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VINDICATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Duke of Bedford's Attack 
 
 UPON 
 
 Mr. BURKE's pension 
 
 in REPLY TO 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE 
 TO A NOBLE LORD. 
 
 " Quid immerentes mortuos vexas, Canis, 
 
 " Ignavus adverfum Lupos ?" Horace. 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. S. JORDAN, NO. l66, FLEET STREET. 
 
 I 79 6. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/vindicationofdukOOstre 
 
VINDICATION, 
 
 To David ■ " " , Efq. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 i-VxR. Burke has furprifed us: he has 
 again varied his means - 3 and, after having 
 hooted and hunted down the democracy, has 
 turned round on a fudden, and opened upon 
 the ariftocracy. The people, no longer a 
 fwinifh multitude, have again found favour 
 in his fight, and he now forrows over thofe 
 overgrown grants and profufe donations from 
 the Crown, which have enabled the peers 
 and princes of the land to opprefs the indufiry 
 of humble men, and to trample upon the medi- 
 ocrity of laborious individuals, 
 
 B After 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 After having decorated and gilded the peer- 
 age with the fpoils of the people, he feems 
 to be endeavouring to enrich the people with 
 the fplendour and trappings of the peerage ; 
 and the ariftocracy, which he upheld and 
 fupported with one hand, he is now vexing 
 and goading with the other. You remem- 
 ber, in our younger days, how furprifed we 
 were at the puppet-mow man, who went 
 behind a curtain to exhibit two puppets, the 
 devil and the baker, between which he ufed 
 to inftitute continual contefts. You recollect 
 too, how, with a ftrict attention to juftice, he 
 dealt out alternate victory to both the pup- 
 pets. Mr. Burke feems, in fome meafure, 
 to refemble this fhow-man ; and to treat the 
 ariftocracy and democracy as that man did 
 his puppets. Ariftocracy, or the devil, having 
 been long enough victorious over democracy* 
 or the baker, Mr. Burke feems to think it 
 high time that the latter mould rife again, 
 and rally, and vanquifti his opponent. 
 
 Of this revolution in the fentiments and 
 conduct of Mr. Burke, you will not be dif- 
 
 pleafed 
 
( 7 ) 
 pleafed with me for attempting an explana- 
 tion. That explanation fhall be accom- 
 panied with fome remarks upon Mr. Burke's 
 Letter to a Noble Lord, To any methodi- 
 cal arrangement and regular difpofition of 
 reafoning I (hall not afpire. I mall avail my- 
 felf " of all the privileges of epiftolary effu- 
 fion in their utmoft latitude and laxity, and 
 mall interrupt, difmifs, and relume my argu- 
 ments at pleafure *." 
 
 After Mr. Burke retired from Parliament, 
 a penlion, not more enormous in its amount, 
 than objectionable in the mode in which it 
 was given and received, was granted him. 
 This penfion was charged upon the four and 
 a half per cent. fund. Why it was fo charged 
 (hall be the fubject of future inquiry. 
 
 The tranfadtion was not immediately 
 known. Like fome fecret of foul and fear- 
 ful import, it was at firfl only buzzed about, 
 and hinted at in flirugs and whifpers, and 
 unnnifhed fentences : — 
 
 * Introduction to the Vindicire Gallicjc of Mr. Mack- 
 intofh. 
 
 B? —by 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 — by pronouncing of fome doubtful plirafe, 
 
 As, Well, well, nve know ; — or, We could y an if nve 
 
 nvould ; — or, If 'we lift to /peak j — or , There be, an if they 
 
 might ; — 
 
 Or fuch ambiguous giving out— » 
 
 The generality of men were not very will- 
 ing to liften to thefe tales. They confi- 
 dered them as calumnies againft him > — 
 they gave Mr. Burke credit for difinterefted- 
 nefs : — they remembered what he had faid 
 of himfelf, that he " defired honours, diftinc- 
 tions, and emoluments but little, and that he 
 expected them not at all*:"— they were 
 willing to believe that he would carefully 
 avoid rendering his title to the proud appel- 
 lation of a patriot fufpected, by ranging him- 
 felf in the ample battalion of thofe " obfcene 
 harpies of penfioners, who flutter over our 
 heads, and foufe down upon our tables, and 
 leave nothing unrent, unruffled, unravaged, 
 or unpolluted with the flime of their filthy 
 offal •f*." Poor credulous people ! always 
 fated to believe, and always fated' to be de- 
 ceived ! Thefe hints and mrugs and half 
 
 * Reflections on the French Revolution. 
 t Mr. Burke's Letter to a Noble Lord. 
 
 fentences 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 fentences at length afliimed " a combination 
 and a form indeed;" and it was at laft pro- 
 claimed aloud in our ftreets, and in our ears, 
 that Mr. Burke had been penfioned off. This 
 event was foon afterwards made the fubject 
 of legiflative difcuffion, and the Duke of 
 Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale intro- 
 duced the fubject into the debate upon the 
 queftion for the paffing of the Bill for the 
 better fecurity of his Majefty's perfon and 
 
 government *. 
 
 Nearly 
 
 * The Duke of Bedford. — " Penfions of almoft un- 
 paralleled profusion, lavifhed upon the avowed advocates 
 of economy j nay, upon the very man who diftinguifhed 
 himfelf at one time as the advocate of rigid economy, 
 but whofe conduct and whofe writings have, in an emi- 
 nent degree, contributed to create and continue the war, 
 and to caufe all its confequent enormous expences." 
 
 Woodf all's and Debrett's Reports. 
 
 The Earl of Lauderdale. — " Was it wonderful 
 that the people fhould complain . ? or that they did com- 
 plain ? This had well been illuftrated by the noble Duke 
 who had fpoken fo eloquently in the debate. The people 
 were infulted by feeing the moft fhameful negligence of 
 their interefts ; by feeing Minifters attempting to make 
 it criminal to complain ; by feeing the moft profligate 
 wafte of the public money ; by feeing the moft provoking 
 infults offered to them, in the vaft fums that were lavifhed 
 
 upon 
 
( io ) 
 
 Nearly three weeks after this incidental 
 mention of the fubjedt, the Earl of Lauder- 
 dale moved for fome papers explanatory of 
 the penfion ; and fome time afterwards gave 
 notice of a motion that mould bring it regu- 
 larly before the Houfe of Lords. It was 
 then that Mr. Burke collected his weapons, 
 Jparfofjue recolligit ignes, arranged his ar- 
 tillery, and made that furious atta> k which 
 has excited, and flill excites, fuch general 
 furprife. 
 
 This attack is perfonal to the Duke of 
 Bedford. — The Earl of Lauderdale is indeed 
 included in the declaration of hostilities ; 
 but, after a ihort and ftraggling difcharge 
 
 upon courtiers and court dependents; by feeing pen/tons 
 granted daily to apojlates ; a penfion for inftance, and a large 
 one too, to a man who ivas once the champion of economy ; 
 but whofe chief merits with Minifters were thofe of having 
 attacked the principles of freedom, and of having contri- 
 buted very confiderably to involve us in the prefent war. 
 Mr. Burke, the man he meant, (for why fhould he not 
 name him ?) was to have an enormous penfion for endea- 
 vouring to inculcate doctrines that tended to extinguifh 
 the principles of freedom." 
 
 Woodfall's and Dibrett's Reports. 
 
 again ft 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 againft bis Lordfhip, and connecting and 
 comparing him with Bailor, the Right 
 Honourable Gentleman concentrates the 
 whole force and fury of his fire againft the 
 Duke of Bedford. Well, then, I mall con- 
 fider the attack as perfonal to the Duke of 
 Bedford. And here I cannot avoid noticing, 
 in the firfl inftance, the rancour and ma- 
 lignity that feem, with refpect to the Duke 
 of Bedford, to have taken pofTefiion of 
 Mr. Burke's mind. So wholly have thofe 
 bad paffions ufurped it, that there is no 
 room left for candour, for decorous treat- 
 ment, I had almoft (aid for common de- 
 cency. The Duke of Bedford is firfl: a 
 creature; then a leviathan of unwieldy bulk, 
 that fpouts through his /piracies torrents of 
 brine : he is then a poor ox, upon whofe hide 
 the fans culotte carcafe-butchers are pricking 
 their dotted lines. Really, Mr. Burke feems 
 to fuppofe, that his Grace has the faculty of 
 changing his mape as often as the Right 
 Honourable Gentleman has changed his fen- 
 timents and principles. But the object of 
 Mr. Burke feems to be more particularly to 
 
 hold 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 hold the Duke of Bedford up to public 
 execration, as a fecond Duke of Orleans. 
 He appears to wifh to compare him with a 
 man who was as debauched in his manners 
 as he was depraved in his morals ; who was 
 defKtute of every principle that was good, 
 and generous, and noble j whofe crimes were 
 unmixed and unalloyed by any virtues, and 
 in whom vice loft none of its evil by retain-' 
 ing all its grojfoejs. 
 
 But to have incurred the difpleafure of 
 the Duke of Orleans and the Duke of Bed- 
 ford, of BrifTot and the Earl of Lauderdale, 
 is a circumftance which Mr. Burke con- 
 fiders as particularly favourable to him. 
 They have been the means of bringing out 
 handfbme things, and commendation and 
 applaufe, from a very able, vigorous, and well- 
 informed ftatefman. This is well. You 
 anticipate, no doubt, the name of this 
 ftatefman fo lavifhly lauded. Mr. Fox ? 
 No.— Mr. Pitt ? No. — The Marquis of 
 Lanfdowne ? No. — Mr. Sheridan ? No, no. 
 — What other flatefman ? Ah ! my dear Sir, 
 
 you 
 
( «3 ) 
 
 you will never guefs. This able, vigorous, 
 and well-informed ftatefman, is Lord 
 Grenville . — Lord G renville ? 
 
 Hie eft quem petis, 
 Ille quem requiris. 
 
 Lord Grenville is the man whofe fuperior 
 intellectual attainments render Mr. Burke 
 fo invulnerable to the attacks of thofe inferior 
 geniufes, the Bedfords, the Lauderdales, the 
 Prieftleys, or the Paines, of the day. 
 
 " Why will they not let me remain in ob- 
 fcurity and inaction ?" I will tell Mr. Burke 
 why they will not : Becaufe they believe, that 
 his late publications have had a confiderable 
 effect in inciting the nation to a war, the 
 raoft difaftrous and difgraceful in which 
 this country ever had the misfortune and 
 mifery to be involved ; becaufe they fufpect, 
 and upon ftrong grounds, that thofe publi- 
 cations have led to that alarm which has 
 been ufed as a handle to rob us of fo many 
 of our comforts ; becaufe they behold him 
 belying the tenor of his former life, by ac- 
 cepting an enormous penfion at a time when 
 
 C the 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 the people arc bent and bowed to the earth 
 by the weight of fuch accumulated taxation ; 
 becaufe they fee, to ufe his own words, 
 '* that his operations of parfimony have been 
 attended with the confequences of profu- 
 fion ;" becaufe they behold a fevere economift 
 funk, degenerated, transformed, deformed, 
 into a fupple penfioncr. Mr. Burke metes 
 out hard meafure to the Duke of Bedford, 
 and therefore cannot be furprifed that hard 
 meafure is meted out to him. The caufe of the 
 Duke of Bedford is the caufe of the people. 
 If every man who dares to expofe the profli- 
 gate profufion of court?, is to be treated as 
 Mr. Burke treats the Duke of Bedford, 
 where lhall the opprefied find refuge and 
 repole ? Half the incentives to good actions 
 are gone, when the motives of men are to be 
 queftioned and fufpected at every ftep and at 
 every turn. 
 
 Far be it from me to depreciate the value 
 of Mr. Burke's former fervices ; or to detract 
 from the merit of his former labours. I 
 never can forget, and the nation never can 
 forget, the noble manner in which he flood 
 
 up 
 
( 'J ) 
 
 up during the American war, in defence of 
 thofe rights of man which he has fince fo 
 ftrenuouily questioned and attacked. Then, 
 indeed, he was upon high ground ; then 
 the admiring multitude delighted to con- 
 template him upon his proud and well- 
 earned eminence ; then indeed he pofferTed 
 the clarum et venerabile nomen ; then, if a 
 peniion he wanted, a penfion he ought to 
 have had. But the penfion was not granted 
 till lately •, and I believe, and the world 
 believes, that it was not given for the former 
 fervices which Mr. Burke rendered to his 
 councry, but as a compenfation for the recent 
 fervices which Miniilers consider that he 
 has done for them. You will obferve, that 
 Mr. Burke rells all his claim to compen- 
 fation upon his former fervices. The man- 
 ner in which the penfion was granted and 
 accepted, was, I contend, with the Duke 
 of Bedford, a departure from Mr. Burke's 
 idea, and the fpirit of his conduct with 
 regard to economy. I ihall firft attempt to 
 mow why it was a departure from Mr, 
 Burke's fyftem of economy. Of that fyftem, 
 and its operation, Mr. Burke gives the fol- 
 C 2 lowing 
 
( '6 ) 
 
 lowing account in his Letter to a Noble 
 Lord: 
 
 " His Grace is pleafed to aggravate my 
 guilt, by charging my acceptance of his 
 Majefty's grant as a departure from my 
 ideas, and the fpirit of my conduct with 
 regard to economy. If it be, my ideas of 
 economy were falfe and ill-founded. But 
 they are the Duke of Bedford's ideas of 
 economy I have contradicted, and not my 
 own. If he means to allude to certain 
 Bills brought in by me, on a merTage from 
 the Throne in 1782, I tell him, that there 
 is nothing in my conduct that can contra- 
 dict either the letter or fpirit of thofe Acts. 
 Does he mean the Pay Office Act ? I take 
 it for granted he does not. The Act to 
 which he alludes is, I fuppofe, the Efta- 
 blimment Act. — I greatly doubt whether 
 his Grace has ever read the one or the 
 other. The firft of thofe lyftems cofi: me, 
 with every affiftance which my then fituation 
 gave me, pains incredible. I found an 
 opinion common through all the offices, 
 and general in the public at large, that it 
 
 would 
 
( '7 ) 
 
 would prove impoflible to reform and me- 
 thodize the office of Paymafter General.— 
 I undertook it however ; and I fucceeded 
 in my undertaking. Whether the economy 
 of our Princes have profited by that Act, I 
 leave to thofe who are acquainted with the 
 army or with the treafury, to judge. 
 
 " An opinion full as general prevailed 
 alfo, at the fame time, that nothing could 
 be done for the regulation of the Civil Lift 
 Eftablilhment : the very attempt to intro- 
 duce method into it, and any limitation to 
 its fervices, was held abfurd. I had not 
 feen the man, who fo much as fuggefted 
 one economical principle, or an economical 
 expedient, upon that fubject : nothing but 
 coarfe computation, or coarfer taxation, 
 was then talked of; both of them without 
 defign, combination, or the leaft fhadow of 
 principle. Blind and headlong zeal, or 
 factious fury, were the whole contribution 
 brought by the moil noify on that occafion, 
 towards the fatisfaction of the Public, 
 or the relief of the Crown*." 
 
 * Pages 10 and n. 
 
 Of 
 
( «8 ) 
 
 Of the Pay Office Act I do not mean to 
 fay that the pennon either contradicts the 
 letter or the fpirit : but I do mean to con- 
 tend, that it violates the fpirit of Mr. Burke's 
 fyftem and regulations relative to the Civil 
 Lift Eftablilhment. In attempting to 
 prove this afTertion, I (hall be under the 
 neceffity of being fufficiently prolix and 
 dull ; and of travelling a long, and tedious, 
 and cheerlefs path of detail : but the ne- 
 ceffity of the cafe requires it — and I mull 
 not Ihrink from the toil. 
 
 Mr. Burke has referred us to the aurhoricy 
 of his moil eloquent and able fpeech in the 
 year 1780, on prefenting his plan of econo- 
 mical reform. In that fpeech it is that he 
 bids us leek for the rules that guided him in 
 his plan of reform ; and there it is that I 
 have very diligently and carefully fought for 
 them. It is impoffible for any man to have 
 been more deeply penetrated with a convic- 
 tion of the neceffity of economy in the ex- 
 penditure of the government than Mr. Burke 
 was at that time. He preffes that neceffity 
 in every way and in every mape. The light 
 
 miffive 
 
( «9 ) 
 
 miflive weapon of wit, and the ponderous 
 engine of argument, are both employed 
 in attacking that profligate profufion of ex- 
 penditure which pervaded the whole ftate. 
 " Economy is necefTary," he fays, " from 
 our own political circumftances : it is necef- 
 fary from the operations of the enemy ; it is 
 necefTary from the demands of the people, 
 whofe defires, when they do not militate 
 with the ftable and eternal rules of juftice, 
 ought to be as a law to a Houfe of Com- 
 mons *." — He urges the neceffity of economy 
 upon other grounds ; becaufe the country 
 was then (1780) in ajlate of 'war ; and was 
 " accumulating debt to the amount of at 
 leaft fourteen millions in the year j" becaufe 
 the people defired economy ; becaufe " it 
 is impoflible that they mould not defire it; 
 becaufe it is impoffible that a prodigality, 
 which draws its refources from their indi- 
 gence, mould be pleafing to .them. Little 
 faftions of peri/ioners> (alas ! to reflect that 
 this is the language of a man who is now 
 ranged in thole factions !) little factions of 
 penfioners, and their dependants, may talk 
 
 * Burke's Speech on his Plan for economical Reform. 
 
 another 
 
another language ; but the voice of nature is 
 againft them, and will be heard." Of his 
 plan he boafts that it is fubflantial — that it 
 is fyitematic — that it ftrikes at the jirjl 
 caufe of prodigality and corrupt influence* 
 9* What does it fignify," he fays, " to turn 
 abufes out of one door, if we are to let them 
 in at another ? What does it fignify to pro- 
 mote economy upon a meafure, and to furFer 
 it to be fubverted with principle ? The pro- 
 ject, which he had formed, extinguifoed" he 
 afferted, " corruption almofi to the poffikility of 
 its exiftence, and deftroyed direct and vifible 
 influence, equal to the offices of at leaft fifty 
 Members of Parliament.'* 
 
 What was the plan of which the Right 
 Honourable Gentleman fpeaks in fuch a high 
 tone of rapture and panegyric ? Shortly 
 this : — To render a random expenee, without 
 plan or forefight, aim oft impracticable -, to 
 eftablifh an invariable order in all the public 
 payments j to economife the civil lift efta- 
 blilhment ; to retrench much unnecelTary 
 expenditure that exifted then -, and to prevent 
 unnecefiary expenditure from exifting in fu- 
 ture ; 
 
( 2. ) 
 
 ture; to regulate penfions, and to reduce the 
 penfion lift to a fettled and fpecific amount. 
 A word or two on the fuccefs that has at- 
 tended this plan of reform. Is it impracti- 
 cable for a Minifter to incur now a random 
 expence without plan or forefight ? We all 
 fee and feel that it is not. Has there been 
 eftablifhed an invariable order in all the pub- 
 lic payments ? No : — part of the army fer- 
 vices are now nearly three years in arrears, 
 and the civil lift five quarters *. 
 
 Some ufelefs expenditure was retrenched : 
 — a third Secretaryfhip of State was abolifhed, 
 
 * And yet that mutiny in the houfehold which Mr. 
 Burke predicted, in cafe of non-payment of falaries, has 
 not happened. " The houfehold troops," he faid, 
 * form an army, whofe mutiny will be really dreadful 
 to a commander in chief. A rebellion of the thirteen 
 lords of the bedchamber would be far more terrible to a 
 Minifter, and would probably affect his power more to 
 the quick, than a revolt of thirteen colonies. Blefs me ! 
 what a clattering of white (ticks and yellow flicks would 
 be about his head ! what a ftorm of gold keys would fly 
 about the ears of the Minifter ! what a fhower of 
 Georges and thiftles, and medals, and collars of S. S. 
 would affail him on his firft entrance into the ante- 
 chamber after an infolvent quarter 1" 
 
 Speech on Economical Reform. 
 
 D as 
 
( M ) 
 
 as an unnecefTary and extravagant eftablifh- 
 ment : — a third Secretaryship of State, how- 
 ever, has fprung up, much, much more ex- 
 travagant than that which was abolimed. 
 But the part of the fyftem of economy, 
 which it is my bufinefs to clofe and grapple 
 with, is that which relates to penfions and 
 the penfion lift. That is the rub. And 
 here, that I may not miftake or mifreprefent 
 the Right Honourable Gentleman, I mall 
 reprint fo much of his fpeech upon prefent- 
 ing his plan of economical reform as relates 
 to the fubjedt :— 
 
 V I now come to another fubordinate trea- 
 fury, I mean that of the Paymajier of the 
 Penfions; for which purpofe I re-enter the 
 limits of the civil eftablimment. I departed 
 from thofe limits in purfuit of a principle, 
 and following the fame game in its doubles, 
 I am brought into thofe limits again. That 
 treafury and that office I mean to take away, 
 and to transfer the payment of every name, 
 mode, and denomination of penfions, to the 
 Exchequer. The prefent courfe of diverfify- 
 ing the fame Qbjecl t can anfwtr no good purpofe, 
 
 whatever 
 
( *3 ) 
 
 whatever its ufe may be to purpofes of another 
 kind. There are alfo other lifts of pendens, 
 and I mean that they mould all be hereafter 
 paid at one and the fame place. The whole 
 of that new consolidated lift I mean to re- 
 duce to £60,000 a year, which fum I intend 
 it (hall never exceed. I think that fum will 
 fully anjwer as a reward to all real merit, and 
 a provifion for all real public charity that is 
 ever like to be placed upon the lift. If any 
 merit of an extraordinary nature mould 
 emerge, before that reduction is completed, 
 I have left it open for an addrefs of either 
 Houfe of Parliament to provide for the cafe. 
 To all other demands, it muft be anfwered, 
 with regret, but with firmnefs, ' The Public 
 is poor/ 
 
 it 
 
 I do not propofe, as I told you before 
 Chriftmas, to take away any penfion. I know 
 that the Public feem to call for a reduction 
 of fuch of them as mall appear unmerited. 
 As a cenforial adl, and punifhment of an 
 abufe, it might anfwer fome purpofe j but 
 this can make no part of my plan. I mean 
 to proceed by bill, and I cannot ftop for fuch 
 
 D 2 an 
 
( 2 4 ) 
 
 an inquiry. I know fome gentlemen will 
 blame me. It is with great fubmifiion to 
 better judgments, that I recommend it to 
 confideration, that a critical retrofpective 
 examination of the penfion lift, upon the 
 principle of merit, can never ferve for my 
 bafisj it cannot anfwer, according to my 
 plan, any effe&ual purpofe of economy, or 
 of future permanent reformation. The 
 procefs, in any way, will be entangled and 
 difficult, and it will be infinitely flow. 
 There is a danger, that, if we turn our line 
 of march, now directed towards the grand 
 object, into this more laborious than ufeful 
 detail of operations, we fhall never arrive at 
 our end. 
 
 •* The King, Sir, has been, by the con- 
 stitution, appointed fole judge of the merit, 
 for which a penfion is to be given. 
 
 1 
 " We haye a right, undoubtedly, to can- 
 
 vafs this, as we have to canvafs every a<5t of 
 government. But there is a materkl differ- 
 ence between an office to be reformed and 
 a penfion taken away for demerit. In the 
 
 former 
 
( * s ) 
 
 former cafe, no charge is implied againft 
 the holder, in the latter his character is 
 flufred, as well as his lawful emolument af- 
 fected. The former procefs is againft the 
 thing, the fecond againft the perfon. The 
 penfioner, certainly, if he pleafes, has 3. 
 right to ftand in his own defence, to plead 
 his pofleffion, and to bottom his title on the 
 competency of the Crown to give him what 
 he holds. 
 
 " PoflefTed, and on the defenfrve, as he is, 
 he will not be obliged to prove his fpecial 
 merit, in order to juftify the act of legal 
 difcretion, now turned into his property, 
 according to his tenure. The very act, he 
 will contend, is a legal prefumption, and an 
 implication of his merit. If this be fo, 
 from the natural force of all legal prefump- 
 tion, he would put us to the difficult proof* 
 that he has np merit at all. But other 
 queftions would arife in the courfe of fuch 
 an inquiry, that is, queftions of the merit 
 when weighed againft the proportion of the 
 reward; then the difficulty will be much 
 greater. 
 
 " The 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 " The difficulty will not, Sir, I am afraid, 
 be much lefs, if we pafs to the perfon really 
 guilty, in the queftion of an unmerited pen- 
 sion — the Minifter himfelf. I admit, that, 
 when called to account for the execution of 
 a truft, he might fairly be obliged to prove 
 the affirmative, and to ftate the merit for 
 which the penfion is given j though, on 
 the penfioner himfelf, fuch a procefs would 
 be hard. If in this examination we pro- 
 ceed methodically, and fo as to avoid all fuf- 
 picion of partiality and prejudice, we muft 
 take the penfions in order of time, or merely 
 alphabetically. The very firft penfion to 
 which we come, in either of thefe ways, 
 may appear the moil groflly unmerited of 
 any. But the Minifter may very poffibly 
 mow, that he knows nothing of the put- 
 ting on this penfion : that it was prior in 
 time to his adminiftration ; that the Mi- 
 nifter who laid it on, is dead : — and then we 
 are thrown back upon the penfioner him- 
 felf, and plunged into all our former diffi- 
 culties. Abufes, and grofs ones, I doubt 
 not, would appear; and to the correction of 
 which, I would readily give my hand', but 
 
 when 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 when I confider, that pennons have not ge- 
 nerally been affedled by the revolutions of 
 miniftry, as I know not where fuch in- 
 quiries would ftop, and as an abfence of 
 merit is a negative and loofe thing, one 
 'might be led to derange the order of fa- 
 milies, founded on the probable continu- 
 ance of their kind of income. 
 
 V I might hurt children. I might injure 
 creditors. I really think it the more pru- 
 dent courfe, not to follow the letter of the 
 petitions. If we fix this mode of inquiry 
 as a bans, we fhall, I fear, end, as Parlia- 
 ment has often ended under fimilar cir- 
 cumftances. There will be great delay, 
 much confufion, much inequality, in our 
 proceedings : but what prefTes me moft of 
 all is this, that though we mould ftrike off 
 all the unmerited penfions, while the power 
 of the Crown remains unlimited, the very 
 fame undeferving perfons might, afterwards, 
 return to the very fame lift; or, if they did 
 not, other perfons meriting as little as they 
 do, might be put upon it to an undefinable 
 
 amount. 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 amount. This, I think, is the pinch of the 
 grievance. 
 
 " For thefe reafons, Sir, I am obliged to 
 wave this mode of proceeding as any part of 
 my plan. In a plan of reformation, it 
 would be one of my maxims, that, when I 
 know of an eftablifhment which may be 
 fubfervient to ufeful purpofes, / would limit 
 the quantity of the power that might be fo 
 abufed: for I am fure, that, in all fuch cafes, 
 the rewards of merit will have very narrow 
 bounds, and that partial or corrupt favour 
 will be infinite. This principle is not arbi- 
 trary, but the limitation of the fpecific 
 quantity muft be fo, in fome meafure. I 
 therefore ftate £60,000, leaving it open 
 to the Houfe to enlarge or contract the fum 
 as they fhall fee, on examination, that the 
 difcretion I ufe is fcanty or liberal. The 
 whole amount of the penfions, of all deno- 
 minations, which have been laid before us, 
 amount, for a period of feven years, to con- 
 fiderably more than £100,000 a year. To 
 what the other lifts amount I know not : 
 
 that 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 that will be feen hereafter. But from thofe 
 that do appear, a faving will accrue to the 
 Public, at one time or other, of £40,000 a 
 year; and we had better, in my opinion, 
 let it fall in naturally, than tear it crude 
 ^and unripe from the flalk." 
 
 From the above extract it appears, that it 
 was Mr. Burke's plan to reduce the pen- 
 fions to £60,000 a year; which fum he 
 meant that they fhould not exceed. He 
 considered that fum as a fufficient fund to 
 anfwer as a reward to all real merit. He did 
 not ftrike off unmerited penfions : no, that 
 would not do ; he wifhed to curtail the 
 power of the Crown; to prevent the increas- 
 ing of penfions to an und finable amount ; to 
 limit the quantum of power that might be 
 abufed. He propofed £60,000 a year as 
 the precife limitation, but left it open to 
 the Houfe to enlarge or contract that fum. 
 Did the Right Honourable Gentleman, in 
 fubmitting his plan to the Houfe, fay one 
 word about the four and a half per cent, 
 fund? Did he tell the Houfe that he had 
 left it open ? Did he declare that he had 
 E left 
 
( 3° ) 
 
 left it untouched and upon principle, be- 
 caufe " he did not dare to rob the nation of 
 all funds to reward real merit ?" No, my 
 dear Sir, no. Where indeed would have 
 been the benefit of regulating and retrench- 
 ing the penfion lift, if another fource was 
 meant to be left open, by which the fame 
 effecl: might be produced as had been pro- 
 duced by an unlimited penfion lift ? Would 
 not this have been a mockery and an infult 
 to the people ? Would it not, to ufe Mr. 
 Burke's own words, have been turning abufes 
 out of one door, to let them in at another? 
 A penfion lift of JT 60,000 he confidered as 
 fufticiently adequate to reward all real me- 
 rit. Out of that fund he meant all penfions 
 to be paid. But a cafe arifes in which a 
 penfion has been merited — the penfion lift 
 is not reduced to £60,000 a year — What is 
 to be done ? Mr. Burke has forefeen fuch a 
 cafe. If any merit of an extraordinary na- 
 ture fhall emerge before that reduction, he 
 fays — what? The Kingcan grant a penfion out 
 of the four and a half per cent, fund, without 
 applying to Parliament? No, no: — he fays 
 fpeciricaHy, Parliament muft be applied to. 
 
 Do 
 
( 3' ) 
 
 Do I ftrain the argument, therefore, when I 
 contend that Mi\ Burke did not mean that 
 the four and a half per cent, mould be made 
 ufe of in fuch a cafe ? and that, if he did 
 leave it open, and did mean it to be made 
 ufe of, he deftroyed the intent, and meaning, 
 and principle, and benefit of his plan ? Do I 
 prefs the point too far, when I contend that 
 the fpirit of that plan was to eftablifli the 
 fuperintendance of Parliament-— to prevent 
 improvident and enormous penfions from 
 being granted by the Crown, fecretly, and 
 without the control of the Houie of Com- 
 mons ? Finally, do I tranfgrefs the fair line 
 of reafoning and of candour, when I aiTert 
 that Mr. Burke ought not to have accepted 
 a penfion chargeable on the four and a half 
 per cent, fund ; and indeed, that, if he regard- 
 ed the fpirit of his fyftem, and of his former 
 ideas upon economy, he ought not to 
 have accepted a penfion that did not proceed 
 from an addrefs to theThrone by Parliament. 
 I will not fay any thing upon the time at 
 which the penfion was accepted, though it 
 was a time of all others in which a fevere 
 economift would have carefully avoided any 
 
 E 2 thing 
 
( 3* ) 
 
 thing that could tend to increafe the bur- 
 dens of the people. 
 
 That fyftems may fail, that plans may 
 prove inefficacious, is nothing new : but 
 furely, you and I never expected that Mr. 
 Burke would have been fo forward in prov- 
 ing in his own peribn the inefficacy of his 
 own plan ; and that he would have fur- 
 nifhed himfelf an unanfwerable argument 
 in proof of the truth of the afTertion of the 
 Duke of Bedford, that he has departed 
 from the whole tenour of his ideas and of 
 his conduct with regard to economy. 
 
 I have faid, that I believe the penfion was 
 fiot granted to Mr. Burke for his former 
 fervices — What were thofe fervices ? Great 
 and important they certainly were in many 
 refpects. An incidental remark or two, I 
 muit firft be permitted, on the period to 
 which Mr. Burke particularly alludes 
 in his Letter. — It was the portentous crifis 
 from 1780 to 1782. There was then 
 " much inteftine heat ; there was a dreadful 
 fermentation." From what caufe did that 
 
 heat 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 heat and that fermentation proceed ? The 
 Ministers had plunged the nation into art 
 unjufl and unneceifary war : — the people 
 faw and felt the enormous expences which 
 that war occafioned, and the obflinacy of 
 the Government in profecuting it. The 
 public mind was in a ferment and fever, 
 A wim was very widely diffufed for a re- 
 form in Parliament. It was a natural wiih. 
 The people faw the Houfe of Commons in- 
 attentive to their interefts; they defired a 
 reformation of it. What effect would have 
 refulted from the plans that were propofed, 
 muft be mere matter of opinion — Mr. 
 Burke thinks they would have gone to the 
 utter deflructioh of the conftitution. I 
 think that it would not be difficult to prove, 
 that the determined rejection of all reform 
 has already injured, is now injuring, and^'will 
 continue to injure the conftitution. But 
 to proceed to the fervices which Mr. Burke 
 has rendered to his country, and for which 
 Government has been fo tardy in requiting 
 him. I take the account of his fervices from 
 himfelf. He reduced the influence of the 
 
 Crown 
 
( 34 ) 
 Crown In Parliament — he checked, for 2 
 time, the progrefs of minifterial corruption 
 —he curtailed the extravagance of the 
 Crown. Almoil, nay, I believe, all his 
 former fervices confirmed in oppoling the 
 meafures of Minifters and the Crown. Now 
 let me afk any one, whether his opinion of 
 the felf-denial and diftintereftednefs of 
 Courts and Miniflers is fuch, as to induce 
 him to fuppofe that they would reward a 
 man who had limited their powers and their 
 reiburces? — Credat Judceus — I certainly can- 
 not. My belief is, that the pennon was 
 granted to Mr. Burke for the conduct which 
 he has adopted, and the principles which 
 he has maintained, refpecting the French 
 Revolution — Principles which I (hall al- 
 ways deteft ; and the publication of which 
 I fhall always deplore. My belief is a good 
 deal fortified by what fell from that able, 
 vigorous, and well-informed ftatefman Lord 
 Grenville. After the Duke of Bedford 
 and the Earl of Lauderdale had animad- 
 verted upon the penfion, Lord Grenville 
 faid, that " He mould Jiot have rifen to 
 
 offer 
 
( 35 ) 
 offer a {ingle word in -anfwer to the Noble 
 Earl who fooke laft, had he not mentioned 
 the cafe of Mr. Burke. To that he mud 
 anfwer, that he was proud to boaft of the 
 part he had taken in recommending the 
 penfion of that gentleman, and was ready 
 to take his mare of refponfibility for it. — 
 He was glad to have the opportunity of 
 avowing it 3 and of afferting, in that public 
 manner, that a public reward was never 
 more merited for the moft eminent and 
 important fervices. No man could boaft 
 of fervices to this country, and to mankind 
 at large, more meritorious ; and he was 
 perfuaded, that the Public would feel for 
 that great character a lafting gratitude, for 
 having oppofed the field of reafon and found 
 argument ', to defend the wife efiablijhments of 
 our ancefors, in common with all the great men 
 of former times y againft the daring inroads of 
 the mojl pernicious and dangerous principles 
 and doclrines ever broached by folly, enthufiafm, 
 and madnef *." Here, I think, is the clue 
 that will lead us to a difcovery of the mo- 
 tives that induced the Government to grant 
 
 * Woodfairs and Debrett's Reports. 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 fo enormous a penfion to Mr. Burke. It is 
 with this Jkield of reafon that the Right 
 Honourable Gentleman has won his thou- 
 fands and his tens of thoufands : it is this 
 found argument that has laid up for him 
 fore of gold, yea of much precious gold. I 
 beg of you to take this with you, and never to 
 lofe fight of it through the Letter, that 
 I never mould have objected to the grant of 
 a penfion to Mr. Burke for his former fer- 
 vices, antecedent to the French Revolution; 
 that I believe, in common with the majority 
 of the Public, that the penfion was granted 
 to him, not for thofe fervices, but for his 
 conduct and his opinions refpecting the 
 French Revolution — Conduct and opinions 
 for which, I think, he merited no penfion 
 from his country : That even if it could 
 be proved to me, that the reward was granted 
 folely to the Right Honourable Gentleman 
 for his former fervices, I mould fHU object 
 to the manner in which the penfion was 
 granted and accepted, as derogatory to Mr. 
 Burke's fyftem of economy, and in direct 
 violation of all his former principles and 
 ideaSt 
 
 After 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 After having concluded the defence of 
 his claim to a penfion, Mr. Burke proceeds 
 to attack, the Duke of Bedford, and the 
 founder of his Grace's family : and here it 
 is, that, in carrying on the attack againft 
 his Grace, the fire of his artillery reaches 
 every other Peer and Noble of the realm. 
 The Right Honourable Gentleman affumes 
 it as a merit, that he was not Jwaddled, 
 and rocked, and dandled into a legijlator, — Be 
 it fo — he may fairly claim that merit : it 
 is an honourable claim, and I very readily 
 allow it to him. But I would fain afk, 
 with what confiftency does this farcafm 
 againft the very efTence of our ariftocracy, 
 the fyftem of hereditary legiflation, and 
 againft all our Peers, who are born and 
 fw addled, and dandled into legijlators -, with, 
 what confiftency, I afk, does this farcafm 
 come from a man who has characterifed 
 the nobility of the land as the Corinthian 
 capital of polifhed fociety, as the decus et 
 tutamen of our conftitution ? But if thefe 
 rocked and dandled legiflators are objection- 
 able, the manner in which they have ob- 
 tained their immenfe fortunes is equally 
 
 F objec- 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 obje&ionable. " If none but meritorious 
 fervice or real tahnt were to be rewarded, 
 this nation has not wanted, and this nation 
 will not want, the means of rewarding all 
 the fervice it ever will receive, and encou- 
 raging all the merit it ever will produce. 
 No flate, fince the foundation of fociety, has 
 been impoverifhed by that fpecies of profu- 
 fion. Had the economy of felection and 
 proportion been at all times obferved, we 
 fhould not now have had an overgrown Duke 
 of Bedford, to opprefs the induftry of hum- 
 ble men, and to limit bv the frandard of his 
 own conceptions the juftice, the bounty, or, 
 if he pleafes, the charity of the Crown." 
 Though the Duke of Bedford alone is point- 
 ed at in the above quotation, yet the remark 
 is as applicable to any other overgrown Duke 
 and Peer of them all, as it is to his Grace, 
 Perfevering in his attack, Mr. Burke pro- 
 ceeds to declare that he has done all he could 
 " to difcountenance inquiries into the for- 
 tunes of thofe who hold large portions of 
 wealth without any apparent merit of their 
 own. He has ftrained every nerve to keep 
 the Duke of Bedford in that lituation which 
 
 alone 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 alone makes him his fuperior." He is 
 thankful that his own merits " are original 
 and perfonal" (and no man perhaps has fo 
 much to be thankful for as Mr. Burke), that 
 the Duke of Bedford's are only derivative. 
 M It is his anceftor, the original penfioner, 
 that has laid up this inexhauftible fund 
 of merit, which makes his Grace fo very 
 delicate and exceptious about the merit 
 of all other grantees of the Crown." 
 The Right Honourable Gentleman cannot 
 even let the harmlefs heralds alone, but 
 indulges a fmile at the milky kindnefs of 
 their natures. Poor men ! the Garters, 
 the Norroys, and the Rouge dragons, are 
 configned to eternal ridicule; and, after 
 Mr. Burke's Letter, who will be able to 
 preferve his gravity, when he fees them 
 prance in a proceffion? M With them, every 
 man created a Peer, is firfl an hero ready 
 made : they judge of every man's capacity 
 for office, by the offices he has filled ; and 
 the more offices, the more ability. Every 
 general officer is with them a Marlborough ; 
 every ftatefmam a Burleigh ; every judge a 
 Murray, or a Yorke. They who alive were 
 
 F 2 laughed 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 laughed at or pitied by all their acquaint- 
 ance, make as good a figure as the beft of 
 them in the pages of Guillim, Edmonfon, or 
 Collins." Why, what is all this but the rankeft 
 Jacob inifm ? Had it been uttered by a com- 
 mon man a year ago, he would have been 
 fubjected to all the pains and penalties of 
 the Jlar-chamber committees that have 
 been inftituted amongft us j and Mr. 
 Reeves and his aflbciates would have fulmi- 
 nated againft him their bans and their 
 anathemas without number. 
 
 Mr. Burke now advances clofer to the 
 attack of the Duke of Bedford's anceftry. 
 He complains of the French '« unplumbing 
 the dead for bullets to aftafiinate the living f 
 and yet he is guilty of the very fame mode of 
 conduct. He opens the " ponderous and 
 marble jaws" of his Grace's family vault, to 
 fearch for weapons to attack his Grace :— 
 he vexes the receptable of the dead, for evi- 
 dence againft the living : — he vifits the fins 
 of the father, beyond the third and fourth 
 generation ; and the mifconduct of one an- 
 ceftor is to vitiate the whole lineage and de- 
 
 fcent. 
 
( 4' ) 
 
 fcent. Where is the family in the world 
 that has not been contaminated in fome of 
 its parts and members ? If none are to be per- 
 mitted to complain of corruption and crimes, 
 but thofe whofe blood and defcent are pure, 
 and undefiled, and unadulterated, why, as 
 the fong has it, 
 
 « We all may as well fold our arms, and fit quiet." 
 
 With a rapid ftride Mr. Burke afcends 
 from the prefent Duke, to the founder of 
 his Grace's family. He finds no merit, in 
 any of the intermediate members, fufficient 
 to warn out the ftain of the original flock. 
 He paries over, totally paries over, the merits 
 of Lord Russel. The furTerings, the con- 
 ftancy, of that gallant gentleman, of that 
 martyr of tyranny, make no impreflion upon 
 him : — all, all are forgotten. But we, I 
 truft and believe, never /hall forget them. 
 As long as we have life, and longer perhaps 
 than we have liberty, we mall remember the 
 man who perimed upon the fcafFold in de- 
 fence of his country. Yet, if at any time 
 his revered virtues mould have efcaped our 
 recollection, they will be brought frefh and 
 
 full 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 full to our remembrance by the inheritor of 
 the name of Ruffe] • He will employ his 
 talents to better purpofes than thofe of agi- 
 tating and alarming the minds of his coun- 
 trymen, with tales of plots that have no 
 foundation. He will not be an advocate 
 for draining and depopulating his country 
 by unjuft and unneceffary wars. He will 
 not contradict his principles by his practice. 
 He will be no economift in words, and pen- 
 fioner in deeds. He will continue his ca- 
 reer, as he has commenced it, in the caufe 
 of liberty ; and he will not be difmayed by 
 the calumnies of venal courtiers, or the in- 
 vectives of penlioned apoftates. 
 
 The chief labour of Mr. Burke is to prove 
 that he deferved his penilon better than the 
 founder of the Duke of Bedford's family 
 merited the grants which he received from 
 Henry the Eighth ; and then he labours to 
 prove that founder to have been one of the 
 vileft men that ever exifted. Now really 
 Mr. Burke is too modeft — he does not do 
 himfelf juflice — he feems intent only on 
 proving that he deferved his penfion better 
 
 than 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 than fo bad a man as the founder of the 
 Bedford family and fortunes. Out of pure 
 tendernefs, therefore, to him, I (hall labour 
 to (how that the founder was not quite fo 
 bad as he has been reprefented to be. 
 
 The firft peer of the name of RulTel was 
 a gentleman of acute parts, of much mental 
 and perfonal activity, of great courage. He 
 rofe, as Mr. Burke truly fays, under the pa- 
 tronage of Wolfey, to great wealth, and to 
 the eminence of a potent Lord. The grants 
 which he obtained from the Crown were of 
 two forts ; grants from the confifcation of 
 lay property, and grants of lands feized from 
 the clergy. In the way in which Mr. Burke 
 puts it, it feems as if the firft Mr. RulTel 
 had enriched himfelf by murdering the Duke 
 of Buckingham. No fuch thing : — the 
 murder of the Duke of Buckingham was 
 occafioned by thedifguft which he had given 
 to Cardinal Wolfey. Now if the perfons 
 whom Cardinal Wolfey protected are to be 
 implicated in the crimes which the Cardinal 
 himfelf committed, the firft Mr. RulTel may, 
 in that view of the fubjecT, be faid to have 
 
 been 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 been accefTary to the murder of the Duke of 
 Buckingham. 
 
 But what does hiftory fay upon the fub- 
 ject of this murder ? 
 
 " The Duke of Buckingham, conftable of 
 England, the rirft nobleman, both for family 
 and fortune, in the kingdom, had impru- 
 dently given difguft to the Cardinal ; and 
 it was not long before he found reafon to 
 repent of his indifcretion. He feems to 
 have been a man full of levity and rafh pro- 
 jects, and being infatuated with judicial 
 aftrology, he entertained a commerce with 
 one Hopkins, a Carthufian friar, who en- 
 couraged him in the notion of his one day 
 mounting the throne of England. He was 
 defcended by a female, from the Duke of 
 Glocefter, youngefl fon of Edwurd the 
 Third ; and though his claim to the crown 
 was thereby very remote, he had been fo un- 
 guarded as to let fall fome expreffions, as if 
 he thought himfelf befr. entitled, in cafe the 
 King fhould die without ifTue, to pofTefs the 
 royal dignity. He had not even abflained 
 
 from 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 from threats againft the King's life, and had 
 provided himfelf with arms, which he in- 
 tended to employ in cafe a favourable op- 
 portunity mould offer. 
 
 '* He was brought to a trial, and the 
 Duke of Norfolk, whofe fon, the Earl of 
 Surry, had married Buckingham's daughter, 
 was created Lord Steward in order to pre- 
 fide at this folemn procedure. 
 
 " The jury confifted of a Duke, a Mar- 
 quis, (even Earls, and twelve Barons ; and 
 they gave their verdict againft Buckingham, 
 which was foon after carried into execution. 
 There is no reafon to think the fentence un- 
 juft*." 
 
 A grant of part of the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham's confifcated eftate was obtained by 
 Mr. RufTel. To have refufed the grant of 
 an eflate, becaufe that eftate had been con- 
 fifcated from a man that had been executed 
 
 * Hume's Henry VIII. — Rapin makes no mention of 
 Mr. RulTel having been concerned in the murder of the 
 Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 G for 
 
( A6 ) 
 
 for high treafon, is a fpecies of difinterefted- 
 nefs, which I can hardly think would 
 have been practifed even by Mr. Burke 
 himfelf. 
 
 But this firft grant to Mr. Ruffel was no- 
 thing in comparifon with the fecond, which 
 was a grant of property, taken, or, if Mr. 
 Burke likes the term better, plundered from 
 the Church. The plunder of the Roman 
 Catholic church, the feizure of the lands 
 belonging to the monafteries, excite in Mr. 
 Burke fo much indignation, that, if we did 
 not know him to be a true Proteftant, I 
 fhould almoft fufpect him to be adverfe to 
 the reformation. You are well acquainted 
 with the ftate of the national church in the 
 time of Henry the Eighth. The habita- 
 tion of the monks being eftabliihed every- 
 where, proved fo many feminaries of fuper- 
 iKtion and folly. 
 
 " The wealth of the monaftic houfes 
 brought them under great corruptions ; they 
 were generally very dilTolute, and grofsly 
 ignorant ; their privileges were become a 
 public grievance -, and their lives gave great 
 
 fcandal 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 fcandal to the world *." They increafed the 
 mafs of unproductive labour — they oppreffed 
 the induftry of man — they continued him in 
 ignorance, and in civil and religious flavery. 
 That Henry the Eighth fuppreffed thefe 
 monafteries, and feized their lands from any 
 pious motives, I do not mean to fay. But 
 be the motives what they might, I am glad 
 he did fupprefs them. Their fuppreffion 
 has been of the utmofl advantage to the 
 country j and agriculture, and commerce, 
 and induftry, have thriven ever iince. Has 
 not the caufe of religion too been benefited 
 by that event ? Afk my Lords Bifhops of 
 Oxford, Peterborough, Briftol, Glocefter, 
 and Chefter — they will anfwer you, I am 
 Aire, in the affirmative; for it was with part 
 of the plunder of the national church that 
 Henry the Eighth founded all thofe bishop- 
 rics. Of the reft of the plunder he made 
 gifts to his favourites and courtiers, and I 
 really cannot fee any mighty impiety and fa- 
 crilege in accepting fuch gifts. Mr. RuiTei 
 was one of thofe fortunate favourites, and 
 many of the nobility of the prefent day, be- 
 
 * Burnet's Hiftory of the Reformation. 
 
 G 2 fides 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 (ides the Duke of Bedford, poffefs lands and 
 revenues that were plundered from the fame 
 national church, and given to their anceftors 
 by the fame Henry the Eighth. Proceed-* 
 ing in the comparifon of his own merit with 
 that of the Duke of Bedford's anceftor, 
 Mr. Burke claims commendation for having 
 awakened " the fober part of the country, 
 that they might put themfelves on their guard 
 againfl any one potent Lord, or any greater 
 number of potent Lords, or any combina- 
 tion of great leading men of any fort, if ever 
 they mould attempt to inftigate a corrupted 
 populace to rebellion." Here is the Right 
 Honourable Gentleman putting the country 
 on its guard againfl the attempts of the arifto- 
 cracy. Not long ago his merit was, that he 
 protected the ariftocracy, and put the country 
 on its guard againfl the democracy. 
 
 With regard to the furrender of Boulogne, 
 and the confequent lofs of Calais, I am fure 
 the nation has great reafon to be thankful 
 to the Duke of Bedford's anceftor for having 
 advifed and amfted in that furrender. The 
 poiTemon both of Boulogne and Calais had 
 already drained, and would have continued 
 
 to 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 to drain, the country of its blood and its 
 treafure, without producing any one politi- 
 cal, commercial, or naval good to us. 
 
 But why do I attempt to defend the Duke 
 of Bedford's anceftor ? — It is a needlefs, un- 
 profitable tafk. I will give the founder 
 RufTel to Mr. Burke in all thofe black and 
 frightful colours, in which the Right Hon. 
 Gentleman has drawn him. Granted that he 
 was as ambitious, as tyrannical, as corrupt., 
 as avaricious, as he is defcribed to be ; — was 
 he more ambitious, more tyrannical, more 
 corrupt, more avaricious, than the founders 
 of all the great and noble families in the 
 country ? Have not almoft all the immenfe 
 fortunes in the kingdom been derived from 
 the confifcation of lay eftates, or the pillage 
 and plunder of the church ? A celebrated 
 writer, RourTeau I think, fays, " That it is 
 an even chance that the anceftors of a poor 
 man may have been honeftj but there are 
 great odds that the anceftor of every nobleman 
 was a fcoundrel*." At the worft, then, the 
 
 * Majorum primus quifquis fuit illc tuorum ? 
 Aut paftor fuit, aut illud quod dicere nolo. Juv. 
 
 Duke 
 
( 5° ) 
 
 Duke of Bedford is only in the fame predi- 
 cament with his brother peers. The fource 
 from which he derives, may have been foul 
 and impure -, but the blood has been fil- 
 tered and refined as it has flowed through the 
 lapfe of ages, and is now come out clear 
 and fparkling and puje. 
 
 Mr. Burke, perhaps, is not aware, that 
 what he urges againft the profeflbrs of the 
 rights of man, that tc they hold immemorial 
 porTefTion to be no more than a long-con- 
 tinued, and therefore an aggravated in- 
 juftice," may be urged againft himfelf. He 
 has been, in his Letter to a Noble Lord, 
 doing the very fame thing. Neither, per- 
 haps, is he aware, that by attacking the 
 mode in which the Bedford fortune was ac- 
 cumulated, he is encouraging, inftead of dif- 
 countenancing, inquiries, or fcrntins epara- 
 toires, into all the fortunes cf all the rich 
 men in the kingdom ; he is ifluing a writ 
 of quo warranto againft the Duke of Bed- 
 ford, to make him mow the manner in 
 which he came into poflefiion of his im- 
 menfe eftates. Can he be furprifed, if other 
 
 men 
 
I 51 ) 
 
 men follow the example he has fet them, 
 and investigate the origin of the enormous 
 eftates of other overgrown Dukes, Earls, 
 and Barons, who oppre/s the indujlry of 
 humble men I Will the fortunes of thofs 
 peers bear the fiery ordeal ? Will the Duke 
 of Richmond, and his import of £25,000 a 
 year upon coals, fuflain it ? — Will the Duke 
 
 of Portland's But it is an unkind and an 
 
 unthankful thing to make a man anfwerable 
 for the failings and crimes of his forefathers. 
 Let us clofe the account. — Let us not vesc 
 the departed fpirits of our forefathers by 
 this retrofpec~t of their crimes ! We all of us 
 have fome among our ancertors whom we 
 are afhamed of; and if Mr. Burke can boaft 
 of a genealogy without a ftain or a blot, he 
 is a luckier man than his neighbours.— Let 
 our views be forward and perfpective. — Let 
 us do good to each other, and lay up a (lore 
 of good for our pofterity. This fquabbling 
 and quarrelling about our ancertors is un- 
 worthy of us. 
 
 It was not to be fuppofed that Mr. Burke 
 would omit in his Letter, the fubjecT: of the 
 
 French 
 
( 5* ) 
 
 French revolution. That " foul fiend," 
 that haunts his imagination, and poifons his 
 retirement, and bids him Jleep no more, has 
 in this, as in all his recent publications, dipt 
 his pen in gall. But his invectives againft 
 " the harpies of France, fprung from night 
 and hell," do not, in this inftance, afTume 
 any regular fhape or fubftance — they are 
 rather ftraggling than regular — more fharp 
 than fyftematic. As an argument againft 
 innovation and change, he fays that the 
 French " complained of every thing — they 
 refufed to reform any thing ; and they left 
 nothing, no nothing at all, mchanged" He 
 then enumerates the confequences. With 
 deference to the opinion of Mr. Burke, the 
 tranfition from complaint to change was not 
 quite fo rapid and abrupt in France as it 
 has been ftated to be. I firmly believe, that 
 if, on the part of the monarchy and arifto- 
 cracy of France, there had been evinced an 
 early and Jlncere inclination to reform the 
 monftrous grievances that exifted in the 
 government, the people would have been 
 contented with reform, provided, as I have 
 fald before, that reform had been early. But 
 
 there 
 
( 53) 
 
 There was nothing but intrigue, and corrup- 
 tion, and extravagance about the Court and 
 the Miniftry, even while they were talking 
 of reform. Oeconomy was in their mouths, 
 but the moft profligate profufion in their 
 practice. Every thing was done to irritate, 
 and goad, and inflame the people, and to drive 
 them from that temper and tone in which 
 falutary reform would have contented them. 
 They had flattered themfelves that the fyf- 
 tem purfued by Mr. Necker was fo excel- 
 lent, that it had relieved the finances from all 
 embarrafTment and derangement, and pre- 
 vented almcft. the poffibility of the deficit 
 being rapidly accumulated in future. Little 
 accuftomed to deep and abftracl {peculations, 
 they did not fee that Mr. Necker's fyftem of 
 raifing money by loans, without impofing 
 taxes, was, whatever prefent advantages it 
 might be attended with, calculated to throw 
 forward a growing burthen and deficit upon 
 his fucceflbr and upon the people. M. 
 Necker was a good calculator, rather than a 
 great financier ; he was more fitted for the 
 detail than for the great principles of finance; 
 and his fyllem feems to have been defec- 
 
 H tive, 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 tive, both in its conception and in its con- 
 ftruction. 
 
 This may appear to you, my dear Sir, to 
 be foreign to the fubject of difcuflion ; but 
 if you will have a little patience, I (hall be 
 able to prove that it is not fo. — Soon after 
 the retreat of M. Necker, the deficit bur ft 
 forth in all its horrors — it increafed under 
 the fhort and troubled adminiilrations of 
 MefTrs. de Fleury and d'Ormeflon, till at 
 length it fwelled to fuch an immoderate fize 
 under M. de Calonne, as to render fome ef- 
 fectual and radical remedy neceffliry. Go- 
 vernment had delayed reform as long and as 
 much as pofiible ; they were now forced into 
 it — what was done : — The Notables were 
 affembled — there were nothing: but bicker- 
 ings between the Miniftry and that AfTembly. 
 The former wifhed to relieve its diftreiTes at 
 the expence of the privileged orders ; the 
 latter held faft to thofe privileges — the Not- 
 ables were diffolved. Then came the con- 
 tentions between the Court and the Parlia- 
 ment, and the arbitrary proceedings of the 
 former to force the latter to accede to its 
 
 plans. 
 
^ 55 ) 
 
 plans. There was indecifion about the Mi- 
 nifters ; — they hefitated between firmnefs and 
 fear — now elevating their tone to the im- 
 perious note of command, now deprefling it 
 to the humble ftyle of fupplication — nothing 
 was reformed, and all this time the public 
 mind was fermenting and inflaming. What- 
 ever the Court did, it did upon compuliion — it 
 was forced into the meafure of convoking 
 the States General. — Well ; was the con- 
 duel: of the Court then more gracious or 
 more calculated to quiet the minds of the 
 people ? No — there were the mod ftudied 
 iufults offered to the Tiers Etat Deputies. 
 They feemed to be admitted to plead for the 
 people only in forma pauperum. They were 
 vexed with flights and neglects that fret and 
 teaze the tempers of men at all times, and 
 which were particularly calculated to goad 
 the minds of the people of France at that 
 time. Then there were contefls between 
 the three orders about the form of their deli- 
 berations ; and it was obvious, that the two 
 higher orders were determined to do every 
 thing to reduce the real reprefentatives of 
 the people to insignificance. The people 
 H 2 now 
 
( 56) 
 
 now faw that there was no ferious intention, 
 on the part of the Court, to redrefs their 
 wrongs ; and they took the power into their 
 own hands. Angry and '* fooled to the top 
 of their bent," they changed every thing, 
 becaufe they faw the Government backward, 
 and unwilling to change any thing. The 
 fame effect will always be produced in all 
 countries, where the people difcover a de- 
 termination, on the part of their govern- 
 ment, not to reform their grievances. This 
 argument of Mr. Burke's, again ft innova- 
 tion, affords a ftrong weapon to the advocates 
 of reform in this country. Speaking in the 
 former language of Mr. Burke, they might 
 " moll: ferioufly put it to Adminiftration, to 
 conlider the wifdom of a timely reform — 
 early reformations are amicable arrangements 
 with a friend in power — late reformations are 
 terms impofed 'ipon a conquered enemy — 
 early reformations are made in cool blood — 
 late reformations are made under a flate of 
 inflammation. In that ftate of things, the 
 people behold in Government nothing that is 
 refpectable ; they fee the abufe, and they 
 will fee nothing elfe. They fall into the 
 
 temper 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 temper of a furious populace, provoked at 
 the diforder of a houfe of ill fame ; they 
 never attempt to correct or regulate — they 
 go to work the fhorteft way — they abate the 
 nuifance — they pull down the houfe. * 
 
 Of the " harpies of France fprung from 
 night and hell" — " the cannibal philofophers 
 of France — •■• the Sans Culotte carcafe but- 
 chers" — " the philofophers of the fham- 
 bles" — " the favages of the revolution," and 
 all the other appellations which Mr. Burke 
 beftows upon the people of France, I fhall 
 take no notice : thev are mere inveclives, 
 and therefore let them pafs ; or if there be any 
 wit in them, it is the wit of the fhambles. But 
 there is one fact fo groflly mifreprefented, that 
 I cannot avoid bringing it to your notice. 
 Mr. Burke fays, that the Duke of Bedford 
 " ought to know that they ("the French) 
 have (worn affiftance, the only engagement 
 they will ever keep to all, in this country, 
 who bear any refemblance to themfelves, and 
 who think as fuch, that the whole duty of 
 man confifts in deflruction." — Now, does not 
 
 * Speech on oeconomical reform. 
 
 Mr. 
 
(.58 ) 
 
 Mr. Burke know, or has he forgotten, (I 
 hope it is mere forge tfu In efs) that that de- 
 cree, by which the French fwore to a (lift 
 any nation that mould demand their affift- 
 ance, is, to all intents and purpofes, repealed', 
 that it has Ions; been the labour of the French 
 Government to imprefs upon Europe the be- 
 lief that it is repealed; and that, on a very 
 memorable occaiion lately, it was folemnly 
 declared, that the French Government pre- 
 tended not to interfere in the domeftic go- 
 vernments of other nations, but wifhed only 
 to en fu re and eftablifh their own liberties*. 
 This is a point which 1 wifh particularly to 
 prefs upon your notice. As Mr. Burke 
 had ftated the evil, it would have been but 
 fair in him to have ftated that the evil had 
 been removed. 
 
 After 
 
 * " What do I fay? This hatred itfelf which we fwear 
 to Royalty, this hatred become part of our exiftence. 
 This fentiment which we fo deeply and ardently feel 
 that we can no longer reprefs it — Royalty will reverfe 
 the nature ct this expreffion of our fentiments in order 
 frill farther to load us with calumny. It will reprefent 
 \\ as a declaration of zuar againjl all nations who do net live 
 
 under 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 After pointing out the temptation which 
 the Duke of Bedford's landed pofTefiions hold 
 
 under a Republic, and the friends of Kings will attempt 
 to give a frefh plaufibility to the abjure! reproach already/it 
 often repeated, that zve wijh to deflroy all other Governments. 
 No. — It is not a nation friendly to equality that will at- 
 tempt to infringe the rights of other nations. 
 
 ** The independence of our Government, the freedom 
 of our navigation — fuch are the objects in which all our 
 wilhes and purfuits are centered. It is no longer that 
 deplorable period, when bafe hypocrites, vile confpira- 
 tors, fecret agents of Royalty, meditating internal difiur- 
 bances by their deteftable intrigues, fought alfo, by their 
 extravagant doctrines, to unite againft us all the nations 
 of the earth. The tyrant, it is true, was unanimoufly 
 declared guilty — we here again pronounce his folemn 
 condemnation — we fwear to Royalty a hatred Avhich can 
 never be extinguifhed. But it is enough for us to avenge 
 the fujfe rings and the wrongs of the French people. We carry 
 in the bottom of our hearts, the deep and unalterable 
 conviclion, that for a nation there can exift no true hap- 
 pinefs, no folid and permanent good, but from Liberty 
 and Equality. But every nation ought to be the artificer of 
 its own profperlty." — Speech of the Prefident of the Coun- 
 cil of five hundred, on the 21ft of January, 1795, being 
 the anniverfary of the execution of Louis XVI. — Ex- 
 traded from the Courier of February 6, 1795. 
 
 out 
 
C 60) 
 
 out to an Agrarian experiment, a mode of 
 conduct furely not the heft calculated to re- 
 prefs any wim for trying fuch an experiment, 
 Mr. Burke, without any provocation ariiing 
 from the fubject, makes a fierce attack upon 
 the Abbe Sieyes. The Abbe is an object of 
 the deepen 1 : averfion and abhorrence. Why 
 has he felected him from the body of French 
 Legiflators ? Is it becaufe Sieyes is a man, 
 not only of much learning, but of great dif- 
 intereflednefs ? — He refufed to be elevated to 
 the Directorship ; and at an early period of 
 the Revolution, he refigned his penjton ; an ex- 
 ample, in which, 1 fear, he will not be imi- 
 tated by Mr. Burke. But fo complete is the 
 Right honourable Gentleman's deteflation, a 
 deteftation not unmixed with dread, of every 
 thing that is French, that he not only hates 
 French politics, but alio French literature and 
 French Science. Thofe wonderful chymi- 
 cal operations of which all France partook 
 in 1794 — operations that forced admiration 
 even from the enemies of France, extort from 
 him nothing but a farcafm and a fneer. The 
 mention of chymical operations naturally 
 
 connects 
 
( 6i ) 
 
 connects with it, in Mr. Burke's, as well as 
 in every other perfon's mind, the name of 
 Prieftley— but £ew 9 I hope, will imitate him 
 in his ungenerous treatment of that name- 
 Now that Dr. Prieftley has emigrated from 
 this country, fhame on the country that 
 forced him to emigrate ! it may not injure 
 his perfonal fafety to fpeak of him — Now 
 that he can no longer be affected by the rage 
 and rancour of a remorfelefs Church and 
 King Mob, it may be permitted to me to pay 
 him my humble tribute of refpect. The flu- 
 dies which Mr. Burke has lately purfued, 
 lead him to fupport fentiments and principles 
 that inflame, and irritate, and goad mankind 
 to warfare and to the deftruction of each 
 other. The fludies which Dr. Prieftley has 
 purfued have invariably tended to preferve the 
 health and life of man, and to promote the 
 comfort and happinefs of the human race — 
 Dr. Prieftiey is dead to this country — he has 
 fought repofe and refuge from perfecution in 
 a diitant climate — yet to that climate, and 
 even acrofs the Atlantic, Mr. Burke puifuts 
 
 I him 
 
(62) 
 
 him — Mr. Burke has loft a heloved fbn; 
 yet I have not heard that Dr. Prieftley has 
 broken in upon his forrow — Dr. Prieftley has 
 loft a beloved ion too, yet his domeftic cala- 
 mity is no fhield and protection to him. 
 
 From the chymical, Mr. Burke turns to 
 the military operations of France, and there 
 he finds as little room either for admiration- 
 or applaufe. The Generals of that tyrant, 
 Louis the Fourteenth, the Boufflers, and the 
 Luxembourghs, and the Turennes, foar high, 
 in his opinion, above the French Generals of 
 the prefent day ; though, if the Ikill and 
 conduct of Generals are to be judged of by 
 their actions, the Pichegrus and the Jour- 
 dans, are at leaf); equal to the Boufflers and 
 the Turennes, with all their Croix de St, 
 Louis, and their Marfhal's ftafFs into the bar- 
 gain. But in every thing that relates to the 
 French Revolution, it is Mr. Burke's plea- 
 lure and practice to confound and melt into 
 one mafs, parts and characters totally oppo- 
 site in their natures— the Pichegrus are link- 
 ed 
 
(63) 
 
 cd to the Santerres, the Rollands to the Dan- 
 tons, the Reubels to the Robefpieixes, and 
 the whole mafs is characterized as a fet of 
 wretches and robbers, whofe fyftem and oc- 
 cupation it is " to pour out fwarms of the 
 loweft clafTes of animated nature to lay wafle, 
 like columns of locufls, the faireft parts of 
 the world." 
 
 Of the war againft thefe wretches, and 
 robbers, and locujis — a war, according to Mr. 
 Burke, " the mofl clearly juft and neceffary 
 that this or any other nation ever carried on," 
 the Right Honourable Gentleman is a fup«t 
 porter to the wildeft principle of enthuftafm. 
 The author of the war he confiders as en- 
 titled to a high diitin&ion — a diitinclion 
 which from pride he might arrogate to him- 
 felf, but which from juftice he dare not — 
 Yet, though the whole merit of originating 
 the war with Regicide is not his (I am per- 
 fectly ready, however, to allow the Right 
 Honourable a very considerable mare of that 
 merit') — he allures us, that we fhall never, 
 !' with the fmalleft colour of reafon, accufe 
 
 I % him 
 
him of being the author of a peace with Re," 
 gicide" — Regicide ! Regicide 1 
 
 And in bis ear I'll holla, Mortimer ; 
 
 Nay, I'll have a flarling mail be taught to fpeak 
 
 Nothing but Mortimer t ■ 
 
 Do you know that I am inclined to believe 
 there is more meant in this than immediately 
 meets the eye — the war, Mr. Burke fees, is 
 growing unpopular — we are tired of fuch a 
 dreadful wafte of blood and treafure — we figh 
 for peace — it is neceflary to give a fillip to 
 our lagging ardour — we are fhortly to have 
 Mr. Burke's Thoughts on the Profpecl of a 
 Regicide Peace — the warhoop againfr. Regi- 
 cides is to be founded through Europe again — • 
 a fecond Peter is " to rouze the martial na- 
 tions of Europe," to purfue the crufade 
 with redoubled vigour. — If that is to be the 
 cafe, I mall hope that " Europe will not be 
 obedient to the Call of the Hermit." The 
 Allies and the French have, indeed they have, 
 fhed " blood enough." In God's name, let 
 there be a flop to it—let there be a truce to 
 
 the 
 
(6 5 ) 
 
 the miferies of mankind — then we may hope 
 to be happy — then we may expect that the 
 irritation that now divides us, will fubfide 
 into harmony and confidence — then we mail 
 look at each other, no longer with the fcowl 
 of fuipicion, or the frown of anger, but with 
 the cheerins* regard of iincerity, and the 
 heart confoling fmile of brotherly affection. 
 
 I think I have now, my dear Sir, com- 
 pleted my original intention. I have made 
 fuch remarks as the perufal of Mr. Burke's 
 Letter fuggefted to me. — Shall I candidly 
 confefs to you, that your refufal to acknow- 
 ledge the jufticeof them will neither iurprize 
 nor hurt me ? — It is difficult, and frequently 
 impoflible, to recover from the rapture and 
 delirium into which Mr. Burke's works al- 
 ways throw us. The wizzard has fuch potent 
 charms about him, that I could almoft wifh 
 to remain for ever fpell-bound by him. The 
 vigour and eloquence of his periods enchant 
 me — I admire, though I cannot approve, the 
 energy of his inve&ive — I cry out, Ruanda 
 
 ullum 
 
( 66) 
 
 uUum inveniam parem * ? And I am ready to 
 acknowledge with you that, fince Cicero, 
 there has been no fuch man. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Very fincerely yours, 
 
 THOMAS GEORGE STREET. 
 
 * The line is fomewhat altered from Horace — Qiiando 
 \illum inveniet parem ? 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
(67) 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 THE peculiar and invidious contents of 
 Mr. Burke's Letter have led many perfons to 
 enquire into the ftate of his own finances for 
 many years, and into the conduct both of 
 himfelfand other perfons related to him, in 
 pecuniary matters. Mr. B. cannot have for- 
 gotten the obfcare hint which Johnfon once 
 dropped, and wh5ch Mr. Bofwell, with his 
 ufual accuracy committed to paper, though 
 with delicacy quite uni?fual, he has forborne 
 to communicate that hii>t to the Public in 
 his Biographical Memoirs oi c our great Lexi- 
 cographer. But the circumfL' , nces will, in 
 all probability, be examined with > the utmofl; 
 ftrictnefs, and fupported by cleared proofs ; 
 and mould thefe proofs come, as they perhaps 
 will, within my reach, I mail, without he- 
 sitation or apology, give a detailed acco unt 
 of certain Irifh tranfactions, in a new an d 
 enlarged edition of this pamphlet. To Mr. 
 Burke I muft fpeak in the language of Te- 
 rence, Si pergit, qua? volt, dicere ; e a qua? non 
 volt, audiet, 
 
 THOMAS GEORGE STREET. 
 
 March 3, 1796, 
 
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