Whitehall, Nov. 14th, 1792.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
The events in Flanders have brought so much hurry of things to be
done and thought of upon me, that I really have been unable to
answer your letter, which I have been some days intending to do.
With respect to what you mention about prosecutions, you do not
advert to the forms of our laws, by which no step of that nature
can be taken by the Attorney-General, except in term time, when
alone his informations can be filed. No seditious publication has
ever come to my knowledge, without my referring it to the
Attorney-General for prosecution; and out of the five which you
mention, viz., Jockey Club, Paine, Cooper, Walker and Cartwright,
the three first have been so referred, the two last I have never
seen. In truth, without assistance from the magistrates and
gentlemen of the country, who give none except Addresses, it is
very vain for Government to attempt to see and know, at Whitehall,
every libel which may be dispersed in the country.
But the real fact is, that these people were completely quelled,
and their spirit destroyed, till the Duke of Brunswick's retreat.
Since that they have begun to show themselves again, and nothing
that I know of has been neglected that could tend to put the law in
force against them. Steps are now taking by Government to send
persons into the counties to purchase these libels, with a view to
indictments at the Christmas Quarter Sessions; but this is a thing
that can be done but once, and could not be continued without an
expense equal to that of the old French police. Our laws suppose
magistrates and Grand Juries to do this duty, and if they do it
not, I have little faith in its being done by a Government such as
the Constitution has made ours. If you look back to the last time
in our history that these sort of things bore the same serious
aspect that they now do--I mean the beginning of the Hanover
reigns--you will find that the Protestant succession was
established, not by the interference of a Secretary of State or
Attorney-General, in every individual instance, but by the
exertions of every magistrate and officer, civil or military,
throughout the country.
I wish this was more felt and understood, because it is a little
hard to be forced to run the hazards of doing much more than one's
duty, and then to be charged with doing less.
As to what you mention of overt acts, those things are all much
exaggerated, where they are not wholly groundless. The report of
what is called "Cooper's Ass-Feast" (Walker's I never heard of),
and of the Scotch Greys being concerned in it, reached me _by
accident_, for of all the King's good subjects, who are exclaiming
against its not being noticed, not one thought it worth his while
to apprise the Secretary of State of it. I took immediate steps for
inquiring into it, and am satisfied that the whole story has no
other foundation than Mr. Cooper having invited two officers to
dine with him in a small company, and having given them, by way of
curiosity, as a new dish, a piece of a young ass roasted. I
inquired, in the same manner, about the riot stated to have
happened at Sheffield; and learn from Lord Loughborough, who lives
in the county, and is enough on the _qui vive_ on the subject, that
there was nothing which, even in the most peaceable times, could
deserve the name of a riot. That supposed at Perth I never heard of
yet, though Dundas has been within a short distance of that place.
It is not unnatural, nor is it an unfavourable symptom, that people
who are thoroughly frightened, as the body of landed gentlemen in
this country are, should exaggerate these stories as they pass from
one mouth to the other; but you, who know the course of this sort
of reports, ought not too hastily to give credit to them.
It is, however, not the less true that the danger exists, and
perhaps not the less from its not breaking out in the manner
stated. The conquest of Flanders has, as I believe, brought the
business to a much nearer issue here than any reasonable man could
believe a month ago. The hands of Government must be strengthened
if the country is to be saved; but, above all, the work must not be
left to the hands of Government, but every man must put his
shoulder to it, according to his rank and situation in life, or it
will not be done. I could write much more of the same sort, but I
have already people waiting for me.
Ever most affectionately yours,
G.