed by the noble Marquess, and the + peculiar circumstances in which we are placed to-night, make me so anxious + that I cannot remain silent. + </p> + <p> + In this debate, as in every other debate, our first object should be to + ascertain on which side the burden of the proof lies. Now, it seems to me + quite clear that the burden of the proof lies on those who support the + amendment. I am entitled to take it for granted that it is right and wise + to give representatives to some wealthy and populous places which have + hitherto been unrepresented. To this extent, at least, we all, with + scarcely an exception, now profess ourselves Reformers. There is, indeed, + a great party which still objects to the disfranchising even of the + smallest boroughs. But all the most distinguished chiefs of that party + have, here and elsewhere, admitted that the elective franchise ought to be + given to some great towns which have risen into importance since our + representative system took its present form. If this be so, on what ground + can it be contended that these metropolitan districts ought not to be + represented? Are they inferior in importance to the other places to which + we are all prepared to give members? I use the word importance with + perfect confidence: for, though in our recent debates there has been some + dispute as to the standard by which the importance of towns is to be + measured, there is no room for dispute here. Here, take what standard you + will, the result will be the same. Take population: take the rental: take + the number of ten pound houses: take the amount of the assessed taxes: + take any test in short: take any number of tests, and combine those tests + in any of the ingenious ways which men of science have suggested: + multiply: divide: subtract: add: try squares or cubes: try square roots or + cube roots: you will never be able to find a pretext for excluding these + districts from Schedule C. If, then, it be acknowledged that the franchise + ought to be given to important places which are at present unrepresented, + and if it be acknowledged that these districts are in importance not + inferior to any place which is at present unrepresented, you are bound to + give us strong reasons for withholding the franchise from these districts. + </p> + <p> + The honourable and learned gentleman (Sir E. Sugden.) has tried to give + such reasons; and, in doing so, he has completely refuted the whole speech + of the noble Marquess, with whom he means to divide. (The Marquess of + Chandos.) The truth is that the noble Marquess and the honourable and + learned gentleman, though they agree in their votes, do not at all agree + in their forebodings or in their ulterior intentions. The honourable and + learned gentleman thinks it dangerous to increase the number of + metropolitan voters. The noble Lord is perfectly willing to increase the + number of metropolitan voters, and objects only to any increase in the + number of metropolitan members. "Will you," says the honourable and + learned gentleman, "be so rash, so insane, as to create constituent bodies + of twenty or thirty thousand electors?" "Yes," says the noble Marquess, + "and much more than that. I will create constituent bodies of forty + thousand, sixty thousand, a hundred thousand. I will add Marylebone to + Westminster. I will add Lambeth to Southwark. I will add Finsbury and the + Tower Hamlets to the City." The noble Marquess, it is clear, is not afraid + of the excitement which may be produced by the polling of immense + multitudes. Of what then is he afraid? Simply of eight members: nay, of + six members: for he is willing, he tells us, to add two members to the two + who already sit for Middlesex, and who may be considered as metropolitan + members. Are six members, then, so formidable? I could mention a single + peer who now sends more than six members to the House. But, says the noble + Marquess, the members for the metropolitan districts will be called to a + strict account by their constituents: they will be mere delegates: they + will be forced to speak, not their own sense, but the sense of the + capital. I will answer for it, Sir, that they will not be called to a + stricter account than those gentlemen who are nominated by some great + proprietors of boroughs. Is it not notorious that those who represent it + as in the highest degree pernicious and degrading that a public man should + be called to account by a great city which has intrusted its dearest + interests to his care, do nevertheless think that he is bound by the most + sacred ties of honour to vote according to the wishes of his patron or to + apply for the Chiltern Hundreds? It is a bad thing, I fully admit, that a + Member of Parliament should be a mere delegate. But it is not worse that + he should be the delegate of a hundred thousand people than of one too + powerful individual. What a perverse, what an inconsistent spirit is this; + too proud to bend to the wishes of a nation, yet ready to lick the dust at + the feet of a patron! And how is it proved that a member for Lambeth or + Finsbury will be under a more servile awe of his constituents than a + member for Leicester, or a member for Leicestershire, or a member for the + University of Oxford? Is it not perfectly notorious that many members + voted, year after year, against Catholic Emancipation, simply because they + knew that, if they voted otherwise, they would lose their seats? No doubt + this is an evil. But it is an evil which will exist in some form or other + as long as human nature is the same, as long as there are men so + low-minded as to prefer the gratification of a vulgar ambition to the + approbation of their conscience and the welfare of their country. + Construct your representative system as you will, these men will always be + sycophants. If you give power to Marylebone, they will fawn on the + householders of Marylebone. If you leave power to Gatton, they will fawn + on the proprietor of Gatton. I can see no reason for believing that their + baseness will be more mischievous in the former case than in the latter. + </p> + <p> + But, it is said, the power of this huge capital is even now dangerously + great; and will you increase that power? Now, Sir, I am far from denying + that the power of London is, in some sense, dangerously great; but I + altogether deny that the danger will be increased by this bill. It has + always been found that a hundred thousand people congregated close to the + seat of government exercise a greater influence on public affairs than + five hundred thousand dispersed over a remote province. But this influence + is not proportioned to the number of representatives chosen by the + capital. This influence is felt at present, though the greater part of the + capital is unrepresented. This influence is felt in countries where there + is no representative system at all. Indeed, this influence is nowhere so + great as under despotic governments. I need not remind the Committee that + the Caesars, while ruling by the sword, while putting to death without a + trial every senator, every magistrate, who incurred their displeasure, yet + found it necessary to keep the populace of the imperial city in good + humour by distributions of corn and shows of wild beasts. Every country, + from Britain to Egypt, was squeezed for the means of filling the granaries + and adorning the theatres of Rome. On more than one occasion, long after + the Cortes of Castile had become a mere name, the rabble of Madrid + assembled before the royal palace, forced their King, their absolute King, + to appear in the balcony, and exacted from him a promise that he would + dismiss an obnoxious minister. It was in this way that Charles the Second + was forced to part with Oropesa, and that Charles the Third was forced to + part with Squillaci. If there is any country in the world where pure + despotism exists, that country is Turkey; and yet there is no country in + the world where the inhabitants of the capital are so much dreaded by the + government. The Sultan, who stands in awe of nothing else, stands in awe + of the turbulent populace, which may, at any moment, besiege him in his + Seraglio. As soon as Constantinople is up, everything is conceded. The + unpopular edict is recalled. The unpopular vizier is beheaded. This sort + of power has nothing to do with representation. It depends on physical + force and on vicinity. You do not propose to take this sort of power away + from London. Indeed, you cannot take it away. Nothing can take it away but + an earthquake more terrible than that of Lisbon, or a fire more + destructive than that of 1666. Law can do nothing against this description + of power; for it is a power which is formidable only when law has ceased + to exist. While the reign of law continues, eight votes in a House of six + hundred and fifty-eight Members will hardly do much harm. When the reign + of law is at an end, and the reign of violence commences, the importance + of a million and a half of people, all collected within a walk of the + Palace, of the Parliament House, of the Bank, of the Courts of Justice, + will not be measured by eight or by eighty votes. See, then, what you are + doing. That power which is not dangerous you refuse to London. That power + which is dangerous you leave undiminished; nay, you make it more dangerous + still. For by refusing to let eight or nine hundred thousand people + express their opinions and wishes in a legal and constitutional way, you + increase the risk of disaffection and of tumult. It is not necessary to + have recourse to the speeches or writings of democrats to show that a + represented district is far more likely to be turbulent than an + unrepresented district. Mr Burke, surely not a rash innovator, not a + flatterer of the multitude, described long ago in this place with + admirable eloquence the effect produced by the law which gave + representative institutions to the rebellious mountaineers of Wales. That + law, he said, had been to an agitated nation what the twin stars + celebrated by Horace were to a stormy sea; the wind had fallen; the clouds + had dispersed; the threatening waves had sunk to rest. I have mentioned + the commotions of Madrid and Constantinople. Why is it that the population + of unrepresented London, though physically far more powerful than the + population of Madrid or of Constantinople, has been far more peaceable? + Why have we never seen the inhabitants of the metropolis besiege St + James's, or force their way riotously into this House? Why, but because + they have other means of giving vent to their feelings, because they enjoy + the liberty of unlicensed printing, and the liberty of holding public + meetings. Just as the people of unrepresented London are more orderly than + the people of Constantinople and Madrid, so will the people of represented + London be more orderly than the people of unrepresented London. + </p> + <p> + Surely, Sir, nothing can be more absurd than to withhold legal power from + a portion of the community because that portion of the community possesses + natural power. Yet that is precisely what the noble Marquess would have us + do. In all ages a chief cause of the intestine disorders of states has + been that the natural distribution of power and the legal distribution of + power have not corresponded with each other. This is no newly discovered + truth. It was well known to Aristotle more than two thousand years ago. It + is illustrated by every part of ancient and of modern history, and + eminently by the history of England during the last few months. Our + country has been in serious danger; and why? Because a representative + system, framed to suit the England of the thirteenth century, did not suit + the England of the nineteenth century; because an old wall, the last + relique of a departed city, retained the privileges of that city, while + great towns, celebrated all over the world for wealth and intelligence, + had no more share in the government than when they were still hamlets. The + object of this bill is to correct those monstrous disproportions, and to + bring the legal order of society into something like harmony with the + natural order. What, then, can be more inconsistent with the fundamental + principle of the bill than to exclude any district from a share in the + representation, for no reason but because that district is, and must + always be, one of great importance? This bill was meant to reconcile and + unite. Will you frame it in such a manner that it must inevitably produce + irritation and discord? This bill was meant to be final in the only + rational sense of the word final. Will you frame it in such a way that it + must inevitably be shortlived? Is it to be the first business of the first + reformed House of Commons to pass a new Reform Bill? Gentlemen opposite + have often predicted that the settlement which we are making will not be + permanent; and they are now taking the surest way to accomplish their own + prediction. I agree with them in disliking change merely as change. I + would bear with many things which are indefensible in theory, nay, with + some things which are grievous in practice, rather than venture on a + change in the composition of Parliament. But when such a change is + necessary,—and that such a change is now necessary is admitted by + men of all parties,—then I hold that it ought to be full and + effectual. A great crisis may be followed by the complete restoration of + health. But no constitution will bear perpetual tampering. If the noble + Marquess's amendment should unhappily be carried, it is morally certain + that the immense population of Finsbury, of Marylebone, of Lambeth, of the + Tower Hamlets, will, importunately and clamorously, demand redress from + the reformed Parliament. That Parliament, you tell us, will be much more + democratically inclined than the Parliaments of past times. If so, how can + you expect that it will resist the urgent demands of a million of people + close to its door? These eight seats will be given. More than eight seats + will be given. The whole question of Reform will be opened again; and the + blame will rest on those who will, by mutilating this great law in an + essential part, cause hundreds of thousands who now regard it as a boon to + regard it as an outrage. + </p> + <p> + Sir, our word is pledged. Let us remember the solemn promise which we gave + to the nation last October at a perilous conjuncture. That promise was + that we would stand firmly by the principles and leading provisions of the + Reform Bill. Our sincerity is now brought to the test. One of the leading + provisions of the bill is in danger. The question is, not merely whether + these districts shall be represented, but whether we will keep the faith + which we plighted to our countrymen. Let us be firm. Let us make no + concession to those who, having in vain tried to throw the bill out, are + now trying to fritter it away. An attempt has been made to induce the + Irish members to vote against the government. It has been hinted that, + perhaps, some of the seats taken from the metropolis may be given to + Ireland. Our Irish friends will, I doubt not, remember that the very + persons who offer this bribe exerted themselves not long ago to raise a + cry against the proposition to give additional members to Belfast, + Limerick, Waterford, and Galway. The truth is that our enemies wish only + to divide us, and care not by what means. One day they try to excite + jealousy among the English by asserting that the plan of the government is + too favourable to Ireland. Next day they try to bribe the Irish to desert + us, by promising to give something to Ireland at the expense of England. + Let us disappoint these cunning men. Let us, from whatever part of the + United Kingdom we come, be true to each other and to the good cause. We + have the confidence of our country. We have justly earned it. For God's + sake let us not throw it away. Other occasions may arise on which honest + Reformers may fairly take different sides. But to-night he that is not + with us is against us. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 6, 1833) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN + THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF FEBRUARY 1833. + </h2> + <p> + On the twenty-ninth of January 1833, the first Parliament elected under + the Reform Act of 1832 met at Westminster. On the fifth of February, King + William the Fourth made a speech from the throne, in which he expressed + his hope that the Houses would entrust him with such powers as might be + necessary for maintaining order in Ireland and for preserving and + strengthening the union between that country and Great Britain. An + Address, assuring His Majesty of the concurrence and support of the + Commons, was moved by Lord Ormelie and seconded by Mr John Marshall. Mr + O'Connell opposed the Address, and moved, as an amendment, that the House + should resolve itself into a Committee. After a discussion of four nights + the amendment was rejected by 428 votes to 40. On the second night of the + debate the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + Last night, Sir, I thought that it would not be necessary for me to take + any part in the present debate: but the appeal which has this evening been + made to me by my honourable friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Edward + Lytton Bulwer.) has forced me to rise. I will, however, postpone the few + words which I have to say in defence of my own consistency, till I have + expressed my opinion on the much more important subject which is before + the House. + </p> + <p> + My honourable friend tells us that we are now called upon to make a choice + between two modes of pacifying Ireland; that the government recommends + coercion; that the honourable and learned Member for Dublin (Mr + O'Connell.) recommends redress; and that it is our duty to try the effect + of redress before we have recourse to coercion. The antithesis is framed + with all the ingenuity which is characteristic of my honourable friend's + style; but I cannot help thinking that, on this occasion, his ingenuity + has imposed on himself, and that he has not sufficiently considered the + meaning of the pointed phrase which he used with so much effect. Redress + is no doubt a very well sounding word. What can be more reasonable than to + ask for redress? What more unjust than to refuse redress? But my + honourable friend will perceive, on reflection, that, though he and the + honourable and learned Member for Dublin agree in pronouncing the word + redress, they agree in nothing else. They utter the same sound; but they + attach to it two diametrically opposite meanings. The honourable and + learned Member for Dublin means by redress simply the Repeal of the Union. + Now, to the Repeal of the Union my honourable friend the Member for + Lincoln is decidedly adverse. When we get at his real meaning, we find + that he is just as unwilling as we are to give the redress which the + honourable and learned Member for Dublin demands. Only a small minority of + the House will, I hope, and believe, vote with that honourable and learned + member; but the minority which thinks with him will be very much smaller. + </p> + <p> + We have, indeed, been told by some gentlemen, who are not themselves + repealers, that the question of Repeal deserves a much more serious + consideration than it has yet received. Repeal, they say, is an object on + which millions have, however unwisely, set their hearts; and men who speak + in the name of millions are not to be coughed down or sneered down. That + which a suffering nation regards, rightly or wrongly, as the sole cure for + all its distempers, ought not to be treated with levity, but to be the + subject of full and solemn debate. All this, Sir, is most true: but I am + surprised that this lecture should have been read to us who sit on your + right. It would, I apprehend, have been with more propriety addressed to a + different quarter. Whose fault is it that we have not yet had, and that + there is no prospect of our having, this full and solemn debate? Is it the + fault of His Majesty's Ministers? Have not they framed the Speech which + their Royal Master delivered from the throne, in such a manner as to + invite the grave and searching discussion of the question of Repeal? and + has not the invitation been declined? Is it not fresh in our recollection + that the honourable and learned Member for Dublin spoke two hours, perhaps + three hours,—nobody keeps accurate account of time while he speaks,—but + two or three hours without venturing to join issue with us on this + subject? In truth, he suffered judgment to go against him by default. We, + on this side of the House, did our best to provoke him to the conflict. We + called on him to maintain here those doctrines which he had proclaimed + elsewhere with so much vehemence, and, I am sorry to be forced to add, + with a scurrility unworthy of his parts and eloquence. Never was a + challenge more fairly given: but it was not accepted. The great champion + of Repeal would not lift our glove. He shrank back; he skulked away; not, + assuredly, from distrust of his powers, which have never been more + vigorously exerted than in this debate, but evidently from distrust of his + cause. I have seldom heard so able a speech as his: I certainly never + heard a speech so evasive. From the beginning to the end he studiously + avoided saying a single word tending to raise a discussion about that + Repeal which, in other places, he constantly affirms to be the sole + panacea for all the evils by which his country is afflicted. Nor is this + all. Yesterday night he placed on our order-book not less than fourteen + notices; and of those notices not a single one had any reference to the + Union between Great Britain and Ireland. It is therefore evident to me, + not only that the honourable and learned gentleman is not now prepared to + debate the question in this House, but that he has no intention of + debating it in this House at all. He keeps it, and prudently keeps it, for + audiences of a very different kind. I am therefore, I repeat, surprised to + hear the Government accused of avoiding the discussion of this subject. + Why should we avoid a battle in which the bold and skilful captain of the + enemy evidently knows that we must be victorious? + </p> + <p> + One gentleman, though not a repealer, has begged us not to declare + ourselves decidedly adverse to repeal till we have studied the petitions + which are coming in from Ireland. Really, Sir, this is not a subject on + which any public man ought to be now making up his mind. My mind is made + up. My reasons are such as, I am certain, no petition from Ireland will + confute. Those reasons have long been ready to be produced; and, since we + are accused of flinching, I will at once produce them. I am prepared to + show that the Repeal of the Union would not remove the political and + social evils which afflict Ireland, nay, that it would aggravate almost + every one of those evils. + </p> + <p> + I understand, though I do not approve, the proceedings of poor Wolfe Tone + and his confederates. They wished to make a complete separation between + Great Britain and Ireland. They wished to establish a Hibernian republic. + Their plan was a very bad one; but, to do them justice, it was perfectly + consistent; and an ingenious man might defend it by some plausible + arguments. But that is not the plan of the honourable and learned Member + for Dublin. He assures us that he wishes the connection between the + islands to be perpetual. He is for a complete separation between the two + Parliaments; but he is for indissoluble union between the two Crowns. Nor + does the honourable and learned gentleman mean, by an union between the + Crowns, such an union as exists between the Crown of this kingdom and the + Crown of Hanover. For I need not say that, though the same person is king + of Great Britain and of Hanover, there is no more political connection + between Great Britain and Hanover than between Great Britain and Hesse, or + between Great Britain and Bavaria. Hanover may be at peace with a state + with which Great Britain is at war. Nay, Hanover may, as a member of the + Germanic body, send a contingent of troops to cross bayonets with the + King's English footguards. This is not the relation in which the + honourable and learned gentleman proposes that Great Britain and Ireland + should stand to each other. His plan is, that each of the two countries + shall have an independent legislature, but that both shall have the same + executive government. Now, is it possible that a mind so acute and so well + informed as his should not at once perceive that this plan involves an + absurdity, a downright contradiction. Two independent legislatures! One + executive government! How can the thing be? No doubt, if the legislative + power were quite distinct from the executive power, England and Ireland + might as easily have two legislatures as two Chancellors and two Courts of + King's Bench. But though, in books written by theorists, the executive + power and the legislative power may be treated as things quite distinct, + every man acquainted with the real working of our constitution knows that + the two powers are most closely connected, nay, intermingled with each + other. During several generations, the whole administration of affairs has + been conducted in conformity with the sense of Parliament. About every + exercise of the prerogative of the Crown it is the privilege of Parliament + to offer advice; and that advice no wise king will ever slight. It is the + prerogative of the Sovereign to choose his own servants; but it is + impossible for him to maintain them in office unless Parliament will + support them. It is the prerogative of the Sovereign to treat with other + princes; but it is impossible for him to persist in any scheme of foreign + policy which is disagreeable to Parliament. It is the prerogative of the + Sovereign to make war; but he cannot raise a battalion or man a frigate + without the help of Parliament. The repealers may therefore be refuted out + of their own mouths. They say that Great Britain and Ireland ought to have + one executive power. But the legislature has a most important share of the + executive power. Therefore, by the confession of the repealers themselves, + Great Britain and Ireland ought to have one legislature. + </p> + <p> + Consider for one moment in what a situation the executive government will + be placed if you have two independent legislatures, and if those + legislatures should differ, as all bodies which are independent of each + other will sometimes differ. Suppose the case of a commercial treaty which + is unpopular in England and popular in Ireland. The Irish Parliament + expresses its approbation of the terms, and passes a vote of thanks to the + negotiator. We at Westminster censure the terms and impeach the + negotiator. Or are we to have two foreign offices, one in Downing Street + and one in Dublin Castle? Is His Majesty to send to every court in + Christendom two diplomatic agents, to thwart each other, and to be spies + upon each other? It is inconceivable but that, in a very few years, + disputes such as can be terminated only by arms must arise between + communities so absurdly united and so absurdly disunited. All history + confirms this reasoning. Superficial observers have fancied that they had + found cases on the other side. But as soon as you examine those cases you + will see either that they bear no analogy to the case with which we have + to deal, or that they corroborate my argument. The case of Ireland herself + has been cited. Ireland, it has been said, had an independent legislature + from 1782 to 1800: during eighteen years there were two coequal + parliaments under one Crown; and yet there was no collision. Sir, the + reason that there was not perpetual collision was, as we all know, that + the Irish parliament, though nominally independent, was generally kept in + real dependence by means of the foulest corruption that ever existed in + any assembly. But it is not true that there was no collision. Before the + Irish legislature had been six years independent, a collision did take + place, a collision such as might well have produced a civil war. In the + year 1788, George the Third was incapacitated by illness from discharging + his regal functions. According to the constitution, the duty of making + provision for the discharge of those functions devolved on the parliaments + of Great Britain and Ireland. Between the government of Great Britain and + the government of Ireland there was, during the interregnum, no connection + whatever. The sovereign who was the common head of both governments had + virtually ceased to exist: and the two legislatures were no more to each + other than this House and the Chamber of Deputies at Paris. What followed? + The Parliament of Great Britain resolved to offer the Regency to the + Prince of Wales under many important restrictions. The Parliament of + Ireland made him an offer of the Regency without any restrictions + whatever. By the same right by which the Irish Lords and Commons made that + offer, they might, if Mr Pitt's doctrine be the constitutional doctrine, + as I believe it to be, have made the Duke of York or the Duke of Leinster + Regent. To this Regent they might have given all the prerogatives of the + King. Suppose,—no extravagant supposition,—that George the + Third had not recovered, that the rest of his long life had been passed in + seclusion, Great Britain and Ireland would then have been, during + thirty-two years, as completely separated as Great Britain and Spain. + There would have been nothing in common between the governments, neither + executive power nor legislative power. It is plain, therefore, that a + total separation between the two islands might, in the natural course of + things, and without the smallest violation of the constitution on either + side, be the effect of the arrangement recommended by the honourable and + learned gentleman, who solemnly declares that he should consider such a + separation as the greatest of calamities. + </p> + <p> + No doubt, Sir, in several continental kingdoms there have been two + legislatures, and indeed more than two legislatures, under the same Crown. + But the explanation is simple. Those legislatures were of no real weight + in the government. Under Louis the Fourteenth Brittany had its States; + Burgundy had its States; and yet there was no collision between the States + of Brittany and the States of Burgundy. But why? Because neither the + States of Brittany nor the States of Burgundy imposed any real restraint + on the arbitrary power of the monarch. So, in the dominions of the House + of Hapsburg, there is the semblance of a legislature in Hungary and the + semblance of a legislature in the Tyrol: but all the real power is with + the Emperor. I do not say that you cannot have one executive power and two + mock parliaments, two parliaments which merely transact parish business, + two parliaments which exercise no more influence on great affairs of state + than the vestry of St Pancras or the vestry of Marylebone. What I do say, + and what common sense teaches, and what all history teaches, is this, that + you cannot have one executive power and two real parliaments, two + parliaments possessing such powers as the parliament of this country has + possessed ever since the Revolution, two parliaments to the deliberate + sense of which the Sovereign must conform. If they differ, how can he + conform to the sense of both? The thing is as plain as a proposition in + Euclid. + </p> + <p> + It is impossible for me to believe that considerations so obvious and so + important should not have occurred to the honourable and learned Member + for Dublin. Doubtless they have occurred to him; and therefore it is that + he shrinks from arguing the question here. Nay, even when he harangues + more credulous assemblies on the subject, he carefully avoids precise + explanations; and the hints which sometimes escape him are not easily to + be reconciled with each other. On one occasion, if the newspapers are to + be trusted, he declared that his object was to establish a federal union + between Great Britain and Ireland. A local parliament, it seems, is to sit + at Dublin, and to send deputies to an imperial parliament which is to sit + at Westminster. The honourable and learned gentleman thinks, I suppose, + that in this way he evades the difficulties which I have pointed out. But + he deceives himself. If, indeed, his local legislature is to be subject to + his imperial legislature, if his local legislature is to be merely what + the Assembly of Antigua or Barbadoes is, or what the Irish Parliament was + before 1782, the danger of collision is no doubt removed: but what, on the + honourable and learned gentleman's own principles, would Ireland gain by + such an arrangement? If, on the other hand, his local legislature is to be + for certain purposes independent, you have again the risk of collision. + Suppose that a difference of opinion should arise between the Imperial + Parliament and the Irish Parliament as to the limits of their powers, who + is to decide between them? A dispute between the House of Commons and the + House of Lords is bad enough. Yet in that case, the Sovereign can, by a + high exercise of his prerogative, produce harmony. He can send us back to + our constituents; and, if that expedient fails, he can create more lords. + When, in 1705, the dispute between the Houses about the Aylesbury men ran + high, Queen Anne restored concord by dismissing the Parliament. Seven + years later she put an end to another conflict between the Houses by + making twelve peers in one day. But who is to arbitrate between two + representative bodies chosen by different constituent bodies? Look at what + is now passing in America. Of all federal constitutions that of the United + States is the best. It was framed by a convention which contained many + wise and experienced men, and over which Washington presided. Yet there is + a debateable ground on the frontier which separates the functions of + Congress from those of the state legislatures. A dispute as to the exact + boundary has lately arisen. Neither party seems disposed to yield: and, if + both persist, there can be no umpire but the sword. + </p> + <p> + For my part, Sir, I have no hesitation in saying that I should very + greatly prefer the total separation which the honourable and learned + gentleman professes to consider as a calamity, to the partial separation + which he has taught his countrymen to regard as a blessing. If, on a fair + trial, it be found that Great Britain and Ireland cannot exist happily + together as parts of one empire, in God's name let them separate. I wish + to see them joined as the limbs of a well formed body are joined. In such + a body the members assist each other: they are nourished by the same food: + if one member suffer, all suffer with it: if one member rejoice, all + rejoice with it. But I do not wish to see the countries united, like those + wretched twins from Siam who were exhibited here a little while ago, by an + unnatural ligament which made each the constant plague of the other, + always in each other's way, more helpless than others because they had + twice as many hands, slower than others because they had twice as many + legs, sympathising with each other only in evil, not feeling each other's + pleasures, not supported by each other's aliments, but tormented by each + other's infirmities, and certain to perish miserably by each other's + dissolution. + </p> + <p> + Ireland has undoubtedly just causes of complaint. We heard those causes + recapitulated last night by the honourable and learned Member, who tells + us that he represents not Dublin alone, but Ireland, and that he stands + between his country and civil war. I do not deny that most of the + grievances which he recounted exist, that they are serious, and that they + ought to be remedied as far as it is in the power of legislation to remedy + them. What I do deny is that they were caused by the Union, and that the + Repeal of the Union would remove them. I listened attentively while the + honourable and learned gentleman went through that long and melancholy + list: and I am confident that he did not mention a single evil which was + not a subject of bitter complaint while Ireland had a domestic parliament. + Is it fair, is it reasonable in the honourable gentleman to impute to the + Union evils which, as he knows better than any other man in this house, + existed long before the Union? Post hoc: ergo, propter hoc is not always + sound reasoning. But ante hoc: ergo, non propter hoc is unanswerable. The + old rustic who told Sir Thomas More that Tenterden steeple was the cause + of Godwin sands reasoned much better than the honourable and learned + gentleman. For it was not till after Tenterden steeple was built that the + frightful wrecks on the Godwin sands were heard of. But the honourable and + learned gentleman would make Godwin sands the cause of Tenterden steeple. + Some of the Irish grievances which he ascribes to the Union are not only + older than the Union, but are not peculiarly Irish. They are common to + England, Scotland, and Ireland; and it was in order to get rid of them + that we, for the common benefit of England, Scotland, and Ireland, passed + the Reform Bill last year. Other grievances which the honourable and + learned gentleman mentioned are doubtless local; but is there to be a + local legislature wherever there is a local grievance? Wales has had local + grievances. We all remember the complaints which were made a few years ago + about the Welsh judicial system; but did anybody therefore propose that + Wales should have a distinct parliament? Cornwall has some local + grievances; but does anybody propose that Cornwall shall have its own + House of Lords and its own House of Commons? Leeds has local grievances. + The majority of my constituents distrust and dislike the municipal + government to which they are subject; they therefore call loudly on us for + corporation reform: but they do not ask us for a separate legislature. Of + this I am quite sure, that every argument which has been urged for the + purpose of showing that Great Britain and Ireland ought to have two + distinct parliaments may be urged with far greater force for the purpose + of showing that the north of Ireland and the south of Ireland ought to + have two distinct parliaments. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom, + it has been said, is chiefly elected by Protestants, and therefore cannot + be trusted to legislate for Catholic Ireland. If this be so, how can an + Irish House of Commons, chiefly elected by Catholics, be trusted to + legislate for Protestant Ulster? It is perfectly notorious that + theological antipathies are stronger in Ireland than here. I appeal to the + honourable and learned gentleman himself. He has often declared that it is + impossible for a Roman Catholic, whether prosecutor or culprit, to obtain + justice from a jury of Orangemen. It is indeed certain that, in blood, + religion, language, habits, character, the population of some of the + northern counties of Ireland has much more in common with the population + of England and Scotland than with the population of Munster and Connaught. + I defy the honourable and learned Member, therefore, to find a reason for + having a parliament at Dublin which will not be just as good a reason for + having another parliament at Londonderry. + </p> + <p> + Sir, in showing, as I think I have shown, the absurdity of this cry for + Repeal, I have in a great measure vindicated myself from the charge of + inconsistency which has been brought against me by my honourable friend + the Member for Lincoln. It is very easy to bring a volume of Hansard to + the House, to read a few sentences of a speech made in very different + circumstances, and to say, "Last year you were for pacifying England by + concession: this year you are for pacifying Ireland by coercion. How can + you vindicate your consistency?" Surely my honourable friend cannot but + know that nothing is easier than to write a theme for severity, for + clemency, for order, for liberty, for a contemplative life, for a active + life, and so on. It was a common exercise in the ancient schools of + rhetoric to take an abstract question, and to harangue first on one side + and then on the other. The question, Ought popular discontents to be + quieted by concession or coercion? would have been a very good subject for + oratory of this kind. There is no lack of commonplaces on either side. But + when we come to the real business of life, the value of these commonplaces + depends entirely on the particular circumstances of the case which we are + discussing. Nothing is easier than to write a treatise proving that it is + lawful to resist extreme tyranny. Nothing is easier than to write a + treatise setting forth the wickedness of wantonly bringing on a great + society the miseries inseparable from revolution, the bloodshed, the + spoliation, the anarchy. Both treatises may contain much that is true; but + neither will enable us to decide whether a particular insurrection is or + is not justifiable without a close examination of the facts. There is + surely no inconsistency in speaking with respect of the memory of Lord + Russell and with horror of the crime of Thistlewood; and, in my opinion, + the conduct of Russell and the conduct of Thistlewood did not differ more + widely than the cry for Parliamentary Reform and the cry for the Repeal of + the Union. The Reform Bill I believe to be a blessing to the nation. + Repeal I know to be a mere delusion. I know it to be impracticable: and I + know that, if it were practicable, it would be pernicious to every part of + the empire, and utterly ruinous to Ireland. Is it not then absurd to say + that, because I wished last year to quiet the English people by giving + them that which was beneficial to them, I am therefore bound in + consistency to quiet the Irish people this year by giving them that which + will be fatal to them? I utterly deny, too, that, in consenting to arm the + government with extraordinary powers for the purpose of repressing + disturbances in Ireland, I am guilty of the smallest inconsistency. On + what occasion did I ever refuse to support any government in repressing + disturbances? It is perfectly true that, in the debates on the Reform + Bill, I imputed the tumults and outrages of 1830 to misrule. But did I + ever say that those tumults and outrages ought to be tolerated? I did + attribute the Kentish riots, the Hampshire riots, the burning of corn + stacks, the destruction of threshing machines, to the obstinacy with which + the Ministers of the Crown had refused to listen to the demands of the + people. But did I ever say that the rioters ought not to be imprisoned, + that the incendiaries ought not to be hanged? I did ascribe the disorders + of Nottingham and the fearful sacking of Bristol to the unwise rejection + of the Reform Bill by the Lords. But did I ever say that such excesses as + were committed at Nottingham and Bristol ought not to be put down, if + necessary, by the sword? + </p> + <p> + I would act towards Ireland on the same principles on which I acted + towards England. In Ireland, as in England, I would remove every just + cause of complaint; and in Ireland, as in England, I would support the + Government in preserving the public peace. What is there inconsistent in + this? My honourable friend seems to think that no person who believes that + disturbances have been caused by maladministration can consistently lend + his help to put down those disturbances. If that be so, the honourable and + learned Member for Dublin is quite as inconsistent as I am; indeed, much + more so; for he thinks very much worse of the Government than I do; and + yet he declares himself willing to assist the Government in quelling the + tumults which, as he assures us, its own misconduct is likely to produce. + He told us yesterday that our harsh policy might perhaps goad the + unthinking populace of Ireland into insurrection; and he added that, if + there should be insurrection, he should, while execrating us as the + authors of all the mischief, be found in our ranks, and should be ready to + support us in everything that might be necessary for the restoration of + order. As to this part of the subject, there is no difference in principle + between the honourable and learned gentleman and myself. In his opinion, + it is probable that a time may soon come when vigorous coercion may be + necessary, and when it may be the duty of every friend of Ireland to + co-operate in the work of coercion. In my opinion, that time has already + come. The grievances of Ireland are doubtless great, so great that I never + would have connected myself with a Government which I did not believe to + be intent on redressing those grievances. But am I, because the grievances + of Ireland are great, and ought to be redressed, to abstain from + redressing the worst grievance of all? Am I to look on quietly while the + laws are insulted by a furious rabble, while houses are plundered and + burned, while my peaceable fellow-subjects are butchered? The distribution + of Church property, you tell us, is unjust. Perhaps I agree with you. But + what then? To what purpose is it to talk about the distribution of Church + property, while no property is secure? Then you try to deter us from + putting down robbery, arson, and murder, by telling us that if we resort + to coercion we shall raise a civil war. We are past that fear. Recollect + that, in one county alone, there have been within a few weeks sixty + murders or assaults with intent to murder and six hundred burglaries. + Since we parted last summer the slaughter in Ireland has exceeded the + slaughter of a pitched battle: the destruction of property has been as + great as would have been caused by the storming of three or four towns. + Civil war, indeed! I would rather live in the midst of any civil war that + we have had in England during the last two hundred years than in some + parts of Ireland at the present moment. Rather, much rather, would I have + lived on the line of march of the Pretender's army in 1745 than in + Tipperary now. It is idle to threaten us with civil war; for we have it + already; and it is because we are resolved to put an end to it that we are + called base, and brutal, and bloody. Such are the epithets which the + honourable and learned Member for Dublin thinks it becoming to pour forth + against the party to which he owes every political privilege that he + enjoys. He need not fear that any member of that party will be provoked + into a conflict of scurrility. Use makes even sensitive minds callous to + invective: and, copious as his vocabulary is, he will not easily find in + it any foul name which has not been many times applied to those who sit + around me, on account of the zeal and steadiness with which they supported + the emancipation of the Roman Catholics. His reproaches are not more + stinging than the reproaches which, in times not very remote, we endured + unflinchingly in his cause. I can assure him that men who faced the cry of + No Popery are not likely to be scared by the cry of Repeal. The time will + come when history will do justice to the Whigs of England, and will + faithfully relate how much they did and suffered for Ireland; how, for the + sake of Ireland, they quitted office in 1807; how, for the sake of + Ireland, they remained out of office more than twenty years, braving the + frowns of the Court, braving the hisses of the multitude, renouncing + power, and patronage, and salaries, and peerages, and garters, and yet not + obtaining in return even a little fleeting popularity. I see on the + benches near me men who might, by uttering one word against Catholic + Emancipation, nay, by merely abstaining from uttering a word in favour of + Catholic Emancipation, have been returned to this House without difficulty + or expense, and who, rather than wrong their Irish fellow-subjects, were + content to relinquish all the objects of their honourable ambition, and to + retire into private life with conscience and fame untarnished. As to one + eminent person, who seems to be regarded with especial malevolence by + those who ought never to mention his name without reverence and gratitude, + I will say only this: that the loudest clamour which the honourable and + learned gentleman can excite against Lord Grey will be trifling when + compared with the clamour which Lord Grey withstood in order to place the + honourable and learned gentleman where he now sits. Though a young member + of the Whig party, I will venture to speak in the name of the whole body. + I tell the honourable and learned gentleman, that the same spirit which + sustained us in a just contest for him will sustain us in an equally just + contest against him. Calumny, abuse, royal displeasure, popular fury, + exclusion from office, exclusion from Parliament, we were ready to endure + them all, rather than that he should be less than a British subject. We + never will suffer him to be more. + </p> + <p> + I stand here, Sir, for the first time as the representative of a new + constituent body, one of the largest, most prosperous, and most + enlightened towns in the kingdom. The electors of Leeds, believing that at + this time the service of the people is not incompatible with the service + of the Crown, have sent me to this House charged, in the language of His + Majesty's writ, to do and consent, in their name and in their behalf, to + such things as shall be proposed in the great Council of the nation. In + the name, then, and on the behalf of my constituents, I give my full + assent to that part of the Address wherein the House declares its + resolution to maintain inviolate, by the help of God, the connection + between Great Britain and Ireland, and to intrust to the Sovereign such + powers as shall be necessary to secure property, to restore order, and to + preserve the integrity of the empire. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + JEWISH DISABILITIES. (April 17, 1833) a speech delivered in a committee of + the whole house OF COMMONS ON THE 17TH OF APRIL, 1833. + </h2> + <p> + On the seventeenth of April, 1833, the House of Commons resolved itself + into a Committee to consider of the civil disabilities of the Jews. Mr + Warburton took the chair. Mr Robert Grant moved the following resolution:— + </p> + <p> + "That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is expedient to remove + all civil disabilities at present existing with respect to His Majesty's + subjects professing the Jewish religion, with the like exceptions as are + provided with respect to His Majesty's subjects professing the Roman + Catholic religion." + </p> + <p> + The resolution passed without a division, after a warm debate, in the + course of which the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + Mr Warburton,—I recollect, and my honourable friend the Member for + the University of Oxford will recollect, that when this subject was + discussed three years ago, it was remarked, by one whom we both loved and + whom we both regret, that the strength of the case of the Jews was a + serious inconvenience to their advocate, for that it was hardly possible + to make a speech for them without wearying the audience by repeating + truths which were universally admitted. If Sir James Mackintosh felt this + difficulty when the question was first brought forward in this House, I + may well despair of being able now to offer any arguments which have a + pretence to novelty. + </p> + <p> + My honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford, began his + speech by declaring that he had no intention of calling in question the + principles of religious liberty. He utterly disclaims persecution, that is + to say, persecution as defined by himself. It would, in his opinion, be + persecution to hang a Jew, or to flay him, or to draw his teeth, or to + imprison him, or to fine him; for every man who conducts himself peaceably + has a right to his life and his limbs, to his personal liberty and his + property. But it is not persecution, says my honourable friend, to exclude + any individual or any class from office; for nobody has a right to office: + in every country official appointments must be subject to such regulations + as the supreme authority may choose to make; nor can any such regulations + be reasonably complained of by any member of the society as unjust. He who + obtains an office obtains it, not as matter of right, but as matter of + favour. He who does not obtain an office is not wronged; he is only in + that situation in which the vast majority of every community must + necessarily be. There are in the United Kingdom five and twenty million + Christians without places; and, if they do not complain, why should five + and twenty thousand Jews complain of being in the same case? In this way + my honourable friend has convinced himself that, as it would be most + absurd in him and me to say that we are wronged because we are not + Secretaries of State, so it is most absurd in the Jews to say that they + are wronged, because they are, as a people, excluded from public + employment. + </p> + <p> + Now, surely my honourable friend cannot have considered to what + conclusions his reasoning leads. Those conclusions are so monstrous that + he would, I am certain, shrink from them. Does he really mean that it + would not be wrong in the legislature to enact that no man should be a + judge unless he weighed twelve stone, or that no man should sit in + parliament unless he were six feet high? We are about to bring in a bill + for the government of India. Suppose that we were to insert in that bill a + clause providing that no graduate of the University of Oxford should be + Governor General or Governor of any Presidency, would not my honourable + friend cry out against such a clause as most unjust to the learned body + which he represents? And would he think himself sufficiently answered by + being told, in his own words, that the appointment to office is a mere + matter of favour, and that to exclude an individual or a class from office + is no injury? Surely, on consideration, he must admit that official + appointments ought not to be subject to regulations purely arbitrary, to + regulations for which no reason can be given but mere caprice, and that + those who would exclude any class from public employment are bound to show + some special reason for the exclusion. + </p> + <p> + My honourable friend has appealed to us as Christians. Let me then ask him + how he understands that great commandment which comprises the law and the + prophets. Can we be said to do unto others as we would that they should do + unto us if we wantonly inflict on them even the smallest pain? As + Christians, surely we are bound to consider, first, whether, by excluding + the Jews from all public trust, we give them pain; and, secondly, whether + it be necessary to give them that pain in order to avert some greater + evil. That by excluding them from public trust we inflict pain on them my + honourable friend will not dispute. As a Christian, therefore, he is bound + to relieve them from that pain, unless he can show, what I am sure he has + not yet shown, that it is necessary to the general good that they should + continue to suffer. + </p> + <p> + But where, he says, are you to stop, if once you admit into the House of + Commons people who deny the authority of the Gospels? Will you let in a + Mussulman? Will you let in a Parsee? Will you let in a Hindoo, who + worships a lump of stone with seven heads? I will answer my honourable + friend's question by another. Where does he mean to stop? Is he ready to + roast unbelievers at slow fires? If not, let him tell us why: and I will + engage to prove that his reason is just as decisive against the + intolerance which he thinks a duty, as against the intolerance which he + thinks a crime. Once admit that we are bound to inflict pain on a man + because he is not of our religion; and where are you to stop? Why stop at + the point fixed by my honourable friend rather than at the point fixed by + the honourable Member for Oldham (Mr Cobbett.), who would make the Jews + incapable of holding land? And why stop at the point fixed by the + honourable Member for Oldham rather than at the point which would have + been fixed by a Spanish Inquisitor of the sixteenth century? When once you + enter on a course of persecution, I defy you to find any reason for making + a halt till you have reached the extreme point. When my honourable friend + tells us that he will allow the Jews to possess property to any amount, + but that he will not allow them to possess the smallest political power, + he holds contradictory language. Property is power. The honourable Member + for Oldham reasons better than my honourable friend. The honourable Member + for Oldham sees very clearly that it is impossible to deprive a man of + political power if you suffer him to be the proprietor of half a county, + and therefore very consistently proposes to confiscate the landed estates + of the Jews. But even the honourable Member for Oldham does not go far + enough. He has not proposed to confiscate the personal property of the + Jews. Yet it is perfectly certain that any Jew who has a million may + easily make himself very important in the State. By such steps we pass + from official power to landed property, and from landed property to + personal property, and from property to liberty, and from liberty to life. + In truth, those persecutors who use the rack and the stake have much to + say for themselves. They are convinced that their end is good; and it must + be admitted that they employ means which are not unlikely to attain the + end. Religious dissent has repeatedly been put down by sanguinary + persecution. In that way the Albigenses were put down. In that way + Protestantism was suppressed in Spain and Italy, so that it has never + since reared its head. But I defy any body to produce an instance in which + disabilities such as we are now considering have produced any other effect + than that of making the sufferers angry and obstinate. My honourable + friend should either persecute to some purpose, or not persecute at all. + He dislikes the word persecution I know. He will not admit that the Jews + are persecuted. And yet I am confident that he would rather be sent to the + King's Bench Prison for three months, or be fined a hundred pounds, than + be subject to the disabilities under which the Jews lie. How can he then + say that to impose such disabilities is not persecution, and that to fine + and imprison is persecution? All his reasoning consists in drawing + arbitrary lines. What he does not wish to inflict he calls persecution. + What he does wish to inflict he will not call persecution. What he takes + from the Jews he calls political power. What he is too good-natured to + take from the Jews he will not call political power. The Jew must not sit + in Parliament: but he may be the proprietor of all the ten pound houses in + a borough. He may have more fifty pound tenants than any peer in the + kingdom. He may give the voters treats to please their palates, and hire + bands of gipsies to break their heads, as if he were a Christian and a + Marquess. All the rest of this system is of a piece. The Jew may be a + juryman, but not a judge. He may decide issues of fact, but not issues of + law. He may give a hundred thousand pounds damages; but he may not in the + most trivial case grant a new trial. He may rule the money market: he may + influence the exchanges: he may be summoned to congresses of Emperors and + Kings. Great potentates, instead of negotiating a loan with him by tying + him in a chair and pulling out his grinders, may treat with him as with a + great potentate, and may postpone the declaring of war or the signing of a + treaty till they have conferred with him. All this is as it should be: but + he must not be a Privy Councillor. He must not be called Right Honourable, + for that is political power. And who is it that we are trying to cheat in + this way? Even Omniscience. Yes, Sir; we have been gravely told that the + Jews are under the divine displeasure, and that if we give them political + power God will visit us in judgment. Do we then think that God cannot + distinguish between substance and form? Does not He know that, while we + withhold from the Jews the semblance and name of political power, we + suffer them to possess the substance? The plain truth is that my + honourable friend is drawn in one direction by his opinions, and in a + directly opposite direction by his excellent heart. He halts between two + opinions. He tries to make a compromise between principles which admit of + no compromise. He goes a certain way in intolerance. Then he stops, + without being able to give a reason for stopping. But I know the reason. + It is his humanity. Those who formerly dragged the Jew at a horse's tail, + and singed his beard with blazing furzebushes, were much worse men than my + honourable friend; but they were more consistent than he. + </p> + <p> + It has been said that it would be monstrous to see a Jew judge try a man + for blasphemy. In my opinion it is monstrous to see any judge try a man + for blasphemy under the present law. But, if the law on that subject were + in a sound state, I do not see why a conscientious Jew might not try a + blasphemer. Every man, I think, ought to be at liberty to discuss the + evidences of religion; but no man ought to be at liberty to force on the + unwilling ears and eyes of others sounds and sights which must cause + annoyance and irritation. The distinction is clear. I think it wrong to + punish a man for selling Paine's Age of Reason in a back-shop to those who + choose to buy, or for delivering a Deistical lecture in a private room to + those who choose to listen. But if a man exhibits at a window in the + Strand a hideous caricature of that which is an object of awe and + adoration to nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of people + who pass up and down that great thoroughfare; if a man in a place of + public resort applies opprobrious epithets to names held in reverence by + all Christians; such a man ought, in my opinion, to be severely punished, + not for differing from us in opinion, but for committing a nuisance which + gives us pain and disgust. He is no more entitled to outrage our feelings + by obtruding his impiety on us, and to say that he is exercising his right + of discussion, than to establish a yard for butchering horses close to our + houses, and to say that he is exercising his right of property, or to run + naked up and down the public streets, and to say that he is exercising his + right of locomotion. He has a right of discussion, no doubt, as he has a + right of property and a right of locomotion. But he must use all his + rights so as not to infringe the rights of others. + </p> + <p> + These, Sir, are the principles on which I would frame the law of + blasphemy; and if the law were so framed, I am at a loss to understand why + a Jew might not enforce it as well as a Christian. I am not a Roman + Catholic; but if I were a judge at Malta, I should have no scruple about + punishing a bigoted Protestant who should burn the Pope in effigy before + the eyes of thousands of Roman Catholics. I am not a Mussulman; but if I + were a judge in India, I should have no scruple about punishing a + Christian who should pollute a mosque. Why, then, should I doubt that a + Jew, raised by his ability, learning, and integrity to the judicial bench, + would deal properly with any person who, in a Christian country, should + insult the Christian religion? + </p> + <p> + But, says my honourable friend, it has been prophesied that the Jews are + to be wanderers on the face of the earth, and that they are not to mix on + terms of equality with the people of the countries in which they sojourn. + Now, Sir, I am confident that I can demonstrate that this is not the sense + of any prophecy which is part of Holy Writ. For it is an undoubted fact + that, in the United States of America, Jewish citizens do possess all the + privileges possessed by Christian citizens. Therefore, if the prophecies + mean that the Jews never shall, during their wanderings, be admitted by + other nations to equal participation of political rights, the prophecies + are false. But the prophecies are certainly not false. Therefore their + meaning cannot be that which is attributed to them by my honourable + friend. + </p> + <p> + Another objection which has been made to this motion is that the Jews look + forward to the coming of a great deliverer, to their return to Palestine, + to the rebuilding of their Temple, to the revival of their ancient + worship, and that therefore they will always consider England, not their + country, but merely as their place of exile. But, surely, Sir, it would be + the grossest ignorance of human nature to imagine that the anticipation of + an event which is to happen at some time altogether indefinite, of an + event which has been vainly expected during many centuries, of an event + which even those who confidently expect that it will happen do not + confidently expect that they or their children or their grandchildren will + see, can ever occupy the minds of men to such a degree as to make them + regardless of what is near and present and certain. Indeed Christians, as + well as Jews, believe that the existing order of things will come to an + end. Many Christians believe that Jesus will visibly reign on earth during + a thousand years. Expositors of prophecy have gone so far as to fix the + year when the Millennial period is to commence. The prevailing opinion is, + I think, in favour of the year 1866; but, according to some commentators, + the time is close at hand. Are we to exclude all millennarians from + Parliament and office, on the ground that they are impatiently looking + forward to the miraculous monarchy which is to supersede the present + dynasty and the present constitution of England, and that therefore they + cannot be heartily loyal to King William? + </p> + <p> + In one important point, Sir, my honourable friend, the Member for the + University of Oxford, must acknowledge that the Jewish religion is of all + erroneous religions the least mischievous. There is not the slightest + chance that the Jewish religion will spread. The Jew does not wish to make + proselytes. He may be said to reject them. He thinks it almost culpable in + one who does not belong to his race to presume to belong to his religion. + It is therefore not strange that a conversion from Christianity to Judaism + should be a rarer occurrence than a total eclipse of the sun. There was + one distinguished convert in the last century, Lord George Gordon; and the + history of his conversion deserves to be remembered. For if ever there was + a proselyte of whom a proselytising sect would have been proud, it was + Lord George; not only because he was a man of high birth and rank; not + only because he had been a member of the legislature; but also because he + had been distinguished by the intolerance, nay, the ferocity, of his zeal + for his own form of Christianity. But was he allured into the Synagogue? + Was he even welcomed to it? No, sir; he was coldly and reluctantly + permitted to share the reproach and suffering of the chosen people; but he + was sternly shut out from their privileges. He underwent the painful rite + which their law enjoins. But when, on his deathbed, he begged hard to be + buried among them according to their ceremonial, he was told that his + request could not be granted. I understand that cry of "Hear." It reminds + me that one of the arguments against this motion is that the Jews are an + unsocial people, that they draw close to each other, and stand aloof from + strangers. Really, Sir, it is amusing to compare the manner in which the + question of Catholic emancipation was argued formerly by some gentlemen + with the manner in which the question of Jew emancipation is argued by the + same gentlemen now. When the question was about Catholic emancipation, the + cry was, "See how restless, how versatile, how encroaching, how + insinuating, is the spirit of the Church of Rome. See how her priests + compass earth and sea to make one proselyte, how indefatigably they toil, + how attentively they study the weak and strong parts of every character, + how skilfully they employ literature, arts, sciences, as engines for the + propagation of their faith. You find them in every region and under every + disguise, collating manuscripts in the Bodleian, fixing telescopes in the + observatory of Pekin, teaching the use of the plough and the + spinning-wheel to the savages of Paraguay. Will you give power to the + members of a Church so busy, so aggressive, so insatiable?" Well, now the + question is about people who never try to seduce any stranger to join + them, and who do not wish anybody to be of their faith who is not also of + their blood. And now you exclaim, "Will you give power to the members of a + sect which remains sullenly apart from other sects, which does not invite, + nay, which hardly ever admits neophytes?" The truth is, that bigotry will + never want a pretence. Whatever the sect be which it is proposed to + tolerate, the peculiarities of that sect will, for the time, be pronounced + by intolerant men to be the most odious and dangerous that can be + conceived. As to the Jews, that they are unsocial as respects religion is + true; and so much the better: for, surely, as Christians, we cannot wish + that they should bestir themselves to pervert us from our own faith. But + that the Jews would be unsocial members of the civil community, if the + civil community did its duty by them, has never been proved. My right + honourable friend who made the motion which we are discussing has produced + a great body of evidence to show that they have been grossly + misrepresented; and that evidence has not been refuted by my honourable + friend the Member for the University of Oxford. But what if it were true + that the Jews are unsocial? What if it were true that they do not regard + England as their country? Would not the treatment which they have + undergone explain and excuse their antipathy to the society in which they + live? Has not similar antipathy often been felt by persecuted Christians + to the society which persecuted them? While the bloody code of Elizabeth + was enforced against the English Roman Catholics, what was the patriotism + of Roman Catholics? Oliver Cromwell said that in his time they were + Espaniolised. At a later period it might have been said that they were + Gallicised. It was the same with the Calvinists. What more deadly enemies + had France in the days of Louis the Fourteenth than the persecuted + Huguenots? But would any rational man infer from these facts that either + the Roman Catholic as such, or the Calvinist as such, is incapable of + loving the land of his birth? If England were now invaded by Roman + Catholics, how many English Roman Catholics would go over to the invader? + If France were now attacked by a Protestant enemy, how many French + Protestants would lend him help? Why not try what effect would be produced + on the Jews by that tolerant policy which has made the English Roman + Catholic a good Englishman, and the French Calvinist a good Frenchman? + </p> + <p> + Another charge has been brought against the Jews, not by my honourable + friend the Member for the University of Oxford—he has too much + learning and too much good feeling to make such a charge—but by the + honourable Member for Oldham, who has, I am sorry to see, quitted his + place. The honourable Member for Oldham tells us that the Jews are + naturally a mean race, a sordid race, a money-getting race; that they are + averse to all honourable callings; that they neither sow nor reap; that + they have neither flocks nor herds; that usury is the only pursuit for + which they are fit; that they are destitute of all elevated and amiable + sentiments. Such, Sir, has in every age been the reasoning of bigots. They + never fail to plead in justification of persecution the vices which + persecution has engendered. England has been to the Jews less than half a + country; and we revile them because they do not feel for England more than + a half patriotism. We treat them as slaves, and wonder that they do not + regard us as brethren. We drive them to mean occupations, and then + reproach them for not embracing honourable professions. We long forbade + them to possess land; and we complain that they chiefly occupy themselves + in trade. We shut them out from all the paths of ambition; and then we + despise them for taking refuge in avarice. During many ages we have, in + all our dealings with them, abused our immense superiority of force; and + then we are disgusted because they have recourse to that cunning which is + the natural and universal defence of the weak against the violence of the + strong. But were they always a mere money-changing, money-getting, + money-hoarding race? Nobody knows better than my honourable friend the + Member for the University of Oxford that there is nothing in their + national character which unfits them for the highest duties of citizens. + He knows that, in the infancy of civilisation, when our island was as + savage as New Guinea, when letters and arts were still unknown to Athens, + when scarcely a thatched hut stood on what was afterwards the site of + Rome, this contemned people had their fenced cities and cedar palaces, + their splendid Temple, their fleets of merchant ships, their schools of + sacred learning, their great statesmen and soldiers, their natural + philosophers, their historians and their poets. What nation ever contended + more manfully against overwhelming odds for its independence and religion? + What nation ever, in its last agonies, gave such signal proofs of what may + be accomplished by a brave despair? And if, in the course of many + centuries, the oppressed descendants of warriors and sages have + degenerated from the qualities of their fathers, if, while excluded from + the blessings of law, and bowed down under the yoke of slavery, they have + contracted some of the vices of outlaws and of slaves, shall we consider + this as matter of reproach to them? Shall we not rather consider it as + matter of shame and remorse to ourselves? Let us do justice to them. Let + us open to them the door of the House of Commons. Let us open to them + every career in which ability and energy can be displayed. Till we have + done this, let us not presume to say that there is no genius among the + countrymen of Isaiah, no heroism among the descendants of the Maccabees. + </p> + <p> + Sir, in supporting the motion of my honourable friend, I am, I firmly + believe, supporting the honour and the interests of the Christian + religion. I should think that I insulted that religion if I said that it + cannot stand unaided by intolerant laws. Without such laws it was + established, and without such laws it may be maintained. It triumphed over + the superstitions of the most refined and of the most savage nations, over + the graceful mythology of Greece and the bloody idolatry of the Northern + forests. It prevailed over the power and policy of the Roman empire. It + tamed the barbarians by whom that empire was overthrown. But all these + victories were gained not by the help of intolerance, but in spite of the + opposition of intolerance. The whole history of Christianity proves that + she has little indeed to fear from persecution as a foe, but much to fear + from persecution as an ally. May she long continue to bless our country + with her benignant influence, strong in her sublime philosophy, strong in + her spotless morality, strong in those internal and external evidences to + which the most powerful and comprehensive of human intellects have yielded + assent, the last solace of those who have outlived every earthly hope, the + last restraint of those who are raised above every earthly fear! But let + not us, mistaking her character and her interests, fight the battle of + truth with the weapons of error, and endeavour to support by oppression + that religion which first taught the human race the great lesson of + universal charity. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. (JULY 10, 1833) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF JULY 1833. + </h2> + <p> + On Wednesday, the tenth of July 1833, Mr Charles Grant, President of the + Board of Control, moved that the Bill for effecting an arrangement with + the India Company, and for the better government of His Majesty's Indian + territories, should be read a second time. The motion was carried without + a division, but not without a long debate, in the course of which the + following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + Having, while this bill was in preparation, enjoyed the fullest and + kindest confidence of my right honourable friend, the President of the + Board of Control, agreeing with him completely in all those views which on + a former occasion he so luminously and eloquently developed, having shared + his anxieties, and feeling that in some degree I share his responsibility, + I am naturally desirous to obtain the attention of the House while I + attempt to defend the principles of the proposed arrangement. I wish that + I could promise to be very brief; but the subject is so extensive that I + will only promise to condense what I have to say as much as I can. + </p> + <p> + I rejoice, Sir, that I am completely dispensed, by the turn which our + debates have taken, from the necessity of saying anything in favour of one + part of our plan, the opening of the China trade. No voice, I believe, has + yet been raised here in support of the monopoly. On that subject all + public men of all parties seem to be agreed. The resolution proposed by + the Ministers has received the unanimous assent of both Houses, and the + approbation of the whole kingdom. I will not, therefore, Sir, detain you + by vindicating what no gentleman has yet ventured to attack, but will + proceed to call your attention to those effects which this great + commercial revolution necessarily produced on the system of Indian + government and finance. + </p> + <p> + The China trade is to be opened. Reason requires this. Public opinion + requires it. The Government of the Duke of Wellington felt the necessity + as strongly as the Government of Lord Grey. No Minister, Whig or Tory, + could have been found to propose a renewal of the monopoly. No parliament, + reformed or unreformed, would have listened to such a proposition. But + though the opening of the trade was a matter concerning which the public + had long made up its mind, the political consequences which must + necessarily follow from the opening of the trade seem to me to be even now + little understood. The language which I have heard in almost every circle + where the subject was discussed was this: "Take away the monopoly, and + leave the government of India to the Company:" a very short and convenient + way of settling one of the most complicated questions that ever a + legislature had to consider. The honourable Member for Sheffield (Mr + Buckingham.), though not disposed to retain the Company as an organ of + government, has repeatedly used language which proves that he shares in + the general misconception. The fact is that the abolition of the monopoly + rendered it absolutely necessary to make a fundamental change in the + constitution of that great Corporation. + </p> + <p> + The Company had united in itself two characters, the character of trader + and the character of sovereign. Between the trader and the sovereign there + was a long and complicated account, almost every item of which furnished + matter for litigation. While the monopoly continued, indeed, litigation + was averted. The effect of the monopoly was, to satisfy the claims both of + commerce and of territory, at the expense of a third party, the English + people: to secure at once funds for the dividend of the stockholder and + funds for the government of the Indian Empire, by means of a heavy tax on + the tea consumed in this country. But, when the third party would no + longer bear this charge, all the great financial questions which had, at + the cost of that third party, been kept in abeyance, were opened in an + instant. The connection between the Company in its mercantile capacity, + and the same Company in its political capacity, was dissolved. Even if the + Company were permitted, as has been suggested, to govern India, and at the + same time to trade with China, no advances would be made from the profits + of its Chinese trade for the support of its Indian government. It was in + consideration of the exclusive privilege that the Company had hitherto + been required to make those advances; it was by the exclusive privilege + that the Company had been enabled to make them. When that privilege was + taken away, it would be unreasonable in the legislature to impose such an + obligation, and impossible for the Company to fulfil it. The whole system + of loans from commerce to territory, and repayments from territory to + commerce, must cease. Each party must rest altogether on its own + resources. It was therefore absolutely necessary to ascertain what + resources each party possessed, to bring the long and intricate account + between them to a close, and to assign to each a fair portion of assets + and liabilities. There was vast property. How much of that property was + applicable to purposes of state? How much was applicable to a dividend? + There were debts to the amount of many millions. Which of these were the + debts of the government that ruled at Calcutta? Which of the great + mercantile house that bought tea at Canton? Were the creditors to look to + the land revenues of India for their money? Or, were they entitled to put + executions into the warehouses behind Bishopsgate Street? + </p> + <p> + There were two ways of settling these questions—adjudication and + compromise. The difficulties of adjudication were great; I think + insuperable. Whatever acuteness and diligence could do has been done. One + person in particular, whose talents and industry peculiarly fitted him for + such investigations, and of whom I can never think without regret, Mr Hyde + Villiers, devoted himself to the examination with an ardour and a + perseverance, which, I believe, shortened a life most valuable to his + country and to his friends. The assistance of the most skilful accountants + has been called in. But the difficulties are such as no accountant, + however skilful, could possibly remove. The difficulties are not + arithmetical, but political. They arise from the constitution of the + Company, from the long and intimate union of the commercial and imperial + characters in one body. Suppose that the treasurer of a charity were to + mix up the money which he receives on account of the charity with his own + private rents and dividends, to pay the whole into his bank to his own + private account, to draw it out again by cheques in exactly the same form + when he wanted it for his private expenses, and when he wanted it for the + purposes of his public trust. Suppose that he were to continue to act thus + till he was himself ignorant whether he were in advance or in arrear; and + suppose that many years after his death a question were to arise whether + his estate were in debt to the charity or the charity in debt to his + estate. Such is the question which is now before us, with this important + difference; that the accounts of an individual could not be in such a + state unless he had been guilty of fraud, or of that gross negligence + which is scarcely less culpable than fraud, and that the accounts of the + Company were brought into this state by circumstances of a very peculiar + kind, by circumstances unparalleled in the history of the world. + </p> + <p> + It is a mistake to suppose that the Company was a merely commercial body + till the middle of the last century. Commerce was its chief object; but in + order to enable it to pursue that object, it had been, like the other + Companies which were its rivals, like the Dutch India Company, like the + French India Company, invested from a very early period with political + functions. More than a hundred and twenty years ago, the Company was in + miniature precisely what it now is. It was intrusted with the very highest + prerogatives of sovereignty. It had its forts, and its white captains, and + its black sepoys; it had its civil and criminal tribunals; it was + authorised to proclaim martial law; it sent ambassadors to the native + governments, and concluded treaties with them; it was Zemindar of several + districts, and within those districts, like other Zemindars of the first + class, it exercised the powers of a sovereign, even to the infliction of + capital punishment on the Hindoos within its jurisdiction. It is + incorrect, therefore, to say, that the Company was at first a mere trader, + and has since become a sovereign. It was at first a great trader and a + petty prince. The political functions at first attracted little notice, + because they were merely auxiliary to the commercial functions. By + degrees, however, the political functions became more and more important. + The Zemindar became a great nabob, became sovereign of all India; the two + hundred sepoys became two hundred thousand. This change was gradually + wrought, and was not immediately comprehended. It was natural that, while + the political functions of the Company were merely auxiliary to its + commerce, the political accounts should have been mixed up with the + commercial accounts. It was equally natural that this mode of keeping + accounts, having once been established, should have remained unaltered; + and the more so, as the change in the situation of the Company, though + rapid, was not sudden. It is impossible to name any one day, or any one + year, as the day or the year when the Company became a great potentate. It + has been the fashion indeed to fix on the year 1765, the year in which the + Mogul issued a commission authorising the Company to administer the + revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, as the precise date of the + accession of this singular body to sovereignty. I am utterly at a loss to + understand why this epoch should be selected. Long before 1765 the Company + had the reality of political power. Long before that year, they made a + Nabob of Arcot; they made and unmade Nabobs of Bengal; they humbled the + Vizier of Oude; they braved the Emperor of Hindostan himself; more than + half the revenues of Bengal were, under one pretence or another, + administered by them. And after the grant, the Company was not, in form + and name, an independent power. It was merely a minister of the Court of + Delhi. Its coinage bore the name of Shah Alam. The inscription which, down + to the time of the Marquess of Hastings, appeared on the seal of the + Governor-General, declared that great functionary to be the slave of the + Mogul. Even to this day we have never formally deposed the King of Delhi. + The Company contents itself with being Mayor of the Palace, while the Roi + Faineant is suffered to play at being a sovereign. In fact, it was + considered, both by Lord Clive and by Warren Hastings, as a point of + policy to leave the character of the Company thus undefined, in order that + the English might treat the princes in whose names they governed as + realities or nonentities, just as might be most convenient. + </p> + <p> + Thus the transformation of the Company from a trading body, which + possessed some sovereign prerogatives for the purposes of trade, into a + sovereign body, the trade of which was auxiliary to its sovereignty, was + effected by degrees and under disguise. It is not strange, therefore, that + the mercantile and political transactions of this great corporation should + be entangled together in inextricable complication. The commercial + investments have been purchased out of the revenues of the empire. The + expenses of war and government have been defrayed out of the profits of + the trade. Commerce and territory have contributed to the improvement of + the same spot of land, to the repairs of the same building. Securities + have been given in precisely the same form for money which has been + borrowed for purposes of State, and for money which has been borrowed for + purposes of traffic. It is easy, indeed,—and this is a circumstance + which has, I think, misled some gentlemen,—it is easy to see what + part of the assets of the Company appears in a commercial form, and what + part appears in a political or territorial form. But this is not the + question. Assets which are commercial in form may be territorial as + respects the right of property; assets which are territorial in form may + be commercial as respects the right of property. A chest of tea is not + necessarily commercial property; it may have been bought out of the + territorial revenue. A fort is not necessarily territorial property; it + may stand on ground which the Company bought a hundred years ago out of + their commercial profits. Adjudication, if by adjudication be meant + decision according to some known rule of law, was out of the question. To + leave matters like these to be determined by the ordinary maxims of our + civil jurisprudence would have been the height of absurdity and injustice. + For example, the home bond debt of the Company, it is believed, was + incurred partly for political and partly for commercial purposes. But + there is no evidence which would enable us to assign to each branch its + proper share. The bonds all run in the same form; and a court of justice + would, therefore, of course, either lay the whole burthen on the + proprietors, or lay the whole on the territory. We have legal opinions, + very respectable legal opinions, to the effect, that in strictness of law + the territory is not responsible, and that the commercial assets are + responsible for every farthing of the debts which were incurred for the + government and defence of India. But though this may be, and I believe is, + law, it is, I am sure, neither reason nor justice. On the other hand, it + is urged by the advocates of the Company, that some valuable portions of + the territory are the property of that body in its commercial capacity; + that Calcutta, for example, is the private estate of the Company; that the + Company holds the island of Bombay, in free and common socage, as of the + Manor of East Greenwich. I will not pronounce any opinion on these points. + I have considered them enough to see that there is quite difficulty enough + in them to exercise all the ingenuity of all the lawyers in the kingdom + for twenty years. But the fact is, Sir, that the municipal law was not + made for controversies of this description. The existence of such a body + as this gigantic corporation, this political monster of two natures, + subject in one hemisphere, sovereign in another, had never been + contemplated by the legislators or judges of former ages. Nothing but + grotesque absurdity and atrocious injustice could have been the effect, if + the claims and liabilities of such a body had been settled according to + the rules of Westminster Hall, if the maxims of conveyancers had been + applied to the titles by which flourishing cities and provinces are held, + or the maxims of the law merchant to those promissory notes which are the + securities for a great National Debt, raised for the purpose of + exterminating the Pindarrees and humbling the Burmese. + </p> + <p> + It was, as I have said, absolutely impossible to bring the question + between commerce and territory to a satisfactory adjudication; and I must + add that, even if the difficulties which I have mentioned could have been + surmounted, even if there had been reason to hope that a satisfactory + adjudication could have been obtained, I should still have wished to avoid + that course. I think it desirable that the Company should continue to have + a share in the government of India; and it would evidently have been + impossible, pending a litigation between commerce and territory, to leave + any political power to the Company. It would clearly have been the duty of + those who were charged with the superintendence of India, to be the + patrons of India throughout that momentous litigation, to scrutinise with + the utmost severity every claim which might be made on the Indian + revenues, and to oppose, with energy and perseverance, every such claim, + unless its justice were manifest. If the Company was to be engaged in a + suit for many millions, in a suit which might last for many years, against + the Indian territory, could we entrust the Company with the government of + that territory? Could we put the plaintiff in the situation of prochain + ami of the defendant? Could we appoint governors who would have an + interest opposed in the most direct manner to the interest of the + governed, whose stock would have been raised in value by every decision + which added to the burthens of their subjects, and depressed by every + decision which diminished those burthens? It would be absurd to suppose + that they would efficiently defend our Indian Empire against the claims + which they were themselves bringing against it; and it would be equally + absurd to give the government of the Indian Empire to those who could not + be trusted to defend its interests. + </p> + <p> + Seeing, then, that it was most difficult, if not wholly impossible, to + resort to adjudication between commerce and territory, seeing that, if + recourse were had to adjudication, it would be necessary to make a + complete revolution in the whole constitution of India, the Government has + proposed a compromise. That compromise, with some modifications which did + not in the slightest degree affect its principle, and which, while they + gave satisfaction to the Company, will eventually lay no additional + burthen on the territory, has been accepted. It has, like all other + compromises, been loudly censured by violent partisans on both sides. It + has been represented by some as far too favourable to the Company, and by + others as most unjust to the Company. Sir, I own that we cannot prove that + either of these accusations is unfounded. It is of the very essence of our + case that we should not be able to show that we have assigned, either to + commerce or to territory, its precise due. For our principal reason for + recommending a compromise was our full conviction that it was absolutely + impossible to ascertain with precision what was due to commerce and what + was due to territory. It is not strange that some people should accuse us + of robbing the Company, and others of conferring a vast boon on the + Company, at the expense of India: for we have proposed a middle course, on + the very ground that there was a chance of a result much more favourable + to the Company than our arrangement, and a chance also of a result much + less favourable. If the questions pending between the Company and India + had been decided as the ardent supporters of the Company predicted, India + would, if I calculate rightly, have paid eleven millions more than she + will now have to pay. If those questions had been decided as some violent + enemies of the Company predicted, that great body would have been utterly + ruined. The very meaning of compromise is that each party gives up his + chance of complete success, in order to be secured against the chance of + utter failure. And, as men of sanguine minds always overrate the chances + in their own favour, every fair compromise is sure to be severely censured + on both sides. I conceive that, in a case so dark and complicated as this, + the compromise which we recommend is sufficiently vindicated, if it cannot + be proved to be unfair. We are not bound to prove it to be fair. For it + would have been unnecessary for us to resort to compromise at all if we + had been in possession of evidence which would have enabled us to + pronounce, with certainty, what claims were fair and what were unfair. It + seems to me that we have acted with due consideration for every party. The + dividend which we give to the proprietors is precisely the same dividend + which they have been receiving during forty years, and which they have + expected to receive permanently. The price of their stock bears at present + the same proportion to the price of other stock which it bore four or five + years ago, before the anxiety and excitement which the late negotiations + naturally produced had begun to operate. As to the territory, on the other + hand, it is true that, if the assets which are now in a commercial form + should not produce a fund sufficient to pay the debts and dividend of the + Company, the territory must stand to the loss and pay the difference. But + in return for taking this risk, the territory obtains an immediate release + from claims to the amount of many millions. I certainly do not believe + that all those claims could have been substantiated; but I know that very + able men think differently. And, if only one-fourth of the sum demanded + had been awarded to the Company, India would have lost more than the + largest sum which, as it seems to me, she can possibly lose under the + proposed arrangement. + </p> + <p> + In a pecuniary point of view, therefore, I conceive that we can defend the + measure as it affects the territory. But to the territory the pecuniary + question is of secondary importance. If we have made a good pecuniary + bargain for India, but a bad political bargain, if we have saved three or + four millions to the finances of that country, and given to it, at the + same time, pernicious institutions, we shall indeed have been practising a + most ruinous parsimony. If, on the other hand, it shall be found that we + have added fifty or a hundred thousand pounds a-year to the expenditure of + an empire which yields a revenue of twenty millions, but that we have at + the same time secured to that empire, as far as in us lies, the blessings + of good government, we shall have no reason to be ashamed of our + profusion. I hope and believe that India will have to pay nothing. But on + the most unfavourable supposition that can be made, she will not have to + pay so much to the Company as she now pays annually to a single state + pageant, to the titular Nabob of Bengal, for example, or the titular King + of Delhi. What she pays to these nominal princes, who, while they did + anything, did mischief, and who now do nothing, she may well consent to + pay to her real rulers, if she receives from them, in return, efficient + protection and good legislation. + </p> + <p> + We come then to the great question. Is it desirable to retain the Company + as an organ of government for India? I think that it is desirable. The + question is, I acknowledge, beset with difficulties. We have to solve one + of the hardest problems in politics. We are trying to make brick without + straw, to bring a clean thing out of an unclean, to give a good government + to a people to whom we cannot give a free government. In this country, in + any neighbouring country, it is easy to frame securities against + oppression. In Europe, you have the materials of good government + everywhere ready to your hands. The people are everywhere perfectly + competent to hold some share, not in every country an equal share, but + some share of political power. If the question were, What is the best mode + of securing good government in Europe? the merest smatterer in politics + would answer, representative institutions. In India you cannot have + representative institutions. Of all the innumerable speculators who have + offered their suggestions on Indian politics, not a single one, as far as + I know, however democratical his opinions may be, has ever maintained the + possibility of giving, at the present time, such institutions to India. + One gentleman, extremely well acquainted with the affairs of our Eastern + Empire, a most valuable servant of the Company, and the author of a + History of India, which, though certainly not free from faults, is, I + think, on the whole, the greatest historical work which has appeared in + our language since that of Gibbon, I mean Mr Mill, was examined on this + point. That gentleman is well known to be a very bold and uncompromising + politician. He has written strongly, far too strongly I think, in favour + of pure democracy. He has gone so far as to maintain that no nation which + has not a representative legislature, chosen by universal suffrage, enjoys + security against oppression. But when he was asked before the Committee of + last year, whether he thought representative government practicable in + India, his answer was, "utterly out of the question." This, then, is the + state in which we are. We have to frame a good government for a country + into which, by universal acknowledgment, we cannot introduce those + institutions which all our habits, which all the reasonings of European + philosophers, which all the history of our own part of the world would + lead us to consider as the one great security for good government. We have + to engraft on despotism those blessings which are the natural fruits of + liberty. In these circumstances, Sir, it behoves us to be cautious, even + to the verge of timidity. The light of political science and of history + are withdrawn: we are walking in darkness: we do not distinctly see + whither we are going. It is the wisdom of a man, so situated, to feel his + way, and not to plant his foot till he is well assured that the ground + before him is firm. + </p> + <p> + Some things, however, in the midst of this obscurity, I can see with + clearness. I can see, for example, that it is desirable that the authority + exercised in this country over the Indian government should be divided + between two bodies, between a minister or a board appointed by the Crown, + and some other body independent of the Crown. If India is to be a + dependency of England, to be at war with our enemies, to be at peace with + our allies, to be protected by the English navy from maritime aggression, + to have a portion of the English army mixed with its sepoys, it plainly + follows that the King, to whom the Constitution gives the direction of + foreign affairs, and the command of the military and naval forces, ought + to have a share in the direction of the Indian government. Yet, on the + other hand, that a revenue of twenty millions a year, an army of two + hundred thousand men, a civil service abounding with lucrative situations, + should be left to the disposal of the Crown without any check whatever, is + what no minister, I conceive, would venture to propose. This House is + indeed the check provided by the Constitution on the abuse of the royal + prerogative. But that this House is, or is likely ever to be, an efficient + check on abuses practised in India, I altogether deny. We have, as I + believe we all feel, quite business enough. If we were to undertake the + task of looking into Indian affairs as we look into British affairs, if we + were to have Indian budgets and Indian estimates, if we were to go into + the Indian currency question and the Indian Bank Charter, if to our + disputes about Belgium and Holland, Don Pedro and Don Miguel, were to be + added disputes about the debts of the Guicowar and the disorders of + Mysore, the ex-king of the Afghans and the Maharajah Runjeet Sing; if we + were to have one night occupied by the embezzlements of the Benares mint, + and another by the panic in the Calcutta money market; if the questions of + Suttee or no Suttee, Pilgrim tax or no Pilgrim tax, Ryotwary or Zemindary, + half Batta or whole Batta, were to be debated at the same length at which + we have debated Church reform and the assessed taxes, twenty-four hours a + day and three hundred and sixty-five days a year would be too short a time + for the discharge of our duties. The House, it is plain, has not the + necessary time to settle these matters; nor has it the necessary + knowledge; nor has it the motives to acquire that knowledge. The late + change in its constitution has made it, I believe, a much more faithful + representative of the English people. But it is as far as ever from being + a representative of the Indian people. A broken head in Cold Bath Fields + produces a greater sensation among us than three pitched battles in India. + A few weeks ago we had to decide on a claim brought by an individual + against the revenues of India. If it had been an English question the + walls would scarcely have held the Members who would have flocked to the + division. It was an Indian question; and we could scarcely, by dint of + supplication, make a House. Even when my right honourable friend, the + President of the Board of Control, gave his able and interesting + explanation of the plan which he intended to propose for the government of + a hundred millions of human beings, the attendance was not so large as I + have often seen it on a turnpike bill or a railroad bill. + </p> + <p> + I then take these things as proved, that the Crown must have a certain + authority over India, that there must be an efficient check on the + authority of the Crown, and that the House of Commons cannot be that + efficient check. We must then find some other body to perform that + important office. We have such a body, the Company. Shall we discard it? + </p> + <p> + It is true that the power of the Company is an anomaly in politics. It is + strange, very strange, that a joint-stock society of traders, a society, + the shares of which are daily passed from hand to hand, a society, the + component parts of which are perpetually changing, a society, which, + judging a priori from its constitution, we should have said was as little + fitted for imperial functions as the Merchant Tailors' Company or the New + River Company, should be intrusted with the sovereignty of a larger + population, the disposal of a larger clear revenue, the command of a + larger army, than are under the direct management of the Executive + Government of the United Kingdom. But what constitution can we give to our + Indian Empire which shall not be strange, which shall not be anomalous? + That Empire is itself the strangest of all political anomalies. That a + handful of adventurers from an island in the Atlantic should have + subjugated a vast country divided from the place of their birth by half + the globe; a country which at no very distant period was merely the + subject of fable to the nations of Europe; a country never before violated + by the most renowned of Western conquerors; a country which Trajan never + entered; a country lying beyond the point where the phalanx of Alexander + refused to proceed; that we should govern a territory ten thousand miles + from us, a territory larger and more populous than France, Spain, Italy, + and Germany put together, a territory, the present clear revenue of which + exceeds the present clear revenue of any state in the world, France + excepted; a territory inhabited by men differing from us in race, colour, + language, manners, morals, religion; these are prodigies to which the + world has seen nothing similar. Reason is confounded. We interrogate the + past in vain. General rules are useless where the whole is one vast + exception. The Company is an anomaly; but it is part of a system where + every thing is anomaly. It is the strangest of all governments; but it is + designed for the strangest of all empires. + </p> + <p> + If we discard the Company, we must find a substitute: and, take what + substitute we may, we shall find ourselves unable to give any reason for + believing that the body which we have put in the room of the Company is + likely to acquit itself of its duties better than the Company. + Commissioners appointed by the King during pleasure would be no check on + the Crown; Commissioners appointed by the King or by Parliament for life + would always be appointed by the political party which might be uppermost, + and if a change of administration took place, would harass the new + Government with the most vexatious opposition. The plan suggested by the + right honourable Gentleman, the Member for Montgomeryshire (Mr Charles + Wynn.), is I think the very worst that I have ever heard. He would have + Directors nominated every four years by the Crown. Is it not plain that + these Directors would always be appointed from among the supporters of the + Ministry for the time being; that their situations would depend on the + permanence of that Ministry; that therefore all their power and patronage + would be employed for the purpose of propping that Ministry, and, in case + of a change, for the purpose of molesting those who might succeed to + power; that they would be subservient while their friends were in, and + factious when their friends were out? How would Lord Grey's Ministry have + been situated if the whole body of Directors had been nominated by the + Duke of Wellington in 1830. I mean no imputation on the Duke of + Wellington. If the present ministers had to nominate Directors for four + years, they would, I have no doubt, nominate men who would give no small + trouble to the Duke of Wellington if he were to return to office. What we + want is a body independent of the Government, and no more than + independent; not a tool of the Treasury, not a tool of the opposition. No + new plan which I have heard proposed would give us such a body. The + Company, strange as its constitution may be, is such a body. It is, as a + corporation, neither Whig nor Tory, neither high-church nor low-church. It + cannot be charged with having been for or against the Catholic Bill, for + or against the Reform Bill. It has constantly acted with a view not to + English politics, but to Indian politics. We have seen the country + convulsed by faction. We have seen Ministers driven from office by this + House, Parliament dissolved in anger, general elections of unprecedented + turbulence, debates of unprecedented interest. We have seen the two + branches of the Legislature placed in direct opposition to each other. We + have seen the advisers of the Crown dismissed one day, and brought back + the next day on the shoulders of the people. And amidst all these + agitating events the Company has preserved strict and unsuspected + neutrality. This is, I think an inestimable advantage, and it is an + advantage which we must altogether forego, if we consent to adopt any of + the schemes which I have heard proposed on the other side of the House. + </p> + <p> + We must judge of the Indian government, as of all other governments, by + its practical effects. According to the honourable Member for Sheffield, + India is ill governed; and the whole fault is with the Company. + Innumerable accusations, great and small, are brought by him against the + Directors. They are fond of war: they are fond of dominion: the taxation + is burthensome: the laws are undigested: the roads are rough: the post + goes on foot: and for everything the Company is answerable. From the + dethronement of the Mogul princes to the mishaps of Sir Charles Metcalfe's + courier, every disaster that has taken place in the East during sixty + years is laid to the charge of this Corporation. And the inference is, + that all the power which they possess ought to be taken out of their + hands, and transferred at once to the Crown. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, it seems to me that, for all the evils which the honourable + Gentleman has so pathetically recounted, the Ministers of the Crown are as + much to blame as the Company; nay, much more so: for the Board of Control + could, without the consent of the Directors, have redressed those evils; + and the Directors most certainly could not have redressed them without the + consent of the Board of Control. Take the case of that frightful grievance + which seems to have made the deepest impression on the mind of the + honourable Gentleman, the slowness of the mail. Why, Sir, if my right + honourable friend, the President of our Board thought fit, he might direct + me to write to the Court and require them to frame a dispatch on that + subject. If the Court disobeyed, he might himself frame a dispatch + ordering Lord William Bentinck to put the dawks all over Bengal on + horseback. If the Court refused to send out this dispatch, the Board could + apply to the King's Bench for a mandamus. If, on the other hand, the + Directors wished to accelerate the journeys of the mail, and the Board + were adverse to the project, the Directors could do nothing at all. For + all measures of internal policy the servants of the King are at least as + deeply responsible as the Company. For all measures of foreign policy the + servants of the King, and they alone are responsible. I was surprised to + hear the honourable Gentleman accuse the Directors of insatiable ambition + and rapacity, when he must know that no act of aggression on any native + state can be committed by the Company without the sanction of the Board, + and that, in fact, the Board has repeatedly approved of warlike measures + which were strenuously opposed by the Company. He must know, in + particular, that, during the energetic and splendid administration of the + Marquess of Wellesley, the company was all for peace, and the Board all + for conquest. If a line of conduct which the honourable Gentleman thinks + unjustifiable has been followed by the Ministers of the Crown in spite of + the remonstrances of the Directors, this is surely a strange reason for + turning off the Directors, and giving the whole power unchecked to the + Crown. + </p> + <p> + The honourable Member tells us that India, under the present system, is + not so rich and flourishing as she was two hundred years ago. Really, Sir, + I doubt whether we are in possession of sufficient data to enable us to + form a judgment on that point. But the matter is of little importance. We + ought to compare India under our government, not with India under Acbar + and his immediate successors, but with India as we found it. The + calamities through which that country passed during the interval between + the fall of the Mogul power and the establishment of the English supremacy + were sufficient to throw the people back whole centuries. It would surely + be unjust to say, that Alfred was a bad king because Britain, under his + government, was not so rich or so civilised as in the time of the Romans. + </p> + <p> + In what state, then, did we find India? And what have we made India? We + found society throughout that vast country in a state to which history + scarcely furnishes a parallel. The nearest parallel would, perhaps, be the + state of Europe during the fifth century. The Mogul empire in the time of + the successors of Aurungzebe, like the Roman empire in the time of the + successors of Theodosius, was sinking under the vices of a bad internal + administration, and under the assaults of barbarous invaders. At Delhi, as + at Ravenna, there was a mock sovereign, immured in a gorgeous state + prison. He was suffered to indulge in every sensual pleasure. He was + adored with servile prostrations. He assumed and bestowed the most + magnificent titles. But, in fact, he was a mere puppet in the hands of + some ambitious subject. While the Honorii and Augustuli of the East, + surrounded by their fawning eunuchs, reveled and dozed without knowing or + caring what might pass beyond the walls of their palace gardens, the + provinces had ceased to respect a government which could neither punish + nor protect them. Society was a chaos. Its restless and shifting elements + formed themselves every moment into some new combination, which the next + moment dissolved. In the course of a single generation a hundred dynasties + grew up, flourished, decayed, were extinguished, were forgotten. Every + adventurer who could muster a troop of horse might aspire to a throne. + Every palace was every year the scene of conspiracies, treasons, + revolutions, parricides. Meanwhile a rapid succession of Alarics and + Attilas passed over the defenceless empire. A Persian invader penetrated + to Delhi, and carried back in triumph the most precious treasures of the + House of Tamerlane. The Afghan soon followed by the same track, to glean + whatever the Persian had spared. The Jauts established themselves on the + Jumna. The Seiks devastated Lahore. Every part of India, from Tanjore to + the Himalayas, was laid under contribution by the Mahrattas. The people + were ground down to the dust by the oppressor without and the oppressor + within, by the robber from whom the Nabob was unable to protect them, by + the Nabob who took whatever the robber had left to them. All the evils of + despotism, and all the evils of anarchy, pressed at once on that miserable + race. They knew nothing of government but its exactions. Desolation was in + their imperial cities, and famine all along the banks of their broad and + redundant rivers. It seemed that a few more years would suffice to efface + all traces of the opulence and civilisation of an earlier age. + </p> + <p> + Such was the state of India when the Company began to take part in the + disputes of its ephemeral sovereigns. About eighty years have elapsed + since we appeared as auxiliaries in a contest between two rival families + for the sovereignty of a small corner of the Peninsula. From that moment + commenced a great, a stupendous process, the reconstruction of a + decomposed society. Two generations have passed away; and the process is + complete. The scattered fragments of the empire of Aurungzebe have been + united in an empire stronger and more closely knit together than that + which Aurungzebe ruled. The power of the new sovereigns penetrates their + dominions more completely, and is far more implicitly obeyed, than was + that of the proudest princes of the Mogul dynasty. + </p> + <p> + It is true that the early history of this great revolution is chequered + with guilt and shame. It is true that the founders of our Indian Empire + too often abused the strength which they derived from superior energy and + superior knowledge. It is true that, with some of the highest qualities of + the race from which they sprang, they combined some of the worst defects + of the race over which they ruled. How should it have been otherwise? Born + in humble stations, accustomed to earn a slender maintenance by obscure + industry, they found themselves transformed in a few months from clerks + drudging over desks, or captains in marching regiments, into statesmen and + generals, with armies at their command, with the revenues of kingdoms at + their disposal, with power to make and depose sovereigns at their + pleasure. They were what it was natural that men should be who had been + raised by so rapid an ascent to so dizzy an eminence, profuse and + rapacious, imperious and corrupt. + </p> + <p> + It is true, then, that there was too much foundation for the + representations of those satirists and dramatists who held up the + character of the English Nabob to the derision and hatred of a former + generation. It is true that some disgraceful intrigues, some unjust and + cruel wars, some instances of odious perfidy and avarice, stain the annals + of our Eastern Empire. It is true that the duties of government and + legislation were long wholly neglected or carelessly performed. It is true + that when the conquerors at length began to apply themselves in earnest to + the discharge of their high functions, they committed the errors natural + to rulers who were but imperfectly acquainted with the language and + manners of their subjects. It is true that some plans, which were dictated + by the purest and most benevolent feelings have not been attended by the + desired success. It is true that India suffers to this day from a heavy + burden of taxation and from a defective system of law. It is true, I fear, + that in those states which are connected with us by subsidiary alliance, + all the evils of oriental despotism have too frequently shown themselves + in their most loathsome and destructive form. + </p> + <p> + All this is true. Yet in the history and in the present state of our + Indian Empire I see ample reason for exultation and for a good hope. + </p> + <p> + I see that we have established order where we found confusion. I see that + the petty dynasties which were generated by the corruption of the great + Mahometan Empire, and which, a century ago, kept all India in constant + agitation, have been quelled by one overwhelming power. I see that the + predatory tribes, which, in the middle of the last century, passed + annually over the harvests of India with the destructive rapidity of a + hurricane, have quailed before the valour of a braver and sterner race, + have been vanquished, scattered, hunted to their strongholds, and either + extirpated by the English sword, or compelled to exchange the pursuits of + rapine for those of industry. + </p> + <p> + I look back for many years; and I see scarcely a trace of the vices which + blemished the splendid fame of the first conquerors of Bengal. I see peace + studiously preserved. I see faith inviolably maintained towards feeble and + dependent states. I see confidence gradually infused into the minds of + suspicious neighbours. I see the horrors of war mitigated by the + chivalrous and Christian spirit of Europe. I see examples of moderation + and clemency, such as I should seek in vain in the annals of any other + victorious and dominant nation. I see captive tyrants, whose treachery and + cruelty might have excused a severe retribution, living in security, + comfort, and dignity, under the protection of the government which they + laboured to destroy. + </p> + <p> + I see a large body of civil and military functionaries resembling in + nothing but capacity and valour those adventurers who, seventy years ago, + came hither, laden with wealth and infamy, to parade before our fathers + the plundered treasures of Bengal and Tanjore. I reflect with pride that + to the doubtful splendour which surrounds the memory of Hastings and of + Clive, we can oppose the spotless glory of Elphinstone and Munro. I + contemplate with reverence and delight the honourable poverty which is the + evidence of rectitude firmly maintained amidst strong temptations. I + rejoice to see my countrymen, after ruling millions of subjects, after + commanding victorious armies, after dictating terms of peace at the gates + of hostile capitals, after administering the revenues of great provinces, + after judging the causes of wealthy Zemindars, after residing at the + courts of tributary Kings, return to their native land with no more than a + decent competence. + </p> + <p> + I see a government anxiously bent on the public good. Even in its errors I + recognise a paternal feeling towards the great people committed to its + charge. I see toleration strictly maintained: yet I see bloody and + degrading superstitions gradually losing their power. I see the morality, + the philosophy, the taste of Europe, beginning to produce a salutary + effect on the hearts and understandings of our subjects. I see the public + mind of India, that public mind which we found debased and contracted by + the worst forms of political and religious tyranny, expanding itself to + just and noble views of the ends of government and of the social duties of + man. + </p> + <p> + I see evils: but I see the government actively employed in the work of + remedying those evils. The taxation is heavy; but the work of retrenchment + is unsparingly pursued. The mischiefs arising from the system of + subsidiary alliance are great: but the rulers of India are fully aware of + those mischiefs, and are engaged in guarding against them. Wherever they + now interfere for the purpose of supporting a native government, they + interfere also for the purpose of reforming it. + </p> + <p> + Seeing these things, then, am I prepared to discard the Company as an + organ of government? I am not. Assuredly I will never shrink from + innovation where I see reason to believe that innovation will be + improvement. That the present Government does not shrink from innovations + which it considers as improvements the bill now before the House + sufficiently shows. But surely the burden of the proof lies on the + innovators. They are bound to show that there is a fair probability of + obtaining some advantage before they call upon us to take up the + foundations of the Indian government. I have no superstitious veneration + for the Court of Directors or the Court of Proprietors. Find me a better + Council: find me a better constituent body: and I am ready for a change. + But of all the substitutes for the Company which have hitherto been + suggested, not one has been proved to be better than the Company; and most + of them I could, I think, easily prove to be worse. Circumstances might + force us to hazard a change. If the Company were to refuse to accept of + the government unless we would grant pecuniary terms which I thought + extravagant, or unless we gave up the clauses in this bill which permit + Europeans to hold landed property and natives to hold office, I would take + them at their word. But I will not discard them in the mere rage of + experiment. + </p> + <p> + Do I call the government of India a perfect government? Very far from it. + No nation can be perfectly well governed till it is competent to govern + itself. I compare the Indian government with other governments of the same + class, with despotisms, with military despotisms, with foreign military + despotisms; and I find none that approaches it in excellence. I compare it + with the government of the Roman provinces, with the government of the + Spanish colonies; and I am proud of my country and my age. Here are a + hundred millions of people under the absolute rule of a few strangers, + differing from them physically, differing from them morally, mere + Mamelukes, not born in the country which they rule, not meaning to lay + their bones in it. If you require me to make this government as good as + that of England, France, or the United States of America, I own frankly + that I can do no such thing. Reasoning a priori, I should have come to the + conclusion that such a government must be a horrible tyranny. It is a + source of constant amazement to me that it is so good as I find it to be. + I will not, therefore, in a case in which I have neither principles nor + precedents to guide me, pull down the existing system on account of its + theoretical defects. For I know that any system which I could put in its + place would be equally condemned by theory, while it would not be equally + sanctioned by experience. + </p> + <p> + Some change in the constitution of the Company was, as I have shown, + rendered inevitable by the opening of the China Trade; and it was the duty + of the Government to take care that the change should not be prejudicial + to India. There were many ways in which the compromise between commerce + and territory might have been effected. We might have taken the assets, + and paid a sum down, leaving the Company to invest that sum as they chose. + We might have offered English security with a lower interest. We might + have taken the course which the late ministers designed to take. They + would have left the Company in possession of the means of carrying on its + trade in competition with private merchants. My firm belief is that, if + this course had been taken, the Company must, in a very few years, have + abandoned the trade, or the trade would have ruined the Company. It was + not, however, solely or principally by regard for the interest of the + Company, or of English merchants generally, that the Government was guided + on this occasion. The course which appeared to us the most likely to + promote the interests of our Eastern Empire was to make the proprietors of + India stock creditors of the Indian territory. Their interest will thus be + in a great measure the same with the interest of the people whom they are + to rule. Their income will depend on the revenues of their empire. The + revenues of their empire will depend on the manner in which the affairs of + that empire are administered. We furnish them with the strongest motives + to watch over the interests of the cultivator and the trader, to maintain + peace, to carry on with vigour the work of retrenchment, to detect and + punish extortion and corruption. Though they live at a distance from + India, though few of them have ever seen or may ever see the people whom + they rule, they will have a great stake in the happiness of their + subjects. If their misgovernment should produce disorder in the finances, + they will themselves feel the effects of that disorder in their own + household expenses. I believe this to be, next to a representative + constitution, the constitution which is the best security for good + government. A representative constitution India cannot at present have. + And we have therefore, I think, given her the best constitution of which + she is capable. + </p> + <p> + One word as to the new arrangement which we propose with respect to the + patronage. It is intended to introduce the principle of competition in the + disposal of writerships; and from this change I cannot but anticipate the + happiest results. The civil servants of the Company are undoubtedly a + highly respectable body of men; and in that body, as in every large body, + there are some persons of very eminent ability. I rejoice most cordially + to see this. I rejoice to see that the standard of morality is so high in + England, that intelligence is so generally diffused through England, that + young persons who are taken from the mass of society, by favour and not by + merit, and who are therefore only fair samples of the mass, should, when + placed in situations of high importance, be so seldom found wanting. But + it is not the less true that India is entitled to the service of the best + talents which England can spare. That the average of intelligence and + virtue is very high in this country is matter for honest exultation. But + it is no reason for employing average men where you can obtain superior + men. Consider too, Sir, how rapidly the public mind of India is advancing, + how much attention is already paid by the higher classes of the natives to + those intellectual pursuits on the cultivation of which the superiority of + the European race to the rest of mankind principally depends. Surely, in + such circumstances, from motives of selfish policy, if from no higher + motive, we ought to fill the magistracies of our Eastern Empire with men + who may do honour to their country, with men who may represent the best + part of the English nation. This, Sir, is our object; and we believe that + by the plan which is now proposed this object will be attained. It is + proposed that for every vacancy in the civil service four candidates shall + be named, and the best candidate selected by examination. We conceive + that, under this system, the persons sent out will be young men above par, + young men superior either in talents or in diligence to the mass. It is + said, I know, that examinations in Latin, in Greek, and in mathematics, + are no tests of what men will prove to be in life. I am perfectly aware + that they are not infallible tests: but that they are tests I confidently + maintain. Look at every walk of life, at this House, at the other House, + at the Bar, at the Bench, at the Church, and see whether it be not true + that those who attain high distinction in the world were generally men who + were distinguished in their academic career. Indeed, Sir, this objection + would prove far too much even for those who use it. It would prove that + there is no use at all in education. Why should we put boys out of their + way? Why should we force a lad, who would much rather fly a kite or + trundle a hoop, to learn his Latin Grammar? Why should we keep a young man + to his Thucydides or his Laplace, when he would much rather be shooting? + Education would be mere useless torture, if, at two or three and twenty, a + man who had neglected his studies were exactly on a par with a man who had + applied himself to them, exactly as likely to perform all the offices of + public life with credit to himself and with advantage to society. Whether + the English system of education be good or bad is not now the question. + Perhaps I may think that too much time is given to the ancient languages + and to the abstract sciences. But what then? Whatever be the languages, + whatever be the sciences, which it is, in any age or country, the fashion + to teach, the persons who become the greatest proficients in those + languages and those sciences will generally be the flower of the youth, + the most acute, the most industrious, the most ambitious of honourable + distinctions. If the Ptolemaic system were taught at Cambridge instead of + the Newtonian, the senior wrangler would nevertheless be in general a + superior man to the wooden spoon. If, instead of learning Greek, we + learned the Cherokee, the man who understood the Cherokee best, who made + the most correct and melodious Cherokee verses, who comprehended most + accurately the effect of the Cherokee particles, would generally be a + superior man to him who was destitute of these accomplishments. If + astrology were taught at our Universities, the young man who cast + nativities best would generally turn out a superior man. If alchymy were + taught, the young man who showed most activity in the pursuit of the + philosopher's stone would generally turn out a superior man. + </p> + <p> + I will only add one other observation on this subject. Although I am + inclined to think that too exclusive an attention is paid in the education + of young English gentlemen to the dead languages, I conceive that when you + are choosing men to fill situations for which the very first and most + indispensable qualification is familiarity with foreign languages, it + would be difficult to find a better test of their fitness than their + classical acquirements. + </p> + <p> + Some persons have expressed doubts as to the possibility of procuring fair + examinations. I am quite sure that no person who has been either at + Cambridge or at Oxford can entertain such doubts. I feel, indeed, that I + ought to apologise for even noticing an objection so frivolous. + </p> + <p> + Next to the opening of the China trade, Sir, the change most eagerly + demanded by the English people was, that the restrictions on the admission + of Europeans to India should be removed. In this change there are + undoubtedly very great advantages. The chief advantage is, I think, the + improvement which the minds of our native subjects may be expected to + derive from free intercourse with a people far advanced beyond themselves + in intellectual cultivation. I cannot deny, however, that the advantages + are attended with some danger. + </p> + <p> + The danger is that the new comers, belonging to the ruling nation, + resembling in colour, in language, in manners, those who hold supreme + military and political power, and differing in all these respects from the + great mass of the population, may consider themselves as a superior class, + and may trample on the indigenous race. Hitherto there have been strong + restraints on Europeans resident in India. Licences were not easily + obtained. Those residents who were in the service of the Company had + obvious motives for conducting themselves with propriety. If they incurred + the serious displeasure of the Government, their hopes of promotion were + blighted. Even those who were not in the public service were subject to + the formidable power which the Government possessed of banishing them at + its pleasure. + </p> + <p> + The license of the Government will now no longer be necessary to persons + who desire to reside in the settled provinces of India. The power of + arbitrary deportation is withdrawn. Unless, therefore, we mean to leave + the natives exposed to the tyranny and insolence of every profligate + adventurer who may visit the East, we must place the European under the + same power which legislates for the Hindoo. No man loves political freedom + more than I. But a privilege enjoyed by a few individuals, in the midst of + a vast population who do not enjoy it, ought not to be called freedom. It + is tyranny. In the West Indies I have not the least doubt that the + existence of the Trial by Jury and of Legislative Assemblies has tended to + make the condition of the slaves worse than it would otherwise have been. + Or, to go to India itself for an instance, though I fully believe that a + mild penal code is better than a severe penal code, the worst of all + systems was surely that of having a mild code for the Brahmins, who sprang + from the head of the Creator, while there was a severe code for the + Sudras, who sprang from his feet. India has suffered enough already from + the distinction of castes, and from the deeply rooted prejudices which + that distinction has engendered. God forbid that we should inflict on her + the curse of a new caste, that we should send her a new breed of Brahmins, + authorised to treat all the native population as Parias! + </p> + <p> + With a view to the prevention of this evil, we propose to give to the + Supreme Government the power of legislating for Europeans as well as for + natives. We propose that the regulations of the Government shall bind the + King's Court as they bind all other courts, and that registration by the + Judges of the King's Courts shall no longer be necessary to give validity + to those regulations within the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. + </p> + <p> + I could scarcely, Sir, believe my ears when I heard this part of our plan + condemned in another place. I should have thought that it would have been + received with peculiar favour in that quarter where it has met with the + most severe condemnation. What, at present, is the case? If the Supreme + Court and the Government differ on a question of jurisdiction, or on a + question of legislation within the towns which are the seats of + Government, there is absolutely no umpire but the Imperial Parliament. The + device of putting one wild elephant between two tame elephants was + ingenious: but it may not always be practicable. Suppose a tame elephant + between two wild elephants, or suppose that the whole herd should run wild + together. The thing is not without example. And is it not most unjust and + ridiculous that, on one side of a ditch, the edict of the Governor General + should have the force of law, and that on the other side it should be of + no effect unless registered by the Judges of the Supreme Court? If the + registration be a security for good legislation, we are bound to give that + security to all classes of our subjects. If the registration be not a + security for good legislation, why give it to any? Is the system good? + Extend it. Is it bad! Abolish it. But in the name of common sense do not + leave it as it is. It is as absurd as our old law of sanctuary. The law + which authorises imprisonment for debt may be good or bad. But no man in + his senses can approve of the ancient system under which a debtor who + might be arrested in Fleet Street was safe as soon as he had scampered + into Whitefriars. Just in the same way, doubts may fairly be entertained + about the expediency of allowing four or five persons to make laws for + India; but to allow them to make laws for all India without the Mahratta + ditch, and to except Calcutta, is the height of absurdity. + </p> + <p> + I say, therefore, that either you must enlarge the power of the Supreme + Court, and give it a general veto on laws, or you must enlarge the power + of the Government, and make its regulations binding on all Courts without + distinction. The former course no person has ventured to propose. To the + latter course objections have been made; but objections which to me, I + must own, seem altogether frivolous. + </p> + <p> + It is acknowledged that of late years inconvenience has arisen from the + relation in which the Supreme Court stands to the Government. But, it is + said, that Court was originally instituted for the protection of natives + against Europeans. The wise course would therefore be to restore its + original character. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, the fact is, that the Supreme Court has never been so + mischievous as during the first ten years of its power, or so respectable + as it has lately been. Everybody who knows anything of its early history + knows, that, during a considerable time, it was the terror of Bengal, the + scourge of the native population, the screen of European delinquents, a + convenient tool of the Government for all purposes of evil, an + insurmountable obstacle to the Government in all undertakings for the + public good; that its proceedings were made up of pedantry, cruelty, and + corruption; that its disputes with the Government were at one time on the + point of breaking up the whole fabric of society; and that a convulsion + was averted only by the dexterous policy of Warren Hastings, who at last + bought off the opposition of the Chief Justice for eight thousand pounds a + year. It is notorious that, while the Supreme Court opposed Hastings in + all his best measures, it was a thoroughgoing accomplice in his worst; + that it took part in the most scandalous of those proceedings which, fifty + years ago, roused the indignation of Parliament and of the country; that + it assisted in the spoliation of the princesses of Oude; that it passed + sentence of death on Nuncomar. And this is the Court which we are to + restore from its present state of degeneracy to its original purity. This + is the protection which we are to give to the natives against the + Europeans. Sir, so far is it from being true that the character of the + Supreme Court has deteriorated, that it has, perhaps, improved more than + any other institution in India. But the evil lies deep in the nature of + the institution itself. The judges have in our time deserved the greatest + respect. Their judgment and integrity have done much to mitigate the vices + of the system. The worst charge that can be brought against any of them is + that of pertinacity, disinterested, conscientious pertinacity, in error. + The real evil is the state of the law. You have two supreme powers in + India. There is no arbitrator except a Legislature fifteen thousand miles + off. Such a system is on the face of it an absurdity in politics. My + wonder is, not that this system has several times been on the point of + producing fatal consequences to the peace and resources of India;—those, + I think, are the words in which Warren Hastings described the effect of + the contest between his Government and the Judges;—but that it has + not actually produced such consequences. The most distinguished members of + the Indian Government, the most distinguished Judges of the Supreme Court, + call upon you to reform this system. Sir Charles Metcalfe, Sir Charles + Grey, represent with equal urgency the expediency of having one single + paramount council armed with legislative power. The admission of Europeans + to India renders it absolutely necessary not to delay our decision. The + effect of that admission would be to raise a hundred questions, to produce + a hundred contests between the Council and the judicature. The Government + would be paralysed at the precise moment at which all its energy was + required. While the two equal powers were acting in opposite directions, + the whole machine of the state would stand still. The Europeans would be + uncontrolled. The natives would be unprotected. The consequences I will + not pretend to foresee. Everything beyond is darkness and confusion. + </p> + <p> + Having given to the Government supreme legislative power, we next propose + to give to it for a time the assistance of a commission for the purpose of + digesting and reforming the laws of India, so that those laws may, as soon + as possible, be formed into a Code. Gentleman of whom I wish to speak with + the highest respect have expressed a doubt whether India be at present in + a fit state to receive a benefit which is not yet enjoyed by this free and + highly civilised country. Sir, I can allow to this argument very little + weight beyond that which it derives from the personal authority of those + who use it. For, in the first place, our freedom and our high civilisation + make this improvement, desirable as it must always be, less indispensably + necessary to us than to our Indian subjects; and in the next place, our + freedom and civilisation, I fear, make it far more difficult for us to + obtain this benefit for ourselves than to bestow it on them. + </p> + <p> + I believe that no country ever stood so much in need of a code of laws as + India; and I believe also that there never was a country in which the want + might so easily be supplied. I said that there were many points of analogy + between the state of that country after the fall of the Mogul power, and + the state of Europe after the fall of the Roman empire. In one respect the + analogy is very striking. As there were in Europe then, so there are in + India now, several systems of law widely differing from each other, but + coexisting and coequal. The indigenous population has its own laws. Each + of the successive races of conquerors has brought with it its own peculiar + jurisprudence: the Mussulman his Koran and the innumerable commentators on + the Koran; the Englishman his Statute Book and his Term Reports. As there + were established in Italy, at one and the same time, the Roman Law, the + Lombard law, the Ripuarian law, the Bavarian law, and the Salic law, so we + have now in our Eastern empire Hindoo law, Mahometan law, Parsee law, + English law, perpetually mingling with each other and disturbing each + other, varying with the person, varying with the place. In one and the + same cause the process and pleadings are in the fashion of one nation, the + judgment is according to the laws of another. An issue is evolved + according to the rules of Westminster, and decided according to those of + Benares. The only Mahometan book in the nature of a code is the Koran; the + only Hindoo book, the Institutes. Everybody who knows those books knows + that they provide for a very small part of the cases which must arise in + every community. All beyond them is comment and tradition. Our regulations + in civil matters do not define rights, but merely establish remedies. If a + point of Hindoo law arises, the Judge calls on the Pundit for an opinion. + If a point of Mahometan law arises, the Judge applies to the Cauzee. What + the integrity of these functionaries is, we may learn from Sir William + Jones. That eminent man declared that he could not answer it to his + conscience to decide any point of law on the faith of a Hindoo expositor. + Sir Thomas Strange confirms this declaration. Even if there were no + suspicion of corruption on the part of the interpreters of the law, the + science which they profess is in such a state of confusion that no + reliance can be placed on their answers. Sir Francis Macnaghten tells us, + that it is a delusion to fancy that there is any known and fixed law under + which the Hindoo people live; that texts may be produced on any side of + any question; that expositors equal in authority perpetually contradict + each other: that the obsolete law is perpetually confounded with the law + actually in force; and that the first lesson to be impressed on a + functionary who has to administer Hindoo law is that it is vain to think + of extracting certainty from the books of the jurist. The consequence is + that in practice the decisions of the tribunals are altogether arbitrary. + What is administered is not law, but a kind of rude and capricious equity. + I asked an able and excellent judge lately returned from India how one of + our Zillah Courts would decide several legal questions of great + importance, questions not involving considerations of religion or of + caste, mere questions of commercial law. He told me that it was a mere + lottery. He knew how he should himself decide them. But he knew nothing + more. I asked a most distinguished civil servant of the Company, with + reference to the clause in this Bill on the subject of slavery, whether at + present, if a dancing girl ran away from her master, the judge would force + her to go back. "Some judges," he said, "send a girl back. Others set her + at liberty. The whole is a mere matter of chance. Everything depends on + the temper of the individual judge." + </p> + <p> + Even in this country we have had complaints of judge-made law; even in + this country, where the standard of morality is higher than in almost any + other part of the world; where, during several generations, not one + depositary of our legal traditions has incurred the suspicion of personal + corruption; where there are popular institutions; where every decision is + watched by a shrewd and learned audience; where there is an intelligent + and observant public; where every remarkable case is fully reported in a + hundred newspapers; where, in short, there is everything which can + mitigate the evils of such a system. But judge-made law, where there is an + absolute government and a lax morality, where there is no bar and no + public, is a curse and a scandal not to be endured. It is time that the + magistrate should know what law he is to administer, that the subject + should know under what law he is to live. We do not mean that all the + people of India should live under the same law: far from it: there is not + a word in the bill, there was not a word in my right honourable friend's + speech, susceptible of such an interpretation. We know how desirable that + object is; but we also know that it is unattainable. We know that respect + must be paid to feelings generated by differences of religion, of nation, + and of caste. Much, I am persuaded, may be done to assimilate the + different systems of law without wounding those feelings. But, whether we + assimilate those systems or not, let us ascertain them; let us digest + them. We propose no rash innovation; we wish to give no shock to the + prejudices of any part of our subjects. Our principle is simply this; + uniformity where you can have it: diversity where you must have it; but in + all cases certainty. + </p> + <p> + As I believe that India stands more in need of a code than any other + country in the world, I believe also that there is no country on which + that great benefit can more easily be conferred. A code is almost the only + blessing, perhaps is the only blessing, which absolute governments are + better fitted to confer on a nation than popular governments. The work of + digesting a vast and artificial system of unwritten jurisprudence is far + more easily performed, and far better performed, by few minds than by + many, by a Napoleon than by a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Peers, + by a government like that of Prussia or Denmark than by a government like + that of England. A quiet knot of two or three veteran jurists is an + infinitely better machinery for such a purpose than a large popular + assembly divided, as such assemblies almost always are, into adverse + factions. This seems to me, therefore, to be precisely that point of time + at which the advantage of a complete written code of laws may most easily + be conferred on India. It is a work which cannot be well performed in an + age of barbarism, which cannot without great difficulty be performed in an + age of freedom. It is a work which especially belongs to a government like + that of India, to an enlightened and paternal despotism. + </p> + <p> + I have detained the House so long, Sir, that I will defer what I had to + say on some parts of this measure, important parts, indeed, but far less + important, as I think, than those to which I have adverted, till we are in + Committee. There is, however, one part of the bill on which, after what + has recently passed elsewhere, I feel myself irresistibly impelled to say + a few words. I allude to that wise, that benevolent, that noble clause + which enacts that no native of our Indian empire shall, by reason of his + colour, his descent, or his religion, be incapable of holding office. At + the risk of being called by that nickname which is regarded as the most + opprobrious of all nicknames by men of selfish hearts and contracted + minds, at the risk of being called a philosopher, I must say that, to the + last day of my life, I shall be proud of having been one of those who + assisted in the framing of the bill which contains that clause. We are + told that the time can never come when the natives of India can be + admitted to high civil and military office. We are told that this is the + condition on which we hold our power. We are told that we are bound to + confer on our subjects every benefit—which they are capable of + enjoying?—no;—which it is in our power to confer on them?—no;—but + which we can confer on them without hazard to the perpetuity of our own + domination. Against that proposition I solemnly protest as inconsistent + alike with sound policy and sound morality. + </p> + <p> + I am far, very far, from wishing to proceed hastily in this most delicate + matter. I feel that, for the good of India itself, the admission of + natives to high office must be effected by slow degrees. But that, when + the fulness of time is come, when the interest of India requires the + change, we ought to refuse to make that change lest we should endanger our + own power, this is a doctrine of which I cannot think without indignation. + Governments, like men, may buy existence too dear. "Propter vitam vivendi + perdere causas," is a despicable policy both in individuals and in states. + In the present case, such a policy would be not only despicable, but + absurd. The mere extent of empire is not necessarily an advantage. To many + governments it has been cumbersome; to some it has been fatal. It will be + allowed by every statesman of our time that the prosperity of a community + is made up of the prosperity of those who compose the community, and that + it is the most childish ambition to covet dominion which adds to no man's + comfort or security. To the great trading nation, to the great + manufacturing nation, no progress which any portion of the human race can + make in knowledge, in taste for the conveniences of life, or in the wealth + by which those conveniences are produced, can be matter of indifference. + It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits which we might derive + from the diffusion of European civilisation among the vast population of + the East. It would be, on the most selfish view of the case, far better + for us that the people of India were well governed and independent of us, + than ill governed and subject to us; that they were ruled by their own + kings, but wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, than that + they were performing their salams to English collectors and English + magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, English + manufactures. To trade with civilised men is infinitely more profitable + than to govern savages. That would, indeed, be a doting wisdom, which, in + order that India might remain a dependency, would make it an useless and + costly dependency, which would keep a hundred millions of men from being + our customers in order that they might continue to be our slaves. + </p> + <p> + It was, as Bernier tells us, the practice of the miserable tyrants whom he + found in India, when they dreaded the capacity and spirit of some + distinguished subject, and yet could not venture to murder him, to + administer to him a daily dose of the pousta, a preparation of opium, the + effect of which was in a few months to destroy all the bodily and mental + powers of the wretch who was drugged with it, and to turn him into a + helpless idiot. The detestable artifice, more horrible than assassination + itself, was worthy of those who employed it. It is no model for the + English nation. We shall never consent to administer the pousta to a whole + community, to stupefy and paralyse a great people whom God has committed + to our charge, for the wretched purpose of rendering them more amenable to + our control. What is power worth if it is founded on vice, on ignorance, + and on misery; if we can hold it only by violating the most sacred duties + which as governors we owe to the governed, and which, as a people blessed + with far more than an ordinary measure of political liberty and of + intellectual light, we owe to a race debased by three thousand years of + despotism and priestcraft? We are free, we are civilised, to little + purpose, if we grudge to any portion of the human race an equal measure of + freedom and civilisation. + </p> + <p> + Are we to keep the people of India ignorant in order that we may keep them + submissive? Or do we think that we can give them knowledge without + awakening ambition? Or do we mean to awaken ambition and to provide it + with no legitimate vent? Who will answer any of these questions in the + affirmative? Yet one of them must be answered in the affirmative, by every + person who maintains that we ought permanently to exclude the natives from + high office. I have no fears. The path of duty is plain before us: and it + is also the path of wisdom, of national prosperity, of national honour. + </p> + <p> + The destinies of our Indian empire are covered with thick darkness. It is + difficult to form any conjecture as to the fate reserved for a state which + resembles no other in history, and which forms by itself a separate class + of political phenomena. The laws which regulate its growth and its decay + are still unknown to us. It may be that the public mind of India may + expand under our system till it has outgrown that system; that by good + government we may educate our subjects into a capacity for better + government; that, having become instructed in European knowledge, they + may, in some future age, demand European institutions. Whether such a day + will ever come I know not. But never will I attempt to avert or to retard + it. Whenever it comes, it will be the proudest day in English history. To + have found a great people sunk in the lowest depths of slavery and + superstition, to have so ruled them as to have made them desirous and + capable of all the privileges of citizens, would indeed be a title to + glory all our own. The sceptre may pass away from us. Unforeseen accidents + may derange our most profound schemes of policy. Victory may be inconstant + to our arms. But there are triumphs which are followed by no reverse. + There is an empire exempt from all natural causes of decay. Those triumphs + are the pacific triumphs of reason over barbarism; that empire is the + imperishable empire of our arts and our morals, our literature and our + laws. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + EDINBURGH ELECTION, 1839. (MAY 29, 1839) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH + ON THE 29TH OF MAY 1839. + </h2> + <p> + The elevation of Mr Abercromby to the peerage in May 1839, caused a + vacancy in the representation of the city of Edinburgh. A meeting of the + electors was called to consider of the manner in which the vacancy should + be supplied. At this meeting the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + My Lord Provost and Gentlemen,—At the request of a very large and + respectable portion of your body, I appear before you as a candidate for a + high and solemn trust, which, uninvited, I should have thought it + presumption to solicit, but which, thus invited, I should think it + cowardice to decline. If I had felt myself justified in following my own + inclinations, I am not sure that even a summons so honourable as that + which I have received would have been sufficient to draw me away from + pursuits far better suited to my taste and temper than the turmoil of + political warfare. But I feel that my lot is cast in times in which no man + is free to judge, merely according to his own taste and temper, whether he + will devote himself to active or to contemplative life; in times in which + society has a right to demand, from every one of its members, active and + strenuous exertions. I have, therefore, obeyed your call; and I now + present myself before you for the purpose of offering to you, not, what I + am sure you would reject with disdain, flattery, degrading alike to a + candidate, and to a constituent body; but such reasonable, candid, and + manly explanations as become the mouth of a free man ambitious of the + confidence of a free people. + </p> + <p> + It is hardly necessary for me to say that I stand here unconnected with + this great community. It would be mere affectation not to acknowledge that + with respect to local questions I have much to learn; but I hope that you + will find in me no sluggish or inattentive learner. From an early age I + have felt a strong interest in Edinburgh, although attached to Edinburgh + by no other ties than those which are common to me with multitudes; that + tie which attaches every man of Scottish blood to the ancient and renowned + capital of our race; that tie which attaches every student of history to + the spot ennobled by so many great and memorable events; that tie which + attaches every traveller of taste to the most beautiful of British cities; + and that tie which attaches every lover of literature to a place which, + since it has ceased to be the seat of empire, has derived from poetry, + philosophy, and eloquence a far higher distinction than empire can bestow. + If to those ties it shall now be your pleasure to add a tie still closer + and more peculiar, I can only assure you that it shall be the study of my + life so to conduct myself in these our troubled times that you may have no + reason to be ashamed of your choice. + </p> + <p> + Those gentlemen who invited me to appear as a candidate before you were + doubtless acquainted with the part which I took in public affairs during + the three first Parliaments of the late King. Circumstances have since + that time undergone great alteration; but no alteration has taken place in + my principles. I do not mean to say that thought, discussion, and the new + phenomena produced by the operation of a new representative system, have + not led me to modify some of my views on questions of detail; but, with + respect to the fundamental principles of government, my opinions are still + what they were when, in 1831 and 1832, I took part, according to the + measure of my abilities, in that great pacific victory which purified the + representative system of England, and which first gave a real + representative system to Scotland. Even at that time, Gentlemen, the + leaning of my mind was in favour of one measure to which the illustrious + leader of the Whig party, whose name ought never to be mentioned without + gratitude and reverence in any assembly of British electors, I mean Earl + Grey, was understood to entertain strong objections, and to which his + Cabinet, as a Cabinet, was invariably opposed. I speak of the vote by + ballot. All that has passed since that time confirms me in the view which + I was then inclined to take of that important question. At the same time I + do not think that all the advantages are on one side and all the + disadvantages on the other. I must admit that the effect of the practice + of secret voting would be to withdraw the voter from the operation of some + salutary and honourable, as well as of some pernicious and degrading + motives. But seeing, as I cannot help seeing, that the practice of + intimidation, instead of diminishing, is gaining ground, I am compelled to + consider whether the time has not arrived when we are bound to apply what + seems the only efficient remedy. And I am compelled to consider whether, + in doing so, I am not strictly following the principles of the Reform Bill + to the legitimate conclusions. For surely those who supported the Reform + Bill intended to give the people of Britain a reality, not a delusion; to + destroy nomination, and not to make an outward show of destroying it; to + bestow the franchise, and not the name of the franchise; and least of all, + to give suffering and humiliation under the name of the franchise. If men + are to be returned to Parliament, not by popular election, but by + nomination, then I say without hesitation that the ancient system was much + the best. Both systems alike sent men to Parliament who were not freely + chosen by independent constituent bodies: but under the old system there + was little or no need of intimidation, while, under the new system, we + have the misery and disgrace produced by intimidation added to the + process. If, therefore, we are to have nomination, I prefer the nomination + which used to take place at Old Sarum to the nomination which now takes + place at Newark. In both cases you have members returned at the will of + one landed proprietor: but at Newark you have two hundred ejectments into + the bargain, to say nothing of the mortification and remorse endured by + all those who, though they were not ejected, yet voted against their + consciences from fear of ejectment. + </p> + <p> + There is perhaps no point on which good men of all parties are more + completely agreed than on the necessity of restraining and punishing + corruption in the election of Members of Parliament. The evils of + corruption are doubtless very great; but it appears to me that those evils + which are attributed to corruption may, with equal justice, be attributed + to intimidation, and that intimidation produces also some monstrous evils + with which corruption cannot be reproached. In both cases alike the + elector commits a breach of trust. In both cases alike he employs for his + own advantage an important power which was confided to him, that it might + be used, to the best of his judgment, for the general good of the + community. Thus far corruption and intimidation operate in the same + manner. But there is this difference betwixt the two systems; corruption + operates by giving pleasure, intimidation by giving pain. To give a poor + man five pounds causes no pain: on the contrary it produces pleasure. It + is in itself no bad act: indeed, if the five pounds were given on another + occasion, and without a corrupt object, it might pass for a benevolent + act. But to tell a man that you will reduce him to a situation in which he + will miss his former comforts, and in which his family will be forced to + beg their bread, is a cruel act. Corruption has a sort of illegitimate + relationship to benevolence, and engenders some feelings of a cordial and + friendly nature. There is a notion of charity connected with the + distribution of the money of the rich among the needy, even in a corrupt + manner. The comic writer who tells us that the whole system of corruption + is to be considered as a commerce of generosity on one side and of + gratitude on the other, has rather exaggerated than misrepresented what + really takes place in many of these English constituent bodies where money + is lavished to conciliate the favour and obtain the suffrages of the + people. But in intimidation the whole process is an odious one. The whole + feeling on the part of the elector is that of shame, degradation, and + hatred of the person to whom he has given his vote. The elector is indeed + placed in a worse situation than if he had no vote at all; for there is + not one of us who would not rather be without a vote than be compelled to + give it to the person whom he dislikes above all others. + </p> + <p> + Thinking, therefore, that the practice of intimidation has all the evils + which are to be found in corruption, and that it has other evils which are + not to be found in corruption, I was naturally led to consider whether it + was possible to prevent it by any process similar to that by which + corruption is restrained. Corruption, you all know, is the subject of + penal laws. If it is brought home to the parties, they are liable to + severe punishment. Although it is not often that it can be brought home, + yet there are instances. I remember several men of large property confined + in Newgate for corruption. Penalties have been awarded against offenders + to the amount of five hundred pounds. Many members of Parliament have been + unseated on account of the malpractices of their agents. But you cannot, I + am afraid, repress intimidation by penal laws. Such laws would infringe + the most sacred rights of property. How can I require a man to deal with + tradesmen who have voted against him, or to renew the leases of tenants + who have voted against him? What is it that the Jew says in the play? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I'll not answer that, + But say it is my humour." +</pre> + <p> + Or, as a Christian of our own time has expressed himself, "I have a right + to do what I will with my own." There is a great deal of weight in the + reasoning of Shylock and the Duke of Newcastle. There would be an end of + the right of property if you were to interdict a landlord from ejecting a + tenant, if you were to force a gentleman to employ a particular butcher, + and to take as much beef this year as last year. The principle of the + right of property is that a man is not only to be allowed to dispose of + his wealth rationally and usefully, but to be allowed to indulge his + passions and caprices, to employ whatever tradesmen and labourers he + chooses, and to let, or refuse to let, his land according to his own + pleasure, without giving any reason or asking anybody's leave. I remember + that, on one of the first evenings on which I sate in the House of + Commons, Mr Poulett Thompson proposed a censure on the Duke of Newcastle + for His Grace's conduct towards the electors of Newark. Sir Robert Peel + opposed the motion, not only with considerable ability, but with really + unanswerable reasons. He asked if it was meant that a tenant who voted + against his landlord was to keep his lease for ever. If so, tenants would + vote against a landlord to secure themselves, as they now vote with a + landlord to secure themselves. I thought, and think, this argument + unanswerable; but then it is unanswerable in favour of the ballot; for, if + it be impossible to deal with intimidation by punishment, you are bound to + consider whether there be any means of prevention; and the only mode of + prevention that has ever been suggested is the ballot. That the ballot has + disadvantages to be set off against its advantages, I admit; but it + appears to me that we have only a choice of evils, and that the evils for + which the ballot is a specific remedy are greater than any which the + ballot is likely to produce. Observe with what exquisite accuracy the + ballot draws the line of distinction between the power which we ought to + give to the proprietor and the power which we ought not to give him. It + leaves the proprietor the absolute power to do what he will with his own. + Nobody calls upon him to say why he ejected this tenant, or took away his + custom from that tradesman. It leaves him at liberty to follow his own + tastes, to follow his strangest whims. The only thing which it puts beyond + his power is the vote of the tenant, the vote of the tradesman, which it + is our duty to protect. I ought at the same time to say, that there is one + objection to the ballot of a very serious nature, but which I think may, + nevertheless, be obviated. It is quite clear that, if the ballot shall be + adopted, there will be no remedy for an undue return by a subsequent + scrutiny. Unless, therefore, the registration of votes can be counted on + as correct, the ballot will undoubtedly lead to great inconvenience. It + seems, therefore, that a careful revision of the whole system of + registration, and an improvement of the tribunal before which the rights + of the electors are to be established, should be an inseparable part of + any measure by which the ballot is to be introduced. + </p> + <p> + As to those evils which we have been considering, they are evils which are + practically felt; they are evils which press hard upon a large portion of + the constituent body; and it is not therefore strange, that the cry for a + remedy should be loud and urgent. But there is another subject respecting + which I am told that many among you are anxious, a subject of a very + different description. I allude to the duration of Parliaments. + </p> + <p> + It must be admitted that for some years past we have had little reason to + complain of the length of Parliaments. Since the year 1830 we have had + five general elections; two occasioned by the deaths of two Sovereigns, + and three by political conjunctures. As to the present Parliament, I do + not think that, whatever opinion gentlemen may entertain of the conduct of + that body, they will impute its faults to any confidence which the members + have that they are to sit for seven years; for I very much question + whether there be one gentleman in the House of Commons who thinks, or has + ever thought, that his seat is worth three years' purchase. When, + therefore, we discuss this question, we must remember that we are + discussing a question not immediately pressing. I freely admit, however, + that this is no reason for not fairly considering the subject: for it is + the part of wise men to provide against evils which, though not actually + felt, may be reasonably apprehended. It seems to me that here, as in the + case of the ballot, there are serious considerations to be urged on both + sides. The objections to long Parliaments are perfectly obvious. The truth + is that, in very long Parliaments, you have no representation at all. The + mind of the people goes on changing; and the Parliament, remaining + unchanged, ceases to reflect the opinion of the constituent bodies. In the + old times before the Revolution, a Parliament might sit during the life of + the monarch. Parliaments were then sometimes of eighteen or twenty years' + duration. Thus the Parliament called by Charles the Second soon after his + return from exile, and elected when the nation was drunk with hope and + convulsed by a hysterical paroxysm of loyalty, continued to sit long after + two-thirds of those who had heartily welcomed the King back from Holland + as heartily wished him in Holland again. Since the Revolution we have not + felt that evil to the same extent: but it must be admitted that the term + of seven years is too long. There are, however, other considerations to + set off against this. There are two very serious evils connected with + every general election: the first is, the violent political excitement: + the second is, the ruinous expense. Both these evils were very greatly + diminished by the Reform Act. Formerly these were things which you in + Scotland knew nothing about; but in England the injury to the peace and + morals of society resulting from a general election was incalculable. + During a fifteen days' poll in a town of one hundred thousand inhabitants, + money was flowing in all directions; the streets were running with beer; + all business was suspended; and there was nothing but disturbance and + riot, and slander, and calumny, and quarrels, which left in the bosoms of + private families heartburnings such as were not extinguished in the course + of many years. By limiting the duration of the poll, the Reform Act has + conferred as great a blessing on the country,—and that is saying a + bold word,—as by any other provision which it contains. Still it is + not to be denied that there are evils inseparable from that state of + political excitement into which every community is thrown by the + preparations for an election. A still greater evil is the expense. That + evil too has been diminished by the operation of the Reform Act; but it + still exists to a considerable extent. We do not now indeed hear of such + elections as that of Yorkshire in 1807, or that of Northumberland in 1827. + We do not hear of elections that cost two hundred thousand pounds. But + that the tenth part of that sum, nay, that the hundredth part of that sum + should be expended in a contest, is a great evil. Do not imagine, + Gentlemen, that all this evil falls on the candidates. It is on you that + the evil falls. The effect must necessarily be to limit you in your choice + of able men to serve you. The number of men who can advance fifty thousand + pounds is necessarily much smaller than the number of men who can advance + five thousand pounds; the number of these again is much smaller than the + number of those who can advance five hundred pounds; and the number of men + who can advance five hundred pounds every three years is necessarily + smaller than the number of those who can advance five hundred pounds every + seven years. Therefore it seems to me that the question is one of + comparison. In long Parliaments the representative character is in some + measure effaced. On the other side, if you have short Parliaments, your + choice of men will be limited. Now in all questions of this sort, it is + the part of wisdom to weigh, not indeed with minute accuracy,—for + questions of civil prudence cannot be subjected to an arithmetical test,—but + to weigh the advantages and disadvantages carefully, and then to strike + the balance. Gentlemen will probably judge according to their habits of + mind, and according to their opportunities of observation. Those who have + seen much of the evils of elections will probably incline to long + Parliaments; those who have seen little or nothing of these evils will + probably incline to a short term. Only observe this, that, whatever may be + the legal term, it ought to be a year longer than that for which + Parliaments ought ordinarily to sit. For there must be a general election + at the end of the legal term, let the state of the country be what it may. + There may be riot; there may be revolution; there may be famine in the country; + and yet if the Minister wait to the end of the legal term, the writs must + go out. A wise Minister will therefore always dissolve the Parliament a + year before the end of the legal term, if the country be then in a quiet + state. It has now been long the practice not to keep a Parliament more + than six years. Thus the Parliament which was elected in 1784 sat till + 1790, six years; the Parliament of 1790 till 1796, the Parliament of 1796 + to 1802, the Parliament of 1812 to 1818, and the Parliament of 1820 till + 1826. If, therefore, you wish the duration of Parliaments to be shortened + to three years, the proper course would be to fix the legal term at four + years; and if you wish them to sit for four years, the proper course would + be to fix the legal term at five years. My own inclination would be to fix + the legal term at five years, and thus to have a Parliament practically + every four years. I ought to add that, whenever any shortening of + Parliament takes place, we ought to alter that rule which requires that + Parliament shall be dissolved as often as the demise of the Crown takes + place. It is a rule for which no statesmanlike reason can be given; it is + a mere technical rule; and it has already been so much relaxed that, even + considered as a technical rule, it is absurd. + </p> + <p> + I come now to another subject, of the highest and gravest importance: I + mean the elective franchise; and I acknowledge that I am doubtful whether + my opinions on this subject may be so pleasing to many here present as, if + I may judge from your expressions, my sentiments on other subjects have + been. I shall express my opinions, however, on this subject as frankly as + I have expressed them when they may have been more pleasing. I shall + express them with the frankness of a man who is more desirous to gain your + esteem than to gain your votes. I am for the original principle of the + Reform Bill. I think that principle excellent; and I am sorry that we ever + deviated from it. There were two deviations to which I was strongly + opposed, and to which the authors of the bill, hard pressed by their + opponents and feebly supported by their friends, very unwillingly + consented. One was the admission of the freemen to vote in towns: the + other was the admission of the fifty pound tenants at will to vote in + counties. At the same time I must say that I despair of being able to + apply a direct remedy to either of these evils. The ballot might perhaps + be an indirect remedy for the latter. I think that the system of + registration should be amended, that the clauses relating to the payment + of rates should be altered, or altogether removed, and that the elective + franchise should be extended to every ten pound householder, whether he + resides within or without the limits of a town. To this extent I am + prepared to go; but I should not be dealing with the ingenuousness which + you have a right to expect, if I did not tell you that I am not prepared + to go further. There are many other questions as to which you are entitled + to know the opinions of your representative: but I shall only glance + rapidly at the most important. I have ever been a most determined enemy to + the slave trade, and to personal slavery under every form. I have always + been a friend to popular education. I have always been a friend to the + right of free discussion. I have always been adverse to all restrictions + on trade, and especially to those restrictions which affect the price of + the necessaries of life. I have always been adverse to religious + persecution, whether it takes the form of direct penal laws, or of civil + disabilities. + </p> + <p> + Now, having said so much upon measures, I hope you will permit me to say + something about men. If you send me as your representative to Parliament, + I wish you to understand that I shall go there determined to support the + present ministry. I shall do so not from any personal interest or feeling. + I have certainly the happiness to have several kind and much valued + friends among the members of the Government; and there is one member of + the Government, the noble President of the Council, to whom I owe + obligations which I shall always be proud to avow. That noble Lord, when I + was utterly unknown in public life, and scarcely known even to himself, + placed me in the House of Commons; and it is due to him to say that he + never in the least interfered with the freedom of my parliamentary + conduct. I have since represented a great constituent body, for whose + confidence and kindness I can never be sufficiently grateful, I mean the + populous borough of Leeds. I may possibly by your kindness be placed in + the proud situation of Representative of Edinburgh; but I never could and + never can be a more independent Member of the House of Commons than when I + sat there as the nominee of Lord Lansdowne. But, while I acknowledge my + obligations to that noble person, while I avow the friendship which I feel + for many of his colleagues, it is not on such grounds that I vindicate the + support which it is my intention to give them. I have no right to + sacrifice your interests to my personal or private feelings: my principles + do not permit me to do so; nor do my friends expect that I should do so. + The support which I propose to give to the present Ministry I shall give + on the following grounds. I believe the present Ministry to be by many + degrees the best Ministry which, in the present state of the country, can + be formed. I believe that we have only one choice. I believe that our + choice is between a Ministry substantially,—for of course I do not + speak of particular individuals,—between a Ministry substantially + the same that we have, and a Ministry under the direction of the Duke of + Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. I do not hesitate to pronounce that my + choice is in favour of the former. Some gentleman appears to dissent from + what I say. If I knew what his objections are, I would try to remove them. + But it is impossible to answer inarticulate noises. Is the objection that + the government is too conservative? Or is the objection that the + government is too radical? If I understand rightly, the objection is that + the Government does not proceed vigorously enough in the work of Reform. + To that objection then I will address myself. Now, I am far from denying + that the Ministers have committed faults. But, at the same time, I make + allowances for the difficulties with which they are contending; and having + made these allowances, I confidently say that, when I look back at the + past, I think them entitled to praise, and that, looking forward to the + future, I can pronounce with still more confidence that they are entitled + to support. + </p> + <p> + It is a common error, and one which I have found among men, not only + intelligent, but much conversant in public business, to think that in + politics, legislation is everything and administration nothing. Nothing is + more usual than to hear people say, "What! another session gone and + nothing done; no new bills passed; the Irish Municipal Bill stopped in the + House of Lords. How could we be worse off if the Tories were in?" My + answer is that, if the Tories were in, our legislation would be in as bad + a state as at present, and we should have a bad administration into the + bargain. It seems strange to me that gentlemen should not be aware that it + may be better to have unreformed laws administered in a reforming spirit, + than reformed laws administered in a spirit hostile to all reform. We + often hear the maxim, "Measures not men," and there is a sense in which it + is an excellent maxim. Measures not men, certainly: that is, we are not to + oppose Sir Robert Peel simply because he is Sir Robert Peel, or to support + Lord John Russell simply because he is Lord John Russell. We are not to + follow our political leaders in the way in which my honest Highland + ancestors followed their chieftains. We are not to imitate that blind + devotion which led all the Campbells to take the side of George the Second + because the Duke of Argyle was a Whig, and all the Camerons to take the + side of the Stuarts because Lochiel was a Jacobite. But if you mean that, + while the laws remain the same, it is unimportant by whom they are + administered, then I say that a doctrine more absurd was never uttered. + Why, what are laws? They are mere words; they are a dead letter; till a + living agent comes to put life into them. This is the case even in + judicial matters. You can tie up the judges of the land much more closely + than it would be right to tie up the Secretary for the Home Department or + the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Yet is it immaterial whether the laws + be administered by Chief Justice Hale or Chief Justice Jeffreys? And can + you doubt that the case is still stronger when you come to political + questions? It would be perfectly easy, as many of you must be aware, to + point out instances in which society has prospered under defective laws, + well administered, and other instances in which society has been miserable + under institutions that looked well on paper. But we need not go beyond + our own country and our own times. Let us see what, within this island and + in the present year, a good administration has done to mitigate bad laws. + For example, let us take the law of libel. I hold the present state of our + law of libel to be a scandal to a civilised community. Nothing more absurd + can be found in the whole history of jurisprudence. How the law of libel + was abused formerly, you all know. You all know how it was abused under + the administrations of Lord North, of Mr Pitt, of Mr Perceval, of the Earl + of Liverpool; and I am sorry to say that it was abused, most unjustifiably + abused, by Lord Abinger under the administration of the Duke of Wellington + and Sir Robert Peel. Now is there any person who will pretend to say that + it has ever been abused by the Government of Lord Melbourne? That + Government has enemies in abundance; it has been attacked by Tory + malcontents and by Radical malcontents; but has any one of them ever had + the effrontery to say that it has abused the power of filing ex officio + informations for libel? Has this been from want of provocation? On the + contrary, the present Government has been libelled in a way in which no + Government was ever libelled before. Has the law been altered? Has it been + modified? Not at all. We have exactly the same laws that we had when Mr + Perry was brought to trial for saying that George the Third was unpopular, + Mr Leigh Hunt for saying that George the Fourth was fat, and Sir Francis + Burdett for expressing, not perhaps in the best taste, a natural and + honest indignation at the slaughter which took place at Manchester in + 1819. The law is precisely the same; but if it had been entirely + remodelled, political writers could not have had more liberty than they + have enjoyed since Lord Melbourne came into power. + </p> + <p> + I have given you an instance of the power of a good administration to + mitigate a bad law. Now, see how necessary it is that there should be a + good administration to carry a good law into effect. An excellent bill was + brought into the House of Commons by Lord John Russell in 1828, and + passed. To any other man than Lord John Russell the carrying of such a + bill would have been an enviable distinction indeed; but his name is + identified with still greater reforms. It will, however, always be + accounted one of his titles to public gratitude that he was the author of + the law which repealed the Test Act. Well, a short time since, a noble + peer, the Lord Lieutenant of the county of Nottingham, thought fit to + re-enact the Test Act, so far as that county was concerned. I have already + mentioned His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, and, to say truth, there is no + life richer in illustrations of all forms and branches of misgovernment + than his. His Grace very coolly informed Her Majesty's Ministers that he + had not recommended a certain gentleman for the commission of the peace + because the gentleman was a Dissenter. Now here is a law which admits + Dissenters to offices; and a Tory nobleman takes it on himself to rescind + that law. But happily we have Whig Ministers. What did they do? Why, they + put the Dissenter into the Commission; and they turned the Tory nobleman + out of the Lieutenancy. Do you seriously imagine that under a Tory + administration this would have been done? I have no wish to say anything + disrespectful of the great Tory leaders. I shall always speak with respect + of the great qualities and public services of the Duke of Wellington: I + have no other feeling about him than one of pride that my country has + produced so great a man; nor do I feel anything but respect and kindness + for Sir Robert Peel, of whose abilities no person that has had to + encounter him in debate will ever speak slightingly. I do not imagine that + those eminent men would have approved of the conduct of the Duke of + Newcastle. I believe that the Duke of Wellington would as soon have + thought of running away from the field of battle as of doing the same + thing in Hampshire, where he is Lord Lieutenant. But do you believe that + he would have turned the Duke of Newcastle out? I believe that he would + not. As Mr Pulteney, a great political leader, said a hundred years since, + "The heads of parties are, like the heads of snakes, carried on by the + tails." It would have been utterly impossible for the Tory Ministers to + have discarded the powerful Tory Duke, unless they had at the same time + resolved, like Mr Canning in 1827, to throw themselves for support on the + Whigs. + </p> + <p> + Now I have given you these two instances to show that a change in the + administration may produce all the effects of a change in the law. You see + that to have a Tory Government is virtually to reenact the Test Act, and + that to have a Whig Government is virtually to repeal the law of libel. + And if this is the case in England and Scotland, where society is in a + sound state, how much more must it be the case in the diseased part of the + empire, in Ireland? Ask any man there, whatever may be his religion, + whatever may be his politics, Churchman, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, + Repealer, Precursor, Orangeman, ask Mr O'Connell, ask Colonel Conolly, + whether it is a slight matter in whose hands the executive power is + lodged. Every Irishman will tell you that it is a matter of life and + death; that in fact more depends upon the men than upon the laws. It + disgusts me therefore to hear men of liberal politics say, "What is the + use of a Whig Government? The Ministers can do nothing for the country. + They have been four years at work on an Irish Municipal Bill, without + being able to pass it through the Lords." Would any ten Acts of Parliament + make such a difference to Ireland as the difference between having Lord + Ebrington for Lord Lieutenant, with Lord Morpeth for Secretary, and having + the Earl of Roden for Lord Lieutenant, with Mr Lefroy for Secretary? Ask + the popular Irish leaders whether they would like better to remain as they + are, with Lord Ebrington as Lord Lieutenant, or to have the Municipal + Bill, and any other three bills which they might name, with Lord Roden for + Viceroy; and they will at once answer, "Leave us Lord Ebrington; and burn + your bills." The truth is that, the more defective the legislation, the + more important is a good administration, just as the personal qualities of + the Sovereign are of more importance in despotic countries like Russia + than in a limited monarchy. If we have not in our Statute Book all the + securities necessary for good government, it is of the more importance + that the character of the men who administer the government should be an + additional security. + </p> + <p> + But we are told that the Government is weak. That is most true; and I + believe that almost all that we are tempted to blame in the conduct of the + Government is to be attributed to weakness. But let us consider what the + nature of this weakness is. Is it that kind of weakness which makes it our + duty to oppose the Government? Or is it that kind of weakness which makes + it our duty to support the Government? Is it intellectual weakness, moral + weakness, the incapacity to discern, or the want of courage to pursue, the + true interest of the nation? Such was the weakness of Mr Addington, when + this country was threatened with invasion from Boulogne. Such was the + weakness of the Government which sent out the wretched Walcheren + expedition, and starved the Duke of Wellington in Spain; a government + whose only strength was shown in prosecuting writers who exposed abuses, + and in slaughtering rioters whom oppression had driven into outrage. Is + that the weakness of the present Government? I think not. As compared with + any other party capable of holding the reins of Government, they are + deficient neither in intellectual nor in moral strength. On all great + questions of difference between the Ministers and the Opposition, I hold + the Ministers to be in the right. When I consider the difficulties with + which they have to struggle, when I see how manfully that struggle is + maintained by Lord Melbourne, when I see that Lord John Russell has + excited even the admiration of his opponents by the heroic manner in which + he has gone on, year after year, in sickness and domestic sorrow, fighting + the battle of Reform, I am led to the conclusion that the weakness of the + Ministers is of that sort which makes it our duty to give them, not + opposition, but support; and that support it is my purpose to afford to + the best of my ability. + </p> + <p> + If, indeed, I thought myself at liberty to consult my own inclination, I + should have stood aloof from the conflict. If you should be pleased to + send me to Parliament, I shall enter an assembly very different from that + which I quitted in 1834. I left the Wigs united and dominant, strong in + the confidence and attachment of one House of Parliament, strong also in + the fears of the other. I shall return to find them helpless in the Lords, + and forced almost every week to fight a battle for existence in the + Commons. Many, whom I left bound together by what seemed indissoluble + private and public ties, I shall now find assailing each other with more + than the ordinary bitterness of political hostility. Many with whom I sate + side by side, contending through whole nights for the Reform Bill, till + the sun broke over the Thames on our undiminished ranks, I shall now find + on hostile benches. I shall be compelled to engage in painful altercations + with many with whom I had hoped never to have a conflict, except in the + generous and friendly strife which should best serve the common cause. I + left the Liberal Government strong enough to maintain itself against an + adverse Court; I see that the Liberal Government now rests for support on + the preference of a Sovereign, in whom the country sees with delight the + promise of a better, a gentler, a happier Elizabeth, of a Sovereign in + whom we hope that our children and our grandchildren will admire the + firmness, the sagacity, and the spirit which distinguished the last and + greatest of the Tudors, tempered by the beneficent influence of more + humane times and more popular institutions. Whether royal favour, never + more needed and never better deserved, will enable the government to + surmount the difficulties with which it has to deal, I cannot presume to + judge. It may be that the blow has only been deferred for a season, and + that a long period of Tory domination is before us. Be it so. I entered + public life a Whig; and a Whig I am determined to remain. I use that word, + and I wish you to understand that I use it, in no narrow sense. I mean by + a Whig, not one who subscribes implicitly to the contents of any book, + though that book may have been written by Locke; not one who approves the + whole conduct of any statesman, though that statesman may have been Fox; + not one who adopts the opinions in fashion in any circle, though that + circle may be composed of the finest and noblest spirits of the age. But + it seems to me that, when I look back on our history, I can discern a + great party which has, through many generations, preserved its identity; a + party often depressed, never extinguished; a party which, though often + tainted with the faults of the age, has always been in advance of the age; + a party which, though guilty of many errors and some crimes, has the glory + of having established our civil and religious liberties on a firm + foundation; and of that party I am proud to be a member. It was that party + which, on the great question of monopolies, stood up against Elizabeth. It + was that party which, in the reign of James the First, organised the + earliest parliamentary opposition, which steadily asserted the privileges + of the people, and wrested prerogative after prerogative from the Crown. + It was that party which forced Charles the First to relinquish the + ship-money. It was that party which destroyed the Star Chamber and the + High Commission Court. It was that party which, under Charles the Second, + carried the Habeas Corpus Act, which effected the Revolution, which passed + the Toleration Act, which broke the yoke of a foreign church in your + country, and which saved Scotland from the fate of unhappy Ireland. It was + that party which reared and maintained the constitutional throne of + Hanover against the hostility of the Church and of the landed aristocracy + of England. It was that party which opposed the war with America and the + war with the French Republic; which imparted the blessings of our free + Constitution to the Dissenters; and which, at a later period, by + unparalleled sacrifices and exertions, extended the same blessings to the + Roman Catholics. To the Whigs of the seventeenth century we owe it that we + have a House of Commons. To the Whigs of the nineteenth century we owe it + that the House of Commons has been purified. The abolition of the slave + trade, the abolition of colonial slavery, the extension of popular + education, the mitigation of the rigour of the penal code, all, all were + effected by that party; and of that party, I repeat, I am a member. I look + with pride on all that the Whigs have done for the cause of human freedom + and of human happiness. I see them now hard pressed, struggling with + difficulties, but still fighting the good fight. At their head I see men + who have inherited the spirit and the virtues, as well as the blood, of + old champions and martyrs of freedom. To those men I propose to attach + myself. Delusion may triumph: but the triumphs of delusion are but for a + day. We may be defeated: but our principles will only gather fresh + strength from defeats. Be that, however, as it may, my part is taken. + While one shred of the old banner is flying, by that banner will I at + least be found. The good old cause, as Sidney called it on the scaffold, + vanquished or victorious, insulted or triumphant, the good old cause is + still the good old cause with me. Whether in or out of Parliament, whether + speaking with that authority which must always belong to the + representative of this great and enlightened community, or expressing the + humble sentiments of a private citizen, I will to the last maintain + inviolate my fidelity to principles which, though they may be borne down + for a time by senseless clamour, are yet strong with the strength and + immortal with the immortality of truth, and which, however they may be + misunderstood or misrepresented by contemporaries, will assuredly find + justice from a better age. Gentlemen, I have done. I have only to thank + you for the kind attention with which you have heard me, and to express my + hope that whether my principles have met with your concurrence or not, the + frankness with which I have expressed them will at least obtain your + approbation. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CONFIDENCE IN THE MINISTRY OF LORD MELBOURNE. (JANUARY 29, 1840) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 29TH OF JANUARY 1840. + </h2> + <p> + On the twenty-eighth of January 1840, Sir John Yarde Buller moved the + following resolution: + </p> + <p> + "That Her Majesty's Government, as at present constituted, does not + possess the confidence of the House." + </p> + <p> + After a discussion of four nights the motion was rejected by 308 votes to + 287. The following Speech was made on the second night of the debate. + </p> + <p> + The House, Sir, may possibly imagine that I rise under some little feeling + of irritation to reply to the personal reflections which have been + introduced into the discussion. It would be easy to reply to these + reflections. It would be still easier to retort them: but I should think + either course unworthy of me and of this great occasion. If ever I should + so far forget myself as to wander from the subject of debate to matters + concerning only myself, it will not, I hope, be at a time when the dearest + interests of our country are staked on the result of our deliberations. I + rise under feelings of anxiety which leave no room in my mind for selfish + vanity or petty vindictiveness. I believe with the most intense conviction + that, in pleading for the Government to which I belong, I am pleading for + the safety of the Commonwealth, for the reformation of abuses, and at the + same time for the preservation of august and venerable institutions: and I + trust, Mr Speaker, that when the question is whether a Cabinet be or be + not worthy of the confidence of Parliament, the first Member of that + Cabinet who comes forward to defend himself and his colleagues will find + here some portion of that generosity and good feeling which once + distinguished English gentlemen. But be this as it may, my voice shall be + heard. I repeat, that I am pleading at once for the reformation and for + the preservation of our institutions, for liberty and order, for justice + administered in mercy, for equal laws, for the rights of conscience, and + for the real union of Great Britain and Ireland. If, on so grave an + occasion, I should advert to one or two of the charges which have been + brought against myself personally, I shall do so only because I conceive + that those charges affect in some degree the character of the Government + to which I belong. + </p> + <p> + One of the chief accusations brought against the Government by the + honourable Baronet (Sir John Yarde Buller.) who opened the debate, and + repeated by the seconder (Alderman Thompson.), and by almost every + gentlemen who has addressed the House from the benches opposite, is that I + have been invited to take office though my opinion with respect to the + Ballot is known to be different from that of my colleagues. We have been + repeatedly told that a Ministry in which there is not perfect unanimity on + a subject so important must be undeserving of the public confidence. Now, + Sir, it is true that I am in favour of secret voting, that my noble and + right honourable friends near me are in favour of open voting, and yet + that we sit in the same Cabinet. But if, on account of this difference of + opinion, the Government is unworthy of public confidence, then I am sure + that scarcely any government which has existed within the memory of the + oldest man has been deserving of public confidence. It is well-known that + in the Cabinets of Mr Pitt, of Mr Fox, of Lord Liverpool, of Mr Canning, + of the Duke of Wellington, there were open questions of great moment. Mr + Pitt, while still zealous for parliamentary reform, brought into the + Cabinet Lord Grenville, who was adverse to parliamentary reform. Again, Mr + Pitt, while eloquently supporting the abolition of the Slave Trade, + brought into the Cabinet Mr Dundas, who was the chief defender of the + Slave Trade. Mr Fox, too, intense as was his abhorrence of the Slave + Trade, sat in the same Cabinet with Lord Sidmouth and Mr Windham, who + voted to the last against the abolition of that trade. Lord Liverpool, Mr + Canning, the Duke of Wellington, all left the question of Catholic + Emancipation open. And yet, of all questions, that was perhaps the very + last that should have been left open. For it was not merely a legislative + question, but a question which affected every part of the executive + administration. But, to come to the present time, suppose that you could + carry your resolution, suppose that you could drive the present Ministers + from power, who that may succeed them will be able to form a government in + which there will be no open questions? Can the right honourable Baronet + the member for Tamworth (Sir Robert Peel.) form a Cabinet without leaving + the great question of our privileges open? In what respect is that + question less important than the question of the Ballot? Is it not indeed + from the privileges of the House that all questions relating to the + constitution of the House derive their importance? What does it matter how + we are chosen, if, when we meet, we do not possess the powers necessary to + enable us to perform the functions of a legislative assembly? Yet you who + would turn out the present Ministers because they differ from each other + as to the way in which Members of this House should be chosen, wish to + bring in men who decidedly differ from each other as to the relation in + which this House stands to the nation, to the other House, and to the + Courts of Judicature. Will you say that the dispute between the House and + the Court of Queen's Bench is a trifling dispute? Surely, in the late + debates, you were all perfectly agreed as to the importance of the + question, though you were agreed as to nothing else. Some of you told us + that we were contending for a power essential to our honour and + usefulness. Many of you protested against our proceedings, and declared + that we were encroaching on the province of the tribunals, violating the + liberty of our fellow citizens, punishing honest magistrates for not + perjuring themselves. Are these trifles? And can we believe that you + really feel a horror of open questions when we see your Prime Minister + elect sending people to prison overnight, and his law officers elect + respectfully attending the levee of those prisoners the next morning? + Observe, too, that this question of privileges is not merely important; it + is also pressing. Something must be done, and that speedily. My belief is + that more inconvenience would follow from leaving that question open one + month than from leaving the question of the Ballot open ten years. + </p> + <p> + The Ballot, Sir, is not the only subject on which I am accused of holding + dangerous opinions. The right honourable Baronet the Member for Pembroke + (Sir James Graham.) pronounces the present Government a Chartist + Government; and he proves his point by saying that I am a member of the + government, and that I wish to give the elective franchise to every ten + pound householder, whether his house be in a town or in the country. Is it + possible, Sir, that the honourable Baronet should not know that the + fundamental principle of the plan of government called the People's + Charter is that every male of twenty-one should have a vote? Or is it + possible that he can see no difference between giving the franchise to all + ten pound householders, and giving the franchise to all males of + twenty-one? Does he think the ten pound householders a class morally or + intellectually unfit to possess the franchise, he who bore a chief part in + framing the law which gave them the franchise in all the represented towns + of the United Kingdom? Or will he say that the ten pound householder in a + town is morally and intellectually fit to be an elector, but that the ten + pound householder who lives in the open country is morally and + intellectually unfit? Is not house-rent notoriously higher in towns than + in the country? Is it not, therefore, probable that the occupant of a ten + pound house in a rural hamlet will be a man who has a greater stake in the + peace and welfare of society than a man who has a ten pound house in + Manchester or Birmingham? Can you defend on conservative principles an + arrangement which gives votes to a poorer class and withholds them from a + richer? For my own part, I believe it to be essential to the welfare of + the state, that the elector should have a pecuniary qualification. I + believe that the ten pound qualification cannot be proved to be either too + high or too low. Changes, which may hereafter take place in the value of + money and in the condition of the people, may make a change of the + qualification necessary. But the ten pound qualification is, I believe, + well suited to the present state of things. At any rate, I am unable to + conceive why it should be a sufficient qualification within the limits of + a borough, and an insufficient qualification a yard beyond those limits; + sufficient at Knightsbridge, but insufficient at Kensington; sufficient at + Lambeth, but insufficient at Battersea? If any person calls this Chartism, + he must permit me to tell him that he does not know what Chartism is. + </p> + <p> + A motion, Sir, such as that which we are considering, brings under our + review the whole policy of the kingdom, domestic, foreign, and colonial. + It is not strange, therefore, that there should have been several episodes + in this debate. Something has been said about the hostilities on the River + Plata, something about the hostilities on the coast of China, something + about Commissioner Lin, something about Captain Elliot. But on such points + I shall not dwell, for it is evidently not by the opinion which the House + may entertain on such points that the event of the debate will be decided. + The main argument of the gentlemen who support the motion, the argument on + which the right honourable Baronet who opened the debate chiefly relied, + the argument which his seconder repeated, and which has formed the + substance of every speech since delivered from the opposite side of the + House, may be fairly summed up thus, "The country is not in a satisfactory + state. There is much recklessness, much turbulence, much craving for + political change; and the cause of these evils is the policy of the Whigs. + They rose to power by agitation in 1830: they retained power by means of + agitation through the tempestuous months which followed: they carried the + Reform Bill by means of agitation: expelled from office, they forced + themselves in again by means of agitation; and now we are paying the + penalty of their misconduct. Chartism is the natural offspring of + Whiggism. From those who caused the evil we cannot expect the remedy. The + first thing to be done is to dismiss them, and to call to power men who, + not having instigated the people to commit excesses, can, without + incurring the charge of inconsistency, enforce the laws." + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, it seems to me that this argument was completely refuted by the + able and eloquent speech of my right honourable friend the Judge Advocate. + (Sir George Grey.) He said, and he said most truly, that those who hold + this language are really accusing, not the Government of Lord Melbourne, + but the Government of Lord Grey. I was therefore, I must say, surprised, + after the speech of my right honourable friend, to hear the right + honourable Baronet the Member for Pembroke, himself a distinguished member + of the cabinet of Lord Grey, pronounce a harangue against agitation. That + he was himself an agitator he does not venture to deny; but he tries to + excuse himself by saying, "I liked the Reform Bill; I thought it a good + bill; and so I agitated for it; and, in agitating for it, I acknowledge + that I went to the very utmost limit of what was prudent, to the very + utmost limit of what was legal." Does not the right honourable Baronet + perceive that, by setting up this defence for his own past conduct, he + admits that agitation is good or evil, according as the objects of the + agitation are good or evil? When I hear him speak of agitation as a + practice disgraceful to a public man, and especially to a Minister of the + Crown, and address his lecture in a particular manner to me, I cannot but + wonder that he should not perceive that his reproaches, instead of + wounding me, recoil on himself. I was not a member of the Cabinet which + brought in the Reform Bill, which dissolved the Parliament in a moment of + intense excitement in order to carry the Reform Bill, which refused to + serve the Sovereign longer unless he would create peers in sufficient + numbers to carry the Reform Bill. I was at that time only one of those + hundreds of members of this House, one of those millions of Englishmen, + who were deeply impressed with the conviction that the Reform Bill was one + of the best laws that ever had been framed, and who reposed entire + confidence in the abilities, the integrity, and the patriotism of the + ministers; and I must add that in no member of the administration did I + place more confidence than in the right honourable Baronet, who was then + First Lord of the Admiralty, and in the noble lord who was then Secretary + for Ireland. (Lord Stanley.) It was indeed impossible for me not to see + that the public mind was strongly, was dangerously stirred: but I trusted + that men so able, men so upright, men who had so large a stake in the + country, would carry us safe through the storm which they had raised. And + is it not rather hard that my confidence in the right honourable Baronet + and the noble lord is to be imputed to me as a crime by the very men who + are trying to raise the right honourable Baronet and the noble lord to + power? The Charter, we have been told in this debate, is the child of the + Reform Bill. But whose child is the Reform Bill? If men are to be deemed + unfit for office because they roused the national spirit to support that + bill, because they went as far as the law permitted in order to carry that + bill, then I say that no men can be more unfit for office than the right + honourable Baronet and the noble lord. It may be thought presumptuous in + me to defend two persons who are so well able to defend themselves, and + the more so, as they have a powerful ally in the right honourable Baronet + the Member for Tamworth, who, having twice offered them high places in the + Government, must be supposed to be of opinion that they are not + disqualified for being ministers by having been agitators. I will, + however, venture to offer some arguments in vindication of the conduct of + my noble and right honourable friends, as I once called them, and as, + notwithstanding the asperity which has characterised the present debate, I + should still have pleasure in calling them. I would say in their behalf + that agitation ought not to be indiscriminately condemned; that great + abuses ought to be removed; that in this country scarcely any great abuse + was ever removed till the public feeling had been roused against it; and + that the public feeling has seldom been roused against abuses without + exertions to which the name of agitation may be given. I altogether deny + the assertion which we have repeatedly heard in the course of this debate, + that a government which does not discountenance agitation cannot be + trusted to suppress rebellion. Agitation and rebellion, you say, are in + kind the same thing: they differ only in degree. Sir, they are the same + thing in the sense in which to breathe a vein and to cut a throat are the + same thing. There are many points of resemblance between the act of the + surgeon and the act of the assassin. In both there is the steel, the + incision, the smart, the bloodshed. But the acts differ as widely as + possible both in moral character and in physical effect. So with agitation + and rebellion. I do not believe that there has been any moment since the + revolution of 1688 at which an insurrection in this country would have + been justifiable. On the other hand, I hold that we have owed to agitation + a long series of beneficent reforms which could have been effected in no + other way. Nor do I understand how any person can reprobate agitation, + merely as agitation, unless he is prepared to adopt the maxim of Bishop + Horsley, that the people have nothing to do with the laws but to obey + them. The truth is that agitation is inseparable from popular government. + If you wish to get rid of agitation, you must establish an oligarchy like + that of Venice, or a despotism like that of Russia. If a Russian thinks + that he is able to suggest an improvement in the commercial code or the + criminal code of his country, he tries to obtain an audience of the + Emperor Nicholas or of Count Nesselrode. If he can satisfy them that his + plans are good, then undoubtedly, without agitation, without controversy + in newspapers, without harangues from hustings, without clamorous meetings + in great halls and in marketplaces, without petitions signed by tens of + thousands, you may have a reform effected with one stroke of the pen. Not + so here. Here the people, as electors, have power to decide questions of + the highest importance. And ought they not to hear and read before they + decide? And how can they hear if nobody speaks, or read if nobody writes? + You must admit, then, that it is our right, and that it may be our duty, + to attempt by speaking and writing to induce the great body of our + countrymen to pronounce what we think a right decision; and what else is + agitation? In saying this I am not defending one party alone. Has there + been no Tory agitation? No agitation against Popery? No agitation against + the new Poor Law? No agitation against the plan of education framed by the + present Government? Or, to pass from questions about which we differ to + questions about which we all agree: Would the slave trade ever have been + abolished without agitation? Would slavery ever have been abolished + without agitation? Would your prison discipline ever have been improved + without agitation? Would your penal code, once the scandal of the Statute + Book, have been mitigated without agitation? I am far from denying that + agitation may be abused, may be employed for bad ends, may be carried to + unjustifiable lengths. So may that freedom of speech which is one of the + most precious privileges of this House. Indeed, the analogy is very close. + What is agitation but the mode in which the public, the body which we + represent, the great outer assembly, if I may so speak, holds its debates? + It is as necessary to the good government of the country that our + constituents should debate as that we should debate. They sometimes go + wrong, as we sometimes go wrong. There is often much exaggeration, much + unfairness, much acrimony in their debates. Is there none in ours? Some + worthless demagogues may have exhorted the people to resist the laws. But + what member of Lord Grey's Government, what member of the present + Government, ever gave any countenance to any illegal proceedings? It is + perfectly true that some words which have been uttered here and in other + places, and which, when taken together with the context and candidly + construed, will appear to mean nothing but what was reasonable and + constitutional and moderate, have been distorted and mutilated into + something that has a seditious aspect. But who is secure against such + misrepresentation? Not, I am sure, the right honourable Baronet the Member + for Pembroke. He ought to remember that his own speeches have been used by + bad men for bad ends. He ought to remember that some expressions which he + used in 1830, on the subject of the emoluments divided among Privy + Councillors, have been quoted by the Chartists in vindication of their + excesses. Do I blame him for this? Not at all. He said nothing that was + not justifiable. But it is impossible for a man so to guard his lips that + his language shall not sometimes be misunderstood by dull men, and + sometimes misrepresented by dishonest men. I do not, I say, blame him for + having used those expressions: but I do say that, knowing how his own + expressions had been perverted, he should have hesitated before he threw + upon men, not less attached than himself to the cause of law, of order and + property, imputations certainly not better founded than those to which he + is himself liable. + </p> + <p> + And now, Sir, to pass by many topics to which, but for the lateness of the + hour, I would willingly advert, let me remind the House that the question + before us is not a positive question, but a question of comparison. No + man, though he may disapprove of some part of the conduct of the present + Ministers, is justified in voting for the motion which we are considering, + unless he believes that a change would, on the whole, be beneficial. No + government is perfect: but some government there must be; and if the + present government were worse than its enemies think it, it ought to exist + until it can be succeeded by a better. Now I take it to be perfectly clear + that, in the event of the removal of Her Majesty's present advisers, an + administration must be formed of which the right honourable Baronet the + Member for Tamworth will be the head. Towards that right honourable + Baronet, and towards many of the noblemen and gentlemen who would probably + in that event be associated with him, I entertain none but kind and + respectful feelings. I am far, I hope, from that narrowness of mind which + makes a man unable to see merit in any party but his own. If I may venture + to parody the old Venetian proverb, I would be "First an Englishman; and + then a Whig." I feel proud of my country when I think how much ability, + uprightness, and patriotism may be found on both sides of the House. Among + our opponents stands forth, eminently distinguished by parts, eloquence, + knowledge, and, I willingly admit, by public spirit, the right honourable + Baronet the Member for Tamworth. Having said this, I shall offer no + apology for the remarks which, in the discharge of my public duty, I shall + make, without, I hope, any personal discourtesy, on his past conduct, and + his present position. + </p> + <p> + It has been, Sir, I will not say his fault, but his misfortune, his fate, + to be the leader of a party with which he has no sympathy. To go back to + what is now matter of history, the right honourable Baronet bore a chief + part in the restoration of the currency. By a very large proportion of his + followers the restoration of the currency is considered as the chief cause + of the distresses of the country. The right honourable Baronet cordially + supported the commercial policy of Mr Huskisson. But there was no name + more odious than that of Mr Huskisson to the rank and file of the Tory + party. The right honourable Baronet assented to the Act which removed the + disabilities of the Protestant Dissenters. But, a very short time ago, a + noble Duke, one of the highest in power and rank of the right honourable + Baronet's adherents, positively refused to lend his aid to the executing + of that Act. The right honourable Baronet brought in the bill which + removed the disabilities of the Roman Catholics: but his supporters make + it a chief article of charge against us that we have given practical + effect to the law which is his best title to public esteem. The right + honourable Baronet has declared himself decidedly favourable to the new + Poor Law. Yet, if a voice is raised against the Whig Bastilles and the + Kings of Somerset House, it is almost certain to be the voice of some + zealous retainer of the right honourable Baronet. On the great question of + privilege, the right honourable Baronet has taken a part which entitles + him to the gratitude of all who are solicitous for the honour and the + usefulness of the popular branch of the legislature. But if any person + calls us tyrants, and calls those whom we have imprisoned martyrs, that + person is certain to be a partisan of the right honourable Baronet. Even + when the right honourable Baronet does happen to agree with his followers + as to a conclusion, he seldom arrives at that conclusion by the same + process of reasoning which satisfies them. Many great questions which they + consider as questions of right and wrong, as questions of moral and + religious principle, as questions which must, for no earthly object, and + on no emergency, be compromised, are treated by him merely as questions of + expediency, of place, and of time. He has opposed many bills introduced by + the present Government; but he has opposed them on such grounds that he is + at perfect liberty to bring in the same bills himself next year, with + perhaps some slight variation. I listened to him as I always listen to + him, with pleasure, when he spoke last session on the subject of + education. I could not but be amused by the skill with which he performed + the hard task of translating the gibberish of bigots into language which + might not misbecome the mouth of a man of sense. I felt certain that he + despised the prejudices of which he condescended to make use, and that his + opinion about the Normal Schools and the Douai Version entirely agreed + with my own. I therefore do not think that, in times like these, the right + honourable Baronet can conduct the administration with honour to himself + or with satisfaction to those who are impatient to see him in office. I + will not affect to feel apprehensions from which I am entirely free. I do + not fear, and I will not pretend to fear, that the right honourable + Baronet will be a tyrant and a persecutor. I do not believe that he will + give up Ireland to the tender mercies of those zealots who form, I am + afraid, the strongest, and I am sure the loudest, part of his retinue. I + do not believe that he will strike the names of Roman Catholics from the + Privy Council book, and from the Commissions of the Peace. I do not + believe that he will lay on our table a bill for the repeal of that great + Act which was introduced by himself in 1829. What I do anticipate is this, + that he will attempt to keep his party together by means which will excite + grave discontents, and yet that he will not succeed in keeping his party + together; that he will lose the support of the Tories without obtaining + the support of the nation; and that his government will fall from causes + purely internal. + </p> + <p> + This, Sir, is not mere conjecture. The drama is not a new one. It was + performed a few years ago on the same stage and by most of the same + actors. In 1827 the right honourable Baronet was, as now, the head of a + powerful Tory opposition. He had, as now, the support of a strong minority + in this House. He had, as now, a majority in the other House. He was, as + now, the favourite of the Church and of the Universities. All who dreaded + political change, all who hated religious liberty, rallied round him then, + as they rally round him now. Their cry was then, as now, that a government + unfriendly to the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the realm was + kept in power by intrigue and court favour, and that the right honourable + Baronet was the man to whom the nation must look to defend its laws + against revolutionists, and its religion against idolaters. At length that + cry became irresistible. Tory animosity had pursued the most accomplished + of Tory statesmen and orators to a resting place in Westminster Abbey. The + arrangement which was made after his death lasted but a very few months: a + Tory government was formed; and the right honourable Baronet became the + leading minister of the Crown in the House of Commons. His adherents + hailed his elevation with clamorous delight, and confidently expected many + years of triumph and dominion. Is it necessary to say in what + disappointment, in what sorrow, in what fury, those expectations ended? + The right honourable Baronet had been raised to power by prejudices and + passions in which he had no share. His followers were bigots. He was a + statesman. He was coolly weighing conveniences against inconveniences, + while they were ready to resort to a proscription and to hazard a civil + war rather than depart from what they called their principles. For a time + he tried to take a middle course. He imagined that it might be possible + for him to stand well with his old friends, and yet to perform some part + of his duty to the state. But those were not times in which he could long + continue to halt between two opinions. His elevation, as it had excited + the hopes of the oppressors, had excited also the terror and the rage of + the oppressed. Agitation, which had, during more than a year, slumbered in + Ireland, awoke with renewed vigour, and soon became more formidable than + ever. The Roman Catholic Association began to exercise authority such as + the Irish Parliament, in the days of its independence, had never + possessed. An agitator became more powerful than the Lord Lieutenant. + Violence engendered violence. Every explosion of feeling on one side of St + George's Channel was answered by a louder explosion on the other. The + Clare election, the Penenden Heath meeting showed that the time for + evasion and delay was past. A crisis had arrived which made it absolutely + necessary for the Government to take one side or the other. A simple issue + was proposed to the right honourable Baronet, concession or civil war; to + disgust his party, or to ruin his country. He chose the good part. He + performed a duty, deeply painful, in some sense humiliating, yet in truth + highly honourable to him. He came down to this House and proposed the + emancipation of the Roman Catholics. Among his adherents were some who, + like himself, had opposed the Roman Catholic claims merely on the ground + of political expediency; and these persons readily consented to support + his new policy. But not so the great body of his followers. Their zeal for + Protestant ascendency was a ruling passion, a passion, too, which they + thought it a virtue to indulge. They had exerted themselves to raise to + power the man whom they regarded as the ablest and most trusty champion of + that ascendency; and he had not only abandoned the good cause, but had + become its adversary. Who can forget in what a roar of obloquy their anger + burst forth? Never before was such a flood of calumny and invective poured + on a single head. All history, all fiction were ransacked by the old + friends of the right honourable Baronet, for nicknames and allusions. One + right honourable gentleman, who I am sorry not to see in his place + opposite, found English prose too weak to express his indignation, and + pursued his perfidious chief with reproaches borrowed from the ravings of + the deserted Dido. Another Tory explored Holy Writ for parallels, and + could find no parallel but Judas Iscariot. The great university which had + been proud to confer on the right honourable Baronet the highest marks of + favour, was foremost in affixing the brand of infamy. From Cornwall, from + Northumberland, clergymen came up by hundreds to Oxford, in order to vote + against him whose presence, a few days before, would have set the bells of + their parish churches jingling. Nay, such was the violence of this new + enmity that the old enmity of the Tories to Whigs, Radicals, Dissenters, + Papists, seemed to be forgotten. That Ministry which, when it came into + power at the close of 1828, was one of the strongest that the country ever + saw, was, at the close of 1829, one of the weakest. It lingered another + year, staggering between two parties, leaning now on one, now on the + other, reeling sometimes under a blow from the right, sometimes under a + blow from the left, and certain to fall as soon as the Tory opposition and + the Whig opposition could find a question on which to unite. Such a + question was found: and that Ministry fell without a struggle. + </p> + <p> + Now what I wish to know is this. What reason have we to believe that any + administration which the right honourable Baronet can now form will have a + different fate? Is he changed since 1829? Is his party changed? He is, I + believe, still the same, still a statesman, moderate in opinions, cautious + in temper, perfectly free from that fanaticism which inflames so many of + his supporters. As to his party, I admit that it is not the same; for it + is very much worse. It is decidedly fiercer and more unreasonable than it + was eleven years ago. I judge by its public meetings; I judge by its + journals; I judge by its pulpits, pulpits which every week resound with + ribaldry and slander such as would disgrace the hustings. A change has + come over the spirit of a part, I hope not the larger part, of the Tory + body. It was once the glory of the Tories that, through all changes of + fortune, they were animated by a steady and fervent loyalty which made + even error respectable, and gave to what might otherwise have been called + servility something of the manliness and nobleness of freedom. A great + Tory poet, whose eminent services to the cause of monarchy had been ill + requited by an ungrateful Court, boasted that + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Loyalty is still the same, + Whether it win or lose the game; + True as the dial to the sun, + Although it be not shined upon." +</pre> + <p> + Toryism has now changed its character. We have lived to see a monster of a + faction made up of the worst parts of the Cavalier and the worst parts of + the Roundhead. We have lived to see a race of disloyal Tories. We have + lived to see Tories giving themselves the airs of those insolent pikemen + who puffed out their tobacco smoke in the face of Charles the First. We + have lived to see Tories who, because they are not allowed to grind the + people after the fashion of Strafford, turn round and revile the Sovereign + in the style of Hugh Peters. I say, therefore, that, while the leader is + still what he was eleven years ago, when his moderation alienated his + intemperate followers, his followers are more intemperate than ever. It is + my firm belief that the majority of them desire the repeal of the + Emancipation Act. You say, no. But I will give reasons, and unanswerable + reasons, for what I say. How, if you really wish to maintain the + Emancipation Act, do you explain that clamour which you have raised, and + which has resounded through the whole kingdom, about the three Popish + Privy Councillors? You resent, as a calumny, the imputation that you wish + to repeal the Emancipation Act; and yet you cry out that Church and State + are in danger of ruin whenever the Government carries that Act into + effect. If the Emancipation Act is never to be executed, why should it not + be repealed? I perfectly understand that an honest man may wish it to be + repealed. But I am at a loss to understand how honest men can say, "We + wish the Emancipation Act to be maintained: you who accuse us of wishing + to repeal it slander us foully: we value it as much as you do. Let it + remain among our statutes, provided always that it remains as a dead + letter. If you dare to put it in force, indeed, we will agitate against + you; for, though we talk against agitation, we too can practice agitation: + we will denounce you in our associations; for, though we call associations + unconstitutional, we too have our associations: our divines shall preach + about Jezebel: our tavern spouters shall give significant hints about + James the Second." Yes, Sir, such hints have been given, hints that a + sovereign who has merely executed the law, ought to be treated like a + sovereign who grossly violated the law. I perfectly understand, as I said, + that an honest man may disapprove of the Emancipation Act, and may wish it + repealed. But can any man, who is of opinion that Roman Catholics ought to + be admitted to office, honestly maintain that they now enjoy more than + their fair share of power and emolument? What is the proportion of Roman + Catholics to the whole population of the United Kingdom? About one-fourth. + What proportion of the Privy Councillors are Roman Catholics? About + one-seventieth. And what, after all, is the power of a Privy Councillor, + merely as such? Are not the right honourable gentlemen opposite Privy + Councillors? If a change should take place, will not the present Ministers + still be Privy Councillors? It is notorious that no Privy Councillor goes + to Council unless he is specially summoned. He is called Right Honourable, + and he walks out of a room before Esquires and Knights. And can we + seriously believe that men who think it monstrous that this honorary + distinction should be given to three Roman Catholics, do sincerely desire + to maintain a law by which a Roman Catholic may be Commander in Chief with + all the military patronage, First Lord of the Admiralty with all the naval + patronage, or First Lord of the Treasury, with the chief influence in + every department of the Government. I must therefore suppose that those + who join in the cry against the three Privy Councillors, are either + imbecile or hostile to the Emancipation Act. + </p> + <p> + I repeat, therefore, that, while the right honourable Baronet is as free + from bigotry as he was eleven years ago, his party is more bigoted than it + was eleven years ago. The difficulty of governing Ireland in opposition to + the feelings of the great body of the Irish people is, I apprehend, as + great now as it was eleven years ago. What then must be the fate of a + government formed by the right honourable Baronet? Suppose that the event + of this debate should make him Prime Minister? Should I be wrong if I were + to prophesy that three years hence he will be more hated and vilified by + the Tory party than the present advisers of the Crown have been? Should I + be wrong if I were to say that all those literary organs which now deafen + us with praise of him, will then deafen us with abuse of him? Should I be + wrong if I were to say that he will be burned in effigy by those who now + drink his health with three times three and one cheer more? Should I be + wrong if I were to say that those very gentlemen who have crowded hither + to-night in order to vote him into power, will crowd hither to vote Lord + Melbourne back? Once already have I seen those very persons go out into + the lobby for the purpose of driving the right honourable Baronet from the + high situation to which they had themselves exalted him. I went out with + them myself; yes, with the whole body of the Tory country gentlemen, with + the whole body of high Churchmen. All the four University Members were + with us. The effect of that division was to bring Lord Grey, Lord + Althorpe, Lord Brougham, Lord Durham into power. You may say that the + Tories on that occasion judged ill, that they were blinded by vindictive + passion, that if they had foreseen all that followed they might have acted + differently. Perhaps so. But what has been once may be again. I cannot + think it possible that those who are now supporting the right honourable + Baronet will continue from personal attachment to support him if they see + that his policy is in essentials the same as Lord Melbourne's. I believe + that they have quite as much personal attachment to Lord Melbourne as to + the right honourable Baronet. They follow the right honourable Baronet + because his abilities, his eloquence, his experience are necessary to + them; but they are but half reconciled to him. They never can forget that, + in the most important crisis of his public life, he deliberately chose + rather to be the victim of their injustice than its instrument. It is idle + to suppose that they will be satisfied by seeing a new set of men in + power. Their maxim is most truly "Measures, not men." They care not before + whom the sword of state is borne at Dublin, or who wears the badge of St + Patrick. What they abhor is not Lord Normanby personally or Lord Ebrington + personally, but the great principles in conformity with which Ireland has + been governed by Lord Normanby and by Lord Ebrington, the principles of + justice, humanity, and religious freedom. What they wish to have in + Ireland is not my Lord Haddington, or any other viceroy whom the right + honourable Baronet may select, but the tyranny of race over race, and of + creed over creed. Give them what they want; and you convulse the empire. + Refuse them; and you dissolve the Tory party. I believe that the right + honourable Baronet himself is by no means without apprehensions that, if + he were now called to the head of affairs, he would, very speedily, have + the dilemma of 1829 again before him. He certainly was not without such + apprehensions when, a few months ago, he was commanded by Her Majesty to + submit to her the plan of an administration. The aspect of public affairs + was not at that time cheering. The Chartists were stirring in England. + There were troubles in Canada. There were great discontents in the West + Indies. An expedition, of which the event was still doubtful, had been + sent into the heart of Asia. Yet, among many causes of anxiety, the + discerning eye of the right honourable Baronet easily discerned the + quarter where the great and immediate danger lay. He told the House that + his difficulty would be Ireland. Now, Sir, that which would be the + difficulty of his administration is the strength of the present + administration. Her Majesty's Ministers enjoy the confidence of Ireland; + and I believe that what ought to be done for that country will excite less + discontent here if done by them than if done by him. He, I am afraid, + great as his abilities are, and good as I willingly admit his intentions + to be, would find it easy to lose the confidence of his partisans, but + hard indeed to win the confidence of the Irish people. + </p> + <p> + It is indeed principally on account of Ireland that I feel solicitous + about the issue of the present debate. I well know how little chance he + who speaks on that theme has of obtaining a fair hearing. Would to God + that I were addressing an audience which would judge this great + controversy as it is judged by foreign nations, and as it will be judged + by future ages. The passions which inflame us, the sophisms which delude + us, will not last for ever. The paroxysms of faction have their appointed + season. Even the madness of fanaticism is but for a day. The time is + coming when our conflicts will be to others what the conflicts of our + forefathers are to us; when the preachers who now disturb the State, and + the politicians who now make a stalking horse of the Church, will be no + more than Sacheverel and Harley. Then will be told, in language very + different from that which now calls forth applause from the mob of Exeter + Hall, the true story of these troubled years. + </p> + <p> + There was, it will then be said, a part of the kingdom of Queen Victoria + which presented a lamentable contrast to the rest; not from the want of + natural fruitfulness, for there was no richer soil in Europe; not from + want of facilities for trade, for the coasts of this unhappy region were + indented by bays and estuaries capable of holding all the navies of the + world; not because the people were too dull to improve these advantages or + too pusillanimous to defend them; for in natural quickness of wit and + gallantry of spirit they ranked high among the nations. But all the bounty + of nature had been made unavailing by the crimes and errors of man. In the + twelfth century that fair island was a conquered province. The nineteenth + century found it a conquered province still. During that long interval + many great changes had taken place which had conduced to the general + welfare of the empire: but those changes had only aggravated the misery of + Ireland. The Reformation came, bringing to England and Scotland divine + truth and intellectual liberty. To Ireland it brought only fresh + calamities. Two new war cries, Protestant and Catholic, animated the old + feud between the Englishry and the Irishry. The Revolution came, bringing + to England and Scotland civil and spiritual freedom, to Ireland + subjugation, degradation, persecution. The Union came: but though it + joined legislatures, it left hearts as widely disjoined as ever. Catholic + Emancipation came: but it came too late; it came as a concession made to + fear, and, having excited unreasonable hopes, was naturally followed by + unreasonable disappointment. Then came violent irritation, and numerous + errors on both sides. Agitation produced coercion, and coercion produced + fresh agitation. Difficulties and dangers went on increasing, till a + government arose which, all other means having failed, determined to + employ the only means that had not yet been fairly tried, justice and + mercy. The State, long the stepmother of the many, and the mother only of + the few, became for the first time the common parent of all the great + family. The body of the people began to look on their rulers as friends. + Battalion after battalion, squadron after squadron was withdrawn from + districts which, as it had till then been thought, could be governed by + the sword alone. Yet the security of property and the authority of law + became every day more complete. Symptoms of amendment, symptoms such as + cannot be either concealed or counterfeited, began to appear; and those + who once despaired of the destinies of Ireland began to entertain a + confident hope that she would at length take among European nations that + high place to which her natural resources and the intelligence of her + children entitle her to aspire. + </p> + <p> + In words such as these, I am confident, will the next generation speak of + the events in our time. Relying on the sure justice of history and + posterity, I care not, as far as I am personally concerned, whether we + stand or fall. That issue it is for the House to decide. Whether the + result will be victory or defeat, I know not. But I know that there are + defeats not less glorious than any victory; and yet I have shared in some + glorious victories. Those were proud and happy days;—some who sit on + the benches opposite can well remember, and must, I think, regret them;—those + were proud and happy days when, amidst the applauses and blessings of + millions, my noble friend led us on in the great struggle for the Reform + Bill; when hundreds waited round our doors till sunrise to hear how we had + sped; when the great cities of the north poured forth their population on + the highways to meet the mails which brought from the capital the tidings + whether the battle of the people had been lost or won. Such days my noble + friend cannot hope to see again. Two such triumphs would be too much for + one life. But perhaps there still awaits him a less pleasing, a less + exhilarating, but a not less honourable task, the task of contending + against superior numbers, and through years of discomfiture, for those + civil and religious liberties which are inseparably associated with the + name of his illustrious house. At his side will not be wanting men who + against all odds, and through all turns of fortune, in evil days and + amidst evil tongues, will defend to the last, with unabated spirit, the + noble principles of Milton and of Locke. We may be driven from office. We + may be doomed to a life of opposition. We may be made marks for the + rancour of sects which, hating each other with a deadly hatred, yet hate + toleration still more. We may be exposed to the rage of Laud on one side, + and of Praise-God-Barebones on the other. But justice will be done at + last: and a portion of the praise which we bestow on the old champions and + martyrs of freedom will not be refused by future generations to the men + who have in our days endeavoured to bind together in real union races too + long estranged, and to efface, by the mild influence of a parental + government, the fearful traces which have been left by the misrule of + ages. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WAR WITH CHINA. (APRIL 7, 1840) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS + ON THE 7TH OF APRIL, 1840. + </h2> + <p> + On the seventh of April, 1840, Sir James Graham moved the following + resolution: + </p> + <p> + "That it appears to this House, on consideration of the papers relating to + China presented to this House by command of Her Majesty, that the + interruption in our commercial and friendly intercourse with that country, + and the hostilities which have since taken place, are mainly to be + attributed to the want of foresight and precaution on the part of Her + Majesty's present advisers, in respect to our relations with China, and + especially to their neglect to furnish the Superintendent at Canton with + powers and instructions calculated to provide against the growing evils + connected with the contraband trade in opium, and adapted to the novel and + difficult situation in which the Superintendent was placed." + </p> + <p> + As soon as the question had been put from the Chair the following Speech + was made. + </p> + <p> + The motion was rejected, after a debate of three nights, by 271 votes to + 261. + </p> + <p> + Mr Speaker,—If the right honourable Baronet, in rising to make an + attack on the Government, was forced to own that he was unnerved and + overpowered by his sense of the importance of the question with which he + had to deal, one who rises to repel that attack may, without any shame, + confess that he feels similar emotions. And yet I must say that the + anxiety, the natural and becoming anxiety, with which Her Majesty's + Ministers have awaited the judgment of the House on these papers, was not + a little allayed by the terms of the right honourable Baronet's motion, + and has been still more allayed by his speech. It was impossible for us to + doubt either his inclination or his ability to detect and to expose any + fault which we might have committed, and we may well congratulate + ourselves on finding that, after the closest examination into a long + series of transactions, so extensive, so complicated, and, in some + respects, so disastrous, so keen an assailant could produce only so futile + an accusation. + </p> + <p> + In the first place, Sir, the resolution which the right honourable Baronet + has moved relates entirely to events which took place before the rupture + with the Chinese Government. That rupture took place in March, 1839. The + right honourable Baronet therefore does not propose to pass any censure on + any step which has been taken by the Government within the last thirteen + months; and it will, I think, be generally admitted, that when he abstains + from censuring the proceedings of the Government, it is because the most + unfriendly scrutiny can find nothing in those proceedings to censure. We + by no means deny that he has a perfect right to propose a vote expressing + disapprobation of what was done in 1837 or 1838. At the same time, we + cannot but be gratified by learning that he approves of our present + policy, and of the measures which we have taken, since the rupture, for + the vindication of the national honour and for the protection of the + national interests. + </p> + <p> + It is also to be observed that the right honourable Baronet has not + ventured, either in his motion or in his speech, to charge Her Majesty's + Ministers with any unwise or unjust act, with any act tending to lower the + character of England, or to give cause of offence to China. The only sins + which he imputes to them are sins of omission. His complaint is merely + that they did not foresee the course which events would take at Canton, + and that consequently they did not send sufficient instructions to the + British resident who was stationed there. Now it is evident that such an + accusation is of all accusations that which requires the fullest and most + distinct proof; for it is of all accusations that which it is easiest to + make and hardest to refute. A man charged with a culpable act which he has + not committed has comparatively little difficulty in proving his + innocence. But when the charge is merely this, that he has not, in a long + and intricate series of transactions, done all that it would have been + wise to do, how is he to vindicate himself? And the case which we are + considering has this peculiarity, that the envoy to whom the Ministers are + said to have left too large a discretion was fifteen thousand miles from + them. The charge against them therefore is this, that they did not give + such copious and particular directions as were sufficient, in every + possible emergency, for the guidance of a functionary, who was fifteen + thousand miles off. Now, Sir, I am ready to admit that, if the papers on + our table related to important negotiations with a neighbouring state, if + they related, for example, to a negotiation carried on with France, my + noble friend the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Lord Palmerston.) might + well have been blamed for sending instructions so meagre and so vague to + our ambassador at Paris. For my noble friend knows to-night what passed + between our ambassador at Paris and the French Ministers yesterday; and a + messenger despatched to-night from Downing Street will be at the Embassy + in the Faubourg Saint Honore the day after to-morrow. But that constant + and minute control, which the Foreign Secretary is bound to exercise over + diplomatic agents who are near, becomes an useless and pernicious meddling + when exercised over agents who are separated from him by a voyage of five + months. There are on both sides of the House gentlemen conversant with the + affairs of India. I appeal to those gentlemen. India is nearer to us than + China. India is far better known to us than China. Yet is it not + universally acknowledged that India can be governed only in India? The + authorities at home point out to a governor the general line of policy + which they wish him to follow; but they do not send him directions as to + the details of his administration. How indeed is it possible that they + should send him such directions? Consider in what a state the affairs of + this country would be if they were to be conducted according to directions + framed by the ablest statesman residing in Bengal. A despatch goes hence + asking for instructions while London is illuminating for the peace of + Amiens. The instructions arrive when the French army is encamped at + Boulogne, and when the whole island is up in arms to repel invasion. A + despatch is written asking for instructions when Bonaparte is at Elba. The + instructions come when he is at the Tuilleries. A despatch is written + asking for instructions when he is at the Tuilleries. The instructions + come when he is at St Helena. It would be just as impossible to govern + India in London as to govern England at Calcutta. While letters are + preparing here on the supposition that there is profound peace in the + Carnatic, Hyder is at the gates of Fort St George. While letters are + preparing here on the supposition that trade is flourishing and that the + revenue exceeds the expenditure, the crops have failed, great agency + houses have broken, and the government is negotiating a loan on hard + terms. It is notorious that the great men who founded and preserved our + Indian empire, Clive and Warren Hastings, treated all particular orders + which they received from home as mere waste paper. Had not those great men + had the sense and spirit so to treat such orders, we should not now have + had an Indian empire. But the case of China is far stronger. For, though a + person who is now writing a despatch to Fort William in Leadenhall Street + or Cannon Row, cannot know what events have happened in India within the + last two months, he may be very intimately acquainted with the general + state of that country, with its wants, with its resources, with the habits + and temper of the native population, and with the character of every + prince and minister from Nepaul to Tanjore. But what does anybody here + know of China? Even those Europeans who have been in that empire are + almost as ignorant of it as the rest of us. Everything is covered by a + veil, through which a glimpse of what is within may occasionally be + caught, a glimpse just sufficient to set the imagination at work, and more + likely to mislead than to inform. The right honourable Baronet has told us + that an Englishman at Canton sees about as much of China as a foreigner + who should land at Wapping and proceed no further would see of England. + Certainly the sights and sounds of Wapping would give a foreigner but a + very imperfect notion of our Government, of our manufactures, of our + agriculture, of the state of learning and the arts among us. And yet the + illustration is but a faint one. For a foreigner may, without seeing even + Wapping, without visiting England at all, study our literature, and may + thence form a vivid and correct idea of our institutions and manners. But + the literature of China affords us no such help. Obstacles unparalleled in + any other country which has books must be surmounted by the student who is + determined to master the Chinese tongue. To learn to read is the business + of half a life. It is easier to become such a linguist as Sir William + Jones was than to become a good Chinese scholar. You may count upon your + fingers the Europeans whose industry and genius, even when stimulated by + the most fervent religious zeal, has triumphed over the difficulties of a + language without an alphabet. Here then is a country separated from us + physically by half the globe, separated from us still more effectually by + the barriers which the most jealous of all governments and the hardest of + all languages oppose to the researches of strangers. Is it then reasonable + to blame my noble friend because he has not sent to our envoys in such a + country as this instructions as full and precise as it would have been his + duty to send to a minister at Brussels or at the Hague? The right + honourable Baronet who comes forward as the accuser on this occasion is + really accusing himself. He was a member of the Government of Lord Grey. + He was himself concerned in framing the first instructions which were + given by my noble friend to our first Superintendent at Canton. For those + instructions the right honourable Baronet frankly admits that he is + himself responsible. Are those instructions then very copious and minute? + Not at all. They merely lay down general principles. The Resident, for + example, is enjoined to respect national usages, and to avoid whatever may + shock the prejudices of the Chinese; but no orders are given him as to + matters of detail. In 1834 my noble friend quitted the Foreign Office, and + the Duke of Wellington went to it. Did the Duke of Wellington send out + those copious and exact directions with which, according to the right + honourable Baronet, the Government is bound to furnish its agent in China? + No, Sir; the Duke of Wellington, grown old in the conduct of great + affairs, knows better than anybody that a man of very ordinary ability at + Canton is likely to be a better judge of what ought to be done on an + emergency arising at Canton than the greatest politician at Westminster + can possibly be. His Grace, therefore, like a wise man as he is, wrote + only one letter to the Superintendent, and in that letter merely referred + the Superintendent to the general directions given by Lord Palmerston. And + how, Sir, does the right honourable Baronet prove that, by persisting in + the course which he himself took when in office, and which the Duke of + Wellington took when in office, Her Majesty's present advisers have + brought on that rupture which we all deplore? He has read us, from the + voluminous papers which are on the table, much which has but a very remote + connection with the question. He has said much about things which happened + before the present Ministry existed, and much about things which have + happened at Canton since the rupture; but very little that is relevant to + the issue raised by the resolution which he has himself proposed. That + issue is simply this, whether the mismanagement of the present Ministry + produced the rupture. I listened to his long and able speech with the + greatest attention, and did my best to separate that part which had any + relation to his motion from a great mass of extraneous matter. If my + analysis be correct, the charge which he brings against the Government + consists of four articles. + </p> + <p> + The first article is, that the Government omitted to alter that part of + the original instructions which directed the Superintendent to reside at + Canton. + </p> + <p> + The second article is, that the Government omitted to alter that part of + the original instructions which directed the Superintendent to communicate + directly with the representatives of the Emperor. + </p> + <p> + The third article is, that the Government omitted to follow the advice of + the Duke of Wellington, who had left at the Foreign Office a memorandum + recommending that a British ship of war should be stationed in the China + sea. + </p> + <p> + The fourth article is, that the Government omitted to authorise and + empower the Superintendent to put down the contraband trade carried on by + British subjects with China. + </p> + <p> + Such, Sir, are the counts of this indictment. Of these counts, the fourth + is the only one which will require a lengthened defence. The first three + may be disposed of in very few words. + </p> + <p> + As to the first, the answer is simple. It is true that the Government did + not revoke that part of the instructions which directed the Superintendent + to reside at Canton; and it is true that this part of the instructions did + at one time cause a dispute between the Superintendent and the Chinese + authorities. But it is equally true that this dispute was accommodated + early in 1837; that the Chinese Government furnished the Superintendent + with a passport authorising him to reside at Canton; that, during the two + years which preceded the rupture, the Chinese Government made no objection + to his residing at Canton; and that there is not in all this huge blue + book one word indicating that the rupture was caused, directly or + indirectly, by his residing at Canton. On the first count, therefore, I am + confident that the verdict must be, Not Guilty. + </p> + <p> + To the second count we have a similar answer. It is true that there was a + dispute with the authorities of Canton about the mode of communication. + But it is equally true that this dispute was settled by a compromise. The + Chinese made a concession as to the channel of communication. The + Superintendent made a concession as to the form of communication. The + question had been thus set at rest before the rupture, and had absolutely + nothing to do with the rupture. + </p> + <p> + As to the third charge, I must tell the right honourable Baronet that he + has altogether misapprehended that memorandum which he so confidently + cites. The Duke of Wellington did not advise the Government to station a + ship of war constantly in the China seas. The Duke, writing in 1835, at a + time when the regular course of the trade had been interrupted, + recommended that a ship of war should be stationed near Canton, "till the + trade should take its regular peaceable course." Those are His Grace's own + words. Do they not imply that, when the trade had again taken its regular + peaceable course, it might be right to remove the ship of war? Well, Sir, + the trade, after that memorandum was written, did resume its regular + peaceable course: that the right honourable Baronet himself will admit; + for it is part of his own case that Sir George Robinson had succeeded in + restoring quiet and security. The third charge then is simply this, that + the Ministers did not do in a time of perfect tranquillity what the Duke + of Wellington thought that it would have been right to do in a time of + trouble. + </p> + <p> + And now, Sir, I come to the fourth charge, the only real charge; for the + other three are so futile that I hardly understand how the right + honourable Baronet should have ventured to bring them forward. The fourth + charge is, that the Ministers omitted to send to the Superintendent orders + and powers to suppress the contraband trade, and that this omission was + the cause of the rupture. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, let me ask whether it was not notorious, when the right + honourable Baronet was in office, that British subjects carried on an + extensive contraband trade with China? Did the right honourable Baronet + and his colleagues instruct the Superintendent to put down that trade? + Never. That trade went on while the Duke of Wellington was at the Foreign + Office. Did the Duke of Wellington instruct the Superintendent to put down + that trade? No, Sir, never. Are then the followers of the right honourable + Baronet, are the followers of the Duke of Wellington, prepared to pass a + vote of censure on us for following the example of the right honourable + Baronet and of the Duke of Wellington? But I am understating my case. + Since the present Ministers came into office, the reasons against sending + out such instructions were much stronger than when the right honourable + Baronet was in office, or when the Duke of Wellington was in office. Down + to the month of May 1838, my noble friend had good grounds for believing + that the Chinese Government was about to legalise the trade in opium. It + is by no means easy to follow the windings of Chinese politics. But, it is + certain that about four years ago the whole question was taken into + serious consideration at Pekin. The attention of the Emperor was called to + the undoubted fact, that the law which forbade the trade in opium was a + dead letter. That law had been intended to guard against two evils, which + the Chinese legislators seem to have regarded with equal horror, the + importation of a noxious drug, and the exportation of the precious metals. + It was found, however, that as many pounds of opium came in, and that as + many pounds of silver went out, as if there had been no such law. The only + effect of the prohibition was that the people learned to think lightly of + imperial edicts, and that no part of the great sums expended in the + purchase of the forbidden luxury came into the imperial treasury. These + considerations were set forth in a most luminous and judicious state + paper, drawn by Tang Tzee, President of the Sacrificial Offices. I am + sorry to hear that this enlightened Minister has been turned out of office + on account of his liberality: for to be turned out of office is, I + apprehend, a much more serious misfortune in China than in England. Tang + Tzee argued that it was unwise to attempt to exclude opium, for that, + while millions desired to have it, no law would keep it out, and that the + manner in which it had long been brought in had produced an injurious + effect both on the revenues of the state and on the morals of the people. + Opposed to Tang Tzee was Tchu Sing, a statesman of a very different class, + of a class which, I am sorry to say, is not confined to China. Tchu Sing + appears to be one of those staunch conservatives who, when they find that + a law is inefficient because it is too severe, imagine that they can make + it efficient by making it more severe still. His historical knowledge is + much on a par with his legislative wisdom. He seems to have paid + particular attention to the rise and progress of our Indian Empire, and he + informs his imperial master that opium is the weapon by which England + effects her conquests. She had, it seems, persuaded the people of + Hindostan to smoke and swallow this besotting drug, till they became so + feeble in body and mind, that they were subjugated without difficulty. + Some time appears to have elapsed before the Emperor made up his mind on + the point in dispute between Tang Tzee and Tchu Sing. Our Superintendent, + Captain Elliot, was of opinion that the decision would be in favour of the + rational view taken by Tang Tzee; and such, as I can myself attest, was, + during part of the year 1837, the opinion of the whole mercantile + community of Calcutta. Indeed, it was expected that every ship which + arrived in the Hoogley from Canton would bring the news that the opium + trade had been declared legal. Nor was it known in London till May 1838, + that the arguments of Tchu Sing had prevailed. Surely, Sir, it would have + been most absurd to order Captain Elliot to suppress this trade at a time + when everybody expected that it would soon cease to be contraband. The + right honourable Baronet must, I think, himself admit that, till the month + of May 1838, the Government here omitted nothing that ought to have been + done. + </p> + <p> + The question before us is therefore reduced to very narrow limits. It is + merely this: Ought my noble friend, in May 1838, to have sent out a + despatch commanding and empowering Captain Elliot to put down the opium + trade? I do not think that it would have been right or wise to send out + such a despatch. Consider, Sir, with what powers it would have been + necessary to arm the Superintendent. He must have been authorised to + arrest, to confine, to send across the sea any British subject whom he + might believe to have been concerned in introducing opium into China. I do + not deny that, under the Act of Parliament, the Government might have + invested him with this dictatorship. But I do say that the Government + ought not lightly to invest any man with such a dictatorship, and, that + if, in consequence of directions sent out by the Government, numerous + subjects of Her Majesty had been taken into custody and shipped off to + Bengal or to England without being permitted to wind up their affairs, + this House would in all probability have called the Ministers to a strict + account. Nor do I believe that by sending such directions the Government + would have averted the rupture which has taken place. I will go further. I + believe that, if such directions had been sent, we should now have been, + as we are, at war with China; and that we should have been at war in + circumstances singularly dishonourable and disastrous. + </p> + <p> + For, Sir, suppose that the Superintendent had been authorised and + commanded by the Government to put forth an order prohibiting British + subjects from trading in opium; suppose that he had put forth such an + order; how was he to enforce it? The right honourable Baronet has had too + much experience of public affairs to imagine that a lucrative trade will + be suppressed by a sheet of paper and a seal. In England we have a + preventive service which costs us half a million a year. We employ more + than fifty cruisers to guard our coasts. We have six thousand effective + men whose business is to intercept smugglers. And yet everybody knows that + every article which is much desired, which is easily concealed, and which + is heavily taxed, is smuggled into our island to a great extent. The + quantity of brandy which comes in without paying duty is known to be not + less than six hundred thousand gallons a year. Some people think that the + quantity of tobacco which is imported clandestinely is as great as the + quantity which goes through the custom-houses. Be this as it may, there is + no doubt that the illicit importation is enormous. It has been proved + before a Committee of this House that not less than four millions of + pounds of tobacco have lately been smuggled into Ireland. And all this, + observe, has been done in spite of the most efficient preventive service + that I believe ever existed in the world. Consider too that the price of + an ounce of opium is far, very far higher than the price of a pound of + tobacco. Knowing this, knowing that the whole power of King, Lords, and + Commons cannot here put a stop to a traffic less easy, and less profitable + than the traffic in opium, can you believe that an order prohibiting the + traffic in opium would have been readily obeyed? Remember by what powerful + motives both the buyer and the seller would have been impelled to deal + with each other. The buyer would have been driven to the seller by + something little short of torture, by a physical craving as fierce and + impatient as any to which our race is subject. For, when stimulants of + this sort have been long used, they are desired with a rage which + resembles the rage of hunger. The seller would have been driven to the + buyer by the hope of vast and rapid gain. And do you imagine that the + intense appetite on one side for what had become a necessary of life, and + on the other for riches, would have been appeased by a few lines signed + Charles Elliot? The very utmost effect which it is possible to believe + that such an order would have produced would have been this, that the + opium trade would have left Canton, where the dealers were under the eye + of the Superintendent, and where they would have run some risk of being + punished by him, and would have spread itself along the coast. If we know + anything about the Chinese Government, we know this, that its coastguard + is neither trusty nor efficient; and we know that a coastguard as trusty + and efficient as our own would not be able to cut off communication + between the merchant longing for silver and the smoker longing for his + pipe. Whole fleets of vessels would have managed to land their cargoes + along the shore. Conflicts would have arisen between our countrymen and + the local magistrates, who would not, like the authorities of Canton, have + had some knowledge of European habits and feelings. The mere malum + prohibitum would, as usual, have produced the mala in se. The unlawful + traffic would inevitably have led to a crowd of acts, not only unlawful, + but immoral. The smuggler would, by the almost irresistible force of + circumstances, have been turned into a pirate. We know that, even at + Canton, where the smugglers stand in some awe of the authority of the + Superintendent and of the opinion of an English society which contains + many respectable persons, the illicit trade has caused many brawls and + outrages. What, then, was to be expected when every captain of a ship + laden with opium would have been the sole judge of his own conduct? It is + easy to guess what would have happened. A boat is sent ashore to fill the + water-casks and to buy fresh provisions. The provisions are refused. The + sailors take them by force. Then a well is poisoned. Two or three of the + ship's company die in agonies. The crew in a fury land, shoot and stab + every man whom they meet, and sack and burn a village. Is this improbable? + Have not similar causes repeatedly produced similar effects? Do we not + know that the jealous vigilance with which Spain excluded the ships of + other nations from her Transatlantic possessions turned men who would + otherwise have been honest merchant adventurers into buccaneers? The same + causes which raised up one race of buccaneers in the Gulf of Mexico would + soon have raised up another in the China Sea. And can we doubt what would + in that case have been the conduct of the Chinese authorities at Canton? + We see that Commissioner Lin has arrested and confined men of spotless + character, men whom he had not the slightest reason to suspect of being + engaged in any illicit commerce. He did so on the ground that some of + their countrymen had violated the revenue laws of China. How then would he + have acted if he had learned that the red-headed devils had not merely + been selling opium, but had been fighting, plundering, slaying, burning? + Would he not have put forth a proclamation in his most vituperative style, + setting forth that the Outside Barbarians had undertaken to stop the + contraband trade, but that they had been found deceivers, that the + Superintendent's edict was a mere pretence, that there was more smuggling + than ever, that to the smuggling had been added robbery and murder, and + that therefore he should detain all men of the guilty race as hostages + till reparation should be made? I say, therefore, that, if the Ministers + had done that which the right honourable Baronet blames them for not + doing, we should only have reached by a worse way the point at which we + now are. + </p> + <p> + I have now, Sir, gone through the four heads of the charge brought against + the Government; and I say with confidence that the interruption of our + friendly relations with China cannot justly be imputed to any one of the + omissions mentioned by the right honourable Baronet. In truth, if I could + feel assured that no gentleman would vote for the motion without + attentively reading it, and considering whether the proposition which it + affirms has been made out, I should have no uneasiness as to the result of + this debate. But I know that no member weighs the words of a resolution + for which he is asked to vote, as he would weigh the words of an affidavit + which he was asked to swear. And I am aware that some persons, for whose + humanity and honesty I entertain the greatest respect, are inclined to + divide with the right honourable Baronet, not because they think that he + has proved his case, but because they have taken up a notion that we are + making war for the purpose of forcing the Government of China to admit + opium into that country, and that, therefore, we richly deserve to be + censured. Certainly, Sir, if we had been guilty of such absurdity and such + atrocity as those gentlemen impute to us, we should deserve not only + censure but condign punishment. But the imputation is altogether + unfounded. Our course was clear. We may doubt indeed whether the Emperor + of China judged well in listening to Tchu Sing and disgracing Tang Tzee. + We may doubt whether it be a wise policy to exclude altogether from any + country a drug which is often fatally abused, but which to those who use + it rightly is one of the most precious boons vouchsafed by Providence to + man, powerful to assuage pain, to soothe irritation, and to restore + health. We may doubt whether it be a wise policy to make laws for the + purpose of preventing the precious metals from being exported in the + natural course of trade. We have learned from all history, and from our + own experience, that revenue cutters, custom-house officers, informers, + will never keep out of any country foreign luxuries of small bulk for + which consumers are willing to pay high prices, and will never prevent + gold and silver from going abroad in exchange for such luxuries. We cannot + believe that what England with her skilfully organised fiscal system and + her gigantic marine, has never been able to effect, will be accomplished + by the junks which are at the command of the mandarins of China. But, + whatever our opinion on these points may be, we are perfectly aware that + they are points which it belongs not to us but to the Emperor of China to + decide. He had a perfect right to keep out opium and to keep in silver, if + he could do so by means consistent with morality and public law. If his + officers seized a chest of the forbidden drug, we were not entitled to + complain; nor did we complain. But when, finding that they could not + suppress the contraband trade by just means, they resorted to means + flagrantly unjust, when they imprisoned our innocent countrymen, when they + insulted our Sovereign in the person of her representative, then it became + our duty to demand satisfaction. Whether the opium trade be a pernicious + trade is not the question. Take a parallel case: take the most execrable + crime that ever was called a trade, the African slave trade. You will + hardly say that a contraband trade in opium is more immoral than a + contraband trade in negroes. We prohibited slave-trading: we made it + felony; we made it piracy; we invited foreign powers to join with us in + putting it down; to some foreign powers we paid large sums in order to + obtain their co-operation; we employed our naval force to intercept the + kidnappers; and yet it is notorious that, in spite of all our exertions + and sacrifices, great numbers of slaves were, even as late as ten or + twelve years ago, introduced from Madagascar into our own island of + Mauritius. Assuredly it was our right, it was our duty, to guard the + coasts of that island strictly, to stop slave ships, to bring the buyers + and sellers to punishment. But suppose, Sir, that a ship under French + colours was seen skulking near the island, that the Governor was fully + satisfied from her build, her rigging, and her movements, that she was a + slaver, and was only waiting for the night to put on shore the wretches + who were in her hold. Suppose that, not having a sufficient naval force to + seize this vessel, he were to arrest thirty or forty French merchants, + most of whom had never been suspected of slave-trading, and were to lock + them up. Suppose that he were to lay violent hands on the French consul. + Suppose that the Governor were to threaten to starve his prisoners to + death unless they produced the proprietor of the slaver. Would not the + French Government in such a case have a right to demand reparation? And, + if we refused reparation, would not the French Government have a right to + exact reparation by arms? And would it be enough for us to say, "This is a + wicked trade, an inhuman trade. Think of the misery of the poor creatures + who are torn from their homes. Think of the horrors of the middle passage. + Will you make war in order to force us to admit slaves into our colonies?" + Surely the answer of the French would be, "We are not making war in order + to force you to admit slaves into the Mauritius. By all means keep them + out. By all means punish every man, French or English, whom you can + convict of bringing them in. What we complain of is that you have + confounded the innocent with the guilty, and that you have acted towards + the representative of our government in a manner inconsistent with the law + of nations. Do not, in your zeal for one great principle, trample on all + the other great principles of morality." Just such are the grounds on + which Her Majesty has demanded reparation from China. And was it not time? + See, Sir, see how rapidly injury has followed injury. The Imperial + Commissioner, emboldened by the facility with which he had perpetrated the + first outrage, and utterly ignorant of the relative position of his + country and ours in the scale of power and civilisation, has risen in his + requisitions. He began by confiscating property. His next demand was for + innocent blood. A Chinese had been slain. Careful inquiry was made; but it + was impossible to ascertain who was the slayer, or even to what nation the + slayer belonged. No matter. It was notified to the Superintendent that + some subject of the Queen, innocent or guilty, must be delivered up to + suffer death. The Superintendent refused to comply. Then our countrymen at + Canton were seized. Those who were at Macao were driven thence: not men + alone, but women with child, babies at the breast. The fugitives begged in + vain for a morsel of bread. Our Lascars, people of a different colour from + ours, but still our fellow-subjects, were flung into the sea. An English + gentleman was barbarously mutilated. And was this to be borne? I am far + from thinking that we ought, in our dealings with such a people as the + Chinese, to be litigious on points of etiquette. The place of our country + among the nations of the world is not so mean or so ill ascertained that + we need resent mere impertinence, which is the effect of a very pitiable + ignorance. Conscious of superior power, we can bear to hear our Sovereign + described as a tributary of the Celestial Empire. Conscious of superior + knowledge we can bear to hear ourselves described as savages destitute of + every useful art. When our ambassadors were required to perform a + prostration, which in Europe would have been considered as degrading, we + were rather amused than irritated. It would have been unworthy of us to + have recourse to arms on account of an uncivil phrase, or of a dispute + about a ceremony. But this is not a question of phrases and ceremonies. + The liberties and lives of Englishmen are at stake: and it is fit that all + nations, civilised and uncivilised, should know that, wherever the + Englishman may wander, he is followed by the eye and guarded by the power + of England. + </p> + <p> + I was much touched, and so, I dare say, were many other gentlemen, by a + passage in one of Captain Elliot's despatches. I mean that passage in + which he describes his arrival at the factory in the moment of extreme + danger. As soon as he landed he was surrounded by his countrymen, all in + an agony of distress and despair. The first thing which he did was to + order the British flag to be brought from his boat and planted in the + balcony. The sight immediately revived the hearts of those who had a + minute before given themselves up for lost. It was natural that they + should look up with hope and confidence to that victorious flag. For it + reminded them that they belonged to a country unaccustomed to defeat, to + submission, or to shame; to a country which had exacted such reparation + for the wrongs of her children as had made the ears of all who heard of it + to tingle; to a country which had made the Dey of Algiers humble himself + to the dust before her insulted Consul; to a country which had avenged the + victims of the Black Hole on the Field of Plassey; to a country which had + not degenerated since the Great Protector vowed that he would make the + name of Englishman as much respected as ever had been the name of Roman + citizen. They knew that, surrounded as they were by enemies, and separated + by great oceans and continents from all help, not a hair of their heads + would be harmed with impunity. On this part of the subject I believe that + both the great contending parties in this House are agreed. I did not + detect in the speech of the right honourable Baronet,—and I listened + to that speech with the closest attention,—one word indicating that + he is less disposed than we to insist on full satisfaction for the great + wrong which has been done. I cannot believe that the House will pass a + vote of censure so grossly unjust as that which he has moved. But I + rejoice to think that, whether we are censured or not, the national honour + will still be safe. There may be a change of men; but, as respects China, + there will be no change of measures. I have done; and have only to express + my fervent hope that this most righteous quarrel may be prosecuted to a + speedy and triumphant close; that the brave men to whom is intrusted the + task of exacting reparation may perform their duty in such a manner as to + spread, throughout regions in which the English name is hardly known, the + fame not only of English skill and valour, but of English mercy and + moderation; and that the overruling care of that gracious Providence which + has so often brought good out of evil may make the war to which we have + been forced the means of establishing a durable peace, beneficial alike to + the victors and the vanquished. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + COPYRIGHT. (FEBRUARY 5, 1841) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS + ON THE 5TH OF FEBRUARY 1841. + </h2> + <p> + On the twenty-ninth of January 1841, Mr Serjeant Talfourd obtained leave + to bring in a bill to amend the law of copyright. The object of this bill + was to extend the term of copyright in a book to sixty years, reckoned + from the death of the writer. + </p> + <p> + On the fifth of February Mr Serjeant Talfourd moved that the bill should + be read a second time. In reply to him the following Speech was made. The + bill was rejected by 45 votes to 38. + </p> + <p> + Though, Sir, it is in some sense agreeable to approach a subject with + which political animosities have nothing to do, I offer myself to your + notice with some reluctance. It is painful to me to take a course which + may possibly be misunderstood or misrepresented as unfriendly to the + interests of literature and literary men. It is painful to me, I will add, + to oppose my honourable and learned friend on a question which he has + taken up from the purest motives, and which he regards with a parental + interest. These feelings have hitherto kept me silent when the law of + copyright has been under discussion. But as I am, on full consideration, + satisfied that the measure before us will, if adopted, inflict grievous + injury on the public, without conferring any compensating advantage on men + of letters, I think it my duty to avow that opinion and to defend it. + </p> + <p> + The first thing to be done, Sir, is to settle on what principles the + question is to be argued. Are we free to legislate for the public good, or + are we not? Is this a question of expediency, or is it a question of + right? Many of those who have written and petitioned against the existing + state of things treat the question as one of right. The law of nature, + according to them, gives to every man a sacred and indefeasible property + in his own ideas, in the fruits of his own reason and imagination. The + legislature has indeed the power to take away this property, just as it + has the power to pass an act of attainder for cutting off an innocent + man's head without a trial. But, as such an act of attainder would be + legal murder, so would an act invading the right of an author to his copy + be, according to these gentlemen, legal robbery. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, if this be so, let justice be done, cost what it may. I am not + prepared, like my honourable and learned friend, to agree to a compromise + between right and expediency, and to commit an injustice for the public + convenience. But I must say, that his theory soars far beyond the reach of + my faculties. It is not necessary to go, on the present occasion, into a + metaphysical inquiry about the origin of the right of property; and + certainly nothing but the strongest necessity would lead me to discuss a + subject so likely to be distasteful to the House. I agree, I own, with + Paley in thinking that property is the creature of the law, and that the + law which creates property can be defended only on this ground, that it is + a law beneficial to mankind. But it is unnecessary to debate that point. + For, even if I believed in a natural right of property, independent of + utility and anterior to legislation, I should still deny that this right + could survive the original proprietor. Few, I apprehend, even of those who + have studied in the most mystical and sentimental schools of moral + philosophy, will be disposed to maintain that there is a natural law of + succession older and of higher authority than any human code. If there be, + it is quite certain that we have abuses to reform much more serious than + any connected with the question of copyright. For this natural law can be + only one; and the modes of succession in the Queen's dominions are twenty. + To go no further than England, land generally descends to the eldest son. + In Kent the sons share and share alike. In many districts the youngest + takes the whole. Formerly a portion of a man's personal property was + secured to his family; and it was only of the residue that he could + dispose by will. Now he can dispose of the whole by will: but you limited + his power, a few years ago, by enacting that the will should not be valid + unless there were two witnesses. If a man dies intestate, his personal + property generally goes according to the statute of distributions; but + there are local customs which modify that statute. Now which of all these + systems is conformed to the eternal standard of right? Is it + primogeniture, or gavelkind, or borough English? Are wills jure divino? + Are the two witnesses jure divino? Might not the pars rationabilis of our + old law have a fair claim to be regarded as of celestial institution? Was + the statute of distributions enacted in Heaven long before it was adopted + by Parliament? Or is it to Custom of York, or to Custom of London, that + this preeminence belongs? Surely, Sir, even those who hold that there is a + natural right of property must admit that rules prescribing the manner in + which the effects of deceased persons shall be distributed are purely + arbitrary, and originate altogether in the will of the legislature. If so, + Sir, there is no controversy between my honourable and learned friend and + myself as to the principles on which this question is to be argued. For + the existing law gives an author copyright during his natural life; nor do + I propose to invade that privilege, which I should, on the contrary, be + prepared to defend strenuously against any assailant. The only point in + issue between us is, how long after an author's death the State shall + recognise a copyright in his representatives and assigns; and it can, I + think, hardly be disputed by any rational man that this is a point which + the legislature is free to determine in the way which may appear to be + most conducive to the general good. + </p> + <p> + We may now, therefore, I think, descend from these high regions, where we + are in danger of being lost in the clouds, to firm ground and clear light. + Let us look at this question like legislators, and after fairly balancing + conveniences and inconveniences, pronounce between the existing law of + copyright, and the law now proposed to us. The question of copyright, Sir, + like most questions of civil prudence, is neither black nor white, but + grey. The system of copyright has great advantages and great + disadvantages; and it is our business to ascertain what these are, and + then to make an arrangement under which the advantages may be as far as + possible secured, and the disadvantages as far as possible excluded. The + charge which I bring against my honourable and learned friend's bill is + this, that it leaves the advantages nearly what they are at present, and + increases the disadvantages at least fourfold. + </p> + <p> + The advantages arising from a system of copyright are obvious. It is + desirable that we should have a supply of good books; we cannot have such + a supply unless men of letters are liberally remunerated; and the least + objectionable way of remunerating them is by means of copyright. You + cannot depend for literary instruction and amusement on the leisure of men + occupied in the pursuits of active life. Such men may occasionally produce + compositions of great merit. But you must not look to such men for works + which require deep meditation and long research. Works of that kind you + can expect only from persons who make literature the business of their + lives. Of these persons few will be found among the rich and the noble. + The rich and the noble are not impelled to intellectual exertion by + necessity. They may be impelled to intellectual exertion by the desire of + distinguishing themselves, or by the desire of benefiting the community. + But it is generally within these walls that they seek to signalise + themselves and to serve their fellow-creatures. Both their ambition and + their public spirit, in a country like this, naturally take a political + turn. It is then on men whose profession is literature, and whose private + means are not ample, that you must rely for a supply of valuable books. + Such men must be remunerated for their literary labour. And there are only + two ways in which they can be remunerated. One of those ways is patronage; + the other is copyright. + </p> + <p> + There have been times in which men of letters looked, not to the public, + but to the government, or to a few great men, for the reward of their + exertions. It was thus in the time of Maecenas and Pollio at Rome, of the + Medici at Florence, of Louis the Fourteenth in France, of Lord Halifax and + Lord Oxford in this country. Now, Sir, I well know that there are cases in + which it is fit and graceful, nay, in which it is a sacred duty to reward + the merits or to relieve the distresses of men of genius by the exercise + of this species of liberality. But these cases are exceptions. I can + conceive no system more fatal to the integrity and independence of + literary men than one under which they should be taught to look for their + daily bread to the favour of ministers and nobles. I can conceive no + system more certain to turn those minds which are formed by nature to be + the blessings and ornaments of our species into public scandals and pests. + </p> + <p> + We have, then, only one resource left. We must betake ourselves to + copyright, be the inconveniences of copyright what they may. Those + inconveniences, in truth, are neither few nor small. Copyright is + monopoly, and produces all the effects which the general voice of mankind + attributes to monopoly. My honourable and learned friend talks very + contemptuously of those who are led away by the theory that monopoly makes + things dear. That monopoly makes things dear is certainly a theory, as all + the great truths which have been established by the experience of all ages + and nations, and which are taken for granted in all reasonings, may be + said to be theories. It is a theory in the same sense in which it is a + theory that day and night follow each other, that lead is heavier than + water, that bread nourishes, that arsenic poisons, that alcohol + intoxicates. If, as my honourable and learned friend seems to think, the + whole world is in the wrong on this point, if the real effect of monopoly + is to make articles good and cheap, why does he stop short in his career + of change? Why does he limit the operation of so salutary a principle to + sixty years? Why does he consent to anything short of a perpetuity? He + told us that in consenting to anything short of a perpetuity he was making + a compromise between extreme right and expediency. But if his opinion + about monopoly be correct, extreme right and expediency would coincide. Or + rather, why should we not restore the monopoly of the East India trade to + the East India Company? Why should we not revive all those old monopolies + which, in Elizabeth's reign, galled our fathers so severely that, maddened + by intolerable wrong, they opposed to their sovereign a resistance before + which her haughty spirit quailed for the first and for the last time? Was + it the cheapness and excellence of commodities that then so violently + stirred the indignation of the English people? I believe, Sir, that I may + with safety take it for granted that the effect of monopoly generally is + to make articles scarce, to make them dear, and to make them bad. And I + may with equal safety challenge my honourable friend to find out any + distinction between copyright and other privileges of the same kind; any + reason why a monopoly of books should produce an effect directly the + reverse of that which was produced by the East India Company's monopoly of + tea, or by Lord Essex's monopoly of sweet wines. Thus, then, stands the + case. It is good that authors should be remunerated; and the least + exceptionable way of remunerating them is by a monopoly. Yet monopoly is + an evil. For the sake of the good we must submit to the evil; but the evil + ought not to last a day longer than is necessary for the purpose of + securing the good. + </p> + <p> + Now, I will not affirm that the existing law is perfect, that it exactly + hits the point at which the monopoly ought to cease; but this I + confidently say, that the existing law is very much nearer that point than + the law proposed by my honourable and learned friend. For consider this; + the evil effects of the monopoly are proportioned to the length of its + duration. But the good effects for the sake of which we bear with the evil + effects are by no means proportioned to the length of its duration. A + monopoly of sixty years produces twice as much evil as a monopoly of + thirty years, and thrice as much evil as a monopoly of twenty years. But + it is by no means the fact that a posthumous monopoly of sixty years gives + to an author thrice as much pleasure and thrice as strong a motive as a + posthumous monopoly of twenty years. On the contrary, the difference is so + small as to be hardly perceptible. We all know how faintly we are affected + by the prospect of very distant advantages, even when they are advantages + which we may reasonably hope that we shall ourselves enjoy. But an + advantage that is to be enjoyed more than half a century after we are + dead, by somebody, we know not by whom, perhaps by somebody unborn, by + somebody utterly unconnected with us, is really no motive at all to + action. It is very probable that in the course of some generations land in + the unexplored and unmapped heart of the Australasian continent will be + very valuable. But there is none of us who would lay down five pounds for + a whole province in the heart of the Australasian continent. We know, that + neither we, nor anybody for whom we care, will ever receive a farthing of + rent from such a province. And a man is very little moved by the thought + that in the year 2000 or 2100, somebody who claims through him will employ + more shepherds than Prince Esterhazy, and will have the finest house and + gallery of pictures at Victoria or Sydney. Now, this is the sort of boon + which my honourable and learned friend holds out to authors. Considered as + a boon to them, it is a mere nullity, but considered as an impost on the + public, it is no nullity, but a very serious and pernicious reality. I + will take an example. Dr Johnson died fifty-six years ago. If the law were + what my honourable and learned friend wishes to make it, somebody would + now have the monopoly of Dr Johnson's works. Who that somebody would be it + is impossible to say; but we may venture to guess. I guess, then, that it + would have been some bookseller, who was the assign of another bookseller, + who was the grandson of a third bookseller, who had bought the copyright + from Black Frank, the doctor's servant and residuary legatee, in 1785 or + 1786. Now, would the knowledge that this copyright would exist in 1841 + have been a source of gratification to Johnson? Would it have stimulated + his exertions? Would it have once drawn him out of his bed before noon? + Would it have once cheered him under a fit of the spleen? Would it have + induced him to give us one more allegory, one more life of a poet, one + more imitation of Juvenal? I firmly believe not. I firmly believe that a + hundred years ago, when he was writing our debates for the Gentleman's + Magazine, he would very much rather have had twopence to buy a plate of + shin of beef at a cook's shop underground. Considered as a reward to him, + the difference between a twenty years' and sixty years' term of posthumous + copyright would have been nothing or next to nothing. But is the + difference nothing to us? I can buy Rasselas for sixpence; I might have + had to give five shillings for it. I can buy the Dictionary, the entire + genuine Dictionary, for two guineas, perhaps for less; I might have had to + give five or six guineas for it. Do I grudge this to a man like Dr + Johnson? Not at all. Show me that the prospect of this boon roused him to + any vigorous effort, or sustained his spirits under depressing + circumstances, and I am quite willing to pay the price of such an object, + heavy as that price is. But what I do complain of is that my circumstances + are to be worse, and Johnson's none the better; that I am to give five + pounds for what to him was not worth a farthing. + </p> + <p> + The principle of copyright is this. It is a tax on readers for the purpose + of giving a bounty to writers. The tax is an exceedingly bad one; it is a + tax on one of the most innocent and most salutary of human pleasures; and + never let us forget, that a tax on innocent pleasures is a premium on + vicious pleasures. I admit, however, the necessity of giving a bounty to + genius and learning. In order to give such a bounty, I willingly submit + even to this severe and burdensome tax. Nay, I am ready to increase the + tax, if it can be shown that by so doing I should proportionally increase + the bounty. My complaint is, that my honourable and learned friend + doubles, triples, quadruples, the tax, and makes scarcely any perceptible + addition to the bounty. Why, Sir, what is the additional amount of + taxation which would have been levied on the public for Dr Johnson's works + alone, if my honourable and learned friend's bill had been the law of the + land? I have not data sufficient to form an opinion. But I am confident + that the taxation on his Dictionary alone would have amounted to many + thousands of pounds. In reckoning the whole additional sum which the + holders of his copyrights would have taken out of the pockets of the + public during the last half century at twenty thousand pounds, I feel + satisfied that I very greatly underrate it. Now, I again say that I think + it but fair that we should pay twenty thousand pounds in consideration of + twenty thousand pounds' worth of pleasure and encouragement received by Dr + Johnson. But I think it very hard that we should pay twenty thousand + pounds for what he would not have valued at five shillings. + </p> + <p> + My honourable and learned friend dwells on the claims of the posterity of + great writers. Undoubtedly, Sir, it would be very pleasing to see a + descendant of Shakespeare living in opulence on the fruits of his great + ancestor's genius. A house maintained in splendour by such a patrimony + would be a more interesting and striking object than Blenheim is to us, or + than Strathfieldsaye will be to our children. But, unhappily, it is + scarcely possible that, under any system, such a thing can come to pass. + My honourable and learned friend does not propose that copyright shall + descend to the eldest son, or shall be bound up by irrecoverable entail. + It is to be merely personal property. It is therefore highly improbable + that it will descend during sixty years or half that term from parent to + child. The chance is that more people than one will have an interest in + it. They will in all probability sell it and divide the proceeds. The + price which a bookseller will give for it will bear no proportion to the + sum which he will afterwards draw from the public, if his speculation + proves successful. He will give little, if anything, more for a term of + sixty years than for a term of thirty or five and twenty. The present + value of a distant advantage is always small; but when there is great room + to doubt whether a distant advantage will be any advantage at all, the + present value sink to almost nothing. Such is the inconstancy of the + public taste that no sensible man will venture to pronounce, with + confidence, what the sale of any book published in our days will be in the + years between 1890 and 1900. The whole fashion of thinking and writing has + often undergone a change in a much shorter period than that to which my + honourable and learned friend would extend posthumous copyright. What + would have been considered the best literary property in the earlier part + of Charles the Second's reign? I imagine Cowley's Poems. Overleap sixty + years, and you are in the generation of which Pope asked, "Who now reads + Cowley?" What works were ever expected with more impatience by the public + than those of Lord Bolingbroke, which appeared, I think, in 1754? In 1814, + no bookseller would have thanked you for the copyright of them all, if you + had offered it to him for nothing. What would Paternoster Row give now for + the copyright of Hayley's Triumphs of Temper, so much admired within the + memory of many people still living? I say, therefore, that, from the very + nature of literary property, it will almost always pass away from an + author's family; and I say, that the price given for it to the family will + bear a very small proportion to the tax which the purchaser, if his + speculation turns out well, will in the course of a long series of years + levy on the public. + </p> + <p> + If, Sir, I wished to find a strong and perfect illustration of the effects + which I anticipate from long copyright, I should select,—my + honourable and learned friend will be surprised,—I should select the + case of Milton's granddaughter. As often as this bill has been under + discussion, the fate of Milton's granddaughter has been brought forward by + the advocates of monopoly. My honourable and learned friend has repeatedly + told the story with great eloquence and effect. He has dilated on the + sufferings, on the abject poverty, of this ill-fated woman, the last of an + illustrious race. He tells us that, in the extremity of her distress, + Garrick gave her a benefit, that Johnson wrote a prologue, and that the + public contributed some hundreds of pounds. Was it fit, he asks, that she + should receive, in this eleemosynary form, a small portion of what was in + truth a debt? Why, he asks, instead of obtaining a pittance from charity, + did she not live in comfort and luxury on the proceeds of the sale of her + ancestor's works? But, Sir, will my honourable and learned friend tell me + that this event, which he has so often and so pathetically described, was + caused by the shortness of the term of copyright? Why, at that time, the + duration of copyright was longer than even he, at present, proposes to + make it. The monopoly lasted, not sixty years, but for ever. At the time + at which Milton's granddaughter asked charity, Milton's works were the + exclusive property of a bookseller. Within a few months of the day on + which the benefit was given at Garrick's theatre, the holder of the + copyright of Paradise Lost,—I think it was Tonson,—applied to + the Court of Chancery for an injunction against a bookseller who had + published a cheap edition of the great epic poem, and obtained the + injunction. The representation of Comus was, if I remember rightly, in + 1750; the injunction in 1752. Here, then, is a perfect illustration of the + effect of long copyright. Milton's works are the property of a single + publisher. Everybody who wants them must buy them at Tonson's shop, and at + Tonson's price. Whoever attempts to undersell Tonson is harassed with + legal proceedings. Thousands who would gladly possess a copy of Paradise + Lost, must forego that great enjoyment. And what, in the meantime, is the + situation of the only person for whom we can suppose that the author, + protected at such a cost to the public, was at all interested? She is + reduced to utter destitution. Milton's works are under a monopoly. + Milton's granddaughter is starving. The reader is pillaged; but the + writer's family is not enriched. Society is taxed doubly. It has to give + an exorbitant price for the poems; and it has at the same time to give + alms to the only surviving descendant of the poet. + </p> + <p> + But this is not all. I think it right, Sir, to call the attention of the + House to an evil, which is perhaps more to be apprehended when an author's + copyright remains in the hands of his family, than when it is transferred + to booksellers. I seriously fear that, if such a measure as this should be + adopted, many valuable works will be either totally suppressed or + grievously mutilated. I can prove that this danger is not chimerical; and + I am quite certain that, if the danger be real, the safeguards which my + honourable and learned friend has devised are altogether nugatory. That + the danger is not chimerical may easily be shown. Most of us, I am sure, + have known persons who, very erroneously as I think, but from the best + motives, would not choose to reprint Fielding's novels, or Gibbon's + History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Some gentlemen may + perhaps be of opinion that it would be as well if Tom Jones and Gibbon's + History were never reprinted. I will not, then, dwell on these or similar + cases. I will take cases respecting which it is not likely that there will + be any difference of opinion here; cases, too, in which the danger of + which I now speak is not matter of supposition, but matter of fact. Take + Richardson's novels. Whatever I may, on the present occasion, think of my + honourable and learned friend's judgment as a legislator, I must always + respect his judgment as a critic. He will, I am sure, say that + Richardson's novels are among the most valuable, among the most original + works in our language. No writings have done more to raise the fame of + English genius in foreign countries. No writings are more deeply pathetic. + No writings, those of Shakspeare excepted, show more profound knowledge of + the human heart. As to their moral tendency, I can cite the most + respectable testimony. Dr Johnson describes Richardson as one who had + taught the passions to move at the command of virtue. My dear and honoured + friend, Mr Wilberforce, in his celebrated religious treatise, when + speaking of the unchristian tendency of the fashionable novels of the + eighteenth century, distinctly excepts Richardson from the censure. + Another excellent person, whom I can never mention without respect and + kindness, Mrs Hannah More, often declared in conversation, and has + declared in one of her published poems, that she first learned from the + writings of Richardson those principles of piety by which her life was + guided. I may safely say that books celebrated as works of art through the + whole civilised world, and praised for their moral tendency by Dr Johnson, + by Mr Wilberforce, by Mrs Hannah More, ought not to be suppressed. Sir, it + is my firm belief, that if the law had been what my honourable and learned + friend proposes to make it, they would have been suppressed. I remember + Richardson's grandson well; he was a clergyman in the city of London; he + was a most upright and excellent man; but he had conceived a strong + prejudice against works of fiction. He thought all novel-reading not only + frivolous but sinful. He said,—this I state on the authority of one + of his clerical brethren who is now a bishop,—he said that he had + never thought it right to read one of his grandfather's books. Suppose, + Sir, that the law had been what my honourable and learned friend would + make it. Suppose that the copyright of Richardson's novels had descended, + as might well have been the case, to this gentleman. I firmly believe, + that he would have thought it sinful to give them a wide circulation. I + firmly believe, that he would not for a hundred thousand pounds have + deliberately done what he thought sinful. He would not have reprinted + them. And what protection does my honourable and learned friend give to + the public in such a case? Why, Sir, what he proposes is this: if a book + is not reprinted during five years, any person who wishes to reprint it + may give notice in the London Gazette: the advertisement must be repeated + three times: a year must elapse; and then, if the proprietor of the + copyright does not put forth a new edition, he loses his exclusive + privilege. Now, what protection is this to the public? What is a new + edition? Does the law define the number of copies that make an edition? + Does it limit the price of a copy? Are twelve copies on large paper, + charged at thirty guineas each, an edition? It has been usual, when + monopolies have been granted, to prescribe numbers and to limit prices. + But I did not find the my honourable and learned friend proposes to do so + in the present case. And, without some such provision, the security which + he offers is manifestly illusory. It is my conviction that, under such a + system as that which he recommends to us, a copy of Clarissa would have + been as rare as an Aldus or a Caxton. + </p> + <p> + I will give another instance. One of the most instructive, interesting, + and delightful books in our language is Boswell's Life of Johnson. Now it + is well known that Boswell's eldest son considered this book, considered + the whole relation of Boswell to Johnson, as a blot in the escutcheon of + the family. He thought, not perhaps altogether without reason, that his + father had exhibited himself in a ludicrous and degrading light. And thus + he became so sore and irritable that at last he could not bear to hear the + Life of Johnson mentioned. Suppose that the law had been what my + honourable and learned friend wishes to make it. Suppose that the + copyright of Boswell's Life of Johnson had belonged, as it well might, + during sixty years, to Boswell's eldest son. What would have been the + consequence? An unadulterated copy of the finest biographical work in the + world would have been as scarce as the first edition of Camden's + Britannia. + </p> + <p> + These are strong cases. I have shown you that, if the law had been what + you are now going to make it, the finest prose work of fiction in the + language, the finest biographical work in the language, would very + probably have been suppressed. But I have stated my case weakly. The books + which I have mentioned are singularly inoffensive books, books not + touching on any of those questions which drive even wise men beyond the + bounds of wisdom. There are books of a very different kind, books which + are the rallying points of great political and religious parties. What is + likely to happen if the copyright of one of the these books should by + descent or transfer come into the possession of some hostile zealot? I + will take a single instance. It is only fifty years since John Wesley + died; and all his works, if the law had been what my honourable and + learned friend wishes to make it, would now have been the property of some + person or other. The sect founded by Wesley is the most numerous, the + wealthiest, the most powerful, the most zealous of sects. In every + parliamentary election it is a matter of the greatest importance to obtain + the support of the Wesleyan Methodists. Their numerical strength is + reckoned by hundreds of thousands. They hold the memory of their founder + in the greatest reverence; and not without reason, for he was + unquestionably a great and a good man. To his authority they constantly + appeal. His works are in their eyes of the highest value. His doctrinal + writings they regard as containing the best system of theology ever + deduced from Scripture. His journals, interesting even to the common + reader, are peculiarly interesting to the Methodist: for they contain the + whole history of that singular polity which, weak and despised in its + beginning, is now, after the lapse of a century, so strong, so + flourishing, and so formidable. The hymns to which he gave his imprimatur + are a most important part of the public worship of his followers. Now, + suppose that the copyright of these works should belong to some person who + holds the memory of Wesley and the doctrines and discipline of the + Methodists in abhorrence. There are many such persons. The Ecclesiastical + Courts are at this very time sitting on the case of a clergyman of the + Established Church who refused Christian burial to a child baptized by a + Methodist preacher. I took up the other day a work which is considered as + among the most respectable organs of a large and growing party in the + Church of England, and there I saw John Wesley designated as a forsworn + priest. Suppose that the works of Wesley were suppressed. Why, Sir, such a + grievance would be enough to shake the foundations of Government. Let + gentlemen who are attached to the Church reflect for a moment what their + feelings would be if the Book of Common Prayer were not to be reprinted + for thirty or forty years, if the price of a Book of Common Prayer were + run up to five or ten guineas. And then let them determine whether they + will pass a law under which it is possible, under which it is probable, + that so intolerable a wrong may be done to some sect consisting perhaps of + half a million of persons. + </p> + <p> + I am so sensible, Sir, of the kindness with which the House has listened + to me, that I will not detain you longer. I will only say this, that if + the measure before us should pass, and should produce one-tenth part of + the evil which it is calculated to produce, and which I fully expect it to + produce, there will soon be a remedy, though of a very objectionable kind. + Just as the absurd acts which prohibited the sale of game were virtually + repealed by the poacher, just as many absurd revenue acts have been + virtually repealed by the smuggler, so will this law be virtually repealed + by piratical booksellers. At present the holder of copyright has the + public feeling on his side. Those who invade copyright are regarded as + knaves who take the bread out of the mouths of deserving men. Everybody is + well pleased to see them restrained by the law, and compelled to refund + their ill-gotten gains. No tradesman of good repute will have anything to + do with such disgraceful transactions. Pass this law: and that feeling is + at an end. Men very different from the present race of piratical + booksellers will soon infringe this intolerable monopoly. Great masses of + capital will be constantly employed in the violation of the law. Every art + will be employed to evade legal pursuit; and the whole nation will be in + the plot. On which side indeed should the public sympathy be when the + question is whether some book as popular as Robinson Crusoe, or the + Pilgrim's Progress, shall be in every cottage, or whether it shall be + confined to the libraries of the rich for the advantage of the + great-grandson of a bookseller who, a hundred years before, drove a hard + bargain for the copyright with the author when in great distress? Remember + too that, when once it ceases to be considered as wrong and discreditable + to invade literary property, no person can say where the invasion will + stop. The public seldom makes nice distinctions. The wholesome copyright + which now exists will share in the disgrace and danger of the new + copyright which you are about to create. And you will find that, in + attempting to impose unreasonable restraints on the reprinting of the + works of the dead, you have, to a great extent, annulled those restraints + which now prevent men from pillaging and defrauding the living. If I saw, + Sir, any probability that this bill could be so amended in the Committee + that my objections might be removed, I would not divide the House in this + stage. But I am so fully convinced that no alteration which would not seem + insupportable to my honourable and learned friend, could render his + measure supportable to me, that I must move, though with regret, that this + bill be read a second time this day six months. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + COPYRIGHT. (APRIL 6, 1842) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE + OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF APRIL 1842. + </h2> + <p> + On the third of March 1842, Lord Mahon obtained permission to bring in a + bill to amend the Law of Copyright. This bill extended the term of + Copyright in a book to twenty-five years, reckoned from the death of the + author. + </p> + <p> + On the sixth of April the House went into Committee on the bill, and Mr + Greene took the Chair. Several divisions took place, of which the result + was that the plan suggested in the following Speech was, with some + modifications, adopted. + </p> + <p> + Mr Greene,—I have been amused and gratified by the remarks which my + noble friend (Lord Mahon.) has made on the arguments by which I prevailed + on the last House of Commons to reject the bill introduced by a very able + and accomplished man, Mr Serjeant Talfourd. My noble friend has done me a + high and rare honour. For this is, I believe, the first occasion on which + a speech made in one Parliament has been answered in another. I should not + find it difficult to vindicate the soundness of the reasons which I + formerly urged, to set them in a clearer light, and to fortify them by + additional facts. But it seems to me that we had better discuss the bill + which is now on our table than the bill which was there fourteen months + ago. Glad I am to find that there is a very wide difference between the + two bills, and that my noble friend, though he has tried to refute my + arguments, has acted as if he had been convinced by them. I objected to + the term of sixty years as far too long. My noble friend has cut that term + down to twenty-five years. I warned the House that, under the provisions + of Mr Serjeant Talfourd's bill, valuable works might not improbably be + suppressed by the representatives of authors. My noble friend has prepared + a clause which, as he thinks, will guard against that danger. I will not, + therefore, waste the time of the Committee by debating points which he has + conceded, but will proceed at once to the proper business of this evening. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I have no objection to the principle of my noble friend's bill. + Indeed, I had no objection to the principle of the bill of last year. I + have long thought that the term of copyright ought to be extended. When Mr + Serjeant Talfourd moved for leave to bring in his bill, I did not oppose + the motion. Indeed I meant to vote for the second reading, and to reserve + what I had to say for the Committee. But the learned Serjeant left me no + choice. He, in strong language, begged that nobody who was disposed to + reduce the term of sixty years would divide with him. "Do not," he said, + "give me your support, if all that you mean to grant to men of letters is + a miserable addition of fourteen or fifteen years to the present term. I + do not wish for such support. I despise it." Not wishing to obtrude on the + learned Serjeant a support which he despised, I had no course left but to + take the sense of the House on the second reading. The circumstances are + now different. My noble friend's bill is not at present a good bill; but + it may be improved into a very good bill; nor will he, I am persuaded, + withdraw it if it should be so improved. He and I have the same object in + view; but we differ as to the best mode of attaining that object. We are + equally desirous to extend the protection now enjoyed by writers. In what + way it may be extended with most benefit to them and with least + inconvenience to the public, is the question. + </p> + <p> + The present state of the law is this. The author of a work has a certain + copyright in that work for a term of twenty-eight years. If he should live + more than twenty-eight years after the publication of the work, he retains + the copyright to the end of his life. + </p> + <p> + My noble friend does not propose to make any addition to the term of + twenty-eight years. But he proposes that the copyright shall last + twenty-five years after the author's death. Thus my noble friend makes no + addition to that term which is certain, but makes a very large addition to + that term which is uncertain. + </p> + <p> + My plan is different. I would made no addition to the uncertain term; but + I would make a large addition to the certain term. I propose to add + fourteen years to the twenty-eight years which the law now allows to an + author. His copyright will, in this way, last till his death, or till the + expiration of forty-two years, whichever shall first happen. And I think + that I shall be able to prove to the satisfaction of the Committee that my + plan will be more beneficial to literature and to literary men than the + plan of my noble friend. + </p> + <p> + It must surely, Sir, be admitted that the protection which we give to + books ought to be distributed as evenly as possible, that every book + should have a fair share of that protection, and no book more than a fair + share. It would evidently be absurd to put tickets into a wheel, with + different numbers marked upon them, and to make writers draw, one a term + of twenty-eight years, another a term of fifty, another a term of ninety. + And yet this sort of lottery is what my noble friend proposes to + establish. I know that we cannot altogether exclude chance. You have two + terms of copyright; one certain, the other uncertain; and we cannot, I + admit, get rid of the uncertain term. It is proper, no doubt, that an + author's copyright should last during his life. But, Sir, though we cannot + altogether exclude chance, we can very much diminish the share which + chance must have in distributing the recompense which we wish to give to + genius and learning. By every addition which we make to the certain term + we diminish the influence of chance; by every addition which we make to + the uncertain term we increase the influence of chance. I shall make + myself best understood by putting cases. Take two eminent female writers, + who died within our own memory, Madame D'Arblay and Miss Austen. As the + law now stands, Miss Austen's charming novels would have only from + twenty-eight to thirty-three years of copyright. For that extraordinary + woman died young: she died before her genius was fully appreciated by the + world. Madame D'Arblay outlived the whole generation to which she + belonged. The copyright of her celebrated novel, Evelina, lasted, under + the present law, sixty-two years. Surely this inequality is sufficiently + great—sixty-two years of copyright for Evelina, only twenty-eight + for Persuasion. But to my noble friend this inequality seems not great + enough. He proposes to add twenty-five years to Madame D'Arblay's term, + and not a single day to Miss Austen's term. He would give to Persuasion a + copyright of only twenty-eight years, as at present, and to Evelina a + copyright more than three times as long, a copyright of eighty-seven + years. Now, is this reasonable? See, on the other hand, the operation of + my plan. I make no addition at all to Madame D'Arblay's term of sixty-two + years, which is, in my opinion, quite long enough; but I extend Miss + Austen's term to forty-two years, which is, in my opinion, not too much. + You see, Sir, that at present chance has too much sway in this matter: + that at present the protection which the State gives to letters is very + unequally given. You see that if my noble friend's plan be adopted, more + will be left to chance than under the present system, and you will have + such inequalities as are unknown under the present system. You see also + that, under the system which I recommend, we shall have, not perfect + certainty, not perfect equality, but much less uncertainty and inequality + than at present. + </p> + <p> + But this is not all. My noble friend's plan is not merely to institute a + lottery in which some writers will draw prizes and some will draw blanks. + It is much worse than this. His lottery is so contrived that, in the vast + majority of cases, the blanks will fall to the best books, and the prizes + to books of inferior merit. + </p> + <p> + Take Shakspeare. My noble friend gives a longer protection than I should + give to Love's Labour's Lost, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre; but he gives a + shorter protection than I should give to Othello and Macbeth. + </p> + <p> + Take Milton. Milton died in 1674. The copyrights of Milton's great works + would, according to my noble friend's plan, expire in 1699. Comus appeared + in 1634, the Paradise Lost in 1668. To Comus, then, my noble friend would + give sixty-five years of copyright, and to the Paradise Lost only + thirty-one years. Is that reasonable? Comus is a noble poem: but who would + rank it with the Paradise Lost? My plan would give forty-two years both to + the Paradise Lost and to Comus. + </p> + <p> + Let us pass on from Milton to Dryden. My noble friend would give more than + sixty years of copyright to Dryden's worst works; to the encomiastic + verses on Oliver Cromwell, to the Wild Gallant, to the Rival Ladies, to + other wretched pieces as bad as anything written by Flecknoe or Settle: + but for Theodore and Honoria, for Tancred and Sigismunda, for Cimon and + Iphigenia, for Palamon and Arcite, for Alexander's Feast, my noble friend + thinks a copyright of twenty-eight years sufficient. Of all Pope's works, + that to which my noble friend would give the largest measure of protection + is the volume of Pastorals, remarkable only as the production of a boy. + Johnson's first work was a Translation of a Book of Travels in Abyssinia, + published in 1735. It was so poorly executed that in his later years he + did not like to hear it mentioned. Boswell once picked up a copy of it, + and told his friend that he had done so. "Do not talk about it," said + Johnson: "it is a thing to be forgotten." To this performance my noble + friend would give protection during the enormous term of seventy-five + years. To the Lives of the Poets he would give protection during about + thirty years. Well; take Henry Fielding; it matters not whom I take, but + take Fielding. His early works are read only by the curious, and would not + be read even by the curious, but for the fame which he acquired in the + latter part of his life by works of a very different kind. What is the + value of the Temple Beau, of the Intriguing Chambermaid, of half a dozen + other plays of which few gentlemen have even heard the names? Yet to these + worthless pieces my noble friend would give a term of copyright longer by + more than twenty years than that which he would give to Tom Jones and + Amelia. + </p> + <p> + Go on to Burke. His little tract, entitled the Vindication of Natural + Society is certainly not without merit; but it would not be remembered in + our days if it did not bear the name of Burke. To this tract my noble + friend would give a copyright of near seventy years. But to the great work + on the French Revolution, to the Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, to + the letters on the Regicide Peace, he would give a copyright of thirty + years or little more. + </p> + <p> + And, Sir observe that I am not selecting here and there extraordinary + instances in order to make up the semblance of a case. I am taking the + greatest names of our literature in chronological order. Go to other + nations; go to remote ages; you will still find the general rule the same. + There was no copyright at Athens or Rome; but the history of the Greek and + Latin literature illustrates my argument quite as well as if copyright had + existed in ancient times. Of all the plays of Sophocles, the one to which + the plan of my noble friend would have given the most scanty recompense + would have been that wonderful masterpiece, the Oedipus at Colonos. Who + would class together the Speech of Demosthenes against his Guardians, and + the Speech for the Crown? My noble friend, indeed, would not class them + together. For to the Speech against the Guardians he would give a + copyright of near seventy years, and to the incomparable Speech for the + Crown a copyright of less than half that length. Go to Rome. My noble + friend would give more than twice as long a term to Cicero's juvenile + declamation in defence of Roscius Amerinus as to the Second Philippic. Go + to France. My noble friend would give a far longer term to Racine's Freres + Ennemis than to Athalie, and to Moliere's Etourdi than to Tartuffe. Go to + Spain. My noble friend would give a longer term to forgotten works of + Cervantes, works which nobody now reads, than to Don Quixote. Go to + Germany. According to my noble friend's plan, of all the works of Schiller + the Robbers would be the most favoured: of all the works of Goethe, the + Sorrows of Werter would be the most favoured. I thank the Committee for + listening so kindly to this long enumeration. Gentlemen will perceive, I + am sure, that it is not from pedantry that I mention the names of so many + books and authors. But just as, in our debates on civil affairs, we + constantly draw illustrations from civil history, we must, in a debate + about literary property, draw our illustrations from literary history. + Now, Sir, I have, I think, shown from literary history that the effect of + my noble friend's plan would be to give to crude and imperfect works, to + third-rate and fourth-rate works, a great advantage over the highest + productions of genius. It is impossible to account for the facts which I + have laid before you by attributing them to mere accident. Their number is + too great, their character too uniform. We must seek for some other + explanation; and we shall easily find one. + </p> + <p> + It is the law of our nature that the mind shall attain its full power by + slow degrees; and this is especially true of the most vigorous minds. + Young men, no doubt, have often produced works of great merit; but it + would be impossible to name any writer of the first order whose juvenile + performances were his best. That all the most valuable books of history, + of philology, of physical and metaphysical science, of divinity, of + political economy, have been produced by men of mature years will hardly + be disputed. The case may not be quite so clear as respects works of the + imagination. And yet I know no work of the imagination of the very highest + class that was ever, in any age or country, produced by a man under + thirty-five. Whatever powers a youth may have received from nature, it is + impossible that his taste and judgment can be ripe, that his mind can be + richly stored with images, that he can have observed the vicissitudes of + life, that he can have studied the nicer shades of character. How, as + Marmontel very sensibly said, is a person to paint portraits who has never + seen faces? On the whole, I believe that I may, without fear of + contradiction, affirm this, that of the good books now extant in the world + more than nineteen-twentieths were published after the writers had + attained the age of forty. If this be so, it is evident that the plan of + my noble friend is framed on a vicious principle. For, while he gives to + juvenile productions a very much larger protection than they now enjoy, he + does comparatively little for the works of men in the full maturity of + their powers, and absolutely nothing for any work which is published + during the last three years of the life of the writer. For, by the + existing law, the copyright of such a work lasts twenty-eight years from + the publication; and my noble friend gives only twenty-five years, to be + reckoned from the writer's death. + </p> + <p> + What I recommend is that the certain term, reckoned from the date of + publication, shall be forty-two years instead of twenty-eight years. In + this arrangement there is no uncertainty, no inequality. The advantage + which I propose to give will be the same to every book. No work will have + so long a copyright as my noble friend gives to some books, or so short a + copyright as he gives to others. No copyright will last ninety years. No + copyright will end in twenty-eight years. To every book published in the + course of the last seventeen years of a writer's life I give a longer term + of copyright than my noble friend gives; and I am confident that no person + versed in literary history will deny this,—that in general the most + valuable works of an author are published in the course of the last + seventeen years of his life. I will rapidly enumerate a few, and but a + few, of the great works of English writers to which my plan is more + favourable than my noble friend's plan. To Lear, to Macbeth, to Othello, + to the Fairy Queen, to the Paradise Lost, to Bacon's Novum Organum and De + Augmentis, to Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, to Clarendon's + History, to Hume's History, to Gibbon's History, to Smith's Wealth of + Nations, to Addison's Spectators, to almost all the great works of Burke, + to Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison, to Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones and + Amelia, and, with the single exception of Waverley, to all the novels of + Sir Walter Scott, I give a longer term of copyright than my noble friend + gives. Can he match that list? Does not that list contain what England has + produced greatest in many various ways—poetry, philosophy, history, + eloquence, wit, skilful portraiture of life and manners? I confidently + therefore call on the Committee to take my plan in preference to the plan + of my noble friend. I have shown that the protection which he proposes to + give to letters is unequal, and unequal in the worst way. I have shown + that his plan is to give protection to books in inverse proportion to + their merit. I shall move when we come to the third clause of the bill to + omit the words "twenty-five years," and in a subsequent part of the same + clause I shall move to substitute for the words "twenty-eight years" the + words "forty-two years." I earnestly hope that the Committee will adopt + these amendments; and I feel the firmest conviction that my noble friend's + bill, so amended, will confer a great boon on men of letters with the + smallest possible inconvenience to the public. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER. (MAY 3, 1842) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE THIRD OF MAY 1842. + </h2> + <p> + On the second of May 1842, Mr Thomas Duncombe, Member for Finsbury, + presented a petition, very numerously signed, of which the prayer was as + follows: + </p> + <p> + "Your petitioners, therefore, exercising their just constitutional right, + demand that your Honourable House, to remedy the many gross and manifest + evils of which your petitioners complain, do immediately, without + alteration, deduction, or addition, pass into a law the document entitled + the People's Charter." + </p> + <p> + On the following day Mr Thomas Duncombe moved that the petitioners should + be heard by themselves or their Counsel at the Bar of the House. The + following Speech was made in opposition to the motion. + </p> + <p> + The motion was rejected by 287 votes to 49. + </p> + <p> + Mr Speaker,—I was particularly desirous to catch your eye this + evening, because, when the motion of the honourable Member of Rochdale (Mr + Sharman Crawford.) was under discussion, I was unable to be in my place. I + understand that, on that occasion, the absence of some members of the late + Government was noticed in severe terms, and was attributed to + discreditable motives. As for myself, Sir, I was prevented from coming + down to the House by illness: a noble friend of mine, to whom particular + allusion was made, was detained elsewhere by pure accident; and I am + convinced that no member of the late administration was withheld by any + unworthy feeling from avowing his opinions. My own opinions I could have + no motive for disguising. They have been frequently avowed, and avowed + before audiences which were not likely to regard them with much favour. + </p> + <p> + I should wish, Sir, to say what I have to say in the temperate tone which + has with so much propriety been preserved by the right honourable Baronet + the Secretary for the Home Department (Sir James Graham.); but, if I + should use any warm expression, I trust that the House will attribute it + to the strength of my convictions and to my solicitude for the public + interests. No person who knows me will, I am quite sure, suspect me of + regarding the hundreds of thousands who have signed the petition which we + are now considering, with any other feeling than cordial goodwill. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I cannot conscientiously assent to this motion. And yet I must admit + that the honourable Member for Finsbury (Mr Thomas Duncombe.) has framed + it with considerable skill. He has done his best to obtain the support of + all those timid and interested politicians who think much more about the + security of their seats than about the security of their country. It would + be very convenient to me to give a silent vote with him. I should then + have it in my power to say to the Chartists of Edinburgh, "When your + petition was before the House I was on your side: I was for giving you a + full hearing." I should at the same time be able to assure my Conservative + constituents that I never had supported and never would support the + Charter. But, Sir, though this course would be very convenient, it is one + which my sense of duty will not suffer me to take. When questions of + private right are before us, we hear, and we ought to hear, the arguments + of the parties interested in those questions. But it has never been, and + surely it ought not to be, our practice to grant a hearing to persons who + petition for or against a law in which they have no other interest than + that which is common between them and the whole nation. Of the many who + petitioned against slavery, against the Roman Catholic claims, against the + corn laws, none was suffered to harangue us at the bar in support of his + views. If in the present case we depart from a general rule which + everybody must admit to be a very wholesome one, what inference can + reasonably be drawn from our conduct, except this, that we think the + petition which we are now considering entitled to extraordinary respect, + and that we have not fully made up our minds to refuse what the + petitioners ask? Now, Sir, I have fully made up my mind to resist to the + last the change which they urge us to make in the constitution of the + kingdom. I therefore think that I should act disingenuously if I gave my + voice for calling in orators whose eloquence, I am certain, will make no + alteration in my opinion. I think too that if, after voting for hearing + the petitioners, I should then vote against granting their prayer, I + should give them just ground for accusing me of having first encouraged + and then deserted them. That accusation, at least, they shall never bring + against me. + </p> + <p> + The honourable Member for Westminster (Mr Leader.) has expressed a hope + that the language of the petition will not be subjected to severe + criticism. If he means literary criticism, I entirely agree with him. The + style of this composition is safe from any censure of mine; but the + substance it is absolutely necessary that we should closely examine. What + the petitioners demand is this, that we do forthwith pass what is called + the People's Charter into a law without alteration, diminution, or + addition. This is the prayer in support of which the honourable Member for + Finsbury would have us hear an argument at the bar. Is it then reasonable + to say, as some gentlemen have said, that, in voting for the honourable + Member's motion, they mean to vote merely for an inquiry into the causes + of the public distress? If any gentleman thinks that an inquiry into the + causes of the public distress would be useful, let him move for such an + inquiry. I will not oppose it. But this petition does not tell us to + inquire. It tells us that we are not to inquire. It directs us to pass a + certain law word for word, and to pass it without the smallest delay. + </p> + <p> + I shall, Sir, notwithstanding the request or command of the petitioners, + venture to exercise my right of free speech on the subject of the People's + Charter. There is, among the six points of the Charter, one for which I + have voted. There is another of which I decidedly approve. There are + others as to which, though I do not agree with the petitioners, I could go + some way to meet them. In fact, there is only one of the six points on + which I am diametrically opposed to them: but unfortunately that point + happens to be infinitely the most important of the six. + </p> + <p> + One of the six points is the ballot. I have voted for the ballot; and I + have seen no reason to change my opinion on that subject. + </p> + <p> + Another point is the abolition of the pecuniary qualification for members + of this House. On that point I cordially agree with the petitioners. You + have established a sufficient pecuniary qualification for the elector; and + it therefore seems to me quite superfluous to require a pecuniary + qualification from the representative. Everybody knows that many English + members have only fictitious qualifications, and that the members for + Scotch cities and boroughs are not required to have any qualification at + all. It is surely absurd to admit the representatives of Edinburgh and + Glasgow without any qualification, and at the same time to require the + representative of Finsbury or Marylebone to possess a qualification or the + semblance of one. If the qualification really be a security for + respectability, let that security be demanded from us who sit here for + Scotch towns. If, as I believe, the qualification is no security at all, + why should we require it from anybody? It is no part of the old + constitution of the realm. It was first established in the reign of Anne. + It was established by a bad parliament for a bad purpose. It was, in fact, + part of a course of legislation which, if it had not been happily + interrupted, would have ended in the repeal of the Toleration Act and of + the Act of Settlement. + </p> + <p> + The Chartists demand annual parliaments. There, certainly, I differ from + them; but I might, perhaps, be willing to consent to some compromise. I + differ from them also as to the expediency of paying the representatives + of the people, and of dividing the country into electoral districts. But I + do not consider these matters as vital. The kingdom might, I acknowledge, + be free, great, and happy, though the members of this house received + salaries, and though the present boundaries of counties and boroughs were + superseded by new lines of demarcation. These, Sir, are subordinate + questions. I do not of course mean that they are not important. But they + are subordinate when compared with that question which still remains to be + considered. The essence of the Charter is universal suffrage. If you + withhold that, it matters not very much what else you grant. If you grant + that, it matters not at all what else you withhold. If you grant that, the + country is lost. + </p> + <p> + I have no blind attachment to ancient usages. I altogether disclaim what + has been nicknamed the doctrine of finality. I have said enough to-night + to show that I do not consider the settlement made by the Reform Bill as + one which can last for ever. I certainly do think that an extensive change + in the polity of a nation must be attended with serious evils. Still those + evils may be overbalanced by advantages: and I am perfectly ready, in + every case, to weigh the evils against the advantages, and to judge as + well as I can which scale preponderates. I am bound by no tie to oppose + any reform which I think likely to promote the public good. I will go so + far as to say that I do not quite agree with those who think that they + have proved the People's Charter to be absurd when they have proved that + it is incompatible with the existence of the throne and of the peerage. + For, though I am a faithful and loyal subject of Her Majesty, and though I + sincerely wish to see the House of Lords powerful and respected, I cannot + consider either monarchy or aristocracy as the ends of government. They + are only means. Nations have flourished without hereditary sovereigns or + assemblies of nobles; and, though I should be very sorry to see England a + republic, I do not doubt that she might, as a republic, enjoy prosperity, + tranquillity, and high consideration. The dread and aversion with which I + regard universal suffrage would be greatly diminished, if I could believe + that the worst effect which it would produce would be to give us an + elective first magistrate and a senate instead of a Queen and a House of + Peers. My firm conviction is that, in our country, universal suffrage is + incompatible, not with this or that form of government, but with all forms + of government, and with everything for the sake of which forms of + government exist; that it is incompatible with property, and that it is + consequently incompatible with civilisation. + </p> + <p> + It is not necessary for me in this place to go through the arguments which + prove beyond dispute that on the security of property civilisation + depends; that, where property is insecure, no climate however delicious, + no soil however fertile, no conveniences for trade and navigation, no + natural endowments of body or of mind, can prevent a nation from sinking + into barbarism; that where, on the other hand, men are protected in the + enjoyment of what has been created by their industry and laid up by their + self-denial, society will advance in arts and in wealth notwithstanding + the sterility of the earth and the inclemency of the air, notwithstanding + heavy taxes and destructive wars. Those persons who say that England has + been greatly misgoverned, that her legislation is defective, that her + wealth has been squandered in unjust and impolitic contests with America + and with France, do in fact bear the strongest testimony to the truth of + my doctrine. For that our country has made and is making great progress in + all that contributes to the material comfort of man is indisputable. If + that progress cannot be ascribed to the wisdom of the Government, to what + can we ascribe it but to the diligence, the energy, the thrift of + individuals? And to what can we ascribe that diligence, that energy, that + thrift, except to the security which property has during many generations + enjoyed here? Such is the power of this great principle that, even in the + last war, the most costly war, beyond all comparison, that ever was waged + in this world, the Government could not lavish wealth so fast as the + productive classes created it. + </p> + <p> + If it be admitted that on the institution of property the wellbeing of + society depends, it follows surely that it would be madness to give + supreme power in the state to a class which would not be likely to respect + that institution. And, if this be conceded, it seems to me to follow that + it would be madness to grant the prayer of this petition. I entertain no + hope that, if we place the government of the kingdom in the hands of the + majority of the males of one-and-twenty told by the head, the institution + of property will be respected. If I am asked why I entertain no such hope, + I answer, because the hundreds of thousands of males of twenty-one who + have signed this petition tell me to entertain no such hope; because they + tell me that, if I trust them with power, the first use which they will + make of it will be to plunder every man in the kingdom who has a good coat + on his back and a good roof over his head. God forbid that I should put an + unfair construction on their language! I will read their own words. This + petition, be it remembered, is an authoritative declaration of the wishes + of those who, if the Charter ever becomes law, will return the great + majority of the House of Commons; and these are their words: "Your + petitioners complain, that they are enormously taxed to pay the interest + of what is called the national debt, a debt amounting at present to eight + hundred millions, being only a portion of the enormous amount expended in + cruel and expensive wars for the suppression of all liberty by men not + authorised by the people, and who consequently had no right to tax + posterity for the outrages committed by them upon mankind." If these words + mean anything, they mean that the present generation is not bound to pay + the public debt incurred by our rulers in past times, and that a national + bankruptcy would be both just and politic. For my part, I believe it to be + impossible to make any distinction between the right of a fundholder to + his dividends and the right of a landowner to his rents. And, to do the + petitioners justice, I must say that they seem to be much of the same + mind. They are for dealing with fundholder and landowner alike. They tell + us that nothing will "unshackle labour from its misery, until the people + possess that power under which all monopoly and oppression must cease; and + your petitioners respectfully mention the existing monopolies of the + suffrage, of paper money, of machinery, of land, of the public press, of + religion, of the means of travelling and transit, and a host of other + evils too numerous to mention, all arising from class legislation." Absurd + as this hubbub of words is, part of it is intelligible enough. What can + the monopoly of land mean, except property in land? The only monopoly of + land which exists in England is this, that nobody can sell an acre of land + which does not belong to him. And what can the monopoly of machinery mean + but property in machinery? Another monopoly which is to cease is the + monopoly of the means of travelling. In other words all the canal property + and railway property in the kingdom is to be confiscated. What other sense + do the words bear? And these are only specimens of the reforms which, in + the language of the petition, are to unshackle labour from its misery. + There remains, it seems, a host of similar monopolies too numerous to + mention; the monopoly I presume, which a draper has of his own stock of + cloth; the monopoly which a hatter has of his own stock of hats; the + monopoly which we all have of our furniture, bedding, and clothes. In + short, the petitioners ask you to give them power in order that they may + not leave a man of a hundred a year in the realm. + </p> + <p> + I am far from wishing to throw any blame on the ignorant crowds which have + flocked to the tables where this petition was exhibited. Nothing is more + natural than that the labouring people should be deceived by the arts of + such men as the author of this absurd and wicked composition. We + ourselves, with all our advantages of education, are often very credulous, + very impatient, very shortsighted, when we are tried by pecuniary distress + or bodily pain. We often resort to means of immediate relief which, as + Reason tells us, if we would listen to her, are certain to aggravate our + sufferings. Men of great abilities and knowledge have ruined their estates + and their constitutions in this way. How then can we wonder that men less + instructed than ourselves, and tried by privations such as we have never + known, should be easily misled by mountebanks who promise impossibilities? + Imagine a well-meaning laborious mechanic, fondly attached to his wife and + children. Bad times come. He sees the wife whom he loves grow thinner and + paler every day. His little ones cry for bread, and he has none to give + them. Then come the professional agitators, the tempters, and tell him + that there is enough and more than enough for everybody, and that he has + too little only because landed gentlemen, fundholders, bankers, + manufacturers, railway proprietors, shopkeepers have too much. Is it + strange that the poor man should be deluded, and should eagerly sign such + a petition as this? The inequality with which wealth is distributed forces + itself on everybody's notice. It is at once perceived by the eye. The + reasons which irrefragably prove this inequality to be necessary to the + wellbeing of all classes are not equally obvious. Our honest working man + has not received such an education as enables him to understand that the + utmost distress that he has ever known is prosperity when compared with + the distress which he would have to endure if there were a single month of + general anarchy and plunder. But you say, it is not the fault of the + labourer that he is not well educated. Most true. It is not his fault. + But, though he has no share in the fault, he will, if you are foolish + enough to give him supreme power in the state, have a very large share of + the punishment. You say that, if the Government had not culpably omitted + to establish a good system of public instruction, the petitioners would + have been fit for the elective franchise. But is that a reason for giving + them the franchise when their own petition proves that they are not fit + for it; when they give us fair notice that, if we let them have it, they + will use it to our ruin and their own? It is not necessary now to inquire + whether, with universal education, we could safely have universal + suffrage. What we are asked to do is to give universal suffrage before + there is universal education. Have I any unkind feeling towards these poor + people? No more than I have to a sick friend who implores me to give him a + glass of iced water which the physician has forbidden. No more than a + humane collector in India has to those poor peasants who in a season of + scarcity crowd round the granaries and beg with tears and piteous gestures + that the doors may be opened and the rice distributed. I would not give + the draught of water, because I know that it would be poison. I would not + give up the keys of the granary, because I know that, by doing so, I + should turn a scarcity into a famine. And in the same way I would not + yield to the importunity of multitudes who, exasperated by suffering and + blinded by ignorance, demand with wild vehemence the liberty to destroy + themselves. + </p> + <p> + But it is said, You must not attach so much importance to this petition. + It is very foolish, no doubt, and disgraceful to the author, be he who he + may. But you must not suppose that those who signed it approve of it. They + have merely put their names or their marks without weighing the sense of + the document which they subscribed. Surely, Sir, of all reasons that ever + were given for receiving a petition with peculiar honours, the strangest + is that it expresses sentiments diametrically opposed to the real + sentiments of those who have signed it. And it is a not less strange + reason for giving men supreme power in a state that they sign political + manifestoes of the highest importance without taking the trouble to know + what the contents are. But how is it possible for us to believe that, if + the petitioners had the power which they demand, they would not use it as + they threaten? During a long course of years, numerous speakers and + writers, some of them ignorant, others dishonest, have been constantly + representing the Government as able to do, and bound to do, things which + no Government can, without great injury to the country, attempt to do. + Every man of sense knows that the people support the Government. But the + doctrine of the Chartist philosophers is that it is the business of the + Government to support the people. It is supposed by many that our rulers + possess, somewhere or other, an inexhaustible storehouse of all the + necessaries and conveniences of life, and, from mere hardheartedness, + refuse to distribute the contents of this magazine among the poor. We have + all of us read speeches and tracts in which it seemed to be taken for + granted that we who sit here have the power of working miracles, of + sending a shower of manna on the West Riding, of striking the earth and + furnishing all the towns of Lancashire with abundance of pure water, of + feeding all the cotton-spinners and weavers who are out of work with five + loaves and two fishes. There is not a working man who has not heard + harangues and read newspapers in which these follies are taught. And do + you believe that as soon as you give the working men absolute and + irresistible power they will forget all this? Yes, Sir, absolute and + irresistible power. The Charter would give them no less. In every + constituent body throughout the empire the working men will, if we grant + the prayer of this petition, be an irresistible majority. In every + constituent body capital will be placed at the feet of labour; knowledge + will be borne down by ignorance; and is it possible to doubt what the + result must be? The honourable Member for Bath and the honourable Member + for Rochdale are now considered as very democratic members of Parliament. + They would occupy a very different position in a House of Commons elected + by universal suffrage, if they succeeded in obtaining seats. They would, I + believe, honestly oppose every attempt to rob the public creditor. They + would manfully say, "Justice and the public good require that this sum of + thirty millions a year should be paid;" and they would immediately be + reviled as aristocrats, monopolists, oppressors of the poor, defenders of + old abuses. And as to land, is it possible to believe that the millions + who have been so long and loudly told that the land is their estate, and + is wrongfully kept from them, should not, when they have supreme power, + use that power to enforce what they think their rights? What could follow + but one vast spoliation? One vast spoliation! That would be bad enough. + That would be the greatest calamity that ever fell on our country. Yet + would that a single vast spoliation were the worst! No, Sir; in the lowest + deep there would be a lower deep. The first spoliation would not be the + last. How could it? All the causes which had produced the first spoliation + would still operate. They would operate more powerfully than before. The + distress would be far greater than before. The fences which now protect + property would all have been broken through, levelled, swept away. The new + proprietors would have no title to show to anything that they held except + recent robbery. With what face then could they complain of being robbed? + What would be the end of these things? Our experience, God be praised, + does not enable us to predict it with certainty. We can only guess. My + guess is that we should see something more horrible than can be imagined—something + like the siege of Jerusalem on a far larger scale. There would be many + millions of human beings, crowded in a narrow space, deprived of all those + resources which alone had made it possible for them to exist in so narrow + a space; trade gone; manufactures gone; credit gone. What could they do + but fight for the mere sustenance of nature, and tear each other to pieces + till famine, and pestilence following in the train of famine, came to turn + the terrible commotion into a more terrible repose? The best event, the + very best event, that I can anticipate,—and what must the state of + things be, if an Englishman and a Whig calls such an event the very best?—the + very best event, I say, that I can anticipate is that out of the confusion + a strong military despotism may arise, and that the sword, firmly grasped + by some rough hand, may give a sort of protection to the miserable wreck + of all that immense prosperity and glory. But, as to the noble + institutions under which our country has made such progress in liberty, in + wealth, in knowledge, in arts, do not deceive yourselves into the belief + that we should ever see them again. We should never see them again. We + should not deserve to see them. All those nations which envy our greatness + would insult our downfall, a downfall which would be all our own work; and + the history of our calamities would be told thus: England had institutions + which, though imperfect, yet contained within themselves the means of + remedying every imperfection; those institutions her legislators wantonly + and madly threw away; nor could they urge in their excuse even the + wretched plea that they were deceived by false promises; for, in the very + petition with the prayer of which they were weak enough to comply, they + were told, in the plainest terms, that public ruin would be the effect of + their compliance. + </p> + <p> + Thinking thus, Sir, I will oppose, with every faculty which God has given + me, every motion which directly or indirectly tends to the granting of + universal suffrage. This motion I think, tends that way. If any gentleman + here is prepared to vote for universal suffrage with a full view of all + the consequences of universal suffrage as they are set forth in this + petition, he acts with perfect consistency in voting for this motion. But, + I must say, I heard with some surprise the honourable baronet the Member + for Leicester (Sir John Easthope.) say that, though he utterly disapproves + of the petition, though he thinks of it just as I do, he wishes the + petitioners to be heard at the bar in explanation of their opinions. I + conceive that their opinions are quite sufficiently explained already; and + to such opinions I am not disposed to pay any extraordinary mark of + respect. I shall give a clear and conscientious vote against the motion of + the honourable Member for Finsbury; and I conceive that the petitioners + will have much less reason to complain of my open hostility than of the + conduct of the honourable Member, who tries to propitiate them by + consenting to hear their oratory, but has fully made up his mind not to + comply with their demands. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE GATES OF SOMNAUTH. (MARCH 9, 1843) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF MARCH 1843. + </h2> + <p> + On the ninth of March 1843, Mr Vernon Smith, Member for Northampton, made + the following motion: + </p> + <p> + "That this House, having regard to the high and important functions of the + Governor General of India, the mixed character of the native population, + and the recent measures of the Court of Directors for discontinuing any + seeming sanction to idolatry in India, is of opinion that the conduct of + Lord Ellenborough in issuing the General Orders of the sixteenth of + November 1842, and in addressing the letter of the same date to all the + chiefs, princes, and people of India, respecting the restoration of the + gates of a temple to Somnauth, is unwise, indecorous, and reprehensible." + </p> + <p> + Mr Emerson Tennent, Secretary of the Board of Control, opposed the motion. + In reply to him the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + The motion was rejected by 242 votes to 157. + </p> + <p> + Mr Speaker,—If the practice of the honourable gentleman, the + Secretary of the Board of Control, had been in accordance with his + precepts, if he had not, after exhorting us to confine ourselves strictly + to the subject before us, rambled far from that subject, I should have + refrained from all digression. For and truth there is abundance to be said + touching both the substance and the style of this Proclamation. I cannot, + however, leave the honourable gentleman's peroration entirely unnoticed. + But I assure him that I do not mean to wander from the question before us + to any great distance or for any long time. + </p> + <p> + I cannot but wonder, Sir, that he who has, on this, as on former + occasions, exhibited so much ability and acuteness, should have gravely + represented it as a ground of complaint, that my right honourable friend + the Member for Northampton has made this motion in the Governor General's + absence. Does the honourable gentleman mean that this House is to be + interdicted from ever considering in what manner Her Majesty's Asiatic + subjects, a hundred millions in number, are governed? And how can we + consider how they are governed without considering the conduct of him who + is governing them? And how can we consider the conduct of him who is + governing them, except in his absence? For my own part, I can say for + myself, and I may, I doubt not, say for my right honourable friend the + Member for Northampton, that we both of us wish, with all our hearts and + souls, that we were discussing this question in the presence of Lord + Ellenborough. Would to heaven, Sir, for the sake of the credit of England, + and of the interests of India, that the noble lord were at this moment + under our gallery! But, Sir, if there be any Governor who has no right to + complain of remarks made on him in his absence, it is that Governor who, + forgetting all official decorum, forgetting how important it is that, + while the individuals who serve the State are changed, the State should + preserve its identity, inserted in a public proclamation reflections on + his predecessor, a predecessor of whom, on the present occasion, I will + only say that his conduct had deserved a very different return. I am + confident that no enemy of Lord Auckland, if Lord Auckland has an enemy in + the House, will deny that, whatever faults he may have committed, he was + faultless with respect to Lord Ellenborough. No brother could have + laboured more assiduously for the interests and the honour of a brother + than Lord Auckland laboured to facilitate Lord Ellenborough's arduous + task, to prepare for Lord Ellenborough the means of obtaining success and + glory. And what was the requital? A proclamation by Lord Ellenborough, + stigmatising the conduct of Lord Auckland. And, Sir, since the honourable + gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control has thought fit to divert + the debate from its proper course, I will venture to request that he, or + the honourable director who sits behind him (Sir James Hogg.), will + vouchsafe to give us some explanations on an important point to which + allusion has been made. Lord Ellenborough has been accused of having + publicly announced that our troops were about to evacuate Afghanistan + before he had ascertained that our captive countrymen and countrywomen had + been restored to liberty. This accusation, which is certainly a serious + one, the honourable gentleman, the Secretary of the Board of Control, + pronounces to be a mere calumny. Now, Sir, the proclamation which + announces the withdrawing of the troops bears date the first of October + 1842. What I wish to know is, whether any member of the Government, or of + the Court of Directors, will venture to affirm that on the first of + October 1842, the Governor General knew that the prisoners had been set at + liberty? I believe that no member either of the Government or of the Court + of Directors will venture to affirm any such thing. It seems certain that + on the first of October the Governor General could not know that the + prisoners were safe. Nevertheless, the honourable gentleman the Secretary + of the Board of Control assures us that, when the proclamation was drawn + up, the Governor General did know that the prisoners were safe. What is + the inevitable consequence? It is this, that the date is a false date, + that the proclamation was written after the first of October, and + antedated? And for what reason was it antedated? I am almost ashamed to + tell the House what I believe to have been the reason. I believe that Lord + Ellenborough affixed the false date of the first of October to his + proclamation because Lord Auckland's manifesto against Afghanistan was + dated on the first of October. I believe that Lord Ellenborough wished to + make the contrast between his own success and his predecessor's failure + more striking, and that for the sake of this paltry, this childish, + triumph, he antedated his proclamation, and made it appear to all Europe + and all Asia that the English Government was indifferent to the fate of + Englishmen and Englishwomen who were in a miserable captivity. If this be + so, and I shall be surprised to hear any person deny that it is so, I must + say that by this single act, by writing those words, the first of October, + the Governor General proved himself to be a man of an ill-regulated mind, + a man unfit for high public trust. + </p> + <p> + I might, Sir, if I chose to follow the example of the honourable gentleman + the Secretary of the Board of Control, advert to many other matters. I + might call the attention of the House to the systematic manner in which + the Governor General has exerted himself to lower the character and to + break the spirit of that civil service on the respectability and + efficiency of which chiefly depends the happiness of a hundred millions of + human beings. I might say much about the financial committee which he + appointed in the hope of finding out blunders of his predecessor, but + which at last found out no blunders except his own. But the question + before us demands our attention. That question has two sides, a serious + and a ludicrous side. Let us look first at the serious side. Sir, I + disclaim in the strongest manner all intention of raising any fanatical + outcry or of lending aid to any fanatical project. I would very much + rather be the victim of fanaticism than its tool. If Lord Ellenborough + were called in question for having given an impartial protection to the + professors of different religions, or for restraining unjustifiable + excesses into which Christian missionaries might have been hurried by + their zeal, I would, widely as I have always differed from him in + politics, have stood up in his defence, though I had stood up alone. But + the charge against Lord Ellenborough is that he has insulted the religion + of his own country and the religion of millions of the Queen's Asiatic + subjects in order to pay honour to an idol. And this the right honourable + gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control calls a trivial charge. + Sir, I think it a very grave charge. Her Majesty is the ruler of a larger + heathen population than the world ever saw collected under the sceptre of + a Christian sovereign since the days of the Emperor Theodosius. What the + conduct of rulers in such circumstances ought to be is one of the most + important moral questions, one of the most important political questions, + that it is possible to conceive. There are subject to the British rule in + Asia a hundred millions of people who do not profess the Christian faith. + The Mahometans are a minority: but their importance is much more than + proportioned to their number: for they are an united, a zealous, an + ambitious, a warlike class. The great majority of the population of India + consists of idolaters, blindly attached to doctrines and rites which, + considered merely with reference to the temporal interests of mankind, are + in the highest degree pernicious. In no part of the world has a religion + ever existed more unfavourable to the moral and intellectual health of our + race. The Brahminical mythology is so absurd that it necessarily debases + every mind which receives it as truth; and with this absurd mythology is + bound up an absurd system of physics, an absurd geography, an absurd + astronomy. Nor is this form of Paganism more favourable to art than to + science. Through the whole Hindoo Pantheon you will look in vain for + anything resembling those beautiful and majestic forms which stood in the + shrines of ancient Greece. All is hideous, and grotesque, and ignoble. As + this superstition is of all superstitions the most irrational, and of all + superstitions the most inelegant, so is it of all superstitions the most + immoral. Emblems of vice are objects of public worship. Acts of vice are + acts of public worship. The courtesans are as much a part of the + establishment of the temple, as much ministers of the god, as the priests. + Crimes against life, crimes against property, are not only permitted but + enjoined by this odious theology. But for our interference human victims + would still be offered to the Ganges, and the widow would still be laid on + the pile with the corpse of her husband, and burned alive by her own + children. It is by the command and under the especial protection of one of + the most powerful goddesses that the Thugs join themselves to the + unsuspecting traveller, make friends with him, slip the noose round his + neck, plunge their knives in his eyes, hide him in the earth, and divide + his money and baggage. I have read many examinations of Thugs; and I + particularly remember an altercation which took place between two of those + wretches in the presence of an English officer. One Thug reproached the + other for having been so irreligious as to spare the life of a traveller + when the omens indicated that their patroness required a victim. "How + could you let him go? How can you expect the goddess to protect us if you + disobey her commands? That is one of your North country heresies." Now, + Sir, it is a difficult matter to determine in what way Christian rulers + ought to deal with such superstitions as these. We might have acted as the + Spaniards acted in the New World. We might have attempted to introduce our + own religion by force. We might have sent missionaries among the natives + at the public charge. We might have held out hopes of public employment to + converts, and have imposed civil disabilities on Mahometans and Pagans. + But we did none of these things; and herein we judged wisely. Our duty, as + rulers, was to preserve strict neutrality on all questions merely + religious: and I am not aware that we have ever swerved from strict + neutrality for the purpose of making proselytes to our own faith. But we + have, I am sorry to say, sometimes deviated from the right path in the + opposite direction. Some Englishmen, who have held high office in India, + seem to have thought that the only religion which was not entitled to + toleration and to respect was Christianity. They regarded every Christian + missionary with extreme jealousy and disdain; and they suffered the most + atrocious crimes, if enjoined by the Hindoo superstition, to be + perpetrated in open day. It is lamentable to think how long after our + power was firmly established in Bengal, we, grossly neglecting the first + and plainest duty of the civil magistrate, suffered the practices of + infanticide and Suttee to continue unchecked. We decorated the temples of + the false gods. We provided the dancing girls. We gilded and painted the + images to which our ignorant subjects bowed down. We repaired and + embellished the car under the wheels of which crazy devotees flung + themselves at every festival to be crushed to death. We sent guards of + honour to escort pilgrims to the places of worship. We actually made + oblations at the shrines of idols. All this was considered, and is still + considered, by some prejudiced Anglo-Indians of the old school, as + profound policy. I believe that there never was so shallow, so senseless a + policy. We gained nothing by it. We lowered ourselves in the eyes of those + whom we meant to flatter. We led them to believe that we attached no + importance to the difference between Christianity and heathenism. Yet how + vast that difference is! I altogether abstain from alluding to topics + which belong to divines. I speak merely as a politician anxious for the + morality and the temporal well-being of society. And, so speaking, I say + that to countenance the Brahminical idolatry, and to discountenance that + religion which has done so much to promote justice, and mercy, and + freedom, and arts, and sciences, and good government, and domestic + happiness, which has struck off the chains of the slave, which has + mitigated the horrors of war, which has raised women from servants and + playthings into companions and friends, is to commit high treason against + humanity and civilisation. + </p> + <p> + Gradually a better system was introduced. A great man whom we have lately + lost, Lord Wellesley, led the way. He prohibited the immolation of female + children; and this was the most unquestionable of all his titles to the + gratitude of his country. In the year 1813 Parliament gave new facilities + to persons who were desirous to proceed to India as missionaries. Lord + William Bentinck abolished the Suttee. Shortly afterwards the Home + Government sent out to Calcutta the important and valuable despatch to + which reference has been repeatedly made in the course of this discussion. + That despatch Lord Glenelg wrote,—I was then at the Board of + Control, and can attest the fact,—with his own hand. One paragraph, + the sixty-second, is of the highest moment. I know that paragraph so well + that I could repeat it word for word. It contains in short compass an + entire code of regulations for the guidance of British functionaries in + matters relating to the idolatry of India. The orders of the Home + Government were express, that the arrangements of the temples should be + left entirely to the natives. A certain discretion was of course left to + the local authorities as to the time and manner of dissolving that + connection which had long existed between the English Government and the + Brahminical superstition. But the principle was laid down in the clearest + manner. This was in February 1833. In the year 1838 another despatch was + sent, which referred to the sixty-second paragraph in Lord Glenelg's + despatch, and enjoined the Indian Government to observe the rules + contained in that paragraph. Again, in the year 1841, precise orders were + sent out on the same subject, orders which Lord Ellenborough seems to me + to have studied carefully for the express purpose of disobeying them point + by point, and in the most direct manner. You murmur: but only look at the + orders of the Directors and at the proclamation of the Governor General. + The orders are, distinctly and positively, that the British authorities in + India shall have nothing to do with the temples of the natives, shall make + no presents to those temples, shall not decorate those temples, shall not + pay any military honour to those temples. Now, Sir, the first charge which + I bring against Lord Ellenborough is, that he has been guilty of an act of + gross disobedience, that he has done that which was forbidden in the + strongest terms by those from whom his power is derived. The Home + Government says, Do not interfere in the concerns of heathen temples. Is + it denied that Lord Ellenborough has interfered in the concerns of a + heathen temple? The Home Government says, Make no presents to heathen + temples. Is it denied that Lord Ellenborough has proclaimed to all the + world his intention to make a present to a heathen temple? The Home + Government says, Do not decorate heathen temples. Is it denied that Lord + Ellenborough has proclaimed to all the world his intention to decorate a + heathen temple? The Home Government says, Do not send troops to do honour + to heathen temples. Is it denied that Lord Ellenborough sent a body of + troops to escort these gates to a heathen temple? To be sure, the + honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control tries to get + rid of this part of the case in rather a whimsical manner. He says that it + is impossible to believe that, by sending troops to escort the gates, Lord + Ellenborough can have meant to pay any mark of respect to an idol. And + why? Because, says the honourable gentleman, the Court of Directors had + given positive orders that troops should not be employed to pay marks of + respect to idols. Why, Sir, undoubtedly, if it is to be taken for granted + that Lord Ellenborough is a perfect man, if all our reasonings are to + proceed on the supposition that he cannot do wrong, then I admit the force + of the honourable gentleman's argument. But it seems to me a strange and + dangerous thing to infer a man's innocence merely from the flagrancy of + his guilt. It is certain that the Home authorities ordered the Governor + General not to employ the troops in the service of a temple. It is certain + that Lord Ellenborough employed the troops to escort a trophy, an + oblation, which he sent to the restored temple of Somnauth. Yes, the + restored temple of Somnauth. Those are his lordship's words. They have + given rise to some discussion, and seem not to be understood by everybody + in the same sense. We all know that this temple is an ruins. I am + confident that Lord Ellenborough knew it to be in ruins, and that his + intention was to rebuild it at the public charge. That is the obvious + meaning of his words. But, as this meaning is so monstrous that nobody + here can venture to defend it, his friends pretend that he believed the + temple to have been already restored, and that he had no thought of being + himself the restorer. How can I believe this? How can I believe that, when + he issued this proclamation, he knew nothing about the state of the temple + to which he proposed to make an offering of such importance? He evidently + knew that it had once been in ruins; or he would not have called it the + restored temple. Why am I to suppose that he imagined it to have been + rebuilt? He had people about him who knew it well, and who could have told + him that it was in ruins still. To say that he was not aware that it was + in ruins is to say that he put forth his proclamation without taking the + trouble to ask a single question of those who were close at hand and were + perfectly competent to give him information. Why, Sir, this defence is + itself an accusation. I defy the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the + Board of Control, I defy all human ingenuity, to get his lordship clear + off from both the horns of this dilemma. Either way, he richly deserves a + parliamentary censure. Either he published this proclamation in the + recklessness of utter ignorance without making the smallest inquiry; or + else he, an English and a Christian Governor, meant to build a temple to a + heathen god at the public charge, in direct defiance of the commands of + his official superiors. Turn and twist the matter which way you will, you + can make nothing else of it. The stain is like the stain of Blue Beard's + key, in the nursery tale. As soon as you have scoured one side clean, the + spot comes out on the other. + </p> + <p> + So much for the first charge, the charge of disobedience. It is fully made + out: but it is not the heaviest charge which I bring against Lord + Ellenborough. I charge him with having done that which, even if it had not + been, as it was, strictly forbidden by the Home authorities, it would + still have been a high crime to do. He ought to have known, without any + instructions from home, that it was his duty not to take part in disputes + among the false religions of the East; that it was his duty, in his + official character, to show no marked preference for any of those + religions, and to offer no marked insult to any. But, Sir, he has paid + unseemly homage to one of those religions; he has grossly insulted + another; and he has selected as the object of his homage the very worst + and most degrading of those religions, and as the object of his insults + the best and purest of them. The homage was paid to Lingamism. The insult + was offered to Mahometanism. Lingamism is not merely idolatry, but + idolatry in its most pernicious form. The honourable gentleman the + Secretary of the Board of Control seemed to think that he had achieved a + great victory when he had made out that his lordship's devotions had been + paid, not to Vishnu, but to Siva. Sir, Vishnu is the preserving Deity of + the Hindoo Mythology; Siva is the destroying Deity; and, as far as I have + any preference for one of your Governor General's gods over another, I + confess that my own tastes would lead me to prefer the preserving to the + destroying power. Yes, Sir; the temple of Somnauth was sacred to Siva; and + the honourable gentleman cannot but know by what emblem Siva is + represented, and with what rites he is adored. I will say no more. The + Governor General, Sir, is in some degree protected by the very magnitude + of his offence. I am ashamed to name those things to which he is not + ashamed to pay public reverence. This god of destruction, whose images and + whose worship it would be a violation of decency to describe, is selected + as the object of homage. As the object of insult is selected a religion + which has borrowed much of its theology and much of its morality from + Christianity, a religion which in the midst of Polytheism teaches the + unity of God, and, in the midst of idolatry, strictly proscribes the + worship of images. The duty of our Government is, as I said, to take no + part in the disputes between Mahometans and idolaters. But, if our + Government does take a part, there cannot be a doubt that Mahometanism is + entitled to the preference. Lord Ellenborough is of a different opinion. + He takes away the gates from a Mahometan mosque, and solemnly offers them + as a gift to a Pagan temple. Morally, this is a crime. Politically, it is + a blunder. Nobody who knows anything of the Mahometans of India can doubt + that this affront to their faith will excite their fiercest indignation. + Their susceptibility on such points is extreme. Some of the most serious + disasters that have ever befallen us in India have been caused by that + susceptibility. Remember what happened at Vellore in 1806, and more + recently at Bangalore. The mutiny of Vellore was caused by a slight shown + to the Mahometan turban; the mutiny of Bangalore, by disrespect said to + have been shown to a Mahometan place of worship. If a Governor General had + been induced by his zeal for Christianity to offer any affront to a mosque + held in high veneration by Mussulmans, I should think that he had been + guilty of indiscretion such as proved him to be unfit for his post. But to + affront a mosque of peculiar dignity, not from zeal for Christianity, but + for the sake of this loathsome god of destruction, is nothing short of + madness. Some temporary popularity Lord Ellenborough may no doubt gain in + some quarters. I hear, and I can well believe, that some bigoted Hindoos + have hailed this proclamation with delight, and have begun to entertain a + hope that the British Government is about to take their worship under its + peculiar protection. But how long will that hope last? I presume that the + right honourable Baronet the First Lord of the Treasury does not mean to + suffer India to be governed on Brahminical principles. I presume that he + will not allow the public revenue to be expended in rebuilding temples, + adorning idols, and hiring courtesans. I have no doubt that there is + already on the way to India such an admonition as will prevent Lord + Ellenborough from persisting in the course on which he has entered. The + consequence will be that the exultation of the Brahmins will end in + mortification and anger. See then of what a complication of faults the + Governor General is guilty. In order to curry favour with the Hindoos he + has offered an inexpiable insult to the Mahometans; and now, in order to + quiet the English, he is forced to disappoint and disgust the Hindoos. + But, apart from the irritating effect which these transactions must + produce on every part of the native population, is it no evil to have this + continual wavering and changing? This is not the only case in which Lord + Ellenborough has, with great pomp, announced intentions which he has not + been able to carry into effect. It is his Lordship's habit. He put forth a + notification that his Durbar was to be honoured by the presence of Dost + Mahomed. Then came a notification that Dost Mahomed would not make his + appearance there. In the proclamation which we are now considering his + lordship announced to all the princes of India his resolution to set up + these gates at Somnauth. The gates, it is now universally admitted, will + not be set up there. All India will see that the Governor General has + changed his mind. The change may be imputed to mere fickleness and levity. + It may be imputed to the disapprobation with which his conduct has been + regarded here. In either case he appears in a light in which it is much to + be deplored that a Governor General should appear. + </p> + <p> + So much for the serious side of this business; and now for the ludicrous + side. Even in our mirth, however, there is sadness; for it is no light + thing that he who represents the British nation in India should be a jest + to the people of India. We have sometimes sent them governors whom they + loved, and sometimes governors whom they feared; but they never before had + a governor at whom they laughed. Now, however, they laugh; and how can we + blame them for laughing, when all Europe and all America are laughing too? + You see, Sir, that the gentlemen opposite cannot keep their countenances. + And no wonder. Was such a State paper ever seen in our language before? + And what is the plea set up for all this bombast? Why, the honourable + gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control brings down to the House + some translations of Persian letters from native princes. Such letters, as + everybody knows, are written in a most absurd and turgid style. The + honourable gentleman forces us to hear a good deal of this detestable + rhetoric; and then he asks why, if the secretaries of the Nizam and the + King of Oude use all these tropes and hyperboles, Lord Ellenborough should + not indulge in the same sort of eloquence? The honourable gentleman might + as well ask why Lord Ellenborough should not sit cross-legged, why he + should not let his beard grow to his waist, why he should not wear a + turban, why he should not hang trinkets all about his person, why he + should not ride about Calcutta on a horse jingling with bells and + glittering with false pearls. The native princes do these things; and why + should not he? Why, Sir, simply because he is not a native prince, but an + English Governor General. When the people of India see a Nabob or a Rajah + in all his gaudy finery, they bow to him with a certain respect. They know + that the splendour of his garb indicates superior rank and wealth. But if + Sir Charles Metcalfe had so bedizened himself, they would have thought + that he was out of his wits. They are not such fools as the honourable + gentleman takes them for. Simplicity is not their fashion. But they + understand and respect the simplicity of our fashions. Our plain clothing + commands far more reverence than all the jewels which the most tawdry + Zemindar wears; and our plain language carries with it far more weight + than the florid diction of the most ingenious Persian scribe. The plain + language and the plain clothing are inseparably associated in the minds of + our subjects with superior knowledge, with superior energy, with superior + veracity, with all the high and commanding qualities which erected, and + which still uphold, our empire. Sir, if, as the speech of the honourable + gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control seems to indicate, Lord + Ellenborough has adopted this style on principle, if it be his lordship's + deliberate intention to mimic, in his State papers, the Asiatic modes of + thought and expression, that alone would be a reason for recalling him. + But the honourable gentlemen is mistaken in thinking that this + proclamation is in the Oriental taste. It bears no resemblance to the very + bad Oriental compositions which he has read to us, nor to any other + Oriental compositions that I ever saw. It is neither English nor Indian. + It is not original, however; and I will tell the House where the Governor + General found his models. He has apparently been studying the rants of the + French Jacobins during the period of their ascendency, the Carmagnoles of + the Convention, the proclamations issued by the Directory and its + Proconsuls: and he has been seized with a desire to imitate those + compositions. The pattern which he seems to have especially proposed to + himself is the rhodomontade in which it was announced that the modern + Gauls were marching to Rome in order to avenge the fate of Dumnorix and + Vercingetorex. Everybody remembers those lines in which revolutionary + justice is described by Mr Canning:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Not she in British courts who takes her stand, + The dawdling balance dangling in her hand; + But firm, erect, with keen reverted glance, + The avenging angel of regenerate France, + Who visits ancient sins on modern times, + And punishes the Pope for Caesar's crimes." +</pre> + <p> + In the same spirit and in the same style our Governor General has + proclaimed his intention to retaliate on the Mussulmans beyond the + mountains the insults which their ancestors, eight hundred years ago, + offered to the idolatry of the Hindoos. To do justice to the Jacobins, + however, I must say that they had an excuse which was wanting to the noble + lord. The revolution had made almost as great a change in literary tastes + as in political institutions. The old masters of French eloquence had + shared the fate of the old states and of the old parliaments. The highest + posts in the administration were filled by persons who had no experience + of affairs, who in the general confusion had raised themselves by audacity + and quickness of natural parts, uneducated men, or half educated men, who + had no notion that the style in which they had heard the heroes and + villains of tragedies declaim on the stage was not the style of real + warriors and statesmen. But was it for an English gentleman, a man of + distinguished abilities and cultivated mind, a man who had sate many years + in parliament, and filled some of the highest posts in the State, to copy + the productions of such a school? + </p> + <p> + But, it is said, what does it matter if the noble lord has written a + foolish rhapsody which is neither prose nor verse? Is affected phraseology + a subject for parliamentary censure? What great ruler can be named who has + not committed errors much more serious than the penning of a few sentences + of turgid nonsense? This, I admit, sounds plausible. It is quite true that + very eminent men, Lord Somers, for example, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord + Chatham and his son, all committed faults which did much more harm than + any fault of style can do. But I beg the House to observe this, that an + error which produces the most serious consequences may not necessarily + prove that the man who has committed it is not a very wise man; and that, + on the other hand, an error which directly produces no important + consequences may prove the man who has committed it to be quite unfit for + public trust. Walpole committed a ruinous error when he yielded to the + public cry for war with Spain. But, notwithstanding that error, he was an + eminently wise man. Caligula, on the other hand, when he marched his + soldiers to the beach, made them fill their helmets with cockle-shells, + and sent the shells to be placed in the Capitol as trophies of his + conquests, did no great harm to anybody; but he surely proved that he was + quite incapable of governing an empire. Mr Pitt's expedition to Quiberon + was most ill judged, and ended in defeat and disgrace. Yet Mr Pitt was a + statesman of a very high order. On the other hand, such ukases as those by + which the Emperor Paul used to regulate the dress of the people of + Petersburg, though they caused much less misery than the slaughter at + Quiberon, proved that the Emperor Paul could not safely be trusted with + power over his fellow-creatures. One day he forbade the wearing of + pantaloons. Another day he forbade his subjects to comb their hair over + their foreheads. Then he proscribed round hats. A young Englishman, the + son of a merchant, thought to evade this decree by going about the city in + a hunting cap. Then came out an edict which made it penal to wear on the + head a round thing such as the English merchant's son wore. Now, Sir, I + say that, when I examine the substance of Lord Ellenborough's + proclamation, and consider all the consequences which that paper is likely + to produce, I am forced to say that he has committed a grave moral and + political offence. When I examine the style, I see that he has committed + an act of eccentric folly, much of the same kind with Caligula's campaign + against the cockles, and with the Emperor Paul's ukase against round hats. + Consider what an extravagant selfconfidence, what a disdain for the + examples of his great predecessors and for the opinions of the ablest and + most experienced men who are now to be found in the Indian services, this + strange document indicates. Surely it might have occurred to Lord + Ellenborough that, if this kind of eloquence had been likely to produce a + favourable impression on the minds of Asiatics, such Governors as Warren + Hastings, Mr Elphinstone, Sir Thomas Munro, and Sir Charles Metcalfe, men + who were as familiar with the language and manners of the native + population of India as any man here can be with the language and manners + of the French, would not have left the discovery to be made by a new comer + who did not know any Eastern tongue. Surely, too, it might have occurred + to the noble lord that, before he put forth such a proclamation, he would + do well to ask some person who knew India intimately what the effect both + on the Mahometans and Hindoos was likely to be. I firmly believe that the + Governor General either did not ask advice or acted in direct opposition + to advice. Mr Maddock was with his lordship as acting Secretary. Now I + know enough of Mr Maddock to be quite certain that he never counselled the + Governor General to publish such a paper. I will pawn my life that he + either was never called upon to give an opinion, or that he gave an + opinion adverse to the course which has been taken. No Governor General + who was on good terms with the civil service would have been, I may say, + permitted to expose himself thus. Lord William Bentinck and Lord Auckland + were, to be sure, the last men in the world to think of doing such a thing + as this. But if either of those noble lords, at some unlucky moment when + he was not quite himself, when his mind was thrown off the balance by the + pride and delight of an extraordinary success, had proposed to put forth + such a proclamation, he would have been saved from committing so great a + mistake by the respectful but earnest remonstrances of those in whom he + placed confidence, and who were solicitous for his honour. From the + appearance of this proclamation, therefore, I infer that the terms on + which Lord Ellenborough is with the civil servants of the Company are such + that those servants could not venture to offer him counsel when he most + needed it. + </p> + <p> + For these reasons, Sir, I think the noble lord unfit for high public + trust. Let us, then, consider the nature of the public trust which is now + reposed in him. Are gentlemen aware that, even when he is at Calcutta, + surrounded by his councillors, his single voice can carry any resolution + concerning the executive administration against them all? They can object: + they can protest: they can record their opinions in writing, and can + require him to give in writing his reasons for persisting in his own + course: but they must then submit. On the most important questions, on the + question whether a war shall be declared, on the question whether a treaty + shall be concluded, on the question whether the whole system of land + revenue established in a great province shall be changed, his single vote + weighs down the votes of all who sit at the Board with him. The right + honourable Baronet opposite is a powerful minister, a more powerful + minister than any that we have seen during many years. But I will venture + to say that his power over the people of England is nothing when compared + with the power which the Governor General possesses over the people of + India. Such is Lord Ellenborough's power when he is with his council, and + is to some extent held in check. But where is he now? He has given his + council the slip. He is alone. He has near him no person who is entitled + and bound to offer advice, asked or unasked: he asks no advice: and you + cannot expect men to outstep the strict line of their official duty by + obtruding advice on a superior by whom it would be ungraciously received. + The danger of having a rash and flighty Governor General is sufficiently + serious at the very best. But the danger of having such a Governor General + up the country, eight or nine hundred miles from any person who has a + right to remonstrate with him, is fearful indeed. Interests so vast, that + the most sober language in which they can be described sounds + hyperbolical, are entrusted to a single man; to a man who, whatever his + parts may be, and they are doubtless considerable, has shown an + indiscretion and temerity almost beyond belief; to a man who has been only + a few months in India; to a man who takes no counsel with those who are + well acquainted with India. + </p> + <p> + I cannot sit down without addressing myself to those Directors of the East + India Company who are present. I exhort them to consider the heavy + responsibility which rests on them. They have the power to recall Lord + Ellenborough; and I trust that they will not hesitate to exercise that + power. This is the advice of one who has been their servant, who has + served them loyally, and who is still sincerely anxious for their credit + and for the welfare of the empire of which they are the guardians. But if, + from whatever cause, they are unwilling to recall the noble lord, then I + implore them to take care that he be immediately ordered to return to + Calcutta. Who can say what new freak we may hear of by the next mail? I am + quite confident that neither the Court of Directors nor Her Majesty's + Ministers can look forward to the arrival of that mail without great + uneasiness. Therefore I say, send Lord Ellenborough back to Calcutta. + There at least he will find persons who have a right to advise him and to + expostulate with him, and who will, I doubt not, have also the spirit to + do so. It is something that he will be forced to record his reasons for + what he does. It is something that he will be forced to hear reasons + against his propositions. It is something that a delay, though only of + twenty-four hours, will be interposed between the first conception of a + wild scheme and the execution. I am afraid that these checks will not be + sufficient to prevent much evil: but they are not absolutely nugatory. I + entreat the Directors to consider in what a position they will stand if, + in consequence of their neglect, some serious calamity should befall the + country which is confided to their care. I will only say, in conclusion, + that, if there be any use in having a Council of India, if it be not meant + that the members of Council should draw large salaries for doing nothing, + if they are really appointed for the purpose of assisting and restraining + the Governor, it is to the last degree absurd that their powers should be + in abeyance when there is a Governor who, of all the Governors that ever + England sent to the East, stands most in need both of assistance and of + restraint. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STATE OF IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 19, 1844) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE + OF COMMONS ON THE 19TH OF FEBRUARY 1844. + </h2> + <p> + On the thirteenth of February 1844, Lord John Russell moved for a + Committee of the whole House to take into consideration the state of + Ireland. After a discussion of nine nights the motion was rejected by 324 + votes to 225. On the fifth night of the debate the following Speech was + made. + </p> + <p> + I cannot refrain, Sir, from congratulating you and the House that I did + not catch your eye when I rose before. I should have been extremely sorry + to have prevented any Irish member from addressing the House on a question + so interesting to Ireland, but peculiarly sorry to have stood in the way + of the honourable gentleman who to-night pleaded the cause of his country + with so much force and eloquence. (Mr J. O'Brien.) + </p> + <p> + I am sorry to say that I cannot reconcile it to my conscience to follow + the advice which has been just given me by my honourable friend the Member + for Pomfret (Mr R. Milnes.), with all the authority which, as he has + reminded us, belongs to his venerable youth. I cannot at all agree with + him in thinking that the wisest thing that we can do is to suffer Her + Majesty's Ministers to go on in their own way, seeing that the way in + which they have long been going on is an exceedingly bad one. I support + the motion of my noble friend for these plain reasons. + </p> + <p> + First, I hold that Ireland is in a most unsatisfactory, indeed in a most + dangerous, state. + </p> + <p> + Secondly, I hold that for the state in which Ireland is Her Majesty's + Ministers are in a great measure accountable, and that they have not + shown, either as legislators, or as administrators, that they are capable + of remedying the evils which they have caused. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, if I make out these two propositions, it will follow that it is + the constitutional right and duty of the representatives of the nation to + interfere; and I conceive that my noble friend, by moving for a Committee + of the whole House, has proposed a mode of interference which is both + parliamentary and convenient. + </p> + <p> + My first proposition, Sir, will scarcely be disputed. Both sides of the + House are fully agreed in thinking that the condition of Ireland may well + excite great anxiety and apprehension. That island, in extent about one + fourth of the United Kingdom, in population more than one-fourth, superior + probably in natural fertility to any area of equal size in Europe, + possessed of natural facilities for trade such as can nowhere else be + found in an equal extent of coast, an inexhaustible nursery of gallant + soldiers, a country far more important to the prosperity, the strength, + the dignity of this great empire than all our distant dependencies + together, than the Canadas and the West Indies added to Southern Africa, + to Australasia, to Ceylon, and to the vast dominions of the Moguls, that + island, Sir, is acknowledged by all to be so ill affected and so turbulent + that it must, in any estimate of our power, be not added but deducted. You + admit that you govern that island, not as you govern England and Scotland, + but as you govern your new conquests in Scinde; not by means of the + respect which the people feel for the laws, but by means of bayonets, of + artillery, of entrenched camps. + </p> + <p> + My first proposition, then, I take to be conceded. Ireland is in a + dangerous state. The question which remains to be considered is, whether + for the state in which Ireland is Her Majesty's Ministers are to be held + accountable. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, I at once admit that the distempers of Ireland must in part be + attributed to causes for which neither Her Majesty's present Ministers nor + any public men now living can justly be held accountable. I will not + trouble the House with a long dissertation on those causes. But it is + necessary, I think, to take at least a rapid glance at them: and in order + to do so, Sir, we must go back to a period not only anterior to the birth + of the statesmen who are now arrayed against each other on the right and + left of your chair, but anterior to the birth even of the great parties of + which those statesmen are the leaders; anterior to the days when the names + of Tory and Whig, of court party and country party, of cavalier and + roundhead, came into use; anterior to the existence of those Puritans to + whom the honourable Member for Shrewsbury (Mr Disraeli.), in a very + ingenious speech, ascribed all the calamities of Ireland. + </p> + <p> + The primary cause is, no doubt, the manner in which Ireland became subject + to the English crown. The annexation was effected by conquest, and by + conquest of a peculiar kind. It was not a conquest such as we have been + accustomed to see in modern Europe. It was not a conquest like that which + united Artois and Franche Comte to France, or Silesia to Prussia. It was + the conquest of a race by a race, such a conquest as that which + established the dominion of the Spaniard over the American Indian, or of + the Mahratta over the peasant of Guzerat or Tanjore. Of all forms of + tyranny, I believe that the worst is that of a nation over a nation. + Populations separated by seas and mountain ridges may call each other + natural enemies, may wage long wars with each other, may recount with + pride the victories which they have gained over each other, and point to + the flags, the guns, the ships which they have won from each other. But no + enmity that ever existed between such populations approaches in bitterness + the mutual enmity felt by populations which are locally intermingled, but + which have never morally and politically amalgamated; and such were the + Englishry and the Irishry. Yet it might have been hoped that the lapse of + time and the progress of civilisation would have effaced the distinction + between the oppressors and the oppressed. Our island had suffered cruelly + from the same evil. Here the Saxon had trampled on the Celt, the Dane on + the Saxon, the Norman on Celt, Saxon, and Dane. Yet in the course of ages + all the four races had been fused together to form the great English + people. A similar fusion would probably have taken place in Ireland, but + for the Reformation. The English settlers adopted the Protestant doctrines + which were received in England. The Aborigines alone, among all the + nations of the north of Europe, adhered to the ancient faith. Thus the + line of demarcation between the two populations was deepened and widened. + The old enmity was reinforced by a new enmity stronger still. Then came + those events to which the honourable Member for Shrewsbury referred. The + spirit of liberty in England was closely allied with the spirit of + Puritanism, and was mortally hostile to the Papacy. Such men as Hampden, + Vane, Milton, Locke, though zealous generally for civil and spiritual + freedom, yet held that the Roman Catholic worship had no claim to + toleration. On the other hand, all the four kings of the House of Stuart + showed far more favour to Roman Catholics than to any class of Protestant + nonconformists. James the First at one time had some hopes of effecting a + reconciliation with the Vatican. Charles the First entered into secret + engagements to grant an indulgence to Roman Catholics. Charles the Second + was a concealed Roman Catholic. James the Second was an avowed Roman + Catholic. Consequently, through the whole of the seventeenth century, the + freedom of Ireland and the slavery of England meant the same thing. The + watchwords, the badges, the names, the places, the days, which in the mind + of an Englishman were associated with deliverance, prosperity, national + dignity, were in the mind of an Irishman associated with bondage, ruin, + and degradation. The memory of William the Third, the anniversary of the + battle of the Boyne, are instances. I was much struck by a circumstance + which occurred on a day which I have every reason to remember with + gratitude and pride, the day on which I had the high honour of being + declared one of the first two members for the great borough of Leeds. My + chair was covered with orange ribands. The horses which drew it could + hardly be seen for the profusion of orange-coloured finery with which they + were adorned. Orange cockades were in all the hats; orange favours at all + the windows. And my supporters, I need not say, were men who had, like + myself, been zealous for Catholic emancipation. I could not help remarking + that the badge seemed rather incongruous. But I was told that the friends + of Catholic emancipation in Yorkshire had always rallied under the orange + banner, that orange was the colour of Sir George Savile, who brought in + that bill which caused the No Popery riots of 1780, and that the very + chair in which I sate was the chair in which Lord Milton, now Earl + Fitzwilliam, had triumphed after the great victory which he won in 1807 + over the No Popery party, then headed by the house of Harewood. I thought + how different an effect that procession would have produced at Limerick or + Cork, with what howls of rage and hatred the Roman Catholic population of + those cities would have pursued that orange flag which, to every Roman + Catholic in Yorkshire, was the memorial of contests maintained in favour + of his own dearest rights. This circumstance, however slight, well + illustrates the singular contrast between the history of England and the + history of Ireland. + </p> + <p> + Well, Sir, twice during the seventeenth century the Irish rose up against + the English colony. Twice they were completely put down; and twice they + were severely chastised. The first rebellion was crushed by Oliver + Cromwell; the second by William the Third. Those great men did not use + their victory exactly in the same way. The policy of Cromwell was wise, + and strong, and straightforward, and cruel. It was comprised in one word, + which, as Clarendon tells us, was often in the mouths of the Englishry of + that time. That word was extirpation. The object of Cromwell was to make + Ireland thoroughly Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. If he had lived twenty + years longer he might perhaps have accomplished that work: but he died + while it was incomplete; and it died with him. The policy of William, or + to speak more correctly, of those whose inclinations William was under the + necessity of consulting, was less able, less energetic, and, though more + humane in seeming, perhaps not more humane in reality. Extirpation was not + attempted. The Irish Roman Catholics were permitted to live, to be + fruitful, to replenish the earth: but they were doomed to be what the + Helots were in Sparta, what the Greeks were under the Ottoman, what the + blacks now are at New York. Every man of the subject caste was strictly + excluded from public trust. Take what path he might in life, he was + crossed at every step by some vexatious restriction. It was only by being + obscure and inactive that he could, on his native soil, be safe. If he + aspired to be powerful and honoured, he must begin by being an exile. If + he pined for military glory, he might gain a cross or perhaps a Marshal's + staff in the armies of France or Austria. If his vocation was to politics, + he might distinguish himself in the diplomacy of Italy or Spain. But at + home he was a mere Gibeonite, a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. The + statute book of Ireland was filled with enactments which furnish to the + Roman Catholics but too good a ground for recriminating on us when we talk + of the barbarities of Bonner and Gardiner; and the harshness of those + odious laws was aggravated by a more odious administration. For, bad as + the legislators were, the magistrates were worse still. In those evil + times originated that most unhappy hostility between landlord and tenant, + which is one of the peculiar curses of Ireland. Oppression and turbulence + reciprocally generated each other. The combination of rustic tyrants was + resisted by gangs of rustic banditti. Courts of law and juries existed + only for the benefit of the dominant sect. Those priests who were revered + by millions as their natural advisers and guardians, as the only + authorised expositors of Christian truth, as the only authorised + dispensers of the Christian sacraments, were treated by the squires and + squireens of the ruling faction as no good-natured man would treat the + vilest beggar. In this manner a century passed away. Then came the French + Revolution and the great awakening of the mind of Europe. It would have + been wonderful indeed if, when the happiest and most tranquil nations were + agitated by vague discontents and vague hopes, Ireland had remained at + rest. Jacobinism, it is true, was not a very natural ally of the Roman + Catholic religion. But common enmities produce strange coalitions; and a + strange coalition was formed. There was a third great rising of the + aboriginal population of the island against English and Protestant + ascendency. That rising was put down by the sword; and it became the duty + of those who were at the head of affairs to consider how the victory + should be used. + </p> + <p> + I shall not be suspected of being partial to the memory of Mr Pitt. But I + cannot refuse to him the praise both of wisdom and of humanity, when I + compare the plan which he formed in that hour of triumph with the plans of + those English rulers who had before him governed Ireland. Of Mr Pitt's + plan the Union was a part, an excellent and an essential part indeed, but + still only a part. We shall do great injustice both to his head and to his + heart, if we forget that he was permitted to carry into effect only some + unconnected portions of a comprehensive and well-concerted scheme. He + wished to blend, not only the parliaments, but the nations, and to make + the two islands one in interest and affection. With that view the Roman + Catholic disabilities were to be removed: the Roman Catholic priests were + to be placed in a comfortable and honourable position; and measures were + to be taken for the purpose of giving to Roman Catholics the benefits of + liberal education. In truth, Mr Pitt's opinions on those subjects had, to + a great extent, been derived from a mind even more powerful and capacious + than his own, from the mind of Mr Burke. If the authority of these two + great men had prevailed, I believe that the Union with Ireland would now + have been as secure, and as much beyond the reach of agitation, as the + Union with Scotland. The Parliament in College Green would have been + remembered as what it was, the most tyrannical, the most venal, the most + unprincipled assembly that ever sate on the face of this earth. I do not + think that, by saying this, I can give offence to any gentleman from + Ireland, however zealous for Repeal he may be: for I only repeat the + language of Wolfe Tone. Wolfe Tone said that he had seen more deliberative + assemblies than most men; that he had seen the English Parliament, the + American Congress, the French Council of Elders and Council of Five + Hundred, the Batavian Convention; but that he had nowhere found anything + like the baseness and impudence of the scoundrels, as he called them, at + Dublin. If Mr Pitt's whole plan had been carried into execution, that + infamous parliament, that scandal to the name of parliament, would have + perished unregretted; and the last day of its existence would have been + remembered by the Roman Catholics of Ireland as the first day of their + civil and religious liberty. The great boon which he would have conferred + on them would have been gratefully received, because it could not have + been ascribed to fear, because it would have been a boon bestowed by the + powerful on the weak, by the victor on the vanquished. Unhappily, of all + his projects for the benefit of Ireland the Union alone was carried into + effect; and therefore that Union was an Union only in name. The Irish + found that they had parted with at least the name and show of + independence, and that for this sacrifice of national pride they were to + receive no compensation. The Union, which ought to have been associated in + their minds with freedom and justice, was associated only with + disappointed hopes and forfeited pledges. Yet it was not even then too + late. It was not too late in 1813. It was not too late in 1821. It was not + too late in 1825. Yes: if, even in 1825, some men who then were, as they + now are, high in the service of the crown, could have made up their minds + to do what they were forced to do four years later, that great work of + conciliation which Mr Pitt had meditated might have been accomplished. The + machinery of agitation was not yet fully organized: the Government was + under no strong pressure; and therefore concession might still have been + received with thankfulness. That opportunity was suffered to escape; and + it never returned. + </p> + <p> + In 1829, at length, concessions were made, were made largely, were made + without the conditions which Mr Pitt would undoubtedly have demanded, and + to which, if demanded by Mr Pitt, the whole body of Roman Catholics would + have eagerly assented. But those concessions were made reluctantly, made + ungraciously, made under duress, made from the mere dread of civil war. + How then was it possible that they should produce contentment and repose? + What could be the effect of that sudden and profuse liberality following + that long and obstinate resistance to the most reasonable demands, except + to teach the Irishman that he could obtain redress only by turbulence? + Could he forget that he had been, during eight and twenty years, + supplicating Parliament for justice, urging those unanswerable arguments + which prove that the rights of conscience ought to be held sacred, + claiming the performance of promises made by ministers and princes, and + that he had supplicated, argued, claimed the performance of promises in + vain? Could he forget that two generations of the most profound thinkers, + the most brilliant wits, the most eloquent orators, had written and spoken + for him in vain? Could he forget that the greatest statesman who took his + part had paid dear for their generosity? Mr Pitt endeavoured to redeem his + pledge; and he was driven from office. Lord Grey and Lord Grenville + endeavoured to do but a very small part of what Mr Pitt had thought right + and expedient; and they were driven from office. Mr Canning took the same + side; and his reward was to be worried to death by the party of which he + was the brightest ornament. At length, when he was gone, the Roman + Catholics began to look, not to cabinets and parliaments, but to + themselves. They displayed a formidable array of physical force, and yet + kept within, just within, the limits of the law. The consequence was that, + in two years, more than any prudent friend had ventured to demand for them + was granted to them by their enemies. Yes; within two years after Mr + Canning had been laid in the transept near us, all that he would have + done, and more than he could have done, was done by his persecutors. How + was it possible that the whole Roman Catholic population of Ireland should + not take up the notion that from England, or at least from the party which + then governed and which now governs England, nothing is to be got by + reason, by entreaty, by patient endurance, but everything by intimidation? + That tardy repentance deserved no gratitude, and obtained none. The whole + machinery of agitation was complete and in perfect order. The leaders had + tasted the pleasures of popularity; the multitude had tasted the pleasures + of excitement. Both the demagogue and his audience felt a craving for the + daily stimulant. Grievances enough remained, God knows, to serve as + pretexts for agitation: and the whole conduct of the Government had led + the sufferers to believe that by agitation alone could any grievance be + removed. + </p> + <p> + Such, Sir, is the history of the rise and progress of the disorders of + Ireland. Misgovernment, lasting without interruption from the reign of + Henry the Second to the reign of William the Fourth, has left us an + immense mass of discontent, which will, no doubt, in ordinary times, make + the task of any statesman whom the Queen may call to power sufficiently + difficult. But though this be true, it is not less true, that the + immediate causes of the extraordinary agitation which alarms us at this + moment is to be found in the misconduct of Her Majesty's present advisers. + For, Sir, though Ireland is always combustible, Ireland is not always on + fire. We must distinguish between the chronic complaints which are to be + attributed to remote causes, and the acute attack which is brought on by + recent imprudence. For though there is always a predisposition to disease + in that unhappy society, the violent paroxysms come only at intervals. I + must own that I am indebted for some of my imagery to the right honourable + Baronet the First Lord of the Treasury. When he sate on this bench, and + was only a candidate for the great place which he now fills, he compared + himself to a medical man at the bedside of a patient. Continuing his + metaphor, I may say that his prognosis, his diagnosis, his treatment, have + all been wrong. I do not deny that the case was difficult. The sufferer + was of a very ill habit of body, and had formerly suffered many things of + many physicians, and, among others, I must say, of the right honourable + Baronet himself. Still the malady had, a very short time ago, been got + under, and kept under by the judicious use of lenitives; and there was + reason to hope that if that salutary regimen had been steadily followed, + there would have been a speedy improvement in the general health. + Unhappily, the new State hygeist chose to apply irritants which have + produced a succession of convulsive fits, each more violent than that + which preceded it. To drop the figure, it is impossible to doubt that Lord + Melbourne's government was popular with the great body of the Roman + Catholics of Ireland. It is impossible to doubt that the two Viceroys whom + he sent to Ireland were more loved and honoured by the Irish people than + any Viceroys before whom the sword of state has ever been borne. Under the + late Government, no doubt, the empire was threatened by many dangers; but, + to whatever quarter the Ministers might look with uneasy apprehension, to + Ireland they could always look with confidence. When bad men raised + disturbances here, when a Chartist rabble fired on the Queen's soldiers, + numerous regiments could, without the smallest risk, be spared from + Ireland. When a rebellion broke out in one of our colonies,—a + rebellion too which it might have been expected that the Irish would + regard with favour, for it was a rebellion of Roman Catholics against + Protestant rulers,—even then Ireland was true to the general + interests of the empire, and troops were sent from Munster and Connaught + to put down insurrection in Canada. No person will deny that if, in 1840, + we had unhappily been forced into war, and if a hostile army had landed in + Bantry Bay, the whole population of Cork and Tipperary would have risen up + to defend the throne of Her Majesty, and would have offered to the + invaders a resistance as determined as would have been offered by the men + of Kent or Norfolk. And by what means was this salutary effect produced? + Not by great legislative reforms: for, unfortunately, that Government, + though it had the will, had not the power to carry such reforms against + the sense of a strong minority in this House, and of a decided majority of + the Peers. No, Sir; this effect was produced merely by the wisdom, + justice, and humanity with which the existing law, defective as it might + be, was administered. The late Government, calumniated and thwarted at + every turn, contending against the whole influence of the Established + Church, and of the great body of the nobility and landed gentry, yet did + show a disposition to act kindly and fairly towards Ireland, and did, to + the best of its power, treat Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. If we + had been as strong as our successors in parliamentary support, if we had + been able to induce the two Houses to follow in legislation the same + principles by which we were guided in administration, the Union with + Ireland would now have been as secure from the assaults of agitators as + the Union with Scotland. But this was not to be. During six years an + opposition, formidable in numbers, formidable in ability, selected as the + especial object of the fiercest and most pertinacious attacks those very + acts of the Government which had, after centuries of mutual animosity, + half reconciled the two islands. Those Lords Lieutenant who, in Ireland, + were venerated as no preceding Lord Lieutenant had ever been venerated, + were here reviled as no preceding Lord Lieutenant had ever been reviled. + Every action, every word which was applauded by the nation committed to + their care, was here imputed to them as a crime. Every bill framed by the + advisers of the Crown for the benefit of Ireland was either rejected or + mutilated. A few Roman Catholics of distinguished merit were appointed to + situations which were indeed below their just claims, but which were + higher than any member of their Church had filled during many generations. + Two or three Roman Catholics were sworn of the Council; one took his seat + at the Board of Treasury; another at the Board of Admiralty. There was + great joy in Ireland; and no wonder. What had been done was not much; but + the ban had been taken off; the Emancipation Act, which had been little + more than a dead letter, was at length a reality. But in England all the + underlings of the great Tory party set up a howl of rage and hatred worthy + of Lord George Gordon's No Popery mob. The right honourable Baronet now at + the head of the Treasury, with his usual prudence, abstained from joining + in the cry, and was content to listen to it, to enjoy it, and to profit by + it. But some of those who ranked next to him among the chiefs of the + opposition, did not imitate his politic reserve. One great man denounced + the Irish as aliens. Another called them minions of Popery. Those teachers + of religion to whom millions looked up with affection and reverence were + called by the Protestant press demon priests and surpliced ruffians, and + were denounced from the Protestant pulpit as pontiffs of Baal, as false + prophets who were to be slain with the sword. We were reminded that a + Queen of the chosen people had in the old time patronised the ministers of + idolatry, and that her blood had been given to the dogs. Not content with + throwing out or frittering down every law beneficial to Ireland, not + content with censuring in severe terms every act of the executive + government which gave satisfaction in Ireland, you, yes you, who now fill + the great offices of state, assumed the offensive. From obstruction you + proceeded to aggression. You brought in a bill which you called a Bill for + the Registration of Electors in Ireland. We then told you that it was a + bill for the wholesale disfranchisement of the electors of Ireland. We + then proved incontrovertibly that, under pretence of reforming the law of + procedure, you were really altering the substantive law; that, by making + it impossible for any man to vindicate his right to vote without trouble, + expense, and loss of time, you were really taking away the votes of tens + of thousands. You denied all this then. You very coolly admit it all now. + Am I to believe that you did know it as well in 1841 as in 1844? Has one + new fact been brought to light? Has one argument been discovered which was + not, three or four years ago, urged twenty, thirty, forty times in this + House? Why is it that you have, when in power, abstained from proposing + that change in the mode of registration which, when you were out of power, + you represented as indispensable? You excuse yourselves by saying that now + the responsibilities of office are upon you. In plain words, your trick + has served its purpose. Your object,—for I will do justice to your + patriotism,—your object was not to ruin your country, but to get in; + and you are in. Such public virtue deserved such a reward, a reward which + has turned out a punishment, a reward which ought to be, while the world + lasts, a warning to unscrupulous ambition. Many causes contributed to + place you in your present situation. But the chief cause was, beyond all + doubt, the prejudice which you excited amongst the English against the + just and humane manner in which the late Ministers governed Ireland. In + your impatience for office, you called up the devil of religious + intolerance, a devil more easily evoked than dismissed. He did your work; + and he holds your bond. You once found him an useful slave: but you have + since found him a hard master. It was pleasant, no doubt, to be applauded + by high churchmen and low churchmen, by the Sheldonian Theatre and by + Exeter Hall. It was pleasant to be described as the champions of the + Protestant faith, as the men who stood up for the Gospel against that + spurious liberality which made no distinction between truth and falsehood. + It was pleasant to hear your opponents called by every nickname that is to + be found in the foul vocabulary of the Reverend Hugh Mcneill. It was + pleasant to hear that they were the allies of Antichrist, that they were + the servants of the man of sin, that they were branded with the mark of + the Beast. But when all this slander and scurrility had raised you to + power, when you found that you had to manage millions of those who had + been, year after year, constantly insulted and defamed by yourselves and + your lacqueys, your hearts began to fail you. Now you tell us that you + have none but kind and respectful feelings towards the Irish Roman + Catholics, that you wish to conciliate them, that you wish to carry the + Emancipation Act into full effect, that nothing would give you more + pleasure than to place on the bench of justice a Roman Catholic lawyer of + conservative politics, that nothing would give you more pleasure than to + place at the Board of Treasury, or at the Board of Admiralty, some Roman + Catholic gentleman of conservative politics, distinguished by his talents + for business or debate. Your only reason, you assure us, for not promoting + Roman Catholics is that all the Roman Catholics are your enemies; and you + ask whether any Minister can be expected to promote his enemies. For my + part I do not doubt that you would willingly promote Roman Catholics: for, + as I have said, I give you full credit for not wishing to do your country + more harm than is necessary for the purpose of turning out and keeping out + the Whigs. I also fully admit that you cannot be blamed for not promoting + your enemies. But what I want to know is, how it happens that all the + Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom are your enemies. Was such a thing + ever heard of before? Here are six or seven millions of people of all + professions, of all trades, of all grades of rank, fortune, intellect, + education. Begin with the premier Peer, the Earl Marshal of the realm, the + chief of the Howards, the heir of the Mowbrays and Fitzalans, and go down + through earls, barons, baronets, lawyers, and merchants, to the very + poorest peasant that eats his potatoes without salt in Mayo; and all these + millions to a man are arrayed against the Government. How do you explain + this? Is there any natural connection between the Roman Catholic theology + and the political theories held by Whigs and by reformers more + democratical than the Whigs? Not only is there no natural connection, but + there is a natural opposition. Of all Christian sects the Roman Catholic + Church holds highest the authority of antiquity, of tradition, of + immemorial usage. Her spirit is eminently conservative, nay, in the + opinion of all Protestants, conservative to an unreasonable and pernicious + extent. A man who has been taught from childhood to regard with horror all + innovation in religion is surely less likely than another man to be a bold + innovator in politics. It is probable that a zealous Roman Catholic, if + there were no disturbing cause, would be a Tory; and the Roman Catholics + were all Tories till you persecuted them into Whiggism and Radicalism. In + the civil war, how many Roman Catholics were there in Fairfax's army? I + believe, not one. They were all under the banner of Charles the First. + When a reward of five thousand pounds was offered for Charles the Second + alive or dead, when to conceal him was to run a most serious risk of the + gallows, it was among Roman Catholics that he found shelter. It has been + the same in other countries. When everything else in France was prostrate + before the Jacobins, the Roman Catholic peasantry of Brittany and Poitou + still stood up for the House of Bourbon. Against the gigantic power of + Napoleon, the Roman Catholic peasantry of the Tyrol maintained unaided the + cause of the House of Hapsburg. It would be easy to multiply examples. And + can we believe, in defiance of all reason and of all history, that, if the + Roman Catholics of the United Kingdom had been tolerably well governed, + they would not have been attached to the Government? In my opinion the + Tories never committed so great an error as when they scourged away and + spurned away the Roman Catholics. Mr Burke understood this well. The + sentiment which, towards the close of his life, held the entire possession + of his mind, was a horror,—a morbid horror it at last became,—of + Jacobinism, and of everything that seemed to him to tend towards + Jacobinism, and, like a great statesman and philosopher,—for such he + was even in his errors,—he perceived, and he taught Mr Pitt to + perceive, that, in the war against Jacobinism, the Roman Catholics were + the natural allies of royalty and aristocracy. But the help of these + allies was contumeliously rejected by those politicians who make + themselves ridiculous by carousing on Mr Pitt's birthday, while they + abjure all Mr Pitt's principles. The consequence is, as you are forced to + own, that there is not in the whole kingdom a Roman Catholic of note who + is your friend. Therefore, whatever your inclinations may be, you must + intrust power in Ireland to Protestants, to Ultra-Protestants, to men who, + whether they belong to Orange lodges or not, are in spirit Orangemen. + Every appointment which you make increases the discontent of the Roman + Catholics. The more discontented they are, the less you can venture to + employ them. The way in which you treated them while you were in + opposition has raised in them such a dislike and distrust of you that you + cannot carry the Emancipation Act into effect, though, as you tell us, and + as I believe, you sincerely desire to do so. As respects the offices of + which you dispose, that Act is null and void. Of all the boons which that + Act purports to bestow on Roman Catholics they really enjoy only one, + admission to Parliament: and that they would not enjoy if you had been + able three years ago to carry your Irish Registration Bill. You have + wounded national feeling: you have wounded religious feeling: and the + animosity which you have roused shows itself in a hundred ways, some of + which I abhor, some of which I lament, but at none of which I can wonder. + They are the natural effects of insult and injury on quick and ill + regulated sensibility. You, for your own purposes, inflamed the public + mind of England against Ireland; and you have no right to be surprised by + finding that the public mind of Ireland is inflamed against England. You + called a fourth part of the people of the United Kingdom aliens: and you + must not blame them for feeling and acting like aliens. You have filled + every public department with their enemies. What then could you expect but + that they would set up against your Lord Lieutenant and your official + hierarchy a more powerful chief and a more powerful organization of their + own? They remember, and it would be strange indeed if they had forgotten, + what under the same chief, and by a similar organization, they extorted + from you in 1829; and they are determined to try whether you are bolder + and more obstinate now than then. + </p> + <p> + Such are the difficulties of this crisis. To a great extent they are of + your own making. And what have you done in order to get out of them? Great + statesmen have sometimes committed great mistakes, and yet have by wisdom + and firmness extricated themselves from the embarrassments which those + mistakes had caused. Let us see whether you are entitled to rank among + such statesmen. And first, what,—commanding, as you do, a great + majority in this and in the other House of Parliament,—what have you + done in the way of legislation? The answer is very short and simple. The + beginning and end of all your legislation for Ireland will be found in the + Arms Act of last session. You will hardly call that conciliation; and I + shall not call it coercion. It was mere petty annoyance. It satisfied + nobody. We called on you to redress the wrongs of Ireland. Many of your + own friends called on you to stifle her complaints. One noble and learned + person was so much disgusted by your remissness that he employed his own + great abilities and his own valuable time in framing a new coercion bill + for you. You were deaf alike to us and to him. The whole fruit of your + legislative wisdom was this one paltry teasing police regulation. + </p> + <p> + Your executive administration through the whole recess has been one long + blunder. The way in which your Lord Lieutenant and his advisers acted + about the Clontarf meeting would alone justify a severe vote of censure. + The noble lord, the Secretary for the Colonies (Lord Stanley.), has told + us that the Government did all that was possible to caution the people + against attending that meeting, and that it would be unreasonable to + censure men for not performing impossibilities. Now, Sir, the ministers + themselves acknowledge that, as early as the morning of the Friday which + preceded the day fixed for the meeting, the Lord Lieutenant determined to + put forth a proclamation against the meeting. Yet the proclamation was not + published in Dublin and the suburbs till after nightfall on Saturday. The + meeting was fixed for the Sunday morning. Will any person have the + hardihood to assert that it was impossible to have a proclamation drawn + up, printed and circulated, in twenty-four hours, nay in six hours? It is + idle to talk of the necessity of weighing well the words of such a + document. The Lord Lieutenant should have weighed well the value of the + lives of his royal mistress's subjects. Had he done so, there can be no + doubt that the proclamation might have been placarded on every wall in and + near Dublin early in the forenoon of the Saturday. The negligence of the + Government would probably have caused the loss of many lives but for the + interposition of the man whom you are persecuting. Fortune stood your + friend; and he stood your friend; and thus a slaughter more terrible than + that which took place twenty-five years ago at Manchester was averted. + </p> + <p> + But you were incorrigible. No sooner had you, by strange good luck, got + out of one scrape, than you made haste to get into another, out of which, + as far as I can see, you have no chance of escape. You instituted the most + unwise, the most unfortunate of all state prosecutions. You seem not to + have at all known what you were doing. It appears never to have occurred + to you that there was any difference between a criminal proceeding which + was certain to fix the attention of the whole civilised world and an + ordinary qui tam action for a penalty. The evidence was such and the law + such that you were likely to get a verdict and a judgment; and that was + enough for you. Now, Sir, in such a case as this, the probability of + getting the verdict and the judgment is only a part, and a very small + part, of what a statesman ought to consider. Before you determined to + bring the most able, the most powerful, the most popular of your opponents + to the bar as a criminal, on account of the manner in which he had opposed + you, you ought to have asked yourselves whether the decision which you + expected to obtain from the tribunals would be ratified by the voice of + your own country, of foreign countries, of posterity; whether the general + opinion of mankind might not be that, though you were legally in the + right, you were morally in the wrong. It was no common person that you + were bent on punishing. About that person I feel, I own, considerable + difficulty in saying anything. He is placed in a situation which would + prevent generous enemies, which has prevented all the members of this + House, with one ignominious exception, from assailing him acrimoniously. I + will try, in speaking of him, to pay the respect due to eminence and to + misfortune without violating the respect due to truth. I am convinced that + the end which he is pursuing is not only mischievous but unattainable: and + some of the means which he has stooped to use for the purpose of attaining + that end I regard with deep disapprobation. But it is impossible for me + not to see that the place which he holds in the estimation of his + countrymen is such as no popular leader in our history, I might perhaps + say in the history of the world, has ever attained. Nor is the interest + which he inspires confined to Ireland or to the United Kingdom. Go where + you will on the Continent: visit any coffee house: dine at any public + table: embark on board of any steamboat: enter any diligence, any railway + carriage: from the moment that your accent shows you to be an Englishman, + the very first question asked by your companions, be they what they may, + physicians, advocates, merchants, manufacturers, or what we should call + yeomen, is certain to be "What will be done with Mr O'Connell?" Look over + any file of French journals; and you will see what a space he occupies in + the eyes of the French people. It is most unfortunate, but it is a truth, + and a truth which we ought always to bear in mind, that there is among our + neighbours a feeling about the connection between England and Ireland not + very much unlike the feeling which exists here about the connection + between Russia and Poland. All the sympathies of all continental + politicians are with the Irish. We are regarded as the oppressors, and the + Irish as the oppressed. An insurrection in Ireland would have the good + wishes of a great majority of the people of Europe. And, Sir, it is + natural that it should be so. For the cause of the Irish repealers has two + different aspects, a democratic aspect, and a Roman Catholic aspect, and + is therefore regarded with favour by foreigners of almost every shade of + opinion. The extreme left,—to use the French nomenclature,—wishes + success to a great popular movement against the throne and the + aristocracy. The extreme right wishes success to a movement headed by the + bishops and priests of the true Church against a heretical government and + a heretical hierarchy. The consequence is that, in a contest with Ireland, + you will not have, out of this island, a single well-wisher in the world. + I do not say this in order to intimidate you. But I do say that, on an + occasion on which all Christendom was watching your conduct with an + unfriendly and suspicious eye, you should have carefully avoided + everything that looked like foul play. Unhappily you were too much bent on + gaining the victory; and you have gained a victory more disgraceful and + disastrous than any defeat. Mr O'Connell has been convicted: but you + cannot deny that he has been wronged: you cannot deny that irregularities + have been committed, or that the effect of those irregularities has been + to put you in a better situation and him in a worse situation than the law + contemplated. It is admitted that names which ought to have been in the + jury-list were not there. It is admitted that all, or almost all, the + names which were wrongfully excluded were the names of Roman Catholics. As + to the number of those who were wrongfully excluded there is some dispute. + An affidavit has been produced which puts the number at twenty-seven. The + right honourable gentleman, the Recorder of Dublin, who of course puts the + number as low as he conscientiously can, admits twenty-four. But some + gentlemen maintain that this irregularity, though doubtless blamable, + cannot have had any effect on the event of the trial. What, they ask, are + twenty or twenty-seven names in seven hundred and twenty? Why, Sir, a very + simple arithmetical calculation will show that the irregularity was of + grave importance. Of the seven hundred and twenty, forty-eight were to be + selected by lot, and then reduced by alternate striking to twelve. The + forty-eighth part of seven hundred and twenty is fifteen. If, therefore, + there had been fifteen more Roman Catholics in the jury-list, it would + have been an even chance that there would have been one Roman Catholic + more among the forty-eight. If there had been twenty-seven more Roman + Catholics in the list, it would have been almost an even chance that there + would have been two Roman Catholics more among the forty-eight. Is it + impossible, is it improbable that, but for this trick or this blunder,—I + will not now inquire which,—the result of the trial might have been + different? For, remember the power which the law gives to a single juror. + He can, if his mind is fully made up, prevent a conviction. I heard + murmurs when I used the word trick. Am I not justified in feeling a doubt + which it is quite evident that Mr Justice Perrin feels? He is reported to + have said,—and I take the report of newspapers favourable to the + Government,—he is reported to have said that there had been great + carelessness, great neglect of duty, that there were circumstances which + raised grave suspicion, and that he was not prepared to say that the + irregularity was accidental. The noble lord the Secretary for the Colonies + has admonished us to pay respect to the judges. I am sure that I pay the + greatest respect to everything that falls from Mr Justice Perrin. He must + know much better than I, much better than any Englishman, what artifices + are likely to be employed by Irish functionaries for the purpose of + packing a jury; and he tells us that he is not satisfied that this + irregularity was the effect of mere inadvertence. But, says the right + honourable Baronet, the Secretary for the Home Department, "I am not + responsible for this irregularity." Most true: and nobody holds the right + honourable Baronet responsible for it. But he goes on to say, "I lament + this irregularity most sincerely: for I believe that it has raised a + prejudice against the administration of justice." Exactly so. That is just + what I say. I say that a prejudice has been created against the + administration of justice. I say that a taint of suspicion has been thrown + on the verdict which you have obtained. And I ask whether it is right and + decent in you to avail yourselves of a verdict on which such a taint has + been thrown? The only wise, the only honourable course open to you was to + say, "A mistake has been committed: that mistake has given us an unfair + advantage; and of that advantage we will not make use." Unhappily, the + time when you might have taken this course, and might thus to a great + extent have repaired your former errors, has been suffered to elapse. + </p> + <p> + Well, you had forty-eight names taken by lot from this mutilated + jury-list: and then came the striking. You struck out all the Roman + Catholic names: and you give us your reasons for striking out these names, + reasons which I do not think it worth while to examine. The real question + which you should have considered was this: Can a great issue between two + hostile religions,—for such the issue was,—be tried in a + manner above all suspicion by a jury composed exclusively of men of one of + those religions? I know that in striking out the Roman Catholics you did + nothing that was not according to technical rules. But my great charge + against you is that you have looked on this whole case in a technical + point of view, that you have been attorneys when you should have been + statesmen. The letter of the law was doubtless with you; but not the noble + spirit of the law. The jury de medietate linguae is of immemorial + antiquity among us. Suppose that a Dutch sailor at Wapping is accused of + stabbing an Englishman in a brawl. The fate of the culprit is decided by a + mixed body, by six Englishmen and six Dutchmen. Such were the securities + which the wisdom and justice of our ancestors gave to aliens. You are + ready enough to call Mr O'Connell an alien when it serves your purposes to + do so. You are ready enough to inflict on the Irish Roman Catholic all the + evils of alienage. But the one privilege, the one advantage of alienage, + you deny him. In a case which of all cases most require a jury de + medietate, in a case which sprang out of the mutual hostility of races and + sects, you pack a jury all of one race and all of one sect. Why, if you + were determined to go on with this unhappy prosecution, not have a common + jury? There was no difficulty in having such a jury; and among the jurors + might have been some respectable Roman Catholics who were not members of + the Repeal Association. A verdict of Not Guilty from such a jury would + have done you infinitely less harm than the verdict of Guilty which you + have succeeded in obtaining. Yes, you have obtained a verdict of Guilty; + but you have obtained that verdict from twelve men brought together by + illegal means, and selected in such a manner that their decision can + inspire no confidence. You have obtained that verdict by the help of a + Chief Justice of whose charge I can hardly trust myself to speak. To do + him right, however, I will say that his charge was not, as it has been + called, unprecedented; for it bears a very close resemblance to some + charges which may be found in the state trials of the reign of Charles the + Second. However, with this jury-list, with this jury, with this judge, you + have a verdict. And what have you gained by it? Have you pacified Ireland? + No doubt there is just at the present moment an apparent tranquillity; but + it is a tranquillity more alarming than turbulence. The Irish will be + quiet till you begin to put the sentence of imprisonment into execution, + because, feeling the deepest interest in the fate of their persecuted + Tribune, they will do nothing that can be prejudicial to him. But will + they be quiet when the door of a gaol has been closed on him? Is it + possible to believe that an agitator, whom they adored while his agitation + was a source of profit to him, will lose his hold on their affections by + being a martyr in what they consider as their cause? If I, who am strongly + attached to the Union, who believe that the Repeal of the Union would be + fatal to the empire, and who think Mr O'Connell's conduct highly + reprehensible, cannot conscientiously say that he has had a fair trial, if + the prosecutors themselves are forced to own that things have happened + which have excited a prejudice against the verdict and the judgment, what + must be the feelings of the people of Ireland, who believe not merely that + he is guiltless, but that he is the best friend that they ever had? He + will no longer be able to harangue them: but his wrongs will stir their + blood more than his eloquence ever did; nor will he in confinement be able + to exercise that influence which has so often restrained them, even in + their most excited mood, from proceeding to acts of violence. + </p> + <p> + Turn where we will, the prospect is gloomy; and that which of all things + most disturbs me is this, that your experience, sharp as it has been, does + not seem to have made you wiser. All that I have been able to collect from + your declarations leads me to apprehend that, while you continue to hold + power, the future will be of a piece with the past. As to your executive + administration, you hold out no hope that it will be other than it has + been. If we look back, your only remedies for the disorders of Ireland + have been an impolitic state prosecution, an unfair state trial, barracks + and soldiers. If we look forward, you promise us no remedies but an unjust + sentence, the harsh execution of that sentence, more barracks and more + soldiers. + </p> + <p> + You do indeed try to hold out hopes of one or two legislative reforms + beneficial to Ireland; but these hopes, I am afraid, will prove delusive. + You hint that you have prepared a Registration bill, of which the effect + will be to extend the elective franchise. What the provisions of that bill + may be we do not know. But this we know, that the matter is one about + which it is utterly impossible for you to do anything that shall be at + once honourable to yourselves and useful to the country. Before we see + your plan, we can say with perfect confidence that it must either destroy + the last remnant of the representative system in Ireland, or the last + remnant of your own character for consistency. + </p> + <p> + About the much agitated question of land tenure you acknowledge that you + have at present nothing to propose. We are to have a report, but you + cannot tell us when. + </p> + <p> + The Irish Church, as at present constituted and endowed, you are fully + determined to uphold. On some future occasion, I hope to be able to + explain at large my views on that subject. To-night I have exhausted my + own strength, and I have exhausted also, I am afraid, the kind indulgence + of the House. I will therefore only advert very briefly to some things + which have been said about the Church in the course of the present debate. + </p> + <p> + Several gentlemen opposite have spoken of the religious discord which is + the curse of Ireland in language which does them honour; and I am only + sorry that we are not to have their votes as well as their speeches. But + from the Treasury bench we have heard nothing but this, that the + Established Church is there, and that there it must and shall remain. As + to the speech of the noble lord the Secretary for the Colonies, really + when we hear such a pitiable defence of a great institution from a man of + such eminent abilities, what inference can we draw but that the + institution is altogether indefensible? The noble lord tells us that the + Roman Catholics, in 1757, when they were asking to be relieved from the + penal laws, and in 1792, when they were asking to be relieved from civil + disabilities, professed to be quite willing that the Established Church + should retain its endowments. What is it to us, Sir, whether they did or + not? If you can prove this Church to be a good institution, of course it + ought to be maintained. But do you mean to say that a bad institution + ought to be maintained because some people who have been many years in + their graves said that they did not complain of it? What if the Roman + Catholics of the present generation hold a different language on this + subject from the Roman Catholics of the last generation? Is this + inconsistency, which appears to shock the noble lord, anything but the + natural and inevitable progress of all reform? People who are oppressed, + and who have no hope of obtaining entire justice, beg to be relieved from + the most galling part of what they suffer. They assure the oppressor that + if he will only relax a little of his severity they shall be quite + content; and perhaps, at the time, they believe that they shall be + content. But are expressions of this sort, are mere supplications uttered + under duress, to estop every person who utters them, and all his posterity + to the end of time, from asking for entire justice? Am I debarred from + trying to recover property of which I have been robbed, because, when the + robber's pistol was at my breast, I begged him to take everything that I + had and to spare my life? The noble lord knows well that, while the slave + trade existed, the great men who exerted themselves to put an end to that + trade disclaimed all thought of emancipating the negroes. In those days, + Mr Pitt, Mr Fox, Lord Grenville, Lord Grey, and even my dear and honoured + friend of whom I can never speak without emotion, Mr Wilberforce, always + said that it was a calumny to accuse them of intending to liberate the + black population of the sugar islands. In 1807 the present Duke of + Northumberland, then Lord Percy, in the generous enthusiasm of youth, rose + to propose in this House the abolition of slavery. Mr Wilberforce + interposed, nay, I believe, almost pulled Lord Percy down. Nevertheless in + 1833 the noble lord the Secretary for the Colonies brought in a bill to + abolish slavery. Suppose that when he resumed his seat, after making that + most eloquent speech in which he explained his plan to us, some West + Indian planter had risen, and had said that in 1792, in 1796, in 1807, all + the leading philanthropists had solemnly declared that they had no + intention of emancipating the negroes; would not the noble lord have + answered that nothing that had been said by anybody in 1792 or 1807 could + bind us not to do what was right in 1833? + </p> + <p> + This is not the only point on which the noble lord's speech is quite at + variance with his own conduct. He appeals to the fifth article of the + Treaty of Union. He says that, if we touch the revenues and privileges of + the Established Church, we shall violate that article; and to violate an + article of the Treaty of Union is, it seems, a breach of public faith of + which he cannot bear to think. But, Sir, why is the fifth article to be + held more sacred than the fourth, which fixes the number of Irish members + who are to sit in this House? The fourth article, we all know, has been + altered. And who brought in the bill which altered that article? The noble + lord himself. + </p> + <p> + Then the noble lord adverts to the oath taken by Roman Catholic members of + this House. They bind themselves, he says, not to use their power for the + purpose of injuring the Established Church. I am sorry that the noble lord + is not at this moment in the House. Had he been here I should have made + some remarks which I now refrain from making on one or two expressions + which fell from him. But, Sir, let us allow to his argument all the weight + which he can himself claim for it. What does it prove? Not that the + Established Church of Ireland is a good institution; not that it ought to + be maintained; but merely this, that, when we are about to divide on the + question whether it shall be maintained, the Roman Catholic members ought + to walk away to the library. The oath which they have taken is nothing to + me and to the other Protestant members who have not taken it. Suppose then + our Roman Catholic friends withdrawn. Suppose that we, the six hundred and + twenty or thirty Protestant members remain in the House. Then there is an + end of this argument about the oath. Will the noble lord then be able to + give us any reason for maintaining the Church of Ireland on the present + footing? + </p> + <p> + I hope, Sir, that the right honourable Baronet the first Lord of the + Treasury will not deal with this subject as his colleagues have dealt with + it. We have a right to expect that a man of his capacity, placed at the + head of government, will attempt to defend the Irish Church in a manly and + rational way. I would beg him to consider these questions:—For what + ends do Established Churches exist? Does the Established Church of Ireland + accomplish those ends or any one of those ends? Can an Established Church + which has no hold on the hearts of the body of the people be otherwise + than useless, or worse than useless? Has the Established Church of Ireland + any hold on the hearts of the body of the people? Has it been successful + in making proselytes? Has it been what the Established Church of England + has been with justice called, what the Established Church of Scotland was + once with at least equal justice called, the poor man's Church? Has it + trained the great body of the people to virtue, consoled them in + affliction, commanded their reverence, attached them to itself and to the + State? Show that these questions can be answered in the affirmative; and + you will have made, what I am sure has never yet been made, a good defence + of the Established Church of Ireland. But it is mere mockery to bring us + quotations from forgotten speeches, and from mouldy petitions presented to + George the Second at a time when the penal laws were still in full force. + </p> + <p> + And now, Sir, I must stop. I have said enough to justify the vote which I + shall give in favour of the motion of my noble friend. I have shown, + unless I deceive myself, that the extraordinary disorders which now alarm + us in Ireland have been produced by the fatal policy of the Government. I + have shown that the mode in which the Government is now dealing with those + disorders is far more likely to inflame than to allay them. While this + system lasts, Ireland can never be tranquil; and till Ireland is tranquil, + England can never hold her proper place among the nations of the world. To + the dignity, to the strength, to the safety of this great country, + internal peace is indispensably necessary. In every negotiation, whether + with France on the right of search, or with America on the line of + boundary, the fact that Ireland is discontented is uppermost in the minds + of the diplomatists on both sides, making the representative of the + British Crown timorous, and making his adversary bold. And no wonder. This + is indeed a great and splendid empire, well provided with the means both + of annoyance and of defence. England can do many things which are beyond + the power of any other nation in the world. She has dictated peace to + China. She rules Caffraria and Australasia. She could again sweep from the + ocean all commerce but her own. She could again blockade every port from + the Baltic to the Adriatic. She is able to guard her vast Indian dominions + against all hostility by land or sea. But in this gigantic body there is + one vulnerable spot near to the heart. At that spot forty-six years ago a + blow was aimed which narrowly missed, and which, if it had not missed, + might have been deadly. The government and the legislature, each in its + own sphere, is deeply responsible for the continuance of a state of things + which is fraught with danger to the State. From my share of that + responsibility I shall clear myself by the vote which I am about to give; + and I trust that the number and the respectability of those in whose + company I shall go into the lobby will be such as to convince the Roman + Catholics of Ireland that they need not yet relinquish all hope of + obtaining relief from the wisdom and justice of an Imperial Parliament. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DISSENTERS' CHAPELS BILL. (JUNE 6, 1844) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE + OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF JUNE 1844. + </h2> + <p> + An attempt having been made to deprive certain dissenting congregations of + property which they had long enjoyed, on the ground that they did not hold + the same religious opinions that had been held by the purchasers from whom + they derived their title to that property, the Government of Sir Robert + Peel brought in a bill fixing a time of limitation in such cases. The time + fixed was twenty-five years. + </p> + <p> + The bill, having passed the Lords, came down to the House of Commons. On + the sixth of June 1844, the second reading was moved by the Attorney + General, Sir William Follett. Sir Robert Inglis, Member for the University + of Oxford, moved that the bill should be read a second time that day six + months: and the amendment was seconded by Mr Plumptre, Member for Kent. + Early in the debate the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + The second reading was carried by 307 votes to 117. + </p> + <p> + If, Sir, I should unhappily fail in preserving that tone in which the + question before us ought to be debated, it will assuredly not be for want + either of an example or of a warning. The honourable and learned Member + who moved the second reading has furnished me with a model which I cannot + too closely imitate; and from the honourable Member for Kent, if I can + learn nothing else, I may at least learn what temper and what style I + ought most carefully to avoid. + </p> + <p> + I was very desirous, Sir, to catch your eye, not because I was so + presumptuous as to hope that I should be able to add much to the powerful + and luminous argument of the honourable and learned gentleman who has, to + our great joy, again appeared among us to-night; but because I thought it + desirable that, at an early period in the debate, some person whose seat + is on this side of the House, some person strongly opposed to the policy + of the present Government, should say, what I now say with all my heart, + that this is a bill highly honourable to the Government, a bill framed on + the soundest principles, and evidently introduced from the best and purest + motives. This praise is a tribute due to Her Majesty's Ministers; and I + have great pleasure in paying it. + </p> + <p> + I have great pleasure also in bearing my testimony to the humanity, the + moderation, and the decorum with which my honourable friend the Member for + the University of Oxford has expressed his sentiments. I must particularly + applaud the resolution which he announced, and to which he strictly + adhered, of treating this question as a question of meum and tuum, and not + as a question of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. With him it is possible to + reason. But how am I to reason with the honourable Member for Kent, who + has made a speech without one fact, one argument, one shadow of an + argument, a speech made up of nothing but vituperation? I grieve to say + that the same bitterness of theological animosity which characterised that + speech may be discerned in too many of the petitions with which, as he + boasts, our table has been heaped day after day. The honourable Member + complains that those petitions have not been treated with proper respect. + Sir, they have been treated with much more respect than they deserved. He + asks why we are to suppose that the petitioners are not competent to form + a judgment on this question? My answer is, that they have certified their + incompetence under their own hands. They have, with scarcely one + exception, treated this question as a question of divinity, though it is + purely a question of property: and when I see men treat a question of + property as if it were a question of divinity, I am certain that, however + numerous they may be, their opinion is entitled to no consideration. If + the persons whom this bill is meant to relieve are orthodox, that is no + reason for our plundering anybody else in order to enrich them. If they + are heretics, that is no reason for our plundering them in order to enrich + others. I should not think myself justified in supporting this bill, if I + could not with truth declare that, whatever sect had been in possession of + these chapels, my conduct would have been precisely the same. I have no + peculiar sympathy with Unitarians. If these people, instead of being + Unitarians, had been Roman Catholics, or Wesleyan Methodists, or General + Baptists, or Particular Baptists, or members of the Old Secession Church + of Scotland, or members of the Free Church of Scotland, I should speak as + I now speak, and vote as I now mean to vote. + </p> + <p> + Sir, the whole dispute is about the second clause of this bill. I can + hardly conceive that any gentleman will vote against the bill on account + of the error in the marginal note on the third clause. To the first clause + my honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford said, if I + understood him rightly, that he had no objection; and indeed a man of his + integrity and benevolence could hardly say less after listening to the + lucid and powerful argument of the Attorney General. It is therefore on + the second clause that the whole question turns. + </p> + <p> + The second clause, Sir, rests on a principle simple, well-known, and most + important to the welfare of all classes of the community. That principle + is this, that prescription is a good title to property, that there ought + to be a time of limitation, after which a possessor, in whatever way his + possession may have originated, must not be dispossessed. Till very + lately, Sir, I could not have imagined that, in any assembly of + reasonable, civilised, of educated men, it could be necessary for me to + stand up in defence of that principle. I should have thought it as much a + waste of the public time to make a speech on such a subject as to make a + speech against burning witches, against trying writs of right by wager of + battle, or against requiring a culprit to prove his innocence by walking + over red-hot ploughshares. But I find that I was in error. Certain sages, + lately assembled in conclave at Exeter Hall, have done me the honour to + communicate to me the fruits of their profound meditations on the science + of legislation. They have, it seems, passed a resolution declaring that + the principle, which I had supposed that no man out of Bedlam would ever + question, is an untenable principle, and altogether unworthy of a British + Parliament. They have been pleased to add, that the present Government + cannot, without gross inconsistency, call on Parliament to pass a statute + of limitation. And why? Will the House believe it? Because the present + Government has appointed two new Vice Chancellors. + </p> + <p> + Really, Sir, I do not know whether the opponents of this bill shine more + as logicians or as jurists. Standing here as the advocate of prescription, + I ought not to forget that prescriptive right of talking nonsense which + gentlemen who stand on the platform of Exeter Hall are undoubtedly + entitled to claim. But, though I recognise the right, I cannot but think + that it may be abused, and that it has been abused on the present + occasion. One thing at least is clear, that, if Exeter Hall be in the + right, all the masters of political philosophy, all the great legislators, + all the systems of law by which men are and have been governed in all + civilised countries, from the earliest times, must be in the wrong. How + indeed can any society prosper, or even exist, without the aid of this + untenable principle, this principle unworthy of a British legislature? + This principle was found in the Athenian law. This principle was found in + the Roman law. This principle was found in the laws of all those nations + of which the jurisprudence was derived from Rome. This principle was found + in the law administered by the Parliament of Paris; and, when that + Parliament and the law which it administered had been swept away by the + revolution, this principle reappeared in the Code Napoleon. Go westward, + and you find this principle recognised beyond the Mississippi. Go + eastward, and you find it recognised beyond the Indus, in countries which + never heard the name of Justinian, in countries to which no translation of + the Pandects ever found its way. Look into our own laws, and you will see + that the principle, which is now designated as unworthy of Parliament, has + guided Parliament ever since Parliament existed. Our first statute of + limitation was enacted at Merton, by men some of whom had borne a part in + extorting the Great Charter and the Forest Charter from King John. From + that time to this it has been the study of a succession of great lawyers + and statesmen to make the limitation more and more stringent. The Crown + and the Church indeed were long exempted from the general rule. But + experience fully proved that every such exemption was an evil; and a + remedy was at last applied. Sir George Savile, the model of English + country gentlemen, was the author of the Act which barred the claims of + the Crown. That eminent magistrate, the late Lord Tenterden, was the + author of the Act which barred the claims of the Church. Now, Sir, how is + it possible to believe that the Barons, whose seals are upon our Great + Charter, would have perfectly agreed with the great jurists who framed the + Code of Justinian, with the great jurists who framed the Code of Napoleon, + with the most learned English lawyers of the nineteenth century, and with + the Pundits of Benares, unless there had been some strong and clear reason + which necessarily led men of sense in every age and country to the same + conclusion? Nor is it difficult to see what the reason was. For it is + evident that the principle which silly and ignorant fanatics have called + untenable is essential to the institution of property, and that, if you + take away that principle, you will produce evils resembling those which + would be produced by a general confiscation. Imagine what would follow if + the maxims of Exeter Hall were introduced into Westminster Hall. Imagine a + state of things in which one of us should be liable to be sued on a bill + of exchange indorsed by his grandfather in 1760. Imagine a man possessed + of an estate and manor house which had descended to him through ten or + twelve generations of ancestors, and yet liable to be ejected because some + flaw had been detected in a deed executed three hundred years ago, in the + reign of Henry the Eighth. Why, Sir, should we not all cry out that it + would be better to live under the rule of a Turkish Pasha than under such + a system. Is it not plain that the enforcing of an obsolete right is the + inflicting of a wrong? Is it not plain that, but for our statutes of + limitation, a lawsuit would be merely a grave, methodical robbery? I am + ashamed to argue a point so clear. + </p> + <p> + And if this be the general rule, why should the case which we are now + considering be an exception to that rule? I have done my best to + understand why. I have read much bad oratory, and many foolish petitions. + I have heard with attention the reasons of my honourable friend the Member + for the University of Oxford; and I should have heard the reasons of the + honourable Member for Kent, if there had been any to hear. Every argument + by which my honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford + tried to convince us that this case is an exception to the general rule, + will be found on examination to be an argument against the general rule + itself. He says that the possession which we propose to sanction was + originally a wrongful possession. Why, Sir, all the statutes of limitation + that ever were made sanction possession which was originally wrongful. It + is for the protection of possessors who are not in condition to prove that + their possession was originally rightful that statutes of limitation are + passed. Then my honourable friend says that this is an ex post facto law. + Why, Sir, so are all our great statutes of limitation. Look at the Statute + of Merton, passed in 1235; at the Statute of Westminster, passed in 1275; + at the Statute of James the First, passed in 1623; at Sir George Savile's + Act, passed in the last century; at Lord Tenterden's Act, passed in our + own time. Every one of those Acts was retrospective. Every one of them + barred claims arising out of past transactions. Nor was any objection ever + raised to what was so evidently just and wise, till bigotry and chicanery + formed that disgraceful league against which we are now contending. But, + it is said, it is unreasonable to grant a boon to men because they have + been many years doing wrong. The length of the time during which they have + enjoyed property not rightfully their own, is an aggravation of the injury + which they have committed, and is so far from being a reason for letting + them enjoy that property for ever, that it is rather a reason for + compelling them to make prompt restitution. With this childish sophistry + the petitions on our table are filled. Is it possible that any man can be + so dull as not to perceive that, if this be a reason, it is a reason + against all our statutes of limitation? I do a greater wrong to my tailor + if I withhold payment of his bill during six years than if I withhold + payment only during two years. Yet the law says that at the end of two + years he may bring an action and force me to pay him with interest, but + that after the lapse of six years he cannot force me to pay him at all. It + is much harder that a family should be kept out of its hereditary estate + during five generations than during five days. But if you are kept out of + your estate five days you have your action of ejectment; and, after the + lapse of five generations, you have no remedy. I say, therefore, with + confidence, that every argument which has been urged against this bill is + an argument against the great principle of prescription. I go further, and + I say that, if there be any case which, in an especial manner, calls for + the application of the principle of prescription, this is that case. For + the Unitarian congregations have laid out so much on these little spots of + ground that it is impossible to take the soil from them without taking + from them property which is of much greater value than the mere soil, and + which is indisputably their own. This is not the case of a possessor who + has been during many years, receiving great emoluments from land to which + he had not a good title. It is the case of a possessor who has, from + resources which were undoubtedly his own, expended on the land much more + than it was originally worth. Even in the former case, it has been the + policy of all wise lawgivers to fix a time of limitation. A fortiori, + therefore, there ought to be a time of limitation in the latter case. + </p> + <p> + And here, Sir, I cannot help asking gentlemen to compare the petitions for + this bill with the petitions against it. Never was there such a contrast. + The petitions against the bill are filled with cant, rant, scolding, + scraps of bad sermons. The petitions in favour of the bill set forth in + the simplest manner great practical grievances. Take, for instance, the + case of Cirencester. The meeting house there was built in 1730. It is + certain that the Unitarian doctrines were taught there as early as 1742. + That was only twelve years after the chapel had been founded. Many of the + original subscribers must have been living. Many of the present + congregation are lineal descendants of the original subscribers. Large + sums have from time to time been laid out in repairing, enlarging, and + embellishing the edifice; and yet there are people who think it just and + reasonable that this congregation should, after the lapse of more than a + century, be turned out. At Norwich, again, a great dissenting meeting + house was opened in 1688. It is not easy to say how soon Anti-Trinitarian + doctrines were taught there. The change of sentiment in the congregation + seems to have been gradual: but it is quite certain that, in 1754, ninety + years ago, both pastor and flock were decidedly Unitarian. Round the + chapel is a cemetery filled with the monuments of eminent Unitarians. + Attached to the chapel are a schoolhouse and a library, built and fitted + up by Unitarians. And now the occupants find that their title is disputed. + They cannot venture to build; they cannot venture to repair; and they are + anxiously awaiting our decision. I do not know that I have cited the + strongest cases. I am giving you the ordinary history of these edifices. + Go to Manchester. Unitarianism has been taught there at least seventy + years in a chapel on which the Unitarians have expended large sums. Go to + Leeds. Four thousand pounds have been subscribed for the repairing of the + Unitarian chapel there, the chapel where, near eighty years ago, Priestly, + the great Doctor of the sect, officiated. But these four thousand pounds + are lying idle. Not a pew can be repaired till it is known whether this + bill will become law. Go to Maidstone. There Unitarian doctrines have been + taught during at least seventy years; and seven hundred pounds have + recently been laid out by the congregation in repairing the chapel. Go to + Exeter. It matters not where you go. But go to Exeter. There Unitarian + doctrines have been preached more than eighty years; and two thousand + pounds have been laid out on the chapel. It is the same at Coventry, at + Bath, at Yarmouth, everywhere. And will a British Parliament rob the + possessors of these buildings? I can use no other word. How should we feel + if it were proposed to deprive any other class of men of land held during + so long a time, and improved at so large a cost? And, if this property + should be transferred to those who covet it, what would they gain in + comparison with what the present occupants would lose? The pulpit of + Priestley, the pulpit of Lardner, are objects of reverence to + congregations which hold the tenets of Priestley and Lardner. To the + intruders those pulpits will be nothing; nay, worse than nothing; + memorials of heresiarchs. Within these chapels and all around them are the + tablets which the pious affection of four generations has placed over the + remains of dear mothers and sisters, wives and daughters, of eloquent + preachers, of learned theological writers. To the Unitarian, the building + which contains these memorials is a hallowed building. To the intruder it + is of no more value than any other room in which he can find a bench to + sit on and a roof to cover him. If, therefore, we throw out this bill, we + do not merely rob one set of people in order to make a present to another + set. That would be bad enough. But we rob the Unitarians of that which + they regard as a most precious treasure; of that which is endeared to them + by the strongest religious and the strongest domestic associations; of + that which cannot be wrenched from them without inflicting on them the + bitterest pain and humiliation. To the Trinitarians we give that which can + to them be of little or no value except as a trophy of a most inglorious + victory won in a most unjust war. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, an imputation of fraud has been thrown on the Unitarians; not, + indeed, here, but in many other places, and in one place of which I would + always wish to speak with respect. The Unitarians, it has been said, knew + that the original founders of these chapels were Trinitarians; and to use, + for the purpose of propagating Unitarian doctrine, a building erected for + the purpose of propagating Trinitarian doctrine was grossly dishonest. One + very eminent person (The Bishop of London.) has gone so far as to maintain + that the Unitarians cannot pretend to any prescription of more than + sixty-three years; and he proves his point thus:—Till the year 1779, + he says, no dissenting teacher was within the protection of the Toleration + Act unless he subscribed those articles of the Church of England which + affirm the Athanasian doctrine. It is evident that no honest Unitarian can + subscribe those articles. The inference is, that the persons who preached + in these chapels down to the year 1779 must have been either Trinitarians + or rogues. Now, Sir, I believe that they were neither Trinitarians nor + rogues; and I cannot help suspecting that the great prelate who brought + this charge against them is not so well read in the history of the + nonconformist sects as in the history of that Church of which he is an + ornament. The truth is that, long before the year 1779, the clause of the + Toleration Act which required dissenting ministers to subscribe + thirty-five or thirty-six of our thirty-nine articles had almost become + obsolete. Indeed, that clause had never been rigidly enforced. From the + very first there were some dissenting ministers who refused to subscribe, + and yet continued to preach. Calany was one; and he was not molested. And + if this could be done in the year in which the Toleration Act passed, we + may easily believe that, at a later period, the law would not have been + very strictly observed. New brooms, as the vulgar proverb tells us, sweep + clean; and no statute is so rigidly enforced as a statute just made. But, + Sir, so long ago as the year 1711, the provisions of the Toleration Act on + this subject were modified. In that year the Whigs, in order to humour + Lord Nottingham, with whom they had coalesced against Lord Oxford, + consented to let the Occasional Conformity Bill pass; but they insisted on + inserting in the bill a clause which was meant to propitiate the + dissenters. By this clause it was enacted that, if an information were + laid against a dissenting minister for having omitted to subscribe the + articles, the defendant might, by subscribing at any stage of the + proceedings anterior to the judgment, defeat the information, and throw + all the costs on the informer. The House will easily believe that, when + such was the state of the law, informers were not numerous. Indeed, during + the discussions of 1773, it was distinctly affirmed, both in Parliament + and in manifestoes put forth by the dissenting body, that the majority of + nonconformist ministers then living had never subscribed. All arguments, + therefore, grounded on the insincerity which has been rashly imputed to + the Unitarians of former generations, fall at once to the ground. + </p> + <p> + But, it is said, the persons who, in the reigns of James the Second, of + William the Third, and of Anne, first established these chapels, held the + doctrine of the Trinity; and therefore, when, at a later period, the + preachers and congregations departed from the doctrine of the Trinity, + they ought to have departed from the chapels too. The honourable and + learned gentleman, the Attorney General, has refuted this argument so ably + that he has scarcely left anything for me to say about it. It is + well-known that the change which, soon after the Revolution, began to take + place in the opinions of a section of the old Puritan body, was a gradual, + an almost imperceptible change. The principle of the English Presbyterians + was to have no confession of faith and no form of prayer. Their trust + deeds contained no accurate theological definitions. Nonsubscription was + in truth the very bond which held them together. What, then, could be more + natural than that, Sunday by Sunday, the sermons should have become less + and less like those of the old Calvinistic divines, that the doctrine of + the Trinity should have been less and less frequently mentioned, that at + last it should have ceased to be mentioned, and that thus, in the course + of years, preachers and hearers should, by insensible degrees, have become + first Arians, then, perhaps, Socinians. I know that this explanation has + been treated with disdain by people profoundly ignorant of the history of + English nonconformity. I see that my right honourable friend near me (Mr + Fox Maule.) does not assent to it. Will he permit me to refer him to an + analogous case with which he cannot but be well acquainted? No person in + the House is more versed than he in the ecclesiastical history of + Scotland; and he will, I am sure, admit that some of the doctrines now + professed by the Scotch sects which sprang from the secessions of 1733 and + 1760 are such as the seceders of 1733 and the seceders of 1760 would have + regarded with horror. I have talked with some of the ablest, most learned, + and most pious of the Scotch dissenters of our time; and they all fully + admitted that they held more than one opinion which their predecessors + would have considered as impious. Take the question of the connection + between Church and State. The seceders of 1733 thought that the connection + ought to be much closer than it is. They blamed the legislature for + tolerating heresy. They maintained that the Solemn league and covenant was + still binding on the kingdom. They considered it as a national sin that + the validity of the Solemn League and Covenant was not recognised at the + time of the Revolution. When George Whitfield went to Scotland, though + they approved of his Calvinistic opinions, and though they justly admired + that natural eloquence which he possessed in so wonderful a degree, they + would hold no communion with him because he would not subscribe the Solemn + League and Covenant. Is that the doctrine of their successors? Are the + Scotch dissenters now averse to toleration? Are they not zealous for the + voluntary system? Is it not their constant cry that it is not the business + of the civil magistrate to encourage any religion, false or true? Does any + Bishop now abhor the Solemn League and Covenant more than they? Here is an + instance in which numerous congregations have, retaining their identity, + passed gradually from one opinion to another opinion. And would it be + just, would it be decent in me, to impute dishonesty to them on that + account? My right honourable friend may be of opinion that the question + touching the connection between the Church and State is not a vital + question. But was that the opinion of the divines who drew up the + Secession Testimony? He well knows that in their view a man who denied + that it was the duty of the government to defend religious truth with the + civil sword was as much a heretic as a man who denied the doctrine of the + Trinity. + </p> + <p> + Again, Sir, take the case of the Wesleyan Methodists. They are zealous + against this bill. They think it monstrous that a chapel originally built + for people holding one set of doctrines should be occupied by people + holding a different set of doctrines. I would advise them to consider + whether they cannot find in the history of their own body reasons for + being a little more indulgent. What were the opinions of that great and + good man, their founder, on the question whether men not episcopally + ordained could lawfully administer the Eucharist? He told his followers + that lay administration was a sin which he never could tolerate. Those + were the very words which he used; and I believe that, during his + lifetime, the Eucharist never was administered by laymen in any place of + worship which was under his control. After his death, however, the feeling + in favour of lay administration became strong and general among his + disciples. The Conference yielded to that feeling. The consequence is that + now, in every chapel which belonged to Wesley, those who glory in the name + of Wesleyans commit, every Sacrament Sunday, what Wesley declared to be a + sin which he would never tolerate. And yet these very persons are not + ashamed to tell us in loud and angry tones that it is fraud, downright + fraud, in a congregation which has departed from its original doctrines to + retain its original endowments. I believe, Sir, that, if you refuse to + pass this bill, the Courts of Law will soon have to decide some knotty + questions which, as yet, the Methodists little dream of. + </p> + <p> + It has, I own, given me great pain to observe the unfair and acrimonious + manner in which too many of the Protestant nonconformists have opposed + this bill. The opposition of the Established Church has been comparatively + mild and moderate; and yet from the Established Church we had less right + to expect mildness and moderation. It is certainly not right, but it is + very natural, that a church, ancient and richly endowed, closely connected + with the Crown and the aristocracy, powerful in parliament, dominant in + the universities, should sometimes forget what is due to poorer and + humbler Christian societies. But when I hear a cry for what is nothing + less than persecution set up by men who have been, over and over again + within my own memory, forced to invoke in their own defence the principles + of toleration, I cannot but feel astonishment mingled with indignation. + And what above all excites both my astonishment and my indignation is + this, that the most noisy among the noisy opponents of the bill which we + are considering are some sectaries who are at this very moment calling on + us to pass another bill of just the same kind for their own benefit. I + speak of those Irish Presbyterians who are asking for an ex post facto law + to confirm their marriages. See how exact the parallel is between the case + of those marriages and the case of these chapels. The Irish Presbyterians + have gone on marrying according to their own forms during a long course of + years. The Unitarians have gone on occupying, improving, embellishing + certain property during a long course of years. In neither case did any + doubt as to the right arise in the most honest, in the most scrupulous + mind. At length, about the same time, both the validity of the + Presbyterian marriages and the validity of the title by which the + Unitarians held their chapels were disputed. The two questions came before + the tribunals. The tribunals, with great reluctance, with great pain, + pronounced that, neither in the case of the marriages nor in the case of + the chapels, can prescription be set up against the letter of the law. In + both cases there is a just claim to relief such as the legislature alone + can afford. In both the legislature is willing to grant that relief. But + this will not satisfy the orthodox Presbyterian. He demands with equal + vehemence two things, that he shall be relieved, and that nobody else + shall be relieved. In the same breath he tells us that it would be most + iniquitous not to pass a retrospective law for his benefit, and that it + would be most iniquitous to pass a retrospective law for the benefit of + his fellow sufferers. I never was more amused than by reading, the other + day, a speech made by a person of great note among the Irish Presbyterians + on the subject of these marriages. "Is it to be endured," he says, "that + the mummies of old and forgotten laws are to be dug up and unswathed for + the annoyance of dissenters?" And yet a few hours later, this eloquent + orator is himself hard at work in digging up and unswathing another set of + mummies for the annoyance of another set of dissenters. I should like to + know how he and such as he would look if we Churchmen were to assume the + same tone towards them which they think it becoming to assume towards the + Unitarian body; if we were to say, "You and those whom you would oppress + are alike out of our pale. If they are heretics in your opinion, you are + schismatics in ours. Since you insist on the letter of the law against + them, we will insist on the letter of the law against you. You object to + ex post facto statutes; and you shall have none. You think it reasonable + that men should, in spite of a prescription of eighty or ninety years, be + turned out of a chapel built with their own money, and a cemetery where + their own kindred lie, because the original title was not strictly legal. + We think it equally reasonable that those contracts which you have + imagined to be marriages, but which are now adjudged not to be legal + marriages, should be treated as nullities." I wish from my soul that some + of these orthodox dissenters would recollect that the doctrine which they + defend with so much zeal against the Unitarians is not the whole sum and + substance of Christianity, and that there is a text about doing unto + others as you would that they should do unto you. + </p> + <p> + To any intelligent man who has no object except to do justice, the + Trinitarian dissenter and the Unitarian dissenter who are now asking us + for relief will appear to have exactly the same right to it. There is, + however, I must own, one distinction between the two cases. The + Trinitarian dissenters are a strong body, and especially strong among the + electors of towns. They are of great weight in the State. Some of us may + probably, by voting to-night against their wishes, endanger our seats in + this House. The Unitarians, on the other hand, are few in number. Their + creed is unpopular. Their friendship is likely to injure a public man more + than their enmity. If therefore there be among us any person of a nature + at once tyrannical and cowardly, any person who delights in persecution, + but is restrained by fear from persecuting powerful sects, now is his + time. He never can have a better opportunity of gratifying his malevolence + without risk of retribution. But, for my part, I long ago espoused the + cause of religious liberty, not because that cause was popular, but + because it was just; and I am not disposed to abandon the principles to + which I have been true through my whole life in deference to a passing + clamour. The day may come, and may come soon, when those who are now + loudest in raising that clamour may again be, as they have formerly been, + suppliants for justice. When that day comes I will try to prevent others + from oppressing them, as I now try to prevent them from oppressing others. + In the meantime I shall contend against their intolerance with the same + spirit with which I may hereafter have to contend for their rights. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SUGAR DUTIES. (FEBRUARY 26, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE 26TH OF FEBRUARY, 1845. + </h2> + <p> + On the twenty-sixth of February, 1845, on the question that the order of + the day for going into Committee of Ways and Means should be read, Lord + John Russell moved the following amendment:—"That it is the opinion + of this House that the plan proposed by Her Majesty's Government, in + reference to the Sugar Duties, professes to keep up a distinction between + foreign free labour sugar and foreign slave labour sugar, which is + impracticable and illusory; and, without adequate benefit to the consumer, + tends so greatly to impair the revenue as to render the removal of the + Income and Property Tax at the end of three years extremely uncertain and + improbable." The amendment was rejected by 236 votes to 142. In the debate + the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + Sir, if the question now at issue were merely a financial or a commercial + question, I should be unwilling to offer myself to your notice: for I am + well aware that there are, both on your right and on your left hand, many + gentlemen far more deeply versed in financial and commercial science than + myself; and I should think that I discharged my duty better by listening + to them than by assuming the office of a teacher. But, Sir, the question + on which we are at issue with Her Majesty's Ministers is neither a + financial nor a commercial question. I do not understand it to be disputed + that, if we were to pronounce our decision with reference merely to fiscal + and mercantile considerations, we should at once adopt the plan + recommended by my noble friend. Indeed the right honourable gentleman, the + late President of the Board of Trade (Mr Gladstone.), has distinctly + admitted this. He says that the Ministers of the Crown call upon us to + sacrifice great pecuniary advantages and great commercial facilities, for + the purpose of maintaining a moral principle. Neither in any former debate + nor in the debate of this night has any person ventured to deny that, both + as respects the public purse and as respects the interests of trade, the + course recommended by my noble friend is preferable to the course + recommended by the Government. + </p> + <p> + The objections to my noble friend's amendment, then, are purely moral + objections. We lie, it seems, under a moral obligation to make a + distinction between the produce of free labour and the produce of slave + labour. Now I should be very unwilling to incur the imputation of being + indifferent to moral obligations. I do, however, think that it is in my + power to show strong reasons for believing that the moral obligation + pleaded by the Ministers has no existence. If there be no such moral + obligation, then, as it is conceded on the other side that all fiscal and + commercial arguments are on the side of my noble friend, it follows that + we ought to adopt his amendment. + </p> + <p> + The right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board of Trade, + has said that the Government does not pretend to act with perfect + consistency as to this distinction between free labour and slave labour. + It was, indeed, necessary that he should say this; for the policy of the + Government is obviously most inconsistent. Perfect consistency, I admit, + we are not to expect in human affairs. But, surely, there is a decent + consistency which ought to be observed; and of this the right honourable + gentleman himself seems to be sensible; for he asks how, if we admit sugar + grown by Brazilian slaves, we can with decency continue to stop Brazilian + vessels engaged in the slave trade. This argument, whatever be its value, + proceeds on the very correct supposition that the test of sincerity in + individuals, in parties, and in governments, is consistency. The right + honourable gentleman feels, as we must all feel, that it is impossible to + give credit for good faith to a man who on one occasion pleads a scruple + of conscience as an excuse for not doing a certain thing, and who on other + occasions, where there is no essential difference of circumstances, does + that very thing without any scruple at all. I do not wish to use such a + word as hypocrisy, or to impute that odious vice to any gentleman on + either side of the House. But whoever declares one moment that he feels + himself bound by a certain moral rule, and the next moment, in a case + strictly similar, acts in direct defiance of that rule, must submit to + have, if not his honesty, yet at least his power of discriminating right + from wrong very gravely questioned. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, I deny the existence of the moral obligation pleaded by the + Government. I deny that we are under any moral obligation to turn our + fiscal code into a penal code, for the purpose of correcting vices in the + institutions of independent states. I say that, if you suppose such a + moral obligation to be in force, the supposition leads to consequences + from which every one of us would recoil, to consequences which would throw + the whole commercial and political system of the world into confusion. I + say that, if such a moral obligation exists, our financial legislation is + one mass of injustice and inhumanity. And I say more especially that, if + such a moral obligation exists, the right honourable Baronet's Budget is + one mass of injustice and inhumanity. + </p> + <p> + Observe, I am not disputing the paramount authority of moral obligation. I + am not setting up pecuniary considerations against moral considerations. I + know that it would be not only a wicked but a shortsighted policy, to aim + at making a nation like this great and prosperous by violating the laws of + justice. To those laws, enjoin what they may, I am prepared to submit. But + I will not palter with them: I will not cite them to-day in order to serve + one turn, and quibble them away to-morrow in order to serve another. I + will not have two standards of right; one to be applied when I wish to + protect a favourite interest at the public cost; and another to be applied + when I wish to replenish the Exchequer, and to give an impulse to trade. I + will not have two weights or two measures. I will not blow hot and cold, + play fast and loose, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Can the + Government say as much? Are gentlemen opposite prepared to act in + conformity with their own principle? They need not look long for + opportunities. The Statute Book swarms with enactments directly opposed to + the rule which they profess to respect. I will take a single instance from + our existing laws, and propound it to the gentlemen opposite as a test, if + I must not say of their sincerity, yet of their power of moral + discrimination. Take the article of tobacco. Not only do you admit the + tobacco of the United States which is grown by slaves; not only do you + admit the tobacco of Cuba which is grown by slaves, and by slaves, as you + tell us, recently imported from Africa; but you actually interdict the + free labourer of the United Kingdom from growing tobacco. You have long + had in your Statute Book laws prohibiting the cultivation of tobacco in + England, and authorising the Government to destroy all tobacco plantations + except a few square yards, which are suffered to exist unmolested in + botanical gardens, for purposes of science. These laws did not extend to + Ireland. The free peasantry of Ireland began to grow tobacco. The + cultivation spread fast. Down came your legislation upon it; and now, if + the Irish freeman dares to engage in competition with the slaves of + Virginia and Havannah, you exchequer him; you ruin him; you grub up his + plantation. Here, then, we have a test by which we may try the consistency + of the gentlemen opposite. I ask you, are you prepared, I do not say to + exclude the slave grown tobacco, but to take away from slave grown tobacco + the monopoly which you now give to it, and to permit the free labourer of + the United Kingdom to enter into competition on equal terms, on any terms, + with the negro who works under the lash? I am confident that the three + right honourable gentleman opposite, the First Lord of the Treasury, the + Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the late President of the Board of Trade, + will all with one voice answer "No." And why not? "Because," say they, "it + will injure the revenue. True it is," they will say, "that the tobacco + imported from abroad is grown by slaves, and by slaves many of whom have + been recently carried across the Atlantic in defiance, not only of justice + and humanity, but of law and treaty. True it is that the cultivators of + the United Kingdom are freemen. But then on the imported tobacco we are + able to raise at the Custom House a duty of six hundred per cent., + sometimes indeed of twelve hundred per cent.: and, if tobacco were grown + here, it would be difficult to get an excise duty of even a hundred per + cent. We cannot submit to this loss of revenue; and therefore we must give + a monopoly to the slaveholder, and make it penal in the freeman to evade + that monopoly." You may be right; but, in the name of common sense, be + consistent. If this moral obligation of which you talk so much be one + which may with propriety yield to fiscal considerations, let us have + Brazilian sugars. If it be paramount to all fiscal considerations, let us + at least have British snuff and cigars. + </p> + <p> + The present Ministers may indeed plead that they are not the authors of + the laws which prohibit the cultivation of tobacco in Great Britain and + Ireland. That is true. The present Government found those laws in + existence: and no doubt there is good sense in the Conservative doctrine + that many things which ought not to have been set up ought not, when they + have been set up, to be hastily and rudely pulled down. But what will the + right honourable Baronet urge in vindication of his own new budget? He is + not content with maintaining laws which he finds already existing in + favour of produce grown by slaves. He introduces a crowd of new laws to + the same effect. He comes down to the House with a proposition for + entirely taking away the duties on the importation of raw cotton. He + glories in this scheme. He tells us that it is in strict accordance with + the soundest principles of legislation. He tells us that it will be a + blessing to the country. I agree with him, and I intend to vote with him. + But how is all this cotton grown? Is it not grown by slaves? Again I say, + you may be right; but, in the name of common sense, be consistent. I saw, + with no small amusement, a few days ago, a paragraph by one of the right + honourable Baronet's eulogists, which was to the following effect:—"Thus + has this eminent statesman given to the English labourer a large supply of + a most important raw material, and has manfully withstood those ravenous + Whigs who wished to inundate our country with sugar dyed in negro blood." + With what I should like to know, is the right honourable Baronet's cotton + dyed? + </p> + <p> + Formerly, indeed, an attempt was made to distinguish between the + cultivation of cotton and the cultivation of sugar. The cultivation of + sugar, it was said, was peculiarly fatal to the health and life of the + slave. But that plea, whatever it may have been worth, must now be + abandoned; for the right honourable Baronet now proposes to reduce, to a + very great extent, the duty on slave grown sugar imported from the United + States. + </p> + <p> + Then a new distinction is set up. The United States, it is said, have + slavery; but they have no slave trade. I deny that assertion. I say that + the sugar and cotton of the United States are the fruits, not only of + slavery, but of the slave trade. And I say further that, if there be on + the surface of this earth a country which, before God and man, is more + accountable than any other for the misery and degradation of the African + race, that country is not Brazil, the produce of which the right + honourable Baronet excludes, but the United States, the produce of which + he proposes to admit on more favourable terms than ever. I have no + pleasure in going into an argument of this nature. I do not conceive that + it is the duty of a member of the English Parliament to discuss abuses + which exist in other societies. Such discussion seldom tends to produce + any reform of such abuses, and has a direct tendency to wound national + pride, and to inflame national animosities. I would willingly avoid this + subject; but the right honourable Baronet leaves me no choice. He turns + this House into a Court of Judicature for the purpose of criticising and + comparing the institutions of independent States. He tells us that our + Tariff is to be made an instrument for rewarding the justice and humanity + of some Foreign Governments, and for punishing the barbarity of others. He + binds up the dearest interests of my constituents with questions with + which otherwise I should, as a Member of Parliament, have nothing to do. I + would gladly keep silence on such questions. But it cannot be. The + tradesmen and the professional men whom I represent say to me, "Why are we + to be loaded, certainly for some years, probably for ever, with a tax, + admitted by those who impose it to be grievous, unequal, inquisitorial? + Why are we to be loaded in time of peace with burdens heretofore reserved + for the exigencies of war?" The paper manufacturer, the soap manufacturer, + say, "Why, if the Income Tax is to be continued, are our important and + suffering branches of industry to have no relief?" And the answer is, + "Because Brazil does not behave so well as the United States towards the + negro race." Can I then avoid instituting a comparison? Am I not bound to + bring to the test the truth of an assertion pregnant with consequences so + momentous to those who have sent me hither? I must speak out; and, if what + I say gives offence and produces inconvenience, for that offence and for + that inconvenience the Government is responsible. + </p> + <p> + I affirm, then, that there exists in the United States a slave trade, not + less odious or demoralising, nay, I do in my conscience believe, more + odious and more demoralising than that which is carried on between Africa + and Brazil. North Carolina and Virginia are to Louisiana and Alabama what + Congo is to Rio Janeiro. The slave States of the Union are divided into + two classes, the breeding States, where the human beasts of burden + increase and multiply and become strong for labour, and the sugar and + cotton States to which those beasts of burden are sent to be worked to + death. To what an extent the traffic in man is carried on we may learn by + comparing the census of 1830 with the census of 1840. North Carolina and + Virginia are, as I have said, great breeding States. During the ten years + from 1830 to 1840 the slave population of North Carolina was almost + stationary. The slave population of Virginia positively decreased. Yet, + both in North Carolina and Virginia propagation was, during those ten + years, going on fast. The number of births among the slaves in those + States exceeded by hundreds of thousands the number of the deaths. What + then became of the surplus? Look to the returns from the Southern States, + from the States whose produce the right honourable Baronet proposes to + admit with reduced duty or with no duty at all; and you will see. You will + find that the increase in the breeding States was barely sufficient to + meet the demand of the consuming States. In Louisiana, for example, where + we know that the negro population is worn down by cruel toil, and would + not, if left to itself, keep up its numbers, there were, in 1830, one + hundred and seven thousand slaves; in 1840, one hundred and seventy + thousand. In Alabama, the slave population during those ten years much + more than doubled; it rose from one hundred and seventeen thousand to two + hundred and fifty-three thousand. In Mississippi it actually tripled. It + rose from sixty-five thousand to one hundred and ninety-five thousand. So + much for the extent of this slave trade. And as to its nature, ask any + Englishman who has ever travelled in the Southern States. Jobbers go about + from plantation to plantation looking out for proprietors who are not easy + in their circumstances, and who are likely to sell cheap. A black boy is + picked up here; a black girl there. The dearest ties of nature and of + marriage are torn asunder as rudely as they were ever torn asunder by any + slave captain on the coast of Guinea. A gang of three or four hundred + negroes is made up; and then these wretches, handcuffed, fettered, guarded + by armed men, are driven southward, as you would drive,—or rather as + you would not drive,—a herd of oxen to Smithfield, that they may + undergo the deadly labour of the sugar mill near the mouth of the + Mississippi. A very few years of that labour in that climate suffice to + send the stoutest African to his grave. But he can well be spared. While + he is fast sinking into premature old age, negro boys in Virginia are + growing up as fast into vigorous manhood to supply the void which cruelty + is making in Louisiana. God forbid that I should extenuate the horrors of + the slave trade in any form! But I do think this its worst form. Bad + enough is it that civilised men should sail to an uncivilised quarter of + the world where slavery exists, should there buy wretched barbarians, and + should carry them away to labour in a distant land: bad enough! But that a + civilised man, a baptized man, a man proud of being a citizen of a free + state, a man frequenting a Christian church, should breed slaves for + exportation, and, if the whole horrible truth must be told, should even + beget slaves for exportation, should see children, sometimes his own + children, gambolling around him from infancy, should watch their growth, + should become familiar with their faces, and should then sell them for + four or five hundred dollars a head, and send them to lead in a remote + country a life which is a lingering death, a life about which the best + thing that can be said is that it is sure to be short; this does, I own, + excite a horror exceeding even the horror excited by that slave trade + which is the curse of the African coast. And mark: I am not speaking of + any rare case, of any instance of eccentric depravity. I am speaking of a + trade as regular as the trade in pigs between Dublin and Liverpool, or as + the trade in coals between the Tyne and the Thames. + </p> + <p> + There is another point to which I must advert. I have no wish to apologise + for slavery as it exists in Brazil; but this I say, that slavery, as it + exists in Brazil, though a fearful evil, seems to me a much less hopeless + evil than slavery as it exists in the United States. In estimating the + character of negro slavery we must never forget one most important + ingredient; an ingredient which was wanting to slavery as it was known to + the Greeks and Romans; an ingredient which was wanting to slavery as it + appeared in Europe during the middle ages; I mean the antipathy of colour. + Where this antipathy exists in a high degree, it is difficult to conceive + how the white masters and the black labourers can ever be mingled + together, as the lords and villeins in many parts of the Old World have + been, in one free community. Now this antipathy is notoriously much + stronger in the United States than in the Brazils. In the Brazils the free + people of colour are numerous. They are not excluded from honourable + callings. You may find among them merchants, physicians, lawyers: many of + them bear arms; some have been admitted to holy orders. Whoever knows what + dignity, what sanctity, the Church of Rome ascribes to the person of a + priest, will at once perceive the important consequences which follow from + this last circumstance. It is by no means unusual to see a white penitent + kneeling before the spiritual tribunal of a negro, confessing his sins to + a negro, receiving absolution from a negro. It is by no means unusual to + see a negro dispensing the Eucharist to a circle of whites. I need not + tell the House what emotions of amazement and of rage such a spectacle + would excite in Georgia or South Carolina. Fully admitting, therefore, as + I do, that Brazilian slavery is a horrible evil, I yet must say that, if I + were called upon to declare whether I think the chances of the African + race on the whole better in Brazil or in the United States, I should at + once answer that they are better in Brazil. I think it not improbable that + in eighty or a hundred years the black population of Brazil may be free + and happy. I see no reasonable prospect of such a change in the United + States. + </p> + <p> + The right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board of Trade, + has said much about that system of maritime police by which we have + attempted to sweep slave trading vessels from the great highway of + nations. Now what has been the conduct of Brazil, and what has been the + conduct of the United States, as respects that system of police? Brazil + has come into the system; the United States have thrown every impediment + in the way of the system. What opinion Her Majesty's Ministers entertain + respecting the Right of Search we know from a letter of my Lord Aberdeen + which has, within a few days, been laid on our table. I believe that I + state correctly the sense of that letter when I say that the noble Earl + regards the Right of Search as an efficacious means, and as the only + efficacious means, of preventing the maritime slave trade. He expresses + most serious doubts whether any substitute can be devised. I think that + this check would be a most valuable one, if all nations would submit to + it; and I applaud the humanity which has induced successive British + administrations to exert themselves for the purpose of obtaining the + concurrence of foreign Powers in so excellent a plan. Brazil consented to + admit the Right of Search; the United States refused, and by refusing + deprived the Right of Search of half its value. Not content with refusing + to admit the Right of Search, they even disputed the right of visit, a + right which no impartial publicist in Europe will deny to be in strict + conformity with the Law of Nations. Nor was this all. In every part of the + Continent of Europe the diplomatic agents of the Cabinet of Washington + have toiled to induce other nations to imitate the example of the United + States. You cannot have forgotten General Cass's letter. You cannot have + forgotten the terms in which his Government communicated to him its + approbation of his conduct. You know as well as I do that, if the United + States had submitted to the Right of Search, there would have been no + outcry against that right in France. Nor do I much blame the French. It is + but natural that, when one maritime Power makes it a point of honour to + refuse us this right, other maritime Powers should think that they cannot, + without degradation, take a different course. It is but natural that a + Frenchman, proud of his country, should ask why the tricolor is to be less + respected then the stars and stripes. The right honourable gentleman says + that, if we assent to my noble friend's amendment, we shall no longer be + able to maintain the Right of Search. Sir, he need not trouble himself + about that right. It is already gone. We have agreed to negotiate on the + subject with France. Everybody knows how that negotiation will end. The + French flag will be exempted from search: Spain will instantly demand, if + she has not already demanded, similar exemption; and you may as well let + her have it with a good grace, and without wrangling. For a Right of + Search, from which the flags of France and America are exempted, is not + worth a dispute. The only system, therefore, which, in the opinion of Her + Majesty's Ministers, has yet been found efficacious for the prevention of + the maritime slave trade, is in fact abandoned. And who is answerable for + this? The United States of America. The chief guilt even of the slave + trade between Africa and Brazil lies, not with the Government of Brazil, + but with that of the United States. And yet the right honourable Baronet + proposes to punish Brazil for the slave trade, and in the same breath + proposes to show favour to the United States, because the United States + are pure from the crime of slave trading. I thank the right honourable + gentleman, the late President of the Board of Trade, for reminding me of + Mr Calhoun's letter. I could not have wished for a better illustration of + my argument. Let anybody who has read that letter say what is the country + which, if we take on ourselves to avenge the wrongs of Africa, ought to be + the first object of our indignation. The Government of the United States + has placed itself on a bad eminence to which Brazil never aspired, and + which Brazil, even if aspiring to it, never could attain. The Government + of the United States has formally declared itself the patron, the champion + of negro slavery all over the world, the evil genius, the Arimanes of the + African race, and seems to take pride in this shameful and odious + distinction. I well understand that an American statesman may say, + "Slavery is a horrible evil; but we were born to it, we see no way at + present to rid ourselves of it: and we must endure it as we best may." + Good and enlightened men may hold such language; but such is not the + language of the American Cabinet. That Cabinet is actuated by a + propagandist spirit, and labours to spread servitude and barbarism with an + ardour such as no other Government ever showed in the cause of freedom and + civilisation. Nay more; the doctrine held at Washington is that this holy + cause sanctifies the most unholy means. These zealots of slavery think + themselves justified in snatching away provinces on the right hand and on + the left, in defiance of public faith and international law, from + neighbouring countries which have free institutions, and this avowedly for + the purpose of diffusing over a wider space the greatest curse that + afflicts humanity. They put themselves at the head of the slavedriving + interest throughout the world, just as Elizabeth put herself at the head + of the Protestant interest; and wherever their favourite institution is in + danger, are ready to stand by it as Elizabeth stood by the Dutch. This, + then, I hold to be demonstrated, that of all societies now existing, the + Republic of the United States is by far the most culpable as respects + slavery and the slave trade. + </p> + <p> + Now then I come to the right honourable Baronet's Budget. He tells us, + that he will not admit Brazilian sugar, because the Brazilian Government + tolerates slavery and connives at the slave trade; and he tells us at the + same time, that he will admit the slave grown cotton and the slave grown + sugar of the United States. I am utterly at a loss to understand how he + can vindicate his consistency. He tells us that if we adopt my noble + friend's proposition, we shall give a stimulus to the slave trade between + Africa and Brazil. Be it so. But is it not equally clear that, if we adopt + the right honourable Baronet's own propositions, we shall give a stimulus + to the slave trade between Virginia and Louisiana? I have not the least + doubt that, as soon as the contents of his Budget are known on the other + side of the Atlantic, the slave trade will become more active than it is + at this moment; that the jobbers in human flesh and blood will be more + busy than ever; that the droves of manacled negroes, moving southward to + their doom, will be more numerous on every road. These will be the fruits + of the right honourable Baronet's measure. Yet he tells us that this part + of his Budget is framed on sound principles and will greatly benefit the + country; and he tells us truth. I mean to vote with him; and I can + perfectly, on my own principles, reconcile to my conscience the vote which + I shall give. How the right honourable Baronet can reconcile the course + which he takes to his conscience, I am at a loss to conceive, and am not a + little curious to know. No man is more capable than he of doing justice to + any cause which he undertakes; and it would be most presumptuous in me to + anticipate the defence which he means to set up. But I hope that the House + will suffer me, as one who feels deeply on this subject, now to explain + the reasons which convince me that I ought to vote for the right + honourable Baronet's propositions respecting the produce of the United + States. In explaining those reasons, I at the same time explain the + reasons which induce me to vote with my noble friend to-night. + </p> + <p> + I say then, Sir, that I fully admit the paramount authority of moral + obligations. But it is important that we should accurately understand the + nature and extent of those obligations. We are clearly bound to wrong no + man. Nay, more, we are bound to regard all men with benevolence. But to + every individual, and to every society, Providence has assigned a sphere + within which benevolence ought to be peculiarly active; and if an + individual or a society neglects what lies within that sphere in order to + attend to what lies without, the result is likely to be harm and not good. + </p> + <p> + It is thus in private life. We should not be justified in injuring a + stranger in order to benefit ourselves or those who are dearest to us. + Every stranger is entitled, by the laws of humanity, to claim from us + certain reasonable good offices. But it is not true that we are bound to + exert ourselves to serve a mere stranger as we are bound to exert + ourselves to serve our own relations. A man would not be justified in + subjecting his wife and children to disagreeable privations, in order to + save even from utter ruin some foreigner whom he never saw. And if a man + were so absurd and perverse as to starve his own family in order to + relieve people with whom he had no acquaintance, there can be little doubt + that his crazy charity would produce much more misery than happiness. + </p> + <p> + It is the same with nations. No statesmen ought to injure other countries + in order to benefit his own country. No statesman ought to lose any fair + opportunity of rendering to foreign nations such good offices as he can + render without a breach of the duty which he owes to the society of which + he is a member. But, after all, our country is our country, and has the + first claim on our attention. There is nothing, I conceive, of + narrow-mindedness in this patriotism. I do not say that we ought to prefer + the happiness of one particular society to the happiness of mankind; but I + say that, by exerting ourselves to promote the happiness of the society + with which we are most nearly connected, and with which we are best + acquainted, we shall do more to promote the happiness of mankind than by + busying ourselves about matters which we do not fully understand, and + cannot efficiently control. + </p> + <p> + There are great evils connected with the factory system in this country. + Some of those evils might, I am inclined to think, be removed or mitigated + by legislation. On that point many of my friends differ from me; but we + all agree in thinking that it is the duty of a British Legislator to + consider the subject attentively, and with a serious sense of + responsibility. There are also great social evils in Russia. The peasants + of that empire are in a state of servitude. The sovereign of Russia is + bound by the most solemn obligations to consider whether he can do + anything to improve the condition of that large portion of his subjects. + If we watch over our factory children, and he watches over his peasants, + much good may be done. But would any good be done if the Emperor of Russia + and the British Parliament were to interchange functions; if he were to + take under his patronage the weavers of Lancashire, if we were to take + under our patronage the peasants of the Volga; if he were to say, "You + shall send no cotton to Russia till you pass a ten Hours' Bill;" if we + were to say, "You shall send no hemp or tallow to England till you + emancipate your serfs?" + </p> + <p> + On these principles, Sir, which seem to me to be the principles of plain + common sense, I can, without resorting to any casuistical subtilties, + vindicate to my own conscience, and, I hope, to my country, the whole + course which I have pursued with respect to slavery. When I first came + into Parliament, slavery still existed in the British dominions. I had, as + it was natural that I should have, a strong feeling on the subject. I + exerted myself, according to my station and to the measure of my + abilities, on the side of the oppressed. I shrank from no personal + sacrifice in that cause. I do not mention this as matter of boast. It was + no more than my duty. The right honourable gentleman, the Secretary of + State for the Home Department, knows that, in 1833, I disapproved of one + part of the measure which Lord Grey's Government proposed on the subject + of slavery. I was in office; and office was then as important to me as it + could be to any man. I put my resignation into the hands of Lord Spencer, + and both spoke and voted against the Administration. To my surprise, Lord + Grey and Lord Spencer refused to accept my resignation, and I remained in + office; but during some days I considered myself as out of the service of + the Crown. I at the same time heartily joined in laying a heavy burden on + the country for the purpose of compensating the planters. I acted thus, + because, being a British Legislator, I thought myself bound, at any cost + to myself and to my constituents, to remove a foul stain from the British + laws, and to redress the wrongs endured by persons who, as British + subjects, were placed under my guardianship. But my especial obligations + in respect of negro slavery ceased when slavery itself ceased in that part + of the world for the welfare of which I, as a member of this House, was + accountable. As for the blacks in the United States, I feel for them, God + knows. But I am not their keeper. I do not stand in the same relation to + the slaves of Louisiana and Alabama in which I formerly stood to the + slaves of Demerara and Jamaica. I am bound, on the other hand, by the most + solemn obligations, to promote the interests of millions of my own + countrymen, who are indeed by no means in a state so miserable and + degraded as that of the slaves in the United States, but who are toiling + hard from sunrise to sunset in order to obtain a scanty subsistence; who + are often scarcely able to procure the necessaries of life; and whose lot + would be alleviated if I could open new markets to them, and free them + from taxes which now press heavily on their industry. I see clearly that, + by excluding the produce of slave labour from our ports, I should inflict + great evil on my fellow-subjects and constituents. But the good which, by + taking such a course, I should do to the negroes in the United States + seems to me very problematical. That by admitting slave grown cotton and + slave grown sugar we do, in some sense, encourage slavery and the Slave + Trade, may be true. But I doubt whether, by turning our fiscal code into a + penal code for restraining the cruelty of the American planters, we should + not, on the whole, injure the negroes rather than benefit them. No + independent nation will endure to be told by another nation, "We are more + virtuous than you; we have sate in judgment on your institutions; we find + them to be bad; and, as a punishment for your offences, we condemn you to + pay higher duties at our Custom House than we demand from the rest of the + world." Such language naturally excites the resentment of foreigners. I + can make allowance for their susceptibility. For I myself sympathise with + them, I know that Ireland has been misgoverned; and I have done, and + purpose to do, my best to redress her grievances. But when I take up a New + York journal, and read there the rants of President Tyler's son, I feel so + much disgusted by such insolent absurdity that I am for a moment inclined + to deny that Ireland has any reason whatever to complain. It seems to me + that if ever slavery is peaceably extinguished in the United States, that + great and happy change must be brought about by the efforts of those + enlightened and respectable American citizens who hate slavery as much as + we hate it. Now I cannot help fearing that, if the British Parliament were + to proclaim itself the protector and avenger of the American slave, the + pride of those excellent persons would take the alarm. It might become a + point of national honour with them to stand by an institution which they + have hitherto regarded as a national disgrace. We should thus confer no + benefit on the negro; and we should at the same time inflict cruel + suffering on our own countrymen. + </p> + <p> + On these grounds, Sir, I can, with a clear conscience, vote for the right + honourable Baronet's propositions respecting the cotton and sugar of the + United States. But on exactly the same grounds I can, with a clear + conscience, vote for the amendment of my noble friend. And I confess that + I shall be much surprised if the right honourable Baronet shall be able to + point out any distinction between the cases. + </p> + <p> + I have detained you too long, Sir; yet there is one point to which I must + refer; I mean the refining. Was such a distinction ever heard of? Is there + anything like it in all Pascal's Dialogues with the old Jesuit? Not for + the world are we to eat one ounce of Brazilian sugar. But we import the + accursed thing; we bond it; we employ our skill and machinery to render it + more alluring to the eye and to the palate; we export it to Leghorn and + Hamburg; we send it to all the coffee houses of Italy and Germany: we + pocket a profit on all this; and then we put on a Pharisaical air, and + thank God that we are not like those wicked Italians and Germans who have + no scruple about swallowing slave grown sugar. Surely this sophistry is + worthy only of the worst class of false witnesses. "I perjure myself! Not + for the world. I only kissed my thumb; I did not put my lips to the + calf-skin." I remember something very like the right honourable Baronet's + morality in a Spanish novel which I read long ago. I beg pardon of the + House for detaining them with such a trifle; but the story is much to the + purpose. A wandering lad, a sort of Gil Blas, is taken into the service of + a rich old silversmith, a most pious man, who is always telling his beads, + who hears mass daily, and observes the feasts and fasts of the church with + the utmost scrupulosity. The silversmith is always preaching honesty and + piety. "Never," he constantly repeats to his young assistant, "never touch + what is not your own; never take liberties with sacred things." Sacrilege, + as uniting theft with profaneness, is the sin of which he has the deepest + horror. One day, while he is lecturing after his usual fashion, an + ill-looking fellow comes into the shop with a sack under his arm. "Will + you buy these?" says the visitor, and produces from the sack some church + plate and a rich silver crucifix. "Buy them!" cries the pious man. "No, + nor touch them; not for the world. I know where you got them. Wretch that + you are, have you no care for your soul?" "Well then," says the thief, "if + you will not buy them, will you melt them down for me?" "Melt them down!" + answers the silver smith, "that is quite another matter." He takes the + chalices and the crucifix with a pair of tongs; the silver, thus in bond, + is dropped into the crucible, melted, and delivered to the thief, who lays + down five pistoles and decamps with his booty. The young servant stares at + this strange scene. But the master very gravely resumes his lecture. "My + son," he says, "take warning by that sacrilegious knave, and take example + by me. Think what a load of guilt lies on his conscience. You will see him + hanged before long. But as to me, you saw that I would not touch the + stolen property. I keep these tongs for such occasions. And thus I thrive + in the fear of God, and manage to turn an honest penny." You talk of + morality. What can be more immoral than to bring ridicule on the very name + of morality, by drawing distinctions where there are no differences? Is it + not enough that this dishonest casuistry has already poisoned our + theology? Is it not enough that a set of quibbles has been devised, under + cover of which a divine may hold the worst doctrines of the Church of + Rome, and may hold with them the best benefice of the Church of England? + Let us at least keep the debates of this House free from the sophistry of + Tract Number Ninety. + </p> + <p> + And then the right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board + of Trade, wonders that other nations consider our abhorrence of slavery + and the Slave Trade as sheer hypocrisy. Why, Sir, how should it be + otherwise? And, if the imputation annoys us, whom have we to thank for it? + Numerous and malevolent as our detractors are, none of them was ever so + absurd as to charge us with hypocrisy because we took slave grown tobacco + and slave grown cotton, till the Government began to affect scruples about + admitting slave grown sugar. Of course, as soon as our Ministers + ostentatiously announced to all the world that our fiscal system was + framed on a new and sublime moral principle, everybody began to inquire + whether we consistently adhered to that principle. It required much less + acuteness and much less malevolence than that of our neighbours to + discover that this hatred of slave grown produce was mere grimace. They + see that we not only take tobacco produced by means of slavery and of the + Slave Trade, but that we positively interdict freemen in this country from + growing tobacco. They see that we not only take cotton produced by means + of slavery and of the Slave Trade, but that we are about to exempt this + cotton from all duty. They see that we are at this moment reducing the + duty on the slave grown sugar of Louisiana. How can we expect them to + believe that it is from a sense of justice and humanity that we lay a + prohibitory duty on the sugar of Brazil? I care little for the abuse which + any foreign press or any foreign tribune may throw on the Machiavelian + policy of perfidious Albion. What gives me pain is, not that the charge of + hypocrisy is made, but that I am unable to see how it is to be refuted. + </p> + <p> + Yet one word more. The right honourable gentleman, the late President of + the Board of Trade, has quoted the opinions of two persons, highly + distinguished by the exertions which they made for the abolition of + slavery, my lamented friend, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, and Sir Stephen + Lushington. It is most true that those eminent persons did approve of the + principle laid down by the right honourable Baronet opposite in 1841. I + think that they were in error; but in their error I am sure that they were + sincere, and I firmly believe that they would have been consistent. They + would have objected, no doubt, to my noble friend's amendment; but they + would have objected equally to the right honourable Baronet's budget. It + was not prudent, I think, in gentlemen opposite to allude to those + respectable names. The mention of those names irresistibly carries the + mind back to the days of the great struggle for negro freedom. And it is + but natural that we should ask where, during that struggle, were those who + now profess such loathing for slave grown sugar? The three persons who are + chiefly responsible for the financial and commercial policy of the present + Government I take to be the right honourable Baronet at the head of the + Treasury, the right honourable gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, + and the right honourable gentleman the late President of the Board of + Trade. Is there anything in the past conduct of any one of the three which + can lead me to believe that his sensibility to the evils of slavery is + greater than mine? I am sure that the right honourable Baronet the first + Lord of the Treasury would think that I was speaking ironically if I were + to compliment him on his zeal for the liberty of the negro race. Never + once, during the whole of the long and obstinate conflict which ended in + the abolition of slavery in our colonies, did he give one word, one sign + of encouragement to those who suffered and laboured for the good cause. + The whole weight of his great abilities and influence was in the other + scale. I well remember that, so late as 1833, he declared in this House + that he could give his assent neither to the plan of immediate + emancipation proposed by my noble friend who now represents Sunderland + (Lord Howick.), nor to the plan of gradual emancipation proposed by Lord + Grey's government. I well remember that he said, "I shall claim no credit + hereafter on account of this bill; all that I desire is to be absolved + from the responsibility." As to the other two right honourable gentlemen + whom I have mentioned, they are West Indians; and their conduct was that + of West Indians. I do not wish to give them pain, or to throw any + disgraceful imputation on them. Personally I regard them with feelings of + goodwill and respect. I do not question their sincerity; but I know that + the most honest men are but too prone to deceive themselves into the + belief that the path towards which they are impelled by their own + interests and passions is the path of duty. I am conscious that this might + be my own case; and I believe it to be theirs. As the right honourable + gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has left the House, I will + only say that, with respect to the question of slavery, he acted after the + fashion of the class to which he belonged. But as the right honourable + gentleman, the late President of the Board of Trade, is in his place, he + must allow me to bring to his recollection the part which he took in the + debates of 1833. He then said, "You raise a great clamour about the + cultivation of sugar. You say that it is a species of industry fatal to + the health and life of the slave. I do not deny that there is some + difference between the labour of a sugar plantation and the labour of a + cotton plantation, or a coffee plantation. But the difference is not so + great as you think. In marshy soils, the slaves who cultivate the sugar + cane suffer severely. But in Barbadoes, where the air is good, they thrive + and multiply." He proceeded to say that, even at the worst, the labour of + a sugar plantation was not more unhealthy than some kinds of labour in + which the manufacturers of England are employed, and which nobody thinks + of prohibiting. He particularly mentioned grinding. "See how grinding + destroys the health, the sight, the life. Yet there is no outcry against + grinding." He went on to say that the whole question ought to be left by + Parliament to the West Indian Legislature. [Mr Gladstone: "Really I never + said so. You are not quoting me at all correctly."] What, not about the + sugar cultivation and the grinding? [Mr Gladstone: "That is correct; but I + never recommended that the question should be left to the West Indian + Legislatures."] I have quoted correctly. But since my right honourable + friend disclaims the sentiment imputed to him by the reporters, I shall + say no more about it. I have no doubt that he is quite right, and that + what he said was misunderstood. What is undisputed is amply sufficient for + my purpose. I see that the persons who now show so much zeal against + slavery in foreign countries, are the same persons who formerly + countenanced slavery in the British Colonies. I remember a time when they + maintained that we were bound in justice to protect slave grown sugar + against the competition of free grown sugar, and even of British free + grown sugar. I now hear them calling on us to protect free grown sugar + against the competition of slave grown sugar. I remember a time when they + extenuated as much as they could the evils of the sugar cultivation. I now + hear them exaggerating those evils. But, devious as their course has been, + there is one clue by which I can easily track them through the whole maze. + Inconstant in everything else, they are constant in demanding protection + for the West Indian planter. While he employs slaves, they do their best + to apologise for the evils of slavery. As soon as he is forced to employ + freemen, they begin to cry up the blessings of freedom. They go round the + whole compass, and yet to one point they steadfastly adhere: and that + point is the interest of the West Indian proprietors. I have done, Sir; + and I thank the House most sincerely for the patience and indulgence with + which I have been heard. I hope that I have at least vindicated my own + consistency. How Her Majesty's Ministers will vindicate their consistency, + how they will show that their conduct has at all times been guided by the + same principles, or even that their conduct at the present time is guided + by any fixed principle at all, I am unable to conjecture. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MAYNOOTH. (APRIL 14, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON + THE 14TH OF APRIL, 1845. + </h2> + <p> + On Saturday the eleventh of April, 1845, Sir Robert Peel moved the second + reading of the Maynooth College Bill. After a debate of six nights the + motion was carried by 323 votes to 176. On the second night the following + Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + I do not mean, Sir, to follow the honourable gentleman who has just sate + down into a discussion on an amendment which is not now before us. When my + honourable friend the Member for Sheffield shall think it expedient to + make a motion on that important subject to which he has repeatedly called + the attention of the House, I may, perhaps, ask to be heard. At present I + shall content myself with explaining the reasons which convince me that it + is my duty to vote for the second reading of this bill; and I cannot, I + think, better explain those reasons than by passing in review, as rapidly + as I can, the chief objections which have been made to the bill here and + elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + The objectors, Sir, may be divided into three classes. The first class + consists of those persons who object, not to the principle of the grant to + Maynooth College, but merely to the amount. The second class consists of + persons who object on principle to all grants made to a church which they + regard as corrupt. The third class consists of persons who object on + principle to all grants made to churches, whether corrupt or pure. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, of those three classes the first is evidently that which takes + the most untenable ground. How any person can think that Maynooth College + ought to be supported by public money, and yet can think this bill too bad + to be suffered to go into Committee, I do not well understand. I am forced + however to believe that there are many such persons. For I cannot but + remember that the old annual vote attracted scarcely any notice; and I see + that this bill has produced violent excitement. I cannot but remember that + the old annual vote used to pass with very few dissentients; and I see + that great numbers of gentlemen, who never were among those dissentients, + have crowded down to the House in order to divide against this bill. It is + indeed certain that a large proportion, I believe a majority, of those + members who cannot, as they assure us, conscientiously support the plan + proposed by the right honourable Baronet at the head of the Government, + would without the smallest scruple have supported him if he had in this, + as in former years, asked us to give nine thousand pounds for twelve + months. So it is: yet I cannot help wondering that it should be so. For + how can any human ingenuity turn a question between nine thousand pounds + and twenty-six thousand pounds, or between twelve months and an indefinite + number of months, into a question of principle? Observe: I am not now + answering those who maintain that nothing ought to be given out of the + public purse to a corrupt church; nor am I now answering those who + maintain that nothing ought to be given out of the public purse to any + church whatever. They, I admit, oppose this bill on principle. I perfectly + understand, though I do not myself hold, the opinion of the zealous + voluntary who says, "Whether the Roman Catholic Church teaches truth or + error, she ought to have no assistance from the State." I also perfectly + understand, though I do not myself hold, the opinion of the zealous + Protestant who says, "The Roman Catholic Church teaches error, and + therefore ought to have no assistance from the State." But I cannot + understand the reasoning of the man who says, "In spite of the errors of + the Roman Catholic Church, I think that she ought to have some assistance + from the State; but I am bound to mark my abhorrence of her errors by + doling out to her a miserable pittance. Her tenets are so absurd and + noxious that I will pay the professor who teaches them wages less than I + should offer to my groom. Her rites are so superstitious that I will take + care that they shall be performed in a chapel with a leaky roof and a + dirty floor. By all means let us keep her a college, provided only that it + be a shabby one. Let us support those who are intended to teach her + doctrines and to administer her sacraments to the next generation, + provided only that every future priest shall cost us less than a foot + soldier. Let us board her young theologians; but let their larder be so + scantily supplied that they may be compelled to break up before the + regular vacation from mere want of food. Let us lodge them; but let their + lodging be one in which they may be packed like pigs in a stye, and be + punished for their heterodoxy by feeling the snow and the wind through the + broken panes." Is it possible to conceive anything more absurd or more + disgraceful? Can anything be clearer than this, that whatever it is lawful + to do it is lawful to do well? If it be right that we should keep up this + college at all, it must be right that we should keep it up respectably. + Our national dignity is concerned. For this institution, whether good or + bad, is, beyond all dispute, a very important institution. Its office is + to form the character of those who are to form the character of millions. + Whether we ought to extend any patronage to such an institution is a + question about which wise and honest men may differ. But that, as we do + extend our patronage to such an institution, our patronage ought to be + worthy of the object, and worthy of the greatness of our country, is a + proposition from which I am astonished to hear any person dissent. + </p> + <p> + It is, I must say, with a peculiarly bad grace that one of the members for + the University to which I have the honour to belong (The Honourable + Charles Law, Member for the University of Cambridge.), a gentleman who + never thought himself bound to say a word or to give a vote against the + grant of nine thousand pounds, now vehemently opposes the grant of + twenty-six thousand pounds as exorbitant. When I consider how munificently + the colleges of Cambridge and Oxford are endowed, and with what pomp + religion and learning are there surrounded; when I call to mind the long + streets of palaces, the towers and oriels, the venerable cloisters, the + trim gardens, the organs, the altar pieces, the solemn light of the + stained windows, the libraries, the museums, the galleries of painting and + sculpture; when I call to mind also the physical comforts which are + provided both for instructors and for pupils; when I reflect that the very + sizars and servitors are far better lodged and fed than those students who + are to be, a few years hence, the priests and bishops of the Irish people; + when I think of the spacious and stately mansions of the heads of houses, + of the commodious chambers of the fellows and scholars, of the + refectories, the combination rooms, the bowling greens, the stabling, of + the state and luxury of the great feast days, of the piles of old plate on + the tables, of the savoury steam of the kitchens, of the multitudes of + geese and capons which turn at once on the spits, of the oceans of + excellent ale in the butteries; and when I remember from whom all this + splendour and plenty is derived; when I remember what was the faith of + Edward the Third and of Henry the Sixth, of Margaret of Anjou and Margaret + of Richmond, of William of Wykeham and William of Waynefleet, of + Archbishop Chicheley and Cardinal Wolsey; when I remember what we have + taken from the Roman Catholics, King's College, New College, Christ + Church, my own Trinity; and when I look at the miserable Dotheboys Hall + which we have given them in exchange, I feel, I must own, less proud than + I could wish of being a Protestant and a Cambridge man. + </p> + <p> + Some gentlemen, it is true, have made an attempt to show that there is a + distinction of principle between the old grant which they have always + supported and the larger grant which they are determined to oppose. But + never was attempt more unsuccessful. They say that, at the time of the + Union, we entered into an implied contract with Ireland to keep up this + college. We are therefore, they argue, bound by public faith to continue + the old grant; but we are not bound to make any addition to that grant. + Now, Sir, on this point, though on no other, I do most cordially agree + with those petitioners who have, on this occasion, covered your table with + such huge bales of spoiled paper and parchment. I deny the existence of + any such contract. I think myself perfectly free to vote for the abolition + of this college, if I am satisfied that it is a pernicious institution; as + free as I am to vote against any item of the ordnance estimates; as free + as I am to vote for a reduction of the number of marines. It is strange, + too, that those who appeal to this imaginary contract should not perceive + that, even if their fiction be admitted as true, it will by no means get + them out of their difficulty. Tell us plainly what are the precise terms + of the contract which you suppose Great Britain to have made with Ireland + about this college. Whatever the terms be, they will not serve your + purpose. Was the contract this, that the Imperial Parliament would do for + the college what the Irish Parliament had been used to do? Or was the + contract this, that the Imperial Parliament would keep the college in a + respectable and efficient state? If the former was the contract, nine + thousand pounds would be too much. If the latter was the contract, you + will not, I am confident, be able to prove that twenty-six thousand pounds + is too little. + </p> + <p> + I have now, I think, said quite as much as need be said in answer to those + who maintain that we ought to give support to this college, but that the + support ought to be niggardly and precarious. I now come to another and a + much more formidable class of objectors. Their objections may be simply + stated thus. No man can justifiably, either as an individual or as a + trustee for the public, contribute to the dissemination of religious + error. But the church of Rome teaches religious error. Therefore we cannot + justifiably contribute to the support of an institution of which the + object is the dissemination of the doctrines of the Church of Rome. Now, + Sir, I deny the major of this syllogism. I think that there are occasions + on which we are bound to contribute to the dissemination of doctrines with + which errors are inseparably intermingled. Let me be clearly understood. + The question is not whether we should teach truth or teach error, but + whether we should teach truth adulterated with error, or teach no truth at + all. The constitution of the human mind is such that it is impossible to + provide any machinery for the dissemination of truth which shall not, with + the truth, disseminate some error. Even those rays which come down to us + from the great source of light, pure as they are in themselves, no sooner + enter that gross and dark atmosphere in which we dwell than the they are + so much refracted, discoloured, and obscured, that they too often lead us + astray. It will be generally admitted that, if religious truth can be + anywhere found untainted by error, it is in the Scriptures. Yet is there + actually on the face of the globe a single copy of the Scriptures of which + it can be said that it contains truth absolutely untainted with error? Is + there any manuscript, any edition of the Old or New Testament in the + original tongues, which any scholar will pronounce faultless? But to the + vast majority of Christians the original tongues are and always must be + unintelligible. With the exception of perhaps one man in ten thousand, we + must be content with translations. And is there any translation in which + there are not numerous mistakes? Are there not numerous mistakes even in + our own authorised version, executed as that version was with painful + diligence and care, by very able men, and under very splendid patronage? + Of course mistakes must be still more numerous in those translations which + pious men have lately made into Bengalee, Hindostanee, Tamul, Canarese, + and other Oriental tongues. I admire the zeal, the industry, the energy of + those who, in spite of difficulties which to ordinary minds would seem + insurmountable, accomplished that arduous work. I applaud those benevolent + societies which munificently encouraged that work. But I have been assured + by good judges that the translations have many faults. And how should it + have been otherwise? How should an Englishman produce a faultless + translation from the Hebrew into the Cingalese? I say, therefore, that + even the Scriptures, in every form in which men actually possess them, + contain a certain portion of error. And, if this be so, how can you look + for pure undefecated truth in any other composition? You contribute, + without any scruple, to the printing of religious tracts, to the + establishing of Sunday Schools, to the sending forth of missionaries. But + are your tracts perfect? Are your schoolmasters infallible? Are your + missionaries inspired? Look at the two churches which are established in + this island. Will you say that they both teach truth without any mixture + of error? That is impossible. For they teach different doctrines on more + than one important subject. It is plain therefore, that if, as you tell + us, it be a sin in a state to patronise an institution which teaches + religious error, either the Church of England or the Church of Scotland + ought to be abolished. But will anybody even venture to affirm that either + of those churches teaches truth without any mixture of error? Have there + not long been in the Church of Scotland two very different schools of + theology? During many years, Dr Robertson, the head of the moderate party, + and Dr Erskine, the head of the Calvinistic party, preached under the same + roof, one in the morning, the other in the evening. They preached two + different religions, so different that the followers of Robertson thought + the followers of Erskine fanatics, and the followers of Erskine thought + the followers of Robertson Arians or worse. And is there no mixture of + error in the doctrine taught by the clergy of the Church of England? Is + not the whole country at this moment convulsed by disputes as to what the + doctrine of the Church on some important subjects really is? I shall not + take on myself to say who is right and who is wrong. But this I say with + confidence, that, whether the Tractarians or the Evangelicals be in the + right, many hundreds of those divines who every Sunday occupy the pulpits + of our parish churches must be very much in the wrong. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, I see that many highly respectable persons, who think it a sin + to contribute to the teaching of error at Maynooth College, think it not + merely lawful, but a sacred duty, to contribute to the teaching of error + in the other cases which I have mentioned. They know that our version of + the Bible contains some error. Yet they subscribe to the Bible Society. + They know that the Serampore translations contain a still greater quantity + of error. Yet they give largely towards the printing and circulating of + those translations. My honourable friend the Member for the University of + Oxford will not deny that there is among the clergy of the Church of + England a Puritan party, and also an Anti-puritan party, and that one of + these parties must teach some error. Yet he is constantly urging us to + grant to this Church an additional endowment of I know not how many + hundreds of thousands of pounds. He would doubtless defend himself by + saying that nothing on earth is perfect; that the purest religious society + must consist of human beings, and must have those defects which arise from + human infirmities; and that the truths held by the established clergy, + though not altogether unalloyed with error, are so precious, that it is + better that they should be imparted to the people with the alloy than that + they should not be imparted at all. Just so say I. I am sorry that we + cannot teach pure truth to the Irish people. But I think it better that + they should have important and salutary truth, polluted by some error, + than that they should remain altogether uninstructed. I heartily wish that + they were Protestants. But I had rather that they should be Roman + Catholics than that they should have no religion at all. Would you, says + one gentleman, teach the people to worship Jugernaut or Kalee? Certainly + not. My argument leads to no such conclusion. The worship of Jugernaut and + Kalee is a curse to mankind. It is much better that people should be + without any religion than that they should believe in a religion which + enjoins prostitution, suicide, robbery, assassination. But will any + Protestant deny that it is better that the Irish should be Roman Catholics + than that they should live and die like the beasts of the field, indulge + their appetites without any religious restraint, suffer want and calamity + without any religious consolation, and go to their graves without any + religious hope? These considerations entirely satisfy my mind. Of course I + would not propagate error for its own sake. To do so would be not merely + wicked, but diabolical. But, in order that I may be able to propagate + truth, I consent to propagate that portion of error which adheres to + truth, and which cannot be separated from truth. I wish Christianity to + have a great influence on the peasantry of Ireland. I see no probability + that Christianity will have that influence except in one form. That form I + consider as very corrupt. Nevertheless, the good seems to me greatly to + predominate over the evil; and therefore, being unable to get the good + alone, I am content to take the good and the evil together. + </p> + <p> + I now come to the third class of our opponents. I mean those who take + their stand on the voluntary principle. I will not, on this occasion, + inquire whether they are right in thinking that governments ought not to + contribute to the support of any religion, true or false. For it seems to + me that, even if I were to admit that the general rule is correctly laid + down by them, the present case would be an exception to that rule. The + question on which I am about to vote is not whether the State shall or + shall not give any support to religion in Ireland. The State does give + such support, and will continue to give such support, whatever may be the + issue of this debate. The only point which we have now to decide is + whether, while such support is given, it shall be given exclusively to the + religion of the minority. Here is an island with a population of near + eight millions, and with a wealthy established church, the members of + which are little more than eight hundred thousand. There is an archbishop + with ten thousand a year. If I recollect rightly, seventy thousand pounds + are divided among twelve prelates. At the same time the Protestant + dissenters in the north of Ireland receive, in another form, support from + the State. But the great majority of the population, the poorest part of + the population, the part of the population which is most in need of + assistance, the part of the population which holds that faith for the + propagation of which the tithes were originally set apart, and the church + lands originally given, is left to maintain its own priests. Now is not + this a case which stands quite by itself? And may not even those who hold + the general proposition, that every man ought to pay his own spiritual + pastor, yet vote, without any inconsistency, for this bill? I was + astonished to hear the honourable Member for Shrewsbury (Mr Disraeli.) + tell us that, if we make this grant, it will be impossible for us to + resist the claims of any dissenting sect. He particularly mentioned the + Wesleyan Methodists. Are the cases analogous? Is there the slightest + resemblance between them? Let the honourable gentleman show me that of the + sixteen millions of people who inhabit England thirteen millions are + Wesleyan Methodists. Let him show me that the members of the Established + Church in England are only one tenth of the population. Let him show me + that English dissenters who are not Wesleyan Methodists receive a Regium + Donum. Let him show me that immense estates bequeathed to John Wesley for + the propagation of Methodism have, by Act of Parliament, been taken from + the Methodists and given to the Church. If he can show me this, I promise + him that, whenever the Wesleyan Methodists shall ask for twenty-six + thousand pounds a year to educate their ministers, I shall be prepared to + grant their request. But neither the case of the Methodists nor any other + case which can be mentioned, resembles the case with which we have to do. + Look round Europe, round the world, for a parallel; and you will look in + vain. Indeed the state of things which exists in Ireland never could have + existed had not Ireland been closely connected with a country, which + possessed a great superiority of power, and which abused that superiority. + The burden which we are now, I hope, about to lay on ourselves is but a + small penalty for a great injustice. Were I a staunch voluntary, I should + still feel that, while the church of eight hundred thousand people retains + its great endowments, I should not be justified in refusing this small + boon to the church of eight millions. + </p> + <p> + To sum up shortly what I have said; it is clear to me in the first place + that, if we have no religious scruple about granting to this College nine + thousand pounds for one year, we ought to have no religious scruple about + granting twenty-six thousand pounds a year for an indefinite term. + </p> + <p> + Secondly, it seems to me that those persons who tell us that we ought + never in any circumstances to contribute to the propagation of error do in + fact lay down a rule which would altogether interdict the propagation of + truth. + </p> + <p> + Thirdly, it seems to me that, even on the hypothesis that the voluntary + principle is the sound principle, the present case is an excepted case, to + which it would be unjust and unwise to apply that principle. + </p> + <p> + So much, Sir, as to this bill; and now let me add a few words about those + by whom it has been framed and introduced. We were exhorted, on the first + night of this debate, to vote against the bill, without inquiring into its + merits, on the ground that, good or bad, it was proposed by men who could + not honestly and honourably propose it. A similar appeal has been made to + us this evening. In these circumstances, Sir, I must, not I hope from + party spirit, not, I am sure, from personal animosity, but from a regard + for the public interest, which must be injuriously affected by everything + which tends to lower the character of public men, say plainly what I think + of the conduct of Her Majesty's Ministers. Undoubtedly it is of the + highest importance that we should legislate well. But it is also of the + highest importance that those who govern us should have, and should be + known to have, fixed principles, and should be guided by those principles + both in office and in opposition. It is of the highest importance that the + world should not be under the impression that a statesman is a person who, + when he is out, will profess and promise anything in order to get in, and + who, when he is in, will forget all that he professed and promised when he + was out. I need not, I suppose, waste time in proving that a law may be in + itself an exceedingly good law, and yet that it may be a law which, when + viewed in connection with the former conduct of those who proposed it, may + prove them to be undeserving of the confidence of their country. When this + is the case, our course is clear. We ought to distinguish between the law + and its authors. The law we ought, on account of its intrinsic merits, to + support. Of the authors of the law, it may be our duty to speak in terms + of censure. + </p> + <p> + In such terms I feel it to be my duty to speak of Her Majesty's present + advisers. I have no personal hostility to any of them; and that political + hostility which I do not disavow has never prevented me from doing justice + to their abilities and virtues. I have always admitted, and I now most + willingly admit, that the right honourable Baronet at the head of the + Government possesses many of the qualities of an excellent minister, + eminent talents for debate, eminent talents for business, great + experience, great information, great skill in the management of this + House. I will go further, and say that I give him full credit for a + sincere desire to promote the welfare of his country. Nevertheless, it is + impossible for me to deny that there is too much ground for the reproaches + of those who, having, in spite of a bitter experience, a second time + trusted him, now find themselves a second time deluded. I cannot but see + that it has been too much his practice, when in opposition, to make use of + passions with which he has not the slightest sympathy, and of prejudices + which he regards with profound contempt. As soon as he is in power a + change takes place. The instruments which have done his work are flung + aside. The ladder by which he has climbed is kicked down. I am forced to + say that the right honourable Baronet acts thus habitually and on system. + The instance before us is not a solitary instance. I do not wish to dwell + on the events which took place seventeen or eighteen years ago, on the + language which the right honourable Baronet held about the Catholic + question when he was out of power in 1827, and on the change which twelve + months of power produced. I will only say that one such change was quite + enough for one life. Again the right honourable Baronet was in opposition; + and again he employed his old tactics. I will not minutely relate the + history of the manoeuvres by which the Whig Government was overthrown. It + is enough to say that many powerful interests were united against that + Government under the leading of the right honourable Baronet, and that of + those interests there is not one which is not now disappointed and + complaining. To confine my remarks to the subject immediately before us—can + any man deny that, of all the many cries which were raised against the + late administration, that which most strongly stirred the public mind was + the cry of No Popery? Is there a single gentleman in the House who doubts + that, if, four years ago, my noble friend the Member for the City of + London had proposed this bill, he would have been withstood by every + member of the present Cabinet? Four years ago, Sir, we were discussing a + very different bill. The party which was then in opposition, and which is + now in place, was attempting to force through Parliament a law, which bore + indeed a specious name, but of which the effect would have been to + disfranchise the Roman Catholic electors of Ireland by tens of thousands. + It was in vain that we argued, that we protested, that we asked for the + delay of a single session, for delay till an inquiry could be made, for + delay till a Committee should report. We were told that the case was one + of extreme urgency, that every hour was precious, that the House must, + without loss of time, be purged of the minions of Popery. These arts + succeeded. A change of administration took place. The right honourable + Baronet came into power. He has now been near four years in power. He has + had a Parliament which would, beyond all doubt, have passed eagerly and + gladly that Registration Bill which he and his colleagues had pretended + that they thought indispensable to the welfare of the State. And where is + that bill now? Flung away; condemned by its own authors; pronounced by + them to be so oppressive, so inconsistent with all the principles of + representative government, that, though they had vehemently supported it + when they were on your left hand, they could not think of proposing it + from the Treasury Bench. And what substitute does the honourable Baronet + give his followers to console them for the loss of their favourite + Registration Bill? Even this bill for the endowment of Maynooth College. + Was such a feat of legerdemain ever seen? And can we wonder that the + eager, honest, hotheaded Protestants, who raised you to power in the + confident hope that you would curtail the privileges of the Roman + Catholics, should stare and grumble when you propose to give public money + to the Roman Catholics? Can we wonder that, from one end of the country to + the other, everything should be ferment and uproar, that petitions should, + night after night, whiten all our benches like a snowstorm? Can we wonder + that the people out of doors should be exasperated by seeing the very men + who, when we were in office, voted against the old grant to Maynooth, now + pushed and pulled into the House by your whippers-in to vote for an + increased grant? The natural consequences follow. All those fierce + spirits, whom you hallooed on to harass us, now turn round and begin to + worry you. The Orangeman raises his war-whoop: Exeter Hall sets up its + bray: Mr Macneile shudders to see more costly cheer than ever provided for + the priests of Baal at the table of the Queen; and the Protestant + operatives of Dublin call for impeachments in exceedingly bad English. But + what did you expect? Did you think, when, to serve your turn, you called + the Devil up, that it was as easy to lay him as to raise him? Did you + think, when you went on, session after session, thwarting and reviling + those whom you knew to be in the right, and flattering all the worst + passions of those whom you knew to be in the wrong, that the day of + reckoning would never come? It has come. There you sit, doing penance for + the disingenuousness of years. If it be not so, stand up manfully and + clear your fame before the House and the country. Show us that some steady + principle has guided your conduct with respect to Irish affairs. Show us + how, if you are honest in 1845, you can have been honest in 1841. Explain + to us why, after having goaded Ireland to madness for the purpose of + ingratiating yourselves with the English, you are now setting England on + fire for the purpose of ingratiating yourselves with the Irish. Give us + some reason which shall prove that the policy which you are following, as + Ministers, is entitled to support, and which shall not equally prove you + to have been the most factious and unprincipled opposition that ever this + country saw. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, am I, because I think thus of the conduct of Her Majesty's + Ministers, to take the counsel of the honourable member for Shrewsbury and + to vote against their bill? Not so. I know well that the fate of this bill + and the fate of the administration are in our hands. But far be it from us + to imitate the arts by which we were overthrown. The spectacle exhibited + on the bench opposite will do quite mischief enough. That mischief will + not be lessened, but doubled, if there should be an answering display of + inconsistency on this side of the House. If this bill, having been + introduced by Tories, shall be rejected by Whigs, both the great parties + in the State will be alike discredited. There will be one vast shipwreck + of all the public character in the country. Therefore, making up my mind + to sacrifices which are not unattended with pain, and repressing some + feelings which stir strongly within me, I have determined to give my + strenuous support to this bill. Yes, Sir, to this bill, and to every bill + which shall seem to me likely to promote the real Union of Great Britain + and Ireland, I will give my support, regardless of obloquy, regardless of + the risk which I may run of losing my seat in Parliament. For such obloquy + I have learned to consider as true glory; and as to my seat I am + determined that it never shall be held by an ignominious tenure; and I am + sure that it can never be lost in a more honourable cause. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. (APRIL 23, 1845.) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE + OF COMMONS ON THE 23RD OF APRIL 1845. + </h2> + <p> + On the twenty-third of April 1845, the order of the day for going into + Committee on the Maynooth College Bill was read. On the motion that the + Speaker should leave the chair, Mr Ward, Member for Sheffield, proposed + the following amendment:— + </p> + <p> + "That it is the opinion of this House that any provision to be made for + the purposes of the present Bill ought to be taken from the funds already + applicable to ecclesiastical purposes in Ireland." + </p> + <p> + After a debate of two nights the amendment was rejected by 322 votes to + 148. On the first night the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + I was desirous, Sir, to catch your eye this evening, because it happens + that I have never yet found an opportunity of fully explaining my views on + the important subject of the Irish Church. Indeed, I was not in this + country when that subject for a time threw every other into the shade, + disturbed the whole political world, produced a schism in the + Administration of Lord Grey, and overthrew the short Administration of the + right honourable Baronet opposite. The motion now before us opens, I + conceive, the whole question. My honourable friend the Member for + Sheffield, indeed, asks us only to transfer twenty-six thousand pounds a + year from the Established Church of Ireland to the College of Maynooth. + But this motion, I think, resembles an action of ejectment brought for a + single farm, with the view of trying the title to a large estate. Whoever + refuses to assent to what is now proposed must be considered as holding + the opinion that the property of the Irish Church ought to be held + inviolate: and I can scarcely think that any person will vote for what is + now proposed, who is not prepared to go very much farther. The point at + issue, I take, therefore, to be this; whether the Irish Church, as now + constituted, shall be maintained or not? + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, when a legislator is called up to decide whether an institution + shall be maintained or not, it seems to me that he ought in the first + place to examine whether it be a good or a bad institution. This may sound + like a truism; but if I am to judge by the speeches which, on this and + former occasions, have been made by gentlemen opposite, it is no truism, + but an exceedingly recondite truth. I, Sir, think the Established Church + of Ireland a bad institution. I will go farther. I am not speaking in + anger, or with any wish to excite anger in others; I am not speaking with + rhetorical exaggeration: I am calmly and deliberately expressing, in the + only appropriate terms, an opinion which I formed many years ago, which + all my observations and reflections have confirmed, and which I am + prepared to support by reasons, when I say that, of all the institutions + now existing in the civilised world, the Established Church of Ireland + seems to me the most absurd. + </p> + <p> + I cannot help thinking that the speeches of those who defend this Church + suffice of themselves to prove that my views are just. For who ever heard + anybody defend it on its merits? Has any gentleman to-night defended it on + its merits? We are told of the Roman Catholic oath; as if that oath, + whatever be its meaning, whatever be the extent of the obligation which it + lays on the consciences of those who take it, could possibly prove this + Church to be a good thing. We are told that Roman Catholics of note, both + laymen and divines, fifty years ago, declared that, if they were relieved + from the disabilities under which they then lay, they should willingly see + the Church of Ireland in possession of all its endowments: as if anything + that anybody said fifty years ago could absolve us from the plain duty of + doing what is now best for the country. We are told of the Fifth Article + of Union; as if the Fifth Article of Union were more sacred than the + Fourth. Surely, if there be any article of the Union which ought to be + regarded as inviolable, it is the Fourth, which settles the number of + members whom Great Britain and Ireland respectively are to send to + Parliament. Yet the provisions of the Fourth Article have been altered + with the almost unanimous assent of all parties in the State. The change + was proposed by the noble lord who is now Secretary for the Colonies. It + was supported by the right honourable Baronet the Secretary for the Home + Department, and by other members of the present Administration. And so far + were the opponents of the Reform Bill from objecting to this infraction of + the Treaty of Union that they were disposed to go still farther. I well + remember the night on which we debated the question, whether Members + should be given to Finsbury, Marylebone, Lambeth, and the Tower Hamlets. + On that occasion, the Tories attempted to seduce the Irish Reformers from + us by promising that Ireland should have a share of the plunder of the + metropolitan districts. After this, Sir, I must think it childish in + gentlemen opposite to appeal to the Fifth Article of the Union. With still + greater surprise, did I hear the right honourable gentleman the Secretary + for Ireland say that, if we adopt this amendment, we shall make all landed + and funded property insecure. I am really ashamed to answer such an + argument. Nobody proposes to touch any vested interest; and surely it + cannot be necessary for me to point out to the right honourable gentleman + the distinction between property in which some person has a vested + interest, and property in which no person has a vested interest. That + distinction is part of the very rudiments of political science. Then the + right honourable gentleman quarrels with the form of the amendment. Why, + Sir, perhaps a more convenient form might have been adopted. But is it by + cavils like these that a great institution should be defended? And who + ever heard the Established Church of Ireland defended except by cavils + like these? Who ever heard any of her advocates speak a manly and + statesmanlike language? Who ever heard any of her advocates say, "I defend + this institution because it is a good institution: the ends for which an + Established Church exists are such and such: and I will show you that this + Church attains those ends?" Nobody says this. Nobody has the hardihood to + say it. What divine, what political speculator who has written in defence + of ecclesiastical establishments, ever defended such establishments on + grounds which will support the Church of Ireland? What panegyric has ever + been pronounced on the Churches of England and Scotland, which is not a + satire on the Church of Ireland? What traveller comes among us who is not + moved to wonder and derision by the Church of Ireland? What foreign writer + on British affairs, whether European or American, whether Protestant or + Catholic, whether Conservative or Liberal, whether partial to England or + prejudiced against England, ever mentions the Church of Ireland without + expressing his amazement that such an establishment should exist among + reasonable men? + </p> + <p> + And those who speak thus of this Church speak justly. Is there anything + else like it? Was there ever anything else like it? The world is full of + ecclesiastical establishments: but such a portent as this Church of + Ireland is nowhere to be found. Look round the Continent of Europe. + Ecclesiastical establishments from the White Sea to the Mediterranean: + ecclesiastical establishments from the Wolga to the Atlantic: but nowhere + the Church of a small minority enjoying exclusive establishment. Look at + America. There you have all forms of Christianity, from Mormonism, if you + call Mormonism Christianity, to Romanism. In some places you have the + voluntary system. In some you have several religions connected with the + state. In some you have the solitary ascendency of a single Church. But + nowhere, from the Arctic Circle to Cape Horn, do you find the Church of a + small minority exclusively established. Look round our own empire. We have + an Established Church in England; it is the Church of the majority. There + is an Established Church in Scotland. When it was set up, it was the + Church of the majority. A few months ago, it was the Church of the + majority. I am not quite sure that, even after the late unhappy + disruption, it is the Church of the minority. In our colonies the State + does much for the support of religion; but in no colony, I believe, do we + give exclusive support to the religion of the minority. Nay, even in those + parts of empire where the great body of the population is attached to + absurd and immoral superstitions, you have not been guilty of the folly + and injustice of calling on them to pay for a Church which they do not + want. We have not portioned out Bengal and the Carnatic into parishes, and + scattered Christian rectors, with stipends and glebes, among millions of + Pagans and Mahometans. We keep, indeed, a small Christian establishment, + or rather three small Christian establishments, Anglican, Presbyterian, + and Catholic. But we keep them only for the Christians in our civil and + military services; and we leave untouched the revenues of the mosques and + temples. In one country alone is to be seen the spectacle of a community + of eight millions of human beings, with a Church which is the Church of + only eight hundred thousand. + </p> + <p> + It has been often said, and has been repeated to-night by the honourable + Member for Radnor, that this Church, though it includes only a tenth part + of the population, has more than half the wealth of Ireland. But is that + an argument in favour of the present system? Is it not the strongest + argument that can be urged in favour of an entire change? It is true that + there are many cases in which it is fit that property should prevail over + number. Those cases may, I think, be all arranged in two classes. One + class consists of those cases in which the preservation or improvement of + property is the object in view. Thus, in a railway company, nothing can be + more reasonable than that one proprietor who holds five hundred shares + should have more power than five proprietors who hold one share each. The + other class of cases in which property may justly confer privileges is + where superior intelligence is required. Property is indeed but a very + imperfect test of intelligence. But, when we are legislating on a large + scale, it is perhaps the best which we can apply. For where there is no + property, there can very seldom be any mental cultivation. It is on this + principle that special jurors, who have to try causes of peculiar nicety, + are taken from a wealthier order than that which furnishes common jurors. + But there cannot be a more false analogy than to reason from these cases + to the case of an Established Church. So far is it from being true that, + in establishing a Church, we ought to pay more regard to one rich man than + to five poor men, that the direct reverse is the sound rule. We ought to + pay more regard to one poor man than to five rich men. For, in the first + place, the public ordinances of religion are of far more importance to the + poor man than to the rich man. I do not mean to say that a rich man may + not be the better for hearing sermons and joining in public prayers. But + these things are not indispensable to him; and, if he is so situated that + he cannot have them, he may find substitutes. He has money to buy books, + time to study them, understanding to comprehend them. Every day he may + commune with the minds of Hooker, Leighton, and Barrow. He therefore + stands less in need of the oral instruction of a divine than a peasant who + cannot read, or who, if he can read, has no money to procure books, or + leisure to peruse them. Such a peasant, unless instructed by word of + mouth, can know no more of Christianity than a wild Hottentot. Nor is this + all. The poor man not only needs the help of a minister of religion more + than the rich man, but is also less able to procure it. If there were no + Established Church, people in our rank of life would always be provided + with preachers to their mind at an expense which they would scarcely feel. + But when a poor man, who can hardly give his children their fill of + potatoes, has to sell his pig in order to pay something to his priest, the + burden is a heavy one. This is, in fact, the strongest reason for having + an established church in any country. It is the one reason which prevents + me from joining with the partisans of the voluntary system. I should think + their arguments unanswerable if the question regarded the upper and middle + classes only. If I would keep up the Established Church of England, it is + not for the sake of lords, and baronets, and country gentlemen of five + thousand pounds a-year, and rich bankers in the city. I know that such + people will always have churches, aye, and cathedrals, and organs, and + rich communion plate. The person about whom I am uneasy is the working + man; the man who would find it difficult to pay even five shillings or ten + shillings a-year out of his small earnings for the ministrations of + religion. What is to become of him under the voluntary system? Is he to go + without religious instruction altogether? That we should all think a great + evil to himself, and a great evil to society. Is he to pay for it out of + his slender means? That would be a heavy tax. Is he to be dependent on the + liberality of others? That is a somewhat precarious and a somewhat + humiliating dependence. I prefer, I own, that system under which there is, + in the rudest and most secluded district, a house of God, where public + worship is performed after a fashion acceptable to the great majority of + the community, and where the poorest may partake of the ordinances of + religion, not as an alms, but as a right. But does this argument apply to + a Church like the Church of Ireland? It is not necessary on this occasion + to decide whether the arguments in favour of the ecclesiastical + establishments, or the arguments in favour of the voluntary system, be the + stronger. There are weighty considerations on both sides. Balancing them + as well as I can, I think that, as respects England, the preponderance is + on the side of the Establishment. But, as respects Ireland, there is no + balancing. All the weights are in one scale. All the arguments which + incline us against the Church of England, and all the arguments which + incline us in favour of the Church of England, are alike arguments against + the Church of Ireland; against the Church of the few; against the Church + of the wealthy; against the Church which, reversing every principle on + which a Christian Church should be founded, fills the rich with its good + things, and sends the hungry empty away. + </p> + <p> + One view which has repeatedly, both in this House and out of it, been + taken of the Church of Ireland, seems to deserve notice. It is admitted, + as indeed it could not well be denied, that this Church does not perform + the functions which are everywhere else expected from similar + institutions; that it does not instruct the body of the people; that it + does not administer religious consolation to the body of the people. But, + it is said, we must regard this Church as an aggressive Church, a + proselytising Church, a Church militant among spiritual enemies. Its + office is to spread Protestantism over Munster and Connaught. I remember + well that, eleven years ago, when Lord Grey's Government proposed to + reduce the number of Irish bishoprics, this language was held. It was + acknowledged that there were more bishops than the number of persons then + in communion with the Established Church required. But that number, we + were assured, would not be stationary; and the hierarchy, therefore, ought + to be constituted with a view to the millions of converts who would soon + require the care of Protestant pastors. I well remember the strong + expression which was then used by my honourable friend, the Member for the + University of Oxford. We must, he said, make allowance for the expansive + force of Protestantism. A few nights ago a noble lord for whom I, in + common with the whole House, feel the greatest respect, the Member for + Dorsetshire (Lord Ashley.), spoke of the missionary character of the + Church of Ireland. Now, Sir, if such language had been held at the Council + Board of Queen Elizabeth when the constitution of this Church was first + debated there, there would have been no cause for wonder. Sir William + Cecil or Sir Nicholas Bacon might very naturally have said, "There are few + Protestants now in Ireland, it is true. But when we consider how rapidly + the Protestant theology has spread, when we remember that it is little + more than forty years since Martin Luther began to preach against + indulgences, and when we see that one half of Europe is now emancipated + from the old superstition, we may reasonably expect that the Irish will + soon follow the example of the other nations which have embraced the + doctrines of the Reformation." Cecil, I say, and his colleagues might + naturally entertain this expectation, and might without absurdity make + preparations for an event which they regarded as in the highest degree + probable. But we, who have seen this system in full operation from the + year 1560 to the year 1845, ought to have been taught better, unless + indeed we are past all teaching. Two hundred and eighty-five years has + this Church been at work. What could have been done for it in the way of + authority, privileges, endowments, which has not been done? Did any other + set of bishops and priests in the world ever receive so much for doing so + little? Nay, did any other set of bishops and priests in the world ever + receive half as much for doing twice as much? And what have we to show for + all this lavish expenditure? What but the most zealous Roman Catholic + population on the face of the earth? Where you were one hundred years ago, + where you were two hundred years ago, there you are still, not victorious + over the domain of the old faith, but painfully and with dubious success + defending your own frontier, your own English pale. Sometimes a deserter + leaves you. Sometimes a deserter steals over to you. Whether your gains or + losses of this sort be the greater I do not know; nor is it worth while to + inquire. On the great solid mass of the Roman Catholic population you have + made no impression whatever. There they are, as they were ages ago, ten to + one against the members of your Established Church. Explain this to me. I + speak to you, the zealous Protestants on the other side of the House. + Explain this to me on Protestant principles. If I were a Roman Catholic, I + could easily account for the phenomena. If I were a Roman Catholic, I + should content myself with saying that the mighty hand and the + outstretched arm had been put forth, according to the promise, in defence + of the unchangeable Church; that He who in the old time turned into + blessings the curses of Balaam, and smote the host of Sennacherib, had + signally confounded the arts of heretic statesmen. But what is a + Protestant to say? He holds that, through the whole of this long conflict, + during which ten generations of men have been born and have died, reason + and Scripture have been on the side of the Established Clergy. Tell us + then what we are to say of this strange war, in which, reason and + Scripture backed by wealth, by dignity, by the help of the civil power, + have been found no match for oppressed and destitute error? The fuller our + conviction that our doctrines are right, the fuller, if we are rational + men, must be our conviction that our tactics have been wrong, and that we + have been encumbering the cause which we meant to aid. + </p> + <p> + Observe, it is not only the comparative number of Roman Catholics and + Protestants that may justly furnish us with matter for serious reflection. + The quality as well as the quantity of Irish Romanism deserves to be + considered. Is there any other country inhabited by a mixed population of + Catholics and Protestants, any other country in which Protestant doctrines + have long been freely promulgated from the press and from the pulpit, + where the Roman Catholics spirit is so strong as in Ireland? I believe + not. The Belgians are generally considered as very stubborn and zealous + Roman Catholics. But I do not believe that either in stubbornness or in + zeal they equal the Irish. And this is the fruit of three centuries of + Protestant archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, deans, and rectors. And yet + where is the wonder? Is this a miracle that we should stand aghast at it? + Not at all. It is a result which human prudence ought to have long ago + foreseen and long ago averted. It is the natural succession of effect to + cause. If you do not understand it, it is because you do not understand + what the nature and operation of a church is. There are parts of the + machinery of Government which may be just as efficient when they are hated + as when they are loved. An army, a navy, a preventive service, a police + force, may do their work whether the public feeling be with them or + against them. Whether we dislike the corn laws or not, your custom houses + and your coast guard keep out foreign corn. The multitude at Manchester + was not the less effectually dispersed by the yeomanry, because the + interference of the yeomanry excited the bitterest indignation. There the + object was to produce a material effect; the material means were + sufficient; and nothing more was required. But a Church exists for moral + ends. A Church exists to be loved, to be reverenced, to be heard with + docility, to reign in the understandings and hearts of men. A Church which + is abhorred is useless or worse than useless; and to quarter a hostile + Church on a conquered people, as you would quarter a soldiery, is + therefore the most absurd of mistakes. This mistake our ancestors + committed. They posted a Church in Ireland just as they posted garrisons + in Ireland. The garrisons did their work. They were disliked. But that + mattered not. They had their forts and their arms; and they kept down the + aboriginal race. But the Church did not do its work. For to that work the + love and confidence of the people were essential. + </p> + <p> + I may remark in passing that, even under more favourable circumstances a + parochial priesthood is not a good engine for the purpose of making + proselytes. The Church of Rome, whatever we may think of her ends, has + shown no want of sagacity in the choice of means; and she knows this well. + When she makes a great aggressive movement,—and many such movements + she has made with signal success,—she employs, not her parochial + clergy, but a very different machinery. The business of her parish priests + is to defend and govern what has been won. It is by the religious orders, + and especially by the Jesuits, that the great acquisitions have been made. + In Ireland your parochial clergy lay under two great disadvantages. They + were endowed, and they were hated; so richly endowed that few among them + cared to turn missionaries; so bitterly hated that those few had but + little success. They long contented themselves with receiving the + emoluments arising from their benefices, and neglected those means to + which, in other parts of Europe, Protestantism had owed its victory. It is + well known that of all the instruments employed by the Reformers of + Germany, of England, and of Scotland, for the purpose of moving the public + mind, the most powerful was the Bible translated into the vernacular + tongues. In Ireland the Protestant Church had been established near half a + century before the New Testament was printed in Erse. The whole Bible was + not printed in Erse till this Church had existed more than one hundred and + twenty years. Nor did the publication at last take place under the + patronage of the lazy and wealthy hierarchy. The expense was defrayed by a + layman, the illustrious Robert Boyle. So things went on century after + century. Swift, more than a hundred years ago, described the prelates of + his country as men gorged with wealth and sunk in indolence, whose chief + business was to bow and job at the Castle. The only spiritual function, he + says, which they performed was ordination; and, when he saw what persons + they ordained, he doubted whether it would not be better that they should + neglect that function as they neglected every other. Those, Sir, are now + living who can well remember how the revenues of the richest see in + Ireland were squandered on the shores of the Mediterranean by a bishop, + whose epistles, very different compositions from the epistles of Saint + Peter and Saint John, may be found in the correspondence of Lady Hamilton. + Such abuses as these called forth no complaint, no reprimand. And all this + time the true pastors of the people, meanly fed and meanly clothed, + frowned upon by the law, exposed to the insults of every petty squire who + gloried in the name of Protestant, were to be found in miserable cabins, + amidst filth, and famine, and contagion, instructing the young, consoling + the miserable, holding up the crucifix before the eyes of the dying. Is it + strange that, in such circumstances, the Roman Catholic religion should + have been constantly becoming dearer and dearer to an ardent and sensitive + people, and that your Established Church should have been constantly + sinking lower and lower in their estimation? I do not of course hold the + living clergy of the Irish Church answerable for the faults of their + predecessors. God forbid! To do so would be the most flagitious injustice. + I know that a salutary change has taken place. I have no reason to doubt + that in learning and regularity of life the Protestant clergy of Ireland + are on a level with the clergy of England. But in the way of making + proselytes they do as little as those who preceded them. An enmity of + three hundred years separates the nation from those who should be its + teachers. In short, it is plain that the mind of Ireland has taken its + ply, and is not to be bent in a different direction, or, at all events, is + not to be so bent by your present machinery. + </p> + <p> + Well, then, this Church is inefficient as a missionary Church. But there + is yet another end which, in the opinion of some eminent men, a Church is + meant to serve. That end has been often in the minds of practical + politicians. But the first speculative politician who distinctly pointed + it out was Mr Hume. Mr Hume, as might have been expected from his known + opinions, treated the question merely as it related to the temporal + happiness of mankind; and, perhaps, it may be doubted whether he took + quite a just view of the manner in which even the temporal happiness of + mankind is affected by the restraints and consolations of religion. He + reasoned thus:—It is dangerous to the peace of society that the + public mind should be violently excited on religious subjects. If you + adopt the voluntary system, the public mind will always be so excited. For + every preacher, knowing that his bread depends on his popularity, seasons + his doctrine high, and practises every art for the purpose of obtaining an + ascendency over his hearers. But when the Government pays the minister of + religion, he has no pressing motive to inflame the zeal of his + congregation. He will probably go through his duties in a somewhat + perfunctory manner. His power will not be very formidable; and, such as it + is, it will be employed in support of that order of things under which he + finds himself so comfortable. Now, Sir, it is not necessary to inquire + whether Mr Hume's doctrine be sound or unsound. For, sound or unsound, it + furnishes no ground on which you can rest the defence of the institution + which we are now considering. It is evident that by establishing in + Ireland the Church of the minority in connection with the State, you have + produced, in the very highest degree, all those evils which Mr Hume + considered as inseparable from the voluntary system. You may go all over + the world without finding another country where religious differences take + a form so dangerous to the peace of society; where the common people are + so much under the influence of their priests; or where the priests who + teach the common people are so completely estranged from the civil + Government. + </p> + <p> + And now, Sir, I will sum up what I have said. For what end does the Church + of Ireland exist? Is that end the instruction and solace of the great body + of the people? You must admit that the Church of Ireland has not attained + that end. Is the end which you have in view the conversion of the great + body of the people from the Roman Catholic religion to a purer form of + Christianity? You must admit that the Church of Ireland has not attained + that end. Or do you propose to yourselves the end contemplated by Mr Hume, + the peace and security of civil society? You must admit that the Church of + Ireland has not attained that end. In the name of common sense, then, tell + us what good end this Church has attained; or suffer us to conclude, as I + am forced to conclude, that it is emphatically a bad institution. + </p> + <p> + It does not, I know, necessarily follow that, because an institution is + bad, it is therefore to be immediately destroyed. Sometimes a bad + institution takes a strong hold on the hearts of mankind, intertwines its + roots with the very foundations of society, and is not to be removed + without serious peril to order, law, and property. For example, I hold + polygamy to be one of the most pernicious practises that exist in the + world. But if the Legislative Council of India were to pass an Act + prohibiting polygamy, I should think that they were out of their senses. + Such a measure would bring down the vast fabric of our Indian Empire with + one crash. But is there any similar reason for dealing tenderly with the + Established Church of Ireland? That Church, Sir, is not one of those bad + institutions which ought to be spared because they are popular, and + because their fall would injure good institutions. It is, on the contrary, + so odious, and its vicinage so much endangers valuable parts of our + polity, that, even if it were in itself a good institution, there would be + strong reasons for giving it up. + </p> + <p> + The honourable gentleman who spoke last told us that we cannot touch this + Church without endangering the Legislative Union. Sir, I have given my + best attention to this important point; and I have arrived at a very + different conclusion. The question to be determined is this:—What is + the best way of preserving political union between countries in which + different religions prevail? With respect to this question we have, I + think, all the light which history can give us. There is no sort of + experiment described by Lord Bacon which we have not tried. Inductive + philosophy is of no value if we cannot trust to the lessons derived from + the experience of more than two hundred years. England has long been + closely connected with two countries less powerful than herself, and + differing from herself in religion. The Scottish people are Presbyterians; + the Irish people are Roman Catholics. We determined to force the Anglican + system on both countries. In both countries great discontent was the + result. At length Scotland rebelled. Then Ireland rebelled. The Scotch and + Irish rebellions, taking place at a time when the public mind of England + was greatly and justly excited, produced the Great Rebellion here, and the + downfall of the Monarchy, of the Church, and of the Aristocracy. After the + Restoration we again tried the old system. During twenty-eight years we + persisted in the attempt to force Prelacy on the Scotch; and the + consequence was, during those twenty-eight years Scotland exhibited a + frightful spectacle of misery and depravity. The history of that period is + made up of oppression and resistance, of insurrections, barbarous + punishments, and assassinations. One day a crowd of zealous rustics stand + desperately on their defence, and repel the dragoons. Next day the + dragoons scatter and hew down the flying peasantry. One day the kneebones + of a wretched Covenanter are beaten flat in that accursed boot. Next day + the Lord Primate is dragged out of his carriage by a band of raving + fanatics, and, while screaming for mercy, is butchered at the feet of his + own daughter. So things went on, till at last we remembered that + institutions are made for men, and not men for institutions. A wise + Government desisted from the vain attempt to maintain an Episcopal + Establishment in a Presbyterian nation. From that moment the connection + between England and Scotland became every year closer and closer. There + were still, it is true, many causes of animosity. There was an old + antipathy between the nations, the effect of many blows given and received + on both sides. All the greatest calamities that had befallen Scotland had + been inflicted by England. The proudest events in Scottish history were + victories obtained over England. Yet all angry feelings died rapidly away. + The union of the nations became complete. The oldest man living does not + remember to have heard any demagogue breathe a wish for separation. Do you + believe that this would have happened if England had, after the + Revolution, persisted in attempting to force the surplice and the Prayer + Book on the Scotch? I tell you that, if you had adhered to the mad scheme + of having a religious union with Scotland, you never would have had a + cordial political union with her. At this very day you would have had + monster meetings on the north of the Tweed, and another Conciliation Hall, + and another repeal button, with the motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit." In + fact, England never would have become the great power that she is. For + Scotland would have been, not an addition to the effective strength of the + Empire, but a deduction from it. As often as there was a war with France + or Spain, there would have been an insurrection in Scotland. Our country + would have sunk into a kingdom of the second class. One such Church as + that about which we are now debating is a serious encumbrance to the + greatest empire. Two such Churches no empire could bear. You continued to + govern Ireland during many generations as you had governed Scotland in the + days of Lauderdale and Dundee. And see the result. Ireland has remained, + indeed, a part of your Empire. But you know her to be a source of weakness + rather than of strength. Her misery is a reproach to you. Her discontent + doubles the dangers of war. Can you, with such facts before you, doubt + about the course which you ought to take? Imagine a physician with two + patients, both afflicted with the same disease. He applies the same sharp + remedies to both. Both become worse and worse with the same inflammatory + symptoms. Then he changes his treatment of one case, and gives soothing + medicines. The sufferer revives, grows better day by day, and is at length + restored to perfect health. The other patient is still subjected to the + old treatment, and becomes constantly more and more disordered. How would + a physician act in such a case? And are not the principles of experimental + philosophy the same in politics as in medicine? + </p> + <p> + Therefore, Sir, I am fully prepared to take strong measures with regard to + the Established Church of Ireland. It is not necessary for me to say + precisely how far I would go. I am aware that it may be necessary, in this + as in other cases, to consent to a compromise. But the more complete the + reform which may be proposed, provided always that vested rights be, as I + am sure they will be, held strictly sacred, the more cordially shall I + support it. + </p> + <p> + That some reform is at hand I cannot doubt. In a very short time we shall + see the evils which I have described mitigated, if not entirely removed. A + Liberal Administration would make this concession to Ireland from a sense + of justice. A Conservative Administration will make it from a sense of + danger. The right honourable Baronet has given the Irish a lesson which + will bear fruit. It is a lesson which rulers ought to be slow to teach; + for it is one which nations are but too apt to learn. We have repeatedly + been told by acts—we are now told almost in express words—that + agitation and intimidation are the means which ought to be employed by + those who wish for redress of grievances from the party now in power. Such + indeed has too long been the policy of England towards Ireland; but it was + surely never before avowed with such indiscreet frankness. Every epoch + which is remembered with pleasure on the other side of St George's Channel + coincides with some epoch which we here consider as disastrous and + perilous. To the American war and the volunteers the Irish Parliament owed + its independence. To the French revolutionary war the Irish Roman + Catholics owed the elective franchise. It was in vain that all the great + orators and statesmen of two generations exerted themselves to remove the + Roman Catholic disabilities, Burke, Fox, Pitt, Windham, Grenville, Grey, + Plunkett, Wellesley, Grattan, Canning, Wilberforce. Argument and + expostulation were fruitless. At length pressure of a stronger kind was + boldly and skilfully applied; and soon all difficulties gave way. The + Catholic Association, the Clare election, the dread of civil war, produced + the Emancipation Act. Again, the cry of No Popery was raised. That cry was + successful. A faction which had reviled in the bitterest terms the mild + administration of Whig Viceroys, and which was pledged to the wholesale + disfranchisement of the Roman Catholics, rose to power. One leading member + of that faction had drawn forth loud cheers by declaiming against the + minions of Popery. Another had designated six millions of Irish Catholics + as aliens. A third had publicly declared his conviction, that a time was + at hand when all Protestants of every persuasion would find it necessary + to combine firmly against the encroachments of Romanism. From such men we + expected nothing but oppression and intolerance. We are agreeably + disappointed to find that a series of conciliatory bills is brought before + us. But, in the midst of our delight, we cannot refrain from asking for + some explanation of so extraordinary a change. We are told in reply, that + the monster meetings of 1843 were very formidable, and that our relations + with America are in a very unsatisfactory state. The public opinion of + Ireland is to be consulted, the religion of Ireland is to be treated with + respect, not because equity and humanity plainly enjoin that course; for + equity and humanity enjoined that course as plainly when you were + calumniating Lord Normanby, and hurrying forward your Registration Bill; + but because Mr O'Connell and Mr Polk have between them made you very + uneasy. Sir, it is with shame, with sorrow, and, I will add, with dismay, + that I listen to such language. I have hitherto disapproved of the monster + meetings of 1843. I have disapproved of the way in which Mr O'Connell and + some other Irish representatives have seceded from this House. I should + not have chosen to apply to those gentlemen the precise words which were + used on a former occasion by the honourable and learned Member for Bath. + But I agreed with him in substance. I thought it highly to the honour of + my right honourable friend the Member for Dungarvon, and of my honourable + friends the Members for Kildare, for Roscommon, and for the city of + Waterford, that they had the moral courage to attend the service of this + House, and to give us the very valuable assistance which they are, in + various ways, so well qualified to afford. But what am I to say now? How + can I any longer deny that the place where an Irish gentleman may best + serve his country is Conciliation Hall? How can I expect that any Irish + Roman Catholic can be very sorry to learn that our foreign relations are + in an alarming state, or can rejoice to hear that all danger of war has + blown over? I appeal to the Conservative Members of this House. I ask them + whither we are hastening? I ask them what is to be the end of a policy of + which it is the principle to give nothing to justice, and everything to + fear? We have been accused of truckling to Irish agitators. But I defy you + to show us that we ever made or are now making to Ireland a single + concession which was not in strict conformity with our known principles. + You may therefore trust us, when we tell you that there is a point where + we will stop. Our language to the Irish is this:—"You ask for + emancipation: it was agreeable to our principles that you should have it; + and we assisted you to obtain it. You wished for a municipal system, as + popular as that which exists in England: we thought your wish reasonable, + and did all in our power to gratify it. This grant to Maynooth is, in our + opinion, proper; and we will do our best to obtain it for you, though it + should cost us our popularity and our seats in Parliament. The Established + Church in your island, as now constituted, is a grievance of which you + justly complain. We will strive to redress that grievance. The Repeal of + the Union we regard as fatal to the empire: and we never will consent to + it; never, though the country should be surrounded by dangers as great as + those which threatened her when her American colonies, and France, and + Spain, and Holland, were leagued against her, and when the armed + neutrality of the Baltic disputed her maritime rights; never, though + another Bonaparte should pitch his camp in sight of Dover Castle; never, + till all has been staked and lost; never, till the four quarters of the + world have been convulsed by the last struggle of the great English people + for their place among the nations." This, Sir, is the true policy. When + you give, give frankly. When you withhold, withhold resolutely. Then what + you give is received with gratitude; and, as for what you withhold, men, + seeing that to wrest it from you is no safe or easy enterprise, cease to + hope for it, and, in time, cease to wish for it. But there is a way of so + withholding as merely to excite desire, and of so giving as merely to + excite contempt; and that way the present ministry has discovered. Is it + possible for me to doubt that in a few months the same machinery which + sixteen years ago extorted from the men now in power the Emancipation Act, + and which has now extorted from them the bill before us, will again be put + in motion? Who shall say what will be the next sacrifice? For my own part + I firmly believe that, if the present Ministers remain in power five years + longer, and if we should have,—which God avert!—a war with + France or America, the Established Church of Ireland will be given up. The + right honourable Baronet will come down to make a proposition conceived in + the very spirit of the Motions which have repeatedly been made by my + honourable friend the Member for Sheffield. He will again be deserted by + his followers; he will again be dragged through his difficulties by his + opponents. Some honest Lord of the Treasury may determine to quit his + office rather than belie all the professions of a life. But there will be + little difficulty in finding a successor ready to change all his opinions + at twelve hours' notice. I may perhaps, while cordially supporting the + bill, again venture to say something about consistency, and about the + importance of maintaining a high standard of political morality. The right + honourable Baronet will again tell me, that he is anxious only for the + success of his measure, and that he does not choose to reply to taunts. + And the right honourable gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer will + produce Hansard, will read to the House my speech of this night, and will + most logically argue that I ought not to reproach the Ministers with their + inconsistency, seeing that I had, from my knowledge of their temper and + principles, predicted to a tittle the nature and extent of that + inconsistency. + </p> + <p> + Sir, I have thought it my duty to brand with strong terms of reprehension + the practice of conceding, in time of public danger, what is obstinately + withheld in time of public tranquillity. I am prepared, and have long been + prepared, to grant much, very much, to Ireland. But if the Repeal + Association were to dissolve itself to-morrow, and if the next steamer + were to bring news that all our differences with the United States were + adjusted in the most honourable and friendly manner, I would grant to + Ireland neither more nor less than I would grant if we were on the eve of + a rebellion like that of 1798; if war were raging all along the Canadian + frontier; and if thirty French sail of the line were confronting our fleet + in St George's Channel. I give my vote from my heart and soul for the + amendment of my honourable friend. He calls on us to make to Ireland a + concession, which ought in justice to have been made long ago, and which + may be made with grace and dignity even now. I well know that you will + refuse to make it now. I know as well that you will make it hereafter. You + will make it as every concession to Ireland has been made. You will make + it when its effect will be, not to appease, but to stimulate agitation. + You will make it when it will be regarded, not as a great act of national + justice, but as a confession of national weakness. You will make it in + such a way, and at such a time, that there will be but too much reason to + doubt whether more mischief has been done by your long refusal, or by your + tardy and enforced compliance. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THEOLOGICAL TESTS IN THE SCOTCH UNIVERSITIES. (JULY 9, 1845) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF JULY 1845. + </h2> + <p> + On the first of May, 1845, Mr Rutherford, Member for Leith, obtained leave + to bring in a bill to regulate admission to the Secular Chairs in the + Universities of Scotland. On the morning of the sixth of May the bill was + read a first time, and remained two months on the table of the House. At + length the second reading was fixed for the ninth of July. Mr Rutherfurd + was unable to attend on that day: and it was necessary that one of his + friends should supply his place. Accordingly, as soon as the Order of the + Day had been read, the following Speech was made. + </p> + <p> + On a division the bill was rejected by 116 votes to 108. But, in the state + in which parties then were, this defeat was generally considered as a + victory. + </p> + <p> + Mr Speaker,—I have been requested by my honourable and learned + friend, the Member for Leith, to act as his substitute on this occasion. I + am truly sorry that any substitute should be necessary. I am truly sorry + that he is not among us to take charge of the bill which he not long ago + introduced with one of the most forcible and luminous speeches that I ever + had the pleasure of hearing. His audience was small; but the few who + formed that audience cannot have forgotten the effect which his arguments + and his eloquence produced. The Ministers had come down to resist his + motion: but their courage failed them: they hesitated: they conferred + together: at last they consented that he should have leave to bring in his + bill. Such, indeed, was the language which they held on that and on a + subsequent occasion, that both my honourable and learned friend and myself + gave them more credit than they deserved. We really believed that they had + resolved to offer no opposition to a law which it was quite evident that + they perceived to be just and beneficial. But we have been disappointed. + It has been notified to us that the whole influence of the Government is + to be exerted against our bill. In such discouraging circumstances it is + that I rise to move the second reading. + </p> + <p> + Yet, Sir, I do not altogether despair of success. When I consider what + strong, what irresistible reasons we have to urge, I can hardly think it + possible that the mandate of the most powerful administration can prevail + against them. Nay, I should consider victory, not merely as probable, but + as certain, if I did not know how imperfect is the information which + English gentlemen generally possess concerning Scotch questions. It is + because I know this that I think it my duty to depart from the ordinary + practice, and, instead of simply moving the second reading, to explain at + some length the principles on which this bill has been framed. I earnestly + entreat those English Members who were not so fortunate as to hear the + speech of my honourable and learned friend, the Member for Leith to favour + me with their attention. They will, I think, admit, that I have a right to + be heard with indulgence. I have been sent to this house by a great city + which was once a capital, the abode of a Sovereign, the place where the + Estates of a realm held their sittings. For the general good of the + empire, Edinburgh descended from that high eminence. But, ceasing to be a + political metropolis, she became an intellectual metropolis. For the loss + of a Court, of a Privy Council, of a Parliament, she found compensation in + the prosperity and splendour of an University renowned to the farthest + ends of the earth as a school of physical and moral science. This noble + and beneficent institution is now threatened with ruin by the folly of the + Government, and by the violence of an ecclesiastical faction which is bent + on persecution without having the miserable excuse of fanaticism. Nor is + it only the University of Edinburgh that is in danger. In pleading for + that University, I plead for all the great academical institutions of + Scotland. The fate of all depends on the event of this debate; and, in the + name of all, I demand the attention of every man who loves either learning + or religious liberty. + </p> + <p> + The first question which we have to consider is, whether the principles of + the bill be sound. I believe that they are sound; and I am quite confident + that nobody who sits on the Treasury Bench will venture to pronounce them + unsound. It does not lie in the mouths of the Ministers to say that + literary instruction and scientific instruction are inseparably connected + with religious instruction. It is not for them to rail against Godless + Colleges. It is not for them to talk with horror of the danger of + suffering young men to listen to the lectures of an Arian professor of + Botany or of a Popish professor of Chemistry. They are themselves at this + moment setting up in Ireland a system exactly resembling the system which + we wish to set up in Scotland. Only a few hours have elapsed since they + were themselves labouring to prove that, in a country in which a large + proportion of those who require a liberal education are dissenters from + the Established Church, it is desirable that there should be schools + without theological tests. The right honourable Baronet at the head of the + Government proposes that in the new colleges which he is establishing at + Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and Galway, the professorships shall be open to + men of every creed: and he has strenuously defended that part of his plan + against attacks from opposite quarters, against the attacks of zealous + members of the Church of England, and of zealous members of the Church of + Rome. Only the day before yesterday the honourable Baronet the Member for + North Devon (Sir Thomas Acland.) ventured to suggest a test as + unobjectionable as a test could well be. He would merely have required the + professors to declare their general belief in the divine authority of the + Old and New Testaments. But even this amendment the First Lord of the + Treasury resisted, and I think quite rightly. He told us that it was quite + unnecessary to institute an inquisition into the religious opinions of + people whose business was merely to teach secular knowledge, and that it + was absurd to imagine that any man of learning would disgrace and ruin + himself by preaching infidelity from the Greek chair or the Mathematical + chair. + </p> + <p> + Some members of this House certainly held very different language: but + their arguments made as little impression on Her Majesty's Ministers as on + me. We were told with the utmost earnestness that secular knowledge, + unaccompanied by a sound religious faith, and unsanctified by religious + feeling, was not only useless, but positively noxious, a curse to the + possessor, a curse to society. I feel the greatest personal kindness and + respect for some gentlemen who hold this language. But they must pardon me + if I say that the proposition which they have so confidently laid down, + however well it may sound in pious ears while it is expressed in general + terms, to be too monstrous, too ludicrous, for grave refutation. Is it + seriously meant that, if the Captain of an Indiaman is a Socinian, it + would be better for himself, his crew, and his passengers, that he should + not know how to use his quadrant and his chronometers? Is it seriously + meant that, if a druggist is a Swedenborgian, it would be better for + himself and his customers that he should not know the difference between + Epsom salts and oxalic acid? A hundred millions of the Queen's Asiatic + subjects are Mahometans and Pagans. Is it seriously meant that it is + desirable that they should be as ignorant as the aboriginal inhabitants of + New South Wales, that they should have no alphabet, that they should have + no arithmetic, that they should not know how to build a bridge, how to + sink a well, how to irrigate a field? If it be true that secular + knowledge, unsanctified by true religion, is a positive evil, all these + consequences follow. Yet surely they are consequences from which every + sane mind must recoil. It is a great evil, no doubt, that a man should be + a heretic or an atheist. But I am quite at a loss to understand how this + evil is mitigated by his not knowing that the earth moves round the sun, + that by the help of a lever, a small power will lift a great weight, that + Virginia is a republic, or that Paris is the capital of France. + </p> + <p> + On these grounds, Sir, I have cordially supported the Irish Colleges Bill. + But the principle of the Irish Colleges and the principle of the bill + which I hold in my hand are exactly the same: and the House and the + country have a right to know why the authors of the former bill are the + opponents of the latter bill. One distinction there is, I admit, between + Ireland and Scotland. It is true that in Scotland there is no clamour + against the Union with England. It is true that in Scotland no demagogue + can obtain applause and riches by slandering and reviling the English + people. It is true that in Scotland there is no traitor who would dare to + say that he regards the enemies of the state as his allies. In every + extremity the Scottish nation will be found faithful to the common cause + of the empire. But Her Majesty's Ministers will hardly I think, venture to + say that this is their reason for refusing to Scotland the boon which they + propose to confer on Ireland. And yet, if this be not their reason, what + reason can we find? Observe how strictly analogous the cases are. You give + it as a reason for establishing in Ireland colleges without tests that the + Established Church of Ireland is the Church of the minority. Unhappily it + may well be doubted whether the Established Church of Scotland, too, be + not now, thanks to your policy, the Church of the minority. It is true + that the members of the Established Church of Scotland are about a half of + the whole population of Scotland; and that the members of the Established + Church of Ireland are not much more than a tenth of the whole population + of Ireland. But the question now before us does not concern the whole + population. It concerns only the class which requires academical + education: and I do not hesitate to say that, in the class which requires + academical education, in the class for the sake of which universities + exist, the proportion of persons who do not belong to the Established + Church is as great in Scotland as in Ireland. You tell us that sectarian + education in Ireland is an evil. Is it less an evil in Scotland? You tell + us that it is desirable that the Protestant and the Roman Catholic should + study together at Cork. Is it less desirable that the son of an elder of + the Established Church and the son of an elder of the Free Church should + study together at Edinburgh? You tell us that it is not reasonable to + require from a Professor of Astronomy or Surgery in Connaught a + declaration that he believes in the Gospels. On what ground, then, can you + think it reasonable to require from every Professor in Scotland a + declaration that he approves of the Presbyterian form of church + government? I defy you, with all your ingenuity, to find one argument, one + rhetorical topic, against our bill which may not be used with equal effect + against your own Irish Colleges Bill. + </p> + <p> + Is there any peculiarity in the academical system of Scotland which makes + these tests necessary? Certainly not. The academical system of Scotland + has its peculiarities; but they are peculiarities which are not in harmony + with these tests, peculiarities which jar with these tests. It is an error + to imagine that, by passing this bill, we shall establish a precedent + which will lead to a change in the constitution of the Universities of + Cambridge and Oxford. Whether such a change be or be not desirable is a + question which must be decided on grounds quite distinct from those on + which we rest our case. I entreat English gentlemen not to be misled by + the word University. That word means two different things on the two + different sides of the Tweed. The academical authorities at Cambridge and + Oxford stand in a parental relation to the student. They undertake, not + merely to instruct him in philology, geometry, natural philosophy, but to + form his religious opinions, and to watch over his morals. He is to be + bred a Churchman. At Cambridge, he cannot graduate, at Oxford, I believe, + he cannot matriculate, without declaring himself a Churchman. The College + is a large family. An undergraduate is lodged either within the gates, or + in some private house licensed and regulated by the academical + authorities. He is required to attend public worship according to the + forms of the Church of England several times every week. It is the duty of + one officer to note the absence of young men from divine service, of + another to note their absence from the public table, of another to report + those who return home at unseasonably late hours. An academical police + parade the streets at night to seize upon any unlucky reveller who may be + found drunk or in bad company. There are punishments of various degrees + for irregularities of conduct. Sometimes the offender has to learn a + chapter of the Greek Testament; sometimes he is confined to his college; + sometimes he is publicly reprimanded: for grave offences he is rusticated + or expelled. Now, Sir, whether this system be good or bad, efficient or + inefficient, I will not now inquire. This is evident; that religious tests + are perfectly in harmony with such a system. Christ Church and King's + College undertake to instruct every young man who goes to them in the + doctrines of the Church of England, and to see that he regularly attends + the worship of the Church of England. Whether this ought to be so, I + repeat, I will not now inquire: but, while it is so, nothing can be more + reasonable than to require from the rulers of Christ Church and King's + College some declaration that they are themselves members of the Church of + England. + </p> + <p> + The character of the Scotch universities is altogether different. There + you have no functionaries resembling the Vice-Chancellors and Proctors, + the Heads of Houses, Tutors and Deans, whom I used to cap at Cambridge. + There is no chapel; there is no academical authority entitled to ask a + young man whether he goes to the parish church or the Quaker meeting, to + synagogue or to mass. With his moral conduct the university has nothing to + do. The Principal and the whole Academical Senate cannot put any + restraint, or inflict any punishment, on a lad whom they may see lying + dead drunk in the High Street of Edinburgh. In truth, a student at a + Scotch university is in a situation closely resembling that of a medical + student in London. There are great numbers of youths in London who attend + St George's Hospital, or St Bartholomew's Hospital. One of these youths + may also go to Albermarle Street to hear Mr Faraday lecture on chemistry, + or to Willis's rooms to hear Mr Carlyle lecture on German literature. On + the Sunday he goes perhaps to church, perhaps to the Roman Catholic + chapel, perhaps to the Tabernacle, perhaps nowhere. None of the gentlemen + whose lectures he has attended during the week has the smallest right to + tell him where he shall worship, or to punish him for gambling in hells, + or tippling in cider cellars. Surely we must all feel that it would be the + height of absurdity to require Mr Faraday and Mr Carlyle to subscribe a + confession of faith before they lecture; and in what does their situation + differ from the situation of the Scotch professor. + </p> + <p> + In the peculiar character of the Scotch universities, therefore, I find a + strong reason for the passing of this bill. I find a reason stronger still + when I look at the terms of the engagements which exist between the + English and Scotch nations. + </p> + <p> + Some gentlemen, I see, think that I am venturing on dangerous ground. We + have been told, in confident tones, that, if we pass this bill, we shall + commit a gross breach of public faith, we shall violate the Treaty of + Union, and the Act of Security. With equal confidence, and with confidence + much better grounded, I affirm that the Treaty of Union and the Act of + Security not only do not oblige us to reject this bill, but do oblige us + to pass this bill, or some bill nearly resembling this. + </p> + <p> + This proposition seems to be regarded by the Ministers as paradoxical: but + I undertake to prove it by the plainest and fairest argument. I shall + resort to no chicanery. If I did think that the safety of the commonwealth + required that we should violate the Treaty of Union, I would violate it + openly, and defend my conduct on the ground of necessity. It may, in an + extreme case, be our duty to break our compacts. It never can be our duty + to quibble them away. What I say is that the Treaty of Union, construed, + not with the subtlety of a pettifogger, but according to the spirit, binds + us to pass this bill or some similar bill. + </p> + <p> + By the Treaty of Union it was covenanted that no person should be a + teacher or office-bearer in the Scotch Universities who should not declare + that he conformed to the worship and polity of the Established Church of + Scotland. What Church was meant by the two contracting parties? What + Church was meant, more especially, by the party to the side of which we + ought always to lean, I mean the weaker party? Surely the Church + established in 1707, when the Union took place. Is then, the Church of + Scotland at the present moment constituted, on all points which the + members of that Church think essential, exactly as it was constituted in + 1707? Most assuredly not. + </p> + <p> + Every person who knows anything of the ecclesiastical history of Scotland + knows that, ever since the Reformation, the great body of the + Presbyterians of that country have held that congregations ought to have a + share in the appointment of their ministers. This principle is laid down + most distinctly in the First Book of Discipline, drawn up by John Knox. It + is laid down, though not quite so strongly, in the Second Book of + Discipline, drawn up by Andrew Melville. And I beg gentlemen, English + gentlemen, to observe that in Scotland this is not regarded as a matter of + mere expediency. All staunch Presbyterians think that the flock is + entitled, jure divino, to a voice in the appointment of the pastor, and + that to force a pastor on a parish to which he is unacceptable is a sin as + much forbidden by the Word of God as idolatry or perjury. I am quite sure + that I do not exaggerate when I say that the highest of our high churchmen + at Oxford cannot attach more importance to episcopal government and + episcopal ordination than many thousands of Scotchmen, shrewd men, + respectable men, men who fear God and honour the Queen, attach to this + right of the people. + </p> + <p> + When, at the time of the Revolution, the Presbyterian worship and + discipline were established in Scotland, the question of patronage was + settled by a compromise, which was far indeed from satisfying men of + extreme opinions, but which was generally accepted. An Act, passed at + Edinburgh, in 1690, transferred what we should call in England the + advowsons from the old patrons to parochial councils, composed of the + elders and the Protestant landowners. This system, however imperfect it + might appear to such rigid Covenanters as Davie Deans and Gifted + Gilfillan, worked satisfactorily; and the Scotch nation seems to have been + contented with its ecclesiastical polity when the Treaty of Union was + concluded. By that treaty the ecclesiastical polity of Scotland was + declared to be unalterable. Nothing, therefore, can be more clear than + that the Parliament of Great Britain was bound by the most sacred + obligations not to revive those rights of patronage which the Parliament + of Scotland had abolished. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, the Union had not lasted five years when our ancestors were + guilty of a great violation of public faith. The history of that great + fault and of its consequences is full of interest and instruction. The + wrong was committed hastily, and with contumelious levity. The offenders + were doubtless far from foreseeing that their offence would be visited on + the third and fourth generation; that we should be paying in 1845 the + penalty of what they did in 1712. + </p> + <p> + In 1712, Sir, the Whigs, who were the chief authors of the Union, had been + driven from power. The prosecution of Sacheverell had made them odious to + the nation. The general election of 1710 had gone against them. Tory + statesmen were in office. Tory squires formed more than five-sixths of + this House. The party which was uppermost thought that England had, in + 1707, made a bad bargain, a bargain so bad that it could hardly be + considered as binding. The guarantee so solemnly given to the Church of + Scotland was a subject of loud and bitter complaint. The Ministers hated + that Church much; and their chief supporters, the country gentlemen and + country clergymen of England, hated it still more. Numerous petty insults + were offered to the opinions, or, if you please, the prejudices of the + Presbyterians. At length it was determined to go further, and to restore + to the old patrons those rights which had been taken away in 1690. A bill + was brought into this House, the history of which you may trace in our + Journals. Some of the entries are very significant. In spite of all + remonstrances the Tory majority would not hear of delay. The Whig minority + struggled hard, appealed to the act of Union and the Act of Security, and + insisted on having both those Acts read at the table. The bill passed this + House, however, before the people of Scotland knew that it had been + brought in. For there were then neither reporters nor railroads; and + intelligence from Westminster was longer in travelling to Cambridge than + it now is in travelling to Aberdeen. The bill was in the House of Lords + before the Church of Scotland could make her voice heard. Then came a + petition from a committee appointed by the General Assembly to watch over + the interests of religion while the General Assembly itself was not + sitting. The first name attached to that petition is the name of Principal + Carstairs, a man who had stood high in the esteem and favour of William + the Third, and who had borne a chief part in establishing the Presbyterian + Church in Scotland. Carstairs and his colleagues appealed to the Act of + Union, and implored the peers not to violate that Act. But party spirit + ran high; public faith was disregarded: patronage was restored. To that + breach of the Treaty of Union are to be directly ascribed all the schisms + that have since rent the Church of Scotland. + </p> + <p> + I will not detain the House by giving a minute account of those schisms. + It is enough to say that the law of patronage produced, first the + secession of 1733 and the establishment of the Associate Synod, then the + secession of 1752 and the establishment of the Relief Synod, and finally + the great secession of 1843 and the establishment of the Free Church. Only + two years have elapsed since we saw, with mingled admiration and pity, a + spectacle worthy of the best ages of the Church. Four hundred and seventy + ministers resigned their stipends, quitted their manses, and went forth + committing themselves, their wives, their children, to the care of + Providence. Their congregations followed them by thousands, and listened + eagerly to the Word of Life in tents, in barns, or on those hills and + moors where the stubborn Presbyterians of a former generation had prayed + and sung their psalms in defiance of the boot of Lauderdale and of the + sword of Dundee. The rich gave largely of their riches. The poor + contributed with the spirit of her who put her two mites into the treasury + of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, in all the churches of large towns, of whole + counties, the established clergy were preaching to empty benches. And of + these secessions every one may be distinctly traced to that violation of + the Treaty of Union which was committed in 1712. + </p> + <p> + This, Sir, is the true history of dissent in Scotland: and, this being so, + how can any man have the front to invoke the Treaty of Union and the Act + of Security against those who are devotedly attached to that system which + the Treaty of Union and the Act of Security were designed to protect, and + who are seceders only because the Treaty of Union and the Act of Security + have been infringed? I implore gentlemen to reflect on the manner in which + they and their fathers have acted towards the Scotch Presbyterians. First + you bind yourselves by the most solemn obligations to maintain unaltered + their Church as it was constituted in 1707. Five years later you alter the + constitution of their Church in a point regarded by them as essential. In + consequence of your breach of faith secession after secession takes place, + till at length the Church of the State ceases to be the Church of the + People. Then you begin to be squeamish. Then those articles of the Treaty + of Union which, when they really were obligatory, you outrageously + violated, now when they are no longer obligatory, now when it is no longer + in your power to observe them according to the spirit, are represented as + inviolable. You first, by breaking your word, turn hundreds of thousands + of Churchmen into Dissenters; and then you punish them for being + Dissenters, because, forsooth, you never break your word. If your + consciences really are so tender, why do you not repeal the Act of 1712? + Why do you not put the Church of Scotland back into the same situation in + which she was in 1707. We have had occasion more than once in the course + of this session to admire the casuistical skill of Her Majesty's + Ministers. But I must say that even their scruple about slave-grown sugar, + though that scruple is the laughing-stock of all Europe and all America, + is respectable when compared with their scruple about the Treaty of Union. + Is there the slightest doubt that every compact ought to be construed + according to the sense in which it was understood by those who made it? + And is there the slightest doubt as to the sense in which the compact + between England and Scotland was understood by those who made it? Suppose + that we could call up from their graves the Presbyterian divines who then + sate in the General Assembly. Suppose that we could call up Carstairs; + that we could call up Boston, the author of the Fourfold State; that we + could relate to them the history of the ecclesiastical revolutions which + have, since their time, taken place in Scotland; and that we could then + ask them, "Is the Established Church, or is the Free Church, identical + with the Church which existed at the time of the Union?" Is it not quite + certain what their answer would be? They would say, "Our Church, the + Church which you promised to maintain unalterable, was not the Church + which you protect, but the Church which you oppress. Our Church was the + Church of Chalmers and Brewster, not the Church of Bryce and Muir." + </p> + <p> + It is true, Sir, that the Presbyterian dissenters are not the only + dissenters whom this bill will relieve. By the law, as it now stands, all + persons who refuse to declare their approbation of the synodical polity, + that is to say, all persons who refuse to declare that they consider + episcopal government and episcopal ordination as, at least, matters + altogether indifferent, are incapable of holding academical office in + Scotland. Now, Sir, will any gentleman who loves the Church of England + vote for maintaining this law? If, indeed, he were bound by public faith + to maintain this law, I admit that he would have no choice. But I have + proved, unless I greatly deceive myself, that he is not bound by public + faith to maintain this law? Can he then conscientiously support the + Ministers to-night? If he votes with them, he votes for persecuting what + he himself believes to be the truth. He holds out to the members of his + own Church lures to tempt them to renounce that Church, and to join + themselves to a Church which he considers as less pure. We may differ as + to the propriety of imposing penalties and disabilities on heretics. But + surely we shall agree in thinking that we ought not to punish men for + orthodoxy. + </p> + <p> + I know, Sir, that there are many gentlemen who dislike innovation merely + as innovation, and would be glad always to keep things as they are now. + Even to this class of persons I will venture to appeal. I assure them that + we are not the innovators. I assure them that our object is to keep things + as they are and as they have long been. In form, I own, we are proposing a + change; but in truth we are resisting a change. The question really is, + not whether we shall remove old tests, but whether we shall impose new + ones. The law which we seek to repeal has long been obsolete. So + completely have the tests been disused that, only the other day, the right + honourable Baronet, the Secretary for the Home Department, when speaking + in favour of the Irish Colleges Bill, told us that the Government was not + making a rash experiment. "Our plan," he said, "has already been tried at + Edinburgh and has succeeded. At Edinburgh the tests have been disused near + a hundred years." As to Glasgow the gentlemen opposite can give us full + information from their own experience. For there are at least three + members of the Cabinet who have been Lords Rectors; the First Lord of the + Treasury, and the Secretaries for the Home Department and the Colonial + Department. They never took the test. They probably would not have taken + it; for they are all Episcopalians. In fact, they belong to the very class + which the test was especially meant to exclude. The test was not meant to + exclude Presbyterian dissenters; for the Presbyterian Church was not yet + rent by any serious schism. Nor was the test meant to exclude the Roman + Catholics; for against the Roman Catholics there was already abundant + security. The Protestant Episcopalian was the enemy against whom it was, + in 1707, thought peculiarly necessary to take precautions. That those + precautions have long been disused the three members of the Cabinet whom I + mentioned can certify. + </p> + <p> + On a sudden the law, which had long slept a deep sleep, has been awakened, + stirred up, and put into vigorous action. These obsolete tests are now, it + seems, to be exacted with severity. And why? Simply because an event has + taken place which makes them ten times as unjust and oppressive as they + would have been formerly. They were not required while the Established + Church was the Church of the majority. They are to be required solely + because a secession has taken place which has made the Established Church + the Church of the minority. While they could have done little mischief + they were suffered to lie neglected. They are now to be used, because a + time has come at which they cannot be used without fatal consequences. + </p> + <p> + It is impossible for me to speak without indignation of those who have + taken the lead in the work of persecution. Yet I must give them credit for + courage. They have selected as their object of attack no less a man than + Sir David Brewster, Principal of the University of Saint Andrews. I hold + in my hand the libel, as it is technically called, in which a Presbytery + of the Established Church demands that Sir David, for the crime of + adhering to that ecclesiastical polity which was guaranteed to his country + by the Act of Union, shall be "removed from his office, and visited with + such other censure or punishment as the laws of the Church enjoin, for the + glory of God, the safety of the Church, and the prosperity of the + University, and to deter others holding the same important office from + committing the like offence in all time coming, but that others may hear + and fear the danger and detriment of following divisive courses." Yes; for + the glory of God, the safety of the Church, and the prosperity of the + University. What right, Sir, have the authors of such an instrument as + this to raise their voices against the insolence and intolerance of the + Vatican? The glory of God! As to that, I will only say that this is not + the first occasion on which the glory of God has been made a pretext for + the injustice of man. The safety of the Church! Sir, if, which God forbid, + that Church is really possessed by the evil spirit which actuates this + Presbytery; if that Church, having recently lost hundreds of able + ministers and hundreds of thousands of devout hearers, shall, instead of + endeavouring, by meekness, and by redoubled diligence, to regain those + whom she has estranged, give them new provocation; if she shall sharpen + against them an old law the edge of which has long rusted off, and which, + when it was first made, was made not for her defence, but for theirs; then + I pronounce the days of that Church numbered. As to the prosperity of the + University, is there a corner of Europe where men of science will not + laugh when they hear that the prosperity of the University of Saint + Andrews is to be promoted by expelling Sir David Brewster on account of a + theological squabble? The professors of Edinburgh know better than this + Presbytery how the prosperity of a seat of learning is to be promoted. + There the Academic Senate is almost unanimous in favour of the bill. And + indeed it is quite certain that, unless this bill, or some similar bill, + be passed, a new college will soon be founded and endowed with that + munificence of which the history of the Free Church furnishes so many + examples. From the day on which such an university arises, the old + universities must decline. Now, they are practically national, and not + sectarian, institutions. And yet, even now, the emoluments of a + professorship are so much smaller than those which ability and industry + can obtain in other ways, that it is difficult to find eminent men to fill + the chairs. And if there be this difficulty now, when students of all + religious persuasions attend the lectures, what is likely to happen when + all the members of the Free Church go elsewhere for instruction? If there + be this difficulty when you have all the world to choose professors from, + what is likely to happen when your choice is narrowed to less than + one-half of Scotland? As the professorships become poorer, the professors + will become less competent. As the professors become less competent, the + classes will become thinner. As the classes become thinner, the + professorships will again become poorer. The decline will become rapid and + headlong. In a short time, the lectures will be delivered to empty rooms: + the grass will grow in the courts: and men not fit to be village dominies + will occupy the chairs of Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart, of Reid and + Black, of Playfair and Jamieson. + </p> + <p> + How do Her Majesty's Ministers like such a prospect as this! Already they + have, whether by their fault or their misfortune I will not now inquire, + secured for themselves an unenviable place in the history of Scotland. + Their names are already inseparably associated with the disruption of her + Church. Are those names to be as inseparably associated with the ruin of + her Universities? + </p> + <p> + If the Government were consistent in error, some respect might be mingled + with our disapprobation. But a Government which is guided by no principle; + a Government which, on the gravest questions, does not know its own mind + twenty-four hours together; a Government which is against tests at Cork, + and for tests at Glasgow, against tests at Belfast, and for tests at + Edinburgh, against tests on the Monday, for them on the Wednesday, against + them again on the Thursday—how can such a Government command esteem + or confidence? How can the Ministers wonder that their uncertain and + capricious liberality fails to obtain the applause of the liberal party? + What right have they to complain if they lose the confidence of half the + nation without gaining the confidence of the other half? + </p> + <p> + But I do not speak to the Government. I speak to the House. I appeal to + those who, on Monday last, voted with the Ministers against the test + proposed by the honourable Baronet the Member for North Devon. I know what + is due to party ties. But there is a mire so black and so deep that no + leader has a right to drag his followers through it. It is only + forty-eight hours since honourable gentlemen were brought down to the + House to vote against requiring the professors in the Irish Colleges to + make a declaration of belief in the Gospel: and now the same gentlemen are + expected to come down and to vote that no man shall be a professor in a + Scottish college who does not declare himself a Calvinist and a + Presbyterian. Flagrant as is the injustice with which the ministers have + on this occasion treated Scotland, the injustice with which they have + treated their own supporters is more flagrant still. I call on all who + voted with the Government on Monday to consider whether they can + consistently and honourably vote with the Government to-night: I call on + all members of the Church of England to ponder well before they make it + penal to be a member of the Church of England; and, lastly, I call on + every man of every sect and party who loves science and letters, who is + solicitous for the public tranquillity, who respects the public faith, to + stand by us in this our hard struggle to avert the ruin which threatens + the Universities of Scotland. I move that this bill be now read a second + time. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CORN LAWS. (DECEMBER 2, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH ON THE 2D OF + DECEMBER 1845. + </h2> + <p> + The following Speech was delivered at a public meeting held at Edinburgh + on the second of December, 1845, for the purpose of petitioning Her + Majesty to open the ports of the United Kingdom for the free admission of + corn and other food. + </p> + <p> + My Lord Provost and Gentlemen,—You will, I hope, believe that I am + deeply sensible of the kindness with which you have received me. I only + beg that you will continue to extend your indulgence to me, if it should + happen that my voice should fail me in the attempt to address you. I have + thought it my duty to obey your summons, though I am hardly equal to the + exertion of public speaking, and though I am so situated that I can pass + only a few hours among you. But it seemed to me that this was not an + ordinary meeting or an ordinary crisis. It seemed to me that a great era + had arrived, and that, at such a conjuncture, you were entitled to know + the opinions and intentions of one who has the honour of being your + representative. + </p> + <p> + With respect to the past, gentlemen, I have perhaps a little to explain, + but certainly nothing to repent or to retract. My opinions, from the day + on which I entered public life, have never varied. I have always + considered the principle of protection of agriculture as a vicious + principle. I have always thought that this vicious principle took, in the + Act of 1815, in the Act of 1828, and in the Act of 1842, a singularly + vicious form. This I declared twelve years ago, when I stood for Leeds: + this I declared in May 1839, when I first presented myself before you; and + when, a few months later, Lord Melbourne invited me to become a member of + his Government, I distinctly told him that, in office or out of office, I + must vote for the total repeal of the corn laws. + </p> + <p> + But in the year 1841 a very peculiar crisis arrived. There was reason to + hope that it might be possible to effect a compromise, which would not + indeed wholly remove the evils inseparable from a system of protection, + but which would greatly mitigate them. There were some circumstances in + the financial situation of the country which led those who were then the + advisers of the Crown to hope that they might be able to get rid of the + sliding scale, and to substitute for it a moderate fixed duty. We proposed + a duty of eight shillings a quarter on wheat. The Parliament refused even + to consider our plan. Her Majesty appealed to the people. I presented + myself before you; and you will bear me witness that I disguised nothing. + I said, "I am for a perfectly free trade in corn: but I think that, + situated as we are, we should do well to consent to a compromise. If you + return me to Parliament, I shall vote for the eight shilling duty. It is + for you to determine whether, on those terms, you will return me or not." + You agreed with me. You sent me back to the House of Commons on the + distinct understanding that I was to vote for the plan proposed by the + Government of which I was a member. As soon as the new Parliament met, a + change of administration took place. But it seemed to me that it was my + duty to support, when out of place, that proposition to which I had been a + party when I was in place. I therefore did not think myself justified in + voting for a perfectly free trade, till Parliament had decided against our + fixed duty, and in favour of Sir Robert Peel's new sliding scale. As soon + as that decision had been pronounced, I conceived that I was no longer + bound by the terms of the compromise which I had, with many misgivings, + consented to offer to the agriculturists, and which the agriculturists had + refused to accept. I have ever since voted in favour of every motion which + has been made for the total abolition of the duties on corn. + </p> + <p> + There has been, it is true, some difference of opinion between me and some + of you. We belonged to the same camp: but we did not quite agree as to the + mode of carrying on the war. I saw the immense strength of the interests + which were arrayed against us. I saw that the corn monopoly would last + forever if those who defended it were united, while those who assailed it + were divided. I saw that many men of distinguished abilities and + patriotism, such men as Lord John Russell, Lord Howick, Lord Morpeth, were + unwilling to relinquish all hope that the question might be settled by a + compromise such as had been proposed in 1841. It seemed to me that the + help of such men was indispensable to us, and that, if we drove from us + such valuable allies, we should be unable to contend against the common + enemy. Some of you thought that I was timorous, and others that I was + misled by party spirit or by personal friendship. I still think that I + judged rightly. But I will not now argue the question. It has been set at + rest for ever, and in the best possible way. It is not necessary for us to + consider what relations we ought to maintain with the party which is for a + moderate fixed duty. That party has disappeared. Time, and reflection, and + discussion, have produced their natural effect on minds eminently + intelligent and candid. No intermediate shades of opinion are now left. + There is no twilight. The light has been divided from the darkness. Two + parties are ranged in battle array against each other. There is the + standard of monopoly. Here is the standard of free trade; and by the + standard of free trade I pledge myself to stand firmly. + </p> + <p> + Gentlemen, a resolution has been put into my hands which I shall move with + the greatest pleasure. That resolution sets forth in emphatic language a + truth of the highest importance, namely, that the present corn laws press + with especial severity on the poor. There was a time, gentlemen, when + politicians were not ashamed to defend the corn laws merely as + contrivances for putting the money of the many into the pockets of the + few. We must,—so these men reasoned,—have a powerful and + opulent class of grandees: that we may have such grandees, the rent of + land must be kept up: and that the rent of land may be kept up, the price + of bread must be kept up. There may still be people who think thus: but + they wisely keep their thoughts to themselves. Nobody now ventures to say + in public that ten thousand families ought to be put on short allowance of + food in order that one man may have a fine stud and a fine picture + gallery. Our monopolists have changed their ground. They have abandoned + their old argument for a new argument much less invidious, but, I think, + rather more absurd. They have turned philanthropists. Their hearts bleed + for the misery of the poor labouring man. They constantly tell us that the + cry against the corn laws has been raised by capitalists; that the + capitalist wishes to enrich himself at the expense both of the landed + gentry and of the working people; that every reduction of the price of + food must be followed by a reduction of the wages of labour; and that, if + bread should cost only half what it now costs, the peasant and the artisan + would be sunk in wretchedness and degradation, and the only gainers would + be the millowners and the money changers. It is not only by landowners, it + is not only by Tories, that this nonsense has been talked. We have heard + it from men of a very different class, from demagogues who wish to keep up + the corn laws, merely in order that the corn laws may make the people + miserable, and that misery may make the people turbulent. You know how + assiduously those enemies of all order and all property have laboured to + deceive the working man into a belief that cheap bread would be a curse to + him. Nor have they always laboured in vain. You remember that once, even + in this great and enlightened city, a public meeting called to consider + the corn laws was disturbed by a deluded populace. Now, for my own part, + whenever I hear bigots who are opposed to all reform, and anarchists who + are bent on universal destruction, join in the same cry, I feel certain + that it is an absurd and mischievous cry; and surely never was there a cry + so absurd and mischievous as this cry against cheap loaves. It seems + strange that Conservatives, people who profess to hold new theories in + abhorrence, people who are always talking about the wisdom of our + ancestors, should insist on our receiving as an undoubted truth a strange + paradox never heard of from the creation of the world till the nineteenth + century. Begin with the most ancient book extant, the Book of Genesis, and + come down to the parliamentary debates of 1815; and I will venture to say + that you will find that, on this point, the party which affects profound + reverence for antiquity and prescription has against it the unanimous + voice of thirty-three centuries. If there be anything in which all + peoples, nations, and languages, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Italians, + Frenchmen, Englishmen, have agreed, it has been this, that the dearness of + food is a great evil to the poor. Surely, the arguments which are to + counterbalance such a mass of authority ought to be weighty. What then are + those arguments? I know of only one. If any gentleman is acquainted with + any other, I wish that he would communicate it to us; and I will engage + that he shall have a fair and full hearing. The only argument that I know + of is this, that there are some countries in the world where food is + cheaper than in England, and where the people are more miserable than in + England. Bengal has been mentioned. But Poland is the favourite case. + Whenever we ask why there should not be a free trade in corn between the + Vistula and the Thames, the answer is, "Do you wish our labourers to be + reduced to the condition of the peasants of the Vistula?" Was such + reasoning ever heard before? See how readily it may be turned against + those who use it. Corn is cheaper at Cincinnati than here; but the wages + of the labourer are much higher at Cincinnati than here: therefore, the + lower the price of food, the higher the wages will be. This reasoning is + just as good as the reasoning of our adversaries: that is to say, it is + good for nothing. It is not one single cause that makes nations either + prosperous or miserable. No friend of free trade is such an idiot as to + say that free trade is the only valuable thing in the world; that + religion, government, police, education, the administration of justice, + public expenditure, foreign relations, have nothing whatever to do with + the well-being of nations; that people sunk in superstition, slavery, + barbarism, must be happy if they have only cheap food. These gentlemen + take the most unfortunate country in the world, a country which, while it + had an independent government, had the very worst of independent + governments; the sovereign a mere phantom; the nobles defying him and + quarrelling with each other; the great body of the population in a state + of servitude; no middle class; no manufactures; scarcely any trade, and + that in the hands of Jew pedlars. Such was Poland while it was a separate + kingdom. But foreign invaders came down upon it. It was conquered: it was + reconquered: it was partitioned: it was repartitioned: it is now under a + government of which I will not trust myself to speak. This is the country + to which these gentlemen go to study the effect of low prices. When they + wish to ascertain the effect of high prices, they take our own country; a + country which has been during many generations the best governed in + Europe; a country where personal slavery has been unknown during ages; a + country which enjoys the blessings of a pure religion, of freedom, of + order; a country long secured by the sea against invasion; a country in + which the oldest man living has never seen a foreign flag except as a + trophy. Between these two countries our political philosophers institute a + comparison. They find the Briton better off than the Pole; and they + immediately come to the conclusion that the Briton is so well off because + his bread is dear, and the Pole so ill off because his bread is cheap. + Why, is there a single good which in this way I could not prove to be an + evil, or a single evil which I could not prove to be a good? Take + lameness. I will prove that it is the best thing in the world to be lame: + for I can show you men who are lame, and yet much happier than many men + who have the full use of their legs. I will prove health to be a calamity. + For I can easily find you people in excellent health whose fortunes have + been wrecked, whose character has been blasted, and who are more wretched + than many invalids. But is that the way in which any man of common sense + reasons? No; the question is: Would not the lame man be happier if you + restored to him the use of his limbs? Would not the healthy man be more + wretched if he had gout and rheumatism in addition to all his other + calamities? Would not the Englishman be better off if food were as cheap + here as in Poland? Would not the Pole be more miserable if food were as + dear in Poland as here? More miserable indeed he would not long be: for he + would be dead in a month. + </p> + <p> + It is evident that the true way of determining the question which we are + considering, is to compare the state of a society when food is cheap with + the state of that same society when food is dear; and this is a comparison + which we can very easily make. We have only to recall to our memory what + we have ourselves seen within the last ten years. Take the year 1835. Food + was cheap then; and the capitalist prospered greatly. But was the + labouring man miserable? On the contrary, it is notorious that work was + plentiful, that wages were high, that the common people were thriving and + contented. Then came a change like that in Pharaoh's dream. The thin ears + had blighted the full ears; the lean kine had devoured the fat kine; the + days of plenty were over; and the days of dearth had arrived. In 1841 the + capitalist was doubtless distressed. But will anybody tell me that the + capitalist was the only sufferer, or the chief sufferer? Have we forgotten + what was the condition of the working people in that unhappy year? So + visible was the misery of the manufacturing towns that a man of + sensibility could hardly bear to pass through them. Everywhere he found + filth and nakedness, and plaintive voices, and wasted forms, and haggard + faces. Politicians who had never been thought alarmists began to tremble + for the very foundations of society. First the mills were put on short + time. Then they ceased to work at all. Then went to pledge the scanty + property of the artisan: first his little luxuries, then his comforts, + then his necessaries. The hovels were stripped till they were as bare as + the wigwam of a Dogribbed Indian. Alone, amidst the general misery, the + shop with the three golden balls prospered, and was crammed from cellar to + garret with the clocks, and the tables, and the kettles, and the blankets, + and the bibles of the poor. I remember well the effect which was produced + in London by the unwonted sight of the huge pieces of cannon which were + going northward to overawe the starving population of Lancashire. These + evil days passed away. Since that time we have again had cheap bread. The + capitalist has been a gainer. It was fit that he should be a gainer. But + has he been the only gainer? Will those who are always telling us that the + Polish labourer is worse off than the English labourer venture to tell us + that the English labourer was worse off in 1844 than in 1841? Have we not + everywhere seen the goods of the poor coming back from the magazine of the + pawnbroker? Have we not seen in the house of the working man, in his + clothing, in his very looks as he passed us in the streets, that he was a + happier being? As to his pleasures, and especially as to the most + innocent, the most salutary, of his pleasures, ask your own most + intelligent and useful fellow citizen Mr Robert Chambers what sale popular + books had in the year 1841, and what sale they had last year. I am assured + that, in one week of 1845, the sums paid in wages within twenty miles of + Manchester exceeded by a million and a half the sums paid in the + corresponding week of 1841. + </p> + <p> + Gentlemen, both the capitalist and the labourer have been gainers, as they + ought to have been gainers, by the diminution in the price of bread. But + there is a third party, which ought not to have gained by that diminution, + and yet has gained very greatly by it; and that party is Her Majesty's + present Government. It is for the interest of rulers that those whom they + rule should be prosperous. But the prosperity which we have lately enjoyed + was a prosperity for which we were not indebted to our rulers. It came in + spite of them. It was produced by the cheapness of that which they had + laboured to render dear. Under pretence of making us independent of + foreign supply, they have established a system which makes us dependent in + the worst possible way. As my valued friend, the Lord Provost (Mr Adam + Black.), has justly said, there is a mutual dependence among nations of + which we cannot get rid. That Providence has assigned different + productions to different climates is a truth with which everybody is + familiar. But this is not all. Even in the same climate different + productions belong to different stages of civilisation. As one latitude is + favourable to the vine and another to the sugar cane, so there is, in the + same latitude, a state of society in which it is desirable that the + industry of men should be almost entirely directed towards the cultivation + of the earth, and another state of society in which it is desirable that a + large part of the population should be employed in manufactures. No + dependence can be conceived more natural, more salutary, more free from + everything like degradation than the mutual dependence which exists + between a nation which has a boundless extent of fertile land, and a + nation which has a boundless command of machinery; between a nation whose + business is to turn deserts into corn fields, and a nation whose business + is to increase tenfold by ingenious processes the value of the fleece and + of the rude iron ore. Even if that dependence were less beneficial than it + is, we must submit to it; for it is inevitable. Make what laws we will, we + must be dependent on other countries for a large part of our food. That + point was decided when England ceased to be an exporting country. For, + gentlemen, it is demonstrable that none but a country which ordinarily + exports food can be independent of foreign supplies. If a manufacturer + determines to produce ten thousand pair of stockings, he will produce the + ten thousand, and neither more nor less. But an agriculturist cannot + determine that he will produce ten thousand quarters of corn, and neither + more nor less. That he may be sure of having ten thousand quarters in a + bad year, he must sow such a quantity of land that he will have much more + than ten thousand in a good year. It is evident that, if our island does + not in ordinary years produce many more quarters than we want, it will in + bad years produce fewer quarters than we want. And it is equally evident + that our cultivators will not produce more quarters of corn than we want, + unless they can export the surplus at a profit. Nobody ventures to tell us + that Great Britain can be ordinarily an exporting country. It follows that + we must be dependent: and the only question is, Which is the best mode of + dependence? That question it is not difficult to answer. Go to Lancashire; + see that multitude of cities, some of them equal in size to the capitals + of large kingdoms. Look at the warehouses, the machinery, the canals, the + railways, the docks. See the stir of that hive of human beings busily + employed in making, packing, conveying stuffs which are to be worn in + Canada and Caffraria, in Chili and Java. You naturally ask, How is this + immense population, collected on an area which will not yield food for one + tenth part of them, to be nourished? But change the scene. Go beyond the + Ohio, and there you will see another species of industry, equally + extensive and equally flourishing. You will see the wilderness receding + fast before the advancing tide of life and civilisation, vast harvests + waving round the black stumps of what a few months ago was a pathless + forest, and cottages, barns, mills, rising amidst the haunts of the wolf + and the bear. Here is more than enough corn to feed the artisans of our + thickly peopled island; and most gladly would the grower of that corn + exchange it for a Sheffield knife, a Birmingham spoon, a warm coat of + Leeds woollen cloth, a light dress of Manchester cotton. But this exchange + our rulers prohibit. They say to our manufacturing population, "You would + willingly weave clothes for the people of America, and they would gladly + sow wheat for you; but we prohibit this intercourse. We condemn both your + looms and their ploughs to inaction. We will compel you to pay a high + price for a stinted meal. We will compel those who would gladly be your + purveyors and your customers to be your rivals. We will compel them to + turn manufacturers in self-defence; and when, in close imitation of us, + they impose high duties on British goods for the protection of their own + produce, we will, in our speeches and despatches, express wonder and pity + at their strange ignorance of political economy." + </p> + <p> + Such has been the policy of Her Majesty's Ministers; but it has not yet + been fairly brought to the trial. Good harvests have prevented bad laws + from producing their full effect. The Government has had a run of luck; + and vulgar observers have mistaken luck for wisdom. But such runs of luck + do not last forever. Providence will not always send the rain and the + sunshine just at such a time and in such a quantity as to save the + reputation of shortsighted statesmen. There is too much reason to believe + that evil days are approaching. On such a subject it is a sacred duty to + avoid exaggeration; and I shall do so. I observe that the writers,—wretched + writers they are,—who defend the present Administration, assert that + there is no probability of a considerable rise in the price of provisions, + and that the Whigs and the Anti-Corn-Law League are busily engaged in + circulating false reports for the vile purpose of raising a panic. Now, + gentlemen, it shall not be in the power of anybody to throw any such + imputation on me; for I shall describe our prospects in the words of the + Ministers themselves. I hold in my hand a letter in which Sir Thomas + Freemantle, Secretary for Ireland, asks for information touching the + potato crop in that country. His words are these. "Her Majesty's + Government is seeking to learn the opinion of judges and well informed + persons in every part of Ireland regarding the probability of the supply + being sufficient for the support of the people during the ensuing winter + and spring, provided care be taken in preserving the stock, and economy + used in its consumption." Here, you will observe, it is taken for granted + that the supply is not sufficient for a year's consumption: it is taken + for granted that, without care and economy, the supply will not last to + the end of the spring; and a doubt is expressed whether, with care and + economy, the supply will last even through the winter. In this letter the + Ministers of the Crown tell us that famine is close at hand; and yet, when + this letter was written, the duty on foreign corn was seventeen shillings + a quarter. Is it necessary to say more about the merits of the sliding + scale? We were assured that this wonderful piece of machinery would secure + us against all danger of scarcity. But unhappily we find that there is a + hitch; the sliding scale will not slide; the Ministers are crying + "Famine," while the index which they themselves devised is still pointing + to "Plenty." + </p> + <p> + And thus, Sir, I come back to the resolution which I hold in my hand, A + dear year is before us. The price of meal is already, I believe, half as + much again as it was a few months ago. Again, unhappily, we are able to + bring to the test of facts the doctrine, that the dearness of food + benefits the labourer and injures only the capitalist. The price of food + is rising. Are wages rising? On the contrary, they are falling. In + numerous districts the symptoms of distress are already perceptible. The + manufacturers are already beginning to work short time. Warned by repeated + experience, they know well what is coming, and expect that 1846 will be a + second 1841. + </p> + <p> + If these things do not teach us wisdom, we are past all teaching. Twice in + ten years we have seen the price of corn go up; and, as it went up, the + wages of the labouring classes went down. Twice in the same period we have + seen the price of corn go down; and, as it went down, the wages of the + labouring classes went up. Surely such experiments as these would in any + science be considered as decisive. + </p> + <p> + The prospect, gentlemen, is, doubtless, gloomy. Yet it has its bright + part. I have already congratulated you on the important fact that Lord + John Russell and those who have hitherto acted on this subject in concert + with him, have given up all thoughts of fixed duty. I have to congratulate + you on another fact not less important. I am assured that the working + people of the manufacturing districts have at last come to understand this + question. The sharp discipline which they have undergone has produced this + good effect; that they will never again listen to any orator who shall + have the effrontery to tell them that their wages rise and fall with the + price of the loaf. Thus we shall go into the contest under such leading + and with such a following as we never had before. The best part of the + aristocracy will be at our head. Millions of labouring men, who had been + separated from us by the arts of impostors, will be in our rear. So led + and so followed, we may, I think, look forward to victory, if not in this, + yet in the next Parliament. But, whether our triumph be near or remote, I + assure you that I shall not fail as regards this question, to prove myself + your true representative. I will now, my Lord, put into your hands this + resolution, "That the present corn law presses with especial severity on + the poorer classes." + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE TEN HOURS BILL. (MAY 22, 1846) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF + COMMONS ON THE 22D OF MAY 1846. + </h2> + <p> + On the twenty-ninth of April, 1846, Mr Fielden, Member for Oldham, moved + the second reading of a Bill for limiting the labour of young persons in + factories to ten hours a day. The debate was adjourned, and was repeatedly + resumed at long intervals. At length, on the twenty-second of May the Bill + was rejected by 203 votes to 193. On that day the following Speech was + made. + </p> + <p> + It is impossible, Sir, that I can remain silent after the appeal which has + been made to me in so pointed a manner by my honourable friend, the Member + for Sheffield (Mr Ward.), and even if that appeal had not been made to me, + I should have been very desirous to have an opportunity of explaining the + grounds on which I shall vote for the second reading of this bill. + </p> + <p> + It is, I hope, unnecessary for me to assure my honourable friend that I + utterly disapprove of those aspersions which have, both in this House and + out of it, been thrown on the owners of factories. For that valuable class + of men I have no feeling but respect and good will. I am convinced that + with their interests the interests of the whole community, and especially + of the labouring classes, are inseparably bound up. I can also with + perfect sincerity declare that the vote which I shall give to-night will + not be a factious vote. In no circumstances indeed should I think that the + laws of political hostility warranted me in treating this question as a + party question. But at the present moment I would much rather strengthen + than weaken the hands of Her Majesty's Ministers. It is by no means + pleasant to me to be under the necessity of opposing them. I assure them, + I assure my friends on this side of the House with whom I am so + unfortunate as to differ, and especially my honourable friend the Member + for Sheffield, who spoke, I must say, in rather too plaintive a tone, that + I have no desire to obtain credit for humanity at their expense. I fully + believe that their feeling towards the labouring people is quite as kind + as mine. There is no difference between us as to ends: there is an honest + difference of opinion as to means: and we surely ought to be able to + discuss the points on which we differ without one angry emotion or one + acrimonious word. + </p> + <p> + The details of the bill, Sir, will be more conveniently and more regularly + discussed when we consider it in Committee. Our business at present is + with the principle: and the principle, we are told by many gentlemen of + great authority, is unsound. In their opinion, neither this bill, nor any + other bill regulating the hours of labour, can be defended. This, they + say, is one of those matters about which we ought not to legislate at all; + one of those matters which settle themselves far better than any + government can settle them. Now it is most important that this point + should be fully cleared up. We certainly ought not to usurp functions + which do not properly belong to us: but, on the other hand, we ought not + to abdicate functions which do properly belong to us. I hardly know which + is the greater pest to society, a paternal government, that is to say a + prying, meddlesome government, which intrudes itself into every part of + human life, and which thinks that it can do everything for everybody + better than anybody can do anything for himself; or a careless, lounging + government, which suffers grievances, such as it could at once remove, to + grow and multiply, and which to all complaint and remonstrance has only + one answer: "We must let things alone: we must let things take their + course: we must let things find their level." There is no more important + problem in politics than to ascertain the just mean between these two most + pernicious extremes, to draw correctly the line which divides those cases + in which it is the duty of the State to interfere from those cases in + which it is the duty of the State to abstain from interference. In old + times the besetting sin of rulers was undoubtedly an inordinate + disposition to meddle. The lawgiver was always telling people how to keep + their shops, how to till their fields, how to educate their children, how + many dishes to have on their tables, how much a yard to give for the cloth + which made their coats. He was always trying to remedy some evil which did + not properly fall within his province: and the consequence was that he + increased the evils which he attempted to remedy. He was so much shocked + by the distress inseparable from scarcity that he made statutes against + forestalling and regrating, and so turned the scarcity into a famine. He + was so much shocked by the cunning and hardheartedness of money-lenders + that he made laws against usury; and the consequence was that the + borrower, who, if he had been left unprotected, would have got money at + ten per cent., could hardly, when protected, get it at fifteen per cent. + Some eminent political philosophers of the last century exposed with great + ability the folly of such legislation, and, by doing so, rendered a great + service to mankind. There has been a reaction, a reaction which has + doubtless produced much good, but which like most reactions, has not been + without evils and dangers. Our statesmen cannot now be accused of being + busybodies. But I am afraid that there is, even in some of the ablest and + most upright among them a tendency to the opposite fault. I will give an + instance of what I mean. Fifteen years ago it became evident that + railroads would soon, in every part of the kingdom, supersede to a great + extent the old highways. The tracing of the new routes which were to join + all the chief cities, ports, and naval arsenals of the island was a matter + of the highest national importance. But, unfortunately, those who should + have acted for the nation, refused to interfere. Consequently, numerous + questions which were really public, questions which concerned the public + convenience, the public prosperity, the public security, were treated as + private questions. That the whole society was interested in having a good + system of internal communication seemed to be forgotten. The speculator + who wanted a large dividend on his shares, the landowner who wanted a + large price for his acres, obtained a full hearing. But nobody applied to + be heard on behalf of the community. The effects of that great error we + feel, and we shall not soon cease to feel. Unless I am greatly mistaken, + we are in danger of committing to-night an error of the same kind. The + honourable member for Montrose (Mr Hume.) and my honourable friend the + Member for Sheffield think that the question before us is merely a + question between the old and the new theories of commerce. They cannot + understand how any friend of free trade can wish the Legislature to + interfere between the capitalist and the labourer. They say, "You do not + make a law to settle the price of gloves, or the texture of gloves, or the + length of credit which the glover shall give. You leave it to him to + determine whether he will charge high or low prices, whether he will use + strong or flimsy materials, whether he will trust or insist on ready + money. You acknowledge that these are matters which he ought to be left to + settle with his customers, and that we ought not to interfere. It is + possible that he may manage his shop ill. But it is certain that we shall + manage it ill. On the same grounds on which you leave the seller of gloves + and the buyer of gloves to make their own contract, you ought to leave the + seller of labour and the buyer of labour to make their own contract." + </p> + <p> + I have a great respect, Sir, for those who reason thus: but I cannot see + this matter in the light in which it appears to them; and, though I may + distrust my own judgment, I must be guided by it. I am, I believe, as + strongly attached as any member of this House to the principle of free + trade, rightly understood. Trade, considered merely as trade, considered + merely with reference to the pecuniary interest of the contracting + parties, can hardly be too free. But there is a great deal of trade which + cannot be considered merely as trade, and which affects higher than + pecuniary interests. And to say that Government never ought to regulate + such trade is a monstrous proposition, a proposition at which Adam Smith + would have stood aghast. We impose some restrictions on trade for purposes + of police. Thus, we do not suffer everybody who has a cab and a horse to + ply for passengers in the streets of London. We do not leave the fare to + be determined by the supply and the demand. We do not permit a driver to + extort a guinea for going half a mile on a rainy day when there is no + other vehicle on the stand. We impose some restrictions on trade for the + sake of revenue. Thus, we forbid a farmer to cultivate tobacco on his own + ground. We impose some restrictions on trade for the sake of national + defence. Thus we compel a man who would rather be ploughing or weaving to + go into the militia; and we fix the amount of pay which he shall receive + without asking his consent. Nor is there in all this anything inconsistent + with the soundest political economy. For the science of political economy + teaches us only that we ought not on commercial grounds to interfere with + the liberty of commerce; and we, in the cases which I have put, interfere + with the liberty of commerce on higher than commercial grounds. + </p> + <p> + And now, Sir, to come closer to the case with which we have to deal, I + say, first, that where the health of the community is concerned, it may be + the duty of the State to interfere with the contracts of individuals; and + to this proposition I am quite sure that Her Majesty's Government will + cordially assent. I have just read a very interesting report signed by two + members of that Government, the Duke of Buccleuch, and the noble earl who + was lately Chief Commissioner of the Woods and Forests, and who is now + Secretary for Ireland (The Earl of Lincoln.); and, since that report was + laid before the House, the noble earl himself has, with the sanction of + the Cabinet, brought in a bill for the protection of the public health. By + this bill it is provided that no man shall be permitted to build a house + on his own land in any great town without giving notice to certain + Commissioners. No man is to sink a cellar without the consent of these + Commissioners. The house must not be of less than a prescribed width. No + new house must be built without a drain. If an old house has no drain, the + Commissioners may order the owner to make a drain. If he refuses, they + make a drain for him, and send him in the bill. They may order him to + whitewash his house. If he refuses, they may send people with pails and + brushes to whitewash it for him, at his charge. Now, suppose that some + proprietor of houses at Leeds or Manchester were to expostulate with the + Government in the language in which the Government has expostulated with + the supporters of this bill for the regulation of factories. Suppose he + were to say to the noble earl, "Your lordship professes to be a friend to + free trade. Your lordship's doctrine is that everybody ought to be at + liberty to buy cheap and to sell dear. Why then may not I run up a house + as cheap as I can, and let my rooms as dear as I can? Your lordship does + not like houses without drains. Do not take one of mine then. You think my + bedrooms filthy. Nobody forces you to sleep in them. Use your own liberty: + but do not restrain that of your neighbours. I can find many a family + willing to pay a shilling a week for leave to live in what you call a + hovel. And why am not I to take the shilling which they are willing to + give me? And why are not they to have such shelter as, for that shilling, + I can afford them? Why did you send a man without my consent to clean my + house, and then force me to pay for what I never ordered? My tenants + thought the house clean enough for them; or they would not have been my + tenants; and, if they and I were satisfied, why did you, in direct + defiance of all the principles of free trade, interfere between us?" This + reasoning, Sir, is exactly of a piece with the reasoning of the honourable + Member for Montrose, and of my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield. + If the noble earl will allow me to make a defence for him, I believe that + he would answer the objection thus: "I hold," he would say, "the sound + doctrine of free trade. But your doctrine of free trade is an + exaggeration, a caricature of the sound doctrine; and by exhibiting such a + caricature you bring discredit on the sound doctrine. We should have + nothing to do with the contracts between you and your tenants, if those + contracts affected only pecuniary interests. But higher than pecuniary + interests are at stake. It concerns the commonwealth that the great body + of the people should not live in a way which makes life wretched and + short, which enfeebles the body and pollutes the mind. If, by living in + houses which resemble hogstyes, great numbers of our countrymen have + contracted the tastes of hogs, if they have become so familiar with filth + and stench and contagion, that they burrow without reluctance in holes + which would turn the stomach of any man of cleanly habits, that is only an + additional proof that we have too long neglected our duties, and an + additional reason for our now performing them." + </p> + <p> + Secondly, I say that where the public morality is concerned it may be the + duty of the State to interfere with the contracts of individuals. Take the + traffic in licentious books and pictures. Will anybody deny that the State + may, with propriety, interdict that traffic? Or take the case of + lotteries. I have, we will suppose, an estate for which I wish to get + twenty thousand pounds. I announce my intention to issue a thousand + tickets at twenty pounds each. The holder of the number which is first + drawn is to have the estate. But the magistrate interferes; the contract + between me and the purchasers of my tickets is annulled; and I am forced + to pay a heavy penalty for having made such a contract. I appeal to the + principle of free trade, as expounded by the honourable gentlemen the + Members for Montrose and Sheffield. I say to you, the legislators who have + restricted my liberty, "What business have you to interfere between a + buyer and a seller? If you think the speculation a bad one, do not take + tickets. But do not interdict other people from judging for themselves." + Surely you would answer, "You would be right if this were a mere question + of trade: but it is a question of morality. We prohibit you from disposing + of your property in this particular mode, because it is a mode which tends + to encourage a most pernicious habit of mind, a habit of mind incompatible + with all the qualities on which the well-being of individuals and of + nations depends." + </p> + <p> + It must then, I think, be admitted that, where health is concerned, and + where morality is concerned, the State is justified in interfering with + the contracts of individuals. And, if this be admitted, it follows that + the case with which we now have to do is a case for interference. + </p> + <p> + Will it be denied that the health of a large part of the rising generation + may be seriously affected by the contracts which this bill is intended to + regulate? Can any man who has read the evidence which is before us, can + any man who has ever observed young people, can any man who remembers his + own sensations when he was young, doubt that twelve hours a day of labour + in a factory is too much for a lad of thirteen? + </p> + <p> + Or will it be denied that this is a question in which public morality is + concerned? Can any one doubt,—none, I am sure, of my friends around + me doubts,—that education is a matter of the highest importance to + the virtue and happiness of a people? Now we know that there can be no + education without leisure. It is evident that, after deducting from the + day twelve hours for labour in a factory, and the additional hours + necessary for exercise, refreshment, and repose, there will not remain + time enough for education. + </p> + <p> + I have now, I think, shown that this bill is not in principle + objectionable; and yet I have not touched the strongest part of our case. + I hold that, where public health is concerned, and where public morality + is concerned, the State may be justified in regulating even the contracts + of adults. But we propose to regulate only the contracts of infants. Now, + was there ever a civilised society in which the contracts of infants were + not under some regulation? Is there a single member of this House who will + say that a wealthy minor of thirteen ought to be at perfect liberty to + execute a conveyance of his estate, or to give a bond for fifty thousand + pounds? If anybody were so absurd as to say, "What has the Legislature to + do with the matter? Why cannot you leave trade free? Why do you pretend to + understand the boy's interest better than he understands it?"—you + would answer; "When he grows up, he may squander his fortune away if he + likes: but at present the State is his guardian; and he shall not ruin + himself till he is old enough to know what he is about." The minors whom + we wish to protect have not indeed large property to throw away: but they + are not the less our wards. Their only inheritance, the only fund to which + they must look for their subsistence through life, is the sound mind in + the sound body. And is it not our duty to prevent them from wasting their + most precious wealth before they know its value? + </p> + <p> + But, it is said, this bill, though it directly limits only the labour of + infants, will, by an indirect operation, limit also the labour of adults. + Now, Sir, though I am not prepared to vote for a bill directly limiting + the labour of adults, I will plainly say that I do not think that the + limitation of the labour of adults would necessarily produce all those + frightful consequences which we have heard predicted. You cheer me in very + triumphant tones, as if I had uttered some monstrous paradox. Pray, does + it not occur to any of you that the labour of adults is now limited in + this country? Are you not aware that you are living in a society in which + the labour of adults is limited to six days in seven? It is you, not I, + who maintain a paradox opposed to the opinions and the practices of all + nations and ages. Did you ever hear of a single civilised State since the + beginning of the world in which a certain portion of time was not set + apart for the rest and recreation of adults by public authority? In + general, this arrangement has been sanctioned by religion. The Egyptians, + the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, had their holidays: the Hindoo has his + holidays: the Mussulman has his holidays: there are holidays in the Greek + Church, holidays in the Church of Rome, holidays in the Church of England. + Is it not amusing to hear a gentleman pronounce with confidence that any + legislation which limits the labour of adults must produce consequences + fatal to society, without once reflecting that in the society in which he + lives, and in every other society that exists, or ever has existed, there + has been such legislation without any evil consequence? It is true that a + Puritan Government in England, and an Atheistical Government in France, + abolished the old holidays as superstitious. But those Governments felt it + to be absolutely necessary to institute new holidays. Civil festivals were + substituted for religious festivals. You will find among the ordinances of + the Long Parliament a law providing that, in exchange for the days of rest + and amusement which the people had been used to enjoy at Easter, + Whitsuntide, and Christmas, the second Tuesday in every month should be + given to the working man, and that any apprentice who was forced to work + on the second Tuesday of any month might have his master up before a + magistrate. The French Jacobins decreed that the Sunday should no longer + be a day of rest; but they instituted another day of rest, the Decade. + They swept away the holidays of the Roman Catholic Church; but they + instituted another set of holidays, the Sansculottides, one sacred to + Genius, one to Industry, one to Opinion, and so on. I say, therefore, that + the practice of limiting by law the time of the labour of adults is so far + from being, as some gentlemen seem to think, an unheard of and monstrous + practice, that it is a practice as universal as cookery, as the wearing of + clothes, as the use of domestic animals. + </p> + <p> + And has this practice been proved by experience to be pernicious? Let us + take the instance with which we are most familiar. Let us inquire what has + been the effect of those laws which, in our own country, limit the labour + of adults to six days in every seven. It is quite unnecessary to discuss + the question whether Christians be or be not bound by a divine command to + observe the Sunday. For it is evident that, whether our weekly holiday be + of divine or of human institution, the effect on the temporal interests of + Society will be exactly the same. Now, is there a single argument in the + whole Speech of my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield which does + not tell just as strongly against the laws which enjoin the observance of + the Sunday as against the bill on our table? Surely, if his reasoning is + good for hours, it must be equally good for days. + </p> + <p> + He says, "If this limitation be good for the working people, rely on it + that they will find it out, and that they will themselves establish it + without any law." Why not reason in the same way about the Sunday? Why not + say, "If it be a good thing for the people of London to shut their shops + one day in seven, they will find it out, and will shut their shops without + a law?" Sir, the answer is obvious. I have no doubt that, if you were to + poll the shopkeepers of London, you would find an immense majority, + probably a hundred to one, in favour of closing shops on the Sunday; and + yet it is absolutely necessary to give to the wish of the majority the + sanction of a law; for, if there were no such law, the minority, by + opening their shops, would soon force the majority to do the same. + </p> + <p> + But, says my honourable friend, you cannot limit the labour of adults + unless you fix wages. This proposition he lays down repeatedly, assures us + that it is incontrovertible, and indeed seems to think it self-evident; + for he has not taken the trouble to prove it. Sir, my answer shall be very + short. We have, during many centuries, limited the labour of adults to six + days in seven; and yet we have not fixed the rate of wages. + </p> + <p> + But, it is said, you cannot legislate for all trades; and therefore you + had better not legislate for any. Look at the poor sempstress. She works + far longer and harder than the factory child. She sometimes plies her + needle fifteen, sixteen hours in the twenty-four. See how the housemaid + works, up at six every morning, and toiling up stairs and down stairs till + near midnight. You own that you cannot do anything for the sempstress and + the housemaid. Why then trouble yourself about the factory child? Take + care that by protecting one class you do not aggravate the hardships + endured by the classes which you cannot protect. Why, Sir, might not all + this be said, word for word, against the laws which enjoin the observance + of the Sunday? There are classes of people whom you cannot prevent from + working on the Sunday. There are classes of people whom, if you could, you + ought not to prevent from working on the Sunday. Take the sempstress, of + whom so much has been said. You cannot keep her from sewing and hemming + all Sunday in her garret. But you do not think that a reason for suffering + Covent Garden Market, and Leadenhall Market, and Smithfield Market, and + all the shops from Mile End to Hyde Park to be open all Sunday. Nay, these + factories about which we are debating,—does anybody propose that + they shall be allowed to work all Sunday? See then how inconsistent you + are. You think it unjust to limit the labour of the factory child to ten + hours a day, because you cannot limit the labour of the sempstress. And + yet you see no injustice in limiting the labour of the factory child, aye, + and of the factory man, to six days in the week, though you cannot limit + the labour of the sempstress. + </p> + <p> + But, you say, by protecting one class we shall aggravate the sufferings of + all the classes which we cannot protect. You say this; but you do not + prove it; and all experience proves the contrary. We interfere on the + Sunday to close the shops. We do not interfere with the labour of the + housemaid. But are the housemaids of London more severely worked on the + Sunday than on other days? The fact notoriously is the reverse. For your + legislation keeps the public feeling in a right state, and thus protects + indirectly those whom it cannot protect directly. + </p> + <p> + Will my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield maintain that the law + which limits the number of working days has been injurious to the working + population? I am certain that he will not. How then can he expect me to + believe that a law which limits the number of working hours must + necessarily be injurious to the working population? Yet he and those who + agree with him seem to wonder at our dulness because we do not at once + admit the truth of the doctrine which they propound on this subject. They + reason thus. We cannot reduce the number of hours of labour in factories + without reducing the amount of production. We cannot reduce the amount of + production without reducing the remuneration of the labourer. Meanwhile, + foreigners, who are at liberty to work till they drop down dead at their + looms, will soon beat us out of all the markets of the world. Wages will + go down fast. The condition of our working people will be far worse than + it is; and our unwise interference will, like the unwise interference of + our ancestors with the dealings of the corn factor and the money lender, + increase the distress of the very class which we wish to relieve. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, I fully admit that there might be such a limitation of the hours + of labour as would produce the evil consequences with which we are + threatened; and this, no doubt, is a very good reason for legislating with + great caution, for feeling our way, for looking well to all the details of + this bill. But it is certainly not true that every limitation of the hours + of labour must produce these consequences. And I am, I must say, surprised + when I hear men of eminent ability and knowledge lay down the proposition + that a diminution of the time of labour must be followed by diminution of + the wages of labour, as a proposition universally true, as a proposition + capable of being strictly demonstrated, as a proposition about which there + can be no more doubt than about any theorem in Euclid. Sir, I deny the + truth of the proposition; and for this plain reason. We have already, by + law, greatly reduced the time of labour in factories. Thirty years ago, + the late Sir Robert Peel told the House that it was a common practice to + make children of eight years of age toil in mills fifteen hours a day. A + law has since been made which prohibits persons under eighteen years of + age from working in mills more than twelve hours a day. That law was + opposed on exactly the same grounds on which the bill before us is + opposed. Parliament was told then, as it is told now, that with the time + of labour the quantity of production would decrease, that with the + quantity of production the wages would decrease, that our manufacturers + would be unable to contend with foreign manufacturers, and that the + condition of the labouring population instead of being made better by the + interference of the Legislature would be made worse. Read over those + debates; and you may imagine that you are reading the debate of this + evening. Parliament disregarded these prophecies. The time of labour was + limited. Have wages fallen? Has the cotton trade left Manchester for + France or Germany? Has the condition of the working people become more + miserable? Is it not universally acknowledged that the evils which were so + confidently predicted have not come to pass? Let me be understood. I am + not arguing that, because a law which reduced the hours of daily labour + from fifteen to twelve did not reduce wages, a law reducing those hours + from twelve to ten or eleven cannot possibly reduce wages. That would be + very inconclusive reasoning. What I say is this, that, since a law which + reduced the hours of daily labour from fifteen to twelve has not reduced + wages, the proposition that every reduction of the hours of labour must + necessarily reduce wages is a false proposition. There is evidently some + flaw in that demonstration which my honourable friend thinks so complete; + and what the flaw is we may perhaps discover if we look at the analogous + case to which I have so often referred. + </p> + <p> + Sir, exactly three hundred years ago, great religious changes were taking + place in England. Much was said and written, in that inquiring and + innovating age, about the question whether Christians were under a + religious obligation to rest from labour on one day in the week; and it is + well known that the chief Reformers, both here and on the Continent, + denied the existence of any such obligation. Suppose then that, in 1546, + Parliament had made a law that they should thenceforth be no distinction + between the Sunday and any other day. Now, Sir, our opponents, if they are + consistent with themselves, must hold that such a law would have immensely + increased the wealth of the country and the remuneration of the working + man. What an effect, if their principles be sound, must have been produced + by the addition of one sixth to the time of labour! What an increase of + production! What a rise of wages! How utterly unable must the foreign + artisan, who still had his days of festivity and of repose, have found + himself to maintain a competition with a people whose shops were open, + whose markets were crowded, whose spades and axes, and planes, and hods, + and anvils, and looms were at work from morning till night on three + hundred and sixty-five days a year! The Sundays of three hundred years + make up fifty years of our working days. We know what the industry of + fifty years can do. We know what marvels the industry of the last fifty + years has wrought. The arguments of my honourable friend irresistibly lead + us to this conclusion, that if, during the last three centuries, the + Sunday had not been observed as a day of rest, we should have been a far + richer, a far more highly civilised people than we now are, and that the + labouring classes especially would have been far better off than at + present. But does he, does any Member of the House, seriously believe that + this would have been the case? For my own part, I have not the smallest + doubt that, if we and our ancestors had, during the last three centuries, + worked just as hard on the Sunday as on the week days, we should have been + at this moment a poorer people and a less civilised people than we are; + that there would have been less production than there has been, that the + wages of the labourer would have been lower than they are, and that some + other nation would have been now making cotton stuffs and woollen stuffs + and cutlery for the whole world. + </p> + <p> + Of course, Sir, I do not mean to say that a man will not produce more in a + week by working seven days than by working six days. But I very much doubt + whether, at the end of a year, he will generally have produced more by + working seven days a week than by working six days a week; and I firmly + believe that, at the end of twenty years, he will have produced much less + by working seven days a week than by working six days a week. In the same + manner I do not deny that a factory child will produce more, in a single + day, by working twelve hours than by working ten hours, and by working + fifteen hours than by working twelve hours. But I do deny that a great + society in which children work fifteen, or even twelve hours a day will, + in the lifetime of a generation, produce as much as if those children had + worked less. If we consider man merely in a commercial point of view, if + we consider him merely as a machine for the production of worsted and + calico, let us not forget what a piece of mechanism he is, how fearfully + and wonderfully made. We do not treat a fine horse or a sagacious dog + exactly as we treat a spinning jenny. Nor will any slaveholder, who has + sense enough to know his own interest, treat his human chattels exactly as + he treats his horses and his dogs. And would you treat the free labourer + of England like a mere wheel or pulley? Rely on it that intense labour, + beginning too early in life, continued too long every day, stunting the + growth of the body, stunting the growth of the mind, leaving no time for + healthful exercise, leaving no time for intellectual culture, must impair + all those high qualities which have made our country great. Your + overworked boys will become a feeble and ignoble race of men, the parents + of a more feeble and more ignoble progeny; nor will it be long before the + deterioration of the labourer will injuriously affect those very interests + to which his physical and moral energies have been sacrificed. On the + other hand, a day of rest recurring in every week, two or three hours of + leisure, exercise, innocent amusement or useful study, recurring every + day, must improve the whole man, physically, morally, intellectually; and + the improvement of the man will improve all that the man produces. Why is + it, Sir, that the Hindoo cotton manufacturer, close to whose door the + cotton grows, cannot, in the bazaar of his own town, maintain a + competition with the English cotton manufacturer, who has to send + thousands of miles for the raw material, and who has then to send the + wrought material thousands of miles to market? You will say that it is + owing to the excellence of our machinery. And to what is the excellence of + our machinery owing? How many of the improvements which have been made in + our machinery do we owe to the ingenuity and patient thought of working + men? Adam Smith tells us in the first chapter of his great work, that you + can hardly go to a factory without seeing some very pretty machine,—that + is his expression,—devised by some labouring man. Hargraves, the + inventor of the spinning jenny, was a common artisan. Crompton, the + inventor of the mule jenny, was a working man. How many hours of the + labour of children would do so much for our manufactures as one of these + improvements has done? And in what sort of society are such improvements + most likely to be made? Surely in a society in which the faculties of the + working people are developed by education. How long will you wait before + any negro, working under the lash in Louisiana, will contrive a better + machinery for squeezing the sugar canes? My honourable friend seems to me, + in all his reasonings about the commercial prosperity of nations, to + overlook entirely the chief cause on which that prosperity depends. What + is it, Sir, that makes the great difference between country and country? + Not the exuberance of soil; not the mildness of climate; not mines, nor + havens, nor rivers. These things are indeed valuable when put to their + proper use by human intelligence: but human intelligence can do much + without them; and they without human intelligence can do nothing. They + exist in the highest degree in regions of which the inhabitants are few, + and squalid, and barbarous, and naked, and starving; while on sterile + rocks, amidst unwholesome marshes, and under inclement skies, may be found + immense populations, well fed, well lodged, well clad, well governed. + Nature meant Egypt and Sicily to be the gardens of the world. They once + were so. Is it anything in the earth or in the air that makes Scotland + more prosperous than Egypt, that makes Holland more prosperous than + Sicily? No; it was the Scotchman that made Scotland; it was the Dutchman + that made Holland. Look at North America. Two centuries ago the sites on + which now arise mills, and hotels, and banks, and colleges, and churches, + and the Senate Houses of flourishing commonwealths, were deserts abandoned + to the panther and the bear. What has made the change? Was it the rich + mould, or the redundant rivers? No: the prairies were as fertile, the Ohio + and the Hudson were as broad and as full then as now. Was the improvement + the effect of some great transfer of capital from the old world to the + new? No, the emigrants generally carried out with them no more than a + pittance; but they carried out the English heart, and head, and arm; and + the English heart and head and arm turned the wilderness into cornfield + and orchard, and the huge trees of the primeval forest into cities and + fleets. Man, man is the great instrument that produces wealth. The natural + difference between Campania and Spitzbergen is trifling, when compared + with the difference between a country inhabited by men full of bodily and + mental vigour, and a country inhabited by men sunk in bodily and mental + decrepitude. Therefore it is that we are not poorer but richer, because we + have, through many ages, rested from our labour one day in seven. That day + is not lost. While industry is suspended, while the plough lies in the + furrow, while the Exchange is silent, while no smoke ascends from the + factory, a process is going on quite as important to the wealth of nations + as any process which is performed on more busy days. Man, the machine of + machines, the machine compared with which all the contrivances of the + Watts and the Arkwrights are worthless, is repairing and winding up, so + that he returns to his labours on the Monday with clearer intellect, with + livelier spirits, with renewed corporal vigour. Never will I believe that + what makes a population stronger, and healthier, and wiser, and better, + can ultimately make it poorer. You try to frighten us by telling us, that + in some German factories, the young work seventeen hours in the + twenty-four, that they work so hard that among thousands there is not one + who grows to such a stature that he can be admitted into the army; and you + ask whether, if we pass this bill, we can possibly hold our own against + such competition as this? Sir, I laugh at the thought of such competition. + If ever we are forced to yield the foremost place among commercial + nations, we shall yield it, not to a race of degenerate dwarfs, but to + some people pre-eminently vigorous in body and in mind. + </p> + <p> + For these reasons, Sir, I approve of the principle of this bill, and + shall, without hesitation, vote for the second reading. To what extent we + ought to reduce the hours of labour is a question of more difficulty. I + think that we are in the situation of a physician who has satisfied + himself that there is a disease, and that there is a specific medicine for + the disease, but who is not certain what quantity of that medicine the + patient's constitution will bear. Such a physician would probably + administer his remedy by small doses, and carefully watch its operation. I + cannot help thinking that, by at once reducing the hours of labour from + twelve to ten, we should hazard too much. The change is great, and ought + to be cautiously and gradually made. Suppose that there should be an + immediate fall of wages, which is not impossible. Might there not be a + violent reaction? Might not the public take up a notion that our + legislation had been erroneous in principle, though, in truth, our error + would have been an error, not of principle, but merely of degree? Might + not Parliament be induced to retrace its steps? Might we not find it + difficult to maintain even the present limitation? The wisest course + would, in my opinion, be to reduce the hours of labour from twelve to + eleven, to observe the effect of that experiment, and if, as I hope and + believe, the result should be satisfactory, then to make a further + reduction from eleven to ten. This is a question, however, which will be + with more advantage considered when we are in Committee. + </p> + <p> + One word, Sir, before I sit down, in answer to my noble friend near me. + (Lord Morpeth.) He seems to think that this bill is ill timed. I own that + I cannot agree with him. We carried up on Monday last to the bar of the + Lords a bill which will remove the most hateful and pernicious restriction + that ever was laid on trade. Nothing can be more proper than to apply, in + the same week, a remedy to a great evil of a directly opposite kind. As + lawgivers, we have two great faults to confess and to repair. We have done + that which we ought not to have done. We have left undone that which we + ought to have done. We have regulated that which we should have left to + regulate itself. We have left unregulated that which we were bound to + regulate. We have given to some branches of industry a protection which + has proved their bane. We have withheld from public health and public + morals the protection which was their due. We have prevented the labourer + from buying his loaf where he could get it cheapest; but we have not + prevented him from ruining his body and mind by premature and immoderate + toil. I hope that we have seen the last both of a vicious system of + interference and of a vicious system of non-interference, and that our + poorer countrymen will no longer have reason to attribute their sufferings + either to our meddling or to our neglect. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE LITERATURE OF BRITAIN. (NOVEMBER 4, 1846) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE + OPENING OF THE EDINBURGH PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION ON THE 4TH OF NOVEMBER + 1846. + </h2> + <p> + I thank you, Gentlemen, for this cordial reception. I have thought it + right to steal a short time from duties not unimportant for the purpose of + lending my aid to a an undertaking calculated, as I think, to raise the + credit and to promote the best interests of the city which has so many + claims on my gratitude. + </p> + <p> + The Directors of our Institution have requested me to propose to you as a + toast the Literature of Britain. They could not have assigned to me a more + agreeable duty. They chief object of this Institution is, I conceive, to + impart knowledge through the medium of our own language. Edinburgh is + already rich in libraries worthy of her fame as a seat of literature and a + seat of jurisprudence. A man of letters can here without difficulty obtain + access to repositories filled with the wisdom of many ages and of many + nations. But something was still wanting. We still wanted a library open + to that large, that important, that respectable class which, though by no + means destitute of liberal curiosity or of sensibility to literary + pleasures, is yet forced to be content with what is written in our own + tongue. For that class especially, I do not say exclusively, this library + is intended. Our directors, I hope, will not be satisfied, I, as a member, + shall certainly not be satisfied, till we possess a noble and complete + collection of English books, till it is impossible to seek in vain on our + shelves for a single English book which is valuable either on account of + matter or on account of manner, which throws any light on our civil, + ecclesiastical, intellectual, or social history, which, in short, can + afford either useful instruction or harmless amusement. + </p> + <p> + From such a collection, placed within the reach of that large and valuable + class which I have mentioned, I am disposed to expect great good. And when + I say this, I do not take into the account those rare cases to which my + valued friend, the Lord Provost (Mr Adam Black.), so happily alluded. It + is indeed not impossible that some man of genius who may enrich our + literature with imperishable eloquence or song, or who may extend the + empire of our race over matter, may feel in our reading room, for the + first time the consciousness of powers yet undeveloped. It is not + impossible that our volumes may suggest the first thought of something + great to some future Burns, or Watt, or Arkwright. But I do not speak of + these extraordinary cases. What I confidently anticipate is that, through + the whole of that class whose benefit we have peculiarly in view, there + will be a moral and an intellectual improvement; that many hours, which + might otherwise be wasted in folly or in vice, will be employed in + pursuits which, while they afford the highest and most lasting pleasure, + are not only harmless, but purifying and elevating. My own experience, my + own observation, justifies me in entertaining this hope. I have had + opportunities, both in this and in other countries, of forming some + estimate of the effect which is likely to be produced by a good collection + of books on a society of young men. There is, I will venture to say, no + judicious commanding officer of a regiment who will not tell you that the + vicinity of a valuable library will improve perceptibly the whole + character of a mess. I well knew one eminent military servant of the East + India Company, a man of great and various accomplishments, a man + honourably distinguished both in war and in diplomacy, a man who enjoyed + the confidence of some of the greatest generals and statesmen of our time. + When I asked him how, having left his country while still a boy, and + having passed his youth at military stations in India, he had been able to + educate himself, his answer was, that he had been stationed in the + neighbourhood of an excellent library, that he had been allowed free + access to the books, and that they had, at the most critical time of his + life, decided his character, and saved him from being a mere smoking, + card-playing, punch-drinking lounger. + </p> + <p> + Some of the objections which have been made to such institutions as ours + have been so happily and completely refuted by my friend the Lord Provost, + and by the Most Reverend Prelate who has honoured us with his presence + this evening (Archbishop Whateley.), that it would be idle to say again + what has been so well said. There is, however, one objection which, with + your permission, I will notice. Some men, of whom I wish to speak with + great respect, are haunted, as it seems to me, with an unreasonable fear + of what they call superficial knowledge. Knowledge, they say, which really + deserves the name, is a great blessing to mankind, the ally of virtue, the + harbinger of freedom. But such knowledge must be profound. A crowd of + people who have a smattering of mathematics, a smattering of astronomy, a + smattering of chemistry, who have read a little poetry and a little + history, is dangerous to the commonwealth. Such half-knowledge is worse + than ignorance. And then the authority of Pope is vouched. Drink deep or + taste not; shallow draughts intoxicate: drink largely; and that will sober + you. I must confess that the danger which alarms these gentlemen never + seemed to me very serious: and my reason is this; that I never could + prevail on any person who pronounced superficial knowledge a curse, and + profound knowledge a blessing, to tell me what was his standard of + profundity. The argument proceeds on the supposition that there is some + line between profound and superficial knowledge similar to that which + separates truth from falsehood. I know of no such line. When we talk of + men of deep science, do we mean that they have got to the bottom or near + the bottom of science? Do we mean that they know all that is capable of + being known? Do we mean even that they know, in their own especial + department, all that the smatterers of the next generation will know? Why, + if we compare the little truth that we know with the infinite mass of + truth which we do not know, we are all shallow together; and the greatest + philosophers that ever lived would be the first to confess their + shallowness. If we could call up the first of human beings, if we could + call up Newton, and ask him whether, even in those sciences in which he + had no rival, he considered himself as profoundly knowing, he would have + told us that he was but a smatterer like ourselves, and that the + difference between his knowledge and ours vanished, when compared with the + quantity of truth still undiscovered, just as the distance between a + person at the foot of Ben Lomond and at the top of Ben Lomond vanishes + when compared with the distance of the fixed stars. + </p> + <p> + It is evident then that those who are afraid of superficial knowledge do + not mean by superficial knowledge knowledge which is superficial when + compared with the whole quantity of truth capable of being known. For, in + that sense, all human knowledge is, and always has been, and always must + be, superficial. What then is the standard? Is it the same two years + together in any country? Is it the same, at the same moment, in any two + countries? Is it not notorious that the profundity of one age is the + shallowness of the next; that the profundity of one nation is the + shallowness of a neighbouring nation? Ramohun Roy passed, among Hindoos, + for a man of profound Western learning; but he would have been but a very + superficial member of this Institute. Strabo was justly entitled to be + called a profound geographer eighteen hundred years ago. But a teacher of + geography, who had never heard of America, would now be laughed at by the + girls of a boarding-school. What would now be thought of the greatest + chemist of 1746, or of the greatest geologist of 1746? The truth is that, + in all experimental science, mankind is, of necessity, constantly + advancing. Every generation, of course, has its front rank and its rear + rank; but the rear rank of a later generation occupies the ground which + was occupied by the front rank of a former generation. + </p> + <p> + You remember Gulliver's adventures. First he is shipwrecked in a country + of little men; and he is a Colossus among them. He strides over the walls + of their capital: he stands higher than the cupola of their great temple: + he tugs after him a royal fleet: he stretches his legs; and a royal army, + with drums beating and colours flying, marches through the gigantic arch: + he devours a whole granary for breakfast, eats a herd of cattle for + dinner, and washes down his meal with all the hogsheads of a cellar. In + his next voyage he is among men sixty feet high. He who, in Lilliput, used + to take people up in his hand in order that he might be able to hear them, + is himself taken up in the hands and held to the ears of his masters. It + is all that he can do to defend himself with his hanger against the rats + and mice. The court ladies amuse themselves with seeing him fight wasps + and frogs: the monkey runs off with him to the chimney top: the dwarf + drops him into the cream jug and leaves him to swim for his life. Now, was + Gulliver a tall or a short man? Why, in his own house at Rotherhithe, he + was thought a man of the ordinary stature. Take him to Lilliput; and he is + Quinbus Flestrin, the Man Mountain. Take him to Brobdingnag, and he is + Grildrig, the little Manikin. It is the same in science. The pygmies of + one society would have passed for giants in another. + </p> + <p> + It might be amusing to institute a comparison between one of the + profoundly learned men of the thirteenth century and one of the + superficial students who will frequent our library. Take the great + philosopher of the time of Henry the Third of England, or Alexander the + Third of Scotland, the man renowned all over the island, and even as far + as Italy and Spain, as the first of astronomers and chemists. What is his + astronomy? He is a firm believer in the Ptolemaic system. He never heard + of the law of gravitation. Tell him that the succession of day and night + is caused by the turning of the earth on its axis. Tell him that, in + consequence of this motion, the polar diameter of the earth is shorter + than the equatorial diameter. Tell him that the succession of summer and + winter is caused by the revolution of the earth round the sun. If he does + not set you down for an idiot, he lays an information against you before + the Bishop, and has you burned for a heretic. To do him justice, however, + if he is ill informed on these points, there are other points on which + Newton and Laplace were mere children when compared with him. He can cast + your nativity. He knows what will happen when Saturn is in the House of + Life, and what will happen when Mars is in conjunction with the Dragon's + Tail. He can read in the stars whether an expedition will be successful, + whether the next harvest will be plentiful, which of your children will be + fortunate in marriage, and which will be lost at sea. Happy the State, + happy the family, which is guided by the counsels of so profound a man! + And what but mischief, public and private, can we expect from the temerity + and conceit of scolists who know no more about the heavenly bodies than + what they have learned from Sir John Herschel's beautiful little volume. + But, to speak seriously, is not a little truth better than a great deal of + falsehood? Is not the man who, in the evenings of a fortnight, has + acquired a correct notion of the solar system, a more profound astronomer + than a man who has passed thirty years in reading lectures about the + primum mobile, and in drawing schemes of horoscopes? + </p> + <p> + Or take chemistry. Our philosopher of the thirteenth century shall be, if + you please, an universal genius, chemist as well as astronomer. He has + perhaps got so far as to know, that if he mixes charcoal and saltpetre in + certain proportions and then applies fire, there will be an explosion + which will shatter all his retorts and aludels; and he is proud of knowing + what will in a later age be familiar to all the idle boys in the kingdom. + But there are departments of science in which he need not fear the rivalry + of Black, or Lavoisier, or Cavendish, or Davy. He is in hot pursuit of the + philosopher's stone, of the stone that is to bestow wealth, and health, + and longevity. He has a long array of strangely shaped vessels, filled + with red oil and white oil, constantly boiling. The moment of projection + is at hand; and soon all his kettles and gridirons will be turned into + pure gold. Poor Professor Faraday can do nothing of the sort. I should + deceive you if I held out to you the smallest hope that he will ever turn + your halfpence into sovereigns. But if you can induce him to give at our + Institute a course of lectures such as I once heard him give at the Royal + Institution to children in the Christmas holidays, I can promise you that + you will know more about the effects produced on bodies by heat and + moisture than was known to some alchemists who, in the middle ages, were + thought worthy of the patronage of kings. + </p> + <p> + As it has been in science so it has been in literature. Compare the + literary acquirements of the great men of the thirteenth century with + those which will be within the reach of many who will frequent our reading + room. As to Greek learning, the profound man of the thirteenth century was + absolutely on a par with the superficial man of the nineteenth. In the + modern languages, there was not, six hundred years ago, a single volume + which is now read. The library of our profound scholar must have consisted + entirely of Latin books. We will suppose him to have had both a large and + a choice collection. We will allow him thirty, nay forty manuscripts, and + among them a Virgil, a Terence, a Lucan, an Ovid, a Statius, a great deal + of Livy, a great deal of Cicero. In allowing him all this, we are dealing + most liberally with him; for it is much more likely that his shelves were + filled with treaties on school divinity and canon law, composed by writers + whose names the world has very wisely forgotten. But, even if we suppose + him to have possessed all that is most valuable in the literature of Rome, + I say with perfect confidence that, both in respect of intellectual + improvement, and in respect of intellectual pleasures, he was far less + favourably situated than a man who now, knowing only the English language, + has a bookcase filled with the best English works. Our great man of the + Middle Ages could not form any conception of any tragedy approaching + Macbeth or Lear, or of any comedy equal to Henry the Fourth or Twelfth + Night. The best epic poem that he had read was far inferior to the + Paradise Lost; and all the tomes of his philosophers were not worth a page + of the Novum Organum. + </p> + <p> + The Novum Organum, it is true, persons who know only English must read in + a translation: and this reminds me of one great advantage which such + persons will derive from our Institution. They will, in our library, be + able to form some acquaintance with the master minds of remote ages and + foreign countries. A large part of what is best worth knowing in ancient + literature, and in the literature of France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, + has been translated into our own tongue. It is scarcely possible that the + translation of any book of the highest class can be equal to the original. + But, though the finer touches may be lost in the copy, the great outlines + will remain. An Englishman who never saw the frescoes in the Vatican may + yet, from engravings, form some notion of the exquisite grace of Raphael, + and of the sublimity and energy of Michael Angelo. And so the genius of + Homer is seen in the poorest version of the Iliad; the genius of Cervantes + is seen in the poorest version of Don Quixote. Let it not be supposed that + I wish to dissuade any person from studying either the ancient languages + or the languages of modern Europe. Far from it. I prize most highly those + keys of knowledge; and I think that no man who has leisure for study ought + to be content until he possesses several of them. I always much admired a + saying of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. "When I learn a new language," he + said, "I feel as if I had got a new soul." But I would console those who + have not time to make themselves linguists by assuring them that, by means + of their own mother tongue, they may obtain ready access to vast + intellectual treasures, to treasures such as might have been envied by the + greatest linguists of the age of Charles the Fifth, to treasures + surpassing those which were possessed by Aldus, by Erasmus, and by + Melancthon. + </p> + <p> + And thus I am brought back to the point from which I started. I have been + requested to invite you to fill your glasses to the Literature of Britain; + to that literature, the brightest, the purest, the most durable of all the + glories of our country; to that literature, so rich in precious truth and + precious fiction; to that literature which boasts of the prince of all + poets and of the prince of all philosophers; to that literature which has + exercised an influence wider than that of our commerce, and mightier than + that of our arms; to that literature which has taught France the + principles of liberty, and has furnished Germany with models of art; to + that literature which forms a tie closer than the tie of consanguinity + between us and the commonwealths of the valley of the Mississippi; to that + literature before the light of which impious and cruel superstitions are + fast taking flight on the banks of the Ganges; to that literature which + will, in future ages, instruct and delight the unborn millions who will + have turned the Australasian and Caffrarian deserts into cities and + gardens. To the Literature of Britain, then! And, wherever British + literature spreads, may it be attended by British virtue and by British + freedom! + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + EDUCATION. (APRIL 19, 1847) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON + THE 18TH OF APRIL 1847. + </h2> + <p> + In the year 1847 the Government asked from the House of Commons a grant of + one hundred thousand pounds for the education of the people. On the + nineteenth of April, Lord John Russell, having explained the reasons for + this application, moved the order of the day for a Committee of Supply. Mr + Thomas Duncombe, Member for Finsbury, moved the following amendment: "That + previous to any grant of public money being assented to by this House, for + the purpose of carrying out the scheme of national education, as developed + in the Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education in August and + December last, which minutes have been presented to both Houses of + Parliament by command of Her Majesty, a select Committee be appointed to + inquire into the justice and expediency of such a scheme, and its probable + annual cost; also to inquire whether the regulations attached thereto do + not unduly increase the influence of the Crown, invade the constitutional + functions of Parliament, and interfere with the religious convictions and + civil rights of Her Majesty's subjects." + </p> + <p> + In opposition to this amendment, the following Speech was made. After a + debate of three nights, Mr Thomas Duncombe obtained permission to withdraw + the latter part of his amendment. The first part was put, and negatived by + 372 votes to 47. + </p> + <p> + You will not wonder, Sir, that I am desirous to catch your eye this + evening. The first duty which I performed, as a Member of the Committee of + Council which is charged with the superintendence of public instruction, + was to give my hearty assent to the plan which the honourable Member for + Finsbury calls on the House to condemn. I am one of those who have been + accused in every part of the kingdom, and who are now accused in + Parliament, of aiming, under specious pretences, a blow at the civil and + religious liberties of the people. It is natural therefore that I should + seize the earliest opportunity of vindicating myself from so grave a + charge. + </p> + <p> + The honourable Member for Finsbury must excuse me if, in the remarks which + I have to offer to the House, I should not follow very closely the order + of his speech. The truth is that a mere answer to his speech would be no + defence of myself or of my colleagues. I am surprised, I own, that a man + of his acuteness and ability should, on such an occasion, have made such a + speech. The country is excited from one end to the other by a great + question of principle. On that question the Government has taken one side. + The honourable Member stands forth as the chosen and trusted champion of a + great party which takes the other side. We expected to hear from him a + full exposition of the views of those in whose name he speaks. But, to our + astonishment, he has scarcely even alluded to the controversy which has + divided the whole nation. He has entertained us with sarcasms and personal + anecdotes: he has talked much about matters of mere detail: but I must say + that, after listening with close attention to all that he has said, I am + quite unable to discover whether, on the only important point which is in + issue, he agrees with us or with that large and active body of + Nonconformists which is diametrically opposed to us. He has sate down + without dropping one word from which it is possible to discover whether he + thinks that education is or that it is not a matter with which the State + ought to interfere. Yet that is the question about which the whole nation + has, during several weeks, been writing, reading, speaking, hearing, + thinking, petitioning, and on which it is now the duty of Parliament to + pronounce a decision. That question once settled, there will be, I + believe, very little room for dispute. If it be not competent to the State + to interfere with the education of the people, the mode of interference + recommended by the Committee of Council must of course be condemned. If it + be the right and the duty of the State to make provision for the education + of the people, the objections made to our plan will, in a very few words, + be shown to be frivolous. + </p> + <p> + I shall take a course very different from that which has been taken by the + honourable gentleman. I shall in the clearest manner profess my opinion on + that great question of principle which he has studiously evaded; and for + my opinion I shall give what seem to me to be unanswerable reasons. + </p> + <p> + I believe, Sir, that it is the right and the duty of the State to provide + means of education for the common people. This proposition seems to me to + be implied in every definition that has ever yet been given of the + functions of a government. About the extent of those functions there has + been much difference of opinion among ingenious men. There are some who + hold that it is the business of a government to meddle with every part of + the system of human life, to regulate trade by bounties and prohibitions, + to regulate expenditure by sumptuary laws, to regulate literature by a + censorship, to regulate religion by an inquisition. Others go to the + opposite extreme, and assign to government a very narrow sphere of action. + But the very narrowest sphere that ever was assigned to governments by any + school of political philosophy is quite wide enough for my purpose. On one + point all the disputants are agreed. They unanimously acknowledge that it + is the duty of every government to take order for giving security to the + persons and property of the members of the community. + </p> + <p> + This being admitted, can it be denied that the education of the common + people is a most effectual means of securing our persons and our property? + Let Adam Smith answer that question for me. His authority, always high, + is, on this subject, entitled to peculiar respect, because he extremely + disliked busy, prying, interfering governments. He was for leaving + literature, arts, sciences, to take care of themselves. He was not + friendly to ecclesiastical establishments. He was of opinion, that the + State ought not to meddle with the education of the rich. But he has + expressly told us that a distinction is to be made, particularly in a + commercial and highly civilised society, between the education of the rich + and the education of the poor. The education of the poor, he says, is a + matter which deeply concerns the commonwealth. Just as the magistrate + ought to interfere for the purpose of preventing the leprosy from + spreading among the people, he ought to interfere for the purpose of + stopping the progress of the moral distempers which are inseparable from + ignorance. Nor can this duty be neglected without danger to the public + peace. If you leave the multitude uninstructed, there is serious risk that + religious animosities may produce the most dreadful disorders. The most + dreadful disorders! Those are Adam Smith's own words; and prophetic words + they were. Scarcely had he given this warning to our rulers when his + prediction was fulfilled in a manner never to be forgotten. I speak of the + No Popery riots of 1780. I do not know that I could find in all history a + stronger proof of the proposition, that the ignorance of the common people + makes the property, the limbs, the lives of all classes insecure. Without + the shadow of a grievance, at the summons of a madman, a hundred thousand + people rise in insurrection. During a whole week, there is anarchy in the + greatest and wealthiest of European cities. The parliament is besieged. + Your predecessor sits trembling in his chair, and expects every moment to + see the door beaten in by the ruffians whose roar he hears all round the + house. The peers are pulled out of their coaches. The bishops in their + lawn are forced to fly over the tiles. The chapels of foreign ambassadors, + buildings made sacred by the law of nations, are destroyed. The house of + the Chief Justice is demolished. The little children of the Prime Minister + are taken out of their beds and laid in their night clothes on the table + of the Horse Guards, the only safe asylum from the fury of the rabble. The + prisons are opened. Highwaymen, housebreakers, murderers, come forth to + swell the mob by which they have been set free. Thirty-six fires are + blazing at once in London. Then comes the retribution. Count up all the + wretches who were shot, who were hanged, who were crushed, who drank + themselves to death at the rivers of gin which ran down Holborn Hill; and + you will find that battles have been lost and won with a smaller sacrifice + of life. And what was the cause of this calamity, a calamity which, in the + history of London, ranks with the great plague and the great fire? The + cause was the ignorance of a population which had been suffered, in the + neighbourhood of palaces, theatres, temples, to grow up as rude and stupid + as any tribe of tattooed cannibals in New Zealand, I might say as any + drove of beasts in Smithfield Market. + </p> + <p> + The instance is striking: but it is not solitary. To the same cause are to + be ascribed the riots of Nottingham, the sack of Bristol, all the outrages + of Ludd, and Swing, and Rebecca, beautiful and costly machinery broken to + pieces in Yorkshire, barns and haystacks blazing in Kent, fences and + buildings pulled down in Wales. Could such things have been done in a + country in which the mind of the labourer had been opened by education, in + which he had been taught to find pleasure in the exercise of his + intellect, taught to revere his Maker, taught to respect legitimate + authority, and taught at the same time to seek the redress of real wrongs + by peaceful and constitutional means? + </p> + <p> + This then is my argument. It is the duty of Government to protect our + persons and property from danger. The gross ignorance of the common people + is a principal cause of danger to our persons and property. Therefore, it + is the duty of Government to take care that the common people shall not be + grossly ignorant. + </p> + <p> + And what is the alternative? It is universally allowed that, by some + means, Government must protect our persons and property. If you take away + education, what means do you leave? You leave means such as only necessity + can justify, means which inflict a fearful amount of pain, not only on the + guilty, but on the innocent who are connected with the guilty. You leave + guns and bayonets, stocks and whipping-posts, treadmills, solitary cells, + penal colonies, gibbets. See then how the case stands. Here is an end + which, as we all agree, governments are bound to attain. There are only + two ways of attaining it. One of those ways is by making men better, and + wiser, and happier. The other way is by making them infamous and + miserable. Can it be doubted which way we ought to prefer? Is it not + strange, is it not almost incredible, that pious and benevolent men should + gravely propound the doctrine that the magistrate is bound to punish and + at the same time bound not to teach? To me it seems quite clear that + whoever has a right to hang has a right to educate. Can we think without + shame and remorse that more than half of those wretches who have been tied + up at Newgate in our time might have been living happily, that more than + half of those who are now in our gaols might have been enjoying liberty + and using that liberty well, that such a hell on earth as Norfolk Island, + need never have existed, if we had expended in training honest men but a + small part of what we have expended in hunting and torturing rogues. + </p> + <p> + I would earnestly entreat every gentleman to look at a report which is + contained in the Appendix to the First Volume of the Minutes of the + Committee of Council. I speak of the report made by Mr Seymour Tremenheare + on the state of that part of Monmouthshire which is inhabited by a + population chiefly employed in mining. He found that, in this district, + towards the close of 1839, out of eleven thousand children who were of an + age to attend school, eight thousand never went to any school at all, and + that most of the remaining three thousand might almost as well have gone + to no school as to the squalid hovels in which men who ought themselves to + have been learners pretended to teach. In general these men had only one + qualification for their employment; and that was their utter unfitness for + every other employment. They were disabled miners, or broken hucksters. In + their schools all was stench, and noise, and confusion. Now and then the + clamour of the boys was silenced for two minutes by the furious menaces of + the master; but it soon broke out again. The instruction given was of the + lowest kind. Not one school in ten was provided with a single map. This is + the way in which you suffered the minds of a great population to be + formed. And now for the effects of your negligence. The barbarian + inhabitants of this region rise in an insane rebellion against the + Government. They come pouring down their valleys to Newport. They fire on + the Queen's troops. They wound a magistrate. The soldiers fire in return; + and too many of these wretched men pay with their lives the penalty of + their crime. But is the crime theirs alone? Is it strange that they should + listen to the only teaching that they had? How can you, who took no pains + to instruct them, blame them for giving ear to the demagogue who took + pains to delude them? We put them down, of course. We punished them. We + had no choice. Order must be maintained; property must be protected; and, + since we had omitted to take the best way of keeping these people quiet, + we were under the necessity of keeping them quiet by the dread of the + sword and the halter. But could any necessity be more cruel? And which of + us would run the risk of being placed under such necessity a second time? + </p> + <p> + I say, therefore, that the education of the people is not only a means, + but the best means, of attaining that which all allow to be a chief end of + government; and, if this be so, it passes my faculties to understand how + any man can gravely contend that Government has nothing to do with the + education of the people. + </p> + <p> + My confidence in my opinion is strengthened when I recollect that I hold + that opinion in common with all the greatest lawgivers, statesmen, and + political philosophers of all nations and ages, with all the most + illustrious champions of civil and spiritual freedom, and especially with + those men whose names were once held in the highest veneration by the + Protestant Dissenters of England. I might cite many of the most venerable + names of the old world; but I would rather cite the example of that + country which the supporters of the Voluntary system here are always + recommending to us as a pattern. Go back to the days when the little + society which has expanded into the opulent and enlightened commonwealth + of Massachusetts began to exist. Our modern Dissenters will scarcely, I + think, venture to speak contumeliously of those Puritans whose spirit Laud + and his High Commission Court could not subdue, of those Puritans who were + willing to leave home and kindred, and all the comforts and refinements of + civilised life, to cross the ocean, to fix their abode in forests among + wild beasts and wild men, rather than commit the sin of performing, in the + House of God, one gesture which they believed to be displeasing to Him. + Did those brave exiles think it inconsistent with civil or religious + freedom that the State should take charge of the education of the people? + No, Sir; one of the earliest laws enacted by the Puritan colonists was + that every township, as soon as the Lord had increased it to the number of + fifty houses, should appoint one to teach all children to write and read, + and that every township of a hundred houses should set up a grammar + school. Nor have the descendants of those who made this law ever ceased to + hold that the public authorities were bound to provide the means of public + instruction. Nor is this doctrine confined to New England. "Educate the + people" was the first admonition addressed by Penn to the colony which he + founded. "Educate the people" was the legacy of Washington to the nation + which he had saved. "Educate the people" was the unceasing exhortation of + Jefferson; and I quote Jefferson with peculiar pleasure, because of all + the eminent men that have ever lived, Adam Smith himself not excepted, + Jefferson was the one who most abhorred everything like meddling on the + part of governments. Yet the chief business of his later years was to + establish a good system of State education in Virginia. + </p> + <p> + And, against such authority as this, what have you who take the other side + to show? Can you mention a single great philosopher, a single man + distinguished by his zeal for liberty, humanity, and truth, who, from the + beginning of the world down to the time of this present Parliament, ever + held your doctrines? You can oppose to the unanimous voice of all the wise + and good, of all ages, and of both hemispheres, nothing but a clamour + which was first heard a few months ago, a clamour in which you cannot join + without condemning, not only all whose memory you profess to hold in + reverence, but even your former selves. + </p> + <p> + This new theory of politics has at least the merit of originality. It may + be fairly stated thus. All men have hitherto been utterly in the wrong as + to the nature and objects of civil government. The great truth, hidden + from every preceding generation, and at length revealed, in the year 1846, + to some highly respectable ministers and elders of dissenting + congregations, is this. Government is simply a great hangman. Government + ought to do nothing except by harsh and degrading means. The one business + of Government is to handcuff, and lock up, and scourge, and shoot, and + stab, and strangle. It is odious tyranny in a government to attempt to + prevent crime by informing the understanding and elevating the moral + feeling of a people. A statesman may see hamlets turned, in the course of + one generation, into great seaport towns and manufacturing towns. He may + know that on the character of the vast population which is collected in + those wonderful towns, depends the prosperity, the peace, the very + existence of society. But he must not think of forming that character. He + is an enemy of public liberty if he attempts to prevent those hundreds of + thousands of his countrymen from becoming mere Yahoos. He may, indeed, + build barrack after barrack to overawe them. If they break out into + insurrection, he may send cavalry to sabre them: he may mow them down with + grape shot: he may hang them, draw them, quarter them, anything but teach + them. He may see, and may shudder as he sees, throughout large rural + districts, millions of infants growing up from infancy to manhood as + ignorant, as mere slaves of sensual appetite, as the beasts that perish. + No matter. He is a traitor to the cause of civil and religious freedom if + he does not look on with folded arms, while absurd hopes and evil passions + ripen in that rank soil. He must wait for the day of his harvest. He must + wait till the Jaquerie comes, till farm houses are burning, till threshing + machines are broken in pieces; and then begins his business, which is + simply to send one poor ignorant savage to the county gaol, and another to + the antipodes, and a third to the gallows. + </p> + <p> + Such, Sir, is the new theory of government which was first propounded, in + the year 1846, by some men of high note among the Nonconformists of + England. It is difficult to understand how men of excellent abilities and + excellent intentions—and there are, I readily admit, such men among + those who hold this theory—can have fallen into so absurd and + pernicious an error. One explanation only occurs to me. This is, I am + inclined to believe, an instance of the operation of the great law of + reaction. We have just come victorious out of a long and fierce contest + for the liberty of trade. While that contest was undecided, much was said + and written about the advantages of free competition, and about the danger + of suffering the State to regulate matters which should be left to + individuals. There has consequently arisen in the minds of persons who are + led by words, and who are little in the habit of making distinctions, a + disposition to apply to political questions and moral questions principles + which are sound only when applied to commercial questions. These people, + not content with having forced the Government to surrender a province + wrongfully usurped, now wish to wrest from the Government a domain held by + a right which was never before questioned, and which cannot be questioned + with the smallest show of reason. "If," they say, "free competition is a + good thing in trade, it must surely be a good thing in education. The + supply of other commodities, of sugar, for example, is left to adjust + itself to the demand; and the consequence is, that we are better supplied + with sugar than if the Government undertook to supply us. Why then should + we doubt that the supply of instruction will, without the intervention of + the Government, be found equal to the demand?" + </p> + <p> + Never was there a more false analogy. Whether a man is well supplied with + sugar is a matter which concerns himself alone. But whether he is well + supplied with instruction is a matter which concerns his neighbours and + the State. If he cannot afford to pay for sugar, he must go without sugar. + But it is by no means fit that, because he cannot afford to pay for + education, he should go without education. Between the rich and their + instructors there may, as Adam Smith says, be free trade. The supply of + music masters and Italian masters may be left to adjust itself to the + demand. But what is to become of the millions who are too poor to procure + without assistance the services of a decent schoolmaster? We have indeed + heard it said that even these millions will be supplied with teachers by + the free competition of benevolent individuals who will vie with each + other in rendering this service to mankind. No doubt there are many + benevolent individuals who spend their time and money most laudably in + setting up and supporting schools; and you may say, if you please, that + there is, among these respectable persons, a competition to do good. But + do not be imposed upon by words. Do not believe that this competition + resembles the competition which is produced by the desire of wealth and by + the fear of ruin. There is a great difference, be assured, between the + rivalry of philanthropists and the rivalry of grocers. The grocer knows + that, if his wares are worse than those of other grocers, he shall soon go + before the Bankrupt Court, and his wife and children will have no refuge + but the workhouse: he knows that, if his shop obtains an honourable + celebrity, he shall be able to set up a carriage and buy a villa: and this + knowledge impels him to exertions compared with which the exertions of + even very charitable people to serve the poor are but languid. It would be + strange infatuation indeed to legislate on the supposition that a man + cares for his fellow creatures as much as he cares for himself. + </p> + <p> + Unless, Sir, I greatly deceive myself, those arguments, which show that + the Government ought not to leave to private people the task of providing + for the national defence, will equally show that the Government ought not + to leave to private people the task of providing for national education. + On this subject, Mr Hume has laid down the general law with admirable good + sense and perspicuity. I mean David Hume, not the Member for Montrose, + though that honourable gentleman will, I am confident, assent to the + doctrine propounded by his illustrious namesake. David Hume, Sir, justly + says that most of the arts and trades which exist in the world produce so + much advantage and pleasure to individuals, that the magistrate may safely + leave it to individuals to encourage those arts and trades. But he adds + that there are callings which, though they are highly useful, nay, + absolutely necessary to society, yet do not administer to the peculiar + pleasure or profit of any individual. The military calling is an instance. + Here, says Hume, the Government must interfere. It must take on itself to + regulate these callings, and to stimulate the industry of the persons who + follow these callings by pecuniary and honorary rewards. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, it seems to me that, on the same principle on which Government + ought to superintend and to reward the soldier, Government ought to + superintend and to reward the schoolmaster. I mean, of course, the + schoolmaster of the common people. That his calling is useful, that his + calling is necessary, will hardly be denied. Yet it is clear that his + services will not be adequately remunerated if he is left to be + remunerated by those whom he teaches, or by the voluntary contributions of + the charitable. Is this disputed? Look at the facts. You tell us that + schools will multiply and flourish exceedingly, if the Government will + only abstain from interfering with them. Has not the Government long + abstained from interfering with them? Has not everything been left, + through many years, to individual exertion? If it were true that + education, like trade, thrives most where the magistrate meddles least, + the common people of England would now be the best educated in the world. + Our schools would be model schools. Every one would have a well chosen + little library, excellent maps, a small but neat apparatus for experiments + in natural philosophy. A grown person unable to read and write would be + pointed at like Giant O'Brien or the Polish Count. Our schoolmasters would + be as eminently expert in all that relates to teaching as our cutlers, our + cotton-spinners, our engineers are allowed to be in their respective + callings. They would, as a class, be held in high consideration; and their + gains would be such that it would be easy to find men of respectable + character and attainments to fill up vacancies. + </p> + <p> + Now, is this the case? Look at the charges of the judges, at the + resolutions of the grand juries, at the reports of public officers, at the + reports of voluntary associations. All tell the same sad and ignominious + story. Take the reports of the Inspectors of Prisons. In the House of + Correction at Hertford, of seven hundred prisoners one half could not read + at all; only eight could read and write well. Of eight thousand prisoners + who had passed through Maidstone Gaol only fifty could read and write + well. In Coldbath Fields Prison, the proportion that could read and write + well seems to have been still smaller. Turn from the registers of + prisoners to the registers of marriages. You will find that about a + hundred and thirty thousand couples were married in the year 1844. More + than forty thousand of the bridegrooms and more than sixty thousand of the + brides did not sign their names, but made their marks. Nearly one third of + the men and nearly one half of the women, who are in the prime of life, + who are to be the parents of the Englishmen of the next generation, who + are to bear a chief part in forming the minds of the Englishmen of the + next generation, cannot write their own names. Remember, too, that, though + people who cannot write their own names must be grossly ignorant, people + may write their own names and yet have very little knowledge. Tens of + thousands who were able to write their names had in all probability + received only the wretched education of a common day school. We know what + such a school too often is; a room crusted with filth, without light, + without air, with a heap of fuel in one corner and a brood of chickens in + another; the only machinery of instruction a dogeared spelling-book and a + broken slate; the masters the refuse of all other callings, discarded + footmen, ruined pedlars, men who cannot work a sum in the rule of three, + men who cannot write a common letter without blunders, men who do not know + whether the earth is a sphere or a cube, men who do not know whether + Jerusalem is in Asia or America. And to such men, men to whom none of us + would entrust the key of his cellar, we have entrusted the mind of the + rising generation, and, with the mind of the rising generation the + freedom, the happiness, the glory of our country. + </p> + <p> + Do you question the accuracy of this description? I will produce evidence + to which I am sure that you will not venture to take an exception. Every + gentleman here knows, I suppose, how important a place the Congregational + Union holds among the Nonconformists, and how prominent a part Mr Edward + Baines has taken in opposition to State education. A Committee of the + Congregational Union drew up last year a report on the subject of + education. That report was received by the Union; and the person who moved + that it should be received was Mr Edward Baines. That report contains the + following passage: "If it were necessary to disclose facts to such an + assembly as this, as to the ignorance and debasement of the neglected + portions of our population in towns and rural districts, both adult and + juvenile, it could easily be done. Private information communicated to the + Board, personal observation and investigation of the various localities, + with the published documents of the Registrar General, and the reports of + the state of prisons in England and Wales, published by order of the House + of Commons, would furnish enough to make us modest in speaking of what has + been done for the humbler classes, and make us ashamed that the sons of + the soil of England should have been so long neglected, and should present + to the enlightened traveller from other shores such a sad spectacle of + neglected cultivation, lost mental power, and spiritual degradation." + Nothing can be more just. All the information which I have been able to + obtain bears out the statements of the Congregational Union. I do believe + that the ignorance and degradation of a large part of the community to + which we belong ought to make us ashamed of ourselves. I do believe that + an enlightened traveller from New York, from Geneva, or from Berlin, would + be shocked to see so much barbarism in the close neighbourhood of so much + wealth and civilisation. But is it not strange that the very gentlemen who + tell us in such emphatic language that the people are shamefully + ill-educated, should yet persist in telling us that under a system of free + competition the people are certain to be excellently educated? Only this + morning the opponents of our plan circulated a paper in which they + confidently predict that free competition will do all that is necessary, + if we will only wait with patience. Wait with patience! Why, we have been + waiting ever since the Heptarchy. How much longer are we to wait? Till the + year 2847? Or till the year 3847? That the experiment has as yet failed + you do not deny. And why should it have failed? Has it been tried in + unfavourable circumstances? Not so: it has been tried in the richest and + in the freest, and in the most charitable country in all Europe. Has it + been tried on too small a scale? Not so: millions have been subjected to + it. Has it been tried during too short a time? Not so: it has been going + on during ages. The cause of the failure then is plain. Our whole system + has been unsound. We have applied the principle of free competition to a + case to which that principle is not applicable. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, if the state of the southern part of our island has furnished me + with one strong argument, the state of the northern part furnishes me with + another argument, which is, if possible, still more decisive. A hundred + and fifty years ago England was one of the best governed and most + prosperous countries in the world: Scotland was perhaps the rudest and + poorest country that could lay any claim to civilisation. The name of + Scotchman was then uttered in this part of the island with contempt. The + ablest Scotch statesmen contemplated the degraded state of their poorer + countrymen with a feeling approaching to despair. It is well-known that + Fletcher of Saltoun, a brave and accomplished man, a man who had drawn his + sword for liberty, who had suffered proscription and exile for liberty, + was so much disgusted and dismayed by the misery, the ignorance, the + idleness, the lawlessness of the common people, that he proposed to make + many thousands of them slaves. Nothing, he thought, but the discipline + which kept order and enforced exertion among the negroes of a sugar + colony, nothing but the lash and the stocks, could reclaim the vagabonds + who infested every part of Scotland from their indolent and predatory + habits, and compel them to support themselves by steady labour. He + therefore, soon after the Revolution, published a pamphlet, in which he + earnestly, and, as I believe, from the mere impulse of humanity and + patriotism, recommended to the Estates of the Realm this sharp remedy, + which alone, as he conceived, could remove the evil. Within a few months + after the publication of that pamphlet a very different remedy was + applied. The Parliament which sate at Edinburgh passed an act for the + establishment of parochial schools. What followed? An improvement such as + the world had never seen took place in the moral and intellectual + character of the people. Soon, in spite of the rigour of the climate, in + spite of the sterility of the earth, Scotland became a country which had + no reason to envy the fairest portions of the globe. Wherever the + Scotchman went,—and there were few parts of the world to which he + did not go,—he carried his superiority with him. If he was admitted + into a public office, he worked his way up to the highest post. If he got + employment in a brewery or a factory, he was soon the foreman. If he took + a shop, his trade was the best in the street. If he enlisted in the army, + he became a colour-sergeant. If he went to a colony, he was the most + thriving planter there. The Scotchman of the seventeenth century had been + spoken of in London as we speak of the Esquimaux. The Scotchman of the + eighteenth century was an object, not of scorn, but of envy. The cry was + that, wherever he came, he got more than his share; that, mixed with + Englishmen or mixed with Irishmen, he rose to the top as surely as oil + rises to the top of water. And what had produced this great revolution? + The Scotch air was still as cold, the Scotch rocks were still as bare as + ever. All the natural qualities of the Scotchman were still what they had + been when learned and benevolent men advised that he should be flogged, + like a beast of burden, to his daily task. But the State had given him an + education. That education was not, it is true, in all respects what it + should have been. But such as it was, it had done more for the bleak and + dreary shores of the Forth and the Clyde than the richest of soils and the + most genial of climates had done for Capua and Tarentum. Is there one + member of this House, however strongly he may hold the doctrine that the + Government ought not to interfere with the education of the people, who + will stand up and say that, in his opinion, the Scotch would now have been + a happier and a more enlightened people if they had been left, during the + last five generations, to find instruction for themselves? + </p> + <p> + I say then, Sir, that, if the science of Government be an experimental + science, this question is decided. We are in a condition to perform the + inductive process according to the rules laid down in the Novum Organum. + We have two nations closely connected, inhabiting the same island, sprung + from the same blood, speaking the same language, governed by the same + Sovereign and the same Legislature, holding essentially the same religious + faith, having the same allies and the same enemies. Of these two nations + one was, a hundred and fifty years ago, as respects opulence and + civilisation, in the highest rank among European communities, the other in + the lowest rank. The opulent and highly civilised nation leaves the + education of the people to free competition. In the poor and half + barbarous nation the education of the people is undertaken by the State. + The result is that the first are last and the last first. The common + people of Scotland,—it is vain to disguise the truth,—have + passed the common people of England. Free competition, tried with every + advantage, has produced effects of which, as the Congregational Union + tells us, we ought to be ashamed, and which must lower us in the opinion + of every intelligent foreigner. State education, tried under every + disadvantage, has produced an improvement to which it would be difficult + to find a parallel in any age or country. Such an experiment as this would + be regarded as conclusive in surgery or chemistry, and ought, I think, to + be regarded as equally conclusive in politics. + </p> + <p> + These, Sir, are the reasons which have satisfied me that it is the duty of + the State to educate the people. Being firmly convinced of that truth, I + shall not shrink from proclaiming it here and elsewhere, in defiance of + the loudest clamour that agitators can raise. The remainder of my task is + easy. For, if the great principle for which I have been contending is + admitted, the objections which have been made to the details of our plan + will vanish fast. I will deal with those objections in the order in which + they stand in the amendment moved by the honourable Member for Finsbury. + </p> + <p> + First among his objections he places the cost. Surely, Sir, no person who + admits that it is our duty to train the minds of the rising generation can + think a hundred thousand pounds too large a sum for that purpose. If we + look at the matter in the lowest point of view, if we consider human + beings merely as producers of wealth, the difference between an + intelligent and a stupid population, estimated in pounds, shillings, and + pence, exceeds a hundredfold the proposed outlay. Nor is this all. For + every pound that you save in education, you will spend five in + prosecutions, in prisons, in penal settlements. I cannot believe that the + House, having never grudged anything that was asked for the purpose of + maintaining order and protecting property by means of pain and fear, will + begin to be niggardly as soon as it is proposed to effect the same objects + by making the people wiser and better. + </p> + <p> + The next objection made by the honourable Member to our plan is that it + will increase the influence of the Crown. This sum of a hundred thousand + pounds may, he apprehends, be employed in corruption and jobbing. Those + schoolmasters who vote for ministerial candidates will obtain a share of + the grant: those schoolmasters who vote for opponents of the ministry will + apply for assistance in vain. Sir, the honourable Member never would have + made this objection if he had taken the trouble to understand the minutes + which he has condemned. We propose to place this part of the public + expenditure under checks which must make such abuses as the honourable + Member anticipates morally impossible. Not only will there be those + ordinary checks which are thought sufficient to prevent the misapplication + of the many millions annually granted for the army, the navy, the + ordnance, the civil government: not only must the Ministers of the Crown + come every year to this House for a vote, and be prepared to render an + account of the manner in which they have laid out what had been voted in + the preceding year, but, when they have satisfied the House, when they + have got their vote, they will still be unable to distribute the money at + their discretion. Whatever they may do for any schoolmaster must be done + in concert with those persons who, in the district where the schoolmaster + lives, take an interest in education, and contribute out of their private + means to the expense of education. When the honourable gentleman is afraid + that we shall corrupt the schoolmasters, he forgets, first, that we do not + appoint the schoolmasters; secondly, that we cannot dismiss the + schoolmasters; thirdly, that managers who are altogether independent of us + can, without our consent, dismiss the schoolmasters; and, fourthly, that + without the recommendation of those managers we can give nothing to the + schoolmasters. Observe, too, that such a recommendation will not be one of + those recommendations which goodnatured easy people are too apt to give to + everybody who asks; nor will it at all resemble those recommendations + which the Secretary of the Treasury is in the habit of receiving. For + every pound which we pay on the recommendation of the managers, the + managers themselves must pay two pounds. They must also provide the + schoolmaster with a house out of their own funds before they can obtain + for him a grant from the public funds. What chance of jobbing is there + here? It is common enough, no doubt, for a Member of Parliament who votes + with Government to ask that one of those who zealously supported him at + the last election may have a place in the Excise or the Customs. But such + a member would soon cease to solicit if the answer were, "Your friend + shall have a place of fifty pounds a year, if you will give him a house + and settle on him an income of a hundred a year." What chance then, I + again ask, is there of jobbing? What, say some of the dissenters of Leeds, + is to prevent a Tory Government, a High Church Government, from using this + parliamentary grant to corrupt the schoolmasters of our borough, and to + induce them to use all their influence in favour of a Tory and High Church + candidate? Why, Sir, the dissenters of Leeds themselves have the power to + prevent it. Let them subscribe to the schools: let them take a share in + the management of the schools: let them refuse to recommend to the + committee of Council any schoolmaster whom they suspect of having voted at + any election from corrupt motives: and the thing is done. Our plan, in + truth, is made up of checks. My only doubt is whether the checks may not + be found too numerous and too stringent. On our general conduct there is + the ordinary check, the parliamentary check. And, as respects those minute + details which it is impossible that this House can investigate, we shall + be checked, in every town and in every rural district, by boards + consisting of independent men zealous in the cause of education. + </p> + <p> + The truth is, Sir, that those who clamour most loudly against our plan, + have never thought of ascertaining what it is. I see that a gentleman, who + ought to have known better, has not been ashamed publicly to tell the + world that our plan will cost the nation two millions a year, and will + paralyse all the exertions of individuals to educate the people. These two + assertions are uttered in one breath. And yet, if he who made them had + read our minutes before he railed at them, he would have seen that his + predictions are contradictory; that they cannot both be fulfilled; that, + if individuals do not exert themselves, the country will have to pay + nothing; and that, if the country has to pay two millions, it will be + because individuals have exerted themselves with such wonderful, such + incredible vigour, as to raise four millions by voluntary contributions. + </p> + <p> + The next objection made by the honourable Member for Finsbury is that we + have acted unconstitutionally, and have encroached on the functions of + Parliament. The Committee of Council he seems to consider as an unlawful + assembly. He calls it sometimes a self-elected body and sometimes a + self-appointed body. Sir, these are words without meaning. The Committee + is no more a self-elected body than the Board of Trade. It is a body + appointed by the Queen; and in appointing it Her Majesty has exercised, + under the advice of her responsible Ministers, a prerogative as old as the + monarchy. But, says the honourable Member, the constitutional course would + have been to apply for an Act of Parliament. On what ground? Nothing but + an Act of Parliament can legalise that which is illegal. But whoever heard + of an Act of Parliament to legalise what was already beyond all dispute + legal? Of course, if we wished to send aliens out of the country, or to + retain disaffected persons in custody without bringing them to trial, we + must obtain an Act of Parliament empowering us to do so. But why should we + ask for an Act of Parliament to empower us to do what anybody may do, what + the honourable Member for Finsbury may do? Is there any doubt that he or + anybody else may subscribe to a school, give a stipend to a monitor, or + settle a retiring pension on a preceptor who has done good service? What + any of the Queen's subjects may do the Queen may do. Suppose that her + privy purse were so large that she could afford to employ a hundred + thousand pounds in this beneficent manner; would an Act of Parliament be + necessary to enable her to do so? Every part of our plan may lawfully be + carried into execution by any person, Sovereign or subject, who has the + inclination and the money. We have not the money; and for the money we + come, in a strictly constitutional manner, to the House of Commons. The + course which we have taken is in conformity with all precedent, as well as + with all principle. There are military schools. No Act of Parliament was + necessary to authorise the establishing of such schools. All that was + necessary was a grant of money to defray the charge. When I was Secretary + at War it was my duty to bring under Her Majesty's notice the situation of + the female children of her soldiers. Many such children accompanied every + regiment, and their education was grievously neglected. Her Majesty was + graciously pleased to sign a warrant by which a girls' school was attached + to each corps. No Act of Parliament was necessary. For to set up a school + where girls might be taught to read, and write, and sew, and cook, was + perfectly legal already. I might have set it up myself, if I had been rich + enough. All that I had to ask from Parliament was the money. But I ought + to beg pardon for arguing a point so clear. + </p> + <p> + The next objection to our plans is that they interfere with the religious + convictions of Her Majesty's subjects. It has been sometimes insinuated, + but it has never been proved, that the Committee of Council has shown + undue favour to the Established Church. Sir, I have carefully read and + considered the minutes; and I wish that every man who has exerted his + eloquence against them had done the same. I say that I have carefully read + and considered them, and that they seem to me to have been drawn up with + exemplary impartiality. The benefits which we offer we offer to people of + all religious persuasions alike. The dissenting managers of schools will + have equal authority with the managers who belong to the Church. A boy who + goes to meeting will be just as eligible to be a monitor, and will receive + just as large a stipend, as if he went to the cathedral. The schoolmaster + who is a nonconformist and the schoolmaster who is a conformist will enjoy + the same emoluments, and will, after the same term of service, obtain, on + the same conditions, the same retiring pension. I wish that some gentleman + would, instead of using vague phrases about religious liberty and the + rights of conscience, answer this plain question. Suppose that in one of + our large towns there are four schools, a school connected with the + Church, a school connected with the Independents, a Baptist school, and a + Wesleyan school; what encouragement, pecuniary or honorary, will, by our + plan, be given to the school connected with the Church, and withheld from + any of the other three schools? Is it not indeed plain that, if by neglect + or maladministration the Church school should get into a bad state, while + the dissenting schools flourish, the dissenting schools will receive + public money and the Church school will receive none? + </p> + <p> + It is true, I admit, that in rural districts which are too poor to support + more than one school, the religious community to which the majority + belongs will have an advantage over other religious communities. But this + is not our fault. If we are as impartial as it is possible to be, you + surely do not expect more. If there should be a parish containing nine + hundred churchmen and a hundred dissenters, if there should, in that + parish, be a school connected with the Church, if the dissenters in that + parish should be too poor to set up another school, undoubtedly the school + connected with the Church will, in that parish, get all that we give; and + the dissenters will get nothing. But observe that there is no partiality + to the Church, as the Church, in this arrangement. The churchmen get + public money, not because they are churchmen, but because they are the + majority. The dissenters get nothing, not because they are dissenters, but + because they are a small minority. There are districts where the case will + be reversed, where there will be dissenting schools, and no Church + schools. In such cases the dissenters will get what we have to give, and + the churchmen will get nothing. + </p> + <p> + But, Sir, I ought not to say that a churchman gets nothing by a system + which gives a good education to dissenters, or that a dissenter gets + nothing by a system which gives a good education to churchmen. We are not, + I hope, so much conformists, or so much nonconformists, as to forget that + we are Englishmen and Christians. We all, Churchmen, Presbyterians, + Independents, Baptists, Methodists, have an interest in this, that the + great body of the people should be rescued from ignorance and barbarism. I + mentioned Lord George Gordon's mob. That mob began, it is true, with the + Roman Catholics: but, long before the tumults were over, there was not a + respectable Protestant in London who was not in fear for his house, for + his limbs, for his life, for the lives of those who were dearest to him. + The honourable Member for Finsbury says that we call on men to pay for an + education from which they derive no benefit. I deny that there is one + honest and industrious man in the country who derives no benefit from + living among honest and industrious neighbours rather than among rioters + and vagabonds. This matter is as much a matter of common concern as the + defence of our coast. Suppose that I were to say, "Why do you tax me to + fortify Portsmouth? If the people of Portsmouth think that they cannot be + safe without bastions and ravelins, let the people of Portsmouth pay the + engineers and masons. Why am I to bear the charge of works from which I + derive no advantage?" You would answer, and most justly, that there is no + man in the island who does not derive advantage from these works, whether + he resides within them or not. And, as every man, in whatever part of the + island he may live, is bound to contribute to the support of those + arsenals which are necessary for our common security, so is every man, to + whatever sect he may belong, bound to contribute to the support of those + schools on which, not less than on our arsenals, our common security + depends. + </p> + <p> + I now come to the last words of the amendment. The honourable Member for + Finsbury is apprehensive that our plan may interfere with the civil rights + of Her Majesty's subjects. How a man's civil rights can be prejudiced by + his learning to read and write, to multiply and divide, or even by his + obtaining some knowledge of history and geography, I do not very well + apprehend. One thing is clear, that persons sunk in that ignorance in + which, as we are assured by the Congregational Union, great numbers of our + countrymen are sunk, can be free only in name. It is hardly necessary for + us to appoint a Select Committee for the purpose of inquiring whether + knowledge be the ally or the enemy of liberty. He is, I must say, but a + short-sighted friend of the common people who is eager to bestow on them a + franchise which would make them all-powerful, and yet would withhold from + them that instruction without which their power must be a curse to + themselves and to the State. + </p> + <p> + This, Sir, is my defence. From the clamour of our accusers I appeal with + confidence to the country to which we must, in no long time, render an + account of our stewardship. I appeal with still more confidence to future + generations, which, while enjoying all the blessings of an impartial and + efficient system of public instruction, will find it difficult to believe + that the authors of that system should have had to struggle with a + vehement and pertinacious opposition, and still more difficult to believe + that such an opposition was offered in the name of civil and religious + freedom. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INAUGURAL SPEECH AT GLASGOW COLLEGE. (MARCH 21, 1849) A SPEECH DELIVERED + AT THE COLLEGE OF GLASGOW ON THE 21ST OF MARCH, 1849. + </h2> + <p> + At the election of Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, in November, + 1848, the votes stood thus: Mr Macaulay, 255; Colonel Mure, 203. The + installation took place on the twenty-first of March, 1849; and after that + ceremony had been performed, the following Speech was delivered. + </p> + <p> + My first duty, Gentlemen, is to return you my thanks for the honour which + you have conferred on me. You well know that it was wholly unsolicited; + and I can assure you that it was wholly unexpected. I may add that, if I + had been invited to become a candidate for your suffrages, I should + respectfully have declined the invitation. My predecessor, whom I am so + happy as to be able to call my friend, declared from this place last year + in language which well became him, that he would not have come forward to + displace so eminent a statesman as Lord John Russell. I can with equal + truth affirm that I would not have come forward to displace so estimable a + gentleman and so accomplished a scholar as Colonel Mure. But Colonel Mure + felt last year that it was not for him, and I now feel that it is not for + me, to question the propriety of your decision on a point of which, by the + constitution of your body, you are the judges. I therefore gratefully + accept the office to which I have been called, fully purposing to use + whatever powers belong to it with a single view to the welfare and credit + of your society. + </p> + <p> + I am not using a mere phrase of course, when I say that the feelings with + which I bear apart in the ceremony of this day are such as I find it + difficult to utter in words. I do not think it strange that, when that + great master of eloquence, Edmund Burke, stood where I now stand, he + faltered and remained mute. Doubtless the multitude of thoughts which + rushed into his mind was such as even he could not easily arrange or + express. In truth there are few spectacles more striking or affecting than + that which a great historical place of education presents on a solemn + public day. There is something strangely interesting in the contrast + between the venerable antiquity of the body and the fresh and ardent youth + of the great majority of the members. Recollections and hopes crowd upon + us together. The past and the future are at once brought close to us. Our + thoughts wander back to the time when the foundations of this ancient + building were laid, and forward to the time when those whom it is our + office to guide and to teach will be the guides and teachers of our + posterity. On the present occasion we may, with peculiar propriety, give + such thoughts their course. For it has chanced that my magistracy has + fallen on a great secular epoch. This is the four hundredth year of the + existence of your University. At such jubilees, jubilees of which no + individual sees more than one, it is natural, and it is good, that a + society like this, a society which survives all the transitory parts of + which it is composed, a society which has a corporate existence and a + perpetual succession, should review its annals, should retrace the stages + of its growth from infancy to maturity, and should try to find, in the + experience of generations which have passed away, lessons which may be + profitable to generations yet unborn. + </p> + <p> + The retrospect is full of interest and instruction. Perhaps it may be + doubted whether, since the Christian era, there has been any point of time + more important to the highest interests of mankind than that at which the + existence of your University commenced. It was at the moment of a great + destruction and of a great creation. Your society was instituted just + before the empire of the East perished; that strange empire which, + dragging on a languid life through the great age of darkness, connected + together the two great ages of light; that empire which, adding nothing to + our stores of knowledge, and producing not one man great in letters, in + science, or in art, yet preserved, in the midst of barbarism, those + masterpieces of Attic genius, which the highest minds still contemplate, + and long will contemplate, with admiring despair. And at that very time, + while the fanatical Moslem were plundering the churches and palaces of + Constantinople, breaking in pieces Grecian sculptures, and giving to the + flames piles of Grecian eloquence, a few humble German artisans, who + little knew that they were calling into existence a power far mightier + than that of the victorious Sultan, were busied in cutting and setting the + first types. The University came into existence just in time to witness + the disappearance of the last trace of the Roman empire, and to witness + the publication of the earliest printed book. + </p> + <p> + At this conjuncture, a conjuncture of unrivalled interest in the history + of letters, a man, never to be mentioned without reverence by every lover + of letters, held the highest place in Europe. Our just attachment to that + Protestant faith to which our country owes so much must not prevent us + from paying the tribute which, on this occasion, and in this place, + justice and gratitude demand, to the founder of the University of Glasgow, + the greatest of the restorers of learning, Pope Nicholas the Fifth. He had + sprung from the common people; but his abilities and his erudition had + early attracted the notice of the great. He had studied much and travelled + far. He had visited Britain, which, in wealth and refinement, was to his + native Tuscany what the back settlements of America now are to Britain. He + had lived with the merchant princes of Florence, those men who first + ennobled trade by making trade the ally of philosophy, of eloquence, and + of taste. It was he who, under the protection of the munificent and + discerning Cosmo, arranged the first public library that Modern Europe + possessed. From privacy your founder rose to a throne; but on the throne + he never forgot the studies which had been his delight in privacy. He was + the centre of an illustrious group, composed partly of the last great + scholars of Greece, and partly of the first great scholars of Italy, + Theodore Gaza and George of Trebizond, Bessarion and Filelfo, Marsilio + Ficino and Poggio Bracciolini. By him was founded the Vatican library, + then and long after the most precious and the most extensive collection of + books in the world. By him were carefully preserved the most valuable + intellectual treasures which had been snatched from the wreck of the + Byzantine empire. His agents were to be found everywhere, in the bazaars + of the farthest East, in the monasteries of the farthest West, purchasing + or copying worm-eaten parchments, on which were traced words worthy of + immortality. Under his patronage were prepared accurate Latin versions of + many precious remains of Greek poets and philosophers. But no department + of literature owes so much to him as history. By him were introduced to + the knowledge of Western Europe two great and unrivalled models of + historical composition, the work of Herodotus and the work of Thucydides. + By him, too, our ancestors were first made acquainted with the graceful + and lucid simplicity of Xenophon and with the manly good sense of + Polybius. + </p> + <p> + It was while he was occupied with cares like these that his attention was + called to the intellectual wants of this region, a region now swarming + with population, rich with culture, and resounding with the clang of + machinery, a region which now sends forth fleets laden with its admirable + fabrics to the lands of which, in his days, no geographer had ever heard, + then a wild, a poor, a half barbarous tract, lying on the utmost verge of + the known world. He gave his sanction to the plan of establishing a + University at Glasgow, and bestowed on the new seat of learning all the + privileges which belonged to the University of Bologna. I can conceive + that a pitying smile passed over his face as he named Bologna and Glasgow + together. At Bologna he had long studied. No spot in the world had been + more favoured by nature or by art. The surrounding country was a fruitful + and sunny country, a country of cornfields and vineyards. In the city, the + house of Bentivoglo bore rule, a house which vied with the house of Medici + in taste and magnificence, which has left to posterity noble palaces and + temples, and which gave a splendid patronage to arts and letters. Glasgow + your founder just knew to be a poor, a small, a rude town, a town, as he + would have thought, not likely ever to be great and opulent; for the soil, + compared with the rich country at the foot of the Apennines, was barren, + and the climate was such that an Italian shuddered at the thought of it. + But it is not on the fertility of the soil, it is not on the mildness of + the atmosphere, that the prosperity of nations chiefly depends. Slavery + and superstition can make Campania a land of beggars, and can change the + plain of Enna into a desert. Nor is it beyond the power of human + intelligence and energy, developed by civil and spiritual freedom, to turn + sterile rocks and pestilential marshes into cities and gardens. + Enlightened as your founder was, he little knew that he was himself a + chief agent in a great revolution, physical and moral, political and + religious, in a revolution destined to make the last first and the first + last, in a revolution destined to invert the relative positions of Glasgow + and Bologna. We cannot, I think, better employ a few minutes than in + reviewing the stages of this great change in human affairs. + </p> + <p> + The review shall be short. Indeed I cannot do better than pass rapidly + from century to century. Look at the world, then, a hundred years after + the seal of Nicholas had been affixed to the instrument which called your + College into existence. We find Europe, we find Scotland especially, in + the agonies of that great revolution which we emphatically call the + Reformation. The liberal patronage which Nicholas, and men like Nicholas, + had given to learning, and of which the establishment of this seat of + learning is not the least remarkable instance, had produced an effect + which they had never contemplated. Ignorance was the talisman on which + their power depended; and that talisman they had themselves broken. They + had called in Knowledge as a handmaid to decorate Superstition, and their + error produced its natural effect. I need not tell you what a part the + votaries of classical learning, and especially the votaries of Greek + learning, the Humanists, as they were then called, bore in the great + movement against spiritual tyranny. They formed, in fact, the vanguard of + that movement. Every one of the chief Reformers—I do not at this + moment remember a single exception—was a Humanist. Almost every + eminent Humanist in the north of Europe was, according to the measure of + his uprightness and courage, a Reformer. In a Scottish University I need + hardly mention the names of Knox, of Buchanan, of Melville, of Secretary + Maitland. In truth, minds daily nourished with the best literature of + Greece and Rome necessarily grew too strong to be trammelled by the + cobwebs of the scholastic divinity; and the influence of such minds was + now rapidly felt by the whole community; for the invention of printing had + brought books within the reach even of yeomen and of artisans. From the + Mediterranean to the Frozen Sea, therefore, the public mind was everywhere + in a ferment; and nowhere was the ferment greater than in Scotland. It was + in the midst of martyrdoms and proscriptions, in the midst of a war + between power and truth, that the first century of the existence of your + University closed. + </p> + <p> + Pass another hundred years; and we are in the midst of another revolution. + The war between Popery and Protestantism had, in this island, been + terminated by the victory of Protestantism. But from that war another war + had sprung, the war between Prelacy and Puritanism. The hostile religious + sects were allied, intermingled, confounded with hostile political + parties. The monarchical element of the constitution was an object of + almost exclusive devotion to the Prelatist. The popular element of the + constitution was especially dear to the Puritan. At length an appeal was + made to the sword. Puritanism triumphed; but Puritanism was already + divided against itself. Independency and Republicanism were on one side, + Presbyterianism and limited Monarchy on the other. It was in the very + darkest part of that dark time, it was in the midst of battles, sieges, + and executions, it was when the whole world was still aghast at the awful + spectacle of a British King standing before a judgment seat, and laying + his neck on a block, it was when the mangled remains of the Duke of + Hamilton had just been laid in the tomb of his house, it was when the head + of the Marquess of Montrose had just been fixed on the Tolbooth of + Edinburgh, that your University completed her second century. + </p> + <p> + A hundred years more; and we have at length reached the beginning of a + happier period. Our civil and religious liberties had indeed been bought + with a fearful price. But they had been bought. The price had been paid. + The last battle had been fought on British ground. The last black scaffold + had been set up on Tower Hill. The evil days were over. A bright and + tranquil century, a century of religious toleration, of domestic peace, of + temperate freedom, of equal justice, was beginning. That century is now + closing. When we compare it with any equally long period in the history of + any other great society, we shall find abundant cause for thankfulness to + the Giver of all good. Nor is there any place in the whole kingdom better + fitted to excite this feeling than the place where we are now assembled. + For in the whole kingdom we shall find no district in which the progress + of trade, of manufactures, of wealth, and of the arts of life, has been + more rapid than in Clydesdale. Your University has partaken largely of the + prosperity of this city and of the surrounding region. The security, the + tranquillity, the liberty, which have been propitious to the industry of + the merchant and of the manufacturer, have been also propitious to the + industry of the scholar. To the last century belong most of the names of + which you justly boast. The time would fail me if I attempted to do + justice to the memory of all the illustrious men who, during that period, + taught or learned wisdom within these ancient walls; geometricians, + anatomists, jurists, philologists, metaphysicians, poets: Simpson and + Hunter, Millar and Young, Reid and Stewart; Campbell, whose coffin was + lately borne to a grave in that renowned transept which contains the dust + of Chaucer, of Spenser, and of Dryden; Black, whose discoveries form an + era in the history of chemical science; Adam Smith, the greatest of all + the masters of political science; James Watt, who perhaps did more than + any single man has done, since the New Atlantis of Bacon was written, to + accomplish that glorious prophecy. We now speak the language of humility + when we say that the University of Glasgow need not fear a comparison with + the University of Bologna. + </p> + <p> + A fifth secular period is about to commence. There is no lack of alarmists + who will tell you that it is about to commence under evil auspices. But + from me you must expect no such gloomy prognostications. I have heard them + too long and too constantly to be scared by them. Ever since I began to + make observations on the state of my country, I have been seeing nothing + but growth, and hearing of nothing but decay. The more I contemplate our + noble institutions, the more convinced I am that they are sound at heart, + that they have nothing of age but its dignity, and that their strength is + still the strength of youth. The hurricane, which has recently overthrown + so much that was great and that seemed durable, has only proved their + solidity. They still stand, august and immovable, while dynasties and + churches are lying in heaps of ruin all around us. I see no reason to + doubt that, by the blessing of God on a wise and temperate policy, on a + policy of which the principle is to preserve what is good by reforming in + time what is evil, our civil institutions may be preserved unimpaired to a + late posterity, and that, under the shade of our civil institutions, our + academical institutions may long continue to flourish. + </p> + <p> + I trust, therefore, that, when a hundred years more have run out, this + ancient College will still continue to deserve well of our country and of + mankind. I trust that the installation of 1949 will be attended by a still + greater assembly of students than I have the happiness now to see before + me. That assemblage, indeed, may not meet in the place where we have met. + These venerable halls may have disappeared. My successor may speak to your + successors in a more stately edifice, in a edifice which, even among the + magnificent buildings of the future Glasgow, will still be admired as a + fine specimen of the architecture which flourished in the days of the good + Queen Victoria. But, though the site and the walls may be new, the spirit + of the institution will, I hope, be still the same. My successor will, I + hope, be able to boast that the fifth century of the University has even + been more glorious than the fourth. He will be able to vindicate that + boast by citing a long list of eminent men, great masters of experimental + science, of ancient learning, of our native eloquence, ornaments of the + senate, the pulpit and the bar. He will, I hope, mention with high honour + some of my young friends who now hear me; and he will, I also hope, be + able to add that their talents and learning were not wasted on selfish or + ignoble objects, but were employed to promote the physical and moral good + of their species, to extend the empire of man over the material world, to + defend the cause of civil and religious liberty against tyrants and + bigots, and to defend the cause of virtue and order against the enemies of + all divine and human laws. + </p> + <p> + I have now given utterance to a part, and to a part only, of the + recollections and anticipations of which, on this solemn occasion, my mind + is full. I again thank you for the honour which you have bestowed on me; + and I assure you that, while I live, I shall never cease to take a deep + interest in the welfare and fame of the body with which, by your kindness, + I have this day become connected. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0033" id="link2H_4_0033"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + RE-ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT. (NOVEMBER 2, 1852) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT + EDINBURGH ON THE 2D OF NOVEMBER, 1852. + </h2> + <p> + At the General Election of 1852 the votes for the City of Edinburgh stood + thus: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Mr Macaulay ...............1872 + Mr Cowan ..................1754 + The Lord Provost ..........1559 + Mr Bruce ..................1066 + Mr Campbell ............... 686 +</pre> + <p> + On the second of November the Electors assembled in the Music Hall to meet + the representative whom they had, without any solicitation on his part, + placed at the head of the poll. On this occasion the following Speech was + delivered. + </p> + <p> + Gentlemen,—I thank you from my heart for this kind reception. In + truth, it has almost overcome me. Your good opinion and your good will + were always very valuable to me, far more valuable than any vulgar object + of ambition, far more valuable than any office, however lucrative or + dignified. In truth, no office, however lucrative or dignified, would have + tempted me to do what I have done at your summons, to leave again the + happiest and most tranquil of all retreats for the bustle of political + life. But the honour which you have conferred upon me, an honour of which + the greatest men might well be proud, an honour which it is in the power + only of a free people to bestow, has laid on me such an obligation that I + should have thought it ingratitude, I should have thought it + pusillanimity, not to make at least an effort to serve you. + </p> + <p> + And here, Gentlemen, we meet again in kindness after a long separation. It + is more than five years since I last stood in this very place; a large + part of human life. There are few of us on whom those five years have not + set their mark, few circles from which those five years have not taken + away what can never be replaced. Even in this multitude of friendly faces + I look in vain for some which would on this day have been lighted up with + joy and kindness. I miss one venerable man, who, before I was born, in + evil times, in times of oppression and of corruption, had adhered, with + almost solitary fidelity, to the cause of freedom, and whom I knew in + advanced age, but still in the full vigour of mind and body, enjoying the + respect and gratitude of his fellow citizens. I should, indeed, be most + ungrateful if I could, on this day, forget Sir James Craig, his public + spirit, his judicious counsel, his fatherly kindness to myself. And + Jeffrey—with what an effusion of generous affection he would on this + day, have welcomed me back to Edinburgh! He too is gone; but the + remembrance of him is one of the many ties which bind me to the city once + dear to his heart, and still inseparably associated with his fame. + </p> + <p> + But, Gentlemen, it is not only here that, on entering again, at your call, + a path of life which I believed that I had quitted forever, I shall be + painfully reminded of the changes which the last five years have produced. + In Parliament I shall look in vain for virtues which I loved, and for + abilities which I admired. Often in debate, and never more than when we + discuss those questions of colonial policy which are every day acquiring a + new interest, I shall remember with regret how much eloquence and wit, how + much acuteness and knowledge, how many engaging qualities, how many fair + hopes, are buried in the grave of poor Charles Buller. There were other + men, men with whom I had no political connection and little personal + connection, men to whom I was, during a great part of my public life, + honestly opposed, but of whom I cannot now think without grieving that + their wisdom, their experience, and the weight of their great names can + never more, in the hour of need, bring help to the nation or to the + throne. Such were those two eminent men whom I left at the height, one of + civil, the other of military fame; one the oracle of the House of Commons, + the other the oracle of the House of Lords. There were parts of their long + public life which they would themselves, I am persuaded, on a calm + retrospect, have allowed to be justly censurable. But it is impossible to + deny that each in his own department saved the State; that one brought to + a triumphant close the most formidable conflict in which this country was + ever engaged with a foreign enemy; and that the other, at an immense + sacrifice of personal feeling and personal ambition, freed us from an + odious monopoly, which could not have existed many years longer without + producing fearful intestine discords. I regret them both: but I peculiarly + regret him who is associated in my mind with the place to which you have + sent me. I shall hardly know the House of Commons without Sir Robert Peel. + On the first evening on which I took my seat in that House, more than two + and twenty years ago, he held the highest position among the Ministers of + the Crown who sate there. During all the subsequent years of my + parliamentary service I scarcely remember one important discussion in + which he did not bear a part with conspicuous ability. His figure is now + before me: all the tones of his voice are in my ears; and the pain with + which I think that I shall never hear them again would be embittered by + the recollection of some sharp encounters which took place between us, + were it not that at last there was an entire and cordial reconciliation, + and that, only a very few days before his death, I had the pleasure of + receiving from him marks of kindness and esteem of which I shall always + cherish the recollection. + </p> + <p> + But, Gentlemen, it is not only by those changes which the natural law of + mortality produces, it is not only by the successive disappearances of + eminent men that the face of the world has been changed during the five + years which have elapsed since we met here last. Never since the origin of + our race have there been five years more fertile of great events, five + years which have left behind them a more awful lesson. We have lived many + lives in that time. The revolutions of ages have been compressed into a + few months. France, Germany, Hungary, Italy,—what a history has + theirs been! When we met here last, there was in all of those countries an + outward show of tranquillity; and there were few, even of the wisest among + us, who imagined what wild passions, what wild theories, were fermenting + under that peaceful exterior. An obstinate resistance to a reasonable + reform, a resistance prolonged but for one day beyond the time, gave the + signal for the explosion; and in an instant, from the borders of Russia to + the Atlantic Ocean, everything was confusion and terror. The streets of + the greatest capitals of Europe were piled up with barricades, and were + streaming with civil blood. The house of Orleans fled from France: the + Pope fled from Rome: the Emperor of Austria was not safe at Vienna. There + were popular institutions in Florence; popular institutions at Naples. One + democratic convention sat at Berlin; another democratic convention at + Frankfort. You remember, I am sure, but too well, how some of the wisest + and most honest friends of liberty, though inclined to look with great + indulgence on the excesses inseparable from revolutions, began first to + doubt and then to despair of the prospects of mankind. You remember how + all sorts of animosity, national, religious, and social, broke forth + together. You remember how with the hatred of discontented subjects to + their governments was mingled the hatred of race to race and of class to + class. For myself, I stood aghast; and though naturally of a sanguine + disposition, I did for one moment doubt whether the progress of society + was not about to be arrested, nay, to be suddenly and violently turned + back; whether we were not doomed to pass in one generation from the + civilisation of the nineteenth century to the barbarism of the fifth. I + remembered that Adam Smith and Gibbon had told us that the dark ages were + gone, never more to return, that modern Europe was in no danger of the + fate which had befallen the Roman empire. That flood, they said, would no + more return to cover the earth: and they seemed to reason justly: for they + compared the immense strength of the enlightened part of the world with + the weakness of the part which remained savage; and they asked whence were + to come the Huns and the Vandals, who should again destroy civilisation? + It had not occurred to them that civilisation itself might engender the + barbarians who should destroy it. It had not occurred to them that in the + very heart of great capitals, in the neighbourhood of splendid palaces, + and churches, and theatres, and libraries, and museums, vice and ignorance + might produce a race of Huns fiercer than those who marched under Attila, + and of Vandals more bent on destruction than those who followed Genseric. + Such was the danger. It passed by. Civilisation was saved, but at what a + price! The tide of popular feeling turned and ebbed almost as fast as it + had risen. Imprudent and obstinate opposition to reasonable demands had + brought on anarchy; and as soon as men had a near view of anarchy they + fled in terror to crouch at the feet of despotism. To the dominion of mobs + armed with pikes succeeded the sterner and more lasting dominion of + disciplined armies. The Papacy rose from its debasement; rose more + intolerant and insolent than before; intolerant and insolent as in the + days of Hildebrand; intolerant and insolent to a degree which dismayed and + disappointed those who had fondly cherished the hope that the spirit which + had animated the Crusaders and the Inquisitors had been mitigated by the + lapse of years and by the progress of knowledge. Through all that vast + region, where little more than four years ago we looked in vain for any + stable authority, we now look in vain for any trace of constitutional + freedom. And we, Gentlemen, in the meantime, have been exempt from both + those calamities which have wrought ruin all around us. The madness of + 1848 did not subvert the British throne. The reaction which followed has + not destroyed British liberty. + </p> + <p> + And why is this? Why has our country, with all the ten plagues raging + around her, been a land of Goshen? Everywhere else was the thunder and the + fire running along the ground,—a very grievous storm,—a storm + such as there was none like it since man was on the earth; yet everything + tranquil here; and then again thick night, darkness that might be felt; + and yet light in all our dwellings. We owe this singular happiness, under + the blessing of God, to a wise and noble constitution, the work of many + generations of great men. Let us profit by experience; and let us be + thankful that we profit by the experience of others, and not by our own. + Let us prize our constitution: let us purify it: let us amend it; but let + us not destroy it. Let us shun extremes, not only because each extreme is + in itself a positive evil, but also because each extreme necessarily + engenders its opposite. If we love civil and religious freedom, let us in + the day of danger uphold law and order. If we are zealous for law and + order, let us prize, as the best safeguard of law and order, civil and + religious freedom. + </p> + <p> + Yes, Gentlemen; if I am asked why we are free with servitude all around + us, why our Habeas Corpus Act has not been suspended, why our press is + still subject to no censor, why we still have the liberty of association, + why our representative institutions still abide in all their strength, I + answer, It is because in the year of revolutions we stood firmly by our + Government in its peril; and, if I am asked why we stood by our Government + in its peril, when men all around us were engaged in pulling Governments + down, I answer, It was because we knew that though our Government was not + a perfect Government, it was a good Government, that its faults admitted + of peaceable and legal remedies, that it had never inflexibly opposed just + demands, that we had obtained concessions of inestimable value, not by + beating the drum, not by ringing the tocsin, not by tearing up the + pavement, not by running to the gunsmiths' shops to search for arms, but + by the mere force of reason and public opinion. And, Gentlemen, preeminent + among those pacific victories of reason and public opinion, the + recollection of which chiefly, I believe, carried us safely through the + year of revolutions and through the year of counter-revolutions, I would + place two great reforms, inseparably associated, one with the memory of an + illustrious man, who is now beyond the reach of envy, the other with the + name of another illustrious man, who is still, and, I hope, long will be, + a living mark for distinction. I speak of the great commercial reform of + 1846, the work of Sir Robert Peel, and of the great parliamentary reform + of 1832, the work of many eminent statesmen, among whom none was more + conspicuous than Lord John Russell. I particularly call your attention to + those two great reforms, because it will, in my opinion, be the especial + duty of that House of Commons in which, by your distinguished favour, I + have a seat, to defend the commercial reform of Sir Robert Peel, and to + perfect and extend the parliamentary reform of Lord John Russell. + </p> + <p> + With respect to the commercial reform, though I say it will be a sacred + duty to defend it, I do not apprehend that we shall find the task very + difficult. Indeed, I doubt whether we have any reason to apprehend a + direct attack upon the system now established. From the expressions used + during the last session, and during the late elections, by the Ministers + and their adherents, I should, I confess, find it utterly impossible to + draw any inference whatever. They have contradicted each other; and they + have contradicted themselves. Nothing would be easier than to select from + their speeches passages which would prove them to be Freetraders, and + passages which would prove them to be protectionists. But, in truth, the + only inference which can properly be drawn from a speech of one of these + gentlemen in favour of Free Trade is, that, when he spoke, he was standing + for a town; and the only inference which can be drawn from the speech of + another in favour of Protection is, that, when he spoke, he was standing + for a county. I quitted London in the heat of the elections. I left behind + me a Tory candidate for Westminster and a Tory candidate for Middlesex, + loudly proclaiming themselves Derbyites and Freetraders. All along my + journey through Berkshire and Wiltshire I heard nothing but the cry of + Derby and Protection; but when I got to Bristol, the cry was Derby and + Free Trade again. On one side of the Wash, Lord Stanley, the + Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, a young nobleman of + great promise, a young nobleman who appears to me to inherit a large + portion of his father's ability and energy, held language which was + universally understood to indicate that the Government had altogether + abandoned all thought of Protection. Lord Stanley was addressing the + inhabitants of a town. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Wash, the + Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was haranguing the farmers of + Lincolnshire; and, when somebody took it upon him to ask, "What will you + do, Mr Christopher, if Lord Derby abandons Protection?" the Chancellor of + the Duchy refused to answer a question so monstrous, so insulting to Lord + Derby. "I will stand by Lord Derby," he said, "because I know that Lord + Derby will stand by Protection." Well, these opposite declarations of two + eminent persons, both likely to know the mind of Lord Derby on the + subject, go forth, and are taken up by less distinguished adherents of the + party. The Tory candidate for Leicestershire says, "I put faith in Mr + Christopher: while you see Mr Christopher in the Government, you may be + assured that agriculture will be protected." But, in East Surrey, which is + really a suburb of London, I find the Tory candidate saying, "Never mind + Mr Christopher. I trust to Lord Stanley. What should Mr Christopher know + on the subject? He is not in the Cabinet: he can tell you nothing about + it." Nay, these tactics were carried so far that Tories who had formerly + been for Free Trade, turned Protectionists if they stood for counties; and + Tories, who had always been furious Protectionists, declared for Free + Trade, without scruple or shame, if they stood for large towns. Take for + example Lord Maidstone. He was once one of the most vehement + Protectionists in England, and put forth a small volume, which, as I am an + elector of Westminster, and as he was a candidate for Westminster, I + thought it my duty to buy, in order to understand his opinions. It is + entitled Free Trade Hexameters. Of the poetical merits of Lord Maidstone's + hexameters I shall not presume to give an opinion. You may all form an + opinion for yourselves by ordering copies. They may easily be procured: + for I was assured, when I bought mine in Bond Street, that the supply on + hand was still considerable. But of the political merits of Lord + Maidstone's hexameters I can speak with confidence; and it is impossible + to conceive a fiercer attack, according to the measure of the power of the + assailant, than that which his lordship made on Sir Robert Peel's policy. + On the other hand, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, who is now Solicitor General, and + who was Solicitor General under Sir Robert Peel, voted steadily with Sir + Robert Peel, doubtless from a regard to the public interest, which would + have suffered greatly by the retirement of so able a lawyer from the + service of the Crown. Sir Fitzroy did not think it necessary to lay down + his office even when Sir Robert Peel brought in the bill which established + a free trade in corn. But unfortunately, Lord Maidstone becomes a + candidate for the City of Westminster, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly stands for an + agricultural county. Instantly, therefore, Lord Maidstone forgets his + verses, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly forgets his votes. Lord Maidstone declares + himself a convert to the opinions of Sir Robert Peel; and Sir Robert + Peel's own Solicitor General lifts up his head intrepidly, and makes a + speech, apparently composed out of Lord Maidstone's hexameters. + </p> + <p> + It is therefore, Gentlemen, utterly impossible for me to pretend to infer, + from the language held by the members of the Government, and their + adherents, what course they will take on the subject of Protection. + Nevertheless, I confidently say that the system established by Sir Robert + Peel is perfectly safe. The law which repealed the Corn Laws stands now on + a much firmer foundation than when it was first passed. We are stronger + than ever in reason; and we are stronger than ever in numbers. We are + stronger than ever in reason, because what was only prophecy is now + history. No person can now question the salutary effect which the repeal + of the Corn Laws has had on our trade and industry. We are stronger than + ever in numbers. You, I am sure, recollect the time when a formidable + opposition to the repeal of the Corn Laws was made by a class which was + most deeply interested in that repeal; I mean the labouring classes. You + recollect that, in many large towns, ten years ago, the friends of Free + Trade could not venture to call meetings for the purpose of petitioning + against the Corn Laws, for fear of being interrupted by a crowd of working + people, who had been taught by a certain class of demagogues to say that + the question was one in which working people had no interest, that it was + purely a capitalist's question, that, if the poor man got a large loaf + instead of a small one, he would get from the capitalist only a sixpence + instead of a shilling. I never had the slightest faith in those doctrines. + Experience even then seemed to me completely to confute them. I compared + place with place; and I found that, though bread was dearer in England + than in Ohio, wages were higher in Ohio than in England. I compared time + with time; and I saw that those times when bread was cheapest in England, + within my own memory, were also the times in which the condition of the + labouring classes was the happiest. But now the experiment has been tried + in a manner which admits of no dispute. I should be glad to know, if there + were now an attempt made to impose a tax on corn, what demagogue would be + able to bring a crowd of working men to hold up their hands in favour of + such a tax. Thus strong, Gentlemen, in reason, and thus strong in numbers, + we need, I believe, apprehend no direct attack on the principles of Free + Trade. It will, however, be one of the first duties of your + representatives to be vigilant that no indirect attack shall be made on + these principles; and to take care that in our financial arrangements no + undue favour shall be shown to any class. + </p> + <p> + With regard to the other question which I have mentioned, the question of + Parliamentary Reform, I think that the time is at hand when that question + will require the gravest consideration, when it will be necessary to + reconsider the Reform Act of 1832, and to amend it temperately and + cautiously, but in a large and liberal spirit. I confess that, in my + opinion, this revision cannot be made with advantage, except by the + Ministers of the Crown. I greatly doubt whether it will be found possible + to carry through any plan of improvement if we have not the Government + heartily with us; and I must say that from the present Administration I + can, as to that matter, expect nothing good. What precisely I am to expect + from them I do not know, whether the most obstinate opposition to every + change, or the most insanely violent change. If I look to their conduct, I + find the gravest reasons for apprehending that they may at one time resist + the most just demands, and at another time, from the merest caprice, + propose the wildest innovations. And I will tell you why I entertain this + opinion. I am sorry that, in doing so, I must mention the name of a + gentleman for whom, personally, I have the highest respect; I mean Mr + Walpole, the Secretary of State for the Home Department. My own + acquaintance with him is slight; but I know him well by character; and I + believe him to be an honourable, an excellent, an able man. No man is more + esteemed in private life: but of his public conduct I must claim the right + to speak with freedom; and I do so with the less scruple because he has + himself set me an example of that freedom, and because I am really now + standing on the defensive. Mr Walpole lately made a speech to the electors + of Midhurst; and in that speech he spoke personally of Lord John Russell + as one honourable man should speak of another, and as, I am sure, I wish + always to speak of Mr Walpole. But in Lord John's public conduct Mr + Walpole found many faults. Chief among those faults was this, that his + lordship had re-opened the question of reform. Mr Walpole declared himself + to be opposed on principle to organic change. He justly said that if, + unfortunately, organic change should be necessary, whatever was done ought + to be done with much deliberation and with caution almost timorous; and he + charged Lord John with having neglected these plain rules of prudence. I + was perfectly thunderstruck when I read the speech: for I could not but + recollect that the most violent and democratic change that ever was + proposed within the memory of the oldest man had been proposed but a few + weeks before by this same Mr Walpole, as the organ of the present + Government. Do you remember the history of the Militia Bill? In general, + when a great change in our institutions is to be proposed from the + Treasury Bench, the Minister announces his intention some weeks before. + There is a great attendance: there is the most painful anxiety to know + what he is going to recommend. I well remember,—for I was present,—with + what breathless suspense six hundred persons waited, on the first of + March, 1831, to hear Lord John Russell explain the principles of his + Reform Bill. But what was his Reform Bill to the Reform Bill of the Derby + Administration? At the end of a night, in the coolest way possible, + without the smallest notice, Mr Walpole proposed to add to the tail of the + Militia Bill a clause to the effect, that every man who had served in the + militia for two years should have a vote for the county. What is the + number of those voters who were to be entitled to vote in this way for + counties? The militia of England is to consist of eighty thousand men; and + the term of service is to be five years. In ten years the number will be + one hundred and sixty thousand; in twenty years, three hundred and twenty + thousand; and in twenty-five years, four hundred thousand. Some of these + new electors will, of course, die off in twenty-five years, though the + lives are picked lives, remarkably good lives. What the mortality is + likely to be I do not accurately know; but any actuary will easily + calculate it for you. I should say, in round numbers, that you will have, + when the system has been in operation for a generation, an addition of + about three hundred thousand to the county constituent bodies; that is to + say, six thousand voters on the average will be added to every county in + England and Wales. That is surely an immense addition. And what is the + qualification? Why, the first qualification is youth. These electors are + not to be above a certain age; but the nearer you can get them to eighteen + the better. The second qualification is poverty. The elector is to be a + person to whom a shilling a-day is an object. The third qualification is + ignorance; for I venture to say that, if you take the trouble to observe + the appearance of those young fellows who follow the recruiting sergeant + in the streets, you will at once say that, among our labouring classes, + they are not the most educated, they are not the most intelligent. That + they are brave, stout lads, I fully believe. Lord Hardinge tells me that + he never saw a finer set of young men; and I have not the slightest doubt + that, if necessary, after a few weeks' training, they will be found + standing up for our firesides against the best disciplined soldiers that + the Continent can produce. But these are not the qualifications which fit + men to choose legislators. A young man who goes from the ploughtail into + the army is generally rather thoughtless and disposed to idleness. Oh! but + there is another qualification which I had forgotten: the voter must be + five feet two. There is a qualification for you! Only think of measuring a + man for the franchise! And this is the work of a Conservative Government, + this plan which would swamp all the counties in England with electors who + possess the Derby-Walpole qualifications; that is to say, youth, poverty, + ignorance, a roving disposition, and five feet two. Why, what right have + people who have proposed such a change as this to talk about—I do + not say Lord John Russell's imprudence—but the imprudence of Ernest + Jones or of any other Chartist? The Chartists, to do them justice, would + give the franchise to wealth as well as to poverty, to knowledge as well + as to ignorance, to mature age as well as to youth. But to make a + qualification compounded of disqualifications is a feat of which the whole + glory belongs to our Conservative rulers. This astounding proposition was + made, I believe, in a very thin House: but the next day the House was full + enough, everybody having come down to know what was going to happen. One + asked, why not this? and another, why not that? Are all the regular troops + to have the franchise? all the policemen? all the sailors? for, if you + give the franchise to ploughboys of twenty-one, what class of honest + Englishmen and Scotchmen can you with decency exclude? But up gets the + Home Secretary, and informs the House that the plan had not been + sufficiently considered, that some of his colleagues were not satisfied, + and that he would not press his proposition. Now, if it had happened to me + to propose such a reform at one sitting of the House, and at the next + sitting to withdraw it, because it had not been well considered, I do + think that, to the end of my life, I never should have talked about the + exceeding imprudence of reopening the question of reform; I should never + have ventured to read any other man a lecture about the caution with which + all plans of organic change ought to be framed. I repeat that, if I am to + judge from the language of the present Ministers, taken in connection with + this solitary instance of their legislative skill in the way of reform, I + am utterly at a loss what to expect. On the whole, what I do expect is + that they will offer a pertinacious, vehement, provoking opposition to + safe and reasonable change, and that then, in some moment of fear or + caprice, they will bring in, and fling on the table, in a fit of + desperation or levity, some plan which will loosen the very foundations of + society. + </p> + <p> + For my own part, I think that the question of Parliamentary Reform is one + which must soon be taken up; but it ought to be taken up by the + Government; and I hope, before long, to see in office a Ministry which + will take it up in earnest. I dare say that you will not suspect me of + saying so from any interested feeling. In no case whatever shall I again + be a member of any Ministry. During what may remain of my public life, I + shall be the servant of none but you. I have nothing to ask of any + government, except that protection which every government owes to a + faithful and loyal subject of the Queen. But I do hope to see in office + before long a Ministry which will treat this great question as it should + be treated. It will be the duty of that Ministry to revise the + distribution of power. It will be the duty of that Ministry to consider + whether small constituent bodies, notoriously corrupt, and proved to be + corrupt, such, for example, as Harwich, ought to retain the power of + sending members to Parliament. It will be the duty of such a Ministry to + consider whether small constituent bodies, even less notoriously corrupt, + ought to have, in the counsels of the empire, a share as great as that of + the West Riding of York, and twice as great as that of the county of + Perth. It will be the duty of such a Ministry to consider whether it may + not be possible, without the smallest danger to peace, law, and order, to + extend the elective franchise to classes of the community which do not now + possess it. As to universal suffrage, on that subject you already know my + opinions; and I now come before you with those opinions strengthened by + everything which, since I last professed them, has passed in Europe. We + now know, by the clearest of all proofs, that universal suffrage, even + united with secret voting, is no security against the establishment of + arbitrary power. But, Gentlemen, I do look forward, and at no very remote + period, to an extension of the franchise, such as I once thought unsafe. I + believe that such an extension will, by the course of events, be brought + about in the very best and happiest way. Perhaps I may be sanguine: but I + think that good times are coming for the labouring classes of this + country. I do not entertain that hope because I expect that Fourierism, or + Saint Simonianism, or Socialism, or any of those other "isms" for which + the plain English word is "robbery," will prevail. I know that such + schemes only aggravate the misery which they pretend to relieve. I know + that it is possible, by legislation, to make the rich poor, but that it is + utterly impossible to make the poor rich. But I believe that the progress + of experimental science, the free intercourse of nation with nation, the + unrestricted influx of commodities from countries where they are cheap, + and the unrestricted efflux of labour towards countries where it is dear, + will soon produce, nay, I believe that they are beginning to produce, a + great and most blessed social revolution. I need not tell you, Gentlemen, + that in those colonies which have been planted by our race,—and, + when I speak of our colonies I speak as well of those which have separated + from us as of those which still remain united to us,—I need not tell + you that in our colonies the condition of the labouring man has long been + far more prosperous than in any part of the Old World. And why is this? + Some people tell you that the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and New England + are better off than the inhabitants of the Old World, because the United + States have a republican form of government. But we know that the + inhabitants of Pennsylvania and New England were more prosperous than the + inhabitants of the Old World when Pennsylvania and New England were as + loyal as any part of the dominions of George the First, George the Second, + and George the Third; and we know that in Van Diemen's Land, in New + Zealand, in Australasia, in New Brunswick, in Canada, the subjects of Her + Majesty are as prosperous as they could be under the government of a + President. The real cause is that, in these new countries, where there is + a boundless extent of fertile land, nothing is easier than for the + labourer to pass from the place which is overstocked with labour to the + place which is understocked; and that thus both he who moves and he who + stays always have enough. This it is which keeps up the prosperity of the + Atlantic States of the Union. They pour their population back to the Ohio, + across the Ohio to the Mississippi, and beyond the Mississippi to the + Rocky Mountains. Everywhere the desert is receding before the advancing + flood of human life and civilisation; and, in the meantime, those who are + left behind enjoy abundance, and never endure such privations as in old + countries too often befall the labouring classes. And why has not the + condition of our labourers been equally fortunate? Simply, as I believe, + on account of the great distance which separates our country from the new + and unoccupied part of the world, and on account of the expense of + traversing that distance. Science, however, has abridged, and is + abridging, that distance: science has diminished, and is diminishing, that + expense. Already New Zealand is, for all practical purposes, nearer to us + than New England was to the Puritans who fled thither from the tyranny of + Laud. Already the ports of North America, Halifax, Boston, and New York, + are nearer to us than, within the memory of persons now living, the Island + of Skye and the county of Donegal were to London. Already emigration is + beginning to produce the same effect here which it has produced on the + Atlantic States of the Union. And do not imagine that our countryman who + goes abroad is altogether lost to us. Even if he goes from under the + dominion of the British Queen and the protection of the British flag he + will still, under the benignant system of free trade, continue to be bound + to us by close ties. If he ceases to be a neighbour, he is still a + benefactor and a customer. Go where he may, if you will but maintain that + system inviolate, it is for us that he is turning the forests into + cornfields on the banks of the Mississippi; it is for us that he is + tending his sheep and preparing his fleeces in the heart of Australasia; + and in the meantime it is from us that he receives those commodities which + are produced with most advantage in old societies, where great masses of + capital have been accumulated. His candlesticks and his pots and his pans + come from Birmingham; his knives from Sheffield; the light cotton jacket + which he wears in summer from Manchester; the good cloth coat which he + wears in winter from Leeds; and in return he sends us back, from what was + lately a wilderness, the good flour out of which is made the large loaf + which the British labourer divides among his children. I believe that it + is in these changes that we shall see the best solution of the question of + the franchise. We shall make our institutions more democratic than they + are, not by lowering the franchise to the level of the great mass of the + community, but by raising, in a time which will be very short when + compared with the existence of a nation, the great mass up to the level of + the franchise. + </p> + <p> + I feel that I must stop. I had meant to advert to some other subjects. I + had meant to say something about the ballot, to which, as you know, I have + always been favourable; something about triennial parliaments, to which, + as you know, I have always been honestly opposed; something about your + university tests; something about the cry for religious equality which has + lately been raised in Ireland; but I feel that I cannot well proceed. I + have only strength to thank you again, from the very bottom of my heart, + for the great honour which you have done me in choosing me, without + solicitation, to represent you in Parliament. I am proud of our + connection; and I shall try to act in such a manner that you may not be + ashamed of it. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0034" id="link2H_4_0034"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + EXCLUSION OF JUDGES FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. (JUNE 1, 1853) A SPEECH + DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 1ST OF JUNE 1853. + </h2> + <p> + On the first of June 1853, Lord Hotham, Member for Kent, moved the third + reading of a bill of which the chief object was to make the Master of the + Rolls incapable of sitting in the House of Commons. Mr Henry Drummond, + Member for Surrey, moved that the bill should be read a third time that + day six months. In support of Mr Drummond's amendment the following Speech + was made. + </p> + <p> + The amendment was carried by 224 votes to 123. + </p> + <p> + I cannot, Sir, suffer the House to proceed to a division without + expressing the very strong opinion which I have formed on this subject. I + shall give my vote, with all my heart and soul, for the amendment moved by + my honourable friend the Member for Surrey. I never gave a vote in my life + with a more entire confidence that I was in the right; and I cannot but + think it discreditable to us that a bill for which there is so little to + be said, and against which there is so much to be said, should have been + permitted to pass through so many stages without a division. + </p> + <p> + On what grounds, Sir, does the noble lord, the Member for Kent, ask us to + make this change in the law? The only ground, surely, on which a + Conservative legislator ought ever to propose a change in the law is this, + that the law, as it stands, has produced some evil. Is it then pretended + that the law, as it stands, has produced any evil? The noble lord himself + tells you that it has produced no evil whatever. Nor can it be said that + the experiment has not been fairly tried. This House and the office of + Master of the Rolls began to exist, probably in the same generation, + certainly in the same century. During six hundred years this House has + been open to Masters of the Rolls. Many Masters of the Rolls have sate + here, and have taken part, with great ability and authority, in our + deliberations. To go no further back than the accession of the House of + Hanover, Jekyll was a member of this House, and Strange, and Kenyon, and + Pepper Arden, and Sir William Grant, and Sir John Copley, and Sir Charles + Pepys, and finally Sir John Romilly. It is not even pretended that any one + of these eminent persons was ever, on any single occasion, found to be the + worse member of this House for being Master of the Rolls, or the worse + Master of the Rolls for being a member of this House. And if so, is it, I + ask, the part of a wise statesman, is it, I ask still more emphatically, + the part of a Conservative statesman, to alter a system which has lasted + six centuries, and which has never once, during all those centuries, + produced any but good effects, merely because it is not in harmony with an + abstract principle? + </p> + <p> + And what is the abstract principle for the sake of which we are asked to + innovate in reckless defiance of all the teaching of experience? It is + this; that political functions ought to be kept distinct from judicial + functions. So sacred, it seems, is this principle, that the union of the + political and judicial characters ought not to be suffered to continue + even in a case in which that union has lasted through many ages without + producing the smallest practical inconvenience. "Nothing is so hateful," I + quote the words of the noble lord who brought in this bill, "nothing is so + hateful as a political judge." + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, if I assent to the principle laid down by the noble lord, I must + pronounce his bill the most imbecile, the most pitiful, attempt at reform + that ever was made. The noble lord is a homoeopathist in state medicine. + His remedies are administered in infinitesimal doses. If he will, for a + moment, consider how our tribunals are constituted, and how our parliament + is constituted, he will perceive that the judicial and political character + are, through all grades, everywhere combined, everywhere interwoven, and + that therefore the evil which he proposes to remove vanishes, as the + mathematicians say, when compared with the immense mass of evil which he + leaves behind. + </p> + <p> + It has been asked, and very sensibly asked, why, if you exclude the Master + of the Rolls from the House, you should not also exclude the Recorder of + the City of London. I should be very sorry to see the Recorder of the City + of London excluded. But I must say that the reasons for excluding him are + ten times as strong as the reasons for excluding the Master of the Rolls. + For it is well-known that political cases of the highest importance have + been tried by Recorders of the City of London. But why not exclude all + Recorders, and all Chairmen of Quarter Sessions? I venture to say that + there are far stronger reasons for excluding a Chairman of Quarter + Sessions than for excluding a Master of the Rolls. I long ago attended, + during two or three years, the Quarter Sessions of a great county. There I + constantly saw in the chair an eminent member of this House. An excellent + criminal judge he was. Had he been a veteran lawyer, he could hardly have + tried causes more satisfactorily or more expeditiously. But he was a keen + politician: he had made a motion which had turned out a Government; and + when he died he was a Cabinet Minister. Yet this gentleman, the head of + the Blue interest, as it was called, in his county, might have had to try + men of the Orange party for rioting at a contested election. He voted for + the corn laws; and he might have had to try men for breaches of the peace + which had originated in the discontent caused by the corn laws. He was, as + I well remember, hooted, and, I rather think, pelted too, by the mob of + London for his conduct towards Queen Caroline; and, when he went down to + his county, he might have had to sit in judgment on people for breaking + windows which had not been illuminated in honour of Her Majesty's victory. + This is not a solitary instance. There are, I dare say, in this House, + fifty Chairmen of Quarter Sessions. And this is an union of judicial and + political functions against which there is really much to be said. For it + is important, not only that the administration of justice should be pure, + but that it should be unsuspected. Now I am willing to believe that the + administration of justice by the unpaid magistrates in political cases is + pure: but unsuspected it certainly is not. It is notorious that, in times + of political excitement, the cry of the whole democratic press always is + that a poor man, who has been driven by distress to outrage, has far + harder measure at the Quarter Sessions than at the Assizes. So loud was + this cry in 1819 that Mr Canning, in one of his most eloquent speeches, + pronounced it the most alarming of all the signs of the times. See then + how extravagantly, how ludicrously inconsistent your legislation is. You + lay down the principle that the union of political functions and judicial + functions is a hateful abuse. That abuse you determine to remove. You + accordingly leave in this House a crowd of judges who, in troubled times, + have to try persons charged with political offences; of judges who have + often been accused, truly or falsely, of carrying to the judgment seat + their political sympathies and antipathies; and you shut out of the house + a single judge, whose duties are of such a nature that it has never once, + since the time of Edward the First, been even suspected that he or any of + his predecessors has, in the administration of justice, favoured a + political ally, or wronged a political opponent. + </p> + <p> + But even if I were to admit, what I altogether deny, that there is + something in the functions of the Master of the Rolls which makes it + peculiarly desirable that he should not take any part in politics, I + should still vote against this bill, as most inconsistent and inefficient. + If you think that he ought to be excluded from political assemblies, why + do not you exclude him? You do no such thing. You exclude him from the + House of Commons, but you leave the House of Lords open to him. Is not the + House of Lords a political assembly? And is it not certain that, during + several generations, judges have generally had a great ascendency in the + House of Lords? A hundred years ago a great judge, Lord Hardwicke, + possessed an immense influence there. He bequeathed his power to another + great judge, Lord Mansfield. When age had impaired the vigour of Lord + Mansfield, the authority which he had, during many years, enjoyed, passed + to a third judge, Lord Thurlow. Everybody knows what a dominion that + eminent judge, Lord Eldon, exercised over the peers, what a share he took + in making and unmaking ministries, with what idolatrous veneration he was + regarded by one great party in the State, with what dread and aversion he + was regarded by the other. When the long reign of Lord Eldon had + terminated, other judges, Whig and Tory, appeared at the head of + contending factions. Some of us can well remember the first ten days of + October, 1831. Who, indeed, that lived through those days can ever forget + them? It was the most exciting, the most alarming political conjuncture of + my time. On the morning of the eighth of October, the Reform Bill, after a + discussion which had lasted through many nights, was rejected by the + Lords. God forbid that I should again see such a crisis! I can never hope + again to hear such a debate. It was indeed a splendid display of various + talents and acquirements. There are, I dare say, some here who, like + myself, watched through the last night of that conflict till the late + autumnal dawn, sometimes walking up and down the long gallery, sometimes + squeezing ourselves in behind the throne, or below the bar, to catch the + eloquence of the great orators who, on that great occasion, surpassed + themselves. There I saw, in the foremost ranks, confronting each other, + two judges, on one side Lord Brougham, Chancellor of the realm, on the + other Lord Lyndhurst, Chief Baron of the Exchequer. How eagerly we hung on + their words! How eagerly those words were read before noon by hundreds of + thousands in the capital, and within forty-eight hours, by millions in + every part of the kingdom! With what a burst of popular fury the decision + of the House was received by the nation! The ruins of Nottingham Castle, + the ruins of whole streets and squares at Bristol, proved but too well to + what a point the public feeling had been wound up. If it be true that + nothing is so hateful to the noble lord, the Member for Kent, as a judge + who takes part in political contentions, why does he not bring in a bill + to prevent judges from entering those lists in which Lord Brougham and + Lord Lyndhurst then encountered each other? But no: the noble lord is + perfectly willing to leave those lists open to the Master of the Rolls. + The noble lord's objection is not to the union of the judicial character + and the political character. He is quite willing that anywhere but here + judges should be politicians. The Master of the Rolls may be the soul of a + great party, the head of a great party, the favourite tribune of a stormy + democracy, the chief spokesman of a haughty aristocracy. He may do all + that declamation and sophistry can do to inflame the passions or mislead + the judgment of a senate. But it must not be in this room. He must go a + hundred and fifty yards hence. He must sit on a red bench, and not on a + green one. He must say, "My Lords," and not "Mr Speaker." He must say, + "Content," and not "Aye." And then he may, without at all shocking the + noble lord, be the most stirring politician in the kingdom. + </p> + <p> + But I am understating my case. I am greatly understating it. For, Sir, + this union of the judicial character and the political character, in + Members of the other House of Parliament, is not a merely accidental + union. Not only may judges be made peers; but all the peers are + necessarily judges. Surely when the noble lord told us that the union of + political functions and of judicial functions was the most hateful of all + things, he must have forgotten that, by the fundamental laws of the realm, + a political assembly is the supreme court of appeal, the court which + finally confirms or annuls the judgments of the courts, both of common law + and of equity, at Westminster, of the courts of Scotland, of the courts of + Ireland, of this very Master of the Rolls about whom we are debating. + Surely, if the noble lord's principle be a sound one, it is not with the + Master of the Rolls but with the House of Peers that we ought to begin. + For, beyond all dispute, it is more important that the court above should + be constituted on sound principles than that the court below should be so + constituted. If the Master of the Rolls goes wrong, the House of Peers may + correct his errors. But who is to correct the errors of the House of + Peers? All these considerations the noble lord overlooks. He is quite + willing that the peers shall sit in the morning as judges, shall determine + questions affecting the property, the liberty, the character of the + Queen's subjects, shall determine those questions in the last resort, + shall overrule the decisions of all the other tribunals in the country; + and that then, in the afternoon, these same noble persons shall meet as + politicians, and shall debate, sometimes rather sharply, sometimes in a + style which we dare not imitate for fear that you, Sir, should call us to + order, about the Canadian Clergy Reserves, the Irish National Schools, the + Disabilities of the Jews, the Government of India. I do not blame the + noble lord for not attempting to alter this state of things. We cannot + alter it, I know, without taking up the foundations of our constitution. + But is it not absurd, while we live under such a constitution, while, + throughout our whole system from top to bottom, political functions and + judicial functions are combined, to single out, not on any special ground, + but merely at random, one judge from a crowd of judges, and to exclude + him, not from all political assemblies, but merely from one political + assembly? Was there ever such a mummery as the carrying of this bill to + the other House will be, if, unfortunately, it should be carried thither. + The noble lord, himself, I have no doubt, a magistrate, himself at once a + judge and a politician, accompanied by several gentlemen who are at once + judges and politicians, will go to the bar of the Lords, who are all at + once judges and politicians, will deliver the bill into the hands of the + Chancellor, who is at once the chief judge of the realm and a Cabinet + Minister, and will return hither proud of having purified the + administration of justice from the taint of politics. + </p> + <p> + No, Sir, no; for the purpose of purifying the administration of justice + this bill is utterly impotent. It will be effectual for one purpose, and + for one purpose only, for the purpose of weakening and degrading the House + of Commons. This is not the first time that an attempt has been made, + under specious pretexts, to lower the character and impair the efficiency + of the assembly which represents the great body of the nation. More than a + hundred and fifty years ago there was a general cry that the number of + placemen in Parliament was too great. No doubt, Sir, the number was too + great: the evil required a remedy: but some rash and short-sighted though + probably well meaning men, proposed a remedy which would have produced far + more evil than it would have removed. They inserted in the Act of + Settlement a clause providing that no person who held any office under the + Crown should sit in this House. The clause was not to take effect till the + House of Hanover should come to the throne; and, happily for the country, + before the House of Hanover came to the throne, the clause was repealed. + Had it not been repealed, the Act of Settlement would have been, not a + blessing, but a curse to the country. There was no want, indeed, of + plausible and popular commonplaces in favour of this clause. No man, it + was said, can serve two masters. A courtier cannot be a good guardian of + public liberty. A man who derives his subsistence from the taxes cannot be + trusted to check the public expenditure. You will never have purity, you + will never have economy, till the stewards of the nation are independent + of the Crown, and dependent only on their constituents. Yes; all this + sounded well: but what man of sense now doubts that the effect of a law + excluding all official men from this House would have been to depress that + branch of the legislature which springs from the people, and to increase + the power and consideration of the hereditary aristocracy? The whole + administration would have been in the hands of peers. The chief object of + every eminent Commoner would have been to obtain a peerage. As soon as any + man had gained such distinction here by his eloquence and knowledge that + he was selected to fill the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary + of State, or First Lord of the Admiralty, he would instantly have turned + his back on what would then indeed have been emphatically the Lower House, + and would have gone to that chamber in which alone it would have been + possible for him fully to display his abilities and fully to gratify his + ambition. Walpole and Pulteney, the first Pitt and the second Pitt, Fox, + Windham, Canning, Peel, all the men whose memory is inseparably associated + with this House, all the men of whose names we think with pride as we pass + through St Stephen's Hall, the place of their contentions and their + triumphs, would, in the vigour and prime of life, have become Barons and + Viscounts. The great conflict of parties would have been transferred from + the Commons to the Lords. It would have been impossible for an assembly, + in which not a single statesman of great fame, authority, and experience + in important affairs would have been found, to hold its own against an + assembly in which all our eminent politicians and orators would have been + collected. All England, all Europe, would have been reading with + breathless interest the debates of the peers, and looking with anxiety for + the divisions of the peers, while we, instead of discussing high questions + of state, and giving a general direction to the whole domestic and foreign + policy of the realm, should have been settling the details of canal bills + and turnpike bills. + </p> + <p> + The noble lord, the Member for Kent does not, it is true, propose so + extensive and important a change as that which the authors of the Act of + Settlement wished to make. But the tendency of this bill is, beyond all + doubt, to make this House less capable than it once was, and less capable + than the other House now is, of discharging some of the most important + duties of a legislative assembly. + </p> + <p> + Of the duties of a legislative assembly, the noble lord, and some of those + gentlemen who support his bill, seem to me to have formed a very imperfect + notion. They argue as if the only business of the House of Commons was to + turn one set of men out of place, and to bring another set into place; as + if a judge could find no employment here but factious wrangling. Sir, it + is not so. There are extensive and peaceful provinces of parliamentary + business far removed from the fields of battle where hostile parties + encounter each other. A great jurist, seated among us, might, without + taking any prominent part in the strife between the Ministry and the + Opposition, render to his country most valuable service, and earn for + himself an imperishable name. Nor was there ever a time when the + assistance of such a jurist was more needed, or was more likely to be + justly appreciated, than at present. No observant man can fail to perceive + that there is in the public mind a general, a growing, an earnest, and at + the same time, I must say, a most sober and reasonable desire for + extensive law reform. I hope and believe that, for some time to come, no + year will pass without progress in law reform; and I hold that of all law + reformers the best is a learned, upright, and large-minded judge. At such + a time it is that we are called upon to shut the door of this House + against the last great judicial functionary to whom the unwise legislation + of former parliaments has left it open. In the meantime the other House is + open to him. It is open to all the other judges who are not suffered to + sit here. It is open to the Judge of the Admiralty Court, whom the noble + lord, twelve or thirteen years ago, prevailed on us, in an unlucky hour, + to exclude. In the other House is the Lord Chancellor, and several retired + Chancellors, a Lord Chief Justice, in several retired Chief Justices. The + Queen may place there to-morrow the Chief Baron, the two Lords Justices, + the three Vice Chancellors, the very Master of the Rolls about whom we are + debating: and we, as if we were not already too weak for the discharge of + our functions, are trying to weaken ourselves still more. I harbour no + unfriendly feeling towards the Lords. I anticipate no conflict with them. + But it is not fit that we should be unable to bear an equal part with them + in the great work of improving and digesting the law. It is not fit that + we should be under the necessity of placing implicit confidence in their + superior wisdom, and of registering without amendment, any bill which they + may send us. To that humiliating situation we are, I grieve to say, fast + approaching. I was much struck by a circumstance which occurred a few days + ago. I heard the honourable Member for Montrose, who, by the by, is one of + the supporters of this bill, urge the House to pass the Combination Bill, + for a most extraordinary reason. "We really," he said, "cannot tell how + the law about combinations of workmen at present stands; and, not knowing + how the law at present stands, we are quite incompetent to decide whether + it ought to be altered. Let us send the bill up to the Lords. They + understand these things. We do not. There are Chancellors, and + ex-Chancellors, and Judges among them. No doubt they will do what is + proper; and I shall acquiesce in their decision." Why, Sir, did ever any + legislative assembly abdicate its functions in so humiliating a manner? Is + it not strange that a gentleman, distinguished by his love of popular + institutions, and by the jealousy with which he regards the aristocracy, + should gravely propose that, on a subject which interests and excites + hundreds of thousands of our constituents, we should declare ourselves + incompetent to form an opinion, and beg the Lords to tell us what we ought + to do? And is it not stranger still that, while he admits the incompetence + of the House to discharge some of its most important functions, and while + he attributes that incompetence to the want of judicial assistance, he + should yet wish to shut out of the House the only high judicial + functionary who is now permitted to come into it? + </p> + <p> + But, says the honourable Member for Montrose, the Master of the Rolls has + duties to perform which, if properly performed, will leave him no leisure + for attendance in this House: it is important that there should be a + division of labour: no man can do two things well; and, if we suffer a + judge to be a member of Parliament, we shall have both a bad member of + Parliament and a bad judge. + </p> + <p> + Now, Sir, if this argument proves anything, it proves that the Master of + the Rolls, and indeed all the other judges, ought to be excluded from the + House of Lords as well as from the House of Commons. But I deny that the + argument is of any weight. The division of labour has its disadvantages as + well as its advantages. In operations merely mechanical you can hardly + carry the subdivision too far; but you may very easily carry it too far in + operations which require the exercise of high intellectual powers. It is + quite true, as Adam Smith tells us, that a pin will be best made when one + man does nothing but cut the wire, when another does nothing but mould the + head, when a third does nothing but sharpen the point. But it is not true + that Michael Angelo would have been a greater painter if he had not been a + sculptor: it is not true that Newton would have been a greater + experimental philosopher if he had not been a geometrician; and it is not + true that a man will be a worse lawgiver because he is a great judge. I + believe that there is as close a connection between the functions of the + judge and the functions of the lawgiver as between anatomy and surgery. + Would it not be the height of absurdity to lay down the rule that nobody + who dissected the dead should be allowed to operate on the living? The + effect of such a division of labour would be that you would have nothing + but bungling surgery; and the effect of the division of labour which the + honourable Member for Montrose recommends will be that we shall have + plenty of bungling legislation. Who can be so well qualified to make laws + and to mend laws as a man whose business is to interpret laws and to + administer laws? As to this point I have great pleasure in citing an + authority to which the honourable Member for Montrose will, I know, be + disposed to pay the greatest deference; the authority of Mr Bentham. Of Mr + Bentham's moral and political speculations, I entertain, I must own, a + very mean opinion: but I hold him in high esteem as a jurist. Among all + his writings there is none which I value more than the treatise on + Judicial Organization. In that excellent work he discusses the question + whether a person who holds a judicial office ought to be permitted to hold + with it any other office. Mr Bentham argues strongly and convincingly + against pluralities; but he admits that there is one exception to the + general rule. A judge, he says, ought to be allowed to sit in the + legislature as a representative of the people; for the best school for a + legislator is the judicial bench; and the supply of legislative skill is + in all societies so scanty that none of it can be spared. + </p> + <p> + My honourable friend, the Member for Surrey, has completely refuted + another argument to which the noble lord, the Member for Kent, appears to + attach considerable importance. The noble lord conceives that no person + can enter this House without stooping to practice arts which would ill + become the gravity of the judicial character. He spoke particularly of + what he called the jollifications usual at elections. Undoubtedly the + festivities at elections are sometimes disgraced by intemperance, and + sometimes by buffoonery; and I wish from the bottom of my heart that + intemperance and buffoonery were the worst means to which men, reputed + upright and honourable in private life, have resorted in order to obtain + seats in the legislature. I should, indeed, be sorry if any Master of the + Rolls should court the favour of the populace by playing the mounttebank + on the hustings or on tavern tables. Still more sorry should I be if any + Master of the Rolls were to disgrace himself and his office by employing + the ministry of the Frails and the Flewkers, by sending vile emissaries + with false names, false addresses, and bags of sovereigns, to buy the + votes of the poor. No doubt a Master of the Rolls ought to be free, not + only from guilt, but from suspicion. I have not hitherto mentioned the + present Master of the Rolls. I have not mentioned him because, in my + opinion, this question ought to be decided by general and not by personal + considerations. I cannot, however, refrain from saying, with a confidence + which springs from long and intimate acquaintance, that my valued friend, + Sir John Romilly, will never again sit in this House unless he can come in + by means very different from those by which he was turned out. But, Sir, + are we prepared to say that no person can become a representative of the + English people except by some sacrifice of integrity, or at least of + personal dignity? If it be so, we had indeed better think of setting our + House in order. If it be so, the prospects of our country are dark indeed. + How can England retain her place among the nations, if the assembly to + which all her dearest interests are confided, the assembly which can, by a + single vote, transfer the management of her affairs to new hands, and give + a new direction to her whole policy, foreign and domestic, financial, + commercial, and colonial, is closed against every man who has rigid + principles and a fine sense of decorum? But it is not so. Did that great + judge, Sir William Scott, lower his character by entering this House as + Member for the University of Oxford? Did Sir John Copley lower his + character by entering this House as Member for the University of + Cambridge? But the universities, you say, are constituent bodies of a very + peculiar kind. Be it so. Then, by your own admission, there are a few + seats in this House which eminent judges have filled and may fill without + any unseemly condescension. But it would be most unjust, and in me, + especially, most ungrateful, to compliment the universities at the expense + of other constituent bodies. I am one of many members who know by + experience that a generosity and a delicacy of sentiment which would do + honour to any seat of learning may be found among the ten pound + householders of our great cities. And, Sir, as to the counties, need we + look further than to your chair? It is of as much importance that you + should punctiliously preserve your dignity as that the Master of the Rolls + should punctiliously preserve his dignity. If you had, at the last + election, done anything inconsistent with the integrity, with the gravity, + with the suavity of temper which so eminently qualify you to preside over + our deliberations, your public usefulness would have been seriously + diminished. But the great county which does itself honour by sending you + to the House required from you nothing unbecoming your character, and + would have felt itself degraded by your degradation. And what reason is + there to doubt that other constituent bodies would act as justly and + considerately towards a judge distinguished by uprightness and ability as + Hampshire has acted towards you? + </p> + <p> + One very futile argument only remains to be noticed. It is said that we + ought to be consistent; and that, having turned the Judge of the Admiralty + out of the House, we ought to send the Master of the Rolls after him. I + admit, Sir, that our system is at present very anomalous. But it is better + that a system should be anomalous than that it should be uniformly and + consistently bad. You have entered on a wrong course. My advice is first + that you stop, and secondly that you retrace your steps. The time is not + far distant when it will be necessary for us to revise the constitution of + this House. On that occasion, it will be part of our duty to reconsider + the rule which determines what public functionaries shall be admitted to + sit here, and what public functionaries shall be excluded. That rule is, I + must say, singularly absurd. It is this, that no person who holds any + office created since the twenty-fifth of October, 1705, shall be a member + of the House of Commons. Nothing can be more unreasonable or more + inconvenient. In 1705, there were two Secretaries of State and two Under + Secretaries. Consequently, to this day, only two Secretaries of State and + two Under Secretaries can sit among us. Suppose that the Home Secretary + and the Colonial Secretary are members of this House, and that the office + of Foreign Secretary becomes vacant. In that case, no member of this + House, whatever may be his qualifications, his fame in diplomacy, his + knowledge of all the politics of the Courts of Europe, can be appointed. + Her Majesty must give the Admiralty to the commoner who is, of all her + subjects, fittest for the Foreign Office, and the seals of the Foreign + Office to some peer who would perhaps be fitter for the Admiralty. Again, + the Postmaster General cannot sit in this House. Yet why not? He always + comes in and goes out with the Government: he is often a member of the + Cabinet; and I believe that he is, of all public functionaries, the + Chancellor of the Exchequer alone excepted, the one whom it would be most + convenient to have here. I earnestly hope that, before long, this whole + subject will be taken into serious consideration. As to the judges, the + rule which I should wish to see laid down is very simple. I would admit + into this House any judge whom the people might elect, unless there were + some special reason against admitting him. There is a special reason + against admitting any Irish or Scotch judge. Such a judge cannot attend + this House without ceasing to attend his court. There is a special reason + against admitting the Judges of the Queen's Bench and of the Common Pleas, + and the Barons of the Exchequer. They are summoned to the House of Lords; + and they sit there: their assistance is absolutely necessary to enable + that House to discharge its functions as the highest court of appeal; and + it would manifestly be both inconvenient and derogatory to our dignity + that members of our body should be at the beck and call of the peers. I + see no special reason for excluding the Master of the Rolls; and I would, + therefore, leave our door open to him. I would open it to the Judge of the + Admiralty, who has been most unwisely excluded. I would open it to other + great judicial officers who are now excluded solely because their offices + did not exist in 1705, particularly to the two Lords Justices, and the + three Vice Chancellors. In this way, we should, I am convinced, greatly + facilitate the important and arduous work of law reform; we would raise + the character of this House: and I need not say that with the character of + this House must rise or fall the estimation in which representative + institutions are held throughout the world. But, whether the extensive + changes which I have recommended shall be thought desirable or not, I + trust that we shall reject the bill of the noble lord. I address myself to + the Conservative members on your left hand; and I ask them whether they + are prepared to alter, on grounds purely theoretical, a system which has + lasted during twenty generations without producing the smallest practical + evil. I turn to the Liberal members on this side; and I ask them whether + they are prepared to lower the reputation and to impair the efficiency of + that branch of the legislature which springs from the people. For myself, + Sir, I hope that I am at once a Liberal and a Conservative politician; + and, in both characters, I shall give a clear and conscientious vote in + favour of the amendment moved by my honourable friend. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0035" id="link2H_4_0035"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INDEX. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Absalom and Achitophel of Dryden, character of it. + + Absolute government, theory of. + + Absolute rulers. + + Academy, the French, its services to literature. + + Addington, Henry, formation of his administration. + His position as Prime Minister. + Resigns. + Raised to the peerage. + + Aeschines, compared by Mr Mitford to Demosthenes. + + Aeschylus, his works, how regarded by Quintillian. + + Agesilaus, depressed by the constitution of Lycurgus. + + Ajax, the prayer of, in the Iliad. + + Aldrich, Dean, his mode of instructing the youths of his college. + Employs Charles Boyle to edit the letters of Phalaris. + + Alfieri, Vittorio, character of his works. + His great fault in his compositions. + + Anatomy Bill, Speech on. + + Antinomian barn preacher, story of the. + + Approbation, love of. + + Aristocratical form of government. See Oligarchy. + + Aristotle, his unrivalled excellence in analysis and combination. + Value of his general propositions. + His enlightened and profound criticism. + + Arnault, A.V., Translation from. + + Arras, cruelties of the Jacobins at. + + Arrian, his character as a historian. + + Arts, the fine, laws on which the progress and decline of depend. + + Athenian Revels, scenes from. + + Athens; disreputable character of Peiraeus. + Police officers of the city. + Favourite epithet of the city. + The Athenian orators. + Excellence to which eloquence attained at. + Dr Johnson's contemptuous derision of the civilisation of the + people of. + Their books and book education. + An Athenian day. + Defects of the Athenians' conversational education. + The law of ostracism at Athens. + Happiness of the Athenians in their term of government. + Their naval superiority. + Ferocity of the Athenians in war. + And of their dependencies in seditions. + Cause of the violence of faction in that age. + Influence of Athenian genius on the human intellect and on + private happiness. + The gifts of Athens to man. + Character of the great dramas of Athens. + Change in the temper of the Athenians in the time of + Aristophanes. + + Atterbury, Francis, his birth and early life. + Defends Martin Luther against the aspersions of Obadiah Walker. + Enters the church and becomes one of the royal chaplains. + Assists Charles Boyle in preparing an edition of the letters of + Phalaris. + His answer to Bentley's dissertation on the letters of Phalaris. + Bentley's reply. + Atterbury's defence of the clergy against the prelates. + Created a D.D. and promoted to the Deanery of Carlisle. + His pamphlets against the Whigs. + Appointed to the Deanery of Christ Church. + Removed to the Bishopric of Rochester. + His opposition to the Government of George I. + His private life. + His taste in literature and literary friends. + Thrown into prison for treason. + Deprived of his dignities and banished for life. + Calls Pope as a witness to his innocence. + Goes to Paris, and becomes Prime Minister of King James. + Retires from the court of the ex-King. + Death of his daughter. + Induced by the Pretender to return to Paris. + His defence of the charge of having garbled Clarendon's History + of the Rebellion. + His death. + + August, lines written in. + + Bacon, Lord, his description of the logomachies of the schoolmen. + And of the Utilitarian philosophy. + His mode of tracking the principle of heat. + + Barbaroux, the Girondist, his execution. + + Barere, Bertrand, Memoires de, of Carnot and David, review of + the. + Barere's true character. + His lies. + His talents as an author. + Sketch of his life. + Votes against the King. + His federal views and ultra Girondism. + His apparent zeal for the cause of order and humanity. + His motion for punishing the Jacobins. + Defeat of the Girondists. + Retains his seat at the Board of the Triumphant Mountain. + His infamous motion against the chiefs of the Girondists. + Moves that the Queen be brought before the Revolutionary + Tribunal. + Regales Robespierre and other Jacobins at a tavern on the day of + the death of the Queen. + Formation of his peculiar style of oratory. + His Carmagnoles. + Effect produced by his discourses. + Seconds Robespierre's atrocious motion in the Convention. + Becomes one of the six members of the Committee of Public Safety. + The first to proclaim terror as the order of the day. + Recommends Fouquier Tinville to the Revolutionary Committee of + Paris. + His proposal to destroy Lyons and Toulon. + His opposition to the personal defence of Danton. + His support of the wretch Lebon. + His war against learning, art, and history. + His sensual excesses. + Becomes a really cruel man. + His morning audiences and mode of treating petitions. + His orders against certain head-dresses. + Nicknames given to him. + Obtains a decree that no quarter should be given to any English + or Hanoverian soldier. + M. Carnot's defence of this barbarity. + Barere's support of Robespierre's fiendish decree. + His panegyric on Robespierre. + His motion that Robespierre and his accomplices should be put to + death. + Destruction of the power of the Jacobins. + Report on his conduct voted by the Convention. + Condemned to be removed to a distant place of confinement. + His perilous journey. + Imprisoned at Oleron. + Removed to Saintes. + Escapes to Bordeaux. + Chosen a member of the Council of Five Hundred, which refuses to + admit him. + His libel on England. + The Liberty of the Seas. + His flight to St Ouen. + Sends a copy of his work to the First Consul. + Allowed by Bonaparte to remain in Paris. + Refuses; becomes a writer and a spy to Bonaparte. + Sends his friend Demerville to the guillotine. + Spies set to watch the spy. + Ordered to quit Paris. + Employed in the lowest political drudgery. + His "Memorial Antibritannique" and pamphlets. + His fulsome adulation of the Emperor. + Causes of his failure as a journalist. + Treated with contempt by Napoleon. + His treachery to his Imperial master. + Becomes a royalist on the return of the Bourbons. + Compelled to leave France. + Returns in July 1830. + Joins the extreme left. + His last years and death. + Summary of his character. + His hatred of England. + His MS. works on divinity. + + Barre, Colonel, joins the Whig opposition. + Appointed by Pitt Clerk of the Pells. + + Bearn, the constitution of. + + Beatrice, Dante's love of. + + Beauclerc, Topham, a member of the Literary Club. + + Bentham, Mr, his defence of Mr Mill. + His merits and shortcomings. + Examination of his views. + His account of the manner in which he arrived at the "greatest + happiness principle." + Testimony to his merits. + + Bentinck, Lord William, inscription on the statue of, at + Calcutta. + + Bentley, Richard, his dissertation on the letters of Phalaris. + His answer to the attack of Atterbury. + + Bible, the English translation of the, regarded as a specimen of + the beauty and power of the English language. + + Billaud, M., becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. + Opposes Robespierre. + Himself brought to trial. + Condemned to be removed to a distant place of confinement. + Transported to Guiana. + His subsequent life. + + Bonaparte, Napoleon, his detestation of the cruel decree of the + Convention respecting English prisoners. + His return from Egypt, and assumption of absolute power as First + Consul. + His policy at this period. + Allows Barere to reside in Pairs. + Employs Barere as a writer and spy. + Establishes the Imperial government. + His opinion of Barere's journalism. + His defeat and abdication. + + Boswell, James, becomes a member of The Club. + His character. + His life of Johnson. + + Bourbon, Duke, character of the government of. + + Bow Street, whiggery of. + + Boyd, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + + Boyle, Charles, his college edition of the letters of Phalaris. + The answer to Bentley attributed to him. + + Boyse, the poet, his friendship with Samuel Johnson. + + Brasidas, great only when he ceased to be a Lacedaemonian. + + Brissot, the Girondist leader. + His trial. + + Brissotines, the. See Girondists. + + Buccaneer, the Last. + + Bunyan, John, age in which he produced his Pilgrim's Progress. + His birth and early life. + His notions of good and evil. + Enlists in the parliamentary army. + Returns home and marries. + His fantasies and internal sufferings. + Thrown into gaol. + His prison life. + His intimate knowledge of the Bible. + His early writings. + His abhorrence of the Quakers. + His controversies. + His answer to Edward Fowler. + His dispute with some of his own sect. + His liberation from prison. + His Pilgrim's Progress. + His Holy War. + Difficulties of. + His death and burial-place. + Fame of his Pilgrim's Progress. + + Burgundy, Duke of, his theory of good government. + + Burke, Edmund, his character of the first French republic. + And of the French National Assembly. + His vindication of himself from the charge of inconsistency. + His part in The Club. + His position in the Whig opposition. + + Burns, Robert, age in which he produced his works. + + Butler, Samuel, character of his poetry. + + Byron, Lord, his egotism and its success. + + Caesar, accounts of his campaigns, regarded as history. + + Camden, Lord, joins the Whig opposition. + + Canning, George, popular comparison of, with Mr Pitt. + His activity in Pitt's cause. + + Carey, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + + Carmagnoles, the, of Barere. + Lord Ellenborough's. + + Carmichael, Miss, or Polly, in Dr Johnson's house. + + Carnot, M. Hippolyte, his part in the Memoirs of Bertrand Barere. + + Carolan, his compositions. + + Carrier, the tyrant of Nantes, placed under arrest. + + Casti, character of his Animali Parlanti. + + Catholicism, Roman, the most poetical of all religions. + Its great revival at the beginning of the thirteenth century. + Treaty concluded by Charles II. by which he bound himself to set + up Catholicism in England. + + Catiline, Sallust's account of the Conspiracy of. + + Cavendish, Lord John, becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer. + Resigns. + + Cervantes, delight with which his Don Quixote is read. + + Charles II., King of England. + Influence of his residence abroad upon his character and tastes. + His treaty respecting Roman Catholics. + + Chatham, first Earl of, compared by Mirabeau. + His declining years. + His last appearance in the House of Lords. + + Chatham, second Earl of, his mismanagement of the Admiralty. + + Chaumette, one of the accusers of the Girondists before the + Revolutionary Tribunal. + + Christ Church, Oxford, cry of, against Bentley. + + Christianity, effect of the victory of, over paganism. + + Church of Ireland, Speech on. + + Churchill, his insult to Johnson. + + Civil War, the great. + + Clarendon, his history of the Rebellion, charge of garbling it. + + Classical writers, celebrity of the great. + + Cleomenes, causes and results of his raving cruelty. + + Clergyman, the Country, his Trip to Cambridge. + + Club, The, formation of. + Members of the. + + "Coalition," formation of the. + Universal disgust. + End of the Coalition. + + Coates, Romeo, the actor. + + Cock Lane Ghost, the. + + Collot, d'Herbois, becomes a member of the Committee of Public + Safety. + Attacked in the streets. + Brought to trial. + Condemned by the Convention to be removed to a distant place of + confinement. + His end. + + Condorcet, strength brought by him to the Girondist party. + His melancholy end. + + Confidence in Ministry of Lord Melbourne. + Speech on. + + Constantinople, empire of, its retrogression and stupefaction. + + Convention, the French, of. + The Girondists. + The Mountain. + Character of the diplomatic language during the reign of the + Convention. + + Copyright, Speeches on. + + Corday, Charlotte, her murder of Marat. + + Corn Laws, Speech on. + + Corneille, attempts of the Academy to depress the rising fame of. + + Cornwallis, General, his surrender to the Americans. + + Cottabus, the Athenian game of. + + Couthon, becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. + His execution. + + Cowley, Mr Abraham, and Mr John Milton, conversation between, + touching the great Civil War. + + Criticism, verbal. + Improvement of the science of criticism. + The critical and poetical faculty distinct and incompatible. + + Cyrus, Xenophon's Life of, its character. + + Dante, criticism on. + His first adventure in the popular tongue. + Influences of the times in which he lived upon his works. + His love of Beatrice. + His despair of happiness on earth. + Close connection between his intellectual and moral character. + Compared with Milton. + His metaphors and comparisons. + Little impression made by the forms of the external world upon + him. + Fascination revolting and nauseous images had for his mind. + His use of ancient mythology in his poems. + His idolatry of Virgil. + Excellence of his style. + Remarks upon the translations of the Divine Comedy. + His veneration for writers inferior to himself. + How regarded by the Italians of the fourteenth century. + + Danton, character of. + His death. + + David, M. d'Angers, the sculptor, his part in the Memoirs of + Bertrand Barere. + + De Foe, effect of his Robinson Crusoe on the imagination of the + child and the judgment of the man. + + Demerville, the Jacobin, betrayed by his friend Barere. + + Democracy, a pure. + Mr Mill's view of a pure and direct. + + Demosthenes, compared by Mr Mitford to Aeschines. + His irresistible eloquence. + + Denham, Sir John, character of his poetry. + + Denis, St, Abbey of, laid waste by Barere. + + "Dennis, St, and St George, in the Water, some Account of the + Lawsuit between the Parishes of." + + Deserted Village of Oliver Goldsmith. + + Desmoulins, Camille, his attack on the Reign of Terror. + Reply of Barere. + + Desmoulins, Mrs, in Dr Johnson's house. + + Despotic rulers. + Theory of a despotic government. + + Dies Irae. + + Dionysius, his criticisms. + + Diplomatic language used by the French Convention. + + Directory, the Executive, of France, formation of. + + Dissenters, persecution of the, by the Cavaliers. + Relieved by Charles II. + Prosecutions consequent on the enterprise of Monmouth. + The Dissenters courted by the government of James II. + + Dissenters' Chapels Bill, Speech on. + + Divine Comedy of Dante, the great source of the power of the. + Remarks on the translations of the. + + Djezzar Pasha, his cruelty. + + Doddington, Bubb, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + + Don Quixote, delight with which it is read. + + Dorset, Earl of, his poetry. + + Drama, the old English. + Compared with that of Athens and France. + Causes of the excellence of the English drama. + Superiority of dramatic to other works of imagination. + Extinction of the drama by the Puritans. + The drama of the time of Charles II. + Dryden's plays. + + Dryden, John, place assigned to him as a poet. + His merits and defects. + Influence exercised by him on his age. + Two parts into which his life divides itself. + His small pieces presented to patrons. + Character of his Annus Mirabilis. + His rhyming plays. + His impossible men and women. + His tendency to bombast. + His attempts at fairy imagery. + His incomparable reasonings in verse. + His art of producing rich effects by familiar words. + Catholicity of his literary creed. + Causes of the exaggeration which disfigure his panegyrics. + Character of his Hind and Panther. + And of his Absalom and Achitophel. + Compared with Juvenal. + What he would probably have accomplished in an epic poem. + Compared with Milton. + + Dubois, Cardinal, his mode of dealing with public petitions. + + Dumont, M., review of his Souvenirs sur Mirabeau. + Services rendered by him to society. + His interpretation of Bentham's works. + His view of the French Revolution. + His efforts to instruct the French in political knowledge. + Sketch of the character of Mirabeau. + Of Sieyes and Talleyrand. + And of his own character. + + Dumourier, his Girondist sympathies. + His defection. + + Dundas, Henry, Lord Advocate, commencement of his friendship with + Pitt. + + Dunning, Mr, joins the Whig opposition. + + Duroc, General, his letter to Barere. + + Eady, Dr, his advertisements. + + Edinburgh Election, speech at. + + Education, Speech on. + + Education, the, of the Athenians. + Defects of their conversational education. + + Egotism, the pest of conversation. + Zest given by it to writing. + + Eleusinian mysteries, the. + + Ellenborough, Lord, his Carmagnoles. + + Ellis, Welbore. + + England, revolution in the poetry of. + Mr Mill's remarks on the British Constitution. + His view of the constitution of the English Government. + Mr Sadler's statement of the law of population in England. + The English Revolution compared with the French. + Mildness of the revolution caused by the Reform Bill. + Makes war against France. + + Epistles, Petrarch's. + + Epitaph on Henry Martyn. + + Epitaph on Lord William Bentinck. + + Epitaph on Sir Benjamin Heath Malkin. + + Epitaph on Lord Metcalfe. + + Euphuism in England. + + Euripides, mother of. + His jesuitical morality. + How regarded by Quintillian. + + Evil, question of the origin of, in the world. + + Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons, Speech on. + + Federalism, the new crime of, in France. + Federalism as entertained by Barere. + + Fenelon, his principles of good government, as shown in his + Telemachus. + + Fluxions, discovery of the method of. + + Fortune, remedies for Good and Evil, Petrarch's. + + Fowler, Edward, John Bunyan's answer to. + + Fox, Charles James, his character. + His great political error. + The King's detestation of him. + Becomes Secretary of State under the Duke of Portland. + His India Bill. + His speeches. + + Fragments of a Roman Tale. + + France, character of the poetry of. + Characteristics of the personifications of the drama of. + Spirit excited in France at the time of the Revolution by some of + the ancient historians. + Burke's character of the French Republic. + Population of. + Condition of the government of, in 1799. + Strictures of M. Dumont on the National Assembly. + Infancy of political knowledge of the French at the period of the + Revolution. + The English Revolution compared with the French. + Arguments against the old monarchy of France. + The first compared with the second French Revolution. + Causes of the first Revolution. + Condition of France for eighty years previous to the Revolution. + Causes which immediately led to that event. + Difficulties of the Constitution of 1791. + The war with the continental coalition. + Effect of the League of Pilnitz on the position of the King. + Formation and meeting of the Convention. + The two great parties of the Convention—the Girondists and the + Mountain. + Death of the King. + Policy of the Jacobins. + The new crime of federalism. + Defection of Dumourier and appointment of the Committee of Public + Safety. + Irruption of the mob into the palace of the Tuileries. + Destruction of the Girondists. + Establishment of the Reign of Terror. + Condition of France during the reign of Louis XIV. + And during that of Louis XV. + Fenelon's principles of good government. + His views incomprehensible to his countrymen. + Loss to France on the death of the Duke of Burgundy. + The Regency of Philip of Orleans. + The Duke of Bourbon. + Downward course of the monarchy, and indications of the + forthcoming revolution. + The Greek and Roman models of the French legislators. + Victories of France in 1794. + The memorable ninth of Thermidor. + Execution of Robespierre and his accomplices. + End of the Jacobin dominion in France. + Condition of the nation at this period. + Formation of the Constitution of 1795. + Bonaparte's return from Egypt and assumption of absolute power. + Political spies in France. + Defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. + The Chamber of Representatives. + The Royalist Chamber under the Bourbons. + Review of the policy of the Jacobins. + War declared by England against. + + French Academy, its services to literature. + + Froissart, character of his history. + + Garrick, David, relation between him and his old master Johnson. + A member of the Literary Club. + + Garth, Dr, insults Bentley and extols Boyle. + + Gates of Somnauth, the Speech on. + + Gaudet, the Girondist, his execution. + + Gensonne, the Girondist leader. + His trial. + His death. + + Geologist, Bishop Watson's description of a. + + George III., his treatment of his ministers. + + Georgics, Political. + + Germaine, Lord George. + + Gibbon, Edward, charges brought against him as a historian. + His part in The Club. + + Girondists, or Brissotines, Barere's account of the proceedings + against the. + Sketch of the political party so called. + Its struggles with the Mountain. + Accusation brought against the leaders of the party. + Defeated by the Mountain. + Impeached by their late colleague Barere. + Their trial. + Their fate. + + Goldsmith, Oliver, his birth and early life. + His first schoolmaster. + His personal appearance. + His college life. + Death of his father. + His attempts at the church, law, and physic. + His rambles on foot through Flanders, France, and Switzerland. + His disregard of truth. + His return to England, and desperate expedients to obtain a + living. + His literary drudgery. + Character of his works. + Introduced to Johnson. + One of the original members of The Club. + Removes from Breakneck Steps to the Temple. + Story of the publication of the Vicar of Wakefield. + His Traveller. + His Dramas. + His Deserted Village. + His She Stoops to Conquer. + His Histories. + His arts of selection and condensation. + His intimacy with the great talkers of the day. + His conversational powers. + How regarded by his associates. + His virtues and vices. + His death. + His cenotaph in Westminster Abbey. + His biographers. + His part in The Club. + + Gomer Chephoraod, King of Babylon, apologue of. + + Goodnatured Man, the, of Oliver Goldsmith. + + Government of India, Speech on. + + Government, proper conditions of a good. + Review of Mr Mill's Essays on, etc. + His chapter on the ends of government. + And on the means. + His view of a pure and direct democracy. + Of an oligarchy. + And of a monarchy. + Deduction of a theory of politics in the mathematical form. + Government according to Mr Mill only necessary to prevent men + from plundering each other. + His argument that no combination of the three simple forms of + government can exist. + His remarks on the British constitution. + His hope for mankind in the government of a representative body. + The real security of men against bad government. + Mr Mill's views as to the qualifications of voters for + representatives. + The desire of the poor majority to plunder the rich minority. + Effects which a general spoliation of the rich would produce. + Method of arriving at a just conclusion on the subject of the + science of government. + Mr Bentham's defence of Mr Mill's Essays. + Deduction of the theory of government from the principles of + human nature. + Remarks on the Utilitarian theory of government. + Mode of tracking the latent principle of good government. + Checks in political institutions. + Power. + Constitution of the English government. + + Greece, review of Mr Mitford's History of. + Gross ignorance of the modern historians of Greece. + The imaginative and critical schools of poetry in. + + Greeks, domestic habits of the. + Change in their temper at the close of the Peloponnesian war. + Character of their fashionable logic. + Causes of the exclusive spirit of the Greeks. + + Hall, Robert, his eloquence. + + Hamlet, causes of its power and influence. + + Happiness, principle of the greatest, of the greatest number + examined. + The most elevated station the principle is ever likely to attain. + The Westminster Reviewer's defence of the "greatest happiness + principle." + + Hayley, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + + Heat, Lord Bacon's mode of tracking the principle of. + + Hebert, the Jacobin, his vile character. + Accuses the Girondists before the Revolutionary Tribunal. + + Hebrides, Johnson's visit to the. + + Herodotus, character of his history. + His faults. + Character of the people for whom the book was composed. + His history compared with that of Thucydides. + Herodotus regarded as a delineator of character. + + Heron, Robert, his drama of News from Camperdown. + + Hervey, Henry, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + + History, Mr Mitford's views of. + The true domain of history. + Qualifications necessary for writing. + The history of Herodotus. + That of Thucydides. + Johnson's remarks on history. + Xenophon's history. + Polybius and Arrian. + Character of the historians of the Plutarch class. + English classical associations and names compared with those of + the ancients. + Spirit excited in England and in France by the writers of the + Plutarch class. + Livy. + Caesar. + Sallust. + Tacitus. + Merits and defects of modern historians. + Froissart, Machiavelli, and Guicciardine. + Effect of the invention of printing. + Causes of the exclusiveness of the Greeks and Romans. + Effect of the victory of Christianity over paganism. + Establishment of the balance of moral and intellectual influence + in Europe. + The species of misrepresentation which abounds most in modern + historians. + Hume, Gibbon, and Mitford. + Neglect of the art of narration. + Effect of historical reading compared to that produced by foreign + travel. + Character of the perfect historian. + Instruction derived from the productions of such a writer. + + Hoche, General, refuses to obey the cruel decree of the + Convention. + + Holy War, Bunyan's. + + Homer, intense desire to know something of him. + Quintillian's criticisms on. + His inappropriate epithets. + His description of Hector at the Grecian wall. + + Hoole, the metaphysical tailor, his friendship with Samuel + Johnson. + + Horace, his comparison of poems to certain paintings. + + Hume, David, charges brought against him as a historian. + + Hyder Aly, his successes. + + Idler, Johnston's publication of the. + + Imagination and judgment. + Power of the imagination in a barbarous age. + + Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. + + India Bill, Fox's. + + Inferno, Dante's, character of the. + + Ireland, William Pitt the first English minister who formed great + designs for the benefit of Ireland. + + Isocrates, his defence of oligarchy and tyranny. + + Italian language, Dante's first work on the. + + Italian Writers, Criticisms on the Principal. + Dante. + Petrarch. + + Italy, revolution of the poetry of. + Monti's imitation of the style of Dante. + + Jacobins of Paris, policy of the. + Excesses of the. + Materials of which the party was composed. + Their cruelties in Paris and in the provinces. + Review of the policy of the Jacobins. + + Jacobite, Epitaph on a. + + Jacobites, revival of their spirits in 1721. + Plan for a Jacobite insurrection. + + Jenyns, Soame, Dr Johnson's review of his Inquiry into the Nature + and Origin of Evil. + + Jewish Disabilities, Speech on. + + Jews, the sacred books of the, unknown to the Romans. + + Johnson, Dr Samuel, his contemptuous derision of the civilisation + of the Athenians. + His remark on history and historians. + Oliver Goldsmith introduced to. + Story of the publication of the Vicar of Wakefield. + Johnson's birth and early life. + His father. + Goes to Oxford. + His attainments at this time. + His struggles with poverty. + Becomes an incurable hypochondriac. + His literary drudgery. + His marriage. + His school near Lichfield. + Sets out for London. + Effect of his privations on his temper and deportment. + Engaged on the "Gentleman's Magazine." + His political opinions. + His Jacobite views. + His poem of London. + His associates. + His life of Richard Savage. + His dictionary. + His treatment by Lord Chesterfield. + His Vanity of Human Wishes compared with the Satire of Juvenal. + Relation between him and his pupil David Garrick. + Irene brought out. + Publication and reception of the Rambler. + Death of Mrs Johnson. + Publication of the Dictionary. + His review of Soame Jenyn's Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of + Evil. + His Idler. + Death of his mother. + Circumstances under which Rasselas was published. + His hatred of the Whigs. + Accepts a pension of three hundred a year. + His belief in ghosts. + Publication of his edition of Shakespeare's works. + Honours conferred upon him. + His colloquial talents. + His predominance in The Club. + His biographer, James Boswell. + The inmates of his house near Fleet Street. + His visit to the Hebrides. + His prejudice against the Scotch. + His exposure of Macpherson's forgery of Fingal. + His Taxation no Tyranny. + His lives of the Poets. + His declining years. + His death. + + Johnson, Michael of Lichfield. + + Jones, Sir William, his part in the Literary Club. + + Judgment and imagination. + + Julian, the Emperor, his partiality for the Greek language. + + Jurisprudence, Mr Bentham's reduction of, to a science. + + Juryman, the stipend of an Athenian. + + Just, Saint, expatiates on the guilt of Vergniaud and Petion. + Becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. + His doom. + His execution. + + Juvenal compared with Dryden. + His satire compared with that of Samuel Johnson. + + King, the, in the Athenian democracy. + + Kleber, General, refuses to obey the cruel decree of the + Convention. + + Lacedaemon, causes of the silent but rapid downfall of. + The development of merit prevented by the laws of. + Her foreign policy and domestic institutions. + Her government compared with that of Athens. + Her helots. + + Langton, Bennet, a member of the Literary Club. + + Latin works of Petrarch, the. + + Lebon, the Jacobin, his crimes defended by Barere. + Placed under arrest. + + Levett, Robert, the quack doctor. + + Liberty, how regarded by the later ancient writers. + How regarded by historians of the Plutarch class. + Peculiar and essentially English character of English liberty. + Political, views with which it was regarded by the French + legislators of the Revolution. + + Lies, various kinds of. + + Lincoln Cathedral, story of the painted window of. + + Literary Magazine, Johnson's contributions to the. + + Literature, on the Royal Society of. + + Literature, ancient, proper examination of. + State of literature as a calling, in the last century. + + Literature of Britain, the, Speech on. + + Livy, his faults and merits as a historian. + + London, blessing of the great fire of. + Riots in, in 1780. + + Longinus, criticism on his work on the "Sublime." + + Louis XIV., his bitter lamentations of his former extravagances. + His character as a king. + + Louis XV., condition of France when he came to the throne. + + Louis XVI., his character. + His position in 1792. + His death. + + Louis XVIII., leniency of his government at the Restoration. + + Love, honourable and chivalrous, unknown to the Greeks. + The passion as delineated in the Roman poets. + What is implied in the modern sense of the word love. + Change undergone in the nature of the passion of love in the + middle ages. + + Lycurgus, his mistaken principles of legislation. + His system of domestic slavery. + + Lyons, cruelties of the Jacobins at. + Barere's proposal to utterly annihilate it. + + Lysander, depressed by the constitution of Lycyrgus. + + Macflecnoe, of Dryden, character of the. + + Machiavelli, character of his history. + + Macpherson, his forgery of Fingal. + Threatens Dr Johnson. + + Malkin, Sir Benjamin Heath, epitaph on. + + Malthus, Mr, attacked by Mr Sadler. + + Man, the contemplation of, the noblest earthly object of man. + + Marat, his murmurs against Barere. + His death. + + Marcellus, the counterfeit oration for. + + Marie Antoinette, Queen, Barere's account of the death of. + Brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal on the motion of + Barere. + Her execution. + + Martyn, Henry, epitaph on. + + Maynooth, Speech on. + + Medical science, Petrarch's invectives on the. + + Melville, Lord, his impeachment. + + Memoirs, popularity of, as compared with that of history. + + "Memorial Antibritannique," the, of Barere. + + Metaphors, Dante's. + + Metcalfe, Lord, Epitaph on. + + Mill, Mr, review of his Essays on Government, etc. + His utilitarianism. + False principles upon which his theory rests. + Precision of his arguments and dryness of his style. + His a priori method of reasoning. + Curious instances of his peculiar turn of mind. + His views of democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy. + His fallacies. + His proposed government by a representative body. + His proposal of universal suffrage, but for males only. + The effects which a general spoliation of the rich would + engender. + His remarks on the influence of the middle rank. + Review of the Westminster Reviewer's defence of Mr Mill. + + Milton, John, compared with Dante. + Milton, Mr John, and Mr Abraham Cowley, conversation between, + touching the great Civil War. + His great modern epic. + Dryden's admiration for his genius. + + Mirabeau, Souvenirs sur, etc., M. Dumont's review of. + M. Dumont's picture of Mirabeau in the National Assembly. + Mirabeau compared to Wilkes. + And to the Earl of Chatham. + + Mitford, Mr, criticism on his History of Greece. + His principal characteristic as a historian. + Errors of almost all the most modern historians of Greece. + Estimation in which the later ancient writers have been held. + Differences between Mr Mitford and the historians who have + preceded him. + His love of singularity. + His hatred of democracy. + And love of the oligarchical form of government. + His illogical inferences and false statements. + His inconsistency with himself. + His deficiencies. + Charges of misrepresentation brought against him as a historian. + + Monarchical form of government, Mr Mill's view of a. + Moncontour, the Battle of. + + Mountain, sketch of the party in the French Convention so called. + Votes for the death of the King. + Its victory over the Girondists. + Tyranny of the Mountain. + Violence of public opinion against it. + + Naseby, the Battle of. + + National Assembly, the French. + Mr Burke's character of them. + M. Dumont's picture of the Assembly. + + Nollekens, his cenotaph of Oliver Goldsmith in Westminster Abbey. + + Nonconformists, relief of, by Charles II. + + North, Lord, and the American difficulties. + Resignation of his ministry. + The Coalition. + End of the Coalition. + + Ode on St Cecilia's Day of Dryden; its character. + + Oleron, Barere, Billaud, and Collot d'Herbois imprisoned at. + + Oligarchy, Mr Mitford's love of pure. + Examination of this sentiment. + The growth of genius always stunted by oligarchy. + Mr Mill's view of an oligarchical form of government. + + Opinion, good, of the public, causes of our regard for the. + + Orators, Athenian. + + Oratory: Excellence to which eloquence attained at Athens. + Circumstances favourable to this result. + Principles upon which poetry is to be estimated. + Causes of the difference between the English and Athenian + orators. + The history of eloquence at Athens. + Speeches of the ancients, as transmitted to us by Thucydides. + Period during which eloquence flourished most at Athens. + Coincidence between the progress of the art of war and that of + oratory. + The irresistible eloquence of Demosthenes. + The oratory of Pitt and Fox. + + Orestes, the Greek highwayman. + + Orleans, Philip, Duke of, character of him and of his Regency. + + Ossian, character of the poems of. + + Ostracism, practice of, among the Athenians. + + Othello, causes of the power of. + + Paganism, effect of the overthrow of, by Christianity. + + Pallas, the birthplace of Oliver Goldsmith. + + Paradise, Dante's, its principal merit. + + Paraphrase of a passage in the Chronicle of the Monk of St Gall. + + Paris, policy of the Jacobins of. + Their excesses. + + Parliamentary government, its advantages and disadvantages. + + Parliamentary Reform, Speeches on. + + Patronage, effect of, on literature. + + Pausanias, his insanity. + + Pauson, the Athenian painter. + + Peers, question of the sterility of the, as a class. + + Peiraeus, disreputable character of. + + People's Charter, the, Speech on. + + Pericles, his eloquence. + + Petion, the Girondist. + Saint Just's speech on his guilt. + His unfortunate end. + + Petrarch, influence of his poems on the literature of Italy. + Criticism on the works of. + Celebrity as a writer. + Causes of this. + Extraordinary sensation caused by his amatory verses. + Causes co-operating to spread his renown. + His coronation at Rome. + His poetical powers. + His genius. + Paucity of his thoughts. + His energy when speaking of the wrongs and degradation of Italy. + His poems on religious subjects. + Prevailing defect of his best compositions. + Remarks on his Latin writings. + + Phalaris of Agrigentari, the spurious letters of. + Sir W. Temple's opinion of them. + Their worthlessness shown by Bentley. + + Phillips, John, his monument refused admission into Westminster + Abbey. + + Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's history of the. + Its fame. + Attempts to improve and imitate it. + + Pilnitz, League of, effect of the. + + Piozzi, Mrs. + + Pisistratus, his eloquence. + + Pitt, William, popular comparison of, with Mr Canning. + His birth and early life. + His preceptor Pretyman. + His fondness for mathematics. + His knowledge of Greek and Latin. + And of modern literature. + His delight in oratory. + Studies the law. + Goes into parliament for Appleby. + Condition of the country at this period. + Pitt's first speech in Parliament. + Declines the Vice-Treasurership of Ireland. + Courts the ultra-Whig party. + His advocacy of reform. + Becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer at twenty-three years of age. + Pitt's speech and Sheridan's repartee. + His visit to the Continent with William Wilberforce. + Appointed First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the + Exchequer. + His difficulties and dangers. + His power. + Review of his merits and defects. + His reported speeches. + Character of his oratory. + His private life. + His popularity. + His neglect of authors. + His talents as a leader. + Effect of the French Revolution. + His love of peace and freedom. + Unjustly charged with apostasy. + Beginning of his misfortunes. + His domestic policy. + His great designs for the benefit of Ireland. + His rupture with Addington. + His speech on the opening of the Session of 1803. + Reconstructs the government on the resignation of the Addington + ministry. + Decline of his health. + His death. + His public funeral. + Vote for paying his debts. + Review of his life. + Lines to his memory. + + Plautus, translation from his Rudens. + + Plutarch, class of historians of which he may be regarded as the + head. + His delineation of character. + + Poetry; Horace's comparison of poems to certain paintings. + Principles upon which poetry is to be estimated. + Element by which poetry is poetry. + Frame of mind required by poetry. + Absurdities of writers who attempt to give general rules for + composition. + The mechanical part of the art of poetry. + Power of the imagination in a barbarous age. + Periods of consummate excellence and of the decline of poetry. + Age of critical poetry. + The imaginative school gradually fading into the critical. + The poets of Greece. + And of Rome. + Revolution of the poetry of Italy, Spain, and England. + The critical and poetical faculties, distinct and incompatible. + Excellence of English dramatic poetry. + Extinction of the dramatic and ascendency of the fashionable + school of poetry. + Changes in the time of Charles II. + John Dryden. + + Poets, the favourite themes of the, of the present day. + Catholicity of the orthodox poetical creed. + Why good poets are bad critics. + + Police officers of Athens. + + Polybius, his character as a historian. + + Pomponius Atticus, his veneration for Greek literature. + + Pope, Alexander, condensation of the sense in his couplets. + His friendship with Bishop Atterbury. + Appears as a witness in favour of his friend. + His epitaph on Atterbury. + + Population, review of Mr Sadler's work on the law of. + His attack of Mr Malthus. + His statement of the law of population. + Extremes of population and fecundity in well-known countries. + Population of England. + Of the United States of America. + Of France. + And of Prussia. + + Portland, Duke of, formation of his Administration. + + Portrait-painting compared with history. + + Posterity, Epistle to, Petrarch's. + + Power, senses in which the word may be used. + Dependence of the happiness of nations on the real distribution + of power. + + Pretyman, Bishop of Lincoln. + His life of William Pitt. + + Printing, influence of, on modern history. + + Prior, Matthew, his intimacy with Bishop Atterbury. + + Prize poems, character of. + + Provencal poets, their amatory compositions. + + Prussia, Mr Sadler's law of population, as illustrated by the + census of Prussia. + + Psalmanazar, George, his friendship with Samuel Johnson. + + Purgatorio, Dante's, the simile of the sheep in the. + Incomparable style of the sixth canto of. + + Puritans, their prohibition of theatrical representations. + + Quakers, Bunyan's abhorrence of the. + + Quintillian, his principles of criticism. + + Quixote, the Spiritual. + + Radical War Song, a. + + Rambler, Johnson's, publication of the. + + Rasselas, Johnson's, circumstances under which it was written. + Plan of the work. + + Re-election to Parliament, Speech on. + + Reform Bill, mildness of the revolution of the. + + Reform, Parliamentary, Speeches on. + + Regent, the Prince, and the King. + + Rent, Doctrine of. + + Repeal of Union with Ireland, Speech on. + + Representation, its value as a check on the governing few. + + Revolution, the French, terms in which it is spoken of by M. + Dumont. + + Revolution, the first and second French. + Compared with the English. + And with the American. + + Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his part in the Club. + + Rich: desire of the poor majority to plunder the rich minority. + Effects which a general spoliation would produce. + + Richardson, Samuel, his opinion of the Rambler. + His kindness to Johnson. + + Robespierre, his power over the lives of his fellow-citizens. + His character. + Regaled by Barere at a tavern on the day of the Queen's death. + Atrocious decree of the Convention proposed by him. + Becomes one of the Committee of Public Safety. + Purpose of his celebrated fiendish decree. + Barere's panegyric on Robespierre. + Barere's motion to put Robespierre and his accomplices to death. + Robespierre's execution. + His character. + + Rockingham, Charles Marquis of, at the head of the Whig + opposition. + His adherents in the House of Commons. + Becomes Prime Minister. + His death. + + Roland, Madame, her courage and force of thought. + Her execution. + + Roland, the Girondist, his wife. + His fate. + + Roman Tale, Fragments of a. + + Romans, domestic habits of the. + Character of the poetry of the Romans. + Their regard for the language and literature of Greece. + Their disregard of the sacred books of the Hebrews. + Their exclusive spirit. + The Roman empire of the time of Diocletian compared with the + Chinese empire. + Effect of the victory of Christianity over paganism. + Purification of the Roman world by the invasion of the + Barbarians. + + Rousseau, his egotism and its success. + + Royal Society of Literature, on the. + + Rumford, Count, his proposition for feeding soldiers cheaply. + + Russell, Lord William, his last saying. + + Sacheverell, prosecution of. + + Sadler, Mr, review of his work on the Law of Population. + His style. + And spirit. + His attack on Mr Malthus. + His distinctions without a difference. + The great discovery by which he has vindicated the ways of + Providence. + His refutation refuted. + The motto on his title-page. + His statements examined and refuted. + + Safety, Committee of Public, formation of the, in Paris. + Names of the persons composing the. + Character of the men composing the Committee. + Its crimes and blunders. + Robespierre's fiendish motion. + + Sallust, his merits as a historian. + His conspiracy of Catiline. + + Satire of Juvenal and Dryden. + + Savage, Richard, his career. + + Schoolmen, Lord Bacon's description of the logomachies of the, of + his time. + + Scott, Sir Walter, his use of the rejected fragments of history. + + Sermon in a Churchyard. + + Shakspeare, William, language he gives to his superhuman beings. + His euphuism. + His dramas miracles of art. + His exquisite imagery. + Publication of Johnson's edition of the works of. + Character of the work. + + Shelburne, William, Earl of, in the Whig opposition. + Placed by the King at the head of the Treasury. + + Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, his repartee to Pitt. + + Sidney, Sir Philip, his dying thanksgiving. + + Sieyes, the Abbe, M. Dumont's sketch of the character of. + + Similitudes, Dante's. + + Simon, Saint, his character and opinions. + + Slavery, Domestic, the cause of the violence of factions in + ancient times. + + Smalridge, Dean of Carlisle and Christ Church. + + Song. + + Sonnet-fanciers. + + Spain, revolution of the poetry of. + + Sparta, the great men of. + Mr Mitford's admiration of the stability of the institutions of. + Real character of the Spartans. + Their kind of liberty. + + Spectator, Addison's, crowds of imitations of the. + + SPEECHES—Anatomy Bill. + Church of Ireland, the. + Confidence in Lord Melbourne's Ministry. + Copyright. + Corn Laws, the. + Dissenters' Chapels Bill. + Edinburgh Election. + Education. + Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons. + Gates of Somnauth, the. + Government of India, the. + Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. + Jewish Disabilities. + Literature of Britain, the. + Maynooth. + Parliamentary Reform. + People's Charter, the. + Re-election to Parliament. + Repeal of the Union with Ireland. + State of Ireland, the. + Sugar Duties, the. + Ten Hours Bill, the. + Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities. + War with China, the. + + Spencer, George Earl, his able administration of the Admiralty. + + Spies, political, in France. + Their unpopularity in England. + The modus operandi of a spy. + + State of Ireland, the Speech on. + + Stories, good, fondness of the later ancient writers for. + + "Sublime, Longinus on the." + Burke and Dugald Stewart's discussions. + + Suffrage, Universal. + + Sugar Duties, the, Speech on. + + Tacitus, his eminence as a historian. + As a delineator of character. + + Talleyrand, M. Dumont's sketch of the character of. + + Tallien, his attack on Robespierre in the Convention. + + Tasso, character of his "Secchia Rapita." + + Telephus, the, of Euripides. + + Temple, Sir William, his essay in praise of the ancient writers. + + Ten Hours Bill, the Speech on. + + Ten Thousand, Xenophon's Expedition of the, its character. + + Terror, Reign of, commencement of the, in France. + Members of the Committee of Public Safety. + Robespierre's fiendish decree. + End of the Revolutionary Tribunal. + + Themistocles, his eloquence. + + Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities, the Speech on. + + Theo-philanthropy in France. + + Thermidor, the memorable ninth of. + + Thrales, Dr Johnson's connection with the. + + Thucydides, character of the speeches of the ancients, as + transmitted to us by him. + His historical shortcomings. + His history compared with that of Herodotus. + Management of his perspective in history. + His speeches put into the mouths of his characters. + His deficiencies. + School in which he studied. + His style and philosophy. + Regarded as a delineator of character. + + Thurlow, Lord, retains the Great Seal under Lord Rockingham. + Dismissed. + Again Lord Chancellor. + + Tiberius Caesar, Tacitus's delineation of the character of. + + Tinkers in the seventeenth century. + + Tinville, Fouquier, his introduction to the Revolutionary + Tribunal of Paris. + Placed under arrest. + + Tirzah and Ahirad, marriage of. + + Toulon, Barere's proposal to destroy it. + + Traveller, Goldsmith's, publication of the. + Its noble and simple design. + + United States of America, rapid increase of the human race in + the. + Causes of this. + Results of four censuses. + Number of slaves in the Union in 1810. + And of emigrants to the United States in 1817. + Recognition of the independence of the States. + Surrender of Cornwallis. + + Universal Suffrage. + + Uses, Statute of, its practical value. + + Utilitarianism. + One of the principal tenets of. + Style of writing admired by Utilitarians. + Barren theories of the Utilitarians. + Duty of exposing the fallacy of their arguments. + Lord Bacon's description of the Utilitarian philosophy. + Mr Bentham's exposition of the Utilitarian principle. + Remarks on the Utilitarian theory of government. + Delusion of the Utilitarians. + Origin of their faults. + Real character of the sect. + Their summum bonum. + + Venice, an example of the sterility of an oligarchical form of + government. + + Vergniaud, the Girondist leader, his eloquence. + His melancholy duty in the Convention. + Charged by the Mountain before the Revolutionary Committee. + His last speech. + His death. + + Vienna, the deliverance of. + + Virgil, idolatry of Dante for the writings of. + + Virgin, Ode to the Petrarch's. + + Voltaire, reluctance of the French Academy to acknowledge the + genius of. + + Voters, qualifications of, Mr Mill's views regarding. + + Wakefield, Vicar of, story of the publication of the. + + Walker, Obadiah, the apostate. + His aspersions on Martin Luther. + + Waller, Edward, character of his poetry. + + Walmesley, Gilbert, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + + War, difference between, in large and small communities. + + War with China, the, Speech on. + + Waterloo, battle of. + + "We," the editorial, its fatal influence on rising genius. + + Wellesley, Sir Arthur, William Pitt's remark on. + + "Wellingtoniad, a Prophetical Account of a Grand National Epic + Poem, to be entitled." + + Westminster Hall compared with the Roman Forum. + + Westminster Review, its defence of Mill reviewed. + And of the Utilitarian theory of government. + + Wharton, Duke of, his speech in defence of Atterbury. + + Whigs, the party of opposition in 1780. + Their accession to power. + + Wilberforce, William, his visit to the Continent with William + Pitt. + Returned for York. + + Wilkes, John, compared to Mirabeau. + + Williams, Mrs, in Dr Johnson's house. + + Women, condition of, among the Greeks. + Among the Romans. + Superstitious veneration with which they were regarded by the + warriors of the north of Europe. + Their insight into motives. + Rejected by Mr Mill from all share in government. + Identity of interest between the sexes. + Right of women to vote as well as men. + + Wordsworth, William, his egotism as exhibited in his writings. + + World, The. + Its remarks on the literary genius of Johnson. + + Xenophon, historical value of his treatise on Domestic Economy. + Character of his history. + His life of Cyrus. + His expedition of the Ten Thousand and History of Grecian + Affairs. + His superstition and horror of popular turbulence. + Regarded as a delineator of character. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Miscellaneous Writings and +Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4), by Thomas Babington Macaulay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF LORD MACAULAY *** + +***** This file 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4) + Lord Macaulay's Speeches + +Author: Thomas Babington Macaulay + +Posting Date: June 14, 2008 [EBook #2170] +Release Date: May, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF LORD MACAULAY *** + + + + +Produced by Mike Alder and Sue Asscher + + + + + +THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS AND SPEECHES OF LORD MACAULAY. + +Lord Macaulay's Speeches + +By Thomas Babington Macaulay + + +VOLUME IV. + + + + + + +LORD MACAULAY'S SPEECHES. + + + TO HENRY, MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE + + THESE SPEECHES ARE DEDICATED BY HIS GRATEFUL + AND AFFECTIONATE FRIEND + + THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. + + + + +PREFACE. + +It was most reluctantly that I determined to suspend, during the last +autumn, a work which is the business and the pleasure of my life, +in order to prepare these Speeches for publication; and it is most +reluctantly that I now give them to the world. Even if I estimated their +oratorical merit much more highly than I do, I should not willingly have +revived, in the quiet times in which we are so happy as to live, the +memory of those fierce contentions in which too many years of my public +life were passed. Many expressions which, when society was convulsed +by political dissensions, and when the foundations of government were +shaking, were heard by an excited audience with sympathy and applause, +may, now that the passions of all parties have subsided, be thought +intemperate and acrimonious. It was especially painful to me to find +myself under the necessity of recalling to my own recollection, and to +the recollection of others, the keen encounters which took place between +the late Sir Robert Peel and myself. Some parts of the conduct of that +eminent man I must always think deserving of serious blame. But, on a +calm review of his long and chequered public life, I acknowledge, with +sincere pleasure, that his faults were much more than redeemed by great +virtues, great sacrifices, and great services. My political hostility to +him was never in the smallest degree tainted by personal ill-will. After +his fall from power a cordial reconciliation took place between us: I +admired the wisdom, the moderation, the disinterested patriotism, which +he invariably showed during the last and best years of his life; I +lamented his untimely death, as both a private and a public calamity; +and I earnestly wished that the sharp words which had sometimes been +exchanged between us might be forgotten. + +Unhappily an act, for which the law affords no redress, but which I +have no hesitation in pronouncing to be a gross injury to me and a gross +fraud on the public, has compelled me to do what I should never have +done willingly. A bookseller, named Vizetelly, who seems to aspire to +that sort of distinction which Curll enjoyed a hundred and twenty years +ago, thought fit, without asking my consent, without even giving me any +notice, to announce an edition of my Speeches, and was not ashamed to +tell the world in his advertisement that he published them by special +license. When the book appeared, I found that it contained fifty-six +speeches, said to have been delivered by me in the House of Commons. Of +these speeches a few were reprinted from reports which I had corrected +for the Mirror of Parliament or the Parliamentary Debates, and were +therefore, with the exception of some errors of the pen and the press, +correctly given. The rest bear scarcely the faintest resemblance to +the speeches which I really made. The substance of what I said +is perpetually misrepresented. The connection of the arguments is +altogether lost. Extravagant blunders are put into my mouth in almost +every page. An editor who was not grossly ignorant would have perceived +that no person to whom the House of Commons would listen could possibly +have been guilty of such blunders. An editor who had the smallest +regard for truth, or for the fame of the person whose speeches he had +undertaken to publish, would have had recourse to the various sources of +information which were readily accessible, and, by collating them, would +have produced a book which would at least have contained no absolute +nonsense. But I have unfortunately had an editor whose only object was +to make a few pounds, and who was willing to sacrifice to that object my +reputation and his own. He took the very worst report extant, compared +it with no other report, removed no blemish however obvious or however +ludicrous, gave to the world some hundreds of pages utterly contemptible +both in matter and manner, and prefixed my name to them. The least that +he should have done was to consult the files of The Times newspaper. +I have frequently done so, when I have noticed in his book any passage +more than ordinarily absurd; and I have almost invariably found that +in The Times newspaper, my meaning had been correctly reported, though +often in words different from those which I had used. + +I could fill a volume with instances of the injustice with which I have +been treated. But I will confine myself to a single speech, the speech +on the Dissenters' Chapels Bill. I have selected that speech, not +because Mr Vizetelly's version of that speech is worse than his versions +of thirty or forty other speeches, but because I have before me a report +of that speech which an honest and diligent editor would have thought it +his first duty to consult. The report of which I speak was published by +the Unitarian Dissenters, who were naturally desirous that there should +be an accurate record of what had passed in a debate deeply interesting +to them. It was not corrected by me: but it generally, though not +uniformly, exhibits with fidelity the substance of what I said. + +Mr Vizetelly makes me say that the principle of our Statutes of +Limitation was to be found in the legislation of the Mexicans and +Peruvians. That is a matter about which, as I know nothing, I certainly +said nothing. Neither in The Times nor in the Unitarian report is there +anything about Mexico or Peru. + +Mr Vizetelly next makes me say that the principle of limitation is found +"amongst the Pandects of the Benares." Did my editor believe that I +uttered these words, and that the House of Commons listened patiently +to them? If he did, what must be thought of his understanding? If he did +not, was it the part of an honest man to publish such gibberish as mine? +The most charitable supposition, which I therefore gladly adopt, is +that Mr Vizetelly saw nothing absurd in the expression which he has +attributed to me. The Benares he probably supposes to be some Oriental +nation. What he supposes their Pandects to be I shall not presume to +guess. If he had examined The Times, he would have found no trace of the +passage. The reporter, probably, did not catch what I said, and, being +more veracious than Mr Vizetelly, did not choose to ascribe to me what +I did not say. If Mr Vizetelly had consulted the Unitarian report, he +would have seen that I spoke of the Pundits of Benares; and he might, +without any very long or costly research, have learned where Benares is, +and what a Pundit is. + +Mr Vizetelly then represents me as giving the House of Commons some very +extraordinary information about both the Calvinistic and the Arminian +Methodists. He makes me say that Whitfield held and taught that the +connection between Church and State was sinful. Whitfield never held +or taught any such thing; nor was I so grossly ignorant of the life and +character of that remarkable man as to impute to him a doctrine which he +would have abhorred. Here again, both in The Times and in the Unitarian +report, the substance of what I said is correctly given. + +Mr Vizetelly proceeds to put into my mouth a curious account of the +polity of the Wesleyan Methodists. He makes me say that, after John +Wesley's death, "the feeling in favour of the lay administration of the +Sacrament became very strong and very general: a Conference was applied +for, was constituted, and, after some discussion, it was determined that +the request should be granted." Such folly could have been uttered only +by a person profoundly ignorant of the history of Methodism. Certainly +nothing of the sort was ever uttered by me; and nothing of the sort will +be found either in The Times or in the Unitarian report. + +Mr Vizetelly makes me say that the Great Charter recognises the +principle of limitation, a thing which everybody who has read the Great +Charter knows not to be true. He makes me give an utterly false history +of Lord Nottingham's Occasional Conformity Bill. But I will not weary +my readers by proceeding further. These samples will probably be thought +sufficient. They all lie within a compass of seven or eight pages. It +will be observed that all the faults which I have pointed out are grave +faults of substance. Slighter faults of substance are numerous. As to +faults of syntax and of style, hardly one sentence in a hundred is free +from them. + +I cannot permit myself to be exhibited, in this ridiculous and degrading +manner, for the profit of an unprincipled man. I therefore unwillingly, +and in mere self-defence, give this volume to the public. I have +selected, to the best of my judgment, from among my speeches, those +which are the least unworthy to be preserved. Nine of them were +corrected by me while they were still fresh in my memory, and appear +almost word for word as they were spoken. They are the speech of the +second of March 1831, the speech of the twentieth of September 1831, +the speech of the tenth of October 1831, the speech of the sixteenth of +December 1831, the speech on the Anatomy Bill, the speech on the India +Bill, the speech on Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill, the speech on +the Sugar Duties, and the speech on the Irish Church. The substance of +the remaining speeches I have given with perfect ingenuousness. I have +not made alterations for the purpose of saving my own reputation either +for consistency or for foresight. I have not softened down the strong +terms in which I formerly expressed opinions which time and thought may +have modified; nor have I retouched my predictions in order to make them +correspond with subsequent events. Had I represented myself as speaking +in 1831, in 1840, or in 1845, as I should speak in 1853, I should have +deprived my book of its chief value. This volume is now at least a +strictly honest record of opinions and reasonings which were heard +with favour by a large part of the Commons of England at some important +conjunctures; and such a record, however low it may stand in the +estimation of the literary critic, cannot but be of use to the +historian. + +I do not pretend to give with accuracy the diction of those speeches +which I did not myself correct within a week after they were delivered. +Many expressions, and a few paragraphs, linger in my memory. But +the rest, including much that had been carefully premeditated, is +irrecoverably lost. Nor have I, in this part of my task, derived much +assistance from any report. My delivery is, I believe, too rapid. Very +able shorthand writers have sometimes complained that they could not +follow me, and have contented themselves with setting down the substance +of what I said. As I am unable to recall the precise words which I used, +I have done my best to put my meaning into words which I might have +used. + +I have only, in conclusion, to beg that the readers of this Preface will +pardon an egotism which a great wrong has made necessary, and which is +quite as disagreeable to myself as it can be to them. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +Parliamentary Reform. (March 2, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (July 5, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (September 20, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (October 10, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (December 16, 1831) + +Anatomy Bill. (February 27, 1832) + +Parliamentary Reform. (February 28, 1832) + +Repeal of the Union with Ireland. (February 6, 1833) + +Jewish Disabilities. (April 17, 1833) + +Government of India. (July 10, 1833) + +Edinburgh Election, 1839. (May 29, 1839) + +Confidence in the Ministry of Lord Melbourne. (January 29, 1840) + +War with China. (April 7, 1840) + +Copyright. (February 5, 1841) + +Copyright. (April 6, 1842) + +The People's Charter. (May 3, 1842) + +The Gates of Somnauth. (March 9, 1843) + +The State of Ireland. (February 19, 1844) + +Dissenters' Chapels Bill. (June 6, 1844) + +The Sugar Duties. (February 26, 1845) + +Maynooth. (April 14, 1845) + +The Church of Ireland. (April 23, 1845) + +Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities. (July 9, 1845) + +Corn Laws. (December 2, 1845) + +The Ten Hours Bill. (May 22, 1846) + +The Literature of Britain. (November 4, 1846) + +Education. (April 19, 1847) + +Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. (March 21, 1849) + +Re-election to Parliament. (November 2, 1852) + +Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons. (June 1, 1853) + + + + +SPEECHES, ETC. + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (MARCH 2, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE 2D OF MARCH, 1831. + +On Tuesday, the first of March, 1831, Lord John Russell moved the House +of Commons for leave to bring in a bill to amend the representation of +the people in England and Wales. The discussion occupied seven nights. +At length, on the morning of Thursday, the tenth of March, the motion +was carried without a division. The following speech was made on the +second night of the debate. + +It is a circumstance, Sir, of happy augury for the motion before +the House, that almost all those who have opposed it have declared +themselves hostile on principle to Parliamentary Reform. Two Members, +I think, have confessed that, though they disapprove of the plan now +submitted to us, they are forced to admit the necessity of a change in +the Representative system. Yet even those gentleman have used, as far as +I have observed, no arguments which would not apply as strongly to the +most moderate change as to that which has been proposed by His Majesty's +Government. I say, Sir, that I consider this as a circumstance of happy +augury. For what I feared was, not the opposition of those who are +averse to all Reform, but the disunion of reformers. I knew that, during +three months, every reformer had been employed in conjecturing what the +plan of the Government would be. I knew that every reformer had imagined +in his own mind a scheme differing doubtless in some points from that +which my noble friend, the Paymaster of the Forces, has developed. I +felt therefore great apprehension that one person would be dissatisfied +with one part of the bill, that another person would be dissatisfied +with another part, and that thus our whole strength would be wasted in +internal dissensions. That apprehension is now at an end. I have seen +with delight the perfect concord which prevails among all who deserve +the name of reformers in this House; and I trust that I may consider it +as an omen of the concord which will prevail among reformers throughout +the country. I will not, Sir, at present express any opinion as to the +details of the bill; but, having during the last twenty-four hours given +the most diligent consideration to its general principles, I have no +hesitation in pronouncing it a wise, noble, and comprehensive measure, +skilfully framed for the healing of great distempers, for the securing +at once of the public liberties, and of the public repose, and for the +reconciling and knitting together of all the orders of the State. + +The honourable Baronet who has just sat down (Sir John Walsh.), has +told us, that the Ministers have attempted to unite two inconsistent +principles in one abortive measure. Those were his very words. He +thinks, if I understand him rightly, that we ought either to leave +the representative system such as it is, or to make it perfectly +symmetrical. I think, Sir, that the Ministers would have acted unwisely +if they had taken either course. Their principle is plain, rational, and +consistent. It is this, to admit the middle class to a large and +direct share in the representation, without any violent shock to the +institutions of our country. I understand those cheers: but surely the +gentlemen who utter them will allow that the change which will be made +in our institutions by this bill is far less violent than that which, +according to the honourable Baronet, ought to be made if we make any +Reform at all. I praise the Ministers for not attempting, at the present +time, to make the representation uniform. I praise them for not effacing +the old distinction between the towns and the counties, and for not +assigning Members to districts, according to the American practice, by +the Rule of Three. The Government has, in my opinion, done all that was +necessary for the removing of a great practical evil, and no more than +was necessary. + +I consider this, Sir, as a practical question. I rest my opinion on +no general theory of government. I distrust all general theories of +government. I will not positively say, that there is any form of polity +which may not, in some conceivable circumstances, be the best possible. +I believe that there are societies in which every man may safely be +admitted to vote. Gentlemen may cheer, but such is my opinion. I say, +Sir, that there are countries in which the condition of the labouring +classes is such that they may safely be intrusted with the right of +electing Members of the Legislature. If the labourers of England were +in that state in which I, from my soul, wish to see them, if employment +were always plentiful, wages always high, food always cheap, if a large +family were considered not as an encumbrance but as a blessing, the +principal objections to Universal Suffrage would, I think, be removed. +Universal Suffrage exists in the United States, without producing any +very frightful consequences; and I do not believe that the people of +those States, or of any part of the world, are in any good quality +naturally superior to our own countrymen. But, unhappily, the labouring +classes in England, and in all old countries, are occasionally in a +state of great distress. Some of the causes of this distress are, I +fear, beyond the control of the Government. We know what effect distress +produces, even on people more intelligent than the great body of the +labouring classes can possibly be. We know that it makes even wise men +irritable, unreasonable, credulous, eager for immediate relief, heedless +of remote consequences. There is no quackery in medicine, religion, or +politics, which may not impose even on a powerful mind, when that mind +has been disordered by pain or fear. It is therefore no reflection +on the poorer class of Englishmen, who are not, and who cannot in the +nature of things be, highly educated, to say that distress produces on +them its natural effects, those effects which it would produce on the +Americans, or on any other people, that it blinds their judgment, that +it inflames their passions, that it makes them prone to believe those +who flatter them, and to distrust those who would serve them. For the +sake, therefore, of the whole society, for the sake of the labouring +classes themselves, I hold it to be clearly expedient that, in a +country like this, the right of suffrage should depend on a pecuniary +qualification. + +But, Sir, every argument which would induce me to oppose Universal +Suffrage, induces me to support the plan which is now before us. I am +opposed to Universal Suffrage, because I think that it would produce a +destructive revolution. I support this plan, because I am sure that it +is our best security against a revolution. The noble Paymaster of the +Forces hinted, delicately indeed and remotely, at this subject. He spoke +of the danger of disappointing the expectations of the nation; and for +this he was charged with threatening the House. Sir, in the year 1817, +the late Lord Londonderry proposed a suspension of the Habeas Corpus +Act. On that occasion he told the House that, unless the measures which +he recommended were adopted, the public peace could not be preserved. +Was he accused of threatening the House? Again, in the year 1819, he +proposed the laws known by the name of the Six Acts. He then told +the House that, unless the executive power were reinforced, all the +institutions of the country would be overturned by popular violence. Was +he then accused of threatening the House? Will any gentleman say that +it is parliamentary and decorous to urge the danger arising from popular +discontent as an argument for severity; but that it is unparliamentary +and indecorous to urge that same danger as an argument for conciliation? +I, Sir, do entertain great apprehension for the fate of my country. I do +in my conscience believe that, unless the plan proposed, or some similar +plan, be speedily adopted, great and terrible calamities will befall us. +Entertaining this opinion, I think myself bound to state it, not as a +threat, but as a reason. I support this bill because it will improve our +institutions; but I support it also because it tends to preserve them. +That we may exclude those whom it is necessary to exclude, we must admit +those whom it may be safe to admit. At present we oppose the schemes of +revolutionists with only one half, with only one quarter of our proper +force. We say, and we say justly, that it is not by mere numbers, but +by property and intelligence, that the nation ought to be governed. Yet, +saying this, we exclude from all share in the government great masses +of property and intelligence, great numbers of those who are most +interested in preserving tranquillity, and who know best how to preserve +it. We do more. We drive over to the side of revolution those whom we +shut out from power. Is this a time when the cause of law and order can +spare one of its natural allies? + +My noble friend, the Paymaster of the Forces, happily described the +effect which some parts of our representative system would produce +on the mind of a foreigner, who had heard much of our freedom and +greatness. If, Sir, I wished to make such a foreigner clearly understand +what I consider as the great defects of our system, I would conduct +him through that immense city which lies to the north of Great Russell +Street and Oxford Street, a city superior in size and in population to +the capitals of many mighty kingdoms; and probably superior in opulence, +intelligence, and general respectability, to any city in the world. I +would conduct him through that interminable succession of streets and +squares, all consisting of well built and well furnished houses. I +would make him observe the brilliancy of the shops, and the crowd of +well-appointed equipages. I would show him that magnificent circle of +palaces which surrounds the Regent's Park. I would tell him that the +rental of this district was far greater than that of the whole kingdom +of Scotland, at the time of the Union. And then I would tell him that +this was an unrepresented district. It is needless to give any more +instances. It is needless to speak of Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, +Sheffield, with no representation, or of Edinburgh and Glasgow with a +mock representation. If a property tax were now imposed on the principle +that no person who had less than a hundred and fifty pounds a year +should contribute, I should not be surprised to find that one half in +number and value of the contributors had no votes at all; and it would, +beyond all doubt, be found that one fiftieth part in number and value of +the contributors had a larger share of the representation than the +other forty-nine fiftieths. This is not government by property. It +is government by certain detached portions and fragments of property, +selected from the rest, and preferred to the rest, on no rational +principle whatever. + +To say that such a system is ancient, is no defence. My honourable +friend, the Member for the University of Oxford (Sir Robert Harry +Inglis.), challenges us to show that the Constitution was ever better +than it is. Sir, we are legislators, not antiquaries. The question for +us is, not whether the Constitution was better formerly, but whether we +can make it better now. In fact, however, the system was not in ancient +times by any means so absurd as it is in our age. One noble Lord (Lord +Stormont.) has to-night told us that the town of Aldborough, which he +represents, was not larger in the time of Edward the First than it is at +present. The line of its walls, he assures us, may still be traced. It +is now built up to that line. He argues, therefore, that as the founders +of our representative institutions gave members to Aldborough when it +was as small as it now is, those who would disfranchise it on account +of its smallness have no right to say that they are recurring to the +original principle of our representative institutions. But does the +noble Lord remember the change which has taken place in the country +during the last five centuries? Does he remember how much England has +grown in population, while Aldborough has been standing still? Does +he consider, that in the time of Edward the First, the kingdom did not +contain two millions of inhabitants? It now contains nearly fourteen +millions. A hamlet of the present day would have been a town of some +importance in the time of our early Parliaments. Aldborough may be +absolutely as considerable a place as ever. But compared with the +kingdom, it is much less considerable, by the noble Lord's own showing, +than when it first elected burgesses. My honourable friend, the Member +for the University of Oxford, has collected numerous instances of the +tyranny which the kings and nobles anciently exercised, both over this +House and over the electors. It is not strange that, in times +when nothing was held sacred, the rights of the people, and of the +representatives of the people, should not have been held sacred. The +proceedings which my honourable friend has mentioned, no more prove +that, by the ancient constitution of the realm, this House ought to be +a tool of the king and of the aristocracy, than the Benevolences and the +Shipmoney prove their own legality, or than those unjustifiable arrests +which took place long after the ratification of the great Charter +and even after the Petition of Right, prove that the subject was not +anciently entitled to his personal liberty. We talk of the wisdom of +our ancestors: and in one respect at least they were wiser than we. They +legislated for their own times. They looked at the England which was +before them. They did not think it necessary to give twice as many +Members to York as they gave to London, because York had been the +capital of Britain in the time of Constantius Chlorus; and they would +have been amazed indeed if they had foreseen, that a city of more than +a hundred thousand inhabitants would be left without Representatives in +the nineteenth century, merely because it stood on ground which in +the thirteenth century had been occupied by a few huts. They framed +a representative system, which, though not without defects and +irregularities, was well adapted to the state of England in their time. +But a great revolution took place. The character of the old corporations +changed. New forms of property came into existence. New portions of +society rose into importance. There were in our rural districts rich +cultivators, who were not freeholders. There were in our capital rich +traders, who were not liverymen. Towns shrank into villages. Villages +swelled into cities larger than the London of the Plantagenets. +Unhappily while the natural growth of society went on, the artificial +polity continued unchanged. The ancient form of the representation +remained; and precisely because the form remained, the spirit departed. +Then came that pressure almost to bursting, the new wine in the old +bottles, the new society under the old institutions. It is now time for +us to pay a decent, a rational, a manly reverence to our ancestors, not +by superstitiously adhering to what they, in other circumstances, did, +but by doing what they, in our circumstances, would have done. All +history is full of revolutions, produced by causes similar to those +which are now operating in England. A portion of the community which had +been of no account expands and becomes strong. It demands a place in the +system, suited, not to its former weakness, but to its present power. +If this is granted, all is well. If this is refused, then comes +the struggle between the young energy of one class and the ancient +privileges of another. Such was the struggle between the Plebeians and +the Patricians of Rome. Such was the struggle of the Italian allies for +admission to the full rights of Roman citizens. Such was the struggle +of our North American colonies against the mother country. Such was +the struggle which the Third Estate of France maintained against the +aristocracy of birth. Such was the struggle which the Roman Catholics +of Ireland maintained against the aristocracy of creed. Such is the +struggle which the free people of colour in Jamaica are now maintaining +against the aristocracy of skin. Such, finally, is the struggle which +the middle classes in England are maintaining against an aristocracy +of mere locality, against an aristocracy the principle of which is to +invest a hundred drunken potwallopers in one place, or the owner of +a ruined hovel in another, with powers which are withheld from cities +renowned to the furthest ends of the earth, for the marvels of their +wealth and of their industry. + +But these great cities, says my honourable friend the Member for the +University of Oxford, are virtually, though not directly, represented. +Are not the wishes of Manchester, he asks, as much consulted as those +of any town which sends Members to Parliament? Now, Sir, I do not +understand how a power which is salutary when exercised virtually can +be noxious when exercised directly. If the wishes of Manchester have as +much weight with us as they would have under a system which should give +Representatives to Manchester, how can there be any danger in giving +Representatives to Manchester? A virtual Representative is, I presume, +a man who acts as a direct Representative would act: for surely it +would be absurd to say that a man virtually represents the people +of Manchester, who is in the habit of saying No, when a man directly +representing the people of Manchester would say Aye. The utmost that +can be expected from virtual Representation is that it may be as good +as direct Representation. If so, why not grant direct Representation to +places which, as everybody allows, ought, by some process or other, to +be represented? + +If it be said that there is an evil in change as change, I answer that +there is also an evil in discontent as discontent. This, indeed, is the +strongest part of our case. It is said that the system works well. I +deny it. I deny that a system works well, which the people regard +with aversion. We may say here, that it is a good system and a perfect +system. But if any man were to say so to any six hundred and fifty-eight +respectable farmers or shopkeepers, chosen by lot in any part of +England, he would be hooted down, and laughed to scorn. Are these the +feelings with which any part of the government ought to be regarded? +Above all, are these the feelings with which the popular branch of +the legislature ought to be regarded? It is almost as essential to the +utility of a House of Commons, that it should possess the confidence of +the people, as that it should deserve that confidence. Unfortunately, +that which is in theory the popular part of our government, is in +practice the unpopular part. Who wishes to dethrone the King? Who wishes +to turn the Lords out of their House? Here and there a crazy radical, +whom the boys in the street point at as he walks along. Who wishes to +alter the constitution of this House? The whole people. It is natural +that it should be so. The House of Commons is, in the language of Mr +Burke, a check, not on the people, but for the people. While that check +is efficient, there is no reason to fear that the King or the nobles +will oppress the people. But if the check requires checking, how is it +to be checked? If the salt shall lose its savour, wherewith shall we +season it? The distrust with which the nation regards this House may +be unjust. But what then? Can you remove that distrust? That it exists +cannot be denied. That it is an evil cannot be denied. That it is an +increasing evil cannot be denied. One gentleman tells us that it has +been produced by the late events in France and Belgium; another, that +it is the effect of seditious works which have lately been published. +If this feeling be of origin so recent, I have read history to little +purpose. Sir, this alarming discontent is not the growth of a day or of +a year. If there be any symptoms by which it is possible to distinguish +the chronic diseases of the body politic from its passing inflammations, +all those symptoms exist in the present case. The taint has been +gradually becoming more extensive and more malignant, through the whole +lifetime of two generations. We have tried anodynes. We have tried cruel +operations. What are we to try now? Who flatters himself that he can +turn this feeling back? Does there remain any argument which escaped the +comprehensive intellect of Mr Burke, or the subtlety of Mr Windham? Does +there remain any species of coercion which was not tried by Mr Pitt and +by Lord Londonderry? We have had laws. We have had blood. New treasons +have been created. The Press has been shackled. The Habeas Corpus Act +has been suspended. Public meetings have been prohibited. The event has +proved that these expedients were mere palliatives. You are at the end +of your palliatives. The evil remains. It is more formidable than ever. +What is to be done? + +Under such circumstances, a great plan of reconciliation, prepared by +the Ministers of the Crown, has been brought before us in a manner which +gives additional lustre to a noble name, inseparably associated during +two centuries with the dearest liberties of the English people. I will +not say, that this plan is in all its details precisely such as I might +wish it to be; but it is founded on a great and a sound principle. It +takes away a vast power from a few. It distributes that power through +the great mass of the middle order. Every man, therefore, who thinks as +I think is bound to stand firmly by Ministers who are resolved to +stand or fall with this measure. Were I one of them, I would sooner, +infinitely sooner, fall with such a measure than stand by any other +means that ever supported a Cabinet. + +My honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford, tells us, +that if we pass this law, England will soon be a republic. The reformed +House of Commons will, according to him, before it has sate ten years, +depose the King, and expel the Lords from their House. Sir, if my +honourable friend could prove this, he would have succeeded in bringing +an argument for democracy, infinitely stronger than any that is to be +found in the works of Paine. My honourable friend's proposition is in +fact this: that our monarchical and aristocratical institutions have no +hold on the public mind of England; that these institutions are regarded +with aversion by a decided majority of the middle class. This, Sir, I +say, is plainly deducible from his proposition; for he tells us that the +Representatives of the middle class will inevitably abolish royalty and +nobility within ten years: and there is surely no reason to think that +the Representatives of the middle class will be more inclined to a +democratic revolution than their constituents. Now, Sir, if I were +convinced that the great body of the middle class in England look with +aversion on monarchy and aristocracy, I should be forced, much against +my will, to come to this conclusion, that monarchical and aristocratical +institutions are unsuited to my country. Monarchy and aristocracy, +valuable and useful as I think them, are still valuable and useful as +means, and not as ends. The end of government is the happiness of +the people: and I do not conceive that, in a country like this, the +happiness of the people can be promoted by a form of government in which +the middle classes place no confidence, and which exists only because +the middle classes have no organ by which to make their sentiments +known. But, Sir, I am fully convinced that the middle classes sincerely +wish to uphold the Royal prerogatives and the constitutional rights of +the Peers. What facts does my honourable friend produce in support of +his opinion? One fact only; and that a fact which has absolutely nothing +to do with the question. The effect of this Reform, he tells us, would +be to make the House of Commons allpowerful. It was allpowerful once +before, in the beginning of 1649. Then it cut off the head of the King, +and abolished the House of Peers. Therefore, if it again has the supreme +power, it will act in the same manner. Now, Sir, it was not the House of +Commons that cut off the head of Charles the First; nor was the House +of Commons then allpowerful. It had been greatly reduced in numbers by +successive expulsions. It was under the absolute dominion of the army. A +majority of the House was willing to take the terms offered by the King. +The soldiers turned out the majority; and the minority, not a sixth part +of the whole House, passed those votes of which my honourable friend +speaks, votes of which the middle classes disapproved then, and of which +they disapprove still. + +My honourable friend, and almost all the gentlemen who have taken the +same side with him in this Debate, have dwelt much on the utility of +close and rotten boroughs. It is by means of such boroughs, they tell +us, that the ablest men have been introduced into Parliament. It is +true that many distinguished persons have represented places of this +description. But, Sir, we must judge of a form of government by its +general tendency, not by happy accidents. Every form of government has +its happy accidents. Despotism has its happy accidents. Yet we are not +disposed to abolish all constitutional checks, to place an absolute +master over us, and to take our chance whether he may be a Caligula or +a Marcus Aurelius. In whatever way the House of Commons may be chosen, +some able men will be chosen in that way who would not be chosen in any +other way. If there were a law that the hundred tallest men in England +should be Members of Parliament, there would probably be some able men +among those who would come into the House by virtue of this law. If the +hundred persons whose names stand first in the alphabetical list of the +Court Guide were made Members of Parliament, there would probably be +able men among them. We read in ancient history, that a very able king +was elected by the neighing of his horse; but we shall scarcely, I +think, adopt this mode of election. In one of the most celebrated +republics of antiquity, Athens, Senators and Magistrates were chosen by +lot; and sometimes the lot fell fortunately. Once, for example, Socrates +was in office. A cruel and unjust proposition was made by a demagogue. +Socrates resisted it at the hazard of his own life. There is no event in +Grecian history more interesting than that memorable resistance. Yet who +would have officers appointed by lot, because the accident of the lot +may have given to a great and good man a power which he would probably +never have attained in any other way? We must judge, as I said, by +the general tendency of a system. No person can doubt that a House of +Commons chosen freely by the middle classes, will contain many very able +men. I do not say, that precisely the same able men who would find +their way into the present House of Commons will find their way into +the reformed House: but that is not the question. No particular man +is necessary to the State. We may depend on it that, if we provide the +country with popular institutions, those institutions will provide it +with great men. + +There is another objection, which, I think, was first raised by the +honourable and learned Member for Newport. (Mr Horace Twiss.) He tells +us that the elective franchise is property; that to take it away from +a man who has not been judicially convicted of malpractices is robbery; +that no crime is proved against the voters in the close boroughs; that +no crime is even imputed to them in the preamble of the bill; and that +therefore to disfranchise them without compensation would be an act of +revolutionary tyranny. The honourable and learned gentleman has compared +the conduct of the present Ministers to that of those odious tools of +power, who, towards the close of the reign of Charles the Second, seized +the charters of the Whig corporations. Now, there was another precedent, +which I wonder that he did not recollect, both because it is much more +nearly in point than that to which he referred, and because my noble +friend, the Paymaster of the Forces, had previously alluded to it. If +the elective franchise is property, if to disfranchise voters without a +crime proved, or a compensation given, be robbery, was there ever such +an act of robbery as the disfranchising of the Irish forty-shilling +freeholders? Was any pecuniary compensation given to them? Is it +declared in the preamble of the bill which took away their franchise, +that they had been convicted of any offence? Was any judicial inquiry +instituted into their conduct? Were they even accused of any crime? Or +if you say that it was a crime in the electors of Clare to vote for +the honourable and learned gentleman who now represents the county of +Waterford, was a Protestant freeholder in Louth to be punished for +the crime of a Catholic freeholder in Clare? If the principle of the +honourable and learned Member for Newport be sound, the franchise of the +Irish peasant was property. That franchise the Ministers under whom the +honourable and learned Member held office did not scruple to take away. +Will he accuse those Ministers of robbery? If not, how can he bring such +an accusation against their successors? + +Every gentleman, I think, who has spoken from the other side of the +House, has alluded to the opinions which some of His Majesty's Ministers +formerly entertained on the subject of Reform. It would be officious in +me, Sir, to undertake the defence of gentlemen who are so well able to +defend themselves. I will only say that, in my opinion, the country will +not think worse either of their capacity or of their patriotism, because +they have shown that they can profit by experience, because they have +learned to see the folly of delaying inevitable changes. There are +others who ought to have learned the same lesson. I say, Sir, that there +are those who, I should have thought, must have had enough to last them +all their lives of that humiliation which follows obstinate and boastful +resistance to changes rendered necessary by the progress of society, and +by the development of the human mind. Is it possible that those persons +can wish again to occupy a position which can neither be defended nor +surrendered with honour? I well remember, Sir, a certain evening in the +month of May, 1827. I had not then the honour of a seat in this House; +but I was an attentive observer of its proceedings. The right honourable +Baronet opposite (Sir Robert Peel), of whom personally I desire to speak +with that high respect which I feel for his talents and his character, +but of whose public conduct I must speak with the sincerity required +by my public duty, was then, as he is now, out of office. He had just +resigned the seals of the Home Department, because he conceived that the +recent ministerial arrangements had been too favourable to the Catholic +claims. He rose to ask whether it was the intention of the new Cabinet +to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts, and to reform the Parliament. +He bound up, I well remember, those two questions together; and he +declared that, if the Ministers should either attempt to repeal the +Test and Corporation Acts, or bring forward a measure of Parliamentary +Reform, he should think it his duty to oppose them to the utmost. Since +that declaration was made four years have elapsed; and what is now the +state of the three questions which then chiefly agitated the minds of +men? What is become of the Test and Corporation Acts? They are repealed. +By whom? By the right honourable Baronet. What has become of the +Catholic disabilities? They are removed. By whom? By the right +honourable Baronet. The question of Parliamentary Reform is still +behind. But signs, of which it is impossible to misconceive the import, +do most clearly indicate that unless that question also be speedily +settled, property, and order, and all the institutions of this great +monarchy, will be exposed to fearful peril. Is it possible that +gentlemen long versed in high political affairs cannot read these signs? +Is it possible that they can really believe that the Representative +system of England, such as it now is, will last to the year 1860? If +not, for what would they have us wait? Would they have us wait merely +that we may show to all the world how little we have profited by our own +recent experience?--Would they have us wait, that we may once again hit +the exact point where we can neither refuse with authority, nor +concede with grace? Would they have us wait, that the numbers of the +discontented party may become larger, its demands higher, its feelings +more acrimonious, its organisation more complete? Would they have us +wait till the whole tragicomedy of 1827 has been acted over again? +till they have been brought into office by a cry of 'No Reform,' to be +reformers, as they were once before brought into office by a cry of +'No Popery,' to be emancipators? Have they obliterated from their +minds--gladly, perhaps, would some among them obliterate from their +minds--the transactions of that year? And have they forgotten all the +transactions of the succeeding year? Have they forgotten how the spirit +of liberty in Ireland, debarred from its natural outlet, found a vent +by forbidden passages? Have they forgotten how we were forced to indulge +the Catholics in all the license of rebels, merely because we chose +to withhold from them the liberties of subjects? Do they wait for +associations more formidable than that of the Corn Exchange, for +contributions larger than the Rent, for agitators more violent than +those who, three years ago, divided with the King and the Parliament +the sovereignty of Ireland? Do they wait for that last and most dreadful +paroxysm of popular rage, for that last and most cruel test of military +fidelity? Let them wait, if their past experience shall induce them to +think that any high honour or any exquisite pleasure is to be obtained +by a policy like this. Let them wait, if this strange and fearful +infatuation be indeed upon them, that they should not see with their +eyes, or hear with their ears, or understand with their heart. But let +us know our interest and our duty better. Turn where we may, within, +around, the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that +you may preserve. Now, therefore, while everything at home and abroad +forebodes ruin to those who persist in a hopeless struggle against the +spirit of the age, now, while the crash of the proudest throne of the +Continent is still resounding in our ears, now, while the roof of a +British palace affords an ignominious shelter to the exiled heir of +forty kings, now, while we see on every side ancient institutions +subverted, and great societies dissolved, now, while the heart of +England is still sound, now, while old feelings and old associations +retain a power and a charm which may too soon pass away, now, in this +your accepted time, now, in this your day of salvation, take counsel, +not of prejudice, not of party spirit, not of the ignominious pride of +a fatal consistency, but of history, of reason, of the ages which are +past, of the signs of this most portentous time. Pronounce in a +manner worthy of the expectation with which this great debate has been +anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it will leave behind. +Renew the youth of the State. Save property, divided against itself. +Save the multitude, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save the +greatest, and fairest, and most highly civilised community that ever +existed, from calamities which may in a few days sweep away all the rich +heritage of so many ages of wisdom and glory. The danger is terrible. +The time is short. If this bill should be rejected, I pray to God that +none of those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their votes +with unavailing remorse, amidst the wreck of laws, the confusion of +ranks, the spoliation of property, and the dissolution of social order. + +***** + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (JULY 5, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE 5TH OF JULY 1831. + +On Tuesday, the fourth of July, 1831, Lord John Russell moved the second +reading of the Bill to amend the representation of the people in England +and Wales. Sir John Walsh, member for Sudbury, moved, as an amendment, +that the bill should be read that day six months. After a discussion, +which lasted three nights, the amendment was rejected by 367 votes to +231, and the original motion was carried. The following Speech was made +on the second night of the debate. + +Nobody, Sir, who has watched the course of the debate can have failed to +observe that the gentlemen who oppose this bill have chiefly relied on +a preliminary objection, which it is necessary to clear away before we +proceed to examine whether the proposed changes in our representative +system would or would not be improvements. The elective franchise, +we are told, is private property. It belongs to this freeman, to that +potwalloper, to the owner of this house, to the owner of that old wall; +and you have no more right to take it away without compensation than to +confiscate the dividends of a fundholder or the rents of a landholder. + +Now, Sir, I admit that, if this objection be well founded, it is +decisive against the plan of Reform which has been submitted to us. If +the franchise be really private property, we have no more right to take +members away from Gatton because Gatton is small, and to give them to +Manchester because Manchester is large, than Cyrus, in the old story, +had to take away the big coat from the little boy and to put it on the +big boy. In no case, and under no pretext however specious, would I take +away from any member of the community anything which is of the nature +of property, without giving him full compensation. But I deny that the +elective franchise is of the nature of property; and I believe that, on +this point, I have with me all reason, all precedent, and all authority. +This at least is certain, that, if disfranchisement really be robbery, +the representative system which now exists is founded on robbery. How +was the franchise in the English counties fixed? By the act of Henry +the Sixth, which disfranchised tens of thousands of electors who had not +forty shilling freeholds. Was that robbery? How was the franchise in +the Irish counties fixed? By the act of George the Fourth, which +disfranchised tens of thousands of electors who had not ten pound +freeholds. Was that robbery? Or was the great parliamentary reform made +by Oliver Cromwell ever designated as robbery, even by those who most +abhorred his name? Everybody knows that the unsparing manner in which he +disfranchised small boroughs was emulously applauded, by royalists, who +hated him for having pulled down one dynasty, and by republicans, who +hated him for having founded another. Take Sir Harry Vane and Lord +Clarendon, both wise men, both, I believe, in the main, honest men, but +as much opposed to each other in politics as wise and honest men +could be. Both detested Oliver; yet both approved of Oliver's plan of +parliamentary reform. They grieved only that so salutary a change should +have been made by an usurper. Vane wished it to have been made by the +Rump; Clarendon wished it to be made by the King. Clarendon's language +on this subject is most remarkable. For he was no rash innovator. +The bias of his mind was altogether on the side of antiquity and +prescription. Yet he describes that great disfranchisement of boroughs +as an improvement fit to be made in a more warrantable method and at a +better time. This is that better time. What Cromwell attempted to effect +by an usurped authority, in a country which had lately been convulsed +by civil war, and which was with difficulty kept in a state of sullen +tranquillity by military force, it has fallen to our lot to accomplish +in profound peace, and under the rule of a prince whose title is +unquestioned, whose office is reverenced, and whose person is beloved. +It is easy to conceive with what scorn and astonishment Clarendon would +have heard it said that the reform which seemed to him so obviously just +and reasonable that he praised it, even when made by a regicide, could +not, without the grossest iniquity, be made even by a lawful King and a +lawful Parliament. + +Sir, in the name of the institution of property, of that great +institution, for the sake of which, chiefly, all other institutions +exist, of that great institution to which we owe all knowledge, all +commerce, all industry, all civilisation, all that makes us to differ +from the tattooed savages of the Pacific Ocean, I protest against the +pernicious practice of ascribing to that which is not property the +sanctity which belongs to property alone. If, in order to save political +abuses from that fate with which they are threatened by the public +hatred, you claim for them the immunities of property, you must expect +that property will be regarded with some portion of the hatred which is +excited by political abuses. You bind up two very different things, in +the hope that they may stand together. Take heed that they do not fall +together. You tell the people that it is as unjust to disfranchise a +great lord's nomination borough as to confiscate his estate. Take heed +that you do not succeed in convincing weak and ignorant minds that there +is no more injustice in confiscating his estate than in disfranchising +his borough. That this is no imaginary danger, your own speeches in this +debate abundantly prove. You begin by ascribing to the franchises of Old +Sarum the sacredness of property; and you end, naturally enough, I +must own, by treating the rights of property as lightly as I should be +inclined to treat the franchises of Old Sarum. When you are reminded +that you voted, only two years ago, for disfranchising great numbers of +freeholders in Ireland, and when you are asked how, on the principles +which you now profess, you can justify that vote, you answer very +coolly, "no doubt that was confiscation. No doubt we took away from the +peasants of Munster and Connaught, without giving them a farthing of +compensation, that which was as much their property as their pigs or +their frieze coats. But we did it for the public good. We were pressed +by a great State necessity." Sir, if that be an answer, we too may plead +that we too have the public good in view, and that we are pressed by a +great State necessity. But I shall resort to no such plea. It fills me +with indignation and alarm to hear grave men avow what they own to be +downright robbery, and justify that robbery on the ground of political +convenience. No, Sir, there is one way, and only one way, in which those +gentlemen who voted for the disfranchising Act of 1829 can clear their +fame. Either they have no defence, or their defence must be this; +that the elective franchise is not of the nature of property, and that +therefore disfranchisement is not spoliation. + +Having disposed, as I think, of the question of right, I come to the +question of expediency. I listened, Sir, with much interest and pleasure +to a noble Lord who spoke for the first time in this debate. (Lord +Porchester.) But I must own that he did not succeed in convincing me +that there is any real ground for the fears by which he is tormented. +He gave us a history of France since the Restoration. He told us of the +violent ebbs and flows of public feeling in that country. He told us +that the revolutionary party was fast rising to ascendency while M. De +Cazes was minister; that then came a violent reaction in favour of the +monarchy and the priesthood; that then the revolutionary party again +became dominant; that there had been a change of dynasty; and that the +Chamber of Peers had ceased to be a hereditary body. He then predicted, +if I understood him rightly, that, if we pass this bill, we shall +suffer all that France has suffered; that we shall have violent contests +between extreme parties, a revolution, and an abolition of the House of +Lords. I might, perhaps, dispute the accuracy of some parts of the noble +Lord's narrative. But I deny that his narrative, accurate or inaccurate, +is relevant. I deny that there is any analogy between the state of +France and the state of England. I deny that there is here any +great party which answers either to the revolutionary or to the +counter-revolutionary party in France. I most emphatically deny that +there is any resemblance in the character, and that there is likely to +be any resemblance in the fate, of the two Houses of Peers. I always +regarded the hereditary Chamber established by Louis the Eighteenth +as an institution which could not last. It was not in harmony with the +state of property; it was not in harmony with the public feeling; it +had neither the strength which is derived from wealth, nor the strength +which is derived from prescription. It was despised as plebeian by +the ancient nobility. It was hated as patrician by the democrats. It +belonged neither to the old France nor to the new France. It was a mere +exotic transplanted from our island. Here it had struck its roots deep, +and having stood during ages, was still green and vigorous. But it +languished in the foreign soil and the foreign air, and was blown +down by the first storm. It will be no such easy task to uproot the +aristocracy of England. + +With much more force, at least with much more plausibility, the noble +Lord and several other members on the other side of the House have +argued against the proposed Reform on the ground that the existing +system has worked well. How great a country, they say, is ours! How +eminent in wealth and knowledge, in arts and arms! How much admired! How +much envied! Is it possible to believe that we have become what we are +under a bad government! And, if we have a good government, why alter +it? Now, Sir, I am very far from denying that England is great, and +prosperous, and highly civilised. I am equally far from denying that she +owes much of her greatness, of her prosperity, and of her civilisation +to her form of government. But is no nation ever to reform its +institutions because it has made great progress under those +institutions? Why, Sir, the progress is the very thing which makes the +reform absolutely necessary. The Czar Peter, we all know, did much for +Russia. But for his rude genius and energy, that country might have +still been utterly barbarous. Yet would it be reasonable to say that +the Russian people ought always, to the end of time, to be despotically +governed, because the Czar Peter was a despot? Let us remember that the +government and the society act and react on each other. Sometimes +the government is in advance of the society, and hurries the society +forward. So urged, the society gains on the government, comes up with +the government, outstrips the government, and begins to insist that the +government shall make more speed. If the government is wise, it will +yield to that just and natural demand. The great cause of revolutions +is this, that while nations move onward, constitutions stand still. The +peculiar happiness of England is that here, through many generations, +the constitution has moved onward with the nation. Gentlemen have told +us, that the most illustrious foreigners have, in every age, spoken +with admiration of the English constitution. Comines, they say, in the +fifteenth century, extolled the English constitution as the best in the +world. Montesquieu, in the eighteenth century, extolled it as the best +in the world. And would it not be madness in us to throw away what +such men thought the most precious of all our blessings? But was the +constitution which Montesquieu praised the same with the constitution +which Comines praised? No, Sir; if it had been so, Montesquieu never +would have praised it. For how was it possible that a polity which +exactly suited the subjects of Edward the Fourth should have exactly +suited the subjects of George the Second? The English have, it is true, +long been a great and a happy people. But they have been great and happy +because their history has been the history of a succession of timely +reforms. The Great Charter, the assembling of the first House of +Commons, the Petition of Right, the Declaration of Right, the Bill which +is now on our table, what are they all but steps in one great progress? +To every one of those steps the same objections might have been made +which we heard to-night, "You are better off than your neighbours are. +You are better off than your fathers were. Why can you not leave well +alone?" + +How copiously might a Jacobite orator have harangued on this topic +in the Convention of 1688! "Why make a change of dynasty? Why trouble +ourselves to devise new securities for our laws and liberties? See what +a nation we are. See how population and wealth have increased since what +you call the good old times of Queen Elizabeth. You cannot deny that the +country has been more prosperous under the kings of the House of Stuart +than under any of their predecessors. Keep that House, then, and be +thankful." Just such is the reasoning of the opponents of this +bill. They tell us that we are an ungrateful people, and that, under +institutions from which we have derived inestimable benefits, we are +more discontented than the slaves of the Dey of Tripoli. Sir, if we had +been slaves of the Dey of Tripoli, we should have been too much sunk +in intellectual and moral degradation to be capable of the rational and +manly discontent of freemen. It is precisely because our institutions +are so good that we are not perfectly contended with them; for they have +educated us into a capacity for enjoying still better institutions. That +the English Government has generally been in advance of almost all other +governments is true. But it is equally true that the English nation is, +and has during some time been, in advance of the English Government. One +plain proof of this is, that nothing is so ill made in our island as +the laws. In all those things which depend on the intelligence, the +knowledge, the industry, the energy of individuals, or of voluntary +combinations of individuals, this country stands pre-eminent among all +the countries of the world, ancient and modern. But in those things +which it belongs to the State to direct, we have no such claim to +superiority. Our fields are cultivated with a skill unknown elsewhere, +with a skill which has extorted rich harvests from moors and morasses. +Our houses are filled with conveniences which the kings of former times +might have envied. Our bridges, our canals, our roads, our modes of +communication, fill every stranger with wonder. Nowhere are manufactures +carried to such perfection. Nowhere is so vast a mass of mechanical +power collected. Nowhere does man exercise such a dominion over matter. +These are the works of the nation. Compare them with the works of the +rulers of the nation. Look at the criminal law, at the civil law, at the +modes of conveying lands, at the modes of conducting actions. It is by +these things that we must judge of our legislators, just as we judge +of our manufacturers by the cotton goods and the cutlery which they +produce, just as we judge of our engineers by the suspension bridges, +the tunnels, the steam carriages which they construct. Is, then, +the machinery by which justice is administered framed with the same +exquisite skill which is found in other kinds of machinery? Can there +be a stronger contrast than that which exists between the beauty, the +completeness, the speed, the precision with which every process is +performed in our factories, and the awkwardness, the rudeness, the +slowness, the uncertainty of the apparatus by which offences are +punished and rights vindicated? Look at the series of penal statutes, +the most bloody and the most inefficient in the world, at the puerile +fictions which make every declaration and every plea unintelligible both +to plaintiff and defendant, at the mummery of fines and recoveries, at +the chaos of precedents, at the bottomless pit of Chancery. Surely we +see the barbarism of the thirteenth century and the highest civilisation +of the nineteenth century side by side; and we see that the barbarism +belongs to the government, and the civilisation to the people. + +This is a state of things which cannot last. If it be not terminated by +wisdom, it will be terminated by violence. A time has come at which it +is not merely desirable, but indispensable to the public safety, that +the government should be brought into harmony with the people; and it +is because this bill seems to me likely to bring the government into +harmony with the people, that I feel it to be my duty to give my hearty +support to His Majesty's Ministers. + +We have been told, indeed, that this is not the plan of Reform which the +nation asked for. Be it so. But you cannot deny that it is the plan of +Reform which the nation has accepted. That, though differing in many +respects from what was asked, it has been accepted with transports +of joy and gratitude, is a decisive proof of the wisdom of timely +concession. Never in the history of the world was there so signal an +example of that true statesmanship, which, at once animating and gently +curbing the honest enthusiasm of millions, guides it safely and steadily +to a happy goal. It is not strange, that when men are refused what is +reasonable, they should demand what is unreasonable. It is not strange +that, when they find that their opinion is contemned and neglected by +the Legislature, they should lend a too favourable ear to worthless +agitators. We have seen how discontent may be produced. We have seen, +too, how it may be appeased. We have seen that the true source of the +power of demagogues is the obstinacy of rulers, and that a liberal +Government makes a conservative people. Early in the last session, the +First Minister of the Crown declared that he would consent to no +Reform; that he thought our representative system, just as it stood, the +masterpiece of human wisdom; that, if he had to make it anew, he would +make it such as it was, with all its represented ruins and all its +unrepresented cities. What followed? Everything was tumult and panic. +The funds fell. The streets were insecure. Men's hearts failed them for +fear. We began to move our property into German investments and American +investments. Such was the state of the public mind, that it was not +thought safe to let the Sovereign pass from his palace to the Guildhall +of his capital. What part of his kingdom is there in which His Majesty +now needs any other guard than the affection of his loving subjects? +There are, indeed, still malecontents; and they may be divided into two +classes, the friends of corruption and the sowers of sedition. It is +natural that all who directly profit by abuses, and all who profit by +the disaffection which abuses excite, should be leagued together against +a bill which, by making the government pure, will make the nation loyal. +There is, and always has been, a real alliance between the two extreme +parties in this country. They play into each other's hands. They live +by each other. Neither would have any influence if the other were taken +away. The demagogue would have no audience but for the indignation +excited among the multitude by the insolence of the enemies of Reform: +and the last hope of the enemies of Reform is in the uneasiness excited +among all who have anything to lose by the ravings of the demagogue. +I see, and glad I am to see, that the nation perfectly understands and +justly appreciates this coalition between those who hate all liberty and +those who hate all order. England has spoken, and spoken out. From her +most opulent seaports, from her manufacturing towns, from her capital +and its gigantic suburbs, from almost every one of her counties, has +gone forth a voice, answering in no doubtful or faltering accent to that +truly royal voice which appealed on the twenty-second of last April to +the sense of the nation. + +So clearly, indeed, has the sense of the nation been expressed, that +scarcely any person now ventures to declare himself hostile to all +Reform. We are, it seems, a House of Reformers. Those very gentlemen +who, a few months ago, were vehement against all change, now own that +some change may be proper, may be necessary. They assure us that their +opposition is directed, not against Parliamentary Reform, but against +the particular plan which is now before us, and that a Tory Ministry +would devise a much better plan. I cannot but think that these tactics +are unskilful. I cannot but think that, when our opponents defended the +existing system in every part, they occupied a stronger position than +at present. As my noble friend the Paymaster-General said, they have +committed an error resembling that of the Scotch army at Dunbar. They +have left the high ground from which we might have had some difficulty +in dislodging them. They have come down to low ground, where they are at +our mercy. Surely, as Cromwell said, surely the Lord hath delivered them +into our hand. + +For, Sir, it is impossible not to perceive that almost every argument +which they have urged against this Reform Bill may be urged with equal +force, or with greater force, against any Reform Bill which they can +themselves bring in. + +First take, what, indeed, are not arguments, but wretched substitutes +for arguments, those vague terms of reproach, which have been so +largely employed, here and elsewhere, by our opponents; revolutionary, +anarchical, traitorous, and so forth. It will, I apprehend, hardly be +disputed that these epithets can be just as easily applied to one Reform +Bill as to another. + +But, you say, intimidation has been used to promote the passing of this +bill; and it would be disgraceful, and of evil example, that Parliament +should yield to intimidation. But surely, if that argument be of any +force against the present bill, it will be of tenfold force against any +Reform Bill proposed by you. For this bill is the work of men who are +Reformers from conscientious conviction, of men, some of whom were +Reformers when Reformer was a name of reproach, of men, all of whom were +Reformers before the nation had begun to demand Reform in imperative and +menacing tones. But you are notoriously Reformers merely from fear. You +are Reformers under duress. If a concession is to be made to the public +importunity, you can hardly deny that it will be made with more grace +and dignity by Lord Grey than by you. + +Then you complain of the anomalies of the bill. One county, you say, +will have twelve members; and another county, which is larger and more +populous, will have only ten. Some towns, which are to have only one +member, are more considerable than other towns which are to have two. Do +those who make these objections, objections which by the by will be more +in place when the bill is in committee, seriously mean to say that a +Tory Reform Bill will leave no anomalies in the representative system? +For my own part, I trouble myself not at all about anomalies, considered +merely as anomalies. I would not take the trouble of lifting up my hand +to get rid of an anomaly that was not also a grievance. But if gentlemen +have such a horror of anomalies, it is strange that they should so long +have persisted in upholding a system made up of anomalies far greater +than any that can be found in this bill (a cry of "No!"). Yes; far +greater. Answer me, if you can; but do not interrupt me. On this point, +indeed, it is much easier to interrupt than to answer. For who can +answer plain arithmetical demonstration? Under the present system, +Manchester, with two hundred thousand inhabitants, has no members. Old +Sarum, with no inhabitants, has two members. Find me such an anomaly in +the schedules which are now on the table. But is it possible that you, +that Tories, can seriously mean to adopt the only plan which can remove +all anomalies from the representative system? Are you prepared to +have, after every decennial census, a new distribution of members +among electoral districts? Is your plan of Reform that which Mr Canning +satirised as the most crazy of all the projects of the disciples of Tom +Paine? Do you really mean + + "That each fair burgh, numerically free, + Shall choose its members by the rule of three?" + +If not, let us hear no more of the anomalies of the Reform Bill. + +But your great objection to this bill is that it will not be final. I +ask you whether you think that any Reform Bill which you can frame will +be final? For my part I do believe that the settlement proposed by His +Majesty's Ministers will be final, in the only sense in which a wise man +ever uses that word. I believe that it will last during that time +for which alone we ought at present to think of legislating. Another +generation may find in the new representative system defects such as we +find in the old representative system. Civilisation will proceed. Wealth +will increase. Industry and trade will find out new seats. The same +causes which have turned so many villages into great towns, which +have turned so many thousands of square miles of fir and heath into +cornfields and orchards, will continue to operate. Who can say that a +hundred years hence there may not be, on the shore of some desolate +and silent bay in the Hebrides, another Liverpool, with its docks and +warehouses and endless forests of masts? Who can say that the huge +chimneys of another Manchester may not rise in the wilds of Connemara? +For our children we do not pretend to legislate. All that we can do +for them is to leave to them a memorable example of the manner in which +great reforms ought to be made. In the only sense, therefore, in which +a statesman ought to say that anything is final, I pronounce this bill +final. But in what sense will your bill be final? Suppose that you could +defeat the Ministers, that you could displace them, that you could +form a Government, that you could obtain a majority in this House, +what course would events take? There is no difficulty in foreseeing +the stages of the rapid progress downward. First we should have a mock +reform; a Bassietlaw reform; a reform worthy of those politicians who, +when a delinquent borough had forfeited its franchise, and when it was +necessary for them to determine what they would do with two seats +in Parliament, deliberately gave those seats, not to Manchester or +Birmingham or Leeds, not to Lancashire or Staffordshire or Devonshire, +but to a constituent body studiously selected because it was not large +and because it was not independent; a reform worthy of those politicians +who, only twelve months ago, refused to give members to the three +greatest manufacturing towns in the world. We should have a reform which +would produce all the evils and none of the benefits of change, which +would take away from the representative system the foundation of +prescription, and yet would not substitute the surer foundation of +reason and public good. The people would be at once emboldened and +exasperated; emboldened because they would see that they had frightened +the Tories into making a pretence of reforming the Parliament; and +exasperated because they would see that the Tory Reform was a mere +pretence. Then would come agitation, tumult, political associations, +libels, inflammatory harangues. Coercion would only aggravate the +evil. This is no age, this is no country, for the war of power against +opinion. Those Jacobin mountebanks, whom this bill would at once send +back to their native obscurity, would rise into fearful importance. The +law would be sometimes braved and sometimes evaded. In short, England +would soon be what Ireland was at the beginning of 1829. Then, at +length, as in 1829, would come the late and vain repentance. Then, Sir, +amidst the generous cheers of the Whigs, who will be again occupying +their old seats on your left hand, and amidst the indignant murmurs of +those stanch Tories who are now again trusting to be again betrayed, the +right honourable Baronet opposite will rise from the Treasury Bench to +propose that bill on which the hearts of the people are set. But will +that bill be then accepted with the delight and thankfulness with which +it was received last March? Remember Ireland. Remember how, in that +country, concessions too long delayed were at last received. That great +boon which in 1801, in 1813, in 1825, would have won the hearts of +millions, given too late, and given from fear, only produced new +clamours and new dangers. Is not one such lesson enough for one +generation? A noble Lord opposite told us not to expect that this bill +will have a conciliatory effect. Recollect, he said, how the French +aristocracy surrendered their privileges in 1789, and how that surrender +was requited. Recollect that Day of Sacrifices which was afterwards +called the Day of Dupes. Sir, that day was afterwards called the Day of +Dupes, not because it was the Day of Sacrifices, but because it was +the Day of Sacrifices too long deferred. It was because the French +aristocracy resisted reform in 1783, that they were unable to resist +revolution in 1789. It was because they clung too long to odious +exemptions and distinctions, that they were at last unable to serve +their lands, their mansions, their heads. They would not endure Turgot: +and they had to endure Robespierre. + +I am far indeed from wishing that the Members of this House should be +influenced by fear in the bad and unworthy sense of that word. But +there is an honest and honourable fear, which well becomes those who are +intrusted with the dearest interests of a great community; and to that +fear I am not ashamed to make an earnest appeal. It is very well to talk +of confronting sedition boldly, and of enforcing the law against those +who would disturb the public peace. No doubt a tumult caused by local +and temporary irritation ought to be suppressed with promptitude and +vigour. Such disturbances, for example, as those which Lord George +Gordon raised in 1780, should be instantly put down with the strong +hand. But woe to the Government which cannot distinguish between a +nation and a mob! Woe to the Government which thinks that a great, a +steady, a long continued movement of the public mind is to be stopped +like a street riot! This error has been twice fatal to the great House +of Bourbon. God be praised, our rulers have been wiser. The golden +opportunity which, if once suffered to escape, might never have been +retrieved, has been seized. Nothing, I firmly believe, can now prevent +the passing of this noble law, this second Bill of Rights. ["Murmurs."] +Yes, I call it, and the nation calls it, and our posterity will long +call it, this second Bill of Rights, this Greater Charter of the +Liberties of England. The year 1831 will, I trust, exhibit the first +example of the manner in which it behoves a free and enlightened people +to purify their polity from old and deeply seated abuses, without +bloodshed, without violence, without rapine, all points freely debated, +all the forms of senatorial deliberation punctiliously observed, +industry and trade not for a moment interrupted, the authority of law +not for a moment suspended. These are things of which we may well be +proud. These are things which swell the heart up with a good hope for +the destinies of mankind. I cannot but anticipate a long series of +happy years; of years during which a parental Government will be firmly +supported by a grateful nation: of years during which war, if war should +be inevitable, will find us an united people; of years pre-eminently +distinguished by the progress of arts, by the improvement of laws, +by the augmentation of the public resources, by the diminution of the +public burdens, by all those victories of peace, in which, far more than +in any military successes, consists the true felicity of states, and the +true glory of statesmen. With such hopes, Sir, and such feelings, I give +my cordial assent to the second reading of a bill which I consider as +in itself deserving of the warmest approbation, and as indispensably +necessary, in the present temper of the public mind, to the repose of +the country and to the stability of the throne. + +***** + + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (SEPTEMBER 20, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE +HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 20TH OF SEPTEMBER 1831. + +On Monday, the nineteenth of September, 1831, the Bill to amend the +representation of the people in England and Wales was read a third time, +at an early hour and in a thin house, without any debate. But on the +question whether the Bill should pass a discussion arose which lasted +three nights. On the morning of the twenty-second of September the House +divided; and the Bill passed by 345 votes to 236. The following Speech +was made on the second night of the debate. + +It is not without great diffidence, Sir, that I rise to address you on a +subject which has been nearly exhausted. Indeed, I should not have risen +had I not thought that, though the arguments on this question are for +the most part old, our situation at present is in a great measure new. +At length the Reform Bill, having passed without vital injury +through all the dangers which threatened it, during a long and minute +discussion, from the attacks of its enemies and from the dissensions +of its friends, comes before us for our final ratification, altered, +indeed, in some of its details for the better, and in some for the +worse, but in its great principles still the same bill which, on the +first of March, was proposed to the late Parliament, the same bill which +was received with joy and gratitude by the whole nation, the same bill +which, in an instant, took away the power of interested agitators, and +united in one firm body all the sects of sincere Reformers, the same +bill which, at the late election, received the approbation of almost +every great constituent body in the empire. With a confidence which +discussion has only strengthened, with an assured hope of great public +blessings if the wish of the nation shall be gratified, with a deep and +solemn apprehension of great public calamities if that wish shall be +disappointed, I, for the last time, give my most hearty assent to this +noble law, destined, I trust, to be the parent of many good laws, and, +through a long series of years, to secure the repose and promote the +prosperity of my country. + +When I say that I expect this bill to promote the prosperity of the +country, I by no means intend to encourage those chimerical hopes which +the honourable and learned Member for Rye (Mr Pemberton.), who has so +much distinguished himself in this debate, has imputed to the Reformers. +The people, he says, are for the bill, because they expect that it will +immediately relieve all their distresses. Sir, I believe that very few +of that large and respectable class which we are now about to admit to +a share of political power entertain any such absurd expectation. They +expect relief, I doubt not; and I doubt not that they will find it: +but sudden relief they are far too wise to expect. The bill, says the +honourable and learned gentleman, is good for nothing: it is merely +theoretical: it removes no real and sensible evil: it will not give the +people more work, or higher wages, or cheaper bread. Undoubtedly, Sir, +the bill will not immediately give all those things to the people. +But will any institutions give them all those things? Do the present +institutions of the country secure to them those advantages? If we are +to pronounce the Reform Bill good for nothing, because it will not at +once raise the nation from distress to prosperity, what are we to say +of that system under which the nation has been of late sinking from +prosperity into distress? The defect is not in the Reform Bill, but in +the very nature of government. On the physical condition of the great +body of the people, government acts not as a specific, but as an +alternative. Its operation is powerful, indeed, and certain, but gradual +and indirect. The business of government is not directly to make the +people rich; and a government which attempts more than this is precisely +the government which is likely to perform less. Governments do not and +cannot support the people. We have no miraculous powers: we have not the +rod of the Hebrew lawgiver: we cannot rain down bread on the multitude +from Heaven: we cannot smite the rock and give them to drink. We can +give them only freedom to employ their industry to the best advantage, +and security in the enjoyment of what their industry has acquired. These +advantages it is our duty to give at the smallest possible cost. The +diligence and forethought of individuals will thus have fair play; and +it is only by the diligence and forethought of individuals that the +community can become prosperous. I am not aware that His Majesty's +Ministers, or any of the supporters of this bill, have encouraged the +people to hope, that Reform will remove distress, in any other way than +by this indirect process. By this indirect process the bill will, I +feel assured, conduce to the national prosperity. If it had been +passed fifteen years ago, it would have saved us from our present +embarrassments. If we pass it now, it will gradually extricate us from +them. It will secure to us a House of Commons, which, by preserving +peace, by destroying monopolies, by taking away unnecessary public +burthens, by judiciously distributing necessary public burthens, will, +in the progress of time, greatly improve our condition. This it will do; +and those who blame it for not doing more blame it for not doing what +no Constitution, no code of laws, ever did or ever will do; what +no legislator, who was not an ignorant and unprincipled quack, ever +ventured to promise. + +But chimerical as are the hopes which the honourable and learned Member +for Rye imputes to the people, they are not, I think, more chimerical +than the fears which he has himself avowed. Indeed, those very gentlemen +who are constantly telling us that we are taking a leap in the dark, +that we pay no attention to the lessons of experience, that we are mere +theorists, are themselves the despisers of experience, are themselves +the mere theorists. They are terrified at the thought of admitting into +Parliament members elected by ten pound householders. They have formed +in their own imaginations a most frightful idea of these members. My +honourable and learned friend, the Member for Cockermouth (Sir James +Scarlett.), is certain that these members will take every opportunity of +promoting the interests of the journeyman in opposition to those of the +capitalist. The honourable and learned Member for Rye is convinced +that none but persons who have strong local connections, will ever be +returned for such constituent bodies. My honourable friend, the Member +for Thetford (Mr Alexander Baring.), tells us, that none but mob +orators, men who are willing to pay the basest court to the multitude, +will have any chance. Other speakers have gone still further, and +have described to us the future borough members as so many Marats and +Santerres, low, fierce, desperate men, who will turn the House into a +bear-garden, and who will try to turn the monarchy into a republic, mere +agitators, without honour, without sense, without education, without the +feelings or the manners of gentlemen. Whenever, during the course of the +fatiguing discussions by which we have been so long occupied, there has +been a cry of "question," or a noise at the bar, the orator who has been +interrupted has remarked, that such proceedings will be quite in place +in the Reformed Parliament, but that we ought to remember that the House +of Commons is still an assembly of gentlemen. This, I say, is to set up +mere theory, or rather mere prejudice, in opposition to long and ample +experience. Are the gentlemen who talk thus ignorant that we have +already the means of judging what kind of men the ten pound householders +will send up to parliament? Are they ignorant that there are even now +large towns with very popular franchises, with franchises even more +democratic than those which will be bestowed by the present bill? +Ought they not, on their own principles, to look at the results of +the experiments which have already been made, instead of predicting +frightful calamities at random? How do the facts which are before us +agree with their theories? Nottingham is a city with a franchise even +more democratic than that which this bill establishes. Does Nottingham +send hither mere vulgar demagogues? It returns two distinguished men, +one an advocate, the other a soldier, both unconnected with the town. +Every man paying scot and lot has a vote at Leicester. This is a lower +franchise than the ten pound franchise. Do we find that the Members +for Leicester are the mere tools of the journeymen? I was at Leicester +during the contest of 1826; and I recollect that the suffrages of the +scot and lot voters were pretty equally divided between two candidates, +neither of them connected with the place, neither of them a slave of the +mob, one a Tory Baronet from Derbyshire, the other a most respectable +and excellent friend of mine, connected with the manufacturing +interest, and also an inhabitant of Derbyshire. Look at Norwich. Look at +Northampton, with a franchise more democratic than even the scot and lot +franchise. Northampton formerly returned Mr Perceval, and now returns +gentlemen of high respectability, gentlemen who have a great stake in +the prosperity and tranquillity of the country. Look at the metropolitan +districts. This is an a fortiori case. Nay it is--the expression, I +fear, is awkward--an a fortiori case at two removes. The ten pound +householders of the metropolis are persons in a lower station of +life than the ten pound householders of other towns. The scot and lot +franchise in the metropolis is again lower than the ten pound franchise. +Yet have Westminster and Southwark been in the habit of sending us +members of whom we have had reason to be ashamed, of whom we have not +had reason to be proud? I do not say that the inhabitants of Westminster +and Southwark have always expressed their political sentiments with +proper moderation. That is not the question. The question is this: what +kind of men have they elected? The very principle of all Representative +government is, that men who do not judge well of public affairs may be +quite competent to choose others who will judge better. Whom, then, have +Westminster and Southwark sent us during the last fifty years, years +full of great events, years of intense popular excitement? Take any one +of those nomination boroughs, the patrons of which have conscientiously +endeavoured to send fit men into this House. Compare the Members for +that borough with the Members for Westminster and Southwark; and you +will have no doubt to which the preference is due. It is needless to +mention Mr Fox, Mr Sheridan, Mr Tierney, Sir Samuel Romilly. Yet I must +pause at the name of Sir Samuel Romilly. Was he a mob orator? Was he a +servile flatterer of the multitude? Sir, if he had any fault, if +there was any blemish on that most serene and spotless character, that +character which every public man, and especially every professional +man engaged in politics, ought to propose to himself as a model, it +was this, that he despised popularity too much and too visibly. The +honourable Member for Thetford told us that the honourable and learned +Member for Rye, with all his talents, would have no chance of a seat in +the Reformed Parliament, for want of the qualifications which succeed +on the hustings. Did Sir Samuel Romilly ever appear on the hustings of +Westminster? He never solicited one vote; he never showed himself to the +electors, till he had been returned at the head of the poll. Even +then, as I have heard from one of his nearest relatives, it was with +reluctance that he submitted to be chaired. He shrank from being made +a show. He loved the people, and he served them; but Coriolanus himself +was not less fit to canvass them. I will mention one other name, that +of a man of whom I have only a childish recollection, but who must have +been intimately known to many of those who hear me, Mr Henry Thornton. +He was a man eminently upright, honourable, and religious, a man of +strong understanding, a man of great political knowledge; but, in all +respects, the very reverse of a mob orator. He was a man who would not +have yielded to what he considered as unreasonable clamour, I will +not say to save his seat, but to save his life. Yet he continued to +represent Southwark, Parliament after Parliament, for many years. Such +has been the conduct of the scot and lot voters of the metropolis; and +there is clearly less reason to expect democratic violence from ten +pound householders than from scot and lot householders; and from ten +pound householders in the country towns than from ten pound householders +in London. Experience, I say, therefore, is on our side; and on the side +of our opponents nothing but mere conjecture and mere assertion. + +Sir, when this bill was first brought forward, I supported it, not +only on the ground of its intrinsic merits, but, also, because I was +convinced that to reject it would be a course full of danger. I believe +that the danger of that course is in no respect diminished. I believe, +on the contrary, that it is increased. We are told that there is a +reaction. The warmth of the public feeling, it seems, has abated. In +this story both the sections of the party opposed to Reform are agreed; +those who hate Reform, because it will remove abuses, and those who hate +it, because it will vert anarchy; those who wish to see the electing +body controlled by ejectments, and those who wish to see it controlled +by riots. They must now, I think, be undeceived. They must have already +discovered that the surest way to prevent a reaction is to talk about +it, and that the enthusiasm of the people is at once rekindled by any +indiscreet mention of their seeming coolness. This, Sir, is not the +first reaction which the sagacity of the Opposition has discovered since +the Reform Bill was brought in. Every gentleman who sat in the late +Parliament, every gentleman who, during the sitting of the late +Parliament, paid attention to political speeches and publications, must +remember how, for some time before the debate on General Gascoyne's +motion, and during the debate on that motion, and down to the very day +of the dissolution, we were told that public feeling had cooled. The +right honourable Baronet, the member for Tamworth, told us so. All the +literary organs of the Opposition, from the Quarterly Review down to the +Morning Post, told us so. All the Members of the Opposition with whom +we conversed in private told us so. I have in my eye a noble friend of +mine, who assured me, on the very night which preceded the dissolution, +that the people had ceased to be zealous for the Ministerial plan, and +that we were more likely to lose than to gain by the elections. The +appeal was made to the people; and what was the result? What sign of a +reaction appeared among the Livery of London? What sign of a reaction +did the honourable Baronet who now represents Okehampton find among the +freeholders of Cornwall? (Sir Richard Vyvyan.) How was it with the large +represented towns? Had Liverpool cooled? or Bristol? or Leicester? or +Coventry? or Nottingham? or Norwich? How was it with the great seats of +manufacturing industry, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, and Staffordshire, +and Warwickshire, and Cheshire? How was it with the agricultural +districts, Northumberland and Cumberland, Leicestershire and +Lincolnshire, Kent and Essex, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Somersetshire, +Dorsetshire, Devonshire? How was it with the strongholds of +aristocratical influence, Newark, and Stamford, and Hertford, and St +Alban's? Never did any people display, within the limits prescribed by +law, so generous a fervour, or so steadfast a determination, as that +very people whose apparent languor had just before inspired the enemies +of Reform with a delusive hope. + +Such was the end of the reaction of April; and, if that lesson shall not +profit those to whom it was given, such and yet more signal will be the +end of the reaction of September. The two cases are strictly analogous. +In both cases the people were eager when they believed the bill to be +in danger, and quiet when they believed it to be in security. During the +three or four weeks which followed the promulgation of the Ministerial +plan, all was joy, and gratitude, and vigorous exertion. Everywhere +meetings were held: everywhere resolutions were passed: from every +quarter were sent up petitions to this House, and addresses to the +Throne: and then the nation, having given vent to its first feelings of +delight, having clearly and strongly expressed its opinions, having seen +the principle of the bill adopted by the House of Commons on the second +reading, became composed, and awaited the result with a tranquillity +which the Opposition mistook for indifference. All at once the aspect of +affairs changed. General Gascoyne's amendment was carried: the bill was +again in danger: exertions were again necessary. Then was it well +seen whether the calmness of the public mind was any indication of +indifference. The depth and sincerity of the prevailing sentiments were +proved, not by mere talking, but by actions, by votes, by sacrifices. +Intimidation was defied: expenses were rejected: old ties were broken: +the people struggled manfully: they triumphed gloriously: they placed +the bill in perfect security, as far as this house was concerned; and +they returned to their repose. They are now, as they were on the eve of +General Gascoyne's motion, awaiting the issue of the deliberations of +Parliament, without any indecent show of violence, but with anxious +interest and immovable resolution. And because they are not exhibiting +that noisy and rapturous enthusiasm which is in its own nature +transient, because they are not as much excited as on the day when the +plan of the Government was first made known to them, or on the day when +the late Parliament was dissolved, because they do not go on week after +week, hallooing, and holding meetings, and marching about with flags, +and making bonfires, and illuminating their houses, we are again told +that there is a reaction. To such a degree can men be deceived by +their wishes, in spite of their own recent experience. Sir, there is no +reaction; and there will be no reaction. All that has been said on this +subject convinces me only that those who are now, for the second time, +raising this cry, know nothing of the crisis in which they are called on +to act, or of the nation which they aspire to govern. All their opinions +respecting this bill are founded on one great error. They imagine that +the public feeling concerning Reform is a mere whim which sprang up +suddenly out of nothing, and which will as suddenly vanish into nothing. +They, therefore, confidently expect a reaction. They are always looking +out for a reaction. Everything that they see, or that they hear, they +construe into a sign of the approach of this reaction. They resemble the +man in Horace, who lies on the bank of the river, expecting that it +will every moment pass by and leave him a clear passage, not knowing the +depth and abundance of the fountain which feeds it, not knowing that +it flows, and will flow on for ever. They have found out a hundred +ingenious devices by which they deceive themselves. Sometimes they tell +us that the public feeling about Reform was caused by the events which +took place at Paris about fourteen months ago; though every observant +and impartial man knows, that the excitement which the late French +revolution produced in England was not the cause but the effect of that +progress which liberal opinions had made amongst us. Sometimes they +tell us that we should not have been troubled with any complaints on the +subject of the Representation, if the House of Commons had agreed to a +certain motion, made in the session of 1830, for inquiry into the causes +of the public distress. I remember nothing about that motion, except +that it gave rise to the dullest debate ever known; and the country, I +am firmly convinced, cared not one straw about it. But is it not strange +that men of real ability can deceive themselves so grossly, as to think +that any change in the government of a foreign nation, or the rejection +of any single motion, however popular, could all at once raise up a +great, rich, enlightened nation, against its ancient institutions? Could +such small drops have produced an overflowing, if the vessel had not +already been filled to the very brim? These explanations are incredible, +and if they were credible, would be anything but consolatory. If it were +really true that the English people had taken a sudden aversion to a +representative system which they had always loved and admired, because a +single division in Parliament had gone against their wishes, or because, +in a foreign country, in circumstances bearing not the faintest analogy +to those in which we are placed, a change of dynasty had happened, what +hope could we have for such a nation of madmen? How could we expect +that the present form of government, or any form of government, would be +durable amongst them? + +Sir, the public feeling concerning Reform is of no such recent origin, +and springs from no such frivolous causes. Its first faint commencement +may be traced far, very far, back in our history. During seventy years +that feeling has had a great influence on the public mind. Through the +first thirty years of the reign of George the Third, it was gradually +increasing. The great leaders of the two parties in the State were +favourable to Reform. Plans of reform were supported by large and most +respectable minorities in the House of Commons. The French Revolution, +filling the higher and middle classes with an extreme dread of change, +and the war calling away the public attention from internal to external +politics, threw the question back; but the people never lost sight +of it. Peace came, and they were at leisure to think of domestic +improvements. Distress came, and they suspected, as was natural, that +their distress was the effect of unfaithful stewardship and unskilful +legislation. An opinion favourable to Parliamentary Reform grew up +rapidly, and became strong among the middle classes. But one tie, one +strong tie, still bound those classes to the Tory party. I mean the +Catholic Question. It is impossible to deny that, on that subject, a +large proportion, a majority, I fear, of the middle class of Englishmen, +conscientiously held opinions opposed to those which I have always +entertained, and were disposed to sacrifice every other consideration to +what they regarded as a religious duty. Thus the Catholic Question hid, +so to speak, the question of Parliamentary Reform. The feeling in favour +of Parliamentary Reform grew, but it grew in the shade. Every man, I +think, must have observed the progress of that feeling in his own social +circle. But few Reform meetings were held, and few petitions in favour +of Reform presented. At length the Catholics were emancipated; the +solitary link of sympathy which attached the people to the Tories was +broken; the cry of "No Popery" could no longer be opposed to the cry +of "Reform." That which, in the opinion of the two great parties in +Parliament, and of a vast portion of the community, had been the first +question, suddenly disappeared; and the question of Parliamentary Reform +took the first place. Then was put forth all the strength which had been +growing in silence and obscurity. Then it appeared that Reform had on +its side a coalition of interests and opinions unprecedented in our +history, all the liberality and intelligence which had supported the +Catholic claims, and all the clamour which had opposed them. + +This, I believe, is the true history of that public feeling on the +subject of Reform which had been ascribed to causes quite inadequate to +the production of such an effect. If ever there was in the history of +mankind a national sentiment which was the very opposite of a caprice, +with which accident had nothing to do, which was produced by the slow, +steady, certain progress of the human mind, it is the sentiment of the +English people on the subject of Reform. Accidental circumstances +may have brought that feeling to maturity in a particular year, or a +particular month. That point I will not dispute; for it is not worth +disputing. But those accidental circumstances have brought on Reform, +only as the circumstance that, at a particular time, indulgences were +offered for sale in a particular town in Saxony, brought on the great +separation from the Church of Rome. In both cases the public mind was +prepared to move on the slightest impulse. + +Thinking thus of the public opinion concerning Reform, being convinced +that this opinion is the mature product of time and of discussion, I +expect no reaction. I no more expect to see my countrymen again content +with the mere semblance of a Representation, than to see them again +drowning witches or burning heretics, trying causes by red hot +ploughshares, or offering up human sacrifices to wicker idols. I no more +expect a reaction in favour of Gatton and Old Sarum, than a reaction in +favour of Thor and Odin. I should think such a reaction almost as much +a miracle as that the shadow should go back upon the dial. Revolutions +produced by violence are often followed by reactions; the victories of +reason once gained, are gained for eternity. + +In fact, if there be, in the present aspect of public affairs, any sign +peculiarly full of evil omen to the opponents of Reform, it is that very +calmness of the public mind on which they found their expectation of +success. They think that it is the calmness of indifference. It is the +calmness of confident hope: and in proportion to the confidence of hope +will be the bitterness of disappointment. Disappointment, indeed, I +do not anticipate. That we are certain of success in this House is now +acknowledged; and our opponents have, in consequence, during the whole +of this Session, and particularly during the present debate, addressed +their arguments and exhortations rather to the Lords than to the +assembly of which they are themselves Members. Their principal argument +has always been, that the bill will destroy the peerage. The honourable +and learned Member for Rye has, in plain terms, called on the Barons of +England to save their order from democratic encroachments, by rejecting +this measure. All these arguments, all these appeals, being interpreted, +mean this: "Proclaim to your countrymen that you have no common +interests with them, no common sympathies with them; that you can be +powerful only by their weakness, and exalted only by their degradation; +that the corruption which disgusts them, and the oppression against +which their spirit rises up, are indispensable to your authority; +that the freedom and purity of election are incompatible with the very +existence of your House. Give them clearly to understand that your +power rests, not as they have hitherto imagined, on their rational +convictions, or on their habitual veneration, or on your own great +property, but on a system fertile of political evils, fertile also of +low iniquities of which ordinary justice take cognisance. Bind up, in +inseparable union, the privileges of your estate with the grievances +of ours: resolve to stand or fall with abuses visibly marked out for +destruction: tell the people that they are attacking you in attacking +the three holes in the wall, and that they shall never get rid of +the three holes in the wall, till they have got rid of you; that a +hereditary peerage and a representative assembly, can co-exist only in +name, and that, if they will have a real House of Peers, they must be +content with a mock House of Commons." This, I say, is the advice given +to the Lords by those who call themselves the friends of aristocracy. +That advice so pernicious will not be followed, I am well assured; yet +I cannot but listen to it with uneasiness. I cannot but wonder that it +should proceed from the lips of men who are constantly lecturing us on +the duty of consulting history and experience. Have they never heard +what effects counsels like their own, when too faithfully followed, have +produced? Have they never visited that neighbouring country, which still +presents to the eye, even of a passing stranger, the signs of a great +dissolution and renovation of society? Have they never walked by those +stately mansions, now sinking into decay, and portioned out into lodging +rooms, which line the silent streets of the Faubourg St Germain? Have +they never seen the ruins of those castles whose terraces and gardens +overhang the Loire? Have they never heard that from those magnificent +hotels, from those ancient castles, an aristocracy as splendid, as +brave, as proud, as accomplished, as ever Europe saw, was driven forth +to exile and beggary, to implore the charity of hostile Governments and +hostile creeds, to cut wood in the back settlements of America, or to +teach French in the schoolrooms of London? And why were those haughty +nobles destroyed with that utter destruction? Why were they scattered +over the face of the earth, their titles abolished, their escutcheons +defaced, their parks wasted, their palaces dismantled, their heritage +given to strangers? Because they had no sympathy with the people, +no discernment of the signs of their time; because, in the pride and +narrowness of their hearts, they called those whose warnings might +have saved them theorists and speculators; because they refused all +concession till the time had arrived when no concession would avail. I +have no apprehension that such a fate awaits the nobles of England. I +draw no parallel between our aristocracy and that of France. Those who +represent the peerage as a class whose power is incompatible with the +just influence of the people in the State, draw that parallel, and not +I. They do all in their power to place the Lords and Commons of England +in that position with respect to each other in which the French gentry +stood with respect to the Third Estate. But I am convinced that these +advisers will not succeed. We see, with pride and delight, among the +friends of the people, the Talbots, the Cavendishes, the princely house +of Howard. Foremost among those who have entitled themselves, by their +exertions in this House, to the lasting gratitude of their countrymen, +we see the descendants of Marlborough, of Russell, and of Derby. I hope, +and firmly believe, that the Lords will see what their interests and +their honour require. I hope, and firmly believe, that they will act in +such a manner as to entitle themselves to the esteem and affection of +the people. But if not, let not the enemies of Reform imagine that their +reign is straightway to recommence, or that they have obtained anything +more than a short and uneasy respite. We are bound to respect the +constitutional rights of the Peers; but we are bound also not to forget +our own. We, too, have our privileges; we, too, are an estate of the +realm. A House of Commons strong in the love and confidence of the +people, a House of Commons which has nothing to fear from a dissolution, +is something in the government. Some persons, I well know, indulge a +hope that the rejection of the bill will at once restore the domination +of that party which fled from power last November, leaving everything +abroad and everything at home in confusion; leaving the European system, +which it had built up at a vast cost of blood and treasure, falling to +pieces in every direction; leaving the dynasties which it had restored, +hastening into exile; leaving the nations which it had joined together, +breaking away from each other; leaving the fundholders in dismay; +leaving the peasantry in insurrection; leaving the most fertile counties +lighted up with the fires of incendiaries; leaving the capital in such +a state, that a royal procession could not pass safely through it. +Dark and terrible, beyond any season within my remembrance of political +affairs, was the day of their flight. Far darker and far more terrible +will be the day of their return. They will return in opposition to +the whole British nation, united as it was never before united on any +internal question; united as firmly as when the Armada was sailing up +the Channel; united as firmly as when Bonaparte pitched his camp on the +cliffs of Boulogne. They will return pledged to defend evils which the +people are resolved to destroy. They will return to a situation in which +they can stand only by crushing and trampling down public opinion, and +from which, if they fall, they may, in their fall, drag down with them +the whole frame of society. Against such evils, should such evils appear +to threaten the country, it will be our privilege and our duty to warn +our gracious and beloved Sovereign. It will be our privilege and our +duty to convey the wishes of a loyal people to the throne of a patriot +king. At such a crisis the proper place for the House of Commons is +in front of the nation; and in that place this House will assuredly +be found. Whatever prejudice or weakness may do elsewhere to ruin the +empire, here, I trust, will not be wanting the wisdom, the virtue, and +the energy that may save it. + +***** + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (OCTOBER 10, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE +OF COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF OCTOBER, 1831. + +On the morning of Saturday, the eighth of October, 1831, the House of +Lords, by a majority of 190 to 158, rejected the Reform Bill. On the +Monday following, Lord Ebrington, member for Devonshire, moved the +following resolution in the House of Commons: + +"That while this House deeply laments the present fate of a bill for +amending the representation of the people in England and Wales, +in favour of which the opinion of the country stands unequivocally +pronounced, and which has been matured by discussions the most anxious +and laborious, it feels itself called upon to reassert its firm +adherence to the principle and leading provisions of that great measure, +and to express its unabated confidence in the integrity, perseverance, +and ability of those Ministers, who, in introducing and conducting it, +have so well consulted the best interests of the country." + +The resolution was carried by 329 votes to 198. The following speech was +made early in the debate. + +I doubt, Sir, whether any person who had merely heard the speech of the +right honourable Member for the University of Cambridge (Mr Goulburn.) +would have been able to conjecture what the question is on which we are +discussing, and what the occasion on which we are assembled. For myself, +I can with perfect certainty declare that never in the whole course of +my life did I feel my mind oppressed by so deep and solemn a sense +of responsibility as at the present moment. I firmly believe that the +country is now in danger of calamities greater than ever threatened it, +from domestic misgovernment or from foreign hostility. The danger is no +less than this, that there may be a complete alienation of the people +from their rulers. To soothe the public mind, to reconcile the people to +the delay, the short delay, which must intervene before their wishes can +be legitimately gratified, and in the meantime to avert civil discord, +and to uphold the authority of law, these are, I conceive, the objects +of my noble friend, the Member for Devonshire: these ought, at the +present crisis, to be the objects of every honest Englishman. They +are objects which will assuredly be attained, if we rise to this great +occasion, if we take our stand in the place which the Constitution has +assigned to us, if we employ, with becoming firmness and dignity, the +powers which belong to us as trustees of the nation, and as advisers of +the Throne. + +Sir, the Resolution of my noble friend consists of two parts. He calls +upon us to declare our undiminished attachment to the principles of +the Reform Bill, and also our undiminished confidence in His Majesty's +Ministers. I consider these two declarations as identical. The question +of Reform is, in my opinion, of such paramount importance, that, +approving the principles of the Ministerial Bill, I must think the +Ministers who have brought that bill forward, although I may differ +from them on some minor points, entitled to the strongest support +of Parliament. The right honourable gentleman, the Member for the +University of Cambridge, has attempted to divert the course of the +debate to questions comparatively unimportant. He has said much about +the coal duty, about the candle duty, about the budget of the present +Chancellor of the Exchequer. On most of the points to which he has +referred, it would be easy for me, were I so inclined, to defend the +Ministers; and where I could not defend them, I should find it easy to +recriminate on those who preceded them. The right honourable Member for +the University of Cambridge has taunted the Ministers with the defeat +which their plan respecting the timber trade sustained in the last +Parliament. I might, perhaps, at a more convenient season, be tempted +to inquire whether that defeat was more disgraceful to them or to their +predecessors. I might, perhaps, be tempted to ask the right honourable +gentleman whether, if he had not been treated, while in office, with +more fairness than he has shown while in opposition, it would have been +in his power to carry his best bill, the Beer Bill? He has accused +the Ministers of bringing forward financial propositions, and then +withdrawing those propositions. Did not he bring forward, during the +Session of 1830, a plan respecting the sugar duties? And was not that +plan withdrawn? But, Sir, this is mere trifling. I will not be seduced +from the matter in hand by the right honourable gentleman's example. +At the present moment I can see only one question in the State, the +question of Reform; only two parties, the friends of the Reform Bill and +its enemies. + +It is not my intention, Sir, again to discuss the merits of the Reform +Bill. The principle of that bill received the approbation of the late +House of Commons after a discussion of ten nights; and the bill as it +now stands, after a long and most laborious investigation, passed the +present House of Commons by a majority which was nearly half as large +again as the minority. This was little more than a fortnight ago. +Nothing has since occurred to change our opinion. The justice of the +case is unaltered. The public enthusiasm is undiminished. Old Sarum has +grown no larger. Manchester has grown no smaller. In addressing this +House, therefore, I am entitled to assume that the bill is in itself a +good bill. If so, ought we to abandon it merely because the Lords have +rejected it? We ought to respect the lawful privileges of their +House; but we ought also to assert our own. We are constitutionally as +independent of their Lordships as their Lordships are of us. We have +precisely as good a right to adhere to our opinion as they have to +dissent from it. In speaking of their decision, I will attempt to follow +that example of moderation which was so judiciously set by my noble +friend, the Member for Devonshire. I will only say that I do not think +that they are more competent to form a correct judgment on a political +question than we are. It is certain that, on all the most important +points on which the two Houses have for a long time past differed, +the Lords have at length come over to the opinion of the Commons. I am +therefore entitled to say, that with respect to all those points, the +Peers themselves being judges, the House of Commons was in the right and +the House of Lords in the wrong. It was thus with respect to the Slave +trade: it was thus with respect to Catholic Emancipation: it was thus +with several other important questions. I, therefore, cannot think that +we ought, on the present occasion, to surrender our judgment to those +who have acknowledged that, on former occasions of the same kind, we +have judged more correctly than they. + +Then again, Sir, I cannot forget how the majority and the minority in +this House were composed; I cannot forget that the majority contained +almost all those gentlemen who are returned by large bodies of electors. +It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say, that there were single Members +of the majority who had more constituents than the whole minority put +together. I speak advisedly and seriously. I believe that the number of +freeholders of Yorkshire exceeds that of all the electors who return the +Opposition. I cannot with propriety comment here on any reports which +may have been circulated concerning the majority and minority in the +House of Lords. I may, however, mention these notoriously historical +facts; that during the last forty years the powers of the executive +Government have been, almost without intermission, exercised by a party +opposed to Reform; and that a very great number of Peers have been +created, and all the present Bishops raised to the bench during those +years. On this question, therefore, while I feel more than usual respect +for the judgment of the House of Commons, I feel less than usual respect +for the judgment of the House of Lords. Our decision is the decision of +the nation; the decision of their Lordships can scarcely be considered +as the decision even of that class from which the Peers are +generally selected, and of which they may be considered as virtual +representatives, the great landed gentlemen of England. It seems to me +clear, therefore, that we ought, notwithstanding what has passed in the +other House, to adhere to our opinion concerning the Reform Bill. + +The next question is this; ought we to make a formal declaration that we +adhere to our opinion? I think that we ought to make such a declaration; +and I am sure that we cannot make it in more temperate or more +constitutional terms than those which my noble friend asks us to adopt. +I support the Resolution which he has proposed with all my heart and +soul: I support it as a friend to Reform; but I support it still more +as a friend to law, to property, to social order. No observant and +unprejudiced man can look forward without great alarm to the effects +which the recent decision of the Lords may possibly produce. I do not +predict, I do not expect, open, armed insurrection. What I apprehend +is this, that the people may engage in a silent, but extensive and +persevering war against the law. What I apprehend is, that England may +exhibit the same spectacle which Ireland exhibited three years ago, +agitators stronger than the magistrate, associations stronger than the +law, a Government powerful enough to be hated, and not powerful enough +to be feared, a people bent on indemnifying themselves by illegal +excesses for the want of legal privileges. I fear, that we may before +long see the tribunals defied, the tax-gatherer resisted, public credit +shaken, property insecure, the whole frame of society hastening to +dissolution. It is easy to say, "Be bold: be firm: defy intimidation: +let the law have its course: the law is strong enough to put down the +seditious." Sir, we have heard all this blustering before; and we know +in what it ended. It is the blustering of little men whose lot has +fallen on a great crisis. Xerxes scourging the winds, Canute commanding +the waves to recede from his footstool, were but types of the folly +of those who apply the maxims of the Quarter Sessions to the great +convulsions of society. The law has no eyes: the law has no hands: +the law is nothing, nothing but a piece of paper printed by the King's +printer, with the King's arms at the top, till public opinion breathes +the breath of life into the dead letter. We found this in Ireland. The +Catholic Association bearded the Government. The Government resolved +to put down the Association. An indictment was brought against my +honourable and learned friend, the Member for Kerry. The Grand Jury +threw it out. Parliament met. The Lords Commissioners came down with a +speech recommending the suppression of the self-constituted legislature +of Dublin. A bill was brought in: it passed both Houses by large +majorities: it received the Royal assent. And what effect did it +produce? Exactly as much as that old Act of Queen Elizabeth, still +unrepealed, by which it is provided that every man who, without a +special exemption, shall eat meat on Fridays and Saturdays, shall pay a +fine of twenty shillings or go to prison for a month. Not only was the +Association not destroyed: its power was not for one day suspended: it +flourished and waxed strong under the law which had been made for the +purpose of annihilating it. The elections of 1826, the Clare election +two years later, proved the folly of those who think that nations are +governed by wax and parchment: and, at length, in the close of 1828, the +Government had only one plain choice before it, concession or civil war. +Sir, I firmly believe that, if the people of England shall lose all hope +of carrying the Reform Bill by constitutional means, they will forthwith +begin to offer to the Government the same kind of resistance which +was offered to the late Government, three years ago, by the people of +Ireland, a resistance by no means amounting to rebellion, a resistance +rarely amounting to any crime defined by the law, but a resistance +nevertheless which is quite sufficient to obstruct the course of +justice, to disturb the pursuits of industry, and to prevent the +accumulation of wealth. And is not this a danger which we ought to fear? +And is not this a danger which we are bound, by all means in our power, +to avert? And who are those who taunt us for yielding to intimidation? +Who are those who affect to speak with contempt of associations, and +agitators, and public meetings? Even the very persons who, scarce two +years ago, gave up to associations, and agitators, and public meetings, +their boasted Protestant Constitution, proclaiming all the time that +they saw the evils of Catholic Emancipation as strongly as ever. Surely, +surely, the note of defiance which is now so loudly sounded in our ears, +proceeds with a peculiarly bad grace from men whose highest glory it +is that they abased themselves to the dust before a people whom their +policy had driven to madness, from men the proudest moment of whose +lives was that in which they appeared in the character of persecutors +scared into toleration. Do they mean to indemnify themselves for the +humiliation of quailing before the people of Ireland by trampling on the +people of England? If so, they deceive themselves. The case of Ireland, +though a strong one, was by no means so strong a case as that with which +we have now to deal. The Government, in its struggle with the Catholics +of Ireland, had Great Britain at its back. Whom will it have at its back +in the struggle with the Reformers of Great Britain? I know only two +ways in which societies can permanently be governed, by public opinion, +and by the sword. A Government having at its command the armies, the +fleets, and the revenues of Great Britain, might possibly hold Ireland +by the sword. So Oliver Cromwell held Ireland; so William the Third held +it; so Mr Pitt held it; so the Duke of Wellington might perhaps have +held it. But to govern Great Britain by the sword! So wild a thought has +never, I will venture to say, occurred to any public man of any party; +and, if any man were frantic enough to make the attempt, he would find, +before three days had expired, that there is no better sword than that +which is fashioned out of a ploughshare. But, if not by the sword, how +is the country to be governed? I understand how the peace is kept at New +York. It is by the assent and support of the people. I understand also +how the peace is kept at Milan. It is by the bayonets of the Austrian +soldiers. But how the peace is to be kept when you have neither the +popular assent nor the military force, how the peace is to be kept +in England by a Government acting on the principles of the present +Opposition, I do not understand. + +There is in truth a great anomaly in the relation between the English +people and their Government. Our institutions are either too popular or +not popular enough. The people have not sufficient power in making the +laws; but they have quite sufficient power to impede the execution of +the laws when made. The Legislature is almost entirely aristocratical; +the machinery by which the degrees of the Legislature are carried into +effect is almost entirely popular; and, therefore, we constantly see +all the power which ought to execute the law, employed to counteract the +law. Thus, for example, with a criminal code which carries its rigour +to the length of atrocity, we have a criminal judicature which often +carries its lenity to the length of perjury. Our law of libel is the +most absurdly severe that ever existed, so absurdly severe that, if it +were carried into full effect, it would be much more oppressive than +a censorship. And yet, with this severe law of libel, we have a +press which practically is as free as the air. In 1819 the Ministers +complained of the alarming increase of seditious and blasphemous +publications. They proposed a bill of great rigour to stop the growth +of the evil; and they carried their bill. It was enacted, that the +publisher of a seditious libel might, on a second conviction, be +banished, and that if he should return from banishment, he might be +transported. How often was this law put in force? Not once. Last year we +repealed it: but it was already dead, or rather it was dead born. It +was obsolete before Le Roi le veut had been pronounced over it. For any +effect which it produced it might as well have been in the Code Napoleon +as in the English Statute Book. And why did the Government, having +solicited and procured so sharp and weighty a weapon, straightway hang +it up to rust? Was there less sedition, were there fewer libels, after +the passing of the Act than before it? Sir, the very next year was the +year 1820, the year of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against Queen +Caroline, the very year when the public mind was most excited, the very +year when the public press was most scurrilous. Why then did not the +Ministers use their new law? Because they durst not: because they could +not. They had obtained it with ease; for in obtaining it they had to +deal with a subservient Parliament. They could not execute it: for in +executing it they would have to deal with a refractory people. These +are instances of the difficulty of carrying the law into effect when the +people are inclined to thwart their rulers. The great anomaly, or, to +speak more properly, the great evil which I have described, would, +I believe, be removed by the Reform Bill. That bill would establish +harmony between the people and the Legislature. It would give a fair +share in the making of laws to those without whose co-operation laws are +mere waste paper. Under a reformed system we should not see, as we now +often see, the nation repealing Acts of Parliament as fast as we and +the Lords can pass them. As I believe that the Reform Bill would produce +this blessed and salutary concord, so I fear that the rejection of +the Reform Bill, if that rejection should be considered as final, will +aggravate the evil which I have been describing to an unprecedented, +to a terrible extent. To all the laws which might be passed for the +collection of the revenue, or for the prevention of sedition, the people +would oppose the same kind of resistance by means of which they have +succeeded in mitigating, I might say in abrogating, the law of libel. +There would be so many offenders that the Government would scarcely know +at whom to aim its blow. Every offender would have so many accomplices +and protectors that the blow would almost always miss the aim. The Veto +of the people, a Veto not pronounced in set form like that of the Roman +Tribunes, but quite as effectual as that of the Roman Tribunes for the +purpose of impeding public measures, would meet the Government at every +turn. The administration would be unable to preserve order at home, or +to uphold the national honour abroad; and, at length, men who are now +moderate, who now think of revolution with horror, would begin to wish +that the lingering agony of the State might be terminated by one fierce, +sharp, decisive crisis. + +Is there a way of escape from these calamities? I believe that there +is. I believe that, if we do our duty, if we give the people reason to +believe that the accomplishment of their wishes is only deferred, if +we declare our undiminished attachment to the Reform Bill, and our +resolution to support no Minister who will not support that bill, we +shall avert the fearful disasters which impend over the country. There +is danger that, at this conjuncture, men of more zeal than wisdom may +obtain a fatal influence over the public mind. With these men will be +joined others, who have neither zeal nor wisdom, common barrators in +politics, dregs of society which, in times of violent agitation, are +tossed up from the bottom to the top, and which, in quiet times, sink +again from the top to their natural place at the bottom. To these men +nothing is so hateful as the prospect of a reconciliation between the +orders of the State. A crisis like that which now makes every honest +citizen sad and anxious fills these men with joy, and with a detestable +hope. And how is it that such men, formed by nature and education to be +objects of mere contempt, can ever inspire terror? How is it that such +men, without talents or acquirements sufficient for the management of a +vestry, sometimes become dangerous to great empires? The secret of their +power lies in the indolence or faithlessness of those who ought to take +the lead in the redress of public grievances. The whole history of low +traders in sedition is contained in that fine old Hebrew fable which we +have all read in the Book of Judges. The trees meet to choose a king. +The vine, and the fig tree, and the olive tree decline the office. Then +it is that the sovereignty of the forest devolves upon the bramble: +then it is that from a base and noxious shrub goes forth the fire which +devours the cedars of Lebanon. Let us be instructed. If we are afraid +of political Unions and Reform Associations, let the House of Commons +become the chief point of political union: let the House of Commons +be the great Reform Association. If we are afraid that the people may +attempt to accomplish their wishes by unlawful means, let us give them +a solemn pledge that we will use in their cause all our high and ancient +privileges, so often victorious in old conflicts with tyranny; those +privileges which our ancestors invoked, not in vain, on the day when a +faithless king filled our house with his guards, took his seat, Sir, on +your chair, and saw your predecessor kneeling on the floor before +him. The Constitution of England, thank God, is not one of those +constitutions which are past all repair, and which must, for the public +welfare, be utterly destroyed. It has a decayed part; but it has also +a sound and precious part. It requires purification; but it contains +within itself the means by which that purification may be effected. +We read that in old times, when the villeins were driven to revolt by +oppression, when the castles of the nobility were burned to the ground, +when the warehouses of London were pillaged, when a hundred thousand +insurgents appeared in arms on Blackheath, when a foul murder +perpetrated in their presence had raised their passions to madness, when +they were looking round for some captain to succeed and avenge him whom +they had lost, just then, before Hob Miller, or Tom Carter, or Jack +Straw, could place himself at their head, the King rode up to them and +exclaimed, "I will be your leader!" and at once the infuriated multitude +laid down their arms, submitted to his guidance, dispersed at his +command. Herein let us imitate him. Our countrymen are, I fear, at +this moment, but too much disposed to lend a credulous ear to selfish +impostors. Let us say to them, "We are your leaders; we, your own house +of Commons; we, the constitutional interpreters of your wishes; the +knights of forty English shires, the citizens and burgesses of all your +largest towns. Our lawful power shall be firmly exerted to the utmost +in your cause; and our lawful power is such, that when firmly exerted in +your cause, it must finally prevail." This tone it is our interest and +our duty to take. The circumstances admit of no delay. Is there one +among us who is not looking with breathless anxiety for the next tidings +which may arrive from the remote parts of the kingdom? Even while I +speak, the moments are passing away, the irrevocable moments pregnant +with the destiny of a great people. The country is in danger: it may be +saved: we can save it: this is the way: this is the time. In our hands +are the issues of great good and great evil, the issues of the life and +death of the State. May the result of our deliberations be the repose +and prosperity of that noble country which is entitled to all our love; +and for the safety of which we are answerable to our own consciences, to +the memory of future ages, to the Judge of all hearts! + +***** + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (DECEMBER 16, 1831) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE +HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 16TH OF DECEMBER 1831. + +On Friday, the sixteenth of December 1831, Lord Althorpe moved the +second reading of the Bill to amend the representation of the people in +England and Wales. Lord Porchester moved, as an amendment, that the bill +should be read a second time that day six months. The debate lasted till +after midnight, and was then adjourned till twelve at noon. The House +did not divide till one on the Sunday morning. The amendment was then +rejected by 324 votes to 162; and the original motion was carried. The +following Speech was made on the first night of the debate. + +I can assure my noble friend (Lord Mahon.), for whom I entertain +sentiments of respect and kindness which no political difference will, +I trust, ever disturb, that his remarks have given me no pain, except, +indeed, the pain which I feel at being compelled to say a few words +about myself. Those words shall be very few. I know how unpopular +egotism is in this House. My noble friend says that, in the debates of +last March, I declared myself opposed to the ballot, and that I have +since recanted, for the purpose of making myself popular with the +inhabitants of Leeds. My noble friend is altogether mistaken. I never +said, in any debate, that I was opposed to the ballot. The word ballot +never passed my lips within this House. I observed strict silence +respecting it on two accounts; in the first place, because my own +opinions were, till very lately, undecided; in the second place, because +I knew that the agitation of that question, a question of which the +importance appears to me to be greatly overrated, would divide those on +whose firm and cordial union the safety of the empire depends. My noble +friend has taken this opportunity of replying to a speech which I made +last October. The doctrines which I then laid down were, according to +him, most intemperate and dangerous. Now, Sir, it happens, curiously +enough, that my noble friend has himself asserted, in his speech of this +night, those very doctrines, in language so nearly resembling mine that +I might fairly accuse him of plagiarism. I said that laws have no force +in themselves, and that, unless supported by public opinion, they are +a mere dead letter. The noble Lord has said exactly the same thing +to-night. "Keep your old Constitution," he exclaims; "for, whatever may +be its defects in theory, it has more of the public veneration than your +new Constitution will have; and no laws can be efficient, unless they +have the public veneration." I said, that statutes are in themselves +only wax and parchment; and I was called an incendiary by the +opposition. The noble Lord has said to-night that statutes in themselves +are only ink and parchment; and those very persons who reviled me have +enthusiastically cheered him. I am quite at a loss to understand how +doctrines which are, in his mouth, true and constitutional, can, in +mine, be false and revolutionary. + +But, Sir, it is time that I should address myself to the momentous +question before us. I shall certainly give my best support to this bill, +through all its stages; and, in so doing, I conceive that I shall act in +strict conformity with the resolution by which this House, towards +the close of the late Session, declared its unabated attachment to the +principles and to the leading provisions of the First Reform Bill. All +those principles, all those leading provisions, I find in the +present measure. In the details there are, undoubtedly, considerable +alterations. Most of the alterations appear to me to be improvements; +and even those alterations which I cannot consider as in themselves +improvements will yet be most useful, if their effect shall be to +conciliate opponents, and to facilitate the adjustment of a question +which, for the sake of order, for the sake of peace, for the sake of +trade, ought to be, not only satisfactorily, but speedily settled. We +have been told, Sir, that, if we pronounce this bill to be a better bill +than the last, we recant all the doctrines which we maintained during +the last Session, we sing our palinode; we allow that we have had a +great escape; we allow that our own conduct was deserving of censure; +we allow that the party which was the minority in this House, and, most +unhappily for the country, the majority in the other House, has saved +the country from a great calamity. Sir, even if this charge were well +founded, there are those who should have been prevented by prudence, if +not by magnanimity, from bringing it forward. I remember an Opposition +which took a very different course. I remember an Opposition which, +while excluded from power, taught all its doctrines to the Government; +which, after labouring long, and sacrificing much, in order to effect +improvements in various parts of our political and commercial system, +saw the honour of those improvements appropriated by others. But the +members of that Opposition had, I believe, a sincere desire to promote +the public good. They, therefore, raised no shout of triumph over the +recantations of their proselytes. They rejoiced, but with no ungenerous +joy, when their principles of trade, of jurisprudence, of foreign +policy, of religious liberty, became the principles of the +Administration. They were content that he who came into fellowship with +them at the eleventh hour should have a far larger share of the reward +than those who had borne the burthen and heat of the day. In the year +1828, a single division in this House changed the whole policy of the +Government with respect to the Test and Corporation Acts. My noble +friend, the Paymaster of the Forces, then sat where the right honourable +Baronet, the member for Tamworth, now sits. I do not remember that, when +the right honourable Baronet announced his change of purpose, my noble +friend sprang up to talk about palinodes, to magnify the wisdom and +virtue of the Whigs, and to sneer at his new coadjutors. Indeed, I am +not sure that the members of the late Opposition did not carry their +indulgence too far; that they did not too easily suffer the fame of +Grattan and Romilly to be transferred to less deserving claimants; that +they were not too ready, in the joy with which they welcomed the tardy +and convenient repentance of their converts, to grant a general amnesty +for the errors of the insincerity of years. If it were true that we had +recanted, this ought not to be made matter of charge against us by men +whom posterity will remember by nothing but recantations. But, in truth, +we recant nothing. We have nothing to recant. We support this bill. We +may possibly think it a better bill than that which preceded it. But +are we therefore bound to admit that we were in the wrong, that the +Opposition was in the right, that the House of Lords has conferred a +great benefit on the nation? We saw--who did not see?--great defects +in the first bill. But did we see nothing else? Is delay no evil? Is +prolonged excitement no evil? Is it no evil that the heart of a great +people should be made sick by deferred hope? We allow that many of the +changes which have been made are improvements. But we think that it +would have been far better for the country to have had the last bill, +with all its defects, than the present bill, with all its improvements. +Second thoughts are proverbially the best, but there are emergencies +which do not admit of second thoughts. There probably never was a law +which might not have been amended by delay. But there have been many +cases in which there would have been more mischief in the delay than +benefit in the amendments. The first bill, however inferior it may have +been in its details to the present bill, was yet herein far superior to +the present bill, than it was the first. If the first bill had passed, +it would, I firmly believe, have produced a complete reconciliation +between the aristocracy and the people. It is my earnest wish and prayer +that the present bill may produce this blessed effect; but I cannot say +that my hopes are so sanguine as they were at the beginning of the last +Session. The decision of the House of Lords has, I fear, excited in the +public mind feelings of resentment which will not soon be allayed. What +then, it is said, would you legislate in haste? Would you legislate in +times of great excitement concerning matters of such deep concern? Yes, +Sir, I would: and if any bad consequences should follow from the haste +and the excitement, let those be held answerable who, when there was no +need of haste, when there existed no excitement, refused to listen to +any project of Reform, nay, who made it an argument against Reform, that +the public mind was not excited. When few meetings were held, when few +petitions were sent up to us, these politicians said, "Would you alter +a Constitution with which the people are perfectly satisfied?" And now, +when the kingdom from one end to the other is convulsed by the question +of Reform, we hear it said by the very same persons, "Would you alter +the Representative system in such agitated times as these?" Half the +logic of misgovernment lies in this one sophistical dilemma: If the +people are turbulent, they are unfit for liberty: if they are quiet, +they do not want liberty. + +I allow that hasty legislation is an evil. I allow that there are great +objections to legislating in troubled times. But reformers are compelled +to legislate fast, because bigots will not legislate early. Reformers +are compelled to legislate in times of excitement, because bigots will +not legislate in times of tranquillity. If, ten years ago, nay, if only +two years ago, there had been at the head of affairs men who understood +the signs of the times and the temper of the nation, we should not have +been forced to hurry now. If we cannot take our time, it is because we +have to make up for their lost time. If they had reformed gradually, +we might have reformed gradually; but we are compelled to move fast, +because they would not move at all. + +Though I admit, Sir, that this bill is in its details superior to the +former bill, I must say that the best parts of this bill, those parts +for the sake of which principally I support it, those parts for the sake +of which I would support it, however imperfect its details might be, +are parts which it has in common with the former bill. It destroys +nomination; it admits the great body of the middle orders to a share in +the government; and it contains provisions which will, as I conceive, +greatly diminish the expense of elections. + +Touching the expense of elections I will say a few words, because that +part of the subject has not, I think, received so much attention as it +deserves. Whenever the nomination boroughs are attacked, the opponents +of Reform produce a long list of eminent men who have sate for those +boroughs, and who, they tell us, would never have taken any part in +public affairs but for those boroughs. Now, Sir, I suppose no person +will maintain that a large constituent body is likely to prefer ignorant +and incapable men to men of information and ability? Whatever objections +there may be to democratic institutions, it was never, I believe, +doubted that those institutions are favourable to the development of +talents. We may prefer the constitution of Sparta to that of Athens, or +the constitution of Venice to that of Florence: but no person will +deny that Athens produced more great men than Sparta, or that Florence +produced more great men than Venice. But to come nearer home: the five +largest English towns which have now the right of returning two members +each by popular election, are Westminster, Southwark, Liverpool, +Bristol, and Norwich. Now let us see what members those places have sent +to Parliament. I will not speak of the living, though among the living +are some of the most distinguished ornaments of the House. I will +confine myself to the dead. Among many respectable and useful members +of Parliament, whom these towns have returned, during the last half +century, I find Mr Burke, Mr Fox, Mr Sheridan, Mr Windham, Mr Tierney, +Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr Canning, Mr Huskisson. These were eight of +the most illustrious parliamentary leaders of the generation which +is passing away from the world. Mr Pitt was, perhaps, the only +person worthy to make a ninth with them. It is, surely, a remarkable +circumstance that, of the nine most distinguished Members of the House +of Commons who have died within the last forty years, eight should have +been returned to Parliament by the five largest represented towns. I am, +therefore, warranted in saying that great constituent bodies are quite +as competent to discern merit, and quite as much disposed to reward +merit, as the proprietors of boroughs. It is true that some of the +distinguished statesmen whom I have mentioned would never have been +known to large constituent bodies if they had not first sate for +nomination boroughs. But why is this? Simply, because the expense of +contesting popular places, under the present system, is ruinously +great. A poor man cannot defray it; an untried man cannot expect his +constituents to defray it for him. And this is the way in which our +Representative system is defended. Corruption vouches corruption. Every +abuse is made the plea for another abuse. We must have nomination at +Gatton because we have profusion at Liverpool. Sir, these arguments +convince me, not that no Reform is required, but that a very deep and +searching Reform is required. If two evils serve in some respects to +counterbalance each other, this is a reason, not for keeping both, but +for getting rid of both together. At present you close against men of +talents that broad, that noble entrance which belongs to them, and which +ought to stand wide open to them; and in exchange you open to them a bye +entrance, low and narrow, always obscure, often filthy, through which, +too often, they can pass only by crawling on their hands and knees, and +from which they too often emerge sullied with stains never to be washed +away. But take the most favourable case. Suppose that the member who +sits for a nomination borough owes his seat to a man of virtue and +honour, to a man whose service is perfect freedom, to a man who would +think himself degraded by any proof of gratitude which might degrade +his nominee. Yet is it nothing that such a member comes into this House +wearing the badge, though not feeling the chain of servitude? Is it +nothing that he cannot speak of his independence without exciting a +smile? Is it nothing that he is considered, not as a Representative, but +as an adventurer? This is what your system does for men of genius. It +admits them to political power, not as, under better institutions, they +would be admitted to power, erect, independent, unsullied; but by +means which corrupt the virtue of many, and in some degree diminish the +authority of all. Could any system be devised, better fitted to pervert +the principles and break the spirit of men formed to be the glory of +their country? And, can we mention no instance in which this system has +made such men useless, or worse than useless, to the country of which +their talents were the ornament, and might, in happier circumstances, +have been the salvation? Ariel, the beautiful and kindly Ariel, doing +the bidding of the loathsome and malignant Sycorax, is but a faint +type of genius enslaved by the spells, and employed in the drudgery of +corruption-- + + "A spirit too delicate + To act those earthy and abhorred commands." + +We cannot do a greater service to men of real merit than by destroying +that which has been called their refuge, which is their house of +bondage; by taking from them the patronage of the great, and giving to +them in its stead the respect and confidence of the people. The bill now +before us will, I believe, produce that happy effect. It facilitates the +canvass; it reduces the expense of legal agency; it shortens the poll; +above all, it disfranchises the outvoters. It is not easy to calculate +the precise extent to which these changes will diminish the cost of +elections. I have attempted, however, to obtain some information on this +subject. I have applied to a gentleman of great experience in affairs of +this kind, a gentleman who, at the last three general elections, managed +the finances of the popular party in one of the largest boroughs in the +kingdom. He tells me, that at the general election of 1826, when that +borough was contested, the expenses of the popular candidate amounted to +eighteen thousand pounds; and that, by the best estimate which can now +be made, the borough may, under the reformed system, be as effectually +contested for one tenth part of that sum. In the new constituent bodies +there are no ancient rights reserved. In those bodies, therefore, the +expense of an election will be still smaller. I firmly believe, that it +will be possible to poll out Manchester for less than the market price +of Old Sarum. + +Sir, I have, from the beginning of these discussions, supported Reform +on two grounds; first, because I believe it to be in itself a good +thing; and secondly, because I think the dangers of withholding it so +great that, even if it were an evil, it would be the less of two evils. +The dangers of the country have in no wise diminished. I believe that +they have greatly increased. It is, I fear, impossible to deny that +what has happened with respect to almost every great question that +ever divided mankind has happened also with respect to the Reform Bill. +Wherever great interests are at stake there will be much excitement; and +wherever there is much excitement there will be some extravagance. The +same great stirring of the human mind which produced the Reformation +produced also the follies and crimes of the Anabaptists. The same spirit +which resisted the Ship-money, and abolished the Star Chamber, produced +the Levellers and the Fifth Monarchy men. And so, it cannot be denied +that bad men, availing themselves of the agitation produced by the +question of Reform, have promulgated, and promulgated with some success, +doctrines incompatible with the existence, I do not say of monarchy, or +of aristocracy, but of all law, of all order, of all property, of all +civilisation, of all that makes us to differ from Mohawks or Hottentots. +I bring no accusation against that portion of the working classes which +has been imposed upon by these doctrines. Those persons are what their +situation has made them, ignorant from want of leisure, irritable +from the sense of distress. That they should be deluded by impudent +assertions and gross sophisms; that, suffering cruel privations, they +should give ready credence to promises of relief; that, never having +investigated the nature and operation of government, they should expect +impossibilities from it, and should reproach it for not performing +impossibilities; all this is perfectly natural. No errors which they may +commit ought ever to make us forget that it is in all probability owing +solely to the accident of our situation that we have not fallen into +errors precisely similar. There are few of us who do not know from +experience that, even with all our advantages of education, pain and +sorrow can make us very querulous and very unreasonable. We ought not, +therefore, to be surprised that, as the Scotch proverb says, "it should +be ill talking between a full man and a fasting;" that the logic of +the rich man who vindicates the rights of property, should seem very +inconclusive to the poor man who hears his children cry for bread. +I bring, I say, no accusation against the working classes. I would +withhold from them nothing which it might be for their good to possess. +I see with pleasure that, by the provisions of the Reform Bill, the most +industrious and respectable of our labourers will be admitted to a share +in the government of the State. If I would refuse to the working people +that larger share of power which some of them have demanded, I would +refuse it, because I am convinced that, by giving it, I should only +increase their distress. I admit that the end of government is their +happiness. But, that they may be governed for their happiness, they must +not be governed according to the doctrines which they have learned from +their illiterate, incapable, low-minded flatterers. + +But, Sir, the fact that such doctrines have been promulgated among the +multitude is a strong argument for a speedy and effectual reform. +That government is attacked is a reason for making the foundations +of government broader, and deeper, and more solid. That property is +attacked is a reason for binding together all proprietors in the +firmest union. That the agitation of the question of Reform has enabled +worthless demagogues to propagate their notions with some success is a +reason for speedily settling the question in the only way in which it +can be settled. It is difficult, Sir, to conceive any spectacle more +alarming than that which presents itself to us, when we look at the two +extreme parties in this country; a narrow oligarchy above; an infuriated +multitude below; on the one side the vices engendered by power; on the +other side the vices engendered by distress; one party blindly averse +to improvement; the other party blindly clamouring for destruction; one +party ascribing to political abuses the sanctity of property; the other +party crying out against property as a political abuse. Both these +parties are alike ignorant of their true interest. God forbid that the +state should ever be at the mercy of either, or should ever experience +the calamities which must result from a collision between them! I +anticipate no such horrible event. For, between those two parties +stands a third party, infinitely more powerful than both the others put +together, attacked by both, vilified by both, but destined, I trust, +to save both from the fatal effects of their own folly. To that party +I have never ceased, through all the vicissitudes of public affairs, to +look with confidence and with good a hope. I speak of that great party +which zealously and steadily supported the first Reform Bill, and +which will, I have no doubt, support the second Reform Bill with equal +steadiness and equal zeal. That party is the middle class of England, +with the flower of the aristocracy at its head, and the flower of the +working classes bringing up its rear. That great party has taken its +immovable stand between the enemies of all order and the enemies of +all liberty. It will have Reform: it will not have revolution: it will +destroy political abuses: it will not suffer the rights of property to +be assailed: it will preserve, in spite of themselves, those who are +assailing it, from the right and from the left, with contradictory +accusations: it will be a daysman between them: it will lay its hand +upon them both: it will not suffer them to tear each other in pieces. +While that great party continues unbroken, as it now is unbroken, I +shall not relinquish the hope that this great contest may be conducted, +by lawful means, to a happy termination. But, of this I am assured, that +by means, lawful or unlawful, to a termination, happy or unhappy, this +contest must speedily come. All that I know of the history of past +times, all the observations that I have been able to make on the present +state of the country, have convinced me that the time has arrived when +a great concession must be made to the democracy of England; that the +question, whether the change be in itself good or bad, has become a +question of secondary importance; that, good or bad, the thing must +be done; that a law as strong as the laws of attraction and motion has +decreed it. + +I well know that history, when we look at it in small portions, may be +so construed as to mean anything, that it may be interpreted in as many +ways as a Delphic oracle. "The French Revolution," says one expositor, +"was the effect of concession." "Not so," cries another: "The French +Revolution was produced by the obstinacy of an arbitrary government." +"If the French nobles," says the first, "had refused to sit with the +Third Estate, they would never have been driven from their country." +"They would never have been driven from their country," answers the +other, "if they had agreed to the reforms proposed by M. Turgot." These +controversies can never be brought to any decisive test, or to any +satisfactory conclusion. But, as I believe that history, when we look at +it in small fragments, proves anything, or nothing, so I believe that +it is full of useful and precious instruction when we contemplate it +in large portions, when we take in, at one view, the whole lifetime of +great societies. I believe that it is possible to obtain some insight +into the law which regulates the growth of communities, and some +knowledge of the effects which that growth produces. They history of +England, in particular, is the history of a government constantly +giving way, sometimes peaceably, sometimes after a violent struggle, +but constantly giving way before a nation which has been constantly +advancing. The forest laws, the laws of villenage, the oppressive power +of the Roman Catholic Church, the power, scarcely less oppressive, +which, during some time after the Reformation, was exercised by the +Protestant Establishment, the prerogatives of the Crown, the censorship +of the Press, successively yielded. The abuses of the representative +system are now yielding to the same irresistible force. It was +impossible for the Stuarts, and it would have been impossible for them +if they had possessed all the energy of Richelieu, and all the craft of +Mazarin, to govern England as England had been governed by the Tudors. +It was impossible for the princes of the House of Hanover to govern +England as England had been governed by the Stuarts. And so it is +impossible that England should be any longer governed as it was governed +under the four first princes of the House of Hanover. I say impossible. +I believe that over the great changes of the moral world we possess as +little power as over the great changes of the physical world. We can +no more prevent time from changing the distribution of property and +of intelligence, we can no more prevent property and intelligence from +aspiring to political power, than we can change the courses of the +seasons and of the tides. In peace or in tumult, by means of old +institutions, where those institutions are flexible, over the ruins +of old institutions, where those institutions oppose an unbending +resistance, the great march of society proceeds, and must proceed. The +feeble efforts of individuals to bear back are lost and swept away in +the mighty rush with which the species goes onward. Those who appear to +lead the movement are, in fact, only whirled along before it; those who +attempt to resist it, are beaten down and crushed beneath it. + +It is because rulers do not pay sufficient attention to the stages of +this great movement, because they underrate its force, because they are +ignorant of its law, that so many violent and fearful revolutions have +changed the face of society. We have heard it said a hundred times +during these discussions, we have heard it said repeatedly in the course +of this very debate, that the people of England are more free than ever +they were, that the Government is more democratic than ever it was; and +this is urged as an argument against Reform. I admit the fact; but +I deny the inference. It is a principle never to be forgotten, in +discussions like this, that it is not by absolute, but by relative +misgovernment that nations are roused to madness. It is not sufficient +to look merely at the form of government. We must look also to the state +of the public mind. The worst tyrant that ever had his neck wrung in +modern Europe might have passed for a paragon of clemency in Persia or +Morocco. Our Indian subjects submit patiently to a monopoly of salt. We +tried a stamp duty, a duty so light as to be scarcely perceptible, +on the fierce breed of the old Puritans; and we lost an empire. The +Government of Louis the Sixteenth was certainly a much better and milder +Government than that of Louis the Fourteenth; yet Louis the Fourteenth +was admired, and even loved, by his people. Louis the Sixteenth died on +the scaffold. Why? Because, though the Government had made many steps in +the career of improvement, it had not advanced so rapidly as the nation. +Look at our own history. The liberties of the people were at least as +much respected by Charles the First as by Henry the Eighth, by James the +Second as by Edward the Sixth. But did this save the crown of James the +Second? Did this save the head of Charles the First? Every person +who knows the history of our civil dissensions knows that all those +arguments which are now employed by the opponents of the Reform Bill +might have been employed, and were actually employed, by the unfortunate +Stuarts. The reasoning of Charles, and of all his apologists, runs +thus:--"What new grievance does the nation suffer? What has the King +done more than what Henry did? more than what Elizabeth did? Did the +people ever enjoy more freedom than at present? Did they ever enjoy so +much freedom?" But what would a wise and honest counsellor, if Charles +had been so happy as to possess such a counsellor, have replied to +arguments like these? He would have said, "Sir, I acknowledge that the +people were never more free than under your government. I acknowledge +that those who talk of restoring the old Constitution of England use +an improper expression. I acknowledge that there has been a constant +improvement during those very years during which many persons imagine +that there has been a constant deterioration. But, though there has been +no change in the government for the worse, there has been a change in +the public mind which produces exactly the same effect which would +be produced by a change in the government for the worse. Perhaps this +change in the public mind is to be regretted. But no matter; you cannot +reverse it. You cannot undo all that eighty eventful years have done. +You cannot transform the Englishmen of 1640 into the Englishmen of 1560. +It may be that the simple loyalty of our fathers was preferable to that +inquiring, censuring, resisting spirit which is now abroad. It may be +that the times when men paid their benevolences cheerfully were better +times than these, when a gentleman goes before the Exchequer Chamber to +resist an assessment of twenty shillings. And so it may be that infancy +is a happier time than manhood, and manhood than old age. But God has +decreed that old age shall succeed to manhood, and manhood to infancy. +Even so have societies their law of growth. As their strength becomes +greater, as their experience becomes more extensive, you can no longer +confine them within the swaddling bands, or lull them in the cradles, or +amuse them with the rattles, or terrify them with the bugbears of their +infancy. I do not say that they are better or happier than they were; +but this I say, that they are different from what they were, that you +cannot again make them what they were, and that you cannot safely treat +them as if they continued to be what they were." This was the advice +which a wise and honest Minister would have given to Charles the First. +These were the principles on which that unhappy prince should have +acted. But no. He would govern, I do not say ill, I do not say +tyrannically; I only say this; he would govern the men of the +seventeenth century as if they had been the men of the sixteenth +century; and therefore it was, that all his talents and all his virtues +did not save him from unpopularity, from civil war, from a prison, from +a bar, from a scaffold. These things are written for our instruction. +Another great intellectual revolution has taken place; our lot has +been cast on a time analogous, in many respects, to the time which +immediately preceded the meeting of the Long Parliament. There is +a change in society. There must be a corresponding change in the +government. We are not, we cannot, in the nature of things, be, what our +fathers were. We are no more like the men of the American war, or the +men of the gagging bills, than the men who cried "privilege" round the +coach of Charles the First were like the men who changed their religion +once a year at the bidding of Henry the Eighth. That there is such a +change, I can no more doubt than I can doubt that we have more power +looms, more steam engines, more gas lights, than our ancestors. That +there is such a change, the Minister will surely find who shall attempt +to fit the yoke of Mr Pitt to the necks of the Englishmen of the +nineteenth century. What then can you do to bring back those times +when the constitution of this House was an object of veneration to the +people? Even as much as Strafford and Laud could do to bring back the +days of the Tudors; as much as Bonner and Gardiner could do to bring +back the days of Hildebrand; as much as Villele and Polignac could do +to bring back the days of Louis the Fourteenth. You may make the change +tedious; you may make it violent; you may--God in his mercy forbid!--you +may make it bloody; but avert it you cannot. Agitations of the public +mind, so deep and so long continued as those which we have witnessed, do +not end in nothing. In peace or in convulsion, by the law, or in spite +of the law, through the Parliament, or over the Parliament, Reform must +be carried. Therefore be content to guide that movement which you cannot +stop. Fling wide the gates to that force which else will enter through +the breach. Then will it still be, as it has hitherto been, the peculiar +glory of our Constitution that, though not exempt from the decay which +is wrought by the vicissitudes of fortune, and the lapse of time, in all +the proudest works of human power and wisdom, it yet contains within +it the means of self-reparation. Then will England add to her manifold +titles of glory this, the noblest and the purest of all; that every +blessing which other nations have been forced to seek, and have too +often sought in vain, by means of violent and bloody revolutions, she +will have attained by a peaceful and a lawful Reform. + +***** + + + + +ANATOMY BILL. (FEBRUARY 27, 1832) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY, 1832. + +On Monday, the twenty-seventh of February, 1832, the House took into +consideration the report of the Committee on Mr Warburton's Anatomy +Bill. Mr Henry Hunt attacked that bill with great asperity. In reply to +him the following Speech was made. + +Sir, I cannot, even at this late hour of the night, refrain from saying +two or three words. Most of the observations of the honourable Member +for Preston I pass by, as undeserving of any answer before an audience +like this. But on one part of his speech I must make a few remarks. We +are, he says, making a law to benefit the rich, at the expense of the +poor. Sir, the fact is the direct reverse. This is a bill which tends +especially to the benefit of the poor. What are the evils against which +we are attempting to make provision? Two especially; that is to say, the +practice of Burking, and bad surgery. Now to both these the poor alone +are exposed. What man, in our rank of life, runs the smallest risk of +being Burked? That a man has property, that he has connections, that he +is likely to be missed and sought for, are circumstances which secure +him against the Burker. It is curious to observe the difference between +murders of this kind and other murders. An ordinary murder hides the +body, and disposes of the property. Bishop and Williams dig holes and +bury the property, and expose the body to sale. The more wretched, the +more lonely, any human being may be, the more desirable prey is he to +these wretches. It is the man, the mere naked man, that they pursue. +Again, as to bad surgery; this is, of all evils, the evil by which the +rich suffer least, and the poor most. If we could do all that in the +opinion of the Member for Preston ought to be done, if we could destroy +the English school of anatomy, if we could force every student of +medical science to go to the expense of a foreign education, on whom +would the bad consequences fall? On the rich? Not at all. As long as +there is in France, in Italy, in Germany, a single surgeon of eminent +skill, a single surgeon who is, to use the phrase of the member for +Preston, addicted to dissection, that surgeon will be in attendance +whenever an English nobleman is to be cut for the stone. The higher +orders in England will always be able to procure the best medical +assistance. Who suffers by the bad state of the Russian school of +surgery? The Emperor Nicholas? By no means. The whole evil falls on the +peasantry. If the education of a surgeon should become very extensive, +if the fees of surgeons should consequently rise, if the supply of +regular surgeons should diminish, the sufferers would be, not the +rich, but the poor in our country villages, who would again be left to +mountebanks, and barbers, and old women, and charms and quack medicines. +The honourable gentleman talks of sacrificing the interests of humanity +to the interests of science, as if this were a question about the +squaring of the circle, or the transit of Venus. This is not a mere +question of science: it is not the unprofitable exercise of an ingenious +mind: it is a question between health and sickness, between ease and +torment, between life and death. Does the honourable gentleman know from +what cruel sufferings the improvement of surgical science has rescued +our species? I will tell him one story, the first that comes into +my head. He may have heard of Leopold, Duke of Austria, the same who +imprisoned our Richard Coeur-de-Lion. Leopold's horse fell under him, +and crushed his leg. The surgeons said that the limb must be amputated; +but none of them knew how to amputate it. Leopold, in his agony, laid a +hatchet on his thigh, and ordered his servant to strike with a mallet. +The leg was cut off, and the Duke died of the gush of blood. Such was +the end of that powerful prince. Why, there is not now a bricklayer who +falls from a ladder in England, who cannot obtain surgical assistance, +infinitely superior to that which the sovereign of Austria could command +in the twelfth century. I think this a bill which tends to the good +of the people, and which tends especially to the good of the poor. +Therefore I support it. If it is unpopular, I am sorry for it. But +I shall cheerfully take my share of its unpopularity. For such, I am +convinced, ought to be the conduct of one whose object it is, not to +flatter the people, but to serve them. + +***** + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (FEBRUARY 28, 1832) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A +COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 28TH OF FEBRUARY, 1832. + +On Tuesday, the twenty-eighth of February, 1832, in the Committee on the +Bill to amend the representation of the people in England and Wales, +the question was put, "That the Tower Hamlets, Middlesex, stand part of +Schedule C." The opponents of the Bill mustered their whole strength on +this occasion, and were joined by some members who had voted with the +Government on the second reading. The question was carried, however, by +316 votes to 236. The following Speech was made in reply to the Marquess +of Chandos and Sir Edward Sugden, who, on very different grounds, +objected to any increase in the number of metropolitan members. + +Mr Bernal,--I have spoken so often on the question of Parliamentary +Reform, that I am very unwilling to occupy the time of the Committee. +But the importance of the amendment proposed by the noble Marquess, and +the peculiar circumstances in which we are placed to-night, make me so +anxious that I cannot remain silent. + +In this debate, as in every other debate, our first object should be to +ascertain on which side the burden of the proof lies. Now, it seems to +me quite clear that the burden of the proof lies on those who support +the amendment. I am entitled to take it for granted that it is right and +wise to give representatives to some wealthy and populous places which +have hitherto been unrepresented. To this extent, at least, we all, +with scarcely an exception, now profess ourselves Reformers. There is, +indeed, a great party which still objects to the disfranchising even +of the smallest boroughs. But all the most distinguished chiefs of that +party have, here and elsewhere, admitted that the elective franchise +ought to be given to some great towns which have risen into importance +since our representative system took its present form. If this be so, on +what ground can it be contended that these metropolitan districts ought +not to be represented? Are they inferior in importance to the other +places to which we are all prepared to give members? I use the word +importance with perfect confidence: for, though in our recent debates +there has been some dispute as to the standard by which the importance +of towns is to be measured, there is no room for dispute here. +Here, take what standard you will, the result will be the same. Take +population: take the rental: take the number of ten pound houses: take +the amount of the assessed taxes: take any test in short: take any +number of tests, and combine those tests in any of the ingenious ways +which men of science have suggested: multiply: divide: subtract: add: +try squares or cubes: try square roots or cube roots: you will never be +able to find a pretext for excluding these districts from Schedule C. +If, then, it be acknowledged that the franchise ought to be given +to important places which are at present unrepresented, and if it be +acknowledged that these districts are in importance not inferior to any +place which is at present unrepresented, you are bound to give us strong +reasons for withholding the franchise from these districts. + +The honourable and learned gentleman (Sir E. Sugden.) has tried to give +such reasons; and, in doing so, he has completely refuted the whole +speech of the noble Marquess, with whom he means to divide. (The +Marquess of Chandos.) The truth is that the noble Marquess and the +honourable and learned gentleman, though they agree in their votes, do +not at all agree in their forebodings or in their ulterior intentions. +The honourable and learned gentleman thinks it dangerous to increase the +number of metropolitan voters. The noble Lord is perfectly willing to +increase the number of metropolitan voters, and objects only to any +increase in the number of metropolitan members. "Will you," says the +honourable and learned gentleman, "be so rash, so insane, as to create +constituent bodies of twenty or thirty thousand electors?" "Yes," says +the noble Marquess, "and much more than that. I will create constituent +bodies of forty thousand, sixty thousand, a hundred thousand. I will add +Marylebone to Westminster. I will add Lambeth to Southwark. I will add +Finsbury and the Tower Hamlets to the City." The noble Marquess, it +is clear, is not afraid of the excitement which may be produced by the +polling of immense multitudes. Of what then is he afraid? Simply of +eight members: nay, of six members: for he is willing, he tells us, to +add two members to the two who already sit for Middlesex, and who may +be considered as metropolitan members. Are six members, then, so +formidable? I could mention a single peer who now sends more than six +members to the House. But, says the noble Marquess, the members for +the metropolitan districts will be called to a strict account by their +constituents: they will be mere delegates: they will be forced to speak, +not their own sense, but the sense of the capital. I will answer for +it, Sir, that they will not be called to a stricter account than those +gentlemen who are nominated by some great proprietors of boroughs. Is +it not notorious that those who represent it as in the highest degree +pernicious and degrading that a public man should be called to account +by a great city which has intrusted its dearest interests to his care, +do nevertheless think that he is bound by the most sacred ties of +honour to vote according to the wishes of his patron or to apply for the +Chiltern Hundreds? It is a bad thing, I fully admit, that a Member of +Parliament should be a mere delegate. But it is not worse that he should +be the delegate of a hundred thousand people than of one too powerful +individual. What a perverse, what an inconsistent spirit is this; too +proud to bend to the wishes of a nation, yet ready to lick the dust at +the feet of a patron! And how is it proved that a member for Lambeth +or Finsbury will be under a more servile awe of his constituents than +a member for Leicester, or a member for Leicestershire, or a member +for the University of Oxford? Is it not perfectly notorious that many +members voted, year after year, against Catholic Emancipation, simply +because they knew that, if they voted otherwise, they would lose their +seats? No doubt this is an evil. But it is an evil which will exist in +some form or other as long as human nature is the same, as long as +there are men so low-minded as to prefer the gratification of a vulgar +ambition to the approbation of their conscience and the welfare of their +country. Construct your representative system as you will, these men +will always be sycophants. If you give power to Marylebone, they will +fawn on the householders of Marylebone. If you leave power to Gatton, +they will fawn on the proprietor of Gatton. I can see no reason for +believing that their baseness will be more mischievous in the former +case than in the latter. + +But, it is said, the power of this huge capital is even now dangerously +great; and will you increase that power? Now, Sir, I am far from denying +that the power of London is, in some sense, dangerously great; but I +altogether deny that the danger will be increased by this bill. It has +always been found that a hundred thousand people congregated close to +the seat of government exercise a greater influence on public affairs +than five hundred thousand dispersed over a remote province. But this +influence is not proportioned to the number of representatives chosen by +the capital. This influence is felt at present, though the greater part +of the capital is unrepresented. This influence is felt in countries +where there is no representative system at all. Indeed, this influence +is nowhere so great as under despotic governments. I need not remind the +Committee that the Caesars, while ruling by the sword, while putting +to death without a trial every senator, every magistrate, who incurred +their displeasure, yet found it necessary to keep the populace of the +imperial city in good humour by distributions of corn and shows of wild +beasts. Every country, from Britain to Egypt, was squeezed for the means +of filling the granaries and adorning the theatres of Rome. On more than +one occasion, long after the Cortes of Castile had become a mere name, +the rabble of Madrid assembled before the royal palace, forced their +King, their absolute King, to appear in the balcony, and exacted from +him a promise that he would dismiss an obnoxious minister. It was in +this way that Charles the Second was forced to part with Oropesa, and +that Charles the Third was forced to part with Squillaci. If there is +any country in the world where pure despotism exists, that country is +Turkey; and yet there is no country in the world where the inhabitants +of the capital are so much dreaded by the government. The Sultan, who +stands in awe of nothing else, stands in awe of the turbulent populace, +which may, at any moment, besiege him in his Seraglio. As soon as +Constantinople is up, everything is conceded. The unpopular edict is +recalled. The unpopular vizier is beheaded. This sort of power has +nothing to do with representation. It depends on physical force and +on vicinity. You do not propose to take this sort of power away from +London. Indeed, you cannot take it away. Nothing can take it away but an +earthquake more terrible than that of Lisbon, or a fire more destructive +than that of 1666. Law can do nothing against this description of power; +for it is a power which is formidable only when law has ceased to exist. +While the reign of law continues, eight votes in a House of six hundred +and fifty-eight Members will hardly do much harm. When the reign of law +is at an end, and the reign of violence commences, the importance of a +million and a half of people, all collected within a walk of the Palace, +of the Parliament House, of the Bank, of the Courts of Justice, will not +be measured by eight or by eighty votes. See, then, what you are doing. +That power which is not dangerous you refuse to London. That power which +is dangerous you leave undiminished; nay, you make it more dangerous +still. For by refusing to let eight or nine hundred thousand people +express their opinions and wishes in a legal and constitutional way, you +increase the risk of disaffection and of tumult. It is not necessary to +have recourse to the speeches or writings of democrats to show that +a represented district is far more likely to be turbulent than an +unrepresented district. Mr Burke, surely not a rash innovator, not +a flatterer of the multitude, described long ago in this place +with admirable eloquence the effect produced by the law which gave +representative institutions to the rebellious mountaineers of Wales. +That law, he said, had been to an agitated nation what the twin stars +celebrated by Horace were to a stormy sea; the wind had fallen; the +clouds had dispersed; the threatening waves had sunk to rest. I have +mentioned the commotions of Madrid and Constantinople. Why is it that +the population of unrepresented London, though physically far more +powerful than the population of Madrid or of Constantinople, has been +far more peaceable? Why have we never seen the inhabitants of the +metropolis besiege St James's, or force their way riotously into this +House? Why, but because they have other means of giving vent to their +feelings, because they enjoy the liberty of unlicensed printing, and the +liberty of holding public meetings. Just as the people of unrepresented +London are more orderly than the people of Constantinople and Madrid, so +will the people of represented London be more orderly than the people of +unrepresented London. + +Surely, Sir, nothing can be more absurd than to withhold legal power +from a portion of the community because that portion of the community +possesses natural power. Yet that is precisely what the noble Marquess +would have us do. In all ages a chief cause of the intestine disorders +of states has been that the natural distribution of power and the legal +distribution of power have not corresponded with each other. This is +no newly discovered truth. It was well known to Aristotle more than two +thousand years ago. It is illustrated by every part of ancient and of +modern history, and eminently by the history of England during the last +few months. Our country has been in serious danger; and why? Because +a representative system, framed to suit the England of the thirteenth +century, did not suit the England of the nineteenth century; because an +old wall, the last relique of a departed city, retained the privileges +of that city, while great towns, celebrated all over the world for +wealth and intelligence, had no more share in the government than when +they were still hamlets. The object of this bill is to correct those +monstrous disproportions, and to bring the legal order of society into +something like harmony with the natural order. What, then, can be more +inconsistent with the fundamental principle of the bill than to exclude +any district from a share in the representation, for no reason but +because that district is, and must always be, one of great importance? +This bill was meant to reconcile and unite. Will you frame it in such a +manner that it must inevitably produce irritation and discord? This bill +was meant to be final in the only rational sense of the word final. Will +you frame it in such a way that it must inevitably be shortlived? Is it +to be the first business of the first reformed House of Commons to pass +a new Reform Bill? Gentlemen opposite have often predicted that the +settlement which we are making will not be permanent; and they are now +taking the surest way to accomplish their own prediction. I agree with +them in disliking change merely as change. I would bear with many +things which are indefensible in theory, nay, with some things which are +grievous in practice, rather than venture on a change in the composition +of Parliament. But when such a change is necessary,--and that such a +change is now necessary is admitted by men of all parties,--then I hold +that it ought to be full and effectual. A great crisis may be followed +by the complete restoration of health. But no constitution will bear +perpetual tampering. If the noble Marquess's amendment should unhappily +be carried, it is morally certain that the immense population of +Finsbury, of Marylebone, of Lambeth, of the Tower Hamlets, will, +importunately and clamorously, demand redress from the reformed +Parliament. That Parliament, you tell us, will be much more +democratically inclined than the Parliaments of past times. If so, how +can you expect that it will resist the urgent demands of a million of +people close to its door? These eight seats will be given. More than +eight seats will be given. The whole question of Reform will be opened +again; and the blame will rest on those who will, by mutilating this +great law in an essential part, cause hundreds of thousands who now +regard it as a boon to regard it as an outrage. + +Sir, our word is pledged. Let us remember the solemn promise which we +gave to the nation last October at a perilous conjuncture. That promise +was that we would stand firmly by the principles and leading provisions +of the Reform Bill. Our sincerity is now brought to the test. One of the +leading provisions of the bill is in danger. The question is, not merely +whether these districts shall be represented, but whether we will keep +the faith which we plighted to our countrymen. Let us be firm. Let us +make no concession to those who, having in vain tried to throw the bill +out, are now trying to fritter it away. An attempt has been made to +induce the Irish members to vote against the government. It has been +hinted that, perhaps, some of the seats taken from the metropolis may be +given to Ireland. Our Irish friends will, I doubt not, remember that +the very persons who offer this bribe exerted themselves not long ago +to raise a cry against the proposition to give additional members to +Belfast, Limerick, Waterford, and Galway. The truth is that our enemies +wish only to divide us, and care not by what means. One day they try +to excite jealousy among the English by asserting that the plan of the +government is too favourable to Ireland. Next day they try to bribe the +Irish to desert us, by promising to give something to Ireland at the +expense of England. Let us disappoint these cunning men. Let us, from +whatever part of the United Kingdom we come, be true to each other and +to the good cause. We have the confidence of our country. We have justly +earned it. For God's sake let us not throw it away. Other occasions may +arise on which honest Reformers may fairly take different sides. But +to-night he that is not with us is against us. + +***** + + + + +REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 6, 1833) A SPEECH DELIVERED +IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF FEBRUARY 1833. + +On the twenty-ninth of January 1833, the first Parliament elected under +the Reform Act of 1832 met at Westminster. On the fifth of February, +King William the Fourth made a speech from the throne, in which he +expressed his hope that the Houses would entrust him with such powers as +might be necessary for maintaining order in Ireland and for preserving +and strengthening the union between that country and Great Britain. +An Address, assuring His Majesty of the concurrence and support of the +Commons, was moved by Lord Ormelie and seconded by Mr John Marshall. +Mr O'Connell opposed the Address, and moved, as an amendment, that the +House should resolve itself into a Committee. After a discussion of +four nights the amendment was rejected by 428 votes to 40. On the second +night of the debate the following Speech was made. + +Last night, Sir, I thought that it would not be necessary for me to take +any part in the present debate: but the appeal which has this evening +been made to me by my honourable friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr +Edward Lytton Bulwer.) has forced me to rise. I will, however, postpone +the few words which I have to say in defence of my own consistency, till +I have expressed my opinion on the much more important subject which is +before the House. + +My honourable friend tells us that we are now called upon to make a +choice between two modes of pacifying Ireland; that the government +recommends coercion; that the honourable and learned Member for Dublin +(Mr O'Connell.) recommends redress; and that it is our duty to try the +effect of redress before we have recourse to coercion. The antithesis is +framed with all the ingenuity which is characteristic of my honourable +friend's style; but I cannot help thinking that, on this occasion, +his ingenuity has imposed on himself, and that he has not sufficiently +considered the meaning of the pointed phrase which he used with so much +effect. Redress is no doubt a very well sounding word. What can be more +reasonable than to ask for redress? What more unjust than to refuse +redress? But my honourable friend will perceive, on reflection, that, +though he and the honourable and learned Member for Dublin agree in +pronouncing the word redress, they agree in nothing else. They utter the +same sound; but they attach to it two diametrically opposite meanings. +The honourable and learned Member for Dublin means by redress simply +the Repeal of the Union. Now, to the Repeal of the Union my honourable +friend the Member for Lincoln is decidedly adverse. When we get at his +real meaning, we find that he is just as unwilling as we are to give the +redress which the honourable and learned Member for Dublin demands. Only +a small minority of the House will, I hope, and believe, vote with that +honourable and learned member; but the minority which thinks with him +will be very much smaller. + +We have, indeed, been told by some gentlemen, who are not themselves +repealers, that the question of Repeal deserves a much more serious +consideration than it has yet received. Repeal, they say, is an object +on which millions have, however unwisely, set their hearts; and men +who speak in the name of millions are not to be coughed down or sneered +down. That which a suffering nation regards, rightly or wrongly, as the +sole cure for all its distempers, ought not to be treated with levity, +but to be the subject of full and solemn debate. All this, Sir, is most +true: but I am surprised that this lecture should have been read to +us who sit on your right. It would, I apprehend, have been with more +propriety addressed to a different quarter. Whose fault is it that we +have not yet had, and that there is no prospect of our having, this full +and solemn debate? Is it the fault of His Majesty's Ministers? Have +not they framed the Speech which their Royal Master delivered from the +throne, in such a manner as to invite the grave and searching discussion +of the question of Repeal? and has not the invitation been declined? Is +it not fresh in our recollection that the honourable and learned Member +for Dublin spoke two hours, perhaps three hours,--nobody keeps accurate +account of time while he speaks,--but two or three hours without +venturing to join issue with us on this subject? In truth, he suffered +judgment to go against him by default. We, on this side of the House, +did our best to provoke him to the conflict. We called on him to +maintain here those doctrines which he had proclaimed elsewhere with so +much vehemence, and, I am sorry to be forced to add, with a scurrility +unworthy of his parts and eloquence. Never was a challenge more fairly +given: but it was not accepted. The great champion of Repeal would not +lift our glove. He shrank back; he skulked away; not, assuredly, from +distrust of his powers, which have never been more vigorously exerted +than in this debate, but evidently from distrust of his cause. I have +seldom heard so able a speech as his: I certainly never heard a speech +so evasive. From the beginning to the end he studiously avoided saying +a single word tending to raise a discussion about that Repeal which, in +other places, he constantly affirms to be the sole panacea for all the +evils by which his country is afflicted. Nor is this all. Yesterday +night he placed on our order-book not less than fourteen notices; and +of those notices not a single one had any reference to the Union between +Great Britain and Ireland. It is therefore evident to me, not only that +the honourable and learned gentleman is not now prepared to debate the +question in this House, but that he has no intention of debating it in +this House at all. He keeps it, and prudently keeps it, for audiences of +a very different kind. I am therefore, I repeat, surprised to hear +the Government accused of avoiding the discussion of this subject. Why +should we avoid a battle in which the bold and skilful captain of the +enemy evidently knows that we must be victorious? + +One gentleman, though not a repealer, has begged us not to declare +ourselves decidedly adverse to repeal till we have studied the petitions +which are coming in from Ireland. Really, Sir, this is not a subject on +which any public man ought to be now making up his mind. My mind is made +up. My reasons are such as, I am certain, no petition from Ireland will +confute. Those reasons have long been ready to be produced; and, since +we are accused of flinching, I will at once produce them. I am prepared +to show that the Repeal of the Union would not remove the political and +social evils which afflict Ireland, nay, that it would aggravate almost +every one of those evils. + +I understand, though I do not approve, the proceedings of poor Wolfe +Tone and his confederates. They wished to make a complete separation +between Great Britain and Ireland. They wished to establish a Hibernian +republic. Their plan was a very bad one; but, to do them justice, it +was perfectly consistent; and an ingenious man might defend it by some +plausible arguments. But that is not the plan of the honourable and +learned Member for Dublin. He assures us that he wishes the connection +between the islands to be perpetual. He is for a complete separation +between the two Parliaments; but he is for indissoluble union between +the two Crowns. Nor does the honourable and learned gentleman mean, by +an union between the Crowns, such an union as exists between the Crown +of this kingdom and the Crown of Hanover. For I need not say that, +though the same person is king of Great Britain and of Hanover, there +is no more political connection between Great Britain and Hanover than +between Great Britain and Hesse, or between Great Britain and Bavaria. +Hanover may be at peace with a state with which Great Britain is at war. +Nay, Hanover may, as a member of the Germanic body, send a contingent of +troops to cross bayonets with the King's English footguards. This is not +the relation in which the honourable and learned gentleman proposes that +Great Britain and Ireland should stand to each other. His plan is, that +each of the two countries shall have an independent legislature, but +that both shall have the same executive government. Now, is it possible +that a mind so acute and so well informed as his should not at +once perceive that this plan involves an absurdity, a downright +contradiction. Two independent legislatures! One executive government! +How can the thing be? No doubt, if the legislative power were quite +distinct from the executive power, England and Ireland might as easily +have two legislatures as two Chancellors and two Courts of King's Bench. +But though, in books written by theorists, the executive power and the +legislative power may be treated as things quite distinct, every man +acquainted with the real working of our constitution knows that the two +powers are most closely connected, nay, intermingled with each other. +During several generations, the whole administration of affairs has +been conducted in conformity with the sense of Parliament. About +every exercise of the prerogative of the Crown it is the privilege +of Parliament to offer advice; and that advice no wise king will +ever slight. It is the prerogative of the Sovereign to choose his own +servants; but it is impossible for him to maintain them in office unless +Parliament will support them. It is the prerogative of the Sovereign to +treat with other princes; but it is impossible for him to persist in any +scheme of foreign policy which is disagreeable to Parliament. It is +the prerogative of the Sovereign to make war; but he cannot raise a +battalion or man a frigate without the help of Parliament. The repealers +may therefore be refuted out of their own mouths. They say that +Great Britain and Ireland ought to have one executive power. But +the legislature has a most important share of the executive power. +Therefore, by the confession of the repealers themselves, Great Britain +and Ireland ought to have one legislature. + +Consider for one moment in what a situation the executive government +will be placed if you have two independent legislatures, and if those +legislatures should differ, as all bodies which are independent of each +other will sometimes differ. Suppose the case of a commercial treaty +which is unpopular in England and popular in Ireland. The Irish +Parliament expresses its approbation of the terms, and passes a vote +of thanks to the negotiator. We at Westminster censure the terms and +impeach the negotiator. Or are we to have two foreign offices, one in +Downing Street and one in Dublin Castle? Is His Majesty to send to every +court in Christendom two diplomatic agents, to thwart each other, and +to be spies upon each other? It is inconceivable but that, in a very +few years, disputes such as can be terminated only by arms must arise +between communities so absurdly united and so absurdly disunited. All +history confirms this reasoning. Superficial observers have fancied that +they had found cases on the other side. But as soon as you examine those +cases you will see either that they bear no analogy to the case with +which we have to deal, or that they corroborate my argument. The case +of Ireland herself has been cited. Ireland, it has been said, had an +independent legislature from 1782 to 1800: during eighteen years there +were two coequal parliaments under one Crown; and yet there was no +collision. Sir, the reason that there was not perpetual collision was, +as we all know, that the Irish parliament, though nominally independent, +was generally kept in real dependence by means of the foulest corruption +that ever existed in any assembly. But it is not true that there was no +collision. Before the Irish legislature had been six years independent, +a collision did take place, a collision such as might well have produced +a civil war. In the year 1788, George the Third was incapacitated +by illness from discharging his regal functions. According to the +constitution, the duty of making provision for the discharge of those +functions devolved on the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. +Between the government of Great Britain and the government of Ireland +there was, during the interregnum, no connection whatever. The sovereign +who was the common head of both governments had virtually ceased to +exist: and the two legislatures were no more to each other than +this House and the Chamber of Deputies at Paris. What followed? The +Parliament of Great Britain resolved to offer the Regency to the Prince +of Wales under many important restrictions. The Parliament of Ireland +made him an offer of the Regency without any restrictions whatever. By +the same right by which the Irish Lords and Commons made that offer, +they might, if Mr Pitt's doctrine be the constitutional doctrine, as +I believe it to be, have made the Duke of York or the Duke of Leinster +Regent. To this Regent they might have given all the prerogatives of the +King. Suppose,--no extravagant supposition,--that George the Third +had not recovered, that the rest of his long life had been passed +in seclusion, Great Britain and Ireland would then have been, during +thirty-two years, as completely separated as Great Britain and Spain. +There would have been nothing in common between the governments, neither +executive power nor legislative power. It is plain, therefore, that a +total separation between the two islands might, in the natural course of +things, and without the smallest violation of the constitution on either +side, be the effect of the arrangement recommended by the honourable and +learned gentleman, who solemnly declares that he should consider such a +separation as the greatest of calamities. + +No doubt, Sir, in several continental kingdoms there have been two +legislatures, and indeed more than two legislatures, under the same +Crown. But the explanation is simple. Those legislatures were of no real +weight in the government. Under Louis the Fourteenth Brittany had its +States; Burgundy had its States; and yet there was no collision between +the States of Brittany and the States of Burgundy. But why? Because +neither the States of Brittany nor the States of Burgundy imposed +any real restraint on the arbitrary power of the monarch. So, in +the dominions of the House of Hapsburg, there is the semblance of a +legislature in Hungary and the semblance of a legislature in the Tyrol: +but all the real power is with the Emperor. I do not say that you cannot +have one executive power and two mock parliaments, two parliaments which +merely transact parish business, two parliaments which exercise no more +influence on great affairs of state than the vestry of St Pancras or the +vestry of Marylebone. What I do say, and what common sense teaches, and +what all history teaches, is this, that you cannot have one executive +power and two real parliaments, two parliaments possessing such +powers as the parliament of this country has possessed ever since +the Revolution, two parliaments to the deliberate sense of which the +Sovereign must conform. If they differ, how can he conform to the sense +of both? The thing is as plain as a proposition in Euclid. + +It is impossible for me to believe that considerations so obvious and so +important should not have occurred to the honourable and learned Member +for Dublin. Doubtless they have occurred to him; and therefore it +is that he shrinks from arguing the question here. Nay, even when he +harangues more credulous assemblies on the subject, he carefully avoids +precise explanations; and the hints which sometimes escape him are +not easily to be reconciled with each other. On one occasion, if +the newspapers are to be trusted, he declared that his object was to +establish a federal union between Great Britain and Ireland. A local +parliament, it seems, is to sit at Dublin, and to send deputies to an +imperial parliament which is to sit at Westminster. The honourable and +learned gentleman thinks, I suppose, that in this way he evades the +difficulties which I have pointed out. But he deceives himself. +If, indeed, his local legislature is to be subject to his imperial +legislature, if his local legislature is to be merely what the Assembly +of Antigua or Barbadoes is, or what the Irish Parliament was before +1782, the danger of collision is no doubt removed: but what, on the +honourable and learned gentleman's own principles, would Ireland gain by +such an arrangement? If, on the other hand, his local legislature is +to be for certain purposes independent, you have again the risk of +collision. Suppose that a difference of opinion should arise between the +Imperial Parliament and the Irish Parliament as to the limits of their +powers, who is to decide between them? A dispute between the House of +Commons and the House of Lords is bad enough. Yet in that case, the +Sovereign can, by a high exercise of his prerogative, produce harmony. +He can send us back to our constituents; and, if that expedient fails, +he can create more lords. When, in 1705, the dispute between the +Houses about the Aylesbury men ran high, Queen Anne restored concord by +dismissing the Parliament. Seven years later she put an end to another +conflict between the Houses by making twelve peers in one day. But who +is to arbitrate between two representative bodies chosen by different +constituent bodies? Look at what is now passing in America. Of all +federal constitutions that of the United States is the best. It was +framed by a convention which contained many wise and experienced men, +and over which Washington presided. Yet there is a debateable ground on +the frontier which separates the functions of Congress from those of +the state legislatures. A dispute as to the exact boundary has lately +arisen. Neither party seems disposed to yield: and, if both persist, +there can be no umpire but the sword. + +For my part, Sir, I have no hesitation in saying that I should very +greatly prefer the total separation which the honourable and learned +gentleman professes to consider as a calamity, to the partial separation +which he has taught his countrymen to regard as a blessing. If, on a +fair trial, it be found that Great Britain and Ireland cannot exist +happily together as parts of one empire, in God's name let them +separate. I wish to see them joined as the limbs of a well formed body +are joined. In such a body the members assist each other: they are +nourished by the same food: if one member suffer, all suffer with it: +if one member rejoice, all rejoice with it. But I do not wish to see the +countries united, like those wretched twins from Siam who were exhibited +here a little while ago, by an unnatural ligament which made each the +constant plague of the other, always in each other's way, more helpless +than others because they had twice as many hands, slower than others +because they had twice as many legs, sympathising with each other only +in evil, not feeling each other's pleasures, not supported by each +other's aliments, but tormented by each other's infirmities, and certain +to perish miserably by each other's dissolution. + +Ireland has undoubtedly just causes of complaint. We heard those causes +recapitulated last night by the honourable and learned Member, who tells +us that he represents not Dublin alone, but Ireland, and that he stands +between his country and civil war. I do not deny that most of the +grievances which he recounted exist, that they are serious, and that +they ought to be remedied as far as it is in the power of legislation to +remedy them. What I do deny is that they were caused by the Union, and +that the Repeal of the Union would remove them. I listened attentively +while the honourable and learned gentleman went through that long and +melancholy list: and I am confident that he did not mention a single +evil which was not a subject of bitter complaint while Ireland had a +domestic parliament. Is it fair, is it reasonable in the honourable +gentleman to impute to the Union evils which, as he knows better than +any other man in this house, existed long before the Union? Post hoc: +ergo, propter hoc is not always sound reasoning. But ante hoc: ergo, +non propter hoc is unanswerable. The old rustic who told Sir Thomas +More that Tenterden steeple was the cause of Godwin sands reasoned much +better than the honourable and learned gentleman. For it was not till +after Tenterden steeple was built that the frightful wrecks on the +Godwin sands were heard of. But the honourable and learned gentleman +would make Godwin sands the cause of Tenterden steeple. Some of the +Irish grievances which he ascribes to the Union are not only older than +the Union, but are not peculiarly Irish. They are common to England, +Scotland, and Ireland; and it was in order to get rid of them that we, +for the common benefit of England, Scotland, and Ireland, passed the +Reform Bill last year. Other grievances which the honourable and learned +gentleman mentioned are doubtless local; but is there to be a local +legislature wherever there is a local grievance? Wales has had local +grievances. We all remember the complaints which were made a few years +ago about the Welsh judicial system; but did anybody therefore propose +that Wales should have a distinct parliament? Cornwall has some local +grievances; but does anybody propose that Cornwall shall have its own +House of Lords and its own House of Commons? Leeds has local grievances. +The majority of my constituents distrust and dislike the municipal +government to which they are subject; they therefore call loudly on +us for corporation reform: but they do not ask us for a separate +legislature. Of this I am quite sure, that every argument which has been +urged for the purpose of showing that Great Britain and Ireland ought +to have two distinct parliaments may be urged with far greater force +for the purpose of showing that the north of Ireland and the south of +Ireland ought to have two distinct parliaments. The House of Commons of +the United Kingdom, it has been said, is chiefly elected by Protestants, +and therefore cannot be trusted to legislate for Catholic Ireland. +If this be so, how can an Irish House of Commons, chiefly elected +by Catholics, be trusted to legislate for Protestant Ulster? It is +perfectly notorious that theological antipathies are stronger in Ireland +than here. I appeal to the honourable and learned gentleman himself. He +has often declared that it is impossible for a Roman Catholic, whether +prosecutor or culprit, to obtain justice from a jury of Orangemen. It +is indeed certain that, in blood, religion, language, habits, character, +the population of some of the northern counties of Ireland has much +more in common with the population of England and Scotland than with the +population of Munster and Connaught. I defy the honourable and learned +Member, therefore, to find a reason for having a parliament at Dublin +which will not be just as good a reason for having another parliament at +Londonderry. + +Sir, in showing, as I think I have shown, the absurdity of this cry for +Repeal, I have in a great measure vindicated myself from the charge of +inconsistency which has been brought against me by my honourable friend +the Member for Lincoln. It is very easy to bring a volume of Hansard to +the House, to read a few sentences of a speech made in very different +circumstances, and to say, "Last year you were for pacifying England by +concession: this year you are for pacifying Ireland by coercion. How can +you vindicate your consistency?" Surely my honourable friend cannot +but know that nothing is easier than to write a theme for severity, for +clemency, for order, for liberty, for a contemplative life, for a active +life, and so on. It was a common exercise in the ancient schools of +rhetoric to take an abstract question, and to harangue first on one side +and then on the other. The question, Ought popular discontents to be +quieted by concession or coercion? would have been a very good subject +for oratory of this kind. There is no lack of commonplaces on either +side. But when we come to the real business of life, the value of these +commonplaces depends entirely on the particular circumstances of the +case which we are discussing. Nothing is easier than to write a treatise +proving that it is lawful to resist extreme tyranny. Nothing is easier +than to write a treatise setting forth the wickedness of wantonly +bringing on a great society the miseries inseparable from revolution, +the bloodshed, the spoliation, the anarchy. Both treatises may contain +much that is true; but neither will enable us to decide whether a +particular insurrection is or is not justifiable without a close +examination of the facts. There is surely no inconsistency in speaking +with respect of the memory of Lord Russell and with horror of the crime +of Thistlewood; and, in my opinion, the conduct of Russell and the +conduct of Thistlewood did not differ more widely than the cry for +Parliamentary Reform and the cry for the Repeal of the Union. The Reform +Bill I believe to be a blessing to the nation. Repeal I know to be a +mere delusion. I know it to be impracticable: and I know that, if it +were practicable, it would be pernicious to every part of the empire, +and utterly ruinous to Ireland. Is it not then absurd to say that, +because I wished last year to quiet the English people by giving them +that which was beneficial to them, I am therefore bound in consistency +to quiet the Irish people this year by giving them that which will +be fatal to them? I utterly deny, too, that, in consenting to arm the +government with extraordinary powers for the purpose of repressing +disturbances in Ireland, I am guilty of the smallest inconsistency. On +what occasion did I ever refuse to support any government in repressing +disturbances? It is perfectly true that, in the debates on the Reform +Bill, I imputed the tumults and outrages of 1830 to misrule. But did I +ever say that those tumults and outrages ought to be tolerated? I did +attribute the Kentish riots, the Hampshire riots, the burning of corn +stacks, the destruction of threshing machines, to the obstinacy with +which the Ministers of the Crown had refused to listen to the demands +of the people. But did I ever say that the rioters ought not to be +imprisoned, that the incendiaries ought not to be hanged? I did ascribe +the disorders of Nottingham and the fearful sacking of Bristol to the +unwise rejection of the Reform Bill by the Lords. But did I ever say +that such excesses as were committed at Nottingham and Bristol ought not +to be put down, if necessary, by the sword? + +I would act towards Ireland on the same principles on which I acted +towards England. In Ireland, as in England, I would remove every just +cause of complaint; and in Ireland, as in England, I would support the +Government in preserving the public peace. What is there inconsistent +in this? My honourable friend seems to think that no person who believes +that disturbances have been caused by maladministration can consistently +lend his help to put down those disturbances. If that be so, the +honourable and learned Member for Dublin is quite as inconsistent as +I am; indeed, much more so; for he thinks very much worse of the +Government than I do; and yet he declares himself willing to assist +the Government in quelling the tumults which, as he assures us, its own +misconduct is likely to produce. He told us yesterday that our harsh +policy might perhaps goad the unthinking populace of Ireland into +insurrection; and he added that, if there should be insurrection, he +should, while execrating us as the authors of all the mischief, be found +in our ranks, and should be ready to support us in everything that +might be necessary for the restoration of order. As to this part of the +subject, there is no difference in principle between the honourable and +learned gentleman and myself. In his opinion, it is probable that a time +may soon come when vigorous coercion may be necessary, and when it may +be the duty of every friend of Ireland to co-operate in the work of +coercion. In my opinion, that time has already come. The grievances of +Ireland are doubtless great, so great that I never would have connected +myself with a Government which I did not believe to be intent on +redressing those grievances. But am I, because the grievances of Ireland +are great, and ought to be redressed, to abstain from redressing the +worst grievance of all? Am I to look on quietly while the laws are +insulted by a furious rabble, while houses are plundered and burned, +while my peaceable fellow-subjects are butchered? The distribution of +Church property, you tell us, is unjust. Perhaps I agree with you. +But what then? To what purpose is it to talk about the distribution of +Church property, while no property is secure? Then you try to deter us +from putting down robbery, arson, and murder, by telling us that if we +resort to coercion we shall raise a civil war. We are past that fear. +Recollect that, in one county alone, there have been within a few +weeks sixty murders or assaults with intent to murder and six hundred +burglaries. Since we parted last summer the slaughter in Ireland has +exceeded the slaughter of a pitched battle: the destruction of property +has been as great as would have been caused by the storming of three or +four towns. Civil war, indeed! I would rather live in the midst of any +civil war that we have had in England during the last two hundred +years than in some parts of Ireland at the present moment. Rather, much +rather, would I have lived on the line of march of the Pretender's army +in 1745 than in Tipperary now. It is idle to threaten us with civil war; +for we have it already; and it is because we are resolved to put an +end to it that we are called base, and brutal, and bloody. Such are the +epithets which the honourable and learned Member for Dublin thinks +it becoming to pour forth against the party to which he owes every +political privilege that he enjoys. He need not fear that any member +of that party will be provoked into a conflict of scurrility. Use +makes even sensitive minds callous to invective: and, copious as his +vocabulary is, he will not easily find in it any foul name which has not +been many times applied to those who sit around me, on account of the +zeal and steadiness with which they supported the emancipation of +the Roman Catholics. His reproaches are not more stinging than the +reproaches which, in times not very remote, we endured unflinchingly in +his cause. I can assure him that men who faced the cry of No Popery are +not likely to be scared by the cry of Repeal. The time will come when +history will do justice to the Whigs of England, and will faithfully +relate how much they did and suffered for Ireland; how, for the sake of +Ireland, they quitted office in 1807; how, for the sake of Ireland, they +remained out of office more than twenty years, braving the frowns of +the Court, braving the hisses of the multitude, renouncing power, +and patronage, and salaries, and peerages, and garters, and yet not +obtaining in return even a little fleeting popularity. I see on the +benches near me men who might, by uttering one word against Catholic +Emancipation, nay, by merely abstaining from uttering a word in favour +of Catholic Emancipation, have been returned to this House without +difficulty or expense, and who, rather than wrong their Irish +fellow-subjects, were content to relinquish all the objects of their +honourable ambition, and to retire into private life with conscience +and fame untarnished. As to one eminent person, who seems to be regarded +with especial malevolence by those who ought never to mention his name +without reverence and gratitude, I will say only this: that the loudest +clamour which the honourable and learned gentleman can excite against +Lord Grey will be trifling when compared with the clamour which Lord +Grey withstood in order to place the honourable and learned gentleman +where he now sits. Though a young member of the Whig party, I will +venture to speak in the name of the whole body. I tell the honourable +and learned gentleman, that the same spirit which sustained us in a just +contest for him will sustain us in an equally just contest against him. +Calumny, abuse, royal displeasure, popular fury, exclusion from office, +exclusion from Parliament, we were ready to endure them all, rather than +that he should be less than a British subject. We never will suffer him +to be more. + +I stand here, Sir, for the first time as the representative of a +new constituent body, one of the largest, most prosperous, and most +enlightened towns in the kingdom. The electors of Leeds, believing that +at this time the service of the people is not incompatible with the +service of the Crown, have sent me to this House charged, in the +language of His Majesty's writ, to do and consent, in their name and in +their behalf, to such things as shall be proposed in the great Council +of the nation. In the name, then, and on the behalf of my constituents, +I give my full assent to that part of the Address wherein the House +declares its resolution to maintain inviolate, by the help of God, the +connection between Great Britain and Ireland, and to intrust to the +Sovereign such powers as shall be necessary to secure property, to +restore order, and to preserve the integrity of the empire. + +***** + + + + +JEWISH DISABILITIES. (APRIL 17, 1833) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A COMMITTEE +OF THE WHOLE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 17TH OF APRIL, 1833. + +On the seventeenth of April, 1833, the House of Commons resolved itself +into a Committee to consider of the civil disabilities of the Jews. +Mr Warburton took the chair. Mr Robert Grant moved the following +resolution:-- + +"That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is expedient to remove +all civil disabilities at present existing with respect to His Majesty's +subjects professing the Jewish religion, with the like exceptions as +are provided with respect to His Majesty's subjects professing the Roman +Catholic religion." + +The resolution passed without a division, after a warm debate, in the +course of which the following Speech was made. + +Mr Warburton,--I recollect, and my honourable friend the Member for +the University of Oxford will recollect, that when this subject was +discussed three years ago, it was remarked, by one whom we both loved +and whom we both regret, that the strength of the case of the Jews was a +serious inconvenience to their advocate, for that it was hardly possible +to make a speech for them without wearying the audience by repeating +truths which were universally admitted. If Sir James Mackintosh felt +this difficulty when the question was first brought forward in this +House, I may well despair of being able now to offer any arguments which +have a pretence to novelty. + +My honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford, began his +speech by declaring that he had no intention of calling in question the +principles of religious liberty. He utterly disclaims persecution, that +is to say, persecution as defined by himself. It would, in his opinion, +be persecution to hang a Jew, or to flay him, or to draw his teeth, +or to imprison him, or to fine him; for every man who conducts himself +peaceably has a right to his life and his limbs, to his personal liberty +and his property. But it is not persecution, says my honourable friend, +to exclude any individual or any class from office; for nobody has a +right to office: in every country official appointments must be subject +to such regulations as the supreme authority may choose to make; nor can +any such regulations be reasonably complained of by any member of the +society as unjust. He who obtains an office obtains it, not as matter of +right, but as matter of favour. He who does not obtain an office is +not wronged; he is only in that situation in which the vast majority +of every community must necessarily be. There are in the United Kingdom +five and twenty million Christians without places; and, if they do not +complain, why should five and twenty thousand Jews complain of being in +the same case? In this way my honourable friend has convinced himself +that, as it would be most absurd in him and me to say that we are +wronged because we are not Secretaries of State, so it is most absurd +in the Jews to say that they are wronged, because they are, as a people, +excluded from public employment. + +Now, surely my honourable friend cannot have considered to what +conclusions his reasoning leads. Those conclusions are so monstrous that +he would, I am certain, shrink from them. Does he really mean that it +would not be wrong in the legislature to enact that no man should be +a judge unless he weighed twelve stone, or that no man should sit in +parliament unless he were six feet high? We are about to bring in a bill +for the government of India. Suppose that we were to insert in that bill +a clause providing that no graduate of the University of Oxford +should be Governor General or Governor of any Presidency, would not my +honourable friend cry out against such a clause as most unjust to +the learned body which he represents? And would he think himself +sufficiently answered by being told, in his own words, that the +appointment to office is a mere matter of favour, and that to exclude +an individual or a class from office is no injury? Surely, on +consideration, he must admit that official appointments ought not to +be subject to regulations purely arbitrary, to regulations for which no +reason can be given but mere caprice, and that those who would exclude +any class from public employment are bound to show some special reason +for the exclusion. + +My honourable friend has appealed to us as Christians. Let me then ask +him how he understands that great commandment which comprises the law +and the prophets. Can we be said to do unto others as we would that they +should do unto us if we wantonly inflict on them even the smallest +pain? As Christians, surely we are bound to consider, first, whether, +by excluding the Jews from all public trust, we give them pain; and, +secondly, whether it be necessary to give them that pain in order to +avert some greater evil. That by excluding them from public trust +we inflict pain on them my honourable friend will not dispute. As a +Christian, therefore, he is bound to relieve them from that pain, unless +he can show, what I am sure he has not yet shown, that it is necessary +to the general good that they should continue to suffer. + +But where, he says, are you to stop, if once you admit into the House of +Commons people who deny the authority of the Gospels? Will you let in +a Mussulman? Will you let in a Parsee? Will you let in a Hindoo, who +worships a lump of stone with seven heads? I will answer my honourable +friend's question by another. Where does he mean to stop? Is he ready to +roast unbelievers at slow fires? If not, let him tell us why: and I +will engage to prove that his reason is just as decisive against the +intolerance which he thinks a duty, as against the intolerance which he +thinks a crime. Once admit that we are bound to inflict pain on a man +because he is not of our religion; and where are you to stop? Why stop +at the point fixed by my honourable friend rather than at the point +fixed by the honourable Member for Oldham (Mr Cobbett.), who would make +the Jews incapable of holding land? And why stop at the point fixed by +the honourable Member for Oldham rather than at the point which would +have been fixed by a Spanish Inquisitor of the sixteenth century? When +once you enter on a course of persecution, I defy you to find any reason +for making a halt till you have reached the extreme point. When my +honourable friend tells us that he will allow the Jews to possess +property to any amount, but that he will not allow them to possess the +smallest political power, he holds contradictory language. Property +is power. The honourable Member for Oldham reasons better than my +honourable friend. The honourable Member for Oldham sees very clearly +that it is impossible to deprive a man of political power if you +suffer him to be the proprietor of half a county, and therefore very +consistently proposes to confiscate the landed estates of the Jews. But +even the honourable Member for Oldham does not go far enough. He has +not proposed to confiscate the personal property of the Jews. Yet it is +perfectly certain that any Jew who has a million may easily make himself +very important in the State. By such steps we pass from official power +to landed property, and from landed property to personal property, and +from property to liberty, and from liberty to life. In truth, those +persecutors who use the rack and the stake have much to say for +themselves. They are convinced that their end is good; and it must be +admitted that they employ means which are not unlikely to attain the +end. Religious dissent has repeatedly been put down by sanguinary +persecution. In that way the Albigenses were put down. In that way +Protestantism was suppressed in Spain and Italy, so that it has never +since reared its head. But I defy any body to produce an instance in +which disabilities such as we are now considering have produced any +other effect than that of making the sufferers angry and obstinate. +My honourable friend should either persecute to some purpose, or not +persecute at all. He dislikes the word persecution I know. He will not +admit that the Jews are persecuted. And yet I am confident that he would +rather be sent to the King's Bench Prison for three months, or be fined +a hundred pounds, than be subject to the disabilities under which the +Jews lie. How can he then say that to impose such disabilities is not +persecution, and that to fine and imprison is persecution? All his +reasoning consists in drawing arbitrary lines. What he does not wish to +inflict he calls persecution. What he does wish to inflict he will not +call persecution. What he takes from the Jews he calls political power. +What he is too good-natured to take from the Jews he will not call +political power. The Jew must not sit in Parliament: but he may be the +proprietor of all the ten pound houses in a borough. He may have more +fifty pound tenants than any peer in the kingdom. He may give the voters +treats to please their palates, and hire bands of gipsies to break their +heads, as if he were a Christian and a Marquess. All the rest of this +system is of a piece. The Jew may be a juryman, but not a judge. He +may decide issues of fact, but not issues of law. He may give a hundred +thousand pounds damages; but he may not in the most trivial case grant a +new trial. He may rule the money market: he may influence the +exchanges: he may be summoned to congresses of Emperors and Kings. Great +potentates, instead of negotiating a loan with him by tying him in a +chair and pulling out his grinders, may treat with him as with a great +potentate, and may postpone the declaring of war or the signing of a +treaty till they have conferred with him. All this is as it should +be: but he must not be a Privy Councillor. He must not be called Right +Honourable, for that is political power. And who is it that we are +trying to cheat in this way? Even Omniscience. Yes, Sir; we have been +gravely told that the Jews are under the divine displeasure, and that if +we give them political power God will visit us in judgment. Do we then +think that God cannot distinguish between substance and form? Does not +He know that, while we withhold from the Jews the semblance and name +of political power, we suffer them to possess the substance? The plain +truth is that my honourable friend is drawn in one direction by his +opinions, and in a directly opposite direction by his excellent heart. +He halts between two opinions. He tries to make a compromise between +principles which admit of no compromise. He goes a certain way in +intolerance. Then he stops, without being able to give a reason for +stopping. But I know the reason. It is his humanity. Those who formerly +dragged the Jew at a horse's tail, and singed his beard with blazing +furzebushes, were much worse men than my honourable friend; but they +were more consistent than he. + +It has been said that it would be monstrous to see a Jew judge try a man +for blasphemy. In my opinion it is monstrous to see any judge try a man +for blasphemy under the present law. But, if the law on that subject +were in a sound state, I do not see why a conscientious Jew might not +try a blasphemer. Every man, I think, ought to be at liberty to discuss +the evidences of religion; but no man ought to be at liberty to force on +the unwilling ears and eyes of others sounds and sights which must cause +annoyance and irritation. The distinction is clear. I think it wrong to +punish a man for selling Paine's Age of Reason in a back-shop to those +who choose to buy, or for delivering a Deistical lecture in a private +room to those who choose to listen. But if a man exhibits at a window +in the Strand a hideous caricature of that which is an object of awe +and adoration to nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of +people who pass up and down that great thoroughfare; if a man in a place +of public resort applies opprobrious epithets to names held in reverence +by all Christians; such a man ought, in my opinion, to be severely +punished, not for differing from us in opinion, but for committing a +nuisance which gives us pain and disgust. He is no more entitled to +outrage our feelings by obtruding his impiety on us, and to say that +he is exercising his right of discussion, than to establish a yard for +butchering horses close to our houses, and to say that he is exercising +his right of property, or to run naked up and down the public streets, +and to say that he is exercising his right of locomotion. He has a right +of discussion, no doubt, as he has a right of property and a right of +locomotion. But he must use all his rights so as not to infringe the +rights of others. + +These, Sir, are the principles on which I would frame the law of +blasphemy; and if the law were so framed, I am at a loss to understand +why a Jew might not enforce it as well as a Christian. I am not a Roman +Catholic; but if I were a judge at Malta, I should have no scruple about +punishing a bigoted Protestant who should burn the Pope in effigy before +the eyes of thousands of Roman Catholics. I am not a Mussulman; but if +I were a judge in India, I should have no scruple about punishing a +Christian who should pollute a mosque. Why, then, should I doubt that +a Jew, raised by his ability, learning, and integrity to the judicial +bench, would deal properly with any person who, in a Christian country, +should insult the Christian religion? + +But, says my honourable friend, it has been prophesied that the Jews are +to be wanderers on the face of the earth, and that they are not to mix +on terms of equality with the people of the countries in which they +sojourn. Now, Sir, I am confident that I can demonstrate that this is +not the sense of any prophecy which is part of Holy Writ. For it is an +undoubted fact that, in the United States of America, Jewish citizens do +possess all the privileges possessed by Christian citizens. Therefore, +if the prophecies mean that the Jews never shall, during their +wanderings, be admitted by other nations to equal participation of +political rights, the prophecies are false. But the prophecies are +certainly not false. Therefore their meaning cannot be that which is +attributed to them by my honourable friend. + +Another objection which has been made to this motion is that the Jews +look forward to the coming of a great deliverer, to their return to +Palestine, to the rebuilding of their Temple, to the revival of their +ancient worship, and that therefore they will always consider England, +not their country, but merely as their place of exile. But, surely, Sir, +it would be the grossest ignorance of human nature to imagine that the +anticipation of an event which is to happen at some time altogether +indefinite, of an event which has been vainly expected during many +centuries, of an event which even those who confidently expect that it +will happen do not confidently expect that they or their children or +their grandchildren will see, can ever occupy the minds of men to such +a degree as to make them regardless of what is near and present and +certain. Indeed Christians, as well as Jews, believe that the existing +order of things will come to an end. Many Christians believe that Jesus +will visibly reign on earth during a thousand years. Expositors of +prophecy have gone so far as to fix the year when the Millennial period +is to commence. The prevailing opinion is, I think, in favour of the +year 1866; but, according to some commentators, the time is close at +hand. Are we to exclude all millennarians from Parliament and office, on +the ground that they are impatiently looking forward to the miraculous +monarchy which is to supersede the present dynasty and the present +constitution of England, and that therefore they cannot be heartily +loyal to King William? + +In one important point, Sir, my honourable friend, the Member for the +University of Oxford, must acknowledge that the Jewish religion is +of all erroneous religions the least mischievous. There is not the +slightest chance that the Jewish religion will spread. The Jew does not +wish to make proselytes. He may be said to reject them. He thinks it +almost culpable in one who does not belong to his race to presume to +belong to his religion. It is therefore not strange that a conversion +from Christianity to Judaism should be a rarer occurrence than a total +eclipse of the sun. There was one distinguished convert in the last +century, Lord George Gordon; and the history of his conversion +deserves to be remembered. For if ever there was a proselyte of whom a +proselytising sect would have been proud, it was Lord George; not only +because he was a man of high birth and rank; not only because he +had been a member of the legislature; but also because he had been +distinguished by the intolerance, nay, the ferocity, of his zeal for his +own form of Christianity. But was he allured into the Synagogue? Was he +even welcomed to it? No, sir; he was coldly and reluctantly permitted +to share the reproach and suffering of the chosen people; but he was +sternly shut out from their privileges. He underwent the painful rite +which their law enjoins. But when, on his deathbed, he begged hard to +be buried among them according to their ceremonial, he was told that +his request could not be granted. I understand that cry of "Hear." It +reminds me that one of the arguments against this motion is that the +Jews are an unsocial people, that they draw close to each other, and +stand aloof from strangers. Really, Sir, it is amusing to compare +the manner in which the question of Catholic emancipation was argued +formerly by some gentlemen with the manner in which the question of Jew +emancipation is argued by the same gentlemen now. When the question +was about Catholic emancipation, the cry was, "See how restless, how +versatile, how encroaching, how insinuating, is the spirit of the +Church of Rome. See how her priests compass earth and sea to make one +proselyte, how indefatigably they toil, how attentively they study the +weak and strong parts of every character, how skilfully they employ +literature, arts, sciences, as engines for the propagation of their +faith. You find them in every region and under every disguise, collating +manuscripts in the Bodleian, fixing telescopes in the observatory of +Pekin, teaching the use of the plough and the spinning-wheel to the +savages of Paraguay. Will you give power to the members of a Church so +busy, so aggressive, so insatiable?" Well, now the question is about +people who never try to seduce any stranger to join them, and who do not +wish anybody to be of their faith who is not also of their blood. And +now you exclaim, "Will you give power to the members of a sect which +remains sullenly apart from other sects, which does not invite, nay, +which hardly ever admits neophytes?" The truth is, that bigotry will +never want a pretence. Whatever the sect be which it is proposed +to tolerate, the peculiarities of that sect will, for the time, be +pronounced by intolerant men to be the most odious and dangerous that +can be conceived. As to the Jews, that they are unsocial as respects +religion is true; and so much the better: for, surely, as Christians, +we cannot wish that they should bestir themselves to pervert us from +our own faith. But that the Jews would be unsocial members of the civil +community, if the civil community did its duty by them, has never been +proved. My right honourable friend who made the motion which we are +discussing has produced a great body of evidence to show that they have +been grossly misrepresented; and that evidence has not been refuted by +my honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford. But what +if it were true that the Jews are unsocial? What if it were true that +they do not regard England as their country? Would not the treatment +which they have undergone explain and excuse their antipathy to the +society in which they live? Has not similar antipathy often been felt +by persecuted Christians to the society which persecuted them? While +the bloody code of Elizabeth was enforced against the English Roman +Catholics, what was the patriotism of Roman Catholics? Oliver Cromwell +said that in his time they were Espaniolised. At a later period it +might have been said that they were Gallicised. It was the same with the +Calvinists. What more deadly enemies had France in the days of Louis +the Fourteenth than the persecuted Huguenots? But would any rational man +infer from these facts that either the Roman Catholic as such, or the +Calvinist as such, is incapable of loving the land of his birth? If +England were now invaded by Roman Catholics, how many English Roman +Catholics would go over to the invader? If France were now attacked by +a Protestant enemy, how many French Protestants would lend him help? +Why not try what effect would be produced on the Jews by that tolerant +policy which has made the English Roman Catholic a good Englishman, and +the French Calvinist a good Frenchman? + +Another charge has been brought against the Jews, not by my honourable +friend the Member for the University of Oxford--he has too much learning +and too much good feeling to make such a charge--but by the honourable +Member for Oldham, who has, I am sorry to see, quitted his place. The +honourable Member for Oldham tells us that the Jews are naturally a mean +race, a sordid race, a money-getting race; that they are averse to all +honourable callings; that they neither sow nor reap; that they have +neither flocks nor herds; that usury is the only pursuit for which they +are fit; that they are destitute of all elevated and amiable sentiments. +Such, Sir, has in every age been the reasoning of bigots. They +never fail to plead in justification of persecution the vices which +persecution has engendered. England has been to the Jews less than half +a country; and we revile them because they do not feel for England more +than a half patriotism. We treat them as slaves, and wonder that they do +not regard us as brethren. We drive them to mean occupations, and then +reproach them for not embracing honourable professions. We long +forbade them to possess land; and we complain that they chiefly occupy +themselves in trade. We shut them out from all the paths of ambition; +and then we despise them for taking refuge in avarice. During many ages +we have, in all our dealings with them, abused our immense superiority +of force; and then we are disgusted because they have recourse to that +cunning which is the natural and universal defence of the weak against +the violence of the strong. But were they always a mere money-changing, +money-getting, money-hoarding race? Nobody knows better than my +honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford that there is +nothing in their national character which unfits them for the highest +duties of citizens. He knows that, in the infancy of civilisation, when +our island was as savage as New Guinea, when letters and arts were +still unknown to Athens, when scarcely a thatched hut stood on what +was afterwards the site of Rome, this contemned people had their +fenced cities and cedar palaces, their splendid Temple, their fleets of +merchant ships, their schools of sacred learning, their great statesmen +and soldiers, their natural philosophers, their historians and their +poets. What nation ever contended more manfully against overwhelming +odds for its independence and religion? What nation ever, in its last +agonies, gave such signal proofs of what may be accomplished by a +brave despair? And if, in the course of many centuries, the oppressed +descendants of warriors and sages have degenerated from the qualities of +their fathers, if, while excluded from the blessings of law, and bowed +down under the yoke of slavery, they have contracted some of the vices +of outlaws and of slaves, shall we consider this as matter of reproach +to them? Shall we not rather consider it as matter of shame and remorse +to ourselves? Let us do justice to them. Let us open to them the door of +the House of Commons. Let us open to them every career in which ability +and energy can be displayed. Till we have done this, let us not presume +to say that there is no genius among the countrymen of Isaiah, no +heroism among the descendants of the Maccabees. + +Sir, in supporting the motion of my honourable friend, I am, I firmly +believe, supporting the honour and the interests of the Christian +religion. I should think that I insulted that religion if I said that +it cannot stand unaided by intolerant laws. Without such laws it was +established, and without such laws it may be maintained. It triumphed +over the superstitions of the most refined and of the most savage +nations, over the graceful mythology of Greece and the bloody idolatry +of the Northern forests. It prevailed over the power and policy of +the Roman empire. It tamed the barbarians by whom that empire was +overthrown. But all these victories were gained not by the help of +intolerance, but in spite of the opposition of intolerance. The whole +history of Christianity proves that she has little indeed to fear from +persecution as a foe, but much to fear from persecution as an ally. May +she long continue to bless our country with her benignant influence, +strong in her sublime philosophy, strong in her spotless morality, +strong in those internal and external evidences to which the most +powerful and comprehensive of human intellects have yielded assent, +the last solace of those who have outlived every earthly hope, the last +restraint of those who are raised above every earthly fear! But let not +us, mistaking her character and her interests, fight the battle of truth +with the weapons of error, and endeavour to support by oppression that +religion which first taught the human race the great lesson of universal +charity. + +***** + + + + +GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. (JULY 10, 1833) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF JULY 1833. + +On Wednesday, the tenth of July 1833, Mr Charles Grant, President of the +Board of Control, moved that the Bill for effecting an arrangement with +the India Company, and for the better government of His Majesty's +Indian territories, should be read a second time. The motion was carried +without a division, but not without a long debate, in the course of +which the following Speech was made. + +Having, while this bill was in preparation, enjoyed the fullest and +kindest confidence of my right honourable friend, the President of the +Board of Control, agreeing with him completely in all those views which +on a former occasion he so luminously and eloquently developed, having +shared his anxieties, and feeling that in some degree I share his +responsibility, I am naturally desirous to obtain the attention of +the House while I attempt to defend the principles of the proposed +arrangement. I wish that I could promise to be very brief; but the +subject is so extensive that I will only promise to condense what I have +to say as much as I can. + +I rejoice, Sir, that I am completely dispensed, by the turn which our +debates have taken, from the necessity of saying anything in favour +of one part of our plan, the opening of the China trade. No voice, I +believe, has yet been raised here in support of the monopoly. On that +subject all public men of all parties seem to be agreed. The resolution +proposed by the Ministers has received the unanimous assent of both +Houses, and the approbation of the whole kingdom. I will not, therefore, +Sir, detain you by vindicating what no gentleman has yet ventured to +attack, but will proceed to call your attention to those effects which +this great commercial revolution necessarily produced on the system of +Indian government and finance. + +The China trade is to be opened. Reason requires this. Public opinion +requires it. The Government of the Duke of Wellington felt the necessity +as strongly as the Government of Lord Grey. No Minister, Whig or +Tory, could have been found to propose a renewal of the monopoly. +No parliament, reformed or unreformed, would have listened to such a +proposition. But though the opening of the trade was a matter concerning +which the public had long made up its mind, the political consequences +which must necessarily follow from the opening of the trade seem to me +to be even now little understood. The language which I have heard in +almost every circle where the subject was discussed was this: "Take away +the monopoly, and leave the government of India to the Company:" a +very short and convenient way of settling one of the most complicated +questions that ever a legislature had to consider. The honourable +Member for Sheffield (Mr Buckingham.), though not disposed to retain the +Company as an organ of government, has repeatedly used language which +proves that he shares in the general misconception. The fact is that +the abolition of the monopoly rendered it absolutely necessary to make a +fundamental change in the constitution of that great Corporation. + +The Company had united in itself two characters, the character of trader +and the character of sovereign. Between the trader and the sovereign +there was a long and complicated account, almost every item of which +furnished matter for litigation. While the monopoly continued, indeed, +litigation was averted. The effect of the monopoly was, to satisfy the +claims both of commerce and of territory, at the expense of a third +party, the English people: to secure at once funds for the dividend of +the stockholder and funds for the government of the Indian Empire, by +means of a heavy tax on the tea consumed in this country. But, when the +third party would no longer bear this charge, all the great financial +questions which had, at the cost of that third party, been kept in +abeyance, were opened in an instant. The connection between the Company +in its mercantile capacity, and the same Company in its political +capacity, was dissolved. Even if the Company were permitted, as has been +suggested, to govern India, and at the same time to trade with China, +no advances would be made from the profits of its Chinese trade for +the support of its Indian government. It was in consideration of the +exclusive privilege that the Company had hitherto been required to make +those advances; it was by the exclusive privilege that the Company had +been enabled to make them. When that privilege was taken away, it would +be unreasonable in the legislature to impose such an obligation, and +impossible for the Company to fulfil it. The whole system of loans from +commerce to territory, and repayments from territory to commerce, must +cease. Each party must rest altogether on its own resources. It was +therefore absolutely necessary to ascertain what resources each party +possessed, to bring the long and intricate account between them to a +close, and to assign to each a fair portion of assets and liabilities. +There was vast property. How much of that property was applicable to +purposes of state? How much was applicable to a dividend? There were +debts to the amount of many millions. Which of these were the debts of +the government that ruled at Calcutta? Which of the great mercantile +house that bought tea at Canton? Were the creditors to look to the +land revenues of India for their money? Or, were they entitled to put +executions into the warehouses behind Bishopsgate Street? + +There were two ways of settling these questions--adjudication and +compromise. The difficulties of adjudication were great; I think +insuperable. Whatever acuteness and diligence could do has been done. +One person in particular, whose talents and industry peculiarly fitted +him for such investigations, and of whom I can never think without +regret, Mr Hyde Villiers, devoted himself to the examination with an +ardour and a perseverance, which, I believe, shortened a life most +valuable to his country and to his friends. The assistance of the most +skilful accountants has been called in. But the difficulties are such as +no accountant, however skilful, could possibly remove. The difficulties +are not arithmetical, but political. They arise from the constitution +of the Company, from the long and intimate union of the commercial and +imperial characters in one body. Suppose that the treasurer of a charity +were to mix up the money which he receives on account of the charity +with his own private rents and dividends, to pay the whole into his bank +to his own private account, to draw it out again by cheques in exactly +the same form when he wanted it for his private expenses, and when he +wanted it for the purposes of his public trust. Suppose that he were +to continue to act thus till he was himself ignorant whether he were +in advance or in arrear; and suppose that many years after his death a +question were to arise whether his estate were in debt to the charity +or the charity in debt to his estate. Such is the question which is +now before us, with this important difference; that the accounts of an +individual could not be in such a state unless he had been guilty of +fraud, or of that gross negligence which is scarcely less culpable than +fraud, and that the accounts of the Company were brought into this state +by circumstances of a very peculiar kind, by circumstances unparalleled +in the history of the world. + +It is a mistake to suppose that the Company was a merely commercial body +till the middle of the last century. Commerce was its chief object; but +in order to enable it to pursue that object, it had been, like the other +Companies which were its rivals, like the Dutch India Company, like the +French India Company, invested from a very early period with political +functions. More than a hundred and twenty years ago, the Company was +in miniature precisely what it now is. It was intrusted with the very +highest prerogatives of sovereignty. It had its forts, and its white +captains, and its black sepoys; it had its civil and criminal tribunals; +it was authorised to proclaim martial law; it sent ambassadors to the +native governments, and concluded treaties with them; it was Zemindar of +several districts, and within those districts, like other Zemindars of +the first class, it exercised the powers of a sovereign, even to the +infliction of capital punishment on the Hindoos within its jurisdiction. +It is incorrect, therefore, to say, that the Company was at first a mere +trader, and has since become a sovereign. It was at first a great trader +and a petty prince. The political functions at first attracted little +notice, because they were merely auxiliary to the commercial functions. +By degrees, however, the political functions became more and more +important. The Zemindar became a great nabob, became sovereign of all +India; the two hundred sepoys became two hundred thousand. This change +was gradually wrought, and was not immediately comprehended. It was +natural that, while the political functions of the Company were merely +auxiliary to its commerce, the political accounts should have been mixed +up with the commercial accounts. It was equally natural that this mode +of keeping accounts, having once been established, should have remained +unaltered; and the more so, as the change in the situation of the +Company, though rapid, was not sudden. It is impossible to name any one +day, or any one year, as the day or the year when the Company became a +great potentate. It has been the fashion indeed to fix on the year 1765, +the year in which the Mogul issued a commission authorising the Company +to administer the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, as the precise +date of the accession of this singular body to sovereignty. I am utterly +at a loss to understand why this epoch should be selected. Long before +1765 the Company had the reality of political power. Long before that +year, they made a Nabob of Arcot; they made and unmade Nabobs of Bengal; +they humbled the Vizier of Oude; they braved the Emperor of Hindostan +himself; more than half the revenues of Bengal were, under one pretence +or another, administered by them. And after the grant, the Company was +not, in form and name, an independent power. It was merely a minister +of the Court of Delhi. Its coinage bore the name of Shah Alam. The +inscription which, down to the time of the Marquess of Hastings, +appeared on the seal of the Governor-General, declared that great +functionary to be the slave of the Mogul. Even to this day we have never +formally deposed the King of Delhi. The Company contents itself with +being Mayor of the Palace, while the Roi Faineant is suffered to play at +being a sovereign. In fact, it was considered, both by Lord Clive and +by Warren Hastings, as a point of policy to leave the character of +the Company thus undefined, in order that the English might treat the +princes in whose names they governed as realities or nonentities, just +as might be most convenient. + +Thus the transformation of the Company from a trading body, which +possessed some sovereign prerogatives for the purposes of trade, into a +sovereign body, the trade of which was auxiliary to its sovereignty, was +effected by degrees and under disguise. It is not strange, therefore, +that the mercantile and political transactions of this great corporation +should be entangled together in inextricable complication. The +commercial investments have been purchased out of the revenues of the +empire. The expenses of war and government have been defrayed out of +the profits of the trade. Commerce and territory have contributed to +the improvement of the same spot of land, to the repairs of the same +building. Securities have been given in precisely the same form for +money which has been borrowed for purposes of State, and for money which +has been borrowed for purposes of traffic. It is easy, indeed,--and this +is a circumstance which has, I think, misled some gentlemen,--it is easy +to see what part of the assets of the Company appears in a commercial +form, and what part appears in a political or territorial form. But +this is not the question. Assets which are commercial in form may +be territorial as respects the right of property; assets which are +territorial in form may be commercial as respects the right of property. +A chest of tea is not necessarily commercial property; it may have +been bought out of the territorial revenue. A fort is not necessarily +territorial property; it may stand on ground which the Company bought a +hundred years ago out of their commercial profits. Adjudication, if by +adjudication be meant decision according to some known rule of law, was +out of the question. To leave matters like these to be determined by the +ordinary maxims of our civil jurisprudence would have been the height of +absurdity and injustice. For example, the home bond debt of the Company, +it is believed, was incurred partly for political and partly for +commercial purposes. But there is no evidence which would enable us to +assign to each branch its proper share. The bonds all run in the same +form; and a court of justice would, therefore, of course, either lay the +whole burthen on the proprietors, or lay the whole on the territory. +We have legal opinions, very respectable legal opinions, to the effect, +that in strictness of law the territory is not responsible, and that the +commercial assets are responsible for every farthing of the debts which +were incurred for the government and defence of India. But though this +may be, and I believe is, law, it is, I am sure, neither reason nor +justice. On the other hand, it is urged by the advocates of the Company, +that some valuable portions of the territory are the property of that +body in its commercial capacity; that Calcutta, for example, is the +private estate of the Company; that the Company holds the island of +Bombay, in free and common socage, as of the Manor of East Greenwich. I +will not pronounce any opinion on these points. I have considered them +enough to see that there is quite difficulty enough in them to exercise +all the ingenuity of all the lawyers in the kingdom for twenty +years. But the fact is, Sir, that the municipal law was not made for +controversies of this description. The existence of such a body as this +gigantic corporation, this political monster of two natures, subject in +one hemisphere, sovereign in another, had never been contemplated by the +legislators or judges of former ages. Nothing but grotesque absurdity +and atrocious injustice could have been the effect, if the claims and +liabilities of such a body had been settled according to the rules of +Westminster Hall, if the maxims of conveyancers had been applied to the +titles by which flourishing cities and provinces are held, or the maxims +of the law merchant to those promissory notes which are the securities +for a great National Debt, raised for the purpose of exterminating the +Pindarrees and humbling the Burmese. + +It was, as I have said, absolutely impossible to bring the question +between commerce and territory to a satisfactory adjudication; and I +must add that, even if the difficulties which I have mentioned could +have been surmounted, even if there had been reason to hope that a +satisfactory adjudication could have been obtained, I should still +have wished to avoid that course. I think it desirable that the Company +should continue to have a share in the government of India; and it would +evidently have been impossible, pending a litigation between commerce +and territory, to leave any political power to the Company. It +would clearly have been the duty of those who were charged with the +superintendence of India, to be the patrons of India throughout that +momentous litigation, to scrutinise with the utmost severity every claim +which might be made on the Indian revenues, and to oppose, with energy +and perseverance, every such claim, unless its justice were manifest. +If the Company was to be engaged in a suit for many millions, in a suit +which might last for many years, against the Indian territory, could we +entrust the Company with the government of that territory? Could we put +the plaintiff in the situation of prochain ami of the defendant? Could +we appoint governors who would have an interest opposed in the most +direct manner to the interest of the governed, whose stock would have +been raised in value by every decision which added to the burthens of +their subjects, and depressed by every decision which diminished those +burthens? It would be absurd to suppose that they would efficiently +defend our Indian Empire against the claims which they were themselves +bringing against it; and it would be equally absurd to give the +government of the Indian Empire to those who could not be trusted to +defend its interests. + +Seeing, then, that it was most difficult, if not wholly impossible, to +resort to adjudication between commerce and territory, seeing that, +if recourse were had to adjudication, it would be necessary to make a +complete revolution in the whole constitution of India, the Government +has proposed a compromise. That compromise, with some modifications +which did not in the slightest degree affect its principle, and which, +while they gave satisfaction to the Company, will eventually lay no +additional burthen on the territory, has been accepted. It has, like +all other compromises, been loudly censured by violent partisans on +both sides. It has been represented by some as far too favourable to the +Company, and by others as most unjust to the Company. Sir, I own that we +cannot prove that either of these accusations is unfounded. It is of the +very essence of our case that we should not be able to show that we have +assigned, either to commerce or to territory, its precise due. For our +principal reason for recommending a compromise was our full conviction +that it was absolutely impossible to ascertain with precision what was +due to commerce and what was due to territory. It is not strange that +some people should accuse us of robbing the Company, and others of +conferring a vast boon on the Company, at the expense of India: for +we have proposed a middle course, on the very ground that there was +a chance of a result much more favourable to the Company than our +arrangement, and a chance also of a result much less favourable. If the +questions pending between the Company and India had been decided as the +ardent supporters of the Company predicted, India would, if I calculate +rightly, have paid eleven millions more than she will now have to pay. +If those questions had been decided as some violent enemies of the +Company predicted, that great body would have been utterly ruined. The +very meaning of compromise is that each party gives up his chance of +complete success, in order to be secured against the chance of utter +failure. And, as men of sanguine minds always overrate the chances in +their own favour, every fair compromise is sure to be severely censured +on both sides. I conceive that, in a case so dark and complicated as +this, the compromise which we recommend is sufficiently vindicated, if +it cannot be proved to be unfair. We are not bound to prove it to be +fair. For it would have been unnecessary for us to resort to compromise +at all if we had been in possession of evidence which would have enabled +us to pronounce, with certainty, what claims were fair and what were +unfair. It seems to me that we have acted with due consideration for +every party. The dividend which we give to the proprietors is precisely +the same dividend which they have been receiving during forty years, +and which they have expected to receive permanently. The price of their +stock bears at present the same proportion to the price of other stock +which it bore four or five years ago, before the anxiety and excitement +which the late negotiations naturally produced had begun to operate. +As to the territory, on the other hand, it is true that, if the assets +which are now in a commercial form should not produce a fund sufficient +to pay the debts and dividend of the Company, the territory must stand +to the loss and pay the difference. But in return for taking this risk, +the territory obtains an immediate release from claims to the amount of +many millions. I certainly do not believe that all those claims +could have been substantiated; but I know that very able men think +differently. And, if only one-fourth of the sum demanded had been +awarded to the Company, India would have lost more than the largest +sum which, as it seems to me, she can possibly lose under the proposed +arrangement. + +In a pecuniary point of view, therefore, I conceive that we can defend +the measure as it affects the territory. But to the territory the +pecuniary question is of secondary importance. If we have made a good +pecuniary bargain for India, but a bad political bargain, if we have +saved three or four millions to the finances of that country, and given +to it, at the same time, pernicious institutions, we shall indeed have +been practising a most ruinous parsimony. If, on the other hand, it +shall be found that we have added fifty or a hundred thousand pounds +a-year to the expenditure of an empire which yields a revenue of twenty +millions, but that we have at the same time secured to that empire, as +far as in us lies, the blessings of good government, we shall have no +reason to be ashamed of our profusion. I hope and believe that India +will have to pay nothing. But on the most unfavourable supposition that +can be made, she will not have to pay so much to the Company as she now +pays annually to a single state pageant, to the titular Nabob of Bengal, +for example, or the titular King of Delhi. What she pays to these +nominal princes, who, while they did anything, did mischief, and who +now do nothing, she may well consent to pay to her real rulers, if +she receives from them, in return, efficient protection and good +legislation. + +We come then to the great question. Is it desirable to retain the +Company as an organ of government for India? I think that it is +desirable. The question is, I acknowledge, beset with difficulties. We +have to solve one of the hardest problems in politics. We are trying to +make brick without straw, to bring a clean thing out of an unclean, +to give a good government to a people to whom we cannot give a free +government. In this country, in any neighbouring country, it is easy to +frame securities against oppression. In Europe, you have the materials +of good government everywhere ready to your hands. The people are +everywhere perfectly competent to hold some share, not in every country +an equal share, but some share of political power. If the question were, +What is the best mode of securing good government in Europe? the merest +smatterer in politics would answer, representative institutions. +In India you cannot have representative institutions. Of all the +innumerable speculators who have offered their suggestions on Indian +politics, not a single one, as far as I know, however democratical his +opinions may be, has ever maintained the possibility of giving, at the +present time, such institutions to India. One gentleman, extremely +well acquainted with the affairs of our Eastern Empire, a most valuable +servant of the Company, and the author of a History of India, which, +though certainly not free from faults, is, I think, on the whole, the +greatest historical work which has appeared in our language since that +of Gibbon, I mean Mr Mill, was examined on this point. That gentleman +is well known to be a very bold and uncompromising politician. He has +written strongly, far too strongly I think, in favour of pure democracy. +He has gone so far as to maintain that no nation which has not a +representative legislature, chosen by universal suffrage, enjoys +security against oppression. But when he was asked before the Committee +of last year, whether he thought representative government practicable +in India, his answer was, "utterly out of the question." This, then, +is the state in which we are. We have to frame a good government for +a country into which, by universal acknowledgment, we cannot introduce +those institutions which all our habits, which all the reasonings of +European philosophers, which all the history of our own part of the +world would lead us to consider as the one great security for good +government. We have to engraft on despotism those blessings which are +the natural fruits of liberty. In these circumstances, Sir, it behoves +us to be cautious, even to the verge of timidity. The light of political +science and of history are withdrawn: we are walking in darkness: we do +not distinctly see whither we are going. It is the wisdom of a man, so +situated, to feel his way, and not to plant his foot till he is well +assured that the ground before him is firm. + +Some things, however, in the midst of this obscurity, I can see with +clearness. I can see, for example, that it is desirable that the +authority exercised in this country over the Indian government should be +divided between two bodies, between a minister or a board appointed by +the Crown, and some other body independent of the Crown. If India is +to be a dependency of England, to be at war with our enemies, to be at +peace with our allies, to be protected by the English navy from maritime +aggression, to have a portion of the English army mixed with its sepoys, +it plainly follows that the King, to whom the Constitution gives the +direction of foreign affairs, and the command of the military and naval +forces, ought to have a share in the direction of the Indian government. +Yet, on the other hand, that a revenue of twenty millions a year, +an army of two hundred thousand men, a civil service abounding with +lucrative situations, should be left to the disposal of the Crown +without any check whatever, is what no minister, I conceive, would +venture to propose. This House is indeed the check provided by the +Constitution on the abuse of the royal prerogative. But that this House +is, or is likely ever to be, an efficient check on abuses practised +in India, I altogether deny. We have, as I believe we all feel, quite +business enough. If we were to undertake the task of looking into Indian +affairs as we look into British affairs, if we were to have Indian +budgets and Indian estimates, if we were to go into the Indian currency +question and the Indian Bank Charter, if to our disputes about Belgium +and Holland, Don Pedro and Don Miguel, were to be added disputes about +the debts of the Guicowar and the disorders of Mysore, the ex-king of +the Afghans and the Maharajah Runjeet Sing; if we were to have one night +occupied by the embezzlements of the Benares mint, and another by the +panic in the Calcutta money market; if the questions of Suttee or no +Suttee, Pilgrim tax or no Pilgrim tax, Ryotwary or Zemindary, half Batta +or whole Batta, were to be debated at the same length at which we have +debated Church reform and the assessed taxes, twenty-four hours a day +and three hundred and sixty-five days a year would be too short a time +for the discharge of our duties. The House, it is plain, has not +the necessary time to settle these matters; nor has it the necessary +knowledge; nor has it the motives to acquire that knowledge. The late +change in its constitution has made it, I believe, a much more faithful +representative of the English people. But it is as far as ever from +being a representative of the Indian people. A broken head in Cold Bath +Fields produces a greater sensation among us than three pitched battles +in India. A few weeks ago we had to decide on a claim brought by an +individual against the revenues of India. If it had been an English +question the walls would scarcely have held the Members who would +have flocked to the division. It was an Indian question; and we could +scarcely, by dint of supplication, make a House. Even when my right +honourable friend, the President of the Board of Control, gave his able +and interesting explanation of the plan which he intended to propose for +the government of a hundred millions of human beings, the attendance was +not so large as I have often seen it on a turnpike bill or a railroad +bill. + +I then take these things as proved, that the Crown must have a certain +authority over India, that there must be an efficient check on the +authority of the Crown, and that the House of Commons cannot be that +efficient check. We must then find some other body to perform that +important office. We have such a body, the Company. Shall we discard it? + +It is true that the power of the Company is an anomaly in politics. +It is strange, very strange, that a joint-stock society of traders, +a society, the shares of which are daily passed from hand to hand, +a society, the component parts of which are perpetually changing, a +society, which, judging a priori from its constitution, we should +have said was as little fitted for imperial functions as the Merchant +Tailors' Company or the New River Company, should be intrusted with +the sovereignty of a larger population, the disposal of a larger +clear revenue, the command of a larger army, than are under the direct +management of the Executive Government of the United Kingdom. But +what constitution can we give to our Indian Empire which shall not +be strange, which shall not be anomalous? That Empire is itself the +strangest of all political anomalies. That a handful of adventurers from +an island in the Atlantic should have subjugated a vast country divided +from the place of their birth by half the globe; a country which at no +very distant period was merely the subject of fable to the nations of +Europe; a country never before violated by the most renowned of Western +conquerors; a country which Trajan never entered; a country lying beyond +the point where the phalanx of Alexander refused to proceed; that we +should govern a territory ten thousand miles from us, a territory larger +and more populous than France, Spain, Italy, and Germany put together, a +territory, the present clear revenue of which exceeds the present +clear revenue of any state in the world, France excepted; a territory +inhabited by men differing from us in race, colour, language, manners, +morals, religion; these are prodigies to which the world has seen +nothing similar. Reason is confounded. We interrogate the past in vain. +General rules are useless where the whole is one vast exception. The +Company is an anomaly; but it is part of a system where every thing is +anomaly. It is the strangest of all governments; but it is designed for +the strangest of all empires. + +If we discard the Company, we must find a substitute: and, take what +substitute we may, we shall find ourselves unable to give any reason for +believing that the body which we have put in the room of the Company +is likely to acquit itself of its duties better than the Company. +Commissioners appointed by the King during pleasure would be no check on +the Crown; Commissioners appointed by the King or by Parliament for +life would always be appointed by the political party which might be +uppermost, and if a change of administration took place, would harass +the new Government with the most vexatious opposition. The plan +suggested by the right honourable Gentleman, the Member for +Montgomeryshire (Mr Charles Wynn.), is I think the very worst that I +have ever heard. He would have Directors nominated every four years +by the Crown. Is it not plain that these Directors would always be +appointed from among the supporters of the Ministry for the time being; +that their situations would depend on the permanence of that Ministry; +that therefore all their power and patronage would be employed for the +purpose of propping that Ministry, and, in case of a change, for the +purpose of molesting those who might succeed to power; that they would +be subservient while their friends were in, and factious when their +friends were out? How would Lord Grey's Ministry have been situated if +the whole body of Directors had been nominated by the Duke of Wellington +in 1830. I mean no imputation on the Duke of Wellington. If the present +ministers had to nominate Directors for four years, they would, I have +no doubt, nominate men who would give no small trouble to the Duke +of Wellington if he were to return to office. What we want is a body +independent of the Government, and no more than independent; not a tool +of the Treasury, not a tool of the opposition. No new plan which I have +heard proposed would give us such a body. The Company, strange as its +constitution may be, is such a body. It is, as a corporation, neither +Whig nor Tory, neither high-church nor low-church. It cannot be charged +with having been for or against the Catholic Bill, for or against +the Reform Bill. It has constantly acted with a view not to English +politics, but to Indian politics. We have seen the country convulsed +by faction. We have seen Ministers driven from office by this House, +Parliament dissolved in anger, general elections of unprecedented +turbulence, debates of unprecedented interest. We have seen the two +branches of the Legislature placed in direct opposition to each other. +We have seen the advisers of the Crown dismissed one day, and brought +back the next day on the shoulders of the people. And amidst all these +agitating events the Company has preserved strict and unsuspected +neutrality. This is, I think an inestimable advantage, and it is an +advantage which we must altogether forego, if we consent to adopt any of +the schemes which I have heard proposed on the other side of the House. + +We must judge of the Indian government, as of all other governments, by +its practical effects. According to the honourable Member for Sheffield, +India is ill governed; and the whole fault is with the Company. +Innumerable accusations, great and small, are brought by him against the +Directors. They are fond of war: they are fond of dominion: the taxation +is burthensome: the laws are undigested: the roads are rough: the post +goes on foot: and for everything the Company is answerable. From +the dethronement of the Mogul princes to the mishaps of Sir Charles +Metcalfe's courier, every disaster that has taken place in the East +during sixty years is laid to the charge of this Corporation. And the +inference is, that all the power which they possess ought to be taken +out of their hands, and transferred at once to the Crown. + +Now, Sir, it seems to me that, for all the evils which the honourable +Gentleman has so pathetically recounted, the Ministers of the Crown are +as much to blame as the Company; nay, much more so: for the Board of +Control could, without the consent of the Directors, have redressed +those evils; and the Directors most certainly could not have redressed +them without the consent of the Board of Control. Take the case of that +frightful grievance which seems to have made the deepest impression on +the mind of the honourable Gentleman, the slowness of the mail. Why, +Sir, if my right honourable friend, the President of our Board thought +fit, he might direct me to write to the Court and require them to frame +a dispatch on that subject. If the Court disobeyed, he might himself +frame a dispatch ordering Lord William Bentinck to put the dawks +all over Bengal on horseback. If the Court refused to send out this +dispatch, the Board could apply to the King's Bench for a mandamus. If, +on the other hand, the Directors wished to accelerate the journeys of +the mail, and the Board were adverse to the project, the Directors could +do nothing at all. For all measures of internal policy the servants +of the King are at least as deeply responsible as the Company. For all +measures of foreign policy the servants of the King, and they alone are +responsible. I was surprised to hear the honourable Gentleman accuse the +Directors of insatiable ambition and rapacity, when he must know that +no act of aggression on any native state can be committed by the Company +without the sanction of the Board, and that, in fact, the Board has +repeatedly approved of warlike measures which were strenuously opposed +by the Company. He must know, in particular, that, during the energetic +and splendid administration of the Marquess of Wellesley, the company +was all for peace, and the Board all for conquest. If a line of conduct +which the honourable Gentleman thinks unjustifiable has been followed +by the Ministers of the Crown in spite of the remonstrances of +the Directors, this is surely a strange reason for turning off the +Directors, and giving the whole power unchecked to the Crown. + +The honourable Member tells us that India, under the present system, is +not so rich and flourishing as she was two hundred years ago. Really, +Sir, I doubt whether we are in possession of sufficient data to enable +us to form a judgment on that point. But the matter is of little +importance. We ought to compare India under our government, not with +India under Acbar and his immediate successors, but with India as we +found it. The calamities through which that country passed during the +interval between the fall of the Mogul power and the establishment of +the English supremacy were sufficient to throw the people back whole +centuries. It would surely be unjust to say, that Alfred was a bad king +because Britain, under his government, was not so rich or so civilised +as in the time of the Romans. + +In what state, then, did we find India? And what have we made India? We +found society throughout that vast country in a state to which history +scarcely furnishes a parallel. The nearest parallel would, perhaps, be +the state of Europe during the fifth century. The Mogul empire in the +time of the successors of Aurungzebe, like the Roman empire in the time +of the successors of Theodosius, was sinking under the vices of a bad +internal administration, and under the assaults of barbarous invaders. +At Delhi, as at Ravenna, there was a mock sovereign, immured in a +gorgeous state prison. He was suffered to indulge in every sensual +pleasure. He was adored with servile prostrations. He assumed and +bestowed the most magnificent titles. But, in fact, he was a mere puppet +in the hands of some ambitious subject. While the Honorii and Augustuli +of the East, surrounded by their fawning eunuchs, reveled and dozed +without knowing or caring what might pass beyond the walls of their +palace gardens, the provinces had ceased to respect a government which +could neither punish nor protect them. Society was a chaos. Its restless +and shifting elements formed themselves every moment into some new +combination, which the next moment dissolved. In the course of a single +generation a hundred dynasties grew up, flourished, decayed, were +extinguished, were forgotten. Every adventurer who could muster a troop +of horse might aspire to a throne. Every palace was every year the scene +of conspiracies, treasons, revolutions, parricides. Meanwhile a rapid +succession of Alarics and Attilas passed over the defenceless empire. +A Persian invader penetrated to Delhi, and carried back in triumph +the most precious treasures of the House of Tamerlane. The Afghan soon +followed by the same track, to glean whatever the Persian had spared. +The Jauts established themselves on the Jumna. The Seiks devastated +Lahore. Every part of India, from Tanjore to the Himalayas, was laid +under contribution by the Mahrattas. The people were ground down to the +dust by the oppressor without and the oppressor within, by the robber +from whom the Nabob was unable to protect them, by the Nabob who took +whatever the robber had left to them. All the evils of despotism, and +all the evils of anarchy, pressed at once on that miserable race. They +knew nothing of government but its exactions. Desolation was in their +imperial cities, and famine all along the banks of their broad and +redundant rivers. It seemed that a few more years would suffice to +efface all traces of the opulence and civilisation of an earlier age. + +Such was the state of India when the Company began to take part in the +disputes of its ephemeral sovereigns. About eighty years have elapsed +since we appeared as auxiliaries in a contest between two rival families +for the sovereignty of a small corner of the Peninsula. From that +moment commenced a great, a stupendous process, the reconstruction of a +decomposed society. Two generations have passed away; and the process is +complete. The scattered fragments of the empire of Aurungzebe have been +united in an empire stronger and more closely knit together than that +which Aurungzebe ruled. The power of the new sovereigns penetrates their +dominions more completely, and is far more implicitly obeyed, than was +that of the proudest princes of the Mogul dynasty. + +It is true that the early history of this great revolution is chequered +with guilt and shame. It is true that the founders of our Indian Empire +too often abused the strength which they derived from superior energy +and superior knowledge. It is true that, with some of the highest +qualities of the race from which they sprang, they combined some of the +worst defects of the race over which they ruled. How should it have +been otherwise? Born in humble stations, accustomed to earn a slender +maintenance by obscure industry, they found themselves transformed in +a few months from clerks drudging over desks, or captains in marching +regiments, into statesmen and generals, with armies at their command, +with the revenues of kingdoms at their disposal, with power to make and +depose sovereigns at their pleasure. They were what it was natural that +men should be who had been raised by so rapid an ascent to so dizzy an +eminence, profuse and rapacious, imperious and corrupt. + +It is true, then, that there was too much foundation for the +representations of those satirists and dramatists who held up the +character of the English Nabob to the derision and hatred of a former +generation. It is true that some disgraceful intrigues, some unjust +and cruel wars, some instances of odious perfidy and avarice, stain the +annals of our Eastern Empire. It is true that the duties of government +and legislation were long wholly neglected or carelessly performed. It +is true that when the conquerors at length began to apply themselves +in earnest to the discharge of their high functions, they committed the +errors natural to rulers who were but imperfectly acquainted with the +language and manners of their subjects. It is true that some plans, +which were dictated by the purest and most benevolent feelings have not +been attended by the desired success. It is true that India suffers to +this day from a heavy burden of taxation and from a defective system of +law. It is true, I fear, that in those states which are connected with +us by subsidiary alliance, all the evils of oriental despotism have +too frequently shown themselves in their most loathsome and destructive +form. + +All this is true. Yet in the history and in the present state of our +Indian Empire I see ample reason for exultation and for a good hope. + +I see that we have established order where we found confusion. I see +that the petty dynasties which were generated by the corruption of the +great Mahometan Empire, and which, a century ago, kept all India in +constant agitation, have been quelled by one overwhelming power. I see +that the predatory tribes, which, in the middle of the last century, +passed annually over the harvests of India with the destructive rapidity +of a hurricane, have quailed before the valour of a braver and sterner +race, have been vanquished, scattered, hunted to their strongholds, and +either extirpated by the English sword, or compelled to exchange the +pursuits of rapine for those of industry. + +I look back for many years; and I see scarcely a trace of the vices +which blemished the splendid fame of the first conquerors of Bengal. +I see peace studiously preserved. I see faith inviolably maintained +towards feeble and dependent states. I see confidence gradually infused +into the minds of suspicious neighbours. I see the horrors of war +mitigated by the chivalrous and Christian spirit of Europe. I see +examples of moderation and clemency, such as I should seek in vain in +the annals of any other victorious and dominant nation. I see captive +tyrants, whose treachery and cruelty might have excused a severe +retribution, living in security, comfort, and dignity, under the +protection of the government which they laboured to destroy. + +I see a large body of civil and military functionaries resembling in +nothing but capacity and valour those adventurers who, seventy years +ago, came hither, laden with wealth and infamy, to parade before our +fathers the plundered treasures of Bengal and Tanjore. I reflect with +pride that to the doubtful splendour which surrounds the memory of +Hastings and of Clive, we can oppose the spotless glory of Elphinstone +and Munro. I contemplate with reverence and delight the honourable +poverty which is the evidence of rectitude firmly maintained amidst +strong temptations. I rejoice to see my countrymen, after ruling +millions of subjects, after commanding victorious armies, after +dictating terms of peace at the gates of hostile capitals, after +administering the revenues of great provinces, after judging the causes +of wealthy Zemindars, after residing at the courts of tributary Kings, +return to their native land with no more than a decent competence. + +I see a government anxiously bent on the public good. Even in its errors +I recognise a paternal feeling towards the great people committed to +its charge. I see toleration strictly maintained: yet I see bloody +and degrading superstitions gradually losing their power. I see the +morality, the philosophy, the taste of Europe, beginning to produce a +salutary effect on the hearts and understandings of our subjects. I see +the public mind of India, that public mind which we found debased +and contracted by the worst forms of political and religious tyranny, +expanding itself to just and noble views of the ends of government and +of the social duties of man. + +I see evils: but I see the government actively employed in the work +of remedying those evils. The taxation is heavy; but the work of +retrenchment is unsparingly pursued. The mischiefs arising from the +system of subsidiary alliance are great: but the rulers of India are +fully aware of those mischiefs, and are engaged in guarding against +them. Wherever they now interfere for the purpose of supporting a native +government, they interfere also for the purpose of reforming it. + +Seeing these things, then, am I prepared to discard the Company as +an organ of government? I am not. Assuredly I will never shrink from +innovation where I see reason to believe that innovation will +be improvement. That the present Government does not shrink from +innovations which it considers as improvements the bill now before the +House sufficiently shows. But surely the burden of the proof lies on the +innovators. They are bound to show that there is a fair probability +of obtaining some advantage before they call upon us to take up the +foundations of the Indian government. I have no superstitious veneration +for the Court of Directors or the Court of Proprietors. Find me a better +Council: find me a better constituent body: and I am ready for a change. +But of all the substitutes for the Company which have hitherto been +suggested, not one has been proved to be better than the Company; and +most of them I could, I think, easily prove to be worse. Circumstances +might force us to hazard a change. If the Company were to refuse to +accept of the government unless we would grant pecuniary terms which I +thought extravagant, or unless we gave up the clauses in this bill which +permit Europeans to hold landed property and natives to hold office, I +would take them at their word. But I will not discard them in the mere +rage of experiment. + +Do I call the government of India a perfect government? Very far from +it. No nation can be perfectly well governed till it is competent to +govern itself. I compare the Indian government with other governments of +the same class, with despotisms, with military despotisms, with foreign +military despotisms; and I find none that approaches it in excellence. +I compare it with the government of the Roman provinces, with the +government of the Spanish colonies; and I am proud of my country and my +age. Here are a hundred millions of people under the absolute rule of +a few strangers, differing from them physically, differing from them +morally, mere Mamelukes, not born in the country which they rule, +not meaning to lay their bones in it. If you require me to make this +government as good as that of England, France, or the United States of +America, I own frankly that I can do no such thing. Reasoning a priori, +I should have come to the conclusion that such a government must be a +horrible tyranny. It is a source of constant amazement to me that it is +so good as I find it to be. I will not, therefore, in a case in which +I have neither principles nor precedents to guide me, pull down the +existing system on account of its theoretical defects. For I know that +any system which I could put in its place would be equally condemned by +theory, while it would not be equally sanctioned by experience. + +Some change in the constitution of the Company was, as I have shown, +rendered inevitable by the opening of the China Trade; and it was +the duty of the Government to take care that the change should not +be prejudicial to India. There were many ways in which the compromise +between commerce and territory might have been effected. We might have +taken the assets, and paid a sum down, leaving the Company to invest +that sum as they chose. We might have offered English security with a +lower interest. We might have taken the course which the late ministers +designed to take. They would have left the Company in possession of the +means of carrying on its trade in competition with private merchants. My +firm belief is that, if this course had been taken, the Company must, +in a very few years, have abandoned the trade, or the trade would have +ruined the Company. It was not, however, solely or principally by regard +for the interest of the Company, or of English merchants generally, that +the Government was guided on this occasion. The course which appeared to +us the most likely to promote the interests of our Eastern Empire was to +make the proprietors of India stock creditors of the Indian territory. +Their interest will thus be in a great measure the same with the +interest of the people whom they are to rule. Their income will depend +on the revenues of their empire. The revenues of their empire +will depend on the manner in which the affairs of that empire are +administered. We furnish them with the strongest motives to watch over +the interests of the cultivator and the trader, to maintain peace, to +carry on with vigour the work of retrenchment, to detect and punish +extortion and corruption. Though they live at a distance from India, +though few of them have ever seen or may ever see the people whom they +rule, they will have a great stake in the happiness of their subjects. +If their misgovernment should produce disorder in the finances, they +will themselves feel the effects of that disorder in their own household +expenses. I believe this to be, next to a representative constitution, +the constitution which is the best security for good government. A +representative constitution India cannot at present have. And we have +therefore, I think, given her the best constitution of which she is +capable. + +One word as to the new arrangement which we propose with respect to the +patronage. It is intended to introduce the principle of competition +in the disposal of writerships; and from this change I cannot but +anticipate the happiest results. The civil servants of the Company are +undoubtedly a highly respectable body of men; and in that body, as in +every large body, there are some persons of very eminent ability. I +rejoice most cordially to see this. I rejoice to see that the standard +of morality is so high in England, that intelligence is so generally +diffused through England, that young persons who are taken from the mass +of society, by favour and not by merit, and who are therefore only +fair samples of the mass, should, when placed in situations of high +importance, be so seldom found wanting. But it is not the less true that +India is entitled to the service of the best talents which England can +spare. That the average of intelligence and virtue is very high in +this country is matter for honest exultation. But it is no reason for +employing average men where you can obtain superior men. Consider +too, Sir, how rapidly the public mind of India is advancing, how much +attention is already paid by the higher classes of the natives to those +intellectual pursuits on the cultivation of which the superiority of +the European race to the rest of mankind principally depends. Surely, +in such circumstances, from motives of selfish policy, if from no higher +motive, we ought to fill the magistracies of our Eastern Empire with men +who may do honour to their country, with men who may represent the best +part of the English nation. This, Sir, is our object; and we believe +that by the plan which is now proposed this object will be attained. It +is proposed that for every vacancy in the civil service four candidates +shall be named, and the best candidate selected by examination. We +conceive that, under this system, the persons sent out will be young men +above par, young men superior either in talents or in diligence to the +mass. It is said, I know, that examinations in Latin, in Greek, and in +mathematics, are no tests of what men will prove to be in life. I am +perfectly aware that they are not infallible tests: but that they are +tests I confidently maintain. Look at every walk of life, at this House, +at the other House, at the Bar, at the Bench, at the Church, and see +whether it be not true that those who attain high distinction in the +world were generally men who were distinguished in their academic +career. Indeed, Sir, this objection would prove far too much even +for those who use it. It would prove that there is no use at all in +education. Why should we put boys out of their way? Why should we force +a lad, who would much rather fly a kite or trundle a hoop, to learn his +Latin Grammar? Why should we keep a young man to his Thucydides or his +Laplace, when he would much rather be shooting? Education would be mere +useless torture, if, at two or three and twenty, a man who had neglected +his studies were exactly on a par with a man who had applied himself to +them, exactly as likely to perform all the offices of public life with +credit to himself and with advantage to society. Whether the English +system of education be good or bad is not now the question. Perhaps I +may think that too much time is given to the ancient languages and +to the abstract sciences. But what then? Whatever be the languages, +whatever be the sciences, which it is, in any age or country, the +fashion to teach, the persons who become the greatest proficients in +those languages and those sciences will generally be the flower of +the youth, the most acute, the most industrious, the most ambitious +of honourable distinctions. If the Ptolemaic system were taught +at Cambridge instead of the Newtonian, the senior wrangler would +nevertheless be in general a superior man to the wooden spoon. If, +instead of learning Greek, we learned the Cherokee, the man who +understood the Cherokee best, who made the most correct and melodious +Cherokee verses, who comprehended most accurately the effect of the +Cherokee particles, would generally be a superior man to him who was +destitute of these accomplishments. If astrology were taught at our +Universities, the young man who cast nativities best would generally +turn out a superior man. If alchymy were taught, the young man who +showed most activity in the pursuit of the philosopher's stone would +generally turn out a superior man. + +I will only add one other observation on this subject. Although I +am inclined to think that too exclusive an attention is paid in the +education of young English gentlemen to the dead languages, I conceive +that when you are choosing men to fill situations for which the very +first and most indispensable qualification is familiarity with foreign +languages, it would be difficult to find a better test of their fitness +than their classical acquirements. + +Some persons have expressed doubts as to the possibility of procuring +fair examinations. I am quite sure that no person who has been either at +Cambridge or at Oxford can entertain such doubts. I feel, indeed, that I +ought to apologise for even noticing an objection so frivolous. + +Next to the opening of the China trade, Sir, the change most eagerly +demanded by the English people was, that the restrictions on the +admission of Europeans to India should be removed. In this change there +are undoubtedly very great advantages. The chief advantage is, I think, +the improvement which the minds of our native subjects may be expected +to derive from free intercourse with a people far advanced beyond +themselves in intellectual cultivation. I cannot deny, however, that the +advantages are attended with some danger. + +The danger is that the new comers, belonging to the ruling nation, +resembling in colour, in language, in manners, those who hold supreme +military and political power, and differing in all these respects from +the great mass of the population, may consider themselves as a superior +class, and may trample on the indigenous race. Hitherto there have been +strong restraints on Europeans resident in India. Licences were not +easily obtained. Those residents who were in the service of the Company +had obvious motives for conducting themselves with propriety. If they +incurred the serious displeasure of the Government, their hopes of +promotion were blighted. Even those who were not in the public service +were subject to the formidable power which the Government possessed of +banishing them at its pleasure. + +The license of the Government will now no longer be necessary to persons +who desire to reside in the settled provinces of India. The power of +arbitrary deportation is withdrawn. Unless, therefore, we mean to leave +the natives exposed to the tyranny and insolence of every profligate +adventurer who may visit the East, we must place the European under +the same power which legislates for the Hindoo. No man loves political +freedom more than I. But a privilege enjoyed by a few individuals, in +the midst of a vast population who do not enjoy it, ought not to be +called freedom. It is tyranny. In the West Indies I have not the +least doubt that the existence of the Trial by Jury and of Legislative +Assemblies has tended to make the condition of the slaves worse than it +would otherwise have been. Or, to go to India itself for an instance, +though I fully believe that a mild penal code is better than a severe +penal code, the worst of all systems was surely that of having a mild +code for the Brahmins, who sprang from the head of the Creator, while +there was a severe code for the Sudras, who sprang from his feet. India +has suffered enough already from the distinction of castes, and from +the deeply rooted prejudices which that distinction has engendered. God +forbid that we should inflict on her the curse of a new caste, that we +should send her a new breed of Brahmins, authorised to treat all the +native population as Parias! + +With a view to the prevention of this evil, we propose to give to the +Supreme Government the power of legislating for Europeans as well as for +natives. We propose that the regulations of the Government shall bind +the King's Court as they bind all other courts, and that registration +by the Judges of the King's Courts shall no longer be necessary to give +validity to those regulations within the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and +Bombay. + +I could scarcely, Sir, believe my ears when I heard this part of our +plan condemned in another place. I should have thought that it would +have been received with peculiar favour in that quarter where it has met +with the most severe condemnation. What, at present, is the case? If the +Supreme Court and the Government differ on a question of jurisdiction, +or on a question of legislation within the towns which are the seats of +Government, there is absolutely no umpire but the Imperial Parliament. +The device of putting one wild elephant between two tame elephants was +ingenious: but it may not always be practicable. Suppose a tame elephant +between two wild elephants, or suppose that the whole herd should run +wild together. The thing is not without example. And is it not most +unjust and ridiculous that, on one side of a ditch, the edict of the +Governor General should have the force of law, and that on the other +side it should be of no effect unless registered by the Judges of the +Supreme Court? If the registration be a security for good legislation, +we are bound to give that security to all classes of our subjects. If +the registration be not a security for good legislation, why give it to +any? Is the system good? Extend it. Is it bad! Abolish it. But in the +name of common sense do not leave it as it is. It is as absurd as our +old law of sanctuary. The law which authorises imprisonment for debt +may be good or bad. But no man in his senses can approve of the ancient +system under which a debtor who might be arrested in Fleet Street was +safe as soon as he had scampered into Whitefriars. Just in the same way, +doubts may fairly be entertained about the expediency of allowing four +or five persons to make laws for India; but to allow them to make laws +for all India without the Mahratta ditch, and to except Calcutta, is the +height of absurdity. + +I say, therefore, that either you must enlarge the power of the Supreme +Court, and give it a general veto on laws, or you must enlarge the +power of the Government, and make its regulations binding on all +Courts without distinction. The former course no person has ventured to +propose. To the latter course objections have been made; but objections +which to me, I must own, seem altogether frivolous. + +It is acknowledged that of late years inconvenience has arisen from the +relation in which the Supreme Court stands to the Government. But, it is +said, that Court was originally instituted for the protection of natives +against Europeans. The wise course would therefore be to restore its +original character. + +Now, Sir, the fact is, that the Supreme Court has never been so +mischievous as during the first ten years of its power, or so +respectable as it has lately been. Everybody who knows anything of its +early history knows, that, during a considerable time, it was the terror +of Bengal, the scourge of the native population, the screen of European +delinquents, a convenient tool of the Government for all purposes of +evil, an insurmountable obstacle to the Government in all undertakings +for the public good; that its proceedings were made up of pedantry, +cruelty, and corruption; that its disputes with the Government were at +one time on the point of breaking up the whole fabric of society; and +that a convulsion was averted only by the dexterous policy of Warren +Hastings, who at last bought off the opposition of the Chief Justice for +eight thousand pounds a year. It is notorious that, while the Supreme +Court opposed Hastings in all his best measures, it was a thoroughgoing +accomplice in his worst; that it took part in the most scandalous of +those proceedings which, fifty years ago, roused the indignation of +Parliament and of the country; that it assisted in the spoliation of the +princesses of Oude; that it passed sentence of death on Nuncomar. And +this is the Court which we are to restore from its present state of +degeneracy to its original purity. This is the protection which we are +to give to the natives against the Europeans. Sir, so far is it from +being true that the character of the Supreme Court has deteriorated, +that it has, perhaps, improved more than any other institution in India. +But the evil lies deep in the nature of the institution itself. The +judges have in our time deserved the greatest respect. Their judgment +and integrity have done much to mitigate the vices of the system. +The worst charge that can be brought against any of them is that of +pertinacity, disinterested, conscientious pertinacity, in error. The +real evil is the state of the law. You have two supreme powers in India. +There is no arbitrator except a Legislature fifteen thousand miles off. +Such a system is on the face of it an absurdity in politics. My +wonder is, not that this system has several times been on the point +of producing fatal consequences to the peace and resources of +India;--those, I think, are the words in which Warren Hastings described +the effect of the contest between his Government and the Judges;--but +that it has not actually produced such consequences. The most +distinguished members of the Indian Government, the most distinguished +Judges of the Supreme Court, call upon you to reform this system. Sir +Charles Metcalfe, Sir Charles Grey, represent with equal urgency the +expediency of having one single paramount council armed with legislative +power. The admission of Europeans to India renders it absolutely +necessary not to delay our decision. The effect of that admission would +be to raise a hundred questions, to produce a hundred contests between +the Council and the judicature. The Government would be paralysed at the +precise moment at which all its energy was required. While the two equal +powers were acting in opposite directions, the whole machine of the +state would stand still. The Europeans would be uncontrolled. The +natives would be unprotected. The consequences I will not pretend to +foresee. Everything beyond is darkness and confusion. + +Having given to the Government supreme legislative power, we next +propose to give to it for a time the assistance of a commission for the +purpose of digesting and reforming the laws of India, so that those laws +may, as soon as possible, be formed into a Code. Gentleman of whom I +wish to speak with the highest respect have expressed a doubt whether +India be at present in a fit state to receive a benefit which is not yet +enjoyed by this free and highly civilised country. Sir, I can allow to +this argument very little weight beyond that which it derives from the +personal authority of those who use it. For, in the first place, our +freedom and our high civilisation make this improvement, desirable as +it must always be, less indispensably necessary to us than to our Indian +subjects; and in the next place, our freedom and civilisation, I fear, +make it far more difficult for us to obtain this benefit for ourselves +than to bestow it on them. + +I believe that no country ever stood so much in need of a code of laws +as India; and I believe also that there never was a country in which the +want might so easily be supplied. I said that there were many points of +analogy between the state of that country after the fall of the Mogul +power, and the state of Europe after the fall of the Roman empire. In +one respect the analogy is very striking. As there were in Europe then, +so there are in India now, several systems of law widely differing from +each other, but coexisting and coequal. The indigenous population has +its own laws. Each of the successive races of conquerors has brought +with it its own peculiar jurisprudence: the Mussulman his Koran and the +innumerable commentators on the Koran; the Englishman his Statute Book +and his Term Reports. As there were established in Italy, at one and +the same time, the Roman Law, the Lombard law, the Ripuarian law, the +Bavarian law, and the Salic law, so we have now in our Eastern empire +Hindoo law, Mahometan law, Parsee law, English law, perpetually mingling +with each other and disturbing each other, varying with the person, +varying with the place. In one and the same cause the process and +pleadings are in the fashion of one nation, the judgment is according +to the laws of another. An issue is evolved according to the rules +of Westminster, and decided according to those of Benares. The only +Mahometan book in the nature of a code is the Koran; the only Hindoo +book, the Institutes. Everybody who knows those books knows that they +provide for a very small part of the cases which must arise in every +community. All beyond them is comment and tradition. Our regulations in +civil matters do not define rights, but merely establish remedies. If +a point of Hindoo law arises, the Judge calls on the Pundit for an +opinion. If a point of Mahometan law arises, the Judge applies to the +Cauzee. What the integrity of these functionaries is, we may learn from +Sir William Jones. That eminent man declared that he could not answer +it to his conscience to decide any point of law on the faith of a Hindoo +expositor. Sir Thomas Strange confirms this declaration. Even if there +were no suspicion of corruption on the part of the interpreters of the +law, the science which they profess is in such a state of confusion that +no reliance can be placed on their answers. Sir Francis Macnaghten tells +us, that it is a delusion to fancy that there is any known and fixed law +under which the Hindoo people live; that texts may be produced on any +side of any question; that expositors equal in authority perpetually +contradict each other: that the obsolete law is perpetually confounded +with the law actually in force; and that the first lesson to be +impressed on a functionary who has to administer Hindoo law is that it +is vain to think of extracting certainty from the books of the jurist. +The consequence is that in practice the decisions of the tribunals are +altogether arbitrary. What is administered is not law, but a kind of +rude and capricious equity. I asked an able and excellent judge lately +returned from India how one of our Zillah Courts would decide +several legal questions of great importance, questions not involving +considerations of religion or of caste, mere questions of commercial +law. He told me that it was a mere lottery. He knew how he should +himself decide them. But he knew nothing more. I asked a most +distinguished civil servant of the Company, with reference to the clause +in this Bill on the subject of slavery, whether at present, if a dancing +girl ran away from her master, the judge would force her to go back. +"Some judges," he said, "send a girl back. Others set her at liberty. +The whole is a mere matter of chance. Everything depends on the temper +of the individual judge." + +Even in this country we have had complaints of judge-made law; even in +this country, where the standard of morality is higher than in almost +any other part of the world; where, during several generations, not +one depositary of our legal traditions has incurred the suspicion of +personal corruption; where there are popular institutions; where every +decision is watched by a shrewd and learned audience; where there is an +intelligent and observant public; where every remarkable case is fully +reported in a hundred newspapers; where, in short, there is everything +which can mitigate the evils of such a system. But judge-made law, where +there is an absolute government and a lax morality, where there is no +bar and no public, is a curse and a scandal not to be endured. It is +time that the magistrate should know what law he is to administer, that +the subject should know under what law he is to live. We do not mean +that all the people of India should live under the same law: far from +it: there is not a word in the bill, there was not a word in my right +honourable friend's speech, susceptible of such an interpretation. +We know how desirable that object is; but we also know that it is +unattainable. We know that respect must be paid to feelings generated by +differences of religion, of nation, and of caste. Much, I am persuaded, +may be done to assimilate the different systems of law without wounding +those feelings. But, whether we assimilate those systems or not, let us +ascertain them; let us digest them. We propose no rash innovation; we +wish to give no shock to the prejudices of any part of our subjects. Our +principle is simply this; uniformity where you can have it: diversity +where you must have it; but in all cases certainty. + +As I believe that India stands more in need of a code than any other +country in the world, I believe also that there is no country on which +that great benefit can more easily be conferred. A code is almost the +only blessing, perhaps is the only blessing, which absolute governments +are better fitted to confer on a nation than popular governments. +The work of digesting a vast and artificial system of unwritten +jurisprudence is far more easily performed, and far better performed, by +few minds than by many, by a Napoleon than by a Chamber of Deputies and +a Chamber of Peers, by a government like that of Prussia or Denmark +than by a government like that of England. A quiet knot of two or three +veteran jurists is an infinitely better machinery for such a purpose +than a large popular assembly divided, as such assemblies almost always +are, into adverse factions. This seems to me, therefore, to be precisely +that point of time at which the advantage of a complete written code of +laws may most easily be conferred on India. It is a work which cannot +be well performed in an age of barbarism, which cannot without great +difficulty be performed in an age of freedom. It is a work which +especially belongs to a government like that of India, to an enlightened +and paternal despotism. + +I have detained the House so long, Sir, that I will defer what I had to +say on some parts of this measure, important parts, indeed, but far less +important, as I think, than those to which I have adverted, till we are +in Committee. There is, however, one part of the bill on which, after +what has recently passed elsewhere, I feel myself irresistibly impelled +to say a few words. I allude to that wise, that benevolent, that noble +clause which enacts that no native of our Indian empire shall, by reason +of his colour, his descent, or his religion, be incapable of holding +office. At the risk of being called by that nickname which is regarded +as the most opprobrious of all nicknames by men of selfish hearts and +contracted minds, at the risk of being called a philosopher, I must say +that, to the last day of my life, I shall be proud of having been one +of those who assisted in the framing of the bill which contains that +clause. We are told that the time can never come when the natives of +India can be admitted to high civil and military office. We are told +that this is the condition on which we hold our power. We are told that +we are bound to confer on our subjects every benefit--which they +are capable of enjoying?--no;--which it is in our power to confer +on them?--no;--but which we can confer on them without hazard to the +perpetuity of our own domination. Against that proposition I solemnly +protest as inconsistent alike with sound policy and sound morality. + +I am far, very far, from wishing to proceed hastily in this most +delicate matter. I feel that, for the good of India itself, the +admission of natives to high office must be effected by slow degrees. +But that, when the fulness of time is come, when the interest of India +requires the change, we ought to refuse to make that change lest we +should endanger our own power, this is a doctrine of which I cannot +think without indignation. Governments, like men, may buy existence too +dear. "Propter vitam vivendi perdere causas," is a despicable policy +both in individuals and in states. In the present case, such a policy +would be not only despicable, but absurd. The mere extent of empire +is not necessarily an advantage. To many governments it has been +cumbersome; to some it has been fatal. It will be allowed by every +statesman of our time that the prosperity of a community is made up of +the prosperity of those who compose the community, and that it is the +most childish ambition to covet dominion which adds to no man's comfort +or security. To the great trading nation, to the great manufacturing +nation, no progress which any portion of the human race can make in +knowledge, in taste for the conveniences of life, or in the wealth by +which those conveniences are produced, can be matter of indifference. +It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits which we might derive +from the diffusion of European civilisation among the vast population of +the East. It would be, on the most selfish view of the case, far better +for us that the people of India were well governed and independent of +us, than ill governed and subject to us; that they were ruled by their +own kings, but wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, +than that they were performing their salams to English collectors and +English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, +English manufactures. To trade with civilised men is infinitely more +profitable than to govern savages. That would, indeed, be a doting +wisdom, which, in order that India might remain a dependency, would make +it an useless and costly dependency, which would keep a hundred millions +of men from being our customers in order that they might continue to be +our slaves. + +It was, as Bernier tells us, the practice of the miserable tyrants whom +he found in India, when they dreaded the capacity and spirit of some +distinguished subject, and yet could not venture to murder him, to +administer to him a daily dose of the pousta, a preparation of opium, +the effect of which was in a few months to destroy all the bodily and +mental powers of the wretch who was drugged with it, and to turn him +into a helpless idiot. The detestable artifice, more horrible than +assassination itself, was worthy of those who employed it. It is no +model for the English nation. We shall never consent to administer the +pousta to a whole community, to stupefy and paralyse a great people whom +God has committed to our charge, for the wretched purpose of rendering +them more amenable to our control. What is power worth if it is +founded on vice, on ignorance, and on misery; if we can hold it only +by violating the most sacred duties which as governors we owe to the +governed, and which, as a people blessed with far more than an ordinary +measure of political liberty and of intellectual light, we owe to a race +debased by three thousand years of despotism and priestcraft? We are +free, we are civilised, to little purpose, if we grudge to any portion +of the human race an equal measure of freedom and civilisation. + +Are we to keep the people of India ignorant in order that we may keep +them submissive? Or do we think that we can give them knowledge without +awakening ambition? Or do we mean to awaken ambition and to provide it +with no legitimate vent? Who will answer any of these questions in the +affirmative? Yet one of them must be answered in the affirmative, by +every person who maintains that we ought permanently to exclude the +natives from high office. I have no fears. The path of duty is plain +before us: and it is also the path of wisdom, of national prosperity, of +national honour. + +The destinies of our Indian empire are covered with thick darkness. It +is difficult to form any conjecture as to the fate reserved for a +state which resembles no other in history, and which forms by itself +a separate class of political phenomena. The laws which regulate its +growth and its decay are still unknown to us. It may be that the public +mind of India may expand under our system till it has outgrown that +system; that by good government we may educate our subjects into a +capacity for better government; that, having become instructed in +European knowledge, they may, in some future age, demand European +institutions. Whether such a day will ever come I know not. But never +will I attempt to avert or to retard it. Whenever it comes, it will be +the proudest day in English history. To have found a great people sunk +in the lowest depths of slavery and superstition, to have so ruled +them as to have made them desirous and capable of all the privileges of +citizens, would indeed be a title to glory all our own. The sceptre may +pass away from us. Unforeseen accidents may derange our most profound +schemes of policy. Victory may be inconstant to our arms. But there are +triumphs which are followed by no reverse. There is an empire exempt +from all natural causes of decay. Those triumphs are the pacific +triumphs of reason over barbarism; that empire is the imperishable +empire of our arts and our morals, our literature and our laws. + +***** + + + + +EDINBURGH ELECTION, 1839. (MAY 29, 1839) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH +ON THE 29TH OF MAY 1839. + +The elevation of Mr Abercromby to the peerage in May 1839, caused a +vacancy in the representation of the city of Edinburgh. A meeting of +the electors was called to consider of the manner in which the vacancy +should be supplied. At this meeting the following Speech was made. + +My Lord Provost and Gentlemen,--At the request of a very large and +respectable portion of your body, I appear before you as a candidate +for a high and solemn trust, which, uninvited, I should have thought +it presumption to solicit, but which, thus invited, I should think it +cowardice to decline. If I had felt myself justified in following my own +inclinations, I am not sure that even a summons so honourable as that +which I have received would have been sufficient to draw me away from +pursuits far better suited to my taste and temper than the turmoil of +political warfare. But I feel that my lot is cast in times in which +no man is free to judge, merely according to his own taste and temper, +whether he will devote himself to active or to contemplative life; in +times in which society has a right to demand, from every one of its +members, active and strenuous exertions. I have, therefore, obeyed your +call; and I now present myself before you for the purpose of offering +to you, not, what I am sure you would reject with disdain, flattery, +degrading alike to a candidate, and to a constituent body; but such +reasonable, candid, and manly explanations as become the mouth of a free +man ambitious of the confidence of a free people. + +It is hardly necessary for me to say that I stand here unconnected with +this great community. It would be mere affectation not to acknowledge +that with respect to local questions I have much to learn; but I hope +that you will find in me no sluggish or inattentive learner. From an +early age I have felt a strong interest in Edinburgh, although attached +to Edinburgh by no other ties than those which are common to me with +multitudes; that tie which attaches every man of Scottish blood to the +ancient and renowned capital of our race; that tie which attaches every +student of history to the spot ennobled by so many great and memorable +events; that tie which attaches every traveller of taste to the most +beautiful of British cities; and that tie which attaches every lover +of literature to a place which, since it has ceased to be the seat of +empire, has derived from poetry, philosophy, and eloquence a far higher +distinction than empire can bestow. If to those ties it shall now be +your pleasure to add a tie still closer and more peculiar, I can only +assure you that it shall be the study of my life so to conduct myself +in these our troubled times that you may have no reason to be ashamed of +your choice. + +Those gentlemen who invited me to appear as a candidate before you were +doubtless acquainted with the part which I took in public affairs during +the three first Parliaments of the late King. Circumstances have since +that time undergone great alteration; but no alteration has taken place +in my principles. I do not mean to say that thought, discussion, and the +new phenomena produced by the operation of a new representative system, +have not led me to modify some of my views on questions of detail; but, +with respect to the fundamental principles of government, my opinions +are still what they were when, in 1831 and 1832, I took part, according +to the measure of my abilities, in that great pacific victory which +purified the representative system of England, and which first gave a +real representative system to Scotland. Even at that time, Gentlemen, +the leaning of my mind was in favour of one measure to which the +illustrious leader of the Whig party, whose name ought never to be +mentioned without gratitude and reverence in any assembly of British +electors, I mean Earl Grey, was understood to entertain strong +objections, and to which his Cabinet, as a Cabinet, was invariably +opposed. I speak of the vote by ballot. All that has passed since that +time confirms me in the view which I was then inclined to take of +that important question. At the same time I do not think that all the +advantages are on one side and all the disadvantages on the other. I +must admit that the effect of the practice of secret voting would be to +withdraw the voter from the operation of some salutary and honourable, +as well as of some pernicious and degrading motives. But seeing, as +I cannot help seeing, that the practice of intimidation, instead of +diminishing, is gaining ground, I am compelled to consider whether the +time has not arrived when we are bound to apply what seems the only +efficient remedy. And I am compelled to consider whether, in doing so, +I am not strictly following the principles of the Reform Bill to the +legitimate conclusions. For surely those who supported the Reform Bill +intended to give the people of Britain a reality, not a delusion; to +destroy nomination, and not to make an outward show of destroying it; +to bestow the franchise, and not the name of the franchise; and least of +all, to give suffering and humiliation under the name of the franchise. +If men are to be returned to Parliament, not by popular election, but +by nomination, then I say without hesitation that the ancient system was +much the best. Both systems alike sent men to Parliament who were not +freely chosen by independent constituent bodies: but under the old +system there was little or no need of intimidation, while, under the new +system, we have the misery and disgrace produced by intimidation added +to the process. If, therefore, we are to have nomination, I prefer the +nomination which used to take place at Old Sarum to the nomination which +now takes place at Newark. In both cases you have members returned at +the will of one landed proprietor: but at Newark you have two hundred +ejectments into the bargain, to say nothing of the mortification and +remorse endured by all those who, though they were not ejected, yet +voted against their consciences from fear of ejectment. + +There is perhaps no point on which good men of all parties are more +completely agreed than on the necessity of restraining and punishing +corruption in the election of Members of Parliament. The evils of +corruption are doubtless very great; but it appears to me that those +evils which are attributed to corruption may, with equal justice, be +attributed to intimidation, and that intimidation produces also some +monstrous evils with which corruption cannot be reproached. In both +cases alike the elector commits a breach of trust. In both cases alike +he employs for his own advantage an important power which was confided +to him, that it might be used, to the best of his judgment, for the +general good of the community. Thus far corruption and intimidation +operate in the same manner. But there is this difference betwixt the two +systems; corruption operates by giving pleasure, intimidation by giving +pain. To give a poor man five pounds causes no pain: on the contrary +it produces pleasure. It is in itself no bad act: indeed, if the five +pounds were given on another occasion, and without a corrupt object, it +might pass for a benevolent act. But to tell a man that you will reduce +him to a situation in which he will miss his former comforts, and in +which his family will be forced to beg their bread, is a cruel act. +Corruption has a sort of illegitimate relationship to benevolence, and +engenders some feelings of a cordial and friendly nature. There is a +notion of charity connected with the distribution of the money of the +rich among the needy, even in a corrupt manner. The comic writer who +tells us that the whole system of corruption is to be considered as a +commerce of generosity on one side and of gratitude on the other, has +rather exaggerated than misrepresented what really takes place in +many of these English constituent bodies where money is lavished to +conciliate the favour and obtain the suffrages of the people. But in +intimidation the whole process is an odious one. The whole feeling on +the part of the elector is that of shame, degradation, and hatred of the +person to whom he has given his vote. The elector is indeed placed in a +worse situation than if he had no vote at all; for there is not one of +us who would not rather be without a vote than be compelled to give it +to the person whom he dislikes above all others. + +Thinking, therefore, that the practice of intimidation has all the evils +which are to be found in corruption, and that it has other evils which +are not to be found in corruption, I was naturally led to consider +whether it was possible to prevent it by any process similar to that by +which corruption is restrained. Corruption, you all know, is the subject +of penal laws. If it is brought home to the parties, they are liable to +severe punishment. Although it is not often that it can be brought +home, yet there are instances. I remember several men of large property +confined in Newgate for corruption. Penalties have been awarded +against offenders to the amount of five hundred pounds. Many members of +Parliament have been unseated on account of the malpractices of their +agents. But you cannot, I am afraid, repress intimidation by penal laws. +Such laws would infringe the most sacred rights of property. How can I +require a man to deal with tradesmen who have voted against him, or to +renew the leases of tenants who have voted against him? What is it that +the Jew says in the play? + + "I'll not answer that, + But say it is my humour." + +Or, as a Christian of our own time has expressed himself, "I have a +right to do what I will with my own." There is a great deal of weight +in the reasoning of Shylock and the Duke of Newcastle. There would be +an end of the right of property if you were to interdict a landlord +from ejecting a tenant, if you were to force a gentleman to employ a +particular butcher, and to take as much beef this year as last year. +The principle of the right of property is that a man is not only to +be allowed to dispose of his wealth rationally and usefully, but to +be allowed to indulge his passions and caprices, to employ whatever +tradesmen and labourers he chooses, and to let, or refuse to let, his +land according to his own pleasure, without giving any reason or asking +anybody's leave. I remember that, on one of the first evenings on which +I sate in the House of Commons, Mr Poulett Thompson proposed a censure +on the Duke of Newcastle for His Grace's conduct towards the electors of +Newark. Sir Robert Peel opposed the motion, not only with considerable +ability, but with really unanswerable reasons. He asked if it was meant +that a tenant who voted against his landlord was to keep his lease for +ever. If so, tenants would vote against a landlord to secure themselves, +as they now vote with a landlord to secure themselves. I thought, and +think, this argument unanswerable; but then it is unanswerable in favour +of the ballot; for, if it be impossible to deal with intimidation by +punishment, you are bound to consider whether there be any means of +prevention; and the only mode of prevention that has ever been suggested +is the ballot. That the ballot has disadvantages to be set off against +its advantages, I admit; but it appears to me that we have only a choice +of evils, and that the evils for which the ballot is a specific remedy +are greater than any which the ballot is likely to produce. Observe with +what exquisite accuracy the ballot draws the line of distinction between +the power which we ought to give to the proprietor and the power which +we ought not to give him. It leaves the proprietor the absolute power +to do what he will with his own. Nobody calls upon him to say why he +ejected this tenant, or took away his custom from that tradesman. It +leaves him at liberty to follow his own tastes, to follow his strangest +whims. The only thing which it puts beyond his power is the vote of the +tenant, the vote of the tradesman, which it is our duty to protect. I +ought at the same time to say, that there is one objection to the +ballot of a very serious nature, but which I think may, nevertheless, be +obviated. It is quite clear that, if the ballot shall be adopted, there +will be no remedy for an undue return by a subsequent scrutiny. Unless, +therefore, the registration of votes can be counted on as correct, +the ballot will undoubtedly lead to great inconvenience. It seems, +therefore, that a careful revision of the whole system of registration, +and an improvement of the tribunal before which the rights of the +electors are to be established, should be an inseparable part of any +measure by which the ballot is to be introduced. + +As to those evils which we have been considering, they are evils which +are practically felt; they are evils which press hard upon a large +portion of the constituent body; and it is not therefore strange, that +the cry for a remedy should be loud and urgent. But there is another +subject respecting which I am told that many among you are anxious, a +subject of a very different description. I allude to the duration of +Parliaments. + +It must be admitted that for some years past we have had little reason +to complain of the length of Parliaments. Since the year 1830 we +have had five general elections; two occasioned by the deaths of two +Sovereigns, and three by political conjunctures. As to the present +Parliament, I do not think that, whatever opinion gentlemen may +entertain of the conduct of that body, they will impute its faults to +any confidence which the members have that they are to sit for seven +years; for I very much question whether there be one gentleman in the +House of Commons who thinks, or has ever thought, that his seat is worth +three years' purchase. When, therefore, we discuss this question, +we must remember that we are discussing a question not immediately +pressing. I freely admit, however, that this is no reason for not fairly +considering the subject: for it is the part of wise men to provide +against evils which, though not actually felt, may be reasonably +apprehended. It seems to me that here, as in the case of the ballot, +there are serious considerations to be urged on both sides. The +objections to long Parliaments are perfectly obvious. The truth is that, +in very long Parliaments, you have no representation at all. The mind +of the people goes on changing; and the Parliament, remaining unchanged, +ceases to reflect the opinion of the constituent bodies. In the old +times before the Revolution, a Parliament might sit during the life +of the monarch. Parliaments were then sometimes of eighteen or twenty +years' duration. Thus the Parliament called by Charles the Second soon +after his return from exile, and elected when the nation was drunk with +hope and convulsed by a hysterical paroxysm of loyalty, continued to sit +long after two-thirds of those who had heartily welcomed the King +back from Holland as heartily wished him in Holland again. Since the +Revolution we have not felt that evil to the same extent: but it must be +admitted that the term of seven years is too long. There are, however, +other considerations to set off against this. There are two very serious +evils connected with every general election: the first is, the violent +political excitement: the second is, the ruinous expense. Both these +evils were very greatly diminished by the Reform Act. Formerly these +were things which you in Scotland knew nothing about; but in England +the injury to the peace and morals of society resulting from a general +election was incalculable. During a fifteen days' poll in a town of one +hundred thousand inhabitants, money was flowing in all directions; the +streets were running with beer; all business was suspended; and there +was nothing but disturbance and riot, and slander, and calumny, and +quarrels, which left in the bosoms of private families heartburnings +such as were not extinguished in the course of many years. By limiting +the duration of the poll, the Reform Act has conferred as great a +blessing on the country,--and that is saying a bold word,--as by any +other provision which it contains. Still it is not to be denied that +there are evils inseparable from that state of political excitement into +which every community is thrown by the preparations for an election. A +still greater evil is the expense. That evil too has been diminished by +the operation of the Reform Act; but it still exists to a considerable +extent. We do not now indeed hear of such elections as that of Yorkshire +in 1807, or that of Northumberland in 1827. We do not hear of elections +that cost two hundred thousand pounds. But that the tenth part of that +sum, nay, that the hundredth part of that sum should be expended in a +contest, is a great evil. Do not imagine, Gentlemen, that all this evil +falls on the candidates. It is on you that the evil falls. The effect +must necessarily be to limit you in your choice of able men to serve +you. The number of men who can advance fifty thousand pounds is +necessarily much smaller than the number of men who can advance five +thousand pounds; the number of these again is much smaller than the +number of those who can advance five hundred pounds; and the number of +men who can advance five hundred pounds every three years is necessarily +smaller than the number of those who can advance five hundred pounds +every seven years. Therefore it seems to me that the question is one of +comparison. In long Parliaments the representative character is in some +measure effaced. On the other side, if you have short Parliaments, your +choice of men will be limited. Now in all questions of this sort, it +is the part of wisdom to weigh, not indeed with minute accuracy,--for +questions of civil prudence cannot be subjected to an arithmetical +test,--but to weigh the advantages and disadvantages carefully, and then +to strike the balance. Gentlemen will probably judge according to their +habits of mind, and according to their opportunities of observation. +Those who have seen much of the evils of elections will probably incline +to long Parliaments; those who have seen little or nothing of these +evils will probably incline to a short term. Only observe this, that, +whatever may be the legal term, it ought to be a year longer than that +for which Parliaments ought ordinarily to sit. For there must be a +general election at the end of the legal term, let the state of the +country be what it may. There may be riot; there may be revolution; +there may be famine in the country; and yet if the Minister wait to +the end of the legal term, the writs must go out. A wise Minister will +therefore always dissolve the Parliament a year before the end of the +legal term, if the country be then in a quiet state. It has now been +long the practice not to keep a Parliament more than six years. Thus +the Parliament which was elected in 1784 sat till 1790, six years; +the Parliament of 1790 till 1796, the Parliament of 1796 to 1802, the +Parliament of 1812 to 1818, and the Parliament of 1820 till 1826. If, +therefore, you wish the duration of Parliaments to be shortened to three +years, the proper course would be to fix the legal term at four years; +and if you wish them to sit for four years, the proper course would be +to fix the legal term at five years. My own inclination would be to fix +the legal term at five years, and thus to have a Parliament practically +every four years. I ought to add that, whenever any shortening of +Parliament takes place, we ought to alter that rule which requires that +Parliament shall be dissolved as often as the demise of the Crown takes +place. It is a rule for which no statesmanlike reason can be given; it +is a mere technical rule; and it has already been so much relaxed that, +even considered as a technical rule, it is absurd. + +I come now to another subject, of the highest and gravest importance: +I mean the elective franchise; and I acknowledge that I am doubtful +whether my opinions on this subject may be so pleasing to many here +present as, if I may judge from your expressions, my sentiments on +other subjects have been. I shall express my opinions, however, on this +subject as frankly as I have expressed them when they may have been more +pleasing. I shall express them with the frankness of a man who is more +desirous to gain your esteem than to gain your votes. I am for the +original principle of the Reform Bill. I think that principle excellent; +and I am sorry that we ever deviated from it. There were two deviations +to which I was strongly opposed, and to which the authors of the bill, +hard pressed by their opponents and feebly supported by their friends, +very unwillingly consented. One was the admission of the freemen to vote +in towns: the other was the admission of the fifty pound tenants at will +to vote in counties. At the same time I must say that I despair of being +able to apply a direct remedy to either of these evils. The ballot might +perhaps be an indirect remedy for the latter. I think that the system of +registration should be amended, that the clauses relating to the payment +of rates should be altered, or altogether removed, and that the elective +franchise should be extended to every ten pound householder, whether +he resides within or without the limits of a town. To this extent I am +prepared to go; but I should not be dealing with the ingenuousness which +you have a right to expect, if I did not tell you that I am not prepared +to go further. There are many other questions as to which you are +entitled to know the opinions of your representative: but I shall only +glance rapidly at the most important. I have ever been a most determined +enemy to the slave trade, and to personal slavery under every form. I +have always been a friend to popular education. I have always been a +friend to the right of free discussion. I have always been adverse to +all restrictions on trade, and especially to those restrictions which +affect the price of the necessaries of life. I have always been adverse +to religious persecution, whether it takes the form of direct penal +laws, or of civil disabilities. + +Now, having said so much upon measures, I hope you will permit me to +say something about men. If you send me as your representative to +Parliament, I wish you to understand that I shall go there determined +to support the present ministry. I shall do so not from any personal +interest or feeling. I have certainly the happiness to have several kind +and much valued friends among the members of the Government; and there +is one member of the Government, the noble President of the Council, to +whom I owe obligations which I shall always be proud to avow. That noble +Lord, when I was utterly unknown in public life, and scarcely known even +to himself, placed me in the House of Commons; and it is due to him +to say that he never in the least interfered with the freedom of my +parliamentary conduct. I have since represented a great constituent +body, for whose confidence and kindness I can never be sufficiently +grateful, I mean the populous borough of Leeds. I may possibly by +your kindness be placed in the proud situation of Representative of +Edinburgh; but I never could and never can be a more independent Member +of the House of Commons than when I sat there as the nominee of Lord +Lansdowne. But, while I acknowledge my obligations to that noble person, +while I avow the friendship which I feel for many of his colleagues, +it is not on such grounds that I vindicate the support which it is my +intention to give them. I have no right to sacrifice your interests to +my personal or private feelings: my principles do not permit me to do +so; nor do my friends expect that I should do so. The support which I +propose to give to the present Ministry I shall give on the following +grounds. I believe the present Ministry to be by many degrees the best +Ministry which, in the present state of the country, can be formed. +I believe that we have only one choice. I believe that our choice is +between a Ministry substantially,--for of course I do not speak of +particular individuals,--between a Ministry substantially the same that +we have, and a Ministry under the direction of the Duke of Wellington +and Sir Robert Peel. I do not hesitate to pronounce that my choice is in +favour of the former. Some gentleman appears to dissent from what I say. +If I knew what his objections are, I would try to remove them. But it +is impossible to answer inarticulate noises. Is the objection that the +government is too conservative? Or is the objection that the government +is too radical? If I understand rightly, the objection is that the +Government does not proceed vigorously enough in the work of Reform. To +that objection then I will address myself. Now, I am far from denying +that the Ministers have committed faults. But, at the same time, I make +allowances for the difficulties with which they are contending; and +having made these allowances, I confidently say that, when I look back +at the past, I think them entitled to praise, and that, looking forward +to the future, I can pronounce with still more confidence that they are +entitled to support. + +It is a common error, and one which I have found among men, not only +intelligent, but much conversant in public business, to think that in +politics, legislation is everything and administration nothing. Nothing +is more usual than to hear people say, "What! another session gone and +nothing done; no new bills passed; the Irish Municipal Bill stopped in +the House of Lords. How could we be worse off if the Tories were in?" +My answer is that, if the Tories were in, our legislation would be in as +bad a state as at present, and we should have a bad administration into +the bargain. It seems strange to me that gentlemen should not be +aware that it may be better to have unreformed laws administered in a +reforming spirit, than reformed laws administered in a spirit hostile to +all reform. We often hear the maxim, "Measures not men," and there is +a sense in which it is an excellent maxim. Measures not men, certainly: +that is, we are not to oppose Sir Robert Peel simply because he is Sir +Robert Peel, or to support Lord John Russell simply because he is Lord +John Russell. We are not to follow our political leaders in the way in +which my honest Highland ancestors followed their chieftains. We are not +to imitate that blind devotion which led all the Campbells to take the +side of George the Second because the Duke of Argyle was a Whig, and +all the Camerons to take the side of the Stuarts because Lochiel was a +Jacobite. But if you mean that, while the laws remain the same, it is +unimportant by whom they are administered, then I say that a doctrine +more absurd was never uttered. Why, what are laws? They are mere words; +they are a dead letter; till a living agent comes to put life into them. +This is the case even in judicial matters. You can tie up the judges +of the land much more closely than it would be right to tie up the +Secretary for the Home Department or the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. +Yet is it immaterial whether the laws be administered by Chief Justice +Hale or Chief Justice Jeffreys? And can you doubt that the case is still +stronger when you come to political questions? It would be perfectly +easy, as many of you must be aware, to point out instances in which +society has prospered under defective laws, well administered, and other +instances in which society has been miserable under institutions that +looked well on paper. But we need not go beyond our own country and our +own times. Let us see what, within this island and in the present year, +a good administration has done to mitigate bad laws. For example, let us +take the law of libel. I hold the present state of our law of libel to +be a scandal to a civilised community. Nothing more absurd can be found +in the whole history of jurisprudence. How the law of libel was abused +formerly, you all know. You all know how it was abused under the +administrations of Lord North, of Mr Pitt, of Mr Perceval, of the +Earl of Liverpool; and I am sorry to say that it was abused, most +unjustifiably abused, by Lord Abinger under the administration of the +Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. Now is there any person who will +pretend to say that it has ever been abused by the Government of +Lord Melbourne? That Government has enemies in abundance; it has been +attacked by Tory malcontents and by Radical malcontents; but has any one +of them ever had the effrontery to say that it has abused the power of +filing ex officio informations for libel? Has this been from want of +provocation? On the contrary, the present Government has been libelled +in a way in which no Government was ever libelled before. Has the law +been altered? Has it been modified? Not at all. We have exactly the +same laws that we had when Mr Perry was brought to trial for saying that +George the Third was unpopular, Mr Leigh Hunt for saying that George the +Fourth was fat, and Sir Francis Burdett for expressing, not perhaps in +the best taste, a natural and honest indignation at the slaughter which +took place at Manchester in 1819. The law is precisely the same; but if +it had been entirely remodelled, political writers could not have had +more liberty than they have enjoyed since Lord Melbourne came into +power. + +I have given you an instance of the power of a good administration to +mitigate a bad law. Now, see how necessary it is that there should be a +good administration to carry a good law into effect. An excellent bill +was brought into the House of Commons by Lord John Russell in 1828, and +passed. To any other man than Lord John Russell the carrying of such +a bill would have been an enviable distinction indeed; but his name +is identified with still greater reforms. It will, however, always be +accounted one of his titles to public gratitude that he was the author +of the law which repealed the Test Act. Well, a short time since, a +noble peer, the Lord Lieutenant of the county of Nottingham, thought fit +to re-enact the Test Act, so far as that county was concerned. I have +already mentioned His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, and, to say truth, +there is no life richer in illustrations of all forms and branches of +misgovernment than his. His Grace very coolly informed Her Majesty's +Ministers that he had not recommended a certain gentleman for the +commission of the peace because the gentleman was a Dissenter. Now here +is a law which admits Dissenters to offices; and a Tory nobleman takes +it on himself to rescind that law. But happily we have Whig Ministers. +What did they do? Why, they put the Dissenter into the Commission; and +they turned the Tory nobleman out of the Lieutenancy. Do you seriously +imagine that under a Tory administration this would have been done? I +have no wish to say anything disrespectful of the great Tory leaders. +I shall always speak with respect of the great qualities and public +services of the Duke of Wellington: I have no other feeling about him +than one of pride that my country has produced so great a man; nor do +I feel anything but respect and kindness for Sir Robert Peel, of whose +abilities no person that has had to encounter him in debate will ever +speak slightingly. I do not imagine that those eminent men would have +approved of the conduct of the Duke of Newcastle. I believe that the +Duke of Wellington would as soon have thought of running away from the +field of battle as of doing the same thing in Hampshire, where he is +Lord Lieutenant. But do you believe that he would have turned the Duke +of Newcastle out? I believe that he would not. As Mr Pulteney, a great +political leader, said a hundred years since, "The heads of parties are, +like the heads of snakes, carried on by the tails." It would have been +utterly impossible for the Tory Ministers to have discarded the powerful +Tory Duke, unless they had at the same time resolved, like Mr Canning in +1827, to throw themselves for support on the Whigs. + +Now I have given you these two instances to show that a change in the +administration may produce all the effects of a change in the law. You +see that to have a Tory Government is virtually to reenact the Test Act, +and that to have a Whig Government is virtually to repeal the law of +libel. And if this is the case in England and Scotland, where society is +in a sound state, how much more must it be the case in the diseased +part of the empire, in Ireland? Ask any man there, whatever may be his +religion, whatever may be his politics, Churchman, Presbyterian, Roman +Catholic, Repealer, Precursor, Orangeman, ask Mr O'Connell, ask Colonel +Conolly, whether it is a slight matter in whose hands the executive +power is lodged. Every Irishman will tell you that it is a matter of +life and death; that in fact more depends upon the men than upon the +laws. It disgusts me therefore to hear men of liberal politics say, +"What is the use of a Whig Government? The Ministers can do nothing for +the country. They have been four years at work on an Irish Municipal +Bill, without being able to pass it through the Lords." Would any ten +Acts of Parliament make such a difference to Ireland as the difference +between having Lord Ebrington for Lord Lieutenant, with Lord Morpeth +for Secretary, and having the Earl of Roden for Lord Lieutenant, with Mr +Lefroy for Secretary? Ask the popular Irish leaders whether they +would like better to remain as they are, with Lord Ebrington as Lord +Lieutenant, or to have the Municipal Bill, and any other three bills +which they might name, with Lord Roden for Viceroy; and they will at +once answer, "Leave us Lord Ebrington; and burn your bills." The truth +is that, the more defective the legislation, the more important is a +good administration, just as the personal qualities of the Sovereign are +of more importance in despotic countries like Russia than in a limited +monarchy. If we have not in our Statute Book all the securities +necessary for good government, it is of the more importance that +the character of the men who administer the government should be an +additional security. + +But we are told that the Government is weak. That is most true; and I +believe that almost all that we are tempted to blame in the conduct of +the Government is to be attributed to weakness. But let us consider what +the nature of this weakness is. Is it that kind of weakness which makes +it our duty to oppose the Government? Or is it that kind of weakness +which makes it our duty to support the Government? Is it intellectual +weakness, moral weakness, the incapacity to discern, or the want +of courage to pursue, the true interest of the nation? Such was the +weakness of Mr Addington, when this country was threatened with invasion +from Boulogne. Such was the weakness of the Government which sent out +the wretched Walcheren expedition, and starved the Duke of Wellington in +Spain; a government whose only strength was shown in prosecuting writers +who exposed abuses, and in slaughtering rioters whom oppression had +driven into outrage. Is that the weakness of the present Government? I +think not. As compared with any other party capable of holding the reins +of Government, they are deficient neither in intellectual nor in moral +strength. On all great questions of difference between the Ministers and +the Opposition, I hold the Ministers to be in the right. When I consider +the difficulties with which they have to struggle, when I see how +manfully that struggle is maintained by Lord Melbourne, when I see that +Lord John Russell has excited even the admiration of his opponents by +the heroic manner in which he has gone on, year after year, in sickness +and domestic sorrow, fighting the battle of Reform, I am led to the +conclusion that the weakness of the Ministers is of that sort which +makes it our duty to give them, not opposition, but support; and that +support it is my purpose to afford to the best of my ability. + +If, indeed, I thought myself at liberty to consult my own inclination, +I should have stood aloof from the conflict. If you should be pleased +to send me to Parliament, I shall enter an assembly very different +from that which I quitted in 1834. I left the Wigs united and dominant, +strong in the confidence and attachment of one House of Parliament, +strong also in the fears of the other. I shall return to find them +helpless in the Lords, and forced almost every week to fight a battle +for existence in the Commons. Many, whom I left bound together by what +seemed indissoluble private and public ties, I shall now find assailing +each other with more than the ordinary bitterness of political +hostility. Many with whom I sate side by side, contending through whole +nights for the Reform Bill, till the sun broke over the Thames on our +undiminished ranks, I shall now find on hostile benches. I shall be +compelled to engage in painful altercations with many with whom I had +hoped never to have a conflict, except in the generous and friendly +strife which should best serve the common cause. I left the Liberal +Government strong enough to maintain itself against an adverse Court; I +see that the Liberal Government now rests for support on the preference +of a Sovereign, in whom the country sees with delight the promise of a +better, a gentler, a happier Elizabeth, of a Sovereign in whom we hope +that our children and our grandchildren will admire the firmness, the +sagacity, and the spirit which distinguished the last and greatest of +the Tudors, tempered by the beneficent influence of more humane times +and more popular institutions. Whether royal favour, never more needed +and never better deserved, will enable the government to surmount the +difficulties with which it has to deal, I cannot presume to judge. It +may be that the blow has only been deferred for a season, and that a +long period of Tory domination is before us. Be it so. I entered public +life a Whig; and a Whig I am determined to remain. I use that word, and +I wish you to understand that I use it, in no narrow sense. I mean by +a Whig, not one who subscribes implicitly to the contents of any book, +though that book may have been written by Locke; not one who approves +the whole conduct of any statesman, though that statesman may have been +Fox; not one who adopts the opinions in fashion in any circle, though +that circle may be composed of the finest and noblest spirits of the +age. But it seems to me that, when I look back on our history, I can +discern a great party which has, through many generations, preserved its +identity; a party often depressed, never extinguished; a party which, +though often tainted with the faults of the age, has always been in +advance of the age; a party which, though guilty of many errors and +some crimes, has the glory of having established our civil and religious +liberties on a firm foundation; and of that party I am proud to be a +member. It was that party which, on the great question of monopolies, +stood up against Elizabeth. It was that party which, in the reign of +James the First, organised the earliest parliamentary opposition, which +steadily asserted the privileges of the people, and wrested prerogative +after prerogative from the Crown. It was that party which forced +Charles the First to relinquish the ship-money. It was that party which +destroyed the Star Chamber and the High Commission Court. It was that +party which, under Charles the Second, carried the Habeas Corpus Act, +which effected the Revolution, which passed the Toleration Act, which +broke the yoke of a foreign church in your country, and which saved +Scotland from the fate of unhappy Ireland. It was that party which +reared and maintained the constitutional throne of Hanover against the +hostility of the Church and of the landed aristocracy of England. It +was that party which opposed the war with America and the war with the +French Republic; which imparted the blessings of our free Constitution +to the Dissenters; and which, at a later period, by unparalleled +sacrifices and exertions, extended the same blessings to the Roman +Catholics. To the Whigs of the seventeenth century we owe it that we +have a House of Commons. To the Whigs of the nineteenth century we owe +it that the House of Commons has been purified. The abolition of the +slave trade, the abolition of colonial slavery, the extension of popular +education, the mitigation of the rigour of the penal code, all, all were +effected by that party; and of that party, I repeat, I am a member. I +look with pride on all that the Whigs have done for the cause of human +freedom and of human happiness. I see them now hard pressed, struggling +with difficulties, but still fighting the good fight. At their head I +see men who have inherited the spirit and the virtues, as well as the +blood, of old champions and martyrs of freedom. To those men I propose +to attach myself. Delusion may triumph: but the triumphs of delusion are +but for a day. We may be defeated: but our principles will only gather +fresh strength from defeats. Be that, however, as it may, my part is +taken. While one shred of the old banner is flying, by that banner will +I at least be found. The good old cause, as Sidney called it on the +scaffold, vanquished or victorious, insulted or triumphant, the good +old cause is still the good old cause with me. Whether in or out of +Parliament, whether speaking with that authority which must always +belong to the representative of this great and enlightened community, +or expressing the humble sentiments of a private citizen, I will to the +last maintain inviolate my fidelity to principles which, though they may +be borne down for a time by senseless clamour, are yet strong with the +strength and immortal with the immortality of truth, and which, however +they may be misunderstood or misrepresented by contemporaries, will +assuredly find justice from a better age. Gentlemen, I have done. I have +only to thank you for the kind attention with which you have heard me, +and to express my hope that whether my principles have met with your +concurrence or not, the frankness with which I have expressed them will +at least obtain your approbation. + +***** + + + + +CONFIDENCE IN THE MINISTRY OF LORD MELBOURNE. (JANUARY 29, 1840) A +SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 29TH OF JANUARY 1840. + +On the twenty-eighth of January 1840, Sir John Yarde Buller moved the +following resolution: + +"That Her Majesty's Government, as at present constituted, does not +possess the confidence of the House." + +After a discussion of four nights the motion was rejected by 308 votes +to 287. The following Speech was made on the second night of the debate. + +The House, Sir, may possibly imagine that I rise under some little +feeling of irritation to reply to the personal reflections which have +been introduced into the discussion. It would be easy to reply to these +reflections. It would be still easier to retort them: but I should +think either course unworthy of me and of this great occasion. If ever +I should so far forget myself as to wander from the subject of debate to +matters concerning only myself, it will not, I hope, be at a time when +the dearest interests of our country are staked on the result of our +deliberations. I rise under feelings of anxiety which leave no room in +my mind for selfish vanity or petty vindictiveness. I believe with the +most intense conviction that, in pleading for the Government to which +I belong, I am pleading for the safety of the Commonwealth, for the +reformation of abuses, and at the same time for the preservation of +august and venerable institutions: and I trust, Mr Speaker, that when +the question is whether a Cabinet be or be not worthy of the confidence +of Parliament, the first Member of that Cabinet who comes forward to +defend himself and his colleagues will find here some portion of that +generosity and good feeling which once distinguished English gentlemen. +But be this as it may, my voice shall be heard. I repeat, that I am +pleading at once for the reformation and for the preservation of our +institutions, for liberty and order, for justice administered in mercy, +for equal laws, for the rights of conscience, and for the real union of +Great Britain and Ireland. If, on so grave an occasion, I should advert +to one or two of the charges which have been brought against myself +personally, I shall do so only because I conceive that those charges +affect in some degree the character of the Government to which I belong. + +One of the chief accusations brought against the Government by the +honourable Baronet (Sir John Yarde Buller.) who opened the debate, +and repeated by the seconder (Alderman Thompson.), and by almost every +gentlemen who has addressed the House from the benches opposite, is that +I have been invited to take office though my opinion with respect to the +Ballot is known to be different from that of my colleagues. We have been +repeatedly told that a Ministry in which there is not perfect unanimity +on a subject so important must be undeserving of the public confidence. +Now, Sir, it is true that I am in favour of secret voting, that my noble +and right honourable friends near me are in favour of open voting, +and yet that we sit in the same Cabinet. But if, on account of this +difference of opinion, the Government is unworthy of public confidence, +then I am sure that scarcely any government which has existed within the +memory of the oldest man has been deserving of public confidence. It +is well-known that in the Cabinets of Mr Pitt, of Mr Fox, of Lord +Liverpool, of Mr Canning, of the Duke of Wellington, there were +open questions of great moment. Mr Pitt, while still zealous for +parliamentary reform, brought into the Cabinet Lord Grenville, who +was adverse to parliamentary reform. Again, Mr Pitt, while eloquently +supporting the abolition of the Slave Trade, brought into the Cabinet +Mr Dundas, who was the chief defender of the Slave Trade. Mr Fox, +too, intense as was his abhorrence of the Slave Trade, sat in the same +Cabinet with Lord Sidmouth and Mr Windham, who voted to the last against +the abolition of that trade. Lord Liverpool, Mr Canning, the Duke of +Wellington, all left the question of Catholic Emancipation open. And +yet, of all questions, that was perhaps the very last that should have +been left open. For it was not merely a legislative question, but a +question which affected every part of the executive administration. +But, to come to the present time, suppose that you could carry your +resolution, suppose that you could drive the present Ministers from +power, who that may succeed them will be able to form a government in +which there will be no open questions? Can the right honourable Baronet +the member for Tamworth (Sir Robert Peel.) form a Cabinet without +leaving the great question of our privileges open? In what respect is +that question less important than the question of the Ballot? Is it not +indeed from the privileges of the House that all questions relating +to the constitution of the House derive their importance? What does it +matter how we are chosen, if, when we meet, we do not possess the +powers necessary to enable us to perform the functions of a legislative +assembly? Yet you who would turn out the present Ministers because they +differ from each other as to the way in which Members of this House +should be chosen, wish to bring in men who decidedly differ from each +other as to the relation in which this House stands to the nation, to +the other House, and to the Courts of Judicature. Will you say that the +dispute between the House and the Court of Queen's Bench is a trifling +dispute? Surely, in the late debates, you were all perfectly agreed as +to the importance of the question, though you were agreed as to nothing +else. Some of you told us that we were contending for a power essential +to our honour and usefulness. Many of you protested against our +proceedings, and declared that we were encroaching on the province of +the tribunals, violating the liberty of our fellow citizens, punishing +honest magistrates for not perjuring themselves. Are these trifles? And +can we believe that you really feel a horror of open questions when we +see your Prime Minister elect sending people to prison overnight, +and his law officers elect respectfully attending the levee of those +prisoners the next morning? Observe, too, that this question of +privileges is not merely important; it is also pressing. Something must +be done, and that speedily. My belief is that more inconvenience would +follow from leaving that question open one month than from leaving the +question of the Ballot open ten years. + +The Ballot, Sir, is not the only subject on which I am accused of +holding dangerous opinions. The right honourable Baronet the Member +for Pembroke (Sir James Graham.) pronounces the present Government +a Chartist Government; and he proves his point by saying that I am a +member of the government, and that I wish to give the elective franchise +to every ten pound householder, whether his house be in a town or in +the country. Is it possible, Sir, that the honourable Baronet should not +know that the fundamental principle of the plan of government called the +People's Charter is that every male of twenty-one should have a vote? +Or is it possible that he can see no difference between giving the +franchise to all ten pound householders, and giving the franchise to all +males of twenty-one? Does he think the ten pound householders a class +morally or intellectually unfit to possess the franchise, he who bore a +chief part in framing the law which gave them the franchise in all the +represented towns of the United Kingdom? Or will he say that the ten +pound householder in a town is morally and intellectually fit to be +an elector, but that the ten pound householder who lives in the +open country is morally and intellectually unfit? Is not house-rent +notoriously higher in towns than in the country? Is it not, therefore, +probable that the occupant of a ten pound house in a rural hamlet will +be a man who has a greater stake in the peace and welfare of society +than a man who has a ten pound house in Manchester or Birmingham? Can +you defend on conservative principles an arrangement which gives votes +to a poorer class and withholds them from a richer? For my own part, I +believe it to be essential to the welfare of the state, that the elector +should have a pecuniary qualification. I believe that the ten pound +qualification cannot be proved to be either too high or too low. +Changes, which may hereafter take place in the value of money and in +the condition of the people, may make a change of the qualification +necessary. But the ten pound qualification is, I believe, well suited to +the present state of things. At any rate, I am unable to conceive why it +should be a sufficient qualification within the limits of a borough, and +an insufficient qualification a yard beyond those limits; sufficient at +Knightsbridge, but insufficient at Kensington; sufficient at Lambeth, +but insufficient at Battersea? If any person calls this Chartism, he +must permit me to tell him that he does not know what Chartism is. + +A motion, Sir, such as that which we are considering, brings under our +review the whole policy of the kingdom, domestic, foreign, and colonial. +It is not strange, therefore, that there should have been several +episodes in this debate. Something has been said about the hostilities +on the River Plata, something about the hostilities on the coast of +China, something about Commissioner Lin, something about Captain Elliot. +But on such points I shall not dwell, for it is evidently not by the +opinion which the House may entertain on such points that the event +of the debate will be decided. The main argument of the gentlemen who +support the motion, the argument on which the right honourable Baronet +who opened the debate chiefly relied, the argument which his seconder +repeated, and which has formed the substance of every speech since +delivered from the opposite side of the House, may be fairly summed +up thus, "The country is not in a satisfactory state. There is much +recklessness, much turbulence, much craving for political change; and +the cause of these evils is the policy of the Whigs. They rose to power +by agitation in 1830: they retained power by means of agitation through +the tempestuous months which followed: they carried the Reform Bill +by means of agitation: expelled from office, they forced themselves in +again by means of agitation; and now we are paying the penalty of their +misconduct. Chartism is the natural offspring of Whiggism. From those +who caused the evil we cannot expect the remedy. The first thing to +be done is to dismiss them, and to call to power men who, not having +instigated the people to commit excesses, can, without incurring the +charge of inconsistency, enforce the laws." + +Now, Sir, it seems to me that this argument was completely refuted by +the able and eloquent speech of my right honourable friend the Judge +Advocate. (Sir George Grey.) He said, and he said most truly, that those +who hold this language are really accusing, not the Government of Lord +Melbourne, but the Government of Lord Grey. I was therefore, I must say, +surprised, after the speech of my right honourable friend, to hear +the right honourable Baronet the Member for Pembroke, himself a +distinguished member of the cabinet of Lord Grey, pronounce a harangue +against agitation. That he was himself an agitator he does not venture +to deny; but he tries to excuse himself by saying, "I liked the Reform +Bill; I thought it a good bill; and so I agitated for it; and, in +agitating for it, I acknowledge that I went to the very utmost limit of +what was prudent, to the very utmost limit of what was legal." Does not +the right honourable Baronet perceive that, by setting up this defence +for his own past conduct, he admits that agitation is good or evil, +according as the objects of the agitation are good or evil? When I hear +him speak of agitation as a practice disgraceful to a public man, and +especially to a Minister of the Crown, and address his lecture in a +particular manner to me, I cannot but wonder that he should not perceive +that his reproaches, instead of wounding me, recoil on himself. I was +not a member of the Cabinet which brought in the Reform Bill, which +dissolved the Parliament in a moment of intense excitement in order +to carry the Reform Bill, which refused to serve the Sovereign longer +unless he would create peers in sufficient numbers to carry the Reform +Bill. I was at that time only one of those hundreds of members of this +House, one of those millions of Englishmen, who were deeply impressed +with the conviction that the Reform Bill was one of the best laws +that ever had been framed, and who reposed entire confidence in the +abilities, the integrity, and the patriotism of the ministers; and +I must add that in no member of the administration did I place more +confidence than in the right honourable Baronet, who was then First +Lord of the Admiralty, and in the noble lord who was then Secretary for +Ireland. (Lord Stanley.) It was indeed impossible for me not to see that +the public mind was strongly, was dangerously stirred: but I trusted +that men so able, men so upright, men who had so large a stake in the +country, would carry us safe through the storm which they had raised. +And is it not rather hard that my confidence in the right honourable +Baronet and the noble lord is to be imputed to me as a crime by the very +men who are trying to raise the right honourable Baronet and the noble +lord to power? The Charter, we have been told in this debate, is the +child of the Reform Bill. But whose child is the Reform Bill? If men are +to be deemed unfit for office because they roused the national spirit +to support that bill, because they went as far as the law permitted in +order to carry that bill, then I say that no men can be more unfit for +office than the right honourable Baronet and the noble lord. It may be +thought presumptuous in me to defend two persons who are so well able to +defend themselves, and the more so, as they have a powerful ally in +the right honourable Baronet the Member for Tamworth, who, having twice +offered them high places in the Government, must be supposed to be of +opinion that they are not disqualified for being ministers by having +been agitators. I will, however, venture to offer some arguments in +vindication of the conduct of my noble and right honourable friends, +as I once called them, and as, notwithstanding the asperity which +has characterised the present debate, I should still have pleasure in +calling them. I would say in their behalf that agitation ought not to be +indiscriminately condemned; that great abuses ought to be removed; +that in this country scarcely any great abuse was ever removed till the +public feeling had been roused against it; and that the public feeling +has seldom been roused against abuses without exertions to which the +name of agitation may be given. I altogether deny the assertion which +we have repeatedly heard in the course of this debate, that a government +which does not discountenance agitation cannot be trusted to suppress +rebellion. Agitation and rebellion, you say, are in kind the same thing: +they differ only in degree. Sir, they are the same thing in the sense +in which to breathe a vein and to cut a throat are the same thing. There +are many points of resemblance between the act of the surgeon and the +act of the assassin. In both there is the steel, the incision, the +smart, the bloodshed. But the acts differ as widely as possible both in +moral character and in physical effect. So with agitation and rebellion. +I do not believe that there has been any moment since the revolution +of 1688 at which an insurrection in this country would have been +justifiable. On the other hand, I hold that we have owed to agitation a +long series of beneficent reforms which could have been effected in no +other way. Nor do I understand how any person can reprobate agitation, +merely as agitation, unless he is prepared to adopt the maxim of Bishop +Horsley, that the people have nothing to do with the laws but to +obey them. The truth is that agitation is inseparable from popular +government. If you wish to get rid of agitation, you must establish an +oligarchy like that of Venice, or a despotism like that of Russia. If +a Russian thinks that he is able to suggest an improvement in the +commercial code or the criminal code of his country, he tries to obtain +an audience of the Emperor Nicholas or of Count Nesselrode. If he +can satisfy them that his plans are good, then undoubtedly, without +agitation, without controversy in newspapers, without harangues from +hustings, without clamorous meetings in great halls and in marketplaces, +without petitions signed by tens of thousands, you may have a reform +effected with one stroke of the pen. Not so here. Here the people, as +electors, have power to decide questions of the highest importance. And +ought they not to hear and read before they decide? And how can they +hear if nobody speaks, or read if nobody writes? You must admit, +then, that it is our right, and that it may be our duty, to attempt +by speaking and writing to induce the great body of our countrymen to +pronounce what we think a right decision; and what else is agitation? In +saying this I am not defending one party alone. Has there been no Tory +agitation? No agitation against Popery? No agitation against the new +Poor Law? No agitation against the plan of education framed by the +present Government? Or, to pass from questions about which we differ to +questions about which we all agree: Would the slave trade ever have +been abolished without agitation? Would slavery ever have been abolished +without agitation? Would your prison discipline ever have been improved +without agitation? Would your penal code, once the scandal of the +Statute Book, have been mitigated without agitation? I am far from +denying that agitation may be abused, may be employed for bad ends, may +be carried to unjustifiable lengths. So may that freedom of speech +which is one of the most precious privileges of this House. Indeed, +the analogy is very close. What is agitation but the mode in which the +public, the body which we represent, the great outer assembly, if I may +so speak, holds its debates? It is as necessary to the good government +of the country that our constituents should debate as that we should +debate. They sometimes go wrong, as we sometimes go wrong. There +is often much exaggeration, much unfairness, much acrimony in their +debates. Is there none in ours? Some worthless demagogues may have +exhorted the people to resist the laws. But what member of Lord Grey's +Government, what member of the present Government, ever gave any +countenance to any illegal proceedings? It is perfectly true that some +words which have been uttered here and in other places, and which, when +taken together with the context and candidly construed, will appear to +mean nothing but what was reasonable and constitutional and moderate, +have been distorted and mutilated into something that has a seditious +aspect. But who is secure against such misrepresentation? Not, I am +sure, the right honourable Baronet the Member for Pembroke. He ought to +remember that his own speeches have been used by bad men for bad ends. +He ought to remember that some expressions which he used in 1830, on +the subject of the emoluments divided among Privy Councillors, have been +quoted by the Chartists in vindication of their excesses. Do I blame him +for this? Not at all. He said nothing that was not justifiable. But it +is impossible for a man so to guard his lips that his language shall not +sometimes be misunderstood by dull men, and sometimes misrepresented +by dishonest men. I do not, I say, blame him for having used those +expressions: but I do say that, knowing how his own expressions had been +perverted, he should have hesitated before he threw upon men, not +less attached than himself to the cause of law, of order and property, +imputations certainly not better founded than those to which he is +himself liable. + +And now, Sir, to pass by many topics to which, but for the lateness of +the hour, I would willingly advert, let me remind the House that +the question before us is not a positive question, but a question of +comparison. No man, though he may disapprove of some part of the conduct +of the present Ministers, is justified in voting for the motion which we +are considering, unless he believes that a change would, on the whole, +be beneficial. No government is perfect: but some government there must +be; and if the present government were worse than its enemies think it, +it ought to exist until it can be succeeded by a better. Now I take it +to be perfectly clear that, in the event of the removal of Her Majesty's +present advisers, an administration must be formed of which the right +honourable Baronet the Member for Tamworth will be the head. Towards +that right honourable Baronet, and towards many of the noblemen and +gentlemen who would probably in that event be associated with him, I +entertain none but kind and respectful feelings. I am far, I hope, from +that narrowness of mind which makes a man unable to see merit in any +party but his own. If I may venture to parody the old Venetian proverb, +I would be "First an Englishman; and then a Whig." I feel proud of my +country when I think how much ability, uprightness, and patriotism may +be found on both sides of the House. Among our opponents stands forth, +eminently distinguished by parts, eloquence, knowledge, and, I willingly +admit, by public spirit, the right honourable Baronet the Member for +Tamworth. Having said this, I shall offer no apology for the remarks +which, in the discharge of my public duty, I shall make, without, I +hope, any personal discourtesy, on his past conduct, and his present +position. + +It has been, Sir, I will not say his fault, but his misfortune, his +fate, to be the leader of a party with which he has no sympathy. To go +back to what is now matter of history, the right honourable Baronet +bore a chief part in the restoration of the currency. By a very +large proportion of his followers the restoration of the currency is +considered as the chief cause of the distresses of the country. The +right honourable Baronet cordially supported the commercial policy of Mr +Huskisson. But there was no name more odious than that of Mr Huskisson +to the rank and file of the Tory party. The right honourable Baronet +assented to the Act which removed the disabilities of the Protestant +Dissenters. But, a very short time ago, a noble Duke, one of the +highest in power and rank of the right honourable Baronet's adherents, +positively refused to lend his aid to the executing of that Act. +The right honourable Baronet brought in the bill which removed the +disabilities of the Roman Catholics: but his supporters make it a chief +article of charge against us that we have given practical effect to +the law which is his best title to public esteem. The right honourable +Baronet has declared himself decidedly favourable to the new Poor Law. +Yet, if a voice is raised against the Whig Bastilles and the Kings of +Somerset House, it is almost certain to be the voice of some zealous +retainer of the right honourable Baronet. On the great question of +privilege, the right honourable Baronet has taken a part which entitles +him to the gratitude of all who are solicitous for the honour and the +usefulness of the popular branch of the legislature. But if any person +calls us tyrants, and calls those whom we have imprisoned martyrs, that +person is certain to be a partisan of the right honourable Baronet. +Even when the right honourable Baronet does happen to agree with his +followers as to a conclusion, he seldom arrives at that conclusion by +the same process of reasoning which satisfies them. Many great questions +which they consider as questions of right and wrong, as questions of +moral and religious principle, as questions which must, for no earthly +object, and on no emergency, be compromised, are treated by him merely +as questions of expediency, of place, and of time. He has opposed many +bills introduced by the present Government; but he has opposed them on +such grounds that he is at perfect liberty to bring in the same bills +himself next year, with perhaps some slight variation. I listened to him +as I always listen to him, with pleasure, when he spoke last session on +the subject of education. I could not but be amused by the skill with +which he performed the hard task of translating the gibberish of bigots +into language which might not misbecome the mouth of a man of sense. I +felt certain that he despised the prejudices of which he condescended +to make use, and that his opinion about the Normal Schools and the Douai +Version entirely agreed with my own. I therefore do not think that, +in times like these, the right honourable Baronet can conduct the +administration with honour to himself or with satisfaction to those +who are impatient to see him in office. I will not affect to feel +apprehensions from which I am entirely free. I do not fear, and I will +not pretend to fear, that the right honourable Baronet will be a tyrant +and a persecutor. I do not believe that he will give up Ireland to the +tender mercies of those zealots who form, I am afraid, the strongest, +and I am sure the loudest, part of his retinue. I do not believe that +he will strike the names of Roman Catholics from the Privy Council book, +and from the Commissions of the Peace. I do not believe that he will +lay on our table a bill for the repeal of that great Act which was +introduced by himself in 1829. What I do anticipate is this, that he +will attempt to keep his party together by means which will excite +grave discontents, and yet that he will not succeed in keeping his party +together; that he will lose the support of the Tories without obtaining +the support of the nation; and that his government will fall from causes +purely internal. + +This, Sir, is not mere conjecture. The drama is not a new one. It was +performed a few years ago on the same stage and by most of the same +actors. In 1827 the right honourable Baronet was, as now, the head of +a powerful Tory opposition. He had, as now, the support of a strong +minority in this House. He had, as now, a majority in the other House. +He was, as now, the favourite of the Church and of the Universities. All +who dreaded political change, all who hated religious liberty, rallied +round him then, as they rally round him now. Their cry was then, as +now, that a government unfriendly to the civil and ecclesiastical +constitution of the realm was kept in power by intrigue and court +favour, and that the right honourable Baronet was the man to whom the +nation must look to defend its laws against revolutionists, and its +religion against idolaters. At length that cry became irresistible. +Tory animosity had pursued the most accomplished of Tory statesmen and +orators to a resting place in Westminster Abbey. The arrangement which +was made after his death lasted but a very few months: a Tory government +was formed; and the right honourable Baronet became the leading minister +of the Crown in the House of Commons. His adherents hailed his elevation +with clamorous delight, and confidently expected many years of triumph +and dominion. Is it necessary to say in what disappointment, in what +sorrow, in what fury, those expectations ended? The right honourable +Baronet had been raised to power by prejudices and passions in which +he had no share. His followers were bigots. He was a statesman. He was +coolly weighing conveniences against inconveniences, while they were +ready to resort to a proscription and to hazard a civil war rather than +depart from what they called their principles. For a time he tried to +take a middle course. He imagined that it might be possible for him to +stand well with his old friends, and yet to perform some part of his +duty to the state. But those were not times in which he could long +continue to halt between two opinions. His elevation, as it had excited +the hopes of the oppressors, had excited also the terror and the rage of +the oppressed. Agitation, which had, during more than a year, slumbered +in Ireland, awoke with renewed vigour, and soon became more formidable +than ever. The Roman Catholic Association began to exercise authority +such as the Irish Parliament, in the days of its independence, had never +possessed. An agitator became more powerful than the Lord Lieutenant. +Violence engendered violence. Every explosion of feeling on one side of +St George's Channel was answered by a louder explosion on the other. +The Clare election, the Penenden Heath meeting showed that the time +for evasion and delay was past. A crisis had arrived which made it +absolutely necessary for the Government to take one side or the other. A +simple issue was proposed to the right honourable Baronet, concession +or civil war; to disgust his party, or to ruin his country. He chose +the good part. He performed a duty, deeply painful, in some sense +humiliating, yet in truth highly honourable to him. He came down to this +House and proposed the emancipation of the Roman Catholics. Among his +adherents were some who, like himself, had opposed the Roman Catholic +claims merely on the ground of political expediency; and these persons +readily consented to support his new policy. But not so the great body +of his followers. Their zeal for Protestant ascendency was a ruling +passion, a passion, too, which they thought it a virtue to indulge. They +had exerted themselves to raise to power the man whom they regarded as +the ablest and most trusty champion of that ascendency; and he had not +only abandoned the good cause, but had become its adversary. Who can +forget in what a roar of obloquy their anger burst forth? Never before +was such a flood of calumny and invective poured on a single head. All +history, all fiction were ransacked by the old friends of the right +honourable Baronet, for nicknames and allusions. One right honourable +gentleman, who I am sorry not to see in his place opposite, found +English prose too weak to express his indignation, and pursued his +perfidious chief with reproaches borrowed from the ravings of the +deserted Dido. Another Tory explored Holy Writ for parallels, and could +find no parallel but Judas Iscariot. The great university which had been +proud to confer on the right honourable Baronet the highest marks of +favour, was foremost in affixing the brand of infamy. From Cornwall, +from Northumberland, clergymen came up by hundreds to Oxford, in order +to vote against him whose presence, a few days before, would have set +the bells of their parish churches jingling. Nay, such was the violence +of this new enmity that the old enmity of the Tories to Whigs, Radicals, +Dissenters, Papists, seemed to be forgotten. That Ministry which, when +it came into power at the close of 1828, was one of the strongest that +the country ever saw, was, at the close of 1829, one of the weakest. It +lingered another year, staggering between two parties, leaning now on +one, now on the other, reeling sometimes under a blow from the right, +sometimes under a blow from the left, and certain to fall as soon as the +Tory opposition and the Whig opposition could find a question on which +to unite. Such a question was found: and that Ministry fell without a +struggle. + +Now what I wish to know is this. What reason have we to believe that any +administration which the right honourable Baronet can now form will have +a different fate? Is he changed since 1829? Is his party changed? He +is, I believe, still the same, still a statesman, moderate in opinions, +cautious in temper, perfectly free from that fanaticism which inflames +so many of his supporters. As to his party, I admit that it is not +the same; for it is very much worse. It is decidedly fiercer and +more unreasonable than it was eleven years ago. I judge by its public +meetings; I judge by its journals; I judge by its pulpits, pulpits which +every week resound with ribaldry and slander such as would disgrace the +hustings. A change has come over the spirit of a part, I hope not the +larger part, of the Tory body. It was once the glory of the Tories +that, through all changes of fortune, they were animated by a steady +and fervent loyalty which made even error respectable, and gave to what +might otherwise have been called servility something of the manliness +and nobleness of freedom. A great Tory poet, whose eminent services +to the cause of monarchy had been ill requited by an ungrateful Court, +boasted that + + "Loyalty is still the same, + Whether it win or lose the game; + True as the dial to the sun, + Although it be not shined upon." + +Toryism has now changed its character. We have lived to see a monster of +a faction made up of the worst parts of the Cavalier and the worst parts +of the Roundhead. We have lived to see a race of disloyal Tories. We +have lived to see Tories giving themselves the airs of those insolent +pikemen who puffed out their tobacco smoke in the face of Charles the +First. We have lived to see Tories who, because they are not allowed to +grind the people after the fashion of Strafford, turn round and revile +the Sovereign in the style of Hugh Peters. I say, therefore, that, while +the leader is still what he was eleven years ago, when his moderation +alienated his intemperate followers, his followers are more intemperate +than ever. It is my firm belief that the majority of them desire the +repeal of the Emancipation Act. You say, no. But I will give reasons, +and unanswerable reasons, for what I say. How, if you really wish to +maintain the Emancipation Act, do you explain that clamour which you +have raised, and which has resounded through the whole kingdom, about +the three Popish Privy Councillors? You resent, as a calumny, the +imputation that you wish to repeal the Emancipation Act; and yet you cry +out that Church and State are in danger of ruin whenever the Government +carries that Act into effect. If the Emancipation Act is never to be +executed, why should it not be repealed? I perfectly understand that an +honest man may wish it to be repealed. But I am at a loss to understand +how honest men can say, "We wish the Emancipation Act to be maintained: +you who accuse us of wishing to repeal it slander us foully: we value +it as much as you do. Let it remain among our statutes, provided always +that it remains as a dead letter. If you dare to put it in force, +indeed, we will agitate against you; for, though we talk against +agitation, we too can practice agitation: we will denounce you in our +associations; for, though we call associations unconstitutional, we +too have our associations: our divines shall preach about Jezebel: our +tavern spouters shall give significant hints about James the Second." +Yes, Sir, such hints have been given, hints that a sovereign who has +merely executed the law, ought to be treated like a sovereign who +grossly violated the law. I perfectly understand, as I said, that an +honest man may disapprove of the Emancipation Act, and may wish it +repealed. But can any man, who is of opinion that Roman Catholics ought +to be admitted to office, honestly maintain that they now enjoy more +than their fair share of power and emolument? What is the proportion +of Roman Catholics to the whole population of the United Kingdom? +About one-fourth. What proportion of the Privy Councillors are Roman +Catholics? About one-seventieth. And what, after all, is the power of a +Privy Councillor, merely as such? Are not the right honourable gentlemen +opposite Privy Councillors? If a change should take place, will not the +present Ministers still be Privy Councillors? It is notorious that no +Privy Councillor goes to Council unless he is specially summoned. He is +called Right Honourable, and he walks out of a room before Esquires and +Knights. And can we seriously believe that men who think it monstrous +that this honorary distinction should be given to three Roman Catholics, +do sincerely desire to maintain a law by which a Roman Catholic may be +Commander in Chief with all the military patronage, First Lord of the +Admiralty with all the naval patronage, or First Lord of the Treasury, +with the chief influence in every department of the Government. I must +therefore suppose that those who join in the cry against the three Privy +Councillors, are either imbecile or hostile to the Emancipation Act. + +I repeat, therefore, that, while the right honourable Baronet is as free +from bigotry as he was eleven years ago, his party is more bigoted +than it was eleven years ago. The difficulty of governing Ireland in +opposition to the feelings of the great body of the Irish people is, I +apprehend, as great now as it was eleven years ago. What then must be +the fate of a government formed by the right honourable Baronet? Suppose +that the event of this debate should make him Prime Minister? Should I +be wrong if I were to prophesy that three years hence he will be more +hated and vilified by the Tory party than the present advisers of the +Crown have been? Should I be wrong if I were to say that all those +literary organs which now deafen us with praise of him, will then deafen +us with abuse of him? Should I be wrong if I were to say that he will +be burned in effigy by those who now drink his health with three times +three and one cheer more? Should I be wrong if I were to say that those +very gentlemen who have crowded hither to-night in order to vote him +into power, will crowd hither to vote Lord Melbourne back? Once already +have I seen those very persons go out into the lobby for the purpose of +driving the right honourable Baronet from the high situation to which +they had themselves exalted him. I went out with them myself; yes, with +the whole body of the Tory country gentlemen, with the whole body of +high Churchmen. All the four University Members were with us. The effect +of that division was to bring Lord Grey, Lord Althorpe, Lord Brougham, +Lord Durham into power. You may say that the Tories on that occasion +judged ill, that they were blinded by vindictive passion, that if +they had foreseen all that followed they might have acted differently. +Perhaps so. But what has been once may be again. I cannot think it +possible that those who are now supporting the right honourable Baronet +will continue from personal attachment to support him if they see that +his policy is in essentials the same as Lord Melbourne's. I believe that +they have quite as much personal attachment to Lord Melbourne as to +the right honourable Baronet. They follow the right honourable Baronet +because his abilities, his eloquence, his experience are necessary to +them; but they are but half reconciled to him. They never can forget +that, in the most important crisis of his public life, he deliberately +chose rather to be the victim of their injustice than its instrument. +It is idle to suppose that they will be satisfied by seeing a new set of +men in power. Their maxim is most truly "Measures, not men." They care +not before whom the sword of state is borne at Dublin, or who wears the +badge of St Patrick. What they abhor is not Lord Normanby personally or +Lord Ebrington personally, but the great principles in conformity with +which Ireland has been governed by Lord Normanby and by Lord Ebrington, +the principles of justice, humanity, and religious freedom. What they +wish to have in Ireland is not my Lord Haddington, or any other viceroy +whom the right honourable Baronet may select, but the tyranny of race +over race, and of creed over creed. Give them what they want; and you +convulse the empire. Refuse them; and you dissolve the Tory party. I +believe that the right honourable Baronet himself is by no means without +apprehensions that, if he were now called to the head of affairs, he +would, very speedily, have the dilemma of 1829 again before him. He +certainly was not without such apprehensions when, a few months ago, +he was commanded by Her Majesty to submit to her the plan of an +administration. The aspect of public affairs was not at that time +cheering. The Chartists were stirring in England. There were troubles in +Canada. There were great discontents in the West Indies. An expedition, +of which the event was still doubtful, had been sent into the heart of +Asia. Yet, among many causes of anxiety, the discerning eye of the right +honourable Baronet easily discerned the quarter where the great and +immediate danger lay. He told the House that his difficulty would +be Ireland. Now, Sir, that which would be the difficulty of his +administration is the strength of the present administration. Her +Majesty's Ministers enjoy the confidence of Ireland; and I believe that +what ought to be done for that country will excite less discontent +here if done by them than if done by him. He, I am afraid, great as his +abilities are, and good as I willingly admit his intentions to be, would +find it easy to lose the confidence of his partisans, but hard indeed to +win the confidence of the Irish people. + +It is indeed principally on account of Ireland that I feel solicitous +about the issue of the present debate. I well know how little chance he +who speaks on that theme has of obtaining a fair hearing. Would to +God that I were addressing an audience which would judge this great +controversy as it is judged by foreign nations, and as it will be judged +by future ages. The passions which inflame us, the sophisms which +delude us, will not last for ever. The paroxysms of faction have their +appointed season. Even the madness of fanaticism is but for a day. The +time is coming when our conflicts will be to others what the conflicts +of our forefathers are to us; when the preachers who now disturb the +State, and the politicians who now make a stalking horse of the Church, +will be no more than Sacheverel and Harley. Then will be told, in +language very different from that which now calls forth applause from +the mob of Exeter Hall, the true story of these troubled years. + +There was, it will then be said, a part of the kingdom of Queen Victoria +which presented a lamentable contrast to the rest; not from the want of +natural fruitfulness, for there was no richer soil in Europe; not from +want of facilities for trade, for the coasts of this unhappy region were +indented by bays and estuaries capable of holding all the navies of the +world; not because the people were too dull to improve these advantages +or too pusillanimous to defend them; for in natural quickness of wit +and gallantry of spirit they ranked high among the nations. But all the +bounty of nature had been made unavailing by the crimes and errors of +man. In the twelfth century that fair island was a conquered province. +The nineteenth century found it a conquered province still. During that +long interval many great changes had taken place which had conduced to +the general welfare of the empire: but those changes had only aggravated +the misery of Ireland. The Reformation came, bringing to England and +Scotland divine truth and intellectual liberty. To Ireland it brought +only fresh calamities. Two new war cries, Protestant and Catholic, +animated the old feud between the Englishry and the Irishry. The +Revolution came, bringing to England and Scotland civil and spiritual +freedom, to Ireland subjugation, degradation, persecution. The Union +came: but though it joined legislatures, it left hearts as widely +disjoined as ever. Catholic Emancipation came: but it came too late; +it came as a concession made to fear, and, having excited unreasonable +hopes, was naturally followed by unreasonable disappointment. Then +came violent irritation, and numerous errors on both sides. Agitation +produced coercion, and coercion produced fresh agitation. Difficulties +and dangers went on increasing, till a government arose which, all other +means having failed, determined to employ the only means that had not +yet been fairly tried, justice and mercy. The State, long the stepmother +of the many, and the mother only of the few, became for the first time +the common parent of all the great family. The body of the people began +to look on their rulers as friends. Battalion after battalion, squadron +after squadron was withdrawn from districts which, as it had till then +been thought, could be governed by the sword alone. Yet the security +of property and the authority of law became every day more complete. +Symptoms of amendment, symptoms such as cannot be either concealed or +counterfeited, began to appear; and those who once despaired of the +destinies of Ireland began to entertain a confident hope that she would +at length take among European nations that high place to which her +natural resources and the intelligence of her children entitle her to +aspire. + +In words such as these, I am confident, will the next generation speak +of the events in our time. Relying on the sure justice of history and +posterity, I care not, as far as I am personally concerned, whether we +stand or fall. That issue it is for the House to decide. Whether the +result will be victory or defeat, I know not. But I know that there are +defeats not less glorious than any victory; and yet I have shared in +some glorious victories. Those were proud and happy days;--some who sit +on the benches opposite can well remember, and must, I think, regret +them;--those were proud and happy days when, amidst the applauses and +blessings of millions, my noble friend led us on in the great struggle +for the Reform Bill; when hundreds waited round our doors till sunrise +to hear how we had sped; when the great cities of the north poured forth +their population on the highways to meet the mails which brought from +the capital the tidings whether the battle of the people had been lost +or won. Such days my noble friend cannot hope to see again. Two such +triumphs would be too much for one life. But perhaps there still awaits +him a less pleasing, a less exhilarating, but a not less honourable +task, the task of contending against superior numbers, and through +years of discomfiture, for those civil and religious liberties which are +inseparably associated with the name of his illustrious house. At his +side will not be wanting men who against all odds, and through all turns +of fortune, in evil days and amidst evil tongues, will defend to the +last, with unabated spirit, the noble principles of Milton and of Locke. +We may be driven from office. We may be doomed to a life of opposition. +We may be made marks for the rancour of sects which, hating each other +with a deadly hatred, yet hate toleration still more. We may be exposed +to the rage of Laud on one side, and of Praise-God-Barebones on the +other. But justice will be done at last: and a portion of the praise +which we bestow on the old champions and martyrs of freedom will not +be refused by future generations to the men who have in our days +endeavoured to bind together in real union races too long estranged, and +to efface, by the mild influence of a parental government, the fearful +traces which have been left by the misrule of ages. + +***** + + + + +WAR WITH CHINA. (APRIL 7, 1840) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE 7TH OF APRIL, 1840. + +On the seventh of April, 1840, Sir James Graham moved the following +resolution: + +"That it appears to this House, on consideration of the papers relating +to China presented to this House by command of Her Majesty, that the +interruption in our commercial and friendly intercourse with that +country, and the hostilities which have since taken place, are mainly to +be attributed to the want of foresight and precaution on the part of Her +Majesty's present advisers, in respect to our relations with China, and +especially to their neglect to furnish the Superintendent at Canton with +powers and instructions calculated to provide against the growing evils +connected with the contraband trade in opium, and adapted to the novel +and difficult situation in which the Superintendent was placed." + +As soon as the question had been put from the Chair the following Speech +was made. + +The motion was rejected, after a debate of three nights, by 271 votes to +261. + +Mr Speaker,--If the right honourable Baronet, in rising to make an +attack on the Government, was forced to own that he was unnerved and +overpowered by his sense of the importance of the question with which he +had to deal, one who rises to repel that attack may, without any shame, +confess that he feels similar emotions. And yet I must say that the +anxiety, the natural and becoming anxiety, with which Her Majesty's +Ministers have awaited the judgment of the House on these papers, was +not a little allayed by the terms of the right honourable Baronet's +motion, and has been still more allayed by his speech. It was impossible +for us to doubt either his inclination or his ability to detect and +to expose any fault which we might have committed, and we may well +congratulate ourselves on finding that, after the closest examination +into a long series of transactions, so extensive, so complicated, and, +in some respects, so disastrous, so keen an assailant could produce only +so futile an accusation. + +In the first place, Sir, the resolution which the right honourable +Baronet has moved relates entirely to events which took place before the +rupture with the Chinese Government. That rupture took place in March, +1839. The right honourable Baronet therefore does not propose to pass +any censure on any step which has been taken by the Government within +the last thirteen months; and it will, I think, be generally admitted, +that when he abstains from censuring the proceedings of the Government, +it is because the most unfriendly scrutiny can find nothing in those +proceedings to censure. We by no means deny that he has a perfect right +to propose a vote expressing disapprobation of what was done in 1837 or +1838. At the same time, we cannot but be gratified by learning that he +approves of our present policy, and of the measures which we have taken, +since the rupture, for the vindication of the national honour and for +the protection of the national interests. + +It is also to be observed that the right honourable Baronet has not +ventured, either in his motion or in his speech, to charge Her Majesty's +Ministers with any unwise or unjust act, with any act tending to lower +the character of England, or to give cause of offence to China. The only +sins which he imputes to them are sins of omission. His complaint is +merely that they did not foresee the course which events would take at +Canton, and that consequently they did not send sufficient instructions +to the British resident who was stationed there. Now it is evident that +such an accusation is of all accusations that which requires the fullest +and most distinct proof; for it is of all accusations that which it is +easiest to make and hardest to refute. A man charged with a culpable +act which he has not committed has comparatively little difficulty in +proving his innocence. But when the charge is merely this, that he has +not, in a long and intricate series of transactions, done all that it +would have been wise to do, how is he to vindicate himself? And the case +which we are considering has this peculiarity, that the envoy to whom +the Ministers are said to have left too large a discretion was fifteen +thousand miles from them. The charge against them therefore is this, +that they did not give such copious and particular directions as +were sufficient, in every possible emergency, for the guidance of a +functionary, who was fifteen thousand miles off. Now, Sir, I am ready to +admit that, if the papers on our table related to important negotiations +with a neighbouring state, if they related, for example, to a +negotiation carried on with France, my noble friend the Secretary for +Foreign Affairs (Lord Palmerston.) might well have been blamed for +sending instructions so meagre and so vague to our ambassador at Paris. +For my noble friend knows to-night what passed between our ambassador +at Paris and the French Ministers yesterday; and a messenger despatched +to-night from Downing Street will be at the Embassy in the Faubourg +Saint Honore the day after to-morrow. But that constant and minute +control, which the Foreign Secretary is bound to exercise over +diplomatic agents who are near, becomes an useless and pernicious +meddling when exercised over agents who are separated from him by a +voyage of five months. There are on both sides of the House gentlemen +conversant with the affairs of India. I appeal to those gentlemen. India +is nearer to us than China. India is far better known to us than China. +Yet is it not universally acknowledged that India can be governed only +in India? The authorities at home point out to a governor the general +line of policy which they wish him to follow; but they do not send him +directions as to the details of his administration. How indeed is it +possible that they should send him such directions? Consider in what a +state the affairs of this country would be if they were to be conducted +according to directions framed by the ablest statesman residing in +Bengal. A despatch goes hence asking for instructions while London is +illuminating for the peace of Amiens. The instructions arrive when the +French army is encamped at Boulogne, and when the whole island is up in +arms to repel invasion. A despatch is written asking for instructions +when Bonaparte is at Elba. The instructions come when he is at the +Tuilleries. A despatch is written asking for instructions when he is at +the Tuilleries. The instructions come when he is at St Helena. It would +be just as impossible to govern India in London as to govern England at +Calcutta. While letters are preparing here on the supposition that there +is profound peace in the Carnatic, Hyder is at the gates of Fort St +George. While letters are preparing here on the supposition that trade +is flourishing and that the revenue exceeds the expenditure, the crops +have failed, great agency houses have broken, and the government is +negotiating a loan on hard terms. It is notorious that the great men +who founded and preserved our Indian empire, Clive and Warren Hastings, +treated all particular orders which they received from home as mere +waste paper. Had not those great men had the sense and spirit so to +treat such orders, we should not now have had an Indian empire. But the +case of China is far stronger. For, though a person who is now writing a +despatch to Fort William in Leadenhall Street or Cannon Row, cannot know +what events have happened in India within the last two months, he may be +very intimately acquainted with the general state of that country, with +its wants, with its resources, with the habits and temper of the native +population, and with the character of every prince and minister from +Nepaul to Tanjore. But what does anybody here know of China? Even those +Europeans who have been in that empire are almost as ignorant of it as +the rest of us. Everything is covered by a veil, through which a glimpse +of what is within may occasionally be caught, a glimpse just sufficient +to set the imagination at work, and more likely to mislead than to +inform. The right honourable Baronet has told us that an Englishman at +Canton sees about as much of China as a foreigner who should land at +Wapping and proceed no further would see of England. Certainly the +sights and sounds of Wapping would give a foreigner but a very imperfect +notion of our Government, of our manufactures, of our agriculture, of +the state of learning and the arts among us. And yet the illustration +is but a faint one. For a foreigner may, without seeing even Wapping, +without visiting England at all, study our literature, and may thence +form a vivid and correct idea of our institutions and manners. But the +literature of China affords us no such help. Obstacles unparalleled in +any other country which has books must be surmounted by the student +who is determined to master the Chinese tongue. To learn to read is the +business of half a life. It is easier to become such a linguist as Sir +William Jones was than to become a good Chinese scholar. You may count +upon your fingers the Europeans whose industry and genius, even when +stimulated by the most fervent religious zeal, has triumphed over the +difficulties of a language without an alphabet. Here then is a country +separated from us physically by half the globe, separated from us +still more effectually by the barriers which the most jealous of all +governments and the hardest of all languages oppose to the researches of +strangers. Is it then reasonable to blame my noble friend because he has +not sent to our envoys in such a country as this instructions as full +and precise as it would have been his duty to send to a minister at +Brussels or at the Hague? The right honourable Baronet who comes forward +as the accuser on this occasion is really accusing himself. He was +a member of the Government of Lord Grey. He was himself concerned in +framing the first instructions which were given by my noble friend to +our first Superintendent at Canton. For those instructions the right +honourable Baronet frankly admits that he is himself responsible. Are +those instructions then very copious and minute? Not at all. They merely +lay down general principles. The Resident, for example, is enjoined to +respect national usages, and to avoid whatever may shock the prejudices +of the Chinese; but no orders are given him as to matters of detail. +In 1834 my noble friend quitted the Foreign Office, and the Duke of +Wellington went to it. Did the Duke of Wellington send out those copious +and exact directions with which, according to the right honourable +Baronet, the Government is bound to furnish its agent in China? No, Sir; +the Duke of Wellington, grown old in the conduct of great affairs, knows +better than anybody that a man of very ordinary ability at Canton is +likely to be a better judge of what ought to be done on an emergency +arising at Canton than the greatest politician at Westminster can +possibly be. His Grace, therefore, like a wise man as he is, wrote only +one letter to the Superintendent, and in that letter merely referred the +Superintendent to the general directions given by Lord Palmerston. And +how, Sir, does the right honourable Baronet prove that, by persisting in +the course which he himself took when in office, and which the Duke +of Wellington took when in office, Her Majesty's present advisers have +brought on that rupture which we all deplore? He has read us, from the +voluminous papers which are on the table, much which has but a very +remote connection with the question. He has said much about things which +happened before the present Ministry existed, and much about things +which have happened at Canton since the rupture; but very little that +is relevant to the issue raised by the resolution which he has himself +proposed. That issue is simply this, whether the mismanagement of the +present Ministry produced the rupture. I listened to his long and able +speech with the greatest attention, and did my best to separate +that part which had any relation to his motion from a great mass of +extraneous matter. If my analysis be correct, the charge which he brings +against the Government consists of four articles. + +The first article is, that the Government omitted to alter that part of +the original instructions which directed the Superintendent to reside at +Canton. + +The second article is, that the Government omitted to alter that part +of the original instructions which directed the Superintendent to +communicate directly with the representatives of the Emperor. + +The third article is, that the Government omitted to follow the +advice of the Duke of Wellington, who had left at the Foreign Office a +memorandum recommending that a British ship of war should be stationed +in the China sea. + +The fourth article is, that the Government omitted to authorise and +empower the Superintendent to put down the contraband trade carried on +by British subjects with China. + +Such, Sir, are the counts of this indictment. Of these counts, the +fourth is the only one which will require a lengthened defence. The +first three may be disposed of in very few words. + +As to the first, the answer is simple. It is true that the Government +did not revoke that part of the instructions which directed the +Superintendent to reside at Canton; and it is true that this part of the +instructions did at one time cause a dispute between the Superintendent +and the Chinese authorities. But it is equally true that this dispute +was accommodated early in 1837; that the Chinese Government furnished +the Superintendent with a passport authorising him to reside at Canton; +that, during the two years which preceded the rupture, the Chinese +Government made no objection to his residing at Canton; and that there +is not in all this huge blue book one word indicating that the rupture +was caused, directly or indirectly, by his residing at Canton. On the +first count, therefore, I am confident that the verdict must be, Not +Guilty. + +To the second count we have a similar answer. It is true that there +was a dispute with the authorities of Canton about the mode of +communication. But it is equally true that this dispute was settled by +a compromise. The Chinese made a concession as to the channel of +communication. The Superintendent made a concession as to the form +of communication. The question had been thus set at rest before the +rupture, and had absolutely nothing to do with the rupture. + +As to the third charge, I must tell the right honourable Baronet that +he has altogether misapprehended that memorandum which he so confidently +cites. The Duke of Wellington did not advise the Government to station a +ship of war constantly in the China seas. The Duke, writing in 1835, +at a time when the regular course of the trade had been interrupted, +recommended that a ship of war should be stationed near Canton, "till +the trade should take its regular peaceable course." Those are His +Grace's own words. Do they not imply that, when the trade had again +taken its regular peaceable course, it might be right to remove the ship +of war? Well, Sir, the trade, after that memorandum was written, did +resume its regular peaceable course: that the right honourable Baronet +himself will admit; for it is part of his own case that Sir George +Robinson had succeeded in restoring quiet and security. The third charge +then is simply this, that the Ministers did not do in a time of perfect +tranquillity what the Duke of Wellington thought that it would have been +right to do in a time of trouble. + +And now, Sir, I come to the fourth charge, the only real charge; for +the other three are so futile that I hardly understand how the right +honourable Baronet should have ventured to bring them forward. +The fourth charge is, that the Ministers omitted to send to the +Superintendent orders and powers to suppress the contraband trade, and +that this omission was the cause of the rupture. + +Now, Sir, let me ask whether it was not notorious, when the right +honourable Baronet was in office, that British subjects carried on an +extensive contraband trade with China? Did the right honourable Baronet +and his colleagues instruct the Superintendent to put down that trade? +Never. That trade went on while the Duke of Wellington was at the +Foreign Office. Did the Duke of Wellington instruct the Superintendent +to put down that trade? No, Sir, never. Are then the followers of the +right honourable Baronet, are the followers of the Duke of Wellington, +prepared to pass a vote of censure on us for following the example of +the right honourable Baronet and of the Duke of Wellington? But I am +understating my case. Since the present Ministers came into office, the +reasons against sending out such instructions were much stronger than +when the right honourable Baronet was in office, or when the Duke of +Wellington was in office. Down to the month of May 1838, my noble friend +had good grounds for believing that the Chinese Government was about +to legalise the trade in opium. It is by no means easy to follow the +windings of Chinese politics. But, it is certain that about four years +ago the whole question was taken into serious consideration at Pekin. +The attention of the Emperor was called to the undoubted fact, that the +law which forbade the trade in opium was a dead letter. That law had +been intended to guard against two evils, which the Chinese legislators +seem to have regarded with equal horror, the importation of a noxious +drug, and the exportation of the precious metals. It was found, however, +that as many pounds of opium came in, and that as many pounds of silver +went out, as if there had been no such law. The only effect of the +prohibition was that the people learned to think lightly of imperial +edicts, and that no part of the great sums expended in the purchase +of the forbidden luxury came into the imperial treasury. These +considerations were set forth in a most luminous and judicious state +paper, drawn by Tang Tzee, President of the Sacrificial Offices. I am +sorry to hear that this enlightened Minister has been turned out of +office on account of his liberality: for to be turned out of office is, +I apprehend, a much more serious misfortune in China than in England. +Tang Tzee argued that it was unwise to attempt to exclude opium, for +that, while millions desired to have it, no law would keep it out, and +that the manner in which it had long been brought in had produced an +injurious effect both on the revenues of the state and on the morals of +the people. Opposed to Tang Tzee was Tchu Sing, a statesman of a very +different class, of a class which, I am sorry to say, is not confined to +China. Tchu Sing appears to be one of those staunch conservatives who, +when they find that a law is inefficient because it is too severe, +imagine that they can make it efficient by making it more severe still. +His historical knowledge is much on a par with his legislative wisdom. +He seems to have paid particular attention to the rise and progress of +our Indian Empire, and he informs his imperial master that opium is +the weapon by which England effects her conquests. She had, it seems, +persuaded the people of Hindostan to smoke and swallow this besotting +drug, till they became so feeble in body and mind, that they were +subjugated without difficulty. Some time appears to have elapsed before +the Emperor made up his mind on the point in dispute between Tang Tzee +and Tchu Sing. Our Superintendent, Captain Elliot, was of opinion that +the decision would be in favour of the rational view taken by Tang Tzee; +and such, as I can myself attest, was, during part of the year 1837, the +opinion of the whole mercantile community of Calcutta. Indeed, it was +expected that every ship which arrived in the Hoogley from Canton would +bring the news that the opium trade had been declared legal. Nor was +it known in London till May 1838, that the arguments of Tchu Sing had +prevailed. Surely, Sir, it would have been most absurd to order Captain +Elliot to suppress this trade at a time when everybody expected that it +would soon cease to be contraband. The right honourable Baronet must, +I think, himself admit that, till the month of May 1838, the Government +here omitted nothing that ought to have been done. + +The question before us is therefore reduced to very narrow limits. It +is merely this: Ought my noble friend, in May 1838, to have sent out a +despatch commanding and empowering Captain Elliot to put down the opium +trade? I do not think that it would have been right or wise to send +out such a despatch. Consider, Sir, with what powers it would have been +necessary to arm the Superintendent. He must have been authorised to +arrest, to confine, to send across the sea any British subject whom he +might believe to have been concerned in introducing opium into China. I +do not deny that, under the Act of Parliament, the Government might have +invested him with this dictatorship. But I do say that the Government +ought not lightly to invest any man with such a dictatorship, and, that +if, in consequence of directions sent out by the Government, numerous +subjects of Her Majesty had been taken into custody and shipped off to +Bengal or to England without being permitted to wind up their affairs, +this House would in all probability have called the Ministers to a +strict account. Nor do I believe that by sending such directions the +Government would have averted the rupture which has taken place. I will +go further. I believe that, if such directions had been sent, we should +now have been, as we are, at war with China; and that we should have +been at war in circumstances singularly dishonourable and disastrous. + +For, Sir, suppose that the Superintendent had been authorised and +commanded by the Government to put forth an order prohibiting British +subjects from trading in opium; suppose that he had put forth such an +order; how was he to enforce it? The right honourable Baronet has had +too much experience of public affairs to imagine that a lucrative trade +will be suppressed by a sheet of paper and a seal. In England we have a +preventive service which costs us half a million a year. We employ more +than fifty cruisers to guard our coasts. We have six thousand effective +men whose business is to intercept smugglers. And yet everybody knows +that every article which is much desired, which is easily concealed, and +which is heavily taxed, is smuggled into our island to a great extent. +The quantity of brandy which comes in without paying duty is known to +be not less than six hundred thousand gallons a year. Some people think +that the quantity of tobacco which is imported clandestinely is as great +as the quantity which goes through the custom-houses. Be this as it may, +there is no doubt that the illicit importation is enormous. It has been +proved before a Committee of this House that not less than four millions +of pounds of tobacco have lately been smuggled into Ireland. And all +this, observe, has been done in spite of the most efficient preventive +service that I believe ever existed in the world. Consider too that the +price of an ounce of opium is far, very far higher than the price of a +pound of tobacco. Knowing this, knowing that the whole power of King, +Lords, and Commons cannot here put a stop to a traffic less easy, and +less profitable than the traffic in opium, can you believe that an +order prohibiting the traffic in opium would have been readily obeyed? +Remember by what powerful motives both the buyer and the seller would +have been impelled to deal with each other. The buyer would have been +driven to the seller by something little short of torture, by a physical +craving as fierce and impatient as any to which our race is subject. +For, when stimulants of this sort have been long used, they are desired +with a rage which resembles the rage of hunger. The seller would have +been driven to the buyer by the hope of vast and rapid gain. And do +you imagine that the intense appetite on one side for what had become a +necessary of life, and on the other for riches, would have been appeased +by a few lines signed Charles Elliot? The very utmost effect which it +is possible to believe that such an order would have produced would +have been this, that the opium trade would have left Canton, where the +dealers were under the eye of the Superintendent, and where they would +have run some risk of being punished by him, and would have spread +itself along the coast. If we know anything about the Chinese +Government, we know this, that its coastguard is neither trusty nor +efficient; and we know that a coastguard as trusty and efficient as +our own would not be able to cut off communication between the merchant +longing for silver and the smoker longing for his pipe. Whole fleets +of vessels would have managed to land their cargoes along the shore. +Conflicts would have arisen between our countrymen and the local +magistrates, who would not, like the authorities of Canton, have +had some knowledge of European habits and feelings. The mere malum +prohibitum would, as usual, have produced the mala in se. The unlawful +traffic would inevitably have led to a crowd of acts, not only unlawful, +but immoral. The smuggler would, by the almost irresistible force of +circumstances, have been turned into a pirate. We know that, even at +Canton, where the smugglers stand in some awe of the authority of the +Superintendent and of the opinion of an English society which contains +many respectable persons, the illicit trade has caused many brawls and +outrages. What, then, was to be expected when every captain of a ship +laden with opium would have been the sole judge of his own conduct? It +is easy to guess what would have happened. A boat is sent ashore to fill +the water-casks and to buy fresh provisions. The provisions are refused. +The sailors take them by force. Then a well is poisoned. Two or three +of the ship's company die in agonies. The crew in a fury land, shoot +and stab every man whom they meet, and sack and burn a village. Is this +improbable? Have not similar causes repeatedly produced similar effects? +Do we not know that the jealous vigilance with which Spain excluded the +ships of other nations from her Transatlantic possessions turned men who +would otherwise have been honest merchant adventurers into buccaneers? +The same causes which raised up one race of buccaneers in the Gulf of +Mexico would soon have raised up another in the China Sea. And can +we doubt what would in that case have been the conduct of the Chinese +authorities at Canton? We see that Commissioner Lin has arrested and +confined men of spotless character, men whom he had not the slightest +reason to suspect of being engaged in any illicit commerce. He did so on +the ground that some of their countrymen had violated the revenue +laws of China. How then would he have acted if he had learned that +the red-headed devils had not merely been selling opium, but had been +fighting, plundering, slaying, burning? Would he not have put forth +a proclamation in his most vituperative style, setting forth that the +Outside Barbarians had undertaken to stop the contraband trade, but that +they had been found deceivers, that the Superintendent's edict was a +mere pretence, that there was more smuggling than ever, that to the +smuggling had been added robbery and murder, and that therefore he +should detain all men of the guilty race as hostages till reparation +should be made? I say, therefore, that, if the Ministers had done that +which the right honourable Baronet blames them for not doing, we should +only have reached by a worse way the point at which we now are. + +I have now, Sir, gone through the four heads of the charge brought +against the Government; and I say with confidence that the interruption +of our friendly relations with China cannot justly be imputed to any one +of the omissions mentioned by the right honourable Baronet. In truth, if +I could feel assured that no gentleman would vote for the motion without +attentively reading it, and considering whether the proposition which it +affirms has been made out, I should have no uneasiness as to the +result of this debate. But I know that no member weighs the words of a +resolution for which he is asked to vote, as he would weigh the words +of an affidavit which he was asked to swear. And I am aware that +some persons, for whose humanity and honesty I entertain the greatest +respect, are inclined to divide with the right honourable Baronet, not +because they think that he has proved his case, but because they have +taken up a notion that we are making war for the purpose of forcing +the Government of China to admit opium into that country, and that, +therefore, we richly deserve to be censured. Certainly, Sir, if we +had been guilty of such absurdity and such atrocity as those gentlemen +impute to us, we should deserve not only censure but condign punishment. +But the imputation is altogether unfounded. Our course was clear. We may +doubt indeed whether the Emperor of China judged well in listening to +Tchu Sing and disgracing Tang Tzee. We may doubt whether it be a wise +policy to exclude altogether from any country a drug which is often +fatally abused, but which to those who use it rightly is one of the +most precious boons vouchsafed by Providence to man, powerful to assuage +pain, to soothe irritation, and to restore health. We may doubt whether +it be a wise policy to make laws for the purpose of preventing the +precious metals from being exported in the natural course of trade. We +have learned from all history, and from our own experience, that revenue +cutters, custom-house officers, informers, will never keep out of any +country foreign luxuries of small bulk for which consumers are willing +to pay high prices, and will never prevent gold and silver from going +abroad in exchange for such luxuries. We cannot believe that what +England with her skilfully organised fiscal system and her gigantic +marine, has never been able to effect, will be accomplished by the junks +which are at the command of the mandarins of China. But, whatever our +opinion on these points may be, we are perfectly aware that they are +points which it belongs not to us but to the Emperor of China to decide. +He had a perfect right to keep out opium and to keep in silver, if he +could do so by means consistent with morality and public law. If his +officers seized a chest of the forbidden drug, we were not entitled to +complain; nor did we complain. But when, finding that they could not +suppress the contraband trade by just means, they resorted to means +flagrantly unjust, when they imprisoned our innocent countrymen, when +they insulted our Sovereign in the person of her representative, then +it became our duty to demand satisfaction. Whether the opium trade be +a pernicious trade is not the question. Take a parallel case: take the +most execrable crime that ever was called a trade, the African slave +trade. You will hardly say that a contraband trade in opium is more +immoral than a contraband trade in negroes. We prohibited slave-trading: +we made it felony; we made it piracy; we invited foreign powers to join +with us in putting it down; to some foreign powers we paid large sums +in order to obtain their co-operation; we employed our naval force to +intercept the kidnappers; and yet it is notorious that, in spite of all +our exertions and sacrifices, great numbers of slaves were, even as +late as ten or twelve years ago, introduced from Madagascar into our +own island of Mauritius. Assuredly it was our right, it was our duty, to +guard the coasts of that island strictly, to stop slave ships, to bring +the buyers and sellers to punishment. But suppose, Sir, that a ship +under French colours was seen skulking near the island, that the +Governor was fully satisfied from her build, her rigging, and her +movements, that she was a slaver, and was only waiting for the night to +put on shore the wretches who were in her hold. Suppose that, not having +a sufficient naval force to seize this vessel, he were to arrest thirty +or forty French merchants, most of whom had never been suspected of +slave-trading, and were to lock them up. Suppose that he were to lay +violent hands on the French consul. Suppose that the Governor were +to threaten to starve his prisoners to death unless they produced the +proprietor of the slaver. Would not the French Government in such a case +have a right to demand reparation? And, if we refused reparation, would +not the French Government have a right to exact reparation by arms? And +would it be enough for us to say, "This is a wicked trade, an inhuman +trade. Think of the misery of the poor creatures who are torn from their +homes. Think of the horrors of the middle passage. Will you make war in +order to force us to admit slaves into our colonies?" Surely the answer +of the French would be, "We are not making war in order to force you +to admit slaves into the Mauritius. By all means keep them out. By +all means punish every man, French or English, whom you can convict of +bringing them in. What we complain of is that you have confounded +the innocent with the guilty, and that you have acted towards the +representative of our government in a manner inconsistent with the law +of nations. Do not, in your zeal for one great principle, trample on all +the other great principles of morality." Just such are the grounds on +which Her Majesty has demanded reparation from China. And was it not +time? See, Sir, see how rapidly injury has followed injury. The Imperial +Commissioner, emboldened by the facility with which he had perpetrated +the first outrage, and utterly ignorant of the relative position of his +country and ours in the scale of power and civilisation, has risen in +his requisitions. He began by confiscating property. His next demand was +for innocent blood. A Chinese had been slain. Careful inquiry was made; +but it was impossible to ascertain who was the slayer, or even to +what nation the slayer belonged. No matter. It was notified to the +Superintendent that some subject of the Queen, innocent or guilty, must +be delivered up to suffer death. The Superintendent refused to comply. +Then our countrymen at Canton were seized. Those who were at Macao +were driven thence: not men alone, but women with child, babies at the +breast. The fugitives begged in vain for a morsel of bread. Our Lascars, +people of a different colour from ours, but still our fellow-subjects, +were flung into the sea. An English gentleman was barbarously mutilated. +And was this to be borne? I am far from thinking that we ought, in our +dealings with such a people as the Chinese, to be litigious on points +of etiquette. The place of our country among the nations of the world is +not so mean or so ill ascertained that we need resent mere impertinence, +which is the effect of a very pitiable ignorance. Conscious of superior +power, we can bear to hear our Sovereign described as a tributary of the +Celestial Empire. Conscious of superior knowledge we can bear to hear +ourselves described as savages destitute of every useful art. When our +ambassadors were required to perform a prostration, which in Europe +would have been considered as degrading, we were rather amused than +irritated. It would have been unworthy of us to have recourse to arms on +account of an uncivil phrase, or of a dispute about a ceremony. But this +is not a question of phrases and ceremonies. The liberties and lives of +Englishmen are at stake: and it is fit that all nations, civilised and +uncivilised, should know that, wherever the Englishman may wander, he is +followed by the eye and guarded by the power of England. + +I was much touched, and so, I dare say, were many other gentlemen, by +a passage in one of Captain Elliot's despatches. I mean that passage in +which he describes his arrival at the factory in the moment of extreme +danger. As soon as he landed he was surrounded by his countrymen, all +in an agony of distress and despair. The first thing which he did was +to order the British flag to be brought from his boat and planted in +the balcony. The sight immediately revived the hearts of those who had +a minute before given themselves up for lost. It was natural that they +should look up with hope and confidence to that victorious flag. For it +reminded them that they belonged to a country unaccustomed to defeat, to +submission, or to shame; to a country which had exacted such reparation +for the wrongs of her children as had made the ears of all who heard +of it to tingle; to a country which had made the Dey of Algiers humble +himself to the dust before her insulted Consul; to a country which had +avenged the victims of the Black Hole on the Field of Plassey; to a +country which had not degenerated since the Great Protector vowed that +he would make the name of Englishman as much respected as ever had been +the name of Roman citizen. They knew that, surrounded as they were by +enemies, and separated by great oceans and continents from all help, not +a hair of their heads would be harmed with impunity. On this part of the +subject I believe that both the great contending parties in this House +are agreed. I did not detect in the speech of the right honourable +Baronet,--and I listened to that speech with the closest attention,--one +word indicating that he is less disposed than we to insist on full +satisfaction for the great wrong which has been done. I cannot believe +that the House will pass a vote of censure so grossly unjust as that +which he has moved. But I rejoice to think that, whether we are censured +or not, the national honour will still be safe. There may be a change of +men; but, as respects China, there will be no change of measures. I have +done; and have only to express my fervent hope that this most righteous +quarrel may be prosecuted to a speedy and triumphant close; that the +brave men to whom is intrusted the task of exacting reparation may +perform their duty in such a manner as to spread, throughout regions +in which the English name is hardly known, the fame not only of English +skill and valour, but of English mercy and moderation; and that the +overruling care of that gracious Providence which has so often brought +good out of evil may make the war to which we have been forced the means +of establishing a durable peace, beneficial alike to the victors and the +vanquished. + +***** + + + + +COPYRIGHT. (FEBRUARY 5, 1841) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS +ON THE 5TH OF FEBRUARY 1841. + +On the twenty-ninth of January 1841, Mr Serjeant Talfourd obtained leave +to bring in a bill to amend the law of copyright. The object of this +bill was to extend the term of copyright in a book to sixty years, +reckoned from the death of the writer. + +On the fifth of February Mr Serjeant Talfourd moved that the bill should +be read a second time. In reply to him the following Speech was made. +The bill was rejected by 45 votes to 38. + +Though, Sir, it is in some sense agreeable to approach a subject with +which political animosities have nothing to do, I offer myself to your +notice with some reluctance. It is painful to me to take a course which +may possibly be misunderstood or misrepresented as unfriendly to the +interests of literature and literary men. It is painful to me, I will +add, to oppose my honourable and learned friend on a question which +he has taken up from the purest motives, and which he regards with a +parental interest. These feelings have hitherto kept me silent when +the law of copyright has been under discussion. But as I am, on full +consideration, satisfied that the measure before us will, if adopted, +inflict grievous injury on the public, without conferring any +compensating advantage on men of letters, I think it my duty to avow +that opinion and to defend it. + +The first thing to be done, Sir, is to settle on what principles the +question is to be argued. Are we free to legislate for the public good, +or are we not? Is this a question of expediency, or is it a question +of right? Many of those who have written and petitioned against the +existing state of things treat the question as one of right. The law of +nature, according to them, gives to every man a sacred and indefeasible +property in his own ideas, in the fruits of his own reason and +imagination. The legislature has indeed the power to take away this +property, just as it has the power to pass an act of attainder for +cutting off an innocent man's head without a trial. But, as such an act +of attainder would be legal murder, so would an act invading the +right of an author to his copy be, according to these gentlemen, legal +robbery. + +Now, Sir, if this be so, let justice be done, cost what it may. I am +not prepared, like my honourable and learned friend, to agree to a +compromise between right and expediency, and to commit an injustice for +the public convenience. But I must say, that his theory soars far beyond +the reach of my faculties. It is not necessary to go, on the present +occasion, into a metaphysical inquiry about the origin of the right of +property; and certainly nothing but the strongest necessity would lead +me to discuss a subject so likely to be distasteful to the House. I +agree, I own, with Paley in thinking that property is the creature of +the law, and that the law which creates property can be defended only +on this ground, that it is a law beneficial to mankind. But it is +unnecessary to debate that point. For, even if I believed in a natural +right of property, independent of utility and anterior to legislation, I +should still deny that this right could survive the original proprietor. +Few, I apprehend, even of those who have studied in the most mystical +and sentimental schools of moral philosophy, will be disposed to +maintain that there is a natural law of succession older and of higher +authority than any human code. If there be, it is quite certain that +we have abuses to reform much more serious than any connected with the +question of copyright. For this natural law can be only one; and the +modes of succession in the Queen's dominions are twenty. To go no +further than England, land generally descends to the eldest son. In Kent +the sons share and share alike. In many districts the youngest takes the +whole. Formerly a portion of a man's personal property was secured to +his family; and it was only of the residue that he could dispose by +will. Now he can dispose of the whole by will: but you limited his +power, a few years ago, by enacting that the will should not be valid +unless there were two witnesses. If a man dies intestate, his personal +property generally goes according to the statute of distributions; but +there are local customs which modify that statute. Now which of all +these systems is conformed to the eternal standard of right? Is it +primogeniture, or gavelkind, or borough English? Are wills jure divino? +Are the two witnesses jure divino? Might not the pars rationabilis +of our old law have a fair claim to be regarded as of celestial +institution? Was the statute of distributions enacted in Heaven long +before it was adopted by Parliament? Or is it to Custom of York, or to +Custom of London, that this preeminence belongs? Surely, Sir, even those +who hold that there is a natural right of property must admit that rules +prescribing the manner in which the effects of deceased persons shall be +distributed are purely arbitrary, and originate altogether in the will +of the legislature. If so, Sir, there is no controversy between my +honourable and learned friend and myself as to the principles on which +this question is to be argued. For the existing law gives an author +copyright during his natural life; nor do I propose to invade that +privilege, which I should, on the contrary, be prepared to defend +strenuously against any assailant. The only point in issue between +us is, how long after an author's death the State shall recognise a +copyright in his representatives and assigns; and it can, I think, +hardly be disputed by any rational man that this is a point which the +legislature is free to determine in the way which may appear to be most +conducive to the general good. + +We may now, therefore, I think, descend from these high regions, where +we are in danger of being lost in the clouds, to firm ground and clear +light. Let us look at this question like legislators, and after fairly +balancing conveniences and inconveniences, pronounce between the +existing law of copyright, and the law now proposed to us. The question +of copyright, Sir, like most questions of civil prudence, is neither +black nor white, but grey. The system of copyright has great advantages +and great disadvantages; and it is our business to ascertain what these +are, and then to make an arrangement under which the advantages may be +as far as possible secured, and the disadvantages as far as possible +excluded. The charge which I bring against my honourable and learned +friend's bill is this, that it leaves the advantages nearly what they +are at present, and increases the disadvantages at least fourfold. + +The advantages arising from a system of copyright are obvious. It is +desirable that we should have a supply of good books; we cannot have +such a supply unless men of letters are liberally remunerated; and the +least objectionable way of remunerating them is by means of copyright. +You cannot depend for literary instruction and amusement on the +leisure of men occupied in the pursuits of active life. Such men may +occasionally produce compositions of great merit. But you must not look +to such men for works which require deep meditation and long research. +Works of that kind you can expect only from persons who make literature +the business of their lives. Of these persons few will be found among +the rich and the noble. The rich and the noble are not impelled to +intellectual exertion by necessity. They may be impelled to intellectual +exertion by the desire of distinguishing themselves, or by the desire +of benefiting the community. But it is generally within these walls that +they seek to signalise themselves and to serve their fellow-creatures. +Both their ambition and their public spirit, in a country like this, +naturally take a political turn. It is then on men whose profession is +literature, and whose private means are not ample, that you must rely +for a supply of valuable books. Such men must be remunerated for their +literary labour. And there are only two ways in which they can be +remunerated. One of those ways is patronage; the other is copyright. + +There have been times in which men of letters looked, not to the public, +but to the government, or to a few great men, for the reward of their +exertions. It was thus in the time of Maecenas and Pollio at Rome, +of the Medici at Florence, of Louis the Fourteenth in France, of Lord +Halifax and Lord Oxford in this country. Now, Sir, I well know that +there are cases in which it is fit and graceful, nay, in which it is a +sacred duty to reward the merits or to relieve the distresses of men of +genius by the exercise of this species of liberality. But these cases +are exceptions. I can conceive no system more fatal to the integrity and +independence of literary men than one under which they should be taught +to look for their daily bread to the favour of ministers and nobles. I +can conceive no system more certain to turn those minds which are formed +by nature to be the blessings and ornaments of our species into public +scandals and pests. + +We have, then, only one resource left. We must betake ourselves to +copyright, be the inconveniences of copyright what they may. Those +inconveniences, in truth, are neither few nor small. Copyright is +monopoly, and produces all the effects which the general voice of +mankind attributes to monopoly. My honourable and learned friend +talks very contemptuously of those who are led away by the theory that +monopoly makes things dear. That monopoly makes things dear is certainly +a theory, as all the great truths which have been established by the +experience of all ages and nations, and which are taken for granted in +all reasonings, may be said to be theories. It is a theory in the same +sense in which it is a theory that day and night follow each other, that +lead is heavier than water, that bread nourishes, that arsenic poisons, +that alcohol intoxicates. If, as my honourable and learned friend seems +to think, the whole world is in the wrong on this point, if the real +effect of monopoly is to make articles good and cheap, why does he stop +short in his career of change? Why does he limit the operation of so +salutary a principle to sixty years? Why does he consent to anything +short of a perpetuity? He told us that in consenting to anything short +of a perpetuity he was making a compromise between extreme right and +expediency. But if his opinion about monopoly be correct, extreme right +and expediency would coincide. Or rather, why should we not restore the +monopoly of the East India trade to the East India Company? Why should +we not revive all those old monopolies which, in Elizabeth's reign, +galled our fathers so severely that, maddened by intolerable wrong, they +opposed to their sovereign a resistance before which her haughty spirit +quailed for the first and for the last time? Was it the cheapness and +excellence of commodities that then so violently stirred the indignation +of the English people? I believe, Sir, that I may with safety take it +for granted that the effect of monopoly generally is to make articles +scarce, to make them dear, and to make them bad. And I may with equal +safety challenge my honourable friend to find out any distinction +between copyright and other privileges of the same kind; any reason why +a monopoly of books should produce an effect directly the reverse of +that which was produced by the East India Company's monopoly of tea, or +by Lord Essex's monopoly of sweet wines. Thus, then, stands the case. It +is good that authors should be remunerated; and the least exceptionable +way of remunerating them is by a monopoly. Yet monopoly is an evil. For +the sake of the good we must submit to the evil; but the evil ought not +to last a day longer than is necessary for the purpose of securing the +good. + +Now, I will not affirm that the existing law is perfect, that it +exactly hits the point at which the monopoly ought to cease; but this +I confidently say, that the existing law is very much nearer that point +than the law proposed by my honourable and learned friend. For consider +this; the evil effects of the monopoly are proportioned to the length +of its duration. But the good effects for the sake of which we bear +with the evil effects are by no means proportioned to the length of its +duration. A monopoly of sixty years produces twice as much evil as +a monopoly of thirty years, and thrice as much evil as a monopoly of +twenty years. But it is by no means the fact that a posthumous monopoly +of sixty years gives to an author thrice as much pleasure and thrice +as strong a motive as a posthumous monopoly of twenty years. On the +contrary, the difference is so small as to be hardly perceptible. We +all know how faintly we are affected by the prospect of very distant +advantages, even when they are advantages which we may reasonably hope +that we shall ourselves enjoy. But an advantage that is to be enjoyed +more than half a century after we are dead, by somebody, we know not by +whom, perhaps by somebody unborn, by somebody utterly unconnected with +us, is really no motive at all to action. It is very probable that in +the course of some generations land in the unexplored and unmapped heart +of the Australasian continent will be very valuable. But there is none +of us who would lay down five pounds for a whole province in the heart +of the Australasian continent. We know, that neither we, nor anybody for +whom we care, will ever receive a farthing of rent from such a province. +And a man is very little moved by the thought that in the year 2000 or +2100, somebody who claims through him will employ more shepherds than +Prince Esterhazy, and will have the finest house and gallery of pictures +at Victoria or Sydney. Now, this is the sort of boon which my honourable +and learned friend holds out to authors. Considered as a boon to them, +it is a mere nullity, but considered as an impost on the public, it is +no nullity, but a very serious and pernicious reality. I will take an +example. Dr Johnson died fifty-six years ago. If the law were what my +honourable and learned friend wishes to make it, somebody would now have +the monopoly of Dr Johnson's works. Who that somebody would be it is +impossible to say; but we may venture to guess. I guess, then, that +it would have been some bookseller, who was the assign of another +bookseller, who was the grandson of a third bookseller, who had bought +the copyright from Black Frank, the doctor's servant and residuary +legatee, in 1785 or 1786. Now, would the knowledge that this copyright +would exist in 1841 have been a source of gratification to Johnson? +Would it have stimulated his exertions? Would it have once drawn him out +of his bed before noon? Would it have once cheered him under a fit of +the spleen? Would it have induced him to give us one more allegory, one +more life of a poet, one more imitation of Juvenal? I firmly believe +not. I firmly believe that a hundred years ago, when he was writing our +debates for the Gentleman's Magazine, he would very much rather have had +twopence to buy a plate of shin of beef at a cook's shop underground. +Considered as a reward to him, the difference between a twenty years' +and sixty years' term of posthumous copyright would have been nothing or +next to nothing. But is the difference nothing to us? I can buy Rasselas +for sixpence; I might have had to give five shillings for it. I can buy +the Dictionary, the entire genuine Dictionary, for two guineas, perhaps +for less; I might have had to give five or six guineas for it. Do I +grudge this to a man like Dr Johnson? Not at all. Show me that the +prospect of this boon roused him to any vigorous effort, or sustained +his spirits under depressing circumstances, and I am quite willing to +pay the price of such an object, heavy as that price is. But what I do +complain of is that my circumstances are to be worse, and Johnson's none +the better; that I am to give five pounds for what to him was not worth +a farthing. + +The principle of copyright is this. It is a tax on readers for the +purpose of giving a bounty to writers. The tax is an exceedingly bad +one; it is a tax on one of the most innocent and most salutary of human +pleasures; and never let us forget, that a tax on innocent pleasures +is a premium on vicious pleasures. I admit, however, the necessity of +giving a bounty to genius and learning. In order to give such a bounty, +I willingly submit even to this severe and burdensome tax. Nay, I am +ready to increase the tax, if it can be shown that by so doing I should +proportionally increase the bounty. My complaint is, that my honourable +and learned friend doubles, triples, quadruples, the tax, and makes +scarcely any perceptible addition to the bounty. Why, Sir, what is the +additional amount of taxation which would have been levied on the public +for Dr Johnson's works alone, if my honourable and learned friend's +bill had been the law of the land? I have not data sufficient to form +an opinion. But I am confident that the taxation on his Dictionary alone +would have amounted to many thousands of pounds. In reckoning the whole +additional sum which the holders of his copyrights would have taken +out of the pockets of the public during the last half century at twenty +thousand pounds, I feel satisfied that I very greatly underrate it. Now, +I again say that I think it but fair that we should pay twenty thousand +pounds in consideration of twenty thousand pounds' worth of pleasure and +encouragement received by Dr Johnson. But I think it very hard that we +should pay twenty thousand pounds for what he would not have valued at +five shillings. + +My honourable and learned friend dwells on the claims of the posterity +of great writers. Undoubtedly, Sir, it would be very pleasing to see a +descendant of Shakespeare living in opulence on the fruits of his great +ancestor's genius. A house maintained in splendour by such a patrimony +would be a more interesting and striking object than Blenheim is to us, +or than Strathfieldsaye will be to our children. But, unhappily, it is +scarcely possible that, under any system, such a thing can come to pass. +My honourable and learned friend does not propose that copyright shall +descend to the eldest son, or shall be bound up by irrecoverable entail. +It is to be merely personal property. It is therefore highly improbable +that it will descend during sixty years or half that term from parent to +child. The chance is that more people than one will have an interest in +it. They will in all probability sell it and divide the proceeds. The +price which a bookseller will give for it will bear no proportion to the +sum which he will afterwards draw from the public, if his speculation +proves successful. He will give little, if anything, more for a term of +sixty years than for a term of thirty or five and twenty. The present +value of a distant advantage is always small; but when there is great +room to doubt whether a distant advantage will be any advantage at all, +the present value sink to almost nothing. Such is the inconstancy of +the public taste that no sensible man will venture to pronounce, with +confidence, what the sale of any book published in our days will be +in the years between 1890 and 1900. The whole fashion of thinking and +writing has often undergone a change in a much shorter period than +that to which my honourable and learned friend would extend posthumous +copyright. What would have been considered the best literary property +in the earlier part of Charles the Second's reign? I imagine Cowley's +Poems. Overleap sixty years, and you are in the generation of which Pope +asked, "Who now reads Cowley?" What works were ever expected with more +impatience by the public than those of Lord Bolingbroke, which appeared, +I think, in 1754? In 1814, no bookseller would have thanked you for the +copyright of them all, if you had offered it to him for nothing. What +would Paternoster Row give now for the copyright of Hayley's Triumphs of +Temper, so much admired within the memory of many people still living? I +say, therefore, that, from the very nature of literary property, it will +almost always pass away from an author's family; and I say, that the +price given for it to the family will bear a very small proportion to +the tax which the purchaser, if his speculation turns out well, will in +the course of a long series of years levy on the public. + +If, Sir, I wished to find a strong and perfect illustration of the +effects which I anticipate from long copyright, I should select,--my +honourable and learned friend will be surprised,--I should select the +case of Milton's granddaughter. As often as this bill has been under +discussion, the fate of Milton's granddaughter has been brought forward +by the advocates of monopoly. My honourable and learned friend has +repeatedly told the story with great eloquence and effect. He has +dilated on the sufferings, on the abject poverty, of this ill-fated +woman, the last of an illustrious race. He tells us that, in the +extremity of her distress, Garrick gave her a benefit, that Johnson +wrote a prologue, and that the public contributed some hundreds +of pounds. Was it fit, he asks, that she should receive, in this +eleemosynary form, a small portion of what was in truth a debt? Why, he +asks, instead of obtaining a pittance from charity, did she not live in +comfort and luxury on the proceeds of the sale of her ancestor's works? +But, Sir, will my honourable and learned friend tell me that this event, +which he has so often and so pathetically described, was caused by the +shortness of the term of copyright? Why, at that time, the duration of +copyright was longer than even he, at present, proposes to make it. The +monopoly lasted, not sixty years, but for ever. At the time at which +Milton's granddaughter asked charity, Milton's works were the exclusive +property of a bookseller. Within a few months of the day on which the +benefit was given at Garrick's theatre, the holder of the copyright of +Paradise Lost,--I think it was Tonson,--applied to the Court of Chancery +for an injunction against a bookseller who had published a cheap edition +of the great epic poem, and obtained the injunction. The representation +of Comus was, if I remember rightly, in 1750; the injunction in 1752. +Here, then, is a perfect illustration of the effect of long copyright. +Milton's works are the property of a single publisher. Everybody who +wants them must buy them at Tonson's shop, and at Tonson's price. +Whoever attempts to undersell Tonson is harassed with legal proceedings. +Thousands who would gladly possess a copy of Paradise Lost, must forego +that great enjoyment. And what, in the meantime, is the situation of the +only person for whom we can suppose that the author, protected at such +a cost to the public, was at all interested? She is reduced to utter +destitution. Milton's works are under a monopoly. Milton's granddaughter +is starving. The reader is pillaged; but the writer's family is not +enriched. Society is taxed doubly. It has to give an exorbitant price +for the poems; and it has at the same time to give alms to the only +surviving descendant of the poet. + +But this is not all. I think it right, Sir, to call the attention of +the House to an evil, which is perhaps more to be apprehended when an +author's copyright remains in the hands of his family, than when it is +transferred to booksellers. I seriously fear that, if such a measure +as this should be adopted, many valuable works will be either totally +suppressed or grievously mutilated. I can prove that this danger is +not chimerical; and I am quite certain that, if the danger be real, +the safeguards which my honourable and learned friend has devised are +altogether nugatory. That the danger is not chimerical may easily be +shown. Most of us, I am sure, have known persons who, very erroneously +as I think, but from the best motives, would not choose to reprint +Fielding's novels, or Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the +Roman Empire. Some gentlemen may perhaps be of opinion that it would be +as well if Tom Jones and Gibbon's History were never reprinted. I will +not, then, dwell on these or similar cases. I will take cases respecting +which it is not likely that there will be any difference of opinion +here; cases, too, in which the danger of which I now speak is not matter +of supposition, but matter of fact. Take Richardson's novels. Whatever +I may, on the present occasion, think of my honourable and learned +friend's judgment as a legislator, I must always respect his judgment as +a critic. He will, I am sure, say that Richardson's novels are among +the most valuable, among the most original works in our language. No +writings have done more to raise the fame of English genius in foreign +countries. No writings are more deeply pathetic. No writings, those of +Shakspeare excepted, show more profound knowledge of the human heart. As +to their moral tendency, I can cite the most respectable testimony. Dr +Johnson describes Richardson as one who had taught the passions to move +at the command of virtue. My dear and honoured friend, Mr Wilberforce, +in his celebrated religious treatise, when speaking of the unchristian +tendency of the fashionable novels of the eighteenth century, distinctly +excepts Richardson from the censure. Another excellent person, whom I +can never mention without respect and kindness, Mrs Hannah More, often +declared in conversation, and has declared in one of her published +poems, that she first learned from the writings of Richardson those +principles of piety by which her life was guided. I may safely say that +books celebrated as works of art through the whole civilised world, and +praised for their moral tendency by Dr Johnson, by Mr Wilberforce, by +Mrs Hannah More, ought not to be suppressed. Sir, it is my firm belief, +that if the law had been what my honourable and learned friend proposes +to make it, they would have been suppressed. I remember Richardson's +grandson well; he was a clergyman in the city of London; he was a most +upright and excellent man; but he had conceived a strong prejudice +against works of fiction. He thought all novel-reading not only +frivolous but sinful. He said,--this I state on the authority of one of +his clerical brethren who is now a bishop,--he said that he had never +thought it right to read one of his grandfather's books. Suppose, Sir, +that the law had been what my honourable and learned friend would make +it. Suppose that the copyright of Richardson's novels had descended, as +might well have been the case, to this gentleman. I firmly believe, +that he would have thought it sinful to give them a wide circulation. +I firmly believe, that he would not for a hundred thousand pounds have +deliberately done what he thought sinful. He would not have reprinted +them. And what protection does my honourable and learned friend give to +the public in such a case? Why, Sir, what he proposes is this: if a book +is not reprinted during five years, any person who wishes to reprint +it may give notice in the London Gazette: the advertisement must be +repeated three times: a year must elapse; and then, if the proprietor of +the copyright does not put forth a new edition, he loses his exclusive +privilege. Now, what protection is this to the public? What is a new +edition? Does the law define the number of copies that make an edition? +Does it limit the price of a copy? Are twelve copies on large paper, +charged at thirty guineas each, an edition? It has been usual, when +monopolies have been granted, to prescribe numbers and to limit prices. +But I did not find the my honourable and learned friend proposes to do +so in the present case. And, without some such provision, the security +which he offers is manifestly illusory. It is my conviction that, under +such a system as that which he recommends to us, a copy of Clarissa +would have been as rare as an Aldus or a Caxton. + +I will give another instance. One of the most instructive, interesting, +and delightful books in our language is Boswell's Life of Johnson. +Now it is well known that Boswell's eldest son considered this book, +considered the whole relation of Boswell to Johnson, as a blot in the +escutcheon of the family. He thought, not perhaps altogether without +reason, that his father had exhibited himself in a ludicrous and +degrading light. And thus he became so sore and irritable that at last +he could not bear to hear the Life of Johnson mentioned. Suppose that +the law had been what my honourable and learned friend wishes to +make it. Suppose that the copyright of Boswell's Life of Johnson had +belonged, as it well might, during sixty years, to Boswell's eldest +son. What would have been the consequence? An unadulterated copy of the +finest biographical work in the world would have been as scarce as the +first edition of Camden's Britannia. + +These are strong cases. I have shown you that, if the law had been what +you are now going to make it, the finest prose work of fiction in the +language, the finest biographical work in the language, would very +probably have been suppressed. But I have stated my case weakly. The +books which I have mentioned are singularly inoffensive books, books not +touching on any of those questions which drive even wise men beyond the +bounds of wisdom. There are books of a very different kind, books which +are the rallying points of great political and religious parties. What +is likely to happen if the copyright of one of the these books should by +descent or transfer come into the possession of some hostile zealot? I +will take a single instance. It is only fifty years since John Wesley +died; and all his works, if the law had been what my honourable and +learned friend wishes to make it, would now have been the property of +some person or other. The sect founded by Wesley is the most numerous, +the wealthiest, the most powerful, the most zealous of sects. In every +parliamentary election it is a matter of the greatest importance to +obtain the support of the Wesleyan Methodists. Their numerical strength +is reckoned by hundreds of thousands. They hold the memory of their +founder in the greatest reverence; and not without reason, for he was +unquestionably a great and a good man. To his authority they constantly +appeal. His works are in their eyes of the highest value. His doctrinal +writings they regard as containing the best system of theology ever +deduced from Scripture. His journals, interesting even to the common +reader, are peculiarly interesting to the Methodist: for they contain +the whole history of that singular polity which, weak and despised +in its beginning, is now, after the lapse of a century, so strong, +so flourishing, and so formidable. The hymns to which he gave his +imprimatur are a most important part of the public worship of his +followers. Now, suppose that the copyright of these works should belong +to some person who holds the memory of Wesley and the doctrines and +discipline of the Methodists in abhorrence. There are many such persons. +The Ecclesiastical Courts are at this very time sitting on the case of +a clergyman of the Established Church who refused Christian burial to a +child baptized by a Methodist preacher. I took up the other day a work +which is considered as among the most respectable organs of a large +and growing party in the Church of England, and there I saw John Wesley +designated as a forsworn priest. Suppose that the works of Wesley were +suppressed. Why, Sir, such a grievance would be enough to shake the +foundations of Government. Let gentlemen who are attached to the Church +reflect for a moment what their feelings would be if the Book of Common +Prayer were not to be reprinted for thirty or forty years, if the price +of a Book of Common Prayer were run up to five or ten guineas. And +then let them determine whether they will pass a law under which it is +possible, under which it is probable, that so intolerable a wrong may be +done to some sect consisting perhaps of half a million of persons. + +I am so sensible, Sir, of the kindness with which the House has listened +to me, that I will not detain you longer. I will only say this, that if +the measure before us should pass, and should produce one-tenth part of +the evil which it is calculated to produce, and which I fully expect it +to produce, there will soon be a remedy, though of a very objectionable +kind. Just as the absurd acts which prohibited the sale of game were +virtually repealed by the poacher, just as many absurd revenue acts have +been virtually repealed by the smuggler, so will this law be virtually +repealed by piratical booksellers. At present the holder of copyright +has the public feeling on his side. Those who invade copyright are +regarded as knaves who take the bread out of the mouths of deserving +men. Everybody is well pleased to see them restrained by the law, and +compelled to refund their ill-gotten gains. No tradesman of good repute +will have anything to do with such disgraceful transactions. Pass this +law: and that feeling is at an end. Men very different from the present +race of piratical booksellers will soon infringe this intolerable +monopoly. Great masses of capital will be constantly employed in the +violation of the law. Every art will be employed to evade legal pursuit; +and the whole nation will be in the plot. On which side indeed should +the public sympathy be when the question is whether some book as +popular as Robinson Crusoe, or the Pilgrim's Progress, shall be in every +cottage, or whether it shall be confined to the libraries of the rich +for the advantage of the great-grandson of a bookseller who, a hundred +years before, drove a hard bargain for the copyright with the author +when in great distress? Remember too that, when once it ceases to be +considered as wrong and discreditable to invade literary property, no +person can say where the invasion will stop. The public seldom makes +nice distinctions. The wholesome copyright which now exists will share +in the disgrace and danger of the new copyright which you are about to +create. And you will find that, in attempting to impose unreasonable +restraints on the reprinting of the works of the dead, you have, to +a great extent, annulled those restraints which now prevent men from +pillaging and defrauding the living. If I saw, Sir, any probability that +this bill could be so amended in the Committee that my objections might +be removed, I would not divide the House in this stage. But I am so +fully convinced that no alteration which would not seem insupportable to +my honourable and learned friend, could render his measure supportable +to me, that I must move, though with regret, that this bill be read a +second time this day six months. + +***** + + + + +COPYRIGHT. (APRIL 6, 1842) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A COMMITTEE OF THE +HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF APRIL 1842. + +On the third of March 1842, Lord Mahon obtained permission to bring in +a bill to amend the Law of Copyright. This bill extended the term of +Copyright in a book to twenty-five years, reckoned from the death of the +author. + +On the sixth of April the House went into Committee on the bill, and Mr +Greene took the Chair. Several divisions took place, of which the result +was that the plan suggested in the following Speech was, with some +modifications, adopted. + +Mr Greene,--I have been amused and gratified by the remarks which +my noble friend (Lord Mahon.) has made on the arguments by which I +prevailed on the last House of Commons to reject the bill introduced by +a very able and accomplished man, Mr Serjeant Talfourd. My noble friend +has done me a high and rare honour. For this is, I believe, the first +occasion on which a speech made in one Parliament has been answered in +another. I should not find it difficult to vindicate the soundness of +the reasons which I formerly urged, to set them in a clearer light, +and to fortify them by additional facts. But it seems to me that we had +better discuss the bill which is now on our table than the bill which +was there fourteen months ago. Glad I am to find that there is a very +wide difference between the two bills, and that my noble friend, +though he has tried to refute my arguments, has acted as if he had been +convinced by them. I objected to the term of sixty years as far too +long. My noble friend has cut that term down to twenty-five years. I +warned the House that, under the provisions of Mr Serjeant Talfourd's +bill, valuable works might not improbably be suppressed by the +representatives of authors. My noble friend has prepared a clause which, +as he thinks, will guard against that danger. I will not, therefore, +waste the time of the Committee by debating points which he has +conceded, but will proceed at once to the proper business of this +evening. + +Sir, I have no objection to the principle of my noble friend's bill. +Indeed, I had no objection to the principle of the bill of last year. I +have long thought that the term of copyright ought to be extended. When +Mr Serjeant Talfourd moved for leave to bring in his bill, I did not +oppose the motion. Indeed I meant to vote for the second reading, and +to reserve what I had to say for the Committee. But the learned Serjeant +left me no choice. He, in strong language, begged that nobody who was +disposed to reduce the term of sixty years would divide with him. "Do +not," he said, "give me your support, if all that you mean to grant to +men of letters is a miserable addition of fourteen or fifteen years to +the present term. I do not wish for such support. I despise it." Not +wishing to obtrude on the learned Serjeant a support which he despised, +I had no course left but to take the sense of the House on the second +reading. The circumstances are now different. My noble friend's bill +is not at present a good bill; but it may be improved into a very +good bill; nor will he, I am persuaded, withdraw it if it should be so +improved. He and I have the same object in view; but we differ as to the +best mode of attaining that object. We are equally desirous to extend +the protection now enjoyed by writers. In what way it may be extended +with most benefit to them and with least inconvenience to the public, is +the question. + +The present state of the law is this. The author of a work has a certain +copyright in that work for a term of twenty-eight years. If he should +live more than twenty-eight years after the publication of the work, he +retains the copyright to the end of his life. + +My noble friend does not propose to make any addition to the term +of twenty-eight years. But he proposes that the copyright shall last +twenty-five years after the author's death. Thus my noble friend makes +no addition to that term which is certain, but makes a very large +addition to that term which is uncertain. + +My plan is different. I would made no addition to the uncertain term; +but I would make a large addition to the certain term. I propose to add +fourteen years to the twenty-eight years which the law now allows to an +author. His copyright will, in this way, last till his death, or till +the expiration of forty-two years, whichever shall first happen. And I +think that I shall be able to prove to the satisfaction of the Committee +that my plan will be more beneficial to literature and to literary men +than the plan of my noble friend. + +It must surely, Sir, be admitted that the protection which we give to +books ought to be distributed as evenly as possible, that every book +should have a fair share of that protection, and no book more than a +fair share. It would evidently be absurd to put tickets into a wheel, +with different numbers marked upon them, and to make writers draw, one +a term of twenty-eight years, another a term of fifty, another a term of +ninety. And yet this sort of lottery is what my noble friend proposes to +establish. I know that we cannot altogether exclude chance. You have two +terms of copyright; one certain, the other uncertain; and we cannot, I +admit, get rid of the uncertain term. It is proper, no doubt, that an +author's copyright should last during his life. But, Sir, though we +cannot altogether exclude chance, we can very much diminish the share +which chance must have in distributing the recompense which we wish +to give to genius and learning. By every addition which we make to the +certain term we diminish the influence of chance; by every addition +which we make to the uncertain term we increase the influence of chance. +I shall make myself best understood by putting cases. Take two eminent +female writers, who died within our own memory, Madame D'Arblay and Miss +Austen. As the law now stands, Miss Austen's charming novels would have +only from twenty-eight to thirty-three years of copyright. For that +extraordinary woman died young: she died before her genius was fully +appreciated by the world. Madame D'Arblay outlived the whole generation +to which she belonged. The copyright of her celebrated novel, Evelina, +lasted, under the present law, sixty-two years. Surely this inequality +is sufficiently great--sixty-two years of copyright for Evelina, only +twenty-eight for Persuasion. But to my noble friend this inequality +seems not great enough. He proposes to add twenty-five years to Madame +D'Arblay's term, and not a single day to Miss Austen's term. He would +give to Persuasion a copyright of only twenty-eight years, as at +present, and to Evelina a copyright more than three times as long, a +copyright of eighty-seven years. Now, is this reasonable? See, on the +other hand, the operation of my plan. I make no addition at all to +Madame D'Arblay's term of sixty-two years, which is, in my opinion, +quite long enough; but I extend Miss Austen's term to forty-two years, +which is, in my opinion, not too much. You see, Sir, that at present +chance has too much sway in this matter: that at present the protection +which the State gives to letters is very unequally given. You see that +if my noble friend's plan be adopted, more will be left to chance than +under the present system, and you will have such inequalities as are +unknown under the present system. You see also that, under the system +which I recommend, we shall have, not perfect certainty, not perfect +equality, but much less uncertainty and inequality than at present. + +But this is not all. My noble friend's plan is not merely to institute +a lottery in which some writers will draw prizes and some will draw +blanks. It is much worse than this. His lottery is so contrived that, in +the vast majority of cases, the blanks will fall to the best books, and +the prizes to books of inferior merit. + +Take Shakspeare. My noble friend gives a longer protection than I should +give to Love's Labour's Lost, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre; but he gives +a shorter protection than I should give to Othello and Macbeth. + +Take Milton. Milton died in 1674. The copyrights of Milton's great +works would, according to my noble friend's plan, expire in 1699. Comus +appeared in 1634, the Paradise Lost in 1668. To Comus, then, my noble +friend would give sixty-five years of copyright, and to the Paradise +Lost only thirty-one years. Is that reasonable? Comus is a noble +poem: but who would rank it with the Paradise Lost? My plan would give +forty-two years both to the Paradise Lost and to Comus. + +Let us pass on from Milton to Dryden. My noble friend would give +more than sixty years of copyright to Dryden's worst works; to the +encomiastic verses on Oliver Cromwell, to the Wild Gallant, to the Rival +Ladies, to other wretched pieces as bad as anything written by Flecknoe +or Settle: but for Theodore and Honoria, for Tancred and Sigismunda, for +Cimon and Iphigenia, for Palamon and Arcite, for Alexander's Feast, my +noble friend thinks a copyright of twenty-eight years sufficient. Of +all Pope's works, that to which my noble friend would give the largest +measure of protection is the volume of Pastorals, remarkable only as the +production of a boy. Johnson's first work was a Translation of a Book of +Travels in Abyssinia, published in 1735. It was so poorly executed that +in his later years he did not like to hear it mentioned. Boswell once +picked up a copy of it, and told his friend that he had done so. "Do not +talk about it," said Johnson: "it is a thing to be forgotten." To this +performance my noble friend would give protection during the enormous +term of seventy-five years. To the Lives of the Poets he would give +protection during about thirty years. Well; take Henry Fielding; it +matters not whom I take, but take Fielding. His early works are read +only by the curious, and would not be read even by the curious, but for +the fame which he acquired in the latter part of his life by works of +a very different kind. What is the value of the Temple Beau, of the +Intriguing Chambermaid, of half a dozen other plays of which few +gentlemen have even heard the names? Yet to these worthless pieces my +noble friend would give a term of copyright longer by more than twenty +years than that which he would give to Tom Jones and Amelia. + +Go on to Burke. His little tract, entitled the Vindication of Natural +Society is certainly not without merit; but it would not be remembered +in our days if it did not bear the name of Burke. To this tract my noble +friend would give a copyright of near seventy years. But to the great +work on the French Revolution, to the Appeal from the New to the Old +Whigs, to the letters on the Regicide Peace, he would give a copyright +of thirty years or little more. + +And, Sir observe that I am not selecting here and there extraordinary +instances in order to make up the semblance of a case. I am taking the +greatest names of our literature in chronological order. Go to other +nations; go to remote ages; you will still find the general rule the +same. There was no copyright at Athens or Rome; but the history of the +Greek and Latin literature illustrates my argument quite as well as if +copyright had existed in ancient times. Of all the plays of Sophocles, +the one to which the plan of my noble friend would have given the +most scanty recompense would have been that wonderful masterpiece, the +Oedipus at Colonos. Who would class together the Speech of Demosthenes +against his Guardians, and the Speech for the Crown? My noble friend, +indeed, would not class them together. For to the Speech against the +Guardians he would give a copyright of near seventy years, and to the +incomparable Speech for the Crown a copyright of less than half that +length. Go to Rome. My noble friend would give more than twice as long a +term to Cicero's juvenile declamation in defence of Roscius Amerinus as +to the Second Philippic. Go to France. My noble friend would give a far +longer term to Racine's Freres Ennemis than to Athalie, and to Moliere's +Etourdi than to Tartuffe. Go to Spain. My noble friend would give a +longer term to forgotten works of Cervantes, works which nobody now +reads, than to Don Quixote. Go to Germany. According to my noble +friend's plan, of all the works of Schiller the Robbers would be the +most favoured: of all the works of Goethe, the Sorrows of Werter would +be the most favoured. I thank the Committee for listening so kindly to +this long enumeration. Gentlemen will perceive, I am sure, that it is +not from pedantry that I mention the names of so many books and authors. +But just as, in our debates on civil affairs, we constantly draw +illustrations from civil history, we must, in a debate about literary +property, draw our illustrations from literary history. Now, Sir, I +have, I think, shown from literary history that the effect of my +noble friend's plan would be to give to crude and imperfect works, to +third-rate and fourth-rate works, a great advantage over the highest +productions of genius. It is impossible to account for the facts which I +have laid before you by attributing them to mere accident. Their number +is too great, their character too uniform. We must seek for some other +explanation; and we shall easily find one. + +It is the law of our nature that the mind shall attain its full power +by slow degrees; and this is especially true of the most vigorous minds. +Young men, no doubt, have often produced works of great merit; but it +would be impossible to name any writer of the first order whose juvenile +performances were his best. That all the most valuable books of history, +of philology, of physical and metaphysical science, of divinity, of +political economy, have been produced by men of mature years will hardly +be disputed. The case may not be quite so clear as respects works of +the imagination. And yet I know no work of the imagination of the very +highest class that was ever, in any age or country, produced by a +man under thirty-five. Whatever powers a youth may have received from +nature, it is impossible that his taste and judgment can be ripe, that +his mind can be richly stored with images, that he can have observed +the vicissitudes of life, that he can have studied the nicer shades of +character. How, as Marmontel very sensibly said, is a person to paint +portraits who has never seen faces? On the whole, I believe that I may, +without fear of contradiction, affirm this, that of the good books now +extant in the world more than nineteen-twentieths were published after +the writers had attained the age of forty. If this be so, it is evident +that the plan of my noble friend is framed on a vicious principle. For, +while he gives to juvenile productions a very much larger protection +than they now enjoy, he does comparatively little for the works of men +in the full maturity of their powers, and absolutely nothing for any +work which is published during the last three years of the life of the +writer. For, by the existing law, the copyright of such a work lasts +twenty-eight years from the publication; and my noble friend gives only +twenty-five years, to be reckoned from the writer's death. + +What I recommend is that the certain term, reckoned from the date of +publication, shall be forty-two years instead of twenty-eight years. In +this arrangement there is no uncertainty, no inequality. The advantage +which I propose to give will be the same to every book. No work will +have so long a copyright as my noble friend gives to some books, or so +short a copyright as he gives to others. No copyright will last ninety +years. No copyright will end in twenty-eight years. To every book +published in the course of the last seventeen years of a writer's life +I give a longer term of copyright than my noble friend gives; and I +am confident that no person versed in literary history will deny +this,--that in general the most valuable works of an author are +published in the course of the last seventeen years of his life. I will +rapidly enumerate a few, and but a few, of the great works of English +writers to which my plan is more favourable than my noble friend's plan. +To Lear, to Macbeth, to Othello, to the Fairy Queen, to the Paradise +Lost, to Bacon's Novum Organum and De Augmentis, to Locke's Essay on +the Human Understanding, to Clarendon's History, to Hume's History, to +Gibbon's History, to Smith's Wealth of Nations, to Addison's Spectators, +to almost all the great works of Burke, to Clarissa and Sir Charles +Grandison, to Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones and Amelia, and, with the single +exception of Waverley, to all the novels of Sir Walter Scott, I give a +longer term of copyright than my noble friend gives. Can he match that +list? Does not that list contain what England has produced greatest in +many various ways--poetry, philosophy, history, eloquence, wit, skilful +portraiture of life and manners? I confidently therefore call on the +Committee to take my plan in preference to the plan of my noble friend. +I have shown that the protection which he proposes to give to letters is +unequal, and unequal in the worst way. I have shown that his plan is to +give protection to books in inverse proportion to their merit. I shall +move when we come to the third clause of the bill to omit the words +"twenty-five years," and in a subsequent part of the same clause I +shall move to substitute for the words "twenty-eight years" the words +"forty-two years." I earnestly hope that the Committee will adopt these +amendments; and I feel the firmest conviction that my noble friend's +bill, so amended, will confer a great boon on men of letters with the +smallest possible inconvenience to the public. + +***** + + + + +THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER. (MAY 3, 1842) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE THIRD OF MAY 1842. + +On the second of May 1842, Mr Thomas Duncombe, Member for Finsbury, +presented a petition, very numerously signed, of which the prayer was as +follows: + +"Your petitioners, therefore, exercising their just constitutional +right, demand that your Honourable House, to remedy the many gross +and manifest evils of which your petitioners complain, do immediately, +without alteration, deduction, or addition, pass into a law the document +entitled the People's Charter." + +On the following day Mr Thomas Duncombe moved that the petitioners +should be heard by themselves or their Counsel at the Bar of the House. +The following Speech was made in opposition to the motion. + +The motion was rejected by 287 votes to 49. + +Mr Speaker,--I was particularly desirous to catch your eye this evening, +because, when the motion of the honourable Member of Rochdale (Mr +Sharman Crawford.) was under discussion, I was unable to be in my place. +I understand that, on that occasion, the absence of some members of +the late Government was noticed in severe terms, and was attributed to +discreditable motives. As for myself, Sir, I was prevented from coming +down to the House by illness: a noble friend of mine, to whom particular +allusion was made, was detained elsewhere by pure accident; and I am +convinced that no member of the late administration was withheld by any +unworthy feeling from avowing his opinions. My own opinions I could have +no motive for disguising. They have been frequently avowed, and avowed +before audiences which were not likely to regard them with much favour. + +I should wish, Sir, to say what I have to say in the temperate tone +which has with so much propriety been preserved by the right honourable +Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department (Sir James Graham.); +but, if I should use any warm expression, I trust that the House will +attribute it to the strength of my convictions and to my solicitude +for the public interests. No person who knows me will, I am quite sure, +suspect me of regarding the hundreds of thousands who have signed the +petition which we are now considering, with any other feeling than +cordial goodwill. + +Sir, I cannot conscientiously assent to this motion. And yet I must +admit that the honourable Member for Finsbury (Mr Thomas Duncombe.) has +framed it with considerable skill. He has done his best to obtain the +support of all those timid and interested politicians who think much +more about the security of their seats than about the security of their +country. It would be very convenient to me to give a silent vote with +him. I should then have it in my power to say to the Chartists of +Edinburgh, "When your petition was before the House I was on your side: +I was for giving you a full hearing." I should at the same time be able +to assure my Conservative constituents that I never had supported and +never would support the Charter. But, Sir, though this course would be +very convenient, it is one which my sense of duty will not suffer me +to take. When questions of private right are before us, we hear, and +we ought to hear, the arguments of the parties interested in those +questions. But it has never been, and surely it ought not to be, our +practice to grant a hearing to persons who petition for or against a law +in which they have no other interest than that which is common between +them and the whole nation. Of the many who petitioned against slavery, +against the Roman Catholic claims, against the corn laws, none was +suffered to harangue us at the bar in support of his views. If in the +present case we depart from a general rule which everybody must admit to +be a very wholesome one, what inference can reasonably be drawn from +our conduct, except this, that we think the petition which we are now +considering entitled to extraordinary respect, and that we have not +fully made up our minds to refuse what the petitioners ask? Now, Sir, I +have fully made up my mind to resist to the last the change which they +urge us to make in the constitution of the kingdom. I therefore think +that I should act disingenuously if I gave my voice for calling in +orators whose eloquence, I am certain, will make no alteration in my +opinion. I think too that if, after voting for hearing the petitioners, +I should then vote against granting their prayer, I should give them +just ground for accusing me of having first encouraged and then deserted +them. That accusation, at least, they shall never bring against me. + +The honourable Member for Westminster (Mr Leader.) has expressed a +hope that the language of the petition will not be subjected to severe +criticism. If he means literary criticism, I entirely agree with him. +The style of this composition is safe from any censure of mine; but the +substance it is absolutely necessary that we should closely examine. +What the petitioners demand is this, that we do forthwith pass what is +called the People's Charter into a law without alteration, diminution, +or addition. This is the prayer in support of which the honourable +Member for Finsbury would have us hear an argument at the bar. Is it +then reasonable to say, as some gentlemen have said, that, in voting for +the honourable Member's motion, they mean to vote merely for an inquiry +into the causes of the public distress? If any gentleman thinks that an +inquiry into the causes of the public distress would be useful, let him +move for such an inquiry. I will not oppose it. But this petition does +not tell us to inquire. It tells us that we are not to inquire. It +directs us to pass a certain law word for word, and to pass it without +the smallest delay. + +I shall, Sir, notwithstanding the request or command of the petitioners, +venture to exercise my right of free speech on the subject of the +People's Charter. There is, among the six points of the Charter, one for +which I have voted. There is another of which I decidedly approve. There +are others as to which, though I do not agree with the petitioners, I +could go some way to meet them. In fact, there is only one of the six +points on which I am diametrically opposed to them: but unfortunately +that point happens to be infinitely the most important of the six. + +One of the six points is the ballot. I have voted for the ballot; and I +have seen no reason to change my opinion on that subject. + +Another point is the abolition of the pecuniary qualification for +members of this House. On that point I cordially agree with the +petitioners. You have established a sufficient pecuniary qualification +for the elector; and it therefore seems to me quite superfluous to +require a pecuniary qualification from the representative. Everybody +knows that many English members have only fictitious qualifications, and +that the members for Scotch cities and boroughs are not required to +have any qualification at all. It is surely absurd to admit the +representatives of Edinburgh and Glasgow without any qualification, and +at the same time to require the representative of Finsbury or Marylebone +to possess a qualification or the semblance of one. If the qualification +really be a security for respectability, let that security be +demanded from us who sit here for Scotch towns. If, as I believe, the +qualification is no security at all, why should we require it from +anybody? It is no part of the old constitution of the realm. It was +first established in the reign of Anne. It was established by a bad +parliament for a bad purpose. It was, in fact, part of a course of +legislation which, if it had not been happily interrupted, would have +ended in the repeal of the Toleration Act and of the Act of Settlement. + +The Chartists demand annual parliaments. There, certainly, I differ from +them; but I might, perhaps, be willing to consent to some compromise. I +differ from them also as to the expediency of paying the representatives +of the people, and of dividing the country into electoral districts. +But I do not consider these matters as vital. The kingdom might, I +acknowledge, be free, great, and happy, though the members of this house +received salaries, and though the present boundaries of counties and +boroughs were superseded by new lines of demarcation. These, Sir, +are subordinate questions. I do not of course mean that they are not +important. But they are subordinate when compared with that question +which still remains to be considered. The essence of the Charter is +universal suffrage. If you withhold that, it matters not very much what +else you grant. If you grant that, it matters not at all what else you +withhold. If you grant that, the country is lost. + +I have no blind attachment to ancient usages. I altogether disclaim what +has been nicknamed the doctrine of finality. I have said enough to-night +to show that I do not consider the settlement made by the Reform Bill +as one which can last for ever. I certainly do think that an extensive +change in the polity of a nation must be attended with serious evils. +Still those evils may be overbalanced by advantages: and I am perfectly +ready, in every case, to weigh the evils against the advantages, and to +judge as well as I can which scale preponderates. I am bound by no tie +to oppose any reform which I think likely to promote the public good. I +will go so far as to say that I do not quite agree with those who think +that they have proved the People's Charter to be absurd when they have +proved that it is incompatible with the existence of the throne and +of the peerage. For, though I am a faithful and loyal subject of Her +Majesty, and though I sincerely wish to see the House of Lords powerful +and respected, I cannot consider either monarchy or aristocracy as the +ends of government. They are only means. Nations have flourished without +hereditary sovereigns or assemblies of nobles; and, though I should be +very sorry to see England a republic, I do not doubt that she might, as +a republic, enjoy prosperity, tranquillity, and high consideration. +The dread and aversion with which I regard universal suffrage would be +greatly diminished, if I could believe that the worst effect which it +would produce would be to give us an elective first magistrate and a +senate instead of a Queen and a House of Peers. My firm conviction is +that, in our country, universal suffrage is incompatible, not with this +or that form of government, but with all forms of government, and with +everything for the sake of which forms of government exist; that it is +incompatible with property, and that it is consequently incompatible +with civilisation. + +It is not necessary for me in this place to go through the arguments +which prove beyond dispute that on the security of property civilisation +depends; that, where property is insecure, no climate however delicious, +no soil however fertile, no conveniences for trade and navigation, no +natural endowments of body or of mind, can prevent a nation from sinking +into barbarism; that where, on the other hand, men are protected in +the enjoyment of what has been created by their industry and laid up +by their self-denial, society will advance in arts and in wealth +notwithstanding the sterility of the earth and the inclemency of the +air, notwithstanding heavy taxes and destructive wars. Those persons who +say that England has been greatly misgoverned, that her legislation is +defective, that her wealth has been squandered in unjust and impolitic +contests with America and with France, do in fact bear the strongest +testimony to the truth of my doctrine. For that our country has made and +is making great progress in all that contributes to the material comfort +of man is indisputable. If that progress cannot be ascribed to +the wisdom of the Government, to what can we ascribe it but to the +diligence, the energy, the thrift of individuals? And to what can we +ascribe that diligence, that energy, that thrift, except to the security +which property has during many generations enjoyed here? Such is the +power of this great principle that, even in the last war, the most +costly war, beyond all comparison, that ever was waged in this world, +the Government could not lavish wealth so fast as the productive classes +created it. + +If it be admitted that on the institution of property the wellbeing +of society depends, it follows surely that it would be madness to give +supreme power in the state to a class which would not be likely to +respect that institution. And, if this be conceded, it seems to me to +follow that it would be madness to grant the prayer of this petition. I +entertain no hope that, if we place the government of the kingdom in the +hands of the majority of the males of one-and-twenty told by the head, +the institution of property will be respected. If I am asked why I +entertain no such hope, I answer, because the hundreds of thousands of +males of twenty-one who have signed this petition tell me to entertain +no such hope; because they tell me that, if I trust them with power, the +first use which they will make of it will be to plunder every man in the +kingdom who has a good coat on his back and a good roof over his head. +God forbid that I should put an unfair construction on their language! +I will read their own words. This petition, be it remembered, is an +authoritative declaration of the wishes of those who, if the Charter +ever becomes law, will return the great majority of the House of +Commons; and these are their words: "Your petitioners complain, that +they are enormously taxed to pay the interest of what is called the +national debt, a debt amounting at present to eight hundred millions, +being only a portion of the enormous amount expended in cruel and +expensive wars for the suppression of all liberty by men not authorised +by the people, and who consequently had no right to tax posterity +for the outrages committed by them upon mankind." If these words mean +anything, they mean that the present generation is not bound to pay the +public debt incurred by our rulers in past times, and that a national +bankruptcy would be both just and politic. For my part, I believe it to +be impossible to make any distinction between the right of a fundholder +to his dividends and the right of a landowner to his rents. And, to do +the petitioners justice, I must say that they seem to be much of the +same mind. They are for dealing with fundholder and landowner alike. +They tell us that nothing will "unshackle labour from its misery, until +the people possess that power under which all monopoly and oppression +must cease; and your petitioners respectfully mention the existing +monopolies of the suffrage, of paper money, of machinery, of land, of +the public press, of religion, of the means of travelling and transit, +and a host of other evils too numerous to mention, all arising from +class legislation." Absurd as this hubbub of words is, part of it is +intelligible enough. What can the monopoly of land mean, except property +in land? The only monopoly of land which exists in England is this, that +nobody can sell an acre of land which does not belong to him. And what +can the monopoly of machinery mean but property in machinery? Another +monopoly which is to cease is the monopoly of the means of travelling. +In other words all the canal property and railway property in the +kingdom is to be confiscated. What other sense do the words bear? And +these are only specimens of the reforms which, in the language of the +petition, are to unshackle labour from its misery. There remains, +it seems, a host of similar monopolies too numerous to mention; the +monopoly I presume, which a draper has of his own stock of cloth; the +monopoly which a hatter has of his own stock of hats; the monopoly +which we all have of our furniture, bedding, and clothes. In short, the +petitioners ask you to give them power in order that they may not leave +a man of a hundred a year in the realm. + +I am far from wishing to throw any blame on the ignorant crowds which +have flocked to the tables where this petition was exhibited. Nothing +is more natural than that the labouring people should be deceived by the +arts of such men as the author of this absurd and wicked composition. +We ourselves, with all our advantages of education, are often very +credulous, very impatient, very shortsighted, when we are tried by +pecuniary distress or bodily pain. We often resort to means of immediate +relief which, as Reason tells us, if we would listen to her, are certain +to aggravate our sufferings. Men of great abilities and knowledge have +ruined their estates and their constitutions in this way. How then +can we wonder that men less instructed than ourselves, and tried by +privations such as we have never known, should be easily misled +by mountebanks who promise impossibilities? Imagine a well-meaning +laborious mechanic, fondly attached to his wife and children. Bad times +come. He sees the wife whom he loves grow thinner and paler every day. +His little ones cry for bread, and he has none to give them. Then come +the professional agitators, the tempters, and tell him that there is +enough and more than enough for everybody, and that he has too little +only because landed gentlemen, fundholders, bankers, manufacturers, +railway proprietors, shopkeepers have too much. Is it strange that the +poor man should be deluded, and should eagerly sign such a petition as +this? The inequality with which wealth is distributed forces itself +on everybody's notice. It is at once perceived by the eye. The reasons +which irrefragably prove this inequality to be necessary to the +wellbeing of all classes are not equally obvious. Our honest working man +has not received such an education as enables him to understand that the +utmost distress that he has ever known is prosperity when compared with +the distress which he would have to endure if there were a single month +of general anarchy and plunder. But you say, it is not the fault of the +labourer that he is not well educated. Most true. It is not his fault. +But, though he has no share in the fault, he will, if you are foolish +enough to give him supreme power in the state, have a very large share +of the punishment. You say that, if the Government had not culpably +omitted to establish a good system of public instruction, the +petitioners would have been fit for the elective franchise. But is that +a reason for giving them the franchise when their own petition proves +that they are not fit for it; when they give us fair notice that, if we +let them have it, they will use it to our ruin and their own? It is not +necessary now to inquire whether, with universal education, we could +safely have universal suffrage. What we are asked to do is to give +universal suffrage before there is universal education. Have I any +unkind feeling towards these poor people? No more than I have to a +sick friend who implores me to give him a glass of iced water which the +physician has forbidden. No more than a humane collector in India has +to those poor peasants who in a season of scarcity crowd round the +granaries and beg with tears and piteous gestures that the doors may be +opened and the rice distributed. I would not give the draught of water, +because I know that it would be poison. I would not give up the keys of +the granary, because I know that, by doing so, I should turn a scarcity +into a famine. And in the same way I would not yield to the importunity +of multitudes who, exasperated by suffering and blinded by ignorance, +demand with wild vehemence the liberty to destroy themselves. + +But it is said, You must not attach so much importance to this petition. +It is very foolish, no doubt, and disgraceful to the author, be he who +he may. But you must not suppose that those who signed it approve of +it. They have merely put their names or their marks without weighing the +sense of the document which they subscribed. Surely, Sir, of all reasons +that ever were given for receiving a petition with peculiar honours, the +strangest is that it expresses sentiments diametrically opposed to +the real sentiments of those who have signed it. And it is a not less +strange reason for giving men supreme power in a state that they sign +political manifestoes of the highest importance without taking the +trouble to know what the contents are. But how is it possible for us to +believe that, if the petitioners had the power which they demand, +they would not use it as they threaten? During a long course of years, +numerous speakers and writers, some of them ignorant, others dishonest, +have been constantly representing the Government as able to do, and +bound to do, things which no Government can, without great injury to the +country, attempt to do. Every man of sense knows that the people support +the Government. But the doctrine of the Chartist philosophers is that it +is the business of the Government to support the people. It is supposed +by many that our rulers possess, somewhere or other, an inexhaustible +storehouse of all the necessaries and conveniences of life, and, from +mere hardheartedness, refuse to distribute the contents of this magazine +among the poor. We have all of us read speeches and tracts in which it +seemed to be taken for granted that we who sit here have the power of +working miracles, of sending a shower of manna on the West Riding, +of striking the earth and furnishing all the towns of Lancashire with +abundance of pure water, of feeding all the cotton-spinners and weavers +who are out of work with five loaves and two fishes. There is not a +working man who has not heard harangues and read newspapers in which +these follies are taught. And do you believe that as soon as you give +the working men absolute and irresistible power they will forget all +this? Yes, Sir, absolute and irresistible power. The Charter would +give them no less. In every constituent body throughout the empire +the working men will, if we grant the prayer of this petition, be an +irresistible majority. In every constituent body capital will be placed +at the feet of labour; knowledge will be borne down by ignorance; and is +it possible to doubt what the result must be? The honourable Member for +Bath and the honourable Member for Rochdale are now considered as very +democratic members of Parliament. They would occupy a very different +position in a House of Commons elected by universal suffrage, if they +succeeded in obtaining seats. They would, I believe, honestly oppose +every attempt to rob the public creditor. They would manfully say, +"Justice and the public good require that this sum of thirty millions +a year should be paid;" and they would immediately be reviled as +aristocrats, monopolists, oppressors of the poor, defenders of old +abuses. And as to land, is it possible to believe that the millions who +have been so long and loudly told that the land is their estate, and is +wrongfully kept from them, should not, when they have supreme power, use +that power to enforce what they think their rights? What could follow +but one vast spoliation? One vast spoliation! That would be bad enough. +That would be the greatest calamity that ever fell on our country. Yet +would that a single vast spoliation were the worst! No, Sir; in the +lowest deep there would be a lower deep. The first spoliation would not +be the last. How could it? All the causes which had produced the first +spoliation would still operate. They would operate more powerfully than +before. The distress would be far greater than before. The fences which +now protect property would all have been broken through, levelled, swept +away. The new proprietors would have no title to show to anything that +they held except recent robbery. With what face then could they complain +of being robbed? What would be the end of these things? Our experience, +God be praised, does not enable us to predict it with certainty. We can +only guess. My guess is that we should see something more horrible than +can be imagined--something like the siege of Jerusalem on a far larger +scale. There would be many millions of human beings, crowded in a narrow +space, deprived of all those resources which alone had made it possible +for them to exist in so narrow a space; trade gone; manufactures gone; +credit gone. What could they do but fight for the mere sustenance +of nature, and tear each other to pieces till famine, and pestilence +following in the train of famine, came to turn the terrible commotion +into a more terrible repose? The best event, the very best event, that I +can anticipate,--and what must the state of things be, if an Englishman +and a Whig calls such an event the very best?--the very best event, +I say, that I can anticipate is that out of the confusion a strong +military despotism may arise, and that the sword, firmly grasped by some +rough hand, may give a sort of protection to the miserable wreck of all +that immense prosperity and glory. But, as to the noble institutions +under which our country has made such progress in liberty, in wealth, +in knowledge, in arts, do not deceive yourselves into the belief that +we should ever see them again. We should never see them again. We should +not deserve to see them. All those nations which envy our greatness +would insult our downfall, a downfall which would be all our own work; +and the history of our calamities would be told thus: England had +institutions which, though imperfect, yet contained within themselves +the means of remedying every imperfection; those institutions her +legislators wantonly and madly threw away; nor could they urge in their +excuse even the wretched plea that they were deceived by false promises; +for, in the very petition with the prayer of which they were weak enough +to comply, they were told, in the plainest terms, that public ruin would +be the effect of their compliance. + +Thinking thus, Sir, I will oppose, with every faculty which God has +given me, every motion which directly or indirectly tends to the +granting of universal suffrage. This motion I think, tends that way. +If any gentleman here is prepared to vote for universal suffrage with a +full view of all the consequences of universal suffrage as they are set +forth in this petition, he acts with perfect consistency in voting for +this motion. But, I must say, I heard with some surprise the honourable +baronet the Member for Leicester (Sir John Easthope.) say that, though +he utterly disapproves of the petition, though he thinks of it just as +I do, he wishes the petitioners to be heard at the bar in explanation +of their opinions. I conceive that their opinions are quite sufficiently +explained already; and to such opinions I am not disposed to pay any +extraordinary mark of respect. I shall give a clear and conscientious +vote against the motion of the honourable Member for Finsbury; and I +conceive that the petitioners will have much less reason to complain +of my open hostility than of the conduct of the honourable Member, who +tries to propitiate them by consenting to hear their oratory, but has +fully made up his mind not to comply with their demands. + +***** + + + + +THE GATES OF SOMNAUTH. (MARCH 9, 1843) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE +OF COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF MARCH 1843. + +On the ninth of March 1843, Mr Vernon Smith, Member for Northampton, +made the following motion: + +"That this House, having regard to the high and important functions +of the Governor General of India, the mixed character of the native +population, and the recent measures of the Court of Directors for +discontinuing any seeming sanction to idolatry in India, is of opinion +that the conduct of Lord Ellenborough in issuing the General Orders of +the sixteenth of November 1842, and in addressing the letter of the same +date to all the chiefs, princes, and people of India, respecting the +restoration of the gates of a temple to Somnauth, is unwise, indecorous, +and reprehensible." + +Mr Emerson Tennent, Secretary of the Board of Control, opposed the +motion. In reply to him the following Speech was made. + +The motion was rejected by 242 votes to 157. + +Mr Speaker,--If the practice of the honourable gentleman, the Secretary +of the Board of Control, had been in accordance with his precepts, if he +had not, after exhorting us to confine ourselves strictly to the subject +before us, rambled far from that subject, I should have refrained from +all digression. For and truth there is abundance to be said touching +both the substance and the style of this Proclamation. I cannot, +however, leave the honourable gentleman's peroration entirely unnoticed. +But I assure him that I do not mean to wander from the question before +us to any great distance or for any long time. + +I cannot but wonder, Sir, that he who has, on this, as on former +occasions, exhibited so much ability and acuteness, should have gravely +represented it as a ground of complaint, that my right honourable +friend the Member for Northampton has made this motion in the Governor +General's absence. Does the honourable gentleman mean that this House +is to be interdicted from ever considering in what manner Her Majesty's +Asiatic subjects, a hundred millions in number, are governed? And how +can we consider how they are governed without considering the conduct +of him who is governing them? And how can we consider the conduct of him +who is governing them, except in his absence? For my own part, I can say +for myself, and I may, I doubt not, say for my right honourable friend +the Member for Northampton, that we both of us wish, with all our hearts +and souls, that we were discussing this question in the presence of +Lord Ellenborough. Would to heaven, Sir, for the sake of the credit of +England, and of the interests of India, that the noble lord were at this +moment under our gallery! But, Sir, if there be any Governor who has +no right to complain of remarks made on him in his absence, it is that +Governor who, forgetting all official decorum, forgetting how important +it is that, while the individuals who serve the State are changed, the +State should preserve its identity, inserted in a public proclamation +reflections on his predecessor, a predecessor of whom, on the present +occasion, I will only say that his conduct had deserved a very different +return. I am confident that no enemy of Lord Auckland, if Lord Auckland +has an enemy in the House, will deny that, whatever faults he may +have committed, he was faultless with respect to Lord Ellenborough. No +brother could have laboured more assiduously for the interests and +the honour of a brother than Lord Auckland laboured to facilitate Lord +Ellenborough's arduous task, to prepare for Lord Ellenborough the +means of obtaining success and glory. And what was the requital? A +proclamation by Lord Ellenborough, stigmatising the conduct of Lord +Auckland. And, Sir, since the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the +Board of Control has thought fit to divert the debate from its proper +course, I will venture to request that he, or the honourable director +who sits behind him (Sir James Hogg.), will vouchsafe to give us some +explanations on an important point to which allusion has been made. +Lord Ellenborough has been accused of having publicly announced that our +troops were about to evacuate Afghanistan before he had ascertained that +our captive countrymen and countrywomen had been restored to liberty. +This accusation, which is certainly a serious one, the honourable +gentleman, the Secretary of the Board of Control, pronounces to be a +mere calumny. Now, Sir, the proclamation which announces the withdrawing +of the troops bears date the first of October 1842. What I wish to know +is, whether any member of the Government, or of the Court of Directors, +will venture to affirm that on the first of October 1842, the Governor +General knew that the prisoners had been set at liberty? I believe that +no member either of the Government or of the Court of Directors will +venture to affirm any such thing. It seems certain that on the first +of October the Governor General could not know that the prisoners were +safe. Nevertheless, the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board +of Control assures us that, when the proclamation was drawn up, the +Governor General did know that the prisoners were safe. What is the +inevitable consequence? It is this, that the date is a false date, that +the proclamation was written after the first of October, and antedated? +And for what reason was it antedated? I am almost ashamed to tell +the House what I believe to have been the reason. I believe that Lord +Ellenborough affixed the false date of the first of October to his +proclamation because Lord Auckland's manifesto against Afghanistan was +dated on the first of October. I believe that Lord Ellenborough wished +to make the contrast between his own success and his predecessor's +failure more striking, and that for the sake of this paltry, this +childish, triumph, he antedated his proclamation, and made it appear to +all Europe and all Asia that the English Government was indifferent +to the fate of Englishmen and Englishwomen who were in a miserable +captivity. If this be so, and I shall be surprised to hear any person +deny that it is so, I must say that by this single act, by writing those +words, the first of October, the Governor General proved himself to be a +man of an ill-regulated mind, a man unfit for high public trust. + +I might, Sir, if I chose to follow the example of the honourable +gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control, advert to many other +matters. I might call the attention of the House to the systematic +manner in which the Governor General has exerted himself to lower +the character and to break the spirit of that civil service on the +respectability and efficiency of which chiefly depends the happiness of +a hundred millions of human beings. I might say much about the financial +committee which he appointed in the hope of finding out blunders of his +predecessor, but which at last found out no blunders except his own. +But the question before us demands our attention. That question has two +sides, a serious and a ludicrous side. Let us look first at the serious +side. Sir, I disclaim in the strongest manner all intention of raising +any fanatical outcry or of lending aid to any fanatical project. I would +very much rather be the victim of fanaticism than its tool. If Lord +Ellenborough were called in question for having given an impartial +protection to the professors of different religions, or for restraining +unjustifiable excesses into which Christian missionaries might have been +hurried by their zeal, I would, widely as I have always differed from +him in politics, have stood up in his defence, though I had stood up +alone. But the charge against Lord Ellenborough is that he has insulted +the religion of his own country and the religion of millions of the +Queen's Asiatic subjects in order to pay honour to an idol. And this the +right honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control calls a +trivial charge. Sir, I think it a very grave charge. Her Majesty is the +ruler of a larger heathen population than the world ever saw collected +under the sceptre of a Christian sovereign since the days of the Emperor +Theodosius. What the conduct of rulers in such circumstances ought to be +is one of the most important moral questions, one of the most important +political questions, that it is possible to conceive. There are subject +to the British rule in Asia a hundred millions of people who do not +profess the Christian faith. The Mahometans are a minority: but their +importance is much more than proportioned to their number: for they are +an united, a zealous, an ambitious, a warlike class. The great majority +of the population of India consists of idolaters, blindly attached +to doctrines and rites which, considered merely with reference to the +temporal interests of mankind, are in the highest degree pernicious. In +no part of the world has a religion ever existed more unfavourable to +the moral and intellectual health of our race. The Brahminical mythology +is so absurd that it necessarily debases every mind which receives it +as truth; and with this absurd mythology is bound up an absurd system of +physics, an absurd geography, an absurd astronomy. Nor is this form +of Paganism more favourable to art than to science. Through the whole +Hindoo Pantheon you will look in vain for anything resembling those +beautiful and majestic forms which stood in the shrines of ancient +Greece. All is hideous, and grotesque, and ignoble. As this superstition +is of all superstitions the most irrational, and of all superstitions +the most inelegant, so is it of all superstitions the most immoral. +Emblems of vice are objects of public worship. Acts of vice are acts of +public worship. The courtesans are as much a part of the establishment +of the temple, as much ministers of the god, as the priests. Crimes +against life, crimes against property, are not only permitted but +enjoined by this odious theology. But for our interference human victims +would still be offered to the Ganges, and the widow would still be laid +on the pile with the corpse of her husband, and burned alive by her own +children. It is by the command and under the especial protection of one +of the most powerful goddesses that the Thugs join themselves to the +unsuspecting traveller, make friends with him, slip the noose round his +neck, plunge their knives in his eyes, hide him in the earth, and divide +his money and baggage. I have read many examinations of Thugs; and I +particularly remember an altercation which took place between two +of those wretches in the presence of an English officer. One Thug +reproached the other for having been so irreligious as to spare the life +of a traveller when the omens indicated that their patroness required +a victim. "How could you let him go? How can you expect the goddess +to protect us if you disobey her commands? That is one of your North +country heresies." Now, Sir, it is a difficult matter to determine +in what way Christian rulers ought to deal with such superstitions as +these. We might have acted as the Spaniards acted in the New World. We +might have attempted to introduce our own religion by force. We might +have sent missionaries among the natives at the public charge. We might +have held out hopes of public employment to converts, and have imposed +civil disabilities on Mahometans and Pagans. But we did none of these +things; and herein we judged wisely. Our duty, as rulers, was to +preserve strict neutrality on all questions merely religious: and I +am not aware that we have ever swerved from strict neutrality for the +purpose of making proselytes to our own faith. But we have, I am +sorry to say, sometimes deviated from the right path in the opposite +direction. Some Englishmen, who have held high office in India, seem to +have thought that the only religion which was not entitled to toleration +and to respect was Christianity. They regarded every Christian +missionary with extreme jealousy and disdain; and they suffered the +most atrocious crimes, if enjoined by the Hindoo superstition, to be +perpetrated in open day. It is lamentable to think how long after our +power was firmly established in Bengal, we, grossly neglecting the first +and plainest duty of the civil magistrate, suffered the practices of +infanticide and Suttee to continue unchecked. We decorated the temples +of the false gods. We provided the dancing girls. We gilded and painted +the images to which our ignorant subjects bowed down. We repaired and +embellished the car under the wheels of which crazy devotees flung +themselves at every festival to be crushed to death. We sent guards of +honour to escort pilgrims to the places of worship. We actually made +oblations at the shrines of idols. All this was considered, and is +still considered, by some prejudiced Anglo-Indians of the old school, as +profound policy. I believe that there never was so shallow, so senseless +a policy. We gained nothing by it. We lowered ourselves in the eyes of +those whom we meant to flatter. We led them to believe that we attached +no importance to the difference between Christianity and heathenism. +Yet how vast that difference is! I altogether abstain from alluding to +topics which belong to divines. I speak merely as a politician anxious +for the morality and the temporal well-being of society. And, so +speaking, I say that to countenance the Brahminical idolatry, and to +discountenance that religion which has done so much to promote justice, +and mercy, and freedom, and arts, and sciences, and good government, and +domestic happiness, which has struck off the chains of the slave, which +has mitigated the horrors of war, which has raised women from servants +and playthings into companions and friends, is to commit high treason +against humanity and civilisation. + +Gradually a better system was introduced. A great man whom we have +lately lost, Lord Wellesley, led the way. He prohibited the immolation +of female children; and this was the most unquestionable of all his +titles to the gratitude of his country. In the year 1813 Parliament +gave new facilities to persons who were desirous to proceed to India +as missionaries. Lord William Bentinck abolished the Suttee. Shortly +afterwards the Home Government sent out to Calcutta the important and +valuable despatch to which reference has been repeatedly made in the +course of this discussion. That despatch Lord Glenelg wrote,--I was then +at the Board of Control, and can attest the fact,--with his own hand. +One paragraph, the sixty-second, is of the highest moment. I know that +paragraph so well that I could repeat it word for word. It contains in +short compass an entire code of regulations for the guidance of British +functionaries in matters relating to the idolatry of India. The orders +of the Home Government were express, that the arrangements of the +temples should be left entirely to the natives. A certain discretion +was of course left to the local authorities as to the time and manner +of dissolving that connection which had long existed between the English +Government and the Brahminical superstition. But the principle was laid +down in the clearest manner. This was in February 1833. In the year 1838 +another despatch was sent, which referred to the sixty-second paragraph +in Lord Glenelg's despatch, and enjoined the Indian Government to +observe the rules contained in that paragraph. Again, in the year 1841, +precise orders were sent out on the same subject, orders which Lord +Ellenborough seems to me to have studied carefully for the express +purpose of disobeying them point by point, and in the most direct +manner. You murmur: but only look at the orders of the Directors and at +the proclamation of the Governor General. The orders are, distinctly and +positively, that the British authorities in India shall have nothing +to do with the temples of the natives, shall make no presents to those +temples, shall not decorate those temples, shall not pay any military +honour to those temples. Now, Sir, the first charge which I bring +against Lord Ellenborough is, that he has been guilty of an act of gross +disobedience, that he has done that which was forbidden in the strongest +terms by those from whom his power is derived. The Home Government says, +Do not interfere in the concerns of heathen temples. Is it denied that +Lord Ellenborough has interfered in the concerns of a heathen temple? +The Home Government says, Make no presents to heathen temples. Is +it denied that Lord Ellenborough has proclaimed to all the world his +intention to make a present to a heathen temple? The Home Government +says, Do not decorate heathen temples. Is it denied that Lord +Ellenborough has proclaimed to all the world his intention to decorate +a heathen temple? The Home Government says, Do not send troops to do +honour to heathen temples. Is it denied that Lord Ellenborough sent a +body of troops to escort these gates to a heathen temple? To be sure, +the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control tries to +get rid of this part of the case in rather a whimsical manner. He says +that it is impossible to believe that, by sending troops to escort the +gates, Lord Ellenborough can have meant to pay any mark of respect to +an idol. And why? Because, says the honourable gentleman, the Court of +Directors had given positive orders that troops should not be employed +to pay marks of respect to idols. Why, Sir, undoubtedly, if it is to be +taken for granted that Lord Ellenborough is a perfect man, if all our +reasonings are to proceed on the supposition that he cannot do wrong, +then I admit the force of the honourable gentleman's argument. But it +seems to me a strange and dangerous thing to infer a man's innocence +merely from the flagrancy of his guilt. It is certain that the Home +authorities ordered the Governor General not to employ the troops in the +service of a temple. It is certain that Lord Ellenborough employed the +troops to escort a trophy, an oblation, which he sent to the restored +temple of Somnauth. Yes, the restored temple of Somnauth. Those are his +lordship's words. They have given rise to some discussion, and seem not +to be understood by everybody in the same sense. We all know that this +temple is an ruins. I am confident that Lord Ellenborough knew it to be +in ruins, and that his intention was to rebuild it at the public charge. +That is the obvious meaning of his words. But, as this meaning is so +monstrous that nobody here can venture to defend it, his friends pretend +that he believed the temple to have been already restored, and that he +had no thought of being himself the restorer. How can I believe this? +How can I believe that, when he issued this proclamation, he knew +nothing about the state of the temple to which he proposed to make an +offering of such importance? He evidently knew that it had once been in +ruins; or he would not have called it the restored temple. Why am I to +suppose that he imagined it to have been rebuilt? He had people about +him who knew it well, and who could have told him that it was in ruins +still. To say that he was not aware that it was in ruins is to say that +he put forth his proclamation without taking the trouble to ask a single +question of those who were close at hand and were perfectly competent to +give him information. Why, Sir, this defence is itself an accusation. I +defy the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control, I +defy all human ingenuity, to get his lordship clear off from both the +horns of this dilemma. Either way, he richly deserves a parliamentary +censure. Either he published this proclamation in the recklessness of +utter ignorance without making the smallest inquiry; or else he, an +English and a Christian Governor, meant to build a temple to a heathen +god at the public charge, in direct defiance of the commands of his +official superiors. Turn and twist the matter which way you will, you +can make nothing else of it. The stain is like the stain of Blue Beard's +key, in the nursery tale. As soon as you have scoured one side clean, +the spot comes out on the other. + +So much for the first charge, the charge of disobedience. It is fully +made out: but it is not the heaviest charge which I bring against Lord +Ellenborough. I charge him with having done that which, even if it had +not been, as it was, strictly forbidden by the Home authorities, it +would still have been a high crime to do. He ought to have known, +without any instructions from home, that it was his duty not to take +part in disputes among the false religions of the East; that it was his +duty, in his official character, to show no marked preference for any of +those religions, and to offer no marked insult to any. But, Sir, he has +paid unseemly homage to one of those religions; he has grossly insulted +another; and he has selected as the object of his homage the very worst +and most degrading of those religions, and as the object of his insults +the best and purest of them. The homage was paid to Lingamism. The +insult was offered to Mahometanism. Lingamism is not merely idolatry, +but idolatry in its most pernicious form. The honourable gentleman the +Secretary of the Board of Control seemed to think that he had achieved +a great victory when he had made out that his lordship's devotions had +been paid, not to Vishnu, but to Siva. Sir, Vishnu is the preserving +Deity of the Hindoo Mythology; Siva is the destroying Deity; and, as far +as I have any preference for one of your Governor General's gods over +another, I confess that my own tastes would lead me to prefer the +preserving to the destroying power. Yes, Sir; the temple of Somnauth +was sacred to Siva; and the honourable gentleman cannot but know by what +emblem Siva is represented, and with what rites he is adored. I will say +no more. The Governor General, Sir, is in some degree protected by the +very magnitude of his offence. I am ashamed to name those things +to which he is not ashamed to pay public reverence. This god of +destruction, whose images and whose worship it would be a violation of +decency to describe, is selected as the object of homage. As the object +of insult is selected a religion which has borrowed much of its theology +and much of its morality from Christianity, a religion which in the +midst of Polytheism teaches the unity of God, and, in the midst of +idolatry, strictly proscribes the worship of images. The duty of our +Government is, as I said, to take no part in the disputes between +Mahometans and idolaters. But, if our Government does take a part, there +cannot be a doubt that Mahometanism is entitled to the preference. Lord +Ellenborough is of a different opinion. He takes away the gates from a +Mahometan mosque, and solemnly offers them as a gift to a Pagan temple. +Morally, this is a crime. Politically, it is a blunder. Nobody who knows +anything of the Mahometans of India can doubt that this affront to their +faith will excite their fiercest indignation. Their susceptibility on +such points is extreme. Some of the most serious disasters that have +ever befallen us in India have been caused by that susceptibility. +Remember what happened at Vellore in 1806, and more recently at +Bangalore. The mutiny of Vellore was caused by a slight shown to the +Mahometan turban; the mutiny of Bangalore, by disrespect said to have +been shown to a Mahometan place of worship. If a Governor General had +been induced by his zeal for Christianity to offer any affront to a +mosque held in high veneration by Mussulmans, I should think that he had +been guilty of indiscretion such as proved him to be unfit for his +post. But to affront a mosque of peculiar dignity, not from zeal for +Christianity, but for the sake of this loathsome god of destruction, is +nothing short of madness. Some temporary popularity Lord Ellenborough +may no doubt gain in some quarters. I hear, and I can well believe, that +some bigoted Hindoos have hailed this proclamation with delight, and +have begun to entertain a hope that the British Government is about to +take their worship under its peculiar protection. But how long will that +hope last? I presume that the right honourable Baronet the First Lord of +the Treasury does not mean to suffer India to be governed on Brahminical +principles. I presume that he will not allow the public revenue to be +expended in rebuilding temples, adorning idols, and hiring courtesans. +I have no doubt that there is already on the way to India such an +admonition as will prevent Lord Ellenborough from persisting in the +course on which he has entered. The consequence will be that the +exultation of the Brahmins will end in mortification and anger. See +then of what a complication of faults the Governor General is guilty. +In order to curry favour with the Hindoos he has offered an inexpiable +insult to the Mahometans; and now, in order to quiet the English, he +is forced to disappoint and disgust the Hindoos. But, apart from the +irritating effect which these transactions must produce on every part of +the native population, is it no evil to have this continual wavering and +changing? This is not the only case in which Lord Ellenborough has, with +great pomp, announced intentions which he has not been able to carry +into effect. It is his Lordship's habit. He put forth a notification +that his Durbar was to be honoured by the presence of Dost Mahomed. +Then came a notification that Dost Mahomed would not make his appearance +there. In the proclamation which we are now considering his lordship +announced to all the princes of India his resolution to set up these +gates at Somnauth. The gates, it is now universally admitted, will +not be set up there. All India will see that the Governor General has +changed his mind. The change may be imputed to mere fickleness and +levity. It may be imputed to the disapprobation with which his conduct +has been regarded here. In either case he appears in a light in which it +is much to be deplored that a Governor General should appear. + +So much for the serious side of this business; and now for the ludicrous +side. Even in our mirth, however, there is sadness; for it is no light +thing that he who represents the British nation in India should be a +jest to the people of India. We have sometimes sent them governors whom +they loved, and sometimes governors whom they feared; but they never +before had a governor at whom they laughed. Now, however, they laugh; +and how can we blame them for laughing, when all Europe and all America +are laughing too? You see, Sir, that the gentlemen opposite cannot keep +their countenances. And no wonder. Was such a State paper ever seen in +our language before? And what is the plea set up for all this bombast? +Why, the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control +brings down to the House some translations of Persian letters from +native princes. Such letters, as everybody knows, are written in a most +absurd and turgid style. The honourable gentleman forces us to hear +a good deal of this detestable rhetoric; and then he asks why, if the +secretaries of the Nizam and the King of Oude use all these tropes and +hyperboles, Lord Ellenborough should not indulge in the same sort +of eloquence? The honourable gentleman might as well ask why Lord +Ellenborough should not sit cross-legged, why he should not let his +beard grow to his waist, why he should not wear a turban, why he should +not hang trinkets all about his person, why he should not ride about +Calcutta on a horse jingling with bells and glittering with false +pearls. The native princes do these things; and why should not he? Why, +Sir, simply because he is not a native prince, but an English Governor +General. When the people of India see a Nabob or a Rajah in all his +gaudy finery, they bow to him with a certain respect. They know that +the splendour of his garb indicates superior rank and wealth. But if Sir +Charles Metcalfe had so bedizened himself, they would have thought +that he was out of his wits. They are not such fools as the honourable +gentleman takes them for. Simplicity is not their fashion. But they +understand and respect the simplicity of our fashions. Our plain +clothing commands far more reverence than all the jewels which the most +tawdry Zemindar wears; and our plain language carries with it far more +weight than the florid diction of the most ingenious Persian scribe. The +plain language and the plain clothing are inseparably associated in the +minds of our subjects with superior knowledge, with superior energy, +with superior veracity, with all the high and commanding qualities which +erected, and which still uphold, our empire. Sir, if, as the speech of +the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control seems to +indicate, Lord Ellenborough has adopted this style on principle, if it +be his lordship's deliberate intention to mimic, in his State papers, +the Asiatic modes of thought and expression, that alone would be a +reason for recalling him. But the honourable gentlemen is mistaken in +thinking that this proclamation is in the Oriental taste. It bears no +resemblance to the very bad Oriental compositions which he has read +to us, nor to any other Oriental compositions that I ever saw. It is +neither English nor Indian. It is not original, however; and I will tell +the House where the Governor General found his models. He has apparently +been studying the rants of the French Jacobins during the period of +their ascendency, the Carmagnoles of the Convention, the proclamations +issued by the Directory and its Proconsuls: and he has been seized with +a desire to imitate those compositions. The pattern which he seems to +have especially proposed to himself is the rhodomontade in which it was +announced that the modern Gauls were marching to Rome in order to avenge +the fate of Dumnorix and Vercingetorex. Everybody remembers those lines +in which revolutionary justice is described by Mr Canning:-- + + "Not she in British courts who takes her stand, + The dawdling balance dangling in her hand; + But firm, erect, with keen reverted glance, + The avenging angel of regenerate France, + Who visits ancient sins on modern times, + And punishes the Pope for Caesar's crimes." + +In the same spirit and in the same style our Governor General has +proclaimed his intention to retaliate on the Mussulmans beyond the +mountains the insults which their ancestors, eight hundred years ago, +offered to the idolatry of the Hindoos. To do justice to the Jacobins, +however, I must say that they had an excuse which was wanting to the +noble lord. The revolution had made almost as great a change in literary +tastes as in political institutions. The old masters of French eloquence +had shared the fate of the old states and of the old parliaments. The +highest posts in the administration were filled by persons who had +no experience of affairs, who in the general confusion had raised +themselves by audacity and quickness of natural parts, uneducated men, +or half educated men, who had no notion that the style in which they had +heard the heroes and villains of tragedies declaim on the stage was +not the style of real warriors and statesmen. But was it for an English +gentleman, a man of distinguished abilities and cultivated mind, a man +who had sate many years in parliament, and filled some of the highest +posts in the State, to copy the productions of such a school? + +But, it is said, what does it matter if the noble lord has written +a foolish rhapsody which is neither prose nor verse? Is affected +phraseology a subject for parliamentary censure? What great ruler can be +named who has not committed errors much more serious than the penning of +a few sentences of turgid nonsense? This, I admit, sounds plausible. +It is quite true that very eminent men, Lord Somers, for example, Sir +Robert Walpole, Lord Chatham and his son, all committed faults which did +much more harm than any fault of style can do. But I beg the House to +observe this, that an error which produces the most serious consequences +may not necessarily prove that the man who has committed it is not a +very wise man; and that, on the other hand, an error which directly +produces no important consequences may prove the man who has committed +it to be quite unfit for public trust. Walpole committed a ruinous +error when he yielded to the public cry for war with Spain. But, +notwithstanding that error, he was an eminently wise man. Caligula, on +the other hand, when he marched his soldiers to the beach, made them +fill their helmets with cockle-shells, and sent the shells to be placed +in the Capitol as trophies of his conquests, did no great harm to +anybody; but he surely proved that he was quite incapable of governing +an empire. Mr Pitt's expedition to Quiberon was most ill judged, and +ended in defeat and disgrace. Yet Mr Pitt was a statesman of a very high +order. On the other hand, such ukases as those by which the Emperor +Paul used to regulate the dress of the people of Petersburg, though they +caused much less misery than the slaughter at Quiberon, proved that +the Emperor Paul could not safely be trusted with power over his +fellow-creatures. One day he forbade the wearing of pantaloons. Another +day he forbade his subjects to comb their hair over their foreheads. +Then he proscribed round hats. A young Englishman, the son of a +merchant, thought to evade this decree by going about the city in a +hunting cap. Then came out an edict which made it penal to wear on the +head a round thing such as the English merchant's son wore. Now, Sir, +I say that, when I examine the substance of Lord Ellenborough's +proclamation, and consider all the consequences which that paper is +likely to produce, I am forced to say that he has committed a grave +moral and political offence. When I examine the style, I see that he +has committed an act of eccentric folly, much of the same kind with +Caligula's campaign against the cockles, and with the Emperor Paul's +ukase against round hats. Consider what an extravagant selfconfidence, +what a disdain for the examples of his great predecessors and for the +opinions of the ablest and most experienced men who are now to be found +in the Indian services, this strange document indicates. Surely it might +have occurred to Lord Ellenborough that, if this kind of eloquence had +been likely to produce a favourable impression on the minds of Asiatics, +such Governors as Warren Hastings, Mr Elphinstone, Sir Thomas Munro, +and Sir Charles Metcalfe, men who were as familiar with the language and +manners of the native population of India as any man here can be +with the language and manners of the French, would not have left the +discovery to be made by a new comer who did not know any Eastern tongue. +Surely, too, it might have occurred to the noble lord that, before he +put forth such a proclamation, he would do well to ask some person who +knew India intimately what the effect both on the Mahometans and Hindoos +was likely to be. I firmly believe that the Governor General either did +not ask advice or acted in direct opposition to advice. Mr Maddock was +with his lordship as acting Secretary. Now I know enough of Mr Maddock +to be quite certain that he never counselled the Governor General to +publish such a paper. I will pawn my life that he either was never +called upon to give an opinion, or that he gave an opinion adverse to +the course which has been taken. No Governor General who was on good +terms with the civil service would have been, I may say, permitted to +expose himself thus. Lord William Bentinck and Lord Auckland were, to be +sure, the last men in the world to think of doing such a thing as this. +But if either of those noble lords, at some unlucky moment when he was +not quite himself, when his mind was thrown off the balance by the pride +and delight of an extraordinary success, had proposed to put forth such +a proclamation, he would have been saved from committing so great a +mistake by the respectful but earnest remonstrances of those in whom +he placed confidence, and who were solicitous for his honour. From the +appearance of this proclamation, therefore, I infer that the terms on +which Lord Ellenborough is with the civil servants of the Company are +such that those servants could not venture to offer him counsel when he +most needed it. + +For these reasons, Sir, I think the noble lord unfit for high public +trust. Let us, then, consider the nature of the public trust which +is now reposed in him. Are gentlemen aware that, even when he is at +Calcutta, surrounded by his councillors, his single voice can carry any +resolution concerning the executive administration against them all? +They can object: they can protest: they can record their opinions +in writing, and can require him to give in writing his reasons for +persisting in his own course: but they must then submit. On the most +important questions, on the question whether a war shall be declared, +on the question whether a treaty shall be concluded, on the question +whether the whole system of land revenue established in a great province +shall be changed, his single vote weighs down the votes of all who +sit at the Board with him. The right honourable Baronet opposite is a +powerful minister, a more powerful minister than any that we have seen +during many years. But I will venture to say that his power over the +people of England is nothing when compared with the power which the +Governor General possesses over the people of India. Such is Lord +Ellenborough's power when he is with his council, and is to some extent +held in check. But where is he now? He has given his council the slip. +He is alone. He has near him no person who is entitled and bound to +offer advice, asked or unasked: he asks no advice: and you cannot expect +men to outstep the strict line of their official duty by obtruding +advice on a superior by whom it would be ungraciously received. The +danger of having a rash and flighty Governor General is sufficiently +serious at the very best. But the danger of having such a Governor +General up the country, eight or nine hundred miles from any person who +has a right to remonstrate with him, is fearful indeed. Interests so +vast, that the most sober language in which they can be described sounds +hyperbolical, are entrusted to a single man; to a man who, whatever +his parts may be, and they are doubtless considerable, has shown an +indiscretion and temerity almost beyond belief; to a man who has been +only a few months in India; to a man who takes no counsel with those who +are well acquainted with India. + +I cannot sit down without addressing myself to those Directors of the +East India Company who are present. I exhort them to consider the heavy +responsibility which rests on them. They have the power to recall Lord +Ellenborough; and I trust that they will not hesitate to exercise that +power. This is the advice of one who has been their servant, who has +served them loyally, and who is still sincerely anxious for their credit +and for the welfare of the empire of which they are the guardians. But +if, from whatever cause, they are unwilling to recall the noble lord, +then I implore them to take care that he be immediately ordered to +return to Calcutta. Who can say what new freak we may hear of by the +next mail? I am quite confident that neither the Court of Directors nor +Her Majesty's Ministers can look forward to the arrival of that mail +without great uneasiness. Therefore I say, send Lord Ellenborough back +to Calcutta. There at least he will find persons who have a right to +advise him and to expostulate with him, and who will, I doubt not, have +also the spirit to do so. It is something that he will be forced to +record his reasons for what he does. It is something that he will be +forced to hear reasons against his propositions. It is something that a +delay, though only of twenty-four hours, will be interposed between the +first conception of a wild scheme and the execution. I am afraid that +these checks will not be sufficient to prevent much evil: but they are +not absolutely nugatory. I entreat the Directors to consider in what +a position they will stand if, in consequence of their neglect, some +serious calamity should befall the country which is confided to their +care. I will only say, in conclusion, that, if there be any use in +having a Council of India, if it be not meant that the members of +Council should draw large salaries for doing nothing, if they are really +appointed for the purpose of assisting and restraining the Governor, +it is to the last degree absurd that their powers should be in abeyance +when there is a Governor who, of all the Governors that ever England +sent to the East, stands most in need both of assistance and of +restraint. + +***** + + + + +THE STATE OF IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 19, 1844) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE +HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 19TH OF FEBRUARY 1844. + +On the thirteenth of February 1844, Lord John Russell moved for a +Committee of the whole House to take into consideration the state of +Ireland. After a discussion of nine nights the motion was rejected by +324 votes to 225. On the fifth night of the debate the following Speech +was made. + +I cannot refrain, Sir, from congratulating you and the House that I +did not catch your eye when I rose before. I should have been extremely +sorry to have prevented any Irish member from addressing the House on a +question so interesting to Ireland, but peculiarly sorry to have stood +in the way of the honourable gentleman who to-night pleaded the cause of +his country with so much force and eloquence. (Mr J. O'Brien.) + +I am sorry to say that I cannot reconcile it to my conscience to follow +the advice which has been just given me by my honourable friend the +Member for Pomfret (Mr R. Milnes.), with all the authority which, as he +has reminded us, belongs to his venerable youth. I cannot at all agree +with him in thinking that the wisest thing that we can do is to suffer +Her Majesty's Ministers to go on in their own way, seeing that the +way in which they have long been going on is an exceedingly bad one. I +support the motion of my noble friend for these plain reasons. + +First, I hold that Ireland is in a most unsatisfactory, indeed in a most +dangerous, state. + +Secondly, I hold that for the state in which Ireland is Her Majesty's +Ministers are in a great measure accountable, and that they have not +shown, either as legislators, or as administrators, that they are +capable of remedying the evils which they have caused. + +Now, Sir, if I make out these two propositions, it will follow that +it is the constitutional right and duty of the representatives of the +nation to interfere; and I conceive that my noble friend, by moving +for a Committee of the whole House, has proposed a mode of interference +which is both parliamentary and convenient. + +My first proposition, Sir, will scarcely be disputed. Both sides of the +House are fully agreed in thinking that the condition of Ireland may +well excite great anxiety and apprehension. That island, in extent about +one fourth of the United Kingdom, in population more than one-fourth, +superior probably in natural fertility to any area of equal size in +Europe, possessed of natural facilities for trade such as can nowhere +else be found in an equal extent of coast, an inexhaustible nursery of +gallant soldiers, a country far more important to the prosperity, +the strength, the dignity of this great empire than all our distant +dependencies together, than the Canadas and the West Indies added to +Southern Africa, to Australasia, to Ceylon, and to the vast dominions +of the Moguls, that island, Sir, is acknowledged by all to be so ill +affected and so turbulent that it must, in any estimate of our power, +be not added but deducted. You admit that you govern that island, not as +you govern England and Scotland, but as you govern your new conquests in +Scinde; not by means of the respect which the people feel for the laws, +but by means of bayonets, of artillery, of entrenched camps. + +My first proposition, then, I take to be conceded. Ireland is in a +dangerous state. The question which remains to be considered is, whether +for the state in which Ireland is Her Majesty's Ministers are to be held +accountable. + +Now, Sir, I at once admit that the distempers of Ireland must in part be +attributed to causes for which neither Her Majesty's present Ministers +nor any public men now living can justly be held accountable. I will not +trouble the House with a long dissertation on those causes. But it is +necessary, I think, to take at least a rapid glance at them: and in +order to do so, Sir, we must go back to a period not only anterior to +the birth of the statesmen who are now arrayed against each other on +the right and left of your chair, but anterior to the birth even of the +great parties of which those statesmen are the leaders; anterior to the +days when the names of Tory and Whig, of court party and country party, +of cavalier and roundhead, came into use; anterior to the existence +of those Puritans to whom the honourable Member for Shrewsbury (Mr +Disraeli.), in a very ingenious speech, ascribed all the calamities of +Ireland. + +The primary cause is, no doubt, the manner in which Ireland became +subject to the English crown. The annexation was effected by conquest, +and by conquest of a peculiar kind. It was not a conquest such as we +have been accustomed to see in modern Europe. It was not a conquest +like that which united Artois and Franche Comte to France, or Silesia +to Prussia. It was the conquest of a race by a race, such a conquest as +that which established the dominion of the Spaniard over the American +Indian, or of the Mahratta over the peasant of Guzerat or Tanjore. Of +all forms of tyranny, I believe that the worst is that of a nation over +a nation. Populations separated by seas and mountain ridges may call +each other natural enemies, may wage long wars with each other, may +recount with pride the victories which they have gained over each other, +and point to the flags, the guns, the ships which they have won from +each other. But no enmity that ever existed between such populations +approaches in bitterness the mutual enmity felt by populations which +are locally intermingled, but which have never morally and politically +amalgamated; and such were the Englishry and the Irishry. Yet it might +have been hoped that the lapse of time and the progress of civilisation +would have effaced the distinction between the oppressors and the +oppressed. Our island had suffered cruelly from the same evil. Here the +Saxon had trampled on the Celt, the Dane on the Saxon, the Norman on +Celt, Saxon, and Dane. Yet in the course of ages all the four races had +been fused together to form the great English people. A similar fusion +would probably have taken place in Ireland, but for the Reformation. The +English settlers adopted the Protestant doctrines which were received +in England. The Aborigines alone, among all the nations of the north +of Europe, adhered to the ancient faith. Thus the line of demarcation +between the two populations was deepened and widened. The old enmity +was reinforced by a new enmity stronger still. Then came those events +to which the honourable Member for Shrewsbury referred. The spirit of +liberty in England was closely allied with the spirit of Puritanism, and +was mortally hostile to the Papacy. Such men as Hampden, Vane, Milton, +Locke, though zealous generally for civil and spiritual freedom, yet +held that the Roman Catholic worship had no claim to toleration. On the +other hand, all the four kings of the House of Stuart showed far +more favour to Roman Catholics than to any class of Protestant +nonconformists. James the First at one time had some hopes of effecting +a reconciliation with the Vatican. Charles the First entered into secret +engagements to grant an indulgence to Roman Catholics. Charles the +Second was a concealed Roman Catholic. James the Second was an avowed +Roman Catholic. Consequently, through the whole of the seventeenth +century, the freedom of Ireland and the slavery of England meant the +same thing. The watchwords, the badges, the names, the places, the days, +which in the mind of an Englishman were associated with deliverance, +prosperity, national dignity, were in the mind of an Irishman associated +with bondage, ruin, and degradation. The memory of William the Third, +the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, are instances. I was much +struck by a circumstance which occurred on a day which I have every +reason to remember with gratitude and pride, the day on which I had the +high honour of being declared one of the first two members for the great +borough of Leeds. My chair was covered with orange ribands. The horses +which drew it could hardly be seen for the profusion of orange-coloured +finery with which they were adorned. Orange cockades were in all the +hats; orange favours at all the windows. And my supporters, I need +not say, were men who had, like myself, been zealous for Catholic +emancipation. I could not help remarking that the badge seemed rather +incongruous. But I was told that the friends of Catholic emancipation +in Yorkshire had always rallied under the orange banner, that orange was +the colour of Sir George Savile, who brought in that bill which caused +the No Popery riots of 1780, and that the very chair in which I sate +was the chair in which Lord Milton, now Earl Fitzwilliam, had triumphed +after the great victory which he won in 1807 over the No Popery party, +then headed by the house of Harewood. I thought how different an effect +that procession would have produced at Limerick or Cork, with what howls +of rage and hatred the Roman Catholic population of those cities +would have pursued that orange flag which, to every Roman Catholic in +Yorkshire, was the memorial of contests maintained in favour of his own +dearest rights. This circumstance, however slight, well illustrates +the singular contrast between the history of England and the history of +Ireland. + +Well, Sir, twice during the seventeenth century the Irish rose up +against the English colony. Twice they were completely put down; and +twice they were severely chastised. The first rebellion was crushed by +Oliver Cromwell; the second by William the Third. Those great men did +not use their victory exactly in the same way. The policy of Cromwell +was wise, and strong, and straightforward, and cruel. It was comprised +in one word, which, as Clarendon tells us, was often in the mouths of +the Englishry of that time. That word was extirpation. The object of +Cromwell was to make Ireland thoroughly Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. If +he had lived twenty years longer he might perhaps have accomplished that +work: but he died while it was incomplete; and it died with him. +The policy of William, or to speak more correctly, of those whose +inclinations William was under the necessity of consulting, was less +able, less energetic, and, though more humane in seeming, perhaps not +more humane in reality. Extirpation was not attempted. The Irish Roman +Catholics were permitted to live, to be fruitful, to replenish the +earth: but they were doomed to be what the Helots were in Sparta, what +the Greeks were under the Ottoman, what the blacks now are at New York. +Every man of the subject caste was strictly excluded from public trust. +Take what path he might in life, he was crossed at every step by some +vexatious restriction. It was only by being obscure and inactive that +he could, on his native soil, be safe. If he aspired to be powerful +and honoured, he must begin by being an exile. If he pined for military +glory, he might gain a cross or perhaps a Marshal's staff in the +armies of France or Austria. If his vocation was to politics, he might +distinguish himself in the diplomacy of Italy or Spain. But at home he +was a mere Gibeonite, a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. The statute +book of Ireland was filled with enactments which furnish to the Roman +Catholics but too good a ground for recriminating on us when we talk +of the barbarities of Bonner and Gardiner; and the harshness of those +odious laws was aggravated by a more odious administration. For, bad as +the legislators were, the magistrates were worse still. In those evil +times originated that most unhappy hostility between landlord and +tenant, which is one of the peculiar curses of Ireland. Oppression and +turbulence reciprocally generated each other. The combination of rustic +tyrants was resisted by gangs of rustic banditti. Courts of law and +juries existed only for the benefit of the dominant sect. Those priests +who were revered by millions as their natural advisers and guardians, +as the only authorised expositors of Christian truth, as the only +authorised dispensers of the Christian sacraments, were treated by the +squires and squireens of the ruling faction as no good-natured man would +treat the vilest beggar. In this manner a century passed away. Then came +the French Revolution and the great awakening of the mind of Europe. It +would have been wonderful indeed if, when the happiest and most tranquil +nations were agitated by vague discontents and vague hopes, Ireland had +remained at rest. Jacobinism, it is true, was not a very natural ally +of the Roman Catholic religion. But common enmities produce strange +coalitions; and a strange coalition was formed. There was a third great +rising of the aboriginal population of the island against English and +Protestant ascendency. That rising was put down by the sword; and it +became the duty of those who were at the head of affairs to consider how +the victory should be used. + +I shall not be suspected of being partial to the memory of Mr Pitt. But +I cannot refuse to him the praise both of wisdom and of humanity, when I +compare the plan which he formed in that hour of triumph with the plans +of those English rulers who had before him governed Ireland. Of Mr +Pitt's plan the Union was a part, an excellent and an essential part +indeed, but still only a part. We shall do great injustice both to his +head and to his heart, if we forget that he was permitted to carry +into effect only some unconnected portions of a comprehensive and +well-concerted scheme. He wished to blend, not only the parliaments, but +the nations, and to make the two islands one in interest and affection. +With that view the Roman Catholic disabilities were to be removed: the +Roman Catholic priests were to be placed in a comfortable and honourable +position; and measures were to be taken for the purpose of giving to +Roman Catholics the benefits of liberal education. In truth, Mr Pitt's +opinions on those subjects had, to a great extent, been derived from a +mind even more powerful and capacious than his own, from the mind of Mr +Burke. If the authority of these two great men had prevailed, I believe +that the Union with Ireland would now have been as secure, and as +much beyond the reach of agitation, as the Union with Scotland. The +Parliament in College Green would have been remembered as what it was, +the most tyrannical, the most venal, the most unprincipled assembly +that ever sate on the face of this earth. I do not think that, by saying +this, I can give offence to any gentleman from Ireland, however zealous +for Repeal he may be: for I only repeat the language of Wolfe Tone. +Wolfe Tone said that he had seen more deliberative assemblies than most +men; that he had seen the English Parliament, the American Congress, +the French Council of Elders and Council of Five Hundred, the Batavian +Convention; but that he had nowhere found anything like the baseness and +impudence of the scoundrels, as he called them, at Dublin. If Mr Pitt's +whole plan had been carried into execution, that infamous parliament, +that scandal to the name of parliament, would have perished unregretted; +and the last day of its existence would have been remembered by the +Roman Catholics of Ireland as the first day of their civil and religious +liberty. The great boon which he would have conferred on them would have +been gratefully received, because it could not have been ascribed to +fear, because it would have been a boon bestowed by the powerful on the +weak, by the victor on the vanquished. Unhappily, of all his projects +for the benefit of Ireland the Union alone was carried into effect; and +therefore that Union was an Union only in name. The Irish found that +they had parted with at least the name and show of independence, and +that for this sacrifice of national pride they were to receive no +compensation. The Union, which ought to have been associated in their +minds with freedom and justice, was associated only with disappointed +hopes and forfeited pledges. Yet it was not even then too late. It was +not too late in 1813. It was not too late in 1821. It was not too late +in 1825. Yes: if, even in 1825, some men who then were, as they now are, +high in the service of the crown, could have made up their minds to +do what they were forced to do four years later, that great work of +conciliation which Mr Pitt had meditated might have been accomplished. +The machinery of agitation was not yet fully organized: the Government +was under no strong pressure; and therefore concession might still +have been received with thankfulness. That opportunity was suffered to +escape; and it never returned. + +In 1829, at length, concessions were made, were made largely, were made +without the conditions which Mr Pitt would undoubtedly have demanded, +and to which, if demanded by Mr Pitt, the whole body of Roman +Catholics would have eagerly assented. But those concessions were made +reluctantly, made ungraciously, made under duress, made from the mere +dread of civil war. How then was it possible that they should produce +contentment and repose? What could be the effect of that sudden and +profuse liberality following that long and obstinate resistance to the +most reasonable demands, except to teach the Irishman that he could +obtain redress only by turbulence? Could he forget that he had been, +during eight and twenty years, supplicating Parliament for justice, +urging those unanswerable arguments which prove that the rights of +conscience ought to be held sacred, claiming the performance of promises +made by ministers and princes, and that he had supplicated, argued, +claimed the performance of promises in vain? Could he forget that two +generations of the most profound thinkers, the most brilliant wits, the +most eloquent orators, had written and spoken for him in vain? Could he +forget that the greatest statesman who took his part had paid dear for +their generosity? Mr Pitt endeavoured to redeem his pledge; and he was +driven from office. Lord Grey and Lord Grenville endeavoured to do but +a very small part of what Mr Pitt had thought right and expedient; and +they were driven from office. Mr Canning took the same side; and his +reward was to be worried to death by the party of which he was the +brightest ornament. At length, when he was gone, the Roman Catholics +began to look, not to cabinets and parliaments, but to themselves. They +displayed a formidable array of physical force, and yet kept within, +just within, the limits of the law. The consequence was that, in two +years, more than any prudent friend had ventured to demand for them was +granted to them by their enemies. Yes; within two years after Mr Canning +had been laid in the transept near us, all that he would have done, and +more than he could have done, was done by his persecutors. How was it +possible that the whole Roman Catholic population of Ireland should not +take up the notion that from England, or at least from the party which +then governed and which now governs England, nothing is to be got +by reason, by entreaty, by patient endurance, but everything by +intimidation? That tardy repentance deserved no gratitude, and obtained +none. The whole machinery of agitation was complete and in perfect +order. The leaders had tasted the pleasures of popularity; the multitude +had tasted the pleasures of excitement. Both the demagogue and his +audience felt a craving for the daily stimulant. Grievances enough +remained, God knows, to serve as pretexts for agitation: and the whole +conduct of the Government had led the sufferers to believe that by +agitation alone could any grievance be removed. + +Such, Sir, is the history of the rise and progress of the disorders of +Ireland. Misgovernment, lasting without interruption from the reign +of Henry the Second to the reign of William the Fourth, has left us an +immense mass of discontent, which will, no doubt, in ordinary times, +make the task of any statesman whom the Queen may call to power +sufficiently difficult. But though this be true, it is not less true, +that the immediate causes of the extraordinary agitation which alarms us +at this moment is to be found in the misconduct of Her Majesty's present +advisers. For, Sir, though Ireland is always combustible, Ireland is not +always on fire. We must distinguish between the chronic complaints which +are to be attributed to remote causes, and the acute attack which +is brought on by recent imprudence. For though there is always a +predisposition to disease in that unhappy society, the violent paroxysms +come only at intervals. I must own that I am indebted for some of my +imagery to the right honourable Baronet the First Lord of the Treasury. +When he sate on this bench, and was only a candidate for the great place +which he now fills, he compared himself to a medical man at the bedside +of a patient. Continuing his metaphor, I may say that his prognosis, his +diagnosis, his treatment, have all been wrong. I do not deny that the +case was difficult. The sufferer was of a very ill habit of body, and +had formerly suffered many things of many physicians, and, among others, +I must say, of the right honourable Baronet himself. Still the malady +had, a very short time ago, been got under, and kept under by the +judicious use of lenitives; and there was reason to hope that if that +salutary regimen had been steadily followed, there would have been +a speedy improvement in the general health. Unhappily, the new State +hygeist chose to apply irritants which have produced a succession of +convulsive fits, each more violent than that which preceded it. To drop +the figure, it is impossible to doubt that Lord Melbourne's government +was popular with the great body of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. It is +impossible to doubt that the two Viceroys whom he sent to Ireland were +more loved and honoured by the Irish people than any Viceroys before +whom the sword of state has ever been borne. Under the late Government, +no doubt, the empire was threatened by many dangers; but, to whatever +quarter the Ministers might look with uneasy apprehension, to Ireland +they could always look with confidence. When bad men raised disturbances +here, when a Chartist rabble fired on the Queen's soldiers, numerous +regiments could, without the smallest risk, be spared from Ireland. When +a rebellion broke out in one of our colonies,--a rebellion too which it +might have been expected that the Irish would regard with favour, for it +was a rebellion of Roman Catholics against Protestant rulers,--even then +Ireland was true to the general interests of the empire, and troops were +sent from Munster and Connaught to put down insurrection in Canada. No +person will deny that if, in 1840, we had unhappily been forced +into war, and if a hostile army had landed in Bantry Bay, the whole +population of Cork and Tipperary would have risen up to defend the +throne of Her Majesty, and would have offered to the invaders a +resistance as determined as would have been offered by the men of Kent +or Norfolk. And by what means was this salutary effect produced? Not by +great legislative reforms: for, unfortunately, that Government, though +it had the will, had not the power to carry such reforms against the +sense of a strong minority in this House, and of a decided majority +of the Peers. No, Sir; this effect was produced merely by the wisdom, +justice, and humanity with which the existing law, defective as it might +be, was administered. The late Government, calumniated and thwarted at +every turn, contending against the whole influence of the Established +Church, and of the great body of the nobility and landed gentry, yet did +show a disposition to act kindly and fairly towards Ireland, and did, to +the best of its power, treat Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. If +we had been as strong as our successors in parliamentary support, if we +had been able to induce the two Houses to follow in legislation the same +principles by which we were guided in administration, the Union with +Ireland would now have been as secure from the assaults of agitators +as the Union with Scotland. But this was not to be. During six years an +opposition, formidable in numbers, formidable in ability, selected as +the especial object of the fiercest and most pertinacious attacks +those very acts of the Government which had, after centuries of mutual +animosity, half reconciled the two islands. Those Lords Lieutenant who, +in Ireland, were venerated as no preceding Lord Lieutenant had ever been +venerated, were here reviled as no preceding Lord Lieutenant had ever +been reviled. Every action, every word which was applauded by the nation +committed to their care, was here imputed to them as a crime. Every +bill framed by the advisers of the Crown for the benefit of Ireland was +either rejected or mutilated. A few Roman Catholics of distinguished +merit were appointed to situations which were indeed below their just +claims, but which were higher than any member of their Church had filled +during many generations. Two or three Roman Catholics were sworn of +the Council; one took his seat at the Board of Treasury; another at the +Board of Admiralty. There was great joy in Ireland; and no wonder. +What had been done was not much; but the ban had been taken off; the +Emancipation Act, which had been little more than a dead letter, was at +length a reality. But in England all the underlings of the great Tory +party set up a howl of rage and hatred worthy of Lord George Gordon's +No Popery mob. The right honourable Baronet now at the head of the +Treasury, with his usual prudence, abstained from joining in the cry, +and was content to listen to it, to enjoy it, and to profit by it. But +some of those who ranked next to him among the chiefs of the opposition, +did not imitate his politic reserve. One great man denounced the Irish +as aliens. Another called them minions of Popery. Those teachers of +religion to whom millions looked up with affection and reverence were +called by the Protestant press demon priests and surpliced ruffians, and +were denounced from the Protestant pulpit as pontiffs of Baal, as false +prophets who were to be slain with the sword. We were reminded that a +Queen of the chosen people had in the old time patronised the ministers +of idolatry, and that her blood had been given to the dogs. Not content +with throwing out or frittering down every law beneficial to Ireland, +not content with censuring in severe terms every act of the executive +government which gave satisfaction in Ireland, you, yes you, who now +fill the great offices of state, assumed the offensive. From obstruction +you proceeded to aggression. You brought in a bill which you called a +Bill for the Registration of Electors in Ireland. We then told you that +it was a bill for the wholesale disfranchisement of the electors +of Ireland. We then proved incontrovertibly that, under pretence of +reforming the law of procedure, you were really altering the substantive +law; that, by making it impossible for any man to vindicate his right to +vote without trouble, expense, and loss of time, you were really taking +away the votes of tens of thousands. You denied all this then. You very +coolly admit it all now. Am I to believe that you did know it as well +in 1841 as in 1844? Has one new fact been brought to light? Has one +argument been discovered which was not, three or four years ago, urged +twenty, thirty, forty times in this House? Why is it that you have, +when in power, abstained from proposing that change in the mode of +registration which, when you were out of power, you represented +as indispensable? You excuse yourselves by saying that now the +responsibilities of office are upon you. In plain words, your trick +has served its purpose. Your object,--for I will do justice to your +patriotism,--your object was not to ruin your country, but to get in; +and you are in. Such public virtue deserved such a reward, a reward +which has turned out a punishment, a reward which ought to be, while the +world lasts, a warning to unscrupulous ambition. Many causes contributed +to place you in your present situation. But the chief cause was, beyond +all doubt, the prejudice which you excited amongst the English against +the just and humane manner in which the late Ministers governed Ireland. +In your impatience for office, you called up the devil of religious +intolerance, a devil more easily evoked than dismissed. He did your +work; and he holds your bond. You once found him an useful slave: but +you have since found him a hard master. It was pleasant, no doubt, to be +applauded by high churchmen and low churchmen, by the Sheldonian Theatre +and by Exeter Hall. It was pleasant to be described as the champions +of the Protestant faith, as the men who stood up for the Gospel against +that spurious liberality which made no distinction between truth and +falsehood. It was pleasant to hear your opponents called by every +nickname that is to be found in the foul vocabulary of the Reverend +Hugh Mcneill. It was pleasant to hear that they were the allies of +Antichrist, that they were the servants of the man of sin, that they +were branded with the mark of the Beast. But when all this slander +and scurrility had raised you to power, when you found that you had +to manage millions of those who had been, year after year, constantly +insulted and defamed by yourselves and your lacqueys, your hearts began +to fail you. Now you tell us that you have none but kind and respectful +feelings towards the Irish Roman Catholics, that you wish to conciliate +them, that you wish to carry the Emancipation Act into full effect, +that nothing would give you more pleasure than to place on the bench of +justice a Roman Catholic lawyer of conservative politics, that nothing +would give you more pleasure than to place at the Board of Treasury, or +at the Board of Admiralty, some Roman Catholic gentleman of conservative +politics, distinguished by his talents for business or debate. Your only +reason, you assure us, for not promoting Roman Catholics is that all the +Roman Catholics are your enemies; and you ask whether any Minister can +be expected to promote his enemies. For my part I do not doubt that you +would willingly promote Roman Catholics: for, as I have said, I give +you full credit for not wishing to do your country more harm than is +necessary for the purpose of turning out and keeping out the Whigs. +I also fully admit that you cannot be blamed for not promoting your +enemies. But what I want to know is, how it happens that all the Roman +Catholics in the United Kingdom are your enemies. Was such a thing +ever heard of before? Here are six or seven millions of people of all +professions, of all trades, of all grades of rank, fortune, intellect, +education. Begin with the premier Peer, the Earl Marshal of the realm, +the chief of the Howards, the heir of the Mowbrays and Fitzalans, and +go down through earls, barons, baronets, lawyers, and merchants, to the +very poorest peasant that eats his potatoes without salt in Mayo; and +all these millions to a man are arrayed against the Government. How +do you explain this? Is there any natural connection between the Roman +Catholic theology and the political theories held by Whigs and by +reformers more democratical than the Whigs? Not only is there no natural +connection, but there is a natural opposition. Of all Christian sects +the Roman Catholic Church holds highest the authority of antiquity, of +tradition, of immemorial usage. Her spirit is eminently conservative, +nay, in the opinion of all Protestants, conservative to an unreasonable +and pernicious extent. A man who has been taught from childhood to +regard with horror all innovation in religion is surely less likely than +another man to be a bold innovator in politics. It is probable that a +zealous Roman Catholic, if there were no disturbing cause, would be a +Tory; and the Roman Catholics were all Tories till you persecuted them +into Whiggism and Radicalism. In the civil war, how many Roman Catholics +were there in Fairfax's army? I believe, not one. They were all under +the banner of Charles the First. When a reward of five thousand pounds +was offered for Charles the Second alive or dead, when to conceal +him was to run a most serious risk of the gallows, it was among +Roman Catholics that he found shelter. It has been the same in other +countries. When everything else in France was prostrate before the +Jacobins, the Roman Catholic peasantry of Brittany and Poitou still +stood up for the House of Bourbon. Against the gigantic power of +Napoleon, the Roman Catholic peasantry of the Tyrol maintained unaided +the cause of the House of Hapsburg. It would be easy to multiply +examples. And can we believe, in defiance of all reason and of all +history, that, if the Roman Catholics of the United Kingdom had been +tolerably well governed, they would not have been attached to the +Government? In my opinion the Tories never committed so great an error +as when they scourged away and spurned away the Roman Catholics. Mr +Burke understood this well. The sentiment which, towards the close +of his life, held the entire possession of his mind, was a horror,--a +morbid horror it at last became,--of Jacobinism, and of everything that +seemed to him to tend towards Jacobinism, and, like a great statesman +and philosopher,--for such he was even in his errors,--he perceived, and +he taught Mr Pitt to perceive, that, in the war against Jacobinism, the +Roman Catholics were the natural allies of royalty and aristocracy. +But the help of these allies was contumeliously rejected by those +politicians who make themselves ridiculous by carousing on Mr Pitt's +birthday, while they abjure all Mr Pitt's principles. The consequence +is, as you are forced to own, that there is not in the whole kingdom +a Roman Catholic of note who is your friend. Therefore, whatever your +inclinations may be, you must intrust power in Ireland to Protestants, +to Ultra-Protestants, to men who, whether they belong to Orange lodges +or not, are in spirit Orangemen. Every appointment which you make +increases the discontent of the Roman Catholics. The more discontented +they are, the less you can venture to employ them. The way in which +you treated them while you were in opposition has raised in them such a +dislike and distrust of you that you cannot carry the Emancipation Act +into effect, though, as you tell us, and as I believe, you sincerely +desire to do so. As respects the offices of which you dispose, that Act +is null and void. Of all the boons which that Act purports to bestow on +Roman Catholics they really enjoy only one, admission to Parliament: and +that they would not enjoy if you had been able three years ago to carry +your Irish Registration Bill. You have wounded national feeling: you +have wounded religious feeling: and the animosity which you have roused +shows itself in a hundred ways, some of which I abhor, some of which I +lament, but at none of which I can wonder. They are the natural effects +of insult and injury on quick and ill regulated sensibility. You, for +your own purposes, inflamed the public mind of England against Ireland; +and you have no right to be surprised by finding that the public mind +of Ireland is inflamed against England. You called a fourth part of the +people of the United Kingdom aliens: and you must not blame them for +feeling and acting like aliens. You have filled every public department +with their enemies. What then could you expect but that they would +set up against your Lord Lieutenant and your official hierarchy a more +powerful chief and a more powerful organization of their own? They +remember, and it would be strange indeed if they had forgotten, what +under the same chief, and by a similar organization, they extorted from +you in 1829; and they are determined to try whether you are bolder and +more obstinate now than then. + +Such are the difficulties of this crisis. To a great extent they are +of your own making. And what have you done in order to get out of them? +Great statesmen have sometimes committed great mistakes, and yet have by +wisdom and firmness extricated themselves from the embarrassments which +those mistakes had caused. Let us see whether you are entitled to rank +among such statesmen. And first, what,--commanding, as you do, a great +majority in this and in the other House of Parliament,--what have you +done in the way of legislation? The answer is very short and simple. The +beginning and end of all your legislation for Ireland will be found in +the Arms Act of last session. You will hardly call that conciliation; +and I shall not call it coercion. It was mere petty annoyance. It +satisfied nobody. We called on you to redress the wrongs of Ireland. +Many of your own friends called on you to stifle her complaints. One +noble and learned person was so much disgusted by your remissness that +he employed his own great abilities and his own valuable time in framing +a new coercion bill for you. You were deaf alike to us and to him. +The whole fruit of your legislative wisdom was this one paltry teasing +police regulation. + +Your executive administration through the whole recess has been one long +blunder. The way in which your Lord Lieutenant and his advisers acted +about the Clontarf meeting would alone justify a severe vote of censure. +The noble lord, the Secretary for the Colonies (Lord Stanley.), has told +us that the Government did all that was possible to caution the people +against attending that meeting, and that it would be unreasonable to +censure men for not performing impossibilities. Now, Sir, the ministers +themselves acknowledge that, as early as the morning of the Friday which +preceded the day fixed for the meeting, the Lord Lieutenant determined +to put forth a proclamation against the meeting. Yet the proclamation +was not published in Dublin and the suburbs till after nightfall on +Saturday. The meeting was fixed for the Sunday morning. Will any +person have the hardihood to assert that it was impossible to have a +proclamation drawn up, printed and circulated, in twenty-four hours, nay +in six hours? It is idle to talk of the necessity of weighing well the +words of such a document. The Lord Lieutenant should have weighed well +the value of the lives of his royal mistress's subjects. Had he done so, +there can be no doubt that the proclamation might have been placarded on +every wall in and near Dublin early in the forenoon of the Saturday. The +negligence of the Government would probably have caused the loss of many +lives but for the interposition of the man whom you are persecuting. +Fortune stood your friend; and he stood your friend; and thus a +slaughter more terrible than that which took place twenty-five years ago +at Manchester was averted. + +But you were incorrigible. No sooner had you, by strange good luck, +got out of one scrape, than you made haste to get into another, out of +which, as far as I can see, you have no chance of escape. You instituted +the most unwise, the most unfortunate of all state prosecutions. You +seem not to have at all known what you were doing. It appears never to +have occurred to you that there was any difference between a criminal +proceeding which was certain to fix the attention of the whole civilised +world and an ordinary qui tam action for a penalty. The evidence was +such and the law such that you were likely to get a verdict and a +judgment; and that was enough for you. Now, Sir, in such a case as this, +the probability of getting the verdict and the judgment is only a part, +and a very small part, of what a statesman ought to consider. Before you +determined to bring the most able, the most powerful, the most popular +of your opponents to the bar as a criminal, on account of the manner in +which he had opposed you, you ought to have asked yourselves whether +the decision which you expected to obtain from the tribunals would be +ratified by the voice of your own country, of foreign countries, of +posterity; whether the general opinion of mankind might not be that, +though you were legally in the right, you were morally in the wrong. It +was no common person that you were bent on punishing. About that person +I feel, I own, considerable difficulty in saying anything. He is placed +in a situation which would prevent generous enemies, which has prevented +all the members of this House, with one ignominious exception, from +assailing him acrimoniously. I will try, in speaking of him, to pay the +respect due to eminence and to misfortune without violating the respect +due to truth. I am convinced that the end which he is pursuing is not +only mischievous but unattainable: and some of the means which he has +stooped to use for the purpose of attaining that end I regard with deep +disapprobation. But it is impossible for me not to see that the place +which he holds in the estimation of his countrymen is such as no popular +leader in our history, I might perhaps say in the history of the world, +has ever attained. Nor is the interest which he inspires confined to +Ireland or to the United Kingdom. Go where you will on the Continent: +visit any coffee house: dine at any public table: embark on board of any +steamboat: enter any diligence, any railway carriage: from the moment +that your accent shows you to be an Englishman, the very first question +asked by your companions, be they what they may, physicians, advocates, +merchants, manufacturers, or what we should call yeomen, is certain to +be "What will be done with Mr O'Connell?" Look over any file of French +journals; and you will see what a space he occupies in the eyes of the +French people. It is most unfortunate, but it is a truth, and a +truth which we ought always to bear in mind, that there is among our +neighbours a feeling about the connection between England and Ireland +not very much unlike the feeling which exists here about the connection +between Russia and Poland. All the sympathies of all continental +politicians are with the Irish. We are regarded as the oppressors, and +the Irish as the oppressed. An insurrection in Ireland would have the +good wishes of a great majority of the people of Europe. And, Sir, it is +natural that it should be so. For the cause of the Irish repealers has +two different aspects, a democratic aspect, and a Roman Catholic aspect, +and is therefore regarded with favour by foreigners of almost +every shade of opinion. The extreme left,--to use the French +nomenclature,--wishes success to a great popular movement against +the throne and the aristocracy. The extreme right wishes success to a +movement headed by the bishops and priests of the true Church against a +heretical government and a heretical hierarchy. The consequence is that, +in a contest with Ireland, you will not have, out of this island, +a single well-wisher in the world. I do not say this in order to +intimidate you. But I do say that, on an occasion on which all +Christendom was watching your conduct with an unfriendly and suspicious +eye, you should have carefully avoided everything that looked like foul +play. Unhappily you were too much bent on gaining the victory; and you +have gained a victory more disgraceful and disastrous than any defeat. +Mr O'Connell has been convicted: but you cannot deny that he has been +wronged: you cannot deny that irregularities have been committed, or +that the effect of those irregularities has been to put you in a better +situation and him in a worse situation than the law contemplated. It is +admitted that names which ought to have been in the jury-list were not +there. It is admitted that all, or almost all, the names which were +wrongfully excluded were the names of Roman Catholics. As to the +number of those who were wrongfully excluded there is some dispute. An +affidavit has been produced which puts the number at twenty-seven. The +right honourable gentleman, the Recorder of Dublin, who of course puts +the number as low as he conscientiously can, admits twenty-four. +But some gentlemen maintain that this irregularity, though doubtless +blamable, cannot have had any effect on the event of the trial. What, +they ask, are twenty or twenty-seven names in seven hundred and twenty? +Why, Sir, a very simple arithmetical calculation will show that the +irregularity was of grave importance. Of the seven hundred and twenty, +forty-eight were to be selected by lot, and then reduced by alternate +striking to twelve. The forty-eighth part of seven hundred and twenty is +fifteen. If, therefore, there had been fifteen more Roman Catholics in +the jury-list, it would have been an even chance that there would have +been one Roman Catholic more among the forty-eight. If there had been +twenty-seven more Roman Catholics in the list, it would have been almost +an even chance that there would have been two Roman Catholics more among +the forty-eight. Is it impossible, is it improbable that, but for this +trick or this blunder,--I will not now inquire which,--the result of the +trial might have been different? For, remember the power which the law +gives to a single juror. He can, if his mind is fully made up, prevent +a conviction. I heard murmurs when I used the word trick. Am I not +justified in feeling a doubt which it is quite evident that Mr Justice +Perrin feels? He is reported to have said,--and I take the report of +newspapers favourable to the Government,--he is reported to have said +that there had been great carelessness, great neglect of duty, that +there were circumstances which raised grave suspicion, and that he was +not prepared to say that the irregularity was accidental. The noble lord +the Secretary for the Colonies has admonished us to pay respect to the +judges. I am sure that I pay the greatest respect to everything that +falls from Mr Justice Perrin. He must know much better than I, much +better than any Englishman, what artifices are likely to be employed by +Irish functionaries for the purpose of packing a jury; and he tells us +that he is not satisfied that this irregularity was the effect of mere +inadvertence. But, says the right honourable Baronet, the Secretary for +the Home Department, "I am not responsible for this irregularity." Most +true: and nobody holds the right honourable Baronet responsible for it. +But he goes on to say, "I lament this irregularity most sincerely: for +I believe that it has raised a prejudice against the administration of +justice." Exactly so. That is just what I say. I say that a prejudice +has been created against the administration of justice. I say that +a taint of suspicion has been thrown on the verdict which you have +obtained. And I ask whether it is right and decent in you to avail +yourselves of a verdict on which such a taint has been thrown? The only +wise, the only honourable course open to you was to say, "A mistake has +been committed: that mistake has given us an unfair advantage; and of +that advantage we will not make use." Unhappily, the time when you might +have taken this course, and might thus to a great extent have repaired +your former errors, has been suffered to elapse. + +Well, you had forty-eight names taken by lot from this mutilated +jury-list: and then came the striking. You struck out all the Roman +Catholic names: and you give us your reasons for striking out these +names, reasons which I do not think it worth while to examine. The real +question which you should have considered was this: Can a great issue +between two hostile religions,--for such the issue was,--be tried in a +manner above all suspicion by a jury composed exclusively of men of one +of those religions? I know that in striking out the Roman Catholics +you did nothing that was not according to technical rules. But my great +charge against you is that you have looked on this whole case in a +technical point of view, that you have been attorneys when you should +have been statesmen. The letter of the law was doubtless with you; but +not the noble spirit of the law. The jury de medietate linguae is of +immemorial antiquity among us. Suppose that a Dutch sailor at Wapping is +accused of stabbing an Englishman in a brawl. The fate of the culprit is +decided by a mixed body, by six Englishmen and six Dutchmen. Such were +the securities which the wisdom and justice of our ancestors gave to +aliens. You are ready enough to call Mr O'Connell an alien when it +serves your purposes to do so. You are ready enough to inflict on the +Irish Roman Catholic all the evils of alienage. But the one privilege, +the one advantage of alienage, you deny him. In a case which of all +cases most require a jury de medietate, in a case which sprang out of +the mutual hostility of races and sects, you pack a jury all of one +race and all of one sect. Why, if you were determined to go on with this +unhappy prosecution, not have a common jury? There was no difficulty +in having such a jury; and among the jurors might have been some +respectable Roman Catholics who were not members of the Repeal +Association. A verdict of Not Guilty from such a jury would have done +you infinitely less harm than the verdict of Guilty which you have +succeeded in obtaining. Yes, you have obtained a verdict of Guilty; +but you have obtained that verdict from twelve men brought together by +illegal means, and selected in such a manner that their decision can +inspire no confidence. You have obtained that verdict by the help of a +Chief Justice of whose charge I can hardly trust myself to speak. To do +him right, however, I will say that his charge was not, as it has been +called, unprecedented; for it bears a very close resemblance to some +charges which may be found in the state trials of the reign of Charles +the Second. However, with this jury-list, with this jury, with this +judge, you have a verdict. And what have you gained by it? Have you +pacified Ireland? No doubt there is just at the present moment an +apparent tranquillity; but it is a tranquillity more alarming than +turbulence. The Irish will be quiet till you begin to put the sentence +of imprisonment into execution, because, feeling the deepest interest in +the fate of their persecuted Tribune, they will do nothing that can be +prejudicial to him. But will they be quiet when the door of a gaol has +been closed on him? Is it possible to believe that an agitator, whom +they adored while his agitation was a source of profit to him, will lose +his hold on their affections by being a martyr in what they consider as +their cause? If I, who am strongly attached to the Union, who believe +that the Repeal of the Union would be fatal to the empire, and who think +Mr O'Connell's conduct highly reprehensible, cannot conscientiously say +that he has had a fair trial, if the prosecutors themselves are forced +to own that things have happened which have excited a prejudice against +the verdict and the judgment, what must be the feelings of the people of +Ireland, who believe not merely that he is guiltless, but that he is the +best friend that they ever had? He will no longer be able to harangue +them: but his wrongs will stir their blood more than his eloquence ever +did; nor will he in confinement be able to exercise that influence which +has so often restrained them, even in their most excited mood, from +proceeding to acts of violence. + +Turn where we will, the prospect is gloomy; and that which of all things +most disturbs me is this, that your experience, sharp as it has been, +does not seem to have made you wiser. All that I have been able to +collect from your declarations leads me to apprehend that, while you +continue to hold power, the future will be of a piece with the past. As +to your executive administration, you hold out no hope that it will +be other than it has been. If we look back, your only remedies for the +disorders of Ireland have been an impolitic state prosecution, an unfair +state trial, barracks and soldiers. If we look forward, you promise +us no remedies but an unjust sentence, the harsh execution of that +sentence, more barracks and more soldiers. + +You do indeed try to hold out hopes of one or two legislative reforms +beneficial to Ireland; but these hopes, I am afraid, will prove +delusive. You hint that you have prepared a Registration bill, of which +the effect will be to extend the elective franchise. What the provisions +of that bill may be we do not know. But this we know, that the matter +is one about which it is utterly impossible for you to do anything that +shall be at once honourable to yourselves and useful to the country. +Before we see your plan, we can say with perfect confidence that it must +either destroy the last remnant of the representative system in Ireland, +or the last remnant of your own character for consistency. + +About the much agitated question of land tenure you acknowledge that +you have at present nothing to propose. We are to have a report, but you +cannot tell us when. + +The Irish Church, as at present constituted and endowed, you are fully +determined to uphold. On some future occasion, I hope to be able to +explain at large my views on that subject. To-night I have exhausted +my own strength, and I have exhausted also, I am afraid, the kind +indulgence of the House. I will therefore only advert very briefly to +some things which have been said about the Church in the course of the +present debate. + +Several gentlemen opposite have spoken of the religious discord which is +the curse of Ireland in language which does them honour; and I am only +sorry that we are not to have their votes as well as their speeches. +But from the Treasury bench we have heard nothing but this, that the +Established Church is there, and that there it must and shall remain. As +to the speech of the noble lord the Secretary for the Colonies, really +when we hear such a pitiable defence of a great institution from a +man of such eminent abilities, what inference can we draw but that the +institution is altogether indefensible? The noble lord tells us that the +Roman Catholics, in 1757, when they were asking to be relieved from the +penal laws, and in 1792, when they were asking to be relieved from civil +disabilities, professed to be quite willing that the Established Church +should retain its endowments. What is it to us, Sir, whether they did or +not? If you can prove this Church to be a good institution, of course +it ought to be maintained. But do you mean to say that a bad institution +ought to be maintained because some people who have been many years in +their graves said that they did not complain of it? What if the Roman +Catholics of the present generation hold a different language on +this subject from the Roman Catholics of the last generation? Is this +inconsistency, which appears to shock the noble lord, anything but the +natural and inevitable progress of all reform? People who are oppressed, +and who have no hope of obtaining entire justice, beg to be relieved +from the most galling part of what they suffer. They assure the +oppressor that if he will only relax a little of his severity they shall +be quite content; and perhaps, at the time, they believe that they shall +be content. But are expressions of this sort, are mere supplications +uttered under duress, to estop every person who utters them, and all +his posterity to the end of time, from asking for entire justice? Am I +debarred from trying to recover property of which I have been robbed, +because, when the robber's pistol was at my breast, I begged him to take +everything that I had and to spare my life? The noble lord knows +well that, while the slave trade existed, the great men who exerted +themselves to put an end to that trade disclaimed all thought of +emancipating the negroes. In those days, Mr Pitt, Mr Fox, Lord +Grenville, Lord Grey, and even my dear and honoured friend of whom I can +never speak without emotion, Mr Wilberforce, always said that it was a +calumny to accuse them of intending to liberate the black population of +the sugar islands. In 1807 the present Duke of Northumberland, then +Lord Percy, in the generous enthusiasm of youth, rose to propose in +this House the abolition of slavery. Mr Wilberforce interposed, nay, I +believe, almost pulled Lord Percy down. Nevertheless in 1833 the +noble lord the Secretary for the Colonies brought in a bill to abolish +slavery. Suppose that when he resumed his seat, after making that most +eloquent speech in which he explained his plan to us, some West Indian +planter had risen, and had said that in 1792, in 1796, in 1807, all the +leading philanthropists had solemnly declared that they had no intention +of emancipating the negroes; would not the noble lord have answered that +nothing that had been said by anybody in 1792 or 1807 could bind us not +to do what was right in 1833? + +This is not the only point on which the noble lord's speech is quite at +variance with his own conduct. He appeals to the fifth article of the +Treaty of Union. He says that, if we touch the revenues and privileges +of the Established Church, we shall violate that article; and to violate +an article of the Treaty of Union is, it seems, a breach of public faith +of which he cannot bear to think. But, Sir, why is the fifth article +to be held more sacred than the fourth, which fixes the number of Irish +members who are to sit in this House? The fourth article, we all +know, has been altered. And who brought in the bill which altered that +article? The noble lord himself. + +Then the noble lord adverts to the oath taken by Roman Catholic members +of this House. They bind themselves, he says, not to use their power +for the purpose of injuring the Established Church. I am sorry that the +noble lord is not at this moment in the House. Had he been here I should +have made some remarks which I now refrain from making on one or two +expressions which fell from him. But, Sir, let us allow to his argument +all the weight which he can himself claim for it. What does it prove? +Not that the Established Church of Ireland is a good institution; not +that it ought to be maintained; but merely this, that, when we are about +to divide on the question whether it shall be maintained, the Roman +Catholic members ought to walk away to the library. The oath which they +have taken is nothing to me and to the other Protestant members who have +not taken it. Suppose then our Roman Catholic friends withdrawn. Suppose +that we, the six hundred and twenty or thirty Protestant members remain +in the House. Then there is an end of this argument about the oath. Will +the noble lord then be able to give us any reason for maintaining the +Church of Ireland on the present footing? + +I hope, Sir, that the right honourable Baronet the first Lord of the +Treasury will not deal with this subject as his colleagues have dealt +with it. We have a right to expect that a man of his capacity, placed +at the head of government, will attempt to defend the Irish Church in +a manly and rational way. I would beg him to consider these +questions:--For what ends do Established Churches exist? Does the +Established Church of Ireland accomplish those ends or any one of those +ends? Can an Established Church which has no hold on the hearts of the +body of the people be otherwise than useless, or worse than useless? Has +the Established Church of Ireland any hold on the hearts of the body +of the people? Has it been successful in making proselytes? Has it been +what the Established Church of England has been with justice called, +what the Established Church of Scotland was once with at least equal +justice called, the poor man's Church? Has it trained the great body +of the people to virtue, consoled them in affliction, commanded their +reverence, attached them to itself and to the State? Show that these +questions can be answered in the affirmative; and you will have +made, what I am sure has never yet been made, a good defence of the +Established Church of Ireland. But it is mere mockery to bring us +quotations from forgotten speeches, and from mouldy petitions presented +to George the Second at a time when the penal laws were still in full +force. + +And now, Sir, I must stop. I have said enough to justify the vote which +I shall give in favour of the motion of my noble friend. I have shown, +unless I deceive myself, that the extraordinary disorders which now +alarm us in Ireland have been produced by the fatal policy of the +Government. I have shown that the mode in which the Government is now +dealing with those disorders is far more likely to inflame than to allay +them. While this system lasts, Ireland can never be tranquil; and till +Ireland is tranquil, England can never hold her proper place among the +nations of the world. To the dignity, to the strength, to the safety of +this great country, internal peace is indispensably necessary. In every +negotiation, whether with France on the right of search, or with America +on the line of boundary, the fact that Ireland is discontented is +uppermost in the minds of the diplomatists on both sides, making the +representative of the British Crown timorous, and making his adversary +bold. And no wonder. This is indeed a great and splendid empire, well +provided with the means both of annoyance and of defence. England can do +many things which are beyond the power of any other nation in the world. +She has dictated peace to China. She rules Caffraria and Australasia. +She could again sweep from the ocean all commerce but her own. She could +again blockade every port from the Baltic to the Adriatic. She is able +to guard her vast Indian dominions against all hostility by land or +sea. But in this gigantic body there is one vulnerable spot near to the +heart. At that spot forty-six years ago a blow was aimed which narrowly +missed, and which, if it had not missed, might have been deadly. The +government and the legislature, each in its own sphere, is deeply +responsible for the continuance of a state of things which is fraught +with danger to the State. From my share of that responsibility I shall +clear myself by the vote which I am about to give; and I trust that the +number and the respectability of those in whose company I shall go into +the lobby will be such as to convince the Roman Catholics of Ireland +that they need not yet relinquish all hope of obtaining relief from the +wisdom and justice of an Imperial Parliament. + +***** + + + + +DISSENTERS' CHAPELS BILL. (JUNE 6, 1844) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE +OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF JUNE 1844. + +An attempt having been made to deprive certain dissenting congregations +of property which they had long enjoyed, on the ground that they did not +hold the same religious opinions that had been held by the purchasers +from whom they derived their title to that property, the Government of +Sir Robert Peel brought in a bill fixing a time of limitation in such +cases. The time fixed was twenty-five years. + +The bill, having passed the Lords, came down to the House of Commons. +On the sixth of June 1844, the second reading was moved by the Attorney +General, Sir William Follett. Sir Robert Inglis, Member for the +University of Oxford, moved that the bill should be read a second time +that day six months: and the amendment was seconded by Mr Plumptre, +Member for Kent. Early in the debate the following Speech was made. + +The second reading was carried by 307 votes to 117. + +If, Sir, I should unhappily fail in preserving that tone in which the +question before us ought to be debated, it will assuredly not be for +want either of an example or of a warning. The honourable and learned +Member who moved the second reading has furnished me with a model which +I cannot too closely imitate; and from the honourable Member for Kent, +if I can learn nothing else, I may at least learn what temper and what +style I ought most carefully to avoid. + +I was very desirous, Sir, to catch your eye, not because I was so +presumptuous as to hope that I should be able to add much to the +powerful and luminous argument of the honourable and learned gentleman +who has, to our great joy, again appeared among us to-night; but because +I thought it desirable that, at an early period in the debate, some +person whose seat is on this side of the House, some person strongly +opposed to the policy of the present Government, should say, what I +now say with all my heart, that this is a bill highly honourable to +the Government, a bill framed on the soundest principles, and evidently +introduced from the best and purest motives. This praise is a tribute +due to Her Majesty's Ministers; and I have great pleasure in paying it. + +I have great pleasure also in bearing my testimony to the humanity, the +moderation, and the decorum with which my honourable friend the Member +for the University of Oxford has expressed his sentiments. I must +particularly applaud the resolution which he announced, and to which he +strictly adhered, of treating this question as a question of meum and +tuum, and not as a question of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. With him it is +possible to reason. But how am I to reason with the honourable Member +for Kent, who has made a speech without one fact, one argument, one +shadow of an argument, a speech made up of nothing but vituperation? I +grieve to say that the same bitterness of theological animosity which +characterised that speech may be discerned in too many of the petitions +with which, as he boasts, our table has been heaped day after day. The +honourable Member complains that those petitions have not been treated +with proper respect. Sir, they have been treated with much more respect +than they deserved. He asks why we are to suppose that the petitioners +are not competent to form a judgment on this question? My answer is, +that they have certified their incompetence under their own hands. They +have, with scarcely one exception, treated this question as a question +of divinity, though it is purely a question of property: and when I see +men treat a question of property as if it were a question of divinity, I +am certain that, however numerous they may be, their opinion is entitled +to no consideration. If the persons whom this bill is meant to relieve +are orthodox, that is no reason for our plundering anybody else in +order to enrich them. If they are heretics, that is no reason for our +plundering them in order to enrich others. I should not think myself +justified in supporting this bill, if I could not with truth declare +that, whatever sect had been in possession of these chapels, my conduct +would have been precisely the same. I have no peculiar sympathy with +Unitarians. If these people, instead of being Unitarians, had been Roman +Catholics, or Wesleyan Methodists, or General Baptists, or Particular +Baptists, or members of the Old Secession Church of Scotland, or members +of the Free Church of Scotland, I should speak as I now speak, and vote +as I now mean to vote. + +Sir, the whole dispute is about the second clause of this bill. I can +hardly conceive that any gentleman will vote against the bill on account +of the error in the marginal note on the third clause. To the first +clause my honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford +said, if I understood him rightly, that he had no objection; and indeed +a man of his integrity and benevolence could hardly say less after +listening to the lucid and powerful argument of the Attorney General. It +is therefore on the second clause that the whole question turns. + +The second clause, Sir, rests on a principle simple, well-known, and +most important to the welfare of all classes of the community. That +principle is this, that prescription is a good title to property, that +there ought to be a time of limitation, after which a possessor, +in whatever way his possession may have originated, must not be +dispossessed. Till very lately, Sir, I could not have imagined that, +in any assembly of reasonable, civilised, of educated men, it could be +necessary for me to stand up in defence of that principle. I should have +thought it as much a waste of the public time to make a speech on such +a subject as to make a speech against burning witches, against trying +writs of right by wager of battle, or against requiring a culprit to +prove his innocence by walking over red-hot ploughshares. But I find +that I was in error. Certain sages, lately assembled in conclave at +Exeter Hall, have done me the honour to communicate to me the fruits of +their profound meditations on the science of legislation. They have, +it seems, passed a resolution declaring that the principle, which I had +supposed that no man out of Bedlam would ever question, is an untenable +principle, and altogether unworthy of a British Parliament. They have +been pleased to add, that the present Government cannot, without gross +inconsistency, call on Parliament to pass a statute of limitation. +And why? Will the House believe it? Because the present Government has +appointed two new Vice Chancellors. + +Really, Sir, I do not know whether the opponents of this bill shine +more as logicians or as jurists. Standing here as the advocate of +prescription, I ought not to forget that prescriptive right of talking +nonsense which gentlemen who stand on the platform of Exeter Hall are +undoubtedly entitled to claim. But, though I recognise the right, I +cannot but think that it may be abused, and that it has been abused on +the present occasion. One thing at least is clear, that, if Exeter Hall +be in the right, all the masters of political philosophy, all the great +legislators, all the systems of law by which men are and have been +governed in all civilised countries, from the earliest times, must be +in the wrong. How indeed can any society prosper, or even exist, without +the aid of this untenable principle, this principle unworthy of a +British legislature? This principle was found in the Athenian law. This +principle was found in the Roman law. This principle was found in the +laws of all those nations of which the jurisprudence was derived from +Rome. This principle was found in the law administered by the Parliament +of Paris; and, when that Parliament and the law which it administered +had been swept away by the revolution, this principle reappeared in +the Code Napoleon. Go westward, and you find this principle recognised +beyond the Mississippi. Go eastward, and you find it recognised beyond +the Indus, in countries which never heard the name of Justinian, in +countries to which no translation of the Pandects ever found its way. +Look into our own laws, and you will see that the principle, which is +now designated as unworthy of Parliament, has guided Parliament ever +since Parliament existed. Our first statute of limitation was enacted +at Merton, by men some of whom had borne a part in extorting the Great +Charter and the Forest Charter from King John. From that time to this +it has been the study of a succession of great lawyers and statesmen to +make the limitation more and more stringent. The Crown and the Church +indeed were long exempted from the general rule. But experience fully +proved that every such exemption was an evil; and a remedy was at last +applied. Sir George Savile, the model of English country gentlemen, was +the author of the Act which barred the claims of the Crown. That eminent +magistrate, the late Lord Tenterden, was the author of the Act which +barred the claims of the Church. Now, Sir, how is it possible to believe +that the Barons, whose seals are upon our Great Charter, would +have perfectly agreed with the great jurists who framed the Code of +Justinian, with the great jurists who framed the Code of Napoleon, with +the most learned English lawyers of the nineteenth century, and with the +Pundits of Benares, unless there had been some strong and clear reason +which necessarily led men of sense in every age and country to the same +conclusion? Nor is it difficult to see what the reason was. For it is +evident that the principle which silly and ignorant fanatics have called +untenable is essential to the institution of property, and that, if you +take away that principle, you will produce evils resembling those which +would be produced by a general confiscation. Imagine what would follow +if the maxims of Exeter Hall were introduced into Westminster Hall. +Imagine a state of things in which one of us should be liable to be sued +on a bill of exchange indorsed by his grandfather in 1760. Imagine a +man possessed of an estate and manor house which had descended to him +through ten or twelve generations of ancestors, and yet liable to be +ejected because some flaw had been detected in a deed executed three +hundred years ago, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. Why, Sir, should +we not all cry out that it would be better to live under the rule of +a Turkish Pasha than under such a system. Is it not plain that the +enforcing of an obsolete right is the inflicting of a wrong? Is it +not plain that, but for our statutes of limitation, a lawsuit would be +merely a grave, methodical robbery? I am ashamed to argue a point so +clear. + +And if this be the general rule, why should the case which we are +now considering be an exception to that rule? I have done my best +to understand why. I have read much bad oratory, and many foolish +petitions. I have heard with attention the reasons of my honourable +friend the Member for the University of Oxford; and I should have heard +the reasons of the honourable Member for Kent, if there had been any to +hear. Every argument by which my honourable friend the Member for the +University of Oxford tried to convince us that this case is an exception +to the general rule, will be found on examination to be an argument +against the general rule itself. He says that the possession which we +propose to sanction was originally a wrongful possession. Why, Sir, all +the statutes of limitation that ever were made sanction possession which +was originally wrongful. It is for the protection of possessors who are +not in condition to prove that their possession was originally rightful +that statutes of limitation are passed. Then my honourable friend +says that this is an ex post facto law. Why, Sir, so are all our great +statutes of limitation. Look at the Statute of Merton, passed in 1235; +at the Statute of Westminster, passed in 1275; at the Statute of James +the First, passed in 1623; at Sir George Savile's Act, passed in the +last century; at Lord Tenterden's Act, passed in our own time. Every one +of those Acts was retrospective. Every one of them barred claims arising +out of past transactions. Nor was any objection ever raised to what +was so evidently just and wise, till bigotry and chicanery formed that +disgraceful league against which we are now contending. But, it is said, +it is unreasonable to grant a boon to men because they have been many +years doing wrong. The length of the time during which they have enjoyed +property not rightfully their own, is an aggravation of the injury which +they have committed, and is so far from being a reason for letting them +enjoy that property for ever, that it is rather a reason for compelling +them to make prompt restitution. With this childish sophistry the +petitions on our table are filled. Is it possible that any man can be +so dull as not to perceive that, if this be a reason, it is a reason +against all our statutes of limitation? I do a greater wrong to my +tailor if I withhold payment of his bill during six years than if I +withhold payment only during two years. Yet the law says that at the +end of two years he may bring an action and force me to pay him with +interest, but that after the lapse of six years he cannot force me to +pay him at all. It is much harder that a family should be kept out of +its hereditary estate during five generations than during five days. +But if you are kept out of your estate five days you have your action of +ejectment; and, after the lapse of five generations, you have no remedy. +I say, therefore, with confidence, that every argument which has been +urged against this bill is an argument against the great principle of +prescription. I go further, and I say that, if there be any case which, +in an especial manner, calls for the application of the principle of +prescription, this is that case. For the Unitarian congregations have +laid out so much on these little spots of ground that it is impossible +to take the soil from them without taking from them property which is of +much greater value than the mere soil, and which is indisputably their +own. This is not the case of a possessor who has been during many years, +receiving great emoluments from land to which he had not a good title. +It is the case of a possessor who has, from resources which were +undoubtedly his own, expended on the land much more than it was +originally worth. Even in the former case, it has been the policy of all +wise lawgivers to fix a time of limitation. A fortiori, therefore, there +ought to be a time of limitation in the latter case. + +And here, Sir, I cannot help asking gentlemen to compare the petitions +for this bill with the petitions against it. Never was there such a +contrast. The petitions against the bill are filled with cant, rant, +scolding, scraps of bad sermons. The petitions in favour of the bill +set forth in the simplest manner great practical grievances. Take, for +instance, the case of Cirencester. The meeting house there was built in +1730. It is certain that the Unitarian doctrines were taught there as +early as 1742. That was only twelve years after the chapel had been +founded. Many of the original subscribers must have been living. Many +of the present congregation are lineal descendants of the original +subscribers. Large sums have from time to time been laid out in +repairing, enlarging, and embellishing the edifice; and yet there are +people who think it just and reasonable that this congregation should, +after the lapse of more than a century, be turned out. At Norwich, +again, a great dissenting meeting house was opened in 1688. It is not +easy to say how soon Anti-Trinitarian doctrines were taught there. The +change of sentiment in the congregation seems to have been gradual: but +it is quite certain that, in 1754, ninety years ago, both pastor and +flock were decidedly Unitarian. Round the chapel is a cemetery filled +with the monuments of eminent Unitarians. Attached to the chapel are a +schoolhouse and a library, built and fitted up by Unitarians. And now +the occupants find that their title is disputed. They cannot venture to +build; they cannot venture to repair; and they are anxiously awaiting +our decision. I do not know that I have cited the strongest cases. I +am giving you the ordinary history of these edifices. Go to Manchester. +Unitarianism has been taught there at least seventy years in a chapel +on which the Unitarians have expended large sums. Go to Leeds. Four +thousand pounds have been subscribed for the repairing of the Unitarian +chapel there, the chapel where, near eighty years ago, Priestly, the +great Doctor of the sect, officiated. But these four thousand pounds are +lying idle. Not a pew can be repaired till it is known whether this bill +will become law. Go to Maidstone. There Unitarian doctrines have been +taught during at least seventy years; and seven hundred pounds have +recently been laid out by the congregation in repairing the chapel. +Go to Exeter. It matters not where you go. But go to Exeter. There +Unitarian doctrines have been preached more than eighty years; and two +thousand pounds have been laid out on the chapel. It is the same +at Coventry, at Bath, at Yarmouth, everywhere. And will a British +Parliament rob the possessors of these buildings? I can use no other +word. How should we feel if it were proposed to deprive any other class +of men of land held during so long a time, and improved at so large a +cost? And, if this property should be transferred to those who covet it, +what would they gain in comparison with what the present occupants would +lose? The pulpit of Priestley, the pulpit of Lardner, are objects +of reverence to congregations which hold the tenets of Priestley and +Lardner. To the intruders those pulpits will be nothing; nay, worse than +nothing; memorials of heresiarchs. Within these chapels and all around +them are the tablets which the pious affection of four generations +has placed over the remains of dear mothers and sisters, wives and +daughters, of eloquent preachers, of learned theological writers. To +the Unitarian, the building which contains these memorials is a hallowed +building. To the intruder it is of no more value than any other room +in which he can find a bench to sit on and a roof to cover him. If, +therefore, we throw out this bill, we do not merely rob one set of +people in order to make a present to another set. That would be bad +enough. But we rob the Unitarians of that which they regard as a most +precious treasure; of that which is endeared to them by the strongest +religious and the strongest domestic associations; of that which cannot +be wrenched from them without inflicting on them the bitterest pain and +humiliation. To the Trinitarians we give that which can to them be of +little or no value except as a trophy of a most inglorious victory won +in a most unjust war. + +But, Sir, an imputation of fraud has been thrown on the Unitarians; +not, indeed, here, but in many other places, and in one place of which +I would always wish to speak with respect. The Unitarians, it has +been said, knew that the original founders of these chapels were +Trinitarians; and to use, for the purpose of propagating Unitarian +doctrine, a building erected for the purpose of propagating Trinitarian +doctrine was grossly dishonest. One very eminent person (The Bishop +of London.) has gone so far as to maintain that the Unitarians cannot +pretend to any prescription of more than sixty-three years; and he +proves his point thus:--Till the year 1779, he says, no dissenting +teacher was within the protection of the Toleration Act unless he +subscribed those articles of the Church of England which affirm +the Athanasian doctrine. It is evident that no honest Unitarian can +subscribe those articles. The inference is, that the persons who +preached in these chapels down to the year 1779 must have been either +Trinitarians or rogues. Now, Sir, I believe that they were neither +Trinitarians nor rogues; and I cannot help suspecting that the great +prelate who brought this charge against them is not so well read in the +history of the nonconformist sects as in the history of that Church of +which he is an ornament. The truth is that, long before the year 1779, +the clause of the Toleration Act which required dissenting ministers +to subscribe thirty-five or thirty-six of our thirty-nine articles +had almost become obsolete. Indeed, that clause had never been rigidly +enforced. From the very first there were some dissenting ministers who +refused to subscribe, and yet continued to preach. Calany was one; and +he was not molested. And if this could be done in the year in which the +Toleration Act passed, we may easily believe that, at a later period, +the law would not have been very strictly observed. New brooms, as +the vulgar proverb tells us, sweep clean; and no statute is so rigidly +enforced as a statute just made. But, Sir, so long ago as the year 1711, +the provisions of the Toleration Act on this subject were modified. In +that year the Whigs, in order to humour Lord Nottingham, with whom +they had coalesced against Lord Oxford, consented to let the Occasional +Conformity Bill pass; but they insisted on inserting in the bill a +clause which was meant to propitiate the dissenters. By this clause +it was enacted that, if an information were laid against a dissenting +minister for having omitted to subscribe the articles, the defendant +might, by subscribing at any stage of the proceedings anterior to +the judgment, defeat the information, and throw all the costs on the +informer. The House will easily believe that, when such was the state of +the law, informers were not numerous. Indeed, during the discussions of +1773, it was distinctly affirmed, both in Parliament and in manifestoes +put forth by the dissenting body, that the majority of nonconformist +ministers then living had never subscribed. All arguments, therefore, +grounded on the insincerity which has been rashly imputed to the +Unitarians of former generations, fall at once to the ground. + +But, it is said, the persons who, in the reigns of James the Second, of +William the Third, and of Anne, first established these chapels, held +the doctrine of the Trinity; and therefore, when, at a later period, the +preachers and congregations departed from the doctrine of the Trinity, +they ought to have departed from the chapels too. The honourable and +learned gentleman, the Attorney General, has refuted this argument so +ably that he has scarcely left anything for me to say about it. It is +well-known that the change which, soon after the Revolution, began to +take place in the opinions of a section of the old Puritan body, was a +gradual, an almost imperceptible change. The principle of the English +Presbyterians was to have no confession of faith and no form of prayer. +Their trust deeds contained no accurate theological definitions. +Nonsubscription was in truth the very bond which held them together. +What, then, could be more natural than that, Sunday by Sunday, +the sermons should have become less and less like those of the old +Calvinistic divines, that the doctrine of the Trinity should have been +less and less frequently mentioned, that at last it should have ceased +to be mentioned, and that thus, in the course of years, preachers and +hearers should, by insensible degrees, have become first Arians, then, +perhaps, Socinians. I know that this explanation has been treated +with disdain by people profoundly ignorant of the history of English +nonconformity. I see that my right honourable friend near me (Mr Fox +Maule.) does not assent to it. Will he permit me to refer him to an +analogous case with which he cannot but be well acquainted? No person +in the House is more versed than he in the ecclesiastical history of +Scotland; and he will, I am sure, admit that some of the doctrines now +professed by the Scotch sects which sprang from the secessions of 1733 +and 1760 are such as the seceders of 1733 and the seceders of 1760 would +have regarded with horror. I have talked with some of the ablest, most +learned, and most pious of the Scotch dissenters of our time; and they +all fully admitted that they held more than one opinion which their +predecessors would have considered as impious. Take the question of the +connection between Church and State. The seceders of 1733 thought that +the connection ought to be much closer than it is. They blamed the +legislature for tolerating heresy. They maintained that the Solemn +league and covenant was still binding on the kingdom. They considered +it as a national sin that the validity of the Solemn League and Covenant +was not recognised at the time of the Revolution. When George Whitfield +went to Scotland, though they approved of his Calvinistic opinions, and +though they justly admired that natural eloquence which he possessed in +so wonderful a degree, they would hold no communion with him because he +would not subscribe the Solemn League and Covenant. Is that the doctrine +of their successors? Are the Scotch dissenters now averse to toleration? +Are they not zealous for the voluntary system? Is it not their constant +cry that it is not the business of the civil magistrate to encourage any +religion, false or true? Does any Bishop now abhor the Solemn League +and Covenant more than they? Here is an instance in which numerous +congregations have, retaining their identity, passed gradually from one +opinion to another opinion. And would it be just, would it be decent in +me, to impute dishonesty to them on that account? My right honourable +friend may be of opinion that the question touching the connection +between the Church and State is not a vital question. But was that the +opinion of the divines who drew up the Secession Testimony? He well +knows that in their view a man who denied that it was the duty of the +government to defend religious truth with the civil sword was as much a +heretic as a man who denied the doctrine of the Trinity. + +Again, Sir, take the case of the Wesleyan Methodists. They are zealous +against this bill. They think it monstrous that a chapel originally +built for people holding one set of doctrines should be occupied by +people holding a different set of doctrines. I would advise them to +consider whether they cannot find in the history of their own body +reasons for being a little more indulgent. What were the opinions of +that great and good man, their founder, on the question whether men not +episcopally ordained could lawfully administer the Eucharist? He told +his followers that lay administration was a sin which he never could +tolerate. Those were the very words which he used; and I believe that, +during his lifetime, the Eucharist never was administered by laymen +in any place of worship which was under his control. After his death, +however, the feeling in favour of lay administration became strong and +general among his disciples. The Conference yielded to that feeling. The +consequence is that now, in every chapel which belonged to Wesley, those +who glory in the name of Wesleyans commit, every Sacrament Sunday, what +Wesley declared to be a sin which he would never tolerate. And yet these +very persons are not ashamed to tell us in loud and angry tones that it +is fraud, downright fraud, in a congregation which has departed from its +original doctrines to retain its original endowments. I believe, Sir, +that, if you refuse to pass this bill, the Courts of Law will soon have +to decide some knotty questions which, as yet, the Methodists little +dream of. + +It has, I own, given me great pain to observe the unfair and acrimonious +manner in which too many of the Protestant nonconformists have +opposed this bill. The opposition of the Established Church has been +comparatively mild and moderate; and yet from the Established Church we +had less right to expect mildness and moderation. It is certainly +not right, but it is very natural, that a church, ancient and richly +endowed, closely connected with the Crown and the aristocracy, powerful +in parliament, dominant in the universities, should sometimes forget +what is due to poorer and humbler Christian societies. But when I hear +a cry for what is nothing less than persecution set up by men who have +been, over and over again within my own memory, forced to invoke in +their own defence the principles of toleration, I cannot but feel +astonishment mingled with indignation. And what above all excites both +my astonishment and my indignation is this, that the most noisy among +the noisy opponents of the bill which we are considering are some +sectaries who are at this very moment calling on us to pass another +bill of just the same kind for their own benefit. I speak of those Irish +Presbyterians who are asking for an ex post facto law to confirm their +marriages. See how exact the parallel is between the case of those +marriages and the case of these chapels. The Irish Presbyterians have +gone on marrying according to their own forms during a long course of +years. The Unitarians have gone on occupying, improving, embellishing +certain property during a long course of years. In neither case did any +doubt as to the right arise in the most honest, in the most scrupulous +mind. At length, about the same time, both the validity of the +Presbyterian marriages and the validity of the title by which the +Unitarians held their chapels were disputed. The two questions came +before the tribunals. The tribunals, with great reluctance, with great +pain, pronounced that, neither in the case of the marriages nor in the +case of the chapels, can prescription be set up against the letter +of the law. In both cases there is a just claim to relief such as the +legislature alone can afford. In both the legislature is willing to +grant that relief. But this will not satisfy the orthodox Presbyterian. +He demands with equal vehemence two things, that he shall be relieved, +and that nobody else shall be relieved. In the same breath he tells us +that it would be most iniquitous not to pass a retrospective law for his +benefit, and that it would be most iniquitous to pass a retrospective +law for the benefit of his fellow sufferers. I never was more amused +than by reading, the other day, a speech made by a person of great note +among the Irish Presbyterians on the subject of these marriages. "Is it +to be endured," he says, "that the mummies of old and forgotten laws are +to be dug up and unswathed for the annoyance of dissenters?" And yet a +few hours later, this eloquent orator is himself hard at work in digging +up and unswathing another set of mummies for the annoyance of another +set of dissenters. I should like to know how he and such as he would +look if we Churchmen were to assume the same tone towards them which +they think it becoming to assume towards the Unitarian body; if we were +to say, "You and those whom you would oppress are alike out of our pale. +If they are heretics in your opinion, you are schismatics in ours. Since +you insist on the letter of the law against them, we will insist on the +letter of the law against you. You object to ex post facto statutes; and +you shall have none. You think it reasonable that men should, in spite +of a prescription of eighty or ninety years, be turned out of a chapel +built with their own money, and a cemetery where their own kindred lie, +because the original title was not strictly legal. We think it equally +reasonable that those contracts which you have imagined to be marriages, +but which are now adjudged not to be legal marriages, should be +treated as nullities." I wish from my soul that some of these orthodox +dissenters would recollect that the doctrine which they defend with so +much zeal against the Unitarians is not the whole sum and substance of +Christianity, and that there is a text about doing unto others as you +would that they should do unto you. + +To any intelligent man who has no object except to do justice, the +Trinitarian dissenter and the Unitarian dissenter who are now asking us +for relief will appear to have exactly the same right to it. There +is, however, I must own, one distinction between the two cases. The +Trinitarian dissenters are a strong body, and especially strong among +the electors of towns. They are of great weight in the State. Some of +us may probably, by voting to-night against their wishes, endanger +our seats in this House. The Unitarians, on the other hand, are few in +number. Their creed is unpopular. Their friendship is likely to injure +a public man more than their enmity. If therefore there be among us +any person of a nature at once tyrannical and cowardly, any person who +delights in persecution, but is restrained by fear from persecuting +powerful sects, now is his time. He never can have a better opportunity +of gratifying his malevolence without risk of retribution. But, for my +part, I long ago espoused the cause of religious liberty, not because +that cause was popular, but because it was just; and I am not disposed +to abandon the principles to which I have been true through my whole +life in deference to a passing clamour. The day may come, and may come +soon, when those who are now loudest in raising that clamour may again +be, as they have formerly been, suppliants for justice. When that day +comes I will try to prevent others from oppressing them, as I now try +to prevent them from oppressing others. In the meantime I shall +contend against their intolerance with the same spirit with which I may +hereafter have to contend for their rights. + +***** + + + + +THE SUGAR DUTIES. (FEBRUARY 26, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE 26TH OF FEBRUARY, 1845. + +On the twenty-sixth of February, 1845, on the question that the order of +the day for going into Committee of Ways and Means should be read, Lord +John Russell moved the following amendment:--"That it is the opinion +of this House that the plan proposed by Her Majesty's Government, +in reference to the Sugar Duties, professes to keep up a distinction +between foreign free labour sugar and foreign slave labour sugar, which +is impracticable and illusory; and, without adequate benefit to the +consumer, tends so greatly to impair the revenue as to render the +removal of the Income and Property Tax at the end of three years +extremely uncertain and improbable." The amendment was rejected by 236 +votes to 142. In the debate the following Speech was made. + +Sir, if the question now at issue were merely a financial or a +commercial question, I should be unwilling to offer myself to your +notice: for I am well aware that there are, both on your right and on +your left hand, many gentlemen far more deeply versed in financial and +commercial science than myself; and I should think that I discharged +my duty better by listening to them than by assuming the office of +a teacher. But, Sir, the question on which we are at issue with Her +Majesty's Ministers is neither a financial nor a commercial question. +I do not understand it to be disputed that, if we were to pronounce our +decision with reference merely to fiscal and mercantile considerations, +we should at once adopt the plan recommended by my noble friend. Indeed +the right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board of +Trade (Mr Gladstone.), has distinctly admitted this. He says that +the Ministers of the Crown call upon us to sacrifice great pecuniary +advantages and great commercial facilities, for the purpose of +maintaining a moral principle. Neither in any former debate nor in +the debate of this night has any person ventured to deny that, both as +respects the public purse and as respects the interests of trade, +the course recommended by my noble friend is preferable to the course +recommended by the Government. + +The objections to my noble friend's amendment, then, are purely moral +objections. We lie, it seems, under a moral obligation to make a +distinction between the produce of free labour and the produce of slave +labour. Now I should be very unwilling to incur the imputation of being +indifferent to moral obligations. I do, however, think that it is in +my power to show strong reasons for believing that the moral obligation +pleaded by the Ministers has no existence. If there be no such moral +obligation, then, as it is conceded on the other side that all fiscal +and commercial arguments are on the side of my noble friend, it follows +that we ought to adopt his amendment. + +The right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board of +Trade, has said that the Government does not pretend to act with perfect +consistency as to this distinction between free labour and slave labour. +It was, indeed, necessary that he should say this; for the policy of the +Government is obviously most inconsistent. Perfect consistency, I admit, +we are not to expect in human affairs. But, surely, there is a decent +consistency which ought to be observed; and of this the right honourable +gentleman himself seems to be sensible; for he asks how, if we admit +sugar grown by Brazilian slaves, we can with decency continue to stop +Brazilian vessels engaged in the slave trade. This argument, whatever +be its value, proceeds on the very correct supposition that the test +of sincerity in individuals, in parties, and in governments, is +consistency. The right honourable gentleman feels, as we must all feel, +that it is impossible to give credit for good faith to a man who on one +occasion pleads a scruple of conscience as an excuse for not doing a +certain thing, and who on other occasions, where there is no essential +difference of circumstances, does that very thing without any scruple +at all. I do not wish to use such a word as hypocrisy, or to impute that +odious vice to any gentleman on either side of the House. But whoever +declares one moment that he feels himself bound by a certain moral rule, +and the next moment, in a case strictly similar, acts in direct defiance +of that rule, must submit to have, if not his honesty, yet at least his +power of discriminating right from wrong very gravely questioned. + +Now, Sir, I deny the existence of the moral obligation pleaded by the +Government. I deny that we are under any moral obligation to turn our +fiscal code into a penal code, for the purpose of correcting vices in +the institutions of independent states. I say that, if you suppose such +a moral obligation to be in force, the supposition leads to consequences +from which every one of us would recoil, to consequences which would +throw the whole commercial and political system of the world into +confusion. I say that, if such a moral obligation exists, our financial +legislation is one mass of injustice and inhumanity. And I say more +especially that, if such a moral obligation exists, the right honourable +Baronet's Budget is one mass of injustice and inhumanity. + +Observe, I am not disputing the paramount authority of moral +obligation. I am not setting up pecuniary considerations against +moral considerations. I know that it would be not only a wicked but +a shortsighted policy, to aim at making a nation like this great and +prosperous by violating the laws of justice. To those laws, enjoin what +they may, I am prepared to submit. But I will not palter with them: I +will not cite them to-day in order to serve one turn, and quibble them +away to-morrow in order to serve another. I will not have two standards +of right; one to be applied when I wish to protect a favourite interest +at the public cost; and another to be applied when I wish to replenish +the Exchequer, and to give an impulse to trade. I will not have two +weights or two measures. I will not blow hot and cold, play fast and +loose, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Can the Government say as +much? Are gentlemen opposite prepared to act in conformity with their +own principle? They need not look long for opportunities. The Statute +Book swarms with enactments directly opposed to the rule which they +profess to respect. I will take a single instance from our existing +laws, and propound it to the gentlemen opposite as a test, if I must not +say of their sincerity, yet of their power of moral discrimination. Take +the article of tobacco. Not only do you admit the tobacco of the United +States which is grown by slaves; not only do you admit the tobacco of +Cuba which is grown by slaves, and by slaves, as you tell us, recently +imported from Africa; but you actually interdict the free labourer +of the United Kingdom from growing tobacco. You have long had in your +Statute Book laws prohibiting the cultivation of tobacco in England, and +authorising the Government to destroy all tobacco plantations except a +few square yards, which are suffered to exist unmolested in botanical +gardens, for purposes of science. These laws did not extend to Ireland. +The free peasantry of Ireland began to grow tobacco. The cultivation +spread fast. Down came your legislation upon it; and now, if the Irish +freeman dares to engage in competition with the slaves of Virginia and +Havannah, you exchequer him; you ruin him; you grub up his plantation. +Here, then, we have a test by which we may try the consistency of the +gentlemen opposite. I ask you, are you prepared, I do not say to exclude +the slave grown tobacco, but to take away from slave grown tobacco the +monopoly which you now give to it, and to permit the free labourer of +the United Kingdom to enter into competition on equal terms, on any +terms, with the negro who works under the lash? I am confident that +the three right honourable gentleman opposite, the First Lord of the +Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the late President of +the Board of Trade, will all with one voice answer "No." And why not? +"Because," say they, "it will injure the revenue. True it is," they will +say, "that the tobacco imported from abroad is grown by slaves, and by +slaves many of whom have been recently carried across the Atlantic in +defiance, not only of justice and humanity, but of law and treaty. True +it is that the cultivators of the United Kingdom are freemen. But then +on the imported tobacco we are able to raise at the Custom House a duty +of six hundred per cent., sometimes indeed of twelve hundred per cent.: +and, if tobacco were grown here, it would be difficult to get an excise +duty of even a hundred per cent. We cannot submit to this loss of +revenue; and therefore we must give a monopoly to the slaveholder, and +make it penal in the freeman to evade that monopoly." You may be +right; but, in the name of common sense, be consistent. If this moral +obligation of which you talk so much be one which may with propriety +yield to fiscal considerations, let us have Brazilian sugars. If it be +paramount to all fiscal considerations, let us at least have British +snuff and cigars. + +The present Ministers may indeed plead that they are not the authors of +the laws which prohibit the cultivation of tobacco in Great Britain +and Ireland. That is true. The present Government found those laws in +existence: and no doubt there is good sense in the Conservative doctrine +that many things which ought not to have been set up ought not, when +they have been set up, to be hastily and rudely pulled down. But what +will the right honourable Baronet urge in vindication of his own new +budget? He is not content with maintaining laws which he finds already +existing in favour of produce grown by slaves. He introduces a crowd +of new laws to the same effect. He comes down to the House with a +proposition for entirely taking away the duties on the importation of +raw cotton. He glories in this scheme. He tells us that it is in strict +accordance with the soundest principles of legislation. He tells us that +it will be a blessing to the country. I agree with him, and I intend +to vote with him. But how is all this cotton grown? Is it not grown by +slaves? Again I say, you may be right; but, in the name of common +sense, be consistent. I saw, with no small amusement, a few days ago, a +paragraph by one of the right honourable Baronet's eulogists, which was +to the following effect:--"Thus has this eminent statesman given to the +English labourer a large supply of a most important raw material, and +has manfully withstood those ravenous Whigs who wished to inundate our +country with sugar dyed in negro blood." With what I should like to +know, is the right honourable Baronet's cotton dyed? + +Formerly, indeed, an attempt was made to distinguish between the +cultivation of cotton and the cultivation of sugar. The cultivation of +sugar, it was said, was peculiarly fatal to the health and life of +the slave. But that plea, whatever it may have been worth, must now be +abandoned; for the right honourable Baronet now proposes to reduce, to +a very great extent, the duty on slave grown sugar imported from the +United States. + +Then a new distinction is set up. The United States, it is said, have +slavery; but they have no slave trade. I deny that assertion. I say that +the sugar and cotton of the United States are the fruits, not only of +slavery, but of the slave trade. And I say further that, if there be on +the surface of this earth a country which, before God and man, is more +accountable than any other for the misery and degradation of the +African race, that country is not Brazil, the produce of which the right +honourable Baronet excludes, but the United States, the produce of +which he proposes to admit on more favourable terms than ever. I have +no pleasure in going into an argument of this nature. I do not conceive +that it is the duty of a member of the English Parliament to discuss +abuses which exist in other societies. Such discussion seldom tends to +produce any reform of such abuses, and has a direct tendency to wound +national pride, and to inflame national animosities. I would willingly +avoid this subject; but the right honourable Baronet leaves me no +choice. He turns this House into a Court of Judicature for the purpose +of criticising and comparing the institutions of independent States. He +tells us that our Tariff is to be made an instrument for rewarding the +justice and humanity of some Foreign Governments, and for punishing +the barbarity of others. He binds up the dearest interests of my +constituents with questions with which otherwise I should, as a Member +of Parliament, have nothing to do. I would gladly keep silence on such +questions. But it cannot be. The tradesmen and the professional men +whom I represent say to me, "Why are we to be loaded, certainly for some +years, probably for ever, with a tax, admitted by those who impose it to +be grievous, unequal, inquisitorial? Why are we to be loaded in time of +peace with burdens heretofore reserved for the exigencies of war?" The +paper manufacturer, the soap manufacturer, say, "Why, if the Income Tax +is to be continued, are our important and suffering branches of industry +to have no relief?" And the answer is, "Because Brazil does not behave +so well as the United States towards the negro race." Can I then avoid +instituting a comparison? Am I not bound to bring to the test the truth +of an assertion pregnant with consequences so momentous to those who +have sent me hither? I must speak out; and, if what I say gives offence +and produces inconvenience, for that offence and for that inconvenience +the Government is responsible. + +I affirm, then, that there exists in the United States a slave trade, +not less odious or demoralising, nay, I do in my conscience believe, +more odious and more demoralising than that which is carried on between +Africa and Brazil. North Carolina and Virginia are to Louisiana and +Alabama what Congo is to Rio Janeiro. The slave States of the Union are +divided into two classes, the breeding States, where the human beasts of +burden increase and multiply and become strong for labour, and the sugar +and cotton States to which those beasts of burden are sent to be worked +to death. To what an extent the traffic in man is carried on we may +learn by comparing the census of 1830 with the census of 1840. North +Carolina and Virginia are, as I have said, great breeding States. During +the ten years from 1830 to 1840 the slave population of North Carolina +was almost stationary. The slave population of Virginia positively +decreased. Yet, both in North Carolina and Virginia propagation was, +during those ten years, going on fast. The number of births among the +slaves in those States exceeded by hundreds of thousands the number of +the deaths. What then became of the surplus? Look to the returns from +the Southern States, from the States whose produce the right honourable +Baronet proposes to admit with reduced duty or with no duty at all; and +you will see. You will find that the increase in the breeding States +was barely sufficient to meet the demand of the consuming States. In +Louisiana, for example, where we know that the negro population is +worn down by cruel toil, and would not, if left to itself, keep up its +numbers, there were, in 1830, one hundred and seven thousand slaves; in +1840, one hundred and seventy thousand. In Alabama, the slave population +during those ten years much more than doubled; it rose from one hundred +and seventeen thousand to two hundred and fifty-three thousand. In +Mississippi it actually tripled. It rose from sixty-five thousand to one +hundred and ninety-five thousand. So much for the extent of this slave +trade. And as to its nature, ask any Englishman who has ever travelled +in the Southern States. Jobbers go about from plantation to plantation +looking out for proprietors who are not easy in their circumstances, +and who are likely to sell cheap. A black boy is picked up here; a black +girl there. The dearest ties of nature and of marriage are torn asunder +as rudely as they were ever torn asunder by any slave captain on the +coast of Guinea. A gang of three or four hundred negroes is made up; +and then these wretches, handcuffed, fettered, guarded by armed men, +are driven southward, as you would drive,--or rather as you would not +drive,--a herd of oxen to Smithfield, that they may undergo the deadly +labour of the sugar mill near the mouth of the Mississippi. A very +few years of that labour in that climate suffice to send the stoutest +African to his grave. But he can well be spared. While he is fast +sinking into premature old age, negro boys in Virginia are growing up as +fast into vigorous manhood to supply the void which cruelty is making in +Louisiana. God forbid that I should extenuate the horrors of the slave +trade in any form! But I do think this its worst form. Bad enough is it +that civilised men should sail to an uncivilised quarter of the world +where slavery exists, should there buy wretched barbarians, and should +carry them away to labour in a distant land: bad enough! But that a +civilised man, a baptized man, a man proud of being a citizen of a free +state, a man frequenting a Christian church, should breed slaves for +exportation, and, if the whole horrible truth must be told, should even +beget slaves for exportation, should see children, sometimes his own +children, gambolling around him from infancy, should watch their growth, +should become familiar with their faces, and should then sell them for +four or five hundred dollars a head, and send them to lead in a remote +country a life which is a lingering death, a life about which the best +thing that can be said is that it is sure to be short; this does, I own, +excite a horror exceeding even the horror excited by that slave trade +which is the curse of the African coast. And mark: I am not speaking of +any rare case, of any instance of eccentric depravity. I am speaking of +a trade as regular as the trade in pigs between Dublin and Liverpool, or +as the trade in coals between the Tyne and the Thames. + +There is another point to which I must advert. I have no wish to +apologise for slavery as it exists in Brazil; but this I say, that +slavery, as it exists in Brazil, though a fearful evil, seems to me a +much less hopeless evil than slavery as it exists in the United States. +In estimating the character of negro slavery we must never forget one +most important ingredient; an ingredient which was wanting to slavery as +it was known to the Greeks and Romans; an ingredient which was wanting +to slavery as it appeared in Europe during the middle ages; I mean the +antipathy of colour. Where this antipathy exists in a high degree, it is +difficult to conceive how the white masters and the black labourers can +ever be mingled together, as the lords and villeins in many parts of +the Old World have been, in one free community. Now this antipathy is +notoriously much stronger in the United States than in the Brazils. +In the Brazils the free people of colour are numerous. They are not +excluded from honourable callings. You may find among them merchants, +physicians, lawyers: many of them bear arms; some have been admitted to +holy orders. Whoever knows what dignity, what sanctity, the Church +of Rome ascribes to the person of a priest, will at once perceive the +important consequences which follow from this last circumstance. It +is by no means unusual to see a white penitent kneeling before the +spiritual tribunal of a negro, confessing his sins to a negro, receiving +absolution from a negro. It is by no means unusual to see a negro +dispensing the Eucharist to a circle of whites. I need not tell the +House what emotions of amazement and of rage such a spectacle would +excite in Georgia or South Carolina. Fully admitting, therefore, as I +do, that Brazilian slavery is a horrible evil, I yet must say that, if +I were called upon to declare whether I think the chances of the African +race on the whole better in Brazil or in the United States, I should at +once answer that they are better in Brazil. I think it not improbable +that in eighty or a hundred years the black population of Brazil may +be free and happy. I see no reasonable prospect of such a change in the +United States. + +The right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board of +Trade, has said much about that system of maritime police by which we +have attempted to sweep slave trading vessels from the great highway of +nations. Now what has been the conduct of Brazil, and what has been the +conduct of the United States, as respects that system of police? Brazil +has come into the system; the United States have thrown every impediment +in the way of the system. What opinion Her Majesty's Ministers entertain +respecting the Right of Search we know from a letter of my Lord Aberdeen +which has, within a few days, been laid on our table. I believe that I +state correctly the sense of that letter when I say that the noble Earl +regards the Right of Search as an efficacious means, and as the only +efficacious means, of preventing the maritime slave trade. He expresses +most serious doubts whether any substitute can be devised. I think that +this check would be a most valuable one, if all nations would submit +to it; and I applaud the humanity which has induced successive British +administrations to exert themselves for the purpose of obtaining the +concurrence of foreign Powers in so excellent a plan. Brazil consented +to admit the Right of Search; the United States refused, and by refusing +deprived the Right of Search of half its value. Not content with +refusing to admit the Right of Search, they even disputed the right of +visit, a right which no impartial publicist in Europe will deny to be +in strict conformity with the Law of Nations. Nor was this all. In every +part of the Continent of Europe the diplomatic agents of the Cabinet of +Washington have toiled to induce other nations to imitate the example of +the United States. You cannot have forgotten General Cass's letter. You +cannot have forgotten the terms in which his Government communicated to +him its approbation of his conduct. You know as well as I do that, if +the United States had submitted to the Right of Search, there would have +been no outcry against that right in France. Nor do I much blame the +French. It is but natural that, when one maritime Power makes it a point +of honour to refuse us this right, other maritime Powers should think +that they cannot, without degradation, take a different course. It is +but natural that a Frenchman, proud of his country, should ask why the +tricolor is to be less respected then the stars and stripes. The right +honourable gentleman says that, if we assent to my noble friend's +amendment, we shall no longer be able to maintain the Right of Search. +Sir, he need not trouble himself about that right. It is already gone. +We have agreed to negotiate on the subject with France. Everybody knows +how that negotiation will end. The French flag will be exempted from +search: Spain will instantly demand, if she has not already demanded, +similar exemption; and you may as well let her have it with a good +grace, and without wrangling. For a Right of Search, from which the +flags of France and America are exempted, is not worth a dispute. +The only system, therefore, which, in the opinion of Her Majesty's +Ministers, has yet been found efficacious for the prevention of the +maritime slave trade, is in fact abandoned. And who is answerable for +this? The United States of America. The chief guilt even of the slave +trade between Africa and Brazil lies, not with the Government of Brazil, +but with that of the United States. And yet the right honourable Baronet +proposes to punish Brazil for the slave trade, and in the same breath +proposes to show favour to the United States, because the United States +are pure from the crime of slave trading. I thank the right honourable +gentleman, the late President of the Board of Trade, for reminding me of +Mr Calhoun's letter. I could not have wished for a better illustration +of my argument. Let anybody who has read that letter say what is the +country which, if we take on ourselves to avenge the wrongs of Africa, +ought to be the first object of our indignation. The Government of the +United States has placed itself on a bad eminence to which Brazil never +aspired, and which Brazil, even if aspiring to it, never could attain. +The Government of the United States has formally declared itself the +patron, the champion of negro slavery all over the world, the evil +genius, the Arimanes of the African race, and seems to take pride in +this shameful and odious distinction. I well understand that an American +statesman may say, "Slavery is a horrible evil; but we were born to it, +we see no way at present to rid ourselves of it: and we must endure it +as we best may." Good and enlightened men may hold such language; +but such is not the language of the American Cabinet. That Cabinet is +actuated by a propagandist spirit, and labours to spread servitude and +barbarism with an ardour such as no other Government ever showed in +the cause of freedom and civilisation. Nay more; the doctrine held at +Washington is that this holy cause sanctifies the most unholy means. +These zealots of slavery think themselves justified in snatching away +provinces on the right hand and on the left, in defiance of public +faith and international law, from neighbouring countries which have +free institutions, and this avowedly for the purpose of diffusing over +a wider space the greatest curse that afflicts humanity. They put +themselves at the head of the slavedriving interest throughout the +world, just as Elizabeth put herself at the head of the Protestant +interest; and wherever their favourite institution is in danger, are +ready to stand by it as Elizabeth stood by the Dutch. This, then, I hold +to be demonstrated, that of all societies now existing, the Republic of +the United States is by far the most culpable as respects slavery and +the slave trade. + +Now then I come to the right honourable Baronet's Budget. He tells us, +that he will not admit Brazilian sugar, because the Brazilian Government +tolerates slavery and connives at the slave trade; and he tells us at +the same time, that he will admit the slave grown cotton and the slave +grown sugar of the United States. I am utterly at a loss to understand +how he can vindicate his consistency. He tells us that if we adopt my +noble friend's proposition, we shall give a stimulus to the slave trade +between Africa and Brazil. Be it so. But is it not equally clear that, +if we adopt the right honourable Baronet's own propositions, we shall +give a stimulus to the slave trade between Virginia and Louisiana? I +have not the least doubt that, as soon as the contents of his Budget +are known on the other side of the Atlantic, the slave trade will become +more active than it is at this moment; that the jobbers in human flesh +and blood will be more busy than ever; that the droves of manacled +negroes, moving southward to their doom, will be more numerous on +every road. These will be the fruits of the right honourable Baronet's +measure. Yet he tells us that this part of his Budget is framed on sound +principles and will greatly benefit the country; and he tells us truth. +I mean to vote with him; and I can perfectly, on my own principles, +reconcile to my conscience the vote which I shall give. How the right +honourable Baronet can reconcile the course which he takes to his +conscience, I am at a loss to conceive, and am not a little curious to +know. No man is more capable than he of doing justice to any cause which +he undertakes; and it would be most presumptuous in me to anticipate the +defence which he means to set up. But I hope that the House will suffer +me, as one who feels deeply on this subject, now to explain the +reasons which convince me that I ought to vote for the right honourable +Baronet's propositions respecting the produce of the United States. In +explaining those reasons, I at the same time explain the reasons which +induce me to vote with my noble friend to-night. + +I say then, Sir, that I fully admit the paramount authority of moral +obligations. But it is important that we should accurately understand +the nature and extent of those obligations. We are clearly bound +to wrong no man. Nay, more, we are bound to regard all men with +benevolence. But to every individual, and to every society, Providence +has assigned a sphere within which benevolence ought to be peculiarly +active; and if an individual or a society neglects what lies within that +sphere in order to attend to what lies without, the result is likely to +be harm and not good. + +It is thus in private life. We should not be justified in injuring a +stranger in order to benefit ourselves or those who are dearest to us. +Every stranger is entitled, by the laws of humanity, to claim from us +certain reasonable good offices. But it is not true that we are bound +to exert ourselves to serve a mere stranger as we are bound to exert +ourselves to serve our own relations. A man would not be justified in +subjecting his wife and children to disagreeable privations, in order to +save even from utter ruin some foreigner whom he never saw. And if a +man were so absurd and perverse as to starve his own family in order +to relieve people with whom he had no acquaintance, there can be +little doubt that his crazy charity would produce much more misery than +happiness. + +It is the same with nations. No statesmen ought to injure other +countries in order to benefit his own country. No statesman ought to +lose any fair opportunity of rendering to foreign nations such good +offices as he can render without a breach of the duty which he owes to +the society of which he is a member. But, after all, our country is our +country, and has the first claim on our attention. There is nothing, I +conceive, of narrow-mindedness in this patriotism. I do not say that we +ought to prefer the happiness of one particular society to the happiness +of mankind; but I say that, by exerting ourselves to promote the +happiness of the society with which we are most nearly connected, and +with which we are best acquainted, we shall do more to promote the +happiness of mankind than by busying ourselves about matters which we do +not fully understand, and cannot efficiently control. + +There are great evils connected with the factory system in this country. +Some of those evils might, I am inclined to think, be removed or +mitigated by legislation. On that point many of my friends differ +from me; but we all agree in thinking that it is the duty of a British +Legislator to consider the subject attentively, and with a serious sense +of responsibility. There are also great social evils in Russia. The +peasants of that empire are in a state of servitude. The sovereign of +Russia is bound by the most solemn obligations to consider whether he +can do anything to improve the condition of that large portion of his +subjects. If we watch over our factory children, and he watches over +his peasants, much good may be done. But would any good be done if +the Emperor of Russia and the British Parliament were to interchange +functions; if he were to take under his patronage the weavers of +Lancashire, if we were to take under our patronage the peasants of the +Volga; if he were to say, "You shall send no cotton to Russia till you +pass a ten Hours' Bill;" if we were to say, "You shall send no hemp or +tallow to England till you emancipate your serfs?" + +On these principles, Sir, which seem to me to be the principles of plain +common sense, I can, without resorting to any casuistical subtilties, +vindicate to my own conscience, and, I hope, to my country, the whole +course which I have pursued with respect to slavery. When I first came +into Parliament, slavery still existed in the British dominions. I had, +as it was natural that I should have, a strong feeling on the subject. +I exerted myself, according to my station and to the measure of my +abilities, on the side of the oppressed. I shrank from no personal +sacrifice in that cause. I do not mention this as matter of boast. It +was no more than my duty. The right honourable gentleman, the Secretary +of State for the Home Department, knows that, in 1833, I disapproved +of one part of the measure which Lord Grey's Government proposed on the +subject of slavery. I was in office; and office was then as important +to me as it could be to any man. I put my resignation into the hands of +Lord Spencer, and both spoke and voted against the Administration. To my +surprise, Lord Grey and Lord Spencer refused to accept my resignation, +and I remained in office; but during some days I considered myself as +out of the service of the Crown. I at the same time heartily joined in +laying a heavy burden on the country for the purpose of compensating the +planters. I acted thus, because, being a British Legislator, I thought +myself bound, at any cost to myself and to my constituents, to remove a +foul stain from the British laws, and to redress the wrongs endured by +persons who, as British subjects, were placed under my guardianship. But +my especial obligations in respect of negro slavery ceased when slavery +itself ceased in that part of the world for the welfare of which I, as +a member of this House, was accountable. As for the blacks in the United +States, I feel for them, God knows. But I am not their keeper. I do not +stand in the same relation to the slaves of Louisiana and Alabama in +which I formerly stood to the slaves of Demerara and Jamaica. I am +bound, on the other hand, by the most solemn obligations, to promote the +interests of millions of my own countrymen, who are indeed by no means +in a state so miserable and degraded as that of the slaves in the United +States, but who are toiling hard from sunrise to sunset in order to +obtain a scanty subsistence; who are often scarcely able to procure the +necessaries of life; and whose lot would be alleviated if I could open +new markets to them, and free them from taxes which now press heavily +on their industry. I see clearly that, by excluding the produce of slave +labour from our ports, I should inflict great evil on my fellow-subjects +and constituents. But the good which, by taking such a course, I should +do to the negroes in the United States seems to me very problematical. +That by admitting slave grown cotton and slave grown sugar we do, in +some sense, encourage slavery and the Slave Trade, may be true. But +I doubt whether, by turning our fiscal code into a penal code for +restraining the cruelty of the American planters, we should not, on +the whole, injure the negroes rather than benefit them. No independent +nation will endure to be told by another nation, "We are more virtuous +than you; we have sate in judgment on your institutions; we find them +to be bad; and, as a punishment for your offences, we condemn you to pay +higher duties at our Custom House than we demand from the rest of the +world." Such language naturally excites the resentment of foreigners. +I can make allowance for their susceptibility. For I myself sympathise +with them, I know that Ireland has been misgoverned; and I have done, +and purpose to do, my best to redress her grievances. But when I take up +a New York journal, and read there the rants of President Tyler's son, I +feel so much disgusted by such insolent absurdity that I am for a moment +inclined to deny that Ireland has any reason whatever to complain. It +seems to me that if ever slavery is peaceably extinguished in the United +States, that great and happy change must be brought about by the efforts +of those enlightened and respectable American citizens who hate slavery +as much as we hate it. Now I cannot help fearing that, if the British +Parliament were to proclaim itself the protector and avenger of the +American slave, the pride of those excellent persons would take the +alarm. It might become a point of national honour with them to stand by +an institution which they have hitherto regarded as a national disgrace. +We should thus confer no benefit on the negro; and we should at the same +time inflict cruel suffering on our own countrymen. + +On these grounds, Sir, I can, with a clear conscience, vote for the +right honourable Baronet's propositions respecting the cotton and sugar +of the United States. But on exactly the same grounds I can, with a +clear conscience, vote for the amendment of my noble friend. And I +confess that I shall be much surprised if the right honourable Baronet +shall be able to point out any distinction between the cases. + +I have detained you too long, Sir; yet there is one point to which I +must refer; I mean the refining. Was such a distinction ever heard of? +Is there anything like it in all Pascal's Dialogues with the old Jesuit? +Not for the world are we to eat one ounce of Brazilian sugar. But we +import the accursed thing; we bond it; we employ our skill and machinery +to render it more alluring to the eye and to the palate; we export it +to Leghorn and Hamburg; we send it to all the coffee houses of Italy +and Germany: we pocket a profit on all this; and then we put on a +Pharisaical air, and thank God that we are not like those wicked +Italians and Germans who have no scruple about swallowing slave grown +sugar. Surely this sophistry is worthy only of the worst class of false +witnesses. "I perjure myself! Not for the world. I only kissed my thumb; +I did not put my lips to the calf-skin." I remember something very like +the right honourable Baronet's morality in a Spanish novel which I +read long ago. I beg pardon of the House for detaining them with such a +trifle; but the story is much to the purpose. A wandering lad, a sort +of Gil Blas, is taken into the service of a rich old silversmith, a most +pious man, who is always telling his beads, who hears mass daily, +and observes the feasts and fasts of the church with the utmost +scrupulosity. The silversmith is always preaching honesty and piety. +"Never," he constantly repeats to his young assistant, "never touch what +is not your own; never take liberties with sacred things." Sacrilege, as +uniting theft with profaneness, is the sin of which he has the deepest +horror. One day, while he is lecturing after his usual fashion, an +ill-looking fellow comes into the shop with a sack under his arm. "Will +you buy these?" says the visitor, and produces from the sack some church +plate and a rich silver crucifix. "Buy them!" cries the pious man. "No, +nor touch them; not for the world. I know where you got them. Wretch +that you are, have you no care for your soul?" "Well then," says the +thief, "if you will not buy them, will you melt them down for me?" "Melt +them down!" answers the silver smith, "that is quite another matter." +He takes the chalices and the crucifix with a pair of tongs; the silver, +thus in bond, is dropped into the crucible, melted, and delivered to the +thief, who lays down five pistoles and decamps with his booty. The +young servant stares at this strange scene. But the master very +gravely resumes his lecture. "My son," he says, "take warning by that +sacrilegious knave, and take example by me. Think what a load of guilt +lies on his conscience. You will see him hanged before long. But as to +me, you saw that I would not touch the stolen property. I keep these +tongs for such occasions. And thus I thrive in the fear of God, and +manage to turn an honest penny." You talk of morality. What can be more +immoral than to bring ridicule on the very name of morality, by drawing +distinctions where there are no differences? Is it not enough that this +dishonest casuistry has already poisoned our theology? Is it not enough +that a set of quibbles has been devised, under cover of which a divine +may hold the worst doctrines of the Church of Rome, and may hold with +them the best benefice of the Church of England? Let us at least keep +the debates of this House free from the sophistry of Tract Number +Ninety. + +And then the right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board +of Trade, wonders that other nations consider our abhorrence of slavery +and the Slave Trade as sheer hypocrisy. Why, Sir, how should it be +otherwise? And, if the imputation annoys us, whom have we to thank for +it? Numerous and malevolent as our detractors are, none of them was ever +so absurd as to charge us with hypocrisy because we took slave grown +tobacco and slave grown cotton, till the Government began to affect +scruples about admitting slave grown sugar. Of course, as soon as our +Ministers ostentatiously announced to all the world that our fiscal +system was framed on a new and sublime moral principle, everybody +began to inquire whether we consistently adhered to that principle. It +required much less acuteness and much less malevolence than that of our +neighbours to discover that this hatred of slave grown produce was mere +grimace. They see that we not only take tobacco produced by means of +slavery and of the Slave Trade, but that we positively interdict freemen +in this country from growing tobacco. They see that we not only take +cotton produced by means of slavery and of the Slave Trade, but that we +are about to exempt this cotton from all duty. They see that we are at +this moment reducing the duty on the slave grown sugar of Louisiana. +How can we expect them to believe that it is from a sense of justice and +humanity that we lay a prohibitory duty on the sugar of Brazil? I care +little for the abuse which any foreign press or any foreign tribune may +throw on the Machiavelian policy of perfidious Albion. What gives me +pain is, not that the charge of hypocrisy is made, but that I am unable +to see how it is to be refuted. + +Yet one word more. The right honourable gentleman, the late President +of the Board of Trade, has quoted the opinions of two persons, highly +distinguished by the exertions which they made for the abolition of +slavery, my lamented friend, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, and Sir Stephen +Lushington. It is most true that those eminent persons did approve of +the principle laid down by the right honourable Baronet opposite in +1841. I think that they were in error; but in their error I am sure +that they were sincere, and I firmly believe that they would have been +consistent. They would have objected, no doubt, to my noble friend's +amendment; but they would have objected equally to the right honourable +Baronet's budget. It was not prudent, I think, in gentlemen opposite +to allude to those respectable names. The mention of those names +irresistibly carries the mind back to the days of the great struggle for +negro freedom. And it is but natural that we should ask where, during +that struggle, were those who now profess such loathing for slave grown +sugar? The three persons who are chiefly responsible for the financial +and commercial policy of the present Government I take to be the right +honourable Baronet at the head of the Treasury, the right honourable +gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the right honourable +gentleman the late President of the Board of Trade. Is there anything +in the past conduct of any one of the three which can lead me to believe +that his sensibility to the evils of slavery is greater than mine? I am +sure that the right honourable Baronet the first Lord of the Treasury +would think that I was speaking ironically if I were to compliment him +on his zeal for the liberty of the negro race. Never once, during the +whole of the long and obstinate conflict which ended in the abolition of +slavery in our colonies, did he give one word, one sign of encouragement +to those who suffered and laboured for the good cause. The whole weight +of his great abilities and influence was in the other scale. I well +remember that, so late as 1833, he declared in this House that he could +give his assent neither to the plan of immediate emancipation proposed +by my noble friend who now represents Sunderland (Lord Howick.), nor to +the plan of gradual emancipation proposed by Lord Grey's government. +I well remember that he said, "I shall claim no credit hereafter on +account of this bill; all that I desire is to be absolved from the +responsibility." As to the other two right honourable gentlemen whom +I have mentioned, they are West Indians; and their conduct was that +of West Indians. I do not wish to give them pain, or to throw any +disgraceful imputation on them. Personally I regard them with feelings +of goodwill and respect. I do not question their sincerity; but I know +that the most honest men are but too prone to deceive themselves into +the belief that the path towards which they are impelled by their own +interests and passions is the path of duty. I am conscious that this +might be my own case; and I believe it to be theirs. As the right +honourable gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has left the +House, I will only say that, with respect to the question of slavery, +he acted after the fashion of the class to which he belonged. But as the +right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board of Trade, +is in his place, he must allow me to bring to his recollection the part +which he took in the debates of 1833. He then said, "You raise a great +clamour about the cultivation of sugar. You say that it is a species of +industry fatal to the health and life of the slave. I do not deny that +there is some difference between the labour of a sugar plantation and +the labour of a cotton plantation, or a coffee plantation. But the +difference is not so great as you think. In marshy soils, the slaves who +cultivate the sugar cane suffer severely. But in Barbadoes, where the +air is good, they thrive and multiply." He proceeded to say that, even +at the worst, the labour of a sugar plantation was not more unhealthy +than some kinds of labour in which the manufacturers of England are +employed, and which nobody thinks of prohibiting. He particularly +mentioned grinding. "See how grinding destroys the health, the sight, +the life. Yet there is no outcry against grinding." He went on to say +that the whole question ought to be left by Parliament to the West +Indian Legislature. [Mr Gladstone: "Really I never said so. You are not +quoting me at all correctly."] What, not about the sugar cultivation and +the grinding? [Mr Gladstone: "That is correct; but I never recommended +that the question should be left to the West Indian Legislatures."] I +have quoted correctly. But since my right honourable friend disclaims +the sentiment imputed to him by the reporters, I shall say no more about +it. I have no doubt that he is quite right, and that what he said was +misunderstood. What is undisputed is amply sufficient for my purpose. +I see that the persons who now show so much zeal against slavery in +foreign countries, are the same persons who formerly countenanced +slavery in the British Colonies. I remember a time when they maintained +that we were bound in justice to protect slave grown sugar against the +competition of free grown sugar, and even of British free grown sugar. +I now hear them calling on us to protect free grown sugar against the +competition of slave grown sugar. I remember a time when they extenuated +as much as they could the evils of the sugar cultivation. I now hear +them exaggerating those evils. But, devious as their course has been, +there is one clue by which I can easily track them through the whole +maze. Inconstant in everything else, they are constant in demanding +protection for the West Indian planter. While he employs slaves, they +do their best to apologise for the evils of slavery. As soon as he is +forced to employ freemen, they begin to cry up the blessings of freedom. +They go round the whole compass, and yet to one point they steadfastly +adhere: and that point is the interest of the West Indian proprietors. +I have done, Sir; and I thank the House most sincerely for the patience +and indulgence with which I have been heard. I hope that I have at +least vindicated my own consistency. How Her Majesty's Ministers will +vindicate their consistency, how they will show that their conduct has +at all times been guided by the same principles, or even that their +conduct at the present time is guided by any fixed principle at all, I +am unable to conjecture. + +***** + + + + +MAYNOOTH. (APRIL 14, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON +THE 14TH OF APRIL, 1845. + +On Saturday the eleventh of April, 1845, Sir Robert Peel moved the +second reading of the Maynooth College Bill. After a debate of six +nights the motion was carried by 323 votes to 176. On the second night +the following Speech was made. + +I do not mean, Sir, to follow the honourable gentleman who has just sate +down into a discussion on an amendment which is not now before us. When +my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield shall think it expedient +to make a motion on that important subject to which he has repeatedly +called the attention of the House, I may, perhaps, ask to be heard. +At present I shall content myself with explaining the reasons which +convince me that it is my duty to vote for the second reading of this +bill; and I cannot, I think, better explain those reasons than by +passing in review, as rapidly as I can, the chief objections which have +been made to the bill here and elsewhere. + +The objectors, Sir, may be divided into three classes. The first class +consists of those persons who object, not to the principle of the grant +to Maynooth College, but merely to the amount. The second class consists +of persons who object on principle to all grants made to a church which +they regard as corrupt. The third class consists of persons who object +on principle to all grants made to churches, whether corrupt or pure. + +Now, Sir, of those three classes the first is evidently that which +takes the most untenable ground. How any person can think that Maynooth +College ought to be supported by public money, and yet can think +this bill too bad to be suffered to go into Committee, I do not well +understand. I am forced however to believe that there are many such +persons. For I cannot but remember that the old annual vote attracted +scarcely any notice; and I see that this bill has produced violent +excitement. I cannot but remember that the old annual vote used to pass +with very few dissentients; and I see that great numbers of gentlemen, +who never were among those dissentients, have crowded down to the House +in order to divide against this bill. It is indeed certain that a large +proportion, I believe a majority, of those members who cannot, as +they assure us, conscientiously support the plan proposed by the right +honourable Baronet at the head of the Government, would without the +smallest scruple have supported him if he had in this, as in former +years, asked us to give nine thousand pounds for twelve months. So it +is: yet I cannot help wondering that it should be so. For how can +any human ingenuity turn a question between nine thousand pounds and +twenty-six thousand pounds, or between twelve months and an indefinite +number of months, into a question of principle? Observe: I am not now +answering those who maintain that nothing ought to be given out of +the public purse to a corrupt church; nor am I now answering those who +maintain that nothing ought to be given out of the public purse to +any church whatever. They, I admit, oppose this bill on principle. I +perfectly understand, though I do not myself hold, the opinion of the +zealous voluntary who says, "Whether the Roman Catholic Church teaches +truth or error, she ought to have no assistance from the State." I also +perfectly understand, though I do not myself hold, the opinion of the +zealous Protestant who says, "The Roman Catholic Church teaches error, +and therefore ought to have no assistance from the State." But I cannot +understand the reasoning of the man who says, "In spite of the errors +of the Roman Catholic Church, I think that she ought to have some +assistance from the State; but I am bound to mark my abhorrence of her +errors by doling out to her a miserable pittance. Her tenets are so +absurd and noxious that I will pay the professor who teaches them wages +less than I should offer to my groom. Her rites are so superstitious +that I will take care that they shall be performed in a chapel with a +leaky roof and a dirty floor. By all means let us keep her a college, +provided only that it be a shabby one. Let us support those who are +intended to teach her doctrines and to administer her sacraments to the +next generation, provided only that every future priest shall cost us +less than a foot soldier. Let us board her young theologians; but let +their larder be so scantily supplied that they may be compelled to break +up before the regular vacation from mere want of food. Let us lodge +them; but let their lodging be one in which they may be packed like pigs +in a stye, and be punished for their heterodoxy by feeling the snow and +the wind through the broken panes." Is it possible to conceive anything +more absurd or more disgraceful? Can anything be clearer than this, that +whatever it is lawful to do it is lawful to do well? If it be right that +we should keep up this college at all, it must be right that we should +keep it up respectably. Our national dignity is concerned. For this +institution, whether good or bad, is, beyond all dispute, a very +important institution. Its office is to form the character of those who +are to form the character of millions. Whether we ought to extend any +patronage to such an institution is a question about which wise and +honest men may differ. But that, as we do extend our patronage to such +an institution, our patronage ought to be worthy of the object, and +worthy of the greatness of our country, is a proposition from which I am +astonished to hear any person dissent. + +It is, I must say, with a peculiarly bad grace that one of the members +for the University to which I have the honour to belong (The Honourable +Charles Law, Member for the University of Cambridge.), a gentleman who +never thought himself bound to say a word or to give a vote against +the grant of nine thousand pounds, now vehemently opposes the grant +of twenty-six thousand pounds as exorbitant. When I consider how +munificently the colleges of Cambridge and Oxford are endowed, and with +what pomp religion and learning are there surrounded; when I call to +mind the long streets of palaces, the towers and oriels, the venerable +cloisters, the trim gardens, the organs, the altar pieces, the solemn +light of the stained windows, the libraries, the museums, the galleries +of painting and sculpture; when I call to mind also the physical +comforts which are provided both for instructors and for pupils; when I +reflect that the very sizars and servitors are far better lodged and fed +than those students who are to be, a few years hence, the priests and +bishops of the Irish people; when I think of the spacious and stately +mansions of the heads of houses, of the commodious chambers of the +fellows and scholars, of the refectories, the combination rooms, the +bowling greens, the stabling, of the state and luxury of the great feast +days, of the piles of old plate on the tables, of the savoury steam of +the kitchens, of the multitudes of geese and capons which turn at once +on the spits, of the oceans of excellent ale in the butteries; and when +I remember from whom all this splendour and plenty is derived; when I +remember what was the faith of Edward the Third and of Henry the Sixth, +of Margaret of Anjou and Margaret of Richmond, of William of Wykeham and +William of Waynefleet, of Archbishop Chicheley and Cardinal Wolsey; when +I remember what we have taken from the Roman Catholics, King's College, +New College, Christ Church, my own Trinity; and when I look at the +miserable Dotheboys Hall which we have given them in exchange, I feel, +I must own, less proud than I could wish of being a Protestant and a +Cambridge man. + +Some gentlemen, it is true, have made an attempt to show that there is +a distinction of principle between the old grant which they have always +supported and the larger grant which they are determined to oppose. But +never was attempt more unsuccessful. They say that, at the time of the +Union, we entered into an implied contract with Ireland to keep up this +college. We are therefore, they argue, bound by public faith to continue +the old grant; but we are not bound to make any addition to that grant. +Now, Sir, on this point, though on no other, I do most cordially agree +with those petitioners who have, on this occasion, covered your +table with such huge bales of spoiled paper and parchment. I deny the +existence of any such contract. I think myself perfectly free to vote +for the abolition of this college, if I am satisfied that it is a +pernicious institution; as free as I am to vote against any item of +the ordnance estimates; as free as I am to vote for a reduction of the +number of marines. It is strange, too, that those who appeal to this +imaginary contract should not perceive that, even if their fiction be +admitted as true, it will by no means get them out of their difficulty. +Tell us plainly what are the precise terms of the contract which you +suppose Great Britain to have made with Ireland about this college. +Whatever the terms be, they will not serve your purpose. Was the +contract this, that the Imperial Parliament would do for the college +what the Irish Parliament had been used to do? Or was the contract this, +that the Imperial Parliament would keep the college in a respectable and +efficient state? If the former was the contract, nine thousand pounds +would be too much. If the latter was the contract, you will not, I +am confident, be able to prove that twenty-six thousand pounds is too +little. + +I have now, I think, said quite as much as need be said in answer to +those who maintain that we ought to give support to this college, but +that the support ought to be niggardly and precarious. I now come to +another and a much more formidable class of objectors. Their objections +may be simply stated thus. No man can justifiably, either as +an individual or as a trustee for the public, contribute to the +dissemination of religious error. But the church of Rome teaches +religious error. Therefore we cannot justifiably contribute to the +support of an institution of which the object is the dissemination of +the doctrines of the Church of Rome. Now, Sir, I deny the major of this +syllogism. I think that there are occasions on which we are bound to +contribute to the dissemination of doctrines with which errors are +inseparably intermingled. Let me be clearly understood. The question is +not whether we should teach truth or teach error, but whether we should +teach truth adulterated with error, or teach no truth at all. The +constitution of the human mind is such that it is impossible to provide +any machinery for the dissemination of truth which shall not, with the +truth, disseminate some error. Even those rays which come down to us +from the great source of light, pure as they are in themselves, no +sooner enter that gross and dark atmosphere in which we dwell than the +they are so much refracted, discoloured, and obscured, that they too +often lead us astray. It will be generally admitted that, if religious +truth can be anywhere found untainted by error, it is in the Scriptures. +Yet is there actually on the face of the globe a single copy of the +Scriptures of which it can be said that it contains truth absolutely +untainted with error? Is there any manuscript, any edition of the Old or +New Testament in the original tongues, which any scholar will pronounce +faultless? But to the vast majority of Christians the original tongues +are and always must be unintelligible. With the exception of perhaps one +man in ten thousand, we must be content with translations. And is there +any translation in which there are not numerous mistakes? Are there not +numerous mistakes even in our own authorised version, executed as that +version was with painful diligence and care, by very able men, and under +very splendid patronage? Of course mistakes must be still more numerous +in those translations which pious men have lately made into Bengalee, +Hindostanee, Tamul, Canarese, and other Oriental tongues. I admire the +zeal, the industry, the energy of those who, in spite of difficulties +which to ordinary minds would seem insurmountable, accomplished that +arduous work. I applaud those benevolent societies which munificently +encouraged that work. But I have been assured by good judges that the +translations have many faults. And how should it have been otherwise? +How should an Englishman produce a faultless translation from the Hebrew +into the Cingalese? I say, therefore, that even the Scriptures, in every +form in which men actually possess them, contain a certain portion of +error. And, if this be so, how can you look for pure undefecated truth +in any other composition? You contribute, without any scruple, to the +printing of religious tracts, to the establishing of Sunday Schools, to +the sending forth of missionaries. But are your tracts perfect? Are your +schoolmasters infallible? Are your missionaries inspired? Look at the +two churches which are established in this island. Will you say that +they both teach truth without any mixture of error? That is impossible. +For they teach different doctrines on more than one important subject. +It is plain therefore, that if, as you tell us, it be a sin in a state +to patronise an institution which teaches religious error, either the +Church of England or the Church of Scotland ought to be abolished. +But will anybody even venture to affirm that either of those churches +teaches truth without any mixture of error? Have there not long been in +the Church of Scotland two very different schools of theology? During +many years, Dr Robertson, the head of the moderate party, and Dr +Erskine, the head of the Calvinistic party, preached under the same +roof, one in the morning, the other in the evening. They preached +two different religions, so different that the followers of Robertson +thought the followers of Erskine fanatics, and the followers of Erskine +thought the followers of Robertson Arians or worse. And is there no +mixture of error in the doctrine taught by the clergy of the Church of +England? Is not the whole country at this moment convulsed by disputes +as to what the doctrine of the Church on some important subjects really +is? I shall not take on myself to say who is right and who is wrong. +But this I say with confidence, that, whether the Tractarians or the +Evangelicals be in the right, many hundreds of those divines who every +Sunday occupy the pulpits of our parish churches must be very much in +the wrong. + +Now, Sir, I see that many highly respectable persons, who think it a sin +to contribute to the teaching of error at Maynooth College, think it not +merely lawful, but a sacred duty, to contribute to the teaching of error +in the other cases which I have mentioned. They know that our version of +the Bible contains some error. Yet they subscribe to the Bible Society. +They know that the Serampore translations contain a still greater +quantity of error. Yet they give largely towards the printing and +circulating of those translations. My honourable friend the Member for +the University of Oxford will not deny that there is among the clergy of +the Church of England a Puritan party, and also an Anti-puritan +party, and that one of these parties must teach some error. Yet he is +constantly urging us to grant to this Church an additional endowment of +I know not how many hundreds of thousands of pounds. He would doubtless +defend himself by saying that nothing on earth is perfect; that the +purest religious society must consist of human beings, and must have +those defects which arise from human infirmities; and that the truths +held by the established clergy, though not altogether unalloyed with +error, are so precious, that it is better that they should be imparted +to the people with the alloy than that they should not be imparted at +all. Just so say I. I am sorry that we cannot teach pure truth to the +Irish people. But I think it better that they should have important and +salutary truth, polluted by some error, than that they should remain +altogether uninstructed. I heartily wish that they were Protestants. But +I had rather that they should be Roman Catholics than that they should +have no religion at all. Would you, says one gentleman, teach the people +to worship Jugernaut or Kalee? Certainly not. My argument leads to +no such conclusion. The worship of Jugernaut and Kalee is a curse to +mankind. It is much better that people should be without any religion +than that they should believe in a religion which enjoins prostitution, +suicide, robbery, assassination. But will any Protestant deny that it +is better that the Irish should be Roman Catholics than that they should +live and die like the beasts of the field, indulge their appetites +without any religious restraint, suffer want and calamity without any +religious consolation, and go to their graves without any religious +hope? These considerations entirely satisfy my mind. Of course I would +not propagate error for its own sake. To do so would be not merely +wicked, but diabolical. But, in order that I may be able to propagate +truth, I consent to propagate that portion of error which adheres to +truth, and which cannot be separated from truth. I wish Christianity to +have a great influence on the peasantry of Ireland. I see no probability +that Christianity will have that influence except in one form. That form +I consider as very corrupt. Nevertheless, the good seems to me greatly +to predominate over the evil; and therefore, being unable to get the +good alone, I am content to take the good and the evil together. + +I now come to the third class of our opponents. I mean those who take +their stand on the voluntary principle. I will not, on this occasion, +inquire whether they are right in thinking that governments ought not to +contribute to the support of any religion, true or false. For it seems +to me that, even if I were to admit that the general rule is correctly +laid down by them, the present case would be an exception to that rule. +The question on which I am about to vote is not whether the State shall +or shall not give any support to religion in Ireland. The State does +give such support, and will continue to give such support, whatever may +be the issue of this debate. The only point which we have now to decide +is whether, while such support is given, it shall be given exclusively +to the religion of the minority. Here is an island with a population of +near eight millions, and with a wealthy established church, the members +of which are little more than eight hundred thousand. There is an +archbishop with ten thousand a year. If I recollect rightly, seventy +thousand pounds are divided among twelve prelates. At the same time the +Protestant dissenters in the north of Ireland receive, in another form, +support from the State. But the great majority of the population, the +poorest part of the population, the part of the population which is most +in need of assistance, the part of the population which holds that faith +for the propagation of which the tithes were originally set apart, and +the church lands originally given, is left to maintain its own priests. +Now is not this a case which stands quite by itself? And may not even +those who hold the general proposition, that every man ought to pay +his own spiritual pastor, yet vote, without any inconsistency, for this +bill? I was astonished to hear the honourable Member for Shrewsbury (Mr +Disraeli.) tell us that, if we make this grant, it will be impossible +for us to resist the claims of any dissenting sect. He particularly +mentioned the Wesleyan Methodists. Are the cases analogous? Is there the +slightest resemblance between them? Let the honourable gentleman show +me that of the sixteen millions of people who inhabit England thirteen +millions are Wesleyan Methodists. Let him show me that the members of +the Established Church in England are only one tenth of the population. +Let him show me that English dissenters who are not Wesleyan Methodists +receive a Regium Donum. Let him show me that immense estates bequeathed +to John Wesley for the propagation of Methodism have, by Act of +Parliament, been taken from the Methodists and given to the Church. +If he can show me this, I promise him that, whenever the Wesleyan +Methodists shall ask for twenty-six thousand pounds a year to educate +their ministers, I shall be prepared to grant their request. But neither +the case of the Methodists nor any other case which can be mentioned, +resembles the case with which we have to do. Look round Europe, round +the world, for a parallel; and you will look in vain. Indeed the state +of things which exists in Ireland never could have existed had not +Ireland been closely connected with a country, which possessed a great +superiority of power, and which abused that superiority. The burden +which we are now, I hope, about to lay on ourselves is but a small +penalty for a great injustice. Were I a staunch voluntary, I should +still feel that, while the church of eight hundred thousand people +retains its great endowments, I should not be justified in refusing this +small boon to the church of eight millions. + +To sum up shortly what I have said; it is clear to me in the first place +that, if we have no religious scruple about granting to this College +nine thousand pounds for one year, we ought to have no religious scruple +about granting twenty-six thousand pounds a year for an indefinite term. + +Secondly, it seems to me that those persons who tell us that we ought +never in any circumstances to contribute to the propagation of error do +in fact lay down a rule which would altogether interdict the propagation +of truth. + +Thirdly, it seems to me that, even on the hypothesis that the voluntary +principle is the sound principle, the present case is an excepted case, +to which it would be unjust and unwise to apply that principle. + +So much, Sir, as to this bill; and now let me add a few words about +those by whom it has been framed and introduced. We were exhorted, +on the first night of this debate, to vote against the bill, without +inquiring into its merits, on the ground that, good or bad, it was +proposed by men who could not honestly and honourably propose it. A +similar appeal has been made to us this evening. In these circumstances, +Sir, I must, not I hope from party spirit, not, I am sure, from personal +animosity, but from a regard for the public interest, which must be +injuriously affected by everything which tends to lower the character +of public men, say plainly what I think of the conduct of Her Majesty's +Ministers. Undoubtedly it is of the highest importance that we should +legislate well. But it is also of the highest importance that those who +govern us should have, and should be known to have, fixed principles, +and should be guided by those principles both in office and in +opposition. It is of the highest importance that the world should not be +under the impression that a statesman is a person who, when he is out, +will profess and promise anything in order to get in, and who, when he +is in, will forget all that he professed and promised when he was out. +I need not, I suppose, waste time in proving that a law may be in itself +an exceedingly good law, and yet that it may be a law which, when viewed +in connection with the former conduct of those who proposed it, may +prove them to be undeserving of the confidence of their country. When +this is the case, our course is clear. We ought to distinguish between +the law and its authors. The law we ought, on account of its intrinsic +merits, to support. Of the authors of the law, it may be our duty to +speak in terms of censure. + +In such terms I feel it to be my duty to speak of Her Majesty's +present advisers. I have no personal hostility to any of them; and that +political hostility which I do not disavow has never prevented me from +doing justice to their abilities and virtues. I have always admitted, +and I now most willingly admit, that the right honourable Baronet at the +head of the Government possesses many of the qualities of an excellent +minister, eminent talents for debate, eminent talents for business, +great experience, great information, great skill in the management of +this House. I will go further, and say that I give him full credit for +a sincere desire to promote the welfare of his country. Nevertheless, +it is impossible for me to deny that there is too much ground for the +reproaches of those who, having, in spite of a bitter experience, a +second time trusted him, now find themselves a second time deluded. +I cannot but see that it has been too much his practice, when in +opposition, to make use of passions with which he has not the slightest +sympathy, and of prejudices which he regards with profound contempt. As +soon as he is in power a change takes place. The instruments which have +done his work are flung aside. The ladder by which he has climbed is +kicked down. I am forced to say that the right honourable Baronet acts +thus habitually and on system. The instance before us is not a solitary +instance. I do not wish to dwell on the events which took place +seventeen or eighteen years ago, on the language which the right +honourable Baronet held about the Catholic question when he was out of +power in 1827, and on the change which twelve months of power produced. +I will only say that one such change was quite enough for one life. +Again the right honourable Baronet was in opposition; and again he +employed his old tactics. I will not minutely relate the history of the +manoeuvres by which the Whig Government was overthrown. It is enough +to say that many powerful interests were united against that Government +under the leading of the right honourable Baronet, and that of +those interests there is not one which is not now disappointed and +complaining. To confine my remarks to the subject immediately before +us--can any man deny that, of all the many cries which were raised +against the late administration, that which most strongly stirred the +public mind was the cry of No Popery? Is there a single gentleman in the +House who doubts that, if, four years ago, my noble friend the Member +for the City of London had proposed this bill, he would have been +withstood by every member of the present Cabinet? Four years ago, Sir, +we were discussing a very different bill. The party which was then in +opposition, and which is now in place, was attempting to force through +Parliament a law, which bore indeed a specious name, but of which the +effect would have been to disfranchise the Roman Catholic electors of +Ireland by tens of thousands. It was in vain that we argued, that we +protested, that we asked for the delay of a single session, for delay +till an inquiry could be made, for delay till a Committee should report. +We were told that the case was one of extreme urgency, that every hour +was precious, that the House must, without loss of time, be purged of +the minions of Popery. These arts succeeded. A change of administration +took place. The right honourable Baronet came into power. He has now +been near four years in power. He has had a Parliament which would, +beyond all doubt, have passed eagerly and gladly that Registration +Bill which he and his colleagues had pretended that they thought +indispensable to the welfare of the State. And where is that bill now? +Flung away; condemned by its own authors; pronounced by them to be so +oppressive, so inconsistent with all the principles of representative +government, that, though they had vehemently supported it when they +were on your left hand, they could not think of proposing it from the +Treasury Bench. And what substitute does the honourable Baronet give his +followers to console them for the loss of their favourite Registration +Bill? Even this bill for the endowment of Maynooth College. Was such a +feat of legerdemain ever seen? And can we wonder that the eager, honest, +hotheaded Protestants, who raised you to power in the confident hope +that you would curtail the privileges of the Roman Catholics, should +stare and grumble when you propose to give public money to the Roman +Catholics? Can we wonder that, from one end of the country to the other, +everything should be ferment and uproar, that petitions should, night +after night, whiten all our benches like a snowstorm? Can we wonder that +the people out of doors should be exasperated by seeing the very men +who, when we were in office, voted against the old grant to Maynooth, +now pushed and pulled into the House by your whippers-in to vote for +an increased grant? The natural consequences follow. All those fierce +spirits, whom you hallooed on to harass us, now turn round and begin to +worry you. The Orangeman raises his war-whoop: Exeter Hall sets up its +bray: Mr Macneile shudders to see more costly cheer than ever provided +for the priests of Baal at the table of the Queen; and the Protestant +operatives of Dublin call for impeachments in exceedingly bad English. +But what did you expect? Did you think, when, to serve your turn, you +called the Devil up, that it was as easy to lay him as to raise him? +Did you think, when you went on, session after session, thwarting and +reviling those whom you knew to be in the right, and flattering all the +worst passions of those whom you knew to be in the wrong, that the day +of reckoning would never come? It has come. There you sit, doing penance +for the disingenuousness of years. If it be not so, stand up manfully +and clear your fame before the House and the country. Show us that some +steady principle has guided your conduct with respect to Irish affairs. +Show us how, if you are honest in 1845, you can have been honest in +1841. Explain to us why, after having goaded Ireland to madness for the +purpose of ingratiating yourselves with the English, you are now setting +England on fire for the purpose of ingratiating yourselves with the +Irish. Give us some reason which shall prove that the policy which you +are following, as Ministers, is entitled to support, and which shall +not equally prove you to have been the most factious and unprincipled +opposition that ever this country saw. + +But, Sir, am I, because I think thus of the conduct of Her Majesty's +Ministers, to take the counsel of the honourable member for Shrewsbury +and to vote against their bill? Not so. I know well that the fate of +this bill and the fate of the administration are in our hands. But +far be it from us to imitate the arts by which we were overthrown. The +spectacle exhibited on the bench opposite will do quite mischief enough. +That mischief will not be lessened, but doubled, if there should be an +answering display of inconsistency on this side of the House. If this +bill, having been introduced by Tories, shall be rejected by Whigs, both +the great parties in the State will be alike discredited. There will +be one vast shipwreck of all the public character in the country. +Therefore, making up my mind to sacrifices which are not unattended with +pain, and repressing some feelings which stir strongly within me, I have +determined to give my strenuous support to this bill. Yes, Sir, to this +bill, and to every bill which shall seem to me likely to promote +the real Union of Great Britain and Ireland, I will give my support, +regardless of obloquy, regardless of the risk which I may run of losing +my seat in Parliament. For such obloquy I have learned to consider as +true glory; and as to my seat I am determined that it never shall be +held by an ignominious tenure; and I am sure that it can never be lost +in a more honourable cause. + +***** + + + + +THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. (APRIL 23, 1845.) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE +OF COMMONS ON THE 23RD OF APRIL 1845. + +On the twenty-third of April 1845, the order of the day for going into +Committee on the Maynooth College Bill was read. On the motion that the +Speaker should leave the chair, Mr Ward, Member for Sheffield, proposed +the following amendment:-- + +"That it is the opinion of this House that any provision to be made +for the purposes of the present Bill ought to be taken from the funds +already applicable to ecclesiastical purposes in Ireland." + +After a debate of two nights the amendment was rejected by 322 votes to +148. On the first night the following Speech was made. + +I was desirous, Sir, to catch your eye this evening, because it happens +that I have never yet found an opportunity of fully explaining my views +on the important subject of the Irish Church. Indeed, I was not in this +country when that subject for a time threw every other into the +shade, disturbed the whole political world, produced a schism in the +Administration of Lord Grey, and overthrew the short Administration of +the right honourable Baronet opposite. The motion now before us opens, +I conceive, the whole question. My honourable friend the Member for +Sheffield, indeed, asks us only to transfer twenty-six thousand pounds a +year from the Established Church of Ireland to the College of Maynooth. +But this motion, I think, resembles an action of ejectment brought for +a single farm, with the view of trying the title to a large estate. +Whoever refuses to assent to what is now proposed must be considered as +holding the opinion that the property of the Irish Church ought to be +held inviolate: and I can scarcely think that any person will vote for +what is now proposed, who is not prepared to go very much farther. The +point at issue, I take, therefore, to be this; whether the Irish Church, +as now constituted, shall be maintained or not? + +Now, Sir, when a legislator is called up to decide whether an +institution shall be maintained or not, it seems to me that he ought in +the first place to examine whether it be a good or a bad institution. +This may sound like a truism; but if I am to judge by the speeches +which, on this and former occasions, have been made by gentlemen +opposite, it is no truism, but an exceedingly recondite truth. I, Sir, +think the Established Church of Ireland a bad institution. I will go +farther. I am not speaking in anger, or with any wish to excite anger in +others; I am not speaking with rhetorical exaggeration: I am calmly and +deliberately expressing, in the only appropriate terms, an opinion which +I formed many years ago, which all my observations and reflections have +confirmed, and which I am prepared to support by reasons, when I say +that, of all the institutions now existing in the civilised world, the +Established Church of Ireland seems to me the most absurd. + +I cannot help thinking that the speeches of those who defend this Church +suffice of themselves to prove that my views are just. For who ever +heard anybody defend it on its merits? Has any gentleman to-night +defended it on its merits? We are told of the Roman Catholic oath; as +if that oath, whatever be its meaning, whatever be the extent of the +obligation which it lays on the consciences of those who take it, could +possibly prove this Church to be a good thing. We are told that Roman +Catholics of note, both laymen and divines, fifty years ago, declared +that, if they were relieved from the disabilities under which they then +lay, they should willingly see the Church of Ireland in possession of +all its endowments: as if anything that anybody said fifty years ago +could absolve us from the plain duty of doing what is now best for the +country. We are told of the Fifth Article of Union; as if the Fifth +Article of Union were more sacred than the Fourth. Surely, if there be +any article of the Union which ought to be regarded as inviolable, it is +the Fourth, which settles the number of members whom Great Britain and +Ireland respectively are to send to Parliament. Yet the provisions of +the Fourth Article have been altered with the almost unanimous assent of +all parties in the State. The change was proposed by the noble lord +who is now Secretary for the Colonies. It was supported by the right +honourable Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department, and by other +members of the present Administration. And so far were the opponents of +the Reform Bill from objecting to this infraction of the Treaty of Union +that they were disposed to go still farther. I well remember the night +on which we debated the question, whether Members should be given to +Finsbury, Marylebone, Lambeth, and the Tower Hamlets. On that occasion, +the Tories attempted to seduce the Irish Reformers from us by promising +that Ireland should have a share of the plunder of the metropolitan +districts. After this, Sir, I must think it childish in gentlemen +opposite to appeal to the Fifth Article of the Union. With still greater +surprise, did I hear the right honourable gentleman the Secretary for +Ireland say that, if we adopt this amendment, we shall make all landed +and funded property insecure. I am really ashamed to answer such an +argument. Nobody proposes to touch any vested interest; and surely +it cannot be necessary for me to point out to the right honourable +gentleman the distinction between property in which some person has a +vested interest, and property in which no person has a vested interest. +That distinction is part of the very rudiments of political science. +Then the right honourable gentleman quarrels with the form of the +amendment. Why, Sir, perhaps a more convenient form might have been +adopted. But is it by cavils like these that a great institution should +be defended? And who ever heard the Established Church of Ireland +defended except by cavils like these? Who ever heard any of her +advocates speak a manly and statesmanlike language? Who ever heard any +of her advocates say, "I defend this institution because it is a good +institution: the ends for which an Established Church exists are such +and such: and I will show you that this Church attains those ends?" +Nobody says this. Nobody has the hardihood to say it. What divine, +what political speculator who has written in defence of ecclesiastical +establishments, ever defended such establishments on grounds which will +support the Church of Ireland? What panegyric has ever been pronounced +on the Churches of England and Scotland, which is not a satire on the +Church of Ireland? What traveller comes among us who is not moved to +wonder and derision by the Church of Ireland? What foreign writer on +British affairs, whether European or American, whether Protestant or +Catholic, whether Conservative or Liberal, whether partial to England or +prejudiced against England, ever mentions the Church of Ireland without +expressing his amazement that such an establishment should exist among +reasonable men? + +And those who speak thus of this Church speak justly. Is there anything +else like it? Was there ever anything else like it? The world is full +of ecclesiastical establishments: but such a portent as this Church +of Ireland is nowhere to be found. Look round the Continent of Europe. +Ecclesiastical establishments from the White Sea to the Mediterranean: +ecclesiastical establishments from the Wolga to the Atlantic: but +nowhere the Church of a small minority enjoying exclusive establishment. +Look at America. There you have all forms of Christianity, from +Mormonism, if you call Mormonism Christianity, to Romanism. In some +places you have the voluntary system. In some you have several religions +connected with the state. In some you have the solitary ascendency of a +single Church. But nowhere, from the Arctic Circle to Cape Horn, do you +find the Church of a small minority exclusively established. Look round +our own empire. We have an Established Church in England; it is the +Church of the majority. There is an Established Church in Scotland. When +it was set up, it was the Church of the majority. A few months ago, it +was the Church of the majority. I am not quite sure that, even after +the late unhappy disruption, it is the Church of the minority. In our +colonies the State does much for the support of religion; but in no +colony, I believe, do we give exclusive support to the religion of the +minority. Nay, even in those parts of empire where the great body of the +population is attached to absurd and immoral superstitions, you have not +been guilty of the folly and injustice of calling on them to pay for a +Church which they do not want. We have not portioned out Bengal and the +Carnatic into parishes, and scattered Christian rectors, with stipends +and glebes, among millions of Pagans and Mahometans. We keep, indeed, +a small Christian establishment, or rather three small Christian +establishments, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Catholic. But we keep them +only for the Christians in our civil and military services; and we leave +untouched the revenues of the mosques and temples. In one country alone +is to be seen the spectacle of a community of eight millions of +human beings, with a Church which is the Church of only eight hundred +thousand. + +It has been often said, and has been repeated to-night by the honourable +Member for Radnor, that this Church, though it includes only a tenth +part of the population, has more than half the wealth of Ireland. But +is that an argument in favour of the present system? Is it not the +strongest argument that can be urged in favour of an entire change? +It is true that there are many cases in which it is fit that property +should prevail over number. Those cases may, I think, be all arranged in +two classes. One class consists of those cases in which the preservation +or improvement of property is the object in view. Thus, in a railway +company, nothing can be more reasonable than that one proprietor who +holds five hundred shares should have more power than five proprietors +who hold one share each. The other class of cases in which property may +justly confer privileges is where superior intelligence is required. +Property is indeed but a very imperfect test of intelligence. But, when +we are legislating on a large scale, it is perhaps the best which we +can apply. For where there is no property, there can very seldom be any +mental cultivation. It is on this principle that special jurors, who +have to try causes of peculiar nicety, are taken from a wealthier order +than that which furnishes common jurors. But there cannot be a more +false analogy than to reason from these cases to the case of an +Established Church. So far is it from being true that, in establishing +a Church, we ought to pay more regard to one rich man than to five poor +men, that the direct reverse is the sound rule. We ought to pay more +regard to one poor man than to five rich men. For, in the first place, +the public ordinances of religion are of far more importance to the poor +man than to the rich man. I do not mean to say that a rich man may not +be the better for hearing sermons and joining in public prayers. But +these things are not indispensable to him; and, if he is so situated +that he cannot have them, he may find substitutes. He has money to buy +books, time to study them, understanding to comprehend them. Every +day he may commune with the minds of Hooker, Leighton, and Barrow. He +therefore stands less in need of the oral instruction of a divine than a +peasant who cannot read, or who, if he can read, has no money to procure +books, or leisure to peruse them. Such a peasant, unless instructed by +word of mouth, can know no more of Christianity than a wild Hottentot. +Nor is this all. The poor man not only needs the help of a minister of +religion more than the rich man, but is also less able to procure it. +If there were no Established Church, people in our rank of life would +always be provided with preachers to their mind at an expense which +they would scarcely feel. But when a poor man, who can hardly give his +children their fill of potatoes, has to sell his pig in order to pay +something to his priest, the burden is a heavy one. This is, in fact, +the strongest reason for having an established church in any country. It +is the one reason which prevents me from joining with the partisans of +the voluntary system. I should think their arguments unanswerable if the +question regarded the upper and middle classes only. If I would keep up +the Established Church of England, it is not for the sake of lords, and +baronets, and country gentlemen of five thousand pounds a-year, and rich +bankers in the city. I know that such people will always have churches, +aye, and cathedrals, and organs, and rich communion plate. The person +about whom I am uneasy is the working man; the man who would find it +difficult to pay even five shillings or ten shillings a-year out of his +small earnings for the ministrations of religion. What is to become +of him under the voluntary system? Is he to go without religious +instruction altogether? That we should all think a great evil to +himself, and a great evil to society. Is he to pay for it out of his +slender means? That would be a heavy tax. Is he to be dependent on +the liberality of others? That is a somewhat precarious and a somewhat +humiliating dependence. I prefer, I own, that system under which there +is, in the rudest and most secluded district, a house of God, where +public worship is performed after a fashion acceptable to the great +majority of the community, and where the poorest may partake of the +ordinances of religion, not as an alms, but as a right. But does +this argument apply to a Church like the Church of Ireland? It is not +necessary on this occasion to decide whether the arguments in favour +of the ecclesiastical establishments, or the arguments in favour of the +voluntary system, be the stronger. There are weighty considerations on +both sides. Balancing them as well as I can, I think that, as respects +England, the preponderance is on the side of the Establishment. But, +as respects Ireland, there is no balancing. All the weights are in one +scale. All the arguments which incline us against the Church of England, +and all the arguments which incline us in favour of the Church of +England, are alike arguments against the Church of Ireland; against the +Church of the few; against the Church of the wealthy; against the Church +which, reversing every principle on which a Christian Church should be +founded, fills the rich with its good things, and sends the hungry empty +away. + +One view which has repeatedly, both in this House and out of it, been +taken of the Church of Ireland, seems to deserve notice. It is admitted, +as indeed it could not well be denied, that this Church does not +perform the functions which are everywhere else expected from similar +institutions; that it does not instruct the body of the people; that +it does not administer religious consolation to the body of the people. +But, it is said, we must regard this Church as an aggressive Church, +a proselytising Church, a Church militant among spiritual enemies. Its +office is to spread Protestantism over Munster and Connaught. I remember +well that, eleven years ago, when Lord Grey's Government proposed to +reduce the number of Irish bishoprics, this language was held. It was +acknowledged that there were more bishops than the number of persons +then in communion with the Established Church required. But that number, +we were assured, would not be stationary; and the hierarchy, therefore, +ought to be constituted with a view to the millions of converts who +would soon require the care of Protestant pastors. I well remember +the strong expression which was then used by my honourable friend, the +Member for the University of Oxford. We must, he said, make allowance +for the expansive force of Protestantism. A few nights ago a noble lord +for whom I, in common with the whole House, feel the greatest respect, +the Member for Dorsetshire (Lord Ashley.), spoke of the missionary +character of the Church of Ireland. Now, Sir, if such language had been +held at the Council Board of Queen Elizabeth when the constitution of +this Church was first debated there, there would have been no cause for +wonder. Sir William Cecil or Sir Nicholas Bacon might very naturally +have said, "There are few Protestants now in Ireland, it is true. But +when we consider how rapidly the Protestant theology has spread, when +we remember that it is little more than forty years since Martin Luther +began to preach against indulgences, and when we see that one half of +Europe is now emancipated from the old superstition, we may reasonably +expect that the Irish will soon follow the example of the other nations +which have embraced the doctrines of the Reformation." Cecil, I say, +and his colleagues might naturally entertain this expectation, and might +without absurdity make preparations for an event which they regarded +as in the highest degree probable. But we, who have seen this system in +full operation from the year 1560 to the year 1845, ought to have been +taught better, unless indeed we are past all teaching. Two hundred and +eighty-five years has this Church been at work. What could have been +done for it in the way of authority, privileges, endowments, which has +not been done? Did any other set of bishops and priests in the world +ever receive so much for doing so little? Nay, did any other set of +bishops and priests in the world ever receive half as much for doing +twice as much? And what have we to show for all this lavish expenditure? +What but the most zealous Roman Catholic population on the face of the +earth? Where you were one hundred years ago, where you were two hundred +years ago, there you are still, not victorious over the domain of the +old faith, but painfully and with dubious success defending your own +frontier, your own English pale. Sometimes a deserter leaves you. +Sometimes a deserter steals over to you. Whether your gains or losses +of this sort be the greater I do not know; nor is it worth while to +inquire. On the great solid mass of the Roman Catholic population you +have made no impression whatever. There they are, as they were ages ago, +ten to one against the members of your Established Church. Explain this +to me. I speak to you, the zealous Protestants on the other side of the +House. Explain this to me on Protestant principles. If I were a Roman +Catholic, I could easily account for the phenomena. If I were a Roman +Catholic, I should content myself with saying that the mighty hand and +the outstretched arm had been put forth, according to the promise, in +defence of the unchangeable Church; that He who in the old time turned +into blessings the curses of Balaam, and smote the host of Sennacherib, +had signally confounded the arts of heretic statesmen. But what is +a Protestant to say? He holds that, through the whole of this long +conflict, during which ten generations of men have been born and have +died, reason and Scripture have been on the side of the Established +Clergy. Tell us then what we are to say of this strange war, in which, +reason and Scripture backed by wealth, by dignity, by the help of the +civil power, have been found no match for oppressed and destitute error? +The fuller our conviction that our doctrines are right, the fuller, if +we are rational men, must be our conviction that our tactics have been +wrong, and that we have been encumbering the cause which we meant to +aid. + +Observe, it is not only the comparative number of Roman Catholics +and Protestants that may justly furnish us with matter for serious +reflection. The quality as well as the quantity of Irish Romanism +deserves to be considered. Is there any other country inhabited by a +mixed population of Catholics and Protestants, any other country in +which Protestant doctrines have long been freely promulgated from the +press and from the pulpit, where the Roman Catholics spirit is so strong +as in Ireland? I believe not. The Belgians are generally considered as +very stubborn and zealous Roman Catholics. But I do not believe that +either in stubbornness or in zeal they equal the Irish. And this is +the fruit of three centuries of Protestant archbishops, bishops, +archdeacons, deans, and rectors. And yet where is the wonder? Is this +a miracle that we should stand aghast at it? Not at all. It is a result +which human prudence ought to have long ago foreseen and long ago +averted. It is the natural succession of effect to cause. If you do not +understand it, it is because you do not understand what the nature and +operation of a church is. There are parts of the machinery of Government +which may be just as efficient when they are hated as when they are +loved. An army, a navy, a preventive service, a police force, may do +their work whether the public feeling be with them or against them. +Whether we dislike the corn laws or not, your custom houses and your +coast guard keep out foreign corn. The multitude at Manchester was not +the less effectually dispersed by the yeomanry, because the interference +of the yeomanry excited the bitterest indignation. There the object was +to produce a material effect; the material means were sufficient; and +nothing more was required. But a Church exists for moral ends. A Church +exists to be loved, to be reverenced, to be heard with docility, +to reign in the understandings and hearts of men. A Church which is +abhorred is useless or worse than useless; and to quarter a hostile +Church on a conquered people, as you would quarter a soldiery, is +therefore the most absurd of mistakes. This mistake our ancestors +committed. They posted a Church in Ireland just as they posted garrisons +in Ireland. The garrisons did their work. They were disliked. But that +mattered not. They had their forts and their arms; and they kept down +the aboriginal race. But the Church did not do its work. For to that +work the love and confidence of the people were essential. + +I may remark in passing that, even under more favourable circumstances +a parochial priesthood is not a good engine for the purpose of making +proselytes. The Church of Rome, whatever we may think of her ends, has +shown no want of sagacity in the choice of means; and she knows this +well. When she makes a great aggressive movement,--and many such +movements she has made with signal success,--she employs, not her +parochial clergy, but a very different machinery. The business of her +parish priests is to defend and govern what has been won. It is by +the religious orders, and especially by the Jesuits, that the great +acquisitions have been made. In Ireland your parochial clergy lay under +two great disadvantages. They were endowed, and they were hated; so +richly endowed that few among them cared to turn missionaries; so +bitterly hated that those few had but little success. They long +contented themselves with receiving the emoluments arising from their +benefices, and neglected those means to which, in other parts of Europe, +Protestantism had owed its victory. It is well known that of all the +instruments employed by the Reformers of Germany, of England, and of +Scotland, for the purpose of moving the public mind, the most powerful +was the Bible translated into the vernacular tongues. In Ireland the +Protestant Church had been established near half a century before the +New Testament was printed in Erse. The whole Bible was not printed +in Erse till this Church had existed more than one hundred and twenty +years. Nor did the publication at last take place under the patronage +of the lazy and wealthy hierarchy. The expense was defrayed by a layman, +the illustrious Robert Boyle. So things went on century after century. +Swift, more than a hundred years ago, described the prelates of his +country as men gorged with wealth and sunk in indolence, whose chief +business was to bow and job at the Castle. The only spiritual function, +he says, which they performed was ordination; and, when he saw what +persons they ordained, he doubted whether it would not be better that +they should neglect that function as they neglected every other. Those, +Sir, are now living who can well remember how the revenues of +the richest see in Ireland were squandered on the shores of the +Mediterranean by a bishop, whose epistles, very different compositions +from the epistles of Saint Peter and Saint John, may be found in the +correspondence of Lady Hamilton. Such abuses as these called forth +no complaint, no reprimand. And all this time the true pastors of the +people, meanly fed and meanly clothed, frowned upon by the law, +exposed to the insults of every petty squire who gloried in the name +of Protestant, were to be found in miserable cabins, amidst filth, and +famine, and contagion, instructing the young, consoling the miserable, +holding up the crucifix before the eyes of the dying. Is it strange +that, in such circumstances, the Roman Catholic religion should have +been constantly becoming dearer and dearer to an ardent and sensitive +people, and that your Established Church should have been constantly +sinking lower and lower in their estimation? I do not of course hold +the living clergy of the Irish Church answerable for the faults of +their predecessors. God forbid! To do so would be the most flagitious +injustice. I know that a salutary change has taken place. I have no +reason to doubt that in learning and regularity of life the Protestant +clergy of Ireland are on a level with the clergy of England. But in the +way of making proselytes they do as little as those who preceded them. +An enmity of three hundred years separates the nation from those who +should be its teachers. In short, it is plain that the mind of Ireland +has taken its ply, and is not to be bent in a different direction, or, +at all events, is not to be so bent by your present machinery. + +Well, then, this Church is inefficient as a missionary Church. But there +is yet another end which, in the opinion of some eminent men, a Church +is meant to serve. That end has been often in the minds of practical +politicians. But the first speculative politician who distinctly pointed +it out was Mr Hume. Mr Hume, as might have been expected from his known +opinions, treated the question merely as it related to the temporal +happiness of mankind; and, perhaps, it may be doubted whether he took +quite a just view of the manner in which even the temporal happiness of +mankind is affected by the restraints and consolations of religion. He +reasoned thus:--It is dangerous to the peace of society that the public +mind should be violently excited on religious subjects. If you adopt the +voluntary system, the public mind will always be so excited. For every +preacher, knowing that his bread depends on his popularity, seasons his +doctrine high, and practises every art for the purpose of obtaining an +ascendency over his hearers. But when the Government pays the minister +of religion, he has no pressing motive to inflame the zeal of his +congregation. He will probably go through his duties in a somewhat +perfunctory manner. His power will not be very formidable; and, such +as it is, it will be employed in support of that order of things under +which he finds himself so comfortable. Now, Sir, it is not necessary to +inquire whether Mr Hume's doctrine be sound or unsound. For, sound or +unsound, it furnishes no ground on which you can rest the defence of +the institution which we are now considering. It is evident that by +establishing in Ireland the Church of the minority in connection with +the State, you have produced, in the very highest degree, all those +evils which Mr Hume considered as inseparable from the voluntary system. +You may go all over the world without finding another country where +religious differences take a form so dangerous to the peace of society; +where the common people are so much under the influence of their +priests; or where the priests who teach the common people are so +completely estranged from the civil Government. + +And now, Sir, I will sum up what I have said. For what end does the +Church of Ireland exist? Is that end the instruction and solace of the +great body of the people? You must admit that the Church of Ireland has +not attained that end. Is the end which you have in view the conversion +of the great body of the people from the Roman Catholic religion to a +purer form of Christianity? You must admit that the Church of Ireland +has not attained that end. Or do you propose to yourselves the end +contemplated by Mr Hume, the peace and security of civil society? You +must admit that the Church of Ireland has not attained that end. In +the name of common sense, then, tell us what good end this Church has +attained; or suffer us to conclude, as I am forced to conclude, that it +is emphatically a bad institution. + +It does not, I know, necessarily follow that, because an institution +is bad, it is therefore to be immediately destroyed. Sometimes a bad +institution takes a strong hold on the hearts of mankind, intertwines +its roots with the very foundations of society, and is not to be removed +without serious peril to order, law, and property. For example, I hold +polygamy to be one of the most pernicious practises that exist in the +world. But if the Legislative Council of India were to pass an Act +prohibiting polygamy, I should think that they were out of their senses. +Such a measure would bring down the vast fabric of our Indian Empire +with one crash. But is there any similar reason for dealing tenderly +with the Established Church of Ireland? That Church, Sir, is not one +of those bad institutions which ought to be spared because they are +popular, and because their fall would injure good institutions. It is, +on the contrary, so odious, and its vicinage so much endangers valuable +parts of our polity, that, even if it were in itself a good institution, +there would be strong reasons for giving it up. + +The honourable gentleman who spoke last told us that we cannot touch +this Church without endangering the Legislative Union. Sir, I have given +my best attention to this important point; and I have arrived at a very +different conclusion. The question to be determined is this:--What is +the best way of preserving political union between countries in which +different religions prevail? With respect to this question we have, +I think, all the light which history can give us. There is no sort of +experiment described by Lord Bacon which we have not tried. Inductive +philosophy is of no value if we cannot trust to the lessons derived from +the experience of more than two hundred years. England has long been +closely connected with two countries less powerful than herself, +and differing from herself in religion. The Scottish people are +Presbyterians; the Irish people are Roman Catholics. We determined to +force the Anglican system on both countries. In both countries great +discontent was the result. At length Scotland rebelled. Then Ireland +rebelled. The Scotch and Irish rebellions, taking place at a time when +the public mind of England was greatly and justly excited, produced the +Great Rebellion here, and the downfall of the Monarchy, of the Church, +and of the Aristocracy. After the Restoration we again tried the old +system. During twenty-eight years we persisted in the attempt to +force Prelacy on the Scotch; and the consequence was, during those +twenty-eight years Scotland exhibited a frightful spectacle of misery +and depravity. The history of that period is made up of oppression and +resistance, of insurrections, barbarous punishments, and assassinations. +One day a crowd of zealous rustics stand desperately on their defence, +and repel the dragoons. Next day the dragoons scatter and hew down the +flying peasantry. One day the kneebones of a wretched Covenanter are +beaten flat in that accursed boot. Next day the Lord Primate is dragged +out of his carriage by a band of raving fanatics, and, while screaming +for mercy, is butchered at the feet of his own daughter. So things went +on, till at last we remembered that institutions are made for men, +and not men for institutions. A wise Government desisted from the vain +attempt to maintain an Episcopal Establishment in a Presbyterian nation. +From that moment the connection between England and Scotland became +every year closer and closer. There were still, it is true, many causes +of animosity. There was an old antipathy between the nations, the +effect of many blows given and received on both sides. All the greatest +calamities that had befallen Scotland had been inflicted by England. +The proudest events in Scottish history were victories obtained over +England. Yet all angry feelings died rapidly away. The union of the +nations became complete. The oldest man living does not remember to have +heard any demagogue breathe a wish for separation. Do you believe that +this would have happened if England had, after the Revolution, persisted +in attempting to force the surplice and the Prayer Book on the Scotch? +I tell you that, if you had adhered to the mad scheme of having a +religious union with Scotland, you never would have had a cordial +political union with her. At this very day you would have had monster +meetings on the north of the Tweed, and another Conciliation Hall, and +another repeal button, with the motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit." In +fact, England never would have become the great power that she is. For +Scotland would have been, not an addition to the effective strength of +the Empire, but a deduction from it. As often as there was a war with +France or Spain, there would have been an insurrection in Scotland. Our +country would have sunk into a kingdom of the second class. One such +Church as that about which we are now debating is a serious encumbrance +to the greatest empire. Two such Churches no empire could bear. You +continued to govern Ireland during many generations as you had governed +Scotland in the days of Lauderdale and Dundee. And see the result. +Ireland has remained, indeed, a part of your Empire. But you know her +to be a source of weakness rather than of strength. Her misery is a +reproach to you. Her discontent doubles the dangers of war. Can you, +with such facts before you, doubt about the course which you ought to +take? Imagine a physician with two patients, both afflicted with the +same disease. He applies the same sharp remedies to both. Both become +worse and worse with the same inflammatory symptoms. Then he changes +his treatment of one case, and gives soothing medicines. The sufferer +revives, grows better day by day, and is at length restored to perfect +health. The other patient is still subjected to the old treatment, and +becomes constantly more and more disordered. How would a physician act +in such a case? And are not the principles of experimental philosophy +the same in politics as in medicine? + +Therefore, Sir, I am fully prepared to take strong measures with regard +to the Established Church of Ireland. It is not necessary for me to say +precisely how far I would go. I am aware that it may be necessary, +in this as in other cases, to consent to a compromise. But the more +complete the reform which may be proposed, provided always that vested +rights be, as I am sure they will be, held strictly sacred, the more +cordially shall I support it. + +That some reform is at hand I cannot doubt. In a very short time we +shall see the evils which I have described mitigated, if not entirely +removed. A Liberal Administration would make this concession to Ireland +from a sense of justice. A Conservative Administration will make it from +a sense of danger. The right honourable Baronet has given the Irish a +lesson which will bear fruit. It is a lesson which rulers ought to be +slow to teach; for it is one which nations are but too apt to learn. +We have repeatedly been told by acts--we are now told almost in express +words--that agitation and intimidation are the means which ought to be +employed by those who wish for redress of grievances from the party now +in power. Such indeed has too long been the policy of England towards +Ireland; but it was surely never before avowed with such indiscreet +frankness. Every epoch which is remembered with pleasure on the other +side of St George's Channel coincides with some epoch which we here +consider as disastrous and perilous. To the American war and the +volunteers the Irish Parliament owed its independence. To the French +revolutionary war the Irish Roman Catholics owed the elective franchise. +It was in vain that all the great orators and statesmen of two +generations exerted themselves to remove the Roman Catholic +disabilities, Burke, Fox, Pitt, Windham, Grenville, Grey, Plunkett, +Wellesley, Grattan, Canning, Wilberforce. Argument and expostulation +were fruitless. At length pressure of a stronger kind was boldly and +skilfully applied; and soon all difficulties gave way. The Catholic +Association, the Clare election, the dread of civil war, produced the +Emancipation Act. Again, the cry of No Popery was raised. That cry was +successful. A faction which had reviled in the bitterest terms the mild +administration of Whig Viceroys, and which was pledged to the wholesale +disfranchisement of the Roman Catholics, rose to power. One leading +member of that faction had drawn forth loud cheers by declaiming against +the minions of Popery. Another had designated six millions of Irish +Catholics as aliens. A third had publicly declared his conviction, that +a time was at hand when all Protestants of every persuasion would find +it necessary to combine firmly against the encroachments of Romanism. +From such men we expected nothing but oppression and intolerance. We are +agreeably disappointed to find that a series of conciliatory bills is +brought before us. But, in the midst of our delight, we cannot refrain +from asking for some explanation of so extraordinary a change. We are +told in reply, that the monster meetings of 1843 were very formidable, +and that our relations with America are in a very unsatisfactory state. +The public opinion of Ireland is to be consulted, the religion of +Ireland is to be treated with respect, not because equity and humanity +plainly enjoin that course; for equity and humanity enjoined that +course as plainly when you were calumniating Lord Normanby, and hurrying +forward your Registration Bill; but because Mr O'Connell and Mr Polk +have between them made you very uneasy. Sir, it is with shame, with +sorrow, and, I will add, with dismay, that I listen to such language. +I have hitherto disapproved of the monster meetings of 1843. I have +disapproved of the way in which Mr O'Connell and some other Irish +representatives have seceded from this House. I should not have chosen +to apply to those gentlemen the precise words which were used on a +former occasion by the honourable and learned Member for Bath. But I +agreed with him in substance. I thought it highly to the honour of my +right honourable friend the Member for Dungarvon, and of my honourable +friends the Members for Kildare, for Roscommon, and for the city of +Waterford, that they had the moral courage to attend the service of this +House, and to give us the very valuable assistance which they are, in +various ways, so well qualified to afford. But what am I to say now? How +can I any longer deny that the place where an Irish gentleman may best +serve his country is Conciliation Hall? How can I expect that any Irish +Roman Catholic can be very sorry to learn that our foreign relations are +in an alarming state, or can rejoice to hear that all danger of war has +blown over? I appeal to the Conservative Members of this House. I ask +them whither we are hastening? I ask them what is to be the end of a +policy of which it is the principle to give nothing to justice, +and everything to fear? We have been accused of truckling to Irish +agitators. But I defy you to show us that we ever made or are now making +to Ireland a single concession which was not in strict conformity with +our known principles. You may therefore trust us, when we tell you +that there is a point where we will stop. Our language to the Irish is +this:--"You ask for emancipation: it was agreeable to our principles +that you should have it; and we assisted you to obtain it. You wished +for a municipal system, as popular as that which exists in England: we +thought your wish reasonable, and did all in our power to gratify it. +This grant to Maynooth is, in our opinion, proper; and we will do our +best to obtain it for you, though it should cost us our popularity and +our seats in Parliament. The Established Church in your island, as now +constituted, is a grievance of which you justly complain. We will strive +to redress that grievance. The Repeal of the Union we regard as fatal to +the empire: and we never will consent to it; never, though the country +should be surrounded by dangers as great as those which threatened her +when her American colonies, and France, and Spain, and Holland, were +leagued against her, and when the armed neutrality of the Baltic +disputed her maritime rights; never, though another Bonaparte should +pitch his camp in sight of Dover Castle; never, till all has been staked +and lost; never, till the four quarters of the world have been convulsed +by the last struggle of the great English people for their place +among the nations." This, Sir, is the true policy. When you give, give +frankly. When you withhold, withhold resolutely. Then what you give is +received with gratitude; and, as for what you withhold, men, seeing that +to wrest it from you is no safe or easy enterprise, cease to hope +for it, and, in time, cease to wish for it. But there is a way of so +withholding as merely to excite desire, and of so giving as merely to +excite contempt; and that way the present ministry has discovered. Is it +possible for me to doubt that in a few months the same machinery which +sixteen years ago extorted from the men now in power the Emancipation +Act, and which has now extorted from them the bill before us, will again +be put in motion? Who shall say what will be the next sacrifice? For my +own part I firmly believe that, if the present Ministers remain in power +five years longer, and if we should have,--which God avert!--a war with +France or America, the Established Church of Ireland will be given +up. The right honourable Baronet will come down to make a proposition +conceived in the very spirit of the Motions which have repeatedly been +made by my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield. He will again +be deserted by his followers; he will again be dragged through his +difficulties by his opponents. Some honest Lord of the Treasury may +determine to quit his office rather than belie all the professions of a +life. But there will be little difficulty in finding a successor ready +to change all his opinions at twelve hours' notice. I may perhaps, while +cordially supporting the bill, again venture to say something about +consistency, and about the importance of maintaining a high standard +of political morality. The right honourable Baronet will again tell me, +that he is anxious only for the success of his measure, and that he does +not choose to reply to taunts. And the right honourable gentleman the +Chancellor of the Exchequer will produce Hansard, will read to the House +my speech of this night, and will most logically argue that I ought not +to reproach the Ministers with their inconsistency, seeing that I had, +from my knowledge of their temper and principles, predicted to a tittle +the nature and extent of that inconsistency. + +Sir, I have thought it my duty to brand with strong terms of +reprehension the practice of conceding, in time of public danger, what +is obstinately withheld in time of public tranquillity. I am prepared, +and have long been prepared, to grant much, very much, to Ireland. But +if the Repeal Association were to dissolve itself to-morrow, and if the +next steamer were to bring news that all our differences with the United +States were adjusted in the most honourable and friendly manner, I would +grant to Ireland neither more nor less than I would grant if we were on +the eve of a rebellion like that of 1798; if war were raging all along +the Canadian frontier; and if thirty French sail of the line were +confronting our fleet in St George's Channel. I give my vote from my +heart and soul for the amendment of my honourable friend. He calls on +us to make to Ireland a concession, which ought in justice to have been +made long ago, and which may be made with grace and dignity even now. I +well know that you will refuse to make it now. I know as well that you +will make it hereafter. You will make it as every concession to Ireland +has been made. You will make it when its effect will be, not to appease, +but to stimulate agitation. You will make it when it will be regarded, +not as a great act of national justice, but as a confession of national +weakness. You will make it in such a way, and at such a time, that there +will be but too much reason to doubt whether more mischief has been done +by your long refusal, or by your tardy and enforced compliance. + +***** + + + + +THEOLOGICAL TESTS IN THE SCOTCH UNIVERSITIES. (JULY 9, 1845) A SPEECH +DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF JULY 1845. + +On the first of May, 1845, Mr Rutherford, Member for Leith, obtained +leave to bring in a bill to regulate admission to the Secular Chairs +in the Universities of Scotland. On the morning of the sixth of May the +bill was read a first time, and remained two months on the table of the +House. At length the second reading was fixed for the ninth of July. Mr +Rutherfurd was unable to attend on that day: and it was necessary that +one of his friends should supply his place. Accordingly, as soon as the +Order of the Day had been read, the following Speech was made. + +On a division the bill was rejected by 116 votes to 108. But, in the +state in which parties then were, this defeat was generally considered +as a victory. + +Mr Speaker,--I have been requested by my honourable and learned friend, +the Member for Leith, to act as his substitute on this occasion. I am +truly sorry that any substitute should be necessary. I am truly sorry +that he is not among us to take charge of the bill which he not long ago +introduced with one of the most forcible and luminous speeches that I +ever had the pleasure of hearing. His audience was small; but the few +who formed that audience cannot have forgotten the effect which his +arguments and his eloquence produced. The Ministers had come down to +resist his motion: but their courage failed them: they hesitated: they +conferred together: at last they consented that he should have leave +to bring in his bill. Such, indeed, was the language which they held on +that and on a subsequent occasion, that both my honourable and learned +friend and myself gave them more credit than they deserved. We really +believed that they had resolved to offer no opposition to a law which it +was quite evident that they perceived to be just and beneficial. But +we have been disappointed. It has been notified to us that the whole +influence of the Government is to be exerted against our bill. In such +discouraging circumstances it is that I rise to move the second reading. + +Yet, Sir, I do not altogether despair of success. When I consider what +strong, what irresistible reasons we have to urge, I can hardly think +it possible that the mandate of the most powerful administration can +prevail against them. Nay, I should consider victory, not merely +as probable, but as certain, if I did not know how imperfect is the +information which English gentlemen generally possess concerning Scotch +questions. It is because I know this that I think it my duty to depart +from the ordinary practice, and, instead of simply moving the second +reading, to explain at some length the principles on which this bill has +been framed. I earnestly entreat those English Members who were not so +fortunate as to hear the speech of my honourable and learned friend, the +Member for Leith to favour me with their attention. They will, I think, +admit, that I have a right to be heard with indulgence. I have been sent +to this house by a great city which was once a capital, the abode of a +Sovereign, the place where the Estates of a realm held their sittings. +For the general good of the empire, Edinburgh descended from that high +eminence. But, ceasing to be a political metropolis, she became an +intellectual metropolis. For the loss of a Court, of a Privy Council, of +a Parliament, she found compensation in the prosperity and splendour of +an University renowned to the farthest ends of the earth as a school of +physical and moral science. This noble and beneficent institution is now +threatened with ruin by the folly of the Government, and by the violence +of an ecclesiastical faction which is bent on persecution without having +the miserable excuse of fanaticism. Nor is it only the University of +Edinburgh that is in danger. In pleading for that University, I plead +for all the great academical institutions of Scotland. The fate of all +depends on the event of this debate; and, in the name of all, I demand +the attention of every man who loves either learning or religious +liberty. + +The first question which we have to consider is, whether the principles +of the bill be sound. I believe that they are sound; and I am quite +confident that nobody who sits on the Treasury Bench will venture to +pronounce them unsound. It does not lie in the mouths of the Ministers +to say that literary instruction and scientific instruction are +inseparably connected with religious instruction. It is not for them to +rail against Godless Colleges. It is not for them to talk with horror of +the danger of suffering young men to listen to the lectures of an Arian +professor of Botany or of a Popish professor of Chemistry. They are +themselves at this moment setting up in Ireland a system exactly +resembling the system which we wish to set up in Scotland. Only a few +hours have elapsed since they were themselves labouring to prove that, +in a country in which a large proportion of those who require a liberal +education are dissenters from the Established Church, it is desirable +that there should be schools without theological tests. The right +honourable Baronet at the head of the Government proposes that in the +new colleges which he is establishing at Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and +Galway, the professorships shall be open to men of every creed: and +he has strenuously defended that part of his plan against attacks from +opposite quarters, against the attacks of zealous members of the Church +of England, and of zealous members of the Church of Rome. Only the day +before yesterday the honourable Baronet the Member for North Devon (Sir +Thomas Acland.) ventured to suggest a test as unobjectionable as a test +could well be. He would merely have required the professors to declare +their general belief in the divine authority of the Old and New +Testaments. But even this amendment the First Lord of the Treasury +resisted, and I think quite rightly. He told us that it was quite +unnecessary to institute an inquisition into the religious opinions of +people whose business was merely to teach secular knowledge, and that it +was absurd to imagine that any man of learning would disgrace and ruin +himself by preaching infidelity from the Greek chair or the Mathematical +chair. + +Some members of this House certainly held very different language: but +their arguments made as little impression on Her Majesty's Ministers as +on me. We were told with the utmost earnestness that secular knowledge, +unaccompanied by a sound religious faith, and unsanctified by religious +feeling, was not only useless, but positively noxious, a curse to the +possessor, a curse to society. I feel the greatest personal kindness and +respect for some gentlemen who hold this language. But they must pardon +me if I say that the proposition which they have so confidently laid +down, however well it may sound in pious ears while it is expressed in +general terms, to be too monstrous, too ludicrous, for grave refutation. +Is it seriously meant that, if the Captain of an Indiaman is a Socinian, +it would be better for himself, his crew, and his passengers, that he +should not know how to use his quadrant and his chronometers? Is it +seriously meant that, if a druggist is a Swedenborgian, it would +be better for himself and his customers that he should not know the +difference between Epsom salts and oxalic acid? A hundred millions of +the Queen's Asiatic subjects are Mahometans and Pagans. Is it seriously +meant that it is desirable that they should be as ignorant as the +aboriginal inhabitants of New South Wales, that they should have no +alphabet, that they should have no arithmetic, that they should not know +how to build a bridge, how to sink a well, how to irrigate a field? If +it be true that secular knowledge, unsanctified by true religion, is +a positive evil, all these consequences follow. Yet surely they are +consequences from which every sane mind must recoil. It is a great evil, +no doubt, that a man should be a heretic or an atheist. But I am quite +at a loss to understand how this evil is mitigated by his not knowing +that the earth moves round the sun, that by the help of a lever, a small +power will lift a great weight, that Virginia is a republic, or that +Paris is the capital of France. + +On these grounds, Sir, I have cordially supported the Irish Colleges +Bill. But the principle of the Irish Colleges and the principle of the +bill which I hold in my hand are exactly the same: and the House and the +country have a right to know why the authors of the former bill are the +opponents of the latter bill. One distinction there is, I admit, between +Ireland and Scotland. It is true that in Scotland there is no clamour +against the Union with England. It is true that in Scotland no demagogue +can obtain applause and riches by slandering and reviling the English +people. It is true that in Scotland there is no traitor who would dare +to say that he regards the enemies of the state as his allies. In every +extremity the Scottish nation will be found faithful to the common cause +of the empire. But Her Majesty's Ministers will hardly I think, venture +to say that this is their reason for refusing to Scotland the boon which +they propose to confer on Ireland. And yet, if this be not their reason, +what reason can we find? Observe how strictly analogous the cases are. +You give it as a reason for establishing in Ireland colleges without +tests that the Established Church of Ireland is the Church of the +minority. Unhappily it may well be doubted whether the Established +Church of Scotland, too, be not now, thanks to your policy, the Church +of the minority. It is true that the members of the Established Church +of Scotland are about a half of the whole population of Scotland; and +that the members of the Established Church of Ireland are not much more +than a tenth of the whole population of Ireland. But the question now +before us does not concern the whole population. It concerns only the +class which requires academical education: and I do not hesitate to say +that, in the class which requires academical education, in the class for +the sake of which universities exist, the proportion of persons who +do not belong to the Established Church is as great in Scotland as in +Ireland. You tell us that sectarian education in Ireland is an evil. Is +it less an evil in Scotland? You tell us that it is desirable that the +Protestant and the Roman Catholic should study together at Cork. Is it +less desirable that the son of an elder of the Established Church +and the son of an elder of the Free Church should study together at +Edinburgh? You tell us that it is not reasonable to require from a +Professor of Astronomy or Surgery in Connaught a declaration that +he believes in the Gospels. On what ground, then, can you think it +reasonable to require from every Professor in Scotland a declaration +that he approves of the Presbyterian form of church government? I defy +you, with all your ingenuity, to find one argument, one rhetorical +topic, against our bill which may not be used with equal effect against +your own Irish Colleges Bill. + +Is there any peculiarity in the academical system of Scotland which +makes these tests necessary? Certainly not. The academical system of +Scotland has its peculiarities; but they are peculiarities which are not +in harmony with these tests, peculiarities which jar with these tests. +It is an error to imagine that, by passing this bill, we shall establish +a precedent which will lead to a change in the constitution of the +Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. Whether such a change be or be not +desirable is a question which must be decided on grounds quite distinct +from those on which we rest our case. I entreat English gentlemen not to +be misled by the word University. That word means two different things +on the two different sides of the Tweed. The academical authorities at +Cambridge and Oxford stand in a parental relation to the student. They +undertake, not merely to instruct him in philology, geometry, natural +philosophy, but to form his religious opinions, and to watch over his +morals. He is to be bred a Churchman. At Cambridge, he cannot graduate, +at Oxford, I believe, he cannot matriculate, without declaring himself +a Churchman. The College is a large family. An undergraduate is lodged +either within the gates, or in some private house licensed and regulated +by the academical authorities. He is required to attend public worship +according to the forms of the Church of England several times every +week. It is the duty of one officer to note the absence of young men +from divine service, of another to note their absence from the public +table, of another to report those who return home at unseasonably late +hours. An academical police parade the streets at night to seize upon +any unlucky reveller who may be found drunk or in bad company. There are +punishments of various degrees for irregularities of conduct. Sometimes +the offender has to learn a chapter of the Greek Testament; sometimes +he is confined to his college; sometimes he is publicly reprimanded: +for grave offences he is rusticated or expelled. Now, Sir, whether this +system be good or bad, efficient or inefficient, I will not now inquire. +This is evident; that religious tests are perfectly in harmony with such +a system. Christ Church and King's College undertake to instruct every +young man who goes to them in the doctrines of the Church of England, +and to see that he regularly attends the worship of the Church of +England. Whether this ought to be so, I repeat, I will not now inquire: +but, while it is so, nothing can be more reasonable than to require from +the rulers of Christ Church and King's College some declaration that +they are themselves members of the Church of England. + +The character of the Scotch universities is altogether different. There +you have no functionaries resembling the Vice-Chancellors and Proctors, +the Heads of Houses, Tutors and Deans, whom I used to cap at Cambridge. +There is no chapel; there is no academical authority entitled to ask a +young man whether he goes to the parish church or the Quaker meeting, to +synagogue or to mass. With his moral conduct the university has nothing +to do. The Principal and the whole Academical Senate cannot put any +restraint, or inflict any punishment, on a lad whom they may see lying +dead drunk in the High Street of Edinburgh. In truth, a student at a +Scotch university is in a situation closely resembling that of a medical +student in London. There are great numbers of youths in London who +attend St George's Hospital, or St Bartholomew's Hospital. One of these +youths may also go to Albermarle Street to hear Mr Faraday lecture on +chemistry, or to Willis's rooms to hear Mr Carlyle lecture on German +literature. On the Sunday he goes perhaps to church, perhaps to the +Roman Catholic chapel, perhaps to the Tabernacle, perhaps nowhere. None +of the gentlemen whose lectures he has attended during the week has the +smallest right to tell him where he shall worship, or to punish him for +gambling in hells, or tippling in cider cellars. Surely we must all feel +that it would be the height of absurdity to require Mr Faraday and Mr +Carlyle to subscribe a confession of faith before they lecture; and +in what does their situation differ from the situation of the Scotch +professor. + +In the peculiar character of the Scotch universities, therefore, I find +a strong reason for the passing of this bill. I find a reason stronger +still when I look at the terms of the engagements which exist between +the English and Scotch nations. + +Some gentlemen, I see, think that I am venturing on dangerous ground. We +have been told, in confident tones, that, if we pass this bill, we shall +commit a gross breach of public faith, we shall violate the Treaty +of Union, and the Act of Security. With equal confidence, and with +confidence much better grounded, I affirm that the Treaty of Union and +the Act of Security not only do not oblige us to reject this bill, but +do oblige us to pass this bill, or some bill nearly resembling this. + +This proposition seems to be regarded by the Ministers as paradoxical: +but I undertake to prove it by the plainest and fairest argument. I +shall resort to no chicanery. If I did think that the safety of the +commonwealth required that we should violate the Treaty of Union, +I would violate it openly, and defend my conduct on the ground of +necessity. It may, in an extreme case, be our duty to break our +compacts. It never can be our duty to quibble them away. What I say +is that the Treaty of Union, construed, not with the subtlety of a +pettifogger, but according to the spirit, binds us to pass this bill or +some similar bill. + +By the Treaty of Union it was covenanted that no person should be a +teacher or office-bearer in the Scotch Universities who should not +declare that he conformed to the worship and polity of the Established +Church of Scotland. What Church was meant by the two contracting +parties? What Church was meant, more especially, by the party to the +side of which we ought always to lean, I mean the weaker party? Surely +the Church established in 1707, when the Union took place. Is then, +the Church of Scotland at the present moment constituted, on all points +which the members of that Church think essential, exactly as it was +constituted in 1707? Most assuredly not. + +Every person who knows anything of the ecclesiastical history of +Scotland knows that, ever since the Reformation, the great body of the +Presbyterians of that country have held that congregations ought to have +a share in the appointment of their ministers. This principle is laid +down most distinctly in the First Book of Discipline, drawn up by John +Knox. It is laid down, though not quite so strongly, in the Second Book +of Discipline, drawn up by Andrew Melville. And I beg gentlemen, English +gentlemen, to observe that in Scotland this is not regarded as a matter +of mere expediency. All staunch Presbyterians think that the flock is +entitled, jure divino, to a voice in the appointment of the pastor, and +that to force a pastor on a parish to which he is unacceptable is a sin +as much forbidden by the Word of God as idolatry or perjury. I am quite +sure that I do not exaggerate when I say that the highest of our +high churchmen at Oxford cannot attach more importance to episcopal +government and episcopal ordination than many thousands of Scotchmen, +shrewd men, respectable men, men who fear God and honour the Queen, +attach to this right of the people. + +When, at the time of the Revolution, the Presbyterian worship and +discipline were established in Scotland, the question of patronage was +settled by a compromise, which was far indeed from satisfying men of +extreme opinions, but which was generally accepted. An Act, passed +at Edinburgh, in 1690, transferred what we should call in England the +advowsons from the old patrons to parochial councils, composed of the +elders and the Protestant landowners. This system, however imperfect +it might appear to such rigid Covenanters as Davie Deans and Gifted +Gilfillan, worked satisfactorily; and the Scotch nation seems to have +been contented with its ecclesiastical polity when the Treaty of Union +was concluded. By that treaty the ecclesiastical polity of Scotland was +declared to be unalterable. Nothing, therefore, can be more clear +than that the Parliament of Great Britain was bound by the most sacred +obligations not to revive those rights of patronage which the Parliament +of Scotland had abolished. + +But, Sir, the Union had not lasted five years when our ancestors were +guilty of a great violation of public faith. The history of that great +fault and of its consequences is full of interest and instruction. The +wrong was committed hastily, and with contumelious levity. The offenders +were doubtless far from foreseeing that their offence would be visited +on the third and fourth generation; that we should be paying in 1845 the +penalty of what they did in 1712. + +In 1712, Sir, the Whigs, who were the chief authors of the Union, had +been driven from power. The prosecution of Sacheverell had made them +odious to the nation. The general election of 1710 had gone against +them. Tory statesmen were in office. Tory squires formed more than +five-sixths of this House. The party which was uppermost thought that +England had, in 1707, made a bad bargain, a bargain so bad that it could +hardly be considered as binding. The guarantee so solemnly given to +the Church of Scotland was a subject of loud and bitter complaint. +The Ministers hated that Church much; and their chief supporters, the +country gentlemen and country clergymen of England, hated it still more. +Numerous petty insults were offered to the opinions, or, if you please, +the prejudices of the Presbyterians. At length it was determined to go +further, and to restore to the old patrons those rights which had been +taken away in 1690. A bill was brought into this House, the history +of which you may trace in our Journals. Some of the entries are very +significant. In spite of all remonstrances the Tory majority would not +hear of delay. The Whig minority struggled hard, appealed to the act of +Union and the Act of Security, and insisted on having both those Acts +read at the table. The bill passed this House, however, before the +people of Scotland knew that it had been brought in. For there were then +neither reporters nor railroads; and intelligence from Westminster +was longer in travelling to Cambridge than it now is in travelling +to Aberdeen. The bill was in the House of Lords before the Church +of Scotland could make her voice heard. Then came a petition from a +committee appointed by the General Assembly to watch over the interests +of religion while the General Assembly itself was not sitting. The first +name attached to that petition is the name of Principal Carstairs, a man +who had stood high in the esteem and favour of William the Third, and +who had borne a chief part in establishing the Presbyterian Church in +Scotland. Carstairs and his colleagues appealed to the Act of Union, and +implored the peers not to violate that Act. But party spirit ran high; +public faith was disregarded: patronage was restored. To that breach +of the Treaty of Union are to be directly ascribed all the schisms that +have since rent the Church of Scotland. + +I will not detain the House by giving a minute account of those schisms. +It is enough to say that the law of patronage produced, first the +secession of 1733 and the establishment of the Associate Synod, then the +secession of 1752 and the establishment of the Relief Synod, and finally +the great secession of 1843 and the establishment of the Free Church. +Only two years have elapsed since we saw, with mingled admiration and +pity, a spectacle worthy of the best ages of the Church. Four hundred +and seventy ministers resigned their stipends, quitted their manses, and +went forth committing themselves, their wives, their children, to the +care of Providence. Their congregations followed them by thousands, and +listened eagerly to the Word of Life in tents, in barns, or on those +hills and moors where the stubborn Presbyterians of a former generation +had prayed and sung their psalms in defiance of the boot of Lauderdale +and of the sword of Dundee. The rich gave largely of their riches. The +poor contributed with the spirit of her who put her two mites into the +treasury of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, in all the churches of large towns, of +whole counties, the established clergy were preaching to empty benches. +And of these secessions every one may be distinctly traced to that +violation of the Treaty of Union which was committed in 1712. + +This, Sir, is the true history of dissent in Scotland: and, this being +so, how can any man have the front to invoke the Treaty of Union and the +Act of Security against those who are devotedly attached to that system +which the Treaty of Union and the Act of Security were designed to +protect, and who are seceders only because the Treaty of Union and the +Act of Security have been infringed? I implore gentlemen to reflect on +the manner in which they and their fathers have acted towards the Scotch +Presbyterians. First you bind yourselves by the most solemn obligations +to maintain unaltered their Church as it was constituted in 1707. +Five years later you alter the constitution of their Church in a point +regarded by them as essential. In consequence of your breach of faith +secession after secession takes place, till at length the Church of +the State ceases to be the Church of the People. Then you begin to be +squeamish. Then those articles of the Treaty of Union which, when they +really were obligatory, you outrageously violated, now when they are +no longer obligatory, now when it is no longer in your power to observe +them according to the spirit, are represented as inviolable. You first, +by breaking your word, turn hundreds of thousands of Churchmen into +Dissenters; and then you punish them for being Dissenters, because, +forsooth, you never break your word. If your consciences really are so +tender, why do you not repeal the Act of 1712? Why do you not put the +Church of Scotland back into the same situation in which she was in +1707. We have had occasion more than once in the course of this session +to admire the casuistical skill of Her Majesty's Ministers. But I must +say that even their scruple about slave-grown sugar, though that scruple +is the laughing-stock of all Europe and all America, is respectable +when compared with their scruple about the Treaty of Union. Is there the +slightest doubt that every compact ought to be construed according to +the sense in which it was understood by those who made it? And is there +the slightest doubt as to the sense in which the compact between England +and Scotland was understood by those who made it? Suppose that we could +call up from their graves the Presbyterian divines who then sate in the +General Assembly. Suppose that we could call up Carstairs; that we could +call up Boston, the author of the Fourfold State; that we could relate +to them the history of the ecclesiastical revolutions which have, since +their time, taken place in Scotland; and that we could then ask them, +"Is the Established Church, or is the Free Church, identical with the +Church which existed at the time of the Union?" Is it not quite certain +what their answer would be? They would say, "Our Church, the Church +which you promised to maintain unalterable, was not the Church which you +protect, but the Church which you oppress. Our Church was the Church of +Chalmers and Brewster, not the Church of Bryce and Muir." + +It is true, Sir, that the Presbyterian dissenters are not the only +dissenters whom this bill will relieve. By the law, as it now stands, +all persons who refuse to declare their approbation of the synodical +polity, that is to say, all persons who refuse to declare that they +consider episcopal government and episcopal ordination as, at least, +matters altogether indifferent, are incapable of holding academical +office in Scotland. Now, Sir, will any gentleman who loves the Church +of England vote for maintaining this law? If, indeed, he were bound by +public faith to maintain this law, I admit that he would have no choice. +But I have proved, unless I greatly deceive myself, that he is not +bound by public faith to maintain this law? Can he then conscientiously +support the Ministers to-night? If he votes with them, he votes for +persecuting what he himself believes to be the truth. He holds out +to the members of his own Church lures to tempt them to renounce that +Church, and to join themselves to a Church which he considers as less +pure. We may differ as to the propriety of imposing penalties and +disabilities on heretics. But surely we shall agree in thinking that we +ought not to punish men for orthodoxy. + +I know, Sir, that there are many gentlemen who dislike innovation merely +as innovation, and would be glad always to keep things as they are now. +Even to this class of persons I will venture to appeal. I assure them +that we are not the innovators. I assure them that our object is to keep +things as they are and as they have long been. In form, I own, we are +proposing a change; but in truth we are resisting a change. The question +really is, not whether we shall remove old tests, but whether we shall +impose new ones. The law which we seek to repeal has long been obsolete. +So completely have the tests been disused that, only the other day, the +right honourable Baronet, the Secretary for the Home Department, +when speaking in favour of the Irish Colleges Bill, told us that the +Government was not making a rash experiment. "Our plan," he said, "has +already been tried at Edinburgh and has succeeded. At Edinburgh the +tests have been disused near a hundred years." As to Glasgow the +gentlemen opposite can give us full information from their own +experience. For there are at least three members of the Cabinet who have +been Lords Rectors; the First Lord of the Treasury, and the Secretaries +for the Home Department and the Colonial Department. They never took +the test. They probably would not have taken it; for they are all +Episcopalians. In fact, they belong to the very class which the test +was especially meant to exclude. The test was not meant to exclude +Presbyterian dissenters; for the Presbyterian Church was not yet rent +by any serious schism. Nor was the test meant to exclude the Roman +Catholics; for against the Roman Catholics there was already abundant +security. The Protestant Episcopalian was the enemy against whom it was, +in 1707, thought peculiarly necessary to take precautions. That those +precautions have long been disused the three members of the Cabinet whom +I mentioned can certify. + +On a sudden the law, which had long slept a deep sleep, has been +awakened, stirred up, and put into vigorous action. These obsolete tests +are now, it seems, to be exacted with severity. And why? Simply because +an event has taken place which makes them ten times as unjust and +oppressive as they would have been formerly. They were not required +while the Established Church was the Church of the majority. They are +to be required solely because a secession has taken place which has made +the Established Church the Church of the minority. While they could have +done little mischief they were suffered to lie neglected. They are now +to be used, because a time has come at which they cannot be used without +fatal consequences. + +It is impossible for me to speak without indignation of those who have +taken the lead in the work of persecution. Yet I must give them credit +for courage. They have selected as their object of attack no less a man +than Sir David Brewster, Principal of the University of Saint Andrews. +I hold in my hand the libel, as it is technically called, in which a +Presbytery of the Established Church demands that Sir David, for the +crime of adhering to that ecclesiastical polity which was guaranteed to +his country by the Act of Union, shall be "removed from his office, and +visited with such other censure or punishment as the laws of the +Church enjoin, for the glory of God, the safety of the Church, and +the prosperity of the University, and to deter others holding the same +important office from committing the like offence in all time coming, +but that others may hear and fear the danger and detriment of following +divisive courses." Yes; for the glory of God, the safety of the Church, +and the prosperity of the University. What right, Sir, have the +authors of such an instrument as this to raise their voices against the +insolence and intolerance of the Vatican? The glory of God! As to that, +I will only say that this is not the first occasion on which the glory +of God has been made a pretext for the injustice of man. The safety of +the Church! Sir, if, which God forbid, that Church is really possessed +by the evil spirit which actuates this Presbytery; if that Church, +having recently lost hundreds of able ministers and hundreds of +thousands of devout hearers, shall, instead of endeavouring, by +meekness, and by redoubled diligence, to regain those whom she has +estranged, give them new provocation; if she shall sharpen against them +an old law the edge of which has long rusted off, and which, when it +was first made, was made not for her defence, but for theirs; then I +pronounce the days of that Church numbered. As to the prosperity of the +University, is there a corner of Europe where men of science will not +laugh when they hear that the prosperity of the University of Saint +Andrews is to be promoted by expelling Sir David Brewster on account +of a theological squabble? The professors of Edinburgh know better +than this Presbytery how the prosperity of a seat of learning is to be +promoted. There the Academic Senate is almost unanimous in favour of +the bill. And indeed it is quite certain that, unless this bill, or some +similar bill, be passed, a new college will soon be founded and endowed +with that munificence of which the history of the Free Church furnishes +so many examples. From the day on which such an university arises, the +old universities must decline. Now, they are practically national, and +not sectarian, institutions. And yet, even now, the emoluments of a +professorship are so much smaller than those which ability and industry +can obtain in other ways, that it is difficult to find eminent men to +fill the chairs. And if there be this difficulty now, when students of +all religious persuasions attend the lectures, what is likely to happen +when all the members of the Free Church go elsewhere for instruction? +If there be this difficulty when you have all the world to choose +professors from, what is likely to happen when your choice is narrowed +to less than one-half of Scotland? As the professorships become poorer, +the professors will become less competent. As the professors become +less competent, the classes will become thinner. As the classes become +thinner, the professorships will again become poorer. The decline +will become rapid and headlong. In a short time, the lectures will be +delivered to empty rooms: the grass will grow in the courts: and men +not fit to be village dominies will occupy the chairs of Adam Smith and +Dugald Stewart, of Reid and Black, of Playfair and Jamieson. + +How do Her Majesty's Ministers like such a prospect as this! Already +they have, whether by their fault or their misfortune I will not now +inquire, secured for themselves an unenviable place in the history +of Scotland. Their names are already inseparably associated with +the disruption of her Church. Are those names to be as inseparably +associated with the ruin of her Universities? + +If the Government were consistent in error, some respect might be +mingled with our disapprobation. But a Government which is guided by no +principle; a Government which, on the gravest questions, does not know +its own mind twenty-four hours together; a Government which is against +tests at Cork, and for tests at Glasgow, against tests at Belfast, and +for tests at Edinburgh, against tests on the Monday, for them on the +Wednesday, against them again on the Thursday--how can such a Government +command esteem or confidence? How can the Ministers wonder that their +uncertain and capricious liberality fails to obtain the applause of +the liberal party? What right have they to complain if they lose the +confidence of half the nation without gaining the confidence of the +other half? + +But I do not speak to the Government. I speak to the House. I appeal +to those who, on Monday last, voted with the Ministers against the test +proposed by the honourable Baronet the Member for North Devon. I know +what is due to party ties. But there is a mire so black and so deep +that no leader has a right to drag his followers through it. It is only +forty-eight hours since honourable gentlemen were brought down to the +House to vote against requiring the professors in the Irish Colleges to +make a declaration of belief in the Gospel: and now the same gentlemen +are expected to come down and to vote that no man shall be a professor +in a Scottish college who does not declare himself a Calvinist and a +Presbyterian. Flagrant as is the injustice with which the ministers have +on this occasion treated Scotland, the injustice with which they have +treated their own supporters is more flagrant still. I call on all +who voted with the Government on Monday to consider whether they can +consistently and honourably vote with the Government to-night: I call on +all members of the Church of England to ponder well before they make it +penal to be a member of the Church of England; and, lastly, I call on +every man of every sect and party who loves science and letters, who is +solicitous for the public tranquillity, who respects the public faith, +to stand by us in this our hard struggle to avert the ruin which +threatens the Universities of Scotland. I move that this bill be now +read a second time. + +***** + + + + +CORN LAWS. (DECEMBER 2, 1845) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH ON THE 2D +OF DECEMBER 1845. + +The following Speech was delivered at a public meeting held at Edinburgh +on the second of December, 1845, for the purpose of petitioning Her +Majesty to open the ports of the United Kingdom for the free admission +of corn and other food. + +My Lord Provost and Gentlemen,--You will, I hope, believe that I am +deeply sensible of the kindness with which you have received me. I only +beg that you will continue to extend your indulgence to me, if it should +happen that my voice should fail me in the attempt to address you. I +have thought it my duty to obey your summons, though I am hardly equal +to the exertion of public speaking, and though I am so situated that I +can pass only a few hours among you. But it seemed to me that this was +not an ordinary meeting or an ordinary crisis. It seemed to me that +a great era had arrived, and that, at such a conjuncture, you were +entitled to know the opinions and intentions of one who has the honour +of being your representative. + +With respect to the past, gentlemen, I have perhaps a little to explain, +but certainly nothing to repent or to retract. My opinions, from the +day on which I entered public life, have never varied. I have always +considered the principle of protection of agriculture as a vicious +principle. I have always thought that this vicious principle took, +in the Act of 1815, in the Act of 1828, and in the Act of 1842, a +singularly vicious form. This I declared twelve years ago, when I stood +for Leeds: this I declared in May 1839, when I first presented myself +before you; and when, a few months later, Lord Melbourne invited me to +become a member of his Government, I distinctly told him that, in office +or out of office, I must vote for the total repeal of the corn laws. + +But in the year 1841 a very peculiar crisis arrived. There was reason to +hope that it might be possible to effect a compromise, which would not +indeed wholly remove the evils inseparable from a system of protection, +but which would greatly mitigate them. There were some circumstances in +the financial situation of the country which led those who were then the +advisers of the Crown to hope that they might be able to get rid of +the sliding scale, and to substitute for it a moderate fixed duty. We +proposed a duty of eight shillings a quarter on wheat. The Parliament +refused even to consider our plan. Her Majesty appealed to the people. +I presented myself before you; and you will bear me witness that I +disguised nothing. I said, "I am for a perfectly free trade in corn: +but I think that, situated as we are, we should do well to consent to a +compromise. If you return me to Parliament, I shall vote for the eight +shilling duty. It is for you to determine whether, on those terms, you +will return me or not." You agreed with me. You sent me back to the +House of Commons on the distinct understanding that I was to vote for +the plan proposed by the Government of which I was a member. As soon as +the new Parliament met, a change of administration took place. But it +seemed to me that it was my duty to support, when out of place, that +proposition to which I had been a party when I was in place. I therefore +did not think myself justified in voting for a perfectly free trade, +till Parliament had decided against our fixed duty, and in favour of +Sir Robert Peel's new sliding scale. As soon as that decision had been +pronounced, I conceived that I was no longer bound by the terms of the +compromise which I had, with many misgivings, consented to offer to the +agriculturists, and which the agriculturists had refused to accept. I +have ever since voted in favour of every motion which has been made for +the total abolition of the duties on corn. + +There has been, it is true, some difference of opinion between me and +some of you. We belonged to the same camp: but we did not quite agree +as to the mode of carrying on the war. I saw the immense strength of the +interests which were arrayed against us. I saw that the corn monopoly +would last forever if those who defended it were united, while those who +assailed it were divided. I saw that many men of distinguished abilities +and patriotism, such men as Lord John Russell, Lord Howick, Lord +Morpeth, were unwilling to relinquish all hope that the question might +be settled by a compromise such as had been proposed in 1841. It seemed +to me that the help of such men was indispensable to us, and that, if +we drove from us such valuable allies, we should be unable to contend +against the common enemy. Some of you thought that I was timorous, and +others that I was misled by party spirit or by personal friendship. +I still think that I judged rightly. But I will not now argue the +question. It has been set at rest for ever, and in the best possible +way. It is not necessary for us to consider what relations we ought to +maintain with the party which is for a moderate fixed duty. That party +has disappeared. Time, and reflection, and discussion, have produced +their natural effect on minds eminently intelligent and candid. No +intermediate shades of opinion are now left. There is no twilight. The +light has been divided from the darkness. Two parties are ranged in +battle array against each other. There is the standard of monopoly. +Here is the standard of free trade; and by the standard of free trade I +pledge myself to stand firmly. + +Gentlemen, a resolution has been put into my hands which I shall move +with the greatest pleasure. That resolution sets forth in emphatic +language a truth of the highest importance, namely, that the present +corn laws press with especial severity on the poor. There was a time, +gentlemen, when politicians were not ashamed to defend the corn laws +merely as contrivances for putting the money of the many into the +pockets of the few. We must,--so these men reasoned,--have a powerful +and opulent class of grandees: that we may have such grandees, the rent +of land must be kept up: and that the rent of land may be kept up, the +price of bread must be kept up. There may still be people who think +thus: but they wisely keep their thoughts to themselves. Nobody now +ventures to say in public that ten thousand families ought to be put on +short allowance of food in order that one man may have a fine stud and +a fine picture gallery. Our monopolists have changed their ground. +They have abandoned their old argument for a new argument much +less invidious, but, I think, rather more absurd. They have turned +philanthropists. Their hearts bleed for the misery of the poor labouring +man. They constantly tell us that the cry against the corn laws has been +raised by capitalists; that the capitalist wishes to enrich himself at +the expense both of the landed gentry and of the working people; that +every reduction of the price of food must be followed by a reduction of +the wages of labour; and that, if bread should cost only half what it +now costs, the peasant and the artisan would be sunk in wretchedness and +degradation, and the only gainers would be the millowners and the money +changers. It is not only by landowners, it is not only by Tories, that +this nonsense has been talked. We have heard it from men of a very +different class, from demagogues who wish to keep up the corn laws, +merely in order that the corn laws may make the people miserable, and +that misery may make the people turbulent. You know how assiduously +those enemies of all order and all property have laboured to deceive the +working man into a belief that cheap bread would be a curse to him. Nor +have they always laboured in vain. You remember that once, even in this +great and enlightened city, a public meeting called to consider the corn +laws was disturbed by a deluded populace. Now, for my own part, whenever +I hear bigots who are opposed to all reform, and anarchists who are bent +on universal destruction, join in the same cry, I feel certain that it +is an absurd and mischievous cry; and surely never was there a cry +so absurd and mischievous as this cry against cheap loaves. It seems +strange that Conservatives, people who profess to hold new theories +in abhorrence, people who are always talking about the wisdom of our +ancestors, should insist on our receiving as an undoubted truth a +strange paradox never heard of from the creation of the world till the +nineteenth century. Begin with the most ancient book extant, the Book of +Genesis, and come down to the parliamentary debates of 1815; and I will +venture to say that you will find that, on this point, the party which +affects profound reverence for antiquity and prescription has against it +the unanimous voice of thirty-three centuries. If there be anything +in which all peoples, nations, and languages, Jews, Greeks, Romans, +Italians, Frenchmen, Englishmen, have agreed, it has been this, that +the dearness of food is a great evil to the poor. Surely, the arguments +which are to counterbalance such a mass of authority ought to be +weighty. What then are those arguments? I know of only one. If any +gentleman is acquainted with any other, I wish that he would communicate +it to us; and I will engage that he shall have a fair and full hearing. +The only argument that I know of is this, that there are some countries +in the world where food is cheaper than in England, and where the people +are more miserable than in England. Bengal has been mentioned. But +Poland is the favourite case. Whenever we ask why there should not be +a free trade in corn between the Vistula and the Thames, the answer +is, "Do you wish our labourers to be reduced to the condition of the +peasants of the Vistula?" Was such reasoning ever heard before? See how +readily it may be turned against those who use it. Corn is cheaper at +Cincinnati than here; but the wages of the labourer are much higher at +Cincinnati than here: therefore, the lower the price of food, the higher +the wages will be. This reasoning is just as good as the reasoning of +our adversaries: that is to say, it is good for nothing. It is not +one single cause that makes nations either prosperous or miserable. No +friend of free trade is such an idiot as to say that free trade is the +only valuable thing in the world; that religion, government, police, +education, the administration of justice, public expenditure, foreign +relations, have nothing whatever to do with the well-being of nations; +that people sunk in superstition, slavery, barbarism, must be happy if +they have only cheap food. These gentlemen take the most unfortunate +country in the world, a country which, while it had an independent +government, had the very worst of independent governments; the sovereign +a mere phantom; the nobles defying him and quarrelling with each other; +the great body of the population in a state of servitude; no middle +class; no manufactures; scarcely any trade, and that in the hands of Jew +pedlars. Such was Poland while it was a separate kingdom. But foreign +invaders came down upon it. It was conquered: it was reconquered: it was +partitioned: it was repartitioned: it is now under a government of which +I will not trust myself to speak. This is the country to which these +gentlemen go to study the effect of low prices. When they wish to +ascertain the effect of high prices, they take our own country; a +country which has been during many generations the best governed in +Europe; a country where personal slavery has been unknown during ages; +a country which enjoys the blessings of a pure religion, of freedom, of +order; a country long secured by the sea against invasion; a country in +which the oldest man living has never seen a foreign flag except as a +trophy. Between these two countries our political philosophers institute +a comparison. They find the Briton better off than the Pole; and they +immediately come to the conclusion that the Briton is so well off +because his bread is dear, and the Pole so ill off because his bread is +cheap. Why, is there a single good which in this way I could not prove +to be an evil, or a single evil which I could not prove to be a good? +Take lameness. I will prove that it is the best thing in the world to +be lame: for I can show you men who are lame, and yet much happier than +many men who have the full use of their legs. I will prove health to be +a calamity. For I can easily find you people in excellent health whose +fortunes have been wrecked, whose character has been blasted, and who +are more wretched than many invalids. But is that the way in which any +man of common sense reasons? No; the question is: Would not the lame man +be happier if you restored to him the use of his limbs? Would not the +healthy man be more wretched if he had gout and rheumatism in addition +to all his other calamities? Would not the Englishman be better off +if food were as cheap here as in Poland? Would not the Pole be more +miserable if food were as dear in Poland as here? More miserable indeed +he would not long be: for he would be dead in a month. + +It is evident that the true way of determining the question which we +are considering, is to compare the state of a society when food is cheap +with the state of that same society when food is dear; and this is a +comparison which we can very easily make. We have only to recall to our +memory what we have ourselves seen within the last ten years. Take the +year 1835. Food was cheap then; and the capitalist prospered greatly. +But was the labouring man miserable? On the contrary, it is notorious +that work was plentiful, that wages were high, that the common people +were thriving and contented. Then came a change like that in Pharaoh's +dream. The thin ears had blighted the full ears; the lean kine had +devoured the fat kine; the days of plenty were over; and the days of +dearth had arrived. In 1841 the capitalist was doubtless distressed. But +will anybody tell me that the capitalist was the only sufferer, or the +chief sufferer? Have we forgotten what was the condition of the +working people in that unhappy year? So visible was the misery of the +manufacturing towns that a man of sensibility could hardly bear to pass +through them. Everywhere he found filth and nakedness, and plaintive +voices, and wasted forms, and haggard faces. Politicians who had never +been thought alarmists began to tremble for the very foundations of +society. First the mills were put on short time. Then they ceased to +work at all. Then went to pledge the scanty property of the artisan: +first his little luxuries, then his comforts, then his necessaries. The +hovels were stripped till they were as bare as the wigwam of a Dogribbed +Indian. Alone, amidst the general misery, the shop with the three golden +balls prospered, and was crammed from cellar to garret with the clocks, +and the tables, and the kettles, and the blankets, and the bibles of +the poor. I remember well the effect which was produced in London by the +unwonted sight of the huge pieces of cannon which were going northward +to overawe the starving population of Lancashire. These evil days passed +away. Since that time we have again had cheap bread. The capitalist has +been a gainer. It was fit that he should be a gainer. But has he been +the only gainer? Will those who are always telling us that the Polish +labourer is worse off than the English labourer venture to tell us that +the English labourer was worse off in 1844 than in 1841? Have we not +everywhere seen the goods of the poor coming back from the magazine of +the pawnbroker? Have we not seen in the house of the working man, in his +clothing, in his very looks as he passed us in the streets, that he +was a happier being? As to his pleasures, and especially as to the +most innocent, the most salutary, of his pleasures, ask your own most +intelligent and useful fellow citizen Mr Robert Chambers what sale +popular books had in the year 1841, and what sale they had last year. +I am assured that, in one week of 1845, the sums paid in wages within +twenty miles of Manchester exceeded by a million and a half the sums +paid in the corresponding week of 1841. + +Gentlemen, both the capitalist and the labourer have been gainers, +as they ought to have been gainers, by the diminution in the price of +bread. But there is a third party, which ought not to have gained by +that diminution, and yet has gained very greatly by it; and that party +is Her Majesty's present Government. It is for the interest of rulers +that those whom they rule should be prosperous. But the prosperity which +we have lately enjoyed was a prosperity for which we were not indebted +to our rulers. It came in spite of them. It was produced by the +cheapness of that which they had laboured to render dear. Under pretence +of making us independent of foreign supply, they have established a +system which makes us dependent in the worst possible way. As my valued +friend, the Lord Provost (Mr Adam Black.), has justly said, there is +a mutual dependence among nations of which we cannot get rid. That +Providence has assigned different productions to different climates is a +truth with which everybody is familiar. But this is not all. Even in +the same climate different productions belong to different stages of +civilisation. As one latitude is favourable to the vine and another to +the sugar cane, so there is, in the same latitude, a state of society in +which it is desirable that the industry of men should be almost entirely +directed towards the cultivation of the earth, and another state of +society in which it is desirable that a large part of the population +should be employed in manufactures. No dependence can be conceived more +natural, more salutary, more free from everything like degradation +than the mutual dependence which exists between a nation which has a +boundless extent of fertile land, and a nation which has a boundless +command of machinery; between a nation whose business is to turn deserts +into corn fields, and a nation whose business is to increase tenfold by +ingenious processes the value of the fleece and of the rude iron ore. +Even if that dependence were less beneficial than it is, we must +submit to it; for it is inevitable. Make what laws we will, we must be +dependent on other countries for a large part of our food. That point +was decided when England ceased to be an exporting country. For, +gentlemen, it is demonstrable that none but a country which ordinarily +exports food can be independent of foreign supplies. If a manufacturer +determines to produce ten thousand pair of stockings, he will produce +the ten thousand, and neither more nor less. But an agriculturist +cannot determine that he will produce ten thousand quarters of corn, +and neither more nor less. That he may be sure of having ten thousand +quarters in a bad year, he must sow such a quantity of land that he will +have much more than ten thousand in a good year. It is evident that, if +our island does not in ordinary years produce many more quarters than we +want, it will in bad years produce fewer quarters than we want. And it +is equally evident that our cultivators will not produce more quarters +of corn than we want, unless they can export the surplus at a profit. +Nobody ventures to tell us that Great Britain can be ordinarily an +exporting country. It follows that we must be dependent: and the only +question is, Which is the best mode of dependence? That question it is +not difficult to answer. Go to Lancashire; see that multitude of cities, +some of them equal in size to the capitals of large kingdoms. Look at +the warehouses, the machinery, the canals, the railways, the docks. +See the stir of that hive of human beings busily employed in making, +packing, conveying stuffs which are to be worn in Canada and Caffraria, +in Chili and Java. You naturally ask, How is this immense population, +collected on an area which will not yield food for one tenth part of +them, to be nourished? But change the scene. Go beyond the Ohio, and +there you will see another species of industry, equally extensive and +equally flourishing. You will see the wilderness receding fast before +the advancing tide of life and civilisation, vast harvests waving round +the black stumps of what a few months ago was a pathless forest, and +cottages, barns, mills, rising amidst the haunts of the wolf and the +bear. Here is more than enough corn to feed the artisans of our thickly +peopled island; and most gladly would the grower of that corn exchange +it for a Sheffield knife, a Birmingham spoon, a warm coat of Leeds +woollen cloth, a light dress of Manchester cotton. But this exchange our +rulers prohibit. They say to our manufacturing population, "You would +willingly weave clothes for the people of America, and they would gladly +sow wheat for you; but we prohibit this intercourse. We condemn both +your looms and their ploughs to inaction. We will compel you to pay a +high price for a stinted meal. We will compel those who would gladly be +your purveyors and your customers to be your rivals. We will compel them +to turn manufacturers in self-defence; and when, in close imitation of +us, they impose high duties on British goods for the protection of their +own produce, we will, in our speeches and despatches, express wonder and +pity at their strange ignorance of political economy." + +Such has been the policy of Her Majesty's Ministers; but it has not yet +been fairly brought to the trial. Good harvests have prevented bad laws +from producing their full effect. The Government has had a run of luck; +and vulgar observers have mistaken luck for wisdom. But such runs of +luck do not last forever. Providence will not always send the rain and +the sunshine just at such a time and in such a quantity as to save +the reputation of shortsighted statesmen. There is too much reason to +believe that evil days are approaching. On such a subject it is a +sacred duty to avoid exaggeration; and I shall do so. I observe that +the writers,--wretched writers they are,--who defend the present +Administration, assert that there is no probability of a considerable +rise in the price of provisions, and that the Whigs and the +Anti-Corn-Law League are busily engaged in circulating false reports for +the vile purpose of raising a panic. Now, gentlemen, it shall not be +in the power of anybody to throw any such imputation on me; for I shall +describe our prospects in the words of the Ministers themselves. I +hold in my hand a letter in which Sir Thomas Freemantle, Secretary for +Ireland, asks for information touching the potato crop in that country. +His words are these. "Her Majesty's Government is seeking to learn the +opinion of judges and well informed persons in every part of Ireland +regarding the probability of the supply being sufficient for the support +of the people during the ensuing winter and spring, provided care be +taken in preserving the stock, and economy used in its consumption." +Here, you will observe, it is taken for granted that the supply is +not sufficient for a year's consumption: it is taken for granted that, +without care and economy, the supply will not last to the end of the +spring; and a doubt is expressed whether, with care and economy, the +supply will last even through the winter. In this letter the Ministers +of the Crown tell us that famine is close at hand; and yet, when this +letter was written, the duty on foreign corn was seventeen shillings +a quarter. Is it necessary to say more about the merits of the sliding +scale? We were assured that this wonderful piece of machinery would +secure us against all danger of scarcity. But unhappily we find that +there is a hitch; the sliding scale will not slide; the Ministers are +crying "Famine," while the index which they themselves devised is still +pointing to "Plenty." + +And thus, Sir, I come back to the resolution which I hold in my hand, A +dear year is before us. The price of meal is already, I believe, half as +much again as it was a few months ago. Again, unhappily, we are able +to bring to the test of facts the doctrine, that the dearness of food +benefits the labourer and injures only the capitalist. The price of +food is rising. Are wages rising? On the contrary, they are falling. In +numerous districts the symptoms of distress are already perceptible. +The manufacturers are already beginning to work short time. Warned by +repeated experience, they know well what is coming, and expect that 1846 +will be a second 1841. + +If these things do not teach us wisdom, we are past all teaching. Twice +in ten years we have seen the price of corn go up; and, as it went up, +the wages of the labouring classes went down. Twice in the same period +we have seen the price of corn go down; and, as it went down, the wages +of the labouring classes went up. Surely such experiments as these would +in any science be considered as decisive. + +The prospect, gentlemen, is, doubtless, gloomy. Yet it has its bright +part. I have already congratulated you on the important fact that +Lord John Russell and those who have hitherto acted on this subject in +concert with him, have given up all thoughts of fixed duty. I have to +congratulate you on another fact not less important. I am assured that +the working people of the manufacturing districts have at last come to +understand this question. The sharp discipline which they have undergone +has produced this good effect; that they will never again listen to any +orator who shall have the effrontery to tell them that their wages rise +and fall with the price of the loaf. Thus we shall go into the contest +under such leading and with such a following as we never had before. The +best part of the aristocracy will be at our head. Millions of labouring +men, who had been separated from us by the arts of impostors, will be +in our rear. So led and so followed, we may, I think, look forward to +victory, if not in this, yet in the next Parliament. But, whether our +triumph be near or remote, I assure you that I shall not fail as regards +this question, to prove myself your true representative. I will now, my +Lord, put into your hands this resolution, "That the present corn law +presses with especial severity on the poorer classes." + +***** + + + + +THE TEN HOURS BILL. (MAY 22, 1846) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF +COMMONS ON THE 22D OF MAY 1846. + +On the twenty-ninth of April, 1846, Mr Fielden, Member for Oldham, moved +the second reading of a Bill for limiting the labour of young persons +in factories to ten hours a day. The debate was adjourned, and was +repeatedly resumed at long intervals. At length, on the twenty-second of +May the Bill was rejected by 203 votes to 193. On that day the following +Speech was made. + +It is impossible, Sir, that I can remain silent after the appeal which +has been made to me in so pointed a manner by my honourable friend, the +Member for Sheffield (Mr Ward.), and even if that appeal had not been +made to me, I should have been very desirous to have an opportunity of +explaining the grounds on which I shall vote for the second reading of +this bill. + +It is, I hope, unnecessary for me to assure my honourable friend that +I utterly disapprove of those aspersions which have, both in this House +and out of it, been thrown on the owners of factories. For that valuable +class of men I have no feeling but respect and good will. I am convinced +that with their interests the interests of the whole community, and +especially of the labouring classes, are inseparably bound up. I can +also with perfect sincerity declare that the vote which I shall give +to-night will not be a factious vote. In no circumstances indeed should +I think that the laws of political hostility warranted me in treating +this question as a party question. But at the present moment I would +much rather strengthen than weaken the hands of Her Majesty's Ministers. +It is by no means pleasant to me to be under the necessity of opposing +them. I assure them, I assure my friends on this side of the House with +whom I am so unfortunate as to differ, and especially my honourable +friend the Member for Sheffield, who spoke, I must say, in rather too +plaintive a tone, that I have no desire to obtain credit for humanity at +their expense. I fully believe that their feeling towards the labouring +people is quite as kind as mine. There is no difference between us as +to ends: there is an honest difference of opinion as to means: and we +surely ought to be able to discuss the points on which we differ without +one angry emotion or one acrimonious word. + +The details of the bill, Sir, will be more conveniently and more +regularly discussed when we consider it in Committee. Our business at +present is with the principle: and the principle, we are told by many +gentlemen of great authority, is unsound. In their opinion, neither +this bill, nor any other bill regulating the hours of labour, can be +defended. This, they say, is one of those matters about which we ought +not to legislate at all; one of those matters which settle themselves +far better than any government can settle them. Now it is most important +that this point should be fully cleared up. We certainly ought not to +usurp functions which do not properly belong to us: but, on the other +hand, we ought not to abdicate functions which do properly belong to +us. I hardly know which is the greater pest to society, a paternal +government, that is to say a prying, meddlesome government, which +intrudes itself into every part of human life, and which thinks that it +can do everything for everybody better than anybody can do anything for +himself; or a careless, lounging government, which suffers grievances, +such as it could at once remove, to grow and multiply, and which to +all complaint and remonstrance has only one answer: "We must let things +alone: we must let things take their course: we must let things find +their level." There is no more important problem in politics than to +ascertain the just mean between these two most pernicious extremes, to +draw correctly the line which divides those cases in which it is the +duty of the State to interfere from those cases in which it is the duty +of the State to abstain from interference. In old times the besetting +sin of rulers was undoubtedly an inordinate disposition to meddle. The +lawgiver was always telling people how to keep their shops, how to till +their fields, how to educate their children, how many dishes to have +on their tables, how much a yard to give for the cloth which made their +coats. He was always trying to remedy some evil which did not properly +fall within his province: and the consequence was that he increased +the evils which he attempted to remedy. He was so much shocked by +the distress inseparable from scarcity that he made statutes against +forestalling and regrating, and so turned the scarcity into a famine. He +was so much shocked by the cunning and hardheartedness of money-lenders +that he made laws against usury; and the consequence was that the +borrower, who, if he had been left unprotected, would have got money at +ten per cent., could hardly, when protected, get it at fifteen per cent. +Some eminent political philosophers of the last century exposed with +great ability the folly of such legislation, and, by doing so, rendered +a great service to mankind. There has been a reaction, a reaction which +has doubtless produced much good, but which like most reactions, has not +been without evils and dangers. Our statesmen cannot now be accused of +being busybodies. But I am afraid that there is, even in some of the +ablest and most upright among them a tendency to the opposite fault. +I will give an instance of what I mean. Fifteen years ago it became +evident that railroads would soon, in every part of the kingdom, +supersede to a great extent the old highways. The tracing of the +new routes which were to join all the chief cities, ports, and naval +arsenals of the island was a matter of the highest national importance. +But, unfortunately, those who should have acted for the nation, refused +to interfere. Consequently, numerous questions which were really public, +questions which concerned the public convenience, the public prosperity, +the public security, were treated as private questions. That the whole +society was interested in having a good system of internal communication +seemed to be forgotten. The speculator who wanted a large dividend +on his shares, the landowner who wanted a large price for his acres, +obtained a full hearing. But nobody applied to be heard on behalf of +the community. The effects of that great error we feel, and we shall not +soon cease to feel. Unless I am greatly mistaken, we are in danger of +committing to-night an error of the same kind. The honourable member for +Montrose (Mr Hume.) and my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield +think that the question before us is merely a question between the old +and the new theories of commerce. They cannot understand how any +friend of free trade can wish the Legislature to interfere between the +capitalist and the labourer. They say, "You do not make a law to settle +the price of gloves, or the texture of gloves, or the length of credit +which the glover shall give. You leave it to him to determine whether +he will charge high or low prices, whether he will use strong or +flimsy materials, whether he will trust or insist on ready money. You +acknowledge that these are matters which he ought to be left to settle +with his customers, and that we ought not to interfere. It is possible +that he may manage his shop ill. But it is certain that we shall manage +it ill. On the same grounds on which you leave the seller of gloves and +the buyer of gloves to make their own contract, you ought to leave the +seller of labour and the buyer of labour to make their own contract." + +I have a great respect, Sir, for those who reason thus: but I cannot see +this matter in the light in which it appears to them; and, though I may +distrust my own judgment, I must be guided by it. I am, I believe, as +strongly attached as any member of this House to the principle of free +trade, rightly understood. Trade, considered merely as trade, considered +merely with reference to the pecuniary interest of the contracting +parties, can hardly be too free. But there is a great deal of trade +which cannot be considered merely as trade, and which affects higher +than pecuniary interests. And to say that Government never ought to +regulate such trade is a monstrous proposition, a proposition at which +Adam Smith would have stood aghast. We impose some restrictions on trade +for purposes of police. Thus, we do not suffer everybody who has a cab +and a horse to ply for passengers in the streets of London. We do not +leave the fare to be determined by the supply and the demand. We do not +permit a driver to extort a guinea for going half a mile on a rainy day +when there is no other vehicle on the stand. We impose some restrictions +on trade for the sake of revenue. Thus, we forbid a farmer to cultivate +tobacco on his own ground. We impose some restrictions on trade for +the sake of national defence. Thus we compel a man who would rather be +ploughing or weaving to go into the militia; and we fix the amount of +pay which he shall receive without asking his consent. Nor is there in +all this anything inconsistent with the soundest political economy. For +the science of political economy teaches us only that we ought not on +commercial grounds to interfere with the liberty of commerce; and we, +in the cases which I have put, interfere with the liberty of commerce on +higher than commercial grounds. + +And now, Sir, to come closer to the case with which we have to deal, I +say, first, that where the health of the community is concerned, it may +be the duty of the State to interfere with the contracts of individuals; +and to this proposition I am quite sure that Her Majesty's Government +will cordially assent. I have just read a very interesting report signed +by two members of that Government, the Duke of Buccleuch, and the noble +earl who was lately Chief Commissioner of the Woods and Forests, and +who is now Secretary for Ireland (The Earl of Lincoln.); and, since that +report was laid before the House, the noble earl himself has, with the +sanction of the Cabinet, brought in a bill for the protection of +the public health. By this bill it is provided that no man shall be +permitted to build a house on his own land in any great town without +giving notice to certain Commissioners. No man is to sink a cellar +without the consent of these Commissioners. The house must not be of +less than a prescribed width. No new house must be built without a +drain. If an old house has no drain, the Commissioners may order the +owner to make a drain. If he refuses, they make a drain for him, and +send him in the bill. They may order him to whitewash his house. If he +refuses, they may send people with pails and brushes to whitewash it for +him, at his charge. Now, suppose that some proprietor of houses at Leeds +or Manchester were to expostulate with the Government in the language in +which the Government has expostulated with the supporters of this bill +for the regulation of factories. Suppose he were to say to the noble +earl, "Your lordship professes to be a friend to free trade. Your +lordship's doctrine is that everybody ought to be at liberty to buy +cheap and to sell dear. Why then may not I run up a house as cheap as +I can, and let my rooms as dear as I can? Your lordship does not like +houses without drains. Do not take one of mine then. You think my +bedrooms filthy. Nobody forces you to sleep in them. Use your own +liberty: but do not restrain that of your neighbours. I can find many +a family willing to pay a shilling a week for leave to live in what +you call a hovel. And why am not I to take the shilling which they are +willing to give me? And why are not they to have such shelter as, for +that shilling, I can afford them? Why did you send a man without my +consent to clean my house, and then force me to pay for what I never +ordered? My tenants thought the house clean enough for them; or they +would not have been my tenants; and, if they and I were satisfied, +why did you, in direct defiance of all the principles of free trade, +interfere between us?" This reasoning, Sir, is exactly of a piece +with the reasoning of the honourable Member for Montrose, and of my +honourable friend the Member for Sheffield. If the noble earl will +allow me to make a defence for him, I believe that he would answer the +objection thus: "I hold," he would say, "the sound doctrine of free +trade. But your doctrine of free trade is an exaggeration, a caricature +of the sound doctrine; and by exhibiting such a caricature you bring +discredit on the sound doctrine. We should have nothing to do with the +contracts between you and your tenants, if those contracts affected only +pecuniary interests. But higher than pecuniary interests are at stake. +It concerns the commonwealth that the great body of the people should +not live in a way which makes life wretched and short, which enfeebles +the body and pollutes the mind. If, by living in houses which resemble +hogstyes, great numbers of our countrymen have contracted the tastes +of hogs, if they have become so familiar with filth and stench and +contagion, that they burrow without reluctance in holes which would turn +the stomach of any man of cleanly habits, that is only an additional +proof that we have too long neglected our duties, and an additional +reason for our now performing them." + +Secondly, I say that where the public morality is concerned it may be +the duty of the State to interfere with the contracts of individuals. +Take the traffic in licentious books and pictures. Will anybody deny +that the State may, with propriety, interdict that traffic? Or take the +case of lotteries. I have, we will suppose, an estate for which I +wish to get twenty thousand pounds. I announce my intention to issue a +thousand tickets at twenty pounds each. The holder of the number which +is first drawn is to have the estate. But the magistrate interferes; the +contract between me and the purchasers of my tickets is annulled; and +I am forced to pay a heavy penalty for having made such a contract. I +appeal to the principle of free trade, as expounded by the honourable +gentlemen the Members for Montrose and Sheffield. I say to you, the +legislators who have restricted my liberty, "What business have you to +interfere between a buyer and a seller? If you think the speculation +a bad one, do not take tickets. But do not interdict other people from +judging for themselves." Surely you would answer, "You would be right if +this were a mere question of trade: but it is a question of morality. +We prohibit you from disposing of your property in this particular mode, +because it is a mode which tends to encourage a most pernicious habit of +mind, a habit of mind incompatible with all the qualities on which the +well-being of individuals and of nations depends." + +It must then, I think, be admitted that, where health is concerned, and +where morality is concerned, the State is justified in interfering with +the contracts of individuals. And, if this be admitted, it follows that +the case with which we now have to do is a case for interference. + +Will it be denied that the health of a large part of the rising +generation may be seriously affected by the contracts which this bill +is intended to regulate? Can any man who has read the evidence which is +before us, can any man who has ever observed young people, can any man +who remembers his own sensations when he was young, doubt that twelve +hours a day of labour in a factory is too much for a lad of thirteen? + +Or will it be denied that this is a question in which public morality is +concerned? Can any one doubt,--none, I am sure, of my friends around +me doubts,--that education is a matter of the highest importance to +the virtue and happiness of a people? Now we know that there can be no +education without leisure. It is evident that, after deducting from +the day twelve hours for labour in a factory, and the additional hours +necessary for exercise, refreshment, and repose, there will not remain +time enough for education. + +I have now, I think, shown that this bill is not in principle +objectionable; and yet I have not touched the strongest part of our +case. I hold that, where public health is concerned, and where public +morality is concerned, the State may be justified in regulating even the +contracts of adults. But we propose to regulate only the contracts of +infants. Now, was there ever a civilised society in which the contracts +of infants were not under some regulation? Is there a single member of +this House who will say that a wealthy minor of thirteen ought to be at +perfect liberty to execute a conveyance of his estate, or to give a bond +for fifty thousand pounds? If anybody were so absurd as to say, "What +has the Legislature to do with the matter? Why cannot you leave trade +free? Why do you pretend to understand the boy's interest better than he +understands it?"--you would answer; "When he grows up, he may squander +his fortune away if he likes: but at present the State is his guardian; +and he shall not ruin himself till he is old enough to know what he +is about." The minors whom we wish to protect have not indeed large +property to throw away: but they are not the less our wards. Their only +inheritance, the only fund to which they must look for their subsistence +through life, is the sound mind in the sound body. And is it not our +duty to prevent them from wasting their most precious wealth before they +know its value? + +But, it is said, this bill, though it directly limits only the labour +of infants, will, by an indirect operation, limit also the labour of +adults. Now, Sir, though I am not prepared to vote for a bill directly +limiting the labour of adults, I will plainly say that I do not think +that the limitation of the labour of adults would necessarily produce +all those frightful consequences which we have heard predicted. You +cheer me in very triumphant tones, as if I had uttered some monstrous +paradox. Pray, does it not occur to any of you that the labour of adults +is now limited in this country? Are you not aware that you are living in +a society in which the labour of adults is limited to six days in seven? +It is you, not I, who maintain a paradox opposed to the opinions and +the practices of all nations and ages. Did you ever hear of a single +civilised State since the beginning of the world in which a certain +portion of time was not set apart for the rest and recreation of adults +by public authority? In general, this arrangement has been sanctioned +by religion. The Egyptians, the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, had their +holidays: the Hindoo has his holidays: the Mussulman has his holidays: +there are holidays in the Greek Church, holidays in the Church of Rome, +holidays in the Church of England. Is it not amusing to hear a gentleman +pronounce with confidence that any legislation which limits the labour +of adults must produce consequences fatal to society, without once +reflecting that in the society in which he lives, and in every +other society that exists, or ever has existed, there has been such +legislation without any evil consequence? It is true that a Puritan +Government in England, and an Atheistical Government in France, +abolished the old holidays as superstitious. But those Governments felt +it to be absolutely necessary to institute new holidays. Civil festivals +were substituted for religious festivals. You will find among the +ordinances of the Long Parliament a law providing that, in exchange for +the days of rest and amusement which the people had been used to enjoy +at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, the second Tuesday in every month +should be given to the working man, and that any apprentice who was +forced to work on the second Tuesday of any month might have his master +up before a magistrate. The French Jacobins decreed that the Sunday +should no longer be a day of rest; but they instituted another day of +rest, the Decade. They swept away the holidays of the Roman Catholic +Church; but they instituted another set of holidays, the Sansculottides, +one sacred to Genius, one to Industry, one to Opinion, and so on. I say, +therefore, that the practice of limiting by law the time of the labour +of adults is so far from being, as some gentlemen seem to think, an +unheard of and monstrous practice, that it is a practice as universal as +cookery, as the wearing of clothes, as the use of domestic animals. + +And has this practice been proved by experience to be pernicious? Let us +take the instance with which we are most familiar. Let us inquire what +has been the effect of those laws which, in our own country, limit the +labour of adults to six days in every seven. It is quite unnecessary to +discuss the question whether Christians be or be not bound by a divine +command to observe the Sunday. For it is evident that, whether our +weekly holiday be of divine or of human institution, the effect on the +temporal interests of Society will be exactly the same. Now, is there a +single argument in the whole Speech of my honourable friend the Member +for Sheffield which does not tell just as strongly against the laws +which enjoin the observance of the Sunday as against the bill on our +table? Surely, if his reasoning is good for hours, it must be equally +good for days. + +He says, "If this limitation be good for the working people, rely on it +that they will find it out, and that they will themselves establish it +without any law." Why not reason in the same way about the Sunday? Why +not say, "If it be a good thing for the people of London to shut their +shops one day in seven, they will find it out, and will shut their shops +without a law?" Sir, the answer is obvious. I have no doubt that, if +you were to poll the shopkeepers of London, you would find an immense +majority, probably a hundred to one, in favour of closing shops on the +Sunday; and yet it is absolutely necessary to give to the wish of the +majority the sanction of a law; for, if there were no such law, the +minority, by opening their shops, would soon force the majority to do +the same. + +But, says my honourable friend, you cannot limit the labour of adults +unless you fix wages. This proposition he lays down repeatedly, +assures us that it is incontrovertible, and indeed seems to think it +self-evident; for he has not taken the trouble to prove it. Sir, my +answer shall be very short. We have, during many centuries, limited the +labour of adults to six days in seven; and yet we have not fixed the +rate of wages. + +But, it is said, you cannot legislate for all trades; and therefore you +had better not legislate for any. Look at the poor sempstress. She works +far longer and harder than the factory child. She sometimes plies her +needle fifteen, sixteen hours in the twenty-four. See how the housemaid +works, up at six every morning, and toiling up stairs and down stairs +till near midnight. You own that you cannot do anything for the +sempstress and the housemaid. Why then trouble yourself about the +factory child? Take care that by protecting one class you do not +aggravate the hardships endured by the classes which you cannot protect. +Why, Sir, might not all this be said, word for word, against the laws +which enjoin the observance of the Sunday? There are classes of people +whom you cannot prevent from working on the Sunday. There are classes of +people whom, if you could, you ought not to prevent from working on the +Sunday. Take the sempstress, of whom so much has been said. You cannot +keep her from sewing and hemming all Sunday in her garret. But you +do not think that a reason for suffering Covent Garden Market, and +Leadenhall Market, and Smithfield Market, and all the shops from Mile +End to Hyde Park to be open all Sunday. Nay, these factories about which +we are debating,--does anybody propose that they shall be allowed to +work all Sunday? See then how inconsistent you are. You think it unjust +to limit the labour of the factory child to ten hours a day, because you +cannot limit the labour of the sempstress. And yet you see no injustice +in limiting the labour of the factory child, aye, and of the factory +man, to six days in the week, though you cannot limit the labour of the +sempstress. + +But, you say, by protecting one class we shall aggravate the sufferings +of all the classes which we cannot protect. You say this; but you do not +prove it; and all experience proves the contrary. We interfere on the +Sunday to close the shops. We do not interfere with the labour of the +housemaid. But are the housemaids of London more severely worked on the +Sunday than on other days? The fact notoriously is the reverse. For your +legislation keeps the public feeling in a right state, and thus protects +indirectly those whom it cannot protect directly. + +Will my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield maintain that the +law which limits the number of working days has been injurious to the +working population? I am certain that he will not. How then can he +expect me to believe that a law which limits the number of working hours +must necessarily be injurious to the working population? Yet he and +those who agree with him seem to wonder at our dulness because we do +not at once admit the truth of the doctrine which they propound on +this subject. They reason thus. We cannot reduce the number of hours of +labour in factories without reducing the amount of production. We cannot +reduce the amount of production without reducing the remuneration of the +labourer. Meanwhile, foreigners, who are at liberty to work till they +drop down dead at their looms, will soon beat us out of all the markets +of the world. Wages will go down fast. The condition of our working +people will be far worse than it is; and our unwise interference will, +like the unwise interference of our ancestors with the dealings of the +corn factor and the money lender, increase the distress of the very +class which we wish to relieve. + +Now, Sir, I fully admit that there might be such a limitation of the +hours of labour as would produce the evil consequences with which we are +threatened; and this, no doubt, is a very good reason for legislating +with great caution, for feeling our way, for looking well to all the +details of this bill. But it is certainly not true that every limitation +of the hours of labour must produce these consequences. And I am, I must +say, surprised when I hear men of eminent ability and knowledge lay down +the proposition that a diminution of the time of labour must be followed +by diminution of the wages of labour, as a proposition universally +true, as a proposition capable of being strictly demonstrated, as +a proposition about which there can be no more doubt than about any +theorem in Euclid. Sir, I deny the truth of the proposition; and for +this plain reason. We have already, by law, greatly reduced the time of +labour in factories. Thirty years ago, the late Sir Robert Peel told the +House that it was a common practice to make children of eight years of +age toil in mills fifteen hours a day. A law has since been made which +prohibits persons under eighteen years of age from working in mills +more than twelve hours a day. That law was opposed on exactly the same +grounds on which the bill before us is opposed. Parliament was told +then, as it is told now, that with the time of labour the quantity of +production would decrease, that with the quantity of production the +wages would decrease, that our manufacturers would be unable to contend +with foreign manufacturers, and that the condition of the labouring +population instead of being made better by the interference of the +Legislature would be made worse. Read over those debates; and you may +imagine that you are reading the debate of this evening. Parliament +disregarded these prophecies. The time of labour was limited. Have wages +fallen? Has the cotton trade left Manchester for France or Germany? Has +the condition of the working people become more miserable? Is it not +universally acknowledged that the evils which were so confidently +predicted have not come to pass? Let me be understood. I am not arguing +that, because a law which reduced the hours of daily labour from fifteen +to twelve did not reduce wages, a law reducing those hours from twelve +to ten or eleven cannot possibly reduce wages. That would be very +inconclusive reasoning. What I say is this, that, since a law which +reduced the hours of daily labour from fifteen to twelve has not reduced +wages, the proposition that every reduction of the hours of labour must +necessarily reduce wages is a false proposition. There is evidently +some flaw in that demonstration which my honourable friend thinks so +complete; and what the flaw is we may perhaps discover if we look at the +analogous case to which I have so often referred. + +Sir, exactly three hundred years ago, great religious changes were +taking place in England. Much was said and written, in that inquiring +and innovating age, about the question whether Christians were under a +religious obligation to rest from labour on one day in the week; and it +is well known that the chief Reformers, both here and on the Continent, +denied the existence of any such obligation. Suppose then that, in 1546, +Parliament had made a law that they should thenceforth be no distinction +between the Sunday and any other day. Now, Sir, our opponents, if they +are consistent with themselves, must hold that such a law would have +immensely increased the wealth of the country and the remuneration of +the working man. What an effect, if their principles be sound, must have +been produced by the addition of one sixth to the time of labour! What +an increase of production! What a rise of wages! How utterly unable must +the foreign artisan, who still had his days of festivity and of repose, +have found himself to maintain a competition with a people whose shops +were open, whose markets were crowded, whose spades and axes, and +planes, and hods, and anvils, and looms were at work from morning till +night on three hundred and sixty-five days a year! The Sundays of three +hundred years make up fifty years of our working days. We know what the +industry of fifty years can do. We know what marvels the industry of +the last fifty years has wrought. The arguments of my honourable friend +irresistibly lead us to this conclusion, that if, during the last three +centuries, the Sunday had not been observed as a day of rest, we should +have been a far richer, a far more highly civilised people than we +now are, and that the labouring classes especially would have been far +better off than at present. But does he, does any Member of the House, +seriously believe that this would have been the case? For my own part, +I have not the smallest doubt that, if we and our ancestors had, during +the last three centuries, worked just as hard on the Sunday as on the +week days, we should have been at this moment a poorer people and a less +civilised people than we are; that there would have been less production +than there has been, that the wages of the labourer would have been +lower than they are, and that some other nation would have been now +making cotton stuffs and woollen stuffs and cutlery for the whole world. + +Of course, Sir, I do not mean to say that a man will not produce more in +a week by working seven days than by working six days. But I very much +doubt whether, at the end of a year, he will generally have produced +more by working seven days a week than by working six days a week; and +I firmly believe that, at the end of twenty years, he will have produced +much less by working seven days a week than by working six days a week. +In the same manner I do not deny that a factory child will produce more, +in a single day, by working twelve hours than by working ten hours, and +by working fifteen hours than by working twelve hours. But I do deny +that a great society in which children work fifteen, or even twelve +hours a day will, in the lifetime of a generation, produce as much as +if those children had worked less. If we consider man merely in a +commercial point of view, if we consider him merely as a machine for +the production of worsted and calico, let us not forget what a piece of +mechanism he is, how fearfully and wonderfully made. We do not treat a +fine horse or a sagacious dog exactly as we treat a spinning jenny. Nor +will any slaveholder, who has sense enough to know his own interest, +treat his human chattels exactly as he treats his horses and his dogs. +And would you treat the free labourer of England like a mere wheel or +pulley? Rely on it that intense labour, beginning too early in life, +continued too long every day, stunting the growth of the body, stunting +the growth of the mind, leaving no time for healthful exercise, leaving +no time for intellectual culture, must impair all those high qualities +which have made our country great. Your overworked boys will become a +feeble and ignoble race of men, the parents of a more feeble and more +ignoble progeny; nor will it be long before the deterioration of the +labourer will injuriously affect those very interests to which his +physical and moral energies have been sacrificed. On the other hand, +a day of rest recurring in every week, two or three hours of leisure, +exercise, innocent amusement or useful study, recurring every day, must +improve the whole man, physically, morally, intellectually; and the +improvement of the man will improve all that the man produces. Why is +it, Sir, that the Hindoo cotton manufacturer, close to whose door +the cotton grows, cannot, in the bazaar of his own town, maintain +a competition with the English cotton manufacturer, who has to send +thousands of miles for the raw material, and who has then to send the +wrought material thousands of miles to market? You will say that it is +owing to the excellence of our machinery. And to what is the excellence +of our machinery owing? How many of the improvements which have been +made in our machinery do we owe to the ingenuity and patient thought of +working men? Adam Smith tells us in the first chapter of his great work, +that you can hardly go to a factory without seeing some very pretty +machine,--that is his expression,--devised by some labouring man. +Hargraves, the inventor of the spinning jenny, was a common artisan. +Crompton, the inventor of the mule jenny, was a working man. How many +hours of the labour of children would do so much for our manufactures as +one of these improvements has done? And in what sort of society are such +improvements most likely to be made? Surely in a society in which the +faculties of the working people are developed by education. How long +will you wait before any negro, working under the lash in Louisiana, +will contrive a better machinery for squeezing the sugar canes? +My honourable friend seems to me, in all his reasonings about the +commercial prosperity of nations, to overlook entirely the chief cause +on which that prosperity depends. What is it, Sir, that makes the great +difference between country and country? Not the exuberance of soil; not +the mildness of climate; not mines, nor havens, nor rivers. These things +are indeed valuable when put to their proper use by human intelligence: +but human intelligence can do much without them; and they without human +intelligence can do nothing. They exist in the highest degree in regions +of which the inhabitants are few, and squalid, and barbarous, and naked, +and starving; while on sterile rocks, amidst unwholesome marshes, and +under inclement skies, may be found immense populations, well fed, well +lodged, well clad, well governed. Nature meant Egypt and Sicily to be +the gardens of the world. They once were so. Is it anything in the earth +or in the air that makes Scotland more prosperous than Egypt, that makes +Holland more prosperous than Sicily? No; it was the Scotchman that made +Scotland; it was the Dutchman that made Holland. Look at North America. +Two centuries ago the sites on which now arise mills, and hotels, and +banks, and colleges, and churches, and the Senate Houses of flourishing +commonwealths, were deserts abandoned to the panther and the bear. What +has made the change? Was it the rich mould, or the redundant rivers? No: +the prairies were as fertile, the Ohio and the Hudson were as broad +and as full then as now. Was the improvement the effect of some great +transfer of capital from the old world to the new? No, the emigrants +generally carried out with them no more than a pittance; but they +carried out the English heart, and head, and arm; and the English heart +and head and arm turned the wilderness into cornfield and orchard, and +the huge trees of the primeval forest into cities and fleets. Man, man +is the great instrument that produces wealth. The natural difference +between Campania and Spitzbergen is trifling, when compared with the +difference between a country inhabited by men full of bodily and +mental vigour, and a country inhabited by men sunk in bodily and mental +decrepitude. Therefore it is that we are not poorer but richer, because +we have, through many ages, rested from our labour one day in seven. +That day is not lost. While industry is suspended, while the plough lies +in the furrow, while the Exchange is silent, while no smoke ascends from +the factory, a process is going on quite as important to the wealth of +nations as any process which is performed on more busy days. Man, +the machine of machines, the machine compared with which all the +contrivances of the Watts and the Arkwrights are worthless, is repairing +and winding up, so that he returns to his labours on the Monday with +clearer intellect, with livelier spirits, with renewed corporal +vigour. Never will I believe that what makes a population stronger, and +healthier, and wiser, and better, can ultimately make it poorer. You try +to frighten us by telling us, that in some German factories, the young +work seventeen hours in the twenty-four, that they work so hard that +among thousands there is not one who grows to such a stature that he can +be admitted into the army; and you ask whether, if we pass this bill, we +can possibly hold our own against such competition as this? Sir, I laugh +at the thought of such competition. If ever we are forced to yield the +foremost place among commercial nations, we shall yield it, not to a +race of degenerate dwarfs, but to some people pre-eminently vigorous in +body and in mind. + +For these reasons, Sir, I approve of the principle of this bill, and +shall, without hesitation, vote for the second reading. To what extent +we ought to reduce the hours of labour is a question of more difficulty. +I think that we are in the situation of a physician who has satisfied +himself that there is a disease, and that there is a specific medicine +for the disease, but who is not certain what quantity of that medicine +the patient's constitution will bear. Such a physician would probably +administer his remedy by small doses, and carefully watch its operation. +I cannot help thinking that, by at once reducing the hours of labour +from twelve to ten, we should hazard too much. The change is great, and +ought to be cautiously and gradually made. Suppose that there should be +an immediate fall of wages, which is not impossible. Might there not +be a violent reaction? Might not the public take up a notion that our +legislation had been erroneous in principle, though, in truth, our error +would have been an error, not of principle, but merely of degree? Might +not Parliament be induced to retrace its steps? Might we not find it +difficult to maintain even the present limitation? The wisest course +would, in my opinion, be to reduce the hours of labour from twelve to +eleven, to observe the effect of that experiment, and if, as I hope +and believe, the result should be satisfactory, then to make a further +reduction from eleven to ten. This is a question, however, which will be +with more advantage considered when we are in Committee. + +One word, Sir, before I sit down, in answer to my noble friend near me. +(Lord Morpeth.) He seems to think that this bill is ill timed. I own +that I cannot agree with him. We carried up on Monday last to the bar +of the Lords a bill which will remove the most hateful and pernicious +restriction that ever was laid on trade. Nothing can be more proper +than to apply, in the same week, a remedy to a great evil of a directly +opposite kind. As lawgivers, we have two great faults to confess and to +repair. We have done that which we ought not to have done. We have left +undone that which we ought to have done. We have regulated that which we +should have left to regulate itself. We have left unregulated that which +we were bound to regulate. We have given to some branches of industry +a protection which has proved their bane. We have withheld from public +health and public morals the protection which was their due. We have +prevented the labourer from buying his loaf where he could get it +cheapest; but we have not prevented him from ruining his body and mind +by premature and immoderate toil. I hope that we have seen the last +both of a vicious system of interference and of a vicious system of +non-interference, and that our poorer countrymen will no longer have +reason to attribute their sufferings either to our meddling or to our +neglect. + +***** + + + + +THE LITERATURE OF BRITAIN. (NOVEMBER 4, 1846) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT +THE OPENING OF THE EDINBURGH PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION ON THE 4TH OF +NOVEMBER 1846. + +I thank you, Gentlemen, for this cordial reception. I have thought it +right to steal a short time from duties not unimportant for the purpose +of lending my aid to a an undertaking calculated, as I think, to raise +the credit and to promote the best interests of the city which has so +many claims on my gratitude. + +The Directors of our Institution have requested me to propose to you as +a toast the Literature of Britain. They could not have assigned to me +a more agreeable duty. They chief object of this Institution is, I +conceive, to impart knowledge through the medium of our own language. +Edinburgh is already rich in libraries worthy of her fame as a seat +of literature and a seat of jurisprudence. A man of letters can here +without difficulty obtain access to repositories filled with the wisdom +of many ages and of many nations. But something was still wanting. +We still wanted a library open to that large, that important, that +respectable class which, though by no means destitute of liberal +curiosity or of sensibility to literary pleasures, is yet forced to +be content with what is written in our own tongue. For that class +especially, I do not say exclusively, this library is intended. +Our directors, I hope, will not be satisfied, I, as a member, shall +certainly not be satisfied, till we possess a noble and complete +collection of English books, till it is impossible to seek in vain +on our shelves for a single English book which is valuable either on +account of matter or on account of manner, which throws any light on our +civil, ecclesiastical, intellectual, or social history, which, in short, +can afford either useful instruction or harmless amusement. + +From such a collection, placed within the reach of that large and +valuable class which I have mentioned, I am disposed to expect great +good. And when I say this, I do not take into the account those rare +cases to which my valued friend, the Lord Provost (Mr Adam Black.), so +happily alluded. It is indeed not impossible that some man of genius who +may enrich our literature with imperishable eloquence or song, or who +may extend the empire of our race over matter, may feel in our reading +room, for the first time the consciousness of powers yet undeveloped. +It is not impossible that our volumes may suggest the first thought of +something great to some future Burns, or Watt, or Arkwright. But I do +not speak of these extraordinary cases. What I confidently anticipate is +that, through the whole of that class whose benefit we have peculiarly +in view, there will be a moral and an intellectual improvement; that +many hours, which might otherwise be wasted in folly or in vice, will +be employed in pursuits which, while they afford the highest and most +lasting pleasure, are not only harmless, but purifying and elevating. +My own experience, my own observation, justifies me in entertaining this +hope. I have had opportunities, both in this and in other countries, of +forming some estimate of the effect which is likely to be produced by +a good collection of books on a society of young men. There is, I will +venture to say, no judicious commanding officer of a regiment who +will not tell you that the vicinity of a valuable library will improve +perceptibly the whole character of a mess. I well knew one eminent +military servant of the East India Company, a man of great and various +accomplishments, a man honourably distinguished both in war and in +diplomacy, a man who enjoyed the confidence of some of the greatest +generals and statesmen of our time. When I asked him how, having left +his country while still a boy, and having passed his youth at military +stations in India, he had been able to educate himself, his answer was, +that he had been stationed in the neighbourhood of an excellent library, +that he had been allowed free access to the books, and that they had, at +the most critical time of his life, decided his character, and saved him +from being a mere smoking, card-playing, punch-drinking lounger. + +Some of the objections which have been made to such institutions as +ours have been so happily and completely refuted by my friend the Lord +Provost, and by the Most Reverend Prelate who has honoured us with his +presence this evening (Archbishop Whateley.), that it would be idle to +say again what has been so well said. There is, however, one objection +which, with your permission, I will notice. Some men, of whom I wish +to speak with great respect, are haunted, as it seems to me, with an +unreasonable fear of what they call superficial knowledge. Knowledge, +they say, which really deserves the name, is a great blessing to +mankind, the ally of virtue, the harbinger of freedom. But such +knowledge must be profound. A crowd of people who have a smattering of +mathematics, a smattering of astronomy, a smattering of chemistry, who +have read a little poetry and a little history, is dangerous to the +commonwealth. Such half-knowledge is worse than ignorance. And then the +authority of Pope is vouched. Drink deep or taste not; shallow draughts +intoxicate: drink largely; and that will sober you. I must confess that +the danger which alarms these gentlemen never seemed to me very serious: +and my reason is this; that I never could prevail on any person who +pronounced superficial knowledge a curse, and profound knowledge a +blessing, to tell me what was his standard of profundity. The argument +proceeds on the supposition that there is some line between profound +and superficial knowledge similar to that which separates truth from +falsehood. I know of no such line. When we talk of men of deep science, +do we mean that they have got to the bottom or near the bottom of +science? Do we mean that they know all that is capable of being known? +Do we mean even that they know, in their own especial department, all +that the smatterers of the next generation will know? Why, if we compare +the little truth that we know with the infinite mass of truth which we +do not know, we are all shallow together; and the greatest philosophers +that ever lived would be the first to confess their shallowness. If we +could call up the first of human beings, if we could call up Newton, +and ask him whether, even in those sciences in which he had no rival, he +considered himself as profoundly knowing, he would have told us that he +was but a smatterer like ourselves, and that the difference between his +knowledge and ours vanished, when compared with the quantity of truth +still undiscovered, just as the distance between a person at the foot of +Ben Lomond and at the top of Ben Lomond vanishes when compared with the +distance of the fixed stars. + +It is evident then that those who are afraid of superficial knowledge +do not mean by superficial knowledge knowledge which is superficial when +compared with the whole quantity of truth capable of being known. For, +in that sense, all human knowledge is, and always has been, and always +must be, superficial. What then is the standard? Is it the same two +years together in any country? Is it the same, at the same moment, in +any two countries? Is it not notorious that the profundity of one age +is the shallowness of the next; that the profundity of one nation is the +shallowness of a neighbouring nation? Ramohun Roy passed, among Hindoos, +for a man of profound Western learning; but he would have been but a +very superficial member of this Institute. Strabo was justly entitled +to be called a profound geographer eighteen hundred years ago. But +a teacher of geography, who had never heard of America, would now be +laughed at by the girls of a boarding-school. What would now be thought +of the greatest chemist of 1746, or of the greatest geologist of +1746? The truth is that, in all experimental science, mankind is, of +necessity, constantly advancing. Every generation, of course, has its +front rank and its rear rank; but the rear rank of a later generation +occupies the ground which was occupied by the front rank of a former +generation. + +You remember Gulliver's adventures. First he is shipwrecked in a country +of little men; and he is a Colossus among them. He strides over the +walls of their capital: he stands higher than the cupola of their great +temple: he tugs after him a royal fleet: he stretches his legs; and a +royal army, with drums beating and colours flying, marches through the +gigantic arch: he devours a whole granary for breakfast, eats a herd of +cattle for dinner, and washes down his meal with all the hogsheads of a +cellar. In his next voyage he is among men sixty feet high. He who, in +Lilliput, used to take people up in his hand in order that he might be +able to hear them, is himself taken up in the hands and held to the +ears of his masters. It is all that he can do to defend himself with his +hanger against the rats and mice. The court ladies amuse themselves with +seeing him fight wasps and frogs: the monkey runs off with him to the +chimney top: the dwarf drops him into the cream jug and leaves him to +swim for his life. Now, was Gulliver a tall or a short man? Why, in his +own house at Rotherhithe, he was thought a man of the ordinary stature. +Take him to Lilliput; and he is Quinbus Flestrin, the Man Mountain. Take +him to Brobdingnag, and he is Grildrig, the little Manikin. It is the +same in science. The pygmies of one society would have passed for giants +in another. + +It might be amusing to institute a comparison between one of the +profoundly learned men of the thirteenth century and one of the +superficial students who will frequent our library. Take the great +philosopher of the time of Henry the Third of England, or Alexander the +Third of Scotland, the man renowned all over the island, and even as far +as Italy and Spain, as the first of astronomers and chemists. What is +his astronomy? He is a firm believer in the Ptolemaic system. He never +heard of the law of gravitation. Tell him that the succession of day and +night is caused by the turning of the earth on its axis. Tell him +that, in consequence of this motion, the polar diameter of the earth is +shorter than the equatorial diameter. Tell him that the succession of +summer and winter is caused by the revolution of the earth round the +sun. If he does not set you down for an idiot, he lays an information +against you before the Bishop, and has you burned for a heretic. To do +him justice, however, if he is ill informed on these points, there +are other points on which Newton and Laplace were mere children when +compared with him. He can cast your nativity. He knows what will happen +when Saturn is in the House of Life, and what will happen when Mars is +in conjunction with the Dragon's Tail. He can read in the stars whether +an expedition will be successful, whether the next harvest will be +plentiful, which of your children will be fortunate in marriage, and +which will be lost at sea. Happy the State, happy the family, which +is guided by the counsels of so profound a man! And what but mischief, +public and private, can we expect from the temerity and conceit of +scolists who know no more about the heavenly bodies than what they have +learned from Sir John Herschel's beautiful little volume. But, to speak +seriously, is not a little truth better than a great deal of falsehood? +Is not the man who, in the evenings of a fortnight, has acquired a +correct notion of the solar system, a more profound astronomer than a +man who has passed thirty years in reading lectures about the primum +mobile, and in drawing schemes of horoscopes? + +Or take chemistry. Our philosopher of the thirteenth century shall be, +if you please, an universal genius, chemist as well as astronomer. +He has perhaps got so far as to know, that if he mixes charcoal and +saltpetre in certain proportions and then applies fire, there will be +an explosion which will shatter all his retorts and aludels; and he is +proud of knowing what will in a later age be familiar to all the idle +boys in the kingdom. But there are departments of science in which he +need not fear the rivalry of Black, or Lavoisier, or Cavendish, or Davy. +He is in hot pursuit of the philosopher's stone, of the stone that is +to bestow wealth, and health, and longevity. He has a long array of +strangely shaped vessels, filled with red oil and white oil, constantly +boiling. The moment of projection is at hand; and soon all his kettles +and gridirons will be turned into pure gold. Poor Professor Faraday can +do nothing of the sort. I should deceive you if I held out to you the +smallest hope that he will ever turn your halfpence into sovereigns. But +if you can induce him to give at our Institute a course of lectures such +as I once heard him give at the Royal Institution to children in the +Christmas holidays, I can promise you that you will know more about the +effects produced on bodies by heat and moisture than was known to some +alchemists who, in the middle ages, were thought worthy of the patronage +of kings. + +As it has been in science so it has been in literature. Compare the +literary acquirements of the great men of the thirteenth century with +those which will be within the reach of many who will frequent our +reading room. As to Greek learning, the profound man of the thirteenth +century was absolutely on a par with the superficial man of the +nineteenth. In the modern languages, there was not, six hundred years +ago, a single volume which is now read. The library of our profound +scholar must have consisted entirely of Latin books. We will suppose +him to have had both a large and a choice collection. We will allow him +thirty, nay forty manuscripts, and among them a Virgil, a Terence, a +Lucan, an Ovid, a Statius, a great deal of Livy, a great deal of Cicero. +In allowing him all this, we are dealing most liberally with him; for it +is much more likely that his shelves were filled with treaties on school +divinity and canon law, composed by writers whose names the world has +very wisely forgotten. But, even if we suppose him to have possessed +all that is most valuable in the literature of Rome, I say with perfect +confidence that, both in respect of intellectual improvement, and in +respect of intellectual pleasures, he was far less favourably situated +than a man who now, knowing only the English language, has a bookcase +filled with the best English works. Our great man of the Middle Ages +could not form any conception of any tragedy approaching Macbeth or +Lear, or of any comedy equal to Henry the Fourth or Twelfth Night. The +best epic poem that he had read was far inferior to the Paradise Lost; +and all the tomes of his philosophers were not worth a page of the Novum +Organum. + +The Novum Organum, it is true, persons who know only English must read +in a translation: and this reminds me of one great advantage which such +persons will derive from our Institution. They will, in our library, be +able to form some acquaintance with the master minds of remote ages and +foreign countries. A large part of what is best worth knowing in ancient +literature, and in the literature of France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, +has been translated into our own tongue. It is scarcely possible that +the translation of any book of the highest class can be equal to the +original. But, though the finer touches may be lost in the copy, the +great outlines will remain. An Englishman who never saw the frescoes in +the Vatican may yet, from engravings, form some notion of the exquisite +grace of Raphael, and of the sublimity and energy of Michael Angelo. And +so the genius of Homer is seen in the poorest version of the Iliad; the +genius of Cervantes is seen in the poorest version of Don Quixote. Let +it not be supposed that I wish to dissuade any person from studying +either the ancient languages or the languages of modern Europe. Far from +it. I prize most highly those keys of knowledge; and I think that no man +who has leisure for study ought to be content until he possesses several +of them. I always much admired a saying of the Emperor Charles the +Fifth. "When I learn a new language," he said, "I feel as if I had got +a new soul." But I would console those who have not time to make +themselves linguists by assuring them that, by means of their own mother +tongue, they may obtain ready access to vast intellectual treasures, to +treasures such as might have been envied by the greatest linguists of +the age of Charles the Fifth, to treasures surpassing those which were +possessed by Aldus, by Erasmus, and by Melancthon. + +And thus I am brought back to the point from which I started. I have +been requested to invite you to fill your glasses to the Literature of +Britain; to that literature, the brightest, the purest, the most durable +of all the glories of our country; to that literature, so rich in +precious truth and precious fiction; to that literature which boasts of +the prince of all poets and of the prince of all philosophers; to that +literature which has exercised an influence wider than that of our +commerce, and mightier than that of our arms; to that literature which +has taught France the principles of liberty, and has furnished Germany +with models of art; to that literature which forms a tie closer than the +tie of consanguinity between us and the commonwealths of the valley of +the Mississippi; to that literature before the light of which impious +and cruel superstitions are fast taking flight on the banks of the +Ganges; to that literature which will, in future ages, instruct and +delight the unborn millions who will have turned the Australasian +and Caffrarian deserts into cities and gardens. To the Literature of +Britain, then! And, wherever British literature spreads, may it be +attended by British virtue and by British freedom! + +***** + + + + +EDUCATION. (APRIL 19, 1847) A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS +ON THE 18TH OF APRIL 1847. + +In the year 1847 the Government asked from the House of Commons a grant +of one hundred thousand pounds for the education of the people. On the +nineteenth of April, Lord John Russell, having explained the reasons for +this application, moved the order of the day for a Committee of Supply. +Mr Thomas Duncombe, Member for Finsbury, moved the following amendment: +"That previous to any grant of public money being assented to by this +House, for the purpose of carrying out the scheme of national education, +as developed in the Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education +in August and December last, which minutes have been presented to both +Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, a select Committee be +appointed to inquire into the justice and expediency of such a scheme, +and its probable annual cost; also to inquire whether the regulations +attached thereto do not unduly increase the influence of the Crown, +invade the constitutional functions of Parliament, and interfere with +the religious convictions and civil rights of Her Majesty's subjects." + +In opposition to this amendment, the following Speech was made. After +a debate of three nights, Mr Thomas Duncombe obtained permission to +withdraw the latter part of his amendment. The first part was put, and +negatived by 372 votes to 47. + +You will not wonder, Sir, that I am desirous to catch your eye this +evening. The first duty which I performed, as a Member of the Committee +of Council which is charged with the superintendence of public +instruction, was to give my hearty assent to the plan which the +honourable Member for Finsbury calls on the House to condemn. I am one +of those who have been accused in every part of the kingdom, and who are +now accused in Parliament, of aiming, under specious pretences, a +blow at the civil and religious liberties of the people. It is natural +therefore that I should seize the earliest opportunity of vindicating +myself from so grave a charge. + +The honourable Member for Finsbury must excuse me if, in the remarks +which I have to offer to the House, I should not follow very closely the +order of his speech. The truth is that a mere answer to his speech would +be no defence of myself or of my colleagues. I am surprised, I own, that +a man of his acuteness and ability should, on such an occasion, have +made such a speech. The country is excited from one end to the other by +a great question of principle. On that question the Government has taken +one side. The honourable Member stands forth as the chosen and trusted +champion of a great party which takes the other side. We expected to +hear from him a full exposition of the views of those in whose name he +speaks. But, to our astonishment, he has scarcely even alluded to the +controversy which has divided the whole nation. He has entertained us +with sarcasms and personal anecdotes: he has talked much about matters +of mere detail: but I must say that, after listening with close +attention to all that he has said, I am quite unable to discover +whether, on the only important point which is in issue, he agrees +with us or with that large and active body of Nonconformists which is +diametrically opposed to us. He has sate down without dropping one word +from which it is possible to discover whether he thinks that education +is or that it is not a matter with which the State ought to interfere. +Yet that is the question about which the whole nation has, during +several weeks, been writing, reading, speaking, hearing, thinking, +petitioning, and on which it is now the duty of Parliament to pronounce +a decision. That question once settled, there will be, I believe, +very little room for dispute. If it be not competent to the State to +interfere with the education of the people, the mode of interference +recommended by the Committee of Council must of course be condemned. +If it be the right and the duty of the State to make provision for the +education of the people, the objections made to our plan will, in a very +few words, be shown to be frivolous. + +I shall take a course very different from that which has been taken +by the honourable gentleman. I shall in the clearest manner profess +my opinion on that great question of principle which he has studiously +evaded; and for my opinion I shall give what seem to me to be +unanswerable reasons. + +I believe, Sir, that it is the right and the duty of the State to +provide means of education for the common people. This proposition seems +to me to be implied in every definition that has ever yet been given of +the functions of a government. About the extent of those functions there +has been much difference of opinion among ingenious men. There are some +who hold that it is the business of a government to meddle with every +part of the system of human life, to regulate trade by bounties and +prohibitions, to regulate expenditure by sumptuary laws, to regulate +literature by a censorship, to regulate religion by an inquisition. +Others go to the opposite extreme, and assign to government a very +narrow sphere of action. But the very narrowest sphere that ever was +assigned to governments by any school of political philosophy is quite +wide enough for my purpose. On one point all the disputants are agreed. +They unanimously acknowledge that it is the duty of every government +to take order for giving security to the persons and property of the +members of the community. + +This being admitted, can it be denied that the education of the common +people is a most effectual means of securing our persons and our +property? Let Adam Smith answer that question for me. His authority, +always high, is, on this subject, entitled to peculiar respect, because +he extremely disliked busy, prying, interfering governments. He was for +leaving literature, arts, sciences, to take care of themselves. He was +not friendly to ecclesiastical establishments. He was of opinion, that +the State ought not to meddle with the education of the rich. But he has +expressly told us that a distinction is to be made, particularly in a +commercial and highly civilised society, between the education of the +rich and the education of the poor. The education of the poor, he +says, is a matter which deeply concerns the commonwealth. Just as the +magistrate ought to interfere for the purpose of preventing the leprosy +from spreading among the people, he ought to interfere for the purpose +of stopping the progress of the moral distempers which are inseparable +from ignorance. Nor can this duty be neglected without danger to the +public peace. If you leave the multitude uninstructed, there is serious +risk that religious animosities may produce the most dreadful disorders. +The most dreadful disorders! Those are Adam Smith's own words; and +prophetic words they were. Scarcely had he given this warning to +our rulers when his prediction was fulfilled in a manner never to be +forgotten. I speak of the No Popery riots of 1780. I do not know that I +could find in all history a stronger proof of the proposition, that the +ignorance of the common people makes the property, the limbs, the lives +of all classes insecure. Without the shadow of a grievance, at the +summons of a madman, a hundred thousand people rise in insurrection. +During a whole week, there is anarchy in the greatest and wealthiest +of European cities. The parliament is besieged. Your predecessor sits +trembling in his chair, and expects every moment to see the door beaten +in by the ruffians whose roar he hears all round the house. The peers +are pulled out of their coaches. The bishops in their lawn are forced to +fly over the tiles. The chapels of foreign ambassadors, buildings made +sacred by the law of nations, are destroyed. The house of the Chief +Justice is demolished. The little children of the Prime Minister are +taken out of their beds and laid in their night clothes on the table of +the Horse Guards, the only safe asylum from the fury of the rabble. The +prisons are opened. Highwaymen, housebreakers, murderers, come forth +to swell the mob by which they have been set free. Thirty-six fires are +blazing at once in London. Then comes the retribution. Count up all the +wretches who were shot, who were hanged, who were crushed, who drank +themselves to death at the rivers of gin which ran down Holborn Hill; +and you will find that battles have been lost and won with a smaller +sacrifice of life. And what was the cause of this calamity, a calamity +which, in the history of London, ranks with the great plague and the +great fire? The cause was the ignorance of a population which had been +suffered, in the neighbourhood of palaces, theatres, temples, to grow up +as rude and stupid as any tribe of tattooed cannibals in New Zealand, I +might say as any drove of beasts in Smithfield Market. + +The instance is striking: but it is not solitary. To the same cause are +to be ascribed the riots of Nottingham, the sack of Bristol, all the +outrages of Ludd, and Swing, and Rebecca, beautiful and costly machinery +broken to pieces in Yorkshire, barns and haystacks blazing in Kent, +fences and buildings pulled down in Wales. Could such things have been +done in a country in which the mind of the labourer had been opened by +education, in which he had been taught to find pleasure in the exercise +of his intellect, taught to revere his Maker, taught to respect +legitimate authority, and taught at the same time to seek the redress of +real wrongs by peaceful and constitutional means? + +This then is my argument. It is the duty of Government to protect our +persons and property from danger. The gross ignorance of the common +people is a principal cause of danger to our persons and property. +Therefore, it is the duty of Government to take care that the common +people shall not be grossly ignorant. + +And what is the alternative? It is universally allowed that, by some +means, Government must protect our persons and property. If you take +away education, what means do you leave? You leave means such as only +necessity can justify, means which inflict a fearful amount of pain, +not only on the guilty, but on the innocent who are connected with +the guilty. You leave guns and bayonets, stocks and whipping-posts, +treadmills, solitary cells, penal colonies, gibbets. See then how the +case stands. Here is an end which, as we all agree, governments are +bound to attain. There are only two ways of attaining it. One of those +ways is by making men better, and wiser, and happier. The other way is +by making them infamous and miserable. Can it be doubted which way we +ought to prefer? Is it not strange, is it not almost incredible, that +pious and benevolent men should gravely propound the doctrine that the +magistrate is bound to punish and at the same time bound not to teach? +To me it seems quite clear that whoever has a right to hang has a right +to educate. Can we think without shame and remorse that more than half +of those wretches who have been tied up at Newgate in our time might +have been living happily, that more than half of those who are now in +our gaols might have been enjoying liberty and using that liberty well, +that such a hell on earth as Norfolk Island, need never have existed, if +we had expended in training honest men but a small part of what we have +expended in hunting and torturing rogues. + +I would earnestly entreat every gentleman to look at a report which +is contained in the Appendix to the First Volume of the Minutes of +the Committee of Council. I speak of the report made by Mr Seymour +Tremenheare on the state of that part of Monmouthshire which is +inhabited by a population chiefly employed in mining. He found that, +in this district, towards the close of 1839, out of eleven thousand +children who were of an age to attend school, eight thousand never went +to any school at all, and that most of the remaining three thousand +might almost as well have gone to no school as to the squalid hovels in +which men who ought themselves to have been learners pretended to teach. +In general these men had only one qualification for their employment; +and that was their utter unfitness for every other employment. They were +disabled miners, or broken hucksters. In their schools all was stench, +and noise, and confusion. Now and then the clamour of the boys was +silenced for two minutes by the furious menaces of the master; but it +soon broke out again. The instruction given was of the lowest kind. Not +one school in ten was provided with a single map. This is the way in +which you suffered the minds of a great population to be formed. And now +for the effects of your negligence. The barbarian inhabitants of this +region rise in an insane rebellion against the Government. They come +pouring down their valleys to Newport. They fire on the Queen's troops. +They wound a magistrate. The soldiers fire in return; and too many of +these wretched men pay with their lives the penalty of their crime. But +is the crime theirs alone? Is it strange that they should listen to the +only teaching that they had? How can you, who took no pains to instruct +them, blame them for giving ear to the demagogue who took pains to +delude them? We put them down, of course. We punished them. We had no +choice. Order must be maintained; property must be protected; and, since +we had omitted to take the best way of keeping these people quiet, we +were under the necessity of keeping them quiet by the dread of the sword +and the halter. But could any necessity be more cruel? And which of us +would run the risk of being placed under such necessity a second time? + +I say, therefore, that the education of the people is not only a means, +but the best means, of attaining that which all allow to be a chief end +of government; and, if this be so, it passes my faculties to understand +how any man can gravely contend that Government has nothing to do with +the education of the people. + +My confidence in my opinion is strengthened when I recollect that I hold +that opinion in common with all the greatest lawgivers, statesmen, +and political philosophers of all nations and ages, with all the most +illustrious champions of civil and spiritual freedom, and especially +with those men whose names were once held in the highest veneration +by the Protestant Dissenters of England. I might cite many of the most +venerable names of the old world; but I would rather cite the example +of that country which the supporters of the Voluntary system here are +always recommending to us as a pattern. Go back to the days when the +little society which has expanded into the opulent and enlightened +commonwealth of Massachusetts began to exist. Our modern Dissenters will +scarcely, I think, venture to speak contumeliously of those Puritans +whose spirit Laud and his High Commission Court could not subdue, of +those Puritans who were willing to leave home and kindred, and all the +comforts and refinements of civilised life, to cross the ocean, to +fix their abode in forests among wild beasts and wild men, rather than +commit the sin of performing, in the House of God, one gesture which +they believed to be displeasing to Him. Did those brave exiles think it +inconsistent with civil or religious freedom that the State should take +charge of the education of the people? No, Sir; one of the earliest laws +enacted by the Puritan colonists was that every township, as soon as the +Lord had increased it to the number of fifty houses, should appoint one +to teach all children to write and read, and that every township of a +hundred houses should set up a grammar school. Nor have the descendants +of those who made this law ever ceased to hold that the public +authorities were bound to provide the means of public instruction. Nor +is this doctrine confined to New England. "Educate the people" was +the first admonition addressed by Penn to the colony which he founded. +"Educate the people" was the legacy of Washington to the nation which +he had saved. "Educate the people" was the unceasing exhortation of +Jefferson; and I quote Jefferson with peculiar pleasure, because of all +the eminent men that have ever lived, Adam Smith himself not excepted, +Jefferson was the one who most abhorred everything like meddling on the +part of governments. Yet the chief business of his later years was to +establish a good system of State education in Virginia. + +And, against such authority as this, what have you who take the other +side to show? Can you mention a single great philosopher, a single man +distinguished by his zeal for liberty, humanity, and truth, who, from +the beginning of the world down to the time of this present Parliament, +ever held your doctrines? You can oppose to the unanimous voice of all +the wise and good, of all ages, and of both hemispheres, nothing but a +clamour which was first heard a few months ago, a clamour in which you +cannot join without condemning, not only all whose memory you profess to +hold in reverence, but even your former selves. + +This new theory of politics has at least the merit of originality. It +may be fairly stated thus. All men have hitherto been utterly in the +wrong as to the nature and objects of civil government. The great truth, +hidden from every preceding generation, and at length revealed, in the +year 1846, to some highly respectable ministers and elders of dissenting +congregations, is this. Government is simply a great hangman. Government +ought to do nothing except by harsh and degrading means. The one +business of Government is to handcuff, and lock up, and scourge, and +shoot, and stab, and strangle. It is odious tyranny in a government to +attempt to prevent crime by informing the understanding and elevating +the moral feeling of a people. A statesman may see hamlets turned, in +the course of one generation, into great seaport towns and manufacturing +towns. He may know that on the character of the vast population which is +collected in those wonderful towns, depends the prosperity, the peace, +the very existence of society. But he must not think of forming that +character. He is an enemy of public liberty if he attempts to prevent +those hundreds of thousands of his countrymen from becoming mere Yahoos. +He may, indeed, build barrack after barrack to overawe them. If they +break out into insurrection, he may send cavalry to sabre them: he may +mow them down with grape shot: he may hang them, draw them, quarter +them, anything but teach them. He may see, and may shudder as he sees, +throughout large rural districts, millions of infants growing up from +infancy to manhood as ignorant, as mere slaves of sensual appetite, as +the beasts that perish. No matter. He is a traitor to the cause of civil +and religious freedom if he does not look on with folded arms, while +absurd hopes and evil passions ripen in that rank soil. He must wait for +the day of his harvest. He must wait till the Jaquerie comes, till farm +houses are burning, till threshing machines are broken in pieces; and +then begins his business, which is simply to send one poor ignorant +savage to the county gaol, and another to the antipodes, and a third to +the gallows. + +Such, Sir, is the new theory of government which was first propounded, +in the year 1846, by some men of high note among the Nonconformists of +England. It is difficult to understand how men of excellent abilities +and excellent intentions--and there are, I readily admit, such men +among those who hold this theory--can have fallen into so absurd and +pernicious an error. One explanation only occurs to me. This is, I am +inclined to believe, an instance of the operation of the great law of +reaction. We have just come victorious out of a long and fierce contest +for the liberty of trade. While that contest was undecided, much was +said and written about the advantages of free competition, and about the +danger of suffering the State to regulate matters which should be left +to individuals. There has consequently arisen in the minds of persons +who are led by words, and who are little in the habit of making +distinctions, a disposition to apply to political questions and moral +questions principles which are sound only when applied to commercial +questions. These people, not content with having forced the Government +to surrender a province wrongfully usurped, now wish to wrest from the +Government a domain held by a right which was never before questioned, +and which cannot be questioned with the smallest show of reason. "If," +they say, "free competition is a good thing in trade, it must surely be +a good thing in education. The supply of other commodities, of sugar, +for example, is left to adjust itself to the demand; and the consequence +is, that we are better supplied with sugar than if the Government +undertook to supply us. Why then should we doubt that the supply of +instruction will, without the intervention of the Government, be found +equal to the demand?" + +Never was there a more false analogy. Whether a man is well supplied +with sugar is a matter which concerns himself alone. But whether he is +well supplied with instruction is a matter which concerns his neighbours +and the State. If he cannot afford to pay for sugar, he must go without +sugar. But it is by no means fit that, because he cannot afford to pay +for education, he should go without education. Between the rich and +their instructors there may, as Adam Smith says, be free trade. The +supply of music masters and Italian masters may be left to adjust itself +to the demand. But what is to become of the millions who are too poor +to procure without assistance the services of a decent schoolmaster? We +have indeed heard it said that even these millions will be supplied with +teachers by the free competition of benevolent individuals who will vie +with each other in rendering this service to mankind. No doubt there are +many benevolent individuals who spend their time and money most laudably +in setting up and supporting schools; and you may say, if you please, +that there is, among these respectable persons, a competition to do +good. But do not be imposed upon by words. Do not believe that this +competition resembles the competition which is produced by the desire of +wealth and by the fear of ruin. There is a great difference, be assured, +between the rivalry of philanthropists and the rivalry of grocers. The +grocer knows that, if his wares are worse than those of other grocers, +he shall soon go before the Bankrupt Court, and his wife and children +will have no refuge but the workhouse: he knows that, if his shop +obtains an honourable celebrity, he shall be able to set up a carriage +and buy a villa: and this knowledge impels him to exertions compared +with which the exertions of even very charitable people to serve +the poor are but languid. It would be strange infatuation indeed to +legislate on the supposition that a man cares for his fellow creatures +as much as he cares for himself. + +Unless, Sir, I greatly deceive myself, those arguments, which show +that the Government ought not to leave to private people the task +of providing for the national defence, will equally show that the +Government ought not to leave to private people the task of providing +for national education. On this subject, Mr Hume has laid down the +general law with admirable good sense and perspicuity. I mean David +Hume, not the Member for Montrose, though that honourable gentleman +will, I am confident, assent to the doctrine propounded by his +illustrious namesake. David Hume, Sir, justly says that most of the +arts and trades which exist in the world produce so much advantage and +pleasure to individuals, that the magistrate may safely leave it to +individuals to encourage those arts and trades. But he adds that there +are callings which, though they are highly useful, nay, absolutely +necessary to society, yet do not administer to the peculiar pleasure +or profit of any individual. The military calling is an instance. Here, +says Hume, the Government must interfere. It must take on itself to +regulate these callings, and to stimulate the industry of the persons +who follow these callings by pecuniary and honorary rewards. + +Now, Sir, it seems to me that, on the same principle on which Government +ought to superintend and to reward the soldier, Government ought to +superintend and to reward the schoolmaster. I mean, of course, the +schoolmaster of the common people. That his calling is useful, that his +calling is necessary, will hardly be denied. Yet it is clear that +his services will not be adequately remunerated if he is left to be +remunerated by those whom he teaches, or by the voluntary contributions +of the charitable. Is this disputed? Look at the facts. You tell us that +schools will multiply and flourish exceedingly, if the Government will +only abstain from interfering with them. Has not the Government long +abstained from interfering with them? Has not everything been left, +through many years, to individual exertion? If it were true that +education, like trade, thrives most where the magistrate meddles least, +the common people of England would now be the best educated in the +world. Our schools would be model schools. Every one would have a well +chosen little library, excellent maps, a small but neat apparatus for +experiments in natural philosophy. A grown person unable to read and +write would be pointed at like Giant O'Brien or the Polish Count. +Our schoolmasters would be as eminently expert in all that relates to +teaching as our cutlers, our cotton-spinners, our engineers are allowed +to be in their respective callings. They would, as a class, be held in +high consideration; and their gains would be such that it would be +easy to find men of respectable character and attainments to fill up +vacancies. + +Now, is this the case? Look at the charges of the judges, at the +resolutions of the grand juries, at the reports of public officers, +at the reports of voluntary associations. All tell the same sad and +ignominious story. Take the reports of the Inspectors of Prisons. In +the House of Correction at Hertford, of seven hundred prisoners one half +could not read at all; only eight could read and write well. Of eight +thousand prisoners who had passed through Maidstone Gaol only fifty +could read and write well. In Coldbath Fields Prison, the proportion +that could read and write well seems to have been still smaller. Turn +from the registers of prisoners to the registers of marriages. You will +find that about a hundred and thirty thousand couples were married in +the year 1844. More than forty thousand of the bridegrooms and more than +sixty thousand of the brides did not sign their names, but made their +marks. Nearly one third of the men and nearly one half of the women, who +are in the prime of life, who are to be the parents of the Englishmen of +the next generation, who are to bear a chief part in forming the minds +of the Englishmen of the next generation, cannot write their own names. +Remember, too, that, though people who cannot write their own names must +be grossly ignorant, people may write their own names and yet have very +little knowledge. Tens of thousands who were able to write their names +had in all probability received only the wretched education of a common +day school. We know what such a school too often is; a room crusted with +filth, without light, without air, with a heap of fuel in one corner +and a brood of chickens in another; the only machinery of instruction a +dogeared spelling-book and a broken slate; the masters the refuse of all +other callings, discarded footmen, ruined pedlars, men who cannot work +a sum in the rule of three, men who cannot write a common letter without +blunders, men who do not know whether the earth is a sphere or a cube, +men who do not know whether Jerusalem is in Asia or America. And to such +men, men to whom none of us would entrust the key of his cellar, we have +entrusted the mind of the rising generation, and, with the mind of the +rising generation the freedom, the happiness, the glory of our country. + +Do you question the accuracy of this description? I will produce +evidence to which I am sure that you will not venture to take an +exception. Every gentleman here knows, I suppose, how important a +place the Congregational Union holds among the Nonconformists, and +how prominent a part Mr Edward Baines has taken in opposition to State +education. A Committee of the Congregational Union drew up last year +a report on the subject of education. That report was received by the +Union; and the person who moved that it should be received was Mr +Edward Baines. That report contains the following passage: "If it were +necessary to disclose facts to such an assembly as this, as to the +ignorance and debasement of the neglected portions of our population in +towns and rural districts, both adult and juvenile, it could easily +be done. Private information communicated to the Board, personal +observation and investigation of the various localities, with the +published documents of the Registrar General, and the reports of the +state of prisons in England and Wales, published by order of the House +of Commons, would furnish enough to make us modest in speaking of what +has been done for the humbler classes, and make us ashamed that the sons +of the soil of England should have been so long neglected, and should +present to the enlightened traveller from other shores such a sad +spectacle of neglected cultivation, lost mental power, and spiritual +degradation." Nothing can be more just. All the information which I +have been able to obtain bears out the statements of the Congregational +Union. I do believe that the ignorance and degradation of a large +part of the community to which we belong ought to make us ashamed of +ourselves. I do believe that an enlightened traveller from New York, +from Geneva, or from Berlin, would be shocked to see so much barbarism +in the close neighbourhood of so much wealth and civilisation. But is +it not strange that the very gentlemen who tell us in such emphatic +language that the people are shamefully ill-educated, should yet persist +in telling us that under a system of free competition the people are +certain to be excellently educated? Only this morning the opponents of +our plan circulated a paper in which they confidently predict that free +competition will do all that is necessary, if we will only wait with +patience. Wait with patience! Why, we have been waiting ever since the +Heptarchy. How much longer are we to wait? Till the year 2847? Or till +the year 3847? That the experiment has as yet failed you do not deny. +And why should it have failed? Has it been tried in unfavourable +circumstances? Not so: it has been tried in the richest and in the +freest, and in the most charitable country in all Europe. Has it been +tried on too small a scale? Not so: millions have been subjected to it. +Has it been tried during too short a time? Not so: it has been going on +during ages. The cause of the failure then is plain. Our whole system +has been unsound. We have applied the principle of free competition to a +case to which that principle is not applicable. + +But, Sir, if the state of the southern part of our island has furnished +me with one strong argument, the state of the northern part furnishes +me with another argument, which is, if possible, still more decisive. +A hundred and fifty years ago England was one of the best governed and +most prosperous countries in the world: Scotland was perhaps the rudest +and poorest country that could lay any claim to civilisation. The name +of Scotchman was then uttered in this part of the island with contempt. +The ablest Scotch statesmen contemplated the degraded state of +their poorer countrymen with a feeling approaching to despair. It is +well-known that Fletcher of Saltoun, a brave and accomplished man, a man +who had drawn his sword for liberty, who had suffered proscription and +exile for liberty, was so much disgusted and dismayed by the misery, the +ignorance, the idleness, the lawlessness of the common people, that he +proposed to make many thousands of them slaves. Nothing, he thought, but +the discipline which kept order and enforced exertion among the negroes +of a sugar colony, nothing but the lash and the stocks, could reclaim +the vagabonds who infested every part of Scotland from their indolent +and predatory habits, and compel them to support themselves by steady +labour. He therefore, soon after the Revolution, published a pamphlet, +in which he earnestly, and, as I believe, from the mere impulse of +humanity and patriotism, recommended to the Estates of the Realm this +sharp remedy, which alone, as he conceived, could remove the evil. +Within a few months after the publication of that pamphlet a very +different remedy was applied. The Parliament which sate at Edinburgh +passed an act for the establishment of parochial schools. What followed? +An improvement such as the world had never seen took place in the moral +and intellectual character of the people. Soon, in spite of the rigour +of the climate, in spite of the sterility of the earth, Scotland became +a country which had no reason to envy the fairest portions of the globe. +Wherever the Scotchman went,--and there were few parts of the world to +which he did not go,--he carried his superiority with him. If he was +admitted into a public office, he worked his way up to the highest post. +If he got employment in a brewery or a factory, he was soon the foreman. +If he took a shop, his trade was the best in the street. If he enlisted +in the army, he became a colour-sergeant. If he went to a colony, he +was the most thriving planter there. The Scotchman of the seventeenth +century had been spoken of in London as we speak of the Esquimaux. The +Scotchman of the eighteenth century was an object, not of scorn, but of +envy. The cry was that, wherever he came, he got more than his share; +that, mixed with Englishmen or mixed with Irishmen, he rose to the top +as surely as oil rises to the top of water. And what had produced this +great revolution? The Scotch air was still as cold, the Scotch rocks +were still as bare as ever. All the natural qualities of the Scotchman +were still what they had been when learned and benevolent men advised +that he should be flogged, like a beast of burden, to his daily task. +But the State had given him an education. That education was not, it is +true, in all respects what it should have been. But such as it was, it +had done more for the bleak and dreary shores of the Forth and the Clyde +than the richest of soils and the most genial of climates had done for +Capua and Tarentum. Is there one member of this House, however strongly +he may hold the doctrine that the Government ought not to interfere +with the education of the people, who will stand up and say that, in his +opinion, the Scotch would now have been a happier and a more enlightened +people if they had been left, during the last five generations, to find +instruction for themselves? + +I say then, Sir, that, if the science of Government be an experimental +science, this question is decided. We are in a condition to perform the +inductive process according to the rules laid down in the Novum Organum. +We have two nations closely connected, inhabiting the same island, +sprung from the same blood, speaking the same language, governed by the +same Sovereign and the same Legislature, holding essentially the same +religious faith, having the same allies and the same enemies. Of these +two nations one was, a hundred and fifty years ago, as respects opulence +and civilisation, in the highest rank among European communities, the +other in the lowest rank. The opulent and highly civilised nation leaves +the education of the people to free competition. In the poor and half +barbarous nation the education of the people is undertaken by the State. +The result is that the first are last and the last first. The common +people of Scotland,--it is vain to disguise the truth,--have passed the +common people of England. Free competition, tried with every advantage, +has produced effects of which, as the Congregational Union tells us, +we ought to be ashamed, and which must lower us in the opinion of every +intelligent foreigner. State education, tried under every disadvantage, +has produced an improvement to which it would be difficult to find a +parallel in any age or country. Such an experiment as this would be +regarded as conclusive in surgery or chemistry, and ought, I think, to +be regarded as equally conclusive in politics. + +These, Sir, are the reasons which have satisfied me that it is the +duty of the State to educate the people. Being firmly convinced of that +truth, I shall not shrink from proclaiming it here and elsewhere, in +defiance of the loudest clamour that agitators can raise. The remainder +of my task is easy. For, if the great principle for which I have been +contending is admitted, the objections which have been made to the +details of our plan will vanish fast. I will deal with those objections +in the order in which they stand in the amendment moved by the +honourable Member for Finsbury. + +First among his objections he places the cost. Surely, Sir, no person +who admits that it is our duty to train the minds of the rising +generation can think a hundred thousand pounds too large a sum for that +purpose. If we look at the matter in the lowest point of view, if we +consider human beings merely as producers of wealth, the difference +between an intelligent and a stupid population, estimated in pounds, +shillings, and pence, exceeds a hundredfold the proposed outlay. Nor +is this all. For every pound that you save in education, you will spend +five in prosecutions, in prisons, in penal settlements. I cannot believe +that the House, having never grudged anything that was asked for the +purpose of maintaining order and protecting property by means of pain +and fear, will begin to be niggardly as soon as it is proposed to effect +the same objects by making the people wiser and better. + +The next objection made by the honourable Member to our plan is that it +will increase the influence of the Crown. This sum of a hundred thousand +pounds may, he apprehends, be employed in corruption and jobbing. Those +schoolmasters who vote for ministerial candidates will obtain a share +of the grant: those schoolmasters who vote for opponents of the ministry +will apply for assistance in vain. Sir, the honourable Member never +would have made this objection if he had taken the trouble to understand +the minutes which he has condemned. We propose to place this part of +the public expenditure under checks which must make such abuses as the +honourable Member anticipates morally impossible. Not only will there +be those ordinary checks which are thought sufficient to prevent the +misapplication of the many millions annually granted for the army, the +navy, the ordnance, the civil government: not only must the Ministers of +the Crown come every year to this House for a vote, and be prepared to +render an account of the manner in which they have laid out what had +been voted in the preceding year, but, when they have satisfied the +House, when they have got their vote, they will still be unable to +distribute the money at their discretion. Whatever they may do for any +schoolmaster must be done in concert with those persons who, in the +district where the schoolmaster lives, take an interest in education, +and contribute out of their private means to the expense of education. +When the honourable gentleman is afraid that we shall corrupt +the schoolmasters, he forgets, first, that we do not appoint the +schoolmasters; secondly, that we cannot dismiss the schoolmasters; +thirdly, that managers who are altogether independent of us can, without +our consent, dismiss the schoolmasters; and, fourthly, that without +the recommendation of those managers we can give nothing to the +schoolmasters. Observe, too, that such a recommendation will not be one +of those recommendations which goodnatured easy people are too apt +to give to everybody who asks; nor will it at all resemble those +recommendations which the Secretary of the Treasury is in the habit of +receiving. For every pound which we pay on the recommendation of the +managers, the managers themselves must pay two pounds. They must also +provide the schoolmaster with a house out of their own funds before they +can obtain for him a grant from the public funds. What chance of jobbing +is there here? It is common enough, no doubt, for a Member of Parliament +who votes with Government to ask that one of those who zealously +supported him at the last election may have a place in the Excise or +the Customs. But such a member would soon cease to solicit if the answer +were, "Your friend shall have a place of fifty pounds a year, if you +will give him a house and settle on him an income of a hundred a year." +What chance then, I again ask, is there of jobbing? What, say some of +the dissenters of Leeds, is to prevent a Tory Government, a High +Church Government, from using this parliamentary grant to corrupt +the schoolmasters of our borough, and to induce them to use all their +influence in favour of a Tory and High Church candidate? Why, Sir, the +dissenters of Leeds themselves have the power to prevent it. Let them +subscribe to the schools: let them take a share in the management of the +schools: let them refuse to recommend to the committee of Council any +schoolmaster whom they suspect of having voted at any election from +corrupt motives: and the thing is done. Our plan, in truth, is made +up of checks. My only doubt is whether the checks may not be found too +numerous and too stringent. On our general conduct there is the ordinary +check, the parliamentary check. And, as respects those minute details +which it is impossible that this House can investigate, we shall be +checked, in every town and in every rural district, by boards consisting +of independent men zealous in the cause of education. + +The truth is, Sir, that those who clamour most loudly against our plan, +have never thought of ascertaining what it is. I see that a gentleman, +who ought to have known better, has not been ashamed publicly to tell +the world that our plan will cost the nation two millions a year, and +will paralyse all the exertions of individuals to educate the people. +These two assertions are uttered in one breath. And yet, if he who made +them had read our minutes before he railed at them, he would have +seen that his predictions are contradictory; that they cannot both be +fulfilled; that, if individuals do not exert themselves, the country +will have to pay nothing; and that, if the country has to pay two +millions, it will be because individuals have exerted themselves with +such wonderful, such incredible vigour, as to raise four millions by +voluntary contributions. + +The next objection made by the honourable Member for Finsbury is that we +have acted unconstitutionally, and have encroached on the functions of +Parliament. The Committee of Council he seems to consider as an unlawful +assembly. He calls it sometimes a self-elected body and sometimes a +self-appointed body. Sir, these are words without meaning. The Committee +is no more a self-elected body than the Board of Trade. It is a body +appointed by the Queen; and in appointing it Her Majesty has exercised, +under the advice of her responsible Ministers, a prerogative as old as +the monarchy. But, says the honourable Member, the constitutional course +would have been to apply for an Act of Parliament. On what ground? +Nothing but an Act of Parliament can legalise that which is illegal. +But whoever heard of an Act of Parliament to legalise what was already +beyond all dispute legal? Of course, if we wished to send aliens out +of the country, or to retain disaffected persons in custody without +bringing them to trial, we must obtain an Act of Parliament empowering +us to do so. But why should we ask for an Act of Parliament to empower +us to do what anybody may do, what the honourable Member for Finsbury +may do? Is there any doubt that he or anybody else may subscribe to a +school, give a stipend to a monitor, or settle a retiring pension on a +preceptor who has done good service? What any of the Queen's subjects +may do the Queen may do. Suppose that her privy purse were so large that +she could afford to employ a hundred thousand pounds in this beneficent +manner; would an Act of Parliament be necessary to enable her to do so? +Every part of our plan may lawfully be carried into execution by any +person, Sovereign or subject, who has the inclination and the money. +We have not the money; and for the money we come, in a strictly +constitutional manner, to the House of Commons. The course which we +have taken is in conformity with all precedent, as well as with +all principle. There are military schools. No Act of Parliament was +necessary to authorise the establishing of such schools. All that +was necessary was a grant of money to defray the charge. When I was +Secretary at War it was my duty to bring under Her Majesty's notice the +situation of the female children of her soldiers. Many such children +accompanied every regiment, and their education was grievously +neglected. Her Majesty was graciously pleased to sign a warrant by which +a girls' school was attached to each corps. No Act of Parliament was +necessary. For to set up a school where girls might be taught to read, +and write, and sew, and cook, was perfectly legal already. I might have +set it up myself, if I had been rich enough. All that I had to ask from +Parliament was the money. But I ought to beg pardon for arguing a point +so clear. + +The next objection to our plans is that they interfere with the +religious convictions of Her Majesty's subjects. It has been sometimes +insinuated, but it has never been proved, that the Committee of Council +has shown undue favour to the Established Church. Sir, I have carefully +read and considered the minutes; and I wish that every man who has +exerted his eloquence against them had done the same. I say that I have +carefully read and considered them, and that they seem to me to have +been drawn up with exemplary impartiality. The benefits which we offer +we offer to people of all religious persuasions alike. The dissenting +managers of schools will have equal authority with the managers who +belong to the Church. A boy who goes to meeting will be just as eligible +to be a monitor, and will receive just as large a stipend, as if he +went to the cathedral. The schoolmaster who is a nonconformist and the +schoolmaster who is a conformist will enjoy the same emoluments, and +will, after the same term of service, obtain, on the same conditions, +the same retiring pension. I wish that some gentleman would, instead +of using vague phrases about religious liberty and the rights of +conscience, answer this plain question. Suppose that in one of our large +towns there are four schools, a school connected with the Church, a +school connected with the Independents, a Baptist school, and a Wesleyan +school; what encouragement, pecuniary or honorary, will, by our plan, be +given to the school connected with the Church, and withheld from any of +the other three schools? Is it not indeed plain that, if by neglect or +maladministration the Church school should get into a bad state, while +the dissenting schools flourish, the dissenting schools will receive +public money and the Church school will receive none? + +It is true, I admit, that in rural districts which are too poor to +support more than one school, the religious community to which +the majority belongs will have an advantage over other religious +communities. But this is not our fault. If we are as impartial as it +is possible to be, you surely do not expect more. If there should be a +parish containing nine hundred churchmen and a hundred dissenters, if +there should, in that parish, be a school connected with the Church, +if the dissenters in that parish should be too poor to set up another +school, undoubtedly the school connected with the Church will, in that +parish, get all that we give; and the dissenters will get nothing. But +observe that there is no partiality to the Church, as the Church, in +this arrangement. The churchmen get public money, not because they +are churchmen, but because they are the majority. The dissenters get +nothing, not because they are dissenters, but because they are a small +minority. There are districts where the case will be reversed, where +there will be dissenting schools, and no Church schools. In such cases +the dissenters will get what we have to give, and the churchmen will get +nothing. + +But, Sir, I ought not to say that a churchman gets nothing by a system +which gives a good education to dissenters, or that a dissenter gets +nothing by a system which gives a good education to churchmen. We are +not, I hope, so much conformists, or so much nonconformists, as to +forget that we are Englishmen and Christians. We all, Churchmen, +Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Methodists, have an interest in +this, that the great body of the people should be rescued from ignorance +and barbarism. I mentioned Lord George Gordon's mob. That mob began, +it is true, with the Roman Catholics: but, long before the tumults were +over, there was not a respectable Protestant in London who was not in +fear for his house, for his limbs, for his life, for the lives of those +who were dearest to him. The honourable Member for Finsbury says that we +call on men to pay for an education from which they derive no benefit. +I deny that there is one honest and industrious man in the country who +derives no benefit from living among honest and industrious neighbours +rather than among rioters and vagabonds. This matter is as much a matter +of common concern as the defence of our coast. Suppose that I were +to say, "Why do you tax me to fortify Portsmouth? If the people of +Portsmouth think that they cannot be safe without bastions and ravelins, +let the people of Portsmouth pay the engineers and masons. Why am I to +bear the charge of works from which I derive no advantage?" You would +answer, and most justly, that there is no man in the island who does +not derive advantage from these works, whether he resides within them or +not. And, as every man, in whatever part of the island he may live, is +bound to contribute to the support of those arsenals which are necessary +for our common security, so is every man, to whatever sect he may +belong, bound to contribute to the support of those schools on which, +not less than on our arsenals, our common security depends. + +I now come to the last words of the amendment. The honourable Member +for Finsbury is apprehensive that our plan may interfere with the +civil rights of Her Majesty's subjects. How a man's civil rights can be +prejudiced by his learning to read and write, to multiply and divide, or +even by his obtaining some knowledge of history and geography, I do +not very well apprehend. One thing is clear, that persons sunk in that +ignorance in which, as we are assured by the Congregational Union, great +numbers of our countrymen are sunk, can be free only in name. It is +hardly necessary for us to appoint a Select Committee for the purpose of +inquiring whether knowledge be the ally or the enemy of liberty. He is, +I must say, but a short-sighted friend of the common people who is eager +to bestow on them a franchise which would make them all-powerful, and +yet would withhold from them that instruction without which their power +must be a curse to themselves and to the State. + +This, Sir, is my defence. From the clamour of our accusers I appeal with +confidence to the country to which we must, in no long time, render +an account of our stewardship. I appeal with still more confidence +to future generations, which, while enjoying all the blessings of an +impartial and efficient system of public instruction, will find it +difficult to believe that the authors of that system should have had +to struggle with a vehement and pertinacious opposition, and still more +difficult to believe that such an opposition was offered in the name of +civil and religious freedom. + +***** + + + + +INAUGURAL SPEECH AT GLASGOW COLLEGE. (MARCH 21, 1849) A SPEECH DELIVERED +AT THE COLLEGE OF GLASGOW ON THE 21ST OF MARCH, 1849. + +At the election of Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, in +November, 1848, the votes stood thus: Mr Macaulay, 255; Colonel Mure, +203. The installation took place on the twenty-first of March, 1849; +and after that ceremony had been performed, the following Speech was +delivered. + +My first duty, Gentlemen, is to return you my thanks for the honour +which you have conferred on me. You well know that it was wholly +unsolicited; and I can assure you that it was wholly unexpected. I +may add that, if I had been invited to become a candidate for your +suffrages, I should respectfully have declined the invitation. My +predecessor, whom I am so happy as to be able to call my friend, +declared from this place last year in language which well became him, +that he would not have come forward to displace so eminent a statesman +as Lord John Russell. I can with equal truth affirm that I would +not have come forward to displace so estimable a gentleman and so +accomplished a scholar as Colonel Mure. But Colonel Mure felt last +year that it was not for him, and I now feel that it is not for me, +to question the propriety of your decision on a point of which, by the +constitution of your body, you are the judges. I therefore gratefully +accept the office to which I have been called, fully purposing to use +whatever powers belong to it with a single view to the welfare and +credit of your society. + +I am not using a mere phrase of course, when I say that the feelings +with which I bear apart in the ceremony of this day are such as I find +it difficult to utter in words. I do not think it strange that, when +that great master of eloquence, Edmund Burke, stood where I now stand, +he faltered and remained mute. Doubtless the multitude of thoughts which +rushed into his mind was such as even he could not easily arrange or +express. In truth there are few spectacles more striking or affecting +than that which a great historical place of education presents on a +solemn public day. There is something strangely interesting in the +contrast between the venerable antiquity of the body and the fresh and +ardent youth of the great majority of the members. Recollections and +hopes crowd upon us together. The past and the future are at once +brought close to us. Our thoughts wander back to the time when the +foundations of this ancient building were laid, and forward to the +time when those whom it is our office to guide and to teach will be the +guides and teachers of our posterity. On the present occasion we may, +with peculiar propriety, give such thoughts their course. For it has +chanced that my magistracy has fallen on a great secular epoch. This +is the four hundredth year of the existence of your University. At such +jubilees, jubilees of which no individual sees more than one, it is +natural, and it is good, that a society like this, a society which +survives all the transitory parts of which it is composed, a society +which has a corporate existence and a perpetual succession, should +review its annals, should retrace the stages of its growth from infancy +to maturity, and should try to find, in the experience of generations +which have passed away, lessons which may be profitable to generations +yet unborn. + +The retrospect is full of interest and instruction. Perhaps it may be +doubted whether, since the Christian era, there has been any point of +time more important to the highest interests of mankind than that at +which the existence of your University commenced. It was at the moment +of a great destruction and of a great creation. Your society was +instituted just before the empire of the East perished; that strange +empire which, dragging on a languid life through the great age of +darkness, connected together the two great ages of light; that empire +which, adding nothing to our stores of knowledge, and producing not one +man great in letters, in science, or in art, yet preserved, in the midst +of barbarism, those masterpieces of Attic genius, which the highest +minds still contemplate, and long will contemplate, with admiring +despair. And at that very time, while the fanatical Moslem were +plundering the churches and palaces of Constantinople, breaking in +pieces Grecian sculptures, and giving to the flames piles of Grecian +eloquence, a few humble German artisans, who little knew that they were +calling into existence a power far mightier than that of the victorious +Sultan, were busied in cutting and setting the first types. The +University came into existence just in time to witness the disappearance +of the last trace of the Roman empire, and to witness the publication of +the earliest printed book. + +At this conjuncture, a conjuncture of unrivalled interest in the history +of letters, a man, never to be mentioned without reverence by every +lover of letters, held the highest place in Europe. Our just attachment +to that Protestant faith to which our country owes so much must not +prevent us from paying the tribute which, on this occasion, and in this +place, justice and gratitude demand, to the founder of the University +of Glasgow, the greatest of the restorers of learning, Pope Nicholas the +Fifth. He had sprung from the common people; but his abilities and his +erudition had early attracted the notice of the great. He had studied +much and travelled far. He had visited Britain, which, in wealth and +refinement, was to his native Tuscany what the back settlements of +America now are to Britain. He had lived with the merchant princes of +Florence, those men who first ennobled trade by making trade the ally +of philosophy, of eloquence, and of taste. It was he who, under the +protection of the munificent and discerning Cosmo, arranged the first +public library that Modern Europe possessed. From privacy your founder +rose to a throne; but on the throne he never forgot the studies which +had been his delight in privacy. He was the centre of an illustrious +group, composed partly of the last great scholars of Greece, and partly +of the first great scholars of Italy, Theodore Gaza and George +of Trebizond, Bessarion and Filelfo, Marsilio Ficino and Poggio +Bracciolini. By him was founded the Vatican library, then and long after +the most precious and the most extensive collection of books in the +world. By him were carefully preserved the most valuable intellectual +treasures which had been snatched from the wreck of the Byzantine +empire. His agents were to be found everywhere, in the bazaars of the +farthest East, in the monasteries of the farthest West, purchasing or +copying worm-eaten parchments, on which were traced words worthy of +immortality. Under his patronage were prepared accurate Latin versions +of many precious remains of Greek poets and philosophers. But no +department of literature owes so much to him as history. By him were +introduced to the knowledge of Western Europe two great and unrivalled +models of historical composition, the work of Herodotus and the work of +Thucydides. By him, too, our ancestors were first made acquainted with +the graceful and lucid simplicity of Xenophon and with the manly good +sense of Polybius. + +It was while he was occupied with cares like these that his attention +was called to the intellectual wants of this region, a region now +swarming with population, rich with culture, and resounding with the +clang of machinery, a region which now sends forth fleets laden with its +admirable fabrics to the lands of which, in his days, no geographer had +ever heard, then a wild, a poor, a half barbarous tract, lying on the +utmost verge of the known world. He gave his sanction to the plan of +establishing a University at Glasgow, and bestowed on the new seat of +learning all the privileges which belonged to the University of Bologna. +I can conceive that a pitying smile passed over his face as he named +Bologna and Glasgow together. At Bologna he had long studied. No spot +in the world had been more favoured by nature or by art. The surrounding +country was a fruitful and sunny country, a country of cornfields and +vineyards. In the city, the house of Bentivoglo bore rule, a house which +vied with the house of Medici in taste and magnificence, which has +left to posterity noble palaces and temples, and which gave a splendid +patronage to arts and letters. Glasgow your founder just knew to be a +poor, a small, a rude town, a town, as he would have thought, not likely +ever to be great and opulent; for the soil, compared with the rich +country at the foot of the Apennines, was barren, and the climate was +such that an Italian shuddered at the thought of it. But it is not on +the fertility of the soil, it is not on the mildness of the atmosphere, +that the prosperity of nations chiefly depends. Slavery and superstition +can make Campania a land of beggars, and can change the plain of Enna +into a desert. Nor is it beyond the power of human intelligence and +energy, developed by civil and spiritual freedom, to turn sterile rocks +and pestilential marshes into cities and gardens. Enlightened as your +founder was, he little knew that he was himself a chief agent in a great +revolution, physical and moral, political and religious, in a revolution +destined to make the last first and the first last, in a revolution +destined to invert the relative positions of Glasgow and Bologna. We +cannot, I think, better employ a few minutes than in reviewing the +stages of this great change in human affairs. + +The review shall be short. Indeed I cannot do better than pass rapidly +from century to century. Look at the world, then, a hundred years after +the seal of Nicholas had been affixed to the instrument which +called your College into existence. We find Europe, we find Scotland +especially, in the agonies of that great revolution which we +emphatically call the Reformation. The liberal patronage which +Nicholas, and men like Nicholas, had given to learning, and of which +the establishment of this seat of learning is not the least remarkable +instance, had produced an effect which they had never contemplated. +Ignorance was the talisman on which their power depended; and that +talisman they had themselves broken. They had called in Knowledge as a +handmaid to decorate Superstition, and their error produced its natural +effect. I need not tell you what a part the votaries of classical +learning, and especially the votaries of Greek learning, the Humanists, +as they were then called, bore in the great movement against spiritual +tyranny. They formed, in fact, the vanguard of that movement. Every +one of the chief Reformers--I do not at this moment remember a single +exception--was a Humanist. Almost every eminent Humanist in the north of +Europe was, according to the measure of his uprightness and courage, a +Reformer. In a Scottish University I need hardly mention the names of +Knox, of Buchanan, of Melville, of Secretary Maitland. In truth, minds +daily nourished with the best literature of Greece and Rome necessarily +grew too strong to be trammelled by the cobwebs of the scholastic +divinity; and the influence of such minds was now rapidly felt by the +whole community; for the invention of printing had brought books within +the reach even of yeomen and of artisans. From the Mediterranean to the +Frozen Sea, therefore, the public mind was everywhere in a ferment; and +nowhere was the ferment greater than in Scotland. It was in the midst +of martyrdoms and proscriptions, in the midst of a war between power +and truth, that the first century of the existence of your University +closed. + +Pass another hundred years; and we are in the midst of another +revolution. The war between Popery and Protestantism had, in this +island, been terminated by the victory of Protestantism. But from that +war another war had sprung, the war between Prelacy and Puritanism. +The hostile religious sects were allied, intermingled, confounded with +hostile political parties. The monarchical element of the constitution +was an object of almost exclusive devotion to the Prelatist. The popular +element of the constitution was especially dear to the Puritan. At +length an appeal was made to the sword. Puritanism triumphed; but +Puritanism was already divided against itself. Independency and +Republicanism were on one side, Presbyterianism and limited Monarchy on +the other. It was in the very darkest part of that dark time, it was +in the midst of battles, sieges, and executions, it was when the whole +world was still aghast at the awful spectacle of a British King standing +before a judgment seat, and laying his neck on a block, it was when the +mangled remains of the Duke of Hamilton had just been laid in the tomb +of his house, it was when the head of the Marquess of Montrose had just +been fixed on the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, that your University completed +her second century. + +A hundred years more; and we have at length reached the beginning of a +happier period. Our civil and religious liberties had indeed been bought +with a fearful price. But they had been bought. The price had been +paid. The last battle had been fought on British ground. The last black +scaffold had been set up on Tower Hill. The evil days were over. A +bright and tranquil century, a century of religious toleration, of +domestic peace, of temperate freedom, of equal justice, was beginning. +That century is now closing. When we compare it with any equally long +period in the history of any other great society, we shall find abundant +cause for thankfulness to the Giver of all good. Nor is there any place +in the whole kingdom better fitted to excite this feeling than the place +where we are now assembled. For in the whole kingdom we shall find no +district in which the progress of trade, of manufactures, of wealth, +and of the arts of life, has been more rapid than in Clydesdale. Your +University has partaken largely of the prosperity of this city and of +the surrounding region. The security, the tranquillity, the liberty, +which have been propitious to the industry of the merchant and of the +manufacturer, have been also propitious to the industry of the scholar. +To the last century belong most of the names of which you justly boast. +The time would fail me if I attempted to do justice to the memory of all +the illustrious men who, during that period, taught or learned wisdom +within these ancient walls; geometricians, anatomists, jurists, +philologists, metaphysicians, poets: Simpson and Hunter, Millar and +Young, Reid and Stewart; Campbell, whose coffin was lately borne to a +grave in that renowned transept which contains the dust of Chaucer, +of Spenser, and of Dryden; Black, whose discoveries form an era in the +history of chemical science; Adam Smith, the greatest of all the masters +of political science; James Watt, who perhaps did more than any single +man has done, since the New Atlantis of Bacon was written, to accomplish +that glorious prophecy. We now speak the language of humility when we +say that the University of Glasgow need not fear a comparison with the +University of Bologna. + +A fifth secular period is about to commence. There is no lack of +alarmists who will tell you that it is about to commence under evil +auspices. But from me you must expect no such gloomy prognostications. +I have heard them too long and too constantly to be scared by them. Ever +since I began to make observations on the state of my country, I have +been seeing nothing but growth, and hearing of nothing but decay. The +more I contemplate our noble institutions, the more convinced I am that +they are sound at heart, that they have nothing of age but its dignity, +and that their strength is still the strength of youth. The hurricane, +which has recently overthrown so much that was great and that seemed +durable, has only proved their solidity. They still stand, august and +immovable, while dynasties and churches are lying in heaps of ruin all +around us. I see no reason to doubt that, by the blessing of God on +a wise and temperate policy, on a policy of which the principle is +to preserve what is good by reforming in time what is evil, our civil +institutions may be preserved unimpaired to a late posterity, and that, +under the shade of our civil institutions, our academical institutions +may long continue to flourish. + +I trust, therefore, that, when a hundred years more have run out, this +ancient College will still continue to deserve well of our country and +of mankind. I trust that the installation of 1949 will be attended by a +still greater assembly of students than I have the happiness now to see +before me. That assemblage, indeed, may not meet in the place where we +have met. These venerable halls may have disappeared. My successor may +speak to your successors in a more stately edifice, in a edifice which, +even among the magnificent buildings of the future Glasgow, will still +be admired as a fine specimen of the architecture which flourished in +the days of the good Queen Victoria. But, though the site and the walls +may be new, the spirit of the institution will, I hope, be still the +same. My successor will, I hope, be able to boast that the fifth century +of the University has even been more glorious than the fourth. He will +be able to vindicate that boast by citing a long list of eminent men, +great masters of experimental science, of ancient learning, of our +native eloquence, ornaments of the senate, the pulpit and the bar. He +will, I hope, mention with high honour some of my young friends who now +hear me; and he will, I also hope, be able to add that their talents +and learning were not wasted on selfish or ignoble objects, but were +employed to promote the physical and moral good of their species, to +extend the empire of man over the material world, to defend the cause +of civil and religious liberty against tyrants and bigots, and to defend +the cause of virtue and order against the enemies of all divine and +human laws. + +I have now given utterance to a part, and to a part only, of the +recollections and anticipations of which, on this solemn occasion, my +mind is full. I again thank you for the honour which you have bestowed +on me; and I assure you that, while I live, I shall never cease to take +a deep interest in the welfare and fame of the body with which, by your +kindness, I have this day become connected. + +***** + + + + +RE-ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT. (NOVEMBER 2, 1852) A SPEECH DELIVERED AT +EDINBURGH ON THE 2D OF NOVEMBER, 1852. + +At the General Election of 1852 the votes for the City of Edinburgh +stood thus: + + Mr Macaulay ...............1872 + Mr Cowan ..................1754 + The Lord Provost ..........1559 + Mr Bruce ..................1066 + Mr Campbell ............... 686 + +On the second of November the Electors assembled in the Music Hall to +meet the representative whom they had, without any solicitation on his +part, placed at the head of the poll. On this occasion the following +Speech was delivered. + +Gentlemen,--I thank you from my heart for this kind reception. In truth, +it has almost overcome me. Your good opinion and your good will were +always very valuable to me, far more valuable than any vulgar object +of ambition, far more valuable than any office, however lucrative or +dignified. In truth, no office, however lucrative or dignified, would +have tempted me to do what I have done at your summons, to leave +again the happiest and most tranquil of all retreats for the bustle +of political life. But the honour which you have conferred upon me, an +honour of which the greatest men might well be proud, an honour which it +is in the power only of a free people to bestow, has laid on me such +an obligation that I should have thought it ingratitude, I should have +thought it pusillanimity, not to make at least an effort to serve you. + +And here, Gentlemen, we meet again in kindness after a long separation. +It is more than five years since I last stood in this very place; a +large part of human life. There are few of us on whom those five years +have not set their mark, few circles from which those five years have +not taken away what can never be replaced. Even in this multitude of +friendly faces I look in vain for some which would on this day have been +lighted up with joy and kindness. I miss one venerable man, who, before +I was born, in evil times, in times of oppression and of corruption, +had adhered, with almost solitary fidelity, to the cause of freedom, and +whom I knew in advanced age, but still in the full vigour of mind and +body, enjoying the respect and gratitude of his fellow citizens. I +should, indeed, be most ungrateful if I could, on this day, forget Sir +James Craig, his public spirit, his judicious counsel, his fatherly +kindness to myself. And Jeffrey--with what an effusion of generous +affection he would on this day, have welcomed me back to Edinburgh! He +too is gone; but the remembrance of him is one of the many ties which +bind me to the city once dear to his heart, and still inseparably +associated with his fame. + +But, Gentlemen, it is not only here that, on entering again, at your +call, a path of life which I believed that I had quitted forever, I +shall be painfully reminded of the changes which the last five years +have produced. In Parliament I shall look in vain for virtues which I +loved, and for abilities which I admired. Often in debate, and never +more than when we discuss those questions of colonial policy which are +every day acquiring a new interest, I shall remember with regret how +much eloquence and wit, how much acuteness and knowledge, how many +engaging qualities, how many fair hopes, are buried in the grave of poor +Charles Buller. There were other men, men with whom I had no political +connection and little personal connection, men to whom I was, during a +great part of my public life, honestly opposed, but of whom I cannot +now think without grieving that their wisdom, their experience, and the +weight of their great names can never more, in the hour of need, bring +help to the nation or to the throne. Such were those two eminent men +whom I left at the height, one of civil, the other of military fame; one +the oracle of the House of Commons, the other the oracle of the House +of Lords. There were parts of their long public life which they would +themselves, I am persuaded, on a calm retrospect, have allowed to be +justly censurable. But it is impossible to deny that each in his own +department saved the State; that one brought to a triumphant close the +most formidable conflict in which this country was ever engaged with a +foreign enemy; and that the other, at an immense sacrifice of personal +feeling and personal ambition, freed us from an odious monopoly, which +could not have existed many years longer without producing fearful +intestine discords. I regret them both: but I peculiarly regret him who +is associated in my mind with the place to which you have sent me. I +shall hardly know the House of Commons without Sir Robert Peel. On the +first evening on which I took my seat in that House, more than two and +twenty years ago, he held the highest position among the Ministers +of the Crown who sate there. During all the subsequent years of my +parliamentary service I scarcely remember one important discussion in +which he did not bear a part with conspicuous ability. His figure is now +before me: all the tones of his voice are in my ears; and the pain with +which I think that I shall never hear them again would be embittered by +the recollection of some sharp encounters which took place between us, +were it not that at last there was an entire and cordial reconciliation, +and that, only a very few days before his death, I had the pleasure of +receiving from him marks of kindness and esteem of which I shall always +cherish the recollection. + +But, Gentlemen, it is not only by those changes which the natural law of +mortality produces, it is not only by the successive disappearances of +eminent men that the face of the world has been changed during the five +years which have elapsed since we met here last. Never since the origin +of our race have there been five years more fertile of great events, +five years which have left behind them a more awful lesson. We have +lived many lives in that time. The revolutions of ages have been +compressed into a few months. France, Germany, Hungary, Italy,--what +a history has theirs been! When we met here last, there was in all of +those countries an outward show of tranquillity; and there were few, +even of the wisest among us, who imagined what wild passions, what wild +theories, were fermenting under that peaceful exterior. An obstinate +resistance to a reasonable reform, a resistance prolonged but for +one day beyond the time, gave the signal for the explosion; and in an +instant, from the borders of Russia to the Atlantic Ocean, everything +was confusion and terror. The streets of the greatest capitals of Europe +were piled up with barricades, and were streaming with civil blood. The +house of Orleans fled from France: the Pope fled from Rome: the Emperor +of Austria was not safe at Vienna. There were popular institutions in +Florence; popular institutions at Naples. One democratic convention sat +at Berlin; another democratic convention at Frankfort. You remember, I +am sure, but too well, how some of the wisest and most honest friends of +liberty, though inclined to look with great indulgence on the excesses +inseparable from revolutions, began first to doubt and then to despair +of the prospects of mankind. You remember how all sorts of animosity, +national, religious, and social, broke forth together. You remember +how with the hatred of discontented subjects to their governments was +mingled the hatred of race to race and of class to class. For myself, I +stood aghast; and though naturally of a sanguine disposition, I did for +one moment doubt whether the progress of society was not about to be +arrested, nay, to be suddenly and violently turned back; whether we +were not doomed to pass in one generation from the civilisation of the +nineteenth century to the barbarism of the fifth. I remembered that Adam +Smith and Gibbon had told us that the dark ages were gone, never more +to return, that modern Europe was in no danger of the fate which had +befallen the Roman empire. That flood, they said, would no more return +to cover the earth: and they seemed to reason justly: for they compared +the immense strength of the enlightened part of the world with the +weakness of the part which remained savage; and they asked whence were +to come the Huns and the Vandals, who should again destroy civilisation? +It had not occurred to them that civilisation itself might engender the +barbarians who should destroy it. It had not occurred to them that +in the very heart of great capitals, in the neighbourhood of splendid +palaces, and churches, and theatres, and libraries, and museums, vice +and ignorance might produce a race of Huns fiercer than those who +marched under Attila, and of Vandals more bent on destruction than those +who followed Genseric. Such was the danger. It passed by. Civilisation +was saved, but at what a price! The tide of popular feeling turned and +ebbed almost as fast as it had risen. Imprudent and obstinate opposition +to reasonable demands had brought on anarchy; and as soon as men had +a near view of anarchy they fled in terror to crouch at the feet of +despotism. To the dominion of mobs armed with pikes succeeded the +sterner and more lasting dominion of disciplined armies. The Papacy +rose from its debasement; rose more intolerant and insolent than before; +intolerant and insolent as in the days of Hildebrand; intolerant and +insolent to a degree which dismayed and disappointed those who had +fondly cherished the hope that the spirit which had animated the +Crusaders and the Inquisitors had been mitigated by the lapse of years +and by the progress of knowledge. Through all that vast region, where +little more than four years ago we looked in vain for any stable +authority, we now look in vain for any trace of constitutional freedom. +And we, Gentlemen, in the meantime, have been exempt from both those +calamities which have wrought ruin all around us. The madness of 1848 +did not subvert the British throne. The reaction which followed has not +destroyed British liberty. + +And why is this? Why has our country, with all the ten plagues raging +around her, been a land of Goshen? Everywhere else was the thunder and +the fire running along the ground,--a very grievous storm,--a storm such +as there was none like it since man was on the earth; yet everything +tranquil here; and then again thick night, darkness that might be felt; +and yet light in all our dwellings. We owe this singular happiness, +under the blessing of God, to a wise and noble constitution, the work of +many generations of great men. Let us profit by experience; and let us +be thankful that we profit by the experience of others, and not by our +own. Let us prize our constitution: let us purify it: let us amend it; +but let us not destroy it. Let us shun extremes, not only because each +extreme is in itself a positive evil, but also because each extreme +necessarily engenders its opposite. If we love civil and religious +freedom, let us in the day of danger uphold law and order. If we are +zealous for law and order, let us prize, as the best safeguard of law +and order, civil and religious freedom. + +Yes, Gentlemen; if I am asked why we are free with servitude all around +us, why our Habeas Corpus Act has not been suspended, why our press +is still subject to no censor, why we still have the liberty of +association, why our representative institutions still abide in all +their strength, I answer, It is because in the year of revolutions we +stood firmly by our Government in its peril; and, if I am asked why +we stood by our Government in its peril, when men all around us were +engaged in pulling Governments down, I answer, It was because we knew +that though our Government was not a perfect Government, it was a good +Government, that its faults admitted of peaceable and legal remedies, +that it had never inflexibly opposed just demands, that we had obtained +concessions of inestimable value, not by beating the drum, not by +ringing the tocsin, not by tearing up the pavement, not by running to +the gunsmiths' shops to search for arms, but by the mere force of reason +and public opinion. And, Gentlemen, preeminent among those pacific +victories of reason and public opinion, the recollection of which +chiefly, I believe, carried us safely through the year of revolutions +and through the year of counter-revolutions, I would place two great +reforms, inseparably associated, one with the memory of an illustrious +man, who is now beyond the reach of envy, the other with the name of +another illustrious man, who is still, and, I hope, long will be, a +living mark for distinction. I speak of the great commercial reform of +1846, the work of Sir Robert Peel, and of the great parliamentary reform +of 1832, the work of many eminent statesmen, among whom none was more +conspicuous than Lord John Russell. I particularly call your attention +to those two great reforms, because it will, in my opinion, be the +especial duty of that House of Commons in which, by your distinguished +favour, I have a seat, to defend the commercial reform of Sir Robert +Peel, and to perfect and extend the parliamentary reform of Lord John +Russell. + +With respect to the commercial reform, though I say it will be a sacred +duty to defend it, I do not apprehend that we shall find the task very +difficult. Indeed, I doubt whether we have any reason to apprehend a +direct attack upon the system now established. From the expressions used +during the last session, and during the late elections, by the Ministers +and their adherents, I should, I confess, find it utterly impossible to +draw any inference whatever. They have contradicted each other; and they +have contradicted themselves. Nothing would be easier than to select +from their speeches passages which would prove them to be Freetraders, +and passages which would prove them to be protectionists. But, in truth, +the only inference which can properly be drawn from a speech of one of +these gentlemen in favour of Free Trade is, that, when he spoke, he was +standing for a town; and the only inference which can be drawn from the +speech of another in favour of Protection is, that, when he spoke, +he was standing for a county. I quitted London in the heat of the +elections. I left behind me a Tory candidate for Westminster and a Tory +candidate for Middlesex, loudly proclaiming themselves Derbyites and +Freetraders. All along my journey through Berkshire and Wiltshire I +heard nothing but the cry of Derby and Protection; but when I got to +Bristol, the cry was Derby and Free Trade again. On one side of the +Wash, Lord Stanley, the Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign +Department, a young nobleman of great promise, a young nobleman who +appears to me to inherit a large portion of his father's ability and +energy, held language which was universally understood to indicate that +the Government had altogether abandoned all thought of Protection. Lord +Stanley was addressing the inhabitants of a town. Meanwhile, on the +other side of the Wash, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was +haranguing the farmers of Lincolnshire; and, when somebody took it upon +him to ask, "What will you do, Mr Christopher, if Lord Derby abandons +Protection?" the Chancellor of the Duchy refused to answer a question so +monstrous, so insulting to Lord Derby. "I will stand by Lord Derby," he +said, "because I know that Lord Derby will stand by Protection." Well, +these opposite declarations of two eminent persons, both likely to know +the mind of Lord Derby on the subject, go forth, and are taken up +by less distinguished adherents of the party. The Tory candidate for +Leicestershire says, "I put faith in Mr Christopher: while you see Mr +Christopher in the Government, you may be assured that agriculture will +be protected." But, in East Surrey, which is really a suburb of London, +I find the Tory candidate saying, "Never mind Mr Christopher. I trust to +Lord Stanley. What should Mr Christopher know on the subject? He is not +in the Cabinet: he can tell you nothing about it." Nay, these tactics +were carried so far that Tories who had formerly been for Free Trade, +turned Protectionists if they stood for counties; and Tories, who had +always been furious Protectionists, declared for Free Trade, without +scruple or shame, if they stood for large towns. Take for example +Lord Maidstone. He was once one of the most vehement Protectionists +in England, and put forth a small volume, which, as I am an elector of +Westminster, and as he was a candidate for Westminster, I thought it my +duty to buy, in order to understand his opinions. It is entitled Free +Trade Hexameters. Of the poetical merits of Lord Maidstone's hexameters +I shall not presume to give an opinion. You may all form an opinion for +yourselves by ordering copies. They may easily be procured: for I was +assured, when I bought mine in Bond Street, that the supply on hand +was still considerable. But of the political merits of Lord Maidstone's +hexameters I can speak with confidence; and it is impossible to +conceive a fiercer attack, according to the measure of the power of +the assailant, than that which his lordship made on Sir Robert Peel's +policy. On the other hand, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, who is now Solicitor +General, and who was Solicitor General under Sir Robert Peel, voted +steadily with Sir Robert Peel, doubtless from a regard to the public +interest, which would have suffered greatly by the retirement of so able +a lawyer from the service of the Crown. Sir Fitzroy did not think it +necessary to lay down his office even when Sir Robert Peel brought in +the bill which established a free trade in corn. But unfortunately, +Lord Maidstone becomes a candidate for the City of Westminster, and Sir +Fitzroy Kelly stands for an agricultural county. Instantly, therefore, +Lord Maidstone forgets his verses, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly forgets his +votes. Lord Maidstone declares himself a convert to the opinions of Sir +Robert Peel; and Sir Robert Peel's own Solicitor General lifts up his +head intrepidly, and makes a speech, apparently composed out of Lord +Maidstone's hexameters. + +It is therefore, Gentlemen, utterly impossible for me to pretend to +infer, from the language held by the members of the Government, +and their adherents, what course they will take on the subject of +Protection. Nevertheless, I confidently say that the system established +by Sir Robert Peel is perfectly safe. The law which repealed the Corn +Laws stands now on a much firmer foundation than when it was first +passed. We are stronger than ever in reason; and we are stronger than +ever in numbers. We are stronger than ever in reason, because what was +only prophecy is now history. No person can now question the salutary +effect which the repeal of the Corn Laws has had on our trade and +industry. We are stronger than ever in numbers. You, I am sure, +recollect the time when a formidable opposition to the repeal of the +Corn Laws was made by a class which was most deeply interested in that +repeal; I mean the labouring classes. You recollect that, in many large +towns, ten years ago, the friends of Free Trade could not venture to +call meetings for the purpose of petitioning against the Corn Laws, for +fear of being interrupted by a crowd of working people, who had been +taught by a certain class of demagogues to say that the question was +one in which working people had no interest, that it was purely a +capitalist's question, that, if the poor man got a large loaf instead of +a small one, he would get from the capitalist only a sixpence instead +of a shilling. I never had the slightest faith in those doctrines. +Experience even then seemed to me completely to confute them. I compared +place with place; and I found that, though bread was dearer in England +than in Ohio, wages were higher in Ohio than in England. I compared +time with time; and I saw that those times when bread was cheapest +in England, within my own memory, were also the times in which the +condition of the labouring classes was the happiest. But now the +experiment has been tried in a manner which admits of no dispute. I +should be glad to know, if there were now an attempt made to impose a +tax on corn, what demagogue would be able to bring a crowd of working +men to hold up their hands in favour of such a tax. Thus strong, +Gentlemen, in reason, and thus strong in numbers, we need, I believe, +apprehend no direct attack on the principles of Free Trade. It will, +however, be one of the first duties of your representatives to be +vigilant that no indirect attack shall be made on these principles; and +to take care that in our financial arrangements no undue favour shall be +shown to any class. + +With regard to the other question which I have mentioned, the question +of Parliamentary Reform, I think that the time is at hand when that +question will require the gravest consideration, when it will be +necessary to reconsider the Reform Act of 1832, and to amend it +temperately and cautiously, but in a large and liberal spirit. I confess +that, in my opinion, this revision cannot be made with advantage, except +by the Ministers of the Crown. I greatly doubt whether it will be found +possible to carry through any plan of improvement if we have not the +Government heartily with us; and I must say that from the present +Administration I can, as to that matter, expect nothing good. What +precisely I am to expect from them I do not know, whether the most +obstinate opposition to every change, or the most insanely violent +change. If I look to their conduct, I find the gravest reasons for +apprehending that they may at one time resist the most just demands, +and at another time, from the merest caprice, propose the wildest +innovations. And I will tell you why I entertain this opinion. I am +sorry that, in doing so, I must mention the name of a gentleman for +whom, personally, I have the highest respect; I mean Mr Walpole, the +Secretary of State for the Home Department. My own acquaintance with him +is slight; but I know him well by character; and I believe him to be +an honourable, an excellent, an able man. No man is more esteemed in +private life: but of his public conduct I must claim the right to speak +with freedom; and I do so with the less scruple because he has himself +set me an example of that freedom, and because I am really now standing +on the defensive. Mr Walpole lately made a speech to the electors of +Midhurst; and in that speech he spoke personally of Lord John Russell +as one honourable man should speak of another, and as, I am sure, I +wish always to speak of Mr Walpole. But in Lord John's public conduct Mr +Walpole found many faults. Chief among those faults was this, that +his lordship had re-opened the question of reform. Mr Walpole declared +himself to be opposed on principle to organic change. He justly said +that if, unfortunately, organic change should be necessary, whatever +was done ought to be done with much deliberation and with caution almost +timorous; and he charged Lord John with having neglected these plain +rules of prudence. I was perfectly thunderstruck when I read the speech: +for I could not but recollect that the most violent and democratic +change that ever was proposed within the memory of the oldest man had +been proposed but a few weeks before by this same Mr Walpole, as the +organ of the present Government. Do you remember the history of the +Militia Bill? In general, when a great change in our institutions is +to be proposed from the Treasury Bench, the Minister announces his +intention some weeks before. There is a great attendance: there is +the most painful anxiety to know what he is going to recommend. I well +remember,--for I was present,--with what breathless suspense six hundred +persons waited, on the first of March, 1831, to hear Lord John Russell +explain the principles of his Reform Bill. But what was his Reform Bill +to the Reform Bill of the Derby Administration? At the end of a night, +in the coolest way possible, without the smallest notice, Mr Walpole +proposed to add to the tail of the Militia Bill a clause to the effect, +that every man who had served in the militia for two years should have +a vote for the county. What is the number of those voters who were to be +entitled to vote in this way for counties? The militia of England is to +consist of eighty thousand men; and the term of service is to be five +years. In ten years the number will be one hundred and sixty thousand; +in twenty years, three hundred and twenty thousand; and in twenty-five +years, four hundred thousand. Some of these new electors will, of +course, die off in twenty-five years, though the lives are picked lives, +remarkably good lives. What the mortality is likely to be I do not +accurately know; but any actuary will easily calculate it for you. I +should say, in round numbers, that you will have, when the system has +been in operation for a generation, an addition of about three hundred +thousand to the county constituent bodies; that is to say, six thousand +voters on the average will be added to every county in England +and Wales. That is surely an immense addition. And what is the +qualification? Why, the first qualification is youth. These electors +are not to be above a certain age; but the nearer you can get them to +eighteen the better. The second qualification is poverty. The elector +is to be a person to whom a shilling a-day is an object. The third +qualification is ignorance; for I venture to say that, if you take the +trouble to observe the appearance of those young fellows who follow the +recruiting sergeant in the streets, you will at once say that, among our +labouring classes, they are not the most educated, they are not the +most intelligent. That they are brave, stout lads, I fully believe. Lord +Hardinge tells me that he never saw a finer set of young men; and I have +not the slightest doubt that, if necessary, after a few weeks' training, +they will be found standing up for our firesides against the best +disciplined soldiers that the Continent can produce. But these are not +the qualifications which fit men to choose legislators. A young man who +goes from the ploughtail into the army is generally rather thoughtless +and disposed to idleness. Oh! but there is another qualification which I +had forgotten: the voter must be five feet two. There is a qualification +for you! Only think of measuring a man for the franchise! And this is +the work of a Conservative Government, this plan which would swamp all +the counties in England with electors who possess the Derby-Walpole +qualifications; that is to say, youth, poverty, ignorance, a roving +disposition, and five feet two. Why, what right have people who have +proposed such a change as this to talk about--I do not say Lord John +Russell's imprudence--but the imprudence of Ernest Jones or of any other +Chartist? The Chartists, to do them justice, would give the franchise to +wealth as well as to poverty, to knowledge as well as to ignorance, to +mature age as well as to youth. But to make a qualification compounded +of disqualifications is a feat of which the whole glory belongs to our +Conservative rulers. This astounding proposition was made, I believe, in +a very thin House: but the next day the House was full enough, everybody +having come down to know what was going to happen. One asked, why not +this? and another, why not that? Are all the regular troops to have +the franchise? all the policemen? all the sailors? for, if you give the +franchise to ploughboys of twenty-one, what class of honest Englishmen +and Scotchmen can you with decency exclude? But up gets the Home +Secretary, and informs the House that the plan had not been sufficiently +considered, that some of his colleagues were not satisfied, and that +he would not press his proposition. Now, if it had happened to me to +propose such a reform at one sitting of the House, and at the next +sitting to withdraw it, because it had not been well considered, I do +think that, to the end of my life, I never should have talked about the +exceeding imprudence of reopening the question of reform; I should never +have ventured to read any other man a lecture about the caution with +which all plans of organic change ought to be framed. I repeat that, +if I am to judge from the language of the present Ministers, taken in +connection with this solitary instance of their legislative skill in the +way of reform, I am utterly at a loss what to expect. On the whole, what +I do expect is that they will offer a pertinacious, vehement, provoking +opposition to safe and reasonable change, and that then, in some moment +of fear or caprice, they will bring in, and fling on the table, in a +fit of desperation or levity, some plan which will loosen the very +foundations of society. + +For my own part, I think that the question of Parliamentary Reform is +one which must soon be taken up; but it ought to be taken up by the +Government; and I hope, before long, to see in office a Ministry which +will take it up in earnest. I dare say that you will not suspect me of +saying so from any interested feeling. In no case whatever shall I again +be a member of any Ministry. During what may remain of my public life, +I shall be the servant of none but you. I have nothing to ask of any +government, except that protection which every government owes to a +faithful and loyal subject of the Queen. But I do hope to see in office +before long a Ministry which will treat this great question as it +should be treated. It will be the duty of that Ministry to revise the +distribution of power. It will be the duty of that Ministry to consider +whether small constituent bodies, notoriously corrupt, and proved to +be corrupt, such, for example, as Harwich, ought to retain the power of +sending members to Parliament. It will be the duty of such a Ministry +to consider whether small constituent bodies, even less notoriously +corrupt, ought to have, in the counsels of the empire, a share as great +as that of the West Riding of York, and twice as great as that of the +county of Perth. It will be the duty of such a Ministry to consider +whether it may not be possible, without the smallest danger to peace, +law, and order, to extend the elective franchise to classes of the +community which do not now possess it. As to universal suffrage, on that +subject you already know my opinions; and I now come before you with +those opinions strengthened by everything which, since I last professed +them, has passed in Europe. We now know, by the clearest of all proofs, +that universal suffrage, even united with secret voting, is no security +against the establishment of arbitrary power. But, Gentlemen, I do look +forward, and at no very remote period, to an extension of the franchise, +such as I once thought unsafe. I believe that such an extension will, +by the course of events, be brought about in the very best and happiest +way. Perhaps I may be sanguine: but I think that good times are coming +for the labouring classes of this country. I do not entertain that hope +because I expect that Fourierism, or Saint Simonianism, or Socialism, or +any of those other "isms" for which the plain English word is "robbery," +will prevail. I know that such schemes only aggravate the misery which +they pretend to relieve. I know that it is possible, by legislation, to +make the rich poor, but that it is utterly impossible to make the poor +rich. But I believe that the progress of experimental science, the +free intercourse of nation with nation, the unrestricted influx of +commodities from countries where they are cheap, and the unrestricted +efflux of labour towards countries where it is dear, will soon produce, +nay, I believe that they are beginning to produce, a great and most +blessed social revolution. I need not tell you, Gentlemen, that in those +colonies which have been planted by our race,--and, when I speak of our +colonies I speak as well of those which have separated from us as of +those which still remain united to us,--I need not tell you that in +our colonies the condition of the labouring man has long been far more +prosperous than in any part of the Old World. And why is this? Some +people tell you that the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and New England +are better off than the inhabitants of the Old World, because the +United States have a republican form of government. But we know that the +inhabitants of Pennsylvania and New England were more prosperous than +the inhabitants of the Old World when Pennsylvania and New England were +as loyal as any part of the dominions of George the First, George the +Second, and George the Third; and we know that in Van Diemen's Land, in +New Zealand, in Australasia, in New Brunswick, in Canada, the subjects +of Her Majesty are as prosperous as they could be under the government +of a President. The real cause is that, in these new countries, where +there is a boundless extent of fertile land, nothing is easier than for +the labourer to pass from the place which is overstocked with labour to +the place which is understocked; and that thus both he who moves and he +who stays always have enough. This it is which keeps up the prosperity +of the Atlantic States of the Union. They pour their population back to +the Ohio, across the Ohio to the Mississippi, and beyond the Mississippi +to the Rocky Mountains. Everywhere the desert is receding before the +advancing flood of human life and civilisation; and, in the meantime, +those who are left behind enjoy abundance, and never endure such +privations as in old countries too often befall the labouring classes. +And why has not the condition of our labourers been equally fortunate? +Simply, as I believe, on account of the great distance which separates +our country from the new and unoccupied part of the world, and on +account of the expense of traversing that distance. Science, however, +has abridged, and is abridging, that distance: science has diminished, +and is diminishing, that expense. Already New Zealand is, for all +practical purposes, nearer to us than New England was to the Puritans +who fled thither from the tyranny of Laud. Already the ports of North +America, Halifax, Boston, and New York, are nearer to us than, within +the memory of persons now living, the Island of Skye and the county of +Donegal were to London. Already emigration is beginning to produce the +same effect here which it has produced on the Atlantic States of +the Union. And do not imagine that our countryman who goes abroad is +altogether lost to us. Even if he goes from under the dominion of the +British Queen and the protection of the British flag he will still, +under the benignant system of free trade, continue to be bound to us by +close ties. If he ceases to be a neighbour, he is still a benefactor +and a customer. Go where he may, if you will but maintain that system +inviolate, it is for us that he is turning the forests into cornfields +on the banks of the Mississippi; it is for us that he is tending his +sheep and preparing his fleeces in the heart of Australasia; and in +the meantime it is from us that he receives those commodities which are +produced with most advantage in old societies, where great masses of +capital have been accumulated. His candlesticks and his pots and his +pans come from Birmingham; his knives from Sheffield; the light cotton +jacket which he wears in summer from Manchester; the good cloth coat +which he wears in winter from Leeds; and in return he sends us back, +from what was lately a wilderness, the good flour out of which is made +the large loaf which the British labourer divides among his children. I +believe that it is in these changes that we shall see the best solution +of the question of the franchise. We shall make our institutions more +democratic than they are, not by lowering the franchise to the level of +the great mass of the community, but by raising, in a time which will be +very short when compared with the existence of a nation, the great mass +up to the level of the franchise. + +I feel that I must stop. I had meant to advert to some other subjects. +I had meant to say something about the ballot, to which, as you know, I +have always been favourable; something about triennial parliaments, to +which, as you know, I have always been honestly opposed; something about +your university tests; something about the cry for religious equality +which has lately been raised in Ireland; but I feel that I cannot well +proceed. I have only strength to thank you again, from the very bottom +of my heart, for the great honour which you have done me in choosing me, +without solicitation, to represent you in Parliament. I am proud of our +connection; and I shall try to act in such a manner that you may not be +ashamed of it. + +***** + + + + +EXCLUSION OF JUDGES FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. (JUNE 1, 1853) A SPEECH +DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 1ST OF JUNE 1853. + +On the first of June 1853, Lord Hotham, Member for Kent, moved the third +reading of a bill of which the chief object was to make the Master +of the Rolls incapable of sitting in the House of Commons. Mr Henry +Drummond, Member for Surrey, moved that the bill should be read a third +time that day six months. In support of Mr Drummond's amendment the +following Speech was made. + +The amendment was carried by 224 votes to 123. + +I cannot, Sir, suffer the House to proceed to a division without +expressing the very strong opinion which I have formed on this subject. +I shall give my vote, with all my heart and soul, for the amendment +moved by my honourable friend the Member for Surrey. I never gave a vote +in my life with a more entire confidence that I was in the right; and I +cannot but think it discreditable to us that a bill for which there is +so little to be said, and against which there is so much to be said, +should have been permitted to pass through so many stages without a +division. + +On what grounds, Sir, does the noble lord, the Member for Kent, ask +us to make this change in the law? The only ground, surely, on which +a Conservative legislator ought ever to propose a change in the law is +this, that the law, as it stands, has produced some evil. Is it then +pretended that the law, as it stands, has produced any evil? The noble +lord himself tells you that it has produced no evil whatever. Nor can +it be said that the experiment has not been fairly tried. This House and +the office of Master of the Rolls began to exist, probably in the same +generation, certainly in the same century. During six hundred years this +House has been open to Masters of the Rolls. Many Masters of the Rolls +have sate here, and have taken part, with great ability and authority, +in our deliberations. To go no further back than the accession of the +House of Hanover, Jekyll was a member of this House, and Strange, and +Kenyon, and Pepper Arden, and Sir William Grant, and Sir John Copley, +and Sir Charles Pepys, and finally Sir John Romilly. It is not even +pretended that any one of these eminent persons was ever, on any single +occasion, found to be the worse member of this House for being Master of +the Rolls, or the worse Master of the Rolls for being a member of this +House. And if so, is it, I ask, the part of a wise statesman, is it, I +ask still more emphatically, the part of a Conservative statesman, to +alter a system which has lasted six centuries, and which has never +once, during all those centuries, produced any but good effects, merely +because it is not in harmony with an abstract principle? + +And what is the abstract principle for the sake of which we are asked to +innovate in reckless defiance of all the teaching of experience? It is +this; that political functions ought to be kept distinct from judicial +functions. So sacred, it seems, is this principle, that the union of the +political and judicial characters ought not to be suffered to continue +even in a case in which that union has lasted through many ages without +producing the smallest practical inconvenience. "Nothing is so hateful," +I quote the words of the noble lord who brought in this bill, "nothing +is so hateful as a political judge." + +Now, Sir, if I assent to the principle laid down by the noble lord, I +must pronounce his bill the most imbecile, the most pitiful, attempt at +reform that ever was made. The noble lord is a homoeopathist in state +medicine. His remedies are administered in infinitesimal doses. If he +will, for a moment, consider how our tribunals are constituted, and how +our parliament is constituted, he will perceive that the judicial +and political character are, through all grades, everywhere combined, +everywhere interwoven, and that therefore the evil which he proposes +to remove vanishes, as the mathematicians say, when compared with the +immense mass of evil which he leaves behind. + +It has been asked, and very sensibly asked, why, if you exclude the +Master of the Rolls from the House, you should not also exclude the +Recorder of the City of London. I should be very sorry to see the +Recorder of the City of London excluded. But I must say that the reasons +for excluding him are ten times as strong as the reasons for excluding +the Master of the Rolls. For it is well-known that political cases +of the highest importance have been tried by Recorders of the City of +London. But why not exclude all Recorders, and all Chairmen of Quarter +Sessions? I venture to say that there are far stronger reasons for +excluding a Chairman of Quarter Sessions than for excluding a Master of +the Rolls. I long ago attended, during two or three years, the Quarter +Sessions of a great county. There I constantly saw in the chair an +eminent member of this House. An excellent criminal judge he was. Had +he been a veteran lawyer, he could hardly have tried causes more +satisfactorily or more expeditiously. But he was a keen politician: he +had made a motion which had turned out a Government; and when he died +he was a Cabinet Minister. Yet this gentleman, the head of the Blue +interest, as it was called, in his county, might have had to try men of +the Orange party for rioting at a contested election. He voted for the +corn laws; and he might have had to try men for breaches of the peace +which had originated in the discontent caused by the corn laws. He was, +as I well remember, hooted, and, I rather think, pelted too, by the mob +of London for his conduct towards Queen Caroline; and, when he went +down to his county, he might have had to sit in judgment on people +for breaking windows which had not been illuminated in honour of Her +Majesty's victory. This is not a solitary instance. There are, I dare +say, in this House, fifty Chairmen of Quarter Sessions. And this is an +union of judicial and political functions against which there is really +much to be said. For it is important, not only that the administration +of justice should be pure, but that it should be unsuspected. Now I +am willing to believe that the administration of justice by the unpaid +magistrates in political cases is pure: but unsuspected it certainly is +not. It is notorious that, in times of political excitement, the cry +of the whole democratic press always is that a poor man, who has been +driven by distress to outrage, has far harder measure at the Quarter +Sessions than at the Assizes. So loud was this cry in 1819 that Mr +Canning, in one of his most eloquent speeches, pronounced it the most +alarming of all the signs of the times. See then how extravagantly, how +ludicrously inconsistent your legislation is. You lay down the principle +that the union of political functions and judicial functions is a +hateful abuse. That abuse you determine to remove. You accordingly leave +in this House a crowd of judges who, in troubled times, have to try +persons charged with political offences; of judges who have often +been accused, truly or falsely, of carrying to the judgment seat their +political sympathies and antipathies; and you shut out of the house a +single judge, whose duties are of such a nature that it has never once, +since the time of Edward the First, been even suspected that he or any +of his predecessors has, in the administration of justice, favoured a +political ally, or wronged a political opponent. + +But even if I were to admit, what I altogether deny, that there is +something in the functions of the Master of the Rolls which makes it +peculiarly desirable that he should not take any part in politics, +I should still vote against this bill, as most inconsistent and +inefficient. If you think that he ought to be excluded from political +assemblies, why do not you exclude him? You do no such thing. You +exclude him from the House of Commons, but you leave the House of Lords +open to him. Is not the House of Lords a political assembly? And is it +not certain that, during several generations, judges have generally had +a great ascendency in the House of Lords? A hundred years ago a +great judge, Lord Hardwicke, possessed an immense influence there. He +bequeathed his power to another great judge, Lord Mansfield. When age +had impaired the vigour of Lord Mansfield, the authority which he had, +during many years, enjoyed, passed to a third judge, Lord Thurlow. +Everybody knows what a dominion that eminent judge, Lord Eldon, +exercised over the peers, what a share he took in making and unmaking +ministries, with what idolatrous veneration he was regarded by one great +party in the State, with what dread and aversion he was regarded by the +other. When the long reign of Lord Eldon had terminated, other judges, +Whig and Tory, appeared at the head of contending factions. Some of us +can well remember the first ten days of October, 1831. Who, indeed, that +lived through those days can ever forget them? It was the most exciting, +the most alarming political conjuncture of my time. On the morning of +the eighth of October, the Reform Bill, after a discussion which had +lasted through many nights, was rejected by the Lords. God forbid that +I should again see such a crisis! I can never hope again to hear such +a debate. It was indeed a splendid display of various talents and +acquirements. There are, I dare say, some here who, like myself, watched +through the last night of that conflict till the late autumnal dawn, +sometimes walking up and down the long gallery, sometimes squeezing +ourselves in behind the throne, or below the bar, to catch the eloquence +of the great orators who, on that great occasion, surpassed themselves. +There I saw, in the foremost ranks, confronting each other, two judges, +on one side Lord Brougham, Chancellor of the realm, on the other Lord +Lyndhurst, Chief Baron of the Exchequer. How eagerly we hung on their +words! How eagerly those words were read before noon by hundreds of +thousands in the capital, and within forty-eight hours, by millions +in every part of the kingdom! With what a burst of popular fury +the decision of the House was received by the nation! The ruins of +Nottingham Castle, the ruins of whole streets and squares at Bristol, +proved but too well to what a point the public feeling had been wound +up. If it be true that nothing is so hateful to the noble lord, the +Member for Kent, as a judge who takes part in political contentions, why +does he not bring in a bill to prevent judges from entering those lists +in which Lord Brougham and Lord Lyndhurst then encountered each other? +But no: the noble lord is perfectly willing to leave those lists open to +the Master of the Rolls. The noble lord's objection is not to the union +of the judicial character and the political character. He is quite +willing that anywhere but here judges should be politicians. The Master +of the Rolls may be the soul of a great party, the head of a great +party, the favourite tribune of a stormy democracy, the chief spokesman +of a haughty aristocracy. He may do all that declamation and sophistry +can do to inflame the passions or mislead the judgment of a senate. But +it must not be in this room. He must go a hundred and fifty yards hence. +He must sit on a red bench, and not on a green one. He must say, "My +Lords," and not "Mr Speaker." He must say, "Content," and not "Aye." +And then he may, without at all shocking the noble lord, be the most +stirring politician in the kingdom. + +But I am understating my case. I am greatly understating it. For, Sir, +this union of the judicial character and the political character, in +Members of the other House of Parliament, is not a merely accidental +union. Not only may judges be made peers; but all the peers are +necessarily judges. Surely when the noble lord told us that the union +of political functions and of judicial functions was the most hateful of +all things, he must have forgotten that, by the fundamental laws of the +realm, a political assembly is the supreme court of appeal, the court +which finally confirms or annuls the judgments of the courts, both of +common law and of equity, at Westminster, of the courts of Scotland, of +the courts of Ireland, of this very Master of the Rolls about whom we +are debating. Surely, if the noble lord's principle be a sound one, it +is not with the Master of the Rolls but with the House of Peers that we +ought to begin. For, beyond all dispute, it is more important that the +court above should be constituted on sound principles than that the +court below should be so constituted. If the Master of the Rolls goes +wrong, the House of Peers may correct his errors. But who is to correct +the errors of the House of Peers? All these considerations the noble +lord overlooks. He is quite willing that the peers shall sit in the +morning as judges, shall determine questions affecting the property, the +liberty, the character of the Queen's subjects, shall determine those +questions in the last resort, shall overrule the decisions of all the +other tribunals in the country; and that then, in the afternoon, +these same noble persons shall meet as politicians, and shall debate, +sometimes rather sharply, sometimes in a style which we dare not imitate +for fear that you, Sir, should call us to order, about the Canadian +Clergy Reserves, the Irish National Schools, the Disabilities of the +Jews, the Government of India. I do not blame the noble lord for not +attempting to alter this state of things. We cannot alter it, I know, +without taking up the foundations of our constitution. But is it not +absurd, while we live under such a constitution, while, throughout +our whole system from top to bottom, political functions and judicial +functions are combined, to single out, not on any special ground, but +merely at random, one judge from a crowd of judges, and to exclude +him, not from all political assemblies, but merely from one political +assembly? Was there ever such a mummery as the carrying of this bill +to the other House will be, if, unfortunately, it should be carried +thither. The noble lord, himself, I have no doubt, a magistrate, himself +at once a judge and a politician, accompanied by several gentlemen who +are at once judges and politicians, will go to the bar of the Lords, who +are all at once judges and politicians, will deliver the bill into the +hands of the Chancellor, who is at once the chief judge of the realm and +a Cabinet Minister, and will return hither proud of having purified the +administration of justice from the taint of politics. + +No, Sir, no; for the purpose of purifying the administration of justice +this bill is utterly impotent. It will be effectual for one purpose, +and for one purpose only, for the purpose of weakening and degrading the +House of Commons. This is not the first time that an attempt has been +made, under specious pretexts, to lower the character and impair the +efficiency of the assembly which represents the great body of the +nation. More than a hundred and fifty years ago there was a general cry +that the number of placemen in Parliament was too great. No doubt, Sir, +the number was too great: the evil required a remedy: but some rash and +short-sighted though probably well meaning men, proposed a remedy which +would have produced far more evil than it would have removed. They +inserted in the Act of Settlement a clause providing that no person who +held any office under the Crown should sit in this House. The clause was +not to take effect till the House of Hanover should come to the throne; +and, happily for the country, before the House of Hanover came to the +throne, the clause was repealed. Had it not been repealed, the Act of +Settlement would have been, not a blessing, but a curse to the country. +There was no want, indeed, of plausible and popular commonplaces in +favour of this clause. No man, it was said, can serve two masters. A +courtier cannot be a good guardian of public liberty. A man who derives +his subsistence from the taxes cannot be trusted to check the public +expenditure. You will never have purity, you will never have economy, +till the stewards of the nation are independent of the Crown, and +dependent only on their constituents. Yes; all this sounded well: but +what man of sense now doubts that the effect of a law excluding all +official men from this House would have been to depress that branch of +the legislature which springs from the people, and to increase the +power and consideration of the hereditary aristocracy? The whole +administration would have been in the hands of peers. The chief object +of every eminent Commoner would have been to obtain a peerage. As +soon as any man had gained such distinction here by his eloquence and +knowledge that he was selected to fill the post of Chancellor of the +Exchequer, Secretary of State, or First Lord of the Admiralty, he would +instantly have turned his back on what would then indeed have been +emphatically the Lower House, and would have gone to that chamber in +which alone it would have been possible for him fully to display his +abilities and fully to gratify his ambition. Walpole and Pulteney, the +first Pitt and the second Pitt, Fox, Windham, Canning, Peel, all the men +whose memory is inseparably associated with this House, all the men of +whose names we think with pride as we pass through St Stephen's Hall, +the place of their contentions and their triumphs, would, in the vigour +and prime of life, have become Barons and Viscounts. The great conflict +of parties would have been transferred from the Commons to the Lords. +It would have been impossible for an assembly, in which not a single +statesman of great fame, authority, and experience in important affairs +would have been found, to hold its own against an assembly in which +all our eminent politicians and orators would have been collected. All +England, all Europe, would have been reading with breathless interest +the debates of the peers, and looking with anxiety for the divisions of +the peers, while we, instead of discussing high questions of state, and +giving a general direction to the whole domestic and foreign policy +of the realm, should have been settling the details of canal bills and +turnpike bills. + +The noble lord, the Member for Kent does not, it is true, propose so +extensive and important a change as that which the authors of the Act of +Settlement wished to make. But the tendency of this bill is, beyond +all doubt, to make this House less capable than it once was, and less +capable than the other House now is, of discharging some of the most +important duties of a legislative assembly. + +Of the duties of a legislative assembly, the noble lord, and some of +those gentlemen who support his bill, seem to me to have formed a very +imperfect notion. They argue as if the only business of the House of +Commons was to turn one set of men out of place, and to bring another +set into place; as if a judge could find no employment here but factious +wrangling. Sir, it is not so. There are extensive and peaceful provinces +of parliamentary business far removed from the fields of battle where +hostile parties encounter each other. A great jurist, seated among +us, might, without taking any prominent part in the strife between +the Ministry and the Opposition, render to his country most valuable +service, and earn for himself an imperishable name. Nor was there ever +a time when the assistance of such a jurist was more needed, or was more +likely to be justly appreciated, than at present. No observant man can +fail to perceive that there is in the public mind a general, a +growing, an earnest, and at the same time, I must say, a most sober and +reasonable desire for extensive law reform. I hope and believe that, for +some time to come, no year will pass without progress in law reform; +and I hold that of all law reformers the best is a learned, upright, and +large-minded judge. At such a time it is that we are called upon to shut +the door of this House against the last great judicial functionary to +whom the unwise legislation of former parliaments has left it open. In +the meantime the other House is open to him. It is open to all the other +judges who are not suffered to sit here. It is open to the Judge of +the Admiralty Court, whom the noble lord, twelve or thirteen years ago, +prevailed on us, in an unlucky hour, to exclude. In the other House +is the Lord Chancellor, and several retired Chancellors, a Lord Chief +Justice, in several retired Chief Justices. The Queen may place there +to-morrow the Chief Baron, the two Lords Justices, the three Vice +Chancellors, the very Master of the Rolls about whom we are debating: +and we, as if we were not already too weak for the discharge of our +functions, are trying to weaken ourselves still more. I harbour no +unfriendly feeling towards the Lords. I anticipate no conflict with +them. But it is not fit that we should be unable to bear an equal part +with them in the great work of improving and digesting the law. It +is not fit that we should be under the necessity of placing implicit +confidence in their superior wisdom, and of registering without +amendment, any bill which they may send us. To that humiliating +situation we are, I grieve to say, fast approaching. I was much struck +by a circumstance which occurred a few days ago. I heard the honourable +Member for Montrose, who, by the by, is one of the supporters of +this bill, urge the House to pass the Combination Bill, for a most +extraordinary reason. "We really," he said, "cannot tell how the law +about combinations of workmen at present stands; and, not knowing how +the law at present stands, we are quite incompetent to decide whether +it ought to be altered. Let us send the bill up to the Lords. They +understand these things. We do not. There are Chancellors, and +ex-Chancellors, and Judges among them. No doubt they will do what is +proper; and I shall acquiesce in their decision." Why, Sir, did ever any +legislative assembly abdicate its functions in so humiliating a manner? +Is it not strange that a gentleman, distinguished by his love of popular +institutions, and by the jealousy with which he regards the aristocracy, +should gravely propose that, on a subject which interests and excites +hundreds of thousands of our constituents, we should declare ourselves +incompetent to form an opinion, and beg the Lords to tell us what we +ought to do? And is it not stranger still that, while he admits the +incompetence of the House to discharge some of its most important +functions, and while he attributes that incompetence to the want of +judicial assistance, he should yet wish to shut out of the House the +only high judicial functionary who is now permitted to come into it? + +But, says the honourable Member for Montrose, the Master of the Rolls +has duties to perform which, if properly performed, will leave him no +leisure for attendance in this House: it is important that there should +be a division of labour: no man can do two things well; and, if we +suffer a judge to be a member of Parliament, we shall have both a bad +member of Parliament and a bad judge. + +Now, Sir, if this argument proves anything, it proves that the Master +of the Rolls, and indeed all the other judges, ought to be excluded from +the House of Lords as well as from the House of Commons. But I deny +that the argument is of any weight. The division of labour has its +disadvantages as well as its advantages. In operations merely mechanical +you can hardly carry the subdivision too far; but you may very easily +carry it too far in operations which require the exercise of high +intellectual powers. It is quite true, as Adam Smith tells us, that a +pin will be best made when one man does nothing but cut the wire, when +another does nothing but mould the head, when a third does nothing but +sharpen the point. But it is not true that Michael Angelo would have +been a greater painter if he had not been a sculptor: it is not true +that Newton would have been a greater experimental philosopher if he had +not been a geometrician; and it is not true that a man will be a worse +lawgiver because he is a great judge. I believe that there is as close +a connection between the functions of the judge and the functions of the +lawgiver as between anatomy and surgery. Would it not be the height of +absurdity to lay down the rule that nobody who dissected the dead should +be allowed to operate on the living? The effect of such a division of +labour would be that you would have nothing but bungling surgery; and +the effect of the division of labour which the honourable Member for +Montrose recommends will be that we shall have plenty of bungling +legislation. Who can be so well qualified to make laws and to mend laws +as a man whose business is to interpret laws and to administer laws? As +to this point I have great pleasure in citing an authority to which +the honourable Member for Montrose will, I know, be disposed to pay the +greatest deference; the authority of Mr Bentham. Of Mr Bentham's +moral and political speculations, I entertain, I must own, a very +mean opinion: but I hold him in high esteem as a jurist. Among all his +writings there is none which I value more than the treatise on Judicial +Organization. In that excellent work he discusses the question whether a +person who holds a judicial office ought to be permitted to hold with +it any other office. Mr Bentham argues strongly and convincingly against +pluralities; but he admits that there is one exception to the general +rule. A judge, he says, ought to be allowed to sit in the legislature as +a representative of the people; for the best school for a legislator +is the judicial bench; and the supply of legislative skill is in all +societies so scanty that none of it can be spared. + +My honourable friend, the Member for Surrey, has completely refuted +another argument to which the noble lord, the Member for Kent, appears +to attach considerable importance. The noble lord conceives that no +person can enter this House without stooping to practice arts which +would ill become the gravity of the judicial character. He spoke +particularly of what he called the jollifications usual at elections. +Undoubtedly the festivities at elections are sometimes disgraced by +intemperance, and sometimes by buffoonery; and I wish from the bottom of +my heart that intemperance and buffoonery were the worst means to which +men, reputed upright and honourable in private life, have resorted in +order to obtain seats in the legislature. I should, indeed, be sorry +if any Master of the Rolls should court the favour of the populace by +playing the mounttebank on the hustings or on tavern tables. Still more +sorry should I be if any Master of the Rolls were to disgrace himself +and his office by employing the ministry of the Frails and the Flewkers, +by sending vile emissaries with false names, false addresses, and bags +of sovereigns, to buy the votes of the poor. No doubt a Master of the +Rolls ought to be free, not only from guilt, but from suspicion. I +have not hitherto mentioned the present Master of the Rolls. I have not +mentioned him because, in my opinion, this question ought to be decided +by general and not by personal considerations. I cannot, however, +refrain from saying, with a confidence which springs from long and +intimate acquaintance, that my valued friend, Sir John Romilly, will +never again sit in this House unless he can come in by means very +different from those by which he was turned out. But, Sir, are we +prepared to say that no person can become a representative of the +English people except by some sacrifice of integrity, or at least of +personal dignity? If it be so, we had indeed better think of setting +our House in order. If it be so, the prospects of our country are dark +indeed. How can England retain her place among the nations, if the +assembly to which all her dearest interests are confided, the assembly +which can, by a single vote, transfer the management of her affairs to +new hands, and give a new direction to her whole policy, foreign and +domestic, financial, commercial, and colonial, is closed against every +man who has rigid principles and a fine sense of decorum? But it is +not so. Did that great judge, Sir William Scott, lower his character by +entering this House as Member for the University of Oxford? Did Sir +John Copley lower his character by entering this House as Member for the +University of Cambridge? But the universities, you say, are constituent +bodies of a very peculiar kind. Be it so. Then, by your own admission, +there are a few seats in this House which eminent judges have filled +and may fill without any unseemly condescension. But it would be most +unjust, and in me, especially, most ungrateful, to compliment the +universities at the expense of other constituent bodies. I am one of +many members who know by experience that a generosity and a delicacy +of sentiment which would do honour to any seat of learning may be found +among the ten pound householders of our great cities. And, Sir, as to +the counties, need we look further than to your chair? It is of as much +importance that you should punctiliously preserve your dignity as that +the Master of the Rolls should punctiliously preserve his dignity. +If you had, at the last election, done anything inconsistent with +the integrity, with the gravity, with the suavity of temper which so +eminently qualify you to preside over our deliberations, your public +usefulness would have been seriously diminished. But the great county +which does itself honour by sending you to the House required from you +nothing unbecoming your character, and would have felt itself degraded +by your degradation. And what reason is there to doubt that other +constituent bodies would act as justly and considerately towards a judge +distinguished by uprightness and ability as Hampshire has acted towards +you? + +One very futile argument only remains to be noticed. It is said that +we ought to be consistent; and that, having turned the Judge of the +Admiralty out of the House, we ought to send the Master of the Rolls +after him. I admit, Sir, that our system is at present very anomalous. +But it is better that a system should be anomalous than that it should +be uniformly and consistently bad. You have entered on a wrong course. +My advice is first that you stop, and secondly that you retrace your +steps. The time is not far distant when it will be necessary for us to +revise the constitution of this House. On that occasion, it will be +part of our duty to reconsider the rule which determines what +public functionaries shall be admitted to sit here, and what public +functionaries shall be excluded. That rule is, I must say, singularly +absurd. It is this, that no person who holds any office created since +the twenty-fifth of October, 1705, shall be a member of the House of +Commons. Nothing can be more unreasonable or more inconvenient. In +1705, there were two Secretaries of State and two Under Secretaries. +Consequently, to this day, only two Secretaries of State and two Under +Secretaries can sit among us. Suppose that the Home Secretary and the +Colonial Secretary are members of this House, and that the office of +Foreign Secretary becomes vacant. In that case, no member of this House, +whatever may be his qualifications, his fame in diplomacy, his knowledge +of all the politics of the Courts of Europe, can be appointed. Her +Majesty must give the Admiralty to the commoner who is, of all her +subjects, fittest for the Foreign Office, and the seals of the Foreign +Office to some peer who would perhaps be fitter for the Admiralty. +Again, the Postmaster General cannot sit in this House. Yet why not? He +always comes in and goes out with the Government: he is often a member +of the Cabinet; and I believe that he is, of all public functionaries, +the Chancellor of the Exchequer alone excepted, the one whom it would be +most convenient to have here. I earnestly hope that, before long, +this whole subject will be taken into serious consideration. As to the +judges, the rule which I should wish to see laid down is very simple. +I would admit into this House any judge whom the people might elect, +unless there were some special reason against admitting him. There is a +special reason against admitting any Irish or Scotch judge. Such a judge +cannot attend this House without ceasing to attend his court. There is a +special reason against admitting the Judges of the Queen's Bench and of +the Common Pleas, and the Barons of the Exchequer. They are summoned to +the House of Lords; and they sit there: their assistance is absolutely +necessary to enable that House to discharge its functions as the highest +court of appeal; and it would manifestly be both inconvenient and +derogatory to our dignity that members of our body should be at the beck +and call of the peers. I see no special reason for excluding the Master +of the Rolls; and I would, therefore, leave our door open to him. I +would open it to the Judge of the Admiralty, who has been most unwisely +excluded. I would open it to other great judicial officers who are +now excluded solely because their offices did not exist in 1705, +particularly to the two Lords Justices, and the three Vice Chancellors. +In this way, we should, I am convinced, greatly facilitate the important +and arduous work of law reform; we would raise the character of this +House: and I need not say that with the character of this House must +rise or fall the estimation in which representative institutions are +held throughout the world. But, whether the extensive changes which +I have recommended shall be thought desirable or not, I trust that +we shall reject the bill of the noble lord. I address myself to the +Conservative members on your left hand; and I ask them whether they are +prepared to alter, on grounds purely theoretical, a system which +has lasted during twenty generations without producing the smallest +practical evil. I turn to the Liberal members on this side; and I ask +them whether they are prepared to lower the reputation and to impair +the efficiency of that branch of the legislature which springs from +the people. For myself, Sir, I hope that I am at once a Liberal and a +Conservative politician; and, in both characters, I shall give a clear +and conscientious vote in favour of the amendment moved by my honourable +friend. + +***** + + + + +INDEX. + + Absalom and Achitophel of Dryden, character of it. + + Absolute government, theory of. + + Absolute rulers. + + Academy, the French, its services to literature. + + Addington, Henry, formation of his administration. + His position as Prime Minister. + Resigns. + Raised to the peerage. + + Aeschines, compared by Mr Mitford to Demosthenes. + + Aeschylus, his works, how regarded by Quintillian. + + Agesilaus, depressed by the constitution of Lycurgus. + + Ajax, the prayer of, in the Iliad. + + Aldrich, Dean, his mode of instructing the youths of his college. + Employs Charles Boyle to edit the letters of Phalaris. + + Alfieri, Vittorio, character of his works. + His great fault in his compositions. + + Anatomy Bill, Speech on. + + Antinomian barn preacher, story of the. + + Approbation, love of. + + Aristocratical form of government. See Oligarchy. + + Aristotle, his unrivalled excellence in analysis and combination. + Value of his general propositions. + His enlightened and profound criticism. + + Arnault, A.V., Translation from. + + Arras, cruelties of the Jacobins at. + + Arrian, his character as a historian. + + Arts, the fine, laws on which the progress and decline of depend. + + Athenian Revels, scenes from. + + Athens; disreputable character of Peiraeus. + Police officers of the city. + Favourite epithet of the city. + The Athenian orators. + Excellence to which eloquence attained at. + Dr Johnson's contemptuous derision of the civilisation of the + people of. + Their books and book education. + An Athenian day. + Defects of the Athenians' conversational education. + The law of ostracism at Athens. + Happiness of the Athenians in their term of government. + Their naval superiority. + Ferocity of the Athenians in war. + And of their dependencies in seditions. + Cause of the violence of faction in that age. + Influence of Athenian genius on the human intellect and on + private happiness. + The gifts of Athens to man. + Character of the great dramas of Athens. + Change in the temper of the Athenians in the time of + Aristophanes. + + Atterbury, Francis, his birth and early life. + Defends Martin Luther against the aspersions of Obadiah Walker. + Enters the church and becomes one of the royal chaplains. + Assists Charles Boyle in preparing an edition of the letters of + Phalaris. + His answer to Bentley's dissertation on the letters of Phalaris. + Bentley's reply. + Atterbury's defence of the clergy against the prelates. + Created a D.D. and promoted to the Deanery of Carlisle. + His pamphlets against the Whigs. + Appointed to the Deanery of Christ Church. + Removed to the Bishopric of Rochester. + His opposition to the Government of George I. + His private life. + His taste in literature and literary friends. + Thrown into prison for treason. + Deprived of his dignities and banished for life. + Calls Pope as a witness to his innocence. + Goes to Paris, and becomes Prime Minister of King James. + Retires from the court of the ex-King. + Death of his daughter. + Induced by the Pretender to return to Paris. + His defence of the charge of having garbled Clarendon's History + of the Rebellion. + His death. + + August, lines written in. + + Bacon, Lord, his description of the logomachies of the schoolmen. + And of the Utilitarian philosophy. + His mode of tracking the principle of heat. + + Barbaroux, the Girondist, his execution. + + Barere, Bertrand, Memoires de, of Carnot and David, review of + the. + Barere's true character. + His lies. + His talents as an author. + Sketch of his life. + Votes against the King. + His federal views and ultra Girondism. + His apparent zeal for the cause of order and humanity. + His motion for punishing the Jacobins. + Defeat of the Girondists. + Retains his seat at the Board of the Triumphant Mountain. + His infamous motion against the chiefs of the Girondists. + Moves that the Queen be brought before the Revolutionary + Tribunal. + Regales Robespierre and other Jacobins at a tavern on the day of + the death of the Queen. + Formation of his peculiar style of oratory. + His Carmagnoles. + Effect produced by his discourses. + Seconds Robespierre's atrocious motion in the Convention. + Becomes one of the six members of the Committee of Public Safety. + The first to proclaim terror as the order of the day. + Recommends Fouquier Tinville to the Revolutionary Committee of + Paris. + His proposal to destroy Lyons and Toulon. + His opposition to the personal defence of Danton. + His support of the wretch Lebon. + His war against learning, art, and history. + His sensual excesses. + Becomes a really cruel man. + His morning audiences and mode of treating petitions. + His orders against certain head-dresses. + Nicknames given to him. + Obtains a decree that no quarter should be given to any English + or Hanoverian soldier. + M. Carnot's defence of this barbarity. + Barere's support of Robespierre's fiendish decree. + His panegyric on Robespierre. + His motion that Robespierre and his accomplices should be put to + death. + Destruction of the power of the Jacobins. + Report on his conduct voted by the Convention. + Condemned to be removed to a distant place of confinement. + His perilous journey. + Imprisoned at Oleron. + Removed to Saintes. + Escapes to Bordeaux. + Chosen a member of the Council of Five Hundred, which refuses to + admit him. + His libel on England. + The Liberty of the Seas. + His flight to St Ouen. + Sends a copy of his work to the First Consul. + Allowed by Bonaparte to remain in Paris. + Refuses; becomes a writer and a spy to Bonaparte. + Sends his friend Demerville to the guillotine. + Spies set to watch the spy. + Ordered to quit Paris. + Employed in the lowest political drudgery. + His "Memorial Antibritannique" and pamphlets. + His fulsome adulation of the Emperor. + Causes of his failure as a journalist. + Treated with contempt by Napoleon. + His treachery to his Imperial master. + Becomes a royalist on the return of the Bourbons. + Compelled to leave France. + Returns in July 1830. + Joins the extreme left. + His last years and death. + Summary of his character. + His hatred of England. + His MS. works on divinity. + + Barre, Colonel, joins the Whig opposition. + Appointed by Pitt Clerk of the Pells. + + Bearn, the constitution of. + + Beatrice, Dante's love of. + + Beauclerc, Topham, a member of the Literary Club. + + Bentham, Mr, his defence of Mr Mill. + His merits and shortcomings. + Examination of his views. + His account of the manner in which he arrived at the "greatest + happiness principle." + Testimony to his merits. + + Bentinck, Lord William, inscription on the statue of, at + Calcutta. + + Bentley, Richard, his dissertation on the letters of Phalaris. + His answer to the attack of Atterbury. + + Bible, the English translation of the, regarded as a specimen of + the beauty and power of the English language. + + Billaud, M., becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. + Opposes Robespierre. + Himself brought to trial. + Condemned to be removed to a distant place of confinement. + Transported to Guiana. + His subsequent life. + + Bonaparte, Napoleon, his detestation of the cruel decree of the + Convention respecting English prisoners. + His return from Egypt, and assumption of absolute power as First + Consul. + His policy at this period. + Allows Barere to reside in Pairs. + Employs Barere as a writer and spy. + Establishes the Imperial government. + His opinion of Barere's journalism. + His defeat and abdication. + + Boswell, James, becomes a member of The Club. + His character. + His life of Johnson. + + Bourbon, Duke, character of the government of. + + Bow Street, whiggery of. + + Boyd, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + + Boyle, Charles, his college edition of the letters of Phalaris. + The answer to Bentley attributed to him. + + Boyse, the poet, his friendship with Samuel Johnson. + + Brasidas, great only when he ceased to be a Lacedaemonian. + + Brissot, the Girondist leader. + His trial. + + Brissotines, the. See Girondists. + + Buccaneer, the Last. + + Bunyan, John, age in which he produced his Pilgrim's Progress. + His birth and early life. + His notions of good and evil. + Enlists in the parliamentary army. + Returns home and marries. + His fantasies and internal sufferings. + Thrown into gaol. + His prison life. + His intimate knowledge of the Bible. + His early writings. + His abhorrence of the Quakers. + His controversies. + His answer to Edward Fowler. + His dispute with some of his own sect. + His liberation from prison. + His Pilgrim's Progress. + His Holy War. + Difficulties of. + His death and burial-place. + Fame of his Pilgrim's Progress. + + Burgundy, Duke of, his theory of good government. + + Burke, Edmund, his character of the first French republic. + And of the French National Assembly. + His vindication of himself from the charge of inconsistency. + His part in The Club. + His position in the Whig opposition. + + Burns, Robert, age in which he produced his works. + + Butler, Samuel, character of his poetry. + + Byron, Lord, his egotism and its success. + + Caesar, accounts of his campaigns, regarded as history. + + Camden, Lord, joins the Whig opposition. + + Canning, George, popular comparison of, with Mr Pitt. + His activity in Pitt's cause. + + Carey, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + + Carmagnoles, the, of Barere. + Lord Ellenborough's. + + Carmichael, Miss, or Polly, in Dr Johnson's house. + + Carnot, M. Hippolyte, his part in the Memoirs of Bertrand Barere. + + Carolan, his compositions. + + Carrier, the tyrant of Nantes, placed under arrest. + + Casti, character of his Animali Parlanti. + + Catholicism, Roman, the most poetical of all religions. + Its great revival at the beginning of the thirteenth century. + Treaty concluded by Charles II. by which he bound himself to set + up Catholicism in England. + + Catiline, Sallust's account of the Conspiracy of. + + Cavendish, Lord John, becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer. + Resigns. + + Cervantes, delight with which his Don Quixote is read. + + Charles II., King of England. + Influence of his residence abroad upon his character and tastes. + His treaty respecting Roman Catholics. + + Chatham, first Earl of, compared by Mirabeau. + His declining years. + His last appearance in the House of Lords. + + Chatham, second Earl of, his mismanagement of the Admiralty. + + Chaumette, one of the accusers of the Girondists before the + Revolutionary Tribunal. + + Christ Church, Oxford, cry of, against Bentley. + + Christianity, effect of the victory of, over paganism. + + Church of Ireland, Speech on. + + Churchill, his insult to Johnson. + + Civil War, the great. + + Clarendon, his history of the Rebellion, charge of garbling it. + + Classical writers, celebrity of the great. + + Cleomenes, causes and results of his raving cruelty. + + Clergyman, the Country, his Trip to Cambridge. + + Club, The, formation of. + Members of the. + + "Coalition," formation of the. + Universal disgust. + End of the Coalition. + + Coates, Romeo, the actor. + + Cock Lane Ghost, the. + + Collot, d'Herbois, becomes a member of the Committee of Public + Safety. + Attacked in the streets. + Brought to trial. + Condemned by the Convention to be removed to a distant place of + confinement. + His end. + + Condorcet, strength brought by him to the Girondist party. + His melancholy end. + + Confidence in Ministry of Lord Melbourne. + Speech on. + + Constantinople, empire of, its retrogression and stupefaction. + + Convention, the French, of. + The Girondists. + The Mountain. + Character of the diplomatic language during the reign of the + Convention. + + Copyright, Speeches on. + + Corday, Charlotte, her murder of Marat. + + Corn Laws, Speech on. + + Corneille, attempts of the Academy to depress the rising fame of. + + Cornwallis, General, his surrender to the Americans. + + Cottabus, the Athenian game of. + + Couthon, becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. + His execution. + + Cowley, Mr Abraham, and Mr John Milton, conversation between, + touching the great Civil War. + + Criticism, verbal. + Improvement of the science of criticism. + The critical and poetical faculty distinct and incompatible. + + Cyrus, Xenophon's Life of, its character. + + Dante, criticism on. + His first adventure in the popular tongue. + Influences of the times in which he lived upon his works. + His love of Beatrice. + His despair of happiness on earth. + Close connection between his intellectual and moral character. + Compared with Milton. + His metaphors and comparisons. + Little impression made by the forms of the external world upon + him. + Fascination revolting and nauseous images had for his mind. + His use of ancient mythology in his poems. + His idolatry of Virgil. + Excellence of his style. + Remarks upon the translations of the Divine Comedy. + His veneration for writers inferior to himself. + How regarded by the Italians of the fourteenth century. + + Danton, character of. + His death. + + David, M. d'Angers, the sculptor, his part in the Memoirs of + Bertrand Barere. + + De Foe, effect of his Robinson Crusoe on the imagination of the + child and the judgment of the man. + + Demerville, the Jacobin, betrayed by his friend Barere. + + Democracy, a pure. + Mr Mill's view of a pure and direct. + + Demosthenes, compared by Mr Mitford to Aeschines. + His irresistible eloquence. + + Denham, Sir John, character of his poetry. + + Denis, St, Abbey of, laid waste by Barere. + + "Dennis, St, and St George, in the Water, some Account of the + Lawsuit between the Parishes of." + + Deserted Village of Oliver Goldsmith. + + Desmoulins, Camille, his attack on the Reign of Terror. + Reply of Barere. + + Desmoulins, Mrs, in Dr Johnson's house. + + Despotic rulers. + Theory of a despotic government. + + Dies Irae. + + Dionysius, his criticisms. + + Diplomatic language used by the French Convention. + + Directory, the Executive, of France, formation of. + + Dissenters, persecution of the, by the Cavaliers. + Relieved by Charles II. + Prosecutions consequent on the enterprise of Monmouth. + The Dissenters courted by the government of James II. + + Dissenters' Chapels Bill, Speech on. + + Divine Comedy of Dante, the great source of the power of the. + Remarks on the translations of the. + + Djezzar Pasha, his cruelty. + + Doddington, Bubb, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + + Don Quixote, delight with which it is read. + + Dorset, Earl of, his poetry. + + Drama, the old English. + Compared with that of Athens and France. + Causes of the excellence of the English drama. + Superiority of dramatic to other works of imagination. + Extinction of the drama by the Puritans. + The drama of the time of Charles II. + Dryden's plays. + + Dryden, John, place assigned to him as a poet. + His merits and defects. + Influence exercised by him on his age. + Two parts into which his life divides itself. + His small pieces presented to patrons. + Character of his Annus Mirabilis. + His rhyming plays. + His impossible men and women. + His tendency to bombast. + His attempts at fairy imagery. + His incomparable reasonings in verse. + His art of producing rich effects by familiar words. + Catholicity of his literary creed. + Causes of the exaggeration which disfigure his panegyrics. + Character of his Hind and Panther. + And of his Absalom and Achitophel. + Compared with Juvenal. + What he would probably have accomplished in an epic poem. + Compared with Milton. + + Dubois, Cardinal, his mode of dealing with public petitions. + + Dumont, M., review of his Souvenirs sur Mirabeau. + Services rendered by him to society. + His interpretation of Bentham's works. + His view of the French Revolution. + His efforts to instruct the French in political knowledge. + Sketch of the character of Mirabeau. + Of Sieyes and Talleyrand. + And of his own character. + + Dumourier, his Girondist sympathies. + His defection. + + Dundas, Henry, Lord Advocate, commencement of his friendship with + Pitt. + + Dunning, Mr, joins the Whig opposition. + + Duroc, General, his letter to Barere. + + Eady, Dr, his advertisements. + + Edinburgh Election, speech at. + + Education, Speech on. + + Education, the, of the Athenians. + Defects of their conversational education. + + Egotism, the pest of conversation. + Zest given by it to writing. + + Eleusinian mysteries, the. + + Ellenborough, Lord, his Carmagnoles. + + Ellis, Welbore. + + England, revolution in the poetry of. + Mr Mill's remarks on the British Constitution. + His view of the constitution of the English Government. + Mr Sadler's statement of the law of population in England. + The English Revolution compared with the French. + Mildness of the revolution caused by the Reform Bill. + Makes war against France. + + Epistles, Petrarch's. + + Epitaph on Henry Martyn. + + Epitaph on Lord William Bentinck. + + Epitaph on Sir Benjamin Heath Malkin. + + Epitaph on Lord Metcalfe. + + Euphuism in England. + + Euripides, mother of. + His jesuitical morality. + How regarded by Quintillian. + + Evil, question of the origin of, in the world. + + Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons, Speech on. + + Federalism, the new crime of, in France. + Federalism as entertained by Barere. + + Fenelon, his principles of good government, as shown in his + Telemachus. + + Fluxions, discovery of the method of. + + Fortune, remedies for Good and Evil, Petrarch's. + + Fowler, Edward, John Bunyan's answer to. + + Fox, Charles James, his character. + His great political error. + The King's detestation of him. + Becomes Secretary of State under the Duke of Portland. + His India Bill. + His speeches. + + Fragments of a Roman Tale. + + France, character of the poetry of. + Characteristics of the personifications of the drama of. + Spirit excited in France at the time of the Revolution by some of + the ancient historians. + Burke's character of the French Republic. + Population of. + Condition of the government of, in 1799. + Strictures of M. Dumont on the National Assembly. + Infancy of political knowledge of the French at the period of the + Revolution. + The English Revolution compared with the French. + Arguments against the old monarchy of France. + The first compared with the second French Revolution. + Causes of the first Revolution. + Condition of France for eighty years previous to the Revolution. + Causes which immediately led to that event. + Difficulties of the Constitution of 1791. + The war with the continental coalition. + Effect of the League of Pilnitz on the position of the King. + Formation and meeting of the Convention. + The two great parties of the Convention--the Girondists and the + Mountain. + Death of the King. + Policy of the Jacobins. + The new crime of federalism. + Defection of Dumourier and appointment of the Committee of Public + Safety. + Irruption of the mob into the palace of the Tuileries. + Destruction of the Girondists. + Establishment of the Reign of Terror. + Condition of France during the reign of Louis XIV. + And during that of Louis XV. + Fenelon's principles of good government. + His views incomprehensible to his countrymen. + Loss to France on the death of the Duke of Burgundy. + The Regency of Philip of Orleans. + The Duke of Bourbon. + Downward course of the monarchy, and indications of the + forthcoming revolution. + The Greek and Roman models of the French legislators. + Victories of France in 1794. + The memorable ninth of Thermidor. + Execution of Robespierre and his accomplices. + End of the Jacobin dominion in France. + Condition of the nation at this period. + Formation of the Constitution of 1795. + Bonaparte's return from Egypt and assumption of absolute power. + Political spies in France. + Defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. + The Chamber of Representatives. + The Royalist Chamber under the Bourbons. + Review of the policy of the Jacobins. + War declared by England against. + + French Academy, its services to literature. + + Froissart, character of his history. + + Garrick, David, relation between him and his old master Johnson. + A member of the Literary Club. + + Garth, Dr, insults Bentley and extols Boyle. + + Gates of Somnauth, the Speech on. + + Gaudet, the Girondist, his execution. + + Gensonne, the Girondist leader. + His trial. + His death. + + Geologist, Bishop Watson's description of a. + + George III., his treatment of his ministers. + + Georgics, Political. + + Germaine, Lord George. + + Gibbon, Edward, charges brought against him as a historian. + His part in The Club. + + Girondists, or Brissotines, Barere's account of the proceedings + against the. + Sketch of the political party so called. + Its struggles with the Mountain. + Accusation brought against the leaders of the party. + Defeated by the Mountain. + Impeached by their late colleague Barere. + Their trial. + Their fate. + + Goldsmith, Oliver, his birth and early life. + His first schoolmaster. + His personal appearance. + His college life. + Death of his father. + His attempts at the church, law, and physic. + His rambles on foot through Flanders, France, and Switzerland. + His disregard of truth. + His return to England, and desperate expedients to obtain a + living. + His literary drudgery. + Character of his works. + Introduced to Johnson. + One of the original members of The Club. + Removes from Breakneck Steps to the Temple. + Story of the publication of the Vicar of Wakefield. + His Traveller. + His Dramas. + His Deserted Village. + His She Stoops to Conquer. + His Histories. + His arts of selection and condensation. + His intimacy with the great talkers of the day. + His conversational powers. + How regarded by his associates. + His virtues and vices. + His death. + His cenotaph in Westminster Abbey. + His biographers. + His part in The Club. + + Gomer Chephoraod, King of Babylon, apologue of. + + Goodnatured Man, the, of Oliver Goldsmith. + + Government of India, Speech on. + + Government, proper conditions of a good. + Review of Mr Mill's Essays on, etc. + His chapter on the ends of government. + And on the means. + His view of a pure and direct democracy. + Of an oligarchy. + And of a monarchy. + Deduction of a theory of politics in the mathematical form. + Government according to Mr Mill only necessary to prevent men + from plundering each other. + His argument that no combination of the three simple forms of + government can exist. + His remarks on the British constitution. + His hope for mankind in the government of a representative body. + The real security of men against bad government. + Mr Mill's views as to the qualifications of voters for + representatives. + The desire of the poor majority to plunder the rich minority. + Effects which a general spoliation of the rich would produce. + Method of arriving at a just conclusion on the subject of the + science of government. + Mr Bentham's defence of Mr Mill's Essays. + Deduction of the theory of government from the principles of + human nature. + Remarks on the Utilitarian theory of government. + Mode of tracking the latent principle of good government. + Checks in political institutions. + Power. + Constitution of the English government. + + Greece, review of Mr Mitford's History of. + Gross ignorance of the modern historians of Greece. + The imaginative and critical schools of poetry in. + + Greeks, domestic habits of the. + Change in their temper at the close of the Peloponnesian war. + Character of their fashionable logic. + Causes of the exclusive spirit of the Greeks. + + Hall, Robert, his eloquence. + + Hamlet, causes of its power and influence. + + Happiness, principle of the greatest, of the greatest number + examined. + The most elevated station the principle is ever likely to attain. + The Westminster Reviewer's defence of the "greatest happiness + principle." + + Hayley, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + + Heat, Lord Bacon's mode of tracking the principle of. + + Hebert, the Jacobin, his vile character. + Accuses the Girondists before the Revolutionary Tribunal. + + Hebrides, Johnson's visit to the. + + Herodotus, character of his history. + His faults. + Character of the people for whom the book was composed. + His history compared with that of Thucydides. + Herodotus regarded as a delineator of character. + + Heron, Robert, his drama of News from Camperdown. + + Hervey, Henry, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + + History, Mr Mitford's views of. + The true domain of history. + Qualifications necessary for writing. + The history of Herodotus. + That of Thucydides. + Johnson's remarks on history. + Xenophon's history. + Polybius and Arrian. + Character of the historians of the Plutarch class. + English classical associations and names compared with those of + the ancients. + Spirit excited in England and in France by the writers of the + Plutarch class. + Livy. + Caesar. + Sallust. + Tacitus. + Merits and defects of modern historians. + Froissart, Machiavelli, and Guicciardine. + Effect of the invention of printing. + Causes of the exclusiveness of the Greeks and Romans. + Effect of the victory of Christianity over paganism. + Establishment of the balance of moral and intellectual influence + in Europe. + The species of misrepresentation which abounds most in modern + historians. + Hume, Gibbon, and Mitford. + Neglect of the art of narration. + Effect of historical reading compared to that produced by foreign + travel. + Character of the perfect historian. + Instruction derived from the productions of such a writer. + + Hoche, General, refuses to obey the cruel decree of the + Convention. + + Holy War, Bunyan's. + + Homer, intense desire to know something of him. + Quintillian's criticisms on. + His inappropriate epithets. + His description of Hector at the Grecian wall. + + Hoole, the metaphysical tailor, his friendship with Samuel + Johnson. + + Horace, his comparison of poems to certain paintings. + + Hume, David, charges brought against him as a historian. + + Hyder Aly, his successes. + + Idler, Johnston's publication of the. + + Imagination and judgment. + Power of the imagination in a barbarous age. + + Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. + + India Bill, Fox's. + + Inferno, Dante's, character of the. + + Ireland, William Pitt the first English minister who formed great + designs for the benefit of Ireland. + + Isocrates, his defence of oligarchy and tyranny. + + Italian language, Dante's first work on the. + + Italian Writers, Criticisms on the Principal. + Dante. + Petrarch. + + Italy, revolution of the poetry of. + Monti's imitation of the style of Dante. + + Jacobins of Paris, policy of the. + Excesses of the. + Materials of which the party was composed. + Their cruelties in Paris and in the provinces. + Review of the policy of the Jacobins. + + Jacobite, Epitaph on a. + + Jacobites, revival of their spirits in 1721. + Plan for a Jacobite insurrection. + + Jenyns, Soame, Dr Johnson's review of his Inquiry into the Nature + and Origin of Evil. + + Jewish Disabilities, Speech on. + + Jews, the sacred books of the, unknown to the Romans. + + Johnson, Dr Samuel, his contemptuous derision of the civilisation + of the Athenians. + His remark on history and historians. + Oliver Goldsmith introduced to. + Story of the publication of the Vicar of Wakefield. + Johnson's birth and early life. + His father. + Goes to Oxford. + His attainments at this time. + His struggles with poverty. + Becomes an incurable hypochondriac. + His literary drudgery. + His marriage. + His school near Lichfield. + Sets out for London. + Effect of his privations on his temper and deportment. + Engaged on the "Gentleman's Magazine." + His political opinions. + His Jacobite views. + His poem of London. + His associates. + His life of Richard Savage. + His dictionary. + His treatment by Lord Chesterfield. + His Vanity of Human Wishes compared with the Satire of Juvenal. + Relation between him and his pupil David Garrick. + Irene brought out. + Publication and reception of the Rambler. + Death of Mrs Johnson. + Publication of the Dictionary. + His review of Soame Jenyn's Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of + Evil. + His Idler. + Death of his mother. + Circumstances under which Rasselas was published. + His hatred of the Whigs. + Accepts a pension of three hundred a year. + His belief in ghosts. + Publication of his edition of Shakespeare's works. + Honours conferred upon him. + His colloquial talents. + His predominance in The Club. + His biographer, James Boswell. + The inmates of his house near Fleet Street. + His visit to the Hebrides. + His prejudice against the Scotch. + His exposure of Macpherson's forgery of Fingal. + His Taxation no Tyranny. + His lives of the Poets. + His declining years. + His death. + + Johnson, Michael of Lichfield. + + Jones, Sir William, his part in the Literary Club. + + Judgment and imagination. + + Julian, the Emperor, his partiality for the Greek language. + + Jurisprudence, Mr Bentham's reduction of, to a science. + + Juryman, the stipend of an Athenian. + + Just, Saint, expatiates on the guilt of Vergniaud and Petion. + Becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. + His doom. + His execution. + + Juvenal compared with Dryden. + His satire compared with that of Samuel Johnson. + + King, the, in the Athenian democracy. + + Kleber, General, refuses to obey the cruel decree of the + Convention. + + Lacedaemon, causes of the silent but rapid downfall of. + The development of merit prevented by the laws of. + Her foreign policy and domestic institutions. + Her government compared with that of Athens. + Her helots. + + Langton, Bennet, a member of the Literary Club. + + Latin works of Petrarch, the. + + Lebon, the Jacobin, his crimes defended by Barere. + Placed under arrest. + + Levett, Robert, the quack doctor. + + Liberty, how regarded by the later ancient writers. + How regarded by historians of the Plutarch class. + Peculiar and essentially English character of English liberty. + Political, views with which it was regarded by the French + legislators of the Revolution. + + Lies, various kinds of. + + Lincoln Cathedral, story of the painted window of. + + Literary Magazine, Johnson's contributions to the. + + Literature, on the Royal Society of. + + Literature, ancient, proper examination of. + State of literature as a calling, in the last century. + + Literature of Britain, the, Speech on. + + Livy, his faults and merits as a historian. + + London, blessing of the great fire of. + Riots in, in 1780. + + Longinus, criticism on his work on the "Sublime." + + Louis XIV., his bitter lamentations of his former extravagances. + His character as a king. + + Louis XV., condition of France when he came to the throne. + + Louis XVI., his character. + His position in 1792. + His death. + + Louis XVIII., leniency of his government at the Restoration. + + Love, honourable and chivalrous, unknown to the Greeks. + The passion as delineated in the Roman poets. + What is implied in the modern sense of the word love. + Change undergone in the nature of the passion of love in the + middle ages. + + Lycurgus, his mistaken principles of legislation. + His system of domestic slavery. + + Lyons, cruelties of the Jacobins at. + Barere's proposal to utterly annihilate it. + + Lysander, depressed by the constitution of Lycyrgus. + + Macflecnoe, of Dryden, character of the. + + Machiavelli, character of his history. + + Macpherson, his forgery of Fingal. + Threatens Dr Johnson. + + Malkin, Sir Benjamin Heath, epitaph on. + + Malthus, Mr, attacked by Mr Sadler. + + Man, the contemplation of, the noblest earthly object of man. + + Marat, his murmurs against Barere. + His death. + + Marcellus, the counterfeit oration for. + + Marie Antoinette, Queen, Barere's account of the death of. + Brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal on the motion of + Barere. + Her execution. + + Martyn, Henry, epitaph on. + + Maynooth, Speech on. + + Medical science, Petrarch's invectives on the. + + Melville, Lord, his impeachment. + + Memoirs, popularity of, as compared with that of history. + + "Memorial Antibritannique," the, of Barere. + + Metaphors, Dante's. + + Metcalfe, Lord, Epitaph on. + + Mill, Mr, review of his Essays on Government, etc. + His utilitarianism. + False principles upon which his theory rests. + Precision of his arguments and dryness of his style. + His a priori method of reasoning. + Curious instances of his peculiar turn of mind. + His views of democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy. + His fallacies. + His proposed government by a representative body. + His proposal of universal suffrage, but for males only. + The effects which a general spoliation of the rich would + engender. + His remarks on the influence of the middle rank. + Review of the Westminster Reviewer's defence of Mr Mill. + + Milton, John, compared with Dante. + Milton, Mr John, and Mr Abraham Cowley, conversation between, + touching the great Civil War. + His great modern epic. + Dryden's admiration for his genius. + + Mirabeau, Souvenirs sur, etc., M. Dumont's review of. + M. Dumont's picture of Mirabeau in the National Assembly. + Mirabeau compared to Wilkes. + And to the Earl of Chatham. + + Mitford, Mr, criticism on his History of Greece. + His principal characteristic as a historian. + Errors of almost all the most modern historians of Greece. + Estimation in which the later ancient writers have been held. + Differences between Mr Mitford and the historians who have + preceded him. + His love of singularity. + His hatred of democracy. + And love of the oligarchical form of government. + His illogical inferences and false statements. + His inconsistency with himself. + His deficiencies. + Charges of misrepresentation brought against him as a historian. + + Monarchical form of government, Mr Mill's view of a. + Moncontour, the Battle of. + + Mountain, sketch of the party in the French Convention so called. + Votes for the death of the King. + Its victory over the Girondists. + Tyranny of the Mountain. + Violence of public opinion against it. + + Naseby, the Battle of. + + National Assembly, the French. + Mr Burke's character of them. + M. Dumont's picture of the Assembly. + + Nollekens, his cenotaph of Oliver Goldsmith in Westminster Abbey. + + Nonconformists, relief of, by Charles II. + + North, Lord, and the American difficulties. + Resignation of his ministry. + The Coalition. + End of the Coalition. + + Ode on St Cecilia's Day of Dryden; its character. + + Oleron, Barere, Billaud, and Collot d'Herbois imprisoned at. + + Oligarchy, Mr Mitford's love of pure. + Examination of this sentiment. + The growth of genius always stunted by oligarchy. + Mr Mill's view of an oligarchical form of government. + + Opinion, good, of the public, causes of our regard for the. + + Orators, Athenian. + + Oratory: Excellence to which eloquence attained at Athens. + Circumstances favourable to this result. + Principles upon which poetry is to be estimated. + Causes of the difference between the English and Athenian + orators. + The history of eloquence at Athens. + Speeches of the ancients, as transmitted to us by Thucydides. + Period during which eloquence flourished most at Athens. + Coincidence between the progress of the art of war and that of + oratory. + The irresistible eloquence of Demosthenes. + The oratory of Pitt and Fox. + + Orestes, the Greek highwayman. + + Orleans, Philip, Duke of, character of him and of his Regency. + + Ossian, character of the poems of. + + Ostracism, practice of, among the Athenians. + + Othello, causes of the power of. + + Paganism, effect of the overthrow of, by Christianity. + + Pallas, the birthplace of Oliver Goldsmith. + + Paradise, Dante's, its principal merit. + + Paraphrase of a passage in the Chronicle of the Monk of St Gall. + + Paris, policy of the Jacobins of. + Their excesses. + + Parliamentary government, its advantages and disadvantages. + + Parliamentary Reform, Speeches on. + + Patronage, effect of, on literature. + + Pausanias, his insanity. + + Pauson, the Athenian painter. + + Peers, question of the sterility of the, as a class. + + Peiraeus, disreputable character of. + + People's Charter, the, Speech on. + + Pericles, his eloquence. + + Petion, the Girondist. + Saint Just's speech on his guilt. + His unfortunate end. + + Petrarch, influence of his poems on the literature of Italy. + Criticism on the works of. + Celebrity as a writer. + Causes of this. + Extraordinary sensation caused by his amatory verses. + Causes co-operating to spread his renown. + His coronation at Rome. + His poetical powers. + His genius. + Paucity of his thoughts. + His energy when speaking of the wrongs and degradation of Italy. + His poems on religious subjects. + Prevailing defect of his best compositions. + Remarks on his Latin writings. + + Phalaris of Agrigentari, the spurious letters of. + Sir W. Temple's opinion of them. + Their worthlessness shown by Bentley. + + Phillips, John, his monument refused admission into Westminster + Abbey. + + Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's history of the. + Its fame. + Attempts to improve and imitate it. + + Pilnitz, League of, effect of the. + + Piozzi, Mrs. + + Pisistratus, his eloquence. + + Pitt, William, popular comparison of, with Mr Canning. + His birth and early life. + His preceptor Pretyman. + His fondness for mathematics. + His knowledge of Greek and Latin. + And of modern literature. + His delight in oratory. + Studies the law. + Goes into parliament for Appleby. + Condition of the country at this period. + Pitt's first speech in Parliament. + Declines the Vice-Treasurership of Ireland. + Courts the ultra-Whig party. + His advocacy of reform. + Becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer at twenty-three years of age. + Pitt's speech and Sheridan's repartee. + His visit to the Continent with William Wilberforce. + Appointed First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the + Exchequer. + His difficulties and dangers. + His power. + Review of his merits and defects. + His reported speeches. + Character of his oratory. + His private life. + His popularity. + His neglect of authors. + His talents as a leader. + Effect of the French Revolution. + His love of peace and freedom. + Unjustly charged with apostasy. + Beginning of his misfortunes. + His domestic policy. + His great designs for the benefit of Ireland. + His rupture with Addington. + His speech on the opening of the Session of 1803. + Reconstructs the government on the resignation of the Addington + ministry. + Decline of his health. + His death. + His public funeral. + Vote for paying his debts. + Review of his life. + Lines to his memory. + + Plautus, translation from his Rudens. + + Plutarch, class of historians of which he may be regarded as the + head. + His delineation of character. + + Poetry; Horace's comparison of poems to certain paintings. + Principles upon which poetry is to be estimated. + Element by which poetry is poetry. + Frame of mind required by poetry. + Absurdities of writers who attempt to give general rules for + composition. + The mechanical part of the art of poetry. + Power of the imagination in a barbarous age. + Periods of consummate excellence and of the decline of poetry. + Age of critical poetry. + The imaginative school gradually fading into the critical. + The poets of Greece. + And of Rome. + Revolution of the poetry of Italy, Spain, and England. + The critical and poetical faculties, distinct and incompatible. + Excellence of English dramatic poetry. + Extinction of the dramatic and ascendency of the fashionable + school of poetry. + Changes in the time of Charles II. + John Dryden. + + Poets, the favourite themes of the, of the present day. + Catholicity of the orthodox poetical creed. + Why good poets are bad critics. + + Police officers of Athens. + + Polybius, his character as a historian. + + Pomponius Atticus, his veneration for Greek literature. + + Pope, Alexander, condensation of the sense in his couplets. + His friendship with Bishop Atterbury. + Appears as a witness in favour of his friend. + His epitaph on Atterbury. + + Population, review of Mr Sadler's work on the law of. + His attack of Mr Malthus. + His statement of the law of population. + Extremes of population and fecundity in well-known countries. + Population of England. + Of the United States of America. + Of France. + And of Prussia. + + Portland, Duke of, formation of his Administration. + + Portrait-painting compared with history. + + Posterity, Epistle to, Petrarch's. + + Power, senses in which the word may be used. + Dependence of the happiness of nations on the real distribution + of power. + + Pretyman, Bishop of Lincoln. + His life of William Pitt. + + Printing, influence of, on modern history. + + Prior, Matthew, his intimacy with Bishop Atterbury. + + Prize poems, character of. + + Provencal poets, their amatory compositions. + + Prussia, Mr Sadler's law of population, as illustrated by the + census of Prussia. + + Psalmanazar, George, his friendship with Samuel Johnson. + + Purgatorio, Dante's, the simile of the sheep in the. + Incomparable style of the sixth canto of. + + Puritans, their prohibition of theatrical representations. + + Quakers, Bunyan's abhorrence of the. + + Quintillian, his principles of criticism. + + Quixote, the Spiritual. + + Radical War Song, a. + + Rambler, Johnson's, publication of the. + + Rasselas, Johnson's, circumstances under which it was written. + Plan of the work. + + Re-election to Parliament, Speech on. + + Reform Bill, mildness of the revolution of the. + + Reform, Parliamentary, Speeches on. + + Regent, the Prince, and the King. + + Rent, Doctrine of. + + Repeal of Union with Ireland, Speech on. + + Representation, its value as a check on the governing few. + + Revolution, the French, terms in which it is spoken of by M. + Dumont. + + Revolution, the first and second French. + Compared with the English. + And with the American. + + Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his part in the Club. + + Rich: desire of the poor majority to plunder the rich minority. + Effects which a general spoliation would produce. + + Richardson, Samuel, his opinion of the Rambler. + His kindness to Johnson. + + Robespierre, his power over the lives of his fellow-citizens. + His character. + Regaled by Barere at a tavern on the day of the Queen's death. + Atrocious decree of the Convention proposed by him. + Becomes one of the Committee of Public Safety. + Purpose of his celebrated fiendish decree. + Barere's panegyric on Robespierre. + Barere's motion to put Robespierre and his accomplices to death. + Robespierre's execution. + His character. + + Rockingham, Charles Marquis of, at the head of the Whig + opposition. + His adherents in the House of Commons. + Becomes Prime Minister. + His death. + + Roland, Madame, her courage and force of thought. + Her execution. + + Roland, the Girondist, his wife. + His fate. + + Roman Tale, Fragments of a. + + Romans, domestic habits of the. + Character of the poetry of the Romans. + Their regard for the language and literature of Greece. + Their disregard of the sacred books of the Hebrews. + Their exclusive spirit. + The Roman empire of the time of Diocletian compared with the + Chinese empire. + Effect of the victory of Christianity over paganism. + Purification of the Roman world by the invasion of the + Barbarians. + + Rousseau, his egotism and its success. + + Royal Society of Literature, on the. + + Rumford, Count, his proposition for feeding soldiers cheaply. + + Russell, Lord William, his last saying. + + Sacheverell, prosecution of. + + Sadler, Mr, review of his work on the Law of Population. + His style. + And spirit. + His attack on Mr Malthus. + His distinctions without a difference. + The great discovery by which he has vindicated the ways of + Providence. + His refutation refuted. + The motto on his title-page. + His statements examined and refuted. + + Safety, Committee of Public, formation of the, in Paris. + Names of the persons composing the. + Character of the men composing the Committee. + Its crimes and blunders. + Robespierre's fiendish motion. + + Sallust, his merits as a historian. + His conspiracy of Catiline. + + Satire of Juvenal and Dryden. + + Savage, Richard, his career. + + Schoolmen, Lord Bacon's description of the logomachies of the, of + his time. + + Scott, Sir Walter, his use of the rejected fragments of history. + + Sermon in a Churchyard. + + Shakspeare, William, language he gives to his superhuman beings. + His euphuism. + His dramas miracles of art. + His exquisite imagery. + Publication of Johnson's edition of the works of. + Character of the work. + + Shelburne, William, Earl of, in the Whig opposition. + Placed by the King at the head of the Treasury. + + Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, his repartee to Pitt. + + Sidney, Sir Philip, his dying thanksgiving. + + Sieyes, the Abbe, M. Dumont's sketch of the character of. + + Similitudes, Dante's. + + Simon, Saint, his character and opinions. + + Slavery, Domestic, the cause of the violence of factions in + ancient times. + + Smalridge, Dean of Carlisle and Christ Church. + + Song. + + Sonnet-fanciers. + + Spain, revolution of the poetry of. + + Sparta, the great men of. + Mr Mitford's admiration of the stability of the institutions of. + Real character of the Spartans. + Their kind of liberty. + + Spectator, Addison's, crowds of imitations of the. + + SPEECHES--Anatomy Bill. + Church of Ireland, the. + Confidence in Lord Melbourne's Ministry. + Copyright. + Corn Laws, the. + Dissenters' Chapels Bill. + Edinburgh Election. + Education. + Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons. + Gates of Somnauth, the. + Government of India, the. + Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. + Jewish Disabilities. + Literature of Britain, the. + Maynooth. + Parliamentary Reform. + People's Charter, the. + Re-election to Parliament. + Repeal of the Union with Ireland. + State of Ireland, the. + Sugar Duties, the. + Ten Hours Bill, the. + Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities. + War with China, the. + + Spencer, George Earl, his able administration of the Admiralty. + + Spies, political, in France. + Their unpopularity in England. + The modus operandi of a spy. + + State of Ireland, the Speech on. + + Stories, good, fondness of the later ancient writers for. + + "Sublime, Longinus on the." + Burke and Dugald Stewart's discussions. + + Suffrage, Universal. + + Sugar Duties, the, Speech on. + + Tacitus, his eminence as a historian. + As a delineator of character. + + Talleyrand, M. Dumont's sketch of the character of. + + Tallien, his attack on Robespierre in the Convention. + + Tasso, character of his "Secchia Rapita." + + Telephus, the, of Euripides. + + Temple, Sir William, his essay in praise of the ancient writers. + + Ten Hours Bill, the Speech on. + + Ten Thousand, Xenophon's Expedition of the, its character. + + Terror, Reign of, commencement of the, in France. + Members of the Committee of Public Safety. + Robespierre's fiendish decree. + End of the Revolutionary Tribunal. + + Themistocles, his eloquence. + + Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities, the Speech on. + + Theo-philanthropy in France. + + Thermidor, the memorable ninth of. + + Thrales, Dr Johnson's connection with the. + + Thucydides, character of the speeches of the ancients, as + transmitted to us by him. + His historical shortcomings. + His history compared with that of Herodotus. + Management of his perspective in history. + His speeches put into the mouths of his characters. + His deficiencies. + School in which he studied. + His style and philosophy. + Regarded as a delineator of character. + + Thurlow, Lord, retains the Great Seal under Lord Rockingham. + Dismissed. + Again Lord Chancellor. + + Tiberius Caesar, Tacitus's delineation of the character of. + + Tinkers in the seventeenth century. + + Tinville, Fouquier, his introduction to the Revolutionary + Tribunal of Paris. + Placed under arrest. + + Tirzah and Ahirad, marriage of. + + Toulon, Barere's proposal to destroy it. + + Traveller, Goldsmith's, publication of the. + Its noble and simple design. + + United States of America, rapid increase of the human race in + the. + Causes of this. + Results of four censuses. + Number of slaves in the Union in 1810. + And of emigrants to the United States in 1817. + Recognition of the independence of the States. + Surrender of Cornwallis. + + Universal Suffrage. + + Uses, Statute of, its practical value. + + Utilitarianism. + One of the principal tenets of. + Style of writing admired by Utilitarians. + Barren theories of the Utilitarians. + Duty of exposing the fallacy of their arguments. + Lord Bacon's description of the Utilitarian philosophy. + Mr Bentham's exposition of the Utilitarian principle. + Remarks on the Utilitarian theory of government. + Delusion of the Utilitarians. + Origin of their faults. + Real character of the sect. + Their summum bonum. + + Venice, an example of the sterility of an oligarchical form of + government. + + Vergniaud, the Girondist leader, his eloquence. + His melancholy duty in the Convention. + Charged by the Mountain before the Revolutionary Committee. + His last speech. + His death. + + Vienna, the deliverance of. + + Virgil, idolatry of Dante for the writings of. + + Virgin, Ode to the Petrarch's. + + Voltaire, reluctance of the French Academy to acknowledge the + genius of. + + Voters, qualifications of, Mr Mill's views regarding. + + Wakefield, Vicar of, story of the publication of the. + + Walker, Obadiah, the apostate. + His aspersions on Martin Luther. + + Waller, Edward, character of his poetry. + + Walmesley, Gilbert, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + + War, difference between, in large and small communities. + + War with China, the, Speech on. + + Waterloo, battle of. + + "We," the editorial, its fatal influence on rising genius. + + Wellesley, Sir Arthur, William Pitt's remark on. + + "Wellingtoniad, a Prophetical Account of a Grand National Epic + Poem, to be entitled." + + Westminster Hall compared with the Roman Forum. + + Westminster Review, its defence of Mill reviewed. + And of the Utilitarian theory of government. + + Wharton, Duke of, his speech in defence of Atterbury. + + Whigs, the party of opposition in 1780. + Their accession to power. + + Wilberforce, William, his visit to the Continent with William + Pitt. + Returned for York. + + Wilkes, John, compared to Mirabeau. + + Williams, Mrs, in Dr Johnson's house. + + Women, condition of, among the Greeks. + Among the Romans. + Superstitious veneration with which they were regarded by the + warriors of the north of Europe. + Their insight into motives. + Rejected by Mr Mill from all share in government. + Identity of interest between the sexes. + Right of women to vote as well as men. + + Wordsworth, William, his egotism as exhibited in his writings. + + World, The. + Its remarks on the literary genius of Johnson. + + Xenophon, historical value of his treatise on Domestic Economy. + Character of his history. + His life of Cyrus. + His expedition of the Ten Thousand and History of Grecian + Affairs. + His superstition and horror of popular turbulence. + Regarded as a delineator of character. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Miscellaneous Writings and +Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4), by Thomas Babington Macaulay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF LORD MACAULAY *** + +***** This file should be named 2170.txt or 2170.zip ***** +This and all 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Dr. Mike Alder and Sue Asscher +from the book made available by Dr. Mike Alder. + + + + + +THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS AND SPEECHES + +OF + +LORD MACAULAY. + + + + +THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS AND SPEECHES + +OF + +LORD MACAULAY. + + +VOLUME IV. + + +LORD MACAULAY'S SPEECHES. + + +TO HENRY, MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE + +THESE SPEECHES ARE DEDICATED BY HIS GRATEFUL AND AFFECTIONATE +FRIEND + +THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. + + +PREFACE. + +It was most reluctantly that I determined to suspend, during the +last autumn, a work which is the business and the pleasure of my +life, in order to prepare these Speeches for publication; and it +is most reluctantly that I now give them to the world. Even if I +estimated their oratorical merit much more highly than I do, I +should not willingly have revived, in the quiet times in which we +are so happy as to live, the memory of those fierce contentions +in which too many years of my public life were passed. Many +expressions which, when society was convulsed by political +dissensions, and when the foundations of government were shaking, +were heard by an excited audience with sympathy and applause, +may, now that the passions of all parties have subsided, be +thought intemperate and acrimonious. It was especially painful +to me to find myself under the necessity of recalling to my own +recollection, and to the recollection of others, the keen +encounters which took place between the late Sir Robert Peel and +myself. Some parts of the conduct of that eminent man I must +always think deserving of serious blame. But, on a calm review +of his long and chequered public life, I acknowledge, with +sincere pleasure, that his faults were much more than redeemed by +great virtues, great sacrifices, and great services. My +political hostility to him was never in the smallest degree +tainted by personal ill-will. After his fall from power a +cordial reconciliation took place between us: I admired the +wisdom, the moderation, the disinterested patriotism, which he +invariably showed during the last and best years of his life; I +lamented his untimely death, as both a private and a public +calamity; and I earnestly wished that the sharp words which had +sometimes been exchanged between us might be forgotten. + +Unhappily an act, for which the law affords no redress, but which +I have no hesitation in pronouncing to be a gross injury to me +and a gross fraud on the public, has compelled me to do what I +should never have done willingly. A bookseller, named Vizetelly, +who seems to aspire to that sort of distinction which Curll +enjoyed a hundred and twenty years ago, thought fit, without +asking my consent, without even giving me any notice, to announce +an edition of my Speeches, and was not ashamed to tell the world +in his advertisement that he published them by special license. +When the book appeared, I found that it contained fifty-six +speeches, said to have been delivered by me in the House of +Commons. Of these speeches a few were reprinted from reports +which I had corrected for the Mirror of Parliament or the +Parliamentary Debates, and were therefore, with the exception of +some errors of the pen and the press, correctly given. The rest +bear scarcely the faintest resemblance to the speeches which I +really made. The substance of what I said is perpetually +misrepresented. The connection of the arguments is altogether +lost. Extravagant blunders are put into my mouth in almost every +page. An editor who was not grossly ignorant would have +perceived that no person to whom the House of Commons would +listen could possibly have been guilty of such blunders. An +editor who had the smallest regard for truth, or for the fame of +the person whose speeches he had undertaken to publish, would +have had recourse to the various sources of information which +were readily accessible, and, by collating them, would have +produced a book which would at least have contained no absolute +nonsense. But I have unfortunately had an editor whose only +object was to make a few pounds, and who was willing to sacrifice +to that object my reputation and his own. He took the very worst +report extant, compared it with no other report, removed no +blemish however obvious or however ludicrous, gave to the world +some hundreds of pages utterly contemptible both in matter and +manner, and prefixed my name to them. The least that he should +have done was to consult the files of The Times newspaper. I +have frequently done so, when I have noticed in his book any +passage more than ordinarily absurd; and I have almost invariably +found that in The Times newspaper, my meaning had been correctly +reported, though often in words different from those which I had +used. + +I could fill a volume with instances of the injustice with which +I have been treated. But I will confine myself to a single +speech, the speech on the Dissenters' Chapels Bill. I have +selected that speech, not because Mr Vizetelly's version of that +speech is worse than his versions of thirty or forty other +speeches, but because I have before me a report of that speech +which an honest and diligent editor would have thought it his +first duty to consult. The report of which I speak was published +by the Unitarian Dissenters, who were naturally desirous that +there should be an accurate record of what had passed in a debate +deeply interesting to them. It was not corrected by me: but it +generally, though not uniformly, exhibits with fidelity the +substance of what I said. + +Mr Vizetelly makes me say that the principle of our Statutes of +Limitation was to be found in the legislation of the Mexicans and +Peruvians. That is a matter about which, as I know nothing, I +certainly said nothing. Neither in The Times nor in the +Unitarian report is there anything about Mexico or Peru. + +Mr Vizetelly next makes me say that the principle of limitation +is found "amongst the Pandects of the Benares." Did my editor +believe that I uttered these words, and that the House of Commons +listened patiently to them? If he did, what must be thought of +his understanding? If he did not, was it the part of an honest +man to publish such gibberish as mine? The most charitable +supposition, which I therefore gladly adopt, is that Mr Vizetelly +saw nothing absurd in the expression which he has attributed to +me. The Benares he probably supposes to be some Oriental nation. +What he supposes their Pandects to be I shall not presume to +guess. If he had examined The Times, he would have found no +trace of the passage. The reporter, probably, did not catch what +I said, and, being more veracious than Mr Vizetelly, did not +choose to ascribe to me what I did not say. If Mr Vizetelly had +consulted the Unitarian report, he would have seen that I spoke +of the Pundits of Benares; and he might, without any very long or +costly research, have learned where Benares is, and what a Pundit +is. + +Mr Vizetelly then represents me as giving the House of Commons +some very extraordinary information about both the Calvinistic +and the Arminian Methodists. He makes me say that Whitfield held +and taught that the connection between Church and State was +sinful. Whitfield never held or taught any such thing; nor was I +so grossly ignorant of the life and character of that remarkable +man as to impute to him a doctrine which he would have abhorred. +Here again, both in The Times and in the Unitarian report, the +substance of what I said is correctly given. + +Mr Vizetelly proceeds to put into my mouth a curious account of +the polity of the Wesleyan Methodists. He makes me say that, +after John Wesley's death, "the feeling in favour of the lay +administration of the Sacrament became very strong and very +general: a Conference was applied for, was constituted, and, +after some discussion, it was determined that the request should +be granted." Such folly could have been uttered only by a person +profoundly ignorant of the history of Methodism. Certainly +nothing of the sort was ever uttered by me; and nothing of the +sort will be found either in The Times or in the Unitarian +report. + +Mr Vizetelly makes me say that the Great Charter recognises the +principle of limitation, a thing which everybody who has read the +Great Charter knows not to be true. He makes me give an utterly +false history of Lord Nottingham's Occasional Conformity Bill. +But I will not weary my readers by proceeding further. These +samples will probably be thought sufficient. They all lie within +a compass of seven or eight pages. It will be observed that all +the faults which I have pointed out are grave faults of +substance. Slighter faults of substance are numerous. As to +faults of syntax and of style, hardly one sentence in a hundred +is free from them. + +I cannot permit myself to be exhibited, in this ridiculous and +degrading manner, for the profit of an unprincipled man. I +therefore unwillingly, and in mere self-defence, give this volume +to the public. I have selected, to the best of my judgment, from +among my speeches, those which are the least unworthy to be +preserved. Nine of them were corrected by me while they were +still fresh in my memory, and appear almost word for word as they +were spoken. They are the speech of the second of March 1831, +the speech of the twentieth of September 1831, the speech of the +tenth of October 1831, the speech of the sixteenth of December +1831, the speech on the Anatomy Bill, the speech on the India +Bill, the speech on Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill, the +speech on the Sugar Duties, and the speech on the Irish Church. +The substance of the remaining speeches I have given with perfect +ingenuousness. I have not made alterations for the purpose of +saving my own reputation either for consistency or for foresight. +I have not softened down the strong terms in which I formerly +expressed opinions which time and thought may have modified; nor +have I retouched my predictions in order to make them correspond +with subsequent events. Had I represented myself as speaking in +1831, in 1840, or in 1845, as I should speak in 1853, I should +have deprived my book of its chief value. This volume is now at +least a strictly honest record of opinions and reasonings which +were heard with favour by a large part of the Commons of England +at some important conjunctures; and such a record, however low it +may stand in the estimation of the literary critic, cannot but be +of use to the historian. + +I do not pretend to give with accuracy the diction of those +speeches which I did not myself correct within a week after they +were delivered. Many expressions, and a few paragraphs, linger +in my memory. But the rest, including much that had been +carefully premeditated, is irrecoverably lost. Nor have I, in +this part of my task, derived much assistance from any report. +My delivery is, I believe, too rapid. Very able shorthand +writers have sometimes complained that they could not follow me, +and have contented themselves with setting down the substance of +what I said. As I am unable to recall the precise words which I +used, I have done my best to put my meaning into words which I +might have used. + +I have only, in conclusion, to beg that the readers of this +Preface will pardon an egotism which a great wrong has made +necessary, and which is quite as disagreeable to myself as it can +be to them. + + +CONTENTS. + +Parliamentary Reform. (March 2, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (July 5, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (September 20, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (October 10, 1831) + +Parliamentary Reform. (December 16, 1831) + +Anatomy Bill. (February 27, 1832) + +Parliamentary Reform. (February 28, 1832) + +Repeal of the Union with Ireland. (February 6, 1833) + +Jewish Disabilities. (April 17, 1833) + +Government of India. (July 10, 1833) + +Edinburgh Election, 1839. (May 29, 1839) + +Confidence in the Ministry of Lord Melbourne. (January 29, 1840) + +War with China. (April 7, 1840) + +Copyright. (February 5, 1841) + +Copyright. (April 6, 1842) + +The People's Charter. (May 3, 1842) + +The Gates of Somnauth. (March 9, 1843) + +The State of Ireland. (February 19, 1844) + +Dissenters' Chapels Bill. (June 6, 1844) + +The Sugar Duties. (February 26, 1845) + +Maynooth. (April 14, 1845) + +The Church of Ireland. (April 23, 1845) + +Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities. (July 9, 1845) + +Corn Laws. (December 2, 1845) + +The Ten Hours Bill. (May 22, 1846) + +The Literature of Britain. (November 4, 1846) + +Education. (April 19, 1847) + +Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. (March 21, 1849) + +Re-election to Parliament. (November 2, 1852) + +Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons. (June 1, 1853) + + + +SPEECHES, ETC. + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (MARCH 2, 1831) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 2D OF MARCH, +1831. + +On Tuesday, the first of March, 1831, Lord John Russell moved the +House of Commons for leave to bring in a bill to amend the +representation of the people in England and Wales. The +discussion occupied seven nights. At length, on the morning of +Thursday, the tenth of March, the motion was carried without a +division. The following speech was made on the second night of +the debate. + +It is a circumstance, Sir, of happy augury for the motion before +the House, that almost all those who have opposed it have +declared themselves hostile on principle to Parliamentary Reform. +Two Members, I think, have confessed that, though they disapprove +of the plan now submitted to us, they are forced to admit the +necessity of a change in the Representative system. Yet even +those gentleman have used, as far as I have observed, no +arguments which would not apply as strongly to the most moderate +change as to that which has been proposed by His Majesty's +Government. I say, Sir, that I consider this as a circumstance +of happy augury. For what I feared was, not the opposition of +those who are averse to all Reform, but the disunion of +reformers. I knew that, during three months, every reformer had +been employed in conjecturing what the plan of the Government +would be. I knew that every reformer had imagined in his own +mind a scheme differing doubtless in some points from that which +my noble friend, the Paymaster of the Forces, has developed. I +felt therefore great apprehension that one person would be +dissatisfied with one part of the bill, that another person would +be dissatisfied with another part, and that thus our whole +strength would be wasted in internal dissensions. That +apprehension is now at an end. I have seen with delight the +perfect concord which prevails among all who deserve the name of +reformers in this House; and I trust that I may consider it as an +omen of the concord which will prevail among reformers throughout +the country. I will not, Sir, at present express any opinion as +to the details of the bill; but, having during the last twenty- +four hours given the most diligent consideration to its general +principles, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a wise, noble, +and comprehensive measure, skilfully framed for the healing of +great distempers, for the securing at once of the public +liberties, and of the public repose, and for the reconciling and +knitting together of all the orders of the State. + +The honourable Baronet who has just sat down (Sir John Walsh.), +has told us, that the Ministers have attempted to unite two +inconsistent principles in one abortive measure. Those were his +very words. He thinks, if I understand him rightly, that we +ought either to leave the representative system such as it is, or +to make it perfectly symmetrical. I think, Sir, that the +Ministers would have acted unwisely if they had taken either +course. Their principle is plain, rational, and consistent. It +is this, to admit the middle class to a large and direct share in +the representation, without any violent shock to the institutions +of our country. I understand those cheers: but surely the +gentlemen who utter them will allow that the change which will be +made in our institutions by this bill is far less violent than +that which, according to the honourable Baronet, ought to be made +if we make any Reform at all. I praise the Ministers for not +attempting, at the present time, to make the representation +uniform. I praise them for not effacing the old distinction +between the towns and the counties, and for not assigning Members +to districts, according to the American practice, by the Rule of +Three. The Government has, in my opinion, done all that was +necessary for the removing of a great practical evil, and no more +than was necessary. + +I consider this, Sir, as a practical question. I rest my opinion +on no general theory of government. I distrust all general +theories of government. I will not positively say, that there is +any form of polity which may not, in some conceivable +circumstances, be the best possible. I believe that there are +societies in which every man may safely be admitted to vote. +Gentlemen may cheer, but such is my opinion. I say, Sir, that +there are countries in which the condition of the labouring +classes is such that they may safely be intrusted with the right +of electing Members of the Legislature. If the labourers of +England were in that state in which I, from my soul, wish to see +them, if employment were always plentiful, wages always high, +food always cheap, if a large family were considered not as an +encumbrance but as a blessing, the principal objections to +Universal Suffrage would, I think, be removed. Universal +Suffrage exists in the United States, without producing any very +frightful consequences; and I do not believe that the people of +those States, or of any part of the world, are in any good +quality naturally superior to our own countrymen. But, +unhappily, the labouring classes in England, and in all old +countries, are occasionally in a state of great distress. Some +of the causes of this distress are, I fear, beyond the control of +the Government. We know what effect distress produces, even on +people more intelligent than the great body of the labouring +classes can possibly be. We know that it makes even wise men +irritable, unreasonable, credulous, eager for immediate relief, +heedless of remote consequences. There is no quackery in +medicine, religion, or politics, which may not impose even on a +powerful mind, when that mind has been disordered by pain or +fear. It is therefore no reflection on the poorer class of +Englishmen, who are not, and who cannot in the nature of things +be, highly educated, to say that distress produces on them its +natural effects, those effects which it would produce on the +Americans, or on any other people, that it blinds their judgment, +that it inflames their passions, that it makes them prone to +believe those who flatter them, and to distrust those who would +serve them. For the sake, therefore, of the whole society, for +the sake of the labouring classes themselves, I hold it to be +clearly expedient that, in a country like this, the right of +suffrage should depend on a pecuniary qualification. + +But, Sir, every argument which would induce me to oppose +Universal Suffrage, induces me to support the plan which is now +before us. I am opposed to Universal Suffrage, because I think +that it would produce a destructive revolution. I support this +plan, because I am sure that it is our best security against a +revolution. The noble Paymaster of the Forces hinted, delicately +indeed and remotely, at this subject. He spoke of the danger of +disappointing the expectations of the nation; and for this he was +charged with threatening the House. Sir, in the year 1817, the +late Lord Londonderry proposed a suspension of the Habeas Corpus +Act. On that occasion he told the House that, unless the +measures which he recommended were adopted, the public peace +could not be preserved. Was he accused of threatening the House? +Again, in the year 1819, he proposed the laws known by the name +of the Six Acts. He then told the House that, unless the +executive power were reinforced, all the institutions of the +country would be overturned by popular violence. Was he then +accused of threatening the House? Will any gentleman say that it +is parliamentary and decorous to urge the danger arising from +popular discontent as an argument for severity; but that it is +unparliamentary and indecorous to urge that same danger as an +argument for conciliation? I, Sir, do entertain great +apprehension for the fate of my country. I do in my conscience +believe that, unless the plan proposed, or some similar plan, be +speedily adopted, great and terrible calamities will befall us. +Entertaining this opinion, I think myself bound to state it, not +as a threat, but as a reason. I support this bill because it +will improve our institutions; but I support it also because it +tends to preserve them. That we may exclude those whom it is +necessary to exclude, we must admit those whom it may be safe to +admit. At present we oppose the schemes of revolutionists with +only one half, with only one quarter of our proper force. We +say, and we say justly, that it is not by mere numbers, but by +property and intelligence, that the nation ought to be governed. +Yet, saying this, we exclude from all share in the government +great masses of property and intelligence, great numbers of those +who are most interested in preserving tranquillity, and who know +best how to preserve it. We do more. We drive over to the side +of revolution those whom we shut out from power. Is this a time +when the cause of law and order can spare one of its natural +allies? + +My noble friend, the Paymaster of the Forces, happily described +the effect which some parts of our representative system would +produce on the mind of a foreigner, who had heard much of our +freedom and greatness. If, Sir, I wished to make such a +foreigner clearly understand what I consider as the great defects +of our system, I would conduct him through that immense city +which lies to the north of Great Russell Street and Oxford +Street, a city superior in size and in population to the capitals +of many mighty kingdoms; and probably superior in opulence, +intelligence, and general respectability, to any city in the +world. I would conduct him through that interminable succession +of streets and squares, all consisting of well built and well +furnished houses. I would make him observe the brilliancy of the +shops, and the crowd of well-appointed equipages. I would show +him that magnificent circle of palaces which surrounds the +Regent's Park. I would tell him that the rental of this district +was far greater than that of the whole kingdom of Scotland, at +the time of the Union. And then I would tell him that this was +an unrepresented district. It is needless to give any more +instances. It is needless to speak of Manchester, Birmingham, +Leeds, Sheffield, with no representation, or of Edinburgh and +Glasgow with a mock representation. If a property tax were now +imposed on the principle that no person who had less than a +hundred and fifty pounds a year should contribute, I should not +be surprised to find that one half in number and value of the +contributors had no votes at all; and it would, beyond all doubt, +be found that one fiftieth part in number and value of the +contributors had a larger share of the representation than the +other forty-nine fiftieths. This is not government by property. +It is government by certain detached portions and fragments of +property, selected from the rest, and preferred to the rest, on +no rational principle whatever. + +To say that such a system is ancient, is no defence. My +honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford (Sir +Robert Harry Inglis.), challenges us to show that the +Constitution was ever better than it is. Sir, we are +legislators, not antiquaries. The question for us is, not +whether the Constitution was better formerly, but whether we can +make it better now. In fact, however, the system was not in +ancient times by any means so absurd as it is in our age. One +noble Lord (Lord Stormont.) has to-night told us that the town of +Aldborough, which he represents, was not larger in the time of +Edward the First than it is at present. The line of its walls, +he assures us, may still be traced. It is now built up to that +line. He argues, therefore, that as the founders of our +representative institutions gave members to Aldborough when it +was as small as it now is, those who would disfranchise it on +account of its smallness have no right to say that they are +recurring to the original principle of our representative +institutions. But does the noble Lord remember the change which +has taken place in the country during the last five centuries? +Does he remember how much England has grown in population, while +Aldborough has been standing still? Does he consider, that in +the time of Edward the First, the kingdom did not contain two +millions of inhabitants? It now contains nearly fourteen +millions. A hamlet of the present day would have been a town of +some importance in the time of our early Parliaments. Aldborough +may be absolutely as considerable a place as ever. But compared +with the kingdom, it is much less considerable, by the noble +Lord's own showing, than when it first elected burgesses. My +honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford, has +collected numerous instances of the tyranny which the kings and +nobles anciently exercised, both over this House and over the +electors. It is not strange that, in times when nothing was held +sacred, the rights of the people, and of the representatives of +the people, should not have been held sacred. The proceedings +which my honourable friend has mentioned, no more prove that, by +the ancient constitution of the realm, this House ought to be a +tool of the king and of the aristocracy, than the Benevolences +and the Shipmoney prove their own legality, or than those +unjustifiable arrests which took place long after the +ratification of the great Charter and even after the Petition of +Right, prove that the subject was not anciently entitled to his +personal liberty. We talk of the wisdom of our ancestors: and +in one respect at least they were wiser than we. They legislated +for their own times. They looked at the England which was before +them. They did not think it necessary to give twice as many +Members to York as they gave to London, because York had been the +capital of Britain in the time of Constantius Chlorus; and they +would have been amazed indeed if they had foreseen, that a city +of more than a hundred thousand inhabitants would be left without +Representatives in the nineteenth century, merely because it +stood on ground which in the thirteenth century had been occupied +by a few huts. They framed a representative system, which, +though not without defects and irregularities, was well adapted +to the state of England in their time. But a great revolution +took place. The character of the old corporations changed. New +forms of property came into existence. New portions of society +rose into importance. There were in our rural districts rich +cultivators, who were not freeholders. There were in our capital +rich traders, who were not liverymen. Towns shrank into +villages. Villages swelled into cities larger than the London of +the Plantagenets. Unhappily while the natural growth of society +went on, the artificial polity continued unchanged. The ancient +form of the representation remained; and precisely because the +form remained, the spirit departed. Then came that pressure +almost to bursting, the new wine in the old bottles, the new +society under the old institutions. It is now time for us to pay +a decent, a rational, a manly reverence to our ancestors, not by +superstitiously adhering to what they, in other circumstances, +did, but by doing what they, in our circumstances, would have +done. All history is full of revolutions, produced by causes +similar to those which are now operating in England. A portion +of the community which had been of no account expands and becomes +strong. It demands a place in the system, suited, not to its +former weakness, but to its present power. If this is granted, +all is well. If this is refused, then comes the struggle between +the young energy of one class and the ancient privileges of +another. Such was the struggle between the Plebeians and the +Patricians of Rome. Such was the struggle of the Italian allies +for admission to the full rights of Roman citizens. Such was the +struggle of our North American colonies against the mother +country. Such was the struggle which the Third Estate of France +maintained against the aristocracy of birth. Such was the +struggle which the Roman Catholics of Ireland maintained against +the aristocracy of creed. Such is the struggle which the free +people of colour in Jamaica are now maintaining against the +aristocracy of skin. Such, finally, is the struggle which the +middle classes in England are maintaining against an aristocracy +of mere locality, against an aristocracy the principle of which +is to invest a hundred drunken potwallopers in one place, or the +owner of a ruined hovel in another, with powers which are +withheld from cities renowned to the furthest ends of the earth, +for the marvels of their wealth and of their industry. + +But these great cities, says my honourable friend the Member for +the University of Oxford, are virtually, though not directly, +represented. Are not the wishes of Manchester, he asks, as much +consulted as those of any town which sends Members to Parliament? +Now, Sir, I do not understand how a power which is salutary when +exercised virtually can be noxious when exercised directly. If +the wishes of Manchester have as much weight with us as they +would have under a system which should give Representatives to +Manchester, how can there be any danger in giving Representatives +to Manchester? A virtual Representative is, I presume, a man who +acts as a direct Representative would act: for surely it would +be absurd to say that a man virtually represents the people of +Manchester, who is in the habit of saying No, when a man directly +representing the people of Manchester would say Aye. The utmost +that can be expected from virtual Representation is that it may +be as good as direct Representation. If so, why not grant direct +Representation to places which, as everybody allows, ought, by +some process or other, to be represented? + +If it be said that there is an evil in change as change, I answer +that there is also an evil in discontent as discontent. This, +indeed, is the strongest part of our case. It is said that the +system works well. I deny it. I deny that a system works well, +which the people regard with aversion. We may say here, that it +is a good system and a perfect system. But if any man were to +say so to any six hundred and fifty-eight respectable farmers or +shopkeepers, chosen by lot in any part of England, he would be +hooted down, and laughed to scorn. Are these the feelings with +which any part of the government ought to be regarded? Above +all, are these the feelings with which the popular branch of the +legislature ought to be regarded? It is almost as essential to +the utility of a House of Commons, that it should possess the +confidence of the people, as that it should deserve that +confidence. Unfortunately, that which is in theory the popular +part of our government, is in practice the unpopular part. Who +wishes to dethrone the King? Who wishes to turn the Lords out of +their House? Here and there a crazy radical, whom the boys in +the street point at as he walks along. Who wishes to alter the +constitution of this House? The whole people. It is natural +that it should be so. The House of Commons is, in the language +of Mr Burke, a check, not on the people, but for the people. +While that check is efficient, there is no reason to fear that +the King or the nobles will oppress the people. But if the check +requires checking, how is it to be checked? If the salt shall +lose its savour, wherewith shall we season it? The distrust with +which the nation regards this House may be unjust. But what +then? Can you remove that distrust? That it exists cannot be +denied. That it is an evil cannot be denied. That it is an +increasing evil cannot be denied. One gentleman tells us that it +has been produced by the late events in France and Belgium; +another, that it is the effect of seditious works which have +lately been published. If this feeling be of origin so recent, I +have read history to little purpose. Sir, this alarming +discontent is not the growth of a day or of a year. If there be +any symptoms by which it is possible to distinguish the chronic +diseases of the body politic from its passing inflammations, all +those symptoms exist in the present case. The taint has been +gradually becoming more extensive and more malignant, through the +whole lifetime of two generations. We have tried anodynes. We +have tried cruel operations. What are we to try now? Who +flatters himself that he can turn this feeling back? Does there +remain any argument which escaped the comprehensive intellect of +Mr Burke, or the subtlety of Mr Windham? Does there remain any +species of coercion which was not tried by Mr Pitt and by Lord +Londonderry? We have had laws. We have had blood. New treasons +have been created. The Press has been shackled. The Habeas +Corpus Act has been suspended. Public meetings have been +prohibited. The event has proved that these expedients were mere +palliatives. You are at the end of your palliatives. The evil +remains. It is more formidable than ever. What is to be done? + +Under such circumstances, a great plan of reconciliation, +prepared by the Ministers of the Crown, has been brought before +us in a manner which gives additional lustre to a noble name, +inseparably associated during two centuries with the dearest +liberties of the English people. I will not say, that this plan +is in all its details precisely such as I might wish it to be; +but it is founded on a great and a sound principle. It takes +away a vast power from a few. It distributes that power through +the great mass of the middle order. Every man, therefore, who +thinks as I think is bound to stand firmly by Ministers who are +resolved to stand or fall with this measure. Were I one of them, +I would sooner, infinitely sooner, fall with such a measure than +stand by any other means that ever supported a Cabinet. + +My honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford, +tells us, that if we pass this law, England will soon be a +republic. The reformed House of Commons will, according to him, +before it has sate ten years, depose the King, and expel the +Lords from their House. Sir, if my honourable friend could prove +this, he would have succeeded in bringing an argument for +democracy, infinitely stronger than any that is to be found in +the works of Paine. My honourable friend's proposition is in +fact this: that our monarchical and aristocratical institutions +have no hold on the public mind of England; that these +institutions are regarded with aversion by a decided majority of +the middle class. This, Sir, I say, is plainly deducible from +his proposition; for he tells us that the Representatives of the +middle class will inevitably abolish royalty and nobility within +ten years: and there is surely no reason to think that the +Representatives of the middle class will be more inclined to a +democratic revolution than their constituents. Now, Sir, if I +were convinced that the great body of the middle class in England +look with aversion on monarchy and aristocracy, I should be +forced, much against my will, to come to this conclusion, that +monarchical and aristocratical institutions are unsuited to my +country. Monarchy and aristocracy, valuable and useful as I +think them, are still valuable and useful as means, and not as +ends. The end of government is the happiness of the people: and +I do not conceive that, in a country like this, the happiness of +the people can be promoted by a form of government in which the +middle classes place no confidence, and which exists only because +the middle classes have no organ by which to make their +sentiments known. But, Sir, I am fully convinced that the middle +classes sincerely wish to uphold the Royal prerogatives and the +constitutional rights of the Peers. What facts does my +honourable friend produce in support of his opinion? One fact +only; and that a fact which has absolutely nothing to do with the +question. The effect of this Reform, he tells us, would be to +make the House of Commons allpowerful. It was allpowerful once +before, in the beginning of 1649. Then it cut off the head of +the King, and abolished the House of Peers. Therefore, if it +again has the supreme power, it will act in the same manner. +Now, Sir, it was not the House of Commons that cut off the head +of Charles the First; nor was the House of Commons then +allpowerful. It had been greatly reduced in numbers by +successive expulsions. It was under the absolute dominion of the +army. A majority of the House was willing to take the terms +offered by the King. The soldiers turned out the majority; and +the minority, not a sixth part of the whole House, passed those +votes of which my honourable friend speaks, votes of which the +middle classes disapproved then, and of which they disapprove +still. + +My honourable friend, and almost all the gentlemen who have taken +the same side with him in this Debate, have dwelt much on the +utility of close and rotten boroughs. It is by means of such +boroughs, they tell us, that the ablest men have been introduced +into Parliament. It is true that many distinguished persons have +represented places of this description. But, Sir, we must judge +of a form of government by its general tendency, not by happy +accidents. Every form of government has its happy accidents. +Despotism has its happy accidents. Yet we are not disposed to +abolish all constitutional checks, to place an absolute master +over us, and to take our chance whether he may be a Caligula or a +Marcus Aurelius. In whatever way the House of Commons may be +chosen, some able men will be chosen in that way who would not be +chosen in any other way. If there were a law that the hundred +tallest men in England should be Members of Parliament, there +would probably be some able men among those who would come into +the House by virtue of this law. If the hundred persons whose +names stand first in the alphabetical list of the Court Guide +were made Members of Parliament, there would probably be able men +among them. We read in ancient history, that a very able king +was elected by the neighing of his horse; but we shall scarcely, +I think, adopt this mode of election. In one of the most +celebrated republics of antiquity, Athens, Senators and +Magistrates were chosen by lot; and sometimes the lot fell +fortunately. Once, for example, Socrates was in office. A cruel +and unjust proposition was made by a demagogue. Socrates +resisted it at the hazard of his own life. There is no event in +Grecian history more interesting than that memorable resistance. +Yet who would have officers appointed by lot, because the +accident of the lot may have given to a great and good man a +power which he would probably never have attained in any other +way? We must judge, as I said, by the general tendency of a +system. No person can doubt that a House of Commons chosen +freely by the middle classes, will contain many very able men. I +do not say, that precisely the same able men who would find their +way into the present House of Commons will find their way into +the reformed House: but that is not the question. No particular +man is necessary to the State. We may depend on it that, if we +provide the country with popular institutions, those institutions +will provide it with great men. + +There is another objection, which, I think, was first raised by +the honourable and learned Member for Newport. (Mr Horace +Twiss.) He tells us that the elective franchise is property; +that to take it away from a man who has not been judicially +convicted of malpractices is robbery; that no crime is proved +against the voters in the close boroughs; that no crime is even +imputed to them in the preamble of the bill; and that therefore +to disfranchise them without compensation would be an act of +revolutionary tyranny. The honourable and learned gentleman has +compared the conduct of the present Ministers to that of those +odious tools of power, who, towards the close of the reign of +Charles the Second, seized the charters of the Whig corporations. +Now, there was another precedent, which I wonder that he did not +recollect, both because it is much more nearly in point than that +to which he referred, and because my noble friend, the Paymaster +of the Forces, had previously alluded to it. If the elective +franchise is property, if to disfranchise voters without a crime +proved, or a compensation given, be robbery, was there ever such +an act of robbery as the disfranchising of the Irish forty- +shilling freeholders? Was any pecuniary compensation given to +them? Is it declared in the preamble of the bill which took away +their franchise, that they had been convicted of any offence? +Was any judicial inquiry instituted into their conduct? Were +they even accused of any crime? Or if you say that it was a +crime in the electors of Clare to vote for the honourable and +learned gentleman who now represents the county of Waterford, was +a Protestant freeholder in Louth to be punished for the crime of +a Catholic freeholder in Clare? If the principle of the +honourable and learned Member for Newport be sound, the franchise +of the Irish peasant was property. That franchise the Ministers +under whom the honourable and learned Member held office did not +scruple to take away. Will he accuse those Ministers of robbery? +If not, how can he bring such an accusation against their +successors? + +Every gentleman, I think, who has spoken from the other side of +the House, has alluded to the opinions which some of His +Majesty's Ministers formerly entertained on the subject of +Reform. It would be officious in me, Sir, to undertake the +defence of gentlemen who are so well able to defend themselves. +I will only say that, in my opinion, the country will not think +worse either of their capacity or of their patriotism, because +they have shown that they can profit by experience, because they +have learned to see the folly of delaying inevitable changes. +There are others who ought to have learned the same lesson. I +say, Sir, that there are those who, I should have thought, must +have had enough to last them all their lives of that humiliation +which follows obstinate and boastful resistance to changes +rendered necessary by the progress of society, and by the +development of the human mind. Is it possible that those persons +can wish again to occupy a position which can neither be defended +nor surrendered with honour? I well remember, Sir, a certain +evening in the month of May, 1827. I had not then the honour of +a seat in this House; but I was an attentive observer of its +proceedings. The right honourable Baronet opposite (Sir Robert +Peel), of whom personally I desire to speak with that high +respect which I feel for his talents and his character, but of +whose public conduct I must speak with the sincerity required by +my public duty, was then, as he is now, out of office. He had +just resigned the seals of the Home Department, because he +conceived that the recent ministerial arrangements had been too +favourable to the Catholic claims. He rose to ask whether it was +the intention of the new Cabinet to repeal the Test and +Corporation Acts, and to reform the Parliament. He bound up, I +well remember, those two questions together; and he declared +that, if the Ministers should either attempt to repeal the Test +and Corporation Acts, or bring forward a measure of Parliamentary +Reform, he should think it his duty to oppose them to the utmost. +Since that declaration was made four years have elapsed; and what +is now the state of the three questions which then chiefly +agitated the minds of men? What is become of the Test and +Corporation Acts? They are repealed. By whom? By the right +honourable Baronet. What has become of the Catholic +disabilities? They are removed. By whom? By the right +honourable Baronet. The question of Parliamentary Reform is +still behind. But signs, of which it is impossible to +misconceive the import, do most clearly indicate that unless that +question also be speedily settled, property, and order, and all +the institutions of this great monarchy, will be exposed to +fearful peril. Is it possible that gentlemen long versed in high +political affairs cannot read these signs? Is it possible that +they can really believe that the Representative system of +England, such as it now is, will last to the year 1860? If not, +for what would they have us wait? Would they have us wait merely +that we may show to all the world how little we have profited by +our own recent experience?--Would they have us wait, that we may +once again hit the exact point where we can neither refuse with +authority, nor concede with grace? Would they have us wait, that +the numbers of the discontented party may become larger, its +demands higher, its feelings more acrimonious, its organisation +more complete? Would they have us wait till the whole +tragicomedy of 1827 has been acted over again? till they have +been brought into office by a cry of 'No Reform,' to be +reformers, as they were once before brought into office by a cry +of 'No Popery,' to be emancipators? Have they obliterated from +their minds--gladly, perhaps, would some among them obliterate +from their minds--the transactions of that year? And have they +forgotten all the transactions of the succeeding year? Have they +forgotten how the spirit of liberty in Ireland, debarred from its +natural outlet, found a vent by forbidden passages? Have they +forgotten how we were forced to indulge the Catholics in all the +license of rebels, merely because we chose to withhold from them +the liberties of subjects? Do they wait for associations more +formidable than that of the Corn Exchange, for contributions +larger than the Rent, for agitators more violent than those who, +three years ago, divided with the King and the Parliament the +sovereignty of Ireland? Do they wait for that last and most +dreadful paroxysm of popular rage, for that last and most cruel +test of military fidelity? Let them wait, if their past +experience shall induce them to think that any high honour or any +exquisite pleasure is to be obtained by a policy like this. Let +them wait, if this strange and fearful infatuation be indeed upon +them, that they should not see with their eyes, or hear with +their ears, or understand with their heart. But let us know our +interest and our duty better. Turn where we may, within, around, +the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that you +may preserve. Now, therefore, while everything at home and +abroad forebodes ruin to those who persist in a hopeless struggle +against the spirit of the age, now, while the crash of the +proudest throne of the Continent is still resounding in our ears, +now, while the roof of a British palace affords an ignominious +shelter to the exiled heir of forty kings, now, while we see on +every side ancient institutions subverted, and great societies +dissolved, now, while the heart of England is still sound, now, +while old feelings and old associations retain a power and a +charm which may too soon pass away, now, in this your accepted +time, now, in this your day of salvation, take counsel, not of +prejudice, not of party spirit, not of the ignominious pride of a +fatal consistency, but of history, of reason, of the ages which +are past, of the signs of this most portentous time. Pronounce +in a manner worthy of the expectation with which this great +debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it +will leave behind. Renew the youth of the State. Save property, +divided against itself. Save the multitude, endangered by its +own unpopular power. Save the greatest, and fairest, and most +highly civilised community that ever existed, from calamities +which may in a few days sweep away all the rich heritage of so +many ages of wisdom and glory. The danger is terrible. The time +is short. If this bill should be rejected, I pray to God that +none of those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their +votes with unavailing remorse, amidst the wreck of laws, the +confusion of ranks, the spoliation of property, and the +dissolution of social order. + +... + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (JULY 5, 1831) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 5TH OF JULY +1831. + +On Tuesday, the fourth of July, 1831, Lord John Russell moved the +second reading of the Bill to amend the representation of the +people in England and Wales. Sir John Walsh, member for Sudbury, +moved, as an amendment, that the bill should be read that day six +months. After a discussion, which lasted three nights, the +amendment was rejected by 367 votes to 231, and the original +motion was carried. The following Speech was made on the second +night of the debate. + +Nobody, Sir, who has watched the course of the debate can have +failed to observe that the gentlemen who oppose this bill have +chiefly relied on a preliminary objection, which it is necessary +to clear away before we proceed to examine whether the proposed +changes in our representative system would or would not be +improvements. The elective franchise, we are told, is private +property. It belongs to this freeman, to that potwalloper, to +the owner of this house, to the owner of that old wall; and you +have no more right to take it away without compensation than to +confiscate the dividends of a fundholder or the rents of a +landholder. + +Now, Sir, I admit that, if this objection be well founded, it is +decisive against the plan of Reform which has been submitted to +us. If the franchise be really private property, we have no more +right to take members away from Gatton because Gatton is small, +and to give them to Manchester because Manchester is large, than +Cyrus, in the old story, had to take away the big coat from the +little boy and to put it on the big boy. In no case, and under +no pretext however specious, would I take away from any member of +the community anything which is of the nature of property, +without giving him full compensation. But I deny that the +elective franchise is of the nature of property; and I believe +that, on this point, I have with me all reason, all precedent, +and all authority. This at least is certain, that, if +disfranchisement really be robbery, the representative system +which now exists is founded on robbery. How was the franchise in +the English counties fixed? By the act of Henry the Sixth, which +disfranchised tens of thousands of electors who had not forty +shilling freeholds. Was that robbery? How was the franchise in +the Irish counties fixed? By the act of George the Fourth, which +disfranchised tens of thousands of electors who had not ten pound +freeholds. Was that robbery? Or was the great parliamentary +reform made by Oliver Cromwell ever designated as robbery, even +by those who most abhorred his name? Everybody knows that the +unsparing manner in which he disfranchised small boroughs was +emulously applauded, by royalists, who hated him for having +pulled down one dynasty, and by republicans, who hated him for +having founded another. Take Sir Harry Vane and Lord Clarendon, +both wise men, both, I believe, in the main, honest men, but as +much opposed to each other in politics as wise and honest men +could be. Both detested Oliver; yet both approved of Oliver's +plan of parliamentary reform. They grieved only that so salutary +a change should have been made by an usurper. Vane wished it to +have been made by the Rump; Clarendon wished it to be made by the +King. Clarendon's language on this subject is most remarkable. +For he was no rash innovator. The bias of his mind was +altogether on the side of antiquity and prescription. Yet he +describes that great disfranchisement of boroughs as an +improvement fit to be made in a more warrantable method and at a +better time. This is that better time. What Cromwell attempted +to effect by an usurped authority, in a country which had lately +been convulsed by civil war, and which was with difficulty kept +in a state of sullen tranquillity by military force, it has +fallen to our lot to accomplish in profound peace, and under the +rule of a prince whose title is unquestioned, whose office is +reverenced, and whose person is beloved. It is easy to conceive +with what scorn and astonishment Clarendon would have heard it +said that the reform which seemed to him so obviously just and +reasonable that he praised it, even when made by a regicide, +could not, without the grossest iniquity, be made even by a +lawful King and a lawful Parliament. + +Sir, in the name of the institution of property, of that great +institution, for the sake of which, chiefly, all other +institutions exist, of that great institution to which we owe all +knowledge, all commerce, all industry, all civilisation, all that +makes us to differ from the tattooed savages of the Pacific +Ocean, I protest against the pernicious practice of ascribing to +that which is not property the sanctity which belongs to property +alone. If, in order to save political abuses from that fate with +which they are threatened by the public hatred, you claim for +them the immunities of property, you must expect that property +will be regarded with some portion of the hatred which is excited +by political abuses. You bind up two very different things, in +the hope that they may stand together. Take heed that they do +not fall together. You tell the people that it is as unjust to +disfranchise a great lord's nomination borough as to confiscate +his estate. Take heed that you do not succeed in convincing weak +and ignorant minds that there is no more injustice in +confiscating his estate than in disfranchising his borough. That +this is no imaginary danger, your own speeches in this debate +abundantly prove. You begin by ascribing to the franchises of +Old Sarum the sacredness of property; and you end, naturally +enough, I must own, by treating the rights of property as lightly +as I should be inclined to treat the franchises of Old Sarum. +When you are reminded that you voted, only two years ago, for +disfranchising great numbers of freeholders in Ireland, and when +you are asked how, on the principles which you now profess, you +can justify that vote, you answer very coolly, "no doubt that was +confiscation. No doubt we took away from the peasants of Munster +and Connaught, without giving them a farthing of compensation, +that which was as much their property as their pigs or their +frieze coats. But we did it for the public good. We were +pressed by a great State necessity." Sir, if that be an answer, +we too may plead that we too have the public good in view, and +that we are pressed by a great State necessity. But I shall +resort to no such plea. It fills me with indignation and alarm +to hear grave men avow what they own to be downright robbery, and +justify that robbery on the ground of political convenience. No, +Sir, there is one way, and only one way, in which those gentlemen +who voted for the disfranchising Act of 1829 can clear their +fame. Either they have no defence, or their defence must be +this; that the elective franchise is not of the nature of +property, and that therefore disfranchisement is not spoliation. + +Having disposed, as I think, of the question of right, I come to +the question of expediency. I listened, Sir, with much interest +and pleasure to a noble Lord who spoke for the first time in this +debate. (Lord Porchester.) But I must own that he did not +succeed in convincing me that there is any real ground for the +fears by which he is tormented. He gave us a history of France +since the Restoration. He told us of the violent ebbs and flows +of public feeling in that country. He told us that the +revolutionary party was fast rising to ascendency while M. De +Cazes was minister; that then came a violent reaction in favour +of the monarchy and the priesthood; that then the revolutionary +party again became dominant; that there had been a change of +dynasty; and that the Chamber of Peers had ceased to be a +hereditary body. He then predicted, if I understood him rightly, +that, if we pass this bill, we shall suffer all that France has +suffered; that we shall have violent contests between extreme +parties, a revolution, and an abolition of the House of Lords. I +might, perhaps, dispute the accuracy of some parts of the noble +Lord's narrative. But I deny that his narrative, accurate or +inaccurate, is relevant. I deny that there is any analogy +between the state of France and the state of England. I deny +that there is here any great party which answers either to the +revolutionary or to the counter-revolutionary party in France. I +most emphatically deny that there is any resemblance in the +character, and that there is likely to be any resemblance in the +fate, of the two Houses of Peers. I always regarded the +hereditary Chamber established by Louis the Eighteenth as an +institution which could not last. It was not in harmony with the +state of property; it was not in harmony with the public feeling; +it had neither the strength which is derived from wealth, nor the +strength which is derived from prescription. It was despised as +plebeian by the ancient nobility. It was hated as patrician by +the democrats. It belonged neither to the old France nor to the +new France. It was a mere exotic transplanted from our island. +Here it had struck its roots deep, and having stood during ages, +was still green and vigorous. But it languished in the foreign +soil and the foreign air, and was blown down by the first storm. +It will be no such easy task to uproot the aristocracy of +England. + +With much more force, at least with much more plausibility, the +noble Lord and several other members on the other side of the +House have argued against the proposed Reform on the ground that +the existing system has worked well. How great a country, they +say, is ours! How eminent in wealth and knowledge, in arts and +arms! How much admired! How much envied! Is it possible to +believe that we have become what we are under a bad government! +And, if we have a good government, why alter it? Now, Sir, I am +very far from denying that England is great, and prosperous, and +highly civilised. I am equally far from denying that she owes +much of her greatness, of her prosperity, and of her civilisation +to her form of government. But is no nation ever to reform its +institutions because it has made great progress under those +institutions? Why, Sir, the progress is the very thing which +makes the reform absolutely necessary. The Czar Peter, we all +know, did much for Russia. But for his rude genius and energy, +that country might have still been utterly barbarous. Yet would +it be reasonable to say that the Russian people ought always, to +the end of time, to be despotically governed, because the Czar +Peter was a despot? Let us remember that the government and the +society act and react on each other. Sometimes the government is +in advance of the society, and hurries the society forward. So +urged, the society gains on the government, comes up with the +government, outstrips the government, and begins to insist that +the government shall make more speed. If the government is wise, +it will yield to that just and natural demand. The great cause +of revolutions is this, that while nations move onward, +constitutions stand still. The peculiar happiness of England is +that here, through many generations, the constitution has moved +onward with the nation. Gentlemen have told us, that the most +illustrious foreigners have, in every age, spoken with admiration +of the English constitution. Comines, they say, in the fifteenth +century, extolled the English constitution as the best in the +world. Montesquieu, in the eighteenth century, extolled it as +the best in the world. And would it not be madness in us to +throw away what such men thought the most precious of all our +blessings? But was the constitution which Montesquieu praised +the same with the constitution which Comines praised? No, Sir; +if it had been so, Montesquieu never would have praised it. For +how was it possible that a polity which exactly suited the +subjects of Edward the Fourth should have exactly suited the +subjects of George the Second? The English have, it is true, +long been a great and a happy people. But they have been great +and happy because their history has been the history of a +succession of timely reforms. The Great Charter, the assembling +of the first House of Commons, the Petition of Right, the +Declaration of Right, the Bill which is now on our table, what +are they all but steps in one great progress? To every one of +those steps the same objections might have been made which we +heard to-night, "You are better off than your neighbours are. +You are better off than your fathers were. Why can you not leave +well alone?" + +How copiously might a Jacobite orator have harangued on this +topic in the Convention of 1688! "Why make a change of dynasty? +Why trouble ourselves to devise new securities for our laws and +liberties? See what a nation we are. See how population and +wealth have increased since what you call the good old times of +Queen Elizabeth. You cannot deny that the country has been more +prosperous under the kings of the House of Stuart than under any +of their predecessors. Keep that House, then, and be thankful." +Just such is the reasoning of the opponents of this bill. They +tell us that we are an ungrateful people, and that, under +institutions from which we have derived inestimable benefits, we +are more discontented than the slaves of the Dey of Tripoli. +Sir, if we had been slaves of the Dey of Tripoli, we should have +been too much sunk in intellectual and moral degradation to be +capable of the rational and manly discontent of freemen. It is +precisely because our institutions are so good that we are not +perfectly contended with them; for they have educated us into a +capacity for enjoying still better institutions. That the +English Government has generally been in advance of almost all +other governments is true. But it is equally true that the +English nation is, and has during some time been, in advance of +the English Government. One plain proof of this is, that nothing +is so ill made in our island as the laws. In all those things +which depend on the intelligence, the knowledge, the industry, +the energy of individuals, or of voluntary combinations of +individuals, this country stands pre-eminent among all the +countries of the world, ancient and modern. But in those things +which it belongs to the State to direct, we have no such claim to +superiority. Our fields are cultivated with a skill unknown +elsewhere, with a skill which has extorted rich harvests from +moors and morasses. Our houses are filled with conveniences +which the kings of former times might have envied. Our bridges, +our canals, our roads, our modes of communication, fill every +stranger with wonder. Nowhere are manufactures carried to such +perfection. Nowhere is so vast a mass of mechanical power +collected. Nowhere does man exercise such a dominion over +matter. These are the works of the nation. Compare them with +the works of the rulers of the nation. Look at the criminal law, +at the civil law, at the modes of conveying lands, at the modes +of conducting actions. It is by these things that we must judge +of our legislators, just as we judge of our manufacturers by the +cotton goods and the cutlery which they produce, just as we judge +of our engineers by the suspension bridges, the tunnels, the +steam carriages which they construct. Is, then, the machinery by +which justice is administered framed with the same exquisite +skill which is found in other kinds of machinery? Can there be a +stronger contrast than that which exists between the beauty, the +completeness, the speed, the precision with which every process +is performed in our factories, and the awkwardness, the rudeness, +the slowness, the uncertainty of the apparatus by which offences +are punished and rights vindicated? Look at the series of penal +statutes, the most bloody and the most inefficient in the world, +at the puerile fictions which make every declaration and every +plea unintelligible both to plaintiff and defendant, at the +mummery of fines and recoveries, at the chaos of precedents, at +the bottomless pit of Chancery. Surely we see the barbarism of +the thirteenth century and the highest civilisation of the +nineteenth century side by side; and we see that the barbarism +belongs to the government, and the civilisation to the people. + +This is a state of things which cannot last. If it be not +terminated by wisdom, it will be terminated by violence. A time +has come at which it is not merely desirable, but indispensable +to the public safety, that the government should be brought into +harmony with the people; and it is because this bill seems to me +likely to bring the government into harmony with the people, that +I feel it to be my duty to give my hearty support to His +Majesty's Ministers. + +We have been told, indeed, that this is not the plan of Reform +which the nation asked for. Be it so. But you cannot deny that +it is the plan of Reform which the nation has accepted. That, +though differing in many respects from what was asked, it has +been accepted with transports of joy and gratitude, is a decisive +proof of the wisdom of timely concession. Never in the history +of the world was there so signal an example of that true +statesmanship, which, at once animating and gently curbing the +honest enthusiasm of millions, guides it safely and steadily to a +happy goal. It is not strange, that when men are refused what is +reasonable, they should demand what is unreasonable. It is not +strange that, when they find that their opinion is contemned and +neglected by the Legislature, they should lend a too favourable +ear to worthless agitators. We have seen how discontent may be +produced. We have seen, too, how it may be appeased. We have +seen that the true source of the power of demagogues is the +obstinacy of rulers, and that a liberal Government makes a +conservative people. Early in the last session, the First +Minister of the Crown declared that he would consent to no +Reform; that he thought our representative system, just as it +stood, the masterpiece of human wisdom; that, if he had to make +it anew, he would make it such as it was, with all its +represented ruins and all its unrepresented cities. What +followed? Everything was tumult and panic. The funds fell. The +streets were insecure. Men's hearts failed them for fear. We +began to move our property into German investments and American +investments. Such was the state of the public mind, that it was +not thought safe to let the Sovereign pass from his palace to the +Guildhall of his capital. What part of his kingdom is there in +which His Majesty now needs any other guard than the affection of +his loving subjects? There are, indeed, still malecontents; and +they may be divided into two classes, the friends of corruption +and the sowers of sedition. It is natural that all who directly +profit by abuses, and all who profit by the disaffection which +abuses excite, should be leagued together against a bill which, +by making the government pure, will make the nation loyal. There +is, and always has been, a real alliance between the two extreme +parties in this country. They play into each other's hands. +They live by each other. Neither would have any influence if the +other were taken away. The demagogue would have no audience but +for the indignation excited among the multitude by the insolence +of the enemies of Reform: and the last hope of the enemies of +Reform is in the uneasiness excited among all who have anything +to lose by the ravings of the demagogue. I see, and glad I am to +see, that the nation perfectly understands and justly appreciates +this coalition between those who hate all liberty and those who +hate all order. England has spoken, and spoken out. From her +most opulent seaports, from her manufacturing towns, from her +capital and its gigantic suburbs, from almost every one of her +counties, has gone forth a voice, answering in no doubtful or +faltering accent to that truly royal voice which appealed on the +twenty-second of last April to the sense of the nation. + +So clearly, indeed, has the sense of the nation been expressed, +that scarcely any person now ventures to declare himself hostile +to all Reform. We are, it seems, a House of Reformers. Those +very gentlemen who, a few months ago, were vehement against all +change, now own that some change may be proper, may be necessary. +They assure us that their opposition is directed, not against +Parliamentary Reform, but against the particular plan which is +now before us, and that a Tory Ministry would devise a much +better plan. I cannot but think that these tactics are +unskilful. I cannot but think that, when our opponents defended +the existing system in every part, they occupied a stronger +position than at present. As my noble friend the Paymaster- +General said, they have committed an error resembling that of the +Scotch army at Dunbar. They have left the high ground from which +we might have had some difficulty in dislodging them. They have +come down to low ground, where they are at our mercy. Surely, as +Cromwell said, surely the Lord hath delivered them into our hand. + +For, Sir, it is impossible not to perceive that almost every +argument which they have urged against this Reform Bill may be +urged with equal force, or with greater force, against any Reform +Bill which they can themselves bring in. + +First take, what, indeed, are not arguments, but wretched +substitutes for arguments, those vague terms of reproach, which +have been so largely employed, here and elsewhere, by our +opponents; revolutionary, anarchical, traitorous, and so forth. +It will, I apprehend, hardly be disputed that these epithets can +be just as easily applied to one Reform Bill as to another. + +But, you say, intimidation has been used to promote the passing +of this bill; and it would be disgraceful, and of evil example, +that Parliament should yield to intimidation. But surely, if +that argument be of any force against the present bill, it will +be of tenfold force against any Reform Bill proposed by you. For +this bill is the work of men who are Reformers from conscientious +conviction, of men, some of whom were Reformers when Reformer was +a name of reproach, of men, all of whom were Reformers before the +nation had begun to demand Reform in imperative and menacing +tones. But you are notoriously Reformers merely from fear. You +are Reformers under duress. If a concession is to be made to the +public importunity, you can hardly deny that it will be made with +more grace and dignity by Lord Grey than by you. + +Then you complain of the anomalies of the bill. One county, you +say, will have twelve members; and another county, which is +larger and more populous, will have only ten. Some towns, which +are to have only one member, are more considerable than other +towns which are to have two. Do those who make these objections, +objections which by the by will be more in place when the bill is +in committee, seriously mean to say that a Tory Reform Bill will +leave no anomalies in the representative system? For my own +part, I trouble myself not at all about anomalies, considered +merely as anomalies. I would not take the trouble of lifting up +my hand to get rid of an anomaly that was not also a grievance. +But if gentlemen have such a horror of anomalies, it is strange +that they should so long have persisted in upholding a system +made up of anomalies far greater than any that can be found in +this bill (a cry of "No!"). Yes; far greater. Answer me, if you +can; but do not interrupt me. On this point, indeed, it is much +easier to interrupt than to answer. For who can answer plain +arithmetical demonstration? Under the present system, +Manchester, with two hundred thousand inhabitants, has no +members. Old Sarum, with no inhabitants, has two members. Find +me such an anomaly in the schedules which are now on the table. +But is it possible that you, that Tories, can seriously mean to +adopt the only plan which can remove all anomalies from the +representative system? Are you prepared to have, after every +decennial census, a new distribution of members among electoral +districts? Is your plan of Reform that which Mr Canning +satirised as the most crazy of all the projects of the disciples +of Tom Paine? Do you really mean + +"That each fair burgh, numerically free, +Shall choose its members by the rule of three?" + +If not, let us hear no more of the anomalies of the Reform Bill. + +But your great objection to this bill is that it will not be +final. I ask you whether you think that any Reform Bill which +you can frame will be final? For my part I do believe that the +settlement proposed by His Majesty's Ministers will be final, in +the only sense in which a wise man ever uses that word. I +believe that it will last during that time for which alone we +ought at present to think of legislating. Another generation may +find in the new representative system defects such as we find in +the old representative system. Civilisation will proceed. +Wealth will increase. Industry and trade will find out new +seats. The same causes which have turned so many villages into +great towns, which have turned so many thousands of square miles +of fir and heath into cornfields and orchards, will continue to +operate. Who can say that a hundred years hence there may not +be, on the shore of some desolate and silent bay in the Hebrides, +another Liverpool, with its docks and warehouses and endless +forests of masts? Who can say that the huge chimneys of another +Manchester may not rise in the wilds of Connemara? For our +children we do not pretend to legislate. All that we can do for +them is to leave to them a memorable example of the manner in +which great reforms ought to be made. In the only sense, +therefore, in which a statesman ought to say that anything is +final, I pronounce this bill final. But in what sense will your +bill be final? Suppose that you could defeat the Ministers, that +you could displace them, that you could form a Government, that +you could obtain a majority in this House, what course would +events take? There is no difficulty in foreseeing the stages of +the rapid progress downward. First we should have a mock reform; +a Bassietlaw reform; a reform worthy of those politicians who, +when a delinquent borough had forfeited its franchise, and when +it was necessary for them to determine what they would do with +two seats in Parliament, deliberately gave those seats, not to +Manchester or Birmingham or Leeds, not to Lancashire or +Staffordshire or Devonshire, but to a constituent body studiously +selected because it was not large and because it was not +independent; a reform worthy of those politicians who, only +twelve months ago, refused to give members to the three greatest +manufacturing towns in the world. We should have a reform which +would produce all the evils and none of the benefits of change, +which would take away from the representative system the +foundation of prescription, and yet would not substitute the +surer foundation of reason and public good. The people would be +at once emboldened and exasperated; emboldened because they would +see that they had frightened the Tories into making a pretence of +reforming the Parliament; and exasperated because they would see +that the Tory Reform was a mere pretence. Then would come +agitation, tumult, political associations, libels, inflammatory +harangues. Coercion would only aggravate the evil. This is no +age, this is no country, for the war of power against opinion. +Those Jacobin mountebanks, whom this bill would at once send back +to their native obscurity, would rise into fearful importance. +The law would be sometimes braved and sometimes evaded. In +short, England would soon be what Ireland was at the beginning of +1829. Then, at length, as in 1829, would come the late and vain +repentance. Then, Sir, amidst the generous cheers of the Whigs, +who will be again occupying their old seats on your left hand, +and amidst the indignant murmurs of those stanch Tories who are +now again trusting to be again betrayed, the right honourable +Baronet opposite will rise from the Treasury Bench to propose +that bill on which the hearts of the people are set. But will +that bill be then accepted with the delight and thankfulness with +which it was received last March? Remember Ireland. Remember +how, in that country, concessions too long delayed were at last +received. That great boon which in 1801, in 1813, in 1825, would +have won the hearts of millions, given too late, and given from +fear, only produced new clamours and new dangers. Is not one +such lesson enough for one generation? A noble Lord opposite +told us not to expect that this bill will have a conciliatory +effect. Recollect, he said, how the French aristocracy +surrendered their privileges in 1789, and how that surrender was +requited. Recollect that Day of Sacrifices which was afterwards +called the Day of Dupes. Sir, that day was afterwards called the +Day of Dupes, not because it was the Day of Sacrifices, but +because it was the Day of Sacrifices too long deferred. It was +because the French aristocracy resisted reform in 1783, that they +were unable to resist revolution in 1789. It was because they +clung too long to odious exemptions and distinctions, that they +were at last unable to serve their lands, their mansions, their +heads. They would not endure Turgot: and they had to endure +Robespierre. + +I am far indeed from wishing that the Members of this House +should be influenced by fear in the bad and unworthy sense of +that word. But there is an honest and honourable fear, which +well becomes those who are intrusted with the dearest interests +of a great community; and to that fear I am not ashamed to make +an earnest appeal. It is very well to talk of confronting +sedition boldly, and of enforcing the law against those who would +disturb the public peace. No doubt a tumult caused by local and +temporary irritation ought to be suppressed with promptitude and +vigour. Such disturbances, for example, as those which Lord +George Gordon raised in 1780, should be instantly put down with +the strong hand. But woe to the Government which cannot +distinguish between a nation and a mob! Woe to the Government +which thinks that a great, a steady, a long continued movement of +the public mind is to be stopped like a street riot! This error +has been twice fatal to the great House of Bourbon. God be +praised, our rulers have been wiser. The golden opportunity +which, if once suffered to escape, might never have been +retrieved, has been seized. Nothing, I firmly believe, can now +prevent the passing of this noble law, this second Bill of +Rights. ["Murmurs."] Yes, I call it, and the nation calls it, +and our posterity will long call it, this second Bill of Rights, +this Greater Charter of the Liberties of England. The year 1831 +will, I trust, exhibit the first example of the manner in which +it behoves a free and enlightened people to purify their polity +from old and deeply seated abuses, without bloodshed, without +violence, without rapine, all points freely debated, all the +forms of senatorial deliberation punctiliously observed, industry +and trade not for a moment interrupted, the authority of law not +for a moment suspended. These are things of which we may well be +proud. These are things which swell the heart up with a good +hope for the destinies of mankind. I cannot but anticipate a +long series of happy years; of years during which a parental +Government will be firmly supported by a grateful nation: of +years during which war, if war should be inevitable, will find us +an united people; of years pre-eminently distinguished by the +progress of arts, by the improvement of laws, by the augmentation +of the public resources, by the diminution of the public burdens, +by all those victories of peace, in which, far more than in any +military successes, consists the true felicity of states, and the +true glory of statesmen. With such hopes, Sir, and such +feelings, I give my cordial assent to the second reading of a +bill which I consider as in itself deserving of the warmest +approbation, and as indispensably necessary, in the present +temper of the public mind, to the repose of the country and to +the stability of the throne. + +... + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (SEPTEMBER 20, 1831) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 20TH OF +SEPTEMBER 1831. + +On Monday, the nineteenth of September, 1831, the Bill to amend +the representation of the people in England and Wales was read a +third time, at an early hour and in a thin house, without any +debate. But on the question whether the Bill should pass a +discussion arose which lasted three nights. On the morning of +the twenty-second of September the House divided; and the Bill +passed by 345 votes to 236. The following Speech was made on the +second night of the debate. + +It is not without great diffidence, Sir, that I rise to address +you on a subject which has been nearly exhausted. Indeed, I +should not have risen had I not thought that, though the +arguments on this question are for the most part old, our +situation at present is in a great measure new. At length the +Reform Bill, having passed without vital injury through all the +dangers which threatened it, during a long and minute discussion, +from the attacks of its enemies and from the dissensions of its +friends, comes before us for our final ratification, altered, +indeed, in some of its details for the better, and in some for +the worse, but in its great principles still the same bill which, +on the first of March, was proposed to the late Parliament, the +same bill which was received with joy and gratitude by the whole +nation, the same bill which, in an instant, took away the power +of interested agitators, and united in one firm body all the +sects of sincere Reformers, the same bill which, at the late +election, received the approbation of almost every great +constituent body in the empire. With a confidence which +discussion has only strengthened, with an assured hope of great +public blessings if the wish of the nation shall be gratified, +with a deep and solemn apprehension of great public calamities if +that wish shall be disappointed, I, for the last time, give my +most hearty assent to this noble law, destined, I trust, to be +the parent of many good laws, and, through a long series of +years, to secure the repose and promote the prosperity of my +country. + +When I say that I expect this bill to promote the prosperity of +the country, I by no means intend to encourage those chimerical +hopes which the honourable and learned Member for Rye (Mr +Pemberton.), who has so much distinguished himself in this +debate, has imputed to the Reformers. The people, he says, are +for the bill, because they expect that it will immediately +relieve all their distresses. Sir, I believe that very few of +that large and respectable class which we are now about to admit +to a share of political power entertain any such absurd +expectation. They expect relief, I doubt not; and I doubt not +that they will find it: but sudden relief they are far too wise +to expect. The bill, says the honourable and learned gentleman, +is good for nothing: it is merely theoretical: it removes no +real and sensible evil: it will not give the people more work, +or higher wages, or cheaper bread. Undoubtedly, Sir, the bill +will not immediately give all those things to the people. But +will any institutions give them all those things? Do the present +institutions of the country secure to them those advantages? If +we are to pronounce the Reform Bill good for nothing, because it +will not at once raise the nation from distress to prosperity, +what are we to say of that system under which the nation has been +of late sinking from prosperity into distress? The defect is not +in the Reform Bill, but in the very nature of government. On the +physical condition of the great body of the people, government +acts not as a specific, but as an alternative. Its operation is +powerful, indeed, and certain, but gradual and indirect. The +business of government is not directly to make the people rich; +and a government which attempts more than this is precisely the +government which is likely to perform less. Governments do not +and cannot support the people. We have no miraculous powers: we +have not the rod of the Hebrew lawgiver: we cannot rain down +bread on the multitude from Heaven: we cannot smite the rock and +give them to drink. We can give them only freedom to employ +their industry to the best advantage, and security in the +enjoyment of what their industry has acquired. These advantages +it is our duty to give at the smallest possible cost. The +diligence and forethought of individuals will thus have fair +play; and it is only by the diligence and forethought of +individuals that the community can become prosperous. I am not +aware that His Majesty's Ministers, or any of the supporters of +this bill, have encouraged the people to hope, that Reform will +remove distress, in any other way than by this indirect process. +By this indirect process the bill will, I feel assured, conduce +to the national prosperity. If it had been passed fifteen years +ago, it would have saved us from our present embarrassments. If +we pass it now, it will gradually extricate us from them. It +will secure to us a House of Commons, which, by preserving peace, +by destroying monopolies, by taking away unnecessary public +burthens, by judiciously distributing necessary public burthens, +will, in the progress of time, greatly improve our condition. +This it will do; and those who blame it for not doing more blame +it for not doing what no Constitution, no code of laws, ever did +or ever will do; what no legislator, who was not an ignorant and +unprincipled quack, ever ventured to promise. + +But chimerical as are the hopes which the honourable and learned +Member for Rye imputes to the people, they are not, I think, more +chimerical than the fears which he has himself avowed. Indeed, +those very gentlemen who are constantly telling us that we are +taking a leap in the dark, that we pay no attention to the +lessons of experience, that we are mere theorists, are themselves +the despisers of experience, are themselves the mere theorists. +They are terrified at the thought of admitting into Parliament +members elected by ten pound householders. They have formed in +their own imaginations a most frightful idea of these members. +My honourable and learned friend, the Member for Cockermouth (Sir +James Scarlett.), is certain that these members will take every +opportunity of promoting the interests of the journeyman in +opposition to those of the capitalist. The honourable and +learned Member for Rye is convinced that none but persons who +have strong local connections, will ever be returned for such +constituent bodies. My honourable friend, the Member for +Thetford (Mr Alexander Baring.), tells us, that none but mob +orators, men who are willing to pay the basest court to the +multitude, will have any chance. Other speakers have gone still +further, and have described to us the future borough members as +so many Marats and Santerres, low, fierce, desperate men, who +will turn the House into a bear-garden, and who will try to turn +the monarchy into a republic, mere agitators, without honour, +without sense, without education, without the feelings or the +manners of gentlemen. Whenever, during the course of the +fatiguing discussions by which we have been so long occupied, +there has been a cry of "question," or a noise at the bar, the +orator who has been interrupted has remarked, that such +proceedings will be quite in place in the Reformed Parliament, +but that we ought to remember that the House of Commons is still +an assembly of gentlemen. This, I say, is to set up mere theory, +or rather mere prejudice, in opposition to long and ample +experience. Are the gentlemen who talk thus ignorant that we +have already the means of judging what kind of men the ten pound +householders will send up to parliament? Are they ignorant that +there are even now large towns with very popular franchises, with +franchises even more democratic than those which will be bestowed +by the present bill? Ought they not, on their own principles, to +look at the results of the experiments which have already been +made, instead of predicting frightful calamities at random? How +do the facts which are before us agree with their theories? +Nottingham is a city with a franchise even more democratic than +that which this bill establishes. Does Nottingham send hither +mere vulgar demagogues? It returns two distinguished men, one an +advocate, the other a soldier, both unconnected with the town. +Every man paying scot and lot has a vote at Leicester. This is a +lower franchise than the ten pound franchise. Do we find that +the Members for Leicester are the mere tools of the journeymen? +I was at Leicester during the contest of 1826; and I recollect +that the suffrages of the scot and lot voters were pretty equally +divided between two candidates, neither of them connected with +the place, neither of them a slave of the mob, one a Tory Baronet +from Derbyshire, the other a most respectable and excellent +friend of mine, connected with the manufacturing interest, and +also an inhabitant of Derbyshire. Look at Norwich. Look at +Northampton, with a franchise more democratic than even the scot +and lot franchise. Northampton formerly returned Mr Perceval, +and now returns gentlemen of high respectability, gentlemen who +have a great stake in the prosperity and tranquillity of the +country. Look at the metropolitan districts. This is an a +fortiori case. Nay it is--the expression, I fear, is awkward--an +a fortiori case at two removes. The ten pound householders of +the metropolis are persons in a lower station of life than the +ten pound householders of other towns. The scot and lot +franchise in the metropolis is again lower than the ten pound +franchise. Yet have Westminster and Southwark been in the habit +of sending us members of whom we have had reason to be ashamed, +of whom we have not had reason to be proud? I do not say that +the inhabitants of Westminster and Southwark have always +expressed their political sentiments with proper moderation. +That is not the question. The question is this: what kind of +men have they elected? The very principle of all Representative +government is, that men who do not judge well of public affairs +may be quite competent to choose others who will judge better. +Whom, then, have Westminster and Southwark sent us during the +last fifty years, years full of great events, years of intense +popular excitement? Take any one of those nomination boroughs, +the patrons of which have conscientiously endeavoured to send fit +men into this House. Compare the Members for that borough with +the Members for Westminster and Southwark; and you will have no +doubt to which the preference is due. It is needless to mention +Mr Fox, Mr Sheridan, Mr Tierney, Sir Samuel Romilly. Yet I must +pause at the name of Sir Samuel Romilly. Was he a mob orator? +Was he a servile flatterer of the multitude? Sir, if he had any +fault, if there was any blemish on that most serene and spotless +character, that character which every public man, and especially +every professional man engaged in politics, ought to propose to +himself as a model, it was this, that he despised popularity too +much and too visibly. The honourable Member for Thetford told us +that the honourable and learned Member for Rye, with all his +talents, would have no chance of a seat in the Reformed +Parliament, for want of the qualifications which succeed on the +hustings. Did Sir Samuel Romilly ever appear on the hustings of +Westminster? He never solicited one vote; he never showed +himself to the electors, till he had been returned at the head of +the poll. Even then, as I have heard from one of his nearest +relatives, it was with reluctance that he submitted to be +chaired. He shrank from being made a show. He loved the people, +and he served them; but Coriolanus himself was not less fit to +canvass them. I will mention one other name, that of a man of +whom I have only a childish recollection, but who must have been +intimately known to many of those who hear me, Mr Henry Thornton. +He was a man eminently upright, honourable, and religious, a man +of strong understanding, a man of great political knowledge; but, +in all respects, the very reverse of a mob orator. He was a man +who would not have yielded to what he considered as unreasonable +clamour, I will not say to save his seat, but to save his life. +Yet he continued to represent Southwark, Parliament after +Parliament, for many years. Such has been the conduct of the +scot and lot voters of the metropolis; and there is clearly less +reason to expect democratic violence from ten pound householders +than from scot and lot householders; and from ten pound +householders in the country towns than from ten pound +householders in London. Experience, I say, therefore, is on our +side; and on the side of our opponents nothing but mere +conjecture and mere assertion. + +Sir, when this bill was first brought forward, I supported it, +not only on the ground of its intrinsic merits, but, also, +because I was convinced that to reject it would be a course full +of danger. I believe that the danger of that course is in no +respect diminished. I believe, on the contrary, that it is +increased. We are told that there is a reaction. The warmth of +the public feeling, it seems, has abated. In this story both the +sections of the party opposed to Reform are agreed; those who +hate Reform, because it will remove abuses, and those who hate +it, because it will vert anarchy; those who wish to see the +electing body controlled by ejectments, and those who wish to see +it controlled by riots. They must now, I think, be undeceived. +They must have already discovered that the surest way to prevent +a reaction is to talk about it, and that the enthusiasm of the +people is at once rekindled by any indiscreet mention of their +seeming coolness. This, Sir, is not the first reaction which the +sagacity of the Opposition has discovered since the Reform Bill +was brought in. Every gentleman who sat in the late Parliament, +every gentleman who, during the sitting of the late Parliament, +paid attention to political speeches and publications, must +remember how, for some time before the debate on General +Gascoyne's motion, and during the debate on that motion, and down +to the very day of the dissolution, we were told that public +feeling had cooled. The right honourable Baronet, the member for +Tamworth, told us so. All the literary organs of the Opposition, +from the Quarterly Review down to the Morning Post, told us so. +All the Members of the Opposition with whom we conversed in +private told us so. I have in my eye a noble friend of mine, who +assured me, on the very night which preceded the dissolution, +that the people had ceased to be zealous for the Ministerial +plan, and that we were more likely to lose than to gain by the +elections. The appeal was made to the people; and what was the +result? What sign of a reaction appeared among the Livery of +London? What sign of a reaction did the honourable Baronet who +now represents Okehampton find among the freeholders of Cornwall? +(Sir Richard Vyvyan.) How was it with the large represented +towns? Had Liverpool cooled? or Bristol? or Leicester? or +Coventry? or Nottingham? or Norwich? How was it with the great +seats of manufacturing industry, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, and +Staffordshire, and Warwickshire, and Cheshire? How was it with +the agricultural districts, Northumberland and Cumberland, +Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, Kent and Essex, Oxfordshire, +Hampshire, Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire? How was it +with the strongholds of aristocratical influence, Newark, and +Stamford, and Hertford, and St Alban's? Never did any people +display, within the limits prescribed by law, so generous a +fervour, or so steadfast a determination, as that very people +whose apparent languor had just before inspired the enemies of +Reform with a delusive hope. + +Such was the end of the reaction of April; and, if that lesson +shall not profit those to whom it was given, such and yet more +signal will be the end of the reaction of September. The two +cases are strictly analogous. In both cases the people were +eager when they believed the bill to be in danger, and quiet when +they believed it to be in security. During the three or four +weeks which followed the promulgation of the Ministerial plan, +all was joy, and gratitude, and vigorous exertion. Everywhere +meetings were held: everywhere resolutions were passed: from +every quarter were sent up petitions to this House, and addresses +to the Throne: and then the nation, having given vent to its +first feelings of delight, having clearly and strongly expressed +its opinions, having seen the principle of the bill adopted by +the House of Commons on the second reading, became composed, and +awaited the result with a tranquillity which the Opposition +mistook for indifference. All at once the aspect of affairs +changed. General Gascoyne's amendment was carried: the bill was +again in danger: exertions were again necessary. Then was it +well seen whether the calmness of the public mind was any +indication of indifference. The depth and sincerity of the +prevailing sentiments were proved, not by mere talking, but by +actions, by votes, by sacrifices. Intimidation was defied: +expenses were rejected: old ties were broken: the people +struggled manfully: they triumphed gloriously: they placed the +bill in perfect security, as far as this house was concerned; and +they returned to their repose. They are now, as they were on the +eve of General Gascoyne's motion, awaiting the issue of the +deliberations of Parliament, without any indecent show of +violence, but with anxious interest and immovable resolution. +And because they are not exhibiting that noisy and rapturous +enthusiasm which is in its own nature transient, because they are +not as much excited as on the day when the plan of the Government +was first made known to them, or on the day when the late +Parliament was dissolved, because they do not go on week after +week, hallooing, and holding meetings, and marching about with +flags, and making bonfires, and illuminating their houses, we are +again told that there is a reaction. To such a degree can men be +deceived by their wishes, in spite of their own recent +experience. Sir, there is no reaction; and there will be no +reaction. All that has been said on this subject convinces me +only that those who are now, for the second time, raising this +cry, know nothing of the crisis in which they are called on to +act, or of the nation which they aspire to govern. All their +opinions respecting this bill are founded on one great error. +They imagine that the public feeling concerning Reform is a mere +whim which sprang up suddenly out of nothing, and which will as +suddenly vanish into nothing. They, therefore, confidently +expect a reaction. They are always looking out for a reaction. +Everything that they see, or that they hear, they construe into a +sign of the approach of this reaction. They resemble the man in +Horace, who lies on the bank of the river, expecting that it will +every moment pass by and leave him a clear passage, not knowing +the depth and abundance of the fountain which feeds it, not +knowing that it flows, and will flow on for ever. They have +found out a hundred ingenious devices by which they deceive +themselves. Sometimes they tell us that the public feeling about +Reform was caused by the events which took place at Paris about +fourteen months ago; though every observant and impartial man +knows, that the excitement which the late French revolution +produced in England was not the cause but the effect of that +progress which liberal opinions had made amongst us. Sometimes +they tell us that we should not have been troubled with any +complaints on the subject of the Representation, if the House of +Commons had agreed to a certain motion, made in the session of +1830, for inquiry into the causes of the public distress. I +remember nothing about that motion, except that it gave rise to +the dullest debate ever known; and the country, I am firmly +convinced, cared not one straw about it. But is it not strange +that men of real ability can deceive themselves so grossly, as to +think that any change in the government of a foreign nation, or +the rejection of any single motion, however popular, could all at +once raise up a great, rich, enlightened nation, against its +ancient institutions? Could such small drops have produced an +overflowing, if the vessel had not already been filled to the +very brim? These explanations are incredible, and if they were +credible, would be anything but consolatory. If it were really +true that the English people had taken a sudden aversion to a +representative system which they had always loved and admired, +because a single division in Parliament had gone against their +wishes, or because, in a foreign country, in circumstances +bearing not the faintest analogy to those in which we are placed, +a change of dynasty had happened, what hope could we have for +such a nation of madmen? How could we expect that the present +form of government, or any form of government, would be durable +amongst them? + +Sir, the public feeling concerning Reform is of no such recent +origin, and springs from no such frivolous causes. Its first +faint commencement may be traced far, very far, back in our +history. During seventy years that feeling has had a great +influence on the public mind. Through the first thirty years of +the reign of George the Third, it was gradually increasing. The +great leaders of the two parties in the State were favourable to +Reform. Plans of reform were supported by large and most +respectable minorities in the House of Commons. The French +Revolution, filling the higher and middle classes with an extreme +dread of change, and the war calling away the public attention +from internal to external politics, threw the question back; but +the people never lost sight of it. Peace came, and they were at +leisure to think of domestic improvements. Distress came, and +they suspected, as was natural, that their distress was the +effect of unfaithful stewardship and unskilful legislation. An +opinion favourable to Parliamentary Reform grew up rapidly, and +became strong among the middle classes. But one tie, one strong +tie, still bound those classes to the Tory party. I mean the +Catholic Question. It is impossible to deny that, on that +subject, a large proportion, a majority, I fear, of the middle +class of Englishmen, conscientiously held opinions opposed to +those which I have always entertained, and were disposed to +sacrifice every other consideration to what they regarded as a +religious duty. Thus the Catholic Question hid, so to speak, the +question of Parliamentary Reform. The feeling in favour of +Parliamentary Reform grew, but it grew in the shade. Every man, +I think, must have observed the progress of that feeling in his +own social circle. But few Reform meetings were held, and few +petitions in favour of Reform presented. At length the Catholics +were emancipated; the solitary link of sympathy which attached +the people to the Tories was broken; the cry of "No Popery" could +no longer be opposed to the cry of "Reform." That which, in the +opinion of the two great parties in Parliament, and of a vast +portion of the community, had been the first question, suddenly +disappeared; and the question of Parliamentary Reform took the +first place. Then was put forth all the strength which had been +growing in silence and obscurity. Then it appeared that Reform +had on its side a coalition of interests and opinions +unprecedented in our history, all the liberality and intelligence +which had supported the Catholic claims, and all the clamour +which had opposed them. + +This, I believe, is the true history of that public feeling on +the subject of Reform which had been ascribed to causes quite +inadequate to the production of such an effect. If ever there +was in the history of mankind a national sentiment which was the +very opposite of a caprice, with which accident had nothing to +do, which was produced by the slow, steady, certain progress of +the human mind, it is the sentiment of the English people on the +subject of Reform. Accidental circumstances may have brought +that feeling to maturity in a particular year, or a particular +month. That point I will not dispute; for it is not worth +disputing. But those accidental circumstances have brought on +Reform, only as the circumstance that, at a particular time, +indulgences were offered for sale in a particular town in Saxony, +brought on the great separation from the Church of Rome. In both +cases the public mind was prepared to move on the slightest +impulse. + +Thinking thus of the public opinion concerning Reform, being +convinced that this opinion is the mature product of time and of +discussion, I expect no reaction. I no more expect to see my +countrymen again content with the mere semblance of a +Representation, than to see them again drowning witches or +burning heretics, trying causes by red hot ploughshares, or +offering up human sacrifices to wicker idols. I no more expect a +reaction in favour of Gatton and Old Sarum, than a reaction in +favour of Thor and Odin. I should think such a reaction almost +as much a miracle as that the shadow should go back upon the +dial. Revolutions produced by violence are often followed by +reactions; the victories of reason once gained, are gained for +eternity. + +In fact, if there be, in the present aspect of public affairs, +any sign peculiarly full of evil omen to the opponents of Reform, +it is that very calmness of the public mind on which they found +their expectation of success. They think that it is the calmness +of indifference. It is the calmness of confident hope: and in +proportion to the confidence of hope will be the bitterness of +disappointment. Disappointment, indeed, I do not anticipate. +That we are certain of success in this House is now acknowledged; +and our opponents have, in consequence, during the whole of this +Session, and particularly during the present debate, addressed +their arguments and exhortations rather to the Lords than to the +assembly of which they are themselves Members. Their principal +argument has always been, that the bill will destroy the peerage. +The honourable and learned Member for Rye has, in plain terms, +called on the Barons of England to save their order from +democratic encroachments, by rejecting this measure. All these +arguments, all these appeals, being interpreted, mean this: +"Proclaim to your countrymen that you have no common interests +with them, no common sympathies with them; that you can be +powerful only by their weakness, and exalted only by their +degradation; that the corruption which disgusts them, and the +oppression against which their spirit rises up, are indispensable +to your authority; that the freedom and purity of election are +incompatible with the very existence of your House. Give them +clearly to understand that your power rests, not as they have +hitherto imagined, on their rational convictions, or on their +habitual veneration, or on your own great property, but on a +system fertile of political evils, fertile also of low iniquities +of which ordinary justice take cognisance. Bind up, in +inseparable union, the privileges of your estate with the +grievances of ours: resolve to stand or fall with abuses visibly +marked out for destruction: tell the people that they are +attacking you in attacking the three holes in the wall, and that +they shall never get rid of the three holes in the wall, till +they have got rid of you; that a hereditary peerage and a +representative assembly, can co-exist only in name, and that, if +they will have a real House of Peers, they must be content with a +mock House of Commons." This, I say, is the advice given to the +Lords by those who call themselves the friends of aristocracy. +That advice so pernicious will not be followed, I am well +assured; yet I cannot but listen to it with uneasiness. I cannot +but wonder that it should proceed from the lips of men who are +constantly lecturing us on the duty of consulting history and +experience. Have they never heard what effects counsels like +their own, when too faithfully followed, have produced? Have +they never visited that neighbouring country, which still +presents to the eye, even of a passing stranger, the signs of a +great dissolution and renovation of society? Have they never +walked by those stately mansions, now sinking into decay, and +portioned out into lodging rooms, which line the silent streets +of the Faubourg St Germain? Have they never seen the ruins of +those castles whose terraces and gardens overhang the Loire? +Have they never heard that from those magnificent hotels, from +those ancient castles, an aristocracy as splendid, as brave, as +proud, as accomplished, as ever Europe saw, was driven forth to +exile and beggary, to implore the charity of hostile Governments +and hostile creeds, to cut wood in the back settlements of +America, or to teach French in the schoolrooms of London? And +why were those haughty nobles destroyed with that utter +destruction? Why were they scattered over the face of the earth, +their titles abolished, their escutcheons defaced, their parks +wasted, their palaces dismantled, their heritage given to +strangers? Because they had no sympathy with the people, no +discernment of the signs of their time; because, in the pride and +narrowness of their hearts, they called those whose warnings +might have saved them theorists and speculators; because they +refused all concession till the time had arrived when no +concession would avail. I have no apprehension that such a fate +awaits the nobles of England. I draw no parallel between our +aristocracy and that of France. Those who represent the peerage +as a class whose power is incompatible with the just influence of +the people in the State, draw that parallel, and not I. They do +all in their power to place the Lords and Commons of England in +that position with respect to each other in which the French +gentry stood with respect to the Third Estate. But I am +convinced that these advisers will not succeed. We see, with +pride and delight, among the friends of the people, the Talbots, +the Cavendishes, the princely house of Howard. Foremost among +those who have entitled themselves, by their exertions in this +House, to the lasting gratitude of their countrymen, we see the +descendants of Marlborough, of Russell, and of Derby. I hope, +and firmly believe, that the Lords will see what their interests +and their honour require. I hope, and firmly believe, that they +will act in such a manner as to entitle themselves to the esteem +and affection of the people. But if not, let not the enemies of +Reform imagine that their reign is straightway to recommence, or +that they have obtained anything more than a short and uneasy +respite. We are bound to respect the constitutional rights of +the Peers; but we are bound also not to forget our own. We, too, +have our privileges; we, too, are an estate of the realm. A +House of Commons strong in the love and confidence of the people, +a House of Commons which has nothing to fear from a dissolution, +is something in the government. Some persons, I well know, +indulge a hope that the rejection of the bill will at once +restore the domination of that party which fled from power last +November, leaving everything abroad and everything at home in +confusion; leaving the European system, which it had built up at +a vast cost of blood and treasure, falling to pieces in every +direction; leaving the dynasties which it had restored, hastening +into exile; leaving the nations which it had joined together, +breaking away from each other; leaving the fundholders in dismay; +leaving the peasantry in insurrection; leaving the most fertile +counties lighted up with the fires of incendiaries; leaving the +capital in such a state, that a royal procession could not pass +safely through it. Dark and terrible, beyond any season within +my remembrance of political affairs, was the day of their flight. +Far darker and far more terrible will be the day of their return. +They will return in opposition to the whole British nation, +united as it was never before united on any internal question; +united as firmly as when the Armada was sailing up the Channel; +united as firmly as when Bonaparte pitched his camp on the cliffs +of Boulogne. They will return pledged to defend evils which the +people are resolved to destroy. They will return to a situation +in which they can stand only by crushing and trampling down +public opinion, and from which, if they fall, they may, in their +fall, drag down with them the whole frame of society. Against +such evils, should such evils appear to threaten the country, it +will be our privilege and our duty to warn our gracious and +beloved Sovereign. It will be our privilege and our duty to +convey the wishes of a loyal people to the throne of a patriot +king. At such a crisis the proper place for the House of Commons +is in front of the nation; and in that place this House will +assuredly be found. Whatever prejudice or weakness may do +elsewhere to ruin the empire, here, I trust, will not be wanting +the wisdom, the virtue, and the energy that may save it. + +... + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (OCTOBER 10, 1831) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF +OCTOBER, 1831. + +On the morning of Saturday, the eighth of October, 1831, the +House of Lords, by a majority of 190 to 158, rejected the Reform +Bill. On the Monday following, Lord Ebrington, member for +Devonshire, moved the following resolution in the House of +Commons: + +"That while this House deeply laments the present fate of a bill +for amending the representation of the people in England and +Wales, in favour of which the opinion of the country stands +unequivocally pronounced, and which has been matured by +discussions the most anxious and laborious, it feels itself +called upon to reassert its firm adherence to the principle and +leading provisions of that great measure, and to express its +unabated confidence in the integrity, perseverance, and ability +of those Ministers, who, in introducing and conducting it, have +so well consulted the best interests of the country." + +The resolution was carried by 329 votes to 198. The following +speech was made early in the debate. + +I doubt, Sir, whether any person who had merely heard the speech +of the right honourable Member for the University of Cambridge +(Mr Goulburn.) would have been able to conjecture what the +question is on which we are discussing, and what the occasion on +which we are assembled. For myself, I can with perfect certainty +declare that never in the whole course of my life did I feel my +mind oppressed by so deep and solemn a sense of responsibility as +at the present moment. I firmly believe that the country is now +in danger of calamities greater than ever threatened it, from +domestic misgovernment or from foreign hostility. The danger is +no less than this, that there may be a complete alienation of the +people from their rulers. To soothe the public mind, to +reconcile the people to the delay, the short delay, which must +intervene before their wishes can be legitimately gratified, and +in the meantime to avert civil discord, and to uphold the +authority of law, these are, I conceive, the objects of my noble +friend, the Member for Devonshire: these ought, at the present +crisis, to be the objects of every honest Englishman. They are +objects which will assuredly be attained, if we rise to this +great occasion, if we take our stand in the place which the +Constitution has assigned to us, if we employ, with becoming +firmness and dignity, the powers which belong to us as trustees +of the nation, and as advisers of the Throne. + +Sir, the Resolution of my noble friend consists of two parts. He +calls upon us to declare our undiminished attachment to the +principles of the Reform Bill, and also our undiminished +confidence in His Majesty's Ministers. I consider these two +declarations as identical. The question of Reform is, in my +opinion, of such paramount importance, that, approving the +principles of the Ministerial Bill, I must think the Ministers +who have brought that bill forward, although I may differ from +them on some minor points, entitled to the strongest support of +Parliament. The right honourable gentleman, the Member for the +University of Cambridge, has attempted to divert the course of +the debate to questions comparatively unimportant. He has said +much about the coal duty, about the candle duty, about the budget +of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer. On most of the +points to which he has referred, it would be easy for me, were I +so inclined, to defend the Ministers; and where I could not +defend them, I should find it easy to recriminate on those who +preceded them. The right honourable Member for the University of +Cambridge has taunted the Ministers with the defeat which their +plan respecting the timber trade sustained in the last +Parliament. I might, perhaps, at a more convenient season, be +tempted to inquire whether that defeat was more disgraceful to +them or to their predecessors. I might, perhaps, be tempted to +ask the right honourable gentleman whether, if he had not been +treated, while in office, with more fairness than he has shown +while in opposition, it would have been in his power to carry his +best bill, the Beer Bill? He has accused the Ministers of +bringing forward financial propositions, and then withdrawing +those propositions. Did not he bring forward, during the Session +of 1830, a plan respecting the sugar duties? And was not that +plan withdrawn? But, Sir, this is mere trifling. I will not be +seduced from the matter in hand by the right honourable +gentleman's example. At the present moment I can see only one +question in the State, the question of Reform; only two parties, +the friends of the Reform Bill and its enemies. + +It is not my intention, Sir, again to discuss the merits of the +Reform Bill. The principle of that bill received the approbation +of the late House of Commons after a discussion of ten nights; +and the bill as it now stands, after a long and most laborious +investigation, passed the present House of Commons by a majority +which was nearly half as large again as the minority. This was +little more than a fortnight ago. Nothing has since occurred to +change our opinion. The justice of the case is unaltered. The +public enthusiasm is undiminished. Old Sarum has grown no +larger. Manchester has grown no smaller. In addressing this +House, therefore, I am entitled to assume that the bill is in +itself a good bill. If so, ought we to abandon it merely because +the Lords have rejected it? We ought to respect the lawful +privileges of their House; but we ought also to assert our own. +We are constitutionally as independent of their Lordships as +their Lordships are of us. We have precisely as good a right to +adhere to our opinion as they have to dissent from it. In +speaking of their decision, I will attempt to follow that example +of moderation which was so judiciously set by my noble friend, +the Member for Devonshire. I will only say that I do not think +that they are more competent to form a correct judgment on a +political question than we are. It is certain that, on all the +most important points on which the two Houses have for a long +time past differed, the Lords have at length come over to the +opinion of the Commons. I am therefore entitled to say, that +with respect to all those points, the Peers themselves being +judges, the House of Commons was in the right and the House of +Lords in the wrong. It was thus with respect to the Slave trade: +it was thus with respect to Catholic Emancipation: it was thus +with several other important questions. I, therefore, cannot +think that we ought, on the present occasion, to surrender our +judgment to those who have acknowledged that, on former occasions +of the same kind, we have judged more correctly than they. + +Then again, Sir, I cannot forget how the majority and the +minority in this House were composed; I cannot forget that the +majority contained almost all those gentlemen who are returned by +large bodies of electors. It is, I believe, no exaggeration to +say, that there were single Members of the majority who had more +constituents than the whole minority put together. I speak +advisedly and seriously. I believe that the number of +freeholders of Yorkshire exceeds that of all the electors who +return the Opposition. I cannot with propriety comment here on +any reports which may have been circulated concerning the +majority and minority in the House of Lords. I may, however, +mention these notoriously historical facts; that during the last +forty years the powers of the executive Government have been, +almost without intermission, exercised by a party opposed to +Reform; and that a very great number of Peers have been created, +and all the present Bishops raised to the bench during those +years. On this question, therefore, while I feel more than usual +respect for the judgment of the House of Commons, I feel less +than usual respect for the judgment of the House of Lords. Our +decision is the decision of the nation; the decision of their +Lordships can scarcely be considered as the decision even of that +class from which the Peers are generally selected, and of which +they may be considered as virtual representatives, the great +landed gentlemen of England. It seems to me clear, therefore, +that we ought, notwithstanding what has passed in the other +House, to adhere to our opinion concerning the Reform Bill. + +The next question is this; ought we to make a formal declaration +that we adhere to our opinion? I think that we ought to make +such a declaration; and I am sure that we cannot make it in more +temperate or more constitutional terms than those which my noble +friend asks us to adopt. I support the Resolution which he has +proposed with all my heart and soul: I support it as a friend to +Reform; but I support it still more as a friend to law, to +property, to social order. No observant and unprejudiced man can +look forward without great alarm to the effects which the recent +decision of the Lords may possibly produce. I do not predict, I +do not expect, open, armed insurrection. What I apprehend is +this, that the people may engage in a silent, but extensive and +persevering war against the law. What I apprehend is, that +England may exhibit the same spectacle which Ireland exhibited +three years ago, agitators stronger than the magistrate, +associations stronger than the law, a Government powerful enough +to be hated, and not powerful enough to be feared, a people bent +on indemnifying themselves by illegal excesses for the want of +legal privileges. I fear, that we may before long see the +tribunals defied, the tax-gatherer resisted, public credit +shaken, property insecure, the whole frame of society hastening +to dissolution. It is easy to say, "Be bold: be firm: defy +intimidation: let the law have its course: the law is strong +enough to put down the seditious." Sir, we have heard all this +blustering before; and we know in what it ended. It is the +blustering of little men whose lot has fallen on a great crisis. +Xerxes scourging the winds, Canute commanding the waves to recede +from his footstool, were but types of the folly of those who +apply the maxims of the Quarter Sessions to the great convulsions +of society. The law has no eyes: the law has no hands: the law +is nothing, nothing but a piece of paper printed by the King's +printer, with the King's arms at the top, till public opinion +breathes the breath of life into the dead letter. We found this +in Ireland. The Catholic Association bearded the Government. +The Government resolved to put down the Association. An +indictment was brought against my honourable and learned friend, +the Member for Kerry. The Grand Jury threw it out. Parliament +met. The Lords Commissioners came down with a speech +recommending the suppression of the self-constituted legislature +of Dublin. A bill was brought in: it passed both Houses by +large majorities: it received the Royal assent. And what effect +did it produce? Exactly as much as that old Act of Queen +Elizabeth, still unrepealed, by which it is provided that every +man who, without a special exemption, shall eat meat on Fridays +and Saturdays, shall pay a fine of twenty shillings or go to +prison for a month. Not only was the Association not destroyed: +its power was not for one day suspended: it flourished and waxed +strong under the law which had been made for the purpose of +annihilating it. The elections of 1826, the Clare election two +years later, proved the folly of those who think that nations are +governed by wax and parchment: and, at length, in the close of +1828, the Government had only one plain choice before it, +concession or civil war. Sir, I firmly believe that, if the +people of England shall lose all hope of carrying the Reform Bill +by constitutional means, they will forthwith begin to offer to +the Government the same kind of resistance which was offered to +the late Government, three years ago, by the people of Ireland, a +resistance by no means amounting to rebellion, a resistance +rarely amounting to any crime defined by the law, but a +resistance nevertheless which is quite sufficient to obstruct the +course of justice, to disturb the pursuits of industry, and to +prevent the accumulation of wealth. And is not this a danger +which we ought to fear? And is not this a danger which we are +bound, by all means in our power, to avert? And who are those +who taunt us for yielding to intimidation? Who are those who +affect to speak with contempt of associations, and agitators, and +public meetings? Even the very persons who, scarce two years +ago, gave up to associations, and agitators, and public meetings, +their boasted Protestant Constitution, proclaiming all the time +that they saw the evils of Catholic Emancipation as strongly as +ever. Surely, surely, the note of defiance which is now so +loudly sounded in our ears, proceeds with a peculiarly bad grace +from men whose highest glory it is that they abased themselves to +the dust before a people whom their policy had driven to madness, +from men the proudest moment of whose lives was that in which +they appeared in the character of persecutors scared into +toleration. Do they mean to indemnify themselves for the +humiliation of quailing before the people of Ireland by trampling +on the people of England? If so, they deceive themselves. The +case of Ireland, though a strong one, was by no means so strong a +case as that with which we have now to deal. The Government, in +its struggle with the Catholics of Ireland, had Great Britain at +its back. Whom will it have at its back in the struggle with the +Reformers of Great Britain? I know only two ways in which +societies can permanently be governed, by public opinion, and by +the sword. A Government having at its command the armies, the +fleets, and the revenues of Great Britain, might possibly hold +Ireland by the sword. So Oliver Cromwell held Ireland; so +William the Third held it; so Mr Pitt held it; so the Duke of +Wellington might perhaps have held it. But to govern Great +Britain by the sword! So wild a thought has never, I will +venture to say, occurred to any public man of any party; and, if +any man were frantic enough to make the attempt, he would find, +before three days had expired, that there is no better sword than +that which is fashioned out of a ploughshare. But, if not by the +sword, how is the country to be governed? I understand how the +peace is kept at New York. It is by the assent and support of +the people. I understand also how the peace is kept at Milan. +It is by the bayonets of the Austrian soldiers. But how the +peace is to be kept when you have neither the popular assent nor +the military force, how the peace is to be kept in England by a +Government acting on the principles of the present Opposition, I +do not understand. + +There is in truth a great anomaly in the relation between the +English people and their Government. Our institutions are either +too popular or not popular enough. The people have not +sufficient power in making the laws; but they have quite +sufficient power to impede the execution of the laws when made. +The Legislature is almost entirely aristocratical; the machinery +by which the degrees of the Legislature are carried into effect +is almost entirely popular; and, therefore, we constantly see all +the power which ought to execute the law, employed to counteract +the law. Thus, for example, with a criminal code which carries +its rigour to the length of atrocity, we have a criminal +judicature which often carries its lenity to the length of +perjury. Our law of libel is the most absurdly severe that ever +existed, so absurdly severe that, if it were carried into full +effect, it would be much more oppressive than a censorship. And +yet, with this severe law of libel, we have a press which +practically is as free as the air. In 1819 the Ministers +complained of the alarming increase of seditious and blasphemous +publications. They proposed a bill of great rigour to stop the +growth of the evil; and they carried their bill. It was enacted, +that the publisher of a seditious libel might, on a second +conviction, be banished, and that if he should return from +banishment, he might be transported. How often was this law put +in force? Not once. Last year we repealed it: but it was +already dead, or rather it was dead born. It was obsolete before +Le Roi le veut had been pronounced over it. For any effect which +it produced it might as well have been in the Code Napoleon as in +the English Statute Book. And why did the Government, having +solicited and procured so sharp and weighty a weapon, straightway +hang it up to rust? Was there less sedition, were there fewer +libels, after the passing of the Act than before it? Sir, the +very next year was the year 1820, the year of the Bill of Pains +and Penalties against Queen Caroline, the very year when the +public mind was most excited, the very year when the public press +was most scurrilous. Why then did not the Ministers use their +new law? Because they durst not: because they could not. They +had obtained it with ease; for in obtaining it they had to deal +with a subservient Parliament. They could not execute it: for +in executing it they would have to deal with a refractory people. +These are instances of the difficulty of carrying the law into +effect when the people are inclined to thwart their rulers. The +great anomaly, or, to speak more properly, the great evil which I +have described, would, I believe, be removed by the Reform Bill. +That bill would establish harmony between the people and the +Legislature. It would give a fair share in the making of laws to +those without whose co-operation laws are mere waste paper. +Under a reformed system we should not see, as we now often see, +the nation repealing Acts of Parliament as fast as we and the +Lords can pass them. As I believe that the Reform Bill would +produce this blessed and salutary concord, so I fear that the +rejection of the Reform Bill, if that rejection should be +considered as final, will aggravate the evil which I have been +describing to an unprecedented, to a terrible extent. To all the +laws which might be passed for the collection of the revenue, or +for the prevention of sedition, the people would oppose the same +kind of resistance by means of which they have succeeded in +mitigating, I might say in abrogating, the law of libel. There +would be so many offenders that the Government would scarcely +know at whom to aim its blow. Every offender would have so many +accomplices and protectors that the blow would almost always miss +the aim. The Veto of the people, a Veto not pronounced in set +form like that of the Roman Tribunes, but quite as effectual as +that of the Roman Tribunes for the purpose of impeding public +measures, would meet the Government at every turn. The +administration would be unable to preserve order at home, or to +uphold the national honour abroad; and, at length, men who are +now moderate, who now think of revolution with horror, would +begin to wish that the lingering agony of the State might be +terminated by one fierce, sharp, decisive crisis. + +Is there a way of escape from these calamities? I believe that +there is. I believe that, if we do our duty, if we give the +people reason to believe that the accomplishment of their wishes +is only deferred, if we declare our undiminished attachment to +the Reform Bill, and our resolution to support no Minister who +will not support that bill, we shall avert the fearful disasters +which impend over the country. There is danger that, at this +conjuncture, men of more zeal than wisdom may obtain a fatal +influence over the public mind. With these men will be joined +others, who have neither zeal nor wisdom, common barrators in +politics, dregs of society which, in times of violent agitation, +are tossed up from the bottom to the top, and which, in quiet +times, sink again from the top to their natural place at the +bottom. To these men nothing is so hateful as the prospect of a +reconciliation between the orders of the State. A crisis like +that which now makes every honest citizen sad and anxious fills +these men with joy, and with a detestable hope. And how is it +that such men, formed by nature and education to be objects of +mere contempt, can ever inspire terror? How is it that such men, +without talents or acquirements sufficient for the management of +a vestry, sometimes become dangerous to great empires? The +secret of their power lies in the indolence or faithlessness of +those who ought to take the lead in the redress of public +grievances. The whole history of low traders in sedition is +contained in that fine old Hebrew fable which we have all read in +the Book of Judges. The trees meet to choose a king. The vine, +and the fig tree, and the olive tree decline the office. Then it +is that the sovereignty of the forest devolves upon the bramble: +then it is that from a base and noxious shrub goes forth the fire +which devours the cedars of Lebanon. Let us be instructed. If +we are afraid of political Unions and Reform Associations, let +the House of Commons become the chief point of political union: +let the House of Commons be the great Reform Association. If we +are afraid that the people may attempt to accomplish their wishes +by unlawful means, let us give them a solemn pledge that we will +use in their cause all our high and ancient privileges, so often +victorious in old conflicts with tyranny; those privileges which +our ancestors invoked, not in vain, on the day when a faithless +king filled our house with his guards, took his seat, Sir, on +your chair, and saw your predecessor kneeling on the floor before +him. The Constitution of England, thank God, is not one of those +constitutions which are past all repair, and which must, for the +public welfare, be utterly destroyed. It has a decayed part; but +it has also a sound and precious part. It requires purification; +but it contains within itself the means by which that +purification may be effected. We read that in old times, when +the villeins were driven to revolt by oppression, when the +castles of the nobility were burned to the ground, when the +warehouses of London were pillaged, when a hundred thousand +insurgents appeared in arms on Blackheath, when a foul murder +perpetrated in their presence had raised their passions to +madness, when they were looking round for some captain to succeed +and avenge him whom they had lost, just then, before Hob Miller, +or Tom Carter, or Jack Straw, could place himself at their head, +the King rode up to them and exclaimed, "I will be your leader!" +and at once the infuriated multitude laid down their arms, +submitted to his guidance, dispersed at his command. Herein let +us imitate him. Our countrymen are, I fear, at this moment, but +too much disposed to lend a credulous ear to selfish impostors. +Let us say to them, "We are your leaders; we, your own house of +Commons; we, the constitutional interpreters of your wishes; the +knights of forty English shires, the citizens and burgesses of +all your largest towns. Our lawful power shall be firmly exerted +to the utmost in your cause; and our lawful power is such, that +when firmly exerted in your cause, it must finally prevail." +This tone it is our interest and our duty to take. The +circumstances admit of no delay. Is there one among us who is +not looking with breathless anxiety for the next tidings which +may arrive from the remote parts of the kingdom? Even while I +speak, the moments are passing away, the irrevocable moments +pregnant with the destiny of a great people. The country is in +danger: it may be saved: we can save it: this is the way: +this is the time. In our hands are the issues of great good and +great evil, the issues of the life and death of the State. May +the result of our deliberations be the repose and prosperity of +that noble country which is entitled to all our love; and for the +safety of which we are answerable to our own consciences, to the +memory of future ages, to the Judge of all hearts! + +... + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (DECEMBER 16, 1831) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 16TH OF +DECEMBER 1831. + +On Friday, the sixteenth of December 1831, Lord Althorpe moved +the second reading of the Bill to amend the representation of the +people in England and Wales. Lord Porchester moved, as an +amendment, that the bill should be read a second time that day +six months. The debate lasted till after midnight, and was then +adjourned till twelve at noon. The House did not divide till one +on the Sunday morning. The amendment was then rejected by 324 +votes to 162; and the original motion was carried. The following +Speech was made on the first night of the debate. + +I can assure my noble friend (Lord Mahon.), for whom I entertain +sentiments of respect and kindness which no political difference +will, I trust, ever disturb, that his remarks have given me no +pain, except, indeed, the pain which I feel at being compelled to +say a few words about myself. Those words shall be very few. I +know how unpopular egotism is in this House. My noble friend +says that, in the debates of last March, I declared myself +opposed to the ballot, and that I have since recanted, for the +purpose of making myself popular with the inhabitants of Leeds. +My noble friend is altogether mistaken. I never said, in any +debate, that I was opposed to the ballot. The word ballot never +passed my lips within this House. I observed strict silence +respecting it on two accounts; in the first place, because my own +opinions were, till very lately, undecided; in the second place, +because I knew that the agitation of that question, a question of +which the importance appears to me to be greatly overrated, would +divide those on whose firm and cordial union the safety of the +empire depends. My noble friend has taken this opportunity of +replying to a speech which I made last October. The doctrines +which I then laid down were, according to him, most intemperate +and dangerous. Now, Sir, it happens, curiously enough, that my +noble friend has himself asserted, in his speech of this night, +those very doctrines, in language so nearly resembling mine that +I might fairly accuse him of plagiarism. I said that laws have +no force in themselves, and that, unless supported by public +opinion, they are a mere dead letter. The noble Lord has said +exactly the same thing to-night. "Keep your old Constitution," +he exclaims; "for, whatever may be its defects in theory, it has +more of the public veneration than your new Constitution will +have; and no laws can be efficient, unless they have the public +veneration." I said, that statutes are in themselves only wax +and parchment; and I was called an incendiary by the opposition. +The noble Lord has said to-night that statutes in themselves are +only ink and parchment; and those very persons who reviled me +have enthusiastically cheered him. I am quite at a loss to +understand how doctrines which are, in his mouth, true and +constitutional, can, in mine, be false and revolutionary. + +But, Sir, it is time that I should address myself to the +momentous question before us. I shall certainly give my best +support to this bill, through all its stages; and, in so doing, I +conceive that I shall act in strict conformity with the +resolution by which this House, towards the close of the late +Session, declared its unabated attachment to the principles and +to the leading provisions of the First Reform Bill. All those +principles, all those leading provisions, I find in the present +measure. In the details there are, undoubtedly, considerable +alterations. Most of the alterations appear to me to be +improvements; and even those alterations which I cannot consider +as in themselves improvements will yet be most useful, if their +effect shall be to conciliate opponents, and to facilitate the +adjustment of a question which, for the sake of order, for the +sake of peace, for the sake of trade, ought to be, not only +satisfactorily, but speedily settled. We have been told, Sir, +that, if we pronounce this bill to be a better bill than the +last, we recant all the doctrines which we maintained during the +last Session, we sing our palinode; we allow that we have had a +great escape; we allow that our own conduct was deserving of +censure; we allow that the party which was the minority in this +House, and, most unhappily for the country, the majority in the +other House, has saved the country from a great calamity. Sir, +even if this charge were well founded, there are those who should +have been prevented by prudence, if not by magnanimity, from +bringing it forward. I remember an Opposition which took a very +different course. I remember an Opposition which, while excluded +from power, taught all its doctrines to the Government; which, +after labouring long, and sacrificing much, in order to effect +improvements in various parts of our political and commercial +system, saw the honour of those improvements appropriated by +others. But the members of that Opposition had, I believe, a +sincere desire to promote the public good. They, therefore, +raised no shout of triumph over the recantations of their +proselytes. They rejoiced, but with no ungenerous joy, when +their principles of trade, of jurisprudence, of foreign policy, +of religious liberty, became the principles of the +Administration. They were content that he who came into +fellowship with them at the eleventh hour should have a far +larger share of the reward than those who had borne the burthen +and heat of the day. In the year 1828, a single division in this +House changed the whole policy of the Government with respect to +the Test and Corporation Acts. My noble friend, the Paymaster of +the Forces, then sat where the right honourable Baronet, the +member for Tamworth, now sits. I do not remember that, when the +right honourable Baronet announced his change of purpose, my +noble friend sprang up to talk about palinodes, to magnify the +wisdom and virtue of the Whigs, and to sneer at his new +coadjutors. Indeed, I am not sure that the members of the late +Opposition did not carry their indulgence too far; that they did +not too easily suffer the fame of Grattan and Romilly to be +transferred to less deserving claimants; that they were not too +ready, in the joy with which they welcomed the tardy and +convenient repentance of their converts, to grant a general +amnesty for the errors of the insincerity of years. If it were +true that we had recanted, this ought not to be made matter of +charge against us by men whom posterity will remember by nothing +but recantations. But, in truth, we recant nothing. We have +nothing to recant. We support this bill. We may possibly think +it a better bill than that which preceded it. But are we +therefore bound to admit that we were in the wrong, that the +Opposition was in the right, that the House of Lords has +conferred a great benefit on the nation? We saw--who did not +see?--great defects in the first bill. But did we see nothing +else? Is delay no evil? Is prolonged excitement no evil? Is it +no evil that the heart of a great people should be made sick by +deferred hope? We allow that many of the changes which have been +made are improvements. But we think that it would have been far +better for the country to have had the last bill, with all its +defects, than the present bill, with all its improvements. +Second thoughts are proverbially the best, but there are +emergencies which do not admit of second thoughts. There +probably never was a law which might not have been amended by +delay. But there have been many cases in which there would have +been more mischief in the delay than benefit in the amendments. +The first bill, however inferior it may have been in its details +to the present bill, was yet herein far superior to the present +bill, than it was the first. If the first bill had passed, it +would, I firmly believe, have produced a complete reconciliation +between the aristocracy and the people. It is my earnest wish +and prayer that the present bill may produce this blessed effect; +but I cannot say that my hopes are so sanguine as they were at +the beginning of the last Session. The decision of the House of +Lords has, I fear, excited in the public mind feelings of +resentment which will not soon be allayed. What then, it is +said, would you legislate in haste? Would you legislate in times +of great excitement concerning matters of such deep concern? +Yes, Sir, I would: and if any bad consequences should follow +from the haste and the excitement, let those be held answerable +who, when there was no need of haste, when there existed no +excitement, refused to listen to any project of Reform, nay, who +made it an argument against Reform, that the public mind was not +excited. When few meetings were held, when few petitions were +sent up to us, these politicians said, "Would you alter a +Constitution with which the people are perfectly satisfied?" And +now, when the kingdom from one end to the other is convulsed by +the question of Reform, we hear it said by the very same persons, +"Would you alter the Representative system in such agitated times +as these?" Half the logic of misgovernment lies in this one +sophistical dilemma: If the people are turbulent, they are unfit +for liberty: if they are quiet, they do not want liberty. + +I allow that hasty legislation is an evil. I allow that there +are great objections to legislating in troubled times. But +reformers are compelled to legislate fast, because bigots will +not legislate early. Reformers are compelled to legislate in +times of excitement, because bigots will not legislate in times +of tranquillity. If, ten years ago, nay, if only two years ago, +there had been at the head of affairs men who understood the +signs of the times and the temper of the nation, we should not +have been forced to hurry now. If we cannot take our time, it is +because we have to make up for their lost time. If they had +reformed gradually, we might have reformed gradually; but we are +compelled to move fast, because they would not move at all. + +Though I admit, Sir, that this bill is in its details superior to +the former bill, I must say that the best parts of this bill, +those parts for the sake of which principally I support it, those +parts for the sake of which I would support it, however imperfect +its details might be, are parts which it has in common with the +former bill. It destroys nomination; it admits the great body of +the middle orders to a share in the government; and it contains +provisions which will, as I conceive, greatly diminish the +expense of elections. + +Touching the expense of elections I will say a few words, because +that part of the subject has not, I think, received so much +attention as it deserves. Whenever the nomination boroughs are +attacked, the opponents of Reform produce a long list of eminent +men who have sate for those boroughs, and who, they tell us, +would never have taken any part in public affairs but for those +boroughs. Now, Sir, I suppose no person will maintain that a +large constituent body is likely to prefer ignorant and incapable +men to men of information and ability? Whatever objections there +may be to democratic institutions, it was never, I believe, +doubted that those institutions are favourable to the development +of talents. We may prefer the constitution of Sparta to that of +Athens, or the constitution of Venice to that of Florence: but +no person will deny that Athens produced more great men than +Sparta, or that Florence produced more great men than Venice. +But to come nearer home: the five largest English towns which +have now the right of returning two members each by popular +election, are Westminster, Southwark, Liverpool, Bristol, and +Norwich. Now let us see what members those places have sent to +Parliament. I will not speak of the living, though among the +living are some of the most distinguished ornaments of the House. +I will confine myself to the dead. Among many respectable and +useful members of Parliament, whom these towns have returned, +during the last half century, I find Mr Burke, Mr Fox, Mr +Sheridan, Mr Windham, Mr Tierney, Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr Canning, +Mr Huskisson. These were eight of the most illustrious +parliamentary leaders of the generation which is passing away +from the world. Mr Pitt was, perhaps, the only person worthy to +make a ninth with them. It is, surely, a remarkable circumstance +that, of the nine most distinguished Members of the House of +Commons who have died within the last forty years, eight should +have been returned to Parliament by the five largest represented +towns. I am, therefore, warranted in saying that great +constituent bodies are quite as competent to discern merit, and +quite as much disposed to reward merit, as the proprietors of +boroughs. It is true that some of the distinguished statesmen +whom I have mentioned would never have been known to large +constituent bodies if they had not first sate for nomination +boroughs. But why is this? Simply, because the expense of +contesting popular places, under the present system, is ruinously +great. A poor man cannot defray it; an untried man cannot expect +his constituents to defray it for him. And this is the way in +which our Representative system is defended. Corruption vouches +corruption. Every abuse is made the plea for another abuse. We +must have nomination at Gatton because we have profusion at +Liverpool. Sir, these arguments convince me, not that no Reform +is required, but that a very deep and searching Reform is +required. If two evils serve in some respects to counterbalance +each other, this is a reason, not for keeping both, but for +getting rid of both together. At present you close against men +of talents that broad, that noble entrance which belongs to them, +and which ought to stand wide open to them; and in exchange you +open to them a bye entrance, low and narrow, always obscure, +often filthy, through which, too often, they can pass only by +crawling on their hands and knees, and from which they too often +emerge sullied with stains never to be washed away. But take the +most favourable case. Suppose that the member who sits for a +nomination borough owes his seat to a man of virtue and honour, +to a man whose service is perfect freedom, to a man who would +think himself degraded by any proof of gratitude which might +degrade his nominee. Yet is it nothing that such a member comes +into this House wearing the badge, though not feeling the chain +of servitude? Is it nothing that he cannot speak of his +independence without exciting a smile? Is it nothing that he is +considered, not as a Representative, but as an adventurer? This +is what your system does for men of genius. It admits them to +political power, not as, under better institutions, they would be +admitted to power, erect, independent, unsullied; but by means +which corrupt the virtue of many, and in some degree diminish the +authority of all. Could any system be devised, better fitted to +pervert the principles and break the spirit of men formed to be +the glory of their country? And, can we mention no instance in +which this system has made such men useless, or worse than +useless, to the country of which their talents were the ornament, +and might, in happier circumstances, have been the salvation? +Ariel, the beautiful and kindly Ariel, doing the bidding of the +loathsome and malignant Sycorax, is but a faint type of genius +enslaved by the spells, and employed in the drudgery of +corruption-- + +"A spirit too delicate +To act those earthy and abhorred commands." + +We cannot do a greater service to men of real merit than by +destroying that which has been called their refuge, which is +their house of bondage; by taking from them the patronage of the +great, and giving to them in its stead the respect and confidence +of the people. The bill now before us will, I believe, produce +that happy effect. It facilitates the canvass; it reduces the +expense of legal agency; it shortens the poll; above all, it +disfranchises the outvoters. It is not easy to calculate the +precise extent to which these changes will diminish the cost of +elections. I have attempted, however, to obtain some information +on this subject. I have applied to a gentleman of great +experience in affairs of this kind, a gentleman who, at the last +three general elections, managed the finances of the popular +party in one of the largest boroughs in the kingdom. He tells +me, that at the general election of 1826, when that borough was +contested, the expenses of the popular candidate amounted to +eighteen thousand pounds; and that, by the best estimate which +can now be made, the borough may, under the reformed system, be +as effectually contested for one tenth part of that sum. In the +new constituent bodies there are no ancient rights reserved. In +those bodies, therefore, the expense of an election will be still +smaller. I firmly believe, that it will be possible to poll out +Manchester for less than the market price of Old Sarum. + +Sir, I have, from the beginning of these discussions, supported +Reform on two grounds; first, because I believe it to be in +itself a good thing; and secondly, because I think the dangers of +withholding it so great that, even if it were an evil, it would +be the less of two evils. The dangers of the country have in no +wise diminished. I believe that they have greatly increased. It +is, I fear, impossible to deny that what has happened with +respect to almost every great question that ever divided mankind +has happened also with respect to the Reform Bill. Wherever +great interests are at stake there will be much excitement; and +wherever there is much excitement there will be some +extravagance. The same great stirring of the human mind which +produced the Reformation produced also the follies and crimes of +the Anabaptists. The same spirit which resisted the Ship-money, +and abolished the Star Chamber, produced the Levellers and the +Fifth Monarchy men. And so, it cannot be denied that bad men, +availing themselves of the agitation produced by the question of +Reform, have promulgated, and promulgated with some success, +doctrines incompatible with the existence, I do not say of +monarchy, or of aristocracy, but of all law, of all order, of all +property, of all civilisation, of all that makes us to differ +from Mohawks or Hottentots. I bring no accusation against that +portion of the working classes which has been imposed upon by +these doctrines. Those persons are what their situation has made +them, ignorant from want of leisure, irritable from the sense of +distress. That they should be deluded by impudent assertions and +gross sophisms; that, suffering cruel privations, they should +give ready credence to promises of relief; that, never having +investigated the nature and operation of government, they should +expect impossibilities from it, and should reproach it for not +performing impossibilities; all this is perfectly natural. No +errors which they may commit ought ever to make us forget that it +is in all probability owing solely to the accident of our +situation that we have not fallen into errors precisely similar. +There are few of us who do not know from experience that, even +with all our advantages of education, pain and sorrow can make us +very querulous and very unreasonable. We ought not, therefore, +to be surprised that, as the Scotch proverb says, "it should be +ill talking between a full man and a fasting;" that the logic of +the rich man who vindicates the rights of property, should seem +very inconclusive to the poor man who hears his children cry for +bread. I bring, I say, no accusation against the working +classes. I would withhold from them nothing which it might be +for their good to possess. I see with pleasure that, by the +provisions of the Reform Bill, the most industrious and +respectable of our labourers will be admitted to a share in the +government of the State. If I would refuse to the working people +that larger share of power which some of them have demanded, I +would refuse it, because I am convinced that, by giving it, I +should only increase their distress. I admit that the end of +government is their happiness. But, that they may be governed +for their happiness, they must not be governed according to the +doctrines which they have learned from their illiterate, +incapable, low-minded flatterers. + +But, Sir, the fact that such doctrines have been promulgated +among the multitude is a strong argument for a speedy and +effectual reform. That government is attacked is a reason for +making the foundations of government broader, and deeper, and +more solid. That property is attacked is a reason for binding +together all proprietors in the firmest union. That the +agitation of the question of Reform has enabled worthless +demagogues to propagate their notions with some success is a +reason for speedily settling the question in the only way in +which it can be settled. It is difficult, Sir, to conceive any +spectacle more alarming than that which presents itself to us, +when we look at the two extreme parties in this country; a narrow +oligarchy above; an infuriated multitude below; on the one side +the vices engendered by power; on the other side the vices +engendered by distress; one party blindly averse to improvement; +the other party blindly clamouring for destruction; one party +ascribing to political abuses the sanctity of property; the other +party crying out against property as a political abuse. Both +these parties are alike ignorant of their true interest. God +forbid that the state should ever be at the mercy of either, or +should ever experience the calamities which must result from a +collision between them! I anticipate no such horrible event. +For, between those two parties stands a third party, infinitely +more powerful than both the others put together, attacked by +both, vilified by both, but destined, I trust, to save both from +the fatal effects of their own folly. To that party I have never +ceased, through all the vicissitudes of public affairs, to look +with confidence and with good a hope. I speak of that great +party which zealously and steadily supported the first Reform +Bill, and which will, I have no doubt, support the second Reform +Bill with equal steadiness and equal zeal. That party is the +middle class of England, with the flower of the aristocracy at +its head, and the flower of the working classes bringing up its +rear. That great party has taken its immovable stand between the +enemies of all order and the enemies of all liberty. It will +have Reform: it will not have revolution: it will destroy +political abuses: it will not suffer the rights of property to +be assailed: it will preserve, in spite of themselves, those who +are assailing it, from the right and from the left, with +contradictory accusations: it will be a daysman between them: +it will lay its hand upon them both: it will not suffer them to +tear each other in pieces. While that great party continues +unbroken, as it now is unbroken, I shall not relinquish the hope +that this great contest may be conducted, by lawful means, to a +happy termination. But, of this I am assured, that by means, +lawful or unlawful, to a termination, happy or unhappy, this +contest must speedily come. All that I know of the history of +past times, all the observations that I have been able to make on +the present state of the country, have convinced me that the time +has arrived when a great concession must be made to the democracy +of England; that the question, whether the change be in itself +good or bad, has become a question of secondary importance; that, +good or bad, the thing must be done; that a law as strong as the +laws of attraction and motion has decreed it. + +I well know that history, when we look at it in small portions, +may be so construed as to mean anything, that it may be +interpreted in as many ways as a Delphic oracle. "The French +Revolution," says one expositor, "was the effect of concession." +"Not so," cries another: "The French Revolution was produced by +the obstinacy of an arbitrary government." "If the French +nobles," says the first, "had refused to sit with the Third +Estate, they would never have been driven from their country." +"They would never have been driven from their country," answers +the other, "if they had agreed to the reforms proposed by M. +Turgot." These controversies can never be brought to any +decisive test, or to any satisfactory conclusion. But, as I +believe that history, when we look at it in small fragments, +proves anything, or nothing, so I believe that it is full of +useful and precious instruction when we contemplate it in large +portions, when we take in, at one view, the whole lifetime of +great societies. I believe that it is possible to obtain some +insight into the law which regulates the growth of communities, +and some knowledge of the effects which that growth produces. +They history of England, in particular, is the history of a +government constantly giving way, sometimes peaceably, sometimes +after a violent struggle, but constantly giving way before a +nation which has been constantly advancing. The forest laws, the +laws of villenage, the oppressive power of the Roman Catholic +Church, the power, scarcely less oppressive, which, during some +time after the Reformation, was exercised by the Protestant +Establishment, the prerogatives of the Crown, the censorship of +the Press, successively yielded. The abuses of the +representative system are now yielding to the same irresistible +force. It was impossible for the Stuarts, and it would have been +impossible for them if they had possessed all the energy of +Richelieu, and all the craft of Mazarin, to govern England as +England had been governed by the Tudors. It was impossible for +the princes of the House of Hanover to govern England as England +had been governed by the Stuarts. And so it is impossible that +England should be any longer governed as it was governed under +the four first princes of the House of Hanover. I say +impossible. I believe that over the great changes of the moral +world we possess as little power as over the great changes of the +physical world. We can no more prevent time from changing the +distribution of property and of intelligence, we can no more +prevent property and intelligence from aspiring to political +power, than we can change the courses of the seasons and of the +tides. In peace or in tumult, by means of old institutions, +where those institutions are flexible, over the ruins of old +institutions, where those institutions oppose an unbending +resistance, the great march of society proceeds, and must +proceed. The feeble efforts of individuals to bear back are lost +and swept away in the mighty rush with which the species goes +onward. Those who appear to lead the movement are, in fact, only +whirled along before it; those who attempt to resist it, are +beaten down and crushed beneath it. + +It is because rulers do not pay sufficient attention to the +stages of this great movement, because they underrate its force, +because they are ignorant of its law, that so many violent and +fearful revolutions have changed the face of society. We have +heard it said a hundred times during these discussions, we have +heard it said repeatedly in the course of this very debate, that +the people of England are more free than ever they were, that the +Government is more democratic than ever it was; and this is urged +as an argument against Reform. I admit the fact; but I deny the +inference. It is a principle never to be forgotten, in +discussions like this, that it is not by absolute, but by +relative misgovernment that nations are roused to madness. It is +not sufficient to look merely at the form of government. We must +look also to the state of the public mind. The worst tyrant that +ever had his neck wrung in modern Europe might have passed for a +paragon of clemency in Persia or Morocco. Our Indian subjects +submit patiently to a monopoly of salt. We tried a stamp duty, a +duty so light as to be scarcely perceptible, on the fierce breed +of the old Puritans; and we lost an empire. The Government of +Louis the Sixteenth was certainly a much better and milder +Government than that of Louis the Fourteenth; yet Louis the +Fourteenth was admired, and even loved, by his people. Louis the +Sixteenth died on the scaffold. Why? Because, though the +Government had made many steps in the career of improvement, it +had not advanced so rapidly as the nation. Look at our own +history. The liberties of the people were at least as much +respected by Charles the First as by Henry the Eighth, by James +the Second as by Edward the Sixth. But did this save the crown +of James the Second? Did this save the head of Charles the +First? Every person who knows the history of our civil +dissensions knows that all those arguments which are now employed +by the opponents of the Reform Bill might have been employed, and +were actually employed, by the unfortunate Stuarts. The +reasoning of Charles, and of all his apologists, runs thus:-- +"What new grievance does the nation suffer? What has the King +done more than what Henry did? more than what Elizabeth did? Did +the people ever enjoy more freedom than at present? Did they +ever enjoy so much freedom?" But what would a wise and honest +counsellor, if Charles had been so happy as to possess such a +counsellor, have replied to arguments like these? He would have +said, "Sir, I acknowledge that the people were never more free +than under your government. I acknowledge that those who talk of +restoring the old Constitution of England use an improper +expression. I acknowledge that there has been a constant +improvement during those very years during which many persons +imagine that there has been a constant deterioration. But, +though there has been no change in the government for the worse, +there has been a change in the public mind which produces exactly +the same effect which would be produced by a change in the +government for the worse. Perhaps this change in the public mind +is to be regretted. But no matter; you cannot reverse it. You +cannot undo all that eighty eventful years have done. You cannot +transform the Englishmen of 1640 into the Englishmen of 1560. It +may be that the simple loyalty of our fathers was preferable to +that inquiring, censuring, resisting spirit which is now abroad. +It may be that the times when men paid their benevolences +cheerfully were better times than these, when a gentleman goes +before the Exchequer Chamber to resist an assessment of twenty +shillings. And so it may be that infancy is a happier time than +manhood, and manhood than old age. But God has decreed that old +age shall succeed to manhood, and manhood to infancy. Even so +have societies their law of growth. As their strength becomes +greater, as their experience becomes more extensive, you can no +longer confine them within the swaddling bands, or lull them in +the cradles, or amuse them with the rattles, or terrify them with +the bugbears of their infancy. I do not say that they are better +or happier than they were; but this I say, that they are +different from what they were, that you cannot again make them +what they were, and that you cannot safely treat them as if they +continued to be what they were." This was the advice which a +wise and honest Minister would have given to Charles the First. +These were the principles on which that unhappy prince should +have acted. But no. He would govern, I do not say ill, I do not +say tyrannically; I only say this; he would govern the men of the +seventeenth century as if they had been the men of the sixteenth +century; and therefore it was, that all his talents and all his +virtues did not save him from unpopularity, from civil war, from +a prison, from a bar, from a scaffold. These things are written +for our instruction. Another great intellectual revolution has +taken place; our lot has been cast on a time analogous, in many +respects, to the time which immediately preceded the meeting of +the Long Parliament. There is a change in society. There must +be a corresponding change in the government. We are not, we +cannot, in the nature of things, be, what our fathers were. We +are no more like the men of the American war, or the men of the +gagging bills, than the men who cried "privilege" round the coach +of Charles the First were like the men who changed their religion +once a year at the bidding of Henry the Eighth. That there is +such a change, I can no more doubt than I can doubt that we have +more power looms, more steam engines, more gas lights, than our +ancestors. That there is such a change, the Minister will surely +find who shall attempt to fit the yoke of Mr Pitt to the necks of +the Englishmen of the nineteenth century. What then can you do +to bring back those times when the constitution of this House was +an object of veneration to the people? Even as much as Strafford +and Laud could do to bring back the days of the Tudors; as much +as Bonner and Gardiner could do to bring back the days of +Hildebrand; as much as Villele and Polignac could do to bring +back the days of Louis the Fourteenth. You may make the change +tedious; you may make it violent; you may--God in his mercy +forbid!--you may make it bloody; but avert it you cannot. +Agitations of the public mind, so deep and so long continued as +those which we have witnessed, do not end in nothing. In peace +or in convulsion, by the law, or in spite of the law, through the +Parliament, or over the Parliament, Reform must be carried. +Therefore be content to guide that movement which you cannot +stop. Fling wide the gates to that force which else will enter +through the breach. Then will it still be, as it has hitherto +been, the peculiar glory of our Constitution that, though not +exempt from the decay which is wrought by the vicissitudes of +fortune, and the lapse of time, in all the proudest works of +human power and wisdom, it yet contains within it the means of +self-reparation. Then will England add to her manifold titles of +glory this, the noblest and the purest of all; that every +blessing which other nations have been forced to seek, and have +too often sought in vain, by means of violent and bloody +revolutions, she will have attained by a peaceful and a lawful +Reform. + +... + + +ANATOMY BILL. (FEBRUARY 27, 1832) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 27TH OF +FEBRUARY, 1832. + +On Monday, the twenty-seventh of February, 1832, the House took +into consideration the report of the Committee on Mr Warburton's +Anatomy Bill. Mr Henry Hunt attacked that bill with great +asperity. In reply to him the following Speech was made. + +Sir, I cannot, even at this late hour of the night, refrain from +saying two or three words. Most of the observations of the +honourable Member for Preston I pass by, as undeserving of any +answer before an audience like this. But on one part of his +speech I must make a few remarks. We are, he says, making a law +to benefit the rich, at the expense of the poor. Sir, the fact +is the direct reverse. This is a bill which tends especially to +the benefit of the poor. What are the evils against which we are +attempting to make provision? Two especially; that is to say, +the practice of Burking, and bad surgery. Now to both these the +poor alone are exposed. What man, in our rank of life, runs the +smallest risk of being Burked? That a man has property, that he +has connections, that he is likely to be missed and sought for, +are circumstances which secure him against the Burker. It is +curious to observe the difference between murders of this kind +and other murders. An ordinary murder hides the body, and +disposes of the property. Bishop and Williams dig holes and bury +the property, and expose the body to sale. The more wretched, +the more lonely, any human being may be, the more desirable prey +is he to these wretches. It is the man, the mere naked man, that +they pursue. Again, as to bad surgery; this is, of all evils, +the evil by which the rich suffer least, and the poor most. If +we could do all that in the opinion of the Member for Preston +ought to be done, if we could destroy the English school of +anatomy, if we could force every student of medical science to go +to the expense of a foreign education, on whom would the bad +consequences fall? On the rich? Not at all. As long as there +is in France, in Italy, in Germany, a single surgeon of eminent +skill, a single surgeon who is, to use the phrase of the member +for Preston, addicted to dissection, that surgeon will be in +attendance whenever an English nobleman is to be cut for the +stone. The higher orders in England will always be able to +procure the best medical assistance. Who suffers by the bad +state of the Russian school of surgery? The Emperor Nicholas? +By no means. The whole evil falls on the peasantry. If the +education of a surgeon should become very extensive, if the fees +of surgeons should consequently rise, if the supply of regular +surgeons should diminish, the sufferers would be, not the rich, +but the poor in our country villages, who would again be left to +mountebanks, and barbers, and old women, and charms and quack +medicines. The honourable gentleman talks of sacrificing the +interests of humanity to the interests of science, as if this +were a question about the squaring of the circle, or the transit +of Venus. This is not a mere question of science: it is not the +unprofitable exercise of an ingenious mind: it is a question +between health and sickness, between ease and torment, between +life and death. Does the honourable gentleman know from what +cruel sufferings the improvement of surgical science has rescued +our species? I will tell him one story, the first that comes +into my head. He may have heard of Leopold, Duke of Austria, the +same who imprisoned our Richard Coeur-de-Lion. Leopold's horse +fell under him, and crushed his leg. The surgeons said that the +limb must be amputated; but none of them knew how to amputate it. +Leopold, in his agony, laid a hatchet on his thigh, and ordered +his servant to strike with a mallet. The leg was cut off, and +the Duke died of the gush of blood. Such was the end of that +powerful prince. Why, there is not now a bricklayer who falls +from a ladder in England, who cannot obtain surgical assistance, +infinitely superior to that which the sovereign of Austria could +command in the twelfth century. I think this a bill which tends +to the good of the people, and which tends especially to the good +of the poor. Therefore I support it. If it is unpopular, I am +sorry for it. But I shall cheerfully take my share of its +unpopularity. For such, I am convinced, ought to be the conduct +of one whose object it is, not to flatter the people, but to +serve them. + +... + + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. (FEBRUARY 28, 1832) + + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE +28TH OF FEBRUARY, 1832. + +On Tuesday, the twenty-eighth of February, 1832, in the Committee +on the Bill to amend the representation of the people in England +and Wales, the question was put, "That the Tower Hamlets, +Middlesex, stand part of Schedule C." The opponents of the Bill +mustered their whole strength on this occasion, and were joined +by some members who had voted with the Government on the second +reading. The question was carried, however, by 316 votes to 236. +The following Speech was made in reply to the Marquess of Chandos +and Sir Edward Sugden, who, on very different grounds, objected +to any increase in the number of metropolitan members. + +Mr Bernal,--I have spoken so often on the question of +Parliamentary Reform, that I am very unwilling to occupy the time +of the Committee. But the importance of the amendment proposed +by the noble Marquess, and the peculiar circumstances in which we +are placed to-night, make me so anxious that I cannot remain +silent. + +In this debate, as in every other debate, our first object should +be to ascertain on which side the burden of the proof lies. Now, +it seems to me quite clear that the burden of the proof lies on +those who support the amendment. I am entitled to take it for +granted that it is right and wise to give representatives to some +wealthy and populous places which have hitherto been +unrepresented. To this extent, at least, we all, with scarcely +an exception, now profess ourselves Reformers. There is, indeed, +a great party which still objects to the disfranchising even of +the smallest boroughs. But all the most distinguished chiefs of +that party have, here and elsewhere, admitted that the elective +franchise ought to be given to some great towns which have risen +into importance since our representative system took its present +form. If this be so, on what ground can it be contended that +these metropolitan districts ought not to be represented? Are +they inferior in importance to the other places to which we are +all prepared to give members? I use the word importance with +perfect confidence: for, though in our recent debates there has +been some dispute as to the standard by which the importance of +towns is to be measured, there is no room for dispute here. +Here, take what standard you will, the result will be the same. +Take population: take the rental: take the number of ten pound +houses: take the amount of the assessed taxes: take any test in +short: take any number of tests, and combine those tests in any +of the ingenious ways which men of science have suggested: +multiply: divide: subtract: add: try squares or cubes: try +square roots or cube roots: you will never be able to find a +pretext for excluding these districts from Schedule C. If, then, +it be acknowledged that the franchise ought to be given to +important places which are at present unrepresented, and if it be +acknowledged that these districts are in importance not inferior +to any place which is at present unrepresented, you are bound to +give us strong reasons for withholding the franchise from these +districts. + +The honourable and learned gentleman (Sir E. Sugden.) has tried +to give such reasons; and, in doing so, he has completely refuted +the whole speech of the noble Marquess, with whom he means to +divide. (The Marquess of Chandos.) The truth is that the noble +Marquess and the honourable and learned gentleman, though they +agree in their votes, do not at all agree in their forebodings or +in their ulterior intentions. The honourable and learned +gentleman thinks it dangerous to increase the number of +metropolitan voters. The noble Lord is perfectly willing to +increase the number of metropolitan voters, and objects only to +any increase in the number of metropolitan members. "Will you," +says the honourable and learned gentleman, "be so rash, so +insane, as to create constituent bodies of twenty or thirty +thousand electors?" "Yes," says the noble Marquess, "and much +more than that. I will create constituent bodies of forty +thousand, sixty thousand, a hundred thousand. I will add +Marylebone to Westminster. I will add Lambeth to Southwark. I +will add Finsbury and the Tower Hamlets to the City." The noble +Marquess, it is clear, is not afraid of the excitement which may +be produced by the polling of immense multitudes. Of what then +is he afraid? Simply of eight members: nay, of six members: +for he is willing, he tells us, to add two members to the two who +already sit for Middlesex, and who may be considered as +metropolitan members. Are six members, then, so formidable? I +could mention a single peer who now sends more than six members +to the House. But, says the noble Marquess, the members for the +metropolitan districts will be called to a strict account by +their constituents: they will be mere delegates: they will be +forced to speak, not their own sense, but the sense of the +capital. I will answer for it, Sir, that they will not be called +to a stricter account than those gentlemen who are nominated by +some great proprietors of boroughs. Is it not notorious that +those who represent it as in the highest degree pernicious and +degrading that a public man should be called to account by a +great city which has intrusted its dearest interests to his care, +do nevertheless think that he is bound by the most sacred ties of +honour to vote according to the wishes of his patron or to apply +for the Chiltern Hundreds? It is a bad thing, I fully admit, +that a Member of Parliament should be a mere delegate. But it is +not worse that he should be the delegate of a hundred thousand +people than of one too powerful individual. What a perverse, +what an inconsistent spirit is this; too proud to bend to the +wishes of a nation, yet ready to lick the dust at the feet of a +patron! And how is it proved that a member for Lambeth or +Finsbury will be under a more servile awe of his constituents +than a member for Leicester, or a member for Leicestershire, or a +member for the University of Oxford? Is it not perfectly +notorious that many members voted, year after year, against +Catholic Emancipation, simply because they knew that, if they +voted otherwise, they would lose their seats? No doubt this is +an evil. But it is an evil which will exist in some form or +other as long as human nature is the same, as long as there are +men so low-minded as to prefer the gratification of a vulgar +ambition to the approbation of their conscience and the welfare +of their country. Construct your representative system as you +will, these men will always be sycophants. If you give power to +Marylebone, they will fawn on the householders of Marylebone. If +you leave power to Gatton, they will fawn on the proprietor of +Gatton. I can see no reason for believing that their baseness +will be more mischievous in the former case than in the latter. + +But, it is said, the power of this huge capital is even now +dangerously great; and will you increase that power? Now, Sir, I +am far from denying that the power of London is, in some sense, +dangerously great; but I altogether deny that the danger will be +increased by this bill. It has always been found that a hundred +thousand people congregated close to the seat of government +exercise a greater influence on public affairs than five hundred +thousand dispersed over a remote province. But this influence is +not proportioned to the number of representatives chosen by the +capital. This influence is felt at present, though the greater +part of the capital is unrepresented. This influence is felt in +countries where there is no representative system at all. +Indeed, this influence is nowhere so great as under despotic +governments. I need not remind the Committee that the Caesars, +while ruling by the sword, while putting to death without a trial +every senator, every magistrate, who incurred their displeasure, +yet found it necessary to keep the populace of the imperial city +in good humour by distributions of corn and shows of wild beasts. +Every country, from Britain to Egypt, was squeezed for the means +of filling the granaries and adorning the theatres of Rome. On +more than one occasion, long after the Cortes of Castile had +become a mere name, the rabble of Madrid assembled before the +royal palace, forced their King, their absolute King, to appear +in the balcony, and exacted from him a promise that he would +dismiss an obnoxious minister. It was in this way that Charles +the Second was forced to part with Oropesa, and that Charles the +Third was forced to part with Squillaci. If there is any country +in the world where pure despotism exists, that country is Turkey; +and yet there is no country in the world where the inhabitants of +the capital are so much dreaded by the government. The Sultan, +who stands in awe of nothing else, stands in awe of the turbulent +populace, which may, at any moment, besiege him in his Seraglio. +As soon as Constantinople is up, everything is conceded. The +unpopular edict is recalled. The unpopular vizier is beheaded. +This sort of power has nothing to do with representation. It +depends on physical force and on vicinity. You do not propose to +take this sort of power away from London. Indeed, you cannot +take it away. Nothing can take it away but an earthquake more +terrible than that of Lisbon, or a fire more destructive than +that of 1666. Law can do nothing against this description of +power; for it is a power which is formidable only when law has +ceased to exist. While the reign of law continues, eight votes +in a House of six hundred and fifty-eight Members will hardly do +much harm. When the reign of law is at an end, and the reign of +violence commences, the importance of a million and a half of +people, all collected within a walk of the Palace, of the +Parliament House, of the Bank, of the Courts of Justice, will not +be measured by eight or by eighty votes. See, then, what you are +doing. That power which is not dangerous you refuse to London. +That power which is dangerous you leave undiminished; nay, you +make it more dangerous still. For by refusing to let eight or +nine hundred thousand people express their opinions and wishes in +a legal and constitutional way, you increase the risk of +disaffection and of tumult. It is not necessary to have recourse +to the speeches or writings of democrats to show that a +represented district is far more likely to be turbulent than an +unrepresented district. Mr Burke, surely not a rash innovator, +not a flatterer of the multitude, described long ago in this +place with admirable eloquence the effect produced by the law +which gave representative institutions to the rebellious +mountaineers of Wales. That law, he said, had been to an +agitated nation what the twin stars celebrated by Horace were to +a stormy sea; the wind had fallen; the clouds had dispersed; the +threatening waves had sunk to rest. I have mentioned the +commotions of Madrid and Constantinople. Why is it that the +population of unrepresented London, though physically far more +powerful than the population of Madrid or of Constantinople, has +been far more peaceable? Why have we never seen the inhabitants +of the metropolis besiege St James's, or force their way +riotously into this House? Why, but because they have other +means of giving vent to their feelings, because they enjoy the +liberty of unlicensed printing, and the liberty of holding public +meetings. Just as the people of unrepresented London are more +orderly than the people of Constantinople and Madrid, so will the +people of represented London be more orderly than the people of +unrepresented London. + +Surely, Sir, nothing can be more absurd than to withhold legal +power from a portion of the community because that portion of the +community possesses natural power. Yet that is precisely what +the noble Marquess would have us do. In all ages a chief cause +of the intestine disorders of states has been that the natural +distribution of power and the legal distribution of power have +not corresponded with each other. This is no newly discovered +truth. It was well known to Aristotle more than two thousand +years ago. It is illustrated by every part of ancient and of +modern history, and eminently by the history of England during +the last few months. Our country has been in serious danger; and +why? Because a representative system, framed to suit the England +of the thirteenth century, did not suit the England of the +nineteenth century; because an old wall, the last relique of a +departed city, retained the privileges of that city, while great +towns, celebrated all over the world for wealth and intelligence, +had no more share in the government than when they were still +hamlets. The object of this bill is to correct those monstrous +disproportions, and to bring the legal order of society into +something like harmony with the natural order. What, then, can +be more inconsistent with the fundamental principle of the bill +than to exclude any district from a share in the representation, +for no reason but because that district is, and must always be, +one of great importance? This bill was meant to reconcile and +unite. Will you frame it in such a manner that it must +inevitably produce irritation and discord? This bill was meant +to be final in the only rational sense of the word final. Will +you frame it in such a way that it must inevitably be shortlived? +Is it to be the first business of the first reformed House of +Commons to pass a new Reform Bill? Gentlemen opposite have often +predicted that the settlement which we are making will not be +permanent; and they are now taking the surest way to accomplish +their own prediction. I agree with them in disliking change +merely as change. I would bear with many things which are +indefensible in theory, nay, with some things which are grievous +in practice, rather than venture on a change in the composition +of Parliament. But when such a change is necessary,--and that +such a change is now necessary is admitted by men of all +parties,--then I hold that it ought to be full and effectual. A +great crisis may be followed by the complete restoration of +health. But no constitution will bear perpetual tampering. If +the noble Marquess's amendment should unhappily be carried, it is +morally certain that the immense population of Finsbury, of +Marylebone, of Lambeth, of the Tower Hamlets, will, importunately +and clamorously, demand redress from the reformed Parliament. +That Parliament, you tell us, will be much more democratically +inclined than the Parliaments of past times. If so, how can you +expect that it will resist the urgent demands of a million of +people close to its door? These eight seats will be given. More +than eight seats will be given. The whole question of Reform +will be opened again; and the blame will rest on those who will, +by mutilating this great law in an essential part, cause hundreds +of thousands who now regard it as a boon to regard it as an +outrage. + +Sir, our word is pledged. Let us remember the solemn promise +which we gave to the nation last October at a perilous +conjuncture. That promise was that we would stand firmly by the +principles and leading provisions of the Reform Bill. Our +sincerity is now brought to the test. One of the leading +provisions of the bill is in danger. The question is, not merely +whether these districts shall be represented, but whether we will +keep the faith which we plighted to our countrymen. Let us be +firm. Let us make no concession to those who, having in vain +tried to throw the bill out, are now trying to fritter it away. +An attempt has been made to induce the Irish members to vote +against the government. It has been hinted that, perhaps, some +of the seats taken from the metropolis may be given to Ireland. +Our Irish friends will, I doubt not, remember that the very +persons who offer this bribe exerted themselves not long ago to +raise a cry against the proposition to give additional members to +Belfast, Limerick, Waterford, and Galway. The truth is that our +enemies wish only to divide us, and care not by what means. One +day they try to excite jealousy among the English by asserting +that the plan of the government is too favourable to Ireland. +Next day they try to bribe the Irish to desert us, by promising +to give something to Ireland at the expense of England. Let us +disappoint these cunning men. Let us, from whatever part of the +United Kingdom we come, be true to each other and to the good +cause. We have the confidence of our country. We have justly +earned it. For God's sake let us not throw it away. Other +occasions may arise on which honest Reformers may fairly take +different sides. But to-night he that is not with us is against +us. + +... + + +REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 6, 1833) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF FEBRUARY +1833. + +On the twenty-ninth of January 1833, the first Parliament elected +under the Reform Act of 1832 met at Westminster. On the fifth of +February, King William the Fourth made a speech from the throne, +in which he expressed his hope that the Houses would entrust him +with such powers as might be necessary for maintaining order in +Ireland and for preserving and strengthening the union between +that country and Great Britain. An Address, assuring His Majesty +of the concurrence and support of the Commons, was moved by Lord +Ormelie and seconded by Mr John Marshall. Mr O'Connell opposed +the Address, and moved, as an amendment, that the House should +resolve itself into a Committee. After a discussion of four +nights the amendment was rejected by 428 votes to 40. On the +second night of the debate the following Speech was made. + +Last night, Sir, I thought that it would not be necessary for me +to take any part in the present debate: but the appeal which has +this evening been made to me by my honourable friend the Member +for Lincoln (Mr Edward Lytton Bulwer.) has forced me to rise. I +will, however, postpone the few words which I have to say in +defence of my own consistency, till I have expressed my opinion +on the much more important subject which is before the House. + +My honourable friend tells us that we are now called upon to make +a choice between two modes of pacifying Ireland; that the +government recommends coercion; that the honourable and learned +Member for Dublin (Mr O'Connell.) recommends redress; and that it +is our duty to try the effect of redress before we have recourse +to coercion. The antithesis is framed with all the ingenuity +which is characteristic of my honourable friend's style; but I +cannot help thinking that, on this occasion, his ingenuity has +imposed on himself, and that he has not sufficiently considered +the meaning of the pointed phrase which he used with so much +effect. Redress is no doubt a very well sounding word. What can +be more reasonable than to ask for redress? What more unjust +than to refuse redress? But my honourable friend will perceive, +on reflection, that, though he and the honourable and learned +Member for Dublin agree in pronouncing the word redress, they +agree in nothing else. They utter the same sound; but they +attach to it two diametrically opposite meanings. The honourable +and learned Member for Dublin means by redress simply the Repeal +of the Union. Now, to the Repeal of the Union my honourable +friend the Member for Lincoln is decidedly adverse. When we get +at his real meaning, we find that he is just as unwilling as we +are to give the redress which the honourable and learned Member +for Dublin demands. Only a small minority of the House will, I +hope, and believe, vote with that honourable and learned member; +but the minority which thinks with him will be very much smaller. + +We have, indeed, been told by some gentlemen, who are not +themselves repealers, that the question of Repeal deserves a much +more serious consideration than it has yet received. Repeal, +they say, is an object on which millions have, however unwisely, +set their hearts; and men who speak in the name of millions are +not to be coughed down or sneered down. That which a suffering +nation regards, rightly or wrongly, as the sole cure for all its +distempers, ought not to be treated with levity, but to be the +subject of full and solemn debate. All this, Sir, is most true: +but I am surprised that this lecture should have been read to us +who sit on your right. It would, I apprehend, have been with +more propriety addressed to a different quarter. Whose fault is +it that we have not yet had, and that there is no prospect of our +having, this full and solemn debate? Is it the fault of His +Majesty's Ministers? Have not they framed the Speech which their +Royal Master delivered from the throne, in such a manner as to +invite the grave and searching discussion of the question of +Repeal? and has not the invitation been declined? Is it not +fresh in our recollection that the honourable and learned Member +for Dublin spoke two hours, perhaps three hours,--nobody keeps +accurate account of time while he speaks,--but two or three hours +without venturing to join issue with us on this subject? In +truth, he suffered judgment to go against him by default. We, on +this side of the House, did our best to provoke him to the +conflict. We called on him to maintain here those doctrines +which he had proclaimed elsewhere with so much vehemence, and, I +am sorry to be forced to add, with a scurrility unworthy of his +parts and eloquence. Never was a challenge more fairly given: +but it was not accepted. The great champion of Repeal would not +lift our glove. He shrank back; he skulked away; not, assuredly, +from distrust of his powers, which have never been more +vigorously exerted than in this debate, but evidently from +distrust of his cause. I have seldom heard so able a speech as +his: I certainly never heard a speech so evasive. From the +beginning to the end he studiously avoided saying a single word +tending to raise a discussion about that Repeal which, in other +places, he constantly affirms to be the sole panacea for all the +evils by which his country is afflicted. Nor is this all. +Yesterday night he placed on our order-book not less than +fourteen notices; and of those notices not a single one had any +reference to the Union between Great Britain and Ireland. It is +therefore evident to me, not only that the honourable and learned +gentleman is not now prepared to debate the question in this +House, but that he has no intention of debating it in this House +at all. He keeps it, and prudently keeps it, for audiences of a +very different kind. I am therefore, I repeat, surprised to hear +the Government accused of avoiding the discussion of this +subject. Why should we avoid a battle in which the bold and +skilful captain of the enemy evidently knows that we must be +victorious? + +One gentleman, though not a repealer, has begged us not to +declare ourselves decidedly adverse to repeal till we have +studied the petitions which are coming in from Ireland. Really, +Sir, this is not a subject on which any public man ought to be +now making up his mind. My mind is made up. My reasons are such +as, I am certain, no petition from Ireland will confute. Those +reasons have long been ready to be produced; and, since we are +accused of flinching, I will at once produce them. I am prepared +to show that the Repeal of the Union would not remove the +political and social evils which afflict Ireland, nay, that it +would aggravate almost every one of those evils. + +I understand, though I do not approve, the proceedings of poor +Wolfe Tone and his confederates. They wished to make a complete +separation between Great Britain and Ireland. They wished to +establish a Hibernian republic. Their plan was a very bad one; +but, to do them justice, it was perfectly consistent; and an +ingenious man might defend it by some plausible arguments. But +that is not the plan of the honourable and learned Member for +Dublin. He assures us that he wishes the connection between the +islands to be perpetual. He is for a complete separation between +the two Parliaments; but he is for indissoluble union between the +two Crowns. Nor does the honourable and learned gentleman mean, +by an union between the Crowns, such an union as exists between +the Crown of this kingdom and the Crown of Hanover. For I need +not say that, though the same person is king of Great Britain and +of Hanover, there is no more political connection between Great +Britain and Hanover than between Great Britain and Hesse, or +between Great Britain and Bavaria. Hanover may be at peace with +a state with which Great Britain is at war. Nay, Hanover may, as +a member of the Germanic body, send a contingent of troops to +cross bayonets with the King's English footguards. This is not +the relation in which the honourable and learned gentleman +proposes that Great Britain and Ireland should stand to each +other. His plan is, that each of the two countries shall have an +independent legislature, but that both shall have the same +executive government. Now, is it possible that a mind so acute +and so well informed as his should not at once perceive that this +plan involves an absurdity, a downright contradiction. Two +independent legislatures! One executive government! How can the +thing be? No doubt, if the legislative power were quite distinct +from the executive power, England and Ireland might as easily +have two legislatures as two Chancellors and two Courts of King's +Bench. But though, in books written by theorists, the executive +power and the legislative power may be treated as things quite +distinct, every man acquainted with the real working of our +constitution knows that the two powers are most closely +connected, nay, intermingled with each other. During several +generations, the whole administration of affairs has been +conducted in conformity with the sense of Parliament. About +every exercise of the prerogative of the Crown it is the +privilege of Parliament to offer advice; and that advice no wise +king will ever slight. It is the prerogative of the Sovereign to +choose his own servants; but it is impossible for him to maintain +them in office unless Parliament will support them. It is the +prerogative of the Sovereign to treat with other princes; but it +is impossible for him to persist in any scheme of foreign policy +which is disagreeable to Parliament. It is the prerogative of +the Sovereign to make war; but he cannot raise a battalion or man +a frigate without the help of Parliament. The repealers may +therefore be refuted out of their own mouths. They say that +Great Britain and Ireland ought to have one executive power. But +the legislature has a most important share of the executive +power. Therefore, by the confession of the repealers themselves, +Great Britain and Ireland ought to have one legislature. + +Consider for one moment in what a situation the executive +government will be placed if you have two independent +legislatures, and if those legislatures should differ, as all +bodies which are independent of each other will sometimes differ. +Suppose the case of a commercial treaty which is unpopular in +England and popular in Ireland. The Irish Parliament expresses +its approbation of the terms, and passes a vote of thanks to the +negotiator. We at Westminster censure the terms and impeach the +negotiator. Or are we to have two foreign offices, one in +Downing Street and one in Dublin Castle? Is His Majesty to send +to every court in Christendom two diplomatic agents, to thwart +each other, and to be spies upon each other? It is inconceivable +but that, in a very few years, disputes such as can be terminated +only by arms must arise between communities so absurdly united +and so absurdly disunited. All history confirms this reasoning. +Superficial observers have fancied that they had found cases on +the other side. But as soon as you examine those cases you will +see either that they bear no analogy to the case with which we +have to deal, or that they corroborate my argument. The case of +Ireland herself has been cited. Ireland, it has been said, had +an independent legislature from 1782 to 1800: during eighteen +years there were two coequal parliaments under one Crown; and yet +there was no collision. Sir, the reason that there was not +perpetual collision was, as we all know, that the Irish +parliament, though nominally independent, was generally kept in +real dependence by means of the foulest corruption that ever +existed in any assembly. But it is not true that there was no +collision. Before the Irish legislature had been six years +independent, a collision did take place, a collision such as +might well have produced a civil war. In the year 1788, George +the Third was incapacitated by illness from discharging his regal +functions. According to the constitution, the duty of making +provision for the discharge of those functions devolved on the +parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. Between the government +of Great Britain and the government of Ireland there was, during +the interregnum, no connection whatever. The sovereign who was +the common head of both governments had virtually ceased to +exist: and the two legislatures were no more to each other than +this House and the Chamber of Deputies at Paris. What followed? +The Parliament of Great Britain resolved to offer the Regency to +the Prince of Wales under many important restrictions. The +Parliament of Ireland made him an offer of the Regency without +any restrictions whatever. By the same right by which the Irish +Lords and Commons made that offer, they might, if Mr Pitt's +doctrine be the constitutional doctrine, as I believe it to be, +have made the Duke of York or the Duke of Leinster Regent. To +this Regent they might have given all the prerogatives of the +King. Suppose,--no extravagant supposition,--that George the +Third had not recovered, that the rest of his long life had been +passed in seclusion, Great Britain and Ireland would then have +been, during thirty-two years, as completely separated as Great +Britain and Spain. There would have been nothing in common +between the governments, neither executive power nor legislative +power. It is plain, therefore, that a total separation between +the two islands might, in the natural course of things, and +without the smallest violation of the constitution on either +side, be the effect of the arrangement recommended by the +honourable and learned gentleman, who solemnly declares that he +should consider such a separation as the greatest of calamities. + +No doubt, Sir, in several continental kingdoms there have been +two legislatures, and indeed more than two legislatures, under +the same Crown. But the explanation is simple. Those +legislatures were of no real weight in the government. Under +Louis the Fourteenth Brittany had its States; Burgundy had its +States; and yet there was no collision between the States of +Brittany and the States of Burgundy. But why? Because neither +the States of Brittany nor the States of Burgundy imposed any +real restraint on the arbitrary power of the monarch. So, in the +dominions of the House of Hapsburg, there is the semblance of a +legislature in Hungary and the semblance of a legislature in the +Tyrol: but all the real power is with the Emperor. I do not say +that you cannot have one executive power and two mock +parliaments, two parliaments which merely transact parish +business, two parliaments which exercise no more influence on +great affairs of state than the vestry of St Pancras or the +vestry of Marylebone. What I do say, and what common sense +teaches, and what all history teaches, is this, that you cannot +have one executive power and two real parliaments, two +parliaments possessing such powers as the parliament of this +country has possessed ever since the Revolution, two parliaments +to the deliberate sense of which the Sovereign must conform. If +they differ, how can he conform to the sense of both? The thing +is as plain as a proposition in Euclid. + +It is impossible for me to believe that considerations so obvious +and so important should not have occurred to the honourable and +learned Member for Dublin. Doubtless they have occurred to him; +and therefore it is that he shrinks from arguing the question +here. Nay, even when he harangues more credulous assemblies on +the subject, he carefully avoids precise explanations; and the +hints which sometimes escape him are not easily to be reconciled +with each other. On one occasion, if the newspapers are to be +trusted, he declared that his object was to establish a federal +union between Great Britain and Ireland. A local parliament, it +seems, is to sit at Dublin, and to send deputies to an imperial +parliament which is to sit at Westminster. The honourable and +learned gentleman thinks, I suppose, that in this way he evades +the difficulties which I have pointed out. But he deceives +himself. If, indeed, his local legislature is to be subject to +his imperial legislature, if his local legislature is to be +merely what the Assembly of Antigua or Barbadoes is, or what the +Irish Parliament was before 1782, the danger of collision is no +doubt removed: but what, on the honourable and learned +gentleman's own principles, would Ireland gain by such an +arrangement? If, on the other hand, his local legislature is to +be for certain purposes independent, you have again the risk of +collision. Suppose that a difference of opinion should arise +between the Imperial Parliament and the Irish Parliament as to +the limits of their powers, who is to decide between them? A +dispute between the House of Commons and the House of Lords is +bad enough. Yet in that case, the Sovereign can, by a high +exercise of his prerogative, produce harmony. He can send us +back to our constituents; and, if that expedient fails, he can +create more lords. When, in 1705, the dispute between the Houses +about the Aylesbury men ran high, Queen Anne restored concord by +dismissing the Parliament. Seven years later she put an end to +another conflict between the Houses by making twelve peers in one +day. But who is to arbitrate between two representative bodies +chosen by different constituent bodies? Look at what is now +passing in America. Of all federal constitutions that of the +United States is the best. It was framed by a convention which +contained many wise and experienced men, and over which +Washington presided. Yet there is a debateable ground on the +frontier which separates the functions of Congress from those of +the state legislatures. A dispute as to the exact boundary has +lately arisen. Neither party seems disposed to yield: and, if +both persist, there can be no umpire but the sword. + +For my part, Sir, I have no hesitation in saying that I should +very greatly prefer the total separation which the honourable and +learned gentleman professes to consider as a calamity, to the +partial separation which he has taught his countrymen to regard +as a blessing. If, on a fair trial, it be found that Great +Britain and Ireland cannot exist happily together as parts of one +empire, in God's name let them separate. I wish to see them +joined as the limbs of a well formed body are joined. In such a +body the members assist each other: they are nourished by the +same food: if one member suffer, all suffer with it: if one +member rejoice, all rejoice with it. But I do not wish to see +the countries united, like those wretched twins from Siam who +were exhibited here a little while ago, by an unnatural ligament +which made each the constant plague of the other, always in each +other's way, more helpless than others because they had twice as +many hands, slower than others because they had twice as many +legs, sympathising with each other only in evil, not feeling each +other's pleasures, not supported by each other's aliments, but +tormented by each other's infirmities, and certain to perish +miserably by each other's dissolution. + +Ireland has undoubtedly just causes of complaint. We heard those +causes recapitulated last night by the honourable and learned +Member, who tells us that he represents not Dublin alone, but +Ireland, and that he stands between his country and civil war. I +do not deny that most of the grievances which he recounted exist, +that they are serious, and that they ought to be remedied as far +as it is in the power of legislation to remedy them. What I do +deny is that they were caused by the Union, and that the Repeal +of the Union would remove them. I listened attentively while the +honourable and learned gentleman went through that long and +melancholy list: and I am confident that he did not mention a +single evil which was not a subject of bitter complaint while +Ireland had a domestic parliament. Is it fair, is it reasonable +in the honourable gentleman to impute to the Union evils which, +as he knows better than any other man in this house, existed long +before the Union? Post hoc: ergo, propter hoc is not always +sound reasoning. But ante hoc: ergo, non propter hoc is +unanswerable. The old rustic who told Sir Thomas More that +Tenterden steeple was the cause of Godwin sands reasoned much +better than the honourable and learned gentleman. For it was not +till after Tenterden steeple was built that the frightful wrecks +on the Godwin sands were heard of. But the honourable and +learned gentleman would make Godwin sands the cause of Tenterden +steeple. Some of the Irish grievances which he ascribes to the +Union are not only older than the Union, but are not peculiarly +Irish. They are common to England, Scotland, and Ireland; and it +was in order to get rid of them that we, for the common benefit +of England, Scotland, and Ireland, passed the Reform Bill last +year. Other grievances which the honourable and learned +gentleman mentioned are doubtless local; but is there to be a +local legislature wherever there is a local grievance? Wales has +had local grievances. We all remember the complaints which were +made a few years ago about the Welsh judicial system; but did +anybody therefore propose that Wales should have a distinct +parliament? Cornwall has some local grievances; but does anybody +propose that Cornwall shall have its own House of Lords and its +own House of Commons? Leeds has local grievances. The majority +of my constituents distrust and dislike the municipal government +to which they are subject; they therefore call loudly on us for +corporation reform: but they do not ask us for a separate +legislature. Of this I am quite sure, that every argument which +has been urged for the purpose of showing that Great Britain and +Ireland ought to have two distinct parliaments may be urged with +far greater force for the purpose of showing that the north of +Ireland and the south of Ireland ought to have two distinct +parliaments. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom, it has +been said, is chiefly elected by Protestants, and therefore +cannot be trusted to legislate for Catholic Ireland. If this be +so, how can an Irish House of Commons, chiefly elected by +Catholics, be trusted to legislate for Protestant Ulster? It is +perfectly notorious that theological antipathies are stronger in +Ireland than here. I appeal to the honourable and learned +gentleman himself. He has often declared that it is impossible +for a Roman Catholic, whether prosecutor or culprit, to obtain +justice from a jury of Orangemen. It is indeed certain that, in +blood, religion, language, habits, character, the population of +some of the northern counties of Ireland has much more in common +with the population of England and Scotland than with the +population of Munster and Connaught. I defy the honourable and +learned Member, therefore, to find a reason for having a +parliament at Dublin which will not be just as good a reason for +having another parliament at Londonderry. + +Sir, in showing, as I think I have shown, the absurdity of this +cry for Repeal, I have in a great measure vindicated myself from +the charge of inconsistency which has been brought against me by +my honourable friend the Member for Lincoln. It is very easy to +bring a volume of Hansard to the House, to read a few sentences +of a speech made in very different circumstances, and to say, +"Last year you were for pacifying England by concession: this +year you are for pacifying Ireland by coercion. How can you +vindicate your consistency?" Surely my honourable friend cannot +but know that nothing is easier than to write a theme for +severity, for clemency, for order, for liberty, for a +contemplative life, for a active life, and so on. It was a +common exercise in the ancient schools of rhetoric to take an +abstract question, and to harangue first on one side and then on +the other. The question, Ought popular discontents to be quieted +by concession or coercion? would have been a very good subject +for oratory of this kind. There is no lack of commonplaces on +either side. But when we come to the real business of life, the +value of these commonplaces depends entirely on the particular +circumstances of the case which we are discussing. Nothing is +easier than to write a treatise proving that it is lawful to +resist extreme tyranny. Nothing is easier than to write a +treatise setting forth the wickedness of wantonly bringing on a +great society the miseries inseparable from revolution, the +bloodshed, the spoliation, the anarchy. Both treatises may +contain much that is true; but neither will enable us to decide +whether a particular insurrection is or is not justifiable +without a close examination of the facts. There is surely no +inconsistency in speaking with respect of the memory of Lord +Russell and with horror of the crime of Thistlewood; and, in my +opinion, the conduct of Russell and the conduct of Thistlewood +did not differ more widely than the cry for Parliamentary Reform +and the cry for the Repeal of the Union. The Reform Bill I +believe to be a blessing to the nation. Repeal I know to be a +mere delusion. I know it to be impracticable: and I know that, +if it were practicable, it would be pernicious to every part of +the empire, and utterly ruinous to Ireland. Is it not then +absurd to say that, because I wished last year to quiet the +English people by giving them that which was beneficial to them, +I am therefore bound in consistency to quiet the Irish people +this year by giving them that which will be fatal to them? I +utterly deny, too, that, in consenting to arm the government with +extraordinary powers for the purpose of repressing disturbances +in Ireland, I am guilty of the smallest inconsistency. On what +occasion did I ever refuse to support any government in +repressing disturbances? It is perfectly true that, in the +debates on the Reform Bill, I imputed the tumults and outrages of +1830 to misrule. But did I ever say that those tumults and +outrages ought to be tolerated? I did attribute the Kentish +riots, the Hampshire riots, the burning of corn stacks, the +destruction of threshing machines, to the obstinacy with which +the Ministers of the Crown had refused to listen to the demands +of the people. But did I ever say that the rioters ought not to +be imprisoned, that the incendiaries ought not to be hanged? I +did ascribe the disorders of Nottingham and the fearful sacking +of Bristol to the unwise rejection of the Reform Bill by the +Lords. But did I ever say that such excesses as were committed +at Nottingham and Bristol ought not to be put down, if necessary, +by the sword? + +I would act towards Ireland on the same principles on which I +acted towards England. In Ireland, as in England, I would remove +every just cause of complaint; and in Ireland, as in England, I +would support the Government in preserving the public peace. +What is there inconsistent in this? My honourable friend seems +to think that no person who believes that disturbances have been +caused by maladministration can consistently lend his help to put +down those disturbances. If that be so, the honourable and +learned Member for Dublin is quite as inconsistent as I am; +indeed, much more so; for he thinks very much worse of the +Government than I do; and yet he declares himself willing to +assist the Government in quelling the tumults which, as he +assures us, its own misconduct is likely to produce. He told us +yesterday that our harsh policy might perhaps goad the unthinking +populace of Ireland into insurrection; and he added that, if +there should be insurrection, he should, while execrating us as +the authors of all the mischief, be found in our ranks, and +should be ready to support us in everything that might be +necessary for the restoration of order. As to this part of the +subject, there is no difference in principle between the +honourable and learned gentleman and myself. In his opinion, it +is probable that a time may soon come when vigorous coercion may +be necessary, and when it may be the duty of every friend of +Ireland to co-operate in the work of coercion. In my opinion, +that time has already come. The grievances of Ireland are +doubtless great, so great that I never would have connected +myself with a Government which I did not believe to be intent on +redressing those grievances. But am I, because the grievances of +Ireland are great, and ought to be redressed, to abstain from +redressing the worst grievance of all? Am I to look on quietly +while the laws are insulted by a furious rabble, while houses are +plundered and burned, while my peaceable fellow-subjects are +butchered? The distribution of Church property, you tell us, is +unjust. Perhaps I agree with you. But what then? To what +purpose is it to talk about the distribution of Church property, +while no property is secure? Then you try to deter us from +putting down robbery, arson, and murder, by telling us that if we +resort to coercion we shall raise a civil war. We are past that +fear. Recollect that, in one county alone, there have been +within a few weeks sixty murders or assaults with intent to +murder and six hundred burglaries. Since we parted last summer +the slaughter in Ireland has exceeded the slaughter of a pitched +battle: the destruction of property has been as great as would +have been caused by the storming of three or four towns. Civil +war, indeed! I would rather live in the midst of any civil war +that we have had in England during the last two hundred years +than in some parts of Ireland at the present moment. Rather, +much rather, would I have lived on the line of march of the +Pretender's army in 1745 than in Tipperary now. It is idle to +threaten us with civil war; for we have it already; and it is +because we are resolved to put an end to it that we are called +base, and brutal, and bloody. Such are the epithets which the +honourable and learned Member for Dublin thinks it becoming to +pour forth against the party to which he owes every political +privilege that he enjoys. He need not fear that any member of +that party will be provoked into a conflict of scurrility. Use +makes even sensitive minds callous to invective: and, copious as +his vocabulary is, he will not easily find in it any foul name +which has not been many times applied to those who sit around me, +on account of the zeal and steadiness with which they supported +the emancipation of the Roman Catholics. His reproaches are not +more stinging than the reproaches which, in times not very +remote, we endured unflinchingly in his cause. I can assure him +that men who faced the cry of No Popery are not likely to be +scared by the cry of Repeal. The time will come when history +will do justice to the Whigs of England, and will faithfully +relate how much they did and suffered for Ireland; how, for the +sake of Ireland, they quitted office in 1807; how, for the sake +of Ireland, they remained out of office more than twenty years, +braving the frowns of the Court, braving the hisses of the +multitude, renouncing power, and patronage, and salaries, and +peerages, and garters, and yet not obtaining in return even a +little fleeting popularity. I see on the benches near me men who +might, by uttering one word against Catholic Emancipation, nay, +by merely abstaining from uttering a word in favour of Catholic +Emancipation, have been returned to this House without difficulty +or expense, and who, rather than wrong their Irish fellow- +subjects, were content to relinquish all the objects of their +honourable ambition, and to retire into private life with +conscience and fame untarnished. As to one eminent person, who +seems to be regarded with especial malevolence by those who ought +never to mention his name without reverence and gratitude, I will +say only this: that the loudest clamour which the honourable and +learned gentleman can excite against Lord Grey will be trifling +when compared with the clamour which Lord Grey withstood in order +to place the honourable and learned gentleman where he now sits. +Though a young member of the Whig party, I will venture to speak +in the name of the whole body. I tell the honourable and learned +gentleman, that the same spirit which sustained us in a just +contest for him will sustain us in an equally just contest +against him. Calumny, abuse, royal displeasure, popular fury, +exclusion from office, exclusion from Parliament, we were ready +to endure them all, rather than that he should be less than a +British subject. We never will suffer him to be more. + +I stand here, Sir, for the first time as the representative of a +new constituent body, one of the largest, most prosperous, and +most enlightened towns in the kingdom. The electors of Leeds, +believing that at this time the service of the people is not +incompatible with the service of the Crown, have sent me to this +House charged, in the language of His Majesty's writ, to do and +consent, in their name and in their behalf, to such things as +shall be proposed in the great Council of the nation. In the +name, then, and on the behalf of my constituents, I give my full +assent to that part of the Address wherein the House declares its +resolution to maintain inviolate, by the help of God, the +connection between Great Britain and Ireland, and to intrust to +the Sovereign such powers as shall be necessary to secure +property, to restore order, and to preserve the integrity of the +empire. + +... + + +JEWISH DISABILITIES. (APRIL 17, 1833) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE OF COMMONS +ON THE 17TH OF APRIL, 1833. + +On the seventeenth of April, 1833, the House of Commons resolved +itself into a Committee to consider of the civil disabilities of +the Jews. Mr Warburton took the chair. Mr Robert Grant moved +the following resolution:-- + +"That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is expedient to +remove all civil disabilities at present existing with respect to +His Majesty's subjects professing the Jewish religion, with the +like exceptions as are provided with respect to His Majesty's +subjects professing the Roman Catholic religion." + +The resolution passed without a division, after a warm debate, in +the course of which the following Speech was made. + +Mr Warburton,--I recollect, and my honourable friend the Member +for the University of Oxford will recollect, that when this +subject was discussed three years ago, it was remarked, by one +whom we both loved and whom we both regret, that the strength of +the case of the Jews was a serious inconvenience to their +advocate, for that it was hardly possible to make a speech for +them without wearying the audience by repeating truths which were +universally admitted. If Sir James Mackintosh felt this +difficulty when the question was first brought forward in this +House, I may well despair of being able now to offer any +arguments which have a pretence to novelty. + +My honourable friend, the Member for the University of Oxford, +began his speech by declaring that he had no intention of calling +in question the principles of religious liberty. He utterly +disclaims persecution, that is to say, persecution as defined by +himself. It would, in his opinion, be persecution to hang a Jew, +or to flay him, or to draw his teeth, or to imprison him, or to +fine him; for every man who conducts himself peaceably has a +right to his life and his limbs, to his personal liberty and his +property. But it is not persecution, says my honourable friend, +to exclude any individual or any class from office; for nobody +has a right to office: in every country official appointments +must be subject to such regulations as the supreme authority may +choose to make; nor can any such regulations be reasonably +complained of by any member of the society as unjust. He who +obtains an office obtains it, not as matter of right, but as +matter of favour. He who does not obtain an office is not +wronged; he is only in that situation in which the vast majority +of every community must necessarily be. There are in the United +Kingdom five and twenty million Christians without places; and, +if they do not complain, why should five and twenty thousand Jews +complain of being in the same case? In this way my honourable +friend has convinced himself that, as it would be most absurd in +him and me to say that we are wronged because we are not +Secretaries of State, so it is most absurd in the Jews to say +that they are wronged, because they are, as a people, excluded +from public employment. + +Now, surely my honourable friend cannot have considered to what +conclusions his reasoning leads. Those conclusions are so +monstrous that he would, I am certain, shrink from them. Does he +really mean that it would not be wrong in the legislature to +enact that no man should be a judge unless he weighed twelve +stone, or that no man should sit in parliament unless he were six +feet high? We are about to bring in a bill for the government of +India. Suppose that we were to insert in that bill a clause +providing that no graduate of the University of Oxford should be +Governor General or Governor of any Presidency, would not my +honourable friend cry out against such a clause as most unjust to +the learned body which he represents? And would he think himself +sufficiently answered by being told, in his own words, that the +appointment to office is a mere matter of favour, and that to +exclude an individual or a class from office is no injury? +Surely, on consideration, he must admit that official +appointments ought not to be subject to regulations purely +arbitrary, to regulations for which no reason can be given but +mere caprice, and that those who would exclude any class from +public employment are bound to show some special reason for the +exclusion. + +My honourable friend has appealed to us as Christians. Let me +then ask him how he understands that great commandment which +comprises the law and the prophets. Can we be said to do unto +others as we would that they should do unto us if we wantonly +inflict on them even the smallest pain? As Christians, surely we +are bound to consider, first, whether, by excluding the Jews from +all public trust, we give them pain; and, secondly, whether it be +necessary to give them that pain in order to avert some greater +evil. That by excluding them from public trust we inflict pain +on them my honourable friend will not dispute. As a Christian, +therefore, he is bound to relieve them from that pain, unless he +can show, what I am sure he has not yet shown, that it is +necessary to the general good that they should continue to +suffer. + +But where, he says, are you to stop, if once you admit into the +House of Commons people who deny the authority of the Gospels? +Will you let in a Mussulman? Will you let in a Parsee? Will you +let in a Hindoo, who worships a lump of stone with seven heads? +I will answer my honourable friend's question by another. Where +does he mean to stop? Is he ready to roast unbelievers at slow +fires? If not, let him tell us why: and I will engage to prove +that his reason is just as decisive against the intolerance which +he thinks a duty, as against the intolerance which he thinks a +crime. Once admit that we are bound to inflict pain on a man +because he is not of our religion; and where are you to stop? +Why stop at the point fixed by my honourable friend rather than +at the point fixed by the honourable Member for Oldham (Mr +Cobbett.), who would make the Jews incapable of holding land? +And why stop at the point fixed by the honourable Member for +Oldham rather than at the point which would have been fixed by a +Spanish Inquisitor of the sixteenth century? When once you enter +on a course of persecution, I defy you to find any reason for +making a halt till you have reached the extreme point. When my +honourable friend tells us that he will allow the Jews to possess +property to any amount, but that he will not allow them to +possess the smallest political power, he holds contradictory +language. Property is power. The honourable Member for Oldham +reasons better than my honourable friend. The honourable Member +for Oldham sees very clearly that it is impossible to deprive a +man of political power if you suffer him to be the proprietor of +half a county, and therefore very consistently proposes to +confiscate the landed estates of the Jews. But even the +honourable Member for Oldham does not go far enough. He has not +proposed to confiscate the personal property of the Jews. Yet it +is perfectly certain that any Jew who has a million may easily +make himself very important in the State. By such steps we pass +from official power to landed property, and from landed property +to personal property, and from property to liberty, and from +liberty to life. In truth, those persecutors who use the rack +and the stake have much to say for themselves. They are +convinced that their end is good; and it must be admitted that +they employ means which are not unlikely to attain the end. +Religious dissent has repeatedly been put down by sanguinary +persecution. In that way the Albigenses were put down. In that +way Protestantism was suppressed in Spain and Italy, so that it +has never since reared its head. But I defy any body to produce +an instance in which disabilities such as we are now considering +have produced any other effect than that of making the sufferers +angry and obstinate. My honourable friend should either +persecute to some purpose, or not persecute at all. He dislikes +the word persecution I know. He will not admit that the Jews are +persecuted. And yet I am confident that he would rather be sent +to the King's Bench Prison for three months, or be fined a +hundred pounds, than be subject to the disabilities under which +the Jews lie. How can he then say that to impose such +disabilities is not persecution, and that to fine and imprison is +persecution? All his reasoning consists in drawing arbitrary +lines. What he does not wish to inflict he calls persecution. +What he does wish to inflict he will not call persecution. What +he takes from the Jews he calls political power. What he is too +good-natured to take from the Jews he will not call political +power. The Jew must not sit in Parliament: but he may be the +proprietor of all the ten pound houses in a borough. He may have +more fifty pound tenants than any peer in the kingdom. He may +give the voters treats to please their palates, and hire bands of +gipsies to break their heads, as if he were a Christian and a +Marquess. All the rest of this system is of a piece. The Jew +may be a juryman, but not a judge. He may decide issues of fact, +but not issues of law. He may give a hundred thousand pounds +damages; but he may not in the most trivial case grant a new +trial. He may rule the money market: he may influence the +exchanges: he may be summoned to congresses of Emperors and +Kings. Great potentates, instead of negotiating a loan with him +by tying him in a chair and pulling out his grinders, may treat +with him as with a great potentate, and may postpone the +declaring of war or the signing of a treaty till they have +conferred with him. All this is as it should be: but he must +not be a Privy Councillor. He must not be called Right +Honourable, for that is political power. And who is it that we +are trying to cheat in this way? Even Omniscience. Yes, Sir; we +have been gravely told that the Jews are under the divine +displeasure, and that if we give them political power God will +visit us in judgment. Do we then think that God cannot +distinguish between substance and form? Does not He know that, +while we withhold from the Jews the semblance and name of +political power, we suffer them to possess the substance? The +plain truth is that my honourable friend is drawn in one +direction by his opinions, and in a directly opposite direction +by his excellent heart. He halts between two opinions. He tries +to make a compromise between principles which admit of no +compromise. He goes a certain way in intolerance. Then he +stops, without being able to give a reason for stopping. But I +know the reason. It is his humanity. Those who formerly dragged +the Jew at a horse's tail, and singed his beard with blazing +furzebushes, were much worse men than my honourable friend; but +they were more consistent than he. + +It has been said that it would be monstrous to see a Jew judge +try a man for blasphemy. In my opinion it is monstrous to see +any judge try a man for blasphemy under the present law. But, if +the law on that subject were in a sound state, I do not see why a +conscientious Jew might not try a blasphemer. Every man, I +think, ought to be at liberty to discuss the evidences of +religion; but no man ought to be at liberty to force on the +unwilling ears and eyes of others sounds and sights which must +cause annoyance and irritation. The distinction is clear. I +think it wrong to punish a man for selling Paine's Age of Reason +in a back-shop to those who choose to buy, or for delivering a +Deistical lecture in a private room to those who choose to +listen. But if a man exhibits at a window in the Strand a +hideous caricature of that which is an object of awe and +adoration to nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand +of people who pass up and down that great thoroughfare; if a man +in a place of public resort applies opprobrious epithets to names +held in reverence by all Christians; such a man ought, in my +opinion, to be severely punished, not for differing from us in +opinion, but for committing a nuisance which gives us pain and +disgust. He is no more entitled to outrage our feelings by +obtruding his impiety on us, and to say that he is exercising his +right of discussion, than to establish a yard for butchering +horses close to our houses, and to say that he is exercising his +right of property, or to run naked up and down the public +streets, and to say that he is exercising his right of +locomotion. He has a right of discussion, no doubt, as he has a +right of property and a right of locomotion. But he must use all +his rights so as not to infringe the rights of others. + +These, Sir, are the principles on which I would frame the law of +blasphemy; and if the law were so framed, I am at a loss to +understand why a Jew might not enforce it as well as a Christian. +I am not a Roman Catholic; but if I were a judge at Malta, I +should have no scruple about punishing a bigoted Protestant who +should burn the Pope in effigy before the eyes of thousands of +Roman Catholics. I am not a Mussulman; but if I were a judge in +India, I should have no scruple about punishing a Christian who +should pollute a mosque. Why, then, should I doubt that a Jew, +raised by his ability, learning, and integrity to the judicial +bench, would deal properly with any person who, in a Christian +country, should insult the Christian religion? + +But, says my honourable friend, it has been prophesied that the +Jews are to be wanderers on the face of the earth, and that they +are not to mix on terms of equality with the people of the +countries in which they sojourn. Now, Sir, I am confident that I +can demonstrate that this is not the sense of any prophecy which +is part of Holy Writ. For it is an undoubted fact that, in the +United States of America, Jewish citizens do possess all the +privileges possessed by Christian citizens. Therefore, if the +prophecies mean that the Jews never shall, during their +wanderings, be admitted by other nations to equal participation +of political rights, the prophecies are false. But the +prophecies are certainly not false. Therefore their meaning +cannot be that which is attributed to them by my honourable +friend. + +Another objection which has been made to this motion is that the +Jews look forward to the coming of a great deliverer, to their +return to Palestine, to the rebuilding of their Temple, to the +revival of their ancient worship, and that therefore they will +always consider England, not their country, but merely as their +place of exile. But, surely, Sir, it would be the grossest +ignorance of human nature to imagine that the anticipation of an +event which is to happen at some time altogether indefinite, of +an event which has been vainly expected during many centuries, of +an event which even those who confidently expect that it will +happen do not confidently expect that they or their children or +their grandchildren will see, can ever occupy the minds of men to +such a degree as to make them regardless of what is near and +present and certain. Indeed Christians, as well as Jews, believe +that the existing order of things will come to an end. Many +Christians believe that Jesus will visibly reign on earth during +a thousand years. Expositors of prophecy have gone so far as to +fix the year when the Millennial period is to commence. The +prevailing opinion is, I think, in favour of the year 1866; but, +according to some commentators, the time is close at hand. Are +we to exclude all millennarians from Parliament and office, on +the ground that they are impatiently looking forward to the +miraculous monarchy which is to supersede the present dynasty and +the present constitution of England, and that therefore they +cannot be heartily loyal to King William? + +In one important point, Sir, my honourable friend, the Member for +the University of Oxford, must acknowledge that the Jewish +religion is of all erroneous religions the least mischievous. +There is not the slightest chance that the Jewish religion will +spread. The Jew does not wish to make proselytes. He may be +said to reject them. He thinks it almost culpable in one who +does not belong to his race to presume to belong to his religion. +It is therefore not strange that a conversion from Christianity +to Judaism should be a rarer occurrence than a total eclipse of +the sun. There was one distinguished convert in the last +century, Lord George Gordon; and the history of his conversion +deserves to be remembered. For if ever there was a proselyte of +whom a proselytising sect would have been proud, it was Lord +George; not only because he was a man of high birth and rank; not +only because he had been a member of the legislature; but also +because he had been distinguished by the intolerance, nay, the +ferocity, of his zeal for his own form of Christianity. But was +he allured into the Synagogue? Was he even welcomed to it? No, +sir; he was coldly and reluctantly permitted to share the +reproach and suffering of the chosen people; but he was sternly +shut out from their privileges. He underwent the painful rite +which their law enjoins. But when, on his deathbed, he begged +hard to be buried among them according to their ceremonial, he +was told that his request could not be granted. I understand +that cry of "Hear." It reminds me that one of the arguments +against this motion is that the Jews are an unsocial people, that +they draw close to each other, and stand aloof from strangers. +Really, Sir, it is amusing to compare the manner in which the +question of Catholic emancipation was argued formerly by some +gentlemen with the manner in which the question of Jew +emancipation is argued by the same gentlemen now. When the +question was about Catholic emancipation, the cry was, "See how +restless, how versatile, how encroaching, how insinuating, is the +spirit of the Church of Rome. See how her priests compass earth +and sea to make one proselyte, how indefatigably they toil, how +attentively they study the weak and strong parts of every +character, how skilfully they employ literature, arts, sciences, +as engines for the propagation of their faith. You find them in +every region and under every disguise, collating manuscripts in +the Bodleian, fixing telescopes in the observatory of Pekin, +teaching the use of the plough and the spinning-wheel to the +savages of Paraguay. Will you give power to the members of a +Church so busy, so aggressive, so insatiable?" Well, now the +question is about people who never try to seduce any stranger to +join them, and who do not wish anybody to be of their faith who +is not also of their blood. And now you exclaim, "Will you give +power to the members of a sect which remains sullenly apart from +other sects, which does not invite, nay, which hardly ever admits +neophytes?" The truth is, that bigotry will never want a +pretence. Whatever the sect be which it is proposed to tolerate, +the peculiarities of that sect will, for the time, be pronounced +by intolerant men to be the most odious and dangerous that can be +conceived. As to the Jews, that they are unsocial as respects +religion is true; and so much the better: for, surely, as +Christians, we cannot wish that they should bestir themselves to +pervert us from our own faith. But that the Jews would be +unsocial members of the civil community, if the civil community +did its duty by them, has never been proved. My right honourable +friend who made the motion which we are discussing has produced a +great body of evidence to show that they have been grossly +misrepresented; and that evidence has not been refuted by my +honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford. But +what if it were true that the Jews are unsocial? What if it were +true that they do not regard England as their country? Would not +the treatment which they have undergone explain and excuse their +antipathy to the society in which they live? Has not similar +antipathy often been felt by persecuted Christians to the society +which persecuted them? While the bloody code of Elizabeth was +enforced against the English Roman Catholics, what was the +patriotism of Roman Catholics? Oliver Cromwell said that in his +time they were Espaniolised. At a later period it might have +been said that they were Gallicised. It was the same with the +Calvinists. What more deadly enemies had France in the days of +Louis the Fourteenth than the persecuted Huguenots? But would +any rational man infer from these facts that either the Roman +Catholic as such, or the Calvinist as such, is incapable of +loving the land of his birth? If England were now invaded by +Roman Catholics, how many English Roman Catholics would go over +to the invader? If France were now attacked by a Protestant +enemy, how many French Protestants would lend him help? Why not +try what effect would be produced on the Jews by that tolerant +policy which has made the English Roman Catholic a good +Englishman, and the French Calvinist a good Frenchman? + +Another charge has been brought against the Jews, not by my +honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford--he has +too much learning and too much good feeling to make such a +charge--but by the honourable Member for Oldham, who has, I am +sorry to see, quitted his place. The honourable Member for +Oldham tells us that the Jews are naturally a mean race, a sordid +race, a money-getting race; that they are averse to all +honourable callings; that they neither sow nor reap; that they +have neither flocks nor herds; that usury is the only pursuit for +which they are fit; that they are destitute of all elevated and +amiable sentiments. Such, Sir, has in every age been the +reasoning of bigots. They never fail to plead in justification +of persecution the vices which persecution has engendered. +England has been to the Jews less than half a country; and we +revile them because they do not feel for England more than a half +patriotism. We treat them as slaves, and wonder that they do not +regard us as brethren. We drive them to mean occupations, and +then reproach them for not embracing honourable professions. We +long forbade them to possess land; and we complain that they +chiefly occupy themselves in trade. We shut them out from all +the paths of ambition; and then we despise them for taking refuge +in avarice. During many ages we have, in all our dealings with +them, abused our immense superiority of force; and then we are +disgusted because they have recourse to that cunning which is the +natural and universal defence of the weak against the violence of +the strong. But were they always a mere money-changing, money- +getting, money-hoarding race? Nobody knows better than my +honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford that +there is nothing in their national character which unfits them +for the highest duties of citizens. He knows that, in the +infancy of civilisation, when our island was as savage as New +Guinea, when letters and arts were still unknown to Athens, when +scarcely a thatched hut stood on what was afterwards the site of +Rome, this contemned people had their fenced cities and cedar +palaces, their splendid Temple, their fleets of merchant ships, +their schools of sacred learning, their great statesmen and +soldiers, their natural philosophers, their historians and their +poets. What nation ever contended more manfully against +overwhelming odds for its independence and religion? What nation +ever, in its last agonies, gave such signal proofs of what may be +accomplished by a brave despair? And if, in the course of many +centuries, the oppressed descendants of warriors and sages have +degenerated from the qualities of their fathers, if, while +excluded from the blessings of law, and bowed down under the yoke +of slavery, they have contracted some of the vices of outlaws and +of slaves, shall we consider this as matter of reproach to them? +Shall we not rather consider it as matter of shame and remorse to +ourselves? Let us do justice to them. Let us open to them the +door of the House of Commons. Let us open to them every career +in which ability and energy can be displayed. Till we have done +this, let us not presume to say that there is no genius among the +countrymen of Isaiah, no heroism among the descendants of the +Maccabees. + +Sir, in supporting the motion of my honourable friend, I am, I +firmly believe, supporting the honour and the interests of the +Christian religion. I should think that I insulted that religion +if I said that it cannot stand unaided by intolerant laws. +Without such laws it was established, and without such laws it +may be maintained. It triumphed over the superstitions of the +most refined and of the most savage nations, over the graceful +mythology of Greece and the bloody idolatry of the Northern +forests. It prevailed over the power and policy of the Roman +empire. It tamed the barbarians by whom that empire was +overthrown. But all these victories were gained not by the help +of intolerance, but in spite of the opposition of intolerance. +The whole history of Christianity proves that she has little +indeed to fear from persecution as a foe, but much to fear from +persecution as an ally. May she long continue to bless our +country with her benignant influence, strong in her sublime +philosophy, strong in her spotless morality, strong in those +internal and external evidences to which the most powerful and +comprehensive of human intellects have yielded assent, the last +solace of those who have outlived every earthly hope, the last +restraint of those who are raised above every earthly fear! But +let not us, mistaking her character and her interests, fight the +battle of truth with the weapons of error, and endeavour to +support by oppression that religion which first taught the human +race the great lesson of universal charity. + +... + + +GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. (JULY 10, 1833) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 10TH OF JULY +1833. + +On Wednesday, the tenth of July 1833, Mr Charles Grant, President +of the Board of Control, moved that the Bill for effecting an +arrangement with the India Company, and for the better government +of His Majesty's Indian territories, should be read a second +time. The motion was carried without a division, but not without +a long debate, in the course of which the following Speech was +made. + +Having, while this bill was in preparation, enjoyed the fullest +and kindest confidence of my right honourable friend, the +President of the Board of Control, agreeing with him completely +in all those views which on a former occasion he so luminously +and eloquently developed, having shared his anxieties, and +feeling that in some degree I share his responsibility, I am +naturally desirous to obtain the attention of the House while I +attempt to defend the principles of the proposed arrangement. I +wish that I could promise to be very brief; but the subject is so +extensive that I will only promise to condense what I have to say +as much as I can. + +I rejoice, Sir, that I am completely dispensed, by the turn which +our debates have taken, from the necessity of saying anything in +favour of one part of our plan, the opening of the China trade. +No voice, I believe, has yet been raised here in support of the +monopoly. On that subject all public men of all parties seem to +be agreed. The resolution proposed by the Ministers has received +the unanimous assent of both Houses, and the approbation of the +whole kingdom. I will not, therefore, Sir, detain you by +vindicating what no gentleman has yet ventured to attack, but +will proceed to call your attention to those effects which this +great commercial revolution necessarily produced on the system of +Indian government and finance. + +The China trade is to be opened. Reason requires this. Public +opinion requires it. The Government of the Duke of Wellington +felt the necessity as strongly as the Government of Lord Grey. +No Minister, Whig or Tory, could have been found to propose a +renewal of the monopoly. No parliament, reformed or unreformed, +would have listened to such a proposition. But though the +opening of the trade was a matter concerning which the public had +long made up its mind, the political consequences which must +necessarily follow from the opening of the trade seem to me to be +even now little understood. The language which I have heard in +almost every circle where the subject was discussed was this: +"Take away the monopoly, and leave the government of India to the +Company:" a very short and convenient way of settling one of the +most complicated questions that ever a legislature had to +consider. The honourable Member for Sheffield (Mr Buckingham.), +though not disposed to retain the Company as an organ of +government, has repeatedly used language which proves that he +shares in the general misconception. The fact is that the +abolition of the monopoly rendered it absolutely necessary to +make a fundamental change in the constitution of that great +Corporation. + +The Company had united in itself two characters, the character of +trader and the character of sovereign. Between the trader and +the sovereign there was a long and complicated account, almost +every item of which furnished matter for litigation. While the +monopoly continued, indeed, litigation was averted. The effect +of the monopoly was, to satisfy the claims both of commerce and +of territory, at the expense of a third party, the English +people: to secure at once funds for the dividend of the +stockholder and funds for the government of the Indian Empire, by +means of a heavy tax on the tea consumed in this country. But, +when the third party would no longer bear this charge, all the +great financial questions which had, at the cost of that third +party, been kept in abeyance, were opened in an instant. The +connection between the Company in its mercantile capacity, and +the same Company in its political capacity, was dissolved. Even +if the Company were permitted, as has been suggested, to govern +India, and at the same time to trade with China, no advances +would be made from the profits of its Chinese trade for the +support of its Indian government. It was in consideration of the +exclusive privilege that the Company had hitherto been required +to make those advances; it was by the exclusive privilege that +the Company had been enabled to make them. When that privilege +was taken away, it would be unreasonable in the legislature to +impose such an obligation, and impossible for the Company to +fulfil it. The whole system of loans from commerce to territory, +and repayments from territory to commerce, must cease. Each +party must rest altogether on its own resources. It was +therefore absolutely necessary to ascertain what resources each +party possessed, to bring the long and intricate account between +them to a close, and to assign to each a fair portion of assets +and liabilities. There was vast property. How much of that +property was applicable to purposes of state? How much was +applicable to a dividend? There were debts to the amount of many +millions. Which of these were the debts of the government that +ruled at Calcutta? Which of the great mercantile house that +bought tea at Canton? Were the creditors to look to the land +revenues of India for their money? Or, were they entitled to put +executions into the warehouses behind Bishopsgate Street? + +There were two ways of settling these questions--adjudication and +compromise. The difficulties of adjudication were great; I think +insuperable. Whatever acuteness and diligence could do has been +done. One person in particular, whose talents and industry +peculiarly fitted him for such investigations, and of whom I can +never think without regret, Mr Hyde Villiers, devoted himself to +the examination with an ardour and a perseverance, which, I +believe, shortened a life most valuable to his country and to his +friends. The assistance of the most skilful accountants has been +called in. But the difficulties are such as no accountant, +however skilful, could possibly remove. The difficulties are not +arithmetical, but political. They arise from the constitution of +the Company, from the long and intimate union of the commercial +and imperial characters in one body. Suppose that the treasurer +of a charity were to mix up the money which he receives on +account of the charity with his own private rents and dividends, +to pay the whole into his bank to his own private account, to +draw it out again by cheques in exactly the same form when he +wanted it for his private expenses, and when he wanted it for the +purposes of his public trust. Suppose that he were to continue +to act thus till he was himself ignorant whether he were in +advance or in arrear; and suppose that many years after his death +a question were to arise whether his estate were in debt to the +charity or the charity in debt to his estate. Such is the +question which is now before us, with this important difference; +that the accounts of an individual could not be in such a state +unless he had been guilty of fraud, or of that gross negligence +which is scarcely less culpable than fraud, and that the accounts +of the Company were brought into this state by circumstances of a +very peculiar kind, by circumstances unparalleled in the history +of the world. + +It is a mistake to suppose that the Company was a merely +commercial body till the middle of the last century. Commerce +was its chief object; but in order to enable it to pursue that +object, it had been, like the other Companies which were its +rivals, like the Dutch India Company, like the French India +Company, invested from a very early period with political +functions. More than a hundred and twenty years ago, the Company +was in miniature precisely what it now is. It was intrusted with +the very highest prerogatives of sovereignty. It had its forts, +and its white captains, and its black sepoys; it had its civil +and criminal tribunals; it was authorised to proclaim martial +law; it sent ambassadors to the native governments, and concluded +treaties with them; it was Zemindar of several districts, and +within those districts, like other Zemindars of the first class, +it exercised the powers of a sovereign, even to the infliction of +capital punishment on the Hindoos within its jurisdiction. It is +incorrect, therefore, to say, that the Company was at first a +mere trader, and has since become a sovereign. It was at first a +great trader and a petty prince. The political functions at +first attracted little notice, because they were merely auxiliary +to the commercial functions. By degrees, however, the political +functions became more and more important. The Zemindar became a +great nabob, became sovereign of all India; the two hundred +sepoys became two hundred thousand. This change was gradually +wrought, and was not immediately comprehended. It was natural +that, while the political functions of the Company were merely +auxiliary to its commerce, the political accounts should have +been mixed up with the commercial accounts. It was equally +natural that this mode of keeping accounts, having once been +established, should have remained unaltered; and the more so, as +the change in the situation of the Company, though rapid, was not +sudden. It is impossible to name any one day, or any one year, +as the day or the year when the Company became a great potentate. +It has been the fashion indeed to fix on the year 1765, the year +in which the Mogul issued a commission authorising the Company to +administer the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, as the +precise date of the accession of this singular body to +sovereignty. I am utterly at a loss to understand why this epoch +should be selected. Long before 1765 the Company had the reality +of political power. Long before that year, they made a Nabob of +Arcot; they made and unmade Nabobs of Bengal; they humbled the +Vizier of Oude; they braved the Emperor of Hindostan himself; +more than half the revenues of Bengal were, under one pretence or +another, administered by them. And after the grant, the Company +was not, in form and name, an independent power. It was merely a +minister of the Court of Delhi. Its coinage bore the name of +Shah Alam. The inscription which, down to the time of the +Marquess of Hastings, appeared on the seal of the Governor- +General, declared that great functionary to be the slave of the +Mogul. Even to this day we have never formally deposed the King +of Delhi. The Company contents itself with being Mayor of the +Palace, while the Roi Faineant is suffered to play at being a +sovereign. In fact, it was considered, both by Lord Clive and by +Warren Hastings, as a point of policy to leave the character of +the Company thus undefined, in order that the English might treat +the princes in whose names they governed as realities or +nonentities, just as might be most convenient. + +Thus the transformation of the Company from a trading body, which +possessed some sovereign prerogatives for the purposes of trade, +into a sovereign body, the trade of which was auxiliary to its +sovereignty, was effected by degrees and under disguise. It is +not strange, therefore, that the mercantile and political +transactions of this great corporation should be entangled +together in inextricable complication. The commercial +investments have been purchased out of the revenues of the +empire. The expenses of war and government have been defrayed +out of the profits of the trade. Commerce and territory have +contributed to the improvement of the same spot of land, to the +repairs of the same building. Securities have been given in +precisely the same form for money which has been borrowed for +purposes of State, and for money which has been borrowed for +purposes of traffic. It is easy, indeed,--and this is a +circumstance which has, I think, misled some gentlemen,--it is +easy to see what part of the assets of the Company appears in a +commercial form, and what part appears in a political or +territorial form. But this is not the question. Assets which +are commercial in form may be territorial as respects the right +of property; assets which are territorial in form may be +commercial as respects the right of property. A chest of tea is +not necessarily commercial property; it may have been bought out +of the territorial revenue. A fort is not necessarily +territorial property; it may stand on ground which the Company +bought a hundred years ago out of their commercial profits. +Adjudication, if by adjudication be meant decision according to +some known rule of law, was out of the question. To leave +matters like these to be determined by the ordinary maxims of our +civil jurisprudence would have been the height of absurdity and +injustice. For example, the home bond debt of the Company, it is +believed, was incurred partly for political and partly for +commercial purposes. But there is no evidence which would enable +us to assign to each branch its proper share. The bonds all run +in the same form; and a court of justice would, therefore, of +course, either lay the whole burthen on the proprietors, or lay +the whole on the territory. We have legal opinions, very +respectable legal opinions, to the effect, that in strictness of +law the territory is not responsible, and that the commercial +assets are responsible for every farthing of the debts which were +incurred for the government and defence of India. But though +this may be, and I believe is, law, it is, I am sure, neither +reason nor justice. On the other hand, it is urged by the +advocates of the Company, that some valuable portions of the +territory are the property of that body in its commercial +capacity; that Calcutta, for example, is the private estate of +the Company; that the Company holds the island of Bombay, in free +and common socage, as of the Manor of East Greenwich. I will not +pronounce any opinion on these points. I have considered them +enough to see that there is quite difficulty enough in them to +exercise all the ingenuity of all the lawyers in the kingdom for +twenty years. But the fact is, Sir, that the municipal law was +not made for controversies of this description. The existence of +such a body as this gigantic corporation, this political monster +of two natures, subject in one hemisphere, sovereign in another, +had never been contemplated by the legislators or judges of +former ages. Nothing but grotesque absurdity and atrocious +injustice could have been the effect, if the claims and +liabilities of such a body had been settled according to the +rules of Westminster Hall, if the maxims of conveyancers had been +applied to the titles by which flourishing cities and provinces +are held, or the maxims of the law merchant to those promissory +notes which are the securities for a great National Debt, raised +for the purpose of exterminating the Pindarrees and humbling the +Burmese. + +It was, as I have said, absolutely impossible to bring the +question between commerce and territory to a satisfactory +adjudication; and I must add that, even if the difficulties which +I have mentioned could have been surmounted, even if there had +been reason to hope that a satisfactory adjudication could have +been obtained, I should still have wished to avoid that course. +I think it desirable that the Company should continue to have a +share in the government of India; and it would evidently have +been impossible, pending a litigation between commerce and +territory, to leave any political power to the Company. It would +clearly have been the duty of those who were charged with the +superintendence of India, to be the patrons of India throughout +that momentous litigation, to scrutinise with the utmost severity +every claim which might be made on the Indian revenues, and to +oppose, with energy and perseverance, every such claim, unless +its justice were manifest. If the Company was to be engaged in a +suit for many millions, in a suit which might last for many +years, against the Indian territory, could we entrust the Company +with the government of that territory? Could we put the +plaintiff in the situation of prochain ami of the defendant? +Could we appoint governors who would have an interest opposed in +the most direct manner to the interest of the governed, whose +stock would have been raised in value by every decision which +added to the burthens of their subjects, and depressed by every +decision which diminished those burthens? It would be absurd to +suppose that they would efficiently defend our Indian Empire +against the claims which they were themselves bringing against +it; and it would be equally absurd to give the government of the +Indian Empire to those who could not be trusted to defend its +interests. + +Seeing, then, that it was most difficult, if not wholly +impossible, to resort to adjudication between commerce and +territory, seeing that, if recourse were had to adjudication, it +would be necessary to make a complete revolution in the whole +constitution of India, the Government has proposed a compromise. +That compromise, with some modifications which did not in the +slightest degree affect its principle, and which, while they gave +satisfaction to the Company, will eventually lay no additional +burthen on the territory, has been accepted. It has, like all +other compromises, been loudly censured by violent partisans on +both sides. It has been represented by some as far too +favourable to the Company, and by others as most unjust to the +Company. Sir, I own that we cannot prove that either of these +accusations is unfounded. It is of the very essence of our case +that we should not be able to show that we have assigned, either +to commerce or to territory, its precise due. For our principal +reason for recommending a compromise was our full conviction that +it was absolutely impossible to ascertain with precision what was +due to commerce and what was due to territory. It is not strange +that some people should accuse us of robbing the Company, and +others of conferring a vast boon on the Company, at the expense +of India: for we have proposed a middle course, on the very +ground that there was a chance of a result much more favourable +to the Company than our arrangement, and a chance also of a +result much less favourable. If the questions pending between +the Company and India had been decided as the ardent supporters +of the Company predicted, India would, if I calculate rightly, +have paid eleven millions more than she will now have to pay. If +those questions had been decided as some violent enemies of the +Company predicted, that great body would have been utterly +ruined. The very meaning of compromise is that each party gives +up his chance of complete success, in order to be secured against +the chance of utter failure. And, as men of sanguine minds +always overrate the chances in their own favour, every fair +compromise is sure to be severely censured on both sides. I +conceive that, in a case so dark and complicated as this, the +compromise which we recommend is sufficiently vindicated, if it +cannot be proved to be unfair. We are not bound to prove it to +be fair. For it would have been unnecessary for us to resort to +compromise at all if we had been in possession of evidence which +would have enabled us to pronounce, with certainty, what claims +were fair and what were unfair. It seems to me that we have +acted with due consideration for every party. The dividend which +we give to the proprietors is precisely the same dividend which +they have been receiving during forty years, and which they have +expected to receive permanently. The price of their stock bears +at present the same proportion to the price of other stock which +it bore four or five years ago, before the anxiety and excitement +which the late negotiations naturally produced had begun to +operate. As to the territory, on the other hand, it is true +that, if the assets which are now in a commercial form should not +produce a fund sufficient to pay the debts and dividend of the +Company, the territory must stand to the loss and pay the +difference. But in return for taking this risk, the territory +obtains an immediate release from claims to the amount of many +millions. I certainly do not believe that all those claims could +have been substantiated; but I know that very able men think +differently. And, if only one-fourth of the sum demanded had +been awarded to the Company, India would have lost more than the +largest sum which, as it seems to me, she can possibly lose under +the proposed arrangement. + +In a pecuniary point of view, therefore, I conceive that we can +defend the measure as it affects the territory. But to the +territory the pecuniary question is of secondary importance. If +we have made a good pecuniary bargain for India, but a bad +political bargain, if we have saved three or four millions to the +finances of that country, and given to it, at the same time, +pernicious institutions, we shall indeed have been practising a +most ruinous parsimony. If, on the other hand, it shall be found +that we have added fifty or a hundred thousand pounds a-year to +the expenditure of an empire which yields a revenue of twenty +millions, but that we have at the same time secured to that +empire, as far as in us lies, the blessings of good government, +we shall have no reason to be ashamed of our profusion. I hope +and believe that India will have to pay nothing. But on the most +unfavourable supposition that can be made, she will not have to +pay so much to the Company as she now pays annually to a single +state pageant, to the titular Nabob of Bengal, for example, or +the titular King of Delhi. What she pays to these nominal +princes, who, while they did anything, did mischief, and who now +do nothing, she may well consent to pay to her real rulers, if +she receives from them, in return, efficient protection and good +legislation. + +We come then to the great question. Is it desirable to retain +the Company as an organ of government for India? I think that it +is desirable. The question is, I acknowledge, beset with +difficulties. We have to solve one of the hardest problems in +politics. We are trying to make brick without straw, to bring a +clean thing out of an unclean, to give a good government to a +people to whom we cannot give a free government. In this +country, in any neighbouring country, it is easy to frame +securities against oppression. In Europe, you have the materials +of good government everywhere ready to your hands. The people +are everywhere perfectly competent to hold some share, not in +every country an equal share, but some share of political power. +If the question were, What is the best mode of securing good +government in Europe? the merest smatterer in politics would +answer, representative institutions. In India you cannot have +representative institutions. Of all the innumerable speculators +who have offered their suggestions on Indian politics, not a +single one, as far as I know, however democratical his opinions +may be, has ever maintained the possibility of giving, at the +present time, such institutions to India. One gentleman, +extremely well acquainted with the affairs of our Eastern Empire, +a most valuable servant of the Company, and the author of a +History of India, which, though certainly not free from faults, +is, I think, on the whole, the greatest historical work which has +appeared in our language since that of Gibbon, I mean Mr Mill, +was examined on this point. That gentleman is well known to be a +very bold and uncompromising politician. He has written +strongly, far too strongly I think, in favour of pure democracy. +He has gone so far as to maintain that no nation which has not a +representative legislature, chosen by universal suffrage, enjoys +security against oppression. But when he was asked before the +Committee of last year, whether he thought representative +government practicable in India, his answer was, "utterly out of +the question." This, then, is the state in which we are. We +have to frame a good government for a country into which, by +universal acknowledgment, we cannot introduce those institutions +which all our habits, which all the reasonings of European +philosophers, which all the history of our own part of the world +would lead us to consider as the one great security for good +government. We have to engraft on despotism those blessings +which are the natural fruits of liberty. In these circumstances, +Sir, it behoves us to be cautious, even to the verge of timidity. +The light of political science and of history are withdrawn: we +are walking in darkness: we do not distinctly see whither we are +going. It is the wisdom of a man, so situated, to feel his way, +and not to plant his foot till he is well assured that the ground +before him is firm. + +Some things, however, in the midst of this obscurity, I can see +with clearness. I can see, for example, that it is desirable +that the authority exercised in this country over the Indian +government should be divided between two bodies, between a +minister or a board appointed by the Crown, and some other body +independent of the Crown. If India is to be a dependency of +England, to be at war with our enemies, to be at peace with our +allies, to be protected by the English navy from maritime +aggression, to have a portion of the English army mixed with its +sepoys, it plainly follows that the King, to whom the +Constitution gives the direction of foreign affairs, and the +command of the military and naval forces, ought to have a share +in the direction of the Indian government. Yet, on the other +hand, that a revenue of twenty millions a year, an army of two +hundred thousand men, a civil service abounding with lucrative +situations, should be left to the disposal of the Crown without +any check whatever, is what no minister, I conceive, would +venture to propose. This House is indeed the check provided by +the Constitution on the abuse of the royal prerogative. But that +this House is, or is likely ever to be, an efficient check on +abuses practised in India, I altogether deny. We have, as I +believe we all feel, quite business enough. If we were to +undertake the task of looking into Indian affairs as we look into +British affairs, if we were to have Indian budgets and Indian +estimates, if we were to go into the Indian currency question and +the Indian Bank Charter, if to our disputes about Belgium and +Holland, Don Pedro and Don Miguel, were to be added disputes +about the debts of the Guicowar and the disorders of Mysore, the +ex-king of the Afghans and the Maharajah Runjeet Sing; if we were +to have one night occupied by the embezzlements of the Benares +mint, and another by the panic in the Calcutta money market; if +the questions of Suttee or no Suttee, Pilgrim tax or no Pilgrim +tax, Ryotwary or Zemindary, half Batta or whole Batta, were to be +debated at the same length at which we have debated Church reform +and the assessed taxes, twenty-four hours a day and three hundred +and sixty-five days a year would be too short a time for the +discharge of our duties. The House, it is plain, has not the +necessary time to settle these matters; nor has it the necessary +knowledge; nor has it the motives to acquire that knowledge. The +late change in its constitution has made it, I believe, a much +more faithful representative of the English people. But it is as +far as ever from being a representative of the Indian people. A +broken head in Cold Bath Fields produces a greater sensation +among us than three pitched battles in India. A few weeks ago we +had to decide on a claim brought by an individual against the +revenues of India. If it had been an English question the walls +would scarcely have held the Members who would have flocked to +the division. It was an Indian question; and we could scarcely, +by dint of supplication, make a House. Even when my right +honourable friend, the President of the Board of Control, gave +his able and interesting explanation of the plan which he +intended to propose for the government of a hundred millions of +human beings, the attendance was not so large as I have often +seen it on a turnpike bill or a railroad bill. + +I then take these things as proved, that the Crown must have a +certain authority over India, that there must be an efficient +check on the authority of the Crown, and that the House of +Commons cannot be that efficient check. We must then find some +other body to perform that important office. We have such a +body, the Company. Shall we discard it? + +It is true that the power of the Company is an anomaly in +politics. It is strange, very strange, that a joint-stock +society of traders, a society, the shares of which are daily +passed from hand to hand, a society, the component parts of which +are perpetually changing, a society, which, judging a priori from +its constitution, we should have said was as little fitted for +imperial functions as the Merchant Tailors' Company or the New +River Company, should be intrusted with the sovereignty of a +larger population, the disposal of a larger clear revenue, the +command of a larger army, than are under the direct management of +the Executive Government of the United Kingdom. But what +constitution can we give to our Indian Empire which shall not be +strange, which shall not be anomalous? That Empire is itself the +strangest of all political anomalies. That a handful of +adventurers from an island in the Atlantic should have subjugated +a vast country divided from the place of their birth by half the +globe; a country which at no very distant period was merely the +subject of fable to the nations of Europe; a country never before +violated by the most renowned of Western conquerors; a country +which Trajan never entered; a country lying beyond the point +where the phalanx of Alexander refused to proceed; that we should +govern a territory ten thousand miles from us, a territory larger +and more populous than France, Spain, Italy, and Germany put +together, a territory, the present clear revenue of which exceeds +the present clear revenue of any state in the world, France +excepted; a territory inhabited by men differing from us in race, +colour, language, manners, morals, religion; these are prodigies +to which the world has seen nothing similar. Reason is +confounded. We interrogate the past in vain. General rules are +useless where the whole is one vast exception. The Company is an +anomaly; but it is part of a system where every thing is anomaly. +It is the strangest of all governments; but it is designed for +the strangest of all empires. + +If we discard the Company, we must find a substitute: and, take +what substitute we may, we shall find ourselves unable to give +any reason for believing that the body which we have put in the +room of the Company is likely to acquit itself of its duties +better than the Company. Commissioners appointed by the King +during pleasure would be no check on the Crown; Commissioners +appointed by the King or by Parliament for life would always be +appointed by the political party which might be uppermost, and if +a change of administration took place, would harass the new +Government with the most vexatious opposition. The plan +suggested by the right honourable Gentleman, the Member for +Montgomeryshire (Mr Charles Wynn.), is I think the very worst +that I have ever heard. He would have Directors nominated every +four years by the Crown. Is it not plain that these Directors +would always be appointed from among the supporters of the +Ministry for the time being; that their situations would depend +on the permanence of that Ministry; that therefore all their +power and patronage would be employed for the purpose of propping +that Ministry, and, in case of a change, for the purpose of +molesting those who might succeed to power; that they would be +subservient while their friends were in, and factious when their +friends were out? How would Lord Grey's Ministry have been +situated if the whole body of Directors had been nominated by the +Duke of Wellington in 1830. I mean no imputation on the Duke of +Wellington. If the present ministers had to nominate Directors +for four years, they would, I have no doubt, nominate men who +would give no small trouble to the Duke of Wellington if he were +to return to office. What we want is a body independent of the +Government, and no more than independent; not a tool of the +Treasury, not a tool of the opposition. No new plan which I have +heard proposed would give us such a body. The Company, strange +as its constitution may be, is such a body. It is, as a +corporation, neither Whig nor Tory, neither high-church nor low- +church. It cannot be charged with having been for or against the +Catholic Bill, for or against the Reform Bill. It has constantly +acted with a view not to English politics, but to Indian +politics. We have seen the country convulsed by faction. We +have seen Ministers driven from office by this House, Parliament +dissolved in anger, general elections of unprecedented +turbulence, debates of unprecedented interest. We have seen the +two branches of the Legislature placed in direct opposition to +each other. We have seen the advisers of the Crown dismissed one +day, and brought back the next day on the shoulders of the +people. And amidst all these agitating events the Company has +preserved strict and unsuspected neutrality. This is, I think an +inestimable advantage, and it is an advantage which we must +altogether forego, if we consent to adopt any of the schemes +which I have heard proposed on the other side of the House. + +We must judge of the Indian government, as of all other +governments, by its practical effects. According to the +honourable Member for Sheffield, India is ill governed; and the +whole fault is with the Company. Innumerable accusations, great +and small, are brought by him against the Directors. They are +fond of war: they are fond of dominion: the taxation is +burthensome: the laws are undigested: the roads are rough: the +post goes on foot: and for everything the Company is answerable. +From the dethronement of the Mogul princes to the mishaps of Sir +Charles Metcalfe's courier, every disaster that has taken place +in the East during sixty years is laid to the charge of this +Corporation. And the inference is, that all the power which they +possess ought to be taken out of their hands, and transferred at +once to the Crown. + +Now, Sir, it seems to me that, for all the evils which the +honourable Gentleman has so pathetically recounted, the Ministers +of the Crown are as much to blame as the Company; nay, much more +so: for the Board of Control could, without the consent of the +Directors, have redressed those evils; and the Directors most +certainly could not have redressed them without the consent of +the Board of Control. Take the case of that frightful grievance +which seems to have made the deepest impression on the mind of +the honourable Gentleman, the slowness of the mail. Why, Sir, if +my right honourable friend, the President of our Board thought +fit, he might direct me to write to the Court and require them to +frame a dispatch on that subject. If the Court disobeyed, he +might himself frame a dispatch ordering Lord William Bentinck to +put the dawks all over Bengal on horseback. If the Court refused +to send out this dispatch, the Board could apply to the King's +Bench for a mandamus. If, on the other hand, the Directors +wished to accelerate the journeys of the mail, and the Board were +adverse to the project, the Directors could do nothing at all. +For all measures of internal policy the servants of the King are +at least as deeply responsible as the Company. For all measures +of foreign policy the servants of the King, and they alone are +responsible. I was surprised to hear the honourable Gentleman +accuse the Directors of insatiable ambition and rapacity, when he +must know that no act of aggression on any native state can be +committed by the Company without the sanction of the Board, and +that, in fact, the Board has repeatedly approved of warlike +measures which were strenuously opposed by the Company. He must +know, in particular, that, during the energetic and splendid +administration of the Marquess of Wellesley, the company was all +for peace, and the Board all for conquest. If a line of conduct +which the honourable Gentleman thinks unjustifiable has been +followed by the Ministers of the Crown in spite of the +remonstrances of the Directors, this is surely a strange reason +for turning off the Directors, and giving the whole power +unchecked to the Crown. + +The honourable Member tells us that India, under the present +system, is not so rich and flourishing as she was two hundred +years ago. Really, Sir, I doubt whether we are in possession of +sufficient data to enable us to form a judgment on that point. +But the matter is of little importance. We ought to compare +India under our government, not with India under Acbar and his +immediate successors, but with India as we found it. The +calamities through which that country passed during the interval +between the fall of the Mogul power and the establishment of the +English supremacy were sufficient to throw the people back whole +centuries. It would surely be unjust to say, that Alfred was a +bad king because Britain, under his government, was not so rich +or so civilised as in the time of the Romans. + +In what state, then, did we find India? And what have we made +India? We found society throughout that vast country in a state +to which history scarcely furnishes a parallel. The nearest +parallel would, perhaps, be the state of Europe during the fifth +century. The Mogul empire in the time of the successors of +Aurungzebe, like the Roman empire in the time of the successors +of Theodosius, was sinking under the vices of a bad internal +administration, and under the assaults of barbarous invaders. At +Delhi, as at Ravenna, there was a mock sovereign, immured in a +gorgeous state prison. He was suffered to indulge in every +sensual pleasure. He was adored with servile prostrations. He +assumed and bestowed the most magnificent titles. But, in fact, +he was a mere puppet in the hands of some ambitious subject. +While the Honorii and Augustuli of the East, surrounded by their +fawning eunuchs, reveled and dozed without knowing or caring what +might pass beyond the walls of their palace gardens, the +provinces had ceased to respect a government which could neither +punish nor protect them. Society was a chaos. Its restless and +shifting elements formed themselves every moment into some new +combination, which the next moment dissolved. In the course of a +single generation a hundred dynasties grew up, flourished, +decayed, were extinguished, were forgotten. Every adventurer who +could muster a troop of horse might aspire to a throne. Every +palace was every year the scene of conspiracies, treasons, +revolutions, parricides. Meanwhile a rapid succession of Alarics +and Attilas passed over the defenceless empire. A Persian +invader penetrated to Delhi, and carried back in triumph the most +precious treasures of the House of Tamerlane. The Afghan soon +followed by the same track, to glean whatever the Persian had +spared. The Jauts established themselves on the Jumna. The +Seiks devastated Lahore. Every part of India, from Tanjore to +the Himalayas, was laid under contribution by the Mahrattas. The +people were ground down to the dust by the oppressor without and +the oppressor within, by the robber from whom the Nabob was +unable to protect them, by the Nabob who took whatever the robber +had left to them. All the evils of despotism, and all the evils +of anarchy, pressed at once on that miserable race. They knew +nothing of government but its exactions. Desolation was in their +imperial cities, and famine all along the banks of their broad +and redundant rivers. It seemed that a few more years would +suffice to efface all traces of the opulence and civilisation of +an earlier age. + +Such was the state of India when the Company began to take part +in the disputes of its ephemeral sovereigns. About eighty years +have elapsed since we appeared as auxiliaries in a contest +between two rival families for the sovereignty of a small corner +of the Peninsula. From that moment commenced a great, a +stupendous process, the reconstruction of a decomposed society. +Two generations have passed away; and the process is complete. +The scattered fragments of the empire of Aurungzebe have been +united in an empire stronger and more closely knit together than +that which Aurungzebe ruled. The power of the new sovereigns +penetrates their dominions more completely, and is far more +implicitly obeyed, than was that of the proudest princes of the +Mogul dynasty. + +It is true that the early history of this great revolution is +chequered with guilt and shame. It is true that the founders of +our Indian Empire too often abused the strength which they +derived from superior energy and superior knowledge. It is true +that, with some of the highest qualities of the race from which +they sprang, they combined some of the worst defects of the race +over which they ruled. How should it have been otherwise? Born +in humble stations, accustomed to earn a slender maintenance by +obscure industry, they found themselves transformed in a few +months from clerks drudging over desks, or captains in marching +regiments, into statesmen and generals, with armies at their +command, with the revenues of kingdoms at their disposal, with +power to make and depose sovereigns at their pleasure. They were +what it was natural that men should be who had been raised by so +rapid an ascent to so dizzy an eminence, profuse and rapacious, +imperious and corrupt. + +It is true, then, that there was too much foundation for the +representations of those satirists and dramatists who held up the +character of the English Nabob to the derision and hatred of a +former generation. It is true that some disgraceful intrigues, +some unjust and cruel wars, some instances of odious perfidy and +avarice, stain the annals of our Eastern Empire. It is true that +the duties of government and legislation were long wholly +neglected or carelessly performed. It is true that when the +conquerors at length began to apply themselves in earnest to the +discharge of their high functions, they committed the errors +natural to rulers who were but imperfectly acquainted with the +language and manners of their subjects. It is true that some +plans, which were dictated by the purest and most benevolent +feelings have not been attended by the desired success. It is +true that India suffers to this day from a heavy burden of +taxation and from a defective system of law. It is true, I fear, +that in those states which are connected with us by subsidiary +alliance, all the evils of oriental despotism have too frequently +shown themselves in their most loathsome and destructive form. + +All this is true. Yet in the history and in the present state of +our Indian Empire I see ample reason for exultation and for a +good hope. + +I see that we have established order where we found confusion. I +see that the petty dynasties which were generated by the +corruption of the great Mahometan Empire, and which, a century +ago, kept all India in constant agitation, have been quelled by +one overwhelming power. I see that the predatory tribes, which, +in the middle of the last century, passed annually over the +harvests of India with the destructive rapidity of a hurricane, +have quailed before the valour of a braver and sterner race, have +been vanquished, scattered, hunted to their strongholds, and +either extirpated by the English sword, or compelled to exchange +the pursuits of rapine for those of industry. + +I look back for many years; and I see scarcely a trace of the +vices which blemished the splendid fame of the first conquerors +of Bengal. I see peace studiously preserved. I see faith +inviolably maintained towards feeble and dependent states. I see +confidence gradually infused into the minds of suspicious +neighbours. I see the horrors of war mitigated by the chivalrous +and Christian spirit of Europe. I see examples of moderation and +clemency, such as I should seek in vain in the annals of any +other victorious and dominant nation. I see captive tyrants, +whose treachery and cruelty might have excused a severe +retribution, living in security, comfort, and dignity, under the +protection of the government which they laboured to destroy. + +I see a large body of civil and military functionaries resembling +in nothing but capacity and valour those adventurers who, seventy +years ago, came hither, laden with wealth and infamy, to parade +before our fathers the plundered treasures of Bengal and Tanjore. +I reflect with pride that to the doubtful splendour which +surrounds the memory of Hastings and of Clive, we can oppose the +spotless glory of Elphinstone and Munro. I contemplate with +reverence and delight the honourable poverty which is the +evidence of rectitude firmly maintained amidst strong +temptations. I rejoice to see my countrymen, after ruling +millions of subjects, after commanding victorious armies, after +dictating terms of peace at the gates of hostile capitals, after +administering the revenues of great provinces, after judging the +causes of wealthy Zemindars, after residing at the courts of +tributary Kings, return to their native land with no more than a +decent competence. + +I see a government anxiously bent on the public good. Even in +its errors I recognise a paternal feeling towards the great +people committed to its charge. I see toleration strictly +maintained: yet I see bloody and degrading superstitions +gradually losing their power. I see the morality, the +philosophy, the taste of Europe, beginning to produce a salutary +effect on the hearts and understandings of our subjects. I see +the public mind of India, that public mind which we found debased +and contracted by the worst forms of political and religious +tyranny, expanding itself to just and noble views of the ends of +government and of the social duties of man. + +I see evils: but I see the government actively employed in the +work of remedying those evils. The taxation is heavy; but the +work of retrenchment is unsparingly pursued. The mischiefs +arising from the system of subsidiary alliance are great: but +the rulers of India are fully aware of those mischiefs, and are +engaged in guarding against them. Wherever they now interfere +for the purpose of supporting a native government, they interfere +also for the purpose of reforming it. + +Seeing these things, then, am I prepared to discard the Company +as an organ of government? I am not. Assuredly I will never +shrink from innovation where I see reason to believe that +innovation will be improvement. That the present Government does +not shrink from innovations which it considers as improvements +the bill now before the House sufficiently shows. But surely the +burden of the proof lies on the innovators. They are bound to +show that there is a fair probability of obtaining some advantage +before they call upon us to take up the foundations of the Indian +government. I have no superstitious veneration for the Court of +Directors or the Court of Proprietors. Find me a better Council: +find me a better constituent body: and I am ready for a change. +But of all the substitutes for the Company which have hitherto +been suggested, not one has been proved to be better than the +Company; and most of them I could, I think, easily prove to be +worse. Circumstances might force us to hazard a change. If the +Company were to refuse to accept of the government unless we +would grant pecuniary terms which I thought extravagant, or +unless we gave up the clauses in this bill which permit Europeans +to hold landed property and natives to hold office, I would take +them at their word. But I will not discard them in the mere rage +of experiment. + +Do I call the government of India a perfect government? Very far +from it. No nation can be perfectly well governed till it is +competent to govern itself. I compare the Indian government with +other governments of the same class, with despotisms, with +military despotisms, with foreign military despotisms; and I find +none that approaches it in excellence. I compare it with the +government of the Roman provinces, with the government of the +Spanish colonies; and I am proud of my country and my age. Here +are a hundred millions of people under the absolute rule of a few +strangers, differing from them physically, differing from them +morally, mere Mamelukes, not born in the country which they rule, +not meaning to lay their bones in it. If you require me to make +this government as good as that of England, France, or the United +States of America, I own frankly that I can do no such thing. +Reasoning a priori, I should have come to the conclusion that +such a government must be a horrible tyranny. It is a source of +constant amazement to me that it is so good as I find it to be. +I will not, therefore, in a case in which I have neither +principles nor precedents to guide me, pull down the existing +system on account of its theoretical defects. For I know that +any system which I could put in its place would be equally +condemned by theory, while it would not be equally sanctioned by +experience. + +Some change in the constitution of the Company was, as I have +shown, rendered inevitable by the opening of the China Trade; and +it was the duty of the Government to take care that the change +should not be prejudicial to India. There were many ways in +which the compromise between commerce and territory might have +been effected. We might have taken the assets, and paid a sum +down, leaving the Company to invest that sum as they chose. We +might have offered English security with a lower interest. We +might have taken the course which the late ministers designed to +take. They would have left the Company in possession of the +means of carrying on its trade in competition with private +merchants. My firm belief is that, if this course had been +taken, the Company must, in a very few years, have abandoned the +trade, or the trade would have ruined the Company. It was not, +however, solely or principally by regard for the interest of the +Company, or of English merchants generally, that the Government +was guided on this occasion. The course which appeared to us the +most likely to promote the interests of our Eastern Empire was to +make the proprietors of India stock creditors of the Indian +territory. Their interest will thus be in a great measure the +same with the interest of the people whom they are to rule. +Their income will depend on the revenues of their empire. The +revenues of their empire will depend on the manner in which the +affairs of that empire are administered. We furnish them with +the strongest motives to watch over the interests of the +cultivator and the trader, to maintain peace, to carry on with +vigour the work of retrenchment, to detect and punish extortion +and corruption. Though they live at a distance from India, +though few of them have ever seen or may ever see the people whom +they rule, they will have a great stake in the happiness of their +subjects. If their misgovernment should produce disorder in the +finances, they will themselves feel the effects of that disorder +in their own household expenses. I believe this to be, next to a +representative constitution, the constitution which is the best +security for good government. A representative constitution +India cannot at present have. And we have therefore, I think, +given her the best constitution of which she is capable. + +One word as to the new arrangement which we propose with respect +to the patronage. It is intended to introduce the principle of +competition in the disposal of writerships; and from this change +I cannot but anticipate the happiest results. The civil servants +of the Company are undoubtedly a highly respectable body of men; +and in that body, as in every large body, there are some persons +of very eminent ability. I rejoice most cordially to see this. +I rejoice to see that the standard of morality is so high in +England, that intelligence is so generally diffused through +England, that young persons who are taken from the mass of +society, by favour and not by merit, and who are therefore only +fair samples of the mass, should, when placed in situations of +high importance, be so seldom found wanting. But it is not the +less true that India is entitled to the service of the best +talents which England can spare. That the average of +intelligence and virtue is very high in this country is matter +for honest exultation. But it is no reason for employing average +men where you can obtain superior men. Consider too, Sir, how +rapidly the public mind of India is advancing, how much attention +is already paid by the higher classes of the natives to those +intellectual pursuits on the cultivation of which the superiority +of the European race to the rest of mankind principally depends. +Surely, in such circumstances, from motives of selfish policy, if +from no higher motive, we ought to fill the magistracies of our +Eastern Empire with men who may do honour to their country, with +men who may represent the best part of the English nation. This, +Sir, is our object; and we believe that by the plan which is now +proposed this object will be attained. It is proposed that for +every vacancy in the civil service four candidates shall be +named, and the best candidate selected by examination. We +conceive that, under this system, the persons sent out will be +young men above par, young men superior either in talents or in +diligence to the mass. It is said, I know, that examinations in +Latin, in Greek, and in mathematics, are no tests of what men +will prove to be in life. I am perfectly aware that they are not +infallible tests: but that they are tests I confidently +maintain. Look at every walk of life, at this House, at the +other House, at the Bar, at the Bench, at the Church, and see +whether it be not true that those who attain high distinction in +the world were generally men who were distinguished in their +academic career. Indeed, Sir, this objection would prove far too +much even for those who use it. It would prove that there is no +use at all in education. Why should we put boys out of their +way? Why should we force a lad, who would much rather fly a kite +or trundle a hoop, to learn his Latin Grammar? Why should we +keep a young man to his Thucydides or his Laplace, when he would +much rather be shooting? Education would be mere useless +torture, if, at two or three and twenty, a man who had neglected +his studies were exactly on a par with a man who had applied +himself to them, exactly as likely to perform all the offices of +public life with credit to himself and with advantage to society. +Whether the English system of education be good or bad is not now +the question. Perhaps I may think that too much time is given to +the ancient languages and to the abstract sciences. But what +then? Whatever be the languages, whatever be the sciences, which +it is, in any age or country, the fashion to teach, the persons +who become the greatest proficients in those languages and those +sciences will generally be the flower of the youth, the most +acute, the most industrious, the most ambitious of honourable +distinctions. If the Ptolemaic system were taught at Cambridge +instead of the Newtonian, the senior wrangler would nevertheless +be in general a superior man to the wooden spoon. If, instead of +learning Greek, we learned the Cherokee, the man who understood +the Cherokee best, who made the most correct and melodious +Cherokee verses, who comprehended most accurately the effect of +the Cherokee particles, would generally be a superior man to him +who was destitute of these accomplishments. If astrology were +taught at our Universities, the young man who cast nativities +best would generally turn out a superior man. If alchymy were +taught, the young man who showed most activity in the pursuit of +the philosopher's stone would generally turn out a superior man. + +I will only add one other observation on this subject. Although +I am inclined to think that too exclusive an attention is paid in +the education of young English gentlemen to the dead languages, I +conceive that when you are choosing men to fill situations for +which the very first and most indispensable qualification is +familiarity with foreign languages, it would be difficult to find +a better test of their fitness than their classical acquirements. + +Some persons have expressed doubts as to the possibility of +procuring fair examinations. I am quite sure that no person who +has been either at Cambridge or at Oxford can entertain such +doubts. I feel, indeed, that I ought to apologise for even +noticing an objection so frivolous. + +Next to the opening of the China trade, Sir, the change most +eagerly demanded by the English people was, that the restrictions +on the admission of Europeans to India should be removed. In +this change there are undoubtedly very great advantages. The +chief advantage is, I think, the improvement which the minds of +our native subjects may be expected to derive from free +intercourse with a people far advanced beyond themselves in +intellectual cultivation. I cannot deny, however, that the +advantages are attended with some danger. + +The danger is that the new comers, belonging to the ruling +nation, resembling in colour, in language, in manners, those who +hold supreme military and political power, and differing in all +these respects from the great mass of the population, may +consider themselves as a superior class, and may trample on the +indigenous race. Hitherto there have been strong restraints on +Europeans resident in India. Licences were not easily obtained. +Those residents who were in the service of the Company had +obvious motives for conducting themselves with propriety. If +they incurred the serious displeasure of the Government, their +hopes of promotion were blighted. Even those who were not in the +public service were subject to the formidable power which the +Government possessed of banishing them at its pleasure. + +The license of the Government will now no longer be necessary to +persons who desire to reside in the settled provinces of India. +The power of arbitrary deportation is withdrawn. Unless, +therefore, we mean to leave the natives exposed to the tyranny +and insolence of every profligate adventurer who may visit the +East, we must place the European under the same power which +legislates for the Hindoo. No man loves political freedom more +than I. But a privilege enjoyed by a few individuals, in the +midst of a vast population who do not enjoy it, ought not to be +called freedom. It is tyranny. In the West Indies I have not +the least doubt that the existence of the Trial by Jury and of +Legislative Assemblies has tended to make the condition of the +slaves worse than it would otherwise have been. Or, to go to +India itself for an instance, though I fully believe that a mild +penal code is better than a severe penal code, the worst of all +systems was surely that of having a mild code for the Brahmins, +who sprang from the head of the Creator, while there was a severe +code for the Sudras, who sprang from his feet. India has +suffered enough already from the distinction of castes, and from +the deeply rooted prejudices which that distinction has +engendered. God forbid that we should inflict on her the curse +of a new caste, that we should send her a new breed of Brahmins, +authorised to treat all the native population as Parias! + +With a view to the prevention of this evil, we propose to give to +the Supreme Government the power of legislating for Europeans as +well as for natives. We propose that the regulations of the +Government shall bind the King's Court as they bind all other +courts, and that registration by the Judges of the King's Courts +shall no longer be necessary to give validity to those +regulations within the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. + +I could scarcely, Sir, believe my ears when I heard this part of +our plan condemned in another place. I should have thought that +it would have been received with peculiar favour in that quarter +where it has met with the most severe condemnation. What, at +present, is the case? If the Supreme Court and the Government +differ on a question of jurisdiction, or on a question of +legislation within the towns which are the seats of Government, +there is absolutely no umpire but the Imperial Parliament. The +device of putting one wild elephant between two tame elephants +was ingenious: but it may not always be practicable. Suppose a +tame elephant between two wild elephants, or suppose that the +whole herd should run wild together. The thing is not without +example. And is it not most unjust and ridiculous that, on one +side of a ditch, the edict of the Governor General should have +the force of law, and that on the other side it should be of no +effect unless registered by the Judges of the Supreme Court? If +the registration be a security for good legislation, we are bound +to give that security to all classes of our subjects. If the +registration be not a security for good legislation, why give it +to any? Is the system good? Extend it. Is it bad! Abolish it. +But in the name of common sense do not leave it as it is. It is +as absurd as our old law of sanctuary. The law which authorises +imprisonment for debt may be good or bad. But no man in his +senses can approve of the ancient system under which a debtor who +might be arrested in Fleet Street was safe as soon as he had +scampered into Whitefriars. Just in the same way, doubts may +fairly be entertained about the expediency of allowing four or +five persons to make laws for India; but to allow them to make +laws for all India without the Mahratta ditch, and to except +Calcutta, is the height of absurdity. + +I say, therefore, that either you must enlarge the power of the +Supreme Court, and give it a general veto on laws, or you must +enlarge the power of the Government, and make its regulations +binding on all Courts without distinction. The former course no +person has ventured to propose. To the latter course objections +have been made; but objections which to me, I must own, seem +altogether frivolous. + +It is acknowledged that of late years inconvenience has arisen +from the relation in which the Supreme Court stands to the +Government. But, it is said, that Court was originally +instituted for the protection of natives against Europeans. The +wise course would therefore be to restore its original character. + +Now, Sir, the fact is, that the Supreme Court has never been so +mischievous as during the first ten years of its power, or so +respectable as it has lately been. Everybody who knows anything +of its early history knows, that, during a considerable time, it +was the terror of Bengal, the scourge of the native population, +the screen of European delinquents, a convenient tool of the +Government for all purposes of evil, an insurmountable obstacle +to the Government in all undertakings for the public good; that +its proceedings were made up of pedantry, cruelty, and +corruption; that its disputes with the Government were at one +time on the point of breaking up the whole fabric of society; and +that a convulsion was averted only by the dexterous policy of +Warren Hastings, who at last bought off the opposition of the +Chief Justice for eight thousand pounds a year. It is notorious +that, while the Supreme Court opposed Hastings in all his best +measures, it was a thoroughgoing accomplice in his worst; that it +took part in the most scandalous of those proceedings which, +fifty years ago, roused the indignation of Parliament and of the +country; that it assisted in the spoliation of the princesses of +Oude; that it passed sentence of death on Nuncomar. And this is +the Court which we are to restore from its present state of +degeneracy to its original purity. This is the protection which +we are to give to the natives against the Europeans. Sir, so far +is it from being true that the character of the Supreme Court has +deteriorated, that it has, perhaps, improved more than any other +institution in India. But the evil lies deep in the nature of +the institution itself. The judges have in our time deserved the +greatest respect. Their judgment and integrity have done much to +mitigate the vices of the system. The worst charge that can be +brought against any of them is that of pertinacity, +disinterested, conscientious pertinacity, in error. The real +evil is the state of the law. You have two supreme powers in +India. There is no arbitrator except a Legislature fifteen +thousand miles off. Such a system is on the face of it an +absurdity in politics. My wonder is, not that this system has +several times been on the point of producing fatal consequences +to the peace and resources of India;--those, I think, are the +words in which Warren Hastings described the effect of the +contest between his Government and the Judges;--but that it has +not actually produced such consequences. The most distinguished +members of the Indian Government, the most distinguished Judges +of the Supreme Court, call upon you to reform this system. Sir +Charles Metcalfe, Sir Charles Grey, represent with equal urgency +the expediency of having one single paramount council armed with +legislative power. The admission of Europeans to India renders +it absolutely necessary not to delay our decision. The effect of +that admission would be to raise a hundred questions, to produce +a hundred contests between the Council and the judicature. The +Government would be paralysed at the precise moment at which all +its energy was required. While the two equal powers were acting +in opposite directions, the whole machine of the state would +stand still. The Europeans would be uncontrolled. The natives +would be unprotected. The consequences I will not pretend to +foresee. Everything beyond is darkness and confusion. + +Having given to the Government supreme legislative power, we next +propose to give to it for a time the assistance of a commission +for the purpose of digesting and reforming the laws of India, so +that those laws may, as soon as possible, be formed into a Code. +Gentleman of whom I wish to speak with the highest respect have +expressed a doubt whether India be at present in a fit state to +receive a benefit which is not yet enjoyed by this free and +highly civilised country. Sir, I can allow to this argument very +little weight beyond that which it derives from the personal +authority of those who use it. For, in the first place, our +freedom and our high civilisation make this improvement, +desirable as it must always be, less indispensably necessary to +us than to our Indian subjects; and in the next place, our +freedom and civilisation, I fear, make it far more difficult for +us to obtain this benefit for ourselves than to bestow it on +them. + +I believe that no country ever stood so much in need of a code of +laws as India; and I believe also that there never was a country +in which the want might so easily be supplied. I said that there +were many points of analogy between the state of that country +after the fall of the Mogul power, and the state of Europe after +the fall of the Roman empire. In one respect the analogy is very +striking. As there were in Europe then, so there are in India +now, several systems of law widely differing from each other, but +coexisting and coequal. The indigenous population has its own +laws. Each of the successive races of conquerors has brought +with it its own peculiar jurisprudence: the Mussulman his Koran +and the innumerable commentators on the Koran; the Englishman his +Statute Book and his Term Reports. As there were established in +Italy, at one and the same time, the Roman Law, the Lombard law, +the Ripuarian law, the Bavarian law, and the Salic law, so we +have now in our Eastern empire Hindoo law, Mahometan law, Parsee +law, English law, perpetually mingling with each other and +disturbing each other, varying with the person, varying with the +place. In one and the same cause the process and pleadings are +in the fashion of one nation, the judgment is according to the +laws of another. An issue is evolved according to the rules of +Westminster, and decided according to those of Benares. The only +Mahometan book in the nature of a code is the Koran; the only +Hindoo book, the Institutes. Everybody who knows those books +knows that they provide for a very small part of the cases which +must arise in every community. All beyond them is comment and +tradition. Our regulations in civil matters do not define +rights, but merely establish remedies. If a point of Hindoo law +arises, the Judge calls on the Pundit for an opinion. If a point +of Mahometan law arises, the Judge applies to the Cauzee. What +the integrity of these functionaries is, we may learn from Sir +William Jones. That eminent man declared that he could not +answer it to his conscience to decide any point of law on the +faith of a Hindoo expositor. Sir Thomas Strange confirms this +declaration. Even if there were no suspicion of corruption on +the part of the interpreters of the law, the science which they +profess is in such a state of confusion that no reliance can be +placed on their answers. Sir Francis Macnaghten tells us, that +it is a delusion to fancy that there is any known and fixed law +under which the Hindoo people live; that texts may be produced on +any side of any question; that expositors equal in authority +perpetually contradict each other: that the obsolete law is +perpetually confounded with the law actually in force; and that +the first lesson to be impressed on a functionary who has to +administer Hindoo law is that it is vain to think of extracting +certainty from the books of the jurist. The consequence is that +in practice the decisions of the tribunals are altogether +arbitrary. What is administered is not law, but a kind of rude +and capricious equity. I asked an able and excellent judge +lately returned from India how one of our Zillah Courts would +decide several legal questions of great importance, questions not +involving considerations of religion or of caste, mere questions +of commercial law. He told me that it was a mere lottery. He +knew how he should himself decide them. But he knew nothing +more. I asked a most distinguished civil servant of the Company, +with reference to the clause in this Bill on the subject of +slavery, whether at present, if a dancing girl ran away from her +master, the judge would force her to go back. "Some judges," he +said, "send a girl back. Others set her at liberty. The whole +is a mere matter of chance. Everything depends on the temper of +the individual judge." + +Even in this country we have had complaints of judge-made law; +even in this country, where the standard of morality is higher +than in almost any other part of the world; where, during several +generations, not one depositary of our legal traditions has +incurred the suspicion of personal corruption; where there are +popular institutions; where every decision is watched by a shrewd +and learned audience; where there is an intelligent and observant +public; where every remarkable case is fully reported in a +hundred newspapers; where, in short, there is everything which +can mitigate the evils of such a system. But judge-made law, +where there is an absolute government and a lax morality, where +there is no bar and no public, is a curse and a scandal not to be +endured. It is time that the magistrate should know what law he +is to administer, that the subject should know under what law he +is to live. We do not mean that all the people of India should +live under the same law: far from it: there is not a word in +the bill, there was not a word in my right honourable friend's +speech, susceptible of such an interpretation. We know how +desirable that object is; but we also know that it is +unattainable. We know that respect must be paid to feelings +generated by differences of religion, of nation, and of caste. +Much, I am persuaded, may be done to assimilate the different +systems of law without wounding those feelings. But, whether we +assimilate those systems or not, let us ascertain them; let us +digest them. We propose no rash innovation; we wish to give no +shock to the prejudices of any part of our subjects. Our +principle is simply this; uniformity where you can have it: +diversity where you must have it; but in all cases certainty. + +As I believe that India stands more in need of a code than any +other country in the world, I believe also that there is no +country on which that great benefit can more easily be conferred. +A code is almost the only blessing, perhaps is the only blessing, +which absolute governments are better fitted to confer on a +nation than popular governments. The work of digesting a vast +and artificial system of unwritten jurisprudence is far more +easily performed, and far better performed, by few minds than by +many, by a Napoleon than by a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber +of Peers, by a government like that of Prussia or Denmark than by +a government like that of England. A quiet knot of two or three +veteran jurists is an infinitely better machinery for such a +purpose than a large popular assembly divided, as such assemblies +almost always are, into adverse factions. This seems to me, +therefore, to be precisely that point of time at which the +advantage of a complete written code of laws may most easily be +conferred on India. It is a work which cannot be well performed +in an age of barbarism, which cannot without great difficulty be +performed in an age of freedom. It is a work which especially +belongs to a government like that of India, to an enlightened and +paternal despotism. + +I have detained the House so long, Sir, that I will defer what I +had to say on some parts of this measure, important parts, +indeed, but far less important, as I think, than those to which I +have adverted, till we are in Committee. There is, however, one +part of the bill on which, after what has recently passed +elsewhere, I feel myself irresistibly impelled to say a few +words. I allude to that wise, that benevolent, that noble clause +which enacts that no native of our Indian empire shall, by reason +of his colour, his descent, or his religion, be incapable of +holding office. At the risk of being called by that nickname +which is regarded as the most opprobrious of all nicknames by men +of selfish hearts and contracted minds, at the risk of being +called a philosopher, I must say that, to the last day of my +life, I shall be proud of having been one of those who assisted +in the framing of the bill which contains that clause. We are +told that the time can never come when the natives of India can +be admitted to high civil and military office. We are told that +this is the condition on which we hold our power. We are told +that we are bound to confer on our subjects every benefit--which +they are capable of enjoying?--no;--which it is in our power to +confer on them?--no;--but which we can confer on them without +hazard to the perpetuity of our own domination. Against that +proposition I solemnly protest as inconsistent alike with sound +policy and sound morality. + +I am far, very far, from wishing to proceed hastily in this most +delicate matter. I feel that, for the good of India itself, the +admission of natives to high office must be effected by slow +degrees. But that, when the fulness of time is come, when the +interest of India requires the change, we ought to refuse to make +that change lest we should endanger our own power, this is a +doctrine of which I cannot think without indignation. +Governments, like men, may buy existence too dear. "Propter +vitam vivendi perdere causas," is a despicable policy both in +individuals and in states. In the present case, such a policy +would be not only despicable, but absurd. The mere extent of +empire is not necessarily an advantage. To many governments it +has been cumbersome; to some it has been fatal. It will be +allowed by every statesman of our time that the prosperity of a +community is made up of the prosperity of those who compose the +community, and that it is the most childish ambition to covet +dominion which adds to no man's comfort or security. To the +great trading nation, to the great manufacturing nation, no +progress which any portion of the human race can make in +knowledge, in taste for the conveniences of life, or in the +wealth by which those conveniences are produced, can be matter of +indifference. It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits +which we might derive from the diffusion of European civilisation +among the vast population of the East. It would be, on the most +selfish view of the case, far better for us that the people of +India were well governed and independent of us, than ill governed +and subject to us; that they were ruled by their own kings, but +wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, than that +they were performing their salams to English collectors and +English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor +to buy, English manufactures. To trade with civilised men is +infinitely more profitable than to govern savages. That would, +indeed, be a doting wisdom, which, in order that India might +remain a dependency, would make it an useless and costly +dependency, which would keep a hundred millions of men from being +our customers in order that they might continue to be our slaves. + +It was, as Bernier tells us, the practice of the miserable +tyrants whom he found in India, when they dreaded the capacity +and spirit of some distinguished subject, and yet could not +venture to murder him, to administer to him a daily dose of the +pousta, a preparation of opium, the effect of which was in a few +months to destroy all the bodily and mental powers of the wretch +who was drugged with it, and to turn him into a helpless idiot. +The detestable artifice, more horrible than assassination itself, +was worthy of those who employed it. It is no model for the +English nation. We shall never consent to administer the pousta +to a whole community, to stupefy and paralyse a great people whom +God has committed to our charge, for the wretched purpose of +rendering them more amenable to our control. What is power worth +if it is founded on vice, on ignorance, and on misery; if we can +hold it only by violating the most sacred duties which as +governors we owe to the governed, and which, as a people blessed +with far more than an ordinary measure of political liberty and +of intellectual light, we owe to a race debased by three thousand +years of despotism and priestcraft? We are free, we are +civilised, to little purpose, if we grudge to any portion of the +human race an equal measure of freedom and civilisation. + +Are we to keep the people of India ignorant in order that we may +keep them submissive? Or do we think that we can give them +knowledge without awakening ambition? Or do we mean to awaken +ambition and to provide it with no legitimate vent? Who will +answer any of these questions in the affirmative? Yet one of +them must be answered in the affirmative, by every person who +maintains that we ought permanently to exclude the natives from +high office. I have no fears. The path of duty is plain before +us: and it is also the path of wisdom, of national prosperity, +of national honour. + +The destinies of our Indian empire are covered with thick +darkness. It is difficult to form any conjecture as to the fate +reserved for a state which resembles no other in history, and +which forms by itself a separate class of political phenomena. +The laws which regulate its growth and its decay are still +unknown to us. It may be that the public mind of India may +expand under our system till it has outgrown that system; that by +good government we may educate our subjects into a capacity for +better government; that, having become instructed in European +knowledge, they may, in some future age, demand European +institutions. Whether such a day will ever come I know not. But +never will I attempt to avert or to retard it. Whenever it +comes, it will be the proudest day in English history. To have +found a great people sunk in the lowest depths of slavery and +superstition, to have so ruled them as to have made them desirous +and capable of all the privileges of citizens, would indeed be a +title to glory all our own. The sceptre may pass away from us. +Unforeseen accidents may derange our most profound schemes of +policy. Victory may be inconstant to our arms. But there are +triumphs which are followed by no reverse. There is an empire +exempt from all natural causes of decay. Those triumphs are the +pacific triumphs of reason over barbarism; that empire is the +imperishable empire of our arts and our morals, our literature +and our laws. + +... + + +EDINBURGH ELECTION, 1839. (MAY 29, 1839) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH ON THE 29TH OF MAY 1839. + +The elevation of Mr Abercromby to the peerage in May 1839, caused +a vacancy in the representation of the city of Edinburgh. A +meeting of the electors was called to consider of the manner in +which the vacancy should be supplied. At this meeting the +following Speech was made. + +My Lord Provost and Gentlemen,--At the request of a very large +and respectable portion of your body, I appear before you as a +candidate for a high and solemn trust, which, uninvited, I should +have thought it presumption to solicit, but which, thus invited, +I should think it cowardice to decline. If I had felt myself +justified in following my own inclinations, I am not sure that +even a summons so honourable as that which I have received would +have been sufficient to draw me away from pursuits far better +suited to my taste and temper than the turmoil of political +warfare. But I feel that my lot is cast in times in which no man +is free to judge, merely according to his own taste and temper, +whether he will devote himself to active or to contemplative +life; in times in which society has a right to demand, from every +one of its members, active and strenuous exertions. I have, +therefore, obeyed your call; and I now present myself before you +for the purpose of offering to you, not, what I am sure you would +reject with disdain, flattery, degrading alike to a candidate, +and to a constituent body; but such reasonable, candid, and manly +explanations as become the mouth of a free man ambitious of the +confidence of a free people. + +It is hardly necessary for me to say that I stand here +unconnected with this great community. It would be mere +affectation not to acknowledge that with respect to local +questions I have much to learn; but I hope that you will find in +me no sluggish or inattentive learner. From an early age I have +felt a strong interest in Edinburgh, although attached to +Edinburgh by no other ties than those which are common to me with +multitudes; that tie which attaches every man of Scottish blood +to the ancient and renowned capital of our race; that tie which +attaches every student of history to the spot ennobled by so many +great and memorable events; that tie which attaches every +traveller of taste to the most beautiful of British cities; and +that tie which attaches every lover of literature to a place +which, since it has ceased to be the seat of empire, has derived +from poetry, philosophy, and eloquence a far higher distinction +than empire can bestow. If to those ties it shall now be your +pleasure to add a tie still closer and more peculiar, I can only +assure you that it shall be the study of my life so to conduct +myself in these our troubled times that you may have no reason to +be ashamed of your choice. + +Those gentlemen who invited me to appear as a candidate before +you were doubtless acquainted with the part which I took in +public affairs during the three first Parliaments of the late +King. Circumstances have since that time undergone great +alteration; but no alteration has taken place in my principles. +I do not mean to say that thought, discussion, and the new +phenomena produced by the operation of a new representative +system, have not led me to modify some of my views on questions +of detail; but, with respect to the fundamental principles of +government, my opinions are still what they were when, in 1831 +and 1832, I took part, according to the measure of my abilities, +in that great pacific victory which purified the representative +system of England, and which first gave a real representative +system to Scotland. Even at that time, Gentlemen, the leaning of +my mind was in favour of one measure to which the illustrious +leader of the Whig party, whose name ought never to be mentioned +without gratitude and reverence in any assembly of British +electors, I mean Earl Grey, was understood to entertain strong +objections, and to which his Cabinet, as a Cabinet, was +invariably opposed. I speak of the vote by ballot. All that has +passed since that time confirms me in the view which I was then +inclined to take of that important question. At the same time I +do not think that all the advantages are on one side and all the +disadvantages on the other. I must admit that the effect of the +practice of secret voting would be to withdraw the voter from the +operation of some salutary and honourable, as well as of some +pernicious and degrading motives. But seeing, as I cannot help +seeing, that the practice of intimidation, instead of +diminishing, is gaining ground, I am compelled to consider +whether the time has not arrived when we are bound to apply what +seems the only efficient remedy. And I am compelled to consider +whether, in doing so, I am not strictly following the principles +of the Reform Bill to the legitimate conclusions. For surely +those who supported the Reform Bill intended to give the people +of Britain a reality, not a delusion; to destroy nomination, and +not to make an outward show of destroying it; to bestow the +franchise, and not the name of the franchise; and least of all, +to give suffering and humiliation under the name of the +franchise. If men are to be returned to Parliament, not by +popular election, but by nomination, then I say without +hesitation that the ancient system was much the best. Both +systems alike sent men to Parliament who were not freely chosen +by independent constituent bodies: but under the old system +there was little or no need of intimidation, while, under the new +system, we have the misery and disgrace produced by intimidation +added to the process. If, therefore, we are to have nomination, +I prefer the nomination which used to take place at Old Sarum to +the nomination which now takes place at Newark. In both cases +you have members returned at the will of one landed proprietor: +but at Newark you have two hundred ejectments into the bargain, +to say nothing of the mortification and remorse endured by all +those who, though they were not ejected, yet voted against their +consciences from fear of ejectment. + +There is perhaps no point on which good men of all parties are +more completely agreed than on the necessity of restraining and +punishing corruption in the election of Members of Parliament. +The evils of corruption are doubtless very great; but it appears +to me that those evils which are attributed to corruption may, +with equal justice, be attributed to intimidation, and that +intimidation produces also some monstrous evils with which +corruption cannot be reproached. In both cases alike the elector +commits a breach of trust. In both cases alike he employs for +his own advantage an important power which was confided to him, +that it might be used, to the best of his judgment, for the +general good of the community. Thus far corruption and +intimidation operate in the same manner. But there is this +difference betwixt the two systems; corruption operates by giving +pleasure, intimidation by giving pain. To give a poor man five +pounds causes no pain: on the contrary it produces pleasure. It +is in itself no bad act: indeed, if the five pounds were given +on another occasion, and without a corrupt object, it might pass +for a benevolent act. But to tell a man that you will reduce him +to a situation in which he will miss his former comforts, and in +which his family will be forced to beg their bread, is a cruel +act. Corruption has a sort of illegitimate relationship to +benevolence, and engenders some feelings of a cordial and +friendly nature. There is a notion of charity connected with the +distribution of the money of the rich among the needy, even in a +corrupt manner. The comic writer who tells us that the whole +system of corruption is to be considered as a commerce of +generosity on one side and of gratitude on the other, has rather +exaggerated than misrepresented what really takes place in many +of these English constituent bodies where money is lavished to +conciliate the favour and obtain the suffrages of the people. +But in intimidation the whole process is an odious one. The +whole feeling on the part of the elector is that of shame, +degradation, and hatred of the person to whom he has given his +vote. The elector is indeed placed in a worse situation than if +he had no vote at all; for there is not one of us who would not +rather be without a vote than be compelled to give it to the +person whom he dislikes above all others. + +Thinking, therefore, that the practice of intimidation has all +the evils which are to be found in corruption, and that it has +other evils which are not to be found in corruption, I was +naturally led to consider whether it was possible to prevent it +by any process similar to that by which corruption is restrained. +Corruption, you all know, is the subject of penal laws. If it is +brought home to the parties, they are liable to severe +punishment. Although it is not often that it can be brought +home, yet there are instances. I remember several men of large +property confined in Newgate for corruption. Penalties have been +awarded against offenders to the amount of five hundred pounds. +Many members of Parliament have been unseated on account of the +malpractices of their agents. But you cannot, I am afraid, +repress intimidation by penal laws. Such laws would infringe the +most sacred rights of property. How can I require a man to deal +with tradesmen who have voted against him, or to renew the leases +of tenants who have voted against him? What is it that the Jew +says in the play? + +"I'll not answer that, +But say it is my humour." + +Or, as a Christian of our own time has expressed himself, "I have +a right to do what I will with my own." There is a great deal of +weight in the reasoning of Shylock and the Duke of Newcastle. +There would be an end of the right of property if you were to +interdict a landlord from ejecting a tenant, if you were to force +a gentleman to employ a particular butcher, and to take as much +beef this year as last year. The principle of the right of +property is that a man is not only to be allowed to dispose of +his wealth rationally and usefully, but to be allowed to indulge +his passions and caprices, to employ whatever tradesmen and +labourers he chooses, and to let, or refuse to let, his land +according to his own pleasure, without giving any reason or +asking anybody's leave. I remember that, on one of the first +evenings on which I sate in the House of Commons, Mr Poulett +Thompson proposed a censure on the Duke of Newcastle for His +Grace's conduct towards the electors of Newark. Sir Robert Peel +opposed the motion, not only with considerable ability, but with +really unanswerable reasons. He asked if it was meant that a +tenant who voted against his landlord was to keep his lease for +ever. If so, tenants would vote against a landlord to secure +themselves, as they now vote with a landlord to secure +themselves. I thought, and think, this argument unanswerable; +but then it is unanswerable in favour of the ballot; for, if it +be impossible to deal with intimidation by punishment, you are +bound to consider whether there be any means of prevention; and +the only mode of prevention that has ever been suggested is the +ballot. That the ballot has disadvantages to be set off against +its advantages, I admit; but it appears to me that we have only a +choice of evils, and that the evils for which the ballot is a +specific remedy are greater than any which the ballot is likely +to produce. Observe with what exquisite accuracy the ballot +draws the line of distinction between the power which we ought to +give to the proprietor and the power which we ought not to give +him. It leaves the proprietor the absolute power to do what he +will with his own. Nobody calls upon him to say why he ejected +this tenant, or took away his custom from that tradesman. It +leaves him at liberty to follow his own tastes, to follow his +strangest whims. The only thing which it puts beyond his power +is the vote of the tenant, the vote of the tradesman, which it is +our duty to protect. I ought at the same time to say, that there +is one objection to the ballot of a very serious nature, but +which I think may, nevertheless, be obviated. It is quite clear +that, if the ballot shall be adopted, there will be no remedy for +an undue return by a subsequent scrutiny. Unless, therefore, the +registration of votes can be counted on as correct, the ballot +will undoubtedly lead to great inconvenience. It seems, +therefore, that a careful revision of the whole system of +registration, and an improvement of the tribunal before which the +rights of the electors are to be established, should be an +inseparable part of any measure by which the ballot is to be +introduced. + +As to those evils which we have been considering, they are evils +which are practically felt; they are evils which press hard upon +a large portion of the constituent body; and it is not therefore +strange, that the cry for a remedy should be loud and urgent. +But there is another subject respecting which I am told that many +among you are anxious, a subject of a very different description. +I allude to the duration of Parliaments. + +It must be admitted that for some years past we have had little +reason to complain of the length of Parliaments. Since the year +1830 we have had five general elections; two occasioned by the +deaths of two Sovereigns, and three by political conjunctures. +As to the present Parliament, I do not think that, whatever +opinion gentlemen may entertain of the conduct of that body, they +will impute its faults to any confidence which the members have +that they are to sit for seven years; for I very much question +whether there be one gentleman in the House of Commons who +thinks, or has ever thought, that his seat is worth three years' +purchase. When, therefore, we discuss this question, we must +remember that we are discussing a question not immediately +pressing. I freely admit, however, that this is no reason for +not fairly considering the subject: for it is the part of wise +men to provide against evils which, though not actually felt, may +be reasonably apprehended. It seems to me that here, as in the +case of the ballot, there are serious considerations to be urged +on both sides. The objections to long Parliaments are perfectly +obvious. The truth is that, in very long Parliaments, you have +no representation at all. The mind of the people goes on +changing; and the Parliament, remaining unchanged, ceases to +reflect the opinion of the constituent bodies. In the old times +before the Revolution, a Parliament might sit during the life of +the monarch. Parliaments were then sometimes of eighteen or +twenty years' duration. Thus the Parliament called by Charles +the Second soon after his return from exile, and elected when the +nation was drunk with hope and convulsed by a hysterical paroxysm +of loyalty, continued to sit long after two-thirds of those who +had heartily welcomed the King back from Holland as heartily +wished him in Holland again. Since the Revolution we have not +felt that evil to the same extent: but it must be admitted that +the term of seven years is too long. There are, however, other +considerations to set off against this. There are two very +serious evils connected with every general election: the first +is, the violent political excitement: the second is, the ruinous +expense. Both these evils were very greatly diminished by the +Reform Act. Formerly these were things which you in Scotland +knew nothing about; but in England the injury to the peace and +morals of society resulting from a general election was +incalculable. During a fifteen days' poll in a town of one +hundred thousand inhabitants, money was flowing in all +directions; the streets were running with beer; all business was +suspended; and there was nothing but disturbance and riot, and +slander, and calumny, and quarrels, which left in the bosoms of +private families heartburnings such as were not extinguished in +the course of many years. By limiting the duration of the poll, +the Reform Act has conferred as great a blessing on the country, +--and that is saying a bold word,--as by any other provision +which it contains. Still it is not to be denied that there are +evils inseparable from that state of political excitement into +which every community is thrown by the preparations for an +election. A still greater evil is the expense. That evil too +has been diminished by the operation of the Reform Act; but it +still exists to a considerable extent. We do not now indeed hear +of such elections as that of Yorkshire in 1807, or that of +Northumberland in 1827. We do not hear of elections that cost +two hundred thousand pounds. But that the tenth part of that +sum, nay, that the hundredth part of that sum should be expended +in a contest, is a great evil. Do not imagine, Gentlemen, that +all this evil falls on the candidates. It is on you that the +evil falls. The effect must necessarily be to limit you in your +choice of able men to serve you. The number of men who can +advance fifty thousand pounds is necessarily much smaller than +the number of men who can advance five thousand pounds; the +number of these again is much smaller than the number of those +who can advance five hundred pounds; and the number of men who +can advance five hundred pounds every three years is necessarily +smaller than the number of those who can advance five hundred +pounds every seven years. Therefore it seems to me that the +question is one of comparison. In long Parliaments the +representative character is in some measure effaced. On the +other side, if you have short Parliaments, your choice of men +will be limited. Now in all questions of this sort, it is the +part of wisdom to weigh, not indeed with minute accuracy,--for +questions of civil prudence cannot be subjected to an +arithmetical test,--but to weigh the advantages and disadvantages +carefully, and then to strike the balance. Gentlemen will +probably judge according to their habits of mind, and according +to their opportunities of observation. Those who have seen much +of the evils of elections will probably incline to long +Parliaments; those who have seen little or nothing of these evils +will probably incline to a short term. Only observe this, that, +whatever may be the legal term, it ought to be a year longer than +that for which Parliaments ought ordinarily to sit. For there +must be a general election at the end of the legal term, let the +state of the country be what it may. There may be riot; there +may be revolution; there may be famine in the country; and yet if +the Minister wait to the end of the legal term, the writs must go +out. A wise Minister will therefore always dissolve the +Parliament a year before the end of the legal term, if the +country be then in a quiet state. It has now been long the +practice not to keep a Parliament more than six years. Thus the +Parliament which was elected in 1784 sat till 1790, six years; +the Parliament of 1790 till 1796, the Parliament of 1796 to 1802, +the Parliament of 1812 to 1818, and the Parliament of 1820 till +1826. If, therefore, you wish the duration of Parliaments to be +shortened to three years, the proper course would be to fix the +legal term at four years; and if you wish them to sit for four +years, the proper course would be to fix the legal term at five +years. My own inclination would be to fix the legal term at five +years, and thus to have a Parliament practically every four +years. I ought to add that, whenever any shortening of +Parliament takes place, we ought to alter that rule which +requires that Parliament shall be dissolved as often as the +demise of the Crown takes place. It is a rule for which no +statesmanlike reason can be given; it is a mere technical rule; +and it has already been so much relaxed that, even considered as +a technical rule, it is absurd. + +I come now to another subject, of the highest and gravest +importance: I mean the elective franchise; and I acknowledge +that I am doubtful whether my opinions on this subject may be so +pleasing to many here present as, if I may judge from your +expressions, my sentiments on other subjects have been. I shall +express my opinions, however, on this subject as frankly as I +have expressed them when they may have been more pleasing. I +shall express them with the frankness of a man who is more +desirous to gain your esteem than to gain your votes. I am for +the original principle of the Reform Bill. I think that +principle excellent; and I am sorry that we ever deviated from +it. There were two deviations to which I was strongly opposed, +and to which the authors of the bill, hard pressed by their +opponents and feebly supported by their friends, very unwillingly +consented. One was the admission of the freemen to vote in +towns: the other was the admission of the fifty pound tenants at +will to vote in counties. At the same time I must say that I +despair of being able to apply a direct remedy to either of these +evils. The ballot might perhaps be an indirect remedy for the +latter. I think that the system of registration should be +amended, that the clauses relating to the payment of rates should +be altered, or altogether removed, and that the elective +franchise should be extended to every ten pound householder, +whether he resides within or without the limits of a town. To +this extent I am prepared to go; but I should not be dealing with +the ingenuousness which you have a right to expect, if I did not +tell you that I am not prepared to go further. There are many +other questions as to which you are entitled to know the opinions +of your representative: but I shall only glance rapidly at the +most important. I have ever been a most determined enemy to the +slave trade, and to personal slavery under every form. I have +always been a friend to popular education. I have always been a +friend to the right of free discussion. I have always been +adverse to all restrictions on trade, and especially to those +restrictions which affect the price of the necessaries of life. +I have always been adverse to religious persecution, whether it +takes the form of direct penal laws, or of civil disabilities. + +Now, having said so much upon measures, I hope you will permit me +to say something about men. If you send me as your +representative to Parliament, I wish you to understand that I +shall go there determined to support the present ministry. I +shall do so not from any personal interest or feeling. I have +certainly the happiness to have several kind and much valued +friends among the members of the Government; and there is one +member of the Government, the noble President of the Council, to +whom I owe obligations which I shall always be proud to avow. +That noble Lord, when I was utterly unknown in public life, and +scarcely known even to himself, placed me in the House of +Commons; and it is due to him to say that he never in the least +interfered with the freedom of my parliamentary conduct. I have +since represented a great constituent body, for whose confidence +and kindness I can never be sufficiently grateful, I mean the +populous borough of Leeds. I may possibly by your kindness be +placed in the proud situation of Representative of Edinburgh; but +I never could and never can be a more independent Member of the +House of Commons than when I sat there as the nominee of Lord +Lansdowne. But, while I acknowledge my obligations to that noble +person, while I avow the friendship which I feel for many of his +colleagues, it is not on such grounds that I vindicate the +support which it is my intention to give them. I have no right +to sacrifice your interests to my personal or private feelings: +my principles do not permit me to do so; nor do my friends expect +that I should do so. The support which I propose to give to the +present Ministry I shall give on the following grounds. I +believe the present Ministry to be by many degrees the best +Ministry which, in the present state of the country, can be +formed. I believe that we have only one choice. I believe that +our choice is between a Ministry substantially,--for of course I +do not speak of particular individuals,--between a Ministry +substantially the same that we have, and a Ministry under the +direction of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. I do +not hesitate to pronounce that my choice is in favour of the +former. Some gentleman appears to dissent from what I say. If I +knew what his objections are, I would try to remove them. But it +is impossible to answer inarticulate noises. Is the objection +that the government is too conservative? Or is the objection +that the government is too radical? If I understand rightly, the +objection is that the Government does not proceed vigorously +enough in the work of Reform. To that objection then I will +address myself. Now, I am far from denying that the Ministers +have committed faults. But, at the same time, I make allowances +for the difficulties with which they are contending; and having +made these allowances, I confidently say that, when I look back +at the past, I think them entitled to praise, and that, looking +forward to the future, I can pronounce with still more confidence +that they are entitled to support. + +It is a common error, and one which I have found among men, not +only intelligent, but much conversant in public business, to +think that in politics, legislation is everything and +administration nothing. Nothing is more usual than to hear +people say, "What! another session gone and nothing done; no new +bills passed; the Irish Municipal Bill stopped in the House of +Lords. How could we be worse off if the Tories were in?" My +answer is that, if the Tories were in, our legislation would be +in as bad a state as at present, and we should have a bad +administration into the bargain. It seems strange to me that +gentlemen should not be aware that it may be better to have +unreformed laws administered in a reforming spirit, than reformed +laws administered in a spirit hostile to all reform. We often +hear the maxim, "Measures not men," and there is a sense in which +it is an excellent maxim. Measures not men, certainly: that is, +we are not to oppose Sir Robert Peel simply because he is Sir +Robert Peel, or to support Lord John Russell simply because he is +Lord John Russell. We are not to follow our political leaders in +the way in which my honest Highland ancestors followed their +chieftains. We are not to imitate that blind devotion which led +all the Campbells to take the side of George the Second because +the Duke of Argyle was a Whig, and all the Camerons to take the +side of the Stuarts because Lochiel was a Jacobite. But if you +mean that, while the laws remain the same, it is unimportant by +whom they are administered, then I say that a doctrine more +absurd was never uttered. Why, what are laws? They are mere +words; they are a dead letter; till a living agent comes to put +life into them. This is the case even in judicial matters. You +can tie up the judges of the land much more closely than it would +be right to tie up the Secretary for the Home Department or the +Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Yet is it immaterial whether the +laws be administered by Chief Justice Hale or Chief Justice +Jeffreys? And can you doubt that the case is still stronger when +you come to political questions? It would be perfectly easy, as +many of you must be aware, to point out instances in which +society has prospered under defective laws, well administered, +and other instances in which society has been miserable under +institutions that looked well on paper. But we need not go +beyond our own country and our own times. Let us see what, +within this island and in the present year, a good administration +has done to mitigate bad laws. For example, let us take the law +of libel. I hold the present state of our law of libel to be a +scandal to a civilised community. Nothing more absurd can be +found in the whole history of jurisprudence. How the law of +libel was abused formerly, you all know. You all know how it was +abused under the administrations of Lord North, of Mr Pitt, of Mr +Perceval, of the Earl of Liverpool; and I am sorry to say that it +was abused, most unjustifiably abused, by Lord Abinger under the +administration of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. +Now is there any person who will pretend to say that it has ever +been abused by the Government of Lord Melbourne? That Government +has enemies in abundance; it has been attacked by Tory +malcontents and by Radical malcontents; but has any one of them +ever had the effrontery to say that it has abused the power of +filing ex officio informations for libel? Has this been from +want of provocation? On the contrary, the present Government has +been libelled in a way in which no Government was ever libelled +before. Has the law been altered? Has it been modified? Not at +all. We have exactly the same laws that we had when Mr Perry was +brought to trial for saying that George the Third was unpopular, +Mr Leigh Hunt for saying that George the Fourth was fat, and Sir +Francis Burdett for expressing, not perhaps in the best taste, a +natural and honest indignation at the slaughter which took place +at Manchester in 1819. The law is precisely the same; but if it +had been entirely remodelled, political writers could not have +had more liberty than they have enjoyed since Lord Melbourne came +into power. + +I have given you an instance of the power of a good +administration to mitigate a bad law. Now, see how necessary it +is that there should be a good administration to carry a good law +into effect. An excellent bill was brought into the House of +Commons by Lord John Russell in 1828, and passed. To any other +man than Lord John Russell the carrying of such a bill would have +been an enviable distinction indeed; but his name is identified +with still greater reforms. It will, however, always be +accounted one of his titles to public gratitude that he was the +author of the law which repealed the Test Act. Well, a short +time since, a noble peer, the Lord Lieutenant of the county of +Nottingham, thought fit to re-enact the Test Act, so far as that +county was concerned. I have already mentioned His Grace the +Duke of Newcastle, and, to say truth, there is no life richer in +illustrations of all forms and branches of misgovernment than +his. His Grace very coolly informed Her Majesty's Ministers that +he had not recommended a certain gentleman for the commission of +the peace because the gentleman was a Dissenter. Now here is a +law which admits Dissenters to offices; and a Tory nobleman takes +it on himself to rescind that law. But happily we have Whig +Ministers. What did they do? Why, they put the Dissenter into +the Commission; and they turned the Tory nobleman out of the +Lieutenancy. Do you seriously imagine that under a Tory +administration this would have been done? I have no wish to say +anything disrespectful of the great Tory leaders. I shall always +speak with respect of the great qualities and public services of +the Duke of Wellington: I have no other feeling about him than +one of pride that my country has produced so great a man; nor do +I feel anything but respect and kindness for Sir Robert Peel, of +whose abilities no person that has had to encounter him in debate +will ever speak slightingly. I do not imagine that those eminent +men would have approved of the conduct of the Duke of Newcastle. +I believe that the Duke of Wellington would as soon have thought +of running away from the field of battle as of doing the same +thing in Hampshire, where he is Lord Lieutenant. But do you +believe that he would have turned the Duke of Newcastle out? I +believe that he would not. As Mr Pulteney, a great political +leader, said a hundred years since, "The heads of parties are, +like the heads of snakes, carried on by the tails." It would +have been utterly impossible for the Tory Ministers to have +discarded the powerful Tory Duke, unless they had at the same +time resolved, like Mr Canning in 1827, to throw themselves for +support on the Whigs. + +Now I have given you these two instances to show that a change in +the administration may produce all the effects of a change in the +law. You see that to have a Tory Government is virtually to reenact the Test Act, and that to have a Whig Government is +virtually to repeal the law of libel. And if this is the case in +England and Scotland, where society is in a sound state, how much +more must it be the case in the diseased part of the empire, in +Ireland? Ask any man there, whatever may be his religion, +whatever may be his politics, Churchman, Presbyterian, Roman +Catholic, Repealer, Precursor, Orangeman, ask Mr O'Connell, ask +Colonel Conolly, whether it is a slight matter in whose hands the +executive power is lodged. Every Irishman will tell you that it +is a matter of life and death; that in fact more depends upon the +men than upon the laws. It disgusts me therefore to hear men of +liberal politics say, "What is the use of a Whig Government? The +Ministers can do nothing for the country. They have been four +years at work on an Irish Municipal Bill, without being able to +pass it through the Lords." Would any ten Acts of Parliament +make such a difference to Ireland as the difference between +having Lord Ebrington for Lord Lieutenant, with Lord Morpeth for +Secretary, and having the Earl of Roden for Lord Lieutenant, with +Mr Lefroy for Secretary? Ask the popular Irish leaders whether +they would like better to remain as they are, with Lord Ebrington +as Lord Lieutenant, or to have the Municipal Bill, and any other +three bills which they might name, with Lord Roden for Viceroy; +and they will at once answer, "Leave us Lord Ebrington; and burn +your bills." The truth is that, the more defective the +legislation, the more important is a good administration, just as +the personal qualities of the Sovereign are of more importance in +despotic countries like Russia than in a limited monarchy. If we +have not in our Statute Book all the securities necessary for +good government, it is of the more importance that the character +of the men who administer the government should be an additional +security. + +But we are told that the Government is weak. That is most true; +and I believe that almost all that we are tempted to blame in the +conduct of the Government is to be attributed to weakness. But +let us consider what the nature of this weakness is. Is it that +kind of weakness which makes it our duty to oppose the +Government? Or is it that kind of weakness which makes it our +duty to support the Government? Is it intellectual weakness, +moral weakness, the incapacity to discern, or the want of courage +to pursue, the true interest of the nation? Such was the +weakness of Mr Addington, when this country was threatened with +invasion from Boulogne. Such was the weakness of the Government +which sent out the wretched Walcheren expedition, and starved the +Duke of Wellington in Spain; a government whose only strength was +shown in prosecuting writers who exposed abuses, and in +slaughtering rioters whom oppression had driven into outrage. Is +that the weakness of the present Government? I think not. As +compared with any other party capable of holding the reins of +Government, they are deficient neither in intellectual nor in +moral strength. On all great questions of difference between the +Ministers and the Opposition, I hold the Ministers to be in the +right. When I consider the difficulties with which they have to +struggle, when I see how manfully that struggle is maintained by +Lord Melbourne, when I see that Lord John Russell has excited +even the admiration of his opponents by the heroic manner in +which he has gone on, year after year, in sickness and domestic +sorrow, fighting the battle of Reform, I am led to the conclusion +that the weakness of the Ministers is of that sort which makes it +our duty to give them, not opposition, but support; and that +support it is my purpose to afford to the best of my ability. + +If, indeed, I thought myself at liberty to consult my own +inclination, I should have stood aloof from the conflict. If you +should be pleased to send me to Parliament, I shall enter an +assembly very different from that which I quitted in 1834. I +left the Wigs united and dominant, strong in the confidence and +attachment of one House of Parliament, strong also in the fears +of the other. I shall return to find them helpless in the Lords, +and forced almost every week to fight a battle for existence in +the Commons. Many, whom I left bound together by what seemed +indissoluble private and public ties, I shall now find assailing +each other with more than the ordinary bitterness of political +hostility. Many with whom I sate side by side, contending +through whole nights for the Reform Bill, till the sun broke over +the Thames on our undiminished ranks, I shall now find on hostile +benches. I shall be compelled to engage in painful altercations +with many with whom I had hoped never to have a conflict, except +in the generous and friendly strife which should best serve the +common cause. I left the Liberal Government strong enough to +maintain itself against an adverse Court; I see that the Liberal +Government now rests for support on the preference of a +Sovereign, in whom the country sees with delight the promise of a +better, a gentler, a happier Elizabeth, of a Sovereign in whom we +hope that our children and our grandchildren will admire the +firmness, the sagacity, and the spirit which distinguished the +last and greatest of the Tudors, tempered by the beneficent +influence of more humane times and more popular institutions. +Whether royal favour, never more needed and never better +deserved, will enable the government to surmount the difficulties +with which it has to deal, I cannot presume to judge. It may be +that the blow has only been deferred for a season, and that a +long period of Tory domination is before us. Be it so. I +entered public life a Whig; and a Whig I am determined to remain. +I use that word, and I wish you to understand that I use it, in +no narrow sense. I mean by a Whig, not one who subscribes +implicitly to the contents of any book, though that book may have +been written by Locke; not one who approves the whole conduct of +any statesman, though that statesman may have been Fox; not one +who adopts the opinions in fashion in any circle, though that +circle may be composed of the finest and noblest spirits of the +age. But it seems to me that, when I look back on our history, I +can discern a great party which has, through many generations, +preserved its identity; a party often depressed, never +extinguished; a party which, though often tainted with the faults +of the age, has always been in advance of the age; a party which, +though guilty of many errors and some crimes, has the glory of +having established our civil and religious liberties on a firm +foundation; and of that party I am proud to be a member. It was +that party which, on the great question of monopolies, stood up +against Elizabeth. It was that party which, in the reign of +James the First, organised the earliest parliamentary opposition, +which steadily asserted the privileges of the people, and wrested +prerogative after prerogative from the Crown. It was that party +which forced Charles the First to relinquish the ship-money. It +was that party which destroyed the Star Chamber and the High +Commission Court. It was that party which, under Charles the +Second, carried the Habeas Corpus Act, which effected the +Revolution, which passed the Toleration Act, which broke the yoke +of a foreign church in your country, and which saved Scotland +from the fate of unhappy Ireland. It was that party which reared +and maintained the constitutional throne of Hanover against the +hostility of the Church and of the landed aristocracy of England. +It was that party which opposed the war with America and the war +with the French Republic; which imparted the blessings of our +free Constitution to the Dissenters; and which, at a later +period, by unparalleled sacrifices and exertions, extended the +same blessings to the Roman Catholics. To the Whigs of the +seventeenth century we owe it that we have a House of Commons. +To the Whigs of the nineteenth century we owe it that the House +of Commons has been purified. The abolition of the slave trade, +the abolition of colonial slavery, the extension of popular +education, the mitigation of the rigour of the penal code, all, +all were effected by that party; and of that party, I repeat, I +am a member. I look with pride on all that the Whigs have done +for the cause of human freedom and of human happiness. I see +them now hard pressed, struggling with difficulties, but still +fighting the good fight. At their head I see men who have +inherited the spirit and the virtues, as well as the blood, of +old champions and martyrs of freedom. To those men I propose to +attach myself. Delusion may triumph: but the triumphs of +delusion are but for a day. We may be defeated: but our +principles will only gather fresh strength from defeats. Be +that, however, as it may, my part is taken. While one shred of +the old banner is flying, by that banner will I at least be +found. The good old cause, as Sidney called it on the scaffold, +vanquished or victorious, insulted or triumphant, the good old +cause is still the good old cause with me. Whether in or out of +Parliament, whether speaking with that authority which must +always belong to the representative of this great and enlightened +community, or expressing the humble sentiments of a private +citizen, I will to the last maintain inviolate my fidelity to +principles which, though they may be borne down for a time by +senseless clamour, are yet strong with the strength and immortal +with the immortality of truth, and which, however they may be +misunderstood or misrepresented by contemporaries, will assuredly +find justice from a better age. Gentlemen, I have done. I have +only to thank you for the kind attention with which you have +heard me, and to express my hope that whether my principles have +met with your concurrence or not, the frankness with which I have +expressed them will at least obtain your approbation. + +... + + +CONFIDENCE IN THE MINISTRY OF LORD MELBOURNE. (JANUARY 29, 1840) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 29TH OF JANUARY +1840. + +On the twenty-eighth of January 1840, Sir John Yarde Buller moved +the following resolution: + +"That Her Majesty's Government, as at present constituted, does +not possess the confidence of the House." + +After a discussion of four nights the motion was rejected by 308 +votes to 287. The following Speech was made on the second night +of the debate. + +The House, Sir, may possibly imagine that I rise under some +little feeling of irritation to reply to the personal reflections +which have been introduced into the discussion. It would be easy +to reply to these reflections. It would be still easier to +retort them: but I should think either course unworthy of me and +of this great occasion. If ever I should so far forget myself as +to wander from the subject of debate to matters concerning only +myself, it will not, I hope, be at a time when the dearest +interests of our country are staked on the result of our +deliberations. I rise under feelings of anxiety which leave no +room in my mind for selfish vanity or petty vindictiveness. I +believe with the most intense conviction that, in pleading for +the Government to which I belong, I am pleading for the safety of +the Commonwealth, for the reformation of abuses, and at the same +time for the preservation of august and venerable institutions: +and I trust, Mr Speaker, that when the question is whether a +Cabinet be or be not worthy of the confidence of Parliament, the +first Member of that Cabinet who comes forward to defend himself +and his colleagues will find here some portion of that generosity +and good feeling which once distinguished English gentlemen. But +be this as it may, my voice shall be heard. I repeat, that I am +pleading at once for the reformation and for the preservation of +our institutions, for liberty and order, for justice administered +in mercy, for equal laws, for the rights of conscience, and for +the real union of Great Britain and Ireland. If, on so grave an +occasion, I should advert to one or two of the charges which have +been brought against myself personally, I shall do so only +because I conceive that those charges affect in some degree the +character of the Government to which I belong. + +One of the chief accusations brought against the Government by +the honourable Baronet (Sir John Yarde Buller.) who opened the +debate, and repeated by the seconder (Alderman Thompson.), and by +almost every gentlemen who has addressed the House from the +benches opposite, is that I have been invited to take office +though my opinion with respect to the Ballot is known to be +different from that of my colleagues. We have been repeatedly +told that a Ministry in which there is not perfect unanimity on a +subject so important must be undeserving of the public +confidence. Now, Sir, it is true that I am in favour of secret +voting, that my noble and right honourable friends near me are in +favour of open voting, and yet that we sit in the same Cabinet. +But if, on account of this difference of opinion, the Government +is unworthy of public confidence, then I am sure that scarcely +any government which has existed within the memory of the oldest +man has been deserving of public confidence. It is well-known +that in the Cabinets of Mr Pitt, of Mr Fox, of Lord Liverpool, of +Mr Canning, of the Duke of Wellington, there were open questions +of great moment. Mr Pitt, while still zealous for parliamentary +reform, brought into the Cabinet Lord Grenville, who was adverse +to parliamentary reform. Again, Mr Pitt, while eloquently +supporting the abolition of the Slave Trade, brought into the +Cabinet Mr Dundas, who was the chief defender of the Slave Trade. +Mr Fox, too, intense as was his abhorrence of the Slave Trade, +sat in the same Cabinet with Lord Sidmouth and Mr Windham, who +voted to the last against the abolition of that trade. Lord +Liverpool, Mr Canning, the Duke of Wellington, all left the +question of Catholic Emancipation open. And yet, of all +questions, that was perhaps the very last that should have been +left open. For it was not merely a legislative question, but a +question which affected every part of the executive +administration. But, to come to the present time, suppose that +you could carry your resolution, suppose that you could drive the +present Ministers from power, who that may succeed them will be +able to form a government in which there will be no open +questions? Can the right honourable Baronet the member for +Tamworth (Sir Robert Peel.) form a Cabinet without leaving the +great question of our privileges open? In what respect is that +question less important than the question of the Ballot? Is it +not indeed from the privileges of the House that all questions +relating to the constitution of the House derive their +importance? What does it matter how we are chosen, if, when we +meet, we do not possess the powers necessary to enable us to +perform the functions of a legislative assembly? Yet you who +would turn out the present Ministers because they differ from +each other as to the way in which Members of this House should be +chosen, wish to bring in men who decidedly differ from each other +as to the relation in which this House stands to the nation, to +the other House, and to the Courts of Judicature. Will you say +that the dispute between the House and the Court of Queen's Bench +is a trifling dispute? Surely, in the late debates, you were all +perfectly agreed as to the importance of the question, though you +were agreed as to nothing else. Some of you told us that we were +contending for a power essential to our honour and usefulness. +Many of you protested against our proceedings, and declared that +we were encroaching on the province of the tribunals, violating +the liberty of our fellow citizens, punishing honest magistrates +for not perjuring themselves. Are these trifles? And can we +believe that you really feel a horror of open questions when we +see your Prime Minister elect sending people to prison overnight, +and his law officers elect respectfully attending the levee of +those prisoners the next morning? Observe, too, that this +question of privileges is not merely important; it is also +pressing. Something must be done, and that speedily. My belief +is that more inconvenience would follow from leaving that +question open one month than from leaving the question of the +Ballot open ten years. + +The Ballot, Sir, is not the only subject on which I am accused of +holding dangerous opinions. The right honourable Baronet the +Member for Pembroke (Sir James Graham.) pronounces the present +Government a Chartist Government; and he proves his point by +saying that I am a member of the government, and that I wish to +give the elective franchise to every ten pound householder, +whether his house be in a town or in the country. Is it +possible, Sir, that the honourable Baronet should not know that +the fundamental principle of the plan of government called the +People's Charter is that every male of twenty-one should have a +vote? Or is it possible that he can see no difference between +giving the franchise to all ten pound householders, and giving +the franchise to all males of twenty-one? Does he think the ten +pound householders a class morally or intellectually unfit to +possess the franchise, he who bore a chief part in framing the +law which gave them the franchise in all the represented towns of +the United Kingdom? Or will he say that the ten pound +householder in a town is morally and intellectually fit to be an +elector, but that the ten pound householder who lives in the open +country is morally and intellectually unfit? Is not house-rent +notoriously higher in towns than in the country? Is it not, +therefore, probable that the occupant of a ten pound house in a +rural hamlet will be a man who has a greater stake in the peace +and welfare of society than a man who has a ten pound house in +Manchester or Birmingham? Can you defend on conservative +principles an arrangement which gives votes to a poorer class and +withholds them from a richer? For my own part, I believe it to +be essential to the welfare of the state, that the elector should +have a pecuniary qualification. I believe that the ten pound +qualification cannot be proved to be either too high or too low. +Changes, which may hereafter take place in the value of money and +in the condition of the people, may make a change of the +qualification necessary. But the ten pound qualification is, I +believe, well suited to the present state of things. At any +rate, I am unable to conceive why it should be a sufficient +qualification within the limits of a borough, and an insufficient +qualification a yard beyond those limits; sufficient at +Knightsbridge, but insufficient at Kensington; sufficient at +Lambeth, but insufficient at Battersea? If any person calls this +Chartism, he must permit me to tell him that he does not know +what Chartism is. + +A motion, Sir, such as that which we are considering, brings +under our review the whole policy of the kingdom, domestic, +foreign, and colonial. It is not strange, therefore, that there +should have been several episodes in this debate. Something has +been said about the hostilities on the River Plata, something +about the hostilities on the coast of China, something about +Commissioner Lin, something about Captain Elliot. But on such +points I shall not dwell, for it is evidently not by the opinion +which the House may entertain on such points that the event of +the debate will be decided. The main argument of the gentlemen +who support the motion, the argument on which the right +honourable Baronet who opened the debate chiefly relied, the +argument which his seconder repeated, and which has formed the +substance of every speech since delivered from the opposite side +of the House, may be fairly summed up thus, "The country is not +in a satisfactory state. There is much recklessness, much +turbulence, much craving for political change; and the cause of +these evils is the policy of the Whigs. They rose to power by +agitation in 1830: they retained power by means of agitation +through the tempestuous months which followed: they carried the +Reform Bill by means of agitation: expelled from office, they +forced themselves in again by means of agitation; and now we are +paying the penalty of their misconduct. Chartism is the natural +offspring of Whiggism. From those who caused the evil we cannot +expect the remedy. The first thing to be done is to dismiss +them, and to call to power men who, not having instigated the +people to commit excesses, can, without incurring the charge of +inconsistency, enforce the laws." + +Now, Sir, it seems to me that this argument was completely +refuted by the able and eloquent speech of my right honourable +friend the Judge Advocate. (Sir George Grey.) He said, and he +said most truly, that those who hold this language are really +accusing, not the Government of Lord Melbourne, but the +Government of Lord Grey. I was therefore, I must say, surprised, +after the speech of my right honourable friend, to hear the right +honourable Baronet the Member for Pembroke, himself a +distinguished member of the cabinet of Lord Grey, pronounce a +harangue against agitation. That he was himself an agitator he +does not venture to deny; but he tries to excuse himself by +saying, "I liked the Reform Bill; I thought it a good bill; and +so I agitated for it; and, in agitating for it, I acknowledge +that I went to the very utmost limit of what was prudent, to the +very utmost limit of what was legal." Does not the right +honourable Baronet perceive that, by setting up this defence for +his own past conduct, he admits that agitation is good or evil, +according as the objects of the agitation are good or evil? When +I hear him speak of agitation as a practice disgraceful to a +public man, and especially to a Minister of the Crown, and +address his lecture in a particular manner to me, I cannot but +wonder that he should not perceive that his reproaches, instead +of wounding me, recoil on himself. I was not a member of the +Cabinet which brought in the Reform Bill, which dissolved the +Parliament in a moment of intense excitement in order to carry +the Reform Bill, which refused to serve the Sovereign longer +unless he would create peers in sufficient numbers to carry the +Reform Bill. I was at that time only one of those hundreds of +members of this House, one of those millions of Englishmen, who +were deeply impressed with the conviction that the Reform Bill +was one of the best laws that ever had been framed, and who +reposed entire confidence in the abilities, the integrity, and +the patriotism of the ministers; and I must add that in no member +of the administration did I place more confidence than in the +right honourable Baronet, who was then First Lord of the +Admiralty, and in the noble lord who was then Secretary for +Ireland. (Lord Stanley.) It was indeed impossible for me not to +see that the public mind was strongly, was dangerously stirred: +but I trusted that men so able, men so upright, men who had so +large a stake in the country, would carry us safe through the +storm which they had raised. And is it not rather hard that my +confidence in the right honourable Baronet and the noble lord is +to be imputed to me as a crime by the very men who are trying to +raise the right honourable Baronet and the noble lord to power? +The Charter, we have been told in this debate, is the child of +the Reform Bill. But whose child is the Reform Bill? If men are +to be deemed unfit for office because they roused the national +spirit to support that bill, because they went as far as the law +permitted in order to carry that bill, then I say that no men can +be more unfit for office than the right honourable Baronet and +the noble lord. It may be thought presumptuous in me to defend +two persons who are so well able to defend themselves, and the +more so, as they have a powerful ally in the right honourable +Baronet the Member for Tamworth, who, having twice offered them +high places in the Government, must be supposed to be of opinion +that they are not disqualified for being ministers by having been +agitators. I will, however, venture to offer some arguments in +vindication of the conduct of my noble and right honourable +friends, as I once called them, and as, notwithstanding the +asperity which has characterised the present debate, I should +still have pleasure in calling them. I would say in their behalf +that agitation ought not to be indiscriminately condemned; that +great abuses ought to be removed; that in this country scarcely +any great abuse was ever removed till the public feeling had been +roused against it; and that the public feeling has seldom been +roused against abuses without exertions to which the name of +agitation may be given. I altogether deny the assertion which we +have repeatedly heard in the course of this debate, that a +government which does not discountenance agitation cannot be +trusted to suppress rebellion. Agitation and rebellion, you say, +are in kind the same thing: they differ only in degree. Sir, +they are the same thing in the sense in which to breathe a vein +and to cut a throat are the same thing. There are many points of +resemblance between the act of the surgeon and the act of the +assassin. In both there is the steel, the incision, the smart, +the bloodshed. But the acts differ as widely as possible both in +moral character and in physical effect. So with agitation and +rebellion. I do not believe that there has been any moment since +the revolution of 1688 at which an insurrection in this country +would have been justifiable. On the other hand, I hold that we +have owed to agitation a long series of beneficent reforms which +could have been effected in no other way. Nor do I understand +how any person can reprobate agitation, merely as agitation, +unless he is prepared to adopt the maxim of Bishop Horsley, that +the people have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them. +The truth is that agitation is inseparable from popular +government. If you wish to get rid of agitation, you must +establish an oligarchy like that of Venice, or a despotism like +that of Russia. If a Russian thinks that he is able to suggest +an improvement in the commercial code or the criminal code of his +country, he tries to obtain an audience of the Emperor Nicholas +or of Count Nesselrode. If he can satisfy them that his plans +are good, then undoubtedly, without agitation, without +controversy in newspapers, without harangues from hustings, +without clamorous meetings in great halls and in marketplaces, +without petitions signed by tens of thousands, you may have a +reform effected with one stroke of the pen. Not so here. Here +the people, as electors, have power to decide questions of the +highest importance. And ought they not to hear and read before +they decide? And how can they hear if nobody speaks, or read if +nobody writes? You must admit, then, that it is our right, and +that it may be our duty, to attempt by speaking and writing to +induce the great body of our countrymen to pronounce what we +think a right decision; and what else is agitation? In saying +this I am not defending one party alone. Has there been no Tory +agitation? No agitation against Popery? No agitation against +the new Poor Law? No agitation against the plan of education +framed by the present Government? Or, to pass from questions +about which we differ to questions about which we all agree: +Would the slave trade ever have been abolished without agitation? +Would slavery ever have been abolished without agitation? Would +your prison discipline ever have been improved without agitation? +Would your penal code, once the scandal of the Statute Book, have +been mitigated without agitation? I am far from denying that +agitation may be abused, may be employed for bad ends, may be +carried to unjustifiable lengths. So may that freedom of speech +which is one of the most precious privileges of this House. +Indeed, the analogy is very close. What is agitation but the +mode in which the public, the body which we represent, the great +outer assembly, if I may so speak, holds its debates? It is as +necessary to the good government of the country that our +constituents should debate as that we should debate. They +sometimes go wrong, as we sometimes go wrong. There is often +much exaggeration, much unfairness, much acrimony in their +debates. Is there none in ours? Some worthless demagogues may +have exhorted the people to resist the laws. But what member of +Lord Grey's Government, what member of the present Government, +ever gave any countenance to any illegal proceedings? It is +perfectly true that some words which have been uttered here and +in other places, and which, when taken together with the context +and candidly construed, will appear to mean nothing but what was +reasonable and constitutional and moderate, have been distorted +and mutilated into something that has a seditious aspect. But +who is secure against such misrepresentation? Not, I am sure, +the right honourable Baronet the Member for Pembroke. He ought +to remember that his own speeches have been used by bad men for +bad ends. He ought to remember that some expressions which he +used in 1830, on the subject of the emoluments divided among +Privy Councillors, have been quoted by the Chartists in +vindication of their excesses. Do I blame him for this? Not at +all. He said nothing that was not justifiable. But it is +impossible for a man so to guard his lips that his language shall +not sometimes be misunderstood by dull men, and sometimes +misrepresented by dishonest men. I do not, I say, blame him for +having used those expressions: but I do say that, knowing how +his own expressions had been perverted, he should have hesitated +before he threw upon men, not less attached than himself to the +cause of law, of order and property, imputations certainly not +better founded than those to which he is himself liable. + +And now, Sir, to pass by many topics to which, but for the +lateness of the hour, I would willingly advert, let me remind the +House that the question before us is not a positive question, but +a question of comparison. No man, though he may disapprove of +some part of the conduct of the present Ministers, is justified +in voting for the motion which we are considering, unless he +believes that a change would, on the whole, be beneficial. No +government is perfect: but some government there must be; and if +the present government were worse than its enemies think it, it +ought to exist until it can be succeeded by a better. Now I take +it to be perfectly clear that, in the event of the removal of Her +Majesty's present advisers, an administration must be formed of +which the right honourable Baronet the Member for Tamworth will +be the head. Towards that right honourable Baronet, and towards +many of the noblemen and gentlemen who would probably in that +event be associated with him, I entertain none but kind and +respectful feelings. I am far, I hope, from that narrowness of +mind which makes a man unable to see merit in any party but his +own. If I may venture to parody the old Venetian proverb, I +would be "First an Englishman; and then a Whig." I feel proud of +my country when I think how much ability, uprightness, and +patriotism may be found on both sides of the House. Among our +opponents stands forth, eminently distinguished by parts, +eloquence, knowledge, and, I willingly admit, by public spirit, +the right honourable Baronet the Member for Tamworth. Having +said this, I shall offer no apology for the remarks which, in the +discharge of my public duty, I shall make, without, I hope, any +personal discourtesy, on his past conduct, and his present +position. + +It has been, Sir, I will not say his fault, but his misfortune, +his fate, to be the leader of a party with which he has no +sympathy. To go back to what is now matter of history, the right +honourable Baronet bore a chief part in the restoration of the +currency. By a very large proportion of his followers the +restoration of the currency is considered as the chief cause of +the distresses of the country. The right honourable Baronet +cordially supported the commercial policy of Mr Huskisson. But +there was no name more odious than that of Mr Huskisson to the +rank and file of the Tory party. The right honourable Baronet +assented to the Act which removed the disabilities of the +Protestant Dissenters. But, a very short time ago, a noble Duke, +one of the highest in power and rank of the right honourable +Baronet's adherents, positively refused to lend his aid to the +executing of that Act. The right honourable Baronet brought in +the bill which removed the disabilities of the Roman Catholics: +but his supporters make it a chief article of charge against us +that we have given practical effect to the law which is his best +title to public esteem. The right honourable Baronet has +declared himself decidedly favourable to the new Poor Law. Yet, +if a voice is raised against the Whig Bastilles and the Kings of +Somerset House, it is almost certain to be the voice of some +zealous retainer of the right honourable Baronet. On the great +question of privilege, the right honourable Baronet has taken a +part which entitles him to the gratitude of all who are +solicitous for the honour and the usefulness of the popular +branch of the legislature. But if any person calls us tyrants, +and calls those whom we have imprisoned martyrs, that person is +certain to be a partisan of the right honourable Baronet. Even +when the right honourable Baronet does happen to agree with his +followers as to a conclusion, he seldom arrives at that +conclusion by the same process of reasoning which satisfies them. +Many great questions which they consider as questions of right +and wrong, as questions of moral and religious principle, as +questions which must, for no earthly object, and on no emergency, +be compromised, are treated by him merely as questions of +expediency, of place, and of time. He has opposed many bills +introduced by the present Government; but he has opposed them on +such grounds that he is at perfect liberty to bring in the same +bills himself next year, with perhaps some slight variation. I +listened to him as I always listen to him, with pleasure, when he +spoke last session on the subject of education. I could not but +be amused by the skill with which he performed the hard task of +translating the gibberish of bigots into language which might not +misbecome the mouth of a man of sense. I felt certain that he +despised the prejudices of which he condescended to make use, and +that his opinion about the Normal Schools and the Douai Version +entirely agreed with my own. I therefore do not think that, in +times like these, the right honourable Baronet can conduct the +administration with honour to himself or with satisfaction to +those who are impatient to see him in office. I will not affect +to feel apprehensions from which I am entirely free. I do not +fear, and I will not pretend to fear, that the right honourable +Baronet will be a tyrant and a persecutor. I do not believe that +he will give up Ireland to the tender mercies of those zealots +who form, I am afraid, the strongest, and I am sure the loudest, +part of his retinue. I do not believe that he will strike the +names of Roman Catholics from the Privy Council book, and from +the Commissions of the Peace. I do not believe that he will lay +on our table a bill for the repeal of that great Act which was +introduced by himself in 1829. What I do anticipate is this, +that he will attempt to keep his party together by means which +will excite grave discontents, and yet that he will not succeed +in keeping his party together; that he will lose the support of +the Tories without obtaining the support of the nation; and that +his government will fall from causes purely internal. + +This, Sir, is not mere conjecture. The drama is not a new one. +It was performed a few years ago on the same stage and by most of +the same actors. In 1827 the right honourable Baronet was, as +now, the head of a powerful Tory opposition. He had, as now, the +support of a strong minority in this House. He had, as now, a +majority in the other House. He was, as now, the favourite of +the Church and of the Universities. All who dreaded political +change, all who hated religious liberty, rallied round him then, +as they rally round him now. Their cry was then, as now, that a +government unfriendly to the civil and ecclesiastical +constitution of the realm was kept in power by intrigue and court +favour, and that the right honourable Baronet was the man to whom +the nation must look to defend its laws against revolutionists, +and its religion against idolaters. At length that cry became +irresistible. Tory animosity had pursued the most accomplished +of Tory statesmen and orators to a resting place in Westminster +Abbey. The arrangement which was made after his death lasted but +a very few months: a Tory government was formed; and the right +honourable Baronet became the leading minister of the Crown in +the House of Commons. His adherents hailed his elevation with +clamorous delight, and confidently expected many years of triumph +and dominion. Is it necessary to say in what disappointment, in +what sorrow, in what fury, those expectations ended? The right +honourable Baronet had been raised to power by prejudices and +passions in which he had no share. His followers were bigots. +He was a statesman. He was coolly weighing conveniences against +inconveniences, while they were ready to resort to a proscription +and to hazard a civil war rather than depart from what they +called their principles. For a time he tried to take a middle +course. He imagined that it might be possible for him to stand +well with his old friends, and yet to perform some part of his +duty to the state. But those were not times in which he could +long continue to halt between two opinions. His elevation, as it +had excited the hopes of the oppressors, had excited also the +terror and the rage of the oppressed. Agitation, which had, +during more than a year, slumbered in Ireland, awoke with renewed +vigour, and soon became more formidable than ever. The Roman +Catholic Association began to exercise authority such as the +Irish Parliament, in the days of its independence, had never +possessed. An agitator became more powerful than the Lord +Lieutenant. Violence engendered violence. Every explosion of +feeling on one side of St George's Channel was answered by a +louder explosion on the other. The Clare election, the Penenden +Heath meeting showed that the time for evasion and delay was +past. A crisis had arrived which made it absolutely necessary +for the Government to take one side or the other. A simple issue +was proposed to the right honourable Baronet, concession or civil +war; to disgust his party, or to ruin his country. He chose the +good part. He performed a duty, deeply painful, in some sense +humiliating, yet in truth highly honourable to him. He came down +to this House and proposed the emancipation of the Roman +Catholics. Among his adherents were some who, like himself, had +opposed the Roman Catholic claims merely on the ground of +political expediency; and these persons readily consented to +support his new policy. But not so the great body of his +followers. Their zeal for Protestant ascendency was a ruling +passion, a passion, too, which they thought it a virtue to +indulge. They had exerted themselves to raise to power the man +whom they regarded as the ablest and most trusty champion of that +ascendency; and he had not only abandoned the good cause, but had +become its adversary. Who can forget in what a roar of obloquy +their anger burst forth? Never before was such a flood of +calumny and invective poured on a single head. All history, all +fiction were ransacked by the old friends of the right honourable +Baronet, for nicknames and allusions. One right honourable +gentleman, who I am sorry not to see in his place opposite, found +English prose too weak to express his indignation, and pursued +his perfidious chief with reproaches borrowed from the ravings of +the deserted Dido. Another Tory explored Holy Writ for +parallels, and could find no parallel but Judas Iscariot. The +great university which had been proud to confer on the right +honourable Baronet the highest marks of favour, was foremost in +affixing the brand of infamy. From Cornwall, from +Northumberland, clergymen came up by hundreds to Oxford, in order +to vote against him whose presence, a few days before, would have +set the bells of their parish churches jingling. Nay, such was +the violence of this new enmity that the old enmity of the Tories +to Whigs, Radicals, Dissenters, Papists, seemed to be forgotten. +That Ministry which, when it came into power at the close of +1828, was one of the strongest that the country ever saw, was, at +the close of 1829, one of the weakest. It lingered another year, +staggering between two parties, leaning now on one, now on the +other, reeling sometimes under a blow from the right, sometimes +under a blow from the left, and certain to fall as soon as the +Tory opposition and the Whig opposition could find a question on +which to unite. Such a question was found: and that Ministry +fell without a struggle. + +Now what I wish to know is this. What reason have we to believe +that any administration which the right honourable Baronet can +now form will have a different fate? Is he changed since 1829? +Is his party changed? He is, I believe, still the same, still a +statesman, moderate in opinions, cautious in temper, perfectly +free from that fanaticism which inflames so many of his +supporters. As to his party, I admit that it is not the same; +for it is very much worse. It is decidedly fiercer and more +unreasonable than it was eleven years ago. I judge by its public +meetings; I judge by its journals; I judge by its pulpits, +pulpits which every week resound with ribaldry and slander such +as would disgrace the hustings. A change has come over the +spirit of a part, I hope not the larger part, of the Tory body. +It was once the glory of the Tories that, through all changes of +fortune, they were animated by a steady and fervent loyalty which +made even error respectable, and gave to what might otherwise +have been called servility something of the manliness and +nobleness of freedom. A great Tory poet, whose eminent services +to the cause of monarchy had been ill requited by an ungrateful +Court, boasted that + +"Loyalty is still the same, +Whether it win or lose the game; +True as the dial to the sun, +Although it be not shined upon." + +Toryism has now changed its character. We have lived to see a +monster of a faction made up of the worst parts of the Cavalier +and the worst parts of the Roundhead. We have lived to see a +race of disloyal Tories. We have lived to see Tories giving +themselves the airs of those insolent pikemen who puffed out +their tobacco smoke in the face of Charles the First. We have +lived to see Tories who, because they are not allowed to grind +the people after the fashion of Strafford, turn round and revile +the Sovereign in the style of Hugh Peters. I say, therefore, +that, while the leader is still what he was eleven years ago, +when his moderation alienated his intemperate followers, his +followers are more intemperate than ever. It is my firm belief +that the majority of them desire the repeal of the Emancipation +Act. You say, no. But I will give reasons, and unanswerable +reasons, for what I say. How, if you really wish to maintain the +Emancipation Act, do you explain that clamour which you have +raised, and which has resounded through the whole kingdom, about +the three Popish Privy Councillors? You resent, as a calumny, +the imputation that you wish to repeal the Emancipation Act; and +yet you cry out that Church and State are in danger of ruin +whenever the Government carries that Act into effect. If the +Emancipation Act is never to be executed, why should it not be +repealed? I perfectly understand that an honest man may wish it +to be repealed. But I am at a loss to understand how honest men +can say, "We wish the Emancipation Act to be maintained: you who +accuse us of wishing to repeal it slander us foully: we value it +as much as you do. Let it remain among our statutes, provided +always that it remains as a dead letter. If you dare to put it +in force, indeed, we will agitate against you; for, though we +talk against agitation, we too can practice agitation: we will +denounce you in our associations; for, though we call +associations unconstitutional, we too have our associations: our +divines shall preach about Jezebel: our tavern spouters shall +give significant hints about James the Second." Yes, Sir, such +hints have been given, hints that a sovereign who has merely +executed the law, ought to be treated like a sovereign who +grossly violated the law. I perfectly understand, as I said, +that an honest man may disapprove of the Emancipation Act, and +may wish it repealed. But can any man, who is of opinion that +Roman Catholics ought to be admitted to office, honestly maintain +that they now enjoy more than their fair share of power and +emolument? What is the proportion of Roman Catholics to the +whole population of the United Kingdom? About one-fourth. What +proportion of the Privy Councillors are Roman Catholics? About +one-seventieth. And what, after all, is the power of a Privy +Councillor, merely as such? Are not the right honourable +gentlemen opposite Privy Councillors? If a change should take +place, will not the present Ministers still be Privy Councillors? +It is notorious that no Privy Councillor goes to Council unless +he is specially summoned. He is called Right Honourable, and he +walks out of a room before Esquires and Knights. And can we +seriously believe that men who think it monstrous that this +honorary distinction should be given to three Roman Catholics, do +sincerely desire to maintain a law by which a Roman Catholic may +be Commander in Chief with all the military patronage, First Lord +of the Admiralty with all the naval patronage, or First Lord of +the Treasury, with the chief influence in every department of the +Government. I must therefore suppose that those who join in the +cry against the three Privy Councillors, are either imbecile or +hostile to the Emancipation Act. + +I repeat, therefore, that, while the right honourable Baronet is +as free from bigotry as he was eleven years ago, his party is +more bigoted than it was eleven years ago. The difficulty of +governing Ireland in opposition to the feelings of the great body +of the Irish people is, I apprehend, as great now as it was +eleven years ago. What then must be the fate of a government +formed by the right honourable Baronet? Suppose that the event +of this debate should make him Prime Minister? Should I be wrong +if I were to prophesy that three years hence he will be more +hated and vilified by the Tory party than the present advisers of +the Crown have been? Should I be wrong if I were to say that all +those literary organs which now deafen us with praise of him, +will then deafen us with abuse of him? Should I be wrong if I +were to say that he will be burned in effigy by those who now +drink his health with three times three and one cheer more? +Should I be wrong if I were to say that those very gentlemen who +have crowded hither to-night in order to vote him into power, +will crowd hither to vote Lord Melbourne back? Once already have +I seen those very persons go out into the lobby for the purpose +of driving the right honourable Baronet from the high situation +to which they had themselves exalted him. I went out with them +myself; yes, with the whole body of the Tory country gentlemen, +with the whole body of high Churchmen. All the four University +Members were with us. The effect of that division was to bring +Lord Grey, Lord Althorpe, Lord Brougham, Lord Durham into power. +You may say that the Tories on that occasion judged ill, that +they were blinded by vindictive passion, that if they had +foreseen all that followed they might have acted differently. +Perhaps so. But what has been once may be again. I cannot think +it possible that those who are now supporting the right +honourable Baronet will continue from personal attachment to +support him if they see that his policy is in essentials the same +as Lord Melbourne's. I believe that they have quite as much +personal attachment to Lord Melbourne as to the right honourable +Baronet. They follow the right honourable Baronet because his +abilities, his eloquence, his experience are necessary to them; +but they are but half reconciled to him. They never can forget +that, in the most important crisis of his public life, he +deliberately chose rather to be the victim of their injustice +than its instrument. It is idle to suppose that they will be +satisfied by seeing a new set of men in power. Their maxim is +most truly "Measures, not men." They care not before whom the +sword of state is borne at Dublin, or who wears the badge of St +Patrick. What they abhor is not Lord Normanby personally or Lord +Ebrington personally, but the great principles in conformity with +which Ireland has been governed by Lord Normanby and by Lord +Ebrington, the principles of justice, humanity, and religious +freedom. What they wish to have in Ireland is not my Lord +Haddington, or any other viceroy whom the right honourable +Baronet may select, but the tyranny of race over race, and of +creed over creed. Give them what they want; and you convulse the +empire. Refuse them; and you dissolve the Tory party. I believe +that the right honourable Baronet himself is by no means without +apprehensions that, if he were now called to the head of affairs, +he would, very speedily, have the dilemma of 1829 again before +him. He certainly was not without such apprehensions when, a few +months ago, he was commanded by Her Majesty to submit to her the +plan of an administration. The aspect of public affairs was not +at that time cheering. The Chartists were stirring in England. +There were troubles in Canada. There were great discontents in +the West Indies. An expedition, of which the event was still +doubtful, had been sent into the heart of Asia. Yet, among many +causes of anxiety, the discerning eye of the right honourable +Baronet easily discerned the quarter where the great and +immediate danger lay. He told the House that his difficulty +would be Ireland. Now, Sir, that which would be the difficulty +of his administration is the strength of the present +administration. Her Majesty's Ministers enjoy the confidence of +Ireland; and I believe that what ought to be done for that +country will excite less discontent here if done by them than if +done by him. He, I am afraid, great as his abilities are, and +good as I willingly admit his intentions to be, would find it +easy to lose the confidence of his partisans, but hard indeed to +win the confidence of the Irish people. + +It is indeed principally on account of Ireland that I feel +solicitous about the issue of the present debate. I well know +how little chance he who speaks on that theme has of obtaining a +fair hearing. Would to God that I were addressing an audience +which would judge this great controversy as it is judged by +foreign nations, and as it will be judged by future ages. The +passions which inflame us, the sophisms which delude us, will not +last for ever. The paroxysms of faction have their appointed +season. Even the madness of fanaticism is but for a day. The +time is coming when our conflicts will be to others what the +conflicts of our forefathers are to us; when the preachers who +now disturb the State, and the politicians who now make a +stalking horse of the Church, will be no more than Sacheverel and +Harley. Then will be told, in language very different from that +which now calls forth applause from the mob of Exeter Hall, the +true story of these troubled years. + +There was, it will then be said, a part of the kingdom of Queen +Victoria which presented a lamentable contrast to the rest; not +from the want of natural fruitfulness, for there was no richer +soil in Europe; not from want of facilities for trade, for the +coasts of this unhappy region were indented by bays and estuaries +capable of holding all the navies of the world; not because the +people were too dull to improve these advantages or too +pusillanimous to defend them; for in natural quickness of wit and +gallantry of spirit they ranked high among the nations. But all +the bounty of nature had been made unavailing by the crimes and +errors of man. In the twelfth century that fair island was a +conquered province. The nineteenth century found it a conquered +province still. During that long interval many great changes had +taken place which had conduced to the general welfare of the +empire: but those changes had only aggravated the misery of +Ireland. The Reformation came, bringing to England and Scotland +divine truth and intellectual liberty. To Ireland it brought +only fresh calamities. Two new war cries, Protestant and +Catholic, animated the old feud between the Englishry and the +Irishry. The Revolution came, bringing to England and Scotland +civil and spiritual freedom, to Ireland subjugation, degradation, +persecution. The Union came: but though it joined legislatures, +it left hearts as widely disjoined as ever. Catholic +Emancipation came: but it came too late; it came as a concession +made to fear, and, having excited unreasonable hopes, was +naturally followed by unreasonable disappointment. Then came +violent irritation, and numerous errors on both sides. Agitation +produced coercion, and coercion produced fresh agitation. +Difficulties and dangers went on increasing, till a government +arose which, all other means having failed, determined to employ +the only means that had not yet been fairly tried, justice and +mercy. The State, long the stepmother of the many, and the +mother only of the few, became for the first time the common +parent of all the great family. The body of the people began to +look on their rulers as friends. Battalion after battalion, +squadron after squadron was withdrawn from districts which, as it +had till then been thought, could be governed by the sword alone. +Yet the security of property and the authority of law became +every day more complete. Symptoms of amendment, symptoms such as +cannot be either concealed or counterfeited, began to appear; and +those who once despaired of the destinies of Ireland began to +entertain a confident hope that she would at length take among +European nations that high place to which her natural resources +and the intelligence of her children entitle her to aspire. + +In words such as these, I am confident, will the next generation +speak of the events in our time. Relying on the sure justice of +history and posterity, I care not, as far as I am personally +concerned, whether we stand or fall. That issue it is for the +House to decide. Whether the result will be victory or defeat, I +know not. But I know that there are defeats not less glorious +than any victory; and yet I have shared in some glorious +victories. Those were proud and happy days;--some who sit on the +benches opposite can well remember, and must, I think, regret +them;--those were proud and happy days when, amidst the applauses +and blessings of millions, my noble friend led us on in the great +struggle for the Reform Bill; when hundreds waited round our +doors till sunrise to hear how we had sped; when the great cities +of the north poured forth their population on the highways to +meet the mails which brought from the capital the tidings whether +the battle of the people had been lost or won. Such days my +noble friend cannot hope to see again. Two such triumphs would +be too much for one life. But perhaps there still awaits him a +less pleasing, a less exhilarating, but a not less honourable +task, the task of contending against superior numbers, and +through years of discomfiture, for those civil and religious +liberties which are inseparably associated with the name of his +illustrious house. At his side will not be wanting men who +against all odds, and through all turns of fortune, in evil days +and amidst evil tongues, will defend to the last, with unabated +spirit, the noble principles of Milton and of Locke. We may be +driven from office. We may be doomed to a life of opposition. +We may be made marks for the rancour of sects which, hating each +other with a deadly hatred, yet hate toleration still more. We +may be exposed to the rage of Laud on one side, and of Praise- +God-Barebones on the other. But justice will be done at last: +and a portion of the praise which we bestow on the old champions +and martyrs of freedom will not be refused by future generations +to the men who have in our days endeavoured to bind together in +real union races too long estranged, and to efface, by the mild +influence of a parental government, the fearful traces which have +been left by the misrule of ages. + +... + + +WAR WITH CHINA. (APRIL 7, 1840) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 7TH OF APRIL, +1840. + +On the seventh of April, 1840, Sir James Graham moved the +following resolution: + +"That it appears to this House, on consideration of the papers +relating to China presented to this House by command of Her +Majesty, that the interruption in our commercial and friendly +intercourse with that country, and the hostilities which have +since taken place, are mainly to be attributed to the want of +foresight and precaution on the part of Her Majesty's present +advisers, in respect to our relations with China, and especially +to their neglect to furnish the Superintendent at Canton with +powers and instructions calculated to provide against the growing +evils connected with the contraband trade in opium, and adapted +to the novel and difficult situation in which the Superintendent +was placed." + +As soon as the question had been put from the Chair the following +Speech was made. + +The motion was rejected, after a debate of three nights, by 271 +votes to 261. + +Mr Speaker,--If the right honourable Baronet, in rising to make +an attack on the Government, was forced to own that he was +unnerved and overpowered by his sense of the importance of the +question with which he had to deal, one who rises to repel that +attack may, without any shame, confess that he feels similar +emotions. And yet I must say that the anxiety, the natural and +becoming anxiety, with which Her Majesty's Ministers have awaited +the judgment of the House on these papers, was not a little +allayed by the terms of the right honourable Baronet's motion, +and has been still more allayed by his speech. It was impossible +for us to doubt either his inclination or his ability to detect +and to expose any fault which we might have committed, and we may +well congratulate ourselves on finding that, after the closest +examination into a long series of transactions, so extensive, so +complicated, and, in some respects, so disastrous, so keen an +assailant could produce only so futile an accusation. + +In the first place, Sir, the resolution which the right +honourable Baronet has moved relates entirely to events which +took place before the rupture with the Chinese Government. That +rupture took place in March, 1839. The right honourable Baronet +therefore does not propose to pass any censure on any step which +has been taken by the Government within the last thirteen months; +and it will, I think, be generally admitted, that when he +abstains from censuring the proceedings of the Government, it is +because the most unfriendly scrutiny can find nothing in those +proceedings to censure. We by no means deny that he has a +perfect right to propose a vote expressing disapprobation of what +was done in 1837 or 1838. At the same time, we cannot but be +gratified by learning that he approves of our present policy, and +of the measures which we have taken, since the rupture, for the +vindication of the national honour and for the protection of the +national interests. + +It is also to be observed that the right honourable Baronet has +not ventured, either in his motion or in his speech, to charge +Her Majesty's Ministers with any unwise or unjust act, with any +act tending to lower the character of England, or to give cause +of offence to China. The only sins which he imputes to them are +sins of omission. His complaint is merely that they did not +foresee the course which events would take at Canton, and that +consequently they did not send sufficient instructions to the +British resident who was stationed there. Now it is evident that +such an accusation is of all accusations that which requires the +fullest and most distinct proof; for it is of all accusations +that which it is easiest to make and hardest to refute. A man +charged with a culpable act which he has not committed has +comparatively little difficulty in proving his innocence. But +when the charge is merely this, that he has not, in a long and +intricate series of transactions, done all that it would have +been wise to do, how is he to vindicate himself? And the case +which we are considering has this peculiarity, that the envoy to +whom the Ministers are said to have left too large a discretion +was fifteen thousand miles from them. The charge against them +therefore is this, that they did not give such copious and +particular directions as were sufficient, in every possible +emergency, for the guidance of a functionary, who was fifteen +thousand miles off. Now, Sir, I am ready to admit that, if the +papers on our table related to important negotiations with a +neighbouring state, if they related, for example, to a +negotiation carried on with France, my noble friend the Secretary +for Foreign Affairs (Lord Palmerston.) might well have been +blamed for sending instructions so meagre and so vague to our +ambassador at Paris. For my noble friend knows to-night what +passed between our ambassador at Paris and the French Ministers +yesterday; and a messenger despatched to-night from Downing +Street will be at the Embassy in the Faubourg Saint Honore the +day after to-morrow. But that constant and minute control, which +the Foreign Secretary is bound to exercise over diplomatic agents +who are near, becomes an useless and pernicious meddling when +exercised over agents who are separated from him by a voyage of +five months. There are on both sides of the House gentlemen +conversant with the affairs of India. I appeal to those +gentlemen. India is nearer to us than China. India is far +better known to us than China. Yet is it not universally +acknowledged that India can be governed only in India? The +authorities at home point out to a governor the general line of +policy which they wish him to follow; but they do not send him +directions as to the details of his administration. How indeed +is it possible that they should send him such directions? +Consider in what a state the affairs of this country would be if +they were to be conducted according to directions framed by the +ablest statesman residing in Bengal. A despatch goes hence +asking for instructions while London is illuminating for the +peace of Amiens. The instructions arrive when the French army is +encamped at Boulogne, and when the whole island is up in arms to +repel invasion. A despatch is written asking for instructions +when Bonaparte is at Elba. The instructions come when he is at +the Tuilleries. A despatch is written asking for instructions +when he is at the Tuilleries. The instructions come when he is +at St Helena. It would be just as impossible to govern India in +London as to govern England at Calcutta. While letters are +preparing here on the supposition that there is profound peace in +the Carnatic, Hyder is at the gates of Fort St George. While +letters are preparing here on the supposition that trade is +flourishing and that the revenue exceeds the expenditure, the +crops have failed, great agency houses have broken, and the +government is negotiating a loan on hard terms. It is notorious +that the great men who founded and preserved our Indian empire, +Clive and Warren Hastings, treated all particular orders which +they received from home as mere waste paper. Had not those great +men had the sense and spirit so to treat such orders, we should +not now have had an Indian empire. But the case of China is far +stronger. For, though a person who is now writing a despatch to +Fort William in Leadenhall Street or Cannon Row, cannot know what +events have happened in India within the last two months, he may +be very intimately acquainted with the general state of that +country, with its wants, with its resources, with the habits and +temper of the native population, and with the character of every +prince and minister from Nepaul to Tanjore. But what does +anybody here know of China? Even those Europeans who have been +in that empire are almost as ignorant of it as the rest of us. +Everything is covered by a veil, through which a glimpse of what +is within may occasionally be caught, a glimpse just sufficient +to set the imagination at work, and more likely to mislead than +to inform. The right honourable Baronet has told us that an +Englishman at Canton sees about as much of China as a foreigner +who should land at Wapping and proceed no further would see of +England. Certainly the sights and sounds of Wapping would give a +foreigner but a very imperfect notion of our Government, of our +manufactures, of our agriculture, of the state of learning and +the arts among us. And yet the illustration is but a faint one. +For a foreigner may, without seeing even Wapping, without +visiting England at all, study our literature, and may thence +form a vivid and correct idea of our institutions and manners. +But the literature of China affords us no such help. Obstacles +unparalleled in any other country which has books must be +surmounted by the student who is determined to master the Chinese +tongue. To learn to read is the business of half a life. It is +easier to become such a linguist as Sir William Jones was than to +become a good Chinese scholar. You may count upon your fingers +the Europeans whose industry and genius, even when stimulated by +the most fervent religious zeal, has triumphed over the +difficulties of a language without an alphabet. Here then is a +country separated from us physically by half the globe, separated +from us still more effectually by the barriers which the most +jealous of all governments and the hardest of all languages +oppose to the researches of strangers. Is it then reasonable to +blame my noble friend because he has not sent to our envoys in +such a country as this instructions as full and precise as it +would have been his duty to send to a minister at Brussels or at +the Hague? The right honourable Baronet who comes forward as the +accuser on this occasion is really accusing himself. He was a +member of the Government of Lord Grey. He was himself concerned +in framing the first instructions which were given by my noble +friend to our first Superintendent at Canton. For those +instructions the right honourable Baronet frankly admits that he +is himself responsible. Are those instructions then very copious +and minute? Not at all. They merely lay down general +principles. The Resident, for example, is enjoined to respect +national usages, and to avoid whatever may shock the prejudices +of the Chinese; but no orders are given him as to matters of +detail. In 1834 my noble friend quitted the Foreign Office, and +the Duke of Wellington went to it. Did the Duke of Wellington +send out those copious and exact directions with which, according +to the right honourable Baronet, the Government is bound to +furnish its agent in China? No, Sir; the Duke of Wellington, +grown old in the conduct of great affairs, knows better than +anybody that a man of very ordinary ability at Canton is likely +to be a better judge of what ought to be done on an emergency +arising at Canton than the greatest politician at Westminster can +possibly be. His Grace, therefore, like a wise man as he is, +wrote only one letter to the Superintendent, and in that letter +merely referred the Superintendent to the general directions +given by Lord Palmerston. And how, Sir, does the right +honourable Baronet prove that, by persisting in the course which +he himself took when in office, and which the Duke of Wellington +took when in office, Her Majesty's present advisers have brought +on that rupture which we all deplore? He has read us, from the +voluminous papers which are on the table, much which has but a +very remote connection with the question. He has said much about +things which happened before the present Ministry existed, and +much about things which have happened at Canton since the +rupture; but very little that is relevant to the issue raised by +the resolution which he has himself proposed. That issue is +simply this, whether the mismanagement of the present Ministry +produced the rupture. I listened to his long and able speech +with the greatest attention, and did my best to separate that +part which had any relation to his motion from a great mass of +extraneous matter. If my analysis be correct, the charge which +he brings against the Government consists of four articles. + +The first article is, that the Government omitted to alter that +part of the original instructions which directed the +Superintendent to reside at Canton. + +The second article is, that the Government omitted to alter that +part of the original instructions which directed the +Superintendent to communicate directly with the representatives +of the Emperor. + +The third article is, that the Government omitted to follow the +advice of the Duke of Wellington, who had left at the Foreign +Office a memorandum recommending that a British ship of war +should be stationed in the China sea. + +The fourth article is, that the Government omitted to authorise +and empower the Superintendent to put down the contraband trade +carried on by British subjects with China. + +Such, Sir, are the counts of this indictment. Of these counts, +the fourth is the only one which will require a lengthened +defence. The first three may be disposed of in very few words. + +As to the first, the answer is simple. It is true that the +Government did not revoke that part of the instructions which +directed the Superintendent to reside at Canton; and it is true +that this part of the instructions did at one time cause a +dispute between the Superintendent and the Chinese authorities. +But it is equally true that this dispute was accommodated early +in 1837; that the Chinese Government furnished the Superintendent +with a passport authorising him to reside at Canton; that, during +the two years which preceded the rupture, the Chinese Government +made no objection to his residing at Canton; and that there is +not in all this huge blue book one word indicating that the +rupture was caused, directly or indirectly, by his residing at +Canton. On the first count, therefore, I am confident that the +verdict must be, Not Guilty. + +To the second count we have a similar answer. It is true that +there was a dispute with the authorities of Canton about the mode +of communication. But it is equally true that this dispute was +settled by a compromise. The Chinese made a concession as to the +channel of communication. The Superintendent made a concession +as to the form of communication. The question had been thus set +at rest before the rupture, and had absolutely nothing to do with +the rupture. + +As to the third charge, I must tell the right honourable Baronet +that he has altogether misapprehended that memorandum which he so +confidently cites. The Duke of Wellington did not advise the +Government to station a ship of war constantly in the China seas. +The Duke, writing in 1835, at a time when the regular course of +the trade had been interrupted, recommended that a ship of war +should be stationed near Canton, "till the trade should take its +regular peaceable course." Those are His Grace's own words. Do +they not imply that, when the trade had again taken its regular +peaceable course, it might be right to remove the ship of war? +Well, Sir, the trade, after that memorandum was written, did +resume its regular peaceable course: that the right honourable +Baronet himself will admit; for it is part of his own case that +Sir George Robinson had succeeded in restoring quiet and +security. The third charge then is simply this, that the +Ministers did not do in a time of perfect tranquillity what the +Duke of Wellington thought that it would have been right to do in +a time of trouble. + +And now, Sir, I come to the fourth charge, the only real charge; +for the other three are so futile that I hardly understand how +the right honourable Baronet should have ventured to bring them +forward. The fourth charge is, that the Ministers omitted to +send to the Superintendent orders and powers to suppress the +contraband trade, and that this omission was the cause of the +rupture. + +Now, Sir, let me ask whether it was not notorious, when the right +honourable Baronet was in office, that British subjects carried +on an extensive contraband trade with China? Did the right +honourable Baronet and his colleagues instruct the Superintendent +to put down that trade? Never. That trade went on while the +Duke of Wellington was at the Foreign Office. Did the Duke of +Wellington instruct the Superintendent to put down that trade? +No, Sir, never. Are then the followers of the right honourable +Baronet, are the followers of the Duke of Wellington, prepared to +pass a vote of censure on us for following the example of the +right honourable Baronet and of the Duke of Wellington? But I am +understating my case. Since the present Ministers came into +office, the reasons against sending out such instructions were +much stronger than when the right honourable Baronet was in +office, or when the Duke of Wellington was in office. Down to +the month of May 1838, my noble friend had good grounds for +believing that the Chinese Government was about to legalise the +trade in opium. It is by no means easy to follow the windings of +Chinese politics. But, it is certain that about four years ago +the whole question was taken into serious consideration at Pekin. +The attention of the Emperor was called to the undoubted fact, +that the law which forbade the trade in opium was a dead letter. +That law had been intended to guard against two evils, which the +Chinese legislators seem to have regarded with equal horror, the +importation of a noxious drug, and the exportation of the +precious metals. It was found, however, that as many pounds of +opium came in, and that as many pounds of silver went out, as if +there had been no such law. The only effect of the prohibition +was that the people learned to think lightly of imperial edicts, +and that no part of the great sums expended in the purchase of +the forbidden luxury came into the imperial treasury. These +considerations were set forth in a most luminous and judicious +state paper, drawn by Tang Tzee, President of the Sacrificial +Offices. I am sorry to hear that this enlightened Minister has +been turned out of office on account of his liberality: for to +be turned out of office is, I apprehend, a much more serious +misfortune in China than in England. Tang Tzee argued that it +was unwise to attempt to exclude opium, for that, while millions +desired to have it, no law would keep it out, and that the manner +in which it had long been brought in had produced an injurious +effect both on the revenues of the state and on the morals of the +people. Opposed to Tang Tzee was Tchu Sing, a statesman of a +very different class, of a class which, I am sorry to say, is not +confined to China. Tchu Sing appears to be one of those staunch +conservatives who, when they find that a law is inefficient +because it is too severe, imagine that they can make it efficient +by making it more severe still. His historical knowledge is much +on a par with his legislative wisdom. He seems to have paid +particular attention to the rise and progress of our Indian +Empire, and he informs his imperial master that opium is the +weapon by which England effects her conquests. She had, it +seems, persuaded the people of Hindostan to smoke and swallow +this besotting drug, till they became so feeble in body and mind, +that they were subjugated without difficulty. Some time appears +to have elapsed before the Emperor made up his mind on the point +in dispute between Tang Tzee and Tchu Sing. Our Superintendent, +Captain Elliot, was of opinion that the decision would be in +favour of the rational view taken by Tang Tzee; and such, as I +can myself attest, was, during part of the year 1837, the opinion +of the whole mercantile community of Calcutta. Indeed, it was +expected that every ship which arrived in the Hoogley from Canton +would bring the news that the opium trade had been declared +legal. Nor was it known in London till May 1838, that the +arguments of Tchu Sing had prevailed. Surely, Sir, it would have +been most absurd to order Captain Elliot to suppress this trade +at a time when everybody expected that it would soon cease to be +contraband. The right honourable Baronet must, I think, himself +admit that, till the month of May 1838, the Government here +omitted nothing that ought to have been done. + +The question before us is therefore reduced to very narrow +limits. It is merely this: Ought my noble friend, in May 1838, +to have sent out a despatch commanding and empowering Captain +Elliot to put down the opium trade? I do not think that it would +have been right or wise to send out such a despatch. Consider, +Sir, with what powers it would have been necessary to arm the +Superintendent. He must have been authorised to arrest, to +confine, to send across the sea any British subject whom he might +believe to have been concerned in introducing opium into China. +I do not deny that, under the Act of Parliament, the Government +might have invested him with this dictatorship. But I do say +that the Government ought not lightly to invest any man with such +a dictatorship, and, that if, in consequence of directions sent +out by the Government, numerous subjects of Her Majesty had been +taken into custody and shipped off to Bengal or to England +without being permitted to wind up their affairs, this House +would in all probability have called the Ministers to a strict +account. Nor do I believe that by sending such directions the +Government would have averted the rupture which has taken place. +I will go further. I believe that, if such directions had been +sent, we should now have been, as we are, at war with China; and +that we should have been at war in circumstances singularly +dishonourable and disastrous. + +For, Sir, suppose that the Superintendent had been authorised and +commanded by the Government to put forth an order prohibiting +British subjects from trading in opium; suppose that he had put +forth such an order; how was he to enforce it? The right +honourable Baronet has had too much experience of public affairs +to imagine that a lucrative trade will be suppressed by a sheet +of paper and a seal. In England we have a preventive service +which costs us half a million a year. We employ more than fifty +cruisers to guard our coasts. We have six thousand effective men +whose business is to intercept smugglers. And yet everybody +knows that every article which is much desired, which is easily +concealed, and which is heavily taxed, is smuggled into our +island to a great extent. The quantity of brandy which comes in +without paying duty is known to be not less than six hundred +thousand gallons a year. Some people think that the quantity of +tobacco which is imported clandestinely is as great as the +quantity which goes through the custom-houses. Be this as it +may, there is no doubt that the illicit importation is enormous. +It has been proved before a Committee of this House that not less +than four millions of pounds of tobacco have lately been smuggled +into Ireland. And all this, observe, has been done in spite of +the most efficient preventive service that I believe ever existed +in the world. Consider too that the price of an ounce of opium +is far, very far higher than the price of a pound of tobacco. +Knowing this, knowing that the whole power of King, Lords, and +Commons cannot here put a stop to a traffic less easy, and less +profitable than the traffic in opium, can you believe that an +order prohibiting the traffic in opium would have been readily +obeyed? Remember by what powerful motives both the buyer and the +seller would have been impelled to deal with each other. The +buyer would have been driven to the seller by something little +short of torture, by a physical craving as fierce and impatient +as any to which our race is subject. For, when stimulants of +this sort have been long used, they are desired with a rage which +resembles the rage of hunger. The seller would have been driven +to the buyer by the hope of vast and rapid gain. And do you +imagine that the intense appetite on one side for what had become +a necessary of life, and on the other for riches, would have been +appeased by a few lines signed Charles Elliot? The very utmost +effect which it is possible to believe that such an order would +have produced would have been this, that the opium trade would +have left Canton, where the dealers were under the eye of the +Superintendent, and where they would have run some risk of being +punished by him, and would have spread itself along the coast. +If we know anything about the Chinese Government, we know this, +that its coastguard is neither trusty nor efficient; and we know +that a coastguard as trusty and efficient as our own would not be +able to cut off communication between the merchant longing for +silver and the smoker longing for his pipe. Whole fleets of +vessels would have managed to land their cargoes along the shore. +Conflicts would have arisen between our countrymen and the local +magistrates, who would not, like the authorities of Canton, have +had some knowledge of European habits and feelings. The mere +malum prohibitum would, as usual, have produced the mala in se. +The unlawful traffic would inevitably have led to a crowd of +acts, not only unlawful, but immoral. The smuggler would, by the +almost irresistible force of circumstances, have been turned into +a pirate. We know that, even at Canton, where the smugglers +stand in some awe of the authority of the Superintendent and of +the opinion of an English society which contains many respectable +persons, the illicit trade has caused many brawls and outrages. +What, then, was to be expected when every captain of a ship laden +with opium would have been the sole judge of his own conduct? It +is easy to guess what would have happened. A boat is sent ashore +to fill the water-casks and to buy fresh provisions. The +provisions are refused. The sailors take them by force. Then a +well is poisoned. Two or three of the ship's company die in +agonies. The crew in a fury land, shoot and stab every man whom +they meet, and sack and burn a village. Is this improbable? +Have not similar causes repeatedly produced similar effects? Do +we not know that the jealous vigilance with which Spain excluded +the ships of other nations from her Transatlantic possessions +turned men who would otherwise have been honest merchant +adventurers into buccaneers? The same causes which raised up one +race of buccaneers in the Gulf of Mexico would soon have raised +up another in the China Sea. And can we doubt what would in that +case have been the conduct of the Chinese authorities at Canton? +We see that Commissioner Lin has arrested and confined men of +spotless character, men whom he had not the slightest reason to +suspect of being engaged in any illicit commerce. He did so on +the ground that some of their countrymen had violated the revenue +laws of China. How then would he have acted if he had learned +that the red-headed devils had not merely been selling opium, but +had been fighting, plundering, slaying, burning? Would he not +have put forth a proclamation in his most vituperative style, +setting forth that the Outside Barbarians had undertaken to stop +the contraband trade, but that they had been found deceivers, +that the Superintendent's edict was a mere pretence, that there +was more smuggling than ever, that to the smuggling had been +added robbery and murder, and that therefore he should detain all +men of the guilty race as hostages till reparation should be +made? I say, therefore, that, if the Ministers had done that +which the right honourable Baronet blames them for not doing, we +should only have reached by a worse way the point at which we now +are. + +I have now, Sir, gone through the four heads of the charge +brought against the Government; and I say with confidence that +the interruption of our friendly relations with China cannot +justly be imputed to any one of the omissions mentioned by the +right honourable Baronet. In truth, if I could feel assured that +no gentleman would vote for the motion without attentively +reading it, and considering whether the proposition which it +affirms has been made out, I should have no uneasiness as to the +result of this debate. But I know that no member weighs the +words of a resolution for which he is asked to vote, as he would +weigh the words of an affidavit which he was asked to swear. And +I am aware that some persons, for whose humanity and honesty I +entertain the greatest respect, are inclined to divide with the +right honourable Baronet, not because they think that he has +proved his case, but because they have taken up a notion that we +are making war for the purpose of forcing the Government of China +to admit opium into that country, and that, therefore, we richly +deserve to be censured. Certainly, Sir, if we had been guilty of +such absurdity and such atrocity as those gentlemen impute to us, +we should deserve not only censure but condign punishment. But +the imputation is altogether unfounded. Our course was clear. +We may doubt indeed whether the Emperor of China judged well in +listening to Tchu Sing and disgracing Tang Tzee. We may doubt +whether it be a wise policy to exclude altogether from any +country a drug which is often fatally abused, but which to those +who use it rightly is one of the most precious boons vouchsafed +by Providence to man, powerful to assuage pain, to soothe +irritation, and to restore health. We may doubt whether it be a +wise policy to make laws for the purpose of preventing the +precious metals from being exported in the natural course of +trade. We have learned from all history, and from our own +experience, that revenue cutters, custom-house officers, +informers, will never keep out of any country foreign luxuries of +small bulk for which consumers are willing to pay high prices, +and will never prevent gold and silver from going abroad in +exchange for such luxuries. We cannot believe that what England +with her skilfully organised fiscal system and her gigantic +marine, has never been able to effect, will be accomplished by +the junks which are at the command of the mandarins of China. +But, whatever our opinion on these points may be, we are +perfectly aware that they are points which it belongs not to us +but to the Emperor of China to decide. He had a perfect right to +keep out opium and to keep in silver, if he could do so by means +consistent with morality and public law. If his officers seized +a chest of the forbidden drug, we were not entitled to complain; +nor did we complain. But when, finding that they could not +suppress the contraband trade by just means, they resorted to +means flagrantly unjust, when they imprisoned our innocent +countrymen, when they insulted our Sovereign in the person of her +representative, then it became our duty to demand satisfaction. +Whether the opium trade be a pernicious trade is not the +question. Take a parallel case: take the most execrable crime +that ever was called a trade, the African slave trade. You will +hardly say that a contraband trade in opium is more immoral than +a contraband trade in negroes. We prohibited slave-trading: we +made it felony; we made it piracy; we invited foreign powers to +join with us in putting it down; to some foreign powers we paid +large sums in order to obtain their co-operation; we employed our +naval force to intercept the kidnappers; and yet it is notorious +that, in spite of all our exertions and sacrifices, great numbers +of slaves were, even as late as ten or twelve years ago, +introduced from Madagascar into our own island of Mauritius. +Assuredly it was our right, it was our duty, to guard the coasts +of that island strictly, to stop slave ships, to bring the buyers +and sellers to punishment. But suppose, Sir, that a ship under +French colours was seen skulking near the island, that the +Governor was fully satisfied from her build, her rigging, and her +movements, that she was a slaver, and was only waiting for the +night to put on shore the wretches who were in her hold. Suppose +that, not having a sufficient naval force to seize this vessel, +he were to arrest thirty or forty French merchants, most of whom +had never been suspected of slave-trading, and were to lock them +up. Suppose that he were to lay violent hands on the French +consul. Suppose that the Governor were to threaten to starve his +prisoners to death unless they produced the proprietor of the +slaver. Would not the French Government in such a case have a +right to demand reparation? And, if we refused reparation, would +not the French Government have a right to exact reparation by +arms? And would it be enough for us to say, "This is a wicked +trade, an inhuman trade. Think of the misery of the poor +creatures who are torn from their homes. Think of the horrors of +the middle passage. Will you make war in order to force us to +admit slaves into our colonies?" Surely the answer of the French +would be, "We are not making war in order to force you to admit +slaves into the Mauritius. By all means keep them out. By all +means punish every man, French or English, whom you can convict +of bringing them in. What we complain of is that you have +confounded the innocent with the guilty, and that you have acted +towards the representative of our government in a manner +inconsistent with the law of nations. Do not, in your zeal for +one great principle, trample on all the other great principles of +morality." Just such are the grounds on which Her Majesty has +demanded reparation from China. And was it not time? See, Sir, +see how rapidly injury has followed injury. The Imperial +Commissioner, emboldened by the facility with which he had +perpetrated the first outrage, and utterly ignorant of the +relative position of his country and ours in the scale of power +and civilisation, has risen in his requisitions. He began by +confiscating property. His next demand was for innocent blood. +A Chinese had been slain. Careful inquiry was made; but it was +impossible to ascertain who was the slayer, or even to what +nation the slayer belonged. No matter. It was notified to the +Superintendent that some subject of the Queen, innocent or +guilty, must be delivered up to suffer death. The Superintendent +refused to comply. Then our countrymen at Canton were seized. +Those who were at Macao were driven thence: not men alone, but +women with child, babies at the breast. The fugitives begged in +vain for a morsel of bread. Our Lascars, people of a different +colour from ours, but still our fellow-subjects, were flung into +the sea. An English gentleman was barbarously mutilated. And +was this to be borne? I am far from thinking that we ought, in +our dealings with such a people as the Chinese, to be litigious +on points of etiquette. The place of our country among the +nations of the world is not so mean or so ill ascertained that we +need resent mere impertinence, which is the effect of a very +pitiable ignorance. Conscious of superior power, we can bear to +hear our Sovereign described as a tributary of the Celestial +Empire. Conscious of superior knowledge we can bear to hear +ourselves described as savages destitute of every useful art. +When our ambassadors were required to perform a prostration, +which in Europe would have been considered as degrading, we were +rather amused than irritated. It would have been unworthy of us +to have recourse to arms on account of an uncivil phrase, or of a +dispute about a ceremony. But this is not a question of phrases +and ceremonies. The liberties and lives of Englishmen are at +stake: and it is fit that all nations, civilised and +uncivilised, should know that, wherever the Englishman may +wander, he is followed by the eye and guarded by the power of +England. + +I was much touched, and so, I dare say, were many other +gentlemen, by a passage in one of Captain Elliot's despatches. I +mean that passage in which he describes his arrival at the +factory in the moment of extreme danger. As soon as he landed he +was surrounded by his countrymen, all in an agony of distress and +despair. The first thing which he did was to order the British +flag to be brought from his boat and planted in the balcony. The +sight immediately revived the hearts of those who had a minute +before given themselves up for lost. It was natural that they +should look up with hope and confidence to that victorious flag. +For it reminded them that they belonged to a country unaccustomed +to defeat, to submission, or to shame; to a country which had +exacted such reparation for the wrongs of her children as had +made the ears of all who heard of it to tingle; to a country +which had made the Dey of Algiers humble himself to the dust +before her insulted Consul; to a country which had avenged the +victims of the Black Hole on the Field of Plassey; to a country +which had not degenerated since the Great Protector vowed that he +would make the name of Englishman as much respected as ever had +been the name of Roman citizen. They knew that, surrounded as +they were by enemies, and separated by great oceans and +continents from all help, not a hair of their heads would be +harmed with impunity. On this part of the subject I believe that +both the great contending parties in this House are agreed. I +did not detect in the speech of the right honourable Baronet,-- +and I listened to that speech with the closest attention,--one +word indicating that he is less disposed than we to insist on +full satisfaction for the great wrong which has been done. I +cannot believe that the House will pass a vote of censure so +grossly unjust as that which he has moved. But I rejoice to +think that, whether we are censured or not, the national honour +will still be safe. There may be a change of men; but, as +respects China, there will be no change of measures. I have +done; and have only to express my fervent hope that this most +righteous quarrel may be prosecuted to a speedy and triumphant +close; that the brave men to whom is intrusted the task of +exacting reparation may perform their duty in such a manner as to +spread, throughout regions in which the English name is hardly +known, the fame not only of English skill and valour, but of +English mercy and moderation; and that the overruling care of +that gracious Providence which has so often brought good out of +evil may make the war to which we have been forced the means of +establishing a durable peace, beneficial alike to the victors and +the vanquished. + +... + + +COPYRIGHT. (FEBRUARY 5, 1841) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 5TH OF FEBRUARY +1841. + +On the twenty-ninth of January 1841, Mr Serjeant Talfourd +obtained leave to bring in a bill to amend the law of copyright. +The object of this bill was to extend the term of copyright in a +book to sixty years, reckoned from the death of the writer. + +On the fifth of February Mr Serjeant Talfourd moved that the bill +should be read a second time. In reply to him the following +Speech was made. The bill was rejected by 45 votes to 38. + +Though, Sir, it is in some sense agreeable to approach a subject +with which political animosities have nothing to do, I offer +myself to your notice with some reluctance. It is painful to me +to take a course which may possibly be misunderstood or +misrepresented as unfriendly to the interests of literature and +literary men. It is painful to me, I will add, to oppose my +honourable and learned friend on a question which he has taken up +from the purest motives, and which he regards with a parental +interest. These feelings have hitherto kept me silent when the +law of copyright has been under discussion. But as I am, on full +consideration, satisfied that the measure before us will, if +adopted, inflict grievous injury on the public, without +conferring any compensating advantage on men of letters, I think +it my duty to avow that opinion and to defend it. + +The first thing to be done, Sir, is to settle on what principles +the question is to be argued. Are we free to legislate for the +public good, or are we not? Is this a question of expediency, or +is it a question of right? Many of those who have written and +petitioned against the existing state of things treat the +question as one of right. The law of nature, according to them, +gives to every man a sacred and indefeasible property in his own +ideas, in the fruits of his own reason and imagination. The +legislature has indeed the power to take away this property, just +as it has the power to pass an act of attainder for cutting off +an innocent man's head without a trial. But, as such an act of +attainder would be legal murder, so would an act invading the +right of an author to his copy be, according to these gentlemen, +legal robbery. + +Now, Sir, if this be so, let justice be done, cost what it may. +I am not prepared, like my honourable and learned friend, to +agree to a compromise between right and expediency, and to commit +an injustice for the public convenience. But I must say, that +his theory soars far beyond the reach of my faculties. It is not +necessary to go, on the present occasion, into a metaphysical +inquiry about the origin of the right of property; and certainly +nothing but the strongest necessity would lead me to discuss a +subject so likely to be distasteful to the House. I agree, I +own, with Paley in thinking that property is the creature of the +law, and that the law which creates property can be defended only +on this ground, that it is a law beneficial to mankind. But it +is unnecessary to debate that point. For, even if I believed in +a natural right of property, independent of utility and anterior +to legislation, I should still deny that this right could survive +the original proprietor. Few, I apprehend, even of those who +have studied in the most mystical and sentimental schools of +moral philosophy, will be disposed to maintain that there is a +natural law of succession older and of higher authority than any +human code. If there be, it is quite certain that we have abuses +to reform much more serious than any connected with the question +of copyright. For this natural law can be only one; and the +modes of succession in the Queen's dominions are twenty. To go +no further than England, land generally descends to the eldest +son. In Kent the sons share and share alike. In many districts +the youngest takes the whole. Formerly a portion of a man's +personal property was secured to his family; and it was only of +the residue that he could dispose by will. Now he can dispose of +the whole by will: but you limited his power, a few years ago, +by enacting that the will should not be valid unless there were +two witnesses. If a man dies intestate, his personal property +generally goes according to the statute of distributions; but +there are local customs which modify that statute. Now which of +all these systems is conformed to the eternal standard of right? +Is it primogeniture, or gavelkind, or borough English? Are wills +jure divino? Are the two witnesses jure divino? Might not the +pars rationabilis of our old law have a fair claim to be regarded +as of celestial institution? Was the statute of distributions +enacted in Heaven long before it was adopted by Parliament? Or +is it to Custom of York, or to Custom of London, that this preeminence belongs? Surely, Sir, even those who hold that there is +a natural right of property must admit that rules prescribing the +manner in which the effects of deceased persons shall be +distributed are purely arbitrary, and originate altogether in the +will of the legislature. If so, Sir, there is no controversy +between my honourable and learned friend and myself as to the +principles on which this question is to be argued. For the +existing law gives an author copyright during his natural life; +nor do I propose to invade that privilege, which I should, on the +contrary, be prepared to defend strenuously against any +assailant. The only point in issue between us is, how long after +an author's death the State shall recognise a copyright in his +representatives and assigns; and it can, I think, hardly be +disputed by any rational man that this is a point which the +legislature is free to determine in the way which may appear to +be most conducive to the general good. + +We may now, therefore, I think, descend from these high regions, +where we are in danger of being lost in the clouds, to firm +ground and clear light. Let us look at this question like +legislators, and after fairly balancing conveniences and +inconveniences, pronounce between the existing law of copyright, +and the law now proposed to us. The question of copyright, Sir, +like most questions of civil prudence, is neither black nor +white, but grey. The system of copyright has great advantages +and great disadvantages; and it is our business to ascertain what +these are, and then to make an arrangement under which the +advantages may be as far as possible secured, and the +disadvantages as far as possible excluded. The charge which I +bring against my honourable and learned friend's bill is this, +that it leaves the advantages nearly what they are at present, +and increases the disadvantages at least fourfold. + +The advantages arising from a system of copyright are obvious. +It is desirable that we should have a supply of good books; we +cannot have such a supply unless men of letters are liberally +remunerated; and the least objectionable way of remunerating them +is by means of copyright. You cannot depend for literary +instruction and amusement on the leisure of men occupied in the +pursuits of active life. Such men may occasionally produce +compositions of great merit. But you must not look to such men +for works which require deep meditation and long research. Works +of that kind you can expect only from persons who make literature +the business of their lives. Of these persons few will be found +among the rich and the noble. The rich and the noble are not +impelled to intellectual exertion by necessity. They may be +impelled to intellectual exertion by the desire of distinguishing +themselves, or by the desire of benefiting the community. But it +is generally within these walls that they seek to signalise +themselves and to serve their fellow-creatures. Both their +ambition and their public spirit, in a country like this, +naturally take a political turn. It is then on men whose +profession is literature, and whose private means are not ample, +that you must rely for a supply of valuable books. Such men must +be remunerated for their literary labour. And there are only two +ways in which they can be remunerated. One of those ways is +patronage; the other is copyright. + +There have been times in which men of letters looked, not to the +public, but to the government, or to a few great men, for the +reward of their exertions. It was thus in the time of Maecenas +and Pollio at Rome, of the Medici at Florence, of Louis the +Fourteenth in France, of Lord Halifax and Lord Oxford in this +country. Now, Sir, I well know that there are cases in which it +is fit and graceful, nay, in which it is a sacred duty to reward +the merits or to relieve the distresses of men of genius by the +exercise of this species of liberality. But these cases are +exceptions. I can conceive no system more fatal to the integrity +and independence of literary men than one under which they should +be taught to look for their daily bread to the favour of +ministers and nobles. I can conceive no system more certain to +turn those minds which are formed by nature to be the blessings +and ornaments of our species into public scandals and pests. + +We have, then, only one resource left. We must betake ourselves +to copyright, be the inconveniences of copyright what they may. +Those inconveniences, in truth, are neither few nor small. +Copyright is monopoly, and produces all the effects which the +general voice of mankind attributes to monopoly. My honourable +and learned friend talks very contemptuously of those who are led +away by the theory that monopoly makes things dear. That +monopoly makes things dear is certainly a theory, as all the +great truths which have been established by the experience of all +ages and nations, and which are taken for granted in all +reasonings, may be said to be theories. It is a theory in the +same sense in which it is a theory that day and night follow each +other, that lead is heavier than water, that bread nourishes, +that arsenic poisons, that alcohol intoxicates. If, as my +honourable and learned friend seems to think, the whole world is +in the wrong on this point, if the real effect of monopoly is to +make articles good and cheap, why does he stop short in his +career of change? Why does he limit the operation of so salutary +a principle to sixty years? Why does he consent to anything +short of a perpetuity? He told us that in consenting to anything +short of a perpetuity he was making a compromise between extreme +right and expediency. But if his opinion about monopoly be +correct, extreme right and expediency would coincide. Or rather, +why should we not restore the monopoly of the East India trade to +the East India Company? Why should we not revive all those old +monopolies which, in Elizabeth's reign, galled our fathers so +severely that, maddened by intolerable wrong, they opposed to +their sovereign a resistance before which her haughty spirit +quailed for the first and for the last time? Was it the +cheapness and excellence of commodities that then so violently +stirred the indignation of the English people? I believe, Sir, +that I may with safety take it for granted that the effect of +monopoly generally is to make articles scarce, to make them dear, +and to make them bad. And I may with equal safety challenge my +honourable friend to find out any distinction between copyright +and other privileges of the same kind; any reason why a monopoly +of books should produce an effect directly the reverse of that +which was produced by the East India Company's monopoly of tea, +or by Lord Essex's monopoly of sweet wines. Thus, then, stands +the case. It is good that authors should be remunerated; and the +least exceptionable way of remunerating them is by a monopoly. +Yet monopoly is an evil. For the sake of the good we must submit +to the evil; but the evil ought not to last a day longer than is +necessary for the purpose of securing the good. + +Now, I will not affirm that the existing law is perfect, that it +exactly hits the point at which the monopoly ought to cease; but +this I confidently say, that the existing law is very much nearer +that point than the law proposed by my honourable and learned +friend. For consider this; the evil effects of the monopoly are +proportioned to the length of its duration. But the good effects +for the sake of which we bear with the evil effects are by no +means proportioned to the length of its duration. A monopoly of +sixty years produces twice as much evil as a monopoly of thirty +years, and thrice as much evil as a monopoly of twenty years. +But it is by no means the fact that a posthumous monopoly of +sixty years gives to an author thrice as much pleasure and thrice +as strong a motive as a posthumous monopoly of twenty years. On +the contrary, the difference is so small as to be hardly +perceptible. We all know how faintly we are affected by the +prospect of very distant advantages, even when they are +advantages which we may reasonably hope that we shall ourselves +enjoy. But an advantage that is to be enjoyed more than half a +century after we are dead, by somebody, we know not by whom, +perhaps by somebody unborn, by somebody utterly unconnected with +us, is really no motive at all to action. It is very probable +that in the course of some generations land in the unexplored and +unmapped heart of the Australasian continent will be very +valuable. But there is none of us who would lay down five pounds +for a whole province in the heart of the Australasian continent. +We know, that neither we, nor anybody for whom we care, will ever +receive a farthing of rent from such a province. And a man is +very little moved by the thought that in the year 2000 or 2100, +somebody who claims through him will employ more shepherds than +Prince Esterhazy, and will have the finest house and gallery of +pictures at Victoria or Sydney. Now, this is the sort of boon +which my honourable and learned friend holds out to authors. +Considered as a boon to them, it is a mere nullity, but +considered as an impost on the public, it is no nullity, but a +very serious and pernicious reality. I will take an example. Dr +Johnson died fifty-six years ago. If the law were what my +honourable and learned friend wishes to make it, somebody would +now have the monopoly of Dr Johnson's works. Who that somebody +would be it is impossible to say; but we may venture to guess. I +guess, then, that it would have been some bookseller, who was the +assign of another bookseller, who was the grandson of a third +bookseller, who had bought the copyright from Black Frank, the +doctor's servant and residuary legatee, in 1785 or 1786. Now, +would the knowledge that this copyright would exist in 1841 have +been a source of gratification to Johnson? Would it have +stimulated his exertions? Would it have once drawn him out of +his bed before noon? Would it have once cheered him under a fit +of the spleen? Would it have induced him to give us one more +allegory, one more life of a poet, one more imitation of Juvenal? +I firmly believe not. I firmly believe that a hundred years ago, +when he was writing our debates for the Gentleman's Magazine, he +would very much rather have had twopence to buy a plate of shin +of beef at a cook's shop underground. Considered as a reward to +him, the difference between a twenty years' and sixty years' term +of posthumous copyright would have been nothing or next to +nothing. But is the difference nothing to us? I can buy +Rasselas for sixpence; I might have had to give five shillings +for it. I can buy the Dictionary, the entire genuine Dictionary, +for two guineas, perhaps for less; I might have had to give five +or six guineas for it. Do I grudge this to a man like Dr +Johnson? Not at all. Show me that the prospect of this boon +roused him to any vigorous effort, or sustained his spirits under +depressing circumstances, and I am quite willing to pay the price +of such an object, heavy as that price is. But what I do +complain of is that my circumstances are to be worse, and +Johnson's none the better; that I am to give five pounds for what +to him was not worth a farthing. + +The principle of copyright is this. It is a tax on readers for +the purpose of giving a bounty to writers. The tax is an +exceedingly bad one; it is a tax on one of the most innocent and +most salutary of human pleasures; and never let us forget, that a +tax on innocent pleasures is a premium on vicious pleasures. I +admit, however, the necessity of giving a bounty to genius and +learning. In order to give such a bounty, I willingly submit +even to this severe and burdensome tax. Nay, I am ready to +increase the tax, if it can be shown that by so doing I should +proportionally increase the bounty. My complaint is, that my +honourable and learned friend doubles, triples, quadruples, the +tax, and makes scarcely any perceptible addition to the bounty. +Why, Sir, what is the additional amount of taxation which would +have been levied on the public for Dr Johnson's works alone, if +my honourable and learned friend's bill had been the law of the +land? I have not data sufficient to form an opinion. But I am +confident that the taxation on his Dictionary alone would have +amounted to many thousands of pounds. In reckoning the whole +additional sum which the holders of his copyrights would have +taken out of the pockets of the public during the last half +century at twenty thousand pounds, I feel satisfied that I very +greatly underrate it. Now, I again say that I think it but fair +that we should pay twenty thousand pounds in consideration of +twenty thousand pounds' worth of pleasure and encouragement +received by Dr Johnson. But I think it very hard that we should +pay twenty thousand pounds for what he would not have valued at +five shillings. + +My honourable and learned friend dwells on the claims of the +posterity of great writers. Undoubtedly, Sir, it would be very +pleasing to see a descendant of Shakespeare living in opulence on +the fruits of his great ancestor's genius. A house maintained in +splendour by such a patrimony would be a more interesting and +striking object than Blenheim is to us, or than Strathfieldsaye +will be to our children. But, unhappily, it is scarcely possible +that, under any system, such a thing can come to pass. My +honourable and learned friend does not propose that copyright +shall descend to the eldest son, or shall be bound up by +irrecoverable entail. It is to be merely personal property. It +is therefore highly improbable that it will descend during sixty +years or half that term from parent to child. The chance is that +more people than one will have an interest in it. They will in +all probability sell it and divide the proceeds. The price which +a bookseller will give for it will bear no proportion to the sum +which he will afterwards draw from the public, if his speculation +proves successful. He will give little, if anything, more for a +term of sixty years than for a term of thirty or five and twenty. +The present value of a distant advantage is always small; but +when there is great room to doubt whether a distant advantage +will be any advantage at all, the present value sink to almost +nothing. Such is the inconstancy of the public taste that no +sensible man will venture to pronounce, with confidence, what the +sale of any book published in our days will be in the years +between 1890 and 1900. The whole fashion of thinking and writing +has often undergone a change in a much shorter period than that +to which my honourable and learned friend would extend posthumous +copyright. What would have been considered the best literary +property in the earlier part of Charles the Second's reign? I +imagine Cowley's Poems. Overleap sixty years, and you are in the +generation of which Pope asked, "Who now reads Cowley?" What +works were ever expected with more impatience by the public than +those of Lord Bolingbroke, which appeared, I think, in 1754? In +1814, no bookseller would have thanked you for the copyright of +them all, if you had offered it to him for nothing. What would +Paternoster Row give now for the copyright of Hayley's Triumphs +of Temper, so much admired within the memory of many people still +living? I say, therefore, that, from the very nature of literary +property, it will almost always pass away from an author's +family; and I say, that the price given for it to the family will +bear a very small proportion to the tax which the purchaser, if +his speculation turns out well, will in the course of a long +series of years levy on the public. + +If, Sir, I wished to find a strong and perfect illustration of +the effects which I anticipate from long copyright, I should +select,--my honourable and learned friend will be surprised,--I +should select the case of Milton's granddaughter. As often as +this bill has been under discussion, the fate of Milton's +granddaughter has been brought forward by the advocates of +monopoly. My honourable and learned friend has repeatedly told +the story with great eloquence and effect. He has dilated on the +sufferings, on the abject poverty, of this ill-fated woman, the +last of an illustrious race. He tells us that, in the extremity +of her distress, Garrick gave her a benefit, that Johnson wrote a +prologue, and that the public contributed some hundreds of +pounds. Was it fit, he asks, that she should receive, in this +eleemosynary form, a small portion of what was in truth a debt? +Why, he asks, instead of obtaining a pittance from charity, did +she not live in comfort and luxury on the proceeds of the sale of +her ancestor's works? But, Sir, will my honourable and learned +friend tell me that this event, which he has so often and so +pathetically described, was caused by the shortness of the term +of copyright? Why, at that time, the duration of copyright was +longer than even he, at present, proposes to make it. The +monopoly lasted, not sixty years, but for ever. At the time at +which Milton's granddaughter asked charity, Milton's works were +the exclusive property of a bookseller. Within a few months of +the day on which the benefit was given at Garrick's theatre, the +holder of the copyright of Paradise Lost,--I think it was +Tonson,--applied to the Court of Chancery for an injunction +against a bookseller who had published a cheap edition of the +great epic poem, and obtained the injunction. The representation +of Comus was, if I remember rightly, in 1750; the injunction in +1752. Here, then, is a perfect illustration of the effect of +long copyright. Milton's works are the property of a single +publisher. Everybody who wants them must buy them at Tonson's +shop, and at Tonson's price. Whoever attempts to undersell +Tonson is harassed with legal proceedings. Thousands who would +gladly possess a copy of Paradise Lost, must forego that great +enjoyment. And what, in the meantime, is the situation of the +only person for whom we can suppose that the author, protected at +such a cost to the public, was at all interested? She is reduced +to utter destitution. Milton's works are under a monopoly. +Milton's granddaughter is starving. The reader is pillaged; but +the writer's family is not enriched. Society is taxed doubly. +It has to give an exorbitant price for the poems; and it has at +the same time to give alms to the only surviving descendant of +the poet. + +But this is not all. I think it right, Sir, to call the +attention of the House to an evil, which is perhaps more to be +apprehended when an author's copyright remains in the hands of +his family, than when it is transferred to booksellers. I +seriously fear that, if such a measure as this should be adopted, +many valuable works will be either totally suppressed or +grievously mutilated. I can prove that this danger is not +chimerical; and I am quite certain that, if the danger be real, +the safeguards which my honourable and learned friend has devised +are altogether nugatory. That the danger is not chimerical may +easily be shown. Most of us, I am sure, have known persons who, +very erroneously as I think, but from the best motives, would not +choose to reprint Fielding's novels, or Gibbon's History of the +Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Some gentlemen may perhaps +be of opinion that it would be as well if Tom Jones and Gibbon's +History were never reprinted. I will not, then, dwell on these +or similar cases. I will take cases respecting which it is not +likely that there will be any difference of opinion here; cases, +too, in which the danger of which I now speak is not matter of +supposition, but matter of fact. Take Richardson's novels. +Whatever I may, on the present occasion, think of my honourable +and learned friend's judgment as a legislator, I must always +respect his judgment as a critic. He will, I am sure, say that +Richardson's novels are among the most valuable, among the most +original works in our language. No writings have done more to +raise the fame of English genius in foreign countries. No +writings are more deeply pathetic. No writings, those of +Shakspeare excepted, show more profound knowledge of the human +heart. As to their moral tendency, I can cite the most +respectable testimony. Dr Johnson describes Richardson as one +who had taught the passions to move at the command of virtue. My +dear and honoured friend, Mr Wilberforce, in his celebrated +religious treatise, when speaking of the unchristian tendency of +the fashionable novels of the eighteenth century, distinctly +excepts Richardson from the censure. Another excellent person, +whom I can never mention without respect and kindness, Mrs Hannah +More, often declared in conversation, and has declared in one of +her published poems, that she first learned from the writings of +Richardson those principles of piety by which her life was +guided. I may safely say that books celebrated as works of art +through the whole civilised world, and praised for their moral +tendency by Dr Johnson, by Mr Wilberforce, by Mrs Hannah More, +ought not to be suppressed. Sir, it is my firm belief, that if +the law had been what my honourable and learned friend proposes +to make it, they would have been suppressed. I remember +Richardson's grandson well; he was a clergyman in the city of +London; he was a most upright and excellent man; but he had +conceived a strong prejudice against works of fiction. He +thought all novel-reading not only frivolous but sinful. He +said,--this I state on the authority of one of his clerical +brethren who is now a bishop,--he said that he had never thought +it right to read one of his grandfather's books. Suppose, Sir, +that the law had been what my honourable and learned friend would +make it. Suppose that the copyright of Richardson's novels had +descended, as might well have been the case, to this gentleman. +I firmly believe, that he would have thought it sinful to give +them a wide circulation. I firmly believe, that he would not for +a hundred thousand pounds have deliberately done what he thought +sinful. He would not have reprinted them. And what protection +does my honourable and learned friend give to the public in such +a case? Why, Sir, what he proposes is this: if a book is not +reprinted during five years, any person who wishes to reprint it +may give notice in the London Gazette: the advertisement must be +repeated three times: a year must elapse; and then, if the +proprietor of the copyright does not put forth a new edition, he +loses his exclusive privilege. Now, what protection is this to +the public? What is a new edition? Does the law define the +number of copies that make an edition? Does it limit the price +of a copy? Are twelve copies on large paper, charged at thirty +guineas each, an edition? It has been usual, when monopolies +have been granted, to prescribe numbers and to limit prices. But +I did not find the my honourable and learned friend proposes to +do so in the present case. And, without some such provision, the +security which he offers is manifestly illusory. It is my +conviction that, under such a system as that which he recommends +to us, a copy of Clarissa would have been as rare as an Aldus or +a Caxton. + +I will give another instance. One of the most instructive, +interesting, and delightful books in our language is Boswell's +Life of Johnson. Now it is well known that Boswell's eldest son +considered this book, considered the whole relation of Boswell to +Johnson, as a blot in the escutcheon of the family. He thought, +not perhaps altogether without reason, that his father had +exhibited himself in a ludicrous and degrading light. And thus +he became so sore and irritable that at last he could not bear to +hear the Life of Johnson mentioned. Suppose that the law had +been what my honourable and learned friend wishes to make it. +Suppose that the copyright of Boswell's Life of Johnson had +belonged, as it well might, during sixty years, to Boswell's +eldest son. What would have been the consequence? An +unadulterated copy of the finest biographical work in the world +would have been as scarce as the first edition of Camden's +Britannia. + +These are strong cases. I have shown you that, if the law had +been what you are now going to make it, the finest prose work of +fiction in the language, the finest biographical work in the +language, would very probably have been suppressed. But I have +stated my case weakly. The books which I have mentioned are +singularly inoffensive books, books not touching on any of those +questions which drive even wise men beyond the bounds of wisdom. +There are books of a very different kind, books which are the +rallying points of great political and religious parties. What +is likely to happen if the copyright of one of the these books +should by descent or transfer come into the possession of some +hostile zealot? I will take a single instance. It is only fifty +years since John Wesley died; and all his works, if the law had +been what my honourable and learned friend wishes to make it, +would now have been the property of some person or other. The +sect founded by Wesley is the most numerous, the wealthiest, the +most powerful, the most zealous of sects. In every parliamentary +election it is a matter of the greatest importance to obtain the +support of the Wesleyan Methodists. Their numerical strength is +reckoned by hundreds of thousands. They hold the memory of their +founder in the greatest reverence; and not without reason, for he +was unquestionably a great and a good man. To his authority they +constantly appeal. His works are in their eyes of the highest +value. His doctrinal writings they regard as containing the best +system of theology ever deduced from Scripture. His journals, +interesting even to the common reader, are peculiarly interesting +to the Methodist: for they contain the whole history of that +singular polity which, weak and despised in its beginning, is +now, after the lapse of a century, so strong, so flourishing, and +so formidable. The hymns to which he gave his imprimatur are a +most important part of the public worship of his followers. Now, +suppose that the copyright of these works should belong to some +person who holds the memory of Wesley and the doctrines and +discipline of the Methodists in abhorrence. There are many such +persons. The Ecclesiastical Courts are at this very time sitting +on the case of a clergyman of the Established Church who refused +Christian burial to a child baptized by a Methodist preacher. I +took up the other day a work which is considered as among the +most respectable organs of a large and growing party in the +Church of England, and there I saw John Wesley designated as a +forsworn priest. Suppose that the works of Wesley were +suppressed. Why, Sir, such a grievance would be enough to shake +the foundations of Government. Let gentlemen who are attached to +the Church reflect for a moment what their feelings would be if +the Book of Common Prayer were not to be reprinted for thirty or +forty years, if the price of a Book of Common Prayer were run up +to five or ten guineas. And then let them determine whether they +will pass a law under which it is possible, under which it is +probable, that so intolerable a wrong may be done to some sect +consisting perhaps of half a million of persons. + +I am so sensible, Sir, of the kindness with which the House has +listened to me, that I will not detain you longer. I will only +say this, that if the measure before us should pass, and should +produce one-tenth part of the evil which it is calculated to +produce, and which I fully expect it to produce, there will soon +be a remedy, though of a very objectionable kind. Just as the +absurd acts which prohibited the sale of game were virtually +repealed by the poacher, just as many absurd revenue acts have +been virtually repealed by the smuggler, so will this law be +virtually repealed by piratical booksellers. At present the +holder of copyright has the public feeling on his side. Those +who invade copyright are regarded as knaves who take the bread +out of the mouths of deserving men. Everybody is well pleased to +see them restrained by the law, and compelled to refund their +ill-gotten gains. No tradesman of good repute will have anything +to do with such disgraceful transactions. Pass this law: and +that feeling is at an end. Men very different from the present +race of piratical booksellers will soon infringe this intolerable +monopoly. Great masses of capital will be constantly employed in +the violation of the law. Every art will be employed to evade +legal pursuit; and the whole nation will be in the plot. On +which side indeed should the public sympathy be when the question +is whether some book as popular as Robinson Crusoe, or the +Pilgrim's Progress, shall be in every cottage, or whether it +shall be confined to the libraries of the rich for the advantage +of the great-grandson of a bookseller who, a hundred years +before, drove a hard bargain for the copyright with the author +when in great distress? Remember too that, when once it ceases +to be considered as wrong and discreditable to invade literary +property, no person can say where the invasion will stop. The +public seldom makes nice distinctions. The wholesome copyright +which now exists will share in the disgrace and danger of the new +copyright which you are about to create. And you will find that, +in attempting to impose unreasonable restraints on the reprinting +of the works of the dead, you have, to a great extent, annulled +those restraints which now prevent men from pillaging and +defrauding the living. If I saw, Sir, any probability that this +bill could be so amended in the Committee that my objections +might be removed, I would not divide the House in this stage. +But I am so fully convinced that no alteration which would not +seem insupportable to my honourable and learned friend, could +render his measure supportable to me, that I must move, though +with regret, that this bill be read a second time this day six +months. + +... + + +COPYRIGHT. (APRIL 6, 1842) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE +6TH OF APRIL 1842. + +On the third of March 1842, Lord Mahon obtained permission to +bring in a bill to amend the Law of Copyright. This bill +extended the term of Copyright in a book to twenty-five years, +reckoned from the death of the author. + +On the sixth of April the House went into Committee on the bill, +and Mr Greene took the Chair. Several divisions took place, of +which the result was that the plan suggested in the following +Speech was, with some modifications, adopted. + +Mr Greene,--I have been amused and gratified by the remarks which +my noble friend (Lord Mahon.) has made on the arguments by which +I prevailed on the last House of Commons to reject the bill +introduced by a very able and accomplished man, Mr Serjeant +Talfourd. My noble friend has done me a high and rare honour. +For this is, I believe, the first occasion on which a speech made +in one Parliament has been answered in another. I should not +find it difficult to vindicate the soundness of the reasons which +I formerly urged, to set them in a clearer light, and to fortify +them by additional facts. But it seems to me that we had better +discuss the bill which is now on our table than the bill which +was there fourteen months ago. Glad I am to find that there is a +very wide difference between the two bills, and that my noble +friend, though he has tried to refute my arguments, has acted as +if he had been convinced by them. I objected to the term of +sixty years as far too long. My noble friend has cut that term +down to twenty-five years. I warned the House that, under the +provisions of Mr Serjeant Talfourd's bill, valuable works might +not improbably be suppressed by the representatives of authors. +My noble friend has prepared a clause which, as he thinks, will +guard against that danger. I will not, therefore, waste the time +of the Committee by debating points which he has conceded, but +will proceed at once to the proper business of this evening. + +Sir, I have no objection to the principle of my noble friend's +bill. Indeed, I had no objection to the principle of the bill of +last year. I have long thought that the term of copyright ought +to be extended. When Mr Serjeant Talfourd moved for leave to +bring in his bill, I did not oppose the motion. Indeed I meant +to vote for the second reading, and to reserve what I had to say +for the Committee. But the learned Serjeant left me no choice. +He, in strong language, begged that nobody who was disposed to +reduce the term of sixty years would divide with him. "Do not," +he said, "give me your support, if all that you mean to grant to +men of letters is a miserable addition of fourteen or fifteen +years to the present term. I do not wish for such support. I +despise it." Not wishing to obtrude on the learned Serjeant a +support which he despised, I had no course left but to take the +sense of the House on the second reading. The circumstances are +now different. My noble friend's bill is not at present a good +bill; but it may be improved into a very good bill; nor will he, +I am persuaded, withdraw it if it should be so improved. He and +I have the same object in view; but we differ as to the best mode +of attaining that object. We are equally desirous to extend the +protection now enjoyed by writers. In what way it may be +extended with most benefit to them and with least inconvenience +to the public, is the question. + +The present state of the law is this. The author of a work has a +certain copyright in that work for a term of twenty-eight years. +If he should live more than twenty-eight years after the +publication of the work, he retains the copyright to the end of +his life. + +My noble friend does not propose to make any addition to the term +of twenty-eight years. But he proposes that the copyright shall +last twenty-five years after the author's death. Thus my noble +friend makes no addition to that term which is certain, but makes +a very large addition to that term which is uncertain. + +My plan is different. I would made no addition to the uncertain +term; but I would make a large addition to the certain term. I +propose to add fourteen years to the twenty-eight years which the +law now allows to an author. His copyright will, in this way, +last till his death, or till the expiration of forty-two years, +whichever shall first happen. And I think that I shall be able +to prove to the satisfaction of the Committee that my plan will +be more beneficial to literature and to literary men than the +plan of my noble friend. + +It must surely, Sir, be admitted that the protection which we +give to books ought to be distributed as evenly as possible, that +every book should have a fair share of that protection, and no +book more than a fair share. It would evidently be absurd to put +tickets into a wheel, with different numbers marked upon them, +and to make writers draw, one a term of twenty-eight years, +another a term of fifty, another a term of ninety. And yet this +sort of lottery is what my noble friend proposes to establish. I +know that we cannot altogether exclude chance. You have two +terms of copyright; one certain, the other uncertain; and we +cannot, I admit, get rid of the uncertain term. It is proper, no +doubt, that an author's copyright should last during his life. +But, Sir, though we cannot altogether exclude chance, we can very +much diminish the share which chance must have in distributing +the recompense which we wish to give to genius and learning. By +every addition which we make to the certain term we diminish the +influence of chance; by every addition which we make to the +uncertain term we increase the influence of chance. I shall make +myself best understood by putting cases. Take two eminent female +writers, who died within our own memory, Madame D'Arblay and Miss +Austen. As the law now stands, Miss Austen's charming novels +would have only from twenty-eight to thirty-three years of +copyright. For that extraordinary woman died young: she died +before her genius was fully appreciated by the world. Madame +D'Arblay outlived the whole generation to which she belonged. +The copyright of her celebrated novel, Evelina, lasted, under the +present law, sixty-two years. Surely this inequality is +sufficiently great--sixty-two years of copyright for Evelina, +only twenty-eight for Persuasion. But to my noble friend this +inequality seems not great enough. He proposes to add twenty- +five years to Madame D'Arblay's term, and not a single day to +Miss Austen's term. He would give to Persuasion a copyright of +only twenty-eight years, as at present, and to Evelina a +copyright more than three times as long, a copyright of eighty- +seven years. Now, is this reasonable? See, on the other hand, +the operation of my plan. I make no addition at all to Madame +D'Arblay's term of sixty-two years, which is, in my opinion, +quite long enough; but I extend Miss Austen's term to forty-two +years, which is, in my opinion, not too much. You see, Sir, that +at present chance has too much sway in this matter: that at +present the protection which the State gives to letters is very +unequally given. You see that if my noble friend's plan be +adopted, more will be left to chance than under the present +system, and you will have such inequalities as are unknown under +the present system. You see also that, under the system which I +recommend, we shall have, not perfect certainty, not perfect +equality, but much less uncertainty and inequality than at +present. + +But this is not all. My noble friend's plan is not merely to +institute a lottery in which some writers will draw prizes and +some will draw blanks. It is much worse than this. His lottery +is so contrived that, in the vast majority of cases, the blanks +will fall to the best books, and the prizes to books of inferior +merit. + +Take Shakspeare. My noble friend gives a longer protection than +I should give to Love's Labour's Lost, and Pericles, Prince of +Tyre; but he gives a shorter protection than I should give to +Othello and Macbeth. + +Take Milton. Milton died in 1674. The copyrights of Milton's +great works would, according to my noble friend's plan, expire in +1699. Comus appeared in 1634, the Paradise Lost in 1668. To +Comus, then, my noble friend would give sixty-five years of +copyright, and to the Paradise Lost only thirty-one years. Is +that reasonable? Comus is a noble poem: but who would rank it +with the Paradise Lost? My plan would give forty-two years both +to the Paradise Lost and to Comus. + +Let us pass on from Milton to Dryden. My noble friend would give +more than sixty years of copyright to Dryden's worst works; to +the encomiastic verses on Oliver Cromwell, to the Wild Gallant, +to the Rival Ladies, to other wretched pieces as bad as anything +written by Flecknoe or Settle: but for Theodore and Honoria, for +Tancred and Sigismunda, for Cimon and Iphigenia, for Palamon and +Arcite, for Alexander's Feast, my noble friend thinks a copyright +of twenty-eight years sufficient. Of all Pope's works, that to +which my noble friend would give the largest measure of +protection is the volume of Pastorals, remarkable only as the +production of a boy. Johnson's first work was a Translation of a +Book of Travels in Abyssinia, published in 1735. It was so +poorly executed that in his later years he did not like to hear +it mentioned. Boswell once picked up a copy of it, and told his +friend that he had done so. "Do not talk about it," said +Johnson: "it is a thing to be forgotten." To this performance +my noble friend would give protection during the enormous term of +seventy-five years. To the Lives of the Poets he would give +protection during about thirty years. Well; take Henry Fielding; +it matters not whom I take, but take Fielding. His early works +are read only by the curious, and would not be read even by the +curious, but for the fame which he acquired in the latter part of +his life by works of a very different kind. What is the value of +the Temple Beau, of the Intriguing Chambermaid, of half a dozen +other plays of which few gentlemen have even heard the names? +Yet to these worthless pieces my noble friend would give a term +of copyright longer by more than twenty years than that which he +would give to Tom Jones and Amelia. + +Go on to Burke. His little tract, entitled the Vindication of +Natural Society is certainly not without merit; but it would not +be remembered in our days if it did not bear the name of Burke. +To this tract my noble friend would give a copyright of near +seventy years. But to the great work on the French Revolution, +to the Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, to the letters on +the Regicide Peace, he would give a copyright of thirty years or +little more. + +And, Sir observe that I am not selecting here and there +extraordinary instances in order to make up the semblance of a +case. I am taking the greatest names of our literature in +chronological order. Go to other nations; go to remote ages; you +will still find the general rule the same. There was no +copyright at Athens or Rome; but the history of the Greek and +Latin literature illustrates my argument quite as well as if +copyright had existed in ancient times. Of all the plays of +Sophocles, the one to which the plan of my noble friend would +have given the most scanty recompense would have been that +wonderful masterpiece, the Oedipus at Colonos. Who would class +together the Speech of Demosthenes against his Guardians, and the +Speech for the Crown? My noble friend, indeed, would not class +them together. For to the Speech against the Guardians he would +give a copyright of near seventy years, and to the incomparable +Speech for the Crown a copyright of less than half that length. +Go to Rome. My noble friend would give more than twice as long a +term to Cicero's juvenile declamation in defence of Roscius +Amerinus as to the Second Philippic. Go to France. My noble +friend would give a far longer term to Racine's Freres Ennemis +than to Athalie, and to Moliere's Etourdi than to Tartuffe. Go +to Spain. My noble friend would give a longer term to forgotten +works of Cervantes, works which nobody now reads, than to Don +Quixote. Go to Germany. According to my noble friend's plan, of +all the works of Schiller the Robbers would be the most favoured: +of all the works of Goethe, the Sorrows of Werter would be the +most favoured. I thank the Committee for listening so kindly to +this long enumeration. Gentlemen will perceive, I am sure, that +it is not from pedantry that I mention the names of so many books +and authors. But just as, in our debates on civil affairs, we +constantly draw illustrations from civil history, we must, in a +debate about literary property, draw our illustrations from +literary history. Now, Sir, I have, I think, shown from literary +history that the effect of my noble friend's plan would be to +give to crude and imperfect works, to third-rate and fourth-rate +works, a great advantage over the highest productions of genius. +It is impossible to account for the facts which I have laid +before you by attributing them to mere accident. Their number is +too great, their character too uniform. We must seek for some +other explanation; and we shall easily find one. + +It is the law of our nature that the mind shall attain its full +power by slow degrees; and this is especially true of the most +vigorous minds. Young men, no doubt, have often produced works +of great merit; but it would be impossible to name any writer of +the first order whose juvenile performances were his best. That +all the most valuable books of history, of philology, of physical +and metaphysical science, of divinity, of political economy, have +been produced by men of mature years will hardly be disputed. +The case may not be quite so clear as respects works of the +imagination. And yet I know no work of the imagination of the +very highest class that was ever, in any age or country, produced +by a man under thirty-five. Whatever powers a youth may have +received from nature, it is impossible that his taste and +judgment can be ripe, that his mind can be richly stored with +images, that he can have observed the vicissitudes of life, that +he can have studied the nicer shades of character. How, as +Marmontel very sensibly said, is a person to paint portraits who +has never seen faces? On the whole, I believe that I may, +without fear of contradiction, affirm this, that of the good +books now extant in the world more than nineteen-twentieths were +published after the writers had attained the age of forty. If +this be so, it is evident that the plan of my noble friend is +framed on a vicious principle. For, while he gives to juvenile +productions a very much larger protection than they now enjoy, he +does comparatively little for the works of men in the full +maturity of their powers, and absolutely nothing for any work +which is published during the last three years of the life of the +writer. For, by the existing law, the copyright of such a work +lasts twenty-eight years from the publication; and my noble +friend gives only twenty-five years, to be reckoned from the +writer's death. + +What I recommend is that the certain term, reckoned from the date +of publication, shall be forty-two years instead of twenty-eight +years. In this arrangement there is no uncertainty, no +inequality. The advantage which I propose to give will be the +same to every book. No work will have so long a copyright as my +noble friend gives to some books, or so short a copyright as he +gives to others. No copyright will last ninety years. No +copyright will end in twenty-eight years. To every book +published in the course of the last seventeen years of a writer's +life I give a longer term of copyright than my noble friend +gives; and I am confident that no person versed in literary +history will deny this,--that in general the most valuable works +of an author are published in the course of the last seventeen +years of his life. I will rapidly enumerate a few, and but a +few, of the great works of English writers to which my plan is +more favourable than my noble friend's plan. To Lear, to +Macbeth, to Othello, to the Fairy Queen, to the Paradise Lost, to +Bacon's Novum Organum and De Augmentis, to Locke's Essay on the +Human Understanding, to Clarendon's History, to Hume's History, +to Gibbon's History, to Smith's Wealth of Nations, to Addison's +Spectators, to almost all the great works of Burke, to Clarissa +and Sir Charles Grandison, to Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones and +Amelia, and, with the single exception of Waverley, to all the +novels of Sir Walter Scott, I give a longer term of copyright +than my noble friend gives. Can he match that list? Does not +that list contain what England has produced greatest in many +various ways--poetry, philosophy, history, eloquence, wit, +skilful portraiture of life and manners? I confidently therefore +call on the Committee to take my plan in preference to the plan +of my noble friend. I have shown that the protection which he +proposes to give to letters is unequal, and unequal in the worst +way. I have shown that his plan is to give protection to books +in inverse proportion to their merit. I shall move when we come +to the third clause of the bill to omit the words "twenty-five +years," and in a subsequent part of the same clause I shall move +to substitute for the words "twenty-eight years" the words +"forty-two years." I earnestly hope that the Committee will +adopt these amendments; and I feel the firmest conviction that my +noble friend's bill, so amended, will confer a great boon on men +of letters with the smallest possible inconvenience to the +public. + +... + + +THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER. (MAY 3, 1842) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE THIRD OF MAY +1842. + +On the second of May 1842, Mr Thomas Duncombe, Member for +Finsbury, presented a petition, very numerously signed, of which +the prayer was as follows: + +"Your petitioners, therefore, exercising their just +constitutional right, demand that your Honourable House, to +remedy the many gross and manifest evils of which your +petitioners complain, do immediately, without alteration, +deduction, or addition, pass into a law the document entitled the +People's Charter." + +On the following day Mr Thomas Duncombe moved that the +petitioners should be heard by themselves or their Counsel at the +Bar of the House. The following Speech was made in opposition to +the motion. + +The motion was rejected by 287 votes to 49. + +Mr Speaker,--I was particularly desirous to catch your eye this +evening, because, when the motion of the honourable Member of +Rochdale (Mr Sharman Crawford.) was under discussion, I was +unable to be in my place. I understand that, on that occasion, +the absence of some members of the late Government was noticed in +severe terms, and was attributed to discreditable motives. As +for myself, Sir, I was prevented from coming down to the House by +illness: a noble friend of mine, to whom particular allusion was +made, was detained elsewhere by pure accident; and I am convinced +that no member of the late administration was withheld by any +unworthy feeling from avowing his opinions. My own opinions I +could have no motive for disguising. They have been frequently +avowed, and avowed before audiences which were not likely to +regard them with much favour. + +I should wish, Sir, to say what I have to say in the temperate +tone which has with so much propriety been preserved by the right +honourable Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department (Sir +James Graham.); but, if I should use any warm expression, I trust +that the House will attribute it to the strength of my +convictions and to my solicitude for the public interests. No +person who knows me will, I am quite sure, suspect me of +regarding the hundreds of thousands who have signed the petition +which we are now considering, with any other feeling than cordial +goodwill. + +Sir, I cannot conscientiously assent to this motion. And yet I +must admit that the honourable Member for Finsbury (Mr Thomas +Duncombe.) has framed it with considerable skill. He has done +his best to obtain the support of all those timid and interested +politicians who think much more about the security of their seats +than about the security of their country. It would be very +convenient to me to give a silent vote with him. I should then +have it in my power to say to the Chartists of Edinburgh, "When +your petition was before the House I was on your side: I was for +giving you a full hearing." I should at the same time be able to +assure my Conservative constituents that I never had supported +and never would support the Charter. But, Sir, though this +course would be very convenient, it is one which my sense of duty +will not suffer me to take. When questions of private right are +before us, we hear, and we ought to hear, the arguments of the +parties interested in those questions. But it has never been, +and surely it ought not to be, our practice to grant a hearing to +persons who petition for or against a law in which they have no +other interest than that which is common between them and the +whole nation. Of the many who petitioned against slavery, +against the Roman Catholic claims, against the corn laws, none +was suffered to harangue us at the bar in support of his views. +If in the present case we depart from a general rule which +everybody must admit to be a very wholesome one, what inference +can reasonably be drawn from our conduct, except this, that we +think the petition which we are now considering entitled to +extraordinary respect, and that we have not fully made up our +minds to refuse what the petitioners ask? Now, Sir, I have fully +made up my mind to resist to the last the change which they urge +us to make in the constitution of the kingdom. I therefore think +that I should act disingenuously if I gave my voice for calling +in orators whose eloquence, I am certain, will make no alteration +in my opinion. I think too that if, after voting for hearing the +petitioners, I should then vote against granting their prayer, I +should give them just ground for accusing me of having first +encouraged and then deserted them. That accusation, at least, +they shall never bring against me. + +The honourable Member for Westminster (Mr Leader.) has expressed +a hope that the language of the petition will not be subjected to +severe criticism. If he means literary criticism, I entirely +agree with him. The style of this composition is safe from any +censure of mine; but the substance it is absolutely necessary +that we should closely examine. What the petitioners demand is +this, that we do forthwith pass what is called the People's +Charter into a law without alteration, diminution, or addition. +This is the prayer in support of which the honourable Member for +Finsbury would have us hear an argument at the bar. Is it then +reasonable to say, as some gentlemen have said, that, in voting +for the honourable Member's motion, they mean to vote merely for +an inquiry into the causes of the public distress? If any +gentleman thinks that an inquiry into the causes of the public +distress would be useful, let him move for such an inquiry. I +will not oppose it. But this petition does not tell us to +inquire. It tells us that we are not to inquire. It directs us +to pass a certain law word for word, and to pass it without the +smallest delay. + +I shall, Sir, notwithstanding the request or command of the +petitioners, venture to exercise my right of free speech on the +subject of the People's Charter. There is, among the six points +of the Charter, one for which I have voted. There is another of +which I decidedly approve. There are others as to which, though +I do not agree with the petitioners, I could go some way to meet +them. In fact, there is only one of the six points on which I am +diametrically opposed to them: but unfortunately that point +happens to be infinitely the most important of the six. + +One of the six points is the ballot. I have voted for the +ballot; and I have seen no reason to change my opinion on that +subject. + +Another point is the abolition of the pecuniary qualification for +members of this House. On that point I cordially agree with the +petitioners. You have established a sufficient pecuniary +qualification for the elector; and it therefore seems to me quite +superfluous to require a pecuniary qualification from the +representative. Everybody knows that many English members have +only fictitious qualifications, and that the members for Scotch +cities and boroughs are not required to have any qualification at +all. It is surely absurd to admit the representatives of +Edinburgh and Glasgow without any qualification, and at the same +time to require the representative of Finsbury or Marylebone to +possess a qualification or the semblance of one. If the +qualification really be a security for respectability, let that +security be demanded from us who sit here for Scotch towns. If, +as I believe, the qualification is no security at all, why should +we require it from anybody? It is no part of the old +constitution of the realm. It was first established in the reign +of Anne. It was established by a bad parliament for a bad +purpose. It was, in fact, part of a course of legislation which, +if it had not been happily interrupted, would have ended in the +repeal of the Toleration Act and of the Act of Settlement. + +The Chartists demand annual parliaments. There, certainly, I +differ from them; but I might, perhaps, be willing to consent to +some compromise. I differ from them also as to the expediency of +paying the representatives of the people, and of dividing the +country into electoral districts. But I do not consider these +matters as vital. The kingdom might, I acknowledge, be free, +great, and happy, though the members of this house received +salaries, and though the present boundaries of counties and +boroughs were superseded by new lines of demarcation. These, +Sir, are subordinate questions. I do not of course mean that +they are not important. But they are subordinate when compared +with that question which still remains to be considered. The +essence of the Charter is universal suffrage. If you withhold +that, it matters not very much what else you grant. If you grant +that, it matters not at all what else you withhold. If you grant +that, the country is lost. + +I have no blind attachment to ancient usages. I altogether +disclaim what has been nicknamed the doctrine of finality. I +have said enough to-night to show that I do not consider the +settlement made by the Reform Bill as one which can last for +ever. I certainly do think that an extensive change in the +polity of a nation must be attended with serious evils. Still +those evils may be overbalanced by advantages: and I am +perfectly ready, in every case, to weigh the evils against the +advantages, and to judge as well as I can which scale +preponderates. I am bound by no tie to oppose any reform which I +think likely to promote the public good. I will go so far as to +say that I do not quite agree with those who think that they have +proved the People's Charter to be absurd when they have proved +that it is incompatible with the existence of the throne and of +the peerage. For, though I am a faithful and loyal subject of +Her Majesty, and though I sincerely wish to see the House of +Lords powerful and respected, I cannot consider either monarchy +or aristocracy as the ends of government. They are only means. +Nations have flourished without hereditary sovereigns or +assemblies of nobles; and, though I should be very sorry to see +England a republic, I do not doubt that she might, as a republic, +enjoy prosperity, tranquillity, and high consideration. The +dread and aversion with which I regard universal suffrage would +be greatly diminished, if I could believe that the worst effect +which it would produce would be to give us an elective first +magistrate and a senate instead of a Queen and a House of Peers. +My firm conviction is that, in our country, universal suffrage is +incompatible, not with this or that form of government, but with +all forms of government, and with everything for the sake of +which forms of government exist; that it is incompatible with +property, and that it is consequently incompatible with +civilisation. + +It is not necessary for me in this place to go through the +arguments which prove beyond dispute that on the security of +property civilisation depends; that, where property is insecure, +no climate however delicious, no soil however fertile, no +conveniences for trade and navigation, no natural endowments of +body or of mind, can prevent a nation from sinking into +barbarism; that where, on the other hand, men are protected in +the enjoyment of what has been created by their industry and laid +up by their self-denial, society will advance in arts and in +wealth notwithstanding the sterility of the earth and the +inclemency of the air, notwithstanding heavy taxes and +destructive wars. Those persons who say that England has been +greatly misgoverned, that her legislation is defective, that her +wealth has been squandered in unjust and impolitic contests with +America and with France, do in fact bear the strongest testimony +to the truth of my doctrine. For that our country has made and +is making great progress in all that contributes to the material +comfort of man is indisputable. If that progress cannot be +ascribed to the wisdom of the Government, to what can we ascribe +it but to the diligence, the energy, the thrift of individuals? +And to what can we ascribe that diligence, that energy, that +thrift, except to the security which property has during many +generations enjoyed here? Such is the power of this great +principle that, even in the last war, the most costly war, beyond +all comparison, that ever was waged in this world, the Government +could not lavish wealth so fast as the productive classes created +it. + +If it be admitted that on the institution of property the wellbeing of society depends, it follows surely that it would be +madness to give supreme power in the state to a class which would +not be likely to respect that institution. And, if this be +conceded, it seems to me to follow that it would be madness to +grant the prayer of this petition. I entertain no hope that, if +we place the government of the kingdom in the hands of the +majority of the males of one-and-twenty told by the head, the +institution of property will be respected. If I am asked why I +entertain no such hope, I answer, because the hundreds of +thousands of males of twenty-one who have signed this petition +tell me to entertain no such hope; because they tell me that, if +I trust them with power, the first use which they will make of it +will be to plunder every man in the kingdom who has a good coat +on his back and a good roof over his head. God forbid that I +should put an unfair construction on their language! I will read +their own words. This petition, be it remembered, is an +authoritative declaration of the wishes of those who, if the +Charter ever becomes law, will return the great majority of the +House of Commons; and these are their words: "Your petitioners +complain, that they are enormously taxed to pay the interest of +what is called the national debt, a debt amounting at present to +eight hundred millions, being only a portion of the enormous +amount expended in cruel and expensive wars for the suppression +of all liberty by men not authorised by the people, and who +consequently had no right to tax posterity for the outrages +committed by them upon mankind." If these words mean anything, +they mean that the present generation is not bound to pay the +public debt incurred by our rulers in past times, and that a +national bankruptcy would be both just and politic. For my part, +I believe it to be impossible to make any distinction between the +right of a fundholder to his dividends and the right of a +landowner to his rents. And, to do the petitioners justice, I +must say that they seem to be much of the same mind. They are +for dealing with fundholder and landowner alike. They tell us +that nothing will "unshackle labour from its misery, until the +people possess that power under which all monopoly and oppression +must cease; and your petitioners respectfully mention the +existing monopolies of the suffrage, of paper money, of +machinery, of land, of the public press, of religion, of the +means of travelling and transit, and a host of other evils too +numerous to mention, all arising from class legislation." Absurd +as this hubbub of words is, part of it is intelligible enough. +What can the monopoly of land mean, except property in land? The +only monopoly of land which exists in England is this, that +nobody can sell an acre of land which does not belong to him. +And what can the monopoly of machinery mean but property in +machinery? Another monopoly which is to cease is the monopoly of +the means of travelling. In other words all the canal property +and railway property in the kingdom is to be confiscated. What +other sense do the words bear? And these are only specimens of +the reforms which, in the language of the petition, are to +unshackle labour from its misery. There remains, it seems, a +host of similar monopolies too numerous to mention; the monopoly +I presume, which a draper has of his own stock of cloth; the +monopoly which a hatter has of his own stock of hats; the +monopoly which we all have of our furniture, bedding, and +clothes. In short, the petitioners ask you to give them power in +order that they may not leave a man of a hundred a year in the +realm. + +I am far from wishing to throw any blame on the ignorant crowds +which have flocked to the tables where this petition was +exhibited. Nothing is more natural than that the labouring +people should be deceived by the arts of such men as the author +of this absurd and wicked composition. We ourselves, with all +our advantages of education, are often very credulous, very +impatient, very shortsighted, when we are tried by pecuniary +distress or bodily pain. We often resort to means of immediate +relief which, as Reason tells us, if we would listen to her, are +certain to aggravate our sufferings. Men of great abilities and +knowledge have ruined their estates and their constitutions in +this way. How then can we wonder that men less instructed than +ourselves, and tried by privations such as we have never known, +should be easily misled by mountebanks who promise +impossibilities? Imagine a well-meaning laborious mechanic, +fondly attached to his wife and children. Bad times come. He +sees the wife whom he loves grow thinner and paler every day. +His little ones cry for bread, and he has none to give them. +Then come the professional agitators, the tempters, and tell him +that there is enough and more than enough for everybody, and that +he has too little only because landed gentlemen, fundholders, +bankers, manufacturers, railway proprietors, shopkeepers have too +much. Is it strange that the poor man should be deluded, and +should eagerly sign such a petition as this? The inequality with +which wealth is distributed forces itself on everybody's notice. +It is at once perceived by the eye. The reasons which +irrefragably prove this inequality to be necessary to the wellbeing of all classes are not equally obvious. Our honest working +man has not received such an education as enables him to +understand that the utmost distress that he has ever known is +prosperity when compared with the distress which he would have to +endure if there were a single month of general anarchy and +plunder. But you say, it is not the fault of the labourer that +he is not well educated. Most true. It is not his fault. But, +though he has no share in the fault, he will, if you are foolish +enough to give him supreme power in the state, have a very large +share of the punishment. You say that, if the Government had not +culpably omitted to establish a good system of public +instruction, the petitioners would have been fit for the elective +franchise. But is that a reason for giving them the franchise +when their own petition proves that they are not fit for it; when +they give us fair notice that, if we let them have it, they will +use it to our ruin and their own? It is not necessary now to +inquire whether, with universal education, we could safely have +universal suffrage. What we are asked to do is to give universal +suffrage before there is universal education. Have I any unkind +feeling towards these poor people? No more than I have to a sick +friend who implores me to give him a glass of iced water which +the physician has forbidden. No more than a humane collector in +India has to those poor peasants who in a season of scarcity +crowd round the granaries and beg with tears and piteous gestures +that the doors may be opened and the rice distributed. I would +not give the draught of water, because I know that it would be +poison. I would not give up the keys of the granary, because I +know that, by doing so, I should turn a scarcity into a famine. +And in the same way I would not yield to the importunity of +multitudes who, exasperated by suffering and blinded by +ignorance, demand with wild vehemence the liberty to destroy +themselves. + +But it is said, You must not attach so much importance to this +petition. It is very foolish, no doubt, and disgraceful to the +author, be he who he may. But you must not suppose that those +who signed it approve of it. They have merely put their names or +their marks without weighing the sense of the document which they +subscribed. Surely, Sir, of all reasons that ever were given for +receiving a petition with peculiar honours, the strangest is that +it expresses sentiments diametrically opposed to the real +sentiments of those who have signed it. And it is a not less +strange reason for giving men supreme power in a state that they +sign political manifestoes of the highest importance without +taking the trouble to know what the contents are. But how is it +possible for us to believe that, if the petitioners had the power +which they demand, they would not use it as they threaten? +During a long course of years, numerous speakers and writers, +some of them ignorant, others dishonest, have been constantly +representing the Government as able to do, and bound to do, +things which no Government can, without great injury to the +country, attempt to do. Every man of sense knows that the people +support the Government. But the doctrine of the Chartist +philosophers is that it is the business of the Government to +support the people. It is supposed by many that our rulers +possess, somewhere or other, an inexhaustible storehouse of all +the necessaries and conveniences of life, and, from mere +hardheartedness, refuse to distribute the contents of this +magazine among the poor. We have all of us read speeches and +tracts in which it seemed to be taken for granted that we who sit +here have the power of working miracles, of sending a shower of +manna on the West Riding, of striking the earth and furnishing +all the towns of Lancashire with abundance of pure water, of +feeding all the cotton-spinners and weavers who are out of work +with five loaves and two fishes. There is not a working man who +has not heard harangues and read newspapers in which these +follies are taught. And do you believe that as soon as you give +the working men absolute and irresistible power they will forget +all this? Yes, Sir, absolute and irresistible power. The +Charter would give them no less. In every constituent body +throughout the empire the working men will, if we grant the +prayer of this petition, be an irresistible majority. In every +constituent body capital will be placed at the feet of labour; +knowledge will be borne down by ignorance; and is it possible to +doubt what the result must be? The honourable Member for Bath +and the honourable Member for Rochdale are now considered as very +democratic members of Parliament. They would occupy a very +different position in a House of Commons elected by universal +suffrage, if they succeeded in obtaining seats. They would, I +believe, honestly oppose every attempt to rob the public +creditor. They would manfully say, "Justice and the public good +require that this sum of thirty millions a year should be paid;" +and they would immediately be reviled as aristocrats, +monopolists, oppressors of the poor, defenders of old abuses. +And as to land, is it possible to believe that the millions who +have been so long and loudly told that the land is their estate, +and is wrongfully kept from them, should not, when they have +supreme power, use that power to enforce what they think their +rights? What could follow but one vast spoliation? One vast +spoliation! That would be bad enough. That would be the +greatest calamity that ever fell on our country. Yet would that +a single vast spoliation were the worst! No, Sir; in the lowest +deep there would be a lower deep. The first spoliation would not +be the last. How could it? All the causes which had produced +the first spoliation would still operate. They would operate +more powerfully than before. The distress would be far greater +than before. The fences which now protect property would all +have been broken through, levelled, swept away. The new +proprietors would have no title to show to anything that they +held except recent robbery. With what face then could they +complain of being robbed? What would be the end of these things? +Our experience, God be praised, does not enable us to predict it +with certainty. We can only guess. My guess is that we should +see something more horrible than can be imagined--something like +the siege of Jerusalem on a far larger scale. There would be +many millions of human beings, crowded in a narrow space, +deprived of all those resources which alone had made it possible +for them to exist in so narrow a space; trade gone; manufactures +gone; credit gone. What could they do but fight for the mere +sustenance of nature, and tear each other to pieces till famine, +and pestilence following in the train of famine, came to turn the +terrible commotion into a more terrible repose? The best event, +the very best event, that I can anticipate,--and what must the +state of things be, if an Englishman and a Whig calls such an +event the very best?--the very best event, I say, that I can +anticipate is that out of the confusion a strong military +despotism may arise, and that the sword, firmly grasped by some +rough hand, may give a sort of protection to the miserable wreck +of all that immense prosperity and glory. But, as to the noble +institutions under which our country has made such progress in +liberty, in wealth, in knowledge, in arts, do not deceive +yourselves into the belief that we should ever see them again. +We should never see them again. We should not deserve to see +them. All those nations which envy our greatness would insult +our downfall, a downfall which would be all our own work; and the +history of our calamities would be told thus: England had +institutions which, though imperfect, yet contained within +themselves the means of remedying every imperfection; those +institutions her legislators wantonly and madly threw away; nor +could they urge in their excuse even the wretched plea that they +were deceived by false promises; for, in the very petition with +the prayer of which they were weak enough to comply, they were +told, in the plainest terms, that public ruin would be the effect +of their compliance. + +Thinking thus, Sir, I will oppose, with every faculty which God +has given me, every motion which directly or indirectly tends to +the granting of universal suffrage. This motion I think, tends +that way. If any gentleman here is prepared to vote for +universal suffrage with a full view of all the consequences of +universal suffrage as they are set forth in this petition, he +acts with perfect consistency in voting for this motion. But, I +must say, I heard with some surprise the honourable baronet the +Member for Leicester (Sir John Easthope.) say that, though he +utterly disapproves of the petition, though he thinks of it just +as I do, he wishes the petitioners to be heard at the bar in +explanation of their opinions. I conceive that their opinions +are quite sufficiently explained already; and to such opinions I +am not disposed to pay any extraordinary mark of respect. I +shall give a clear and conscientious vote against the motion of +the honourable Member for Finsbury; and I conceive that the +petitioners will have much less reason to complain of my open +hostility than of the conduct of the honourable Member, who tries +to propitiate them by consenting to hear their oratory, but has +fully made up his mind not to comply with their demands. + +... + + +THE GATES OF SOMNAUTH. (MARCH 9, 1843) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF MARCH +1843. + +On the ninth of March 1843, Mr Vernon Smith, Member for +Northampton, made the following motion: + +"That this House, having regard to the high and important +functions of the Governor General of India, the mixed character +of the native population, and the recent measures of the Court of +Directors for discontinuing any seeming sanction to idolatry in +India, is of opinion that the conduct of Lord Ellenborough in +issuing the General Orders of the sixteenth of November 1842, and +in addressing the letter of the same date to all the chiefs, +princes, and people of India, respecting the restoration of the +gates of a temple to Somnauth, is unwise, indecorous, and +reprehensible." + +Mr Emerson Tennent, Secretary of the Board of Control, opposed +the motion. In reply to him the following Speech was made. + +The motion was rejected by 242 votes to 157. + +Mr Speaker,--If the practice of the honourable gentleman, the +Secretary of the Board of Control, had been in accordance with +his precepts, if he had not, after exhorting us to confine +ourselves strictly to the subject before us, rambled far from +that subject, I should have refrained from all digression. For +and truth there is abundance to be said touching both the +substance and the style of this Proclamation. I cannot, however, +leave the honourable gentleman's peroration entirely unnoticed. +But I assure him that I do not mean to wander from the question +before us to any great distance or for any long time. + +I cannot but wonder, Sir, that he who has, on this, as on former +occasions, exhibited so much ability and acuteness, should have +gravely represented it as a ground of complaint, that my right +honourable friend the Member for Northampton has made this motion +in the Governor General's absence. Does the honourable gentleman +mean that this House is to be interdicted from ever considering +in what manner Her Majesty's Asiatic subjects, a hundred millions +in number, are governed? And how can we consider how they are +governed without considering the conduct of him who is governing +them? And how can we consider the conduct of him who is +governing them, except in his absence? For my own part, I can +say for myself, and I may, I doubt not, say for my right +honourable friend the Member for Northampton, that we both of us +wish, with all our hearts and souls, that we were discussing this +question in the presence of Lord Ellenborough. Would to heaven, +Sir, for the sake of the credit of England, and of the interests +of India, that the noble lord were at this moment under our +gallery! But, Sir, if there be any Governor who has no right to +complain of remarks made on him in his absence, it is that +Governor who, forgetting all official decorum, forgetting how +important it is that, while the individuals who serve the State +are changed, the State should preserve its identity, inserted in +a public proclamation reflections on his predecessor, a +predecessor of whom, on the present occasion, I will only say +that his conduct had deserved a very different return. I am +confident that no enemy of Lord Auckland, if Lord Auckland has an +enemy in the House, will deny that, whatever faults he may have +committed, he was faultless with respect to Lord Ellenborough. +No brother could have laboured more assiduously for the interests +and the honour of a brother than Lord Auckland laboured to +facilitate Lord Ellenborough's arduous task, to prepare for Lord +Ellenborough the means of obtaining success and glory. And what +was the requital? A proclamation by Lord Ellenborough, +stigmatising the conduct of Lord Auckland. And, Sir, since the +honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control has +thought fit to divert the debate from its proper course, I will +venture to request that he, or the honourable director who sits +behind him (Sir James Hogg.), will vouchsafe to give us some +explanations on an important point to which allusion has been +made. Lord Ellenborough has been accused of having publicly +announced that our troops were about to evacuate Afghanistan +before he had ascertained that our captive countrymen and +countrywomen had been restored to liberty. This accusation, +which is certainly a serious one, the honourable gentleman, the +Secretary of the Board of Control, pronounces to be a mere +calumny. Now, Sir, the proclamation which announces the +withdrawing of the troops bears date the first of October 1842. +What I wish to know is, whether any member of the Government, or +of the Court of Directors, will venture to affirm that on the +first of October 1842, the Governor General knew that the +prisoners had been set at liberty? I believe that no member +either of the Government or of the Court of Directors will +venture to affirm any such thing. It seems certain that on the +first of October the Governor General could not know that the +prisoners were safe. Nevertheless, the honourable gentleman the +Secretary of the Board of Control assures us that, when the +proclamation was drawn up, the Governor General did know that the +prisoners were safe. What is the inevitable consequence? It is +this, that the date is a false date, that the proclamation was +written after the first of October, and antedated? And for what +reason was it antedated? I am almost ashamed to tell the House +what I believe to have been the reason. I believe that Lord +Ellenborough affixed the false date of the first of October to +his proclamation because Lord Auckland's manifesto against +Afghanistan was dated on the first of October. I believe that +Lord Ellenborough wished to make the contrast between his own +success and his predecessor's failure more striking, and that for +the sake of this paltry, this childish, triumph, he antedated his +proclamation, and made it appear to all Europe and all Asia that +the English Government was indifferent to the fate of Englishmen +and Englishwomen who were in a miserable captivity. If this be +so, and I shall be surprised to hear any person deny that it is +so, I must say that by this single act, by writing those words, +the first of October, the Governor General proved himself to be a +man of an ill-regulated mind, a man unfit for high public trust. + +I might, Sir, if I chose to follow the example of the honourable +gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control, advert to many +other matters. I might call the attention of the House to the +systematic manner in which the Governor General has exerted +himself to lower the character and to break the spirit of that +civil service on the respectability and efficiency of which +chiefly depends the happiness of a hundred millions of human +beings. I might say much about the financial committee which he +appointed in the hope of finding out blunders of his predecessor, +but which at last found out no blunders except his own. But the +question before us demands our attention. That question has two +sides, a serious and a ludicrous side. Let us look first at the +serious side. Sir, I disclaim in the strongest manner all +intention of raising any fanatical outcry or of lending aid to +any fanatical project. I would very much rather be the victim of +fanaticism than its tool. If Lord Ellenborough were called in +question for having given an impartial protection to the +professors of different religions, or for restraining +unjustifiable excesses into which Christian missionaries might +have been hurried by their zeal, I would, widely as I have always +differed from him in politics, have stood up in his defence, +though I had stood up alone. But the charge against Lord +Ellenborough is that he has insulted the religion of his own +country and the religion of millions of the Queen's Asiatic +subjects in order to pay honour to an idol. And this the right +honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of Control calls +a trivial charge. Sir, I think it a very grave charge. Her +Majesty is the ruler of a larger heathen population than the +world ever saw collected under the sceptre of a Christian +sovereign since the days of the Emperor Theodosius. What the +conduct of rulers in such circumstances ought to be is one of the +most important moral questions, one of the most important +political questions, that it is possible to conceive. There are +subject to the British rule in Asia a hundred millions of people +who do not profess the Christian faith. The Mahometans are a +minority: but their importance is much more than proportioned to +their number: for they are an united, a zealous, an ambitious, a +warlike class. The great majority of the population of India +consists of idolaters, blindly attached to doctrines and rites +which, considered merely with reference to the temporal interests +of mankind, are in the highest degree pernicious. In no part of +the world has a religion ever existed more unfavourable to the +moral and intellectual health of our race. The Brahminical +mythology is so absurd that it necessarily debases every mind +which receives it as truth; and with this absurd mythology is +bound up an absurd system of physics, an absurd geography, an +absurd astronomy. Nor is this form of Paganism more favourable +to art than to science. Through the whole Hindoo Pantheon you +will look in vain for anything resembling those beautiful and +majestic forms which stood in the shrines of ancient Greece. All +is hideous, and grotesque, and ignoble. As this superstition is +of all superstitions the most irrational, and of all +superstitions the most inelegant, so is it of all superstitions +the most immoral. Emblems of vice are objects of public worship. +Acts of vice are acts of public worship. The courtesans are as +much a part of the establishment of the temple, as much ministers +of the god, as the priests. Crimes against life, crimes against +property, are not only permitted but enjoined by this odious +theology. But for our interference human victims would still be +offered to the Ganges, and the widow would still be laid on the +pile with the corpse of her husband, and burned alive by her own +children. It is by the command and under the especial protection +of one of the most powerful goddesses that the Thugs join +themselves to the unsuspecting traveller, make friends with him, +slip the noose round his neck, plunge their knives in his eyes, +hide him in the earth, and divide his money and baggage. I have +read many examinations of Thugs; and I particularly remember an +altercation which took place between two of those wretches in the +presence of an English officer. One Thug reproached the other +for having been so irreligious as to spare the life of a +traveller when the omens indicated that their patroness required +a victim. "How could you let him go? How can you expect the +goddess to protect us if you disobey her commands? That is one +of your North country heresies." Now, Sir, it is a difficult +matter to determine in what way Christian rulers ought to deal +with such superstitions as these. We might have acted as the +Spaniards acted in the New World. We might have attempted to +introduce our own religion by force. We might have sent +missionaries among the natives at the public charge. We might +have held out hopes of public employment to converts, and have +imposed civil disabilities on Mahometans and Pagans. But we did +none of these things; and herein we judged wisely. Our duty, as +rulers, was to preserve strict neutrality on all questions merely +religious: and I am not aware that we have ever swerved from +strict neutrality for the purpose of making proselytes to our own +faith. But we have, I am sorry to say, sometimes deviated from +the right path in the opposite direction. Some Englishmen, who +have held high office in India, seem to have thought that the +only religion which was not entitled to toleration and to respect +was Christianity. They regarded every Christian missionary with +extreme jealousy and disdain; and they suffered the most +atrocious crimes, if enjoined by the Hindoo superstition, to be +perpetrated in open day. It is lamentable to think how long +after our power was firmly established in Bengal, we, grossly +neglecting the first and plainest duty of the civil magistrate, +suffered the practices of infanticide and Suttee to continue +unchecked. We decorated the temples of the false gods. We +provided the dancing girls. We gilded and painted the images to +which our ignorant subjects bowed down. We repaired and +embellished the car under the wheels of which crazy devotees +flung themselves at every festival to be crushed to death. We +sent guards of honour to escort pilgrims to the places of +worship. We actually made oblations at the shrines of idols. +All this was considered, and is still considered, by some +prejudiced Anglo-Indians of the old school, as profound policy. +I believe that there never was so shallow, so senseless a policy. +We gained nothing by it. We lowered ourselves in the eyes of +those whom we meant to flatter. We led them to believe that we +attached no importance to the difference between Christianity and +heathenism. Yet how vast that difference is! I altogether +abstain from alluding to topics which belong to divines. I speak +merely as a politician anxious for the morality and the temporal +well-being of society. And, so speaking, I say that to +countenance the Brahminical idolatry, and to discountenance that +religion which has done so much to promote justice, and mercy, +and freedom, and arts, and sciences, and good government, and +domestic happiness, which has struck off the chains of the slave, +which has mitigated the horrors of war, which has raised women +from servants and playthings into companions and friends, is to +commit high treason against humanity and civilisation. + +Gradually a better system was introduced. A great man whom we +have lately lost, Lord Wellesley, led the way. He prohibited the +immolation of female children; and this was the most +unquestionable of all his titles to the gratitude of his country. +In the year 1813 Parliament gave new facilities to persons who +were desirous to proceed to India as missionaries. Lord William +Bentinck abolished the Suttee. Shortly afterwards the Home +Government sent out to Calcutta the important and valuable +despatch to which reference has been repeatedly made in the +course of this discussion. That despatch Lord Glenelg wrote,--I +was then at the Board of Control, and can attest the fact,--with +his own hand. One paragraph, the sixty-second, is of the highest +moment. I know that paragraph so well that I could repeat it +word for word. It contains in short compass an entire code of +regulations for the guidance of British functionaries in matters +relating to the idolatry of India. The orders of the Home +Government were express, that the arrangements of the temples +should be left entirely to the natives. A certain discretion was +of course left to the local authorities as to the time and manner +of dissolving that connection which had long existed between the +English Government and the Brahminical superstition. But the +principle was laid down in the clearest manner. This was in +February 1833. In the year 1838 another despatch was sent, which +referred to the sixty-second paragraph in Lord Glenelg's +despatch, and enjoined the Indian Government to observe the rules +contained in that paragraph. Again, in the year 1841, precise +orders were sent out on the same subject, orders which Lord +Ellenborough seems to me to have studied carefully for the +express purpose of disobeying them point by point, and in the +most direct manner. You murmur: but only look at the orders of +the Directors and at the proclamation of the Governor General. +The orders are, distinctly and positively, that the British +authorities in India shall have nothing to do with the temples of +the natives, shall make no presents to those temples, shall not +decorate those temples, shall not pay any military honour to +those temples. Now, Sir, the first charge which I bring against +Lord Ellenborough is, that he has been guilty of an act of gross +disobedience, that he has done that which was forbidden in the +strongest terms by those from whom his power is derived. The +Home Government says, Do not interfere in the concerns of heathen +temples. Is it denied that Lord Ellenborough has interfered in +the concerns of a heathen temple? The Home Government says, Make +no presents to heathen temples. Is it denied that Lord +Ellenborough has proclaimed to all the world his intention to +make a present to a heathen temple? The Home Government says, Do +not decorate heathen temples. Is it denied that Lord +Ellenborough has proclaimed to all the world his intention to +decorate a heathen temple? The Home Government says, Do not send +troops to do honour to heathen temples. Is it denied that Lord +Ellenborough sent a body of troops to escort these gates to a +heathen temple? To be sure, the honourable gentleman the +Secretary of the Board of Control tries to get rid of this part +of the case in rather a whimsical manner. He says that it is +impossible to believe that, by sending troops to escort the +gates, Lord Ellenborough can have meant to pay any mark of +respect to an idol. And why? Because, says the honourable +gentleman, the Court of Directors had given positive orders that +troops should not be employed to pay marks of respect to idols. +Why, Sir, undoubtedly, if it is to be taken for granted that Lord +Ellenborough is a perfect man, if all our reasonings are to +proceed on the supposition that he cannot do wrong, then I admit +the force of the honourable gentleman's argument. But it seems +to me a strange and dangerous thing to infer a man's innocence +merely from the flagrancy of his guilt. It is certain that the +Home authorities ordered the Governor General not to employ the +troops in the service of a temple. It is certain that Lord +Ellenborough employed the troops to escort a trophy, an oblation, +which he sent to the restored temple of Somnauth. Yes, the +restored temple of Somnauth. Those are his lordship's words. +They have given rise to some discussion, and seem not to be +understood by everybody in the same sense. We all know that this +temple is an ruins. I am confident that Lord Ellenborough knew +it to be in ruins, and that his intention was to rebuild it at +the public charge. That is the obvious meaning of his words. +But, as this meaning is so monstrous that nobody here can venture +to defend it, his friends pretend that he believed the temple to +have been already restored, and that he had no thought of being +himself the restorer. How can I believe this? How can I believe +that, when he issued this proclamation, he knew nothing about the +state of the temple to which he proposed to make an offering of +such importance? He evidently knew that it had once been in +ruins; or he would not have called it the restored temple. Why +am I to suppose that he imagined it to have been rebuilt? He had +people about him who knew it well, and who could have told him +that it was in ruins still. To say that he was not aware that it +was in ruins is to say that he put forth his proclamation without +taking the trouble to ask a single question of those who were +close at hand and were perfectly competent to give him +information. Why, Sir, this defence is itself an accusation. I +defy the honourable gentleman the Secretary of the Board of +Control, I defy all human ingenuity, to get his lordship clear +off from both the horns of this dilemma. Either way, he richly +deserves a parliamentary censure. Either he published this +proclamation in the recklessness of utter ignorance without +making the smallest inquiry; or else he, an English and a +Christian Governor, meant to build a temple to a heathen god at +the public charge, in direct defiance of the commands of his +official superiors. Turn and twist the matter which way you +will, you can make nothing else of it. The stain is like the +stain of Blue Beard's key, in the nursery tale. As soon as you +have scoured one side clean, the spot comes out on the other. + +So much for the first charge, the charge of disobedience. It is +fully made out: but it is not the heaviest charge which I bring +against Lord Ellenborough. I charge him with having done that +which, even if it had not been, as it was, strictly forbidden by +the Home authorities, it would still have been a high crime to +do. He ought to have known, without any instructions from home, +that it was his duty not to take part in disputes among the false +religions of the East; that it was his duty, in his official +character, to show no marked preference for any of those +religions, and to offer no marked insult to any. But, Sir, he +has paid unseemly homage to one of those religions; he has +grossly insulted another; and he has selected as the object of +his homage the very worst and most degrading of those religions, +and as the object of his insults the best and purest of them. +The homage was paid to Lingamism. The insult was offered to +Mahometanism. Lingamism is not merely idolatry, but idolatry in +its most pernicious form. The honourable gentleman the Secretary +of the Board of Control seemed to think that he had achieved a +great victory when he had made out that his lordship's devotions +had been paid, not to Vishnu, but to Siva. Sir, Vishnu is the +preserving Deity of the Hindoo Mythology; Siva is the destroying +Deity; and, as far as I have any preference for one of your +Governor General's gods over another, I confess that my own +tastes would lead me to prefer the preserving to the destroying +power. Yes, Sir; the temple of Somnauth was sacred to Siva; and +the honourable gentleman cannot but know by what emblem Siva is +represented, and with what rites he is adored. I will say no +more. The Governor General, Sir, is in some degree protected by +the very magnitude of his offence. I am ashamed to name those +things to which he is not ashamed to pay public reverence. This +god of destruction, whose images and whose worship it would be a +violation of decency to describe, is selected as the object of +homage. As the object of insult is selected a religion which has +borrowed much of its theology and much of its morality from +Christianity, a religion which in the midst of Polytheism teaches +the unity of God, and, in the midst of idolatry, strictly +proscribes the worship of images. The duty of our Government is, +as I said, to take no part in the disputes between Mahometans and +idolaters. But, if our Government does take a part, there cannot +be a doubt that Mahometanism is entitled to the preference. Lord +Ellenborough is of a different opinion. He takes away the gates +from a Mahometan mosque, and solemnly offers them as a gift to a +Pagan temple. Morally, this is a crime. Politically, it is a +blunder. Nobody who knows anything of the Mahometans of India +can doubt that this affront to their faith will excite their +fiercest indignation. Their susceptibility on such points is +extreme. Some of the most serious disasters that have ever +befallen us in India have been caused by that susceptibility. +Remember what happened at Vellore in 1806, and more recently at +Bangalore. The mutiny of Vellore was caused by a slight shown to +the Mahometan turban; the mutiny of Bangalore, by disrespect said +to have been shown to a Mahometan place of worship. If a +Governor General had been induced by his zeal for Christianity to +offer any affront to a mosque held in high veneration by +Mussulmans, I should think that he had been guilty of +indiscretion such as proved him to be unfit for his post. But to +affront a mosque of peculiar dignity, not from zeal for +Christianity, but for the sake of this loathsome god of +destruction, is nothing short of madness. Some temporary +popularity Lord Ellenborough may no doubt gain in some quarters. +I hear, and I can well believe, that some bigoted Hindoos have +hailed this proclamation with delight, and have begun to +entertain a hope that the British Government is about to take +their worship under its peculiar protection. But how long will +that hope last? I presume that the right honourable Baronet the +First Lord of the Treasury does not mean to suffer India to be +governed on Brahminical principles. I presume that he will not +allow the public revenue to be expended in rebuilding temples, +adorning idols, and hiring courtesans. I have no doubt that +there is already on the way to India such an admonition as will +prevent Lord Ellenborough from persisting in the course on which +he has entered. The consequence will be that the exultation of +the Brahmins will end in mortification and anger. See then of +what a complication of faults the Governor General is guilty. In +order to curry favour with the Hindoos he has offered an +inexpiable insult to the Mahometans; and now, in order to quiet +the English, he is forced to disappoint and disgust the Hindoos. +But, apart from the irritating effect which these transactions +must produce on every part of the native population, is it no +evil to have this continual wavering and changing? This is not +the only case in which Lord Ellenborough has, with great pomp, +announced intentions which he has not been able to carry into +effect. It is his Lordship's habit. He put forth a notification +that his Durbar was to be honoured by the presence of Dost +Mahomed. Then came a notification that Dost Mahomed would not +make his appearance there. In the proclamation which we are now +considering his lordship announced to all the princes of India +his resolution to set up these gates at Somnauth. The gates, it +is now universally admitted, will not be set up there. All India +will see that the Governor General has changed his mind. The +change may be imputed to mere fickleness and levity. It may be +imputed to the disapprobation with which his conduct has been +regarded here. In either case he appears in a light in which it +is much to be deplored that a Governor General should appear. + +So much for the serious side of this business; and now for the +ludicrous side. Even in our mirth, however, there is sadness; +for it is no light thing that he who represents the British +nation in India should be a jest to the people of India. We have +sometimes sent them governors whom they loved, and sometimes +governors whom they feared; but they never before had a governor +at whom they laughed. Now, however, they laugh; and how can we +blame them for laughing, when all Europe and all America are +laughing too? You see, Sir, that the gentlemen opposite cannot +keep their countenances. And no wonder. Was such a State paper +ever seen in our language before? And what is the plea set up +for all this bombast? Why, the honourable gentleman the +Secretary of the Board of Control brings down to the House some +translations of Persian letters from native princes. Such +letters, as everybody knows, are written in a most absurd and +turgid style. The honourable gentleman forces us to hear a good +deal of this detestable rhetoric; and then he asks why, if the +secretaries of the Nizam and the King of Oude use all these +tropes and hyperboles, Lord Ellenborough should not indulge in +the same sort of eloquence? The honourable gentleman might as +well ask why Lord Ellenborough should not sit cross-legged, why +he should not let his beard grow to his waist, why he should not +wear a turban, why he should not hang trinkets all about his +person, why he should not ride about Calcutta on a horse jingling +with bells and glittering with false pearls. The native princes +do these things; and why should not he? Why, Sir, simply because +he is not a native prince, but an English Governor General. When +the people of India see a Nabob or a Rajah in all his gaudy +finery, they bow to him with a certain respect. They know that +the splendour of his garb indicates superior rank and wealth. +But if Sir Charles Metcalfe had so bedizened himself, they would +have thought that he was out of his wits. They are not such +fools as the honourable gentleman takes them for. Simplicity is +not their fashion. But they understand and respect the +simplicity of our fashions. Our plain clothing commands far more +reverence than all the jewels which the most tawdry Zemindar +wears; and our plain language carries with it far more weight +than the florid diction of the most ingenious Persian scribe. +The plain language and the plain clothing are inseparably +associated in the minds of our subjects with superior knowledge, +with superior energy, with superior veracity, with all the high +and commanding qualities which erected, and which still uphold, +our empire. Sir, if, as the speech of the honourable gentleman +the Secretary of the Board of Control seems to indicate, Lord +Ellenborough has adopted this style on principle, if it be his +lordship's deliberate intention to mimic, in his State papers, +the Asiatic modes of thought and expression, that alone would be +a reason for recalling him. But the honourable gentlemen is +mistaken in thinking that this proclamation is in the Oriental +taste. It bears no resemblance to the very bad Oriental +compositions which he has read to us, nor to any other Oriental +compositions that I ever saw. It is neither English nor Indian. +It is not original, however; and I will tell the House where the +Governor General found his models. He has apparently been +studying the rants of the French Jacobins during the period of +their ascendency, the Carmagnoles of the Convention, the +proclamations issued by the Directory and its Proconsuls: and he +has been seized with a desire to imitate those compositions. The +pattern which he seems to have especially proposed to himself is +the rhodomontade in which it was announced that the modern Gauls +were marching to Rome in order to avenge the fate of Dumnorix and +Vercingetorex. Everybody remembers those lines in which +revolutionary justice is described by Mr Canning:-- + +"Not she in British courts who takes her stand, +The dawdling balance dangling in her hand; +But firm, erect, with keen reverted glance, +The avenging angel of regenerate France, +Who visits ancient sins on modern times, +And punishes the Pope for Caesar's crimes." + +In the same spirit and in the same style our Governor General has +proclaimed his intention to retaliate on the Mussulmans beyond +the mountains the insults which their ancestors, eight hundred +years ago, offered to the idolatry of the Hindoos. To do justice +to the Jacobins, however, I must say that they had an excuse +which was wanting to the noble lord. The revolution had made +almost as great a change in literary tastes as in political +institutions. The old masters of French eloquence had shared the +fate of the old states and of the old parliaments. The highest +posts in the administration were filled by persons who had no +experience of affairs, who in the general confusion had raised +themselves by audacity and quickness of natural parts, uneducated +men, or half educated men, who had no notion that the style in +which they had heard the heroes and villains of tragedies declaim +on the stage was not the style of real warriors and statesmen. +But was it for an English gentleman, a man of distinguished +abilities and cultivated mind, a man who had sate many years in +parliament, and filled some of the highest posts in the State, to +copy the productions of such a school? + +But, it is said, what does it matter if the noble lord has +written a foolish rhapsody which is neither prose nor verse? Is +affected phraseology a subject for parliamentary censure? What +great ruler can be named who has not committed errors much more +serious than the penning of a few sentences of turgid nonsense? +This, I admit, sounds plausible. It is quite true that very +eminent men, Lord Somers, for example, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord +Chatham and his son, all committed faults which did much more +harm than any fault of style can do. But I beg the House to +observe this, that an error which produces the most serious +consequences may not necessarily prove that the man who has +committed it is not a very wise man; and that, on the other hand, +an error which directly produces no important consequences may +prove the man who has committed it to be quite unfit for public +trust. Walpole committed a ruinous error when he yielded to the +public cry for war with Spain. But, notwithstanding that error, +he was an eminently wise man. Caligula, on the other hand, when +he marched his soldiers to the beach, made them fill their +helmets with cockle-shells, and sent the shells to be placed in +the Capitol as trophies of his conquests, did no great harm to +anybody; but he surely proved that he was quite incapable of +governing an empire. Mr Pitt's expedition to Quiberon was most +ill judged, and ended in defeat and disgrace. Yet Mr Pitt was a +statesman of a very high order. On the other hand, such ukases +as those by which the Emperor Paul used to regulate the dress of +the people of Petersburg, though they caused much less misery +than the slaughter at Quiberon, proved that the Emperor Paul +could not safely be trusted with power over his fellow-creatures. +One day he forbade the wearing of pantaloons. Another day he +forbade his subjects to comb their hair over their foreheads. +Then he proscribed round hats. A young Englishman, the son of a +merchant, thought to evade this decree by going about the city in +a hunting cap. Then came out an edict which made it penal to +wear on the head a round thing such as the English merchant's son +wore. Now, Sir, I say that, when I examine the substance of Lord +Ellenborough's proclamation, and consider all the consequences +which that paper is likely to produce, I am forced to say that he +has committed a grave moral and political offence. When I +examine the style, I see that he has committed an act of +eccentric folly, much of the same kind with Caligula's campaign +against the cockles, and with the Emperor Paul's ukase against +round hats. Consider what an extravagant selfconfidence, what a +disdain for the examples of his great predecessors and for the +opinions of the ablest and most experienced men who are now to be +found in the Indian services, this strange document indicates. +Surely it might have occurred to Lord Ellenborough that, if this +kind of eloquence had been likely to produce a favourable +impression on the minds of Asiatics, such Governors as Warren +Hastings, Mr Elphinstone, Sir Thomas Munro, and Sir Charles +Metcalfe, men who were as familiar with the language and manners +of the native population of India as any man here can be with the +language and manners of the French, would not have left the +discovery to be made by a new comer who did not know any Eastern +tongue. Surely, too, it might have occurred to the noble lord +that, before he put forth such a proclamation, he would do well +to ask some person who knew India intimately what the effect both +on the Mahometans and Hindoos was likely to be. I firmly believe +that the Governor General either did not ask advice or acted in +direct opposition to advice. Mr Maddock was with his lordship as +acting Secretary. Now I know enough of Mr Maddock to be quite +certain that he never counselled the Governor General to publish +such a paper. I will pawn my life that he either was never +called upon to give an opinion, or that he gave an opinion +adverse to the course which has been taken. No Governor General +who was on good terms with the civil service would have been, I +may say, permitted to expose himself thus. Lord William Bentinck +and Lord Auckland were, to be sure, the last men in the world to +think of doing such a thing as this. But if either of those +noble lords, at some unlucky moment when he was not quite +himself, when his mind was thrown off the balance by the pride +and delight of an extraordinary success, had proposed to put +forth such a proclamation, he would have been saved from +committing so great a mistake by the respectful but earnest +remonstrances of those in whom he placed confidence, and who were +solicitous for his honour. From the appearance of this +proclamation, therefore, I infer that the terms on which Lord +Ellenborough is with the civil servants of the Company are such +that those servants could not venture to offer him counsel when +he most needed it. + +For these reasons, Sir, I think the noble lord unfit for high +public trust. Let us, then, consider the nature of the public +trust which is now reposed in him. Are gentlemen aware that, +even when he is at Calcutta, surrounded by his councillors, his +single voice can carry any resolution concerning the executive +administration against them all? They can object: they can +protest: they can record their opinions in writing, and can +require him to give in writing his reasons for persisting in his +own course: but they must then submit. On the most important +questions, on the question whether a war shall be declared, on +the question whether a treaty shall be concluded, on the question +whether the whole system of land revenue established in a great +province shall be changed, his single vote weighs down the votes +of all who sit at the Board with him. The right honourable +Baronet opposite is a powerful minister, a more powerful minister +than any that we have seen during many years. But I will venture +to say that his power over the people of England is nothing when +compared with the power which the Governor General possesses over +the people of India. Such is Lord Ellenborough's power when he +is with his council, and is to some extent held in check. But +where is he now? He has given his council the slip. He is +alone. He has near him no person who is entitled and bound to +offer advice, asked or unasked: he asks no advice: and you +cannot expect men to outstep the strict line of their official +duty by obtruding advice on a superior by whom it would be +ungraciously received. The danger of having a rash and flighty +Governor General is sufficiently serious at the very best. But +the danger of having such a Governor General up the country, +eight or nine hundred miles from any person who has a right to +remonstrate with him, is fearful indeed. Interests so vast, that +the most sober language in which they can be described sounds +hyperbolical, are entrusted to a single man; to a man who, +whatever his parts may be, and they are doubtless considerable, +has shown an indiscretion and temerity almost beyond belief; to a +man who has been only a few months in India; to a man who takes +no counsel with those who are well acquainted with India. + +I cannot sit down without addressing myself to those Directors of +the East India Company who are present. I exhort them to +consider the heavy responsibility which rests on them. They have +the power to recall Lord Ellenborough; and I trust that they will +not hesitate to exercise that power. This is the advice of one +who has been their servant, who has served them loyally, and who +is still sincerely anxious for their credit and for the welfare +of the empire of which they are the guardians. But if, from +whatever cause, they are unwilling to recall the noble lord, then +I implore them to take care that he be immediately ordered to +return to Calcutta. Who can say what new freak we may hear of by +the next mail? I am quite confident that neither the Court of +Directors nor Her Majesty's Ministers can look forward to the +arrival of that mail without great uneasiness. Therefore I say, +send Lord Ellenborough back to Calcutta. There at least he will +find persons who have a right to advise him and to expostulate +with him, and who will, I doubt not, have also the spirit to do +so. It is something that he will be forced to record his reasons +for what he does. It is something that he will be forced to hear +reasons against his propositions. It is something that a delay, +though only of twenty-four hours, will be interposed between the +first conception of a wild scheme and the execution. I am afraid +that these checks will not be sufficient to prevent much evil: +but they are not absolutely nugatory. I entreat the Directors to +consider in what a position they will stand if, in consequence of +their neglect, some serious calamity should befall the country +which is confided to their care. I will only say, in conclusion, +that, if there be any use in having a Council of India, if it be +not meant that the members of Council should draw large salaries +for doing nothing, if they are really appointed for the purpose +of assisting and restraining the Governor, it is to the last +degree absurd that their powers should be in abeyance when there +is a Governor who, of all the Governors that ever England sent to +the East, stands most in need both of assistance and of +restraint. + +... + + +THE STATE OF IRELAND. (FEBRUARY 19, 1844) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 19TH OF +FEBRUARY 1844. + +On the thirteenth of February 1844, Lord John Russell moved for a +Committee of the whole House to take into consideration the state +of Ireland. After a discussion of nine nights the motion was +rejected by 324 votes to 225. On the fifth night of the debate +the following Speech was made. + +I cannot refrain, Sir, from congratulating you and the House that +I did not catch your eye when I rose before. I should have been +extremely sorry to have prevented any Irish member from +addressing the House on a question so interesting to Ireland, but +peculiarly sorry to have stood in the way of the honourable +gentleman who to-night pleaded the cause of his country with so +much force and eloquence. (Mr J. O'Brien.) + +I am sorry to say that I cannot reconcile it to my conscience to +follow the advice which has been just given me by my honourable +friend the Member for Pomfret (Mr R. Milnes.), with all the +authority which, as he has reminded us, belongs to his venerable +youth. I cannot at all agree with him in thinking that the +wisest thing that we can do is to suffer Her Majesty's Ministers +to go on in their own way, seeing that the way in which they have +long been going on is an exceedingly bad one. I support the +motion of my noble friend for these plain reasons. + +First, I hold that Ireland is in a most unsatisfactory, indeed in +a most dangerous, state. + +Secondly, I hold that for the state in which Ireland is Her +Majesty's Ministers are in a great measure accountable, and that +they have not shown, either as legislators, or as administrators, +that they are capable of remedying the evils which they have +caused. + +Now, Sir, if I make out these two propositions, it will follow +that it is the constitutional right and duty of the +representatives of the nation to interfere; and I conceive that +my noble friend, by moving for a Committee of the whole House, +has proposed a mode of interference which is both parliamentary +and convenient. + +My first proposition, Sir, will scarcely be disputed. Both sides +of the House are fully agreed in thinking that the condition of +Ireland may well excite great anxiety and apprehension. That +island, in extent about one fourth of the United Kingdom, in +population more than one-fourth, superior probably in natural +fertility to any area of equal size in Europe, possessed of +natural facilities for trade such as can nowhere else be found in +an equal extent of coast, an inexhaustible nursery of gallant +soldiers, a country far more important to the prosperity, the +strength, the dignity of this great empire than all our distant +dependencies together, than the Canadas and the West Indies added +to Southern Africa, to Australasia, to Ceylon, and to the vast +dominions of the Moguls, that island, Sir, is acknowledged by all +to be so ill affected and so turbulent that it must, in any +estimate of our power, be not added but deducted. You admit that +you govern that island, not as you govern England and Scotland, +but as you govern your new conquests in Scinde; not by means of +the respect which the people feel for the laws, but by means of +bayonets, of artillery, of entrenched camps. + +My first proposition, then, I take to be conceded. Ireland is in +a dangerous state. The question which remains to be considered +is, whether for the state in which Ireland is Her Majesty's +Ministers are to be held accountable. + +Now, Sir, I at once admit that the distempers of Ireland must in +part be attributed to causes for which neither Her Majesty's +present Ministers nor any public men now living can justly be +held accountable. I will not trouble the House with a long +dissertation on those causes. But it is necessary, I think, to +take at least a rapid glance at them: and in order to do so, +Sir, we must go back to a period not only anterior to the birth +of the statesmen who are now arrayed against each other on the +right and left of your chair, but anterior to the birth even of +the great parties of which those statesmen are the leaders; +anterior to the days when the names of Tory and Whig, of court +party and country party, of cavalier and roundhead, came into +use; anterior to the existence of those Puritans to whom the +honourable Member for Shrewsbury (Mr Disraeli.), in a very +ingenious speech, ascribed all the calamities of Ireland. + +The primary cause is, no doubt, the manner in which Ireland +became subject to the English crown. The annexation was effected +by conquest, and by conquest of a peculiar kind. It was not a +conquest such as we have been accustomed to see in modern Europe. +It was not a conquest like that which united Artois and Franche +Comte to France, or Silesia to Prussia. It was the conquest of a +race by a race, such a conquest as that which established the +dominion of the Spaniard over the American Indian, or of the +Mahratta over the peasant of Guzerat or Tanjore. Of all forms of +tyranny, I believe that the worst is that of a nation over a +nation. Populations separated by seas and mountain ridges may +call each other natural enemies, may wage long wars with each +other, may recount with pride the victories which they have +gained over each other, and point to the flags, the guns, the +ships which they have won from each other. But no enmity that +ever existed between such populations approaches in bitterness +the mutual enmity felt by populations which are locally +intermingled, but which have never morally and politically +amalgamated; and such were the Englishry and the Irishry. Yet it +might have been hoped that the lapse of time and the progress of +civilisation would have effaced the distinction between the +oppressors and the oppressed. Our island had suffered cruelly +from the same evil. Here the Saxon had trampled on the Celt, the +Dane on the Saxon, the Norman on Celt, Saxon, and Dane. Yet in +the course of ages all the four races had been fused together to +form the great English people. A similar fusion would probably +have taken place in Ireland, but for the Reformation. The +English settlers adopted the Protestant doctrines which were +received in England. The Aborigines alone, among all the nations +of the north of Europe, adhered to the ancient faith. Thus the +line of demarcation between the two populations was deepened and +widened. The old enmity was reinforced by a new enmity stronger +still. Then came those events to which the honourable Member for +Shrewsbury referred. The spirit of liberty in England was +closely allied with the spirit of Puritanism, and was mortally +hostile to the Papacy. Such men as Hampden, Vane, Milton, Locke, +though zealous generally for civil and spiritual freedom, yet +held that the Roman Catholic worship had no claim to toleration. +On the other hand, all the four kings of the House of Stuart +showed far more favour to Roman Catholics than to any class of +Protestant nonconformists. James the First at one time had some +hopes of effecting a reconciliation with the Vatican. Charles +the First entered into secret engagements to grant an indulgence +to Roman Catholics. Charles the Second was a concealed Roman +Catholic. James the Second was an avowed Roman Catholic. +Consequently, through the whole of the seventeenth century, the +freedom of Ireland and the slavery of England meant the same +thing. The watchwords, the badges, the names, the places, the +days, which in the mind of an Englishman were associated with +deliverance, prosperity, national dignity, were in the mind of an +Irishman associated with bondage, ruin, and degradation. The +memory of William the Third, the anniversary of the battle of the +Boyne, are instances. I was much struck by a circumstance which +occurred on a day which I have every reason to remember with +gratitude and pride, the day on which I had the high honour of +being declared one of the first two members for the great borough +of Leeds. My chair was covered with orange ribands. The horses +which drew it could hardly be seen for the profusion of orange- +coloured finery with which they were adorned. Orange cockades +were in all the hats; orange favours at all the windows. And my +supporters, I need not say, were men who had, like myself, been +zealous for Catholic emancipation. I could not help remarking +that the badge seemed rather incongruous. But I was told that +the friends of Catholic emancipation in Yorkshire had always +rallied under the orange banner, that orange was the colour of +Sir George Savile, who brought in that bill which caused the No +Popery riots of 1780, and that the very chair in which I sate was +the chair in which Lord Milton, now Earl Fitzwilliam, had +triumphed after the great victory which he won in 1807 over the +No Popery party, then headed by the house of Harewood. I thought +how different an effect that procession would have produced at +Limerick or Cork, with what howls of rage and hatred the Roman +Catholic population of those cities would have pursued that +orange flag which, to every Roman Catholic in Yorkshire, was the +memorial of contests maintained in favour of his own dearest +rights. This circumstance, however slight, well illustrates the +singular contrast between the history of England and the history +of Ireland. + +Well, Sir, twice during the seventeenth century the Irish rose up +against the English colony. Twice they were completely put down; +and twice they were severely chastised. The first rebellion was +crushed by Oliver Cromwell; the second by William the Third. +Those great men did not use their victory exactly in the same +way. The policy of Cromwell was wise, and strong, and +straightforward, and cruel. It was comprised in one word, which, +as Clarendon tells us, was often in the mouths of the Englishry +of that time. That word was extirpation. The object of Cromwell +was to make Ireland thoroughly Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. If he +had lived twenty years longer he might perhaps have accomplished +that work: but he died while it was incomplete; and it died with +him. The policy of William, or to speak more correctly, of those +whose inclinations William was under the necessity of consulting, +was less able, less energetic, and, though more humane in +seeming, perhaps not more humane in reality. Extirpation was not +attempted. The Irish Roman Catholics were permitted to live, to +be fruitful, to replenish the earth: but they were doomed to be +what the Helots were in Sparta, what the Greeks were under the +Ottoman, what the blacks now are at New York. Every man of the +subject caste was strictly excluded from public trust. Take what +path he might in life, he was crossed at every step by some +vexatious restriction. It was only by being obscure and inactive +that he could, on his native soil, be safe. If he aspired to be +powerful and honoured, he must begin by being an exile. If he +pined for military glory, he might gain a cross or perhaps a +Marshal's staff in the armies of France or Austria. If his +vocation was to politics, he might distinguish himself in the +diplomacy of Italy or Spain. But at home he was a mere +Gibeonite, a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. The statute +book of Ireland was filled with enactments which furnish to the +Roman Catholics but too good a ground for recriminating on us +when we talk of the barbarities of Bonner and Gardiner; and the +harshness of those odious laws was aggravated by a more odious +administration. For, bad as the legislators were, the +magistrates were worse still. In those evil times originated +that most unhappy hostility between landlord and tenant, which is +one of the peculiar curses of Ireland. Oppression and turbulence +reciprocally generated each other. The combination of rustic +tyrants was resisted by gangs of rustic banditti. Courts of law +and juries existed only for the benefit of the dominant sect. +Those priests who were revered by millions as their natural +advisers and guardians, as the only authorised expositors of +Christian truth, as the only authorised dispensers of the +Christian sacraments, were treated by the squires and squireens +of the ruling faction as no good-natured man would treat the +vilest beggar. In this manner a century passed away. Then came +the French Revolution and the great awakening of the mind of +Europe. It would have been wonderful indeed if, when the +happiest and most tranquil nations were agitated by vague +discontents and vague hopes, Ireland had remained at rest. +Jacobinism, it is true, was not a very natural ally of the Roman +Catholic religion. But common enmities produce strange +coalitions; and a strange coalition was formed. There was a +third great rising of the aboriginal population of the island +against English and Protestant ascendency. That rising was put +down by the sword; and it became the duty of those who were at +the head of affairs to consider how the victory should be used. + +I shall not be suspected of being partial to the memory of Mr +Pitt. But I cannot refuse to him the praise both of wisdom and +of humanity, when I compare the plan which he formed in that hour +of triumph with the plans of those English rulers who had before +him governed Ireland. Of Mr Pitt's plan the Union was a part, an +excellent and an essential part indeed, but still only a part. +We shall do great injustice both to his head and to his heart, if +we forget that he was permitted to carry into effect only some +unconnected portions of a comprehensive and well-concerted +scheme. He wished to blend, not only the parliaments, but the +nations, and to make the two islands one in interest and +affection. With that view the Roman Catholic disabilities were +to be removed: the Roman Catholic priests were to be placed in a +comfortable and honourable position; and measures were to be +taken for the purpose of giving to Roman Catholics the benefits +of liberal education. In truth, Mr Pitt's opinions on those +subjects had, to a great extent, been derived from a mind even +more powerful and capacious than his own, from the mind of Mr +Burke. If the authority of these two great men had prevailed, I +believe that the Union with Ireland would now have been as +secure, and as much beyond the reach of agitation, as the Union +with Scotland. The Parliament in College Green would have been +remembered as what it was, the most tyrannical, the most venal, +the most unprincipled assembly that ever sate on the face of this +earth. I do not think that, by saying this, I can give offence +to any gentleman from Ireland, however zealous for Repeal he may +be: for I only repeat the language of Wolfe Tone. Wolfe Tone +said that he had seen more deliberative assemblies than most men; +that he had seen the English Parliament, the American Congress, +the French Council of Elders and Council of Five Hundred, the +Batavian Convention; but that he had nowhere found anything like +the baseness and impudence of the scoundrels, as he called them, +at Dublin. If Mr Pitt's whole plan had been carried into +execution, that infamous parliament, that scandal to the name of +parliament, would have perished unregretted; and the last day of +its existence would have been remembered by the Roman Catholics +of Ireland as the first day of their civil and religious liberty. +The great boon which he would have conferred on them would have +been gratefully received, because it could not have been ascribed +to fear, because it would have been a boon bestowed by the +powerful on the weak, by the victor on the vanquished. +Unhappily, of all his projects for the benefit of Ireland the +Union alone was carried into effect; and therefore that Union was +an Union only in name. The Irish found that they had parted with +at least the name and show of independence, and that for this +sacrifice of national pride they were to receive no compensation. +The Union, which ought to have been associated in their minds +with freedom and justice, was associated only with disappointed +hopes and forfeited pledges. Yet it was not even then too late. +It was not too late in 1813. It was not too late in 1821. It +was not too late in 1825. Yes: if, even in 1825, some men who +then were, as they now are, high in the service of the crown, +could have made up their minds to do what they were forced to do +four years later, that great work of conciliation which Mr Pitt +had meditated might have been accomplished. The machinery of +agitation was not yet fully organized: the Government was under +no strong pressure; and therefore concession might still have +been received with thankfulness. That opportunity was suffered +to escape; and it never returned. + +In 1829, at length, concessions were made, were made largely, +were made without the conditions which Mr Pitt would undoubtedly +have demanded, and to which, if demanded by Mr Pitt, the whole +body of Roman Catholics would have eagerly assented. But those +concessions were made reluctantly, made ungraciously, made under +duress, made from the mere dread of civil war. How then was it +possible that they should produce contentment and repose? What +could be the effect of that sudden and profuse liberality +following that long and obstinate resistance to the most +reasonable demands, except to teach the Irishman that he could +obtain redress only by turbulence? Could he forget that he had +been, during eight and twenty years, supplicating Parliament for +justice, urging those unanswerable arguments which prove that the +rights of conscience ought to be held sacred, claiming the +performance of promises made by ministers and princes, and that +he had supplicated, argued, claimed the performance of promises +in vain? Could he forget that two generations of the most +profound thinkers, the most brilliant wits, the most eloquent +orators, had written and spoken for him in vain? Could he forget +that the greatest statesman who took his part had paid dear for +their generosity? Mr Pitt endeavoured to redeem his pledge; and +he was driven from office. Lord Grey and Lord Grenville +endeavoured to do but a very small part of what Mr Pitt had +thought right and expedient; and they were driven from office. +Mr Canning took the same side; and his reward was to be worried +to death by the party of which he was the brightest ornament. At +length, when he was gone, the Roman Catholics began to look, not +to cabinets and parliaments, but to themselves. They displayed a +formidable array of physical force, and yet kept within, just +within, the limits of the law. The consequence was that, in two +years, more than any prudent friend had ventured to demand for +them was granted to them by their enemies. Yes; within two years +after Mr Canning had been laid in the transept near us, all that +he would have done, and more than he could have done, was done by +his persecutors. How was it possible that the whole Roman +Catholic population of Ireland should not take up the notion that +from England, or at least from the party which then governed and +which now governs England, nothing is to be got by reason, by +entreaty, by patient endurance, but everything by intimidation? +That tardy repentance deserved no gratitude, and obtained none. +The whole machinery of agitation was complete and in perfect +order. The leaders had tasted the pleasures of popularity; the +multitude had tasted the pleasures of excitement. Both the +demagogue and his audience felt a craving for the daily +stimulant. Grievances enough remained, God knows, to serve as +pretexts for agitation: and the whole conduct of the Government +had led the sufferers to believe that by agitation alone could +any grievance be removed. + +Such, Sir, is the history of the rise and progress of the +disorders of Ireland. Misgovernment, lasting without +interruption from the reign of Henry the Second to the reign of +William the Fourth, has left us an immense mass of discontent, +which will, no doubt, in ordinary times, make the task of any +statesman whom the Queen may call to power sufficiently +difficult. But though this be true, it is not less true, that +the immediate causes of the extraordinary agitation which alarms +us at this moment is to be found in the misconduct of Her +Majesty's present advisers. For, Sir, though Ireland is always +combustible, Ireland is not always on fire. We must distinguish +between the chronic complaints which are to be attributed to +remote causes, and the acute attack which is brought on by recent +imprudence. For though there is always a predisposition to +disease in that unhappy society, the violent paroxysms come only +at intervals. I must own that I am indebted for some of my +imagery to the right honourable Baronet the First Lord of the +Treasury. When he sate on this bench, and was only a candidate +for the great place which he now fills, he compared himself to a +medical man at the bedside of a patient. Continuing his +metaphor, I may say that his prognosis, his diagnosis, his +treatment, have all been wrong. I do not deny that the case was +difficult. The sufferer was of a very ill habit of body, and had +formerly suffered many things of many physicians, and, among +others, I must say, of the right honourable Baronet himself. +Still the malady had, a very short time ago, been got under, and +kept under by the judicious use of lenitives; and there was +reason to hope that if that salutary regimen had been steadily +followed, there would have been a speedy improvement in the +general health. Unhappily, the new State hygeist chose to apply +irritants which have produced a succession of convulsive fits, +each more violent than that which preceded it. To drop the +figure, it is impossible to doubt that Lord Melbourne's +government was popular with the great body of the Roman Catholics +of Ireland. It is impossible to doubt that the two Viceroys whom +he sent to Ireland were more loved and honoured by the Irish +people than any Viceroys before whom the sword of state has ever +been borne. Under the late Government, no doubt, the empire was +threatened by many dangers; but, to whatever quarter the +Ministers might look with uneasy apprehension, to Ireland they +could always look with confidence. When bad men raised +disturbances here, when a Chartist rabble fired on the Queen's +soldiers, numerous regiments could, without the smallest risk, be +spared from Ireland. When a rebellion broke out in one of our +colonies,--a rebellion too which it might have been expected that +the Irish would regard with favour, for it was a rebellion of +Roman Catholics against Protestant rulers,--even then Ireland was +true to the general interests of the empire, and troops were sent +from Munster and Connaught to put down insurrection in Canada. +No person will deny that if, in 1840, we had unhappily been +forced into war, and if a hostile army had landed in Bantry Bay, +the whole population of Cork and Tipperary would have risen up to +defend the throne of Her Majesty, and would have offered to the +invaders a resistance as determined as would have been offered by +the men of Kent or Norfolk. And by what means was this salutary +effect produced? Not by great legislative reforms: for, +unfortunately, that Government, though it had the will, had not +the power to carry such reforms against the sense of a strong +minority in this House, and of a decided majority of the Peers. +No, Sir; this effect was produced merely by the wisdom, justice, +and humanity with which the existing law, defective as it might +be, was administered. The late Government, calumniated and +thwarted at every turn, contending against the whole influence of +the Established Church, and of the great body of the nobility and +landed gentry, yet did show a disposition to act kindly and +fairly towards Ireland, and did, to the best of its power, treat +Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. If we had been as strong +as our successors in parliamentary support, if we had been able +to induce the two Houses to follow in legislation the same +principles by which we were guided in administration, the Union +with Ireland would now have been as secure from the assaults of +agitators as the Union with Scotland. But this was not to be. +During six years an opposition, formidable in numbers, formidable +in ability, selected as the especial object of the fiercest and +most pertinacious attacks those very acts of the Government which +had, after centuries of mutual animosity, half reconciled the two +islands. Those Lords Lieutenant who, in Ireland, were venerated +as no preceding Lord Lieutenant had ever been venerated, were +here reviled as no preceding Lord Lieutenant had ever been +reviled. Every action, every word which was applauded by the +nation committed to their care, was here imputed to them as a +crime. Every bill framed by the advisers of the Crown for the +benefit of Ireland was either rejected or mutilated. A few Roman +Catholics of distinguished merit were appointed to situations +which were indeed below their just claims, but which were higher +than any member of their Church had filled during many +generations. Two or three Roman Catholics were sworn of the +Council; one took his seat at the Board of Treasury; another at +the Board of Admiralty. There was great joy in Ireland; and no +wonder. What had been done was not much; but the ban had been +taken off; the Emancipation Act, which had been little more than +a dead letter, was at length a reality. But in England all the +underlings of the great Tory party set up a howl of rage and +hatred worthy of Lord George Gordon's No Popery mob. The right +honourable Baronet now at the head of the Treasury, with his +usual prudence, abstained from joining in the cry, and was +content to listen to it, to enjoy it, and to profit by it. But +some of those who ranked next to him among the chiefs of the +opposition, did not imitate his politic reserve. One great man +denounced the Irish as aliens. Another called them minions of +Popery. Those teachers of religion to whom millions looked up +with affection and reverence were called by the Protestant press +demon priests and surpliced ruffians, and were denounced from the +Protestant pulpit as pontiffs of Baal, as false prophets who were +to be slain with the sword. We were reminded that a Queen of the +chosen people had in the old time patronised the ministers of +idolatry, and that her blood had been given to the dogs. Not +content with throwing out or frittering down every law beneficial +to Ireland, not content with censuring in severe terms every act +of the executive government which gave satisfaction in Ireland, +you, yes you, who now fill the great offices of state, assumed +the offensive. From obstruction you proceeded to aggression. +You brought in a bill which you called a Bill for the +Registration of Electors in Ireland. We then told you that it +was a bill for the wholesale disfranchisement of the electors of +Ireland. We then proved incontrovertibly that, under pretence of +reforming the law of procedure, you were really altering the +substantive law; that, by making it impossible for any man to +vindicate his right to vote without trouble, expense, and loss of +time, you were really taking away the votes of tens of thousands. +You denied all this then. You very coolly admit it all now. Am +I to believe that you did know it as well in 1841 as in 1844? +Has one new fact been brought to light? Has one argument been +discovered which was not, three or four years ago, urged twenty, +thirty, forty times in this House? Why is it that you have, when +in power, abstained from proposing that change in the mode of +registration which, when you were out of power, you represented +as indispensable? You excuse yourselves by saying that now the +responsibilities of office are upon you. In plain words, your +trick has served its purpose. Your object,--for I will do +justice to your patriotism,--your object was not to ruin your +country, but to get in; and you are in. Such public virtue +deserved such a reward, a reward which has turned out a +punishment, a reward which ought to be, while the world lasts, a +warning to unscrupulous ambition. Many causes contributed to +place you in your present situation. But the chief cause was, +beyond all doubt, the prejudice which you excited amongst the +English against the just and humane manner in which the late +Ministers governed Ireland. In your impatience for office, you +called up the devil of religious intolerance, a devil more easily +evoked than dismissed. He did your work; and he holds your bond. +You once found him an useful slave: but you have since found him +a hard master. It was pleasant, no doubt, to be applauded by +high churchmen and low churchmen, by the Sheldonian Theatre and +by Exeter Hall. It was pleasant to be described as the champions +of the Protestant faith, as the men who stood up for the Gospel +against that spurious liberality which made no distinction +between truth and falsehood. It was pleasant to hear your +opponents called by every nickname that is to be found in the +foul vocabulary of the Reverend Hugh Mcneill. It was pleasant to +hear that they were the allies of Antichrist, that they were the +servants of the man of sin, that they were branded with the mark +of the Beast. But when all this slander and scurrility had +raised you to power, when you found that you had to manage +millions of those who had been, year after year, constantly +insulted and defamed by yourselves and your lacqueys, your hearts +began to fail you. Now you tell us that you have none but kind +and respectful feelings towards the Irish Roman Catholics, that +you wish to conciliate them, that you wish to carry the +Emancipation Act into full effect, that nothing would give you +more pleasure than to place on the bench of justice a Roman +Catholic lawyer of conservative politics, that nothing would give +you more pleasure than to place at the Board of Treasury, or at +the Board of Admiralty, some Roman Catholic gentleman of +conservative politics, distinguished by his talents for business +or debate. Your only reason, you assure us, for not promoting +Roman Catholics is that all the Roman Catholics are your enemies; +and you ask whether any Minister can be expected to promote his +enemies. For my part I do not doubt that you would willingly +promote Roman Catholics: for, as I have said, I give you full +credit for not wishing to do your country more harm than is +necessary for the purpose of turning out and keeping out the +Whigs. I also fully admit that you cannot be blamed for not +promoting your enemies. But what I want to know is, how it +happens that all the Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom are +your enemies. Was such a thing ever heard of before? Here are +six or seven millions of people of all professions, of all +trades, of all grades of rank, fortune, intellect, education. +Begin with the premier Peer, the Earl Marshal of the realm, the +chief of the Howards, the heir of the Mowbrays and Fitzalans, and +go down through earls, barons, baronets, lawyers, and merchants, +to the very poorest peasant that eats his potatoes without salt +in Mayo; and all these millions to a man are arrayed against the +Government. How do you explain this? Is there any natural +connection between the Roman Catholic theology and the political +theories held by Whigs and by reformers more democratical than +the Whigs? Not only is there no natural connection, but there is +a natural opposition. Of all Christian sects the Roman Catholic +Church holds highest the authority of antiquity, of tradition, of +immemorial usage. Her spirit is eminently conservative, nay, in +the opinion of all Protestants, conservative to an unreasonable +and pernicious extent. A man who has been taught from childhood +to regard with horror all innovation in religion is surely less +likely than another man to be a bold innovator in politics. It +is probable that a zealous Roman Catholic, if there were no +disturbing cause, would be a Tory; and the Roman Catholics were +all Tories till you persecuted them into Whiggism and Radicalism. +In the civil war, how many Roman Catholics were there in +Fairfax's army? I believe, not one. They were all under the +banner of Charles the First. When a reward of five thousand +pounds was offered for Charles the Second alive or dead, when to +conceal him was to run a most serious risk of the gallows, it was +among Roman Catholics that he found shelter. It has been the +same in other countries. When everything else in France was +prostrate before the Jacobins, the Roman Catholic peasantry of +Brittany and Poitou still stood up for the House of Bourbon. +Against the gigantic power of Napoleon, the Roman Catholic +peasantry of the Tyrol maintained unaided the cause of the House +of Hapsburg. It would be easy to multiply examples. And can we +believe, in defiance of all reason and of all history, that, if +the Roman Catholics of the United Kingdom had been tolerably well +governed, they would not have been attached to the Government? +In my opinion the Tories never committed so great an error as +when they scourged away and spurned away the Roman Catholics. Mr +Burke understood this well. The sentiment which, towards the +close of his life, held the entire possession of his mind, was a +horror,--a morbid horror it at last became,--of Jacobinism, and +of everything that seemed to him to tend towards Jacobinism, and, +like a great statesman and philosopher,--for such he was even in +his errors,--he perceived, and he taught Mr Pitt to perceive, +that, in the war against Jacobinism, the Roman Catholics were the +natural allies of royalty and aristocracy. But the help of these +allies was contumeliously rejected by those politicians who make +themselves ridiculous by carousing on Mr Pitt's birthday, while +they abjure all Mr Pitt's principles. The consequence is, as you +are forced to own, that there is not in the whole kingdom a Roman +Catholic of note who is your friend. Therefore, whatever your +inclinations may be, you must intrust power in Ireland to +Protestants, to Ultra-Protestants, to men who, whether they +belong to Orange lodges or not, are in spirit Orangemen. Every +appointment which you make increases the discontent of the Roman +Catholics. The more discontented they are, the less you can +venture to employ them. The way in which you treated them while +you were in opposition has raised in them such a dislike and +distrust of you that you cannot carry the Emancipation Act into +effect, though, as you tell us, and as I believe, you sincerely +desire to do so. As respects the offices of which you dispose, +that Act is null and void. Of all the boons which that Act +purports to bestow on Roman Catholics they really enjoy only one, +admission to Parliament: and that they would not enjoy if you +had been able three years ago to carry your Irish Registration +Bill. You have wounded national feeling: you have wounded +religious feeling: and the animosity which you have roused shows +itself in a hundred ways, some of which I abhor, some of which I +lament, but at none of which I can wonder. They are the natural +effects of insult and injury on quick and ill regulated +sensibility. You, for your own purposes, inflamed the public +mind of England against Ireland; and you have no right to be +surprised by finding that the public mind of Ireland is inflamed +against England. You called a fourth part of the people of the +United Kingdom aliens: and you must not blame them for feeling +and acting like aliens. You have filled every public department +with their enemies. What then could you expect but that they +would set up against your Lord Lieutenant and your official +hierarchy a more powerful chief and a more powerful organization +of their own? They remember, and it would be strange indeed if +they had forgotten, what under the same chief, and by a similar +organization, they extorted from you in 1829; and they are +determined to try whether you are bolder and more obstinate now +than then. + +Such are the difficulties of this crisis. To a great extent they +are of your own making. And what have you done in order to get +out of them? Great statesmen have sometimes committed great +mistakes, and yet have by wisdom and firmness extricated +themselves from the embarrassments which those mistakes had +caused. Let us see whether you are entitled to rank among such +statesmen. And first, what,--commanding, as you do, a great +majority in this and in the other House of Parliament,--what have +you done in the way of legislation? The answer is very short and +simple. The beginning and end of all your legislation for +Ireland will be found in the Arms Act of last session. You will +hardly call that conciliation; and I shall not call it coercion. +It was mere petty annoyance. It satisfied nobody. We called on +you to redress the wrongs of Ireland. Many of your own friends +called on you to stifle her complaints. One noble and learned +person was so much disgusted by your remissness that he employed +his own great abilities and his own valuable time in framing a +new coercion bill for you. You were deaf alike to us and to him. +The whole fruit of your legislative wisdom was this one paltry +teasing police regulation. + +Your executive administration through the whole recess has been +one long blunder. The way in which your Lord Lieutenant and his +advisers acted about the Clontarf meeting would alone justify a +severe vote of censure. The noble lord, the Secretary for the +Colonies (Lord Stanley.), has told us that the Government did all +that was possible to caution the people against attending that +meeting, and that it would be unreasonable to censure men for not +performing impossibilities. Now, Sir, the ministers themselves +acknowledge that, as early as the morning of the Friday which +preceded the day fixed for the meeting, the Lord Lieutenant +determined to put forth a proclamation against the meeting. Yet +the proclamation was not published in Dublin and the suburbs till +after nightfall on Saturday. The meeting was fixed for the +Sunday morning. Will any person have the hardihood to assert +that it was impossible to have a proclamation drawn up, printed +and circulated, in twenty-four hours, nay in six hours? It is +idle to talk of the necessity of weighing well the words of such +a document. The Lord Lieutenant should have weighed well the +value of the lives of his royal mistress's subjects. Had he done +so, there can be no doubt that the proclamation might have been +placarded on every wall in and near Dublin early in the forenoon +of the Saturday. The negligence of the Government would probably +have caused the loss of many lives but for the interposition of +the man whom you are persecuting. Fortune stood your friend; and +he stood your friend; and thus a slaughter more terrible than +that which took place twenty-five years ago at Manchester was +averted. + +But you were incorrigible. No sooner had you, by strange good +luck, got out of one scrape, than you made haste to get into +another, out of which, as far as I can see, you have no chance of +escape. You instituted the most unwise, the most unfortunate of +all state prosecutions. You seem not to have at all known what +you were doing. It appears never to have occurred to you that +there was any difference between a criminal proceeding which was +certain to fix the attention of the whole civilised world and an +ordinary qui tam action for a penalty. The evidence was such and +the law such that you were likely to get a verdict and a +judgment; and that was enough for you. Now, Sir, in such a case +as this, the probability of getting the verdict and the judgment +is only a part, and a very small part, of what a statesman ought +to consider. Before you determined to bring the most able, the +most powerful, the most popular of your opponents to the bar as a +criminal, on account of the manner in which he had opposed you, +you ought to have asked yourselves whether the decision which you +expected to obtain from the tribunals would be ratified by the +voice of your own country, of foreign countries, of posterity; +whether the general opinion of mankind might not be that, though +you were legally in the right, you were morally in the wrong. It +was no common person that you were bent on punishing. About that +person I feel, I own, considerable difficulty in saying anything. +He is placed in a situation which would prevent generous enemies, +which has prevented all the members of this House, with one +ignominious exception, from assailing him acrimoniously. I will +try, in speaking of him, to pay the respect due to eminence and +to misfortune without violating the respect due to truth. I am +convinced that the end which he is pursuing is not only +mischievous but unattainable: and some of the means which he has +stooped to use for the purpose of attaining that end I regard +with deep disapprobation. But it is impossible for me not to see +that the place which he holds in the estimation of his countrymen +is such as no popular leader in our history, I might perhaps say +in the history of the world, has ever attained. Nor is the +interest which he inspires confined to Ireland or to the United +Kingdom. Go where you will on the Continent: visit any coffee +house: dine at any public table: embark on board of any +steamboat: enter any diligence, any railway carriage: from the +moment that your accent shows you to be an Englishman, the very +first question asked by your companions, be they what they may, +physicians, advocates, merchants, manufacturers, or what we +should call yeomen, is certain to be "What will be done with Mr +O'Connell?" Look over any file of French journals; and you will +see what a space he occupies in the eyes of the French people. +It is most unfortunate, but it is a truth, and a truth which we +ought always to bear in mind, that there is among our neighbours +a feeling about the connection between England and Ireland not +very much unlike the feeling which exists here about the +connection between Russia and Poland. All the sympathies of all +continental politicians are with the Irish. We are regarded as +the oppressors, and the Irish as the oppressed. An insurrection +in Ireland would have the good wishes of a great majority of the +people of Europe. And, Sir, it is natural that it should be so. +For the cause of the Irish repealers has two different aspects, a +democratic aspect, and a Roman Catholic aspect, and is therefore +regarded with favour by foreigners of almost every shade of +opinion. The extreme left,--to use the French nomenclature,-- +wishes success to a great popular movement against the throne and +the aristocracy. The extreme right wishes success to a movement +headed by the bishops and priests of the true Church against a +heretical government and a heretical hierarchy. The consequence +is that, in a contest with Ireland, you will not have, out of +this island, a single well-wisher in the world. I do not say +this in order to intimidate you. But I do say that, on an +occasion on which all Christendom was watching your conduct with +an unfriendly and suspicious eye, you should have carefully +avoided everything that looked like foul play. Unhappily you +were too much bent on gaining the victory; and you have gained a +victory more disgraceful and disastrous than any defeat. Mr +O'Connell has been convicted: but you cannot deny that he has +been wronged: you cannot deny that irregularities have been +committed, or that the effect of those irregularities has been to +put you in a better situation and him in a worse situation than +the law contemplated. It is admitted that names which ought to +have been in the jury-list were not there. It is admitted that +all, or almost all, the names which were wrongfully excluded were +the names of Roman Catholics. As to the number of those who were +wrongfully excluded there is some dispute. An affidavit has been +produced which puts the number at twenty-seven. The right +honourable gentleman, the Recorder of Dublin, who of course puts +the number as low as he conscientiously can, admits twenty-four. +But some gentlemen maintain that this irregularity, though +doubtless blamable, cannot have had any effect on the event of +the trial. What, they ask, are twenty or twenty-seven names in +seven hundred and twenty? Why, Sir, a very simple arithmetical +calculation will show that the irregularity was of grave +importance. Of the seven hundred and twenty, forty-eight were to +be selected by lot, and then reduced by alternate striking to +twelve. The forty-eighth part of seven hundred and twenty is +fifteen. If, therefore, there had been fifteen more Roman +Catholics in the jury-list, it would have been an even chance +that there would have been one Roman Catholic more among the +forty-eight. If there had been twenty-seven more Roman Catholics +in the list, it would have been almost an even chance that there +would have been two Roman Catholics more among the forty-eight. +Is it impossible, is it improbable that, but for this trick or +this blunder,--I will not now inquire which,--the result of the +trial might have been different? For, remember the power which +the law gives to a single juror. He can, if his mind is fully +made up, prevent a conviction. I heard murmurs when I used the +word trick. Am I not justified in feeling a doubt which it is +quite evident that Mr Justice Perrin feels? He is reported to +have said,--and I take the report of newspapers favourable to the +Government,--he is reported to have said that there had been +great carelessness, great neglect of duty, that there were +circumstances which raised grave suspicion, and that he was not +prepared to say that the irregularity was accidental. The noble +lord the Secretary for the Colonies has admonished us to pay +respect to the judges. I am sure that I pay the greatest respect +to everything that falls from Mr Justice Perrin. He must know +much better than I, much better than any Englishman, what +artifices are likely to be employed by Irish functionaries for +the purpose of packing a jury; and he tells us that he is not +satisfied that this irregularity was the effect of mere +inadvertence. But, says the right honourable Baronet, the +Secretary for the Home Department, "I am not responsible for this +irregularity." Most true: and nobody holds the right honourable +Baronet responsible for it. But he goes on to say, "I lament +this irregularity most sincerely: for I believe that it has +raised a prejudice against the administration of justice." +Exactly so. That is just what I say. I say that a prejudice has +been created against the administration of justice. I say that a +taint of suspicion has been thrown on the verdict which you have +obtained. And I ask whether it is right and decent in you to +avail yourselves of a verdict on which such a taint has been +thrown? The only wise, the only honourable course open to you +was to say, "A mistake has been committed: that mistake has +given us an unfair advantage; and of that advantage we will not +make use." Unhappily, the time when you might have taken this +course, and might thus to a great extent have repaired your +former errors, has been suffered to elapse. + +Well, you had forty-eight names taken by lot from this mutilated +jury-list: and then came the striking. You struck out all the +Roman Catholic names: and you give us your reasons for striking +out these names, reasons which I do not think it worth while to +examine. The real question which you should have considered was +this: Can a great issue between two hostile religions,--for such +the issue was,--be tried in a manner above all suspicion by a +jury composed exclusively of men of one of those religions? I +know that in striking out the Roman Catholics you did nothing +that was not according to technical rules. But my great charge +against you is that you have looked on this whole case in a +technical point of view, that you have been attorneys when you +should have been statesmen. The letter of the law was doubtless +with you; but not the noble spirit of the law. The jury de +medietate linguae is of immemorial antiquity among us. Suppose +that a Dutch sailor at Wapping is accused of stabbing an +Englishman in a brawl. The fate of the culprit is decided by a +mixed body, by six Englishmen and six Dutchmen. Such were the +securities which the wisdom and justice of our ancestors gave to +aliens. You are ready enough to call Mr O'Connell an alien when +it serves your purposes to do so. You are ready enough to +inflict on the Irish Roman Catholic all the evils of alienage. +But the one privilege, the one advantage of alienage, you deny +him. In a case which of all cases most require a jury de +medietate, in a case which sprang out of the mutual hostility of +races and sects, you pack a jury all of one race and all of one +sect. Why, if you were determined to go on with this unhappy +prosecution, not have a common jury? There was no difficulty in +having such a jury; and among the jurors might have been some +respectable Roman Catholics who were not members of the Repeal +Association. A verdict of Not Guilty from such a jury would have +done you infinitely less harm than the verdict of Guilty which +you have succeeded in obtaining. Yes, you have obtained a +verdict of Guilty; but you have obtained that verdict from twelve +men brought together by illegal means, and selected in such a +manner that their decision can inspire no confidence. You have +obtained that verdict by the help of a Chief Justice of whose +charge I can hardly trust myself to speak. To do him right, +however, I will say that his charge was not, as it has been +called, unprecedented; for it bears a very close resemblance to +some charges which may be found in the state trials of the reign +of Charles the Second. However, with this jury-list, with this +jury, with this judge, you have a verdict. And what have you +gained by it? Have you pacified Ireland? No doubt there is just +at the present moment an apparent tranquillity; but it is a +tranquillity more alarming than turbulence. The Irish will be +quiet till you begin to put the sentence of imprisonment into +execution, because, feeling the deepest interest in the fate of +their persecuted Tribune, they will do nothing that can be +prejudicial to him. But will they be quiet when the door of a +gaol has been closed on him? Is it possible to believe that an +agitator, whom they adored while his agitation was a source of +profit to him, will lose his hold on their affections by being a +martyr in what they consider as their cause? If I, who am +strongly attached to the Union, who believe that the Repeal of +the Union would be fatal to the empire, and who think Mr +O'Connell's conduct highly reprehensible, cannot conscientiously +say that he has had a fair trial, if the prosecutors themselves +are forced to own that things have happened which have excited a +prejudice against the verdict and the judgment, what must be the +feelings of the people of Ireland, who believe not merely that he +is guiltless, but that he is the best friend that they ever had? +He will no longer be able to harangue them: but his wrongs will +stir their blood more than his eloquence ever did; nor will he in +confinement be able to exercise that influence which has so often +restrained them, even in their most excited mood, from proceeding +to acts of violence. + +Turn where we will, the prospect is gloomy; and that which of all +things most disturbs me is this, that your experience, sharp as +it has been, does not seem to have made you wiser. All that I +have been able to collect from your declarations leads me to +apprehend that, while you continue to hold power, the future will +be of a piece with the past. As to your executive +administration, you hold out no hope that it will be other than +it has been. If we look back, your only remedies for the +disorders of Ireland have been an impolitic state prosecution, an +unfair state trial, barracks and soldiers. If we look forward, +you promise us no remedies but an unjust sentence, the harsh +execution of that sentence, more barracks and more soldiers. + +You do indeed try to hold out hopes of one or two legislative +reforms beneficial to Ireland; but these hopes, I am afraid, will +prove delusive. You hint that you have prepared a Registration +bill, of which the effect will be to extend the elective +franchise. What the provisions of that bill may be we do not +know. But this we know, that the matter is one about which it is +utterly impossible for you to do anything that shall be at once +honourable to yourselves and useful to the country. Before we +see your plan, we can say with perfect confidence that it must +either destroy the last remnant of the representative system in +Ireland, or the last remnant of your own character for +consistency. + +About the much agitated question of land tenure you acknowledge +that you have at present nothing to propose. We are to have a +report, but you cannot tell us when. + +The Irish Church, as at present constituted and endowed, you are +fully determined to uphold. On some future occasion, I hope to +be able to explain at large my views on that subject. To-night I +have exhausted my own strength, and I have exhausted also, I am +afraid, the kind indulgence of the House. I will therefore only +advert very briefly to some things which have been said about the +Church in the course of the present debate. + +Several gentlemen opposite have spoken of the religious discord +which is the curse of Ireland in language which does them honour; +and I am only sorry that we are not to have their votes as well +as their speeches. But from the Treasury bench we have heard +nothing but this, that the Established Church is there, and that +there it must and shall remain. As to the speech of the noble +lord the Secretary for the Colonies, really when we hear such a +pitiable defence of a great institution from a man of such +eminent abilities, what inference can we draw but that the +institution is altogether indefensible? The noble lord tells us +that the Roman Catholics, in 1757, when they were asking to be +relieved from the penal laws, and in 1792, when they were asking +to be relieved from civil disabilities, professed to be quite +willing that the Established Church should retain its endowments. +What is it to us, Sir, whether they did or not? If you can prove +this Church to be a good institution, of course it ought to be +maintained. But do you mean to say that a bad institution ought +to be maintained because some people who have been many years in +their graves said that they did not complain of it? What if the +Roman Catholics of the present generation hold a different +language on this subject from the Roman Catholics of the last +generation? Is this inconsistency, which appears to shock the +noble lord, anything but the natural and inevitable progress of +all reform? People who are oppressed, and who have no hope of +obtaining entire justice, beg to be relieved from the most +galling part of what they suffer. They assure the oppressor that +if he will only relax a little of his severity they shall be +quite content; and perhaps, at the time, they believe that they +shall be content. But are expressions of this sort, are mere +supplications uttered under duress, to estop every person who +utters them, and all his posterity to the end of time, from +asking for entire justice? Am I debarred from trying to recover +property of which I have been robbed, because, when the robber's +pistol was at my breast, I begged him to take everything that I +had and to spare my life? The noble lord knows well that, while +the slave trade existed, the great men who exerted themselves to +put an end to that trade disclaimed all thought of emancipating +the negroes. In those days, Mr Pitt, Mr Fox, Lord Grenville, +Lord Grey, and even my dear and honoured friend of whom I can +never speak without emotion, Mr Wilberforce, always said that it +was a calumny to accuse them of intending to liberate the black +population of the sugar islands. In 1807 the present Duke of +Northumberland, then Lord Percy, in the generous enthusiasm of +youth, rose to propose in this House the abolition of slavery. +Mr Wilberforce interposed, nay, I believe, almost pulled Lord +Percy down. Nevertheless in 1833 the noble lord the Secretary +for the Colonies brought in a bill to abolish slavery. Suppose +that when he resumed his seat, after making that most eloquent +speech in which he explained his plan to us, some West Indian +planter had risen, and had said that in 1792, in 1796, in 1807, +all the leading philanthropists had solemnly declared that they +had no intention of emancipating the negroes; would not the noble +lord have answered that nothing that had been said by anybody in +1792 or 1807 could bind us not to do what was right in 1833? + +This is not the only point on which the noble lord's speech is +quite at variance with his own conduct. He appeals to the fifth +article of the Treaty of Union. He says that, if we touch the +revenues and privileges of the Established Church, we shall +violate that article; and to violate an article of the Treaty of +Union is, it seems, a breach of public faith of which he cannot +bear to think. But, Sir, why is the fifth article to be held +more sacred than the fourth, which fixes the number of Irish +members who are to sit in this House? The fourth article, we all +know, has been altered. And who brought in the bill which +altered that article? The noble lord himself. + +Then the noble lord adverts to the oath taken by Roman Catholic +members of this House. They bind themselves, he says, not to use +their power for the purpose of injuring the Established Church. +I am sorry that the noble lord is not at this moment in the +House. Had he been here I should have made some remarks which I +now refrain from making on one or two expressions which fell from +him. But, Sir, let us allow to his argument all the weight which +he can himself claim for it. What does it prove? Not that the +Established Church of Ireland is a good institution; not that it +ought to be maintained; but merely this, that, when we are about +to divide on the question whether it shall be maintained, the +Roman Catholic members ought to walk away to the library. The +oath which they have taken is nothing to me and to the other +Protestant members who have not taken it. Suppose then our Roman +Catholic friends withdrawn. Suppose that we, the six hundred and +twenty or thirty Protestant members remain in the House. Then +there is an end of this argument about the oath. Will the noble +lord then be able to give us any reason for maintaining the +Church of Ireland on the present footing? + +I hope, Sir, that the right honourable Baronet the first Lord of +the Treasury will not deal with this subject as his colleagues +have dealt with it. We have a right to expect that a man of his +capacity, placed at the head of government, will attempt to +defend the Irish Church in a manly and rational way. I would beg +him to consider these questions:--For what ends do Established +Churches exist? Does the Established Church of Ireland +accomplish those ends or any one of those ends? Can an +Established Church which has no hold on the hearts of the body of +the people be otherwise than useless, or worse than useless? Has +the Established Church of Ireland any hold on the hearts of the +body of the people? Has it been successful in making proselytes? +Has it been what the Established Church of England has been with +justice called, what the Established Church of Scotland was once +with at least equal justice called, the poor man's Church? Has +it trained the great body of the people to virtue, consoled them +in affliction, commanded their reverence, attached them to itself +and to the State? Show that these questions can be answered in +the affirmative; and you will have made, what I am sure has never +yet been made, a good defence of the Established Church of +Ireland. But it is mere mockery to bring us quotations from +forgotten speeches, and from mouldy petitions presented to George +the Second at a time when the penal laws were still in full +force. + +And now, Sir, I must stop. I have said enough to justify the +vote which I shall give in favour of the motion of my noble +friend. I have shown, unless I deceive myself, that the +extraordinary disorders which now alarm us in Ireland have been +produced by the fatal policy of the Government. I have shown +that the mode in which the Government is now dealing with those +disorders is far more likely to inflame than to allay them. +While this system lasts, Ireland can never be tranquil; and till +Ireland is tranquil, England can never hold her proper place +among the nations of the world. To the dignity, to the strength, +to the safety of this great country, internal peace is +indispensably necessary. In every negotiation, whether with +France on the right of search, or with America on the line of +boundary, the fact that Ireland is discontented is uppermost in +the minds of the diplomatists on both sides, making the +representative of the British Crown timorous, and making his +adversary bold. And no wonder. This is indeed a great and +splendid empire, well provided with the means both of annoyance +and of defence. England can do many things which are beyond the +power of any other nation in the world. She has dictated peace +to China. She rules Caffraria and Australasia. She could again +sweep from the ocean all commerce but her own. She could again +blockade every port from the Baltic to the Adriatic. She is able +to guard her vast Indian dominions against all hostility by land +or sea. But in this gigantic body there is one vulnerable spot +near to the heart. At that spot forty-six years ago a blow was +aimed which narrowly missed, and which, if it had not missed, +might have been deadly. The government and the legislature, each +in its own sphere, is deeply responsible for the continuance of a +state of things which is fraught with danger to the State. From +my share of that responsibility I shall clear myself by the vote +which I am about to give; and I trust that the number and the +respectability of those in whose company I shall go into the +lobby will be such as to convince the Roman Catholics of Ireland +that they need not yet relinquish all hope of obtaining relief +from the wisdom and justice of an Imperial Parliament. + +... + + +DISSENTERS' CHAPELS BILL. (JUNE 6, 1844) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 6TH OF JUNE +1844. + +An attempt having been made to deprive certain dissenting +congregations of property which they had long enjoyed, on the +ground that they did not hold the same religious opinions that +had been held by the purchasers from whom they derived their +title to that property, the Government of Sir Robert Peel brought +in a bill fixing a time of limitation in such cases. The time +fixed was twenty-five years. + +The bill, having passed the Lords, came down to the House of +Commons. On the sixth of June 1844, the second reading was moved +by the Attorney General, Sir William Follett. Sir Robert Inglis, +Member for the University of Oxford, moved that the bill should +be read a second time that day six months: and the amendment was +seconded by Mr Plumptre, Member for Kent. Early in the debate +the following Speech was made. + +The second reading was carried by 307 votes to 117. + +If, Sir, I should unhappily fail in preserving that tone in which +the question before us ought to be debated, it will assuredly not +be for want either of an example or of a warning. The honourable +and learned Member who moved the second reading has furnished me +with a model which I cannot too closely imitate; and from the +honourable Member for Kent, if I can learn nothing else, I may at +least learn what temper and what style I ought most carefully to +avoid. + +I was very desirous, Sir, to catch your eye, not because I was so +presumptuous as to hope that I should be able to add much to the +powerful and luminous argument of the honourable and learned +gentleman who has, to our great joy, again appeared among us to- +night; but because I thought it desirable that, at an early +period in the debate, some person whose seat is on this side of +the House, some person strongly opposed to the policy of the +present Government, should say, what I now say with all my heart, +that this is a bill highly honourable to the Government, a bill +framed on the soundest principles, and evidently introduced from +the best and purest motives. This praise is a tribute due to Her +Majesty's Ministers; and I have great pleasure in paying it. + +I have great pleasure also in bearing my testimony to the +humanity, the moderation, and the decorum with which my +honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford has +expressed his sentiments. I must particularly applaud the +resolution which he announced, and to which he strictly adhered, +of treating this question as a question of meum and tuum, and not +as a question of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. With him it is +possible to reason. But how am I to reason with the honourable +Member for Kent, who has made a speech without one fact, one +argument, one shadow of an argument, a speech made up of nothing +but vituperation? I grieve to say that the same bitterness of +theological animosity which characterised that speech may be +discerned in too many of the petitions with which, as he boasts, +our table has been heaped day after day. The honourable Member +complains that those petitions have not been treated with proper +respect. Sir, they have been treated with much more respect than +they deserved. He asks why we are to suppose that the +petitioners are not competent to form a judgment on this +question? My answer is, that they have certified their +incompetence under their own hands. They have, with scarcely one +exception, treated this question as a question of divinity, +though it is purely a question of property: and when I see men +treat a question of property as if it were a question of +divinity, I am certain that, however numerous they may be, their +opinion is entitled to no consideration. If the persons whom +this bill is meant to relieve are orthodox, that is no reason for +our plundering anybody else in order to enrich them. If they are +heretics, that is no reason for our plundering them in order to +enrich others. I should not think myself justified in supporting +this bill, if I could not with truth declare that, whatever sect +had been in possession of these chapels, my conduct would have +been precisely the same. I have no peculiar sympathy with +Unitarians. If these people, instead of being Unitarians, had +been Roman Catholics, or Wesleyan Methodists, or General +Baptists, or Particular Baptists, or members of the Old Secession +Church of Scotland, or members of the Free Church of Scotland, I +should speak as I now speak, and vote as I now mean to vote. + +Sir, the whole dispute is about the second clause of this bill. +I can hardly conceive that any gentleman will vote against the +bill on account of the error in the marginal note on the third +clause. To the first clause my honourable friend the Member for +the University of Oxford said, if I understood him rightly, that +he had no objection; and indeed a man of his integrity and +benevolence could hardly say less after listening to the lucid +and powerful argument of the Attorney General. It is therefore +on the second clause that the whole question turns. + +The second clause, Sir, rests on a principle simple, well-known, +and most important to the welfare of all classes of the +community. That principle is this, that prescription is a good +title to property, that there ought to be a time of limitation, +after which a possessor, in whatever way his possession may have +originated, must not be dispossessed. Till very lately, Sir, I +could not have imagined that, in any assembly of reasonable, +civilised, of educated men, it could be necessary for me to stand +up in defence of that principle. I should have thought it as +much a waste of the public time to make a speech on such a +subject as to make a speech against burning witches, against +trying writs of right by wager of battle, or against requiring a +culprit to prove his innocence by walking over red-hot +ploughshares. But I find that I was in error. Certain sages, +lately assembled in conclave at Exeter Hall, have done me the +honour to communicate to me the fruits of their profound +meditations on the science of legislation. They have, it seems, +passed a resolution declaring that the principle, which I had +supposed that no man out of Bedlam would ever question, is an +untenable principle, and altogether unworthy of a British +Parliament. They have been pleased to add, that the present +Government cannot, without gross inconsistency, call on +Parliament to pass a statute of limitation. And why? Will the +House believe it? Because the present Government has appointed +two new Vice Chancellors. + +Really, Sir, I do not know whether the opponents of this bill +shine more as logicians or as jurists. Standing here as the +advocate of prescription, I ought not to forget that prescriptive +right of talking nonsense which gentlemen who stand on the +platform of Exeter Hall are undoubtedly entitled to claim. But, +though I recognise the right, I cannot but think that it may be +abused, and that it has been abused on the present occasion. One +thing at least is clear, that, if Exeter Hall be in the right, +all the masters of political philosophy, all the great +legislators, all the systems of law by which men are and have +been governed in all civilised countries, from the earliest +times, must be in the wrong. How indeed can any society prosper, +or even exist, without the aid of this untenable principle, this +principle unworthy of a British legislature? This principle was +found in the Athenian law. This principle was found in the Roman +law. This principle was found in the laws of all those nations +of which the jurisprudence was derived from Rome. This principle +was found in the law administered by the Parliament of Paris; +and, when that Parliament and the law which it administered had +been swept away by the revolution, this principle reappeared in +the Code Napoleon. Go westward, and you find this principle +recognised beyond the Mississippi. Go eastward, and you find it +recognised beyond the Indus, in countries which never heard the +name of Justinian, in countries to which no translation of the +Pandects ever found its way. Look into our own laws, and you +will see that the principle, which is now designated as unworthy +of Parliament, has guided Parliament ever since Parliament +existed. Our first statute of limitation was enacted at Merton, +by men some of whom had borne a part in extorting the Great +Charter and the Forest Charter from King John. From that time to +this it has been the study of a succession of great lawyers and +statesmen to make the limitation more and more stringent. The +Crown and the Church indeed were long exempted from the general +rule. But experience fully proved that every such exemption was +an evil; and a remedy was at last applied. Sir George Savile, +the model of English country gentlemen, was the author of the Act +which barred the claims of the Crown. That eminent magistrate, +the late Lord Tenterden, was the author of the Act which barred +the claims of the Church. Now, Sir, how is it possible to +believe that the Barons, whose seals are upon our Great Charter, +would have perfectly agreed with the great jurists who framed the +Code of Justinian, with the great jurists who framed the Code of +Napoleon, with the most learned English lawyers of the nineteenth +century, and with the Pundits of Benares, unless there had been +some strong and clear reason which necessarily led men of sense +in every age and country to the same conclusion? Nor is it +difficult to see what the reason was. For it is evident that the +principle which silly and ignorant fanatics have called untenable +is essential to the institution of property, and that, if you +take away that principle, you will produce evils resembling those +which would be produced by a general confiscation. Imagine what +would follow if the maxims of Exeter Hall were introduced into +Westminster Hall. Imagine a state of things in which one of us +should be liable to be sued on a bill of exchange indorsed by his +grandfather in 1760. Imagine a man possessed of an estate and +manor house which had descended to him through ten or twelve +generations of ancestors, and yet liable to be ejected because +some flaw had been detected in a deed executed three hundred +years ago, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. Why, Sir, should we +not all cry out that it would be better to live under the rule of +a Turkish Pasha than under such a system. Is it not plain that +the enforcing of an obsolete right is the inflicting of a wrong? +Is it not plain that, but for our statutes of limitation, a +lawsuit would be merely a grave, methodical robbery? I am +ashamed to argue a point so clear. + +And if this be the general rule, why should the case which we are +now considering be an exception to that rule? I have done my +best to understand why. I have read much bad oratory, and many +foolish petitions. I have heard with attention the reasons of my +honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford; and I +should have heard the reasons of the honourable Member for Kent, +if there had been any to hear. Every argument by which my +honourable friend the Member for the University of Oxford tried +to convince us that this case is an exception to the general +rule, will be found on examination to be an argument against the +general rule itself. He says that the possession which we +propose to sanction was originally a wrongful possession. Why, +Sir, all the statutes of limitation that ever were made sanction +possession which was originally wrongful. It is for the +protection of possessors who are not in condition to prove that +their possession was originally rightful that statutes of +limitation are passed. Then my honourable friend says that this +is an ex post facto law. Why, Sir, so are all our great statutes +of limitation. Look at the Statute of Merton, passed in 1235; at +the Statute of Westminster, passed in 1275; at the Statute of +James the First, passed in 1623; at Sir George Savile's Act, +passed in the last century; at Lord Tenterden's Act, passed in +our own time. Every one of those Acts was retrospective. Every +one of them barred claims arising out of past transactions. Nor +was any objection ever raised to what was so evidently just and +wise, till bigotry and chicanery formed that disgraceful league +against which we are now contending. But, it is said, it is +unreasonable to grant a boon to men because they have been many +years doing wrong. The length of the time during which they have +enjoyed property not rightfully their own, is an aggravation of +the injury which they have committed, and is so far from being a +reason for letting them enjoy that property for ever, that it is +rather a reason for compelling them to make prompt restitution. +With this childish sophistry the petitions on our table are +filled. Is it possible that any man can be so dull as not to +perceive that, if this be a reason, it is a reason against all +our statutes of limitation? I do a greater wrong to my tailor if +I withhold payment of his bill during six years than if I +withhold payment only during two years. Yet the law says that at +the end of two years he may bring an action and force me to pay +him with interest, but that after the lapse of six years he +cannot force me to pay him at all. It is much harder that a +family should be kept out of its hereditary estate during five +generations than during five days. But if you are kept out of +your estate five days you have your action of ejectment; and, +after the lapse of five generations, you have no remedy. I say, +therefore, with confidence, that every argument which has been +urged against this bill is an argument against the great +principle of prescription. I go further, and I say that, if +there be any case which, in an especial manner, calls for the +application of the principle of prescription, this is that case. +For the Unitarian congregations have laid out so much on these +little spots of ground that it is impossible to take the soil +from them without taking from them property which is of much +greater value than the mere soil, and which is indisputably their +own. This is not the case of a possessor who has been during +many years, receiving great emoluments from land to which he had +not a good title. It is the case of a possessor who has, from +resources which were undoubtedly his own, expended on the land +much more than it was originally worth. Even in the former case, +it has been the policy of all wise lawgivers to fix a time of +limitation. A fortiori, therefore, there ought to be a time of +limitation in the latter case. + +And here, Sir, I cannot help asking gentlemen to compare the +petitions for this bill with the petitions against it. Never was +there such a contrast. The petitions against the bill are filled +with cant, rant, scolding, scraps of bad sermons. The petitions +in favour of the bill set forth in the simplest manner great +practical grievances. Take, for instance, the case of +Cirencester. The meeting house there was built in 1730. It is +certain that the Unitarian doctrines were taught there as early +as 1742. That was only twelve years after the chapel had been +founded. Many of the original subscribers must have been living. +Many of the present congregation are lineal descendants of the +original subscribers. Large sums have from time to time been +laid out in repairing, enlarging, and embellishing the edifice; +and yet there are people who think it just and reasonable that +this congregation should, after the lapse of more than a century, +be turned out. At Norwich, again, a great dissenting meeting +house was opened in 1688. It is not easy to say how soon Anti- +Trinitarian doctrines were taught there. The change of sentiment +in the congregation seems to have been gradual: but it is quite +certain that, in 1754, ninety years ago, both pastor and flock +were decidedly Unitarian. Round the chapel is a cemetery filled +with the monuments of eminent Unitarians. Attached to the chapel +are a schoolhouse and a library, built and fitted up by +Unitarians. And now the occupants find that their title is +disputed. They cannot venture to build; they cannot venture to +repair; and they are anxiously awaiting our decision. I do not +know that I have cited the strongest cases. I am giving you the +ordinary history of these edifices. Go to Manchester. +Unitarianism has been taught there at least seventy years in a +chapel on which the Unitarians have expended large sums. Go to +Leeds. Four thousand pounds have been subscribed for the +repairing of the Unitarian chapel there, the chapel where, near +eighty years ago, Priestly, the great Doctor of the sect, +officiated. But these four thousand pounds are lying idle. Not +a pew can be repaired till it is known whether this bill will +become law. Go to Maidstone. There Unitarian doctrines have +been taught during at least seventy years; and seven hundred +pounds have recently been laid out by the congregation in +repairing the chapel. Go to Exeter. It matters not where you +go. But go to Exeter. There Unitarian doctrines have been +preached more than eighty years; and two thousand pounds have +been laid out on the chapel. It is the same at Coventry, at +Bath, at Yarmouth, everywhere. And will a British Parliament rob +the possessors of these buildings? I can use no other word. How +should we feel if it were proposed to deprive any other class of +men of land held during so long a time, and improved at so large +a cost? And, if this property should be transferred to those who +covet it, what would they gain in comparison with what the +present occupants would lose? The pulpit of Priestley, the +pulpit of Lardner, are objects of reverence to congregations +which hold the tenets of Priestley and Lardner. To the intruders +those pulpits will be nothing; nay, worse than nothing; memorials +of heresiarchs. Within these chapels and all around them are the +tablets which the pious affection of four generations has placed +over the remains of dear mothers and sisters, wives and +daughters, of eloquent preachers, of learned theological writers. +To the Unitarian, the building which contains these memorials is +a hallowed building. To the intruder it is of no more value than +any other room in which he can find a bench to sit on and a roof +to cover him. If, therefore, we throw out this bill, we do not +merely rob one set of people in order to make a present to +another set. That would be bad enough. But we rob the +Unitarians of that which they regard as a most precious treasure; +of that which is endeared to them by the strongest religious and +the strongest domestic associations; of that which cannot be +wrenched from them without inflicting on them the bitterest pain +and humiliation. To the Trinitarians we give that which can to +them be of little or no value except as a trophy of a most +inglorious victory won in a most unjust war. + +But, Sir, an imputation of fraud has been thrown on the +Unitarians; not, indeed, here, but in many other places, and in +one place of which I would always wish to speak with respect. +The Unitarians, it has been said, knew that the original founders +of these chapels were Trinitarians; and to use, for the purpose +of propagating Unitarian doctrine, a building erected for the +purpose of propagating Trinitarian doctrine was grossly +dishonest. One very eminent person (The Bishop of London.) has +gone so far as to maintain that the Unitarians cannot pretend to +any prescription of more than sixty-three years; and he proves +his point thus:--Till the year 1779, he says, no dissenting +teacher was within the protection of the Toleration Act unless he +subscribed those articles of the Church of England which affirm +the Athanasian doctrine. It is evident that no honest Unitarian +can subscribe those articles. The inference is, that the persons +who preached in these chapels down to the year 1779 must have +been either Trinitarians or rogues. Now, Sir, I believe that +they were neither Trinitarians nor rogues; and I cannot help +suspecting that the great prelate who brought this charge against +them is not so well read in the history of the nonconformist +sects as in the history of that Church of which he is an +ornament. The truth is that, long before the year 1779, the +clause of the Toleration Act which required dissenting ministers +to subscribe thirty-five or thirty-six of our thirty-nine +articles had almost become obsolete. Indeed, that clause had +never been rigidly enforced. From the very first there were some +dissenting ministers who refused to subscribe, and yet continued +to preach. Calany was one; and he was not molested. And if this +could be done in the year in which the Toleration Act passed, we +may easily believe that, at a later period, the law would not +have been very strictly observed. New brooms, as the vulgar +proverb tells us, sweep clean; and no statute is so rigidly +enforced as a statute just made. But, Sir, so long ago as the +year 1711, the provisions of the Toleration Act on this subject +were modified. In that year the Whigs, in order to humour Lord +Nottingham, with whom they had coalesced against Lord Oxford, +consented to let the Occasional Conformity Bill pass; but they +insisted on inserting in the bill a clause which was meant to +propitiate the dissenters. By this clause it was enacted that, +if an information were laid against a dissenting minister for +having omitted to subscribe the articles, the defendant might, by +subscribing at any stage of the proceedings anterior to the +judgment, defeat the information, and throw all the costs on the +informer. The House will easily believe that, when such was the +state of the law, informers were not numerous. Indeed, during +the discussions of 1773, it was distinctly affirmed, both in +Parliament and in manifestoes put forth by the dissenting body, +that the majority of nonconformist ministers then living had +never subscribed. All arguments, therefore, grounded on the +insincerity which has been rashly imputed to the Unitarians of +former generations, fall at once to the ground. + +But, it is said, the persons who, in the reigns of James the +Second, of William the Third, and of Anne, first established +these chapels, held the doctrine of the Trinity; and therefore, +when, at a later period, the preachers and congregations departed +from the doctrine of the Trinity, they ought to have departed +from the chapels too. The honourable and learned gentleman, the +Attorney General, has refuted this argument so ably that he has +scarcely left anything for me to say about it. It is well-known +that the change which, soon after the Revolution, began to take +place in the opinions of a section of the old Puritan body, was a +gradual, an almost imperceptible change. The principle of the +English Presbyterians was to have no confession of faith and no +form of prayer. Their trust deeds contained no accurate +theological definitions. Nonsubscription was in truth the very +bond which held them together. What, then, could be more natural +than that, Sunday by Sunday, the sermons should have become less +and less like those of the old Calvinistic divines, that the +doctrine of the Trinity should have been less and less frequently +mentioned, that at last it should have ceased to be mentioned, +and that thus, in the course of years, preachers and hearers +should, by insensible degrees, have become first Arians, then, +perhaps, Socinians. I know that this explanation has been +treated with disdain by people profoundly ignorant of the history +of English nonconformity. I see that my right honourable friend +near me (Mr Fox Maule.) does not assent to it. Will he permit me +to refer him to an analogous case with which he cannot but be +well acquainted? No person in the House is more versed than he +in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland; and he will, I am +sure, admit that some of the doctrines now professed by the +Scotch sects which sprang from the secessions of 1733 and 1760 +are such as the seceders of 1733 and the seceders of 1760 would +have regarded with horror. I have talked with some of the +ablest, most learned, and most pious of the Scotch dissenters of +our time; and they all fully admitted that they held more than +one opinion which their predecessors would have considered as +impious. Take the question of the connection between Church and +State. The seceders of 1733 thought that the connection ought to +be much closer than it is. They blamed the legislature for +tolerating heresy. They maintained that the Solemn league and +covenant was still binding on the kingdom. They considered it as +a national sin that the validity of the Solemn League and +Covenant was not recognised at the time of the Revolution. When +George Whitfield went to Scotland, though they approved of his +Calvinistic opinions, and though they justly admired that natural +eloquence which he possessed in so wonderful a degree, they would +hold no communion with him because he would not subscribe the +Solemn League and Covenant. Is that the doctrine of their +successors? Are the Scotch dissenters now averse to toleration? +Are they not zealous for the voluntary system? Is it not their +constant cry that it is not the business of the civil magistrate +to encourage any religion, false or true? Does any Bishop now +abhor the Solemn League and Covenant more than they? Here is an +instance in which numerous congregations have, retaining their +identity, passed gradually from one opinion to another opinion. +And would it be just, would it be decent in me, to impute +dishonesty to them on that account? My right honourable friend +may be of opinion that the question touching the connection +between the Church and State is not a vital question. But was +that the opinion of the divines who drew up the Secession +Testimony? He well knows that in their view a man who denied +that it was the duty of the government to defend religious truth +with the civil sword was as much a heretic as a man who denied +the doctrine of the Trinity. + +Again, Sir, take the case of the Wesleyan Methodists. They are +zealous against this bill. They think it monstrous that a chapel +originally built for people holding one set of doctrines should +be occupied by people holding a different set of doctrines. I +would advise them to consider whether they cannot find in the +history of their own body reasons for being a little more +indulgent. What were the opinions of that great and good man, +their founder, on the question whether men not episcopally +ordained could lawfully administer the Eucharist? He told his +followers that lay administration was a sin which he never could +tolerate. Those were the very words which he used; and I believe +that, during his lifetime, the Eucharist never was administered +by laymen in any place of worship which was under his control. +After his death, however, the feeling in favour of lay +administration became strong and general among his disciples. +The Conference yielded to that feeling. The consequence is that +now, in every chapel which belonged to Wesley, those who glory in +the name of Wesleyans commit, every Sacrament Sunday, what Wesley +declared to be a sin which he would never tolerate. And yet +these very persons are not ashamed to tell us in loud and angry +tones that it is fraud, downright fraud, in a congregation which +has departed from its original doctrines to retain its original +endowments. I believe, Sir, that, if you refuse to pass this +bill, the Courts of Law will soon have to decide some knotty +questions which, as yet, the Methodists little dream of. + +It has, I own, given me great pain to observe the unfair and +acrimonious manner in which too many of the Protestant +nonconformists have opposed this bill. The opposition of the +Established Church has been comparatively mild and moderate; and +yet from the Established Church we had less right to expect +mildness and moderation. It is certainly not right, but it is +very natural, that a church, ancient and richly endowed, closely +connected with the Crown and the aristocracy, powerful in +parliament, dominant in the universities, should sometimes forget +what is due to poorer and humbler Christian societies. But when +I hear a cry for what is nothing less than persecution set up by +men who have been, over and over again within my own memory, +forced to invoke in their own defence the principles of +toleration, I cannot but feel astonishment mingled with +indignation. And what above all excites both my astonishment and +my indignation is this, that the most noisy among the noisy +opponents of the bill which we are considering are some sectaries +who are at this very moment calling on us to pass another bill of +just the same kind for their own benefit. I speak of those Irish +Presbyterians who are asking for an ex post facto law to confirm +their marriages. See how exact the parallel is between the case +of those marriages and the case of these chapels. The Irish +Presbyterians have gone on marrying according to their own forms +during a long course of years. The Unitarians have gone on +occupying, improving, embellishing certain property during a long +course of years. In neither case did any doubt as to the right +arise in the most honest, in the most scrupulous mind. At +length, about the same time, both the validity of the +Presbyterian marriages and the validity of the title by which the +Unitarians held their chapels were disputed. The two questions +came before the tribunals. The tribunals, with great reluctance, +with great pain, pronounced that, neither in the case of the +marriages nor in the case of the chapels, can prescription be set +up against the letter of the law. In both cases there is a just +claim to relief such as the legislature alone can afford. In +both the legislature is willing to grant that relief. But this +will not satisfy the orthodox Presbyterian. He demands with +equal vehemence two things, that he shall be relieved, and that +nobody else shall be relieved. In the same breath he tells us +that it would be most iniquitous not to pass a retrospective law +for his benefit, and that it would be most iniquitous to pass a +retrospective law for the benefit of his fellow sufferers. I +never was more amused than by reading, the other day, a speech +made by a person of great note among the Irish Presbyterians on +the subject of these marriages. "Is it to be endured," he says, +"that the mummies of old and forgotten laws are to be dug up and +unswathed for the annoyance of dissenters?" And yet a few hours +later, this eloquent orator is himself hard at work in digging up +and unswathing another set of mummies for the annoyance of +another set of dissenters. I should like to know how he and such +as he would look if we Churchmen were to assume the same tone +towards them which they think it becoming to assume towards the +Unitarian body; if we were to say, "You and those whom you would +oppress are alike out of our pale. If they are heretics in your +opinion, you are schismatics in ours. Since you insist on the +letter of the law against them, we will insist on the letter of +the law against you. You object to ex post facto statutes; and +you shall have none. You think it reasonable that men should, in +spite of a prescription of eighty or ninety years, be turned out +of a chapel built with their own money, and a cemetery where +their own kindred lie, because the original title was not +strictly legal. We think it equally reasonable that those +contracts which you have imagined to be marriages, but which are +now adjudged not to be legal marriages, should be treated as +nullities." I wish from my soul that some of these orthodox +dissenters would recollect that the doctrine which they defend +with so much zeal against the Unitarians is not the whole sum and +substance of Christianity, and that there is a text about doing +unto others as you would that they should do unto you. + +To any intelligent man who has no object except to do justice, +the Trinitarian dissenter and the Unitarian dissenter who are now +asking us for relief will appear to have exactly the same right +to it. There is, however, I must own, one distinction between +the two cases. The Trinitarian dissenters are a strong body, and +especially strong among the electors of towns. They are of great +weight in the State. Some of us may probably, by voting to-night +against their wishes, endanger our seats in this House. The +Unitarians, on the other hand, are few in number. Their creed is +unpopular. Their friendship is likely to injure a public man +more than their enmity. If therefore there be among us any +person of a nature at once tyrannical and cowardly, any person +who delights in persecution, but is restrained by fear from +persecuting powerful sects, now is his time. He never can have a +better opportunity of gratifying his malevolence without risk of +retribution. But, for my part, I long ago espoused the cause of +religious liberty, not because that cause was popular, but +because it was just; and I am not disposed to abandon the +principles to which I have been true through my whole life in +deference to a passing clamour. The day may come, and may come +soon, when those who are now loudest in raising that clamour may +again be, as they have formerly been, suppliants for justice. +When that day comes I will try to prevent others from oppressing +them, as I now try to prevent them from oppressing others. In +the meantime I shall contend against their intolerance with the +same spirit with which I may hereafter have to contend for their +rights. + +... + + +THE SUGAR DUTIES. (FEBRUARY 26, 1845) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 26TH OF +FEBRUARY, 1845. + +On the twenty-sixth of February, 1845, on the question that the +order of the day for going into Committee of Ways and Means +should be read, Lord John Russell moved the following amendment: +--"That it is the opinion of this House that the plan proposed by +Her Majesty's Government, in reference to the Sugar Duties, +professes to keep up a distinction between foreign free labour +sugar and foreign slave labour sugar, which is impracticable and +illusory; and, without adequate benefit to the consumer, tends so +greatly to impair the revenue as to render the removal of the +Income and Property Tax at the end of three years extremely +uncertain and improbable." The amendment was rejected by 236 +votes to 142. In the debate the following Speech was made. + +Sir, if the question now at issue were merely a financial or a +commercial question, I should be unwilling to offer myself to +your notice: for I am well aware that there are, both on your +right and on your left hand, many gentlemen far more deeply +versed in financial and commercial science than myself; and I +should think that I discharged my duty better by listening to +them than by assuming the office of a teacher. But, Sir, the +question on which we are at issue with Her Majesty's Ministers is +neither a financial nor a commercial question. I do not +understand it to be disputed that, if we were to pronounce our +decision with reference merely to fiscal and mercantile +considerations, we should at once adopt the plan recommended by +my noble friend. Indeed the right honourable gentleman, the late +President of the Board of Trade (Mr Gladstone.), has distinctly +admitted this. He says that the Ministers of the Crown call upon +us to sacrifice great pecuniary advantages and great commercial +facilities, for the purpose of maintaining a moral principle. +Neither in any former debate nor in the debate of this night has +any person ventured to deny that, both as respects the public +purse and as respects the interests of trade, the course +recommended by my noble friend is preferable to the course +recommended by the Government. + +The objections to my noble friend's amendment, then, are purely +moral objections. We lie, it seems, under a moral obligation to +make a distinction between the produce of free labour and the +produce of slave labour. Now I should be very unwilling to incur +the imputation of being indifferent to moral obligations. I do, +however, think that it is in my power to show strong reasons for +believing that the moral obligation pleaded by the Ministers has +no existence. If there be no such moral obligation, then, as it +is conceded on the other side that all fiscal and commercial +arguments are on the side of my noble friend, it follows that we +ought to adopt his amendment. + +The right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board +of Trade, has said that the Government does not pretend to act +with perfect consistency as to this distinction between free +labour and slave labour. It was, indeed, necessary that he +should say this; for the policy of the Government is obviously +most inconsistent. Perfect consistency, I admit, we are not to +expect in human affairs. But, surely, there is a decent +consistency which ought to be observed; and of this the right +honourable gentleman himself seems to be sensible; for he asks +how, if we admit sugar grown by Brazilian slaves, we can with +decency continue to stop Brazilian vessels engaged in the slave +trade. This argument, whatever be its value, proceeds on the +very correct supposition that the test of sincerity in +individuals, in parties, and in governments, is consistency. The +right honourable gentleman feels, as we must all feel, that it is +impossible to give credit for good faith to a man who on one +occasion pleads a scruple of conscience as an excuse for not +doing a certain thing, and who on other occasions, where there is +no essential difference of circumstances, does that very thing +without any scruple at all. I do not wish to use such a word as +hypocrisy, or to impute that odious vice to any gentleman on +either side of the House. But whoever declares one moment that +he feels himself bound by a certain moral rule, and the next +moment, in a case strictly similar, acts in direct defiance of +that rule, must submit to have, if not his honesty, yet at least +his power of discriminating right from wrong very gravely +questioned. + +Now, Sir, I deny the existence of the moral obligation pleaded by +the Government. I deny that we are under any moral obligation to +turn our fiscal code into a penal code, for the purpose of +correcting vices in the institutions of independent states. I +say that, if you suppose such a moral obligation to be in force, +the supposition leads to consequences from which every one of us +would recoil, to consequences which would throw the whole +commercial and political system of the world into confusion. I +say that, if such a moral obligation exists, our financial +legislation is one mass of injustice and inhumanity. And I say +more especially that, if such a moral obligation exists, the +right honourable Baronet's Budget is one mass of injustice and +inhumanity. + +Observe, I am not disputing the paramount authority of moral +obligation. I am not setting up pecuniary considerations against +moral considerations. I know that it would be not only a wicked +but a shortsighted policy, to aim at making a nation like this +great and prosperous by violating the laws of justice. To those +laws, enjoin what they may, I am prepared to submit. But I will +not palter with them: I will not cite them to-day in order to +serve one turn, and quibble them away to-morrow in order to serve +another. I will not have two standards of right; one to be +applied when I wish to protect a favourite interest at the public +cost; and another to be applied when I wish to replenish the +Exchequer, and to give an impulse to trade. I will not have two +weights or two measures. I will not blow hot and cold, play fast +and loose, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Can the +Government say as much? Are gentlemen opposite prepared to act +in conformity with their own principle? They need not look long +for opportunities. The Statute Book swarms with enactments +directly opposed to the rule which they profess to respect. I +will take a single instance from our existing laws, and propound +it to the gentlemen opposite as a test, if I must not say of +their sincerity, yet of their power of moral discrimination. +Take the article of tobacco. Not only do you admit the tobacco +of the United States which is grown by slaves; not only do you +admit the tobacco of Cuba which is grown by slaves, and by +slaves, as you tell us, recently imported from Africa; but you +actually interdict the free labourer of the United Kingdom from +growing tobacco. You have long had in your Statute Book laws +prohibiting the cultivation of tobacco in England, and +authorising the Government to destroy all tobacco plantations +except a few square yards, which are suffered to exist unmolested +in botanical gardens, for purposes of science. These laws did +not extend to Ireland. The free peasantry of Ireland began to +grow tobacco. The cultivation spread fast. Down came your +legislation upon it; and now, if the Irish freeman dares to +engage in competition with the slaves of Virginia and Havannah, +you exchequer him; you ruin him; you grub up his plantation. +Here, then, we have a test by which we may try the consistency of +the gentlemen opposite. I ask you, are you prepared, I do not +say to exclude the slave grown tobacco, but to take away from +slave grown tobacco the monopoly which you now give to it, and to +permit the free labourer of the United Kingdom to enter into +competition on equal terms, on any terms, with the negro who +works under the lash? I am confident that the three right +honourable gentleman opposite, the First Lord of the Treasury, +the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the late President of the +Board of Trade, will all with one voice answer "No." And why +not? "Because," say they, "it will injure the revenue. True it +is," they will say, "that the tobacco imported from abroad is +grown by slaves, and by slaves many of whom have been recently +carried across the Atlantic in defiance, not only of justice and +humanity, but of law and treaty. True it is that the cultivators +of the United Kingdom are freemen. But then on the imported +tobacco we are able to raise at the Custom House a duty of six +hundred per cent., sometimes indeed of twelve hundred per cent.: +and, if tobacco were grown here, it would be difficult to get an +excise duty of even a hundred per cent. We cannot submit to this +loss of revenue; and therefore we must give a monopoly to the +slaveholder, and make it penal in the freeman to evade that +monopoly." You may be right; but, in the name of common sense, +be consistent. If this moral obligation of which you talk so +much be one which may with propriety yield to fiscal +considerations, let us have Brazilian sugars. If it be paramount +to all fiscal considerations, let us at least have British snuff +and cigars. + +The present Ministers may indeed plead that they are not the +authors of the laws which prohibit the cultivation of tobacco in +Great Britain and Ireland. That is true. The present Government +found those laws in existence: and no doubt there is good sense +in the Conservative doctrine that many things which ought not to +have been set up ought not, when they have been set up, to be +hastily and rudely pulled down. But what will the right +honourable Baronet urge in vindication of his own new budget? He +is not content with maintaining laws which he finds already +existing in favour of produce grown by slaves. He introduces a +crowd of new laws to the same effect. He comes down to the House +with a proposition for entirely taking away the duties on the +importation of raw cotton. He glories in this scheme. He tells +us that it is in strict accordance with the soundest principles +of legislation. He tells us that it will be a blessing to the +country. I agree with him, and I intend to vote with him. But +how is all this cotton grown? Is it not grown by slaves? Again +I say, you may be right; but, in the name of common sense, be +consistent. I saw, with no small amusement, a few days ago, a +paragraph by one of the right honourable Baronet's eulogists, +which was to the following effect:--"Thus has this eminent +statesman given to the English labourer a large supply of a most +important raw material, and has manfully withstood those ravenous +Whigs who wished to inundate our country with sugar dyed in negro +blood." With what I should like to know, is the right honourable +Baronet's cotton dyed? + +Formerly, indeed, an attempt was made to distinguish between the +cultivation of cotton and the cultivation of sugar. The +cultivation of sugar, it was said, was peculiarly fatal to the +health and life of the slave. But that plea, whatever it may +have been worth, must now be abandoned; for the right honourable +Baronet now proposes to reduce, to a very great extent, the duty +on slave grown sugar imported from the United States. + +Then a new distinction is set up. The United States, it is said, +have slavery; but they have no slave trade. I deny that +assertion. I say that the sugar and cotton of the United States +are the fruits, not only of slavery, but of the slave trade. And +I say further that, if there be on the surface of this earth a +country which, before God and man, is more accountable than any +other for the misery and degradation of the African race, that +country is not Brazil, the produce of which the right honourable +Baronet excludes, but the United States, the produce of which he +proposes to admit on more favourable terms than ever. I have no +pleasure in going into an argument of this nature. I do not +conceive that it is the duty of a member of the English +Parliament to discuss abuses which exist in other societies. +Such discussion seldom tends to produce any reform of such +abuses, and has a direct tendency to wound national pride, and to +inflame national animosities. I would willingly avoid this +subject; but the right honourable Baronet leaves me no choice. +He turns this House into a Court of Judicature for the purpose of +criticising and comparing the institutions of independent States. +He tells us that our Tariff is to be made an instrument for +rewarding the justice and humanity of some Foreign Governments, +and for punishing the barbarity of others. He binds up the +dearest interests of my constituents with questions with which +otherwise I should, as a Member of Parliament, have nothing to +do. I would gladly keep silence on such questions. But it +cannot be. The tradesmen and the professional men whom I +represent say to me, "Why are we to be loaded, certainly for some +years, probably for ever, with a tax, admitted by those who +impose it to be grievous, unequal, inquisitorial? Why are we to +be loaded in time of peace with burdens heretofore reserved for +the exigencies of war?" The paper manufacturer, the soap +manufacturer, say, "Why, if the Income Tax is to be continued, +are our important and suffering branches of industry to have no +relief?" And the answer is, "Because Brazil does not behave so +well as the United States towards the negro race." Can I then +avoid instituting a comparison? Am I not bound to bring to the +test the truth of an assertion pregnant with consequences so +momentous to those who have sent me hither? I must speak out; +and, if what I say gives offence and produces inconvenience, for +that offence and for that inconvenience the Government is +responsible. + +I affirm, then, that there exists in the United States a slave +trade, not less odious or demoralising, nay, I do in my +conscience believe, more odious and more demoralising than that +which is carried on between Africa and Brazil. North Carolina +and Virginia are to Louisiana and Alabama what Congo is to Rio +Janeiro. The slave States of the Union are divided into two +classes, the breeding States, where the human beasts of burden +increase and multiply and become strong for labour, and the sugar +and cotton States to which those beasts of burden are sent to be +worked to death. To what an extent the traffic in man is carried +on we may learn by comparing the census of 1830 with the census +of 1840. North Carolina and Virginia are, as I have said, great +breeding States. During the ten years from 1830 to 1840 the +slave population of North Carolina was almost stationary. The +slave population of Virginia positively decreased. Yet, both in +North Carolina and Virginia propagation was, during those ten +years, going on fast. The number of births among the slaves in +those States exceeded by hundreds of thousands the number of the +deaths. What then became of the surplus? Look to the returns +from the Southern States, from the States whose produce the right +honourable Baronet proposes to admit with reduced duty or with no +duty at all; and you will see. You will find that the increase +in the breeding States was barely sufficient to meet the demand +of the consuming States. In Louisiana, for example, where we +know that the negro population is worn down by cruel toil, and +would not, if left to itself, keep up its numbers, there were, in +1830, one hundred and seven thousand slaves; in 1840, one hundred +and seventy thousand. In Alabama, the slave population during +those ten years much more than doubled; it rose from one hundred +and seventeen thousand to two hundred and fifty-three thousand. +In Mississippi it actually tripled. It rose from sixty-five +thousand to one hundred and ninety-five thousand. So much for +the extent of this slave trade. And as to its nature, ask any +Englishman who has ever travelled in the Southern States. +Jobbers go about from plantation to plantation looking out for +proprietors who are not easy in their circumstances, and who are +likely to sell cheap. A black boy is picked up here; a black +girl there. The dearest ties of nature and of marriage are torn +asunder as rudely as they were ever torn asunder by any slave +captain on the coast of Guinea. A gang of three or four hundred +negroes is made up; and then these wretches, handcuffed, +fettered, guarded by armed men, are driven southward, as you +would drive,--or rather as you would not drive,--a herd of oxen +to Smithfield, that they may undergo the deadly labour of the +sugar mill near the mouth of the Mississippi. A very few years +of that labour in that climate suffice to send the stoutest +African to his grave. But he can well be spared. While he is +fast sinking into premature old age, negro boys in Virginia are +growing up as fast into vigorous manhood to supply the void which +cruelty is making in Louisiana. God forbid that I should +extenuate the horrors of the slave trade in any form! But I do +think this its worst form. Bad enough is it that civilised men +should sail to an uncivilised quarter of the world where slavery +exists, should there buy wretched barbarians, and should carry +them away to labour in a distant land: bad enough! But that a +civilised man, a baptized man, a man proud of being a citizen of +a free state, a man frequenting a Christian church, should breed +slaves for exportation, and, if the whole horrible truth must be +told, should even beget slaves for exportation, should see +children, sometimes his own children, gambolling around him from +infancy, should watch their growth, should become familiar with +their faces, and should then sell them for four or five hundred +dollars a head, and send them to lead in a remote country a life +which is a lingering death, a life about which the best thing +that can be said is that it is sure to be short; this does, I +own, excite a horror exceeding even the horror excited by that +slave trade which is the curse of the African coast. And mark: +I am not speaking of any rare case, of any instance of eccentric +depravity. I am speaking of a trade as regular as the trade in +pigs between Dublin and Liverpool, or as the trade in coals +between the Tyne and the Thames. + +There is another point to which I must advert. I have no wish to +apologise for slavery as it exists in Brazil; but this I say, +that slavery, as it exists in Brazil, though a fearful evil, +seems to me a much less hopeless evil than slavery as it exists +in the United States. In estimating the character of negro +slavery we must never forget one most important ingredient; an +ingredient which was wanting to slavery as it was known to the +Greeks and Romans; an ingredient which was wanting to slavery as +it appeared in Europe during the middle ages; I mean the +antipathy of colour. Where this antipathy exists in a high +degree, it is difficult to conceive how the white masters and the +black labourers can ever be mingled together, as the lords and +villeins in many parts of the Old World have been, in one free +community. Now this antipathy is notoriously much stronger in +the United States than in the Brazils. In the Brazils the free +people of colour are numerous. They are not excluded from +honourable callings. You may find among them merchants, +physicians, lawyers: many of them bear arms; some have been +admitted to holy orders. Whoever knows what dignity, what +sanctity, the Church of Rome ascribes to the person of a priest, +will at once perceive the important consequences which follow +from this last circumstance. It is by no means unusual to see a +white penitent kneeling before the spiritual tribunal of a negro, +confessing his sins to a negro, receiving absolution from a +negro. It is by no means unusual to see a negro dispensing the +Eucharist to a circle of whites. I need not tell the House what +emotions of amazement and of rage such a spectacle would excite +in Georgia or South Carolina. Fully admitting, therefore, as I +do, that Brazilian slavery is a horrible evil, I yet must say +that, if I were called upon to declare whether I think the +chances of the African race on the whole better in Brazil or in +the United States, I should at once answer that they are better +in Brazil. I think it not improbable that in eighty or a hundred +years the black population of Brazil may be free and happy. I +see no reasonable prospect of such a change in the United States. + +The right honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board +of Trade, has said much about that system of maritime police by +which we have attempted to sweep slave trading vessels from the +great highway of nations. Now what has been the conduct of +Brazil, and what has been the conduct of the United States, as +respects that system of police? Brazil has come into the system; +the United States have thrown every impediment in the way of the +system. What opinion Her Majesty's Ministers entertain +respecting the Right of Search we know from a letter of my Lord +Aberdeen which has, within a few days, been laid on our table. I +believe that I state correctly the sense of that letter when I +say that the noble Earl regards the Right of Search as an +efficacious means, and as the only efficacious means, of +preventing the maritime slave trade. He expresses most serious +doubts whether any substitute can be devised. I think that this +check would be a most valuable one, if all nations would submit +to it; and I applaud the humanity which has induced successive +British administrations to exert themselves for the purpose of +obtaining the concurrence of foreign Powers in so excellent a +plan. Brazil consented to admit the Right of Search; the United +States refused, and by refusing deprived the Right of Search of +half its value. Not content with refusing to admit the Right of +Search, they even disputed the right of visit, a right which no +impartial publicist in Europe will deny to be in strict +conformity with the Law of Nations. Nor was this all. In every +part of the Continent of Europe the diplomatic agents of the +Cabinet of Washington have toiled to induce other nations to +imitate the example of the United States. You cannot have +forgotten General Cass's letter. You cannot have forgotten the +terms in which his Government communicated to him its approbation +of his conduct. You know as well as I do that, if the United +States had submitted to the Right of Search, there would have +been no outcry against that right in France. Nor do I much blame +the French. It is but natural that, when one maritime Power +makes it a point of honour to refuse us this right, other +maritime Powers should think that they cannot, without +degradation, take a different course. It is but natural that a +Frenchman, proud of his country, should ask why the tricolor is +to be less respected then the stars and stripes. The right +honourable gentleman says that, if we assent to my noble friend's +amendment, we shall no longer be able to maintain the Right of +Search. Sir, he need not trouble himself about that right. It +is already gone. We have agreed to negotiate on the subject with +France. Everybody knows how that negotiation will end. The +French flag will be exempted from search: Spain will instantly +demand, if she has not already demanded, similar exemption; and +you may as well let her have it with a good grace, and without +wrangling. For a Right of Search, from which the flags of France +and America are exempted, is not worth a dispute. The only +system, therefore, which, in the opinion of Her Majesty's +Ministers, has yet been found efficacious for the prevention of +the maritime slave trade, is in fact abandoned. And who is +answerable for this? The United States of America. The chief +guilt even of the slave trade between Africa and Brazil lies, not +with the Government of Brazil, but with that of the United +States. And yet the right honourable Baronet proposes to punish +Brazil for the slave trade, and in the same breath proposes to +show favour to the United States, because the United States are +pure from the crime of slave trading. I thank the right +honourable gentleman, the late President of the Board of Trade, +for reminding me of Mr Calhoun's letter. I could not have wished +for a better illustration of my argument. Let anybody who has +read that letter say what is the country which, if we take on +ourselves to avenge the wrongs of Africa, ought to be the first +object of our indignation. The Government of the United States +has placed itself on a bad eminence to which Brazil never +aspired, and which Brazil, even if aspiring to it, never could +attain. The Government of the United States has formally +declared itself the patron, the champion of negro slavery all +over the world, the evil genius, the Arimanes of the African +race, and seems to take pride in this shameful and odious +distinction. I well understand that an American statesman may +say, "Slavery is a horrible evil; but we were born to it, we see +no way at present to rid ourselves of it: and we must endure it +as we best may." Good and enlightened men may hold such +language; but such is not the language of the American Cabinet. +That Cabinet is actuated by a propagandist spirit, and labours to +spread servitude and barbarism with an ardour such as no other +Government ever showed in the cause of freedom and civilisation. +Nay more; the doctrine held at Washington is that this holy cause +sanctifies the most unholy means. These zealots of slavery think +themselves justified in snatching away provinces on the right +hand and on the left, in defiance of public faith and +international law, from neighbouring countries which have free +institutions, and this avowedly for the purpose of diffusing over +a wider space the greatest curse that afflicts humanity. They +put themselves at the head of the slavedriving interest +throughout the world, just as Elizabeth put herself at the head +of the Protestant interest; and wherever their favourite +institution is in danger, are ready to stand by it as Elizabeth +stood by the Dutch. This, then, I hold to be demonstrated, that +of all societies now existing, the Republic of the United States +is by far the most culpable as respects slavery and the slave +trade. + +Now then I come to the right honourable Baronet's Budget. He +tells us, that he will not admit Brazilian sugar, because the +Brazilian Government tolerates slavery and connives at the slave +trade; and he tells us at the same time, that he will admit the +slave grown cotton and the slave grown sugar of the United +States. I am utterly at a loss to understand how he can +vindicate his consistency. He tells us that if we adopt my noble +friend's proposition, we shall give a stimulus to the slave trade +between Africa and Brazil. Be it so. But is it not equally +clear that, if we adopt the right honourable Baronet's own +propositions, we shall give a stimulus to the slave trade between +Virginia and Louisiana? I have not the least doubt that, as soon +as the contents of his Budget are known on the other side of the +Atlantic, the slave trade will become more active than it is at +this moment; that the jobbers in human flesh and blood will be +more busy than ever; that the droves of manacled negroes, moving +southward to their doom, will be more numerous on every road. +These will be the fruits of the right honourable Baronet's +measure. Yet he tells us that this part of his Budget is framed +on sound principles and will greatly benefit the country; and he +tells us truth. I mean to vote with him; and I can perfectly, on +my own principles, reconcile to my conscience the vote which I +shall give. How the right honourable Baronet can reconcile the +course which he takes to his conscience, I am at a loss to +conceive, and am not a little curious to know. No man is more +capable than he of doing justice to any cause which he +undertakes; and it would be most presumptuous in me to anticipate +the defence which he means to set up. But I hope that the House +will suffer me, as one who feels deeply on this subject, now to +explain the reasons which convince me that I ought to vote for +the right honourable Baronet's propositions respecting the +produce of the United States. In explaining those reasons, I at +the same time explain the reasons which induce me to vote with my +noble friend to-night. + +I say then, Sir, that I fully admit the paramount authority of +moral obligations. But it is important that we should accurately +understand the nature and extent of those obligations. We are +clearly bound to wrong no man. Nay, more, we are bound to regard +all men with benevolence. But to every individual, and to every +society, Providence has assigned a sphere within which +benevolence ought to be peculiarly active; and if an individual +or a society neglects what lies within that sphere in order to +attend to what lies without, the result is likely to be harm and +not good. + +It is thus in private life. We should not be justified in +injuring a stranger in order to benefit ourselves or those who +are dearest to us. Every stranger is entitled, by the laws of +humanity, to claim from us certain reasonable good offices. But +it is not true that we are bound to exert ourselves to serve a +mere stranger as we are bound to exert ourselves to serve our own +relations. A man would not be justified in subjecting his wife +and children to disagreeable privations, in order to save even +from utter ruin some foreigner whom he never saw. And if a man +were so absurd and perverse as to starve his own family in order +to relieve people with whom he had no acquaintance, there can be +little doubt that his crazy charity would produce much more +misery than happiness. + +It is the same with nations. No statesmen ought to injure other +countries in order to benefit his own country. No statesman +ought to lose any fair opportunity of rendering to foreign +nations such good offices as he can render without a breach of +the duty which he owes to the society of which he is a member. +But, after all, our country is our country, and has the first +claim on our attention. There is nothing, I conceive, of narrow- +mindedness in this patriotism. I do not say that we ought to +prefer the happiness of one particular society to the happiness +of mankind; but I say that, by exerting ourselves to promote the +happiness of the society with which we are most nearly connected, +and with which we are best acquainted, we shall do more to +promote the happiness of mankind than by busying ourselves about +matters which we do not fully understand, and cannot efficiently +control. + +There are great evils connected with the factory system in this +country. Some of those evils might, I am inclined to think, be +removed or mitigated by legislation. On that point many of my +friends differ from me; but we all agree in thinking that it is +the duty of a British Legislator to consider the subject +attentively, and with a serious sense of responsibility. There +are also great social evils in Russia. The peasants of that +empire are in a state of servitude. The sovereign of Russia is +bound by the most solemn obligations to consider whether he can +do anything to improve the condition of that large portion of his +subjects. If we watch over our factory children, and he watches +over his peasants, much good may be done. But would any good be +done if the Emperor of Russia and the British Parliament were to +interchange functions; if he were to take under his patronage the +weavers of Lancashire, if we were to take under our patronage the +peasants of the Volga; if he were to say, "You shall send no +cotton to Russia till you pass a ten Hours' Bill;" if we were to +say, "You shall send no hemp or tallow to England till you +emancipate your serfs?" + +On these principles, Sir, which seem to me to be the principles +of plain common sense, I can, without resorting to any +casuistical subtilties, vindicate to my own conscience, and, I +hope, to my country, the whole course which I have pursued with +respect to slavery. When I first came into Parliament, slavery +still existed in the British dominions. I had, as it was natural +that I should have, a strong feeling on the subject. I exerted +myself, according to my station and to the measure of my +abilities, on the side of the oppressed. I shrank from no +personal sacrifice in that cause. I do not mention this as +matter of boast. It was no more than my duty. The right +honourable gentleman, the Secretary of State for the Home +Department, knows that, in 1833, I disapproved of one part of the +measure which Lord Grey's Government proposed on the subject of +slavery. I was in office; and office was then as important to me +as it could be to any man. I put my resignation into the hands +of Lord Spencer, and both spoke and voted against the +Administration. To my surprise, Lord Grey and Lord Spencer +refused to accept my resignation, and I remained in office; but +during some days I considered myself as out of the service of the +Crown. I at the same time heartily joined in laying a heavy +burden on the country for the purpose of compensating the +planters. I acted thus, because, being a British Legislator, I +thought myself bound, at any cost to myself and to my +constituents, to remove a foul stain from the British laws, and +to redress the wrongs endured by persons who, as British +subjects, were placed under my guardianship. But my especial +obligations in respect of negro slavery ceased when slavery +itself ceased in that part of the world for the welfare of which +I, as a member of this House, was accountable. As for the blacks +in the United States, I feel for them, God knows. But I am not +their keeper. I do not stand in the same relation to the slaves +of Louisiana and Alabama in which I formerly stood to the slaves +of Demerara and Jamaica. I am bound, on the other hand, by the +most solemn obligations, to promote the interests of millions of +my own countrymen, who are indeed by no means in a state so +miserable and degraded as that of the slaves in the United +States, but who are toiling hard from sunrise to sunset in order +to obtain a scanty subsistence; who are often scarcely able to +procure the necessaries of life; and whose lot would be +alleviated if I could open new markets to them, and free them +from taxes which now press heavily on their industry. I see +clearly that, by excluding the produce of slave labour from our +ports, I should inflict great evil on my fellow-subjects and +constituents. But the good which, by taking such a course, I +should do to the negroes in the United States seems to me very +problematical. That by admitting slave grown cotton and slave +grown sugar we do, in some sense, encourage slavery and the Slave +Trade, may be true. But I doubt whether, by turning our fiscal +code into a penal code for restraining the cruelty of the +American planters, we should not, on the whole, injure the +negroes rather than benefit them. No independent nation will +endure to be told by another nation, "We are more virtuous than +you; we have sate in judgment on your institutions; we find them +to be bad; and, as a punishment for your offences, we condemn you +to pay higher duties at our Custom House than we demand from the +rest of the world." Such language naturally excites the +resentment of foreigners. I can make allowance for their +susceptibility. For I myself sympathise with them, I know that +Ireland has been misgoverned; and I have done, and purpose to do, +my best to redress her grievances. But when I take up a New York +journal, and read there the rants of President Tyler's son, I +feel so much disgusted by such insolent absurdity that I am for a +moment inclined to deny that Ireland has any reason whatever to +complain. It seems to me that if ever slavery is peaceably +extinguished in the United States, that great and happy change +must be brought about by the efforts of those enlightened and +respectable American citizens who hate slavery as much as we hate +it. Now I cannot help fearing that, if the British Parliament +were to proclaim itself the protector and avenger of the American +slave, the pride of those excellent persons would take the alarm. +It might become a point of national honour with them to stand by +an institution which they have hitherto regarded as a national +disgrace. We should thus confer no benefit on the negro; and we +should at the same time inflict cruel suffering on our own +countrymen. + +On these grounds, Sir, I can, with a clear conscience, vote for +the right honourable Baronet's propositions respecting the cotton +and sugar of the United States. But on exactly the same grounds +I can, with a clear conscience, vote for the amendment of my +noble friend. And I confess that I shall be much surprised if +the right honourable Baronet shall be able to point out any +distinction between the cases. + +I have detained you too long, Sir; yet there is one point to +which I must refer; I mean the refining. Was such a distinction +ever heard of? Is there anything like it in all Pascal's +Dialogues with the old Jesuit? Not for the world are we to eat +one ounce of Brazilian sugar. But we import the accursed thing; +we bond it; we employ our skill and machinery to render it more +alluring to the eye and to the palate; we export it to Leghorn +and Hamburg; we send it to all the coffee houses of Italy and +Germany: we pocket a profit on all this; and then we put on a +Pharisaical air, and thank God that we are not like those wicked +Italians and Germans who have no scruple about swallowing slave +grown sugar. Surely this sophistry is worthy only of the worst +class of false witnesses. "I perjure myself! Not for the world. +I only kissed my thumb; I did not put my lips to the calf-skin." +I remember something very like the right honourable Baronet's +morality in a Spanish novel which I read long ago. I beg pardon +of the House for detaining them with such a trifle; but the story +is much to the purpose. A wandering lad, a sort of Gil Blas, is +taken into the service of a rich old silversmith, a most pious +man, who is always telling his beads, who hears mass daily, and +observes the feasts and fasts of the church with the utmost +scrupulosity. The silversmith is always preaching honesty and +piety. "Never," he constantly repeats to his young assistant, +"never touch what is not your own; never take liberties with +sacred things." Sacrilege, as uniting theft with profaneness, is +the sin of which he has the deepest horror. One day, while he is +lecturing after his usual fashion, an ill-looking fellow comes +into the shop with a sack under his arm. "Will you buy these?" +says the visitor, and produces from the sack some church plate +and a rich silver crucifix. "Buy them!" cries the pious man. +"No, nor touch them; not for the world. I know where you got +them. Wretch that you are, have you no care for your soul?" +"Well then," says the thief, "if you will not buy them, will you +melt them down for me?" "Melt them down!" answers the silver +smith, "that is quite another matter." He takes the chalices and +the crucifix with a pair of tongs; the silver, thus in bond, is +dropped into the crucible, melted, and delivered to the thief, +who lays down five pistoles and decamps with his booty. The +young servant stares at this strange scene. But the master very +gravely resumes his lecture. "My son," he says, "take warning by +that sacrilegious knave, and take example by me. Think what a +load of guilt lies on his conscience. You will see him hanged +before long. But as to me, you saw that I would not touch the +stolen property. I keep these tongs for such occasions. And +thus I thrive in the fear of God, and manage to turn an honest +penny." You talk of morality. What can be more immoral than to +bring ridicule on the very name of morality, by drawing +distinctions where there are no differences? Is it not enough +that this dishonest casuistry has already poisoned our theology? +Is it not enough that a set of quibbles has been devised, under +cover of which a divine may hold the worst doctrines of the +Church of Rome, and may hold with them the best benefice of the +Church of England? Let us at least keep the debates of this +House free from the sophistry of Tract Number Ninety. + +And then the right honourable gentleman, the late President of +the Board of Trade, wonders that other nations consider our +abhorrence of slavery and the Slave Trade as sheer hypocrisy. +Why, Sir, how should it be otherwise? And, if the imputation +annoys us, whom have we to thank for it? Numerous and malevolent +as our detractors are, none of them was ever so absurd as to +charge us with hypocrisy because we took slave grown tobacco and +slave grown cotton, till the Government began to affect scruples +about admitting slave grown sugar. Of course, as soon as our +Ministers ostentatiously announced to all the world that our +fiscal system was framed on a new and sublime moral principle, +everybody began to inquire whether we consistently adhered to +that principle. It required much less acuteness and much less +malevolence than that of our neighbours to discover that this +hatred of slave grown produce was mere grimace. They see that we +not only take tobacco produced by means of slavery and of the +Slave Trade, but that we positively interdict freemen in this +country from growing tobacco. They see that we not only take +cotton produced by means of slavery and of the Slave Trade, but +that we are about to exempt this cotton from all duty. They see +that we are at this moment reducing the duty on the slave grown +sugar of Louisiana. How can we expect them to believe that it is +from a sense of justice and humanity that we lay a prohibitory +duty on the sugar of Brazil? I care little for the abuse which +any foreign press or any foreign tribune may throw on the +Machiavelian policy of perfidious Albion. What gives me pain is, +not that the charge of hypocrisy is made, but that I am unable to +see how it is to be refuted. + +Yet one word more. The right honourable gentleman, the late +President of the Board of Trade, has quoted the opinions of two +persons, highly distinguished by the exertions which they made +for the abolition of slavery, my lamented friend, Sir Thomas +Fowell Buxton, and Sir Stephen Lushington. It is most true that +those eminent persons did approve of the principle laid down by +the right honourable Baronet opposite in 1841. I think that they +were in error; but in their error I am sure that they were +sincere, and I firmly believe that they would have been +consistent. They would have objected, no doubt, to my noble +friend's amendment; but they would have objected equally to the +right honourable Baronet's budget. It was not prudent, I think, +in gentlemen opposite to allude to those respectable names. The +mention of those names irresistibly carries the mind back to the +days of the great struggle for negro freedom. And it is but +natural that we should ask where, during that struggle, were +those who now profess such loathing for slave grown sugar? The +three persons who are chiefly responsible for the financial and +commercial policy of the present Government I take to be the +right honourable Baronet at the head of the Treasury, the right +honourable gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the +right honourable gentleman the late President of the Board of +Trade. Is there anything in the past conduct of any one of the +three which can lead me to believe that his sensibility to the +evils of slavery is greater than mine? I am sure that the right +honourable Baronet the first Lord of the Treasury would think +that I was speaking ironically if I were to compliment him on his +zeal for the liberty of the negro race. Never once, during the +whole of the long and obstinate conflict which ended in the +abolition of slavery in our colonies, did he give one word, one +sign of encouragement to those who suffered and laboured for the +good cause. The whole weight of his great abilities and +influence was in the other scale. I well remember that, so late +as 1833, he declared in this House that he could give his assent +neither to the plan of immediate emancipation proposed by my +noble friend who now represents Sunderland (Lord Howick.), nor to +the plan of gradual emancipation proposed by Lord Grey's +government. I well remember that he said, "I shall claim no +credit hereafter on account of this bill; all that I desire is to +be absolved from the responsibility." As to the other two right +honourable gentlemen whom I have mentioned, they are West +Indians; and their conduct was that of West Indians. I do not +wish to give them pain, or to throw any disgraceful imputation on +them. Personally I regard them with feelings of goodwill and +respect. I do not question their sincerity; but I know that the +most honest men are but too prone to deceive themselves into the +belief that the path towards which they are impelled by their own +interests and passions is the path of duty. I am conscious that +this might be my own case; and I believe it to be theirs. As the +right honourable gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has +left the House, I will only say that, with respect to the +question of slavery, he acted after the fashion of the class to +which he belonged. But as the right honourable gentleman, the +late President of the Board of Trade, is in his place, he must +allow me to bring to his recollection the part which he took in +the debates of 1833. He then said, "You raise a great clamour +about the cultivation of sugar. You say that it is a species of +industry fatal to the health and life of the slave. I do not +deny that there is some difference between the labour of a sugar +plantation and the labour of a cotton plantation, or a coffee +plantation. But the difference is not so great as you think. In +marshy soils, the slaves who cultivate the sugar cane suffer +severely. But in Barbadoes, where the air is good, they thrive +and multiply." He proceeded to say that, even at the worst, the +labour of a sugar plantation was not more unhealthy than some +kinds of labour in which the manufacturers of England are +employed, and which nobody thinks of prohibiting. He +particularly mentioned grinding. "See how grinding destroys the +health, the sight, the life. Yet there is no outcry against +grinding." He went on to say that the whole question ought to be +left by Parliament to the West Indian Legislature. [Mr +Gladstone: "Really I never said so. You are not quoting me at +all correctly."] What, not about the sugar cultivation and the +grinding? [Mr Gladstone: "That is correct; but I never +recommended that the question should be left to the West Indian +Legislatures."] I have quoted correctly. But since my right +honourable friend disclaims the sentiment imputed to him by the +reporters, I shall say no more about it. I have no doubt that he +is quite right, and that what he said was misunderstood. What is +undisputed is amply sufficient for my purpose. I see that the +persons who now show so much zeal against slavery in foreign +countries, are the same persons who formerly countenanced slavery +in the British Colonies. I remember a time when they maintained +that we were bound in justice to protect slave grown sugar +against the competition of free grown sugar, and even of British +free grown sugar. I now hear them calling on us to protect free +grown sugar against the competition of slave grown sugar. I +remember a time when they extenuated as much as they could the +evils of the sugar cultivation. I now hear them exaggerating +those evils. But, devious as their course has been, there is one +clue by which I can easily track them through the whole maze. +Inconstant in everything else, they are constant in demanding +protection for the West Indian planter. While he employs slaves, +they do their best to apologise for the evils of slavery. As +soon as he is forced to employ freemen, they begin to cry up the +blessings of freedom. They go round the whole compass, and yet +to one point they steadfastly adhere: and that point is the +interest of the West Indian proprietors. I have done, Sir; and I +thank the House most sincerely for the patience and indulgence +with which I have been heard. I hope that I have at least +vindicated my own consistency. How Her Majesty's Ministers will +vindicate their consistency, how they will show that their +conduct has at all times been guided by the same principles, or +even that their conduct at the present time is guided by any +fixed principle at all, I am unable to conjecture. + +... + + +MAYNOOTH. (APRIL 14, 1845) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 14TH OF APRIL, +1845. + +On Saturday the eleventh of April, 1845, Sir Robert Peel moved +the second reading of the Maynooth College Bill. After a debate +of six nights the motion was carried by 323 votes to 176. On the +second night the following Speech was made. + +I do not mean, Sir, to follow the honourable gentleman who has +just sate down into a discussion on an amendment which is not now +before us. When my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield +shall think it expedient to make a motion on that important +subject to which he has repeatedly called the attention of the +House, I may, perhaps, ask to be heard. At present I shall +content myself with explaining the reasons which convince me that +it is my duty to vote for the second reading of this bill; and I +cannot, I think, better explain those reasons than by passing in +review, as rapidly as I can, the chief objections which have been +made to the bill here and elsewhere. + +The objectors, Sir, may be divided into three classes. The first +class consists of those persons who object, not to the principle +of the grant to Maynooth College, but merely to the amount. The +second class consists of persons who object on principle to all +grants made to a church which they regard as corrupt. The third +class consists of persons who object on principle to all grants +made to churches, whether corrupt or pure. + +Now, Sir, of those three classes the first is evidently that +which takes the most untenable ground. How any person can think +that Maynooth College ought to be supported by public money, and +yet can think this bill too bad to be suffered to go into +Committee, I do not well understand. I am forced however to +believe that there are many such persons. For I cannot but +remember that the old annual vote attracted scarcely any notice; +and I see that this bill has produced violent excitement. I +cannot but remember that the old annual vote used to pass with +very few dissentients; and I see that great numbers of gentlemen, +who never were among those dissentients, have crowded down to the +House in order to divide against this bill. It is indeed certain +that a large proportion, I believe a majority, of those members +who cannot, as they assure us, conscientiously support the plan +proposed by the right honourable Baronet at the head of the +Government, would without the smallest scruple have supported him +if he had in this, as in former years, asked us to give nine +thousand pounds for twelve months. So it is: yet I cannot help +wondering that it should be so. For how can any human ingenuity +turn a question between nine thousand pounds and twenty-six +thousand pounds, or between twelve months and an indefinite +number of months, into a question of principle? Observe: I am +not now answering those who maintain that nothing ought to be +given out of the public purse to a corrupt church; nor am I now +answering those who maintain that nothing ought to be given out +of the public purse to any church whatever. They, I admit, +oppose this bill on principle. I perfectly understand, though I +do not myself hold, the opinion of the zealous voluntary who +says, "Whether the Roman Catholic Church teaches truth or error, +she ought to have no assistance from the State." I also +perfectly understand, though I do not myself hold, the opinion of +the zealous Protestant who says, "The Roman Catholic Church +teaches error, and therefore ought to have no assistance from the +State." But I cannot understand the reasoning of the man who +says, "In spite of the errors of the Roman Catholic Church, I +think that she ought to have some assistance from the State; but +I am bound to mark my abhorrence of her errors by doling out to +her a miserable pittance. Her tenets are so absurd and noxious +that I will pay the professor who teaches them wages less than I +should offer to my groom. Her rites are so superstitious that I +will take care that they shall be performed in a chapel with a +leaky roof and a dirty floor. By all means let us keep her a +college, provided only that it be a shabby one. Let us support +those who are intended to teach her doctrines and to administer +her sacraments to the next generation, provided only that every +future priest shall cost us less than a foot soldier. Let us +board her young theologians; but let their larder be so scantily +supplied that they may be compelled to break up before the +regular vacation from mere want of food. Let us lodge them; but +let their lodging be one in which they may be packed like pigs in +a stye, and be punished for their heterodoxy by feeling the snow +and the wind through the broken panes." Is it possible to +conceive anything more absurd or more disgraceful? Can anything +be clearer than this, that whatever it is lawful to do it is +lawful to do well? If it be right that we should keep up this +college at all, it must be right that we should keep it up +respectably. Our national dignity is concerned. For this +institution, whether good or bad, is, beyond all dispute, a very +important institution. Its office is to form the character of +those who are to form the character of millions. Whether we +ought to extend any patronage to such an institution is a +question about which wise and honest men may differ. But that, +as we do extend our patronage to such an institution, our +patronage ought to be worthy of the object, and worthy of the +greatness of our country, is a proposition from which I am +astonished to hear any person dissent. + +It is, I must say, with a peculiarly bad grace that one of the +members for the University to which I have the honour to belong +(The Honourable Charles Law, Member for the University of +Cambridge.), a gentleman who never thought himself bound to say a +word or to give a vote against the grant of nine thousand pounds, +now vehemently opposes the grant of twenty-six thousand pounds as +exorbitant. When I consider how munificently the colleges of +Cambridge and Oxford are endowed, and with what pomp religion and +learning are there surrounded; when I call to mind the long +streets of palaces, the towers and oriels, the venerable +cloisters, the trim gardens, the organs, the altar pieces, the +solemn light of the stained windows, the libraries, the museums, +the galleries of painting and sculpture; when I call to mind also +the physical comforts which are provided both for instructors and +for pupils; when I reflect that the very sizars and servitors are +far better lodged and fed than those students who are to be, a +few years hence, the priests and bishops of the Irish people; +when I think of the spacious and stately mansions of the heads of +houses, of the commodious chambers of the fellows and scholars, +of the refectories, the combination rooms, the bowling greens, +the stabling, of the state and luxury of the great feast days, of +the piles of old plate on the tables, of the savoury steam of the +kitchens, of the multitudes of geese and capons which turn at +once on the spits, of the oceans of excellent ale in the +butteries; and when I remember from whom all this splendour and +plenty is derived; when I remember what was the faith of Edward +the Third and of Henry the Sixth, of Margaret of Anjou and +Margaret of Richmond, of William of Wykeham and William of +Waynefleet, of Archbishop Chicheley and Cardinal Wolsey; when I +remember what we have taken from the Roman Catholics, King's +College, New College, Christ Church, my own Trinity; and when I +look at the miserable Dotheboys Hall which we have given them in +exchange, I feel, I must own, less proud than I could wish of +being a Protestant and a Cambridge man. + +Some gentlemen, it is true, have made an attempt to show that +there is a distinction of principle between the old grant which +they have always supported and the larger grant which they are +determined to oppose. But never was attempt more unsuccessful. +They say that, at the time of the Union, we entered into an +implied contract with Ireland to keep up this college. We are +therefore, they argue, bound by public faith to continue the old +grant; but we are not bound to make any addition to that grant. +Now, Sir, on this point, though on no other, I do most cordially +agree with those petitioners who have, on this occasion, covered +your table with such huge bales of spoiled paper and parchment. +I deny the existence of any such contract. I think myself +perfectly free to vote for the abolition of this college, if I am +satisfied that it is a pernicious institution; as free as I am to +vote against any item of the ordnance estimates; as free as I am +to vote for a reduction of the number of marines. It is strange, +too, that those who appeal to this imaginary contract should not +perceive that, even if their fiction be admitted as true, it will +by no means get them out of their difficulty. Tell us plainly +what are the precise terms of the contract which you suppose +Great Britain to have made with Ireland about this college. +Whatever the terms be, they will not serve your purpose. Was the +contract this, that the Imperial Parliament would do for the +college what the Irish Parliament had been used to do? Or was +the contract this, that the Imperial Parliament would keep the +college in a respectable and efficient state? If the former was +the contract, nine thousand pounds would be too much. If the +latter was the contract, you will not, I am confident, be able to +prove that twenty-six thousand pounds is too little. + +I have now, I think, said quite as much as need be said in answer +to those who maintain that we ought to give support to this +college, but that the support ought to be niggardly and +precarious. I now come to another and a much more formidable +class of objectors. Their objections may be simply stated thus. +No man can justifiably, either as an individual or as a trustee +for the public, contribute to the dissemination of religious +error. But the church of Rome teaches religious error. +Therefore we cannot justifiably contribute to the support of an +institution of which the object is the dissemination of the +doctrines of the Church of Rome. Now, Sir, I deny the major of +this syllogism. I think that there are occasions on which we are +bound to contribute to the dissemination of doctrines with which +errors are inseparably intermingled. Let me be clearly +understood. The question is not whether we should teach truth or +teach error, but whether we should teach truth adulterated with +error, or teach no truth at all. The constitution of the human +mind is such that it is impossible to provide any machinery for +the dissemination of truth which shall not, with the truth, +disseminate some error. Even those rays which come down to us +from the great source of light, pure as they are in themselves, +no sooner enter that gross and dark atmosphere in which we dwell +than the they are so much refracted, discoloured, and obscured, +that they too often lead us astray. It will be generally +admitted that, if religious truth can be anywhere found untainted +by error, it is in the Scriptures. Yet is there actually on the +face of the globe a single copy of the Scriptures of which it can +be said that it contains truth absolutely untainted with error? +Is there any manuscript, any edition of the Old or New Testament +in the original tongues, which any scholar will pronounce +faultless? But to the vast majority of Christians the original +tongues are and always must be unintelligible. With the +exception of perhaps one man in ten thousand, we must be content +with translations. And is there any translation in which there +are not numerous mistakes? Are there not numerous mistakes even +in our own authorised version, executed as that version was with +painful diligence and care, by very able men, and under very +splendid patronage? Of course mistakes must be still more +numerous in those translations which pious men have lately made +into Bengalee, Hindostanee, Tamul, Canarese, and other Oriental +tongues. I admire the zeal, the industry, the energy of those +who, in spite of difficulties which to ordinary minds would seem +insurmountable, accomplished that arduous work. I applaud those +benevolent societies which munificently encouraged that work. +But I have been assured by good judges that the translations have +many faults. And how should it have been otherwise? How should +an Englishman produce a faultless translation from the Hebrew +into the Cingalese? I say, therefore, that even the Scriptures, +in every form in which men actually possess them, contain a +certain portion of error. And, if this be so, how can you look +for pure undefecated truth in any other composition? You +contribute, without any scruple, to the printing of religious +tracts, to the establishing of Sunday Schools, to the sending +forth of missionaries. But are your tracts perfect? Are your +schoolmasters infallible? Are your missionaries inspired? Look +at the two churches which are established in this island. Will +you say that they both teach truth without any mixture of error? +That is impossible. For they teach different doctrines on more +than one important subject. It is plain therefore, that if, as +you tell us, it be a sin in a state to patronise an institution +which teaches religious error, either the Church of England or +the Church of Scotland ought to be abolished. But will anybody +even venture to affirm that either of those churches teaches +truth without any mixture of error? Have there not long been in +the Church of Scotland two very different schools of theology? +During many years, Dr Robertson, the head of the moderate party, +and Dr Erskine, the head of the Calvinistic party, preached under +the same roof, one in the morning, the other in the evening. +They preached two different religions, so different that the +followers of Robertson thought the followers of Erskine fanatics, +and the followers of Erskine thought the followers of Robertson +Arians or worse. And is there no mixture of error in the +doctrine taught by the clergy of the Church of England? Is not +the whole country at this moment convulsed by disputes as to what +the doctrine of the Church on some important subjects really is? +I shall not take on myself to say who is right and who is wrong. +But this I say with confidence, that, whether the Tractarians or +the Evangelicals be in the right, many hundreds of those divines +who every Sunday occupy the pulpits of our parish churches must +be very much in the wrong. + +Now, Sir, I see that many highly respectable persons, who think +it a sin to contribute to the teaching of error at Maynooth +College, think it not merely lawful, but a sacred duty, to +contribute to the teaching of error in the other cases which I +have mentioned. They know that our version of the Bible contains +some error. Yet they subscribe to the Bible Society. They know +that the Serampore translations contain a still greater quantity +of error. Yet they give largely towards the printing and +circulating of those translations. My honourable friend the +Member for the University of Oxford will not deny that there is +among the clergy of the Church of England a Puritan party, and +also an Anti-puritan party, and that one of these parties must +teach some error. Yet he is constantly urging us to grant to +this Church an additional endowment of I know not how many +hundreds of thousands of pounds. He would doubtless defend +himself by saying that nothing on earth is perfect; that the +purest religious society must consist of human beings, and must +have those defects which arise from human infirmities; and that +the truths held by the established clergy, though not altogether +unalloyed with error, are so precious, that it is better that +they should be imparted to the people with the alloy than that +they should not be imparted at all. Just so say I. I am sorry +that we cannot teach pure truth to the Irish people. But I think +it better that they should have important and salutary truth, +polluted by some error, than that they should remain altogether +uninstructed. I heartily wish that they were Protestants. But I +had rather that they should be Roman Catholics than that they +should have no religion at all. Would you, says one gentleman, +teach the people to worship Jugernaut or Kalee? Certainly not. +My argument leads to no such conclusion. The worship of +Jugernaut and Kalee is a curse to mankind. It is much better +that people should be without any religion than that they should +believe in a religion which enjoins prostitution, suicide, +robbery, assassination. But will any Protestant deny that it is +better that the Irish should be Roman Catholics than that they +should live and die like the beasts of the field, indulge their +appetites without any religious restraint, suffer want and +calamity without any religious consolation, and go to their +graves without any religious hope? These considerations entirely +satisfy my mind. Of course I would not propagate error for its +own sake. To do so would be not merely wicked, but diabolical. +But, in order that I may be able to propagate truth, I consent to +propagate that portion of error which adheres to truth, and which +cannot be separated from truth. I wish Christianity to have a +great influence on the peasantry of Ireland. I see no +probability that Christianity will have that influence except in +one form. That form I consider as very corrupt. Nevertheless, +the good seems to me greatly to predominate over the evil; and +therefore, being unable to get the good alone, I am content to +take the good and the evil together. + +I now come to the third class of our opponents. I mean those who +take their stand on the voluntary principle. I will not, on this +occasion, inquire whether they are right in thinking that +governments ought not to contribute to the support of any +religion, true or false. For it seems to me that, even if I were +to admit that the general rule is correctly laid down by them, +the present case would be an exception to that rule. The +question on which I am about to vote is not whether the State +shall or shall not give any support to religion in Ireland. The +State does give such support, and will continue to give such +support, whatever may be the issue of this debate. The only +point which we have now to decide is whether, while such support +is given, it shall be given exclusively to the religion of the +minority. Here is an island with a population of near eight +millions, and with a wealthy established church, the members of +which are little more than eight hundred thousand. There is an +archbishop with ten thousand a year. If I recollect rightly, +seventy thousand pounds are divided among twelve prelates. At +the same time the Protestant dissenters in the north of Ireland +receive, in another form, support from the State. But the great +majority of the population, the poorest part of the population, +the part of the population which is most in need of assistance, +the part of the population which holds that faith for the +propagation of which the tithes were originally set apart, and +the church lands originally given, is left to maintain its own +priests. Now is not this a case which stands quite by itself? +And may not even those who hold the general proposition, that +every man ought to pay his own spiritual pastor, yet vote, +without any inconsistency, for this bill? I was astonished to +hear the honourable Member for Shrewsbury (Mr Disraeli.) tell us +that, if we make this grant, it will be impossible for us to +resist the claims of any dissenting sect. He particularly +mentioned the Wesleyan Methodists. Are the cases analogous? Is +there the slightest resemblance between them? Let the honourable +gentleman show me that of the sixteen millions of people who +inhabit England thirteen millions are Wesleyan Methodists. Let +him show me that the members of the Established Church in England +are only one tenth of the population. Let him show me that +English dissenters who are not Wesleyan Methodists receive a +Regium Donum. Let him show me that immense estates bequeathed to +John Wesley for the propagation of Methodism have, by Act of +Parliament, been taken from the Methodists and given to the +Church. If he can show me this, I promise him that, whenever the +Wesleyan Methodists shall ask for twenty-six thousand pounds a +year to educate their ministers, I shall be prepared to grant +their request. But neither the case of the Methodists nor any +other case which can be mentioned, resembles the case with which +we have to do. Look round Europe, round the world, for a +parallel; and you will look in vain. Indeed the state of things +which exists in Ireland never could have existed had not Ireland +been closely connected with a country, which possessed a great +superiority of power, and which abused that superiority. The +burden which we are now, I hope, about to lay on ourselves is but +a small penalty for a great injustice. Were I a staunch +voluntary, I should still feel that, while the church of eight +hundred thousand people retains its great endowments, I should +not be justified in refusing this small boon to the church of +eight millions. + +To sum up shortly what I have said; it is clear to me in the +first place that, if we have no religious scruple about granting +to this College nine thousand pounds for one year, we ought to +have no religious scruple about granting twenty-six thousand +pounds a year for an indefinite term. + +Secondly, it seems to me that those persons who tell us that we +ought never in any circumstances to contribute to the propagation +of error do in fact lay down a rule which would altogether +interdict the propagation of truth. + +Thirdly, it seems to me that, even on the hypothesis that the +voluntary principle is the sound principle, the present case is +an excepted case, to which it would be unjust and unwise to apply +that principle. + +So much, Sir, as to this bill; and now let me add a few words +about those by whom it has been framed and introduced. We were +exhorted, on the first night of this debate, to vote against the +bill, without inquiring into its merits, on the ground that, good +or bad, it was proposed by men who could not honestly and +honourably propose it. A similar appeal has been made to us this +evening. In these circumstances, Sir, I must, not I hope from +party spirit, not, I am sure, from personal animosity, but from a +regard for the public interest, which must be injuriously +affected by everything which tends to lower the character of +public men, say plainly what I think of the conduct of Her +Majesty's Ministers. Undoubtedly it is of the highest importance +that we should legislate well. But it is also of the highest +importance that those who govern us should have, and should be +known to have, fixed principles, and should be guided by those +principles both in office and in opposition. It is of the +highest importance that the world should not be under the +impression that a statesman is a person who, when he is out, will +profess and promise anything in order to get in, and who, when he +is in, will forget all that he professed and promised when he was +out. I need not, I suppose, waste time in proving that a law may +be in itself an exceedingly good law, and yet that it may be a +law which, when viewed in connection with the former conduct of +those who proposed it, may prove them to be undeserving of the +confidence of their country. When this is the case, our course +is clear. We ought to distinguish between the law and its +authors. The law we ought, on account of its intrinsic merits, +to support. Of the authors of the law, it may be our duty to +speak in terms of censure. + +In such terms I feel it to be my duty to speak of Her Majesty's +present advisers. I have no personal hostility to any of them; +and that political hostility which I do not disavow has never +prevented me from doing justice to their abilities and virtues. +I have always admitted, and I now most willingly admit, that the +right honourable Baronet at the head of the Government possesses +many of the qualities of an excellent minister, eminent talents +for debate, eminent talents for business, great experience, great +information, great skill in the management of this House. I will +go further, and say that I give him full credit for a sincere +desire to promote the welfare of his country. Nevertheless, it +is impossible for me to deny that there is too much ground for +the reproaches of those who, having, in spite of a bitter +experience, a second time trusted him, now find themselves a +second time deluded. I cannot but see that it has been too much +his practice, when in opposition, to make use of passions with +which he has not the slightest sympathy, and of prejudices which +he regards with profound contempt. As soon as he is in power a +change takes place. The instruments which have done his work are +flung aside. The ladder by which he has climbed is kicked down. +I am forced to say that the right honourable Baronet acts thus +habitually and on system. The instance before us is not a +solitary instance. I do not wish to dwell on the events which +took place seventeen or eighteen years ago, on the language which +the right honourable Baronet held about the Catholic question +when he was out of power in 1827, and on the change which twelve +months of power produced. I will only say that one such change +was quite enough for one life. Again the right honourable +Baronet was in opposition; and again he employed his old tactics. +I will not minutely relate the history of the manoeuvres by which +the Whig Government was overthrown. It is enough to say that +many powerful interests were united against that Government under +the leading of the right honourable Baronet, and that of those +interests there is not one which is not now disappointed and +complaining. To confine my remarks to the subject immediately +before us--can any man deny that, of all the many cries which +were raised against the late administration, that which most +strongly stirred the public mind was the cry of No Popery? Is +there a single gentleman in the House who doubts that, if, four +years ago, my noble friend the Member for the City of London had +proposed this bill, he would have been withstood by every member +of the present Cabinet? Four years ago, Sir, we were discussing +a very different bill. The party which was then in opposition, +and which is now in place, was attempting to force through +Parliament a law, which bore indeed a specious name, but of which +the effect would have been to disfranchise the Roman Catholic +electors of Ireland by tens of thousands. It was in vain that we +argued, that we protested, that we asked for the delay of a +single session, for delay till an inquiry could be made, for +delay till a Committee should report. We were told that the case +was one of extreme urgency, that every hour was precious, that +the House must, without loss of time, be purged of the minions of +Popery. These arts succeeded. A change of administration took +place. The right honourable Baronet came into power. He has now +been near four years in power. He has had a Parliament which +would, beyond all doubt, have passed eagerly and gladly that +Registration Bill which he and his colleagues had pretended that +they thought indispensable to the welfare of the State. And +where is that bill now? Flung away; condemned by its own +authors; pronounced by them to be so oppressive, so inconsistent +with all the principles of representative government, that, +though they had vehemently supported it when they were on your +left hand, they could not think of proposing it from the Treasury +Bench. And what substitute does the honourable Baronet give his +followers to console them for the loss of their favourite +Registration Bill? Even this bill for the endowment of Maynooth +College. Was such a feat of legerdemain ever seen? And can we +wonder that the eager, honest, hotheaded Protestants, who raised +you to power in the confident hope that you would curtail the +privileges of the Roman Catholics, should stare and grumble when +you propose to give public money to the Roman Catholics? Can we +wonder that, from one end of the country to the other, everything +should be ferment and uproar, that petitions should, night after +night, whiten all our benches like a snowstorm? Can we wonder +that the people out of doors should be exasperated by seeing the +very men who, when we were in office, voted against the old grant +to Maynooth, now pushed and pulled into the House by your +whippers-in to vote for an increased grant? The natural +consequences follow. All those fierce spirits, whom you hallooed +on to harass us, now turn round and begin to worry you. The +Orangeman raises his war-whoop: Exeter Hall sets up its bray: +Mr Macneile shudders to see more costly cheer than ever provided +for the priests of Baal at the table of the Queen; and the +Protestant operatives of Dublin call for impeachments in +exceedingly bad English. But what did you expect? Did you +think, when, to serve your turn, you called the Devil up, that it +was as easy to lay him as to raise him? Did you think, when you +went on, session after session, thwarting and reviling those whom +you knew to be in the right, and flattering all the worst +passions of those whom you knew to be in the wrong, that the day +of reckoning would never come? It has come. There you sit, +doing penance for the disingenuousness of years. If it be not +so, stand up manfully and clear your fame before the House and +the country. Show us that some steady principle has guided your +conduct with respect to Irish affairs. Show us how, if you are +honest in 1845, you can have been honest in 1841. Explain to us +why, after having goaded Ireland to madness for the purpose of +ingratiating yourselves with the English, you are now setting +England on fire for the purpose of ingratiating yourselves with +the Irish. Give us some reason which shall prove that the policy +which you are following, as Ministers, is entitled to support, +and which shall not equally prove you to have been the most +factious and unprincipled opposition that ever this country saw. + +But, Sir, am I, because I think thus of the conduct of Her +Majesty's Ministers, to take the counsel of the honourable member +for Shrewsbury and to vote against their bill? Not so. I know +well that the fate of this bill and the fate of the +administration are in our hands. But far be it from us to +imitate the arts by which we were overthrown. The spectacle +exhibited on the bench opposite will do quite mischief enough. +That mischief will not be lessened, but doubled, if there should +be an answering display of inconsistency on this side of the +House. If this bill, having been introduced by Tories, shall be +rejected by Whigs, both the great parties in the State will be +alike discredited. There will be one vast shipwreck of all the +public character in the country. Therefore, making up my mind to +sacrifices which are not unattended with pain, and repressing +some feelings which stir strongly within me, I have determined to +give my strenuous support to this bill. Yes, Sir, to this bill, +and to every bill which shall seem to me likely to promote the +real Union of Great Britain and Ireland, I will give my support, +regardless of obloquy, regardless of the risk which I may run of +losing my seat in Parliament. For such obloquy I have learned to +consider as true glory; and as to my seat I am determined that it +never shall be held by an ignominious tenure; and I am sure that +it can never be lost in a more honourable cause. + +... + + +THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. (APRIL 23, 1845.) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 23RD OF APRIL +1845. + +On the twenty-third of April 1845, the order of the day for going +into Committee on the Maynooth College Bill was read. On the +motion that the Speaker should leave the chair, Mr Ward, Member +for Sheffield, proposed the following amendment:-- + +"That it is the opinion of this House that any provision to be +made for the purposes of the present Bill ought to be taken from +the funds already applicable to ecclesiastical purposes in +Ireland." + +After a debate of two nights the amendment was rejected by 322 +votes to 148. On the first night the following Speech was made. + +I was desirous, Sir, to catch your eye this evening, because it +happens that I have never yet found an opportunity of fully +explaining my views on the important subject of the Irish Church. +Indeed, I was not in this country when that subject for a time +threw every other into the shade, disturbed the whole political +world, produced a schism in the Administration of Lord Grey, and +overthrew the short Administration of the right honourable +Baronet opposite. The motion now before us opens, I conceive, +the whole question. My honourable friend the Member for +Sheffield, indeed, asks us only to transfer twenty-six thousand +pounds a year from the Established Church of Ireland to the +College of Maynooth. But this motion, I think, resembles an +action of ejectment brought for a single farm, with the view of +trying the title to a large estate. Whoever refuses to assent to +what is now proposed must be considered as holding the opinion +that the property of the Irish Church ought to be held inviolate: +and I can scarcely think that any person will vote for what is +now proposed, who is not prepared to go very much farther. The +point at issue, I take, therefore, to be this; whether the Irish +Church, as now constituted, shall be maintained or not? + +Now, Sir, when a legislator is called up to decide whether an +institution shall be maintained or not, it seems to me that he +ought in the first place to examine whether it be a good or a bad +institution. This may sound like a truism; but if I am to judge +by the speeches which, on this and former occasions, have been +made by gentlemen opposite, it is no truism, but an exceedingly +recondite truth. I, Sir, think the Established Church of Ireland +a bad institution. I will go farther. I am not speaking in +anger, or with any wish to excite anger in others; I am not +speaking with rhetorical exaggeration: I am calmly and +deliberately expressing, in the only appropriate terms, an +opinion which I formed many years ago, which all my observations +and reflections have confirmed, and which I am prepared to +support by reasons, when I say that, of all the institutions now +existing in the civilised world, the Established Church of +Ireland seems to me the most absurd. + +I cannot help thinking that the speeches of those who defend this +Church suffice of themselves to prove that my views are just. +For who ever heard anybody defend it on its merits? Has any +gentleman to-night defended it on its merits? We are told of the +Roman Catholic oath; as if that oath, whatever be its meaning, +whatever be the extent of the obligation which it lays on the +consciences of those who take it, could possibly prove this +Church to be a good thing. We are told that Roman Catholics of +note, both laymen and divines, fifty years ago, declared that, if +they were relieved from the disabilities under which they then +lay, they should willingly see the Church of Ireland in +possession of all its endowments: as if anything that anybody +said fifty years ago could absolve us from the plain duty of +doing what is now best for the country. We are told of the Fifth +Article of Union; as if the Fifth Article of Union were more +sacred than the Fourth. Surely, if there be any article of the +Union which ought to be regarded as inviolable, it is the Fourth, +which settles the number of members whom Great Britain and +Ireland respectively are to send to Parliament. Yet the +provisions of the Fourth Article have been altered with the +almost unanimous assent of all parties in the State. The change +was proposed by the noble lord who is now Secretary for the +Colonies. It was supported by the right honourable Baronet the +Secretary for the Home Department, and by other members of the +present Administration. And so far were the opponents of the +Reform Bill from objecting to this infraction of the Treaty of +Union that they were disposed to go still farther. I well +remember the night on which we debated the question, whether +Members should be given to Finsbury, Marylebone, Lambeth, and the +Tower Hamlets. On that occasion, the Tories attempted to seduce +the Irish Reformers from us by promising that Ireland should have +a share of the plunder of the metropolitan districts. After +this, Sir, I must think it childish in gentlemen opposite to +appeal to the Fifth Article of the Union. With still greater +surprise, did I hear the right honourable gentleman the Secretary +for Ireland say that, if we adopt this amendment, we shall make +all landed and funded property insecure. I am really ashamed to +answer such an argument. Nobody proposes to touch any vested +interest; and surely it cannot be necessary for me to point out +to the right honourable gentleman the distinction between +property in which some person has a vested interest, and property +in which no person has a vested interest. That distinction is +part of the very rudiments of political science. Then the right +honourable gentleman quarrels with the form of the amendment. +Why, Sir, perhaps a more convenient form might have been adopted. +But is it by cavils like these that a great institution should be +defended? And who ever heard the Established Church of Ireland +defended except by cavils like these? Who ever heard any of her +advocates speak a manly and statesmanlike language? Who ever +heard any of her advocates say, "I defend this institution +because it is a good institution: the ends for which an +Established Church exists are such and such: and I will show you +that this Church attains those ends?" Nobody says this. Nobody +has the hardihood to say it. What divine, what political +speculator who has written in defence of ecclesiastical +establishments, ever defended such establishments on grounds +which will support the Church of Ireland? What panegyric has +ever been pronounced on the Churches of England and Scotland, +which is not a satire on the Church of Ireland? What traveller +comes among us who is not moved to wonder and derision by the +Church of Ireland? What foreign writer on British affairs, +whether European or American, whether Protestant or Catholic, +whether Conservative or Liberal, whether partial to England or +prejudiced against England, ever mentions the Church of Ireland +without expressing his amazement that such an establishment +should exist among reasonable men? + +And those who speak thus of this Church speak justly. Is there +anything else like it? Was there ever anything else like it? +The world is full of ecclesiastical establishments: but such a +portent as this Church of Ireland is nowhere to be found. Look +round the Continent of Europe. Ecclesiastical establishments +from the White Sea to the Mediterranean: ecclesiastical +establishments from the Wolga to the Atlantic: but nowhere the +Church of a small minority enjoying exclusive establishment. +Look at America. There you have all forms of Christianity, from +Mormonism, if you call Mormonism Christianity, to Romanism. In +some places you have the voluntary system. In some you have +several religions connected with the state. In some you have the +solitary ascendency of a single Church. But nowhere, from the +Arctic Circle to Cape Horn, do you find the Church of a small +minority exclusively established. Look round our own empire. We +have an Established Church in England; it is the Church of the +majority. There is an Established Church in Scotland. When it +was set up, it was the Church of the majority. A few months ago, +it was the Church of the majority. I am not quite sure that, +even after the late unhappy disruption, it is the Church of the +minority. In our colonies the State does much for the support of +religion; but in no colony, I believe, do we give exclusive +support to the religion of the minority. Nay, even in those +parts of empire where the great body of the population is +attached to absurd and immoral superstitions, you have not been +guilty of the folly and injustice of calling on them to pay for a +Church which they do not want. We have not portioned out Bengal +and the Carnatic into parishes, and scattered Christian rectors, +with stipends and glebes, among millions of Pagans and +Mahometans. We keep, indeed, a small Christian establishment, or +rather three small Christian establishments, Anglican, +Presbyterian, and Catholic. But we keep them only for the +Christians in our civil and military services; and we leave +untouched the revenues of the mosques and temples. In one +country alone is to be seen the spectacle of a community of eight +millions of human beings, with a Church which is the Church of +only eight hundred thousand. + +It has been often said, and has been repeated to-night by the +honourable Member for Radnor, that this Church, though it +includes only a tenth part of the population, has more than half +the wealth of Ireland. But is that an argument in favour of the +present system? Is it not the strongest argument that can be +urged in favour of an entire change? It is true that there are +many cases in which it is fit that property should prevail over +number. Those cases may, I think, be all arranged in two +classes. One class consists of those cases in which the +preservation or improvement of property is the object in view. +Thus, in a railway company, nothing can be more reasonable than +that one proprietor who holds five hundred shares should have +more power than five proprietors who hold one share each. The +other class of cases in which property may justly confer +privileges is where superior intelligence is required. Property +is indeed but a very imperfect test of intelligence. But, when +we are legislating on a large scale, it is perhaps the best which +we can apply. For where there is no property, there can very +seldom be any mental cultivation. It is on this principle that +special jurors, who have to try causes of peculiar nicety, are +taken from a wealthier order than that which furnishes common +jurors. But there cannot be a more false analogy than to reason +from these cases to the case of an Established Church. So far is +it from being true that, in establishing a Church, we ought to +pay more regard to one rich man than to five poor men, that the +direct reverse is the sound rule. We ought to pay more regard to +one poor man than to five rich men. For, in the first place, the +public ordinances of religion are of far more importance to the +poor man than to the rich man. I do not mean to say that a rich +man may not be the better for hearing sermons and joining in +public prayers. But these things are not indispensable to him; +and, if he is so situated that he cannot have them, he may find +substitutes. He has money to buy books, time to study them, +understanding to comprehend them. Every day he may commune with +the minds of Hooker, Leighton, and Barrow. He therefore stands +less in need of the oral instruction of a divine than a peasant +who cannot read, or who, if he can read, has no money to procure +books, or leisure to peruse them. Such a peasant, unless +instructed by word of mouth, can know no more of Christianity +than a wild Hottentot. Nor is this all. The poor man not only +needs the help of a minister of religion more than the rich man, +but is also less able to procure it. If there were no +Established Church, people in our rank of life would always be +provided with preachers to their mind at an expense which they +would scarcely feel. But when a poor man, who can hardly give +his children their fill of potatoes, has to sell his pig in order +to pay something to his priest, the burden is a heavy one. This +is, in fact, the strongest reason for having an established +church in any country. It is the one reason which prevents me +from joining with the partisans of the voluntary system. I +should think their arguments unanswerable if the question +regarded the upper and middle classes only. If I would keep up +the Established Church of England, it is not for the sake of +lords, and baronets, and country gentlemen of five thousand +pounds a-year, and rich bankers in the city. I know that such +people will always have churches, aye, and cathedrals, and +organs, and rich communion plate. The person about whom I am +uneasy is the working man; the man who would find it difficult to +pay even five shillings or ten shillings a-year out of his small +earnings for the ministrations of religion. What is to become of +him under the voluntary system? Is he to go without religious +instruction altogether? That we should all think a great evil to +himself, and a great evil to society. Is he to pay for it out of +his slender means? That would be a heavy tax. Is he to be +dependent on the liberality of others? That is a somewhat +precarious and a somewhat humiliating dependence. I prefer, I +own, that system under which there is, in the rudest and most +secluded district, a house of God, where public worship is +performed after a fashion acceptable to the great majority of the +community, and where the poorest may partake of the ordinances of +religion, not as an alms, but as a right. But does this argument +apply to a Church like the Church of Ireland? It is not +necessary on this occasion to decide whether the arguments in +favour of the ecclesiastical establishments, or the arguments in +favour of the voluntary system, be the stronger. There are +weighty considerations on both sides. Balancing them as well as +I can, I think that, as respects England, the preponderance is on +the side of the Establishment. But, as respects Ireland, there +is no balancing. All the weights are in one scale. All the +arguments which incline us against the Church of England, and all +the arguments which incline us in favour of the Church of +England, are alike arguments against the Church of Ireland; +against the Church of the few; against the Church of the wealthy; +against the Church which, reversing every principle on which a +Christian Church should be founded, fills the rich with its good +things, and sends the hungry empty away. + +One view which has repeatedly, both in this House and out of it, +been taken of the Church of Ireland, seems to deserve notice. It +is admitted, as indeed it could not well be denied, that this +Church does not perform the functions which are everywhere else +expected from similar institutions; that it does not instruct the +body of the people; that it does not administer religious +consolation to the body of the people. But, it is said, we must +regard this Church as an aggressive Church, a proselytising +Church, a Church militant among spiritual enemies. Its office is +to spread Protestantism over Munster and Connaught. I remember +well that, eleven years ago, when Lord Grey's Government proposed +to reduce the number of Irish bishoprics, this language was held. +It was acknowledged that there were more bishops than the number +of persons then in communion with the Established Church +required. But that number, we were assured, would not be +stationary; and the hierarchy, therefore, ought to be constituted +with a view to the millions of converts who would soon require +the care of Protestant pastors. I well remember the strong +expression which was then used by my honourable friend, the +Member for the University of Oxford. We must, he said, make +allowance for the expansive force of Protestantism. A few nights +ago a noble lord for whom I, in common with the whole House, feel +the greatest respect, the Member for Dorsetshire (Lord Ashley.), +spoke of the missionary character of the Church of Ireland. Now, +Sir, if such language had been held at the Council Board of Queen +Elizabeth when the constitution of this Church was first debated +there, there would have been no cause for wonder. Sir William +Cecil or Sir Nicholas Bacon might very naturally have said, +"There are few Protestants now in Ireland, it is true. But when +we consider how rapidly the Protestant theology has spread, when +we remember that it is little more than forty years since Martin +Luther began to preach against indulgences, and when we see that +one half of Europe is now emancipated from the old superstition, +we may reasonably expect that the Irish will soon follow the +example of the other nations which have embraced the doctrines of +the Reformation." Cecil, I say, and his colleagues might +naturally entertain this expectation, and might without absurdity +make preparations for an event which they regarded as in the +highest degree probable. But we, who have seen this system in +full operation from the year 1560 to the year 1845, ought to have +been taught better, unless indeed we are past all teaching. Two +hundred and eighty-five years has this Church been at work. What +could have been done for it in the way of authority, privileges, +endowments, which has not been done? Did any other set of +bishops and priests in the world ever receive so much for doing +so little? Nay, did any other set of bishops and priests in the +world ever receive half as much for doing twice as much? And +what have we to show for all this lavish expenditure? What but +the most zealous Roman Catholic population on the face of the +earth? Where you were one hundred years ago, where you were two +hundred years ago, there you are still, not victorious over the +domain of the old faith, but painfully and with dubious success +defending your own frontier, your own English pale. Sometimes a +deserter leaves you. Sometimes a deserter steals over to you. +Whether your gains or losses of this sort be the greater I do not +know; nor is it worth while to inquire. On the great solid mass +of the Roman Catholic population you have made no impression +whatever. There they are, as they were ages ago, ten to one +against the members of your Established Church. Explain this to +me. I speak to you, the zealous Protestants on the other side of +the House. Explain this to me on Protestant principles. If I +were a Roman Catholic, I could easily account for the phenomena. +If I were a Roman Catholic, I should content myself with saying +that the mighty hand and the outstretched arm had been put forth, +according to the promise, in defence of the unchangeable Church; +that He who in the old time turned into blessings the curses of +Balaam, and smote the host of Sennacherib, had signally +confounded the arts of heretic statesmen. But what is a +Protestant to say? He holds that, through the whole of this long +conflict, during which ten generations of men have been born and +have died, reason and Scripture have been on the side of the +Established Clergy. Tell us then what we are to say of this +strange war, in which, reason and Scripture backed by wealth, by +dignity, by the help of the civil power, have been found no match +for oppressed and destitute error? The fuller our conviction +that our doctrines are right, the fuller, if we are rational men, +must be our conviction that our tactics have been wrong, and that +we have been encumbering the cause which we meant to aid. + +Observe, it is not only the comparative number of Roman Catholics +and Protestants that may justly furnish us with matter for +serious reflection. The quality as well as the quantity of Irish +Romanism deserves to be considered. Is there any other country +inhabited by a mixed population of Catholics and Protestants, any +other country in which Protestant doctrines have long been freely +promulgated from the press and from the pulpit, where the Roman +Catholics spirit is so strong as in Ireland? I believe not. The +Belgians are generally considered as very stubborn and zealous +Roman Catholics. But I do not believe that either in +stubbornness or in zeal they equal the Irish. And this is the +fruit of three centuries of Protestant archbishops, bishops, +archdeacons, deans, and rectors. And yet where is the wonder? +Is this a miracle that we should stand aghast at it? Not at all. +It is a result which human prudence ought to have long ago +foreseen and long ago averted. It is the natural succession of +effect to cause. If you do not understand it, it is because you +do not understand what the nature and operation of a church is. +There are parts of the machinery of Government which may be just +as efficient when they are hated as when they are loved. An +army, a navy, a preventive service, a police force, may do their +work whether the public feeling be with them or against them. +Whether we dislike the corn laws or not, your custom houses and +your coast guard keep out foreign corn. The multitude at +Manchester was not the less effectually dispersed by the +yeomanry, because the interference of the yeomanry excited the +bitterest indignation. There the object was to produce a +material effect; the material means were sufficient; and nothing +more was required. But a Church exists for moral ends. A Church +exists to be loved, to be reverenced, to be heard with docility, +to reign in the understandings and hearts of men. A Church which +is abhorred is useless or worse than useless; and to quarter a +hostile Church on a conquered people, as you would quarter a +soldiery, is therefore the most absurd of mistakes. This mistake +our ancestors committed. They posted a Church in Ireland just as +they posted garrisons in Ireland. The garrisons did their work. +They were disliked. But that mattered not. They had their forts +and their arms; and they kept down the aboriginal race. But the +Church did not do its work. For to that work the love and +confidence of the people were essential. + +I may remark in passing that, even under more favourable +circumstances a parochial priesthood is not a good engine for the +purpose of making proselytes. The Church of Rome, whatever we +may think of her ends, has shown no want of sagacity in the +choice of means; and she knows this well. When she makes a great +aggressive movement,--and many such movements she has made with +signal success,--she employs, not her parochial clergy, but a +very different machinery. The business of her parish priests is +to defend and govern what has been won. It is by the religious +orders, and especially by the Jesuits, that the great +acquisitions have been made. In Ireland your parochial clergy +lay under two great disadvantages. They were endowed, and they +were hated; so richly endowed that few among them cared to turn +missionaries; so bitterly hated that those few had but little +success. They long contented themselves with receiving the +emoluments arising from their benefices, and neglected those +means to which, in other parts of Europe, Protestantism had owed +its victory. It is well known that of all the instruments +employed by the Reformers of Germany, of England, and of +Scotland, for the purpose of moving the public mind, the most +powerful was the Bible translated into the vernacular tongues. +In Ireland the Protestant Church had been established near half a +century before the New Testament was printed in Erse. The whole +Bible was not printed in Erse till this Church had existed more +than one hundred and twenty years. Nor did the publication at +last take place under the patronage of the lazy and wealthy +hierarchy. The expense was defrayed by a layman, the illustrious +Robert Boyle. So things went on century after century. Swift, +more than a hundred years ago, described the prelates of his +country as men gorged with wealth and sunk in indolence, whose +chief business was to bow and job at the Castle. The only +spiritual function, he says, which they performed was ordination; +and, when he saw what persons they ordained, he doubted whether +it would not be better that they should neglect that function as +they neglected every other. Those, Sir, are now living who can +well remember how the revenues of the richest see in Ireland were +squandered on the shores of the Mediterranean by a bishop, whose +epistles, very different compositions from the epistles of Saint +Peter and Saint John, may be found in the correspondence of Lady +Hamilton. Such abuses as these called forth no complaint, no +reprimand. And all this time the true pastors of the people, +meanly fed and meanly clothed, frowned upon by the law, exposed +to the insults of every petty squire who gloried in the name of +Protestant, were to be found in miserable cabins, amidst filth, +and famine, and contagion, instructing the young, consoling the +miserable, holding up the crucifix before the eyes of the dying. +Is it strange that, in such circumstances, the Roman Catholic +religion should have been constantly becoming dearer and dearer +to an ardent and sensitive people, and that your Established +Church should have been constantly sinking lower and lower in +their estimation? I do not of course hold the living clergy of +the Irish Church answerable for the faults of their predecessors. +God forbid! To do so would be the most flagitious injustice. I +know that a salutary change has taken place. I have no reason to +doubt that in learning and regularity of life the Protestant +clergy of Ireland are on a level with the clergy of England. But +in the way of making proselytes they do as little as those who +preceded them. An enmity of three hundred years separates the +nation from those who should be its teachers. In short, it is +plain that the mind of Ireland has taken its ply, and is not to +be bent in a different direction, or, at all events, is not to be +so bent by your present machinery. + +Well, then, this Church is inefficient as a missionary Church. +But there is yet another end which, in the opinion of some +eminent men, a Church is meant to serve. That end has been often +in the minds of practical politicians. But the first speculative +politician who distinctly pointed it out was Mr Hume. Mr Hume, +as might have been expected from his known opinions, treated the +question merely as it related to the temporal happiness of +mankind; and, perhaps, it may be doubted whether he took quite a +just view of the manner in which even the temporal happiness of +mankind is affected by the restraints and consolations of +religion. He reasoned thus:--It is dangerous to the peace of +society that the public mind should be violently excited on +religious subjects. If you adopt the voluntary system, the +public mind will always be so excited. For every preacher, +knowing that his bread depends on his popularity, seasons his +doctrine high, and practises every art for the purpose of +obtaining an ascendency over his hearers. But when the +Government pays the minister of religion, he has no pressing +motive to inflame the zeal of his congregation. He will probably +go through his duties in a somewhat perfunctory manner. His +power will not be very formidable; and, such as it is, it will be +employed in support of that order of things under which he finds +himself so comfortable. Now, Sir, it is not necessary to inquire +whether Mr Hume's doctrine be sound or unsound. For, sound or +unsound, it furnishes no ground on which you can rest the defence +of the institution which we are now considering. It is evident +that by establishing in Ireland the Church of the minority in +connection with the State, you have produced, in the very highest +degree, all those evils which Mr Hume considered as inseparable +from the voluntary system. You may go all over the world without +finding another country where religious differences take a form +so dangerous to the peace of society; where the common people are +so much under the influence of their priests; or where the +priests who teach the common people are so completely estranged +from the civil Government. + +And now, Sir, I will sum up what I have said. For what end does +the Church of Ireland exist? Is that end the instruction and +solace of the great body of the people? You must admit that the +Church of Ireland has not attained that end. Is the end which +you have in view the conversion of the great body of the people +from the Roman Catholic religion to a purer form of Christianity? +You must admit that the Church of Ireland has not attained that +end. Or do you propose to yourselves the end contemplated by Mr +Hume, the peace and security of civil society? You must admit +that the Church of Ireland has not attained that end. In the +name of common sense, then, tell us what good end this Church has +attained; or suffer us to conclude, as I am forced to conclude, +that it is emphatically a bad institution. + +It does not, I know, necessarily follow that, because an +institution is bad, it is therefore to be immediately destroyed. +Sometimes a bad institution takes a strong hold on the hearts of +mankind, intertwines its roots with the very foundations of +society, and is not to be removed without serious peril to order, +law, and property. For example, I hold polygamy to be one of the +most pernicious practises that exist in the world. But if the +Legislative Council of India were to pass an Act prohibiting +polygamy, I should think that they were out of their senses. +Such a measure would bring down the vast fabric of our Indian +Empire with one crash. But is there any similar reason for +dealing tenderly with the Established Church of Ireland? That +Church, Sir, is not one of those bad institutions which ought to +be spared because they are popular, and because their fall would +injure good institutions. It is, on the contrary, so odious, and +its vicinage so much endangers valuable parts of our polity, +that, even if it were in itself a good institution, there would +be strong reasons for giving it up. + +The honourable gentleman who spoke last told us that we cannot +touch this Church without endangering the Legislative Union. +Sir, I have given my best attention to this important point; and +I have arrived at a very different conclusion. The question to +be determined is this:--What is the best way of preserving +political union between countries in which different religions +prevail? With respect to this question we have, I think, all the +light which history can give us. There is no sort of experiment +described by Lord Bacon which we have not tried. Inductive +philosophy is of no value if we cannot trust to the lessons +derived from the experience of more than two hundred years. +England has long been closely connected with two countries less +powerful than herself, and differing from herself in religion. +The Scottish people are Presbyterians; the Irish people are Roman +Catholics. We determined to force the Anglican system on both +countries. In both countries great discontent was the result. +At length Scotland rebelled. Then Ireland rebelled. The Scotch +and Irish rebellions, taking place at a time when the public mind +of England was greatly and justly excited, produced the Great +Rebellion here, and the downfall of the Monarchy, of the Church, +and of the Aristocracy. After the Restoration we again tried the +old system. During twenty-eight years we persisted in the +attempt to force Prelacy on the Scotch; and the consequence was, +during those twenty-eight years Scotland exhibited a frightful +spectacle of misery and depravity. The history of that period is +made up of oppression and resistance, of insurrections, barbarous +punishments, and assassinations. One day a crowd of zealous +rustics stand desperately on their defence, and repel the +dragoons. Next day the dragoons scatter and hew down the flying +peasantry. One day the kneebones of a wretched Covenanter are +beaten flat in that accursed boot. Next day the Lord Primate is +dragged out of his carriage by a band of raving fanatics, and, +while screaming for mercy, is butchered at the feet of his own +daughter. So things went on, till at last we remembered that +institutions are made for men, and not men for institutions. A +wise Government desisted from the vain attempt to maintain an +Episcopal Establishment in a Presbyterian nation. From that +moment the connection between England and Scotland became every +year closer and closer. There were still, it is true, many +causes of animosity. There was an old antipathy between the +nations, the effect of many blows given and received on both +sides. All the greatest calamities that had befallen Scotland +had been inflicted by England. The proudest events in Scottish +history were victories obtained over England. Yet all angry +feelings died rapidly away. The union of the nations became +complete. The oldest man living does not remember to have heard +any demagogue breathe a wish for separation. Do you believe that +this would have happened if England had, after the Revolution, +persisted in attempting to force the surplice and the Prayer Book +on the Scotch? I tell you that, if you had adhered to the mad +scheme of having a religious union with Scotland, you never would +have had a cordial political union with her. At this very day +you would have had monster meetings on the north of the Tweed, +and another Conciliation Hall, and another repeal button, with +the motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit." In fact, England never +would have become the great power that she is. For Scotland +would have been, not an addition to the effective strength of the +Empire, but a deduction from it. As often as there was a war +with France or Spain, there would have been an insurrection in +Scotland. Our country would have sunk into a kingdom of the +second class. One such Church as that about which we are now +debating is a serious encumbrance to the greatest empire. Two +such Churches no empire could bear. You continued to govern +Ireland during many generations as you had governed Scotland in +the days of Lauderdale and Dundee. And see the result. Ireland +has remained, indeed, a part of your Empire. But you know her to +be a source of weakness rather than of strength. Her misery is a +reproach to you. Her discontent doubles the dangers of war. Can +you, with such facts before you, doubt about the course which you +ought to take? Imagine a physician with two patients, both +afflicted with the same disease. He applies the same sharp +remedies to both. Both become worse and worse with the same +inflammatory symptoms. Then he changes his treatment of one +case, and gives soothing medicines. The sufferer revives, grows +better day by day, and is at length restored to perfect health. +The other patient is still subjected to the old treatment, and +becomes constantly more and more disordered. How would a +physician act in such a case? And are not the principles of +experimental philosophy the same in politics as in medicine? + +Therefore, Sir, I am fully prepared to take strong measures with +regard to the Established Church of Ireland. It is not necessary +for me to say precisely how far I would go. I am aware that it +may be necessary, in this as in other cases, to consent to a +compromise. But the more complete the reform which may be +proposed, provided always that vested rights be, as I am sure +they will be, held strictly sacred, the more cordially shall I +support it. + +That some reform is at hand I cannot doubt. In a very short time +we shall see the evils which I have described mitigated, if not +entirely removed. A Liberal Administration would make this +concession to Ireland from a sense of justice. A Conservative +Administration will make it from a sense of danger. The right +honourable Baronet has given the Irish a lesson which will bear +fruit. It is a lesson which rulers ought to be slow to teach; +for it is one which nations are but too apt to learn. We have +repeatedly been told by acts--we are now told almost in express +words--that agitation and intimidation are the means which ought +to be employed by those who wish for redress of grievances from +the party now in power. Such indeed has too long been the policy +of England towards Ireland; but it was surely never before avowed +with such indiscreet frankness. Every epoch which is remembered +with pleasure on the other side of St George's Channel coincides +with some epoch which we here consider as disastrous and +perilous. To the American war and the volunteers the Irish +Parliament owed its independence. To the French revolutionary +war the Irish Roman Catholics owed the elective franchise. It +was in vain that all the great orators and statesmen of two +generations exerted themselves to remove the Roman Catholic +disabilities, Burke, Fox, Pitt, Windham, Grenville, Grey, +Plunkett, Wellesley, Grattan, Canning, Wilberforce. Argument and +expostulation were fruitless. At length pressure of a stronger +kind was boldly and skilfully applied; and soon all difficulties +gave way. The Catholic Association, the Clare election, the +dread of civil war, produced the Emancipation Act. Again, the +cry of No Popery was raised. That cry was successful. A faction +which had reviled in the bitterest terms the mild administration +of Whig Viceroys, and which was pledged to the wholesale +disfranchisement of the Roman Catholics, rose to power. One +leading member of that faction had drawn forth loud cheers by +declaiming against the minions of Popery. Another had designated +six millions of Irish Catholics as aliens. A third had publicly +declared his conviction, that a time was at hand when all +Protestants of every persuasion would find it necessary to +combine firmly against the encroachments of Romanism. From such +men we expected nothing but oppression and intolerance. We are +agreeably disappointed to find that a series of conciliatory +bills is brought before us. But, in the midst of our delight, we +cannot refrain from asking for some explanation of so +extraordinary a change. We are told in reply, that the monster +meetings of 1843 were very formidable, and that our relations +with America are in a very unsatisfactory state. The public +opinion of Ireland is to be consulted, the religion of Ireland is +to be treated with respect, not because equity and humanity +plainly enjoin that course; for equity and humanity enjoined that +course as plainly when you were calumniating Lord Normanby, and +hurrying forward your Registration Bill; but because Mr O'Connell +and Mr Polk have between them made you very uneasy. Sir, it is +with shame, with sorrow, and, I will add, with dismay, that I +listen to such language. I have hitherto disapproved of the +monster meetings of 1843. I have disapproved of the way in which +Mr O'Connell and some other Irish representatives have seceded +from this House. I should not have chosen to apply to those +gentlemen the precise words which were used on a former occasion +by the honourable and learned Member for Bath. But I agreed with +him in substance. I thought it highly to the honour of my right +honourable friend the Member for Dungarvon, and of my honourable +friends the Members for Kildare, for Roscommon, and for the city +of Waterford, that they had the moral courage to attend the +service of this House, and to give us the very valuable +assistance which they are, in various ways, so well qualified to +afford. But what am I to say now? How can I any longer deny +that the place where an Irish gentleman may best serve his +country is Conciliation Hall? How can I expect that any Irish +Roman Catholic can be very sorry to learn that our foreign +relations are in an alarming state, or can rejoice to hear that +all danger of war has blown over? I appeal to the Conservative +Members of this House. I ask them whither we are hastening? I +ask them what is to be the end of a policy of which it is the +principle to give nothing to justice, and everything to fear? We +have been accused of truckling to Irish agitators. But I defy +you to show us that we ever made or are now making to Ireland a +single concession which was not in strict conformity with our +known principles. You may therefore trust us, when we tell you +that there is a point where we will stop. Our language to the +Irish is this:--"You ask for emancipation: it was agreeable to +our principles that you should have it; and we assisted you to +obtain it. You wished for a municipal system, as popular as that +which exists in England: we thought your wish reasonable, and +did all in our power to gratify it. This grant to Maynooth is, +in our opinion, proper; and we will do our best to obtain it for +you, though it should cost us our popularity and our seats in +Parliament. The Established Church in your island, as now +constituted, is a grievance of which you justly complain. We +will strive to redress that grievance. The Repeal of the Union +we regard as fatal to the empire: and we never will consent to +it; never, though the country should be surrounded by dangers as +great as those which threatened her when her American colonies, +and France, and Spain, and Holland, were leagued against her, and +when the armed neutrality of the Baltic disputed her maritime +rights; never, though another Bonaparte should pitch his camp in +sight of Dover Castle; never, till all has been staked and lost; +never, till the four quarters of the world have been convulsed by +the last struggle of the great English people for their place +among the nations." This, Sir, is the true policy. When you +give, give frankly. When you withhold, withhold resolutely. +Then what you give is received with gratitude; and, as for what +you withhold, men, seeing that to wrest it from you is no safe or +easy enterprise, cease to hope for it, and, in time, cease to +wish for it. But there is a way of so withholding as merely to +excite desire, and of so giving as merely to excite contempt; and +that way the present ministry has discovered. Is it possible for +me to doubt that in a few months the same machinery which sixteen +years ago extorted from the men now in power the Emancipation +Act, and which has now extorted from them the bill before us, +will again be put in motion? Who shall say what will be the next +sacrifice? For my own part I firmly believe that, if the present +Ministers remain in power five years longer, and if we should +have,--which God avert!--a war with France or America, the +Established Church of Ireland will be given up. The right +honourable Baronet will come down to make a proposition conceived +in the very spirit of the Motions which have repeatedly been made +by my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield. He will again +be deserted by his followers; he will again be dragged through +his difficulties by his opponents. Some honest Lord of the +Treasury may determine to quit his office rather than belie all +the professions of a life. But there will be little difficulty +in finding a successor ready to change all his opinions at twelve +hours' notice. I may perhaps, while cordially supporting the +bill, again venture to say something about consistency, and about +the importance of maintaining a high standard of political +morality. The right honourable Baronet will again tell me, that +he is anxious only for the success of his measure, and that he +does not choose to reply to taunts. And the right honourable +gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer will produce Hansard, +will read to the House my speech of this night, and will most +logically argue that I ought not to reproach the Ministers with +their inconsistency, seeing that I had, from my knowledge of +their temper and principles, predicted to a tittle the nature and +extent of that inconsistency. + +Sir, I have thought it my duty to brand with strong terms of +reprehension the practice of conceding, in time of public danger, +what is obstinately withheld in time of public tranquillity. I +am prepared, and have long been prepared, to grant much, very +much, to Ireland. But if the Repeal Association were to dissolve +itself to-morrow, and if the next steamer were to bring news that +all our differences with the United States were adjusted in the +most honourable and friendly manner, I would grant to Ireland +neither more nor less than I would grant if we were on the eve of +a rebellion like that of 1798; if war were raging all along the +Canadian frontier; and if thirty French sail of the line were +confronting our fleet in St George's Channel. I give my vote +from my heart and soul for the amendment of my honourable friend. +He calls on us to make to Ireland a concession, which ought in +justice to have been made long ago, and which may be made with +grace and dignity even now. I well know that you will refuse to +make it now. I know as well that you will make it hereafter. +You will make it as every concession to Ireland has been made. +You will make it when its effect will be, not to appease, but to +stimulate agitation. You will make it when it will be regarded, +not as a great act of national justice, but as a confession of +national weakness. You will make it in such a way, and at such a +time, that there will be but too much reason to doubt whether +more mischief has been done by your long refusal, or by your +tardy and enforced compliance. + +... + + +THEOLOGICAL TESTS IN THE SCOTCH UNIVERSITIES. (JULY 9, 1845) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 9TH OF JULY +1845. + +On the first of May, 1845, Mr Rutherford, Member for Leith, +obtained leave to bring in a bill to regulate admission to the +Secular Chairs in the Universities of Scotland. On the morning +of the sixth of May the bill was read a first time, and remained +two months on the table of the House. At length the second +reading was fixed for the ninth of July. Mr Rutherfurd was +unable to attend on that day: and it was necessary that one of +his friends should supply his place. Accordingly, as soon as the +Order of the Day had been read, the following Speech was made. + +On a division the bill was rejected by 116 votes to 108. But, in +the state in which parties then were, this defeat was generally +considered as a victory. + +Mr Speaker,--I have been requested by my honourable and learned +friend, the Member for Leith, to act as his substitute on this +occasion. I am truly sorry that any substitute should be +necessary. I am truly sorry that he is not among us to take +charge of the bill which he not long ago introduced with one of +the most forcible and luminous speeches that I ever had the +pleasure of hearing. His audience was small; but the few who +formed that audience cannot have forgotten the effect which his +arguments and his eloquence produced. The Ministers had come +down to resist his motion: but their courage failed them: they +hesitated: they conferred together: at last they consented that +he should have leave to bring in his bill. Such, indeed, was the +language which they held on that and on a subsequent occasion, +that both my honourable and learned friend and myself gave them +more credit than they deserved. We really believed that they had +resolved to offer no opposition to a law which it was quite +evident that they perceived to be just and beneficial. But we +have been disappointed. It has been notified to us that the +whole influence of the Government is to be exerted against our +bill. In such discouraging circumstances it is that I rise to +move the second reading. + +Yet, Sir, I do not altogether despair of success. When I +consider what strong, what irresistible reasons we have to urge, +I can hardly think it possible that the mandate of the most +powerful administration can prevail against them. Nay, I should +consider victory, not merely as probable, but as certain, if I +did not know how imperfect is the information which English +gentlemen generally possess concerning Scotch questions. It is +because I know this that I think it my duty to depart from the +ordinary practice, and, instead of simply moving the second +reading, to explain at some length the principles on which this +bill has been framed. I earnestly entreat those English Members +who were not so fortunate as to hear the speech of my honourable +and learned friend, the Member for Leith to favour me with their +attention. They will, I think, admit, that I have a right to be +heard with indulgence. I have been sent to this house by a great +city which was once a capital, the abode of a Sovereign, the +place where the Estates of a realm held their sittings. For the +general good of the empire, Edinburgh descended from that high +eminence. But, ceasing to be a political metropolis, she became +an intellectual metropolis. For the loss of a Court, of a Privy +Council, of a Parliament, she found compensation in the +prosperity and splendour of an University renowned to the +farthest ends of the earth as a school of physical and moral +science. This noble and beneficent institution is now threatened +with ruin by the folly of the Government, and by the violence of +an ecclesiastical faction which is bent on persecution without +having the miserable excuse of fanaticism. Nor is it only the +University of Edinburgh that is in danger. In pleading for that +University, I plead for all the great academical institutions of +Scotland. The fate of all depends on the event of this debate; +and, in the name of all, I demand the attention of every man who +loves either learning or religious liberty. + +The first question which we have to consider is, whether the +principles of the bill be sound. I believe that they are sound; +and I am quite confident that nobody who sits on the Treasury +Bench will venture to pronounce them unsound. It does not lie in +the mouths of the Ministers to say that literary instruction and +scientific instruction are inseparably connected with religious +instruction. It is not for them to rail against Godless +Colleges. It is not for them to talk with horror of the danger +of suffering young men to listen to the lectures of an Arian +professor of Botany or of a Popish professor of Chemistry. They +are themselves at this moment setting up in Ireland a system +exactly resembling the system which we wish to set up in +Scotland. Only a few hours have elapsed since they were +themselves labouring to prove that, in a country in which a large +proportion of those who require a liberal education are +dissenters from the Established Church, it is desirable that +there should be schools without theological tests. The right +honourable Baronet at the head of the Government proposes that in +the new colleges which he is establishing at Belfast, Cork, +Limerick, and Galway, the professorships shall be open to men of +every creed: and he has strenuously defended that part of his +plan against attacks from opposite quarters, against the attacks +of zealous members of the Church of England, and of zealous +members of the Church of Rome. Only the day before yesterday the +honourable Baronet the Member for North Devon (Sir Thomas +Acland.) ventured to suggest a test as unobjectionable as a test +could well be. He would merely have required the professors to +declare their general belief in the divine authority of the Old +and New Testaments. But even this amendment the First Lord of +the Treasury resisted, and I think quite rightly. He told us +that it was quite unnecessary to institute an inquisition into +the religious opinions of people whose business was merely to +teach secular knowledge, and that it was absurd to imagine that +any man of learning would disgrace and ruin himself by preaching +infidelity from the Greek chair or the Mathematical chair. + +Some members of this House certainly held very different +language: but their arguments made as little impression on Her +Majesty's Ministers as on me. We were told with the utmost +earnestness that secular knowledge, unaccompanied by a sound +religious faith, and unsanctified by religious feeling, was not +only useless, but positively noxious, a curse to the possessor, a +curse to society. I feel the greatest personal kindness and +respect for some gentlemen who hold this language. But they must +pardon me if I say that the proposition which they have so +confidently laid down, however well it may sound in pious ears +while it is expressed in general terms, to be too monstrous, too +ludicrous, for grave refutation. Is it seriously meant that, if +the Captain of an Indiaman is a Socinian, it would be better for +himself, his crew, and his passengers, that he should not know +how to use his quadrant and his chronometers? Is it seriously +meant that, if a druggist is a Swedenborgian, it would be better +for himself and his customers that he should not know the +difference between Epsom salts and oxalic acid? A hundred +millions of the Queen's Asiatic subjects are Mahometans and +Pagans. Is it seriously meant that it is desirable that they +should be as ignorant as the aboriginal inhabitants of New South +Wales, that they should have no alphabet, that they should have +no arithmetic, that they should not know how to build a bridge, +how to sink a well, how to irrigate a field? If it be true that +secular knowledge, unsanctified by true religion, is a positive +evil, all these consequences follow. Yet surely they are +consequences from which every sane mind must recoil. It is a +great evil, no doubt, that a man should be a heretic or an +atheist. But I am quite at a loss to understand how this evil is +mitigated by his not knowing that the earth moves round the sun, +that by the help of a lever, a small power will lift a great +weight, that Virginia is a republic, or that Paris is the capital +of France. + +On these grounds, Sir, I have cordially supported the Irish +Colleges Bill. But the principle of the Irish Colleges and the +principle of the bill which I hold in my hand are exactly the +same: and the House and the country have a right to know why the +authors of the former bill are the opponents of the latter bill. +One distinction there is, I admit, between Ireland and Scotland. +It is true that in Scotland there is no clamour against the Union +with England. It is true that in Scotland no demagogue can +obtain applause and riches by slandering and reviling the English +people. It is true that in Scotland there is no traitor who +would dare to say that he regards the enemies of the state as his +allies. In every extremity the Scottish nation will be found +faithful to the common cause of the empire. But Her Majesty's +Ministers will hardly I think, venture to say that this is their +reason for refusing to Scotland the boon which they propose to +confer on Ireland. And yet, if this be not their reason, what +reason can we find? Observe how strictly analogous the cases +are. You give it as a reason for establishing in Ireland +colleges without tests that the Established Church of Ireland is +the Church of the minority. Unhappily it may well be doubted +whether the Established Church of Scotland, too, be not now, +thanks to your policy, the Church of the minority. It is true +that the members of the Established Church of Scotland are about +a half of the whole population of Scotland; and that the members +of the Established Church of Ireland are not much more than a +tenth of the whole population of Ireland. But the question now +before us does not concern the whole population. It concerns +only the class which requires academical education: and I do not +hesitate to say that, in the class which requires academical +education, in the class for the sake of which universities exist, +the proportion of persons who do not belong to the Established +Church is as great in Scotland as in Ireland. You tell us that +sectarian education in Ireland is an evil. Is it less an evil in +Scotland? You tell us that it is desirable that the Protestant +and the Roman Catholic should study together at Cork. Is it less +desirable that the son of an elder of the Established Church and +the son of an elder of the Free Church should study together at +Edinburgh? You tell us that it is not reasonable to require from +a Professor of Astronomy or Surgery in Connaught a declaration +that he believes in the Gospels. On what ground, then, can you +think it reasonable to require from every Professor in Scotland a +declaration that he approves of the Presbyterian form of church +government? I defy you, with all your ingenuity, to find one +argument, one rhetorical topic, against our bill which may not be +used with equal effect against your own Irish Colleges Bill. + +Is there any peculiarity in the academical system of Scotland +which makes these tests necessary? Certainly not. The +academical system of Scotland has its peculiarities; but they are +peculiarities which are not in harmony with these tests, +peculiarities which jar with these tests. It is an error to +imagine that, by passing this bill, we shall establish a +precedent which will lead to a change in the constitution of the +Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. Whether such a change be +or be not desirable is a question which must be decided on +grounds quite distinct from those on which we rest our case. I +entreat English gentlemen not to be misled by the word +University. That word means two different things on the two +different sides of the Tweed. The academical authorities at +Cambridge and Oxford stand in a parental relation to the student. +They undertake, not merely to instruct him in philology, +geometry, natural philosophy, but to form his religious opinions, +and to watch over his morals. He is to be bred a Churchman. At +Cambridge, he cannot graduate, at Oxford, I believe, he cannot +matriculate, without declaring himself a Churchman. The College +is a large family. An undergraduate is lodged either within the +gates, or in some private house licensed and regulated by the +academical authorities. He is required to attend public worship +according to the forms of the Church of England several times +every week. It is the duty of one officer to note the absence of +young men from divine service, of another to note their absence +from the public table, of another to report those who return home +at unseasonably late hours. An academical police parade the +streets at night to seize upon any unlucky reveller who may be +found drunk or in bad company. There are punishments of various +degrees for irregularities of conduct. Sometimes the offender +has to learn a chapter of the Greek Testament; sometimes he is +confined to his college; sometimes he is publicly reprimanded: +for grave offences he is rusticated or expelled. Now, Sir, +whether this system be good or bad, efficient or inefficient, I +will not now inquire. This is evident; that religious tests are +perfectly in harmony with such a system. Christ Church and +King's College undertake to instruct every young man who goes to +them in the doctrines of the Church of England, and to see that +he regularly attends the worship of the Church of England. +Whether this ought to be so, I repeat, I will not now inquire: +but, while it is so, nothing can be more reasonable than to +require from the rulers of Christ Church and King's College some +declaration that they are themselves members of the Church of +England. + +The character of the Scotch universities is altogether different. +There you have no functionaries resembling the Vice-Chancellors +and Proctors, the Heads of Houses, Tutors and Deans, whom I used +to cap at Cambridge. There is no chapel; there is no academical +authority entitled to ask a young man whether he goes to the +parish church or the Quaker meeting, to synagogue or to mass. +With his moral conduct the university has nothing to do. The +Principal and the whole Academical Senate cannot put any +restraint, or inflict any punishment, on a lad whom they may see +lying dead drunk in the High Street of Edinburgh. In truth, a +student at a Scotch university is in a situation closely +resembling that of a medical student in London. There are great +numbers of youths in London who attend St George's Hospital, or +St Bartholomew's Hospital. One of these youths may also go to +Albermarle Street to hear Mr Faraday lecture on chemistry, or to +Willis's rooms to hear Mr Carlyle lecture on German literature. +On the Sunday he goes perhaps to church, perhaps to the Roman +Catholic chapel, perhaps to the Tabernacle, perhaps nowhere. +None of the gentlemen whose lectures he has attended during the +week has the smallest right to tell him where he shall worship, +or to punish him for gambling in hells, or tippling in cider +cellars. Surely we must all feel that it would be the height of +absurdity to require Mr Faraday and Mr Carlyle to subscribe a +confession of faith before they lecture; and in what does their +situation differ from the situation of the Scotch professor. + +In the peculiar character of the Scotch universities, therefore, +I find a strong reason for the passing of this bill. I find a +reason stronger still when I look at the terms of the engagements +which exist between the English and Scotch nations. + +Some gentlemen, I see, think that I am venturing on dangerous +ground. We have been told, in confident tones, that, if we pass +this bill, we shall commit a gross breach of public faith, we +shall violate the Treaty of Union, and the Act of Security. With +equal confidence, and with confidence much better grounded, I +affirm that the Treaty of Union and the Act of Security not only +do not oblige us to reject this bill, but do oblige us to pass +this bill, or some bill nearly resembling this. + +This proposition seems to be regarded by the Ministers as +paradoxical: but I undertake to prove it by the plainest and +fairest argument. I shall resort to no chicanery. If I did +think that the safety of the commonwealth required that we should +violate the Treaty of Union, I would violate it openly, and +defend my conduct on the ground of necessity. It may, in an +extreme case, be our duty to break our compacts. It never can be +our duty to quibble them away. What I say is that the Treaty of +Union, construed, not with the subtlety of a pettifogger, but +according to the spirit, binds us to pass this bill or some +similar bill. + +By the Treaty of Union it was covenanted that no person should be +a teacher or office-bearer in the Scotch Universities who should +not declare that he conformed to the worship and polity of the +Established Church of Scotland. What Church was meant by the two +contracting parties? What Church was meant, more especially, by +the party to the side of which we ought always to lean, I mean +the weaker party? Surely the Church established in 1707, when +the Union took place. Is then, the Church of Scotland at the +present moment constituted, on all points which the members of +that Church think essential, exactly as it was constituted in +1707? Most assuredly not. + +Every person who knows anything of the ecclesiastical history of +Scotland knows that, ever since the Reformation, the great body +of the Presbyterians of that country have held that congregations +ought to have a share in the appointment of their ministers. +This principle is laid down most distinctly in the First Book of +Discipline, drawn up by John Knox. It is laid down, though not +quite so strongly, in the Second Book of Discipline, drawn up by +Andrew Melville. And I beg gentlemen, English gentlemen, to +observe that in Scotland this is not regarded as a matter of mere +expediency. All staunch Presbyterians think that the flock is +entitled, jure divino, to a voice in the appointment of the +pastor, and that to force a pastor on a parish to which he is +unacceptable is a sin as much forbidden by the Word of God as +idolatry or perjury. I am quite sure that I do not exaggerate +when I say that the highest of our high churchmen at Oxford +cannot attach more importance to episcopal government and +episcopal ordination than many thousands of Scotchmen, shrewd +men, respectable men, men who fear God and honour the Queen, +attach to this right of the people. + +When, at the time of the Revolution, the Presbyterian worship and +discipline were established in Scotland, the question of +patronage was settled by a compromise, which was far indeed from +satisfying men of extreme opinions, but which was generally +accepted. An Act, passed at Edinburgh, in 1690, transferred what +we should call in England the advowsons from the old patrons to +parochial councils, composed of the elders and the Protestant +landowners. This system, however imperfect it might appear to +such rigid Covenanters as Davie Deans and Gifted Gilfillan, +worked satisfactorily; and the Scotch nation seems to have been +contented with its ecclesiastical polity when the Treaty of Union +was concluded. By that treaty the ecclesiastical polity of +Scotland was declared to be unalterable. Nothing, therefore, can +be more clear than that the Parliament of Great Britain was bound +by the most sacred obligations not to revive those rights of +patronage which the Parliament of Scotland had abolished. + +But, Sir, the Union had not lasted five years when our ancestors +were guilty of a great violation of public faith. The history of +that great fault and of its consequences is full of interest and +instruction. The wrong was committed hastily, and with +contumelious levity. The offenders were doubtless far from +foreseeing that their offence would be visited on the third and +fourth generation; that we should be paying in 1845 the penalty +of what they did in 1712. + +In 1712, Sir, the Whigs, who were the chief authors of the Union, +had been driven from power. The prosecution of Sacheverell had +made them odious to the nation. The general election of 1710 had +gone against them. Tory statesmen were in office. Tory squires +formed more than five-sixths of this House. The party which was +uppermost thought that England had, in 1707, made a bad bargain, +a bargain so bad that it could hardly be considered as binding. +The guarantee so solemnly given to the Church of Scotland was a +subject of loud and bitter complaint. The Ministers hated that +Church much; and their chief supporters, the country gentlemen +and country clergymen of England, hated it still more. Numerous +petty insults were offered to the opinions, or, if you please, +the prejudices of the Presbyterians. At length it was determined +to go further, and to restore to the old patrons those rights +which had been taken away in 1690. A bill was brought into this +House, the history of which you may trace in our Journals. Some +of the entries are very significant. In spite of all +remonstrances the Tory majority would not hear of delay. The +Whig minority struggled hard, appealed to the act of Union and +the Act of Security, and insisted on having both those Acts read +at the table. The bill passed this House, however, before the +people of Scotland knew that it had been brought in. For there +were then neither reporters nor railroads; and intelligence from +Westminster was longer in travelling to Cambridge than it now is +in travelling to Aberdeen. The bill was in the House of Lords +before the Church of Scotland could make her voice heard. Then +came a petition from a committee appointed by the General +Assembly to watch over the interests of religion while the +General Assembly itself was not sitting. The first name attached +to that petition is the name of Principal Carstairs, a man who +had stood high in the esteem and favour of William the Third, and +who had borne a chief part in establishing the Presbyterian +Church in Scotland. Carstairs and his colleagues appealed to the +Act of Union, and implored the peers not to violate that Act. +But party spirit ran high; public faith was disregarded: +patronage was restored. To that breach of the Treaty of Union +are to be directly ascribed all the schisms that have since rent +the Church of Scotland. + +I will not detain the House by giving a minute account of those +schisms. It is enough to say that the law of patronage produced, +first the secession of 1733 and the establishment of the +Associate Synod, then the secession of 1752 and the establishment +of the Relief Synod, and finally the great secession of 1843 and +the establishment of the Free Church. Only two years have +elapsed since we saw, with mingled admiration and pity, a +spectacle worthy of the best ages of the Church. Four hundred +and seventy ministers resigned their stipends, quitted their +manses, and went forth committing themselves, their wives, their +children, to the care of Providence. Their congregations +followed them by thousands, and listened eagerly to the Word of +Life in tents, in barns, or on those hills and moors where the +stubborn Presbyterians of a former generation had prayed and sung +their psalms in defiance of the boot of Lauderdale and of the +sword of Dundee. The rich gave largely of their riches. The +poor contributed with the spirit of her who put her two mites +into the treasury of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, in all the churches +of large towns, of whole counties, the established clergy were +preaching to empty benches. And of these secessions every one +may be distinctly traced to that violation of the Treaty of Union +which was committed in 1712. + +This, Sir, is the true history of dissent in Scotland: and, this +being so, how can any man have the front to invoke the Treaty of +Union and the Act of Security against those who are devotedly +attached to that system which the Treaty of Union and the Act of +Security were designed to protect, and who are seceders only +because the Treaty of Union and the Act of Security have been +infringed? I implore gentlemen to reflect on the manner in which +they and their fathers have acted towards the Scotch +Presbyterians. First you bind yourselves by the most solemn +obligations to maintain unaltered their Church as it was +constituted in 1707. Five years later you alter the constitution +of their Church in a point regarded by them as essential. In +consequence of your breach of faith secession after secession +takes place, till at length the Church of the State ceases to be +the Church of the People. Then you begin to be squeamish. Then +those articles of the Treaty of Union which, when they really +were obligatory, you outrageously violated, now when they are no +longer obligatory, now when it is no longer in your power to +observe them according to the spirit, are represented as +inviolable. You first, by breaking your word, turn hundreds of +thousands of Churchmen into Dissenters; and then you punish them +for being Dissenters, because, forsooth, you never break your +word. If your consciences really are so tender, why do you not +repeal the Act of 1712? Why do you not put the Church of +Scotland back into the same situation in which she was in 1707. +We have had occasion more than once in the course of this session +to admire the casuistical skill of Her Majesty's Ministers. But +I must say that even their scruple about slave-grown sugar, +though that scruple is the laughing-stock of all Europe and all +America, is respectable when compared with their scruple about +the Treaty of Union. Is there the slightest doubt that every +compact ought to be construed according to the sense in which it +was understood by those who made it? And is there the slightest +doubt as to the sense in which the compact between England and +Scotland was understood by those who made it? Suppose that we +could call up from their graves the Presbyterian divines who then +sate in the General Assembly. Suppose that we could call up +Carstairs; that we could call up Boston, the author of the +Fourfold State; that we could relate to them the history of the +ecclesiastical revolutions which have, since their time, taken +place in Scotland; and that we could then ask them, "Is the +Established Church, or is the Free Church, identical with the +Church which existed at the time of the Union?" Is it not quite +certain what their answer would be? They would say, "Our Church, +the Church which you promised to maintain unalterable, was not +the Church which you protect, but the Church which you oppress. +Our Church was the Church of Chalmers and Brewster, not the +Church of Bryce and Muir." + +It is true, Sir, that the Presbyterian dissenters are not the +only dissenters whom this bill will relieve. By the law, as it +now stands, all persons who refuse to declare their approbation +of the synodical polity, that is to say, all persons who refuse +to declare that they consider episcopal government and episcopal +ordination as, at least, matters altogether indifferent, are +incapable of holding academical office in Scotland. Now, Sir, +will any gentleman who loves the Church of England vote for +maintaining this law? If, indeed, he were bound by public faith +to maintain this law, I admit that he would have no choice. But +I have proved, unless I greatly deceive myself, that he is not +bound by public faith to maintain this law? Can he then +conscientiously support the Ministers to-night? If he votes with +them, he votes for persecuting what he himself believes to be the +truth. He holds out to the members of his own Church lures to +tempt them to renounce that Church, and to join themselves to a +Church which he considers as less pure. We may differ as to the +propriety of imposing penalties and disabilities on heretics. +But surely we shall agree in thinking that we ought not to punish +men for orthodoxy. + +I know, Sir, that there are many gentlemen who dislike innovation +merely as innovation, and would be glad always to keep things as +they are now. Even to this class of persons I will venture to +appeal. I assure them that we are not the innovators. I assure +them that our object is to keep things as they are and as they +have long been. In form, I own, we are proposing a change; but +in truth we are resisting a change. The question really is, not +whether we shall remove old tests, but whether we shall impose +new ones. The law which we seek to repeal has long been +obsolete. So completely have the tests been disused that, only +the other day, the right honourable Baronet, the Secretary for +the Home Department, when speaking in favour of the Irish +Colleges Bill, told us that the Government was not making a rash +experiment. "Our plan," he said, "has already been tried at +Edinburgh and has succeeded. At Edinburgh the tests have been +disused near a hundred years." As to Glasgow the gentlemen +opposite can give us full information from their own experience. +For there are at least three members of the Cabinet who have been +Lords Rectors; the First Lord of the Treasury, and the +Secretaries for the Home Department and the Colonial Department. +They never took the test. They probably would not have taken it; +for they are all Episcopalians. In fact, they belong to the very +class which the test was especially meant to exclude. The test +was not meant to exclude Presbyterian dissenters; for the +Presbyterian Church was not yet rent by any serious schism. Nor +was the test meant to exclude the Roman Catholics; for against +the Roman Catholics there was already abundant security. The +Protestant Episcopalian was the enemy against whom it was, in +1707, thought peculiarly necessary to take precautions. That +those precautions have long been disused the three members of the +Cabinet whom I mentioned can certify. + +On a sudden the law, which had long slept a deep sleep, has been +awakened, stirred up, and put into vigorous action. These +obsolete tests are now, it seems, to be exacted with severity. +And why? Simply because an event has taken place which makes +them ten times as unjust and oppressive as they would have been +formerly. They were not required while the Established Church +was the Church of the majority. They are to be required solely +because a secession has taken place which has made the +Established Church the Church of the minority. While they could +have done little mischief they were suffered to lie neglected. +They are now to be used, because a time has come at which they +cannot be used without fatal consequences. + +It is impossible for me to speak without indignation of those who +have taken the lead in the work of persecution. Yet I must give +them credit for courage. They have selected as their object of +attack no less a man than Sir David Brewster, Principal of the +University of Saint Andrews. I hold in my hand the libel, as it +is technically called, in which a Presbytery of the Established +Church demands that Sir David, for the crime of adhering to that +ecclesiastical polity which was guaranteed to his country by the +Act of Union, shall be "removed from his office, and visited with +such other censure or punishment as the laws of the Church +enjoin, for the glory of God, the safety of the Church, and the +prosperity of the University, and to deter others holding the +same important office from committing the like offence in all +time coming, but that others may hear and fear the danger and +detriment of following divisive courses." Yes; for the glory of +God, the safety of the Church, and the prosperity of the +University. What right, Sir, have the authors of such an +instrument as this to raise their voices against the insolence +and intolerance of the Vatican? The glory of God! As to that, I +will only say that this is not the first occasion on which the +glory of God has been made a pretext for the injustice of man. +The safety of the Church! Sir, if, which God forbid, that Church +is really possessed by the evil spirit which actuates this +Presbytery; if that Church, having recently lost hundreds of able +ministers and hundreds of thousands of devout hearers, shall, +instead of endeavouring, by meekness, and by redoubled diligence, +to regain those whom she has estranged, give them new +provocation; if she shall sharpen against them an old law the +edge of which has long rusted off, and which, when it was first +made, was made not for her defence, but for theirs; then I +pronounce the days of that Church numbered. As to the prosperity +of the University, is there a corner of Europe where men of +science will not laugh when they hear that the prosperity of the +University of Saint Andrews is to be promoted by expelling Sir +David Brewster on account of a theological squabble? The +professors of Edinburgh know better than this Presbytery how the +prosperity of a seat of learning is to be promoted. There the +Academic Senate is almost unanimous in favour of the bill. And +indeed it is quite certain that, unless this bill, or some +similar bill, be passed, a new college will soon be founded and +endowed with that munificence of which the history of the Free +Church furnishes so many examples. From the day on which such an +university arises, the old universities must decline. Now, they +are practically national, and not sectarian, institutions. And +yet, even now, the emoluments of a professorship are so much +smaller than those which ability and industry can obtain in other +ways, that it is difficult to find eminent men to fill the +chairs. And if there be this difficulty now, when students of +all religious persuasions attend the lectures, what is likely to +happen when all the members of the Free Church go elsewhere for +instruction? If there be this difficulty when you have all the +world to choose professors from, what is likely to happen when +your choice is narrowed to less than one-half of Scotland? As +the professorships become poorer, the professors will become less +competent. As the professors become less competent, the classes +will become thinner. As the classes become thinner, the +professorships will again become poorer. The decline will become +rapid and headlong. In a short time, the lectures will be +delivered to empty rooms: the grass will grow in the courts: +and men not fit to be village dominies will occupy the chairs of +Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart, of Reid and Black, of Playfair and +Jamieson. + +How do Her Majesty's Ministers like such a prospect as this! +Already they have, whether by their fault or their misfortune I +will not now inquire, secured for themselves an unenviable place +in the history of Scotland. Their names are already inseparably +associated with the disruption of her Church. Are those names to +be as inseparably associated with the ruin of her Universities? + +If the Government were consistent in error, some respect might be +mingled with our disapprobation. But a Government which is +guided by no principle; a Government which, on the gravest +questions, does not know its own mind twenty-four hours together; +a Government which is against tests at Cork, and for tests at +Glasgow, against tests at Belfast, and for tests at Edinburgh, +against tests on the Monday, for them on the Wednesday, against +them again on the Thursday--how can such a Government command +esteem or confidence? How can the Ministers wonder that their +uncertain and capricious liberality fails to obtain the applause +of the liberal party? What right have they to complain if they +lose the confidence of half the nation without gaining the +confidence of the other half? + +But I do not speak to the Government. I speak to the House. I +appeal to those who, on Monday last, voted with the Ministers +against the test proposed by the honourable Baronet the Member +for North Devon. I know what is due to party ties. But there is +a mire so black and so deep that no leader has a right to drag +his followers through it. It is only forty-eight hours since +honourable gentlemen were brought down to the House to vote +against requiring the professors in the Irish Colleges to make a +declaration of belief in the Gospel: and now the same gentlemen +are expected to come down and to vote that no man shall be a +professor in a Scottish college who does not declare himself a +Calvinist and a Presbyterian. Flagrant as is the injustice with +which the ministers have on this occasion treated Scotland, the +injustice with which they have treated their own supporters is +more flagrant still. I call on all who voted with the Government +on Monday to consider whether they can consistently and +honourably vote with the Government to-night: I call on all +members of the Church of England to ponder well before they make +it penal to be a member of the Church of England; and, lastly, I +call on every man of every sect and party who loves science and +letters, who is solicitous for the public tranquillity, who +respects the public faith, to stand by us in this our hard +struggle to avert the ruin which threatens the Universities of +Scotland. I move that this bill be now read a second time. + +... + + +CORN LAWS. (DECEMBER 2, 1845) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH ON THE 2D OF DECEMBER 1845. + +The following Speech was delivered at a public meeting held at +Edinburgh on the second of December, 1845, for the purpose of +petitioning Her Majesty to open the ports of the United Kingdom +for the free admission of corn and other food. + +My Lord Provost and Gentlemen,--You will, I hope, believe that I +am deeply sensible of the kindness with which you have received +me. I only beg that you will continue to extend your indulgence +to me, if it should happen that my voice should fail me in the +attempt to address you. I have thought it my duty to obey your +summons, though I am hardly equal to the exertion of public +speaking, and though I am so situated that I can pass only a few +hours among you. But it seemed to me that this was not an +ordinary meeting or an ordinary crisis. It seemed to me that a +great era had arrived, and that, at such a conjuncture, you were +entitled to know the opinions and intentions of one who has the +honour of being your representative. + +With respect to the past, gentlemen, I have perhaps a little to +explain, but certainly nothing to repent or to retract. My +opinions, from the day on which I entered public life, have never +varied. I have always considered the principle of protection of +agriculture as a vicious principle. I have always thought that +this vicious principle took, in the Act of 1815, in the Act of +1828, and in the Act of 1842, a singularly vicious form. This I +declared twelve years ago, when I stood for Leeds: this I +declared in May 1839, when I first presented myself before you; +and when, a few months later, Lord Melbourne invited me to become +a member of his Government, I distinctly told him that, in office +or out of office, I must vote for the total repeal of the corn +laws. + +But in the year 1841 a very peculiar crisis arrived. There was +reason to hope that it might be possible to effect a compromise, +which would not indeed wholly remove the evils inseparable from a +system of protection, but which would greatly mitigate them. +There were some circumstances in the financial situation of the +country which led those who were then the advisers of the Crown +to hope that they might be able to get rid of the sliding scale, +and to substitute for it a moderate fixed duty. We proposed a +duty of eight shillings a quarter on wheat. The Parliament +refused even to consider our plan. Her Majesty appealed to the +people. I presented myself before you; and you will bear me +witness that I disguised nothing. I said, "I am for a perfectly +free trade in corn: but I think that, situated as we are, we +should do well to consent to a compromise. If you return me to +Parliament, I shall vote for the eight shilling duty. It is for +you to determine whether, on those terms, you will return me or +not." You agreed with me. You sent me back to the House of +Commons on the distinct understanding that I was to vote for the +plan proposed by the Government of which I was a member. As soon +as the new Parliament met, a change of administration took place. +But it seemed to me that it was my duty to support, when out of +place, that proposition to which I had been a party when I was in +place. I therefore did not think myself justified in voting for +a perfectly free trade, till Parliament had decided against our +fixed duty, and in favour of Sir Robert Peel's new sliding scale. +As soon as that decision had been pronounced, I conceived that I +was no longer bound by the terms of the compromise which I had, +with many misgivings, consented to offer to the agriculturists, +and which the agriculturists had refused to accept. I have ever +since voted in favour of every motion which has been made for the +total abolition of the duties on corn. + +There has been, it is true, some difference of opinion between me +and some of you. We belonged to the same camp: but we did not +quite agree as to the mode of carrying on the war. I saw the +immense strength of the interests which were arrayed against us. +I saw that the corn monopoly would last forever if those who +defended it were united, while those who assailed it were +divided. I saw that many men of distinguished abilities and +patriotism, such men as Lord John Russell, Lord Howick, Lord +Morpeth, were unwilling to relinquish all hope that the question +might be settled by a compromise such as had been proposed in +1841. It seemed to me that the help of such men was +indispensable to us, and that, if we drove from us such valuable +allies, we should be unable to contend against the common enemy. +Some of you thought that I was timorous, and others that I was +misled by party spirit or by personal friendship. I still think +that I judged rightly. But I will not now argue the question. +It has been set at rest for ever, and in the best possible way. +It is not necessary for us to consider what relations we ought to +maintain with the party which is for a moderate fixed duty. That +party has disappeared. Time, and reflection, and discussion, +have produced their natural effect on minds eminently intelligent +and candid. No intermediate shades of opinion are now left. +There is no twilight. The light has been divided from the +darkness. Two parties are ranged in battle array against each +other. There is the standard of monopoly. Here is the standard +of free trade; and by the standard of free trade I pledge myself +to stand firmly. + +Gentlemen, a resolution has been put into my hands which I shall +move with the greatest pleasure. That resolution sets forth in +emphatic language a truth of the highest importance, namely, that +the present corn laws press with especial severity on the poor. +There was a time, gentlemen, when politicians were not ashamed to +defend the corn laws merely as contrivances for putting the money +of the many into the pockets of the few. We must,--so these men +reasoned,--have a powerful and opulent class of grandees: that +we may have such grandees, the rent of land must be kept up: and +that the rent of land may be kept up, the price of bread must be +kept up. There may still be people who think thus: but they +wisely keep their thoughts to themselves. Nobody now ventures to +say in public that ten thousand families ought to be put on short +allowance of food in order that one man may have a fine stud and +a fine picture gallery. Our monopolists have changed their +ground. They have abandoned their old argument for a new +argument much less invidious, but, I think, rather more absurd. +They have turned philanthropists. Their hearts bleed for the +misery of the poor labouring man. They constantly tell us that +the cry against the corn laws has been raised by capitalists; +that the capitalist wishes to enrich himself at the expense both +of the landed gentry and of the working people; that every +reduction of the price of food must be followed by a reduction of +the wages of labour; and that, if bread should cost only half +what it now costs, the peasant and the artisan would be sunk in +wretchedness and degradation, and the only gainers would be the +millowners and the money changers. It is not only by landowners, +it is not only by Tories, that this nonsense has been talked. We +have heard it from men of a very different class, from demagogues +who wish to keep up the corn laws, merely in order that the corn +laws may make the people miserable, and that misery may make the +people turbulent. You know how assiduously those enemies of all +order and all property have laboured to deceive the working man +into a belief that cheap bread would be a curse to him. Nor have +they always laboured in vain. You remember that once, even in +this great and enlightened city, a public meeting called to +consider the corn laws was disturbed by a deluded populace. Now, +for my own part, whenever I hear bigots who are opposed to all +reform, and anarchists who are bent on universal destruction, +join in the same cry, I feel certain that it is an absurd and +mischievous cry; and surely never was there a cry so absurd and +mischievous as this cry against cheap loaves. It seems strange +that Conservatives, people who profess to hold new theories in +abhorrence, people who are always talking about the wisdom of our +ancestors, should insist on our receiving as an undoubted truth a +strange paradox never heard of from the creation of the world +till the nineteenth century. Begin with the most ancient book +extant, the Book of Genesis, and come down to the parliamentary +debates of 1815; and I will venture to say that you will find +that, on this point, the party which affects profound reverence +for antiquity and prescription has against it the unanimous voice +of thirty-three centuries. If there be anything in which all +peoples, nations, and languages, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Italians, +Frenchmen, Englishmen, have agreed, it has been this, that the +dearness of food is a great evil to the poor. Surely, the +arguments which are to counterbalance such a mass of authority +ought to be weighty. What then are those arguments? I know of +only one. If any gentleman is acquainted with any other, I wish +that he would communicate it to us; and I will engage that he +shall have a fair and full hearing. The only argument that I +know of is this, that there are some countries in the world where +food is cheaper than in England, and where the people are more +miserable than in England. Bengal has been mentioned. But +Poland is the favourite case. Whenever we ask why there should +not be a free trade in corn between the Vistula and the Thames, +the answer is, "Do you wish our labourers to be reduced to the +condition of the peasants of the Vistula?" Was such reasoning +ever heard before? See how readily it may be turned against +those who use it. Corn is cheaper at Cincinnati than here; but +the wages of the labourer are much higher at Cincinnati than +here: therefore, the lower the price of food, the higher the +wages will be. This reasoning is just as good as the reasoning +of our adversaries: that is to say, it is good for nothing. It +is not one single cause that makes nations either prosperous or +miserable. No friend of free trade is such an idiot as to say +that free trade is the only valuable thing in the world; that +religion, government, police, education, the administration of +justice, public expenditure, foreign relations, have nothing +whatever to do with the well-being of nations; that people sunk +in superstition, slavery, barbarism, must be happy if they have +only cheap food. These gentlemen take the most unfortunate +country in the world, a country which, while it had an +independent government, had the very worst of independent +governments; the sovereign a mere phantom; the nobles defying him +and quarrelling with each other; the great body of the population +in a state of servitude; no middle class; no manufactures; +scarcely any trade, and that in the hands of Jew pedlars. Such +was Poland while it was a separate kingdom. But foreign invaders +came down upon it. It was conquered: it was reconquered: it +was partitioned: it was repartitioned: it is now under a +government of which I will not trust myself to speak. This is +the country to which these gentlemen go to study the effect of +low prices. When they wish to ascertain the effect of high +prices, they take our own country; a country which has been +during many generations the best governed in Europe; a country +where personal slavery has been unknown during ages; a country +which enjoys the blessings of a pure religion, of freedom, of +order; a country long secured by the sea against invasion; a +country in which the oldest man living has never seen a foreign +flag except as a trophy. Between these two countries our +political philosophers institute a comparison. They find the +Briton better off than the Pole; and they immediately come to the +conclusion that the Briton is so well off because his bread is +dear, and the Pole so ill off because his bread is cheap. Why, +is there a single good which in this way I could not prove to be +an evil, or a single evil which I could not prove to be a good? +Take lameness. I will prove that it is the best thing in the +world to be lame: for I can show you men who are lame, and yet +much happier than many men who have the full use of their legs. +I will prove health to be a calamity. For I can easily find you +people in excellent health whose fortunes have been wrecked, +whose character has been blasted, and who are more wretched than +many invalids. But is that the way in which any man of common +sense reasons? No; the question is: Would not the lame man be +happier if you restored to him the use of his limbs? Would not +the healthy man be more wretched if he had gout and rheumatism in +addition to all his other calamities? Would not the Englishman +be better off if food were as cheap here as in Poland? Would not +the Pole be more miserable if food were as dear in Poland as +here? More miserable indeed he would not long be: for he would +be dead in a month. + +It is evident that the true way of determining the question which +we are considering, is to compare the state of a society when +food is cheap with the state of that same society when food is +dear; and this is a comparison which we can very easily make. We +have only to recall to our memory what we have ourselves seen +within the last ten years. Take the year 1835. Food was cheap +then; and the capitalist prospered greatly. But was the +labouring man miserable? On the contrary, it is notorious that +work was plentiful, that wages were high, that the common people +were thriving and contented. Then came a change like that in +Pharaoh's dream. The thin ears had blighted the full ears; the +lean kine had devoured the fat kine; the days of plenty were +over; and the days of dearth had arrived. In 1841 the capitalist +was doubtless distressed. But will anybody tell me that the +capitalist was the only sufferer, or the chief sufferer? Have we +forgotten what was the condition of the working people in that +unhappy year? So visible was the misery of the manufacturing +towns that a man of sensibility could hardly bear to pass through +them. Everywhere he found filth and nakedness, and plaintive +voices, and wasted forms, and haggard faces. Politicians who had +never been thought alarmists began to tremble for the very +foundations of society. First the mills were put on short time. +Then they ceased to work at all. Then went to pledge the scanty +property of the artisan: first his little luxuries, then his +comforts, then his necessaries. The hovels were stripped till +they were as bare as the wigwam of a Dogribbed Indian. Alone, +amidst the general misery, the shop with the three golden balls +prospered, and was crammed from cellar to garret with the clocks, +and the tables, and the kettles, and the blankets, and the bibles +of the poor. I remember well the effect which was produced in +London by the unwonted sight of the huge pieces of cannon which +were going northward to overawe the starving population of +Lancashire. These evil days passed away. Since that time we +have again had cheap bread. The capitalist has been a gainer. +It was fit that he should be a gainer. But has he been the only +gainer? Will those who are always telling us that the Polish +labourer is worse off than the English labourer venture to tell +us that the English labourer was worse off in 1844 than in 1841? +Have we not everywhere seen the goods of the poor coming back +from the magazine of the pawnbroker? Have we not seen in the +house of the working man, in his clothing, in his very looks as +he passed us in the streets, that he was a happier being? As to +his pleasures, and especially as to the most innocent, the most +salutary, of his pleasures, ask your own most intelligent and +useful fellow citizen Mr Robert Chambers what sale popular books +had in the year 1841, and what sale they had last year. I am +assured that, in one week of 1845, the sums paid in wages within +twenty miles of Manchester exceeded by a million and a half the +sums paid in the corresponding week of 1841. + +Gentlemen, both the capitalist and the labourer have been +gainers, as they ought to have been gainers, by the diminution in +the price of bread. But there is a third party, which ought not +to have gained by that diminution, and yet has gained very +greatly by it; and that party is Her Majesty's present +Government. It is for the interest of rulers that those whom +they rule should be prosperous. But the prosperity which we have +lately enjoyed was a prosperity for which we were not indebted to +our rulers. It came in spite of them. It was produced by the +cheapness of that which they had laboured to render dear. Under +pretence of making us independent of foreign supply, they have +established a system which makes us dependent in the worst +possible way. As my valued friend, the Lord Provost (Mr Adam +Black.), has justly said, there is a mutual dependence among +nations of which we cannot get rid. That Providence has assigned +different productions to different climates is a truth with which +everybody is familiar. But this is not all. Even in the same +climate different productions belong to different stages of +civilisation. As one latitude is favourable to the vine and +another to the sugar cane, so there is, in the same latitude, a +state of society in which it is desirable that the industry of +men should be almost entirely directed towards the cultivation of +the earth, and another state of society in which it is desirable +that a large part of the population should be employed in +manufactures. No dependence can be conceived more natural, more +salutary, more free from everything like degradation than the +mutual dependence which exists between a nation which has a +boundless extent of fertile land, and a nation which has a +boundless command of machinery; between a nation whose business +is to turn deserts into corn fields, and a nation whose business +is to increase tenfold by ingenious processes the value of the +fleece and of the rude iron ore. Even if that dependence were +less beneficial than it is, we must submit to it; for it is +inevitable. Make what laws we will, we must be dependent on +other countries for a large part of our food. That point was +decided when England ceased to be an exporting country. For, +gentlemen, it is demonstrable that none but a country which +ordinarily exports food can be independent of foreign supplies. +If a manufacturer determines to produce ten thousand pair of +stockings, he will produce the ten thousand, and neither more nor +less. But an agriculturist cannot determine that he will produce +ten thousand quarters of corn, and neither more nor less. That +he may be sure of having ten thousand quarters in a bad year, he +must sow such a quantity of land that he will have much more than +ten thousand in a good year. It is evident that, if our island +does not in ordinary years produce many more quarters than we +want, it will in bad years produce fewer quarters than we want. +And it is equally evident that our cultivators will not produce +more quarters of corn than we want, unless they can export the +surplus at a profit. Nobody ventures to tell us that Great +Britain can be ordinarily an exporting country. It follows that +we must be dependent: and the only question is, Which is the +best mode of dependence? That question it is not difficult to +answer. Go to Lancashire; see that multitude of cities, some of +them equal in size to the capitals of large kingdoms. Look at +the warehouses, the machinery, the canals, the railways, the +docks. See the stir of that hive of human beings busily employed +in making, packing, conveying stuffs which are to be worn in +Canada and Caffraria, in Chili and Java. You naturally ask, How +is this immense population, collected on an area which will not +yield food for one tenth part of them, to be nourished? But +change the scene. Go beyond the Ohio, and there you will see +another species of industry, equally extensive and equally +flourishing. You will see the wilderness receding fast before +the advancing tide of life and civilisation, vast harvests waving +round the black stumps of what a few months ago was a pathless +forest, and cottages, barns, mills, rising amidst the haunts of +the wolf and the bear. Here is more than enough corn to feed the +artisans of our thickly peopled island; and most gladly would the +grower of that corn exchange it for a Sheffield knife, a +Birmingham spoon, a warm coat of Leeds woollen cloth, a light +dress of Manchester cotton. But this exchange our rulers +prohibit. They say to our manufacturing population, "You would +willingly weave clothes for the people of America, and they would +gladly sow wheat for you; but we prohibit this intercourse. We +condemn both your looms and their ploughs to inaction. We will +compel you to pay a high price for a stinted meal. We will +compel those who would gladly be your purveyors and your +customers to be your rivals. We will compel them to turn +manufacturers in self-defence; and when, in close imitation of +us, they impose high duties on British goods for the protection +of their own produce, we will, in our speeches and despatches, +express wonder and pity at their strange ignorance of political +economy." + +Such has been the policy of Her Majesty's Ministers; but it has +not yet been fairly brought to the trial. Good harvests have +prevented bad laws from producing their full effect. The +Government has had a run of luck; and vulgar observers have +mistaken luck for wisdom. But such runs of luck do not last +forever. Providence will not always send the rain and the +sunshine just at such a time and in such a quantity as to save +the reputation of shortsighted statesmen. There is too much +reason to believe that evil days are approaching. On such a +subject it is a sacred duty to avoid exaggeration; and I shall do +so. I observe that the writers,--wretched writers they are,--who +defend the present Administration, assert that there is no +probability of a considerable rise in the price of provisions, +and that the Whigs and the Anti-Corn-Law League are busily +engaged in circulating false reports for the vile purpose of +raising a panic. Now, gentlemen, it shall not be in the power of +anybody to throw any such imputation on me; for I shall describe +our prospects in the words of the Ministers themselves. I hold +in my hand a letter in which Sir Thomas Freemantle, Secretary for +Ireland, asks for information touching the potato crop in that +country. His words are these. "Her Majesty's Government is +seeking to learn the opinion of judges and well informed persons +in every part of Ireland regarding the probability of the supply +being sufficient for the support of the people during the ensuing +winter and spring, provided care be taken in preserving the +stock, and economy used in its consumption." Here, you will +observe, it is taken for granted that the supply is not +sufficient for a year's consumption: it is taken for granted +that, without care and economy, the supply will not last to the +end of the spring; and a doubt is expressed whether, with care +and economy, the supply will last even through the winter. In +this letter the Ministers of the Crown tell us that famine is +close at hand; and yet, when this letter was written, the duty on +foreign corn was seventeen shillings a quarter. Is it necessary +to say more about the merits of the sliding scale? We were +assured that this wonderful piece of machinery would secure us +against all danger of scarcity. But unhappily we find that there +is a hitch; the sliding scale will not slide; the Ministers are +crying "Famine," while the index which they themselves devised is +still pointing to "Plenty." + +And thus, Sir, I come back to the resolution which I hold in my +hand, A dear year is before us. The price of meal is already, I +believe, half as much again as it was a few months ago. Again, +unhappily, we are able to bring to the test of facts the +doctrine, that the dearness of food benefits the labourer and +injures only the capitalist. The price of food is rising. Are +wages rising? On the contrary, they are falling. In numerous +districts the symptoms of distress are already perceptible. The +manufacturers are already beginning to work short time. Warned +by repeated experience, they know well what is coming, and expect +that 1846 will be a second 1841. + +If these things do not teach us wisdom, we are past all teaching. +Twice in ten years we have seen the price of corn go up; and, as +it went up, the wages of the labouring classes went down. Twice +in the same period we have seen the price of corn go down; and, +as it went down, the wages of the labouring classes went up. +Surely such experiments as these would in any science be +considered as decisive. + +The prospect, gentlemen, is, doubtless, gloomy. Yet it has its +bright part. I have already congratulated you on the important +fact that Lord John Russell and those who have hitherto acted on +this subject in concert with him, have given up all thoughts of +fixed duty. I have to congratulate you on another fact not less +important. I am assured that the working people of the +manufacturing districts have at last come to understand this +question. The sharp discipline which they have undergone has +produced this good effect; that they will never again listen to +any orator who shall have the effrontery to tell them that their +wages rise and fall with the price of the loaf. Thus we shall go +into the contest under such leading and with such a following as +we never had before. The best part of the aristocracy will be at +our head. Millions of labouring men, who had been separated from +us by the arts of impostors, will be in our rear. So led and so +followed, we may, I think, look forward to victory, if not in +this, yet in the next Parliament. But, whether our triumph be +near or remote, I assure you that I shall not fail as regards +this question, to prove myself your true representative. I will +now, my Lord, put into your hands this resolution, "That the +present corn law presses with especial severity on the poorer +classes." + +... + + +THE TEN HOURS BILL. (MAY 22, 1846) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 22D OF MAY +1846. + +On the twenty-ninth of April, 1846, Mr Fielden, Member for +Oldham, moved the second reading of a Bill for limiting the +labour of young persons in factories to ten hours a day. The +debate was adjourned, and was repeatedly resumed at long +intervals. At length, on the twenty-second of May the Bill was +rejected by 203 votes to 193. On that day the following Speech +was made. + +It is impossible, Sir, that I can remain silent after the appeal +which has been made to me in so pointed a manner by my honourable +friend, the Member for Sheffield (Mr Ward.), and even if that +appeal had not been made to me, I should have been very desirous +to have an opportunity of explaining the grounds on which I shall +vote for the second reading of this bill. + +It is, I hope, unnecessary for me to assure my honourable friend +that I utterly disapprove of those aspersions which have, both in +this House and out of it, been thrown on the owners of factories. +For that valuable class of men I have no feeling but respect and +good will. I am convinced that with their interests the +interests of the whole community, and especially of the labouring +classes, are inseparably bound up. I can also with perfect +sincerity declare that the vote which I shall give to-night will +not be a factious vote. In no circumstances indeed should I +think that the laws of political hostility warranted me in +treating this question as a party question. But at the present +moment I would much rather strengthen than weaken the hands of +Her Majesty's Ministers. It is by no means pleasant to me to be +under the necessity of opposing them. I assure them, I assure my +friends on this side of the House with whom I am so unfortunate +as to differ, and especially my honourable friend the Member for +Sheffield, who spoke, I must say, in rather too plaintive a tone, +that I have no desire to obtain credit for humanity at their +expense. I fully believe that their feeling towards the +labouring people is quite as kind as mine. There is no +difference between us as to ends: there is an honest difference +of opinion as to means: and we surely ought to be able to +discuss the points on which we differ without one angry emotion +or one acrimonious word. + +The details of the bill, Sir, will be more conveniently and more +regularly discussed when we consider it in Committee. Our +business at present is with the principle: and the principle, we +are told by many gentlemen of great authority, is unsound. In +their opinion, neither this bill, nor any other bill regulating +the hours of labour, can be defended. This, they say, is one of +those matters about which we ought not to legislate at all; one +of those matters which settle themselves far better than any +government can settle them. Now it is most important that this +point should be fully cleared up. We certainly ought not to +usurp functions which do not properly belong to us: but, on the +other hand, we ought not to abdicate functions which do properly +belong to us. I hardly know which is the greater pest to +society, a paternal government, that is to say a prying, +meddlesome government, which intrudes itself into every part of +human life, and which thinks that it can do everything for +everybody better than anybody can do anything for himself; or a +careless, lounging government, which suffers grievances, such as +it could at once remove, to grow and multiply, and which to all +complaint and remonstrance has only one answer: "We must let +things alone: we must let things take their course: we must let +things find their level." There is no more important problem in +politics than to ascertain the just mean between these two most +pernicious extremes, to draw correctly the line which divides +those cases in which it is the duty of the State to interfere +from those cases in which it is the duty of the State to abstain +from interference. In old times the besetting sin of rulers was +undoubtedly an inordinate disposition to meddle. The lawgiver +was always telling people how to keep their shops, how to till +their fields, how to educate their children, how many dishes to +have on their tables, how much a yard to give for the cloth which +made their coats. He was always trying to remedy some evil which +did not properly fall within his province: and the consequence +was that he increased the evils which he attempted to remedy. He +was so much shocked by the distress inseparable from scarcity +that he made statutes against forestalling and regrating, and so +turned the scarcity into a famine. He was so much shocked by the +cunning and hardheartedness of money-lenders that he made laws +against usury; and the consequence was that the borrower, who, if +he had been left unprotected, would have got money at ten per +cent., could hardly, when protected, get it at fifteen per cent. +Some eminent political philosophers of the last century exposed +with great ability the folly of such legislation, and, by doing +so, rendered a great service to mankind. There has been a +reaction, a reaction which has doubtless produced much good, but +which like most reactions, has not been without evils and +dangers. Our statesmen cannot now be accused of being +busybodies. But I am afraid that there is, even in some of the +ablest and most upright among them a tendency to the opposite +fault. I will give an instance of what I mean. Fifteen years +ago it became evident that railroads would soon, in every part of +the kingdom, supersede to a great extent the old highways. The +tracing of the new routes which were to join all the chief +cities, ports, and naval arsenals of the island was a matter of +the highest national importance. But, unfortunately, those who +should have acted for the nation, refused to interfere. +Consequently, numerous questions which were really public, +questions which concerned the public convenience, the public +prosperity, the public security, were treated as private +questions. That the whole society was interested in having a +good system of internal communication seemed to be forgotten. +The speculator who wanted a large dividend on his shares, the +landowner who wanted a large price for his acres, obtained a full +hearing. But nobody applied to be heard on behalf of the +community. The effects of that great error we feel, and we shall +not soon cease to feel. Unless I am greatly mistaken, we are in +danger of committing to-night an error of the same kind. The +honourable member for Montrose (Mr Hume.) and my honourable +friend the Member for Sheffield think that the question before us +is merely a question between the old and the new theories of +commerce. They cannot understand how any friend of free trade +can wish the Legislature to interfere between the capitalist and +the labourer. They say, "You do not make a law to settle the +price of gloves, or the texture of gloves, or the length of +credit which the glover shall give. You leave it to him to +determine whether he will charge high or low prices, whether he +will use strong or flimsy materials, whether he will trust or +insist on ready money. You acknowledge that these are matters +which he ought to be left to settle with his customers, and that +we ought not to interfere. It is possible that he may manage his +shop ill. But it is certain that we shall manage it ill. On the +same grounds on which you leave the seller of gloves and the +buyer of gloves to make their own contract, you ought to leave +the seller of labour and the buyer of labour to make their own +contract." + +I have a great respect, Sir, for those who reason thus: but I +cannot see this matter in the light in which it appears to them; +and, though I may distrust my own judgment, I must be guided by +it. I am, I believe, as strongly attached as any member of this +House to the principle of free trade, rightly understood. Trade, +considered merely as trade, considered merely with reference to +the pecuniary interest of the contracting parties, can hardly be +too free. But there is a great deal of trade which cannot be +considered merely as trade, and which affects higher than +pecuniary interests. And to say that Government never ought to +regulate such trade is a monstrous proposition, a proposition at +which Adam Smith would have stood aghast. We impose some +restrictions on trade for purposes of police. Thus, we do not +suffer everybody who has a cab and a horse to ply for passengers +in the streets of London. We do not leave the fare to be +determined by the supply and the demand. We do not permit a +driver to extort a guinea for going half a mile on a rainy day +when there is no other vehicle on the stand. We impose some +restrictions on trade for the sake of revenue. Thus, we forbid a +farmer to cultivate tobacco on his own ground. We impose some +restrictions on trade for the sake of national defence. Thus we +compel a man who would rather be ploughing or weaving to go into +the militia; and we fix the amount of pay which he shall receive +without asking his consent. Nor is there in all this anything +inconsistent with the soundest political economy. For the +science of political economy teaches us only that we ought not on +commercial grounds to interfere with the liberty of commerce; and +we, in the cases which I have put, interfere with the liberty of +commerce on higher than commercial grounds. + +And now, Sir, to come closer to the case with which we have to +deal, I say, first, that where the health of the community is +concerned, it may be the duty of the State to interfere with the +contracts of individuals; and to this proposition I am quite sure +that Her Majesty's Government will cordially assent. I have just +read a very interesting report signed by two members of that +Government, the Duke of Buccleuch, and the noble earl who was +lately Chief Commissioner of the Woods and Forests, and who is +now Secretary for Ireland (The Earl of Lincoln.); and, since that +report was laid before the House, the noble earl himself has, +with the sanction of the Cabinet, brought in a bill for the +protection of the public health. By this bill it is provided +that no man shall be permitted to build a house on his own land +in any great town without giving notice to certain Commissioners. +No man is to sink a cellar without the consent of these +Commissioners. The house must not be of less than a prescribed +width. No new house must be built without a drain. If an old +house has no drain, the Commissioners may order the owner to make +a drain. If he refuses, they make a drain for him, and send him +in the bill. They may order him to whitewash his house. If he +refuses, they may send people with pails and brushes to whitewash +it for him, at his charge. Now, suppose that some proprietor of +houses at Leeds or Manchester were to expostulate with the +Government in the language in which the Government has +expostulated with the supporters of this bill for the regulation +of factories. Suppose he were to say to the noble earl, "Your +lordship professes to be a friend to free trade. Your lordship's +doctrine is that everybody ought to be at liberty to buy cheap +and to sell dear. Why then may not I run up a house as cheap as +I can, and let my rooms as dear as I can? Your lordship does not +like houses without drains. Do not take one of mine then. You +think my bedrooms filthy. Nobody forces you to sleep in them. +Use your own liberty: but do not restrain that of your +neighbours. I can find many a family willing to pay a shilling a +week for leave to live in what you call a hovel. And why am not +I to take the shilling which they are willing to give me? And +why are not they to have such shelter as, for that shilling, I +can afford them? Why did you send a man without my consent to +clean my house, and then force me to pay for what I never +ordered? My tenants thought the house clean enough for them; or +they would not have been my tenants; and, if they and I were +satisfied, why did you, in direct defiance of all the principles +of free trade, interfere between us?" This reasoning, Sir, is +exactly of a piece with the reasoning of the honourable Member +for Montrose, and of my honourable friend the Member for +Sheffield. If the noble earl will allow me to make a defence for +him, I believe that he would answer the objection thus: "I +hold," he would say, "the sound doctrine of free trade. But your +doctrine of free trade is an exaggeration, a caricature of the +sound doctrine; and by exhibiting such a caricature you bring +discredit on the sound doctrine. We should have nothing to do +with the contracts between you and your tenants, if those +contracts affected only pecuniary interests. But higher than +pecuniary interests are at stake. It concerns the commonwealth +that the great body of the people should not live in a way which +makes life wretched and short, which enfeebles the body and +pollutes the mind. If, by living in houses which resemble +hogstyes, great numbers of our countrymen have contracted the +tastes of hogs, if they have become so familiar with filth and +stench and contagion, that they burrow without reluctance in +holes which would turn the stomach of any man of cleanly habits, +that is only an additional proof that we have too long neglected +our duties, and an additional reason for our now performing +them." + +Secondly, I say that where the public morality is concerned it +may be the duty of the State to interfere with the contracts of +individuals. Take the traffic in licentious books and pictures. +Will anybody deny that the State may, with propriety, interdict +that traffic? Or take the case of lotteries. I have, we will +suppose, an estate for which I wish to get twenty thousand +pounds. I announce my intention to issue a thousand tickets at +twenty pounds each. The holder of the number which is first +drawn is to have the estate. But the magistrate interferes; the +contract between me and the purchasers of my tickets is annulled; +and I am forced to pay a heavy penalty for having made such a +contract. I appeal to the principle of free trade, as expounded +by the honourable gentlemen the Members for Montrose and +Sheffield. I say to you, the legislators who have restricted my +liberty, "What business have you to interfere between a buyer and +a seller? If you think the speculation a bad one, do not take +tickets. But do not interdict other people from judging for +themselves." Surely you would answer, "You would be right if +this were a mere question of trade: but it is a question of +morality. We prohibit you from disposing of your property in +this particular mode, because it is a mode which tends to +encourage a most pernicious habit of mind, a habit of mind +incompatible with all the qualities on which the well-being of +individuals and of nations depends." + +It must then, I think, be admitted that, where health is +concerned, and where morality is concerned, the State is +justified in interfering with the contracts of individuals. And, +if this be admitted, it follows that the case with which we now +have to do is a case for interference. + +Will it be denied that the health of a large part of the rising +generation may be seriously affected by the contracts which this +bill is intended to regulate? Can any man who has read the +evidence which is before us, can any man who has ever observed +young people, can any man who remembers his own sensations when +he was young, doubt that twelve hours a day of labour in a +factory is too much for a lad of thirteen? + +Or will it be denied that this is a question in which public +morality is concerned? Can any one doubt,--none, I am sure, of +my friends around me doubts,--that education is a matter of the +highest importance to the virtue and happiness of a people? Now +we know that there can be no education without leisure. It is +evident that, after deducting from the day twelve hours for +labour in a factory, and the additional hours necessary for +exercise, refreshment, and repose, there will not remain time +enough for education. + +I have now, I think, shown that this bill is not in principle +objectionable; and yet I have not touched the strongest part of +our case. I hold that, where public health is concerned, and +where public morality is concerned, the State may be justified in +regulating even the contracts of adults. But we propose to +regulate only the contracts of infants. Now, was there ever a +civilised society in which the contracts of infants were not +under some regulation? Is there a single member of this House +who will say that a wealthy minor of thirteen ought to be at +perfect liberty to execute a conveyance of his estate, or to give +a bond for fifty thousand pounds? If anybody were so absurd as +to say, "What has the Legislature to do with the matter? Why +cannot you leave trade free? Why do you pretend to understand +the boy's interest better than he understands it?"--you would +answer; "When he grows up, he may squander his fortune away if he +likes: but at present the State is his guardian; and he shall +not ruin himself till he is old enough to know what he is about." +The minors whom we wish to protect have not indeed large property +to throw away: but they are not the less our wards. Their only +inheritance, the only fund to which they must look for their +subsistence through life, is the sound mind in the sound body. +And is it not our duty to prevent them from wasting their most +precious wealth before they know its value? + +But, it is said, this bill, though it directly limits only the +labour of infants, will, by an indirect operation, limit also the +labour of adults. Now, Sir, though I am not prepared to vote for +a bill directly limiting the labour of adults, I will plainly say +that I do not think that the limitation of the labour of adults +would necessarily produce all those frightful consequences which +we have heard predicted. You cheer me in very triumphant tones, +as if I had uttered some monstrous paradox. Pray, does it not +occur to any of you that the labour of adults is now limited in +this country? Are you not aware that you are living in a society +in which the labour of adults is limited to six days in seven? +It is you, not I, who maintain a paradox opposed to the opinions +and the practices of all nations and ages. Did you ever hear of +a single civilised State since the beginning of the world in +which a certain portion of time was not set apart for the rest +and recreation of adults by public authority? In general, this +arrangement has been sanctioned by religion. The Egyptians, the +Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, had their holidays: the Hindoo has +his holidays: the Mussulman has his holidays: there are +holidays in the Greek Church, holidays in the Church of Rome, +holidays in the Church of England. Is it not amusing to hear a +gentleman pronounce with confidence that any legislation which +limits the labour of adults must produce consequences fatal to +society, without once reflecting that in the society in which he +lives, and in every other society that exists, or ever has +existed, there has been such legislation without any evil +consequence? It is true that a Puritan Government in England, +and an Atheistical Government in France, abolished the old +holidays as superstitious. But those Governments felt it to be +absolutely necessary to institute new holidays. Civil festivals +were substituted for religious festivals. You will find among +the ordinances of the Long Parliament a law providing that, in +exchange for the days of rest and amusement which the people had +been used to enjoy at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, the +second Tuesday in every month should be given to the working man, +and that any apprentice who was forced to work on the second +Tuesday of any month might have his master up before a +magistrate. The French Jacobins decreed that the Sunday should +no longer be a day of rest; but they instituted another day of +rest, the Decade. They swept away the holidays of the Roman +Catholic Church; but they instituted another set of holidays, the +Sansculottides, one sacred to Genius, one to Industry, one to +Opinion, and so on. I say, therefore, that the practice of +limiting by law the time of the labour of adults is so far from +being, as some gentlemen seem to think, an unheard of and +monstrous practice, that it is a practice as universal as +cookery, as the wearing of clothes, as the use of domestic +animals. + +And has this practice been proved by experience to be pernicious? +Let us take the instance with which we are most familiar. Let us +inquire what has been the effect of those laws which, in our own +country, limit the labour of adults to six days in every seven. +It is quite unnecessary to discuss the question whether +Christians be or be not bound by a divine command to observe the +Sunday. For it is evident that, whether our weekly holiday be of +divine or of human institution, the effect on the temporal +interests of Society will be exactly the same. Now, is there a +single argument in the whole Speech of my honourable friend the +Member for Sheffield which does not tell just as strongly against +the laws which enjoin the observance of the Sunday as against the +bill on our table? Surely, if his reasoning is good for hours, +it must be equally good for days. + +He says, "If this limitation be good for the working people, rely +on it that they will find it out, and that they will themselves +establish it without any law." Why not reason in the same way +about the Sunday? Why not say, "If it be a good thing for the +people of London to shut their shops one day in seven, they will +find it out, and will shut their shops without a law?" Sir, the +answer is obvious. I have no doubt that, if you were to poll the +shopkeepers of London, you would find an immense majority, +probably a hundred to one, in favour of closing shops on the +Sunday; and yet it is absolutely necessary to give to the wish of +the majority the sanction of a law; for, if there were no such +law, the minority, by opening their shops, would soon force the +majority to do the same. + +But, says my honourable friend, you cannot limit the labour of +adults unless you fix wages. This proposition he lays down +repeatedly, assures us that it is incontrovertible, and indeed +seems to think it self-evident; for he has not taken the trouble +to prove it. Sir, my answer shall be very short. We have, +during many centuries, limited the labour of adults to six days +in seven; and yet we have not fixed the rate of wages. + +But, it is said, you cannot legislate for all trades; and +therefore you had better not legislate for any. Look at the poor +sempstress. She works far longer and harder than the factory +child. She sometimes plies her needle fifteen, sixteen hours in +the twenty-four. See how the housemaid works, up at six every +morning, and toiling up stairs and down stairs till near +midnight. You own that you cannot do anything for the sempstress +and the housemaid. Why then trouble yourself about the factory +child? Take care that by protecting one class you do not +aggravate the hardships endured by the classes which you cannot +protect. Why, Sir, might not all this be said, word for word, +against the laws which enjoin the observance of the Sunday? +There are classes of people whom you cannot prevent from working +on the Sunday. There are classes of people whom, if you could, +you ought not to prevent from working on the Sunday. Take the +sempstress, of whom so much has been said. You cannot keep her +from sewing and hemming all Sunday in her garret. But you do not +think that a reason for suffering Covent Garden Market, and +Leadenhall Market, and Smithfield Market, and all the shops from +Mile End to Hyde Park to be open all Sunday. Nay, these +factories about which we are debating,--does anybody propose that +they shall be allowed to work all Sunday? See then how +inconsistent you are. You think it unjust to limit the labour of +the factory child to ten hours a day, because you cannot limit +the labour of the sempstress. And yet you see no injustice in +limiting the labour of the factory child, aye, and of the factory +man, to six days in the week, though you cannot limit the labour +of the sempstress. + +But, you say, by protecting one class we shall aggravate the +sufferings of all the classes which we cannot protect. You say +this; but you do not prove it; and all experience proves the +contrary. We interfere on the Sunday to close the shops. We do +not interfere with the labour of the housemaid. But are the +housemaids of London more severely worked on the Sunday than on +other days? The fact notoriously is the reverse. For your +legislation keeps the public feeling in a right state, and thus +protects indirectly those whom it cannot protect directly. + +Will my honourable friend the Member for Sheffield maintain that +the law which limits the number of working days has been +injurious to the working population? I am certain that he will +not. How then can he expect me to believe that a law which +limits the number of working hours must necessarily be injurious +to the working population? Yet he and those who agree with him +seem to wonder at our dulness because we do not at once admit the +truth of the doctrine which they propound on this subject. They +reason thus. We cannot reduce the number of hours of labour in +factories without reducing the amount of production. We cannot +reduce the amount of production without reducing the remuneration +of the labourer. Meanwhile, foreigners, who are at liberty to +work till they drop down dead at their looms, will soon beat us +out of all the markets of the world. Wages will go down fast. +The condition of our working people will be far worse than it is; +and our unwise interference will, like the unwise interference of +our ancestors with the dealings of the corn factor and the money +lender, increase the distress of the very class which we wish to +relieve. + +Now, Sir, I fully admit that there might be such a limitation of +the hours of labour as would produce the evil consequences with +which we are threatened; and this, no doubt, is a very good +reason for legislating with great caution, for feeling our way, +for looking well to all the details of this bill. But it is +certainly not true that every limitation of the hours of labour +must produce these consequences. And I am, I must say, surprised +when I hear men of eminent ability and knowledge lay down the +proposition that a diminution of the time of labour must be +followed by diminution of the wages of labour, as a proposition +universally true, as a proposition capable of being strictly +demonstrated, as a proposition about which there can be no more +doubt than about any theorem in Euclid. Sir, I deny the truth of +the proposition; and for this plain reason. We have already, by +law, greatly reduced the time of labour in factories. Thirty +years ago, the late Sir Robert Peel told the House that it was a +common practice to make children of eight years of age toil in +mills fifteen hours a day. A law has since been made which +prohibits persons under eighteen years of age from working in +mills more than twelve hours a day. That law was opposed on +exactly the same grounds on which the bill before us is opposed. +Parliament was told then, as it is told now, that with the time +of labour the quantity of production would decrease, that with +the quantity of production the wages would decrease, that our +manufacturers would be unable to contend with foreign +manufacturers, and that the condition of the labouring population +instead of being made better by the interference of the +Legislature would be made worse. Read over those debates; and +you may imagine that you are reading the debate of this evening. +Parliament disregarded these prophecies. The time of labour was +limited. Have wages fallen? Has the cotton trade left +Manchester for France or Germany? Has the condition of the +working people become more miserable? Is it not universally +acknowledged that the evils which were so confidently predicted +have not come to pass? Let me be understood. I am not arguing +that, because a law which reduced the hours of daily labour from +fifteen to twelve did not reduce wages, a law reducing those +hours from twelve to ten or eleven cannot possibly reduce wages. +That would be very inconclusive reasoning. What I say is this, +that, since a law which reduced the hours of daily labour from +fifteen to twelve has not reduced wages, the proposition that +every reduction of the hours of labour must necessarily reduce +wages is a false proposition. There is evidently some flaw in +that demonstration which my honourable friend thinks so complete; +and what the flaw is we may perhaps discover if we look at the +analogous case to which I have so often referred. + +Sir, exactly three hundred years ago, great religious changes +were taking place in England. Much was said and written, in that +inquiring and innovating age, about the question whether +Christians were under a religious obligation to rest from labour +on one day in the week; and it is well known that the chief +Reformers, both here and on the Continent, denied the existence +of any such obligation. Suppose then that, in 1546, Parliament +had made a law that they should thenceforth be no distinction +between the Sunday and any other day. Now, Sir, our opponents, +if they are consistent with themselves, must hold that such a law +would have immensely increased the wealth of the country and the +remuneration of the working man. What an effect, if their +principles be sound, must have been produced by the addition of +one sixth to the time of labour! What an increase of production! +What a rise of wages! How utterly unable must the foreign +artisan, who still had his days of festivity and of repose, have +found himself to maintain a competition with a people whose shops +were open, whose markets were crowded, whose spades and axes, and +planes, and hods, and anvils, and looms were at work from morning +till night on three hundred and sixty-five days a year! The +Sundays of three hundred years make up fifty years of our working +days. We know what the industry of fifty years can do. We know +what marvels the industry of the last fifty years has wrought. +The arguments of my honourable friend irresistibly lead us to +this conclusion, that if, during the last three centuries, the +Sunday had not been observed as a day of rest, we should have +been a far richer, a far more highly civilised people than we now +are, and that the labouring classes especially would have been +far better off than at present. But does he, does any Member of +the House, seriously believe that this would have been the case? +For my own part, I have not the smallest doubt that, if we and +our ancestors had, during the last three centuries, worked just +as hard on the Sunday as on the week days, we should have been at +this moment a poorer people and a less civilised people than we +are; that there would have been less production than there has +been, that the wages of the labourer would have been lower than +they are, and that some other nation would have been now making +cotton stuffs and woollen stuffs and cutlery for the whole world. + +Of course, Sir, I do not mean to say that a man will not produce +more in a week by working seven days than by working six days. +But I very much doubt whether, at the end of a year, he will +generally have produced more by working seven days a week than by +working six days a week; and I firmly believe that, at the end of +twenty years, he will have produced much less by working seven +days a week than by working six days a week. In the same manner +I do not deny that a factory child will produce more, in a single +day, by working twelve hours than by working ten hours, and by +working fifteen hours than by working twelve hours. But I do +deny that a great society in which children work fifteen, or even +twelve hours a day will, in the lifetime of a generation, produce +as much as if those children had worked less. If we consider man +merely in a commercial point of view, if we consider him merely +as a machine for the production of worsted and calico, let us not +forget what a piece of mechanism he is, how fearfully and +wonderfully made. We do not treat a fine horse or a sagacious +dog exactly as we treat a spinning jenny. Nor will any +slaveholder, who has sense enough to know his own interest, treat +his human chattels exactly as he treats his horses and his dogs. +And would you treat the free labourer of England like a mere +wheel or pulley? Rely on it that intense labour, beginning too +early in life, continued too long every day, stunting the growth +of the body, stunting the growth of the mind, leaving no time for +healthful exercise, leaving no time for intellectual culture, +must impair all those high qualities which have made our country +great. Your overworked boys will become a feeble and ignoble +race of men, the parents of a more feeble and more ignoble +progeny; nor will it be long before the deterioration of the +labourer will injuriously affect those very interests to which +his physical and moral energies have been sacrificed. On the +other hand, a day of rest recurring in every week, two or three +hours of leisure, exercise, innocent amusement or useful study, +recurring every day, must improve the whole man, physically, +morally, intellectually; and the improvement of the man will +improve all that the man produces. Why is it, Sir, that the +Hindoo cotton manufacturer, close to whose door the cotton grows, +cannot, in the bazaar of his own town, maintain a competition +with the English cotton manufacturer, who has to send thousands +of miles for the raw material, and who has then to send the +wrought material thousands of miles to market? You will say that +it is owing to the excellence of our machinery. And to what is +the excellence of our machinery owing? How many of the +improvements which have been made in our machinery do we owe to +the ingenuity and patient thought of working men? Adam Smith +tells us in the first chapter of his great work, that you can +hardly go to a factory without seeing some very pretty machine,-- +that is his expression,--devised by some labouring man. +Hargraves, the inventor of the spinning jenny, was a common +artisan. Crompton, the inventor of the mule jenny, was a working +man. How many hours of the labour of children would do so much +for our manufactures as one of these improvements has done? And +in what sort of society are such improvements most likely to be +made? Surely in a society in which the faculties of the working +people are developed by education. How long will you wait before +any negro, working under the lash in Louisiana, will contrive a +better machinery for squeezing the sugar canes? My honourable +friend seems to me, in all his reasonings about the commercial +prosperity of nations, to overlook entirely the chief cause on +which that prosperity depends. What is it, Sir, that makes the +great difference between country and country? Not the exuberance +of soil; not the mildness of climate; not mines, nor havens, nor +rivers. These things are indeed valuable when put to their +proper use by human intelligence: but human intelligence can do +much without them; and they without human intelligence can do +nothing. They exist in the highest degree in regions of which +the inhabitants are few, and squalid, and barbarous, and naked, +and starving; while on sterile rocks, amidst unwholesome marshes, +and under inclement skies, may be found immense populations, well +fed, well lodged, well clad, well governed. Nature meant Egypt +and Sicily to be the gardens of the world. They once were so. +Is it anything in the earth or in the air that makes Scotland +more prosperous than Egypt, that makes Holland more prosperous +than Sicily? No; it was the Scotchman that made Scotland; it was +the Dutchman that made Holland. Look at North America. Two +centuries ago the sites on which now arise mills, and hotels, and +banks, and colleges, and churches, and the Senate Houses of +flourishing commonwealths, were deserts abandoned to the panther +and the bear. What has made the change? Was it the rich mould, +or the redundant rivers? No: the prairies were as fertile, the +Ohio and the Hudson were as broad and as full then as now. Was +the improvement the effect of some great transfer of capital from +the old world to the new? No, the emigrants generally carried +out with them no more than a pittance; but they carried out the +English heart, and head, and arm; and the English heart and head +and arm turned the wilderness into cornfield and orchard, and the +huge trees of the primeval forest into cities and fleets. Man, +man is the great instrument that produces wealth. The natural +difference between Campania and Spitzbergen is trifling, when +compared with the difference between a country inhabited by men +full of bodily and mental vigour, and a country inhabited by men +sunk in bodily and mental decrepitude. Therefore it is that we +are not poorer but richer, because we have, through many ages, +rested from our labour one day in seven. That day is not lost. +While industry is suspended, while the plough lies in the furrow, +while the Exchange is silent, while no smoke ascends from the +factory, a process is going on quite as important to the wealth +of nations as any process which is performed on more busy days. +Man, the machine of machines, the machine compared with which all +the contrivances of the Watts and the Arkwrights are worthless, +is repairing and winding up, so that he returns to his labours on +the Monday with clearer intellect, with livelier spirits, with +renewed corporal vigour. Never will I believe that what makes a +population stronger, and healthier, and wiser, and better, can +ultimately make it poorer. You try to frighten us by telling us, +that in some German factories, the young work seventeen hours in +the twenty-four, that they work so hard that among thousands +there is not one who grows to such a stature that he can be +admitted into the army; and you ask whether, if we pass this +bill, we can possibly hold our own against such competition as +this? Sir, I laugh at the thought of such competition. If ever +we are forced to yield the foremost place among commercial +nations, we shall yield it, not to a race of degenerate dwarfs, +but to some people pre-eminently vigorous in body and in mind. + +For these reasons, Sir, I approve of the principle of this bill, +and shall, without hesitation, vote for the second reading. To +what extent we ought to reduce the hours of labour is a question +of more difficulty. I think that we are in the situation of a +physician who has satisfied himself that there is a disease, and +that there is a specific medicine for the disease, but who is not +certain what quantity of that medicine the patient's constitution +will bear. Such a physician would probably administer his remedy +by small doses, and carefully watch its operation. I cannot help +thinking that, by at once reducing the hours of labour from +twelve to ten, we should hazard too much. The change is great, +and ought to be cautiously and gradually made. Suppose that +there should be an immediate fall of wages, which is not +impossible. Might there not be a violent reaction? Might not +the public take up a notion that our legislation had been +erroneous in principle, though, in truth, our error would have +been an error, not of principle, but merely of degree? Might not +Parliament be induced to retrace its steps? Might we not find it +difficult to maintain even the present limitation? The wisest +course would, in my opinion, be to reduce the hours of labour +from twelve to eleven, to observe the effect of that experiment, +and if, as I hope and believe, the result should be satisfactory, +then to make a further reduction from eleven to ten. This is a +question, however, which will be with more advantage considered +when we are in Committee. + +One word, Sir, before I sit down, in answer to my noble friend +near me. (Lord Morpeth.) He seems to think that this bill is +ill timed. I own that I cannot agree with him. We carried up on +Monday last to the bar of the Lords a bill which will remove the +most hateful and pernicious restriction that ever was laid on +trade. Nothing can be more proper than to apply, in the same +week, a remedy to a great evil of a directly opposite kind. As +lawgivers, we have two great faults to confess and to repair. We +have done that which we ought not to have done. We have left +undone that which we ought to have done. We have regulated that +which we should have left to regulate itself. We have left +unregulated that which we were bound to regulate. We have given +to some branches of industry a protection which has proved their +bane. We have withheld from public health and public morals the +protection which was their due. We have prevented the labourer +from buying his loaf where he could get it cheapest; but we have +not prevented him from ruining his body and mind by premature and +immoderate toil. I hope that we have seen the last both of a +vicious system of interference and of a vicious system of non- +interference, and that our poorer countrymen will no longer have +reason to attribute their sufferings either to our meddling or to +our neglect. + +... + + +THE LITERATURE OF BRITAIN. (NOVEMBER 4, 1846) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE EDINBURGH PHILOSOPHICAL +INSTITUTION ON THE 4TH OF NOVEMBER 1846. + +I thank you, Gentlemen, for this cordial reception. I have +thought it right to steal a short time from duties not +unimportant for the purpose of lending my aid to a an undertaking +calculated, as I think, to raise the credit and to promote the +best interests of the city which has so many claims on my +gratitude. + +The Directors of our Institution have requested me to propose to +you as a toast the Literature of Britain. They could not have +assigned to me a more agreeable duty. They chief object of this +Institution is, I conceive, to impart knowledge through the +medium of our own language. Edinburgh is already rich in +libraries worthy of her fame as a seat of literature and a seat +of jurisprudence. A man of letters can here without difficulty +obtain access to repositories filled with the wisdom of many ages +and of many nations. But something was still wanting. We still +wanted a library open to that large, that important, that +respectable class which, though by no means destitute of liberal +curiosity or of sensibility to literary pleasures, is yet forced +to be content with what is written in our own tongue. For that +class especially, I do not say exclusively, this library is +intended. Our directors, I hope, will not be satisfied, I, as a +member, shall certainly not be satisfied, till we possess a noble +and complete collection of English books, till it is impossible +to seek in vain on our shelves for a single English book which is +valuable either on account of matter or on account of manner, +which throws any light on our civil, ecclesiastical, +intellectual, or social history, which, in short, can afford +either useful instruction or harmless amusement. + +From such a collection, placed within the reach of that large and +valuable class which I have mentioned, I am disposed to expect +great good. And when I say this, I do not take into the account +those rare cases to which my valued friend, the Lord Provost (Mr +Adam Black.), so happily alluded. It is indeed not impossible +that some man of genius who may enrich our literature with +imperishable eloquence or song, or who may extend the empire of +our race over matter, may feel in our reading room, for the first +time the consciousness of powers yet undeveloped. It is not +impossible that our volumes may suggest the first thought of +something great to some future Burns, or Watt, or Arkwright. But +I do not speak of these extraordinary cases. What I confidently +anticipate is that, through the whole of that class whose benefit +we have peculiarly in view, there will be a moral and an +intellectual improvement; that many hours, which might otherwise +be wasted in folly or in vice, will be employed in pursuits +which, while they afford the highest and most lasting pleasure, +are not only harmless, but purifying and elevating. My own +experience, my own observation, justifies me in entertaining this +hope. I have had opportunities, both in this and in other +countries, of forming some estimate of the effect which is likely +to be produced by a good collection of books on a society of +young men. There is, I will venture to say, no judicious +commanding officer of a regiment who will not tell you that the +vicinity of a valuable library will improve perceptibly the whole +character of a mess. I well knew one eminent military servant of +the East India Company, a man of great and various +accomplishments, a man honourably distinguished both in war and +in diplomacy, a man who enjoyed the confidence of some of the +greatest generals and statesmen of our time. When I asked him +how, having left his country while still a boy, and having passed +his youth at military stations in India, he had been able to +educate himself, his answer was, that he had been stationed in +the neighbourhood of an excellent library, that he had been +allowed free access to the books, and that they had, at the most +critical time of his life, decided his character, and saved him +from being a mere smoking, card-playing, punch-drinking lounger. + +Some of the objections which have been made to such institutions +as ours have been so happily and completely refuted by my friend +the Lord Provost, and by the Most Reverend Prelate who has +honoured us with his presence this evening (Archbishop +Whateley.), that it would be idle to say again what has been so +well said. There is, however, one objection which, with your +permission, I will notice. Some men, of whom I wish to speak +with great respect, are haunted, as it seems to me, with an +unreasonable fear of what they call superficial knowledge. +Knowledge, they say, which really deserves the name, is a great +blessing to mankind, the ally of virtue, the harbinger of +freedom. But such knowledge must be profound. A crowd of people +who have a smattering of mathematics, a smattering of astronomy, +a smattering of chemistry, who have read a little poetry and a +little history, is dangerous to the commonwealth. Such half- +knowledge is worse than ignorance. And then the authority of +Pope is vouched. Drink deep or taste not; shallow draughts +intoxicate: drink largely; and that will sober you. I must +confess that the danger which alarms these gentlemen never seemed +to me very serious: and my reason is this; that I never could +prevail on any person who pronounced superficial knowledge a +curse, and profound knowledge a blessing, to tell me what was his +standard of profundity. The argument proceeds on the supposition +that there is some line between profound and superficial +knowledge similar to that which separates truth from falsehood. +I know of no such line. When we talk of men of deep science, do +we mean that they have got to the bottom or near the bottom of +science? Do we mean that they know all that is capable of being +known? Do we mean even that they know, in their own especial +department, all that the smatterers of the next generation will +know? Why, if we compare the little truth that we know with the +infinite mass of truth which we do not know, we are all shallow +together; and the greatest philosophers that ever lived would be +the first to confess their shallowness. If we could call up the +first of human beings, if we could call up Newton, and ask him +whether, even in those sciences in which he had no rival, he +considered himself as profoundly knowing, he would have told us +that he was but a smatterer like ourselves, and that the +difference between his knowledge and ours vanished, when compared +with the quantity of truth still undiscovered, just as the +distance between a person at the foot of Ben Lomond and at the +top of Ben Lomond vanishes when compared with the distance of the +fixed stars. + +It is evident then that those who are afraid of superficial +knowledge do not mean by superficial knowledge knowledge which is +superficial when compared with the whole quantity of truth +capable of being known. For, in that sense, all human knowledge +is, and always has been, and always must be, superficial. What +then is the standard? Is it the same two years together in any +country? Is it the same, at the same moment, in any two +countries? Is it not notorious that the profundity of one age is +the shallowness of the next; that the profundity of one nation is +the shallowness of a neighbouring nation? Ramohun Roy passed, +among Hindoos, for a man of profound Western learning; but he +would have been but a very superficial member of this Institute. +Strabo was justly entitled to be called a profound geographer +eighteen hundred years ago. But a teacher of geography, who had +never heard of America, would now be laughed at by the girls of a +boarding-school. What would now be thought of the greatest +chemist of 1746, or of the greatest geologist of 1746? The truth +is that, in all experimental science, mankind is, of necessity, +constantly advancing. Every generation, of course, has its front +rank and its rear rank; but the rear rank of a later generation +occupies the ground which was occupied by the front rank of a +former generation. + +You remember Gulliver's adventures. First he is shipwrecked in a +country of little men; and he is a Colossus among them. He +strides over the walls of their capital: he stands higher than +the cupola of their great temple: he tugs after him a royal +fleet: he stretches his legs; and a royal army, with drums +beating and colours flying, marches through the gigantic arch: +he devours a whole granary for breakfast, eats a herd of cattle +for dinner, and washes down his meal with all the hogsheads of a +cellar. In his next voyage he is among men sixty feet high. He +who, in Lilliput, used to take people up in his hand in order +that he might be able to hear them, is himself taken up in the +hands and held to the ears of his masters. It is all that he can +do to defend himself with his hanger against the rats and mice. +The court ladies amuse themselves with seeing him fight wasps and +frogs: the monkey runs off with him to the chimney top: the +dwarf drops him into the cream jug and leaves him to swim for his +life. Now, was Gulliver a tall or a short man? Why, in his own +house at Rotherhithe, he was thought a man of the ordinary +stature. Take him to Lilliput; and he is Quinbus Flestrin, the +Man Mountain. Take him to Brobdingnag, and he is Grildrig, the +little Manikin. It is the same in science. The pygmies of one +society would have passed for giants in another. + +It might be amusing to institute a comparison between one of the +profoundly learned men of the thirteenth century and one of the +superficial students who will frequent our library. Take the +great philosopher of the time of Henry the Third of England, or +Alexander the Third of Scotland, the man renowned all over the +island, and even as far as Italy and Spain, as the first of +astronomers and chemists. What is his astronomy? He is a firm +believer in the Ptolemaic system. He never heard of the law of +gravitation. Tell him that the succession of day and night is +caused by the turning of the earth on its axis. Tell him that, +in consequence of this motion, the polar diameter of the earth is +shorter than the equatorial diameter. Tell him that the +succession of summer and winter is caused by the revolution of +the earth round the sun. If he does not set you down for an +idiot, he lays an information against you before the Bishop, and +has you burned for a heretic. To do him justice, however, if he +is ill informed on these points, there are other points on which +Newton and Laplace were mere children when compared with him. He +can cast your nativity. He knows what will happen when Saturn is +in the House of Life, and what will happen when Mars is in +conjunction with the Dragon's Tail. He can read in the stars +whether an expedition will be successful, whether the next +harvest will be plentiful, which of your children will be +fortunate in marriage, and which will be lost at sea. Happy the +State, happy the family, which is guided by the counsels of so +profound a man! And what but mischief, public and private, can +we expect from the temerity and conceit of scolists who know no +more about the heavenly bodies than what they have learned from +Sir John Herschel's beautiful little volume. But, to speak +seriously, is not a little truth better than a great deal of +falsehood? Is not the man who, in the evenings of a fortnight, +has acquired a correct notion of the solar system, a more +profound astronomer than a man who has passed thirty years in +reading lectures about the primum mobile, and in drawing schemes +of horoscopes? + +Or take chemistry. Our philosopher of the thirteenth century +shall be, if you please, an universal genius, chemist as well as +astronomer. He has perhaps got so far as to know, that if he +mixes charcoal and saltpetre in certain proportions and then +applies fire, there will be an explosion which will shatter all +his retorts and aludels; and he is proud of knowing what will in +a later age be familiar to all the idle boys in the kingdom. But +there are departments of science in which he need not fear the +rivalry of Black, or Lavoisier, or Cavendish, or Davy. He is in +hot pursuit of the philosopher's stone, of the stone that is to +bestow wealth, and health, and longevity. He has a long array of +strangely shaped vessels, filled with red oil and white oil, +constantly boiling. The moment of projection is at hand; and +soon all his kettles and gridirons will be turned into pure gold. +Poor Professor Faraday can do nothing of the sort. I should +deceive you if I held out to you the smallest hope that he will +ever turn your halfpence into sovereigns. But if you can induce +him to give at our Institute a course of lectures such as I once +heard him give at the Royal Institution to children in the +Christmas holidays, I can promise you that you will know more +about the effects produced on bodies by heat and moisture than +was known to some alchemists who, in the middle ages, were +thought worthy of the patronage of kings. + +As it has been in science so it has been in literature. Compare +the literary acquirements of the great men of the thirteenth +century with those which will be within the reach of many who +will frequent our reading room. As to Greek learning, the +profound man of the thirteenth century was absolutely on a par +with the superficial man of the nineteenth. In the modern +languages, there was not, six hundred years ago, a single volume +which is now read. The library of our profound scholar must have +consisted entirely of Latin books. We will suppose him to have +had both a large and a choice collection. We will allow him +thirty, nay forty manuscripts, and among them a Virgil, a +Terence, a Lucan, an Ovid, a Statius, a great deal of Livy, a +great deal of Cicero. In allowing him all this, we are dealing +most liberally with him; for it is much more likely that his +shelves were filled with treaties on school divinity and canon +law, composed by writers whose names the world has very wisely +forgotten. But, even if we suppose him to have possessed all +that is most valuable in the literature of Rome, I say with +perfect confidence that, both in respect of intellectual +improvement, and in respect of intellectual pleasures, he was far +less favourably situated than a man who now, knowing only the +English language, has a bookcase filled with the best English +works. Our great man of the Middle Ages could not form any +conception of any tragedy approaching Macbeth or Lear, or of any +comedy equal to Henry the Fourth or Twelfth Night. The best epic +poem that he had read was far inferior to the Paradise Lost; and +all the tomes of his philosophers were not worth a page of the +Novum Organum. + +The Novum Organum, it is true, persons who know only English must +read in a translation: and this reminds me of one great +advantage which such persons will derive from our Institution. +They will, in our library, be able to form some acquaintance with +the master minds of remote ages and foreign countries. A large +part of what is best worth knowing in ancient literature, and in +the literature of France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, has been +translated into our own tongue. It is scarcely possible that the +translation of any book of the highest class can be equal to the +original. But, though the finer touches may be lost in the copy, +the great outlines will remain. An Englishman who never saw the +frescoes in the Vatican may yet, from engravings, form some +notion of the exquisite grace of Raphael, and of the sublimity +and energy of Michael Angelo. And so the genius of Homer is seen +in the poorest version of the Iliad; the genius of Cervantes is +seen in the poorest version of Don Quixote. Let it not be +supposed that I wish to dissuade any person from studying either +the ancient languages or the languages of modern Europe. Far +from it. I prize most highly those keys of knowledge; and I +think that no man who has leisure for study ought to be content +until he possesses several of them. I always much admired a +saying of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. "When I learn a new +language," he said, "I feel as if I had got a new soul." But I +would console those who have not time to make themselves +linguists by assuring them that, by means of their own mother +tongue, they may obtain ready access to vast intellectual +treasures, to treasures such as might have been envied by the +greatest linguists of the age of Charles the Fifth, to treasures +surpassing those which were possessed by Aldus, by Erasmus, and +by Melancthon. + +And thus I am brought back to the point from which I started. I +have been requested to invite you to fill your glasses to the +Literature of Britain; to that literature, the brightest, the +purest, the most durable of all the glories of our country; to +that literature, so rich in precious truth and precious fiction; +to that literature which boasts of the prince of all poets and of +the prince of all philosophers; to that literature which has +exercised an influence wider than that of our commerce, and +mightier than that of our arms; to that literature which has +taught France the principles of liberty, and has furnished +Germany with models of art; to that literature which forms a tie +closer than the tie of consanguinity between us and the +commonwealths of the valley of the Mississippi; to that +literature before the light of which impious and cruel +superstitions are fast taking flight on the banks of the Ganges; +to that literature which will, in future ages, instruct and +delight the unborn millions who will have turned the Australasian +and Caffrarian deserts into cities and gardens. To the +Literature of Britain, then! And, wherever British literature +spreads, may it be attended by British virtue and by British +freedom! + +... + + +EDUCATION. (APRIL 19, 1847) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 18TH OF APRIL +1847. + +In the year 1847 the Government asked from the House of Commons a +grant of one hundred thousand pounds for the education of the +people. On the nineteenth of April, Lord John Russell, having +explained the reasons for this application, moved the order of +the day for a Committee of Supply. Mr Thomas Duncombe, Member +for Finsbury, moved the following amendment: "That previous to +any grant of public money being assented to by this House, for +the purpose of carrying out the scheme of national education, as +developed in the Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education +in August and December last, which minutes have been presented to +both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, a select +Committee be appointed to inquire into the justice and expediency +of such a scheme, and its probable annual cost; also to inquire +whether the regulations attached thereto do not unduly increase +the influence of the Crown, invade the constitutional functions +of Parliament, and interfere with the religious convictions and +civil rights of Her Majesty's subjects." + +In opposition to this amendment, the following Speech was made. +After a debate of three nights, Mr Thomas Duncombe obtained +permission to withdraw the latter part of his amendment. The +first part was put, and negatived by 372 votes to 47. + +You will not wonder, Sir, that I am desirous to catch your eye +this evening. The first duty which I performed, as a Member of +the Committee of Council which is charged with the +superintendence of public instruction, was to give my hearty +assent to the plan which the honourable Member for Finsbury calls +on the House to condemn. I am one of those who have been accused +in every part of the kingdom, and who are now accused in +Parliament, of aiming, under specious pretences, a blow at the +civil and religious liberties of the people. It is natural +therefore that I should seize the earliest opportunity of +vindicating myself from so grave a charge. + +The honourable Member for Finsbury must excuse me if, in the +remarks which I have to offer to the House, I should not follow +very closely the order of his speech. The truth is that a mere +answer to his speech would be no defence of myself or of my +colleagues. I am surprised, I own, that a man of his acuteness +and ability should, on such an occasion, have made such a speech. +The country is excited from one end to the other by a great +question of principle. On that question the Government has taken +one side. The honourable Member stands forth as the chosen and +trusted champion of a great party which takes the other side. We +expected to hear from him a full exposition of the views of those +in whose name he speaks. But, to our astonishment, he has +scarcely even alluded to the controversy which has divided the +whole nation. He has entertained us with sarcasms and personal +anecdotes: he has talked much about matters of mere detail: but +I must say that, after listening with close attention to all that +he has said, I am quite unable to discover whether, on the only +important point which is in issue, he agrees with us or with that +large and active body of Nonconformists which is diametrically +opposed to us. He has sate down without dropping one word from +which it is possible to discover whether he thinks that education +is or that it is not a matter with which the State ought to +interfere. Yet that is the question about which the whole nation +has, during several weeks, been writing, reading, speaking, +hearing, thinking, petitioning, and on which it is now the duty +of Parliament to pronounce a decision. That question once +settled, there will be, I believe, very little room for dispute. +If it be not competent to the State to interfere with the +education of the people, the mode of interference recommended by +the Committee of Council must of course be condemned. If it be +the right and the duty of the State to make provision for the +education of the people, the objections made to our plan will, in +a very few words, be shown to be frivolous. + +I shall take a course very different from that which has been +taken by the honourable gentleman. I shall in the clearest +manner profess my opinion on that great question of principle +which he has studiously evaded; and for my opinion I shall give +what seem to me to be unanswerable reasons. + +I believe, Sir, that it is the right and the duty of the State to +provide means of education for the common people. This +proposition seems to me to be implied in every definition that +has ever yet been given of the functions of a government. About +the extent of those functions there has been much difference of +opinion among ingenious men. There are some who hold that it is +the business of a government to meddle with every part of the +system of human life, to regulate trade by bounties and +prohibitions, to regulate expenditure by sumptuary laws, to +regulate literature by a censorship, to regulate religion by an +inquisition. Others go to the opposite extreme, and assign to +government a very narrow sphere of action. But the very +narrowest sphere that ever was assigned to governments by any +school of political philosophy is quite wide enough for my +purpose. On one point all the disputants are agreed. They +unanimously acknowledge that it is the duty of every government +to take order for giving security to the persons and property of +the members of the community. + +This being admitted, can it be denied that the education of the +common people is a most effectual means of securing our persons +and our property? Let Adam Smith answer that question for me. +His authority, always high, is, on this subject, entitled to +peculiar respect, because he extremely disliked busy, prying, +interfering governments. He was for leaving literature, arts, +sciences, to take care of themselves. He was not friendly to +ecclesiastical establishments. He was of opinion, that the State +ought not to meddle with the education of the rich. But he has +expressly told us that a distinction is to be made, particularly +in a commercial and highly civilised society, between the +education of the rich and the education of the poor. The +education of the poor, he says, is a matter which deeply concerns +the commonwealth. Just as the magistrate ought to interfere for +the purpose of preventing the leprosy from spreading among the +people, he ought to interfere for the purpose of stopping the +progress of the moral distempers which are inseparable from +ignorance. Nor can this duty be neglected without danger to the +public peace. If you leave the multitude uninstructed, there is +serious risk that religious animosities may produce the most +dreadful disorders. The most dreadful disorders! Those are Adam +Smith's own words; and prophetic words they were. Scarcely had +he given this warning to our rulers when his prediction was +fulfilled in a manner never to be forgotten. I speak of the No +Popery riots of 1780. I do not know that I could find in all +history a stronger proof of the proposition, that the ignorance +of the common people makes the property, the limbs, the lives of +all classes insecure. Without the shadow of a grievance, at the +summons of a madman, a hundred thousand people rise in +insurrection. During a whole week, there is anarchy in the +greatest and wealthiest of European cities. The parliament is +besieged. Your predecessor sits trembling in his chair, and +expects every moment to see the door beaten in by the ruffians +whose roar he hears all round the house. The peers are pulled +out of their coaches. The bishops in their lawn are forced to +fly over the tiles. The chapels of foreign ambassadors, +buildings made sacred by the law of nations, are destroyed. The +house of the Chief Justice is demolished. The little children of +the Prime Minister are taken out of their beds and laid in their +night clothes on the table of the Horse Guards, the only safe +asylum from the fury of the rabble. The prisons are opened. +Highwaymen, housebreakers, murderers, come forth to swell the mob +by which they have been set free. Thirty-six fires are blazing +at once in London. Then comes the retribution. Count up all the +wretches who were shot, who were hanged, who were crushed, who +drank themselves to death at the rivers of gin which ran down +Holborn Hill; and you will find that battles have been lost and +won with a smaller sacrifice of life. And what was the cause of +this calamity, a calamity which, in the history of London, ranks +with the great plague and the great fire? The cause was the +ignorance of a population which had been suffered, in the +neighbourhood of palaces, theatres, temples, to grow up as rude +and stupid as any tribe of tattooed cannibals in New Zealand, I +might say as any drove of beasts in Smithfield Market. + +The instance is striking: but it is not solitary. To the same +cause are to be ascribed the riots of Nottingham, the sack of +Bristol, all the outrages of Ludd, and Swing, and Rebecca, +beautiful and costly machinery broken to pieces in Yorkshire, +barns and haystacks blazing in Kent, fences and buildings pulled +down in Wales. Could such things have been done in a country in +which the mind of the labourer had been opened by education, in +which he had been taught to find pleasure in the exercise of his +intellect, taught to revere his Maker, taught to respect +legitimate authority, and taught at the same time to seek the +redress of real wrongs by peaceful and constitutional means? + +This then is my argument. It is the duty of Government to +protect our persons and property from danger. The gross +ignorance of the common people is a principal cause of danger to +our persons and property. Therefore, it is the duty of +Government to take care that the common people shall not be +grossly ignorant. + +And what is the alternative? It is universally allowed that, by +some means, Government must protect our persons and property. If +you take away education, what means do you leave? You leave +means such as only necessity can justify, means which inflict a +fearful amount of pain, not only on the guilty, but on the +innocent who are connected with the guilty. You leave guns and +bayonets, stocks and whipping-posts, treadmills, solitary cells, +penal colonies, gibbets. See then how the case stands. Here is +an end which, as we all agree, governments are bound to attain. +There are only two ways of attaining it. One of those ways is by +making men better, and wiser, and happier. The other way is by +making them infamous and miserable. Can it be doubted which way +we ought to prefer? Is it not strange, is it not almost +incredible, that pious and benevolent men should gravely propound +the doctrine that the magistrate is bound to punish and at the +same time bound not to teach? To me it seems quite clear that +whoever has a right to hang has a right to educate. Can we think +without shame and remorse that more than half of those wretches +who have been tied up at Newgate in our time might have been +living happily, that more than half of those who are now in our +gaols might have been enjoying liberty and using that liberty +well, that such a hell on earth as Norfolk Island, need never +have existed, if we had expended in training honest men but a +small part of what we have expended in hunting and torturing +rogues. + +I would earnestly entreat every gentleman to look at a report +which is contained in the Appendix to the First Volume of the +Minutes of the Committee of Council. I speak of the report made +by Mr Seymour Tremenheare on the state of that part of +Monmouthshire which is inhabited by a population chiefly employed +in mining. He found that, in this district, towards the close of +1839, out of eleven thousand children who were of an age to +attend school, eight thousand never went to any school at all, +and that most of the remaining three thousand might almost as +well have gone to no school as to the squalid hovels in which men +who ought themselves to have been learners pretended to teach. +In general these men had only one qualification for their +employment; and that was their utter unfitness for every other +employment. They were disabled miners, or broken hucksters. In +their schools all was stench, and noise, and confusion. Now and +then the clamour of the boys was silenced for two minutes by the +furious menaces of the master; but it soon broke out again. The +instruction given was of the lowest kind. Not one school in ten +was provided with a single map. This is the way in which you +suffered the minds of a great population to be formed. And now +for the effects of your negligence. The barbarian inhabitants of +this region rise in an insane rebellion against the Government. +They come pouring down their valleys to Newport. They fire on +the Queen's troops. They wound a magistrate. The soldiers fire +in return; and too many of these wretched men pay with their +lives the penalty of their crime. But is the crime theirs alone? +Is it strange that they should listen to the only teaching that +they had? How can you, who took no pains to instruct them, blame +them for giving ear to the demagogue who took pains to delude +them? We put them down, of course. We punished them. We had no +choice. Order must be maintained; property must be protected; +and, since we had omitted to take the best way of keeping these +people quiet, we were under the necessity of keeping them quiet +by the dread of the sword and the halter. But could any +necessity be more cruel? And which of us would run the risk of +being placed under such necessity a second time? + +I say, therefore, that the education of the people is not only a +means, but the best means, of attaining that which all allow to +be a chief end of government; and, if this be so, it passes my +faculties to understand how any man can gravely contend that +Government has nothing to do with the education of the people. + +My confidence in my opinion is strengthened when I recollect that +I hold that opinion in common with all the greatest lawgivers, +statesmen, and political philosophers of all nations and ages, +with all the most illustrious champions of civil and spiritual +freedom, and especially with those men whose names were once held +in the highest veneration by the Protestant Dissenters of +England. I might cite many of the most venerable names of the +old world; but I would rather cite the example of that country +which the supporters of the Voluntary system here are always +recommending to us as a pattern. Go back to the days when the +little society which has expanded into the opulent and +enlightened commonwealth of Massachusetts began to exist. Our +modern Dissenters will scarcely, I think, venture to speak +contumeliously of those Puritans whose spirit Laud and his High +Commission Court could not subdue, of those Puritans who were +willing to leave home and kindred, and all the comforts and +refinements of civilised life, to cross the ocean, to fix their +abode in forests among wild beasts and wild men, rather than +commit the sin of performing, in the House of God, one gesture +which they believed to be displeasing to Him. Did those brave +exiles think it inconsistent with civil or religious freedom that +the State should take charge of the education of the people? No, +Sir; one of the earliest laws enacted by the Puritan colonists +was that every township, as soon as the Lord had increased it to +the number of fifty houses, should appoint one to teach all +children to write and read, and that every township of a hundred +houses should set up a grammar school. Nor have the descendants +of those who made this law ever ceased to hold that the public +authorities were bound to provide the means of public +instruction. Nor is this doctrine confined to New England. +"Educate the people" was the first admonition addressed by Penn +to the colony which he founded. "Educate the people" was the +legacy of Washington to the nation which he had saved. "Educate +the people" was the unceasing exhortation of Jefferson; and I +quote Jefferson with peculiar pleasure, because of all the +eminent men that have ever lived, Adam Smith himself not +excepted, Jefferson was the one who most abhorred everything like +meddling on the part of governments. Yet the chief business of +his later years was to establish a good system of State education +in Virginia. + +And, against such authority as this, what have you who take the +other side to show? Can you mention a single great philosopher, +a single man distinguished by his zeal for liberty, humanity, and +truth, who, from the beginning of the world down to the time of +this present Parliament, ever held your doctrines? You can +oppose to the unanimous voice of all the wise and good, of all +ages, and of both hemispheres, nothing but a clamour which was +first heard a few months ago, a clamour in which you cannot join +without condemning, not only all whose memory you profess to hold +in reverence, but even your former selves. + +This new theory of politics has at least the merit of +originality. It may be fairly stated thus. All men have +hitherto been utterly in the wrong as to the nature and objects +of civil government. The great truth, hidden from every +preceding generation, and at length revealed, in the year 1846, +to some highly respectable ministers and elders of dissenting +congregations, is this. Government is simply a great hangman. +Government ought to do nothing except by harsh and degrading +means. The one business of Government is to handcuff, and lock +up, and scourge, and shoot, and stab, and strangle. It is odious +tyranny in a government to attempt to prevent crime by informing +the understanding and elevating the moral feeling of a people. A +statesman may see hamlets turned, in the course of one +generation, into great seaport towns and manufacturing towns. He +may know that on the character of the vast population which is +collected in those wonderful towns, depends the prosperity, the +peace, the very existence of society. But he must not think of +forming that character. He is an enemy of public liberty if he +attempts to prevent those hundreds of thousands of his countrymen +from becoming mere Yahoos. He may, indeed, build barrack after +barrack to overawe them. If they break out into insurrection, he +may send cavalry to sabre them: he may mow them down with grape +shot: he may hang them, draw them, quarter them, anything but +teach them. He may see, and may shudder as he sees, throughout +large rural districts, millions of infants growing up from +infancy to manhood as ignorant, as mere slaves of sensual +appetite, as the beasts that perish. No matter. He is a traitor +to the cause of civil and religious freedom if he does not look +on with folded arms, while absurd hopes and evil passions ripen +in that rank soil. He must wait for the day of his harvest. He +must wait till the Jaquerie comes, till farm houses are burning, +till threshing machines are broken in pieces; and then begins his +business, which is simply to send one poor ignorant savage to the +county gaol, and another to the antipodes, and a third to the +gallows. + +Such, Sir, is the new theory of government which was first +propounded, in the year 1846, by some men of high note among the +Nonconformists of England. It is difficult to understand how men +of excellent abilities and excellent intentions--and there are, I +readily admit, such men among those who hold this theory--can +have fallen into so absurd and pernicious an error. One +explanation only occurs to me. This is, I am inclined to +believe, an instance of the operation of the great law of +reaction. We have just come victorious out of a long and fierce +contest for the liberty of trade. While that contest was +undecided, much was said and written about the advantages of free +competition, and about the danger of suffering the State to +regulate matters which should be left to individuals. There has +consequently arisen in the minds of persons who are led by words, +and who are little in the habit of making distinctions, a +disposition to apply to political questions and moral questions +principles which are sound only when applied to commercial +questions. These people, not content with having forced the +Government to surrender a province wrongfully usurped, now wish +to wrest from the Government a domain held by a right which was +never before questioned, and which cannot be questioned with the +smallest show of reason. "If," they say, "free competition is a +good thing in trade, it must surely be a good thing in education. +The supply of other commodities, of sugar, for example, is left +to adjust itself to the demand; and the consequence is, that we +are better supplied with sugar than if the Government undertook +to supply us. Why then should we doubt that the supply of +instruction will, without the intervention of the Government, be +found equal to the demand?" + +Never was there a more false analogy. Whether a man is well +supplied with sugar is a matter which concerns himself alone. +But whether he is well supplied with instruction is a matter +which concerns his neighbours and the State. If he cannot afford +to pay for sugar, he must go without sugar. But it is by no +means fit that, because he cannot afford to pay for education, he +should go without education. Between the rich and their +instructors there may, as Adam Smith says, be free trade. The +supply of music masters and Italian masters may be left to adjust +itself to the demand. But what is to become of the millions who +are too poor to procure without assistance the services of a +decent schoolmaster? We have indeed heard it said that even +these millions will be supplied with teachers by the free +competition of benevolent individuals who will vie with each +other in rendering this service to mankind. No doubt there are +many benevolent individuals who spend their time and money most +laudably in setting up and supporting schools; and you may say, +if you please, that there is, among these respectable persons, a +competition to do good. But do not be imposed upon by words. Do +not believe that this competition resembles the competition which +is produced by the desire of wealth and by the fear of ruin. +There is a great difference, be assured, between the rivalry of +philanthropists and the rivalry of grocers. The grocer knows +that, if his wares are worse than those of other grocers, he +shall soon go before the Bankrupt Court, and his wife and +children will have no refuge but the workhouse: he knows that, +if his shop obtains an honourable celebrity, he shall be able to +set up a carriage and buy a villa: and this knowledge impels him +to exertions compared with which the exertions of even very +charitable people to serve the poor are but languid. It would be +strange infatuation indeed to legislate on the supposition that a +man cares for his fellow creatures as much as he cares for +himself. + +Unless, Sir, I greatly deceive myself, those arguments, which +show that the Government ought not to leave to private people the +task of providing for the national defence, will equally show +that the Government ought not to leave to private people the task +of providing for national education. On this subject, Mr Hume +has laid down the general law with admirable good sense and +perspicuity. I mean David Hume, not the Member for Montrose, +though that honourable gentleman will, I am confident, assent to +the doctrine propounded by his illustrious namesake. David Hume, +Sir, justly says that most of the arts and trades which exist in +the world produce so much advantage and pleasure to individuals, +that the magistrate may safely leave it to individuals to +encourage those arts and trades. But he adds that there are +callings which, though they are highly useful, nay, absolutely +necessary to society, yet do not administer to the peculiar +pleasure or profit of any individual. The military calling is an +instance. Here, says Hume, the Government must interfere. It +must take on itself to regulate these callings, and to stimulate +the industry of the persons who follow these callings by +pecuniary and honorary rewards. + +Now, Sir, it seems to me that, on the same principle on which +Government ought to superintend and to reward the soldier, +Government ought to superintend and to reward the schoolmaster. +I mean, of course, the schoolmaster of the common people. That +his calling is useful, that his calling is necessary, will hardly +be denied. Yet it is clear that his services will not be +adequately remunerated if he is left to be remunerated by those +whom he teaches, or by the voluntary contributions of the +charitable. Is this disputed? Look at the facts. You tell us +that schools will multiply and flourish exceedingly, if the +Government will only abstain from interfering with them. Has not +the Government long abstained from interfering with them? Has +not everything been left, through many years, to individual +exertion? If it were true that education, like trade, thrives +most where the magistrate meddles least, the common people of +England would now be the best educated in the world. Our schools +would be model schools. Every one would have a well chosen +little library, excellent maps, a small but neat apparatus for +experiments in natural philosophy. A grown person unable to read +and write would be pointed at like Giant O'Brien or the Polish +Count. Our schoolmasters would be as eminently expert in all +that relates to teaching as our cutlers, our cotton-spinners, our +engineers are allowed to be in their respective callings. They +would, as a class, be held in high consideration; and their gains +would be such that it would be easy to find men of respectable +character and attainments to fill up vacancies. + +Now, is this the case? Look at the charges of the judges, at the +resolutions of the grand juries, at the reports of public +officers, at the reports of voluntary associations. All tell the +same sad and ignominious story. Take the reports of the +Inspectors of Prisons. In the House of Correction at Hertford, +of seven hundred prisoners one half could not read at all; only +eight could read and write well. Of eight thousand prisoners who +had passed through Maidstone Gaol only fifty could read and write +well. In Coldbath Fields Prison, the proportion that could read +and write well seems to have been still smaller. Turn from the +registers of prisoners to the registers of marriages. You will +find that about a hundred and thirty thousand couples were +married in the year 1844. More than forty thousand of the +bridegrooms and more than sixty thousand of the brides did not +sign their names, but made their marks. Nearly one third of the +men and nearly one half of the women, who are in the prime of +life, who are to be the parents of the Englishmen of the next +generation, who are to bear a chief part in forming the minds of +the Englishmen of the next generation, cannot write their own +names. Remember, too, that, though people who cannot write their +own names must be grossly ignorant, people may write their own +names and yet have very little knowledge. Tens of thousands who +were able to write their names had in all probability received +only the wretched education of a common day school. We know what +such a school too often is; a room crusted with filth, without +light, without air, with a heap of fuel in one corner and a brood +of chickens in another; the only machinery of instruction a +dogeared spelling-book and a broken slate; the masters the refuse +of all other callings, discarded footmen, ruined pedlars, men who +cannot work a sum in the rule of three, men who cannot write a +common letter without blunders, men who do not know whether the +earth is a sphere or a cube, men who do not know whether +Jerusalem is in Asia or America. And to such men, men to whom +none of us would entrust the key of his cellar, we have entrusted +the mind of the rising generation, and, with the mind of the +rising generation the freedom, the happiness, the glory of our +country. + +Do you question the accuracy of this description? I will produce +evidence to which I am sure that you will not venture to take an +exception. Every gentleman here knows, I suppose, how important +a place the Congregational Union holds among the Nonconformists, +and how prominent a part Mr Edward Baines has taken in opposition +to State education. A Committee of the Congregational Union drew +up last year a report on the subject of education. That report +was received by the Union; and the person who moved that it +should be received was Mr Edward Baines. That report contains +the following passage: "If it were necessary to disclose facts +to such an assembly as this, as to the ignorance and debasement +of the neglected portions of our population in towns and rural +districts, both adult and juvenile, it could easily be done. +Private information communicated to the Board, personal +observation and investigation of the various localities, with the +published documents of the Registrar General, and the reports of +the state of prisons in England and Wales, published by order of +the House of Commons, would furnish enough to make us modest in +speaking of what has been done for the humbler classes, and make +us ashamed that the sons of the soil of England should have been +so long neglected, and should present to the enlightened +traveller from other shores such a sad spectacle of neglected +cultivation, lost mental power, and spiritual degradation." +Nothing can be more just. All the information which I have been +able to obtain bears out the statements of the Congregational +Union. I do believe that the ignorance and degradation of a +large part of the community to which we belong ought to make us +ashamed of ourselves. I do believe that an enlightened traveller +from New York, from Geneva, or from Berlin, would be shocked to +see so much barbarism in the close neighbourhood of so much +wealth and civilisation. But is it not strange that the very +gentlemen who tell us in such emphatic language that the people +are shamefully ill-educated, should yet persist in telling us +that under a system of free competition the people are certain to +be excellently educated? Only this morning the opponents of our +plan circulated a paper in which they confidently predict that +free competition will do all that is necessary, if we will only +wait with patience. Wait with patience! Why, we have been +waiting ever since the Heptarchy. How much longer are we to +wait? Till the year 2847? Or till the year 3847? That the +experiment has as yet failed you do not deny. And why should it +have failed? Has it been tried in unfavourable circumstances? +Not so: it has been tried in the richest and in the freest, and +in the most charitable country in all Europe. Has it been tried +on too small a scale? Not so: millions have been subjected to +it. Has it been tried during too short a time? Not so: it has +been going on during ages. The cause of the failure then is +plain. Our whole system has been unsound. We have applied the +principle of free competition to a case to which that principle +is not applicable. + +But, Sir, if the state of the southern part of our island has +furnished me with one strong argument, the state of the northern +part furnishes me with another argument, which is, if possible, +still more decisive. A hundred and fifty years ago England was +one of the best governed and most prosperous countries in the +world: Scotland was perhaps the rudest and poorest country that +could lay any claim to civilisation. The name of Scotchman was +then uttered in this part of the island with contempt. The +ablest Scotch statesmen contemplated the degraded state of their +poorer countrymen with a feeling approaching to despair. It is +well-known that Fletcher of Saltoun, a brave and accomplished +man, a man who had drawn his sword for liberty, who had suffered +proscription and exile for liberty, was so much disgusted and +dismayed by the misery, the ignorance, the idleness, the +lawlessness of the common people, that he proposed to make many +thousands of them slaves. Nothing, he thought, but the +discipline which kept order and enforced exertion among the +negroes of a sugar colony, nothing but the lash and the stocks, +could reclaim the vagabonds who infested every part of Scotland +from their indolent and predatory habits, and compel them to +support themselves by steady labour. He therefore, soon after +the Revolution, published a pamphlet, in which he earnestly, and, +as I believe, from the mere impulse of humanity and patriotism, +recommended to the Estates of the Realm this sharp remedy, which +alone, as he conceived, could remove the evil. Within a few +months after the publication of that pamphlet a very different +remedy was applied. The Parliament which sate at Edinburgh +passed an act for the establishment of parochial schools. What +followed? An improvement such as the world had never seen took +place in the moral and intellectual character of the people. +Soon, in spite of the rigour of the climate, in spite of the +sterility of the earth, Scotland became a country which had no +reason to envy the fairest portions of the globe. Wherever the +Scotchman went,--and there were few parts of the world to which +he did not go,--he carried his superiority with him. If he was +admitted into a public office, he worked his way up to the +highest post. If he got employment in a brewery or a factory, he +was soon the foreman. If he took a shop, his trade was the best +in the street. If he enlisted in the army, he became a colour- +sergeant. If he went to a colony, he was the most thriving +planter there. The Scotchman of the seventeenth century had been +spoken of in London as we speak of the Esquimaux. The Scotchman +of the eighteenth century was an object, not of scorn, but of +envy. The cry was that, wherever he came, he got more than his +share; that, mixed with Englishmen or mixed with Irishmen, he +rose to the top as surely as oil rises to the top of water. And +what had produced this great revolution? The Scotch air was +still as cold, the Scotch rocks were still as bare as ever. All +the natural qualities of the Scotchman were still what they had +been when learned and benevolent men advised that he should be +flogged, like a beast of burden, to his daily task. But the +State had given him an education. That education was not, it is +true, in all respects what it should have been. But such as it +was, it had done more for the bleak and dreary shores of the +Forth and the Clyde than the richest of soils and the most genial +of climates had done for Capua and Tarentum. Is there one member +of this House, however strongly he may hold the doctrine that the +Government ought not to interfere with the education of the +people, who will stand up and say that, in his opinion, the +Scotch would now have been a happier and a more enlightened +people if they had been left, during the last five generations, +to find instruction for themselves? + +I say then, Sir, that, if the science of Government be an +experimental science, this question is decided. We are in a +condition to perform the inductive process according to the rules +laid down in the Novum Organum. We have two nations closely +connected, inhabiting the same island, sprung from the same +blood, speaking the same language, governed by the same Sovereign +and the same Legislature, holding essentially the same religious +faith, having the same allies and the same enemies. Of these two +nations one was, a hundred and fifty years ago, as respects +opulence and civilisation, in the highest rank among European +communities, the other in the lowest rank. The opulent and +highly civilised nation leaves the education of the people to +free competition. In the poor and half barbarous nation the +education of the people is undertaken by the State. The result +is that the first are last and the last first. The common people +of Scotland,--it is vain to disguise the truth,--have passed the +common people of England. Free competition, tried with every +advantage, has produced effects of which, as the Congregational +Union tells us, we ought to be ashamed, and which must lower us +in the opinion of every intelligent foreigner. State education, +tried under every disadvantage, has produced an improvement to +which it would be difficult to find a parallel in any age or +country. Such an experiment as this would be regarded as +conclusive in surgery or chemistry, and ought, I think, to be +regarded as equally conclusive in politics. + +These, Sir, are the reasons which have satisfied me that it is +the duty of the State to educate the people. Being firmly +convinced of that truth, I shall not shrink from proclaiming it +here and elsewhere, in defiance of the loudest clamour that +agitators can raise. The remainder of my task is easy. For, if +the great principle for which I have been contending is admitted, +the objections which have been made to the details of our plan +will vanish fast. I will deal with those objections in the order +in which they stand in the amendment moved by the honourable +Member for Finsbury. + +First among his objections he places the cost. Surely, Sir, no +person who admits that it is our duty to train the minds of the +rising generation can think a hundred thousand pounds too large a +sum for that purpose. If we look at the matter in the lowest +point of view, if we consider human beings merely as producers of +wealth, the difference between an intelligent and a stupid +population, estimated in pounds, shillings, and pence, exceeds a +hundredfold the proposed outlay. Nor is this all. For every +pound that you save in education, you will spend five in +prosecutions, in prisons, in penal settlements. I cannot believe +that the House, having never grudged anything that was asked for +the purpose of maintaining order and protecting property by means +of pain and fear, will begin to be niggardly as soon as it is +proposed to effect the same objects by making the people wiser +and better. + +The next objection made by the honourable Member to our plan is +that it will increase the influence of the Crown. This sum of a +hundred thousand pounds may, he apprehends, be employed in +corruption and jobbing. Those schoolmasters who vote for +ministerial candidates will obtain a share of the grant: those +schoolmasters who vote for opponents of the ministry will apply +for assistance in vain. Sir, the honourable Member never would +have made this objection if he had taken the trouble to +understand the minutes which he has condemned. We propose to +place this part of the public expenditure under checks which must +make such abuses as the honourable Member anticipates morally +impossible. Not only will there be those ordinary checks which +are thought sufficient to prevent the misapplication of the many +millions annually granted for the army, the navy, the ordnance, +the civil government: not only must the Ministers of the Crown +come every year to this House for a vote, and be prepared to +render an account of the manner in which they have laid out what +had been voted in the preceding year, but, when they have +satisfied the House, when they have got their vote, they will +still be unable to distribute the money at their discretion. +Whatever they may do for any schoolmaster must be done in concert +with those persons who, in the district where the schoolmaster +lives, take an interest in education, and contribute out of their +private means to the expense of education. When the honourable +gentleman is afraid that we shall corrupt the schoolmasters, he +forgets, first, that we do not appoint the schoolmasters; +secondly, that we cannot dismiss the schoolmasters; thirdly, that +managers who are altogether independent of us can, without our +consent, dismiss the schoolmasters; and, fourthly, that without +the recommendation of those managers we can give nothing to the +schoolmasters. Observe, too, that such a recommendation will not +be one of those recommendations which goodnatured easy people are +too apt to give to everybody who asks; nor will it at all +resemble those recommendations which the Secretary of the +Treasury is in the habit of receiving. For every pound which we +pay on the recommendation of the managers, the managers +themselves must pay two pounds. They must also provide the +schoolmaster with a house out of their own funds before they can +obtain for him a grant from the public funds. What chance of +jobbing is there here? It is common enough, no doubt, for a +Member of Parliament who votes with Government to ask that one of +those who zealously supported him at the last election may have a +place in the Excise or the Customs. But such a member would soon +cease to solicit if the answer were, "Your friend shall have a +place of fifty pounds a year, if you will give him a house and +settle on him an income of a hundred a year." What chance then, +I again ask, is there of jobbing? What, say some of the +dissenters of Leeds, is to prevent a Tory Government, a High +Church Government, from using this parliamentary grant to corrupt +the schoolmasters of our borough, and to induce them to use all +their influence in favour of a Tory and High Church candidate? +Why, Sir, the dissenters of Leeds themselves have the power to +prevent it. Let them subscribe to the schools: let them take a +share in the management of the schools: let them refuse to +recommend to the committee of Council any schoolmaster whom they +suspect of having voted at any election from corrupt motives: +and the thing is done. Our plan, in truth, is made up of checks. +My only doubt is whether the checks may not be found too numerous +and too stringent. On our general conduct there is the ordinary +check, the parliamentary check. And, as respects those minute +details which it is impossible that this House can investigate, +we shall be checked, in every town and in every rural district, +by boards consisting of independent men zealous in the cause of +education. + +The truth is, Sir, that those who clamour most loudly against our +plan, have never thought of ascertaining what it is. I see that +a gentleman, who ought to have known better, has not been ashamed +publicly to tell the world that our plan will cost the nation two +millions a year, and will paralyse all the exertions of +individuals to educate the people. These two assertions are +uttered in one breath. And yet, if he who made them had read our +minutes before he railed at them, he would have seen that his +predictions are contradictory; that they cannot both be +fulfilled; that, if individuals do not exert themselves, the +country will have to pay nothing; and that, if the country has to +pay two millions, it will be because individuals have exerted +themselves with such wonderful, such incredible vigour, as to +raise four millions by voluntary contributions. + +The next objection made by the honourable Member for Finsbury is +that we have acted unconstitutionally, and have encroached on the +functions of Parliament. The Committee of Council he seems to +consider as an unlawful assembly. He calls it sometimes a self- +elected body and sometimes a self-appointed body. Sir, these are +words without meaning. The Committee is no more a self-elected +body than the Board of Trade. It is a body appointed by the +Queen; and in appointing it Her Majesty has exercised, under the +advice of her responsible Ministers, a prerogative as old as the +monarchy. But, says the honourable Member, the constitutional +course would have been to apply for an Act of Parliament. On +what ground? Nothing but an Act of Parliament can legalise that +which is illegal. But whoever heard of an Act of Parliament to +legalise what was already beyond all dispute legal? Of course, +if we wished to send aliens out of the country, or to retain +disaffected persons in custody without bringing them to trial, we +must obtain an Act of Parliament empowering us to do so. But why +should we ask for an Act of Parliament to empower us to do what +anybody may do, what the honourable Member for Finsbury may do? +Is there any doubt that he or anybody else may subscribe to a +school, give a stipend to a monitor, or settle a retiring pension +on a preceptor who has done good service? What any of the +Queen's subjects may do the Queen may do. Suppose that her privy +purse were so large that she could afford to employ a hundred +thousand pounds in this beneficent manner; would an Act of +Parliament be necessary to enable her to do so? Every part of +our plan may lawfully be carried into execution by any person, +Sovereign or subject, who has the inclination and the money. We +have not the money; and for the money we come, in a strictly +constitutional manner, to the House of Commons. The course which +we have taken is in conformity with all precedent, as well as +with all principle. There are military schools. No Act of +Parliament was necessary to authorise the establishing of such +schools. All that was necessary was a grant of money to defray +the charge. When I was Secretary at War it was my duty to bring +under Her Majesty's notice the situation of the female children +of her soldiers. Many such children accompanied every regiment, +and their education was grievously neglected. Her Majesty was +graciously pleased to sign a warrant by which a girls' school was +attached to each corps. No Act of Parliament was necessary. For +to set up a school where girls might be taught to read, and +write, and sew, and cook, was perfectly legal already. I might +have set it up myself, if I had been rich enough. All that I had +to ask from Parliament was the money. But I ought to beg pardon +for arguing a point so clear. + +The next objection to our plans is that they interfere with the +religious convictions of Her Majesty's subjects. It has been +sometimes insinuated, but it has never been proved, that the +Committee of Council has shown undue favour to the Established +Church. Sir, I have carefully read and considered the minutes; +and I wish that every man who has exerted his eloquence against +them had done the same. I say that I have carefully read and +considered them, and that they seem to me to have been drawn up +with exemplary impartiality. The benefits which we offer we +offer to people of all religious persuasions alike. The +dissenting managers of schools will have equal authority with the +managers who belong to the Church. A boy who goes to meeting +will be just as eligible to be a monitor, and will receive just +as large a stipend, as if he went to the cathedral. The +schoolmaster who is a nonconformist and the schoolmaster who is a +conformist will enjoy the same emoluments, and will, after the +same term of service, obtain, on the same conditions, the same +retiring pension. I wish that some gentleman would, instead of +using vague phrases about religious liberty and the rights of +conscience, answer this plain question. Suppose that in one of +our large towns there are four schools, a school connected with +the Church, a school connected with the Independents, a Baptist +school, and a Wesleyan school; what encouragement, pecuniary or +honorary, will, by our plan, be given to the school connected +with the Church, and withheld from any of the other three +schools? Is it not indeed plain that, if by neglect or +maladministration the Church school should get into a bad state, +while the dissenting schools flourish, the dissenting schools +will receive public money and the Church school will receive +none? + +It is true, I admit, that in rural districts which are too poor +to support more than one school, the religious community to which +the majority belongs will have an advantage over other religious +communities. But this is not our fault. If we are as impartial +as it is possible to be, you surely do not expect more. If there +should be a parish containing nine hundred churchmen and a +hundred dissenters, if there should, in that parish, be a school +connected with the Church, if the dissenters in that parish +should be too poor to set up another school, undoubtedly the +school connected with the Church will, in that parish, get all +that we give; and the dissenters will get nothing. But observe +that there is no partiality to the Church, as the Church, in this +arrangement. The churchmen get public money, not because they +are churchmen, but because they are the majority. The dissenters +get nothing, not because they are dissenters, but because they +are a small minority. There are districts where the case will be +reversed, where there will be dissenting schools, and no Church +schools. In such cases the dissenters will get what we have to +give, and the churchmen will get nothing. + +But, Sir, I ought not to say that a churchman gets nothing by a +system which gives a good education to dissenters, or that a +dissenter gets nothing by a system which gives a good education +to churchmen. We are not, I hope, so much conformists, or so +much nonconformists, as to forget that we are Englishmen and +Christians. We all, Churchmen, Presbyterians, Independents, +Baptists, Methodists, have an interest in this, that the great +body of the people should be rescued from ignorance and +barbarism. I mentioned Lord George Gordon's mob. That mob +began, it is true, with the Roman Catholics: but, long before +the tumults were over, there was not a respectable Protestant in +London who was not in fear for his house, for his limbs, for his +life, for the lives of those who were dearest to him. The +honourable Member for Finsbury says that we call on men to pay +for an education from which they derive no benefit. I deny that +there is one honest and industrious man in the country who +derives no benefit from living among honest and industrious +neighbours rather than among rioters and vagabonds. This matter +is as much a matter of common concern as the defence of our +coast. Suppose that I were to say, "Why do you tax me to fortify +Portsmouth? If the people of Portsmouth think that they cannot +be safe without bastions and ravelins, let the people of +Portsmouth pay the engineers and masons. Why am I to bear the +charge of works from which I derive no advantage?" You would +answer, and most justly, that there is no man in the island who +does not derive advantage from these works, whether he resides +within them or not. And, as every man, in whatever part of the +island he may live, is bound to contribute to the support of +those arsenals which are necessary for our common security, so is +every man, to whatever sect he may belong, bound to contribute to +the support of those schools on which, not less than on our +arsenals, our common security depends. + +I now come to the last words of the amendment. The honourable +Member for Finsbury is apprehensive that our plan may interfere +with the civil rights of Her Majesty's subjects. How a man's +civil rights can be prejudiced by his learning to read and write, +to multiply and divide, or even by his obtaining some knowledge +of history and geography, I do not very well apprehend. One +thing is clear, that persons sunk in that ignorance in which, as +we are assured by the Congregational Union, great numbers of our +countrymen are sunk, can be free only in name. It is hardly +necessary for us to appoint a Select Committee for the purpose of +inquiring whether knowledge be the ally or the enemy of liberty. +He is, I must say, but a short-sighted friend of the common +people who is eager to bestow on them a franchise which would +make them all-powerful, and yet would withhold from them that +instruction without which their power must be a curse to +themselves and to the State. + +This, Sir, is my defence. From the clamour of our accusers I +appeal with confidence to the country to which we must, in no +long time, render an account of our stewardship. I appeal with +still more confidence to future generations, which, while +enjoying all the blessings of an impartial and efficient system +of public instruction, will find it difficult to believe that the +authors of that system should have had to struggle with a +vehement and pertinacious opposition, and still more difficult to +believe that such an opposition was offered in the name of civil +and religious freedom. + +... + + +INAUGURAL SPEECH AT GLASGOW COLLEGE. (MARCH 21, 1849) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE COLLEGE OF GLASGOW ON THE 21ST OF +MARCH, 1849. + +At the election of Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, in +November, 1848, the votes stood thus: Mr Macaulay, 255; Colonel +Mure, 203. The installation took place on the twenty-first of +March, 1849; and after that ceremony had been performed, the +following Speech was delivered. + +My first duty, Gentlemen, is to return you my thanks for the +honour which you have conferred on me. You well know that it was +wholly unsolicited; and I can assure you that it was wholly +unexpected. I may add that, if I had been invited to become a +candidate for your suffrages, I should respectfully have declined +the invitation. My predecessor, whom I am so happy as to be able +to call my friend, declared from this place last year in language +which well became him, that he would not have come forward to +displace so eminent a statesman as Lord John Russell. I can with +equal truth affirm that I would not have come forward to displace +so estimable a gentleman and so accomplished a scholar as Colonel +Mure. But Colonel Mure felt last year that it was not for him, +and I now feel that it is not for me, to question the propriety +of your decision on a point of which, by the constitution of your +body, you are the judges. I therefore gratefully accept the +office to which I have been called, fully purposing to use +whatever powers belong to it with a single view to the welfare +and credit of your society. + +I am not using a mere phrase of course, when I say that the +feelings with which I bear apart in the ceremony of this day are +such as I find it difficult to utter in words. I do not think it +strange that, when that great master of eloquence, Edmund Burke, +stood where I now stand, he faltered and remained mute. +Doubtless the multitude of thoughts which rushed into his mind +was such as even he could not easily arrange or express. In +truth there are few spectacles more striking or affecting than +that which a great historical place of education presents on a +solemn public day. There is something strangely interesting in +the contrast between the venerable antiquity of the body and the +fresh and ardent youth of the great majority of the members. +Recollections and hopes crowd upon us together. The past and the +future are at once brought close to us. Our thoughts wander back +to the time when the foundations of this ancient building were +laid, and forward to the time when those whom it is our office to +guide and to teach will be the guides and teachers of our +posterity. On the present occasion we may, with peculiar +propriety, give such thoughts their course. For it has chanced +that my magistracy has fallen on a great secular epoch. This is +the four hundredth year of the existence of your University. At +such jubilees, jubilees of which no individual sees more than +one, it is natural, and it is good, that a society like this, a +society which survives all the transitory parts of which it is +composed, a society which has a corporate existence and a +perpetual succession, should review its annals, should retrace +the stages of its growth from infancy to maturity, and should try +to find, in the experience of generations which have passed away, +lessons which may be profitable to generations yet unborn. + +The retrospect is full of interest and instruction. Perhaps it +may be doubted whether, since the Christian era, there has been +any point of time more important to the highest interests of +mankind than that at which the existence of your University +commenced. It was at the moment of a great destruction and of a +great creation. Your society was instituted just before the +empire of the East perished; that strange empire which, dragging +on a languid life through the great age of darkness, connected +together the two great ages of light; that empire which, adding +nothing to our stores of knowledge, and producing not one man +great in letters, in science, or in art, yet preserved, in the +midst of barbarism, those masterpieces of Attic genius, which the +highest minds still contemplate, and long will contemplate, with +admiring despair. And at that very time, while the fanatical +Moslem were plundering the churches and palaces of +Constantinople, breaking in pieces Grecian sculptures, and giving +to the flames piles of Grecian eloquence, a few humble German +artisans, who little knew that they were calling into existence a +power far mightier than that of the victorious Sultan, were +busied in cutting and setting the first types. The University +came into existence just in time to witness the disappearance of +the last trace of the Roman empire, and to witness the +publication of the earliest printed book. + +At this conjuncture, a conjuncture of unrivalled interest in the +history of letters, a man, never to be mentioned without +reverence by every lover of letters, held the highest place in +Europe. Our just attachment to that Protestant faith to which +our country owes so much must not prevent us from paying the +tribute which, on this occasion, and in this place, justice and +gratitude demand, to the founder of the University of Glasgow, +the greatest of the restorers of learning, Pope Nicholas the +Fifth. He had sprung from the common people; but his abilities +and his erudition had early attracted the notice of the great. +He had studied much and travelled far. He had visited Britain, +which, in wealth and refinement, was to his native Tuscany what +the back settlements of America now are to Britain. He had lived +with the merchant princes of Florence, those men who first +ennobled trade by making trade the ally of philosophy, of +eloquence, and of taste. It was he who, under the protection of +the munificent and discerning Cosmo, arranged the first public +library that Modern Europe possessed. From privacy your founder +rose to a throne; but on the throne he never forgot the studies +which had been his delight in privacy. He was the centre of an +illustrious group, composed partly of the last great scholars of +Greece, and partly of the first great scholars of Italy, Theodore +Gaza and George of Trebizond, Bessarion and Filelfo, Marsilio +Ficino and Poggio Bracciolini. By him was founded the Vatican +library, then and long after the most precious and the most +extensive collection of books in the world. By him were +carefully preserved the most valuable intellectual treasures +which had been snatched from the wreck of the Byzantine empire. +His agents were to be found everywhere, in the bazaars of the +farthest East, in the monasteries of the farthest West, +purchasing or copying worm-eaten parchments, on which were traced +words worthy of immortality. Under his patronage were prepared +accurate Latin versions of many precious remains of Greek poets +and philosophers. But no department of literature owes so much +to him as history. By him were introduced to the knowledge of +Western Europe two great and unrivalled models of historical +composition, the work of Herodotus and the work of Thucydides. +By him, too, our ancestors were first made acquainted with the +graceful and lucid simplicity of Xenophon and with the manly good +sense of Polybius. + +It was while he was occupied with cares like these that his +attention was called to the intellectual wants of this region, a +region now swarming with population, rich with culture, and +resounding with the clang of machinery, a region which now sends +forth fleets laden with its admirable fabrics to the lands of +which, in his days, no geographer had ever heard, then a wild, a +poor, a half barbarous tract, lying on the utmost verge of the +known world. He gave his sanction to the plan of establishing a +University at Glasgow, and bestowed on the new seat of learning +all the privileges which belonged to the University of Bologna. +I can conceive that a pitying smile passed over his face as he +named Bologna and Glasgow together. At Bologna he had long +studied. No spot in the world had been more favoured by nature +or by art. The surrounding country was a fruitful and sunny +country, a country of cornfields and vineyards. In the city, the +house of Bentivoglo bore rule, a house which vied with the house +of Medici in taste and magnificence, which has left to posterity +noble palaces and temples, and which gave a splendid patronage to +arts and letters. Glasgow your founder just knew to be a poor, a +small, a rude town, a town, as he would have thought, not likely +ever to be great and opulent; for the soil, compared with the +rich country at the foot of the Apennines, was barren, and the +climate was such that an Italian shuddered at the thought of it. +But it is not on the fertility of the soil, it is not on the +mildness of the atmosphere, that the prosperity of nations +chiefly depends. Slavery and superstition can make Campania a +land of beggars, and can change the plain of Enna into a desert. +Nor is it beyond the power of human intelligence and energy, +developed by civil and spiritual freedom, to turn sterile rocks +and pestilential marshes into cities and gardens. Enlightened as +your founder was, he little knew that he was himself a chief +agent in a great revolution, physical and moral, political and +religious, in a revolution destined to make the last first and +the first last, in a revolution destined to invert the relative +positions of Glasgow and Bologna. We cannot, I think, better +employ a few minutes than in reviewing the stages of this great +change in human affairs. + +The review shall be short. Indeed I cannot do better than pass +rapidly from century to century. Look at the world, then, a +hundred years after the seal of Nicholas had been affixed to the +instrument which called your College into existence. We find +Europe, we find Scotland especially, in the agonies of that great +revolution which we emphatically call the Reformation. The +liberal patronage which Nicholas, and men like Nicholas, had +given to learning, and of which the establishment of this seat of +learning is not the least remarkable instance, had produced an +effect which they had never contemplated. Ignorance was the +talisman on which their power depended; and that talisman they +had themselves broken. They had called in Knowledge as a +handmaid to decorate Superstition, and their error produced its +natural effect. I need not tell you what a part the votaries of +classical learning, and especially the votaries of Greek +learning, the Humanists, as they were then called, bore in the +great movement against spiritual tyranny. They formed, in fact, +the vanguard of that movement. Every one of the chief Reformers +--I do not at this moment remember a single exception--was a +Humanist. Almost every eminent Humanist in the north of Europe +was, according to the measure of his uprightness and courage, a +Reformer. In a Scottish University I need hardly mention the +names of Knox, of Buchanan, of Melville, of Secretary Maitland. +In truth, minds daily nourished with the best literature of +Greece and Rome necessarily grew too strong to be trammelled by +the cobwebs of the scholastic divinity; and the influence of such +minds was now rapidly felt by the whole community; for the +invention of printing had brought books within the reach even of +yeomen and of artisans. From the Mediterranean to the Frozen +Sea, therefore, the public mind was everywhere in a ferment; and +nowhere was the ferment greater than in Scotland. It was in the +midst of martyrdoms and proscriptions, in the midst of a war +between power and truth, that the first century of the existence +of your University closed. + +Pass another hundred years; and we are in the midst of another +revolution. The war between Popery and Protestantism had, in +this island, been terminated by the victory of Protestantism. +But from that war another war had sprung, the war between Prelacy +and Puritanism. The hostile religious sects were allied, +intermingled, confounded with hostile political parties. The +monarchical element of the constitution was an object of almost +exclusive devotion to the Prelatist. The popular element of the +constitution was especially dear to the Puritan. At length an +appeal was made to the sword. Puritanism triumphed; but +Puritanism was already divided against itself. Independency and +Republicanism were on one side, Presbyterianism and limited +Monarchy on the other. It was in the very darkest part of that +dark time, it was in the midst of battles, sieges, and +executions, it was when the whole world was still aghast at the +awful spectacle of a British King standing before a judgment +seat, and laying his neck on a block, it was when the mangled +remains of the Duke of Hamilton had just been laid in the tomb of +his house, it was when the head of the Marquess of Montrose had +just been fixed on the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, that your +University completed her second century. + +A hundred years more; and we have at length reached the beginning +of a happier period. Our civil and religious liberties had +indeed been bought with a fearful price. But they had been +bought. The price had been paid. The last battle had been +fought on British ground. The last black scaffold had been set +up on Tower Hill. The evil days were over. A bright and +tranquil century, a century of religious toleration, of domestic +peace, of temperate freedom, of equal justice, was beginning. +That century is now closing. When we compare it with any equally +long period in the history of any other great society, we shall +find abundant cause for thankfulness to the Giver of all good. +Nor is there any place in the whole kingdom better fitted to +excite this feeling than the place where we are now assembled. +For in the whole kingdom we shall find no district in which the +progress of trade, of manufactures, of wealth, and of the arts of +life, has been more rapid than in Clydesdale. Your University +has partaken largely of the prosperity of this city and of the +surrounding region. The security, the tranquillity, the liberty, +which have been propitious to the industry of the merchant and of +the manufacturer, have been also propitious to the industry of +the scholar. To the last century belong most of the names of +which you justly boast. The time would fail me if I attempted to +do justice to the memory of all the illustrious men who, during +that period, taught or learned wisdom within these ancient walls; +geometricians, anatomists, jurists, philologists, metaphysicians, +poets: Simpson and Hunter, Millar and Young, Reid and Stewart; +Campbell, whose coffin was lately borne to a grave in that +renowned transept which contains the dust of Chaucer, of Spenser, +and of Dryden; Black, whose discoveries form an era in the +history of chemical science; Adam Smith, the greatest of all the +masters of political science; James Watt, who perhaps did more +than any single man has done, since the New Atlantis of Bacon was +written, to accomplish that glorious prophecy. We now speak the +language of humility when we say that the University of Glasgow +need not fear a comparison with the University of Bologna. + +A fifth secular period is about to commence. There is no lack of +alarmists who will tell you that it is about to commence under +evil auspices. But from me you must expect no such gloomy +prognostications. I have heard them too long and too constantly +to be scared by them. Ever since I began to make observations on +the state of my country, I have been seeing nothing but growth, +and hearing of nothing but decay. The more I contemplate our +noble institutions, the more convinced I am that they are sound +at heart, that they have nothing of age but its dignity, and that +their strength is still the strength of youth. The hurricane, +which has recently overthrown so much that was great and that +seemed durable, has only proved their solidity. They still +stand, august and immovable, while dynasties and churches are +lying in heaps of ruin all around us. I see no reason to doubt +that, by the blessing of God on a wise and temperate policy, on a +policy of which the principle is to preserve what is good by +reforming in time what is evil, our civil institutions may be +preserved unimpaired to a late posterity, and that, under the +shade of our civil institutions, our academical institutions may +long continue to flourish. + +I trust, therefore, that, when a hundred years more have run out, +this ancient College will still continue to deserve well of our +country and of mankind. I trust that the installation of 1949 +will be attended by a still greater assembly of students than I +have the happiness now to see before me. That assemblage, +indeed, may not meet in the place where we have met. These +venerable halls may have disappeared. My successor may speak to +your successors in a more stately edifice, in a edifice which, +even among the magnificent buildings of the future Glasgow, will +still be admired as a fine specimen of the architecture which +flourished in the days of the good Queen Victoria. But, though +the site and the walls may be new, the spirit of the institution +will, I hope, be still the same. My successor will, I hope, be +able to boast that the fifth century of the University has even +been more glorious than the fourth. He will be able to vindicate +that boast by citing a long list of eminent men, great masters of +experimental science, of ancient learning, of our native +eloquence, ornaments of the senate, the pulpit and the bar. He +will, I hope, mention with high honour some of my young friends +who now hear me; and he will, I also hope, be able to add that +their talents and learning were not wasted on selfish or ignoble +objects, but were employed to promote the physical and moral good +of their species, to extend the empire of man over the material +world, to defend the cause of civil and religious liberty against +tyrants and bigots, and to defend the cause of virtue and order +against the enemies of all divine and human laws. + +I have now given utterance to a part, and to a part only, of the +recollections and anticipations of which, on this solemn +occasion, my mind is full. I again thank you for the honour +which you have bestowed on me; and I assure you that, while I +live, I shall never cease to take a deep interest in the welfare +and fame of the body with which, by your kindness, I have this +day become connected. + +... + + +RE-ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT. (NOVEMBER 2, 1852) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED AT EDINBURGH ON THE 2D OF NOVEMBER, 1852. + +At the General Election of 1852 the votes for the City of +Edinburgh stood thus: + +Mr Macaulay........1872 +Mr Cowan...........1754 +The Lord Provost...1559 +Mr Bruce...........1066 +Mr Campbell.........686 + +On the second of November the Electors assembled in the Music +Hall to meet the representative whom they had, without any +solicitation on his part, placed at the head of the poll. On +this occasion the following Speech was delivered. + +Gentlemen,--I thank you from my heart for this kind reception. +In truth, it has almost overcome me. Your good opinion and your +good will were always very valuable to me, far more valuable than +any vulgar object of ambition, far more valuable than any office, +however lucrative or dignified. In truth, no office, however +lucrative or dignified, would have tempted me to do what I have +done at your summons, to leave again the happiest and most +tranquil of all retreats for the bustle of political life. But +the honour which you have conferred upon me, an honour of which +the greatest men might well be proud, an honour which it is in +the power only of a free people to bestow, has laid on me such an +obligation that I should have thought it ingratitude, I should +have thought it pusillanimity, not to make at least an effort to +serve you. + +And here, Gentlemen, we meet again in kindness after a long +separation. It is more than five years since I last stood in +this very place; a large part of human life. There are few of us +on whom those five years have not set their mark, few circles +from which those five years have not taken away what can never be +replaced. Even in this multitude of friendly faces I look in +vain for some which would on this day have been lighted up with +joy and kindness. I miss one venerable man, who, before I was +born, in evil times, in times of oppression and of corruption, +had adhered, with almost solitary fidelity, to the cause of +freedom, and whom I knew in advanced age, but still in the full +vigour of mind and body, enjoying the respect and gratitude of +his fellow citizens. I should, indeed, be most ungrateful if I +could, on this day, forget Sir James Craig, his public spirit, +his judicious counsel, his fatherly kindness to myself. And +Jeffrey--with what an effusion of generous affection he would on +this day, have welcomed me back to Edinburgh! He too is gone; +but the remembrance of him is one of the many ties which bind me +to the city once dear to his heart, and still inseparably +associated with his fame. + +But, Gentlemen, it is not only here that, on entering again, at +your call, a path of life which I believed that I had quitted +forever, I shall be painfully reminded of the changes which the +last five years have produced. In Parliament I shall look in +vain for virtues which I loved, and for abilities which I +admired. Often in debate, and never more than when we discuss +those questions of colonial policy which are every day acquiring +a new interest, I shall remember with regret how much eloquence +and wit, how much acuteness and knowledge, how many engaging +qualities, how many fair hopes, are buried in the grave of poor +Charles Buller. There were other men, men with whom I had no +political connection and little personal connection, men to whom +I was, during a great part of my public life, honestly opposed, +but of whom I cannot now think without grieving that their +wisdom, their experience, and the weight of their great names can +never more, in the hour of need, bring help to the nation or to +the throne. Such were those two eminent men whom I left at the +height, one of civil, the other of military fame; one the oracle +of the House of Commons, the other the oracle of the House of +Lords. There were parts of their long public life which they +would themselves, I am persuaded, on a calm retrospect, have +allowed to be justly censurable. But it is impossible to deny +that each in his own department saved the State; that one brought +to a triumphant close the most formidable conflict in which this +country was ever engaged with a foreign enemy; and that the +other, at an immense sacrifice of personal feeling and personal +ambition, freed us from an odious monopoly, which could not have +existed many years longer without producing fearful intestine +discords. I regret them both: but I peculiarly regret him who +is associated in my mind with the place to which you have sent +me. I shall hardly know the House of Commons without Sir Robert +Peel. On the first evening on which I took my seat in that +House, more than two and twenty years ago, he held the highest +position among the Ministers of the Crown who sate there. During +all the subsequent years of my parliamentary service I scarcely +remember one important discussion in which he did not bear a part +with conspicuous ability. His figure is now before me: all the +tones of his voice are in my ears; and the pain with which I +think that I shall never hear them again would be embittered by +the recollection of some sharp encounters which took place +between us, were it not that at last there was an entire and +cordial reconciliation, and that, only a very few days before his +death, I had the pleasure of receiving from him marks of kindness +and esteem of which I shall always cherish the recollection. + +But, Gentlemen, it is not only by those changes which the natural +law of mortality produces, it is not only by the successive +disappearances of eminent men that the face of the world has been +changed during the five years which have elapsed since we met +here last. Never since the origin of our race have there been +five years more fertile of great events, five years which have +left behind them a more awful lesson. We have lived many lives +in that time. The revolutions of ages have been compressed into +a few months. France, Germany, Hungary, Italy,--what a history +has theirs been! When we met here last, there was in all of +those countries an outward show of tranquillity; and there were +few, even of the wisest among us, who imagined what wild +passions, what wild theories, were fermenting under that peaceful +exterior. An obstinate resistance to a reasonable reform, a +resistance prolonged but for one day beyond the time, gave the +signal for the explosion; and in an instant, from the borders of +Russia to the Atlantic Ocean, everything was confusion and +terror. The streets of the greatest capitals of Europe were +piled up with barricades, and were streaming with civil blood. +The house of Orleans fled from France: the Pope fled from Rome: +the Emperor of Austria was not safe at Vienna. There were +popular institutions in Florence; popular institutions at Naples. +One democratic convention sat at Berlin; another democratic +convention at Frankfort. You remember, I am sure, but too well, +how some of the wisest and most honest friends of liberty, though +inclined to look with great indulgence on the excesses +inseparable from revolutions, began first to doubt and then to +despair of the prospects of mankind. You remember how all sorts +of animosity, national, religious, and social, broke forth +together. You remember how with the hatred of discontented +subjects to their governments was mingled the hatred of race to +race and of class to class. For myself, I stood aghast; and +though naturally of a sanguine disposition, I did for one moment +doubt whether the progress of society was not about to be +arrested, nay, to be suddenly and violently turned back; whether +we were not doomed to pass in one generation from the +civilisation of the nineteenth century to the barbarism of the +fifth. I remembered that Adam Smith and Gibbon had told us that +the dark ages were gone, never more to return, that modern Europe +was in no danger of the fate which had befallen the Roman empire. +That flood, they said, would no more return to cover the earth: +and they seemed to reason justly: for they compared the immense +strength of the enlightened part of the world with the weakness +of the part which remained savage; and they asked whence were to +come the Huns and the Vandals, who should again destroy +civilisation? It had not occurred to them that civilisation +itself might engender the barbarians who should destroy it. It +had not occurred to them that in the very heart of great +capitals, in the neighbourhood of splendid palaces, and churches, +and theatres, and libraries, and museums, vice and ignorance +might produce a race of Huns fiercer than those who marched under +Attila, and of Vandals more bent on destruction than those who +followed Genseric. Such was the danger. It passed by. +Civilisation was saved, but at what a price! The tide of popular +feeling turned and ebbed almost as fast as it had risen. +Imprudent and obstinate opposition to reasonable demands had +brought on anarchy; and as soon as men had a near view of anarchy +they fled in terror to crouch at the feet of despotism. To the +dominion of mobs armed with pikes succeeded the sterner and more +lasting dominion of disciplined armies. The Papacy rose from its +debasement; rose more intolerant and insolent than before; +intolerant and insolent as in the days of Hildebrand; intolerant +and insolent to a degree which dismayed and disappointed those +who had fondly cherished the hope that the spirit which had +animated the Crusaders and the Inquisitors had been mitigated by +the lapse of years and by the progress of knowledge. Through all +that vast region, where little more than four years ago we looked +in vain for any stable authority, we now look in vain for any +trace of constitutional freedom. And we, Gentlemen, in the +meantime, have been exempt from both those calamities which have +wrought ruin all around us. The madness of 1848 did not subvert +the British throne. The reaction which followed has not +destroyed British liberty. + +And why is this? Why has our country, with all the ten plagues +raging around her, been a land of Goshen? Everywhere else was +the thunder and the fire running along the ground,--a very +grievous storm,--a storm such as there was none like it since man +was on the earth; yet everything tranquil here; and then again +thick night, darkness that might be felt; and yet light in all +our dwellings. We owe this singular happiness, under the +blessing of God, to a wise and noble constitution, the work of +many generations of great men. Let us profit by experience; and +let us be thankful that we profit by the experience of others, +and not by our own. Let us prize our constitution: let us +purify it: let us amend it; but let us not destroy it. Let us +shun extremes, not only because each extreme is in itself a +positive evil, but also because each extreme necessarily +engenders its opposite. If we love civil and religious freedom, +let us in the day of danger uphold law and order. If we are +zealous for law and order, let us prize, as the best safeguard of +law and order, civil and religious freedom. + +Yes, Gentlemen; if I am asked why we are free with servitude all +around us, why our Habeas Corpus Act has not been suspended, why +our press is still subject to no censor, why we still have the +liberty of association, why our representative institutions still +abide in all their strength, I answer, It is because in the year +of revolutions we stood firmly by our Government in its peril; +and, if I am asked why we stood by our Government in its peril, +when men all around us were engaged in pulling Governments down, +I answer, It was because we knew that though our Government was +not a perfect Government, it was a good Government, that its +faults admitted of peaceable and legal remedies, that it had +never inflexibly opposed just demands, that we had obtained +concessions of inestimable value, not by beating the drum, not by +ringing the tocsin, not by tearing up the pavement, not by +running to the gunsmiths' shops to search for arms, but by the +mere force of reason and public opinion. And, Gentlemen, preeminent among those pacific victories of reason and public +opinion, the recollection of which chiefly, I believe, carried us +safely through the year of revolutions and through the year of +counter-revolutions, I would place two great reforms, inseparably +associated, one with the memory of an illustrious man, who is now +beyond the reach of envy, the other with the name of another +illustrious man, who is still, and, I hope, long will be, a +living mark for distinction. I speak of the great commercial +reform of 1846, the work of Sir Robert Peel, and of the great +parliamentary reform of 1832, the work of many eminent statesmen, +among whom none was more conspicuous than Lord John Russell. I +particularly call your attention to those two great reforms, +because it will, in my opinion, be the especial duty of that +House of Commons in which, by your distinguished favour, I have a +seat, to defend the commercial reform of Sir Robert Peel, and to +perfect and extend the parliamentary reform of Lord John Russell. + +With respect to the commercial reform, though I say it will be a +sacred duty to defend it, I do not apprehend that we shall find +the task very difficult. Indeed, I doubt whether we have any +reason to apprehend a direct attack upon the system now +established. From the expressions used during the last session, +and during the late elections, by the Ministers and their +adherents, I should, I confess, find it utterly impossible to +draw any inference whatever. They have contradicted each other; +and they have contradicted themselves. Nothing would be easier +than to select from their speeches passages which would prove +them to be Freetraders, and passages which would prove them to be +protectionists. But, in truth, the only inference which can +properly be drawn from a speech of one of these gentlemen in +favour of Free Trade is, that, when he spoke, he was standing for +a town; and the only inference which can be drawn from the speech +of another in favour of Protection is, that, when he spoke, he +was standing for a county. I quitted London in the heat of the +elections. I left behind me a Tory candidate for Westminster and +a Tory candidate for Middlesex, loudly proclaiming themselves +Derbyites and Freetraders. All along my journey through +Berkshire and Wiltshire I heard nothing but the cry of Derby and +Protection; but when I got to Bristol, the cry was Derby and Free +Trade again. On one side of the Wash, Lord Stanley, the Under- +Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, a young nobleman +of great promise, a young nobleman who appears to me to inherit a +large portion of his father's ability and energy, held language +which was universally understood to indicate that the Government +had altogether abandoned all thought of Protection. Lord Stanley +was addressing the inhabitants of a town. Meanwhile, on the +other side of the Wash, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster +was haranguing the farmers of Lincolnshire; and, when somebody +took it upon him to ask, "What will you do, Mr Christopher, if +Lord Derby abandons Protection?" the Chancellor of the Duchy +refused to answer a question so monstrous, so insulting to Lord +Derby. "I will stand by Lord Derby," he said, "because I know +that Lord Derby will stand by Protection." Well, these opposite +declarations of two eminent persons, both likely to know the mind +of Lord Derby on the subject, go forth, and are taken up by less +distinguished adherents of the party. The Tory candidate for +Leicestershire says, "I put faith in Mr Christopher: while you +see Mr Christopher in the Government, you may be assured that +agriculture will be protected." But, in East Surrey, which is +really a suburb of London, I find the Tory candidate saying, +"Never mind Mr Christopher. I trust to Lord Stanley. What +should Mr Christopher know on the subject? He is not in the +Cabinet: he can tell you nothing about it. Nay, these tactics +were carried so far that Tories who had formerly been for Free +Trade, turned Protectionists if they stood for counties; and +Tories, who had always been furious Protectionists, declared for +Free Trade, without scruple or shame, if they stood for large +towns. Take for example Lord Maidstone. He was once one of the +most vehement Protectionists in England, and put forth a small +volume, which, as I am an elector of Westminster, and as he was a +candidate for Westminster, I thought it my duty to buy, in order +to understand his opinions. It is entitled Free Trade +Hexameters. Of the poetical merits of Lord Maidstone's +hexameters I shall not presume to give an opinion. You may all +form an opinion for yourselves by ordering copies. They may +easily be procured: for I was assured, when I bought mine in +Bond Street, that the supply on hand was still considerable. But +of the political merits of Lord Maidstone's hexameters I can +speak with confidence; and it is impossible to conceive a fiercer +attack, according to the measure of the power of the assailant, +than that which his lordship made on Sir Robert Peel's policy. +On the other hand, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, who is now Solicitor +General, and who was Solicitor General under Sir Robert Peel, +voted steadily with Sir Robert Peel, doubtless from a regard to +the public interest, which would have suffered greatly by the +retirement of so able a lawyer from the service of the Crown. +Sir Fitzroy did not think it necessary to lay down his office +even when Sir Robert Peel brought in the bill which established a +free trade in corn. But unfortunately, Lord Maidstone becomes a +candidate for the City of Westminster, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly +stands for an agricultural county. Instantly, therefore, Lord +Maidstone forgets his verses, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly forgets his +votes. Lord Maidstone declares himself a convert to the opinions +of Sir Robert Peel; and Sir Robert Peel's own Solicitor General +lifts up his head intrepidly, and makes a speech, apparently +composed out of Lord Maidstone's hexameters. + +It is therefore, Gentlemen, utterly impossible for me to pretend +to infer, from the language held by the members of the +Government, and their adherents, what course they will take on +the subject of Protection. Nevertheless, I confidently say that +the system established by Sir Robert Peel is perfectly safe. The +law which repealed the Corn Laws stands now on a much firmer +foundation than when it was first passed. We are stronger than +ever in reason; and we are stronger than ever in numbers. We are +stronger than ever in reason, because what was only prophecy is +now history. No person can now question the salutary effect +which the repeal of the Corn Laws has had on our trade and +industry. We are stronger than ever in numbers. You, I am sure, +recollect the time when a formidable opposition to the repeal of +the Corn Laws was made by a class which was most deeply +interested in that repeal; I mean the labouring classes. You +recollect that, in many large towns, ten years ago, the friends +of Free Trade could not venture to call meetings for the purpose +of petitioning against the Corn Laws, for fear of being +interrupted by a crowd of working people, who had been taught by +a certain class of demagogues to say that the question was one in +which working people had no interest, that it was purely a +capitalist's question, that, if the poor man got a large loaf +instead of a small one, he would get from the capitalist only a +sixpence instead of a shilling. I never had the slightest faith +in those doctrines. Experience even then seemed to me completely +to confute them. I compared place with place; and I found that, +though bread was dearer in England than in Ohio, wages were +higher in Ohio than in England. I compared time with time; and I +saw that those times when bread was cheapest in England, within +my own memory, were also the times in which the condition of the +labouring classes was the happiest. But now the experiment has +been tried in a manner which admits of no dispute. I should be +glad to know, if there were now an attempt made to impose a tax +on corn, what demagogue would be able to bring a crowd of working +men to hold up their hands in favour of such a tax. Thus strong, +Gentlemen, in reason, and thus strong in numbers, we need, I +believe, apprehend no direct attack on the principles of Free +Trade. It will, however, be one of the first duties of your +representatives to be vigilant that no indirect attack shall be +made on these principles; and to take care that in our financial +arrangements no undue favour shall be shown to any class. + +With regard to the other question which I have mentioned, the +question of Parliamentary Reform, I think that the time is at +hand when that question will require the gravest consideration, +when it will be necessary to reconsider the Reform Act of 1832, +and to amend it temperately and cautiously, but in a large and +liberal spirit. I confess that, in my opinion, this revision +cannot be made with advantage, except by the Ministers of the +Crown. I greatly doubt whether it will be found possible to +carry through any plan of improvement if we have not the +Government heartily with us; and I must say that from the present +Administration I can, as to that matter, expect nothing good. +What precisely I am to expect from them I do not know, whether +the most obstinate opposition to every change, or the most +insanely violent change. If I look to their conduct, I find the +gravest reasons for apprehending that they may at one time resist +the most just demands, and at another time, from the merest +caprice, propose the wildest innovations. And I will tell you +why I entertain this opinion. I am sorry that, in doing so, I +must mention the name of a gentleman for whom, personally, I have +the highest respect; I mean Mr Walpole, the Secretary of State +for the Home Department. My own acquaintance with him is slight; +but I know him well by character; and I believe him to be an +honourable, an excellent, an able man. No man is more esteemed +in private life: but of his public conduct I must claim the +right to speak with freedom; and I do so with the less scruple +because he has himself set me an example of that freedom, and +because I am really now standing on the defensive. Mr Walpole +lately made a speech to the electors of Midhurst; and in that +speech he spoke personally of Lord John Russell as one honourable +man should speak of another, and as, I am sure, I wish always to +speak of Mr Walpole. But in Lord John's public conduct Mr +Walpole found many faults. Chief among those faults was this, +that his lordship had re-opened the question of reform. Mr +Walpole declared himself to be opposed on principle to organic +change. He justly said that if, unfortunately, organic change +should be necessary, whatever was done ought to be done with much +deliberation and with caution almost timorous; and he charged +Lord John with having neglected these plain rules of prudence. I +was perfectly thunderstruck when I read the speech: for I could +not but recollect that the most violent and democratic change +that ever was proposed within the memory of the oldest man had +been proposed but a few weeks before by this same Mr Walpole, as +the organ of the present Government. Do you remember the history +of the Militia Bill? In general, when a great change in our +institutions is to be proposed from the Treasury Bench, the +Minister announces his intention some weeks before. There is a +great attendance: there is the most painful anxiety to know what +he is going to recommend. I well remember,--for I was present,-- +with what breathless suspense six hundred persons waited, on the +first of March, 1831, to hear Lord John Russell explain the +principles of his Reform Bill. But what was his Reform Bill to +the Reform Bill of the Derby Administration? At the end of a +night, in the coolest way possible, without the smallest notice, +Mr Walpole proposed to add to the tail of the Militia Bill a +clause to the effect, that every man who had served in the +militia for two years should have a vote for the county. What is +the number of those voters who were to be entitled to vote in +this way for counties? The militia of England is to consist of +eighty thousand men; and the term of service is to be five years. +In ten years the number will be one hundred and sixty thousand; +in twenty years, three hundred and twenty thousand; and in +twenty-five years, four hundred thousand. Some of these new +electors will, of course, die off in twenty-five years, though +the lives are picked lives, remarkably good lives. What the +mortality is likely to be I do not accurately know; but any +actuary will easily calculate it for you. I should say, in round +numbers, that you will have, when the system has been in +operation for a generation, an addition of about three hundred +thousand to the county constituent bodies; that is to say, six +thousand voters on the average will be added to every county in +England and Wales. That is surely an immense addition. And what +is the qualification? Why, the first qualification is youth. +These electors are not to be above a certain age; but the nearer +you can get them to eighteen the better. The second +qualification is poverty. The elector is to be a person to whom +a shilling a-day is an object. The third qualification is +ignorance; for I venture to say that, if you take the trouble to +observe the appearance of those young fellows who follow the +recruiting sergeant in the streets, you will at once say that, +among our labouring classes, they are not the most educated, they +are not the most intelligent. That they are brave, stout lads, I +fully believe. Lord Hardinge tells me that he never saw a finer +set of young men; and I have not the slightest doubt that, if +necessary, after a few weeks' training, they will be found +standing up for our firesides against the best disciplined +soldiers that the Continent can produce. But these are not the +qualifications which fit men to choose legislators. A young man +who goes from the ploughtail into the army is generally rather +thoughtless and disposed to idleness. Oh! but there is another +qualification which I had forgotten: the voter must be five feet +two. There is a qualification for you! Only think of measuring +a man for the franchise! And this is the work of a Conservative +Government, this plan which would swamp all the counties in +England with electors who possess the Derby-Walpole +qualifications; that is to say, youth, poverty, ignorance, a +roving disposition, and five feet two. Why, what right have +people who have proposed such a change as this to talk about--I +do not say Lord John Russell's imprudence--but the imprudence of +Ernest Jones or of any other Chartist? The Chartists, to do them +justice, would give the franchise to wealth as well as to +poverty, to knowledge as well as to ignorance, to mature age as +well as to youth. But to make a qualification compounded of +disqualifications is a feat of which the whole glory belongs to +our Conservative rulers. This astounding proposition was made, I +believe, in a very thin House: but the next day the House was +full enough, everybody having come down to know what was going to +happen. One asked, why not this? and another, why not that? Are +all the regular troops to have the franchise? all the policemen? +all the sailors? for, if you give the franchise to ploughboys of +twenty-one, what class of honest Englishmen and Scotchmen can you +with decency exclude? But up gets the Home Secretary, and +informs the House that the plan had not been sufficiently +considered, that some of his colleagues were not satisfied, and +that he would not press his proposition. Now, if it had happened +to me to propose such a reform at one sitting of the House, and +at the next sitting to withdraw it, because it had not been well +considered, I do think that, to the end of my life, I never +should have talked about the exceeding imprudence of reopening +the question of reform; I should never have ventured to read any +other man a lecture about the caution with which all plans of +organic change ought to be framed. I repeat that, if I am to +judge from the language of the present Ministers, taken in +connection with this solitary instance of their legislative skill +in the way of reform, I am utterly at a loss what to expect. On +the whole, what I do expect is that they will offer a +pertinacious, vehement, provoking opposition to safe and +reasonable change, and that then, in some moment of fear or +caprice, they will bring in, and fling on the table, in a fit of +desperation or levity, some plan which will loosen the very +foundations of society. + +For my own part, I think that the question of Parliamentary +Reform is one which must soon be taken up; but it ought to be +taken up by the Government; and I hope, before long, to see in +office a Ministry which will take it up in earnest. I dare say +that you will not suspect me of saying so from any interested +feeling. In no case whatever shall I again be a member of any +Ministry. During what may remain of my public life, I shall be +the servant of none but you. I have nothing to ask of any +government, except that protection which every government owes to +a faithful and loyal subject of the Queen. But I do hope to see +in office before long a Ministry which will treat this great +question as it should be treated. It will be the duty of that +Ministry to revise the distribution of power. It will be the +duty of that Ministry to consider whether small constituent +bodies, notoriously corrupt, and proved to be corrupt, such, for +example, as Harwich, ought to retain the power of sending members +to Parliament. It will be the duty of such a Ministry to +consider whether small constituent bodies, even less notoriously +corrupt, ought to have, in the counsels of the empire, a share as +great as that of the West Riding of York, and twice as great as +that of the county of Perth. It will be the duty of such a +Ministry to consider whether it may not be possible, without the +smallest danger to peace, law, and order, to extend the elective +franchise to classes of the community which do not now possess +it. As to universal suffrage, on that subject you already know +my opinions; and I now come before you with those opinions +strengthened by everything which, since I last professed them, +has passed in Europe. We now know, by the clearest of all +proofs, that universal suffrage, even united with secret voting, +is no security against the establishment of arbitrary power. +But, Gentlemen, I do look forward, and at no very remote period, +to an extension of the franchise, such as I once thought unsafe. +I believe that such an extension will, by the course of events, +be brought about in the very best and happiest way. Perhaps I +may be sanguine: but I think that good times are coming for the +labouring classes of this country. I do not entertain that hope +because I expect that Fourierism, or Saint Simonianism, or +Socialism, or any of those other "isms" for which the plain +English word is "robbery," will prevail. I know that such +schemes only aggravate the misery which they pretend to relieve. +I know that it is possible, by legislation, to make the rich +poor, but that it is utterly impossible to make the poor rich. +But I believe that the progress of experimental science, the free +intercourse of nation with nation, the unrestricted influx of +commodities from countries where they are cheap, and the +unrestricted efflux of labour towards countries where it is dear, +will soon produce, nay, I believe that they are beginning to +produce, a great and most blessed social revolution. I need not +tell you, Gentlemen, that in those colonies which have been +planted by our race,--and, when I speak of our colonies I speak +as well of those which have separated from us as of those which +still remain united to us,--I need not tell you that in our +colonies the condition of the labouring man has long been far +more prosperous than in any part of the Old World. And why is +this? Some people tell you that the inhabitants of Pennsylvania +and New England are better off than the inhabitants of the Old +World, because the United States have a republican form of +government. But we know that the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and +New England were more prosperous than the inhabitants of the Old +World when Pennsylvania and New England were as loyal as any part +of the dominions of George the First, George the Second, and +George the Third; and we know that in Van Diemen's Land, in New +Zealand, in Australasia, in New Brunswick, in Canada, the +subjects of Her Majesty are as prosperous as they could be under +the government of a President. The real cause is that, in these +new countries, where there is a boundless extent of fertile land, +nothing is easier than for the labourer to pass from the place +which is overstocked with labour to the place which is +understocked; and that thus both he who moves and he who stays +always have enough. This it is which keeps up the prosperity of +the Atlantic States of the Union. They pour their population +back to the Ohio, across the Ohio to the Mississippi, and beyond +the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. Everywhere the desert is +receding before the advancing flood of human life and +civilisation; and, in the meantime, those who are left behind +enjoy abundance, and never endure such privations as in old +countries too often befall the labouring classes. And why has +not the condition of our labourers been equally fortunate? +Simply, as I believe, on account of the great distance which +separates our country from the new and unoccupied part of the +world, and on account of the expense of traversing that distance. +Science, however, has abridged, and is abridging, that distance: +science has diminished, and is diminishing, that expense. +Already New Zealand is, for all practical purposes, nearer to us +than New England was to the Puritans who fled thither from the +tyranny of Laud. Already the ports of North America, Halifax, +Boston, and New York, are nearer to us than, within the memory of +persons now living, the Island of Skye and the county of Donegal +were to London. Already emigration is beginning to produce the +same effect here which it has produced on the Atlantic States of +the Union. And do not imagine that our countryman who goes +abroad is altogether lost to us. Even if he goes from under the +dominion of the British Queen and the protection of the British +flag he will still, under the benignant system of free trade, +continue to be bound to us by close ties. If he ceases to be a +neighbour, he is still a benefactor and a customer. Go where he +may, if you will but maintain that system inviolate, it is for us +that he is turning the forests into cornfields on the banks of +the Mississippi; it is for us that he is tending his sheep and +preparing his fleeces in the heart of Australasia; and in the +meantime it is from us that he receives those commodities which +are produced with most advantage in old societies, where great +masses of capital have been accumulated. His candlesticks and +his pots and his pans come from Birmingham; his knives from +Sheffield; the light cotton jacket which he wears in summer from +Manchester; the good cloth coat which he wears in winter from +Leeds; and in return he sends us back, from what was lately a +wilderness, the good flour out of which is made the large loaf +which the British labourer divides among his children. I believe +that it is in these changes that we shall see the best solution +of the question of the franchise. We shall make our institutions +more democratic than they are, not by lowering the franchise to +the level of the great mass of the community, but by raising, in +a time which will be very short when compared with the existence +of a nation, the great mass up to the level of the franchise. + +I feel that I must stop. I had meant to advert to some other +subjects. I had meant to say something about the ballot, to +which, as you know, I have always been favourable; something +about triennial parliaments, to which, as you know, I have always +been honestly opposed; something about your university tests; +something about the cry for religious equality which has lately +been raised in Ireland; but I feel that I cannot well proceed. I +have only strength to thank you again, from the very bottom of my +heart, for the great honour which you have done me in choosing +me, without solicitation, to represent you in Parliament. I am +proud of our connection; and I shall try to act in such a manner +that you may not be ashamed of it. + +... + + +EXCLUSION OF JUDGES FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. (JUNE 1, 1853) + +A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 1ST OF JUNE +1853. + +On the first of June 1853, Lord Hotham, Member for Kent, moved +the third reading of a bill of which the chief object was to make +the Master of the Rolls incapable of sitting in the House of +Commons. Mr Henry Drummond, Member for Surrey, moved that the +bill should be read a third time that day six months. In support +of Mr Drummond's amendment the following Speech was made. + +The amendment was carried by 224 votes to 123. + +I cannot, Sir, suffer the House to proceed to a division without +expressing the very strong opinion which I have formed on this +subject. I shall give my vote, with all my heart and soul, for +the amendment moved by my honourable friend the Member for +Surrey. I never gave a vote in my life with a more entire +confidence that I was in the right; and I cannot but think it +discreditable to us that a bill for which there is so little to +be said, and against which there is so much to be said, should +have been permitted to pass through so many stages without a +division. + +On what grounds, Sir, does the noble lord, the Member for Kent, +ask us to make this change in the law? The only ground, surely, +on which a Conservative legislator ought ever to propose a change +in the law is this, that the law, as it stands, has produced some +evil. Is it then pretended that the law, as it stands, has +produced any evil? The noble lord himself tells you that it has +produced no evil whatever. Nor can it be said that the +experiment has not been fairly tried. This House and the office +of Master of the Rolls began to exist, probably in the same +generation, certainly in the same century. During six hundred +years this House has been open to Masters of the Rolls. Many +Masters of the Rolls have sate here, and have taken part, with +great ability and authority, in our deliberations. To go no +further back than the accession of the House of Hanover, Jekyll +was a member of this House, and Strange, and Kenyon, and Pepper +Arden, and Sir William Grant, and Sir John Copley, and Sir +Charles Pepys, and finally Sir John Romilly. It is not even +pretended that any one of these eminent persons was ever, on any +single occasion, found to be the worse member of this House for +being Master of the Rolls, or the worse Master of the Rolls for +being a member of this House. And if so, is it, I ask, the part +of a wise statesman, is it, I ask still more emphatically, the +part of a Conservative statesman, to alter a system which has +lasted six centuries, and which has never once, during all those +centuries, produced any but good effects, merely because it is +not in harmony with an abstract principle? + +And what is the abstract principle for the sake of which we are +asked to innovate in reckless defiance of all the teaching of +experience? It is this; that political functions ought to be +kept distinct from judicial functions. So sacred, it seems, is +this principle, that the union of the political and judicial +characters ought not to be suffered to continue even in a case in +which that union has lasted through many ages without producing +the smallest practical inconvenience. "Nothing is so hateful," I +quote the words of the noble lord who brought in this bill, +"nothing is so hateful as a political judge." + +Now, Sir, if I assent to the principle laid down by the noble +lord, I must pronounce his bill the most imbecile, the most +pitiful, attempt at reform that ever was made. The noble lord is +a homoeopathist in state medicine. His remedies are administered +in infinitesimal doses. If he will, for a moment, consider how +our tribunals are constituted, and how our parliament is +constituted, he will perceive that the judicial and political +character are, through all grades, everywhere combined, +everywhere interwoven, and that therefore the evil which he +proposes to remove vanishes, as the mathematicians say, when +compared with the immense mass of evil which he leaves behind. + +It has been asked, and very sensibly asked, why, if you exclude +the Master of the Rolls from the House, you should not also +exclude the Recorder of the City of London. I should be very +sorry to see the Recorder of the City of London excluded. But I +must say that the reasons for excluding him are ten times as +strong as the reasons for excluding the Master of the Rolls. For +it is well-known that political cases of the highest importance +have been tried by Recorders of the City of London. But why not +exclude all Recorders, and all Chairmen of Quarter Sessions? I +venture to say that there are far stronger reasons for excluding +a Chairman of Quarter Sessions than for excluding a Master of the +Rolls. I long ago attended, during two or three years, the +Quarter Sessions of a great county. There I constantly saw in +the chair an eminent member of this House. An excellent criminal +judge he was. Had he been a veteran lawyer, he could hardly have +tried causes more satisfactorily or more expeditiously. But he +was a keen politician: he had made a motion which had turned out +a Government; and when he died he was a Cabinet Minister. Yet +this gentleman, the head of the Blue interest, as it was called, +in his county, might have had to try men of the Orange party for +rioting at a contested election. He voted for the corn laws; and +he might have had to try men for breaches of the peace which had +originated in the discontent caused by the corn laws. He was, as +I well remember, hooted, and, I rather think, pelted too, by the +mob of London for his conduct towards Queen Caroline; and, when +he went down to his county, he might have had to sit in judgment +on people for breaking windows which had not been illuminated in +honour of Her Majesty's victory. This is not a solitary +instance. There are, I dare say, in this House, fifty Chairmen +of Quarter Sessions. And this is an union of judicial and +political functions against which there is really much to be +said. For it is important, not only that the administration of +justice should be pure, but that it should be unsuspected. Now I +am willing to believe that the administration of justice by the +unpaid magistrates in political cases is pure: but unsuspected +it certainly is not. It is notorious that, in times of political +excitement, the cry of the whole democratic press always is that +a poor man, who has been driven by distress to outrage, has far +harder measure at the Quarter Sessions than at the Assizes. So +loud was this cry in 1819 that Mr Canning, in one of his most +eloquent speeches, pronounced it the most alarming of all the +signs of the times. See then how extravagantly, how ludicrously +inconsistent your legislation is. You lay down the principle +that the union of political functions and judicial functions is a +hateful abuse. That abuse you determine to remove. You +accordingly leave in this House a crowd of judges who, in +troubled times, have to try persons charged with political +offences; of judges who have often been accused, truly or +falsely, of carrying to the judgment seat their political +sympathies and antipathies; and you shut out of the house a +single judge, whose duties are of such a nature that it has never +once, since the time of Edward the First, been even suspected +that he or any of his predecessors has, in the administration of +justice, favoured a political ally, or wronged a political +opponent. + +But even if I were to admit, what I altogether deny, that there +is something in the functions of the Master of the Rolls which +makes it peculiarly desirable that he should not take any part in +politics, I should still vote against this bill, as most +inconsistent and inefficient. If you think that he ought to be +excluded from political assemblies, why do not you exclude him? +You do no such thing. You exclude him from the House of Commons, +but you leave the House of Lords open to him. Is not the House +of Lords a political assembly? And is it not certain that, +during several generations, judges have generally had a great +ascendency in the House of Lords? A hundred years ago a great +judge, Lord Hardwicke, possessed an immense influence there. He +bequeathed his power to another great judge, Lord Mansfield. +When age had impaired the vigour of Lord Mansfield, the authority +which he had, during many years, enjoyed, passed to a third +judge, Lord Thurlow. Everybody knows what a dominion that +eminent judge, Lord Eldon, exercised over the peers, what a share +he took in making and unmaking ministries, with what idolatrous +veneration he was regarded by one great party in the State, with +what dread and aversion he was regarded by the other. When the +long reign of Lord Eldon had terminated, other judges, Whig and +Tory, appeared at the head of contending factions. Some of us +can well remember the first ten days of October, 1831. Who, +indeed, that lived through those days can ever forget them? It +was the most exciting, the most alarming political conjuncture of +my time. On the morning of the eighth of October, the Reform +Bill, after a discussion which had lasted through many nights, +was rejected by the Lords. God forbid that I should again see +such a crisis! I can never hope again to hear such a debate. It +was indeed a splendid display of various talents and +acquirements. There are, I dare say, some here who, like myself, +watched through the last night of that conflict till the late +autumnal dawn, sometimes walking up and down the long gallery, +sometimes squeezing ourselves in behind the throne, or below the +bar, to catch the eloquence of the great orators who, on that +great occasion, surpassed themselves. There I saw, in the +foremost ranks, confronting each other, two judges, on one side +Lord Brougham, Chancellor of the realm, on the other Lord +Lyndhurst, Chief Baron of the Exchequer. How eagerly we hung on +their words! How eagerly those words were read before noon by +hundreds of thousands in the capital, and within forty-eight +hours, by millions in every part of the kingdom! With what a +burst of popular fury the decision of the House was received by +the nation! The ruins of Nottingham Castle, the ruins of whole +streets and squares at Bristol, proved but too well to what a +point the public feeling had been wound up. If it be true that +nothing is so hateful to the noble lord, the Member for Kent, as +a judge who takes part in political contentions, why does he not +bring in a bill to prevent judges from entering those lists in +which Lord Brougham and Lord Lyndhurst then encountered each +other? But no: the noble lord is perfectly willing to leave +those lists open to the Master of the Rolls. The noble lord's +objection is not to the union of the judicial character and the +political character. He is quite willing that anywhere but here +judges should be politicians. The Master of the Rolls may be the +soul of a great party, the head of a great party, the favourite +tribune of a stormy democracy, the chief spokesman of a haughty +aristocracy. He may do all that declamation and sophistry can do +to inflame the passions or mislead the judgment of a senate. But +it must not be in this room. He must go a hundred and fifty +yards hence. He must sit on a red bench, and not on a green one. +He must say, "My Lords," and not "Mr Speaker." He must say, +"Content," and not "Aye." And then he may, without at all +shocking the noble lord, be the most stirring politician in the +kingdom. + +But I am understating my case. I am greatly understating it. +For, Sir, this union of the judicial character and the political +character, in Members of the other House of Parliament, is not a +merely accidental union. Not only may judges be made peers; but +all the peers are necessarily judges. Surely when the noble lord +told us that the union of political functions and of judicial +functions was the most hateful of all things, he must have +forgotten that, by the fundamental laws of the realm, a political +assembly is the supreme court of appeal, the court which finally +confirms or annuls the judgments of the courts, both of common +law and of equity, at Westminster, of the courts of Scotland, of +the courts of Ireland, of this very Master of the Rolls about +whom we are debating. Surely, if the noble lord's principle be a +sound one, it is not with the Master of the Rolls but with the +House of Peers that we ought to begin. For, beyond all dispute, +it is more important that the court above should be constituted +on sound principles than that the court below should be so +constituted. If the Master of the Rolls goes wrong, the House of +Peers may correct his errors. But who is to correct the errors +of the House of Peers? All these considerations the noble lord +overlooks. He is quite willing that the peers shall sit in the +morning as judges, shall determine questions affecting the +property, the liberty, the character of the Queen's subjects, +shall determine those questions in the last resort, shall +overrule the decisions of all the other tribunals in the country; +and that then, in the afternoon, these same noble persons shall +meet as politicians, and shall debate, sometimes rather sharply, +sometimes in a style which we dare not imitate for fear that you, +Sir, should call us to order, about the Canadian Clergy Reserves, +the Irish National Schools, the Disabilities of the Jews, the +Government of India. I do not blame the noble lord for not +attempting to alter this state of things. We cannot alter it, I +know, without taking up the foundations of our constitution. But +is it not absurd, while we live under such a constitution, while, +throughout our whole system from top to bottom, political +functions and judicial functions are combined, to single out, not +on any special ground, but merely at random, one judge from a +crowd of judges, and to exclude him, not from all political +assemblies, but merely from one political assembly? Was there +ever such a mummery as the carrying of this bill to the other +House will be, if, unfortunately, it should be carried thither. +The noble lord, himself, I have no doubt, a magistrate, himself +at once a judge and a politician, accompanied by several +gentlemen who are at once judges and politicians, will go to the +bar of the Lords, who are all at once judges and politicians, +will deliver the bill into the hands of the Chancellor, who is at +once the chief judge of the realm and a Cabinet Minister, and +will return hither proud of having purified the administration of +justice from the taint of politics. + +No, Sir, no; for the purpose of purifying the administration of +justice this bill is utterly impotent. It will be effectual for +one purpose, and for one purpose only, for the purpose of +weakening and degrading the House of Commons. This is not the +first time that an attempt has been made, under specious +pretexts, to lower the character and impair the efficiency of the +assembly which represents the great body of the nation. More +than a hundred and fifty years ago there was a general cry that +the number of placemen in Parliament was too great. No doubt, +Sir, the number was too great: the evil required a remedy: but +some rash and short-sighted though probably well meaning men, +proposed a remedy which would have produced far more evil than it +would have removed. They inserted in the Act of Settlement a +clause providing that no person who held any office under the +Crown should sit in this House. The clause was not to take +effect till the House of Hanover should come to the throne; and, +happily for the country, before the House of Hanover came to the +throne, the clause was repealed. Had it not been repealed, the +Act of Settlement would have been, not a blessing, but a curse to +the country. There was no want, indeed, of plausible and popular +commonplaces in favour of this clause. No man, it was said, can +serve two masters. A courtier cannot be a good guardian of +public liberty. A man who derives his subsistence from the taxes +cannot be trusted to check the public expenditure. You will +never have purity, you will never have economy, till the stewards +of the nation are independent of the Crown, and dependent only on +their constituents. Yes; all this sounded well: but what man of +sense now doubts that the effect of a law excluding all official +men from this House would have been to depress that branch of the +legislature which springs from the people, and to increase the +power and consideration of the hereditary aristocracy? The whole +administration would have been in the hands of peers. The chief +object of every eminent Commoner would have been to obtain a +peerage. As soon as any man had gained such distinction here by +his eloquence and knowledge that he was selected to fill the post +of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary of State, or First Lord +of the Admiralty, he would instantly have turned his back on what +would then indeed have been emphatically the Lower House, and +would have gone to that chamber in which alone it would have been +possible for him fully to display his abilities and fully to +gratify his ambition. Walpole and Pulteney, the first Pitt and +the second Pitt, Fox, Windham, Canning, Peel, all the men whose +memory is inseparably associated with this House, all the men of +whose names we think with pride as we pass through St Stephen's +Hall, the place of their contentions and their triumphs, would, +in the vigour and prime of life, have become Barons and +Viscounts. The great conflict of parties would have been +transferred from the Commons to the Lords. It would have been +impossible for an assembly, in which not a single statesman of +great fame, authority, and experience in important affairs would +have been found, to hold its own against an assembly in which all +our eminent politicians and orators would have been collected. +All England, all Europe, would have been reading with breathless +interest the debates of the peers, and looking with anxiety for +the divisions of the peers, while we, instead of discussing high +questions of state, and giving a general direction to the whole +domestic and foreign policy of the realm, should have been +settling the details of canal bills and turnpike bills. + +The noble lord, the Member for Kent does not, it is true, propose +so extensive and important a change as that which the authors of +the Act of Settlement wished to make. But the tendency of this +bill is, beyond all doubt, to make this House less capable than +it once was, and less capable than the other House now is, of +discharging some of the most important duties of a legislative +assembly. + +Of the duties of a legislative assembly, the noble lord, and some +of those gentlemen who support his bill, seem to me to have +formed a very imperfect notion. They argue as if the only +business of the House of Commons was to turn one set of men out +of place, and to bring another set into place; as if a judge +could find no employment here but factious wrangling. Sir, it is +not so. There are extensive and peaceful provinces of +parliamentary business far removed from the fields of battle +where hostile parties encounter each other. A great jurist, +seated among us, might, without taking any prominent part in the +strife between the Ministry and the Opposition, render to his +country most valuable service, and earn for himself an +imperishable name. Nor was there ever a time when the assistance +of such a jurist was more needed, or was more likely to be justly +appreciated, than at present. No observant man can fail to +perceive that there is in the public mind a general, a growing, +an earnest, and at the same time, I must say, a most sober and +reasonable desire for extensive law reform. I hope and believe +that, for some time to come, no year will pass without progress +in law reform; and I hold that of all law reformers the best is a +learned, upright, and large-minded judge. At such a time it is +that we are called upon to shut the door of this House against +the last great judicial functionary to whom the unwise +legislation of former parliaments has left it open. In the +meantime the other House is open to him. It is open to all the +other judges who are not suffered to sit here. It is open to the +Judge of the Admiralty Court, whom the noble lord, twelve or +thirteen years ago, prevailed on us, in an unlucky hour, to +exclude. In the other House is the Lord Chancellor, and several +retired Chancellors, a Lord Chief Justice, in several retired +Chief Justices. The Queen may place there to-morrow the Chief +Baron, the two Lords Justices, the three Vice Chancellors, the +very Master of the Rolls about whom we are debating: and we, as +if we were not already too weak for the discharge of our +functions, are trying to weaken ourselves still more. I harbour +no unfriendly feeling towards the Lords. I anticipate no +conflict with them. But it is not fit that we should be unable +to bear an equal part with them in the great work of improving +and digesting the law. It is not fit that we should be under the +necessity of placing implicit confidence in their superior +wisdom, and of registering without amendment, any bill which they +may send us. To that humiliating situation we are, I grieve to +say, fast approaching. I was much struck by a circumstance which +occurred a few days ago. I heard the honourable Member for +Montrose, who, by the by, is one of the supporters of this bill, +urge the House to pass the Combination Bill, for a most +extraordinary reason. "We really," he said, "cannot tell how the +law about combinations of workmen at present stands; and, not +knowing how the law at present stands, we are quite incompetent +to decide whether it ought to be altered. Let us send the bill +up to the Lords. They understand these things. We do not. +There are Chancellors, and ex-Chancellors, and Judges among them. +No doubt they will do what is proper; and I shall acquiesce in +their decision." Why, Sir, did ever any legislative assembly +abdicate its functions in so humiliating a manner? Is it not +strange that a gentleman, distinguished by his love of popular +institutions, and by the jealousy with which he regards the +aristocracy, should gravely propose that, on a subject which +interests and excites hundreds of thousands of our constituents, +we should declare ourselves incompetent to form an opinion, and +beg the Lords to tell us what we ought to do? And is it not +stranger still that, while he admits the incompetence of the +House to discharge some of its most important functions, and +while he attributes that incompetence to the want of judicial +assistance, he should yet wish to shut out of the House the only +high judicial functionary who is now permitted to come into it? + +But, says the honourable Member for Montrose, the Master of the +Rolls has duties to perform which, if properly performed, will +leave him no leisure for attendance in this House: it is +important that there should be a division of labour: no man can +do two things well; and, if we suffer a judge to be a member of +Parliament, we shall have both a bad member of Parliament and a +bad judge. + +Now, Sir, if this argument proves anything, it proves that the +Master of the Rolls, and indeed all the other judges, ought to be +excluded from the House of Lords as well as from the House of +Commons. But I deny that the argument is of any weight. The +division of labour has its disadvantages as well as its +advantages. In operations merely mechanical you can hardly carry +the subdivision too far; but you may very easily carry it too far +in operations which require the exercise of high intellectual +powers. It is quite true, as Adam Smith tells us, that a pin +will be best made when one man does nothing but cut the wire, +when another does nothing but mould the head, when a third does +nothing but sharpen the point. But it is not true that Michael +Angelo would have been a greater painter if he had not been a +sculptor: it is not true that Newton would have been a greater +experimental philosopher if he had not been a geometrician; and +it is not true that a man will be a worse lawgiver because he is +a great judge. I believe that there is as close a connection +between the functions of the judge and the functions of the +lawgiver as between anatomy and surgery. Would it not be the +height of absurdity to lay down the rule that nobody who +dissected the dead should be allowed to operate on the living? +The effect of such a division of labour would be that you would +have nothing but bungling surgery; and the effect of the division +of labour which the honourable Member for Montrose recommends +will be that we shall have plenty of bungling legislation. Who +can be so well qualified to make laws and to mend laws as a man +whose business is to interpret laws and to administer laws? As +to this point I have great pleasure in citing an authority to +which the honourable Member for Montrose will, I know, be +disposed to pay the greatest deference; the authority of Mr +Bentham. Of Mr Bentham's moral and political speculations, I +entertain, I must own, a very mean opinion: but I hold him in +high esteem as a jurist. Among all his writings there is none +which I value more than the treatise on Judicial Organization. +In that excellent work he discusses the question whether a person +who holds a judicial office ought to be permitted to hold with it +any other office. Mr Bentham argues strongly and convincingly +against pluralities; but he admits that there is one exception to +the general rule. A judge, he says, ought to be allowed to sit +in the legislature as a representative of the people; for the +best school for a legislator is the judicial bench; and the +supply of legislative skill is in all societies so scanty that +none of it can be spared. + +My honourable friend, the Member for Surrey, has completely +refuted another argument to which the noble lord, the Member for +Kent, appears to attach considerable importance. The noble lord +conceives that no person can enter this House without stooping to +practice arts which would ill become the gravity of the judicial +character. He spoke particularly of what he called the +jollifications usual at elections. Undoubtedly the festivities +at elections are sometimes disgraced by intemperance, and +sometimes by buffoonery; and I wish from the bottom of my heart +that intemperance and buffoonery were the worst means to which +men, reputed upright and honourable in private life, have +resorted in order to obtain seats in the legislature. I should, +indeed, be sorry if any Master of the Rolls should court the +favour of the populace by playing the mounttebank on the hustings +or on tavern tables. Still more sorry should I be if any Master +of the Rolls were to disgrace himself and his office by employing +the ministry of the Frails and the Flewkers, by sending vile +emissaries with false names, false addresses, and bags of +sovereigns, to buy the votes of the poor. No doubt a Master of +the Rolls ought to be free, not only from guilt, but from +suspicion. I have not hitherto mentioned the present Master of +the Rolls. I have not mentioned him because, in my opinion, this +question ought to be decided by general and not by personal +considerations. I cannot, however, refrain from saying, with a +confidence which springs from long and intimate acquaintance, +that my valued friend, Sir John Romilly, will never again sit in +this House unless he can come in by means very different from +those by which he was turned out. But, Sir, are we prepared to +say that no person can become a representative of the English +people except by some sacrifice of integrity, or at least of +personal dignity? If it be so, we had indeed better think of +setting our House in order. If it be so, the prospects of our +country are dark indeed. How can England retain her place among +the nations, if the assembly to which all her dearest interests +are confided, the assembly which can, by a single vote, transfer +the management of her affairs to new hands, and give a new +direction to her whole policy, foreign and domestic, financial, +commercial, and colonial, is closed against every man who has +rigid principles and a fine sense of decorum? But it is not so. +Did that great judge, Sir William Scott, lower his character by +entering this House as Member for the University of Oxford? Did +Sir John Copley lower his character by entering this House as +Member for the University of Cambridge? But the universities, +you say, are constituent bodies of a very peculiar kind. Be it +so. Then, by your own admission, there are a few seats in this +House which eminent judges have filled and may fill without any +unseemly condescension. But it would be most unjust, and in me, +especially, most ungrateful, to compliment the universities at +the expense of other constituent bodies. I am one of many +members who know by experience that a generosity and a delicacy +of sentiment which would do honour to any seat of learning may be +found among the ten pound householders of our great cities. And, +Sir, as to the counties, need we look further than to your chair? +It is of as much importance that you should punctiliously +preserve your dignity as that the Master of the Rolls should +punctiliously preserve his dignity. If you had, at the last +election, done anything inconsistent with the integrity, with the +gravity, with the suavity of temper which so eminently qualify +you to preside over our deliberations, your public usefulness +would have been seriously diminished. But the great county which +does itself honour by sending you to the House required from you +nothing unbecoming your character, and would have felt itself +degraded by your degradation. And what reason is there to doubt +that other constituent bodies would act as justly and +considerately towards a judge distinguished by uprightness and +ability as Hampshire has acted towards you? + +One very futile argument only remains to be noticed. It is said +that we ought to be consistent; and that, having turned the Judge +of the Admiralty out of the House, we ought to send the Master of +the Rolls after him. I admit, Sir, that our system is at present +very anomalous. But it is better that a system should be +anomalous than that it should be uniformly and consistently bad. +You have entered on a wrong course. My advice is first that you +stop, and secondly that you retrace your steps. The time is not +far distant when it will be necessary for us to revise the +constitution of this House. On that occasion, it will be part of +our duty to reconsider the rule which determines what public +functionaries shall be admitted to sit here, and what public +functionaries shall be excluded. That rule is, I must say, +singularly absurd. It is this, that no person who holds any +office created since the twenty-fifth of October, 1705, shall be +a member of the House of Commons. Nothing can be more +unreasonable or more inconvenient. In 1705, there were two +Secretaries of State and two Under Secretaries. Consequently, to +this day, only two Secretaries of State and two Under Secretaries +can sit among us. Suppose that the Home Secretary and the +Colonial Secretary are members of this House, and that the office +of Foreign Secretary becomes vacant. In that case, no member of +this House, whatever may be his qualifications, his fame in +diplomacy, his knowledge of all the politics of the Courts of +Europe, can be appointed. Her Majesty must give the Admiralty to +the commoner who is, of all her subjects, fittest for the Foreign +Office, and the seals of the Foreign Office to some peer who +would perhaps be fitter for the Admiralty. Again, the Postmaster +General cannot sit in this House. Yet why not? He always comes +in and goes out with the Government: he is often a member of the +Cabinet; and I believe that he is, of all public functionaries, +the Chancellor of the Exchequer alone excepted, the one whom it +would be most convenient to have here. I earnestly hope that, +before long, this whole subject will be taken into serious +consideration. As to the judges, the rule which I should wish to +see laid down is very simple. I would admit into this House any +judge whom the people might elect, unless there were some special +reason against admitting him. There is a special reason against +admitting any Irish or Scotch judge. Such a judge cannot attend +this House without ceasing to attend his court. There is a +special reason against admitting the Judges of the Queen's Bench +and of the Common Pleas, and the Barons of the Exchequer. They +are summoned to the House of Lords; and they sit there: their +assistance is absolutely necessary to enable that House to +discharge its functions as the highest court of appeal; and it +would manifestly be both inconvenient and derogatory to our +dignity that members of our body should be at the beck and call +of the peers. I see no special reason for excluding the Master +of the Rolls; and I would, therefore, leave our door open to him. +I would open it to the Judge of the Admiralty, who has been most +unwisely excluded. I would open it to other great judicial +officers who are now excluded solely because their offices did +not exist in 1705, particularly to the two Lords Justices, and +the three Vice Chancellors. In this way, we should, I am +convinced, greatly facilitate the important and arduous work of +law reform; we would raise the character of this House: and I +need not say that with the character of this House must rise or +fall the estimation in which representative institutions are held +throughout the world. But, whether the extensive changes which I +have recommended shall be thought desirable or not, I trust that +we shall reject the bill of the noble lord. I address myself to +the Conservative members on your left hand; and I ask them +whether they are prepared to alter, on grounds purely +theoretical, a system which has lasted during twenty generations +without producing the smallest practical evil. I turn to the +Liberal members on this side; and I ask them whether they are +prepared to lower the reputation and to impair the efficiency of +that branch of the legislature which springs from the people. +For myself, Sir, I hope that I am at once a Liberal and a +Conservative politician; and, in both characters, I shall give a +clear and conscientious vote in favour of the amendment moved by +my honourable friend. + +... + + +INDEX. + +Absalom and Achitophel of Dryden, character of it. + +Absolute government, theory of. + +Absolute rulers. + +Academy, the French, its services to literature. + +Addington, Henry, formation of his administration. +His position as Prime Minister. +Resigns. +Raised to the peerage. + +Aeschines, compared by Mr Mitford to Demosthenes. + +Aeschylus, his works, how regarded by Quintillian. + +Agesilaus, depressed by the constitution of Lycurgus. + +Ajax, the prayer of, in the Iliad. + +Aldrich, Dean, his mode of instructing the youths of his college. +Employs Charles Boyle to edit the letters of Phalaris. + +Alfieri, Vittorio, character of his works. +His great fault in his compositions. + +Anatomy Bill, Speech on. + +Antinomian barn preacher, story of the. + +Approbation, love of. + +Aristocratical form of government. See Oligarchy. + +Aristotle, his unrivalled excellence in analysis and combination. +Value of his general propositions. +His enlightened and profound criticism. + +Arnault, A.V., Translation from. + +Arras, cruelties of the Jacobins at. + +Arrian, his character as a historian. + +Arts, the fine, laws on which the progress and decline of depend. + +Athenian Revels, scenes from. + +Athens; disreputable character of Peiraeus. +Police officers of the city. +Favourite epithet of the city. +The Athenian orators. +Excellence to which eloquence attained at. +Dr Johnson's contemptuous derision of the civilisation of the +people of. +Their books and book education. +An Athenian day. +Defects of the Athenians' conversational education. +The law of ostracism at Athens. +Happiness of the Athenians in their term of government. +Their naval superiority. +Ferocity of the Athenians in war. +And of their dependencies in seditions. +Cause of the violence of faction in that age. +Influence of Athenian genius on the human intellect and on +private happiness. +The gifts of Athens to man. +Character of the great dramas of Athens. +Change in the temper of the Athenians in the time of +Aristophanes. + +Atterbury, Francis, his birth and early life. +Defends Martin Luther against the aspersions of Obadiah Walker. +Enters the church and becomes one of the royal chaplains. +Assists Charles Boyle in preparing an edition of the letters of +Phalaris. +His answer to Bentley's dissertation on the letters of Phalaris. +Bentley's reply. +Atterbury's defence of the clergy against the prelates. +Created a D.D. and promoted to the Deanery of Carlisle. +His pamphlets against the Whigs. +Appointed to the Deanery of Christ Church. +Removed to the Bishopric of Rochester. +His opposition to the Government of George I. +His private life. +His taste in literature and literary friends. +Thrown into prison for treason. +Deprived of his dignities and banished for life. +Calls Pope as a witness to his innocence. +Goes to Paris, and becomes Prime Minister of King James. +Retires from the court of the ex-King. +Death of his daughter. +Induced by the Pretender to return to Paris. +His defence of the charge of having garbled Clarendon's History +of the Rebellion. +His death. + +August, lines written in. + +Bacon, Lord, his description of the logomachies of the schoolmen. +And of the Utilitarian philosophy. +His mode of tracking the principle of heat. + +Barbaroux, the Girondist, his execution. + +Barere, Bertrand, Memoires de, of Carnot and David, review of +the. +Barere's true character. +His lies. +His talents as an author. +Sketch of his life. +Votes against the King. +His federal views and ultra Girondism. +His apparent zeal for the cause of order and humanity. +His motion for punishing the Jacobins. +Defeat of the Girondists. +Retains his seat at the Board of the Triumphant Mountain. +His infamous motion against the chiefs of the Girondists. +Moves that the Queen be brought before the Revolutionary +Tribunal. +Regales Robespierre and other Jacobins at a tavern on the day of +the death of the Queen. +Formation of his peculiar style of oratory. +His Carmagnoles. +Effect produced by his discourses. +Seconds Robespierre's atrocious motion in the Convention. +Becomes one of the six members of the Committee of Public Safety. +The first to proclaim terror as the order of the day. +Recommends Fouquier Tinville to the Revolutionary Committee of +Paris. +His proposal to destroy Lyons and Toulon. +His opposition to the personal defence of Danton. +His support of the wretch Lebon. +His war against learning, art, and history. +His sensual excesses. +Becomes a really cruel man. +His morning audiences and mode of treating petitions. +His orders against certain head-dresses. +Nicknames given to him. +Obtains a decree that no quarter should be given to any English +or Hanoverian soldier. +M. Carnot's defence of this barbarity. +Barere's support of Robespierre's fiendish decree. +His panegyric on Robespierre. +His motion that Robespierre and his accomplices should be put to +death. +Destruction of the power of the Jacobins. +Report on his conduct voted by the Convention. +Condemned to be removed to a distant place of confinement. +His perilous journey. +Imprisoned at Oleron. +Removed to Saintes. +Escapes to Bordeaux. +Chosen a member of the Council of Five Hundred, which refuses to +admit him. +His libel on England. +The Liberty of the Seas. +His flight to St Ouen. +Sends a copy of his work to the First Consul. +Allowed by Bonaparte to remain in Paris. +Refuses; becomes a writer and a spy to Bonaparte. +Sends his friend Demerville to the guillotine. +Spies set to watch the spy. +Ordered to quit Paris. +Employed in the lowest political drudgery. +His "Memorial Antibritannique" and pamphlets. +His fulsome adulation of the Emperor. +Causes of his failure as a journalist. +Treated with contempt by Napoleon. +His treachery to his Imperial master. +Becomes a royalist on the return of the Bourbons. +Compelled to leave France. +Returns in July 1830. +Joins the extreme left. +His last years and death. +Summary of his character. +His hatred of England. +His MS. works on divinity. + +Barre, Colonel, joins the Whig opposition. +Appointed by Pitt Clerk of the Pells. + +Bearn, the constitution of. + +Beatrice, Dante's love of. + +Beauclerc, Topham, a member of the Literary Club. + +Bentham, Mr, his defence of Mr Mill. +His merits and shortcomings. +Examination of his views. +His account of the manner in which he arrived at the "greatest +happiness principle." +Testimony to his merits. + +Bentinck, Lord William, inscription on the statue of, at +Calcutta. + +Bentley, Richard, his dissertation on the letters of Phalaris. +His answer to the attack of Atterbury. + +Bible, the English translation of the, regarded as a specimen of +the beauty and power of the English language. + +Billaud, M., becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. +Opposes Robespierre. +Himself brought to trial. +Condemned to be removed to a distant place of confinement. +Transported to Guiana. +His subsequent life. + +Bonaparte, Napoleon, his detestation of the cruel decree of the +Convention respecting English prisoners. +His return from Egypt, and assumption of absolute power as First +Consul. +His policy at this period. +Allows Barere to reside in Pairs. +Employs Barere as a writer and spy. +Establishes the Imperial government. +His opinion of Barere's journalism. +His defeat and abdication. + +Boswell, James, becomes a member of The Club. +His character. +His life of Johnson. + +Bourbon, Duke, character of the government of. + +Bow Street, whiggery of. + +Boyd, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + +Boyle, Charles, his college edition of the letters of Phalaris. +The answer to Bentley attributed to him. + +Boyse, the poet, his friendship with Samuel Johnson. + +Brasidas, great only when he ceased to be a Lacedaemonian. + +Brissot, the Girondist leader. +His trial. + +Brissotines, the. See Girondists. + +Buccaneer, the Last. + +Bunyan, John, age in which he produced his Pilgrim's Progress. +His birth and early life. +His notions of good and evil. +Enlists in the parliamentary army. +Returns home and marries. +His fantasies and internal sufferings. +Thrown into gaol. +His prison life. +His intimate knowledge of the Bible. +His early writings. +His abhorrence of the Quakers. +His controversies. +His answer to Edward Fowler. +His dispute with some of his own sect. +His liberation from prison. +His Pilgrim's Progress. +His Holy War. +Difficulties of. +His death and burial-place. +Fame of his Pilgrim's Progress. + +Burgundy, Duke of, his theory of good government. + +Burke, Edmund, his character of the first French republic. +And of the French National Assembly. +His vindication of himself from the charge of inconsistency. +His part in The Club. +His position in the Whig opposition. + +Burns, Robert, age in which he produced his works. + +Butler, Samuel, character of his poetry. + +Byron, Lord, his egotism and its success. + +Caesar, accounts of his campaigns, regarded as history. + +Camden, Lord, joins the Whig opposition. + +Canning, George, popular comparison of, with Mr Pitt. +His activity in Pitt's cause. + +Carey, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + +Carmagnoles, the, of Barere. +Lord Ellenborough's. + +Carmichael, Miss, or Polly, in Dr Johnson's house. + +Carnot, M. Hippolyte, his part in the Memoirs of Bertrand Barere. + +Carolan, his compositions. + +Carrier, the tyrant of Nantes, placed under arrest. + +Casti, character of his Animali Parlanti. + +Catholicism, Roman, the most poetical of all religions. +Its great revival at the beginning of the thirteenth century. +Treaty concluded by Charles II. by which he bound himself to set +up Catholicism in England. + +Catiline, Sallust's account of the Conspiracy of. + +Cavendish, Lord John, becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer. +Resigns. + +Cervantes, delight with which his Don Quixote is read. + +Charles II., King of England. +Influence of his residence abroad upon his character and tastes. +His treaty respecting Roman Catholics. + +Chatham, first Earl of, compared by Mirabeau. +His declining years. +His last appearance in the House of Lords. + +Chatham, second Earl of, his mismanagement of the Admiralty. + +Chaumette, one of the accusers of the Girondists before the +Revolutionary Tribunal. + +Christ Church, Oxford, cry of, against Bentley. + +Christianity, effect of the victory of, over paganism. + +Church of Ireland, Speech on. + +Churchill, his insult to Johnson. + +Civil War, the great. + +Clarendon, his history of the Rebellion, charge of garbling it. + +Classical writers, celebrity of the great. + +Cleomenes, causes and results of his raving cruelty. + +Clergyman, the Country, his Trip to Cambridge. + +Club, The, formation of. +Members of the. + +"Coalition," formation of the. +Universal disgust. +End of the Coalition. + +Coates, Romeo, the actor. + +Cock Lane Ghost, the. + +Collot, d'Herbois, becomes a member of the Committee of Public +Safety. +Attacked in the streets. +Brought to trial. +Condemned by the Convention to be removed to a distant place of +confinement. +His end. + +Condorcet, strength brought by him to the Girondist party. +His melancholy end. + +Confidence in Ministry of Lord Melbourne. +Speech on. + +Constantinople, empire of, its retrogression and stupefaction. + +Convention, the French, of. +The Girondists. +The Mountain. +Character of the diplomatic language during the reign of the +Convention. + +Copyright, Speeches on. + +Corday, Charlotte, her murder of Marat. + +Corn Laws, Speech on. + +Corneille, attempts of the Academy to depress the rising fame of. + +Cornwallis, General, his surrender to the Americans. + +Cottabus, the Athenian game of. + +Couthon, becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. +His execution. + +Cowley, Mr Abraham, and Mr John Milton, conversation between, +touching the great Civil War. + +Criticism, verbal. +Improvement of the science of criticism. +The critical and poetical faculty distinct and incompatible. + +Cyrus, Xenophon's Life of, its character. + +Dante, criticism on. +His first adventure in the popular tongue. +Influences of the times in which he lived upon his works. +His love of Beatrice. +His despair of happiness on earth. +Close connection between his intellectual and moral character. +Compared with Milton. +His metaphors and comparisons. +Little impression made by the forms of the external world upon +him. +Fascination revolting and nauseous images had for his mind. +His use of ancient mythology in his poems. +His idolatry of Virgil. +Excellence of his style. +Remarks upon the translations of the Divine Comedy. +His veneration for writers inferior to himself. +How regarded by the Italians of the fourteenth century. + +Danton, character of. +His death. + +David, M. d'Angers, the sculptor, his part in the Memoirs of +Bertrand Barere. + +De Foe, effect of his Robinson Crusoe on the imagination of the +child and the judgment of the man. + +Demerville, the Jacobin, betrayed by his friend Barere. + +Democracy, a pure. +Mr Mill's view of a pure and direct. + +Demosthenes, compared by Mr Mitford to Aeschines. +His irresistible eloquence. + +Denham, Sir John, character of his poetry. + +Denis, St, Abbey of, laid waste by Barere. + +"Dennis, St, and St George, in the Water, some Account of the +Lawsuit between the Parishes of." + +Deserted Village of Oliver Goldsmith. + +Desmoulins, Camille, his attack on the Reign of Terror. +Reply of Barere. + +Desmoulins, Mrs, in Dr Johnson's house. + +Despotic rulers. +Theory of a despotic government. + +Dies Irae. + +Dionysius, his criticisms. + +Diplomatic language used by the French Convention. + +Directory, the Executive, of France, formation of. + +Dissenters, persecution of the, by the Cavaliers. +Relieved by Charles II. +Prosecutions consequent on the enterprise of Monmouth. +The Dissenters courted by the government of James II. + +Dissenters' Chapels Bill, Speech on. + +Divine Comedy of Dante, the great source of the power of the. +Remarks on the translations of the. + +Djezzar Pasha, his cruelty. + +Doddington, Bubb, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + +Don Quixote, delight with which it is read. + +Dorset, Earl of, his poetry. + +Drama, the old English. +Compared with that of Athens and France. +Causes of the excellence of the English drama. +Superiority of dramatic to other works of imagination. +Extinction of the drama by the Puritans. +The drama of the time of Charles II. +Dryden's plays. + +Dryden, John, place assigned to him as a poet. +His merits and defects. +Influence exercised by him on his age. +Two parts into which his life divides itself. +His small pieces presented to patrons. +Character of his Annus Mirabilis. +His rhyming plays. +His impossible men and women. +His tendency to bombast. +His attempts at fairy imagery. +His incomparable reasonings in verse. +His art of producing rich effects by familiar words. +Catholicity of his literary creed. +Causes of the exaggeration which disfigure his panegyrics. +Character of his Hind and Panther. +And of his Absalom and Achitophel. +Compared with Juvenal. +What he would probably have accomplished in an epic poem. +Compared with Milton. + +Dubois, Cardinal, his mode of dealing with public petitions. + +Dumont, M., review of his Souvenirs sur Mirabeau. +Services rendered by him to society. +His interpretation of Bentham's works. +His view of the French Revolution. +His efforts to instruct the French in political knowledge. +Sketch of the character of Mirabeau. +Of Sieyes and Talleyrand. +And of his own character. + +Dumourier, his Girondist sympathies. +His defection. + +Dundas, Henry, Lord Advocate, commencement of his friendship with +Pitt. + +Dunning, Mr, joins the Whig opposition. + +Duroc, General, his letter to Barere. + +Eady, Dr, his advertisements. + +Edinburgh Election, speech at. + +Education, Speech on. + +Education, the, of the Athenians. +Defects of their conversational education. + +Egotism, the pest of conversation. +Zest given by it to writing. + +Eleusinian mysteries, the. + +Ellenborough, Lord, his Carmagnoles. + +Ellis, Welbore. + +England, revolution in the poetry of. +Mr Mill's remarks on the British Constitution. +His view of the constitution of the English Government. +Mr Sadler's statement of the law of population in England. +The English Revolution compared with the French. +Mildness of the revolution caused by the Reform Bill. +Makes war against France. + +Epistles, Petrarch's. + +Epitaph on Henry Martyn. + +Epitaph on Lord William Bentinck. + +Epitaph on Sir Benjamin Heath Malkin. + +Epitaph on Lord Metcalfe. + +Euphuism in England. + +Euripides, mother of. +His jesuitical morality. +How regarded by Quintillian. + +Evil, question of the origin of, in the world. + +Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons, Speech on. + +Federalism, the new crime of, in France. +Federalism as entertained by Barere. + +Fenelon, his principles of good government, as shown in his +Telemachus. + +Fluxions, discovery of the method of. + +Fortune, remedies for Good and Evil, Petrarch's. + +Fowler, Edward, John Bunyan's answer to. + +Fox, Charles James, his character. +His great political error. +The King's detestation of him. +Becomes Secretary of State under the Duke of Portland. +His India Bill. +His speeches. + +Fragments of a Roman Tale. + +France, character of the poetry of. +Characteristics of the personifications of the drama of. +Spirit excited in France at the time of the Revolution by some of +the ancient historians. +Burke's character of the French Republic. +Population of. +Condition of the government of, in 1799. +Strictures of M. Dumont on the National Assembly. +Infancy of political knowledge of the French at the period of the +Revolution. +The English Revolution compared with the French. +Arguments against the old monarchy of France. +The first compared with the second French Revolution. +Causes of the first Revolution. +Condition of France for eighty years previous to the Revolution. +Causes which immediately led to that event. +Difficulties of the Constitution of 1791. +The war with the continental coalition. +Effect of the League of Pilnitz on the position of the King. +Formation and meeting of the Convention. +The two great parties of the Convention--the Girondists and the +Mountain. +Death of the King. +Policy of the Jacobins. +The new crime of federalism. +Defection of Dumourier and appointment of the Committee of Public +Safety. +Irruption of the mob into the palace of the Tuileries. +Destruction of the Girondists. +Establishment of the Reign of Terror. +Condition of France during the reign of Louis XIV. +And during that of Louis XV. +Fenelon's principles of good government. +His views incomprehensible to his countrymen. +Loss to France on the death of the Duke of Burgundy. +The Regency of Philip of Orleans. +The Duke of Bourbon. +Downward course of the monarchy, and indications of the +forthcoming revolution. +The Greek and Roman models of the French legislators. +Victories of France in 1794. +The memorable ninth of Thermidor. +Execution of Robespierre and his accomplices. +End of the Jacobin dominion in France. +Condition of the nation at this period. +Formation of the Constitution of 1795. +Bonaparte's return from Egypt and assumption of absolute power. +Political spies in France. +Defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. +The Chamber of Representatives. +The Royalist Chamber under the Bourbons. +Review of the policy of the Jacobins. +War declared by England against. + +French Academy, its services to literature. + +Froissart, character of his history. + +Garrick, David, relation between him and his old master Johnson. +A member of the Literary Club. + +Garth, Dr, insults Bentley and extols Boyle. + +Gates of Somnauth, the Speech on. + +Gaudet, the Girondist, his execution. + +Gensonne, the Girondist leader. +His trial. +His death. + +Geologist, Bishop Watson's description of a. + +George III., his treatment of his ministers. + +Georgics, Political. + +Germaine, Lord George. + +Gibbon, Edward, charges brought against him as a historian. +His part in The Club. + +Girondists, or Brissotines, Barere's account of the proceedings +against the. +Sketch of the political party so called. +Its struggles with the Mountain. +Accusation brought against the leaders of the party. +Defeated by the Mountain. +Impeached by their late colleague Barere. +Their trial. +Their fate. + +Goldsmith, Oliver, his birth and early life. +His first schoolmaster. +His personal appearance. +His college life. +Death of his father. +His attempts at the church, law, and physic. +His rambles on foot through Flanders, France, and Switzerland. +His disregard of truth. +His return to England, and desperate expedients to obtain a +living. +His literary drudgery. +Character of his works. +Introduced to Johnson. +One of the original members of The Club. +Removes from Breakneck Steps to the Temple. +Story of the publication of the Vicar of Wakefield. +His Traveller. +His Dramas. +His Deserted Village. +His She Stoops to Conquer. +His Histories. +His arts of selection and condensation. +His intimacy with the great talkers of the day. +His conversational powers. +How regarded by his associates. +His virtues and vices. +His death. +His cenotaph in Westminster Abbey. +His biographers. +His part in The Club. + +Gomer Chephoraod, King of Babylon, apologue of. + +Goodnatured Man, the, of Oliver Goldsmith. + +Government of India, Speech on. + +Government, proper conditions of a good. +Review of Mr Mill's Essays on, etc. +His chapter on the ends of government. +And on the means. +His view of a pure and direct democracy. +Of an oligarchy. +And of a monarchy. +Deduction of a theory of politics in the mathematical form. +Government according to Mr Mill only necessary to prevent men +from plundering each other. +His argument that no combination of the three simple forms of +government can exist. +His remarks on the British constitution. +His hope for mankind in the government of a representative body. +The real security of men against bad government. +Mr Mill's views as to the qualifications of voters for +representatives. +The desire of the poor majority to plunder the rich minority. +Effects which a general spoliation of the rich would produce. +Method of arriving at a just conclusion on the subject of the +science of government. +Mr Bentham's defence of Mr Mill's Essays. +Deduction of the theory of government from the principles of +human nature. +Remarks on the Utilitarian theory of government. +Mode of tracking the latent principle of good government. +Checks in political institutions. +Power. +Constitution of the English government. + +Greece, review of Mr Mitford's History of. +Gross ignorance of the modern historians of Greece. +The imaginative and critical schools of poetry in. + +Greeks, domestic habits of the. +Change in their temper at the close of the Peloponnesian war. +Character of their fashionable logic. +Causes of the exclusive spirit of the Greeks. + +Hall, Robert, his eloquence. + +Hamlet, causes of its power and influence. + +Happiness, principle of the greatest, of the greatest number +examined. +The most elevated station the principle is ever likely to attain. +The Westminster Reviewer's defence of the "greatest happiness +principle." + +Hayley, his translation of the Divine Comedy of Dante. + +Heat, Lord Bacon's mode of tracking the principle of. + +Hebert, the Jacobin, his vile character. +Accuses the Girondists before the Revolutionary Tribunal. + +Hebrides, Johnson's visit to the. + +Herodotus, character of his history. +His faults. +Character of the people for whom the book was composed. +His history compared with that of Thucydides. +Herodotus regarded as a delineator of character. + +Heron, Robert, his drama of News from Camperdown. + +Hervey, Henry, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + +History, Mr Mitford's views of. +The true domain of history. +Qualifications necessary for writing. +The history of Herodotus. +That of Thucydides. +Johnson's remarks on history. +Xenophon's history. +Polybius and Arrian. +Character of the historians of the Plutarch class. +English classical associations and names compared with those of +the ancients. +Spirit excited in England and in France by the writers of the +Plutarch class. +Livy. +Caesar. +Sallust. +Tacitus. +Merits and defects of modern historians. +Froissart, Machiavelli, and Guicciardine. +Effect of the invention of printing. +Causes of the exclusiveness of the Greeks and Romans. +Effect of the victory of Christianity over paganism. +Establishment of the balance of moral and intellectual influence +in Europe. +The species of misrepresentation which abounds most in modern +historians. +Hume, Gibbon, and Mitford. +Neglect of the art of narration. +Effect of historical reading compared to that produced by foreign +travel. +Character of the perfect historian. +Instruction derived from the productions of such a writer. + +Hoche, General, refuses to obey the cruel decree of the +Convention. + +Holy War, Bunyan's. + +Homer, intense desire to know something of him. +Quintillian's criticisms on. +His inappropriate epithets. +His description of Hector at the Grecian wall. + +Hoole, the metaphysical tailor, his friendship with Samuel +Johnson. + +Horace, his comparison of poems to certain paintings. + +Hume, David, charges brought against him as a historian. + +Hyder Aly, his successes. + +Idler, Johnston's publication of the. + +Imagination and judgment. +Power of the imagination in a barbarous age. + +Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. + +India Bill, Fox's. + +Inferno, Dante's, character of the. + +Ireland, William Pitt the first English minister who formed great +designs for the benefit of Ireland. + +Isocrates, his defence of oligarchy and tyranny. + +Italian language, Dante's first work on the. + +Italian Writers, Criticisms on the Principal. +Dante. +Petrarch. + +Italy, revolution of the poetry of. +Monti's imitation of the style of Dante. + +Jacobins of Paris, policy of the. +Excesses of the. +Materials of which the party was composed. +Their cruelties in Paris and in the provinces. +Review of the policy of the Jacobins. + +Jacobite, Epitaph on a. + +Jacobites, revival of their spirits in 1721. +Plan for a Jacobite insurrection. + +Jenyns, Soame, Dr Johnson's review of his Inquiry into the Nature +and Origin of Evil. + +Jewish Disabilities, Speech on. + +Jews, the sacred books of the, unknown to the Romans. + +Johnson, Dr Samuel, his contemptuous derision of the civilisation +of the Athenians. +His remark on history and historians. +Oliver Goldsmith introduced to. +Story of the publication of the Vicar of Wakefield. +Johnson's birth and early life. +His father. +Goes to Oxford. +His attainments at this time. +His struggles with poverty. +Becomes an incurable hypochondriac. +His literary drudgery. +His marriage. +His school near Lichfield. +Sets out for London. +Effect of his privations on his temper and deportment. +Engaged on the "Gentleman's Magazine." +His political opinions. +His Jacobite views. +His poem of London. +His associates. +His life of Richard Savage. +His dictionary. +His treatment by Lord Chesterfield. +His Vanity of Human Wishes compared with the Satire of Juvenal. +Relation between him and his pupil David Garrick. +Irene brought out. +Publication and reception of the Rambler. +Death of Mrs Johnson. +Publication of the Dictionary. +His review of Soame Jenyn's Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of +Evil. +His Idler. +Death of his mother. +Circumstances under which Rasselas was published. +His hatred of the Whigs. +Accepts a pension of three hundred a year. +His belief in ghosts. +Publication of his edition of Shakespeare's works. +Honours conferred upon him. +His colloquial talents. +His predominance in The Club. +His biographer, James Boswell. +The inmates of his house near Fleet Street. +His visit to the Hebrides. +His prejudice against the Scotch. +His exposure of Macpherson's forgery of Fingal. +His Taxation no Tyranny. +His lives of the Poets. +His declining years. +His death. + +Johnson, Michael of Lichfield. + +Jones, Sir William, his part in the Literary Club. + +Judgment and imagination. + +Julian, the Emperor, his partiality for the Greek language. + +Jurisprudence, Mr Bentham's reduction of, to a science. + +Juryman, the stipend of an Athenian. + +Just, Saint, expatiates on the guilt of Vergniaud and Petion. +Becomes a member of the Committee of Public Safety. +His doom. +His execution. + +Juvenal compared with Dryden. +His satire compared with that of Samuel Johnson. + +King, the, in the Athenian democracy. + +Kleber, General, refuses to obey the cruel decree of the +Convention. + +Lacedaemon, causes of the silent but rapid downfall of. +The development of merit prevented by the laws of. +Her foreign policy and domestic institutions. +Her government compared with that of Athens. +Her helots. + +Langton, Bennet, a member of the Literary Club. + +Latin works of Petrarch, the. + +Lebon, the Jacobin, his crimes defended by Barere. +Placed under arrest. + +Levett, Robert, the quack doctor. + +Liberty, how regarded by the later ancient writers. +How regarded by historians of the Plutarch class. +Peculiar and essentially English character of English liberty. +Political, views with which it was regarded by the French +legislators of the Revolution. + +Lies, various kinds of. + +Lincoln Cathedral, story of the painted window of. + +Literary Magazine, Johnson's contributions to the. + +Literature, on the Royal Society of. + +Literature, ancient, proper examination of. +State of literature as a calling, in the last century. + +Literature of Britain, the, Speech on. + +Livy, his faults and merits as a historian. + +London, blessing of the great fire of. +Riots in, in 1780. + +Longinus, criticism on his work on the "Sublime." + +Louis XIV., his bitter lamentations of his former extravagances. +His character as a king. + +Louis XV., condition of France when he came to the throne. + +Louis XVI., his character. +His position in 1792. +His death. + +Louis XVIII., leniency of his government at the Restoration. + +Love, honourable and chivalrous, unknown to the Greeks. +The passion as delineated in the Roman poets. +What is implied in the modern sense of the word love. +Change undergone in the nature of the passion of love in the +middle ages. + +Lycurgus, his mistaken principles of legislation. +His system of domestic slavery. + +Lyons, cruelties of the Jacobins at. +Barere's proposal to utterly annihilate it. + +Lysander, depressed by the constitution of Lycyrgus. + +Macflecnoe, of Dryden, character of the. + +Machiavelli, character of his history. + +Macpherson, his forgery of Fingal. +Threatens Dr Johnson. + +Malkin, Sir Benjamin Heath, epitaph on. + +Malthus, Mr, attacked by Mr Sadler. + +Man, the contemplation of, the noblest earthly object of man. + +Marat, his murmurs against Barere. +His death. + +Marcellus, the counterfeit oration for. + +Marie Antoinette, Queen, Barere's account of the death of. +Brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal on the motion of +Barere. +Her execution. + +Martyn, Henry, epitaph on. + +Maynooth, Speech on. + +Medical science, Petrarch's invectives on the. + +Melville, Lord, his impeachment. + +Memoirs, popularity of, as compared with that of history. + +"Memorial Antibritannique," the, of Barere. + +Metaphors, Dante's. + +Metcalfe, Lord, Epitaph on. + +Mill, Mr, review of his Essays on Government, etc. +His utilitarianism. +False principles upon which his theory rests. +Precision of his arguments and dryness of his style. +His a priori method of reasoning. +Curious instances of his peculiar turn of mind. +His views of democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy. +His fallacies. +His proposed government by a representative body. +His proposal of universal suffrage, but for males only. +The effects which a general spoliation of the rich would +engender. +His remarks on the influence of the middle rank. +Review of the Westminster Reviewer's defence of Mr Mill. + +Milton, John, compared with Dante. +Milton, Mr John, and Mr Abraham Cowley, conversation between, +touching the great Civil War. +His great modern epic. +Dryden's admiration for his genius. + +Mirabeau, Souvenirs sur, etc., M. Dumont's review of. +M. Dumont's picture of Mirabeau in the National Assembly. +Mirabeau compared to Wilkes. +And to the Earl of Chatham. + +Mitford, Mr, criticism on his History of Greece. +His principal characteristic as a historian. +Errors of almost all the most modern historians of Greece. +Estimation in which the later ancient writers have been held. +Differences between Mr Mitford and the historians who have +preceded him. +His love of singularity. +His hatred of democracy. +And love of the oligarchical form of government. +His illogical inferences and false statements. +His inconsistency with himself. +His deficiencies. +Charges of misrepresentation brought against him as a historian. + +Monarchical form of government, Mr Mill's view of a. +Moncontour, the Battle of. + +Mountain, sketch of the party in the French Convention so called. +Votes for the death of the King. +Its victory over the Girondists. +Tyranny of the Mountain. +Violence of public opinion against it. + +Naseby, the Battle of. + +National Assembly, the French. +Mr Burke's character of them. +M. Dumont's picture of the Assembly. + +Nollekens, his cenotaph of Oliver Goldsmith in Westminster Abbey. + +Nonconformists, relief of, by Charles II. + +North, Lord, and the American difficulties. +Resignation of his ministry. +The Coalition. +End of the Coalition. + +Ode on St Cecilia's Day of Dryden; its character. + +Oleron, Barere, Billaud, and Collot d'Herbois imprisoned at. + +Oligarchy, Mr Mitford's love of pure. +Examination of this sentiment. +The growth of genius always stunted by oligarchy. +Mr Mill's view of an oligarchical form of government. + +Opinion, good, of the public, causes of our regard for the. + +Orators, Athenian. + +Oratory: Excellence to which eloquence attained at Athens. +Circumstances favourable to this result. +Principles upon which poetry is to be estimated. +Causes of the difference between the English and Athenian +orators. +The history of eloquence at Athens. +Speeches of the ancients, as transmitted to us by Thucydides. +Period during which eloquence flourished most at Athens. +Coincidence between the progress of the art of war and that of +oratory. +The irresistible eloquence of Demosthenes. +The oratory of Pitt and Fox. + +Orestes, the Greek highwayman. + +Orleans, Philip, Duke of, character of him and of his Regency. + +Ossian, character of the poems of. + +Ostracism, practice of, among the Athenians. + +Othello, causes of the power of. + +Paganism, effect of the overthrow of, by Christianity. + +Pallas, the birthplace of Oliver Goldsmith. + +Paradise, Dante's, its principal merit. + +Paraphrase of a passage in the Chronicle of the Monk of St Gall. + +Paris, policy of the Jacobins of. +Their excesses. + +Parliamentary government, its advantages and disadvantages. + +Parliamentary Reform, Speeches on. + +Patronage, effect of, on literature. + +Pausanias, his insanity. + +Pauson, the Athenian painter. + +Peers, question of the sterility of the, as a class. + +Peiraeus, disreputable character of. + +People's Charter, the, Speech on. + +Pericles, his eloquence. + +Petion, the Girondist. +Saint Just's speech on his guilt. +His unfortunate end. + +Petrarch, influence of his poems on the literature of Italy. +Criticism on the works of. +Celebrity as a writer. +Causes of this. +Extraordinary sensation caused by his amatory verses. +Causes co-operating to spread his renown. +His coronation at Rome. +His poetical powers. +His genius. +Paucity of his thoughts. +His energy when speaking of the wrongs and degradation of Italy. +His poems on religious subjects. +Prevailing defect of his best compositions. +Remarks on his Latin writings. + +Phalaris of Agrigentari, the spurious letters of. +Sir W. Temple's opinion of them. +Their worthlessness shown by Bentley. + +Phillips, John, his monument refused admission into Westminster +Abbey. + +Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's history of the. +Its fame. +Attempts to improve and imitate it. + +Pilnitz, League of, effect of the. + +Piozzi, Mrs. + +Pisistratus, his eloquence. + +Pitt, William, popular comparison of, with Mr Canning. +His birth and early life. +His preceptor Pretyman. +His fondness for mathematics. +His knowledge of Greek and Latin. +And of modern literature. +His delight in oratory. +Studies the law. +Goes into parliament for Appleby. +Condition of the country at this period. +Pitt's first speech in Parliament. +Declines the Vice-Treasurership of Ireland. +Courts the ultra-Whig party. +His advocacy of reform. +Becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer at twenty-three years of age. +Pitt's speech and Sheridan's repartee. +His visit to the Continent with William Wilberforce. +Appointed First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the +Exchequer. +His difficulties and dangers. +His power. +Review of his merits and defects. +His reported speeches. +Character of his oratory. +His private life. +His popularity. +His neglect of authors. +His talents as a leader. +Effect of the French Revolution. +His love of peace and freedom. +Unjustly charged with apostasy. +Beginning of his misfortunes. +His domestic policy. +His great designs for the benefit of Ireland. +His rupture with Addington. +His speech on the opening of the Session of 1803. +Reconstructs the government on the resignation of the Addington +ministry. +Decline of his health. +His death. +His public funeral. +Vote for paying his debts. +Review of his life. +Lines to his memory. + +Plautus, translation from his Rudens. + +Plutarch, class of historians of which he may be regarded as the +head. +His delineation of character. + +Poetry; Horace's comparison of poems to certain paintings. +Principles upon which poetry is to be estimated. +Element by which poetry is poetry. +Frame of mind required by poetry. +Absurdities of writers who attempt to give general rules for +composition. +The mechanical part of the art of poetry. +Power of the imagination in a barbarous age. +Periods of consummate excellence and of the decline of poetry. +Age of critical poetry. +The imaginative school gradually fading into the critical. +The poets of Greece. +And of Rome. +Revolution of the poetry of Italy, Spain, and England. +The critical and poetical faculties, distinct and incompatible. +Excellence of English dramatic poetry. +Extinction of the dramatic and ascendency of the fashionable +school of poetry. +Changes in the time of Charles II. +John Dryden. + +Poets, the favourite themes of the, of the present day. +Catholicity of the orthodox poetical creed. +Why good poets are bad critics. + +Police officers of Athens. + +Polybius, his character as a historian. + +Pomponius Atticus, his veneration for Greek literature. + +Pope, Alexander, condensation of the sense in his couplets. +His friendship with Bishop Atterbury. +Appears as a witness in favour of his friend. +His epitaph on Atterbury. + +Population, review of Mr Sadler's work on the law of. +His attack of Mr Malthus. +His statement of the law of population. +Extremes of population and fecundity in well-known countries. +Population of England. +Of the United States of America. +Of France. +And of Prussia. + +Portland, Duke of, formation of his Administration. + +Portrait-painting compared with history. + +Posterity, Epistle to, Petrarch's. + +Power, senses in which the word may be used. +Dependence of the happiness of nations on the real distribution +of power. + +Pretyman, Bishop of Lincoln. +His life of William Pitt. + +Printing, influence of, on modern history. + +Prior, Matthew, his intimacy with Bishop Atterbury. + +Prize poems, character of. + +Provencal poets, their amatory compositions. + +Prussia, Mr Sadler's law of population, as illustrated by the +census of Prussia. + +Psalmanazar, George, his friendship with Samuel Johnson. + +Purgatorio, Dante's, the simile of the sheep in the. +Incomparable style of the sixth canto of. + +Puritans, their prohibition of theatrical representations. + +Quakers, Bunyan's abhorrence of the. + +Quintillian, his principles of criticism. + +Quixote, the Spiritual. + +Radical War Song, a. + +Rambler, Johnson's, publication of the. + +Rasselas, Johnson's, circumstances under which it was written. +Plan of the work. + +Re-election to Parliament, Speech on. + +Reform Bill, mildness of the revolution of the. + +Reform, Parliamentary, Speeches on. + +Regent, the Prince, and the King. + +Rent, Doctrine of. + +Repeal of Union with Ireland, Speech on. + +Representation, its value as a check on the governing few. + +Revolution, the French, terms in which it is spoken of by M. +Dumont. + +Revolution, the first and second French. +Compared with the English. +And with the American. + +Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his part in the Club. + +Rich: desire of the poor majority to plunder the rich minority. +Effects which a general spoliation would produce. + +Richardson, Samuel, his opinion of the Rambler. +His kindness to Johnson. + +Robespierre, his power over the lives of his fellow-citizens. +His character. +Regaled by Barere at a tavern on the day of the Queen's death. +Atrocious decree of the Convention proposed by him. +Becomes one of the Committee of Public Safety. +Purpose of his celebrated fiendish decree. +Barere's panegyric on Robespierre. +Barere's motion to put Robespierre and his accomplices to death. +Robespierre's execution. +His character. + +Rockingham, Charles Marquis of, at the head of the Whig +opposition. +His adherents in the House of Commons. +Becomes Prime Minister. +His death. + +Roland, Madame, her courage and force of thought. +Her execution. + +Roland, the Girondist, his wife. +His fate. + +Roman Tale, Fragments of a. + +Romans, domestic habits of the. +Character of the poetry of the Romans. +Their regard for the language and literature of Greece. +Their disregard of the sacred books of the Hebrews. +Their exclusive spirit. +The Roman empire of the time of Diocletian compared with the +Chinese empire. +Effect of the victory of Christianity over paganism. +Purification of the Roman world by the invasion of the +Barbarians. + +Rousseau, his egotism and its success. + +Royal Society of Literature, on the. + +Rumford, Count, his proposition for feeding soldiers cheaply. + +Russell, Lord William, his last saying. + +Sacheverell, prosecution of. + +Sadler, Mr, review of his work on the Law of Population. +His style. +And spirit. +His attack on Mr Malthus. +His distinctions without a difference. +The great discovery by which he has vindicated the ways of +Providence. +His refutation refuted. +The motto on his title-page. +His statements examined and refuted. + +Safety, Committee of Public, formation of the, in Paris. +Names of the persons composing the. +Character of the men composing the Committee. +Its crimes and blunders. +Robespierre's fiendish motion. + +Sallust, his merits as a historian. +His conspiracy of Catiline. + +Satire of Juvenal and Dryden. + +Savage, Richard, his career. + +Schoolmen, Lord Bacon's description of the logomachies of the, of +his time. + +Scott, Sir Walter, his use of the rejected fragments of history. + +Sermon in a Churchyard. + +Shakspeare, William, language he gives to his superhuman beings. +His euphuism. +His dramas miracles of art. +His exquisite imagery. +Publication of Johnson's edition of the works of. +Character of the work. + +Shelburne, William, Earl of, in the Whig opposition. +Placed by the King at the head of the Treasury. + +Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, his repartee to Pitt. + +Sidney, Sir Philip, his dying thanksgiving. + +Sieyes, the Abbe, M. Dumont's sketch of the character of. + +Similitudes, Dante's. + +Simon, Saint, his character and opinions. + +Slavery, Domestic, the cause of the violence of factions in +ancient times. + +Smalridge, Dean of Carlisle and Christ Church. + +Song. + +Sonnet-fanciers. + +Spain, revolution of the poetry of. + +Sparta, the great men of. +Mr Mitford's admiration of the stability of the institutions of. +Real character of the Spartans. +Their kind of liberty. + +Spectator, Addison's, crowds of imitations of the. + +SPEECHES-- +Anatomy Bill. +Church of Ireland, the. +Confidence in Lord Melbourne's Ministry. +Copyright. +Corn Laws, the. +Dissenters' Chapels Bill. +Edinburgh Election. +Education. +Exclusion of Judges from the House of Commons. +Gates of Somnauth, the. +Government of India, the. +Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. +Jewish Disabilities. +Literature of Britain, the. +Maynooth. +Parliamentary Reform. +People's Charter, the. +Re-election to Parliament. +Repeal of the Union with Ireland. +State of Ireland, the. +Sugar Duties, the. +Ten Hours Bill, the. +Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities. +War with China, the. + +Spencer, George Earl, his able administration of the Admiralty. + +Spies, political, in France. +Their unpopularity in England. +The modus operandi of a spy. + +State of Ireland, the Speech on. + +Stories, good, fondness of the later ancient writers for. + +"Sublime, Longinus on the." +Burke and Dugald Stewart's discussions. + +Suffrage, Universal. + +Sugar Duties, the, Speech on. + +Tacitus, his eminence as a historian. +As a delineator of character. + +Talleyrand, M. Dumont's sketch of the character of. + +Tallien, his attack on Robespierre in the Convention. + +Tasso, character of his "Secchia Rapita." + +Telephus, the, of Euripides. + +Temple, Sir William, his essay in praise of the ancient writers. + +Ten Hours Bill, the Speech on. + +Ten Thousand, Xenophon's Expedition of the, its character. + +Terror, Reign of, commencement of the, in France. +Members of the Committee of Public Safety. +Robespierre's fiendish decree. +End of the Revolutionary Tribunal. + +Themistocles, his eloquence. + +Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities, the Speech on. + +Theo-philanthropy in France. + +Thermidor, the memorable ninth of. + +Thrales, Dr Johnson's connection with the. + +Thucydides, character of the speeches of the ancients, as +transmitted to us by him. +His historical shortcomings. +His history compared with that of Herodotus. +Management of his perspective in history. +His speeches put into the mouths of his characters. +His deficiencies. +School in which he studied. +His style and philosophy. +Regarded as a delineator of character. + +Thurlow, Lord, retains the Great Seal under Lord Rockingham. +Dismissed. +Again Lord Chancellor. + +Tiberius Caesar, Tacitus's delineation of the character of. + +Tinkers in the seventeenth century. + +Tinville, Fouquier, his introduction to the Revolutionary +Tribunal of Paris. +Placed under arrest. + +Tirzah and Ahirad, marriage of. + +Toulon, Barere's proposal to destroy it. + +Traveller, Goldsmith's, publication of the. +Its noble and simple design. + +United States of America, rapid increase of the human race in +the. +Causes of this. +Results of four censuses. +Number of slaves in the Union in 1810. +And of emigrants to the United States in 1817. +Recognition of the independence of the States. +Surrender of Cornwallis. + +Universal Suffrage. + +Uses, Statute of, its practical value. + +Utilitarianism. +One of the principal tenets of. +Style of writing admired by Utilitarians. +Barren theories of the Utilitarians. +Duty of exposing the fallacy of their arguments. +Lord Bacon's description of the Utilitarian philosophy. +Mr Bentham's exposition of the Utilitarian principle. +Remarks on the Utilitarian theory of government. +Delusion of the Utilitarians. +Origin of their faults. +Real character of the sect. +Their summum bonum. + +Venice, an example of the sterility of an oligarchical form of +government. + +Vergniaud, the Girondist leader, his eloquence. +His melancholy duty in the Convention. +Charged by the Mountain before the Revolutionary Committee. +His last speech. +His death. + +Vienna, the deliverance of. + +Virgil, idolatry of Dante for the writings of. + +Virgin, Ode to the Petrarch's. + +Voltaire, reluctance of the French Academy to acknowledge the +genius of. + +Voters, qualifications of, Mr Mill's views regarding. + +Wakefield, Vicar of, story of the publication of the. + +Walker, Obadiah, the apostate. +His aspersions on Martin Luther. + +Waller, Edward, character of his poetry. + +Walmesley, Gilbert, his kindness to Samuel Johnson. + +War, difference between, in large and small communities. + +War with China, the, Speech on. + +Waterloo, battle of. + +"We," the editorial, its fatal influence on rising genius. + +Wellesley, Sir Arthur, William Pitt's remark on. + +"Wellingtoniad, a Prophetical Account of a Grand National Epic +Poem, to be entitled." + +Westminster Hall compared with the Roman Forum. + +Westminster Review, its defence of Mill reviewed. +And of the Utilitarian theory of government. + +Wharton, Duke of, his speech in defence of Atterbury. + +Whigs, the party of opposition in 1780. +Their accession to power. + +Wilberforce, William, his visit to the Continent with William +Pitt. +Returned for York. + +Wilkes, John, compared to Mirabeau. + +Williams, Mrs, in Dr Johnson's house. + +Women, condition of, among the Greeks. +Among the Romans. +Superstitious veneration with which they were regarded by the +warriors of the north of Europe. +Their insight into motives. +Rejected by Mr Mill from all share in government. +Identity of interest between the sexes. +Right of women to vote as well as men. + +Wordsworth, William, his egotism as exhibited in his writings. + +World, The. +Its remarks on the literary genius of Johnson. + +Xenophon, historical value of his treatise on Domestic Economy. +Character of his history. +His life of Cyrus. +His expedition of the Ten Thousand and History of Grecian +Affairs. +His superstition and horror of popular turbulence. +Regarded as a delineator of character. + + + + + +End of: +Project Gutenberg Etext The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches +of Lord Macaulay, Volume 4 [The Speeches of Lord Macaulay] of 4 + diff --git a/old/4mwsm10.zip b/old/4mwsm10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef4d7c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4mwsm10.zip |