six-and-forty million, did not then amount to ten. The inland trade,
which is commonly passed by in this sort of estimates, but which, in
part growing out of the foreign, and connected with it, is more
advantageous and more substantially nutritive to the state, is not only
grown in a proportion of near five to one as the foreign, but has been
augmented at least in a tenfold proportion. When I came to England, I
remember but one river navigation, the rate of carriage on which was
limited by an act of Parliament. It was made in the reign of William the
Third. I mean that of the Aire and Calder. The rate was settled at
thirteen pence. So high a price demonstrated the feebleness of these
beginnings of our inland intercourse. In my time, one of the longest and
sharpest contests I remember in your House, and which rather resembled a
violent contention amongst national parties than a local dispute, was,
as well as I can recollect, to hold the price up to threepence. Even
this, which a very scanty justice to the proprietors required, was done
with infinite difficulty. As to private credit, there were not, as I
believe, twelve bankers' shops at that time out of London. In this their
number, when I first saw the country, I cannot be quite exact; but
certainly those machines of domestic credit were then very few. They are
now in almost every market-town: and this circumstance (whether the
thing be carried to an excess or not) demonstrates the astonishing
increase of private confidence, of general circulation, and of internal
commerce,--an increase out of all proportion to the growth of the
foreign trade. Our naval strength in the time of King William's war was
nearly matched by that of France; and though conjoined with Holland,
then a maritime power hardly inferior to our own, even with that force
we were not always victorious. Though finally superior, the allied
fleets experienced many unpleasant reverses on their own element. In two
years three thousand vessels were taken from the English trade. On the
Continent we lost almost every battle we fought.
In 1697, (it is not quite an hundred years ago,) in that state of
things, amidst the general debasement of the coin, the fall of the
ordinary revenue, the failure of all the extraordinary supplies, the
ruin of commerce, and the almost total extinction of an infant credit,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself, whom we have just seen begging
from door to door, came forward to move a resolution full of vigor, in
which, far from being discouraged by the generally adverse fortune and
the long continuance of the war, the Commons agreed to address the crown
in the following manly, spirited, and truly animating style:--
"This is the EIGHTH year in which your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal
subjects, the Commons in Parliament assembled, have assisted your
Majesty with large supplies for carrying on a just and necessary war, in
defence of our religion, preservation of our laws, and vindication of
the rights and liberties of the people of England."
Afterwards they proceed in this manner:--
"And to show to your Majesty and all Christendom that the Commons of
England will not be _amused_ or diverted from their firm resolutions of
obtaining by WAR a safe and honorable peace, we do, in the name of all
those we represent, renew our assurances to your Majesty that this House
will support your Majesty and your government against all your enemies,
both at home and abroad, and that they will effectually assist you in
the prosecution and carrying on the present war against France."
The amusement and diversion they speak of was the suggestion of a treaty
_proposed by the enemy_, and announced from the throne. Thus the people
of England felt in the _eighth_, not in the _fourth_ year of the war. No
sighing or panting after negotiation; no motions from the opposition to
force the ministry into a peace; no messages from ministers to palsy and
deaden the resolution of Parliament or the spirit of the nation. They
did not so much as advise the king to listen to the propositions of the
enemy, nor to seek for peace, but through the mediation of a vigorous
war. This address was moved in an hot, a divided, a factious, and, in a
great part, disaffected House of Commons; and it was carried, _nemine
contradicente_.
While that first war (which was ill smothered by the Treaty of Ryswick)
slept in the thin ashes of a seeming peace, a new conflagration was in
its immediate causes. A fresh and a far greater war was in preparation.
A year had hardly elapsed, when arrangements were made for renewing the
contest with tenfold fury. The steps which were taken, at that time, to
compose, to reconcile, to unite, and to discipline all Europe against
the growth of France, certainly furnish to a statesman the finest and
most interesting part in the history of that great period. It formed the
masterpiece of King William's policy, dexterity, and perseverance. Full
of the idea of preserving not only a local civil liberty united with
order to our country, but to embody it in the political liberty, the
order, and the independence of nations united under a natural head, the
king called upon his Parliament to put itself into a posture "_to
preserve to England the weight and influence it at present had on the
councils and affairs_ ABROAD. It will be requisite _Europe_ Should see
you will not be wanting to yourselves."
Baffled as that monarch was, and almost heartbroken at the
disappointment he met with in the mode he first proposed for that great
end, he held on his course. He was faithful to his object; and in
councils, as in arms, over and over again repulsed, over and over again
he returned to the charge. All the mortifications he had suffered from
the last Parliament, and the greater he had to apprehend from that newly
chosen, were not capable of relaxing the vigor of his mind. He was in
Holland when he combined the vast plan of his foreign negotiations. When
he came to open his design to his ministers in England, even the sober
firmness of Somers, the undaunted resolution of Shrewsbury, and the
adventurous spirit of Montagu and Orford were staggered. They were not
yet mounted to the elevation of the king. The cabinet, then the regency,
met on the subject at Tunbridge Wells, the 28th of August, 1698; and
there, Lord Somers holding the pen, after expressing doubts on the state
of the Continent, which they ultimately refer to the king, as best
informed, they give him a most discouraging portrait of the spirit of
this nation. "So far as relates to England," say these ministers, "it
would be want of duty not to give your Majesty this clear account: that
there is _a deadness and want of spirit in the nation universally_, so
as not at all to be disposed to _the thought of entering into a new
war_; and that they seem to be _tired out with taxes_ to a degree beyond
what was discerned, till it appeared upon the occasion of _the late
elections_. This is the truth of the fact, upon which your Majesty will
determine what resolutions are proper to be taken."
His Majesty did determine,--and did take and pursue his resolution. In
all the tottering imbecility of a new government, and with Parliament
totally unmanageable, he persevered. He persevered to expel the fears of
his people by his fortitude, to steady their fickleness by his
constancy, to expand their narrow prudence by his enlarged wisdom, to
sink their factious temper in his public spirit. In spite of his people,
he resolved to make them great and glorious,--to make England, inclined
to shrink into her narrow self, the arbitress of Europe, the tutelary
angel of the human race. In spite of the ministers, who staggered under
the weight that his mind imposed upon theirs, unsupported as they felt
themselves by the popular spirit, he infused into them his own soul, he
renewed in them their ancient heart, he rallied them in the same cause.
It required some time to accomplish this work. The people were first
gained, and, through them, their distracted representatives. Under the
influence of King William, Holland had rejected the allurements of every
seduction, and had resisted the terrors of every menace. With Hannibal
at her gates, she had nobly and magnanimously refused all separate
treaty, or anything which might for a moment appear to divide her
affection or her interest or even to distinguish her in identity from
England. Having settled the great point of the consolidation (which he
hoped would be eternal) of the countries made for a common interest and
common sentiment, the king, in his message to both Houses, calls their
attention to the affairs of the _States General_. The House of Lords
was perfectly sound, and entirely impressed with the wisdom and dignity
of the king's proceedings. In answer to the message, which you will
observe was narrowed to a single point, (the danger of the States
General,) after the usual professions of zeal for his service, the Lords
opened themselves at large. They go far beyond the demands of the
message. They express themselves as follows.
"We take this occasion _further_ to assure your Majesty we are very
sensible of _the great and imminent danger to which the States General
are at present exposed; and we do perfectly agree with them in believing
that their safety and ours are so inseparably united that whatsoever is
ruin to the one must be fatal to the other_.
"And we humbly desire your Majesty will be pleased _not only_ to make
good all the articles of any _former_ treaty to the States General, but
that you will enter into a strict league offensive and defensive with
them _for our common preservation; and that you will invite into it all
princes and states who are concerned in the present visible danger
arising from the union of France and Spain_.
"And we further desire your Majesty, that you will be pleased to enter
into such alliances with the _Emperor_ as your Majesty shall think fit,
pursuant to the ends of the treaty of 1689: towards all which we assure
your Majesty of our hearty and sincere assistance; not doubting, but,
whenever your Majesty shall be obliged to engage for the defence of your
allies, _and for securing the liberty and quiet of Europe_, Almighty God
will protect your sacred person in so righteous a cause, and that the
unanimity, wealth, and courage of your subjects will carry your Majesty
with honor and success _through all the difficulties of a_ JUST WAR."
The House of Commons was more reserved. The late popular disposition was
still in a great degree prevalent in the representative, after it had
been made to change in the constituent body. The principle of the Grand
Alliance was not directly recognized in the resolution of the Commons,
nor the war announced, though they were well aware the alliance was
formed for the war. However, compelled by the returning sense of the
people, they went so far as to fix the three great immovable pillars of
the safety and greatness of England, as they were then, as they are now,
and as they must ever be to the end of time. They asserted in general
terms the necessity of supporting Holland, of keeping united with our
allies, and maintaining the liberty of Europe; though they restricted
their vote to the succors stipulated by actual treaty. But now they were
fairly embarked, they were obliged to go with the course of the vessel;
and the whole nation, split before into an hundred adverse factions,
with a king at its head evidently declining to his tomb, the whole
nation, lords, commons, and people, proceeded as one body informed by
one soul. Under the British union, the union of Europe was consolidated;
and it long held together with a degree of cohesion, firmness, and
fidelity not known before or since in any political combination of that
extent.
Just as the last hand was given to this immense and complicated machine,
the master workman died. But the work was formed on true mechanical
principles, and it was as truly wrought. It went by the impulse it had
received from the first mover. The man was dead; but the Grand Alliance
survived, in which King William lived and reigned. That heartless and
dispirited people, whom Lord Somers had represented about two years
before as dead in energy and operation, continued that war, to which it
was supposed they were unequal in mind and in means, for near thirteen
years.
For what have I entered into all this detail? To what purpose have I
recalled your view to the end of the last century? It has been done to
show that the British nation was then a great people,--to point out how
and by what means they came to be exalted above the vulgar level, and to
take that lead which they assumed among mankind. To qualify us for that
preëminence, we had then an high mind and a constancy unconquerable; we
were then inspired with no flashy passions, but such as were durable as
well as warm, such as corresponded to the great interests we had at
stake. This force of character was inspired, as all such spirit must
ever be, from above. Government gave the impulse. As well may we fancy
that of itself the sea will swell, and that without winds the billows
will insult the adverse shore, as that the gross mass of the people will
be moved, and elevated, and continue by a steady and permanent direction
to bear upon one point, without the influence of superior authority or
superior mind.
This impulse ought, in my opinion, to have been given in this war; and
it ought to have been continued to it at every instant. It is made, if
ever war was made, to touch all the great springs of action in the human
breast. It ought not to have been a war of apology. The minister had, in
this conflict, wherewithal to glory in success, to be consoled in
adversity, to hold high his principle in all fortunes. If it were not
given him to support the falling edifice, he ought to bury himself under
the ruins of the civilized world. All the art of Greece and all the
pride and power of Eastern monarchs never heaped upon their ashes so
grand a monument.
There were days when his great mind was up to the crisis of the world he
is called to act in.[29] His manly eloquence was equal to the elevated
wisdom of such sentiments. But the little have triumphed over the great:
an unnatural, (as it should seem,) not an unusual victory. I am sure you
cannot forget with how much uneasiness we heard, in conversation, the
language of more than one gentleman at the opening of this
contest,--"that he was willing to try the war for a year or two, and, if
it did not succeed, then to vote for peace." As if war was a matter of
experiment! As if you could take it up or lay it down as an idle frolic!
As if the dire goddess that presides over it, with her murderous spear
in her hand and her Gorgon at her breast, was a coquette to be flirted
with! We ought with reverence to approach that tremendous divinity, that
loves courage, but commands counsel. War never leaves where it found a
nation. It is never to be entered into without a mature
deliberation,--not a deliberation lengthened out into a perplexing
indecision, but a deliberation leading to a sure and fixed judgment.
When so taken up, it is not to be abandoned without reason as valid, as
fully and as extensively considered. Peace may be made as unadvisedly as
war. Nothing is so rash as fear; and the counsels of pusillanimity very
rarely put off, whilst they are always sure to aggravate, the evils
from which they would fly.
In that great war carried on against Louis the Fourteenth for near
eighteen years, government spared no pains to satisfy the nation, that,
though they were to be animated by a desire of glory, glory was not
their ultimate object; but that everything dear to them, in religion, in
law, in liberty, everything which as freemen, as Englishmen, and as
citizens of the great commonwealth of Christendom, they had at heart,
was then at stake. This was to know the true art of gaining the
affections and confidence of an high-minded people; this was to
understand human nature. A danger to avert a danger, a present
inconvenience and suffering to prevent a foreseen future and a worse
calamity,--these are the motives that belong to an animal who in his
constitution is at once adventurous and provident, circumspect and
daring,--whom his Creator has made, as the poet says, "of large
discourse, looking before and after." But never can a vehement and
sustained spirit of fortitude be kindled in a people by a war of
calculation. It has nothing that can keep the mind erect under the gusts
of adversity. Even where men are willing, as sometimes they are, to
barter their blood for lucre, to hazard their safety for the
gratification of their avarice, the passion which animates them to that
sort of conflict, like all the shortsighted passions, must see its
objects distinct and near at hand. The passions of the lower order are
hungry and impatient. Speculative plunder,--contingent spoil,--future,
long adjourned, uncertain booty,--pillage which must enrich a late
posterity, and which possibly may not reach to posterity at all,--these,
for any length of time, will never support a mercenary war. The people
are in the right. The calculation of profit in all such wars is false.
On balancing the account of such wars, ten thousand hogsheads of sugar
are purchased at ten thousand times their price. The blood of man should
never be shed but to redeem the blood of man. It is well shed for our
family, for our friends, for our God, for our country, for our kind. The
rest is vanity; the rest is crime.
In the war of the Grand Alliance most of these considerations
voluntarily and naturally had their part. Some were pressed into the
service. The political interest easily went in the track of the natural
sentiment. In the reverse course the carriage does not follow freely. I
am sure the natural feeling, as I have just said, is a far more
predominant ingredient in this war than in that of any other that ever
was waged by this kingdom.
If the war made to prevent the union of two crowns upon one head was a
just war, this, which is made to prevent the tearing all crowns from all
heads which ought to wear them, and with the crowns to smite off the
sacred heads themselves, this is a just war.
If a war to prevent Louis the Fourteenth from imposing his religion was
just, a war to prevent the murderers of Louis the Sixteenth from
imposing their irreligion upon us is just: a war to prevent the
operation of a system which makes life without dignity and death without
hope is a just war.
If to preserve political independence and civil freedom to nations was a
just ground of war, a war to preserve national independence, property,
liberty, life, and honor from certain universal havoc is a war just
necessary, manly, pious; and we are bound to persevere in it by every
principle, divine and human, as long as the system which menaces them
all, and all equally, has an existence in the world.
You, who have looked at this matter with as fair and impartial an eye as
can be united with a feeling heart, you will not think it an hardy
assertion, when I affirm that it were far better to be conquered by any
other nation than to have this faction for a neighbor. Before I felt
myself authorized to say this, I considered the state of all the
countries in Europe for these last three hundred years, which have been
obliged to submit to a foreign law. In most of those I found the
condition of the annexed countries even better, certainly not worse,
than the lot of those which were the patrimony of the conqueror. They
wanted some blessings, but they were free from many very great evils.
They were rich and tranquil. Such was Artois, Flanders, Lorraine,
Alsatia, under the old government of France. Such was Silesia under the
King of Prussia. They who are to live in the vicinity of this new fabric
are to prepare to live in perpetual conspiracies and seditions, and to
end at last in being conquered, if not to her dominion, to her
resemblance. But when we talk of conquest by other nations, it is only
to put a case. This is the only power in Europe by which it is
_possible_ we should be conquered. To live under the continual dread of
such immeasurable evils is itself a grievous calamity. To live without
the dread of them is to turn the danger into the disaster. The influence
of such a France is equal to a war, its example more wasting than an
hostile irruption. The hostility with any other power is separable and
accidental: this power, by the very condition of its existence, by its
very essential constitution, is in a state of hostility with us, and
with all civilized people.[30]
A government of the nature of that set up at our very door has never
been hitherto seen or even imagined in Europe. What our relation to it
will be cannot be judged by other relations. It is a serious thing to
have a connection with a people who live only under positive, arbitrary,
and changeable institutions,--and those not perfected nor supplied nor
explained by any common, acknowledged rule of moral science. I remember,
that, in one of my last conversations with the late Lord Camden, we were
struck much in the same manner with the abolition in France of the law
as a science of methodized and artificial equity. France, since her
Revolution, is under the sway of a sect whose leaders have deliberately,
at one stroke, demolished the whole body of that jurisprudence which
France had pretty nearly in common with other civilized countries. In
that jurisprudence were contained the elements and principles of the law
of nations, the great ligament of mankind. With the law they have of
course destroyed all seminaries in which jurisprudence was taught, as
well as all the corporations established for its conservation. I have
not heard of any country, whether in Europe or Asia, or even in Africa
on this side of Mount Atlas, which is wholly without some such colleges
and such corporations, except France. No man, in a public or private
concern, can divine by what rule or principle her judgments are to be
directed: nor is there to be found a professor in any university, or a
practitioner in any court, who will hazard an opinion of what is or is
not law in France, in any case whatever. They have not only annulled all
their old treaties, but they have renounced the law of nations, from
whence treaties have their force. With a fixed design they have outlawed
themselves, and to their power outlawed all other nations.
Instead of the religion and the law by which they were in a great
politic communion with the Christian world, they have constructed their
republic on three bases, all fundamentally opposite to those on which
the communities of Europe are built. Its foundation is laid in Regicide,
in Jacobinism, and in Atheism; and it has joined to those principles a
body of systematic manners which secures their operation.
If I am asked how I would be understood in the use of these terms,
Regicide, Jacobinism, Atheism, and a system of correspondent manners,
and their establishment, I will tell you.
I call a commonwealth _Regicide_ which lays it down as a fixed law of
Nature and a fundamental right of man, that all government, not being a
democracy, is an usurpation,[31]--that all kings, as such, are usurpers,
and, for being kings, may and ought to be put to death, with their
wives, families, and adherents. The commonwealth which acts uniformly
upon those principles, and which, after abolishing every festival of
religion, chooses the most flagrant act of a murderous regicide treason
for a feast of eternal commemoration, and which forces all her people to
observe it,--this I call _Regicide by Establishment_.
Jacobinism is the revolt of the enterprising talents of a country
against its property. When private men form themselves into associations
for the purpose of destroying the preëxisting laws and institutions of
their country,--when they secure to themselves an army by dividing
amongst the people of no property the estates of the ancient and lawful
proprietors,--when a state recognizes those acts,--when it does not make
confiscations for crimes, but makes crimes for confiscations,--when it
has its principal strength and all its resources in such a violation of
property,--when it stands chiefly upon such a violation, massacring by
judgments, or otherwise, those who make any struggle for their old legal
government, and their legal, hereditary, or acquired possessions,--I
call this _Jacobinism by Establishment_.