_------Quem cur distringere coner,
Tutus ab infestis latronibus?_[2]
I never let slip an opportunity of endeavouring to convince the world,
that I am not partial, and to confound the idle reproach of my being
hired or directed what to write in defence of the present ministry,[3] or
for detecting the practices of the former. When I first undertook this
paper, I firmly resolved, that if ever I observed any gross neglect,
abuse or corruption in the public management, which might give any just
offence to reasonable people, I would take notice of it with that
innocent boldness which becomes an honest man, and a true lover of his
country; at the same time preserving the respect due to persons so highly
entrusted by so wise and excellent a Queen. I know not how such a liberty
might have been resented; but I thank God there has been no occasion
given me to exercise it; for I can safely affirm, that I have with the
utmost rigour, examined all the actions of the present ministry, as far
as they fall under general cognizance, without being able to accuse them
of one ill or mistaken step. Observing indeed some time ago, that seeds
of dissension[4] had been plentifully scattered from a certain corner,
and fearing they began to rise and spread, I immediately writ a paper on
the subject; which I treated with that warmth I thought it required: but
the prudence of those at the helm soon prevented this growing evil; and
at present it seems likely to have no consequences.
I have had indeed for some time a small occasion of quarrelling, which I
thought too inconsiderable for a formal subject of complaint, though I
have hinted at it more than once. But it is grown at present to as great
a height, as a matter of that nature can possibly bear; and therefore I
conceive it high time that an effectual stop should be put to it. I have
been amazed at the flaming licentiousness of several weekly papers, which
for some months past, have been chiefly employed in barefaced
scurrilities against those who are in the greatest trust and favour with
the Qu[een], with the first and last letters of their names frequently
printed; or some periphrasis describing their station, or other
innuendoes, contrived too plain to be mistaken. The consequence of which
is, (and it is natural it should be so) that their long impunity hath
rendered them still more audacious.
At this time I particularly intend a paper called the "Medley"; whose
indefatigable, incessant railings against me, I never thought convenient
to take notice of, because it would have diverted my design, which I
thought was of public use.[5] Besides, I never yet observed that writer,
or those writers, (for it is every way a "Medley") to argue against any
one material point or fact that I had advanced, or make one fair
quotation. And after all, I knew very well how soon the world grow weary
of controversy. It is plain to me, that three or four hands at least have
been joined at times in that worthy composition; but the outlines as well
as the finishing, seem to have been always the work of the same pen, as
it is visible from half a score beauties of style inseparable from it.
But who these Meddlers are, or where the judicious leaders have picked
them up, I shall never go about to conjecture: factious rancour, false
wit, abandoned scurrility, impudent falsehood, and servile pedantry,
having so many fathers, and so few to own them, that curiosity herself
would not be at the pains to guess. It is the first time I ever did
myself the honour to mention that admirable paper: nor could I imagine
any occasion likely to happen, that would make it necessary for me to
engage with such an adversary. This paper is weekly published, and as
appears by the number, has been so for several months, and is next to the
"Observator,"[6] allowed to be the best production of the party. Last
week my printer brought me that of May 7, Numb. 32. where there are two
paragraphs[7] relating to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and to Mr.
Harley; which, as little as I am inclined to engage with such an
antagonist, I cannot let pass, without failing in my duty to the public:
and if those in power will suffer such infamous insinuations to pass with
impunity, they act without precedent from any age or country of the
world.
I desire to open this matter, and leave the Whigs themselves to determine
upon it. The House of Commons resolved, _nemine contradicente_, that the
Speaker should congratulate Mr. Harley's escape and recovery[8] in the
name of the House, upon his first attendance on their service. This is
accordingly done; and the speech, together with the chancellor of the
exchequer's, are printed by order of the House.[9] The author of the
"Medley" takes this speech to task the very next week after it is
published, telling us, in the aforesaid paper, that the Speaker's
commending Mr. Harley, for being "an instrument of great good" to the
nation, was "ill-chosen flattery"; because Mr. Harley had brought the
"nation under great difficulties, to say no more:" He says, that when the
Speaker tells Mr. Harley, that Providence has "wonderfully preserved" him
"from some unparalleled attempts" (for that the "Medley" alludes to) he
only "revives a false and groundless calumny upon other men"; which is
"an instance of impotent, but inveterate malice,"[10] that makes him [the
Speaker] "still appear more vile and contemptible." This is an extract
from his first paragraph. In the next this writer says, that the
Speaker's "praying to God for the continuance of Mr. Harley's life, as an
invaluable blessing,[11] was a fulsome piece of insincerity, which
exposes him to shame and derision"; because he is "known to bear ill will
to Mr. Harley, to have an extreme bad opinion of him, and to think him an
obstructor of those fine measures he would bring about."
I now appeal to the Whigs themselves, whether a great minister of state,
in high favour with the Qu[een], and a Speaker of the House of Commons,
were ever publicly treated after so extraordinary a manner, in the most
licentious times? For this is not a clandestine libel stolen into the
world, but openly printed and sold, with the bookseller's name and place
of abode at the bottom. And the juncture is admirable, when Mr. H[arle]y
is generally believed upon the very point to be made an earl, and
promoted to the most important station of the kingdom:[12] nay, the very
marks of esteem he hath so lately received from the whole representative
body of the people, are called "ill-chosen flattery," and "a fulsome
piece of insincerity," exposing the donors "to shame and derision."
Does this intrepid writer think he has sufficiently disguised the matter,
by that stale artifice of altering the story, and putting it as a
supposed case? Did any man who ever saw the congratulatory speech, read
either of those paragraphs in the "Medley," without interpreting them
just as I have done? Will the author declare upon his great sincerity,
that he never had any such meaning? Is it enough, that a jury at
Westminster-Hall would, perhaps, not find him guilty of defaming the
Speaker and Mr. Harley in that paper? which however, I am much in doubt
of too; and must think the law very defective, if the reputation of such
persons must lie at the mercy of such pens. I do not remember to have
seen any libel, supposed to be writ with caution and double meaning, in
order to prevent prosecution, delivered under so thin a cover, or so
unartificially made up as this; whether it were from an apprehension of
his readers' dullness, or an effect of his own. He hath transcribed the
very phrases of the Speaker, and put them in a different character, for
fear they might pass unobserved, and to prevent all possibility of being
mistaken. I shall be pleased to see him have recourse to the old evasion,
and say, that I who make the application, am chargeable with the abuse:
let any reader of either party be judge. But I cannot forbear asserting,
as my opinion, that for a m[inist]ry to endure such open calumny, without
calling the author to account, is next to deserving it. And this is an
omission I venture to charge upon the present m[inist]ry, who are too apt
to despise little things, which however have not always little
consequences.
When this paper was first undertaken, one design, among others, was, to
_Examine_ some of those writings so frequently published with an evil
tendency, either to religion or government; but I was long diverted by
other enquiries, which I thought more immediately necessary, to
animadvert upon men's actions, rather than their speculations: to shew
the necessity there was of changing the ministry, that our constitution
in Church and State might be preserved; to expose some dangerous
principles and practices under the former administration, and prove by
many instances, that those who are now at the helm, are entirely in the
true interest of prince and people. This I may modestly hope, hath in
some measure been already done, sufficient to answer the end proposed,
which was to inform the ignorant and those at distance, and to convince
such as are not engaged in a party, from other motives than that of
conscience. I know not whether I shall have any appetite to continue this
work much longer; if I do, perhaps some time may be spent in exposing and
overturning the false reasonings of those who engage their pens on the
other side, without losing time in vindicating myself against their
scurrilities, much less in retorting them. Of this sort there is a
certain humble companion, a French _maître de langues_,[13] who every
month publishes an extract from votes, newspapers, speeches and
proclamations, larded with some insipid remarks of his own; which he
calls "The Political State of Great Britain:"[14] This ingenious piece he
tells us himself, is constantly translated into French, and printed in
Holland, where the Dutch, no doubt, conceive most noble sentiments of us,
conveyed through such a vehicle. It is observable in his account for
April, that the vanity, so predominant in many of his nation, has made
him more concerned for the honour of Guiscard, than the safety of Mr.
H[arle]y: And for fear we should think the worse of his country upon that
assassin's account,[15] he tells us, there have been more murders,
parricides and villanies, committed in England, than any other part of
the world. I cannot imagine how an illiterate foreigner, who is neither
master of our language, or indeed of common sense, and who is devoted to
a faction, I suppose, for no other reason, but his having more Whig
customers than Tories, should take it into his head to write politic
tracts of our affairs. But I presume, he builds upon the foundation of
having being called to an account for his insolence in one of his former
monthly productions,[16] which is a method that seldom fails of giving
some vogue to the foolishest composition. If such a work must be done, I
wish some tolerable hand would undertake it; and that we would not suffer
a little whiffling Frenchman to neglect his trade of teaching his
language to our children, and presume to instruct foreigners in our
politics.
[Footnote 1: No. 41 in the reprint. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 2: Horace, "Satires," II. i. 41-2.
"Safe it lies
Within the sheath, till villains round me rise."--P. FRANCIS.
[T.S.]]
[Footnote 3: See No. 40, _ante_, and note, p. 259. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 4: In "A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions ... Athens
and Rome," 1701 (vol. i., pp. 227-270, of present edition). See also
Swift's reference to this pamphlet in his "Memoirs Relating to that
Change," etc. (vol. v., p. 379). [T.S.]]
[Footnote 5: "The Medley," under Maynwaring, with occasional help from
Addison and Steele, seems to have been published for the sole purpose
of replying to the "Examiner." No. 40 (July 2nd, 1711) begins: "The
'Examiner' is grown so insipid and contemptible that my acquaintance
are offended at my troubling myself about him." No. 45 (the final number,
August 6th, 1711) expresses the writer's "deep concern" for the loss of
his "dear friend 'The Examiner,' who has at once left the world and me,
quite unprovided for so great a blow." When the "Examiner" was revived by
W. Oldisworth in December, 1711, it was soon followed by a reappearance
of "The Medley." It started afresh with Numb. I. on March 3rd, 1712
(_i.e._ 1711/2), and continued until August 4th, 1712, the date of the
publication of Numb. XLV. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 6: See No. 16, _ante_, and note p. 85. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 7: The two paragraphs appeared in No. 32 of "The Medley," and
the writer introduces them by a reference to "praise and censure, which I
choose out of all the rest, because it only concerns the 'Examiner' to be
well instructed in them, he having no other business but to flatter the
new m[inistry], and abuse the old." The first paragraph runs:
"In the first place, whenever any body would praise another, all he can
say will have no weight or effect, if it be not true or probable. If
therefore, for example, my friend should take it into his head to commend
a man, _for having been an instrument of great good to a nation_, when in
truth that very person had brought that same nation under great
difficulties, to say no more; such ill-chosen flattery would be of no use
or moment, nor add the least credit to the person so commended. Or if he
should take that occasion to revive any false and groundless calumny upon
other men, or another party of men; such an instance of _impotent but
inveterate malice_, would make him still appear more vile and
contemptible. The reason of all which is, that what he said was neither
just, proper, nor real, and therefore must needs want the force of true
eloquence, which consists in nothing else but in well representing things
as they really are. I advise therefore my friend, before he praises any
more of his heroes, to learn the common rules of writing; and
particularly to read over and over a certain chapter in Aristotle's first
book of Rhetoric, where are given very proper and necessary directions,
_for praising a man who has done nothing that he ought to be praised
for_."
There is no reference here to the Speaker. The reference is to the
"Examiner"; nor is there any mention of Providence having wonderfully
preserved him from some unparalleled attempts.
The second paragraph runs:
"But the ancients did not think it enough for men to speak what was true
or probable, they required further that their orators should be heartily
in earnest; and that they should have all those motions and affections in
their own minds which they endeavoured to raise in others. He that
thinks, says Cicero, to warm others with his eloquence, must first be
warm himself. And Quintilian says, We must first be affected ourselves,
before we can move others. This made Pliny's panegyric upon Trajan so
well received by his hearers, because every body knew the wonderful
esteem and affection which he had for the person he commended: and
therefore, when he concluded with a prayer to Jupiter, that he would take
care of the life and safety of that great and good man, which he said
contained in it all other blessings; though the expression was so high,
it passed very well with those that heard him, as being agreeable to the
known sentiments and affection of the speaker. Whereas, if my friend
should be known to bear ill-will to another person, or to have an extreme
bad opinion of him, or to think him an abstractor of those fine measures
he would bring about, and should yet in one of his panegyrics pray to God
for the continuance of that very person's life, as '_an invaluable
blessing_'; such a fulsome piece of insincerity would only expose him to
shame and derision." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 8: The House of Commons resolved on April 11th, that the
Speaker should congratulate Mr. Harley when he was able to attend the
House. This was done on April 26th. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 9: The House of Commons, on April 27th, ordered, "That Mr.
Speaker be desired to print his congratulatory speech ... with the Answer
of Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer to the same." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 10: The Speaker thanks God that Harley's enemies had "not been
able to accomplish what their inveterate, but impotent, malice, had
designed." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 11: The Speaker prayed that Providence might "continue still to
preserve so invaluable a life." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 12: Harley was appointed lord treasurer, May 30th, 1711, and
created Earl of Oxford, May 23rd. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 13: Abel Boyer (1667-1729), author of a French dictionary, a
French grammar, "History of William III.," "History of Queen Anne," "The
Political State," "The Post Boy" (1705-9), and many other works. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 14: "The Political State of Great Britain" was started in
January, 1710/1, and continued monthly until 1740. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 15: See No. 33, _ante_, and note, p. 207. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 16: Boyer appeared before the House of Lords, March 6th,
1710/1, and owned that he was the compiler of "The Political State of
Great Britain." He was kept in custody till March 12th, when he was
reprimanded, and discharged after he had paid his fees. His offence was
that "an account is pretended to be given of the Debates and Proceedings
of this House" ("Journals of House of Lords," xix). The third number of
"The Political State," Boyer issued on March 17th, giving his reason for
the delay in its appearance: "An unavoidable and unvoluntary avocation,
of which I may give you an account hereafter, has obliged me to write to
you a fortnight later than usual." [T.S.]]