XXIV. 1792. the course of the ensuing session, for an enquiry BOOK into the state of the representation, Mr. Pitt rose with unusual vehemence to declare "his total disapprobation of introducing, at a period so critical and dangerous as the present, a discussion of such difficulty and importance. This he affirmed was not a time for experiments; and if he was called upon either to risk this, or for ever to abandon all hopes of reform, he would say he had no hesitation in preferring the latter alternative. He saw with concern the gentlemen to whom he alluded virtually united with others who professed the reform of abuses, and meant the subversion of government."-The expediency and policy of timely and temperate reform were on the other hand powerfully argued by the friends of the projected motion. "As to the obnoxious allies of the late associators, (Mr. Fox said) the objection might be completely retorted, by asking the minister Whom have you for your allies?' On the one part there are infuriated republicans, on the other the slaves of despotism. The first are the rash zealots of liberty, the latter its inveterate and determined foes." The consternation of the ministers evidently appeared by a ROYAL PROCLAMA- Royal proTION almost immediately issued against the public for the supdispersion of all seditious writings, and against all edition. illegal correspondences-exhorting the magistrates to vigilance, and the people to submission and obe diencé. clamation pression of BOOK 1792. This proclamation being laid before the house XXIV. (May 25), and an address moved of approbation and support, it was opposed by Mr. Grey with much warmth, and the proclamation itself condemned in severe terms as a measure insidious and pernicious. The" diligent enquiry enjoined by the proclamation after the authors and distributors of wicked and seditious writings could only tend to establish an odious and arbitrary system of ESPIONAGE. This was the system which had made the old government of France so much the object of general detestation, and it was a system unworthy of the sovereign of a free people to recommend. Mr. Grey strongly intimated his belief, that the real object of the proclamation was merely to discredit the late association in the view of the public." This Mr. Pitt disclaimed in very explicit terms, and expressed his high respect for many of the members of the association in question, declaring "that he differed from them only in regard to the time and mode which they had adopted for the attainment of their object. The association in question (he said) did not come within the scope and purview of the proclamation, which was levelled against the daring and seditious principles which had been so assiduously propagated amongst the people, under the plausible and delusive appellation of the Rights of Man." The address was XXIV. finally carried without a division, and, receiving BOOK the concurrence of the upper house, was presented 1792. tions for in form to the king. It was followed by addresses from all parts of the kingdom: and the ministry, Prosecufinding their strength, commenced prosecutions sedition. against a prodigious number of offenders, amongst whom Thomas Paine stood most conspicuous. Notwithstanding the professional ability of Mr. Erskine, whom he had engaged as his advocate, he was found guilty of the charge; but foreseeing the probability of this event, he had previously absconded to France. Holt and tham. Among various other remarkable trials, those Trials of of Daniel Holt and William Winterbotham seem Winterbopeculiarly to challenge the specific notice of history. The former, a young man and printer at Nottingham, was convicted of the crime of republishing, verbatim, a political tract written ten years before by major Cartwright, and then circulated with great applause by the society for constitutional information. This prosecution was followed by imprisonment, ruin, and premature death. The latter, a dissenting teacher at Plymouth, of virtuous and highly respectable character, was convicted of sedition, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment in the gaol of Newgate, for two sermons preached in commemoration of the Revolution of 1688. The indictment charges him with affirming "that his majesty was placed upon the throne upon con XXIV. 1792. BOOK dition of keeping certain laws and rules-and if he does not observe them, he has no more right to the crown than the Stuarts had." All the Whigs of the kingdom might doubtless have been comprehended in the same indictment. And if the doctrine thus affirmed be denied, the monstrous reverse of the proposition follows, that the king is bound by no conditions or laws; and that, though resistance to the tyranny of the Stuarts might be justifiable, resistance in the same circumstances to the house of Brunswic is not. This trial, for the circumstances of cruelty and infamy attending it, has been justly compared to that so celebrated of Rosewell, in the latter years of Charles II. to which the present times exhibit in various respects a most striking and alarming parallel. Certain it is, and it would be disingenuous and deceitful to deny or disguise the fact, that the perpetual misconduct of government during the present reign, the misfortunes and miseries by which it has been characterised, its follies, its vices, and its crimes, have given occasion to a new and very serious investigation of the principles of the British constitution; and amongst men of philo. sophic reflection may be discerned a great abatement of that enthusiastic ardor with which they once were in the habit of speaking and thinking of a form of government 'which has been found, by fatal experience, not incompatible for a long series XXIV. 1792. of years with the grossest neglect or perversion of BOOK those ends for which government is alone instituted. And a strong speculative predilection has unquestionably arisen in the minds of many for a republican form of government, in preference to any form of monarchy. But, before any inference is drawn to the prejudice of the British constitution, that constitution ought to be restored to its genuine and original principles: and then there is good ground to believe, that by far the greater part of the evils now experienced, and which are so justly the subject of complaint, would instantly vanish. Among the most palpable and pernicious of the existing abuses must undoubtedly be reckoned the enormous and overwhelming influence of the crown-the inequality of the national representation-the long duration of parliamentsthe rapid and monstrous increase of the national debt and taxes, and of the civil and military establishments-the oppression, absurdity, and iniquity connected with the present ecclesiastical systemthe municipal tyranny exercised over the poor, under cover of the poor laws, originally intended and calculated for their relief and protection-the amazing multiplicity of superfluous places, pensions, sinecures, and lucrative appointments, by which individuals are aggrandized and enriched at the expense and to the impoverishment of the public. When these evils are remedied, the constitu |