ON THE PRESENT CRISIS, IN A LETTER FROM A CONSTITUENT TO HIS REPRESENTATIVE. BY W. PETER, ESQ. Earth is sick And Heaven is weary of the hollow words, Which States and Kingdoms utter when they speak Wordsworth. Petit placidam sub Libertate Quietem. A. Sidney. SECOND EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS, London. "The social order being in the most essential respects the result of the Wisdom of Nature, and not of human contrivance; the proper business of the politician is not to divide his attention among the different parts of a Machine, which is by far too complicated for his comprehension; but by protecting the Rights of Individuals, and by allowing to each as complete a Liberty as is compatible with the perfect security of the Rights of his Fellow Citizens, to remove every obstacle which the Prejudices and Vices of Men have opposed to the establishment of that order which society has a tendency to assume." "In proportion as the opinions and Institutions of men approach to Truth and Justice, they will be secured against those Revolutions, to which human affairs have been always hitherto subject."-Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind. MY DEAR SIR, LETTER, &c. THE most valuable privilege of a free people is the right of investigating and exposing the measures of their Rulers. Under a government established upon principles like ours, it is, undoubtedly, not more the right than it is the duty of every individual to watch over the administration of public affairs, and to spread an alarm amongst his fellow citizens, when an attack is either made or meditated against the liberties of the People.' If ever there existed an occasion which more peculiarly called for the exercise of this privilege, it is the present. A conspiracy has been formed,—doctrines have been promulgated and acted upon, utterly subversive of the rights and happiness of Mankind. Let the principle of "Legitimacy" be once established, and Government (instead of being a public Trust committed to the Few for the benefit of the Many) will be converted into a private property and inheritance for the sole use and pleasure of the holder. It is to vindicate the just rights and interests of the People that these observations are addressed to the Parliament and the Public. Under whose auspices can a constituent with more propriety place them, than under those of his Representative in the great Council of the Nation,-more especially of a Representative who for more than forty years has We may almost say of the English what Pericles said of the Athenians. μονοι γαρ τουτε μηδεν των δε (πολιτικων) μετέχοντα, ουκ απράγμονα, αλλ' αχρείον νομιζόμενα Thucydides. manifested himself on every occasion the firm and zealous Servant of the People,--the Friend of Peace,-the asserter of Liberty,and the promoter of every measure, calculated either to confirm or extend the rights and happiness of Mankind? By you, Sir, who are a successor, not only to the high station, but to the integrity and public virtue of a St. Aubyn,' no apology, I am confident, will be required for thus offering my sentiments on public affairs at the present interesting crisis,-for commenting on the past measures, and expressing both my fears and hopes with regard to the future policy of the Country. Amongst the various enemies to whom popular Liberty has been obnoxious in every Age and Country, it will be difficult perhaps, to find one who has openly avowed himself the friend and admirer of despotism, in the abstract. Of whatsoever tendency their actions, -however contrary to every rational principle of independence the whole tenor of their lives, they have still professed a regard for the rights of Mankind. The preachers of Non-resistance, the inventors of Ship-money,-the tyrants of the Star-chamber have been all, if we believe their own declarations, the temperate friends of Constitutional Monarchy. Even Strafford, and Noye, and Jefferies (were they now alive) would be as loud, I have no doubt, in asserting their respective claims to consistency and public spirit, as any modern Apostate and Professor of exclusive loyalty and virtue. I trust, however, that the world is now inclined to look at the particular conduct, rather than at the general professions of men, and that it has learned fully to appreciate the patriotism of those who would substitute indignation at the vices of others for reformation of their own; and who, whilst railing at the despotism of Buonaparte, have never once hesitated to palliate or to support the suspensions of the Habeas Corpus-the restrictions of the Pressthe continuance of the Slave Trade, and every species of tyranny, corruption, or intolerance, which may have at any time disgraced and oppressed their native country. It is not to the mercenary instruments of power, or to their unworthy patrons that England will turn her eyes. The servile hands that have, been engaged in forcing a Government upon France, can only find a congenial employment in imposing fetters on their own country. Let such men for a while pursue their contemptible but lucrative career. "Let them," (to use the language of the immortal Sidney,) "please themselves with making the King glorious, who think a whole People may justly be sacrificed for the interest and pleasure of one man and a few of his followers. Nevertheless, perhaps they may It is almost superfluous to remind the reader of the tribute which an enemy was compelled to pay to the integrity of this honest representative, when Sir Robert Walpole said that he knew the price of every man in the House of Commons except Sir John St. Aubyn. find the King's glory is their shame; his plenty, the People's misery; and that the gaining an office or a little money, is a poor reward for destroying a Nation, which, if it were preserved in Liberty, would truly be the most glorious in the World. And others may find they have with much pains purchased their own shame and misery; a dear price paid for that which is not worth keeping, nor the life that is accompanied with it. The honor of English Parliaments has ever been in making the nation glorious and happy; not in selling and destroying the interests of it to satisfy the lusts of one Man!" Let the advocates of legitimacy pause. In their endeavours to make a GOD, they may perhaps too late find that they have offered up a VICTIM.' But there is another class of politicians very opposite in character, and yet almost equally prejudicial to the cause of Liberty. These are the men who are constantly aiming at obtaining credit with all parties. They sacrifice, indeed, not to corruption but to vanity; they offer their consistency to what is falsely called moderation, the inward consciousness of liberality to a silly desire of being thought liberal by others. In avoiding the appearance of error they fall into guilt. A dread of being charged with prejudice on one side drives them into the opposite extreme of vindicating the faults of their adversaries :-To avoid the imputation of being Enthusiasts in the cause of Liberty, they affect, and at length perhaps acquire a lukewarmness and indifference, more favorable to the growth of Despotism, than the most zealous efforts of its legitimate supporters. And what is the handle which is made of this affected candor and moderation by the enemies of independence? How frequently do the hasty and ill-judged concessions of our friends prevail, when all the arguments and power of our adversaries would have been fruitless! If we endeavour to enforce the necessity of a reform in the Representation of the People, its opponents at once exclaim, (and the assertion carries but too much weight with the unreflecting part of mankind) that the very idea of it has been abandoned by all the liberal and moderate of our own party. If we dwell upon the injustice of forcibly imposing a detested dynasty on the people of France, the immediate answer is that, "Mr. A. and my Lord B. and the best of our own friends are decidedly against us on that question," &c. But let it not be insinuated that I am counselling hypocrisy or concealment, or that I would desire any man to withhold his real unbiassed sentiments on any question, how little soever they may chance to be in unison, either with the policy of his party, or even with his own previous views and declarations? No,-free, public, "These pretensions to a divine Right have been generally carried highest by those who had the least pretensions to divine Favour." Lord Bolingbroke. and unreserved discussion is the soul of Liberty, and of all that is either great or good. How often after ages of darkness, has the sacred flame of Truth been suddenly kindled by an accidental spark from the collision of opposing opinions! Let not men, however, confound the shadow with the substance. Let them never compromise their principles from timidity or weakness; from an affected moderation, or a vain hope of conciliating their adversaries. It is a concession that uniformly fails in its intended object. It was this attempt to compromise or at least to soften down their principles, which has rendered the Whig Party of this Country, an object of distrust with the people without advancing it in the favor of the court. Had Earl Grey and its other Leaders adhered stedfastly to those principles of Reform which they once advocated with so much ability, they would have acquired in the gratitude and confidence of the People, an influence and a character which might have commanded the respect of the most despotic Sovereign. Not that I would be supposed to compare these Statesmen to the weak and wavering character to whom I have previously alluded. However erroneous in some respects we may consider their policy, their good deeds ought not to be forgotten. To the struggle which, under their enlightened Leader, they once made against the daring, attacks of a powerful and unprincipled minister, this country is perhaps indebted for whatever portion of public Liberty may yet remain. They have effected the redemption of Africa; they have attempted the emancipation of Ireland. They have only to reflect on what they were upon those occasions, to know the line of conduct which they ought to pursue at the present moment. Disdainful alike of avowed Enemies, and of pretended Friends, let them follow the straight forward path which lies open before them. Let them identify themselves with the People; anxiously abstaining from every measure which can be construed into a compromise of Principle; indignantly rejecting all alliance and connection with that class of Politicians who are in the habit of substituting their hostility towards other nations for the affection which good men bear towards their own, and who under the pretext of aggrandizing England, would enslave and desolate the rest of the World.' The passion of Liberty, when it is not founded upon principle, quickly evaporates into licentious Tyranny. A nation arrogating to itself the rights of others, soon becomes insensible to the value of its own Freedom. It is vain to hope, that those who from pride, interest, or ignorance, have assisted in forging fetters for Strangers, inay not be converted by similar inducements, into as ready instruments for subjecting their fellow-citizens to the same degradation. It is from this species of Politicians that the peace and happiness of Mankind are exposed to the most imminent danger. Destitute |