danger was real as well as apparent. But there is a vis conservatrix in the state, and the preventive means which exist are easy and effectual. It is only necessary to enforce the laws and to stop the progress of sedition by such punishment as shall prevent a repetition of the offence,.. any other is absurdly inappropriate. Let the sheriffs and magistrates refuse to call such meetings as manifestly tend, and certainly are intended, to agitate the people. Let the civil power be strengthened wherever it is needful, by swearing in as constables every man who is a known friend to good order; mobs would then be so speedily suppressed that the turbulent and misguided would not venture to invade the property of their neighbours and disturb the peace of the country. Arm the sound part of the people thus with the law,.. let them fully understand the power with which it invests them, and that, if they will stand by the law, the law will stand by them. Let it but be made known that England expects every man to 'do his duty,' and the sense of duty will be found as strong in men who are thus armed and called upon, as it proved at Trafalgar and at Waterloo. It is needless to observe how desirable it is, on every account, that the civil power should be preferably employed wherever it is possible,..and there are many cases where it may be effectually employed in which military force could be of no avail. In the counties where the Luddites continue their combinations, it is the custom that, before any frames are broken, one of the committee waits on the owner of the machinery, ordering him to desist from using it, and in case of refusal threatening Y him with the destruction of his property;..the men who carry this threat are suffered quietly to depart; the members of their committees are known, and the public houses where they hold their sittings. Does the law sleep, that these things are carried on in open day? Every man whose property is in danger should be sworn in as a constable, and every man also whom he should recommend as trustworthy: when the well disposed are thus combined under the law, for the protection of peace and order, we shall cease to hear of depredations which have too long disgraced the country. And here we cannot refrain from noticing the conduct of those magistrates in the Eastern counties, who capitulated with the agricultural rioters, and not only acceded to the demands of a mob, but even consented to deliver up men who had been apprehended in the act of rioting, and were then in custody. This was as flagrant a breach of duty as it would be in an officer to desert his post, or turn his back upon the enemy in the hour of battle. The nation has as much right to look for firmness from its magistrates as from its soldiers and its sailors. M. Simond concludes his journal with a parallel between the French and English nations, drawn with moderation, discernment, and in the spirit of good will towards both. We cannot conclude more appropriately than by pursuing the parallel, and applying it to the state of England at this time, and that of France at the commencement of the Revolution. We have our men of rank, like the Duc de Biron, who act from error rather than ill-design,.. but who would do well to remember that were, the last words which he uttered upon the scaffold, I have been false to my King, my Order, ' and my God!' We have those who unite in themselves wealth, fashion and talent, the gifts of fortune and of nature, like Herault Sechelles and St. Just,..but who like them are corrupted by evil principles and evil desires; and who, if they were once in blood,' would find that sin must pluck on sin;' we have our literatuli and philosophists like the Girondistes;.. our lawyers like Barnave, only without his eloquence;.. our Rabauts de St. Etienne who would fain exchange the dissenting pulpit for the tribune;.. our professors of humanity like Robespierre who wrote a treatise against the punishment of death; our journalists like Camille Desmoulins and Hebert; our Petions and Santerres; and if the season for indulging such dispositions were arrived, our Marats, Billauds and Carriers would not be wanting. But on the other hand we have a moral and religious people sensible of the blessings which they possess; a gentry who will stand by the law and exert themselves to maintain it; a loyal army and navy; a government which has raised us to the highest pitch of glory; and a constitution which is the admiration and envy of the whole civilized world, which has been transmitted to, us by our fathers, and which we will transmit to our children..so help us God! |