-e told that this is not a religious persecution; bettors are loud in disclaiming all severities on of conscience. Very fine indeed! Then let it be are not persecutors; they are only tyrants. With eart. I am perfectly indifferent concerning the upon which we torment one another; or whether the Constitution of the Church of England, or Constitution of the State of England, that people o make their fellow-creatures wretched. When sent into a place of authority, you that sent us selves but one commission to give. You could one to wrong or oppress, or even to suffer any oppression or wrong, on any grounds whatsoot on political, as in the affairs of America; not ercial, as in those of Ireland; not in civil, as in s for debt; not in religious, as in the statutes Protestant or Catholic dissenters. The diversiconnected fabric of universal justice is well and bolted together in all its parts; and, deon it, I never have employed, and I never shall any engine of power which may come into my o wrench it asunder. All shall stand, if I can and all shall stand connected. After all, to

this work much remains to be done; much East, much in the West. But, great as the if our will be ready, our powers are not defi

you have suffered me to trouble you so much on

this subject, permit me, gentlemen, to detain you a little. longer. I am indeed most solicitous to give you perfect satisfaction. I find there are some of a better and softer nature than the persons with whom I have supposed myself in debate, who neither think ill of the Act of Relief, 5 nor by any means desire the repeal; yet who, not accusing but lamenting what was done, on account of the consequences, have frequently expressed their wish that the late Act had never been made. Some of this description, and persons of worth, I have met with in this 10 city. They conceive that the prejudices, whatever they might be, of a large part of the people ought not to have been shocked; that their opinions ought to have been previously taken, and much attended to; and that thereby the late horrid scenes might have been pre- 15 vented.

I confess my notions are widely different, and I never was less sorry for any action of my life. I like the bill the better on account of the events of all kinds that followed it. It relieved the real sufferers; it strengthened 20 the state; and, by the disorders that ensued, we had clear evidence that there lurked a temper somewhere which ought not to be fostered by the laws. No ill consequences whatever could be attributed to the Act itself. We knew beforehand, or we were poorly instructed, that tol- 25 eration is odious to the intolerant; freedom to oppressors; property to robbers; and all kinds and degrees of prosperity to the envious. We knew that all these kinds of men would gladly gratify their evil dispositions under the sanction of law and religion if they could; if they 30 could not, yet, to make way to their objects, they would do their utmost to subvert all religion and all law. This we certainly knew but, knowing this, is there any reason, because thieves break in and steal, and thus bring detriment to you, and draw ruin on themselves, that I 35

am to be sorry that you are in the possession of shops, and of warehouses, and of wholesome laws to protect them? Are you to build no houses because desperate men may pull them down upon their own heads? Or, if 3 a malignant wretch will cut his own throat because he sees you give alms to the necessitous and deserving, shall his destruction be attributed to your charity, and not to his own deplorable madness? If we repent of our good actions, what, I pray you, is left for our faults and fol10 lies? It is not the beneficence of the laws; it is the unnatural temper, which beneficence can fret and sour, that is to be lamented. It is this temper which, by all rational means, ought to be sweetened and corrected. If froward men should refuse this cure, can they vitiate 15 anything but themselves? Does evil so react upon good

as not only to retard its motion, but to change its nature ? If it can so operate, then good men will always be in the power of the bad; and virtue, by a dreadful reverse of order, must lie under perpetual subjection and bondage

20 to vice.

As to the opinion of the people, which some think, in such cases, is to be implicitly obeyed.-Nearly two years' tranquillity which followed the Act, and its instant imitation in Ireland, proved abundantly that the late horri25 ble spirit was, in a great measure, the effect of insidious art, and perverse industry, and gross misrepresentation. But suppose that the dislike had been much more deliberate and much more general than I am persuaded it When we know that the opinions of even the 30 greatest multitudes are the standard of rectitude, I shall think myself obliged to make those opinions the masters of my conscience; but if it may be doubted whether Omnipotence itself is competent to alter the essential constitution of right and wrong, sure I am that such 35 things as they and I are possessed of no such power.

was.

No man carries further than I do the policy of making government pleasing to the people; but the widest range of this politic complaisance is confined within the limits of justice. I would not only consult the interest of the people, but I would cheerfully gratify their humors. We 5 are all a sort of children that must be soothed and managed. I think I am not austere or formal in my nature. I would bear, I would even myself play my part in, any innocent buffooneries to divert them; but I never will act the tyrant for their amusement. If they will mix 10 malice in their sports, I shall never consent to throw them any living sentient creature whatsoever, no, not so much as a kitling, to torment.

"But, if I profess all this impolitic stubbornness, I may chance never to be elected into Parliament." It is cer- 15 tainly not pleasing to be put out of the public service; but I wish to be a member of Parliament to have my share of doing good and resisting evil. It would therefore be absurd to renounce my objects in order to obtain my seat. I deceive myself indeed most grossly if I had 20 not much rather pass the remainder of my life hidden in the recesses of the deepest obscurity, feeding my mind even with the visions and imaginations of such things, than to be placed on the most splendid throne of the universe, tantalized with a denial of the practice of all 25 which can make the greatest situation any other than the greatest curse. Gentlemen, I have had my day. I can never sufficiently express my gratitude to you for having set me in a place wherein I could lend the slightest help to great and laudable designs. If I have had my share 30 in any measure giving quiet to private property and private conscience; if by my vote I have aided in securing to families the best possession, peace; if I have joined in reconciling kings to their subjects, and subjects to their prince; if I have assisted to loosen the foreign 35

holdings of the citizen, and taught him to look for his protection to the laws of his country, and for his comfort to the good-will of his countrymen; if I have thus taken my part with the best of men in the best of their actions, 5 I can shut the book - I might wish to read a page or two more, but this is enough for my measure -I have not lived in vain.

And now, gentlemen, on this serious day, when I come, as it were, to make up my account with you, let me take 10 to myself some degree of honest pride on the nature of

the charges that are against me. I do not here stand before you accused of venality, or of neglect of duty. It is not said that, in the long period of my service, I have in a single instance sacrificed the slightest of your inter15 ests to my ambition, or to my fortune. It is not alleged that, to gratify any anger or revenge of my own or of my party, I have had a share in wronging or oppressing any description of men, or any one man in any description. No! the charges against me are all of one kind: 20 that I have pushed the principles of general justice and benevolence too far, further than a cautious policy would warrant, and further than the opinions of many would go along with me. In every accident which may happen through life—in pain, in sorrow, in depression, and 25 distress -I will call to mind this accusation, and be

comforted.

Gentlemen, I submit the whole to your judgment. Mr. Mayor, I thank you for the trouble you have taken on this occasion; in your state of health, it is particularly 30 obliging. If this company should think it advisable for me to withdraw, I shall respectfully retire; if you think otherwise, I shall go directly to the Council-house and to the 'Change, and, without a moment's delay, begin my

canvass.