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all political connexions whatever than myself. I differed indeed last spring, and do still most decidedly differ with the majority of this House on the subject of the war: but there I stop. In no one instance have I formed new attachments, or forsaken my former private friendship, in consequence of this change of my opinions; and I am now ready, and I hope I shall ever preserve that readiness, to vote and to divide with either side of the House, on which reasonableness and justice shall appear to me to preponderate.

In order, Sir, to form something of a clear and consistent opinion of the nature and circumstances of the business of this day, it will not be altogether nugatory to take into consideration, a distinct statement of the facts that have led to the measures now proposed. On the 29th of October, his majesty, coming in state to open the parliament, was assaulted by some one or other, among a mixed and prodigious crowd, who threw a stone, which broke a window of the carriage; and certainly endangered the life of the sovereign. There cannot be any man in the whole kingdom more ready than myself, to acknowledge the atrocity of this act, and to consign the author or abettors of it to the most rigorous punishment of the law. I was, therefore, exceedingly well satisfied, when I saw a proclamation, issued by the privy council, offering an immense, but not unfit reward, for the discovery of the offender. I was still more satisfied when, by a second proclamation from an office of police, I had reason to suppose, that this wretch, though not actually discovered, was at least accurately identified. If it had been declared upon oath, that a dirty looking fellow, like an ostler, had been seen to throw a stone at the carriage, and that persons had been heard afterwards to compliment him on his dexterity-here one would think every thing that vigilance for the public weal, or concern for the life of the monarch could suggest, would have concentrated all its efforts. The discovery of a shabby ostler, and a coachman out of place (however cautiously they may be concealed) will hardly appear of any considerable difficulty to any man who considers the present accuracy of intelligence, both in government offices, and in those of the police.-Nor can it be seriously a matter of doubt, but that if these people were discovered, their plot, if it were a plot, would necessarily be laid open and dis

concerted; and their accomplices, if they had any, share the same fate with themselves. But at all events with this clue, leading to a knowledge of the whole state of the case, I put it now home to every gentleman's breast, whether it was not more reasonable, more natural, and more consonant to justice, to pursue that investigation upon the grounds of this information upon oath, than to turn shortly round into a totally new path of research, and shift the suspicion to a totally diffe. rent quarter.

I must confess, therefore, Sir, that when I saw the third proclamation, that which is now the object of our discussion, I was most exceedingly surprised and alarmed. For what is the coincidence of facts on which the circumstancess alluded to are affirmed to assimilate-none upon earth that I can see, but a mere proximity of date. A riotous and starving mob insult his majesty, and appear even to aim at his life on a certain day;-a mob, evidently exasperated by personal sufferings of the severest nature, calling to the common father of his people for peace and bread; and on the day before, a peaceable assembly of persons, who are not said or supposed to be in a state of actual necessity, and whose behaviour was in every respect most tranquil and exemplary, had convened to deliberate on the means of legally restoring their political rights. There is not the slightest symptom of union either in the principles or objects of the two assemblies, or is it by the most distant hint insinuated that this dirty-looking ostler or coachman out of place had been seen at the meeting near Copenhagen-house But it may be said, this meeting was nevertheless dangerous, by instilling seditious or treasonable notions into the brains of an undistinguishing multitude, and sn sideways, giving encouragement to the blow that was actually stricken. I ask, is there any proof of this? Is there any ground for assuming it? Is it the first time such an assembly has been collected under the orators of this assembly, to have disseminated, as it is urged, suchi dangerous doctrines, totally unknown, or if known, have the existing laws been put in force to bring them to justice? Nothing of the kind. Other assemblies have been previously holden on the very same subject. The same orators, whose names are probably familiar to every member of this House, have broached the same sentiments at those meetings, and their

speeches have been every where published and circulated, without a single animadversion from any of the law officers of the crown.

sures they had formerly reprobated, to lay every possible impediment in the way of a similar attack upon themselves. Considering the matter in this point of view, This, Sir, appears at the first blush so I have no hesitation whatever in declaring, singular a business, that I think it will not that the alarm so industriously spread in be amiss, if we analyze it up as far as we the latter end of 1792, against the difcan go. We must then observe, that the ferent societies linked together for the grievances complained of by those against purpose of procuring parliamentary rewhom the present proclamation is imme- form, was perfectly wise, consistent, and diately directed, are such as have been natural. The method of calling out the attributed to the want of a reform in par- militia at a most unusual season, of apliament: they are such, as pressing with prehending sundry persons, and seizing a extraordinary weight on the bulk of the voluminous mass of papers, with all the nation towards the close of a former most well-assumed trepidation of an immediate calamitous war, naturally connected the death-blow meditated against the constiidea of returning peace with that of an tution, was admirably well calculated to improved representation of the country. annihilate the most distant hopes of these And certain very able and distinguished societies in future, and commence a reign characters of those days so clearly exhi- of terror which no succeeding opposition bited the connexion between the profita- would have been able to shake. The ble abuses of war on the one hand, and means were ostensibly adequate to the the relaxed state of parliamentary inde- end proposed; and the precipitation with pendence on the other, that by vigour and which the act of Habeas Corpus was susperseverance they at length drove the pended, showed the extreme eagerness war ministry from their seats, and set up of the parties to take advantage of the an administration of their own on the ba-momentary paralysis of public opinion. sis of peace and reform. Far be it from me to deny that they continued to feel in office the sentiments they had professed on coming into power, or to suspect that they did not deprecate that system of hostility, which had been found so convenient to the profusion of their predecessors. But accidents will derange the best-concerted plans; and though they had the skill to evade actual warfare, they could not well avoid certain incidental armaments, which administered a momentary gloss to the languishing war establishment. At last, Sir, the necessity of a real and complete war, with all its train of inevitable extravagance, and official emolument, was fairly presurmised-and then-then it was natural to look back with some anxiety at the circumstances under which their predecessors in office had retired, and themselves acceded to possession. I am but speaking the language of plain reason and ordinary common sense, when I assert, that if in one instance the plan for immediate peace and parliamentary reform had triumphed over an administration professing diametrically opposite principles the same means might be apprehended, as again likely to produce similar effects; and therefore it may certainly be deemed no more than mere prudence and self-defence in those who were about to adopt the very mea

What followed? After a long lapse of time, the persons originally confined, were brought to their trial, under such peculiar circumstances of hardship, both as to the astonishing number of witnesses subpoenaed against them, and the unheard-of phalanx of professional men, drawn up in array, at the bar, that, I think, hardly any thing similar can be found in the annals of mankind.-I say, and I am sure many gentle. men who now hear me, can testify to my veracity, if they please, that even before trial these wretched victims were exultingly condemned to the gallows. That the assurance of their fate was in certain quarters perfectly proverbial; and I now declare my opinion as an honest and independent man, that if those persons had then suffered, not one of us now alive, should ever have seen the rights of Habeas Corpus restored to this country. Nothing would have been required to keep up a perpetual necessity for the suspension, but the sacrifice of a dozen or two of miserable wretches once in a year, to exaggerate suspicions of treason: a precedent would have been established (and who so fond of precedents as our courts of justice) for their condemnation, and in no very long period, popular prejudice might have gone hand and hand. with the verdict. Thank God, the integ rity of a jury impanelled in the metropolis,

in the very vortex of ministerial influence, | The House will please to consider how suddenly dispersed the tremendous cloud, very near we are supposed to be to a disand left nothing for ministers but the mi- solution of parliament, and upon that serable shift of the possibility of an exist- ground, pause a moment, to reflect in what ing conspiracy without conspirators. By situation every man will stand who shall this time the projected war was in full not start as a ministerial candidate at the effect, and any one who will be at the general election. Sir, upon this head, trouble to trace with accuracy the circum- but to have dropped a hint is fully suffi stances of which I have just sketched a cient. I affirm that the present ministry, rapid outline, will clearly discern from the by a bill founded on this proclamation, very nature of the case, as well as the op- will have the effectual control over all portunity taken for this transaction, that the electors of Great Britain, and no man it was planned for the very purpose of in- can possibly expect to be returned but on suring to administration an undisturbed ministerial interest.-As to the proclamacareer in the prosecution of hostilities. I tion itself, every sentence is a mere asassume it as a matter of fact, which every sumption of fact without any proof whatman may verify if he pleases. ever. Will the house admit upon this single authority, that inflammatory and seditious speeches have been delivered at the meeting alluded to, without any formal testimony adduced for it? Shall we without any evidence whatever conclude, that because it is notorious that one man in a tumultuous assembly has thrown a stone at the king's coach, many thousands of men who met quietly and decently the day before are complicated in the transaction? Are we not in full possession of an acknowledgment from the crown itself, that under an extreme pressure of distress, obedience to the laws has been so general as to deserve its particular notice, and violated only in a few instances? Shall we not be permitted to ask, why issue such a proclamation if it be insufficient, and if sufficient, why back it with an act of parliament? Shall we not call for a list of all those justices of the peace and others, to whom the proclamation is addressed, that we may judge for ourselves, whether or not they are now competent to the duty without farther aid? Shall we not, at all events, demand a call of the House, that on a case of such magnitude, in which the whole fabric of our constitu tion, as settled in 1668, is in danger, every member may be apprised of the circumstances under which his own liberty and that of the whole nation, and of all their posterity, is to be done away for ever? Surely, Sir, if ever there was a time when procrastination was a virtue, it is now. I shall sit down under the satisfactory conviction, that I have not in so critical a period shrunk from that duty which, on less important occasions, I should have been much better pleased to elude.

The failure of the project, therefore, as it was most exceedingly mortifying to its projectors, must be expected in the same degree to have given courage and exultation to its opponents; for which reason we ought then to have perceived the im. mediate operation and effect in the conduct of the parties and their associates, of all those dangerous and destructive designs, of which they had been so loudly accused. What was the fact? Tranquillity in the extreme, a general submission to the laws, and a temporary suspension even of the most legal exertions of the societies for a parliamentary reform, in favour of the vigour and unanimity required for the conducting the war; accordingly this war went on and went on, like that former war, the opposition to which had been so advantageous to the conductors of the present. Calamities poured in upon calamities, expenses were multiplied upon expenses; all the floodgates of profusion in subsidies, loans, and all the endless etceteras of ministerial dilapidation were thrown open, and it became again too apparent, that no remedy short of a parliamentary reform could possibly reach the enormous evil; and this brings us, Sir, to the moment of the proclamation now on the table. We have seen that an attempt to produce a complete annihilation of the societies by an attack upon the lives of some of their prominent members had failed. It is necessary, therefore, now to change the mode of proceeding, and by one blow to quash the very existence not only of all these existing societies, but even the possibility of any such society ever existing at all-and the time chosen for this operation is of itself sufficient, in my mind, to warrant the inference I now draw. [VOL. XXXII.]

Mr. Maurice Robinson said, he had that night heard from an hon. baronet, a sophisticated explanation of the nature of [U]

majority of that House, but the voice of the people. What was it that put a stop to the Spanish armament? Not the majority of that House, but the voice of the people. To preserve this voice inviolate he would risk his life and property; and it was indifferent to him, if the bill should pass, whether the constitution were de stroyed by despotism, or an insurrection of the people. He could only attribute this bill to the convenience of ministers, who wished to put a stop to the progress of complaints against them to the throne; and, as an argument in support of this assertion he requested that part of his majesty's speech to be read which spoke of the general moderation and good behaviour of the people. Yet, after this had been pronounced by his majesty to both Houses, they were called upon to vote for a bill, which, even in a limited and moderate extent, no minister had before presumed to bring forward. He trusted the

the bill, a circuitous effort to confound its | object and effect, infinitely more insidious and alarming, than the pretext of necessity which the chancellor of the exchequer had undisguisedly alleged. From the sophistry of the hon. baronet, he collected, that the people would have a right to read, but not to speak complaints against the burdens they endured. Thus the interests of the sovereign were opposed to those of the people, whereas he had always heard that the sovereign was a third branch of the legislature, and was bound to understand the democratical interests as much as his own. The bill went to impeach the loyalty of the people, who, except a few indeed, had constantly shown their veneration for the sovereign; for never had king afforded more trying situations for the loyalty of the subject to be manifested in, nor experienced stronger instances of their love and attachment. The effect of the bill would be much to diminish the benefit of trial by jury in the city of Lon-House would not, dared not, let it pass. don. The House ought to resist a bill which was an execrable compound of oppression and folly.

Alderman Lushington said, that when he looked at the daring attack, not solely against the person of the king, but against the whole constitution, he thought the measure necessary for the preservation of the constitution. If a negative was put on the bill, he would venture to say, that not only every man in that House, but millions out of it would lament the day when they rejected it.

Mr. Curwen declared, that no man more deprecated the attack upon the sovereign than he did he never contemplated any thing with more abhorrence than he did that attack, except the glaring attempt which was that evening made, under the sanction of the royal name, to deprive the subject of his best and dearest privilege. If any thing could endanger the person of his majesty it would be that bill. With the privilege of a free discussion on the defects of their government, the proceed. ings of ministers, and the conduct of their representatives, the people of this realm were never obliged to recur to acts of violence to obtain a redress of their grievances; and hence arose the security of their sovereigns. It was true, the right hon. Gentleman had sufficient cause to suppress the voice of the people; for no man had ever suffered more mortifications from it than himself. What was it that put a stop to the Russian war? Not the

If they had the feelings of Englishmen, he was persuaded they would not: sure he was, that the country had only to be apprized of its danger, and it never would pass.

Mr. Wilberforce said, that the present period and occasion were such as rendered it the duty of every public man to declare his sentiments, and it was more especially incumbent on those, who, like himself disclaimed the idea of party connexion. He had listened with attention to his right hon. friend's opening; and although he did not mean to pledge himself with regard to the particular provisions of the bill, he approved of the general principle of the measure, and, so approving, he was not to be deterred from the frank avowal of his opinion, by the lofty tones, and violent epithets of the hon. gentleman opposite. He begged the House to take a considerate review of all that had passed relative to the subject before them for the last three years; so long it was since attempts had been making, by every species of art and industry, to poison the minds of the people of this country, to instil into them jealousies and suspicions, and to excite a contempt for the British constitution and an attachment to those false principles of liberty, which had produced such extensive mischiefs in a neighbouring country; nor was it only French politics which they were importing into this country, but French philosophy also in the numerous publications by which their opi

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tions, and the expressing to parliament of the national will were to remain untouched; he might rather say, that they would acquire new life and vigour when those assemblies should be brought under regulation, which had incroached on their province and usurped their powers. He was ready, however, to confess that it was not willingly that he resorted to this bill; all that was left to him was a choice of difficulties; it was the condition of human nature, and no where so true as in politics, that it was almost impossible to obtain any great good without the sacrifice of some opposite advantages, or the risk of possible evil, yet on the whole he must declare, that fairly estimating the advantages and disadvantages likely to result from the measure in question, he could not hesitate to which side of the alternative to give the preference. The se cond part of the bill respected the seditious clubs and debating societies. Concerning these he thought there could hardly be two opinions; they might do much harm, they could do no good. The cause of truth and of fair discussion were not promoted by these assemblies; on the contrary, they were the sure parents of falsehood, prejudice, and passion. But a right hon. gentleman had defended them on the ground of their being necessary, as vents through which the humours of the body politic were to be suffered to pass without restraint. Was it by seditious clubs and debating societies, said the right hon. gentleman, that the old government of France had been deitroyed? Was it by seditious clubs and debating societies that the monarchy was subverted in our own country in the time of Charles 1st? Had not both Louis 16th and Charles 1st, attempted to stifle and suppress these and other means by which the public discontents were supposed to be excited. Mr. Wilberforce said, he had always considered it as the grand preservative of the British constitution that there was a popular assembly, the House of Commons, in which all popular griev ances might be freely and safely discussed to which the people might be encouraged to bring their complaints, wherein they might be sure there would never be wanting those who would stand forth to assert the cause of the injured or op pressed; here in short, all the national humour might be suffered to ferment without danger. Was there any thing of this kind in the constitution of France?

nions were disseminated, there was a marked contempt for every thing sacred, an avowed opposition to the religion, as well as to the constitution of Great Britain. Various means had been taken to put a stop to these proceedings, but in vain; these bad men seemed to redouble their efforts, and to press forward with increased audaciousness. Lectures were given, and harangues delivered, of the most inflammatory nature; hand bills and prints of the most atrocious description were circulated. That all this had not been without effect, was but too manifest from those daring insults on the person of his majesty. What, then, was to be done. Were these men to be suffered to go on without disturbance? It was a question which deserved the rather to be asked, because there were manifestly a systematic principle, a consistency and uniformity in their measures, which plainly evinced a deliberate plan of conduct. Were they to be permitted to pursue in all our great manufacturing towns, what they had begun in more than one of them -that same system of popular assemblies, and debating clubs, and seditious harangues which they had introduced into the capital. Surely it was high time for parliament to stop the progress of this growing mischief: and he thought administration deserved the thanks of the country for making the attempt in spite of all the clamour they must expect to raise amongst those who harboured these bad designs, and amongst others in that House, whom he had observed with sorrow to be but too ready to lend their countenance to them.-The measure divided itself into two parts; that which respected the greater popular assemblies and that which respected the smaller societies and clubs. With regard to the former, he conceived it was by no means meant to lay any restraint on the constitutional modes of discussing public questions, and stating and obtaining redress for national grievances; all that was designed was, to prevent the mischiefs likely to result from tumultuous assemblies, by bringing them more under the cognizance of the laws, and putting the magistrate into a capacity of discharging that duty, in the execution of which, difficulties were now thrown in his way, which rendered the exercise of it almost impracticable. The grand constitutional organs by which the wisdom of their forefathers had provided for the discussion of political ques

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