1776,
the Earl of Harcourt was charged with a breach of privilege; but his
services for the _queen_ operated as a sufficient reason for rejecting
the matter of complaint.
So expensive did the unjust and disgraceful war with America prove this
year, that more than _nine millions_ were supplied for its service! In
order to raise this shameful amount, extra taxes were levied on
newspapers, deeds, and other matters of public utility. Thus were the
industrious and really productive classes imposed upon, and their means
exhausted, to gratify the inordinate wishes of a German princess, now
entitled to be the cause of their misery and ruin. The queen knew that
war required soldiers and sailors, and that these soldiers and sailors
must have _officers_ over them, which would afford her an opportunity of
_selling commissions_ or of bestowing them upon some of her
_favourites_. So that these things contributed to her majesty's
_individual_ wealth and power, what cared she for the increase of the
country's burdens!
It is wonderful to reflect upon the means with which individuals in
possession of power have contrived, in all ages and in all countries, to
controul mankind. From thoughtlessness and the absence of knowledge, the
masses of people have been made to contend, with vehemence and
courageous enterprise, against their own interests, and for the benefit
of those mercenary wretches by whom they have been enslaved! How
monstrous it is, that, to gratify the sanguinary feelings of _one_
tyrant, thousands of human beings should go forth to the field of battle
as willing sacrifices! Ignorance alone has produced such lamentable
results; for a thirst after blood is never so effectually quenched as
when it is repressed by the influence of _knowledge_, which teaches
humility, moderation, benevolence, and the practice of every other
virtue. In civilized society, there cannot be an equality of property;
and, from the dissimilarity in human organization, there cannot be
equality in the power and vigour of the mind. All men, however, are
entitled to, and ought to enjoy, a perfect equality in civil and
political rights. In the absence of this just condition, a nation can
only be partially free. The people of such a nation exist under unequal
laws, and those persons upon whom injuries are inflicted by the partial
operation of those laws are, it must be conceded, the victims of an
authority which they cannot controul. Such was, unhappily, the condition
of the English people at this period. To prevent truth from having an
impartial hearing and explanation, the plans of government were obliged
to be of an insincere and unjust character. The consequences were, the
debasement of morals, and the prostitution of the happiness and rights
of the people. But Power was in the grasp of Tyranny, attended on each
side by Pride and Cruelty; while Fear presented an excuse for Silence
and Apathy, and left Artifice and Avarice to extend their baneful
influence over society. British courage was stifled by arbitrary
persecutions, fines, and imprisonment, which threatened to overwhelm all
who dared to resist the tide of German despotism. Had _unity_ and
_resolution_ been the watch-words of the sons of Britain, what millions
of debt might have been prevented! what oceans of blood might have been
saved! The iniquitous ministers who dictated war with America should
have suffered as traitors to their country, which would have been their
fate had not blind ignorance and servility, engendered by priests and
tyrants, through the impious frauds of church and state, overwhelmed the
better reason of the great mass of mankind! It was, we say, priestcraft
and statecraft that kindled this unjustifiable war, in order to lower
human nature, and induce men to butcher each other under the most
absurd, frivolous, and wicked pretences. Englishmen, at the commencement
of the American war, appear to have been no better than wretched
captives, without either courage, reason, or virtue, from whom the
queen's banditti of gaolers shut out the glorious light of day. There
were, however, some few patriots who raised their voices in opposition
to the abominable system then in practice, and many generous-hearted men
who boldly refused to fight against the justified resistance of the
Americans; but the general mass remained inactive, cowardly inactive,
against their merciless oppressors. The queen _pretended_ to lament the
sad state of affairs, while she did all in her power to continue the
misrule!